Sarah Palin questioned Republican presidential candidate John McCain's decision to abandon efforts to win Michigan, a campaign move she only learned about Friday morning when she read it in the newspapers.
In an interview with Fox News Channel Friday, the Alaska governor said she was disappointed that the McCain campaign decided to stop competing in Michigan. In an indication that the vice presidential candidate had not been part of the decision, she said she had "read that this morning and I fired off a quick e-mail" questioning the move.
"Todd and I, we'd be happy to get to Michigan and walk through those plants of the car manufacturers," Palin said, referring to her husband. "We'd be so happy to get to speak to the people in Michigan who are hurting because the economy is hurting."
Palin acknowledged the GOP ticket's lackluster poll ratings in the state, but said: "I want to get back to Michigan and I want to try."
Word of the McCain campaign's decision to move staff out of Michigan and stop advertising in the state broke around midday Thursday the same day as Palin's vice presidential debate against Democrat Joe Biden. The campaign had decided Wednesday night that the $1 million a week it was spending in Michigan wasn't worth it with internal polls showing Democratic nominee Barack Obama approaching a double-digit lead.
On Friday, Palin sought to re-establish herself as an asset for Republican John McCain's struggling presidential candidacy, branding their Democratic rivals as liberals not ready to lead in a time of crisis.
Fresh off an upbeat debate performance, Palin told a ballroom full of $1,000 donors in Dallas that McCain advisers warned her that Biden was "a skilled debater."
"Now I know what they meant," she said. "He did his best to convince us that the two most liberal members of the Senate belong in the White House. But that was a tough sell, and especially in a time of crisis for our country."
The Alaska governor's fiesty tone came as she eased back into the campaign trail. She attended two fundraisers Friday in Texas and also meet privately with Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens to discuss energy policy. Pickens, once a major Republican Party donor, is sitting out this campaign to promote a plan to expand wind power.
As a governor of Alaska, Palin has dealt with a variety of oil and gas issues. She told the Dallas donors that as vice president, "one issue I will be leading is energy independence."
The campaign has planned a series of rallies for Palin in other battlegrounds. Among the stops scheduled for the days ahead are Colorado, Florida, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. She will also be in California this weekend for a fundraiser and rally.
Based on the schedule, the campaign appears to be relying on Palin to invigorate Republican voters in Colorado and North Carolina, states that have reliably voted Republican in past presidential elections. Obama leads in polls in Florida and Pennsylvania.
Palin is hitting the road after being sequestered for three days of debate preparation at McCain's Sedona, Ariz., compound and after interviews with ABC and CBS where she stumbled over foreign and domestic policy issues.
Palin told Fox News that she would spend more time speaking to reporters, a switch from the tightly managed media relations during the past month.
"I look forward to speaking to the media more and more every day and providing whatever access the media would want," Palin said.
Palin said she had been "annoyed" in her interviews with CBS News anchor Katie Couric and had been caught off guard when asked what newspapers and magazines she read and to name Supreme Court decisions she disagreed with questions Palin appeared not to be able to answer.
Her responses, Palin said, were "an indication of being outside that Washington elite, outside of the media elite also."
But Palin held her own in the debate with Biden, displaying facility with some issues such as energy and comfort as an advocate for McCain and as a hard-hitting critic of Obama.
Later, in San Antonio, she let on that she was breathing a little easier now.
"Last night was fun, the debate," she told donors at the Marriott Rivercenter. "I was glad it was over when it ended."
The Navy has confirmed the wreckage of a sunken vessel found last year off the Aleutians Islands is that of the USS Grunion, which disappeared during World War II. Underwater video footage and pictures captured by an expedition hired by sons of the commanding officer, Lt. Cmdr. Mannert L. Abele, allowed the Navy to confirm the discovery, Rear Adm. Douglas McAneny said Thursday in a news release.
McAneny said the Navy was very grateful to the Abele family. "We hope this announcement will help to give closure to the families of the 70 crewmen of Grunion," he said.
The Grunion was last heard from July 30, 1942. The submarine reported heavy anti-submarine activity at the entrance to Kiska, and that it had 10 torpedoes remaining forward. On the same day, the Grunion was directed to return to Dutch Harbor Naval Operating Base. The submarine was reported lost Aug. 16, 1942.
Japanese anti-submarine attack data recorded no attack in the Aleutian area at the time of the Grunion's disappearance, so the submarine's fate remained an unsolved mystery for more than 60 years, the Navy said.
Abele's son's, Bruce, Brad, and John, began working on a plan to find the sub after finding information on the Internet in 2002 that helped pinpoint USS Grunion's possible location.
In August 2006, a team of side scan sonar experts hired by the brothers located a target near Kiska almost a mile below the ocean's surface. A second expedition in August 2007 using a high definition camera on a remotely operated vehicle yielded video footage and high resolution photos of the wreckage.
#2
A friend of mine, not American, asked how long subs can stay out.
Sixty, seventy years, I answered.
It took him a moment to get it.
The country he comes from uses its military against its civilians.
They have a different view of fighting men.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
10/03/2008 22:24
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FRENCH leaders scrambled to reassure consumers, voters and investors today, after the official statistics agency warned that the eurozone's second largest economy had slipped into recession.
The French economy shrank by 0.3 per cent in the second quarter of the year, and on Friday the Insee agency forecast that gross domestic product would drop by a further 0.1 per cent in both the remaining quarters of 2008.
Economists define a recession as two successive quarters of negative growth but the government, desperate to maintain public confidence in the face of the global slowdown, steered deliberately clear of the term.
"Finance Minister Christine Lagarde now regards the risk of negative growth in autumn for the second quarter in a row as real," her ministry announced, confirming Insee's estimates in a statement Friday.
But neither Ms Lagarde, nor the French chairman of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, would confirm that the slowdown had tipped into recession for the first time since 1993.
"ECB experts tell us that we have slowing growth," he said on the French radio station Europe 1.
"I will not use any word other than that - slowing growth with significant risks that growth may become even weaker."
Budget Minister Eric Woerth noted that taking into account the whole of 2008, the economy ought to grow by one per cent.
"There's a technical and statistical definition, and there's the reality of things," he said, when asked if he would define the situation as a recession.
But the press and the opposition had no such reticence.
Both the right-wing Le Figaro and the left-wing Liberation dailies headlined on France's descent into recession, and the Socialist party leader seized on the figures as an opportunity to attack President Nicolas Sarkozy.
"Yes, the recession is here," Francois Hollande told the daily Le Parisien.
"This means the decisions, especially tax choices, made by Nicolas Sarkozy on the day after the presidential election have been revealed as inappropriate, ineffective and unfair and have amplified the shock of the global situation.
#1
"the Socialist party leader seized on the figures as an opportunity to attack President Nicolas Sarkozy"
What a coincidence. The Democrats Socialist party leader in the U.S. used our financial problems (caused in large part by the Dems Socialist party) to attack our President (of another party, natch) too.
Funny how that works....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/03/2008 21:21
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that was Ace's snarky shot - Barney Frank has some 'splaining to do. His "special friend" was a Fannie Mae exec
who benefitted from Massachusetts Rep. Barney Franks efforts to deregulate Fannie Mae throughout the 1990s.
So did Franks partner, a Fannie Mae executive at the forefront of the agencys push to relax lending restrictions.
Now that Fannie Mae is at the epicenter of a financial meltdown that threatens the U.S. economy, some are raising new questions about Frank's relationship with Herb Moses, who was Fannies assistant director for product initiatives. Moses worked at the government-sponsored enterprise from 1991 to 1998, while Frank was on the House Banking Committee, which had jurisdiction over Fannie.
Both Frank and Moses assured the Wall Street Journal in 1992 that they took pains to avoid any conflicts of interest. Critics, however, remain skeptical.
"Its absolutely a conflict," said Dan Gainor, vice president of the Business & Media Institute. "He was voting on Fannie Mae at a time when he was involved with a Fannie Mae executive. How is that not germane?
"If this had been his ex-wife and he was Republican, I would bet every penny I have - or at least whats not in the stock market - that this would be considered germane," added Gainor, a T. Boone Pickens Fellow. "But everybody wants to avoid it because hes gay. Its the quintessential double standard."
A top GOP House aide agreed.
"Cmon, he writes housing and banking laws and his boyfriend is a top exec at a firm that stands to gain from those laws?" the aide told FOX News. "No media ever takes note? Imagine what would happen if Franks political affiliation was R instead of D? Imagine what the media would say if [GOP former] Chairman [Mike] Oxleys wife or [GOP presidential nominee John] McCains wife was a top exec at Fannie for a decade while they wrote the nations housing and banking laws."
Franks office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Frank met Moses in 1987, the same year he became the first openly gay member of Congress.
"I am the only member of the congressional gay spouse caucus," Moses wrote in the Washington Post in 1991. "On Capitol Hill, Barney always introduces me as his lover."
The two lived together in a Washington home until they broke up in 1998, a few months after Moses ended his seven-year tenure at Fannie Mae, where he was the assistant director of product initiatives. According to National Mortgage News, Moses "helped develop many of Fannie Maes affordable housing and home improvement lending programs."
Critics say such programs led to the mortgage meltdown that prompted last months government takeover of Fannie Mae and its financial cousin, Freddie Mac. The giant firms are blamed for spreading bad mortgages throughout the private financial sector.
Although Frank now blames Republicans for the failure of Fannie and Freddie, he spent years blocking GOP lawmakers from imposing tougher regulations on the mortgage giants. In 1991, the year Moses was hired by Fannie, the Boston Globe reported that Frank pushed the agency to loosen regulations on mortgages for two- and three-family homes, even though they were defaulting at twice and five times the rate of single homes, respectively.
Three years later, President Clintons Department of Housing and Urban Development tried to impose a new regulation on Fannie, but was thwarted by Frank. Clinton now blames such Democrats for planting the seeds of todays economic crisis.
"I think the responsibility that the Democrats have may rest more in resisting any efforts by Republicans in the Congress or by me when I was president, to put some standards and tighten up a little on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac," Clinton said recently
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/03/2008
18:26 ||
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#1
OK, can we please get an independent counsel to investigate this matter? Or, how about the Justice Department? Huh? Somebody? House ethics? Somebody?
Glenn Reynolds says, "This is just wrong." I think it's cute, and bet Sarah will/does too.
You only have four more weeks to pick the perfect Halloween costume for your pooch. The AP is reporting that the big trend for pet costumes this year is Hollywood [and Washington].
Did I mention it's for a dog? :-D
Mods - any way to post the too-cute-for-words picture here?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/03/2008
16:27 ||
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I just don't believe this. Disorder after a Guns & Roses concert, I can believe. After a Jay-Z concert, sure. After a Rammstein concert, totally expected. After Celine Dion--wassup widdat? What's next, gangs of rioting youth incited to mayhem by Lawrence Welk reruns on PBS?
Posted by: Mike ||
10/03/2008
15:42 ||
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Can you imagine the horror? Broken nails and sequins everywhere!
Posted by: Dar ||
10/03/2008 17:09
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#4
Oh, parking garage rage. You oughta see traffic coming out of the old Yankees stadium parking structure. Hours of breathing fumes and refining one's command of obscenities.
Palin also commented Friday on her widely-panned series of interviews with Katie Couric, telling Fox interviewer she did not think the CBS News anchor asked enough issue-based questions.
I did feel there were a lot of things she was missing in terms of an opportunity to ask what a VP candidate stands for, what the values are that are represented in our ticket," Palin said. "I guess I have to apologize for being a bit annoyed, but thats also an indication about being outside that Washington elite, outside that media elite also, and just wanting to talk to Americans without the filter and let them know what we stand for."
In two separate and lengthy interviews with Couric over the last week, Palin seemed to struggle with a number of answers, including a defense of McCain's record on regulation issues. She also appeared to stumble when relating her views on the financial bailout, her foreign policy credentials, her preferred news sources of news, and a Supreme Court case she disagrees with.
"Man, no matter what you say you are gonna get clobbered," Palin told Fox about her heavily-scrutinized performance. "You choose to answer you are going to get clobbered on the answer. If you choose to pivot and try to go onto another subject that you believe Americans want to hear about, you get clobbered for that too."
#2
I dunno L1011 - the MSM is yesterdays' big leagues. It will interesting to see the Palin media strategy from here on - I expect a surge on talk radio, more friendly to her, as well as lots of local coverage. A sign of certain confidence is if she hits SNL in late October, and a sign of certain victory is if she goes on either of the Comedy Central shows - I can see the former, but will be shocked if she does the latter.
#3
The MSM may be dead but they don't all know it yet, and a fatally wounded animal can be very dangerous.
We have reached the day and age where politicans will only give interviews to pre-approved journalists with pre-approved questions and with their own cameras there to ensure editing games do not happen. It's sad but the journalist profession can not be trusted, not for a second.
#4
Why is McCain tanking? For not taking the gloves off.
Both of you, take the damn gloves off, hit Bambi hard and get us interested in the race again instead of making it look like you are rolling over in the name of bipartisanship again!
#5
The bill passed in the House, and the president signed it. Senator McCain has done the job he set out to do last Wednesday, so now Candidate McCain can get busy.
#6
What Palin and McCain should do is next time one of these hatchet gits from the Demonrats requests an interview, you know, people like Couric and Gibson, say this.
"I'm sorry, we only grant interviews to actual journalists."
#7
Candidate McCain can get as busy as he wants, but Senator McCain has really screwed up. It may be fatal to Candidate McCain's campaign. And the dolt doesn't even know it.
#8
Palin is (or was) under the impression that Couric's and Gibson's goal was to imform the public. That was entirely wrong - their goal was to make her look as stupid, foolish, and unprepared as possible in order to bolster their own candidate.
#9
If you're a conservative, the press is almost invariably your enemy simply due to their liberal bias. Most of them are incompetents who can't do that simple job properly, much less anything more complex, which is why they ended up as journos in the first place. RJSchwarz has it exactly right in his description of how to deal with them.
Only reporters with a proven track record of fairness to conservatives should be allowed interviews with conservative candidates and even then all interviews should be videorecorded. Just because the reporter is decent doesn't mean his editor is.
Cutting off lib reporters access won't hurt anything since they only tell lies anyway. If they don't get access the conservative candidate can always respond to their lies by noting that he never spoke to said reporter so it's obvious their story is cut from whole cloth. It's a pity it has had to come to this but the reality is that the MSM is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Democrat Party. Failing to recognize that fact and respond accordingly is simply a self-inflicted wound.
#10
F*ck the msm parrot press corps w/a capital F. They've given Obomba a huge pass - Ayers, Rezko, Wright, 57 states, Memorial day gaffe - all passes. Palin - they try to dig up some bullshit about her husband's driving record. Ridiculous. I have no confidence in them - Gibson was an asshole to Palin - and, he even lied about quoting her - fuck'em all. They have been out of line w/this lady. Sure, it is the big leagues but there ought to be a code of fair play and decency. I even thought Ifill was fair last night w/Palin & Biden, even wrt that idiotic book she wrote basically slobbing obama's knob.
Written before the vice presidential debate, this is still relevant, I think. Here's a taste -- go read the whole thing.
It's true that Alaskans look at foreign policy from a different perspective. They know the world is a globe. They look at their neighbors from the polar projection, while the lower 48 are still thinking east and west along the old Mercator projection maps, maps devised for the navigation of sailing vessels in the 16th century, and published by the Flat Earth Society. The Mercator projection is perfect for backward-looking pols such as Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
Thus a governor of Alaska has to be more cosmopolitan in world outlook than her insular colleagues in the lower 48. Surrounded as Alaska is by the seven Arctic nations (Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia and Sweden) Alaska has a truly strategic location, unmatched by any other U.S. state. It has a contiguous boundary with Canada of 1,538 miles, but none with the lower 48.
It is also closer to the Russian Federation than any other U.S. state. There are no international waters between Russia and Alaska. The boundary in the Bering Strait splits the two-mile difference between Big Diomede and Little Diomede Islands, two bleak rocky islets that may have been part of the prehistoric landbridge crossed by Todd Palin's people eons ago. One hundred forty-six Inuit-Americans still live on a 3,000-year-old village site on Little Diomede, so if Sarah Palin lived there she sure could see Russia from her front porch.
If you are curled up that close to the Russian bear, you want to be sure that he is sleeping quietly. You are very attentive if he moves to make sure that he is not going to roll over on you. You have a sixth sense about Russian fighters and bombers intruding into your territory, or daring to come as close as possible. You are relieved when U.S. military planes scramble from Elmendorf Air Force Base to escort them back. Meanwhile, you make nice. You invite the Russians on trade missions, and you invite them to international conferences.
UNTIL JOE BIDEN was nominated by the Democratic National Convention to be Vice President of the United States, it had never occurred to anyone that the chief qualification of a vice president was to be an expert on foreign policy. It was a drastic step but necessary when the Democrats saw they had a problem. Clearly, Barack Obama's much-touted advisory board of 300 foreign policy experts was inadequate. They had to shore up a nominee whose only foreign policy experience to date had been to interfere in the elections in Kenya on behalf of his cousin, Raila Odinga. They realized he needed one more expert, the 301st , to give the nominee that gravitas necessary to wow the foreign policy establishment.
Thus the nomination of Joe Biden was inevitable. After all, how could you trump a man who was not only the third most liberal Senator in the world's greatest deliberative body, but also Chairman of the august Senate Foreign Relations Committee? Suddenly, it was a game-changer. The vice-presidency was all about foreign policy, and when Sarah Palin was nominated by the Republicans she was held to the new standard. With Palin's inexperience, how could she compete with Biden's 36 years of inexperience, of being wrong year after year on every issue? Of a man so used to reaching out to other nations that he plagiarized his speeches word for word from a British socialist, Neil Kinnock, the leader of the British Labour Party? Of a man who has been around so long that he remembers watching FDR go on television in 1929 and rally the nation when the Great Depression hit? (Those who were unaware that television existed in 1929 should recall that it was invented in 1928 by Al Gore, before he invented the Internet.)
Author Mr. Lucier lives in Leesburg, Virginia, and is a former Staff Director of the U.S. Senate Relations Committee.
From Free Republic: Bailout passes: Pelosi promises show trials to pin blame on Repubs [VANITY]
No sooner had the $805B bail-out bill passed the House than Pelosi went to the TV cameras and promised show trials under Henry Waxman to pin the blame for this mess (on Republicans). She then praised Barney Frank's courage and leadership in delivering the country from the evil of Republicans in general and Wall Street in particular....
#6
I for one would welcome these show trials. Democrats from the Carter and Clinton eras have a lot to answer for, as do a lot of Democrats from the Bush era. However, that's why the show trials aren't going to happen. Instead the Democrats will attempt to pile on regulations to right wrongs they have scapegoated onto the Republicans.
I'm kinda hoping that people won;t have enough confidence in our government to snap up these bonds. I'm crossing my fingers for some good yields. I certainly wouldn't mind grabbing some 10 year for 7 percent or something. Hell, if we return to the good old days of high inflation, I might be forced to grab some 30 year at 13%. Wish I was around back then to grab some.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
10/03/2008 17:12
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#9
Hell, if we return to the good old days of high inflation, I might be forced to grab some 30 year at 13%.
I'm gonna hold out for the 15% coupons. Those were the days - when a simple one-year CD yielded 10%, and interest-bearing checking accounts with $500 minimums paid 5%.
#10
If there were a Republican they could pin this on, you can bet they would have done it by now.
That no one from Camp McCain saw fit to mention Jim Johnson and Franklin Raines as Obama advisors is ... well, frankly, typical.
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
10/03/2008 17:20
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#11
I remember those days, too, ZF.
I also remember how much interest we had to PAY for mortgages, credit cards, etc.
Pfui.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/03/2008 17:23
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#12
That would be the Reps Frank and Bachus who led a move for an amendment then voted yes. Take back everything I thought about it this morning, effen sticks.
Kansas voted 3/4 no. Rep. Moore, the sole yes, has district in Lawrence (liberal college, city buys houses then rents them out) and KC area (where people have been building new houses on the outskirts of town, waiting a couple years, selling them at increase value then building a new house on the new edge of town rinse repeat for over a decade now).
$805 bl? What the hell? Is this extra the Senate pork, or an expectation of the dollar devalue between now and 2010?
Rep. Slaughter seemed to think that this bill was a tournequet to stop the bleeding. Hope we don't lose the limb from improper technique or worse just infusing the patient with blood while the wound bleeds.
On the other hand, suggest people buy interest in Schwepps over the next week. Lime futures look good too.
#13
Sure, the inflation and the rates sucked. But for the next 25 years, when inflation was a few percent, people who bought those 30 year notes where collecting intereset in the teens on a friggin government bond. I would kill to buy guvmint bonds that pay in the teens.
And not only that, people who paid huge rates on their homes got to refinance when rates dropped and their homes were worth more as a result of the rate drop. Not that it's a fantastic investment technique, just that it's not all bad.
Inflation sucks ass and can be an economies death rattle, but if it's short term, it presents some opportunities.
Jeez, people, unleash that greedy capitalist junk yard dog you got inside!
Posted by: Mike N. ||
10/03/2008 17:33
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#14
I also remember how much interest we had to PAY for mortgages, credit cards, etc.
But here's the thing - do you also remember how cheap home prices used to be?
#15
We are borrowing money we don't have to attempt to shore up entities, many of which we know nothing about. This will drive the dollar lower and make things more expensive for us. Then notes will be held by our adversaries and enemies.
What bin Laden could not do with fuel-laden airplanes, the Congress has done with their mortgage enabling legislation, and now their so-called fix. They will sink this country.
I am very outraged and discouraged. The first thing we should do is to vote every muthaf**kin Senator or Representative OUT of office who voted for this bill. There is no difference between trunks and a$$es on this one. Then we keep track of the rest and vote them out next cycle. I would rather vote for a gorilla in a tuxedo than have these criminals in office.
And this is the tip of the sh*tberg. We have social security and other resource eating monsters in the wings. I think I better stop ranting now.
Posted by: Alaska Paul in Nikolaevsk, AK ||
10/03/2008 18:14
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#16
Again with the currency devaluation. Could someone please tell me which currency the dollar is going to devalue against?
Posted by: Mike N. ||
10/03/2008 18:21
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#17
I would rather vote for a gorilla in a tuxedo than have these criminals in office.
#19
"I would rather vote for a gorilla in a tuxedo than have these criminals in office.
How're ya gonna tell the difference between them?"
The gorilla are more honest, Raj.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/03/2008 21:07
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#20
I agree with AP. The fact that this isn't a profanity-filled, viciously killing-mad rant is tribute to my respect for Rantburg. Between this and the Fannie/Freddie video I'd say most of the House/Senate, and ALL of the Dems, deserve to be tried, convicted and shot for treason. They've certainly earned such an end.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
10/03/2008 14:41
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#12
Do you wanna go back two days even if you can't put comments in on the second day stuff?
That's for everybody else to tell me.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008 14:45
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#13
This will probably cross the 'civil well reasoned discourse' line and this is Fred's toy to play with as he chooses, but it looks awful Daily Kos-like.
#14
Pure coincidence, since I can't recall ever having seen Daily Kos.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008 14:55
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#15
I got
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected $end in /home/www/www.rantburg.com/htdocs/dstp.php on line 228
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
10/03/2008 15:01
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#16
I was trying something that didn't work at that moment...
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008 15:04
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#17
Oh wow. Every time I reload I get a different pic!
Wonder if Angie Harmon is in the rotation ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/03/2008 15:23
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#18
I like the overflow style element on the divs that make for the little scroll bars within the page. I didn't know you could do that. Ya learn something new every day. Plus the color pic of Jayne Mansfield when I first went to it. I nearly jumped outta my seat.
#21
I'v been thinking about it, Fred - don't really like it but couldn't figure out why. Maybe Dino says hits it. I do like the present system - I can scan all the headlines quickly and open only those that interest me. It's very helpful when I have only a few minutes to check Rantburg.
Or maybe I'm just a stick-in-the-mud....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/03/2008 17:20
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#23
The DS&TP format puts the posts in reverse order of entry -- most recent at the top. It's handy if you've read in the morning and want to see what's been posted since.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008 19:10
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#24
Yeah, but a lot of times I'm also interested in seeing the latest snark comments to stories that particularly caught my eye. And the way it is now, the newest stories post at the top of the categories, so we still know what's the latest.
But that's just me, and we all know I'm a computer idiot no computer genius. ;-p
I certainly wouldn't stop coming if you make the change permanent.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/03/2008 19:19
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#25
I think we see it as an alternate way to scan the Burg, not as a replacement. As a mod, when I check in the morning I use the Editor (special page for us mods) since like you I'm interested in seeing the whole Burg. In the afternoon I use the current mod version of the Research page since I'm more interested in figuring out what's new and what I might have to edit or fix.
So the idea for a regular reader is, if you came in the morning and scanned the main page and now are back in the afternoon, the Scimitar page allows you to find what's new very quickly.
But I don't think we're going to replace the main page at all.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/03/2008 19:45
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#26
Whew!
Thnx, Steve.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/03/2008 19:56
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#27
Hmm, you put a bunch of work into this update. Thank you, I am impressed, and only offer these comments because you asked. I trust you to make this a great place no matter how it is styled.
I often download the main page onto my computer prior to getting aboard an airplane and so this layout with the articles in their own element adds more information on the page without needing to click to somewhere else, which is good.
I dearly hope you will put the article table of contents in here somewhere though. I use that every day to sort out the articles that I want to read from those that I don't. Without some structural element, I would be lost in a sea of words. The pink colored lines you have used in the good morning graphic to separate the background might make a good section divider. No doubt your good sense can think of several ways to organize. I relate to the categories like sections in the newspaper and don't really care about what the categories are, just that they provide relationship structure to the information in each section.
The new header is too wide a page for my computer to display. I only have 800x480 on this, and the articles look fine at that resolution, but the header is wider. Also, I dearly love the good morning front page graphic with the news of the day neatly arranged along with the pictures. I'm sure it is a total pita to do every day, but it provides that visual cue that says this is like reading the newspaper. That is part of the Rantburg brand--at least for me. Perhaps if the header stayed inside the white frame it would both be smaller while evoking that broadsheet look.
Thanks to you and the mods for all the hard work you do each and every day.
When the Syrian capital of Damascus was rocked by a car bomb on Sept. 27, the wheels started spinning wildly inside intelligence agencies, Middle Eastern tea houses, and conspiracy theorist circles alike. The explosion, which killed 17 people and injured 14, took place along the Damascus airport highway close to a Syrian intelligence installation. The question on everyone's mind was: Who did this and why? The most striking aspect of the search for answers is just how many theories are potentially credible. Clearly, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been walking a high wire of strategic alliances, making friends and enemies within every conflict in the Middle East; a dangerous game, indeed.
Under the young Assad, Syria has built strong links with Shiite militias operating in Lebanon and with Sunni extremists in the Palestinian territories. It has allied itself with Iran and it has initiated indirect peace talks with Israel. The regime is simultaneously strengthening ties with France, while vowing lasting and deep friendship with Iran. Syria has worked to bolster relations with a resurgent Russia, even as it looks to the West in search of new friends.
Countries ruled by secure and well-entrenched dictatorships tend to look calm on the surface. But Syria has lately seen a number of attacks that indicate the regime of Bashar al-Assad does not have as firm a grip on the country as his father Hafez did. The elder Assad ruled Syria with an iron fist for almost 30 years, until his death in 2000. Since succeeding him, Bashar has sought to keep his minority Alawite regime in control of the country while navigating the treacherous strategic landscape of the Middle East.
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SDERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan - Two suspected U.S. missile strikes in villages close to the border with Afghanistan killed three fluffy bunniesbabies people Friday, Pakistani intelligence officials said.
The strikes took place in two villages in North Waziristan, according to the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The officials said two missiles believed to have been fired from U.S. unmanned drones launched from neighboring Afghanistan hit the villages just before dusk. A missile strike in one village killed three people, while there were no reported casualties in the other, they said. The officials did not identify the victims.
#2
It's up to 12 now. No reported kittens or bunnies yet.
"Two suspected U.S. missile strikes Friday on villages close to the border with Afghanistan killed at least 12 people, most of them militants, Pakistani intelligence officials said."
BOGOTÁ, Colombia -- Email messages linking the Colombian Marxist guerilla insurgency (known by its Spanish acronym, FARC) to politicians, union activists and left-wing parties overseas have revealed a network of supporters spanning several continents, and have kept tensions high between Colombia and some of its neighbors.
"The FARC have been less isolated than originally believed, and have wide-ranging political contacts throughout Latin America and elsewhere," Michael Shifter, an analyst with Washington, D.C.-based Inter-American Dialogue, wrote by email. While Shifter called the relationships "isolated," he said "the support network did give the FARC a sense that they were seen as legitimate by some in the international community, which in turn contributed to their self-understanding as political actors."
Most of the information comes from laptop computers, external hard drives and flash drives reportedly recovered from a FARC campground located in Ecuador that the Colombians bombed and then searched in March. The attack killed Raul Reyes, the guerrillas' second in command, who acted as the group's foreign minister. Among our contestants...
James Jones, an American academic and aid consultant who has studied Colombia for decades, maintained a friendly correspondence with FARC leaders, advising them on how to obtain international recognition and "internationalize" their cause. Jones also reported to FARC leaders on his meeting with U.S. Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.) about Colombia. Both Jones and McGovern's office have said they were only seeking a way to free rebel hostages and resolve Colombia's long conflict.
In an email statement, Jones said he had a "cordial" relationship with the FARC, but that he did not ". . . approve of the way the FARC too often disregard the welfare of the civilian population. And I certainly don't condone hostage-taking." He argued that in order to end the civil war, the guerrillas should not be isolated, and that the trust he had developed with them was what drove Uribe administration to target him. Interesting article.
KUALA LUMPUR - Armed Somali pirates attacked four ships, including an Italian crude-oil tanker, in what a maritime piracy watchdog said Friday was a "critical level" of attacks in the Gulf of Aden.
"It is one of the highest number of attacks in a single day in the same area," said Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's (IMB) Piracy Reporting Centre in Kuala Lumpur.
He said the vessels were attacked on October 1 by Somali pirates armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades in the notorious waterway. "We are warning ships to be on high alert. Pirates are attacking ships almost every day. It is at a critical level now," he told AFP. "Three hijacked vessels were released a few days ago and it now appears this group of Somali pirates are looking for ships to hijack again."
The first attack occurred at 0300 GMT when pirates armed with guns and travelling in speedboats tried to board a United Arab Emirates bulk carrier with 28 crew on board, heading from Europe to Asia. "The master took evasive maneuvers and a coalition helicopter arrived and chased the pirates away," Choong said.
Less than an hour later, a gang armed with rocket-propelled grenades attempted to board a Philippine-owned chemical tanker heading from the Middle East to Asia with 12 crew on board, but was chased away by a warship.
In the third incident pirates targeted a crude-oil Italian tanker but were foiled when the ship's master took evasive action.
The final incident occurred when pirates armed with machine guns forced a Taiwanese container ship with 20 crew members to halt. The ship's captain deployed fire hoses to retaliate and the vessel managed to escape.
Choong said it was not known if the same gang was responsible for all the attacks.
#1
A coalition helicopter chased them away? Why the heck didn't a few hellfires blow them out of the water? And Obama wants NATO and the Europeans to handle the WoT? Something really smells here.
#2
Don't go in those waters without personal protection. I don't get it. The pirates are lightly armed and they are preying on large, insured commercial vessels. It seems like the ship owners would have some Blackware types on board and the insurence companies would require it. It shouldn't take much to sink a little speed board that is only armed with pop guns. What am I missing here?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/03/2008 12:44
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A few shotguns on each ship would probably make good swimmers out of those pirates. They seem to like rubber boats.
#4
Attacking those "small, lightly armed" boats isn't as easy as it sounds. First, you have two moving targets. Unless you have a halfway decent targeting computer, it's hard to hit a small boat in the water (CIWS can manage). Secondly, there are no spare crewmembers on commercial ships these days, so there aren't any available "extra bodies" to man any guns that did exist. Thirdly, no captain wants to be responsible for the death of what may be an extremely important member of his crew.
The most effective means of putting an end to this is to have a half-dozen AC-130s stationed in Djibouti, and have them fly random missions over the Gulf of Aden. They can fly high enough no one can be sure if it's a C-130 or some other type of aircraft, there are enough other C-130s around in that part of the world, and they don't have to be at maximum altitude to fly efficiently. The minute there's a ship's captain screaming about a pirate attack, they can begin to home in on the area. They have the capacity to turn either a small boat or a mother ship into tiny pieces, along with whomever is manning them.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/03/2008 16:30
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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan's war against Islamic extremists will go on until the country is "terrorism-free," a senior official said Friday after mounting violence prompted the United Nations to raise its security stance.
Pakistan is under intense pressure from the United States to combat militants responsible for rising attacks at home and in neighboring Afghanistan. Its faltering efforts so far have been met with a blur of suicide bombings that have killed nearly 1,200 people since July 2007, according to army statistics released this week.
In remarks broadcast Friday, Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said the government was undaunted. Previous Pakistani military campaigns against Islamic militants in the wild tribal belt along the Afghan frontier were halted too soon, he said an apparent reference to the policies of former President Pervez Musharraf.
Malik said the current government, which came to power after February elections and forced Musharraf to resign in July, will fight until militants are either killed or forced to flee Pakistan. "There is no other option," Malik told Express News television. "We will not stop any operation unless we reach its logical conclusion. That means that this war will continue until we make Pakistan terrorism-free."
Pakistan's army is battling militants in at least three areas of the northwest. The most intense fighting has been in the Bajur tribal region, where the military claims to have killed 1,000 rebels for the loss of about 60 troops.
Most recent suicide attacks have been in the northwest. A blast on Thursday killed four people in a failed bid to assassinate a prominent anti-Taliban politician in the region. There have also been several attacks in the capital, Islamabad, including the Sept. 20 truck bombing of the Marriott Hotel, which killed 54 people, including three Americans and the Czech ambassador.
#5
This comment and prior should again indic to mainstream America that the US WAR AGZ RADICAL ISLAM IS, ULTIMATELY, AN ALL-ENCOMPASSING WAR TO THE DEFEAT ANDOR DEATH OF THE OTHER.
Many Amers and World Citizens seem to had forgotten this premise of late.
Sir Nigel Sheinwald, ambassador in Washington since last year, delivered his unvarnished assessment of the White House front runner in a seven-page letter to the Prime Minister, obtained by The Daily Telegraph, just before the Democratic nominee's visit to Downing Street just over two months ago. The candid letter, marked as containing "sensitive judgements" and requesting officials to "protect the contents carefully" gives a remarkable insight into how the Foreign Office views the political phenomenon who stunned Mr Brown's inner circle by defeating their favourite, Hillary Clinton, in the Democratic primaries.
Although the picture Sir Nigel paints is a highly complimentary one - Mr Obama's speeches are "elegant" and "mesmerising", he is "highly intelligent" and has "star quality" - he also judges that his "policies are still evolving" and that if elected he will "have less of a track record than any recent president". The letter's contents suggest that Mr Brown could initially find it difficult to deal with a President Obama because he remains a largely unknown quantity who "resists pigeon-holing" and the leak is likely to complicate relations.
Last month, the prime minister was forced to backtrack after an article written in his name broke with convention by showering praise on the Democratic candidate at the expense of his Republican rival, Senator John McCain of Arizona.
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Make him sec-gen of the UN, he'd quit the pres race in a heartbeat.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/03/2008 11:31
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Doubt it, RJ. The UN is nothing without the US and the Presidency of the US is a much bigger prize. He wants to bring American down from the top, rather than working the sidelines.
. . . The sheer quantity of young penguins that have washed up on Brazil's sun-drenched beaches this year has confounded nearly everyone who comes in contact with them. Each summer and early fall, some gray-and-white Magellanic penguins could be expected to drift here, washed by ocean currents more than 2,000 miles north from their homes in southern Argentina near the bottom of the world.
This year is different. Like some maritime dust-bowl migration, more than 1,000 of these penguins have floated ashore in Brazil, nearly as far north as the equator. By the time their webbed feet touch sand, many are gaunt and exhausted, often having lost three-quarters of their body weight. Even more have died.
"This year is completely anomalous," said Lauro Barcellos, 51, an oceanographer who founded a rehabilitation center for penguins in southern Brazil. ". . . I've worked in this field for 35 years, and I have never seen anything like this." . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
10/03/2008
09:42 ||
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#1
By the time their webbed feet touch sand, many are gaunt and exhausted, often having lost three-quarters of their body weight.
I blame the food police. More water aerobics for everyone. No fat penguins in our world! Just former Vice Presidents.
The Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) has a new leader: Ustadz Yasser Igasan. According to a reliable Army Commander, Igasan is a religious scholar, not a warrior. Sulu Representative Yusof Jikiri said he had heard Igasan was "very spiritual," but he also noted Igasan was a Tausog, an ethnic group known as fierce fighters.
Muhammad Jamal Khalifa, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law, established Darul Imam Shafin in 1988. Khalifa's International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) funded the religious school.
When the news first leaked that ASG commanders had met to choose a new leader, not much was known about Igasan. Since then, a more complete portrait has emerged. Igasan, in his 40s, was among the original members of ASG, along with its founder, Ustadz Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani. In 1993, Igasan was a classmate of Abdurajak's brother, Khaddafy Janjalani, at Darul Imam Shafin, an Islamic institution in Marawi City. Muhammad Jamal Khalifa, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law, established Darul Imam Shafin in 1988. Khalifa's International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) funded the religious school. The IIRO ostensibly was engaged in charity work. Investigators say Khalifa was funneling funds to terrorists and supporting secessionist movements in the southern Philippines. He was ASG's link to al-Qaeda. The Philippine Anti-Money Laundering Council has since frozen IIRO accounts.
As a teenager, Igasan reportedly traveled to Afghanistan to fight the then-Soviet army. How involved Igasan was in any fighting is unclear. The Arabs of al-Qaeda and their Taliban allies regarded Southeast Asian Muslims as not real Muslims. They often gave them lesser duties in camp. Igasan met Janjalani in Afghanistan, and the two talked about a separate Islamic state in the Philippines. When they returned home, they cooperated in establishing the Abu Sayyaf Group. Igasan was in the first ASG camp in Basilan-Camp Al-Madinah. He was there when marines overran the camp. Igasan also was with the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas who raided the town of Ipil in 1995, killing more than 50 people. He reportedly was wounded during the army's pursuit operation.
In 1998, Janjalani's death left ASG with three choices for a new leader or emir: Igasan, Khadaffy Janjalani and Radulan Sahiron. The election quickly became a choice between Igasan and Khadaffy. Those who favored Igasan noted that although he and Khadaffy were fellow students at Darul Imam Shafi, it was Igasan that Khalifa had appointed "mushrif"-top of the class. Igasan subsequently became head of Quranic Studies for the IIRO. Igasan also was Khadaffy's senior by three years and thus had three years more field experience. Igasan's supporters believed he had religious credentials almost as good as those of the elder Janjalani. In the end, however, the field commanders threw their support behind Khaddafy, the dead emir's brother.
By the late 1990s, Igasan had left the Philippines for further Islamic studies in Libya and Syria.
By the late 1990s, Igasan had left the Philippines for further Islamic studies in Libya and Syria. He took a lesser role in ASG after Khaddafy's election and left the country again in 2001. This time, he traveled to Saudi Arabia as an overseas Filipino worker, but it was a cover for his real activities. Igasan made contact with Abu Abdurahman, who was involved with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Igasan began to funnel money from jihadist supporters in Saudi Arabia to Abu Sayyaf. He also might have facilitated the travel of two unidentified militants from Yemen, who were in Basilan with ASG. They left for Mindanao with Khadaffy and his second-in-command, Abu Solaiman. Hostages confirmed the unidentified Yemenis were present when the militants celebrated the September 2001 attacks in the United States.
ASG commanders might have supported Igasan's election because of his foreign contacts. They badly need funding, and Igasan's past activities provide the guerrillas with legitimacy as jihadists rather than common criminals. Igasan's next move likely will be to target Westerners in kidnappings for ransom, particularly foreign aid workers, businessmen and tourists. The abductions also can be a tactic to persuade foreign militants that Abu Sayyaf is part of the global jihad.
Igasan's religious credentials make him an equal religious authority with the Muslim religious scholars who have issued fatwas, or religious edicts, condemning ASG. His background also could curry favor with Ustadz Habier Malik, a renegade member of the Moro National Liberation Front who withdrew from a peace agreement with the government. In addition, Igasan as leader would make Abu Sayyaf more appealing to the regional Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist group.
Sources inside the Moro Islamic Liberation Front discount all the speculation about Igasan. They say ASG has adopted the loose "inverted pyramid system of leadership" favored by al-Qaeda. Such a leadership style allows individual commanders autonomy to protect the secrecy of their operations. It means that Igasan would function as a spiritual guide rather than operational planner.
Somebody asked about this yesterday. And, believe it or not, it appears to be true...
WASHINGTON -- A tax break for NASCAR racetracks and other motor-sports facilities is among the "sweeteners" tucked inside a 450-page financial-services bailout bill to make the package more palatable to lawmakers.
Ummm, some of them were in the bill to which the bailout was attached. The 'wooden arrow' issue, for example. Let's be careful as to what was where and when.
The Senate-passed bill includes an array of so-called "tax extenders." One extends for two years a tax policy that had been allowed to expire in December that lets motor-sports facilities be treated the same as amusement parks and other entertainment complexes for tax purposes. That allowed them to write off their capital investments over a seven-year period. The motor sports industry feared that without a specific legal clarification, motor-sports facilities would be required to depreciate their capital over 15 years or longer because of a recent Internal Revenue Service inquiry into the matter. That would make repaved tracks and new concession stands more expensive in the short term.
It isn't a new tax break, rather the way tax law historically has been interpreted, said Lauri Wilks, the vice president of communications for Speedway Motorsports, which owns the NASCAR tracks in Fort Worth, Texas; Sonoma, Calif.; Concord, N.C.; and elsewhere. "It gives us incentive to go ahead and invest in our facilities," she said.
Wilks said she couldn't put a price tag on the measure because track owners would pay the same amount, just over a longer period. "Whether you pay all up front or depreciate them over time, the cash outlay is the same," she said. And the culprits?
A bill to extend the tax treatment had been introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., and co-sponsored by a number of North Carolina members including Reps. Robin Hayes, a Republican, and Melvin Watt, a Democrat. Thompson and Hayes voted against the original bank bailout bill Monday, which didn't include the tax extenders added by the Senate and passed Wednesday. Neither has said how he will vote when the House takes up the new bill.
In the Senate, the motor-sports provision was sponsored by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.
Some watchdog groups oppose loading up the bill with unrelated items. "Unfortunately, it took a legitimately historic piece of legislation that lawmakers on principle could vote for or against it, and they just loaded it up with business as usual, a huge tax package not related at all to the bailout, and crammed it over to the House," said Steve Ellis, the vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan budget watchdog group. "And it's going to be interesting to see whether this turns any votes or not."
#1
Ok, I take back what I said about the bill only helping the overseas bankers. Now that NASCAR's involved, it has to pass!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
10/03/2008 10:33
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Working for a Nascar team this sickens me. The bailout is crap and adding all these tax riders is blatant vote buying. It's too bad Bush has suddenly turned into a socialist because in the past he would have vetoed this crap. Don't get me wrong I am against the bailout, not giving Nascar tracks a little tax break.
#3
Last I heard NASCAR was doing OK. And then there is support for: manufacturers of kid's wooden arrows, Puerto Rican and Virgin Islands rum producer's, wool research, corporations operating in American Samoa, and small- to medium-budget film and television productions. Lot's of other "goodies" in the bill.
* Wool research.
* Auto-racing tracks - $128 million.
* Corporations operating in American Samoa - $33 million.
* Small- to medium-budget film and television productions - $10 million.
#4
GlennBeck was all over this last nite. In the segment, he had two leaders of government Watchdog groups going over each of these items and link the names/faces of the politicians they were trying to influence. I remember the 'Wooden Arrow' bill was to influence two Oregon votes.
#5
Talk about burying the lead. The AMT just took it it the shorts! Long overdue.
Posted by: Minister of funny walks ||
10/03/2008 13:33
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Did they get rid of the AMT, Minister? That's great. (Though the Dems will probably try to sneak it back in after the election.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/03/2008 14:11
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#7
They (A) Raised the AMT exemption from $33K to $45K for single and from $46K to almost $70K for Married/joint. and (B) You still get to use your personal credits.
Posted by: Minister of funny walks ||
10/03/2008 15:12
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#8
The bill was passed, Bush signed it. Another sad day, unless your a wood arrow manufacturer, rum runner, wool whatever, oh I'm just sick.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
10/03/2008 16:00
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#9
It is indeed a sad day for the United States. My congressman, John Duncan voted against the bill. A poll he conducted from his website indicated 87% of his constituents were opposed to the Pig in the Trough Bill. He served his constituents well but alas it didn't do any good.
#10
I think people are getting confused. There are two unrelated bills here, the bailout bill and a tax bill. This is simply because the bailout bill was passed by the Senate first and the Senate cannot introduce a tax bill, so the second was tagged on to the first as a procedural matter. So ignore the tax bill, it's a distraction.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/03/2008 19:14
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In a nutshell Barbara, the only difference between the bill that failed in the Reps and passed in the Senate was the increase of the FDIC limit from 100k to 250k. All the rest belongs to the Tax Extenders Bill, 74-25. Here is a summary.
I completely agree. You know what's whack? I felt completely sad & ashamed of the US when Elian Gonzalez was 'repatriated' back to Cuba. Is this kinda thing like the sunspot cycle?
BTW, this tax 'break' is fine with me, in my professional opinion, standing on its own. If the issue is 'entertainment complexes' being treated equally, stuff like track resurfacing and other faster wearing assets should be written off faster. It would be interesting, for example, to see how the NE Patriots and the new stadiums for Dallas / NY Yankees, etc. get their depreciation allowances on all their stuff.
#15
...to see how the NE Patriots and the new stadiums for Dallas / NY Yankees, etc. get their depreciation allowances on all their stuff.
Clarifications: 1) The Patriots built Gillette Stadium that went live in 2002 and was financed with no public money. I'd think the rules would be different if public financing was involved. 2) Are these rules retroactive, or just going forward from when the changes take place? You mean I gotta actually read this bill? Ugh...
Funny tax story (sorry if I mentioned it before, I think I did). This client makes $200K a year, but in 2005 he goes out and buys a Prius, because the sales guy says he gets a $2,000 tax credit if he buys the car. Naturally, he does not call until well after the following tax season's underway.
Guess what tax credit you don't get when you're making enough to incur the AMT? That's right!
#17
This is what I just sent all my congress critters and W via email by way of congress.org - I have had a few beers and am pissed off. Fuck it.
"I am glad Sen Stabenow & Rep McCotter voted against the bailout - it was more pork & foolishness. Thank you both - keep up the good work. Mr. President, as someone who voted for you twice and believes you are deep down, a good man I am appalled you supported this hog/turkey of a bill - you are better then that - I am dissapointed and saddened. Sen Levin, you never cease to dissapoint. Surely congress could have waited longer and forged a better more sound bill - or - killed it all together - as usual the congressional approval rating is about accurate. Our Founding Fathers are turning in their graves - gov't getting entwined w/businesss - what a travesty - going against what are founding documents assert - if the gov't had stayed out of the sub prime business in the first place this whole issue would've been minimized.
Historically speaking, a republic generally lasts only about 300 yrs - until the masses learn they can vote for their lifestyles or out of the largesse of the state coffers. I see nothing good on the horizon, and as a real patriot who has went to a combat zone in the defense of his country it saddens me."
BTW-Stabenow is a dem, I think maybe she hit the wrong voting button but whatever..I give credit where it's due. I want to go on safari and make extinct all the rinos...
#18
Good or bad about the bailout aside I think someone should find out what pork was added and at who's request and those requesters should be tarred and feathered and their names splashed all over the nation as those that choose to profit off of America's fear and potential fiscal collapse.
#19
Rj - Mike Church on Sirius went through some of that. I don't remember all the names - but, there was money put in to study caffeine withdrawal...congress is a bunch of corupt morons.
Three years ago, Kim Sengupta interviewed five women who wanted to build a new Afghanistan. Today, three are dead and a fourth has fled ...
Posted by: ed ||
10/03/2008
08:36 ||
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Is Karzai worse than useless? Maybe...
Amajan and Kakar used to work closely with a woman MP in Kandahar, Zarghuna Kakar (no relation). Ms Kakar, 36, has now fled her home after she and her family were attacked in a market. Her husband, Mohammed Nasir, was killed in the attack.
Before the shooting, Ms Kakar had repeatedly pleaded for security. At one point she turned in desperation to Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan President and a prominent figure in Kandahar. "He told me there was nothing he could do," she recalled. "He also said that I should have thought about what may happen before I stood for election. But it was his brother, the Americans and the British who told us that we women should get involved in political life. Of course, now I wish I hadn't. If only I knew what would happen."
I had the privilege of spending a few hours today amongst the bravest people in Canada. One, Marc Lebuis, is a name you won't recognize, because up to now he's kept a low profile as the one-man show running www.pointdebasculecanada.ca. This is an anti-Islamist site that brings francophone Quebecers the news and frank opinions on the relentless push of the soft jihadists in our midst to Islamicize society, opinions that the mainstream media are too politically correct to publish. Marc and some close associates organized today's press conference on the subject, "Political Islam - A Threat to Our Freedoms."
The three other brave people appearing with him should be household names, but their courage and eloquence is, shamefully, only known and saluted by a relative handful of grateful Canadians: Salim Mansur, Tarek Fatah and Raheel Raza, three Canadian Muslims facing death threats by other Canadian Muslims for exposing the dangers of Islamism, a totalitarian ideology that wears the mask of religion.
The room at the Omni hotel in Montreal was filled to capacity, reverberating with frequent applause to statements like these from Salim Mansur: "Islam is my private life, my conscience...[but] my faith does not take precedence over my duties...to Canada and its constitution, which I embrace freely;" "I am first and most importantly a Canadian;" "only in a free society will you find Islam as a faith and not a political religion."
Appreciation was shown as well for the statements of Tarek Fatah, who spoke about the threat to freedom of speech posed by Islamists who constantly seek to chill any perceived criticism of any Muslim. In explaining the danger Islamism poses to society, Fatah said that "Islam is to Islamism as uranium is to weapons of mass destruction." Having lived 30 years in Pakistan and 10 in Saudi Arabia, Fatah knows intimately what constitutes "soft jihad" when he sees it. He expressed his sorrow, as a lifetime social democrat that after 17 years of engaged support for the NDP, he could no longer be affiliated with that party. He saw the doors opening to Islamists under Alexa McDonough and now, under Layton, he has seen them "flood" into the party.
It soon became apparent that the particular political focus of all three of the speakers is the NDP, which has shamelessly courted and integrated into its inner circles Islamist Muslims with views that are antithetical and even dangerous to the continued health of Canadian values. Fatah has watched in frustration as Islamists in the NDP pursue a relentless campaign to instill a sense of victimhood in Muslim youth. Yesterday an NDP candidate in Toronto Centre - an immigration lawyer, Farouk El-Khaki - accused the judiciary of being anti-Islam. He was not chastised by Jack Layton, and even more worrying, he was not held to account by any other party candidate. It is clear that no party leader wants Islamism raised as an election issue.
Jack Layton, Mansur said "has gone to bed with Islamists." He is running candidates in Ontario and Quebec who are closely identified with the push for Sharia law, which, all the panelists made clear is the litmus test for dividing real moderate Muslims from Islamists. Fatah also expressed his contempt for the Ontario Human Rights Commission which, he asserted is "infiltrated by Islamists": There are commissioners in the OHCR closely linked to the Canadian Islamic Congress and the Canada-Arab federation, both of which, according to Fatah, have "contempt for Canadian values." Anyone, he says, "who brings religion into politics should be suspect" because they "are a threat to western civilization." The NDP's failure to interrogate their Muslim supporters for fear of revealing their Islamism is the "racism of lower expectations."
Raheel Raza introduced herself as "the proud recipient of a fatwa" for having the gall to try to lead prayers. She shared her joy in having the freedom in Canada to be spiritually religious without fear of political coercion, something she could never have in a Muslim country: "No Muslim country would allow me the rights I have here." She knows she is being monitored from abroad, since she received her fatwa by e-mail from Saudi Arabia. How would they have known about her if she were not being informed on by Islamists here? She cannot fathom why politicians pander to the Islamists. Actually she can fathom it. "Political correctness" will not allow politicians to raise the question of allegiance in their Muslim supporters.
As for feminists, where are they? Also pandering. They have not spoken up about the Talibanist woman in Mississauga who teaches the virtues of polygamy to her female students, nor have they criticized a cleric who openly admits to performing polygamous marriages. Feminists seem to have lower expectations for Muslim women than for themselves: what Tarek Fatah calls "left wing racism." Ms Raza is, according to an Islamist website, #5 of the "most hated Muslims in the world." "My aim," she chuckles, "is to become #1."
The air began to crackle with political electricity when Samaa Elibyan, a Muslim journalist with close ties to the Canadian Islamic Congress, and an admirer of the infamous Taliban apologist Yvonne Ridley, stood up to challenge the panel's right to criticize Samira Laouni, NDP candidate in Bourassa riding, who was not present, for her Islamist views of Sharia law. Mr Mansur and Mr Fatah reminded her that if the NDP had the right to pick an Islamist candidate - and they do - then anyone else has the right to criticize that choice, including "the right to insult you." After the conference, predictably enough, Radio-Canada were all over Ms Elibyan for her views. Not a single reporter was interested in interviewing the three brave hearts who are trying to warn us of a clear and present danger that nobody, least of all the people tasked with protecting us from our enemies, wants to talk about.
Someone logged onto a computer in a Chinatown Internet cafe last month and shot off a bomb-threat e-mail to American airline company Delta Airlines. He wrote that Delta Flight 1778, slated to fly in two days from Atlanta, Georgia to Tampa, Florida, would have a bomb on board. Signing off as 'Mr Islamic Jihad' from the terror organisation Al-Qaeda, he ended the e-mail with 'Long live Al-Qaeda'.
Investigations have led the police to a suspect, Josemaria Miguel Ye Yong Qiang, 39, who was on Friday charged in a district court under the United Nations (Anti-Terrorism Measures) Regulations. The Act was introduced here in 2001 following the Sept 11 attacks on the United States, to nail those who stoke fears of terrorist attacks by creating false alarms. A conviction brings up to five years' jail and a fine of up to $100,000.
Ye, who was arrested in Geylang Lorong 23 on Thursday, is in police custody and is due back in court on Friday. He is also known to have sent several other e-mail bomb hoaxes to overseas airline companies last month, said the police.
UN court's sentencing of a wartime Bosnian general, Rasim Delic, for crimes committed by Islamic fighters against Serbs illustrates how al-Qaida used the Bosnian war to expand its reach into Europe.
#1
Well, Slow Joe took credit last night for being the FIRST member of Congress to advocate for American intervention in Bosnia. Slow Joe seems to be very comfy with Iranain interests also. Is Slow Joe taking Muzz payoffs ? Did this endear him to Hussein ?
#2
ION RENSE > British Medias are reporting that PAKISTAN IS DEMANDNG A SIMILAR NUCLEAR DEAL FROM THE US AS MADE WID INDIA.
ALso. WAFF.com [April 2008 rehash] > PAKISTAN-BASED LASHKAR EL-ISLAM MILITANT GROUP VOWS TO SPREAD ISLAM ALL OVER THE WORLD. Multi-point hardline Islamist agendum.
#1
Yup. And so far as I can see, the Democrats are up to business as usual in Washington. At best they are reshuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic while at the same time punching holes in the hull.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Several big life insurance stocks fell sharply Thursday, dragged down by jitters about their role in the credit crisis and fears sparked by a comment from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Wednesday about a potential bankruptcy in the industry.
"We don't have a lot of leeway on time. One of the individuals in the caucus today talked about a major insurance company. A major insurance company -- one with a name that everyone knows that's on the verge of going bankrupt. That's what this is all about," Reid said prior to the Senate's approval of the $700 billion bailout bill.
Steven Schwartz, an analyst who covers insurance companies for Raymond James & Associates, said that even before Reid made his bankruptcy comment, investors were growing worried about life insurers' exposure to real estate as well as "secondary exposure" via investments in troubled finance firms like Lehman Bros, Wachovia and Washington Mutual.
But the comment from Reid clearly caused even more fear.
"Harry Reid didn't help any," Schwartz said.
Kind of makes you wonder what Harry's personal portfolio contains, and when he shorted them ...
New York-based MetLife was one of the hardest-hit insurers Thursday. Its stock plunged nearly 16%. Thursday's drop comes after a 14% decline on Wednesday. In light of this, MetLife issued a statement Thursday afternoon to address Reid's comments. "The statement yesterday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid does not apply to MetLife. MetLife is financially sound and has high ratings from all of the major insurance ratings agencies. MetLife is fully able to meet all its obligations," the company said.
Shares of Hartford Financial Services fell about 33%, following a 7% decline on Wednesday. The stock has lost more than half of its value this week.
Jeffrey Schuman, analyst for Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, wrote in a report that the sell-off stems from worries about the company's third quarter results, which will be released later this month. Schuman estimated that Hartford has "likely" experienced credit losses of up to $800 million from preferred stocks and debt tied to Lehman, AIG and Washington Mutual.
These concerns prompted Fitch Ratings to impose a "negative outlook" on the company Monday, raising more concerns about the company's need for capital.
Schuman wrote in a note that the recent drop was "likely overdone" but added that Hartford will face "difficult operating headwinds and ongoing credit losses" in the near-term.
A call to Hartford for comment Thursday was not immediately returned. But on Wednesday, the company said that its "core operating businesses are performing well and our liquidity remains strong."
A spokesman for Sen. Reid backtracked a bit Thursday and said that the senator was not aware of any company being in danger of bankruptcy. "Senator Reid is not personally aware of any particular company being on the verge of bankruptcy. He has no special knowledge about [a bankruptcy] nor has he talked to any insurance company officials," said Jim Manley, spokesman for Sen. Reid, in an email to CNNMoney.com.
"Rather, his comments were meant to refer to the conditions in the financial sector generally. He regrets any confusion his comments may have caused," Manley added.
Still, shares of other top life insurers also fell sharply Thursday. Paris-based AXA dropped 12.5%. Other insurers -- including Canadian based Manulife Financial Corp., which owns John Hancock, Prudential Financial and Principal Financial Group -- also slipped, falling 6%, 11% and 15.5% respectively.
Schwartz of Raymond James said some of the concerns about insurers are overblown. He said that, generally speaking, insurers haven't invested in the types of "truly toxic assets" that have led to huge losses for some investment banks and commercial banks.
He described the failure of AIG, which lost billions of dollars on credit default swaps tied to subprime loans and was essentially taken over by the government in exchange for an $85 billion bridge loan, as "very atypical" for the insurance industry. "The industry will get through this," said Schwartz. "[But] that's not to say there won't be strains."
#3
The good people of the State of Nevada ought to put a muzzle on this guy. Send him to pasture. The economy would improve considerably and we would win the WOT much sooner.
As panicky U.S. negotiators raced this week to save the endangered Six-Party Talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program, they faced a major new issue: Who would be calling the shots in Pyongyang when the breathless American diplomats arrived? Kim Jong Il's absence from the North's recent 60th-birthday celebration unleashed a world-wide torrent of speculation and rumors about his failing health. In both Washington and Pyongyang, voices have been raised essentially arguing that a regime crisis is the last thing we should want. But is the stability of an internationally criminal, cruelly dictatorial, nuclear-weapons-equipped North Korea really something we should value above all conceivable alternatives?
Nightmare predictions of loose nukes, an out-of-control North Korean military, a tsunami of refugees and the prospect that the South might have to absorb over 20 million impoverished new citizens are keeping some awake at night. Unquestionably, a Pyongyang regime crisis carries huge risks and challenges. But let's keep our eyes on the prize. There may be a precious opportunity in the midst of potential disaster to reunite the Korean Peninsula under democratic rule, or at least bring this objective closer. A regime crisis in Pyongyang poses two main challenges: (1) the military and nuclear threat on the Peninsula and more broadly; and (2) the humanitarian and economic consequences of the North's collapse, both the immediate risk of massive refugee flows and the long-term economic impact of reunification. These two challenges actually pose very similar choices for U.S. and South Korean leaders today.
First, there is no doubt that North Korea's nuclear arsenal must not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands, outside or inside the country, nor should the North's chemical and biological weapons be made operational. The U.S.-South Korean Combined Forces Command (CFC) has contingency plans for these circumstances, drawn with the full realization that rapid implementation in a period of high uncertainty may mean the difference between securing the North's weapons of mass destruction and seeing them used in chaotic and deadly ways. Despite contrary speculation, there is no motivation for North Korea's generals to attack South Korea. They are far more likely to engage in an internal power struggle, which is where the most destructive weapons would be used, and why we must act rapidly to secure them. If things really come unglued, the generals' main preoccupation may well be simply getting out of Dodge -- an objective we should be happy to facilitate.
Critical here is that Beijing be told clearly that any military action across the DMZ is intended only to deal with the regime crisis, and is in no way aimed at China. Indeed, to the extent Beijing has information about, say, the location of the North's nuclear weapons, it would clearly be in China's interest to share that information. Not only would a decisive CFC operation minimize the chances for loose nukes or warlord-minded generals, it could also dramatically help reassure the North Korean population that they could stay in their homes, and prevent massive refugee flows into China. That, in turn, could eliminate any thoughts Beijing might have about its own intervention to keep North Koreans from flowing across the Yalu River.
Second, whatever the CFC is able to do, there is little doubt we must plan for urgent humanitarian needs in the North. The scale and expense of the response required to forestall tragedy in these circumstances could be staggering -- but today such an international response is not only feasible, but potentially quite manageable. Key to this assessment is the critical geographical fact that North Korea is adjacent to South Korea, an affluent democracy. For any successful response to humanitarian travails in North Korea, of course, establishing order as rapidly as possible will be imperative. In all too many contemporary humanitarian crises, refugees have nowhere to return to. Not so here: the South Korean Constitution already established their right to citizenship in the Republic of Korea. Like Germany during the Cold War, and Israel today, South Korea guarantees a "right of return" for those in the North. Instead of facing an uncertain future in "displaced persons" camps in China, Russia or elsewhere, North Korean escapees could count on protection and legal rights in the Republic of Korea.
The economic implications of absorbing the North Korean population have seemed terrifying to South Korean policy makers ever since the Berlin Wall came down. But the plain fact is that the economic chasm between North and South will continue to widen as long as the North Korean regime survives. The longer unification is postponed, the greater the immediate challenges of reunification are likely to be. There are potential economic opportunities in an economic reintegration of North and South -- not just expenses. A flexible and market-oriented Korean economy, under rule of law and open to international trade and finance, will be best placed to capitalize upon these opportunities. In the short run, the expenses of dealing with humanitarian needs from the North may be high. But in the long run, if a reunified Korea can recreate the sort of "business climate" in which the South thrived, the "costs" of reunification will take care of themselves.
Kim Jong Il's demise could thus hasten North Korea's demise as well, an outcome we should welcome. A reunited, fully democratic Korea would likely be a strong U.S. ally, a geopolitical benefit too often ignored by our State Department. Let us not lose sight of that prospect as we deal with the perils and prospects of regime crisis in Pyongyang. Preparing for the worst should not keep us from trying to plan for the best as well.
What nuclear arsenal? Last time I heard, they had nothing deliverable, and the test attempt was a dud. Dirty bomb, but that's it. Nuclear material, you betcha we gotta worry about that.
Also, are not men mortal? The death of Kimmie will happen sooner or later.
#2
South Korea has had the perfect storm of good luck since the 1960's: big capital infusion from Uncle Sam for providing troops to the Vietnam War, lots of jobs for Korean firms building roads in the same war, simple defense lines at home with Uncle Sugar paying a minimum of 2/3 the cost, export-driven economy with a protected market at home...yeah, life has been good for them.
If the Norks collapse, all that's gone. Lots of poor Norks to feed, house, educate and employ will mean Sork taxes go up, Sork living standards go down (Sork unions will be toast), and they'll have that LONG border with China and Russia to protect with Uncle Sugar already halfway out the door.
No, things won't be too good in Sorkland once the North implodes. No wonder they're so damned scared of it.
#3
From what I've read the South would love North Korea to have a sane dictator for awhile to bring them up to the modern age before unification. If North Korea collapses everyone will expect South Korea to be heavily involved in any kind of rebuilding and that would take them out of the game for a decade or more.
2. secret junta rules for 3 months before making KJI death public
3. secret junta rules for 3 more months before selecting a new chief biggie
4. new chief biggie resigns
beginning in the late phase 2 a mass immigration to the South begins, by phase 3 this movement begins to be far more than the South can handle and they begin to have a quiet representative in the North Junta in exchange for lots of cash which is used in part to keep Nork peasants out of the South but in a few months this arrangement breaks down and the South is forced to take control of the North
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/03/2008 21:15
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#7
MSM-NET > CHINA is reportedly already mentoring/grooming Kimmie's potential successors, which essen means that nothing will take place in NOKOR unless CHINA = CHINESE MODEL FOR NORTH KOREA IS SATISFIED AND INCORPORATED INTO ANY NOKOR AND OR PAN-KOREAN SOLUTION.
AGain, RUSSO-GEIRGIAN CONFLICT + US-PAKISTAN QUARRELINGS > the US is now engaged ina new war wid Radicla Islamism for the control of EURASIA in general, and ASIA in particular AS ISLAMIST PRIORITY = MAIN STRATEGIC WAR FRONT OUTSIDE OF IRAQ, vee "ATTACKING WHERE THE US/US-ALLIES ARE NOT". CHINA is Pakistan's ally and, more importantly, is historically ANTI-EURO/WESTERN = "CHINA FOR CHINESE, ASIA FOR ASIANS".
INDIA's ANTI-CHRISTIAN HINDU VIOLENCE > IMO, Many HINDUS recognize that any Islamist defeat vee USA, etc. may result in US-WEST/NATO-EU domin presence-control throughout ASIA of which INDIA per se is just one nation.
Taken colectively, methinks its safe to say that the NOKOR situation wil be closely linked to how CHINA ACCEPTS = NOT ACCEPTS ANY INTENSIVE POST-GWOT US-WEST INFLUENCE IN ASIA. Many Chin Netters suppor unilateral CHIN MIL INTERVENTION in PAKISTAN + FORMER SOVIET SSRS, ETC. BOTH TO PROTECT CHINA FROM THE LOCAL-REGIONAL ISLAMIST MILITANT THREAT AND TO KEEP THE US-WEST OUT OF ASIA.
#8
Again, the MAP OF ASIA as many generations of AMers know it to be may look different post-WOT, or even after Year 2015 or 2020. IT'S A VERY DANGEROUS TIME FOR THE US, ASIA, + WORLD RIGHT NOW.
#9
I also wouldn't mind seeing mhw's scenerio plan happen. It sounds reasonable and far better than other options I've heard. I would also add another step, and increase in the number of Southerners able to go to the North to visit relatives (and thus introduce a lot of currency into the north in the process). Possibly an agreement to build some factories in the North to get the north working and to provide South Korea with really cheap labor could ease the transition. If the South is smart they would try to staff those factories with North Korean military types so they have something else to do rather than playing with guns or going hungry.
#10
I always wondered what would happen if say Vladvostok took the old Hong Kong book of laws and government and allowed any North Korean (or Chinese) who could get there to be citizens and work. I mean it worked so well for Hong Kong, what would it take to rekindle that lightening?
Iraq's presidency agrees on elections law Bidens facts seem to be getting trample by reality.
BAGHDAD (AP) -- A spokesman says Iraq's presidential council has agreed on a law that paves the way for U.S.-backed provincial elections to be held by the end of January.
The spokesman for the panel, Nasser al-Ani, tells The Associated Press that the law has gained unanimous approval from the three-member panel and will be officially signed later Friday. Al-Ani says the panel led by President Jalal Talabani decided to approve the law on Monday but did not sign it due to Islamic holidays.
The move is a breakthrough for U.S. efforts to promote national reconciliation after months of deadlock over power-sharing issues in northern Iraq. Iraqi lawmakers set aside the divisive issues of the oil-rich region around Kirkuk and representation of minorities.
#3
I'm wondering if Katie wasn't used as a set up to lower expectations, though I think it more likely that consultants were trying to make a new and improved Palin and that they backed off after they saw the results.
#4
Questioning Palin on Supreme Court decisions was a set-up by elitest and arrogant liberal lawyers. The average person would also draw a blank on legal decisions, but, after having time to reflect, Palin should get back to Couric on affirmative action and eminent domain.
#5
If the question were turned around and Katie Couric were asked about a significant SCOTUS decision, she wouldn't have a clue. Most people would not. It was a lawyer set-up question provided to Couric. Unfortunately, I don't think the McCain campaign is organized enough to plan such a thing to lower expectations--it was just serendipity.
It seems like Sarah really connected with people who vote. The Drudge on-line poll of over 500,000 people indicated 70% went for Palin over Biden. These people can't all be Conservative Republicans who are voting.
#6
Kelo v. New London would have been a good answer, but other than being "an" answer to most CBS news viewers, I don't know what impact that would have had.
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
10/03/2008 17:17
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#7
The Drudge on-line poll of over 500,000 people indicated 70% went for Palin over Biden. These people can't all be Conservative Republicans who are voting.
Yeah, I was under the impression Drudge and its readers were mostly just left of center. The fact McCain won on their poll and now Palin tells me that the independent voters are trending toward them.
#5
We'll see today if Nancy really wants the bailout to pass or not.
She doesn't - not quickly, at any rate, and not cleanly and not effectively. She wants power and she's far more extreme than most people realize in her politics. In fact, when she ran for speaker she made it clear she wanted to move the Dems very far left.
#6
Always remember in American Politics that there is a lot more to the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence than "We the people". The second half of that paragraph gets very specific. I hoped against hope that we wouldn't have to use the "reset" key we have, but it's not lookin' good, folks.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/03/2008 20:49
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#1
This article leaves some big questions unanswered. One, by what means did a 7 year old "break in" to the farm? Did he just walk through an unlocked door? And who was supposed to be supervising this kid during his "35 minute rampage"? Also, perhaps the boy cannot be punished (by the state anyway) but, surely, the parents or guardians must have some financial liability.
#7
More here. The expressionless lad scaled a fence, then bludgeoned to death some of the reptiles he fed to the crocodile. Psychopath, indeed. But at least it's a family tradition -- his brother did something similar some years ago.
#8
That kid is seriously f*cked up in the head. Forget the criminal charges, have a pediatric psychiatrist brought in and examine his demonic little brain.
#9
Unfortunately in Australia, no law is actually enforceable. At least against a 7 year old. They may want to think about changing that.
Posted by: Minister of funny walks ||
10/03/2008 13:40
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#10
I'm told that 'once upon a time in a liberty port far far away' drunken sailors used to buy fluffy ducks and baby chicks from the Hey-Joes that hung around outside their watering holes and fed them (not the Hey-Joes) to crocs and gators. The ability to confirm that no longer exists since Subic Bay is closed.
#1
Standard procedure: since they only killed infidels and Koran says that no Muslim can be sentenced to death for mudering untermenschen infidels, their sentence will be commuted. An in less than five years they will be amnistiated and walk free.
By STEVEN A. HOLMES
Published: September 30, 1999 Note the date
In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.
The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.
Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits. "Pressure from the Clinton Administration"
In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates -- anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans.
''Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990's by reducing down payment requirements,'' said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer. ''Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market.'' Raines changed the compensation plan to be based on the number of loans held. The more loans, the more he and his Donk executive pals made. In his case it was $65M and a $25M Golden Parachute.
Demographic information on these borrowers is sketchy. But at least one study indicates that 18 percent of the loans in the subprime market went to black borrowers, compared to 5 per cent of loans in the conventional loan market. The next two paragraphs are critical.
In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's.
''From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,'' said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ''If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.'' This is amazing, the NYT had it right 9 years ago.
Under Fannie Mae's pilot program, consumers who qualify can secure a mortgage with an interest rate one percentage point above that of a conventional, 30-year fixed rate mortgage of less than $240,000 -- a rate that currently averages about 7.76 per cent. If the borrower makes his or her monthly payments on time for two years, the one percentage point premium is dropped.
Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, does not lend money directly to consumers. Instead, it purchases loans that banks make on what is called the secondary market. By expanding the type of loans that it will buy, Fannie Mae is hoping to spur banks to make more loans to people with less-than-stellar credit ratings.
Fannie Mae officials stress that the new mortgages will be extended to all potential borrowers who can qualify for a mortgage. But they add that the move is intended in part to increase the number of minority and low income home owners who tend to have worse credit ratings than non-Hispanic whites.
Home ownership has, in fact, exploded among minorities during the economic boom of the 1990's. The number of mortgages extended to Hispanic applicants jumped by 87.2 per cent from 1993 to 1998, according to Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies. During that same period the number of African Americans who got mortgages to buy a home increased by 71.9 per cent and the number of Asian Americans by 46.3 per cent.
In contrast, the number of non-Hispanic whites who received loans for homes increased by 31.2 per cent. Despite these gains, home ownership rates for minorities continue to lag behind non-Hispanic whites, in part because blacks and Hispanics in particular tend to have on average worse credit ratings.
In July, the Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed that by the year 2001, 50 percent of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's portfolio be made up of loans to low and moderate-income borrowers. Last year, 44 percent of the loans Fannie Mae purchased were from these groups.
The change in policy also comes at the same time that HUD is investigating allegations of racial discrimination in the automated underwriting systems used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to determine the credit-worthiness of credit applicants.
#1
Go read Barry Ritholtz's blog, The Big Picture, if you can stand it. They're all up in arms that the racist Rethuglicans would DARE suggest that Fannie/Freddie got in trouble through making dicey loans to minorities. Ritholtz also said that Phoenix, San Diego, and Miami were "non-minority" cities. You have to wonder what planet he's been on. It certainly didn't have South Florida on it.
As for the New Yuk Times, I'm not surprised to see they got something right nine years ago. The question is whether they've gotten anything right since. I'd bet not...
#2
Wow the NYTs reported this story. Who would have known they reported factual stories then.
Clinton administration pressured banks to make risky loans! The creeping socialism then is nothing compared to what will come under a Barack Hussein Obama administration.
#4
We have minorities in San Diego. Maybe not like Detroit or Newark...it's more brown than black. But the problem the way I saw it in San Diego was the skyrocketing price of homes...from half a million to a million for little cracker boxes, even while the developers and their pet politicians kept blathering about affordable housing. Nobody, minority or otherwise, could afford these places if they had conventional mortgages. The developers were in hog heaven running their damn bulldozers all over the place. They couldn't build 'em fast enough even with the cheap, illegal labor they were importing from south of here. Schools and hospitals were overcrowded, freeways were congested, police and fire protection were afterthoughts and now they're telling us we don't have enough water. I think also that there were a lot of speculators taking advantage of these exotic mortgages and jacking up the prices even further. I knew all along that it was all about greed and corruption and I knew it was a bubble that sooner or later had to burst. But only now am I beginning to see that it was nationwide. And it's ironic that the very people who were supposed to be helped by all this are the ones who are gonna suffer the most.
#5
good for this metric footballer coach...I'd like to mule kick chris mathews in the sternum and then skull f*ck john leibowitz (stewart) for even thinking he's a journalist...myopic little douche bag that he is.
#1
Sarah didn't let the side down. I'll admit to some loss of faith over the past few days; myself, I screamed "KELO v. NEW LONDON, for the love of God!" at my teevee when Kutie Colic hit her with that "what OTHER Supreme Court decision didn't you agree with" uppercut. After the two most recent MSM proctoscopies interviews in which Sarah did a fair-to-middling impression of a deer caught in headlights, my Spidey sense was saying train wreck...train wreck...train wreck all day long on Thursday. But - not unlike the Obamessiah in the 1st debate - she didn't get flustered, held her own and basically won by not losing.
Frank Luntz did some of his automated focus-group analysis on Fox News right afterwards...a mixed audience of undecideds, supposedly half and half each Donk and Trunk leaning. Sarah scored extremely high on the audience's response lines - her positives were high enough that Luntz is anticipating a big movement back in J-Mac's direction in the next few days.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
10/03/2008 1:03
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#2
She doggone bummdiggity did well. yeehaw.
Posted by: Joe six pack ||
10/03/2008 13:36
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#3
I *think* we just pulled a visit from the junior troll crew.
#6
She did good, kept the punches going and didn't give up! As a doubter last week, I'm feel more like she belongs and is not out of her league anymore. Just stop saying that annoying "We're the mavericks" ™ so many times and she might win.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says the fact that he backs the death penalty for the Bali bombers in Indonesia does not signal any change in his opposition to capital punishment in Australia.
Mr Rudd says the three men on death row in Indonesia over the bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, are cowards and mass murderers who deserve the justice that will be delivered to them.
He says the Bali bombers are subject to the Indonesian system, but he has told Fairfax radio he does not believe in the death penalty in Australia or for Australians in other nations.
"That's the view of the Liberals, that's the view of the Australian Labor Party and that'll be the case into the future as well," he said.
"Also when it comes to Australians convicted of sentences abroad, both Mr Howard when he was prime minister and myself since becoming Prime Minister, we regularly intervene with foreign countries arguing the case for clemency for Australians convicted abroad."
Britain's most senior police officer has resigned after criticism of his leadership and his handling of major investigations including terrorism cases. Ian Blair, commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police, said he was stepping down 16 months before his five-year contract was due to expire.
He said on Thursday: "Without the mayor's backing I do not think I can continue in the job."
Blair said Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, who took over as chairman of the police authority on Wednesday, had told him he wanted a "change in leadership".
The decision follows months of negative headlines surrounding the 55-year-old, particularly over the fatal shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian electrician killed at a London railway station in July 2005 by police who had mistaken him for a suicide bomber. There have been questions about his handling of events surrounding the shooting.
Regularly criticised
Blair has also been embroiled in a high-profile row with the force's most senior Asian officer, Tarique Ghaffur, the assistant commissioner, who has accused him of racial discrimination.
The Times newspaper had said that ministers and other police chiefs were secretly preparing plans to remove Blair, who has been dogged by controversy since taking over in February 2005. Blair has regularly been criticised in the media.
Questions had also been raised over a series of IT contracts worth £3m ($5.3m) awarded to Impact Plus, a consultancy owned by his long-time friend Andy Miller. Jacqui Smith, the interior minister, said Paul Stephenson, the deputy commissioner, will take over as acting head of the Met.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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The US vice-presidential candidates are preparing to hold their first televised debate with tens of millions of Americans due to tune-in to the battle between Joe Biden, the Democratic candidate, and Republican Sarah Palin. The McCain camp was kinda bragging before the debate. I always cringe when that happens -- it's so easy to get left with egg on your face. In this case it decidedly did not happen.
Thursday's debate in St Louis comes as a poll found that most US voters have huge doubts about Palin's experience and ability to lead. "Six in 10 voters see her as lacking the experience to be an effective president, and a third are now less likely to vote for McCain because of her," the Washington Post said of its joint poll with ABC News. I have a mild suspicion that was a setup. She put in a damned good performance.
Palin, the Alaska governor, will be scrutinised during the debate as she has been ridiculed for the answers she gave during recent interviews. "She'll be just fine. She'll do fine tonight," McCain told MSNBC, rejecting criticism that his campaign had mishandled her by shielding her from the media. "She's experienced. She's knowledgeable. She's very strong person. I'm proud of her record, and I'm proud of her." I don't think she knew all the details of every topic she touched on, but she knew her stuff pretty solid. If she had been a regular Rantburg reader she'da torn Joe a new one on the Pak-Afghan-Iran-Iraq topics, but I guess she can't be perfect. Biden, on the other hand, threw out some outright falsehoods -- Rove called him on a half dozen of them within minutes of the end of the debate. He also had some pretty hazy ideas about Paleostine, calling Bush's handling of it since 2000 an unmitigated disaster while ignoring the actuality of intricately interwoven move and countermove: Yasser getting caught out in the Karin A episode, losing control of the Paleos (assuming he ever had it), Zinni throwing up his hands at dealing with him, Sheikh Yassin and Rantissi getting zapped, episode after episode, Yasser croaking, dealing with Sharon, then Sharon's stroke -- none of them existed in Bidenworld, none of them needed any kind of diplo attention. There was no mention of Libya, no mention of relations with India, no mention of the shift in European politix toward conservatives and away from the sour social democracy that was running things when 9-11 occurred.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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The general who commands NATO forces in Afghanistan has called for enlisting tribes to help pacify the country and did not rule out reconciliation with Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. General David McKiernan, the commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), also said that the coalition needs more troops for what he said is an increasingly "tough fight" in eastern and southern Afghanistan. "And until we get to what I call a tipping point where the lead for security can be in the hands of the Afghan Army and the Afghan police, there is going to be a need for the international community to provide military capabilities," he told reporters on Wednesday.
McKiernan has asked for four more US combat brigades, support forces, helicopters and reconnaissance, intelligence and surveillance capabilities. He said that any reconciliation efforts should be led by the Afghan government, but that the military would support it.
Asked whether dealing with the man who harbored Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was beyond the pale, McKiernan said: "I think that's a political decision that will ultimately be made by political leadership."
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Tuesday that he has asked Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah to arrange talks with the Taliban so that Omar and other militia leaders could return home in peace. "Ultimately, the solution in Afghanistan is going to be a political solution not a military solution," said McKiernan, who spoke to reporters at a Pentagon news conference. "We're not going to run out of bad guys there that want to do bad things in Afghanistan," he said. "So the idea that the government of Afghanistan will take on the idea of reconciliation, I think, is [an] approach and we'll be there to provide support within our mandate," he said.
The general's visit to Washington comes as the administration of US President George W. Bush is conducting a wide-ranging strategy review prompted by rising insurgent violence in Afghanistan, allegedly fueled from sanctuaries in Pakistan.
The Afghan National Army is supposed to double in size to 134,000 troops in four years, but McKiernan said he did not know how long it would take to reach a point where international forces can start withdrawing.
Drawing on the US experience in Iraq, however, McKiernan suggested that a rebalancing of power between the central government and the tribes could help provide security at a local level. "And it seems to me that with the lead of the government of Afghanistan engaging those tribes and connecting them to governance, whether it's at the provincial level or the district level, seems to be a smart thing," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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Tokyo police said on Tuesday they had arrested a man with a passion for women's underwear who used a fishing rod to reel them in.
Akira Hino (51) was arrested last week for stealing a pair of knickers from a laundry pole on a second-floor balcony, a police spokesperson said. He stretched out a 3m rod and caught the underwear on a hook, the Mainichi Shimbun reported.
Called to his house, police found more than 500 pairs of women's underwear inside. He reportedly told investigators he had got into the habit of stealing undergarments when he was 18.
It was not known for how long he had been using a fishing pole.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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#1
You just know GODZILLA will have something to say about Tokyo humans stealing his -ZILLA Babe stash.
The Freedom Tower, centerpiece of the plan to rebuild Manhattan's World Trade Center, will not be completed until 2013, well past the original target date of 2009, the landowning agency for the site said on Thursday.
But the most important parts of the "heart" of the site, the memorial to the nearly 3,000 who perished in the September 11, 2001 attack, will open by the 10th anniversary, New York Gov. David Paterson told reporters. He noted that in June the completion date had slipped as far back as 2015.
The memorial's plaza, waterfalls, displays of victims' names and a gathering area will be finished by 2011, although some of the site might subsequently be open only "intermittently" until it is finished, he added.
Paterson took office in March and after reviewing six years of missed deadlines, ordered the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to come up with realistic estimates, which the agency's new executive director unveiled on Thursday.
The cost of the 1,776-foot (541-meter) Freedom Tower, meant to symbolize the city's revival, will rise to $3.1 billion, partly because it will now have two observation decks instead of one, Executive Director Christopher Ward said.
Other parts of the project are also delayed, including the underground part of a memorial museum and a mass transit hub. Service on a subway that runs through the site will partly be suspended, said Ward, whose agency helps oversee the project.
The delays are the latest hurdles in the reconstruction of the World Trade Center, which has repeatedly stalled due to fights over insurance and wrangles between the major players -- state, city and federal agencies and developer Larry Silverstein, who leased it two months before it was destroyed.
The worsening financial crisis has imperiled many construction projects in the city and around the country. Wall Street's troubles have also hit the city's office market.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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#1
This is simply brilliant. They are going to finish this white elephant right in the teeth of a commercial real estate crash in NYC. They could have completed this back in 2005, if they had hustled.
The Air Force on Thursday claimed to have bombed the LTTE's "military headquarter complex" in Kilinochchi even as the military announced that its troops are 3.5 km away from the Kilinochchi town.
Sri Lankan Air Force spokesperson Janaka Nanayakkara told journalists here that fighter jets targeted the LTTE headquarters located two km northeast of Kilinochchi town. However, in a statement posted on its website, the LTTE alleged that the "LTTE Peace Secretariat and the Political Head Office" were targeted. Six of one, half a dozen of the other, I'd say...
"In this attack, which took place around 12.45 pm, two civilians were killed and another five injured while they were passing the nearby road. Several houses situated in the close proximity of these offices were also badly damaged," it said. My heart bleeds [urp!]
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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The Bush Administration, in mid-financial crisis, approves to give more fighter jets to Israel to bully Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas. The Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency has agreed the $15.2 billion-sale of 25 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters for Israel with an option for another 50, amid speculations that Tel Aviv is preparing for an attack on Iran, DEBKAfile's military sources reported.
The agency claimed it is vital to US national security interests to assist Israel develop "a strong and ready self-defense capability."
The deal was approved after senior Israeli and US officials met in Washington this month and assurances were given that sensitive technologies would not be passed to third parties.
Earlier this month, the Pentagon approved up to $330 million in three separate arms deals for Israel and posted its advanced FBX-band radar system to an Israeli Air Force base in the Negev.
Israel is the first foreign nation to receive the up-to-the-minute Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike stealth fighter, which will replace the older F-16 fighters and enhance its air-to-air and air-to-ground defenses.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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#1
US will arm Israel against Iran, Syria
prediction:
The Pin Head's Head will turn Beet-Red and get more Pointy; ....Shorty will just get Shorter.
Iranian FM says the US could restart its diplomatic relations with Iran if Washington changes its foreign policy vis-a- vis the Islamic Republic.
Wait a few months and a President Obama may grant your wish ...
Manouchehr Mottaki acknowledged on Thursday his nation is closely monitoring the US election and is anticipating major changes from the next White House occupant.
The US unilaterally severed ties with Iran in April of 1980, following a failed American hostage rescue effort attempt that went awry in the Iranian desert near Tabas.
Oh yeah, that ...
Earlier The Guardian had reported that the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has formed a group to study the feasibility of reestablishing a diplomatic presence in Tehran after the idea repeatedly cropped up in discussions among US think tanks.
"Whatever candidate becomes the next president of the US, will have no other option than to bring about new developments in American foreign policy," Mottaki told a symposium sponsored by the Asia Society in New York. According to AFP, he said the next US president would have to try to "reach out to other countries around the world, including states in the Middle East."
The Iranian diplomat noted that what would be needed for Iran to consider a rapporcehment would be a clear change in the White House in both word and deed respecting Iran.
He also squarely blamed Washington for the dismal state of bilateral relations. "The behavior shown by US officials in the past decades has not been encouraging, has not prompted Iranian officials to work to improve relations," he noted.
He said his nation would not allow itself to be dictated to by any US leaders, but expressed hope the standoff between Iran and the West over its nuclear development program would soon be resolved.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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Flash floods following torrential rain south of Algiers have killed at least 29 people, injured 48 and left one person missing, the interior ministry said Thursday, warning of higher casualties.
Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni described them as the worst floods in a century. "Based on the over flight that we made, the toll unfortunately could be greater," Zerhouni told reporters, after meeting local authorities in the sodden Ghardaia region.
Rain has been falling since Monday in the region, which lies about 500 kilometers (300 miles) south of Algiers.
The government previously said 13 people had been killed in the floods, which have damaged at least 600 homes, many of them in oasis areas.
The wadis, or seasonal rivers, had filled up and spilled into the larger M'zab wadi river, which then flooded, sweeping away everything in its path.
The flooding has cut off roads and rendered telephone connections erratic.
Posted by: Fred ||
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A proposed new U.N. resolution calls on all countries interested in maritime safety to send naval ships and military aircraft to fight piracy on the high seas off the coast of Somalia.
The draft Security Council resolution, obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, would also call on ships and planes to use "the necessary means" to stop acts of piracy. It was drafted under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter, which means its provisions can be enforced militarily.
The French-drafted resolution was expected to be put to a vote in the Security Council early next week, council diplomats said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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#1
My stategy for dealing with the pirates. Talk first then launch rockets. It's the chatty chatty boom boom method. Should work fine.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/03/2008 1:59
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#2
A UN resolution to the rescue. We're saved!!!!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/03/2008 11:30
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Despite opposition from the West and the United States in particular, Syria appears determined to pursue its bid for a seat on the UN atomic watchdog's board, now that Iran is officially out of the running. But in a looming clash at the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) general conference here this week, Afghanistan - a US ally - also announced its candidature on Wednesday.
Diplomats said Kabul enjoys the support of most of the IAEA's 145 member countries.
The matter comes up for discussion on Friday and could be forced to a vote.
Members of the IAEA's 35-strong board of governors are designated and elected each year by the body's highest policy-making body, the General Conference. Decisions are traditionally adopted by consensus, but if no consensus is possible, it goes to a vote. A seat has become free for the so-called Middle East and South Asia (MESA) group with the expiry of Pakistan's one-year term.
Iran had also been seen as a potential candidate, but it pulled out in favor of its staunch regional ally Syria. If MESA cannot agree on a single country, it will be up to the General Conference to vote between the different candidates.
For the US and others, however, Syria would be unacceptable because of current allegations by the US and Israel that it was building a covert nuclear facility at a remote desert site called Al-Kibar until it was destroyed by an Israeli air strike in September 2007.
Damascus has dismissed the charges as "ridiculous" and allowed IAEA experts to inspect the suspected site in June. "Having Syria on the board would be like having a suspected arsonist oversee the fire brigade," one conference participant told AFP on condition of anonymity.
But Syria refuses to withdraw its candidacy, in spite of US-led opposition, saying it has the support of the Arab League.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a united front of over 20 Taliban groups operating autonomously in different Pashtun tribal areas, was formed on December 14,2007, at a secret meeting held somewhere in South Waziristan, which was attended by 40 tribal leaders from the South Waziristan, North Waziristan, Aurakzai, Kurram, Khyber, Mohmand and Bajaur tribal agencies of the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and from the districts of Swat, Buner, Dir, Malakand, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Tank, Peshawar, Dera Ismail Khan and Kohat in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). The idea seems to be based on al-Qaeda's structure: a framework embracing autonomous internals that can support each other in a coordinated manner.
The TTP was projected as a joint resistance movement with three objectives --first, to help the Taliban of Afghanistan in its operations against the US and other NATO forces in Afghan territory; second, to undertake defensive operations against the Pakistani security forces and third, the enforcement of sharia in the entire Pashtun tribal belt.
The TTP was projected as a joint resistance movement with three objectives --first, to help the Taliban of Afghanistan in its operations against the US and other NATO forces in Afghan territory; second, to undertake defensive operations against the Pakistani security forces and third, the enforcement of sharia in the entire Pashtun tribal belt. In effect this puts them in the position of running a foreign policy independent of the central government: making war on a neighboring country and establishing their own legal system within their territory while keeping the Federales out. The two weak points in that policy are that 1.) no state can allow an internal group to tear off a chunk of its territory and run it independently. Another way of describing that is as seceding; and 2.) they can't really expect to hide behind the concept of Pak sovreignty while carrying on hostile operations against Afghanistan. If Pakistain doesn't bring them under control then Afghanistan and/or NATO/ISAF are perfectly justified under international norms to do it for them. Baitullah Mehsud of South Waziristan was nominated as the Amir and Hafiz Gul Bahadur of North Waziristan and Maulana Faqir Muhammad of Bajaur as the deputy Amirs. What brought them together was what they perceived as the divide-and-rule tactics of the Pakistan Army, which was accused by them of ostensibly making peace overtures to some Taliban leaders while undertaking military operations against others. It was reportedly agreed at the meeting that while each local Taliban group would be free to undertake operations against the security forces depending on the local requirements, there would be no unilateral peace negotiations by any group with the Government or the Army. The meeting decided that peace negotiations, if any, would be undertaken only after approval by the shura of the TTP as a whole.
Continued on Page 49
This article starring:
Aurakzai
Bajaur
Bannu
Buner
Dera Ismail Khan
Islamabad
Khyber
Kohat
Kurram
Lahore
Lakki Marwat
Malakand
Mohmand
North Waziristan
Peshawar
Rawalpindi
Sargodha
South Waziristan
Swat
Tarbella Gazi
BAITULLAH MEHSUD
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan
Benazir Bhutto
DR. ISMAIL
TNSM
HAFIZ GUL BAHADUR
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan
Lal Masjid
Maj. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, who was the Director-General of Military Operations
MAULANA FAQIR MOHAMAD
TTP
MAULANA FAQIR MUHAMAD
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan
MAULANA FAZLULLAH
TNSM
MAULANA MASUD AZHAR
Jaish-e-Mohammad
MAULANA SUFI MOHAMAD
TNSM
MAULVI NAIMATULLAH
TTP
Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani
QARI SAIFULLAH AKHTAR
Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami
QARI WALI REHMAN
Jaishul Islam
QARI ZIAUR REHMAN
Taliban
Rehman Mallik, the adviser to the Ministry of Interior
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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The wreckage of the light aircraft that belonged to missing millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett has been found. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said a team had found a single-engine Bellanca Super Decathlon plane near the town of Mammoth Lakes in eastern California.
The search began after a hiker found items on Monday thought to have belonged to Fossett who disappeared on a solo flight in September 2007. Fossett, 63, had set off from Nevada for a local flight but failed to return.
The NTSB said on Thursday the wreckage, found 3,200m up the Sierra Nevada mountains, "appears to be the aircraft piloted by Steve Fossett" and that they were sending an investigator to the site.
'No human remains'
Rescuers later reached the plane on foot and confirmed it was Fossett's aircraft but found no human remains at the crash site.
John Anderson, the Madera County Sheriff, said photos of the site appeared to indicate that the plane had smashed head-on into a mountainside at high speed. "The crash looked so severe I doubt if someone would have walked away from it.
"There was no body in the plane. We have not found any human remains at the crash site," Anderson said.
Mark Rosenker, an official from the National Transportation and Safety Board, said preliminary analysis of the site indicated Fossett had died in the crash. "Information is indicative of a high-impact crash, which appears to be consistent with a non-survivable accident," he said, adding it would likely take "weeks, perhaps months" before the cause of the accident was determined.
Fossett's widow, Peggy, welcomed the discovery of her husband's plane. "I especially want to thank Preston Morrow who made this discovery and turned Steve's belongings over to the authorities.
"The uncertainty surrounding my husband's death over this past year has created a very difficult situation for me.
"I hope now to be able to bring to closure a very painful chapter in my life," she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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#1
"NOT found any human remains at the crash site" > HMMMMM, well, some Net sites are reporting the contrary that remains have been found, although not yet confirmed as FOSSETT'S.
#2
...The local fauna could have dragged any remains some distance from the crash site.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/03/2008 5:27
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#3
Now they claim to have found enough "material" to do a DNA run. Lotsa bears around there, and I suppose they dragged him away and that's how the wallet remains were displaced from the crash site. Strange that there was no transponder on the plane. He had told someone he was searching for dry lake beds for high speed runs in Nevada. I wonder how he got over to the Sierras ? The sheriff did say he remembered that they were socked in all Labor Day weekend in 2007 with thunderstorms and low clouds. So Fossett thought he was cruising along at 9500 feet I guess. So long Steve.
#4
My guess is that he had a heart attack, stroke or some such while flying, passed out and flew into the mountain. Too bad. The sub he was going to use to go to the bottom of the ocean (single man record attempt) sits unfinished about 100 yards from where I type this.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will seek a change in the law so he can run for a third term in 2009, arguing on Thursday that the financial crisis demands a leader of his business acumen.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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More than three weeks ago, Sen. John McCain chose Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska to be the first female vice president nominee for the Republican Party. Since Palin's first public appearance in Dayton, Ohio, when McCain announced Palin as his vice president, the media have since ridiculed Palin.
Regardless of what many see in the tabloids with remarks like "lipstick on a pig," and the focus on her daughter's pregnancy, negative ads are starting to wear thin with some women.
In a survey of more than 500 women by BettyConfidential.com, 65 percent of women said they have become more interested in the presidential campaign since Palin was added to the Republican ticket and a significant majority of woman admire her, despite political differences they may have.
Continued on Page 49
#1
From the article: If Palin is elected, she will break through the "glass ceiling" as the first female vice president.
Interesting, one of the "drinking games" I heard or read today to have during the debate, was ???? a shot, a two gulp.... unimportant as to the imbibing quality, just that it was on the list.
How disappointed those folks must now feel, they didn't get that shot... glass ceiling was never mentioned.
#3
Let me tell ya, a drink every time Joe Biden referred to himself as Joe Biden will getcha', especially when he repeated himself.
Along the line whenever he referred to himself in the 3rd person I would ask, "Who is Joe Biden? This Guy!!! (give the Fonse two thumbs toward myself and say it in the famous beer commercial Wasabi! phonication).
Looked almost as bad as Axelrod did (unless he always looks drunk and fumbles talks).
#4
Everytime I heard Biden say Scranton I kept thinking of Dunder-Miflin as the American Street and middle America. I don't even think it's the same Scranton but the images are now entwined.
Italy's top criminal court on Thursday upheld the conviction on international terrorism charges of an Egyptian jailed as one of the chief suspects in the 2004 Madrid train bombings, a lawyer said. The Court of Cassation confirmed the conviction of Rabei Osman and upheld a previous eight-year jail sentence by a Milan appeals court, said lawyer Luca D'Auria.
Osman's lawyer said his client remained jailed in the northern town of Voghera and has served four years of his sentence. Osman was arrested in Italy in June 2004 after allegedly saying in wiretapped conversations that he was the mastermind of the March 11 attacks. He has repeatedly denied it was his voice in the calls.
Previous rulings found Osman had ties to the terror cell that carried out the bombings on the Madrid commuter rail system that killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800.
Spanish courts have also tried Osman. He was acquitted on mass murder charges for insufficient evidence, while judges ruled that because he had been sentenced in Italy for association with a terror group, he could not be condemned again for the same crime. Osman was living in a Milan apartment after the bombings, and Spanish authorities tipped off the Italians to his presence.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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A New York appeals court Thursday overturned terrorism convictions for a Yemeni cleric and his personal assistant, saying they did not receive a fair trial.
Sheik Mohammed Ali al-Moayad and Mohammed Mohsen Zayed, were sentenced in 2005 to 75 and 45 years in prison, respectively, after being convicted of conspiring to provide material support and resources to foreign terrorist organizations. They now can have new trials under a different judge.
The lawyer for al-Moayad, Robert Boyle, said, "I'm extremely gratified at the court's decision. I believe it is legally and factually correct. I hope my client, who is elderly and not in good health, will be given the opportunity to return to his family in Yemen."
The three-judge panel was unanimous in its decision, citing evidentiary errors that likely influenced the outcome of the trial. The judges found that certain pieces of evidence presented by prosecutors were prejudicial and had the effect of denying al-Moayad and Zayed a fair trial.
Zayed and al-Moayad were arrested in 2003 in a sting operation that culminated in Germany. The government's case relied largely on secretly videotaped conversations between the defendants and a pair of undercover FBI informants at a Frankfurt hotel in 2003. One of the informants, Mohamed Alanssi, testified that al-Moayad boasted about giving money, weapons and recruits to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
The charges were brought in the Eastern District of New York because al-Moayad allegedly collected terrorist funds at the al-Farooq mosque in Brooklyn.
Now that the appeals court has vacated the convictions, prosecutors have the option of appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court if they feel there is a constitutional issue. They can retry the case or move to dismiss.
Al-Moayad, who is in his 60s, is incarcerated at the Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, as is Zayed. Boyle said he had called the prison and as of 4 p.m. Thursday was still waiting to speak to his client.
This article starring:
Mohamed Alanssi
Mohammed Mohsen Zayed
Sheik Mohammed Ali al-Moayad
Posted by: ed ||
10/03/2008
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#1
The judges found that certain pieces of evidence presented by prosecutors were prejudicial ...
Sales of Japanese cars in the United States have increased like clockwork, rising every month for more than two years. That is, until they sputtered in the spring and then fell off a cliff.
Thanks to skittish American consumers and a U.S. credit crunch that is drying up financing for car loans, Japanese car exports to the United States plunged in August as car production in Japan recorded its steepest decline in a decade.
The swoon in North American car sales -- which account for more than half of the operating profits of Toyota, Honda and Nissan -- is a major reason why Japan's export-driven economy began shrinking in the second quarter and why many economists here are predicting a long recession.
The sudden and painful fizzle of the U.S. car market, the world's largest, comes on top of a longer fadeout in Japan's car market, the second-largest. Sales of new cars in Japan have been falling steadily for 18 years. "People, especially young people in big cities, feel they don't need a car," said Shigeru Kashima, professor of transportation planning at Chuo University in Tokyo. "They don't have the desire or admiration for owning a car, like people of my generation did. Cars are a hassle for them."
Many Japanese are hanging on to old cars, buying smaller ones or simply giving up on driving, according to a 2006 survey by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association.
Excellent public transportation in Tokyo and other major Japanese cities allows commuters to get to work without having to pay some of the world's highest car taxes, tolls, and insurance and parking costs.
Carmakers are also being punished by an emerging demographic catastrophe: Japan has the world's largest proportion of people older than 65 and smallest proportion of children. Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Japan's nine other carmakers are going to have to build their future on something other than cars, analysts say. "I think we are at a crossroads," Kashima said. "The Japanese economy is not going to expand, and it does not make sense for these companies to make the same thing over and over again."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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#1
Tokyo = New DETROIT, as per major Auto companies???
Also, methinks that should be written as "CONGESTED/CROWDED" BIG CITIES.
#3
Excellent public transportation in Tokyo and other major Japanese cities allows commuters to get to work without having to pay some of the world's highest car taxes, tolls, and insurance and parking costs.
They've been relying on car taxes, tolls, gasoline taxes, et al to subsidize mass transit. It's gonna be a bitch to replace that funding once all the drivers are gone, isn't it? And then there's the taxes on domestic profits from car companies - that's not there any more, is it?
#4
Another factor not mentioned, are laws/rules against owning older cars. This would cause car upgrades every 3 - 5 years.
Many of these have been relaxed, and so the article mentions keeping older cars but the impact of that cannot be well understood without the knowledge of the old car rules.
Used to cost increasingly more to license an older car in Japan, and was very discouraged.
#5
Here come the layoffs. I dont pitty the Japanese but the cars are made here.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
10/03/2008 16:06
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#6
Another factor not mentioned, are laws/rules against owning older cars.
Thanks for the tip. I knew about these laws, but had no idea they had been relaxed. Finally, democracy rears its ugly head over the godheads / industrial policy freaks at MITI.
A lot of it has to do with some grass roots support for the 'classic' Japanese cars ... i.e. Surpa / Skyline / etc.
Not all the rules are gone by a long shot, but enough relaxing has occured to where you can now consider keeping an older car whereas before it was a no brainer to upgrade.
(Xinhua) -- A spokesman for Pakistan's Taliban on Thursday claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of a Polish engineer in northern Pakistan.
The Polish engineer was kidnapped by unidentified militants in Attock district on northern border of Pakistan's Punjab province on Sunday. The militants also shot dead the engineer's guard and two other Pakistani people. The kidnapping took place when the Polish engineer, working for an oil company, was conducting survey at Basal area of Attock district.
The police has launched a search operation for the engineer in surrounding areas. Muslim Khan, spokesman for the Taliban in northwestern Pakistan's Swat valley, said the Polish engineer is in their hands, Dawn News TV channel said. But the spokesman did not elaborate on conditions for release of the Polish engineer.
This article starring:
MUSLIM KHAN
TTP
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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#1
Alexander Gram Bellski: the world's first telephone Pole.
Suicide bombers struck two Shiite mosques in Baghdad on Thursday as worshippers marked the Eid al-Fitr prayers, killing 16 people and wounding 40, police said.
Police said a car bomber slammed his explosives-filled car into an Iraqi military armored vehicle at a checkpoint near a mosque in the Zafraniya district. Another suicide bomber blew himself up targeting worshippers leaving a mosque in the eastern Baghdad New Baghdad district. Both are Shiite areas in the east of the capital. The two attacks left 16 people dead and 40 wounded.
Six people were also killed when gunmen opened fire at a minibus near the city of Baquba, the capital of the restive province of Diyala, a security official said.
For most of Iraq's Shiites, Thursday is the main celebration of the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of Ramadan, which Sunni Muslims already began celebrating earlier the week.
Government officials have warned that militants might launch attacks during the holiday, one of the most important in the Muslim calendar.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was questioned by police on Thursday for the eighth time since May on corruption allegations that led him to resign from office last month. Investigators questioned Olmert for around two hours on the "Investment Center affair," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP, adding that the outgoing premier was likely to be questioned again in the coming weeks.
The probe - one of several concerning Olmert - involves allegations that as trade minister he steered tens of millions of dollars worth of state funds toward a firm owned by his former law partner, Uri Messer.
It is one of several criminal investigations into Olmert, who resigned on September 21 to battle the charges amid a growing chorus of criticism from political allies and foes alike.
All the allegations concern his dealings as Occupied Jerusalem mayor and trade minister in the 13 years before he assumed the premiership in 2006.
He will continue to serve as caretaker premier until Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni forms a new governing coalition or the country holds snap elections - a period of political limbo that could last weeks or months.
Police have recommended that the 63-year-old Olmert be indicted on criminal charges in two cases where he is accused of illegally accepting large sums of cash from a US financier and multiple-billing foreign trips.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) - The U.S. Embassy said Thursday that it is encouraging Brazil to buy Boeing-built F-18 Super Hornet fighter jets - one of three models selected by Latin America's largest nation as finalists for a fleet revamp. Its statement said the "U.S. regards Brazil as a key strategic partner and supports Brazil's program to modernize its armed forces."
"Purchase of the F18 with its superior technology will be an important step in developing our partnership," the statement added. "We are fully behind Boeing's sales effort."
Boeing Co. said selection of the F-18 for the jet fighter short list "reinforces the Super Hornet's ability to meet the operational requirements of the Brazilian Air Force and the forward-leaning stance of the U.S. government regarding transparency and technology release."
Brazil is expected to make a final decision late next year, the company said. Brazil will buy 36 new planes to replace its current Dassault-made Mirage fighters, with the first deliveries set for 2014.
The selection of the F-18 came as surprise because top Brazilian officials said recently that France and Russia were willing to provide a higher level of defense technology transfer than the United States. The other fighter jet finalists are Dassault Aviation's Rafale and Saab's Gripen NG. Brazil will buy 36 jets. Russia's Sukhoi SU-35, the Eurofighter Typhoon and Lockheed Martin's F-16 were eliminated from the candidate list, the air force said in a statement.
No surprise on the F-16, it's older tech. Mildly surprised on the Typhoon only because I thought EADS would do just about anything to sell them.
Brazil is seeking to link its purchases of fighter jets and other defense upgrades to broader partnerships that will help the country develop its own state-of-the-art weapons industry, Strategic Affairs Minister Roberto Mangabeira Unger told The Associated Press earlier this month. "We will not simply be buyers or clients, but partners," he said. "Any arrangement into which we will enter must, in principle, contemplate a significant element of research and development in Brazil."
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/03/2008
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#1
So, the US backs Boeing in the process and this is surprising why? Twit. Of course the US is backing a US company.
#5
Well, Venezuela has some light attack/training aircraft they bought from Brazil a while back. It's generally described as a nice aircraft with a lot of bang for the buck.
And they're going to be buying supplemental or replacement aircraft of that type from China.
#6
I don't know if Brazil still has an aircraft carrier or not, but that would be another good reason to choose the F/A-18. With the possible discovery of oil near a few rocks Brazil claims several hundred miles from their coast, a force-deployment capability might be a good deal.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/03/2008 18:13
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Syria is blocking distribution of the Saudi-owned pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat, the paper's Beirut bureau chief Zuhair Qusaybati told AFP on Thursday.
"The censorship authorities at the information ministry in Damascus asked Al-Hayat's bureau in the Syrian capital on Monday to stop sending its issues to the country until further notice," Qusaybati told AFP. He said that no explanation had been given for the decision.
The daily is published in London and printed in a number of Arab capitals including Beirut, Cairo, and Riyadh. In Syria, its distribution has long been subject to advance censorship and a number of issues have been withheld from newsstands because of their contents.
Relations between Damascus and Riyadh have been tense since the February 2005 assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri, a close Saudi ally, in a bombing widely blamed on Syria.
The ban on Al-Hayat's distribution in Syria came hot on the heels of a bomb blast which killed 17 people in Damascus on Saturday, the deadliest attack in the Syrian capital in more than a decade. The Syrian official media have since repeatedly complained that the Saudi authorities did not condemn the bombing more vocally.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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Republican presidential candidate John McCain is withdrawing staff and resources from Michigan in order to concentrate on other states where his prospects are stronger, a campaign aide said on Thursday.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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#1
Given Sarah's performance at Thursday's debate, I hope J-Mac's rethinking this. I'd personally discount the polls from the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News (assuming they'd both grossly oversample Quislingcrats to get the desired result), but all but one of the other polls quoted in the RealClearPolitics Michigan average are still at single digit Obama leads. Given as the Obama vs. McCain MI averages were only two percent apart as recently as 9/10, I think there's a real possibility that Sarah's running mate could be back in the hunt. IF he tries, that is...
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
10/03/2008 0:46
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#2
Economy of Force. You apply your resources to exploit your opponent's weakness not expend it against his strength. You're not going to get 50 states. Allocate appropriately.
#3
Economy of Force is one consideration. But if you fight everywhere you force your opponent to defend everywhere. I would hope that McCain wouldn't give up anything without a fight.
Posted by: Formerly Dan ||
10/03/2008 10:16
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#4
Frederick The Great: "He who defends everything defends nothing."
#5
Word from little sister in Battle Creek is that Joe and Jane Six-pack are not all in bed with The One. Even the UAW types are not blindly following their leaders' calls to support BO.
She and all in her circle are McCain/Palin.
#8
Sarah Palin talked an awful lot about creating tens of thousands of jobs. That should go over well in Michigan, land of the automobile manufacturers, I'd think. And isn't the First Dude a Teamster or something, by virtue of being an oilman?
Biden is telling absurd lies about Afghanistan tonight. In particular, he's repeatedly claimed that "we've spent less in Afghanistan in seven years than we spend in a month in Iraq."
He's made that claim, or claims to that effect, repeatedly. It is, to put it bluntly, a complete Goddamned lie.
According to the Congressional Research Service, spending on the war in Afghanistan since 2001 has been $172 Billion. Spending in Iraq is, as the Democrats repeatedly mention, a little under $10 Billion a month.
In other words, Biden's number is off by, oh, something like 2000%. Perhaps Obama's Sub-Committee ought to have held some hearings on Afghanistan after all.
.As a side note, amazingly, Biden just fell apart on foreign policy there. Did he really promise that Obama would launch a war in Darfur? Never mind his whole mess of an answer on his vote for the Iraq War. Does anyone think that it's really even remotely credible that Joe Biden voted to give George Bush the authority to go to war because he thought he wouldn't use it. If Joe Biden did that, he's among the stupidest men alive
#2
I'm surprised you would print such balderdash. NPR very carefully explained this moring that Biden's claim is technically correct even if he is comparing Iraq combat funding with Afghan reconstruction funidng. And everything Palin said was a lie.
#3
Thank God we have NPR to clarify things for us. We're truly blessed. The patriotic thing to do is to restore substantial government funding for NPR immediately and to tax cable news stations.
1. TAX VOTE: Biden said McCain voted the exact same way as Obama to increase taxes on Americans earning just $42,000, but McCain DID NOT VOTE THAT WAY.
2. AHMEDINIJAD MEETING: Joe Biden lied when he said that Barack Obama never said that he would sit down unconditionally with Mahmoud Ahmedinijad of Iran. Barack Obama did say specifically, and Joe Biden attacked him for it.
3. OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING: Biden said, Drill we must. But Biden has opposed offshore drilling and even compared offshore drilling to raping the Outer Continental Shelf.
4. TROOP FUNDING: Joe Biden lied when he indicated that John McCain and Barack Obama voted the same way against funding the troops in the field. John McCain opposed a bill that included a timeline, that the President of the United States had already said he would veto regardless of its passage.
5. OPPOSING CLEAN COAL: Biden says hes always been for clean coal, but he just told a voter that he is against clean coal and any new coal plants in America and has a record of voting against clean coal and coal in the U.S. Senate.
6. ALERNATIVE ENERGY VOTES: According to FactCheck.org, Biden is exaggerating and overstating John McCains record voting for alternative energy when he says he voted against it 23 times.
7. HEALTH INSURANCE: Biden falsely said McCain will raise taxes on people's health insurance coverage -- they get a tax credit to offset any tax hike. Independent fact checkers have confirmed this attack is false
8. OIL TAXES: Biden falsely said Palin supported a windfall profits tax in Alaska -- she reformed the state tax and revenue system, it's not a windfall profits tax.
9. AFGHANISTAN / GEN. MCKIERNAN COMMENTS: Biden said that top military commander in Iraq said the principles of the surge could not be applied to Afghanistan, but the commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force Gen. David D. McKiernan said that there were principles of the surge strategy, including working with tribes, that could be applied in Afghanistan.
10. REGULATION: Biden falsely said McCain weakened regulation -- he actually called for more regulation on Fannie and Freddie.
11. IRAQ: When Joe Biden lied when he said that John McCain was dead wrong on Iraq, because Joe Biden shared the same vote to authorize the war and differed on the surge strategy where they John McCain has been proven right.
12. TAX INCREASES: Biden said Americans earning less than $250,000 wouldnt see higher taxes, but the Obama-Biden tax plan would raise taxes on individuals making $200,000 or more.
13. BAILOUT: Biden said the economic rescue legislation matches the four principles that Obama laid out, but in reality it doesnt meet two of the four principles that Obama outlined on Sept. 19, which were that it include an emergency economic stimulus package, and that it be part of part of a globally coordinated effort with our partners in the G-20.
14. REAGAN TAX RATES: Biden is wrong in saying that under Obama, Americans won't pay any more in taxes then they did under Reagan.
#7
Ok all you Bosniacs since Joe Biden likes to talk about Joe Biden, and I'll say that again, since Joe Biden likes to talk about Joe Biden perhaps he should be called the Double Talk Express.
Biden had 2 opportunities to name the Afghan Theatre commander and didn't, even after Govorner Palin did.
#8
It doesn't matter if Joe lied, misspoke, or walked out there drunk with his dick out for the world to see. The MSM says he won the debate. That is the end of the story. Now go back to your room and close your mind.
The war over the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia may have ended two months ago, but Russian troops have remained deep within Georgia ever since.
Now as part of a peace plan orchestrated by the French, about 200 European Union monitors have arrived in Georgia. Over the next nine days, the Russian forces are meant to pull back, leaving the monitors to keep the peace.
#1
I heard a radio report about this "exhibit", and it struck me that a lot of it could have been purchased on Ebay, and much of the rest at a weekend military history convention/auction. I guess that passes for "trophies of war" amongst the soviets.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea threatened Thursday to expel South Koreans from two joint projects in the North if leaflets critical of the communist government keep arriving over the border.
North Korean officials issued the warning during brief military talks with South Korea inside the Demilitarized Zone, the first government-level contact between the two Koreas in more than eight months. The two projects, an industrial park in the northern border town of Kaesong and a resort at scenic Diamond Mountain, have been lucrative sources of cash for impoverished North Korea and prominent symbols of reconciliation on the divided peninsula.
The two Koreas agreed in 2004 to end decades of propaganda involving leaflets, loudspeakers and radio broadcasts. But activists and some North Korean defectors living in the South still send helium balloons into the North carrying leaflets - and sometimes $1 bills - condemning North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and his communist regime.
Military officials accused the South of violating the agreement, warning that it would further deteriorate relations and "may spark off new military clashes," the North's official Korean Central News Agency reported. Col. Lee Sang-cheol, who headed the South Korean delegation told reporters he insisted that Seoul was abiding by the deal but legal restrictions prevent them from stopping activists from sending the leaflets.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/03/2008
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A federal judge today sentenced a Dearborn restaurant cook, Mohamad Fouad Abdallah, to 8 months in prison for e-mailing death threats to conservative TV commentator and blogger Debbie Schlussel.
Iran's ambassador to the IAEA says there is no technical or legal justification for Tehran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities.
Even if there were countries that would provide Iran with power plants and nuclear fuel, we would not be able to trust that they would fully meet their commitment, Ali-Asghar Soltaniyeh told Press TV in an exclusive interview.
His remarks came after Western media outlets misquoted him as saying that Iran would consider suspending uranium enrichment if it would receive firm guarantees of nuclear fuel delivery to the country. "A leading Iranian nuclear envoy on Thursday suggested the country could reconsider its uranium enrichment program if it gets cast-iron guarantees of regular international fuel supplies for its nuclear power plants," AFP reported, citing Soltaniyeh as saying after attending a conference in Brussels.
The Iranian official responded, however, in a telephone interview with Press TV, saying that Western countries have not fulfilled their previous promises and agreements and have violated their contractual obligations.
"I reject whatever is reflected otherwise," he continued.
When I was asked about how Tehran would respond if various countries promise to provide guarantees, I repeated two or three times (at the conference in Brussels) that I was talking about the lack of internationally negotiated consensus over supply assurance, he explained.
Former director general of the UN nuclear watchdog Hans Blix, who also attended the conference, reportedly told the Iranian nuclear envoy that Iran has every right to doubt Western guarantees.
According to Soltaniyeh, Blix was well aware that America had failed to fulfill a previous contractual obligation toward Iran by rejecting to provide the country with reactor fuel or compensation.
"Hans Blix said this is further indication that Iran has the right not to trust the West," Soltaniyeh said.
Western powers accuse Iran, a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), of seeking nuclear weaponry.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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#1
We can only hold Israel off for just so long. If yoy're working on the nuclear project, keep an eye on the sky. So you'll have time for final prayers.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/03/2008 2:04
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The good news for IRAN here is that, as per MEDVEDEV's rant about the end of US dominance-leadership, THE ALLEGED END OF SAID SAME US DOMIN-LEADERSHIP DOES NOT MEAN RUSS OR OTHER GETS TO RULE. Iff anything the global pecking order will be in a STATE OF GEOPOL FLUX.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices closed at their lowest level in two weeks Thursday, tumbling below $94 a barrel on doubts that a revamped financial bailout plan will be enough to avoid a protracted economic slump and revive dwindling U.S. energy demand.
Light, sweet crude for November delivery fell $4.56 to settle at $93.97 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was crude's lowest settlement since Sept. 16. Prices earlier jumped as high as $100.37 but eased back later as traders digested the details of the revised bailout package. The November crude contract fell $2.11 to settle at $98.53 on Wednesday.
In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures fell 13.74 cents to settle at $2.7095 a gallon, while gasoline futures fell 10.5 cents to settle at $2.255 a gallon. Natural gas futures lost 24.7 cents to settle at $7.481 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, November Brent crude fell $4.77 to settle at $90.56 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/03/2008
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#1
Frank was game and took the extensive, high db abuse. He called out the old blowhard for his rudeness. I think Frank came out well ahead in the exchange, so clearly O'Reilly totally blew the opportunity.
#4
Here's Barney Frank, the paragon virtue in of the House working with his Donk friends to keep those regulation happy Trunks from targeting Freddie and Fannie. /sarc
#5
You can't tell so much from this clip but on my tv Frank looked terrible, sweaty and as if he were wearing a groucho nose. I have to wonder if he trusted Fox makeup people or if he has none because for a politician to go on looking like that, it made him look foolish.
I think most Dems avoid Fox because they call them on bullshit. Attack O'Reilly for being rude but Frank lost this one big. Of course the main media outlets won't hold Frank to count for what he did so it'll be forgotten and be put into Liberal lore as another reason to avoid Fox.
#9
What does it say about deep blue Massachusetts that they keep electing guys like this and Kennedy?
Why in the Hell would anyone in their right mind want to live in a blue state?
O'Reilly nailed this fat degenerate to the wall. Pity he couldn't have punched his lights out as well. Of course, Barney would probably have liked that...
#10
I saw some of that exchange, and ended up walking out of the room. I know Senator Franks is guilty as sin, but had I not known I'd have believed his side just because Mr. O'Reilly was so rude. O'Reilly persuades only those who already believe him; for the rest, his sheer decibel level drives them to the opposite side.
#11
Amen, TW. I one heard Rush Limbaugh tear into somebody who was in fact a certifiable, genuine creep--some person connected to the New York Public School system--and Rush was so shrill I almost gave my sympathy to the other guy.
Too many people mistake rudeness for wit. It adds to the poisoning of the debate.
#12
O'Reilly rude? This is how you SHOULD treat a man who almost single handedly wiped out millions of people's retirement funds; a man who put the home ownership of minorities ahead of the national welfare; a man who public lies are only exceded by his private immorality. O'Reilly rude? He should have kneed him in the groin and threw his lying ass through a window.
#14
I've noticed Barney the Fags nose recently also. Large, red, running. Is this POS sucking up a plate of coke before he does these interviews ? He runs his mouth at 90 mph, slurs everything and talks in half sentences. Hmmmmm.
#15
Steve White's article the other day made more sense than all these blathering talking heads put together.
Rep. Frank did plea for Bachus' ammendment to be heard on the floor, for what its worth...unfortunately I think it is because he wants to add his own crap which would ultimately delay or kill the ammendment.
#16
O'Reilly is a boor and a bully. I never watch him because all of his interviews end up in shouting matches just like this. He sheds no light at all. He makes Geraldo look professional. Franks deserves it, of course, in fact he probably liked it. But it would be better if O'Reilly was smart enough to patiently question the subject so that Frank would convict himself with his own words.
#17
Saw the interview. Frank and others need to be held accountable for his/her part in this subprime debacle that started in Fannie and Freddie. Frank does not tell the truth but spins and bobs and weaves and tries to hide anything that looks like the truth.
#18
O'Reilly rude? This is how you SHOULD treat a man
That was not my point, Carbon Monoxide. The honourable Senator in my opinion should immediately be turned out on the street to die in the cold, unemployed, unloved, and alone. Shouting over him isn't nearly enough. However, the shouting makes those who do not know the facts believe the one being shouted at, rather than Mr. O'Reilly... which is very, very counterproductive.
#20
I believe that's Representative Frank, tw. But you are right about O'Reilly. If I was running the show at Fox I'd can his ass. What I'd like to see is Frank being called upon to give testimony with a really sharp independent investigator on his case. I'd like to see him sweat while he pleads the Fifth.
#22
Honor is earned, not given because of a title, this isn't England ot crapistan. You want to be called honourable - act with honor. Barney Frank is a lying jack aAss just like Joe "I support clean coal" Biden.
#23
O'Reilly is an ass. His technique does nothing to call the Frank on the carpet. He could have had a timeline that laid out how the dems and Frank in particular pushed Fan/Fred to buy questionalble loans from banks, how those same banks were threatened with lawsuits or fines if they didn't make loans to po folks and how Frank and the dems resisted time and again any real control on Fan/Fred. Barney talking about 1994 is a friggin joke and he should have been called on it in a way that didn't distract from the message. O'Reilly is simply not effective.
#25
Franks is an ass. I disagree w/Billy O on many things but I am glad he went after Franks like he did. At least it was up front & vented like many of us plebians would like a real chance to vent at the imperial senate. Bawney Fwanks is a lying douchebag. He and chis dodd will have much to answer for on the other side.
Kenyan police have arrested the 'biggest suspect' in the recent piracy case off Somali coast which involved a 'weapon-laden' Ukrainian ship. The director of the East Africa Seafarers Assistance Programme's branch in Kenya, Andrew Mwangura, has been named the 'biggest suspect' in the case by the Kenyan police who placed him under arrest on Wednesday, a Press TV correspondent reported.
Mwangura is suspected of collusion with the Somali pirates in their most recent hijacking during which they seized the 'Kenya-bound' Ukrainian ship, the Faina.
The arrest reportedly follows accusations of connivance directed at Mwangura by the Faina's owner company. The police, themselves, said they suspected Mwangura having found him to be the first to inform the media outlets of the hijackings near Somalia's coastal region of Puntland where the pirates' presence has complicated naval transportation. He is, as well, said to have been at liberty to contact the Faina's crew and is said to have requested large sums of money from them.
The vessel purportedly has around 100 pieces of military hardware on board including tanks, anti-aircraft missiles and automatic weapons.
Mwangura is to be questioned regarding his allegations that the ship was heading for Sudan and not Kenya. Our correspondent, last Friday, quoted a number of Somali politicians as charging that the ship was originally taking the weapons to the pirates.
While the vessels carrying WFP food aid are heavily guarded, it is hard to believe that the Kenyan authorities did not seek more protection for the consignments destined for their country knowing that the Somali pirates could pose a great threat to it, they added. The US, whose warship is keeping a close eye on the pirates' movements in the area, on the other hand, corroborates the claims that the ship was destined for Sudan.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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#1
Pirates need shore facilities, both for themselves and their ships, and for moving the loot.
Has to start someplace.
It's getting worse. There was a raid on a town in Nigeria recently, going after banks. Colonial towns with ocean connections had fortifications against pirates, not necessarily on account of war with another nation.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
10/03/2008 8:19
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#2
Maybe this is the staw that breaks the camel's back. I hope they use this incident to dismantle the pirates' organization.
#3
I posted the Somalia piracy incident map the other day. It shows the incidents and the havens. Strafe the boats and ports as a free introductory offer. More incidents, level the place. End of story. We have the means, not the will. Remember the Barbary pirates.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/03/2008 11:27
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#4
The police, themselves, said they suspected Mwangura having found him to be the first to inform the media outlets
#7
Sounds possibly like he ticked off the wrong people:
The gangs, [Mwangura] says, are masterminded by crimelords in Dubai and Nairobi who monitor shipping routes for lucrative targets. They pass directions on to as many as five pirate gangs who pay a "licence fee" to Somali politicians or clan elders.
Share prices crumbled on stock markets worldwide Thursday on anxiety over the fate of a US finance sector bailout and disappointing US economic data. Markets were unsettled in the face of the global banking crisis even after the US Senate approved a revised $700 billion rescue package and sent it back to the House of Representatives.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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#2
Representative Spencer Bachus' (R-AL) proposal for a House ammendment makes a lot of sense to me (appropriate up to $250bl which at $50bl per month as Paulson suggested is only the amount which can be spent per month appropriately, is plenty of time to see if it works and then review futher money appropriations) - I think he is abosolutely right that if the American people are not confident in the bailout (or workout as it was suggested) then how are they going to be confident in said market? That and the negative approval prospect of the Senate proposal is bullcrap.
And Senate, bullcrap on the pork. Bullcrap on trying to force the hand of the House of Representatives into making the vote immediately without review with so much paperwork to review especially with such sweeping decisions. And bullcrap on the House Debate Rules Committee.
#3
Sounds like Steny Hoyer is actually going to make certain he has votes in hand before bringing this out again. Looks like they've turned enough sheeple to ram this through. And, it's a much worse version than the first one. Unbelieveable. We have now lost any semblance of a republic. Certainly taxation without representation. Will anyone of these turncoats be ejected from office on Nov. 4 ? Obviously, they are not worried.
#6
Post last night after a bundle of T&T's, and it is a passionate topic for me. Coffee clearing the cobwebs.
Now, the ammendment as Rep. Bachus explained it made good sense to me and I think it should be allowed to be debated and voted upon as it is without additional changes. There were good points made especially the unchecked power the Sec. of Treasury would receive do unaccountably distribute money "To the same captains of industry which as it turns out were captains of the Titanic". Rep Bachus claims that if the ammendment is added without changes then enough votes would swing in order to pass the bill, everybody happy including myself. Paulson says he can only appropriate $50bl per month wisely so why does he need so much money all at once? Also it was explained that as the bill currently is it would take a passage of Congressional bills to make changes which, if vetoed, would make the process of change impossible. Both candidates are calling for more oversight then why support this bill which creates less oversight and accountability of the appropriation of money. "It shouldn't be a bailout, it should be a workout where the actions of the Treasury come up for review by a House panal every month for 5 months and then, if everything seems to be working as it should, then the remaining amount of money would be appropriated at the allowance of $50bl per month."
Sounds prudent to me. I have no confidence in the bill as is, debating the ammendment would go a long ways to restoring my confidence. And to the Senate, screw you elitist opportunistic hogs. *sips more coffee
#9
That sounds more like profit taking than bearish sentiment over the bailout. People bought when prices fell off the cliff, now that they got a 'pop' they sold and took the profit.
Swings of a few hundred points aren't indicative of anything other than it being a trading day.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
10/03/2008 18:19
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Enough swings of a few hundred points and you're down 20%. We'll see tomorrow. But I think most folks are starting to realize this was a mistake.
Prominent settler leader and extreme right-wing activist Daniela Weiss was detained Thursday for attacking police officers near the settlement of Kedumim, of which she is local council head.
Weiss' clash with the police came following Thursday's evacuation of the illegal West Bank outpost of Shvut Ami by a combined force of police and the Israel Defense Forces.
Witnesses say there was no one in the outpost as the forces vacated it, but that right-wing activists came to the area shortly after and confronted the police.
During the clashes, the activists set a Palestinian-owned olive grove on fire in a nearby Arab village.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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#1
Glad to see the Paleos getting a little payback for a change.
Suicide bombers attacked Shiite worshipers at two mosques in Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 16 people and injuring more than 50 in a grim reminder of the sectarian tensions that brought the country to the brink of civil war in the recent years. Zarqawi is dead, and his successor's just a pedestrian mass murderer. He lacks the twisted genius it would take to set of jihad and counter-jihad.
In Diyala province, north of Baghdad, gunmen opened fire on a minibus outside the provincial capital of Baqubah, killing six members of a Sunni family, including children ages 5 and 6, according to Col. Raghib al-Omaiery of the Diyala military command. Had we killed the kiddies by accident we'd be hearing about it for years -- and still might, even being totally uninvolved.
Such sectarian violence has dropped dramatically in recent months. But many analysts fear it could flare again as Iraq confronts a host of unresolved political problems. The Iraqis are over the strategic hump now. Barring something not only unforeseen but actually out on the very bounds of imagination, they're going to kill the terrs. That doesn't mean they're ever going to be totally free of the infestation, and in fact it's likely the masters of terror will attempt to build a new infrastructure to replace AQI, possibly even trying to avoid its mistakes. But it's likely the violence will decline in the next few years to levels something like Egypt or Morocco sees.
The mosque attacks occurred as Muslims were leaving morning prayers celebrating the end of the holy month of Ramadan. In the Zafaraniya neighborhood, a white sedan exploded at an Iraqi security forces checkpoint near the Mohammad Rasoul Allah mosque, officials said. The blast blew apart a Humvee, killing six people and injuring 23, according to Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta, a spokesman for Iraqi military operations in Baghdad.
The second explosion occurred near a mosque in another working-class southeastern neighborhood, Baghdad al-Jedidah or New Baghdad. A teenage boy in a long robe blew himself up about 8 a.m. at a makeshift checkpoint manned by mosque guards, officials said. At least 10 people died, including the bomber, and 31 were wounded, Atta said.
A few hours after the blasts, officials at the Baghdad al-Jedidah mosque sat in an anteroom off the carpeted prayer area, blaming Sunni extremists associated with the former government of Saddam Hussein or with the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq. "Every day, every Friday at prayer time, we fear this," said Imat Abu Muhammad, one of the mosque managers.
Asked if revenge would follow, he and a mosque security official vigorously shook their heads. "No, we will never think like that," said Abu Muhammad.
But a young Islamic studies student in a long tan tunic, Ali Lazim, spoke up. "That doesn't mean we will keep staying quiet," he vowed. "We may have to reply to them, at a time of our own choosing. This will be according to an order" from Shiite religious leaders, he said.
While there was no claim of responsibility for the bombings, the U.S. military said it suspects al-Qaeda in Iraq carried out both attacks. U.S. military officials say the group has lost influence and strength in Baghdad in recent months, but they have blamed its members for a string of recent deadly attacks, many targeting Iraqi security forces. "The appalling use of a teenager as the suicide bomber shows how monstrous al-Qaeda in Iraq truly is," said Lt. Col. Steven Stover, a military spokesman.
On Wednesday, a car bomb outside a Shiite mosque in Balad killed four worshipers and injured 15, the U.S. military said in a separate statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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#1
What kind of tourist attractions does Iraq have?
With U.S. warships offshore and a Russian missile frigate on the way, Somalia's president, Abdullahi Yusuf, said Wednesday that he welcomed international intervention against Somali pirates roaming a main East-West shipping route.
The hijacking last Thursday of a Ukrainian-operated vessel carrying T-72 tanks and other weapons has galvanized the world's leading navies after more than 60 other pirate attacks this year on ships off Somalia and in the nearby Gulf of Aden.
The defense chiefs of eight European Union countries joined the fight Wednesday, agreeing to move toward creating a maritime security force against piracy, French Defense Minister Hervé Morin said in Paris.
In Somalia, Yusuf urged Somalis to turn against the pirate gangs. "I also call on the international community to act quickly on what is happening in Somali waters as well as onshore," he told reporters in the capital, Mogadishu. "We must do everything we can to stop piracy off the coast of Somalia."
The pirates had imposed an "embargo" against Somalia and other countries by preventing trade and food deliveries, he said.
The pirates are holding the Ukrainian-operated Faina a few miles off eastern Somalia. They have demanded $20 million for the release of the vessel and its crew of 13 Ukrainians, seven Russians and one other Eastern European. The ship's captain died of natural causes shortly after the hijacking, the pirates have said by satellite telephone.
The United States has deployed an unspecified number of warships and aircraft within sight of the Faina, and U.S. Navy officials have said they are intent on ensuring that the pirates do not unload the arms.
Russian navy spokesman Igor Dygalo said Russian commanders hope for a peaceful end to the hijacking, independent and state news agencies reported Wednesday. "Taking forceful measures, for obvious reasons, is an extreme measure, as this could create a threat to the lives of the international crew of the cargo ship," Dygalo was quoted as saying.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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#1
The pirates had imposed an "embargo" against Somalia and other countries by preventing trade and food deliveries
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the global financial crisis tolled the death bell for the U.S. financial dominance and called for bringing onboard the "outreach" countries in implementing worldwide financial reforms.
We're still the Great Dane, pal, and you're still the yippy mutt with bad teeth ...
"The time of domination by one economy and one currency has been consigned to the past once and for all," Mr. Medvedev told a Russian-German development forum in St. Petersburg on Thursday. "The existing global mechanisms failed to maintain financial stability. We need new mechanisms of collective decision-making and collective responsibility," he said. "It is imperative to enlist the participation of 'outreach countries', of all major economies, not just G8, in efforts to set up a new global financial architecture."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who attended the forum and held talks with Mr. Medvedev, agreed.
"We should draw lessons from the current crisis," she said. "We need new mechanisms of international [financial] architecture."The German Chancellor said she still believed Russia's response to the Georgian attack against South Ossetia was "disproportionate", but hinted at an early resumption of talks on a new partnership pact between the European Union and Russia.
She also said it was "too early" for Georgia and Ukraine to be given a roadmap for NATO membership.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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#1
She also said it was "too early" for Georgia and Ukraine to be given a roadmap for NATO membership.
Translation: Vlad and Company passed word to "Gazprom Gerhard" Schroeder to jerk Merkel's chain. And jerk it real hard.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
10/03/2008 1:08
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#2
I think the history books are gonna look back at this as the clear sign that government meddling can have really bad unforseen circumstances and I also think the pundits and politicians are intentionally avoiding pointing fingers at what happened and blaming "wall street" for their own reasons.
#6
I'm beginning to think that if you want to know what's going to happen tomorrow, subtract 70-80 from the current year and read This Day in History. The faces seem to change, but not much else.
Future Russian nuclear-powered submarines will be equipped with Bulava nuclear missiles which can rip through 'any' missile defense barrier.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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#1
Since the USN itself is debating the 21st Century, SPAWAR, Post-WOT utility of CVN21 through-deck Carriers, perhaps Russia should consider "GOING HYBRID" itself as per BATTLESPACE MANAGEMENT = FUTURE NAVAL CONCEPTS, plus course the propsed OWG-NWO "1000-Flags/Nations" INTER-NATION GLOBAL NAVY [Humanitarian, "Police Action"].
#2
Wasn't it a couple of weeks ago the Russians said they weren't interested in a new cold war. Now they are talking about missiles that's only purpose is to attack Western nations.
#6
So if they can't nuke europe, they got nothin?
Sounds like somebody needs about cooperation, instead of bullying. All bullies wake up one day and realize they are not as young and strong as they used to be, and they live in fear of how they will get by when they can't MAKE people do what they need them to do anymore. It causes a great deal of anxiety and insecurity to the bully.
The United Nations has raised its security level in Pakistan and will withdraw the children of its foreign staff based in the Pakistani capital Islamabad after last month's bombing at the Marriott Hotel, a senior U.N. official said Thursday.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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#1
Trust the rats to know when it's time to abandon ship.
(AKI) - Israeli security officials claim that Syria has resumed nuclear activities for military purposes.
According to a report on Thursday by pan-Arab daily, al-Sharq al-Awsat, Israeli military officials say that Syria is building a number of nuclear facilities in different locations like Iran.
The sources also claim that North Korea was linked to the project and that experts from Pyongyang visited Syria last month.
"The past year has seen three incidents indicating that Syria's nuclear armament is a red line that must not be crossed," reported the daily, quoting an unnamed Israeli official, in a clear reference to recent assassinations and bombings involving Syria.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's top security advisor Brig. Gen.Mohammed Suleiman was recently killed, while according to one report, Brigadier General George Gharbi and his son were killed during last week's bombing in Damascus that killed 17 people.
Israel believes Suleiman and Gharbi were in charge of Syria's alleged nuclear programme.
The Israeli officials said Israel would not allow Damascus to replicate the Iranian model and would move to halt any attempts to do so.
In September 2007, Israeli warplanes bombed an alleged Syrian nuclear reactor which may have been obtained from North Korea.
The attack, in a remote location in eastern Syria called Deir al-Zur, was believed to have been conducted with US approval.
Syria signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which allows it to enrich its own fuel for civilian nuclear power, with monitoring from the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has called for changing the world's financial system. He said the current world financial crisis could be more serious than the one in 1929. The current system follows a development model "that is destroying the world not only physically but also morally." He said the crisis signals the end to a financial system featured with the lack of ethics and the existence of an unfair mechanism.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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#1
He's the leader of the government in a country where the government makes seventy dollars from every barrel of oil it pumps, or at least should... and there's problems getting milk.
Chavez: Waaaaahhhh! I don't have enough moneeeeeee! You're meeeeeeeeeen! Gimmee gimmee gimmee!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/03/2008 15:50
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#3
Are recessions bad? Perhaps in many ways. Perhaps they serve deflationary purposes, particularly in commodities. Is oil a commodity? Is Chavez interested in any of this? Perhaps.
#4
Are recessions bad? Perhaps in many ways. Perhaps they serve deflationary purposes, particularly in commodities. Is oil a commodity? Is Chavez interested in any of this? Perhaps.
A grenade blast in an area of the northern city of Tripoli early Thursday has injured one person, , a security official said. The same restive northern Lebanese city has seen bloody clashes between two rival factions.
The grenade was thrown in the Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tebbaneh region where some 23 people were killed in June and July in battles between Sunni Muslim supporters of the government and their Damascus-backed rivals from the Alawite community in Tripoli.
Tensions between the two communities had eased in the past few weeks after both sides signed a reconciliation accord and the army had deployed heavily. But concern that the situation could escalate again mounted this week after a car bomb targeting the army on Monday left seven people dead, four of them soldiers, and nearly 30 people injured. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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(PTI) After more than three years of tortuous and fractious domestic politics of India, the Indo-US nuclear deal today secured the stamp of approval of the US when the Senate overwhelmingly voted a bill rejecting all the killer amendments, paving the way for its implementation.
The landmark civil nuclear cooperation agreement, entered into between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President George W Bush in 2005 on which the UPA risked the coalition government, was approved by the Senate with 86 voting for and 13 against with bi-partisan support after throwing out the amendments moved by two Democratic Senators.
Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Joe Biden, a strong supporter of India, also voted for the Bill, which still contains a provision that would ensure cessation of US nuclear cooperation with India in case New Delhi conducted an atomic test.
President George W Bush, who personally took steps to push the deal and the legislation, and Biden hailed the passage of the legislation saying it would strengthen global nuclear non-proliferation efforts and help India increase its energy production.
The legislation, which has already been cleared by the House of Representatives in the midst of pre-occupation with the financial bailout package, will now head to the White House for Bush signing it into a law.
With today's Senate vote, the deal is now ready for being inked by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when she arrives in New Delhi on her rescheduled trip on Saturday with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
The Senate approval marks the culmination of a rough journey the deal undertook in the last three years, especially in India with the Left parties withdrawing their support because of their strong opposition to cooperation with the US.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Washington has granted the American Iranian Council (AIC), a non-governmental organization, permission to open an office in Tehran.
Established to improve relations between Iran and the US in 1997, the AIC has been duly licensed to establish an office in Iran. According to the AIC, it is the only US-based conflict resolution NGO to receive authorization to work in Iran.
Permission was granted by the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which is responsible for enforcing US economic and trade sanctions against Iran. "The American Iranian Council-Iran will use this great opening to more effectively to advance its mission of promoting dialogue and understanding between the peoples and governments of Iran and the United States at a time of immense promise and peril for their relations," said Hooshang Amirahmadi, AIC founder and president.
This latest development move comes after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said in interviews in recent months that Tehran would be open to relations with the US, if Washington makes a real effort to rectify its position towards Tehran.
"Today, we see new behavior shown by the United States and the officials of the United States. My question is, is such behavior rooted in a new approach?" the Iranian president told NBC in late July. If so, "we will be facing a new situation and the response by the Iranian people will be a positive one," he said, speaking from Tehran.
Washington severed diplomatic ties with Tehran in 1980.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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Somali pirates on a hijacked cargo ship holding battle tanks and hostages said Thursday that they were ready to battle any commando-style rescue attempt.
The warning came a day after the Somali government gave foreign powers a blank check for using force against the pirates, while U.S. warships continued to circle nearby and a Russian frigate headed toward the standoff.
"Anyone who tries to attack us or deceive us will face bad repercussions," the pirates' spokesman, Sugule Ali, told The Associated Press by satellite telephone from the Ukrainian ship MV Faina.
Ali sounded calm and relaxed despite being surrounded by a half dozen Navy vessels and buzzed by American helicopters.
Navy officials decline to comment on the possible use of force, but they warn the pirates against harming the 20 crew members or trying to unload the ship's cargo of 33 Soviet-designed T-72 tanks and other weapons. They make clear they won't allow the arms to fall into the hands of an al-Qaida-linked Islamic movement that is battling Somalia's government.
Ali said the pirates planned to release the ship with crew and cargo intact after receiving the $20 million ransom they have demanded. They seized it Sept. 25 and are no anchored off the coast of central Somalia.
"We have nothing to do with insurgents or terrorist organizations. We only need money," he said. "We would never reduce the ransom."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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#5
i like the idea floated here earlier about SEALS and underwater activity; cut some holes in the hull and watch the thing slowly sink. it would be hard to get to them since there are all those tanks and stuff in the way.
no guns, no explosions, just the "ship slowly sinking in the west as the sun pulls away from the shore" (old Spike Jones line)
#9
How has it been managed in the past. When the special ops team attacks, you don't have a lot of time to run around killing hostages. You can either give up, run, or try to fight. But they will be shooting at you while you are thinking, so think fast. Reality is, some hostages will probably die in a raid, but some might get killed anyway. It is time to disassemble this entire criminal network in Somalia.
Somali Islamist insurgents on Thursday urged pirates holding a Ukrainian ship carrying military hardware to destroy the cargo and the vessel if they are not paid ransom.
As US warships and other navies blockaded the MV Faina off Somalia's Indian Ocean coast, the pirates have insisted on being paid $20 million to release the cargo and the 21-member crew.
"If they do not get the money they are demanding, we call on them to either burn down the ship and its arms or sink it," Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, a spokesman for the Shabab movement, said in an interview.
But Robow said his movement, which is gradually gaining ground over interim government troops in southern Somalia, was not linked to the pirates who seized the Belize-flagged freighter last week as it headed for Mombasa in Kenya.
"We have no contacts and links with the pirates and they are in the waters for their own interests," he said. "It is a crime to take commercial ships but hijacking vessels that carry arms for the enemy of God is a different matter," added Robow, whose group nearly stamped out piracy when it ruled southern Somalia last year as part of an Islamist government ousted by Ethiopian and interim government forces in early 2007.
Robow claimed that the 33 Soviet-era T72 battle tanks and other military hardware on the MV Faina belonged to Ethiopian forces, who invaded at the behest of the Somali interim government to oust the Islamists from power.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2008
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#1
Wantome help?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/03/2008 2:00
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#2
Robow, whose group nearly stamped out piracy when it ruled southern Somalia last year as part of an Islamist government ousted by Ethiopian and interim government forces in early 2007.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The Navy has confirmed the wreckage of a sunken vessel found last year off the Aleutians Islands is that of the USS Grunion, which disappeared during World War II. Underwater video footage and pictures captured by an expedition hired by sons of the commanding officer, Lt. Cmdr. Mannert L. Abele, allowed the Navy to confirm the discovery, Rear Adm. Douglas McAneny said Thursday in a news release.
The 
I had the privilege of spending a few hours today amongst the bravest people in Canada. One, Marc Lebuis, is a name you won't recognize, because up to now he's kept a low profile as the one-man show running 
Someone logged onto a computer in a Chinatown Internet cafe last month and shot off a bomb-threat e-mail to American airline company Delta Airlines. He wrote that Delta Flight 1778, slated to fly in two days from Atlanta, Georgia to Tampa, Florida, would have a bomb on board. Signing off as 'Mr Islamic Jihad' from the terror organisation Al-Qaeda, he ended the e-mail with 'Long live Al-Qaeda'. 
UN court's sentencing of a wartime Bosnian general, Rasim Delic, for crimes committed by Islamic fighters against Serbs illustrates how al-Qaida used the Bosnian war to expand its reach into Europe.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Several big life insurance stocks fell sharply Thursday, dragged down by jitters about their role in the credit crisis and fears sparked by a comment from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Wednesday about a potential bankruptcy in the industry.
By John Bolton and Nicholas Eberstadt
Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending 
The general who commands NATO forces in Afghanistan has called for enlisting tribes to help pacify the country and did not rule out reconciliation with Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. General David McKiernan, the commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), also said that the coalition needs more troops for what he said is an increasingly "tough fight" in eastern and southern Afghanistan. "And until we get to what I call a tipping point where the lead for security can be in the hands of the Afghan Army and the Afghan police, there is going to be a need for the international community to provide military capabilities," he told reporters on Wednesday.
Flash floods following torrential rain south of Algiers have killed at least 29 people, injured 48 and left one person missing, the interior ministry said Thursday, warning of higher casualties. 
A proposed new U.N. resolution calls on all countries interested in maritime safety to send naval ships and military aircraft to fight piracy on the high seas off the coast of Somalia.
The 
Italy's top criminal court on Thursday upheld the conviction on international terrorism charges of an Egyptian jailed as one of the chief suspects in the 2004 Madrid train bombings, a lawyer said. The Court of Cassation confirmed the conviction of Rabei Osman and upheld a previous eight-year jail sentence by a Milan appeals court, said lawyer Luca D'Auria.
A New York appeals court Thursday overturned terrorism convictions for a Yemeni cleric and his personal assistant, saying they did not receive a fair trial.
Sales of Japanese cars in the United States have increased like clockwork, rising every month for more than two years. That is, until they sputtered in the spring and then fell off a cliff. 
(Xinhua) -- A spokesman for Pakistan's Taliban on Thursday claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of a Polish engineer in northern Pakistan. 
A federal judge today sentenced a Dearborn restaurant cook, Mohamad Fouad Abdallah, to 8 months in prison for e-mailing death threats to conservative TV commentator and blogger Debbie Schlussel.
Iran's ambassador to the IAEA says there is no technical or legal justification for Tehran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities. 
NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices closed at their lowest level in two weeks Thursday, tumbling below $94 a barrel on doubts that a revamped financial bailout plan will be enough to avoid a protracted economic slump and revive dwindling U.S. energy demand.
Kenyan police have arrested the 'biggest suspect' in the recent piracy case off Somali coast which involved a 'weapon-laden' Ukrainian ship. The director of the East Africa Seafarers Assistance Programme's branch in Kenya, Andrew Mwangura, has been named the 'biggest suspect' in the case by the Kenyan police who placed him under arrest on Wednesday, a Press TV correspondent reported. 
Suicide bombers attacked Shiite worshipers at two mosques in Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 16 people and injuring more than 50 in a grim reminder of the sectarian tensions that brought the country to the brink of civil war in the recent years. 
With U.S. warships offshore and a Russian missile frigate on the way, Somalia's president, Abdullahi Yusuf, said Wednesday that he welcomed international intervention against Somali pirates roaming a main East-West shipping route. 
A grenade blast in an area of the northern city of Tripoli early Thursday has injured one person, , a security official said. The same restive northern Lebanese city has seen bloody clashes between two rival factions. 
