Massachusetts law school Dean Lawrence Velvel will chair a Steering Committee to pursue the prosecution for war crimes of President Bush and culpable high-ranking aides after they leave office Jan. 20th.
The Steering Committee was organized following a conference of leading legal authorities and scholars from the U.S. and abroad convened by Velvel on Sept. 13-14 in Andover, Mass., titled "The More..Justice Robert Jackson Conference On Planning For The Prosecution of High Level American War Criminals."
"If Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and others are not prosecuted," Velvel said, "the future could be threatened by additional examples of Executive lawlessness by leaders who need fear no personal consequences for their actions, including more illegal wars such as Iraq."
Besides Velvel, members of the Steering Committee include:
Ben Davis, a law Professor at the University of Toledo College of Law, where he teaches Public International Law and International Business Transactions. He is the author of numerous articles on international and related domestic law.
Marjorie Cohn, a law Professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, Calif., and President of the National Lawyers Guild.
Chris Pyle, a Professor at Mount Holyoke College, where he teaches Constitutional law, Civil Liberties, Rights of Privacy, American Politics and American Political Thought, and is the author of many books and articles.
Elaine Scarry, the Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value at Harvard University, and winner of the Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism.
Peter Weiss, vice president of the Center For Constitutional Rights, of New York City, which was recently involved with war crimes complaints filed in Germany and Japan against former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and others.
David Swanson, author, activist and founder of AfterDowningStreet.org/CensureBush.org coalition, of Charlottesville, Va.
Kristina Borjesson, an award-winning print and broadcast journalist for more than twenty years and editor of two recent books on the media.
Colleen Costello, Staff Attorney of Human Rights, USA, of Washington, D.C., and coordinator of its efforts involving torture by the American government.
Valeria Gheorghiu, attorney for Workers' Rights Law Center.
Andy Worthington of Redress, a British historian and journalist and author of books dealing with human rights violations.
Initial actions considered by the Steering Committee, Velvel said, are as follows:
# Seeking prosecutions of high level officials, including George Bush, for the crimes they committed.
# Seeking disbarment of lawyers who were complicitous in facilitating torture.
# Seeking termination from faculty positions of high officials who were complicitous in torture.
# Issuing a recent statement saying any attempt by Bush to pardon himself and aides for war crimes prior to leaving office will result in efforts to obtain impeachment even after they leave office.
# Convening a major conference on the state secret and executive privilege doctrines, which have been pushed to record levels during the Bush administration.
# Designation of an Information Repository Coordinator to gather in one place all available information involving the Bush Administration's war crimes.
# Possible impeachment of 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Jay Bybee for co-authoring the infamous "torture memo."
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
10/15/2008 19:55
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#3
I'm not a violent guy, nor am I an ardent Bush supporter. Never have been really. However, I consider the actions of this group unamerican, and probably would support violence against them if they tried to carry this out.
#6
This election in Nov is a full court press of the Left for the control of the US, and the quantum change from a republic to a socialist state.
They have been working at this for a long time. I remember them in the 60s at the Univ of Calif Berkeley. Now they will if they can, as in the words of Chairman Mao, seize the time, seize the hour.
It is up to the American electorate, like it or not (and the many thousands of fraudulant voters) to decide if they will drink the Koolaid of the Left.
This is a defining time in the history of this republic. Like the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, WW2 and other events of our peril as a nation.
Never underestimate these guys. To them politics is war. The ends justify the means. They are the True Believers. McCain better get his head out of you know where and join the fight for the soul of the country. Because that is what this election is.
Not only will the party in power make the laws, but their patronage will extend everywhere. The courts will be restocked with sympathizers of the socialist state. The military will be purged of patriots and be loaded with sycophants. The schools will become indoctrination centers. That is the future with the Left.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/15/2008 20:52
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#7
He's still in the race. It isn't really a shutout like the Big O's camp keeps saying. You've just heard it SO much from the MSM that you are experiencing the Jedi Mind Trick effect that they have paid hundreds of millions of $$ to implement.
While the merchant fleets are waiting for EU and NATO escorts, the Somali pirates are staying busy, as set out in Pirates seize ship:
A maritime official says armed pirates have hijacked a bulk carrier with 21 crew members in the Gulf of Aden near Somalia.
Noel Choong of the International Maritime Bureau says the ship was sailing from the Middle East to Asia when it was seized Wednesday. The ship flies a Panamanian flag but is operated in the Philippines. This problem could be easily solved by airborne bombing and/or strafing of the local fleet and port facilities near the piracy incidents. No nation building. Just destroy the base. Somalia is a non-country, so who would officially object? However, who should do it? It seems to me that since the Big Bad US is so hated, someone else should step up to the plate. Let us let the others chew on this one for a while. It would be good for them to take responsibility. Piracy affects everyone, including the Egyptians, who will get no Suez Canal revenues if nobody goes there. We could solve the problem in a day or two on station, but it is time for someone else to step up to the plate and act.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/15/2008
17:24 ||
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#1
I say it again, "Q" ships.
Posted by: Total War ||
10/15/2008 17:35
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Govt allows Indian Navy to patrol Somali waters
The Indian government has finally allowed the Indian Navy to patrol Somali waters to ensure that the safety of Indian sailors is not compromised.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the government said, "Neighbouring powers and international agencies are working with India to free the sailors."
On Tuesday, Somali pirates set an ultimatum of 48 hours for paying ransom for the release of the 18 Indian sailors onboard the hijacked MT Stolt Valor.
The angry families have been demanding proactive action from the government and want the Navy to patrol the Somalian gulf in order to escort the ship back and avoid clashes with the pirates, as it could prove counter productive.
Seema Goyal, wife of captain of the ship Prabhat Goyal said she do not know which door to knock and collect the money.
"Assurances don't work. This is the time when I want help from any quarter and solve the matter," she added.
Posted by: john frum ||
10/15/2008 17:47
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Something smells at 2885 Brownlee Avenue in Columbus, Ohio.
I strongly recommend that the Ohio Republican Party get on the case before its too late. Todays the last day to challenge voters who registered early in Ohio before the run up to Election Day.
Heres the stench: An entire houseful of young, non-Ohioan Democrat activists have used the Brownlee Avenue address to register themselves to vote in the Buckeye State and secure absentee ballots under extremely shady circumstances all while mobilizing a large effort to register thousands of others for absentee and early voting. The activists are leaders of a group called Vote From Home 08. The group is self-identified as having extensive experience with political organizing, election administration, and Democratic politics. They were hailed as the Justice League by a Daily Kos blogger. Their Facebook page brags: Want to turn the Presidential election blue in a key swing state? Vote from Home is a political organization that was founded by a team of young people for the purpose of assisting, aiding, and tracking voters to elect progressive candidates to the White House. Encouraged by the excitement of the 2008 elections and the movement around the Democratic candidates, Vote From Home will be in Ohio seeking to deliver 10,000 votes to Democratic candidates statewide.
...
Posted by: ed ||
10/15/2008
16:53 ||
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Wow call the people that elect you racists.
PITTSBURGH - U.S. Rep. John Murtha says his home base of western Pennsylvania is racist and that could reduce Barack Obama's victory margin in the state by 4 percentage points.
The 17-term Democratic congressman tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in a story posted Wednesday on its Web site that, as he put it: "There is no question that western Pennsylvania is a racist area."
He says it's taken time for many Pennsylvania voters to come around to liking Obama, but he should still win the state, though not in a runaway.
In a separate interview posted Wednesday on the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Web site, Murtha says Obama has a problem with the race issue in western Pennsylvania that could shave 4 points off his lead in the state.
What would it cost to get that into TV ads to cover Pennsylvania? Start with a voiceover and the words, "Do you enjoy being called a racist? ..."
#1
Murtha has gone from insulting his electorate's intelligence to insulting their character. Interesting strategy.
Posted by: regular joe ||
10/15/2008 18:03
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Please tell us more Rep. Murtha. The entire nation needs to hear your wisdom. Other democratic senators and representatives should follow Murtha's lead and identify "racist" areas within their states. This information should come forward immediately.
Why not? He's got seniority that he abuses uses on behalf of his constituents who are more interested in pork than the integrity of their representative. He'll die eventually and the district will zero out without anyone shedding a tear.
Doctor practicing in Phoenix, Arizona, retired lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy, former staff physician to the U.S. Congress and Supreme Court. All that and a pious Muslim American who resents the radicals who've exploited his religion. A 30 minute abridged version of his documentary film "The Third Jihad: Radical Islam's Vision for America". He starts with Beslan, moves to the unacceptable response of the American Muslim community to 9/11, and from there to examples of soft as well as hard jihad. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, too. :-) Well worth letting run in a second window while you do other things at the computer.
There really are moderate Muslims, and they are very concerned about the war on terror. They need to know they are supported by the Western Civilization they are a part of, not rejected because too many of their coreligionists have not their breadth of vision.
#4
I know some, Betty, and they're not afraid to stand up if need be, including talking to other muslims about it. One young man in particular told me he thinks clowns (of any persuasion) who hate Jews and blame them for everything are loons. He's a Republican.
They who follow the dietary rules, fast during Ramadan, dress as (modest) Westerners (I've never seen the men in shorts, and the women dress as modestly as most decent Christian/Jewish women I knew when I was growing up did), and don't give a rat's as if I eat bacon or drink wine, even at the same table with them. I, in turn, make sure to point out any food that has bacon or pork in it, and any Christmastime candies or cookies with liquor in them.
But, like most of us, they spend most of their time just living their lives.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/15/2008 23:34
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With all eyes glued to the collapse of global capitalism as we know it, attention has been somewhat distracted from the race to lead what still remains the most powerful nation on earth -- the United States. We ignore it at our peril.
From the shockingly partisan presentation by the pro-Obama media on both sides of the Atlantic, you'd think this was a contest between twin pillars of rectitude and inspirational high seriousness on the Democratic side, and a joke Republican ticket consisting of an erratic old man and a brainless, wacko, gun-toting beauty queen, who in a fit of madness John McCain picked as his vice-presidential candidate.
Unfortunately for the Democrats, the beauty queen in question, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, has struck an enormous chord with Middle America. As a result, Barack Obama's media supporters are making a huge effort to destroy her.
Continued on Page 49
The Return of Weekly World News!
Bat Boy is back! Boca Raton-based tabloid publisher American Media Operations Inc. has sold its late, wacky Weekly World News to Bat Boy LLC, an investment group that promises to restore the fake-news pub to its rightful place in the pop culture pantheon. I'm just glad that Ed Anger got his job back...
American Media last year stopped publishing Weekly World News after the tabloid's circulation dropped below 100,000 copies a week.
"The Weekly World News is a powerful brand in publishing, entertainment and online," said Weekly World News' new chief executive, Neil McGinness, in a statement released late Saturday. "The Weekly World News brand and its characters have inspired musicals, books, feature film projects and television shows over the years. We see tremendous potential for growing the brand and significantly expanding the business."
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, and neither American Media nor McGinness could be reached for comment. I'll bet it didn't cost much.
The buyers are named after the half-man, half-bat creature that first appeared on the cover of Weekly World News in 1992. Bat Boy became a popular staple of the tabloid, emerging from time to time to lead police on a high-speed chase, ride the top of a New York subway train, shed his wings and endorse Al Gore for president. As I remember, The Alien backed Bush...
Weekly World News (motto: "The World's Only Reliable News") already has been revived online. Among the headlines on the Web site Monday: "Obatma!" featuring Barack Obama with a bat-eared half brother; "Keating Five Reunite for Basketball Game," which includes a doctored photo of John McCain in a hoops uniform; and "Palin Bags a Bigfoot," which shows the vice presidential candidate and her infant crouching by a downed Sasquatch. Is there anything she can't do!
American Media still publishes National Enquirer and other supermarket tabs.
It's because he or she might actually be in India.
With her flowing, hot-pink Indian suit, jangly silver bangles and perky voice, Bhumika Chaturvedi, 24, doesn't fit the stereotype of a thuggish, heard-it-all-before debt collector. But lately, she has had no problem making American debtors cry.
For the past three years, Chaturvedi has been a top collection agent at her call center, phoning hundreds of Americans a day and politely asking them to pay up. As the U.S. financial crisis plunges Americans into debt, her business is one of the fastest-growing sectors in Indian outsourcing. It is also one of the few sectors of outsourcing in India that is still hiring aggressively.
#1
when has a credit card taken a small payment without really slamming your ass on the next one? bet she has learnt a few new curse words too
Posted by: chris ||
10/15/2008 14:45
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Making no payment at all screws your ass even more... and really, really screws your credit report. And yes, I'm sure Miss Chaturvedi has added new words to her vocabulary, as my mother did when she went to work as an occupational therapist at the VA hospital during the Korean War, and as I have done since finding Rantburg. ;-)
#3
Considering the current economy and the huge amount of consumer debt...
It really would be a great idea for the FCC and Government to delay the switch to HDTV broadcasting for a few years.
It would save a lot of regular folks from bankruptcy.
#7
It might easier for these overextended Americans to pay their debts if they had a decent job, like debt collecting, in the USA.
Posted by: ed ||
10/15/2008 16:29
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#8
3dc--I'm curious about this too. I understand the upcoming switch to digital, but that's not HDTV per se. I haven't seen anything about a switch from standard to HDTV however.
Posted by: Dar ||
10/15/2008 16:53
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#9
The gov was/is giving out $40 coupons to buy converter boxes that receive HDTV channels for display on your standard TVs. Since it's digital, no more snow or ghosting on your old analog TVs.
Posted by: ed ||
10/15/2008 17:07
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#10
Dar, the digital TV broadcasts are HDTV. The converter boxes decode and resize the HDTV broadcasts to display on old NTSC TVs.
Posted by: ed ||
10/15/2008 17:11
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The gov was/is giving out $40 coupons to buy converter boxes that receive HDTV channels for display on your standard TVs. Since it's digital, no more snow or ghosting on your old analog TVs.
Cheapskate that I am, I actually used it instead of buying a new TV. Got myself a Zenith box that gets 24 broadcast channels in the tristate area. The picture is way better than analog cable.
My apologies for the shock, dear Ebbang Uluque6305. Here, I made you a nice, calming cup of chamomile tea to settle your nerves. I went back and looked at chris's post, and it's really "slammed your ass", new phrase for me; I'll have to practice until I get it right. *sigh* Rantburg really has been a broadening experience for me.
Hattip DrudgeReport.com, which has lots of interesting articles today.
A drunk man who claimed to have a bomb and tried to hijack a packed jet has been quickly overpowered by fellow passengers. The drama took place over Belarus and the plane has now landed in St Petersburg.
Some of the 162 passengers on board the Turkish Airlines jet tackled the man after he passed a note to a stewardess claiming he had a bomb strapped to his body. The hijacker had attempted to take control of the aircraft as it flew en route from the southern Turkish resort of Anatalya to St Petersburg in Russia. No explosives were discovered on the passenger. This seems to be habitual in that part of the world.
Last August, two Muslim men attempted to hijack a Turkish-bound jet as it flew from northern Cyprus and demanded that it be diverted to Iran. After a stand-off with police at Anatalya airport in southern Turkey the pair surrendered and later apologised for their actions.
In 2006 a man attempted to hijack a Turkish Airlines jet as it flew to Istanbul. Greek and Italian jets were scrambled and the jet was forced to land in Italy where the hijacker eventually surrendered.
OREGON, Ohio Barack Obama for the first time on Tuesday addressed the ACORN controversy that Republicans are seeking to attach to his campaign, minimizing the impact of alleged voter registration fraud linked to the activist group and stressing ACORN is not advising his campaign.
Weve got the best voter registration and turnout and volunteer operation in politics right now, and we dont need ACORNs help, he told reporters at the secluded leafy resort outside Toledo where he is preparing for Wednesdays debate.
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, which registers low-income and minority voters who tend to favor Democrats, is under siege for allegedly falsifying voter registrations, and Republicans have sought to taint Obama with the allegations. Obama in the 1990s represented the group in a lawsuit, and on Tuesday, he said that as an elected official, Ive had interactions with the Chicago branch of the group, which he said has been active, according to a pool report.But they are not advising our campaign, stressed Obama, who himself worked as a community organizer in Chicago before attending law school.
Nevada authorities last week raided ACORNs state headquarters after the branch submitted voter registrations with the names of celebrities including Dallas Cowboy stars Tony Romo and Terrell Owens, and other voters came forward alleging they were asked by ACORN employees to submit multiple registration forms.
Obamas Republican rival John McCain pounced on the controversy, releasing a statement last week asserting that given ACORNs recent efforts to engage in voter fraud and to disrupt our political system, Obamas affiliation with this group raises serious questions about his judgment and ability to lead this nation. McCains campaign has also called for an investigation of Obamas ties to ACORN.
ACORNs political action committee endorsed Obamas campaign, which paid $832,598 to a consulting firm affiliated with ACORN for get-out-the-vote efforts, though it initially miscategorized the purpose of the payment. Obama has a responsibility to rein in ACORN, said McCain running mate Sarah Palin, during an interview Tuesday with conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.
Obama posited Tuesday that the alleged fraud likely was the result of a few bad actors, wouldnt impact the election and shouldnt be used by the GOP to try to bar voters from casting ballots on Election Day. Ah. A few "bad actors". And it's the Republicans fault...
My understanding in terms of the voter fraud because having run a voter registration drive, I know how problems arise this is typically a situation where ACORN probably paid people to get registrations, and these folks, not wanting to actually register people because thats actually hard work, just went into a phone book or made up names and submitted false registrations to get paid, he said. Move it along, nuthin to see here...
So theres been fraud perpetrated probably on ACORN, if they paid these individuals and they actually didnt do registrations, but this isnt a situation where theres actually people who are going to try to vote, cause these are phony names, and its doubtful Tony Romo is gonna show up in Ohio to vote, so this is another one of these distractions that gets stirred up in the course of a campaign." Can't ya see? ACORN's the victim here.
"But, what I want to make sure of is that this is not used as an excuse for the kind of voter suppression strategies and tactics that weve seen in the past. Lets just make sure everybody is voting, everybodys registered. Lets make sure that everybodys doing it in a lawful way, he concluded. Sounds like he blames Karl Rove...
#3
"But, what I want to make sure of is that this is not used as an excuse for the kind of voter suppression strategies and tactics that we've done in the past.
#4
The FBI Director should give a national address on the potential of substantial vote fraud as a result of the more than 1 million man hours per month by those employed by acorn. Justice working with forensic accountants should work to uncover the entire chain of Acorn finance activity, using extensive interviews of those already identified as engaging in attempts to commit vote fraud. infrastructure and forensic audits of all Acorn activities should begin at once.
A delay in the election is in the interest of the electorate of both parties. Simple fact is, the budgets supporting electoral influence have been extensive and require audit to ensure electoral integrity.
The math of potential vote fraud is understood by the person hours devoted to the practice and ingenuity required to support the expenditures paid;
13,000 voter registration workers
working 5 hours per day produce 65,000 man hours of work product per day.
per week 325,000 man hours
per month 1,300,000 man hours per month of potential labor applied to the purpose of subverting this and future elections.
Anyone who does not support a delay in this election, is probably just bought and paid for.
Acorn has 13,000 paid employees focused on voter registration..........employees are paid by the hour and while they dont have set quotas, a spokesperson for Missouri acorn; said today on a KMBZ raido interview, "that we cannot keep anyone on the payroll that is not doing thier job."
this election should be delayed, and all local election boards should purge all fraud within the electoral system....give them until April 09.... let FBI and Justice, work directly with local points of interest, to remove the possibility of election fraud.
this will weed out local as well as collusive arrangements with extensible service organizations to sustain political interests in power through vote fraud.
#9
Cases are being investigated an filed at the local, state and federal levels against ACORN. These people are going to be in court for years over the 2008 election; their lawyers will have very little time for community activism. According to an article in today's Cincinnati Enquirer, which also details criminal and civil actions against ACORN,
In Ohio, illegal voting is a fourth-degree felony punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 and six to 18 months in state prison. Getting caught for voter fraud in a federal election can result in five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Posted by: ed ||
10/15/2008 17:02
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#13
They're betting the house. If they win, all the investigations will go away. If they lose, you'll start to see the entire enterprise start to implode from people copping a plea and testifying for leniency. Bill and Hillary will be like the Cheshire Cat as they mop up the remains of the Donk hierarchy.
There is one U.S. naval shipbuilding program, however, that is not just meeting but exceeding all its objectives in terms of time and cost. This is the nuclear-powered Virginia-class attack submarine.
Although only four submarines have been built, the program already is delivering them eight months ahead of schedule while reducing costs by a half billion dollars per boat. The efforts to reduce costs have led to innovative design work that improved both the way the Virginia-class is being built and the capabilities of the finished product.
This program has been so successful that, starting in fiscal year 2011, the U.S. Navy can afford to build two submarines every year.
What makes this story even more amazing is that each new submarine is being built at two shipyards: Electric Boat in Groton, Conn., and Newport News in Virginia. The submarines are built in several large segments and then joined together. The teaming arrangement between Electric Boat and Newport News is working well and contributing to the cost reductions. The Virginia class is so well built that they are fully mission-capable upon leaving the shipyard, something unheard of with previous classes of attack submarines.
The Virginia is the first new ship class delivered with post-Soviet requirements. It is designed to support Special Operations forces. The ship control system is fly-by-wire for better depth control and hovering capability. This allows improved handling in littoral waters. It has a more robust sensor suite than its predecessors and eight mast holes, two for the new photonic masts and six that are mission configurable.
Even now, the Virginia-class carries weapons for a variety of missions. In the near future this could include unmanned undersea vehicles, anti-aircraft missiles and ballistic missile defense systems.
The Virginia class is the right ship for an era of strategic uncertainty. Yes, it can address the unconventional warfare threat. But that is not the only potential challenge the United States may face in the decades to come.
#1
Yep, one more sign the good ol' US of A is a "fading superpower." Heh...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/15/2008 13:06
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ION REDDIT > UK UAV BOMB CAN STAY ALOFT FOR TEN YEARS??? + FOR THE LAST TIME, ITS JAPAN, NOT CHINA, WHICH CONTROLS US FOREX RESERVES.
HMMMMM, LR PERM-STAT GLOBORBIT STRATEGIC UV BOMBERS for the USAF > Taken collectively wid this artic [+ CVN21-Class] again goes to show that HYBRIDIZATION + ROBOWAR is the wave of the future, ala the OWG "1000-Flags/Nations" GLOBAL NAVY = TASK FORCE concept.
Only a small portion of revenues from Ukrainian arms exports in the last four years was passed on to the state budget, the former head of a parliamentary ad-hoc investigation commission said on Friday.
"In the past four years, Ukraine exported over $2.5 billion in arms, but only about 1 billion hryvnias ($200 mln) was paid into our state budget. This is 12 times less," Valery Konovalyuk, from the opposition Party of Regions, said during a Kiev-Moscow video conference.
He also said his commission had obtained documents from Ukraine's State Treasury confirming the discrepancies. "On instructions from the prime minister, a probe into the financial activities of Ukrspetsexport [the state arms exporter] has been launched," Konovalyuk said.
The parliamentary commission was set up after Russia accused Ukraine of supplying Georgia with heavy weaponry prior to a brief military conflict between Moscow and Tbilisi in August.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on October 2 that he considered alleged Ukrainian arms supplies to Georgia during the recent war over South Ossetia "a crime." "I don't think there is a graver crime than supplying arms to a conflict zone," Putin told his Ukrainian counterpart, Yulia Tymoshenko, during their meeting at the Russian premier's residence near Moscow.
Ukraine's State Council on Security and Defense immediately dismissed Konovalyuk's allegations, calling them "absurd."
I'd check his pockets first ...
Konovalyuk earlier suggested that the recent dissolution of the Ukrainian parliament could have been designed to hamper his committee's investigation into the illegal arms sales. "I do not rule out the possibility that the dissolution of parliament may be partially caused by the desire to hamper the work of the commission, but we will certainly finish our investigation and make the results public," the former MP said.
However, with the dissolution of Ukraine's parliament the activities of the commission have effectively been ended and the future of the investigation remains vague.
#2
we all know Russia has never supplied arms too a region in conflict. hypocrite bastards
Posted by: chris ||
10/15/2008 12:08
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#3
Graver crimes then selling arms to a sovereign democratic nation? How about actual crimes, you journalist-assassinating tyrant?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
10/15/2008 16:37
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#4
The Party of Regions has their lips firmly locked on Putin's bunghole. They are the successors to the Communists and they sparked the Orange Revolution by trying to steal, with a side order of dioxin, the 2004 elections.
Posted by: ed ||
10/15/2008 16:45
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Everyone knows that the ultimate target is Larry Langford, the controversial but as yet unindicted mayor of Birmingham. Langford, who served as president of the Jefferson County Commission when most of the riskiest refinancing was completed, has been accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of accepting more than $156,000 in cash and benefits from brokers who had business with the county.
Posted by: ed ||
10/15/2008 16:21
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Prosecutors in Ramsey County have announced the first felony conviction stemming from protest activities during the Republican National Convention.
Twenty-six-year-old Joseph Matthew Robinson of Washington state pleaded guilty on Tuesday to first-degree criminal damage to property. The Ramsey County attorney's office says Robinson admitted to slashing the tires of a charter bus for convention delegates that was parked in downtown St. Paul on Sept. 1.
Robinson will be sentenced Dec. 12.
More than 800 people were arrested during the convention, which was held last month in St. Paul.
#1
I don't recall much in the way of convictions or consequences for the various misbehaviours of Democratic Party enthusiasts around the 2004 elections. I'm glad so many are being arrested, tried and convicted this time round.
#3
From Buckley's previous article where he explains why he is voting for O!bama:
But having a first-class temperament and a first-class intellect, President Obama will (I pray, secularly) surely understand that traditional left-politics arent going to get us out of this pit weve dug for ourselves. If he raises taxes and throws up tariff walls and opens the coffers of the DNC to bribe-money from the special interest groups against whom he has (somewhat disingenuously) railed during the campaign trail, then he will almost certainly reap a whirlwind that will make Katrina look like a balmy summer zephyr.
Obama has in himI think, despite his sometimes airy-fairy We are the people we have been waiting for silly rhetoricthe potential to be a good, perhaps even great leader. He is, it seems clear enough, what the historical moment seems to be calling for.
In a nutshell, Buckley is hoping the charming leopard will change his spots and renounce the left-wing politics he has practiced all his life. Christopher's dadddy would be appalled by the illogic inherent in that. In the meantime, have another glass of kool-aid, Chris!
#5
His books are lol funny -- does he have to turn in his sense of humor as his crosses the aisle? Will he become the Dixie Chicks of paperback? All signs point to "yes."
Posted by: regular joe ||
10/15/2008 17:59
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#6
Who cares? If it wasn't for his daddy, no one would. I'm guessing he never measured up so he checked out. Only way the poor sap can get any attention directed his way is to try and cast a shadow across his father's star.
Hey Jr! Go cry in your shrink's office with all of the other FUed children of the rich and famous. Without the hourly fee, no one else cares.
I still feel like a teenager. But the face looking back at me in the mirror tells me otherwise. That's my daily mark-to-market.
The intensifying debate over mark-to-market accounting is missing the point.
The question shouldn't be whether regulators should relax or suspend the practice. It should be whether regulators should encourage banks to expand their use of it.
The reason: Credit markets are already marking bank balance sheets to their own view of market values, or walking away in the absence of such information.
That isn't going to change if the U.S. or Europe alters the accounting rules. If anything, it might give these investors yet another reason not to invest. What markets really need is more information about who is sitting on what losses.
However, many banks and some governments want to row in the opposite direction. The American Bankers Association on Monday released a letter calling on the Securities and Exchange Commission to essentially gut mark-to-market accounting. Internationally, accounting rule makers Monday eased some mark-to-market rules. But it isn't clear whether this will be enough to appease the European Union, which may still move to water down the practice further.
The argument against mark-to-market accounting is that it forces banks to use overly pessimistic market prices to value holdings. That triggers losses that deplete capital.
Debt investors don't buy that. They believe that the values banks put on their loans, which mostly aren't marked, still don't adequately reflect losses that will result from the housing crisis. Investors have also cast a jaundiced eye on possibly understated losses on the securities that banks do mark to market prices.
In other words, investors still think some bank balance sheets are cuckoo. Accounting rules should be used to remedy that situation, not make it worse.
#1
It seems to me that there is a similarity between the issues with Mark to Market and depreciation or appreciation of different assets. Mark to Market is the proverbial hammer. "To a man with a hammer all the world is a nail".
Different types of assets need different valuation tools and this one seems clumsy at best.
The following is cribbed from the EU Referendum site please go there for the whole thing.
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2008/10/simple-explanation.html
Talking to a farmer the other day, I was trying to explain the concept of "mark to market", and hit on this wheeze. Imagine, I said, it is 19 March 1996 and you have just bought 150 head of store cattle at £200 each that you are going to fatten up and sell in a few months. How much are those cattle worth?
Simple arithmetic tells you that you have an investment worth £30,000.
But this is 19 March 1996, which means the next day is 20 March 1996. On that day, health minister Stephen Dorrell stood up in parliament and announced a tentative link between the killer disease CJD and Mad Cow Disease (BSE). The meat market didn't go into free fall it evaporated. I don't think a single beast was sold that day.
So how much are your cattle worth, I ask my farmer. £30,000, he says - he had no intention of selling them. But if you had sold them on the market that day, how much? Er there was no market. In that case, I declared feeling very pleased with myself - their value was zero. That's "mark to market". You have to value on a "fire sale" basis, according to what your cattle your assets will fetch on the day.
Now, imagine you are a bank. This is your "toxic debt" your 150 head, nominally worth £30,000. On the basis of that holding, you have been allowed for the purpose of this example to borrow a maximum of ten times that amount, which you are allowed to lend, i.e., £300,000. This is called "leverage"........
....You are now too highly leveraged. You are, in fact, insolvent. No commercial bank will lend you any money. ... Or you could go to the government for a "bail-out", in which case they'll "nationalise" your farm and put their own manager in. Whatever else happens, you certainly cannot lend any more money.....
#4
The cattle example/analogy is wrong. No cattle sold = no market price = not possible to mark to market on that day and the last available price would be used instead, ie the price they were bought for.
Mark to market is wholly a good thing despite valuation issues with illiquid assets.
SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean court on Wednesday convicted a North Korean woman defector charged with extracting state secrets from military officers in return for sexual favors and sentenced her to five years in jail, a court official said. Wow. Five whole years... Won Jeong-hwa, 34, was arrested in August on suspicion of posing as a defector and sleeping with South Korean military officers in exchange for classified information on weapons systems and the locations of key military installations. Dubbed Korea's Mata Hari by local media, Won was trained in the North to infiltrate the South's military and assassinate key figures with toxic chemicals, including North Korean defectors who have been critical of the communist state.
Won's lawyer said the five-year sentence was tougher than expected and he and his client are considering an appeal. Sure ya wanna push that, counseler? They have gullible judges there same as here ...
The Suwon District Court south of Seoul found her guilty of breaking the anti-communist National Security Law for stealing classified material, keeping a line of communication with the North and publicly showing banned materials that glorified Pyongyang's communist leaders, the court official said. Prosecutors said Won would strike up relationships with soldiers in key positions, seduce them and ask them for military secrets in exchange for sexual favors. Hey, baybay! Me so haaaawny. Me so haaaaaaawny...
Won, who had faced up to life in prison, had admitted in court to her guilt. She spoke in a soft voice at hearings and asked for leniency so that she can be reunited with the 7-year-old daughter she had with a businessman in China. Ah. It's...for the children.
But prosecutors said she is hardly the meek woman who appeared in court. They submitted pictures showing scars they said she received in commando training in the North. Wow. Just like Demi Moore in that SEAL movie...
South Korean media said Won tried to assassinate a South Korean military officer in Hong Kong using an aphrodisiac laced with poison but failed. She also tried but failed to meet and assassinate Hwang Jang-yop, former North Korean communist party ideology chief and the highest-ranking North Korean to defect, reports said. I not so good at it...
The North's official media denounced her as a traitor for leaving the country and said: "(Won is) human scum crazy for money, vanity and swindling." Remember it well. One of KCNAs last good ones.
But despite the sensational details of attempts to subvert South Korean society and the defectors' community, Won's mission went largely unaccomplished, according to media reports. She was a helluva ride though. Just ask what appears to be the whole ROK army.
#1
Ala GOLDENEYE movie opening sex scene > during the Cold War, a number of Commie female operatives were surgically altered in order to use their "professional" coital = sex activities as efficient methods of assasination, LITERALLY KILLING NATO BOYZ WID LOVE!?
---They Hate our freedom, but love their Sharia --- MWO
A thriving financial sector sounds like an oxymoron these days. Even Australia's banks - among the most profitable in the world - kept a fifth of this week's interest rate cut to cushion their margins. But there is one sector that has tongues wagging in the hubs of commerce: Islamic finance.
While the Western world's financial system has been imploding, this small but rapidly growing share of world capital has weathered the storm.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: mac w only ||
10/15/2008
10:51 ||
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#1
Just think, if we adopt their ways, the majority of us could live like the majority of them do. Wouldn't that be great! We can aspire to live in poverty! Brilliant.
#2
ION WAFF.com > DID PAKISTAN SELL A MILITARY BASE TO AMERICA!? US-sovereign enclave = GITMO-IZATION in Pakland, allegedly only 20 kms from Federal Capital near Tarbela, and also close to Paki Nucfacs/Nucbases???
Nicky Reilly, 22, who uses the adopted the Islamic name Mohamed Abdulaziz Rashid Saeed-Alim, pleaded guilty to launching the failed attack in Exeter on May 22. The Old Bailey heard that Reilly considered attacking a naval dockyard and a police station but instead deliberately chose to target civilians at the Giraffe restaurant in the Princesshay shopping centre.
Reilly researched how to make a bomb, acquired the components and made three devices using caustic soda, paraffin and aluminium foil, along with nails, which he had put in glass soft drink bottles. But the planned attack failed when he got locked in a toilet cubicle as he attempted to assemble one of the soft drink bottle bombs, the court heard. He was arrested when he staggered outside after suffering serious facial injuries when one of his devices exploded.
Appearing in court by video link, Reilly, of King Street, Plymouth, pleaded guilty to attempted murder and engaging in preparation for terrorism. His mother Kim said that he suffered from Asperger's syndrome and had clearly been "brainwashed". Counter terrorist police are still hunting for two men believed to have encouraged him via an extremist website.
Outlining the case, Mr Justice Calvert-Smith told the court that an examination of Reilly's computer showed that he had began to plan the attack early this year, keeping in regular touch with two as-yet unidentified men on a website called Chechen233. He researched how to buy the materials for a suicide vest before deciding to use bottle bombs packed with hundreds of nails for the planned attack.
"There was some debate, which is revealed by comments on the computer, about what sort of person should be targeted in due course, whether public servants such as police officers or other public servants or ordinary citizens," the judge said. "In the end the decision was made to target ordinary citizens in a restaurant.
"He bought more than necessary equipment over those months to construct two types of improvised devices, one using caustic soda and the other kerosene. He appears to have tried to increase the potential for injury and death both to himself and others by putting chemicals in glass bottles and filling those bottles with a total of around 500 nails."
The court heard that Reilly boarded a double-decker Stagecoach bus at Bretonside bus station in his home town of Plymouth at 10.20 on May 22, carrying six bottles, three containing caustic soda, three kerosene and another chemical contained in drain cleaner. Arriving in Exeter shortly after midday, he headed for the toilets of the Giraffe restaurant at the Princesshay shopping centre and attempted to finish assembling the device in a toilet cubicle. But as one started to partially explode he struggled to open the cubicle lock and the device went off, leaving him with facial injuries. He was arrested as he staggered outside .
When police searched the flat he shared with his mother and 10-year-old brother, they found a typed note which suggested he had planned a suicide attack. His mother said: "He would have had to have instructions or guidance from someone ... Somebody has brainwashed him, he has done the work and they are walking free."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/15/2008 13:03
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#4
I dunno, if he was willing to blow himself to get at a random pakistanese gal with mustaches, what wouldn't he do for a stripper with a boobs job? I think that's a possiblity that should be explored.
#6
The link to the article about him being a good boy aside from his psychotic, murderous tendencies is a hoot. Especially like this line:
"By that point Islam was taking over his life. There was no room for girls."
Good news for the ladies; not so much for the goats.
Posted by: regular joe ||
10/15/2008 17:49
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#7
nice job, Nicky. Start the bomb's action and find you've locked yourself in a small toilet cubicle. What oh what should you do? I know, look at the bomb! Hold it up by your face! Genius!
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/15/2008 18:07
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#8
"Nicky Reilly, 22, who uses the adopted the Islamic name Mohamed Abdulaziz Rashid Saeed-Alim"
That alone is enough to question his sanity.
Stop calling me "Bert" -- I go by "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" now!
Less than 24 hours after a U.S. Representative Tim Mahoney addressed allegations that he paid a former mistress hush money to keep her quiet reports of a second affair surfaced.
So Patricia Allen believed him when he told her that she was the only one, that his wife didn't understand, etc., etc., etc. ...
Speaking with the media Tuesday morning Mahoney, 52, did not directly address the allegations of adultery first reported by ABC News, but did apologize to his family and say that he had done nothing illegal. In the ABC report Mahoney allegedly began his affair with Patricia Allen in 2006 while he was campaigning for Congress. When the tryst ended, Mahoney reportedly paid Allen $121-thousand to keep her quiet and avoid a sexual harassment lawsuit.
Later that day a person close to the congressman's re-election campaign told The Associated Press that Mahoney also had an affair with a second woman around the same time. The unnamed source said the woman in question was a high-ranking official in Martin County. While having the alleged affair, the source said Mahoney was also lobbying the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a $3.4 million reimbursement for Martin County for damage caused by hurricanes in 2004. FEMA approved the money late last year. What's the over/under on there being yet another other woman?
The Trunks have a pretty devastating ad running against him:
Posted by: Mike ||
10/15/2008
10:18 ||
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My wife would kick my ass for the cheating. But she would actually kill me over the 121 grand...
A 15-year-old girl is accused of distributing nude photos of herself to other minors, and one state legislator is questioning whether she should be labeled a sex offender.
The Licking Valley High School student was arrested Friday after school officials discovered the materials and brought in the school's resource officer for a police investigation.
After spending the weekend incarcerated, she pleaded deny Monday to both charges: illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material, a second-degree felony; and possession of criminal tools, a fifth-degree felony.
The child pornography charge for a convicted adult requires a Tier II sexual offender classification, but for a juvenile of this defendant's age, the judge has flexibility, said Jennifer Brindisi, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.
"There's a part of juvenile section of Senate Bill 10 (Ohio's version of the federal Adam Walsh Act) that says if the child is a first-time offender and age 14 or 15 that the judge can decide not to make her register," she said.
State Rep. Jay Hottinger, R-Newark, wrote the state's Megan's Law bill, the predecessor of the Adam Walsh Act, and said this case was not something the legislature envisioned.
"Clearly it was in an illegal act," he said Tuesday. "Clearly it was an unacceptable act, and there needs to be consequences from that, but we need to make sure the punishment is a reasonable punishment."
#3
A 15-year-old girl is accused of distributing nude photos of herself to other minors, and one state legislator is questioning whether she should be labeled a sex offender.
#4
The daughter on Different Strokes turned to prostitution and theft for her drugs. Janice Rand of Star Trek turned to prostitution to support her habit. Marcia seemed a bit more together but it's not really a surprise. Actors are not their characters after all.
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Photographs released by Pyongyang over the weekend showing North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in seeming good health appear not to have been taken recently, a US defense official said Tuesday.
The photographs aired on Saturday by North Korean state television were the first of Kim, 66, since he disappeared from public view August 14 after reportedly suffering a stroke. They showed him inspecting a women's artillery base, wearing sunglasses and looking as he has in the past with chubby cheeks and boufant hair.
But the US defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Pentagon analysts concurred with South Korean reports that the dark green foliage in the background suggest the photographs were taken in July or August, not in autumn.
Moreover, it was not clear what year the photographs were taken. "The biggest key is the vegetation," the official said, adding that "we see nothing that would dispute what the South Koreans are saying." The official declined to comment whether anything in Kim's physical appearance in the photographs indicated that the photograph was old or inconsistent with the intelligence about his health.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency on Sunday said South Korean intelligence officials said they believed that the photographs were taken before Kim suffered a stroke in mid-August. An unidentifed government source told Yonhap the 10 still photographs were apparently released to show Kim's regime is "in good shape" both at home and abroad.
The U.S. military says the No. 2 leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq has been killed during an operation in the northern city of Mosul.
The military has identified the insurgent leader as a Moroccan known as Abu Qaswarah or Abu Sara. Wednesday's statement says he became the senior al-Qaeda in Iraq emir of northern Iraq in June 2007 and had ties to senior al-Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It also says "he was al-Qaeda in Iraq's second-in-command" behind Abu Ayyub al-Masri, who also is known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir.
#4
personally i think all the al-Qaeda leaders are number 2
/channeling first grade humor
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
10/15/2008 12:35
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#3 They run outta No. 3's? Posted by: tu3031
Just working up the ladder, tu. Guess we've cleared the #3 step, and are now working on #2. Since #1 is a fiction of the Arab imagination, getting all the #2s would do wonders for the health and well-being of Mosul.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/15/2008 12:38
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#6
Lloyds of London refuses to write policies for any AQ no 2's - actuaries have deemed them an extremely poor risk.
#8
One almost feels sorry for the poor men. No sooner do they get the keys to the executive washroom and the corner office then they are killed -- no chance to even unlock the door and wash their hands first, let alone get trained to do the job properly. Besides, all the ambitious jihadis have taken themselves off to Pakistan, from whence they can throw themselves against Coalition guns.
Cupcakes!! Querent, I've been dying for cupcakes. The trailing daughters no longer celebrate birthdays at school. :-(
It's a baby doll that's supposed to just giggle and coo but some are hearing words in the babble - and it's causing quite a controversy. It's called the "Little Mommy Cuddle N' Coo" doll but some parents are outraged, saying it promotes Islam. The doll moves and makes baby sounds but some think the doll is actually saying "Islam is the light."
"I'm not keeping this doll," said Lake Ozark mother Linda Stanton. "I will not have it in my home." Stanton said others who heard the doll at the store where she bought it were angry too. "Some people behind us heard it and picked up on it right away, they were angered," said Stanton. "There was a young family behind us with two or three children that my daughter carried it back for them to listen and they too were very upset about it."
Complaints from Stanton and others have caused the Osage Beach Wal-Mart and Target to pull the dolls from the shelves. But there were plenty for sale at Target and Wal-Mart in Jefferson City. In fact, KRCG bought one so we could take a closer listen. While many say the doll is saying, "Islam is the light," Mattel says the doll's only scripted word is "Mama." They blame the doll's cheap speakers for distorting the soundtrack. And they also blame the power of suggestion - in that people are being told what to listen for. KRCG tested that theory by stopping a half-dozen people in the store's parking lot. No one came up with the phrase, "Islam is the light," on their own. "I got it that time," said Lake Ozark resident Jerry Baumgartner. "With a little coaching from you."
There have been reports from other parts of the country where the same doll has been pulled from shelves for saying, "Satan is king." Fisher Price's parent company, Mattel, does not plan on recalling the doll.
#1
How does "mama" (2 syllables) become "Islam is the light" (5 syllables)? Sounds like someone was having some "fun" at the factory programming the recording for the doll.
#3
From some of the other articles that I picked through, I gather that, besides "Mama", the doll also made several "goo goo ga ga" type phrases. One of the articles claimed that Mattel was going to eliminate the bit that sounded like the dreaded phrase. LOL
#5
Where was the doll made? If it was made in China there is no way this can be true. The doll might be made with lead or even radioactive but it would not say anything about Islam. Now, if it was made in Pakistan...
The Bush administration issued a pair of secret memos to the CIA in 2003 and 2004 that explicitly endorsed the agency's use of interrogation techniques such as waterboarding against al-Qaeda suspects - documents prompted by worries among intelligence officials about a possible backlash if details of the program became public.
The classified memos, which have not been previously disclosed, were requested by then-CIA Director George J. Tenet more than a year after the start of the secret interrogations, according to four administration and intelligence officials familiar with the documents. Although Justice Department lawyers, beginning in 2002, had signed off on the agency's interrogation methods, senior CIA officials were troubled that White House policymakers had never endorsed the program in writing.
The memos were the first - and, for years, the only - tangible expressions of the administration's consent for the CIA's use of harsh measures to extract information from captured al-Qaeda leaders, the sources said. As early as the spring of 2002, several White House officials, including then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and Vice President Cheney, were given individual briefings by Tenet and his deputies, the officials said. Rice, in a statement to congressional investigators last month, confirmed the briefings and acknowledged that the CIA director had pressed the White House for "policy approval." I haven't read the rest, to see if there was a point to this, beyond another opportunity to bash Bush.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/15/2008
06:08 ||
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you beat me to it Bobby.
I skimmed through most of it - you pretty much nailed it. This looks like a case of CIA CYA then a little blame Bush. They wanted the admin to expressly endorse waterboarding so they'd have a paper trail. How this becames a story I don't know - some folks in the CIA need to be cleaned out methinx.
#5
Well, if the dems really want to energize the opposition and piss off a whole lot of voters (who, strangely enough probably want them to focus on the present and future, not the past) then they should proceed with a war crimes trial of Bush and Cheney. They will have two years in office and then will be flushed. The Republican machine will be rolling in money. Sort of a Dirty Harry moment..."Go ahead punk, make my day!"
Obama has landed, not a ufo, but another prime endorsement! I will forego further snark here, since this definitely speaks for itself:
The following is a transmission channeled through Commander August Stahr from Commander Ashtar on 9.30.08 explaining how the "desire for sightings" has triggered the Planetary Shift you have all been waiting for.
The October 14, 2008 prediction about the "Sightings in the Skies" was a false prediction from the Dark Forces masquerading as the Ashtar Command and the Galactic Federation! This was a "possible" time line designed to cause havoc with your election and cause Bush to extend his power in the White House under a declared "state of emergency" for national security reasons. That reality is no longer an option and instead was the trigger for the Collective Christ Forces of Light to implement a long awaited rescue plan on the inner levels.
The plan allowed for the evacuation of the "planetary negative consciousness" and replacement with an all inclusive re-alignment with the Christed Divine Plan of raising and re-directing consciousness back to the Light of Original Mother/Father Creator Source and the Divine Plan for Earth's Ascension into the 13.13.13 Solar New Earth Reality. This has be done this day 9.30.08
In the days, months and years ahead, mankind will look back on this day as a turning point for humanity that finally redirected mankind in the right direction. Your financial markets will stabilize. Your governments will "govern" for and by the people. Countries will make peace with each other around the world. The "terrorists" will have a change of heart and lay down their weapons as they choose to participate in the new democratic process. The U.S. will again be the beacon of hope and ideals to strive for. Peace and prosperity will reign on Earth and human creativity will be unleashed to usher in the true Golden Age meant for Earth's future.
How can this be? True change comes from within and the "change of guard" on the inner levels is complete. Each person will be guided in new directions for the betterment of themselves and mankind as it was always meant to be. This time in the Earth's history will be remembered as Earth's wake up call, the decision point for moving in a new direction which will bring about changes for the better in all areas of your life. Barack Obama is the right man for this moment in Earth's history. He will be elected to the U.S. Presidency and he will go on to two terms which will fully anchor in the new direction the U.S. and the World will embark upon.
#2
Now, when I think about it, there is something profoundly unnatural about Lightworker's body language---kind like he is not really used to operating a human body.
#9
Stop fooling around and just bring in the Borg. We all need to be part of a collective anyway to bring universal peace and understanding anyway. Use the pros and stop messing with the amateurs.
Four suspected Harkat-ul-Jihad (Huji) militants have been arrested by the Bangladesh's elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion in southwestern Khulna, officials said here on Wednesday. RAB officials said the Huji militants were arrested following a tip off and during interrogations they confessed to have hatched a plot to get free their detained top leader Mufti Abdul Hannan from jail.
Officials said the police had submitted a charge sheet in a Dhaka court accusing 21 Huji militants, including its top leader Hannan and former minister Abdus Salam Pintu of detained ex-premier Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), of carrying out a deadly grenade attack on a rally. Twenty four people were killed in the attack on the rally of ex-premier Sheikh Hasina's Awami League. Several others were wounded but Hasina narrowly escaped the attack.
Islamo-Fascism will once again be the hot topic on campus tonight as author Robert Spencer comes to Memorial Union at 6:45 p.m. Spencers lecture is titled Jihad: What They Say and Why it Matters. The event is sponsored by University of Wisconsin College Republicans.
CR Chair Sara Mikolajczak said she has seen Spencer four times before, and he has always been fair when presenting his arguments. He presents facts and numbers and things that hes found through research of the Koran and what other people have said, Mikolajczak said. Then he expects people to come away with their own representation of it.
The event is similar to a lecture held last year by author David Horowitz as a part of his Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week last October. At that event, several liberal and minority students became unruly during the question and answer session in response to inflammatory comments by Horowitz. During that speech, former UW lecturer Kevin Barrett stood up and tried to get him to talk about possible government involvement in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Barrett was met with the asshole chant and booed out of the room.
Mikolajczak said UW Police will be present at the event to try and deter any outbursts and protect Spencer if needed. She added she doesnt think this event will be as disorderly as the one featuring Horowitz, since it is in a smaller room and the name Horowitz incites people in and of itself. A lot of people dont really know who Robert Spencer is, Mikolajczak said. I think people are going to come for the intelligent debate, not the yelling and screaming and throwing things like little children.
Since publicity of the event began, Mikolajczak has received multiple hate e-mails from people around campus. Ive been getting e-mails comparing me to Hitler, e-mails commenting on the CRs in general, e-mails saying the entire Republican Party is racist, sexist, homophobic, Mikolajczak said. You know, the usual stuff I get from people on campus.
Tarek Elgindi, chair of the Muslim Student Association, said he doesnt believe Spencer will add much of value to campus, at great cost to the university due to the increased police presence.
Elgindi is familiar with Spencers lectures and said he has a weird way of talking about Islam. He will say on one hand that the majority of Muslims in the world are peaceful, good people, Elgindi said. On the other hand, he will somehow convince the audience that the Koran is preaching violence, which is kind of contradictory. He added there are other, less biased Muslim scholars who could speak on the issues.
CR is not participating in Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week this year to focus on Novembers presidential and congressional elections, Mikolajczak said. I wish they had completely gotten rid of the idea, Elgindi said. It didnt do much good to this campus. Theres very little that somebody could have taken from the lecture by David Horowitz.
#1
I got invited to this lecture, and though I could not make it, I will look for some local news reports on it tomorrow for the benefit of all and sundry. It looked really interesting.
About 100,000 tourists have visited historic sites in the North Korean city of Kaesong since a new tour program to the communist country opened in December last year, a South Korean tour operator said Wednesday. The number of tourists to Kaesong, just north of the heavily fortified Korean border, exceeded the 100,000-mark Wednesday, Hyundai Asan Corp., the Seoul-based tour operator, said in a statement. Company officials said most of the tourists have been South Koreans but about 2,600 Americans, Japanese and other foreigners also have taken part in the program. The Kaesong tours include visits to a famous waterfall, a temple and a museum
Hyundai Asan also has run a high-profile tour program to the North's scenic Diamond Mountain since 1998. But that was suspended in July after a North Korean soldier fatally shot a South Korean woman who allegedly wandered into a restricted military area at the resort. Before the shooting incident, about 10,000 people traveled to Kaesong every month, but the number of monthly visitors declined to about 7,450 in August and 5,770 in September, according to Hyundai Asan. The Diamond Mountain resort had drawn nearly 2 million people before the tours were suspended, according to Hyundai Asan.
#1
South Korea is about the size of Portugal and has 49 million people, so it is no surprise that 100,000 people are willing to tour such a nearby attraction.
#2
i have always liked my resorts too have very restrictive military bases nearby. Makes it a little interesting when you get drunk and can't find your way back
Posted by: chris ||
10/15/2008 14:49
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Don't go past the ropes. That would be...unwise.
RIYADH: Who should sell women's lingerie in the Kingdom? The question resurfaced after a Saudi woman initiated a boycott campaign against lingerie stores aiming to put pressure on shop owners to replace salesmen with women. "We urge every man and woman to help our privacy from being violated by men to whom we are obliged to buy our intimate clothing items," said the campaign's leader, Reem As'ad. "It's the most irritating experience so far to women."
The petition targets lingerie store owners in Saudi Arabia in order to convince them to comply with a labor law that states that women should be replacing men in marketing and sales of women's lingerie. Little momentum has been made to implement this initiative. With very few exceptions, lingerie store salesmen are just that: men.
"We only want to activate a law that was passed two years ago," said As'ad, an economics professor at Dar Al-Hekma College in Jeddah. She added the boycott would be the second step in the campaign. "First, we will communicate directly with CEOs and owners of stores, asking them to comply with the law," she said. "If they do not comply then the boycott begins."
"It's really strange that Saudi Arabia is the only country where you see men selling women's lingerie," she said. "Women walk around covered from head to toe, and yet they have to discuss the size and material of their undergarments with strange men. Isn't this odd?"
A study finds that 13% of the visa petitions for U.S. employers to bring in skilled foreign workers are fraudulent
The study, released to members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, marks the first time the agency, part of the Homeland Security Dept., has documented systematic problems with the controversial program. Technology companies, in particular, have come to rely on the H-1B visa program to bring in skilled foreign workers to fill jobs that employers claim can't be filled with U.S. candidates. Tech companies like Oracle (ORCL), Microsoft (MSFT), and Google (GOOG) have pushed to get more visas, claiming that a shortage of skilled workers is hampering U.S. competitiveness. Microsoft Chairman and co-founder Bill Gates has twice testified in front of Congress on the issue.
Critics say H-1Bs help U.S. companies replace American workers with less costly foreign workers. "The report makes it clear that the H-1B program is rife with abuse and misuse," says Ron Hira, assistant professor of public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology. "It shows the desperate need for an auditing system." However, both Presidential candidates, Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), have said they support expanding the program.
#1
Technology companies, in particular, have come to rely on the H-1B visa program to bring in skilled foreign workers to fill jobs that employers claim can't be filled with U.S. candidates.
When they don't want US workers. Those who they can pull their visas are far more docile than workers that can tell the employer what violates Fair Labor and Standards Act. There is no incentive for Americans to commit to years of college or technical training only to be displaced by a foreign tech. American business should have been forced to grow their own if they needed them so much. Instead we've had two decades of corporate welfare with the H1Bs in the tech fields. Your own military trains people to do technical jobs. It requires a contract for years of service to receive the training. Corporations do not want to lock themselves into such contracts. They treat labor as a liability not an asset, to be dropped when it is convenient rather than preserved for its value. H1Bs are a disincentive program for Americans when it has run longer than the time it would take to train someone here at home to do the job.
#3
Not going to be able to write our own code in a decade since the H1Bs are raping the CompSci market and keeping wages and job security no better than a middle manager. So why bother?
I discouraged my son from going into software - its simply not worth it to compete with some guy in India who will take less than half of what you make when he's in the US, and McDonald's pay when he is working remotely from India.
Who will write the software in our military hardware in the future?
Sen. Barack Obama, with a donation of nearly $1 million, and a son of Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi were among the biggest contributors to the presidential campaign of controversial Kenyan leader Raila Odinga, according to an internal document obtained by WND.
The memo was prepared by the head of Odinga's campaign finance accounting section, Shakeel Shabbir, as an official report delivered to the national treasurer for Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement party, or ODM.
Among the 72 individuals and organizations that contributed money to Odinga's 2007 presidential run in Kenya, Shabbir lists "Friends of Senator B.O." as having donated 66,000,000 Kenyan schillings, about $950,000.
Saif el-Islam Gadhafi, the Libyan strongman's second oldest son, reportedly donated 53,450,000 Kenyan schillings, about $765,000.
According to several highly credible ex-ODM sources WND interviewed in Kenya, the $950,000 raised for Odinga's campaign came from a series of private meetings arranged for Odinga by Mark Lippert, a foreign policy adviser in Obama's U.S. Senate office. The meetings with top-dollar Obama fundraisers and donors took place during Odinga's 2006 trip to the U.S.
#2
The bad news is, that when they grew, they encapsulated some polar bears.....
now they look like white Yogi Bear snow globes, cast upon the open sea to melt and sink beneath the wintry waves.
#2
To be honest, the place-of-birth thing is just an asinine distraction. But if it distracts the assholes in the Obama campaign, go for it, clowns.
Just don't file fucking lawsuits in my goddamn state that have *already* disrupted the prompt distribution of absentee ballots in my home county. Crippled little old ladies won't be able to vote because of idiot lawsuits filed by blowhards and morons like Berg.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
10/15/2008 7:58
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#3
I think it might be worth looking into.
"Wrote Langbert, "Mr. Obama has refused to produce a physical certified, stamped copy of his birth certificate. An electronically displayed imaged displayed by his official campaign website has alleged to have been a forgery. We request that the FEC require Mr. Obama to authorize the FEC to obtain an official copy of his birth certificate."
Ted Moran, who said he wished to be contacted at brotherbear@solomonsstables.org, said he also was launching a campaign to discern the truth about Obama's birth certificate.
"I am looking for 50 brave men or women from 49 states and the District of Columbia to join me in suing the secretaries of state in our respective states to prevent them from posting the name Barak H. Obama on the November 2008 ballot until he presents incontrovertible proof that he is a U.S. citizen," he said. "The secretaries of state are the ones who by placing a person or initiative on the ballot certify that the candidates or initiatives meet the legal requirements to be on the ballot.
"The office of the president is simply too important to trust to someone other than a person whose loyalties are 100 percent American, and while it is impossible to read into the heart of a man or woman we do have the test our forefathers gave us. Which is this office is not to be entrusted to anyone but a natural U.S. citizen," he said.
Multiple requests over a period of several days by WND to the Obama campaign for a comment or explanation of the birth certificate issue did not generate any response.
The Israel Insider said, "The revelation that [the birth certificate] of Obama's own sister was evidently used to create the electronic forgery represents what supporters of this analysis claim is a 'smoking gun' that appears to implicate Sen. Obama directly. Hawaii law limits access to vital records to family members only, a fact which slowed down the ability of researchers to compare the purported Obama 'birth certificate' which displayed from the start a peculiar provenance and inexplicable features to genuine specimens. Therefore, it would seem that either Maya K. Soetoro-Ng (as she is now called) supplied the document or its image to half-brother Barack or his campaign, or Obama/his campaign used it without her permission.
"The stakes couldn't be higher. Even the Snopes anti-rumor site acknowledges that Obama's constitutional fitness to be president depends solely on his being born in the United States, because his mother not yet 19 at the time of his birth would not have had a sufficient number of years as an adult citizen, according to the laws prevailing at the time, to pass on 'natural born citizenship' automatically," the report said.
"There have been reports, so far unconfirmed, that Obama was born outside the country, either in Kenya, his presumed father's native land, or in Canada. The fact that the Obama campaign has been touting as genuine a forgery since June 12 will likely increase pressure to not only account for the fake but produce a genuine paper birth certificate. Obama, in his book 'Dreams from My Father,' specifically mentioned having such a document in his possession, but it has not been submitted for public inspection or analysis if it in fact exists," the report said.
The forensic computer investigators interviewed by the news publication concluded there are two obvious possibilities for the birth certificate image: A real certificate was scanned and digitally edited or a real certificate was scanned for the graphic layout, then blanked by soaking the document in solvent to remove the toner.
The certificate was published by the Daily Kos June 12 following initial reports questioning Obama's place of birth. He's stated he was born in Hawaii, but if that was not the case, his citizenship could be uncertain, since his father was not a citizen and his mother was not old enough to pass along American citizenship automatically.
The issue originally was raised by Jim Geraghty, reporting on the Campaign Spot, a National Review blog. He cited the "unlikely" possibility that Obama's 1961 birth was not within the U.S.
At the time, he wrote, "If Obama were born outside the United States, one could argue that he would not meet the legal definition of natural-born citizen because U.S. law at the time of his birth required his natural-born parent (his mother) to have resided in the United States for 10 years, at least [f]ive of which had to be after the age of 16.'"
He then pointed out Ann Dunham, Obama's mother, was 18 when Obama was born, "so she wouldn't have met the requirement of five years after the age of 16."
#6
Mrs. Obama's opinion about her husband's status is meaningless. This is a court case "of fact", in which Obama either has the documents he needs, or he does not.
All Obama has to do is present between one and three very specific notarized pieces of paper to the judge, which unless challenged on substantive grounds, would mean immediate dismissal of the case.
This is required of every American who gets a State drivers license. Ironically, unless Obama produces these documents, to at least indicate that he is a *naturalized* US citizen, he would also, automatically, lose his drivers license and possibly even be subject to deportation.
#7
spread rumours created by American bloggers and other racist media outlets in their efforts to damage a black mans name, saying she hopes African Media was mature enough to be in the front to give unwavering support to her husband, a man Africans should identify themselves with.
#10
While I give this story a huge mountain of salt, some things are troubling. Why, when McCain's citizenship was questioned, he immediately released all original documents, but when Obama's is he just releases one crappy photocopy. All it would take is a couple original documents to make this go away, and Obama is stalling. Why? It just makes no sense if he is a full American citizen.
#14
OK. I just read this article and my first impression is that we need to take it with a grain of salt. I mean, did Michelle Obama really call these people and talk to them like this? Really? She's saying that everybody who has legitimate concerns about the existence or non-existence of a valid birth certificate is racist? Just for asking? I'm a racist just for asking a question? And then she demands that API and other African media outlets support BO just because he is a black man? Isn't that kinda like...well...racist? Did she really do this? She has better sense than to talk to MSM this way. How about MSM picking up on this? How about ABC, NYT, WaPo, CNN, or CBS asking her if she really said these things? National Enquirer? Ain't gonna happen, is it? Another thing that, sadly, ain't gonna happen is McCain raising this issue in tonight's debate. This whole issue is gonna get swept under the rug just like Rev. Wright, William Ayers, Tony Rezko, Fanny Mae, Freddy Mac, Vera Banks, etc., etc., etc. because He is the One.
#17
He also refuses to produce his passport records. Besides befriending a Pakistani, he reportedly traveled there several times. His mother worked for an NGO there for several years, too. Being a little forthcoming would end all this but the stonewalling just fuels it.
#18
People are assuming his mother flew with him shortly after he was born to the mainland. One possibility no one has considered is that Obama was born onboard a ship from Hawaii to the mainland (many people would have travelled from Hawaii by ship at that time). This wouldn't affect his citizenship, but being born in international waters would make the natural born clause problematic.
#20
This is on Sirius Patriot right now; here's my observations:
Obama Sr as per being Kenyan was a Brit subject (he was never a U.S. immigrant). Obama Jr as per Brit law of 1948 was also a Brit subject *if* his mom did not assert her rights as a mother that he be a U.S. citizen (IIRC she was underage at the time of birth). Then, Sotero (not a U.S. citizen whose home country does not have a dual citizenship agreement w/the U.S.) adopts Barack and he moves out of Hawaii and does school abroad. Question is: did the mom assert her rights and keep him as a U.S. citizen or was he considered a Brit subject or even a citizen of his adopted father's home country? More importantly, why not just release the original and be done w/the speculations?
#21
Another theory:
He was born in Hawaii and is therefore eligible, but the name his mother gave him was Barry Obama or maybe Barry Dunham.
He legally changed his name to Barack Hussein Obama, after his father, later as an adult.
It would explain why he's so touchy about "Hussein" ...
#22
To partially echo what Broadhead6 touched on....would his adoption by Soetoro mean that he would have had to give up his American citizenship, since Indonesia did not recognize dual citizenship?
If so, he would have had to go through some procedure to get his American citizenship back....and therefore regardless of where he was born, he wouldn't qualify as a "naturalized" American, right? (I don't think that the US guvmint takes into account the fact he was a minor and may not have consented....he would still be considered naturalized.)
#23
My other assertion is that he was probably born illegit - why that would be an issue I don't know - unless it was just an embarrasment for him & therefore he doesn't want to release the originals - though in this day and age I don't think many folks would care.
"I did note but only as an aside that the easy access to consumer credit had been fuelled in part by galloping house price inflation, which, "conveniently, does not appear on the government's official inflation index".
Does anyone here at RB know if this applies in the US as well? Have housing prices been removed from the calculation of inflation?
#3
Housing prices -- A concept called "Owners Equivalent Rent" is what is used to figure the CPI. It's supposed to account for all the costs of home ownership. See this link for a start. There's a lot more to read on this with Google.
Personally, I place little store in government statistics such as CPI. It's in the interest of the gov't to underestimate inflation, since it must increase payments such as Social Security when the cost of living goes up.
#4
The "new approach" is not all that new: The Treasury is buying non-voting shares, drawing only 5% interest, no limits on dividends to common stockholders, etc. This is very unlike what the UK is doing on their banking intervention and very unlike what Warren Buffet did when he recently invested in Goldman Sachs and drove a much harder bargain. The fix is in. The media is cooperating by averting its gaze and chattering about the irrelevant. From crony capitalism to crony socialism.
#5
"Have housing prices been removed from the calculation of inflation?"
AFAIK, NO. housing prices are included in the CPI in two ways. The first is the cost to buy a home, but the multiplier for this is VERY small because most people who buy a home do so but a few time during their lives. The CPI, in any monthly figure does include housing prices, but the effect is small. The second way housing prices are included is by way of rental equivalences. I hope this helps.
Posted by: Minister of funny walks ||
10/15/2008 10:37
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#6
MFW, look at AH9418's link. It's more complex and uglier. The inflation numbers from the Govt are BS.
#7
Unless you are actually looking to buy or sell a home NOW, the going "housing price" doesn't really matter. (unless the tax assessor is coming around) Neither do changes in mortgage interest rates. Like most people paying a fixed mortgage, my P&I payments NEVER change! That, for me, is zero inflation over the last 11 years. So the CPI rather overstates my housing inflation by quite a bit.
Of course, I was responsible and purchased a home that I could afford without gimmicks.
Posted by: Minister of funny walks ||
10/15/2008 10:54
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#8
Thanks for the feedback.
the more I read the more it seems as though ecomomists and environmentalists have similar attitudes toward math.
The more complicated the better to confuse the masses and to hell with anything approaching honesty.
#9
zero inflation over the last 11 years Apparently you have paid nothing for home maintenance and taxes. You have also ignored the possibility that you could have bought less house (or rented) and invested the remainder for a profit. Home ownership has costs beyond P&I.
#10
Alan, each of us has their own personal CPI that varies based on the weighting of the a personal basket of goods and services consumed. The official CPI, with its fixed market basket, will understate inflation for some just as it will overstate inflation for others. I prefer GDP deflator because it is based on what is actually bought and sold.
Posted by: Minister of funny walks ||
10/15/2008 11:16
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#11
AH. It's a new house so there's not a lot of needed maintenance yet and believe it or not, my property taxes are actually a bit lower now than they were a few years ago!(still too high) On the other hand, paying for heating oil is a bitch.
I own a home so I worry: well, septic tank, bugs, foundation etc etc etc. But my housing payment hasn't budged in 11 years.
Posted by: Minister of funny walks ||
10/15/2008 11:32
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#12
Minister, I understand on a macro-level the CPI individual vs. general etc. etc.
I remember well the Carter days when there was much talk about changing the "basket of goods/services" to alter the inflation rate numbers. Also a lot of talk about underestimating the real rate.
My personal CPI is immaterial to any discussion of the economy as a whole. BUT, if the CPI deliberately misses a large spike in housing prices it seems that it must have an effect as the CPI is factored in to interest rate calculations. So I was wondering if there was a large bubble being missed.
#15
You have also ignored the possibility that you could have bought less house (or rented) and invested the remainder for a profit.
Or live in a cardboard box under a bridge and become really rich.
(lest you think I'm being sarcastic, there was one very nice Polish couple who did just that: camped out most of the year and rented a cheap room for the winter. Their estate disbursed a low-seven- figure sum among several charities.)
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the first major world leader to face voters since the global financial meltdown, led his Conservative Party to victory in Tuesday's election but was forecast to fall short of a majority in Parliament.
The election agency reported on its Web site that the Conservatives had won or was leading in races for 143 of Parliament's 308 seats, an improvement over the 127 seats the party had in the previous Parliament. But, based on results obtained directly from election officials, Canadian Broadcasting Corp. predicted the Conservative Party would not win the 155 seats needed to govern on its own. That would force it to again rely on opposition support to pass budgets and legislation -- as it has had to since a 2006 election victory.
Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion conceded to Harper early Wednesday. "I have talked to Prime Minister Harper to offer him congratulations and my full cooperation in these difficult economic times," Dion said.
Harper had called elections early in hopes of getting his party a majority, but the Conservatives sought to put a good face on the results, pointing to their increased number of seats.
"Every other incumbent government in the Western world is in serious political trouble with the economic situation," Conservative legislator Jason Kenney said. "Ours is probably the only one that could be re-elected -- let alone with an increased mandate."
The Liberal Party, long Canada's top party, suffered a severe drubbing, dropping about two dozen seats from 95 in the previous Parliament, according to the election agency. Bloc Quebecois led for about 50 seats, the New Democrats just under 40 and independent candidates 2. Election figures gave the Conservatives about 37 percent of the total vote, the Liberals 27 percent, Bloc Quebecois 10 percent, New Democrats 18 percent and others 8 percent.
#1
Harper, Sarkosy, Merkel - one might almost think the world is turning in a different direction. It would be both ironic and unfortunate if the US Prez ended up being the biggest Socialist of the bunch.
#4
Thanks TW... It sure is looking like the US is on track to OUT-SOCIAL Canada... I don't think universal Heath Care is such a bad Idea, but Universal Banking does not sit to well with me... I would be pissed if I was American.
Posted by: mac w only ||
10/15/2008 11:42
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#5
Always a pleasure to share the victories of our friends, mac w only. (Welcome to the conversation! I look forward to seeing more of your thoughts, as well as of the many who've spoken up recently.) But, given how deeply biased the media and the pollsters are, I give no credence to their pronouncements -- they were wrong about wins for Kerry in 2004 and Gore in 2000, after all. Dr. Steve posted a useful link in the O Club that says it better than I seem to be able to. ;-)
At any rate, Mr. Wife, trailing daughter #1, and I will do our bit on election day, and in the meantime the full Ohio court of appeal ruled that all new voter registrations must be checked against driver's license or Social Security records to ensure validity before those votes can be counted, and the program must be running by the end of the week. ACORN has lost another round -- isn't it wonderful when the system works as it ought!!
#6
vote related note: sent Little Sister (in Battle Creek MI) a link to the Michell Nobama phone call to the API denoucing all that question The One's motives as well as a cheap shot regarding the activities of ACORN up that a way and her reply was that the Democratic gov'nor has hacked off so many people that the only ones pulling the 'D' lever are drowning in the kool aid. Her tone sounded like there may be a bit of a surprise for the pollsters from the Mitten State. (hope so)
#7
The Conservatives increased their numbers so that even though they will still be in a minority position, they will have a lot more "OOMPH" in their decisions.
The Liberals, the biggest single opposition party, are now flat broke and are in a terrible mess financially and facing the prospect of going bankrupt. They definitely will NOT want to have another election soon. No other opposition party will want another election soon, either. That means that the Cons, with Stephen Harper at the helm, will be steering the ship of state for the next few years.
Going to be interesting up here in Canuckistan . . . and funny.
#8
heard voter turnout was the lowest ever. Not sure what that means other than that the liberal voter is even more disenchanted than the conservatives.....
A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered Ohio's top elections official to set up a system by Friday to verify the eligibility of newly registered voters and make the information available to the state's 88 county election boards.
The full 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati upheld a lower court ruling that Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner must use other government records to check thousands of new voters for registration fraud. A three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit had disagreed last week. The full court's ruling, in which nine of 16 judges concurred, overturns that decision.
Ohio Republicans had sued Brunner, a Democrat. Her spokesman had no immediate comment Tuesday.
About 666,000 Ohioans have registered to vote since January, with many doing so before the contested Democratic presidential primary election last March between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton. The presidential election is Nov. 4.
Since the primary, Ohio Republicans have filed a series of challenges to the registrations and Brunner's administration of election rules. They have helped voters file lawsuits against local boards of election over registration rules, absentee ballot requests and a weeklong period that allowed registration and voting on the same day.
All outside the Ohio constitution which is pretty specific about registration and voting. Ms. Brunner's treatment of the state constitution portends how Democrats will treat the US constitution after January 20th ...
Brunner previously said sufficient systems exist to verify new voter registrations and there was no way to set up the court-ordered system with such speed.
Last week, the three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit had sided with Brunner, but the full panel sided with the GOP and U.S. District Judge George C. Smith in Columbus after hearing an appeal. Smith had ordered Brunner to develop a way to verify voter registration information and make it available to local election boards. The federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the current system "is essentially useless -- not unlike asking for a drink of water and being given access to a fire hose at full volume -- and will do nothing to address the anti-fraud objective."
Brunner argued that it would take two to three days to create the necessary computer programs, and said nothing in the federal Help America Vote Act required her to do what the district court ordered.
Tuesday's order directs Brunner to verify new registrations by comparing that information with data from the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles or the Social Security Administration. "As far as we can tell, the problem with the current system is not that it is insufficiently user-friendly but that it is effectively useless," the majority said in its ruling.
Ohio Republican Chairman Bob Bennett accused Brunner of pursuing a partisan agenda and said "her delay in providing this matching system leaves little time for election officials to act on questionable registrations."
Bennett said Brunner was destroying the public's trust in Ohio's elections system. "Her shameful actions to disenfranchise Republican absentee voters, block the transparency of early voting and refuse the proper verification of newly registered voters have rightfully damaged her credibility as a nonpartisan election administrator," he said.
Polling in the state shows Obama, now the Democratic presidential nominee, slightly ahead of Republican challenger John McCain. Both campaigns have worked hard in the state, which has 20 electoral votes and gave President Bush a second term in 2004.
Elsewhere in the state, the state GOP has requested information on voters in Licking County, in central Ohio, who registered and cast an early ballot on the same day during a weeklong period. The request is similar to one made last week by the Republican sheriff of Greene County that infuriated Democrats and voting rights groups, and was withdrawn a day later. The GOP has said it is concerned that the same-day voting period could have made it easier to commit voter fraud.
#1
...I'm beginning to think that those 'Obama up by 10' polls were relying on a whole bunch of fraudulent votes.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/15/2008 5:27
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#2
Mike,
It's part of the MSM's voter suppression effort. To demoralize the opposition. We've seen the effect here at the 'burg with the hand wringing and moaning. The object in war is to destroy your opponents will to resist. Give them credit, it does appear to be working to a degree. Me, I'll be voting whether they like it or not. And I don't need John McCain to lead me or do the fighting, I'll do that myself.
#3
Mike, the polls are structurally independent from the fictitious registrations. If the pollsters call a fictitious voter, she isn't going to pick up the phone, because she don' exist. Trust me, I've been making campaign calls. The rolls are full of dead numbers and wrong numbers.
The polls *might* be queered by their theory of the composition of this year's electorate. In fact, they probably are. But it's not an easily-gamed problem, unless the pollsters are deliberately thumbing the scales. The "the-polls-are-all-wrong" tack wasn't exactly fruitful in 2006, after all.
They're still giving us the "our internals look nothing like the published polls" line in the campaign office, and I appreciate the morale-boosting for what it is, but I'm not really convinced.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
10/15/2008 8:07
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#4
The polls *might* be queered by their theory of the composition of this year's electorate
You mean the polls that had Obama in the lead, then McCain, then Obama suddenly up by 10. The ones that vary from pollster to pollster by margins of greater than 7%. Tight is not a term I'd used for this years performance by them. The only science that could be is the one in SWAG.
(AKI) - Thousands of inhabitants in central Mindanao in the restive southern Philippines are being continually displaced by fighting and natural disasters, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Tuesday.
Floods have receded in Mindanao, but crops have been destroyed and the fighting keeps creating fresh displacement on a daily basis, the ICRC said in a report. "Even though the flare-up in fighting at the end of Ramadan feared by some has not materialised, the situation of the displaced in Mindanao remains difficult," said Felipe Donoso, head of the ICRC delegation in the Philippines.
Constant skirmishes between government forces and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels keep triggering displacement. "In one single day, 213 families -- more than 1,000 people -- recently arrived in the town of Datu Piang," said Perry Proellochs, ICRC delegate for Central Mindanao.
Over the weekend of 11 and 12 October, fighting broke out again in villages on the island belonging to the nearby municipality of Mamasapano. The clashes displaced several hundred people. "The displaced are moving by the truckload," added Proellochs.
Maguindanao, where Datu Piang and Mamasapano are located, is the area most severely affected by the armed conflict. In Datu Piang alone, a natural convergence point for neighbouring villages, there are over 24,000 displaced people, out of a total 41,000 displaced in Mamasapano.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/15/2008
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Frontier Corps (FC) personnel arrested 180 suspected Afghan nationals from the Chaman, Qila Abdullah and Chaghi areas of Balochistan on Tuesday.
Maps of various cities and seminaries of Balochistan were reportedly recovered from the arrested men. FC officials said that 45 Afghan national had been arrested from Chaman and 100 from Qila Abdullah for entering into Pakistan illegally without any travel documents. They said that 65 of the arrested were Afghan Pashtuns, while the remaining were Tajik and Uzbek Afghans. They said that 23 Afghan nationals had been arrested from Chaghi and Dalbandeen area. FC officials said that patrolling in the border areas had been enhanced and FC posts established every three kilometres. Shoot-at-sight orders have also been given for anyone crossing the border into Pakistan without authorisation.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/15/2008
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(APP): The Pakistani embassy in Washington has asked the US State Department to facilitate a meeting between detained Pakistani neuroscientist Dr Aafia Siddiqui and members of her family including mother and sister, it was officially learned Monday.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/15/2008
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#1
Sure. Just as soon as the arrest warrants are signed by a judge.
Posted by: ed ||
10/15/2008 0:58
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The Thai army decided Tuesday to retain troops in the disputed area near the Preah Vihear temple despite an ultimatum by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen for a pullout of Thai troops.
Thai army said in a statement that it was prepared for a confrontation with Cambodia if the spat escalated. The statement said the armed forces reaffirmed that all three armed forces -- army, navy and air force -- are ready for confrontation in the area and are confident in the potential to defend Thailand's sovereignty. "The Thai army will neither start fighting or invade into Cambodia first, but we will surely act in self-defense if Cambodia invades into our territory," the statement said.
Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen issued an ultimatum on Monday threatening to open wars if Thailand failed to withdraw its troops from an area near Preah Vihear Temple.
The Thai army said it will maintain its troops in the disputed area near Preah Vihear Temple despite Cambodia's ultimatum for Thailand to withdraw the troops.
Meanwhile Thai Foreign Minister Sompong Amornwiwat said, all 80 troops will remain in the disputed area because Thailand has overseen that area for 20 to 30 years. Sompong said of those 80 troops deployed to the area, 20 of them are mine clearance workers and the rest offer protection for the mine clearance troops. Thailand insists it has not encroached in any territory, he said.
In July, tensions ran high after the ancient Preah Vihear Temple was awarded world heritage status by UNESCO, angering nationalists in Thailand who still claim ownership of the site. The tension later turned into a military confrontation, in which up to 1,000 Thai and Cambodian troops faced off for six weeks. In mid-August, most troops evacuated and just a few dozen soldiers stationed near the temple.
In October at the border area, at least two Thai troops and one Cambodian soldier were wounded during an exchange of gunfire, and two other Thai soldiers were seriously injured after stepping on a landmine.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/15/2008
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The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) on Tuesday joined the US in condemning deadly attacks against Christians in northern Iraq which have been blamed for the flight of over 1,000 families. OIC chief Ekmeleddin Ihasanoglu said the violence in the northern city of Mosul was "unprecedented in the history of Iraq."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/15/2008
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(APP): A blast has been reported from the Indian city of Kanpur on Tuesday evening, when a bomb went off in the Bajaria area of Colonelganj police station. The device was reportedly placed on a rented bicycle, an Indian TV (Zee News) reported. The blast took off at around 7 pm. Reports suggest six people were injured, including a woman and two children.
The area, situated in the centre of the city, is highly crowded and minority dominated. Several cracker manufacturing units are located here. It is a densely populated area, packed with slums in narrow lanes.
The nature of the explosive is not confirmed, but is suspected to be of crude variant. The blast was a low-intensity one.
The entire city of Kanpur has been put on high-alert, with the site being cordoned-off.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/15/2008
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Israeli police arrested an Arab man who drove his car on a holy Jewish holiday, an incident which sparked five days of clashes between Jews and Arabs in the northern town of Acre, police said on Tuesday. Drove his car on Yom Kippur, did he? Oh, well. Let him go. At least he didn't draw any cartoons.
Israeli media reported that Tawfik Jamal was arrested on Monday for speeding, endangering life, and for "harming religious sensitivities" on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, when virtually all of Israel observes a religious ban on driving and observant Jews fast and pray. "Yo, Zionist oppressors! [THROB!] Check out this [THROB!] sound system! [THROB!]"
Arab lawmakers said the arrest was politically motivated and the charges trumped up. They demanded Jamal's immediate release. "I am sure some Jews also drove on Yom Kippur. Will the police arrest them?" asked Arab legislator Abbas Zkoor of Acre.
"It is the first time anyone is arrested for harming religious sensitivities," Arab-Israeli MP Ahmad Tibi said, urging police to immediately release Jamal, who was detained on Monday. "Police caved in to pressure from the fascist right which demanded his arrest, demonstrating it is a Jewish, racist and idiotic police," Tibi told AFP. "I wonder if the Israeli government will in future arrest Jews who eat or drink in mixed cities during Ramadan," he said in reference to the holiest month in Islam when most Muslims fast from dawn to dusk.
Jamal appeared on Sunday before parliament's Interior Committee and apologized, saying he had "just wanted to get home".
"If what I did caused this, I am ready to sacrifice my neck right here on this table... just to return peace and quiet back to the city of Acre, to bring coexistence back to its place," he said.
At least three people were injured during the clashes that broke out when Jamal drove through a Jewish neighborhood. A group of Jewish youths assaulted him, accusing him of deliberately making noise and disrupting the sanctity of Yom Kippur. Hundreds of rioters then took to the streets, damaging around 100 cars and 40 shops, according to police. On the ensuing four nights, Jewish and Arab rioters clashed with each other as Jews called for "death to Arabs" and Arabs chanted "Holy Shit! Allahu Akbar."
Arabs with Israeli citizenship, the descendants of those who remained in the Jewish state after the 1948 war that followed its creation, make up around 20 percent of the Israeli population.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/15/2008
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"I am sure some Jews also drove on Yom Kippur. Will the police arrest them?"
Yeah, if they are @-holes about it by driving by a synagogue and blaring their horns and radios. It's happened before, only they usually just throw rocks.
Israel Defense Forces soldiers on Tuesday shot dead a Palestinian youth who tried to throw a fire bomb near the West Bank settlement of Beit El.
Troops found next to the youth's body a cache of ten other fire bombs, which he apparently planned on hurling at the settlement. According to the IDF, two other Palestinians fled the scene.
An IDF spokeswoman said that in light of a number of recent attacks in and around on the settlement an army squad had set up an ambush after dark on Tuesday, which subsequently caught the Palestinian.
Earlier Tuesday, IDF engineers blew up a tunnel dug by Palestinians in central Hebron. The tunnel, which was some 100 meters long, was discovered by Palestinian police in the West Bank city during the Jewish Holiday of Sukkot.
After the Palestinians police had informed the Civil Administration of their discovery, the IDF examined the tunnel. The army is still investigating whether it was meant to facilitate a terror attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Iraq opened bidding Monday on the first round of contracts to develop its oil fields since the fall of Saddam Hussein, a move intended to jump-start a sector crucial to the country's rebuilding.
Oil fields have been looted and attacked by insurgents since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, technical experts have fled abroad because of violence and the infrastructure is creaky after years of international sanctions and neglect. Iraq needs billions of dollars of investment to increase production, experts say. "Current production is by no means meeting demand for the reconstruction of the country," Iraq's oil minister, Hussein al-Shahristani, told reporters after meeting Monday in London with representatives of three dozen international oil companies. "International companies are needed to fast-track development. The response was fairly encouraging."
Vera de Ladoucette, director of Middle East research for Cambridge Energy Research Associates, noted that the first round of bidding involves fields representing a third of known Iraqi oil reserves. "It's a huge step," she said.
Shahristani presented the oil companies with requirements for their bids on 20-year contracts to develop six major oil and two natural gas fields. Bids are due in six months and the government is expected to choose the winners in June, he said. Oil analysts estimate the contracts will lead to increases in production by 2011 or 2012.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/15/2008
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I'll start with $20
Posted by: chris ||
10/15/2008 9:14
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If I remember correctly several american companies lost bids to the Chinese recently in oil reserves. This is a crucial problem that has occurred. The US is suddenly losing contracts to foreign competitors. What do we do? We sit there and look at our feet saying oh well. This is a major problem.
A Palestinian militant group that assassinated an Israeli cabinet minister in 2001 said on Tuesday it plans to kill right-wing MK Avigdor Lieberman in retaliation for recent Arab-Jewish clashes in Acre.
A spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine made the threat against the lawmaker on the group's radio station. The spokesman, who identified himself as Abu Jamal, said the PFLP would act to defend Israeli Arabs. "Our fingers are on the triggers of our weapons and we know when to direct our fire ... The fate of the Zionist Lieberman will be similar to Ze'evi's," he warned.
In 2001, PFLP gunmen shot dead right-wing minister Rehavam Ze'evi to avenge the assassination of the militant group's leader, Abu Ali Mustafa.
Lieberman wants to transfer Israeli Arab towns to Palestinian jurisdiction and annex large Jewish settlements in the West Bank to Israel. He termed the Acre riots a pogrom against Jews and the start of an intifada, or uprising, inside Israel. The Palestinian news agency Ma'an on Tuesday quoted Abu Jamal as also saying that the Israel-Hamas truce in Gaza would not stop his group from responding to the violence which he said was a part of a policy of expelling Palestinians from Israel.
The tension in the mixed city began Wednesday when an Arab resident drove into a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in the city on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, during which Israelis across the country refrain from driving. Outraged at what they described as a deliberate provocation, the Jewish residents assaulted the driver, sparking riots that raged in the city for five days.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/15/2008
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Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- When Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper called today's election six weeks ago, he complained that opposition calls for more spending were putting the economy at risk, and parliamentary gridlock had stymied his agenda, including longer sentences for criminals.
After a campaign that saw him almost lose his lead in opinion surveys and then recover ground amid the global financial crisis, Harper may end up back where he started once the ballots are counted. Polls point to Harper beating Liberal Party rival Stephane Dion without the ruling Conservatives winning majority control of Parliament. That would put Harper at the head of Canada's third consecutive minority government in four years and leave the legislative impasse unbroken as the country grapples with its sharpest economic slowdown in at least 16 years.
``Minority governments typically lead to paralysis on the big issues,'' said Nikita Nanos, an Ottawa-based pollster. ``The government tends to deal with small items and tinker as opposed to dealing with fundamental problems.''
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/15/2008
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``Minority governments typically lead to paralysis on the big issues,''
Which is the number one reason to want McCain to win here. (It's a feature, not a but.)
Turkey has suspended 19 officers working in a prison over the death in custody of a leftist activist who had allegedly been tortured. The 29-year-old activist, Engin Ceber, died Saturday in a hospital from brain hemorrhage after he was allegedly beaten by prison officers.
Turkish Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin said on Tuesday the 19 officers had been suspended over the case and apologized for ill-treatment of prisoners at Istanbul's Metris Detention Center. He told reporters a probe into Ceber's death had determined he had been mistreated by the prison staff. "I apologize to the relatives of (Ceber) on behalf of my government and the state," Sahin said, adding that those responsible would be punished. He declared that more officers might be suspended over the case. The Turkish government had earlier announced a policy of zero tolerance for torture in the country.
Ceber was detained last month during a protest against the authorities' inaction to bring to justice the police officers who allegedly shot and paralyzed a youth selling left-wing publications last year. The case has been used by the nationalist opposition to ask for the resignation of the Interior Minister.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/15/2008
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Want justice? Put them in the General Population in prison.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Monday declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles and nearby Ventura County, where massive wind-whipped wildfires burned out of control, destroying more than 10,000 acres and leaving at least two people dead.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Two senior Saudi clerics have issued fatwas calling for the owners of Arab television channels that broadcast shows promoting magic, debauchery and vice to be tried in court and face the death penalty.
The sheikhs, both members of the Higher Council of Clerics, said Sunday they stopped short of directly condemning to death purveyors of these shows but denounced them as unsuitable for the holy month of Ramadan.
The head of the Saudi Supreme Judiciary Council Sheikh Saleh al-Lihedan said in an interview with Saudi TV Sunday that he objected to the content of many satellite channels but that he did not intend to incite people to kill channel owners, claiming that his original religious ruling broadcast on Saudi radio last week had been taken out of context.
Another senior cleric, Sheikh Saleh al-Fozan, weighed in on Sunday in response to the furor ignited by his colleague and condemned horoscope and advice shows as equivalent to sorcery and therefore apostasy worthy of the death penalty.
"Sorcerers who appear on satellite channels who are proven to be sorcerers have committed a great crime ... and the Muslim consensus is that the apostate's punishment is death by the sword," Fozan told the daily al-Madina newspaper
"Those who call in to these shows should not be accorded Muslim rites when they die," the prominent cleric added.
Sheikh Saleh al-Lihedan
Many of the hundreds of Arab satellite channels have sprung up in recent years specialize in horoscope programs and advice shows, seen as "sorcery" by some. Turkish soap operas have also become extremely popular this year in Saudi Arabia and the Arab world. They provoked a storm of anger this year among conservatives who fear the spread of secular culture and immoral values.
Lihedan, who holds the highest judicial authority in Saudi Arabia, said in response to a caller's question during a radio show last week that channel owners should be tried in court where a verdict suitable to the offence, including capital punishment, would be handed down.
"I want to advise the owners of these channels that broadcast programs with indecency and vulgarity and warn them of the consequences ... They can be put to death through the judicial process," he told Saudi radio.
He was referring to comedy shows and soap operas airing in Ramadan, a month of fasting when Muslims are supposed to focus on God. Critics say Ramadan has become an orgy of food and television consumption once the fast ends at sunset.
"I told them I don't mind if they make sure this [immorality] doesn't happen, but obviously this is hard for them because it's against their policies," the 79-year-old cleric told Saudi TV Sunday. He said he had rejected offers to host a religious show before or after the programs because he did not want his show sandwiched between such "indecent" programs.
Lihedan added that when he talked about the topic, he started by addressing channel owners and asking them to fear God and stop airing TV shows that confuse people's beliefs and spread ideas that unsuitable for Ramadan.
Sheikh Saleh al-Fozan
Fozan said entertainment channel owners should be "banished" but stopped short of advocating the death penalty for them.
"The position of Muslims and their rulers about these channels is that they should be talked to and if they continue airing depravity and shamelessness they should be banished from this place and others brought in their place."
The government's official advisor on religious affairs, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdelaziz Al al-Sheikh, said in July it was not Islamically permissible to watch the Turkish serials.
In their capacity as judges, clerics of Saudi Arabia's conservative form of Islam often sentence "sorcerers" to death.
The owners of Arab entertainment channels, including MBC (AlArabiya.net's parent company), ART, Orbit, Rotana and LBC, are mostly Saudi royals and businessmen closely allied to them.
Concerned about the country's international image, some key members of the Saudi royal family have promoted liberal reforms. The clerics fear plans to limit their extensive influence in what is the world's largest oil exporter.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/15/2008
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The parties, the issues, the mainstream media even farther to the left than in that big country south of the border. Go read the whole thing. Tomorrow we'll find out if the Conservatives got their majority in Parliament at last.
As Somalia sinks ever deeper into hunger and despair, attacking foreign ships bottle-necking into the Gulf of Aden is proving to be one of the few profitable activities in the country. Abdi Garad, who describes himself as the commander of one of the first groups of pirates who started marauding Somalia's much-frequented waters, has no qualms about listing the benefits derived from piracy.
"We enjoy life with the money we get as a ransom," he told AFP from an undisclosed location in the semi-autonomous breakaway region of Puntland.
Abdi Garad boasts a large flat in one of Puntland's main towns, owns two fully equipped SUVs, three cell-phones, a satellite phone and a laptop.
Last on his list, but maybe not least, he says he recently married two more wives to add to the lone spouse he had before launching his career in piracy.
Residents have also reported a boom in lavish wedding parties in the Puntland town of Garowe since the hijacking of mainly merchant vessels off Somalia's lawless coastline became a weekly occurrence last year.
According to experts, the surge in piracy has raked in up to $30 million in ransom money since the start of the year alone, causing jitters in world trade and attracting unprecedented attention to a forgotten country.
But Garad remains a far cry from the romantic image of the swashbuckling buccaneers that wreaked havoc in the 17th century Caribbean and claims to be engaged in a legitimate nationalist struggle.
"This is just like any business for us. We care about it just like anyone would care about their job. I have been on the ocean for a long time, not to fish but to hunt down ships in our territorial waters, which nobody will guard if I don't do it," he said.
"We're defending our waters from foreigners dumping toxic waste and plundering our sea resources. I hope the world can understand this is the responsibility of Somalis and we shall one day be rewarded for our efforts."
In Puntland's coastal villages, not everyone sees the pirates as heroic freelance coast guardsmen but most show respect for the men and their money.
"They have a lot of money and they can buy everything without even looking at the price," said Mohammad Abdi Dige, a trader in Puntland's main port and economic capital Bossaso.
"We give them supplies, medicines, food, fuel and clothes when they go to sea to stalk ships and they pay us after they obtain the ransom."
Pirates have had the chance to share the spoils, distributing the ransom money to friends, relatives and local officials across clan lines.
Bile Mohamoud Qabowsade, adviser to the president of Puntland, said such an approach has meant the pirates have built an informal network providing logistical and political back-up onshore.
"Many people like the pirates for their pockets. They have money and give to their relatives and friends. That money goes through many hands, which in return gives them support among the community," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/15/2008
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"We're defending our waters from foreigners dumping toxic waste and plundering our sea resources. I hope the world can understand this is the responsibility of Somalis and we shall one day be rewarded for our efforts."
#4
Not that I am defending piracy, but they do make a concerning point, especially after the report to radioactive sand on board the captured Iranian ship making everyone deathly ill. From another AP article:
ROME Anti-Mafia prosecutors said Tuesday they are investigating a reported Mafia death threat against the Italian author of "Gomorra," the best-selling expose on the criminal underworld in Naples...
The prosecutor said the reported threat involved an attack along a highway, which also would target Saviano's police escort.
Saviano has been under police protection since 2006 when his book "Gomorra," denouncing the Camorra's hold on everything from garment industry to drug running to waste disposal, became a best-seller in Italy...Saviano said Camorra-run companies routinely win contracts to dispose of toxic waste from northern Italian industries by underbidding competitors, then dispose of it illegally and untreated in the region's rivers and dumps.(or sell it to terrorists who could use it in a dirty bomb)
#5
Don't forget that they take hostages for Ransom. That in itself would negate their claim of 'defending their shores from toxic waste'.
If they were truely defending their shores they would demand an end to 'dumping of toxic waste'. I've never heard that little tidbit in any of their demands.
Funny how that little claim only came after they opened up the Iranian ship (which, most likely, wasn't even destined for their shores anyway).
(APP): A meeting of Muttehadda Ulema Council (MUC) held here Tuesday issued a unanimous decree (fatwa) declaring suicide attacks in Pakistan as haram (unlawful) and Najaez (unjustified).
The meeting was attended by ulema from Jamaat Ahl-e-Sunnat, Ahle Tashee, Ahle Hadees, and the Deobandi and Barelvi schools of thought. The meeting chaired by leader of the MUC, Sarfaraz Naeemi demanded for abolishing the system of "sood" (interest) in the country.
The meeting decided to observe black day on Friday and demanded for initiating dialogue in tribal areas for restoration of peace there. They said that some foreign forces and their agents in the country were responsible for volative situation in tribal areas and terrorist activities in other parts of the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/15/2008
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#1
And outside Pakistain?
Posted by: ed ||
10/15/2008 0:59
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But they're addressing taqfiris, who have no respect for their opinion as they are not pure enough in their observance.
Syria recognized Lebanon's sovereignty for the first time on Tuesday, with President Bashar Assad issuing a decree paving the way for the opening of full diplomatic ties with Lebanon, following six decades of independence, the official SANA news agency said on Tuesday. The decree provides for "the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Syrian Arab Republic and the Lebanese republic and the creation of a diplomatic mission at ambassador level in the Lebanese capital Beirut," it said.
Syria and Lebanon announced on August 13 their intention to open diplomatic ties for the first time since independence some 60 years ago, following up on a pledge made by Assad and Lebanese President Michel Suleiman in Paris in July. Assad said last month he expected full diplomatic relations between Damascus and Beirut by the end of this year.
On Monday, U.S. President George W. Bush had warned Syria that it must respect Lebanon's sovereignty and urged Damascus to open full diplomatic ties with Beirut. His comments came as Washington closely watched Syrian troop movements near the border with Lebanon, which have raised concerns among anti-Damascus figures in Lebanon.
Lebanon's President Michel Suleiman issued a statement on Saturday, after contacts with Assad, accepting that the troop movements were aimed at tackling smuggling as stated by Damascus.
In September, the Lebanese army revealed the deployment of 10,000 Syrian special forces in the Abbudiya region along the border between Lebanon and Syria. The move came a month after a Damascus summit between Assad and Suleiman at which it was agreed the neighbors would take formal steps to demarcate their borders.
In addition to trying to improve relations with Lebanon, Assad has also recently sought indirect peace talks with Israel, mediated by Turkey, and says he wants direct talks next year. The West is slowly changing its policy of the past three years of isolating Syria and has instead tried to engage it more in Middle East issues.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/15/2008
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#2
This is a HUGE step for Syria. They have always before declared that Lebanon was merely a Syrian province, and had no right to independence. This dates back to the early partitioning of the Ottoman empire by France and Britain in 1920, when both Syria and Lebanon were governed by the French as a single unit. This would be like China accepting an independent Taiwan.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/15/2008 12:43
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The military commander of the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has accused Ankara of seeking conflict with Iraqi Kurds through its charges that they are sheltering rebel fighters in their mountainous semi-autonomous region. "Turkey wants to drag the Kurdistan region into war by accusing Iraqi Kurds of harboring us," Murat Karayilan told AFP in an interview in his remote mountain hideout in northern Iraq.
His comments came as a Turkish delegation prepared to meet the president of the Iraqi Kurdish region, Massud Barzani, in Baghdad to discuss Ankara's grievances.
"Their main objective is to weaken the Iraqi Kurds' position in their disputes with Baghdad," said Karayilan, who heads the PKK's military wing in its quarter-century-old insurgency against Turkish rule in the mainly Kurdish southeast. "Turkey's bombing of our camps in the mountains is aimed at stirring up the Kurdistan region and at weaving plots on the Kirkuk issue," he added.
The Iraqi Kurds have long demanded the incorporation of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in their semi- autonomous region, but Baghdad has opposed their claims, fearing that the province's rich revenues will give a boost to Kurdish nationalist ambitions. Turkey has championed the interests of the province's Turkmen minority, who, like the Arab settlers poured in by executed President Saddam Hussein's regime, are strongly opposed to any change in the status quo.
Turkish warplanes have been bombing Kurdish rebel hideouts across the border in northern Iraq since PKK militants killed 17 soldiers in an attack against a border outpost on October 3.
Turkish military and civilian leaders have held a series of talks on tougher action against the rebels after Parliament renewed authorization for a possible ground incursion into northern Iraq following the border attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/15/2008
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Sweating, are they? Good. Little commie bastards.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
10/15/2008 7:54
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Whereas I suppose the PKK wants to unite the Kurds behind Vladimir Putin?
(AKI) - A Filipino worker was beheaded by sword on Tuesday in the coastal city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia after he was found guilty of killing a Saudi citizen in the Islamic holy city of Mecca by suffocating the man and piercing his neck with a pen. Somehow I'm not feeling real sorry for the dear departed...
The worker, Jenifer Bidoya, also known as Venancio Ladion, was found guilty by Saudi Arabia's highest court, the Supreme Judicial Council. The first sentence was issued in April 2007 by a Sharia (Islamic) law court in Jeddah.
The execution was carried out despite appeals by Philippine President Gloria Arroyo to Saudi's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud. The family of the victim also refused to forgive Bidoya. Sharia law has both public and private liability, thus even if the king would have pardoned Bidoya, the family's insistence on carrying out the execution means it had to be carried out.
Authorities also said that a Saudi man, Fahd al-Shadoukhey, was beheaded on Tuesday after being convicted of theft and rape while under the influence of alcohol.
There are hundreds of thousands of Filipinos that work in Saudi Arabia, one of the first countries to accept immigrant workers from Manila in the 1970's. The execution comes amid reports by rights group Amnesty International claiming that the number of executions in the kingdom has sharply increased and that a disproportionate number are foreigners from Asian and African countries.. Picked right up on that, didn't they?
AI says the way in which the death penalty is imposed is unfair, secretive and harsh. Not much gets by Amnesia International, does it?
Posted by: Fred ||
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Should've run that "I'm too fat" excuse by them.
#2
If you are "not feeling real sorry for the dear departed.." then I am. And who could tell the world that the so called back-door Sharia decision is right based on the honest decisions, situation and evidence? I am a Canadian citizen who have live in the kingdom for many years. I have witnessed the large number of Human Rights violations made by Saudi Arabian authorities on its expatriates. The world must have forgotten to realize that some of those that were beheaded are people like you who happen to be in the wrong place at a wrong time. I kept a diary of all atrocities made during my years of stay in the kingdom.
Posted by: Henry Fisher ||
10/15/2008 13:07
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The worker, Jenifer Bidoya, also known as Venancio Ladion
Jenifer is a female name, Venancio appears to be male, so I'm a bit confused. Not to mention that, as Henry Fisher points out, often enough foreigners -- and even local Saudis -- are punished on trumped-up charges. The only fact we can be sure of is that someone, probably from the Philippines, was publicly beheaded on Tuesday. Quite probably a Saudi citizen was murdered by someone. Possibly he deserved it, as Filipinos are often hired as house servants, and very often overworked, abused, and the females raped. No doubt Henry remembers a few years ago when several Westerners (one was British, as I recall) were arrested, tortured, and convicted as alcohol runners, although they were innocent as the day. The international outcry was such that the King magnanimously expelled them from the country instead of putting them to death.
(APP)- At least five people were killed and eight others sustained critical injuries when two rival clans exchanged fire here at Mola; a remote village of the district Tuesday morning, officials said. Both the clans are sub-branches of Jattak tribe who entrenched against each other over a dispute of pasture ownership. Those who lost lives in the clash were identified as Qadir, Hakim, Jabbar, Muhammad Panah and a woman whose identity could not be ascertained. The mysterious woman known only as "Mom."
Firing still continued by the time of filling this report and the district administration rushed to the area to control the situation.
Posted by: Fred ||
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The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps naval forces have intercepted a vessel carrying 90 tons of smuggled gasoline in the Persian Gulf. The IRGC said on Tuesday that the vessel was bound for one of the Persian Gulf littoral states and was seized 20 miles southwestern of the Siri Island - situated 31 miles from Iran's Abu Musa Island.
The incident comes shortly after Iran, on September 16, assigned the IRGC to replace the Iranian coastguard in protecting the Persian Gulf. The measure was taken to prepare Iranian naval forces for a potential military conflict in the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
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(SomaliNet) Two days after they killed one of the hijackers in a gun battle, Somali security forces freed a Panamanian ship from pirates on Tuesday, officials said. "Strike yer colors, ye scurvy dogs, or I'll send yez to the bottom!"
"Ummm... Cap'n? That's my ship..."
"Shuddup."
The Wail was seized by heavily armed Somali gunmen on Thursday as it carried cement to Bosasso from Oman. "Bring up them chests, boys! Let's see what kinda loot... Oh. Cement."
There are thought to be nine Syrian and two Somali crew members onboard. "Put a shot across her bows, Mr. Muslim!"
"Aye aye, Cap'n!"
[KABOOM!]
"Aaaaiiieee!"
"A little higher next time, Mr. Muslim!"
"We have succeeded in saving the Panama-flagged ship and its crew," Ali Abdi Aware, state minister for the semi-autonomous northern Puntland region, told Reuters. "Most of them, anyway."
"The pirates have surrendered and the ship is in our hands now." Puntland's fisheries minister, Ahmed Said Ow Nur, said 10 hijackers were arrested and two soldiers wounded in the raid. "Clap 'em in irons, Mr. Muslim!"
"Aye aye, Cap'n!"
"You men! How badly are you wounded?"
"Ow!"
"Ouch!"
"Ship's doctor! A bandaid and an aspirin for each of these men!"
"Aye aye, Cap'n!"
"The ship is now sailing towards Bosasso," he told Reuters. "Helmsman, lay a course for Bosasso! And make it quick!"
Another senior Puntland government official said the Wail had been slightly damaged during an earlier shoot-out on Sunday in which one pirate and one Somali soldier were killed. Sources say Puntland security forces also seized two of the speedboats used by the gang during that operation, and had been surrounding the Panamanian-flagged vessel since then. "Mr. Muslim!"
"Sir!"
"Drop a few rounds of shot into their speedboats. See how they..."
[DROP!]
[CRASH!]
[GURGLE!]
[SINK!]
"We give up!"
"Yeah! We quit!"
"... like it."
Somali pirates have hijacked more than 30 ships so far this year and received ransoms totaling $18-30 million, making the waters off the Horn of Africa nation the world's most dangerous. In the highest profile case for years, ransom talks are continuing after they seized a Ukrainian vessel, the MV Faina, which was loaded with 33 T-72 tanks and other weaponry.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Absolutely first-rate inlines there, Fred. You made my day. Now if the US would only bomb the he$$ out of the rest of the pirates, it might actually put a stop to some of this.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/15/2008 12:23
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Five mortars fired from across the Afghan border landed in the Bangi Dar area of the North Waziristan Agency on Tuesday. No damage was reported in the area, which is 30 kilometres northeast of Miranshah. Separately, locals said American spy planes had flown over the Ghulam Khan border area of the agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Conservative-friendly media better get ready. Should Barack Obama win the presidency and the Democrats control Congress, as now seems likely, they will launch a full-scale war to drive critics especially on political talk radio right out of legitimate public debate.
Signs of what the new environment will be like for the right are already evident:
#2
Yes it does. If Obama wins it's going to be a long four years.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/15/2008 0:33
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#3
Compare wid REDDIT > HAS ANYONE NOTICED THERE IS NO MORE LEFT-WING IN US MEDIA, POLITICS ANYMORE!?
We missed That Guy From Guam's FASCISM = now LIMITED COMMUNISM, CAPITALISM = LIMITED SOCIALISM,..................@ETC. arguments, premises, andor inferences all those years ago, didn't we???
#6
JM is onto something, unsavory though it may be.
I would never advocate violence, but if people get frustrated enough, or their rights are trampled enough, bad things will happen.
Before it gets to that level, ther are other things you can do. It will be easier to push back at the grassroots level. Make note of who has the Obama signs in their yards or on their bumpers. Cease patronizing their businesses, if they have them. Even if it means spending a little more, somewhere else. Alter your associations with those who do not, and let them know why you choose not to engage with them, or let your kids play with theirs.
Vote (if you can) against any increases in pay for teacher's unions, or any government employee unions that were overt Obama supporters. When and if you are asked why your spending and voting patterns have changed, supply the honest answer, and tell the targeted groups that your rights of expression are under attack and they get no more money from you until whatever new version of the "fairness" doctrine their anointed one puts in place is removed. Targeted economic pressure can have a powerful effect, particularly on a group (public sector unions) that places such an insanely overwhelming emphasis on income stream security.
Talk to young people. Get involved. Challenge them to think about why a government would attempt to limit free speech, and its implications.
Enough of these might be enough to avoid the shooting scenario.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
10/15/2008 6:01
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#7
Enough of these might be enough to avoid the shooting scenario.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
10/15/2008 7:38
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#9
This is the scenario I see if Obama is president:
With a dhimocratic congress, expect huge tax increases and massive government spending. In this economy, I see another depression happening because of government policy. People will complain, gripe and criticize the government and Obama. The dhimocrats, in a attempt to stop the pointing out of their flaws (and we have already seen Obama do this) with start suppressing free speech. Expect to see the fairness doctrine come back and only be enforced on right wing venues. The MSM and the leftist sites will not be touched. As our nation falls deeper into poverty and trouble, also expect to see more "social" programs come into being and financed by the government. Only, they will be for the people that supported the left and no one else. Green projects, teachers, unions, etc. You will also see a national youth movement that will try to brainwash kids into turning in their parents for "Un-American" activities. At this point, people start shooting. Curfews and banning of public protest will come, followed by martial law. Then, full Civil War. Not like the last Civil War, but more of a Balkans type war. When enough people have died, the military will come in against Washington DC and the end for the left and Obama will come quickly.
As a couple writers have pointed out, we seem to be in a cold civil war now. It wouldn't take much to light the fuse for it to go hot, IMHO. I know I am already fed up with the expanding government and erosion of my rights by both sides. But I will not tolerate it if the left pushes it as far as I think they will. I pray the above does not come to pass. But without a McCain victory I don't see much of a way to prevent it. The left and the dhimocrats can't help themselves. They are scorpions.
#10
Oh, and the right/center will be furious if it starts to be shown that Obama won only because of massive vote fraud and nothing really happens until after January 4th. Then everything is hushed up and covered up.
Although, I can see a scenario of Obama winning and several states seem so tainted with fraud that judges rule the result void and order a new election.
Look, you can't rule out anything completely, but what you are decribing sounds like the fantasies the moonbats had in 2001, in some respects. Prepare for the worst, and all that, but realize that it is, in fact, a worst case scenario, not a most likely one.
Similar things happened when Clinton was elected in 1992. Who can forget the attempted nationalization of US history curricula, which was a veritable litany of cultural and economic Marxism, or the giant tax increases, or the attempt to nationalize 14% of the private sector (health care)? Yet within 2 years the left was turned out of Congress.
Many of the people who will "gripe and complain" will be former Obama supporters who voted for him because he was the flavor of the day, or they were fed up with Republicans. By 2010, they will vote for Republicans in the Congress and Senate overwhelmingly, upon seeing Obama's true colors.
Count on it.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
10/15/2008 8:01
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#12
Prolly like a lot of you I listen to talk radio periodically through the day at work. Most of the conservatives I listen to (Wilkow & Church) don't seem to worried about the fairness doctrine - as it has to swing both ways. Also, it would be really hard to implement - it's original intent as per the 1930s law does not fit how the dumb libz want to do it now. OTOH, Boortz is worried about the fairness doctrine - so who knows.
#13
I don't listen to talk radio -- they shout too much, which gives me a headache. But how would an Obama executive shut down half of the internet? After all, as evidenced on this site a good many web/IT/computer people lean conservative. The Obama team, should he win, may want to shut down dissenting voices, but I really don't think it's probable. Too, some 30% of Americans are happily in the center, and they aren't likely to be happy when half the spectrum disappears.
#14
TW, I'd suggest Bill Bennett 6-9 am - good conservative commentator and never have I ever heard him get over the top. He treats all his guests w/respects and is pretty reserved. Seems to do a good program.
Unlike Clinton and his congress, this time things are very, very polarized. The dhimocrats are fully bought and paid for by the Marxists and socialists and follow their ideology and methods. I wasn't too worried about Clinton in '92 since a good portion of those dhimocrats were blue dog or just wanted more welfare programs and a cut military. Unlike today where the dhimocrats are full fledged nuts, seeking to actively make the US lose in a war to strengthen their own power. Anyone who does that is capable of shredding the Constitution for their own gain. I trusted the '92 dhimocrats not to fuck up too much, this bunch I trust to fuck up completely. I wouldn't be worried about the fairness doctrine if the dhimocrats don't have a veto proof majority. But if they get a veto proof congress, with a Marxist in the Oval Office, expect things to go south really, really fast. Every liberal tax and spend fantasy that you have heard about over the past 5 years will come to pass. Every program rubber stamped. Expect to see war crime trials.
I'm not running out to buy guns unless it looks like everything will be the dhimocrats way on January 4th. Then I will buy several, just in case. I will hope and work for the common good and hope things to work as the founding fathers wanted it to. I just won't count on it. Paying taxes is not patriotic. Questioning patriotism is not wrong.
One strategy is to make the ISP responsible for what is said on the site. Find some really wacko nut case on the fringe, an ACORN shill, and then set the ISP back a few million$ in legal fees and fines. Because it's a true wacko, most people won't care. And then threatening letters to the ISPs from the local US attorney will be all that is needed to shut down a site.
#17
No unlike the Canadian Human Rights commission strategy. One of the commissioners actually had an account on a right-wing site and was posting vile comments that he or one of his fellows then made a formal claim against.
Beware the Axelrod Astroturf - it can cut the other way.
#19
When Obama went to Iraq recently and saw Fox News on many of the television sets, he asked (paraphrasing here) "is this the station endorsed by the US Army?" Obama will be all over the "Fairness Doctrine" and will use Hate Speech as his target. None of this should come as a surprise, it's the tried and true Operation PUSH/Rainbow Coalition program of extortion.
#20
But how would an Obama executive shut down half of the internet?
Just follow the model of Cisco, Microsoft, and Google that has been field tested on behalf of the Chinese government. It's not 100%, but it doesn't need to be. Just enough to keep the word from the masses [methodology as demonstrated by the MSM this election cycle]. The MSM is in the bag already and will be happy to once again monopolize the information market that the government will give them. Soul sold.
#21
I have decided that we need a Redline: an action that definitely and actually triggers physically violent counter-resistance. We need to let people know what the redline is, and we need to enforce it. Personally.
I am believing that it should center on abridgements of the first and second amendments. The First, because it is necessary to allow the truth to be told: we can get ourselves out of any situation, as long as we know the truth. It may be harder in some situations than others, but the truth will be necessary to recover from all situations. We don't have to know the whole truth, but we need communication of all the individual pieces that people have to get to the whole truth. We'd have had this election sewn up if the MSM was not actively and selectively suppressing the truth. We must not tolerate any version or shade of any 'fairness doctrine', because there is such a thing as selective enforcement, and they have the option of 'selectively enforcing' silence upon those revealing the truth of their selective enforcement. McCain-Feingold had media restrictions what were selective from the start, explicitly exemping the MSM BECAUSE if they didn't exempt it, the bill wouldn't be allowed to pass: it would be too obviously a violation of the First Amendment.
The importance of protecting the second amendment seems less obvious, which is why violations of it should be regarded as the yellow-line for the redline: The redline gets its bite from the real threat of armed resistance, so take away the adjective "armed", and the redline becomes vapor.
Finally, I do not advocate terrorism, which is armed struggle against a civilian population rather than a government. Indeed, where possible, I advocate bypassing the cannon fodder and going after the command structure, the self-comfortable little elites running things and issuing order because they believe they know better than us how to manage our lives than we do, and who feel safe from the consequences of their actions and their laws. They will need to stop feeling they are safe.
#26
the question is: does the military support the constitution or follow the orders of the commander in chief?
Yes.
However, the constitution takes priority over the commander. It is the duty of all men in uniform to not obey a lawful order (i.e. shoot innocent civilians that aren't involved in combat) and it is their duty to report such orders. If it is the CIC issuing unlawful orders, it is the commander's duty to disobey at the least, remove him at the worst. Which, is why I think if a Civil War breaks out the military (not counting the national guard who report to the state governor) will sit on the sidelines until it becomes clear that the CIC is not fit to be the commander.
#27
Like any bureaucracy there are 'careerists' who game the hierarchy of any organization and have no loyalty to 'concepts' but to whom ever can advance their status. The military is no different. A lesser example can be found in Clarke. When confronted by the choice between the executive and the Constitution the third option is resignation of one's commission. That opens the way for careerists who do not have the integrity in the oath of office. The higher up you go the more careerists you'll find, particularly those who view their work in the technical sense rather than the 'service' sense. I wouldn't reside particular trust in the upper echelons after a couple years of Presidential selections [lots of senior billets are nominative]. It's the middle grades that are important in the preservation of the Old Republic. So the real question will be whether the middle and junior grades will follow the orders of their seniors or will they still have the integrity to be loyal to an oath committed to "We the People...." The sad part is that if you gave a pop quiz on the Constitution, most of the officer corps probably couldn't pass [along with the bulk of the American population].
#28
Propicouis speaks of the oft-repeated "Young Officers" coup. But I don't see it happening. Obama is going to overreach. The media, which has been Obama's handmaiden, may actually turn on him/the dems in Congress. Remember, if the repubs are out of office, the journo-critters have to do something to get people to watch their drivel. They do that by beating the hell out of folks. Won't happen right away of course, but it could very well happen.
The more important factor here is the 60%+ of the population that considers themselves either republican or centrist democrat. It probably exceeds 70%. When Obama and the dems overreach, these people are going to walk right into the arms of the republican party, which, hopefully, will have once again crafted a new Contract for America.
Obama is going to fall on his face a lot. He is no Bill Clinton, by a long shot. He has not done anything of substance in any of the positions he has held. He is thin and he is not going to be able to hide that fact, especially when serious issues face him as they most certainly will.
I refuse to fall prey to the doomsday scenarios. I will remain alert, but I have faith in the enduring nature of this Republic and in the population that drives her.
#29
Its not Obama I'm afraid of - its the people like Ayers and the socialist/marxist gang who are 'pulling the strings' behind the throne I'm afraid of. Obama is, and always has been, a puppet.
And the media will either still blame the 'republicans' (boy they really screwed this up - its going to take a lot to fix!) or invent another 'the enemy' (jooos!, rednecks!, warmongers!, etc...) to point the finger at.
#30
CF, you hit the nail right on the head IMHO. I've been wondering who is the Darth Sirous (no offense DV) to this knucklehead for along time. We all know it's not say-it-ain't so Joe!
#31
The enemy they will turn to is "conservative Christians".
Oh wait, they already have...................
Posted by: no mo uro ||
10/15/2008 17:50
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#32
I don't think the real leaders of the pop-left are serious about the fairness doctrine. They are merely pandering to their base when they talk about it, since it is an enormously popular cause with the conformist hordes who are outraged at hearing their favorite myths lampooned and ridiculed every day.
Why aren't they serious?
Simple: The LAST thing they want is a real court test of the fairness of their own media, and such a test will come as surely as day follows night if they attempt to shut down the actual free media.
Mainstream news was specifically exempted when the fairness doctrine was in force. This provision was a blatant violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and would be again. At the time, however, nobody could effectively challenge MSM bias. The reason was the MSM's virtual monopoly on information and the consequent lack of public awareness. Things are very, very different today, with the internet and talk radio documenting every nuance of media-industrial complex propaganda and disseminating that information to millions.
#33
Maybe, AC. But imagine the doctrine written into law, monitored and enforced by Obama's goons. Do you seriously think it will be leveraged equally? Don't bet your AM radio on it.
As for a Redline for violent action, I would put it the day Rush, Hanity, Savage, etc. are pushed off the airwaves.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Tuesday said it was confident the U.S. and Iraqi governments would agree to keep U.S. troops in Iraq after December 31, but did not say a deal would necessarily fall under a formal long-term framework.
U.S. and Iraqi negotiators have been trying for months to reach agreement on a new status-of-forces agreement, or SOFA, to replace the current U.N. mandate governing the U.S. force presence, which expires at the end of the year. Both sides have said an agreement is close. But some key issues are still unresolved, including whether U.S. troops and other personnel can be tried for crimes in Iraqi courts.
"We remain confident that we will have an arrangement that allows military forces in the future to continue to assist the Iraqi government," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters.
Whitman was speaking after The Washington Post reported that negotiators, fearing time is running out, have begun to consider alternatives to a formal SOFA. The newspaper said one possibility would be to extend the U.N. mandate, which would require a vote by the U.N. Security Council where there could be resistance from Russia and other countries opposed to the U.S.-led war.
President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki could also agree to leave negotiations to the next U.S. president, who will take office in January, the newspaper said.
Asked about possible alternatives, Whitman declined to say whether the arrangement he anticipates before year-end would necessarily be a SOFA. "How that final form takes shape, we'll see," he said. "We continue to work on a status-of-forces-like agreement."
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/15/2008
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The U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday it is trying to provide urgent shelter and other aid for some 190,000 people who have been displaced from Pakistan’s Bajaur agency bordering Afghanistan since fighting started in mid-August.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Charsadda police on Tuesday released a US citizen of Pakistani origin who had been arrested on Monday, police said.
Charsadda District Police Officer Waqif Khan told Daily Times that the arrested man had been identified as Jawad Ali. He was released after he was found innocent and joined his family in Peshawar. "He was a Peshawari American," the police official said.
Peshawari American?? Okay, this hyphenation nonsense has gone too far ...
The police official said his name was Jodi Cannan according to the documents in his possession, but he told police his name was Jawad Ali. He said he was going to Mohmand Agency to meet a friend, Habibullah. Police said he did not have any contact information for Habibullah.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Just checking out the school system I'll bet...
Feverish buying in Japan on Tuesday replaced last week's market panic, as the benchmark Nikkei stock index soared to its largest-ever percentage gain in a single day, up 14.15 percent -- part of a global rally in stocks that continued throughout Asia and Europe.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
See also IRNA [long]> ACADEMIC > ONLY BY WORKING IN UNISON CAN THE ASIA AND PACIFIC REGIONS AVOID THE WORST OF THE FINANCIAL CRISIS.
* TOPIX > UK: WORLD BANKING AND FINACIAL SERVICES SYSTEM NEEDS TO BE REFORMED.
Scientists have found that genes located on a single chromosome are responsible for the development of early male-pattern baldness.
According to a study published in the Nature Genetics, six gene variants, all located on chromosome 20, are linked to male-pattern baldness, also known as androgenic alopecia. Findings revealed that these genes increase the risk of developing early baldness by seven-fold. Previous studies had reported that the androgen receptor gene on chromosome X, inherited from the mother, is the only gene responsible for male baldness.
The study showed that chromosome 20, however, has both maternal and paternal origins, indicating the cause of same hair loss patterns between fathers and sons. Scientists are optimistic that the early detection of these genes can help individuals seek treatment and tackle the condition in its early stages.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Hezbollah says the latest riots against the Arab residents of Acre have been aimed at displacing Palestinians from their homeland.
In a statement issued Tuesday, the Lebanese resistance group said the Arab residents of the northern town of Acre in occupied Palestine are being subject to "an organized aggression campaign" by settler gangs and the Israeli occupation regime, which is aimed at displacing them from their land.
Clashes between the Jewish residents of the city and the Arabs erupted late Wednesday after an Arab man identified as Tofik Jamal drove his car to a Jewish neighborhood. The Jewish residents of the neighborhood claimed they were disrespected because Jamal turned up the sound of music in his car while they were observing the religious holiday of Yom Kippur. The incident turned into a mass riot against the Arabs in the city.
Jamal, who denied entering the Jewish neighborhood as a provocative act was arrested by the Israeli police on Monday.
Hezbollah said the attacks "which are carried out in coordination with the enemy's police," would not have taken place if there had not been "an international plot" against the Palestinians "to disregard the rights of the Palestinian people."
"These attacks are aimed at completing the plans of the racist expulsion carried out by the Israeli occupation authorities, in addition to the desecration of the holiness of the al-Aqsa Mosque and the turning of part of its sacred territory into a Jewish synagogue," it concluded.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
'Acre incident plot to displace Arabs'
That would require Israeli political class to take their head out of their asses.
The managements of almost all elite private schools of the city have refused to allow polio vaccination teams to vaccinate children on the first day of the polio immunization campaign.
"Without the permission of their parents, we will not allow students to be vaccinated," Regional Manager of City School Parveen Shah told Daily Times. "I personally believe in vaccinating the children even if they have been vaccinated by their families, but we cannot force families to do so," she maintained. The three-day polio vaccination campaign from October 14 to 17 was launched on Tuesday. The health department of City District Government Karachi (CDGK) is supervising the campaign in the city, which is considered to be one of the 56 high-risk districts.
An official of the health department of the CDGK said that they have been facing problems in achieving their target because the administrations of private schools have refused to get their students vaccinated against the deadly polio virus. An official working for the Expanded Program on Immunization in Sindh revealed that after the detection of two P1 Type and one P3 Type cases in the city this year, one in New Karachi and one in Baldia Town, it was necessary that each and every child of Karachi gets polio drops.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
A pity therre is not a vaccine against dangerous religious memes.
Security forces targeted suspected Taliban hideouts in various areas of Bajaur Agency on Tuesday, killing 14 Taliban and wounding several others. The security forces used jet aircraft, helicopter gunships and heavy artillery to destroy Taliban hideouts in Rashkai, Tang Khatta, Tangi, Chinar and Kotki areas of the agency.
Sources said the forces bombed suspected Taliban hideouts twice in Charmang, Chinar and Kotki. AFP reported that at least 28 Taliban and a tribesman were killed in the latest clashes.
Security officials told AFP jets and helicopters killed 16 Taliban in Bajaur, while artillery and mortars overnight killed 10 others. The fighting in Bajaur is some of the heaviest since the war on terror started in 2001.
Meanwhile, fighting between Taliban and the Charmang tribal lashkar continued and both sides used heavy artillery. The lashkar and Taliban took positions against each other in Charmang. The lashkar set a number of Taliban houses on fire. AFP said two Taliban and a tribesman were killed. The lashkar had been formed last week to take action against Taliban hiding in the area.
Separately, the political administration continued its crackdown on Taliban and Afghan refugees, arresting 16 people including some refugees. Online reported the Bajaur political administration arrested 100 people of the Mamoond tribe for not taking action against Taliban.
Meanwhile, security forces bombed Bandi, Alam Gunj and Gash Kor areas in Khwazakhela tehsil of Swat for the third consecutive day, killing two civilians including a woman. A curfew is still enforced in the area.
The beheaded body of a Frontier Corps personnel was found in Sirchinai area of Kabal tehsil. The deceased was identified as Raj Wali. He had been abducted by Taliban three days ago. Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan accepted responsibility for his murder.
NNI reported that at least three people were killed while three others were injured when unidentified armed men opened firing on a van in Sanbaga area of Orakzai Agency. The van was going from Daburi to Ghiljo when it came under attack. The driver of the van was amongst those killed. The injured included one woman and an elder.
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#1
are they dreading the brutal afghan winter that bad?
Posted by: chris ||
10/15/2008 9:11
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Eleven Afghan civilians and three NATO soldiers were killed in Afghanistan Tuesday as the defense minister acknowledged that 2008 was the bloodiest year since U.S.-led invasion.
Eleven people, including two children aged about 10, were killed when a bomb apparently intended for Afghan or international security forces blew up a bus in the southern province of Uruzgan, police said. Another six people were wounded when the blast hit the small bus as it was taking villagers to a district centre, said senior provincial police officer Mohammad Gulab.
Provincial police chief Juma Gul Hemat blamed the attack on the "enemies of Afghanistan", a phrase used to refer to insurgents from the Taliban, an Islamic group that was in government between 1996 and 2001. A spokesman for the Taliban denied his group's involvement.
Posted by: Fred ||
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The government should either restore peace to the Malakand Division or implement shariah law across the region, Dawn News quoted Tehreek Nifaz Shariat-i-Muhammadi (TNSM) chief Sufi Muhammad as saying. According to the channel, the TNSM chief made the demand in a news conference at a rest house in Timergarah where he has been leading a protest camp for the last six days. He said the TNSM believed in a peaceful struggle for the enforcement of shariah law in Malakand. He said the TNSM was not against the government or any other political party, but said the government should honour the wishes of the locals by enforcing Shariah in the area. Sufi said he would never close doors for dialogue with the government.The channel also reported that the NWFP government had formed a committee to convince Sufi to end his protest camp.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Of course TNSM will ensure there is no peace.
Posted by: ed ||
10/15/2008 0:53
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#1
A lot of ACORN workers were fine with getting convicted at the State level, because the typical sentence was 1 year suspended. However, if it turns into a federal RICO racketeering suit, from top to bottom, ACORN executives and workers can get 20 years in a federal penitentiary.
The complete 6th Circuit has overturned the three judge panel, and have given only one week for the Ohio Secretary of State to confirm voter registrations against other State records.
Every registration tossed will go directly to a federal prosecutor, because it not only has the name of the ACORN employee who gave out the registration, but ACORN was dumb enough to stamp each fake registration with their logo.
#3
More than 75K new "voters" have been registered in Colorado. We have noticed a LARGE number of non-resident out-of-staters roaming around over the past 3 months. They're not that hard to spot--body language, etc. Acorn/Obama campaign is evidently bussing/funding/sending people into the state (and other swing states) to live temporarily to sign up voters for Obama's election. So much for a "grassroots" campaign. All fakers. Also, they can register here, then go back to their home states and vote again.
Tehran has rejected recent reports released by Arab media that a senior Iranian official has apologized to Egyptian scholar Qaradawi.
"Publishing false reports... will never tarnish the close ties and the brotherhood that exists among officials and scholars of Islamic countries. Such reports contradict the principles of Muslim unity and lack any value," read a statement released by the Iranian embassy in Riyadh.
"Iranian officials regularly hold discussions with religious and political figures in the Muslim world with the aim of strengthening views on Islamic unity ... and countering the ever-increasing plots and threats of the Zionist regime," the statement explained.
The statement came after several Arab media outlets claimed that the Foreign Policy Advisor to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ali Akbar Velayati had apologized to Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi over articles published by an Iranian website.
The website criticized Qaradawi's stance after he launched attacks against Shia groups and organizations, accusing them of trying to spread their teachings in Sunni states.
Velayati met the President of the International Association of Muslim Scholars, Yusuf Qaradawi, at the sixth conference on Al-Quds in Doha.
According to an IslamOnline report, there was a warm exchange between the two officials, who sat next to each other during a special reception.
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#1
IO(N IRAN, IRNA > IRAN PROTESTS AMERICAN TROOPS' ACTIONS/HANDLING OF IRANIAN MUSLIM PILGRIMS IN IRAQ; + ISLAMIC COUNTRIES SUPPORT IRAN'S BID FOR UNSC MEMBERSHIP, + REGIONAL PEACE NOT POSSIBLE WITH PRESENCE OF FOREIGN FORCES.
Also from IRNA > PRESIDENT ADVISES NATIONS TO SAVE THEIR ECONOMIES FROM THE DETRIMENT OF CAPITALISM [end of Capitalism is nigh] + IRAN ON VERGE OF SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS. Islam + World had seen the COLLAPSE OF MARXISM, and now the ANNIHILATION OF LIBERALISM vee US Crisis. IRAN + WORLD AT A CROSSROADS = U-TURN > IRAN's MISSION IS NOW "GLOBAL".
(SomaliNet) In what brings to about 3,400 the total number of African Union peacekeepers stationed in Somalia, Burundi has completed its deployment of another 850 soldiers to Somalia, an army spokesman said Tuesday.
"Burundi had already deployed some 850 soldiers to Somalia as part of AMISOM (African mission in Somalia)," Adolphe Manirakiza told AFP. "Now it has sent to Mogadishu, between October 11 and 13, a second battalion of 850 soldiers, bringing to 1,700 the number of our (Burundian) soldiers who are helping the Somalis in their quest for peace," he said.
Meanwhile on Sunday, two Burundian troops were wounded when a bomb exploded near Mogadishu airport as the new contingent was being deployed.
Uganda was the first country to contribute troops to AMISOM in March 2007 and Burundi followed in 2008, but the force is still far short of the 8,000 soldiers initially announced by the AU.
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Something was being lost in interpretation. Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, a Saudi national accused of war crimes and murder for his alleged role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, was speaking in Arabic. Ralph H. Kohlmann, a Marine colonel and military judge at Guantanamo Bay, was listening to a simultaneous interpretation in English.
At a recent pretrial hearing, Hawsawi, according to his military lawyer, wanted to discuss the potential responsibilities of his attorneys and the implications of representing himself before the military commission. Those in the courtroom, however, often heard head-scratching sentences such as, "In the beginning of the timing of the laws, I said there is no difficulties base."
A linguist working with Hawsawi's team later estimated that half of what the defendant said was rendered incorrectly by court interpreters and that Hawsawi didn't understand at least 25 percent of what was said in English.
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Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
"I'm innocent!" translated into:
"I admit I killed them"
Hey this will only save time
Posted by: Jan ||
10/15/2008 0:54
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#2
...And who, pray tell, monitors the quality of the interpreters given to the 9/11 victims?
sarc/off
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/15/2008 5:25
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#3
too be some die hard jihadist they sure bitch and whine alot
Posted by: chris ||
10/15/2008 9:13
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#4
7 years since 9/11 and still no big push to train and deploy interpreters of the languages of our enemies. A critical lack of effort on our part.
#6
Another example of goal post moving. I suppose the coffee is sub-standard as well. Do not be mislead by the BS claims of these defense attorneys. Any excuse, however tangential, will be wielded as a weapon to undermine our country.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
10/15/2008 9:55
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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.
Only a small portion of revenues from Ukrainian arms exports in the last four years was passed on to the state budget, the former head of a parliamentary ad-hoc investigation commission said on Friday.
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A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered Ohio's top elections official to set up a system by Friday to verify the eligibility of newly registered voters and make the information available to the state's 88 county election boards.
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Israeli police arrested an Arab man who drove his car on a holy Jewish holiday, an incident which sparked five days of clashes between Jews and Arabs in the northern town of Acre, police said on Tuesday. 
Iraq opened bidding Monday on the first round of contracts to develop its oil fields since the fall of Saddam Hussein, a move intended to jump-start a sector crucial to the country's rebuilding.
A Palestinian militant group that assassinated an Israeli cabinet minister in 2001 said on Tuesday it plans to kill right-wing MK Avigdor Lieberman in retaliation for recent Arab-Jewish clashes in Acre. 
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Syria recognized Lebanon's sovereignty for the first time on Tuesday, with President Bashar Assad issuing a decree paving the way for the opening of full diplomatic ties with Lebanon, following six decades of independence, the official SANA news agency said on Tuesday. The decree provides for "the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Syrian Arab Republic and the Lebanese republic and the creation of a diplomatic mission at ambassador level in the Lebanese capital Beirut," it said. 
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