He knew that his fatherÂ’s family came from Thibodaux, La., and his mother was from Ireland, and he knew about the 1929 stock market crash and World War II and life in the 1940s.
But he could remember almost nothing after that.
In 1953, he underwent an experimental brain operation in Hartford to correct a seizure disorder, only to emerge from it fundamentally and irreparably changed. He developed a syndrome neurologists call profound amnesia. He had lost the ability to form new memories.
For the next 55 years, each time he met a friend, each time he ate a meal, each time he walked in the woods, it was as if for the first time.
And for those five decades, he was recognized as the most important patient in the history of brain science. As a participant in hundreds of studies, he helped scientists understand the biology of learning, memory and physical dexterity, as well as the fragile nature of human identity.
On Tuesday evening at 5:05, Henry Gustav Molaison — known worldwide only as H. M., to protect his privacy — died of respiratory failure at a nursing home in Windsor Locks, Conn. His death was confirmed by Suzanne Corkin, a neuroscientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who had worked closely with him for decades. Henry Molaison was 82.
From the age of 27, when he embarked on a life as an object of intensive study, he lived with his parents, then with a relative and finally in an institution. His amnesia did not damage his intellect or radically change his personality. But he could not hold a job and lived, more so than any mystic, in the moment.
“Say it however you want,” said Dr. Thomas Carew, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Irvine, and president of the Society for Neuroscience. “What H. M. lost, we now know, was a critical part of his identity.”
At a time when neuroscience is growing exponentially, when students and money are pouring into laboratories around the world and researchers are mounting large-scale studies with powerful brain-imaging technology, it is easy to forget how rudimentary neuroscience was in the middle of the 20th century.
When Mr. Molaison, at 9 years old, banged his head hard after being hit by a bicycle rider in his neighborhood near Hartford, scientists had no way to see inside his brain. They had no rigorous understanding of how complex functions like memory or learning functioned biologically. They could not explain why the boy had developed severe seizures after the accident, or even whether the blow to the head had anything do to with it.
Eighteen years after that bicycle accident, Mr. Molaison arrived at the office of Dr. William Beecher Scoville, a neurosurgeon at Hartford Hospital. Mr. Molaison was blacking out frequently, had devastating convulsions and could no longer repair motors to earn a living.
After exhausting other treatments, Dr. Scoville decided to surgically remove two finger-shaped slivers of tissue from Mr. Molaison’s brain. The seizures abated, but the procedure — especially cutting into the hippocampus, an area deep in the brain, about level with the ears — left the patient radically changed.
Alarmed, Dr. Scoville consulted with a leading surgeon in Montreal, Dr. Wilder Penfield of McGill University, who with Dr. Brenda Milner, a psychologist, had reported on two other patientsÂ’ memory deficits.
Soon Dr. Milner began taking the night train down from Canada to visit Mr. Molaison in Hartford, giving him a variety of memory tests. It was a collaboration that would forever alter scientistsÂ’ understanding of learning and memory.
“He was a very gracious man, very patient, always willing to try these tasks I would give him,” Dr. Milner, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at the Montreal Neurological Institute and McGill University, said in a recent interview. “And yet every time I walked in the room, it was like we’d never met.”
At the time, many scientists believed that memory was widely distributed throughout the brain and not dependent on any one neural organ or region. Brain lesions, either from surgery or accidents, altered peopleÂ’s memory in ways that were not easily predictable. Even as Dr. Milner published her results, many researchers attributed H. M.Â’s deficits to other factors, like general trauma from his seizures or some unrecognized damage.
“It was hard for people to believe that it was all due” to the excisions from the surgery, Dr. Milner said.
That began to change in 1962, when Dr. Milner presented a landmark study in which she and H. M. demonstrated that a part of his memory was fully intact. In a series of trials, she had Mr. Molaison try to trace a line between two outlines of a five-point star, one inside the other, while watching his hand and the star in a mirror. The task is difficult for anyone to master at first.
Every time H. M. performed the task, it struck him as an entirely new experience. He had no memory of doing it before. Yet with practice he became proficient. “At one point he said to me, after many of these trials, ‘Huh, this was easier than I thought it would be,’ ” Dr. Milner said.
The implications were enormous. Scientists saw that there were at least two systems in the brain for creating new memories. One, known as declarative memory, records names, faces and new experiences and stores them until they are consciously retrieved. This system depends on the function of medial temporal areas, particularly an organ called the hippocampus, now the object of intense study. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call "The Twilight Zone".
#2
...Without the Ackermonster we wouldn't have had the joy of ray Bradbury. I'd like to think that right now, Ackerman is chatting up Karloff and Lugosi...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/05/2008 21:25
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>>>
Many of you have asked me over the last year and half who I am. The time has come to introduce myself. Galrahn is an alias for Raymond Pritchett. I a technologist, entrepreneur, and own a technology consulting company in upstate New York.
The current rumor is that the Chinese are so furious about US banks selling them bad securities while watching the US government bail themout, they will be devaluing their currency by the end of the year.
Right now all this means is that the Federal Reserve's plan to reflate the economy just took a coupla torpedoes amidships
Now for TFA:
SHANGHAI (AFP) — A sudden drop in the value of the Chinese currency may signal a policy shift to prop up exports during the financial crisis, experts said Tuesday.
The yuan fell by its maximum daily trading limit for a second consecutive day Tuesday.
The fall in its value comes just before the United States and China hold high level economic talks in Beijing at the end of the week.
The yuan's value has been a sensitive issue in the past between China and the United States, which has accused Beijing of deliberately keeping its currency low to protect the competitiveness of Chinese export prices.
"It is the best timing for the yuan to start depreciating," Lu Zhengwei, a Shanghai-based economist with Industrial Bank, told AFP.
"The slowdown in China's economy is clearly intensifying, the export sector is suffering the coldest winter in the past five years."
#1
The current rumor is that the Chinese are so furious about US banks selling them bad securities while watching the US government bail themout, they will be devaluing their currency by the end of the year.
I think it's worry about the state of the Chinese economy more than fury at the US. They're in deep doo-doo and sinking.
#2
This is a tyoical emerging market tactic: protect exports through currency manipulation. They pursue it in good times and bad.
The good news is that to make their policy effective the Chinese cannot sell dollars, which means they are stuck with their current paper and need to keep buying more with their export earnings.
#4
HOld on a sec, I thought they were supposed to be angry at us if we didn't do the bailout? Now they're angry at us that we did?
I think Hu Jintao is worried about keeping his position at the top of the greasy pole. And the guys around him are eyeing his perks and prestige hungrily, while casting worried glances at the Chinese populace, which may (or may not) become less worshipful of the Communist Party if unemployment skyrockets, and the standard of living drops.
From the Rantburg Unexploded Ordinance Stories desk.
Jeff Heyes kept the foot long shell on his desk at his print firm.
He had been given the object by a friend who had gone diving in the Solent on the South Coast and spotted it on the sea bed.
However, his office landlord, Clive Parks, and his friend Jon Williamson, a keen shooter, realised the detonator on the shell was still live and the TNT was showing.
They carefully moved the bomb out of the building and into a flower bed before calling the police who then contacted the army's bomb disposal unit. Sounds like a 4o mm antiaircraft shell, but the author does not know anything, or asks anything.
Ten police officers arrived at the office in Worcester on Thursday afternoon and two crews from Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service were on standby in the car park of the nearby Oak Apple pub. "Clear the put! There is unexploded ordinance in the flower bed!"
After inspecting the bomb, two soldiers picked it up and placed it in a red box before putting it in the back of a truck. A red box ya say? That is discriminatory to colorblind people, ya know.
They drove it back to their base in Powick Hams, Worcs, where it is understood a controlled explosion took place.
Mr Williamson said: "I saw it on the desk and thought 'that looks dangerous'.
"I shoot so I know about firearms, it still had a live detonator and the explosive TNT was exposed. That would be a hefty firearm to heft for that shell, heh.
"We phoned the managing director and told him and he said, 'I cannot believe it is dangerous, it was given to me by a friend of mine'." Was his name Al Kaboomi, per chance?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/05/2008
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#1
I need to reload some .308 shells, but I'm short on TNT. Guess I'll need to stop by Shooters Supply and pick up a couple of lbs.
WASHINGTON – The Defense Department said Friday it shot down a missile in a simulated attack designed to test a proposed shield against strikes by long-range ballistic missiles from nations such as North Korea.
The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency used an interceptor missile launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California to knock down a missile meant to simulate the speed and trajectory of a North Korean attack. It struck the target missile around 3:30 p.m., shortly after the target was launched from a military base in Alaska, according to Cheryl Witte, a Pentagon spokeswoman.
The military has conducted a series of tests in the past several years of the different components of the defensive shield, which is slated to include Patriot air defense batteries, anti-ballistic missiles launched from Navy ships and lasers mounted in planes designed to shoot down incoming missiles.
Roughly $10 billion is spent per year on the program, which is run by defense contractor Boeing Co. but includes work by most of the nation's largest weapons makers. It is spread across three branches of the military and is composed of missiles, radar and satellites designed to intercept missiles during different stages of flight.
The military argues the network is needed to protect the United States and its allies against growing threats from nations such as Iran and North Korea, both of which have tested long-range missiles. But President-elect Barack Obama expressed skepticism about the capabilities of the system during his campaign, leading to speculation he may reduce the program's scope. Russia has strongly objected to plans to install missile interceptors in Eastern Europe. Send him the video.
Friday's test covered ground-based missile interceptors located at military bases located in California and Alaska meant to shoot down incoming missiles mid-flight. A ground-based missile successfully shot down a target during a similar test in 2007, but the Pentagon was forced to scale back plans for a test this summer because of a technical glitch.
Thanks, Tongans.
BAGHDAD -- The Tongan Defense Services Royal Tongan Marines held their end-of-mission ceremony at Al Faw Palace, Dec. 4.
In June 2004, the first contingent of 45 Royal Tongan Marines deployed to Al-Ramadi in the Anbar province, under the provincial control of the 1st U.S. Marine Expeditionary Division. Since August 2007, the Tongan Marines have provided 24 hour-a-day security for their fellow coalition service members working at Al Faw Palace in support of Multi-National Force and Corps -- Iraq.
"The time has come for us to bid farewell to the Tongan contingent of the coalition," said Lt. Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, commanding general, MNC-I. "The [Tongan] Marines have given five and a half years of contribution to MNC-I, and we are truly thankful for their participation."
The entire Tongan Defense Service totals 450 service members who are charged with the security requirements of their nation's 100,000 citizens.
"It is no small measure of the commitment and sacrifice when the Kingdom of Tonga contributes 55 of their elite Royal Marines to Multi-National Corps - Iraq, but that's the nature of the Tongan people; friendship and contribution," Austin said.
"They are some of the finest people I have ever come across," said Lt. Col. William Wanovich, battalion commander, Task Force Dragon. "Not only are they hard workers and physically strong, they are dedicated and humble about it."
The military partnership between the United States and the Kingdom of Tonga dates back to World War II when Tonga was one of the first countries to follow the U.S. in declaring war on Japan just days after Pearl Harbor.
"The Tongan soldiers of World War II were thought of highly by the 147th Infantry Regiment, and the 77th Coastal Artillery who fought alongside them. Three Tongan soldiers were awarded the United States Silver Star Medal for valor in combat," Austin said. "I am proud that Tonga's participation in Iraq can now be added to our storied military history as military compatriots."
When the Royal Tongan Marines said goodbye to Al Faw Palace and Iraq, their tremendous contributions to coalition efforts in Iraq became a major part of the new history of Iraq. "We all work together here, and the Tongan Marines were an important coalition partner," Wanovich said. "As friends of the United States, they will be missed here in Iraq."
"Marines, we will miss your professionalism, and equally your high morale and esprit, which is infectious to all of us," Austin said. "It is sad to see you go, but your departure is yet another indication of the progress we've made in Iraq. So, if success here in Iraq means we must part ways, then this farewell is a tribute to our collective success as a coalition, and to the stability of Iraq."
#1
Good men and very tough. Excellent help to have in any kind of fight. Thanks for your assistance, guys. It's much appreciate by our military, even if our incoming government won't even know who you are...
MIRAN SHAH, Pakistan – Pakistani intelligence officials say a suspected U.S. missile strike has killed three people in a militant stronghold near the Afghan border. Three officials told The Associated Press that one missile hit a house in the North Waziristan region after dark on Friday and that another landed in a nearby field.
The identity of the victims was not immediately clear. A local resident said militants quickly cordoned off the scene.
#3
"and that another landed in a nearby field." Must be Iraqi's or Afghani's practicing, live fire/target aquisition with our shit. ID of victims(?) - jihadis.
I received this in an email newsletter, but the link goes to the source.
Mountains of floating garbage, geological problems, and stranded cargo ships prompted ChinaÂ’s Three Gorges dam authority to suspend filling the damÂ’s reservoir to its final height last month, according to the popular magazine South Weekend (Nanfang Zhoumo).
In early November, with just two metres to go before reaching a final reservoir height of 175 metres, the State Council’s Three Gorges project construction committee ordered a stop to the trial filling that began in late September. The decision, according to South Weekend, was prompted by three serious problems – a massive surge of floating garbage on the reservoir surface, hundreds of landslides and subsidence problems along the reservoir’s unstable shoreline and, most importantly, stranded cargo ships downstream of the dam caused by low water levels during reservoir filling. Story continues at the link.
#1
According to a joint report by the Nanjing Institute for Geography and Lakes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Changjiang (Yangtze) Water Resources Commission, landslides and bank collapses have been identified at 4,719 places in the reservoir area. Of these, at least 627 are associated with filling the reservoir.
#6
PAKISTAN/INDIA > appears that both nations are complaining about the ALARMING MEASURABLE DROP IN RIVERINE WATER LEVELS [e.g. INDUS VALLEY], as perceived to be mainly caused by CHINA's NEW REGIONAL DEV CONSTRUX PROJECTS, INCLUD DAMMING.
Also, WORLD MIL FORUM > threads strongly indic that, among other methods, CHINA FEARS COVERT SUBMARINE = UNDERWATER SAPPER ATTACK ON THREE GORGES + OTHER MAJOR DAMS. It suppors what myself and other Netters had argued back in the mid- and late 1990's.
#10
Since you seem to be a surfer, what would think of the ULTIMATE? When the dam goes, surfing down the big tsunami past all those high-rises of the Pearl Delta Industrial Area, and hopefully out to sea?
Posted by: Rick A Hyatt ||
12/05/2008 20:13
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#11
You guys in India & Pakistan should do something to radically drop the population of Red China, you know what I mean?
Posted by: Rick A Hyatt ||
12/05/2008 20:15
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#12
Now you know why the major corporations are pulling their factories out of the Industrial Delta zones, lest they lose them all in a flood. Why the CHICOM "Economy" is sinking faster than the Titanic. Funny, did the CHICOMS go and steal US geological data the way they have nuclear stuff, economic data that was clearly disinformation, and like from the downed spy plane? That they used to build their own, that fell out of the sky on 6/6/6?
Well, that's what the CHICOMS get for being corrupt thieves. At least real thieves had a code of honor.
Posted by: Rick A Hyatt ||
12/05/2008 20:18
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#13
Enlighten my ignorance, please. How could a submarine get all the way to the dam undetected?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/05/2008 23:35
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#17
*sigh* He wouldn't take me with him to Moscow back in the '90s, either, for fear I'd get myself kidnapped by the Mafiya. He has this odd idea I wouldn't recognize bad people, and would be devastated to see true poverty in action.
PARIS – Armed robbers — some disguised as women — snatched euro85 million ($108 million) worth of diamond rings, necklaces and luxury watches from a Harry Winston boutique on a posh Paris avenue in one of the largest jewel heists in history, officials said Friday.
The gang of three or four robbers threatened about 15 employees with handguns and hit some on the head before taking the jewels from display cases from the store near the Champs-Elysees, said a police official, who was not authorized to be publicly named under agency policy.
At least two of the bandits were men wearing wigs and women's clothes, the official said. The robbers also spoke a foreign language at times and appeared to know employees' names when they robbed the store before it closed early Thursday at the height of Christmas shopping season.
The brazen theft was among the world's costliest jewel heists. Five years ago, thieves plundered 123 maximum-security vaults in Antwerp, Belgium, stealing $100 million (euro78.96 million) worth of diamonds in the biggest theft in the world's diamond-cutting capital. "We are cooperating with the authorities in their investigation. Our first concern is the well-being of our employees," New York-based Harry Winston said.
The boutique on Avenue Montaigne was closed to the public Friday. Employees who came out for cigarette breaks refused to speak to reporters, and three of the five display windows stood empty of their usual wares.
A Paris judicial official said Harry Winston declared to insurers that the stolen goods were worth euro85 million ($108 million). The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. The Harry Winston boutique was targeted in a similar theft in October 2007, when three people forced employees to open safes and hand over euro10 million ($12.66 million)worth of jewels. Who's their insurance company? Raised Eyebrow of Paree?
Empire Building, the Clinton way...
WASHINGTON – Preparing for her new role as secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton is moving to surround herself with a cast of die-hard loyalists and veterans of her husband's administration to help her cope with world crises and backstage Washington power plays.
For her team of foreign policy experts, the nation's third female secretary of state is expected to draw heavily from the staff of the first, Madeleine Albright, who was an early supporter of Clinton's unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Oh, goody...
And to deal with internal Obama administration affairs, State Department bureaucratic politics and media pressures, the former first lady appears set to tap current Senate aides and former White House "Hillaryland" stalwarts, whose reputation for insularity and staunch protectiveness has already set off anxiety among career foreign service officers.
State Department officials say they have been told to expect visits as early as next week from Clinton advisers who are working with President-elect Barack Obama's incoming transition team. Members of the new administration's team have been at State since mid-November, getting briefings and visiting officials there. Neither the transition team nor Clinton's office would comment. Those officials and people familiar with the transition say most, if not all of Clinton's growing team of advisers will be tapped for senior State Department positions.
James Steinberg, President Bill Clinton's former deputy national security adviser, who was once thought a prospect to become Obama's national security adviser, is now "a lock" to become deputy secretary of state under Clinton, according to people close to the transition who spoke on condition of anonymity because no announcements have yet been made.
On the policy side, there is strong speculation that Clinton's Senate foreign policy adviser, Andrew Shapiro, will play a leading role as will Lee Feinstein, who was her national security adviser during the campaign. Feinstein is a member of the State Department transition team and served as deputy policy planning director under Albright.
For Clinton's personal staff, names already floated include longtime confidante and 2008 Clinton presidential campaign manager Maggie Williams, attorney Cheryl Mills, personal assistant Huma Abedin, current senior adviser and spokesman Philippe Reines and Clinton's chief of staff when she was first lady, Melanne Verveer. Where's the good looking Palestinian chick? Or will she be "behind the scene"?
All are known to be fiercely loyal. The prospect of their imminent arrival in Foggy Bottom has been a hot topic of nervous corridor conversation among many in the professional diplomatic corps who fear they will be frozen out of positions of influence.
Doug Hattaway, a former spokesman for Al Gore's 2000 presidential bid who also worked for Clinton during the primaries, has been mentioned as a favorite to become the next State Department spokesman.
Albright's high-profile former spokesman, James Rubin, along with top Albright assistant Suzy George, have already been seen at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. They are working with a group that will smooth the way for the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Albright protege Susan Rice, whose defection to the Obama camp during the 2008 campaign caused a stir among Clinton loyalists. Rubin, based in New York, is advising the transition team.
A look at the Obama camp's agency review team for the State Department and its national security policy working group provides hints as to other potential appointments. Among those who served in the Albright State Department are former counselor Wendy Sherman, counterterrorism coordinator Michael Sheehan, law enforcement chief Rand Beers, arms control expert Robert Einhorn, former ambassador to Indonesia Robert Gelbard and Mideast hands Daniel Kurtzer, Dennis Ross and Toni Verstandig. All are potential candidates for top slots.
One notable name on the list is Michael Guest, one of only two openly gay ambassadors ever to represent the United States overseas. Guest resigned from the foreign service in mid-career last December to protest the State Department's treatment of same-sex partners of diplomats. Can you say "Ambassador to Pakistan"? Heh heh heh...
#1
The Hildabeast is infiltrating the Obama presidency. The Big O is like the king on a chessboard with few moves available to him, while events start their acceleration against him. His cabinet and other high posts are being packed with Clintonistas. He owes everything to his backers, and I mean his big money backers, not the hope and change rubes still waiting for hope and change. Hillary will become the power behind the throne for this puppet. Good Machiavellian tactics, got to hand that to her.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/05/2008 15:48
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#3
She wasn't able to stab him in the back earlier as she needed his $10 mil (which I don't know if she ever received). This way is cleaner. No visible wounds, only the cancer.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
12/05/2008 16:34
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#4
Quick somebody, start taking notes for the book.... William J. and Hillary Clinton, the Shawdow Presidents.
#5
Rounding up the usual suspects. Yawn. The last Sec. of State who actually had power and accomplished things was Kissinger (not that he accomplished the right things, though). Other than that you'd probably have to go back to George Marshall. Recent SoS's have been pretty much window dressing. Rice has been very disappointing - clueless and ineffective.
#5
Curse of Allah, angels and momineen be on those liars who claim to be “prophets” after Sayyadna Khatim un Nabiyyeen Muhemmed Rasul Allah (saw). Also cursed and Rajeem are those who follow such liar “prophets” and also cursed are those who accuse innocent Muslims of following such false prophets. There will be no prophet after our beloved Sayyadna, Maulana, Muhemmed Rasul Allah, Rehmat ul lil Aalimeen (saw). May Allah keep us in His serene and blessed noor and Rehma in dunya and Akhira.
May Allah be my witness in both the worlds and forgive our errors, mistakes and sins and have mercy on Ummat e Sayyadna Rasul Allah (saw). Indeed Allah is the best of Protector and most merciful on His slaves.
They have accused me of gravest of sins, called me a Kafir and Murtid, follower of false prophets, running cults, doing khiyanat in wealth of orphans and widows, working for secret services against the State, and sponsoring my own program on News1 through secret funding of dubious agencies. Also, being a fraud by pretending to be a doctor or Professor !
Posted by: john frum ||
12/05/2008 14:00
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#6
Where was he when O.J. needed him? The alibis have run out for him.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
12/05/2008 14:35
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#7
Makes you a spot on Futurist predicting what these jihadi fucks will say.
Posted by: ed ||
12/05/2008 18:29
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#6
See PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > PAKISTAN MUST DEVELOP AN NUCLEAR ICBM WITHIN FIVE YEARS; + THE US-NATO's GREAT GAME AGZ RUSSIA, IRAN, AND CHINA IN BALOCHISTAN [US CIA, MOSSAD, German BND, Indian RAW INTEL Agencies sponsoring MULTI-REGION = ASIA-WIDE ISLAMIST PROXY TERROR]???
ALso from SAME > UNITED JIHAD COUNCIL [Muttada JIhad Council = 19 KASHMIRI Groups] WARN INDIA AGZ MISADVENTURE. Offer full support to Pakistan. UJC Chairman is Hizbollah Commander SYED SALAHUDDIN.
Ummmmmmmm...I think ya doing it wrong.
Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- A Danish warship, the Absalon, rescued seven alleged Somali pirates before sinking their vessel in the Gulf of Aden. The Absalon responded yesterday to a distress signal and found the men in the boat, which also contained weapons used in pirate attacks, the Royal Danish Navy said today on its Web site."Under international law, ships are obligated to help people who are distressed at sea," the navy said. "Because the people on board couldn't be directly connected with a criminal act, they were treated only as distressed." Distressed...and well armed.
"Because of the weather in the area, it wasn't possible to tow the distressed vessel," the navy said. "For the safety of sea transport in the area, the vessel was therefore destroyed." Coming up next: Somali pirates sue Danish navy for sinking their boat.
I'd be happy to apply that rule. Yes, the sun is out, the waves are only a foot high and the air temperature is 20C, but no matter, Mahmoud, we can't take your boat in tow [KABOOM!] ...
The alleged pirate vessel had been adrift in Yemen waters, and the crew has now been turned over to Yemeni authorities, the navy said.
They'll be wishing shortly that they were in a Turkish prison ...
The Absalon's crew confiscated the weapons found on board. The weapons included anti-tank rockets and machine guns, according to broadcaster TV2. The pirates had been adrift at sea for seven days, the last three days without food or water, TV2 said. Fishing trip gone bad, I'll bet...
#1
Good to see western dhimmis paying for the Somali pirates' benevolence society. Probably had hot cocoa and a koran waiting for them.
Posted by: ed ||
12/05/2008 11:58
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#2
Fishing trip gone bad, I'll bet...
Quoting James Bond after wrecking Q's "Fishing boat "What on earth is he fishing for"?
An aide replied, "I'll give you a hint, he lives in Inverness".
Bond (Grinning and Chuckling) "Nessie?"
Posted by: Rednek Jim ||
12/05/2008 12:43
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#3
."Under international law, ships are obligated to help people who are distressed at sea,"
Obviously you never heard deferring action till you get an OK on proceeding by kicking it up the chain and getting clarification from the JAG. That could take hours, days, in some instances. We dealing with the EU here, something like that might even take months.
LAS VEGAS -- O.J. Simpson is going to prison; the question is for how long. The former football star who walked away a free man after a celebrated murder trial was due to learn Friday how much time he'll spend in a Nevada state prison for a botched attempt to recover sports mementoes and personal items from two collectibles peddlers.
Neither Simpson, who was acquitted of the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife and her friend in Los Angeles, nor his co-defendant and former golfing buddy, Clarence "C.J. Stewart, testified at trial. They were convicted Oct. 3 of 12 criminal charges, including kidnapping and armed robbery, and face mandatory prison time -- a minimum of six years and up to life.
Simpson attorney Yale Galanter has said his client won't address the court. Stewart will, said his lawyer, Brent Bryson. "Best-case scenario we're hoping for is six years. That's the bottom-end number before being eligible for parole," Bryson said.
District Attorney David Roger is not expected to call witnesses, spokesman Dan Kulin said.
Simpson lawyer Gabriel Grasso said he expected Clark County District Court Judge Jackie Glass would keep the proceedings short. "She wants to hear from the lawyers and she wants to hear from the defendants. That's about it," Grasso said.
Judges in Nevada have broad discretion in determining whether to run sentences consecutively or at the same time. Glass, known for giving severe sentences, can ignore or accept a recommendation from the state parole agency calling for at least 18 years.
She received written pleas for leniency from defense lawyers and was expected to rule on a request to let Simpson post bail and be freed from jail while he appeals his conviction. The judge already denied the men's request for a new trial.
"Notwithstanding the jury verdict, Simpson continues to maintain his innocence," Grasso said in a brief seeking his client's release.
Jurors who heard 13 days of testimony said after the verdict that they were convinced of Simpson's guilt because of audio recordings middleman Thomas Riccio secretly made of the Sept. 13, 2007, Palace Station casino hotel confrontation with sports memorabilia brokers Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Fromong.
"Don't let nobody out of this room!" Simpson commands on the recordings, and instructs other men to scoop up items he insists had been stolen from him.
On Tuesday, Glass is scheduled to sentence four former co-defendants who took plea deals and testified against Simpson and Stewart. Michael McClinton, Charles Cashmore, Walter Alexander and Charles Ehrlich could receive probation or prison time. McClinton could get up to 11 years; the others face less.
#2
Nice to see he graduated from a knife to a gun.
It'a pretty sad, when the defence team, after the fact (first trial) admits your guilt. Payback a bitch. You can get away with things just so long. I feel he really think he's invincible. What will he pull next, were he let go?
#6
O.J. Simpson was sentenced Friday to at least 6 years in prison for armed robbery and kidnapping in a failed attempt to recover sports memorabilia from two collectibles peddlers.
He could serve up to 16 years behind bars, but there will be the possibility of parole after five years plus time served for a total of six years, Judge Jackie Glass said.
His co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart received the same sentence.
Look at it this way, OJ. If the "real killer" is in the Nevada state pen, you got plenty of time to find him.
#7
I think this guy should have been in jail awhile ago. If you want an interesting perspective from a young, black guy who works with me at McDonalds, check this out (warning, his language is pretty bad):
http://deepfriedworldwide.com/archives/132
We all started a webpage at our fast-food store, the workers love it, and we are not pros at this yet (it has been up only 2 weeks), but please let us know what you think!
Posted by: George Vreeland Hill ||
12/05/2008 14:07
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#9
Outside court, Goldman's father, Fred Goldman, and sister, Kim, said they were thrilled with the sentence. "There's never closure. Ron is always gone. What we have is satisfaction that this monster is where he belongs behind bars," Fred Goldman said.
I think they oughta sue for his license plate money...
LAS VEGAS – A broken O.J. Simpson was sentenced Friday to as much as 33 years in prison for a hotel armed robbery after a judge rejected his apology and said, "It was much more than stupidity." The 61-year-old football Hall of Famer stood shackled and stone-faced when Judge Jackie Glass quickly rattled off his punishment soon after he made a rambling, five-minute plea for leniency, choking back tears as he told her: "I didn't want to steal anything from anyone. ... I'm sorry, sorry."
Simpson said he was simply trying to retrieve sports memorabilia and other mementos, including his first wife's wedding ring, from two dealers when he stormed a Las Vegas hotel room on Sept. 13, 2007.
But the judge emphasized that it was a violent confrontation in which at least one gun was drawn, and she said someone could have been killed. She said the evidence was overwhelming, with the planning, the confrontation itself and the aftermath all recorded on audio or videotape.
Glass, a no-nonsense judge known for her tough sentences, imposed such a complex series of consecutive and concurrent sentences that even many attorneys watching the case were confused as to how much time Simpson got.
Simpson could serve up to 33 years but could be eligible for parole after nine years, according to Elana Roberto, the judge's clerk.
we all know that O.J. stands for "OFF to Jail!!!" we can't collect $200.00 cause he's broke, and there's no sense in him passing "Go" cause he's way passed "GONE!" so much for the hard game of REAL LIFE.
#15
Get off of his case. 13 years ago he should not even have gone to trial. There are interesting pictures of his bedroom 13 years ago - at 7:30am - NO socks at the FOOT of his bed. THEN at 10:30am there were BLODDY socks at the foot of his bed - INTERESTING..
Then we have Fred Goodman, money hungry (gold digging) to the first degree - FOR 2 YEARS before his son's death the two of them had not even SPOKEN!!!!
AND then we have the present "judge". Her comments, etc., from the "bench" probably will have the case and judgment tossed out and her reprimanded. To say she had "Agenda" is an UNDERSTATEMENT!!!!!!
#23
Well, if someone would be so kind as to instruct me (in great detail) how to edit those videos, I would have put the real targets face in there. As it is, Lloyd deserves it for chewing more scenerey than even Shatner did (in this movie).
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/05/2008 23:27
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#27
BTW Mathews, Simpson's sports agent Mike Gilbert, in his new book How I Helped OJ Get Away WIth It, noted that he told OJ to Not take his arthritis meds so that the gloves wouldn't fit.
For more than a century, countless American intellectuals and business leaders have looked enviously at how foreign countries “planned” and “managed” their economies. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressives drooled over Otto von Bismarck, and today every self-proclaimed “global strategist” gazes at China’s managed capitalism like a kid with his nose pressed against a candy-store window.
Of course, China has made enormous progress since it decided that markets are a more desirable means of improving the lot of its citizens than organized mass murder. But ChinaÂ’s fans still have an enormous blind spot.
Ask yourself this: Why are we in this financial crisis?
Any short list of reasons would include a lack of transparency in markets and regulatory rule-making; collusion between business and government; the politicization of lending practices (including the socialization of risk and the privatization of profit through giant governmental entities like Fannie Mae); and, of course, simple greed.
Does anyone honestly think China doesnÂ’t have these problems ten times over? It has no free press, no democratic accountability, and no truly independent regulators.
After every Chinese earthquake, we discover that safety inspectors couldnÂ’t be trusted to oversee the construction of schools and hospitals. And weÂ’re supposed to believe that ChinaÂ’s corrupt model produces toxic baby formula but spic-and-span finances?
ThereÂ’s an honest debate about how much blame institutions like Fannie Mae and laws like the Community Reinvestment Act deserve for the financial crisis, but few honest observers dispute that they played some kind of deleterious role. Well, ChinaÂ’s entire economy is one big Fannie Mae, its laws one big Community Reinvestment Act.
IÂ’m willing to bet that the bill for that comes due long, long, long before China catches up with the United States of America.
Posted by: Mike ||
12/05/2008
10:39 ||
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#1
Without America as a consumer of its goods, China is nothing. They are a producer of convenience goods, and with exceptions of course, we could do without their stuff.
#2
Without America as a consumer of its goods, China is nothing.
Actually, the US produces - by value - most of its own goods, since invention, design, product improvement, marketing, et al are all done in the US. Only the manual assembly and manual packaging are carried out in China. Fordists - people who believe that manual assembly is the biggest value-add in the supply chain and assembly workers should be paid UAW wages - may disagree, but the fact is that China's place in the supply chain can be taken by any country with low labor and land costs and a reasonably stable government. And that is indeed what is happening, as names like Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia and the Philippines start to show up on country of origin labels.
#3
I disagree Democracy is not a boon to no corruption. The bigger the State Economy bigger corruption. I doubt that USA have much less State Economy than China and State Economy have been increasing in all Democracies because the elections favor Politics "giving" and taking from X to Y. Democracy will have to prove that can live and still be at front without a Westernized Culture and Morals and i doubt it will be able to that. All Government agencies of a Democracy work to stiffle and augment their power so the state can grow since it has popular support while a Dictatorships tries to maintain the political status squo so tries to change much less.
I think the only solution is that maximum tax rates should be in Constituition. Those that disagree make another country.
#5
I doubt that USA have much less State Economy than China
I wouldn't be so sure. The Chinese government is the majority shareholder in most of China's equivalent of the Fortune 100. Banking, insurance, heavy equipment, aerospace, electronics - the Chinese government owns it all.
#6
Zhang, I think you are underselling the Chinese cultural advantage. They are great method people. Show them how to do something and they will reliably repeat that method with impressive precision.
Try doing the same with Malays or Banglas.
What the Chinese are not good at (culturally) is figuring out how do something without a method or figuring out how something can be improved (relative to Westerners).
#7
phil_b: Try doing the same with Malays or Banglas.
I don't know about the Bangladeshis, but I have a fair amount of electronics bought in the late '80's and early '90's that says "Made in Malaysia". Assembly work with soldering irons and screwdrivers just ain't that complicated. It certainly doesn't rate paying the Chinese more than Malaysians or Thais, especially since Chinese real estate is actually more expensive than in Malaysia or Thailand (thanks to Chinese government hoarding).
#9
CHINESE MIL FORUM > RUSSIA TO REVERSE PRIVATIZATION PROCESS, giving Russ companies a US$200.0Bilyuhn Bailout of their own???
Also, WORLD MIL FORUM [paraph] > CHINESE STATES OF AMERICA [West/Pacific Coast, espec California]LIKELY TO DOMINATE POST-BREAKUP USA [Igor Panarin Scenario]. CATALYST TO INDUCE BREAK-UP SCENARIO WOULD BE FOR POTUS-ELECT OBAMA TO BE SHOT/ASSASSINATED!?; + US STATE DEPT DESIRES TO FORM AN INTERNATIONAL "ALLIANCE OF YOUTH MOVEMENT" TO COMBAT TERROR, POLITICAL OPPRESSION, AND CRIME, FOSTER AND PROTECT HUMAN RIGHTS; + CHINA'S POVERTY-STRICKEN POPULATION DECLINES TO 1.4MILYUHN FROM 250.0MILYUHN DURING ERA OF MAO ZEDONG [aka Mao Tse-Tung]. Article prob is that Author uses or denotes figure described as "1,400 Milyuhn(s)", a sum which inversely subjectively indics an INCREASE, NOT DECREASE, to 1.4BILYUHN = 1,400,000,000???
#10
phil_b: I'll bet all of those made in Malaysia products came from Malaysian Chinese owned factories and largely manned by Malaysian Chinese workers.
I can't speak to the ethnicity of the assembly line workers, but I can say this - the only stainless steel knives and can openers I've had rust on me after a couple of uses had one country of origin in common - China. I don't think that's an assembly line worker problem.
No one stopped Rashid Khalidi, the Columbia University professor of Modern Arab Studies, at Ben-Gurion airport. Having just landed after the long flight from New York, the professor was anticipating the traditional reception from airport security personnel reserved for visitors with "suspicious" names. To his surprise, he entered the airport like anyone else, with no problems or delays...."...Obama did not visit one mosque or Arab community center throughout the entire two-year campaign, and he never mentioned Arab- or Muslim-Americans in his speeches. Whatever may have been the 'strategic' political reasons for these actions, they show the kind of atmosphere we in the U.S. live in."...
#2
Before China, it was Europe that was going to overtake us. Before Europe it was Japan. Before Japan it was the Soviet Union ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2008 12:17
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Obama did not visit one mosque or Arab community center throughout the entire two-year campaign, and he never mentioned Arab- or Muslim-Americans in his speeches. Whatever may have been the 'strategic' political reasons for these actions, they show the kind of atmosphere we in the U.S. live in.
Huh? How many synagogues and churches do Muslim politicians in Muslim countries visit?
A range of Lego-style fighting figurines - including an Islamic terrorist militant - has sparked outrage among Muslims. The toy mini-figures, made by American Will Chapman, includes a masked terrorist bandit with an assault rifle, grenade launcher and belt of explosives.
So they're life-like figurines ...
Shocked by the playthings, British Muslim organisation the Ramadhan Foundation has branded the figurines "absolutely disgusting". Chief executive Mohammed Shafiq said the figures were "glorifying terrorism".
Unlike the various videos and websites of terrorist organizations ...
He said: "I don't think there's any difference between someone that shouts hatred through a megaphone and someone that creates a doll that glorifies terrorists.
"As a parent myself, I'm going to teach my children respect for the law and respect for each and every community. These are the lessons parents should be giving to their children - not lessons about weapons and violence."
Father-of-three Mr Chapman boasts on his website that his nine-year-old son gave him the idea for the range.
The site advertises 31 different Lego-style weapons, weapons packs and 10 miniature militant figurines. Other fighters in the range include World War Two troops, US marines - and a Nazi SS officer.
A spokesman for Lego UK said they were "not associated" with the toys being sold by BrickArms, "which have been customised without LEGO UK's knowledge or permission."
He added Lego is "committed to developing toys which enrich childhood by encouraging imaginative and creative play - and does not endorse products that do not fit with this philosophy." Pic at site is a beaut
#8
As a kid I would play a game with legos where I would build a mechwarrior and duel it out; different weapons=different rubber band lengths, the PPC was a rod lauched by a mini crossbow, etc. Had helicopters, tanks, all lego. Swords became machine guns, lances to rpg's.
They just took that idea to the next level and would have really enjoyed having these guys with my lego A-6 strikes.
#11
I don't think they're disgusting. I want one. Then I can act out destroying it. What's not to like? Besides, it's realistic and historical. Think I'll put it on my desk. Then I'll get a few rubber or plastic animals--a camel and some sheep, bloody them up with paint and lay them on their sides at the figurine's feet. Then I'll get an American GI or two and lay them down with the animals. Then I'll get a little American flag, take it off it's pole, crumple it and burn a bit of it, and lay it down at the moslem figurine's feet. Then I'll make a backdrop of the twin towers and the pentagon and place it behind the group. Yeah, that oughta be a real good visual reminder of the realities coming our way. Luckily, I work at home. : )
Obama's Money Was Three Times as Much as McCain in General Election
He was not quite the first $1 billion president -- but he was three quarters of the way there. In 21-plus months, Barack Obama raised nearly $750 million, surpassing all of his White House opponents this year and also eclipsing the total amount of money raised by all of the presidential candidates combined in 2004.
Post-election campaign finance reports, filed by the candidates and national political party committees with the Federal Election Commission Thursday, reinforced the striking contrast between the amount of money Obama had at his disposal versus Republican rival John McCain.
From Oct. 16 through Nov. 24, 20 days after he was elected president, the Obama campaign reported bringing in $104.1 million from more than a million contributors. In that time period, Obama raised more money than the McCain campaign had available to spend during the general election, which officially began after the parties held their late summer conventions. The campaigned finished the period sitting on $30 million. It's not clear how that money will be used.
Obama's best fundraising month came in September, when he obliterated all records by raking in $153.1 million. More people gave to the Obama campaign than any campaign in history. Team Obama estimated its total number of donors to be just shy of 4 million.
McCain's fundraising for the 2008 cycle was not terrible. The Arizona senator raised a respectable $238 million from donors, in addition to the $84 million federal grant he received for participating in the public financing system. In all, McCain had almost $50 million more to spend than George W. Bush did in 2004. Those were good overall numbers, but obviously not enough to complete with Obama's enormous fundraising prowess.
Posted by: ed ||
12/05/2008
09:06 ||
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#1
And how much of that was from Soros and foreign doners?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/05/2008 12:31
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McCain's own self inflicted wound. Making laws trying to force people to act against their nature rather than taking human nature into account and codify the process in law has clearly been demonstrated as the failure it is [for another umpteenth time].
. . . Truth serums are a class of barbiturates (sodium pentothal is the most common) that simultaneously increase oneÂ’s desire to talk and decrease oneÂ’s ability to think, with predictable results: The subject says a lot, and since it usually takes some mental effort to sustain a lie, the assumption is that at least part of what he says will be true. The effect is similar to getting drunk, but itÂ’s easier for interrogators to control the dosage.
As with alcohol, truth serums can have nasty side effects and are far from perfect at establishing the truth. Still, no other interrogation technique is foolproof either, and a quick injection or two is a lot less stressful on the subject than most, besides being over more quickly. Truth serums are banned from use by most major Western nations, suppposedly including the U.S. (though in a 2004 note in the Stanford Law Review, not available online, Jason R. Odeshoo argued that “no law at either the state or national level makes the use of truth serum a crime per se"), and given the need for the interrogator to disentangle truth from nonsense, they have no place in a courtroom. But for a terrorist who may have high-value information, is chemically induced honesty a more humane and efficient alternative to techniques like waterboarding? . . .
. . . while nobody will admit to developing a drug specifically for this purpose, recent research has revealed promising ways to manipulate the brain’s chemistry in ways that could promote truth-telling. No single interrogation method will work in all cases, and all must be used with skepticism about what the subject reveals. With these caveats, though, there are some in the intelligence community who would welcome the use of truth serums — not as a panacea, but as one more weapon in the terrorist-fighting arsenal.
Posted by: Mike ||
12/05/2008
09:03 ||
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#1
If it zonks you out that bad, wouldn't multiple sessions that look for consistent answers be fairly reliable?
I've only seen it in movies, so I don't know, but if its as powerful as some recent stories imply you wouldn't be able to tell anything but the truth consistently. Thinking would just be too hard.
#5
This is just silly. Since WWII, psychoactive pharmacopoeia has advanced as much as has electronics. Using a truth serum in a modern, X-Files world, is just laughable.
My first two choices for drugs to get the truth, and fast, would be endorphine inhibitors, that neutralize the bodies ability to create its own pain killers. It is like experiencing heroin withdrawl, in that heroin also turns off the production of endorphines. They would feel every nerve ending in their body, all at once.
The other preferred drug has been mentioned as available for such uses, and causes intense and terrifying fear. Saying "boo!" to someone will make them soil themselves in terror. They will tell you what you want to know in exchange for your not scaring them any more.
The only reason I can countenance water boarding is because it is both very fast, and can be done in very primitive conditions. The US first did a version of this to Moro pirates during the Philippine Insurrection.
#7
Depression can be induced nowadays, anxiety can be induced, euphoria can be induced... or at least one assumes so, given what can be fixed just with diet, exercise and odors (eg lemon for alertness, cinnamon for a feeling of homeyness). Not to mention learnings over the past half century about managing interpersonal interactions, and how to train dogs. (Hattip lotp!) The concept of truth serum encompasses so much more than old-fashioned barbiturates to those who think even a little on the subject.
#8
"They will tell you what you want to know in exchange for your not scaring them any more"
Yeah, that's the problem. They'll tell you what you want to know, regardless of whether it's the truth or not.
Still not seen any evidence to suggest that torture works for anything other than what it was designed to do by the Spanish Inquisition: to produce confessions, not information.
A car bomb exploded Friday near a busy market in one of Pakistan's lawless northwest tribal areas, killing at least six people and wounding 12 others, local officials said.
The blast in the mountainous Orakzai tribal district came as shoppers prepared for Eid celebrations, local government official Ahmad Ali told AFP. "Six people were killed and 12 wounded in the blast," a security official told AFP, adding that the bomb appeared to have been detonated remotely. Three people were killed instantly and three more died of their injuries in hospital.
The blast occurred in an area dominated by the minority Shiite Muslim community, the official said, indicating it could be linked to ongoing sectarian unrest in the region. "The bomb was apparently planted in a car parked under a bridge adjoining the market and went off when the place was full of Shiite shoppers. It also destroyed several shops," the official said.
Posted by: ed ||
12/05/2008
08:02 ||
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Iranian state radio says police are confirming that a militant group active in Iran has killed all 16 police officers it abducted in June. The Friday report quotes deputy police chief, Gen. Hossein Sajedinia, as saying the kidnapped troops have all "been martyred two weeks after their abduction." Gen. Sajedinia says the killings took place at different times.
Shortly after the abduction, the Sunni Muslim Jundallah group said it had executed two of the officers and threatened to kill the remaining 14 unless imprisoned members of the group were released.
Jundallah, or God's Soldiers, is active in southeastern Iran. It has been blamed for past attacks on Iranian troops there. Iranian authorities say it has links to al-Qaida.
Posted by: ed ||
12/05/2008
07:53 ||
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#1
Killing hostages isn't exactly change we can believe in but it is violence we can believe in.
U.S.-led troops killed 14 militants in two days of clashes in southern Afghanistan, U.S. military statements said Friday.
Ten militants were killed by mortar fire following an insurgent attack on a military base in Helmand province's Nar Surkh district on Wednesday, a statement said. Troops killed another four militants in the same district on Thursday, after the insurgents fired on a joint U.S.-Afghan patrol, a second statement said. There were no U.S. casualties in the clashes, military said.
Posted by: ed ||
12/05/2008
07:50 ||
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Dozens of young Somali men in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area have disappeared in recent months, causing community members and U.S. intelligence officials to fear that they are joining jihadist groups in Somalia. Officials are especially concerned that some of the men may be destined to return to the U.S. after they have received terrorist training.
The missing young men have been the focus of some attention since late October, when Shirwa Ahmed, a naturalized U.S. citizen, died in a suicide bombing in northern Somalia. Ahmed was a 1999 graduate of Minneapolis's Roosevelt High School.
The Twin Cities media have reported that a number of other young Somali men — estimates range from six to 40 — have disappeared from the area. Multiple sources within the local Somali community and U.S. government fear that these men may have returned to Somalia to train, or to participate in jihad against the country's secular transitional federal government (TFG).
"I've come across 10 to 15 mothers crying because their sons are missing," said Omar Jamal, executive director of the Minneapolis-based Somali Justice Advocacy Center. A senior U.S. military intelligence analyst said the number may be even higher, since not all of the families whose sons have gone abroad will report it.
Jamal said the Somali community has seen young men disappear in a number of countries across the world, including Canada, the Netherlands and Australia. Multiple sources within the Somali community have corroborated this account. Dahir Jibreel, who previously served as the TFG's permanent secretary in charge of international cooperation, said, "Other young Somalis went missing in Europe, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere." Jibreel said many of the disappearances occurred simultaneously.
The Somali men who have vanished in Minneapolis are diverse in their education level and job prospects. Some were reportedly linked to Somali gangs, while others have been described as intelligent and studious. Some attended college and appeared to have good job prospects. There is little evidence that these men were radicalized when they entered the U.S.
Abdiweli Ali, an associate professor of economics at Niagara University and a former adviser to the TFG, said young Somalis are being targeted for indoctrination. "There's a huge underclass," he said, "and the kids get involved in gangs and drugs. So every time a kid goes to hang out in the mosque, the parents see that as good. They encourage their kids to go to after-school programs with religion, to youth groups at the mosque." The youths are susceptible to "brainwashing," Ali said. "They are very young, susceptible to any kind of indoctrination. All you need is one rogue imam who tells them the wrong things, and they are susceptible to that."
A senior American intelligence source confirms that Somalis have vanished in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australia, adding that some people from the Caribbean also appear to have left for Somalia. And not all of the people bound for training or jihad in Somalia have a Somali background, the source said. A man who appears to be Caucasian and is aligned with the Somalia-based terrorist group Shabaab can be seen in a recent jihadist video, and another gave an interview with al-Jazeera (though he wore a facemask when doing so). The source said that at least three African-Americans from the Minneapolis area also are suspected of traveling to Somalia to join jihadist groups.
While Somalis in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area have been puzzled by the simultaneous disappearances in multiple countries, the intelligence source says it can be explained by the reopening of certain training facilities in Somalia, such as those in Ras Kamboni. "School is open for business, so the demand has gone up," he said. The intelligence source said there is a transportation network in place to move fighters to Somalia, including Ruben Luis Shumpert (a Seattle-area barber who was killed this year while fighting for the Shabaab) and Daniel Joseph Maldonado (a U.S. citizen who was arrested in 2007 for undergoing terrorist training). The network apparently has provided forged passports on some occasions, he said.
It is not clear is who is funding the expensive cost of traveling to Somalia. Virtually all of the Somalis who have disappeared in Minneapolis are from impoverished backgrounds. The size of the recruiting network in the U.S. isn't known, and estimates vary widely. But a major concern is what will happen when these young men return to the U.S. after having undergone terrorist training or participated in combat. "Ethiopia has announced that they are planning to withdraw from Somalia," said the intelligence source. "So this problem is just going to get worse."
#1
I'm sure Minnesota with 30,000 Somali colonists will hardly miss a few dozen.
Posted by: ed ||
12/05/2008 8:23
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#2
I've cited before that the US Dept of State created a security nightmare (criminal and terrorism) when allowing a hugely disproportionately large number of non-assimilating, Wahhabi beholding Muslims to come to the USA.
#3
"I've come across 10 to 15 mothers crying because their sons are missing," said Omar Jamal.
Here’s a hint. If you’re a Somali mother that lives in Minneapolis and suspect your son has gone Jihadi, you may want to ask Omar Jamal. After all, as a principal member of the “Flying Imam Welcoming Committee” he may have some insight into that sort of thing.
#5
The Minnesota muzz go on jihad and see the world. If they get killed or blow themselves up it's no problem. The FBI will arrange an escort of your remains back to Minnesota at US taxpayer expense.
What a great country.
#6
I'm sure Minnesota with 30,000 Somali colonists
Per the Star Tribune, the number is more like 60,000.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
12/05/2008 11:41
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#7
Tough shit, moms. I don't care if Sonny Boy went back to Ye Olde Sod to blow himself up for Allah. I do care if he's allowed back in if he decides to wage Jihad here. Let's hope somebody's keeping a list and checking it twice...
#10
Remember the TSA's requirement to other countries of a couple of years ago that incoming flights needed to provide a manifest prior to takeoff? this is why. now if Sonny Boy has phoney ID that makes it a bit more challengineg, but otherwise this may end up working as advertised.
s/ probably not, just more inconvienience to the law abiding US citizenry/s off
#2
As a necessary preface to declaring full jihad on America, no doubt. The forms must be observed, and the kuffir must be given the opportunity to convert voluntarily before you kill them. So sayeth their stupid "prophet".
The United States announced economic sanctions Thursday targeted at three men accused by Germany of being members of an al-Qaida-linked group.
The three men were charged in September in connection with a foiled 2007 terrorist plot to attack U.S. and German targets in central Germany, the federal prosecutor's office has said. Authorities accuse them of plotting bombings on restaurants, pubs, discos and airports. Fritz Martin Gelowicz, 29, Daniel Martin Schneider, 22, and Adem Yilmaz, 29, also were each charged with membership in a terrorist organization. If convicted, they face a possible 10 years in prison.
The move by the U.S. Treasury Department would freeze any assets the three hold in the United States and would prohibit anyone from making financial transactions with them.
The suspects are accused of being members of the radical Islamic Jihad Union, an offshoot of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a jihadist group with origins in Central Asia. According to the U.S. State Department, the Islamic Jihad Union was responsible for coordinated bombings outside the U.S. and Israeli embassies in July 2004 in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. Members have been trained in explosives by al-Qaida instructors and the group has ties to Osama bin Laden and fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar, the State Department says.
The group was considering attacks in many cities, including Frankfurt, Dortmund, Duesseldorf, Cologne, Stuttgart, Munich and Ramstein—home of a large U.S. Air Force base—which were to be carried out before parliament voted in October 2007 to extend Germany's commitment of troops to Afghanistan, German prosecutors have said. Despite their well developed plot, authorities say they were never close to reaching their goals.
Gelowicz, Schneider and Yilmaz were arrested in September 2007.
#1
Well, that was a complete waste of hundreds of bureaucratic man hours. We now return you to our regularly scheduled program of bread and circuses.
Posted by: ed ||
12/05/2008 7:25
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and what's wrong with these fine boys exercising their politic rights to attack infidels...oops, I keep forgetting that the German Bundestag is still one vote short of Shari Law.
a. Recognize that IW is as strategically important as traditional warfare.
b. Improve DoD proficiency for IW, which also enhances its conduct of stability operations. Stability operations are a core U.S. military mission that the Department of Defense shall be prepared to conduct across the full range of military operations.
c. Conduct IW independently of, or in combination with, traditional warfare.
(1) IW can include a variety of steady-state and surge DoD activities and operations: counterterrorism; unconventional warfare; foreign internal defense; counterinsurgency; and stability operations that, in the context of IW, involve establishing or re-establishing order in a fragile state. (2) While these activities may occur across the full range of military operations, the balance or primary focus of operations gives a campaign its predominant character.
d. Explicitly integrate concepts and capabilities relevant to IW across all DoD activities including doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel, and facilities (DOTMLPF); policy; analysis; exercises; experiments; and applicable strategies and plans.
e. Maintain capabilities and capacity so that the Department of Defense is as effective in IW as it is in traditional warfare
A couple accused of beating and torturing a teenager, who authorities say was sometimes kept shackled inside their home, appeared in shackles themselves to face more than a dozen kidnapping and child abuse charges.
It was Michael Schumacher and Kelly Layne Lau's first court appearance since their arrest following the boy's escape in nothing more than boxer shorts and a chain around his ankle. The teen was in search of help after allegedly spending more than a year in captivity. The boy's one-time guardian, Caren Ramirez, also was charged with similar allegations Thursday. She remained under psychiatric evaluation awaiting her court appearance, expected as early as Monday.
Schumacher and Lau were charged with 13 felony counts, and Ramirez, whom the boy called an aunt, was charged with 10 counts. Among the charges are corporal injury to a child, child abuse and aggravated mayhem, which the San Joaquin County District Attorney's office said could yield life sentences. Superior Court Judge Franklin Stephenson ordered Schumacher and Lau to be held in lieu of $2.2 million bail. They did not enter pleas.
The abuse at the couple's home in Tracy, about 60 miles east of San Francisco, started in July 2007, prosecutors said. The boy escaped from the home on Monday and fled to a nearby fitness center. He appeared emaciated and was covered in soot.
On Thursday, Stephenson ordered all parties not to discuss details of the case. But Lau told KGO-TV of San Francisco in a jailhouse interview a day earlier that the boy and Ramirez, 43, came to live with her family more than a year ago because they had nowhere else to go. Ramirez instructed Lau and her husband to discipline the boy as she did, Lau said. She said she struck the boy in the knee with a baseball bat at least five times, KGO reported.
Lau said she participated in the abuse because she was afraid Ramirez would hurt her own children. Ramirez also burned the boy with an aluminum bat heated in a fireplace, she said. Ramirez would not let anyone else feed the boy, Lau said, adding that the teen would sit in the living room and watch while the Schumacher family, including their four children, ate meals in the kitchen. Those children, between ages 1 and 9, were placed with Child Protective Services after their parents' arrest. Authorities have said they showed no signs of abuse.
Ramirez had been the boy's legal guardian after child welfare officials took him from his abusive father three or four years ago. According to court documents, she pleaded no contest to one felony count of beating the boy.
#1
Even though the chains did actually fit...It will be very tough battle to convict in California, so tell Schumacher, Lau, and Ramirez we'll keep the boy, but they must take Nancy Palosi and we'll call it even.
More than 130,000 inflatable breasts have been lost at sea en route to Australia. Men's magazine Ralph was planning to include the boobs as a free gift with its January issue.
The cargo is worth about $200,000, which is another blow for publisher ACP's parent company PBL, which is already in $4.3 billion of debt.
A spokeswoman for Ralph said the container left docks in Beijing two weeks ago but turned up empty in Sydney this week. The magazine has put out an alert to shipping authorities to see if they have the container, but if they don't turn up in the next 48 hours it will be too late for the next issue, she said.
Ralph editor Santi Pintado urged anyone who has any information to contact the magazine. ``Unless Somali pirates have stolen them its difficult to explain where they are,'' Pintado said.
Posted by: Mike ||
12/05/2008
06:43 ||
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#1
Lost containers are a real hazard at sea, as they are like icebergs, partially submerged and impossible to see at night. I love the irony that pirate boats could be sunk by a bunch of boobs, when the international boobs have put the squeeze on us.
Assuming the container really was on the ship when it sailed, what are the chances a ship's crew of all men could have made the container - and the cargo - disappear (separately, of course).
Anybody search the living quarters on the ship?
/off sexist thoughts ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/05/2008 12:26
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Yarr, inflatable breasts? Tell the cabin boy I've got good news, and bad news...
The barbarism in Mumbai and the economic crisis at home have largely overshadowed an otherwise singular event: the ratification of military and strategic cooperation agreements between Iraq and the United States. They must not pass unnoted. They were certainly noted by Iran, which fought fiercely to undermine the agreements. Tehran understood how a formal U.S.-Iraqi alliance endorsed by a broad Iraqi consensus expressed in a freely elected parliament changes the strategic balance in the region. For the United States, this represents the single most important geopolitical advance in the region since Henry Kissinger turned Egypt from a Soviet client into an American ally. If we don't blow it with too hasty a withdrawal from Iraq, we will have turned a chronically destabilizing enemy state at the epicenter of the Arab Middle East into an ally.
Also largely overlooked at home was the sheer wonder of the procedure that produced Iraq's consent: classic legislative maneuvering with no more than a tussle or two -- tame by international standards (see YouTube: "Best Taiwanese Parliament Fights of All Time!") -- over the most fundamental issues of national identity and direction. The only significant opposition bloc was the Sadrists, a mere 30 seats out of 275. The ostensibly pro-Iranian religious Shiite parties resisted Tehran's pressure and championed the agreement. As did the Kurds. The Sunnis put up the greatest fight. But their concern was that America would be withdrawing too soon, leaving them subject to overbearing and perhaps even vengeful Shiite dominance. The Sunnis, who only a few years ago had boycotted provincial elections, bargained with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, trying to exploit his personal stake in agreements he himself had negotiated. They did not achieve their maximum objectives. But they did get formal legislative commitments for future consideration of their grievances, from amnesty to further relaxation of the de-Baathification laws.
That any of this democratic give-and-take should be happening in a peaceful parliament just two years after Iraq's descent into sectarian hell is in itself astonishing. Nor is the setting of a withdrawal date terribly troubling. The deadline is almost entirely symbolic. U.S. troops must be out by Dec. 31, 2011 -- the weekend before the Iowa caucuses, which, because God is merciful, will arrive again only in the very fullness of time. Moreover, that date is not just distant but flexible. By treaty, it can be amended. If conditions on the ground warrant, it will be.
True, the war is not over. As Gen. David Petraeus repeatedly insists, our (belated) successes in Iraq are still fragile. There has already been an uptick in terror bombings, which will undoubtedly continue as what's left of al-Qaeda, the Sadrist militias and the Iranian-controlled "special groups" try to disrupt January's provincial elections. The more long-term danger is that Iraq's reborn central government becomes too strong and, by military or parliamentary coup, the current democratic arrangements are dismantled by a renewed dictatorship that abrogates the alliance with the United States. Such disasters are possible. But if our drawdown is conducted with the same acumen as was the surge, not probable. A self-sustaining, democratic and pro-American Iraq is within our reach. It would have two hugely important effects in the region.
First, it would constitute a major defeat for Tehran, the putative winner of the Iraq war, according to the smart set. Iran's client, Moqtada al-Sadr, still hiding in Iran, was visibly marginalized in parliament -- after being militarily humiliated in Basra and Baghdad by the new Iraqi security forces. Moreover, the major religious Shiite parties were the ones that negotiated, promoted and assured passage of the strategic alliance with the United States, against the most determined Iranian opposition.
Second is the regional effect of the new political entity on display in Baghdad -- a flawed yet functioning democratic polity with unprecedented free speech, free elections and freely competing parliamentary factions. For this to happen in the most important Arab country besides Egypt can, over time (over generational time, the time scale of the war on terror), alter the evolution of Arab society. It constitutes our best hope for the kind of fundamental political-cultural change in the Arab sphere that alone will bring about the defeat of Islamic extremism. After all, newly sovereign Iraq is today more engaged in the fight against Arab radicalism than any country on earth, save the United States -- with which, mirabile dictu, it has now thrown in its lot.
#2
The point about how long we have to be committed to these countries should not be underestimated. Look how long it took Korea to move from armistice to democracy. And I think neither Korea or Japan is firmly committed to representative government yet.
#3
What I find most amusing about all of this are the foaming-at-the-mouth, "anti-war", Bush-bashing fanatics who are beside themselves now that the situation in Iraq has a measure of demonstrated and undeniable success. Which, if it continues on it's current trajectory, will result in the biggest foreign policy victory and advancement in the last 20 years. I think you would have to go back to Reagan's victory in the Cold War to find anything remotely comparable.
Liberals can't bear to stand it, and will never acknowledge it, for a host of reasons. To name a few of the more obvious:
1. It validates the use of military intervention to effect real political change when necessary and in the best interests of our national security.
2. It validates the use of aggressive, offensive military action as a strategy against radical, islamic terrorism. Since 9/11 we have fought two wars and in all that time, there hasn't been a repeat of that terrible and tragic day.
3. It validates Bush's core belief that liberty and individual freedom is a human desire, not just an American or Western desire.
4. It also validates his core belief that democracy is not contrained by culture or religion. While certain cultures and religions may be more welcoming or accepting of it, representative democracy in it's true form is blind to race, gender, religion, class, and creed. And Iraq is slowly proving it.
5. There is still much more to learn and know about everything that went into Bush's call to war (did he really know there were no WMDs before ordering the invasion?). But assuming the scholars and historians fail to uncover a smoking gun that incriminates him beyond a reasonable doubt, as I believe will be the case, the Iraq success could well end up securing a favorable legacy for a man I personally believe to be honorable, honest, and guided by sound principles, although he's not the smartest guy in the room at all times and ranks near the bottom in terms of his communication skills and savvy.
On a related note, last week Tom Friedman of the NYT, generally someone I don't agree with, wrote a piece talking about the newfound transparency and freedom of press that was taking place in the new Iraqi government relative to the days of Saddam. He was pointing out that it is a wonderful thing to see and offers a glimmer of hope that all was not a waste, after all.
I hope, in the end, that turns out to be the final verdict.
#4
As I've said before, Bush is a principled man who does what he thinks is right according to those principles. He showed tremendous courage in forcing the Surge through against extremely heavy opposition, thus preventing another Viet Nam-like military defeat. Our nation, and particularly our military, owes him a very large debt for that alone. His traitorous political opponents wanted desperately for America to lose in Iraq; that Bush and the military, by virtue of blood, sweat and raw courage, triumphed over them is by far the most signal victory of his eight years in office.
I haven't always agreed with him and I've been quite angry with him on occasion (immigration amnesty), but I respect him immensely because I think he has returned honor and dignity to the office of the President of the United States.
That was something sadly lacking in his predecessor's administration and which I suspect will also be sadly lacking in his successor's administration.
I'd be proud to shake G.W. Bush's hand and thank him for his service. I wouldn't give BJ or BO the courtesy of a greeting, much less shake their hands. They deserve nothing more than utter contempt.
#5
I have to agree with JM7800. I disagree with a few of W's actions (especially immigration), but on the big pic topics, he hit it right, took the heat, and handled himself with class and discipline against traitorous and scurrilous attacks from the opposition and unprincipled media
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/05/2008 21:05
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I remember seeing the jubilant parties on Election night when Obama was declared the victor, and wistfully wishing we had the same excitement for victory in Iraq.
#7
As luck would have it, I may have a chance to meet the President and shake his hand this weekend. I've always wanted to meet the man, look him straight in the eye, and take measure of what I see behind the veil.
Really, I just want to thank him for his service to our country and let him know that there are still some of us out there who respect him and the way he's carried himself as POTUS. Per JM7800's point, he is a principled man who does what he thinks is right according to those principles.
Fact is, dude took a lot of flak for doing what he did, what I believe he had to do, what I feel I would have done myself had I been in his position. Let's face it, at the end of the day, you cannot argue with results.
Nine people have been killed in Thailand's far south in a bloody outbreak of shootings and a bomb attack by terrorists suspected separatist insurgents, according to police and the army.
Five villagers were killed when a bomb exploded at a shop near a petrol station on Friday morning in Narathiwat, one of three southern provinces beset by a violent jihad insurgency which erupted in January 2004. Twelve people were also wounded in the attack, with two policemen and one civilian still in a critical condition.
A provincial police official said that a terrorist militant disguised as a vegetable seller walked into the grocery shop and knocked the owner unconscious, before planting the explosives and fleeing. "It is likely that militants wanted to retaliate for the detention of bomb suspects ... early last month," said Major General Thirayuth Saengrod, deputy army commander in Narathiwat.
Also Friday, a 30-year-old man was shot dead in Yala province and a 22-year-old man was killed in a similar attack in nearby Pattani province. In Pattani province on Thursday evening, a 60-year-old man and a 32-year-old policeman were killed in separate drive-by shootings.
Last month, two bombs in Yala province wounded 74 people in one of the biggest attacks in the region, but there had been a lull in the bloodshed in the last couple of weeks.
Emerging markets are the car industryÂ’s big hope. But it wonÂ’t be an easy ride
Not all is doom and gloom. Mature vehicle markets may be close to saturation, but there is huge unsatisfied demand in the big emerging car markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China (the so-called BRICs). Although not immune from the rich countriesÂ’ troubles, they are likely to suffer much less. For one thing, levels of personal debt are far lower and a smaller proportion of cars are bought on credit. For another, the BRIC economies have been expanding so fast that even a slowdown should still leave them with growth rates that look respectable to Western eyes.
One measure of the BRIC countriesÂ’ new importance to the car industry is that, recession or not, global car sales in 2008 may still hit an all-time record of about 59m. For the first time passenger-vehicle sales in the BRICs, at around 14m, are likely to overtake those in America, which are expected to be the worst since 1992.
#1
Guaranteed to give the Green Gang a collective heartburn hot enough to raise global temps a tenth of a degree Celsius. They have gotten *leverage* over the American market now... just as it ceases to be important enough to do what they want done.
Unlike a lot of people I otherwise agree with, I don't actually think that the greens deliberately and consciously think that they're doing the shit they do to seize power over others. They have faith in their Apocalypse - real, true religous Faith.
And I'm afraid that may mean literal Green Crusades are in the offing.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
12/05/2008 9:50
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As per MMGWCC, aren't world Govts suppos to working to get their countries' techs and econs "back to the future" of the PRE-INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION - THE GOOD NEWS IS THE GREENIES ARE ALLOWING MANKIND THE HONOR AND PRIVELEGE OF STILL USING THE WHEEL!?
AN Australian traveller insists pirates did attack a cruise ship carrying 400 Aussies off Somalia, and that the cruise company is trying to cover up the incident. The Melbourne woman, who remains on board the MV Athena and does not want to be named, said passengers who informed relatives back home of the attack had been given "a real dressing down'' by the ship's crew.
Classic International Cruises Australia, which owns the Athena, has said there was no substance to reports that dozens of pirate boats attacked the ship and tried to board it on Tuesday. A spokeswoman for the company said the boats turned out to be fishing vessels whose crew were "very friendly''.
But the Melbourne woman who contacted wire service AAP said there was no doubt the ship was the target of a co-ordinated pirate attack as it passed through the Gulf of Aden, separating Yemen and Somalia. The Athena's Captain Antonio Morais had even used the public address system to tell passengers "that two attacks by pirates had taken place,'' she said.
She said the crew had ordered passengers to stay indoors after small motorboats surrounded the vessel.
Observers using binoculars on the bridge reportedly counted between 30 and 40 small boats to the port side and 12 to starboard at the height of the incident, she said. "Less than an hour later the master of the vessel, Captain Antonio Morais of Portugal, confirmed to listeners that two attacks by pirates had taken place.''
Crew members used blasts from high-powered water cannon to drive back the pirates who clearly wanted to board the Athena, the woman said.
She said the official line now being put around the ship was that "as no shots were fired by the assailants it was merely a reconnaissance mission by those in the motorboats rather than an attack as such''.
"This insistence is merely splitting hairs,'' the Melbourne traveller said. She said passengers who had alerted family members about the attack had been scolded for spreading misinformation that had caused widespread alarm.
And yesterday, two days after the attack, Captain Morais again addressed passengers to stress that "no attack'' had occurred.
While Athena officers had denied their ship had been the target of an attack, they had admitted pirates fired shots at three other vessels following the Athena on the same day, she said.
The Athena is making its maiden voyage to Australia and is due to dock in Fremantle in Western Australia on December 20.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/05/2008 8:29
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So friendly it took water cannons to drive them off.
Rriiighht.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
12/05/2008 9:37
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#5
Hate to say it but it might have been best if the Athena had been taken by the pirates.
Why?
Because the SAS would get it back, and wouldn't that be a lesson to all ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2008 9:46
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#6
>"...said passengers who informed relatives back home of the attack had been given "a real dressing down'' by the ship's crew."
Yeah that'll really do a lot for customers to return to your scurvvy vessel. Ever hear of word of mouth advertising dickweed? Who do you think pays your salary dipshit?
this ranks right up there with Israel opening the gates to allow fuel into Paleo-land and then wondering why they got shot at, again.....
Jeebus H...As if we needed any MORE damn proof that the Democrats are a bunch of preteens who never grew up...
Democrats are growing impatient with President-elect Barack Obama's refusal to inject himself in the major economic crises confronting the country. Obama has sidestepped some policy questions by saying there is only one president at a time. But that statement apparently is wearing thin.
I don't blame Bambi for holding back. Times are tough. Decisions are tougher. And Bambi's beginning to realize that he's overmatched. Dubya still has the job for another six weeks so why not stick him with the tough decisions and all the blame for as long as possible?
"He's going to have to be more assertive than he's been," House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., told consumer advocates Thursday. Frank, who has been dealing with making sure the MSM helps him keep his tender ass out of a Federal prison both the bailout of the financial industry and a proposed rescue of Detroit automakers, said Obama needs to play a more significant role on economic issues.
"At a time of great crisis with mortgage foreclosures and autos, he says we only have one president at a time. I'm afraid that overstates the number of presidents we have," Frank said, taking a dig at President George W. Bush. "He's (Obama's) got to remedy that situation." Hmmm. Demanding that Obama essentially stage a coup and usurp Presidential authority in violation of the Constitution and God knows HOW many federal laws (sedition, anyone?). In a sane and rational world, this corrupt scumbag would have been prancing around the prison yard in an orange jumpsuit a long time ago.
"The Obama team has to step up," Sen. Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and one of the lead architects of the financial crisis negotiators, said Nov. 21 in Hartford, Conn. "In the minds of the people, this is the Obama administration. I don't think we can wait until Jan. 20." "Gobsmacking", as the Brits would say. My jaw's still on the damn ground. I don't know what shocks me more - the gall of these bastards demanding that Obama fix their mess right now, or the MSM's complicity in hiding the fact that it IS largely their mess.
All hands stand by for AP slobberfest off the port quarter...
Frank, shrewd and quick-witted, also poked fun at Obama's calls for a "post-partisan" governing environment in Washington. Frank predicted that regulatory legislation aimed at preventing abuses related to subprime mortgages and credit cards stood a much better chance next year, when Democrats have greater majorities in the House and Senate. "Shrewd and quick-witted"?!? Jeez. Mr. Sycophantic AP Stenographer - did you have a funny taste in your mouth after giving Bawney his daily tongue bath? And fer chrissake, wipe off your chin...
If they're going to write legislation that 'prevents abuses' they'll first have to remove Barney from his chairmanship ...
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
12/05/2008
00:29 ||
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#4
Just wait until the dhimocrats realize that even in office, Obama will not be able to do a damn thing to help. The damage is too great and only time and NO government assistance will fix the economy.
Ain't that just the statement of the century! Bawney Fwank... quick witted. Just hit me the other day, that this fool is the walking, talking Elmer Fudd. Give him a gun(he wouldn't recognize one if it hit him in the teeth) and let him shoot the Wawbitt.
#6
That's right, Barney and Mr. Friend of Angelo, keep deflecting that inconvienient spotlight. And if ya can't point it at Barry, point it at Bush.
Harrrumph harrrumph harrrrumph...
#11
"At a time of gweat cwisis with mowtgage foweclosuwes and autos, he says we only have one pwesident at a time. I'm afwaid that ovahstates the numbah of pwesidents we have," Frank said, taking a dig at President George W. Bush.
#12
As if Barack didn't have enuff troubles wid the economic news, CNN > were describing so many physical details on BO's upcoming inauguration I REMARKED TO A FRIEND WHY DOESN'T CNN JUST TELL OR EMAIL THE TERRORISTS HOW, WHEN, AND WHERE, ETC. TO ATTACK AND ASSASSINATE BO BEST ON INAUGURATION DAY; OR HAVE A FORMAL "HOW TO KILL POTUS-ELECT OBAMA = HIGH-RANKING NEWLY ELECTED BLACK US GOVT. OFFICIAL DURING HIS INAUGURATION" SPECIAL NEWS SEGMENT-GUEST PANEL???
#13
Speaking of which what in the world do +-500..700 point swings near every day in the market mean?
Bargain hunters waiting until the indexes slide down for a few days, sweeping in and buying shares, then riding a very short upswing until they sell again. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
12/05/2008 18:07
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#14
Presidents can't fix the economy.
They may be able not ruining it
Posted by: European Conservative ||
12/05/2008 18:31
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#15
Congress made and passed the legislation enabling subprime mortgages, i.e., allowing borrowers to get a mortgage that they could not afford. President Clinton signed the bill.
Congress caused the problem, Slick willy has culpability, as he pushed it and signed it.
If we had a free and independent press, they would have been on this years ago like stink on a monkey, but they did not. Now the same criminals who created the problem are still in charge, and they are tanking the economy.
They have accomplished what Bin Laden could not do. Now WHO is really our worst enemy?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/05/2008 19:02
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#16
ION STRATEGYPAGE > INTELLIGENCE:THE BAD NEWS FROM AFRICA, + RUSSIA:SCARY PRESS RELEASES.
NBC Universal will be cutting up to 500 jobs in a round of layoffs which are now underway at all levels of the company -- television, film and parks. That amounts to about 3% of the workforce. An insider with knowledge of the situation says the cuts are expected to continue into next week.
The NBC News bureaus in Dallas and Los Angeles (Burbank) are already experiencing cuts, with the insider saying Dallas will experience more layoffs than in Burbank. Among those losing their jobs, NBC News correspondent Don Teague who has been with the network since 2002.
This is all part of an effort to cut $500 million from the NBCU budget announced by company president Jeff Zucker in October.
Last month, TVNewser reported the network was offering buyouts to "virtually everyone." If enough employees did not accept the offer, layoffs were to be the next step.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2008
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Unless Minnesota's U.S. Senate campaigns aggressively withdraw some of the ballots they've challenged during the 3-week-old recount, it could take more than a month for a state board to judge them.
As of Wednesday, 6,326 ballots were taken off the piles of recounted votes after observers for Democrat Al Franken or Republican Sen. Norm Coleman questioned the voters' intent or the validity of the votes. A State Canvassing Board, made up of two county and two Supreme Court judges and the secretary of state, will determine how those ballots should be counted later this month.
The Franken campaign Wednesday made a move to reduce the size of that challenged stack. It told the secretary of state's office that the campaign wanted to withdraw 633 of its more than 3,000 ballot challenges.
All counties are expected to finish sifting through ballots by Friday. As of Wednesday night, when about 98 percent of ballots were counted, Coleman led Franken by 316 votes, when comparing the Election Day totals to the recounted totals. That vote lead doesn't include any of the challenged ballots.
After "painstaking" examination of some of the challenged ballots, folks at Franken headquarters decided voter intent was clear, and the 633 ballots were valid. The campaign likely will remove more ballots from those the canvassing board will have to plow through. "This is as far as we have gotten in this process," said Franken recount attorney Marc Elias.
Both campaigns have claimed since the recount started Nov. 19 that their opponents were challenging ballots in order to inflate the vote counts. Elias claimed Wednesday that if the challenges were counted as they eventually will be, Franken would actually be leading by 22 votes in the race.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2008
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#1
I find it really hard to believe that more than a couple hundred people in the whole of Minnesota would want to vote for Al Franken to be their Senator. He's a clown, and a blowhard, and a world class nut.
#6
These all should be thrown out. If a voter makes a mistake or spoils the ballot, he or she goes back for more. Intent does not cut it. The directions are clear. Letting anything like this go is letting the whole camel into the tent. Where will it stop?
We have similar problems with bids at work. The instructions are clear. For example, no faxes. We get faxes. Bid is non responsive.
Franken is just trying to get into the tent. A typical dem. The ends justify the means. We are counting ballots, not interpreting ink slobber or chicken scratches. He is trying to harvest votes out of background noise.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/05/2008 19:11
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Ganotantri Party President and Awami League-led grand alliance nominated candidate Nurul Islam who had been suffering severe burn wounds, succumbed to his injuries at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) on Thursday afternoon.
Nurul Islam who had filed nomination for contesting the upcoming parliament elections from Noakhali-1 constituency along with his son received serious burn injuries when their apartment house went up in flames on Tuesday night in the capital's Lalmatia area. Nurul Islam's son Tamohar Islam alias Puchi, 35, died on the spot while critically injured Nurul Islam was rushed to the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital from where he was referred to the CMH as his condition started deteriorating. Later, he had been kept on life support there. But yesterday he met the tragic end of his life at CMH at abut 4.30 pm.
As soon as the death news spread among the leaders and activists of Awami League-led 14-party alliance, they held an emergency meeting at Awami League Dhamondi Party Office yesterday. Awami League Presidium Members Abur Razzak and Tofael Ahmed, Spokesman Syed Ashraful Islam and 14 party leaders Hassanul Haque Inu, Dilip Barua, Syed Zafar Sazzad, Anisul Islam and Wahedul Islam attended the meeting.
Emerging from the meeting expressing strong condemnation Abdur Razzak told reporters that by launching sabotage Nurul Islam and his son Tomohor Islam were murdered. "Government will have to take the responsibility on its shoulders to find out the criminals who set ablaze the apartment house of Nurul Islam and killed him and his son. We want to tell the government that the pre-planned murder is against the spirit of democracy. Not only verbally saying so but the government will have to dig out the persons involved in such anti-state and subversive activities," Razzak said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2008
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A BRISBANE school that banned the national anthem at assemblies says it will review the policy and that it loves the values embodied in the song. Australian International Islamic College teacher Pravin Chand was sacked in November, four months after his proposal for students to sing Advance Australia Fair was ruled to be against the "Islamic view and ethos".
A memo sent to teachers at the Durack school in July and obtained by The Courier-Mail, also said "the singing of the anthem will be put on hold".
But school trustee Keysar Trad said news the anthem was not played regularly at school assemblies came as a shock. Mr Trad said the anthem was performed at every major school function but was removed from daily assemblies by the principal without the endorsement of the school board.
Trustees and the board would meet to discuss performing the anthem at every school assembly, he said. "My personal recommendation is that it be performed at every assembly," he said.
Mr Trad said the students were proud to sing the anthem and were known locally for their performance of it. "Personally, I love the content because it's full of these wonderful words which reflect values that we all share," he said.
The revelations follow an outcry on the Gold Coast this week at a plan by the same college to open another campus at Carrara. A vocal crowd draped in Australian flags accused the college of promoting segregation, anti-Australian values and even terrorism.
Muslim leaders slammed the protests as "un-Australian" and claimed religion should not be used as a reason to protest against a school.
But Mr Chand, whose version of events was backed by a second teacher, said he had not heard the anthem once this year. "No national anthem to me means no integration with Australian kids," Mr Chand said. "Western values (at the school) are a no-no.
"It's like a paramilitary camp that place."
Mr Chand's employment was terminated by the college board last month on the grounds he was "not fitting into the school's ethos".
Outgoing principal Azroul Liza Khalid, who started at the school in July, said she had not heard the anthem once at assembly, although it was played two or three other times. Ms Khalid said she was told by a board member not to play the anthem or any songs on Friday because it was a holy day. In July, school assembly day was moved from Monday to Friday.
A spokeswoman for Queensland Education Minister Rod Welford indicated it was unlikely a public school had banned the national anthem. "It's not compulsory for schools to play the national anthem," she said. "There's an expectation it would be played on formal occasions when the Australian flag is being raised."
The future of the proposed 60-student college at Carrara will be decided by Gold Coast City Council next year.
Posted by: Oztralian ||
12/05/2008
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#1
Australian National Anthem should ban Islamic College, then.
Newton's Law III: "To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction."
#3
Somebody reported that the Australian National Anthem is even harder to sing properly than "The Star Spangled Banner." It was the winner of a national contest, and I suspect the judges were all academics. An Australian official supposedly said, in announcing the anthem, "All right, everybody--wince!"
Does anyone have a link to the anthem, so we can judge for ourselves?
#4
AHA! there it is, right in front of me in Besoeker's post, where I couldn't miss it. I'll blame that on blurry bifocals.
So either I misremembered the story, or else it was the stodginess of the lyrics that caused the official to wince.
In any case, what we have here is a failure to assimilate. The line "Religion should not be used as a reason to protest the school" is particularly rich under the circumstances.
#6
Moslem schools is one thing.
American public schools are getting tentative about such things (the Pledge, ex) as well.
But the public schools have no excuse.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
12/05/2008 12:11
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#7
It's the damn cross on the flag. Soon to be replaced by a crescent. Second post from top has link to anthem. Sweetness-light has a story on GB school first canceling, then postponing Christmas pageant so the bloody and cruel EID holiday, rather, UNHOLYday, could be "celebrated" by the little Muzzie students. Gives them practice butchering infidels, and breaks down barriers to murder in childhood. The moslems won't stop until they're forced to stop. "Woe to those who withhold the sword from whom it is due . . . " didn't someone kind of important say that? Just wondering.
Israeli soldiers hauled Jewish settlers out of a disputed house in the West Bank city of Hebron Thursday, firing tear gas and stun grenades to subdue the extremists who pelted them with rocks, eggs and chemicals. Rioting by settlers quickly spread to other parts of the Palestinian territory.
Settlers set fires around two Palestinian homes, attacked motorists and burned tires to protest the eviction in Hebron. Others blocked the main road to Jerusalem, and scuffled with police who tried to disperse them. Palestinians reported one person injured by settler gunfire.
The army declared the entire Hebron region a "closed military zone," barring nonresidents from entering.
Hebron, a city of 170,000 Palestinians with about 500 of the most extreme Jewish settlers living in their midst, has for decades been a focal point of Israeli-Arab violence. The biblical city is the traditional burial site of Abraham, the shared patriarch of both Jews and Muslims, and that shrine is a major source of friction in Hebron.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2008
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#1
"Israeli soldiers hauled Jewish settlers out of a disputed house................." That'd be an order I'd be hard pressed to follow. Send the 170K Jordanian/Syrians home FIRST, then we'll talk about the 500. Enough to piss off a Saint.
Pressured by the economic turmoil and the mounting loss of traditional phone customers, AT&T Inc. is cutting 12,000 jobs, about 4 percent of its work force. The Dallas-based telecommunications company, the nation's largest, said the job cuts will begin this month and run throughout 2009. The company also plans to lower its capital spending next year, and one analyst estimates that reduction could be as much as $2 billion.
The 300,000-person company has announced layoffs several times over the past few years, including in April, when it said it would eliminate 4,600 jobs, but it has been hiring at the same time. This is the first time since the company bought BellSouth Corp. in 2006 that it said overall staffing would decline.
The new cuts were part of a parade of layoffs tied to the recession. In addition Thursday, chemicals company DuPont announced plans to lose 2,500 jobs, Credit Suisse Group slashed 5,300 and media conglomerate Viacom Inc. jettisoned 850. Yet AT&T, which provides local phone coverage in California, Texas and 20 other states, is also being pulled by another current: the long-term trend of people defecting from landline phones to wireless services or phone service from the cable company.
In the last quarter, AT&T's basic voice lines in service dropped 11 percent. Its wireless customer base, meanwhile, grew 14 percent.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2008
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#1
Its basic voice lines dropped in large part because it is pushing ip phones over dsl.
Its stock is performing fine while the rest of the market is tanking.
#3
International Brotherhood of Communications Workers members. Ironic that the tenure of The One is gonna be historically catastrophic for members of international brotherhoods of whatever, no matter what the gummint tries to do to reverse it...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/05/2008 12:20
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#4
M. Murcek - If I say "tee-hee" does that make me a bad person? ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/05/2008 12:30
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#5
Barbara---It is more appropriate to say, Bwahahahahahaha. Looked it up in the Rantburg Book of Ediquette.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/05/2008 15:17
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#6
Correction: etiquette. It has little to do with ed. No offense to ed.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/05/2008 15:18
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#7
ION, GUAM K57 RADIO NEWS > FROM JAPAN: OBAMA MAY DELAY GUAM BUILDUP. Seems Obama's diplomatic team/staff has told and agreed wid Japanese officials that the reloc of 8000 US Marines and dependents to Guam is "INFEASIBLE", AND NEEDS TO BE REVIEWED AND REEXAMINED???
The sun was blazing high in the sky just before 1 p.m., five hours after Timothy opened the sparsely stocked shop he manages in a dusty slum here in Zimbabwe's capital. It was time to change the prices.
He stepped outside and tapped numbers into his orange Nokia cellphone. After many tries, he reached a black-market money dealer, who relayed an up-to-the-hour exchange rate: 1.1 million Zimbabwe dollars to one U.S. dollar, up 10 percent since morning. Within minutes, the handwritten price tags on the store's bags of cornmeal, the staple food here, had jumped from 17.6 million to 19.2 million Zimbabwe dollars.
"I'll call again in a few hours," said Timothy, 26, who did not want his last name published for fear of angering authorities.
In Zimbabwe, where historic hyperinflation is causing the value of local currency to evaporate in people's wallets, it is increasingly the greenback that rules. Many vendors and businesses now demand American currency. Others peg their prices to the U.S. dollar and charge less if payment is made with it or the South African rand, widening a buying-power divide between those with access to foreign currency and those without -- mostly people who have no relatives abroad and people in rural areas.
The black market for stable currencies has boomed in recent years as Zimbabwe's once-thriving economy has tanked. In September, the government acknowledged as much by announcing that it would license about 1,200 stores and gas stations to sell in foreign currency and then buy some of their earnings at a low exchange rate.
But as workers, suppliers and unlicensed stores shun Zimbabwe's currency, the U.S. dollar has become the de facto legal currency at nearly every level of society. Eric Bloch, a Zimbabwean economist, estimates that the market is about 90 percent dollarized.
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12/05/2008
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#1
Honey, I'm just going out for a cup of coffee and the morning paper.
Edited for brevity. HT: American Thinker
The Saudis have recently asked permission to build a mosque in Moscow, a city where there are only four mosques and 2 million Muslims. The Russians, however, are saying they want, in return, an Orthodox church in Saudi Arabia.
As we all know, the Saudis have a habit of constructing mosques in dozens of world capitals while forbidding houses of worship for any religion whatsoever outside its Wahabist brand of Islam.
Of course we all know the Saudis aren't about ready to let Bibles or other religious literature, let alone a church, anywhere near their homeland, but all the same, it's amusing to see the Russians give the Saudis a taste of their own medicine.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/05/2008
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#5
It was basic common sense, of which Americanos apparently have none of. In fact, go further, if no structures are allowed in the desert within one year, all structures (armories) in Russsia come tumbling down.
For example, India only sends a Muslim male as ambassador.
To her credit, Condi Rice refuses to wear a headscarf when she visits.
But Putin takes the prize for this...
Posted by: john frum ||
12/05/2008 13:57
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#7
I take it that russia is the only country that dare stand up to them because they are one of the few on this planet that do not import saudi oil?
We should joint this elite group.
(AKI/DAWN) - Pakistani security forces on Wednesday took control of an important town in the country's troubled Bajaur tribal region as 21 people, including 14 militants, were killed in an air strike in the adjacent Mohmand tribal region in the country's northwest.
Local officials said that troops backed by tanks and armored personnel carriers secured Nawagai town, some 30 kilometres northwest of Khar near the Afghan border.
Local people reportedly welcomed the troops and hoisted white flags on their rooftops. Residents said militants had already vacated their positions before the Pakistani troops entered Nawagai.
The town which is adjacent to Afghanistan's Kunar province was a militant stronghold, according to the Pakistani military. Forces had secured hilltops and took positions in all sensitive areas.
Officials said authorities had asked the displaced people to return to their homes. Sources said militants had set up a vast network in the town where they had set up detention centres, and constructed tunnels and bunkers.
Nawagai is the second major town in the troubled region which has been fully secured. Forces launched an operation in Bajaur in August to flush out suspected Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants and establish the rule of law.
Officials claimed to have killed over 1,500 militants in recent months in operations along the Afghan border and in the restive Swat valley in which over 1,500 died.
Meanwhile jet fighters and helicopters hit suspected positions in the Lakaro area of Mohmand tribal region on Wednesday inflicting casualties on militants, official sources said.
According to unconfirmed reports, 14 militants and seven civilians were killed in the air strike carried out in Ziarat, Ghaziabad, Bagh Pahar and Karier areas.
Also on Wednesday, a suicide bomber killed four people in an attack on a paramilitary convoy, 32 km west of the capital of North West Frontier Province, Peshawar, near Mohmand, Pakistani daily Dawn reported.
The ongoing military action has triggered an exodus from the region and 168,000 internally displaced persons have sought shelter in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province.
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12/05/2008
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"She is a weak and confused leader who allows a fanatical group parody in Christmas displays. I mean how crazy is this? Washington State is ground zero for every nutty secular cause on earth," FNC host Bill O'Reilly said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2008
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#1
Ya know what? Screw Bill O'Reilly. He has no core beliefs. The guy screwed us on immigration and has been nothing more than a raving self-aggrandizing egotist, and no friend of conservative causes unless they are convenient exaggerations with which he can rabble-rouse.
For instance, he has abandoning making any arguments on abortion unless the target of his argument makes it handy -- and he still tries to trade on being Catholic.
#2
The atheists' sign was installed by Washington members of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national group based in Madison, Wis.
With a nod to the winter solstice - the year's shortest day occurring in late December - the placard reads: "At this season of the Winter Solstice may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."
Excuse me, but Freedom FROM religion is NOT in the Constitution.
These guys are the kinds who relish shitting in the punchbowl.
THeir little statement is fine, up until the point where they state a very bigoted lie : hardens hearts and enslaves minds.
Oh really? Hard hearts, like the biggest charities in the world -- all religious. Enslaves minds -- like the many great thinkers who were also saints?
Bigoted Asses is what that group is, proving it by adding the last phrase. Its an ATTACK statement with that in it.
What about letting neo-nazis or the KKK putting up similar statements to that about Jews or Catholics? Will they let others put up a sign attacking Islam like that?
Its not the content - its the attack at the end that makes the billboard untenable as a matter of public space. If they want the KKK to put things up like that, they have just opened the door for them to do so.
Take it down, or force them to omit the slurs, slanders and attacks.
#8
He should have done:
Called out all religious organizations to write the Governor's office, stating that they would be 'freeing minds' with a hard heart and withold ALL community assistance until further notice. To those seeking assistance, they would provide the address & a map of the Governor's office for where they should seek that assistance.
It's the overwhelming slam by the Washington government against religious organizations that's most outrageous here to me. Downright libelous.
Let the needy seek out that 'redistributed wealth' directly from the Governor and see what happens.
#9
O'Reilly might be a dick, but he knows bullshit when he sees it and isn't afraid to call it bullshit.
Other than that, I don't have much use for the guy.
#10
If you don't believe in God, then God bless you, we can't force it down your throat. All we ask is that you go to hell quietly and don't try to force you atheism down our throats.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/05/2008 12:31
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I'm kind of with bigjim on this one. O'Reilly is a blowhard with an ego to match but in most cases, he's not afraid to speak his mind, for better or worse, nor is he afraid to call a spade a spade, and that is a rarity of pre-historic proportions in the media today.
He's also not afraid to acknowledge that his style and manners turn people off, in other words that he is a dick, exactly like bigjim said. At least he points the muzzle of his rage, more often than not, at those who deserve it most. You can't say the same for many, if any, of his peers.
His efforts to protect the innocent, in particular his vendetta against child-sex offenders and those that sympathize with them, has resulted in real positive change. That in itself is admirable and worthy of some measure of respect.
Okay, that's enough defending of B. O'Reilly for one day. Perhaps for one year. The guy may be a jerk, although I don't know him personally, but he's the kind of jerk I'd rather have playing for my team instead of having to go up against him. He certainly seems tough, whether or not that's just a facade is open for debate.
Most of the time, I just wish he would shut up already.
#12
Listening to local news radio this morning here in the Seattle area, I've heard the atheist display sign is now missing. They'll be bringing in troopers later today to investigate (obviously we have no more serious crimes that warrant attention).
Posted by: Dar ||
12/05/2008 13:36
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#13
No Druid stuff? No Wiccan holiday wishes? What about the Church of Bob?
Inclusive, my ass.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/05/2008 13:55
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#15
The U.S. Supreme Court has been consistent and clear that, under the Constitution's First Amendment, once government admits one religious display or viewpoint onto public property, it may not discriminate against the content of other displays, including the viewpoints of nonbelievers.
Ok, per that idiot gov, the Muslims CAN put one up saying that Atheists are going to hell and should have their trhoats cut.
(AKI) - A French aid worker abducted on the streets of Kabul a month ago has been freed, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday. Thirty-two year-old Dany Egreteau who worked for the non-government organisation, Solidarity Laique, was kidnapped by armed men on 3 November while walking in the centre of the Afghan capital.
An Afghan driver was killed as he tried to prevent his colleague's abduction. The French Foreign Ministry said it had been working with Afghan officials to secure Egreteau's freedom.
Egreteau, an education specialist, had arrived in Afghanistan just one week before his abduction. He is expected to return to France on Thursday.
His abduction followed a string of attacks on foreigners in Afghanistan.
In October, a Briton and South African working for the DHL international courier company were shot dead in Kabul and British aid worker, Gayle Williams, was killed in the capital days later.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Kouchner thanked French and Afghan authorities for their efforts in obtaining Egreteau's release, and attacked the kidnappers for targeting aid workers.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2008
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(AKI) - Suicide bombers struck two government compounds in Afghanistan's Khost province on Thursday, killing at least two and injuring seven others. The attacks took place in the southeastern city of Khost and targeted a counter-narcotics department as well as the National Directorate of Security, the province's intelligence headquarters.
An explosives-laden car is said to have hit the NDS building. Following the attack, armed militants dressed as Afghan soldiers entered the building, which was later surrounded by Afghan police and army.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, in a phone call to Arab TV network al-Jazeera.
Fears over Afghanistan's stability have risen this year, which has been marked by the worst violence since the Taliban were toppled in 2001.
A resurgent Al-Qaeda backed Taliban has carried out a number of high-profile attacks, including an assassination plot against President Hamid Karzai during a military parade near his palace in the capital, Kabul.
Some members of the security forces helped the insurgents in that incident and in several other major attacks, officials have said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Philippine prosecutors said on Thursday that they were looking into the alleged terrorist links of a Bangladeshi man arrested in the restive southern Mindanao island on suspicion he was plotting bomb attacks on government targets.
Muhammad Alpariz, 48, earlier erroneously reported by the police as a Pakistani, was arrested by security forces in Mindanao on Sunday. He is alleged to have ties with a Muslim separatist group, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and a crime gang that extorted money from businessmen in the south of the country.
Alpariz denied the charges, but signed a waiver to remain in police custody while the investigation was being carried out. "Pending the completion of the preliminary investigation proceedings, I agree to remain under police custody," he said in a document he signed before the state prosecutor at the Justice Department. His lawyer said that at the moment Alpariz could only be charged with illegal possession of explosives, for which he could post bail. The authorities allege three mortar shell rounds were found at a telephone repair shop that the suspect owned. Intelligence officials linked Alpariz to the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), an Indonesian group acknowledged by the intelligence community as the Southeast Asia arm of Al Qaeda. They said Alpariz had planned bombings in Mindanao to divert military attention from the MILF, which has been engaged in intense combat with troops since August. The military has said that dozens of JI militants remain in Mindanao and are helping the MILF to carry out attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
He was probably born a Pakistani, given that he is 48 years old.
Anti-immigration Northern League Party of Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni is seeking a moratorium on the building of mosques as a preventative measure to future terrorist attacks. The demand for blocking mosque building comes as a reaction to the recent arrest of two men suspected for planning attacks in Milan, Italy's northern financial hub.
La Stampa, a local Italian newspaper quoted Maroni on Thursday stating that "Islamist terrorism" runs deep in Italy and must be stamped out.
"These arrests show that Islamist terrorism is entrenched in Italy, and that we must be vigilant," Maroni told the paper. "Unfortunately it is not easy to distinguish between places of worship and those that recruit terrorists and finance the planning of attacks," he added.
Ally of the conservative Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the Northern League began a motion in the lower house of parliament banning the construction of places of worship for Muslims and cultural centers in Italy. The motion comes as a preliminary step to curb the increasing number of mosques until parliament passes an official law on their establishment.
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#1
"Unfortunately it is not easy to distinguish between places of worship and those that recruit terrorists and finance the planning of attacks,"
No distinguishing necessary. They worship recruiting terrorists and financing the planning of attacks. Easy.
#3
The Northern League gets it more than any other western political party, but they have cause and effect reversed. No muslims then no need for mosques. No need for massive and intrusive security measures to protect the native population from terrorism and islamic colonization.
Posted by: ed ||
12/05/2008 7:20
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#4
The Northern League gets it. I would remind them that fire is their friend.
#8
Can we call fire down on certain areas of the lands of the Pure and of the Meads and Persians first, Ptah? Surely God would agree that those two are more urgent than northern Italy...
(AKI) - Italy's largest Muslim group, the Union of Islamic Communities of Italy (UCOII) says it has no relationship with the two Moroccans suspected of planning terror attacks in the northern city of Milan. UCOII released a statement on Wednesday after the arrest of Ilhami Rachid and Abdelkader Ghaffir, alleged to have been planning attacks on sites including the city's famous Duomo cathedral.
The organisation, led by Nour Dachan, said it had "no kind of contact or relations" with the two Moroccans. It also reaffirmed its opposition to any type of terrorist act, saying it was opposed to Islam.
"In particular we reaffirm: the incompatibility of terrorism with Islamic doctrine, law and culture. The total and indisputable condemnation of actions that lead to the massacre of innocent people or attempts to destabilise society and the subsequent social and civil disorder," the statement said.
Recorded telephone conversations published in the Italian media suggest that Rachid, 31, and Ghaffir, 42, were planning a terror attack on the city's famous cathedral, the Duomo, during this year's forthcoming Christmas festivities.
Tapped conversations allegedly show they also planned attacks on a supermarket, a bar, night club car park, and two police stations, as well as the immigration office at police headquarters in Milan.
The two men do not belong to any terrorist organisation, but closely followed jihadist websites, especially statements by the Al-Qaeda terror network, according to investigators.
Rachid had 'indoctrinated' his two-year-old son, teaching him to recognise photos of Al-Qaeda leader Bin Laden and to call him 'Uncle Osama', investigators said. He also named a younger child 'Osma', according to investigators.
Phone taps revealed he and Ghaffir had initially planned to use a van packed with explosives but then decided to use oxygen cylinders after searching and downloading the bomb-making information from the Internet.
Posted by: Fred ||
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(AKI) - At least 13 people were killed and another 50 injured in twin bomb attacks carried out in the Iraqi city of Fallujah on Thursday. According to early media reports, the attacks were carried out by suicide bombers who targeted police at two checkpoints in the city.
"The first blast was carried out by a car bomb targeting a checkpoint in the al-Sakaniya region in western Falluja, while no information was available on the second blast," an eyewitness told the news agency, Voices of Iraq.
The number of victims was expected to rise because many of the victims were trapped in the ruins after the blast.
Fallujah is one of the main cities in the western province of Anbar, which was at the centre of the Sunni-led rebellion against US forces after the 2003 invasion.
On Tuesday three bombs killed at least 14 people across Iraq, officials said.
A bomb hidden in a cart exploded outside a school in the northern city of Mosul on Tuesday, killing four people, including two children and wounding 12 others, police said.
A suicide car bomber killed at least five people and wounded 25 near a checkpoint in Tal Afar in northern Iraq and a roadside bomb struck an Iraqi army convoy in Hilla, south of Baghdad, killing five Iraqi soldiers.
The spate of attacks followed the Iraqi Parliament's approval last week of a new security pact that provides for the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq by the end of 2011.
Many attacks are believed to be aimed at reigniting violence between minority Sunni Arabs and the majority Shia population ahead of provincial elections in January.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Need to step up the killing of bomb maker trainers.
(AKI) - Israel on Thursday reopened the Kerem Shalom border crossing to allow urgent aid to flow through to Gaza. Israeli Defense Forces allowed 40 truckloads of food, medicine, agriculture supplies and chlorine for water treatment were allowed through the crossing, according to Palestinian media reports.
Also on Wednesday, Palestinian MP Jamal Al-Khudary said a delegation of Qatari dignitaries would travel on another ship with two million dollars worth of medical supplies that will attempt to enter Gaza waters. The ship is due to arrive in Gaza during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha next week.
Rights group Amnesty International said recently that 80 percent of Gazans now depend on international aid, compared to 10 percent a decade ago. Israel claims the blockade, imposed after the Islamist Hamas movement seized control of the Gaza Strip, is to counter indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israeli cities by Palestinian militants.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Israellis ae Idiots.
Posted by: Rednek Jim ||
12/05/2008 12:13
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The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court appealed to the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday to resist calls by African, Arab and Islamic states to defer prosecution of Sudanese leader Omar Hassan al-Bashir on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The prosecutor, Argentine lawyer Luis Moreno-Ocampo, told the council that Bashir continues to oversee a campaign of mass murder in Darfur, in western Sudan, forcing more than 300,000 people from their homes this year and leaving as many as 5,000 people dead each month. "Genocide continues," Moreno-Ocampo told the 15-nation council.
His remarks come about a month before ICC judges are expected to rule on a request by the prosecutor to issue an arrest warrant for Bashir, which would make him the first Arab leader indicted by an international court on war crimes charges.
In recent months, Bashir has persuaded the African Union and the Arab League to press the Security Council to invoke a provision of the international court's charter -- Article 16 -- that allows it to defer action against an indictee. South Africa and Libya reiterated the call for postponement during Wednesday's session, saying such action could undermine peace talks.
Sudan's U.N. ambassador, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad, said Moreno-Ocampo was an "unguided missile" who was pursuing a "politically motivated" campaign against Sudan's leader. "We all know that war brings with it atrocities, unfortunately, either in Darfur or in Iraq or in Liberia," he said.
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#1
So...who's the UN sending over to serve the warrant and slap the bracelets on him?
I'll wait for an answer. Probably for a long long time...
U.S. pressure on Pakistan to act against terror groups behind last week's deadly attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai reached a new peak Thursday as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited this country and urged its leaders to move forcefully and quickly against those linked to the assaults.
Rice, who met with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and other officials near the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, said Pakistan has agreed to cooperate and share information with India about those involved in the assaults in Mumbai. Calling the fight against terrorist elements in the region a "global struggle," Rice said that both India and Pakistan are prepared to work together to root out the perpetrators of the attacks.
"Pakistan is very committed to this war on terror and does not in any way want to be associated with terrorism elements and is, indeed, committed to rooting them out wherever they find them," Rice said.
Rice's visit to Pakistan followed a trip to India on Wednesday and came on the heels of a visit to Pakistan by Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. Mullen met with several Pakistani military and government officials, including Lt. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, head of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate. Like Rice, Mullen emphasized the need to "aggressively" pursue those responsible for the massacre in Mumbai.
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Rice arrived in the region as Indian authorities detailed new revelations about the 10 gunmen involved in the three-day siege that injured nearly 300 and killed at least 174, including six Americans. Indian police officials said this week that evidence gleaned partially from records of a satellite phone and GPS tracking device left behind by the attackers showed that the gunmen made several calls to the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi before sailing from there to Mumbai. Additional calls to Karachi were made during their rampage across the city.
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#1
Did she deliver just a strongly worded letter, or did she roll out the dreaded FORCEFULLY worded letter with an accompanying finger-wag?
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
12/05/2008 0:22
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#2
She threatened to play a piano sonata by Charles Ives if they didn't cooperate.
#3
Another 'rooting' RINO listening to prepared responses vs action. An inexcuseable waste of jet fuel and resources sending her there. Please forgive me, but I'm beginning to get anxious about the Hilderbeast.
#4
Mullen met with several Pakistani military and government officials, including Lt. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, head of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate.
It'd be interesting to know what was discussed during this meeting.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/05/2008 12:09
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#5
They better else the HRC-Six team will pay a visit: ducks are blind to her movements, she was unstoppable in Bosnia, and she will creep on the baddies like that smell from Uncle Mo's bedroom after eating that 3 day old goat butt roast post-ramadon. The baddies will harvest the jaborwocky every look into the mirror until she quenches he thirst.
Zimbabwe has declared a cholera outbreak that has killed more than 560 people a national emergency and appealed for international help to deal with the crisis.
Neighbouring South Africa said it was extremely concerned about deteriorating conditions in Zimbabwe. Economic meltdown in Zimbabwe, isolated by Western countries under President Robert Mugabe's rule, has left the health system ill prepared to cope with an epidemic that it would once have been able to prevent or treat easily. "Our central hospitals are literally not functioning. Our staff is demotivated and we need your support to ensure that they start coming to work and our health system is revived," Health Minister David Parirenyatwa was quoted as saying in an appeal to donors.
Aid: Parirenyatwa said Zimbabwe needed medicine, medical equipment and food for patients and for child supplementary feeding programmes, according to the state-run Herald newspaper. "The emergency appeal will help us reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with the current socio-economic environment by December 2009," Parirenyatwa said. The United Nations humanitarian office estimates the death toll from a deadly cholera outbreak at 565 people, with the capital Harare the worst affected. Zimbabwe's health sector is collapsing with not enough money to pay for essential resources and doctors and nurses often striking over pay. The water system is in disarray, forcing residents to drink from contaminated wells and streams. Any hopes of rescuing Zimbabwe from economic collapse are on hold because of deadlock between Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai over how to implement a power-sharing pact. Analysts said worsening conditions may force Mugabe's government to mend relations with donors and other governments.
"I think if this continues they are in a very, very difficult position and I think in that position they may have to start thinking about taking any friends they can get, or any help they can get," University of Johannesburg political analyst Steven Friedman said. Zimbabwe's neighbours, faced with cholera patients fleeing across their borders, moved to help the country, while the World Health Organisation said it was preparing to send a team to help deal with the cholera outbreak. South Africa said it would look to work with other regional countries to help. Western neighbour Botswana, one of Mugabe's strongest critics, has said it would donate 3 million pula ($371,000) for health and food relief in Zimbabwe. Critics blame the economic crisis on Mugabe's policies, such as seizing white-owned farms to give to black Zimbabweans. The 84-year-old leader, in power since independence in 1980, blames sanctions from Western countries.
Deputy minister for water and infrastructural development Walter Mzembi said the ministry had only enough water treatment chemicals to last about 12 weeks, and called for donor support, the Herald reported. "I am appealing for at least 40 million rand ($3.9 million) to purchase chemicals for the next two months and the money is needed between now and next Monday," the paper quoted him as saying. The Zimbabwe government also appealed for $450 million in aid to deal with food shortages.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe police arrested 10 soldiers over violent clashes with Harare citizens. Some "rogue" soldiers, angry after not being able to withdraw money from cash-strapped banks, damaged property earlier this week.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2008
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Walter Mzembi said the ministry had only enough water treatment chemicals to last about 12 weeks, and called for donor support, the Herald reported. "I am appealing for at least 40 million rand ($3.9 million) to purchase chemicals for the next two months and the money is needed between now and next Monday,"
Sure thing Walt baby, the check is in the mail.
Who in their right mind would hand this dork a check for $3.9M? He'd be gone so fast you'd smell something burning. And with a four day deadline no
less. You couldn't make stuff like this up.
#2
Walter Mzembi said the ministry had only enough water treatment chemicals to last about 12 weeks, and called for donor support, the Herald reported. "I am appealing for at least 40 million rand ($3.9 million) to purchase chemicals for the next two months and the money is needed between now and next Monday,"
Sorry, I already gave all my money to that Nigerian dude. Use e-mail next time.
Reporting from Seattle -- Ahmed Ressam, the "millennium bomber" convicted of plotting to blow up Los Angeles International Airport, was resentenced to 22 years in prison Wednesday after a federal judge found that solitary confinement and repeated interrogations had helped cause him to stop cooperating in other terrorism prosecutions.
U.S. District Judge John Coughenour rejected the government's warning that Ressam, who in 1999 was stopped coming off a ferry from Canada with a carload of explosives, had reverted to Al Qaeda sympathies and would represent a danger if he were ever released. Noting that the case comes "as our nation prepares for a new chapter," Coughenour said Ressam had provided "an unprecedented view of the inner workings [of Al Qaeda] that almost without question prevented . . . future attacks."
The substantial help that the Algerian provided to U.S. officials before his change of heart -- coupled with the relatively shorter sentences handed out in other terrorism cases -- merited no harsher a penalty than the 22-year sentence first imposed in 2005, the judge said.
That he stopped cooperating, after his original sentence was conditioned on cooperation, doesn't seem to have bothered the judge much.
That sentence effectively was vacated by a federal appeals court ruling on another issue in the case. So prosecutors were able to return to court Wednesday to argue that Coughenour's original sentence was too lenient, given Ressam's failure to live up to his cooperation agreement.
Government lawyers started out the day seeking a 45-year sentence. But as Ressam accused investigators of pressuring him through mental duress into providing unreliable information against Al Qaeda suspects, prosecutors upped the ante to demand life in prison.
Ressam, who was representing himself, did not object. "Sentence me to life in prison, or anything you wish," he told the judge. "I will have no objection to your sentence."
The Ressam case represents a stunning reversal for federal prosecutors who once had relied on the 41-year-old militant for help in a variety of high-level terrorism cases -- some of which were halted in their tracks when he stopped talking in 2003.
Ressam has recanted his testimony in at least three cases, one involving his alleged accomplice in the Los Angeles bombing plot, Mokhtar Haouari. The Montreal shopkeeper was sentenced to 24 years in prison in 2001 for conspiring to provide material support by giving Ressam money and a fake Canadian driver's license.
On Wednesday, Ressam told the court he had been pressured into providing testimony in two other high-profile cases -- one involving Abu Doha, identified by U.S. authorities as one of Europe's highest-ranking Al Qaeda figures, and Samir Ait Mohamed, who allegedly helped Ressam in the Los Angeles bombing conspiracy.
"The government attorney and the investigator . . . interpret[ed] some of my statements to suit their interest, and statements . . . were put in my mouth. I said yes because of the extreme mental exhaustion I was going through," Ressam said Wednesday. "I retract all the statements I made in the past and do not want my word counted in the trial. . . . I did not know what I was saying."
Played everyone and got away with it.
Ressam's retreat forced the U.S. to abandon prosecution of Abu Doha and Mohamed, despite the fact that Britain and Canada had held the men in custody at American officials' request. British authorities shifted Abu Doha's detention to house in July.
"Our government was put in a horrible situation," said Mark Bartlett, first assistant U.S. attorney in Seattle. "We had gone to two of our closest allies, Great Britain and Canada, and said . . . arrest these people, keep them in custody, and we promise we will bring them to the United States. . . . We will hold them accountable. And then we have to go back and say we are unable to try them."
Ressam's assertions about the Haouari case in court Wednesday can now be used by the shopkeeper's lawyers to demand a new trial, Bartlett said. "Ressam has provided no indication that he has repudiated the goals of terrorists to inflict harm on the United States. His decision to end cooperation raises the specter that he continues to pose a real and serious threat to the United States," Bartlett wrote in his sentencing memorandum.
Jeffrey Sullivan, the U.S. attorney in Seattle, said after Wednesday's court session that he would seek permission to appeal Ressam's sentence. He argued that Ressam stopped cooperating not because of a mental breakdown, but because he was unhappy with the 22 years he originally had received.
"He told the court today in front of the judge, 'I'm a terrorist, I'm trained as a terrorist, I'm going to do it again when I get out. . . . That's what I heard him say," Sullivan said. "He deserves to stay in jail until he dies."
Tom Hillier, the federal public defender who represented Ressam at trial, said his client received much harsher treatment once he was transferred to New York to help with higher-profile terrorism cases. "There were factors -- in the sense of lengthy, repetitive, demanding, unrelenting interrogations of somebody who's helping, you know? And without a lot of concern for his frame of mind during all of that," Hillier said.
So his complaint is that the interrogators weren't as loving as they should have been ...
"I think a part of the reason for that is that the interrogators came from different organizations, different countries, and so he didn't have a government handler, somebody who was sort of taking care of him, as somebody should have been," Hillier said. "In fact, the folks in New York were somewhat distant from Ahmed, somewhat uncaring, which is not to be unexpected, given that they had recently suffered the trauma of 9/11."
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2008
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These idiotic judges will be the death of our nation.
#5
Hmmm, in my court room, both(judge and defendant)are sentenced to(their choice)one 9mm, one 223 or one 308 powder core round, designed and manufactured by Dynamic Research Technologies.
Five interior ministry staff have been arrested on charges of taking bribes from operators of underground brothels and illegal bars, United Arab Emirates newspapers reported on Thursday.
The men, aged between 19 and 24, are Emirati inspectors with the Criminal and Investigative Directorate, a branch of the interior ministry.
An anti-corruption undercover team rounded up the five security personnel, along with three Asian nationals who served as their informers, after complaints they posed as security officers and extorted money from illegal brothels and alcohol vendors in Abu Dhabi, capital of the oil-rich UAE.
The eight have allegedly confessed to carrying out raids on these venues and extorting money from the owners, according to The National.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Yeah, that's a smart move. Put guys 19-24 in charge of investigating illegal situations involving money, liquor and nubile young women. Naw, there won't be any temptation there, no sirree. Them young fellers will be 100% on the straight and narrow all the time. Yup.
And I'm just a simple country lawyer named Clarence Darrow.
Back in 2001, I published a novel, To Hell In A Handcart, in which part of the action took place at a tacky theme park called Goblin's, somewhere in southern England. Disneyland, it wasn't. The surly, tattooed staff were forced to dress as elves, the rip-off food was poisonous, visitors were wheel-clamped as they drew up at reception, the whole place was run entirely for the convenience of the management and nothing worked properly.
Guests included a party of juvenile delinquents, taken on holiday at taxpayers' expense by their social worker to teach them the error of their ways.
Brown's Blunderland: Imagine Gordon, dressed up in his Santa suit, with chief pixie Peter Mandelson at his knee, rubbing his hands at the thought of raking in all that lovely money on a false prospectus
They spent their time fighting, swearing, drinking, taking drugs, abusing employees and fellow campers alike, burgling the chalets and stealing from cars.
Goblin's wasn't meant to be a metaphor for modern Britain, but I can understand why some people thought it might be.
It all came flooding back this week when I read about the Lapland New Forest experience, otherwise known as Winter Blunderland, a new 'tourist attraction' on the Hampshire/ Dorset border. The staff even dressed like elves.
#2
Then the future is stinky, and sticks to the bottom of your shoe. And you have to get a stick and clean out the treads lest you track it onto the carpet.
E.W. Scripps Co. says it's putting the Rocky Mountain News up for sale after losing $11 million on the Denver operation in the first nine months of the year. The newspaper announced the development on its Web site Thursday.
Cincinnati-based Scripps has owned the News since 1926. Since 2001, the News has been in a joint operating agreement with The Denver Post, owned by Denver-based MediaNews Group Inc.
Rich Boehne, president and CEO of Scripps, says the company's 50 percent share of the joint operating agreement's cash flow "is no longer enough to support the Rocky, leaving us with no choice but to seek an exit."
The News was founded in 1859 and is Colorado's oldest newspaper. It has won four Pulitzer Prizes since 2000.
Posted by: Fred ||
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How the big boys put out a newspaper.
Posted by: Bob Themp8495 ||
12/05/2008 0:56
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This used to be the "right" paper, as opposed to the left birdcage-liner the Denver compost Post. But now its failing because it went left - its now merely the less left-ish paper in Denver, with some seriously stupid hippies like Mike Littwin writing for it.
I would hope a conservative company would take advantage of this to buy and run a conservative newspaper (and fire a lot of the editorial trash).
#4
both the news and the post are owned by the same company? I'll miss the news because I found it easyer (layout)to read during breakfast at the "Other Side." I won't miss the editorials except the ones by the KOA guy (can't think of the name).
#5
Agree, OldSpook, but the DP bought out, essentially, the RMN, and by osmosis sucked up all the revenue. We all knew more than 10 years ago it would come to this. That's what the left does--eliminate ALL competition. Just look at socialist/communist/dictatorships, etc. they all do it that way.
raq's Presidential Council headed by Jalal Talabani and his two deputies Adel Abdul Mahdi and Tariq al-Hashemi signed the security pact known as the Status of Forces Agreement with Washington on Thursday as violence erupted in the province of Anbar in western Iraq on the same day.
The Council's decision was the final step needed to seal the deal with the United States, scheduled to leave Iraq by the end of 2011 after its invasion under the Bush Administration in 2003.
" The Presidency Council has endorsed the security pact with the United States. That means this pact is put into force "
Naseer al-Ani, Presidency Council chief of staff
"The Presidency Council has endorsed the security pact with the United States. That means this pact is put into force," Presidency Council chief of staff Naseer al-Ani told Reuters.
Yet approval was given on the condition that a referendum will be held on the pact no later than July 30. The pact also replaces the UN mandate for foreign presence in Iraq.
The agreement which caused much controversy and heated arguments between parliamentary blocs last month was made possible by improvements in the security situation in Iraq this past year, according to AFP.
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MUSLIM/ISLAMIC MIL HISTORY suggests there will most likely be a PART DEUX TO THE US-IGA-MILITANT WAR/BATTLE FOR IRAQ, IMO ostensibs after IRAN is successful in dev its own INDIGENOUS NUCWEAPON + LRBM MISSLE CAPABILITIES [2010-2012 absol maxima], which as per MSM-Net sources Iran dev of same appears to be going one in parallel to the other. MUSLIM/ISLAMIC MIL HISTORY ALSO SUGGESTS OR INDICS THAT MUSLIMS TEND TO BE VICTORIOUS THE SECOND TIME AROUND.
Again, and exclusive of the above, iff there is any ISLAMIST HIDDEN-IMAM/MAHDI HE CAN'T PICK A BETTER TIME OR BETTER LOCAL-GEOPOL CONDITIONS TO MAKE AN "APPEARANCE" AND KICK INFIDEL BUTT ONCE AND FOREVER, THAN PER 2008-2012/2016 POST-DUBYA POTUS PERIOD.
D *** NG IT, MORIARITY, EVEN THE LEONIDS [Meteors], ETC. ARE COMING BACK AGAIN FOR A SURPRISE NEW SHOWER IN 2009!
(AKI) - The trial of one of the suspects of the 2004 Madrid bombings has been postponed in Morocco, Spanish media said on Thursday. The trial of Abdelilah Hriz was to begin in the city of Sale, near the capital Rabat, but was immediately adjourned until 18 December after defence counsel requested more time to prepare their case.
Morocco does not extradite its citizens and this would be the first time a Moroccan is tried for crimes committed abroad. If found guilty, he could be sentenced to death.
Under a 1997 accord between Rabat and Madrid, Hriz can be tried for charges in his country of origin for alleged crimes committed in Spain.
An observer from Spain's High Court, or National Court of Spain is due to attend the trial.
Thirty-one year-old Hriz is not directly accused of the attacks that killed 191 people, but instead of belonging to a criminal gang which wanted to commit terrorist acts. He was arrested in Morocco in June 2008 after a request by Spanish authorities issued in December 2007.
Hriz is considered a suspect because his DNA was found in two locations used by terror suspects who blew themselves up when police arrived to arrest them in April 2004 after the Madrid attacks.
Hriz' DNA was found in a comb in an apartment used by the alleged terrorists, in Leganes near the capital Madrid, and on a pair of blood-stained pants at a country house in Morata de Tajuna, outside the capital.
He is facing charges in relation to 191 murders and 1,811 counts of attempted murder, as well as supply, trafficking and the possession of explosive materials.
Posted by: Fred ||
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GAZA - Bank branches across the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip shut their doors on Thursday, saying they did not have enough bank notes in their vaults to operate normally because of an Israeli-led blockade. "The bank is closed because of the occupation's ban on cash entry," signs read at several branches in Gaza City.
Israel said it opened its border crossings with the Gaza Strip on Thursday for the first time in a week to allow in limited amounts of food, medical supplies and fuel. Israel said it was also allowing foreign journalists to enter for the first time since Nov. 4, when a deadly army raid into the coastal enclave triggered a surge in cross-border rocket attacks by Palestinian militants.
But it was unclear when Israel would allow cash into the Gaza Strip to replenish currency stocks.
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, whose Western-backed government is based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said earlier this week that there was not enough cash in the Gaza Strip to cover salaries for more than 77,000 government workers there. Fayyad said 250 million Israeli shekels ($63 million) was needed to pay the salaries but that banks in the Gaza Strip had only 47 million shekels ($12 million).
Posted by: Steve White ||
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actually the economy is improving in the West Bank
Fatah is not particularly interested in paying salaries in Gaza because Hamas extorts fees and contributions from all the salaried workers (kind of like Chicago but with no snow and lots of mosques and guns)
#4
Serious thought, if the border is sealed, the cash has nowhere to go.
So either everyone is hoarding cash (Unlikely) or there's a major leak in that "Sealed" Border.
Posted by: Rednek Jim ||
12/05/2008 19:40
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With crude oil under $ 60. per barrel mischief bucks from the Magic Kingdom a bit short these days eh?
(AKI) - Users of an an Al-Qaeda website have called for the release of the two Moroccans accused of planning terror attacks in the northern Italian city of Milan. "We are asking Allah to free his prisoners," said one user called Abu Sami, said on the 'al-Shura' website.
Ilhami Rachid and Abdelkader Ghaffir are alleged to have been planning attacks on several sites in the northern Italian city of Milan, including the city's famous Duomo cathedral. They were arrested late Tuesday and police released details of telephone taps during which they planned the alleged attacks.
"Based on Italian law, the two can remain under arrest for an entire year before being formally charged," said an al-Shura user who called himself Abu Ahmad. "A source close to the investigation believes the two detainees were not at the point of carrying out the attack but were only planning it," Abu Ahmad added.
News of the two arrests received little coverage in the Arab press.
London-based daily, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, was the only Arab language newspaper that reported the arrests.
Posted by: Fred ||
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"Based on Italian law, the two can remain under arrest for an entire year before being formally charged,"
But, but, what about their HUMAN RIGHTS???? On second thought, when the libs shut down Gitmo, we can send them all to Italy for sanctuary. Wouldn't want terrorists tortured in their home countries, and all.
Amid an ongoing debt crisis at controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone's movie theater company, Viacom Inc. plans to slash about 850 jobs -- 7 percent of its work force -- and freeze some senior-level salaries.
Viacom, which owns MTV Networks, BET Networks and Paramount Pictures, said the cuts are a response to the global economic downturn.
The company said, without specifying, that it also plans to write down the value of some programming and other assets. But it maintained it has a "strong balance sheet and substantial cash flow."
The job cuts, write-offs and suspension of some raises in 2009 are expected to generate pretax savings of $200 million to $250 million next year. The company will take a restructuring charge of $400 million to $450 million, or 42 cents to 48 cents per share, before taxes in the current quarter, which ends Dec. 31.
Posted by: Fred ||
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When's the last time they showed a video on MTV? One that didn't feature bitches and hos? And if BET wasn't included on every basic cable package (mine considers it "local programming") for all the right thinking PC reasons, how long do you think it would be in bsiness?
Machni and Shabqadar elders on Thursday agreed with the government to hand over by December 20 Taliban operating in their areas, and demanded that the administration provide them weapons as APP reported that Haleemzai tribesmen had handed over 21 suspects to the authorities in Ghalanai.
The agreement came at a jirga where officials gave the elders a list of more than 100 Taliban wanted by the authorities. The Yakaghund assistant political agent will give the elders another list of wanted men in two days.
Peshawar Commissioner Arbab Shahrukh had called on the elders to hand over Taliban fighters in their areas by December 20. He warned that if the wanted men did not surrender, their relatives would be arrested and their houses would be demolished.
The commissioner later told reporters that security forces would continue patrolling Shinu Ghundai and Qila Shah Baig areas, although the Taliban had fled amid a military operation -- "which will continue till the locals realise their responsibility to maintain peace".
Charsadda DPO Waqif Khan said that around 600 Taliban fighters were previously operating in Shinu Ghundai and Qila Shah Baig areas, but the majority fled when the military operation was launched.
The jirga was attended by elders from the Tarakazai, Haleemzai, Qasim Khel, Dadu Khel and Barankhel tribes. The second round of talks will now be held on December 20.
Suspects handed over: According to APP, a jirga of Haleemzai tribesmen handed over 21 suspects to the political authorities in Ghalanai, and sought three more days to surrender 16 other wanted men.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Unidentified men detonated three bombs planted close to video and CD shops at Al-Noor and China markets near Timergara in Lower Dir on Wednesday night, police said.
A Timeragara police official said the low-intensity improvised explosive devices went off in quick succession after the markets had been closed. The blasts damaged several video and CD shops, however no casualty was reported, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
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US Attorney General Michael Mukasey says FBI agents are working with Indian police to provide assistance and gather evidence about the Mumbai terror attacks, Hindustan Times reported on Thursday.
Mukasey did not know the nature of the request from the Indian government, but told reporters at the Justice Department on Wednesday "the FBI is looking into any evidence it can get".
He declined to comment on whether FBI -- the US agency charged with tracking international and domestic terrorists and spies on US soil -- is also working with Pakistan. "I can't comment on that."
He also declined to confirm if there was an indication that the people involved in the Mumbai attacks had any contact with people in the US or if the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba -- which India says is the prime suspect in the Mumbai attacks -- "is planning attacks on Indian allies or outside of India".
Asked if the US had any intelligence or any other indication about the attack, the top US law officer said: "I can't comment on that."
Asked about the lessons learned from what happened in India, Mukasey cited the need to get the best intelligence possible about where attacks might occur and to increase security appropriately. "It's obviously a horrible incident, a horrific incident, nothing we ever want to see happen here.
"And to the extent it's an object lesson, it's an object lesson in maintaining vigilance and in the need for surveillance, electronic surveillance and other kinds of surveillance and the need for protection," he said.
Declining to comment on the performance of Indian authorities, Mukasey said: "As far as the performance of the Indian authorities, I'm not in a position to comment on that."
"I'm confident that the people who respond to events like this in the United States are well trained, well disciplined and well able to respond fully," he said. "It's impossible to fully protect every target. Total security is an impossibility," he added.
"You try to anticipate and to get the best, essentially the best in the way of intelligence that you can get so that you can anticipate where the events might occur and provide security in those places. But you can't provide universal security,"
Asked if the state of US surveillance techniques would have picked up something like the Indian attack in advance if it was going to happen in the US, Mukasey said: "I can't conjecture in that way, I really can't."
Jurisdiction: Mukasey said he believed the US has jurisdiction in cases of violence against Americans in connection with acts of terrorism. "It's not a question of my desire. We have jurisdiction. I believe we have jurisdiction over violence committed against Americans in connection with acts of terrorism like this."
Mukasey said he did not yet have enough details to say whether any charges eventually would be brought in the US. "I don't yet have that level of detail and I don't think I could share it if I had it. I know, I mean, I can confirm finally that the FBI is over there, that they're working with the Indian police on gathering evidence."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2008
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#1
ION MUMBAI, RENSE > INDIAN GROUP - AL QAEDA IS A US CIA-MOSSAD FRONT; + ILLEGAL GROUPS ARE MAKING THE USA UNRECOGNIZABLE. Due to America's unwillingness to correct its illegal immigration woes, Mexico's = "RECONQUISTA" of SW USA may be successfully accomplished in circa 20 years [2029-2030]???
Pakistani officials are urging the incoming Obama administration to stop air attacks on Pakistani territory and are even hinting that they might shoot down US drones in its airspace, according to a report published in the Washington Times (WT).
The report said US forces based in Afghanistan had carried out around 25 strikes this year, most of them by drones, in the Pakistani border region. However, a November 19 attack was carried out in Bannu beyond the Tribal Areas, in the settled areas of Pakistan. After the strike on NWFP's Bannu district, the government summoned US Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W Patterson to the Foreign Ministry and lodged a formal protest.
Foreign Office spokesman Muhammad Sadiq said the US ambassador was told that the attacks violated Pakistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Pakistani officials have publicly discussed a military option. Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed said last week that if the government decided to shoot down the pilotless aircraft, the military was fully capable of intercepting them. "The air force is ready for any type of air defence," the air chief marshal was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.
On September 23, a drone crashed inside Pakistani territory near Angoor Ada in South Waziristan Agency. The Pakistan Army said the drone crashed because of a technical malfunction. However, residents in Angoor Ada claimed they shot down the drone.
US officials have told the Washington Times that Pakistan has given tacit approval for attacks that are confined to the Tribal Areas and do not involve US ground forces. A Pakistani official, who asked not to be named, said "these are very sensitive matters" and that the target had to be "a very important asset" to justify an attack.
In public, Pakistani officials vehemently deny any bargain with Washington.
Posted by: Fred ||
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"said the US ambassador was told that the attacks violated Pakistan's sovereignty "
The US reply should be:
When you can ACT as a sovereign nation and control activity within your borders to keep it from spilling over, then we will treat you as a sovereign nation. Until such time, you are neither fit for the term, nor deserving of an consideration on those grounds. You are merely an agglomeration of tribes, and will be treated as such.
(AKI) - The speedy deployment of the European Union's police and judicial mission throughout Kosovo is an urgent priority, NATO foreign ministers said on Wednesday. "Allies welcomed the fact that the security situation remains stable and acknowledged that NATO and KFOR, bearing in mind its operational mandate, would continue to support the development of a stable, democratic, multi-ethnic and peaceful country," said a NATO statement.
The European Union mission in Kosovo is due to be deployed on 9 December, EU officials announced. Nearly 2,000 EU police, justice and customs officials, will take over UN duties there, although the current UN mission (UNMIK) will retain a political role.
The NATO ministers urged Kosovo and Serb authorities to fully cooperate with "all relevant actors" during the transition period.
According to Serbian press agency Beta, EULEX's communication director Victor Reuter has stated the mission will take over duties for the whole territory of Kosovo, including Serb-controlled areas in the north.
EULEX is expected to closely cooperate with the UN mission for safety reasons and to avoid a security vacuum. EULEX will consist of 1,900 international police, judges, prosecutors, customs and prison officers and 1,100 local employees by earlier next year when the mission is to be fully operative.
Vice-president of Serbia Bozidar Djelic said on Wednesday that the EULEX deployment would be a "positive development".
Kosovo has been recognised by 52 countries including the US and many EU countries since it declared independence from Serbia in February.
Djelic said he was confident the EULEX mission would no longer be a source of tension between Belgrade and the European Union.
Under UN Resolution 1244, the NATO-led KFOR force - currently numbering around 16,000 troops- is due to remain in Kosovo to ensure security.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2008
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And I urge the prompt removal of all NATO troops from that bastion of religious oppression. The Kosovo tyranny has disallowed renovations to Christian buildings and churches ever since the Clintons gave them an Islamofascist base in Europe.
Yah, I know what Michael Totten writes. He is a fraud.
Libya protested in vain Wednesday before the UN Security Council over Israel's interception of one of its cargo ships attempting to offload aid in Gaza.
Ambassador Giadalla Ettalhi told an emergency council session that Israel was guilty of "piracy in the high seas," and called for "effective action that will ensure compliance of Israel with international humanitarian law and the law of the seas". His complaints, however, failed to elicit a formal condemnation of Monday's actions by Israel, which needed unanimous consensus by the council's 14 members - Libya is one of the 15-strong council's 10 rotating members.
Israeli warships on Monday prevented a Libyan cargo vessel, the Al-Marwa, from reaching the Gaza Strip with 3,000 tons of humanitarian aid for the impoverished Palestinian territory, which has been under a crippling Israeli blockade since June 2007. Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Gabriela Shalev, invited to speak at the council meeting even though her country is not a member, rejected Libya's accusations, especially the piracy contention, and in turn charged Tripoli with provocation.
She said that since Libya does not recognise the state of Israel, the interception was justified on grounds of national security. "No member State of this Council, nor any other member of the United Nations, would allow a shipment originating from a hostile state towards a territory that serves as a launching pad for terrorist attacks against its civilians," Shalev said. The Libyan aid shipment is the first effort by an Arab state to circumvent the blockade of Gaza by Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2008
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#1
Piracy is where they board your ship, loot it and sink it after killing all the passengers and crew, not when they tell you to turn around and go away.
(AKI) - Thirteen bodies were discovered in a mass grave on Wednesday near the Iraqi city of Baquba, north of Baghdad. A police source told the news agency, Voices of Iraq, the bodies were found in the village of Abu Tomma, in restive Diyala province, a former Al-Qaeda stronghold.
On Sunday 38 bodies were recovered from a mass grave in the village. CNN reported that the bodies, all of adult men, showed signs of torture, with some blindfolded and some decapitated. Some of the bodies were reportedly wearing uniforms of the Iraqi Security Forces, but most are believed to be civilians kidnapped while trying to pass false checkpoints.
Officials said it wasn't clear how long the bodies have been in the graves, but some estimated they had been buried at different times in the past two years.
Diyala province extends north of Baghdad as far as the Iranian border.
In January 2008 Operation Phantom Phoenix was launched in an attempt to eradicate remnants of Al-Qaeda network .
Iraqi authorities imposed a brief curfew in Baquba in August, after a suicide bomb attack targeted a convoy carrying the provincial governor, Governor Raad Rasheed. Rasheed escaped unhurt but at least one civilian died when the attacker detonated an explosives vest in Diyala's provincial capital.
Iraqi and US forces conducted a major offensive against insurgents in the province in August.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2008
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#1
Sudden thought, the bodies were aparently buried over a two-year period, that means they've been coming back.
Bury a very large mine for the returning grave diggers to "Find".
Posted by: Rednek Jim ||
12/05/2008 12:24
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13 hardly qualifies as mass. 38, we're getting close to that descriptor.
Mining/boobytrapping the site? Great idea, all for that.
Gasoline? It's 36 cents a gallon. Laundry detergent? Fifty cents for a standard-size box. Milk? About 20 cents a quart. These prices are so low because Iran's government spends half its national budget to subsidize many of life's necessities. Not for long.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has launched a sweeping economic restructuring plan that would end many of these subsidies within a couple of months. To blunt the blow of gasoline prices quadrupling and similar increases for other goods, he also proposes to give as much as $70 a month to poor Iranians.
Ahmadinejad, a populist leader with a working-class background who came to power three years ago, is staking his political future on his ambitious plan, which threatens to alienate Iranians who have benefited from the subsidies. Known abroad for incendiary rhetoric and his defense of Iran's nuclear program, Ahmadinejad's domestic political standing relies more on his largely unfulfilled promises to use Iran's oil wealth to improve the lives of poor people.
Some aspects of the plan, such as a sales tax, have provoked unrest, forcing Ahmadinejad to slow its implementation. The president had said he would present a bill on subsidies to parliament on Wednesday, but the introduction of the legislation was postponed without explanation.
Many members of Iran's urban middle class fear that the plan will ruin them. "If the subsidies are stopped, my family will be pushed into poverty. What the president plans to pay us in return will be far too little," said Payman Vatandoust, a technical manager at a battery factory in Tehran who like many highly educated Iranians did not support Ahmadinejad in 2005.
Vatandoust's worries are shared by several Iranian leaders, many of them adversaries of Ahmadinejad who accuse the president of proposing the cash handouts to boost his popularity in advance of presidential elections set for June.
Ahmadinejad says his "economic evolution" plan will narrow the gap between rich and poor and eventually will help bring down inflation, which has risen to an annual rate of 24 percent, according to Iran's Central Bank.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2008
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#1
Gasoline? It's 36 cents a gallon. Gas line, Iranian style.
#3
Gasoline? It's 36 cents a gallon. Gas line, Iranian style.
Iran has problems domestically producing its own gasoline because refineries can't afford to produce it. They don't even break even on it. Hence the supply issues.
Security forces on Thursday killed 10 Taliban in Malam Jabba and Matta tehsil in Swat, according to APP, as unidentified assailants killed a former Awami National Party (ANP) candidate for the provincial assembly from Dir in Swat.
"The troops targetted (Taliban) hideouts in Malam Jabba and destroyed a vehicle prepared for a suicide explosion," APP news agency quoted the spokesman of Swat Media Centre as saying. He said that six Taliban fighters were killed in the offensive. In Matta tehsil, the news agency said that troops attacked a Taliban vehicle, killing four fighters.
Meanwhile in Bajaur, troops began patrolling areas captured from the Taliban in Nawagai tehsil. People displaced by a military operation are now being allowed to return to their homes in areas captured from the Taliban. Six killed in Swat: In Swat, assailants killed six people -- including the former ANP candidate for the provincial assembly -- in separate incidents.
Police said the ANP's Shamim Khan was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Mingora. Police suspect Shamim was killed over a personal enmity. In Khwazakhela area of Swat, armed men killed two people on charges of 'spying for the government'. Two more men were killed in Kabal teshil, while assailants killed a man in Taj Chow area of Mingora. Policeman survives assassination bid: In Peshawar, a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) survived a Taliban assassination. Policeman killed: In Miranshah, AFP reported a policeman was killed while three of his colleagues were injured when Taliban fired rockets at the Haveda Police Station in Bannu.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2008
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(AKI)- United Nations-African Union peacekeepers in Sudan's conflict-wracked Darfur region have dispatched a mission to the southern Hissa Hissa camp after a deadly brawl broke out there between refugees and Arab Janjaweed militiamen. One of the militiamen was severely beaten and later died as a result of the clash, and a refugee was injured. A second militiaman was arrested and taken into custody by Sudanese police, the UN said.
UNAMID reported that at least 10 armed men started shooting at a water pump near Hissa Hissa on Tuesday, and later torched the pump and five generators supplying energy to the camp.
Tensions at Hissa Hissa between refugees and militiamen remain high, and the UNAMID team is continuing to monitor the situation, said the UN.
At least 300,000 people have been killed and 2.7 million others displaced from their homes in fighting across Darfur over the past five years between rebels, Government forces and allied militiamen known as the Janjaweed. The militiamen are accused of widespread human rights abuses in their attacks against civilians.
The UN-AU joint mission has been in place since the start of this year to try to quell the violence and give humanitarian assistance.
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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.
LAS VEGAS -- O.J. Simpson is going to prison; the question is for how long. The former football star who walked away a free man after a celebrated murder trial was due to learn Friday how much time he'll spend in a Nevada state prison for a botched attempt to recover sports mementoes and personal items from two collectibles peddlers.
Dozens of young Somali men in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area have disappeared in recent months, causing community members and U.S. intelligence officials to fear that they are joining jihadist groups in Somalia. Officials are especially concerned that some of the men may be destined to return to the U.S. after they have received terrorist training.
The United States announced economic sanctions Thursday targeted at three men accused by Germany of being members of an al-Qaida-linked group. 
A couple accused of beating and torturing a teenager, who authorities say was sometimes kept shackled inside their home, appeared in shackles themselves to face more than a dozen kidnapping and child abuse charges.
By Charles Krauthammer
Nine people have been killed in Thailand's far south in a bloody outbreak of shootings and a bomb attack by 
The sun was blazing high in the sky just before 1 p.m., five hours after Timothy opened the sparsely stocked shop he manages in a dusty slum here in Zimbabwe's capital. It was time to change the prices.
"She is a weak and confused leader who allows a fanatical group parody in Christmas displays. I mean how crazy is this? Washington State is ground zero for every nutty secular cause on earth," FNC host Bill O'Reilly said.
Philippine prosecutors said on Thursday that they were looking into the alleged terrorist links of a Bangladeshi man arrested in the restive southern Mindanao island on suspicion he was plotting bomb attacks on government targets.
(AKI) - Israel on Thursday reopened the Kerem Shalom border crossing to allow urgent aid to flow through to Gaza. Israeli Defense Forces allowed 40 truckloads of food, medicine, agriculture supplies and chlorine for water treatment were allowed through the crossing, according to Palestinian media reports.
U.S. pressure on Pakistan to act against terror groups behind last week's deadly attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai reached a new peak Thursday as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited this country and urged its leaders to move forcefully and quickly against those linked to the assaults.
Zimbabwe has declared a cholera outbreak that has killed more than 560 people a national emergency and appealed for international help to deal with the crisis. 
GAZA - Bank branches across the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip shut their doors on Thursday, saying they did not have enough bank notes in their vaults to operate normally because of an Israeli-led blockade. "The bank is closed because of the occupation's ban on cash entry," signs read at several branches in Gaza City.
Machni and Shabqadar elders on Thursday agreed with the government to hand over by December 20 Taliban operating in their areas, and demanded that the administration provide them weapons as APP reported that Haleemzai tribesmen had handed over 21 suspects to the authorities in Ghalanai. 
Pakistani officials are urging the incoming Obama administration to stop air attacks on Pakistani territory and are even hinting that they might shoot down US drones in its airspace, according to a report published in the Washington Times (WT).
Libya protested in vain Wednesday before the UN Security Council over Israel's interception of one of its cargo ships attempting to offload aid in Gaza.
Security forces on Thursday killed 10 Taliban in Malam Jabba and Matta tehsil in Swat, according to APP, as unidentified assailants killed a former Awami National Party (ANP) candidate for the provincial assembly from Dir in Swat. 
