Legislators say they will file bills next year to expand the state.
"We need liebensraum!"
One proposal would declare the towns of Kittery and Berwick, Maine, part of New Hampshire. The two states have fought over the border for decades in a dispute over who owns the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
Obviously as a base of operations for the New Hampshire Navy
Another bill would welcome Killington, Vt., whose voters approved a plan to join New Hampshire because of a tax dispute with Vermont.
Sure, they "say" they just want Killington. Next thing you know, they'll be annexing all of Vermont into the Greater New England Co-Prosperity Sphere!
The Vermont and Maine legislatures also would have to approve the proposals. Their approval isn't seen as likely.
This means war!
Posted by: Steve ||
12/09/2004
9:56:18 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
We plan to start infiltrating Killington VT just as soon as they get enough snow base.
Mum's the word, RBers....
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
12/09/2004 11:58
Comments ||
Top||
#2
..oh, and the New Hampshire Navy is in the shed until I can repair the outboard, so don't expect amphibious ops in this campaign.
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
12/09/2004 11:59
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Watch out for that Brutal Vermont Winter, Carl.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/09/2004 12:30
Comments ||
Top||
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/09/2004 12:37
Comments ||
Top||
#6
Well, it's Vermont, the hippie paradise. Seems to me that if you just air-drop some Maui Wowie on the Vermont legislature they'll mellow out and cede the entire state to New Hampshire. Bloodless coup!
Posted by: Jonathan ||
12/09/2004 13:07
Comments ||
Top||
Ship, I thought that's the one where we take over Canada.
I get so confused...
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
12/09/2004 18:28
Comments ||
Top||
#14
Ha! There is plenty of SNOW to ski on at Killington right as I type this. So all skiers should hit the slopes and not worry about any real estate battles because this would NEVER happen!
Andrea Jackson
Posted by: Andrea Jackson ||
12/09/2004 19:18
Comments ||
Top||
The US passport is about to go electronic, with a tiny microchip embedded in its cover. Along with digitized pictures, holograms, security ink, and "ghost" photos - all security features added since 2002 - the chip is the latest outpost in the battle to outwit tamperers. But it's also one that worries privacy advocates.
The RFID (radio frequency identification) chip in each passport will contain the same personal data as now appear on the inside pages - name, date of birth, place of birth, issuing office - and a digitized version of the photo. But the 64K chip will be read remotely. And there's the rub.
The scenario, privacy advocates say, could be as simple as you standing in line with your passport as someone walks by innocuously carrying a briefcase. Inside that case, a microchip reader could be skimming data from your passport to be used for identity theft. Or maybe authorities or terrorists want to see who's gathered in a crowd and surreptitiously survey your ID and track you. Suddenly, "The Matrix" looks less futuristic. I would hope that the information would be encrypted but this is the state department.....
The State Department maintains that such scenarios are outright fiction.
"A person can't be tracked," says Kelly Shannon, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Consular Affairs at the State Department. "It's not as if the information is going to broadcast and anyone with a receiver can be picking up that signal. There isn't a signal."
The passport, issued to officials and diplomats in early 2005 and to the public by the end of the year, is accessed using a reader that "pings" the microchip in order to release the data, much like proximity cards used for workplace ID badges. What prevents surveillance is that "the passport can only be read at a distance of 10 centimeters or less," explains Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance, an industry association that represents the four companies that produced prototype chips for the State Department.
"It's perfectly reasonable that the government wants a machine-readable photograph," says Bruce Schneier, a security guru and author of "Beyond Fear." "I just worry that they are building a technology that the bad guys can surreptitiously access."
The State Department says it's just following international standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), under the umbrella of the United Nations (Oh shit - I thought I smelled something). In May 2003, the ICAO specified the RFID and facial biometric or digitized head shot now being adopted by other countries at the behest of the United States. All countries that are part of the US visa-waiver program must use the new passports by Oct. 26, 2005.
Although the data on the chip will not be encrypted, for the sake of easing "interoperability" across international borders, Ms. Shannon says, the government does plan to incorporate a security feature that will largely prevent skimming. Embedded fibers in the front and back covers will shield the passport from electronic probing, at least while it is closed. Other security features in the new passports include a digital or electronic seal that will ensure the document is authentic and smart-card technology that renders the chip inoperable if it is tampered with using energy waves or radio waves.
Posted by: CrazyFool ||
12/09/2004
9:52:07 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Digitized head shot. Interesting term.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/09/2004 11:31
Comments ||
Top||
#2
So what's going to happen to the old passports? I can't imagine starting over again from scratch with a new one devoid of stamps...
#3
I remarked 20 years ago that smart cards are a solution in search of a problem. The main problem with them is authenticating their origin. If crooks can make fake credit cards (with smart chips) then they can make fake passports, and they can. I hope that smart cards are being used for an improved identity system and the security comes from databases that track their use.
#4
BaR, when you get your new passport, ask for your old one back. The clerk will punch a hole through the old one, to show that its not to be used, and you can then store it with your favourite treasures ;-) Passports need to be replaced every 10 years anyway, and this article, at least, doesn't say that everyone will have to get new passports ahead of schedule. And anyway, if the new world standard is based on US requirements for foreigners travelling here, its only fair that citizens comply as well.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- The only gunman who survived the attack on the U.S. consulate in Jeddah earlier this week is hospitalized in critical condition, reports said Thursday. A medical source at the King Fahd Hospital said it will be at least 48 hours before doctors will know whether the gunman will survive. A spokesman for the interior ministry, Brig. Mansour Turki, said the gunmen has yet to be interviewed by police.
You mean he may die without telling what or who he knows? How...surprising.
He said police wounded in the incident were treated and many have be discharged from the hospital. Four gunmen and five embassy workers, including a Yemeni, Sudanese, Palestinian, Pakistani and Sri Lankan, were killed in the attack.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/09/2004
9:50:47 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I'm betting a massive failure of internal organs caused by the Interior Ministry agents sitting on his chest
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/09/2004 10:52
Comments ||
Top||
#2
As a doc, I have to say, Frank ... you have no imagination.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/09/2004 13:43
Comments ||
Top||
#3
So, in a case like this, are the 72 virgins standing by, or is it more like catching a cab at the airport where you get the next one in line?
Iraqi interim President Ghazi al-Yawar has told CNN the country's insurgents are in no way similar to the Viet Cong and can be quelled within a year. "They know they are fighting a losing battle," al-Yawar said of the rebels in an interview. "We're not fighting a Viet Cong, which has principles and popular support. ... I'm sick and tired of them." While he said he foresees U.S. forces remaining in Iraq until enough Iraqi forces have been recruited and trained to replace them, al-Yawar said it was a mistake to disband the Iraqi military. He said the new army's ranks should be opened to former members of the Iraqi military under Saddam Hussein who are now loyal to the new government.
With very good backround checks
With regard to reported meddling by Iran in the run-up to Iraq's election scheduled for Jan. 20, al-Yawar said he had confidence the resistance of Shiites in the south, who he said are "skeptical of the Iranian role in Iraq." "We in Iraq have one platform that brings us together -- the Iraqi identity," he said.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/09/2004
9:48:43 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Article: al-Yawar said it was a mistake to disband the Iraqi military.
But of course - if the military had been left intact, the Sunni minority would hold absolute power, perhaps with the Sunni al-Yawar as president-for-life.
#2
I saw al-Yawar on Charlie Rose last night and he convinced me he is the type of guy who should be in high public office in Iraq. Rose threw at him all the LLL arguments about the war and he shot every one of them down. Not only that, he told Rose to "...record this. We will never, never go back to one-man rule." Never droned and complained about Haliburton, plastic turkeys, etc. He was only forward looking and reiterated how much he wants Iraq to join the free world. US action in taking down Saddam is like when we took down Hitler. Iraqis consider Americans in this light. ETC. Only positive, anti-MSM, information. Many good things about Syria and Iran. He knows who the trouble makers are and wants to get rid of them, dead or alive.
Only slight negatives were his disagreeing with disbanding Iraqi military because it threw out the baby with the bathwater, but he didn't express bitterness or sarcasm. Also would have preferred more proportional force in Fallujah, but, again, not a contestation of cleaning the place up. Kind of like on a scale of 1-10, he scored it a 9 (My interpretation) Non-violent democratic action is the only solution, and all communities there understand that. What's there to complain about?
Summary: We're turning the corner. Nothing will stop elections. MSM is only paying attention to the small, small proportion of the Iraqi population that consists of Baathist dead-enders.
So, ZF, I respectfully disagree with your comment. This guy only came back in April, 2003, gave up his business career to become president (thus putting a big bullseye on his back, BTW), and is not a confidant of the Saddam's military henchmen. He just thinks it would have made better security sense to have left the military intact, but get rid of bad apples.
Posted by: chicago mike ||
12/09/2004 12:49
Comments ||
Top||
#3
cm: This guy only came back in April, 2003, gave up his business career to become president (thus putting a big bullseye on his back, BTW), and is not a confidant of the Saddam's military henchmen. He just thinks it would have made better security sense to have left the military intact, but get rid of bad apples.
I guess what I'm pointing out is that there are large numbers of would-be Saddams in Iraq. Saddam came to power not because he supported his predecessors, but by killing them. There is no league of evildoers in Iraq - just a bunch of independent operators who have seen Saddam (and his predecessors - including all of Mesopotamia's kings) - in action and have thought to themselves - hey, I could do that job. There are many Iraqis fighting US forces who don't support Saddam - they just want to be king.
But the arms sale ban may not last long.
The European Union decided on Wednesday to maintain its 15-year-old arms embargo on China, reports Reuters. "The EU side confirmed its political will to continue to work towards lifting the embargo," the EU and China said in a joint statement issued at the summit in The Hague. The joint statement leaves open lifting the ban next year "despite fierce opposition from Washington and human rights groups," reports Reuters. The EU cited concerns about China's commitment to human rights. The embargo was imposed after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre of pro-democracy activists.
They're still dead, aren't they?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004
9:33:36 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
I figure one large order for Airbus may see the embargo dissappear.
Posted by: john ||
12/09/2004 16:06
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Actually, France is the hold out. They don't want to accept the transparency rules the rest of the EU is willing to put in place in exchange for selling arms.
Posted by: too true ||
12/09/2004 16:07
Comments ||
Top||
#4
Of course not. Kickbacks from overseas deals are a major source of funding for both the major political parties in France.
A Palestinian militant leader has been injured in an apparent Israeli missile strike on his car, reports say. Jamal Abu Samhadana, the head of an umbrella group of militant factions, the Popular Resistance Committees, was travelling on a road in southern Gaza. A spokesman for the group said Mr Samhadana was not seriously injured.
Pity, I'm still hoping for infection.
The Israeli military earlier killed four Palestinians in Rafah it said were militants suspected of smuggling weapons across the border with Egypt. Three bodies were recovered soon after midnight and a fourth was recovered at daybreak, sources said.
So, it's not all bad news.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had pledged that Israel would "maintain the calm" in the absence of attacks by Palestinian militants.
The white vehicle carrying Mr Samhadana was hit by a missile fired from an unmanned spy plane, according to witnesses. Two bodyguards travelling with him were also wounded, hospital officials said. The men ran from the car just before it blew up, witnesses said.
"INCOMING! Feet, don't fail me now!"
An Israeli missile struck a car Mr Samhadana was using in August but he escaped serious injury.
Third times the charm
His militant group has been linked by security services to several attacks on Israeli settlers and soldiers. There has been no comment about the incident from the Israeli military.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/09/2004
9:31:56 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"Samhadana" must be Arabic for "fugitive from the laws of probability."
Posted by: Mike ||
12/09/2004 9:45
Comments ||
Top||
#2
The good news is that the Israeli's won't miss twice. Sharon should have raided the compound a long time ago. Now that Arafart is barbecuing in hell (no martyrdom=no BJ's from bearded virgins), there is absolutely NO EXCUSES!!!!
Hey Sharon, there is no reforming these people. THEY HATE JEWS!!!!
#3
I'm convinced that these near misses (too many to be bad aim, IMO) are caused my the IAF putting in smaller warheads to minimize "collateral dameage."
#4
Xbalanke, IAF has switched from helizapping to to UAVzapping. A lot cheaper to keep in the air, stealthier - they can fly up behind a vehicle without them noticing, unlike a helicopter.
#5
Baloney. They obviously noticed, else they would not have bailed out of the car successfully. And I bet he doesnt travel at night, just so they can see if anything is up there.
Good thing is that I bet he pays thru the nose for bodyguards.
#6
Jimbo, From this report all four occupants of the car were wounded, so if they bailed they didn't get too far before the missile hit. Also it looks from the picture that the missile hit the engine and didn't destroy the vehicle interior, which is what you would expect from a small heat seeking missile. I think its reasonable to conclude the missile hit before they bailed. The report of the car exploding afterwards probably refers to a vehicle fire and normal Arab embellishment.
A total 18,607 illegal immigrants in Malaysia were whipped under an amendment to the Immigration Act introduced in 2002, Deputy Home Affairs Minister Tan Chai Ho said Wednesday. The number comprised 11,473 Indonesians, 2,786 Myanmars, 1,956 Filipinos, 708 Bangladeshis, 509 Indians and 1,175 other nationalities, Tan told reporters at the parliament lobby here. "Most were whipped for entering without valid documents but the women and men above (50) years who were caught were spared," he said.
Tan warned that illegal immigrants who refused the current amnesty to leave the country that they would be flushed out when the authorities launch a large-scale operation next month. Malaysia offered illegal immigrants an amnesty from Oct. 29 to Nov. 14 prior to the Hari Raya Aidilfitri (the Break Fast Festival), and extended it at the request of Indonesia. Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, now in Indonesia on an official visit, Wednesday announced that the amnesty for Indonesian illegal immigrants would be extended to Dec. 31 this year. Up to Dec. over six million illegal immigrants had left voluntarily. "Unofficial estimates indicate there are still about one million illegal immigrants in the country. We want to ensure they go back to their country of origin until no one remains behind," Tan said. "We are unhappy many have still not left...if they don¡¯t leave they will face the full might of the law."
He said the operation would cover urban as well as rural areas and plantations throughout the country. "As such I urge employers not to take the risk and to send home their illegal workers before the end of December. If they want to come and work here, they should do so by following the proper procedures." He added that 112 cases of employers harboring illegal workers had been brought to the courts. Hundreds of thousands of the foreign workers from neighboring countries make a beeline to Malaysia every year to earn a living in various sectors, especially in construction and plantation, due to insufficient job opportunities at home.
Posted by: tipper ||
12/09/2004
9:31:11 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Whipped with what? How many strokes each? Man, I'll bet Tan's arm was really tired. Prolly looks like Popeye, now... tipper - you're getting weird on us!
While reading the original Xinhua article - looking for the info above - I saw this story on a new Hollweird movie, In Good Company, and 2 things (heh) jumped out at me:
1) Scarlett Johannson is becoming an Ingrid Bergman knockout:
2) Dennis Quaid has become the Junk Science poster-boy: " Dennis Quaid has ever been the hero of 'The Day after Tommorrow'" - and Xinhuanet could use some native English-speaking editorial services. And no, his picture isn't worth posting, heh, cuz he's a moron.
#11
This could be good. We could be treated to another picture like that one of the soldier shaking hands with Hillary while crossing his fingers behind his back.
Unfortunately I suspect that there will many hints to the grunts to "be nice" from above.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
12/09/2004 11:59
Comments ||
Top||
#12
Want to bet?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004 12:01
Comments ||
Top||
#13
Will Luvvy be along to entertain the troops with her Sam Kinnison imitation?
More than 60 suspected mercenaries are to appeal against their convictions over an Equatorial Guinea coup plot. Their lawyer said the High Court in Zimbabwe had granted permission for their case to go to the Supreme Court. In September, former British special services officer Simon Mann was jailed for seven years but is not appealing.
Must figure he got off easy.
Sixty-seven other suspected mercenaries were sent to prison for 12 months for illegally landing at Zimbabwe's main airport.
Not bad considering what they might have gotten.
The authorities said they were en route to Equatorial Guinea to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo in the oil-rich country. The 67 were found guilty of lesser charges of violating immigration and aviation laws. Mann, an old Etonian, was convicted of trying to buy weapons without a licence.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/09/2004
9:26:02 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
Efforts by Russian Muslims to counter the rising tide of anti-Muslim items in the Russian media are often so unprofessional, emotional and grotesque they increase anti-Muslim sentiment in Russia and abroad, says a leading Moscow specialist on Islam. Roman Silantyev, who serves as secretary of the Inter-religious Council of Russia and also as the chief specialist on Islam in the Patriarchate's External Relations Department, makes precisely that argument in the current issue of the Russian Orthodox Church's Tserkovniy vestnik. Silantyev notes Islamophobia is increasing in Russia -- a view shared by most participants in a roundtable organized by the editors of NG-Religii in its Dec. 1 issue.
I guess one man's "Islamophobia" is another man's cool-eyed assessment of who his enemies really are...
And that makes countering this form of bigotry -- and doing so successfully -- all the more important.
If they're attacking you, and killing your children like dogs, how does that make it bigotry? Sounds like a pretty reasonable reaction to me.
In his article "Several Thoughts About Islamophobia," Silantyev notes there are many responsible defenders of Islam in Russia both among the country's Muslim leadership and in the media. But at the same time, he suggests the fight against Islamophobia in Russia is all too often dominated by "doubtful" people. Sometimes these "defenders of Islam" expect non-Muslims to accept that "Islam is a religion of peace because it is peaceful," a circular argument he suggests is just about as impressive to non-Muslim Russians as were Soviet-era claims the teachings of Karl Marx "are all-powerful because they are true."
The "religion of peace" bovine waste wore out shortly after 9-11 in this country. I think it went totally out of style in Russia about the time of the Nord-Ost theater atrocity. It's currently going the way of the passenger pigeon in Europe, the result of 3-11 and van Gogh's murder. And there will be more of those little incidents to help the process along.
On other occasions, he says, the self-styled defenders of the faith engage in nasty personal attacks such as suggesting one or another writer should be examined by a psychiatrist or should be ostracized because of positive attitudes toward Israel.
... or must be killed. Don't forget that approach to civil, well-reasoned discourse...
Or they make irresponsible claims about the size of the Muslim community in Russia or the number of ethnic Russians who have supposedly converted to Islam. Silantyev is especially critical of Russia's largest Islamic information Web site, Islam.ru. He writes the editors of this portal have managed "at one and the same time" to launch suits against Izvestiya for xenophobia and to post often vicious attacks on Jews and Orthodox Christians. Moreover, Silantyev notes, this site seems to spend much of its time attacking leaders of the Russian Muslim community such as Ravil Gainutdin and Talgat Tadzhuddin, the head of the Union of Muslims of Russia -- actions that only encourage hostility toward Muslims by non-Muslims.
Not blood-thirsty enough, huh?
What those who want to fight effectively against Islamophobia must do, Silantyev maintains, is "to create a positive image of Islam in the eyes of Russian society by stressing historical examples of the peaceful coexistence of Muslims and Christians, their joint opposition to the godless power in the past, and their common struggle against non-traditional religions and new religious movements in the future."
... rather than acting like they'd normally act, especially in any area where they might outnumber the infidels...
But none of that will matter, Silantyev concludes, unless Muslim scholars and Muslim commentators provide a satisfactory answer to "the principled question: why do the overwhelming majority of terrorist groups now acting in the world associate themselves with Islam and why does not a single terrorist organization act in the name of Orthodox Christianity?"
... or Buddhism. Or Confucianism. Or Lutheranism. The best they can come up with is the IRA.
Not surprisingly, Silantyev's ideas have been attacked by those he criticizes, a development not unexpected but one that may receive greater attention than would otherwise be the case because of the opening in New York of a U.N. seminar devoted to the question of how best to counter Islamophobia and promote tolerance. The response of the editors of Islam.ru to Silantyev's article was immediate and -- at least from the point of view of Silantyev -- compelling evidence of some of the problems he points to. In often extremely sharp and personal terms, Islam.ru's Abdulla Khasinov argues Silantyev is illiterate on Islamic questions, his statements about Islam.ru are both ignorant and unprofessional, and he has rendered himself unfit to serve as secretary of the Inter-religious Council of Russia. Indeed, Khasinov concludes the only thing that Silantyev could possibly be fit to serve the members of that Council is tea "because for that he would only need to smile."
At least he didn't issue a fatwah against him. He won't be killed. For now.
Many Russian Orthodox clergy and laity will read Silantyev's article, but few will see Khasinov's response. By Khasinov's own admission, Islam.ru has only some 8,000 subscribers, and beyond any doubt most of them are Muslims who already agree with the site's point of view. That imbalance in access to the mainstream media, the Internet's tendency in many cases to reinforce the views of surfers rather than promote dialogue among them, and the equally nasty comments of some of those who attack Islam all help to explain some of Khasinov's anger. But Silantyev is surely right that getting angry won't solve anything and that those who do want to combat the evil of Islamophobia will never be able to do so until and unless they overcome these limitations and answer the challenge he has posed.
We've been building to this point since 2001. An arrogant, violent, xenophobic subcult of Islam announces its opposition to all other religions and declares war on the rest of the world. The rest of the world, having outgrown comic books, space opera, and the novels of Sax Rohmer, doesn't take them seriously. They can't be serious, can they? And even if they are, the police will come and arrest them. Nothing will happen to us...
After awhile the booms add up. There are too many corpses to be ignored. It really can happen here: 9-11, Bali, Nord-Ost, Madrid, van Gogh, Casablanca, shootouts and head choppings and booms in Soddy Arabia, bus after bus in Israel, continuing carnage in Kashmir, children slaughtered in Beslan, 70,000 dead blacks in Sudan, the meat-grinder of Chechnya... And always, every day, plots unearthed, spittle-spewing imams, oily princes, corpulent holy men, money flowing in all directions, International Men of Mystery, ruthless henchmen, all in the name of the Religion of Peace. Eventually, even in a peace loving, short attention span world, people start to catch on. Eventually critical mass will come and they won't take it anymore, no matter how many symposia are held trying to figure out how to stamp out Islamophobia. It's not a phobia when the fear's legitimate.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2004
9:09:04 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[16 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
its ISLAMOMISIA not islamophobia--we don't have an irrational fear of these fucks--we hate them
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
12/09/2004 1:43
Comments ||
Top||
#2
*Applause* Top ranting.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
12/09/2004 6:06
Comments ||
Top||
#3
All these"be tolerant of Islam"bullshit,but never a "be tolerant of Christians and Jews",What a bunch of crap!
#4
Eventually critical mass will come and they won't take it anymore
If they don't like it now when we're just mad at them, they really won't like it when the general public acually becomes scared. Civilized nations can do ugly things when they're afraid.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/09/2004 9:05
Comments ||
Top||
#5
The total of fear and civility is a constant. The Islamists get to set the proportion by their behaviour. I'd say we're at 2% fear at the moment.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004 9:09
Comments ||
Top||
#6
I'd like to know what percentage of the members of the Religion of Peace⢠would like to see the Jews exterminated.
Posted by: Tom ||
12/09/2004 9:32
Comments ||
Top||
#7
New York of a U.N. seminar devoted to the question of how best to counter Islamophobia and promote tolerance
*scoff* Gosh...here is an idea: How about promoting tolerance for groups other than yourselves? Naaah.
want to know the problems with mean and intolerant jokes like this one? intolerant joke
They are too true to be really funny.
#8
Dateline: Paris, 1943. Hermann Goering announced the opening today of the world's first symposium on combating Naziphobia...
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
12/09/2004 10:52
Comments ||
Top||
#9
Perhaps Prague or Warsaw, not Paris.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004 11:00
Comments ||
Top||
#10
It's the "We're the Victims Show" again. There is that fundamental disconnect between cause and effect. It will cost the Muslims big time if they don't get the connection. It's up to them. I don't see President Bush doing his RoP thing so much any more, either, FWIW.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/09/2004 11:09
Comments ||
Top||
A court in south India yesterday denied bail to a prominent Hindu priest accused of involvement in the murder of an aide who questioned the financial records of a temple in Tamil Nadu state. Judge R. Balasubramanian of Madras High Court, denying bail to Jayendra Saraswathi, cited a law banning bail to any person when there were reasonable grounds to believe they could be guilty of offenses punishable by death or a life sentence. Saraswathi, 71, and the head of a 2,500-year-old temple at Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu, is the most powerful of Hinduism's four main leaders. He was arrested last month over the death of Thiru Sankararaman, 52, once a close aide but later a sharp critic. Saraswathi has since remained in judicial custody on suspicion of murder, criminal conspiracy and suppression of evidence over the death of Sankararaman in September. He has not been formally charged. This was the second time the court denied a bail plea.
The detention of Saraswathi following his arrest on Nov. 11 has enraged Hindu activists who have staged nationwide protests. His cause has been taken up in New Delhi by the opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which has staged protests near Parliament. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has also written to the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, Jayaram Jayalalitha, asking her to ensure the investigations against a "person of his eminence' are conducted "with extreme care and consideration." Media reports say Sankararaman had alleged financial irregularities at the spiritual institution headed by Saraswathi that controls assets worth more than 50 billion rupees ($1.14 billion). Jayalalitha has said police had "shocking but solid" evidence to prove the cleric's direct involvement in Sankararaman's murder. Police have said the aide was stabbed to death by killers hired for money.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2004
9:05:08 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Like the man said: "Nice work if you can stomach it."
#2
Sankararaman had alleged financial irregularities at the spiritual institution headed by Saraswathi that controls assets worth more than 50 billion rupees.
A popular holy man dipping his hand in the till, gee, like that's never happened before.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/09/2004 8:43
Comments ||
Top||
Dear Friends,
May I take a break from our post-election despair to share with you a little piece of happy/silly/cool news?
"Fahrenheit 9/11" has been nominated by the People's Choice Awards as the American public's "Favorite Film of the Year." The five nominees were chosen from a poll of thousands of Americans in mid-to-late November. The other nominees for best film are "Spiderman 2," "The Incredibles," "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (with Jim Carrey), and "Shrek 2." It is the first time ever a documentary has been nominated for best film by the People's Choice Awards.
The People's Choice Awards are considered, among all the awards shows, to be the one which most accurately reflects the "mainstream" public opinion in the United States.
OK, now, here's the best part: YOU get to vote! Online. Now. Just go to http://www.pcavote.com/voting/film/f01.shtml, click on the little circle next to "Fahrenheit 9/11" in the "Favorite Movie" category and press the "vote" button. Voting is going on now and continues only through this coming Monday, December 13, at 3:00pm ET, so send an e-mail to your friends and let them know they can vote, too. Winners will accept their awards live on CBS on January 9.
Now, normally I wouldn't make a very big deal out of something like this. It's nice and I'm honored, but it's not exactly the number one priority on any of our minds these days. In fact, when we found out we were nominated over a week ago, I didn't even think to tell you about it or put it up on our website.
But then a group of top Republicans took out a full page ad in USA Today (and placed a similar one in the Hollywood trade magazine, Variety) proclaiming that "An election is over, but a war of ideas continues." The point of the ad was to say that while they, as right wing conservatives, were proud of getting rid of Kerry, there was still one more nuisance running around loose they had to deal with -- me! They also issued a not-so-subtle threat to the Academy Awards voters that, in essence, said don't even THINK about nominating "Fahrenheit 9/11" for Best Picture. And Bill O'Reilly recently bellowed that if the Oscars recognize my work this year, Middle America will boycott Hollywood.
Oops. I guess he spoke too soon. Because now along comes Middle America's favorite awards show, the People's Choice, and the People's Choice this year, along with a Spiderman superhero and a lovable green ogre, is a film that apparently continues to resonate throughout the country. The truth about Iraq, Bush, terror and fear. The election has not altered or made irrelevant, unfortunately, a single one of these issues. That they (and the film that dealt with these issues) are still at the forefront of the majority of the public's minds should give serious pause to Mr. Bush as he brags about a nonexistent "mandate" and begins to spend his "political capital."
He may have been (barely) the people's choice on November 2 (Ohio recount excluded), but now the people get to vote again, this time for a movie. It's about the best we can do right now, and, trust me, it won't be long before we start the real work we need to do to get our country back.
Again, go to http://www.pcavote.com/voting/film/f01.shtml if you want to vote for our film. I promise, if we win, to give a nice and polite speech.
Yours,
Michael Moore
Posted by: tipper ||
12/09/2004
9:01:48 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Rantburgers! Go to the People's Choice site immediately and put in your vote for The Incredibles. Won't Michael Moore be surprised when his "documentary" loses to a cartoon! (A cartoon rich in the sort of moral and conservativevalues Michael Moore hates so much, I might add.)
Posted by: Mike ||
12/09/2004 9:32
Comments ||
Top||
#9
DB - They aren't selling them here in Sin City, sniff, but they are offering a damned good Pastrami Burger promotion! I hope they make it permanent - and add the Monster soon, heh. Can't get too much red meat.
President Bush will visit NATO and the European Union on Feb. 22 in a move to rebuild transatlantic relations at the start of his second term, European NATO diplomats said on Thursday. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is in Brussels for a NATO foreign ministers' meeting, said on Wednesday that Bush planned to make the first overseas visit after his inauguration next month to Europe but gave no date. "We are reaching out to Europe and we hope that Europe will reach out to us," he said in a public lecture, appealing for more European help to stabilize Iraq and Afghanistan
A NATO official said it was too early to say whether the visit would be billed as a fully-fledged summit. "All I can confirm is that President Bush has stated his intention to come. I would expect a summit but I would have to wait to confirm that," said the official, who declined to be identified. The NATO session on Thursday is expected to be the last attended by Powell before he hands over to successor Condoleezza Rice.
Posted by: tipper ||
12/09/2004
8:55:34 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
No summit! Peak only.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004 9:00
Comments ||
Top||
#6
Or just use some of my supplements; you'll be goin' yard 70 times a year in no time!
Posted by: Barry Bonds ||
12/09/2004 16:51
Comments ||
Top||
#7
The timing puts Pres.Bush in Europe after Iraq elections and during Islamic holy month of Ramadan. I wonder if instead of Pres.Bush going to Europe to mend fences,he is going to see if he can get any support for dealing w/Iran once and for all.
Posted by: Stephen ||
12/09/2004 19:10
Comments ||
Top||
From The Washington Post, an opinion article by Richard Cohen. On the night of Nov. 28, 2001, crack homicide detectives fanned out all over New York City, one of them even going as far as New Jersey. In all, five detectives from the Manhattan South Homicide Task Force went to the homes of various suspects, fingerprinted some of them, interrogated all of them and told a few that they would have to take lie detector tests. The horrific crime? The police commissioner's friend was missing some items. The commish at the time was Bernard B. Kerik, who just the other day was nominated by George W. Bush to be the next head of the vast Department of Homeland Security. The crime victim was Judith Regan, a publisher at HarperCollins, whose imprint, Regan Books, was publishing Kerik's autobiography, The Lost Son. .... The Manhattan South homicide cops were working for Kerik. Regan's items apparently went AWOL from a studio at Fox News Channel, where she also worked. They included a cell phone, a necklace and a credit card. All the items were later accounted for. The necklace was found at the bottom of her handbag. The credit card had been left behind at a drugstore. As for the phone, it was later found in a trash basket ....
Right up front I should state that Kerik has always maintained that he had nothing to do with making homicide cops lost-and-found monitors. It's possible. Sometimes you don't have to order subordinates to do something. They just do it to please the boss. .... For some reason, the Fox employees initially had a different take. They accused Kerik of abusing his authority and hired a lawyer, Robert M. Simels, who notified the city that he was about to sue. In the end he did not, because the employees dropped the matter. ....
Back in the 1980s, Kerik was working as chief of investigations for a hospital complex in Saudi Arabia, where he allegedly abused his authority to delve into the private lives of women with whom his boss was romantically involved. .... another [allegation] ... says that Kerik "blocked the promotion of a qualified jail supervisor" because the man had reprimanded a female corrections officer Kerik had dated. .... As homeland security czar, Kerik will have plenty of police authority -- everything from border and transportation security to the Coast Guard and the Secret Service. ... we really don't want a person who is tone-deaf to civil liberties and who is apt to send his guys out into the night on armed errands for his pals. What is needed, actually, is a top-notch administrator, a guy with a spreadsheet who can manage this huge and unwieldy department. President Bush, though, has chosen Kerik. ... it could also be that Kerik cuts too many corners, that he has a certain understandable infatuation with his own image and a tendency to bully. Whatever the case, until these questions are answered, the proposed head of homeland security is making me, for one, feel anything but secure.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
12/09/2004
8:36:27 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
This is the best you could do, Mike? The Dhimmicrat slime machine has really fallen on hard times.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004 8:59
Comments ||
Top||
#2
A guy with a SPREADSHEET??!!?????
Wonderful. Security brought you by the B-school brigade.
Posted by: too true ||
12/09/2004 9:44
Comments ||
Top||
#4
Sid Vicious Blumenthal has a Kerik-hitpiece in the Al-Guardian as well. The Dem meme requires some bogeyman, and Ashkkkroft is going away....
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/09/2004 12:01
Comments ||
Top||
#5
Cohen's bloviating but the larger point here is correct: this is not a job for an ass-kicker a la Rumsfeld. Dir of DHS has no real authority; he's basically a beltway version of Kofi, and needs superb inside baseball skills. Kerik's a very weird choice for this uber-bureaucratic post.
Unless Rove thinks New York state is now in play...
#8
Giuliani's reported by CNN to have made two direct pitches to the White House. And Giuliani's been publicly lobbying for this on the talk shows as well, most recently on Imus.
#10
Actually, Kerik now resides in New Jersey. Corzine will run for governor so a senate seat will open up in 06. Could be.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004 12:39
Comments ||
Top||
#11
Dir of DHS is the shittiest job in Washington. Ridge's career has been blighted by his DHS tenure-- in fact, he's probably finished politically. No one would take on DHS unless there were some other political game afoot.
Did Ridge have inside baseball skills necessary to run DHS? Who would you suggest does?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004 13:59
Comments ||
Top||
#13
Looks like I'm a contrarian today all over RB.
It remains to be seen how Kerik will do at DHS, but I'm not inclined to write him off before he even gets started. He has a history of successfully motivating law enforcement types while overcoming turf protectiveness and holding people directly accountable for what happens under their responsibilities.
Oh, yeah - one tool he used was a set of detailed statistical performance measures that were carefully chosen to get at the heart of what needed doing in NYC. A spreadsheet guy after all - but one who could use those numbers effectively.
Washington is a broader, harder challenge, but it's more than premature to suggest Kerik is a wierd choice for DHS ... in many ways his performance in NYC suits him for this job much better than Ridge's ever did.
Posted by: too true ||
12/09/2004 15:20
Comments ||
Top||
#14
Did Ridge have inside baseball skills necessary to run DHS?
No, but he didn't completely f--- up. I think it's probably an impossible job. Anyone qualified to tackle this job is too smart to take it. It's a poisoned chalice.
Who would you suggest does?
A cunning, ruthless, and preferably unscrupulous Beltway insider with experience on the Hill and in Cabinet-level or a White House chief of staff capacity. Cheney would be ideal.
#15
Cheney also because he's discreet, unlike Rummy. It's not a bully pulpit. I suppose the best thing about Kerik is his understanding of first-responders. They're the truly important link here. I doubt he'll break through the institutional idiocy of the INS (or whatever it's called these days).
#16
A cunning, ruthless, and preferably unscrupulous Beltway insider with experience on the Hill and in Cabinet-level or a White House chief of staff capacity. Cheney would be ideal.
and what makes you think Cheney won't be available to mentor Kerik? Two birds with one stone .... prep Kerik for bigger things.
Posted by: too true ||
12/09/2004 16:04
Comments ||
Top||
#17
Cheney's not got enough to do in his day job?
Hugh Hewitt's analysis supports my initial suspicion that this is a favor to Giuliani, who's gaining traction among solid Bush supporters and who will reciprocate by knocking McCain out of the running early:
#19
A point, if I may: a favor to Giuliani does not mean Kerik won't kick ass in the job. They are not mutually exclusive... in fact, if they were, it would make Giuliani an real asshole for recommending him - which I do not buy for a second.
I think Kerik will get a shot and prolly do a good job - hell, he may just kick ass - there is nothing on the record to suggest otherwise, merely speculation and such.
And speaking of kicking ass... I think knocking McCain in the head is a wonderful idea. I will happily buy Giuliani a Louisville Slugger of any length and weight he desires, should he wish one for the job. I think drilling him like a 70mph Class-A "fastball" right into orbit would be nice.
#20
If the Washington Post or the New York Times or CBS said it was going to be bright and sunny tomorrow - I'd bring my umbrella to work. Their credibility is zero. They're just the PR Dept for the Democratic Party.
Some House Democrats are coming to the defense of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan after several Republican lawmakers called for his resignation because of allegations of corruption in the organization's oil-for-food program. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, sent a letter Wednesday to Secretary of State Colin Powell, saying criticism of Annan is "disgraceful and premature." "There has been no hint of impropriety on the part of the secretary-general, who on numerous occasions has proven his honesty and integrity," the letter said.
It was signed by 19 Democrats and independent Rep. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. On Monday, Democratic Reps. John Conyers of Michigan and Donald Payne of New Jersey sent a letter to House colleagues in support of Annan. "To decide that the secretary-general must resign is an absolutely premature conclusion to draw when there is no evidence or even allegations that the secretary-general profited from the oil-for-food program," they said. The program allowed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to sell oil and use the proceeds to buy food, medical supplies and other humanitarian items. Congressional committees are investigating allegations that Saddam manipulated the program to generate illicit income and win influence with foreign officials.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004
8:18:53 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"There has been no hint of impropriety on the part of the secretary-general, who on numerous occasions has proven his honesty and integrity,"
Mr. Annan's competence, however, has yet to be proven.
#3
Conyers, Kucinich? Oh there's a pair to draw to. More like the usual suspects showing up to pay obeisence. Ramsey Clark must be in the wings.
Posted by: Jim K ||
12/09/2004 8:40
Comments ||
Top||
#4
Here's the whole list. (Actually 20 wingnuts.) Sure are a lot of Caliphornians. It would be interesting to leatn the extent to which these folks represent districts that include institutions of higher learning.
Joining Kucinich on the letter were Reps.
Watson (D-CA),
Lee (D-CA),
Davis (D-IL),
Hinchey (D-NY),
Woolsey (D-CA),
Solis (D-CA),
Brown (D-OH),
McDermott (D-WA),
Clay (D-MO),
Filner (D-CA),
Stark (D-CA),
Serrano (D-NY),
Baldwin (D-WI),
Farr (D-CA),
Olver (D-MA),
Sanders (I-VT),
Miller (D-CA),
Rodriguez (D-TX),
Kleczka (D-WI),
Jackson-Lee (D-TX).}
Â
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004 8:54
Comments ||
Top||
#5
Whew - glad to see my congresscritter ain't on there. He's in a "safe" seat, which seems, statistically, to encourage drooling idiocy in the professional chattering class. But evidently he's not that crazy...yet.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/09/2004 11:41
Comments ||
Top||
#7
Same old, same old. Baghdad Jim McDermott, Sheila "Do You Know Who I Am" Jackson-Lee. Every election cycle there seems to be fewer of them. I wonder why that is?
#11
George Miller (D-CA) is Berkeley's member of the house. Well, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Richmond, and Albany to be exact, but you get the picture. A real burned out Marxist-hippie type whose top priorities seem to lie somewhere between taking away your hunting rifle and taking away your SUV. In short, very representative of his district but getting ever older....
George old boy the ash bin of history awaits your sorry ass. Go grim reaper go!
#12
So when are KOFI & SON gonna start acring like NANCY PELOSI, weirdly and mysteriously post-elex acting demure, non-combative, and almost a woman, as the Clintons-led DEMS = PARTY OF REASON, FAIRNESS, AND JUSTICE, aka the, SSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH, "NEW GOP/RIGHT" or" REAL GOP/RIGHT", subaka PARTY OF PROPRIETY,... ever since O'REILLY indic Hillary for 2008 has to remake herself into BETTY CROCKER. * LOW BLOW, O'REILLY, linking Commie Hillary to a beloved American product.
I was wondering whatever happened to this guy:
A U.S. Marine who disappeared in Iraq and then showed up in a purported hostage video before later appearing as a free man in Lebanon, is being charged with desertion, Pentagon officials said Thursday. Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun will also be charged by the Marine Corps with larceny and wrongful disposition of military property in connection with his service-issued 9 mm handgun that disappeared with him and never turned up, officials said. When Hassoun last spoke with military investigators in September and was read his rights, he refused to divulge details of the events surrounding his disappearance. The 24-year-old from West Jordan, Utah, will not be held in custody, because he is not considered a flight risk, officials said. [...] Um, I wouldn't be too sure about that.
Military investigators re-opened the Hassoun case last month after several personal items -- including his military ID and civilian passport -- were found in Falluja, the city from which he disappeared in June. "The circumstances of his alleged capture and subsequent return to military control are still being investigated," the Marines said in a statement.
Hassoun reappeared July 7 in Lebanon, where he was born and has relatives. What happened to Hassoun is a mystery to military investigators. After the initial report that Hassoun was missing, military officials assumed he had walked away from camp. He was listed as a deserter. His status was changed to captured after the release of a videotape that showed him blindfolded with a sword suspended above his head. A few days later, a posting to three Islamist Web sites claimed Hassoun had been beheaded. Hassoun denied being a deserter and staging his own kidnapping. [...] Whatever the outcome of the investigation, this dude can't be trusted now.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/09/2004
8:08:35 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"When Hassoun last spoke with military investigators in September and was read his rights, he refused to divulge details of the events surrounding his disappearance."
Ah, the first confirmation (I've seen) of that as a fact. Yep. Lock his ass up and toss the key. The whole thing stank like a festering jihadi before - and now it deserves the hobnail boots. I'm pretty sure they won't execute him, but it would not cause me to lose sleep if they went that route. Big rocks meet little rocks. Fuck off Hussein, you're a disgrace to the uniform and to the real Americans who do their duty.
#2
Hope he likes snow, cause I hear they get a lot of it at Leavenworth.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004 20:33
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Correct! I was floored when this had happened
and he will get what is coming to him- or what goes around comes around.
Andrea Jackson
Posted by: Andrea Jackson ||
12/09/2004 20:54
Comments ||
Top||
#4
.com - spot on. I knew in my gut as soon as this came out that this guy went over the hill. "When Hassoun last spoke with military investigators in September and was read his rights, he refused to divulge details of the events surrounding his disappearance."
-I've been the investigating officer into a number of cases of weird shit, usually pleading the fifth to investigators is a dead giveaway that you're guilty.
#5
I was just wondering what this will do to those who hyphenate themselves as Arab-Americans in the military who are doing their jobs. Those who know them personally, won't even think about it - I never even thought to connect such dots about someone who was covering my ass and doing a bang-up job of it, but others who don't know them may begin to doubt them, keep them out of sensitive areas or fights - marginalize them. And that sucks. Good people. Bad people. Screw the other damned bullshit labels. We used to laugh that we didn't care if someone was a green-haired middle-armed trisexual from Mars - the only question was if they could cut it...
#6
He feels it's more important to be a good moose limb than a Marine. Not a problem you can be a moose limb in federal pound me in the ass prison for 20 years.
An excellent summary. I couldn't have said it better myself.
ACCORDING to the Kyoto protocol proponents, Australia and the US are the rogue nations. But in the eyes of the absolute majority of the world, they are reasonable and smart. After all, Australia and the US -- along with nine developed countries and 167 other nations -- are refusing to undertake legal obligations in restricting their greenhouse gas emissions. The fact is the Kyoto protocol that will be a global treaty within months is based on fraudulent science. Assertions that global temperatures are higher today than any time in the past are completely false. Fluctuations in climate patterns have existed for millions of years -- for all earth history. Global temperatures were higher in the Roman times when grapes were grown on British islands The place I grew up 25 miles n. of London was mentioned in the Doomday book circa 1100 AD as being a major wine producer. Clearly impossible when I lived there.
and Hannibal's elephants walked through the Alps into Italy. They were higher in the medieval period when the Vikings found and colonised the island that they have called Greenland and when Norwegians grew grain on the fields that are 300m in altitude higher than it is possible to do today. Temperature variations in the course of the earth's history have been much greater than the increase of 0.6 degrees Celsius estimated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for the last century. In the past, the earth's climate was warmer, the global temperature rose faster, sea level was higher, floods were more severe, droughts lasted longer and hurricanes were more devastating than they were in the 20th century. Moreover, the best available temperature data from satellites show negligible temperature changes over the past several decades. Go read the rest.
Posted by: phil_b ||
12/09/2004
6:38:04 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Thank you Mr Illarionov - this message needs to be heard everywhere. It will be accepted everywhere that hasn't drunk the Kool Aid. The entire spectrum of Kyoto / Day After Tomorrow / GAIA eco-bullshit movements are insane... and you can toss in a host of other similar BS games, e.g. CSPI, as they have reached cult status - reality took a hike long long ago.
In a fresh sign of lingering tensions over the Iraq war, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell Thursday rapped European allies who declined to assist a NATO-led Iraq training mission as "hurting the credibility and cohesion" of the military alliance. A half dozen NATO members have flatly refused to allow officers assigned to NATO bases to participate in the training operation -- a move that U.S. officials said was unprecedented. Even as the 26-country alliance decided Thursday to expand the small operation in Iraq from 60 to 300 people, officials from the recalcitrant nations -- which include France, Germany and Spain -- held firm. "We will send no troops to Iraq," said German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer. He said this position has been clear since the training force was established last June. French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier told reporters that "given the current security situation, we think it is more efficient and useful if training takes place outside of Iraq."
The transatlantic rift emerged as U.S. officials have signaled a new approach in their dealings with Europe. The White House announced Thursday that Bush will visit NATO and meet with European leaders on Feb. 22, in what Powell called an effort to "mend these breaches." NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Poland, Hungary and the Netherlands had agreed to send more staff for the mission, which is located inside the heavily fortified area in Baghdad known as the Green Zone. NATO also plans to set up a military academy outside Baghdad, but has received no commitments of staff yet. But Germany provides a disproportionate share of the international command staff, so its directive to German NATO officers could hamper the operation. Joining Germany, France and Spain in refusing to provide staff for the training operation were Greece, Belgium and Luxembourg. The usual suspects. Old Europe.
snip
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004
6:32:29 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Riddle me this: When is an "ally" no longer an ally? When is an "alliance" no longer an alliance?
Posted by: Capt America ||
12/09/2004 23:27
Comments ||
Top||
Buried in this article is the following paragraph:
"Italy, with a population of 57 million, is home to an estimated one million officially registered Muslims, making Islam the country's second largest religion. But social services groups say the number is much higher and growing."
You can find this under "Oddly Enough" news stories from Reuters on Yahoo. I have got to find a better page to keep up with things than Yahoo; they have gotten weirder.
The government's immigration rules discriminated on racial grounds against Roma (Gypsies) seeking entry into the UK, the Law Lords have ruled. It follows a Home Office move to cut asylum claims by stopping people, mostly Roma, from boarding flights to Britain from the Czech capital Prague. Civil rights group Liberty said it exposed "racism at the heart of the government's asylum policy." The message was, "Roma not welcome in UK," director Shami Chakrabarti said. Yes, dead right, the Roma are NOT wanted in the UK.. Chakrabati clearly doesn't catch the tube and have to put up with gypsy children being thrust in her face in an attempt to make her part with her hard earned cash every morning. In fact Chakrabati isn't welcome in Britain - come the revolution we'll find her and her ilk a nice remote Scottish island to inhabit. (Apologies McN!). I love the way second and third generation immigrants want to sell off the country - they seem to gain a perverse thrill from diluting British culture. Controlled immigration may be a good thing - letting in scum isn't.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
12/09/2004
6:26:55 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Howard UK:
Let me tell you an interesting story. I have some family in Dublin whom I was visiting a few years back. After a few drinks, one of my cousins began complaining about the recent wave of immigration which has flowed into Ireland over the last few years; a new and novel concept for the Irish as people tend to flee from, rather than to, the Emerald Isle. I assumed that this was a racial thing, so I asked her if she meant the Ethiopians as they are the most physically different immigrants.
"No," she replied, waving her hand in that dismissive peculiar Dubliners' manner, "we don't mind them. They're family people."
"Then you must mean the Bosnians." I commented, assuming it was a religious conflict. As you well know the Irish take religion notoriously seriously, and most Bosnians are Muslims (abet very slack ones).
"No, we don't mind them either." She commented, "They're not a problem."
I think you can see where this is headed. My cousin was angry with The Roma. For while it's all too true that The Roma have sticky fingers and like to live off of government handouts, they also like to beg in the streets. And while the former pastimes might be Irish traditions, begging is considered lower than low.
Yeah; good point. The Nazis were as close to pure evil as the 20th Century produced. I don't really know enough about The Roma personally to have a clear opinion of their character. I was just reporting what Cousin Nancy had to say on the matter for general "huh" purposes.
#4
I clearly recall, the first time I was in Dublin more 30 years ago, the Gypsies (roma) begging on the streets - women in rags with dirty barefooted children. At the time beggars were unheard of in the UK and it was the first time I had ever seen one.
#5
Romani have been in Ireland for centuries. I saw them as recently as ten years ago. They work as tinkers primarily. And yes, they steal and beg. So it goes. Some of them have immigrated one way or the other to the US, where they run several scams, the most popular of which is the guy who shows up at your front door and offers to redo your driveway. Here they're called travelers. Same guys.
Posted by: Weird Al ||
12/09/2004 16:54
Comments ||
Top||
#6
phil_b and Weird Al:
You guys misunderstand me. The Tinkers have indeed been in Ireland for hundreds of years but they aren't Roma at all. They are a separate indigenous nomadic population of native Celtic Irish, descendants of a clan which was displaced centuries ago by political upheaval that simply never settled back down again (or so I am told). I have visited one of their camps near Cork and I can tell you that they are not gypsies. Are they thieves, prostitutes, and bums? Pretty much. Are the Roma? Nope. And, yes, the Irish look down on them as well.
My counsin was talking about Central European Roma, not Tinkers.
#7
Whoever they are no one wants them. I read at least one article a month about some UK council or the other is evicting them (travelers) and their "caravans" from some land someplace. The travelers have a different stigma than the "gypsies" have? The Beeb never refers to them as "Roma" but gypsies. Are we talking about a 3rd group here? Isn't Romainia big enough for all of them?
If anyone tried the stuff I read about at the BBC website here in the US they would be dipped in shit by the MSM, hung out to dry and left for dead in some court room someplace bleeding from their arse after some LLL lawyers, a liberal judge and,the Federal government was done with them.
#8
by stopping people, mostly Roma, from boarding flights to Britain from the Czech capital Prague
Well, well, is not that precioussss?
When Czechs applied for EU membership, it was mostly UK screaming from the top of the lungs about discrimination of Roma in Czech Republic.
(the discrimination like not letting kids pass the grades if there was not adequate performance, or not providing lifelong dole and such horrible human rights abuses and crimes)
#9
The Roma, a.k.a. Gypsies, are an Aryan tribe that wandered out of India after the lands to the west had been settled, and have been wandering ever since, first across Europe and then, like everyone else, across the U.S. The Travellors, a.k.a. Tinkers, are as Secret Master said, indigenous to the Isles. Both groups have been allowed very little opportunity over the centuries to join mainstream society, and thus feel justified in their life of petty crime. One of those chicken/egg things, I guess, and Cousin Nancy expressed the general view.
#11
I saw many tinkers when I was on the west coast of Ireland back in 1996. I saw one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen during that trip. She was a tinker woman wearing a very brightly colored patch worked dress with long raven black hair and walking a white horse along a beach. They had one of those house wagons parked a little ways down the beach. It was surreal and I'm definitely not the touchy feely type. (I wasn't even drunk - at that time of day anyways). I was single at the time and thought about turning around and introducing myself. My instincts told me I'd prolly be set up for my wallet getting lifted so I declined. Prolly a mistake as it could've been the best mugging of my life.
SECURITY services have thwarted a planned attack on London similar to the March 11 train bombings in Madrid by Islamic extremists, the British capital's police chief said overnight. "Thank God to date, and we have had to work extremely hard, we've thwarted attacks," Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens said to the BBC. Asked if his force had stopped a strike on the scale of the Spanish attack, he added: "Yes, I can't discuss it because of court proceedings - but yes we have stopped a Madrid."
The morning rush-hour bombings on commuter trains killed 191 people in the most devastating attack in modern Spanish history, just three days before a general election. The attackers claimed to represent al-Qaeda in Europe. Sir John said "a number" of attacks had been thwarted in London and "hundreds" of terrorist suspects were being processed in British courts, according to extracts on the the BBC's website. He would not give any details. Like other senior public figures here, he reiterated that Britain was a prime target for radicals: "The risk of an attack to London has not changed. An attack is still inevitable."
Only last month, the head of Britain's security service MI5, Eliza Manningham-Buller, also warned: "There might be major attacks like Madrid earlier this year." Britain is considered a target for Islamic radicals due to its support of President Bush, particularly in Iraq. Although there has been no attack on UK soil, the threat was illustrated a year ago with a suicide bombing at a consulate in Turkey that killed 17 people including the consul general. Critics, however, accuse both UK and US authorities of scaremongering, in part to bolster their power. Britain has arrested more than 600 terrorism suspects since the September 11, 2001, attacks - but has charged fewer than 100 and convicted only 15.
Also overnight, Britain and the US announced a new agreement to develop counter-terrorism technology together. The accord, signed by Britain's Home Secretary David Blunkett and US Homeland Security Deputy Secretary James Loy, will allow greater information exchange on security issues.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
12/09/2004
6:25:10 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Oh dear! Are the police contributing to rising Islamophobia? Unless these attacks were to come from Mormon extremists. But it's probably nothing more than their usual scaremongering. Afterall, the BBC is running stories about how the threat is mostly an illusion. Shame on the British Government!
Posted by: John in Tokyo ||
12/09/2004 21:39
Comments ||
Top||
A PRISONER who allegedly trained with the al-Qaeda terrorist network appeared today before a US military review tribunal in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, while another man refused to attend his hearing. Their cases came a day after the military ordered that 33 more prisoners remain held as enemy combatants, a murky classification that affords prisoners fewer protections than prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions. The tribunals have considered 480 cases so far. Most have been ordered held, while only one prisoner - a Pakistani - has been released. About 70 more need to be evaluated.
Among the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay are two Australians, David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib. Hicks is due to be tried by a military commission next year on charges including terrorism. Today the review panel heard from a 28-year-old accused of training at an al-Qaeda camp in the late 1990s, said Navy Lieutenant Gary Ross, a spokesman for the review tribunals. Although the detainee was arrested in Pakistan with other people allegedly linked to al-Qaeda, it was not clear what he said at his tribunal. Despite a Freedom of Information Act request made more than a month ago by The Associated Press, the military has not provided the transcripts of testimonies made by prisoners at the tribunals, which began shortly after the Supreme Court ruled the some 550 prisoners at the US naval base had the right to challenge their detentions in US courts.
At hearings the media has attended, many prisoners have refuted the government's allegations. The men are only allowed to hear the unclassified portions of the accusations and are not allowed lawyers. Although the government views the hearings as administrative, statements made during the tribunals can be used against the men in military trials. A 34-year-old prisoner who allegedly worked as an al-Qaeda guard and was accused of training at al-Qaeda's al-Farouq camp in Afghanistan did not attend his hearing today, Lt Ross said. Although the man made a written statement, the government did not provide it.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
12/09/2004
5:45:50 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
Nearly 3,000 people packed the Flint Center in Cupertino for a live broadcast Wednesday of Fox News' ``Hannity & Colmes'' talk show featuring Stephen J. Williams, the teacher at the center of a reinvigorated debate about the place of religion in public schools. Williams, who teaches fifth grade at Stevens Creek Elementary School in Cupertino, reiterated his position that the handouts he gives students with history lessons are a natural part of U.S. colonial history and that he presents God modestly in his class. ``Some people say I'm trying to teach Christianity all of the time in my class, but 99 percent of what I teach is secular,'' Williams, 38, said on the show.
Williams said he is stunned at how the lawsuit he filed against the Cupertino Union School District over restricting his use of religious materials has snowballed. ``I'm blown away at what a hot-button issue this has become,'' he said. ``I think for many people it strikes at the heart of the heritage of this nation. The Founding Fathers were clear that their right came from God. That is in the basic documents.'' Many in the audience seemed to agree with Williams' stance, applauding him during the broadcast. Cupertino is not Berkeley, but is not far from it. This reaction is surprising unless the audience was stacked with supporters, which the reporter would have picked up on.
``I support him,'' said Tom Forese, 30, who works in commercial real estate. ``Most elementary schools are requiring the teaching of Islam, and I agree with that. But it's equally important to teach the Christian view.'' But Kate Froesberg, a 50-year-old parent whose son was in Williams' class last year, said Williams goes overboard in presenting God in the classroom. ``Everyone has been very tolerant of him at school, but there are many complaints,'' she said. ``He's got an agenda. He's overdoing it in trying to make a case for Christianity.''
Williams sued the Cupertino Union School District recently, saying his civil rights were violated when he was told by Stevens Creek Elementary School Principal Patricia Vidmar to refrain from using supplemental teaching materials on colonial history that had religious references. Among Williams' controversial teaching handouts are excerpts with multiple references to God from the U.S. Constitution and from various state constitutions. There also is a handout created by Williams called ``What Great Leaders Have Said About the Bible'' -- quotes from U.S. presidents and Jesus. But the district says it has not banned any historic documents. Williams and his attorney, Jordan Lorence of the Alliance Defense Fund, plan to be interviewed on ``Good Morning America'' this morning. The two have already been on several radio and TV talk shows. The Alliance Defense Fund is a conservative group that supports Christian causes. Joanne Jacobs has a post with several other links on this story as well as comments about the educational value of flatulence, pubic hair and fornication.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004
4:45:44 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
From Geostrategy-direct, requires subscription
It sounds incredible but a Lebanese militia has managed to achieve effective deterrence against the most powerful military in the Middle East. Israeli commanders have acknowledged that Hizbullah has acquired a missile and rocket arsenal that is so large that the Jewish state does not want to provoke the Iranian-sponsored terrorist group. The commanders said Iran has obtained up to 15,000 short, medium and long-range rockets that could cover most of the country. This is very disconcerting. I would like to see some independent verification.
As a result, Hizbullah calls the shots along the Israeli-Lebanese border. The Shi'ite group decides when to attack Israel and how. If Hizbullah wants to conceal its fingerprints, it merely hires Palestinian mercenaries to fire rockets inside Israel. "We can fight and beat Hizbullah," a senior commander said. "That's not the issue. The issue is the cost. Large parts of the north would be destroyed and the casualty rate could be enormous." How enormous was the subject of study recently submitted to Israel's Defense Ministry. It found that Hizbullah could wipe several Israeli communities off the map with a rocket and missile barrage. And Hizb'Allah gets its resources from Iran. It all goes back ultimately to Iran.
Even more dangerous was the vulnerability of Israel's northern city of Haifa to Hizbullah rockets. In an assertion supported by military commanders, the study found that Hizbullah could destroy chemical facilities in Haifa that would kill everybody for miles around. Quietly, the General Staff is warning the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that such a threat cannot be tolerated. Senior commanders warn that in any war with Syria, Hizbullah could flatten northern Israel and create a second military front that must be reckoned with. It seems that neutralizing Syria as a base for Hizb'Allah would go along ways in drying up this threat.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/09/2004
4:43:06 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[15 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Looks like pulling out of southern Lebanon has worked out really well for Israel. < NOT > They really need to move the border to the outskirts of Tripoli and Damascus over in Syria. Let those cities stare out at a pile of artillery pieces and rocket launchers for a while.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
12/09/2004 16:58
Comments ||
Top||
#2
I would like to thank Ehud Barak for bending over (not backwards) and giving up the Golan Heights.
If I were to ever meet you, I will buy you a drink. < NOT >
#5
" As a result, Hizbullah calls the shots along the Israeli-Lebanese border "
Do you really think Isreal lets Hizbullah call the shots on the border ?
That is a statement like the Insurgency calls the shots in the Sunni Triangle.
#6
Don't assume those JDAMs were for Iran. Syria command and control centres are also held at risk. The missle threat is real but over-rated, they're gone in 48 hours and N. Israel build houses thick.
#7
I call shenanigans. This seems a bit pessimistic. I liken this situation to that of N. Korea attacking the South, only on a much smaller scale. The first hour (few minutes in the case of Israel) would be bad, but the attackers would be destroyed in the next hour or two (15 minutes in the case of Israel). It may be that this is too high a price for a small country like Israel. However, it does make the case for preemption more compelling.
Posted by: Tibor ||
12/09/2004 18:02
Comments ||
Top||
#8
There is a down side for Hizbullah here also.
They become hostages for Lebanon's stability. The govt of Lebanon/Syria needs stability to have economic growth and they need Hizbullah to be quiet to have stability.
One thing I'm not sure of is the cost Hizbullah bears to keep all their missiles and launchers in good condition.
#9
We are talking a high concentration of missiles in a relatively small area, mostly the Bekaa Valley. The logical counter would be to use air-dropped pressure munitions, like propane bombs, that would cause sympathetic detonations over a wide area. Even in bunkers, each bomb might set off well over 100, 1000 or more missiles. This is assuming that they are properly stored and separated, which they probably aren't.
#10
The analogy with Korea is apt. The author, Jack Wheeler, of the article at the link believes that both the USA and Israel have the means to deal with massive artillery, missile/rockets & troops in a border situation near cities. Also the smart spears might be a solution to the Iranian nuke problem. http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/12/30/30344.shtml
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004 19:19
Comments ||
Top||
#12
All the more reason for making it crystal-clear to Iran that any massive offense by Hizbullah will result in Kargh Island or some other vital Iranian asset being crippled. That Israel should have to constantly fight a proxy war with Iran is becoming ridiculous. Especially so, in light of Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons and their avowed intention of instigating an atomic war in the Middle East.
It could never happen here. Genocide, ethnic cleansing, slavery, segregation, these are moral failings of lesser cultures. While we in the West may have once indulged in such behavior, we've evolved beyond such things. We're too civilized, too enlightened by reason to ever again succumb. Or so we like to think.
Maybe we should think again. From the Netherlands, once the epitome of civilized tolerance, comes the revelation that one of the country's top hospitals, with the blessing of the Dutch judicial authorities, has been conducting a sort of medico-legal experiment in neonatal euthanasia. And at one of the most prestigious universities in our own civilized States, the man considered by some the most influential living philosopher, teaches that those neonates are less deserving of our concern than animals.
At first glance, a few Dutch mercy killings and the academic musings of philosopher seem far removed from the crimes against humanity that occur in less "enlightened" corners of the world. The intent of the Dutch, after all, is to eliminate suffering, not to cause it. And philosopher/ethicist Peter Singer doesn't advocate genocide, slavery, or segregation -- he simply believes that our moral compass should be guided by utilitarian principles, not religious ones. But on further inspection, there is a commonality between the Dutch, the Princeton professor, the Sudanese, the Serbs, and everyone who would subjugate others. That commonality is the subjective judgment that some lives are less worthy than others.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: tipper ||
12/09/2004
4:12:50 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
My sister's med school class was at an ethics lecture with a visiting speaker. He was going on about how spina bifida babies should not be saved. Only at the end did one of my sister's classmates inform him that she (the classmate) had spina bifida, a fact which the rest of the class knew. Guess she wasn't worth the effort of saving, though.
People forget that Nazism started with just this type of euthenasia of "defective" babies. It never stops there. It's just that the choice of whom to whack next varies according to cultural preferences.
Posted by: Kathy L ||
12/09/2004 6:09
Comments ||
Top||
#4
subjective judgment that some lives are less worthy than others This is the oldest debating trick in the book. Accuse your opponent of the most obvious flaw in your own argument. A Utilitarian would argue that there are always choices to be made and we should rationally choose the alternative that does the most people, the most good. A utilitarian given the choice between expending resources to save one child with a terminable disease and expending the same resources to feed a child in the Sudan, would choose the latter. In practice you could feed hundreds of Sudanese children for the cost of treating one terminally ill baby in the West.
#5
I don't know who the speaker was and I can't remember what she said about his reaction. I just remember thinking that it was all very ironic.
#4 - I understand the point, but I think it's a false dilemma. And although a "true" utilitarian would describe it as you said, in practice it always seems to work out more as the "some lives are less worthy than others."
Posted by: Kathy L ||
12/09/2004 15:15
Comments ||
Top||
As international attention remains occupied with the terror murder of Dutch film-maker Theo van Gogh by an Islamic extremist, and the long-term implications of the spread of Islamic fundamentalism within Europe, Greece continues to be roiled by a debate over the proposed construction of the first state-recognized mosque in the vicinity of Athens in modern times.
The Islamic Center in the Athenian suburb of Peania, more than 15 miles northeast of Athens near the new international airport, will be financed directly by the King Fahd Foundation of Saudi Arabia. According to the Arab News, an English-language Saudi daily, some 8.5 acres were donated by the Greek government for the structure. Foreign assistance for the radicalization of Islam in Greece will inevitably be a central element of the activities at the mosque, which will be very large, intended, it is said, to accommodate all of the estimated 120,000 Muslim faithful in the capital city. The total number of Muslims in Greece is estimated at more than 500,000.
A major portion of the current Greek nation-state was still under the Ottoman Empire less than a century ago. Western European journalists who have tended to report the debate over the mosque as if it stemmed entirely from the fact that the Ottomans ruled Greece for more than 400 years are wrong. Rather, the problem has everything to do with the international spread of Wahhabism, the violent, exclusivist, and fanatical Islamic sect that is the state religion in Saudi Arabia.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: tipper ||
12/09/2004
4:09:58 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Kofi should go to Greece to help them with their rampant Islamophobia.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004 9:02
Comments ||
Top||
#2
As international attention remains occupied with the terror murder of Dutch film-maker Theo van Gogh by an Islamic extremist,..
"International" meaning other nations besides the U.S. As far as I can tell, our press hasn't had much to say about the subject of van Gogh's murder....
All of John Kerry's one-time rivals in the Democratic presidential primary eventually lined up to support him as the nominee, but only one got paid for it — Al Sharpton. The Democratic National Committee paid Sharpton $86,715 in travel and consulting fees to compensate for his campaigning for Kerry and other Democratic candidates, according to reports to the Federal Election Commission. In an interview with The Associated Press, Sharpton said he was paid for travel and he didn't know how much he had been reimbursed. "They asked me to travel to 20 or 30 cities to campaign, and I did that," Sharpton said. "What am I supposed to do, donate the cost of air fare?"
But records show that while most of the money was to reimburse travel expenses, Sharpton was paid $35,000 as a "political consulting fee" 15 days after the election. The consulting fee was first reported in this week's edition of the Village Voice. Democratic National Committee spokesman Jano Cabrera said the party paid Sharpton at the request of the Kerry campaign. "After meeting with Kerry's staff, we did agree to pay for Reverend Sharpton's travel and consulting expenses," Cabrera said. "He traveled very extensively to help the nominee and Democrats across the board, encouraging them to get out and vote on November 2."
Sharpton frequently appeared at Kerry's side in the final weeks before the election as Kerry was trying to connect with black voters. Sharpton was with Kerry in largely black churches and when he spoke to other black audiences. Kerry's eight other former rivals from the Democratic primary also worked to varying degrees to get Kerry elected. In particular, Wesley Clark, Bob Graham, Dick Gephardt and Dennis Kucinich often campaigned with Kerry, although the latter three mostly appeared in their home states. But none of the other eight Democrats who were once in the race were paid travel reimbursements or consulting fees, according to a search of federal records collected by tracking service PoliticalMoneyLine. Cabrera would not say when the party agreed to pay Sharpton or whether he requested the consulting fees. Cabrera said that information was part of private negotiations.
Posted by: tipper ||
12/09/2004
3:48:56 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Sharpton, like Jesse, are racial pimps, selling their self-proclaimed "black leader" status to the highest bidder. The fact that Dems play along tells you all you need to know about their support for real blacks an their complete moral and ethical bankruptcy. Sharpton needs to be jailed
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/09/2004 8:14
Comments ||
Top||
#2
If Sharpton were in the slammer, he wouldn't be ab le to help the Dhims as much as he did this year. The more publicity he gets, the better for the country.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004 8:17
Comments ||
Top||
#3
So he got $86,000 from the Dems.
Wonder how much the Republicans paid him? :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/09/2004 12:14
Comments ||
Top||
#4
Al Sharpton: "authentic" voice of African-Americans.
Condi Rice: useful tool of white warmongers.
Does anything better illustrate the pathology afflicting the Dem Party's thinking on race today?
Suspected al-Qaida operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and an accomplice were indicted in Jordan Tuesday for conspiring to carry out terrorist activities. The indictment accused Zarqawi and Jordanian Miqdad Mohammed Dabbas of plotting to bomb U.S. and Jordanian targets in Iraq. It was the second indictment against Zarqawi this year. Zarqawi and Dabbas met in Iraq in 2002 and reportedly became close friends. The indictment said Dabbas watched the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad so Zarqawi could carry out an attack against it, but did not say if they were responsible for last year's bombing that killed and wounded dozens of people.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/09/2004
3:43:07 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Ooooohhhh he is SO gonna get it now!
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/09/2004 9:45
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Sounds like the Jordanians are going down the Clintoon terrorism-is-a-law-enforcement-problem track...
#3
Maybe. Or maybe this, along with the recent demotion of the half-brother and the announcement of military restructuring, means Jordan expects the Iraqi insurgence and Syria to come under increased pressure & is hardening against export of that pressure to Jordan (including unrest among the Palestinians in Jordan).
Asylum seeker Ahmed Zaoui was released from the Auckland Remand Centre this evening, after the Supreme Court granted him bail. Jubilant cheers erupted in the court this afternoon as Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias delivered the judgment, allowing Mr Zaoui's appeal. Bail conditions are that Mr Zaoui reside at the Dominican Friary in Newton, Auckland, and be present there between 10pm and 6am. He must also report to Auckland Central Police Station between 10am and 4pm on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Supporters inside and outside the court - many wearing T-shirts calling for Mr Zaoui's freedom - cheered at every mention of bail and reacted jubilantly after the court's decision. Mr Zaoui was not present in court, but was phoned by lawyers Deborah Manning and Rodney Harrison QC immediately after the decision was given. Ms Manning gave Mr Zaoui the news he had been granted bail and would be going to the friary tonight. She said she would be on a plane to Auckland soon and would get him from the prison in a few hours. She told him she had his shirt - which she had picked up from him at the prison and handwashed, ready for today.
Ms Manning said she thought it took a while for the news to sink in with Mr Zaoui but he asked her to thank all his supporters. Giving the court's decision, Justice Elias said the question for the court was whether it was more appropriate to grant bail or to vary Mr Zaoui's warrant of commitment to enable transfer to the Mangere Refugee Detention Centre. The Crown no longer opposed a transfer, but did oppose bail. Justice Elias said bail was the preferable outcome as Mr Zaoui had already been in custody two years and transfer to the Mangere Centre would be a continuation of detention. The court initially ruled that Mr Zaoui could not be released until undertakings were filed at the Auckland High Court - Mr Zaoui undertaking to comply with his bail conditions and the Dominican Friar, Father Peter Murnane undertaking to notify police if he becomes aware of any breach of bail by Mr Zaoui.
But Mr Zaoui's lawyer Rodney Harrison QC asked that bail be effective immediately, with the undertakings to be filed by 5pm next Wednesday. This was not opposed by the Crown and was agreed to by the court, meaning Mr Zaoui could be released immediately. Bail will apply until the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security makes his decision on Mr Zaoui's risk status. Justice Elias said this review was expected to take a further six to 12 months. The court said the security risk certificate was directed to risks to national security if Mr Zaoui was allowed to settle in New Zealand, rather than risks that might be posed by his presence in the community while the risks were assessed.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/09/2004
3:41:04 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
Algeria will boost its police force by 30 percent to 180,000 members and install surveillance cameras in main cities to ensure security amid a war against Islamist rebels, local media said on Wednesday. "It's part of a government plan to cover the entire national territory ... and ensure security," Police Chief Ali Tounsi was quoted as telling reporters by government daily El Moudjahid. "The war on terrorism has been almost won but Algerians, particularly in big cities, keep complaining of insecurity," an Algiers-based senior police officer said. "The number of policemen has been insufficient for a country with 32 million people," he said.
Recent attacks in the capital, including a car bombing of a key power plant in June, and the infiltration of militants, have rattled authorities. In coming months 160 surveillance cameras will be installed in Algiers and more will be set up on other major cities, Tounsi said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/09/2004
3:39:47 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Looks to me like an opportunity for jihadis to infiltrate.
A suspected Abu Sayyaf sub-leader involved in the 2001 siege of Lamitan town was arrested in the municipality of Sumisip, Basilan Island on Wednesday morning, the military reported Thursday. Southern Command chief Lieutenant General Alberto Braganza said military intelligence agents, backed by the 103rd Infantry Brigade, raided the house of Quirino Manajil Lambungan, alias "Asmalul," in Limbo Candiis village and arrested the suspect. Braganza said Lambungan was with the Abu Sayyaf group that attacked the Jose Torres Memorial Hospital in June 2001 and snatched several people, including nurses Reina Malonzo, Sheila Tabuñag, and Ediborah Yap. Yap was later killed, along with American hostage Martin Burnham, during a military rescue operation in Sirawai town, Zamboanga del Norte province.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/09/2004
3:38:17 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
TWENTY-one people were injured in two blasts that set ablaze a gas pipeline in Russia's southern region of Dagestan bordering breakaway Chechnya, a spokesman for the emergencies ministry's regional office told Interfax early today. The blasts, which occurred late yesterday, were the result of a terrorist attack according to a preliminary inquiry, the spokesman said. The pipeline caught fire, and the light could be seen from nearby regional capital Makhachkala. The fire was put out early today, the RIA Novosti news agency reported, quoting an official with the Kaspiigazprom company, which is responsible for the pipeline.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/09/2004
3:37:03 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
The RCMP has warned its investigators to be on the lookout for cleverly disguised messages embedded by al-Qaida in digital files police seize from terror suspects. An internal report obtained by The Canadian Press gives credence to the long-rumoured possibility Osama bin Laden's terrorist network and other extremist groups are using a technique known as steganography to hide the existence of sensitive communications.
Steganography, from the Greek word stegos, meaning covered, and graphie, or writing, involves concealing a secret message or image within an apparently innocuous one. For instance, a seemingly innocent digital photo of a dog could be doctored to contain a picture of an explosive device or hidden wording. "Investigators in the course of their work on terrorist organizations and their members, including al-Qaida and affiliated groups, need to consider the possible use of steganography and seek to identify when steganography is known or suspected of being used," the report says. It recommends investigators consult the RCMP's technological crime program for assistance, including "comprehensive forensic examinations" of seized digital media.
A heavily edited copy of the January 2004 report, Computer-assisted and Digital Steganography: Use by Al-Qaida and Affiliated Terrorist Organizations, was recently obtained from the Mounties under the Access to Information Act. The RCMP seems especially concerned, however, about digital steganography - the use of special computer programs to embed messages. "There now exist nearly 200 software packages which perform digital steganography," the report says.
A limited number of publicly available software tools are designed to detect the use of steganography, but the "success rate of these tools is questionable," the RCMP adds. Some only detect the use of specific software, while others are useful for scouring only certain types of files in which the secret message may be hidden. There have been numerous media reports in recent years that terrorist groups, including al-Qaida, were using steganographic techniques. The phenomenon is "deeply troubling," said David Harris, a former Canadian Security Intelligence Service officer now with Ottawa-based Insignis Strategic Research. He suggested any delay in detecting disguised messages could be disastrous. "We're talking very often about time-sensitive issues: where is the bomb? Who's operating in connection with whom?" he said. "On that kind of basis, this is really, really disturbing as a development." Harris also questioned whether western security agencies have sufficient personnel and resources to uncover the messages.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/09/2004
3:32:40 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"The threat, however, is SO serious, that the RCMP feels it necessary to examine every pornographic digital image on the Internet for hidden messages."
#2
Steganography is a real technique, really being used by Bad Guys.
Posted by: too true ||
12/09/2004 9:47
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Not clear to me why they would bother considering the quality of standard encryption methods that are readily available.
Posted by: Tom ||
12/09/2004 9:51
Comments ||
Top||
#4
There are many ways to do this. A simple-minded method would use two files, one a 24 color BMP, the other a 2 color BMP of equal dimensions where the message is typed in using the text tool of Windows Paint (or drawn if it is a schematic). You can use Imagemagick tools to zero out the least significant bit in the red value of every pixel of the 24 color BMP. You then go pixel by pixel in the 2 color BMP, and where it is black, you set the least significant bit in the red value of the corresponding pixel in the 24 color BMP. The change in color intensity is so slight, one wouldn't normally notice.
To reproduce the message, start off with a blank 2 color BMP of the same size as the 24 color BMP, go pixel by pixel in the 24 color bmp, and if the red value of the pixel's color is odd, set the corresponding pixel in the 2 color BMP.
The use of the BMP (or TIFF) file is a giveaway, since the lossy compression in JPEG or PNG files would add noise, if not destroy, the embedded message. There may be ways around this, such as using all three colors instead of just red, and using a majority vote algorithm for each pixel.
#5
Tom, the idea is to not convey the impression that a message is being sent: If they send an encrypted message, then our guys may not know what the message is or be able to crack it, but traffic analysis will tell our gyys whether something big is coming up. a couple of the last orange alerts were partly due to detecting elevated levels of message traffic. Messages hidden in porn pics would be lost in the vast traffic in them in the internet.
#6
Simpler ways to get around traffic issues too. I can put an encrypted file on my web site and anyone who knows it's there can call it up from any library, Internet cafe, or other public Internet access point. It can be self-decrypting with a password and I can change the contents anytime I please. I could also slip the same file onto any website that I can gain access to, such as a corporate website where I work.
Posted by: Tom ||
12/09/2004 14:34
Comments ||
Top||
#7
Or you have one Hotmail account that everyone has access to. Just leave messages in the draft folder and never send them, just post, read or delete.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/09/2004 15:35
Comments ||
Top||
#8
*nods* not any different from the spy-novel drop location.
#9
Ptah, do you think we're more vulnerable or less vulnerable today to cyber-attacks of the sort Richard Clarke was always hollering about five years ago?
#10
lex, 'cyberattacks' are like Y2K, good for scaring the masses, but really don't stand up to serious scrutiny. You want to lie awake worrying about something, then worry about a coordinated attack with an infectious agent bringing down the healthcare system.
WOMEN fed up with their menfolk moaning while out Christmas shopping can now leave them to play in their own in-store creche.
Hurrah! the saloon's making a comeback!
We have those here at the mall, called Hooters
Marks and Spencer, the venerable British department store chain, said Wednesday it was creating playpens for men in six of its stores, fully equipped with everything to keep the guys entertained for hours.
A slug of gin, please!
The lads will be able to settle back in sofas and watch a selection of films and TV programmes such as The Best of Monty Python and Football's Greatest Ever Matches.
Huh? Sounds like some sort of piano bar...
Each area will also boast a Scalextric slot-car racing set, remote-control quad bikes and walkie-talkies. The creches open at Marks and Spencers' flagship store at Marble Arch in London, and at selected outlets in Edinburgh and Aberdeen in Scotland, Cardiff in Wales, and Sheffield in north-central England.
Egg jelly, I was envisioning something with a player piano and spitoons. And a large picture of a reclining, unclad fat lady behind the bar...
"Ms. Streisand! Get down from there right now!"
Posted by: tipper ||
12/09/2004
3:31:34 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
Al-Qaeda linked militant group Ansar Al-Sunna threatened in an Internet video shown on Wednesday that it would soon kill a Turkish hostage it said was working for a company under contract to US forces in Iraq. "The entrepreneur Fattah Narjess, who came into Iraqi territory across the border (from Turkey)... aided by Massoud Barzani's clique, will be executed by the army of Ansar Al-Sunna," it said in a statement on an Islamist website accompanying the video.
Barzani is one of the main Kurdish leaders in Iraq and head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party. The tape featured a young man showing his passport and other official documents with a banner bearing the name of the group in the background. Ansar al-Sunna, which presents itself as an alliance of several Islamist jihad groups, has claimed several attacks in Iraq. Scores of Turks, mostly truck drivers, have been kidnapped in Iraq, but most have been released.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/09/2004
3:30:47 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
Iran's Intelligence Minister Ali Younessi has denied claims by the judiciary that members of Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network have been tried and sentenced. "Probably the judiciary in Tehran was speaking about the sentencing of Al Qaeda sympathisers and not their principal members," Younessi was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA. On Tuesday, a Tehran justice department official told AFP that "sentences have been pronounced" on Al Qaeda suspects detained on Iranian soil in a case handled by a special judge. But the official refused to say who the accused were, how many of them there were, nor what verdicts were reached or sentences handed out.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/09/2004
3:28:31 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
Intelligence agents raided an Afghan refugee camp in northwestern Pakistan and arrested two alleged Islamic militants, a security official said Thursday. The suspects were being questioned following their arrest late Tuesday in a raid on the Jalozai camp, on the outskirts of Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province, said an intelligence agency official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Another official, with the Interior Ministry, confirmed the arrests, but said he had no details.
A convicted militant told a court Thursday that he was a top member of Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) but said that he had never seen cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, 65, the alleged leader of the Southeast Asian terror group. "This is the first time I've ever seen him," said Hutomo, alias Abu Faruk, as he pointed at the elderly, white-bearded cleric. Hutomo, who is serving a three-year sentence for harboring militants, described himself a regional leader of JI. He was the first of six witnesses scheduled to testify in Ba'asyir's trial Thursday. Others include the brother of alleged Southeast Asia terror kingpin, Hambali, or Riduan Hisamuddin. Last week, a militant said Ba'asyir appeared at a southern Philippine terrorist training camp in 2000. But he said Ba'asyir did not incite militants to attack Western targets or take part in any violence. Five other witnesses, so far, have failed to link Ba'asyir to any crimes.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/09/2004
3:25:53 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
The U.S. offensive on Falluja, launched a month ago, has hurt but not broken Iraq 's insurgents and violence will go on even if Iraq holds successful elections, a senior U.S. intelligence officer in the town said Thursday. "We are very reluctant to say that we have broken their backs. We have given them a very strong jolt and disrupted their operations," Major Jim West of the Marines told Reuters in an email interview from a U.S. base outside Falluja. "Elections will not be a sudden victory against the insurgency ... We believe that insurgents will attempt to undermine each step in the elections process."
West said U.S. and Iraqi forces were trying to build momentum after the Falluja assault by keeping guerrillas and their leaders on the run and depriving them of any new base. "They have been pushed backwards in the development of an insurgency from conventional operations to small attacks. So large-scale operations like the liberation of Falluja are not expected as long as insurgents cannot establish a major supply and operations hub," West said. "Therefore, the current pursuit operations are extremely important."
Rebels have mounted several big attacks in the past few weeks and suicide bombers are still hitting U.S. forces ahead of an election to a new national assembly scheduled for Jan. 30. Most of the city's 300,000 residents have yet to return to homes in a city ravaged by artillery, air and tank bombardments. But when they do, rebels may return with them: "When the citizens of Falluja do start returning to their homes, we expect to see insurgents take advantage of the opportunity and attempt to blend in with the returning population," West said.
The U.S. military has said it found evidence in Falluja of efforts to make chemical weapons, though no evidence of success. "They were actively pursuing a chemically enhanced explosive capability, and there is some indication that they were attempting to build an explosive that would disperse chemical agents," West said. The man who the U.S. military and Iraqi interim government say inspires rebels across Iraq -- Jordanian al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi -- remains as elusive as ever. He was widely believed to be using Falluja as a base, if not living there. "Iraqi and multinational forces are keeping him moving. We believe that he has not been able to establish the base of logistics and operations that he had in Falluja," West said. "Keeping this pressure on him will cause him to make enough mistakes to eventually be caught. We have been able to strike very close to him by getting high officials in his network. As we continue to reduce his first string, he will be forced to replace them with less capable or less loyal followers."
Zarqawi has carried out spectacular attacks and his name has proved a rallying cry for rebels not directly answering to him. "Zarqawi, and the idea of Zarqawi, provides a common call to several different causes," West said. "The concept of Zarqawi is used as the bait...by several smaller groups to recruit members and gain support."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/09/2004
3:23:56 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Dan, baby, you should identify articles by professional assholes somewhere in the in-line commentary...
German media claim that controversial Norwegian resident mullah Krekar congratulated Osama bin Laden shortly after the terrorist attack on the USA on Sep. 11, 2001. German media are now linking a speech given by Krekar at a mosque in Biara, Iraq, on Sep. 14, 2001 to an allegedly planned assassination on the Iraqi prime minister in Berlin last week, newspaper VG reported. VG cited Berlin newspaper Der Tagespiel's story that German security police have arrested a man - Jassin F. - that they claim is Krekar's chief financial officer and secretary.
The reports, which were widely used by the German media, claim that Jassin F., an asylum seeker in Germany for six years, was arrested by Kurdish police in North Iraq with USD 40,000 in cash and a tape where Krekar praises bin Laden's terrorist actions in the USA. German news magazine Der Spiegel said that the four suspects in the assassination attempt are all found in Jassin F's phone book and that both Jassin F. and one of the four are close personal friends of Krekar. Krekar told VG that it was incorrect that he offered his congratulations after the attack on the USA but would give no further comment.
Krekars's lawyer Brynjar Meling believes the tape's contents may have been misinterpreted. "I am aware of mullah Krekar praising Osama bin Laden on previous tapes but this is on recordings before September 11," Meling said. Meling said he was confident that Krekar had already discussed all such recordings in detail with Norwegian special crime unit Ãkokrim and that nothing criminal had been found. Ãkokrim said that their investigation of Krekar was over.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/09/2004
3:21:33 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
A senior CIA operative who handled sensitive informants in Iraq asserts that CIA managers asked him to falsify his reporting on weapons of mass destruction and retaliated against him after he refused. The operative, who remains under cover, asserts in a lawsuit made public yesterday that a co-worker warned him in 2001 "that CIA management planned to 'get him' for his role in reporting intelligence contrary to official CIA dogma." The subject of that reporting has been blacked out by the CIA, and the word "Iraq" does not appear in the heavily redacted version of the legal complaint, but the remaining language and context make clear that the officer's work related to prewar intelligence on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction.
In the lawsuit, the officer asserts that CIA managers retaliated against him for refusing their demands by beginning a counterintelligence investigation of allegations that he had sex with a female asset and by initiating an inspector general's investigation into allegations that he stole money meant to be used to pay human assets. Those investigations, the lawsuit asserts, were "initiated for the sole purpose of discrediting him and retaliating against him for questioning the integrity of the WMD reporting . . . and for refusing to falsify his intelligence reporting to support the politically mandated conclusion" of matters that are redacted in the lawsuit. The lawsuit marks the first public instance in which a CIA employee has charged directly that agency officials pressured him to produce intelligence to support the administration's prewar position that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction were a grave and gathering threat, and to suppress information that ran counter to that view. "Their official dogma was contradicted by his reporting and they did not want to hear it," said Roy Krieger, the officer's attorney.
Anya Guilsher, a CIA spokeswoman, said the agency could not comment on the lawsuit but added, "The notion that CIA managers order officers to falsify reports is flat wrong. Our mission is to call it like we see it and report the facts." The unnamed operative is a 23-year officer of Middle Eastern descent who spent much of his career on secret and covert operations to collect intelligence on and interdict weapons of mass destruction, the lawsuit says. In 2002, the lawsuit says, the CIA officer "attempted to report routine intelligence" from a human asset "but was thwarted by CIA superiors." It goes on to say that he was subsequently approached by a senior desk officer "who insisted that Plaintiff falsify his reporting," and that when he refused, the "management" of the CIA's Counterproliferation Division ordered that he "remove himself from any further 'handling' " of the unnamed asset, who is referred elsewhere in the document as "a highly respected human asset."
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington on Friday and placed in the public court docket yesterday after a judge said it could proceed using a pseudonym for the plaintiff, says his superiors falsely promised him that they would report his findings to President Bush and falsely claimed that they had disseminated some of his other reports through normal channels. In 2003, the lawsuit says, the CIA officer learned of the counterintelligence investigation of allegations that he was having sex with a female asset. Five days later, it says, he was told that a promotion was being canceled "because of pressure from the DDO [Deputy Director of Operations] James Pavitt." Pavitt declined to comment.
In September 2003, the CIA placed the officer on administrative leave without explanation, the lawsuit says. Eight months later, it says, the inspector general's office advised him that he was under investigation for "diverting to his own use monies provided him for payment to human assets." The document says the allegations were made by the same managers who had asked him to falsify reports. In August 2004, he was terminated "for unspecified reasons," the lawsuit says. It requests that his employment, salary and promotions be restored and that the CIA pay compensatory damages and legal fees. In a letter to CIA acting general counsel John Rizzo dated Dec. 6, Krieger requested a meeting between the officer and CIA Director Porter J. Goss because of "the serious nature of the allegations in this case, including deliberately misleading the President on intelligence concerning weapons of mass destruction."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/09/2004
3:20:01 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
This article would be a lot better if it were referring to a former employee. This guy is a jerk either way. If true why didn't he say so at the time instead of now? Just a future ex-employee trying to negotiate a beter severance package.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004 8:21
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Article: The unnamed operative is a 23-year officer of Middle Eastern descent
#4
I think all these allegations needs to investigated. In turn, if this guy has an alterive motive then he needs to be prosecuted. It is not good for the future leadership of this country to have these allegations lingering around. If the American people can't trust our CIA, FBI, Nxx's, then we have a major problem. Porter Goss cleaning house is definitely a good start.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004 11:39
Comments ||
Top||
#6
Was this the same operative that provided intel to the Russian, French, German, and British intelligence offices that came to the same conclusion that Iraq probably had WMD? Need to expand the number of collection points fellows.
Posted by: Don ||
12/09/2004 12:52
Comments ||
Top||
#7
The CIA's war against Bush continues apace. Time to accelerate that purge, Mr. Goss.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
12/09/2004 12:56
Comments ||
Top||
#8
Yeah, NO WMDS IN IRAQ = NO WMDS IN IRAN = NO WMDS IN NORTH KOREA...SYRIA...CUBA...AFRICA...LOWER AMERICAS.....@, even iff several or many world INTEL services andor UNO Resolutions, etc. say otherwise!? War for Socialism-Communism-OWG = meritorious state/region-specific defense against America and only America, as honest injun and equalist as the pro-Communism and pro-anti-American Clintons being what they are UNILATERALLY, UNCONDITIONALLY, and UNDENIABLY justifies absolute belief that it was America and Dubya that conspired for 9-11 and the resultant "unjust' "immoral" "illegal" war against Islamic states, where absolutely obeying the UNO and world community = absolutely disobeying the same. THE FAILED LEFT'S BIGGEST, ULTIMATE, ALL-ENCOMPASSING SINGLE JUSTIFICATION FOR SUPERGOVT AND SUPER-REGULATION IS ITS OWN PRO-DEMOCRACY = ANTI-DEMOCRACY,.......et al. LOGIC AND ACTIONS.
#9
And even iff these did have WMDS, they don't threaten Dubya and America because we're all, directly or indirectly, Republicans and Rightists anyways whom under CLINTONISM and CLINTONIAN NATIONAL UNITARIANISM are SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, still deserving of destruction.
#11
Joseph, you sound like very pissed. Fortunately, the only Clinton's agenda seems that was to get mostly some suction rather than any action to endow a collectivistic paradise. I was worried. But luckily, the providence had mercy on us.
All things considered, it could have been all worse.
#12
How can the President have any confidence in anything coming out of this agency? Wrong on fall of SU, wrong on first Gulf War, wrong on ObL, wrong on Saddam's WMD, and through all this, practically blind in the middle east.
Really, why is it not better to shut it down and start over? Can't a hard core of trusted, hand-picked good officers be housed in another agency while the re-building takes place?
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's ruling party passed a controversial new law that aims to bar foreign rights groups from the country, as well as foreign funding for local groups doing similar work. The law, known as the Non-governmental Organisations Bill, was passed by 48 lawmakers from Mugabe's ruling Zimbabwe ZANU-PF party following weeks of intense debate. "This bill is the best law to be enacted by this parliament," Social Welfare Minister Paul Mangwana boasted shortly before it went through its third and final reading. The law, which forces all non-governmental agencies to register with a state-appointed commission, also makes it illegal for them to receive foreign funding.
The bill was condemned by opposition lawmakers, who said it would curtail the rights and freedoms of Zimbabweans, including the work of the country's churches. "It is unfortunate that this house has been called on again and again to pass legislation whose effect is to continually extinguish the rights of the people of this country," MDC lawmaker and secretary general Welshman Ncube said during the final debate on the bill. He said that, once it was signed by Mugabe, it would interfere with the "social mission" of churches if that included feeding the poor, tending to human rights abuses or addressing issues of governance.
Almost a quarter of a century after his death, an Iraqi Shiite theologian is inspiring a generation of democrats in the Middle East. Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Sadr, executed by Saddam Hussein in 1980, advocated constitutionalism, democracy and the rule of law—the same values the United States says it wants to spread in the region to help stamp out terrorism. A group of leading Arab lawyers, thinkers and democracy activists, is hoping to engage Washington to develop the US initiative, called the Partnership for Peace in the Middle East and North Africa.
Chibli Mallat, the Arab group's strategist, is the prize-winning author of a biography of Sadr, written in English but widely translated into Arabic. Sadr was the uncle of Moqtada al-Sadr, the young cleric who led two Shiite revolts this year against US-led forces in Iraq. He lacks the wide respect his uncle commanded. Mallat says Mohammad Baqer al-Sadr was the main intellectual power behind the Constitution of Iran, which includes Ayatollah Ruhallah al-Khomeini's own theory of the velayat-e faqih, or rule of the jurist—the doctrine that an eminent Shiite cleric can be the absolute legal authority. "Sadr was a subtler, more innovative and dynamic thinker than Khomeini," said 43-year old Mallat, the founder of the School of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law at London's prestigious School of Oriental and African Studies. "In his work you find a streak of democratic majoritanism and readiness to espouse democracy without the direct rule of the clergy. Politically, Khomeini was more effective."
In discussions about a new Iraqi constitution, no senior Shiite figure has called for velayat-e faqih but rather for reconciling Islam with popular sovereignty. The most influential cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has stressed the importance of elections, which are due in January. The main Shiite parties planning to take part in the elections—Dawa and the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq—are Sadr's political heirs. Dawa's draft election manifesto reads in many parts like that of a Western social democrat party and invokes Islam to stress human rights. "Sadr was the embodiment of Iraq. His work and ideas are fundamental to a democratic Iraq," said Iraq's Vice President Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who heads Dawa.
Sadr's body was exhumed last year from an unmarked spot and moved to a new grave in Wadi al-Salam (the valley of peace), the sprawling cemetery of Najaf. The body of his sister, killed at the same time, was never found. Zuhair al-Amidi, the man who buried Sadr's body after he was executed, kept the place secret until Saddam was toppled last year. "If people had known where the grave was it would have become a shrine and the authorities would have razed it immediately," he said.
Even Khomeini, whose relationship with Sadr was uneasy, mourned him when he was killed and described him as the mentor of all Shiites. Khomeini spent many years in exile with Sadr in Najaf, a center of Shiite scholarship. US influence could help realize what Sadr envisioned, although he resented Washington's support for authoritarian forces in the region. The United States lobbied hard at the G-8 summit in June to pass the Partnership for Peace in the Middle East and North Africa. The administration started to push Arab states after the September 11, 2001, attacks on US cities to accept the initiative, which includes economic reform, education and political participation. European countries felt the initiative ignored their own efforts to advance reform in the Middle East, known as the 1995 Barcelona declaration, but backed it after Washington included a stronger commitment to a fair peace between Israeli and the Palestinians.
The Arab democrats group, which includes Bahaaldin Hassan, head of the Cairo Centre for Human Rights, Saudi dissident Abdul Aziz al-Khamis and Kuwaiti writer Mohammad al-Rumeihi, want the initiative to hold Arab rulers accountable for human rights and push for the rotation of power. "All prisoners of conscience must be released, while former presidents turned into retired citizens, and leaders responsible for crimes against humanity put behind bars," said their declaration, drafted by Mallat, and issued before they met senior G-8 officials in New York two months ago.
Just before the US invasion of Iraq, Mallat organized a petition of Arab thinkers that called for the focus on Iraq to be switched from the issue of weapons of mass destruction to human rights and the rule of law, including stationing international human rights monitors in Iraq. Mallat made his first visit to Najaf earlier this year, a Maronite Christian welcomed in the homes of senior Shiite clerics who knew that his first port of call was the grave of Mohammad Baqer al-Sadr.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/09/2004
3:16:14 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Article: Mallat says Mohammad Baqer al-Sadr was the main intellectual power behind the Constitution of Iran, which includes Ayatollah Ruhallah al-Khomeiniâs own theory of the velayat-e faqih, or rule of the juristâthe doctrine that an eminent Shiite cleric can be the absolute legal authority.
I guess this derives from the Old Testament Book of Judges. You gotta love these guys. Forget democracy - use Judaism as your inspiration, but claim that Jews were really Muslims.
The Al Qaeda network is capable of fighting a long battle and it is as 'a big power' as the United States, said Lt Gen (r) Asad Durrani, the former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief, on Wednesday. If Al Qaeda could organise attacks like 9/11 it could also fight the US-led war on terror, he told Daily Times in Peshawar. Asked where Osama could be hiding, the former ISI chief said he could be in Afghanistan or Pakistan. However he added that Osama could be hiding in a place that neither the US nor its allies suspect. "People are saying that Osama may be hiding in tribal areas. But I think Osama can hide in urban cities as well and nobody could expect this" said Lt Gen Asad. "I would not say it is difficult to hide him in a tribal zone. But his men will not keep him in an area, which is under the spotlight."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/09/2004
3:14:05 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Sounds like the ISI has even bigger credibility probelms than the CIA. Perhaps we could have a Superbowl of the Spies with the Madrassa Grads of ISI facing off against the Ivy Leaguers of the CIA with cudgels and chainsaws for a fight to the finish on Pay Per View. Survivors to be sent for an al expenses paid vacation in Pyongyang.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004 8:36
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Sounds to me like the ISI is making a public pitch for dropping Musharrif's alliance w/ the US and openly backing al Qaeda instead.
Posted by: too true ||
12/09/2004 9:41
Comments ||
Top||
#3
There were already two big Al-Q style hits since 9/11, but they weren't in the United States (Bali and Spain).
They would if they could, but they didn't because they couldn't. *blinks*
On the other hand, we can pretty much go anywhere in islam-land and pretty much do anything we want.
We can if we wanted to, but we don't because we decided not to.
#4
It seems that if they can't do it, then they talk it to death. It must mean that we are doing something right. Can't let our guard down, though. Must keep up the pressure. Waziristan needs a Marine-type hosing, for sure.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/09/2004 11:03
Comments ||
Top||
#5
Asad Durrani need to be wacked, I wonder when Musharrif is going to make it happen?
#6
How many times has AlQ - and their symps - with great fanfare claimed they were gonna do this to us and teach us a lesson with that? How many of them have happened? Wankers and twits.
I want some of Gen Durrani's meds. They're obviously more entertaining than mere caffeine and nicotine.
#7
Ptah: They would if they could, but they didn't because they couldn't.
Are they physically able to? I think they are. Are they afraid of the consequences of another attack on US soil? You betcha. And that is why it hasn't happened. They ain't seen nuthin' yet.
#8
Osama was Western-educated and traveled around - for all we know, he's prob unshaven, clean-cut, wearing a 3-piece Italian dress suit and attending/teaching classes at Penn State.
[I]n a stark testimony to the difficulties ahead for the new Palestinian leadership, Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia stayed away from the largest refugee camp, Ein el-Hilweh, home to rival Palestinian factions.
Under heavy guard, the leaders instead laid a wreath at a martyrs' monument in the southern city of Sidon before going to Rashidiyeh, a camp of 17,000 people dominated by their Fatah loyalists. Hundreds of uniformed and armed guerrillas were deployed in the narrow streets of Rashidiyeh, near the port city of Tyre, to protect the leaders. It was the first visit to Lebanon by senior Palestinian officials since PLO guerrillas were driven from the country in 1982. Crowds of men, women and children, estimated at about 5,000, carried Palestinian flags or pictures of Abbas and Yasser Arafat. Children fresh from classes joined the elderly at a playground for the Fatah-arranged rally, applauding repeatedly on hearing Arafat's name.
Both Abbas and Qureia reassured the crowd the new Palestinian leadership will not compromise their rights. "We cannot fill the vacuum left behind by Yasser Arafat," said Abbas. "We will try through the institutions to fill this vacuum and continue the mission and fulfill the trust." He said all Arafat's principles — including establishment of an independent Palestinian state and the right of return — "amounted to a will that must be complied with by every Palestinian." Qureia said: "We will not compromise over this (return) right. We will cling to it and we will struggle for it." He reiterated that east Jerusalem should be the capital of any future Palestinian state.
Although the refugees cannot vote, their sheer numbers — 350,000 in Lebanon alone — and the fact that their cause has been at the center of the political dispute makes them a crucial constituency. "We support the good man," said 88-year-old Saeed Ghrayel, who fled his home near Lake Tiberias in 1948. "We are with Fatah and the PLO. We put our trust in them. They are responsible for us," he said.
#1
It still is unbeliveable to me that the Paleos are still enthralled with the Arafish, especially after he abscounded with Billions of their money. Bunch of Moroons. Good luck to the PLO in finding the Arafish cash stash, heh heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/09/2004 16:59
Comments ||
Top||
The founder of radical Islamist group Ansar al-Islam was questioned in Oslo by German police ahead of the arrests in Germany of three men suspected of plotting to attack visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. German police interrogated Mullah Krekar in Oslo early last week and he is thought to be linked to at least one of the men arrested on Friday on suspicion of planning attacks during Allawi's visit, the Norwegian daily VG reported Sunday. All three have been ordered held over their alleged membership of Ansar al-Islam, described by German authorities as a foreign terrorist organisation. A fourth man, a Lebanese, was also arrested on Saturday in Berlin on suspicion of supporting Ansar al-Islam.
Krekar, who has lived in Norway since 1991, founded the group in December 2001, but insists that he has not been its leader since May 2002. "The content of what happened in the Oslo court has been classified by the court, so I cannot offer concrete comments," Krekar's lawyer Brynjar Meling said in a public television interview. He confirmed however that German police among other things wanted details of his client's European contacts. Asked whether the telephone number of one of the men arrested on Friday was found in Krekar's possession, Meling told NTB news agency that, when Krekar was arrested in the Netherlands two years ago "he had an electronic phone book containing up to 2,000 names and numbers... so it is possible that the police found this man's telephone number at Krekar's" home.
Krekar's brother Khalid Faraj Ahmad meanwhile told NTB that Krekar's interrogation last week was in connection with an old case and that the interview had been planned for months. "He was questioned as a witness in a case concerning several Kurds who were arrested in Germany a long time ago," Ahmad insisted.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/09/2004
2:55:41 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
"We can say that the Venezuelan people have begun to free themselves from ... the dictatorship of the private media," Chavez said in a speech late Tuesday.
It's For the Children (TM), of course...
A law that gives the government control over the content of radio and television programs in Venezuela took effect Thursday. The new law establishes strict rules regarding violence and sexual content, and allows the government to impose huge fines or close down stations that break the rules. It also requires TV and radio stations to "broadcast all messages in Spanish" and set aside 70 minutes of programming each week for government-produced spots, said Alberto Federico Ravell, director of the privately owned Globovision television channel. "The government, starting today, began a progressive intervention of the media," Ravell told The Associated Press. He said all local TV and radio stations would be forced to "broadcast all messages in Spanish" and set aside 70 minutes of programming for government-produced spots each week. Chavez says the law will ensure programming on private TV channels is suitable for children. But opposition leaders and journalists say it is aimed at stifling criticism of his leftist government.
Posted by: john ||
12/09/2004 15:38
Comments ||
Top||
#3
That'd be: Game. Set. Match.
It'll be at least a generation, prolly several, before Chvez is removed from power...
Unless the people of Venezuela decide to really get their hands dirty and fight this Castro wannabee - and I don't mean some street demonstrations for TV.
[rant]
Lessee, what are the actual "secret" regulations, compliments of the Church Committee, et al, regards CIA actions in foreign countries? I know - and can anticipate the reactions of some people who are, despite good intentions, sadly neutered by the incessant PCism... Sure, you're right - about everything, now go have a fucking latte, there's real work to be done that won't suit your delicate condition.
We talk openly about undermining and toppling the Mad Mullahs, why not an equally obvious foe like Chavez by cooperating with his opposition - actively? Communism, socialism, dictators of all stripes are as much enemies of Freedom as the Caliphatists.
If we don't, we have effectively signed off on millions of Venezuelans - thanks to inactions and actions alike, such as Jimmuh Carter's despicable behavior. That asshat made us complicit in this defeat of Freedom - and I find that shameful.
[/rant]
#6
I wonder if that new channel is carried in Venezuela.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004 16:06
Comments ||
Top||
#7
.com, I'm not really convinced the CIA is on our side. I wouldn't be surprised if our station chiefs in the middle east were actually working to thwart the Bush admin's pro-democracy maneuvers in Iran and elsewhere in the region.
Actually, you raise a very interesting (although inadvertent) point in your rant; namely, why are we Rantsburgers, LGFers, and Freepers (etc.) waiting for our government to do anything? If there's one thing a conservative can rely upon it's the fact that "government" does things in the worst, most ass-backwards, bureaucratic manner possible whereas private organizations, businesses, and churches do things far more efficiently and quickly. Maybe what's called for here is a more, shall we say, direct application of some of the fund-raising skills which we as a group have picked up in the Culture War.
Heed the lesson of the NRA, NOW, and the Sierra Club: small amounts of money donated regularly by true believers create larger pools of money, which in turn allow you to produce useful or fun products and services that can be sold to the same group of people who are donating money in the first place. This leads to larger sums of money with which you can purchase tings such as politicians, lobbyists, and advertising space.
Or, in the case of poor Venezuela, what you might want to purchase are a dozen crates of AR-15s, three crates of .50 caliber anti-tank/anti-helicopter single shot rifles, a smattering of explosives, and two or three ex-military Army Rangers to train a few hundred pissed of Venezuelans on the basics of guerilla tactics for three months. Repeat where needed. Can it be done? Ask the Mayan Indians in Southern Mexico about it. They might not have a "no fly zone" down there but they do have a "no walk zone" for the Mexican Army courtesy of privately contracted former American military men.
Total Cost: $200,000.00 to $300,000.00 (maybe you can find a wealthy Venezuelan expatriate to help you)
#11
If we don't, we have effectively signed off on millions of Venezuelans
My understanding is that Chavez actually has the support of a huge chunk of the population. In which case, perhaps the better solution is to divide Venezuela into two parts: one half for those who think dear leader Chavez has all the right answers, and the other half for all the rest.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/09/2004 19:39
Comments ||
Top||
#12
Interesting stuff, folks. The CIA's Venezuela Desk might not be worth a shit - but you know it is fully staffed with a non-trivial number because of our dependence upon Venezuelan oil contracts - a major supplier. The events surrounding his election (pickpocket theft) and then the recall (an obvious mugging), with estimates of a million people in the streets, certainly give pause to what we are and are not doing and makes me wonder about the population splits for and against Chavez. Thanks to Jimmuh, we'll never know. I do feel we are involved because of his asshatted actions on behalf of the Chavez regime.
It was a rant (note the tags - not an accident) and I do not know enough hard detail to say precisely what I think we should do and back it up with cold hard stats. But my gut tells me we should not be waiting for Chavez to complete his consolidation of power - we should be intervening and setting his ass up for a fall. I say this in the spirit of the rant and that troubling feeling that a mistake here is also a mistake for the entire South American continent.
Slideshow and (video at link)
Cat and Harland Barnard said that inside their home there was dirty clothes in front of the washer, dirty dishes all over the kitchen and clothes and books on the floor in the bedrooms. The couple said they decided they were finished pleading for clean-up help from their children, who are 17 and 12. Two words: Tranquility Bay
So they moved outside to their front yard until the children decided to shape up. "It's not that I want indentured servants," Cat Barnard said. "It's more that I want ... children (who) can see beyond their own noses to the world around them." The children admit they could do more to help out around the house, but said they are convinced their parents will give up after a few more days. Sounds like a couple of little sh*theads needs a good hard swift kick (or three) in the ass.
#2
Wow. This is an interesting symptom of a much larger issue... the breakdown of the family as a social unit responsible for producing functioning contributors to society. Too many contributors to the failure of this mechanism to thank here, heh, but it sure as hell starts with the social engineering and feel-good wussification dipshits.
Obviously, these "parents" are not really parents... they are now merely the biological entities responsible for spawning these 2 twits.
Funny, but the simplisme cowboy in me says that, were these parents not neutered, they would've used something called "discipline" and, hold onto your hats (Take your Valium!) corporal punishment (See Dictionary.com's entry - note their note, heh - proving the PC / wussification is nearly complete) if necessary - oooooooo!, and then these biological burdens might just have never have become such obvious losers.
And just think, soon they'll be out here in the world with us - irresponsible wankers for life and probably burdens upon us all - because society has been re-engineered and "fixed"... Yeah, I know: "It was for the children." Right. And for the common good, eh?, not to mention some really spiffy and cushy jobs judging others and drawing up nifty social designs which have since proven to be worse than worthless. Can you say recidivism? I knew you could.
#5
I am avilable to help.
Turn on the SHIP light and I will appear as by magic and administer theraputic velocity dope slaps. Parents first in this case.
#7
This is a done deal at this point. The parents might as well move back in and hand the little shits the key to the car and the access codes to the bank accounts. The little brats will never do what they're told because no one ever told them that's what they HAD to do. Little ducks follow mama duck because it's what they're expected to do, and mama duck would peck them if they didn't. Thus endeth the lesson for today.
Posted by: Weird Al ||
12/09/2004 16:48
Comments ||
Top||
#8
Ok, I admit. I don't have kids....yet. Me & the Mr will be working on that in 2005.
But....shouldn't the little brats be living the friggin' tent instead of the parents?
I mean, hell, I got a REI membership and would get a good deal on the damn tent, but I sure as hell wouldn't be living in it if I was the momma. I might let them in to use the toilet, but other than that....they could use the hose for a shower until they clean the bathroom, that kind of thing. Want to live indoors? Pick up your "Hot Topic" tee shirt, put it in the wash machine, and dryer....fold the freakin' thing, and don't bitch if you put a red shirt in with your white socks. Pink is the new black, kids.
I don't know what offends me more....the fact that these parents have no spines, or that they are advertising that fact in the media?
WASHINGTON - The military planned to conduct the first full flight test of its national missile defense system in nearly two years, with the test coming possibly as early as Wednesday evening. Weather conditions at an Alaska launch site would determine when the test will go forward, said Rick Lehner, a spokesman for the Missile Defense Agency.
The $85 million test comes as the military is in final preparations to activate missile defenses designed to protect against an intercontinental ballistic missile attack from North Korea (news - web sites) or elsewhere in eastern Asia. During the test, a target missile will be launched from Kodiak Island, Alaska, and an interceptor missile will fire from Kwajalein Island in the central Pacific Ocean. Because the launches will test several new aspects of the missile defense system, Lehner said the interceptor actually shooting down the target is not a primary goal of the mission.
The test is the first in which the interceptor uses the same booster rocket that the operational system uses, Lehner said. It is also the first in which a target missile is launched from Kodiak. In earlier testing, which critics deride as highly scripted, the interceptors went five-for-eight when launched with the goal of hitting target missiles. Two previous tests scheduled for this year were delayed due to technical problems. The next test, which will attempt to hit a target missile, is scheduled for early 2005.
In April, the then-chief of missile defense programs, Air Force Lt. Gen. Ron Kadish, said failures in upcoming tests could mean "big problems" for the controversial program.
Sometime this month, the military expects to announce the missile defense system is operational. It is initially built around six interceptors at Fort Greely, Alaska, as well as radars in the Aleutians, in California, and on warships at sea. In addition, two more interceptors will be placed at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The Kwajalein interceptor site is for testing only.
The first Vandenberg missile was scheduled to go in its silo Tuesday, but Lehner said that was delayed, and that it is now expected to be in place on Thursday. Lehner said the missile defense system it technically functional except for mechanical blocks that prevent interceptors from being fired. Senior military officials are still working out chain-of-command authorities over who could order an interceptor launch during an attack, he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/09/2004
2:09:07 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
Could we use it in bad weather if needed?
Most likely, yes. When you are doing a test, you don't want any outside elements to mess up your data. Plus, you have the luxury of waiting till conditions are right. In case of a real attack, they'd launch right through a howling blizzard. Plus they'd ripple fire multiple interceptors, just to make sure. Is it 100% fool proof? No, but it's better than laying back and taking it.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/09/2004 9:18
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Can you launch the strike missile in bad weather?
Missles must experiecne turbulence and lighting strikes just like any other object flying through the sky... Any rocket scientist on the board?
#4
You can launch any time. But when you test, weather can be the cause of the test being unsuccessful. This doesn't imply that the test would otherwise have been sucessful. Sooting on a clear day means any failure is more likely due to the system rather than an exogenous variable. After you can make it work in good weather, you should test it in bad, but it is hard to control weather conditions for a test.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004 9:37
Comments ||
Top||
#5
All tests are photographed]filmed]recorded from multiple angles. If there is a failure, you may need visual evidence of the cause. Hard to get that through clouds.
Weapons systems are tested at increasing levels of difficulty, on the principle that you need to learn how to walk before you learn how to run. This is the clear weather test. The rough weather test will happen - just not this time around.
#7
As a rocket scientist (though not this kind), I can state that most of the special conditions are necessary for the test and evaluation equipment.
Remember that horrible NYT story about the "rigged" test with a beacon placed on a target for an EKV launch? In fact, the beacon was so that our instrumentation could monitor the target independently of what the EKV or the target was reporting back.
Sometime in a test we lose telemetry from the weapon or the target. Having visual and radar tracks helps reconstruct the event so we don't have to spend mucho bucks to do it all over again.
If you look at the reports of tests of weapons, you'll see quite a few scrubbed because the drone acted funny, the launch plane had an engine problem, a tracking radar went down, or some #$%^&* hikers wandered onto the test range.
Similarly, for this test we want clear weather so that ground and satellite monitors can see as much as possible of the test so there's a visual record to go along with radar and TM. Storms can mess up TM. (especially if lightning strikes your antenna...)
#10
Hey, that's actually a good idea. I've noticed that all the tests seem to be targets fired from the US and interceptors from an island in the Pacific.
Is this so that any debris comes down in the Pacific (rather than California)?
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
12/09/2004 17:36
Comments ||
Top||
#11
Mainly it's because these are midcourse or terminal interceptors, so the missile has to go a ways.
If we did it the other way around, certain countries might be concerned if we shot an ICBM from California headed westward across the Pacific.
I suppose we could launch from Florida and shoot it down over China Lake...
Long and disturbing article. Don't know if any of it is true.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/09/2004
2:04:27 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[14 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Saw this on Drudge yesterday. I'm hoping that it isn't true. (Think of "Falling Down" where Michael Douglas's D-FENS character runs into a homeless man who claims to have been in Viet Nam. He asks him: "What were you? A drummer boy?" To which the man shakes it off and says "I meant the Gulf War, man...")
Still, it isn't out of the realm of possibility. Sad to say.
#2
I worked at homeless shelters for years as a volunteer and I can tell you without any fear of contradiction that the main reason why anyone winds up in a homeless shelter is (In order of likelyhood) :
1) Drug/alchohol Abuse.
2) Mental illeness.
The homeless vet bullsh*t is just what it is: bullsh*t. The only reason why someone winds up in the street is fully by choice in 99 percent of the instances.
Sniff at this 'news', yawn and move along. Nothing to see here.
#3
badanov: My wife's an RN and worked in homeless outreach for three years. What you said.
Posted by: Mike ||
12/09/2004 9:35
Comments ||
Top||
#4
It appears our wonderful VA is still non-proactive. [BTW - if you want Hillarycare, just look what a good job our VA does cause that is what you're going to get at best. Note well how much real concern expressed in funding dollars the Dems, champions of government healthcare, have had for the VA. Guess there are not enough votes there.] Unfortunately, the VA is not part of DoD and, once the individual passes from uniform authority, its a matter of two non-coordinating bureaucracies shuffling paper. Maybe this will light a fire under someone's ass to 'make it work'.
Posted by: Don ||
12/09/2004 9:41
Comments ||
Top||
#6
Steve White: Homeless Iraq vets showing up at shelters
There are a lot of homeless people claiming to be vets of one kind or another. A tiny minority are actual vets with substance abuse problems - the majority are frauds with substance abuse problems.
Cue auto article-generator:
- psychotic vets freaking out upon return home
- divided families
- Kerryite "dissident" soldiers testifying to "war crimes" etc
A gunner's mate for 16 years, Arellano said he adjusted after serving in the first Gulf War. But after returning from Iraq, depression drove him to leave his job at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He got divorced.
#10
Arellano said he adjusted after serving in the first Gulf War. MSM sub-text: No problem with this war: Multilateralism, good.
But after returning from Iraq, depression drove him to leave his job MSM sub-text: Uh-oh: Unilateralism, bad. And no doubt he was deranged by the insufficiency of armor for Humvees.
#11
Maybe this fellow's depression came from listening to the press lie about what he'd accomplished?
(But, generally, it's safest to bet bums are lying about being vets.)
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
12/09/2004 10:50
Comments ||
Top||
#12
Is mental illness a "choice"?
Is it possible these vets got hooked on drugs after onset of post-traumatic stress disorder from combat?
I knew a man who was a medic in Vietnam. To most in the community, he was a well-respected carpenter/architect. A "lucky" few of us saw the inner demon still haunting him-a violent, angry former soldier whose disorder was never healed.
IMO Trauma tends to screw with peopleâs ability to regulate and process emotion, and can set up dysfunctional motivational and information processing loops that negatively impact a personâs ability to cope with the demands of life. That said, the choice to not seek help for the problem is what most likely leads to failures to thrive in society. Mental illness, which correlates highly with failures to thrive in society, is simply a constellation of symptoms resulting from dysfunctional ways of dealing with life.
Why people donât seek help (from psych professionals, priests, pastors, family, friends, etc.) most likely has to do with habits regarding social support. Those habits relate most strongly to upbringing (i.e., whether you grew up in a loving, open family).
I would guess war is traumatic. Traumatic events are stress producing events that carry a high risk of personal harm and/or result in actual personal harm.
The risk of war leading to mental illness is probably the highest for soldiers who come from an unsupportive upbringing, and donât have a good head on their shoulders before going to war, and then donât have a good support system after returning from war. The risk of mental illness following war is probably not higher than the same type of person undergoing any similar traumatic event (i.e., rape, incarceration, poverty and violence, police work, fire fighter work, etc.).
#15
Yes, you have to be careful on who we are truly dealing with. When you claim to have fought to serve our country, so many will run to assist.
You see this on the street in Manhattan often.
Many work 9 - 5 Monday to Friday and on weekends or week night's they go out and pan handle. This is tax free money folks** Think about it if you dress and play the role of a homeless bum
and take home $200.00 each week (many of them make more if they bring along hobo the dog or felix the cat) to gain sympathy from passer by
times 4 weeks- simply $800.00 each month extra tax free dollars for the CON ARTIST.
It is a true story. I dated a N.Y.C Cop and he told me himself- that is what is going on. Many run to Salvation Army, by wigs, old clothes and scruff themselves up in order to make extra money.
Andrea Jackson
Posted by: Andrea Jackson ||
12/09/2004 19:44
Comments ||
Top||
#16
# 12 you are correct. If this is true which I feel some of it could be, we are going to see a social crisis with our veterans. A few month's ago I noticed in our local daily paper there was a story or two about a soldier who came home on leave and it was "SO BAD" over there the soldier committed suicide. My uncle was a VIETNAM vet and to this day he WILL NOT TALK ABOUT NAM.
Andrea Jackson
Posted by: Andrea Jackson ||
12/09/2004 19:52
Comments ||
Top||
#17
#13 PLEASE educate yourself on DEPRESSION.
WHen diagnosed with clinical depression, it is difficult to tend to lifes most simplist tasks.
I have friends who suffer and I work with handicapped client's- for some getting out of bed is impossible. When your brain is "out of balance" your WHOLE BODY IS OFF.
ANdrea Jackson
Posted by: Andrea Jackson ||
12/09/2004 19:57
Comments ||
Top||
#18
When ever ima feel blue I buy a 2 dollar toemaytoe and slice it up and share it with my cat lizzie.
#19
# 14 you left out genetic predisposition. I have a hard time comparing WAR to any other stress. Many turn their back to our veteran's
mainly the U.S. Government- who sent them there in the first place! A real nice Thank You**
Andrea Jackson
Posted by: Andrea Jackson ||
12/09/2004 20:02
Comments ||
Top||
#20
Why does this patter have such a familiar ring to it? I think I'm having deja vu all over again - haven't we been here before and heard this same voice and story before?
#24
Present policy at the VA is that claims from vets of Iraq, Afganistan & those identified as homeless are fast-tracked. The higher ups are watching this very closely. Both VA & service organizations like VFW, American Legion, etc., have outreach programs for homeless vets. The case load is huge though and the process can be slow. Vets need to do their part too. If you don't show up for exams or provide info required by law we can't award you benefits. And if we don't have a clue as to where a vet is, we can't send benefit checks.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/09/2004
20:17 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
As an ex-Cowboy fan from the era when they and the Steelers had some great contests, this got a good laugh out of me. I don't watch sports anymore - haven't in about 25 years cuz I decided I'd rather do it than watch it.
After the first blush, however, and reading the piece - hey, why not? He's an intelligent and articulate man - and one I can attest to having a serious streak for hardball heads-up competition and quick wits... there were headhunters in the secondary back then - and damned few rules protecting anyone from the likes of The Assassin (extra points if you know who carried that nick, heh).
#3
Oh, yeah, now it comes back to me what a foul son of a bitch Jack Tatum is and always will be. Maybe I'm biased about what happened to Darryl Stingley, but scroll down to 9. and you be the judge.
#5
I'd be more of a Stallworth fan over Swanny, myself. With the Boston Celtics Kevin McHale was my favorite (with apologies to Russel, Cousy and many others), not all of it because of l'affaire Clothesline. One of the best basketball games ever played.
#7
Heh - that was a fun read... memories of at least a hint of innocence and pride over paycheck. And the other certainly highlights the differences between then and now - how far they have fallen. Thx, guys!
Bush visit failed to impress Canadians, poll finds
A nationwide poll shows that U.S. President George Bush didn't gain any popularity points with Canadians after his recent visit.
Here's what the story actually says lower down.
Those most likely to say their opinion of Bush is better after his visit are residents of:
Atlantic Canada (17 per cent)
Saskatchewan/Manitoba (17 per cent)
Alberta (14 per cent)
Ontario (10 per cent)
Quebec (6 per cent)
British Columbia (6 per cent).
Our intrepid reporter says Bush ''didn't gain any popularity points.'' But the table above shows he so did in all ten provinces. And in six out of ten of those provinces, almost one in five people have a better impression of the president.
NEW DELHI — India yesterday asserted it would take steps to bolster the country's defence preparedness if the US went ahead with the proposed supply of F-16 jet fighters to Pakistan. "We have cautioned the US against such a decision," external affairs minister K. Natwar Singh said while concluding a debate in the Lok Sabha on the foreign policy of the UPA government. "I would like to assure members that in case of US arms supply to Pakistan, the government will not hesitate to take steps to ensure that our defence preparedness is not compromised in any way," he said.
Relax guys, we control the spare parts and the training.
Not to mention the remote controls embedded in the flight control software.....er, don't mention that, ok?
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/09/2004
2:01:24 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
What's the problem? Didn't these guys manage to best U.S. pilots in simulated combat? And don't they have a number of Russian up-to-date hardware?
French sources say Mr. Chirac would like to establish various forums or "talking shops" on the Arab-Israeli conflict and Iraq, at which France could exercise influence and promote its role.
Not to worry, Jacques. There will always be a role for weasels in the Middle East.
Diplomats cite Mr. Chirac's visit to Libya and his treatment of the illness and death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as perhaps the most significant recent moves targeting the Arab world. Mr. Arafat had been transported in a French military plane for medical care in France and treated as a head of state after his death. Although appreciated by the Arab world and by the 5 million Muslims in France, the gesture was insufficient to turn France into a major player on the Middle Eastern scene, diplomats said.
Kissing the arse of dying dictators gets you nice headlines. Deploying heavy artillery and helicopter gunships gets you respect and a seat at the policy table.
Mr. Chirac's visit to Libya also failed to generate significant political dividends despite a pact on "strategic cooperation and political consultation" signed by the two countries. Traveling with Mr. Chirac to Tripoli last month were about 20 leading French businessmen searching for joint ventures as Libya emerges from international isolation.
Posted by: Capt America ||
12/09/2004
1:39:07 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Keep talking Butch Jacques, it's what you do best.
#5
Mr. Chiracâs visit to Libya also failed to generate significant political dividends Ghadaffi still holding a grudge from when you destroyed a big percentage his airforce and armor. I'm surprised (not).
(2004-12-07) -- Hot off the success of his U.S. 'Vote or Die' ad blitz, rap star Sean "P. Diddy" Combs has reportedly inked a deal with radical Sunni clerics in Iraq to appear in a series of broadcast ads before the scheduled January 30 national elections.
The Sunni 'Vote-n-Die' campaign aims to reach out to young, hip, urban Muslims encouraging them to refrain from voting on election day.
A spokesman for Mr. Diddy said the performer was delighted to join the Sunni effort which he considered "an extension of my work to elect John Kerry as president."
Posted by: Korora ||
12/09/2004
12:21:17 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
haha this serious or a joke ?!
If serious , is a blessing > enough sunni stay away and not vote , shia gonna walk it surely :)
What sort of idiot comes up with a name like P. Diddy anyway , what a fookwit .
From Drudge Report:
From: [Chattanooga Times Free Press military reporter] Pitts, Lee
Sent: Wednesday, December 8, 2004 4:44 PM
To: [Chattanooga Times Free Press staffers]
Subject: RE: Way to go
I just had one of my best days as a journalist today. As luck would have it, our journey North was delayed just long enough see I could attend a visit today here by Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. I was told yesterday that only soldiers could ask questions so I brought two of them along with me as my escorts. Before hand we worked on questions to ask Rumsfeld about the appalling lack of armor their vehicles going into combat have. While waiting for the VIP, I went and found the Sgt. in charge of the microphone for the question and answer session and made sure he knew to get my guys out of the crowd.
So during the Q&A session, one of my guys was the second person called on. When he asked Rumsfeld why after two years here soldiers are still having to dig through trash bins to find rusted scrap metal and cracked ballistic windows for their Humvees, the place erupted in cheers so loud that Rumsfeld had to ask the guy to repeat his question. Then Rumsfeld answered something about it being "not a lack of desire or money but a logistics/physics problem." He said he recently saw about 8 of the special up-armored Humvees guarding Washington, DC, and he promised that they would no longer be used for that and that he would send them over here. Then he asked a three star general standing behind him, the commander of all ground forces here, to also answer the question. The general said it was a problem he is working on.
The great part was that after the event was over the throng of national media following Rumsfeld- The New York Times, AP, all the major networks -- swarmed to the two soldiers I brought from the unit I am embedded with. Out of the 1,000 or so troops at the event there were only a handful of guys from my unit b/c the rest were too busy prepping for our trip north. The national media asked if they were the guys with the armor problem and then stuck cameras in their faces. The NY Times reporter asked me to email him the stories I had already done on it, but I said he could search for them himself on the Internet and he better not steal any of my lines. I have been trying to get this story out for weeks- as soon as I foud out I would be on an unarmored truck- and my paper published two stories on it. But it felt good to hand it off to the national press. I believe lives are at stake with so many soldiers going across the border riding with scrap metal as protection. It may be to late for the unit I am with, but hopefully not for those who come after.
The press officer in charge of my regiment, the 278th, came up to me afterwords and asked if my story would be positive. I replied that I would write the truth. Then I pointed at the horde of national media pointing cameras and mics at the 278th guys and said he had bigger problems on his hands than the Chattanooga Times Free Press. This is what this job is all about - people need to know. The solider who asked the question said he felt good b/c he took his complaints to the top. When he got back to his unit most of the guys patted him on the back but a few of the officers were upset b/c they thought it would make them look bad. From what I understand this is all over the news back home.
Thanks,
Lee
Posted by: Steve ||
12/09/2004
12:17:05 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
thanks Lee,.... dickhead
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/09/2004 12:30
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Can we get this guys home address? I want to order a tanker full of fresh effluent and have it pumped through his mail chute.
#3
This is another of the "He's not anti-war, he's on the other side." examples.
There will be a reckoning with these people, somewhere, sometime down the road. Everyone who did their bit to undermine morale, give aid and comfort to the enemy, chip away at the foundations of Freedom, whether by flushing their supposed journalistic neutrality or by partisan political acts - they will be held accountable.
#5
I disagree. If our troops feel they need better armour for their vehicles they should get it. And it should be made public to put pressure on the decision makers to get it done. This isn't anti-war it's about making our troops as safe and overwhelming as possible.
A lot of troops obviously agreed with this assesment or he wouldn't have gotten the applause. Just because someone questions how we're handling a situation or whether we're making the right decision doesn't make them the "enemy" or anti-war. You guys really need to differentiate between who is the enemy and who you just disagree with...
#7
DPA - true, true. But the presenttion of this question by the MSM - lacking other photos showing the enthusiasm that the troops had for Rusfeld - is one reason why I trust individual bloggers and distrust anything I read in the mainstream press. That's a problem for the press, because I don't even bother to pick up papers left on the Metro. It's not that I don't want to read them, it's just that they are so lame, it's not worth it to bother.
I'm just the tip of the iceberg. They are the Titanic.
#8
The bad guy here is not the MSM, but rather inability of the Army to armor ALL the vehicles.
Does anyone in their right mind really believe that this mighty country, industrialized country cant turn out more then 450 armored vehicles per month?
Hell, get GM, F, DCX etc to make less SUV's and MORE armored vehicles.
It is sickening to send these guys in unprotected.
You can bet Rummy went into Kuwait with armor on his limo.
This is America, we should be getting 5,000 or more vehicles per month, as many as needed!
1) Do you know there were "cheers so loud that Rumsfeld had to ask the guy to repeat his question" - or are you relying upon this reporter's account? Did you see a film clip? Read another report of the same event by a reliable source?
2) Do you find the reporter's attempt to set Rumsfeld up acceptable? Is this reporter to be given credence when he actually conspired to create a scene? If nothing else sways you from thinking this reporter is an asshole, this should.
I am certainly for getting the troops everything we can lay hands upon for their safety. This was far less about that, than scoring points.
From this asshole's actions we can clearly see the real problem:
What and whom to believe...
#11
Hmm--there are some comments and quotes on Instapundit today that reflect an entirely different attitude. I, for one, agree with the poster Sgt. Missick that the real signicance of this event is that the SoD was willing to stand there and field questions--questions that were NOT pre-screened--from the rank and file. He demonstrated that he respects the troops and was willing to risk exactly this kind of manufactured media B.S. to let them air their concerns before the cameras.
Even Lee's article above states that the soldier who asked the question felt better afterwards, and he should--he just put the SoD on the spot and got a response. If this leads to the transfer of those armored Humvees from DC and elsewhere to Iraq where they're more sorely needed, then it was worthwhile.
Unfortunately, the MSM will, as usual, completely ignore the larger significance, but focus on any one negative aspect to make Bush and Co. look bad. But none of us here are surprised.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/09/2004 13:21
Comments ||
Top||
#12
.com, I generally agree with, but in this case I think you are wrong. It's the proper function of the media to raise issues of concern. Thats what the reporter did, and as a result Rummy will work on improving the situation. I suspect your real issue is not what the reporter did, but the fact the MSM will now use this incident to push its agenda.
#13
I'm agnostic on the issue of whether the reporter performed a service or disservice to the troops. To me, the bigger issue here is the same ol' same ol: bloggers need to source, scoop, and create their own stories and not merely react to the agenda set by the MSM.
#14
The reason this Drudge story is important is that it refutes the MSM story. The MSM story was that the soldiers grilled Rumsfeld. This was an Important, Legitimate Story because it implied a lack of support from the troops for the civilian leadership. But now we know that it was the media grilling Rumsfeld, through a soldier who agreed to read a reporter's question. That is not the story the MSM put out. Once again, the MSM is pushing a false story for political purposes.
There was a great deal of frustration in the voice of the soldier who asked questions regarding vehicles being up-armored, and the hangar did erupt in applause after he spoke, but I wouldnât translate one very tough question into a grill session by American forces.
The question addressed a concern that is apparently shared by many soldiers over there. I think the MSM is wrong to focus solely on it and make it look like such a fiasco, but I don't blame Lee for it. I think Lee is genuinely concerned:
I believe lives are at stake with so many soldiers going across the border riding with scrap metal as protection. It may be to late for the unit I am with, but hopefully not for those who come after.
And I like that he got to tell the NYT reporter to shove off and do his own work.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/09/2004 13:36
Comments ||
Top||
#16
This remark captures the motivation of the Chattanooga hack:
I have been trying to get this story out for weeks- as soon as I foud out I would be on an unarmored truck
#17
.com, I caught the whole thing from my roost here in Europe. CNNi broadcast it. BLUF: the guy was hard to hear. What amused me was CNNi's build up of this event as somewhat atagonistic to Rummie. It wasn't. (not sure if you guys saw the Chaplain asking Rummie to fly the troops to Disneyland).
As for armor. Real nice to have. I'm not going to take anything away from Soldiers deployed in theatre, but as a recently returned NCO related:" If you're worried about IEDs, you're in a world of hurt" (I.E., if the IED goes off, the battles been lost. Wretchards piece on the Russians in Grozny writ small).As the Isreali's, Russians (sort of) and others have learned, the key is to disrupt the enemy before they lay down the IEDs. Daisy chain some 155 mm shells togehter, and an M1 is going to have a bad day. My thinking, we're going to have a bad day, as long as:
The Pasdranan are active.
Saddam's kid(s) are active.
AIRSTRIP Syria is active.
#18
If anyone is looking for information about this issue, I have covered it in detail and here are some links to my sources: Link 1 Link 2 Link 3 Link 4
This issue is whether or not EVERY SINGLE VEHICLE is armored, from the fuel tankers, to the PLS, to the stake trucks, etc. Each vehicle presents its own armor problems. Units leaving Iraq are leaving their armored vehicles behind to assist incoming units.
#20
If the issue was the procurement problems with getting equipment, then the reporter had better get his ass back to DC and start putting Representatives and Senators in the public hot seat for all the laws and regulations they impose on the procurement process. Having done time the bowels of procurement, a lot of process and paperwork is generated to satisfy requirements of the legislative branch. No one wants to go before a Congressional committee to explain to some Pol seeking public spin time that all the regulations and the laws they wrote where being followed. $500 hammer? Maybe because you made it a crime to go down to Sears and buy it locally, because Sears doesn't feel like hiring a ton of employees to fill out compliance reports to satisfy some federal regulations. So you force the procurement officer to use an existing contract which carries lots of overhead expense which you by law authorize the contractor to charge. However, it will be the procurement office's butt on the hot seat, not the representatives who made the process that way. Let's look at laws that require the Army to buy specifically from someone or have to use outside sources for programs above a certain financial level. If you dealing with the Army, you are buying a lot of armor kits and that financial level gets crossed rather quickly. When you want to do it fast, you have to go sole source. There is no competion and Congress makes it as hard as possible to do it that way. Lots of paper, lots of mother-may-I's. The normal delay for a competitive contract takes months, which is not supportive of the Joe in the field. And just wait till one of the bidders or even potential bidders challenges it. More calendar time.
This was just a cheap shot by the reporter. If he was truely concerned with the troops, he should have followed the 'money trail', tracked back the process to identify the real problems contributing to the delays. Instead this was a chance to get his byline across the wire. Nothing more.
Posted by: Don ||
12/09/2004 14:01
Comments ||
Top||
#21
gimpy - Thx - and thanx to everyone commenting on this piece, regardless of the POV and assessment. This does go to the heart of the problem of our baseline information, upon which we rely to draw our own private conclusions and judgements. It doesn't help to have a Fifth Columnist MSM.
There are multiple wars, to go with the multiple battles of the War on Terror / The Caliphate / Socialism / Communism / Maoism / Enemies of Freedom, and maybe the biggest and most important one of all is the information war.
lex is dead right in that we need unfiltered sources and a reliable means of accessing that information. It's the difference between voting for a traitor (Thank You Swift Boat Vets!) and a true leader. It's fundamental to our society and our freedom. We definitely need un-staged reporting, no matter what the reporter's POV - let the troops decide what they want to ask and let their reps in Washington answer them - face to face. I care about our troops - been there and done that before there was diddley-squat for personal protection - maybe the reporter does care too, but I question his motivations, ethics, and politics.
re: the concerns, keep in mind this is a national guard unit that has NOT YET BEEN IN IRAQ. In other words, they are sitting in Kuwait and have concerns.
Fair enough, but not quite the same thing as a unit in-theater giving first hand feedback.
Re: IED's, we're doing a lot to find and blow them up before our vehicles get to them. Some we miss. Meanwhile, Sen. Dodd's political posturing is just that - posturing. It's absurd to imply that soldiers can be kept 100% safe. We do what we can, but there are risks involved.
Hell, there are risks involved in training - guys die right here in the US in training accidents and have every year for a long time.
Rummy's right: you do what you can, to the best degree you can --- but meanwhile, you keep fighting the war you need to fight.
Posted by: too true ||
12/09/2004 14:11
Comments ||
Top||
#23
This was just a cheap shot by the reporter. If he was truely concerned with the troops, he should have followed the 'money trail', tracked back the process to identify the real problems contributing to the delays
Yes, but that's d i f f i c u l t. It requires the hack to actually do research, develop some expertise in a process, present a complex issue in depth.
Much more fun to grab a coupla soldiers and the dude handling the mike, and play Gotcha!
#24
Phil_B...that's interesting regarding Armor HOldings' ability to expand capacity, and would appear to contradict Rumsfeld. However, couldn't the bottleneck be w. Armor Holdings' suppliers or at another point in the supply chain?
#25
Interesting that he got a reservist to do it. After Vietnam, the military structured itself so that we could not go to war without calling up reserve units in order to assure popular support for any war we went into. Given the performance of the reserves in the last two Gulf wars is the military giving any consideration to changing this structuring?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004 14:20
Comments ||
Top||
#26
My two cents:
I hope (and believe) that the soldiers in question would have balked at a question that they didn't feel was relevant. And the armor question appeared to be so.
Having said that, I am appalled that reporters are still doing this crap, because NEXT time they may find a soldier who will read a question that is NOT relevant (and is pure "gotcha").
I have seen video of the event, and read descriptions of it...and they vary like night & day. Anybody who just READS the descriptions, or listens to a talking-head "describe" it, is NOT getting the truth!
#27
Personally, I prefer news reporters to news-making reporters, but the troops did cheer the question and, at this point about 20 months after the war started, I think its a fair question and the answer was poor.
Posted by: Tom ||
12/09/2004 14:41
Comments ||
Top||
#28
What Justrand said. Again, bloggers need to offer video and audio as well. Screw the MSM.
Actually, a national guardsman. And yes, there is a great desire to integrate support w/ operational forces in active duty units. How to do that given the gutting of both in the 90s is a real question. So too is what roles can reasonably and usefully be "outsourced" either to contractors (c.f. food delivery in major encampments) or to technology (c.f. the use of UAVs and ground robots for some recon and surveillance work).
Re: Tom's comment, well ... sure the question was fair and sure they would cheer. They were poised at the border of Kuwait to go into Iraq. but Rumsfeld's reply - while it may not be popular here or there - is dead on.
Posted by: too true ||
12/09/2004 15:11
Comments ||
Top||
#30
Froggy Ruminations on griping as a way of life in the military:
Much has been made of Donald Rumsfeld's "talking to" by a disgruntled National Guardsman in Kuwait yesterday. Believe me, this is nothing new. When I was at SEAL Team FOUR in Little Creek, VA the entire base was compelled to attend a CNO's (Chief of Naval Operations) Call at the base theater. We all sat in the back and settled in for an hour or so of boring speeches by high ranking Navy muckety mucks. We were wrong. After a canned speech by the CNO, he opened the floor to questions from sailors much in the same way Rumsfeld did. What happened next will forever live in my memory.
First, some 3rd Class Petty Officer complained to the CNO that he had been passed over as LPO (Leading Petty Officer) of his division. He explained the situation in excruciating detail, remembering to point out the the Leading Chief who had promoted another 3rd Class who was a few months below him in rank to the vaunted LPO slot. Witnessing this idiot making a complete ass of himself was akin to watching an impending car wreck in slow motion. I have been admonished for jumping the Chain of Command before, but this was amazing to watch. I barely remember the CNO's response, because I was so busy laughing my ass off while trying to keep quiet.
But that was only the beginning. After 2 or 3 more asinine complaints similar to the above mentioned, another 3rd Class dropped a bomb that left me on the floor. She stood up in front of hundreds of sailors and described how she and her compatriots had spent the entire day cleaning up their building and adding that they had been forbidden from using the restroom all day so that it would not be sullied on the off chance that the CNO would stop by for a visit. But she wasn't done, not by a long shot. She then added that it was very inconvenient that high ranking officers always pick Friday afternoons for these sort of visits, and inquired as to why this was the case since she had better things to do. She wrapped up by asking if he, the CNO, was actually going to visit her command after the substantial labors she and her comrades had endured on his behalf. I $hit you not. I do remember the CNO's answer to that one. He asked her who her CO was, and she proceeded to point directly at a man wearing khaki that was at this point cowering behind the seat in front of him. The CNO promptly motioned for the CO to join one of his staff officers offstage, and assured her that he would, in fact, come by to inspect the building. By this time a pall of silence had decended upon the entire building, and several hundred people mouthed the words, "No F*cking Way!" in silent unison.
The highlight of the session was something that I will remember as one of the coolest moments I have ever witnessed in my life. At the time, the Navy was drawing down post-Gulf War, and there was a 15 year retirement option available to sailors. A Chief stood and told the CNO that his wife, another Chief, had recently died of cancer. He went on to say that he was at 14 years, six months of service and had two chidren at home who were mourning the recent loss of their mother. The Chief said that his unit was scheduled to deploy soon, and that although he had requested to stay home to care for his children, his CO refused and was compelling him to either deploy or leave the Navy. Once again, there was a pall in the room, but this time the air was thick with derision and scorn for a CO that would do such a thing. The CNO once again asked this Chief to point out his CO in the crowd, and with a snap of his fingers he dispatched another aide to start heading in his direction. While the aide was enroute, the CNO said, "Chief, you're retired." The audience immediately erupted with cheers and applause that did not relent for several minutes.
I am not going to criticize this National Guardsmen for having a legitimate complaint about the equipment he must use to fight in Iraq, but taking it up with the SECDEF on TV is unsat. Does he really think that Rumsfeld wouldn't rather have 2 armored hummers for every soldier? Like he said, it's a matter of physics rather than a matter of desire. There is a time and place to make these kind of inquiries, but this was neither.
#32
I'm with Don on the procurement issues: I've been on the contractor side, and the whole process is a nightmare. Overheads are high partly because of:
1. The need to retain the necessary personnel qualified to perform the work.
2. The requirement to maintain production/assembly lines in a ready-to-run state. You let them fall apart, there'll be delays as you have to repair them.
3. The need to maintain compliance infrastructure. As Don said, the process is so involved, so byzantine, that you need full-time trained people just to keep the company out of beaureaucratic hot water.
Credit VP Cheney during his tour at Halliburton for SOME amelioration of this mess: He was the one, I believe, who came up with the One Point Of Contact Supplier idea, which employs a standing contract, authorized personnel make requests, and Halliburton does the footwork to deliver the goods and services. However, this contract is restricted to certain goods and services selected so as to minimize the chances of Waste, Fraud, and Abuse, as well as to amplify the ability of the auditors to cover a lot more ground than they normally would. The MSM and lefties howled a lot about the price of gas from Kuwait delivered by the contract, for instance, but they knew about it only because the system DID work and the auditors caught it, and it WAS being investigated.
I can't say anything about my fellow workers, but I KNOW that I and all the veteran workers busted our tails, worked long hours, and loved hearing from the soldiers on how our stuff worked in the field.
Damn, just thinking about it makes me want to quit and go back.
#33
I thought the exhange was quite remarkable. An ordinary soldier asking the top defense dept official a hard question, and getting a good response. Where else do you see that? Crticizing the reporter for feeding the question to the soldier is off base. It was a good question. If I were a soldier, I like to think I'd ask the same question - and I know I would want to know the answer. Since when are American officials exempt from either criticism of difficult to answer questions. I admire Rummy's fielding open, unscreened questions and generally giving straight, good answers.
Now is the MSN slimey for the way the story was reported? Yes, but who is surprised?
Posted by: Henry ||
12/09/2004 17:33
Comments ||
Top||
#34
Note that every aspect of this story-- identifying the topic, arranging for the Q to be posed to Rumsfeld, taping and playing back his answer, and then delving into the related issues with informed commentary-- can be handled by the blogosphere without the intervention of the MSM.
Source these stories ourselves. Smash the MSM. Let a thousand blogs contend.
#37
Sorry, Andrea--Dropping planeloads of origami swans was tried already. Didn't work. Back to bullets.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/09/2004 19:37
Comments ||
Top||
#38
THERE HAS TO BE ANOTHER WAY TO FIGHT THIS WAR.
I agree. And there is. But you probably wouldn't like it.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/09/2004 19:43
Comments ||
Top||
#39
Andrea has a nice personality.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004 19:44
Comments ||
Top||
#40
Grandstand play by the reporter?Yep.A question which needed to be asked?Yep.A piss poor response by Rumsfeld in light of Bush ,at outset of war,saying"Our soldiers have everything they need?"Yes.Does your hatred of the MSM outweigh the need for soldiers to actually have everything Bush said they do?I hope not.
Posted by: Me ||
12/09/2004 20:17
Comments ||
Top||
#42
It would be nice if everyone had a tank, but it's all relative. In RVN I drove around in a jeep with no top and no doors. Even a standard Humvee is a tank by comparison. Add to that the night vision equipment, pression guided bombs, etc, etc. etc. It could be a lot worse.
#43
It was a good question made in a most stupid manner and at the wrong time. There are 30 guys in that soldier's chain before Rummy. Any company grade or field grade could've answered that one. I trust that the head-shed up in the Pentagon are doing their best to get us what they need. Someone needs to cold cock congress if anything. Don, Ptah - good info on procurement and acquisitions - thanks.
Another way to put it, my grandfather (God rest his soul) fought in WWII and dealt w/the Sherman tank. We could've produced better tanks then the Sherman, but due to logistics push capabilities at the time we could throw more Sherm's in the ETO then bigger, better tanks. In the end it turned out to be the right move though I'm sure many grunts would've wanted Tiger II equivalent US tanks. So there's always "the rest of the story." The bottom line is you fight with what you got, at the time the fight is on. At the same time you attempt to develop and push the best technology to the front line folks to counter whatever tactics the enemy is throwing at them. This is happening. I don't know what this guardsmen was talking about, we've been "field hardening" our vehicle assets since Christ was a corporal. We used sand bag 5-tons every time we went out on a convoy to counter possible mines. It wasn't full proof. That's just how it goes, plus, you beat IED's by running compass watch and other counter measures. The hummer chassis was not meant to hold excessive armor to the degree to counter a 155mm IED.
#44
Jarhead, I gotta disagree with you on the Sherman tank example. IMO, that was the biggest miscalculation on the part of the allies prior to the D-Day landings. Americans should have produced a better tank. When they encountered the Tiger, the result was that it took 4 Shermans to destroy one Tiger: the first three were sacrificed so that the fourth could go in for the kill. Many tank crewmen felt that they were "expendable". We were lucky that the Germans could not produce the Tiger in bigger numbers. It should be assumed that the powers that be at the Pentagon have learned these lessons.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/09/2004 21:38
Comments ||
Top||
#45
[rant]
Now come on. You know, it would be precisely the same thing to demand of Rumsfeld: "Why don't we use armed UAV's for everything? Send no troops at all - just wave upon wave of hovering UAV's firing Mavericks at everything that moves... and everyone stays in Kuwait. Why not that?"
Of course, the adult would carefully explain to the child that you can't fucking have everything you want immediately. Everything has trade offs. We live and learn what works.
What we should be thankful for is that we had people who would climb into a Sherman and into a submarine with defective torpedos and do the job while things were being improved. Everything out there on the battlefield started at some point - and probably sucked. Everything gets improved - or dropped from the inventory. People die until we work out arms, strategies, and methods. Then they still die. Damnit.
[/rant]
#46
Actually Raf, as a logistics guy the Sherm was easier to ship in cargo holds then a bigger tank. We would have had to refit the shipping, could it have been done and we still made the D-Day landing and we kept the tempo & the intiative on the Germans? Maybe, maybe not. Hind sight being 20/20. Could we have waited on a bigger tank? Debateable. I don't disagree that the Sherman was far inferior to the Tiger. We traded armor and fire power for speed, mobility and diesel efficiency. Such is life and death in war. I hear Marine whine about the Osprey as I'm sure Marine's bitched about the first Jolly Green's and then the CH-46 Phrog, so on and so forth. .com kind of summed it up good. Everything starts at some point and usually sucks. Look at the fiasco the first piece of shit M-16s were.
From an e-mail posted by Hugh Hewitt:
The number ONE request at Walter Reed hospital is phone cards. The government doesn't pay long distance phone charges and these wounded soldiers are rationing their calls home. Many will be there throughout the holidays. Really support our troops --Send phone cards of any amount to:
Medical Family Assistance Center
Walter Reed Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20307-5001
They say they need an "endless" supply of these -- any amount even $5 is greatly appreciated. Walmart has good prices on AT&T cards, Sams Club is even better, if you are a member. I am sure you would feel better about doing this, than to buy something for a third cousin, find it on the closet shelf six months later, and wonder where it came from. C'mon, Rantburgers - I'm sure most of us could afford at least one $5 card. I'm a Sam's member and will be stopping by this weekend to pick up some cards. (And this is in spite of needing $3600 to replace my furnace.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/09/2004
12:12:27 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Which is better, several small denomination cards or one large one? Me thinks many smaller ones, but, what do I know.
I don't have stamps or anything else I need to do this, I do everything over the 'Net, but it rings true - and the address being Walter Reed gives me sufficient confidence it's legit.
Thanks, again, Barb, heh. I'll get out there today and give this a shot!
Maybe if the wounded have access to computers, they will learn about us, come here, and realize they're respected and not alone.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/09/2004 16:35
Comments ||
Top||
#9
Not to pass the buck but the major telcos really should be stepping up and offering free calls to these soldiers. The cost to the carriers is next to nil anyway.
I've emailed the PR folks and corporate foundation types at Verizon and SBC. Let's hope they step up.
#10
# 9 correct. Several phone carriers open up there lines to those in the military to CALL HOME
for FREE. You may also contact Radio stations
as they make public service announcements between music request's for any soldier. As a matter of fact I heard one last night from a Natioanl Guard Member who is in Iraq being sent to a family member in Boston. Many can call over the internet as well. I will send a couple phone card's to Walter Reed. I'm a giver NOT a taker.
Andrea Jackson
Posted by: Andrea Jackson ||
12/09/2004 19:13
Comments ||
Top||
#11
...the hell? I've never paid long distance charges since the day I bought my cell phone! There's got to be some way of getting some cell phones to these guys--like a central hospital pool of phones they can share--so they can call anywhere nationwide without incurring LD charges. With Sprint, I have unlimited calls on weekday nights after 7pm and all day on weekends and holidays with no LD charges, and that's only one of the smaller $30/month plans (there are probably cheaper plans as well). That's early enough in the evening for plenty of quality chat time on the east coast, and with Walter Reed being in the EST that works fine all night long for soldiers calling their relatives back west as necessary.
If we could donate to a fund for such a cell phone pool it'd save tons o' $$$ in the long run over the pre-paid LD cards.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/09/2004 19:46
Comments ||
Top||
#12
Bingo. Long distance is almost costless. Phone cards are the wrong way to go.
#13
You are correct, but who is going to police all the cell phone usage ?? The short staffed nurse's?? What about stealing cell phones??
I can picture that happening. I think calling card's are the safest way. Let the radio stations know and allow some air time for our soldier's. Our local T.V. station in Springfield Mass gives air time as well. I think the FOX network does this as well.
ANdrea Jackson
Posted by: Andrea Jackson ||
12/09/2004 20:39
Comments ||
Top||
#14
Andrea--Picture this: you want a phone, you check it out using your military ID, or more preferably a credit card. It's available after 7pm and must be returned by, oh, say, midnight. Calls are free between those hours, so abuse can't take place. Lose the phone, you're billed for it and any overage charges--unless you notify the center immediately so they can contact the provider and remove the phone from service. Then you're just billed for the phone.
A limited number of phones would likely be in demand, so a signout sheet can be used to reserve a phone for some future evening. Then it's yours for the evening, or less if you want to return it early.
Yeah, it'd take more organization and effort than handing out long distance cards, but it's not all that complicated. Any volunteer or candy-striper could handle this and probably enjoy it--you'd be pretty popular handing out phones for making free long distance calls.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/09/2004 21:08
Comments ||
Top||
#15
hey Dar- go to hell! How many in a hospital have a credit card available? The dog will eat the sign out sheet- volunteers are NOT plentiful.
I suggest you call someone who cares! Not this gal** Good night you are giving me a headache
with your rhetoric!!
Andrea Jackson
Posted by: Andrea Jackson ||
12/09/2004 21:18
Comments ||
Top||
Iraq's majority Shiite Muslims have announced a broadly-based alliance ahead of next month's key elections, which is backed by their highest religious leader but excludes radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Sucks to be you, Tater. And you could have been a contender
"It contains parties and political currents as well as independent figures of different confessions and ethnic groups and takes into consideration the demographic and geographic balance in Iraq," Dawa's Ali Adib said. The list also contains Sunnis, Yazidis, and Faili (Shiite) Kurds. Iraqis are to elect 275 members of a national assembly in the vote planned for January 30, the country's first free and multi-party polls in half a century. Representatives of Iraq's influential Shiite religious organisations have vehemently opposed calls by some parties for the vote to be postponed over security concerns. Ayatollah Sistani is one of the most powerful and popular figures in the country and commentators say any list endorsed by him should stand a good chance in the polls.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/09/2004
12:09:02 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
maybe Sadr asked for too many, and too highly placed spots on the list? This happens all the time in prop rep countries like Israel. OTOH, the other post implies Sadr IS supporting this list. Why? Too late to run his own? Still trying to stay in Sistanis good graces for now, but ready to call it all illegitimate later? Sadrs playing games, but im not sure exactly which ones.
Posted by: Bismarck ||
12/09/2004 13:49
Comments ||
Top||
#4
I would not say that Sistani is da man, but I will say that Tater is lucky not to have taken a load of lead pills, after being so incredibly stupid with his Army of Tater Tots. Sistani must feel that the best way to deal with Tater is to keep him alive and to rub his nose in the dirt at any time he can. Tater off the List is a great start.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/09/2004 16:18
Comments ||
Top||
Taken from the writings of Rachel Corrie
MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE
Directed by Alan Rickman
07 April 2005 - 30 April 2005
Evening Performances - Monday — Saturday 7.45pm
Saturday Matinees - 16, 23, 30 April 4pm
Press night(s) - Thursday 14, Friday 15 April 7pm
Why did a 23-year-old woman leave her comfortable American life to stand between a bulldozer and a weapons smuggling tunnel Palestinian home?
The short life and sudden death of Rachel Corrie, and the words she left behind.
MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE has been developed by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner, in collaboration with the Royal Court International Department. With the kind permission of Rachel Corrie's family only because it furthers the lie.
Cast: Megan Dodds.
Come one, come all. Donations of maple syrup are accepted at the door.
Posted by: Korora ||
12/09/2004
12:03:47 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[14 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
My name is Rachel Corrie. I am a pancake now because I am stupid. I thought I wuz stronger than a bulldozer, but I guess I wuznt. Oh well, at least I am good with syrup now.
#3
You know, there are a few things in life that you must find out about, "the hard way". Like those curious little holes in the wall, where your mother plugged things in, when you were a little kid. It's pretty much of an accepted fact, that every kid will sooner or later stick something metal in the electrical outlet, and shock himself/herself. But, learning a VERY valuable lesson.
That being said..... Standing in front of the "business end" of a bulldozer that ain't stoppin', is NOT one of those things that you have to experience to know NOT to do it. You can pretty well bet that you're going to end up a greasy spot on the road. Man,....if you play with fire, you're going to get burned.
#6
The short life and sudden death of Rachel Corrie
Hopefully the play is as short and sudden . Dunno how they gonna fit a bulldozer on the stage though . Health and Safety Executive would have a field day over here in England :P
#7
is she related to edward arlington robinson's richard corey--both outwardly admired--both verry daid
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
12/09/2004 1:54
Comments ||
Top||
#8
"Hi, Rachel, my name is Bull, Bull Dozer. May I call you 'Pancake?'"
Posted by: Mike ||
12/09/2004 6:08
Comments ||
Top||
#9
Natural Selection continues apace..
Posted by: Howard UK ||
12/09/2004 6:45
Comments ||
Top||
#10
If Rachel Corrie had lived during the Nazi era she would fit right in with the worst of them.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
12/09/2004 8:07
Comments ||
Top||
#11
A friend saw it. Said it left her flat.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004 8:14
Comments ||
Top||
#12
Mrs D - add *rimshot*
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/09/2004 8:18
Comments ||
Top||
#13
Liberals should borrow from the Catholic Church and have their own saints and feast days. I forsee:
Big breakfast get-togethers on St. Rachel-Corrie-the-Pancake Day.
Dress down on St. Michael Moore Day.
Turned-up collars and frizzy hair on St. Tuh-Ray-Zuh Day.
A Halloween-type theme on St. sKerry Day.
Underwater swimming events on St. Teddy Day.
I don't even want to contemplate what happens on St. Slick-Willie-the-Bubba Day.
Posted by: Tom ||
12/09/2004 8:18
Comments ||
Top||
#14
bobbing for bananas apples
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/09/2004 8:20
Comments ||
Top||
#15
"Why did a 23-year-old woman leave...."Short answer=stupid,dumb-ass c%^nt.(apollogy to all the brilliant,level-headed women here.not a word I like to use)
Rachel Corrie went to Palestine
to free the Arab mob,
burning flags and sleeping round
and acting like a yob.
She sought to save the pimps and punks
and generate a sob,
but a D-9 ended that.
[chorus]
Rachel Corrie got run over,
Rachel Corrie got run over,
Rachel Corrie got run over,
a D-9 ended that.
She climbed atop a mound of dirt
to stop the dreaded foe.
Her heart was full of hubris
her enemy named Moe.
The D-9 was large and loud
and so she turned to go
but a D-9 ended that.
[chorus]
Now Rachel lies flattened
beneath the Army tread.
Her pimps and pushers honor her
repeating what she said.
But nothing makes up for the fact
that she's really, really dead.
A D-9 ended that.
#17
Horst Wessel was born September 9, 1907, in Bielefeld, Germany. Wessel dropped out of law school and defied his mother by joining the Nazis, becoming an SA storm trooper. He lived in a Berlin slum with a former prostitute. On February 23, 1930, someone (different accounts say it was a political enemy, the woman's former boyfriend, or perhaps her pimp) broke into Wessel's apartment and mortally wounded him.
Joseph Goebbels, the Nazis' propaganda chief, claimed Wessel was murdered by a Communist, and made him a martyr in the party's struggle with their Communist opponents. Wessel was given an elaborate funeral, which was interrupted by stone-throwing Communists. The murder and reaction helped turn public opinion in favor of the Nazis and against the Communists.
A poem Wessel had written was put to music and became the marching song of the SA and later the official song of the Nazi Party and unofficial national anthem of Germany.
The Sage continues with a new name and a new mythology.
Posted by: Don ||
12/09/2004 9:29
Comments ||
Top||
#18
sorry, meant Saga continues...
Posted by: Don ||
12/09/2004 9:46
Comments ||
Top||
#19
The actress they got doesn't even look like her. They'll need lots of Pancake.
#22
Hi, my name is Rachel Corrie and I am an idiotarian.
In fact she was more than that. She didn't go to Tibet, she didn't go to Saddam's Iraq, she didn't go to Sudan. She didn't went into any of the hellholes where people are killed in droves, she wasn't for relieving those wgo really suffer. She went to the fashionable, the thing who got you media exposure, she didn't mind to help babykillers and that means whe was a babykiller too. She was repugnant, utterly repugnant.
#23
Sage words from you all. Chuck, love the lyrics! Raptor, sometimes only strong words suffice,and I'm sure the brilliant Rantburg ladies will forgive you. I do, too ;-) Darn it, Seafarious, did you have to mention Galaxy Quest? Its one of the few movies we actually own! I really wish those who work in the entertainment fields would accept that we only want them for their bodies artistic abilities, and stop pretending that anyone cares what they think!
#24
I really wish those who work in the entertainment fields would accept that we only want them for their artistic abilities, and stop pretending that anyone cares what they think!
I care. Keep yapping, useful idiots. You can't buy publicity this good.
Posted by: Karl Rove ||
12/09/2004 15:28
Comments ||
Top||
#25
Raptor-No worries-no offense. Occasionally, not often, I've seen much worse on this site, and in those instances being offensive has nothing to do with using profanity.
She's just one in a long line of moron martyrs.
Last night on Cspan there was an absolutely sickening panel talking about how we're all supposed to just plunge on ahead with Palestinian negotiations, ignoring suicide bombings that take place during the process.
OK-so let's see-you have an enraged, self-victimizing culture that is going to enter negotiations to see a Palestinian state delivered.
Conditions:
If you bomb, you get your country
If you don't bomb, you get your country
If you're angry and violent already, what incentive do you have to stop killing Israelis if you get a country either way?
Honestly, you would think the people charged with moving the peace process ahead haven't learned even the most basic facts about human nature and basic motivational techniques.
#26
Don't laugh at 2 space. Rachel "the Bird" Corrie has adapted well to Flatland but was last seen teasing a Frank J 2 space Catepillar. If she gets run over here I guess she becomes a segment of our imagination.
MADRID- A Syrian and an Egyptian suspected of having links with the group that carried out the deadly Madrid train bomb attacks in March have been arrested in Spain, the interior ministry announced. The ministry named the pair as 29-year-old Syrian Adman Waki and Ahmed Ibrahim Kassem, a 28-year-old Egyptian. News reports had earlier mistakenly identified Kassem as being Algerian.
Easy mistake to make, they're both North Africans, right?
According to a report by the Spanish daily El Pais, investigators regard Waki as a key suspect and say he may have used one of the mobile phones also used by Serhane Ben Abdelmajid Fakhet, a Tunisian suspected of having had a key-role in the Madrid bombings.
This is getting as bad as the Cole bombing. Is there anyone in Spain who isn't a "key" suspect?
Fakhet, known as "The Tunisian", and six other members of the group blew themselves up during a police raid in the suburbs of Madrid in April following the attacks, in which 191 people died and 1,900 were wounded in the worst ever terrorist strike on Spain. Waki has been under police surveillance for several months by Spanish secret service agents, according to El Pais. He has allegedly made several trips abroad, notably within Europe, during which he apparently raised funds for an Islamic terrorist network. Working as a mason he was based in Irun, in the north-eastern Basque region of the country, where the arrests were made. Kassem, detained alongside Waki, also lives in the Basque region, El Pais said, without giving further details.
But the Basques were not involved in any way, the Socialists said so.
In a further development this week regarding the 11 March blasts another key suspect, Rabei Ousmane Sayed Ahmed, was Wednesday remanded in custody and sent to a jail on the outskirts of Madrid after Italian officials handed him over Tuesday night. Spain wants to try Ahmed, nicknamed Mohammed the Egyptian, whom Italian authorities arrested on June 8 in Milan, on charges of multiple homicide and possession of explosives. In the first trial relating to the attacks, a Spanish national aged 16 was convicted last month for his involvement in the bombings. Nineteen suspects are now being detained in Spain over the atrocity.
All of them "key".
Posted by: Steve ||
12/09/2004
11:39:13 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Adman Waki...didn't he write copy for the VW account at BBD&O?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004 16:56
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Nice one, Mrs D! Now you're batting two for four.
THE brother of an Australian terrorist suspect detained in Lebanon has been arrested in Iraq by a Kurdish political organisation. Ahmad Jamal, 22, from Sydney, has been detained by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in northern Iraq, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said today. The department was notified of his detention by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
"Consular officials in Baghdad have spoken to PUK officials and continue to press for confirmation of his detention and its legal basis," a DFAT spokesman said. "Our efforts to date have been unsuccessful and we're following up with (Red Cross) officials to obtain further information. We're doing that through our consular official Amman in Jordan."
It was not known when the man was detained, the spokesman said. The Daily Telegraph reports his father has said Ahmad was arrested over confusion with his identification. Ahmad Jamal is the brother of Saleh Jamal who was arrested six months ago in Lebanon after skipping bail in Sydney on charges of shooting up the Lakemba police station in 1998. Lebanese officials claim Saleh Jamal has links to the most wanted terrorist in Iraq, Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Two North Korean diplomats have been detained by Turkish authorities on charges of drug smuggling, the Associated Press reported yesterday from Istanbul. The North Korean diplomats, based on Bulgaria, were arrested after a raid on Sunday in Istanbul, according to Turkish police. The diplomats were suspected of smuggling hundreds of thousands of narcotic pills into the country.
The North Koreans are accused of smuggling fenethylline, a synthetic drug more commonly known as Captagon, from Bulgaria, a police source was quoted by AP. They were attempting to deliver the drugs to two Turks who were also arrested. According to the AP report, a photo of their confiscated car appeared in yesterday's edition of the Turkish newspaper, Milliyet. The car reportedly had diplomatic license plates. Turkish authorities reportedly investigated the case for six months. It remains unclear how Turkey will deal with the North Koreans. Turkey has diplomatic relations with the North, but there is no North Korean embassy in Istanbul.
North Korean diplomats have been detained in various places around the world on drug trafficking charges in the past. Pyeongyang uses its diplomats for drug smuggling operations to raise hard currency, largely aimed at funding its military operations, according to testimony of defectors.
"State-owned assets, particularly ships, have been used to facilitate and support international drug trafficking ventures," the report said.
Posted by: RWV ||
12/09/2004
11:30:57 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun made a surprise visit to his troops in northern Iraq on his way home from a European tour. Lee Byung-Wan, senior presidential secretary for public relations, said the visit had been kept secret for security reasons. "President Roh Moo-Hyun has just concluded a visit to the Zaitun (South Korean military) unit in Arbil, Iraq, on his way back home from Paris," Lee told reporters. South Korean media pool reports from Iraq said Roh, wearing an army jacket, had meals and chats with troops during his 120-minute stay. "Thank you all so much. It may be a short meeting, but it is such a happy time," he was quoted as telling the soldiers at a mess hall. "I'm so proud of you."
#5
This will give them a little experience in peace keeping in a hostile overthrown country, that'll help when they have to move into North Korea. I'm surprised the Norks haven't figured that out yet.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/09/2004 13:12
Comments ||
Top||
Congress' new blueprint for U.S. intelligence spending includes a mysterious and expensive spy program that drew extraordinary criticism from leading Democrats, with one saying the highly classified project is a threat to national security. In an unusual rebuke, Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, the senior Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, complained Wednesday that the spy project was "totally unjustified and very, very wasteful and dangerous to the national security." He called the program "stunningly expensive." Rockefeller and three other Democratic senators _ Richard Durbin of Illinois, Carl Levin of Michigan and Ron Wyden of Oregon _ refused to sign the congressional compromise negotiated by others in the House and Senate that provides for future U.S. intelligence activities. The compromise noted that the four senators believed the mystery program was unnecessary and its cost unjustified and that "they believe that the funds for this item should be expended on other intelligence programs that will make a surer and greater contribution to national security."
"We can't tell you anything about it, but it's evil. Trust us!"
Each senator _ and more than two dozen current and former U.S. officials contacted by The Associated Press _ declined to further describe or identify the disputed program, citing its classified nature. Thirteen other senators on the Intelligence Committee and all their counterparts in the House approved the compromise. Despite objections from some in the Senate, Congress has approved the program for the last two years, Rockefeller said.
So it's a old program?
The Senate voted Wednesday night to send the legislation to President Bush. The bill is separate from the intelligence overhaul legislation that also won final congressional approval Wednesday.
Ah, so this is different bill than the one the 9-11 Commission jammed down our throats
The rare criticisms of a highly secretive project in such a public forum intrigued outside intelligence experts, who said the program was almost certainly a spy satellite system, perhaps with technology to destroy potential attackers.
It's the space-based Zionist Death Ray! I was hoping that would be funded this year.
They cited tantalizing hints in Rockefeller's remarks, such as the program's enormous expense and its alleged danger to national security. First the Dhimmicrats make it a national scandle that the 9/11 commision recommendations aren't passed. Then they whine when it is passed because it includes things they lost on in a majority vote. They sound like all whiners all the time. They need to start doing something positive or they will get as much attention as a 5 year old whiner. snip
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004
11:30:21 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Not being privy to the details, I have to rely upon the signs and tell-tales...
If Rockefeller *spit* and Levin *gag* are against it - charter members of The Utterly Partisan Self-Serving TV-Interview-Hound Assholes Union, well - that prolly means it's a good thing. These buttwipes would give away the intel farm to our enemies for a favorable interview and some political points.
#3
Called positioning, I believe. They know they are cannot stop the bill so they make an issue of an obsure clause so that down the road a few years when there is a screw-up they can jump up and say "We told you so".
Posted by: john ||
12/09/2004 15:50
Comments ||
Top||
#4
The only thing hazardous to national security is the self serving politicos in the democratic party. While I enjoy the self destruction taking place, it is not good in the long term to have a country that can only rely on one party for national security.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
12/09/2004 20:47
Comments ||
Top||
Defense Minister Raul Castro said the reason Cuba plans to hold a series of defense exercises for the general population is so the United States will see it shouldn't dare attack the communist country. The exercises are "for (the United States) to observe closely, so it doesn't make the same mistakes it made in Vietnam and is now making in Iraq," Castro, the younger brother of Cuban President Fidel Castro, told Cuban media Tuesday. The exercises, to be held Dec. 13 to 19, are aimed at evaluating how prepared Cuban society is to face possible military action against Cuba during a second term by U.S. President George W. Bush.
Right. We wouldn't dare. Attack Cuba. Heh. I'm sure that, given the ferocity of the Cuban military and the impregnable fortifications that'd be arrayed against us, it'd take us at least an afternoon to dismantle the regime.
QUAGMIRE!
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2004
11:24:26 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Sorry Raul we already have enough welfare recipients in Perto Rico. Taking on your whole population as well after they kill you and the rest of your family will have to be left to someone else.
Why Invade a target small enough to nuke from orbit anyhow?
#2
Hmmm. Those exercises sound expensive. Require a lot of planning, stopping regular work, fuel, etc. Sounds like it'll put a nice little (extra) strain on Cuban society. Let's keep them on their toes. Stage a counter exercise. Make'em drill, train and maneuver as much as possible. You know they cannot afford the logistics required. The Castros will crumble.
Posted by: John in Tokyo ||
12/09/2004 3:44
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Then there's the issue of the Brutal Cuban SummerTM we have to take into consideration. Are our Humvees air-conditioned?
#4
If the descriptions of the Hispanic/LatinBlogs are accurate, CUBA is well on its way to becoming another NORTH KOREA [the starving Cannibal one]in about 10-15 years. Its getting harder and harder to find, buy, or grow domestic foodstuffs, while many small towns in Cuba suffer from prolonged and getting longer outages of water and power. CASTRO and his own, however, have it made as usual, like KIM and KIM 2 - inevitably, HAVANA and other Party/Casto-controlled cities will not escape. FIDEL WON'T CARE BECAUSE HE'LL LIKELY BE DEAD BY THEN. It amazes me - despite knowing that Socialism and Communism are abject failures, and that under OWG and SWO their nations will never be anything except glorified slave states to RUSSIA-CHINA the former are STILL fighting for their right to as such, and to REMAIN PERENNIALLY MINOR/BACKWARD NATIONS WHILE DEMANDING TO BE UNCONDITIONALLY OR ASYMMTERICALLY $$$ SUPP BY THE WORLD COMMUNITY, ESPEC THE USA.
#5
Fidel also has the Chicoms in PANAMA CANAL as well as in HAITI ags PUERTO RICO and British Commonwealth states. The anti-American LeftMedias and Leftperts are NOT reporting that every potential US/Western ally around the world is surrounded by at least two anti-American andor Communist entities, all while US/Allied milfors are diverted fighting Radical Islam, Bill Clinton's "THIRD WAY", aka THIRD PARTY ALIBISTS.
The FBI searched offices of a prominent public relations firm Tuesday, looking for information about its client Saudi Arabia, law enforcement sources said. The firm, Qorvis Communications LLC, which was founded in 2000, bills itself as providing "communications for Wall Street, Main Street and K Street." Qorvis has offices in the District and Tysons Corner, and its clients also include Time Warner Inc. and the Urban League. The FBI searched three of the firm's offices Tuesday afternoon, sources said. Agents delivered subpoenas at a fourth Qorvis office.
Michael Mason, head of the FBI's Washington field office, declined yesterday to characterize the nature of the investigation or identify the places that were searched. "We did execute searches at three locations," he said. Officials at the U.S. attorney's office in Washington said the case is under seal and would not reveal details. "The raids are in conjunction with an ongoing investigation and therefore it would be inappropriate for me to comment," said Channing Phillips, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Washington. Qorvis said the company understood that the government is conducting a "compliance inquiry" under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Under that law, the government keeps track of the lobbying activities of foreign governments and their representatives. The rigorous registration and reporting system is overseen by the Justice Department. Saudi Arabia is the only foreign government on Qorvis's client list. "Qorvis has fully complied with this registration statute and we feel confident this will be resolved favorably," the company said hopefully. Violations of the law have been prosecuted only a handful of times since it was passed in 1938. But at least two recent cases have been filed involving Iraq.
In January, Khaled Abdel-Latif Dumeisi, former publisher of an Arabic newspaper in suburban Chicago, was convicted of failing to register as a foreign agent for Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. Dumeisi was sentenced in March to 46 months in prison on those and other charges.
Like providing Saddam with information on Iraqi exiles in the US.
Susan P. Lindauer, a Takoma Park antiwar activist, has been charged under the law and accused of accepting cash from Iraqi intelligence agents. She has denied wrongdoing. A Justice Department report on the law provided a window into the company's activities. It stated that the Saudi Arabian Embassy paid Qorvis $14.6 million for a six-month period, ending Dec. 31, 2002, for lobbying and public relations, including the distribution of material "to promote public awareness" of Saudi Arabia's "commitment in the war against terrorism and to peace in the Middle East," the report said.
Pushing the "Islam is a religion of peace" message.
On behalf of Saudi Arabia, Qorvis also contacted the media, congressional staff members and Bush administration officials to discuss Middle East issues, child abduction and a communications strategy for the crown prince's visit with President Bush, the document said.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/09/2004
1:12:34 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I love it. Political Reality 101. Folks, compared to every President who has gone before him, only Dubya has had the balls to investigate the Saudis, to turn on the lights, to challenge the smarmy oil-tick routine with which they have underminded every attempt to force them to be honest brokers. This is yet another in-your-face example that Bush has ended the lap-dog / feathered-nest norm. The Special Relationship is on the rocks. Stop the bribe game, find the links to prove terror-enabling activities, call a spade a spade publicly, then declare them what we all know them to be: enemies of Freedom. Then, and only then, are we free to treat them as antagonists and enemies.
The hue and cry from inside the Beltway will be deafening. Every swinging dick on the payroll, and it's longer than even we can imagine, will be out to scuttle Bush and the effort to shine a light on this big fucking rat living in America's kitchen. Say what you will, complain he doesn't move fast enough, bitch that you want what you want now - there's never been anyone before Bush who wasn't a total wimp regards the Saudis. I like the fact that Bush has proven he is a different breed of President and he's finally started the process of outting these cretinous back-stabbing assholes.
The Republic of Eastern Arabia takes one more step toward reality.
#2
What .com said. This seems to be a truly major step. Every Republican admin before him-- most egregiously his own father's-- has offered up its leading national security figures to pimp for the House of Saud. And Wall Street isn't much better. Citigroup owes its survival to Sheik Al Waleed.
Long past time we weaned Washington and Wall Street off of the Saudi crack pipe.
#3
I agree with lex and .com except that I think W will pull it off without Bandar's Beltway Buddies being able to say or do much about it. And the Republicans will pick up seats in the House to boot. That's just the way W works. And as for 41, all I know is that's where 43 apprenticed and he obviously learned the lessons well. Perhaps he had a mentor?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004 14:57
Comments ||
Top||
#4
lex - I totally agree about 41 - he was the worst sort of apologist, IMHO.
Mrs D - I've got my fingers crossed... I'd love to see it go the way you describe because it would accelerate the process dramatically, despite the MSM efforts to derail it which will come just as surely as there are little green apples. I dunno who mentored Dubya, but he has utterly shit-canned Daddy's approach and agenda - to our benefit. 9/11 certainly did much (most?) of it and it amazed the hell out of me. Made me a believer - I thought him a lightweight before he made his stand and turned his admin 90 deg with one speech from Ground Zero. Phreakin' wow! And he hasn't disappointed me in direction since, only in speed of action. I wish to hell I knew everything he does so I could understand the whys and whos and whats when he goes slow... but I trust him, and his team, now. I can't recall the last time I felt that way about our leaders, either.
Posted by: too true ||
12/09/2004 15:30
Comments ||
Top||
#6
How about we give Ambassador Bandar a one-way ticket home? Would send huge shocking signals to Royals. Would be akin to Reagan (just after his inauguration) making Soviet ambassador use the front entrance to Foggy Bottom while visiting our diplos. Dobrynin couldn't use the garage entrance, which he preferred, apparently. The front door please, just like the ambassodors from NATO, etc.
How else to let Royals know that they've had since 9/11 to get their stuff together, but all we get is mixed signals. Saudi clerics wanting martyrs to go to Fallujah; Former Mutawwa attacking our consulate; Naif is still Min of Interior. If they don't play ball, we just may have to contact a few Royals who see things our way. I know, easier said than done, but still...
Posted by: chicago mike ||
12/09/2004 16:23
Comments ||
Top||
#7
Take down the Taliban, Saddam, Arafart. Next stop, Boy Assad and the mullahs. Then purge CIA and purge the K Street of the Bandar-Scowcroft-Baker Bandits. And finally, take down the MSM.
#10
Condi wants to be a commish - don't recall if it's the NBA or NFL... come to think of it, I don't think she specified if it was to be before or after her 2 Presidential terms, either. Prolly after.
A 500-pound wildebeest kept with other exotic animals on a northern Indiana farm trampled its owner to death, police said. It was unclear what caused the animal, an African antelope also known as a gnu, to attack Klaus "Dick" Radandt, 64, Sunday in the barnyard behind his home about 10 miles southwest of South Bend. The coroner said the male animal apparently repeatedly rammed Radandt and then trampled him. The man's wife found him lying on the ground; paramedics were unable to revive him. The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the chest and head. The wildebeest's horns, which grow large and curved, had been cut to the nubs, police said. St. Joseph County Police Cpl. Steven Shively said the couple own three wildebeests and several other exotic animals, including ostriches, emus, reindeer and llamas.
Now he's pwned by the wildebeest.
Damn. I hate it when that happens to me.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2004
11:17:38 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
If he only knew what the gnu knew.....
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/09/2004 0:20
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Them Wildebeest is bad animals. Hunters with big-bore rifles fear them, with good reason.
#9
Again, it is a wild animal ~~WILD. Did Roy Horn ever think his "tame" tiger would almost kill him?? Same goes for a shark, snake, whale
etc. The Family dog could turn on an owner.
Andrea
Posted by: Andrea Jackson ||
12/09/2004 20:10
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Success has a thousand fathers, failure is an orphan.
Posted by: Don ||
12/09/2004 9:43
Comments ||
Top||
#4
I beleive Henry Kissinger said we have no permanent friends, or permanent enemies, only permanent interests. And he was talking about North Viet Nam, USSR and China, when thinking of permanent enemies. France is no permanent enemy - when our interests coincide, as they will from time to time, we should work together. When they do not, we should move forward without worrying about it.
#5
Neither is France an ally. And in the middle east, they firmly believe that their interests lie with the fascists, mullahs and other anti-American movements. Why keep them in NATO?
France is an ally. But not in the sense that the media use the word ally - to mean friend. We - and most other countries - have very few friends. Among them are the UK and Australia. The rest are just allies in one context or another. The literal meaning of ally is what Rumsfeld called the coalition of the willing. But the media has confused it to mean something completely different.
#7
An ally honors its treaty obligations. France opposed passage of our troops and materiel from Europe to Iraq. France is opposing training of Iraqi soldiers by NATO. Top French military commanders passed information to Serbian thugs during the Bosnian campaign. France is also doing everything in its power to piss on the Allawi government, given that, as PM Raffarin said to Le Figaro's editors, "the Iraqi 'resistance' are our best allies.'"
NATO obligations have to do with expelling invading armies. It's not clear what either Afghanistan or Iraq have to do with that, being punitive expeditions.
#9
Moving from legalese to the spirit behind an alliance: Do you think the French consider themselves our ally? I've never met a Frenchman who seriously believes that they are. The formalities of NATO cannot hide the fact that France considers the US hyperpuissance the number one worldwide threat to French interests, integrity and independence.
Bottom line is it's better to have them in the tent pissing out than outside pissing in, inspite of the fact that it sometimes seems hard to tell the difference.
The betrayal in the Balkins showed everybody exactly where we both stand. And recent posts indicate we learned the lesson.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004 11:04
Comments ||
Top||
#12
Eh, I think the choice is between having them outside the tent pissing in or inside the tent pissing in pseudo-random directions. At least in the latter case, sometimes they're not pissing on us.
#13
When France is around there is always a puddle of pee at the base of the wall tent. We do not know if France was pissing on the inside or the outside of the tent. We just know that they pissed on the tent and left a mess there.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/09/2004 11:18
Comments ||
Top||
#14
Not to get pedantic, ZF-- and I promise not to pull an Aris and pursue this further-- but wasn't NATO's Article 5 invoked re Afghanistan?
#15
it was invoked re 9/11, and assistance rendered such as flying Radar planes in CONUS was done under article 5. Euro comnbat forces in Afghanistan, who joined in ousting the Taliban, did so OUTSIDE Nato command, and as "coalition of the willing" INCLUDING France. NATO later took over ISAF, which primarily patrols Kabul.
#16
France in the Middle East - their ambassador was actually making nicey-nice in Israel the other day - France is interested in INFLUENCE in the mideast, to the extent that a total diplo boycott of Israel reduces their ability to play a role, and thus reduces their INFLUENCE, they will withdraw from that. Their principle ties are with "moderate" secularist regimes in the region, notably Algeria. Playing with the Iranians, while a useful tool to tweak the US and Israel, ultimately endangers their other relations in the arab world, if take too far. Even in the Mideast, the region where their interests are the most different from our own, their game is subtle.
And of course what there game is GLOBALLY is not settled. I dont think Sarkozy is the messiah, as far as franco-US relations, but I dont think he will pursue Chiracs priorities, either.
#18
Contracts are the real goal, indeed. "Influence" is a means to that end. France's main fear is of economic strangulation by American-led capitalism. Their foreign policy is above all mercantilist, designed to hoard as much industrial production and jobs as possible in France.
What should we use to judge them, Kofi? Forced conversions? Honor killings? Their propensity for intolerance? Their propensity for either tin-hat dictators or rule by holy men? Dropping brick walls on homosexuals? Slavery? Genital mutilation? How about the elevated status of women in Islam as a whole? None of those are acts of terrorism per se. Instead, they're the cultural background that gives rise to terrorism's henchmen.
Like I say, if the fear's justified, it's not a phobia. I don't have a rabid dog phobia, but I'm afraid of rabid dogs.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2004
10:58:21 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[12 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Right. I guess Kofi is looking for a new income source to make up for the oil for food thing which has dried up.
#2
I don't have anything else to judge them by. Every thing I hear or see about them is not good. Of all the many religions of the world including satanism, Islam is the only one I know of which says that I must consider myself inferior to a muslim, convert or die. It's a religion born of war and murder as far as I can tell. Oh yes I forgot I am supposed to believe it's a religion of peace. They must mean the peace of the dead.
Sorry Kofi I don't trust them anymore than I trust you.
#6
SPOD...Of all the many religions of the world including satanism,
It is really a sad statement that Islam - a religion that is practiced by billions of good people (yes, I mean that), is far more deadly and evil than Satanism.
#7
This is from Scrappleface, right? How about a seminar on anti-semitism? How about a seminar discussing how Islam might enter the modern world and stop making war upon every one of its neighbors from Nigeria to Holland to Russia to Indonesia?
#8
Kofi's plagiarizing himself. This speech is almost identical to the speech he gave saying we shouldn't judge UN leaders by the amount of money they've stolen.
In Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," Tiny Tim delivers one of the famed lines in literature: "God bless us, every one!" Along with "Bah, humbug," it's the story's signature. There's the Christmas setting along with some allusions to Christian ideals, but Tiny Tim's blessing is the tale's most overt reference to religion. Yet that was too much for Lake Washington High School in Kirkland. Students were to see a staging of Dickens' story on Dec. 17, but the principal has canceled it, in part because it raised the issue of religion in the public schools. Ah, it's that special time of year, when the spirit of the season is more about offending no one than celebrating anything.
Except that I think you've got that backward: it's about offending as many people as possible to demonstrate how much more virtuous the offenders are.
Schools and libraries ban Christmas trees. Holiday concerts replace Handel's "Messiah" with bland numbers such as "Frosty the Snowman." This year the controversy has boiled over in New Jersey, where a school banned religious carols. In Denver, people were barred from singing hymns in a parade. And in Italy, a teacher told Muslim students to replace the word "Jesus" with "virtue" if it helped them sing a Christmas carol. The motivation is always well-meaning: to keep religion from distressing anyone in the diverse public square.
Nope. Sorry. I just don't buy that the motivation is well-meaning. See my comments above. As a practicing agnostic, I find the actions offensive and small-souled. I don't consider myself sufficiently superior to my fellow citizens to demand that they stop doing what they like to do because it might offend me in some way. In fact, I fall pretty comfortably into the Christmas spirit. Our house has two Christmas trees, one in the living room and one in the family room, plus a wreath on the door. We send Christmas cards and I enjoy Christmas carols, though after hearing them every day for a month I'm usually ready to listen to something else come the day after Christmas. We took 2-year-old Titus to see the Polar Express and I found it charming. We'll watch It's a Wonderful Life and I'll get choked up (unlike La Dowd). You don't have to be a Christian to do any of that.
As a secularist and agnostic who doesn't subscribe to any particular religious doctrine, it's a goal I support.
Even as a secularist and an agnostic, I don't. It's not my place to tell other what to do. I'm not in charge, and even if I was, I wouldn't.
But even a lifelong doubter like me can see that something crucial is being lost, especially in the schools. If kids can't see a Charles Dickens play, hasn't the cause of separating church and state gone too far?
Demonstrably so. Let a hundred flowers bloom, as an old atheist once ordered...
Dickens said "A Christmas Carol" was nothing more than a "ghostly little book." With its apparitions of hope and death, it's more supernatural morality tale than religious dogma. He hated the institution of his Christian faith, the Church of England. He's considered the father of the modern secular Christmas, in which many of us celebrate with friends and family instead of attending a church service. Yes, the work has Christian themes. So what? The students can handle it. They might even learn something — about Christianity, or redemption. Or about good storytelling. Banning "A Christmas Carol" because it says too much about religion is like banning "A Catcher in the Rye" because it says too much about adolescence. And that goes for much of the rest of this seasonal controversy. We fall all over ourselves to keep religion from the schools. Yet a major gap in my public education was the lack of religion in the schools. I learned a lot about math and science and literature, and literally nothing about the belief systems of billions of the world's people — an educational hole as stunning as if they'd decided not to teach, say, world history. The schools say they walk a fine line. Religious holidays can be taught, not observed. If Charles Dickens is over that line, then I don't have much faith today's kids are learning any more about religion than I did.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2004
10:39:41 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Schools and libraries ban Christmas trees
Yes I can understand the sentiment. At this time of the year, a street corner close to where I live used to be the home of a tall, beautifully decorated Christmas tree. This year they have replaced it with a tall, colorful, sparkling...rocket or something, I have no idea what it is.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/09/2004 0:50
Comments ||
Top||
#2
I learned a lot about math and science and literature, and literally nothing about the belief systems of billions of the world's people â an educational hole as stunning as if they'd decided not to teach, say, world history.
One of the better classes I took in college was a comparative religions course. Then again, I went to a Catholic college that wasn't run by the weenies who are out banning Christmas carols.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/09/2004 1:57
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Amen Fred. Your self description fits me to a tee.
I love everything about Christmas and though I don't believe in God or Jesus; the underlying principles are the basis of much that is good in Western civilization. I've yet to hear the Christmas carol that says kill the infidels, not even kill the Democrats.
#4
Christmas trees are Pagan. This seems like discrimination agains Pagans. And wreaths. Don't get me started on them too.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004 11:24
Comments ||
Top||
#5
Count me in. My Jewish by choice elder daughter told me yesterday that decorating the Christmas tree with her father (its his holiday, so I play the support role and get the ornaments out of the box) is her favourite part of Christmas -- better even than getting presents. And while there is a lot of lovely music in the Jewish repertoire, Hanukkah songs are just that, and no match for Handel's Messiah, or even Silent Night. Some people choose to be hypersensitive.
#6
Administration of Lake Washington High School in Kirkland, WA.
This guy doesn't know the grief that the woman who is principal of the Elementary School in Cupertino, CA is taking for banning THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE from a 5th grade teacher's classroom. I have a feeling "Mr. Robertson" is about to feel some heat.
#7
He may get a visit... Draw the shades, "Mr. Robertson", Lock the doors, "Mr. Robertson", he will still come, "Mr. Robertson!" Just as he did to Scrooge!!!...
#8
"Tolerance" has become a PC byword for secular-based spiritual ABSOLUTISM and societal-national CANTONIZATION. Organized Religion for the most part gen motivates and teaches youth and individuals to personally strive for self-improvement, whether individualist or group-oriented, which SCIENCE AND INTELLECTUALISM DOES NOT. CANTONIZATION ultim devolutes to national-/political CONFEDERATISM which history has repeatedly shown to again lead to the dissolution of organized nation-states/societies. REMEMBER THIS ALSO, THE LEFT DEMANDS THIS OF AMERICA ADN THE WEST, BUT DOES NOT DEMAND IT OF COMMUNIST/COMMUNISM-CENTRIC RUSSIA-CHINA, ETAL. - you know, alleged National and International [now GLOBAL]"EQUALISM"!?
#2
I'd stand and applaud for hours as well if I had a percentage of that scam known as the UN. Well, maybe not.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/09/2004 1:18
Comments ||
Top||
#3
ya know at a meeting of all the capos the capo da tutti cappi always gets a standing ovation--afterward they all retired to eat pizza, red wine and cannolis
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
12/09/2004 1:47
Comments ||
Top||
#4
See what happens when you offer to redecorate the offices? Morale goes through the roof.
I wish Giuliani were still in ofice to "supervise" the approval and inspection of the renovations of the UN building. Perhaps he might find it unsuitable for human habitation and condemn it for use as public housing.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004 8:40
Comments ||
Top||
#5
He'd have to move fast. Those Turtle Bay staffers are quick to grab the silverware.
As the Wisconsin State Capitol decks the halls with season's greetings, a "Winter Solstice" sign stands there to tell people, "There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell."
"So we're gonna poop in your punchbowl, thereby proving that there are, in fact, arseholes."
The Freedom From Religion Foundation said this marks the ninth year it has placed its "Winter Solstice" sign in the first-floor rotunda in Madison. The sign carries the following message composed by the group's founder, Anne Nicol Gaylor:
"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."
All I can think of to say is: "Bah. Humbug."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2004
10:35:36 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
AFAIK Mratin Luther King Jr., Sojourner Truth, St. Francis of Assisi, and Mother Theresa had neither hard hearts nor enslaved minds, Ms. Gaylor.
#5
Tecnhically it is winter solstice. The early Christians moved the celebration to coincide with the pagan celebrations of the same time frame so as to both provide cover of their activities [something about state oppression of Christians back then] and to compete with the other religions. There was a 'who has the most holidays' type of appeal among the general population. A lot of what we connect to Christmas comes from pagan sources. That Yule tree is a prime example.
Posted by: Don ||
12/09/2004 9:25
Comments ||
Top||
#6
It really doesn't matter whether we're talking about Christmas, Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, Diwali, the Roman festival of Saturn or just people who like to have some fun as the days get short and dreary: the "Freedom From Religion Foundation" is not about having freedom FROM religion, it's about spoiling freedom OF religion for the rest of us. It's the Islamofascists without the Islam.
Posted by: Tom ||
12/09/2004 9:47
Comments ||
Top||
#7
Last year Saturnalia, this year Christmas. The proles don't really care who's buying the beer, as long as it's free and there's plenty of it.
#8
Not wanting to celebrate Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, whatever.....fine.
But, really, can't they come up with something other than this completely lame sign? I know some pretty creative atheists who could do far better than that.
The only thing more bleak than a Wisconsin winter must be a party with this crowd.
#9
The sign's getting to be a regular, I'm afraid. And of all the displays in the Capitol, it is the only one that goes out of its way to insult people.
Posted by: James ||
12/09/2004 12:50
Comments ||
Top||
#10
Heard a buffoon froom this group on Laura Ingraham while coming to work this AM. He sounds like has some kind of red hot poker stuck in a very sensitive orafice. There is some sort of hang up he has about religiousity. He claimed to be an ex-clergyman. Probably, in truth, a monk stole his twinkie when he was a kid...
#11
The entire issue is being handled in a ham-handed and asinine fashion by the ACLU, et al. Utterly and totally unnecessary - and can you say "backlash"? I knew you could. I do NOT favor stripping away American traditions in favor of imaginary equality or, to be plain, insane fears that the constitution has been rent asunder. Bullshit hype and hysteria. Beware this tack - it will blow up in your faces, Libby Loons. The Christian traditions do not threaten me , a no-shit athiest, in any way, shape, or form. In fact, I am offended by the entire show by the LLL, gutlessly hiding behind constitutional verbiage to justify a purge - and it actually buys them nothing and serves no practical purpose.
Stupid morons. Creating dissention where none is necessary - prolly just to make themselves relevant.
Only one "religion" deserves special attention, IMHO, and that's Islam - for it is far more than a mere belief system - it is a human pathogen. It, alone, among "religions" of any size membership, advocates violence in every form, from human mutilation to death, for merely failing to adhere to its incomprehensible and contradictory (convenient, that) screed or opposing its domination.
I would happily vote to abolish the ACLU as a seditionist group if I had the opportunity - they, much like unions, may have served a noble purpose once, but no longer. Using Bill Cosby's bit about the tonsils comes to mind - they fought the good fight, but they lost, and now they're on the other side... they have to come out.
Attempts by Indonesian prosecutors to link a radical Muslim cleric to terrorist bombings suffered a blow on Thursday when five people convicted over the blasts failed to implicate him. Abu Bakar Bashir, 66, is on trial for inciting followers to carry out the October 2002 Bali nightclub bombings in which 202 people died, and plotting an August 2003 attack on the Jakarta Marriott hotel in which 12 were killed. Police and prosecutors claim he heads Jemaah Islamiyah, a group said to have links to Al-Qaeda and blamed for attacks including the Bali and Marriott blasts and the September bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta. If convicted he faces a maximum death penalty.
The case is seen as a test of new President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's commitment to tackling extremists in his country. Foreign governments, who view Bashir as a major threat, are keen to see a conviction. But in a succession of testimonies, five prominent figures convicted over the Bali and Marriott bombings all denied knowledge of Bashir's involvement. Among those giving evidence were key Bali bomber Idris, alias Mohammad Ikshan, and Rusman Gunawan, the younger brother of alleged Jemaah Islamiyah mastermined Hambali -- who is currently in US custody. Also appearing were self-confessed group members Adhi Suryana and Utomo alias Abu Faruq and Samuri, convicted for harbouring terrorist fugitives. Gunawan, serving a four-year term for helping fund the Marriott strike, told judges he had never met Bashir although he encountered the cleric's son in Pakistan before he (Gunawan) was deported last December on suspicion of terrorism. "I have never received any assistance (from Bashir)," he said.
Idris, sentenced to 10 years for the Bali bombing, admitted he had met the suicide bomber in the Marriott attack and knew Azahari Husin, a Malaysian explosives expert who allegedly helped make the Marriott and Bali bombs. But he said although he had studied at Bashir's Islamic boarding school in central Java, he had no direct knowledge of the cleric who had "never" ordered the bombings. "I don't even know him. How could he have given me an instruction?" Idris told the court.
Witness Suryana, a Jemaah Islamiyah member who trained for eight months at a camp run by Muslim rebels in the southern Phillipines, also said he had "never heard anyone talk about" Bashir's role in either bombing. Prosecutors say Bashir, as head of he terror group, visited a Philippine rebel training camp in April 2000 and relayed a "ruling from Osama bin Laden which permitted attacks and killings of Americans and their allies." Suryana said he had neither been inspired by Bashir's sermon nor received instructions from the cleric to attack the Marriott hotel. Bashir was cleared last year by an Indonesian court of leading Jemaah Islamiyah, which seeks to create an Islamic fundamentalist state in Southeast Asia, but police say they have new evidence of his leadershop role. The cleric was arrested a week after the Bali blasts and has remained in detention ever since. Prosecutors have said in their indictment that he orchestrated the Marriott bombing from his cell. Bashir has described the indictment as "legal fiction" and said he had nothing to gain from acts of terrorism since they would only fuel interference in Indonesia by Washington.
Posted by: tipper ||
12/09/2004
10:33:05 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Is anybody surprised?
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
12/09/2004 20:48
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Let this maggot walk, just so long as we have a nice welcome wagon waiting for him across from the jailhouse gates. If Bashir ever draws a breath outside of prison walls, it should be his last.
South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun made a surprise visit to his troops in northern Iraq on his way home from a European tour, a top presidential aide said. Lee Byung-Wan, senior presidential secretary for public relations, said the visit had been kept secret for security reasons. "President Roh Moo-Hyun has just concluded a visit to the Zaitun (South Korean military) unit in Arbil, Iraq, on his way back home from Paris," Lee told reporters. He said the visit was to "encourage" the troops.
South Korean media pool reports from Iraq said Roh, wearing an army jacket, had meals and chats with troops during his 120-minute stay. "Thank you all so much. It may be a short meeting, but it is such a happy time," he was quoted as telling the soldiers at a mess hall. "I'm so proud of you." Yonhap news agency photos showed a smiling Roh chatting with or waving to soldiers, who applauded him. Roh took a special flight from France, the final leg of his three-nation European tour, to Kuwait before reaching the Kurdish-controlled town of Arbil on a military plane, according to officials.
In February parliament approved the dispatch of up to 3,600 troops for relief and rehabilitation in Iraq until the end of this year. But the dispatch was delayed for months against a background of growing anti-war protests and it was only in late September that South Korea completed the deployment of 2,800 troops in Arbil. The mission was reportedly reinforced by another 800 troops in November. The government has asked parliament to extend the mission by another year until December 31, 2005 and it is almost certain to agree. Seoul sent troops to Iraq at the request of the United States. More than 30,000 American troops are stationed in South Korea as a defence against North Korea. The South Korean contingent is the third largest among the US-led allied forces stationed in Iraq. The Seoul government has restricted media access to the soldiers, citing security reasons following the murder of a South Korean translator by Islamic militants in Iraq in June.
Posted by: tipper ||
12/09/2004
10:29:45 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
A Shiite official Thursday announced a coalition of 228 candidates backed by leading cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to contest Iraq's Jan. 30 elections. The coalition, called the United Iraqi Alliance, includes two major Shiite political parties — the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution and the Islamic Dawa Party — and the Iraqi National Congress, led by former exile and one-time Pentagon favorite Ahmad Chalabi, Dawa party official Ali al-Adeeb told a news conference. Independent Sunni Muslims belonging to various tribal groups are included on the list, but no major Sunni political movements were named.
In the first popular vote since Saddam Hussein's ouster, Iraqis will choose a 275-member assembly that will write a permanent constitution. If adopted in a referendum next year, the constitution would form the legal basis for another general election to be held by Dec. 15. Under an election law adopted this year, there will be no electoral boundaries for the January vote, with the entire country treated as a single constituency.
Major parties representing Iraq's 20 percent minority Sunnis have called for the vote's postponement because they say the country is not secure enough. Sunni clerics from the Association of Muslim Scholars urged Sunnis to boycott the election to protest last month's U.S.-led assault on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah. The influential religious group reiterated its call for Sunnis to boycott the polls, describing as "madness" plans to hold them in January. "The association's stance toward the elections is firm and unchanged — we will not take a part in these elections because ... no elections can be held under the pressure of the Americans and the ... deteriorating security situation," said Sheik Mohamed Bashar Al-Faidhi, an association spokesman.
Kennel your dogs, then, and the security situation goes away. Oh wait, you're the minority party. You don't want the security situation to go away.
Farid Ayar, spokesman of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, said the party of Sunni politician Adnan Pachachi, who supported the call for postponing the elections, was among the first to register after the sign-up process began Nov. 1. He added, however, that the party — the Independent Democratic Movement — has yet to submit a candidates' list. Pachachi was not immediately available for comment.
"We'll get back to you, k?"
A member of the six-member committee that drew up the United Iraqi Alliance list, nuclear physicist Hussain al-Shahristani, said the movement of firebrand anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr had been left off the list because it is no longer relevant has not registered with Iraq's electoral commission. "The Sadrist movement announced that it supports the religious authorities and its call for Iraqis to hold elections," al-Shahristani added. "It also supports the list."
"Like Tater's opinion matters...don't make me laugh."
Al-Sistani, an Iranian-born cleric, has been working to unite Iraq's majority Shiites ahead of the vote to ensure victory, plus include representatives from Iraq's other diverse communities. Al-Sistani has been overseeing the work of top aides to compile the list for the national elections, which Shiite parties are expected to perform strongly in. "The different parties and the national figures asked the religious authority to help it form an alliance that represents the Iraqi spectrum with its various religious, ethnic and geographic components," al-Shahristani said.
Well, now. Sounds like progress. Unless all the unity talk is just a smokescreen for the "Extremely Islamic and Quasi-Democratic Shi'a Republic of al-Sistani."
Posted by: Seafarious ||
12/09/2004
10:19:43 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The Sunnis have never grasped the principle of cause and effect. They are about to receive a lesson that should "sear" it into their memories.
A new paramilitary group is sparking a skirmish between Iranian hardliners for power and position in the run-up to next year's presidential elections. The Units for the Protection of Society is a little-known civil defense militia recently established by the Iranian judiciary, a body dominated by so-called "traditionalist conservatives." The militia, relatively unknown by most Iranians until recently, was first proposed by Ayatollah Hashemi Shahroudithe, the chief of Iran's judiciary, In January 2004. Shaikh Sadi, a mid-level cleric who heads a 10'000-member-strong branch of the Units militia in the southeastern province of Khoozestan, describes the group's goals as crime fighting, intelligence gathering, and providing religious guidance. "When various crimes and laxities go on unhindered in our neighborhoods, our youth don't often know what they should be doing to confront them," Sadi told the Iranian Students' News Agency on 3 December. "That's when the Units for Social Protection would go into action."
Ah, so it's a islamic Hitler Youth
That job description has put the Units in direct competition with the Basij, a neo-conservative-aligned militia that has existed for 25 years as Iran's only volunteer paramilitary group. At Its peak, during the war with Iraq, the Basij numbered more than 1 million volunteers; today, it has an estimated membership in the hundreds of thousands, though the Iranian government puts its membership at 10 million. But politics lies at the heart of much of the Basij's activity - and its suspicion of an alternative volunteer group like the Units.
It's the SS vs the SA, who's got the popcorn?
Iranian hardliners have traditionally presented a united front for taking on policy questions or political adversaries. But with the ousting of reformers following last February's parliamentary elections, that unity has begun to crumble. Differences have centered around negotiating tactics with the International Atomic Energy Association, the direction of the country's economic policy and the May 2005 presidential elections. In the last two elections, Basij and its parent organization, the Revolutionary Guards Corps of Iran (RGCI), have played a considerable role in the election of a large pool of neo-conservatives to parliament as well as to Iran's city councils. Both groups have promised to repeat their electoral success in next year's presidential race. In this scenario, the Units could emerge as a powerful competitor. Yet, their backing by the judiciary, a pivotal force In Iranian politics, means that neo-conservatives have until recently expressed their objections mildly. It is believed that the formation of such a sizable new paramilitary force must also have had the approval, at least tacitly, of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. If the militia has Ayatollah Khamenei's approval, most observers believe that It was given to counterbalance the increasing power of the neo-conservatives, a fact that has apparently alarmed the traditionalists. So far, however, Ayatollah Khamenei has refrained from making any direct statements about the controversy surrounding the Units. That has left the path open for the neo-conservatives to take their own stabs at the group. While praising the new militia's motives as "quite commendable," Mohammad Dehghan, rapporteur for parliament's neo-conservative-dominated judicial committee, told the Fars news agency on 20 November that "its rules and its constitution show that it suffers from serious defects and shortcoming that could strike a blow against the prestige and the existence of our Islamic order". National oversight on religious matters, Dehghan went on to say, "is referred to the law only and is not the purview of the judiciary branch". As if to reinforce that message, parliament has expanded funding for the Basij, recently passing a resolution that called for the allocation of an additional US$350 million to the volunteer group. The sum, financed by Iran's Foreign Exchange Reserve Fund, will go toward "reinforcing" Basij's military bases and providing necessary equipment for disabled war veterans, Iran Daily reported.
At the same time, the Basij has begun to change tactics toward the Units. After a period of self-imposed silence, Brigadier General Seyed Mohammd Hejazi, the militia's leader, told members that the rival militia could cause many problems. "This scheme lacks expertise and professional groundwork," the ISNA and Fars news agencies quoted Hejazi as saying on 17 November. "It has been implemented in Khoozestan province. It has had many shortcomings there and they have had serious problems with it." The past two years have seen a dramatic increase in Basij's level of activism. Its volunteers can be found in most workplaces, schools and neighborhoods. Ostensibly, the reason for this expanded role is Iran's heightened state of alert in response to US operations In Iraq and Washington's criticism of Iran's nuclear ambitions. As if to reinforce the Basij's official role in countering external threats to Iran's Islamic regime, Khamenei has termed the group "Iran's atomic bomb" for a 25 November rally of tens of thousands of Basij volunteers staged In Tehran on the eve of an IAEA meeting. But the Supreme Leader's show of support may do little to deflect the Units' rise. As the campaign for the presidential elections gets underway, acrimony is expected to only increase between the two hardliner camps. So far, two provinces in addition to Khoozestan have completed the preliminary work for organizing their own local Unit for Social Protection militias, with much more work promised in the near future.
I'm rooting for a bloody confrontation between two groups of Black Turbans
Posted by: Steve ||
12/09/2004
10:11:30 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Interesting how the author continues to use "neo-conservative" in describing a hitlerian style Islamofacist youth unit
#2
Interesting how the author continues to use "neo-conservative" in describing a hitlerian style Islamofacist youth unit
Orwellian, really. White is black.
It's the US neo-cons who are the most prominent advocates of liberal democracy in the world today. It's the European "democratic left" that is the western world's strongest advocates for Islamo-fascism.
#3
true! MSM standard stylebook neocon = Joooooooo (see: Wolfowitz)
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/09/2004 11:59
Comments ||
Top||
#4
Its important to understand Iran functions a lot like a comunist era state. This development may signal an ideological split along the lines of the Lenin/Trotsky split in the Soviet Union. Resulting in major purges.
On January 6, 2004, Anti-CAIR published a Press Release concerning Minhaj Arastu, the lead contact for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) chapter in Columbia, South Carolina. Why are we revisiting this issue? It's the result of a complaint Anti-CAIR (ACAIR) received from the parent of an Irmo High School, Columbia, SC student. Why is Irmo High School important? Mijhaj Arastu is the teacher the parent is concerned about. In his capacity of teacher at Irmo High School, Mr. Arastu:
1. Required the students to create a pamphlet which would teach people about Islam.
2. Spent an inordinate amount of time discussing the "5 pillars of Islam".
3. Had an "Orthodox Christian" priest speak to the class who informed the students that all religions are based on Islam.
4. Told students that the United States is a Judeo-Christian-Muslim "nation"according to the beliefs of the founding fathers.
5. According to the student, Arastu is a passionate Muslim and is the sponsor of the school Muslim student group and was instrumental in having a portion of the school library set aside for Muslim students to pray each day. (There are no such accommodations for other faiths.)
So we have a CAIR officer, sponsoring the school's Muslim student group, bringing in speakers who falsely claim that the founding fathers desired the fledgling United States to be a "Judeo-Christian-Muslim nation" requiring students to create Muslim pamphlets and learning about the five pillars of Islam. Just when do we Americans wake up to the threat of militant Islam in our public schools? When is "enough" enough? What will it take to get parents, teachers, administrators, and the public incensed to the point where positive steps are taken to protect our children from the false indoctrination and perversions of radical Islamists?
We saw with our own eyes the evil of radical Islam on 9-11 we're seeing militant Islam rear its filthy head in Europe on an almost daily basis, Our soldiers are returning to our country in body bags as a result of militant Islamists hell-bent on earning a place in paradise by killing infidels. Just why do we put up with militant Islam in the United States? At what point will the straw break, and what will happen when it does? We invite our readers to read an excellent article by Dr. Daniel Pipes on the issue of Islamist influence in the public schools. The gist of Dr. Pipe's article is that Islamists are deliberately targeting our school systems in an attempt to spread propaganda to students on the tenets of Islam. Read his words carefully,you'll never be able to say you weren't warned.
Posted by: tipper ||
12/09/2004
10:01:04 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
This wouldn't surprise me much in California or Vermont, but in South Carolina?
#2
The author's a tad overwrought. The prospect of an Islamist takeover of the South Carolina public schools is about as likely as the prospect of Hillary Rodham Clinton winning the Daytona 500 next year.
#3
Take a look at teacher retention rates, student demographic changes, and non-native populations in schools in SC. I only have a vague sense of what is happening there (no statistics, just kind of in-the-field observations), but South Carolina appears to be struggling in the educational arena.
#1
For "mired" write "involved." Better. "It is time we admitted that we are not at war with 'terrorism.'" OK. "We are at war with Islam." No-: just some sects of Islam. Get it right or you don't have a chance of getting anybody to help clean the Muslim house.
We need a good propaganda campaign, and it has to go beyond "Americans are fine people." Somewhere there are Muslim scholars who can counter Qtub and Wahhab and Khomeini: is there some quiet way of getting their voices widely heard in the Muslim world? Strangling Saudi funding of the extremist teachers would be a good start, but I don't think it would be enough: they've got too much of a head start.
Posted by: James ||
12/09/2004 13:32
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Yes, we are at war with all of Islam. I disagree that we are at war with some sects and not others. Why, because general Islam is the soil from which this particular form or terrorism and islamism grew.
What we need to make clear is a distinction between the sanctity of the lives of law abiding muslims and their ideas. This is a war which on the one hand requires that we physically combat those who intend to kill us and one which on the other hand is a war of ideas. While we must be clear of our opposition to the islamic concept that all spheres of life must be governed strictly and directly by a state religion, we must also make it clear that we will not wage that war on the persons or livelihoods of law abiding muslims.
We combat lies by telling the truth without reservation or apology and the truth is that the only way to success and happiness for mankind is a principled separation of church and state and a principled application of Western style capitalism.
You'll note my use of principled. As a Christian, I believe that as individuals we must apply our Christian ethics to all that we do. Morality is the province of individual conscience and the state as a entity needs to stay the hell out of that province. We have the Christian faiths hard won wisdom to thank for this wall between an individuals application of a religious code and the state's power. And we have Jesus directly to thank when he instructed his disciples to "render unto Ceasar what is Ceasar's and render unto God what is God's"
Posted by: ed ||
12/09/2004
05:28 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Wasn't there a story a couple years ago that Binny suffers from Dinky Doinker Syndrome? In that case, I don't suppose it gets in the way, even if it is stuck in the 'on' position...
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2004 8:39
Comments ||
Top||
#2
"He's got a woody that won't quit and the pain must be blinding,"
Worst case of blue balls ever, I suppose. No wonder he's ornery.
Fred - it mentions his puny pecker and gay affair with Sammy:-)
#3
What a CRAZY story! Maybe, if we sent him some VIagra for the holidays the troops could find him easier??? Afterall, he would have to come out of hiding for the persuit of happiness**
Andrea Jackson
Posted by: Andrea Jackson ||
12/09/2004 19:22
Comments ||
Top||
Posted by: ed ||
12/09/2004
04:51 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Films from Bollywood. It's those awful Indians, corrupting our youth!
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/09/2004 9:07
Comments ||
Top||
#2
"But in recent years, Bollywood has abandoned many old taboos, allowing far more erotic scenes and songs than ever before - though the films rarely push beyond PG-13 Hollywood fare."
Posted by: Tom ||
12/09/2004 9:36
Comments ||
Top||
#1
Yep, Ms Jalal, you're right - across the board. It's nearly a miracle that the PakiWaki Parliament passed a bill with any intent to slow this variety of atrocity. But, since it is actually Islam and Shari'a behind this insanity, it will not be outlawed, or if outlawed (with a wink and a nod, doncha know), not enforced.
There are atrocities committed by individuals every day - and some of the time these perps are even brought to justice. When that happens, at least, there is the chance that the perp won't be able to do it again and also the chance that the punishment deters all but those who act in a fit of rage or insanity. It eventually weans a society of certain premeditated conscious behaviors. Normally, this takes something less than 1400+ years.
But, speaking of eternity, back to Islam... This is the "special" case of institutionalized insanity - dating back about 1.5 millenia, cast in amber, and practiced with aplomb and social approval... Islamic "scholars" agree that Islam is "complete" and "perfect" and "unchangable"... Gosh. That doesn't leave much room for anything, now does it?
As long as there is Islam, there will be Shari'a. As long as there is Shari'a, there will be insane barabaric atrocities committed and condoned. And it won't change - no matter what the well-intentioned say. Pretty simple, that.
#2
Anti-Americanism keeps intruding in the new book. There is a very irrational paragraph on nuclear strategy that stoops to lampooning Bushâs pronunciation â ânucularâ
âIâm not particularly proud of being visceral, but I am admitting it. My attacks on George Bush have nothing to do with science or the scientific method. I just canât stand the manâs style, the way he swaggers and struts and smirks and the way he looks sly and deceitful and the way Americans canât see it. Iâm irritated by the way they think heâs just a regular guy you can have a drink with.â
As Orwell said, "Only an intellectual can say such things. No one else would be so stupid."
#3
This is the jackass who wrote a letter to Clark County OH voters urging them not to vote for Bush because his foreign policy was the equivalent of shooting an intruder in your house.
nb Clark County was the only OH county to shift sides between 2000 and 2004, moving from pro-Gore to pro-Bush.
#5
Amusing that our Darwin apostle's haute disdain for Bush stems from a rather atavistic, pre-evolutionary reaction to Bush's facial movements and physical characteristics.
Dawkins is so over the top, I find it hard to believe he's not getting kickbacks from the RNC.
#6
Amusing that our Darwin apostle's haute disdain for Bush stems from a rather atavistic, pre-evolutionary reaction to Bush's facial movements and physical characteristics.
Dawkins is so over the top, I find it hard to believe he's not getting kickbacks from the RNC.
#9
Yes, B-a-R, that's my point. This man is so obtuse that he in his infinite smugness thought his analogy was witty, wise and utterly convincing. As I say, an intellectual moron.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom ||
12/09/2004
01:15 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[12 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Thank you Japan.
Posted by: Don ||
12/09/2004 9:51
Comments ||
Top||
#2
I second that, Don. Japan has people with vision. They know when future history (oxymoron alert!) is happening. Iraq matters, and the rest of the world getting involved matters!
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.
On the night of Nov. 28, 2001, crack homicide detectives fanned out all over New York City, one of them even going as far as New Jersey. In all, five detectives from the Manhattan South Homicide Task Force went to the homes of various suspects, fingerprinted some of them, interrogated all of them and told a few that they would have to take lie detector tests. The horrific crime? The police commissioner's friend was missing some items. The commish at the time was Bernard B. Kerik, who just the other day was nominated by George W. Bush to be the next head of the vast Department of Homeland Security. The crime victim was Judith Regan, a publisher at HarperCollins, whose imprint, Regan Books, was publishing Kerik's autobiography, The Lost Son. .... The Manhattan South homicide cops were working for Kerik. Regan's items apparently went AWOL from a studio at Fox News Channel, where she also worked. They included a cell phone, a necklace and a credit card. All the items were later accounted for. The necklace was found at the bottom of her handbag. The credit card had been left behind at a drugstore. As for the phone, it was later found in a trash basket ....
Some House Democrats are coming to the defense of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan after several Republican lawmakers called for his resignation because of allegations of corruption in the organization's oil-for-food program. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, sent a letter Wednesday to Secretary of State Colin Powell, saying criticism of Annan is "disgraceful and premature." "There has been no hint of impropriety on the part of the secretary-general, who on numerous occasions has proven his honesty and integrity," the letter said. 
All of John Kerry's one-time rivals in the Democratic presidential primary eventually lined up to support him as the nominee, but only one got paid for it — 
Intelligence agents raided an Afghan refugee camp in northwestern Pakistan and arrested two alleged Islamic militants, a security official said Thursday. The suspects were being questioned following their arrest late Tuesday in a raid on the 
South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun made a surprise visit to his troops in northern Iraq on his way home from a European tour. Lee Byung-Wan, senior presidential secretary for public relations, said the visit had been kept secret for security reasons. "President Roh Moo-Hyun has just concluded a visit to the Zaitun (South Korean military) unit in Arbil, Iraq, on his way back home from Paris," Lee told reporters. South Korean media pool reports from Iraq said Roh, wearing an army jacket, had meals and chats with troops during his 120-minute stay. "Thank you all so much. It may be a short meeting, but it is such a happy time," he was quoted as telling the soldiers at a mess hall. "I'm so proud of you."
In Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," Tiny Tim delivers one of the famed lines in literature: "God bless us, every one!" Along with "Bah, humbug," it's the story's signature. There's the Christmas setting along with some allusions to Christian ideals, but Tiny Tim's blessing is the tale's most overt reference to religion. Yet that was too much for Lake Washington High School in Kirkland. Students were to see a staging of Dickens' story on Dec. 17, but the principal has canceled it, in part because it raised the issue of religion in the public schools. Ah, it's that special time of year, when the spirit of the season is more about offending no one than celebrating anything. 
