New Hampshire Democrats have been on a roll for years, particularly at the federal level in winning both House seats in 2006, a Senate race in 2008, and going blue for Democrats in the presidential elections of 2004 and 2008. But a new University of New Hampshire Granite State poll shows that the party is in danger of a clean sweep in 2010.
First, the Senate race to replace Judd Gregg (R). Rep. Paul Hodes (D) trails former Attorney General Kelly Ayotte (R), and he doesn't poll above 40 in any matchup, even with the lesser-known potential opponents he leads.
Ayotte (R) 41 -- Hodes (D) 33 -- Und 25
Hodes (D) 38 -- Lamontagne (R) 29 -- Und 30
Hodes (D) 34 -- Binnnie (R) 30 -- Und 33
Hodes (D) 36 -- Bender (R) 27 -- Und 35
In the first Congressional District, Rep. Carol Shea Porter sees her favorable rating dip to 35 percent while 40 percent now view her unfavorably, a net drop of 11 points from October. Right now four Republicans are likely running to challenge her, and she trails each one.
The second Congressional District sees an open seat race. Former Rep. Charlie Bass (R) is running to reclaim the seat he lost to Hodes in 2006; 2008 nominee Jennifer Horn (R) is also running again. On the Democratic side, attorney Ann McLane Kuster (D) will likely face 2002 nominee Katrine Swett (D). Only Swett holds a lead in potential matchups with both Republicans.
Bass (R) 37 -- Swett (D) 30 -- Und 33
Bass (R) 39 -- Kuster (D) 28 -- Und 33
Swett (D) 30 -- Horn (R) 26 -- Und 43
Horn (R) 28 -- Kuster (D) 25 -- Und 44
These outcomes come in the same survey that showed President Obama's support in the Granite State slipping, particularly among independents. The statewide matchups are based on a sample of 444 likely voters interviewed from January 27 to February 3, with a margin of error of +/- 4.7%. The CD-1 sample was 251 adults (MoE +/- 6.2%) and the CD-2 sample was 249 adults (MoE +/- 6.2%). Classic? 0
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#1 Sounds like a combination of the natives having enough of the Massholes moving in and skewing the voting demographics and some Massholes seeing the light after the Brown election.
What little is left of Venezuela's democracy has taken a literal beating from President Hugo Chavez's uniformed goon squads -- again.
Police used a variety of weapons, from water cannons to plastic bullets, last week to disperse hundreds of student protesters who refuse to knuckle under to an increasingly desperate and unpopular president determined to remain in power at all costs.
While the president and his followers were celebrating the anniversary of the failed 1992 coup that first brought him to national attention, the students were protesting the deterioration of their country. It wasn't the first time that Mr. Chavez has resorted to force to quell peaceful political opponents, but the frustration level inside the country is rising as Venezuela's political and economic situation goes from bad to worse.
Rolling blackouts, currency devaluation and price inflation (the worst in Latin America), water shortages and scarce commodities -- this is what 11 years of a Chavez presidency have produced.
Dismal energy program
As if to underline the utter befuddlement of Mr. Chavez's inept government, an advisory team from Cuba, of all places, was brought in to improve the dismal energy program. Cuba? That's like asking Scott Rothstein for advice on legal ethics.
The problem with PDVSA, the oil company, as Venezuelans well know, is that Mr. Chavez turned it into a sinecure for political cronies, destroying its once admirable efficiency and productive value. Only by putting the experts back in charge can it hope to recover, but President Chavez is not about to hand authority over to anyone who is not a known loyalist.
The problems at PDVSA are emblematic of what's wrong with Venezuela and why his Bolivarian revolution is in trouble. Mr. Chavez has run the economy, and the country, into the ground, but that hasn't stopped him from making trouble wherever he can.
As the streets of Caracas were in turmoil, the U.S. director of national intelligence, former Admiral Dennis Blair, was giving Congress an unvarnished assessment of Mr. Chavez's presidency that underlines the danger he represents to the entire region.
He has cultivated friendships in all the wrong places, beginning with Iran, spent $6 billion to buy weapons from Russia, and provided covert support to the terrorist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Pressure Chavez
All of this spells disaster for the people of Venezuela -- and the hemisphere. It can be avoided only by the concerted effort of other countries in the region to pressure Mr. Chavez to moderate his behavior and adhere to the rules of democracy.
Isn't that what the Organization of American States is for? Mr. Chavez has undermined, if not destroyed Venezuela's once vibrant, if imperfect, democracy. He has bullied his neighbors, fueled a regional arms race and brought political tensions inside the country to a boiling point. The region's leaders shouldn't wait for domestic bloodshed or a cross-border conflict to move them to act.
#4 and Bill Ayers has been there a number of times cheerleading for Chavez
also Kevin Spacey and Spike Lee
Ed Asner and Harry Bellafonte and Naomi Campbell
and of course Jesse Jackson has made pro Chavez speeches, but only in the US
Posted by: lord garth|| 2010-02-09
2010-02-09 11:19
A new poll is out that’s absolute catnip for the members of the California political and media establishment who like to say the ignorant public demands services via ballot initiatives but then refuses to pay for them with higher taxes.
The Public Policy Institute of California survey found residents don’t have a good sense of where state revenue comes from or what the state spends most of its money on. What does this unsurprising revelation translate into when interpreted by the Los Angeles Times? A snarky news story that said Californians who disdain our leaders and institutions “should save a little distaste for ourselves. ... Those who favored the comics pages in decades past may recall the words of the possum philosopher Pogo: ‘We have met the enemy, and he is us.’” Other coverage had a similar tone.
This is nonsense – easily refuted nonsense.
For starters, the vast majority of ballot initiatives dictating state spending didn’t spontaneously emerge as a result of voter concerns. They came from special interests.
Then there’s the fact that these initiatives aren’t remotely the straitjackets they’re made out to be. Nearly all their spending requirements can be bypassed with the same two-thirds vote it takes to approve the budget. As the Legislative Analyst’s Office noted in September, “Despite these restrictions, the Legislature maintains considerable control over the state budget – particularly over the longer term.”
Then there’s the fact that the establishment argument builds off the bogus premise that petulant voters have kept California’s taxes artificially low via Proposition 13 and through their support of the constitutional mandate that taxes can only be raised by a two-thirds vote.
But the truth is California is among the most heavily taxed states in the union despite these obstacles. Its sales, income and gasoline taxes are among the very highest in the nation. Its corporate tax is the highest in the West. And even with Proposition 13, its property taxes are about the national average.
Why does the media’s echoing of the political establishment’s claptrap matter? Because it reinforces a narrative that holds that Sacramento is dysfunctional because the public is dysfunctional; therefore, there’s no point in even trying to fix the status quo.
This is elitist garbage. Sacramento is dysfunctional first and foremost because legislators with gerrymandered districts face few if any repercussions for mismanaging the state. Their political futures, however, are at risk if they get in the way of the special interests who have such power in light-voting primary elections for open seats.
This results in such policy atrocities as the bipartisan vote by the Legislature last summer to promise a future $11.2 billion payoff to schools even though the state is in the middle of a long-running fiscal catastrophe. The California Teachers Association said, “Jump,” and lawmakers replied, “How high?”
So Pogo’s philosophy doesn’t apply to California’s politics. But surveying the wreckage that is Sacramento, a Charlie Brown phrase comes to mind: Good grief!
#2 Its time California had a Constitutional Convention - scrapped the old Socialist order and re-established the "Republic of California" i.e. The Bear Flag Republic. Allow no presently seated Democrat or Republican office holder to attend the proceedings, in fact preclude their participation in any present or future order of government.
Consider feeding the existing politicians to the bears - polar, grizzly, or panda.
U.S. Army soldiers launched a major operation Tuesday in support of a planned U.S.-Afghan attack on the largest Taliban-controlled town in southern Afghanistan.
NATO and Afghan officials, meanwhile, urged militants holding Marjah, where an offensive is expected, to lay down their arms and warned civilians there to "keep your heads down."
About 400 U.S. troops from the 5th Stryker Brigade as well as 250 Afghan soldiers and their 30 Canadian trainers moved into positions northeast of the town.
No casualties were reported. Large plumes of smoke could be seen in the area, and reporters traveling with the U.S. unit could hear the distant rattle of 50-caliber machine gun fire and detonations from MK-19s, which fire 40 millimeter grenades from Stryker vehicles.
U.S. officials have not said when the main attack on the town of some 80,000 people will take place but have nonetheless heavily publicized plans to attack, causing hundreds of people to flee the opium-producing center in advance of the fighting.
On Tuesday, however, Taliban militants prevented townspeople from leaving Marjah, as families huddled inside their homes, witnesses said. Classic? 0
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#1 Dead terrorists do tell no tales and they are not particularly valuable for intelligence. Obama, if he can get off his self-righteous indignation pedestal, might re-visit Bushs' policies which were well thought out and legal. Such policies as: 1. Interrogation/debriefing approaches of high-value targets should be resurrected, 2. Non-law and order approach for terrorists, 3. Use of military tribunals for terrorists, and 4. Gitmo should continue to be used for detainees.
The kinder-and-gentler (speechify them to distraction) approach of the Obama administration isn't doing much to win the hearts and minds of our enemies and the respect of the Euro elite.
The MSM (and some Congressmen) aided and abetted the emasculation of the CIA. They, either through ideological blindness and stupidity or a malignant willingness, demonized and "Pallinized (a la K. Couric)" Bushs' policies at every turn even though it was harmful to the country. They willingly confused Abu Ghraib with CIA approaches despite it having nothing to do with the CIA. They condemned Gitmo before they visited it. When it was visited, the facility was found to be a well-run facility where terrorists are as well-treated as most of us--maybe better.
#2 The MSM (and some Congressmen) aided and abetted the emasculation of the CIA.
Given that the upper echelon of the Agency participated in destabilizing their own government as long as Bush was President, it's Karma baby. To me this is just red on red.
The Pakistani Taliban confirmed Tuesday that their leader, Hakimullah Mahsud, died from injuries suffered in a U.S. drone missile strike last month, an attack that forces the insurgency to find a new leader for the second time in six months.
The death of Mahsud, engineer of a devastating series of suicide attacks and raids on markets, mosques and security installations across Pakistan in the latter half of 2009, gives the U.S. another major victory in its ongoing campaign of drone missile strikes against top Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders.
A drone strike last August killed Mahsud's predecessor, Baitullah Mahsud. Missiles fired by drones over Pakistan's tribal areas along the Afghan border have also killed 15 senior Al Qaeda commanders since 2004.
However, experts do not expect the loss of Hakimullah Mahsud, 28, to deal a fatal blow to the Taliban as it battles the government in the country's northwest.
After Baitullah Mahsud's death last summer, the Taliban was able to regroup and launch some of the deadliest attacks against Pakistanis in years, including the Oct. 10 commando-style raid on army headquarters in Rawalpindi, a sprawling, heavily guarded complex. The raid left 14 military officers and civilian workers dead.
"Obviously, it's a great setback for them in terms of morale and organizational problems. There's no doubt about it," said Talat Masood, a security analyst and retired Pakistani general. "It will take time for them to recover, but they will definitely recover because they have support in those tribal areas."
Pakistani authorities initially believed that Mahsud had been injured in a Jan. 17 U.S. drone strike that targeted two cars in North Waziristan, a largely Taliban-controlled district in the tribal areas.
However, Taliban sources said their leader was wounded in a drone strike Jan. 14 in Shaktoi, a village in South Waziristan near the North Waziristan border. A Taliban militant in the Orakzai district of Pakistan's tribal areas said Mahsud suffered serious injuries to his legs and abdomen in the attack.
The sources said militants were trying to move Mahsud to Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, for treatment, but he died near the southern Punjab city of Multan, 460 miles northeast of Karachi. Taliban sources said he died Sunday, though that could not be confirmed.
Pakistani security and intelligence sources confirmed Mahsud's death, but denied that he died in Multan and instead said he died somewhere in the tribal region. Classic? 0
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#2 I'd say, it's more like he was severely wounded and required medical treatment that the Taliban just didn't have. He lingered for three weeks without analgesics until sepsis set in.
#3 Pakistani security and intelligence sources confirmed Mahsud's death, but denied that he died in Multan and instead said he died somewhere in the tribal region.
Bribe money cleared, but a little too late?
#1 Welcome to Protected Classes-101:
Civil Rights Act of 1964 - CRA - Title VII - Equal Employment Opportunities - 42 US Code Chapter 21
Religion The term "religion" includes "all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief." 42 U.S.C. � 2000e-(j). The EEOC Guidelines state that protected religious practices "include moral or ethical beliefs as to what is right and wrong which are sincerely held with the strength of traditional religious views." 29 C.F.R. � 1605.1.
Sincerity of religious belief is an issue for the trier of fact. E.E.O.C. v. Ilona of Hungary, Inc., 97 F.3d 204 (7th Cir. 1997). The statute imposes a duty to "reasonably accommodate to an employee's or prospective employee's religious observance or practice" unless doing so would impose an "undue hardship on the conduct of the employer's business." 42 U.S.C. � 2000e-(j).
Title VII exempts from coverage a "religious corporation, association, educational institution, or society with respect to the employment of individuals of a particular religion to perform work connected with the carrying on by such corporation, association, educational institution, or society of its activities." 42 U.S.C. � 2000e-1(a). Religious discrimination is also not unlawful under Title VII where religion is a BFOQ for the job in question. 42 U.S.C. � 2000e-2(e)(1).
#2 "All federal and commissioned officers take an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic, and that mandates a duty to be clear on who the enemies of our Constitution are, and a failure to know is a failure of duty."
Congress has the same problem.
#2 Industrial users will also have to cut their usage by 20% or face sanctions.
And that means the presumably useful output of these enterprises also decreases by 20%. Hurrah for socialist logic!
A STUDENT branded Scotland’s first home grown terrorist had his conviction overturned today at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh.
ASky News reported Mohammed Atif Siddique from Alva, Clackmannanshire, was found guilty of three offences under the Terrorism Act 2000 and a breach of the peace in 2007. He was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Last month, three senior judges ruled he had suffered from a miscarriage of justice.
The most serious charge at the the original trial, which accounted for six years of his sentence, alleged he possessed computer equipment and other material.
In these circumstances, it gave rise to "a reasonable suspicion that your possession was for a purpose connected with the commission, preparation or instigation of an act or terrorism."
The crime was an offence under the Terrorism Act 2000, but the law also recognised a defence of possession without intention to commit an act of terrorism.
Throughout, Siddique protested his innocence, claiming that when he downloaded material from the internet he was motivated only by curiosity. He denied that he was planning any terrorist attack.
Siddique has already spent four years in custody. Classic? 0
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#1 Last month, three senior judges ruled he had suffered from a miscarriage of justice.
Look for the same thing to occur in the U.S. with the Obama/Holder law-and-order approach to handling these cut-throats. They probably will be released because they were not properly "Mirandized."
As D.C. continued to dig out from Snowmageddon and is keeping an eye on another storm system, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was busy making a climate change announcement.
NOAA, part of the Department of Commerce, is going to be providing information to individuals and decision-makers through a new NOAA Climate Service office. "More and more, Americans are witnessing the impacts of climate change in their own backyards, including sea-level rise, longer growing seasons, changes in river flows, increases in heavy downpours, earlier snowmelt and extended ice-free seasons in our waters. People are searching for relevant and timely information about these changes to inform decision-making about virtually all aspects of their lives," the release says.
Earlier snowmelt? That would be nice.
Turns out the release was planned prepared ahead of the snowstorm, which shut federal agencies today and forced its senders to hold a press conference by telephone instead of at the National Press Club.
It's not the first time inclement weather has put a chill on official efforts to tackle climate change. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had to leave the Copenhagen summit early in December to get back to D.C. before the blizzard known as Snowpocalypse grounded all flights.
We know how this argument goes: Climate change-skeptics such as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says that the weather conditions prove that "global warming" is a hoax; activists say that scientists are looking at longer-lasting weather patterns.
But, says NOAA spokesman Justin Kenney, they're happy to have a chance to educate people about the difference between the climate and the weather. That should be good. Sort of like learning the difference between business and economics. Classic? 0
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#1 they're happy to have a chance to educate people about the difference between the climate and the weather
In a nutshell: warmer than expected - climate, colder than expected - weather. Do I get my peace prize now?
#2 educate people about the difference between the climate and the weather.
However, they don't. In fact they are redefining what climate means. Climate means the relative influence of the weather systems that occur at different latitudes around the globe. For example, a mediteranean climate is one where the predominate influence in winter is mid-latitude low pressure systems, while in summer the predominate influence is sub-tropical highs.
Despite confident predictions that climate change would expand these weather systems and shift them poleward, as they should were the climate really warming, they have stubbornly refused to move.
So climate is redefined to mean average weather. so the largely specious global average temperature can become the measure of 'climate change'.
If they were being truthful, they would say even though the atmosphere is warming (assuming it is), the climate isn't changing (against expectations and the predictions of theory).
#5 I'm still waiting for any of the warmists to answer the question, what is the correct temperature of the earth. Everyone I've asked just gives me silence and a stupid look on their face.
#6 As I've posted about before, my daughter (9th grade) has a PowerPoint presentation she made refuting the AGW madness, which she's presented to various audiences since 8th grade. Her latest was at the regional NWS office (a part of NOAA) at the invitation of the office director who had seen her presentation at another venue. From the comments of the staff (some diplomatically phrased at the meeting, others more direct but private) it was clear that most don't buy into the madness, but can't speak out against it directly for fear of career repercussions.
On the one hand it's gratifying to see her get such positive recognition for her work; on the other hand it's infuriating to see such politicization of science and sad to have my kid exposed to it at such a young age.
#7 they're happy to have a chance to educate peoplethey're happyI'm not Happy to see my tax dollars wasted by a bunch of Dillards to have a chance go find a real jobto educate people F-U re-education camps for CLIMATE CHANGE You did not get it right the first time - Get thet Hanson B-ASTART out here and STUFF IT UP YOUR and HIS ASP - NOAA !
Terrorists Suspected militants have shot and killed a government official and a teacher in the latest ambush attacks in Thailand's restive south, police say. They said a 41-year-old Muslim district leader in the Raman area of troubled Yala province was killed when militants hiding near his home shot him early on Monday morning in his backyard.
On Monday evening, two terrorists suspected militants on a motorcycle targeted a 51-year-old male Buddhist teacher in Pattani province as he rode his motorcycle towards his home in neighbouring Yala. The men set fire to the teacher's body and stole his motorcycle.
At sunset, another group of terrorists suspected militants travelling by car opened fire on two local defence volunteers, aged 29 and 35, riding a motorcycle in Pattani province. Both volunteers remain in hospital with serious injuries.
Police say terrorists suspected insurgents detonated a bomb as two truckloads of soldiers passed, wounding seven troops in Thailand's restive south. Police Lt. Heraman Jehdee says the attack happened Monday afternoon soon after the vehicles with 38 soldiers left a camp in Bo-ngo sub-district in Narathiwat province. He says police found a gas canister at the scene used to plant the mobile phone-triggered explosive device.
A car bomb suspect allegedly involved in a series of bombings in Thailand’s southern province of Narathiwat on Tuesday turned himself in to police investigators. Department of Special Investigation (DSI) director-general Tharit Pengdit told a news conference that a suspect identified as Amri Jeso was escorted by Narathiwat member of parliament Nujmuddin Uma. He was believed to be involved with several incidents including a car bombing at the Sungai Kolok Police Station in August 2008, at the Merlin Hotel in October 2009 and at the Marina Hotel in February 2005, as well as the 2004 fatal attack on a military camp in Narathiwat's Cho Airong district which a group of insurgents made off with numerous firearms.
The suspect was charged with supporting insurgent acts, premeditated murder, illegal possession of arms, ammunition and explosive devices, and causing others to damage, injury or death. Classic? 0
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Two University of Illinois trustees have resigned and a commission appointed by Gov. Patrick Quinn is expected Thursday to recommend that the remaining seven step down following charges that trustees eased admissions for hundreds of politically connected students.
Following a six-week inquiry, the Illinois Admissions Review Commission found that trustees created separate admissions criteria for applicants sponsored by elected officials, trustees and donors. "It became a formal, underground, parallel admissions process that had a structure of its own," review commission member Zaldwaynaka Scott said at a meeting last week. "It was a completely independent system that operated without regard to academic records, academic potential."
Board of trustees Chairman Niranjan Shah resigned on Monday and trustee Lawrence Eppley resigned last week.
"This is the direction the commission is going," Mr. Shah said Wednesday, "so I thought it would be best to resign." "It doesn't take a weatherman to know which way the wind blows."
The University of Illinois has three campuses and nearly 70,000 students. Of more than 22,000 students who applied for the 2006-07 school year, 65% were accepted. Because of a surge in college-age children, colleges and universities across the country have become more selective in recent years. With tuition under $10,000 for Illinois residents, the state's university system is considered a good value.
Students at the university's Chicago campus have protested with rallies and meetings with trustees. Rejected students who think they may have been affected by the rigged admissions expressed dismay on Wednesday.
"It makes me angry to think that someone who didn't put in the hours or work as hard as me has my spot," said John Suo, who earned a 4.0 grade-point average at Naperville Central High School outside Chicago but was rejected by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's business school. For myself, I can't think of a better introduction of business in Illinois than this.
The commission report comes three months after The Chicago Tribune reported that hundreds of less qualified applicants from influential families were admitted to the state's flagship public school, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Former federal Judge Abner Mikva is chairman of the seven-member commission, appointed by Mr. Quinn.
The commission voted six to one last week to recommend that the remaining trustees step down. Because not all were equally involved and some members have been on the board less than a year, Gov. Quinn may decide not to accept resignations from all. This is the crooked Quinn. Yeah.
The governor doesn't have the authority to fire university administrators. But the review commission's report is expected to include a strong rebuke of the school's president and chancellor. The strongly worded memo always gets the job done.
University of Illinois President B. Joseph White told the commission last week he was shocked when he came from the University of Michigan in 2005. "It's an influence environment; it's a quid pro quo environment." "Shocked, shocked I tell you!"
The scandal adds to the state's reputation for rampant political corruption. It follows the impeachment and subsequent ousting of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich in January. Mr. Blagojevich has been charged by federal authorities with trying to auction off a U.S. Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama. Thanks for reminding us of that. Classic? 0
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#1 As a UofI alum, I am saddened but far from surprised. This story has been brewing for quite awhile. That an administrator that came from U of MI could play the "I'm shocked" card, however, is rich.
Ed Martin and the UAW (among others) say "Hello".
PS: Can I see the Santa Claus picture? I got the fluffy bunnies.
#2 I'm surprised there's not some lawsuits. It would seem that the university and those who sponsored the special students would all have some liability to any more qualified students that were rejected.
#3 Check the date
It is an August 6, 2009 story.
U of I corruption has been streamlined since then. Makes you wonder, if they were essentially selling admissions were they selling grades too?
#1 Thanks Tipper for bring this Pajamas Media article to light.
PM illustrates atleast a decade and a half of inappropriate UN appointments, corrupt administrative practices, and fraudulent financial activities all in the name of a "Climate Change Theory".
The "UN players" are a rogues gallery of theives.
#1 Brussels has forced the Greek government to present a plan to drastically reduce its budget deficit from 13% to 3% by the end of 2012. The plan will cost the Greeks blood, sweat and tears. It includes a freeze on civil service wages and the postponement of the retirement age. Brussels has invoked new EU powers under Article 121 of the Lisbon Treaty, which allow it to reshape the structure of Greece’s pensions, healthcare, labor market and private commerce.The Commission fears a backlash from the Greek unions, who might organize strikes and bring down the Greek government.
What Greek government, your sovereignty was ceded to the EU, you are now vassels in a Neo-EU feudalism, a medieval Post Modern Europe, you have entered into mutual obligations with a monarchy "Perestroika Troika" comrades.
#3 Jumbo has the right of it, but.....
...Greek targets will be enforced strongly and that, if necessary, even more draconian measures will be taken.
And what are these more draconian measures pray tell? Crushing economic sanctions? Forced removal of the government? Force of Arms?
Behind every dictator is always the force of arms as the ultimate persuader. Of course the EU & force of arms is probably an oxymoron but I can easily see this shattering the myth of the EU one way or another. The question is what's next?
Remember when grannies baked cookies...
PORTSMOUTH -- A Boston grandmother had been smoking crack Friday night before the car she was riding in crashed into a Seabrook police cruiser, sped up Route 1 at 100 miles-per-hour, then crashed into a tree on Elwyn Road, police allege. Wonder if she had one of them "Ask Me About My Grandchildren" vanity plates?
The grandmother, Monique Sadberry, 40,
Do note the age. She's not one of those sweet, grey-haired granny types, but rather an early achiever. Ah, those Generation X-ers.
of 16 Akron St., Roxbury, was one of three Boston women arraigned Monday in Portsmouth District Court in connection with a Feb. 5 high-speed pursuit and subsequent manhunt by police in the Elwyn Park neighborhood. Police allege that after the car crashed into a tree in front of 1380 Elwyn Road, Sadberry was found walking in the area by Officer Rich Brabazon. When interviewed at police headquarters by Officer Nicole Mercer, Sadberry is alleged to have said she and two men had been smoking cigarettes laced with crack. Must've met them at an antique shop...
According to police, a crack pipe and crack-laced cigarettes were later found in the crashed car. ...and bags and bags of butterscotch candy.
Sadberry is charged with two felony counts of drug possession, and Class B misdemeanor counts of possession of drug paraphernalia and false reports to law enforcement. During the Feb. 8 video arraignment, prosecutor Karl Durand told the court Sadberry has nine known aliases and a criminal history including convictions for larceny, drug possession and auto theft. Sadberry requested the services of a public defender, said she is on probation and resides with her two teenage children and a grandchild. She said she has no job and collects social security. Other then that, she's a pillar of the community...
It sounds like Ms Sadberry has a career, if temporarily not a job, mostly because she crashed the car and was caught by the police. Otherwise her career would have continued merrily along.
Judge Sawako Gardner maintained the $25,000 cash-only bail previously set by a bail commissioner and Sadberry was scheduled to return to the court for a Feb. 18 probable cause hearing. Sounds like THE MAN! has it in for her...
Also arraigned Monday was alleged codefendant Linda Estrella, 44, of 15 Chase St., Dorchester. The court learned that both Sadberry and Estrella had previously given police wrong addresses. Oooooooops...sorry.
Police allege Estrella was riding in the back of the car during the Friday night pursuit, fled the scene after crashing in Elwyn Park, then hid under a resident's porch. After another resident told police someone had run across his front lawn, a police dog tracked to the porch and Estrella was found with her hands in the air, according to a police affidavit. During a police pat-down, Estrella was found in possession of a five dollar bill folded around a quantity of cocaine, according to police. She is charged with a felony count of drug possession and a Class B count of resisting arrest.
During her Monday video arraignment, Estrella said she lives with her three children and fiance and is unable to post high cash bail. Prosecutor Rena DiLando told the court Estrella had an ID card and checks under a false name, has ten aliases, four social security numbers and a criminal history involving thefts and drugs. But...I'm turning my life around, ya honor, starting...right now!
Another driven career woman.
Judge Gardner maintained Estrella's $25,000 cash-only bail and scheduled her to return to the court for a Feb. 18 probable cause hearing.
The alleged driver, Jacqueline Trottman, 43, of 3 Stockton St., Dorchester, is charged with a felony count of drug possession and misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest, disobeying an officer, conduct after an accident and possession of drugs in a motor vehicle. She is also charged with violation-level counts of reckless operation and driving after suspension. Police allege she drove through "several" red lights at speeds up to 100 miles-per-hour with her headlights out, while a police cruiser was behind her with a siren and blue lights activated. Prosecutor Karl Durand told the court Trottman has criminal records in four states, eight aliases, five social security numbers and two dates of birth. Her criminal history includes convictions for forgery, fraud, larceny and drugs, he said. But I'm "good people", your honor. Ask anybody!
"I wasn't the only one in the motor vehicle and I wasn't found inside the motor vehicle," Trottman said during her arraignment. "My codefendants are detoxing and I'm not detoxing." Yeah, I ain't no hypocrite like them bitches! I love crack!
Trottman asked for low bail so she could be released to care for an ailing parent. Awwwwwwww...what a loving, caring daughter. I'm sure mom and dad are gonna miss her.
Judge Gardner denied the request, maintaining bail at $25,000 cash and scheduled Trottman to return to the court for a Feb. 18 probable cause hearing.
The women's arrest followed a two-hour manhunt in the Elwyn Park neighborhood Friday night by officers from Portsmouth, Rye, New Castle, Stratham, State Police and the Strafford County Sheriff's Department. Lt. Mark Newport said that while Lt. Russell Russo was pursuing the car, other Portsmouth officers set up stop sticks near the Route 1 Bypass. Instead of traveling in that direction, the women turned onto Elwyn Road, where the Toyota they were riding in was found crashed into the tree. Mugs at the link. This is not the cast of "Cougartown"...
Police initially believed the speeding car was linked to an armed carjacking which occurred earlier in the afternoon in North Hampton, but later determined the incidents were unrelated. Well, at least they got that going for them... Classic? 0
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#1 You are looking at the future cheerleading team at the New Hampshire State Prison for Women - Coordinates: 43‹0Œ36N 71‹32Œ20W / 43.01‹N 71.53889‹W / 43.01; -71.53889, if you have a desire to visit granny.
Posted by: Ebbesh Speaking for Boskone2051|| 2010-02-09
2010-02-09 07:04
#2 Looking at the mug shots , Im not suprised they turned to drugs .. I thought neanderthal
man was extinct , obviously Boston has some enigma thing going on
:)
The headline is misleading but made me chuckle . I had images of a cracked up ' driving miss daisy' before I stupidly clicked the link . Shoulda just left it at that !
Iran is the new Eastern Europe during the last phase of the Cold War. Like Poland during the heady days of Solidarity in the early 1980s, the protestors are enlightened, technologically savvy multitudes crying out for universal values of democracy and human rights. As such, they have captured the imagination of liberal intellectuals in the West. Even as the United States is tied down with 200,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, Iran promises to be the signal issue of our time.
Given that the regime could last another month or another decade, what is President Barack Obama to do? Throughout his first year in office, he’s attempted the Nixonian détente approach: talk, work back channels, get the two governments to negotiate on the basis of naked national interests. That approach seems to have failed. That leaves us with the Reaganite approach: be open to far-reaching talks, as President Ronald Reagan was with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, but do nothing to legitimize the Iranian system. And, throughout any discussions, adopt the rhetoric of democracy. Make it clear that Washington is on the same side of history as the demonstrators, but also make it clear that the door is open to negotiations with those in power.
And to avoid the risk of undermining the demonstrators by overt American support of them (thus catering to regime’s basest conspiracy theories), Obama should talk about democracy only in general, albeit pointed, terms, without directly referring to Iran. That is, he should get the language of universal values out over Iranian air waves as much as possible: encouraging the demonstrators without specifically backing them.
We are not in control. But something wonderful has begun: nothing less than the most positive development in the Middle East since President Anwar Sadat went to Jerusalem. And while that daring gesture led only to a cold bilateral peace between Egypt and Israel, the Green Revolution in Iran carries the potential to unleash a true Islamic Reformation. Classic? 0
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LOS ANGELES, Feb 8 (Reuters) - An ex-Boeing Co (BA.N) engineer, found guilty last year of passing space shuttle secrets to China in America's first conviction under a 1996 espionage law, was sentenced on Monday to 15 years in prison. Dongfan "Greg" Chung, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was convicted in July of economic espionage and acting as an agent for the People's Republic of China.
In sentencing Chung to 188 months behind bars, U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney, who presided over the 10-day trial in Santa Ana, California, said he wanted to send a signal to China to "stop sending your spies here," according to prosecutors.
Chung, 73, the first person convicted at trial under the Economic Espionage Act, told the judge he was innocent. "Your honor, I'm not a spy, I'm an ordinary man," he said. "I was planning to write a book. Those documents were going to be used for my references.
"I love this country, my children and grandchildren live here," said Chung, who was born in China and lived in Taiwan before moving to the United States in 1962. "I beg your pardon, I want to live with my family peacefully."
In convicting him in July, the judge found that Chung had acted as an agent of the Chinese government for over 30 years.
Chung was arrested on Sept. 11, 2006, after federal agents searching his home found more than 300,000 pages of sensitive documents relating to the space shuttle, Delta IV rocket, F-15 fighter, B-52 bomber, CH-46/47 Chinook helicopter and other aerospace and military technologies.
Must have been a long book ...
They also discovered letters, lists and journals detailing Chung's communications with officials in China.
... with lots of co-authors ...
Defense lawyers said Chung was a "pack rat" who had hoarded documents at his Orange County, California, home but said he did not pass any classified information to the Chinese government.
"Mr. Chung betrayed his adopted country and endangered our national security," acting U.S. Attorney George Cardona said in a written statement. "This case demonstrates our resolve to protect the secrets that help protect the United States as well as the important technological advancements developed by scientists working for companies that provide crucial support to our national security programs." Classic? 0
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#1 Chinese means Chinese. It is not a nationality, it is a race and a culture. Just because the guy carries a U.S. passport around doesn't mean jack shit. We're going to be unpleasantly, politically incorrectly surprised by many incidents like this in the future.
The United States and France have called for fresh sanctions against Iran after Tehran formally said it would begin enriching higher-grade nuclear fuel to a level of 20 per cent. Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, and Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, said Iran should face "strong sanctions" over its nuclear programme, a French official said following a meeting between the two men in Paris.
PJ Crowley, a spokesman for the US state department, told Al Jazeera that Washington was "looking at how we can apply pressure on Iran, on the government itself".
"We have no interest in creating additional hardships on the Iranian people but we'll be looking at a variety of options particularly focused on the Revolutionary Guard Corps that's played an increasing role in not only Iran's security but also its economy.
"We should try to support the Iranian people … but certainly we have to look at ways in which we can apply pressure on the government and its various entities so that should Iran continue to act in contradiction to UN Security Council resolutions, that it will pay a price for that intransigence."
Recognising that "there is a legitimate humanitarian need in having additional fuel that can provide the Tehran research reactor the ability to produce medical isotopes that have a valuable role for the Iranian people", Crowley said the US had not "given up on engagement".
"We're willing to sit down with Iran as we did last fall in a good faith effort - Iran has to be willing to meet us halfway," he said.
Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, said on Monday that he did not believe Iran had the ability to raise the enrichment level of its uranium and that the move by Tehran was "blackmail".
"One could call it diplomacy, but if that is what is then it is truly negative," said Kouchner.
Gates also said more pressure had to be applied to the Iranian government. "The only path that is left to us at this point, it seems to me, is that pressure track but it will require all of the international community to work together," Gates said. "We must still try and find a peaceful way to resolve this issue."
Asked about the possibility of an Israeli strike on Iran over its nuclear programme, Gates said: "Everybody's interest is in seeing this issue resolved without a resort to conflict."
Kouchner said all the major powers apart from China were in favour of a fourth round of UN-backed sanctions. However, he said there was no deadline for reaching an agreement and added that he did not fear that any Israeli action was imminent. Classic? 0
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SRINAGAR, India-controlled Kashmir, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from the snow avalanche in India-controlled Kashmir Monday climbed to 17, all victims being Indian army troopers including an officer, while 17 others were injured, Indian army officials said. The rescue operation in the area has been suspended and all the trapped troopers caught underneath the avalanche are stated to have been evacuated.
The avalanche hit an army camp from Indian Army's High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS) around 11:00 a.m. local time in Khelanmarg area of Gulmarg, 65 km west of Srinagar, the summer capital of India-control Kashmir.
"The rescue operations have been called off and all those trapped inside were rescued. The death toll in the incident rose to 17 and 17 others have sustained injuries. Rest all the people have been evacuated," said Lt. Col J. S. Brar, Indian army spokesman in Srinagar.
Some 100 Indian army troopers undergoing training in the upper reaches had got trapped in the snow after hit by an avalanche. Soon after receiving the news the Indian army troopers along with police launched massive searches in the area to retrieve the trapped troopers. The injured are undergoing treatment in hospital.
The HAWS houses around 350 trainees from different army units across India and the coaches here train them to fight in subzero temperatures. The troopers in the camp hit by the avalanche were part of HAWS Gulmarg.
Meanwhile, the local authorities have said no tourists or civilians were trapped in the avalanche. Gulmarg, 50 km west of Srinagar city is the world famous ski resort in the region. During this period the area remains crowded with tourists and skiers. The area has been getting rave reviews from skiers all round the world for its virgin and less crowded peaks.
The region's Disaster management office had issued high avalanche warnings Sunday evening for upper reaches including the Khelanmarg. It had advised people inhabiting upper areas to avoid venturing outside for the region was receiving heavy snowfall for the past three days. Classic? 0
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Laura Chinchilla has won a landslide victory to become the next president of Costa Rica. Mrs Chinchilla will become the first woman to lead her country after securing a clear victory in the presidential election.
"Thank you, Costa Rica!" said Mrs Chinchilla, the candidate of the ruling National Liberation Party, addressing thousands of supporters after her top rival conceded defeat.
"This is a moment for joy, but above all, also a moment for humility," the president-elect continued.
"I will not betray your confidence because it is clear that it has not been given to me as a gift."
Mrs Chinchilla, the protégé of Nobel peace laureate President Oscar Arias, is set to take office on May 8. The 50-year-old career politician was born into a political family and served as public safety minister, congressional deputy and most recently as vice president and justice minister in outgoing President Arias's cabinet.
Married with a teenage son, Mrs Chinchilla is a social conservative – opposing gay marriage, abortion and any change to Roman Catholicism's position as the state religion.
Costa Rica's development strategy in recent years has centred around boosting tourism and exports, mainly fruit and high-quality coffee, but increasingly also manufactured goods such as microchips, through free-trade pacts.
"These are priority issues for us," Chinchilla said. "The greatest challenge we face in the coming years is to take the absolute most of these trade treaties." Classic? 0
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#4 Costa Rica is quietly developing a solid democracy and open economy with a functioning middle class. One of the people helping to make that happen is a former citizen who became a NASA astronaut, Frank Chang Diaz (PhD in plasma physics, MIT).
After a trully stellar career (pun intended), including 7 space flights as well as directing the Advanced Propulsion Lab, Diaz founded his own company to develop plasma-based propulsion systems for space exploration. He gives a lot of his time and energy to encouraging Costa Ricans into rigorous science and engineering careers and has backed that up by basing part of his company in Costa Rica and employing the very good ones.
He's a good example of some of the people quietly leading that country into peace, prosperity and a decent, orderly and free society. Chincilla's election is just one evidence that the people there are taking the message to heart.
#6 ...career politician was born into a political family and served as public safety minister, congressional deputy and most recently as vice president and justice minister in outgoing President Arias's cabinet.
Hopefully she will successfully overcome these...credentials.
#7 So , i think the National Liberation Party needs a name change considering they have been liberated ..
National Cinchilla Movement maybe ?
Good luck to Costa Rica, I enjoy a mug of their coffee every morning . It works ! buzz
KIEV, Ukraine—Opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych appeared to win Ukraine's presidential election, near-complete returns showed Monday, although his opponent showed no sign of conceding defeat.
Mr. Yanukovych polled 48.66% of the ballots cast Sunday, to 45.75% for Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Mr. Yanukovych proclaimed victory. But Ms. Tymoshenko didn't comment Monday, cancelling an afternoon press conference and closeting herself with aides. Her next move remains unclear, indicating Ukraine could be in for a protracted struggle in the courts. Before the election she had threatened to call supporters onto the streets if there was evidence of fraud.
International observers led by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe judged the vote, in which nearly 70% of the electorate turned out, as free and fair, a sign that this former Soviet republic of 46 million people is behaving more like a Western democracy. The observer team called on both candidates to accept the results. "It is now time for the country's politicians to listen to the people's verdict and make sure that the transition of power is peaceful and constructive," Mr. Soares said.
If confirmed, Mr. Yanukovych's victory represents a remarkable comeback after his defeat in 2004, when mass protests, which became known as the Orange Revolution, overturned his disputed victory. Then, Viktor Yushchenko won a court-ordered repeat ballot, and Ms. Tymoshenko, the fiery heroine of the protests, became prime minister. But Mr. Yushchenko's constant arguing with Ms. Tymoshenko, his government's lagging reforms and an economic contraction of 15% last year opened the way for Mr. Yanukovych's return.
Mr. Yanukovych has pledged to oust Ms. Tymoshenko from her post as prime minister by attracting some of her current allies to a new coalition, led by his Party of Regions. If this move fails, he promised early parliamentary elections.
A protracted transition period would delay attempts to bring stability to the country's fragile economy. High on the new president's agenda is the need to reboot a $16.4 billion lending program with the International Monetary Fund, which suspended its support late last year after budget-busting social spending increases were passed into law. Classic? 0
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Rep. Mike Noel, the Legislature's chief climate-change skeptic, declared Thursday that global warming is a conspiracy to control world population.
The House Natural Resources Committee then approved a resolution that expresses the Utah Legislature's belief that "climate alarmists' carbon dioxide-related global warming hypothesis is unable to account for the current downturn in global temperatures."
The resolution, sent to the House on a 10-1 vote, would urge the Environmental Protection Agency to drop plans to regulate the pollution blamed for climate change "until a full and independent investigation of the climate data conspiracy and global warming science can be substantiated."
"We're at the breaking point," said Rep. Kerry Gibson, the resolution's sponsor, who warned that the supply of safe and affordable food is already threatened by over-regulation.
SEOUL, Feb. 9 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il Monday met with a senior Chinese official in Pyongyang, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said Tuesday.
"Kim Jong Il, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK, Monday received the visiting delegation of the International Liaison Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China led by its Head Wang Jiarui," the KCNA said. DPRK stands for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Wang flew to Pyongyang Saturday to help jumpstart the six-party nuclear talks, stalled over international sanctions on North Korea after the North's nuclear and missile tests early last year. Wang has met with the reclusive North Korean dwarf leader on each of four visits since 2004.
The KCNA said that Wang conveyed to Kim "a verbal personal message" from Chinese President Hu Jintao, without elaborating on the content, and that Kim "expressed thanks for this and asked Wang Jiarui to convey his regards to Hu Jintao."
After having "a cordial and friendly conversation" with Wang, Kim hosted a dinner for Wang and other delegates, the report said.
Wang's trip to Pyongyang comes amid a flurry of diplomacy to help revive the multilateral nuclear talks, which have been on and off since they were launched in 2003.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's special envoy, Lynn Pascoe, will fly to Pyongyang Tuesday for a four-day stay to discuss the North's nuclear ambitions, as well as providing humanitarian aid to the impoverished North and other issues. That will be the first bilateral contact since 2004, when Maurice Strong, then-Secretary General Kofi Annan's special envoy for North Korea, visited Pyongyang.
They'll consume more food than a hundred North Korean peasants. In a month.
Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, just concluded his trip to Seoul and Tokyo to reconfirm their pledge that they will not discuss easing sanctions and a peace treaty unless North Korea returns to the six-party talks first.
North Korea has demanded that, prior to the resumption of the nuclear talks, sanctions be lifted and a peace treaty be signed to replace the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.
Amid conflicting messages from North Korea, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley Friday expressed appreciation for China's effort to revive the nuclear talks. "The Chinese senior officials have regular discussions with North Korea," Crowley said. "We value that leadership by China." Classic? 0
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The greatest threat to the United States are not nuclear-armed countries like North Korea or Iran but "transnational non-state networks," namely Islamic extremists linked to al-Qaeda, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton claimed Sunday.
Sorry, Hilde, there is no 'war on terror', no 'transnational non-state networks', and Guantanamo's current inmates are just misguided. Didn't you get the memo?
In an interview with CNN, Clinton said, "Most of us believe the greater threats are the transnational non-state networks, primarily the extremists -- the fundamentalist Islamic extremists who are connected to al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula or al-Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan." She said these networks "continue to try to increase the sophistication of their capacity. The attacks that they're going to make and the... biggest nightmare that any of us have is that one of these terrorist member organizations... will get their hands on a weapon of mass destruction."
But Clinton added, "In terms of a country, obviously, a nuclear-armed country like North Korea or Iran pose both a real or a potential threat." Classic? 0
#3 Grom, not sure she meant it that way. And if so, she's stoopid. Iran may decide to do nasty by proxy to have a plausible deniability, instead of direct attacks.
#7 JohnQC, I don't think it would work. Were she quit a while ago, for reasons of disagreement, she would have built good credentials. But that time is in the past. She missed it. She's stained.
#8 She's also missing the fact that these networks "continue to try to increase the sophistication of their capacity" through the "transnational non-state networks," namely Islamic extremists linked to al-Qaeda. Iran Hezbollah) is using Nork technology, received from Pakistan's AQ Khan, and compartmentalizing ideaologies is failing to "connect the dots". However, I don't envy her position and would rather have her at the helm than Zero.
Two key North Korean agencies threatened a "sacred war of retaliation" against South Korea on Monday. In a statement on Monday, the Ministry of Public Security and the State Security Department said what they claimed were South Korean attempts to topple the North Korean regime "have gone beyond the danger line." "A sacred war of retaliation to wipe out insidious elements has already begun," they fulminated.
The statement threatened "comprehensive measures to frustrate antinational and anti-unification maneuvers by the rabble" in South Korea "who are seeking to overthrow" the North Korean regime "and trigger internal disintegration." "We are keeping a world-class, ultramodern strike force and security tools that have not been disclosed yet," they claimed.
It was the first joint statement by the two security agencies and came even as officials from the two sides were talking about the resumption of lucrative package tours to the North's Mt. Kumgang resort. Already on Jan. 15, Pyongyang threatened a "sacred war of retaliation" while accepting 10,000 tons of food aid from Seoul.
In Monday's statement, the two agencies listed a slew of grievances, including a South Korean contingency plan in the event of regime collapse in the North, and a skirmish that ended in defeat for North Korean Navy near the Northern Limit Line, the de-facto maritime border in the West Sea, as well as propaganda activities by South Korean campaigners. Classic? 0
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[Dawn] Militants attacked a military camp in Landi Kotal tehsil of Khyber Agency on Monday and an exchange of fire was underway between them and the security forces.
According to FC sources, militants fired several missiles over the camp from an unknown location. However, no casualties have been reported so far.
In the retaliation to the attack, security forces pounded militant hideouts in various parts of Landi Kotal tehsil. Classic? 0
[Iran Press TV Latest] In a fresh crackdown on drug smugglers, Iranian police have seized around 3,750 kilograms of narcotics while busting two notorious drug rings.
"Iranian narcotics agents have managed to confiscate 3,743 kilograms of various kinds of narcotics in heavy clashes in the past six months in the Iranian capital Tehran," said General Hamid Reza Hossein-Abadi, the commander of the narcotics squad.
"Some 20 major distributors and smugglers have been arrested, effectively dismantling two gangs," he added.
"The narcotics police have seized five trailers and eight light cars and vans, as well as four storage spaces in the major Iranian cities of Tehran, Isfahan, Hamadan, Qazvin and Karaj," Hossein-Abadi said.
The individuals arrested were entrenched in society and had been involved in the narcotics smuggling on a wide scale.
He referred to a report regarding the Iranian police operations in the past ten months, providing evidence of the seizure of more than 468 tons of narcotics and the arrest of 1,755 members of infamous drug bands.
The official also highlighted a UN report indicating that there were 12,000 tons of various types of narcotics stored in Afghanistan, accounting for 93 percent of illegal drugs throughout the world.
"The seizures have led to the deaths of 30 Iranian narcotics agents in numerous operations. The anti-narcotics police have managed to arrest more than 190 thousand drug dealers and traffickers," Hossein-Abadi noted. Classic? 0
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#1 "Iranian police have seized around 3,750 kilograms of narcotics."
Bet they'd find more narcotics if they weren't afraid to use drug dogs. But that's haram I guess.
Posted by: American Delight||http://moneyjihad.wordpress.com/|| 2010-02-09
2010-02-09 00:06
[Iran Press TV Latest] An anti-US rally wad held in Islamabad on Monday protesting the US Federal Court verdict convicting the female Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui.
On February 8, a 12-member New York jury convicted Siddiqui, a mother of three and a graduate of the prestigious American university, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, of attempted murder. She had been charged with allegedly shooting at her interrogators in 2008.
Siddiqui, 37, could receive a life-in-prison sentence in the sentencing hearing scheduled for May 6.
The Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has ordered the government to provide legal assistance to Siddiqui. The Lahore High Court has also asked the foreign ministry to do its best to secure her release.
Many Pakistanis believe Washington has fabricated the charges against the Pakistani scientist, who also insisted during her trial that she has been framed, describing prosecution's allegations against her as 'ridiculous'.
Some human rights groups suspect that Siddiqui was imprisoned in a secret US prison well before the 2008 incident, a charge that American authorities deny.
Amid the growing public anger, scores of Pakistanis have taken to the streets of the country since the time of her conviction last week, seeking Siddiqui's immediate release.
Shortly after the verdict was announced, Siddiqui categorically denied all the charges against her, emphasizing that she was set up, jailed, and tortured by US agents in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"This is a verdict from Israel, not America. The anger should be directed where it belongs," Siddiqui declared after the court read the judgment against her. Classic? 0
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Sri Lanka's defeated presidential candidate, former General Sarath Fonseka, has been arrested and taken into custody charged with conspiracy against the president.
"He was dragged away in a very disgraceful manner in front of our own eyes," Muslim Congress leader Rauff Hakeem told Reuters. One of Fonseka's security officers, I. P. Herath, confirmed the account.
The charges date back to the time when he was serving as the country's top military officer, Hakeem said.
Fonseca, who lost by an 18-point margin in the January 26 presidential election, blamed President Mahinda Rajapaksa of rigging the vote. The government in turn has accused him of a coup and an assassination plot while he was still serving.
The outspoken commander had quit his military post in November, after defeating the Tamil Tigers seeking autonomy for minority Tamils, to run as the candidate of a disparate opposition alliance.
Lakshman Hulugalle, director of the state-run Media Center for National Security, said Fonseka had been arrested by military police and would be tried by a court-martial that will be closed to the public.
"He was having discussions with various political party leaders and the opposition to overthrow the government and the president, and getting into politics and planning to divide the army while he was still serving," Hulugalle said. Classic? 0
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Monday he has received assurances that judges will resolve a simmering row over who can stand in Iraq's general election before official campaigning starts on Feb. 12.
Around 100 lawmakers had gathered earlier at parliament for an emergency session to debate a contentious decision to allow hundreds of candidates allegedly linked to executed dictator Saddam Hussein's Baath party to stand in the vote.
The meeting was triggered by Maliki after he branded as "illegal" a judicial panel's ruling that around 500 previously barred candidates could compete in the March 7 vote after all, subject to a post-ballot appeals process.
But the parliament meeting was called off when MPs were told the chamber had received a letter from Maliki that said a judicial panel would complete an appeals process by next Friday, more than three weeks ahead of polling day.
The letter specified that "the panel of judges decided to start immediately the study of the appeals," deputy parliament speaker Khaled al-Attiya told MPs.
A parliamentary official told AFP that the judicial panel had also written to parliament to say it will be able to complete its review of candidates by Friday, when official campaigning is due to start. Classic? 0
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Rescuers hunted Monday for survivors or more dead in the rubble of a U.S. power plant after a massive gas explosion tore it apart and killed at least five workers as terrorism has been ruled out as the cause of the blast.
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) in Washington said it would send a seven-person team to the blast site. The team is expected on the scene midday Monday, the independent investigative agency said in a statement.
Officials cautioned that they did not know how many people were in the Kleen Energy plant, which was still being built, and therefore they could not immediately account for everyone who may have been present.
"We know that 12 individuals have been injured. Five individuals are known to have lost their lives," Sebastian Giuliano, the mayor of Middletown, Connecticut, told a news conference.
Terrorism had been ruled out, according to the mayor, who said the accident, which broke the windows of nearby residential buildings and shook houses miles (kilometers) away, happened during a testing procedure.
Rescue workers helped by search dogs scoured the rubble at the plant where a brief, but fierce fire following the accident sent flames and black smoke billowing skyward. Classic? 0
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that Iran's enemies will not be able to block the country's scientific progress.
In an address to the Second National Festival of Innovation and Prosperity in Tehran on Monday, Ahmadinejad said that young Iranian students would continue to attain great achievements in various technological fields.
The Iranian president also said the enemy assassinated Iranian particle physicist Massoud Ali-Mohammadi but added that such attacks would only strengthen the country's resolve to strive to attain even greater scientific achievements.
Members of the Ali-Mohammadi family attended the festival, which was held as part of the Ten-Day Dawn celebrations commemorating the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.
Professor Massoud Ali-Mohammadi was killed by a remote-controlled bomb that was detonated in front of his home in the Qeytariyeh district of northern Tehran on January 12. Classic? 0
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#2 Talks will fail. Not a bug, but feature as Iran is concerned. I hope Russians are not stupid and have some sort of an override on the SS300 they are supposed to deliver (whenever that is, there seems to be things interfering, causing delivery delays thus far)
[Iran Press TV Latest] Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the Middle East is the region that "will determine the fate of the world."
"The Zionist regime and its allies are on the losing side, and the free nations' resistance is empowered," Ahmadinejad said in Tehran on Monday during a meeting with Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Secretary General Ramadan Abdullah Shallah.
The Iranian president also advised all nations and resistance movements to maintain unity.
Shallah said the world's oppressed people are following the example set by the Islamic Republic of Iran in confronting the arrogant powers.
"The Palestinians, too, as soldiers on the holy path, along with other forces in the region, stand beside Iran against the arrogant powers," he added.
The Palestinian official also held separate talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.
During the meeting, Mottaki said that jihad and resistance are the keys to success for the Palestinians in their struggle against Israel.
He also stated that Tel Aviv will not be able to realize its goals in the Gaza Strip.
And Israel will never dare to attack Iran because the consequences of such an act "would be unpredictable," Mottaki added.
Shallah briefed Mottaki on the latest developments in Palestine and said that Israel is the main reason for instability in the region. Classic? 0
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#1 "FATE OF THE WORLD" > Lest we fergit. NOSTRADAMUS QUATRAIN says "...NONE SHALL SEE THE POWERS/FORCES OF ASIA DESTROYED UNTIL SEVEN = THE SEVENTH HOLDS THE LINE".
"WHITE RABBIT", the theme from "PLATOON".
#6 Hillary needs another memo, with Ahmanutjob calling for unity between nations and extremists, even claiming they have already been "empowered". February 11th is fast approaching....
#7 "The Palestinians, too, as soldiers on the holy path, along with other forces in the region, stand beside Iran against the arrogant powers," he added."This is a verdict from Israel, not America. The anger should be directed where it belongs," Siddiqui declared after the court read the judgment against her.
Israel first, or their only ally, America?
[Iran Press TV Latest] Britain's official inquiry into the Iraq war for the second time linked the conflict with Iran at a session on Monday dedicated to further investigate the invasion's legality.
The former foreign secretary and the incumbent justice secretary, Jack Straw, reappeared before the Downing Street-selected committee investigating the build up to the 2003 war and denied "ignoring" legal advice that war would be in breach of international law without a second UN Security Council resolution.
During his testimony, however, Straw ventured to mention Iran, this time with a view starkly opposing those expressed by former Premier Tony Blair, who urged strong international action against the country over it energy nuclear program.
"Iran have not invaded any other country," the Times quoted Straw as saying Monday during the testimony.
"They [Iran] couldn't stand al-Qaeda ... or the Taliban anymore than we could," said the British minister who asserted that the country's inclusion in former US President George Bush's "axis of evil" incomprehensible.
"I think it's simplistic to regard Iran as a bogeyman," Straw said.
An unrepentant Tony Blair, the prime minister at the time of the Iraq war, portrayed Iran as nothing short of a growing threat during his evidence to the Chilcot inquiry two weeks ago, as he veered off the Iraq question to argue that al-Qaeda's 9/11 attack in the United States had been the major factor that balance the scale towards acting on Iraq.
Blair mentioned Iran 58 times during his appearance and argued that he now sees the same justification for invading Iraq about Iran. Classic? 0
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#5 "I think it's simplistic to regard Iran as a bogeyman," Straw said.
In the search for nuance and compromise, the simple truth is oftentimes denied. Not a great deal new here.
#7 I really don't think it matters what a blathering former UK pol says. I suspect a limited scope strike against Iran, with a stronger backchannel warning to follow, will soon be forthcoming. The 12-24 hour ball will then be squarely in their court. If they retaliate, all hell will break loose. The next few weeks should be quite interesting.
US conservative darling Sarah Palin says she thinks President Barack Obama should declare war on Iran.
The one-time Republican vice presidential candidate said in an interview with Fox News that Obama should play the war card if he wants to get re-elected in 2012.
"Say he decided to declare war on Iran or decided really to come out and do whatever he could to support Israel, which I would like him to do," she said on Sunday.
The military attack "changes the dynamics in what we can assume is going to happen between now and three years," Palin added.
The former Alaskan governor also noted that she does not think the US president would be re-elected if he ran today.
She made the remarks as the US and its allies have been flexing their muscles to impose a new round of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday ordered the country's atomic chief to boost uranium enrichment up to 20 percent while adding that talks were still possible on a nuclear deal.
Tehran says it needs the enrichment as thousands of patients will suffer if domestic production comes to an end when a research reactor in Tehran runs out of fuel.
Iran has requested the International Atomic Energy Agency to arrange for supplying of the fuel to the country. The West has been pressuring Iran to accept a UN-backed draft deal which requires Iran to send most of its domestically-produced low enriched uranium (LEU) abroad for conversion into the more refined fuel that the Tehran reactor requires to produce medical isotopes.
Iran says its concerns over the proposal, which was first floated by the US, should be heeded. The development comes as Tehran has been trying to find a middle ground with the West over the nuclear swap.
Washington, however, has insisted on the imposition of fresh sanctions on the country.
Three sets of sanctions had already been imposed on Iran. Despite other countries which have veto power in the UN Security Council, China has insisted on continued dialogue to resolve the issue.
The US, which has accused Iran of developing nuclear weapons, has also threatened the Islamic Republic with war to force Tehran into halting its nuclear activities.
The war drums are being beaten as new reports have revealed that the Israeli navy has dispatched two ships armed with missiles into the Persian Gulf.
Tehran which has been under various US sanctions since the Islamic Revolution toppled a US-backed monarch in 1979 rejects the accusations as politically motivated.
Iran's nuclear program was launched in the 1950's with the help of the US as part of the 'Atoms for Peace' program. After the 1979 Revolution, Western companies working on Iran's program refused to fulfill their obligations even though they had been paid in full.
Iran is a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and, unlike some of its regional neighbors, has opened its enrichment plants to UN inspection. Classic? 0
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#1 OTOH TOPIX > A DEVASTATING WAR BETWEEN ISRAEL AND HEZBOLLAH IS ON THE HORIZON [may occur ina few months time], + BEWARE THE COMING WAR.
Regional-or-worse MIL ESCALATION.
#3 Of course Iran has been beating the drums of war for a long time, well before they funded and directed military operations in Iraq against the UN mandated forces, let alone the continued and strident declaration of the destruction of another sovereign state.
[Bangla Daily Star] Twenty-eight Bangladesh Rifles members yesterday appealed to a Dhaka court to let them retract their confessional statements given earlier on the February 2009 at the BDR headquarters in Pilkhana.
After the hearing, Metropolitan Magistrate Dr Abdul Majid directed the authorities concerned to keep the petitions into the case file.
The petitioners alleged that they were tortured in custody during interrogation to give confessional statements.
During the hearing, the petitioners were produced before the court and they described what they went through during their remand period.
Earlier, 177 BDR men submitted similar petitions on different days.
Criminal Investigation Department had so far arrested a total of 2,190 BDR members including 30 civilians for their alleged involvement in the carnage.
BNP leader Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu and Awami League leader Torab Ali were arrested in the case.
Of them, a total of 2,151 members were remanded while 521 gave confessional statements.
At least 74 people, including 57 army officers deputed to the paramilitary force, were killed in the February 25-26 bloody mutiny at the Pilkhana in the capital.
[Ma'an] Hamas will instruct its government in the Gaza Strip to release detainees held on political grounds and reopen the Fatah party headquarters within the next two days, a top Fatah official said on Monday.
Speaking days after his first trip since 2007 to the besieged coastal enclave, Central Committee member Nabil Sha'ath said Fatah officials were already permitted to visit without any special permit.
"I informed Hamas that I rejected their security escort or visits to their government offices, and I held meetings freely," he said following a meeting in Cairo with Amr Moussa, the Arab League secretary-general.
Sha'ath said Hamas requested that its members receive better treatment in the West Bank, and that he responded, "They have freedom of movement and they have no problems. When someone from Hamas told me a Hamas delegation wanted to visit the West Bank, I said: 'Welcome; I came here with permission from the occupying authorities, so whoever wants to visit the West Bank is more than welcome.'"
He said his main objective during the visit was to prove that the state of political division was not irreversible. "We do not want to deepen the division, which is why President Abbas decided that executive and legislative members should visit the strip to break the boycott," he said, pointing out that "this is no substitute for signing the Egyptian document," a plan put forth by Cairo to bring the two sides together.
"Failure to conclude reconciliation before [next month's Arab] summit will mean our participation will be for the purposes of reconciliation, but if there has been an agreement before the summit, it will allow us to demand political support to remove the siege and face the occupation," the Fatah official explained.
Asked about how he felt when he visited the site of his demolished house in Gaza, Sha'ath said that "the situation is sad; it's true that my house is destroyed, but the country is more important than my house."
In Cairo, Sha'ath said he and Moussa discussed efforts to secure fuel shipments to the Gaza Energy Authority to run its sole power plant. According to Sha'ath, caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad "has assured me that work is being done to provide electricity to Gaza to ease the siege imposed on its citizens, and other gestures from Fatah in order to encourage the Egyptian paper's ratification."
He added: "I spoke to Amr Moussa about the political process, the outcome of US envoy George Mitchell's visit to the region, and Palestinian steadfastness for [withstanding] pressure, as well as negotiations, pointing out that our stance needs Arab support in every respect." Classic? 0
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#1 detainees held on political grounds
Wait a minute. I thought only evil types like juice or neocons did stuff like that. Someone call Amnesia International!
[Ma'an] De facto Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said on Monday that the blockade and walls surrounding Gaza would not force Palestinians to submit to external control.
He was speaking at a reception honoring the Interior Ministry in Gaza City.
"Gaza is surrounded on three sides; north, east, and south; to make it raise a white flag," Haniyeh said, insisting that Egypt's underground wall would not have the desired effect.
"The escalation of the blockade and the siege is aimed at bringing down the government and making the Palestinian people kneel," he added.
First exposed by the Israeli daily Haaretz, Egypt has been constructing an underground steel wall to stem the flow of smuggling into the coastal enclave. First constructed to transport weapons, tunnels supply Palestinians with daily needs like food and fuel, necessitated by the ongoing military blockade.
Haniyeh said his government "is entering its fourth year in the next few days, and no one can deny the accomplishments and successes it made in achievements in security, stability, preventing chaos and restoring the rights to the people through courts and the judiciary."
In comparison to the West Bank's caretaker government, long accused of arresting members of Hamas for political reasons, he said, "We used force when it was necessary and in such cases it is limited."
The Hamas leader's remarks on stability came amid controversy, however, over what human rights organizations have termed an escalating "state of security chaos and misuse of weapons" in Gaza. Last week, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights called on the Office of the Attorney General in Gaza to open investigations into a series of bombings and arsons in recent days.
Even on Sunday, two unknown gunmen fired at a doctor in Gaza City while he was on his way to his work, the PCHR noted. He was wounded by three bullets to the leg and foot. Three days earlier, unknown militants abducted, tortured and shot at a man from Jabaliya refugee camp for reasons that were not clear.
"PCHR strongly condemns these two attacks, which represent part of the state of security chaos and proliferation of weapons" plaguing the occupied Palestinian territories, and called upon the attorney general to swiftly apprehend the assailants and bring them to justice. Classic? 0
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#3 Do the Gaza folks ever wonder why nobody likes them? Or , for that matter, why nobody even respects them?
And does it ever light the bulb dimly that everyone CLOSEST to then builds walls and sprays disinfectant on them when they stand there waiting to shake hands?
Hello?
[Dawn] Taliban militants are digging in ahead of a major Nato operation in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan.
"The Taliban are not going to leave Marjah. We have seen them preparing themselves. They are bringing in people and weapons. We know there is going to be a big fight," said Abdul Manan, a man from Marjah.
"The Taliban are very active in Marjah. They are planting mines there and in the surrounding areas," said villager Abdul Khaleq after arriving in Lashkar Gah.
Abdullah Nasrat, a Taliban commander in Nad Ali district where Marjah is located, told Reuters by telephone there were some 2,000 militants ready to fight to the death.
"We are well prepared and will fight until the end. We don't have sophisticated weapons like the Americans with tanks and aeroplanes, but we have Islamic zeal. That is the power we have to fight against the infidels," he said. Classic? 0
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#1 Abdullah Nasrat, a Taliban commander in Nad Ali district where Marjah is located, told Reuters by telephone there were some 2,000 militants ready to fight to the death.
Great ! Fish in a barrel .. 2000 less
#2 Here, fishy fishy fishy . . . .
And let's not have any repeats of the house from hell in Fallujah. Give a loudspeaker warning and then drop an SDB or tactical nuke or whatever on anything that looks suspicious.
And those guys gotta eat or take a dump sometime, so I'll bet snipers and lots of night raids would be in order since it's basically a war zone and AFAIAC, if the civilians didn't bug out, they are giving their tacit approval for whatever tactics we see fit. War us not a gentleman's game in this corner of the world.
Happy hunting! No tags, and screw the limit!
#6 I fear that what they mean by "digging in" is filling bunkers with women, children, and fluffy bunnies & painting big ol' "kick me" signs on the rooftops. With just enough gunnies to bait the traps.
#7 Keep the reporters out ( for their own good naturally) Then go in there and do what has to be done. Even the fluffy bunnies. Then police the place up for the meat wagon and put it all down in a basement somewhere and bulldoze it over. THEN let the Press in and let them wander around.
Use the Mongol system and listen to a pin drop.
[Dawn] Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed was injured while three other people, including two bodyguards, were killed when gunmen opened fire on his vehicle outside his party's election office here on Monday.
Rawalpindi's Regional Police Officer Aslam Tareen termed the attack an act of terrorism and targeted killing.
Sheikh Rashid, who was taken to the District Headquarters Hospital, was in a stable condition when last reports came in. According to initial medical reports, X-rays showed that he was not hit by a bullet. However, he had a slight swelling on his leg, a doctor said. Later, he was discharged from the hospital.
The AML chief was attacked by two masked gunmen at his party's election office near Mohammadi Chowk, in Khayaban-i-Sir Syed, while he was getting into his vehicle. Sheikh Rashid's bodyguards chased the fleeing gunmen, but they were gunned down by their accomplices, security sources said. Kalashnikovs were used by the attackers who managed to escape on motorcycles.
The identity of the gunmen was not known, police said.
Tanveer, an eyewitness, said all of a sudden the gunmen appeared in the crowd and opened fire. He said: "Sheikh Rashid has been on the hit list of terrorists since the Lal Masjid operation (July 2007) and he has been provided security by the Punjab government."
Sheikh Rashid, who had been a member of the PML-Q and was information and railways minister in the previous government of Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf, formed his own political party after losing his National Assembly seat in 2008. He is contesting a by-election to NA-55, Rawalpindi.
All candidates contesting the by-election had been advised in writing to inform the police and district administration one day before a public meeting or any other gathering. But Monday's function was not a scheduled event and the police were not intimated.
A large number of Sheikh Rashid's supporters gathered outside the hospital and shouted slogans against certain political leaders and police. Some of the angry protesters burned tyres on the roads to block traffic.
Five police personnel had been deployed at the residence of Sheikh Rashid in Rawalpindi, but no police squad was provided to him during his inter-city movements.
Those who lost their lives in the attack were identified as Anwar-ul-Haq, Javaid and Shahid Shahzad. Mohammad Hassan and Ilyas Abbasi were injured.
Sheikh Rashid recorded his statement before the Pirwadhai police late in the night.
He said he was coming out of his election office after attending a meeting when some unidentified gunmen opened fire, killing three of his associates.
"Two of the gunmen who were wearing shawls appeared on the scene while their two other accomplices were standing at a short distance. Sheikh Rashid did not identify any person by name as prime accused.
A police source said that Sheikh Rashid had accused a senior police officer of negligence. The police formed a team to probe the attack. Classic? 0
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[Quqnoos] President Karzai says he is mulling a return to a conscript army as he seeks to expand the Afghan security forces. That works if you're looking for quantity versus quality...
Speaking to 46th annual Munich Security Conference on Sunday, President Hamid Karzai said he wants to build an army and police force of 300,000 by 2012. "Right now we have a volunteer system, which means an army entirely paid for and professionals," Karzai said, but noted: "As in other countries, Afghanistan had a strong tradition of conscript army." The professionals were mostly in the KhAD. The cannon fodder got chewed up, along with their Soviet cannon fodder counterparts.
KhAD: according to Wikipedia, the Afghan secret police during the Soviet period, subsequently transferring its loyalties to the Northern Alliance.
He said community leaders had been advising "me to go back to some form of conscription for the Afghan army, so the young boys from the Afghan countryside can come to training centres ... and learn something, and go back home". The purpose of a military force is to defeat the enemy, whomever that may be. "Learning something" is a side benefit, the means rather than the end. But what do I know? I don't wear a cape.
Conscription for the Afghan army was compulsory in Afghanistan until 1992. Did a lot of good, didn't it? Look at all the guys who learned to shoot off ...
Karzai's remarks come as NATO and its partners strive to build the Afghan army and police up so they can gradually take responsibility for the security of their own country. "By the year 2012, we in Afghanistan we should have at least 300,000 of our army and police force that is trained and equipped, that is able to take leading responsibility in a greater part of the country," he said. "This also means that in five years, Afghanistan should be able to provide responsibility for its people, so we are no longer a burden on the shoulders of the international community," he added.
Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said last week there was no need for conscription as the army had no lack of recruits.
The comment comes as US military heading its NATO and Afghan allies are preparing to launch their biggest offensive since 2001 in the volatile southern Afghanistan. The NATO commander in Afghanistan, Gen Stanley McChrystal, said the major offensive which is about to begin in central Helmand would send a "strong signal that the Afghan government is expanding its security control".
Thousands of coalition and Afghan troops are converging for the operation to capture the town of Marja, a Taliban stronghold and a key centre for narco-trade. Provincial officials said about 35,000 residents of Marja were taking the advice and heading to other parts of Helmand ahead of the operation. Classic? 0
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Pakistani security forces have captured several members of the Jundallah terrorist group and handed them over to Iranian authorities.
During a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Sunday, visiting Pakistani National Assembly Speaker Fahmida Mirza said that a number of Jundallah militants have been arrested and extradited to Iran.
She went on to say that Pakistani security personnel are making serious efforts to apprehend the Jundallah members still at large.
Jundallah is a Pakistan-based terrorist group comprised of members of the Baluchi ethnic group.
It has been reported that Jundallah is closely affiliated with the al-Qaeda network.
Since 2003, Jundallah members have carried out over 50 terrorist operations in Iran.
The government of Iran has accused them of mass murder, armed robbery, kidnapping, carrying out bombings targeting civilians and government officials, and acts of sabotage.
Abdolmalek Rigi is the leader of the terrorist group.
In their latest attack, which occurred on October 18, more than 40 Iranians, among them 15 members of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), lost their lives when Jundallah terrorists carried out an operation in the border region of Pishin, which is located in Iran's southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan.
Shia and Sunni tribal leaders were also among the victims of the attack.
During his meeting with the Pakistani parliament speaker, the Iranian foreign minister said Tehran and Islamabad play significant roles in regional developments.
The two countries should endeavor to expand their strategic cooperation since there is ample potential to this end, he added. Classic? 0
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[Al Arabiya Latest] President Barack Obama Sunday acknowledged fierce opposition to his plans to bring accused Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to justice in New York, but would not rule out such a trial, as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that al-Qaeda still poses a greater danger than nuclear Iran
The administration had hoped to prosecute Sheikh Mohammed and four co-defendants in a federal court in lower Manhattan, close to the site of the World Trade Center attack which killed nearly 3,000 people in 2001.
But the plan has faced blanket opposition from local lawmakers and authorities who have balked at the huge costs of such a trial, while others have warned of perceived security implications.
"I have not ruled it out, but I think it is important for us to take into account the practical logistical issues involved," Obama said in a live interview from the White House on CBS.
"If you have got a city that is saying no, and a police department that is saying no, and a mayor that is saying no, that makes it difficult," Obama said.
But he added: "we have not ruled out anything -- we will make a definitive judgment based on consultations with all the relevant authorities."
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg initially welcomed the idea of holding a Sept. 11 trial in New York, but reversed his position last month, saying that a military base would make more sense as a venue.
Sheikh Mohammed and the four co-defendants are currently incarcerated in the Guantanamo Bay U.S. military facility in Cuba, which Obama says he will close down, although he has missed a one-year deadline to do so. Classic? 0
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#2 Every time I hear this bozo say anything I flash back to Mel Brooks..."It's good to be the king."
He really doesn't understand that he is NOT a monarch or dictator, does he?
[Al Arabiya Latest] Prosecutors in Turkey are seeking life in jail for the father and grandfather of a girl who was buried alive for befriending boys, local judicial sources said Monday.
The pair were arrested after the body of 16-year-old Medine Memi was found in a sitting position with her hands tied,
A post mortem showed a significant amount of soil in her lungs and stomach, meaning she was buried alive, forensic experts have said.
in a hole in a chicken pen outside her house in Kahta town, Adiyaman province, 40 days after she went missing.
A post mortem showed a significant amount of soil in her lungs and stomach, meaning she was buried alive, forensic experts have said.
Her father Ayhan Memi, 40, and grandfather Fethi Memi, 65, have refused to talk to investigators and prosecutors since their arrest in early December in the Kurdish town.
The judicial source said they would likely face a charge of "premeditated homicide with aggravating circumstances, perpetrated with cruelty" being drawn up by prosecutors.
Turkish law demands life in prison if convicted of those charges.
The teenager "never went to school and perhaps barely knew how to read and write," Muhammed Cevik, who owns the local Kahta newspaper, told AFP. Classic? 0
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Saudi Arabia's human rights commission has hired a lawyer to help a 12-year-old girl divorce her 80-year-old husband, the lawyer said, a move activists hope will lead to a ban on child marriages.
Saudi Arabia has no minimum legal age for marriage. Fathers are granted guardianship over their daughters, giving them control over who their daughters marry and when.
The girl from Buraidah, a town near the capital Riyadh, was married to her father's elderly cousin late last year for bridal money of 85,000 riyals ($22,670), her lawyer Sultan bin Zahim told Reuters.
Activists see the divorce proceedings as a test case that could pave the way for introducing a minimum age for marriage in the world's largest oil exporter.
The child's mother had earlier filed for divorce on her daughter's behalf but withdrew without giving a reason after a second court hearing in early February, bin Zahim said. Classic? 0
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[Al Arabiya Latest] The International Criminal Court dismissed charges against a Sudanese rebel leader on Monday, ruling against allegations he helped orchestrate the killing of 12 African Union peacekeepers in Darfur in 2007.
The war crimes court threw out the charges against Bahar Idriss Abu Garda after a pre-trial chamber ruled he could not be held criminally responsible for intentionally directing the attack.
"The chamber was not satisfied that there was sufficient evidence to establish substantial grounds to believe that Bahar Idriss Abu Garda could be held criminally responsible," the court said in a statement. Classic? 0
[Al Arabiya Latest] Michael Jackson's doctor was charged with involuntary manslaughter on Monday ahead of a long-awaited court hearing where he is expected to deny causing the pop icon's death. Looks like his plastique surgeon's gonna get off, though...
A statement from the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office -- which had already confirmed criminal charges would be issued against Conrad Murray -- set out the allegations against the 56-year-old physician.
Murray has been a focus of investigations for months, since the coroner's office ruled that Jackson's June 25, 2009 death was a homicide by drug overdose.
Murray was at Jackson's rented Los Angeles house at the time of his death and was the man who, according to police affidavits, admitted administering the powerful anesthetic propofol to the 50 year-old singer to help him sleep.
The coroner's report in August said Jackson's death was caused principally by propofol and the sedative lorazepam. A cocktail of other painkillers, sedatives and a stimulant were also found in his body.
The charge of involuntary manslaughter alleges Murray "did unlawfully, and without malice, kill Michael Joseph Jackson," said a statement from the Los Angeles District Attorney's office.
Murray is expected to make an initial appearance in court in Los Angeles later on Monday.
He could face up to four years in prison if convicted, the district attorney's office said. Classic? 0
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#5 administering the powerful anesthetic...to help him sleep.
Jacko's still sleeping, so I guess he was successful. If you really want to sleep, call Dr. Murray!
SAN FRANCISCO – Deep inside millions of computers is a digital Fort Knox, a special chip with the locks to highly guarded secrets, including classified government reports and confidential business plans. Now a former U.S. Army computer-security specialist has devised a way to break those locks.
The attack can force heavily secured computers to spill documents that likely were presumed to be safe. This discovery shows one way that spies and other richly financed attackers can acquire military and trade secrets, and comes as worries about state-sponsored computer espionage intensify, underscored by recent hacking attacks on Google Inc.
The new attack discovered by Christopher Tarnovsky is difficult to pull off, partly because it requires physical access to a computer. But laptops and smart phones get lost and stolen all the time. And the data that the most dangerous computer criminals would seek likely would be worth the expense of an elaborate espionage operation.
Jeff Moss, founder of the Black Hat security conference and a member of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's advisory council, called Tarnovsky's finding "amazing."
"It's sort of doing the impossible," Moss said. "This is a lock on Pandora's box. And now that he's pried open the lock, it's like, ooh, where does it lead you?"
Tarnovsky figured out a way to break chips that carry a "Trusted Platform Module," or TPM, designation by essentially spying on them like a phone conversation. Such chips are billed as the industry's most secure and are estimated to be in as many as 100 million personal computers and servers, according to market research firm IDC.
When activated, the chips provide an additional layer of security by encrypting, or scrambling, data to prevent outsiders from viewing information on the machines. An extra password or identification such as a fingerprint is needed when the machine is turned on.
Many computers sold to businesses and consumers have such chips, though users might not turn them on. Users are typically given the choice to turn on a TPM chip when they first use a computer with it. If they ignore the offer, it's easy to forget the feature exists. However, computers needing the most security typically have TPM chips activated.
"You've trusted this chip to hold your secrets, but your secrets aren't that safe," said Tarnovsky, 38, who runs the Flylogic security consultancy in Vista, Calif., and demonstrated his hack last week at the Black Hat security conference in Arlington, Va.
The chip Tarnovsky hacked is a flagship model from Infineon Technologies AG, the top maker of TPM chips. And Tarnovsky says the technique would work on the entire family of Infineon chips based on the same design. That includes non-TPM chips used in satellite TV equipment, Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 game console and smart phones.
That means his attack could be used to pirate satellite TV signals or make Xbox peripherals, such as handheld controllers, without paying Microsoft a licensing fee, Tarnovsky said. Microsoft confirmed its Xbox 360 uses Infineon chips, but would only say that "unauthorized accessories that circumvent security protocols are not certified to meet our safety and compliance standards."
The technique can also be used to tap text messages and e-mail belonging to the user of a lost or stolen phone. Tarnovsky said he can't be sure, however, whether his attack would work on TPM chips made by companies other than Infineon.
Infineon said it knew this type of attack was possible when it was testing its chips. But the company said independent tests determined that the hack would require such a high skill level that there was a limited chance of it affecting many users.
"The risk is manageable, and you are just attacking one computer," said Joerg Borchert, vice president of Infineon's chip card and security division. "Yes, this can be very valuable. It depends on the information that is stored. But that's not our task to manage. This gives a certain strength, and it's better than an unprotected computer without encryption."
The Trusted Computing Group, which sets standards on TPM chips, called the attack "exceedingly difficult to replicate in a real-world environment." It added that the group has "never claimed that a physical attack — given enough time, specialized equipment, know-how and money — was impossible. No form of security can ever be held to that standard."
It stood by TPM chips as the most cost-effective way to secure a PC.
It's possible for computer users to scramble data in other ways, beyond what the TPM chip does. Tarnovsky's attack would do nothing to unlock those methods. But many computer owners don't bother, figuring the TPM security already protects them.
Tarnovsky needed six months to figure out his attack, which requires skill in modifying the tiny parts of the chip without destroying it.
Using off-the-shelf chemicals, Tarnovsky soaked chips in acid to dissolve their hard outer shells. Then he applied rust remover to help take off layers of mesh wiring, to expose the chips' cores. From there, he had to find the right communication channels to tap into using a very small needle.
The needle allowed him to set up a wiretap and eavesdrop on all the programming instructions as they are sent back and forth between the chip and the computer's memory. Those instructions hold the secrets to the computer's encryption, and he didn't find them encrypted because he was physically inside the chip.
Even once he had done all that, he said he still had to crack the "huge problem" of figuring out how to avoid traps programmed into the chip's software as an extra layer of defense.
"This chip is mean, man — it's like a ticking time bomb if you don't do something right," Tarnovsky said.
Joe Grand, a hardware hacker and president of product- and security-research firm Grand Idea Studio Inc., saw Tarnovsky's presentation and said it represented a huge advancement that chip companies should take seriously, because it shows that presumptions about security ought to be reconsidered.
"His work is the next generation of hardware hacking," Grand said.
BERLIN (Reuters) – Four elderly Germans went on trial on Monday charged with kidnapping their financial adviser and holding him prisoner in a basement in an attempt to recover 2.5 million euros (2.19 million pounds) in lost savings, a court spokesman said.
They are accused of seizing the financial adviser, a 56-year-old man, outside his apartment in the western town of Speyer, binding and gagging him and bundling him into the boot of a car before driving him some 500 km (300 miles) to the Bavarian town of Chieming.
There they tried to force him to transfer large sums of money to them. The banker tried to escape but suffered two broken ribs from one of those charged, a 74-year-old man.
In one remittance order the banker included the message "Sell 100 Call Pol.ICE today please!." A bank employee notified police and the banker was freed by an elite commando group.
The 74-year-old man charged with being the ringleader denied kidnapping. He said they had invited the man for a "few days holiday in Bavaria."
Defence attorney Harald Baumgaertl told ARD television it was an act of desperation.
"They feared there was no legal way to get their money back and so they did what one should not do -- committed a crime."
Prosecutors in the Bavarian town of Traunstein have charged the senior citizens -- aged 60 to 79 -- with kidnapping and complicity. They face jail terms of 5 to 15 years if convicted, state prosecutor Guenther Hammerdinger told ARD television.
(Reporting by Erik Kirschbaum; editing by Ralph Boulton)
Retired Navy Commander Kirk S. Lippold is mulling a run for U.S. Senate in Nevada, two sources said Thursday. Lippold was commanding officer of the USS Cole in 2000 when it was attacked in an al-Qaida suicide bombing in the harbor of Aden, in Yemen. He retired from the Navy in 2007.
Kirk would join a crowded field wanting to take on incumbent Sen. Harry Reid, a Democrat. The deadline for filing is March 12. Classic? 0
#2 Penguin: not only that, but Lippold's best-known for a minor American disaster which happened on his watch; however much or little responsibility he bears for said disaster, it's certainly not a mark in his *favor*, and nobody would know him from Adam otherwise.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Spokesman for Rep. John Murtha says the Pennsylvania Democrat has died at 77.
Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. John Murtha, the first veteran of the Vietnam war and one of the most powerful lawmakers in Congress, died Wednesday morning at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, VA, after complications from gallbladder surgery. Murtha was 77.
A native of New Martinsville, W.Va., voters elected first elected Murtha to Congress in a 1974 special election that spelled impending doom for President Nixon and congressional Republicans. That fall, Democrats wrestled away 49 House seats from the GOP, reeling from the scourge of Watergate and a presidency in shambles.
Murtha rose to become the chairman of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee that controls spending for the Pentagon. Chairs of the appropriations subcommittee panels are viewed with such prestige on Capitol Hill that theyre called "cardinals." Thats a nod to Rome because of the eminence these lawmakers hold over spending for their federal fiefdom.
Murtha was also the endorsed candidate of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to become majority leader when Democrats won control of Congress in 2006. But current House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) overwhelmingly defeated Murtha by secret ballot in a hard-fought leadership contest.
Murtha enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1952 and became a drill instructor at Parris Island. He served in Korea and received a Bronze Star and Two Purple Hearts for his service in Vietnam. He continued to be a member of the Marine Corps Reserves until he resigned as a colonel in 1990.
Murtha voted to go to war in Iraq the fall of 2002. But two years later, the Pennsylvania Democrat called for the U.S to withdraw from. Later on the House floor, Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH), the newest member of the House at the time, spoke in favor of the war and chided Murtha that "cowards cut and run, Marines never do." Schmidts remarks ignited a firestorm on the House floor as lawmakers rose to Murthas defense. Schmidt later said she didnt know that Murtha was a Marine. She withdrew her comments and apologized.
A hint of scandal lingered over much of Murthas career. The FBI named Murtha an "unindicted co-conspirator" in its ABSCAM sting operation in the late 1970s and early '80s. ABSCAM resulted in the conviction of five House members and one senator. The FBI recorded Murtha on videotape declining a $50,000 bribe from federal agents posing as Arab sheiks. But the Congressman did say he could be interested in future dealings.
Nicknamed "The King of Pork," Murtha also faced scrutiny for earmarking federal dollars for projects in his district. Numerous news reports lambasted the Congressman for steering money to the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport. The facility received $150 million from Washington for upgrades despite limited commercial use. But the airport is also used for military purposes.
The Congressman also faced scrutiny for campaign contributions he and other appropriators received from the now defunct PMA lobbying firm. Murtha scored nearly $2.5 million in donations from PMA and its clients over a nearly 20 year period. The feds continue to scrutinize PMA. The Office of Congressional Ethics asked the House Ethics Committee to drop any inquiries into the dealings Murtha had with PMA.
Murtha also stirred controversy in the fall of 2008 with President Obama poised to become the first African American president. When asked about Mr. Obamas chances in his Congressional district, Murtha responded that "theres no question western Pennsylvania is a racist area."
Even though Murtha won re-election, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) carried the district over by about 1,000 votes.
Despite controversy, Murtha was beloved by his House colleagues for holding court in whats called "Murthas corner" in the rear of the House chamber. During a House vote series, Murtha could often be seen trading information or spinning yarns with fellow lawmakers. He also won the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award and Pennsylvania's two highest honors, the Distinguished Service Medal and the Meritorious Service Medal.
Funeral arrangements are incomplete. Classic? 0
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#6 I'm thinking of having surgery (not gall bladder), but I'm very confused because I have no way to evaluate the risk-benefit. These events maake me think the risk is higher than you would think.
#8 Fester: A hot gallbladder is not to be ignored, as it can go nuclear in a hurry.
Gallbladder
However, as a rule of thumb, it is far worse to procrastinate from major surgery than to worry about complications. Surgeons, despite what most people think, do not like to cut people open unless they have to. So when they have to, they mean it.
Do your research on the Internet, and talk to your doctor about your concerns, but don't ever think you can get away with "wishing it away", or just avoiding thinking about it.
Finally, this advise is x100 if you are talking about cancer. Screwing around after a diagnosis of cancer is a major killer.
#12 "As a child I was told that if I had nothing nice to say to not say anything."
I'm with you, Hellfish.
Let's not act like the Leftists do toward anyone they disagree with.
I'll keep my thoughts about Mr. Murtha to myself. My condolences to his family.
#14 On a brighter note, his district will now have one of the most junior representatives in Congress during one of the deepest recessions in decades. What goes around, comes around. Party's over.
#21 I respected his service to our country, but when he got damn-near-caught in ABSCAM and then became The King of Pork and then libeled the Haditha Marines (MARINES, for crying out loud!) he lost all my respect.
Satan has a sharp pitchfork.
#22 Now that John will be spending the future on the wrong side of the dirt, and won't be coming down for breakfast anymore, the important work is to find a replacement who can replicate the "Scott Brown" result in Teddy's former empire.
That would give Teddy and Johnny something to mull over as they toss back brimstone cocktails.
#23 He defamed our troops without proof during war, aided and abated the enemy, tried his best to rob the successful people and give to his cronies and was a general boob.
Traitor and thief.
Good fucking riddance.
#25 The feeders at his trough would never have voted him out. Why is he still in Congress at 77 and not term limited eons ago? His whole life was a disgrace, including, I'm willing to bet, his so-called "service". Only death could stop the abuse. GOOD BYE.
#26 The one question I have, for our USMC burgers is this: as a veteran he is entitled to a military funeral; how does one refuse to serve as part of the honor guard? or is this a case of holding your nose and getting it done?
I am asking because of the slander he heaped on the Marines in Iraq.
The Obama Administration has been moving full-speed ahead on anticarbon regulation, never mind waiting for Congress to pass a bill. But now opposition is building among senior Democrats, with two powerful committee Chairmen introducing a bill last week to bar the Environmental Protection Agency from declaring that carbon is a dangerous pollutant. Better to have no jobs and no CO2? EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is busy writing new rules that would let her drive a tax-and-regulation bulldozer through the U.S. economy under laws never meant to apply to greenhouse gases. Ms. Jackson is expected to issue new anticarbon regulations for cars and trucks next month before moving on to power plants and other industries. Jobs, that's what we need more of, JOBS!
This is all too much for Missouri's Ike Skelton and Minnesota's Collin Peterson, the Chairmen of the House Armed Services and Agriculture Committees, respectively. Along with Missouri Republican Jo Ann Emerson, they are pushing a two-page bill that would amend the Clean Air Act to restore Congress's original intent and strip CO2 and other greenhouse gases from the statutory language.
This is bipartisanship we can believe in. Such legislation would vaporize the EPA's "endangerment finding" for carbon and thus require the Administration to use democratic debate and persuasion if it really wants to reshape the energy markets and impose huge new costs on American consumers. What a thought.
"If Congress doesn't do something soon, the EPA is going to cram these regulations through all on their own," Mr. Peterson said. "I have no confidence that EPA can regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act without severe harm to all taxpayers." Cramming is Congress' job!
Added Mr. Skelton: "Simply put, we cannot tolerate turning over the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions to unelected bureaucrats at EPA. America's energy and environmental policies should be set by Congress." Yes, they should be. Hmmmm...Does that apply to anything else?
The Skelton-Peterson-Emerson bill follows a similar effort by North Dakota Democrat Earl Pomeroy, not to mention Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski's coming "disapproval resolution" in the Senate that has the support of Democrats Mary Landrieu, Ben Nelson and Blanche Lincoln.
Our one caveat here is that Messrs. Skelton and Peterson are doing the right thing for the wrong reason--specifically, to defend the ethanol industry. Their bill includes provisions that would expand the definition of renewable fuels and make it easier for corn ethanol and soy biodiesel to qualify for federal tax credits. This is despite the growing shelf of studies that common crop-based fuels increase carbon emissions because of land-use changes and deforestation. Compromise was intended by the Founding Fathers.
In any case, Ms. Jackson released final rules last week that would allow ethanol to maintain its mandate on the U.S. fuel supply, requiring her agency to back down from the more restrictive and supposedly science-based rules that it had proposed last year. Ms. Jackson insisted that EPA wasn't "dumbing down" its regulations, but her bow to the ethanol lobby revealed the death-grip it exerts on Congress.
Yet in the case of carbon regulation--an even dumber policy--we'll take what we can get. If the power of farm-state politicians ends up stopping the EPA's global-warming power grab, it would be the first good thing ethanol has done for the country. Classic? 0
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What little is left of Venezuela's democracy has taken a literal beating from President Hugo Chavez's uniformed goon squads -- again.
The Pakistani Taliban confirmed Tuesday that their leader, Hakimullah Mahsud, died from injuries suffered in a U.S. drone missile strike last month, an attack that forces the insurgency to find a new leader for the second time in six months.
LOS ANGELES, Feb 8 (Reuters) - An ex-Boeing Co (BA.N) engineer, found guilty last year of passing space shuttle secrets to China in America's first conviction under a 1996 espionage law, was sentenced on Monday to 15 years in prison. Dongfan "Greg" Chung, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was convicted in July of economic espionage and acting as an agent for the People's Republic of China.
The United States and France have called for fresh sanctions against Iran after Tehran formally said it would begin enriching higher-grade nuclear fuel to a level of 20 per cent. Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, and Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, said Iran should face "strong sanctions" over its nuclear programme, a French official said following a meeting between the two men in Paris.
SEOUL, Feb. 9 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il Monday met with a senior Chinese official in Pyongyang, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said Tuesday.
Two key North Korean agencies threatened a "sacred war of retaliation" against South Korea on Monday. In a statement on Monday, the Ministry of Public Security and the State Security Department said what they claimed were South Korean attempts to topple the North Korean regime "have gone beyond the danger line." "A sacred war of retaliation to wipe out insidious elements has already begun," they fulminated.
[Iran Press TV Latest] An anti-US rally wad held in Islamabad on Monday protesting the US Federal Court verdict convicting the female Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui. 
[Dawn] Awami Muslim League chief 
[Quqnoos] President Karzai says he is mulling a return to a conscript army as he seeks to expand the Afghan security forces.
[Al Arabiya Latest] President Barack Obama Sunday acknowledged fierce opposition to his plans to bring accused Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to justice in New York, but would not rule out such a trial, as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that al-Qaeda still poses a greater danger than nuclear Iran
[Al Arabiya Latest] Saudi Arabia's human rights commission has hired a lawyer to help a 12-year-old girl divorce her 80-year-old husband, the lawyer said, a move activists hope will lead to a ban on child marriages.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Michael Jackson's doctor was charged with involuntary manslaughter on Monday ahead of a long-awaited court hearing where he is expected to deny causing the pop icon's death.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is busy writing new rules that would let her drive a tax-and-regulation bulldozer through the U.S. economy under laws never meant to apply to greenhouse gases. Ms. Jackson is expected to issue new anticarbon regulations for cars and trucks next month before moving on to power plants and other industries.