HEALDSBURG -- An armed man wearing a black, ninja-style mask was shot to death by a Healdsburg man this morning after he attacked the man's wife outside their home and chased her inside, police said. The MSM will be all over this....NOT.
The shooting happened about 7:30 a.m. at the end of Sunset Drive, a semi-rural street on the east side of town. The woman was about to take the couple's two Wheaton terrier dogs for a walk when the masked man jumped her outside her garage, police said. The woman struggled, broke away and ran screaming into the house, with the attacker in pursuit. good for her
Her screams awoke her husband. The man, whom police identified only as a man in his 60s, "grabbed their handgun, probably a .357 ... and fired more than one shot," Police Chief Susan Jones said. .357 sometimes man's best friend
The intruder "had what looked like a firearm in his hand," Jones said. He died at the scene. Good...saves the cost of a trial
His identity has not been released. "The husband is fine. He's uninjured," Jones said. "The wife is being treated for a head injury that she sustained sometime during the struggle, but she's going to be fine." Don't mess with Wine Country
Jones said the intruder may have been hiding behind some garage cans, waiting for someone to emerge from the home. The chief said the incident "is completely out of the blue" for the town. "Actually, our crime has been down this year. This is really unusual," she said. "It's really frightening if this is a random act." The gun control crowd hates stories like this. The guy protected his wife and himself admirably. Hate to thinnk what would have happend if this were in San Francisco instead of just north. I'm sure the perp would still be roaming around just waiting for the gun ban to take effect
#2
I remember one home invader who picked the wrong old man to try to thump and rob. Turns out the victim had been a British infantry veteran from the Burma campaign. According to the newpaper he "stabbed" the home invader.
According to the police, he gutted him like a deer.
#4
even we Californians have home defense capabilities. I'd suggest if ya don't believe me - we can arrange your random date home invasion death :-)
remember, Dirty Harry was here
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/27/2006 21:51 Comments ||
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#5
Don't lump all of California together folks. I agree with Frank, anyone breaks into my home is likely to get a .357, or .40 caliber, or even 7mm Mauser sized hole in their head. Actually probably multiple holes if I still feel threatened after the first magazine.
And I'm probably the least armed of my friends. Hate to see what would happen if someone broke into one of their houses.
WASHINGTON The US will resume talks in March on a free-trade pact with the UAE despite an uproar over Bush administration approval of a deal to allow a UAE company to operate terminals at six US ports, a US trade official said yesterday. UAE remains an important priority for us, Shaun Donnelly, assistant US trade representative for Europe and the Middle East, said.
Its very important in building over time the Middle East free trade area. The US was making good progress in the talks with UAE and hopes to finish relatively soon, Donnelly said.
Negotiators probably will not be able to resolve all the remaining issues in areas ranging from agriculture to investment to services when they hold their fifth round of talks next month, he said.
Two-way trade between the US and the UAE totalled close to $10 billion in 2005, making it the third-largest US trading partner in the Middle East behind Israel and Saudi Arabia. The US enjoyed a $7 billion trade surplus with the UAE last year, helped by $2.1 billion in civilian aircraft sales to the country.
The Bush administration began free-trade talks with the UAE in March 2005. The US already has free-trade pacts with Israel, Jordan, Morocco and Bahrain and has concluded one with Oman that is expected to be sent to Congress for approval early this year.
This is one part of how we tie moderate Arab states to us for the long term. Trade, investment (yes, including the ports deal), education, and joint security operations. Their security and standards of living increase, and the religious crazies have less of a wedge.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/27/2006 00:00 ||
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ALMATY - Scuffles broke out as up to 1,500 protestors demonstrated over the killing of an opposition leader in Kazakhstans largest city Almaty on Sunday. The protestors carried banners, red carnations and photographs of the opposition leader, Altynbek Sarsenbaiuly, who was found shot twice through the head on February 13.
Demonstrators scuffled with police as they tried to march from the Academy of Sciences building where the demonstration began to the citys main square. Police eventually let demonstrators assemble on the square.
The killing of Sarsenbaiuly along with two other men his driver and his bodyguard has sparked a political crisis in this Central Asian ex-Soviet republic. Last Wednesday, the head of Kazakhstans state security service announced his resignation after five members of his agency and another man were arrested in connection with the murder of Sarsenbaiuly, a leader of the opposition coalition For a Just Kazakhstan.
On Thursday, police announced the arrest of the head of the parliamentary administration on suspicion of taking part in the murder.
Sarsenbaiuly, a former government minister and one-time ally of Nazarbayev, joined the opposition group For a Just Kazakhstan in 2004 after splitting from the government. President Nursultan Nazarbayev on Tuesday condemned the killing as a challenge to the whole of society and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/27/2006 00:00 ||
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The only thing rising faster than China is the hype about China. In January, the People's Republic's gross domestic product (GDP) exceeded that of Britain and France, making China the world's fourth-largest economy. In December, it was announced that China replaced the United States as the world's largest exporter of technology goods. Many experts predict that the Chinese economy will be second only to the United States by 2020, and possibly surpass it by 2050.
Upon close examination, China's record loses some of its luster. China's economic performance since 1979, for example, is actually less impressive than that of its East Asian neighbors, such as Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, during comparable periods of growth. Its banking system, which costs Beijing about 30 percent of annual GDP in bailouts, is saddled with nonperforming loans and is probably the most fragile in Asia. The comparison with India is especially striking. In six major industrial sectors (ranging from autos to telecom), from 1999 to 2003, Indian companies delivered rates of return on investment that were 80 to 200 percent higher than their Chinese counterparts. The often breathless conventional wisdom on China's economic reform overlooks major flaws that render many predictions about China's trajectory misleading, if not downright hazardous.
The Chinese economy is not merely inefficient; it has also fallen victim to crony capitalism with Chinese characteristicsthe marriage between unchecked power and illicit wealth. And corruption is worst where the hand of the state is strongest. The most corrupt sectors in China, such as power generation, tobacco, banking, financial services, and infrastructure, are all state-controlled monopolies. None of that is unprecedented, of course. Tycoons in Russia, after all, have looted the state's natural resources. China, at least, boasts genuine private entrepreneurs who have built prosperous companies. But China's politically connected tycoons have cashed in on China's real estate boom; nearly half of Forbes' list of the 100 richest individuals in China in 2004 were real estate developers.
Various indicators, pieced together from official sources, suggest endemic graft within the state. The number of "large-sum cases" (those involving monetary amounts greater than $6,000) nearly doubled between 1992 and 2002, indicating that more wealth is being looted by corrupt officials. The rot appears to be spreading up the ranks, as more and more senior officials have been ensnared. The number of officials at the county level and above prosecuted by the government rose from 1,386 in 1992 to 2,925 in 2002.
An optimist might believe that these figures reveal stronger enforcement rather than metastasizing corruption, but the evidence suggests otherwise. Dishonest officials today face little risk of serious punishment. On average, 140,000 party officials and members were caught in corruption scandals each year in the 1990s, and 5.6 percent of these were criminally prosecuted. In 2004, 170,850 party officials and members were implicated, but only 4,915 (or 2.9 percent) were subject to criminal prosecution. The culture of official impunity is thriving in China.
What's worse, corruption is now assuming forms normally associated with regime decay. Corruption involving large numbers of officials used to be rare. Now it's rampant. Regional data suggest that large-scale corruption rings account for 30 to 60 percent of all the cases of graft uncovered by authorities. In some of the worst instances, entire provincial, municipal, and county governments were found to be tainted.
As ominous as the corruption itself is what these scandals are beginning to reveal about the government's legitimacy. In their confessions, corrupt officials often blame their misdeeds on a loss of faith in communism. There is anecdotal evidence that senior party officials have taken to consulting fortune-tellers about their political careers. The ruling elite in China, it appears, is drifting and insecure. Fearful about what the future may hold, some officials do not want to wait even a few years to turn their power into wealth. In 2002, almost 20 percent of the officials prosecuted for bribery and nearly 30 percent of those punished for abuse of power were younger than 35. In Henan Province in 2003, 43 percent of local party bosses caught up in corruption were between 40 and 50 years old (as compared with 32 percent older than 50). China has seen its future leaders, and a disproportionate number of them are on the take.
#1
The only thing rising faster than China is the hype about China.
Truer words were never spoken.
Regional data suggest that large-scale corruption rings account for 30 to 60 percent of all the cases of graft uncovered by authorities. In some of the worst instances, entire provincial, municipal, and county governments were found to be tainted.
I wouldn't let that fool me. Anyone remember JFK's electoral victories in Illinois and Texas in 1960? Entire state, municpal, and county governments were on the take in the United States well into the 70s, and that didn't seem to affect us much.
#2
It didn't effect us as much since we have a free market. Monopolies held by the state are very suseptible to corruption (see Oil-for-Food). The Soviet Union had a very similar problem in the 70s and along with a crumbling infastructure helped their downfall. China has a decent infastructure in the cities, but a pathetic one in the rual areas. Farmers are revolting from being screwed by government companies polluting their farms and then real estate groups pushing them out. The only thing really holding China together is the people in the cities and their easy access to lots and lots of capitalistic goods. With the 30% GDP being spent on bad loans, this is not a sustainable crutch as soon taxes will rise above what city people will be willing to pay and they start protesting too. The government will either try to run over them with tanks or cut back on loans to appease them. Both are roads to communist disaster. Once the buisnesses are cut off, they will crumble and the cities will be awash with civil unrest. China is in deep doo-doo and they may see a militaristic jont the salve to keep the country together while painful reforms are enacted.
#3
Its banking system, which costs Beijing about 30 percent of annual GDP in bailouts, is saddled with nonperforming loans and is probably the most fragile in Asia.
Some estimates regarding their bad debt range from 500 billion to a whopping one trillion dollars.
In Henan Province in 2003, 43 percent of local party bosses caught up in corruption were between 40 and 50 years old (as compared with 32 percent older than 50).
Henan province. Does that name ring a bell? Home to the world's largest medically caused AIDS crisis, the Henan 'bloodheads' have yet to be visibly prosecuted.
When first publicized by activist Wan Yanhai, the state's first response was to arrest him. Slow reaction and coverup mentality allowed many of the infected plasma donors to migrate into the major urban hubs without any awareness of their infection.
China is faced with a monumental AIDS crisis the like of which only Africa has been cursed with, to date. Combined with staggering bad bank debt, shabby infrastructure (the Three Gorges Dam face is already exhibiting cracks) and a potential AIDS pandemic, China remains the pissh0le it has always been. A micron thick coating of glossy lacquer changes nothing.
Under no circumstances must China be allowed to appropriate Taiwan's fabulous wealth in order to prop up this tottering Everest of dung.
From the Dept. of In Case You Didn't Already Have Enough To Worry About This Morning:
Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian scrapped an advisory council on unifying the island with China, a move that Beijing has warned would set off a serious crisis in the region. The decision to shut down the National Unification Council (NUC) and to scrap symbolic guidelines on possible reunification with mainland China came despite pressure against the move from Taiwan's close ally Washington. "The National Unification Council will cease functioning and the budget no longer be appropriated," said the pro-independence Chen, an outspoken critic of Beijing's claim of sovereignty over the island.
"The National Unification Guidelines will also cease to apply," Chen told reporters after a meeting of Taiwan's top security agency, the National Security Council. Chen said the decision had been prompted by "China's persistent military threat and its attempts to use non-peaceful means to unilaterally change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait."
Opposition lawmakers Monday threatened to launch massive protests if Chen went ahead and scrapped the council.
"This is a dangerous sign of the escalation of activities by Taiwan separatists," China's official Xinhua news agency quoted Chen Yunlin, director of the mainland's cabinet-level Taiwan Affairs Office, as saying last week. In a statement on its website, the office said that Chen's move "will certainly trigger a serious crisis across the Taiwan Straits and destroy peace and stability in the Asia Pacific region." It added: "We must sternly ask Chen Shui-bian to immediately stop his plan, which will bury the win-win prospects between the two sides of the (Taiwan) Strait."
#3
Chen Shui-bian should be applauded for doing what no one in Washington D.C. has the stones or ovaries to do. Namely, tell China to piss up a rope. Is anyone here satisfied with the fate of Hong Kong?
[crickets]
Then why in he|| should any of us be happy with the pending rape of Taiwan? China's Mandarins must have wet dreams over absorbing all the sub-micron silicon foundries operated by the world's eighteenth largest economy. This must not be allowed to happen to one of Asia's few democratic governments.
#4
"Gee, guys, you have a repressive one-party dictatorship that runs over its dissidents with main battle tanks. You have a one-child-per-family policy that leads to forced abortion and infanticide. Your government's finances are a mess. And you want us to trade a prosperous multipart democracy for the chance to be your wholly-owned subsidiary. You're kidding, right? . . . You're being really, really ironic, eh? . . . You mean you're serious????"
Posted by: Mike ||
02/27/2006 13:50 Comments ||
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#5
I smell some Chinese naval and missle saber-rattlingexercises coming up.
#6
If I was the president I would recognize the Taiwanese government as the true government of all of China. I wonder what the commies would think of that?
Posted by: Bob ||
02/27/2006 16:59 Comments ||
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#7
Chen is building the global case for Taiwanese independence by giving the mainland two choices - mutually destructive war, even iff the PRC "wins"; or for the PRC to accept=consider de facto Taiwan independence. A war right now will divert funds the PRC badly needs for domestic modernization - PRC and PLA will not only have to tolerate likely prohibitive PLA casualties in taking the island, but also the effects on the mainland of any WMDS the Chicoms may use in their attempt to subdue Taiwan andor lower the PLA's likely rates of casualties. Taiwan is also one of the several Asian nations that have asked Dubya to participate in US-led GMD. Most US analysts accept that Chinese/Chicom ambitions for East Asian and Pacific hegemony will NOT succeed unless both Taiwan and Japan, etal Asian dmeocracies, are defeated and suborned. Any Inter-Chinese costly regional war will also likely delay or hold back the PRC's oft-reported timelines of 2025-30 or 2050, when the PRC believes it will match, iff not exceed, the USA in global power. towards the latter decades. THE CHICOMS WILL TAKE THE WHOLE OF THE PACRIM IFF THEY COULD - THEIR DEFENSE WHITE PAPER ALREADY DESCRIBES ONE-HALF, MORE OR LESS, LIKELY MORE, OF CONUS AS FUTURE CHINESE TERRITORY, AND THAT WAR AGS THE USA "MUST COME/OCCUR"!?
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that President Bush's chief political strategist Karl Rove "spends a lot of time obsessing about me." The former first lady and potential presidential contender was reacting during a radio interview to a new book quoting Karl Rove as saying she will be the 2008 Democratic nominee for president,
"He spends more time thinking about my political future than I do," Clinton said, noting that Rove and other White House aides have met regularly with her possible opponents in November's 2006 Senate race. Man, how do this woman AND her ego fit in the same room?
#2
....."spends a lot of time obsessing about me."
Mr Rove: "Excuse me, but I just threw up a little bit into my mouth......"
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
02/27/2006 20:27 Comments ||
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#3
Karl Rove obsessing about Hitlery. Heh.
Tee-hee-hee-hee.
Chortle.
*Snort*
Bwhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaa!
Thanks - I needed a good laugh. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/27/2006 21:24 Comments ||
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#4
That's not "obsession", that's "focus" -- like a sniper's.
She should thank her lucky stars that John Bolton is too busy with Kofi to be "obsessing" on her. Karl just undermines her; John would publicly humiliate her.
More than 1,000 demonstrators chanting anti-FBI slogans and carrying Puerto Rican flags marched through the capital of this U.S. island territory on Sunday. Demonstrators chanted "Respect Puerto Rico!" and "FBI get out!"
Many of the marchers favor independence for the island and accuse the FBI of persecuting the movement. They also accuse the FBI of letting Filiberto Ojeda Rios the fugitive leader of a pro-independence militant group bleed to death during an FBI raid in September.
Federal agents have said they shot Ojeda Rios after he fired on them, but his widow said the FBI fired first. Ojeda Rios was wanted for the 1983 robbery of a Wells Fargo armored truck depot. Marchers Sunday later accused an onlooker of being a federal agent. Confronting the man, demonstrators began shouting "murderer, murderer." After several minutes the man fled in an automobile and protesters banged on the car windows, cracking the glass, witnesses said. Many of the marchers said the man had been taking photographs of the demonstration. Several witnesses said the man had been carrying a firearm. More at the link.
#1
Local newspaper reports that a special Fed-sanctioned study has recommended that the PR be given three options - status quo, full indpendence, or full statehood.
#2
Get these fools out of America. Make Puerto Rico fend for itself as an independent country. Its territorial status is a leftover from the Spanish-American War, and it's about time that it was resolved.
#3
I agree. We need PR like we need more Muslims in America. Both groups bring little and cost much and the country would be better off without them and the baggage they bring. The only reason we haven't gotten rid of them before is that the NY Congressional delegation desperately fights to keep that issue off the radarscope any time it begins to arise. They know that if PR were to be made independent, half of Puerto Ricans would become New York Ricans before the wall went up. NY doesn't want that kind of exponential increase in its welfare costs. Therefore they do whatever they can to keep the status quo ante. My breaking point with them came over Vieques. If those characters can't see fit to let a sixty-year old naval gunnery range continue to be used, they don't deserve to be part of the United States. Cut 'em loose, and pronto. Let them see how they like being on their own. Adios, muchachos.
Posted by: mac ||
02/27/2006 7:49 Comments ||
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#4
Since the Puerto Ricans won't vote for independence, how about an American referendum to force independence. Let's get that on the California ballot pronto and give my regards to Hugo.
Posted by: ed ||
02/27/2006 9:10 Comments ||
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#5
Please don't call these idiots "Puerto Ricans" as if they represent all Puerto Ricans. There are more more Puerto Ricans serving in Iraq today than there were demonstrators at that rally.
These people are as representative of youraverage Puerto Rican as Code Pink is of your average American.
In the 20+ years I lived there, I never saw the Independence movement get more than 6% of the vote.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
02/27/2006 11:19 Comments ||
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#6
Then PR should become a state then, it should choose state or independance.
#7
I agree with AL. I work with Puerto Ricans and I was married to one. Good decent people. The first time I went into New England very few people would believe I wasn't and never had been a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Their impression was EVERYONE from Alabama or the deep South was a member when the reality was the Klansmen were a very small fraction of the citizens. This is just a bunch of fringe nutjobs. Having said that, I do think the Puerto Ricans need to decide just what it is they want.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/27/2006 12:14 Comments ||
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#8
I do think the Puerto Ricans need to decide just what it is they want.
Why should they? They've got the best of both worlds.
#9
Yep. Statehood or independence. Choose, otherwise Americans should force independence. That also goes for other territories (e.g. Guam). Combine with Hawaii or go independent.
Posted by: ed ||
02/27/2006 12:56 Comments ||
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#10
+1 to Al and Deacon. The Puerto Ricans I have known during my time in PR are fiercely proud to be Americans (born as citizens...they get justifiable upset when mainlanders don't realize that). All of the friends I have living there are U.S. army veterans as well.
The 'Independence' movement was getting some press the last time I was in PR as well. But ask yourself this...does the AP want to write stories about the 99% of Puerto Ricans that want remain Americans? Or do they want to write about the 1% that doesn't?
Yes, PR should have to choose to become the 51st state or independence. But if you never had to pay a federal income tax where you live, would you want to start now?
Now, if you find yourself in PR in the future and see a group of Puerto Ricans with Big Orange T's on the front of their baseball caps, buy 'em a glass of Gentleman Jack and tell 'em the Psycho Hillbilly says hello.
#11
I've worked with several PR physicians in my life. Damned good and damned decent people, every one.
PR can remain a commonwealth if it wants -- why should I care? Puerto Ricans consider themselves American, and that's good enough for me. They serve in our armed forces, they work hard, and they are NOT welfare layabouts.
Criminy, people, these folks are our countrymen.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/27/2006 13:47 Comments ||
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#12
It is pretty clear we are going to admit no new states. I believe this is a bad thing. Would we be better off adding territory and citizens via PR style relationships or having them be independent countries? Cuba? Alberta? Northern Mexico? I think we should be looking at ways to draw more of the world's people closer to us.
#13
I have nothing agaisn't PR, but if they are our countrymen then they should ask to be a state, I am sorry I pay frderal taxes and if they want all the good things so should they.
#14
No one on this thread has addressed Vieques yet except me. If PR is so patriotic, where did the idiots protesting the Navy's use of that range come from? Who elected the idiot now governor of PR who supported the idiots against Vieques? Sorry, guys, I know how much the Navy wanted to keep Vieques. It hurt bad when they lost it. They closed down Roosevelt Roads simply to spite PR for having been such a bunch of damned jerks. We don't ask them to pay taxes, they don't have to serve in the military, and they live off the fat of the U.S. taxpayer. If they couldn't even muster enough patriotism to let a gunnery range that will NEVER be cleaned up enough for any other purpose continue to be used, to hell with them. Kick them out from underneath Uncle Sam's umbrella and let them see how they like being independent. We'll be better off without them. If any good ones want to immigrate after that, maybe we'll consider it. They can get in line behind the Filipinos.
Posted by: mac ||
02/27/2006 16:57 Comments ||
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#15
Let me point out again that the protestors called "pro-independence" in that article and others are the Macheteros. They're Communists.
Newspapers can't seem to bring themselves to print the "C" word these days.
The last referendum I'm aware of the vote was something like 48% for statehood, 48% for status quo and 2% for "independence".
On Vieques, the Viequenses are happy the Navy stopped bombing, and tourism there is way up, but the majority of Big Islanders are pissed that a few pinko radicals and Hollyhood types killed the cash cow that was Rosey Roads.
If you'd like to vist a beautiful part of PR off the beaten path I can recommend Nelson's Country Home. Nelson's a Marine and was serving in Bosnia when we were there a couple of years ago. Support our troops by renting their vacation properties!
#18
where did the idiots protesting the Navy's use of that range come from?
Cindy Sheehan's hometown?
Posted by: Rafael ||
02/27/2006 17:56 Comments ||
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#19
I'm sorry but you're getting your dander up about 1,000 demonstrators when you have a far greater problem in the 48 contiguous states. Might as well ask every major urban center to separate.
Posted by: Rafael ||
02/27/2006 18:00 Comments ||
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#20
6--it's been more than 30 years since anyone got drafted. No, they don't have to serve in the military and neither does anyone else. Volunteers, right? Second, for Rafael, CS doesn't represent California and plenty of Californians will be quick to tell you that. When the idiots on Vieques did their protesting I don't remember hearing anything from anyone else in PR except loud agreement. If there were any patriotic PRs against those jerks, they were damned quiet about it.
Posted by: mac ||
02/27/2006 18:15 Comments ||
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PESHAWAR: The Peshawar district government has decided to implement a resolution passed by the previous administration to rename roads and chowks in the city after companions of the Prophet Muhammad (may his carbuncles never fester peace be upon him). "The previous district government passed a unanimous resolution calling for changing the names of all chowks and roads after the Sahaba-e-Karam and now we will honour the resolution," Ghluam Ali, the district nazim, told DT. He said that his administration would "give practical shape to the resolution" as soon as possible. However, Ali said they won't change the name of Bacha Khan Chowk. Asked if this meant that all roads and chowks named after political and historical personalities would remain unchanged, he declined to comment. He said the NWFP government would be consulted before any changes.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2006 00:00 ||
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#5
They name roads and intersections? I have trouble enough navigating with American maps -- over there I would get lost just standing still! (Not actually a joke -- once when lost in Germany, I asked someone to show me where I was on the map, and it was gently pointed out to me that I hadn't been on the map for over half an hour... I'd actually gone two maps over. I ended up being quite late to the wives' coffee.)
#6
Don't ever drive in LA, tw, unless you want to get really confused. Freeways are usually labeled (on the overhead signs) by names, which can change depending on where in the LA basin you are at the moment. Took me weeks to be certain that I was still on I-10 when the sign said the Santa Monica Freeway ... ;-)
#8
lotp, my chief remaining ambition in life is to have a $5,000 car and a chauffeur. Or failing that, two trailing daughters with driver's licences. ;-)
#9
LOL Trailing Wife! I had a similar experience living in Scotland. Objects on the map are much closer than they appear for anyone with American or Canadian driving experience!
Vague directions from a friend as to where they lived, "Och hen, it's a fair drive. Dinnae fash yerself if youwr no up tae it. It's more than an 'oor and a hae, hen." Map in hand, off I went and hit the opposite coast before realizing the "wee village" 40 klicks down the road I spotted setting out was the one I wanted.
Telling me she lived in "Shootmapig" wasn't funny. Took the breeze of the Altantic coast to clear my head and spotted on the map "Killmahog", near where I'd started.
It did explain the strange looks I got asking for "Shootmapig" directions. Very funny people, the Scots.
#10
Same thing goes for Australians. My sister tells stories about running right out of New Zealand. They would map out a days drive, and be finished and wondering what to do by 10.30.
#11
Yup. Lived on the prairies for a while. Could see the dust kicked up by nmy guests coming down the road by 10:30 a.m. And they didn't swing into the driveway until an hour an a half past our dinner invite of 6:30.
KATHMANDU - Nepals King Gyanendra reviewed two recently-formed battalions and new military hardware in the capital on Sunday as the army predicted victory against Maoist rebels. Boots were polished and medals were on display as the king, standing on a dias in central Kathmandu, presented the new battalions with their colours.
In return he was saluted with antique cannon, helicopter flypasts and firing displays during a ceremony to mark Army Day and the important Hindu festival of Shivaratri. The army was heading towards the path to victory against the Maoists, the state-run Rising Nepal reported. Our history is testimony to the fact that all crises that have come across the nation since the unification of the Kingdom of Nepal have been resolved through the joint effort of the king, people and the army, the newspaper quoted army chief Pyar Jung Thapa as saying.
Since the Maoists began their peoples war just over a decade ago some 12,500 people have been killed. The conflict has crippled the economy and badly affected tourism, formerly a major money earner for the impoverished Himalayan nation.
Kapil Shrestha, a politics professor and human rights activist, questioned the claim that the Maoists were on the way to military defeat. The fact is the army does not have the capability to win the ongoing insurgency, said Shrestha, a professor at Tribhuvan University.
The Maoists, a small, rag-tag collection of fighters with homemade weapons a decade ago, now effectively control large swathes of the countryside. Analysts have said the army cannot defeat the Maoists militarily in their rural heartland, just as the Maoists cannot take and hold the well-defended capital and surrounding valley.
The army comes under the direct control of the king but should be accountable to government, said Shrestha. The Royal Nepalese Army should be controlled and operated under civilian government. They should be responsible to parliament, he said.
Kapil doesn't realize how short his life will be the moment the Maoists take power.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/27/2006 00:00 ||
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Is the War on Drugs taking aim at that morning cup of java? As crazy as it might sound, some activists would hope so - and they have enlisted the help of various mayors to support their cause.
But first, to be more precise, critics aren't specifically after coffee, but rather after caffeine - a "drug" that is included in such products as energy and soft drinks, and some chocolates...
#7
cold day in hell before they get rid or regulate caffeine. Remember the question about the Islamist tipping point? I've got a tipping point right here, it's where the nanny state self-destructed
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/27/2006 22:11 Comments ||
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#8
You'll take my chocolate from me when you pry it from my cold dead fingers ....
Scratch that, I'll be the one doing the prying and you'll be the one with the cold fingers LOL.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
HEALDSBURG -- An armed man wearing a black, ninja-style mask was shot to death by a Healdsburg man this morning after he attacked the man's wife outside their home and chased her inside, police said. 
ALMATY - Scuffles broke out as up to 1,500 protestors demonstrated over the killing of an opposition leader in Kazakhstans largest city Almaty on Sunday. The protestors carried banners, red carnations and photographs of the opposition leader, 
The only thing rising faster than China is the hype about China. In January, the People's Republic's gross domestic product (GDP) exceeded that of Britain and France, making China the world's fourth-largest economy. In December, it was announced that China replaced the United States as the world's largest exporter of technology goods. Many experts predict that the Chinese economy will be second only to the United States by 2020, and possibly surpass it by 2050.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that President Bush's chief political strategist Karl Rove "spends a lot of time obsessing about me." The former first lady and potential presidential contender was reacting during a radio interview to a new book quoting Karl Rove as saying she will be the 2008 Democratic nominee for president,
PESHAWAR: The Peshawar district government has decided to implement a resolution passed by the previous administration to rename roads and chowks in the city after companions of the Prophet Muhammad (
KATHMANDU - Nepals 
