The last moments of Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan cricket team coach murdered in extraordinary circumstances in Jamaica, remain shrouded in mystery.
Ugh. Possibly the worst choice of metaphor I have ever read.
Now, as the sport's links to corruption are examined, police are investigating whether an argument with his players may have played a part in the affair.
I've cut out quite a bit of the article to post just the parts about the timeline and investigation. The whole article is worth a read.
Bob Woolmer was in a dark mood as he returned to the Pegasus hotel in New Kingston, Jamaica, last Saturday evening, after one of the most disastrous days of his long and distinguished sporting career. As he stepped off the team bus at 6.30pm, he brushed past cricket supporters and the local Rastafarian drug-pushers who hover outside the hotel to offer "ganja", "white powder" or a visit to the nearby "titty bar". The precise movements of Mr Woolmer over the next hour are not known but, at about 7.30pm, he walked through the bustling lobby, entered the lift and pushed the button for the 12th floor of the 17-storey, 300-room hotel in the heart of the city's commercial district. It is thought that Mr Woolmer did not leave his room - number 12-374 - for the rest of Saturday evening, apparently ordering dinner and a drink from room service at about 9pm before turning in for the night. Yet, possibly troubled by Pakistan's embarrassing exit from the World Cup and his own uncertain future, it seems he slept badly.
For at 3.12am local time, he pressed the "send" button on his laptop and dispatched an email to his wife, Gill, who, along with the wives and girlfriends of players and staff, had not been permitted to join the squad during the early stages of the tournament. In it, he poured out his feelings of disappointment at the result of the match against Ireland and dealt with some family matters, but there was nothing to shed any light on what would happen about seven hours later.
Later, probably at about 10am on Sunday morning, a man or men entered Mr Woolmer's room. There was no sign of a break-in, so police suspect that there was a knock on the door and that Mr Woolmer let in the man or men, possibly because he knew him or them. Only the killer or killers know what happened next. But, at some point, things turned violent and, after apparently forcing Mr Woolmer into the bathroom, the coach was attacked and strangled to death. A bone in his neck was broken and further tests will determine whether Mr Woolmer was also drugged or poisoned before or during the assault. A hotel maid, using her master key to enter the room, found him slumped on the bathroom floor, with vomit at his side, at 10.45am. He was naked, open-mouthed and his face was angled towards the lavatory. There was no sign of a violent struggle, so she called for help, suspecting he had suffered a heart attack or a stroke. Even when news of Mr Woolmer's death flashed around the world and the tributes to him poured in, there was nothing to suggest foul play.
It would be another four days before police on the Caribbean island felt confident enough to confirm that the 58-year-old coach had, in fact, been murdered - strangled, according to Deputy Commissioner Mark Shields, the former Scotland Yard officer who is in charge of the investigation, in what he described as "extraordinary and evil circumstances"... Police are now investigating whether an argument with one of the team may have played a part in his subsequent murder. The police took statements and DNA samples from each of the players before they returned home to Pakistan yesterday. Officers are also poring over CCTV footage, as well as the coach's mobile records and emails for clues.
POLITICIANS inside and outside Zimbabwe are scrambling to find an exit strategy for President Robert Mugabe amid warnings that the country is on the brink of widespread famine.
The government admitted last week that two-thirds of its maize crop the countrys staple food has been wiped out by drought. But many fear that the brutality of the past two weeks against opposition activists is distracting international attention from a bigger catastrophe.
We have the worlds greatest humanitarian crisis on our hands, said David Coltart, an MP from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). We already have the worlds lowest life expectancy and highest inflation; imagine on top of that drought? There will be famine.
The warning comes as Mugabe faces unprecedented international condemnation including criticism from other African leaders for the first time and opposition within his ruling party, which will meet this week to decide his future.
More on this sick, sad, sorry saga at link...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
03/25/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Best exit strategy?
How about some high speed steel fragments, concussive force and flames adminstered in large quantities to the bodies of Mugabe and 100 of his closest associates? Or the up close and personl touchof lead to the same folk, in the back of the head.
#3
If you leave the ruling party in power, even killing Bob won't make much difference. A year later, we'll be reading about how Mambo is ruining the economy. African (or any other) SOCIALISM == an evil DEATH cult.
#5
#4, you nailed it on the head...as in the past France will take in anyone who has the approbiation (sp) of the world. And what really confuses me is how the (admittedly few) French people I know can not explain this policy.
#6
Send them tons of seed corn, it's treated with fungicides and cannot be eaten, (It'l poison you)
See just how stupid they really are?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/25/2007 12:41 Comments ||
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#7
Not a cent of aid until Mugabe and his crew are at room temperature. Continued support must only be promised to a peaceful constitutional democracy. Otherwise, sit back and starve a bit longer, you morons.
#8
I can't see any story about this country without thinking of Stevie Wonders song that mentions "peace has come to Zimbabwe". When Carter and Brits sold the Rhodesians down the river, the seeds for this were sown. Same thing in S.A., just 15 years delayed.
(Xinhua) -- Order has been restored in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), after two days of fighting between security forces and fighters loyal to former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, the army said Friday. In the address on state-run RTNC television, the chief of the army Lt Gen. Sungilanga Kisempia urged members of the militia to turn themselves in at the headquarters of the UN mission in Congo (MONUC).
The intensity of gunfire had significantly decreased Friday but could still be heard in the downtown area around the UN headquarters, local media reported. Bemba surrendered himself at MONUC's headquarters Friday after leaving the South African Embassy where he had sought refuge after his supporters first clashed with government troops Thursday, a source told Xinhua. Around 80 of Bemba's bodyguards also surrendered individually, according to the source.
In a statement released Friday, MONUC deplored the deaths of at least 60 people in the clashes, saying it "deeply regrets the fact that force was used in order to resolve a situation that could and should have been settled through dialogue."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2007 00:00 ||
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The National Board of Revenue (NBR) seeks cancellation of parliamentarians' privilege of importing duty-free cars as most members of parliament (MPs) in the past misused it. The MPs of the now-dissolved eighth parliament dodged taxes of around Tk 250 crore in the last five years by importing cars under this privilege and then selling them out to others. Except for a few high-profile ex-MPs, most imported very costly cars. The NBR has recently sent a proposal to the finance ministry to withdraw this privilege, sources said, adding that it is also investigating who purchased these cars imported by the ex-MPs.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2007 00:00 ||
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The Archbishop of Canterbury has attacked Britain under Labour, claiming that society has become "fantastically materialistic" and "deeply unforgiving".
People have become suspicious and mistrustful of the Government, disillusioned with New Labour's failure to fulfil its promises to improve the education and health services, and feel isolated from the political process, he argues.
Rowan Williams says that far from seeing Britain transformed since Tony Blair came to power, cynicism and greed are now the pervading sentiments of the country's culture.
"We don't feel that the great institutions of our society are working for us," he says in a book published this week.
"We are unhappy and mistrustful about our educational system, our health care services and police - let alone our representatives in government."
He warns that the public increasingly feel that the political system does not work for them: "We sense ourselves caught up in international economic and political patterns we can't control and which we don't believe work for our advantage."
His comments - in a passionate defence of the importance of Christian beliefs - will come as a fresh blow to the moral authority of the Prime Minister, who came to power promising to introduce a new style of politics.
Mr Blair, who is a member of the Christian Socialist Movement along with the archbishop, welcomed his appointment in 2002, but the leader of the Church of England has become increasingly critical of the Government over the past year.
He has attacked its decision to go to war in Iraq as "morally flawed" and "short-sighted", accused it of undermining marriage and condemned its prison policy as "lethally dangerous".
In the book, Tokens of Trust, the archbishop defends his interventions, arguing that he has a God-given duty to be involved in all areas of public life.
"We shouldn't be surprised if Christians are interested in things like politics and have awkward questions to ask and contributions they want to make. There are no areas that are off-limits [for Christians] if God is truly the Creator of this world."
The archbishop expresses concern about society. "We seem to be tolerant of all sorts of behaviour, yet are deeply unforgiving," he says. "People demand legal redress for human errors and oversights."
He continues: "We shouldn't be misled by an easy-going atmosphere in manners and morals; under the surface there is a harshness that ought to worry us."
Modern society is described as an "obsessional and addictive age", in which "We are tempted to think that if it's nothing to do with me it isn't significant".
The erosion of a Christian belief system has left society to become "fantastically materialistic" and consequently unable to value life, he suggests.
More at link...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
03/25/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
You can almost hear the old shaman shaking his feathers and rattling his gourds as he flounders for relevance, and undermining his case with cultural-left drivel in the process.
He probably has no idea that church leaders like him are part of the very problems he laments.
#3
When Christian leaders quit their lemminig like following of what used to be called "Liberation Theology" (among other names), maybe, just maybe they will realize the flocks they tend are'nt as sheep like as they thought.
#4
I have a policy, I NEVER listen to ANY 'Religious Leader" they don't speak for GOD, only for themselves.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/25/2007 13:05 Comments ||
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#5
I actually agree with some of the things he says - but often for completely different reasons. I know he's talking about Britain, but I think much of it applies to America quite well.
"We don't feel that the great institutions of our society are working for us," he says in a book published this week.
"We are unhappy and mistrustful about our educational system, our health care services and police - let alone our representatives in government. ...
He warns that the public increasingly feel that the political system does not work for them"
I agree with the conclusion. However, I don't buy the collectivist utopian ideals (which he seems to believe in) behind many of them. I feel they were NEVER working for us - they were working, directly or indirectly, for power itself or as a way to buy support for continued power. As for the political system: I feel it's all but beyond our (the voters) control - almost a governmental singularity, to borrow Vinge's idea.
The archbishop expresses concern about society. "We seem to be tolerant of all sorts of behaviour, yet are deeply unforgiving," he says. "People demand legal redress for human errors and oversights."
China is on course to overtake the United States this year as the world's biggest carbon dioxide producer, according to estimates based on Chinese energy data.
The finding might pressure Beijing to take more action on climate change.
China's emissions rose by about 10 percent in 2005, a senior U.S. scientist estimated, while Beijing data shows fuel consumption rose more than 9 percent in 2006, suggesting China would easily outstrip the United States this year, long before a forecast.
Taking the top spot would put pressure on China to do more to slow emissions as part of world talks on extending the United Nations' Kyoto Protocol on global warming beyond 2012.
Thirty-five developed nations have agreed to cut emissions in accordance with Kyoto and they want others, especially the United States and China, to do more. China and India were not included in the pact because they are considered developing countries, which was one reason the United States did not sign it.
"It looks likely to me that China will pass the United States [in emissions] this year," said Gregg Marland, a senior staff scientist at the U.S. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, which supplies data to governments, researchers and nongovernmental organizations worldwide.
"There's a very high likelihood they'll pass them in 2007."
Carbon dioxide is produced by burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas for heat, power and transportation. Many, but not all, scientists say it is a key contributor to global warming.
Mr. Marland used fossil fuel consumption data from oil company BP to calculate China's carbon dioxide emissions in 2005 at 5.3 billion tons, versus 5.9 billion for the United States, with respective growth in 2005 of 10.5 percent and less than 0.1 percent.
In 2006, Chinese fuel consumption rose 9.3 percent to the equivalent of 2.4 billion tons of coal that year, the deputy head of the office that advises China on energy policy, Xu Dingming, said on Thursday.
This was faster than BP's estimate of a 9 percent rise in China's oil, gas and coal consumption in 2005, to 1.45 billion tons of oil equivalent.
The International Energy Agency (IEA), which advises 26 developed countries, said in November that China would overtake the United States as the world's biggest carbon dioxide emitter before 2010 if current trends continued.
China's Office of the National Coordination Committee on Climate Change said it could not comment on either forecast, as it did not have a reliable estimate of the country's emissions.
"These figures are very complicated; we don't have an estimate of [carbon dioxide] for such a recent date," said an official who declined to be named. "We have just set in motion our national reporting plan ... but it will not be done for two or three years."
U.N. data for 2003 put the United States at the top with 23 percent of world carbon dioxide emissions and China second with 16.5 percent. But U.S. residents were far bigger producers, at 20 tons per capita versus China's 3.2 tons and a world average of 3.7.
China argues that wealthy nations are responsible for most of the greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere and should lead the way in cutting emissions.
More economic growth and fuel use translates into higher emissions, particularly in China, which gets around 70 percent of its energy from coal, the highest carbon-producing fuel.
Mr. Marland estimated a plus or minus 15 to 20 percent error in the Chinese data versus a 5 percent U.S. margin.
China's rapid rise of carbon emissions is threatening to outweigh efforts by the European Union and others to slow climate change. EU leaders said earlier this month they would cut the bloc's greenhouse gases by at least one-fifth by 2020.
But China between now and 2015 will build power-generating capacity equal to the entire existing capacity in the 27-nation European Union, the IEA estimates.
China's sconomic growth has been fueled largely by burning coal, and it is still building power plants at an unprecedented rate. Last year, it added about 100 gigawatts of new generators, approaching France's entire capacity, most of them coal-burning ones. 100,000 megawatts of new generating capacity, mostly coal-fired, added in China LAST YEAR ALONE?? And Al Gore is worried about our SUVs???
Posted by: Dave D. ||
03/25/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
And note the labelling of CO2, an odourless, colorless gas, vital to life on earth, as a pollutant.
#3
Nothing planting a few trees can't handle. They could start by replacing the ones from illegal logging, giving the people a green industry to sustain themselves.
#4
The next couple of years are supposedly going to be the make/break of "global warming" as the solar sunspot cycle is supposed to start late, be larger by 20-30% than normal, and will cause cooler, wetter temperatures around the world. If that prediction comes to pass, the entire "global warming" house of cards will collapse from its own inconsistency. If I were Gore, I'd start looking for some beachfront property - in Vanuatu, which doesn't have an extradition treaty with the US.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/25/2007 14:36 Comments ||
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#5
All of this ignores how communist regimes rank as some of the most hideous polluters of all time. Consider the extensive chemical and radioactive pollution at Soviet Russia's rocket launch and N-test facilities. Siberia's Lake Baikal, is the world's oldest lake and holds more fresh water than all five Great Lakes combined. Yet, even now the Russians are verging on causing irrepairable harm to this pristine ecology.
Lake Baikal is a self-contained aquatic system; it is an isolated ecosystem, home to more than 1,500 endemic species found no where else on earth. Among these unique flora and fauna are the Baikal seal believed to be a relative of the Arctic ringed seal, 3,220 kilometers away), and the omul, a fish considered to be a delicacy in the region. Some of the plants and animals can be dated to prehistoric times. As a result, Baikal is a huge natural laboratory.
Lake Baikal resides on one of the two deepest land depressions on Earth. (The other is the Marianas Trench in the Pacific.) The rift is over nine kilometers in depth. Little is understood about this huge fault zone. Hydrothermic vents below the surface cause heavy tectonic activity, with the result of minor earthquakes every few hours. Three large plates meet in this rift, which seven-kilometer-deep sediment shows to be more than 25 million years old. Baikal is the oldest, largest, and most unique (species-wise) lake in the world.
Plans for the paper mill at Baikalsk began in 1954. The public was informed in 1957; protests were held, and ignored. The plant was built on the belief that heating Baikal's mineral-free waters, then spraying them over the pulp of the Siberian pines, would produce a "super" cellulose that could be used to make durable jet tires for Soviet Air Force planes.
A report released in 1998 by the World Health Organization (WHO) noted that of the ten most polluted cities in the world, seven can be found in China. Sulfur dioxide and soot caused by coal combustion are two major air pollutants, resulting in the formation of acid rain, which now falls on about 30% of China's total land area. Industrial boilers and furnaces consume almost half of China's coal and are the largest single point sources of urban air pollution ...
Although the Three Gorges Dam is seen as both an important source of energy for China's growing electricity consumption needs and a means of taming the Yangtze River, notorious for its disastrous floods, the controversial dam also could prove to be an environmental disaster. Thus far, few attempts have been made to address concerns regarding the accumulation of toxic materials and other pollutants from industrial sites that will be inundated after construction of the dam ...
[emphasis added]
Yet the global community paints America as the biggest culprit and insists that we hobble our industrial base while China has not even signed on to the Kyoto Accord. As with human life, communism takes a horrendous toll upon this world. The closed societies of Soviet Russia and communist China have allowed them to proceed unhindered by even a whiff of condemnation, despite doing tremendous environmental damage.
Generations from now, when the truth finally comes to light, communists will be found complicit in environmental rapes on a scale that defies imagination. America's honest efforts at reducing its pollution will shrink to insignificance in comparison to the havor wrought upon this earth by "scientifically planned societies".
#7
I've friends posted to China -- Beijing and Guangzhou. One used to run mini-marathons back home -- doesn't run at all in Guangzhou because the air is too bad. Although that was at first, perhaps she's become accustomed to it by now.
Brigitte Mohnhaupt, a former leader of the Red Army Faction group which terrorised Germany in the 1970s, left jail Sunday after serving 24 years for a series of guerrilla murders. The plan to release the 57-year-old Mohnhaupt, who was once considered Germany's most dangerous woman, on parole has caused widespread controversy. Mohnhaupt, who was convicted for her role in nine murders in the left wing group's campaign against the West German state in the 1970s, was released from a prison in southern Germany in the early hours, justice official Wolfgang Deuschl said.
"Frau Mohnhaupt has been freed," he told reporters, adding that the woman was collected at the prison by friends. A German court last month granted her parole because she has served her minimum sentence and is no longer considered a threat. But the families of the victims of the RAF, also known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang, have bitterly opposed the release, partly because Mohnhaupt has never expressed remorse for the murders. An unrepentant Marxist murderer... and they let her go.
She was part of the second generation of RAF leaders who took over after Ulrike Meinhof, Andreas Baader, Jan-Carl Raspe and Gudrun Ennslin were caught and committed suicide in jail. The RAF's campaign reached a bloody crescendo in the so-called German Autumn in 1977 when they kidnapped and killed leading industrialist and former Nazi Hanns-Martin Schleyer and hijacked a Lufthansa passenger plane with the help of Palestinian militants. Schleyer's widow was among those who opposed Mohnhaupt's release, saying she was "appalled" at the move. Ah. Palestinians. Who could have guessed... The RAF is believed to have killed 34 people. Its other victims include the head of Dresdner Bank, Juergen Ponto, who was shot dead on his doorstep. The group also launched attacks against US military personnel stationed in Germany. In 1981, Mohnhaupt helped to launch a rocket attack on an American general, Frederick Kroesen. He barely survived. The former philosophy student was finally arrested at an RAF arms cache in a forest near Frankfurt in 1982. With a record like that, these people should have hanged.
Her release had initially been scheduled for Tuesday. Mohnhaupt has given no indication of what she wants to do outside prison. A priest who has regularly visited her in prison in Bavaria in southern Germany over the past 15 years, said she was a "very nice" person who would lead a peaceful life, like other former RAF activists who had completed their prison sentences. Gullible fool...
"The RAF has renounced violence and Brigitte Mohnhaupt did so along with them," priest Siegfried Fleiner told AFP. "She is an independent and intelligent woman," he added. Fleiner said he believed Mohnhaupt will find it difficult to re-adjust to life outside prison but added: "Lately she has been reading several newspapers a day. She is very well-informed about world events." Trust me, that's not a good sign.
The RAF disbanded in 1988, but the hardliners and their class war still fascinates Germans. In recent days newspapers have recalled the violence-filled German Autumn in detail. Some 20 former militants of the group have been freed after serving lengthy sentences. Only three still remain behind bars, including Christian Klar who led the group along with Mohnhaupt.
Klar was last month refused prison day releases after calling for "the total defeat of the capitalists' aims" in a speech read out on his behalf at a Marxist meeting in Berlin. Mohnhaupt's release comes as Italy is again confronted with the memory of the Red Brigades, who conducted a similar anti-capitalist struggle in the 1970s, with the arrest of fugitive Cesare Battisti who was long sheltered in France.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
03/25/2007 06:50 ||
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Last month, I heard part of a BBC Radio "Have Your Say" segment on this. Each German they spoke wth decried the release, but said that it was the law, th epoliticians and legislators ha decided, and nothing more was to be done. None of them suggested working to change the laws, lobbying legislators, or protesting to the judges. They were all sheep.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
03/25/2007 7:14 Comments ||
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#2
IMHO, they didn't talk about lobbying, protesting, or changing the laws because it doesn't work. European political parties always have to form coalitions, which requires compromise and consensus. Meaning, their positions often become indistinguishable, so voting or speaking out doesn't make a difference. Further, Europeans have spent centuries as serfs and are conditioned into that mindset; individually lobbying for change simply isn't, and never has been, a feature of the civic culture. Call them sheep -- or "good Germans" -- but their passivity is rational, based on the accurate assessment that their efforts would be wasted.
#4
Cut to first scene in the movie the 'Godfather'. When the state refuses victims justice, they go elsewhere to get it. In the end it undermines the power and legitimacy of the state when it plays these games. However, watch as the state will hammer any player who is a threat to its power far greater than any player who simply a threat to its citizens. It's not about justice. It's about power.
#5
I agree with exJag and as long as "They" use common law for terrorists it'll happen again.
Below is a timeline of Mohnhaupt's major acts as a member of the RAF. (From Wikipedia)
* 9 June 1972: Mohnhaupt was arrested in Berlin in connection with the RAF and sentenced to prison for involvement with a criminal organization, identity document forgery, and illegal weapon possession.
* Shortly after Ulrike Meinhof's death in prison in 1976, Mohnhaupt was, on her own request, transferred to Stammheim Prison where the majority of other RAF prisoners were held captive. In Stammheim Prison she met Ensslin, Baader, and Raspe, and was reportedly trained by them to become a leader of the RAF.
* She was released on 8 February 1977, and immediately went underground and continued her work with the RAF.
* Mohnhaupt was a major player in the German Autumn: she was involved in the 30 July 1977 killing of banker Jürgen Ponto, chairman of the Dresdner Bank board of directors in Oberursel, Taunus, during a botched kidnapping attempt with Susanne Albrecht and Christian Klar and was also involved in the kidnapping and murder of employer representative Hanns Martin Schleyer.
* 11 May 1978 Mohnhaupt , Sieglinde Hofmann, Rolf Clemens Wagner, and Peter-Jürgen Boock were arrested in Zagreb, Yugoslavia.
* November 1978 - Mohnhaupt was allowed to leave Yugoslavia for a country of her choice because West Germany refused to exchange Yugoslav prisoners for her.
* 15 September 1981 Mohnhaupt took part in an assassination attempt on U.S. General Frederick Kroesen using an RPG-7 anti-tank rocket
On 11 November 1982 Mohnhaupt, along with Adelheid Schulz, was caught entering an RAF arms cache in the woods near Frankfurt which had been staked out by GSG9 men. Mohnhaupt was detained and sentenced to five terms of life in prison with a minimum 24-year mandatory sentence by the Oberlandesgericht Stuttgart.
#6
That reminds me of New York Times' Terrorist's Bill of Rights
Restore Habeas Corpus
Stop Illegal Spying
Ban Torture, Really
Close the C.I.A. Prisons
Account for Ghost Prisoners
Ban Extraordinary Rendition
Tighten the Definition of Combatant
Screen Prisoners Fairly and Effectively
Ban Tainted Evidence
Ban Secret Evidence
Better Define Classified Evidence
Respect the Right to Counsel
#7
I was in Germany some of the time when this sh$$ was going on. They found a bomb in a fire extinguisher next to the military movie theater about a half-mile from my house. The United States should demand her extradition and try her for the attempted murder of a US general officer, and lock her away for another 24 years. When she becomes eligible for parole or other release, try her again for conspiracy. Keep working until she dies of old age - in prison.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/25/2007 14:42 Comments ||
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#8
Mossad needs to pop a cap in her worthless ass.
#9
Five terms of life for nine murders, and they let her out now? she should have been executed or kept in a dark cell until she died. Letting her go free is yet another instance of European depravity.
#10
#7 OP - I was there, too, for the beginning of it. Felt the blast at V Corps Headquarters in Frankfurt am Main. (Hoo boy, could I feel it - and I was already at home.) I vaguely knew the officer who was killed. We almost lost one of our own officers; he and his wife would have been right at blast central if his wife hadn't kept nagging that they were late for church. He was still white the next day.
That any of those bastards ever see the light of day again makes my blood boil. Warmed the cockles of my cold, cold heart when Baader and Mainhof killed themselves to "further the cause"; too ba all their buddies didn't follow suit.
The EUros are IDIOTS.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/25/2007 18:47 Comments ||
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#11
Wonder how she feels about having spent 24 years in prison, while her Baader-Meinhof buddy Joschka Fischer went on to become the Foreign Minister. If she's that well-informed about world events, let's hope her top priority is to settle some old scores.
Slovak Defense Minister Frantisek Kasicky said Saturday the Slovakia would not withdraw its troops from Bosnia, according to a report reaching here from Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. "We may move them to another base, but this will be made upon demands of the mission command," Kasicky said.
Arguing with the improving security situation in the country, the EU has agreed to reduce the number of its soldiers in the region from the current 6,000 to 2,500. Some countries, like Britain and Bulgaria, have already said that their country will withdraw or decrease their troops in this area. Slovakia has about 40 soldiers within the EU operation Althea, most of who are serving within the military police at the base of Tuzla. After the pullout from Iraq earlier this year, the Slovak army deployed totally some 550 soldiers in the international missions in Bosnia, Afghanistan, Cyprus and on the Golan Heights.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Leave 'em there. That's another Muslim front we need to cover.
You probably didn't notice it (since readers of The Crypt have actual lives), but late Friday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) tried to get Senate Republicans to allow former Vice President Al Gore to stage a global warming concert on Capitol grounds. But Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) objected to Reid's request, and the resolution authorizing the concert, for now, remains stuck in the Rules and Administration Committee.
Specifically, what Reid tried to do was get an unanimous consent agreement approving S. Con. Res. 24, which would permit Live Earth and the Alliance for Climate Protection, which Gore runs, to stage a July 7 concert on Capitol grounds. Live Earth is staging concerts that day on all seven continents, including Antarctica (yes, Antarctica too. If you don't believe me, go look it up. And don't place any nasty comments on here about me being an idiot). Reid and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) have introduced the resolution allowing the concert to take place (see below), and it was referred to the Rules Committee. It's still there, thanks to McConnell's objection, and he apparently wants the panel to look into the matter before he signs off on it.
McConnell, though, said his objection only covered "the time being," so I don't know if that means he and other GOP leaders think it's a good idea or not. I haven't had time to ask him or his staff, but I will and get back to you.
So, for all the wonks out there like me who get off on this stuff, here's a copy of the resolution. Note that the concert won't cost taxpayers anything, since Live Earth and the Alliance for Climate Protection will reimburse the Capitol Police for the cost of security during the concert.
Anyway, this is the Gore-concert resolution in its entirety:...
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in a case that raises significant issues about the ability of private citizens to sue government employees.
In the case, Wilkie v. Robbins, a Wyoming rancher charged that officers at the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management retaliated against him after he refused to give the agency access to his land. The rancher, Harvey Frank Robbins, alleged the BLM officers violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and his Fifth Amendment rights by revoking his grazing permits and extorting him to gain access.
Robbins originally filed suit against the six BLM employees in 1998. After a series of failed efforts by the government to have the suit dismissed in the U.S. District Court in Wyoming and the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, government officials then appealed the case to the Supreme Court.
Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe, who represented Robbins, told the high court that private citizens should have a constitutional right to sue government employees for ongoing harassment, as opposed to having to sue the government in general for each action.
But BLM, represented by Greg Garre, deputy solicitor general at the Justice Department, argued that government employees should be immune from such lawsuits because the government, and not the employees themselves, stood to gain from the easement.
"Here, the nature of the responsibilities are enforcing grazing permits [and] enforcing access to public lands, activities that BLM officials have discretion and have had discretion for more than a century to enforce. And we think that falls squarely within the rubric of qualified immunity," Garre said.
The dispute in this case goes back to 1994, when Robbins purchased a guest ranch in Wyoming, not knowing that the BLM, which controls the federal land adjoining the ranch, had granted the previous owner a right of way over federal land in exchange for an easement. Though the previous owner had properly recorded the right of way, the BLM had not yet recorded the easement when Robbins purchased the ranch. When a BLM employee asked Robbins to reinstate the easement without offering any compensation, Robbins declined.
Robbins alleged that a series of retaliatory acts followed. He argued that the employees brought false criminal charges against him, revoked his grazing and recreational use permits and trespassed on his property.
Justice Antonin Scalia said that it is unrealistic for Robbins to have to sue for each individual act of retaliation, but argued that there would be nothing wrong with the BLM "playing hardball," especially if the government was offering a fair exchange to obtain the easement.
But Tribe argued that the government did not offer a fair exchange but rather "dug in" and performed a number of illegal acts to retaliate against Robbins.
Tribe further argued that the statutory definition of extortion includes acts by public officials who use their authority to obtain property, not for themselves but for the government, and because of that definition, public officials are not immune to the law.
Still, several justices expressed skepticism over Robbins' argument, arguing that supporting it could create a precedent that would flood the legal system with similar lawsuits. "The possibility of the legal imagination becomes endless," Justice Stephen Breyer said.
Chief Justice John Roberts added that such a ruling could enable private individuals to claim that anything a government employee does under color of law is retaliation, including necessary actions performed by agents of the Internal Revenue Service and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. He noted that there are other federal laws and administrative regulations that allow citizens to pursue grievances against federal agencies.
If the Supreme Court rules in favor of Robbins, he can pursue his case in Wyoming District Court against BLM employees Charles Wilkie, Darrell Barnees, Teryl Shryack, Michael Miller, Gene Leone and David Wallace.
The high court is expected to issue a ruling before it adjourns in June.
#1
The court MUST find for Mr. Robbins.
The government works for us. We own them. That fact MUST remain the controlling factor. Therefore they can never turn against any citizen with impunity.
#2
As a Gov't employee, you are individually liable if negligent, corrupt, or not following direction/official policy. I've dealt with USF&W and Cal F&G environmental staff where they basically extort either additional mitigation or $ for funding their pet projects in exchange for not delaying your project. It'll be tough to make this stick. They are pretty smart about how they operate
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/25/2007 12:48 Comments ||
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#3
I don't think it an issue that he can sue the govt, I think this is an issue of suing individuals in govt which is different. He can sue BLM as a whole, but suing individuals in the BLM is the sticking point.
#4
The dispute in this case goes back to 1994, when Robbins purchased a guest ranch in Wyoming, not knowing that the BLM, which controls the federal land adjoining the ranch, had granted the previous owner a right of way over federal land in exchange for an easement. Though the previous owner had properly recorded the right of way, the BLM had not yet recorded the easement when Robbins purchased the ranch. When a BLM employee asked Robbins to reinstate the easement without offering any compensation, Robbins declined.
Not a lot of information but it looks like Robbins tried to play hardball & the BLM folks replied in kind. It looks like he had the Right Of Way previouly agreed upon but felt no obligation to allow the BLM the easement. OK, some office type at the BLM screwed up w/r timeliness on the recording the easement but how much would that easement have hurt Robbins?
As far as the "BLM harassment" I suspect this is similar the driving a red corvette. You attract unwanted attention, no matter what you do. You don't drive even 5 mph over the limit or you are toast. Robbins attracted the BLM's attention. OR they could have been doing their jobs and he might be the sort to sue just cause he could. There is insufficient information w/r to the parties concerned.
Most real ranchers in the West have a lot of property & no money to speak of. The late comers make their money elsewhere then they come in, buy several ranches from the "natives" and then declare themselves to be "ranchers". It would be interesting to know if Robbins is one such individual as he seems to have plenty of money.
#7
Being able to sue IRS and OSHA employees for abuse of power would be a bonus, not a detriment. Since by definition the IRS violates our rights it would a nice way of getting rid of it.
#8
The worst thing going against this guy is that he is being represented by Laurence Tribe, as notorious a nogoodnik lawyer as was William Kunstler. He long held ambitions of being put on the SCOTUS, but is such a turd that not even Bill Clinton would do it.
#9
Go to the following link for a fairly balanced article on this subject:
http://cowboytimes.blogspot.com/2007/03/high-noon-for-hot-springs-rancher-at.html
By GIL BRADY for The Cowboy Picayune-Sunny Times.
It sounds like Robbins is not squeeky clean in his motives and the BLM types played by the rules in a hardball fashion. Pick you own side but I'm not enthused with rich "Rancher" wanna-be's that don't take care of the land & infringe on their neighbors grazing. Used to shoot folks for that.
Tuberculosis (TB) has again emerged as a serious threat to Pakistan, with around three million people suffering from the disease, most of them in the age group of 15-50.
According to figures released by the Ministry of Health on Saturday, which was World TB Day, Pakistan is 6th among 22 countries with the highest TB burden. According to official estimates, 177 of every 100,000 Pakistanis suffer from the disease, with around 290,000 new cases adding to the toll every year. Some 50,000 Pakistanis are killed by TB each year. The TB Centre in Rawalpindi organised a seminar entitled TB Anywhere is TB Everywhere on the day. Anwar Mehmood, federal health secretary, was chief guest on the occasion. Mehmood said the theme of World TB Day 2007 was a call for action to commit ourselves to advocate, to invest and to collaborate to reach TB patients.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Allah must truly hate them. Or could it be that adherence to Islam ensures the spread of non-reason, non-freedom, and non-productivity -- hence widespread imbecility, poverty, disease, and death?
#6
The TB epidemic in Pakistan should be reason enough to close the door to any person from Pakistan or who has travelled to Pakistan in the last --says-- 10 years.
Pakistans second senior most judge, Justice Rana Bhagwandas, was sworn in as acting chief justice on Saturday, and told reporters that the nation will soon hear good news, AP reported. He did not elaborate.
He also pledged to decide the presidential reference against the suspended chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, on merit. The presidential reference shall be decided strictly according to the law and the Constitution, with our conscience and without any fear or favour, affection or relevance, said Justice Baghwandas during a brief chat with reporters after he took oath at the Supreme Court Registry office here.
Justice Bhagwandas said he would look into the suspended CJPs arguments against the composition of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC). Then the council will take a decision, he said. Let the SJC decide about the presidential reference. The lawyers community should wait for the verdict of the council.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2007 00:00 ||
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ISLAMABAD: National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESCOM) Chairman Dr Samar Mubarakmand said on Saturday that Pakistani scientists were achieving milestones, and the countrys atomic and missile technology was now better than Indias.
Mubarakmand was addressing a declamation contest organised by the Federal Directorate of Education to mark Pakistan Day celebrations here. He praised scientists and engineers for developing Pakistans nuclear and missile technology indigenously in a very short span of time.
And the whole world looks towards us enviably, as we now have the most sophisticated and advanced missile technology, he added. Mubarakmand said Pakistan had become the third cruise missile-capable country in the world after carrying out successful tests, and the countrys missile technology had made its defence impregnable.
He said Pakistan could not compete with the United States in atomic and missile technology, but we are far ahead in the region, especially compared to India.
More at link...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
03/25/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Pakistan is yet to launch a cricket ball into orbit, far less a satellite...
Unlike India, they have yet to test a thermonuclear device...
India will test an ICBM this week. It will then test their ABM system for a second time (the first test last year was a success, with a hit to kill intercept of a ballistic missile target).
It will also test a ballistic missile from the deck of a warship. That missile, Dhanush, has been previously tested from an underwater pontoon launcher.
Meanwhile a stripped down PSLV (the first stage solid booster is one of the largest solid rocket motors in the world) is being readied in India...
ISRO to launch foreign satellite
Agile is a space scientific mission devoted to gamma-ray astrophysics supported by the Italian space agency, with the scientific and programmatic co-participation of the Italian institute of astrophysics and the Italian institute of nuclear physics. The 180-kg AAM is aimed at testing some of the advanced avionic package for use in the future PSLV flights, the space agency said.
Officials said PSLV configuration for next month`s flight would be modified to use only the core vehicle (without the six solid propellant strap-on motors).
Posted by: John Frum ||
03/25/2007 9:57 Comments ||
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#2
This vertical launch suggests a second role for this missile, as a short range, quick reaction air defence weapon.. useful against aircraft, helicopters, unmanned air vehicles, drones and precision-guided munitions etc. There may be collaboration here with Israel.. tech from their Spyder system...
India successfully test-fired a short-range air-to-air missile on Sunday, the defence department said.
The Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO), the agency responsible for carrying out missile tests, said a 3.8-metre (12-feet) solid-fuel propelled indigenous missile, Astra, was launched off the coast of Orissa.
The Astra may be tested again within the next two days.
As it was likely to be launched from a vertical position, there would be a need to evacuate over 6,100 people from nearby villages, the sources said.
Posted by: John Frum ||
03/25/2007 10:06 Comments ||
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#3
Posted by: John Frum ||
03/25/2007 11:47 Comments ||
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#4
Posted by: John Frum ||
03/25/2007 13:03 Comments ||
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#5
Segment of a solid fuel booster. Note the composite case and the diameter of this thing.
This is heavy ICBM type tech (if they choose to build one).
Posted by: John Frum ||
03/25/2007 14:47 Comments ||
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#6
Paki technology is either black market or pilfered by their immigrants who the West employed in sensitive areas.
Lawmakers in Idaho have approved a "joint memorial" that urges the U.S. Congress to use "all efforts, energies and diligence" to get the United States out of the Security and Prosperity Partnership, a multinational plan that opponents believe is being used to blend the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
As WND has reported previously, many other state legislatures have resolutions pending that condemn the idea of a "North American Union," but Idaho's is the first to pass such a measure.
The "memorial," which is similar to a resolution, was written and adopted "to send the message to the Congress of the United States that the First Regular Session of the Fifty-ninth Idaho Legislature that the Congress of the United States, and particularly the congressional delegation representing the State of Idaho, are hereby urged and petitioned to use all of their efforts to withdraw the United States from any further participation in the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America and any other bilateral or multilateral activity which seeks to advance, authorize, fund or in any way promote the creation of any structure to accomplish any form of North American Union."
The SPP, according to its own description, "was launched in March of 2005 as a trilateral effort to increase security and enhance prosperity among the United States, Canada and Mexico through greater cooperation and information sharing..."
#2
Good for them. Let's see some more states back it and then let's elect a President who will kill the SPP. Screw Mexico and the Mexicans; they've never been an ally and never will be. I sure as hell wish the Rio Grande was 500 miles wide.
Posted by: Mac ||
03/25/2007 17:45 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
(Xinhua) -- Order has been restored in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), after two days of fighting between security forces and fighters loyal to former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, the army said Friday. In the address on state-run RTNC television, the chief of the army Lt Gen. Sungilanga Kisempia urged members of the militia to turn themselves in at the headquarters of the UN mission in Congo (MONUC). 
The Archbishop of Canterbury has attacked Britain under Labour, claiming that society has become "fantastically materialistic" and "deeply unforgiving".
Tuberculosis (TB) has again emerged as a serious threat to Pakistan, with around three million people suffering from the disease, most of them in the age group of 15-50.
Pakistans second senior most judge, Justice Rana Bhagwandas, was sworn in as acting chief justice on Saturday, and told reporters that the nation will soon hear good news, AP reported. He did not elaborate.
