LAHORE: A pharmaceutical patch designed to boost womens libido is to become available this week almost a decade after the launch of Viagra changed the sex lives of middle-aged men, Times Online reported on Sunday.
The report said that Intrinsa is the first of about 20 female sex drugs under development to go on sale. Dammit. Just when I'm entering Late Geezerhood-- almost in the checkout line, for cryin' out loud-- they finally come out with stuff like this. Bwaaaaa!!!
One of the ways it works is by stimulating thoughts about sex, in contrast to the more mechanical effects triggered by Viagra. Trials have shown that women who use the patch feel inclined to have sex more frequently.
At last women will have something for the weekend. This is the first medication that is going to have an effect on womens libido, said Phillip Hodson, a counsellor and author of How to Make Great Love to a Woman.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
03/26/2007 00:00 ||
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Life is not fair DD (I'm reminded every time I take grombaby aka babe magnet out)
As a single male just short of 48 and working in an area where I see single college age babes around almost every day, I can hardly wait for this stuff to hit the market (TW, pardon my lusty zest for life - or is that zesty life for lust?).
#12
Dave D, buy sum Intrinsa, buy sum ?iagra, and buy a Lotto ticket and win and you'll be screwed blue and tattooed for sure when you crawl thru them Pearly Gates.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
03/26/2007 19:58 Comments ||
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#14
Oops... damn overlap. Screwed, blued and tattooed... I'll keep that in mind, thank you.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
03/26/2007 19:59 Comments ||
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#15
LOL! Fred has the woid for the "pecker enhancement DRUG" filtered so if you use it in a comment the whole comment disappears! clever defense for spam!
A Nigerian Senate committee has indicted the president and his deputy for corruption over an oil fund. The committee recommends both President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice-President Atiku Abubakar be prosecuted. The committee resigned after pressure to block the report. The Senate will now consider the report but not until after general elections next month. Mr Obasanjo stands down after two terms in office, but Mr Abubakar has been barred from running.
It is the first time a Nigerian Senate committee has accused President Obasanjo of corruption. A government ministerial panel had accused Mr Abubakar of diverting money belonging to the Petroleum Technology Development Fund. The country's anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission which examined the PTDF financial records accused Mr Abubakar of diverting some $145m to his personal businesses. Mr Abubakar denies all the charges and is in court challenging his exclusion from the presidential election. The senate committee report found Mr Abubakar approved $20m from the PTDF account without the president"s approval.
The committee report which was obtained by the BBC also found that Mr Obasanjo had "illegally approved the spending of over $27m dollars for some government projects. With regards to the approval which the vice president gave in respect of the $20m on 14 October 2003, without the authority of Mr President, the committee views the approval of the vice president as illegal the report says. In respect of some projects commenced by PTDF in 2006 for which Mr President gave approval and later got them ratified retroactively, the committee views the action of the president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, as illegal.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2007 00:00 ||
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Africa, Nigeria, gummit corruption? Is the surprise meter on assignment elsewhere?
The government warned representatives of foreign media organisations against "peddling false stories on security issues, the state media reported Friday. The government also threatened to clamp down on unlicensed foreign reporters making clandestine visits and said erring reporters should beware of authorities and should stay away from the security forces or face action.
State radio and television, Zimbabwe's sole broadcaster, and the daily Herald newspaper, a government mouthpiece, singled out the US network CNN for what it called biased reports on political unrest and the alleged assault and torture of opposition leaders, including Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the main Movement for Democratic Change. The government denied foreign news reports that it was forced to call in 2,500 paramilitary reinforcements from Angola to help control unrest because Zimbabwe's own forces were no longer loyal to President Robert Mugabe.
In a separate statement, the Information Ministry in Harare said CNNs editorial policy echoed the United States governments policy of regime change in Zimbabwe.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2007 00:00 ||
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If they can't even swing CNN, they must really be in trouble.
The second most senior cleric in the Church of England called on the government to make a formal apology for the slave trade as celebrations take place to mark the anniversary of its abolition in the British Empire. Earlier this month Prime Minister Tony Blair said he was sorry for Britains role in the trade and expressed deep sorrow for slavery which was abolished by parliament exactly 200 years ago on March 25, 1807.
However Archbishop of York John Sentamu said Blair needed to go further. A nation of this quality should have the sense of saying we are very sorry and we have to put the record straight, he told the BBC. This community was involved in a very terrible trade, Africans were involved in a very terrible trade, the Church was involved in a very terrible trade ... its important that we all own up to what was collectively done. Blair will send a recorded message of regret for Britains role to celebrations on Sunday in Ghana - a source of many of the slaves - marking the bicentenary of the abolition.
I'd say Britain, which ended the slave trade, deserves a "thank you" for that, not to have its efforts dismissed in some sort of PC ritual of self-flagellation.
This article starring:
Archbishop of York John Sentamu
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2007 00:00 ||
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You miss the point Fred. By making, for the first time ever, slavery illegal --- Britain caused a lot of hardship to Arabs in African slave trade. Thereby, violating said Arabs human rights and religious freedom.
#2
Lest we fergit, Muslim-controlled slavery wasn't limited to only non-Muslims. Milyuhns of Negroid or African Muslims were killed or made slaves by fellow Muslims merely becuz of their skin color or local ethnicity.
Every civilization has practiced slavery and only one abolished voluntarily: the Western one.
Between the nations who practiced slavery Britain was the first in abolishing it.
Some people will say it was Revolutionary France but in fact most of the more radical revolutionaries were for it becase "otherwise sugar would become too expensive" and the abolition took place at a time where French colonies looked doomed due to the state of derliction the French Navy had fallen after massive emigration of officers and NCOs. Aklso slavery was restablished by Napoleon and teh definitive abolition was much lmater than Britain's.
Finally during XiXth century Britain spent life and treasure fighting slave trade sending its ships to patrol the coasts of Africa.
Also unlike in Western civilizations tyhe owner of a slave is not supposed to rape the slave unlike in say the Muslim ones where sexual use of slaves is explicitly allowed by Coran.
So how about "others" to apologize instead of Britain?
#6
The apology was made when slavery was abolished. This latest episode is an assertion of multi-cult power. If the Brits apologize, minorities will want compensation for something done 2 centuries ago. They appear to forget who enslaved. One estimate holds that Western Civilization enslaved 11 million Africans. However, Muslims enslaved 14 million blacks and 1 million whites.
Don't be too quick to dismiss the enigmatic Archbishop of York. He has one heck of a biography and it would not be entirely off to call him "Britain's equivalent to Condoleeza Rice."
Born in Uganda, he was appointed to their high court by Idi Amin at 24, then had to leave the country after enraging Amin.
First of all, he is opposed to ordaining or marrying homosexuals; he doesn't want the House of Lords to be elected and appointed for fear that it will become a 'packed house' and diminish freedom; he is also very critical of multiculturalism, and says that the English should be proud of their history and culture as well.
He has chastised the BBC for being afraid of criticizing Islam.
He just seems to be all over the map on issues, and at times he has confronted the Archbishop of Canterbury with strong disagreements. He's not someone to take lightly.
#8
On behalf of England, I would like to offer a formal apology for the institutionalized stupidity of the Church of England.
(Your welcome for ending the Atlantic slave-trade too, btw. Seeing as I am being asked to apologize I figure I can also take the credit despite the fact I had yet to be born. I figure some folks probably owe me cash too. Nothing says "cheers for freeing us and all our children and children's children" like cold hard cash.)
Venezuela's Chavez announces plans for 'collective property' under shift toward socialism....Chavez, who hosted Sunday's program from a ranch in Venezuela's sun-baked plains, said his government would move to expropriate large ranches and farms spanning more than 300,000 hectares (740,000 acres) and redistribute lands deemed "idle" to the poor under a nationwide agrarian reform. Since the reform began five years ago, officials have redistributed over 1.9 million hectares (4.6 million acres) of land that had been classified as unproductive or lacked property documents dating back to 1847, according to a recent government census.
Critics say reform has failed to revive Venezuela's agriculture industry, which does not produce enough food to satisfy domestic demand. The government has been forced to import food amid shortages of staples such as meats, milk and sugar. "If Mr. Chavez really wants to help Venezuela's poor farmers, he must offer them technical assistance and sufficient financing because land doesn't become productive without investment," said opposition leader Alfonzo Marquina. "We're only seeing increasing shortages and more expensive products."
More than 10,000 people took to the streets yesterday for the biggest opposition rally this year against Belarus's president, Alexander Lukashenko, the man dubbed "Europe's last dictator". Protesters clashed with police in the capital, Minsk, as the opposition marked the anniversary of the short-lived 1918 Belarus republic, which was crushed by Bolshevik troops.
Mr Lukashenko, branded by the United States as Europe's last dictator, has begun to make overtures to the European Union after relations with his former ally Russia collapsed this year in a bitter trade row over oil and gas prices. Popular among rural and elderly voters, Mr Lukashenko says the opposition is led by outcasts who live on foreign donations. Jose Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, yesterday said the EU would form a partnership with Belarus and boost cash aid if it adopted democratic reforms. "The European Union is ready to enter into a full partnership with Belarus on the basis of these values," he said, referring to democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights.
The opposition has said the government's reaction to the rally would be an indication of how serious Mr Lukashenko was about ties with the West.
BEIJING (AP) - Intel Corp. announced Monday it will build a $2.5 billion chip factory in China, giving the U.S. company a bigger presence in the booming Chinese market and boosting Beijing's efforts to attract high-tech investment.
The factory will supply chipsets to customers in China, which Intel expects to be the largest information technology market by the time the facility opens in 2010, Intel CEO Paul Otellini said at a news conference in the Great Hall of the People. Chipsets are computer chips that connect a microprocessor to other system components.
The facility in the northeastern city of Dalian will be Intel's first factory in Asia that will fabricate wafers, the thin silicon platters on which dozens of chips are etched, reflecting China's growing importance as a market for high-tech goods. It will boost the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company's investments in China to $4 billion.
"This project confirms and further enhances the strategic importance of China in our global strategy and in the IT industry around the world," Otellini said. "Our goal in China is to support a transition from 'manufactured in China' to 'innovated in China,'" he said.
The factory will use the most advanced circuit etching technology that the U.S. government will permit Intel to export to China at the time production begins, Otellini said.
The Chinese government said earlier that Intel will be using 90-nanometer technology _ which refers to making circuits 90 billionths of a meter in width. That is considered to be one to two generations behind Intel's most advanced technology. The rest they can steal.
More at link.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/26/2007 06:17 ||
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The Chinese have to be elated about this one. They'll get the opportunity to steal not only designs, but have their officers work at the plant as senior managers. A treasure trove of high technology.
Because China attaches fewer conditions on foreign investment. It is also why India will continue to lag China's growth for the next several decades. Unless India ends its 60 year experiment with a command-style economy with crony capitalistic characteristics. It may sound amazing, but China has a freer economy than India's. This, and not the brilliance of Chinese leadership, is why China is in the process of lapping India, and three times as many cars are sold in China per year.
#8
China pirates many Western drugs. I believe India pirates *all* Western drugs. There's a whole other laundry list of things about India that brings to mind the ancient saying (from my college days) "the closer you get, the slower you walk".
#9
There's some global logistics in this is as well, specific to chip fabs.
If the chips sit on a boat for 6 weeks waiting to get to China from some of the other fabs, much of the profit is lost to transit time. Cars, no big deal, chips that become obsolete over night after release, well not good.
Locating a fab in China, allows Intel to feed China and region from a larger plant without the transit losses.
Now for the inovate in China part, well, as others have posted, that will bite Intel one day.
#10
I predict that in less than five years after Intel opens this fab line, domestic knock-offs of these same circuits will appear on China's open market. These high tech facilities serve as nothing more (or less) than free training facilities for China's technicial elite. Once their skills have matured, the PLA routinely harvests seasoned fab workers to assist in military electronics R&D.
Solid state device fabrication represents one of the most strategic technologies that America possesses. Our network-centric war fighting style is increasingly dependent upon both microprocessors and, especially, high speed memory (DRAM). Outsourcing any of these manufacturing techniques is a direct threat to our nation's security.
Zhang Fei is absolutely correct regarding India. The last time I checked, India still taxes imports of used capital equipment at something on the order of 50% of its new value. This forces investors to install all brand new foreign machine tools and other basic machinery in facilities being opened under offshore investment. Just as often, due to their Byzantine legal code, these same facilities go out of business and the equipment is abandoned into the hands of unscrupulous investors or other market predators. It's either that, or buy India's crappy equipment. Remember, this is a country still struggling to build its own cars.
This sort of draconian import policy takes foreign investment or development and strangles it in the cradle. By comparison, China is like a wide open wild West economic frontier.
#12
That picture needs to go. Right now. It is far too funny for my own good. My testicles are in serious danger of exploding in a most unrewarding fashion.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
03/26/2007 20:02 Comments ||
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#13
All that's missing is a hamster wheel. The spark gap spheres at top are what gets me.
#14
Z: This sort of draconian import policy takes foreign investment or development and strangles it in the cradle. By comparison, China is like a wide open wild West economic frontier.
China has an excuse for lousy government - it's a non-hereditary iron-fisted dictatorship and has been that way since the Communist takeover. India has *chosen* its government since independence 60 years ago. India has, of its own free will, without the benefit of a state-run top-down propaganda machine like China, decided that colonialism is responsible for India's problems. There is no cure for such a willful, purblind obliviousness to reality.
#15
American business went to hell when major American corporations started thinking of themselves as "multi-nationals" rather than as major American corporations doing business worldwide. Intel is just one more company giving away the store to the Chinese. Americans will ultimately pay a very high price for this short-term view and greed in the executive suites.
#16
American business went to hell when major American corporations started thinking of themselves as "multi-nationals" rather than as major American corporations doing business worldwide.
Believe it or not, at one point the US government was paying American companies to relocate their businesses offshore. I've just spent the better part of an hour trying to find a cite for this but, unfortunately, the terms "offshore" and "relocation" swamp me with a plethora of recent links. What I've been trying to find is documentation about how the USA, in concert with the OAS (Organization of American States), actually provided financial incentives for American companies to relocate into the third world nations of the Carribean or Central and South America.
This sort of "help our little brown brother" self-immolation bullshit has been going on for decades, and has manifested in mature form with our transplanting of even the most sensitive technologies into the heartland of our very worst foes.
Anyone who has better cites on this, please post them. I know I read about this some two decades ago and it rankles me even now.
Mao Zedongs last surviving son, Mao Anqing, who suffered from mental illnesses and worked as a Russian translator, has died in Beijing at the age of 84, the official Xinhua agency reported late on Saturday. Born in southern Hunan province, he was smuggled to Shanghai by the communist underground in 1930 after Nationalist officials killed his mother Yang Kaihui, Xinhua said. But together with elder brother Mao Anying, he was often left to fend for himself on the citys streets and was once beaten by a policeman which contributed to later mental problems, Chinese media reported. Mao Anqing is survived by photojournalist wife Shao Hua and son Mao Xinyu - born in 1970 at the height of Chinas cultural revolution that Mao Zedong launched to boost his fading power.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2007 00:00 ||
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European Union leaders signed a declaration yesterday aimed at breaking the deadlock over a stalled draft constitution and relaunching debate over how to renew the European Union (EU)'s political rule book.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU Parliament president Hans-Gert Poettering sealed the Berlin Declaration calling for a "renewed common basis" for the 27-member bloc by 2009. The ceremony was the centerpiece of the EU's 50th birthday party marking the signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957, which established what was then the European Economic Community.
Even as the leaders signed the document and praised European unity, there were renewed signs of disagreement on how to proceed with updating the EU's political decision-making structures, stalled since French and Dutch voters rejected a draft constitution treaty in referendums in 2005. Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi declared that Europe's "period of mourning" was over, and that the EU must recover some of its "creative madness" in getting the discussion going again.
European officials have to debate how much of the old draft to resurrect, but Prodi advocated sticking close to the old draft, saying "we now need new rules, but without starting from scratch." He called the old treaty "a very solid basis" to work from, while others stressed the need for a significant reworking of the rejected text.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2007 00:00 ||
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More proof that democracy is an alien concept to the EUSSR coup leaders.
Michelle Malkin was lucky: she got off with only a warning. She had a charge of Drugs/Alcohol and Illegal Activities lodged against her, but apparently she was not convicted, or at least not sentenced as harshly as some others, who landed in the internet version of the cooler.
The gangsters at Powerline, such dominant forces in organized crime that they have dropped their former aliases (Deacon, Hind Rocket, Big Trunk) were convicted and sentenced to solitary confinement. Their crime was logged as Hate/Violence. Charles Johnson was also convicted and banished his crimes included not only Hate/Violence but Pornography as well. And it certainly is no surprise that the Godfather of internet crime, Hugh Hewitt, was also convicted in the Hate/Violence category; after all, just look at incendiary books he has written.
What are we talking about? The American Airlines club at Miami International Airport is blocking the websites above, after its filtering program, Content Watch, convicted them of the captioned crimes. They are jailbirds now, and they are allowed no visitors at least no internet visitors. (The case of Michelle Malkin is a bit more complex, since visitors are allowed, once they acknowledge that they are about to be exposed to her Drugs/Alcohol and her other Illegal Activities.)
It is most disturbing that mainstream Republican and conservative writers are being banned on the internet at public locations in the United States and being smeared with accusations of drugs, violence, hate, pornography, and illegal activities. We did not do a comprehensive check of websites of a more liberal orientation, but we did note that Daily Kos was operating just fine.
Disturbing, yes. But not surprising.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
03/26/2007 13:36 ||
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A Muslim scholar from Canada has criticised Quebecs chief electoral officer who said that Muslim women who wear the niqab would not have to show their faces to confirm their identities at the ballot box. Dr Mahfooz Kanwar, a criminologist and professor of sociology at Mount Royal College in Calgary, as well as a director of the Muslim Canadian Congress (MCC), says this issue will continue to arise unless the government makes a national law once and for all. It should be against the law to hide your face in this society, period, said Kanwar, who has contacted the Calgary Police in response to the threat made against all members of the MCC.
Covering the face is not required by the religion of Islam and is not mentioned not once in the Quran. That means those who do it are either being forced to do it or it is their personal choice and therefore there is no reason for the government to accommodate these personal choices, explained Kanwar.
Ultimately, Kanwar believes Canadas well-meaning eagerness to be tolerant is allowing a dangerous form of intolerance to flourish and it must be stopped, according to a report in the Calgary Sun newspaper. Every time a western society changes its traditions and culture to accommodate a demand that goes counter to the dominant culture, that encourages many other people to make demands and that creates ghettos or reference groups and that is very unhealthy.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2007 00:00 ||
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There is also no reason for a religiously conservative woman to remain veiled in front of a female election worker.
#2
There is no reason for anyone who wants to vote not to identify themselves to the Elections Officer. Refusal to do so on the basis of gender would likely violate the equality rights of the Elections Officer under the Constitution.
Detectives are investigating whether Bob Woolmer was murdered after a fall-out with his Pakistani players over their dismal performance against Ireland in the cricket World Cup. Officers suspect that an explosive argument - rather than a hitman - was behind the murder of the former England batsman hours after Pakistan had crashed out of the contest following an unexpected defeat by Ireland eight days ago.
"They are young Pakistani boys out of their homeland. Although they have travelled widely, they have never had this type of experience in their lives"
There were widespread rumours yesterday of an angry clash between Mr Woolmer, who coached the Pakistan team, and a player, or players, on the bus back to the hotel after the match.
His relationships with some players were already strained in the build-up to the tournament. Pervez Mir, the spokesman for the Pakistan team, revealed last night that Mr Woolmer had been due to see Inzamam-ul-Haq, the team captain, on the day he died, but the meeting never took place. It had been arranged to discuss the player's future, but he had already decided he intended to step down as captain of the one-day team. Inzamam and the team's bowling coach, Mushtaq Ahmed, were spoken to by detectives last night, only hours before they were due to fly home. Inzamam had already checked out of his room and had his luggage with him when the police arrived. The Pakistani team spokesman said the officers were simply trying to cover a few routine questions not previously dealt with.
The Pakistan players will stay in London to pray and reflect before returning home
It emerged last night that Mr Woolmer had offered his resignation as Pakistan's coach - a post he had held for three years - only hours before he was strangled. He sent an email from his laptop in Jamaica to Nasim Ashraf, the Pakistan cricket board chairman, saying he wanted to retire to spend the rest of his life with his family in Cape Town.
Detectives in Jamaica have concentrated their inquiries on the Pakistan squad since the police announced that Mr Woolmer had been murdered in "extraordinary and evil circumstances". Officers have taken statements and DNA samples from the players, who were staying at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in Kingston where Mr Woolmer was found unconscious. Two Pakistani diplomats arrived from Washington (!) yesterday to handle the fallout from the murder. Police are also thought to be investigating whether Mr Woolmer's killer, or killers, used a spare or stolen key card to get into his 12th floor room.
The team arrived at Heathrow this morning and are expected to remain in London at least overnight before returning home. , according to hospitality manager Dalawar Choudhry. Mr Chaudhry said he had been speaking to the team during the past week and everyone was "devastated" by what had happened to Bob Woolmer who, he said, had been a "father figure" to the players. "All of the camp were very, very down. They are young Pakistani boys out of their homeland. Although they have travelled widely, they have never had this type of experience in their lives," he added.
The Soviet Union wanted to harmonize as much as possible within a single political framework. This is also the mission of the European Union.
The Soviet Union was administered by a political elite. So is the European Union.
The Soviet Union saw itself as a utopian state. The European federalists have much the same views.
The Soviet Union had a single bureaucratic center, like the one in the European Union.
The Soviet Union was dominated by a powerful secretary general. So are the European institutions.
The Soviet Union had party ideologists. The European Union has legal counselors.
The Soviet Union wanted to create a viable society through a series of official procedures. So does the European Union.
The Soviet Union had apparatchiks, the European Union has mandarins.
The Soviet Union had a five year plan. The European Union has a work program.
The Soviet Union saw socialist integration as an irreversible process. The European Union sees integration as a means for an "ever closer Union".
The Soviet Union claimed to act on behalf of a mythical worker. The European Union has its mythical citizen.
The Soviet Union wanted to surpass the United States. The European Union has been trying to do the same thing for many years.
Eppink concluded the comparison:
"All in all, the Soviet Union lacked the self-correcting forces and the self-criticism which are proper to the democratic process. The European Union lacks these properties in the same way. By setting targets which are either too far away or unrealistic, you are undermining the legitimacy of the project and of the institutions which have to implement these policies. With this book, I want to warn for imperial overstretch and for the creation of expectations which are far-fetched and unrealistic. Sometimes I have the impression that the European Union is moving towards the same trap that finished the Soviet Union."
#2
"Sometimes I have the impression that the European Union is moving towards the same trap that finished the Soviet Union."
Soon, I hope - or EUrope is lost for sure.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/26/2007 19:52 Comments ||
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#3
Barb, Europe is lost already, I think, the western par--that is. Not that apparent yet, but in 5 or so years, it will be out in the open, beyond doubt. It would take about 3-4 decades to recover what was lost. While almost elsewhere Islam would be in decline, it would hold onto Western Europe teeth and nails.
Passengers have been allowed to get off a plane that landed Monday afternoon at Newark Liberty International Airport from Hong Kong after some passengers reported feeling ill.
The Continental flight arrived at 2 p.m. in New Jersey, and passengers disembarked about 4 p.m. after officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention allowed them off, said Marc La Vorgna, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport.
Continental Flight 98 departed Hong Kong at 11 a.m. with 272 passengers on board.
During the flight, the cabin crew noticed that several passengers appeared ill, and airline officials notified health authorities in the U.S., said Dave Messing, a spokesman for Houston-based Continental Airlines.
The CDC sent a representative to meet the passengers before they were allowed to leave the flight.
Messing said the airline believes the ill passengers were part of a group of more than 80 tourists who sailed together on a river cruise in Asia.
The final destination of the group, after switching planes in Newark, is Montreal, Canada. I have a feeling that the CDC was very ready to meet that and any international flight.
#1
OK, so this may be the result of something the tourists encountered during their river trip, but it was probably still a good drill for the CDC. Imagine terrs doing this, but on a wider scale; timing arrivals of planeloads of infected 'biocide bombers' to land throughout the US within minutes of each other. The medical infrastructure would be swamped and I would also imagine the CDC would also be innundated with calls seeking guidance.
But OTOH, I think it was a good call to put the plane down in New Jersey; not like ther is anything there to mess us. (snark)
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.
A Nigerian Senate committee has indicted the president and his deputy for corruption over an oil fund. The committee recommends both President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice-President Atiku Abubakar be prosecuted. The committee resigned after pressure to block the report. The Senate will now consider the report but not until after general elections next month. Mr Obasanjo stands down after two terms in office, but Mr Abubakar has been barred from running. 
The government warned representatives of foreign media organisations against "peddling false stories on security issues, the state media reported Friday. The government also threatened to clamp down on unlicensed foreign reporters making clandestine visits and said erring reporters should beware of authorities and should stay away from the security forces or face action.
The second most senior cleric in the Church of England called on the government to make a formal apology for the slave trade as celebrations take place to mark the anniversary of its abolition in the British Empire. Earlier this month Prime Minister Tony Blair said he was sorry for Britains role in the trade and expressed deep sorrow for slavery which was abolished by parliament exactly 200 years ago on March 25, 1807. 
Venezuela's Chavez announces plans for 'collective property' under shift toward socialism....Chavez, who hosted Sunday's program from a ranch in Venezuela's sun-baked plains, said his government would move to expropriate large ranches and farms spanning more than 300,000 hectares (740,000 acres) and redistribute lands deemed "idle" to the poor under a nationwide agrarian reform. Since the reform began five years ago, officials have redistributed over 1.9 million hectares (4.6 million acres) of land that had been classified as unproductive or lacked property documents dating back to 1847, according to a recent government census. 
More than 10,000 people took to the streets yesterday for the biggest opposition rally this year against Belarus's president, Alexander Lukashenko, the man dubbed "Europe's last dictator". Protesters clashed with police in the capital, Minsk, as the opposition marked the anniversary of the short-lived 1918 Belarus republic, which was crushed by Bolshevik troops. 
The factory will supply chipsets to customers in China, which Intel expects to be the largest information technology market by the time the facility opens in 2010, Intel CEO Paul Otellini said at a news conference in the Great Hall of the People. Chipsets are computer chips that connect a microprocessor to other system components.
Mao Zedongs last surviving son, Mao Anqing, who suffered from mental illnesses and worked as a Russian translator, has died in Beijing at the age of 84, the official Xinhua agency reported late on Saturday. Born in southern Hunan province, he was smuggled to Shanghai by the communist underground in 1930 after Nationalist officials killed his mother Yang Kaihui, Xinhua said. But together with elder brother Mao Anying, he was often left to fend for himself on the citys streets and was once beaten by a policeman which contributed to later mental problems, Chinese media reported. Mao Anqing is survived by photojournalist wife Shao Hua and son Mao Xinyu - born in 1970 at the height of Chinas cultural revolution that Mao Zedong launched to boost his fading power.
European Union leaders signed a declaration yesterday aimed at breaking the deadlock over a stalled draft constitution and relaunching debate over how to renew the European Union (EU)'s political rule book. 
