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Pro-Hamas Italian Kidnapped By Salafists In Gaza
Today's Headlines
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Boyfriend of Duke lacrosse accuser reported dead
The boyfriend of Crystal Mangum -- stabbed April 3 during a domestic altercation -- has died, Durham police confirmed this morning.

Durham police watch commander Lt. B. Reitz confirmed the death but did not have any information on additional charges against Mangum, who is currently in the Durham County jail on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury. Her bail is set at $300,000.


Posted by: Beavis || 04/14/2011 09:42 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


US executes inmate with animal drug
No telling what he was doing with an animal drug...
[Iran Press TV] Authorities in the US state of Ohio have executed an inmate, who had spent more than 23 years on death row, with a drug normally used for killing animals.
How appropriate...
Clarence Carter was put to death on Tuesday at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, and was the second person to have been killed using the sedative pentobarbital in Ohio, the News Agency that Dare Not be Named reports.

A shortage of sodium thiopental -- an anesthetic usually used to make death row inmates unconscious just before their execution -- has forced Ohio to use pentobarbital.
I suppose Ohio could always hang them from a crane - like they do in Tehran.
Experts argue that the use of the new sedative, which is typically used to put down old and sick animals, is inhumane since inmates could be conscious but paralyzed when the other drugs are administered.
Likely he was in a better space at that moment than the person he murdered...
Carter was convicted of killing another inmate, Johnny Allen Jr., 33, who died two weeks after a December 1988 beating in the Hamilton County jail. At the time, Carter was in jail, awaiting sentence for another aggravated murder conviction.

His support committee had argued against the execution, saying that Allen's killing was not premeditated. They stressed that former US Army soldier Allen died during the fight -- likely to have been instigated by himself -- when it got out of control, not because Carter intended to kill him.

The lawyers also said that a key witness, whose testimony played a major role in Carter's conviction, had changed his story years after the murder trial. The witness had earlier testified that he had seen Carter "sucker punch" Allen and then beat him for more than 20 minutes after the latter changed a TV channel.

But later the witness admitted to Sherlocks that he didn't really see who started the fight.

Lawyers say the distinction is important, as it means that Carter did not kill Allen with "prior calculation and design," making him ineligible for the death penalty.

They also said that Carter suffered from a borderline personality disorder, and that his upbringing was marked by violent role models, including a stepfather who beat him when he stuttered and a cousin who paid him 50 cents to fight other children.

However,
The punctuational However...
despite the belief by Carter's lawyers that there was a lack of proper evidence, Carter was executed on Tuesday.

In his final statement, Carter told his family he was enjoying his last moments. He also asked Allen's family for forgiveness.

"I'd like to say I'm sorry for what I did, especially to his mother. I ask God for forgiveness and them for forgiveness," he said.

There are nearly 3,260 death row inmates in the United States, as of January 2010, according to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, a leading US civil rights organization.
Posted by: Fred || 04/14/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  pentobarbital I would've taken the reds man.....
Posted by: armyguy || 04/14/2011 7:30 Comments || Top||

#2  If I get convicted of murder can I be chased off a cliff by topless women?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 04/14/2011 11:19 Comments || Top||

#3  "If I get convicted of murder can I be chased off a cliff by topless women?"

The prison people aren't that stupid, BP. They know you won't run. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/14/2011 13:03 Comments || Top||

#4  is he dead? If he is, then who gives a crap what they killed him with?
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 04/14/2011 14:52 Comments || Top||

#5  No telling what he was doing with an animal drug...

I'll bet he was in his pajamas, though.
Posted by: Pollyandrew || 04/14/2011 15:33 Comments || Top||

#6  Bring back the lightning ride...
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/14/2011 15:58 Comments || Top||

#7  RE: drug issue. Nice little angle by the perp's lawyers to save his sorry a$$. It was lame and it didn't woik.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 04/14/2011 16:35 Comments || Top||

#8  How much does a 12 gauge slug cost? Maybe $2 at most? I'll wager it works 99.99% of the time when administered to the head to.

Posted by: Silentbrick || 04/14/2011 16:47 Comments || Top||

#9  It's supposed to be an execution, not a house-warming party. As long as the guest of honor ends up very dead at the end, I don't particularly care how he came to assume that state.
Posted by: mojo || 04/14/2011 17:08 Comments || Top||

#10  The real cruelty is that this piece of shit sat on death row for 23 years.

23 years. And his victim is still dead.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/14/2011 17:26 Comments || Top||

#11  The real cruelty is that this piece of shit sat on death row for 23 years. An inevitable drawback of the 'rule of law' and 'due process.' Similar to the drawbacks of the 'right to bear arms' (occasional killings) and the drawbacks of the 'pursuit of happiness' (massive frauds and swindling). Freedom really isn't free, but better than other alternatives so far tested.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/14/2011 22:59 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Man ‘Engulfed In Flames’ At San Francisco Porn Shop
A man was hospitalized Wednesday evening with life-threatening, third-degree burns after catching fire inside a San Francisco porn store, authorities told CBS 5.

The fire occurred at an adult arcade at Sixth and Mission streets just after 6 p.m.

Police officers across the street from the porn shop saw a man run out the front door of the store “engulfed in flames,” an SFPD spokesman said.

Some firefighters who happened to be about a block away at the time were immediately summoned and extinguished the flames.

Arson investigators said it was not exactly clear how the man caught fire. Police indicated he had apparently been watching videos in a private booth when the fire ignited.
Posted by: Beavis || 04/14/2011 12:16 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
Clashes rock Abidjan as Ouattara urges peace
[The Nation (Nairobi)] Clashes involving heavy weapons rocked Cote d'Ivoire's Abidjan today as President Alassane Ouattara struggled to return security to the commercial capital after capturing his rival Laurent Gbagbo.

The fighting was heard in areas largely loyal to Gbagbo, the central Plateau district and Cocody in the north, as pro-Ouattara forces tried to return the city to normality after 10 days of bitter street battles.

Ouattara addressed the nation late Monday, the day his troops captured Gbagbo from a besieged presidential bunker in a joint operation with French and UN troops, vowing justice, reconciliation and security.

"I ask you to remain calm and show restraint," Ouattara, the 69-year-old elected leader of the west African country, said in a televised address, hailing "the dawn of a new era of hope".
Meanwhile, it's still 3am and the night is full of screams and sickening thuds.
Legal proceedings
He also announced "legal proceedings against Laurent Gbagbo, his wife and his allies", adding that "all measures are being taken" to protect them following their dramatic capture after a four-month crisis.

Gbagbo, who had held power since 2000 and stubbornly refused to admit defeat in November's presidential election, also called for a laying down of arms in televised comments shortly after his capture from a bunker.

Gbagbo, his wife Simone and son Michel are being held at Ouattara's temporary headquarters at an Abidjan hotel, where they are being guarded by UN police amid fears of reprisals or summary justice
By which is meant "summary execution"...
and as fighting continued.

"There were festivities using heavy weapons," around midday, a resident of Plateau, largely deserted since fighting erupted and home to the presidential palace, told AFP by telephone.

"This morning we saw a convoy of cars with lots of 4x4s: (Ouattara's military chief) Cherif Ousmane told us they were going to flush out snipers posted on all tall buildings in Plateau," said a young woman.

"Shortly after they went by, loud blasts began," said the woman, who asked not to be named.

In Cocody, where Gbagbo was incarcerated at his official residence on Monday, a resident said "there was sporadic small arms fire in the morning, after which we heard rocket and heavy machine-gun fire for several minutes."

Fighting in Abidjan has left streets littered with bodies and parts of the city in the grip of looters.

The north of the sprawling metropolis was particularly affected, with gunnies aboard 4x4 vehicles smashing down house gates under cover of darkness and making off with electrical goods, residents said.

But a semblance of normal life appeared to return to the southern district of Treichville and to Adjame in the north.

"There's car traffic, woro-woros (public transport), taxis. There's even some food shops that have opened," said a Treichville inhabitant.

UN secretary-general the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon welcomed Ouattara's promise to set up a truth and reconciliation commission to look into accusations of massacres and other crimes made against both sides in the Ivory Coast conflict.

The UN, which has more than 9,000 troops and police in Ivory Coast, will keep up its mission helping to restore law and order and Ban offered help coping with a "critical" humanitarian emergency after the conflict.

The UN has said that at least 800 people have been confirmed killed in the conflict between the rival camps following the November election.
Posted by: Fred || 04/14/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But, but, but, we were told it all about Gbagbo's refusing to accept "the Will of the People"---and he's in custody.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/14/2011 11:39 Comments || Top||


Gbagbo's humiliating arrest with wife and son
[The Nation (Nairobi)] Cote d'Voire strongman Laurent Gbagbo,
... Former President-for-Life of Ivory Coast from 2000 to 2011. Laurent lost to Alassane Ouattara in 2010 but his representtive tore up the results on the teevee and he refused to vacate the presidential palace. French troops assisted the Oattara forces in extricating him from his Fuhrerbunker...
nabbed after hiding out for days in a bunker, dragged his country into disaster by refusing for months to accept he lost November presidential elections.

The 65-year-old's dogged ability to hang on to power is nothing new, having ruled the world's top cocoa producer since 2000, including for five years after his mandate ended in 2005.

A skilled orator who likes to play the man of the people, shedding suits and ties for African shirts, he conceals a ferocious will behind an affable exterior.

He steadfastly refused to bow to demands to quit after the UN-backed electoral commission said he lost the November 28 poll with only 46 per cent of votes compared to 54 per cent for rival Alassane Ouattara.

"I am president of Cote d'Ivoire," Gbagbo insisted, leaning on a ruling of a constitutional council headed by one of his allies that he took 51.45 per cent of the votes.

Houphouet-Boigny
Gbagbo cut his teeth in the union during his years of opposition to the "father of the nation," president Felix Houphouet-Boigny (1960-1993).

Born on May 31, 1945, educated in a Christian seminary the historian soon came to annoy the authorities with his union activities.

His wife, the one-time "Iron Lady" of Cote d'Ivoire, Simone Gbagbo stood firmly by her husband Laurent through highs and lows, including his ignominious arrest from a bunker.

She was dragged out with Laurent Gbagbo in Monday's dramatic end to a nearly five-month fight for the presidency and taken with him to the hotel headquarters of rival Ouattara, whom she called "head bandit".

Simone Gbagbo, 61, became First Lady of the world's top cocoa-producing country in October 2000 when the man she married just over a decade earlier won presidential elections.

Known popularly as "Simone" or "Mother", she was often regarded as the power behind the president, respected for her own political activism but also feared for alleged involvement in death squads targeting her husband's rivals.

An evangelical Christian after "miraculously" surviving a car accident in 1998, she convened daily prayers at the presidential residence.

In the 2002 attempted coup, Simone fought for her husband. She rejected the 2003 peace accord that paved the way for a unity government including former rebels, even though it was accepted by her husband.

In the 2010 campaign she was the first to condemn Ouattara, "the scourge".
Posted by: Fred || 04/14/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Britain
David Cameron: migration threatens our way of life
In his most forthright speech on the issue since he became Prime Minister, he will say that mass immigration has led to "discomfort and disjointedness" in neighbourhoods because some migrants have been unwilling to integrate or learn English.

Pledging to cut the numbers entering Britain to tens of thousands, rather than hundreds of thousands, Mr Cameron will say that "for too long, immigration has been too high".

He will also promise to "stamp out" forced marriages, saying that "cultural sensitivity" cannot be allowed to stop the Government from acting.

In the speech to party members in Hampshire, the Prime Minister will attack Labour for claiming it was racist to talk about immigration, saying it is "untruthful and unfair" not to speak about the issue, however uncomfortable.
Posted by: tipper || 04/14/2011 03:50 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Gee, it's as though they don't teach real history anymore. Here's one principle from history - it's more fun doing it to others than to have others do it to you.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/14/2011 8:48 Comments || Top||

#2  The whole idea was for liberals to destroy Britain. Same thing with letting millions of illegal Mexicans into America. It's soft genocide.
Posted by: gromky || 04/14/2011 9:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Soft genocide...sounds like an extremely politically incorrect thing to say but exactly the kind of thing an @$$hole like Bill Clinton would do. I like it.

I've been thinking some lately about this Lybian thing. I was wondering if it really could be all about oil since I know good and well it has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with any humanitarian considerations as has been claimed. But then, how could it be about oil? Daffy kept the oil flowing, did he not? So what's the problem? I mean, really?

That's when it occurred to me that it might have something to do with immigration and colonization. It seems that Europe lately has been undergoing a process of reverse colonization. People from former colonies like Pakistan and Algeria have been migrating to Europe and, in their own disorganized way, colonizing Europe.

Have Cameron and Sarkozy gotten wise to it? Could it be? And, if so, what would they do about it?

If you think about why people leave cat boxes like Lybia, Algeria or Pakistan it's obvious that the conditions created by the post-colonial governments and the prevailing Muslim cultures there are hell on earth.

Could it be that Cameron and Sarkozy are planning to re-colonize North Africa with the aim of making those places more livable? Do they think they could stem or even reverse the tide of migration from the cat boxes to Europe? Or is that too sinister a thought to even think about?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 04/14/2011 12:21 Comments || Top||

#4  I suspect NATO acting in Libya in an attempt to halt Kadaffi from killing civilians indeed has to do with trying prevent a massive influx of refugees from crossing the Med.

From places like Bahrain it would be difficult to take a boat to Europe (would required getting through the Suez Canal), but from Libya any old fishing vessel would do.
Posted by: Chemist || 04/14/2011 19:11 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Chinese Real Estate Bubble Pops
h/t Instapundit
Beijing Real Estate Prices Plunge 27% In One Month
Unexpectedly
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/14/2011 12:12 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Beijing does not equal China.

To journalists who live in Beijing, maybe. They view anywhere outside the capital as a horror.
Posted by: gromky || 04/14/2011 13:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Uh...oh....

China was using our trade dollars to fund that and to fund our spending spree. Chinese banks are leveraged to the hilt and are awash in bad debt. Several people were waiting for the Chinese market to burst. Now who will fund our debt?
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/14/2011 13:40 Comments || Top||

#3  ..our children and grandchildren. Bonded by their parentage. Maybe they'll figure how to operate a government without borrowing and leave the gamblers holding the bag.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/14/2011 16:09 Comments || Top||

#4  ..our children and grandchildren. Bonded by their parentage.

When the time comes, I have no problems defaulting on Communist Chinese debt.

China’s $260 billion Default
China is currently in default on about $260 billion worth of pre-1949 Chinese government bonds

China stiffing America for $100 billion in debt
While Chinese companies are in line to benefit directly from U.S. taxpayers' $700 billion-plus bailout of Wall Street, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other financial institutions, Beijing is stiffing the U.S. for $100 billion or more in unpaid debt.

One problem that should be addressed, he writes, is the $260 billion in sovereign debt owed U.S. and other investors which China has said it simply won't repay.

"The repayment obligation was inherited by the People's Republic of China, when the communists took control in 1949. The successor government doctrine of settled international law affirms continuity of obligations among international recognized successive governments," O'Brien said.
Posted by: Zebulon Thranter9685 || 04/14/2011 18:33 Comments || Top||

#5  Left unstated is the extent to which China fueled the boom via an expansion of its money supply over the last decade.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 04/14/2011 18:50 Comments || Top||

#6  I'd use the term "boom". Credit expansion inevitably lowers housing affordability (ratio between land prices and wages (read some Ricardo)). When the credit is also initially used for non-investment purposes you're left worse off.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 04/14/2011 19:02 Comments || Top||

#7  China stiffing America? Selective reading of history. Recall the state of Mississippi stiffed 1838 investors of $7million, refused to pay interest, then repudiated the debt, then even amended its constitution to bar repayments. This failure was eventually validated by the USSC rather recently, after decades of lawsuits by the stiffed investors. Other states have also defaulted on their debts. The USA as a whole has never [yet] defaulted, although its repudiation of 'gold clauses' in contracts in 1933 was upheld by the USSC and may be considered a type of default.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/14/2011 22:42 Comments || Top||


Economy
Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Rise; Inflation Pressure Grows
New claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week, bouncing back above the key 400,000 level, while core producer prices clumbed faster than expected in March, government reports showed on Thursday.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 27,000 to a seasonally adjusted 412,000, the Labor Department said. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims slipping to 380,000.
They keep using that word, "Unexpectedly!". What the heck do they think is going to happen with the government talking about more taxes as costs of doing business rise? I sure wouldn't be hiring if I was a business owner. I think more and more of these "experts" are little more than political hacks that are paid to be cheerleaders for the government and not give any bad news. Then they act all shocked when their "predictions" head south.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/14/2011 08:49 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Vodkapundit

Fewer American workers must navigate ever-more labyrinthine rules to make their ways home with a smaller paycheck to support an enlarged dependent class while making higher payments on unmanageable debt.
Posted by: Beavis || 04/14/2011 11:46 Comments || Top||

#2  "I think more and more ALL of these "experts" are little more than political hacks"

FTFY, DV.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/14/2011 13:09 Comments || Top||

#3  They have been cooking the books on inflation for years now, the old way of calculating it shows almost 10% last year, and they have been cooking the books on unemployment for the past few years, and especiually this year. Just like they cooked the books on Obamacare's "savings" and how they cooked the books on the recent budget deal on last years budget.
Folks, the government, especially the democrats, are liars, they just use tricksy formulas and "definitions" to lie to you while they give your money to people who vote for them.
If you are actually surprised, you haven't been awake the past decade or two! Have a cup and joint the rest of us.....
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 04/14/2011 14:50 Comments || Top||

#4  Not surprised by how much they lie, but by just how brazen it is and how many people just shrug and go on about their lives with the "Oh Well" attitude. That is how the barbarians were able to swarm over the Western half of the Roman empire and create serfs.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/14/2011 17:23 Comments || Top||

#5  That is how the barbarians were able to swarm over the Western half of the Roman empire That's not all. Imperial taxes got so high, some of the citizens moved in with the barbarians in search of a lower cost of living. Some Roman army officers did the same & wound up commanding barbarian forces fighting the empire.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/14/2011 22:46 Comments || Top||


The tax exempt call for higher taxes
From In These Times, a progressive blog: “Revolt at the Waldorf: Rich Activists Push for Higher Taxes on Themselves.”

Not really.

This is a story about some self-reported trust-fund babies protesting the fact that the trusts that fund them are tax exemot.

From the post:

“Our current tax system perpetuates inequality,” states Elspeth Gilmore. “Wealthy people can really change that narrative.”

Gilmore is the co-director of Resource Generation, a national nonprofit organization that supports and challenges young, progressive people with wealth to leverage their privilege and resources for social change.


Wait a second, these rich folks formed at tax exempt corporation (“nonprofit organization” to use the lefty term) to protest the fact that rich people can evade taxes?

But wait. There’s more:

Resource Generation recently teamed up with another nonprofit that organizes affluent activists, Wealth for the Common Good, to form a Progressive Tax Campaign. They will be organizing and advocating a change in the policy, laws and perceptions of our tax system. Specifically, the campaign aims to draw attention to the social services that taxing the wealthy could fund, and advocates higher tax bracket rates for top income earners, as well as higher taxes on investment income.

It’s a concentration Resource Generation thinks could have a big impact, even if it focuses on the mundane world of taxes. “It’s definitely not sexy,” Gilmore admits. “There’s a lot of myths around it, and it takes education and time to understand. But it gets right to the root of inequality and wealth disparity.”

So, this hypocritical protester admits her protest is ineffectual.

But it is tax exempt.

I realize that liberalism is for rich social climbers, but this one seems to be climbing the Empire State building.

By the way, if readers see a spokesman or other official with a nonprofit protesting low taxes, please e-mail the URL so I can mock the hell out of their hypocrisy. Ivy League professors qualify. My e-mail is donsurber@dailymail.com.
Posted by: Beavis || 04/14/2011 08:45 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
800 dead in Channel of Sicily since January
h/t Gates of Vienna
More than 28,000 migrants reached Italy in less than three months, but many (approximately 800, but there are no official figures, so the number may even be greater) have been swallowed by the Channel of Sicily.

Hundreds of boats departed mostly from Tunisia, but also from Libya, and some sank with their human cargo.

Some 14 shipwrecks have been reported to date, the latest one today: two women drowned in Pantelleria during a landing.
Immigration is a human right. Thus, by not providing immigrants from North Africa with safe passage, Italy violates their human rights. Human right violators must be bombed. Therefore Italy must be bombed.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/14/2011 13:19 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  We can bomb the Mediterranean into submission. Call it "Canute Dawn."

Just like the Libyan situation, it'll push the US further into debt.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 04/14/2011 14:53 Comments || Top||

#2  More than 28,000 migrants reached Italy in less than three months

The Camp of the Saints
Posted by: Beavis || 04/14/2011 15:27 Comments || Top||

#3  They join a large number of Italian Royal Navy and maritime sailors who ran the gauntlet of RAF interceptions between Sicily and North Africa, circa 1940-43.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/14/2011 16:06 Comments || Top||

#4  Proof that moslems are superior in all things - such as boat making, steerage, and maintenance.
Allau akbauh!
Posted by: newc || 04/14/2011 21:20 Comments || Top||

#5  Charybdis and Scylla are back
Posted by: Willy || 04/14/2011 22:01 Comments || Top||


France bans burqa but tolerates nudity
[Iran Press TV] The recent move by La Belle France to impose a ban on burqa, a cover-all headdress some Mohammedan women choose to wear, has come in contrast with the country's tolerance of public nudity.
That's not a bug, it's a feature...
The ban came into force on Monday and was followed by immediate arrest of nearly 60 women that defied the ban by walking outside the famed Notre Dame Cathedral in Gay Paree, reported a Press TV correspondent from the French capital.

A recently-surfaced video, meanwhile, featured a naked male running around the country's streets while trying to cut a figure as a pole vaulter.
That's one way to quickly become skinless in a sandpaper world...
Kenza Drider, a young Mohammedan that left the southern city of Avignon for Gay Paree to participate in a television program on the day the ban became law, was among the detainees.

"This law infringes my European rights; I cannot but defend them, that is to say my freedom to come and go and my religious freedom," she said.

"This law breaches these rights," said the mother of four.

Her husband, Allal, said, "According to this law, my wife would have to remain cloistered at home, do you find that normal?"

"They come here for their liberty for their freedom to dress as they want. I thank them to come here to defend this form of liberty," said a female supporter of the Mohammedan women.

"I think the law is nonsense. Politicians have nothing better to do than attack our veils," said another Mohammedan woman that had taken his child out while observing the Islamic dress code in spite of the restriction.

Advocates of the ban in country that purportedly advocates democracy and basic freedoms say the regulation protects women's freedoms as well as La Belle France's firmly-embedded principles of secularism.

"Quite a large part of the people believe that the women are weak. So they think that the republic has to protect the minorities, the people, who are weak and then they thought that it was necessary to make a law," said Velentine Zuber, religious practices professor at Sorbonne -- the University of Gay Paree.

Based on the procedures dictated by the burqa ban, the police would take the female violators to a cop shoppe until they consents to be unveiled for identification.

A spokesperson for the coppers' union warily stated that the police have many other problems to solve.

There are fewer than 2,000 women wearing a full-face veil in La Belle France, which is home to five million Mohammedans -- the largest Mohammedan community in the EU.
Posted by: Fred || 04/14/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sounds like a win / win to me. How about we make the punishment for sack wearing be that you have to go nude in public for 2 months? That should definitely lessen both issues ;^)
Posted by: AlanC || 04/14/2011 8:25 Comments || Top||

#2  I dunno, AlanC. There are plenty of people who SHOULD be put (or kept) in sacks.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/14/2011 8:57 Comments || Top||

#3  glenmore, that was my badly stated intention to lessen BOTH problems!! Especially if you get some sack potatos out in the buff!! Now that's truly frightening.

Now, if it was only Carla and her like in the buff.........8^)
Posted by: AlanC || 04/14/2011 11:10 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistan flood recovery sees $600 mln shortfall
[Dawn] Pakistain is short of $600 million needed to help millions of families rebuild their lives nine months after the country suffered nationwide floods in its worst ever natural disaster, the UN said Wednesday.
The rich infidels don't see why they should give you money to wage jihad against them.
The international community was slow to come to Pakistain's aid in the immediate aftermath of last year's monsoon-triggered floods, which affected up to 21 million people, amid allegations of official mismanagement of funds.
Besides, they're pretty confident none of the donated funds will manage to fall out of oligarchy pockets to land near those in actual need.
As the aid operation now moves from its emergency phase to "early recovery" to rebuild homes and restore livelihoods, the United Nations
...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
said a huge shortfall in funds remained.

More than $600 million is still to come from donors, with more than $176.5 million needed for agriculture and food security, more than $174.5 million for housing, and more than $106.6 million for water and sanitation projects.

The rest of the funds are required to improve education, health, livelihoods, governance, and infrastructure, the United Nations and Pakistain's National Disaster Management Authority told news hounds in Islamabad.
Perhaps y'all might consider spending less of your budget on weaponry and more on physical and human infrastructure?
"It is critical that the international community supports this effort both technically and financially," UN humanitarian coordinator Timo Pakkala said.
Posted by: Fred || 04/14/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Southeast Asia
Philippines protests Chinas maritime claim in UN
[Straits Times] THE Philippines has protested to the United Nations
...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involve making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country...
over China's claim's to disputed areas in the South China Sea, saying Beijing's stance has no basis under international law.

The Philippines claims illusory sovereignty over parts of the Spratly Islands and its adjacent waters, an area believed to be sitting on huge deposits of oil, gas and minerals. China claims the whole territory.

Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam also claim all or parts of the South China Sea.

In an April 5 protest sent by the Philippine's permanent mission in the United Nations in New York, a copy of which was seen by Rooters, Manila asserted portions of the Spratly Islands, known as the Kalayaan island group, are an integral part of the country's territory.

The Philippines said Beijing's claim had no legal basis under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and said parts of the Spratly Islands were part of the Philippines based on international laws.

The Philippine protest was sent to the UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea. The Philippines questioned China's sweeping claims laid out in its 'nine-dotted line' claim over the entire South China Sea submitted to the UN in 2009.
Posted by: Fred || 04/14/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Culture Wars
Marijuana causes global warming, uses 1% of U.S. electricity
People growing marijuana indoors use 1 percent of the U.S. electricity supply, and they create 17 million metric tons of carbon dioxide every year (not counting the smoke exhaled) according to a report by Evan Mills, an energy analyst at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

After medical pot use was made legal in California in 1996, Mills says, per-person residential electricity use in Humboldt County jumped 50 percent compared to other parts of the state.

In order to produce some 17,000 metric tons of marijuana this year, Mills estimates authorized growers will use $5 billion worth of energy. That works out to the output of seven big electric power plants.

Much of the carbon dioxide produced by the industry comes from transportation, though the need for lights "500-times greater than recommended for reading" also uses a lot of power and generates a lot of pollution. Air conditioning, ventilation and humidity control also contribute.

In California, some 400,000 authorized growers use about 3 percent of the state's electricity for their business.

"This corresponds to the electricity use of 1 million average California homes, greenhouse-gas emissions equal to those from 1 million average cars, and energy expenditures of $3 billion a year," Mills says. However, since California is such a green state, it only generates 20 percent of national carbon dioxide emissions from pot growing, while using 70 percent of nationwide energy for this industry

Posted by: tipper || 04/14/2011 06:25 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Whoa! Who let this cat out of the bag?

But maybe the point, (in San Franciso, anyway), is that it is a trifling matter, only 1%. Not nearly as bad as those nasty powerplants.

So why use that nasty electricity to generate artifical light to grow pot? Why not use good ol' California sunshine? Not fast enough?
Posted by: Bobby || 04/14/2011 7:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Ummm , then the people could see and destroy them?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/14/2011 8:05 Comments || Top||

#3  In California, some 400,000 authorized growers

That must make it California's biggest industry.
Posted by: phil_b || 04/14/2011 8:13 Comments || Top||

#4  Reminds me of the story of the FBI finding a large stand of "GRASS" and spying on it for months,
Finally an old farmer came out with his tractor and bush hog, he proceeded to cut them down.

The Feds rushed over to stop him Yelling "What are you doing".

The farmer stopped his tractor and repied

'Cutting the weeds, they grow every year, and I cut them each year"
(Marijuana IS a Natural weed.)

The Feds were Pissed, they'd watched this "Plot" for months, and it wasn't a plot, Just weeds.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/14/2011 8:23 Comments || Top||

#5  So we need to add legalizing pot growing to the list of ways to save the environment (gotta be better than mandating curly-fried light bulbs.)
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/14/2011 9:00 Comments || Top||

#6  To start with, AZ goes medical marijuana legal today.

Back in 1972, there was a documentary called "Weed" which was unintentionally hilarious. One part was interviewing a Midwest highway patrolman, as he took the crew through a wild marijuana patch. He estimated that over a four State area there were some 1m acres of this, what he called "Kansas utility-grade grunt weed."

Then, the crew went to Thailand, where some of the highest quality marijuana in the world was sold in bunches on the street, as the narrator held up a huge bunch, still on the stems, and excitedly said that it was just 25 cents!

But right then, the camera work got rather sloppy, and they didn't film any more for two weeks. The narrator then said, looking very tired, with red and bleary eyes, that it was time for them to return home to the US.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/14/2011 9:09 Comments || Top||

#7  And in other news, Montana's Democrat governor vetoes Republican legislation to overturn the popular 2004 voter initiative approved medical marijuana law.

Schweitzer vetoed the bill Wednesday along with several others he called “frivolous, unconstitutional or in direct contradiction to the expressed will of the people of Montana.”
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/14/2011 10:27 Comments || Top||

#8  I had this article saved a while to use!

Researchers argue 'addiction' a poor way to understand the normal use of drugs
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 04/14/2011 10:50 Comments || Top||

#9  I dunno about that carbon dioxide claim. Wouldn't the oxygen produced the plants themselves offset the carbon dioxide?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 04/14/2011 11:55 Comments || Top||

#10  I dunno about that carbon dioxide claim. Wouldn't the oxygen produced the plants themselves offset the carbon dioxide?

Some growers artificially increase the CO2 in their grow room. The plants grow faster and larger as a result -- CO2 is plant food, after all.
Posted by: Jock the Salmon || 04/14/2011 12:15 Comments || Top||

#11  I have a hard time believing the !% of US electricity.

It seems to me that the LBNL is based on an increase in use in Humboldt county and was SWAGged and extrapolated beyond the validity of the data.

It wouldn't be the first time LBNL has done a wild eyed study and released the results before it could be peer reviewed.
Posted by: lord garth || 04/14/2011 13:08 Comments || Top||



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Thu 2011-04-14
  Pro-Hamas Italian Kidnapped By Salafists In Gaza
Wed 2011-04-13
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Tue 2011-04-12
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Mon 2011-04-11
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Fri 2011-04-08
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Thu 2011-04-07
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Wed 2011-04-06
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Tue 2011-04-05
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Sat 2011-04-02
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