Two Argentinean convicts who escaped from jail evaded capture after disguising themselves as sheep, it was claimed. From the people who brought you Prison Break . . .
Maximiliano Pereyra and Ariel Diaz, who were jailed for robbery offences, dressed up as the animals after escaping from a maximum security jail in Argentina more than a week ago. Pereyra, 25, and Diaz, 28, dressed in full sheepskin fleeces with realistic looking heads as they tried to evade capture, The Sun reported. . . . and the people who brought you Demonsheep: the Campaign Commercial . . .
They used their disguises to fool officials for more than a week despite more than 300 members of the local constabulary searching for them. The local police have been left embarrassed by the episode after locals reported seeing the pair running through local fields at night. "They were wearing grey clothes but had full sheepskins, including the sheeps' heads, over their heads and backs,' said a farmworker at La Almeda. . . . comes the most bizarre adventure thriller ever made . . .
Police sources said it appeared that identifying the pair among thousands of other sheep was "almost impossible". Prison Sheep!
"They can't pull the wool over our eyes forever,' one officer deadpanned. Coming soon to an open pasture near ewe.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/15/2010 13:45 ||
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#1
I can hear the theme song now...
Baaaad boys
Baaaad boys
What ewe gonna do?
What ewe gonna do when dey come for ewe
Posted by: Mike ||
04/15/2010 14:01 Comments ||
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#2
You do that in muzzie-land and it'll get you buggered.
NEW YORK -- The city and the teachers' union have worked out a deal to stop putting hundreds of teachers waiting for disciplinary hearings in "rubber rooms," and will close the centers this fall, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Thursday.
That's all very well, but what will happen to the teachers? Some of them are accused of serious crimes which, if true, mean they shouldn't be allowed anywhere near students.
Officially known as teacher-reassignment centers, rubber rooms are off-campus spaces where hundreds of teachers are paid their full salaries to do nothing while they await disciplinary hearings.
The person familiar with the decision said Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration and the teachers' union were to announce the deal later Thursday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement had not been made.
More than 600 teachers generally spend months or even years in the rubber rooms playing Scrabble, reading or surfing the Internet. The nickname refers to the padded cells of asylums, and teachers have said the name is fitting, since some of the inhabitants can become unstable.
The department has blamed union rules that make it difficult to fire teachers, but some teachers assigned to rubber rooms charge that they have been singled out because they blew the whistle on a principal who was fudging test scores.
Because the teachers collect their full salaries of $70,000 or more, the city Department of Education estimated last year that the practice was costing the taxpayers $65 million a year.
The Wall Street Journal has an extended version of the AP article, which ends with the following:
Instead of going to rubber rooms, most teachers will perform administrative work in department offices or nonclassroom work in their schools, according to the agreement.
The deal expands the list of charges for which school officials can suspend teachers without pay to include violent felony crimes.
Officials also agreed to increase the number of arbitrators who hear teachers' cases to 39 from 23, and said they hope to catch up with backlogged cases by the end of the year.
Carl Mintz, the 27-year-old Farmington Hills man accused of shooting a fellow driver who approached his car during an altercation, on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to charges of assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder and felony firearm.
Farmington Hills police say both men were traveling north on Orchard Lake Road on Monday afternoon when Mintz irked the 20-year-old driver behind him by tapping his brakes repeatedly. The victim approached Mintz's car, the two exchanged words and Mintz shot him in the arm.
Mintz, who has a permit to carry a concealed weapon, called 911 after the shooting and remained on scene until police arrived.
"It's not like I wanted to shoot the guy," Mintz said yesterday during his arraignment before the judge suggested he may want to speak with his lawyer before saying too much. "(He) got out of the car, and he scared me."
Fox 2 spoke with his brother Monday, who said Mintz has "been very angry lately," citing the fact that both their parents have died in the past decade.
The television station now reports Mintz is a regular YouTube commentator who has uploaded a number of hate-filled videos, typically targeting Islam.
"Islam is a cult. It is a threat. It is a threat to all Judeo-Christian nations," Mintz says in one of the videos (which you can see in the player above) as he sits in front of an American flag.
Mintz remains jailed on a $50,000 cash surety bond. He is due back in court April 19 for a pre-exam conference. "Hate filled...", or "Truth filled..."?
An Ohio death row inmate is attempting to postpone his imminent appointment with the lethal injection gurney by claiming a possible allergy to the anaesthetic used by the state to dispatch its condemned prisoners. Bad allergic reactions can be fatal. Oh, wait....
Darryl Durr is sentenced to die next Tuesday for the 1988 rape and murder of 16-year-old Angel Vincent. He faces a single injection of thiopental sodium, rather than the traditional three-chemical cocktail used for such executions. Ohio last year became the first state to switch to the one-hit lethal anaesthesia method. His lawyers, however, say that they've found evidence of Durr's allergy in his 800-page prison medical records. If correct, this compromises Ohio's commitment to suffering-free capital punishment.
Defense attorney Kathleen McGarry said: "One of the things the Ohio Constitution guarantees is that he has a quick and painless execution.
"If he's going to react to the anesthetic drugs in such a manner that he's going to have a violent reaction, either vomiting or seizures or whatever the spectrum is that could happen, then obviously the execution has problems." Did Angel have a quick and painless death?
US District Court Judge Gregory Frost has allowed Columbia University Medical Center anesthesiologist Mark Heath to review the records. Heath wrote in support of Durrs' request: "An allergic or other adverse reaction to some component of a general anesthetic might present a serious problem for an execution by lethal injection." Heath did, though, say "it would depend on the drug that precipitated the reaction and the nature of the reaction". Heath's conclusions are due soon, AP notes, and if the findings are favourable to his case, Durr could use them "to try to stop or delay the execution, a request the state would likely oppose".
Ohio does have a back-up plan in the event of a successful objection: an untried sedative and painkiller combination, which when injected into muscle is "supposed to produce death". There's always a bullet behind the ear.
AP cites two previous lethal injection executions which proved problematic. In Texas in 1989, Stephen McCoy "reacted violently to the chemicals and began choking and seizing, despite being restrained". A state official later admitted "a heavier dose might have been warranted".
In 1992, Oklahoma prisoner Robyn Lee Parks "also had a violent reaction as the muscles in his jaw, neck, and abdomen began to spasm about two minutes after the drugs started to flow". The cause of both reactions is "unknown", AP concludes.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/15/2010 08:36 ||
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#3
This is a major States' rights issue, as it is repulsive that federal judges feel they can horn in at will and repeatedly, micromanaging the pluperfect hell out of what should be a simple, post conviction execution.
There should be one, and only one, federal appeal allowed for a State death penalty. It should be automatic, and conducted within six months of conviction, not to last more than another six months. Likewise it should be limited solely to trial error, or at the request of the trial prosecutor, based on new evidence.
In short, if a State wishes to hang with hemp rope, that is fine and dandy. If they want to electrocute, or use the gas chamber, that is all good. The final appeal should rest with the governor of the State.
#5
In 1992, Oklahoma prisoner Robyn Lee Parks "also had a violent reaction as the muscles in his jaw, neck, and abdomen began to spasm about two minutes after the drugs started to flow".
Spasms then death. No additional charge for the spasms. Another happy ending.
#7
I understand the affection for the death-sentence in this & other cases, but, sticking him in solitary with no priviliges whatsoever for the rest of his natural life (on suicide-watch offcourse) would be fine by me. (let the asshole realy suffer & pay, painless death allways seemed a little to easy for me)
Not trying to start an argument, just the way i see it :-)
#8
#7 I understand the affection for the death-sentence in this & other cases, but, sticking him in solitary with no priviliges whatsoever for the rest of his natural life (on suicide-watch offcourse) would be fine by me. (let the asshole realy suffer & pay, painless death allways seemed a little to easy for me)
Not trying to start an argument, just the way i see it :-)
Posted by: chinditz 2010-04-15 10:16
Posted by: Sir Victor Emmanuel Glomomble IV ||
04/15/2010 11:39 Comments ||
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Posted by: Mike ||
04/15/2010 13:46 Comments ||
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I understand the affection for the death-sentence in this & other cases..
It's not an affection. It's a responsibility the state assumed. If you recall popular literature like Romeo and Juliet, vendetta was, and still is a social fact in many if not nearly all cultures. Just recall the opening of the Godfather when the mortician pleads with the Don for justice. The state worked many centuries to impose itself between aggrieved parties to act as a dispassionate third party to render justice. In return for the power and the responsibilities it was given the authority ending the cycle of retribution. Now the state has absolved itself of the responsibility. If you want justice don't expect it from the state. You already see that in the gang wars that rage just below the attention level in our cities that already mimic the families of Shakespeare's story.
Make no mistake about it. The death penalty is carried out in our streets, our business, our neighborhoods. There is no due process. There is no appeal. Far too many innocents are caught up in that situation than any in the ritualistic legal system that demonstrates daily that the will of the people be damn.
#12
"It's not an affection. It's a responsibility the state assumed."
I fully understand this and agree that it should be so, my point however is that for the crime that this "man" has commited, to me personally, life in solitairy, under constant surveilance with only the bucket he shits in for company is a far more statisfying retribution than a quick and easy death by lethal injection.
From what i have read about the US justice system the cost should be about the same as well.
Again i am not looking for an argument about the deathpenalty, i want people who commit horrible acts as this man has commited to suffer, and he or she can only suffer as long as he or she is alive, lets make it last.
#13
chinditz I'd venture it is far less expensive to let him rot in a cell rather than pay for all the appeals that go with a death sentence conviction.
#14
why not supply death row inmates with shanks and just toss their food into an open room too fight over
Posted by: chris ||
04/15/2010 18:56 Comments ||
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#15
And...oh, yeah, here's what he did.
At trial, Deborah Mullins testified that on the evening Angel [Vincent, 16] disappeared Deborah had asked Durr to drive to the house of one of Angel's friends to retrieve a package of cigarettes for Angel. Durr agreed and left. Shortly thereafter, Durr returned to Deborah's house and, instead of entering through the front door, began throwing stones at her upstairs bedroom window and blew his car horn for her to come out. Deborah and her baby, who had been fathered by Durr, left the house and entered Durr's car where Durr brandished a knife toward both of them.
As Durr was driving, Deborah heard noises from the back seat and after turning around discovered Angel bound on the rear floorboard. . . When Deborah asked Durr why Angel was bound in his car, Durr responded that he intended to "waste" her because "she would tell." He never revealed just what Angel was going to tell.
After threatening the life of both Deborah and his baby, Durr let Deborah out of his car. He returned to her home three or four hours later.
Upon returning, Durr told Deborah that he had "wasted" Angel and that she should pack her things because they were leaving. Durr drove Deborah and their baby to his wife's, Janice Durr's, Cleveland apartment. After dropping Deborah and the baby off, Durr left with a duffle bag containing two shovels. When Durr returned, he was wet and covered with snow. Upon entering the room, Durr placed a ring and bracelet that belonged to Angel on a coffee table.
As he was falling asleep, Durr told Deborah that he had strangled Angel with a dog chain until she "pissed, pooped and sh-- and made a few gurgling sounds," took her body to a park, wrapped it in a blanket, placed it between two construction cones, and left her by some railroad tracks. . . .
Following a jury trial, Durr was convicted of aggravated murder; kidnapping; aggravated robbery and rape. The trial court followed the jury's recommendation and sentenced Durr to death.
#16
sorry chin ditz. Beating to death with a shovel is too good for this trash. His atty should be made to dig the grave. At her usual hourly rate, of course - no use shorting the whores
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/15/2010 20:13 Comments ||
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As he ranted about his religious beliefs, a 32-year-old Wisconsin man went room to room with a 9mm pistol early Wednesday -- killing his pregnant teenage wife, his baby son and two nieces in a brick home on the Southwest Side, according to his family and Chicago Police.
Wounded in the rampage were the suspect's mother and a teenage nephew, police and family said. A 12-year-old girl in the house managed to escape and ran to a gas station, where she called 911. The gunman shot at her as she fled but missed, police said.
About an hour and a half after the horrific 4:25 a.m. shooting in the 7200 block of South Mozart, officers were taking witnesses to a police station when they spotted the bearded, 6-foot-5-inch suspect walking near 59th and Racine, police said.
They arrested the man without a fight, and he led them to a vacant lot where he had tossed the suspected murder weapon, police said. He told them "Allah" told him to kill his family, sources said. And he added: "Too bad I ran out of bullets."
The man's family members and court records paint a troubled portrait of the suspect. He was born in Chicago but lived in Madison, Wis., where he has amassed a long rap sheet.
Last year, he was arrested for battery after pushing Twanda Thompson against a van in a Wal-Mart parking lot on Sept. 25 in Madison. They were arguing over whether she should take the baby into the store or he should wait with the child, records show. Witnesses told police that he yelled, "What would you do if your woman was acting like this?" The man entered a no-contest plea, went to jail for 45 days and was freed on Feb. 22.
Weeks later, on March 19, he married Twanda Thompson, records show. And on April 6, she won a paternity case filed last year. A court determined he was the father of her 7-month-old child, Jihad, whose name is an Arab word meaning struggle or holy war.
The suspect's family was perplexed by the killings. "How do you shoot your mom and then your wife and kids?" said a sister, Letisha Larry. "That's crazy. And your niece and nephew? Why do you do that? You're just a killer."
She said her brother became a Muslim while in federal prison. In the last week, he began making ominous remarks. "He was saying weird stuff, how he was an angel and we were demons, we were demons in the house," she said.
He carried the Quran and said something in the Muslim holy book instructed him to kill someone, his sister said.
On Tuesday, the suspect traveled to Chicago from Madison with his wife, son and mother, said Letisha Larry, who was not in the house at the time of the shootings. During the killings, he was uttering "Muslim stuff," she said.
One of the suspect's neighbors in Wisconsin, Andrea Richardson, knew Twanda Thompson from Chicago. Their children played together in Madison, she said. "He was so controlling and he was into that Muslim thing," she said. "He wanted her to wear a head scarf, but she wasn't hearing it. You'd hear them arguing and fighting through the walls. . . . It was screaming and then, 'boom, boom, boom.' "
After Audie died, they all became her boys. Every last one of them.
Any soldier or Marine who walked into the Sepulveda VA hospital and care center in the last 35 years got the VIP treatment from Pam Murphy.
The widow of Audie Murphy the most decorated soldier in World War II would walk the hallways with her clipboard in hand making sure her boys got to see a specialist or doctor STAT. If they didn't, watch out.
Her boys weren't Medal of Honor recipients or movie stars like Audie, but that didn't matter to Pam. They had served their country. That was good enough for her.
She never called a veteran by his first name. It was always "Mister." Respect came with the job.
"Nobody could cut through VA red tape faster than Mrs. Murphy," said veteran Stephen Sherman, speaking for thousands of veterans she befriended over the years.
"Many times I watched her march a veteran who had been waiting more than an hour right into the doctor's office. She was even reprimanded a few times, but it didn't matter to Mrs. Murphy.
"Only her boys mattered. She was our angel."
Last week, Sepulveda VA's angel for the last 35 years died peacefully in her sleep at age 90.
Iraq vet John Stone heroically saves prominent Bronx rabbi's wife from choking at Yankee Stadium Or how a Vet got upgraded to $1,250 seats! Well deserved! Check out pic at site
He's a true angel out of left field.
An Army medic who served in Iraq became a hero in the stands at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday when he saved a prominent Bronx rabbi's wife choking on a piece of kosher London broil.
John Stone, 38, of Montville, Conn., sprang into action when he spotted Toby Weiss gagging about 15 rows in front of him in the section behind home plate.
"It was a very big scare. Toby's life was saved by a man who really, for us, is a great hero," said Rabbi Avi Weiss of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale.
"There were a bunch of people around her and I thought they had it under control," Stone told the Daily News. "But when I looked closer, it was evident they didn't.
"Basically, I just went down there and told the guy working on her that I'm an Army medic," said Stone, a staff sergeant with the Connecticut National Guard.
As the choking woman began to turn blue, the attention of fans turned from Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez to the rescuer in a Don Mattingly jersey performing the Heimlich maneuver in the stands.
"I stepped behind her, gave her about five or six abdominal thrusts and eventually she coughed up whatever she was choking on," Stone said.
Toby Weiss was checked out at a Stadium first-aid station as a precaution and returned to her seat to thank Stone. "I said to him, 'I'm a big Yankee fan, but I really didn't want to die in Yankee Stadium,'" she said.
Rabbi Weiss said other people rushed to help his wife. "People tried very hard to do the Heimlich maneuver, but it just wasn't working and it was getting desperate," he said. "Suddenly this kind of Elijah figure appeared from nowhere. He knew exactly what to do."
Following the scare, fans applauded, hugged and high-fived Stone on his way back up to his seat. Stone was at the Stadium with his brother Jamie, an Army infantry soldier on leave from duty in Afghanistan.
Word of the heroics quickly spread to Bombers' honchos, who gave Stone gift bags and moved him, his brother and his brother's girlfriend down to the first row of the Legends section, where seats normally go for about $1,250 each.
Though Stone treated much more serious battle wounds during his tour of duty in Iraq in 2004 and 2005, he never performed the Heimlich maneuver for real until yesterday.
"I treated soldiers a lot worse than her, but this is the first time I've ever done it in the civilian world," Stone said. "I'm just happy that lady is okay."
Stone said he can't help but think he was destined to be at yesterday's game, his first visit to the new Yankee Stadium.
"I've been a Yankee fan my whole life," said Stone, proudly wearing his pinstripes and a University of Maine cap. "I'm kind of still in shock about everything that went on."
A pr0nographic magazine for the blind has been launched - complete with explicit text and raised pictures of naked men and women. The book, the brainchild of Lisa Murphy and called Tactile Minds, is designed to be 'enjoyed' by the blind and visually impaired - and is on sale for £150.
Among the 17 raised images include a naked woman in a 'disco pose', a woman with 'perfect breasts' and a 'male love robot'.
Canadian Lisa says that she made the book to fill a gap in the market, adding: "There are no books of tactile pictures of nudes for adults. "We're breaking new ground. Playboy has an edition with Braille wording, but there are no pictures."
She said that she made the book after realising that the 'blind have been left out in a culture saturated with sexual images'.
Between 1970 and 1985 Playboy printed copies of its famous magazine in braille - but without raised pictures.
Eyjafjallajoekull: the name says it all, doesn't it? No, of course it doesn't. It looks like a kitten walked across your keyboard. It's the name of the glacier covering the volcano in Iceland that just woke up and remembered that its job description says "Spew hot lava ash across northwestern Europe". I'm at Boston's Logan Airport, where the lights are going out one by one on the board showing international departures to Europe. Airspace is shutting down, flight by flight by flight.
The annotation beside my own flight to London Heathrow this afternoon says "Delayed: see agent" at the moment (there are no agents, of course; they are in hiding); but it will probably be canceled soon. And all the airports in Scotland, where I live, have been closed since the beginning of the day....
I just spoke for a while to a TV reporter covering the developing story in the departure hall here (Boston area viewers: does my hair look OK?), and he asked me if this experience had given me "a new respect for volcanoes". Where do they get these insane questions? I told him I despise volcanoes. Most of all the one under Eyjafjallajoekull.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/15/2010 14:41 ||
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Its spewing thick black smoke up to 55,000 feet high. The good news is no injuries reported; the bad news is while it hasn't erupted in over 200 years, it lasted for 2 years when it did. This could potentially have more impact than a terrorist attack :<
#2
I understand that the last two times it erupted it caused little ice ages. Global warming may soon be a memory of a lovely dream, if that's so. Little ice ages lead to human population die-offs due to hunger and disease... and therefore a change in the relative power of producers and consumers, ie peasants and lords. Where would that leave China, with all its' financial reserves and so many factories producing things people around the world don't really need as well as so many factories producing things the world does need?
#4
I've been thinking about the Little Ice Age a lot these days.
I'm not sure China would be in a bad position in that case.
Keep in mind, the late 20th/early 21st century has seen a massive resurgence of feudalism merely because people have the excess energy to play those feudalism games.
The last time this happened...
The Catholic Church had basically eventually transformed itself into a massive international feudal landlord with an ecclesiastical face.... then the period of 1400-1500 happened, the first dip of the little ice age... you had half the population of Iceland _dying_ from the bad harvests and the volcanic poisoning. And the climate crashing in Northern Europe.
And what do you know happened next? The Protestant Revolution.
They pushed until the environment turned nasty and people had the choice of pushing back or dying off.
And then they went ahead and laid the groundwork for a lot of modern civilization in the process.
#5
For the most part, the blue parts of the bottom graph are the Protestant Reformation and the Northern Enlightenment. Everything that keeps us from being like the farmers in _The Magnificent Seven_.
When I saw that entry, I thought the Rant had been hit by another spammer. Now that I read the article, I see that the world has been, for all intents and purposes, 'spammed'.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/15/2010 21:55 Comments ||
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#13
That's impossible, tipper. It can't be getting colder - the poley bears are all drowning from Gerbil Worming.™
The Gorebot said so, and he wouldn't lie to us, would he?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/15/2010 22:26 Comments ||
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#14
"Although the Laki eruption in 1783 had the largest eruption of lava in the last 500 years, the Eldgjá eruption of 934 AD and other Holocene eruptions were even larger." -wikipedia ; could this later event have driven the scandahoovians from their northern shores down into Europe
#15
The thing people aren't "getting" is that volcanoes like this tend to erupt for 1 to 5 years. This means Europe could be without reliable airline transit for a very long time.
It is a big deal for soldiers needing medical evacuation to Landstuhl from Afghanistan. The last time this very volcano erupted around 1829, it erupted for about 13 months.
What if the air traffic in the UK, BeNeLux, Germany and France are cut off for a year?
[Asharq al-Aswat] An under-construction hotel complex in Saudi Arabia will feature the world's second-tallest building, topped by a clock six times bigger than London's Big Ben, the hotel's general manager said Tuesday.
The Mecca Royal Clock Tower will be made up of 662 metres (2,171 feet) of concrete structure and a 155-metre (508-foot) crecent-topped metal spire, Mohammed al-Arkubi said at a press conference in Dubai.
Combined, the two parts of the tower in the Muslim holy city of Mecca would be only roughly 11 metres (36 feet) shorter than Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower at 828 metres (2,717 feet).
Even the concrete section of the Mecca Royal Clock Tower would be taller than the current second-tallest building in the world, the 508-meter (1,676-foot) Taipei 101 in Taiwan.
"The first part of the hotel will open at the end of June, while the clock will begin operating at the end of July," ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is expected to begin around August 10, Arkubi said.
The German-made clock, billed as "the largest in the world," will have 45-metre (147-foot) wide and 43-metre (141-foot) tall faces on all four sides of the tower, he said.
He added that it will be visible from 17 kilometres (10 miles) away at night and 11 to 12 kilometres (six to seven miles) away during the day.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2010 00:00 ||
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From an engineering standpoint, IMO the DUBAI TOWER IS A TICKING TIME BOMB FOR COLLAPSE - hopefully, the Saudi design will be better.
This is to handle the pilgrims. The operating budget for this structure should be pretty interesting since, except during the high week of the 12th month haj, it will likely be only 10% or less occupied.
Posted by: lord garth ||
04/15/2010 10:48 Comments ||
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#5
Old Spook beat me to it, they're fools to erect such a tempting target.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/15/2010 12:26 Comments ||
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#6
Honestly I think the best engineers in the country should get together and draw up plans to build the tallest building in the world. Maybe the new WTC or even something totally different, just something to show our people and the world that we are still capable of achieving whatever we set out to do.
Posted by: Marcus Aurelius ||
04/15/2010 12:28 Comments ||
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#7
Nobody will be taking kickbacks for allowing delivery & use of sub-standard cement on this job, right? And Allan won't be calling a jillion of his most faithful 'home' during the haj, if some of that cement can't handle all those foreheads banging on the floor at the same time, right?
#8
I have to agree with Marcus. I like the idea of putting the world in its place from time to time.
I would like to do that with New Orleans also instead of just rebuilding it, it should be a new New York. A city that the world looks to and wants to visit. And we could for all the money that will be spent there just to make crap.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
04/15/2010 13:54 Comments ||
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#9
"Do y'get the feeling he's compensatin' for something?"
-- Shrek
[Al Arabiya Latest] Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz urged the ambassador of his kingdom to pay more attention to the Saudi citizens abroad, stressing the importance of keeping the doors of embassies always open in front of every Saudi national.
King Abdullah's remarks came during his meeting with the kingdom's ambassadors and head of the diplomatic missions in Riyadh, within the sideline of their 2nd periodical meeting.
"I hope you become good messengers for your nation. Furthermore, I want you to deal with your nationals properly and to always keep the doors of your embassies open in front of them. The embassy is there only for serving the Saudi people," he said, addressing his country's top diplomats.
"You must serve any Saudi citizen who comes to your door...I am Saudi and so is my son and my brother...Show them respect so that other peoples would respect us," the Saudi monarch added.
Editor-in-Chief of the Saudi al-Jazira daily Khaled al-Malik told Al Arabiya on Wednesday that the importance of the diplomats' meetings with the "highest authority in the Kingdom -- the Custodian of the two Holy Mosques -- reflects the fact that he wanted his message to clearly reach them. He himself probably got some remarks and complaints from different Saudi citizens either in person or through messages that he receives."
The King's remarks came at a proper timing as "it is the beginning of summer and many Saudi citizens travel abroad. The relationship linking the Saudi citizen to the kingdom's embassies abroad is very significant," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
I would hazard to guess that many, or even most, Saudi ambassadors see what they do as a cushy patronage job, in a foreign country where they can live it up and blow off Sharia.
Between the alcohol, hookers, blow, gambling, and more liquor, they probably have little time or patience to deal with their whiny countrymen.
#1
Why don't the aeroplanes just sweep in low to London from the SE?
From the comments .. People of Britain!
We sent you our freezing weather and told you to surrender. You stubbornly resisted in the hope that the spring would ease our grip. So now we send you our volcanic ash to paralyze your infrastructure. Surrender now!
- Iceland
Posted by: Sir Victor Emmanuel Glomomble IV ||
04/15/2010 11:36 Comments ||
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#2
SE ho hum.. that should be south west!
Posted by: Sir Victor Emmanuel Glomomble IV ||
04/15/2010 11:36 Comments ||
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#3
I'm in Estonia. The sunset is just fantastic tonight.
Lot of flights canceled out of here, but I don't think we'll get any ashfall.
MORE than 250 flights to and from London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports were grounded by volcanic ash from a volcanic eruption in Iceland. Many of the cancelled flights - more than 150 to and from Heathrow, and 108 flights to and from Gatwick - were transatlantic services, while Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow airports in Scotland were shut altogether. The ash has also halted flights across nearly all of Norway and northern Sweden, authorities said.
The Laki eruption (about 100 Ks from the current eruption) in 1784,
In North America, the winter of 1784 was the longest and one of the coldest on record. It was the longest period of below-zero temperatures in New England, the largest accumulation of snow in New Jersey, and the longest freezing over of Chesapeake Bay. There was ice skating in Charleston Harbor, a huge snowstorm hit the south, the Mississippi River froze at New Orleans, and there was ice in the Gulf of Mexico.[10][11]
#1
This is a major malfunction for world air traffic. Think about it. Every commercial plane in the UK (and Belgium/Holland now) are grounded. All traffic inbound to LHR (busiest airport in the world) is stuck at origin tying up parking spots. Air crew are in wrong locations for next trips worldwide. Cost to the airlines is astronomical. This affects not just commercial but greytails as well - no flighs to Mildenhall/etc.
Understand cloud drifting into France vic midnight Z and on into Germany - which will then affect traffic thru Frankfurt/Ramstein/etc. More flights stacking up on the ground. And not just in the US/Africa but also in Asia. Idling airiline workers worldwide will wreak havoc with profitability.
Now expand this. What if this lasts a week. No flights in/out of the UK (only let's say for argument's sake) for a week. What effect on the economy? Other than driving up stock in the Chunnel and P&O. Expand again geographicly - carry on effect on EU and other trading partners?
Once again - expand timeline - what if this occurs constantly or intermittently for 6 months? Damage to world economy would be significant. Also raises interesting questions regarding air defense. Presume missles could fly thru ash cloud but fighters/bombers/recon planes can't (or they get engine's glazed). Lends the advantage to the offence in that environment.
#1
Looks like Cap and Trade (aka Carbon Trading) is a dead duck in the USA.
Pity the poor United Nations. To have the enormous revenue stream from Carbon Trading come so close they could smell the truck loads of money, then to have it snatched away at the last moment.
#3
Sen. Lindsey Graham has reached the point where a lot of people are hoping that psychics will have to lead dogs to find the place where spelunkers won't go to rescue him.
Four out of five veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan think the U.S. would be more secure if the nation were weaned off foreign oil, according to the results of a poll released Tuesday.
The study, conducted by Lake Research Partners in February, also found that 64 percent of the surveyed veterans believe U.S. dependence on foreign energy endangers the lives of our troops by helping funnel money to hostile forces in oil-producing regions.
The survey was commissioned by VoteVets.org, a group that has backed work in Congress to pass broad energy and climate change legislation. It comes as a group of senators try to finish writing a new version of the bill that promotes domestic oil and gas production and nuclear power as well as caps on greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
Jon Soltz, an Iraq War veteran and the chairman of VoteVets.org, said the survey confirms that "veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan know first-hand the destructive effect our dependence on oil has on our national security and on the battlefield."
Among the findings:
73 percent favor a "comprehensive clean energy and climate bill that invests in clean, renewable energy sources in America and limits carbon pollution." That cuts across all branches of the military and both political parties.
62 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans believe that if climate change legislation were to pass, the amount of oil the U.S. buys from hostile nations would be reduced.
56 percent say that would translate to less funding for and support that oil-producing countries provide to terrorists.
A plurality don't believe that the passage of climate change legislation would translate to fewer troops deployed in unstable oil-producing regions of the world. 47 percent believe a new climate change law would not affect troop deployment in those areas, compared to 43 percent who do.
Pollster Celinda Lake said the survey is unusual because it drills down to a relatively small portion of the U.S. population -- an "enormously expensive" process that requires different sampling techniques than used for more general surveys. The data has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent, and the sample included 45 percent self-identified Republicans, 25 percent independents and 20 percent Democrats.
VoteVets released the data Tuesday in conjunction with its plans to spend $2.5 million for new TV and Internet ads supporting climate change legislation. The ad features a Purple Heart recipient describing the link between oil profits in Iran to weapons "ending up in the hands of our enemies" in Iraq. The group plans on running the spots nationwide and targeting Alaska, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and North Dakota -- swing states with senators whose votes could be key on a climate change bill. Major funding for VoteVets.org comes from the Democracy Alliance. Members of the Democracy Alliance include billionaires like George Soros and his son Jonathan Soros, former Rockefeller Family Fund president Anne Bartley, San Francisco Bay Area donors Susie Tompkins Buell and Mark Buell, Hollywood director Rob Reiner, Taco Bell heir Rob McKay, as well as New York financiers like Steven Gluckstern.
#1
Using the vets is a new low. I wholeheartedly support energy independence, domestic production, and new nuclear plants but cap-N-trade won't do it anymore than the health care bill increased access and made costs more affordable for taxpayers. Soros and these tax-exempt foundations always manage to manipulate and squeeze the pulp out of us while exempting themselves and pocketing their billions, often stashing it offshore. I can hear the evil cackles over how stupid the "little people" are all the way from Leona Helmsley's grave in Sleepy Hollow, coincidentally the home of the Rockefeller family compound.
#2
I purely hate misleading survey questions and analysis.
We all would like to see the U.S./civilized world weaned off of oil from jihadi and fascist countries (e.g. Venezuela). The question the VoteVets.org survey very carefully didn't ask is how we should accomplish that goal: drill here now, increase the sale price of oil products through tariffs and taxes, subsidize alternative energy possibilities -- and then which ones? Solar, wind, nuclear power, oil from coal, increased natural gas use, better batteries, etc and so forth -- reward energy efficiency at the consumer and commercial levels, paint roofs in the southern half of the country white and in the northern half of the country dark, reward telecommuting, build smaller power plants closer to the users to reduce the energy lost across the power lines...
The ideas present themselves, and most give much better results than cap'n'trade legislation at a significantly lower cost to society. But then, the purpose of cap'n'trade, like the Democrats' health care bill, is to change society rather than achieve the putative aim.
The Navy's decision to name a ship for the late Rep. John Murtha has outraged some critics who have not forgiven the Pennsylvania Democrat for accusing U.S. Marines of murdering Iraqi civilians "in cold blood" five years ago.
The Navy is naming its newest San Antonio-class amphibious transport-dock LPD 26 for Murtha, the powerful chairman of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee who became an outspoken and influential critic of the Iraq war.
Murtha died in February at age 77 after complications from gallbladder surgery.
San Antonio-class ships support Marines and can carry roughly 700 troops, their equipment and vehicles. They are usually named after cities; the USS Murtha will be a break from that tradition.
The Washington Times denounced the tribute to the powerful congressman, a former Marine Corps officer, in its editorial on Thursday.
"This is a slap in the face to every service member who bridled when Murtha publicly accused Marines in Iraq of intentionally killing women and children in cold blood," the editorial reads.
The newspaper said the honor shouldn't go to "a political hack whose most successful defensive maneuver was saving his pork-laden earmarks from surprise attacks of fiscal responsibility."
Another blogger wrote that it "seems oddly premature" to affix "Murtha's name to a ship while real and continuing issues of ethics violations and abuses of power remain fresh in the collective memory."
In February, the House ethics panel cleared Murtha in an investigation of his role in awarding defense contracts to a firm led by a former aide.
Murtha served in Korea and received a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts for his service in Vietnam. In 1974 he became the first Vietnam War combat veteran elected to Congress and went on to serve his Pennsylvania district for 18 terms.
But the Navy's decision to honor him has become the focus of controversy because of his criticism of the Iraq war.
In 2002, Murtha voted to authorize President George W. Bush to use military force in Iraq, but his growing frustration over the administration's handling of the war prompted him in November 2005 to call for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops. His criticism of the Iraq war intensified in 2005, when he accused Marines of murdering Iraqi civilians "in cold blood" in Haditha after a Marine died and two were wounded by a roadside bomb.
Charges against six of the Marines have been dropped, and one Marine was acquitted. The last Marine, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, will stand military trial in September on reduced charges of voluntary manslaughter in nine of the 24 deaths and other crimes. Wuterich was originally charged with shooting 17 Iraqi civilians.
Critics said Murtha unfairly held the Marines responsible before an investigation was concluded and fueled enemy retaliation. He said that the war couldn't be won militarily and that such incidents dimmed the prospect for a political solution.
Murtha, nicknamed "The King of Pork," also faced scrutiny for earmarking federal dollars for projects in his district.
While critics object, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, who announced the tribute, made clear in a statement following Murtha's death in February that the congressman was respected at the Pentagon.
"Both in uniform and in the halls of Congress, Chairman Murtha dedicated his life to serving his country both in the Marine Corps and Congress. His unwavering support of our sailors and Marines, and in particular our wounded warriors, was well known and deeply appreciated," Mabus said.
A senior Republican congressional aide told FoxNews.com that it's doubtful much criticism will emerge from Capitol Hill.
"In the past, whenever the Navy decides to name a ship after someone, especially a former member of Congress, generally there's not that much pushback," the aide said.
A middle school teacher in Oregon who announced his intention "to dismantle and demolish the Tea Party" on his "Crash the Tea Party" Web site is under investigation by his state's Teacher Standards & Practices Commission.
The investigation by Oregon's teacher licensing agency comes in response to a public outcry over Jason Levin's public statements that he'll do anything short of throwing rocks to bring down the Tea Party.
Levin, the media teacher at Conestoga Middle School in Beaverton, is the leader of a group that says it wants to infiltrate and bring down the loosely organized anti-big-government Tea Party movement.
He has said he would seek to embarrass Tea Partiers by attending their rallies dressed as Adolf Hitler, carrying signs bearing racist, sexist and anti-gay epithets, and acting as offensively as possible anything short of throwing punches.
His school district is defending his right to free speech, but it's investigating whether he used district computers to spread his political message or worked on his Web site during school hours.
In a recent interview with Talking Points Memo, Levin said of his plans, Our goal is that whenever a Tea Partier says 'Barack Obama was not born in America,' we're going be right there next to them saying, 'Yeah, in fact he wasn't born on Earth! He's an alien!'"
In a now deleted post on his Crash the Tea Party' Web site, Levin called on his supporters to collect the Social Security numbers among other personal identifying information about as many Tea Party supporters as possible at the numerous rallies scheduled to take place on Thursday Tax Day.
#3
should be good when they google the tool's resume. Jason Levin:
Idiot and coward, and likely to cause ill to children in his care by his intemperate views? Public danger? You decide. There's no evidence he's a personal danger to children, Jason Levin, but who can tell what's in his heart?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/15/2010 21:26 Comments ||
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A new hydrogen-fueled third stage tumbled out of control during the launch of India's most powerful rocket Thursday, dooming the $74 million test flight and dealing a blow to the country's burgeoning space program.
The objectives of the sixth flight of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle "were not met fully," said K. Radhakrishnan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization.
The primary goal of the launch was to demonstrate a new Indian-built cryogenic third stage consuming super cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants. The cryogenic engine was supposed to ignite about five minutes after liftoff.
"The cryo stage ignition was issued as planned by the on-board computer," Radhakrishnan said. "Indications are that the cryo engine ignited. This is to be confirmed after detailed analysis of the data. We saw the vehicle was tumbling, indicating the controllability was lost, most probably [because] the two vernier engines, small cryo engines, would not have ignited and developed the necessary control force."
The two vernier, or steering, engines were supposed to provide small amounts of force to keep the rocket on track during the third stage's 12-minute burn.
But tracking graphics showed the rocket began losing altitude seconds after officials announced third stage ignition. The vehicle reached a maximum altitude of about 87 miles and was traveling approximately 11,000 mph at the time of the mishap, according to displays in the launch control center.
Launch controllers lost tracking data on the uncontrolled rocket a few minutes later as it plunged back into the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean. The final tracking fix on the launcher indicated the vehicle was descending at an altitude of 41 miles about 1,000 miles southeast of the Satish Dhawan Space Center on India's east coast.
"The vehicle was seen tumbling, lost altitude and finally splashed down in the sea," ISRO said in a written statement.
The test flight was a pivotal milestone for India's space program, especially for the country's stated goals of launching its own satellites and developing a manned spacecraft.
The Indian government is on the verge of deciding on a potential human space program aiming to put two astronauts into orbit by 2017. Under such a program, crews would launch into orbit on a rocket using a variant of the Indian-built cryogenic stage.
The GSLV entered service in 2001, but Thursday's mission was the booster's first launch with an Indian-built third stage. Previous missions flew with a Russian cryogenic upper stage purchased by India.
The Russian stage was blamed for two minor glitches in 2001 and 2007 that stranded payloads in slightly different orbits than planned. A liquid-fueled strap-on booster triggered a dramatic explosion shortly after a launch in 2006.
Three other GSLV flights were completely successful.
International missile and defense technology agreements stipulated Russia could only provide ready-made third stages for the GSLV, forcing India to start an in-house program to design and build its own upper stage.
Russia sold seven cryogenic third stages to India in the 1990s. Two units remain in ISRO's inventory for future GSLV flights.
It took nearly two decades to produce India's own cryogenic rocket stage, according to ISRO, the country's space agency.
The first flight of the new cryogenic stage was recently delayed nearly a year as engineers thoroughly tested and analyzed the system's expected performance.
"All of the engineers, scientists, technicians and the entire ISRO team have worked very hard to reach this level," Radhakrishnan said. "It is really the effort of 18 years working on this complex technology. The realization of the cryogenic engine and stage up to a level of flying was, itself, a major accomplishment."
Hydrogen-fueled rockets are more efficient than other propulsion systems.
"Cryogenic stage is technically a very complex system compared to solid or Earth-storable liquid propellant stages due to the use of propellants at extremely low temperatures and the associated thermal and structural problems," said an ISRO fact sheet.
During a public statement announcing the anomaly Thursday, Radhakrishnan said ISRO is targeting a second flight of the indigenous cryogenic upper stage within one year.
But engineers will first investigate the cause of the launch failure.
"The detailed analysis of the flight data will be carried out and we will find out the reasons for the non-ignition of the vernier engines," Radhakrishnan said. "We will also confirm that the main cryogenic engine ignited."
The GSLV performed as expected during the first five minutes of the flight, ISRO officials said.
The 164-foot-tall rocket blasted off from the space base on Sriharikota Island at 1057 GMT (6:57 a.m. EDT). Liftoff occurred at 4:27 p.m. local time at the launch site, which is situated about 50 miles north of the city of Chennai.
After pitching east from the launch pad, the GSLV's four liquid-fueled strap-on boosters and solid-fueled core stage pushed the rocket through partly cloudy skies to the edge of space in less than four minutes.
The GSLV second stage separated about five minutes into the flight, and the cryogenic stage ignited moments later.
Propellant tanks made of aluminum alloy inside the 28-foot-long third stage contained more than 28,000 pounds of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen for the flight. The cryogenic engine was designed to burn for nearly 12 minutes, producing a peak thrust of more than 16,000 pounds.
After reaching its target orbit, the upper stage was programmed to deploy the 4,894-pound GSAT 4 experimental communications and navigation satellite, which was also destroyed during Thursday's launch failure.
GSAT 4 carried a high-tech regenerative Ka-band transponder for broadband and multimedia communications trials, a navigation payload to augment Global Positioning System signals for aviation applications, and four plasma thrusters to help keep the spacecraft in the correct position.
The rocket launched Thursday is named the GSLV Mk.2 because it is a second-generation configuration.
Another GSLV upgrade will introduce a brand new liquid-fueled first stage, two massive solid rocket boosters, a restartable second stage and a more efficient third stage. The GSLV Mk.3 upgrades were slated to begin flying in 2012.
India plans to launch the smaller Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle around May 5 with the Cartosat 2B Earth observation satellite and several smaller spacecraft for international organizations.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/15/2010 12:22 ||
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Posted by: john frum ||
04/15/2010 18:05 Comments ||
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[Geo News] A father and son, both practicing lawyers, splashed acid on their lady colleague within the premises of Multan District Court on Wednesday. She was shifted to the Nishtar Hospital in a critical condition. According to police, Advocate Karim ud Din Khilji and his son Waqas Khilji threw acid on a junior advocate, Nazima, in their chamber, in which she suffered serious burned injured. The police said that they had arrested the culprits. But said they were not clear what prompted the lawyers to go this far.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2010 00:00 ||
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Hundreds of protesters have surrounded Jakarta city hall to demand that the city's public security force is disbanded following bloody clashes which left two dead and scores wounded.
Demonstrators wielding machetes, sticks and petrol bombs clashed with city security officers and riot police in running battles near the port outside the city centre. Police used tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannons and batons to beat back the protesters, who believed security officers were trying to remove the tomb of a Muslim cleric who helped to spread Islam in North Jakarta in the 18th century. The tomb is on land owned by the state-run seaport operator Pelindo II and the area is home to many squatters.
In the worst civil unrest to hit Jakarta for several years, three people were killed and 156 were wounded in the port area. At least two police officers were also badly injured - including one who had his hand chopped off and another who had his stomach slashed.
Cucu Kurnia, city spokesman, said: 'We did not intend to demolish the tomb, but we want to evict the illegal settlers. In fact, the local government wanted to preserve or restore the tomb. The mass anger was horrible and beyond our expectation for what was a simple case.'
A second street battle which also involved national police officers broke out hours later outside the hospital where many of the wounded had been taken. Customs officials said the main international container terminal will remain closed until tensions have eased.
Abdul Qadir Assegaf, a religious leader in the port community, said: 'We had to defend ourselves and the legacy of our history, the grave of our Islamic hero, and casualties could not be avoided. We will continue to protect the tomb and our rights until our last blood.' He accused the city officials of using excessive force and said their actions 'showed us how arrogant city security officers can be in enforcing unpopular rule'.
Mr Kurnia said members of a hardline Muslim group were involved in the fighting, but declined to name the group. He could have been refering to the Islamic Defenders Front, an organisation with a history of vandalising nightspots, hurling stones at Western embassies, and torching buildings belonging to rival groups.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered an investigation into the clashes and called on the Jakarta governor to put any evictions in the area on hold until he had met with all parties.
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.
Two Argentinean convicts who escaped from jail evaded capture after disguising themselves as sheep, it was claimed.
NEW YORK -- The city and the teachers' union have worked out a deal to stop putting hundreds of teachers waiting for disciplinary hearings in "rubber rooms," and will close the centers this fall, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Thursday.
As he ranted about his religious beliefs, a 32-year-old Wisconsin man went room to room with a 9mm pistol early Wednesday -- killing his pregnant teenage wife, his baby son and two nieces in a brick home on the Southwest Side, according to his family and Chicago Police. 
A pr0nographic magazine for the blind has been launched - complete with explicit text and raised pictures of naked men and women. The book, the brainchild of Lisa Murphy and called Tactile Minds, is designed to be 'enjoyed' by the blind and visually impaired - and is on sale for £150. 
Geoffrey K. Pullum, "Language Log"
The Navy's decision to name a ship for the late Rep. John Murtha has outraged some critics who have not forgiven the Pennsylvania Democrat for accusing U.S. Marines of murdering Iraqi civilians "in cold blood" five years ago.
Hundreds of protesters have surrounded Jakarta city hall to demand that the city's public security force is disbanded following bloody clashes which left two dead and scores wounded.
