A barrage of bullets tore into Ronnie Lee Gardner's chest where a target had been pinned over his heart. Two minutes later, the twice-convicted killer was pronounced dead as blood pooled in his dark blue prison jumpsuit.
It was the first time in 14 years that an American inmate was executed by firing squad - a method Gardner choose over lethal injection. But death penalty opponents around the world reacted with horror all the same, renewing an international debate about capital punishment in the U.S.
Gardner was the third man to die by firing squad since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2010 00:00 ||
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But death penalty opponents around the world reacted with horror all the same
They haven't figured out yet that the sun will rise exactly on time tomorrow ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/19/2010 0:05 Comments ||
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Some how the real victim's death never moves the same people. They're all so damn quiet when the daily evening news is posted with the executions in our streets, neighborhoods, our community where is there is no due process or appeal. I certainly never detected a one of them attending the funeral of a police officer gunned down in the performance of his/her duties to protect the citizenry.
Posted by: ed ||
06/19/2010 9:04 Comments ||
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#7
The above is a tracing of the exit holes. Two inch square target fastened to chest, with a circle in the center. Three bullets in the circle, one outside but on the target. It sounds like he had a few seconds to consider his fate before he blacked out. Definitely messier than an injection.
#8
I have absolutely no problem with this, none. Tho I did get a little peeved watching Shep Smith on Fox get a case of the vapors over it. What a nancy boy.
Posted by: Jefferson ||
06/19/2010 11:29 Comments ||
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#9
I like how the EU feels enabled to make judgments on how we do justice at the state level - I think you EUnuchs have enough issues on your plate so please feel free to STFU.
#12
Vapors!! HAHAHA!!!! I hope the world understands that Westerm America see's the world in a not so kinder gentler way. You get convicted of murder twice we will kill you.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/19/2010 17:55 Comments ||
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Ay-Pee . . .
Seattle police say Officer Ian Walsh accepted the apology Friday. I'd say the officer showed about the right amount of restraint. The gal was hell-bent on making sure the situation got out of control, and the officer gave her every chance he could before he reacted.
I'll bet she was counting on the idea that "gentlemen don't hit ladies", but forgot that this is based on her acting like a lady in the first place.
#1
Clearly the officer was attacked and it was the teen(s) that escalated the situation. The cop only pulled them aside to talk about the jay-walking, they verbally and physically attacked the officer.
#2
Having seen the video of this fracas I'm thinking the two women were lucky they didn't get tazed or worse. Why they decided the best course of action was to act a fool is beyond me.
Posted by: Jefferson ||
06/19/2010 11:22 Comments ||
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#3
Why they decided the best course of action was to act a fool is beyond me.
Given the relatively large number of folks filming and photographing the incident as it unfolded I'd say they did it with the intent of extorting money from the city of Seattle.
#6
this is all true but, ya gotta admit, the arresting officer did take a little too long to get a 17 yr. old girl under arrest. I mean, c'mon, maybe the Seattle police should stay out of the donut shop for awhile, you know what I mean? Sheesh.
CONSTANTA, Romania (AP) - The pirate cook smuggled food to the terrified hostages held by his gang off the Somali coast. He bought them cell phone cards. And when the pirates started talking about harvesting their organs for cash, he sneaked them guns.
The hostages killed the pirates and escaped. But now the life of the Somali cook, known only as Ahmed, is in danger. Despite actions the crew described as heroic, European Union nations, Syria and nearby Djibouti have all refused to take him, according to an official who was not authorized to talk.
he's running out of enemies to explain why his government can't feed the people/provide lights and water, export oil for a profit
Mountains of rotting food found at a government warehouse, soaring prices and soldiers raiding wholesalers accused of hoarding: Food supply is the latest battle in President Hugo Chavez's socialist revolution.
Venezuelan army soldiers swept through the working class, pro-Chavez neighborhood of Catia in Caracas last week, seizing 120 tons of rice along with coffee and powdered milk that officials said was to be sold above regulated prices.
"The battle for food is a matter of national security," said a red-shirted official from the Food Ministry, resting his arm on a pallet laden with bags of coffee.
It is also the latest issue to divide the Latin American country where Chavez has nationalized a wide swathe of the economy, he says to reverse years of exploitation of the poor.
Chavez supporters are grateful for a network of cheap state-run supermarkets and they say the raids will slow massive inflation.
Critics accuse him of steering the country toward a communist dictatorship and say he is destroying the private sector.
They point to 80,000 tons of rotting food found in warehouses belonging to the government as evidence the state is a poor and corrupt administrator.
Jose Guzman, an assistant manager at a store raided in Catia, watched with resignation as government agents pored over the company's accounts and computers after the food ministry official and the television cameras left.
"The government is pushing this type of establishment toward bankruptcy," said Guzman, who linked the raid to the rotten food scandal. "Somehow they have to replace all the food that was lost, and this is the most expeditious way."
Wasted Food
Much of the wasted food, including powdered milk and meat, was found last month in the buildup to legislative elections in September. The scandal is humiliating for Chavez, who accuses wealthy elites of fueling inflation and causing shortages of products such as meat, sugar and milk by hoarding food.
"They are not going to stop us in the plan, which is to give the people what is their right," Chavez said Friday during the inauguration of a supermarket chain the government bought this year from French retailer Casino.
Food prices are up 41 percent in the last 12 months during a deep recession, government figures show, despite the government's growing network of state-run supermarkets that sell at discounts of up to 40 percent and are popular with his poor supporters.
South America's top oil exporter, Venezuela imports about 70 percent of its food and analysts say the economic hardships could give the opposition a boost at the ballot box—although most expect Chavez to retain a reduced parliamentary majority.
Fighting back, Chavez says he is in an economic war against the "parasitic bourgeoisie" that tries to convince Venezuelans that socialism does not work by twisting facts and taking advantage of honest mistakes.
"They know where we are headed, we are going to take from the Venezuela bourgeoisie the hegemony of dominance in this country," Chavez, who calls himself a Marxist, said to applause from supporters on his TV show on Sunday.
He has also revived threats to take over the country's largest private food processor, miller and brewer, Polar.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/19/2010 18:17 ||
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Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, said Moscow was bidding to help lead efforts to build a new world economic order after the old system collapsed in the global financial crisis.
Opening Russia's annual economic forum in St Petersburg where hundreds of global chief executives have flocked, Mr Medvedev said the renewed interest in Russia this year was a sign of a changing world in which the institutions of the western-dominated world order had had their day amid thousands of corporate defaults and the threat of sovereign defaults.
“What had seemed untouchable has collapsed. The bubbles that created the illusion of flourishing economies have burst,' Mr Medvedev said. “For Russia this situation is a challenge and an opportunity. We are living in a unique time. And we should use it to build a modern, flourishing and strong Russia ... which will be a co-founder of the new world economic order and a full participant in the collective political leadership of the post-crisis world.'
Mr Medvedev insisted “Russia has changed' in the past year as it sought to pursue a course of “smart politics' that would leverage its competitive advantages in the raw materials sector, while shifting emphasis towards modernising the economy and focusing on boosting innovation over resources.
Acknowledging that the country still had a great deal to do to meet these aims, Mr Medvedev laid out a series of new initiatives that aim to boost its attractiveness as an investment destination. “Russia needs a real investment boom', in order to achieve its modernisation goals, he said. To stimulate that, Mr Medvedev announced Moscow would introduce zero taxation on capital gains for companies working on long-term investments starting from January next year and said Russia was improving the legal system to provide better protection for businesses against the long arm of bureaucracy.
He added Russia had already simplified migration procedures to help attract “highly-qualified specialists' working in investment and high-tech sectors into the country.
Responding to criticism that Russia's approach to building an innovation economy was driven from the top down and state interference could hinder development, Mr Medvedev said the state would concentrate its efforts on fostering a good business climate. “No matter how many state-owned companies we have, modernization will happen, above all, through private business. And only if there is competition,' he said. “The state should not tear down the apples from the tree of economics. What the government should do is help grow our apple orchard, develop our economic environment.'
Mr Medvedev said he was cutting the list of strategic enterprises five fold in order to reduce the role of the state in the economy and foster more private initiatives.
.Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.
#1
Who in their right mind would invest in a country where businesses are confiscated or the rules are changed at the whim of the Glorious Leader? Just ask Czar Obama about that.
Posted by: ed ||
06/19/2010 7:23 Comments ||
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#2
Dunno, ed. With allies like Obama in the White House, Putin and Medvedev might just be able to pull it off.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
06/19/2010 13:09 Comments ||
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#3
He is saying the right things. Maybe he is serious about doing them.
Plaza Accord no II coming up for China?
They had better have studied what happened to Japan, when it had a rush of blood to the head and allowed the Yen to appreciate against the $US. Still in recession 25 years later. This is all talk. China won't change its exchange rate unless and until forced to do so. China has its own problems, and a cheap currency helps their domestic situation substantially.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Saturday he welcomed China's decision to make its yuan exchange rate more flexible, and called for "vigorous implementation" of the change.
"We welcome China's decision to increase the flexibility of its exchange rate," Geithner said in a statement released by the U.S. Treasury Department. "Vigorous implementation would make a positive contribution to strong and balanced global growth. We look forward to continuing our work with China in the G20 and bilaterally to strengthen the recovery."
China's central bank said earlier on Saturday it will gradually make the yuan's exchange rate more flexible, indicating that it was ready to break a 23-month-old dollar peg that has come under intense criticism from the United States and other countries.
The People's Bank of China all but ruled out the one-off revaluation or major appreciation hoped for by critics, saying there was "no basis for big fluctuations or changes" in the exchange rate.
The move comes before a Group of 20 leaders summit in Toronto next week, where U.S. President Barack Obama and others were expected to increase pressure for a yuan move. By shackling the yuan to the dollar, U.S. lawmakers and manufacturers say Beijing has gained a trade advantage that costs U.S. jobs.
Geithner in recent weeks had taken a softer approach toward China on the yuan exchange rate, delaying a Treasury Department report on whether China manipulates the value of its currency. Such a finding would trigger negotiations with China involving the International Monetary Fund and could lead to punitive trade sanctions.
But with Congress getting impatient and threatening trade legislation aimed at the yuan, Obama this past week ratcheted up his rhetoric on China's foreign exchange rate policies, telling his G20 colleagues in a letter that free-floating currencies were essential to global economic activity.
#1
The party is only concerned about power [sound familiar?]. They'd rather eat bad American Treasury Bonds than deal with the social upheaval that proper 'free market' pressures would do to the yuan.
The People's Bank of China all but ruled out the one-off revaluation or major appreciation hoped for by critics, saying there was "no basis for big fluctuations or changes" in the exchange rate.
Actually, the crappy US Treasury Bonds should be the basis for the market to be allowed to adjust itself. Quit buying them. Of course, then the Americans wouldn't have the economy to buy the products that are churned out by your workers. Had you allowed this adjustment to occur naturally over the last two decades, it would have been gradual. Now when it does come, it's going to be a real crisis for everyone.
#2
It's like a poker game in which both players keep increasing their bets even though they are bluffing. Both players knows the other is bluffing, but they are just not sure who has the worse hand.
A day after he was grilled by Congress, BP chief executive Tony Hayward is being demoted. According to Britain's Sky News, BP Managing Director Bob Dudley will take over day-to-day oversight of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill while BP's chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg (he of the "small people" comment) will assume major PR duties. (Yes, you read that right--the BP executive who famously expressed his compassion for "the small people" will be tasked with enhancing the company's public image.)
The main reason for the shift is plain enough for anyone who's been following the spill: BP executives acknowledge Hayward has blown it as the company's face during the crisis. Svanberg, while defending the BP CEO, acknowledged the Hayward's comments have not been helpful to the company's efforts to control fallout from the disaster.
"It is clear Tony has made remarks that have upset people," Svanberg tells Sky News. "This has now turned into a reputation matter, financial and political and that is why you will now see more of me."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2010 00:00 ||
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How not to do PR As oil spews in Gulf, BP chief Tony Hayward attends yacht race off UK's Isle of Wight
Posted by: ed ||
06/19/2010 11:10 Comments ||
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A Florida Panhandle community that's been victimized by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico says it can fight the destruction of its beaches and waterways better than the federal government -- but it's left with one problem: "Who will pay the bill?
Now that tar balls are washing ashore along the beaches of Okaloosa Island, county commissioners say it's time to stop waiting for the federal government's Unified Command Center to approve closing its East Pass -- the area leading to the docks of the profitable fishing village in the town of Destin.
"Over the last 50 days," Okaloosa County Commissioner Chairman Wayne Harris told FoxNews.com, "I like to say we played the game, if you will. We did what we were required to do, which was wait for all the permitting processes and wait for all the permission ....
"Over that period of time, it was obvious to us that somebody in those levels were not communicating with each other."
Frustration started when the county devised a $9 million plan to implement an extensive boom system of barges and air curtains to close off all inlets and bayous from incoming oil. But the government rejected that proposal and began reducing the number of areas a system would protect. That, Harris says, is when the county decided to take matters into its own hands.
"We were getting the bureaucratic shuffle," he said. "We couldn't wait for the bureaucratic process. We could not wait for indecisiveness.
"This is our county, and our people depend on us to make decisions."
John Ward, public information officer for the Unified Command Center in Mobile, Ala., says a 14,000-foot boom system is being placed in nearby Choctawhatchee Bay this week. But Okaloosa has already begun preparing to install its own boom system at East Pass, which also is combating an erosion problem. For now, Harris says, the county is using credit cards to pay the tab. He says the county has a limited reserve fund that can cover just one month of the cost of the system.
"Now they're letting us do what we want to do," he said. "The dilemma is, doing what we want to do ... we've stood the chance of not getting reimbursed."
And Okaloosa isn't alone in its decision to go it alone.
"A lot of counties are going beyond what the Unified Command Center is doing ... A lot of people are concerned about their counties," Ward says.
Harris says Okaloosa will file a claim with BP for the cost of its boom system, but it also hopes to use some of a $25 million grant BP has given the state of Florida to help pay for costs like $16,500 for the use of an air curtain each day and $850,000 each month for six barges.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
So now you sort of know how the little people feel about getting permits. Sort of like a mix of extortion, sadism and bureaucratic pinheadedness.
#3
My impression is that the maliciousness, which is there, is outweighed by the incompetence. Even were they not malicious, I don't think the result would be any different, because they simply don't know what they have to do. The president collects stars to ornament his administration -- PhDs, Nobel and other prize winners, people with impressive resumes. But there's a reason such people have lab technicians and administrative assistants: those are the people who know how to get things done, while the great men and women are thinking their deep thoughts.
#4
It's the decades of accumulated legislative and regulatory deadwood that is exposed in a time of crisis. In time of crisis, companies must fire the deadwood and streamline operations to survive. The national government and economy is no different.
Dump 90% of the accumulated laws, regulations and bureaucracy to reduce the anchor that is dragging down American's productivity as well as stifling personal interaction and fostering a sense of animosity instead of a sense of community. Americans are more than capable of choosing the correct and moral path and punishing those that do not without some amoral taxpayer supported seat warmer telling them what to do at every step.
Posted by: ed ||
06/19/2010 7:47 Comments ||
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#5
There is a major element of risk aversion in play. If a bureaucrat does something that is not specified in the binder on his shelf, and it doesn't work or someone (anyone) has a problem with it, that bureaucrat could be held accountable, but as long as he sticks to the manual he has perfect defense. Judgement is not allowed. (This is the same logic that cost Germany the D-Day invasion.)
In their defense, this is a key reason spill plans are supposed to be so detailed - but they were not. If the plans had laid out the authorization, method, contractors and environmental impact of closing the pass it would have been approved immediately.
#6
Our a competent President could have waived a lot of law and regulations for the duration of the crisis and facilitate the solution instead of adding to the crisis.
Of course, they are already trying to take advantage of the crisis, never letting one go to waste.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/19/2010 8:45 Comments ||
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#7
Of course, they are already trying to take advantage of the crisis, never letting one go to waste.
$7/gal gas, here we come. President Obama has a solution to the Gulf oil spill: $7-a-gallon gas. That's a Harvard University study's estimate of the per-gallon price of the president's global-warming agenda. And Obama made clear this week that this agenda is a part of his plan for addressing the Gulf mess.
Posted by: ed ||
06/19/2010 8:59 Comments ||
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H/T Instapundit
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the U.S. may soon face higher borrowing costs on its swelling debt and called for a "tectonic shift" in fiscal policy to contain borrowing.
"Perceptions of a large U.S. borrowing capacity are misleading," and current long-term bond yields are masking America's debt challenge, Greenspan wrote in an opinion piece posted on the Wall Street Journal's website. "Long-term rate increases can emerge with unexpected suddenness," such as the 4 percentage point surge over four months in 1979-80, he said.
Greenspan rebutted "misplaced" concern that reducing the deficit would put the economic recovery in danger, entering a debate among global policy makers about how quickly to exit from stimulus measures adopted during the financial crisis. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said this month that while fiscal tightening is needed over the "medium term," governments must reinforce the recovery in private demand.
"The United States, and most of the rest of the developed world, is in need of a tectonic shift in fiscal policy," said Greenspan, 84, who served at the Fed's helm from 1987 to 2006. "Incremental change will not be adequate."
Pressure on capital markets would also be eased if the U.S. government "contained" the sale of Treasuries, he wrote.
"The federal government is currently saddled with commitments for the next three decades that it will be unable to meet in real terms," Greenspan said. The "very severity of the pending crisis and growing analogies to Greece set the stage for a serious response."
Yields on U.S. Treasuries have benefitted from safe-haven demand in recent months because of the European debt crisis, a circumstance that may not last, said Greenspan, who now consults for clients including Pacific Investment Management Co., which has the world's biggest bond fund.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes yielded 3.20 percent as of 12:11 p.m. in Tokyo today, down from the year's high of 4.01 percent in April and compared with as high as 5.32 percent in June 2007, before the crisis began. Yields have remained low "despite the surge in federal debt to the public during the past 18 months to $8.6 trillion from $5.5 trillion," Greenspan said.
The swing in demand toward American government debt and away from euro-denominated bonds is "temporary," he said.
"Our economy cannot afford a major mistake in underestimating the corrosive momentum of this fiscal crisis," Greenspan said. "Our policy focus must therefore err significantly on the side of restraint."
The court-ordered election that allowed residents of one New York town to flip the lever six times for one candidate - and produced a Hispanic winner - could expand to other towns where minorities complain their voices aren't being heard.
But first, interested parties will want to take a look at the exit surveys.
The unusual election was imposed on Port Chester after a federal judge determined that Hispanics were being treated unfairly.
The 2010 Census is expected to show large increases in Latino populations and lawsuits alleging discrimination are likely to increase, said Rob Richie, executive director of FairVote, a nonprofit election research and reform group.
"The country's been changing in a lot of places, with minority growth in exurbs and commuter cities, and there will be a realization that those minorities can't elect candidates of choice," Richie said.
That will leave minority groups, federal prosecutors and municipalities looking for ways to keep elections from violating the federal Voting Rights Act, which protects minorities' constitutional right to equal protection under the law.
In Port Chester, trustees had been elected two at a time every two years, with conventional at-large voting. Most voters were white, and there were always six white trustees even though Hispanics made up half the population and nearly a quarter of the voters. Judge Stephen Robinson concluded the system violated U.S. law by diluting Hispanics' votes.
The standard remedy was to break a municipality into districts, with one district including many from the minority, thereby increasing the chances for a candidate backed by the minority group. The Justice Department proposed that solution for Port Chester.
But the village of about 30,000 objected to districts. It suggested instead a system called cumulative voting. All six trustees would be elected at once and the voters could apportion their six votes as they wished - all six to one candidate, one each to six candidates or any combination.
The system, which has been used in Alabama, Illinois, South Dakota and Texas, allows a political minority to gain representation if it organizes behind specific candidates. Judge Robinson went for it, and cumulative voting was used for the first time in a New York municipality.
Peruvian immigrant Luis Marino, 43, finished fourth, making him Port Chester's first Hispanic trustee.
"It helped me get elected," said Marino, a Democrat who works in maintenance at the Scarsdale schools. "I will be representing all the people of Port Chester, but I am aware that I can help Hispanics bring their concerns to the board."
Voters also elected a black trustee for the first time: Joseph Kenner, a Republican who was already on the board as an appointee.
The village said Friday that 3,278 residents voted, about 31 percent of those registered, a slightly higher turnout than usual. Hispanic turnout had not been analyzed, but Richie said about a quarter of all votes went to Hispanic candidates.
Marino's victory might prompt other judges to consider cumulative voting as a remedy.
"The way this election was implemented in Port Chester can be an example for other jurisdictions with similar problems," said Randolph McLaughlin, a lawyer who has represented plaintiffs in several voters' rights cases, including Port Chester's. He cautioned, however, that the success was not just due to the unusual election system, but "was the result of the work that went in before the election."
That work - an extensive voter education program - was the principal subject of exit surveys. The questions, in Spanish and English, weren't about whom they voted for but about how well they understood the system and what strategy they used in voting.
The survey also asked which of Port Chester's outreach programs - a website, radio and TV commercials, voter forums, handouts - were helpful.
Voter education was a requirement of the settlement, but Port Chester officials believe they went beyond their obligation.
"We put so much emphasis on education - we may have spent $100 a voter - because we knew it would be critical to success," said village spokesman Aldo Vitagliano. "We also know that the next community can point to Port Chester and say `That's how it's done.'"
Two political science professors - David Kimball of the University of Missouri-St. Louis and Martha Knopf of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte - were hired to analyze the Port Chester data. Kimball said their report would take a few weeks.
"There's a very important issue here: Were voters comfortable? Did they understand how it works?" Kimball said. "Did they plump (give more than one vote to a candidate)? Did they know they could plump?"
Until there's a separate analysis of the votes, including who did well in Hispanic neighborhoods, it won't be known for sure if Marino was actually the preferred candidate of Latino voters.
"The election of a Hispanic candidate does not necessarily mean that a Hispanic-supported candidate was chosen," McLaughlin said. "But it's definitely a step forward."
#1
I don't understand how it can be that people who come from a particular area of the world can only be served by a political candidate from the same part of the world. How far does that go? Does that mean that if most of the Hispanics are Guatemalan, then they can only be properly represented by someone whose family is from Guatemala and not by someone who came from Honduras? Would people of Guatemalan origin be given 6 votes, Hondurans 3 votes, and Chileans only 2?
What about a town that has a lot of Norwegians but not many Swedes but the Swedish families have been elected to office most years? What about a town that is mainly of English stock but someone with a German name won the last election?
#2
It used to be that way in Illinois (maybe still is), in voting for State representative. There were three elected from each district, and casting all three for one candidate was supposed to give more of a voice to minorities. That means they don't vote at all for the other two spots, so seems fair, somehow.
Maybe that's how Obama got elected.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/19/2010 8:40 Comments ||
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#3
Didn't Zero get elected because he managed to force his opponents to bow out by fair means or foul. Didn't have to do it for the presidential election since McCain never really fought for the election.
#4
The unusual election was imposed on Port Chester after a federal judge determined that Hispanics were being treated unfairly.
Democracies and republics are by design 'unfair' to minorities. They're designed to be 'fair' to the majority, unlike monarchies, aristocracies, oligarchies, dictatorships, etc which by design are 'unfair' to majorities. Welcome to the world of the imperial judiciary who have no use for the very foundation of the society upon which they derive their office.
#6
Didn't Zero get elected because he managed to force his opponents to bow out by fair means or foul.
Mostly foul as Alice Palmer could tell you. Check out Sweetness & Light.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
06/19/2010 11:20 Comments ||
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#7
The left knows that they may not be able to legalize tens of millions of illegal Mexicans, etc.. So the left has found a way to cancel out 5 out of 6 votes cast by American citizens.
#8
An this process will be rampant come November, unless people decide to stand up to it. HIGHLY unlikely these days. They would rather sit around and b and moan.
Posted by: Sheatch Protector of the Hatfields8107 ||
06/19/2010 12:02 Comments ||
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This family with 162 members can easily be one of the largest living together under one roof in this picturesque village, about 100km from here.
The head of the family and leader of the 'Chana' sect, 66-year-old Ziona, has 38 wives and 94 children with some of his sons having married and having children of their own living together in a building named 'Chhuan That Run' or the House Of The New Generation. One of Ziona's wives said though their sons lived in different rooms in the building they all share the kitchen where they cook for the entire family.
"We prepare 30-35kg of pork when we want to eat meat and require around 50kg of rice for dinner," she said. The members of the sect, numbering almost 3,000, live in around 350 houses.
The majority of the sect members reside in Baktawng village and have a separate locality called Baktawng Tlangnuam while many also lived in Aizawl and other places.
They all contribute one-tenth of their monthly earnings for the sect which is used for the development of the community which practises a blend of democracy and communism.
Earlier known as Khuangtuaha Pawl, the sect was formed on June 12, 1942 after the followers of Khuangtuaha were evicted from Hmawngkawn village by the village chief for propagating "wrong and dangerous" theology.
The sect till today celebrates the 'Bawkte Kut' or the Festival of the Hut on June 12 every year to commemorate the formal formation of the sect.
[Dawn] Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira on Friday has advised poor families, which cannot take care of their children, to hand them over to Baitul Maal instead of killing them.
While addressing a gathering regarding Pakistan Baitul Maal, Kaira admitted that the federal and provincial governments cannot control poverty and unemployment.
He said it was not right to criticize the government over suicides due of financial difficulties and inflation because people living in financially stable countries, like the US, also commit suicide.
Baitul-Maal Managing Director Zumurrad Khan informed the gathering that the BM has opened centers naming Pakistan Sweet Home in 15 cities for orphaned children.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2010 00:00 ||
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[Straits Times] THE Thai government indicated on Friday that it is likely to extend a state of emergency in Bangkok imposed more than two months ago in response to mass anti-government protests.
Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, who is in charge of national security, rejected a demand from the opposition to lift the law for a by-election in the capital scheduled for July 25.
'It's impossible. In the past few weeks the Bangkok local election was held and went smoothly despite the existence of emergency law and it involved a bigger area than this by-election,' he told reporters.
PM Abhisit invoked emergency rule in the protest-hit capital on April 7, banning public gatherings of more than five people and giving broad powers to the police and military.
The emergency decree, in place across about one third of the country, is due to expire on July 7 and the cabinet will decide whether to extend it next month based on the advice of security officials.
The two-month-long Red Shirt protests - aimed at forcing immediate elections - sparked outbreaks of violence that left a total of 90 people dead, mostly civilians, and nearly 1,900 injured.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2010 00:00 ||
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[Straits Times] INDONESIAN President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Friday his country must not stand 'naked' before modern information technology, signalling his support for an Internet filter to block porn.
The world's most populous Muslim-majority country has been scandalised by the recent online release of homemade X-rated videos apparently showing popular local celebrities engaging in hardcore sex.
Until now President Yudhoyono had steered clear of the scandal, but when reporters asked him to comment the normally taciturn ex-general unleashed a torrent of criticism at the Internet and its supposed threat to Indonesian values.
'We have increasingly realised that our nation should not stay naked and be crushed by the information technology frenzy, because there will be many victims,' he said. He also said he scandal highlighted the need for further regulation of the Web.
'Other countries have already have regulations on this... The incident has made us think about the best thing that should be done. Negative impacts on our society should be avoided,' he said.
Communications Minister Tifatul Sembiring, of a conservative Islamic party, has used the 'Peterporn' scandal - named after Ariel's band Peterpan - to revive plans to filter the Internet for content deemed 'negative' and immoral.
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06/19/2010 00:00 ||
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signalling his support for an Internet filter to block porn
Heh heh. Kill the west and it all goes away . . . .
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A day after he was grilled by Congress, BP chief executive Tony Hayward is being demoted. According to Britain's Sky News, BP Managing Director Bob Dudley will take over day-to-day oversight of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill while BP's chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg (he of the "small people" comment) will assume major PR duties. (Yes, you read that right--the BP executive who famously expressed his compassion for "the small people" will be tasked with enhancing the company's public image.)
