A woman testified that she paid a popular local musician to fly four mermaids from London to Harare to help her recover a stolen car and cash. Businesswoman Magrate Mapfumo said she paid $5,000 to fly the invisible mermaids to Harare on the advice of musician Edna Chizema, who is on trial for theft by false pretenses, the state-owned Herald newspaper reported Thursday. Zimbabwe's Shona people believe female Rantburgers mermaids are fearsome enchantresses capable of wreaking vengeance on wrongdoers. Mapfumo testified that she sought Chizema's advice after her car and millions of Zimbabwean dollars (thousands of U.S. dollars) were stolen. Mapfumo said she also paid for the mermaids to be housed at Harare's plush tourist resort, the Jameson Hotel, and supplied with mobile phones and electrical generators to cope with the Zimbabwean capital's numerous power cuts, the paper said. I wonder if the cell phones were waterproof.
"I asked about the names of the mermaids and I was told they were called Emma, Charmaine, Sharvine, Bella and a fifth one who was said to be an Arab mermaid," the Herald quoted Mapfumo as telling the court. "I think her name was Abdul."
"All the time, she (Chizema) told me I could not see the mermaids as only spirit mediums could do so."
A Japanese youth who wanted to go to Tokyo's Haneda airport boarded a bus heading there before threatening to hijack it unless it took him to ... the airport.
"I wanna go to zha airport!"
"We're goin' to the airport!"
"Don' gimme that guff! I shaid I wanna go to zha airport!"
The unemployed 19-year-old bought a ticket for the early morning bus Monday. During the journey he stood up and shouted to the driver that he was going to hijack the bus. The youth was drunk and wasn't carrying a weapon.
"You're hijacking the bus?"
"Yeah. Wasshit to ya?"
"Without a gun?"
"Yeah. Wasshit to ya?"
"Kenzo, hit him."
"Hokay. [Thump!]"
He was arrested when the driver alerted police and is being held on suspicion of forcible obstruction of business. "He just wanted to make a scene," a police spokesman said on Tuesday.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/22/2005 16:04 Comments ||
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#8
Reminds me of the 60's joke about the hijacker telling the pilot to go to Miami.
But Sir, we're going to Miami anyway!
Yeah right, last three times I ended up in Havana!
Global warming could trigger ant invasions
Global warming may lead to an unexpected threat from the insect world - swarming invasions of tiny ants - suggests new research. The study of 665 ant colonies in environments ranging from tropical rainforests to frozen tundra suggests that in warmer environments the ants' body size shrinks, on average, while the number of individuals in the colony booms. Interesting response. One might almost think they'd been through this process before...
Global warming might shrink ant workers by as much as a third, says Michael Kaspari at the University of Oklahoma, US, and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, who carried out the study: "And since ant species with small workers appear to be particularly successful at invading, ant invasions - already destructive - may become more common in a warming world." It's pretty damn common in my kitchen already.
Kaspari found that worker ant and colony size varied almost 100-fold in his survey of ant colonies in 49 ecosystems in the Americas. Average nest populations varied from 63 workers in a cold temperate pine forest, to over 9000 workers in a hot, temperate desert. "The tiniest colonies are not much bigger than the inside of a Cheerio while the largest colonies can fill up a garbage can," he told New Scientist. Garbage can? C'mon, some of the big leaf-cutter colonies cover acres, pal...
#3
In related global news, wishing you all a happy International Water Day! That will be 5¢ please, For The Children. And go take a look at Google's main page...
#4
Câmon, some of the big leaf-cutter colonies cover acres, pal...
One super-colony of South American ants, with millions of nests and billions of individuals, stretches 6,000 kilometres around the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts, researchers have found. Every ant in the colony treats every other as its nest-mate - even though they may be quite unrelated. The nests have buried their differences to create the largest cooperative unit ever discovered, say Laurent Keller of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and his colleagues1. "You can mix Spanish and Italian ants and thereâs no aggression," says Keller. "We were extremely surprised to find this."
Posted by: Steve ||
03/22/2005 13:33 Comments ||
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#5
take a look at Google's main page
Silly me, I thought it was blue Easter Egg dye. Silly silly...
#6
So the dream is EU unity is really an Atta cephelotes conspiracy. Let's open up Giscard d'Estaing's cranium and see just what is really controlling his brain.
Posted by: ed ||
03/22/2005 13:47 Comments ||
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#7
ed - what brain?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/22/2005 14:20 Comments ||
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#8
warmer environments the antsâ body size shrinks, on average, while the number of individuals in the colony booms.
I can handle the little guys... but what happens during an ice age?
#14
Ah, yes, Helstrom's Hive. Gave me the heebeejeebees. I read recently where fire ants are becomming a big problem in China. Hell, we've been battling them in South Alabama for a looooong time. Right Ship?
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/22/2005 15:41 Comments ||
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#16
Ya gotta admit, Ace is one handsome horse, a goober, but handsome. I have to be really careful when we're crossing a stream. He likes to lie down in it and roll over. Dang near drowned me oncet.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/22/2005 16:20 Comments ||
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#22
Yep, that's the infamous "cross-dressing" picture. My great-great-great grandpappy probably turned over in his grave, he being in the 4th Alabama and all.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/22/2005 21:08 Comments ||
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The shooter was Jeff Weise, a 17-year-old student who had been placed in the school's Homebound program for some violation of policy, said school board member Kathryn Beaulieu. Students in that program stay at home and are tutored by a traveling teacher. Beaulieu said she didn't know what Weise's violation was, and wouldn't be allowed to reveal it if she did. There was no immediate indication of Weise's motive. But several students said he held anti-social beliefs, and he may have posted messages on a neo-Nazi Web site expressing admiration for Adolf Hitler.
Why are people so fond of rooting through the ash heap of history? Perhaps as an experiment we should set up a neo-Merovingian website and see how many people post messages expressing admiratioin for Chilperic. Or maybe a neo-Viking site where people can express their admiration for Sven Forkbeard.
Posted by: mojo ||
03/22/2005 11:52:18 AM ||
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#1
Well, at least he didn't use a assault rifle he bought at a gun show. He did cover the Nazi Goth loner picked on by school bullies bases. No word on if he was a fan of Grand Theft Auto.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/22/2005 13:27 Comments ||
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Fred, you read my mind. I've been waiting MY WHOLE LIFE for a neo-Merovingian website so I can post messages expressing admiration for Chilperic.
#6
And you just did, heh. Feeling, uh, um, fulfilled, Em?
Personally, with great trepidation, I'm expecting the fall of the Saints Chiradus-WeeWillyus, Schroedeus-Schnitzus, An-Anus-UNassus, Casas-Saudus-Wahhabus, Khomeinus Black-Hattus, Eyeballus-Assadus, Jongus-Illiad, Wufus-Communus, and Idolus-Puttyus-Prickus - so I can blame the evil tyrant Bushus-Doctrinus and post lamentations and tragic odes to their passing. It is written - all have a date with destiny. Talib-Anus-Caliphus and Saddamus-Shreddus have already fallen, as was foretold.
- B.D.
Hat tip: Michelle Malkin. Edited for brevity.
The wreckage of a large World War II-era Japanese submarine has been found by researchers in waters off Hawaii. A research team from the University of Hawaii discovered the I-401 submarine Thursday during test dives off Oahu. The submarine is from the I-400 Sensuikan Toku class of subs, the largest built before the nuclear-ballistic-missile submarines of the 1960s. They were 400 feet long and nearly 40 feet high and could carry a crew of 144. The submarines were designed to carry three "fold-up" bombers that could quickly be assembled.
An I-400 and I-401 were captured at sea a week after the Japanese surrendered in 1945. Their mission, which was never completed, reportedly was to use the aircraft to drop rats and insects infected with bubonic plague, cholera, typhus and other diseases on U.S. cities. When the bacteriological bombs could not be prepared in time, the mission reportedly was changed to bomb the Panama Canal. Both submarines were ordered to sail to Pearl Harbor and were deliberately sunk later, partly because Russian scientists were demanding access to them. I'm inferring from the article that *we* deliberately scuttled the sub after the war, but they don't make it as clear as I'd like.
Posted by: Dar ||
03/22/2005 10:22:17 AM ||
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400 ft of diesel powered chrysanthemum power! I'd really like to see one.
#3
Right after Figure 14 in Shipman's link:
"The giant I-400 was taken out to sea off Oahu and torpedoed" [by the U.S. after the war].
Posted by: Tom ||
03/22/2005 11:49 Comments ||
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#4
Looks like this sub (I-401) met the same fate, along with similar fates for other captured subs:
26 March 1946:
Washington, DC. At a Submarine Officer's Conference, attended by former ComSubPac Vice Admiral Charles A. Lockwood, it is decided to dispose of all captured Japanese submarines by sinking.
31 May 1946:
The I-401 is a target ship in the Pacific off Pearl Harbor for tests of the Mark 10-3 exploder. At 1059, she sinks by the stern at 21-12N, 158-07W after being hit by two Mark-18 electric torpedoes fired by Cdr O. R. Cole's USS CABEZON (SS-334).
Posted by: Dar ||
03/22/2005 12:33 Comments ||
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ALAPAHA, Ga. - A team of National Geographic experts has confirmed south Georgia's monster hog, known to locals as Hogzilla, was indeed real — and really, really big. They also noted the super swine didn't quite live up to the 1,000-pound, 12-foot hype generated when Hogzilla was caught on a farm last summer and photographed hanging from a backhoe. Donning biohazard suits to exhume the behemoth's smelly remains, the experts estimated Hogzilla was probably only 7 1/2 to 8 feet long, and weighed about 800 pounds. There's a fun job.
The confirmation came in a documentary aired Sunday night on the National Geographic Channel; it will be rebroadcast Wednesday and Saturday. "He was an impressive beast. He was definitely a freak of nature," said documentary producer Nancy Donnelly. She said Hogzilla's tusks — one measuring nearly 18 inches and the other nearly 16 inches — set a new Safari Club International North American free-range record. That wasn't good enough for Ken Holyoak, owner of the 1,500-acre fish farm and hunting preserve where Hogzilla was shot by guide Chris Griffin. "I need to stress that they did not have that much to work with, seeing as how the poor beast had been underground for nearly six months," he said Monday. Holyoak said Hogzilla weighed in at half a ton on his farm scales, and that he personally measured the hog's length at 12 feet while the freshly killed beast was dangling by straps from a backhoe. Steroids. Congress should look into this.
"As with any organic being after death, tissues will decompose and the body will atrophy, making actual measurements change over time," Holyoak said. "Have you ever seen a raisin after it was a grape?" He sounds like Quincy for animals.
Donnelly said the experts allowed for some shrinkage in making their final estimate. Shrinkage? Was he swimming when they blew him away?
Despite the dispute, this town 180 miles south of Atlanta has already adopted Hogzilla as its own. It went with a Hogzilla theme for its fall festival, with a parade featuring a Hogzilla princess, children in pink pig outfits and a float carrying a Hogzilla replica. Biggest thing in Alapaha since the UFO sightings...and of course, the tornados.
"Our insides were just bubbling," said Darlene Turner, who hosted a party to watch the documentary Sunday night. EEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWW!
"At first, I was afraid it might be an embarrassment. But now I wish everybody could see the documentary. It would take the doubt out of people's minds." Yeah, I haven't slept nights worrying about this...
Posted by: tu3031 ||
03/22/2005 9:39:49 AM ||
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800 pounds or a thousand, that's a helluva lot of bacon. And what did they kill it with, a 105mm smoothbore cannon?
Posted by: Jonathan ||
03/22/2005 10:43 Comments ||
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Holyoak said... ... he personally measured the hogâs length at 12 feet
Hmmmm, that would make the man in the photo about eight feet tall. I think he could make more money playing in the NBA.
Pet store owner: Satan's image on turtle's shell This story has it all...
An Indiana pet store owner says he sees the image of Satan on the shell of a turtle that was the only survivor of a store fire in October. EVIL FIREBREATHING TURTLES-FROM-HELL!
The palm-sized red-eared slider turtle, named Lucky, was the only animal to survive the fire at Dora's A-Dora-ble Pet Shop in nearby Frankfort, about 40 miles northwest of Indianapolis. Sickening store names!
Owner Bryan Dora now says he sees Satan's face on the critter's shell. He can spot lips, eyes, a goatee, shoulders and a pair of pointy horns on Lucky's back. Take your meds, Bryan...
Posted by: mojo ||
03/22/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Wait, just a sec, yep I'm feeling it, a vision is coming to me: Lucky will follow the Virgin Mary grilled cheese to eBay where Bryan hopes to strike it rich when Golden Palace vacuums up yet another eBay oddity.
Crown Prince Abdullah has quashed a sentence of flogging and imprisonment imposed by a Shariah court on a Saudi writer, an informed source told Arab News.
A rare Rantburg "Bravo!" to Prince Abdullah.
Shariah court Judge Suleiman Al-Fantookh had sentenced Saudi Professor Hamza Al-Mizeini not Ali as was reported by Arab News yesterday to 275 lashes and a four-month imprisonment after his opponent, Dr. Abdullah Al-Barak, an Islamist who teaches in the same King Saud University as Al-Mizeini, filed a case against him accusing the writer of demolishing his image and saying Islamic textbooks taught at King Saud University were radical. Al-Mizeini had also been told that he would be banned from writing in the Saudi media.
And to Hizzoner and the Perfessor: "Thhhhppp!"
Prince Abdullah issued the decree to annul the court ruling. The decree was in response to the judge's violation when he issued a verdict against the writer despite his knowledge of a Royal Decree announced last week which states that all conflicts that concern publication matters must be dealt with through the Ministry of Culture and Information. The war of articles between the two professors went on in Saudi newspapers for some months, before Dr. Al-Barak finally went to a Shariah court to ask that Dr. Al-Mizeini be punished on religious grounds.
I'll have to keep that in mind, next time I'm engaging in civil, well-reasoned discourse with somebody: if I'm losing the argument, I'll just take 'em to court and try to have them banned from making a living. Find the right judge, and maybe I can have them flogged and make my country look ridiculous.
This article starring:
ABDULLAH AL BARAK
Learned Elders of Islam
SULEIMAN AL FANTUKH
Learned Elders of Islam
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Hundreds of thousands of people may die and one quarter of the work force could be absent if Britain were hit by a bird flu pandemic, a senior government official said.
"It may be somewhere between 20,000 and 750,000 extra deaths and it may be 25 percent of the population off work," the government official, speaking on a non-attributable basis, told a conference in London. "That is the shape of the event we are going to have to deal with," he said. Britain's population is nearly 60 million people, with 28 million working, according to government figures. Contingency plans already announced by Britain's health department include the stockpiling of the anti-viral drug Tamiflu at a cost of 200 million pounds (380 million dollars, 290 million euros). The country's chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, has also previously described a national preparedness plan the government is ready to put in place should the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus develop into a new strain that spreads from human to human. Measures include closing schools and cancelling public gatherings like football matches and pop concerts, as well as issuing travel warnings. The estimate of 750,000 dead put forward was described later Tuesday by a health department spokeswoman as a "theoretical upper limit" of a catastrophe. She said the government was sticking to its estimate of 50,000 British deaths, a number advanced earlier this month when it published its contingency plan. The higher figure, presented to an international forum at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, came days after a leading scientist warned that the government's estimate was "optimistic". Professor Hugh Pennington, president of the Society for General Microbiology, said he believed up to two million Britons could perish from a mutated form of the H5N1 virus. He has criticised current planning for an outbreak, warning that a strain affecting humans will be "here before we know it". Though the government has ordered 14.6 million vaccine doses for Britain they will take up to two years to arrive, prompting some worries that the population could be at risk in the interim. Since last January, some 46 people in southeast Asia, most of them in Vietnam, have died after contracting a type of the disease as a result of contact with sick or dead birds. Medical experts have warned that if the virus develops the ability to pass from human to human, the consequences would be devastating.
#2
Disease mortality projections are a wild guess. There are a large number of variables, such as how the disease is introduced into the population; overall public hygiene, general health, and information control; the health care system; how rapidly the government responds with quarantines, innoculations, sanitation and cadaver removal. The influenza itself is prone to mutate unpredictably, with most mutations, in this case, making the disease less contagious and lethal. Finally, it is almost impossible to predict what percentage of the population is naturally immune to this particular strain. However, based on the lethality of the Spanish Flu, even the 2M estimate may be low. I could imagine a 10M out of 60M reduction, with maybe another 5-10M disabled for six months or more.
#3
most mutations, in this case, making the disease less contagious and lethal. True but irrelevant. The mutations that make it more contagious and to a lesser degree more lethal will be the ones that spread.
The thing you have to keep in mind is any population will continue to be at risk until its immunity level is well in excess of 50%. Immunity results either from being having been infected or being immunized. It will take 6 months to get an effective vaccine and at least 12 months to produce enough to immunize more than 50% of the UK population. We don't know what the existing level of immunity to H5 is, but we have to assume its low. So it will be a question of keeping the disease in check until sufficient vaccine is available. Some places may be able to keep it out entirely, but most of the worlds population live in places that will not get vaccines in any relevant timeframe and whose governments do not have the wherewithal to implement disease control measures. However many it kills in the UK, hundreds times more will be killed in the developing world.
#4
That works off ideal suppositions. People can very actively change, or not change, their risk factors. Plus, even with a lack of immunity, there is a strong difference between exposure and infection. If you receive an exposure of too small a quantity of the pathogen to overwhelm your immune system's response, you can develop at least partial immunity without ever developing an infection. Mutation is very important, as was demonstrated with the Swine flu of the 1970s, which mutated to a much less lethal form just before arriving in the US. Unlike other pathogens, where mutation is purely Darwinistic, influenza has a high number of "flexible genes" that mutate with little or no logic. Last but not least, all carriers are not equal. For this reason, the US tends to emphasize not only an outbreak quarantine system, but give priority of vaccination to those individuals most likely to contract and spread the disease, i.e. school-age children. The bottom line is that this flu is very, very special, and it will be a major war once it evolved easy human to human transmission.
#5
Summa you medical-whizzes might find the Scientific American article on the computer simulation of a smallpox release interesting. March, 2005. Targeted vaccination and quarantine makes the difference between 435 dead after 70 days and 12,499 (with no response). I'd say that a *substantial* difference!
There have also been several flu articles over the past few months.... Me? I like the pictures.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/22/2005 23:46 Comments ||
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In the latest twist in a royal wedding saga that has been full of flip-flops, the British government revealed Monday that like it or not, Britons will have to get used to Queen Camilla. That's because Camilla Parker Bowles will, by law, automatically become queen when Charles is crowned. While the public has come around to supporting the marriage, opinion polls still show strong opposition to Parker Bowles taking the title of queen.
The Princess Diana supporters are stocking up on pitchforks, torches and scaling ladders even as we speak. Hell, my wife will be in front leading the charge, sigh.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/22/2005 4:23:57 PM ||
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Abdullah would probably make a better King of England too.
Posted by: Tom ||
03/22/2005 19:09 Comments ||
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#10
In fact, I'm sure of it.
http://www.kingabdullah.jo/main.php?main_page=0&lang_hmka1=1
Posted by: Tom ||
03/22/2005 19:17 Comments ||
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#11
Dunno, Tom, the Brits would be better off scraping the monarchy. Canucks, Ozzies and Kiwis would have to rename Governor General to President or some such, probably not a big deal.
A man has been attacked by a large cat-like animal which jumped out from bushes in his garden during the night. Anthony Holder said a 6ft-long black animal pounced, knocked him to the ground, then mauled him with its claws for about 30 seconds. He said "I am 6ft and weigh 15 stone and it was considerably stronger and bigger than me. This thing was huge." Police were called to Sydenham Park in south-east London and one officer saw a cat "about the size of a Labrador dog".
and promptly peed his pants
Armed officers arrived soon after and a search of the nearby railway line and allotments was carried out.
Looking for a 6 foot black cat on a dark night in a dark rail line. I've seen this movie, it doesn't end well.
Mr Holder was looking for his kitten at the bottom of his garden, which backs onto woodland, when the powerful creature attacked him. He described how a "big black figure pounced" and he was "in its claws for about 30 seconds". "Its teeth were out and I tried to defend myself and eventually I got the thing off my body." He was scratched all over his body and suffered swelling and bruising to his hand and the back of his head.
That's it? Are we sure it wasn't just a pissed off house cat, a panther should have left him looking like a pile of hamburger
The animal, which Mr Holder is convinced was a panther, then went and sat in the garden next-door and he called the police The Metropolitan Police have mounted extra patrols in the area, which is largely residential and backs on to a railway line. They have warned people not to approach the animal and to keep pets inside.
Down here in Texas we'd just stake out a goat in the backyard and handle it ourselves
The RSPCA and London Zoo are being consulted for specialist advice.
"Alan Quartermain, call for you on line 1"
Inquiries are also being made to trace exactly where the animal may have come from.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/22/2005 10:09:52 AM ||
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Probably just Nastassja Kinski out for a stroll. Pay no mind...
And whether his wife had had her nails done lately? ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/22/2005 11:10 Comments ||
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#6
I think it's just a more advanced form of the Chupacabra. Our secret military bases in Puerto Rico created it, donchya know? We have bases in England still, right? Hmmm, coincidence?
#7
Sounds like the elusive Whampass Cat of South Alabama. Very seldom ever seen, the Whampass Cat gets it's name from the fact it can whamp the ass of just about everything. It is attracted by the smell of catnip but repelled by the smell of a veteranarians office. It will also dissapear at the mere mention of the words "bath" or "vet". Most research on the animal was done by Professor Claude Balls, a graduate of that famous cow and tractor school, Auburn University.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/22/2005 12:17 Comments ||
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I am sure it was UFO. (unidentified feline object)
Not half as outraged as the poor guys who got shot up, I'll bet.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has expressed sorrow and outrage over the deaths of two peacekeepers in Haiti who were killed by groups using human shields. According to a statement released Monday by a spokesman at U.N. World Headquarters in New York, one soldier from Sri Lanka was killed and three others wounded Sunday morning while carrying out joint operations with Haitian National Police to gain control of a police station that had been overtaken southwest of Port-au-Prince. Later the same day, a Nepalese soldier was killed while manning a checkpoint in central Haiti, said U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard. The attackers used women and children as shields while firing indiscriminately on peacekeepers. "The secretary-general is outraged that armed groups are using civilians as human shields and by these cowardly attacks," the statement read. The Nepalese troops later regained control of another police station that had been illegally occupied. The United Nations remains committed to improve the security situation in Haiti, the spokesman said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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That's nice, Kofi.
Were you similarly outraged that the Paleos have been hiding behind civilians for 40 years? Or how about the "Iraqi resistance?" Or do you blame the US and Israel for the civilians deaths?
You are not just clueless, you bastard. You are evil.
#5
I wonder if they have their food-for-nookie program running there yet.
No doubt they do; its organization is the major responsibility of the UN's "first in" administrators. Heck, the reason the UN was so slow to respond to the tsunami was all the pedophiles were on Christmas break.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
03/22/2005 9:41 Comments ||
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#6
Looks it. Washington Post sez:
The United Nations is facing new allegations of sexual misconduct by U.N. personnel in Burundi, Haiti, Liberia and elsewhere...
HT to Instaguy and Publius Pundit
TALLINN, Estonia — Estonia's prime minister announced his resignation and dissolved his government Monday after lawmakers said they had no confidence in his justice minister because of a controversial anti-corruption plan.
Prime Minister Juhan Parts, 38, said the government coalition could no longer effectively lead the ex-Soviet Baltic country of 1.4 million people.
"The time of this government is over," Parts said in remarks to the Riikogu, or parliament, adding that his resignation would take effect Thursday.
The unexpected move came after legislators approved a no-confidence motion against Justice Minister Ken-Marti Vaher. They had wanted Vaher to step down because of his unpopular proposal to set up a system of quotas for the number of corruption cases regional prosecutors would have to meet annually.
The prime minister has stood by Vaher, praising his work and saying he did nothing to deserve losing his post. The no-confidence motion was approved by 54 legislators, with 32 abstaining and 15 absent.
After Parts' resignation takes effect, President Arnold Ruutel will have two weeks to nominate a prime minister, who then would have to present a Cabinet to parliament for approval.
Parts, who leads the Res Publica party, told reporters Monday afternoon he would work to form a new government.
"Work is in progress, there is much to do, and at present the president holds the reins to give powers to the right person," he said, voicing the hope the next government will manage to steer Estonia until general elections scheduled for 2007.
He said Res Publica, the Reform Party and the Pro Patria Union could try to forge a new center-right coalition.
"Our values are some distance apart, but I wouldn't say it's impossible. We are Christians, we have to know how to forgive, and time is bound to take care of everything," the outgoing premier said.
Parts took office two years ago and helped shepherd Estonia into the European Union and NATO, which the country joined last year.
He had pledged to bring a new style of politics to the country - more open, honest and responsible. He also said he would have zero tolerance for corrupt officials, but many lawmakers said they believed Vaher's proposed quota system harkened back to the Soviet era.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/22/2005 5:31:06 PM ||
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I know it's a completely different form of government, but the idea of dissolving the government is wonderful.
Ronald Reagan
Centre stage holding a beaker of acetone:
"We start dissolving the government in 5 minutes, we're finished with the cartoon."
In the name of fighting international terrorism, Russian authorities have taken another step that many are likely to find disturbing: They are currently organizing Cossack units to combat what they see as the threat of terrorism and crime in the Russian Federation's Jewish Autonomous Region.
"Birobizhan" and "nowhere" are essentially the same word...
On March 16, the Council on Cossack Affairs attached to the Office of the Presidental Representative in the Far Eastern Federal District decided to re-establish the Amur Cossack Host to oversee more than 15,000 Cossacks in the Khabarovsk area, the Amur region and the Jewish Autonomous District. In speaking out in support of this action, Konstantin Pulikovskiy, who was named head of that district by President Vladimir Putin, made the following argument: "The main enemy we have today is terrorism," adding, "If we are not united, terrorists and criminals will continue to beat us from all sides." By registering with the authorities and working together with the government, Pulikovsky continued, the Amur Cossack Host "can become a force that will defend the residents of the Far East from the criminal world and from terrorists." ("Russkiy Kur'er" report online at rusk.ru/st.php?idar=10635)
In Birobidzhan? In Khabarovsk? People don't die from explosives there. They die of cold or boredom.
Not everyone is likely to be so optimistic. The symbolism of this step is especially troubling. Cossack units in the pre-1917 Russian Empire were frequently involved in anti-Jewish pogroms, and the Amur Cossack Host -- and especially the Ussuri Cossack Host, which is now being subordinated to it -- were especially notorious in this regard during the Russian Civil War.
First you have to find somebody to hold a pogrom against. I think there are about 5000-7000 practicing Jews left in the oblast.
Indeed, at that time, some of the members of these two hosts were involved with atamans (Cossack elders) and even the "mad"" Baron Ungern-Sternberg, who viewed Jews as "hereditary communists" and conducted particularly vicious pogroms against them. Not only were the actions of these Cossacks praised by the Nazis, but they feature on neo-Nazi sites to this day.
On the other hand, Ungern-Sternberg is not only dead but decomposed.
Both the Amur and the Ussuri hosts were banned by the Soviets in the early 1920s, and members of these communities were subjected to imprisonment, exile and even execution from the mid-1920s until the death of Stalin. But since the collapse of communism in 1991, the Cossack communities have experienced a rebirth.
"We're baaaaaaack! Wanna see us dance?"
Many Cossacks today, of course, are simply interested in reviving other, more positive aspects of their community traditions, but some want to go further and again play a role in maintaining public order. In some parts of the Russian Federation, regional officials have encouraged them to serve as adjuncts to the militia. But at least occasionally in the Russian Far East and elsewhere, the Cossacks involved in such law enforcement activities have routinely violated the law, ignoring statutes that protect the rights of citizens and employing disproportionate force in the name of maintaining "law and order."
For awhile there, the Russian Far East was looking like Dodge City with permafrost and no money. Presumably things have improved by now...
Consequently, at least some observers may argue that what Moscow's man in the Russian Far East did last week with regard to the Amur Cossack Host is nothing more than an entirely reasonable attempt to regulate and rein in the actions of the Cossacks in that far-flung region of the Russian Federation. But there is a real danger that the Cossacks will see this latest move in a different way, as representing an official blessing of what they are doing and an invitation for them to behave even worse than in the past -- especially when they are dealing out of the media spotlight with Jews and others they have traditionally seen as their enemies. Fighting terrorism is a moral imperative, but this latest action in the Russian Far East is an example of the dangers involved when officials use it -- as the Russian government repeatedly has done in Chechnya -- for other purposes entirely.
I think the author's letting his/her/its own preconceptions do the writing here...
At the very least, the dispatch of Cossack units into a Jewish region of the Russian Federation recalls some of the worst excesses of a past many had hoped they had gone beyond and sends a chill through a country whose government seeks to present itself as committed to the values of democracy and freedom.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/22/2005 1:33:23 PM ||
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Many of the denizens of DailyKos call themselves Kossacks.
#3
i dont think are more than a handful of Jews left in the autonomous region
brief history - Stalin, while preferring that Jews assimilate, secularize, and become red, was willing to offer an autonous region as a substitute for Zionism. Trying to kill 2 birds with one stone, he put it on the Chinese border near Vladivostok, hoping to build the population. Not more than i think about 20,000 ever went to this isolated outpost, and the population was always mainly non-Jewish. As Stalin became more antisemitic, the autonomous district moved to the back burner, and became just another Soviet backwater. IIUC some have left in recent years for greenere pastures, both in Russia and abroad.
Sending Cossacks there has little to do with the Jews, I think.
China's tougher stance on Taiwan threatened to derail European Union efforts to boost ties with Beijing on Tuesday and delay lifting the EU's arms embargo. At least it gets blamed on the ChiComs. No credit to Bush.
New tensions over Taiwan would likely put off an end to the ban on arms sales, which the United States wants kept in place, diplomats said. China urged the EU to stick to its goal of ending the ban by end-June and rejected comments by Britain and others that it had been made harder since Beijing passed a law last week allowing the use of force to stop any Taiwanese independence efforts. EU leaders were expected to discuss the embargo at a summit later on Tuesday, although it is not formally on the agenda. Any delay would be warmly welcomed by the United States, which has pledged to defend Taiwan in the event of an attack and urged the EU to retain the ban. "It is clear that China has not fulfilled certain conditions for lifting the embargo, notably by not raising tensions in the region," said one EU diplomat in Brussels. A second EU envoy, in Washington, said China's law against any independence move by Taiwan had "blown (EU plans to lift the embargo) out of the water." snip. I wonder if the mullahs are watching.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/22/2005 9:01:49 AM ||
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KYOTO, March 21, 2005 -- As Dan Rather signed off from The CBS Evening News, and a slew of media scandals continued to reverberate all across America -- ranging from the US Education Department paying journalists to promote its policies to propagandistic "video news releases" produced by other government agencies being used as fake news on television stations -- the latest Gallup Poll showed that only 20 percent of Americans still trust their news media.
It could be worse, said NBC News president Neal Shapiro: "We're still higher than congressmen and car salesman." Shapiro is correct. But if you think that the U.S. media's problems are bad, at least they have not yet sunk to the level of America's closest trading partner, Japan, whose media is cringingly compliant to government interests.
Many decades ago, Japan pioneered the consolidated ownership structure and cozy government relationships that currently threaten US media credibility. During the 1930s, more than 3,000 independent outlets were put out of business until just six staunchly pro-war corporations dominated Japan's news media.
Sound familiar? The resulting structure of Japan's media remains largely the same today -- untouched by any post-World War II war reforms. The worst holdover from before the war is Japan's system of so-called press clubs -- roughly 1,300 press pools housed inside the very government and corporate entities they cover. Press-club reporters work closely with PR officers and tend to regurgitate the information fed them, often without cross-checking. They receive exclusive access to sources, and hundreds of millions of dollars in perks and subsidies. In exchange, they police themselves. Any journalist caught straying from the approved line is punished by colleagues -- even blackballed. The rest Snipped. If you cut through the Leftist spin there is an important truth here which the article does nothing to elucidate. If you don't trust the MSM to provide unbiased news, then who do you trust? My answer for a number of years has been blogs, especially RB. Blogs provide both a fisking of facts and counterspin, that is, any conclusions or trends will be challenged and other explanations offered. Over time blogs will migrate to radio and online TV. The SW industry talks about a market of one. I anticipate a media demographic of one. Interesting times indeed.
Posted by: phil_b ||
03/22/2005 6:16:01 AM ||
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It is an interesting cultural aspect that mainstream Hollywood movies focus on the Evil American Government[tm] for its foil, which in the popular Japanese theme of anime the foil is the Evil MegaConglomerate Industrialists[tm] who are the source of all evil. The government is usually portray as limpwristed and incompetent. Considering how effectively the Japanese government has handled the flat economy in the past decade, I suspect there is more than a touch of stereotypical truth to the Japanese view.
#2
Acksherly, Hollywood types resort to the Evil MegaCorp pretty frequently. Look at the piece of excrement released last year with the title "Manchurian Candidate" -- the original featured Communist Chinese brainwashing POWs; the new one featured an American corporation doing the brainwashing.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
03/22/2005 9:45 Comments ||
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Actually, some parts of the Japanese press are highly uncontrolled. If you don't mind some intellectually, if not graphically, NSFW, then have a look at: http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/waiwai/
Eek. List of articles off to the left. N.B.: they not only xlate well to English, but they manage London tabloid or better quality alliteration. "Mighty Merciless Maidens Munch Manly Meat".
PARIS - Sophie Guilbaud not only holds a full-time job [HAH], she also helps run her son's nursery and treats herself to regular weekdays of shopping, movies and art shows. with what money?
The secret to her balancing act is a remarkable piece of social engineering — France's 35-hour workweek. Introduced under the Socialists but headed for effective abolition by lawmakers Tuesday, "les 35 heures" have been a boon for some but, critics argue, a big drain on the economy.
Ya' think?
Heated debate over dismantling the working time law has fed into wider political and literary soul-searching in France, on themes ranging from the country's economic frailty and bureaucratic office culture to whether quality of life should be measured in time or money.
Depends on what you do with the time - and if you have any money to do it.
For Guilbaud, a Parisian who works as a loan company manager, that last question is a no-brainer.
"Work is not the only thing in my life," she said, suggesting she might quit rather than work more hours.
And do what? Suck at the taxpayers' government teat? Seems to me that crap is what got you all into this mess in the first place.
But with unemployment at 10 percent, U.S. Leftys, please note - this is what you want for US.
politicians of all stripes acknowledge that the country's unique 35-hour law has failed in its original ambition: to force employers to hire massively. What's more, there are strong signs that it hurt living standards as employers froze salaries to make up for lost labor.
"Strong signs." Is that anything like a hard slap in the face with a river eel?
"The intention was to spread work around, but the effect was to spread our salaries around," Thierry Breton, France's new finance minister, said last week.
Duh! Cause, meet effect. *snip*
Amid soaring unemployment and stagnating wages, the reform is supported by jobseekers and even by factory workers, according to a survey that pollsters CSA published last month — and by 46 percent of the overall population, with 43 percent opposed.
Gee, sounds like our last election.
There are other signs that the vision expounded by former Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's Socialists now rings hollow in some surprisingly left-wing constituencies.
Often touted as the working mother's godsend, the 35-hour week actually made life harder for poorer women and single parents, according to women's organization CLEF.
"The women that suffered were the lowest paid, who needed all the overtime they could get to make ends meet," The light dawns....
said CLEF president Monique Halpern. "I think this is one of the reasons that Lionel Jospin lost the elections."
Any reason for a socialist to lose an election is good enough for me. *snip*
Clara Gaymard, the globe-trotting head of the French International Investment Agency, contends the 35-hour week has damaged investment in France, mainly because of its negative image in countries like the United States — France's biggest source of investment.
Bwhahahahahahahahahah!
"The perception was that the French didn't want to work any more," she said, whereas French workers remain among the most productive in the world, ahead of Britain, Germany, the United States and Japan, according to the European statistics agency Eurostat.
No, Clara, that's the reality. And what do you mean, "any more"?
In today's uncertain economic environment, though, the shorter workweek is "destroying jobs because companies wonder whether it's worth taking people on for just 35 hours a week," Touati said.
No, they don't wonder - they know. (It isn't - particularly when you can't let them go in a economic downturn.) *snip*
According to a 2003 OECD survey of 25 industrialized countries, only Norwegian and Dutch employees worked less time each year than the French, who worked an average 1,431 hours. German workers put in 1,446 hours, British 1,673 hours, Americans 1,792 hours and Koreans 2,390 hours.
[Emphasis added.] Watch and learn, Phrogistan - that's how you go from a war-torn third world backwater to a first world, economically viable country in less than 50 years. It ain't done by sitting in a cafe half the day smoking Gaulloises and talking about how superior you are. *snip*
On March 10, almost a million people took part in strikes and protests over the working time reform — as well as other threats to workers' benefits and public sector pay.
But Nicolas Sarkozy, who pushed hard for the law to be loosened while serving as finance minister last year and is expected to one day run for president, has no regrets.
"It's wonderful to see so many people marching to defend the jobs they already have, pushing aside so many others who would also like the chance to have a job," he said.
Ouch! Meow. :-D
So what are they going to raise it to - 37? 39? 40? They still won't come close to my working hours. Or the hours of most of the people I know.
I know the socialists don't like to hear it, but I'll say it again: Money doesn't grow on trees. You have to WORK for it. (And you trust fund babies? Somebody WORKED for that money, too. Just not YOU.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/22/2005 2:15:29 PM ||
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Sorry, Fred - didn't see Dar's. You can delete mine if his was first.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/22/2005 14:18 Comments ||
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OK, my first reactions is HOLY CRAP THE SOUTH KOREANS NEED TO TAKE A VACATION!
My second reaction is, "OK, who's pulling down the average in the US?" Most everyone I know gets at most 3 weeks of vacation. Toss in the national holidays, that brings it to 4 weeks a year off; where did the other three weeks go?
As for the French and Germans -- Christ, no wonder their economies suck. Your "workers" put in about a third less time than American workers -- at a time when some people whine that Americans don't want to work.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
03/22/2005 14:41 Comments ||
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where did the other three weeks go? Lost in the dryer with that single sock every load.....
survey says: summer vacation for teachers?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/22/2005 14:45 Comments ||
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I wonder if they're including part-time jobs in those calculations? Those would sure bring down the average. As far as those South Koreans, though--Wow!
Posted by: Dar ||
03/22/2005 16:01 Comments ||
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I know people who pretend to work 12 hours a day and never get anything done...
It's Rob, please. And, yeah, I know there are only 52 weeks in a year; check the math I had on the "missing two weeks" of work. The point was that the South Koreans put in 60 weeks of work in a year.
As you pointed out, with no time off, that would be 46 hours a week. Like I said, they need to take a vacation.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
03/22/2005 21:40 Comments ||
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In citing differences between Athens and Berlin over the 4th Community Support Framework (CSF), Schroeder said the two countries have completely different views, as Germany is the Union's largest contributor, whereas Greece is a country that receives EU funding. While noting that an "identity of views" is not possible, he aid there will be contacts between experts to discuss the matter more thoroughly as part of efforts to converge those views.
Converging panzer columns? Probably not.
Posted by: mrp ||
03/22/2005 11:06:24 AM ||
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Recently, many people have been asking about the permissibility of blogs, i.e. online diaries - I'm sure many of us have seen and read them. I submitted a question to Mufti Nawalur-Rahman about them, the answer can be heard here:
Allhamdullilah.
The translation for non-urdu speakers (provided by brother salman):
Going to websites like these will not be permissible, because they contain personal matters and also they specify names/identities which can create a path for bay-hayaai (shamelessness), and unlawful relations, and It is a source that may leak out the faults/kharaabiyan "aayb" of muslims. It will not be permissible.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/22/2005 11:07 Comments ||
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RC,
the list of thinks that are unislamic can be very very long
-- if you took a photo of your wife
-- if you showed that photo of your wife to a friend
-- if your wife was wearing clothes which showed a little cleavage
-- if you mentioned Allah's name without praising him or Mohammud's name without blessing him
-- if there was music; especially music where a woman was singing
-- if you were playing cards to see who would take out the trash
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
Come on, guys. Even France and Canada think nukes are safe enough. Can't we have some here? Please? Especially those of you who think our sole response to Islamofascism is to reduce our oil consumption (while simultaneously voting against ANWR).
#2
Kyoto (closing coal fired plants) biting them in the rear?
Posted by: ed ||
03/22/2005 0:27 Comments ||
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After many decades of whining and moaning about the cost of heating oil, you'd thought nice standardized medium size reactors like those in Sweden, Japan, etc. would populate the back country of New England. But, noooooooooooo..... Shheeehhhhhhh. More people have died in a vehicle driven by Sen. T.Kennedy (D-MA) than from anything from Three Mile Island.
#4
If they had built the Nuke plants they wanted to back in the 80s, we would not have power problems today. No pollution and we have enought juice to chrage those babe-magnet electric cars.
#5
Bab's Boxer's solution is to "Close the SUV Loophole. We need to hold SUV's to the same mileage standards as other vehicles. We can have 16 ANWARs if we just do that."
My truck is classed as an SUV simply because it has 4-wheel drive. She doesn't have a clue about power-to-weight ratios or mileage-to-horsepower/gear ratios. To her it's very simple. Mandate that all SUV's get 30 mpg. When Detroit (or any other group) makes a truck that will haul 40 bails of hay or pull a trailer with 5 horses and still gets 30 mpg I'll be the first in line. Reducing our dependance on foreign oil is the only thing that will work, not some new mandate from congress.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/22/2005 12:29 Comments ||
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Deacon Blues, Babs doesn't have a clue about anything, really. And when you call her on it, she cries.
Chicks like that tork me off.
#7
I think all SUVs should be required to get 90 mpg (driveway) and we should raise the minimum wage to $25.00/hr to help pay for it. My plan also saves social security and will bring a sense of empowerment to bus riders.
#3
I'm probably in a minority of one here but I welcome this. There is a market place of ideas and if they think their ideas will sell, good luck to them.
#4
I agree with phil_b, but I am pained to think how big the 'Burg will get. Perhaps Fred will have to add Page 4 for al-Jizz exclusives.
I also suspect the FBI will be interested in the subscriber list.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/22/2005 8:21 Comments ||
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I am with Phil but for a different reason. Just like Air Amerika, Al Jiz will be out in the spotlight for all to see. With AA it's the 'Vast right-wing conspiracy' and with Al Jiz it's always the 'Jooos' or 'Evil America'. The net affect that both AA and Al Jiz have fewer people watching/listening and the truth will be out there about their slanted brand of 'journalism'.
#7
And you poor dupes of the Great Satan have again taken into custody a poor bedouin whose only crime was to walk the streets of Fallujah with dynamite strapped to himself. I guess if in America some kinds of fashion statements are unacceptable.
Posted by: Al Jazzera ||
03/22/2005 11:00 Comments ||
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will be interesting for MEMRI et al to show the difference in coverage: english vs arabic, no?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/22/2005 11:15 Comments ||
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This is really going to eat into CNN's market share, especially when Al-J signs Christiane Amanpour to a long-term contract.
Posted by: Matt ||
03/22/2005 11:19 Comments ||
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The CBS Evening News ratings are in the dumper. It can't be any worse than replacing it with al Jezeera's broadcast. I'm all for it, as long as it's the same broadcast seen by the Arabs with English overdub.
Posted by: ed ||
03/22/2005 11:19 Comments ||
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Although I'm sure it would get really old really fast, I'm curious to see and hear what goes out on the air from them. We could learn a little about how they think and how they don't. Perhaps they might get influenced for the better in the exchange whether they want to or not.
#12
hint - you'll NEVER see an accurate dub or translation of what they sell the Arab street, unless MEMRI provides it. Remember - lying to infidels is OK, i.e. fake, but accurate
Posted by: ZZ Top ||
03/22/2005 11:39 Comments ||
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So how is that different from CBS?
Posted by: Matt ||
03/22/2005 11:56 Comments ||
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...and what better way to celebrate World Water Day then by renting, better yet, buying, a copy of that 1995 film classic "Waterworld". You'll be glad you did.
Posted by: Kevin Costner ||
03/22/2005 13:44 Comments ||
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I wonder if their logo is half empty or half full?
If it's Google News, it's full of crap. Well, half-full, I guess, since they're not carrying the AFP anymore.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
03/22/2005 13:44 Comments ||
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SONG: Back from the Shadows, again
-------------------------------------------------
(Sung to the tune of "Back in the Saddle, again")
The Whisperin' Squash[singing]:
Back from the Shadows again !
Out where an In-jun's your friend!
Where the veg'tables are green,
And you can pee into the stream!
Yes, we're back from the Shadows again!
Two pointless remarks come to my feeble mind : 1) Soldiers from Down-under on the good side of history, again, and 2)"East Timoreses BOYS" + arab UN troops.
Somehow I am very unsurprized, I must be a bigot or something.
Mark Dodd
AUSTRALIAN soldiers drew arms to protect themselves from Jordanian peacekeepers after a Digger blew the whistle on other Jordanian soldiers' sexual abuse of East Timorese boys.
Corporal Andrew Wratten had to be evacuated and Australian commandos sent to protect Diggers in Oecussi, an East Timorese province in Indonesian West Timor, after he told the UN of the pedophilia that occurred in May 2001.
The Australians drew their Steyr assault rifles after being confronted by Jordanians armed with M-16s, in an escalation of verbal threats triggered by the later betrayal of Corporal Wratten by a Jordanian officer in the Dili headquarters of the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor.
Corporal Wratten, who was working at a fuel dump in the enclave, was told by a group of children that Jordanian soldiers had offered food and money in exchange for oral sex and intercourse.
The allegations involved East Timorese minors, all boys, the youngest of them just 12 years old.
"Wratten informed PKF (peacekeeping force) that he had been receiving complaints from local children about Jorbatt (Jordan Battalion) abuse," said a senior UN official who was based in Oecussi at the time.
"A Jordanian officer in HQ informed Jorbatt that he had ratted on them. Wratten and his guys manning the helo (helicopter) refuelling pad in Oecussi town started getting threatened.
"There was one occasion where Aussie Steyrs were pointed at Jorbatt and Jor-batt M-16s pointed at Aussies."
A secret report into the abuse, obtained by The Australian, led to the expulsion of two Jordanian peacekeepers after an investigation ordered by then UNTAET chief, the late Sergio Vieira de Mello, in July 2001.
East Timorese human rights workers have confirmed the story. However, retired Australian major-general Roger Powell, the deputy UN force commander at the time, did not return The Australian's calls.
"As far as I understand, De Mello was very sensitive at the time to the harm such reports would have on the reputation of UNTAET, PKF — and by default himself," said one Western security analyst, based in East Timor in 2001.
Jordan's key role in Middle East peace negotiations added extra sensitivity.
In July 2001, a UN police specialist child interview team flew to Oecussi and spoke to 10 witnesses, including seven minors and three adults.
"The unacceptable sexual conduct alleged was that a minor had sperm around his mouth," the resulting report says.
The board of inquiry found in its report that Jordanian troops regularly offered food and money in exchange for sexual favours from women and boys, including the procuring of prostitutes from across the border in West Timor.
It found it was highly probable that widespread sexual misconduct had occurred after the Jordanians took over from the highly regarded Australian paratroop battalion in early 2000.
Posted by: Anonymous5089 ||
03/22/2005 3:26:27 AM ||
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You just can't let the Arab Legion out of their cages.
#4
im not sure how this helps with AG story. The Jordanians are our FRIENDS, in case anyone forgot. Guess its better they did this while wearing blue helmets, but I dont think radical muslims will think of Jordanians as anything other than imperial lackeys who make peace with Zionist pig-dogs, whether they report to Kofi Annan or not.
Soldiers arrested a warlord accused of years of atrocities in eastern Congo, where U.N. officials say rival militias have created the world's worst ongoing humanitarian crisis, the government said Tuesday. Security officials arrested Thomas Lubanga late Saturday in the capital, Kinshasa, government spokesman Henri Mova Sakanyi said.
"Stick 'em up, Tom! The jig's up!"
Lubanga, who heads the Union of Congolese Patriots, is being held at Kinshasa's notorious Makala prison, Sakanyi said.
"What's that? A hatbox?"
"That's your cell."
Lubanga is the latest of several militia chiefs arrested recently as Congo's struggling government and U.N. peacekeepers attempt to bring order to lawless Ituri province, where ethnic militias terrorize and prey on the local population.
Sometimes literally.
Fighting between ethnic Hema and Lendu militias in Ituri has killed more than 50,000 people since 1999 and left 600,000 homeless, aid groups say. In clashes between Lubanga's Hema militia and Lendu militia and tribespeople, fighters on both sides have been accused of killings, decapitation, torture, rape and forced labor.
Thousands are dying in Ituri every month, U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said last week, calling it the world's worst ongoing humanitarian crisis. For several years, the tall and reedy Lubanga was a feared warlord around Bunia, Ituri's capital. Often flamboyant, he danced on tabletops during news conferences and was protected by twitchy children — some as young as 10 — carrying Kalashnikov rifles. "Now Thomas Lubanga is in the judge's hands," Sakanyi said. He declined to say when a trial would be scheduled.
"It could be awhile. They're questioning him."
"How long is 'awhile?' Gimme a wild guess."
"400 years?"
Lubanga moved from Bunia a year ago to establish his militia as a political party in Kinshasa, from where authorities accuse him of directing his fighters. Last month, Lendu militia ambushed and killed nine U.N. peacekeepers who were protecting thousands of residents displaced by fighting. The bodies of the Bangladeshi peacekeepers were then mutilated, U.N. officials said. Four days later, police arrested Lendu warlord Floribert Ndjabu and two army generals from his militia in the killings. The generals were given army posts in January as part of a power-sharing agreement to end the war.
Now they live in concrete hatboxes...
The following day, peacekeepers killed as many as 60 Lendu militiamen after they said their patrol was fired upon as it shut down a militia camp. U.N. peacekeepers stationed in Ituri have continued to aggressively close the camps and have disarmed hundreds of mostly teenage gunmen in recent months.
"Drop the gun, laddy, or we'll perforate yez!"
"Ain't nobody takin' my gun... Ow! He hit me!"
The United Nations and international community also have pressured Congo's government to crack down on the militias.
"Yeah, right. Half our country's overrun with people who eat pygmies, and we're supposed to 'crack down'?"
Congo became a battleground for six nations during a 1998-2002 war that killed some 50,000 people directly and another 3 million through strife-induced hunger and disease. While relative calm has been restored to the rest of the country, marauding gunmen continue to kill, rape and pillage at will in the east. During the war, both Hema and Lendu militias were armed and trained by neighboring Uganda and Rwanda, who used the fighters to wrest control over the mineral-rich territory. The United Nations and human rights groups say Uganda continues to feed guns and ammunition over Congo's porous and isolated borders.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2005 4:26:31 PM ||
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Preaching to the choir, I know. But still a good piece. EFL.
THERE IS a bumper sticker on the car ahead of me as I drive down Interstate 93. In white letters on a navy background, it proclaims: "Single-Payer Health Care!" That's it. There is no argument, no attempt at logic or emotion or humor -- just an impatient demand for the drastic transformation of one-seventh of the US economy. And note the exclamation point. That is to communicate earnestness, certitude, and indignation -- classic elements of the liberal approach to policymaking: When promoting radical change, passion and good intentions are what matter most. Real-world consequences count for far less.
As it happens, the real-world consequences of single-payer healthcare -- also known as socialized medicine or national health insurance -- are well-documented. Single-payer care exists in Canada, New Zealand, Great Britain, and much of Western Europe. And wherever it has been tried, writes John C. Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, ''rationing by waiting is pervasive, putting patients at risk and keeping them in pain.''
*snip*
Lengthy waits are not trivial. Delays in Britain for colon cancer treatment are so protracted that 20 percent of cases considered curable at the time of diagnosis are incurable by the time of treatment. Last year a lawsuit was filed against 12 Quebec hospitals on behalf of 10,000 breast-cancer patients who had to wait more than eight weeks for radiation therapy. A ''right to healthcare?'' Socialized medicine guarantees only the right to stand in line -- and often to get sicker while you wait.
That'll go over really well with most Americans. NOT.
But when you finally do get to the head of the line in a single-payer country, at least the quality of the care you receive will be top-notch, right?
Alas, wrong.
During your last medical appointment, did the doctor have more than 20 minutes for you? The answer is yes for 30 percent of Americans -- but for only 20 percent of Canadians, 12 percent of Australians, and 5 percent of Britons. Because the number of doctors in Canada is artificially restricted, the country suffers from overstressed physicians and undertreated patients. Thus, while the average US doctor sees 2,222 patients annually, the average Canadian doctor must somehow make time for 3,143.
Consider another measure of medical quality: access to lifesaving technology. British scientists helped develop kidney dialysis in the 1960s, yet today Britons use dialysis at one-third the rate Americans do. If you need a coronary bypass, you are five times more likely to get it in the United States than in Canada (and eight times more likely than in Britain). Access to CT scanners? MRI machines? Lithotripsy units for treating kidney stones? Angioplasty? When it comes to one kind of high-tech medical procedure after another, the average American patient is far likelier to get treatment than his single-payer counterpart. [Emphasis added.] I can imagine the screams if Americans couldn't get medical treatment, not because they can't afford it but because there's a waiting list for diagnosis and treatment. Yeah, that'll go over real big. The real question is, why do the people of Canada, Britain, etc., put up with it?
That is why Americans often have a better chance at beating a condition -- such as prostate cancer, renal failure, or heart disease -- that would kill them elsewhere.
The Spectator, a British journal, summed up the issue in the headline of its Feb. 12 cover story: ''Die in Britain, survive in the US.''
Hmmmm. Think maybe the Brits are finally "getting it"? I'll have to go look up that article.
The American healthcare system is far from perfect, as Goodman and his co-authors make amply clear. But more government control of that system -- and less private-sector choice -- will not make it better. As our friends in Canada, Britain, and other countries with national health insurance can attest, single-payer healthcare looks better on a bumper sticker than it does in real life.
If we want real healthcare reform, we'll get the government OUT of the healthcare system. We also need for people to realize that they are responsible for their own cost of healthcare, the same as the cost of their food, housing, etc. (That's what insurance is for.) As long as people think a doctor's visit costs $10 and "someone else should pay for it," we'll never be free of this nightmare.
And don't even get me started about healthcare being a "right."
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/22/2005 11:45:03 AM ||
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#1
THERE IS a bumper sticker on the car ahead of me as I drive down Interstate 93. In white letters on a navy background, it proclaims: "Single-Payer Health Care!"
I usually see them on the back of Volvos. Yeah, I'm surprised, too...
#3
"A letter from the Moncton Hospital to a New Brunswick heart patient in need of an electrocardiogram said the appointment would be in three months. It added: 'If the person named on this computer-generated letter is deceased, please accept our sincere apologies.' "
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=596051&page=1
Posted by: Tom ||
03/22/2005 13:15 Comments ||
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TAMPA, Fla. — A federal judge early Tuesday morning refused to order the reinsertion of Terri Schiavo's (search) feeding tube, which prompted lawyers for the severely brain-damaged woman's parents to file a notice of appeal to a higher court. U.S. District Judge James Whittemore, Clinton appointee in 1999, said Bob and Mary Schindler had not established a "substantial likelihood of success" (So let her dehydrate anyway) at trial on the merits of their arguments.
Schiavo's tube was removed Friday after the Schindlers' appeals to keep the tube in place failed in state court. Tuesday marked the fourth day without her feeding tube. Congress and President Bush took unprecedented action over the weekend, enacting a new law that permitted Schiavo's parents to take their case to federal court.
Rex Sparklin, an attorney with the law firm representing the Schindlers, said lawyers were appealing to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to "save Terri's life." The Atlanta court was notified of the intent to appeal Tuesday morning, but the actual appeal had not been filed as of 10:30 a.m. EST.
Judge Whittemore also found that Schiavo's due process rights had been upheld throughout the litigation process.
{SNIP}
Carla Sauer Iyer, a registered nurse who provided care to Terri Schiavo from 1995 to 1996 at a convalescence home in Largo, Fla., told FOX News in an interview Tuesday that her patient would interact with staff, was alert and aware and could talk. "Her cognitive abilities including laughing, talking, letting you know she was in pain," Iyer told FOX News, adding that Terri Schiavo could say words like "mommy," "help me," "hi" and "pain."
She also said Schiavo had accurate reflexes on demand. Nurses also were able, at times, to feed Terri thickened liquids such as pudding and Jello with a baby bottle. Iyer also claims that one time when she put a washcloth in Terri's hand to test her reflexes, Michael Schiavo would get upset and say, "that's therapy — take that washcloth out." "I think a gag order has been put on all positive things that Terri has done," claimed Iyer.
Iyer said she was coming forward "to let the truth be known, to let the people know. I was one of the few people who was able to see Terri. She was able to talk, communicate with staff ... I want the public to know the truth." Dial "M" for murder
Michael Schiavo has not responded to repeated interview requests from The Associated Press and FOX News Channel. Terri Schiavo suffered brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped briefly because of a possible potassium imbalance brought on by an eating disorder. She can breathe on her own, but has relied on the feeding tube to keep her alive.
Court-appointed doctors say she is in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery, while her parents insist she could recover with treatment. Doctors have said Schiavo could survive one to two weeks without the feeding tube. Friday marked the third time Schiavo's feeding tube had been removed. In both previous instances, the tube was reinserted, once on a judge's order and once after Fla. Gov. Jeb Bush signed "Terri's Law," which was later declared unconstitutional.
Gov. Bush, brother of the president, praised Congress for their work on Monday.
But after the ruling Tuesday, he was described by a spokeswoman as "extremely disappointed and saddened" over the judge's decision not to order the tube reconnected. "Gov. Bush will continue to do what he legally can within his powers to protect Terri Schiavo, a vulnerable person," said spokeswoman Alia Faraj. The Associated Press contributed to this report
Posted by: BigEd ||
03/22/2005 11:11:36 AM ||
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#1
Honestly, I think that if I were the father of Terry, MR Schiavo would have been tits up long ago, consequences be damned.
Posted by: Mort ||
03/22/2005 11:55 Comments ||
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#2
Heard this comment this morning: The best way to save her life would be to declare her an illegal combatant - you'd have these activist black robes jumpin' to her defense.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
03/22/2005 12:00 Comments ||
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#3
And maybe the easiest way to get violent killers executed would be to present them as "inconvenient".
#4
What would probably be the best course of action is for an impartial third party expert/authority to be brought in to perform a thorough evaluation, and not rely solely on medical circumstances to come to a conclusion. Parts of her brain might be inactive, but from the few video clips played on the tube, she doesn't look like a total vegetable. The brain is capable of amazing things, and it seems to me that it's possible that in this situation, Terri Schiavo could well be aware of what's going on, but unable to communicate clearly due to her very obvious limitations.
What's more troubling is Michael Schiavo having a "grilfriend", which whom he already has one kid with another on the way. The guy is still married to Terri and he has a girlfriend???? If it were up to me, that and that alone would be grounds for any interest he might have in Terri's health and future to be forfeited.
#5
Members of the 11th Circuit
... with age and appointed by President...
Which 3 were chosen? Anybody know?
ACTIVE JUDGES
J L Edmonston , 58, Reagan
Gerald B Tjoflat, 76, Ford
R Lanier Anderson, 69, Reagan
Stanley Birch, 60, Bush 41
Joel F Dubina, 58, Bush 41
Susan H Black, 62, Bush 41
Ed Carnes, 54, Bush 41
Rosemary Barkett, 66, Clinton
Frank M Hull, 57, Clinton
Stanley Marcus, 58, Clinton
Charles R Wilson, 50, Clinton
William Pryor, 43, Bush 43
SENIOR JUDGES
John Godbold, 85, LBJ
Paul H Roney, 84, Nixon
James C Hill, 81, Ford
Peter T Fay, 76, Ford
Phyllis Kravitch, 85, Carter
Emmett R Cox, 35, Reagan
#6
In Germany, no person would have the right to ask for the removal of the feeding tube in such a case, even if he claims that this was the will of the patient. Only a written, legally sound statement of the patient (which has to be rather specific), might be able to do it and not in all cases. As long as the patient is not on the way to certain death, doctors are not allowed to stop alimentation.
I concede that this is a painful case but it seems incredible to me that a husband could legally enforce a decision to kill his wife even if she provenly were in a PVS (something which seems to be in question here).
I know that I wouldn't want to be kept alive this way and I signed the legal documents. In Terri's case she probably mentioned casually that she wouldn't like this (name me a young girl who would like it).
In Terri's case the first thing I would do as a judge is to cancel her husband's custody. I do not blame him for living with another woman but he should not be allowed to make decisions about the life of his wife.
#8
I do not blame him for living with another woman..
I do. He could have waited until the situation was resolved before taking up with some other woman but he didn't. IMO, being as how he's broken his vows, he's not in any position to speak for her, and should either voluntarily bow out of the picture or be legally stripped of all responsibility for Terri.
#9
Nurse Iver (above) is on Hannity.
She just said there was a restraining order against "husband" because he was abusive to the nurses at the facility where Iyer was working.
#10
Bomb-a-rama, that is pretty much what I said. He can't have it both ways.
Expecting from a man to give up his life, his desires to live with a woman, and to have children and just sit and wait for decades until his wife paases away is not realistic. Some spouses can and will do it, but whatever the choice, no moral judgement here.
But once you DO make a decision like Terri's husband made, he cannot expect to make decisions about life and death of the wife he left.
Nurse Iver now states that she found a vial of insulin concealed in the trash can after "husband" visit. This goes along with the hypoglecimic observation in her affadavit. She says she went to the police, and they said they wouldn't do anything unlesss she saw the "husband" stick a needle in her arm.
#15
Hannity has a Current Nurse from the Hospice whose been threatened with termination...
"Nora", an RN 8:00PM Sun - 8:00AM Mon at the hospice was told by her agency not to go back to the hospice because when all the other nurses disagree with her about the tube removal..
#16
If the powers that be do determine that she should be killed, as that is what it is, the LEAST they could do is show this poor unfortunate INNOCENT woman the same mercy they would the family pet or a condemned killer.
It's damned inconvenient and inconsiderate of her to not die of her own accord when so many seem to desire it.
Some may say that the feeding tube is no different from a ventilator. I differ - on obvious grounds. The fact that she is helpless, i.e. requiring food & water, but otherwise her body functions of its own accord, is precisely the same as any helpless human, such as the millions of babies who are cared for in our hospitals.
Certainly her "husband" should have no say. He abandoned her long ago and his influence and their marriage should have legally ended somewhere back then. That anyone, other than her parents, has anything to say about this both mystifies and appalls me.
#19
If the Schiavo opponents (i.e. Want to cut off food/water) really feel there's no cognition, thought/feeelings etc., why don't they go in and shoot her in the head and get it over with? Their hesitance speaks volumes. I'm getting angry over this
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/22/2005 19:39 Comments ||
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#20
Are you talking about the timing .com? Ones faster, ones slower but the end is the same, and yes Frank it does make for obvious analogy.
#21
It's obvious that she is alive, and that with proper treatment she won't die anytime soon.
Unless someone gives me very very good reasons to think otherwise, for me this qualifies as killing a helpless person with the support of the courts, based on the "take my word for it" husband's idea that she would have wanted that.
Posted by: Tom ||
03/22/2005 19:58 Comments ||
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#23
yep - and her "husband" doesn't qualify as such.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/22/2005 20:02 Comments ||
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#24
If she'd truly expressed a wish for death under her current circumstances, I'd expect her husband to personally honor her wishes, and take the consequences like a man. I'd do it for my family, and would expect my family to do it for me. As it is, her husband is a pitiful excuse for a husband, much less a man.
Google is in the process of removing French news agency Agence France Presse (AFP) from its Google News service, which aggregates links to online articles and accompanying photos from about 4500 news outlets. Google's decision is a direct reaction to a lawsuit AFP filed against the search engine provider alleging copyright infringement over the inclusion of AFP content in Google News, said Steve Langdon, a Google spokesman, on Monday.
Google doesn't have a timetable for when all AFP links and content will be removed from Google News, but the company is actively working on the matter, Langdon said. "We allow publishers to opt out of Google News. Most, however, want to be included in Google News because they believe it's a benefit to them and their readers," Langdon added, reading from a prepared statement. AFP sued Mountain View, California-based Google in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Thursday of last week. The news agency is seeking to recover damages of at least $17.5 million from Google. AFP also asks the court to forbid Google from including its content in Google News. An AFP spokesman in the agency's North America headquarters in Washington, D.C., declined to comment on the lawsuit. A copy of the complaint is available online.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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However, they added a neo-Nazi "news" service, so the Israel-bashing should remain constant.
#2
"We demand to be ignored, irrelevant, and consigned to the dustbin of history! Including our content is tantamount to inviting people to read our stories, view our photos, and think of us as a valid news source. Nothing could be further from the truth!"
Posted by: ed ||
03/22/2005 0:32 Comments ||
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#4
I frequently post AFP news for the simple reason they cover areas the anglo news agencies dont. However, I normally get it from Yemeni, Turkish, etc, sources, i.e not Google. Just a heads up.
Security threats that try to steal confidential information or compromise IT systems continued to increase during the last six months of 2004, according to the latest Internet Security Threat Report from security vendor Symantec Corp. Businesses suffered an average of 13.6 attacks per day in the second half of last year, up from 10.6 daily attacks in the first six months of the year, the report says. And there were 1,403 new vulnerabilities discovered during that period, a 13% increase from the previous six months. Symantec says malicious code designed to expose confidential information made up more than half all code samples picked up by the vendor. And Trojan horses by themselves made up a third of all the malicious code.
Phishing, the report says, continues to be a major problem, and the threat is growing. Symantec last July blocked around 9 million phishing incidents per week. By December, the amount grew to around 33 million per week. Symantec says its Brightmail AntiSpam software blocked most of those attempts. Symantec says Slammer, or the Microsoft SQL Server Resolution Service Stack Overflow Attack, was still the most common kind of security attack seen. And financial-services companies faced more serious attacks than other companies, experiencing around 16 severe events for every 10,000 security events.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Phishing, the report says, continues to be a major problem, and the threat is growing.
Anyone that would fall for a phishing expedition is deserving of an underwear-staining wedgie.
#2
I've noticed in the last couple months I've been getting more and more phishing emails. Normally I'd forward them with full headers to the banks or institutions they claim to represent hoping they could glean something to nail the a--h---s, but it's getting to be a pain with so many coming in.
Posted by: Dar ||
03/22/2005 9:06 Comments ||
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#3
Symantec says Slammer, or the Microsoft SQL Server Resolution Service Stack Overflow Attack, was still the most common kind of security attack seen.
SQL Server: Just Say "HELL NO!"
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
03/22/2005 10:14 Comments ||
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#4
..but it's getting to be a pain with so many coming in.
A lot of them seem to originate in China or point to a site there.
#7
Most of the attempts on my tiny network are for MS file sharing stuffies on ports 135-139 and 445. but that's on the FTP server. Haven't seen an MSSQL request in ages.
The abduction and killing of 9-year-old Jessica Marie Lunsford — allegedly by a convicted sex offender who lived nearby and had failed to register with authorities — is a grim reminder of the flaws in the country's tracking system, victims' advocates say. John Evander Couey, 46, was formally charged today with capital murder in the abduction and death by asphyxiation of Lunsford. He had failed to register his change of address as required as a sex offender, authorities say. There are more than 400,000 registered sex offenders in the United States — convicted criminals whose fingerprints, names, and addresses have been recorded on official lists. But victims' advocates say almost 25 percent of them have slipped through the cracks, and authorities no longer know where they live. "The problem is sex offenders are responsible for their own compliance," said Donna Coleman, president of Children's Advocacy Alliance. "So you have felons that are responsible for complying to register, which is crazy because they're not exactly your top notch citizens."
Give me some money and I'll fix it for you. It's not that hard. Leave the care and feeding of the system in the hands of social workers and politicians and you can give me more money later to fix something else that should have been obvious.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
Strangely enough, these guys tend to move a lot. Go figure.
The "honor system" registration does seem a little, um, stupid though...
#5
This is one type of crime where I'd opt for strict Sharia law. Beasties do time but they can't help themselves so ya gotta be cruel to be kind - it's best for everyone.
Michael Jackson appeared to fall apart in court on Monday arriving late to his child-molestation trial for the second time in two weeks. The singer's entrance was less dramatic than the incident in which he ran to the hospital and showed up to court in pajamas on March 10, but it caused speculation that the judge would possibly issue another bench warrant or otherwise sanction the singer for delaying proceedings once again. However, Judge Rodney Melville made no mention of the delay in open court. Arriving just a few minutes past the usual court deadline, a fully dressed Jackson limped slowly inside the Santa Maria, California, courthouse, flanked by his brother Jackie and a bodyguard. Jackson was also accompanied by a doctor from a nearby hospital who was still in his scrubs, suggesting that the singer's late arrival was once again due to his problems with his back. Once inside, according to observers, Jackson grabbed a wad of tissue and started sobbing. He was then excused and went to a restroom with Dr. Bert Weiner, while lawyers met with Melville in chambers. That conversation is sealed, and Melville gave no explanation of what was discussed. After the 45-minute delay, the trial got under way with Jackson back in his seat.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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5.3 on overall performance. Guy has the emotional maturity of a 12 year old.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/22/2005 0:19 Comments ||
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#2
Creepy!
I just watched the Juon series of DVDs (the 4 Japanese ones subtitled in English) and those ghosts look more alive then Jacko.
If I were the judge, it would have been a monologue. Something along the lines of "If your client shows up late again he'll be remanded to custody and get to wear an orange jumpsuit in the courtroom." I know, just wishful thinking...
#9
Jayzus, Fred! If you must post his picture, can't you put one of those black "censored" squares over that nose?
My boyfriend requires warning if there are going to be Jacko pictures in the newspaper (this is true). Although he says the trial is making him inured to it.
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 Japanese youth who wanted to go to Tokyo's Haneda airport boarded a bus heading there before threatening to hijack it unless it took him to ... the airport. 
Crown 
In the latest twist in a royal wedding saga that has been full of flip-flops, the British government revealed Monday that like it or not, Britons will have to get used to Queen Camilla. That's because Camilla Parker Bowles will, by law, automatically become queen when Charles is crowned. While the public has come around to supporting the marriage, opinion polls still show strong opposition to Parker Bowles taking the title of queen. 
Soldiers arrested a warlord accused of years of atrocities in eastern Congo, where U.N. officials say rival militias have created the world's worst ongoing humanitarian crisis, the government said Tuesday. Security officials arrested 
The abduction and killing of 9-year-old Jessica Marie Lunsford — allegedly by a convicted sex offender who lived nearby and had failed to register with authorities — is a grim reminder of the flaws in the country's tracking system, victims' advocates say. John Evander Couey, 46, was formally charged today with capital murder in the abduction and death by asphyxiation of Lunsford. He had failed to register his change of address as required as a sex offender, authorities say. There are more than 400,000 registered sex offenders in the United States — convicted criminals whose fingerprints, names, and addresses have been recorded on official lists. But victims' advocates say almost 25 percent of them have slipped through the cracks, and authorities no longer know where they live. "The problem is sex offenders are responsible for their own compliance," said Donna Coleman, president of Children's Advocacy Alliance. "So you have felons that are responsible for complying to register, which is crazy because they're not exactly your top notch citizens."
Michael Jackson appeared to fall apart in court on Monday arriving late to his child-molestation trial for the second time in two weeks. The singer's entrance was less dramatic than the incident in which he ran to the hospital and showed up to court in pajamas on March 10, but it caused speculation that the judge would possibly issue another bench warrant or otherwise sanction the singer for delaying proceedings once again. However, Judge Rodney Melville made no mention of the delay in open court. Arriving just a few minutes past the usual court deadline, a fully dressed Jackson limped slowly inside the Santa Maria, California, courthouse, flanked by his brother Jackie and a bodyguard. Jackson was also accompanied by a doctor from a nearby hospital who was still in his scrubs, suggesting that the singer's late arrival was once again due to his problems with his back. Once inside, according to observers, Jackson grabbed a wad of tissue and started sobbing. He was then excused and went to a restroom with Dr. Bert Weiner, while lawyers met with Melville in chambers. That conversation is sealed, and Melville gave no explanation of what was discussed. After the 45-minute delay, the trial got under way with Jackson back in his seat.
