A man was arrested after neighbors reported seeing him sexually assaulting his family's 10-year-old female Rottweiler, police said. Ubaldo Vasquez Huizar, 39, was arrested for investigation of two counts of sexual assault on an animal, according to a statement from Ontario police Detective David McBride. Huizar had been convicted last December of exposing himself to an 11-year-old girl, police said. He also was wanted on an outstanding $10,000 drug warrant. While at the home, police learned that Huizar was living in a large doghouse in the backyard, McBride's statement said. Neighbors reported that he often slept naked in the doghouse with the family dog, Mayra, the statement said. They said they saw Huizar sexually assault the animal with a broom handle and his hand and heard the dog cry in pain when he was in the doghouse, the statement said. I work with animal rescue; I really, really hate people who abuse animals. Though I guess he gets a little credit for it being a Rottie. I wish the dog had bitten off the offending item.
Neighbors also reported seeing Huizar in his back yard dressed in a woman's bra and panties, dancing with a broom handle, police said. Maybe he can share a cell with Lyndie England.
#1
"So turn on your water and shovel in your coal,
Stick you head out the window, watch those drivers roll;
I'll drive her till she leaves the rail,
For I'm eight hours late by that Western Mail.
When he was within six miles of the place,
There number four stared him straight in the face.
He turned to his fireman, said "Jim you'd better jump,
For there're two locomotives that are going to bump.
#2
trains - why do they hate us? ....except for Shipman
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/21/2005 18:57 Comments ||
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#3
Well, I guess even Norfolk Southern has their problems now and then. They've earned the Harriman award for "safest" major railway 16 years running though, so episodes like this must not happen too often.
Posted by: Dar ||
10/21/2005 19:01 Comments ||
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#4
Sounds limke somebody misssed the red block signal.
EFL: CANCUN, Mexico -- Hurricane Wilma struck the Yucatan Peninsula today, pounding the evacuated beach resorts of Cancun and Cozumel, and dozens of fishing hamlets with 145-mph winds. Meanwhile in Florida, officials and residents began getting ready for the storm's potentially destructive arrival this weekend or early next week. "We do have a still extremely powerful Category 4 hurricane," said National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield during a news conference this morning. "It's extremely dangerous. The eye wall is going over the Cozumel and Cancun area as we speak. They are getting the worst of it right now."
The slow-moving hurricane is expected to cut a swath across the Yucatan Peninsula for 24 hours, with a forecasted 7 to 10 foot storm surge, before moving northeast into the Gulf of Mexico and into South Florida.
An estimated 30,000 tourists remained in shelters and hotels in and around Cancun, but most of the city's 500,000 residents had been evacuated as the leading edge of the storm downed trees and flooded streets. Hundreds of residents and some 1,000 tourists were riding out the hurricane in shelters on the island of Cozumel, where the eye of the storm struck this morning, according to wire services.
The hurricane remained a meteorological enigma, its future intensity and course â and the risk it posed to Florida â difficult to predict. Much, said weather experts, was riding on what happened over the next 48 hours. "A lot depends on how long Wilma spends over the Yucatan today, tomorrow and Saturday morning," Ben Nelson, Florida's state meteorologist, said Thursday. "Whenever you have a storm sitting over land, it's going to decrease in intensity."
Nelson said he and many other Floridians would spend "an agonizing weekend" monitoring Wilma. As of Thursday, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center were predicting Wilma might reach Florida's western shoreline late Sunday or early Monday, anywhere from the northern Gulf Coast to the Florida Keys. "There are all kinds of possibilities -- not many of them good," said Greg Artman, an emergency operations official in the Keys.
National Hurricane Center forecasters said the hurricane should veer Saturday toward the northeast and pick up speed as a low-pressure trough forming over the central United States starts to influence its track. It could reach Florida as anywhere from a Category 1 to Category 3 hurricane, with a tremendous difference in its capacity to inflict damage, they said. "In terms of preparations, I'd prepare for the worse-case scenario," said Lt. Dave Roberts, a Navy forecaster at the center, in Miami.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/21/2005 15:33 ||
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At 1 PM CDT...1800z...the center of Hurricane Wilma was located near latitude 20.4 north... longitude 86.7 west or about 15 miles... 25 km... east-southeast of Cozumel Mexico.
Wilma is moving toward the northwest near 5 mph... 7 km/hr. On this track... the core of Wilma will be over Cozumel during the next
few hours and be near the northeastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula later today and tonight. However... Wilma has a large circulation and hurricane conditions are already being experienced in portions of the northeastern Yucatan Peninsula. Cancun radar continues to show strong rainbands over Cozumel and Cancun.
Maximum sustained winds are near 140 mph... 225 km/hr... with higher gusts. Wilma is a category four hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Some fluctuations in intensity are possible before Wilma makes landfall on the northeastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/21/2005 16:33 Comments ||
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#3
Wow, that sucks - these people are still recovering from Emily in July. I was in Cozumel/Cancun/Yucatan in July a few days after Emily, and it was devastated.
VICTORIA, British Columbia -- Mr. Floatie, a community activist who dresses up in a feces costume to decry the pumping of raw sewage into the waters off British Columbia's capital, has withdrawn his name as a candidate for mayor.
Swirling down the drain of history
Well, that stinks...
The city had planned to challenge Mr. Floatie's candidacy in B.C. Supreme Court.
"Wipe him off the slate, your Honor!"
James Skwarok, the man inside the costume, said the city apparently took issue with his candidacy because only real people can run for municipal office. "Of course I'm not a real person," Skwarok said earlier this week. "I'm a big piece of poop."
Over-qualified for the job
Robert Woodland, Victoria's administrator, confirmed that Mr. Floatie is no longer in the running, the Victoria Times Colonist reported Tuesday.
"He pulled the handle and flushed himself"
Mr. Floatie has become a regular sight at public gatherings.
"Hi, kids! I'm Mister Poop!"
Euwwwwwwwwwww!
He passes out pamphlets drawing attention to Victoria's practice of pumping sewage directly into the Juan de Fuca after only a screening to remove solids.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/21/2005 12:53 ||
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EFL:Might be time to give up the keys, pops...
ST. PETERSBURG - A 93-year-old motorist struck and killed a pedestrian Wednesday evening, then drove about 3 miles with the body lodged in the windshield until he was stopped at a Sunshine Skyway tollbooth. The driver told officers he thought the body had fallen from the sky, said St. Petersburg police Officer Mike Jockers. Yeah, I suppose that could happen...
"He had no idea he had been involved in an accident," Jockers said. "He doesn't totally understand what happened." How'd that dead guy get stuck in my windshield?
The impact severed the pedestrian's lower right leg, which remained in the street. His head and arms went through the windshield, while the rest of his body flipped up onto the roof of the car, Jockers said. "The driver continued southbound, as the eyewitness said, like nothing happened," Jockers said. Oh, no! Another dead guy stuck in my windshield? Not again!
As the car approached the toll plaza, the toll taker thought it was a prank, until he saw the blood. Yeah. It was a...prank! That's the ticket!
When the driver stopped, the body fell into the car, Jockers said. Can I go now, sonny?
A veteran traffic investigator, Jockers said it was one of the most gruesome scenes he has worked. Neither the name of the driver nor the name of the victim was released Wednesday. The driver, who lives in Pinellas Park, told police that he was headed home. Pinellas Park, however, is miles in the opposite direction. "Obviously, he was confused," Jockers said. "Incredibly confused." Incredibly, incredibly confused...
The driver was taken to Bayfront Medical Center for evaluation
He will probably not face criminal charges, as he appeared unaware that he had been involved in an accident, Jockers said. Huh? I'll have to remember that one.
#3
My dad is eagerly awaiting the day that I and my siblings come to him to take away his keys and promise to chauffeur him for the rest of his days. He hates to drive.
#7
The big auto insurers are all complicit in this. They don't want the pool of drivers decreased because it would cut into their profits. Most of the oldsters pay their premiums (unlike the masses of young drivers illegally going without insurance in places like New Jersey, Philly and Southern California)
Until the insurance companies stop running interference for older drivers, we'll keep sharing the road with blind, senile drivers who possess the reaction time of a frozen garden slug in defensive driving situations.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/21/2005 12:57 Comments ||
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#8
"Although some drivers in their 80s and even 90s continue to drive safely, the odds in that age group are not good, according to NHTSA statistics. For drivers 65 and older, the crash rate per mile driven begins to increase slowly. For drivers 85 and over, NHTSA statistics show that the fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled begins to zoom upward to a rate 9 times as high as the rate for drivers between from age 25 through 69."
http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/1031002304.html
#9
For drivers 85 and over, NHTSA statistics show that the fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled begins to zoom upward to a rate 9 times as high as the rate for drivers between from age 25 through 69."
BHOPAL, India - Hundreds of Indians flocked to a village in the central state of Madhya Pradesh on Thursday to see if an astrologer who forecast his own death would die as predicted. Kunjilal Malviya, 75, who lives in Sehara village, about 200 km (125 miles) south of state capital Bhopal, was meditating in his house after announcing he would die on Thursday.
"After careful consideration, I'm predicting that I'm going to kick the bucket on Thursday."
"Which Thursday?"
"Hey, what do you care?"
His family fears his forecast will come true. âWe are afraid of his prediction coming true because all his predictions till date have been correct,â his son Anirudh said by phone. âMy father had predicted the death of my grandfather 15 years ago and it came true exactly like he calculated.â
"Gramps keeled over right after drinking that cup of tea Dad gave him! It was just as Dad predicted!"
Television footage showed relatives and friends seated around Malviya, singing religious songs and reading Hindu texts.
Policemen have been posted near his house to prevent the astrologer from killing himself, authorities said.
Wouldn't that be considered interfering with the prophecy?
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/21/2005 01:40 ||
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Does India have the right to private prophecy?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/21/2005 4:27 Comments ||
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The Imam of the Grand Mosque in Makkah, Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, has been chosen the Dubai International Holy Qur'an Award's (DIHQA) 9th Islamic Personality of the year 2005. Dr. Saeed Hareb, the vice chairman of the DIHQA Organizing Committee, made the announcement on Wednesday. "Dr. Al-Sudais has been selected for his devotion to the Qur'an and Islam," he said. "His remarkable and ear-catching intonation of the Qur'an during the Haj season and during the Taraweeh in the holy mosque has made him very famous and beloved among the Muslim community," said Dr. Hareb.
"Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking..."
"They love me! They really love me!"
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2005 00:00 ||
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CIUDAD JUÃREZ Two men whose bodies were stuffed in oil drums filled with concrete were identified as a former Interpol commander and his lawyer, authorities said Thursday. The bodies of former Interpol commander Jesús Portillo Madrid and his lawyer, Gerardo Jaramillo Romo, were found Wednesday in the Villas del Sol neighborhood. An autopsy showed the men were tortured and suffocated with a plastic bag, said Claudia Bañuelos on Thursday, a spokeswoman for Chihuahua state prosecutors.
Portillo Madrid, his wife, his lawyer and another woman were kidnapped Tuesday afternoon in the Villas del Sol neighborhood, where Portillo Madrid owned a home, by at least five men carrying automatic weapons, Chihuahua state attorney general Patricia González. Portillo Madrid's wife, Nancy Márquez, was released unharmed late Tuesday but the whereabouts of the other woman remain unknown, Bañuelos said.
Portillo became a real estate agent after working for the federal Attorney General's Office and serving as a commander for the Interpol in Ciudad Juárez. He survived an attack against his life in 1997.
Located across the U.S. border from El Paso, Texas, this city of 1.3 million people is the home base for the Juárez drug cartel and has witnessed frequent violence related to the drug trade. It has also been plagued by the slayings of more than 100 women in similar sexually motivated killings.
Posted by: DanNY ||
10/21/2005 08:46 ||
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Mexico: The Best of All Failed States
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
10/21/2005 12:43 Comments ||
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#2
Two men whose bodies were stuffed in oil drums filled with concrete were identified as a former Interpol commander and his lawyer, authorities said Thursday.
That's about all the "authorities" down there are good for. Enforcing law and order doesn't even run a distant second; more like a very, VERY distant third or even fourth.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Thursday that his government is preparing for a possible U.S. invasion and he warned that such "aggression" would send gasoline in the United States prices soaring higher. The U.S. government repeated that it is not planning any such thing. Chavez, a vocal critic of "imperialism" and the Bush administration, said he was not against the American people — just the current government.
"We are sure that it will be very difficult for the United States to attack Venezuela," Chavez said. He said his country has eight oil refineries and 14,000 gasoline stations in the United States. "If the United States tried to attack Venezuela by a direct invasion, forget the oil," he said during a two-hour news conference beamed live to Venezuela. "Everyday, we send 1.5 million barrels to the United States." The barrel price of crude oil could hit $150 following a U.S. attack, Chavez said. Currently New York light sweet crude oil trades around $60 a barrel. "That's why Pat Robertson, the spiritual adviser of Mr. Bush, is calling for my assassination _ that would be much cheaper than an invasion," Chavez said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
I guess thats Telling Us ! Now, if we let him get the oil out, he'd sell every drop to the Red Dragon!
#2
Hugo, if we want you dead, you will be, your mouth will not stop it. Hugo if we want your oil we will take it. Not a thing you or your mouth can do to stop it.
#7
Hugo hasn't quite grasped the concept. If the US gets pissed off enough to fight a real oil war, the new Venezuelan oilfields won't cost Uncle Sam a centavo.
Posted by: ed ||
10/21/2005 10:21 Comments ||
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#8
Maybe we'll invade --- and then maybe won't invade.....
Inmates at a prison hospital in Kyrgyzstan killed a parliamentarian and two other people after taking his entourage hostage. The deputy, Tynychbek Akmatbayev, had been visiting the tuberculosis hospital attached to Prison No 31, about 25km northwest of the capital Bishkek, when the violence erupted on Thursday. "The deputy Akmatbayev died from gunshot wounds," said a spokesman for the Justice Ministry's prisons service who asked not to be named. He could not immediately say how the prisoners acquired weapons.
Two other members of his entourage were killed and the head of the prisons service, Imatulla Polotov, was rushed to hospital with serious injuries. His fate was unclear with conflicting statements about his condition. President Kurmanbek Bakiyev ordered an investigation into the killings after meeting Prime Minister Felix Kulov and top law enforcement officials in Bishkek.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Chain the doors closed and walk away from the place.
BooHooHoo, bub. Ya make your choices and takes your chances...
RALEIGH, N.C. - A U.S. Army deserter who spent decades in North Korea says his communist keepers abused him and controlled every aspect of his life, down to telling him how often to have sex. "It was the worst mistake anyone ever made," Charles Jenkins said. "In words, I cannot express the feelings I have towards North Korea, the harassment I got, the hard life."
In an interview airing Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes, Jenkins said he was given no painkillers when a tattoo on his forearm that read "U.S. Army" was cut off with a scalpel and scissors."They told me the anesthetic was for the battlefield," said Jenkins, a North Carolina native. "It was hell."
Jenkins was a 24-year-old sergeant when he crossed the border into North Korea. He stayed for 39 years, appearing in propaganda films and teaching English. In 1980, he married a Japanese woman who had been kidnapped and taken to North Korea to train spies in Japanese language and culture. She was released in 2002 and Jenkins followed two years later, surrendering to U.S. authorities and serving a month in jail for desertion. The couple now live in Japan.
Jenkins told "60 Minutes" that his government handlers assigned him a Korean woman with whom he was supposed to have sex twice a month, and they beat him severely when he balked.
#3
I can't wait to see how 60 minutes spins this into an American and eventually a Republican failure. I only hope that he meets his fate soon and that it is very painful.
Concerned by China's rapid military buildup but not particularly anxious for closer strategic ties with Beijing, the Bush administration is insisting that Taiwan - the most likely future military flashpoint between the two countries - does more to defend itself or face reduced US support.
During a visit to China this week the defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, restated US worries about Beijing's intentions - and the secrecy cloaking its military spending. "It raises some questions about whether China will make the right choices, choices that will serve ... regional peace and stability," he said.
But the biggest question for Washington concerns Taiwan, which China regards as a "renegade province" and which the US is legally bound to defend under the Taiwan Relations Act. US pressure on Taipei is being exerted less publicly but with growing forcefulness.
The main irritant is the internal political deadlock over a $10bn US arms sale that Washington is urging Taiwan to accept. But peace-building moves by the pro-reunification opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party, which is pursuing a rapprochement with China in defiance of the independence-minded president, Chen Shui-bian, have also upset traditional US calculations.
"If Taiwan is not willing to properly invest in its own self-defence, why should we, the US, provide for it?" Edward Ross, a senior Pentagon official, asked in a speech at the US-Taiwan Business Council last month. "At a time when young American men and women are in harm's way in Iraq and Afghanistan - countries not nearly as developed or politically evolved as Taiwan - an increasing number of Americans are asking hard questions about how much we are willing to sacrifice for the security and democracy of others."
While not explicitly threatening to withdraw US guarantees, Mr Ross demanded that Taiwan increased its defence spending, "hardened" its military posture, and did "not simply rely on the US's capacity to address a threat in the Taiwan Strait".
Taiwanese officials play down the warnings, and ascribe the arms sale deadlock to political "bickering". "The US feels a bit upset about the arms sales. But it is also upset about the KMT relationship with China," a senior official said. "The US is not backing off. The US has no recourse but to defend Taiwan, and the same is true for Japan."
We like you guys, but we're not going to pay any price to defend you.
But the official conceded President Bush's outspoken support for Taiwan on taking office in 2001 had weakened as the administration sought ways to come to terms with China's rise.
Many Taiwanese worry that new weapons could upset the fragile status quo; others believe it is pointless to try to match Beijing's military might; and still others feel the money would be better spent on social programmes.
That last one right there: spend the money on social programs instead of defending yourselves, and it'll be a cold day in the South China Sea before you see the Seventh Fleet.
A recent poll reported in the Taipei Times indicated that 65% of male university students, who are subject to compulsory military service, "don't want to go to war with China".
Widening domestic divisions and US hectoring are producing contrary responses. One such response came from the former president and fierce advocate of independence, Lee Teng-hui. He said the main problem with the arms sale was that the defensive weapons on offer were not good enough. In his view, only serious military hardware will guarantee Taiwan's future. Another reason, perhaps, why Mr Rumsfeld's attempt to stop China building weapons and to sell arms to Taiwan looks likely to self-destruct.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/21/2005 01:48 ||
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The Guardian recently reported that a Chinese political activist had been killed by hired thugs. Note that this was based on firsthand reporting by a Guardian journalist. If that's the kind of thing the Guardian generates based on first hand reporting, just how good is the quality of its analysis, which relies on second- and third-hand sources? Note that this is the same Guardian that made a big thing out of the so-called brutal Afghan winters during the Afghan campaign.
#3
I do NOT believe that any Chinese first strike ags Taiwan will be limited to only Taiwan, as Taiwan currently has more than enough firepower to make any Chicom attack very bloody for the Chicoms. Rummy's message also holds for the Philippines and any other nations in China's strategic direction of attack(s).
#4
A recent poll reported in the Taipei Times indicated that 65% of male university students, who are subject to compulsory military service, "don't want to go to war with China".
So does that mean that 35% do? I wonder what the question really was.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
10/21/2005 8:47 Comments ||
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#5
Ironically, in a conflict, Taiwan is in the position towards China that China is to the US.
China cannot take on the US directly, because of US technological superiority, so it has chosen to engage by other means. Taiwan's technology cannot make up for China's overwhelming superiority of numbers, so practically speaking, it must also rely on other means.
Since Taiwan is on a defensive footing, they have several goals. While they have no viable option to "win", they must be able to effectively stalemate, while preserving as much of their economy as possible.
China, for its part, is willing to continue on with a conflict for many years, to wear the Taiwanese down, but the Taiwanese have as their ace-in-the-hole the ability to quickly build nuclear weapons. If they can maintain this capability despite what will be a concerted effort by the Chinese to destroy it, then they will have achieved military deterrence after a few weeks.
This will leave China no alternative but to wage an economic war. In that circumstance, the Taiwanese will be forced to project some force, to damage the Chinese economy in return. This can only be done by reducing the Chinese merchant marine. In turn, this means that they must engage and defeat a sizeable portion of the Chinese navy.
Both sides have significant espionage penetration into the others military, political and economic organization; so both will suffer consequences in the event of a conflict.
China will have also had to engage the US in the war, opening a far more important front. Their plan to do so involves distracting the US long enough for a quick grab of Taiwan, which will then be ultimately defensible against any US counter-attack. But this also requires a tight timetable, as if the US is able to bring a full response against China, they will be a ruin.
All of this leads back to what Taiwan's strategy is reliant on. The US is focused on US technology, so that is what Rumsfeld emphasizes. But Taiwan must balance ever-advancing and ever more expensive technology against what it sees as the non-conventional means it can use to defend itself.
#6
If they don't want to fight for themselves, then what the fuck can we do to help them? We have made this mistake before, and it didn't work out well at all. Doubt we will fall for that one again. Either grow up and fight for yourself or go back to china.
Does anyone out there see any other alternative?
#7
They may not want to fight, but would they be willing to defend themselves? The majority of Americans did not want to go to war on December 6, 1941, or September 10, 2001.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/21/2005 18:29 Comments ||
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bigjim-ky: Taiwan is probably willing to fight, but they feel they can't do it the US *way*, that is, with reliance exclusively on high-tech weapons. Truthfully, the US is very focused on technology in more ways than it should be, and itself needs to be willing to think in lower-tech terms. And for the same reason as Taiwan.
China can produce vast numbers of low-tech weapons. At some point, they will overwhelm even the most advanced high-tech weapons with sheer numbers. As an impractical comparison, how could the US fend off 100,000 cheap suicide aircraft, each carrying a 500 lb bomb and a pilot? Aircraft literally designed for a one-way trip. China could easily afford weapons of this type in quantity, and could build them discreetly.
Such aircraft could be mass produced in a car factory, producing perhaps a thousand a day. Were Taiwan or the US to do the same, they could be equally cheap, but use a GPS-guided brain instead of a human suicide pilot. The end result would be the same. Vast destruction, almost impossible to defend against.
And that's the point. To some degree, you have to meet sheer numbers with sheer numbers. If China launches 30,000 cheap aircraft, and Taiwan in turn launches 10,000 to fight them, it reduces the number getting through to a point where Taiwan's air defenses can be effective.
So Taiwan isn't really snubbing the US. It just suggests that maybe $11 Billion might be spent more effectively.
#10
how could the US fend off 100,000 cheap suicide aircraft, each carrying a 500 lb bomb and a pilot?
Don't underestimate the ability of our fighter aircraft to down large numbers of such planes per US fighter.
Were Taiwan or the US to do the same, they could be equally cheap, but use a GPS-guided brain instead of a human suicide pilot.
UCAVs are already tested, starting with Predators armed with JDAMs and working out towards other capabilities.
IMO the article is probably correct to say that considerations other than simple issues of the selection of equipment for the mission are at work here. Both Taiwan and South Korea are going to have either to overcome their cultural dislike of direct confrontation or stand on their own a whole lot more than they are doing now.
MONKEYS, chickens, parrots, cats and a litter of pups have been seized from Indonesian fishing boats caught in Australian waters, fuelling fears about the spread of diseases such as rabies, tuberculosis and bird flu.
The boats, which were seized and destroyed, were also infested with rats, mosquito larvae, termites and borers.
Photographs of the seized animals were used in a presentation by the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service to Indonesian officials in Jakarta in August.
The presentation, which has been obtained by The Weekend Australian, reveals authorities are worried about rats and domestic animals increasingly being found on intercepted boats.
It also supports claims about an increase in unauthorised landings and abandoned vessels on Australian shores, with photographs of Indonesian boats on beaches and evidence of a well that was suspected to have been dug by poachers setting up camps.
The evidence emerged as Aboriginal marine rangers in the Northern Territory stumbled across a crew of five poachers who had landed and were fishing in a river at Maningrida, on the northern coast.
Federal Fisheries Minister Ian Macdonald and Customs Minister Chris Ellison have said previously they were aware only of anecdotal evidence of monkeys being brought into Australian waters by illegal fishermen.
West Australian Fisheries Minister Jon Ford, who has repeatedly attacked the federal Government for a lack of action and co-operation on combating the poachers, yesterday accused Canberra of covering up the extent of the problem.
Calling on the Prime Minister to establish an independent investigation, Mr Ford said authorities would be foolish not to realise it was only a matter of time before animals on board the foreign boats were taken ashore.
"I think, at best, there is a disconnection between the (federal) ministers' agencies and the ministry and at worst there is a ministerial cover-up," he said.
Senator Macdonald yesterday maintained he was unaware of the AQIS report and did not know when the pictures were taken, but said he was confident quarantine issues were being addressed.
He said a chicken and a parrot were found on a boat seized near the Northern Territory's Wessell Islands this week, but it was unusual for vessels to have animals on board.
"We are conscious of all these potential risks; we always err of the side of caution," Senator Macdonald said.
Senator Ellison was travelling and could not be contacted yesterday, but AQIS national manager of cargo and shipping Bob Murphy said it was "extremely unusual" for monkeys to be discovered on foreign boats.
Mr Murphy said the vast majority of boats did not carry animals and there had been no evidence of animals being taken ashore by poachers.
He said all reported camp sites were investigated by AQIS and boats were towed to within about 3km of the coast before being inspected and then destroyed.
"From a quarantine perspective this is a good story because what you have got here is a summary of what AQIS does when it intercepts illegal vessels," Mr Murphy said.
A Customs spokesman said seized animals were secured in cages provided by AQIS before being destroyed.
Posted by: God Save The World AKA Oztralian ||
10/21/2005 18:04 ||
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Similar story as regards tides, Shipman. The Kimberley coast (of Western Australia) has an enormous tidal range, 30 or 40 feet is typical. You can be motoring along and the bottom just rises up, the water retreats for miles and all you can do is wait for high tide. And shore up as best you can if you are on a coral bottom. Very tricky waters.
ANKARA (AFX) - The fourth powerful earthquake in a week rocked the western Turkish city of Izmir early Friday, causing two deaths and keeping terrified residents on the edge, officials and reports said.
The 5.9 magnitude quake struck Turkey's third-largest city around 12:40 am (2140 GMT Thursday), leading to about 30 people suffering broken bones or concussion from jumping off balconies or out of windows, Anatolia news agency reported.
A spokesman for the Izmir governor's office told AFP that a 68-year-old man died of a heart attack while running down the stairs of his house in panic. A 70-year-old woman also died of a heart attack in the nearby city of Aydin, Anatolia reported.
Turkey's Kandilli observatory said the epicenter of the quake was under the Aegean Sea some 40 kilometers (about 25 miles) southwest of Izmir.
The Athens observatory said the quake measured 6.0 on the Richter scale while the US National Earthquake Information Center put its magnitude at 5.8. 'We heard a great big bang and then were shook violently, it was the strongest earthquake we've felt in years,' a retired teacher, Sinan Taskin, told AFP by telephone from Izmir, 300 kilometers (190 miles) south of Istanbul. Izmir has been on edge since Monday when three violent quakes, measuring 5.7, 5.9 and 5.6 respectively, shook the area in one day, leaving some 30 people injured.
Many residents were reluctant to return indoors after Friday's tremor, with Turkish television showing hundreds passing the night huddled around bonfires or sleeping in makeshift tents in parks. Schools were called off in Izmir and the surrounding province bearing the same name for one day.
Turkey's top seismologist warned residents to be vigilant and stay away from damaged or derelict buildings as the region, which is crossed by several faultlines, was likely to be shaken by more earthquakes.
'There is intense seismic activity in the region. We expect this activity to continue for some time but we cannot say until when,' Gulay Barbarosoglu, the head of the Kandilli observatory told journalists in Istanbul.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/21/2005 13:37 ||
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#1
Yes! With the Haliburton Seismic Generator being sucessfully tested, I can fulfill my destiny to rule the world!
The United Nations cultural body voted in favour of a cultural diversity convention, backed by France, Canada and the UK.
The US had said the "deeply flawed" convention could be used to block the export of Hollywood films and other cultural exports.
The vote follows French moves to protect its film and music industries.
Strict quotas
France already awards large subsidies to its own film, music, theatre and opera industries to support its cultural heritage.
It also imposes strict quotas on the level on non-French material broadcast on radio and television.
The new convention on cultural diversity aims to recognise the distinctive nature of cultural goods and services.
It enables countries to take measures to protect what it describes as "cultural expressions" that may be under threat.
The majority of Unesco's 191 member states voted for the convention.
Britain's representative to Unesco, Timothy Craddock, said the wording was "clear, carefully balanced, consistent with the principles of international law and fundamental human rights".
But it was opposed by the US, which said the convention was unclear and open to wilful misinterpretation.
#2
Maybe this will eventually be a good thing for those of us tired of seeing US movies "dumbed down" to mindless explosions so they'll sell in markets where English isn't a primary or secondary language.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
10/21/2005 22:37 Comments ||
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#3
I think this could work in our favor in the long run.
If Hollyweird can't make money selling their schlock to foreign markets, and aren't making money here either, maybe they'll have to start making good movies again. Or go down the tubes. Their choice. Won't hurt my feelings either way.
And we certainly don't have to worry about the crap the "protected" film industries in other countries making any money in this country.
And the market around the world for (possibly bootleg) DVDs and films over the internet will soar as people try to find real entertainment, not the crap a protected film industry will put out.
What's the downside?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/21/2005 23:04 Comments ||
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On Thursday night, Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri said, "Jews must come to the land of Israel to receive our righteous Mashiach (Messiah), who has begun his influence and will reveal himself in the future." It was during the meal after the 24-hour Yom Kippur fast that several followers approached the 104-year-old leading known Kabbalist Rabbi in Israel. A family member asked him about his remarks last month regarding natural disasters in the world. The Rabbi said that the disasters are directly related to the redemption process, which will culminate in the coming of the Mashiach.
The Rabbi added that in the near future, another wave of Haliburton-caused natural disasters will strike the world.
According to Rabbi Yosef Kaduri and the Arutz-7 journalist, the Kabbalist elder referred to a known esoteric concept of a "struggle between the oceans," and said that the large oceans [Haokeanus hagadol] would strike the world. Rabbi Yosef Kaduri said that grandfather's warning includes were Jews of the Americas.
The elder Rabbi Kaduri told the two that on Yom Kippur he would have more things to say. Such as "Gotcha!"
The Rabbi raised his head and looked around the room at the students and worshippers who were gathered at his Nachalat Yitzhak Yeshiva, in the Bucharim neighborhood of Jerusalem. With a broad smile on his face familiar to his students when he has a revelation, he declared, "With the help of G-d, the soul of the Mashiach has attached itself to a person in Israel" [In the original Hebrew: 'Hit'abra bezrat hashem nishmat mashiach b'adam m'yisrael'].
Rabbi Kaduri has spoken repeatedly about the Final Redemption and referred to the calculations of the Vilna Gaon regarding the redemption, which appear in the Gaon's writings and are considered difficult to decipher.
According to the writings of the Vilna Gaon, a sign of the Gog and Magog war is its breaking out on the Jewish holiday of Hoshana Rabba (the 7th day of the Sukkot holiday), just after the conclusion of the 7th or shemittah [agricultural sabbatical] year.
On September 24, 2001, Channel One Israel TV broadcast an item on what Torah and other mystics were saying in the wake of the World Trade Center attack. Speaking from the room adjacent to where Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri receives visitors, Arutz Sheva Hebrew radio showhost Yehoshua Meiri, a close confident of the Kabbalist, explained to the cameras Rabbi Kaduri's understanding of the events based on the calculations of the Vilna Gaon: "On Hashanah Rabba, the actual war of Gog and Magog will commence and will last for some seven years," said Meiri.
Precise to the minute, 13 days later on October 7th as the sun was setting and the Jewish holiday of Hoshana Rabba was ushered in, US and British forces under Zionist neocon leadership began an aerial bombing campaign targeting Taliban forces and Al-Qaida. That year was the Hoshana Rabba just after the shemitta year of 5761.
According to the calculation, a 7-year count from that Hoshana Rabba is the date of a major revelation associated with Mashiach. Those close to Rabbi Kaduri say in his name that the 5th year of this redemption process is now beginning.
They explain that the above-mentioned "attaching" of a righteous soul to a person of Israel makes the recipient a candidate for Mashiach, but not yet the actual Mashiach. This person gets an additional soul which finds expression in the adding of a letter to his name, without changing its pronunciation. The elder Rabbi Kaduri says that the letter added to this person's name is "vav" and the secret of his power is a Star of David hidden in his attire. Sigh. Though note that at least he doesn't advocate exploding or sawing off heads. Very different from a few miles away.
#1
Precise to the minute...US and British forces under Zionist neocon leadership began an aerial bombing campaign targeting Taliban forces and Al-Qaida.
Damn. Karl Rove is good.
Posted by: Rafael ||
10/21/2005 0:50 Comments ||
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oops...scratch the under Zionist neocon leadership ...
Posted by: Rafael ||
10/21/2005 0:51 Comments ||
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Well now, iff the Sun, etal. doesn't explode in supernova the moment Osama-babe dies, we'll know it wasn't him now won't we, Madonna!?
#6
The Messiah might be a transvestite. Adding a letter to your name would be like going from Paul to Paula. It's that whole "finding expression" thing.
An unusual device that uses trained wasps, rather than trained dogs, to detect specific chemical odors could one day be used to find hidden explosives, plant diseases, illegal drugs, cancer and even buried bodies, according to a joint study by researchers at the University of Georgia and U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The trained wasps are contained in a cup-sized device, called a "Wasp Hound," that is capable of sounding an alarm or triggering a visual signal, such as a flashing light, when the insects encounter a target odor.
The sensor is cheaper to use than trained dogs and more sensitive than some sophisticated chemical detection methods, including electronic noses, the researchers say.
Their experimental device is described in a study slated to be published in the Jan.-Feb. issue of Biotechnology Progress, a joint publication of the American Chemical Society and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
The idea of using unconventional biological sensors to detect target odors is not new, according to study leaders Glen C. Rains, Ph.D., a biological engineer with the University of Georgia in Tifton, Ga., and W. Joe Lewis, Ph.D., a research entomologist with the USDA's Agricultural Research Service, also in Tifton. Rats, honeybees, fish and even yeasts have all been used experimentally to detect various explosives or toxins, they say.
"We've now developed a prototype device that puts the idea of using chemical-sensing wasps into a practical framework and its possibilities are astounding," says Rains, who believes that the device could be ready for commercialization in five to ten years. Like batteries in a smoke detector, the trained wasps won't live forever and will eventually have to be replaced, he says.
In the current study, the researchers used Microplitis croceipes, a species of tiny parasitic wasps that can be trained to detect certain odors by associating the odors with a food reward. The wasps are not capable of stinging humans, the scientists say. Training a single wasp to detect a target odor can take as little as five minutes and the insects can be easily bred by the thousands, they say.
The research team developed a special ventilated device, composed of PVC pipe, which holds a small cartridge containing five trained wasps. The wasps were trained to detect 3-octanone, a chemical produced by certain toxic fungi that infect corn and peanut crops. The presence of the fungi can result in costly crop losses.
The Wasp Hound contains a tiny camera that is linked to a computer to record the movement of the wasps. In a controlled test, the device was exposed to batches of dried feed corn containing either the target chemical, myrcene (a compound of neutral interest to the wasps) or corn alone.
In comparison to a group of untrained wasps, the trained wasps showed significantly stronger behavioral responses to the target odor than to the myrcene and control treatments. Responses include moving toward the target odor source and congregating around the device's odor inlet. This movement can be translated into an alarm signal to indicate the presence of a toxic plant fungus, the scientists say.
Besides detecting plant diseases, the device has a wide variety of other potential applications. In previous studies, the researchers demonstrated that they also could train the wasps to detect 2,4-dinitrotoluene (2,4-DNT), a chemical used in certain explosives.
The wasps can also be used to detect chemical odors that are associated with certain human diseases, including lung cancer, skin cancer and stomach ulcers, they say. More recently, their group has been looking into the possibility of using the wasps to detect odors associated with hidden bodies, from murder victims to victims of disasters.
Posted by: DanNY ||
10/21/2005 08:20 ||
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#1
I will NOT detect bombs or those other yucky things...
Posted by: John Kerry ||
10/21/2005 9:00 Comments ||
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Never trust an insect, though Mira Sorvino is cute...
The rapid structural breakdown of some important parts of the ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica is possible, has happened in the distant past, and some "startling changes" on the margin of these ice masses has been observed in recent years â raising disturbing concerns about sea level rise.
In a new report to be released Friday in the journal Science, researchers from Oregon State University and four other institutions in the U.S. and Europe outline dynamic mechanisms of glacial change that appear to be under way, could significantly speed up the melting of major ice sheets, and have not been considered in current projections for sea level rise.
A possibility, scientists say, is that the melting and collapse of floating ice shelves near the coasts of Greenland and Antarctica will continue and in the process destabilize the ice sheets behind them.
This could cause a much more rapid flow of ice to the sea and lead to melting events that transcend those now anticipated due to global warming. Based on this, the researchers say that current projections of sea level rise should be considered a minimum to expect, and the levels could be much higher and happen more quickly.
"Most of the sea level rise we're now expecting in the next 200 years is due to thermal expansion of water, not the overall loss of ice from Greenland and Antarctica," said Peter Clark, a professor of geosciences at OSU. "But recent events we've studied with improved observational systems and computer modeling suggest there may be much more going on."
"We may be more vulnerable to sea level rise than we thought and it may be more rapid than we have anticipated," Clark said. "This is an issue we should take very seriously."
Although they are learning a great deal more about the mechanisms that may lead to more rapid glacial collapse, the scientists cannot yet predict with certainty whether or how fast it might happen, or what the resulting sea level rise may be.
In one event about 14,600 years ago, Earth's sea level rose about 70 feet in less than 500 years â 20 times faster than the current rate of sea level rise. However, climatic conditions then may have been considerably different than today, and that event may not provide an exact analog to what we might expect from current glacial melting events, Clark said. Nevertheless, that event illustrates the potential for existing ice sheets to cause sea level to rise rapidly, he said.
*gulp*
Posted by: DanNY ||
10/21/2005 08:09 ||
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Bah, I live at 1200m (about 3900ft), sea level can rise as much as it wishes, I'm not concerned. Take that, Mother Nature!
#2
In other news, Scientists have proved a negative correlation between the length of time to the next research grant and the number of catastrophic things mentioned in the paper.
#3
Another reason not to rebuild New Orleans. Just build the port facilities, mainly on floating platforms and design the bridges out to them so that they can be extended inland as needed.
#5
Ice sheets are on the land. Would slide into the water. So it makes a little difference.
Maybe greenland will someday be green so when is the good time to speculate on the newly de-iced land?
Russia's Khrunichev Space Center has lost control of an Earth-probing satellite, a Russian Space Agency official said Wednesday, reports RIA Novosti. Vyacheslav Davidenko said the agency was very concerned over the news.
"How concerned?"
"Very concerned!"
The space center's mission control said it had encountered problems controlling the Monitor-E satellite on October 18. "Specialists at the Khrunichev Center are doing everything possible to regain control of the satellite, but they have failed so far," Davidenko said.
From the moment it separated from its acceleration unit, the satellite failed to receive commands from Earth. "This situation confirms that Khrunichev specialists failed to fully prepare the satellite for flight, although the center's director reported that the space vehicle was ready," he said. Monitor-E was launched on August 26.
Davidenko said this was the second failure in the past two months for the Khrunichev Center. Recently, defects were found in a carrier rocket that failed to launch the CryoSat space vehicle into orbit.
Posted by: DanNY ||
10/21/2005 08:05 ||
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The last transmission said something about "it's full of stars" and that was it.
Working with a material 10 times lighter than steel - but 250 times stronger - would be a dream come true for any engineer. If this material also had amazing properties that made it highly conductive of heat and electricity, it would start to sound like something out of a science fiction novel.
Yet one Florida State University research group, the Florida Advanced Center for Composite Technologies (FAC2T), is working to develop real-world applications for just such a material. Ben Wang, a professor of industrial engineering at the Florida A&M University-FSU College of Engineering in Tallahassee, Fla. , serves as director of FAC2T, which works to develop new, high-performance composite materials, as well as technologies for producing them.
Wang is widely acknowledged as a pioneer in the growing field of nano-materials science. His main area of research, involving an extraordinary material known as "buckypaper," has shown promise in a variety of applications, including the development of aerospace structures, the production of more-effective body armor and armored vehicles, and the construction of next-generation computer displays.
The U.S. military has shown a keen interest in the military applications of Wang's research; in fact, the Army Research Lab recently awarded FAC2T a $2.5-million grant, while the Air Force Office of Scientific Research awarded $1.2 million. "At FAC2T, our objective is to push the envelope to find out just how strong of a composite material we can make using buckypaper," Wang said. "In addition, we're focused on developing processes that will allow it to be mass-produced cheaply."
Buckypaper is made from carbon nanotubes -- amazingly strong fibers about 1/50,000th the diameter of a human hair that were first developed in the early 1990s. Buckypaper owes its name to Buckminsterfullerene, or Carbon 60 -- a type of carbon molecule whose powerful atomic bonds make it twice as hard as a diamond.
Sir Harold Kroto, now a professor and scientist with FSU's department of chemistry and biochemistry, and two other scientists shared the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their discovery of Buckminsterfullerene, nicknamed "buckyballs" for the molecules' spherical shape. Their discovery has led to a revolution in the fields of chemistry and materials science -- and directly contributed to the development of buckypaper.
Among the possible uses for buckypaper that are being researched at FAC2T: If exposed to an electric charge, buckypaper could be used to illuminate computer and television screens. It would be more energy-efficient, lighter, and would allow for a more uniform level of brightness than current cathode ray tube (CRT) and liquid crystal display (LCD) technology.
As one of the most thermally conductive materials known, buckypaper lends itself to the development of heat sinks that would allow computers and other electronic equipment to disperse heat more efficiently than is currently possible. This, in turn, could lead to even greater advances in electronic miniaturization.
Because it has an unusually high current-carrying capacity, a film made from buckypaper could be applied to the exteriors of airplanes. Lightning strikes then would flow around the plane and dissipate without causing damage. Films also could protect electronic circuits and devices within airplanes from electromagnetic interference, which can damage equipment and alter settings. Similarly, such films could allow military aircraft to shield their electromagnetic "signatures," which can be detected via radar.
FAC2T "is at the very forefront of a technological revolution that will dramatically change the way items all around us are produced," said Kirby Kemper, FSU's vice president for Research. "The group of faculty, staff, students and post-docs in this center have been visionary in their ability to recognize the tremendous potential of nanotechnology. The potential applications are mind-boggling."
Posted by: DanNY ||
10/21/2005 07:57 ||
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Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
10/21/2005 12:41 Comments ||
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#3
Are we getting to the Diamond Age now?
ObConspiracyNote: Isn't Ben Wang afraid of getting his door kicked in by the steel industry?
As one of the most thermally conductive materials known, buckypaper lends itself to the development of heat sinks that would allow computers and other electronic equipment to disperse heat more efficiently than is currently possible.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/21/2005 15:23 Comments ||
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Superior FSU Press Release. Note that it's all could, might, in a few years. On the other hand the U of Florida has increased egg production in this years hen brood by 3.2% with only a 2.23% increase in feed input.
#6
America's pre-emminence in materials science technology, quite simply, whips @ss. Between MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems), DLC (Diamond-Like Coatings) and nanotube based composites, we are headed into a golden era of structural and mechanical innovation.
I firmly believe we still have the ability (for the next few decades) to reverse the last century of unknowing (and knowing) environmental rape.
Imagine a large (inert gas environment) swimming-pool sized tank of nano-robotic dissasembly devices that are able to deconstruct materials on an atomic or moleculer level. Dump in a circuit board, an old couch or an entire refrigerator, it matters not, and collect the component elemental materials at the tank's outlet.
Were I Bill Gates, I would buy up every single landfill in the world and merely await the nano-disassembly technology to turn each of these dumps into literal goldmines.
At one point, before strict EPA enforcement, Palo Alto's sewage sludge contained enough gold (from IC fabrication and PCB contact etching) to make its reclamation rather profitable. The same allpies to all of our landfills. They represent tremendous lodes of pre-refined materials that merely need to undergo separation once again.
The space elevator, room temperature superconductors, palmtop supercomputers and so much more await us, if only we have enough brains to avoid outsourcing the skills to create them.
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - For the 368th and last time, the United States launched a Titan rocket into space Wednesday. The blastoff of the 16-story, unmanned Titan 4 signaled the end of an era that began in 1959, as the U.S. military converts to cheaper space boosters. The last Titan carried a secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, which oversees the nationâs spy satellites... However, you can still see the last remaining (dummy) Titan II ICBM, in its silo, at the Titan II Missile Museum South of Tucson. A most unique historical tour.
#2
That's not a dummy Titan in the museum. It's a genuine Titan II, number 10(?) off the production line. I was used as a training missile, so was never fueled, but it's the real thing (though it now has holes cut in it and obviously doesn't have a warhead).
#3
History was made by this launch system. Now we have moved on. As a real "rocket scientist" who worked a Vandenburg once told me. "Unlike NASA we only blow them up on purpose" It took me a while to stop laughing my ass off but it was pretty much the truth.
#4
I used to work on the tv cameras monitoring the entry port on the Titan silos around Wichita. The "re-entry vechicle" on top didn't bother me, but the fuels scared the crap out of me. Hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide, a witches brew if there ever was one.
They gave us a briefing on them before we could go out to the sights that included a description on what they smelled like. But the closer was; "..if they reach a high enough consentation that you can smell them, your eyes will melt and your lungs turn to water..".
Boy, I was glad to leave that assignment.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/21/2005 9:14 Comments ||
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"Is that a Titan IV in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?"
"Not much on current events, are ya? I like that in my wymyns... Did ya hear about the new law? It sez you hafta..."
#7
An irony surrounds the Titan II Missile Museum, in that it is near the San Xavier del Bac mission, a 400-year-old Catholic church and school catering to the Yaqui indians. It is the most photographed building in Arizona, and has an air of humble simplicity and peace.
Juxtaposed with an edifice whose very purpose was to enable what could have been part of apocalyptic destruction in the world.
INDONESIAN officials "covered up and then neglected" an epidemic of avian influenza in poultry for two years, allowing it to spread among flocks and then to people, the Washington Post has reported.
The newspaper quoted an Indonesian microbiologist as saying authorities argued about whether the virus killing chickens was in fact H5N1, and then tried to deal with it quietly.
As a result, the virus spread for two years, with little public word until it began infecting people.
H5N1 bird flu has killed four people in Indonesia.
"If the government had acted sooner to stamp it out, there would be no outbreak. They have wasted so much time," the newspaper quoted Indonesian microbiologist Chairul Nidom as saying.
The newspaper also quoted Indonesia's former national director of animal health, Tri Satya Putri Naipospos, as saying chickens began dying from H5N1 in Indonesia in 2003 but the government covered it up because of lobbying from the poultry industry.
"They said, 'It's better to do it with confidentiality. Do a hidden, silent operation,"' Mr Naipospos was quoted as saying.
Posted by: God Save The World AKA Oztralian ||
10/21/2005 01:48 ||
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Iran has banned American and other films that promote Western culture in a move to combat what the Islamic government calls attempts to damage and humiliate eastern traditions and culture. Iranian state-run television said on Thursday that the country's Supreme Cultural Revolutionary Council, headed by hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, issued the ban on foreign movies that promote what were termed "arrogant powers", a propaganda term the Iranians use to refer to the United States. The ban affects films that deny the existence of God as well as those seen to promote immorality, violence, drug usage, liquor consumption, secularism, liberalism, anarchy and feminism, the television report said.
The culture minister and the head of national broadcasting were charged with enforcing the ban. The decision did not mention Iranian movies, which already are censored. "It is good bye to those few American movies which we could see sporadically. From now on any of them could be banned because of an alcohol consumption scene or action and thriller theme," said Hooshang Rahimi, a moviegoer standing in front of a movie house in downtown Tehran.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2005 00:00 ||
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films that deny the existence of God as well as those seen to promote immorality, violence, drug usage, liquor consumption, secularism, liberalism, anarchy and feminism,
Hollywood in a nutshell. But what is Sean Penn's opinion on this??? Enquiring minds want to know.
Posted by: Rafael ||
10/21/2005 0:23 Comments ||
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So films that acknowledge the existence of God, like, say, The Ten Commandments or The Passon of Christ are hunky-dory?
Or do they have to claim that the demon prince Allah is a god?
Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf says the amount of foreign reconstruction aid pledged after the South Asia quake is "totally inadequate". Mr Musharraf told the BBC that about $620m had been promised, but that Pakistan needed about $5bn to rebuild devastated areas.
An estimated three million people in Pakistan lack adequate shelter. The UN has appealed for urgent help to avoid a massive second wave of deaths over the fierce Himalayan winter. It is asking Nato to stage a massive airlift of those without shelter, and says the quake is the worst logistical nightmare it has ever faced.
Mr Musharraf said it was likely that Pakistan would need to build 500,000 new homes. BOOO HOOO...
#2
Once, in my misspent youth, I clipped the decorative thin metal shroud covering the base of a light pole in a parking lot. There was a visible dent in the shroud but my bumper wasn't damaged. I left contact information at the unmanned exit booth and notified my insurance company - and they sent one of their people out to photograph it and contact the building mgmt / owners. Well, a lot of time passed before we heard from them about the matter. In fact, I presumed they had found the damage insignificant and had dropped the matter.
Silly me.
When we heard back from them, they were demanding over $35,000 in compensation. It turned out they had replaced the shrouds of all the light poles, on all levels of the parking structure, with four concrete-filled pipes, sunk into the deck, to prevent a vehicle from actually striking the pole -- and they were trying to stick my insurance company with the bill for the lot. ALL of the new pole protectors, all of the materials, all of the manhours, and even the design costs of this new "improved" scheme.
But we had photographs. Not quite the legendary 27 8x10 color glossy photographs with the circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining... blah³, but more than enough for an honest judge.
They were literally thrown out of his courtroom, or so the agent told me, between fits of laughter.
Why am I getting this It's deja vu all over again! feeling?
Musharraf, baby, shit-can the AWACS and all your other military wet-dreams, d00d, you can't afford them, now. You have a mess to clean up. Your mess. We'll help, but...
We should never accept any help, whatsoever, not one thin dime or pump or anything else for Katrina or any other disaster that occurs. Doing so encourages every asshat on the planet to think they have open call on us for everthing that happens around the world. And a LOT happens around the world. Every day.
#6
We could cut costs tremendously by lobbing sending Musharraf a much smaller and significantly more energetic "aid" package. This traitorous @sshole should thank his stars that he only got what nature sent his way and not what he really deserves from us.
Legal and social experts have stressed the need to galvanise individual and national efforts to prevent orphaned or lost children being handed over to adults that are not blood relations. Besides ongoing relief efforts and the reconstruction of affected areas, the government has been urged to make the protection of orphans and children a priority. According to a rough estimate, some 50,000 children have either been orphaned or separated from their parents by the earthquake. So far no programme exists to ensure the psychological rehabilitation or care of these children.
The future of these children has legal, social and moral implications. Although the government has recently banned the adoption of orphans to prevent the risk of child abuse, the illegal transfer of minors into âunsafe handsâ is said to have continued. Barrister Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, while defining the current adoption policy said, âA narrow view of the adoption policy is that Islam prohibits adoption. This is derived from Quranic injunction regarding âZaydâ who was companion of the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him). The Quran prohibits adoption so that no illegal heir can inherit the orphanâs property.â Nonetheless, he said, the adoption was perfectly legal as the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) himself was adopted by his grandfather and then, on the demise of his grandfather, by his uncle.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
There is no provision for child adoption. There is one, however, for child molestation.
#4
"The Quran prohibits adoption so that no illegal heir can inherit the orphanâs property.â
Bull. The Koran prohibits adoption because Mo wanted to get it on with the wife of his adopted son. He then had a convenient "revelation" that adoptions are prohibited. Allah, the book says, wants his Prophet to enjoy himself.
Dressing this stuff up with some ex post rationale is disingenuous. Mohammed was more capricious than principled; more self-serving than just. The fact that he said it all had divine sanction and must never be changed has caused inestimable damage.
I hate it that so many of his followers think they can dissemble and threaten people into ignoring all this, and I hate it more that it often seems to work.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
10/21/2005 17:16 Comments ||
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#5
Never mind a "moderate Muslim". Find me one who isn't a clinically certifiable sociopath.
Thats because mo redefined all standards of morality and righteousness to suit himself. Therefore we have the effect where muslims have an entirely different conception of the terms "peace" "love" "grace" "tolerance" "justice" "mercy" etc.
mohammed basically took a people without a great or stabel moral tradition and taught them these principles redefined by his own self-serving standards. Hence mohammed is described as just, peaceful, gentle, patient etc as basically having all the virtues and yet he actually didnt. This has forced muslims into total denial and has forced them to define these terms by mohammeds example.
So what is clearly wrong becomes right because mo aaid it or did it or because the koran says its right. Morality is not then based on truth but on the word of a guy who conveniently received revealtions condoning his behavior or creating a special case everytime he got in a jam or someone started to question the many contradictions between what he said and did and the many contradiction between what he decided in one situation and what he decided in some different situation.
It cant help but make even otherwise normal people crazy enough to think its in a traumatized orphans best interest to be doomed to live in a orphanage until adulthood or to live with a relative that doesnt want them or cant afford to keep them when there are tons of people in the world who would want them and would take good care of them.
Only in islam is a childs property rights more important than finding them a good home.
What makes me even more mad is that there are orphanages in Iraq full of Christian kids dying for a home of their own but they cant be adpoted either by Iraqi law in spite of them being Christian.
It makes you sick doesnt it? Some great religion, huh?
The United Nations has appealed to the international community to step up aid to Pakistan if it wants to prevent a "second, massive wave of death", while international aid officials described the relief operation as one of the toughest the world has ever known. "We have never had this kind of logistical nightmare ever. We thought the tsunami was the worst we could get. This is worse," Jan Egeland, the United Nations emergency relief coordinator, said in Geneva.
Nearly two weeks after the earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people, the United Nations estimated half a million people were still cut off.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2005 00:00 ||
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The United Nations has appealed to the international community to step up aid to Pakistan if it wants to prevent a "second, massive wave of death", while international aid officials described the relief operation as one of the toughest the world has ever known. "We have never had this kind of logistical nightmare ever. We thought the tsunami was the worst we could get. This is worse," Jan Egeland, the United Nations emergency relief coordinator, said in Geneva.
Translation: No five star hotels or restaurants. Our supply of champange and fois gras is running dangerously low. There is also a shortage of goats and young boys for UN peacekeepers. Please send aid.
#6
"Send me $8 million .7% of your GDP or God Allan will take me home more Muzzies."
Posted by: .Anal Annan ||
10/21/2005 4:51 Comments ||
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#7
My son Kofi is currently setting up shell companies to redistribute the cash and we anticipate sending peace keepers as we expect many hungry women and boys will be willing to exchange sex for food.
#11
Given that Pakistan is a nest of vipers that nurtured the Taliban and al Qaeda in the run-up to 9/11, I think massive death there may be a feature rather than a bug. The more of them die, the fewer of them will be left to join some jihadi cause.
Nigeria, home to some of the world's most notorious cyber crimes, has proposed a law making spamming a criminal offence for which senders of unsolicited emails could be jailed for at least three years. The draft law identifies the use of computers for fraud, spamming, identity theft, child pornography and terrorism as criminal offences punishable by jail terms of between six months and five years, and fines of 10,000 naira ($77) to one million naira ($7,700).
Under the bill, which has to be approved by the National Assembly to become law, convicted spammers face jail terms of three to five years and could also be made to hand the proceeds of crime to the government. "Any person spamming electronic messages to recipients with whom he has no previous relationship commits an offence," said a section of the draft law obtained by Reuters on Wednesday.
Under the proposed law, service providers who aid and abet cyber crimes and fail to cooperate with law enforcement agents could be fined between 500,000 and 10 million naira. The draft law empowers law enforcement agents to enter and search any premises or computer and arrest any person in connection with an offence.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/21/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
GREEETINGS IN CHRIST.
I AM UMFULATY NAYASSA. BEFORE MY FATHER WAS JAILED BY HIS POLITICAL ENEMIES, HE LEFT TEN MILLIONS US DOLLARS IN AN EXPORT ACCOUNT...
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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
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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.
VICTORIA, British Columbia -- Mr. Floatie, a community activist who dresses up in a feces costume to decry the pumping of raw sewage into the waters off British Columbia's capital, has withdrawn his name as a candidate for mayor. 
BHOPAL, India - Hundreds of Indians flocked to a village in the central state of Madhya Pradesh on Thursday to see if an astrologer who forecast his own death would die as predicted. Kunjilal Malviya, 75, who lives in Sehara village, about 200 km (125 miles) south of state capital Bhopal, was meditating in his house after announcing he would die on Thursday.
The Imam of the Grand Mosque in Makkah, Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, has been chosen the Dubai International Holy Qur'an Award's (DIHQA) 9th Islamic Personality of the year 2005. Dr. Saeed Hareb, the vice chairman of the DIHQA Organizing Committee, made the announcement on Wednesday. "Dr. Al-Sudais has been selected for his devotion to the Qur'an and Islam," he said. "His remarkable and ear-catching intonation of the Qur'an during the Haj season and during the Taraweeh in the holy mosque has made him very famous and beloved among the Muslim community," said Dr. Hareb. 
CIUDAD JUÃREZ Two men whose bodies were stuffed in oil drums filled with concrete were identified as a former Interpol commander and his lawyer, authorities said Thursday. The bodies of former Interpol commander Jesús Portillo Madrid and his lawyer, Gerardo Jaramillo Romo, were found Wednesday in the Villas del Sol neighborhood. An autopsy showed the men were tortured and suffocated with a plastic bag, said Claudia Bañuelos on Thursday, a spokeswoman for Chihuahua state prosecutors.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Thursday that his government is preparing for a possible U.S. invasion and he warned that such "aggression" would send gasoline in the United States prices soaring higher. The U.S. government repeated that it is not planning any such thing. Chavez, a vocal critic of "imperialism" and the Bush administration, said he was not against the American people — just the current government.
Inmates at a prison hospital in Kyrgyzstan killed a parliamentarian and two other people after taking his entourage hostage. The deputy, Tynychbek Akmatbayev, had been visiting the tuberculosis hospital attached to Prison No 31, about 25km northwest of the capital Bishkek, when the violence erupted on Thursday. "The deputy Akmatbayev died from gunshot wounds," said a spokesman for the Justice Ministry's prisons service who asked not to be named. He could not immediately say how the prisoners acquired weapons. 
ANKARA (AFX) - The fourth powerful earthquake in a week rocked the western Turkish city of Izmir early Friday, causing two deaths and keeping terrified residents on the edge, officials and reports said. 
The rapid structural breakdown of some important parts of the ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica is possible, has happened in the distant past, and some "startling changes" on the margin of these ice masses has been observed in recent years â raising disturbing concerns about sea level rise.
Iran has banned American and other films that promote Western culture in a move to combat what the Islamic government calls attempts to damage and humiliate eastern traditions and culture. Iranian state-run television said on Thursday that the country's Supreme Cultural Revolutionary Council, headed by hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, issued the ban on foreign movies that promote what were termed "arrogant powers", a propaganda term the Iranians use to refer to the United States. The ban affects films that deny the existence of God as well as those seen to promote immorality, violence, drug usage, liquor consumption, secularism, liberalism, anarchy and feminism, the television report said. 
Nigeria, home to some of the world's most notorious cyber crimes, has proposed a law making spamming a criminal offence for which senders of unsolicited emails could be jailed for at least three years. The draft law identifies the use of computers for fraud, spamming, identity theft, child pornography and terrorism as criminal offences punishable by jail terms of between six months and five years, and fines of 10,000 naira ($77) to one million naira ($7,700). 
