#2
My favorite was from Sydney a good few years ago. A marine salvage company announced (the day before April 1) that they had left their sonar on as they crossed Sydney Harbor and recorded the position of the missing third Japanese midget submarine that got into the Harbor in WW2, and was never found afterward. The next day they would raise it, they said.
The story ceated an uproar, but some party pooper proved the sub could not be where they said it was. Which was a great shame- they had a mock up of a little conning tower they were going to raise in front of every TV camera in Sydney. Then they would open up the hatch, and out would jump a small Japanese sailor.
Sweden's national dish is an acquired taste, to say the least. Some say surstromming, a fermented herring, smells like rubbish left out in the sun for days. But now the fish has been banned from several major airlines, classified along with dangerous weapons like shoe bombs and firearms. The Baltic herring is fermented in barrels for months before being put in tin cans, where the fermentation process continues.
The decision has made many Swedes very angry indeed. Surstromming is as Swedish as Volvo and Ikea. Some say it is simply rotten fish, which smells like rotten fish. Others argue it is the finest of delicacies.
But now major airlines like British Airways and Air France argue the cans are pressurised goods, and must be classified as potentially explosive. The dish is no longer allowed on their flights, and the sale of the delicacy from Stockholm's international airport has been stopped. That has made producers of the surstromming choke on their fermented fish, calling the airlines' decision "culturally illiterate". It is a myth, they say, that the tinned fish can explode. They admit, however, that a punctured tin would emit a foul smell, and that the content might spill quite forcefully, like a punctured can of beer. "Well, yah, but it's not going to go kabloomey like a Palestinian..."
But that is not enough to stop the export of a potent national symbol, the herring supporters argue. The leader of the Swedish Surstromming Academy, an organisation promoting the dish nationally and internationally, and you thought your job sucks! said any airline worried about explosives and foul smells should first ban bottles of champagne and French cheese before attacking the pride of the Swedish cuisine. Bet it pairs up real nice with durian...
Charles Emmanuel, son of Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president, has been arrested in Miami, the US Justice Department said. A US citizen, Emmanuel is being held on a charge of making false statements on a passport application, Brian Roehrkasse, Justice Department spokesman, said on Friday. He was taken into custody on Thursday night at Miami International Airport in Florida, where his flight from Trinidad had just landed, Roehrkasse said.
His father, Charles Taylor is being held at the UN-backed Special Tribunal in Sierra Leone that has charged him with war crimes. The ex-president is accused of formenting and encouraging atrocities in civil wars in Liberia and neighbouring Sierra Leone. Emmanuel, 29, appeared at a hearing in federal court in Miami on Friday, Roehrkasse said. He would make no further comment.
Emmanuel headed the Liberian anti-terrorist unit that was responsible for Taylor's security until he went into exile in 2003, according to an affidavit filed in federal court in Miami. Emmanuel's name appeared on a United Nations Travel Ban list of people whose travel is supposed to be restricted, the affidavit said. He was born in Boston in 1977, the affidavit said. Emmanuel served his father in Liberia for the duration of Taylor's rule from 1997 until August 2003, the affidavit said, citing an interview with Emmanuel's mother.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2006 00:00 ||
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Fifty-seven people were killed while 13 others remain missing following the capsizing of a boat Thursday night off the Bahraini coast of Muharraq. The dead include 17 Indians, 14 British, four South Africans, four Pakistanis, three Filipinos, two Singaporean men, an Irish man, and a German woman.
If I ever get to take another vacation, I'm taking a cruise to the Caymans, not to Arabia or Egypt or some other fun spot like that.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2006 00:00 ||
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It was only after all the able-bodied teachers in a school in Afif had struggled hard that they could save their principal from the ire of their students recently. A number of angry students pounced upon their principal and started thrashing him with all their might because they were not allowed to come to school. The boys were involved in a fight on the previous day and were sent away from the school with the condition that they could come back only with their parents. The students did not, obviously, want to involve their parents in such an ordinary thing as fighting among themselves. They came to school next morning as though nothing had happened the previous day, but the principal wanted the students to obey him. He did not allow them to attend the morning assembly. It was too much for the students and they jumped on the principal and heaped blows and kicks on him.
Apparently there's some dispute over who's in charge at the school, Mr. Principal or the little monsters...
All the teachers and students were shocked and confused and did not know what to do for a few moments. Then some teachers ran to the assistance of the principal and tried to repel the boys. Then the boys turned on the teachers and it was a free for all for some time. Soon the students discovered that they were no match for their teachers and called for a tactical retreat, Al-Watan daily reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Such good islamic students. When you teach your children nothing but violent jihad against anything that upsets their delicate sensibilities as the True Way To Virgins, don't be freakin' surprised when they demonstrate how well they have studied.
Japan's opposition party suffered a fresh humiliation Friday when its leadership resigned en masse over a fake e-mail scandal, handing Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi an uncontested grip on power in his last six months in office.
The shakeup at the Democratic Party of Japan marks a new low for a party that was trounced in last September's elections.
Party leader Seiji Maehara and his lieutenants stepped down after the party's credibility was torpedoed by one of its own lawmakers, who used a fraudulent e-mail in an apparent attempt to discredit Koizumi's ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
"I am sorry I couldn't complete my term as leader," said Maehara, who was six months into a two-year tenure. "It is necessary for my staff to resign ... to regain the people's trust."
The party apologized earlier this month after it learned that unfounded allegations were made in Parliament by lawmaker Hisayasu Nagata. He proffered an e-mail that alleged financial links between the son of the ruling party secretary-general and the Internet firm Livedoor Co., which is under investigation for doctored earnings.
Nagata, who later admitted he couldn't verify the e-mail's authenticity, said Friday he would give up his seat in Parliament.
Friday's resignations mark another retreat for the opposition party, whose gains in parliamentary elections in 2003 and 2004 had many predicting a competitive two-party system would finally mushroom after a half-century of nearly uninterrupted Liberal Democratic Party rule.
But the Democratic Party of Japan was trounced in the Sept. 11 elections, with the ruling party scoring a two-thirds majority with its coalition partner.
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Maehara then emerged as a fresh new face to reverse the party's slide. Instead, he was challenged as inexperienced, criticized for backing policies too close to Koizumi's, and finally ousted over the fake e-mail.
"You can't underestimate how serious the damage is that's been done to the DPJ because of this," said Gerald Curtis, a professor of Japanese politics at Columbia University. "Whether they can now move forward, restructure, find a new leadership and a new message, that's to be seen. ... They have their work cut out for them."
Koizumi has promised to step down as prime minister in September. Those mentioned as possible successors lag far behind in public support.
"The two party system may take a little while longer because of this blunder," said political analyst Shigenori Okazaki. "Many people are disillusioned. They voted for the DJP to see change, and this is what they got."
Maehara said he hoped his departure would allow the party to rebuild.
"I arrived at my decision to take responsibility as the country's largest opposition party, to win back the public's trust and to achieve the party goal of taking over the government in the next election," he said.
Democratic Party of Japan executives will meet Monday to discuss a schedule for picking new leaders. Possible candidates include Naoto Kan, who has twice before served as party leader, and Ichiro Ozawa, a former ruling party member who switched sides and is known for his abrasive leadership style.
Koizumi attributed the political debacle to inexperience.
"Maehara is still young," he said. "I hope he will play an important role in the future by learning from this experience."
#4
I guess this means that negotiations will start soon on re-writing of the Japanese Pacifist Constitution. Opening the door for Japan to become a military superpower as well as economic.
Will this happen? Is this a good thing? I dont know, part of me says we need our allies to be more powerful yet part of me also says that I would rather keep others weak even if that means US doing more of the work ourselves to keep a WW2 type scenario from coming to be again. WW2 and WW1 times in history happened because unlike today you had a multicolor world were conventional war could succeed.
I just dont think people realize how much the US absolute domination plays into the fact that no nation sees conventional warfare as winnable means to their goal, hence all these little wars no massive super power wars. Nuclear weapons has nothing to do with it, if anything it makes it worse because it gives the aggressor nation a powerful deterrence to stop invasion and lose of their homeland/power in the case that they lose their aggression attempt.
Unfortunately I believe that our political leadership is so infiltrated with the peace-love-&-happiness LLL mentality that we have no choice but to urge others to build up pull more weight even if that may risk more serious wars in the future. But I guess you cant always have your cake and eat it to.
INDONESIA today described as "tasteless" a caricature in The Weekend Australian newspaper depicting President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as a dog.
The publication of the cartoon followed a similar drawing in an Indonesian daily portraying Prime Minister John Howard and his Foreign Minister Alexander Downer as copulating dingoes.
The cartoon war comes amid tensions between Jakarta and Canberra over Australia's decision to grant refugee visas to 42 asylum-seekers from Indonesia's restive Papua province.
Vote: What do you think?
Presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng said Mr Yudhoyono had not seen the Australian caricature but the president "laughed" when told of the depiction.
"It's in poor taste. Sometimes the media, both in Indonesia and other countries, resort to poor taste, which actually demonstrates the level of their quality," Mr Mallarangeng saud.
The Australian cartoon, drawn by award-winning cartoonist Bill Leak, shows Mr Yudhoyono as a tail-wagging dog mounting a startled-looking Papua dog and saying "don't take this the wrong way".
The caption under the cartoon reads "no offence intended".
On Monday Indonesian tabloid Rakyat Merdeka ran a front-page caricature showing Mr Howard being mounted on Downer with the Prime Minister saying: "I want Papua!! Alex! Try to make it happen."
Mr Howard dismissed the Indonesian cartoon, although Mr Downer described it as grotesque and "way below standards of public taste".
Downer responded to the latest cartoon by saying the Australian Government in no way condoned it.
"Editors have responsibility to be mindful of the consequences of what they publish, particularly when they knowingly publish material that is likely to be found offensive in some quarters," Mr Downer said.
The Australian embassy in Jakarta had been alerted to possible fallout from the Mr Leak's cartoon.
"We have been in communication with our embassy," Mr Downer said.
"They have concerns that there will be a negative reaction by the Indonesians to material like this which is extremely offensive."
Indonesia has been stung by the decision of Australia's immigration department to issue three-year visas to the group of Papuans, including prominent separatists and their families, who arrived by boat in northern Australia in January.
In response, Indonesia has recalled its ambassador to Canberra, postponed an agreement on jointly fighting bird flu, and angry Indonesians have protested outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta.
Since the decision, Mr Howard has repeatedly stated his support for Indonesian sovereignty over Papua, a former Dutch colony taken over by Jakarta in the 1960s.
As far as I can tell, this cartoon was drawn explicitly to give offense. There's nothing in the actual issue which demands, or even suggests, dog buggery, or illicit relations (personal or political) between Howard and Downer. I suspect the cartoonist's point was less about New Guinea, and more about the Danish cartoons. "Ha! Let's see what you think when you're the one being insulted!"
#2
These insulting cartoon events are like the Mexican Flags flying at the immigrant rallies - I just don't think that they understand what type of effect they are causing for Americans.
I guess provacateurs are like generals - always fighting the last war. Times have changed and they aren't helping their own causes with these events, they are seriously hurting it.
The French president has announced that he will sign a controversial youth job law despite weeks of protests, but with the promise that it will be amended right away to weaken two of its most disputed reforms. Jacques Chirac's long-awaited speech on Friday seemed aimed at striking a balance between Dominique de Villepin, the prime minister, who wanted the law applied promptly and in full, and millions of protesters who demand it be scrapped before any compromise could be discussed.
Even before he spoke, students gathered in Paris and other main cities to continue their protests against the First Job Contract (CPE), which will let employers fire workers under 26 without cause during their first two years on the job. "It is time to defuse the situation," Chirac said in the televised speech, in which he said he understood the concerns of youths who could not find jobs. Youth unemployment is running at 22%, high above France's 9.6% national average. Chirac said he had heard "the worries that many youths and their parents express. "In our republic, when the national interest is at stake, there should be neither winners nor losers. We should now close ranks," he said.
In a gesture to students Chirac said no CPE contract could be signed until the new changes had been voted. Villepin pushed the law through parliament last month, arguing France must reform its rigid labour code quickly to fight youth unemployment. Students and workers reacted with the biggest protests seen here in years. Chirac's proposals reflected suggestions made by Nicolas Sarkozy, the interior minister and leader of the governing UMP party and the main rival to Villepin in the undeclared race to become the conservative candidate in the 2007 presidential election.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2006 00:00 ||
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OAKLAND, Calif. - Democratic Party chief
Howard Dean accused
President Bush and the Republican Party on Friday of exploiting the immigration issue for political gain by scapegoating Hispanics. "YEEEAAAAARRRRGH!"
Dean and Bush agree on the legislation at the heart of the debate. Both support a Senate bill that would expand guest-worker programs for an estimated 400,000 immigrants each year.
However, at a speech in an Oakland union hall, the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate sought to tie Bush to a much tougher House bill that would tighten borders and make it a crime to be in the United States illegally or to offer aid to illegal immigrants. Bush does not back the House bill.
"This is a nonsensical proposal put out by far right-wingers in the Republican Party who have been endorsed for re-election by the president of the United States," Dean said. "The president has a moral obligation to rein in the right-wing extremists in his party and stop this divisive rhetoric about immigrants." So it is extremism to encourage rule of law?
Dean devoted much of his short speech here to the immigration debate, which has taken center stage in Washington this election year and touched off mass demonstrations elsewhere. More than 500,000 immigration-rights activists marched in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, largely to protest the House measure.
Bush has spent much of his career courting Hispanic voters, the nation's fastest-growing voting bloc, and he has helped double the GOP's share of the Hispanic vote since 2000.
Nevertheless, Dean accused Bush and fellow Republicans of demagoguery in the immigration debate, saying it fit with a long-standing pattern. He cited the president's opposition to the University of Michigan's affirmative-action program and Bush's decision to "pick on" homosexuals an apparent reference to the gay marriage issue in the 2004 election. Ah, so it's bullying to have unfashionable opinions in general?
"In 2006 it's immigrants. That's what their strategy is on the Republican side: divide people, scapegoat them, set them aside, point the finger at them," Dean said. "Well, that may be good for the Republican Party, but it's bad for America, and we're not going to do that." "YEARGH! FY LIFS JUST FELL OFF!
During his remarks criticizing Bush, Dean was interrupted by a shout of "Impeach!" "Protecting freedom and order both is a felony!"
A spokeswoman for the
Republican National Committee did not immediately return a call for comment.
In Mexico, Bush said the United States must enforce the laws protecting borders but he also repeated his support for a "guest worker program that would allow undocumented immigrants already in the country to remain.
#1
IOW, the Fed and only the Fed must place more tax dollars to enforce laws the Dems don't want enforced - by any, and several, measures, the Dems are gifts that keep on giving. The Dems are fighting hard for the BALKANIZATION of America which they know will be eliminated once America is under Socialism and OWG, in the name of Motherly Regulatory, universal, deficit accounting.
#2
"That's what their strategy is . . . divide people, scapegoat them, set them aside, point the finger at them"
If this isn't a textbook case of projection, I don't think there exists a textbook.
This describes EXACTLY what the DNC and their allies in the infotainment and education industries have done to whites, capitalists, and devout Christians.
After thirty years of being told by Dean's fellow travellers that as a white conservative Christian all I'm about is starving children, lynching blacks, and keeping women barefoot and pregnant, he has some nerve making these kinds of accusations.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
04/01/2006 5:22 Comments ||
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#3
"If this isn't a textbook case of projection, I don't think there exists a textbook."
For the masses it's projection; but for the Democratic Party leadership it's a tactic-- a way of making lies more appealing.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/01/2006 8:57 Comments ||
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#4
It sure would be nice to have elected officials actually listen to us, and remember that they are our representatives.
Tancredo is one of the few that actually wants to enforce the laws already on the books.
Talk about "flip flopping" Bush's statements a few months back (link below) and now, sure are black and white.
I love our country, and it really frightens me to see the direction we're going in, and to look 5, 10 or 20 years down the road I sure don't like what I see.
We've been talking about the anchor babies, lower wages paid/scabs, emergency medicaid, schools, them sending their money home to Mexico etc etc..
We need to act on this now.
* Build the fence
* have real consequences for illegals working to the folks that hire them
* no anchor babies born of illegals
* no illegals able to attend our schools
* have emergency medicaid be just that only for emergency. (months of prenatal care is not emergency)
* consider a fee for transferring money out of country
I know I'm probably leaving stuff out there are so many issues involved.
Our middle class is disappearing, the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer. I'm working by tail off and am sliding into the poorer side I'm sad to report.
Also just looking at how we've been outsourcing the high end jobs and importing workers with little or no education for scrub jobs; the trend being that our country is becoming more illiterate.
Illegals aren't interested in coming to america because they like our way of life. They come here for the free stuff and jobs.
We all need to speak English! I'm not a racist, I don't like folks of the opposing view accusing me of such. In Denver they don't use the term "Citizen" anymore, they talk of "residents", which include illegals.
On a side issue, learning of how Barbara Bush is "donating" to Katrina channeling the money to her son only reminds me of the Silverado crap that Neil Bush got away with. Why oh why do these slime yes slime get away with such high crimes. They are the ones benefiting from the illegals working here, not me. I have to pay more in taxes to cover their costs. Oh how I wish our elected officials would listen to us!
RANT!
Posted by: Jan ||
04/01/2006 16:46 Comments ||
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#5
Every thing wrong in this world would be rosy if wasn't for that evil Bush family. Really.
bet it was SEIU - Service Employees International - they want all the cheap service (read hotel workers, cleaners, janitors, etc.) labor here to organize under their banner and couldn't give a rat's ass about national security, costs to society, or you personally. F*&k em
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/01/2006 18:43 Comments ||
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#7
2B
I only struck out at Bush because of the recent deal with Barbara's donation this past week, reminding me of the "business park" that Neil Bush was involved in. I drive past this failed business park every time I drive to work and it just angers me.
There are plenty of slime deals from both sides of the fence.
Frank,
I like unions. I feel they back the laborer and help keep safety issues and benefits for the workers. I do hope you're wrong about how they don't care about national security, regarding the costs to society; to pay a "living wage" with benefits if this costs society more then that's the way it should be. To pay illegals such a cheap wage without benefits, it's almost like comparing these workers to sweat shops in other countries. Isn't it?
(Sorry for slightly being off topic)
Posted by: Jan ||
04/01/2006 22:31 Comments ||
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#8
Jan - if the wages were raised, probably no need for illegals? This is just a way of raising membership
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/01/2006 22:54 Comments ||
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#9
When folks say the illegals are taking the jobs that americans won't do, I'm just saying that if the wage were a decent one with benefits they certainly would.
The money that businesses are saving by paying the lower wage is being pocketed, not passed on to the consumer.
Posted by: Jan ||
04/01/2006 23:14 Comments ||
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#10
I'd agree
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/01/2006 23:28 Comments ||
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President Pervez Musharraf and his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday discussed bilateral political and economic relations and stressed the need to increase trade between the two countries.
"Oh, honey! I just can't decide! Where should we go for our vacation this year? Pakistan or Sri Lanka?"
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2006 00:00 ||
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A MAN in a north Indian state killed his four-year-old son after he started seeing visions of the Hindus goddess Kali demanding a sacrifice.
"The goddess appeared before me and commanded me to offer either myself or my son," the 28-year-old barber, identified only as Pramod, told police after slitting the boy's throat with a razor on the outskirts of Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh state today.
"I chose my son because if I had died then the rest of my family would suffer," he said.
The man's wife, Kusum, said her husband had developed a split personality after being given a "potion" by a relative during a family property dispute.
"Subsequently, he started visiting a tantrik (black magic practitioner)," she said. Pramod told police the tantrik had assured him that the row over property would be solved if he were to offer a human sacrifice.
"Thereafter I could repeatedly see Goddess Kali appearing before me and asking for the sacrifice which I ultimately offered," he said.
Kali is considered the destroyer of evil in the Hindu pantheon.
Police superintendent Ashutosh Pandey said officers were wary of the claims. "We do not rule out the possibility that the killing was done because Pramod suspected the boy had been fathered by another man."
Sweden has accepted a request by the Hague war crimes tribunal to conduct an independent audit of the detention unit where Slobodan Milosevic died earlier this month, the court said. The former Yugoslav president died in his cell on March 11 of a heart attack, months before an anticipated verdict in his United Nations war crimes trial. The 64-year-old suffered from high blood pressure and a heart condition. "The tribunal is grateful to the Swedish government for its support," the court said in a statement on Friday, adding that the audit would cover all areas related to the management and administration of the detention unit in a Dutch prison outside The Hague.
Milan Babic, a Croatian Serb leader committed suicide in the same detention centre a week before Milosevic's death. In New York, Fausto Pocar, an Italian judge and president of the UN tribunal on the former Yugoslavia, told UN Security Council members in a video briefing that Milosevic had been examined by several doctors, including a Belgrade-based cardiologist and seven others he had requested.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Over / under on the time this gets completed - 5 years, and a sternly worded letter!
An earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale struck off the eastern Indonesian island of Talaud early on Saturday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, an Indonesian official said. The quake's epicentre was in the sea 42 km west of Talaud and at a depth of 33 km, staff official Lukito of the Jakarta earthquake centre said. Talaud is between Sulawesi, one of Indonesia's major islands, and Mindanao in the Philippines, and lies around 2,250 km north-east of Jakarta.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
That was me, cookies keep vanishing.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/01/2006 8:43 Comments ||
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A 4.3-Richter quake shook suburbs of Boroujerd in this western Iranian province at 12:01:09 hours (08:31:09 GMT) on Saturday.
The province was first hit by a major quake Thursday evening and has been shaken by 71 aftershocks since then. Tehran University's Geophysics Institute reported that today's quake was felt in an area measuring 33.79 degrees in latitude and 48.81 degrees in longitude.
A quake measuring six degrees on the Richter scale also hit suburbs of Douroud, another city of Lorestan located 80 kilometers east of Khorrambad, at 04:47 hours (01:17 GMT) on Friday. The quake was followed by 71 minor quakes and aftershocks. An earthquake measuring 4.2 degrees on the Richter scale jolted surrounding area of Boroujerd city on Saturday afternoon. According to the report of seismography center affiliated with Tehran University Geophysics Institute the tremor occurred at 15:38 local time ( 12:08 GMT) and its epicenter was at 33.74 latitude and 48.82 longitude.
The strongest tremor in Lorestan province in the last two days occurred at 4:47 early morning on Friday measuring 6 degree on Richter scale 80 kilometers east of Khorramabad, capital of Lorestan province, in surrounding area of Doroud city.
According to the latest report, 70 persons have died and more than 1,300 people have been injured so far. Around 330 villages in the province have been damaged and 15,000 families have been homeless.
US President George Bush has offered aid to Iranians struck by a devastating earthquake, which has killed at least 70 people and injured 1,265. But he has not no let-up in pressuring Iran over its nuclear program. "We obviously have differences with the Iranian government but we do care about the suffering of Iranian people," Mr Bush said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Send them some (liberalism) infested blankets, that may do the trick, while were at it send Reid an Puglosi as distributors. Just take off as soon as offloaded...
#6
Ahh, but all the aid workers are amazingly muscular and fit, in fact they move uncannily like large jungle cats... they all speak the local language, and the things they know -- it's just amazing! ;-)
#8
The dumbest damn offer I've heard of this side of the Milky Way galaxy!! "W" should use that 'offer' for the Gulf States recovery; the Katrina evacuees atleast, and save all his other rhetoric for when the bombs start flying later this year!
Rescue teams are en route to western Iran after three strong earthquakes and several aftershocks left at least 66 people dead and around 1,000 injured. Around 330 villages have also been badly damaged by the quake, local officials say. The epicenter of the quake was in a mountainous area between the two industrial cities of Boroujerd and Doroud. Three tremors struck the remote region, the largest of which measured 6.0 on the Richter scale.
The initial quake of magnitude 4.7 struck late on Thursday evening, according to state television. It was followed by a quake of magnitude 5.1 at 11:06 pm local time while the third much stronger magnitude 6.0 quake struck at 4:47 am local time on Friday.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2006 00:00 ||
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Below I've posted information about the Alexander/Cornyn citizenship bill, S. 1815, which is apparently under consideration to be added to the Judic. Cmte. Immigration bill as a "non-controversial" amdendment. I fear it's very problematic. I've attached the text of the bill. NCLR thinks there are at least 3 big problems with this bill:
1) the way ESL/Civics would be funded would leave out many of our providers and community members; Money first.
2)it subverts the whole natz test redesign and creates new standards for English language and history/civics that are unacceptable; You gotta know English
3) while it doesn't overtly mention assimilation, it is very strong on the patriotism and traditional american (sic) values language in a way which is potentially dangerous to out communities. We don't want to assimilate, we want to Balkanize. It's an invasion, not immigration.
Michele Waslin, Ph. D.
Director of Immigration Policy Research
National Council of La Raza
202-785-1670
#1
If I was a Mexican - I would have crossed the border to find opportunity in the US. I applaud the get up and go of those families that do it. I respect them.
That said, groups like La Raza, have blown it. Too many immigrants crossing our boder aren't welcome guests anymore, but pests. Slam the border shut, seal it tight. Make those that are here part of a guest worker system - fingerprinted and accountable to being thrown out if they don't follow our laws. Those that want citizenship need to do more than just walk across a line to share in the bounty of America.
They think we need them, but the truth is that if they have become far more trouble than they are worth. There are millions in the world that would be willing to work hard to come here and take their place without becoming the demanding shrews that groups like La Raza have turned them into.
#3
CrazyFool: You just cannot demand that 11 million people give up everything that many have had for decades, march across the border with their children, many of whom have never been to Mexico or even speak passable Spanish; just on the off-chance that if they apply for citizenship they might get through the line in 15 years.
That is not reasonable. They will refuse. And then what do you do? Force out 11 million people? Depopulate whole neighborhoods or even cities at gunpoint and tell them to leave their homes and most posessions behind them?
#4
details, details. Seal the border first. Then you can deal with the millions that are already here. If they leave, they can't get back. If they stay, we can, at our leisure, force them to take a path to citizenship or deportation ....whatever that path may be.
#5
The name "La Raza" means "The Race". It cracks me up that people who get upset about names like "Aryan Brotherhood" or "White Man's Party" don't choke on this. Maybe it's because the perps in this case are noble, opressed brown people.
#7
And then what do you do? Force out 11 million people? Depopulate whole neighborhoods or even cities at gunpoint and tell them to leave their homes and most posessions behind them?
I see this argument a lot and it is one of the stupidest around.
These people are here now. What will happen to them if we don't change the law? Nobody is calling for them to be deported at gunpoint as a reuslt of depopulation of whole cities. What will happen is that employers will find it more and more onerous to hire illegals as there are more inspections of workplaces. They'll lose their jobs and come to the conclusion they are better off going back and getting in line. One at a time, the same way they came over.
And if they don't go back, they can just live out their days here without benefit of any governement programs. But I see no reason why their previous violation of the law should put them to the front of the line ahead of people who have obeyed the law. Why I should feel more sorry for Mexican lawbreakers here as opposed to the peons still there is beyond me.
#8
America is unique in the world in that our society is founded on a social compact, respect of and obedience to our laws, laws which treat all citizens as equal. It is corrosive enough to our national identity to have one group, the Democrats, that only obeys laws when that are convenient at the time, but to reward 11,000,000 CRIMINALS who refuse to even acknowledge the existence of our social compact could break that compact. At that point, why would the rest of us feel compelled to obey inconvenient laws? Why should only Americans/Republicans be suckers? These people know they came in violation of our laws. They knew that because they had to sneak into the country. That they are trying to brazen it out does not in any way change the fact that they are criminals and cannot be rewarded if we are to continue as a nation.
I like President Bush, but I think he and his advisors seriously underestimate the damage that will be done if our laws are continued to be ignored. Moose, maybe we can't uproot whole communities, but we can't give them all a pass. I live in San Diego and thoroughly enjoy the mix of culture out here. I respect hardworking Mexicans, but damn it, either we have the law or we don't and without the law America ceases to exist.
#9
not impossible, Moose, only difficult with teh wailings and gnashing of teeth from such as you. If they have to, they will. Employer -crushing sanctions and a big fucking fence is just the start.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/01/2006 13:08 Comments ||
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#10
Any organization called "The Race" is in fact racist. Hence, it is the polar opposite of what our country stands for. We are a country of many races but only one country.
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/01/2006 13:13 Comments ||
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#11
Build the fence, then worry about the 11 million.
#12
If one more politician starts waxing nostalgic about how their grandparents immigrated to the US and how were a nation of immigrants I think I will spew my stomach bile. The term immigrant supposes legal citizenry. That is why the Dept. of Justice uses the correct and accurate term of alien for those that have an undefined citizenship status. How about the term worker? Sure you can assume most are entering the country to work. But because it is an unprovable assumption, wouldnt it be just as accurate to use the term non-worker? If the term Guest is used, shouldnt it be clear that it doesnt include those that come uninvited? At some point the term undocumented entered the lexicon. Sounds like a paperwork SNAFU does it not? At the very least it infers that the host country shares some of the blame for lack of documentation. And at worst it infers that everything is copasetic with the exception of that tedious paperwork process. However, one thing is crystal clear. The reason people use these ambiguous terms is to obfuscate the real issue. People can disagree on solutions but I just wish everybody would admit the issue is ILLEGAL immigration.
#16
I hear ya moose. Unfortunately we can't just grant Amnisty to 11 million illegal aliens. Been-there. Did-that. Didn't even get a damn tshirt (just millions of more illegal aliens)!
I think a compromise might be needed - perhaps defining a process for illegals who have been here (and both productive and law-abiding) for 10+ years.
In the meantime close the border and start discouraging illegal crossing (I refuse to call it 'immigration'), enforce existing laws against hiring illegals and stop giving them a free ride on our medical, educational, and social systems.
#17
Look, seal the border, tell Mexico that anyone we catch from anywhere not here legally will be counted as a terrorist/spy/sabetour. End remittences to Mexico any other country without proof of legal residence. Seize Mexico's assets to pay for any money that the illegals cost us.
#18
And let's not forget to treat the next Mexican army unit that cross our border as hostile, and wipe them off the fucking map.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/01/2006 14:30 Comments ||
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#19
First and foremost, they are UNDOCUMENTED. Make them register, voluntarily, for a biometric ID card so their place of employment, residence, and other pertinent data is on the books. After a short deadline, non-compliance is considered criminal. Toss out criminals, but most of them will go underground or return to wherever they slithered in from. Those without documentation are in breach of law and automatically deported, so they will rather comply. Second and third generation families without problems should be given special consideration, but those born here of illegal aliens should retroactively have their citizenship revoked. Requiring biometric ID to cross the border aids border security, and should also be required of Canadians (or passpsorts). Any caught without a resident alien card are banned for life for any consideration of guest worker status. The path to citizenship should require the same as an other legal immigrant that would like to become an American, learning English and being a good citizen that participates in society. How many terrorists like Hezbollah are already here? No one knows, but we'd better find out just who is here NOW.
#20
when someone sez they all cam ehere to be workers, ask about the 50% jail pop in Los Angeles that's illegals.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/01/2006 16:12 Comments ||
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#21
Frank G: The point I've been trying to make is that *if* we build the wall, and radically reduce (note: not stop, which is not cost-effective) the number of illegals coming in, then our problem is for the most part solved.
Ergo, trying to roust 11 million people is unneccesary. They are integrating into our society at a record pace. If we significantly slow down the flow, our integration efforts will be a lot more effective. They'll stop being Mexicans and become Americans.
Not only will cracking down on employers not work, which we know because we have tried this approach a bunch of times; we know that our business community is heavily invested in them. An entire county in Arkansas, singularly employees of Tyson Foods, is Mexican. Most are legal. Do any of you want to see food prices triple overnight, just for the emotional satisfaction of an anglo doing the work?
Here's a sweetener for those of you who would prefer to kick them out: Selective Service.
Say we get into hostilities with Iran, enough that we just cannot resist a draft. With military service as a "quick ticket" to citizenship, would that be satisfactory?
How about if they volunteer for military service for streamlined citizenship? Males *and* females performing priceless service to the US.
#22
There has NEVER been a concerted crackdown on employers, and to suggest so shows you've never studied the arrests of employers. Less than 25 convictions nationwide a year?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/01/2006 16:23 Comments ||
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#24
crazyfool, I like your statement about not allowing them to "adjust" their status.
I agree they should wait in line like everyone else. They have broken the law.
Not only should employers be fined if found to be hiring illegals, but hospitals, schools, and housing need to report all illegals as well.
For car insurance or for anything, we need to require citizenship proof to get. We have been giving them everything.
At my workplace, we have hired additional staff to help them learn how to fill out papers to get services in a round about way eluding the law against this very thing. Denver opens her arms to illegals.
Posted by: Jan ||
04/01/2006 17:39 Comments ||
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#25
Frank G: The problem with arresting business owners is that they have a lot of money to buy good lawyers, which will get them off with a wrist slap.
The crackdowns that have been done in past were all focused on raiding an employer, thus depriving him of his employees for several days, at least. This actually will cost them more in the long run than arresting him.
RD: Thanks for re-posting the link I posted here yesterday. Any your point about cluelessness was?
I might add that if you added up ALL of the protestors in the US, it is about 1% of all illegals in the US. That is hardly what I would call a fair sample of their opinion.
I will also criticize some of the radio and TV people for also trying to make it appear that all illegals are hardened criminals, just because a lot of criminals, where there are a lot of illegals, are filling up their local prisons.
Surprise, that too is nonsense, in that their percentage of criminals per capita is just slightly higher than it is for white people. And definitely lower than it is for black people.
To recap: build the wall, and quit screwing around with lots of misdirections and excuses why we will build the wall right *after* we do something else. Something else that never gets done. The entire issue is the wall, and those who know that the wall is critical to accomplishing anything of importance.
Everytime anyone speaks on the subject, they should be pressed,
"When is the wall being built?"
"Why are they starting to build the wall in the middle of nowhere, instead of on the main routes?"
"Why do you try to change the subject whenever the wall is mentioned?"
#26
hokay to your response - I agree. The wall is currently being built NOT where natural (read: dead by thirst or snakebite) obstacles occurr.
San Diego used to see hundreds of thousands crossing yearly - we see a trickle now where the fence occurrs. Arizona and TX are the new focus, and that's where we need to build it. I agree we don't need it in bumfuck egypt, desert county, but what we do need is a rapid, well-armed response when they detect crossers and drugrunners (usually protected by Mexican Authorities). Cut off, kill, or capture a few of Mexico's finest and let's start the publicization of this farce
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/01/2006 18:53 Comments ||
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#28
La Raza, just like the isalmists blew it by showing their cards to early. If they actually watched their p's and q's they'd have been a majority before long and making the calls rather than freaking out the gringos enough that we'll volunteer to help build the fence.
#29
RD: Thanks for re-posting the link I posted here yesterday. Any your point about cluelessness was?
Moosey it went over ur head twice then! :)
As of 2002: Huge increases in comunicable diseases via illegal immigration. [hospital data]
17% increase in MDR-TB Virtginia alone in Caliphornia it's higher, Chagas Disease, 7000 cases of Leprosy or Hansen's Disease, Dengue Fever Tx, Polio, Malaria, Hepatitis A, B, and C etc.
I do agree that resistant TB has been spreading, but its highest incidence in in New York.
Chagas Disease, Dengue Fever, and Malaria are spread by insects. You could add the Encephalitis diseases, that are also caused by the golf courses and standing water created North of the border.
Hepatitis A, B, and C etc. Only A is directly communicable, B and C are by contaminated blood.
Polio has almost been eradicated worldwide.
Leprosy is usually only spread in close quarters over an extended period of time, as is TB. TB is confusing, however, because a person will react to an initial test for exposure long before they are infected. Two different tests and two different treatments are used depending on exposure or infection.
A big reason that illegals go to expensive emergency rooms is because they can neither get Medicare, or health insurance, and they cannot belong to HMOs. The health care system is just not designed for cash payment, even assuming you can muster that much cash in a hurry.
This also precludes preventative medicine, so that by the time they arrive at the ER, their condition is appropriately "emergent", they must get care or their lives could be at risk, or they could face serious damage.
I agree that "there is no right to health care"; but I also realize that if, under normal circumstances, you could pay for your health care, with insurance or other means, and yet you are denied health care and forced to go to the emergency room, there is a fundamental flaw in the system: that being an interference in ordinary supply and demand. It really is that simple.
But once again I return to the wall. If we were to radically reduce the sheer number of people getting in, we would soon be able to manage the people who are already here. And without deporting or abusing them.
If they could or had to get health insurance, the vast majority of them would. I suspect the same percentage wouldn't as the percentage of white citizens who don't get health insurance.
#31
A big reason that illegals go to expensive emergency rooms is because they can neither get Medicare, or health insurance, and they cannot belong to HMOs. The health care system is just not designed for cash payment, even assuming you can muster that much cash in a hurry.
that's a LOAD OF CRAP. Illegals use Emergency Rooms as primary care because the ER's are required by law to treat them regardless of ability to pay. We, the taxpayers of SW US states actually pay for it. ThankYouFuckyouverymuch. There are cash-paying ER rooms all over, but those stand empty except for Joe Six-Pack who almost cut his thumb off mowing lawn while intoxicated. The drug-resistant TB is a border-state emergency. NY? Bah Prove it with a link.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/01/2006 21:25 Comments ||
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#32
Moose, either we are a nation of laws or we are nothing. If you think it is OK for 11,000,000 Mexicans to ignore our laws, where do you draw the line? Is it OK for me to go out and rob a bank because I'd like a little more spending money? Hey, it's just a law.... If more people like you start thinking the law is optional, then it's every man for himself.
#33
This pretty much captures it. Stop asking me "English or Spanish?" at the ATM. Stop spending my tax dollars on Spanish. Stop spending money on facilities and services for illegals. Build the wall. Give the illegals a one-way turnstile back to Mexico.
#34
Illegals use Emergency Rooms as primary care because the ER's are required by law to treat them regardless of ability to pay. We, the taxpayers of SW US states actually pay for it.
When the state actually gets around to paying the hospitals. One reason why RFK in L.A. closed down.
#35
Pappy, according to the article I linked, "84 California hospitals are closing their doors as a direct result of the rising number of illegal aliens and their non-reimbursed tax on the system".
#36
Frank G: Since last time I looked, NY has fallen behind CA and TX. However, I can give you a link that shows how those dirty, filthy third world illegal Mexicans are just slightly more inclined to have TB than are African-Americans, with Asians pulling a close third.
However, I still say that if illegals can pay for something, they often do. It is obvious that many newly in the US, or otherwise unintegrated, can't pay. But my contention still holds: if you took an equal number of white people and forbade them from insurance, belonging to HMOs, and Medicare, leaving them the only option of paying in cash, you would seem them flock to the ERs too. Especially if they only had minimum-wage jobs.
When typical real debt from a hospital stay starts at $10,000, there is a rapid curve in the public of those who cannot pay. Without insurance, most people would be hard pressed.
#38
Moose, this doesn't have a god damned thing to do with race or national origin. These fuckers have broken our laws and must be deported. I really don't care where the fuck they come from as long as they go back. Why is it that you refuse to deal with the basic issue: THEY ARE BREAKING OUR LAWS.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/01/2006 22:55 Comments ||
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#40
All of you missed Silentbrick's little gem of an idea:
End remittences to Mexico [or] any other country without proof of legal residence.
I think this would go a long way towards discouraging illegal entry. Biometric ID to prevent re-entry under false papers would nail all those illegals who attempted to carry money across the border physically.
I also have to concur with RVW and Depot Guy. This is about rule of law and that is what makes America great. Most everything else is window dressing.
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.
Sweden's national dish is an acquired taste, to say the least. Some say surstromming, a fermented herring, smells like rubbish left out in the sun for days. But now the fish has been banned from several major airlines, classified along with dangerous weapons like shoe bombs and firearms. The Baltic herring is fermented in barrels for months before being put in tin cans, where the fermentation process continues.
It was only after all the able-bodied teachers in a school in Afif had struggled hard that they could save their principal from the ire of their students recently. A number of angry students pounced upon their principal and started thrashing him with all their might because they were not allowed to come to school. The boys were involved in a fight on the previous day and were sent away from the school with the condition that they could come back only with their parents. The students did not, obviously, want to involve their parents in such an ordinary thing as fighting among themselves. They came to school next morning as though nothing had happened the previous day, but the principal wanted the students to obey him. He did not allow them to attend the morning assembly. It was too much for the students and they jumped on the principal and heaped blows and kicks on him. 
The French president has announced that he will sign a controversial youth job law despite weeks of protests, but with the promise that it will be amended right away to weaken two of its most disputed reforms. Jacques Chirac's long-awaited speech on Friday seemed aimed at striking a balance between 
OAKLAND, Calif. - Democratic Party chief
Nevertheless, Dean accused Bush and fellow Republicans of demagoguery in the immigration debate, saying it fit with a long-standing pattern. He cited the president's opposition to the University of Michigan's affirmative-action program and Bush's decision to "pick on" homosexuals an apparent reference to the gay marriage issue in the 2004 election.
Sweden has accepted a request by the Hague war crimes tribunal to conduct an independent audit of the detention unit where 
An earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale struck off the eastern Indonesian island of Talaud early on Saturday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, an Indonesian official said. The quake's epicentre was in the sea 42 km west of Talaud and at a depth of 33 km, staff official Lukito of the Jakarta earthquake centre said. Talaud is between Sulawesi, one of Indonesia's major islands, and Mindanao in the Philippines, and lies around 2,250 km north-east of Jakarta.
A 4.3-Richter quake shook suburbs of Boroujerd in this western Iranian province at 12:01:09 hours (08:31:09 GMT) on Saturday.
Rescue teams are en route to western Iran after three strong earthquakes and several aftershocks left at least 66 people dead and around 1,000 injured. Around 330 villages have also been badly damaged by the quake, local officials say. The epicenter of the quake was in a mountainous area between the two industrial cities of Boroujerd and Doroud. Three tremors struck the remote region, the largest of which measured 6.0 on the Richter scale.
