In addition to Murtha'
PSYCHO: Slain rampage killer David Garvin, acting the part of a filmmaker on his Web site, earned a less than honorable discharge from the Marines and amassed an arsenal of weapons in his Bronx home.
A chilling video shows a deranged ex-Marine pumping five shots into an unarmed auxiliary cop slumped behind a car in Greenwich Village before chasing down the victim's teenage partner and coldbloodedly executing him with a bullet to his head. In the shocking footage played by NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly at a press conference yesterday, it takes gunman David Garvin only seven seconds to kill hero auxiliary cops Nicholas Pekearo, 28, and Eugene Marshalik, 19, on Wednesday night.
Friends said Garvin, 42, a divorced father of two who recently lost his job as a bartender, had become increasingly paranoid. Cops discovered an arsenal of weapons in a bag he dropped near the shooting scene and at his Bronx home.
Kelly said Garvin had served in the Marines from 1996 to 1998, when he left with a less than honorable discharge. Friends and former colleagues painted a picture of a lonely man who bragged about breaking stories as an award-winning journalist, wrote screenplays and acted in movies. Can't blame his insanity on the horrors of war he endured.
Curious his delusion was that he was a journalist.
Recently, Kelly said, the killer had told pals he thought someone was out to get him. Manager Brian Barrow said he quit in February, two weeks before he was going to be fired because the receipts were down. "You could say he didn't have charisma," Barrow said. "There were no complaints, but the guy was a little strange - but we're all strange, aren't we?"
#3
well since he has proven himself a killer , and a crazy one at that, then i doubt he worried about the new york laws o weapons too much. and wroking as a bartender he more than likely made contacts too purchase them easily
LOS ANGELES -- All Nippon Airway said its flights were operating normally after FBI agents raided the company's North American headquarters. The agents executed a federal search warrant at All Nippon's customer relations and service office in suburban Torrance early Thursday, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller. Because the search warrant was under seal she declined to say why the office was under scrutiny.
Being the FBI, I wouldn't be surprised if the date on the warrant wasn't 8 December 1941..
In a statement issued by its Tokyo headquarters, ANA said it had not yet confirmed the reason for the investigation. "There is no suspicion of terrorism and the ANA flights are operating normally," the statement said.
As Japan's second-largest airline by revenue, ANA flies to 50 destinations in Japan and 24 cities throughout Asia, Europe and the United States. The company also has assets in land, air transport, travel, hotels and other businesses.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/16/2007 09:18 ||
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Still sore about that Kamikaze thing?
Posted by: ed ||
03/16/2007 9:58 Comments ||
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Remember Pearl Harbor
Posted by: Steve ||
03/16/2007 10:07 Comments ||
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Don't worry, folks, I am sure that the details will be leaked in due time.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/16/2007 11:29 Comments ||
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Them and JAL still have the hottest stewardesses in the business. And standards of service that ought to make American carriers blush, if they weren't so shameless.
But he'll be stationary. And silent. Too bad.
Thirty years ago, in theaters near and far, far away, a movie opened the imaginations of millions, combining the magics of mythology and special effects to launch the "Star Wars" phenomenon. A star of those films the brave little robot R2-D2 is about to take a turn collecting mail as the Postal Service and Lucasfilm Ltd. commemorate that movie launch.
The post office is wrapping mail collection boxes in some 200 cities nationwide in a special covering to look like R2-D2. It's part of a promotion for a new stamp to be announced March 28, Anita T. Bizzotto, the post office's chief marketing officer, said. "It's a little teaser for the upcoming announcement and we decided to have a little fun with it," she said.
About 400 mailboxes will be covered to look like the stout droid. "When you look at a mailbox, the resemblance to R2-D2 is too good to pass up," Bizzotto said.
While postal officials would like people to look for these mailboxes and maybe even drop in a letter, Bizzotto urged people not to tamper with them, noting that's a crime. I expect a few will be swiped for private collections.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/16/2007 06:12 ||
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So we have this big ass useless promotion and then the rates go up. Does anybody really give a rat's ass what the design on the stamp is that gets your letter to Grandma? I don't think we need to employ some artsy-fartsy light in the sneakers granola type to draw some corn or butterflys or commemorate yet another dead politician on the envelope we send our tribute to Exxon in. just give me a phuqueing stamp already. USPS is America's answer to Airbus.
/thank you, you may now resume your normal Rantburg reading.
#3
LOL USN! I gotta feeling you use the USP? I like to think of them as living breathing blasts from the past and an increase of 10 cents a stamp is nothing if it will keep them in business and me entertained. Matter of fact, get it over with and make it increase it by 25 cents.
#4
And yet, in my limited experience the US Postal Service gives more service for less cost than anywhere else I've been. And they smile and say, "Have a nice day!"
#5
My girlfriend is a US Postal Carrier, and at age 48, they still deliver :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/16/2007 22:49 Comments ||
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Ship: To answer your question; yes I still use the USPS and I agree with TW's comment about service for value, but it just really, really, really, chaps my arse when they continue to roll out new stamp designs for what practical purpose? The old design is still functional, and I hardly think that going from a flower to a commerorative (sic) series of steam locomotives, or Vermont covered bridges, or some other trivial thing is really going to cause a shift in people's mailing habits. If you are already using Fedex or UPS I really do not think the pretty pastel colors on the design d'jour is gonna lure you in. So except for those how collect such things, leave the damn things alone. And let the collectors pay a premium for new designs. Sorry for the extended ramble, I have J. Beam doing my proofreading right now.
I find the wide variety of conflicting evidence interesting.
WASHINGTON - This winter was the warmest on record worldwide, the government said Thursday in the latest worrisome report focusing on changing climate. The report comes just over a month after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said global warming is very likely caused by human actions and is so severe it will continue for centuries. Wasn't the summary written by politician, not scientists?
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the combined land and ocean temperatures for December through February were 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit above average for the period since record keeping began in 1880. The report said that during the past century, global temperatures have increased at about 0.11 degrees per decade. But that increase has been three times larger since 1976, NOAA's National Climatic Data Center reported.
Most scientists that the MSM and politicians listen to attribute the rising temperatures to so-called greenhouse gases which are produced by industrial activities, automobiles and other processes. These gases build up in the atmosphere and trap heat from the sun somewhat like a greenhouse.
Also contributing to this winter's record warmth was an El Nino, a periodic warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean. It was particularly strong in January the warmest January ever but the ocean surface has since begun to cool.
The report noted that in the Northern Hemisphere the combined land and water temperature was the warmest ever at 1.64 degrees above average. In the Southern Hemisphere, where it was summer, the temperature was 0.88 degree above average and the fourth warmest.
For the United States, meanwhile, the winter temperature was near average. The season got off to a late start and spring-like temperatures covered most of the eastern half of the country in January, but cold conditions set in in February, which was the third coldest on record.
For winter, statewide temperatures were warmer than average from Florida to Maine and from Michigan to Montana while cooler-than-average temperatures occurred in the southern Plains and areas of the Southwest. It's that darn unpredictability of the theory again!
For Alaska, both February and winter were warmer than average but far from the record warmth of 2003 and 2001, respectively.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/16/2007 06:47 ||
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The last three months were by far the warmest winter I have even seen....Oh, hang on, it was summer in oz. My bad.
#3
I just read the NOAA report this morning. Not one category listed 2007 as the warmest on record. I don't see how they are reading this thing to get that out of it. Maybe I wasn't holding my tongue right. It looks to me like 1998 was the warmest year on record??? But I'm not a government paid "climatologist" either. These guys cant even predict the weather for tomorrow with any degree of accuracy, what makes them think they can talk about the weather 50 years from now.
#8
The media narrative is a mess but the fact of the matter is that at the surface in the very high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, this winter was anomalously warm.
Warm surface winters in the high lattitudes is what would be expected as CO2 in the atmosphere reduces the capacity of the lower atmosphere to radiate heat into the stratosphere (which by the way means that in a greenhouse world the stratosphere will cool).
Of course warmer winters in Siberia, Greenland and northern Canada aren't really something most people would consider an urgent issue.
#10
RACE TO THE LEFT, OWG-SWO + SURRENDER > Back to the future of the 1970's when major US firms unionized and employee-benefitted themselves out of competition = jobs, SAVE THIS TIME JIMMY HOFFA + TEFLON DON, etal. WILL BE BAREFOOT AND WEAR FLOWER-IN-THEIR-HAIR TOGAS ON TV???
"They could even 'go fall down several flights of stairs' or possibly 'go take a long bubble bath with their toaster'. As long as they knock off the whingeing and leave me -n- the war veterans alone, man."
A defiant Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe told critics of his government to "go hang" themselves on Thursday in his first response to the arrest and assault of opposition chief Morgan Tsvangirai. After talks with Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, who had gone to Harare in a bid to mediate between Mugabe and the opposition, the veteran leader accused Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of instigating violence.
Images of a badly beaten Tsvangirai and his supporters have triggered worldwide condemnation, particularly from Mugabe's arch-foes in London and Washington, but Mugabe showed no signs of softening his stance. "When they criticise the government when it tries to prevent violence and punish perpetrators of that violence, we take the position that they can go hang," said Mugabe at a joint press conference with Kikwete. "Here are groups of people [the MDC] who went out of their way to effect acts of violence. We hear no criticism to this campaign from Western governments. This is the West that has always supported the opposition elsewhere, again showing its true colours. We don't accept their criticism."
Mugabe also acidly told Western governments that while they should keep their nose out of Zimbabwe's affairs, he would deign to accept their charity in a country where more than 80% of the people are living in poverty. "We have no objection to their giving charitable assistance to our community, but when they indulge in our politics, we differ with them," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2007 00:00 ||
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AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed, condemned to death for killing Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family, was arrested in the United States Tuesday, report agencies. He left the country soon after Awami League (AL) came to power in 1996. He was tried in absentia and two years later, along with some other ex-army personnel, was convicted of assassination of the country's founding father.
Led by Sheikh Hasina, one of Bangabandhu's two surviving daughters, the then government took measures for extradition of the killers, but could not finish the job during its tenure. The process to bring them back froze after the BNP-led four-party alliance formed government in 2001.
Officials of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raided Mohiuddin's house in Los Angeles Tuesday morning and arrested him, AFP reports quoting an ICE statement.
Also sentenced to life for aiding and abetting the killing of the four national leaders on November 3,1975, Major (retired) Mohiuddin went to the US on a visitor's visa and applied for permanent residence. But he was ordered to return to Bangladesh to face the criminal charges. The immigration case dragged on for several years as he appealed a deportation order handed down by an immigration judge in 2002. Late last month, a judge in the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco allowed the order to stand. "After the 9th Circuit denied his petition to review the case, (Ahmed) became a fugitive in the US," said Brian DeMore, deputy field director of the immigration enforcement agency, reports AP. "Authorities will begin proceedings to return him to Bangladesh," the news agency quoted DeMore as saying.
Law Adviser Mainul Hosein yesterday said as per the law steps will have to be taken to get him back to the country. Mohiuddin has been sought by the Bangladesh government since a trial court on November 8, 1998, handed down death sentence to him and 14 other former and dismissed army men for the killings.
The verdict came 23 years after Bangabandhu was brutally murdered along with 26 others, including his wife, three sons, two daughters-in-law, brother, close relatives, political associates and security men in a pre-dawn attack on August 15, 1975. The High Court on April 30, 2001 upheld the punishment of 12. Of them, only four--Lt Col Syed Farooq Rehman, Lt Col Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Lt Col Mohiuddin and Maj Bazlul Huda--are behind bars. Of the rest, one has died while the seven others are believed to be holed up in various countries including the US, Canada, and Libya.
The four in jail filed a leave to appeal with the Supreme Court on July 16, 2001. The petition has yet to be disposed of. Bazlul Huda was extradited from Thailand on the day the historic verdict was delivered. Bangabandhu's killers were granted impunity through an ordinance and successive governments allowed AKM Mohiuddin to represent Bangladesh in a variety of diplomatic posts for about two decades.
The infamous Indemnity Ordinance was repealed and the killers were brought to trial after Sheikh Hasina became prime minister in 1996. Asked whether the government will take special measures regarding the killings of Bangabandhu and late president Ziaur Rahman, Mainul said the proceedings will be held conventionally. Foreign Secretary M Touhid Hossain at his office yesterday told reporters that they were not informed of the arrest formally yet and were trying to learn about it through official channels.
It is not mandatory for the US to send Mohiuddin to Bangladesh, as there is no extradition treaty between the countries. However, a top police official said the government could still request the US authorities to get him onto a Bangladesh-bound flight and then call on the other countries en route to Dhaka not to give him any transit visa.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2007 00:00 ||
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Or the RAB could send a team to pick him up. And give a few seminars to defray expenses.
Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina yesterday said the AL, if voted to power, would legitimise the activities of the present caretaker government as it has earned the confidence and appreciation of the people. She said the government should hold the polls while this confidence and respect is there. Hasina made these remarks while replying to reporters' queries at Zia International Airport before leaving for the United States early yesterday.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2007 00:00 ||
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By the headline, I thought this was about AL gore. Oh well.
Defence lawyers of detained BNP Senior Secretary General Tarique Rahman yesterday sought bail from a Dhaka court in connection with the general diary (GD) filed with Kafrul Police Station for his alleged involvement with corruption.
Meantime, Tarique was given a one-month detention order on Wednesday as per direction of the home ministry to prevent him from indulging in corruption and other activities, sources said. Judge Momin Ullah of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court fixed April 4 for hearing on the issue with lower court record. The bail petition was filed with the higher court against rejection order of the lower court on March 8.
In the GD police mentioned that during the alliance rule Tarique himself, his party friends and business partners earned a huge amount of money through unbridled corruption in local and foreign tenders. There is no legality of the source of his earnings. Besides, he amassed a huge amount of money taking commission from those who earned illegal money by appointing people to different posts in the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism. Moreover, he siphoned off crores of taka which he earned through manipulating tenders using his, other family members' and business partners' influences in purchasing CNG-run auto-rickshaws, setting up power plants and manufacturing electric poles which caused huge loss to the government, reads the GD. Police said Tarique needs to be confined to jail to refrain him from such activities.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2007 00:00 ||
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he siphoned off crores of taka
You just can't walk in off of the street and do that. It takes years of experience.
The joint forces last night raided the office of Coco Navigations, owned by former prime minister Khaleda Zia's youngest son Arafat Rahman and Tarique Rahmans business partner Giasuddin Al Mamun, at Banani and seized some documents. The forces also raided the office of detained BNP leader Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury in the same area. Sources said the joint forces cordoned the area around 12 midnight and conducted the hour-long raid.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2007 00:00 ||
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The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) should no longer be the main authority on the English language because it does not keep pace with todays rapid linguistic changes, a report said on Thursday. Left-wing think-tank Demos said the OED should be replaced by a website democtionary org that would allow English-speaking members of the public from Britain and abroad to contribute their own words and definitions.
The reports co-author, Sam Jones, said an online dictionary similar to the user-generated Internet encyclopaedia Wikipedia was needed to track the pace of language change and the influence of non-native speakers on it. Chief editor John Simpson welcomed Demoss contribution, but denied the OED was a prescriptive rather than a descriptive reference work.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2007 00:00 ||
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Somebody with too much idle time on their hands.
#2
Is the House of Commons going to spend have to pass a series of law for this? Will they have to get EU approval? What does Brussels think about the website name? Let's take this one step at a time.
#8
If Fjordman ever needed any proof for his theory about language perverting "glossocrats", he need look no further than these mega-loons. Only by excluding the OED from common use will Demos have any hope of seeing acceptance for such belabored and contrived Newspeak as "democtionary".
Oh, and by the way, that persistent high pitched whirring sound that you hear in the background? That's George Orwell spinning in his grave.
Always Coca-Cola? Not if Bolivia's coca growers have their way. The farmers want the word "Coca" dropped by the U.S. soft drink company, arguing that the potent shrub belongs to the cultural heritage of this Andean nation, where the coca leaf infuses everyday life and is sacred to many. A commission of coca industry representatives advising an assembly rewriting Bolivia's constitution passed a resolution Wednesday calling on the Atlanta, Ga.-based company to take "Coca" out of its name and asking the United Nations to decriminalize the leaf. The resolution demands that "international companies that include in their commercial name the name of coca (example: Coca Cola) refrain from using the name of the sacred leaf in their products."
The commission, which met for three days in Sucre, 255 miles southeast of La Paz, is part of an effort led by President Evo Morales to rehabilitate the image of plant. Coca-Cola released a statement Thursday saying their trademark is "the most valuable and recognized brand in the world" and was protected under Bolivian law.
"They need to understand our situation," said David Herrera, a state government supervisor for the coca-rich Chapare region. "They exported coca as a raw material for Coca-Cola, and we can't even freely sell it in Bolivia."
SEOUL - North Korea has an outbreak of highly infectious foot-and-mouth disease and asked the South to provide it with medication, South Koreas unification minister said on Thursday.
North Korea said it had culled 466 cows and 2,630 pigs since an outbreak of the disease on Jan. 10 at a farm near its capital, Pyongyang, minister Lee Jae-joung told reporters.
All of which were promptly devoured.
We will try to help as soon as possible because there is a concern that it will spread to our region, Lee told a weekly briefing.
Last week, the Paris-based Office International des Epizooties, the world body that governs animal health, said on its Web site (www.oie.int) the North had had a foot-and-mouth outbreak. It reported the same numbers of animals culled.
Foot-and-mouth is highly contagious for cloven-hoofed animals such as pigs and cows but harmless to humans.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/16/2007 00:00 ||
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Why SOUTH KOREA, since CHINA reportedly wants the USA/USA-West to view North Korea as a de fact "Tributary/Vassal State" of the PRC???
#2
Because the NorKors are getting frightened of Chinese intentions towards their state : the Chinese media has carried several stories in the past couple of years concerning Chinese sovereignty over North Korea, back several hundred years ago. Not all of the NorKor Communist Party is happy with the Chinese and would rather see the South get involved as a counterweight. Also, there is a strong unification faction in the North that wants to rejoin with the South, peaceably if possible. If the Chinese takeover after Kimmie, that goes away.
#3
there is a concern that it will spread to our region
Har har! Liar! Humans can barely get across the border intentionally, how can cows? Just another weak excuse to hand them money and hope they are buying protection of some sort.
#10
whats wrong with federalism, and leaving this to the states? Why does the president need to pronounce on the morality of homosexuality? He/she aint a minister/priest/rabbi. OTOH, if they are, could George W Bush come to my house and help me kasher my kitchen for Passover? I really want to know what his thoughts are on the use of kitniyot derivatives like corn oil?
#11
whats wrong with federalism, and leaving this to the states?
Where were you when Roe vs. Wade came about? It's been the left side of the political spectrum that pushes for more concentration of power and standardization from one central governing authority. Of course all in the name of the poor, the children, the exploited, etc.
#12
How about what you do in your bedroom is your business, including your uses for corn oil. What is immoral is forcing non homosexuals to rip out societal underpinnings like marriage, child rearing, military discipline including in the barracks, and free association to satisfy the latest homosexual fads. I don't give a damn what you do with your kitniyot, but you will not force it down my throat.
Posted by: ed ||
03/16/2007 9:27 Comments ||
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"Did you say 'immoral'? I thought you said 'immortal!' Well, of course there is no such thing as an 'immortal' homosexual, or anyone else for that matter. How could you say such a thing?"
In fact, some of her closest girlfriends are homosexuals.
Posted by: Tibor ||
03/16/2007 10:29 Comments ||
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11. I have mixed feelings about Roe v Wade. I will admit that many liberals are quite hypocritical, speaking up for federalism only now.. And so are conservatives, about federalism, which they no longer seem to believe in.
#16
"What is immoral is forcing non homosexuals to rip out societal underpinnings like marriage, child rearing,"
How exactly does the presence of gay civil unions in a few states, impact marriage and child rearing, esp if you live in a state where its not allowed?
#17
As for the military, IIUC the number of discharges under "dont ask, dont tell" has declined in the last few years. Evidently in wartime the military decides its gay troops are a net asset.
Note also, UK, Israel, both allow gay troops, and seem to be able to maintain discipline.
#18
When gays adopt, they also transmit their lifestyle choices. Not the preferred learning environment for the next generation, not to mention the specter of two grown men molesting the kids.
But the financial benefits are primarily what the gay marriage pushers are pushing. Lower taxes, worker benefits and pensions accrue to both partners in a marriage on the assumption one will take the primary childcare responsibilities and upon death the pension goes to the surviving spouse on account (mostly she) reduced her potential income to raise children. Gay advocates want the bennies without shouldering the burden (sound familiar?). Liberals will say that because gays don't have kids, they shouldn't have to pay the whole burden. But let's look at the 1 million Aids cases, mostly gay. Each Aids patient will use $600,000 of medical care, some work insurance but much of taxpayer money. $600,000 thousand will raise 3-4 kids to 18 including the outrageously overpriced public school. That a $600 billion obligation and in another 20 years when a who new set of Aids patients cycles through, another $600 billion. Truly a shocking figure when 1% (Gutmacher, practicing homosexuals) to 3% (NYT poll) is gay. Why should gays have such claims to the public treasury and what of the long suffering straight singles who don't have kids or Aids?
I have no problem with gays serving in the military, as long as they act like everyone else. What they do in the privacy of their off base time is their business, as long as it does not bring discord or disrepute upon the military. But that is not the gay lobby wants. They want unconditional acceptance of their behavior, when they want it. So LH, which brand of pillow do you recommend to muffle the noises when gay roomies get passionate, and should the platoon mates just suck it up because they're queer, they're here (in the next bunk) and taking it in the rear? And aren't the feelings of the majority non homosexuals important to you?
Posted by: ed ||
03/16/2007 12:26 Comments ||
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Er, Ed, we give the same financial benefits to couples who never have kids. Its about recognizing a couple as a financial unit, not about subsidizing child rearing. If we wanted to subsidize child rearing, we could do that more directly.
Dont ask dont tell means someone can be discharged for saying "Im gay". Its hardly needed to ban sexual activity on base or in barracks.
Human behaviors viewed in terms of morality will always be subjective. And no one should be silenced on his or her interpretations of morality. However, actions (for or against) a particular group or individual that results from those interpretations need allowances to be scrutinized. Cultures throughout history, including some of the most liberal, have adopted restrictive laws based on morality to prohibit certain behaviors. What should not be in dispute (But often erroneously is) is that Homosexuality is an Abnormal human behavior. Human sexual instinct is a matter of propagation of the human species. And indeed, any species would cease to exist if this truth was not the natural order. Most enlightened cultures do not see Homosexuality, itself, as threat to the overall populace and therefore is tolerated. But make no mistake; tolerance is not the same as acceptance. Concepts of love, dignity, and relationships are corollary and should be viewed in the same subjective terms of morality itself. Ironically, (arguably suspiciously) some that purport to be champions of civil liberties choose to assign malice to those that rightfully voice their interpretations of morality. The common practice is to speculate on motivations rather then address the merit of the statements themselves. Furthermore, they want to enact legislation that would make public voicing of dissenting opinions illegal under criminal statute even if they cant prove harm. (Such as incitement to violence.)
One such attempt is House is H.R. 254, titled, "The David Ray Hate Crimes Prevention Act," introduced by Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX).
If this resolution were to become law we might view this issue in a very different light. Senator Clinton is making her personal moral opinions public and is advocating changes to policy as it relates to said opinions. But because there isnt necessarily a negative connotation, under the statute, she would be within legal and ethical boundaries. In contrast, Gen. Paces comments regarding his personal beliefs regarding Homosexuality might not be considered a crime (Yet) but the law would certainly offer validation to the condemnations of bigotry. However what is most pernicious here is, if the argument that discipline for the codes of military conduct would be compromised based on the fact that a substantial number of enlisted servicemen share Paces morality views it would most certainly be challenged as being contrary to civilian hate crimes.
No matter how altruistic in their intentions, forced social experiments rarely, if ever, result in their stated purpose.
#21
LH, raising children is a central feature and that is why marriage is both a moral and legal concept to provide a framework for the safe raising of children and the vast majority of married couples do so. There is no chance a homosexual couple will have children together so there is no justification for the legal and financial perks that go with that responsibility. You are not stating you have a better social and financial framework for the raising of children, are you?
If a homosexual wants to serve, then how about shutting his/her mouth and doing their duty instead of raising their gayness above their fellow soldiers, duty and country. The military is a close knit group of people often in close contact. It is not about sowing discord to make a statement.
Posted by: ed ||
03/16/2007 14:58 Comments ||
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KATHMANDU - Nepals government will withdraw hundreds of King Gyanendras aides including cooks, waiters, clerks and the queens beauticians from the palace, a minister said on Thursday. The decision is a further blow to King Gyanendra, who has largely been confined to his palace since 2006 when he bowed to weeks of pro-democracy protests and handed power back to political parties a year after he sacked the government.
Some 774 staff have been removed and includes servants used to pluck flowers for prayers conducted by the king and his family members, Queen Komals hairdressers and palace photographers apart from clerks, secretaries and accountants.
After the king relinquished power, Nepals new multi-party government moved swiftly to strip him of most of his powers including control over the powerful army. He has also been told to pay taxes. The government also plans to nationalise property accumulated by King Gyanendra since he ascended the throne in 2001, Shah said.
Since the king gave up power, there has been a groundswell of demand for abolishing the monarchy and turning Nepal into a republic. This week, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, who had been supporting a ceremonial role for the king in the hugely religious nation, asked King Gyanendra to abdicate, saying the monarch and Crown Prince Paras had lost their reputation.
But analysts said the veteran politician had not abandoned his stance on keeping the monarchy in some forms. On the surface it looks like it is a pro-republican statement but in reality it is the prime ministers last ditch attempt to save the monarchy from extinction, said Kunda Dixit, editor of the weekly Nepali Times. Koirala reasons that the only way the monarchy could be preserved now is by skipping the two generations and making Gyanendras four-year-old grandson the king, Dixit said.
Queen Elizabeth should be taking notes on skipping a generation.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/16/2007 00:00 ||
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I wonder how the 774 jobless staff feel about the descision? Does seem a bit much though.
#2
"The whole world is in revolt. Soon there will be only five Kings left - the King of England, the King of Spades, the King of Clubs, the King of Hearts, and the King of Diamonds."
#3
... saying the monarch and Crown Prince Paras had lost their reputation.
Of course, the author neglects to make any mention of Prince Paras' abominable conduct, such as running over with his sports car and killing the popular Nepalese entertainer, Praveen Gurung, or other minor peccadilloes of that sort.
Small wonder that there is rampant speculation by the public over whether Gyanendra or Paras may have had a role in the 2001 slaying of nearly the entire Nepalese royal family.
After the shock of Crown Prince Dipendra's role in the killings, the focus has shifted to King Gyanendra's 30-year-old son, Prince Paras. Katmandu is rife with stories of the prince's careening through narrow streets in a Japanese four-wheel-drive luxury vehicle, injuring or killing several people -- and remaining immune to prosecution. The most serious case, confirmed by two government ministers and by an ambassador with access to a Western intelligence report, resulted in the death of a popular sitar player last fall.
According to these accounts, Prince Paras became embroiled in an altercation over a waitress at a nightclub attached to a hotel in which his father is a major shareholder. The sitar player, Pravid Gurung, joined other employees in demanding that the prince leave the waitress alone. When Mr. Gurung left the nightclub, he was pursued and knocked off his motorcycle by Prince Paras, who then put his vehicle in reverse and ran over Mr. Gurung before driving off. Later, 600,000 Nepalese signed a petition to King Birendra demanding action against the prince, but Paras was never touched.
Now, Prince Paras is next in line to the throne. His father, King Gyanendra, apparently wary of provoking popular feeling, has so far avoided naming him formally as crown prince. When Parliament was re-convened a month after the palace killings, Prince Paras was notably absent. At the Katmandu nightspots he frequented before the massacre, he has been a no-show as well ...
"We know now that we had a crown prince who was a drinker and a drug user, that we have a new king who was a smuggler, that his son is a killer, and that we have a government that is so corrupt that it is incapable of effective action."
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A defiant Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe told critics of his government to "go hang" themselves on Thursday in his first response to the arrest and assault of opposition chief Morgan Tsvangirai. After talks with Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, who had gone to Harare in a bid to mediate between Mugabe and the opposition, the veteran leader accused Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of instigating violence.
The joint forces last night raided the office of Coco Navigations, owned by former prime minister Khaleda Zia's youngest son Arafat Rahman and Tarique Rahmans business partner Giasuddin Al Mamun, at Banani and seized some documents. The forces also raided the office of detained BNP leader Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury in the same area. Sources said the joint forces cordoned the area around 12 midnight and conducted the hour-long raid.
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) should no longer be the main authority on the English language because it does not keep pace with todays rapid linguistic changes, a report said on Thursday. Left-wing think-tank Demos said the OED should be replaced by a website democtionary org that would allow English-speaking members of the public from Britain and abroad to contribute their own words and definitions.
KATHMANDU - Nepals government will withdraw hundreds of King Gyanendras aides including cooks, waiters, clerks and the queens beauticians from the palace, a minister said on Thursday. The decision is a further blow to King Gyanendra, who has largely been confined to his palace since 2006 when he bowed to weeks of pro-democracy protests and handed power back to political parties a year after he sacked the government.
