Ten people including Pulin Bihari Sarkar, a 'regional leader' of outlawed Purba Bangla Communist Party (PBCP Janajuddha) were chargesheeted yesterday in Jatiyatabadi Matsjibi Dal Mirza Masud Jewel murder case. Investigation officer (IO) of the case Sub-inspector (SI) Humayun of Patkelghata police station submitted the charge sheet to a magistrate court in Satkhira after over 11 months of the incident.
Sources close to the IO said they are convinced that the accused were involved in the sensational murder. The accused have been charged under Section 302/104 of BPC (Bangladesh Penal Code). Other chargesheeted accused are Ananta Sarkar, Kali Pada alias Kalu Sarkar, Bimal Mondal, Jhantu Sheikh alias Mamun Sheikh, Gafur Gazi, Debabrata Mondal and Sanjoy Mondal of Dudli village in Tala upazila; Maru Gain of Khariadanga village in Satkhira Sadar upazila and Sanjib Kumar Adhikari of Raruli village in Paikgachha upazila in Khulna. Pulin Bihari Sarkar hails from Goaldanga village in Tala upazila.
All the accused are absconding since the murder of Jewel, president Satkhira Jatiyatabadi Matsjibi Dal, fishermen's front of BNP. Court sources said, the killers belonging to PBCP waylaid Jewel when he was returning home from his shrimp farm in his village at about 12:30 pm on July 8 last year. They opened fire and blasted three bombs, critically injuring Jewel. He was rushed to Satkhira Sadar Hospital where he died on the same night. The victim's mother Rokeya Khanam filed a case with Patkelghata police station on July 9 naming 10 accused.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2007 00:00 ||
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Another extortion case has been filed against former BNP lawmaker KM Anwarul Islam. Local BNP leader Wares Ali filed the case with Pabna Cognisance Court-2 on Sunday. This is the third extortion case filed in about two weeks against Anwarul, elected from Pabna 3 constituency in 2001.
Anwarul's wife Shiddika Anwar, senior vice-president of Chatmoher upazilla BNP Belalur Rahman and Bhangura BNP leader Rezaul Karim were also accused in the case. Wares Ali alleged that Anwarul Islam demanded Tk 5 lakh for lease of an eight-acre water body in Briboalia in Bhangura upazila in 2003 during the 4-party alliance government. The complainant paid the then lawmaker Tk 3.91 lakh but did not get lease of the water body. Wares Ali said in the complaint that he could not file case earlier fearing retaliation by the lawmaker's musclemen.
Earlier on June 25, Wares Ali filed an extortion case against Anwarul Islam, his wife and Rezaul Haque with the same court alleging that the former lawmaker and his wife had demanded Tk 5 lakh for permission to arrange a circus show on Bhangura High School ground last year to raise funds for the school. He had paid them Tk 2.17 lakh, the complainant said. The court ordered investigation into the allegation.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2007 00:00 ||
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The party in power came as a magic lamp for outlaw-turned BNP leader Ali Ahmed Biswas. With alleged backing of the then lawmaker from Magura-2 constituency, Ali Ahmed, once a 'regional leader' of outlawed Sarbahara Party, amassed wealth through illegal means but remained out of law enforcers' dragnet despite having at least 16 cases against him.
Ali Ahmed is being tried by the Special Trial Tribunal- 7 in Dhaka. He was arrested from Milkvita factory on February 12 in connection with a case filed with Shah Ali police station in Mirpur in Dhaka.
Ali raised the infamous 'Ali Bahini' and managed to secure the post of Magura district BNP secretary. He also became chairman of Raghobdair Union Parishad (UP) in 2004 by allegedly using musclemen. Allegations have it that the 'Ali Bahini' created a reign of terror in the area during the four-party alliance rule.
Most of the party leaders now disown Ali Ahmed and demand his punishment for alleged crimes and corruption. They also blame the former lawmaker for patronising Ali. The party men had brought out processions against the then lawmaker and his cohort Ali during the fag end of the four-party alliance government.
Ali was also arrested in 2002 during the army-led 'operation clean heart' and a shutter-gun was recovered from his possession, police said.
The 16 cases against Ali are for murder, kidnapping for ransom, toll collection and arms looting from police, filed with different police stations in Magura, Jhenidah and Faridpur district.
He was arrested by joint forces along with a foreign pistol by from a garments factory in Dhaka in February. He is now in Dhaka Ccentral Jail, police sources here said.
Ali was also arrested in 2002 during the army-led 'operation clean heart' and a shutter-gun was recovered from his possession, police said. "The then lawmaker inducted terrorists in the party and placed Ali in a top position in the district committee. When they fell apart, the lawmaker as supreme leader of the district committee, took initiative to dissolve the committee", said a front ranking leader seeking anonymity.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2007 00:00 ||
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A team of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) yesterday nabbed 24 people for manufacturing electric fans illegally and seized more than 2000 pieces of fans and huge fan-making materials from a factory in the city.
"Quick, assemble the men. We have to seize fans!"
"Fans of the dread Purbo Bangla communist party, Sir?"
"No, electric fans."
Acting on secret information, they raided two houses at Mir Hazirbagh area at about 4:15pm and seized the fans and fan-making materials.
"You in the house! Drop your fans and no one will get.....ah, screw it, just get in the truck, ok."
Rab officials said the arrested people had long been involved in manufacturing and selling fans with the labels of National, Navana and Konka.
No crossfire, no shutter guns, not even a round of bullet
Take comfort. See the next Banglarticle.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/03/2007 00:00 ||
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#3
At least they put "pieces of fans," reminiscent of our favored "rounds of bullet." I don't know if they found a Shutter Fan.
But, this also shows that Bangla is going to stay screwed up. Manufacturing electric fans illegally?! I presume that means they didn't bribe the right officials (or said officials didn't stay bribed). As long as you keep socialist controls on the economy, expect it to go nowhere.
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds ||
07/03/2007 8:58 Comments ||
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#4
I seem to keep having this visual of the RAB's paddy wagon carrying the micreants and the evidence rear-ending a septic tank pump truck, causing the contents to discharge all over the RAB-mobile...something about the Sh!t hitting the fan....
A former Colombian guerrilla commander extradited to the United States has been sentenced to more than 16 years in prison for drug trafficking. Nayibe Rojas - better known by her alias, Sonia - was the most senior female member of the main Colombian left-wing guerrilla group, the Farc.
Ms Rojas was extradited to the US two years ago on charges of co-ordinating drug operations to finance the group. Her lawyers say they plan to appeal against the sentence. In court, Ms Rojas urged the judge to consider her poor background when sentencing her, saying she joined the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia to fight against the extreme poverty she was born into.
The trial was held in the same courtroom where another Farc commander, Rocardo Palmera, was tried last year. He was accused of plotting to kidnap three US citizens after their plane crashed in Colombia. A mistrial was declared in November after jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict.
The US last year announced drug indictments against 50 Farc leaders - none of whom have so far been captured. The Farc is the largest rebel group in Colombia. It has been fighting the government for more than four decades.
The fight isn't only shared by the Americans and the Iraqis. Ten days ago the Marne Division assumed control of the Wasit Province. Camp Delta, the base our troops operate from, is home to American, Georgian (from the nation not our beautiful home-state), El Salvadoran, Kazakh, Polish, and Romanian units.
Beginning this month, an entire brigade with three battalions from the country of Georgia will deploy to Iraq and help us conduct combat operations.
The Georgians asked to join the fight and their government has given them no restrictions other than to treat them like every other tactical brigade. In the fifth year of this war, a country whose military is only four years old is stepping up and joining the fight.
Beijing engineered the removal of nearly a third of a World Bank report on pollution in China because of concerns that findings on premature deaths could provoke social unrest.
*There's* a news item I hadn't heard before.
The report, produced in co-operation with Chinese government ministries over several years, found about 750,000 people die prematurely in China each year, mainly from air pollution in large cities.
Chinas State Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) and health ministry asked the World Bank to cut the calculations of premature deaths from the report when a draft was finished last year, according to Bank advisers and Chinese officials.
Advisers to the research team said ministries told them this information, including a detailed map showing which parts of the country suffered the most deaths, was too sensitive. The World Bank was told that it could not publish this information. It was too sensitive and could cause social unrest, one adviser to the study told the Financial Times.
16 of the worlds 20 most polluted cities are in China
Sixteen of the worlds 20 most polluted cities are in China, according to previous World Bank research.
Guo Xiaomin, a retired Sepa official who co-ordinated the Chinese research team, said some material was omitted from the pollution report because of concerns that the methodology was unreliable. But he also said such information on premature deaths could cause misunderstanding. We did not announce these figures. We did not want to make this report too thick, he said in an interview.
The pared-down report, Cost of Pollution in China, has yet to be officially launched but a version, which can be downloaded from the internet was released at a conference in Beijing in March. Missing from this report are the research projects findings that high air-pollution levels in Chinese cities is leading to the premature deaths of 350,000-400,000 people each year. A further 300,000 people die prematurely each year from exposure to poor air indoors, according to advisers, but little discussion of this issue survived in the report because it was outside the ambit of the Chinese ministries which sponsored the research.
Another 60,000-odd premature deaths were attributable to poor-quality water, largely in the countryside, from severe diarrhoea, and stomach, liver and bladder cancers. The mortality information was reluctantly excised by the World Bank from the published report, according to advisers to the research project.
Sepa and the health ministry declined to comment. The World Bank said that the findings of the report were still being discussed with the government. A spokesperson said: The conference version of the report did not include some of the issues still under discussion. She said the findings of the report were due to be released as a series of papers soon.
#1
about 750,000 people die prematurely in China each year, mainly from air pollution in large cities.
That's what, some 250 9-11 sized death tolls every year and no one gives a rat's patootie? What's more, China is somehow granted the moral authority to excise such 'inflammatory' language from a World Bank report.
Someone desperately needs to thrust a stick into the spokes of Beijing's summer Olympics. It needs to become the same sort of PR disaster that the Soviet Olympics were.
#3
Canadian authorities just noticed they're getting contaminated toothpaste from China, too. Clearly inspections -- and hence rejections -- of Chinese products are increasing. Betcha the amount of pollution starts going down soon.
These are just "upstream" numbers. Wait until you see the downstream numbers resulting from massive environmental poisoning, food chain collapse, forced abortions, tainted foods. Then add in all the people overseas being killed by China's export trash. Hell, I'd even throw in all the homeless people who are out of work because China sucked out this world's industrial base. If anything, they'll recover your sort of numbers when the Three Gorges dam breaches.
#5
It is a health issue. You could concntrat on helping the Chinese with these things instead of wasting all your energy on "global warming" or cooling, or whatever you think it is this year.
Humans are just one of the millions of species on Earth, but we use up almost a quarter of the sun's energy captured by plants - the most of any species. The human dominance of this natural resource is affecting other species, reducing the amount of energy available to them by almost 10 per cent, scientists report.
Researchers said the findings showed humans were using "a remarkable share" of the earth's plant productivity "to meet the needs and wants of one species". They also warned that the increased use of biofuels — such as ethanol and canola — should be viewed cautiously, given the potential for further pressure on ecosystems.
The scientists, from Austria and Germany, who publish their results today in the journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, analysed data on land use, agriculture and forestry from 161 countries, representing 97 per cent of the world's land mass. This showed humans used 24 per cent of the energy that was captured by plants. More than half of this was due to the harvesting of crops or other plants.
The human use of the natural resource varied across the globe, ranging from 11 per cent in Oceania and Australia, to 63 per cent in southern Asia.
An agriculture professor at the University of Melbourne, Snow Barlow, said the paper showed humans were taking up too much of an important natural resource. "Here we are, just one species on the earth, and we're grabbing a quarter of the renewable resources we're probably being a bit greedy." After all, there are only so many joules in the Sun, and when they're gone, they're gone.
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds ||
07/03/2007 09:03 ||
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#1
These researchers are using up too much of the human stupid. They are being greedy.
Asshats....
#5
phil_b, according to some authorities caterpillars are responsible for consuming more leaves in earth's forests than all other herbivores combined.
Obviously, humans are a plague upon the planet. Something must be done to stop them! And that darned dihydrogen monoxide stuff is contributing to global warming too! It's a huge threat and must be eliminated from our environment now before it's too late.
#12
Right, cause sunlight shouldn't be free to the masses, it should be OWNED by the govt., UN, corporations, and we should need a permit to use it.
Somewhere in the neighborhood of a $50 permit, I'm thinking.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/03/2007 17:06 Comments ||
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#15
Unless this is The Onion, these scientists clowns are top-of-the-list contenders for the Idiot of the Decade™ "award."
Kill yourselves and quit using up sunshine, you fools. You're too stupid to live anyhow.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/03/2007 18:18 Comments ||
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#16
These kind of stories fall in the "global warming" category in my mind. I pay scant attention to them although I might read them out of curiosity--kind of like a Paris Hilton story. It occurred to me that the left loves these kinds of stories and generally accept them as a part of their mantra. However, it seems like global warming stories are an invention of the left. First, they are trying to find an election issue which sticks with the electorate. Second, they create distractions that detract from the real issues such as the war with terrorists. War is abhorent to them so they chase after other distractions such as global warming which is a canard.
The former French president François Mitterrand supported the perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide despite clear warnings that mass killings of the Tutsi population were being orchestrated, according to declassified French documents.
The previously secret diplomatic telegrams and government memos also suggest the late French president was obsessed with the danger of "Anglo-Saxon" influence gripping Rwanda.
The publication of the documents in today's Le Monde for the first time confirms long-held suspicions against France. The previously secret diplomatic telegrams and government memos also suggest the late French president was obsessed with the danger of "Anglo-Saxon" influence gripping Rwanda. In three months from April 1994, at least a million Rwandans - mainly Tutsis - were systematically slaughtered in killings engineered by the Hutu regime to exterminate its ethnic rivals and repel the Uganda-trained Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).
The documents, obtained by lawyers for six Tutsi survivors who are bringing a case against France for "complicity with genocide'' at the Paris Army Tribunal, suggest the late President Mitterrand's support for the Hutus was informed by an obsession with maintaining a French foothold in the region. One of the lawyers, Antoine Compte, said France was aware of the potential danger of its support for the pre-genocide Rwandan government. "Massacres on an ethnic basis were going on and we have evidence that France knew this from at least January 1993. The French military executed the orders of French politicians. The motivation was an obsession with the idea of an Anglo-Saxon plot to oust France from the region.
France's obsession with the Anglosphere is the equivalent of Bush Derangement Syndrone
#6
The previously secret diplomatic telegrams and government memos also suggest the late French president was obsessed with the danger of "Anglo-Saxon" influence gripping Rwanda. In three months from April 1994, at least a million Rwandans - mainly Tutsis - were systematically slaughtered in killings engineered by the Hutu regime to exterminate its ethnic rivals . . . .
I guess a million human lives is a small price to pay to keep the eeevil "Anglo-Saxons" from influencing Francophone Africa, especially if it's nobody you know.
Weasel.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/03/2007 15:26 Comments ||
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The defence attache at the US embassy in Cyprus has been found dead in a remote part of the Mediterranean island four days after he went missing, state radio reported on Monday. Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation radio said Tom Mooney had been found dead in a remote area west of Nicosia and that police were at the scene. There was no confirmation from the US embassy or police. Someone has been found dead and police have gone to the area to confirm and identify it is the body of a missing person, a police spokesman said. The private television station Sigma said the body was found a short distance from the diplomats car on a dirt track in forested hills outside the capital. We cant confirm anything at this stage, a US embassy spokesman said. The 45-year-old diplomat, who is married with children, was last seen leaving the US embassy in Nicosia around midday on Thursday. Police said Sunday they had been searching for Mooney, who has the rank of lieutenant-colonel, after he had been reported missing by his embassy.
Later reports have said he was found alone with a large self-inflicted knife wound in his neck and all the standard disclaimers.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
He cut off his own head with a kitchen knife while shouting "Allahu Akhbar!"
Posted by: Pearl Greaper5013 ||
07/03/2007 9:36 Comments ||
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#2
God bless him and his family.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/03/2007 10:28 Comments ||
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From the Sydney Morning Herald :
A post-mortem report said Mooney died from excessive bleeding caused by deep incisions to the throat. He was identified through dental records.
"There is no foul play involved," said forensic pathologist Marios Matsakis, who carried out the post-mortem.
In Washington, the US State Department said there was nothing to suggest Mooney's death was an act of terrorism.
At least 23 Chinese children seeking asylum in Sweden have gone missing from temporary accommodation in Sigtuna in the last three weeks. It has been a year since a wave of similar disappearances baffled the Swedish authorities. In the last week, six young people who arrived at Arlanda airport on flights from China have vanished without trace.
"Eight youngsters presented themselves to border police and were seeking asylum as children. Only three of them are still with us and the Board of Migration. This is dreadful. I believe we're dealing with human trafficking. A year and a half ago we had the same problem. This has to stop."
"Eight youngsters presented themselves to border police and were seeking asylum as children," said Björn Eklund, chief executive of Sigtuna council. "Only three of them are still with us and the Board of Migration [Migrationsverket]. This is dreadful. I believe we're dealing with human trafficking. A year and a half ago we had the same problem. This has to stop - you have to assume that something horrible has happened to them."
When the individual young people arrived at the airport they had no identity papers but claimed that they were under the age of 18. They were taken into the custody of the border police and sent to the 'reception councils' which have an agreement with the migration board. The majority of those who have disappeared from the refugee residences were gone within a few days, according to Eklund. The Social Services have no remit to supervise the children or to prevent them from leaving the residence.
When they arrive in Sweden, the young people often have mobile phones which immigration officers try to confiscate. "Clearly they have contact with others or have been given instructions about what they should do," said Eklund.
At least 96 Chinese youngsters, thought to be between 12 and 18 years of age, have come to Sweden in the last year. 90 have gone missing and of those at least 30 have been picked up by authorities elsewhere in Europe.
Last June, a Chinese couple were found guilty of human trafficking after transporting 40 young people through Sweden. It was feared that the children were forced into slavery, the sex trade or organ supplies.
Last June, a Chinese couple were found guilty of human trafficking after transporting 40 young people through Sweden. It was feared that the children were forced into slavery, the sex trade or organ supplies.
Since the pair were sentenced only a few children have gone missing, but the problem appears to have resurfaced. A number of countries in Europe send Chinese children back home if they do not have the appropriate papers. Border police at Arlanda have highlighted a wave of Chinese children in the last month and police are investigating the matter. "We confiscate their mobile phones but they have SIM-cards hidden in their clothes," said Barry Gunnarsson at Arlanda police
#2
Zen, not sure about Sigtuna, but around/in Lund there is a noticeable minority of Chinese, Vietnamese and Japanese. In Czech Republic, you'll find Vietnamese everywhere.
#1
Go ahead. Try. I guarantee that they will find we can do just fine without them. And if they try the Paleo style of "resistance", they will find themselves dead or driven back over the border.
#6
Sounds like some little senorita has quite an ego problem.
Agreed. Poor Elvira must not have gotten any ink from the Chicago papers for at least a few days, so she threw things, screamed, and stamped her tiny feet to get attention.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/03/2007 15:29 Comments ||
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You don't need to read the actual comments--the subject headings are enough. Almost as much anger in there directed at Nancy Pelosi as at the President (not that the Angry Left ever runs short of anger, mind you).
Posted by: Mike ||
07/03/2007 06:17 ||
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#1
Their objections all seem built around the original lie - that Libby was a traitor for 'outing' Plame. If they were honest about it, and focussed on the actual charges, I could see a point to it, but it is clear it is still just more of what it always was - political grandstanding.
#2
If I was in office, I would go with the strategy that the more the left screams and throws tantrums, the more I would know what I was doing is the right thing to do.
#4
Maybe Bush can cause a few cranial arteries to burst if he pardons Nixon again.
Posted by: ed ||
07/03/2007 8:02 Comments ||
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#5
I read a bunch of comments from a bunch of idiots that don't even know what is going on. All they know is that a republican is getting pardonned instead of going to prison. Many of them keep using the word dictatorship, as if clinton and every other democrat prez didn't issue pardons to suit themselves also.
This whole Bushitler thing is getting tiresome. Do they really think another president will make the world all "flowers and kittens"? If they really do, they are dumber than even I think they are.
Posted by: Ho Chi Glealing4328 ||
07/03/2007 8:36 Comments ||
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#6
When a Republican is president and the Democrats have a congressional majority, the DUniks want a parliament that can shove the president around and remove him from office for any reason or none.
When a president refuses to be led around by the nose, he's a dictator or an emperor.
#9
I ain't no donk and yet, as an American, I've got a real problem with special treatment for special criminals. The rule of law means little when a convicted criminal's politics can shield him or her from responsibility for a crime involving lying to investigating law enforcement officers. It's not good. Do you really think this is a good thing?
#10
I still say they need to takte th next step and charge Fitz with procutorial misconduct. He knew no crime was committed 5 minutes after he started his witch hunt and should have ended it at that time. Instead he jog right down the path of partisianship in an attempt to catch someone in a lie or mis-statement. I don't think that Libby was intentionally trying to mislead the investigation since he knew that he had committed no crime vis-a-vis outing Plame. I still hope he appeals the verdict and has the whole thing thrown out, makes the goverment pay his legal fees, and gets a fat settlement on top.
#11
Libby was Commuted, not pardoned Tkat. He just doesn't have to serve jail time. It's still on his record, he still had this whole thing attached to his name until the moonbats die of old age, and he still has to pay $250,000 fine. As for the actual charge he was convicted on, perjury, it would have been overturned on appeal. The prosecutor has to PROVE that the person KNOWINGLY lied about conversations. Libby did all the lawyer double-speak and never actually incriminated himself. The prosecutor couldn't prove it at all. The whole real reason he was convicted of anything was because of name, just like Paris Hilton was thrown into jail because of her name when no-name illegals get off 5 times more before serving any jail time.
As for criminals, there are plenty more out there who instead of "Forgetting" a conversation instead stole national secrets. There was a Millionaire guilty of MASSIVE tax evasion in 2000 that Clinton pardoned. His wife donated money to Hillary's Senate campaign and he was pardoned magically. Seriously, if you're going to talk about criminals look for ones who actually committed something heinous.
Did Libby lie? Irrelevant really. They can't prove he did lie and the conviction is a paper tiger at best. If you want to know the whole reason Bush stepped in it's simple: Libby would have to be in jail during his appeal. That's the reason. This will be overturned on appeal and any jailtime he served would be unjust imprisonment I believe. Bush stepped in and saved him from the Prison time only. The appeal still has to be had for the rest.
Posted by: Charles ||
07/03/2007 14:05 Comments ||
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#12
As soon as BabyBusHitler is out of office, gumdrops will fall from cotton candy clouds in the ice cream sky.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
07/03/2007 14:26 Comments ||
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#13
The rule of law means little when a convicted criminal's politics can shield him or her from responsibility for a crime involving lying to investigating law enforcement officers.
True enough as a principle, Tkat, though we might have some disagreements as to the application in this particular case. I think it doubly worse in the case of a president lying under oath, but for some reason the DU types and the other Dems were a lot more lenient about this stuff nine years ago. Wonder why?
Posted by: Mike ||
07/03/2007 14:40 Comments ||
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#14
you're right Tkat. As soon as the rule of law applies to the Kennedy family, you bring that outrage back to the table. Until then....
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/03/2007 20:32 Comments ||
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President George W. Bush on Monday spared former vice presidential aide Lewis Scooter Libby from going to prison for 2 1/2 years for obstructing a CIA leak investigation.
"Go forth, and whatever it was they said you did, don't do it no more."
I respect the jurys verdict. But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive, Bush said in a statement. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libbys sentence that required him to spend thirty months in prison.
Bush, yet again, is doing the right thing and stating exactly the wrong reasons. My understanding is that the sentence that was imposed was lenient as it applies to the specific charges that Scooter was convicted for. (Note: I think SL's charges and conviction were completely bogus and frivolous)
He will remain on probation. The significant fines imposed by the judge will remain in effect, Bush said. The consequences of his felony conviction on his former life as a lawyer, public servant, and private citizen will be long-lasting.
Money can be raised by supporters. Freedom can't.
Libby was sentenced to prison for lying and obstructing an investigation into who blew the cover of a CIA officer whose husband criticized the Iraq war. He also received at $250,000 fine and two years probation.
The literacy rate in the country rose to 54 percent and the gross enrolment rate for primary education improved from 72 percent to 87 percent in 2006, says Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
The net enrolment rate for children between five and nine years and six and 10 years has improved from 42 percent to 50 percent and 51 percent to 61 percent respectively, Aziz said while addressing the first ever convocation of the Foundation University here. He said illiterate nations could not make progress. He said education enhances human capabilities, creates opportunities for individual progress and social mobility.
According to Aziz the most critical difference between the rich and poor nations today is the level of education and the quality of human resource. He congratulated the graduates and praised those who had won distinction for their outstanding performance. We must build up an education system based on clear objectives reflecting a healthy balance between academic pursuits and extra-curricular activities, natural and social sciences and technical skills and the liberal arts.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Education for literacy has historically been about developing the ability to read the holy books - here the Bible, there the Koran. That it tends to set people free is an unintended consequence.
#2
That it tends to set people free is an unintended consequence.
Possibly, but OTHO, I'm not sure being able to read the k'or'an' will enlighten pakistanis; problem of islam is at its source, and reading the ko'r'an is looking straight at this source.
#3
READING the Koran gains nothing. But the ability to read the Koran means one is also able to read the newspaper or 'Satanic Verses', etc. Literacy doesn't make a person think and learn, but it does enable one to do so. That's why most of the American South forbade teaching slaves to read prior to the Civil War. IIRC, in the Middle Ages only the clerics could read, and they liked it that way - even as late as my youth Catholics were told not to read the Bible themselves, but to have it read to them at Church, so they would not misunderstand it.
#4
It wasn't that only clerics could read, Glenmore. There were lots of lovely, illuminated Book of Days in the High Middle Ages for ladies to read in the solarium when they tired of embroidery. It's just that only clerics were systematically taught to read and write... with middling success. There *are* problems with reading scripture literature without context -- that's how Spinoza passed straight through Judaism to atheism without noticing that he missed the turn off. ;-) Part of the problem with the jihadis is that they cleave to the Koran and the most rigid, humanity-rejecting threads of Islam while ignoring the more liberal historical threads. Granted, so has the general thrust of Islam, but still.
#5
even as late as my youth Catholics were told not to read the Bible themselves, but to have it read to them at Church, so they would not misunderstand it.
Absolutely correct, My wife is catholic, and has NEVER read the bible, the church tells her what it says. (Yeah right, squelch lerning at the source.)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/03/2007 17:18 Comments ||
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Lal Masjid has demanded a ban on a yet-to-be released movie, Khuda Kay Liye, declaring it blasphemous.
The movie will depict a post 9/11 scenario in which confrontation between fundamentalists and liberal Muslims has intensified. The film is against Islamic norms and traditions and is being released on a private TV channel without prior approval from a censor board. We wont allow this, said Abdul Rashid Ghazi, the Lal Masjid deputy mullah, who did not mention his source of information about the movie.
He said he would not object to the movie if ulema approved it. He demanded that the government form a board to review the film. The government will be held responsible if the film is released without being censored, he said. Pakistani actor Shan and Indian actor Naseeruddin Shah are starring in the movie. Shoaib Mansoor is the producer of the movie to be released on July 7.
This article starring:
ABDUL RASHID GHAZI
Lal Masjid
Lal Masjid
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2007 00:00 ||
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CHENNAI (Reuters) - Hundreds of communists, shouting "Go back", held a noisy demonstration on Monday in Chennai to protest the port call of USS Nimitz, the first U.S. aircraft carrier to visit India. The nuclear-powered Nimitz's visit this week has been termed a landmark step in India-U.S. ties and a sign of a closer diplomatic and military relationship between the two powerful democracies.
But the country's vocal communists say the visit is a move by Washington to bring New Delhi under its strategic umbrella. "By allowing the ship, the Manmohan Singh government has compromised on India's independent foreign policy and shown itself to be a spineless government," David Pandian, a senior communist leader, told reporters outside the Chennai port.
Nearby, protesters shouted "Down with U.S. imperialism" and burnt effigies of the huge ship -- which can carry 90 aircraft, including the F-18 "Super Hornet" -- as well as the U.S. flag.
Sure this is India? Sounds like a port call in San Francisco
Dozens of policemen, many carrying bamboo canes, monitored the protest but made no arrests. Under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government, Washington and New Delhi have seen a blossoming of military, economic and diplomatic ties, triggering unease among the powerful communists who help shore up the federal coalition.
Some port workers in Chennai, off which the Nimitz is anchored, have also expressed environmental fears about the nuclear-powered ship. New Delhi has stationed a naval vessel to monitor radiation levels in the air and water around USS Nimitz. The U.S embassy has said the safety record of American nuclear-powered warships was "outstanding".
Posted by: Steve ||
07/03/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Reminds me of Robin Wiliams' post 9-11 skit on FRANCE, on how the Frenchies hate and despise the USA until the Germans start streaming over the borders. Ditto for the Chicommies coming down en masse from the Tibetan Plateau.
#3
90 aircraft on a Nimitz class carrier, 20 Harriers on a sea control Wasp LHD. Isn't it wild that the two largest and most capable aircraft carrier fleets in the world are both US : Navy and Marine Corps.
#4
"By allowing the ship, the Manmohan Singh government has compromised on India's independent foreign policy and shown itself to be a spineless government," David Pandian
Nearby, protesters shouted "Down with U.S. imperialism" and burnt effigies of the huge ship
Some Indians believe they are superior but I'm sure the Nimitz is quite an intimidating wake up call. So red bastards, spit at us, burn effigies all you want, that's about all you can do. BTW, if you didn't get the memo, we won the Cold War.
#5
I am not concerned about "hundreds" of anything in India given. I work with Hindus and most are pro America and sympathetic to GWOT because Indians confront the jihad menace in Kashmir.
#6
In the meantime, the Indian Navy is thinking to itself, "I gotta get me one a' dese!"
Posted by: Mike ||
07/03/2007 6:17 Comments ||
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#7
The commies are trying to stoke anti-nuke fears but the Indian Navy is actually building a nuclear powered submarine. In the past it operated an SSN - the Chakra - (Charlie class) leased from the Russians.
The "monitoring" vessels are actually there to prevent a Cole style attack on the escort vessels.. but the port workers union has not yet figured that one out.
Ditto for the Chicommies coming down en masse from the Tibetan Plateau.
Actually the Indian communists supported the Chinese. "China's chairman is our chairman" they said.
Posted by: John Frum ||
07/03/2007 6:45 Comments ||
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#8
I'll bet you could get hundreds of commies in any US port near a college town. BFD.
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds ||
07/03/2007 9:01 Comments ||
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#10
I read somewhere that a carrier group on port call can spend up to a million bucks a day. I'm sure the business sector in Chennai will be very pleased.
#11
rjs: and you should see the agony if / when the CO of said carrier secures liberty: all that $$ NOT going ashore makes all the shop owners and host-a-tutes whine and whine........
#13
that would be a bad thing. on the flip side, let the natives merely accuse a US Sailor or marine of an attack, assualt, rape, whatever and watch the festivities begin. Got to participate in a 4 hooker line up when one was found dead in a Mediterranean port and the only statement given to the policia was that it was an American... we all had to parade around the f'csle of the Nimitz (as luck would have it) while these 4 whores looked us all over to id the 'perp'. turned out to be aa German merchant seaman did it, but i do not recall any apology. nowadays, the poor Squid wouldn't even make it back to the ship before a crowd did him in.....
#14
Nearby, protesters shouted "Down with U.S. imperialism" and burnt effigies of the huge ship -- which can carry 90 aircraft, including the F-18 "Super Hornet" -- as well as the U.S. flag
Ima concerned about ships of lesser capacity. Can they carry ammo, sailors and a flag too? Or does the flag have to go? How heavy are these flags, anyway?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/03/2007 20:37 Comments ||
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Being a God ain't what it used to be...
KATHMANDU (Reuters) - A 10-year-old Nepali girl worshipped as a living goddess, or Kumari, has lost her "divine" status for defying tradition and visiting the United States. Well, can't she, like, throw lighting bolts at them or sumthin?
Sajani Shakya was installed at the age of two as the Kumari of the ancient town of Bhaktapur, near the capital Kathmandu, where she was revered by Hindus and Buddhists alike in deeply religious Nepal. Hey, kid? Wanna be a Living Goodess?
But a recent trip to the United States to promote a British-made documentary exploring Nepal's traditions and contemporary political turmoil has upset local religious leaders. "It is wrong and against the tradition for her to go on a foreign tour without any permission," the chief of a trust that manages the affairs of Bhaktapur's Kumari tradition, Jai Prasad Regmi, told Reuters on Tuesday. What, was she drinking with Lindsay Lohan or something?
"This is impure in our tradition. We will search for a new Kumari and install her as the living goddess," Regmi said. Scram, kid! Ya fired!
Bhaktapur's is one of several Kumaris in the Kathmandu valley, home to 1.5 million people. The most important lives in a 15th century temple in Kathmandu's ancient Durbar Square. Living goddesses are chosen from the Buddhist Shakya family after a tough selection process. Well I would hope so...
They are required to stay in temples blessing devotees until reaching puberty, after which they rejoin their family and lead a normal life. Hi. Yes. Living goddess blesses you.
Is it time for my break yet?
"We are discussing whether or not to pay Sajani monthly pension. We are positive on this," Regmi said. While other living goddesses get a monthly pension of $17 (8 pounds) each after retirement, Kathmandu's gets about $50 a month. 50 bucks a month down the drain! Might as well join the fuckin Peace Corps!!
Nepal's Supreme Court last year ordered the government to submit a detailed report on whether the Kumari tradition violated the children's human rights. Officials say the study is underway. Killjoys...
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has rejected a proposal by American Oscar winning movie director Oliver Stone to make a film about him because Stone is part the "Great Satan" cultural establishment, a semiofficial news agency reported.
"I sent a negative answer by Ahmadinejad to Oliver Stone," the Fars agency quoted Mehdi Kalhor, media adviser to the president, as saying Sunday. "It is right that this person is considered part of the opposition in the US, but opposition in the US is a part of the Great Satan."
"He might be a liberal, Bush-hating infidel, but he's still a infidel."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
No Texas-sized asteroid or Aerosmith, no SLASH as VAL KILMER as MORRISON in THE DOORS, no "Back and to the left, back and to the left",
.............etc.!!! *"'Cause I miss you, Baby, and I don't wanna miss a thing" [of the Apocalypse?]???
#6
Just waiting for a better offer when Mikey Moore arrives.
Posted by: ed ||
07/03/2007 7:59 Comments ||
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#7
I'd be willing to bet that if the usual suspects do something big some enterprising person is going to make a mint out of selling rope and renting branch space in Hollywood.
Exactly how does this square up with their invitation to the fat mouth breather?
Posted by: Mike N. ||
07/03/2007 9:43 Comments ||
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#9
Is there anyone who would actually want to go see a movie about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad directed by Oliver Stone?
Jeeeezuz, talk about box office poison. Didn't you learn anything from Commandante, you friggin boob?
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.
Beijing engineered the removal of nearly a third of a World Bank report on pollution in China because of concerns that findings on premature deaths could provoke social unrest.
The literacy rate in the country rose to 54 percent and the gross enrolment rate for primary education improved from 72 percent to 87 percent in 2006, says Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has rejected a proposal by American Oscar winning movie director Oliver Stone to make a film about him because Stone is part the "Great Satan" cultural establishment, a semiofficial news agency reported. 
