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Second man arrested after Brit blast
Today's Headlines
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-Obits-
Colombia Farc chief 'may be dead'
Posted by: 3dc || 05/24/2008 17:35 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Singer Amy Winehouse to undergo drug rehab again, this time in Israel
Grammy Award winning recording artist Amy Winehouse is due in Israel "within weeks" to undergo a drug rehabilitation program, according to the London-based Jewish Chronicle newspaper.

The report quoted a senior official in the Israel Anti-Drug Authority, Eliezer Cohen, who said Winehouse will receive "medical care, which is a very short, intensive and effective treatment." "They spoke to a renowned Israeli institution and an Israeli professor who conducts a very special and effective method," Cohen said. [Winehouse] has requested to come to him to do this method, since it's a method that is suitable for her."
Posted by: Fred || 05/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  HMMMMMMM, IMO AMY [pre-weight loss] physically closely resembles and reminds me alot of one of my former female classmates {Leon Guerrero family] from 1970's St. Francis school here in Guam.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/24/2008 0:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Drug rehab tourism?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/24/2008 6:35 Comments || Top||

#3  There is an effective four day treatment program for heroin that uses three drugs. One to induce coma, a second to clean the drug from the body, and a third to block the receptors. The junkie undergoes withdrawl while unconscious, then they get monthly injections of blocker for six months to a year.

There is about a 1/1000 chance that the induced coma will kill the junkie, because of underlying physical weakness, or reaction to the coma drug. For this reason, the treatment will not even be considered in the United States.

I mention this not because she may be a junkie, but because similar programs for other drugs might have been developed based on the heroin success.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/24/2008 8:44 Comments || Top||

#4  Other then demented British crackhead, I still have no idea who this woman is.
But people seem to think I should...
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/24/2008 9:40 Comments || Top||

#5  "I wanted to go to rehab with Steven Tyler
and they said no, no no...
Posted by: Raj || 05/24/2008 9:45 Comments || Top||

#6  "Just old rumours"...maybe
Posted by: tipper || 05/24/2008 10:23 Comments || Top||

#7  Haven't the Israelis suffered enough?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 05/24/2008 10:47 Comments || Top||

#8  crackhead...

... big nosed skank.
Posted by: jds || 05/24/2008 18:49 Comments || Top||

#9  she could use some dental work and tattoo removal, but I doubt she'd go for it. She'll die young, and leave a nasty-looking corpse. Hopefully the mascara is biodegradable
Posted by: Frank G || 05/24/2008 19:26 Comments || Top||

#10  Maybe she can star in some motorcycle gang movies....
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/24/2008 19:38 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Breaking: Earthquakes indicate Chaiten Eruption about to Intensify
There have been 3 earthquakes in the last few hours in the same area as quakes that preceded the original eruption.

It's likely the Chaiten eruption is about to intensify.

Typically a plinian eruption, which this is, ends in a final large eruptive event. This eruption is already VEI5 and may well end up a VEI6 or larger, making it the largest volcanic eruption since Krakatoa.

Nothing on Google news, so this is a Burg exclusive.
Posted by: phil_b || 05/24/2008 03:40 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Thanks for the heads-up.
Posted by: lotp || 05/24/2008 6:38 Comments || Top||

#2  phil_b,

Are you a real expert* in these things or just an interested amateur?

* i.e. not someone the media wheels on.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/24/2008 7:30 Comments || Top||

#3  Thanks. To save time for the utterly clueless, like me, here are some interesting links:

NASA images, 3 from 5/23

The Volcanism Blog
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 05/24/2008 7:37 Comments || Top||

#4  If it does blow hard, Global shamming Warming will take a hard kick in the ass.
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/24/2008 8:15 Comments || Top||

#5  Yeah, Mr. Cheney's really pissed that Stone picked Dreyfuss to play him in the Bush flick. Told us to "voice his displeasure".
You didn't hear it from us. If you say you did, we'll deny it.
Posted by: Halliburton: Earthquake/Tsunami Division || 05/24/2008 11:23 Comments || Top||

#6  Darth, no the global wormening crowd will just say we have to redouble our efforts to cut down CO2, since Gaia is obviously angry and spitting up to show her displeasure. Besides, global warming contributes to earthquakes and volcanoes, don't ya know?
Posted by: Rambler in California || 05/24/2008 15:04 Comments || Top||

#7  It did? I thought that was the Sub Prime Credit Crisis that did that. Or the ozone hole. (Is there still an ozone hole? I'm so confused.)
Posted by: eLarson || 05/24/2008 15:25 Comments || Top||

#8  I'm just an interested amateur.

BTW, the USGS has a nice plugin for Google Earth that displays earthquake locations in near real time.

Posted by: phil_b || 05/24/2008 22:43 Comments || Top||


Global Warming Alert: Jupiter is getting warmer near the equator
For about 300 years Jupiter's banded atmosphere has shown a remarkable feature to telescopic viewers, a large swirling storm system known as The Great Red Spot.

In 2006, another red storm system appeared, actually seen to form as smaller whitish oval-shaped storms merged and then developed the curious reddish hue. Now, Jupiter has a third red spot, again produced from a smaller whitish storm. All three are seen in this image made from data recorded on May 9 and 10 with the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2.

The spots extend above the surrounding clouds and their red color may be due to deeper material dredged up by the storms and exposed to ultraviolet light, but the exact chemical process is still unknown. For scale, the Great Red Spot has almost twice the diameter of planet Earth, making both new spots less than one Earth-diameter across.

The newest red spot is on the far left (west), along the same band of clouds as the Great Red Spot and is drifting toward it. If the motion continues, the new spot will encounter the much larger storm system in August.

Jupiter's recent outbreak of red spots is likely related to large scale climate change as the gas giant planet is getting warmer near the equator.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 05/24/2008 02:45 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  La la la la la la la la I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!
Posted by: Al Gore || 05/24/2008 3:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Will they have to give up their SUV's now?
Posted by: Raj || 05/24/2008 9:34 Comments || Top||

#3  This is all Bush's fault!
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/24/2008 9:42 Comments || Top||

#4  I blame a swarm of large impenetrable black monoliths.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/24/2008 10:02 Comments || Top||

#5  We better hike the tax on Fuel here on earth some more to help take care of the global warming of Jupiter!

-- United States Democratic Congress
Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/24/2008 10:35 Comments || Top||

#6  Fred Thompson pointed this out LAST MARCH.

/I_miss_Fred
Posted by: OldSpook || 05/24/2008 14:59 Comments || Top||

#7  The cause is global warming, by Jove......
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/24/2008 19:41 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Red Thingie cares for 25,000 after South African unrest
The Red Thingie Cross in South Africa said Saturday it was caring for 25,000 displaced people following nearly two weeks of anti-immigrant violence amid emerging evidence of a humanitarian crisis. The new figures came as the army said it had shot dead a man in a Johannesburg township during joint operations with the police aimed at quelling the tide of unrest.

"The Red Thingie Cross is helping over 25,000 people spread around 21 locations, mainly in Johannesburg," Red Cross director for southern Africa, Francoise Le Goff, told AFP. "The situation has deteriorated since now it (the violence) is starting in Durban and Cape Town."

Aid group Doctors Without Borders, or Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), also warned of the danger of illness among the displaced and said the government needed to make a decision on how victims would be cared for.

Police reported a generally calmer situation across the country Saturday amid signs the vicious attacks of the past two weeks, in which armed mobs have purged some poor neighbourhoods of immigrants, were abating. At least 42 people have been killed and more than 500 arrested since the unrest broke out in a Johannesburg slum area nearly two weeks ago before spreading to seven of the country's nine provinces.

President Thabo Mbeki, facing increasing criticism of his handling of the crisis, bowed to pressure to call in troops on Wednesday after a request from the embattled police force. He called the violence a "humiliating disgrace for our nation" on Saturday as more than 2,000 people marched in central Johannesburg to protest against xenophobia.

The army, which has stressed throughout that it is supporting the police, announced Saturday that soldiers had killed a man in a slum area east of Johannesburg in a clash on Friday. "We unfortunately had an incident where a member of the public was shot when he pointed a firearm at a soldier. He was shot dead," army spokesman General Kwena Mangope told AFP. "A male was allegedly assaulting a woman. Our men confronted him and then he pointed a firearm at them," Mangope explained.

The latest incident was an unfortunate echo of the country's apartheid past when troops were frequently called upon to help police put down civil unrest by blacks in poor townships during protests against the country's white regime.

Soldiers were sent on to Johannesburg's streets on Thursday for the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994. They have been providing logistical support and back-up during search and arrest operations.

National police spokesman Sally de Beer told AFP that a few outbreaks of xenophobic violence had been reported overnight in North West province, but the hotspot of violence around Johannesburg had cooled. "It looks like it's calming down," she said.

Nevertheless, local police in Durban reported a few flare-ups in the eastern city while Johannesburg police said several shacks in a slum area had been set alight overnight and a fight had broken out between locals and foreigners.

Cape Town police reported calm in their area after the first clashes in the southern coastal city on Thursday evening.

The government made its first public apology on Friday for the attacks, which have resulted in thousands fleeing the country.

Neighbouring Mozambique has declared a national disaster and state media reported on Saturday that about 15,000 Mozambicans had returned home between Monday and Friday.

Foreigners in South Africa, many of whom have fled economic meltdown in neighbouring Zimbabwe, are being blamed for sky-high crime rates and depriving locals of jobs. The unrest is seen as a result of policy failures to address critical housing shortages, illegal immigration and the poverty-ridden conditions in the slum areas that surround South Africa's cities.

MSF told AFP on Saturday that they were seeing fewer cases of violence-related injuries, but increasing numbers of people needing treatment for respiratory infections and diarrhoea. "There is really a need for a decision on where they should be accommodated," the organisation's programme director in South Africa Muriel Cornelius told AFP. "You still have people with no roof above their heads, sleeping outside under the stars with just a blanket."
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 05/24/2008 16:23 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The latest incident was an unfortunate echo of the country's apartheid past

Which has been over for fourteen years. Somebody else has been in charge. Idiots.

The unrest is seen as a result of policy failures to address critical housing shortages, illegal immigration and the poverty-ridden conditions in the slum areas that surround South Africa's cities.

Why the answer is simple - take over the farms. Nationalize the industries. After all, it did so well for the rest of Africa.

Why don't you ask all those folks who 'cared' when apartheid was around to chip in a few dinero? What? They're all into AGW now?

Sorry, folks - yer screwed.
Posted by: Pappy || 05/24/2008 18:33 Comments || Top||

#2  It occurs to me that when you teach hate and resentment as primary motivating factors and reduce the political process to a division of the spoils, it'll always produce something like this.
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman || 05/24/2008 21:23 Comments || Top||


Chinese Weapons Reach Zimbabwe
A few days old...
Media reports say 77 tons of Chinese-supplied weapons have arrived in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, despite international efforts to keep the government there from receiving the arms. Newspapers in South Africa and Mozambique say Zimbabwe's Information Minister Bright Matonga has confirmed delivery of the weapons.

The online newspaper Canal de Mocambique says the Chinese ship carrying the weapons unloaded in the Republic of Congo sometime after being denied entry in South Africa last month. It says the arms were then flown to Harare by a Zimbabwean freight charter airline Avient Aviation.

South African unions refused to unload the ship because of concern the weapons would be used against opponents of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. The United States had pressured southern African countries not to unload the weapons from the Chinese vessel, the An Yue Jiang.

South African officials are denying reports that President Thabo Mbeki ordered his country's navy to refuel the Chinese ship off the South African coast. The weapons now in Harare are said to include some three million rounds of ammunition, 3,000 mortar rounds, and 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades.
Observation: Normally, merchant vessels don't have experience (or generally the capability) to refuel at sea. If that's true, and factoring in a Chinese merchant crew taking on (and defeating) pirates some time ago, and it gives the idea that the Chinese merchant marine is a bit more than it seems.
Posted by: Pappy || 05/24/2008 00:47 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ION TAIPEITIMES OP-ED > CAN THE ELEPHANT [India] DANCE WITH THE DRAGON [China]?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/24/2008 2:12 Comments || Top||

#2  Also from ASIA TIMES > SOUTH AFRICA > MOB VIOLENCE [agz Soamlis, Zimbabweans] REACHES CAPE TOWN.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/24/2008 2:13 Comments || Top||

#3  Targeting coordinates?
Posted by: gorb || 05/24/2008 2:51 Comments || Top||

#4  Oh, look everybody! Amy Winehouse is in rehab!
...quick. Unload the boat.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/24/2008 9:46 Comments || Top||

#5  Of course they reach Zimbobland. There are minerals to secure.
Posted by: 3dc || 05/24/2008 12:36 Comments || Top||


Burundi: fresh clashes alarm UN
(SomaliNet) Recent clashes between the Burundian army and National Liberation Forces (FNL) rebels have alarmed the United Nations Security Council, an official said. "The members of the Security Council reiterated their concern at the recent confrontation between the Palipehutu-Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) and the national defence forces of Burundi following attacks by the FNL in violation of the comprehensive ceasefire agreement," Britain's Deputy Permanent Representative Karen Pierce said in a statement released here late Thursday.

Pierce said the council "noted with satisfaction" that an FNL delegation had recently returned to the capital Bujumbura and that a peace drive, the Joint Verification and Monitoring Mechanism, had resumed its work. "They urged the parties to seize this opportunity to definitively consolidate peace in Burundi, by engaging without reservations in dialogue to overcome their differences, and to reach rapidly a concerted, peaceful and sustainable solution to the current crisis," she added.

On Thursday, Burundi's army launched an offensive against the FNL in the east of the country despite a resumption of ceasefire implementation talks with the insurgents. Agencies said troops attacked the insurgents in Mbare and Gasarara, five kilometres (three miles) east of Bujumbura, local administrator Maximilien Ngendakuriyo told AFP.

Burundi is struggling to recover from civil unrest which erupted in 1993 and killed an estimated 300,000 people.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Mali: gummint, rebs clash
The Malian government has confirmed that 27 soldiers and Touareg rebels were killed and 31 wounded in clashes in northern Mali on 21 May and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has warned that the situation is "concerning". "This latest incident underscores the urgent need to find an immediate and lasting solution to this recurrent conflict so that Mali can focus on its development priorities and consolidation of its democracy," Ban said in a statement issued by his spokesperson in New York on 22 May.
Then it's off to Burma for him ...
Military officers and observers in Mali said the scale of the rebel assault on a garrison at Abebara, 150 km north of Kidal in northern Mali on 21 May, showed a worrying escalation in the audacity of the rebels' tactics and of their fighting strength and speculated that several rebel groups had come together to launch the attack.

The rebels and the government had signed a Libyan-brokered truce in April after months of attacks on military facilities, skirmishes, and kidnappings. A separate Touareg rebellion in neighbouring Niger is ongoing.

A source within the Mali rebellion said that that they would continue their assaults until the government entered into negotiations over political and economic autonomy for the Touareg-dominated north. "After the Malian government's refusal to enter into a sincere and serious dialogue, the Touaregs in the rebellion determined that the government is not trying to do anything except to gain time to reinforce the military," the source said.

Hama Ag Sid Ahmed, spokesperson for the Touareg Alliance of Northern Mali, laid out the rebels' demands in a statement issued after the attack. "To end this crisis, we hope that the Malian authorities quickly get together with the country's technical and financial partners, the politicians, and international mediators to start a dialogue that takes into account the widening of this conflict to other regions of the north," the statement said.

Before agreeing to Libyan-sponsored truce, Mali's government had rejected the rebels' demands for negotiations and accused them of using unreasonable political and economic demands to obfuscate their real goal of controlling cross-border smuggling routes used to move arms, drugs, fuel and other illicit goods around the vast desert region.

Research conducted by the UN has shown that preventing conflicts from widening is considerably cheaper than deploying peacekeeping and emergency relief operations once a conflict is underway.
No, reeeeaaallly?
A previous revolt by Touaregs in northern Mali and Niger in the 1990s resulted in hundreds of thousands of civilians being displaced into neighbouring countries and required a major relief operation and successive rounds of negotiations.

Ban said his Special Representative for West Africa, Said Djinnit, is scheduled to visit Mali and will be briefing him on the issue.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Bangladesh
45 hurt as Rab, villagers clash in Kushtia
At least 45 persons were injured, one with bullet, during a clash between Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and villagers of Bahalbaria in Mirpur upazila of the district yesterday when the law enforcers went there to rescue an abducted man. The Rab arrested seven persons including two women following the incident. They also rescued Nazir Hossain, who was abducted from the capital on May 20.

Villagers said three years ago four young men of the village--Sohel, Anwar, Al Amin and Reza--gave Tk 11 lakh to Rezaul who promised to send them abroad within a year. But Rezaul failed. When the four asked him to return their money Rezaul started giving excuses.

Hailing from Sahebnagar village of Mirpur upazila, Rezaul resides in Tejgaon area in the capital. One of his brothers was an expatriate to Malaysia.

On December 16 last year, Rezaul went to the village with Nazir Hossain of Trishal in Mymensingh introducing him as an expatriate to Malaysia and gave further assurance about sending the young men abroad within six months. But Rezaul failed again. Nazir, who lived with Rezaul, knew nothing about Rezaul's taking money from the youths.

On May 20, the four went to Rezaul's house in Dhaka but did not find him there. They picked up Nazir and took him to Bahalbaria and kept him captive. They called Nazir's family in Mymensingh over telephone and demanded Tk 11 lakh in return for his release.

Nazir's family informed the Rab-12 office in Kushtia of the incident on Thursday.

At a press conference at its Kushtia office, the Rab said a plainclothes team of Rab personnel went to Bahalbaria at about 2:30pm and raided Al Amin's house where Nazir was kept. Finding Nazir, when the law enforcers tried to rescue him villagers including women attacked them and damaged one microbus of the Rab. The law enforcers opened fire and charged truncheons to disperse the mob.

Abul Kalam, 22, son of Ferat Ali of the village, received a bullet injury and was taken to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital for treatment, locals said.

Upon information a police team from Mirpur Police Station rushed to the spot and assisted the Rab personnel in controlling the situation.

The Rab arrested Bahalbaria Union Parishad Chairman Amirul Islam Bannu, 55, Rokeya Khatun, 25, Arzoo Khatun, 22, Shiplu, 30, Gahar Ali, 45, Masum, 25, and Piklu, 23.

When contacted, Rab-12 in-charge Major Amjad Hossain Mithu denied any incident of bullet injury, saying they opened blank fires only to disperse the mob.

On the arrest of the UP chairman, he told The Daily Star that Bannu was involved with the abduction and himself asked Nazir's family members to meet him with the money. Amjad claimed that Bannu also provoked the villagers into attacking the Rab. Major Amjad said he repeatedly contacted with Bannu over mobile phone and asked him to come to the spot but he ignored his call.

Three cases were filed against at least 100 villagers for abduction, attacking the law enforcers and damaging a Rab vehicle. Rab said they would hand over the arrestees to Mirpur police after interrogation. Police were deployed in the village.
Posted by: Fred || 05/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  When contacted, Rab-12 in-charge Major Amjad Hossain Mithu denied any incident of bullet injury, saying they opened blank fires only to disperse the mob.

They were blanks, weren't they, Achmed?
I....ummmmmmmmmm...think so, sir.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/24/2008 11:25 Comments || Top||


Fifth Column
Maxine Waters and John Conyers' connections to communist org, World Can't Wait
Posted by: 3dc || 05/24/2008 12:44 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Maxine the Marxist. Conyers the Commie.
Posted by: OldSpook || 05/24/2008 15:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Letter to Rep. Waters' aid

Sir:

This question stems from her comments to oil executives last week. Under what circumstances should socializing or nationalizing occur? Is this a majority view in Congress? I'm concerned since we are considering investing in a small business and wonder what the threshold will be to have that enterprise socialized and run by those who don't know the first thing about business and economics; i.e., supply and demand. Would she support the creation of a bureaucracy such as the Department for the Ethical Treatment of Profits? Does she have a policy paper on this? If so, please send to this email.
Posted by: HammerHead || 05/24/2008 21:14 Comments || Top||


Note the position of US Oil companies on BIG OIL chart - Thanks Democrats!
Posted by: 3dc || 05/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  D *** NG IT, THIS CAN'T STAND IN THIS MAN'S WAR FOR MACKINDRIAN CONUS-NORAM OWG FREE TRADE ZONES!

*ION, BBC > SOUTH AMERICAN NATIONS FORM UNION; + TOPIX > WE ARE NEARING THE END OF THE AGE OF OIL.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/24/2008 0:59 Comments || Top||

#2  The Democrats reasonably expect us to make us of alternative energy sources such as nuclear ethanol shale oil coal wind power hot air and wishful thinking.
Posted by: DMFD || 05/24/2008 3:42 Comments || Top||

#3  It's their same plan for when the Baby Boomers hammer Social Security, hot air and wishful thinking.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/24/2008 8:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Proof dhimocrats and congress are only after power grabs and not solutions.
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/24/2008 8:18 Comments || Top||

#5  I'd lay most of the blame on the Brits, FDR and Ike. If they hadn't abandoned the empire at FDR's insistence, sealed by Ike at Suez, when Fabian socialist ideas were at their peak, this sort of nationalization would be seen for the foolishness it is and the profits would have accrued to Anglo-American shareholders.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 05/24/2008 9:09 Comments || Top||

#6  NS, Ike drove the final nail in the coffin at Suez but the Empire was going long before that. The reality was that the two world wars a)took too many young men, and b)shook British certainty in their justification to rule. Plus, as the U.S. is finding out to its sorrow, there are no thanks for being the world's policeman, only an unending series of recriminations from both those you help and those you don't. The British public finally wearied of the role and refused to support it any longer. Britain's decline as a major industrial nation made the end of the Empire a certainty at some point but the two reasons I mentioned earlier undoubtedly hastened that end.

It has to be remembered that Britain gained much, if not most, of its Empire in an effort to protect or expand its commercial trading privileges. When the trade went, there was no longer any justification for (or money to support) the Empire. After 1956, the records show that dismantling the Empire was handled very much as a business decision with sentiment playing very little part.
Posted by: Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707 || 05/24/2008 10:51 Comments || Top||

#7  The Dims want us to run out of energy. It's that simple. They can't make you give up your AC and car, but they can make sure those things never work again. They won't be happy until we all live like the Amish.
Posted by: Iblis || 05/24/2008 11:19 Comments || Top||

#8  TS, I don't disagree that the factors you mention were involved in Britain's decision to abandon the empire.

But FDR also had an aggressive policy to end all the European empires in WWII, contributing to the shaken British certainty in their justification to rule. All the lovely American backed multinational organizations created by the likes of Harry Dexter White & Co. such as the GATT (now WTO), IMF and UN operated to enervate the Empire and British ability to recover from WWII. And now the chickens are coming home to roost, to coin a phrase.

As I said, I lay the blame on the Brits, FDR and Ike, in that order. History shows that it was a great tragedy that the British Empire ended when it did, as rapidly as it did. The US has not done a sterling job of picking up the burden.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 05/24/2008 11:34 Comments || Top||

#9  "They won't be happy until we all live like the Amish."

It seems that way, but WHY would they want that? Outside of a fringe of Mother Earth worshippers, it seems like most of the Democrats I see around here (DC suburbs) are of the Limousine Liberal variety who would be positively lost without the comforts of modern society.
Posted by: eLarson || 05/24/2008 12:05 Comments || Top||

#10  Who said the nomenkultura were going to live like Amish. Only us.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 05/24/2008 12:08 Comments || Top||

#11  Ah... but the Elite Democrats will still fly around the world in their private jets while telling us we must give up our lifestyle (not change - give it up completely) and live like the peasants we are.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/24/2008 14:36 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Drill, Coast Haste
Posted by: 3dc || 05/24/2008 13:14 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'd be introducing all kinds of reasonable legislation that the Dems would either have to accept or knock down. In a couple of years, they'll never be able to explain their position.
Posted by: gorb || 05/24/2008 14:39 Comments || Top||

#2  If the GOP had the guts, they'd be all over this, oil shales in CO, ANWR exploration, drilling off Fla and CA.
Posted by: OldSpook || 05/24/2008 15:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Dems would kill it, because they know their base.

They also know that their base is so unbelievably dumb that they don't yet understand that having sex is how you make babies.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/24/2008 16:34 Comments || Top||

#4  Isn't there supposed to be a huge field under South Dakota, too?
Posted by: eLarson || 05/24/2008 23:18 Comments || Top||


Communists for Obama
Posted by: tipper || 05/24/2008 12:51 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There will always be the People’s Cube.

Damn right.
Featuring such headlines as:

US Army releases Prius-Abrams hybrid tank to combat Global Warming

Hezbollah overruns Beirut in "Operation Carter"

British Airways takes wings off planes so they won't resemble crosses and offend Muslims

Friendly fire in Baghdad: BBC office hit by al-Qaeda rocket

Great tits not impacted by Global Warming

Russia parades military might in Red Square as US military watch it on big screen TV in Afghanistan where Russian military had its butt kicked
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/24/2008 13:31 Comments || Top||


Rush Limbaugh Responsible for Hate Crimes per Obama
RUSH: I actually don't believe this. Barack Obama, in my own state raising money for his presidential campaign, called me xenophobic at a fundraiser. He said, "A certain segment's basically been feeding a kind of xenophobia. There's a reason why hate crimes against Hispanic people doubled last year. If you have people like Lou Dobbs and Rush Limbaugh ginning things up it's not surprising." I thought this guy was the unity candidate, for crying out loud. Calling me a xenophobe responsible for hate crimes! My feelings are hurt here. I mean, his preacher, his spiritual advisor is loaded with hate.
Posted by: www || 05/24/2008 04:35 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Get used to it Rush. Criticize BO = racism; criticize Hillary = sexism. Political discourse = hate crime if you are on the wrong side.
Posted by: regular joe || 05/24/2008 7:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Obama is a racist. Hillary is a opportunist. The dhimocrats are the party of hate and divisiveness.
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/24/2008 8:21 Comments || Top||

#3  "hate crimes against Hispanics doubled last year"

the FBI hasn't compiled them for 2007. So he's a bald-faced LIAR. Also, the FBI includes Hispanics in with Whites in their hate crime reporting:

http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/hc2006/table9.htm
http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/civilrights/hate.htm
Posted by: Frank G || 05/24/2008 9:20 Comments || Top||

#4  Limbaugh better be prepared to face Commisar Congressman Conyers in The People's Show Trial a congressional hearing after Chairman President Obama is elected.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/24/2008 9:53 Comments || Top||

#5  Obama has been caught several times telling bold-faced lies. There are videos out there which show this. Him claiming that he never said something and then cutting away to him actually saying it. He is a liar of the first order.

The fact that he considers anyone who opposes him a 'racist' only proves that the title belongs to himself.

Obama's attack is an act of Projection. His pastor of 20 years hates, his wife hates. Any bets how he truely feels?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/24/2008 10:33 Comments || Top||


Senator Obama: Talk to Commanders or Meet with Dictators?
Are the Vets for Freedom Swift Boating Obama?
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 05/24/2008 03:58 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Whopper Tales score card: Obama 8, McCain 8, Clinton 12
AoS note: don't use the [big] tag in subtitles. Thx.
Trail of Tall Tales: Barack Obama

Editor’s Note: This is the last of a three-part series focusing on misstatements, prevarications and falsehoods proclaimed by the three major presidential candidates.

Click here to read Part One: Hillary Clinton
Click here to read Part Two: John McCain

Sen. Barack Obama has gained a fervent following by preaching messages of hope and change, but has a long campaign tethered him to the sphere of age-old politics? A series of statements on the stump suggest Obama is perfectly capable of joining the ranks of silver-tongued politicians.

1. Spiritual Adviser, April 29, 2008
Non-truth: Obama told reporters at a news conference that his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, was never his spiritual counselor.

“He was never my spiritual mentor. He was my pastor. And to some extent how the press characterized in the past that relationship, I think, was inaccurate,” Obama said.

Truth: During a June 5, 2007, speech at Hampton University, Obama introduced Wright by describing him as “the guy who puts up with me, counsels me, listens to my wife complain about me.”

Sources: CQ, Newsmaker Transcripts, Special Events April 29, 2008; “Obama Says White House Ignores ‘Quiet Riot’ Among Blacks,” CBS2Chicago.com, June 5 2007.

2. Jeremiah Wright, April 16, 2008Non-truth: During a March 14 interview with FOX News, Obama said he was never in church when his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, made the now infamous sermons during which he proclaimed “God damn America” and asserted that the U.S. brought on the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks with its own “terrorism.”

“None of these statements were ones I had heard myself personally in the pews,” Obama said, calling the sermons “unacceptable and inexcusable.”

Truth: During a March 18 speech Obama said, “Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes.” He added, “The remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren’t simply controversial … they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country.”

Nearly one month later, on April 16, Obama told a group of Jewish leaders in Philadelphia that he “did not become aware of [Wright’s statements] until I started running for president,” implying that he did not hear the remarks while he “sat in church.”

Sources: “Obama Rejects Sermons from Pastor Who Was Like an Uncle,” FOXNews.com, March 14, 2008; “Remarks of Senator Barack Obama, ‘A More Perfect Union’” barackobama.com, March 18, 2008; “Obama Tells Philadelphia Jewish leaders He Would Not Sit Down With Hamas,” Obama speech, pool report, April 16, 2008.

3. Selma Voting-Rights March, March 5, 2007Obama told an audience at a Selma Voting Rights March commemoration that during this historic civil rights event in 1965 “there was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma.”

Non-truth: He said his parents “got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born. So don’t tell me I don’t have a claim on Selma, Alabama.”

Truth: Obama was born in 1961 — four years before the 1965 Selma march occurred. He later clarified his remarks, saying, “I meant the whole civil rights movement.”

Sources: “Sen. Obama Delivers Remarks at Selma Voting Rights March Commemoration, Selma, Ala.,” Newsmaker Transcripts, March 4, 2007; “Clinton and Obama Unite, Briefly, in Please to Blacks,” The New York Times, March 5, 2007.

4. Lobbyist Money, April 12, 2008Non-truth: During campaign speeches, Obama frequently makes the contention that “I’m the only candidate who doesn’t take money from corporate PACs and lobbyists.”

Truth: Obama has raised nearly $14 million from lawyers and lobbyists. In October, Obama raised about $125,000 at a fundraising event in the Washington offices of Greenberg Traurig, the law firm that once employed convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Obama has sought to draw a distinction between “lawyer advocates” and “lawyer lobbyists,” but some non-partisan experts see that as “a distinction without a difference,” as they both operate as special interests.

Sources: “Full Text of Obama’s Speech to the Alliance for American Manufacturing,” Time.com, April 14, 2008; “Obama Draws Fine Line Between Lobbyists, Lawyer Donors,” Newsday, April 12, 2008.

5. Nuclear Legislation, Dec. 30, 2007During a campaign event in Newton, Iowa, Obama touted his sponsorship of a bill in the Senate that required nuclear power plant owners to notify authorities immediately of all radioactive leaks, no matter how small.

Non-truth: That was “the only nuclear legislation that I’ve passed” he told the crowd.

Truth: Obama had rewritten the bill to ease its passage and removed the language requiring the reporting of leaks. The bill died when it reached the full Senate, and did not pass as he claimed.

Source: “Nuclear Leaks and Response Tested Obama in Senate,” New York Times, Feb. 3, 2008.

6. Law Professor, March 30, 2008
Non-truth: During a campaign fundraiser in Tallahassee, Fla., in March 2007, Obama spoke of his time as a “constitutional law professor” at the University of Chicago, “which means unlike the current president, I actually respect the Constitution.”

Truth: Obama never held a professor position at the University of Chicago. The university said he was a lecturer and taught courses to students at the law school, but “did not hold the title of professor of law.”

Sources: “Obama: Bush Fails to Respect the Constitution,” Associated Press, March 30, 2007; “No ‘Professor’ Obama at U. of C,” Chicago Sun-Times, March 30, 2008.

7. Life Magazine Claims in Obama’s Autobiography, March 25, 2007
In his 1995 autobiography, “Dreams From My Father,” Obama cited a copy of Life magazine as having stirred a racial awakening in him.

Non-truth: He wrote that when he was 9 years old, living in Indonesia, he flipped through Life magazine and read an article about a black man who had scarred and ruined his skin applying chemicals that promised to make his skin white. “I imagine other black children, then and now, undergoing similar moments of revelation,” he wrote.

Truth: No article or pictures exist of any such story, according to Life historians. When questioned about the mix-up, Obama couldn’t name the specific magazine in which he read the article.

Source: “The Not-So-Simple Story of Barack Obama’s Youth,” Chicago Tribune, March 25, 2007.

8. Obama’s Fluency, March 25, 2007
Non-truth: Obama has claimed on numerous occasions that, as a boy growing up in Indonesia, he was fluent in the country’s language. “It had taken me less than six months to learn Indonesia’s language, its customs, and its legends,” he wrote in “Dreams From My Father.”

Truth: His first-grade teacher in Jakarta said he struggled with the language, needing help with pronunciation and vowel sounds, and teachers and friends remembered him as a being a quiet boy as a result of his difficulties.

Source: “The Not-So-Simple Story of Barack Obama’s Youth,” Chicago Tribune, March 25, 2007.

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 05/24/2008 01:19 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  From an email :

Obama's Lies - 58 and Counting!

Posted by: anonymous5089 || 05/24/2008 4:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, give him a chance, A5089 - he has not been in politics as long as Hilly and Johnny, but I'd say he's off to a good start!
Posted by: Bobby || 05/24/2008 7:30 Comments || Top||

#3  A quiz for barry. Of the 57 states, can he name the last seven admitted to the union?
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/24/2008 9:55 Comments || Top||


Obama: Doggs (sic) and Limbaugh to blame for xenophobia
Scroll down to bottom
Posted by: tipper || 05/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Not sure who this noone character is, but sure seems to want to help the latinos. Because every latino I know does not use the phrase "ginning up" noone must be some sort of advisor.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/24/2008 3:01 Comments || Top||

#2  It's Mark Halperin. Used to be with ABC, now with TIME. He's a political reporter and commentator. He's also done himself no favors with various ends of the political spectrum at times.
Posted by: Pappy || 05/24/2008 14:29 Comments || Top||


Clinton draws rebuke over assassination remark
Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton drew a sharp rebuke from front-runner Barack Obama's campaign on Friday after she mentioned Robert Kennedy's assassination while explaining why she was remaining in the race for the party's nomination.

Clinton made the remark to the editorial board of the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader newspaper, explaining that other races for the Democratic presidential nomination had lasted into the summer. "My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it," she said.

The comment drew a sharp response from the Obama campaign. "Senator Clinton's statement before the Argus Leader editorial board was unfortunate and has no place in this campaign," said campaign spokesman Bill Burton.
I'm not too sure why they're fired up, other than that they get fired up real easy. He was campaigning in June, he was bumped off in June. She wasn't saying she expected the same or the same of B.O.
Posted by: Fred || 05/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I was watching the crawler in a pub last night, and no one could figure out why this was "Breaking News". Still don't.

At least Hilly got the facts straight...
Posted by: Bobby || 05/24/2008 7:25 Comments || Top||

#2  History discussion or thinly veiled threat? You make the call. Quiet Vince Foster, we already know what you are going to say.
Posted by: regular joe || 05/24/2008 7:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Everybody on the left is all concerned that bHo will be assassinated like all their other heros. You remember how the right wing wacko shot JFK and the Zionist Zealot shot Bobbie.
Posted by: Emily Litella || 05/24/2008 7:46 Comments || Top||

#4  So...who assassinated Bobby Kennedy? Hillary or Bill? They really didn't make that very clear.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/24/2008 11:29 Comments || Top||


Obama harps on race and religion at Jewish temple
Why not just drop it? Give the subject a rest? People liked you when it looked like you didn't look at yourself in the mirror first thing every morning and think, "Damn! Ain't I black!"
Posted by: Fred || 05/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  See ASIA TIMES > WHAT WOMEN WANT. Women, Hispanics will be Obama's key to winning 2008???

RICHARDSON FOR VEEP???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/24/2008 2:10 Comments || Top||

#2  I thought he said he was Irish? Appropriate if Boca Raton means Rat Mouth.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/24/2008 3:04 Comments || Top||

#3  he's Halfrican American
Posted by: Frank G || 05/24/2008 10:16 Comments || Top||

#4  He's mulatto. Like Mickey Mouse.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/24/2008 11:31 Comments || Top||

#5  Like Micky Mouse?
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/24/2008 16:46 Comments || Top||


Clinton calls talk of veep negotiations untrue
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said her campaign has had no discussions with Barack Obama's aides about her possibly becoming his vice presidential pick.

Clinton called such reports "flatly untrue," in an interview Friday with the Sioux Falls Argus Leader editorial board, adding that she is not planning any such discussions. Asked if her campaign had any discussions with the Obama campaign about her possibly bowing out in exchange for the vice president slot, Clinton said: "It is flatly untrue and it is not anything I'm entertaining. It is nothing I have planned and it is nothing I am prepared to engage in. I am still vigorously campaigning."
Posted by: Fred || 05/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  With sebelius' thank you letter on the local news this morning, I think in this case she is telling the truth sort of.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/24/2008 2:53 Comments || Top||


Obama promises 'unshakable commitment' to Israel if elected
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Thursday promised an "unshakable commitment" to Israel if he is elected.

Obama also explained the roots of his unusual name, listed some of his Jewish friends and voiced support for Israel on Thursday during a synagogue visit designed to shore up Jewish support for his U.S. presidential bid.

Obama, an Illinois senator and the front-runner for his party's White House nomination, addressed concerns about his views on Israel, his religion and his race during a nearly two-hour session at a synagogue with Democrats and Republicans in Florida, a state that will be key to winning November's general election. "There is not a single trace of me ever being anything more than a friend of Israel and a friend of the Jewish people," Obama said, telling the crowd not to believe fliers and e-mails that suggested otherwise. "Judge me by what I say and what I've done. Don't judge me because I've got a funny name. Don't judge me because I'm African-American."
"It's because I'm black, isn't it?"
Posted by: Fred || 05/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Judge me by what I say and what I've done"

Or by the crowd of rabid antisemites that surrounds him. No, thanks Barry, four years of Jimmy Carter was more than enough.
Posted by: DMFD || 05/24/2008 3:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Jeremiah Wright will not allow you to commit to Israel, Obama. And you know it.
Posted by: www || 05/24/2008 4:40 Comments || Top||

#3  And the idiots are going to buy it.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/24/2008 6:33 Comments || Top||

#4  Well, they got on the boxcars without much resistance before too. I'm sure many can rationalize anything when one really really wants to pull that lever in November.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/24/2008 7:54 Comments || Top||

#5  The same unshakable commitment he had to his pastor? What he says he condridicts; he has not been around long enough to judge him by what he does in office, one reason there is no trace.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/24/2008 12:08 Comments || Top||

#6  Israel should ask Obama to define the meaning of the word commitment. Also, explain what "unshakable" means to him.
After Clinton and "is" one needs to have democrats define every word they use.
Posted by: 3dc || 05/24/2008 12:17 Comments || Top||

#7  "It's because I'm black, isn't it?"

Ya laugh, but I think that's exactly what he's saying.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/24/2008 12:29 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Bugti's grandson released
Shah Zain Bugti, the grandson of Nawab Akbar Bugti, was released on Friday in Bolan district after the Balochistan government withdrew all cases against him. He was released as part of the PPP-headed provincial government’s efforts to release all political and tribal prisoners in order to reconcile with the alienated Baloch political parties and tribesmen. Balochistan Home Minister Zafarullah Khan Zehri along with senior government officials received Bugti at Mach Jail.
Posted by: Fred || 05/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


'Govt will introduce legislation to facilitate media'
The government will introduce legislation to help the media, Information Minister Sherry Rehman said on Friday. “We will also bring about more legislation to facilitate and flourish the media,” she said at a national conference entitled ‘Media Freedom, Laws and Security of Media Persons and Places’, organised by the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) and South Asia Media Commission (SAMC).

The minister said the new government’s first step was to do away with the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority’s (PEMRA) “black laws”, harming freedom of the media. The government wants to make the PEMRA a true regulatory body, she added.

Rehman also condemned Thursday’s killing of journalist Muhammad Ibrahim in Bajaur, and said an investigation report about the killing would be prepared within the next 48 hours and it would be made public. She announced the establishment of a special fund to compensate the families of journalists who died in the line of duty. She denied that the government was withholding issuance of licences to TV channels, saying that licenses would be issued to the channels once they met the required criteria.
Posted by: Fred || 05/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


'Foreign agencies involved in disturbing law and order'
The Senate Standing Committee for the Interior chairman, Senator Talha Mehmood Ahmed, has said that the information they have establishes the involvement of foreign agencies in disturbing the law and order of Pakistan.
“The foreign agencies are using people for their nefarious plans and we need to deal with the situation with a well-conceived plan, so that people are provided security and their problems are solved.”
“The agencies are using people for their nefarious plans and we need to deal with the situation with a well-conceived plan, so that people are provided security and their problems are solved,” he said while addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Friday. Ahmed said that all the agencies working in the country should function within their prescribed parameters. Quoting an example, he said that the coastguards are meant to keep a watch at the coast, but instead have come on to the roads.

He advised the coastguard set up a check post at Uthal and said that people belonging to Sindh and Balochistan have to wait for hours for physical searches and of their vehicles. “I have sought a report from the force within 15 days against the complaints received about the Uthal check post,” he said. “If the coastguard fails to make its point, the committee will recommend that it should be dispensed with,” he added.

If the Rangers are to be deployed in the city on a permanent basis, the government must provide them accommodation. “The police and rangers need to be equipped properly and provided with equipment and vehicles and must possess a strong intelligence network,” he added. He said that police have failed to maintain law and order and the major evidence is that people burnt three dacoits, showing that they have lost trust in the police. He added that if the police wanted its trust back, it should work really hard to maintain law and order in the country.

He said that a gang of dacoits was arrested and one of its members was a sitting Inspector of Police but he was let off after he paid Rs 70,000. “We are promoting corruption,” he said. When motorcycle police officers are provided 1.5 liters of fuel and police mobiles with 3.5 liters for 24 hours, they will have no other option but to meet their requirements from the public.
Posted by: Fred || 05/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


International-UN-NGOs
Wikileaks: Proposed US ACTA multi-lateral intellectual property trade agreement (2007)
Posted by: 3dc || 05/24/2008 15:36 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Science & Technology
Multiple Chinese Broken Arrows
Eleven days after the 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck western China, vice environment minister Wu Xiaoqing first revealed Friday, May 23, that 50 hazardous radioactive sources have been located – 35 recovered and controlled; “three more buried in rubble and 12 in dangerous buildings. At present, tests show no accidental release of radiation,” he reported as the death toll climbed past 55,000.

Two of the most badly damaged cities housed China’s secret nuclear weapons design facility - at Mianyang - and a plutonium processing facility - in Guangyuan – both close to the quake’s epicenter.

Soon after the quake struck, Chinese soldiers were sent to protect nuclear sites and preparations made for an environmental emergency.

DEBKAfile’s military sources note that the Beijing announcement did not specify the nature of the hazardous sources or disclose how they - or the secret nuclear weapons and plutonium facilities were secured – whether sealed with cement and lead like the Chernobyl reactor in Ukraine in the 80s or their contents removed to safe places.

According to the Beijing government’s official Web site, “nuclear facilities and “radioactive sources” included power plants, reactors, scientific research labs and medical treatment facilities, a big concentration of which are located in the worst hit areas.

French sources disclosed that 489 hospitals with laboratories containing radioactive materials, as well as hundreds of high-risk industries, were leveled.

Hans Kristensen, a nuclear arms expert at the Federation of American Scientists, said it was hard to believe that the military plants with nuclear materials had escaped the disaster. Other experts suspect that the damage to radioactive sites and radiation leaks may extend beyond the stricken Sichuan province.

Vice minister Wu admitted “Environmental supervision capacity in the area is badly below what is needed.” The ministry's priorities are ensuring safe drinking water, the management of hazardous chemicals and preparing for adequate environmental supervision during reconstruction.

Our sources add that the Chinese government has also deployed to the nuclear disaster areas the security teams trained by the International Atomic Agency in Vienna to respond to radiological attack, such as a dirty bomb, during the Olympic Games taking place in Beijing this coming August.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/24/2008 11:17 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I think I've seen this movie, stars steven segal on a train. Anyone seen the H.-E.D. recently?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/24/2008 11:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Okay... is debka using "broken arrows" differently than the term means or does China have some lost bombs and the article just doesn't get around to actually say so?


Posted by: 3dc || 05/24/2008 11:58 Comments || Top||

#3  Technically:

"Pinnacle - Broken Arrow refers to an accidental event that involves nuclear weapons, warheads or components, but which does not create the risk of nuclear war. These include:

* Accidental or unexplained nuclear detonation.
* Non-nuclear detonation or burning of a nuclear weapon.
* Radioactive contamination.
* Loss in transit of nuclear asset with or without its carrying vehicle.
* Jettisoning of a nuclear weapon or nuclear component.
* Public hazard, actual or implied."

It is a broad term, basically that military type nuclear materials have in some way been compromised.

Pinnacle - Bent Spear is the lesser category, which means an administrative problem has occurred; whereas Pinnacle - Nucflash is the most severe, in that it involves the risk of a nuclear war.

So the earthquake resulted in a lot of Broken Arrows.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/24/2008 13:26 Comments || Top||

#4  Shoot that Broken Arrow through my heart...
Posted by: ABC || 05/24/2008 14:22 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Philippines, US to hold naval exercises near Spratlys: report
US and Philippine forces will carry out joint naval exercises off Palawan, the closest major Philippine island to the disputed Spratlys chain in the South China Sea, a report said Saturday. The joint exercises will begin Monday, Vice Admiral William Douglas Crowder, commander of the US seventh fleet flagship the USS Blue Ridge, told the Philippine Star newspaper.

About four US ships will sail to Palawan, southwest of Manila, for the combined naval war games involving about a thousand US and Filipino sailors, the newspaper said.

The Spratlys, a chain of islands and atolls believed to be rich in oil and gas deposits, are claimed in full or in part by Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. All but Brunei have troops posted on some of the islands.

Naval officials told the paper the exercises would be held within the territorial waters of Palawan, away from the Spratlys, which are located off the island's western coast. Military spokesmen in Manila would not confirm the report.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 05/24/2008 16:27 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:


Myanmar Grants Entry to All International Aid Workers, Ban Says
Posted by: Fred || 05/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:



Who's in the News
53[untagged]
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2Hezbollah
1Global Jihad
1Thai Insurgency
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1Mahdi Army
1Fatah al-Islam
1Govt of Sudan

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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2008-05-24
  Second man arrested after Brit blast
Fri 2008-05-23
  AQI Moneybags Poobah captured by Iraqi Security Forces
Thu 2008-05-22
  Hezbollah Wins Veto After Talks End Lebanon Stalemate
Wed 2008-05-21
  Egyptian official: Israel has accepted Gaza cease-fire
Tue 2008-05-20
   Iraqi troops roll into Sadr City
Mon 2008-05-19
  Boomer kills 11, maims 24 near Pakistan army centre
Sun 2008-05-18
  Tater under arrest in Iran?
Sat 2008-05-17
  Ten held in Europe for Al Qaeda ties
Fri 2008-05-16
  Burqaboomer kills 18 near crowded bazaar
Thu 2008-05-15
  Dozen militants killed in suspected US strike on Damadola
Wed 2008-05-14
  Commander Says al-Qaida ''Virtually Destroyed'' in Kirkuk
Tue 2008-05-13
  Sudanese troops hunt for rebels in Khartoum
Mon 2008-05-12
  Hezbollah foiled US-planned coup. Really.
Sun 2008-05-11
  Army sides with Nasrallah against Leb govt
Sat 2008-05-10
  Leb coup d'etat: Hezbollah seizes control of west Beirut


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