Two servants who accused the son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi of mistreating them in a Geneva hotel have dropped their legal complaints against him and his wife, their Swiss lawyer said Tuesday. "In a free, considered and informed manner, my clients have decided to withdraw the legal complaint that they filed," said lawyer Francois Membrez.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/03/2008 00:00 ||
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No-one appears to have survived a plane crash in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the plane's operator says. The Beechcraft plane was carrying 15 passengers and two crew members when it crashed into a mountain near Bukavu, said the operator, Air Serv.
The company provides air transport for international aid agencies. Air Serv regional manager Amy Cathey said UN rescue teams were "securing the site and searching for and recovering victims' bodies". US-based Air Serv spokeswoman Suzanne Musgrave told the AP news agency that the plane was being flown by South Africa's Cem Air. Air Serv said the plane was last contacted in heavy rain 10 minutes from Bukavu.
A rescue helicopter was not initially able to land, reports said. It was reported late on Monday that the plane had lost contact with ground control after leaving Kisangani.
Many agencies arrange their own air travel for staff in DR Congo because of the country's poor air safety record.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/03/2008 00:00 ||
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Israeli businessman Ehud Avni landed in Israel Tuesday afternoon. Avni, who had been abducted in Nigeria and freed a few days later, continues to deny he was released for tens of thousands of dollars in ransom, despite such claims by sources involved in the affair.
Avni told the press upon his arrival in Israel that his abductors let him go because he has diabetes. "I told them my health would not allow me to remain there for long and I would need to leave as soon as possible," Avni said. He was held in the jungle in Nigeria, and it seems he views the whole affair as an adventure.
He said his captors gave him six slices of bread a day, vegetables and citrus to keep his blood sugar level stable.
He described his abductors as "murderers, but nice. One can find humanity in them. My health really touched them."
Right. And you could describe me as "fat, but slender."
Luckily, Avni was kidnapped along with his small bag of medicine and blood-sugar measuring equipment, which he says he takes with him everywhere. When asked if feared for his life, he said he only worried about what would happen when his medicine ran out. "I knew it was impossible to draw it out too long," he said.
When he reached home, he went inside and refused to come out and speak to the press.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
"Cannibals, but they had pretty good table manners"
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/03/2008 8:14 Comments ||
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#2
I don't know, I've known several career criminals that were great guys to be around. Good family guys too, they just broke the law for a living, and did an occasional stretch in a state penitentiary.
I'm sure in that part of the world crime is one of the few alternatives to starvation, and even Islamo-nuts have some sort of code, such as it is.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday pressed charges against former caretaker government adviser Justice Fazlul Huq for amassing illegal wealth worth Tk 89.81 lakh and concealing its information from the commission.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#2
Hey, I'm all for it. Oh, and by the way, no one may eat meat on Fridays during Lent, and they must fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. And go to Mass on Holy Days of Obligation.
And confession once a year.
And ...
Oh, and observe all the Jewish holidays as well.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
09/03/2008 17:59 Comments ||
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Vice President Dick Cheney will use his trip to the Caucasus this week to try to loosen Russia's grip on Caspian and Central Asian oil and gas exports. But he may be too late. Mr. Cheney's objective is to express U.S. backing for an export route that crosses the Caucasus, bypassing Russia. But his visit comes on the heels of a Russian-Georgian war that raised fresh doubts about the viability of that corridor and appeared to enhance Russia's domination of the region's energy flows.
The impression was reinforced Tuesday as Moscow signed a deal to build a new pipeline that will increase the export of natural gas from the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to Russia and onward to Europe. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin also agreed to pay European, market-based prices for Uzbek gas, a move that could lock in supplies that might have fed alternative European pipelines.
In Azerbaijan, Mr. Cheney will seek to secure Azeri natural gas for two high-profile, Western-backed pipelines that, once completed, will flow to the heart of Europe -- one called Nabucco, named for a Verdi opera, and a smaller project, Turkey-Greece-Italy. The Bush administration is also expected to announce an aid package for war-torn Georgia of about $1 billion, according to Georgian officials, although the exact timing and amount remained unclear.
The White House said the Kremlin's actions in Georgia have only underscored the need for export routes like Nabucco that dodge Russia. The European Union currently relies on Russia for a quarter of its natural gas, yet fears that Moscow could use its energy exports as a political weapon have prompted calls for the EU to reduce that dependence. A senior U.S. administration official, briefing reporters on Mr. Cheney's trip, said the war in Georgia had undermined Russia's reputation as a reliable energy supplier and should accelerate Europe's efforts to diversify its sources of oil and gas. "I don't think anything about this, these recent events, has done anything but reinforce the sense that that basic strategy is important and critical, and one that has to be pursued, if anything with greater energy by us and by our European partners," the official said.
But there are fears that last month's war could harm that strategy by undermining the credibility of transit routes that pass through Georgia. Russia's military blew up Georgia's main railroad during the war, obliging Azerbaijan to suspend oil shipments to Georgia's Black Sea terminals. Oil major BP PLC was also forced to close a pipeline that transports Azeri crude from Baku to the Georgian port of Supsa. And Russian aircraft dropped bombs close to the crucial Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline that pumps 850,000 barrels of oil a day from Azerbaijan via Georgia to Turkey's Mediterranean coast. "The Russians have demonstrated they can close that corridor through Georgia any time they want," said John Bolton, President Bush's former U.N. ambassador.
U.S. officials reject that. "The Georgian energy corridor is safe," Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew J. Bryza, one of Nabucco's major supporters, told an audience in Brussels Monday. He stressed that Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and the South Caucasus Gas Pipeline, which transports Azeri gas to Turkey, were unaffected by the fighting. Mr. Bryza also said European energy companies behind Nabucco and the Turkey-Greece-Italy pipeline have told him they are determined to proceed with the two projects. "They haven't slowed down at all," he said. "They are anxious to line up gas supply contracts with Azerbaijan as soon as possible."
But some analysts said the Georgian war could scare off investors, making it hard for the consortium to raise the 7.9 billion ($11.5 billion) needed to build Nabucco -- a task already complicated by the global credit crunch. Plans to expand Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan's capacity may also be in jeopardy. "This increases the risk profile enormously," said Jonathan Simpson, head of European projects at international law firm Paul Hastings. "Without the EU and the U.S. stepping in and subsidizing them, they won't get built. And so far they've shown no inclination to do that."
Russia gave no dates in Tuesday's announcement regarding construction or completion of the new Russian pipeline. Construction of Nabucco is scheduled to start in 2010. While the Turkey-Greece section of the Turkey-Greece-Italy pipeline was completed and inaugurated in 2007, construction of the Greece-Italy section is to begin in 2009, with the section scheduled to become operational in 2012. Prof. Jonathan Stern, director of gas research at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, said Nabucco's weakness has always been not the security of the Georgian corridor but the fact there won't be enough gas available in the Caspian region to fill it, at least not until the late 2010s.
#1
If the EUROpeons want to grovel for Russian gas and oil, let them. They don't seem too worried about it, they like groveling. I don't know whether to admire the russians or to resent the living hell out of them.
#2
Build a pipeline from Mosul to the Turkish port where the BTC pipeline was to end, with the pipeline in Iraq and Turkey only. Increase production from the northern Iraqi wells to support the pipeline. Watch Russia have conniptions and do nasty things they get caught at by the Kurds. Enjoy the hilarity of the situation.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/03/2008 16:08 Comments ||
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#3
Nabucco will flourish once Iran returns to sanity.
Iran's natural gas reserves are HUGE and have the Russians worried.
One reason the Russians support the mullahs.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
09/03/2008 19:16 Comments ||
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#4
Compare wid INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE > PUTIN'S RUTHLESS GAMBIT [Georgia]- THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION FALTERS IN A GEOPOLITICAL CHESS MATCH [over RICH CASPIAN RESOURCES]; + US TO CREATE AN "IRON CURTAIN" AROUND RUSSIA.
ALso, TOPIX > RUSSIA'S WAR IN GEORGIA AND THE NEW ANTI-AMERICAN ENERGY ORDER; + THE NEW ISLAMIST WAR FOR SOUTHEAST ASIA.
* INTERFAX > PATRUSCHEV: CAUCASUS EVENTS CHANGES THE GLOBAL BALANCE OF FORCES IN FAVOR OF RUSSIA; + MEDEVEDEV: NO DANGER OF SEPARATISM [NATIONAL
DISMEMBERMENT] IN RUSSIA UNLESS FUELED FROM ABROAD [read - US-NATO/EU].
Also from INTERFAX > PATRUSCHEV: US NEEDS LOYAL REGIMES TO GET ACCESS TO HYDROCARBONS AND GAS, etc. IN CASPIAN, CENTRAL ASIA.; + ARMENIA EXPLAINS ITS NON-RECOGNITION OF SOUTH OSSETIA, ABKHAZIA [Domino vv NAGORNO-KARABAKH].
* WAFF.com > STRATFOR: THE MEDVEDEV DOCTRINE AND AMERICAN [Geo-/Geopol]STRATEGY. US NATIONAL-GLOBAL STRATEGEERYNOW IN CRISIS/LIMBO - US has insuffic Power to cope wid TWO REAL-TIME MAJOR THREATS - NUKE-AMBITIOUS [Transregional = "Young TUrk"] ISLAMISM + NOW A RESURGENT/ANGRY, ALREADY NUCLEARIZED RUSSIA. NUCLEARIZED BUT ECON WEAK RUSSIA in the latter is the obvious, NEAR-TERM = IMMEDIATE THREAT FOR THE US AS RUSS DESPITE WEAKNESS CAN STILL CAUSE MULTIPLE TROUBLE(S) FOR THE US-ALLIES ALL OVER EURASIA AND BEYOND, + IFF NEED BE CAN DEVOTE ITS SCARCE RESOURCES To ASYMMET/UNILATER IMPROVING AND EXPANDING ITS ALREADY ESTABLISHED AND POTENT STRATEGIC NUCLEAR ARSENAL TO COUNTER ANY LOCAL US POLICIES-AGENDAS.
ALso from WAFF > INDIA > CHURCH LEADER [Orissa]:INDIAN CHRISTIANS MAY FORM ARMED MILITIAS FOR SELF-DEFENSE.
#5
Taken collectively, the above and prior indics that the WOT > "FINAL STRUGGLE/CONFLICT" BWTN CAPITALISM, + SOCIALISM [ = "Limited Democracy/Capitalism" in OWG Leftspeak].
Again, as a reminder WOT > among other, is a INTER/INTRA-SOCIALIST WAR + MACKINDRIAN WAR = WAR FOR THE "WORLD ISLAND" BWTN NEW WORLD [AMericas] + OLD WORLD [Eurasia/Asia].
NUTSHELL - US-ALLIES IS IN A WAR FOR EURASIA, WHETHER THEY WANT IT OR NOT, LIKE IT OR NOT!
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday his country was not discriminating against Turkey in trade relations and that both sides would soon hold talks to resolve a customs row. "There is no discrimination against Turkey ... We are in favor of pursuing trade ties with Turkey," Lavrov said through a translator after talks with his Turkish counterpart, Ali Babacan.
Without giving names, Lavrov said some countries had breached Russian customs regulations, forcing authorities to take stricter measures and enforce tighter controls.
He added that Russian customs officials had proposed a simplified system for importing Turkish goods.
"Our customs authorities will hold talks soon and resolve this issue," the minister said.
Last week Turkey complained that Turkish trucks were held up at Russian customs posts through extensive searches.
On Monday, Turkish Foreign Trade Minister Kursad Tuzmen was quoted by the Anatolia news agency as saying that Russian goods were being subjected to similar inspections in a retaliatory measure, but the government denied that was the case.
There has been speculation here that the Russian move is linked to Turkish support for neighboring Georgia, and especially Ankara's decision to allow US warships to pass through the Turkish Straits into the Black Sea to deliver humanitarian aid to Tbilisi.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Because unlike the rest of NATO, Turkey is prepared to fight.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has described his Georgian counterpart as a "political corpse", saying Moscow does not recognise him as president. "President Saakashvili no longer exists in our eyes. He is a political corpse," he told Italy's Rai television.
He said US support for Mr Saakashvili had helped provoke the crisis, which has seen Russian troops invade Georgia. He said Russia did not fear isolation by Western countries that have condemned the Russian intervention.
Fighting between Russia and Georgia began on 7 August after the Georgian military tried to retake the breakaway region of South Ossetia by force. Russian forces launched a counter-attack and the conflict ended with the ejection of Georgian troops from both South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Russia has since recognised the independence of both regions, though no other country has.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
This is more Russian posturing.
We need to start handing out Semtex and maps of the Russian pipelines.
Russia produces nothing of value except what they can extract from the ground.
Lets see how the gangsters fare when their money dries up - they are not capable of producing goods and services, and their economy will collapse.
HONG KONG: China has brought forward the launch date of its third manned space flight to late September, a report said on Tuesday. The launch of Shenzhou VII is now expected to take place between September 17 -- the end of the Beijing Paralympics and China's National Day on October 1, Hong Kong newspaper Wen Wei Po said, citing unnamed sources.
The period offered the best launch window for Shenzhou VII, the source told the Chinese-language newspaper, without giving any more details.
The mission will blast off from China's Jiuquan launch centre in northwest Gansu province and land in northern Inner Mongolia province, Wen Wei Po said. The launch schedule has been changed several times, with previous Chinese state media reports suggesting October or November launch. Three "taikonauts" or astronauts will be on board the flight, with one of them conducting China's first space walk, China's official Xinhua news agency said in an earlier report, quoting a spokesman for the mission.
China successfully launched its first man, Yang Liwei, into orbit in 2003, making it the third country after the former Soviet Union and the United States to put a man in space. It sent two more astronauts into orbit in 2005 on a five-day mission.
Posted by: john frum ||
09/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Give them credit for announcing it ahead of time. The Soviets only announced their launches after the cosmonauts got home safely to avoid embarrassment. China, being an authoritarian state could easily do the same thing but they aren't.
#3
Meanwhile, NASA is doing what? They've lost the "Right Stuff"
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
09/03/2008 11:30 Comments ||
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#4
NASA got careful which is the enemy of the Right Stuff. NASA needs to get in the infrastructure business and figure out what they can do to help boostrap private industry into space. An orbital gas station would be helpful to almost any plan.
The dominoes are falling all over EUrope. Will we see them put aright in our lifetime?
President Victor Yushchenko angrily denounced his former ally, the Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko for siding with the pro-Russian opposition in a series of parliamentary votes.
"Yesterday, a political and constitutional coup began in parliament," he said. "I consider the events in the Ukrainian parliament a formal beginning of the formation of a new parliamentary coalition."
In a televised address to the nation after his political party withdrew from the government, Mr Yushchenko threatened to call an election within two months.
His comments had greater impact because they came a day before the US vice president Dick Cheney was scheduled to arrive in Kiev to shore up Western allies threatened by Russia.
"I will use my right to dismiss parliament and announce early elections," he said.
The success of Ukraine's "Orange Revolution" in 2004 was based on his bond with Mrs Tymoshenko, but relations started to fray soon after they took office.
Although he sacked Mrs Tymoshenko, he was forced to reappoint her late last year after her party won the largest share of the vote in the general election.
Their feud was reignited by Russia's invasion of Georgia last month.
Ukraine, like Georgia, has risked the Kremlin's wrath by applying to join Nato. But while Mr Yushchenko flew to Tbilisi to show his support for Georgia, Mrs Tymoshenko refused to criticise Russia's actions.
Instead, she formed an alliance with the man he replaced as president in 2004 - Victor Yanukovich and his former Communist allies.
In the run-up to that election, Mr Yushchenko was maimed after suffering dioxin poisoning - an attack attributed to Kremlin agents.
"The new coalition formed by Tymoshenko, Yanukovich and the Communists will not serve Ukraine's interests," he said. "Citizens will see that their policies will not protect Ukraine's territorial integrity, its independence and its European integration course."
For her part, Mrs Tymoshenko has accused the president of recklessly antagonising Russia and said there was no justification for the crisis. "A democratic coalition was ruined yesterday on his instructions," she told the weekly cabinet meeting. "This is panic. A democratic coalition has to work.
"The president and his office have used every means to ruin the coalition. It is a pity that the president is behaving irresponsibly."
A flamboyant figure, Mrs Tymoshenko is Ukraine's most popular politician and the current dispute could free her from a pledge not to challenge the president's re-election bid in 2010.
With a large Russian-speaking minority and a pro-Western political elite, Ukrainians are deeply divided over their relations with their powerful neighbour.
Ukraine's leaders fear that Moscow's aggressive protection of its passport holders in the Georgian enclaves of Abkhazia and South Ossetia could be replicated in its own province of Crimea.
Mr Yushchenko has threatened to evict Russia's Black Sea fleet from Sevastopol, the Crimean port with an ethnic Russian majority.
However, as Mr Cheney arrives in the region, America's position has been weakened by the political squabbling in Kiev.
Mrs Tymoshenko is growing in influence.
She has been careful to send Moscow a more calibrated message, condemning her rival's decision on Sevastopol and agreeing to meet Vladimir Putin later this month.
New elections would bring about a final schism between the leaders of the Orange Revolution, paving the way for Mrs Tymoshenko to challenge for the presidency in 2010.
#1
Unless they get some decent support, Ukraine will revert to being The Ukraine, a Russian vassel. Remember the Rhineland.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/03/2008 15:03 Comments ||
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#2
Every government that supports the ABM suicide will fall. It happened in the 'eighties and it will happen again. Putting the Russians in a launch on warning alert is untenable. Prediction: an overwhelming majority of Republicans will turn against the Neocon party infiltrators if they continue to kneejerk their way into oblivion.
FYI: Russia has a free internet service. Alternative views are not censored from their websites.
#3
That's nice, Regional Peace. And do most Russians have computers and internet access, or do they get their information from the highly censored Russian television and newspapers?
#4
They all have internet access at least at work.
Posted by: General Comment ||
09/03/2008 18:19 Comments ||
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#5
Aris has been asked to leave here. That was not done lightly but only after a long pattern of poor behavior. He keeps coming back through the cracks. We could keep him out but it would shut down other people who have not abused the privilege of posting on Fred's site. Let's not feed him, 'kay?
#7
Let nobody say Vladimir-I is not a genius (wonder how long before some Russian genealogist "discovers" that Vlad's grandpa was an illegal Romanov offshoot?).
#8
"you'll end up having the Russian minorities expelled throughout the bordering nations (similar to the expulsion of the German minorities after WW2)"
Germany is doing just fine now, despite what you perceive as the end of the world.
The "containment" theory of yours is bologny.
Posted by: General Comment ||
09/03/2008 18:56 Comments ||
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#9
"all the various republics of yours Chechnya, Dagestan, etc - will be made independent."
Don't care about those - they are the ones in which journalists are sometimes killed.
Posted by: General Comment ||
09/03/2008 18:59 Comments ||
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#10
Aris has been asked to leave here. That was not done lightly but only after a long pattern of poor behavior. He keeps coming back through the cracks. We could keep him out but it would shut down other people who have not abused the privilege of posting on Fred's site. Let's not feed him, 'kay?
Aris has been asked to leave here. That was not done lightly but only after a long pattern of poor behavior. He keeps coming back through the cracks. We could keep him out but it would shut down other people who have not abused the privilege of posting on Fred's site. Let's not feed him, 'kay?
Posted by: online poker ||
09/03/2008 19:05 Comments ||
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#13
"I always hated Russia, you moron, that was ALWAYS my bloody point in these forums: That (using the 1930s analogy) they are the equivalent of Nazi Germany, to America's equivalent of the British Empire."
Who are you and what have you done with Aris?
;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/03/2008 19:08 Comments ||
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#14
Aris has been asked to leave here. That was not done lightly but only after a long pattern of poor behavior. He keeps coming back through the cracks. We could keep him out but it would shut down other people who have not abused the privilege of posting on Fred's site. Let's not feed him, 'kay?
(Actually, I was directing my question at the second sentence, not the first. I have no doubt that, living in Greece, you have more opportunity to know about Eastern European countries than many Americans do.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/03/2008 19:22 Comments ||
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#16
Germany is not doing fine, actually, and has been heading in the not-fine direction at least since we lived there in the 1990s. Ever fewer workers are supporting the bulge of retirees and unemployed, companies have been moving operations to Eastern Europe and beyond, and Iran's biggest trading partner is Germany -- not exactly for their cuckoo clocks and lederhosen.
As for Russia, all businesses provide their employees internet access? Even in the U.S. that isn't close to being true -- only in the offices of companies large enough to need connection to the internet, whose workers need to be connected for their jobs. I'm only a housewife and I know that much, General Comment dear.
#17
TW: That's nice, Regional Peace. And do most Russians have computers and internet access, or do they get their information from the highly censored Russian television and newspapers?
TW, the end of history is not yet at hand. What the end of history incorporates is the idea that everything has come round to the liberal democratic view that we will no longer expand our territories by annexing our neighbors and taking their stuff - we will instead all get rich by trading with each other. Most of the non-Western world hasn't quite come to terms with that view. Freedom of the press isn't necessarily going to change that - the Germans and the Japanese got a lot of exposure to that in the 19th and 20th centuries and still decided that the path to prosperity was via military conquest. The determining factor may have been that getting rich via trade is a positive sum game where all parties benefit - it doesn't necessarily offer the same psychic satisfaction as the zero sum game of armed conquest. For today's non-Western countries, it's not enough to win - others must lose.
#22
Zheng Fei makes a good point. Sometimes it is difficult to achieve a win-win for all the parties involved.
Posted by: General Comment ||
09/03/2008 20:51 Comments ||
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#23
Zheng Fei makes a good point. Sometimes it is difficult to achieve a win-win for all the parties involved.
The Chinese, for example, think that Mongolia, which was protected by the Soviet Union and now by Russia as a buffer state, really belongs to China. They also feel that most of the Asian part of Russia really belongs to China. Given Russia's existing inventory of nuclear weapons and delivery vehicles for them, the Chinese will not act on their views today. But China's economy is already 2.5 times the size of Russia's. It is supporting a domestic weapons research and procurement that is several times the size of Russia's. In as little as two decades, China's armory will rival Russia's and may even include some form of missile defense. When that happens, China will promptly tear up all territorial treaties with Russia as unequal treaties and move into Mongolia and Russia's Far Eastern territories. And history will resume its onward march.
#24
Looks like I'd better invest in popcorn futures, Zhang Fei. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/03/2008 22:02 Comments ||
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#25
Merely rivaling the other's arm forces is insufficient for successful territorial conquest. There has to be a complete qualitative and quantitative supremacy. While China is doing well and harbors territorial aspirations vis a vis Russia, Russia is also not standing still. In twenty years, Russia will not loose land to China. Some of it simply has to do with the fact, that Russia will always maintain enough nukes to make a parking lot out of China. Also, in the area concerning missile development and missile defense Russians will maintain leadership in the next two decades, merely with deployment of S-400 Triumph and its further improvements. As to the airforce, the fifth generation fighter is coming along. Finally, I don't believe the relationship between the two countries is likely to get that strained.
Posted by: General Comment ||
09/03/2008 22:03 Comments ||
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#26
Tr_wife. Germany's problems are likely temporary is nature and in any event were not caused by displacement of the Germans after WWII.
As for Russia, 99% internet penetration is not required for a voting population to be informed of the opposing points of view. When you miss an episode of "Desperate Housewives" (pun intended) you can still ask your friends about it. People talk. Most of the russia's working population is employed by the mid-size and large size corporations (that's the essence of the authoritarian capitalism, remember, lack of small business owners) who do provide internet access at work. In major cities internet access is widespread outside of work as well. Most of the people also have cell phones with access. Finally, there are tons of newspapers online.
Posted by: General Comment ||
09/03/2008 22:13 Comments ||
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#27
Is Desperate Housewives still on, General Comment? I'm afraid I don't actually watch or discuss such things. My parents thought reading more educational, so we didn't have a television, and I never got in the habit of it.
Germany's current problems most definitely are not permanent, but it remains to be seen what the German Turks will do. Actually, the expulsion of Germans from the surrounding countries probably has exaggerated what would have happened anyway. But the key is why the ethnic Germans were expelled: because the national misbehaviour had so annoyed the countries round about that as soon as they could they sent them home, with, as a neighbor who had experienced as a small child in Czechoslovakia, only an hour or so notice before they were chased out. When I knew her seventy years later in the village of Bad Soden, she was still traumatized by the event. This is what the poster is telling you Russia's bullying will net all those Russians in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, and all those countries in Russia's near abroad, simply in proactive self defence. Today they're likely to get a month or six deadline instead of the hour my neighbor got in 1945.
It's not so much opposing points of view that need be available, as information that makes the powers that be uncomfortable. Not the kind of thing that gets shared over conversations about missed television episodes. Certainly the avalanche of posters from Russia that arrived here following the Russian invasion of Georgia was not inclined to make me believe uncomfortable facts as readily available in Russia as is ideal.
#28
Finally, I don't believe the relationship between the two countries is likely to get that strained.
Chinese diplomatic relationship have always been subordinate to territorial ambitions (much like Russian diplomatic relationships). China had an excellent relationship with India on the day China started moving into Aksai Chin in 1959. China had an excellent relationship with the UK the day Deng Xiaoping demanded the return of Hong Kong in the 1980's. Diplomatic relationships will not trump the conquest of millions of square miles of land rich in minerals, any more than it superseded strategic and revanchist rationale behind the acquisition of Aksai Chin and Hong Kong.
#29
Merely rivaling the other's arm forces is insufficient for successful territorial conquest.
I use the word rival as a form of understatement. In fact, I believe the Chinese will have forces that are four to five times larger than Russia's combined with superior quality and technology (which isn't too difficult when you're talking about Russian equipment). And they will benefit from the West's indifference to Russia's fate, since no one really sees Russia becoming a part of the West now.
#30
TW: Certainly the avalanche of posters from Russia that arrived here following the Russian invasion of Georgia was not inclined to make me believe uncomfortable facts as readily available in Russia as is ideal.
The geopolitical disputes of the world have little to do with misunderstandings. Each party understands his adversaries' position. It's just that each party believes his position should prevail.
#31
Finally, I don't believe the relationship between the two countries is likely to get that strained.
Fundamentally, what I was getting at is that diplomacy and war are just two different ways of achieving a country's goals. And with the Chinese, re-acquiring lands lost to neighboring countries is an important item on the national agenda. Treaties are merely a way of postponing conflicts (until China is strong enough to take what it wants) rather than resolving them.
Personally, I think this is one of the big reasons McCain picked Palin, aside from the fact that she is d@mned good! After people make the connection that Palin is at least as equally qualifed as BO [because she actually votes something other than "Present" and has done more in her shorter time in office], they will then begin to recognize how much more qualified McCain is than both Palin and, resultingly, BO. Also, the only measure I am using to compare qualifications between BO and Palin is time, and I am not even considering the fact that BO is a socialist, which is exactly in the wrong direction. That will come out eventually too, I hope.
Mounting a ferocious defense of his embattled running mate, John McCain said he is buying a TV ad arguing that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has more experience than the Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama.
In an effort to rev up conservatives, a campaign statement issued a list of critical media mentions that it called smears of Palin, who speaks in primetime at the convention on Wednesday night.
The campaign announced: The McCain campaign will launch a television ad directly comparing Gov. Palins executive experience as a governor who oversees 24,000 state employees, 14 statewide cabinet agencies and a $ 10 billion budget to Barack Obamas experience as a one-term junior senator from Illinois.
The ad is what the campaign calls a forward-leaning effort to counter the shameless smears that have prevailed during Gov. Palins introduction to the American voter.
Senior adviser Steve Schmidt gave Politico a statement saying the campaign will have no more comment about the vetting process, which was the subject of more critical coverage in Wednesday mornings papers:
Gov. Sarah Palin is an exceptional governor with a record of accomplishment that exceeds, by far, the governing accomplishments of Sen. Obama. Her selection came after a six-month long rigorous vetting process where her extraordinary credentials and exceptionalism became clear. This vetting controversy is a faux media scandal designed to destroy the first female Republican nominee for vice president of the United States who has never been a part of the old boys' network that has come to dominate the news establishment in this country. Sen. McCain picked his governing partner after a long and thorough search. Gov. Palin looks forward to addressing the nation and laying out the fundamental choice this election represents for the American people.
"The McCain campaign will have no further comment about our long and thorough process. This nonsense is over. It is time to begin the debate about how to win the two wars this country is engaged in,how to make this country energy independent and how to create jobs for American families that are hurting. The American people get to do the vetting now on Election Day Nov. 4."
Here is a document the McCain campaign sent to reporters this morning:
MCCAIN ACTIVITIES PLANNED FOR TODAY:
Mayor Rudy Giuliani will be on all three network and cable television stations defending Gov. Palins family and her historic candidacy.
The McCain campaign will launch a television ad directly comparing Gov. Palins executive experience as a governor who oversees 24,000 state employees, 14 statewide cabinet agencies and a $10 billion budget to Barack Obamas experience as a one-term junior senator from Illinois.
Former Democratic vice presidential nominee and current U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman and Congressman Eric Cantor will hold a press conference calling on Barack Obama to condemn and/or dismiss his official campaign spokesman who implied Gov. Sarah Palin supported Nazi sympathy because she wore a Pat Buchanan pin on one single occasion.
McCain-Palin surrogates Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Former HP CEO Carly Fiorina, U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, former Ebay CEO Meg Whitman, McCain senior adviser Nicolle Wallace, McCain communications director Jill Hazelbaker and McCain senior adviser Nancy Pfotenhauer will do television and radio interviews to demand better treatment for Gov. Palins family.
REPORTED FALSEHOODS AND SMEARS AGAINST GOV. PALINS FAMILY AND HISTORIC CANDIDACY:
Liberal Bloggers Questioned Whether Gov. Palin's Fifth Child Was Actually Bristol Palin's Child.
"'Where has Bristol Palin (far right, holding Trig, with a ring on her wedding finger) been for the past year? Has she been attending high school? Or was she absent because of infectious mononucleosis for between five and eight months, as is now being reported on the Internet? Why would a 43-year-old woman, on her fifth pregnancy, with a Down syndrome child, after her amniotic fluid has started to leak, not go to the nearest hospital immediately, even if she was in Texas for a speech? Why would she not only not go to the hospital in Texas, but take an eight-hour plane flight to Seattle and then Anchorage? Why would she choose to deliver the baby not in the nearest major facility in Anchorage but at a much smaller hospital near her home town? Why did the flight attendants on the trip home say she bore no signs of being pregnant?' It strikes me as likely that there are reasonable answers to these questions more reasonable than the only one given so far" (Andrew Sullivan, "Things That Make You Go Hmmm," The Atlantic's "The Daily Dish" Blog, Posted 8/31/08)
CNN's John Roberts Questioned Whether Governor Palin Would Be Able To Care For A Child With Down Syndrome As Vice President.
CNN's JOHN ROBERTS: "There's also this issue that on April 18, she gave birth to a baby with Down syndrome. The baby is just slightly more than 4 months old now. Children with Down Syndrome require an awful lot of attention. The role of vice president, it seems to me, would take up an awful lot of her time, and it raises the issue of, how much time will she have to dedicate to her newborn child?" BASH: "That's a very good question, and I guess my guess is that perhaps the line inside the McCain campaign would be, if it were a man being picked who also had a baby 4 months ago with Down syndrome, would you ask the same question? And that might be another way to kind of, you know, close the gender gap in trying to make the point that, yes, she not only has unfortunately a baby with Down syndrome, but she has five children, the oldest of whom is apparently in the Army and is apparently going to head off to Iraq in the fall." (CNN's "Newsroom," 8/29/08)
The Washington Post's Sally Quinn Questioned Whether A Woman With Five Children And One Having Down Syndrome Would Be Able To Make Her Family A Priority If She Were Vice President.
SALLY QUINN: "And I do think, too, that you have to weigh the situation. It's one thing to have one or two or three children, especially if they are healthy children. And everyone knows that women and men are different and that moms and dads are different and that women the burden of child care almost always falls on the woman. But I think, when you have five children, one a 4-month-old Down syndrome baby, and a daughter who is 17, who is also a child and who is going to need her mother very much in the next few months and years with her own baby coming, that I don't see how you cannot make your family your first priority. And I think if you are going to be president of the United States, which she may well be, I think that's going to be a real stretch for her." (CNN's "Newsroom," 9/2/08)
On MSNBC, Headlines Beneath The Live Coverage Included "SOME WORKING MOTHERS WORRY THAT PALIN IS TAKING ON TOO MUCH" And "SOME VOTERS CONCERNED IF PALIN, A MOTHER OF FIVE, HAS TIME TO BE VP."
"Two recent headlines underneath the talking heads at MSNBC: 'SOME WORKING MOTHERS WORRY THAT PALIN IS TAKING ON TOO MUCH.' Moments later, it changed to, 'SOME VOTERS CONCERNED IF PALIN, A MOTHER OF FIVE HAS TIME TO BE VP.' So good of them to express the concern in headline form." ("MSNBC Worries About Sarah Palin's Time Management," National Review's "Campaign Spot" Blog, Posted 9/2/08)
Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) Said That Gov. Palin Was A Supporter Of Pat Buchanan Who He Called A "Nazi Sympathizer."
"Here's Rep. Robert Wexler of Florida: John McCain's decision to select a vice presidential running mate that endorsed Pat Buchanan for president in 2000 is a direct affront to all Jewish Americans. Pat Buchanan is a Nazi sympathizer with a uniquely atrocious record on Israel, even going as far as to denounce bringing former Nazi soldiers to justice and praising Adolf Hilter for his 'great courage.'" (Ben Smith, "Palin On Israel," Politico, Posted 8/29/08)
The Obama Campaign Linked Gov. Palin As A Supporter Of Pat Buchanan Who They Called A "Nazi Sympathizer."
"'Palin was a supporter of [MSNBC analyst] Pat Buchanan, a right-winger or as many Jews call him: a Nazi sympathizer,' Obama spokesman Mark Bubriski wrote in an e-mail." (Marc Caputo, "Obama Camp Connects The Dots For Jews: McCain ... Palin ... Buchanan ... Nazis," The Miami Herald's "Naked Politics" Blog, Posted 8/30/08)
James Carville Claimed That Because Gove. Palin Was A Supporter Of Pat Buchanan She Would Not Be Attractive To Democrats.
CARVILLE: "Again, when they find out, when they find out I man, when people find out that Sarah Palin supported Pat Buchanan, that she supports teaching creationism, they're not she's not a person that's going to be very attractive to Democrats." (CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees," 8/29/08)
James Carville Said That Gov. Palin Would Appeal To "Pat Buchanan Kind Of Republicans."
CARVILLE: "I think, among social conservatives, she's going to be fine. She endorsed Pat Buchanan for president in 2000. And he's a hero to social conservatives. She's for teaching creationism in the public schools in Alaska, something that is sort of No. 1 on the social conservative agenda. So, yes, I think, to the kind of Pat Buchanan kind of Republicans, she's going to have some appeal." (CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees," 8/29/08)
In Toledo, Ohio, Sen. Joe Biden Said One Of The Differences Between Him And Gov. Palin Was "She's Good-Looking."
"In his introduction of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., just now on the rooftop of the Toldeo Public Library, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., commented on the pulchritude of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Sen. John McCain's newly-named running mate. 'From our perspective the whole deal is how does the government help you get back up without getting in the way?' Biden asked. 'There's a gigantic gigantic difference between John McCain and Barack Obama, and between me and I suspect my vice presidential opponent. And that is that ' The crowd laughed. 'Well there's obvious differences,' Biden said, beginning to ham it up. 'She's good-looking,' he said, laughing. 'You know there's obvious differences. But there's a whole lot '" (Jake Tapper and Matt Jaffe, "Oh, That Joe! (Number 4 in a Series) Biden on Difference Between Him And Palin: 'She's Good Looking'," ABC News' "Political Punch" Blog, Posted 8/31/08)
CNN's James Carville Said That Gov. Palin Is "Almost Absent Qualifications For The Job."
JAMES CARVILLE: "I just would make the point, is my family I had five sisters. They're all pro-life to the core. And they all would act in exactly the same way. That's not the question. The question is, why would she be running for vice president? I mean this woman is almost absent qualifications for the job. I mean this is she is I'm willing to concede to the whole world that she's a very committed pro-life person, that she's an honorable person, that she's a good mother. But that's not the issue before the American people right now." (CNN's "Larry King Live," 9/1/08)
Liberal Radio Host Ed Schultz Said That Gov. Palin Was An "Empty Pantsuit" Who Had Started A "Bimbo Alert."
"Liberal radio host Ed Schultz was telling listeners Monday that Palin was an 'empty pantsuit' who had set off a 'bimbo alert.'" (Howard Kurtz, "A Blogger, A Baby, A Cry Of Concern," The Washington Post, 9/2/08)
Sherrod Brown Criticized Gov. Palin For Being Mayor Of A Small Town.
"U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown urged the pro-Democratic crowd at the Cincinnati AFL-CIO Councils annual Labor Day Picnic today not to be shy about promoting the Barack Obama-Joe Biden presidential ticket in their personal sphere of contacts. 'Shes been mayor of a city half the size of Blue Ash and governor of a state with half the population of Hamilton County,' Brown said. 'John McCain failed in his first big decision as a potential president. He chose somebody with no experience to be a heartbeat away from being the U.S. president.'" (Steve Kemme, "At Picnic, Brown Slams Palin," Cincinnati Enquirer, 9/2/08)
ABC's Jake Tapper Reported That Gov. Palin Was Once A Member Of The Alaskan Independence Party, Which Wanted To Secede From The United States.
"The campaign of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., likes to herald the independence of its new running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Officials of the Alaskan Independence Party say that Palin was once so independent, she was once a member of their party, which, since the 1970s, has been pushing for a legal vote for Alaskans to decide whether or not residents of the 49th state can secede from the United States." (Jake Tapper, "Members Of 'Fringe' Alaskan Independence Party Say Palin Was A Member In 90s," ABC's "Political Punch" Blog, Posted 9/1/08)
The Washington Post's Richard Cohen Said That Gov. Palin Was A "Sitcom" Candidate And Would Be A "Disaster Movie" If She Became President.
"One of the great sights of American political life a YouTube moment if ever there was one was to see the doughboy face of Newt Gingrich as he extolled the virtues of Sarah Palin, a sitcom of a vice presidential choice and a disaster movie if she moves up to the presidency." (Richard Cohen, op-ed, "Republicans Rush In," The Washington Post, 9/2/08)
Tom Daschle Attacked Palin As Having Absolutely No Experience And Being Extreme Right Wing.
Daschle: Three questions: With absolutely no experience, are we ready, if necessary, to place our future in her hands as commander in chief and our premier negotiator with other world leaders? Are we comfortable in having a VP who represents the extreme right wing, including the advocacy of creationism and a denial of any human responsibility in climate change? What happens if Gov. Palin is found to have abused her office in the firing of a police officer? (Politico Arena Palin Edition, The Politico, 8/31/08)
#1
Yep. By choosing Palin McCain has successfully sucked Obama into a contest where Obama is constantly comparing his qualifications to those of McCain's VP nominee. Over the long run that can't be helpful. Very nicely played by the McCain camp.
McCain's campaign was incredibly sharp from the Saddleback Forum through this past Friday. However the howling from Obama's minions has been so loud that Team McCain seems to have lost control of their message which is being drowned out by the visceral lefty hatred of Palin. Perhaps that's by design but IMHO McCain doesn't have long to re-establish control of his message or he'll be finished.
#2
Maybe Cheney would rather not go hunting with her
Posted by: European Conservative ||
09/03/2008 16:21 Comments ||
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#3
I don't think McCain has to re-establish control. Just let the looney left go nuts and smear all self made women everywhere. Then, Palin crushes Biden in a debate. Election over.
#4
Once the "unqualified unprincipled rube nutcase" meme is firmly established there'll be no going back. I'd like to think that American voters are bright, research candidates, and make informed decisions but in a nation where 1% of the electorate will decide the election it's too much to hope for that said 1% will look past the established MSM memes.
#5
McCain was caught a little flat footed by the media avalanche. Good to see him finally going on the offensive. The campaign needs to get inside the MSM OODA loop as it has Barry's. This will be a challenge.
#6
The campaign needs to get inside the MSM OODA loop as it has Barry's.
This is precisely what worries me. They *had* to know what was coming even if they didn't anticipate the magnitude of it. McCain's slowness in responding effectively to the smears is what's troubling me. Or maybe they've just been so good of late that I'm expecting a bit much of them.
Before she was running against him, Sarah Palinthe governor of Alaska and now the Republican candidate for Vice-President of the United Statesthought it was pretty neat that Barack Obama was edging ahead of John McCain in her usually solidly red state. After all, she said, Obamas campaign was using the same sort of language that she had in her gubernatorial race. The theme of our campaign was new energy, she said recently. It was no more status quo, no more politics as usual, it was all about change. So then to see that Obamaliterally, part of his campaign uses those themes, even, new energy, change, all that, I think, O.K., well, we were a little bit ahead on that. She also noted, Somethings kind of changing here in Alaska, too, for being such a red state on the Presidential level. Obamas doing just fine in polls up here, which is kind of wigging people out, because theyre saying, This hasnt happened for decades that in polls the D the Democratic candidate is doing just fine. To me, thats indicative, too. Its the no-more-status-quo, its change.
This was two weeks ago, at the statehouse in Juneau. After persistent reports, in July, that Palin was on McCains short list of potential running mates, her name had faded back into obscurity. Nobody in Alaska seemed to take her seriously as a national prospect, and she had shrugged the whole thing off on television, telling CNBCs Larry Kudlow that, before considering the job, she would want to know what is it, exactly, that the V.P. does every day. Now, at the statehouse, she sat, unattended by aides, curled up in a cardigan, and explained that what she had done every day since becoming governor was to stick her thumb in the eye of Alaskas Republican Party establishment. The G.O.P. leader of the statewe havent spoken since I got elected, she said.
She went on, I guess if you take the individual issues, two that I believe would be benchmarks showing whether youre a hard-core Republican conservative or not, would be: Im a lifetime member of the N.R.A.but this is Alaska, who isnt?and I am pro-life, absolutely. She continued, I guess that puts me in a box of being hard-core Republican. But she said she recognized that the Democrats also preach individual freedoms and individual rights, capitalism, free market, let-it-do-its-thing-best, let people keep as much of their money that they earn as possible. And when it comes to, like, the Party machine, no one will accuse me of being partisan.
So the possibility that Obama might win Alaska did not worry Palin: Turning maybe purple in the state means, to me, its more independent, its not the obsessive partisanship that gets in the way of doing whats right for this state, and I think on a national level thats what were gonna see. And she added, Thats why McCain is the candidate for the G.O.P.because hes been known as the maverick, as the conduit for some change. In the states Republican caucus, McCain came in fourth, trailing Ron Paul. I always looked at Senator McCain just as a Joe Blow public member, looking from the outside in, she said. Hes been buttin heads with Republicans for years, and thats a healthy place to be. Then again, on McCains signature issuethe prosecution of the war in Iraqshe did not sound so gung-ho. Her son is a soldier, and she said, Im a mom, and my son is going to get deployed in September, and we better have a real clear plan for this war. And it better not have to do with oil and dependence on foreign energy. ♦
#1
I went to bed furious about the Dem/press treatment of Palin's children, aged 6 months to 17 years, which now has extended to Levi Johnston aged 18. Usually I sleep that sort of anger off. This morning, though, I woke up with a white hot fury. If we do not do everything possible to defeat Obama and his far left supporters, we deserve every degradation and erosion of our country and its freedoms we will surely experience.
#3
Re lotp's remarks. The Dems/media are in grave danger of killing the Dem party as we know it with all the BS 'reporting' surrounding Gov. Palin.
They've pissed off lotp, and by extension, I would assume many, many other gracious, intelligent, normally quiet women voters - Reps, Dems and Independents alike. Many Dem women voters will not stand for personal attacks - especially when you attack a (minor) child of a candidate.
#4
The amount of partisanship in the press has grown untenable.
Democracy needs a fair, open and complete reporting of news and information to survive.
We are nto getting that -the press is failing and is actively acting and an unbalanced, frequently unhinged partisan in politics.
This must be stopped or our democracy will collapse in a wave of ignorance aided and abetted by the mainstream media who continues to actively MIS-inform the populace.
They are creating McVeighs with this sort of thing. And if things do fall apart, the first up against the wall will be the press who started this collapse.
#5
Corollary #1
All systems are only as good as their sensory Organs.
A System is no Better than its sensory organs
Corollary #2
To those within a system, outside reality tends to pale and disappear;
In an effort to introduce quantitative methodology into this important area of research a group of dedicated systemologists has paid particular attention to the amount of information that reaches, or fails to reach the relevant systems administrators also classified as Control Units (CU) of any particular system.
The crucial variable they have found is the fraction Ro/Rs where Ro equals the amount of reality which fails to reach the control unit. And Rs equals the total amount of reality presented to the system.
The fraction Ro/Rs varies from 0 (full awareness of outside reality) to unity ( no reality getting through) The result is known naturally enough, as the COEFFICIENT OF FICTION (CF)
Ro/Rs=CF
I did like the fact that Newt pushed the question back at Allen to say exactly what Zero has accomplished and Allen ran like the scared rabbit he (and all the MSM) is.
#8
Democrats who are attacking Palin's family need to remember what a boomerang looks like and to duck at the appropriate time. Their attacks go way past what people have as a limit to fair play. It will hurt them, badly. Think Clinton. We got carried away in our venemous attacks on that sordid man and the public rejected us and supported the scumbag.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/03/2008 11:09 Comments ||
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#11
The scumbag deserved it. But, shameless as they are, the donks rallied around him. If he'd been a Republican then other Republicans would have abandoned him. I know I would have. Newt had his own problems in that regard which just might have a lot to do with the fact that he never ran for president.
Newt brings up another interesting point before 2:30 though. McCain, he said, has picked a candidate who is young enough that she can be in a position of leadership for decades to come. Think about it: Eight years of McCain/Palin and then eight years of Palin with whomever she chooses (Sorry, all you Jindal supporters. I'm not familiar with him.)
#12
Bobby Jindal is the brand new governor of Louisiana, Ebbang Uluque6305. His parents are Hindu Indian immigrants. He converted to Catholicism, if I recall correctly, while late in high school or in college. He ran as an outsider against the traditional Louisiana corruption, and from what I've heard he's made a good start. Happily married to his first wife, a couple of adorable children, as far as I know even fewer scandals than Governor Palin. Not a pit bull wearing lipstick, though. ;-)
#13
I think the reporter did a good job, he asked the question and kept silent while Newt answered and didn't try to debate afterwards which is not the job of a reporter.
Newt didn't dodge or parse his words which is why the clip is outstanding. More politicians should be ready like that. Damn I wish our President was ready with a few short bites like that from time to time.
"Name the former US Senator who gave a nationally televised speech the night before President McCain announced his choice of Sarah Palin as his Vice-President."
Posted by: Matt ||
09/03/2008 17:55 Comments ||
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#15
An even better trivial pursuit question is that while Gov. Palin is married to a "native american", of sorts, she's following the first "native american" Veep by 80 years.
Duplicate. Please check in the future. Leaving this up because of the comments. Again, always check for duplicates!
Kumbaya
HIROSHIMA, Japan -- U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday became the highest-ranking serving American official to pay respects at the memorial site of the world's first atomic bomb attack. Democrat Pelosi is in Japan for a two-day gathering of top legislators from the Group of Eight industrialized countries.
On Tuesday morning, she and the other G-8 representatives visited Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park before heading into an all-day meeting. I wonder if they will fly to Korea to console some surviving "comfort women."
No sitting U.S. president or vice president has ever visited Hiroshima. As speaker of the House of Representatives, Pelosi is second in line to the presidency after U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. I visited the memorial in 1980 and was outraged at the demonizing, one-sided presentation. I wrote "Remember Bataan and Singapore" in the guestbook.
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter stopped by the memorial in 1984, after his presidency, but he did not visit in any official capacity. Consistent of him anyway.
Genyu Izawa, a Buddhist priest, stood by as each of the G-8 officials laid flowers at the arch-shaped monument inside of which a stone chest holds the names of bomb victims. Is there a chest somewhere that holds the names of the 300,000+ victims of the Rape of Kanking?
"As a Japanese, I am grateful that they are thinking about this and have all gathered here, the site of the atomic bombing," said Izawa, who traveled from Tokyo to show his support to Pelosi for her longtime commitment to Tibet issues. They should fly together to the Phillipines. The Filipino government has helpfully built a stone memorial at every kilometer of the 140 kilometer route of the Bataan Death March if they want to walk it themselves.
An estimated 140,000 people were killed instantly or died within a few months after an American B-29 bomber dropped its lethal payload on Aug. 6, 1945. Three days later on Aug. 9, 1945, the U.S. dropped a nuclear bomb on the city of Nagasaki, killing about 80,000 people. Subsequently millions died in the allied invasion. Oh, wait a minute:
Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, ending World War II. Japan, which adopted a pacifist constitution after the war, has since become one of the staunchest opponents of nuclear proliferation. Er, not everybody in Japan is so happy with this dogma.
At a ceremony last month marking the 63rd anniversary of the bombing, Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba urged the next U.S. president to support a proposed ban on nuclear weapons. And Japan submitted a resolution in the United Nations last year calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Akiba said 170 nations supported it, with the U.S. one of only three countries opposed. What dictator would dare to oppose the thundering moral authority of such an edict?
The gathering of G-8 officials in Hiroshima will focus on peace and disarmament, but is not expected to result in any major agreements or statements.
Sadami Naganishi, 73, of Hiroshima said she hopes their visit to the city is a step forward in ridding the world of nuclear weapons. "I hope they see what happened here, and take that back to their countries," said Naganishi, whose father died of a bomb-related illness several years after the war Tojo also died as a result of the atomic bombings, when he was hanged as a war criminal.
#2
An estimated 140,000 people were killed instantly or died within a few months after an American B-29 bomber dropped its lethal payload on Aug. 6, 1945.
Bogus, long continuing numbers game. Let's use the left's own standard for accrediting cause of death to the citizens of New York for 9/11. We should be able to get that number up to a half a million by the 20th anniversary.
#4
He did NOT go to Switzerland. He will be on Bill O'Reilly's show just before McCain's speech Thursday. Which, by the way, tells you a lot about O'Reilly.
#5
Akiba said 170 nations supported it, with the U.S. one of only three countries opposed.
Those 170 nations of course included Iran, North Korea, Syria, Egypt, The People's Republic of China, Venezuela, Bolivia, Russia... Forgive me if I'm not as impressed as I ought to be.
#7
An estiameted 74 million Japanese were saved
by teh bomb. Compound it with 300,000 thousand Chinese a month along with a similar number of people in the rest of occupied Asia. Or has someone forgotten what the Japanese did in China, Filipines, Indonesia or Malasia?
#8
I think Nancy should've gotten down on her hands and knees and let everyone in Japan line up and boot her in the ass.
Would've assuaged that liberal guilt. Tough on the ass though...
#11
Gen. LeMay began nightly incendiary bomb raids on Japan's largest cities. One on the suburbs of Tokyo killed over 100,000 and totally destroyed 10 square miles of the city and its suburbs. Tokyo was neither the first or the last. Of course, nobody bitches about those, because they weren't "the first ever". As Harry Truman said, "it's just a bigger artillery shell". Get over it.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/03/2008 15:35 Comments ||
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#12
Pelosi and the rest of the world should be thanking their lucky stars that we got the bomb before Germany or Japan--they would have used it on us which brings us to Iran...
#13
Read Downfall, by Richard Frank for a thorough discussion of the last days of the war. He covers the firebombing of Tokyo and other cities, the preparations by the Allies and the Japanese for the invasion, and what could have happened if we had continued bombing and then invaded.
Bottom line: there would have been millions of casualties, both military and civilian. Thousands or millions more would have starved to death. Next on our list of bombing targets was the railways that moved the food from the farms to the people. The Japanese should thank us that we ended the war the way we did. The nuclear weapons gave them an excuse to surrender, even though the end was inevitable. The only difference would have been the number of people who died.
Even after Nagasaki, there were die hard Japanese officers who tried to prevent the Emperor's recording of surrender from being broadcast. Think how many more people would have died if the Japanese military had continued to fight on. Without the Emperor telling them to lay down their arms, they would have continued to fight and kill, possibly for years.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
09/03/2008 18:49 Comments ||
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Police said they arrested about 100 people Monday after violent protests in conjunction with the Republican Party convention. "About 100 have been arrested and we are still booking in people," a staff member at the Ramsey County jail in St. Paul told AFP. "Most of them have been held for rioting." Thousands of people - veterans, grandmothers, young families and even disgruntled Republicans - marched through the streets of St. Paul, calling for the end of the war in Iraq. Trouble flared when one group split away from the beginning of the march and tussled with police, who fired pepper spray on the crowd, including at an AFP photographer.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I wonder how many it will be in the end, and how long they will have to sit in jail until their cases are called and their sentences served.
#2
Relying upon the MSM to report on the violence at the RNC is like relying upon their role models of Izvestia and Pravda in reporting on the conflict in Georgia.
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democratic vice presidential pick eight years ago, on Tuesday criticized Barack Obama's national security record and hailed Republican candidate John McCain's, a clear boost to the GOP. Playing his former party's spoiler, Lieberman called McCain not the Democratic nominee Obama the best choice to lead the country forward. The Democrat-turned-Independent said that while Sen. Obama was voting to cut off funds for troops in Iraq, McCain took the unpopular position to support a surge in troops.
"Because of that, today, our troops are at last beginning to come home, not in failure, but in honor," Lieberman says in excerpts that were released in advance of his speech Tuesday to the Republican National Convention.
Lieberman was scheduled to address the second night of the Republican meeting just eight years after he stood before a cheering throng at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles and accepted the nomination as Al Gore's running mate.
These days, he often calls himself an independent. But in excerpts released ahead of his address to the GOP crowd, he referred to himself as a Democrat who's opted to put politics aside during wartime. "I'm here tonight because John McCain is the best choice to bring our country together and lead our country forward. I'm here because John McCain's whole life testifies to a great truth: being a Democrat or a Republican is important. But it is not more important than being an American," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
He was quite good in a very Joe Lieberman kind of way. If he'd been that effective in 2000 Gore likely would have won the race.
#2
When Lieberman said that Obama tried to stop funding for our troops in Iraq I was enraged.
If anything should disqualify a person from being Commander-in-Chief, the refusal to support the troops against terrorists hiding behind civilians in Iraq is it.
May Obama never be my son Track's Commander-in-Chief, now that he is heading for Iraq.
"Country First", party second is my war cry!
Obama must be defeated before he get's my son killed.
The US Presidency is not for selfish elites.
And I, Sarah Palin, approve this message.
Partial funding for this message was provided by NPR and generous members like you.
Posted by: Todd Palin for the McCain/Palin ticket ||
09/03/2008 1:51 Comments ||
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#3
Mr. Wife said it was a very good speech. He liked Fred Thompson's speech as well.
#4
Obama cast at least 10 votes for war-funding bills before voting against one last year, after Bush vetoed a version that contained a date for withdrawal from Iraq.
Posted by: Fat Sam ||
09/03/2008 10:29 Comments ||
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#5
So Senator Obama was not really for immediately and completely turning our back on Iraq, even though Candidate Obama has made that a centerpoint of his campaign? Useful information, that, Fat Sam.
#6
If he'd been that effective in 2000 Gore likely would have won the race.
Yeah, but in 2000 he had to talk about Gore. That'd be quite a burden.
Truthfully, though, I watched Liberman and Thompson and neither one of them exactly rocked the house. I guess after the "soaring oratory" we heard at the DNC I was expecting a bit more pizzazz, a bit more razzle-dazzle. But that's kind of a shame, isn't it? People want to hear soaring oratory even if the message itself lacks substance.
#7
Re: 'soaring oratory, even if the message lacks substance' -- exactly.
as a longstanding member of Toastmasters, i've heard my share of soaring but content-free speeches. Being able to speak well is good, but if you don't have something to say...
#9
Being an independent with an extreme distrust for both parties (OK, I do trust the donks to do the wrong thing nearly every time), I did like Lieberman's call for non-partisanship. Over the past few years I'd been coming to the conclusion that the party system is basically flawed, with party politics and goals taking precedent over national needs. It was gratifying to learn G.Washington had the same concerns, if frustrating to know there's no practical solution that has been found in 200+ years. As soon as people band together for common cause, there's always some moke who sees it as a vehicle for his own power. I think we're back to term limits as a bandaid.
Anyway, my goal is to find candidates strong on national defense and willing to kick the parasites' butts, even if thy're in their own party. It looks like we have that in McCain/Palin. I disagree with a number of things McCain has done politically and I don't agree with some of Palin's positions, but they are both honest and that's all I really need.
A naive view of democracy is that you get to vote for who you want. The reality is you usually only get to vote against who you don't want. This time around, it looks like I get both.
#11
I was angry at the commentary afterwards. After the DNC, as an example, after Clinton spoke, we heard how Clinton really nailed it etc., after the RNC, criticising the speeches about how if they are going to pull this off they're going to have to blah blah blah, critiquing the speeches with all that was wrong with them.
I liked both speeches, Thompson I thought really spoke well, and I liked the end of Liebermans speech. I'm looking forward to tonights speech by Palin.
Posted by: Jan at work ||
09/03/2008 19:52 Comments ||
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#2
Don't you know that kid wishes he would have minded himself better now. Talk about unforseen consequences! I wish the media would drop this. Pisses me off knowing they swept Edward's mess under the carpet but are throwing these kids under the bus.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
09/03/2008 11:29 Comments ||
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#3
These kids are unbelievable. Must be a hell of a family to put themselves through this stuff.
#5
The tribe of Levi supplied the priestly caste of the Israelites, and later the Temple in Jerusalem. Moses was of the tribe of Levi. I didn't know it meant "attached", though. A good omen, for those who believe in such things.
#6
Just look at how the LAT had to twist the headline:
As the GOP turns: Sarah Palin's daughter's baby's father to attend convention
Disgusting! I wonder what headline (if any) they had for Edwards - not that teenage dalliance comes even close to adultery against a terminally ill wife on the 'scandal scale'.
#8
Alaska rules may be in order for this analysis - seems that you should add 3-5 years to anyone's age until about 50, then start subtracting a year or two for every decade after.
There's a staggering ignorance of American history on display here - much of this behavior would be wholly run of the mill a century ago, which further begs the questions of the extent to which our bias has changed for the better or worse.
These kids seem extraordinarily typical, and strong.
Eleven influential figures were allotted costly and fertile agriculture land during the former Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) government at nominal rates in southern districts of the NWFP in a "land scandal" alleged by two members of the provincial assembly.
Pakistan People's Party-Sherpao (PPP-S) MPA Israrullah Gandapur and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz MPA Sanaullah Khan Miankhel had highlighted the illegal allotment of government land during the ongoing assembly session on August 20, 2008 and tabled a joint adjournment motion which the House admitted for a full debate.
Giving details of land allotments, PPP-Sherpao's Gandapur told Daily Times on Tuesday the former government leased fertile government land to 11 influential or 'favoured' figures at nominal prices.
Beneficiaries: According to Gandapur, who has a copy of the land allotment record, the MMA government illegally leased 2,286 kanals of land at Rs 50 per kanal to Alamgir, son of Raza Hasan; 400 kanals at Rs 200 per kanal to Haji Obaidullah, son of Haji Rehmatullah; 604 kanals at Rs 200 per kanal to Muhammad Iltaf, son of Obaidullah; 15 kanals at Rs 200 per kanal to Haji Sharifullah, son of Rehmatullah; 729 kanals at Rs 200 per kanal to Haji Shadizai, son of Sultan Muhammad; 1,047 kanals at Rs 200 per kanal to Mian Khan, son of Sultan; 502 kanals at Rs 200 per kanal to Adnan Khan, son of Shahzada Khan; 15 kanals at Rs 200 per kanal to Sharifullah, son of Rehmat; 200 kanals at Rs 200 per kanal to Haq Nawaz, son of Abdul Jabbar; 245 kanals at Rs 200 per kanal to Samiullah, son of Fazal, and six kanals and six marlas at Rs 200 per kanal to Muhammad Ashraf, son of Shehzad.
Gandapur said that of 3,758 kanals, 2,739 kanals of land is located at Rakh Zindani village, 619 kanals at Rata Kulachi village and 400 kanals at Rakhmara village in Dera Ismail Khan, and that leases could extend up to 99 years.
"The land is fertile, good for agriculture and very expensive," he said. When the opposition members unearthed illegal allotment of government land in the House on August 20 during the ongoing session, Minister for Agriculture Arbab Ayub Jan said the land was not allotted under any law. "The allotment is illegal," he said. The minister said the government would retrieve the land. However, the minister failed to say what action the coalition government would take against those involved in "the land scandal".
Posted by: Fred ||
09/03/2008 00:00 ||
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Piling up pressure on estranged ally Nawaz Sharif, the PPP government yesterday reopened corruption cases against him even as the PML-N chief intensified attacks against the ruling party, accusing it of "breaking promises and ignoring public issues".
The country's controversial anti-corruption watchdog, the National Accountability Bureau, filed an application in a court seeking resumption of a trial against former premier Sharif and his brother Shahbaz on graft charges.
The move by the Bureau, which is under the Law Ministry, to reopen the case came just nine days after Sharif pulled his PML-N party out of the PPP-led ruling coalition. These cases had been indefinitely adjourned last month by an anti-corruption court in Rawalpindi on technical grounds.
Sharif's lawyer Khwaja Haris was quick to slam the move as politically motivated. "It appears to be aimed at using the accountability courts against Nawaz Sharif. It appears to be used for political ends," Haris said.
Sharif stuck to his stand on the issue of returning to the coalition that was formed after the February 18 general elections but fell apart due to differences over restoration of judges deposed by former President Pervez Musharraf.
Ruling out any possibility of rejoining the coalition despite requests from the PPP, he said "We have crossed that point and we don't want to enter the ruling coalition again".
Sharif, in an interview to Gulf News published today, also said he would not withdraw the PML-N's presidential candidate, former Supreme Court Chief Justice Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui, who is running against PPP chief Asif Ali Zardari.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/03/2008 00:00 ||
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Awami National Party (ANP)'s working committee member Gul Mina Bilal has said that burying women alive was not part of the Pakhtun traditions.
"No, no! We always kill 'em first!"
Addressing a seminar at a local hotel on Tuesday, she said the religion Islam also did not allow such inhuman acts. Condemning the incident of burying five women alive in Babakot village of Balochistan, she said case should be registered against those responsible under the anti-terrorism act. She said the present ANP government has given confidence to the investors many of whom have expressed willingness to invest in the province. She said airline services of Australia and Germany, who had stopped flights to Peshawar after 9/11, would re-launch their flights soon. She said the provincial government was striving to overcome poverty, unemployment and price hike. She said the World Bank has shown willingness to provide loan to NWFP while their team is expected to reach Peshawar next week.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
"the religion Islam also did not allow such inhuman acts"
Stoning is so much more entertaining for the crowds
Posted by: European Conservative ||
09/03/2008 0:10 Comments ||
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#2
For a time I have read the traffic in the World Pashtun Foundation forums. Since it was a forum by Pashtuns for Pashtuns there was no Takiyah there. And when it was known about judicial rapes in Punjab, everyone be it nationalists, democrat or islamist was horrified about it. Perpetrators would have had an interesting death if they had fallen in Pashtun hands.
#3
In all likelihood the custom of burying alive preceded Islam in both Baloch and Pashtun culture; however, Islam gives such great weight to the perception of female purity and such venom to the the perceived violation of purity that it gives a veneer of sanction to the custom.
(PTI) Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim today promised to replace the discriminative economic policies of the present government with equal rights to the minority Indian and Chinese communities if he comes to power. Anwar said "archaic" policies that demanded mandatory Malay equity in companies would also be done away with, adding that affirmative action programmes would be retained to help the poor irrespective of their race.
He said that affirmative action by his government would be transparent and not on the expense of the economy.
The leader said his plan to seize power from the Badawi led government on September 16 was still on the track but refused to give the numbers of defectors from the ruling party.
Referring to his plans, Anwar said he had held talks with ruling party lawmakers and the response was "very good" but declined to elaborate on the issue.
Badawi's ruling coalition of Barisan National has a slender majority of 30 members in parliament.
Anwar (61) has emerged stronger after securing a landslide victory in recent by-election.
Referring to his threat to form the government in a couple of weeks he noted "It (fasting month) is not a problem. Parliament is only on leave. It is still there. Fourteen days is a long time. Even Winston Churchill said seven days in politics is a long time."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/03/2008 00:00 ||
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Thailand's prime minister declared a state of emergency in the capital Tuesday after thousands of his opponents and supporters clashed in the worst street violence here in more than a decade. One person was killed and 44 were injured, some of them from gunshot wounds.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Is this a religous deal because the govt. has been attacking in the South? or is it just the usual corruption.
#2
CNN > The US Anti-Terror War in Iraq-Afghanistan has devolved into a FULL-SCALE REGIONAL CONFLICT FOR CONTROL OF MUSLIM STATES AND ASIA.
ALso, WAFF.com > THE PERSIAN [Muslim] INFLUENCE IN THAILAND. The Iranian-Persian = Muslim ancestral roots of PROMINENT THAI FAMILIES-CLANS, as per MUSLIM-BUDDHIST INTER-MARRIAGE + LOCAL SOCIO-CULTURAL/POLITICAL INTERACTION.
Iranian authorities on Tuesday revoked the media accreditation of AlArabiya News Channel's Tehran bureau chief, Hassan Fahs, after officials from the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Guidance had declared him 'persona non grata' without any prior notice.
A senior source at AlArabiya expressed the channel's astonishment and condemnation of the decision, stressing the channel's "on-going commitment to professional standards and balanced reporting, particularly in its coverage of Iranian affairs".
The source also emphasized the fact that AlArabiya had not aired any major news item about Iran "without offering a fair and balanced opportunity for Iranian official spokespersons or other pro-government figures to comment".
Hassan Fahs, for his part, said the decision to expel him was the latest in "a series of concerted public campaigns against AlArabiya, orchestrated by some Iranian officials and related pro-government media".
Posted by: Fred ||
09/03/2008 00:00 ||
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The Heritage Foundation just issued a report on the demographics of the current volunteer military. It seems volunteers, both officers and enlisted, come disproportionately from the educated, from middle and upper-middle income families, and from the South and West. Y'all aren't hopeless dead-enders who could do nothing better with your lives. I know y'all knew that, but it's nice to have it statistically confirmed. Summary given below, lots of graphs and footnotes for the interested. :-)
Who serves in the active-duty ranks of the U.S. all-volunteer military? Conventional wisdom holds that military service disproportionately attracts minorities and men and women from disadvantaged backgrounds. Many believe that troops enlist because they have few options, not because they want to serve their country. Others believe that the war in Iraq has forced the military to lower its recruiting standards.
Based on an understanding of the limitations of any objective definition of quality, this report compares military volunteers to the civilian population on four demographic characteristics: household income, education level, racial and ethnic background, and regional origin. This report finds that:
1. U.S. military service disproportionately attracts enlisted personnel and officers who do not come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Previous Heritage Foundation research demonstrated that the quality of enlisted troops has increased since the start of the Iraq war. This report demonstrates that the same is true of the officer corps.
2. Members of the all-volunteer military are significantly more likely to come from high-income neighborhoods than from low-income neighborhoods. Only 11 percent of enlisted recruits in 2007 came from the poorest one-fifth (quintile) of neighborhoods, while 25 percent came from the wealthiest quintile. These trends are even more pronounced in the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program, in which 40 percent of enrollees come from the wealthiest neighborhoodsa number that has increased substantially over the past four years.
3. American soldiers are more educated than their peers. A little more than 1 percent of enlisted personnel lack a high school degree, compared to 21 percent of men 1824 years old, and 95 percent of officer accessions have at least a bachelors degree.
4. Contrary to conventional wisdom, minorities are not overrepresented in military service. Enlisted troops are somewhat more likely to be white or black than their non-military peers. Whites are proportionately represented in the officer corps, and blacks are overrepresented, but their rate of overrepresentation has declined each year from 2004 to 2007. New recruits are also disproportionately likely to come from the South, which is in line with the history of Southern military tradition.
The facts do not support the belief that many American soldiers volunteer because society offers them few other opportunities. The average enlisted person or officer could have had lucrative career opportunities in the private sector. Those who argue that American soldiers risk their lives because they have no other opportunities belittle the personal sacrifices of those who serve out of love for their country.
HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) - U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday became the highest-ranking sitting American official to visit ground zero of the world's first atomic bombing. The Democrat, who came to this western port city for a two-day annual gathering of Group of Eight legislative heads, joined other speakers in paying their respects at a memorial to the Hiroshima bombing. One by one, each bowed, then laid flowers at a white, arch-shaped monument containing the names of more than 200,000 victims of the nuclear blast.
No serving U.S. president or vice president has ever visited Hiroshima. As speaker of the House of Representatives, Pelosi is second in line to the presidency after U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney.
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter stopped by the memorial in 1984, after his term, as a private citizen.
Yohei Kono, leader of Japan's House of Representatives, said no decisions were made during the meeting on peace and disarmament, but he emphasized the symbolic importance of discussing the future of nuclear weapons in the city.
"The fact that they all came to Hiroshima has significant meaning," said Kono after the group's daylong meeting Tuesday.
It's Fact #1 of what the United States can do if you launch a sneak attack on us ...
"I hope that even more international political leaders come to Hiroshima and Nagasaki and see with their own eyes, so that they will be able to strengthen their resolve for disarmament and nuclear disarmament going forward."
Barbaric Japs started the war killing and raping citizens of other countries at will. We ended it. My father was on a troop transport to the mainland where and estimated many American troop casualties were predicted. Those bombs saved his life.
The father of my best friend was a gunner on an Avenger torpedo bomber on an escort carrier in early 1945. He reminds his children that they're here because he's here, and he's here because his Dad is here, and his Dad is here because Harry Truman dropped the bomb.
#1
Gee, Nancy, are you going to visit Manila? Didn't think so. BTW, that was an American territory that the Japanese devastated and decimated the population. They were already schedule for independence when the Japanese decided to add them to their Greater Co-Prosperity Sphere. Sorta of the pre-Puty replay of making friends and influencing people.
#3
My father told me that at the briefings for the invasion of Japan, the Admirals were very forthright that they expected over 1.0 million casualties in subduing Honshu.
As a note, the Japanese were being trained to attack us in mass Banzai attackes with spears and tools and farm implements. They had pulled back over 500,000 of their best troops into Japan and they had over 1,500 aircraft hidden away. The strategy was attrition, they threw cannon fodder at us and hoped we would tire of the fighting and go into a negotiations for peace. All in all I have read that over 5.0 million Japanese would have been killed in the fighting.
The Enola Gay and Bock's Car killed 175,000 but saved almost 5.0 million by forcing the surrender.
It wasn't racist or genocide, it was common sense the math speaks for itself.
Posted by: James Carville ||
09/03/2008 15:36 Comments ||
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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.
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democratic vice presidential pick eight years ago, on Tuesday criticized Barack Obama's national security record and hailed Republican candidate John McCain's, a clear boost to the GOP. Playing his former party's spoiler, Lieberman called McCain not the Democratic nominee Obama the best choice to lead the country forward. The Democrat-turned-Independent said that while Sen. Obama was voting to cut off funds for troops in Iraq, McCain took the unpopular position to support a surge in troops.
Eleven influential figures were allotted costly and fertile agriculture land during the former Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) government at nominal rates in southern districts of the NWFP in a "land scandal" alleged by two members of the provincial assembly. 
Piling up pressure on estranged ally Nawaz Sharif, the PPP government yesterday reopened corruption cases against him even as the PML-N chief intensified attacks against the ruling party, accusing it of "breaking promises and ignoring public issues".
