"He learned, almost too late, that man is a feeling creature and, because of it, the greatest in the universe. He learned, too late for himself, that men have to make their own way, to make their own mistakes. There can't be any gift of perfection from outside ourselves. And, when men seek such perfection, they find there's only death, fire, loss, disillusionment, the end of everything that's gone forward. Men have always sought an end to toil and misery. It can't be given; it has to be achieved. There is hope, but it has to come from inside, from man himself. Dr. Paul Nelson, It Conquered the World
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
03/15/2010 0:56 Comments ||
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#5
Good actor. Better than some of the ones out now.
This is, of course, rather grave news...
(Sorry, just couldn't resist. Hoping the best for his family.)
One of the very best (worst) of the cheesy '50s sci-fi flicks, and justly hammered on MST3K.
My favorite scene: the grasshoppers are attacking Chicago and decide to climb the Wrigley Building where Peter and his fellow scientists (including the chaste babe) are. Now production values for this flick are modest. Really modest.
How modest are they?
So-o-o-o-o modest that they film the attack scene by placing a grasshopper on what looks like a postcard of the Wrigley building and swinging the camera so that it looks like the grasshopper is climbing the building.
Later after Peter works his magic to drive the grasshoppers off (he IS Peter Graves after all) they just turn the grasshopper around, swing the camera to the other side and now the grasshopper is going down the Wrigley Building.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/15/2010 9:46 Comments ||
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#10
They know it was Peter Graves, and not someone in a latex mask?
"He's a Nazi, Price is. For all I know his name is Preissinger or Preishoffer. Oh, sure, he lived in Cleveland. But when the war broke out, he came back to the Fatherland like a good little Bundist. He spoke our lingo, so they sent him to spy school and fixed him up with phony dog tags."
#14
Spot: I'd believe it. Villains had to be awful careful back then. Everybody thought Martin Landau was brilliant in North By Northwest, before pausing and saying, "He's not like that in real life, is he? He was just acting, right?"
And when Bruce Dern killed John Wayne in The Cowboys, he practically had to go into hiding.
Even today, the guy who played the angel of death on the TV show Touched By An Angel, had to fly incognito, because other passengers refused to be on the same plane. Once or twice, even a flight crew refused.
The Egyptian twittersphere has been on fire over rumors that President Hosni Mubarak has passed away in Germany. The frantic re-tweeting and attempts to get further information were in full swing Saturday afternoon after reports that Russian television ran a story saying the Egyptian president was dead.
"I wonder if Mubarak really has died, maybe they want to delay [the] announcement till we're over Tantawy's death? Lest Tantawy takes spotlight?" wrote one Twitterer concerning the possible death of the president.
It is the question that will surely continue until either confirmation comes from the government or the president is seen in good health.
Rumors have been ongoing for the past three days after local state-run media reported that the aging president had tissue removed in surgery, but that he did not have cancer. They said he had been taken out of the intensive care unit in a German hospital and was in stable condition. It is unclear at this point what the exact situation is in Germany.
"What's interesting, though, is that we've been hearing the same bit of news over Mubarak for 3 days now. Weird, isn't it?" asked another Twitter user.
Despite the online chatter, Egyptian officials have denied that Mubarak has died. This comes only days after Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar Mohamed Sayyid Tantawi died of a heart attack in Saudi Arabia at the age of 82.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2010 00:00 ||
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My goodness. Is there no place the long arm of the Mossad can't reach? /sarc
[Al Arabiya Latest] Egypt cancelled the formal opening on Sunday of a renovated 19th-century synagogue in Cairo in protest at what antiquities chief Zahi Hawass called "provocative" Jewish and Israeli actions.
Both Hawass and Culture Minister Faruq Hosni had been due to attend the event a week to the day after 150 people, including rabbis and the US and Israeli ambassadors, attended the rededication of the Maimonides synagogue.
Citing press reports, Hawass said in a statement that the cancellation comes after "provocative" acts during the March 7 ceremony in Cairo's ancient Jewish quarter. He referred to "dancing and drinking alcohol in the synagogue, as reported by several newspapers," and said such acts "were seen to provoke the feelings of millions of Muslims in Egypt and across the world."
These are normal Jewish behaviours at celebrations large and small, and therefore offensive to Allah, who is so clearly displeased it when Jews are happy. We can tell because he has so often caused the Jews to lose wars fought against Arabs in the last six decades or so, removing causes for Jewish celebration.
The feelings of Muslims do seem to be provoked rather easily ...
The decision was also taken at "a time when Muslim holy sites in occupied Palestine face assaults from Israeli occupation forces and settlers," Hawass said. He was referring to clashes at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound and plans to include two contested West Bank holy shrines on a list of Israeli heritage sites.
This of course has nothing to do with reopening a Jewish place of worship, and therefore it is perfectly logical that Dr. Hawass connect them.
However, the antiquities supremo also said Egypt took an interest in "all Islamic, Coptic and Jewish antiquities on its territory," because all were part of the country's heritage. "These projects are overseen by the Supreme Council of Antiquities without funds from abroad or from foreigners or Jews," Hawass said of work to restore Jewish sites.
"In other words, this synagogue is part of the heritage of Muslim Egyptians, the others being mere sojourners so long as they have permission, even should their family trace back to the First Dynasty itself. Capeesh?"
The Maimonides synagogue, known in Egypt by its Arabic name of Musa bin Maymun, is named after the 12th century Jewish scholar, philosopher and physician.
Egypt began restoration work on Jewish sites several years ago.
The country restored diplomatic ties with Israel in 1979, but many in the predominantly Muslim nation are against better cultural ties with the Jewish state. The authorities are generally discreet about restoration work on Jewish sites, fearing an adverse reaction from groups that oppose normalisation of ties with Israel.
Egypt's Jewish population, which numbered in the tens of thousands and enjoyed complete religious freedom, began a mass exodus after Egypt and several other Arab countries fought a war in 1948 with the new state of Israel.
Shortly after 1948 Egypt made it illegal for male Jews aged eighteen or older to be within the country's borders. The second exodus was not quite so precipitous as the first, but did not involve forty years of wandering through the desert.
Only a few dozen Jews still remain in Egypt.
If there are only a few dozen, they'd only rattle around in that beautifully refurbished synagogue anyway, and they'd never be able to afford the upkeep. Just as well Supremo Hawass is playing keep away with it. Soon enough Egypt will be Judenfrei anyway, and this way there won't be any tracked in mud or fingerprints to clean up.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] The health of Egypt's president is improving following gallbladder surgery last week, a spokeswoman for the German hospital where he is receiving treatment said on Sunday.
President Hosni Mubarak, 81, who has ruled Egypt for almost three decades, had surgery on March 6, treatment that has sparked rumors about the seriousness of his condition and weighed on Egyptian share prices.
Egypt's benchmark index dipped 2.4 percent on Sunday, partly sliding because of concerns about the health of the president, who has no designated successor.
"The president is ...well and recovering," the hospital spokeswoman, who declined to be named, told Reuters. "The improvement in his health has continued." The spokeswoman said her comment was based on a conversation with the doctor who visited the president on Sunday.
Dr. Markus Buechler, who heads the medical team treating the president, said on Thursday tissue removed during the operation was benign. He did not say when Mubarak would be discharged.
Mubarak has not said whether he will run again for a sixth six-year term in the 2011 presidential election. Many Egyptians believe that if he does not, he will try to hand power to his politician son, Gamal, 46. Both Mubarak's deny any such plan.
Zakaria Azmi, Egypt's chief of presidential staff, said Mubarak was expected to hold a live telephone conversation on Egyptian television in the next few days, Egyptian television reported on Saturday.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2010 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] The convener of Jessore sadar upazila unit Chhatra League was hacked dead in an attack allegedly by rival group yesterday, a day after the organisation's district council was suspended following a factional feud.
With almost all the shops and businesses shut, panic spread through the town in the evening following the death of Ripon Hossain alias Dada, also a candidate for the general secretary post of the district unit Bangladesh Chhatra League.
Selim, a fellow activist who was with Ripon during the incident, has been reported missing.
Meanwhile, police yesterday filed a case against 500 unidentified people, following Saturday night's fight between two BCL factions.
The clash left at least 20 BCL men injured. Both factions blamed one another for the incident that suspended the council.
The killing of Ripon followed stabbing and beating of BCL activists by their rival groups throughout the day, leaving at least three BCL activists wounded.
Sources said Ripon came under attack on his way to Jessore town from his home in Aranda. He was riding a motorbike along with Selim.
A gang stopped Ripon as he reached Bhekutia Bazar around 7:00pm.
They hacked him and dumped his body in the roadside pond. Whereabouts of Selim were not known as of 8:30pm.
Locals dragged Ripon from the water and took him to a local hospital where doctors declared him dead around 7:15pm.
"A group of five or six BCL activists, jointly led by Hafiz, Iqbal and Mikayeel, launched the attack," alleged Rabiul Islam, Ripon's uncle.
Sources said the attackers are the supporters of local lawmakers and Ripon was a supporter of local upazila parishad chairman.
Another group, loyal to a local ruling party lawmaker, stabbed Aziz, 50, an Awami League leader, in Rail Gate area of the town, yesterday noon.
The same group beat up Ajhar Hossain Swapon, joint secretary of district Jubo League and activist Monwar Hossain Joni in the morning.
Leaders and activists of Awami League, backed by an upazila parishad chairman, brought out a procession in the town protesting the attacks.
Sources said members of both factions were seen carrying arms.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Selim, a fellow activist who was with Ripon during the incident, has been reported missing.
He's not missing. He's right here! And there. And over there, too.
Must be sweeps month...
TBILISI, Georgia Georgians have been panicked by a hoax television news program announcing the Russian army had invaded and killed President Mikhail Saakashvili. Yvgeny, get those Imedi bastards on the phone, RIGHT NOW!
Working on it as we speak, Mr. President...
Honey, are you dead?
No, dammit!!
Russia and Georgia fought a brief but bloody war in 2008, a conflict still fresh in the minds of Georgians who have since seen two de facto independent provinces erect firm borders.
The private television station Imedi Georgia's No. 3 channel showed the faux report Saturday night. Igor, we're number three in the ratings. What are we gonna do?
I've got a great idea, sir...
A few media outlets picked up on the story, and the channel ran a ticker during a subsequent entertainment show stating the report "did not correspond with reality." There was no explanation. Here's one for ya. Pha pha phooey...
Tbilisi resident Gocha Khachiuri, 43, said he had to take heart pills after hearing the news. Maybe the heart pill people sponsored it...
Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was discharged from a Seoul hospital on Sunday after being treated for a stomach virus.
Kissinger suddenly came down with stomach pains on Saturday and was rushed to Yonsei Severance Hospital where he received a thorough check-up including an MRI and X-rays. Doctors concluded that there was nothing serious and after receiving simple treatment he was discharged at around 11 am.
The 86-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate arrived in Seoul on Wednesday for a security forum. During his five-day stay he also met with President Lee Myung-bak. Kissinger was originally scheduled to depart for Beijing on Saturday but due to his health condition he left on Sunday.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/15/2010 00:00 ||
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Live long and Prosper, elder statesman.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/15/2010 13:15 Comments ||
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No matter how bad the news, no matter how grim the headlines, you could always count on a smile from at least one corner of the daily newspaper: the comics. Newspapers are cutting back on comics because of economic troubles.
But in this day when we could use a laugh more than ever, the reality facing the comics section is anything but funny. With the newspaper business hemorrhaging readers and money, newspapers are slicing the number of strips they carry.
Artist and filmmaker Mark Tatulli said he has seen 30 newspapers drop his strip "Lio" in the last 18 months. "Newspapers are saving money wherever they can, and they are doing it by cutting the comics. It's affecting cartoonists across the board," Tatulli said. "'Lio' was growing, closing in on 300 newspapers -- and then the market just went crazy," Tatulli said, adding that "Lio" is now in 270 papers.
The roll call of newspapers shedding comic strips is growing, from the Portland Oregonian, which shed 10 strips last year, to the Washington Post. The cash-strapped Washington Times recently went a step further, eliminating its Sunday comics section entirely. Yet Doonesbury lives ...
Yet another thing in the universe that I don't understand.
The savings can be enormous. The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., told readers that reducing the comics section by one page would save $300,000 a year. "Sometimes change isn't funny, but it is necessary," the paper told readers. However, after an enormous outcry -- more than 1,200 reader complaints -- the Star-Ledger backed away from the reductions.
Some newspapers are trying to mask the cutbacks by holding "Survivor"-style contests asking readers which strips to jettison, and which to pick up. The number of strips dropped usually outnumbers the strips added, although sometimes papers will continue providing the eliminated cartoons online.
Newer strips are often the ones cut first, but even so-called legacy comics are feeling the pinch.
Mason and Mick Mastroianni draw and write "B.C." from a studio on the outskirts of this upstate New York city. The strip, filled with cavemen and slapstick humor, was handed down from their late grandfather, John Hart, who created it in the late 1950s.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Its harder to make money today because of the media assisted propaganda campaign for democrats across the land...
#6
actually over the years the comics themselves have become polluted by leftist agiprop
Candorville probably had an anti Bush message 40% of the time during his admin and frequently distorted facts and fanned conspiracy theories
Doonesbury had a leftist message at least 75% of the time.
Nonsequiter had leftist messages about 20% of the time.
There were some right leaning comics also but they were far more subtle.
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/15/2010 10:11 Comments ||
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#7
I get my newspapers out of the recycle container up the road. I use them for wadding in my cannon.
#9
If you start at the beginning (or you will be totally lost), I would highly recommend these two online comics:
Schlock Mercenary. Space mercenaries, far in the future, with a healthy dollop of cynicism, some violence, treachery, and humor. Semi-military realism. Several collections in print.
http://www.schlockmercenary.com/
And Wapsi Square. About a Mexican girl in Minneapolis who works for an Anthropology museum, only to discover that what she thought was mental illness is a connection to powerful psychic forces, bizarre beings and an end of the world scenario. Magnificent artwork, especially of demons and otherworldly creatures. Most characters are female.
#12
They've been the most intelligent and truthfull aspect of print news for a long time now. Figures they'd cut the only articles I can really understand.
India's new Advanced Air Defence (AAD) interceptor missile, capable of destroying hostile missiles, on Monday encountered coordination problem and failed to take off during a planned launch from the Integrated Test Range at Wheeler Island off Orissa coast.
"Coordinated exercise between target missile Prithvi from Chandipur and the indigenously built interceptor from Wheeler Island could not take place properly during the planned trial," defence sources said.
Though Prithvi — the target missile — was test-fired at 10.02 hrs from a mobile launcher from ITR's launch complex-3 at Chandipur-on-sea, 15 km from Balasore, the interceptor missile failed to blast off, they said.
Though the exact reason behind interceptor missile's failure to take off was yet to be ascertained, preliminary analysis suggested that the target missile might have deviated from its stipulated trajectory, leading to lack of proper coordination, the sources said.
The trial, aimed at developing a multi-layer Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) system, was scheduled to be held on Sunday from the two different ITR sites, but had to be put off due to some technical snag in a sub-system at Wheeler Island, they said.
Wheeler's Island is located about 70 km across the sea from Chandipur and the AAD missile was to intercept the target at an altitude of 15 to 20 km over the sea.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/15/2010 11:50 ||
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Balasore (Orissa), Mar 15 (PTI) A planned test for India's indigenous interceptor missile to counter enemy ballistic missiles failed today after the target deviated from its path and plunged into the sea, leading to the trial being aborted.
The new Advanced Air Defence (AAD) missile that was to be fired from the test range here to intercept the target was ready and all set.
But when the target, a Prithvi missile, deviated from its trajectory and fell into the sea, the computerised control mission noticed the unwarranted change of flight path of the incoming and called off the launch of the interceptor, a senior DRDO official said in New Delhi.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/15/2010 16:52 Comments ||
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#1
This is the same administration that apologized to Gaddafi for a spokesman offering mild criticism of Gaddafi's call for jihad on Switzerland, thereby greenlighting Libyan sponsored terror attacks on Europeans.
It is reported that Hillary's dressing down of Israel was ordered by Obama himself. What's the chance that the apology to Gaddafi was his personal decision as well?
#3
When did any administration request the Poles and Russians to quit building in Silesia or Prussia? For that matter, request Italians quit building in the Papal States? Wars have consequences.
#2
The real money isn't in sexy new ships, but gigantic cargo carriers. This is because the big ones are needed to take up modular chunks of even bigger ships that are built in orbit.
A new Russian nuclear-powered multipurpose attack submarine will be floated out on May 7, a shipyard spokesman said on Monday.
Construction of the Severodvinsk, a Project 885 Yasen (Graney) class submarine, began in 1993 at the Sevmash shipyard in the northern Russian city of Severodvinsk but has since been dogged by financial setbacks.
"A floating out ceremony for Russia's new Severodvinsk nuclear submarine at the Sevmash shipyard has been scheduled for May 7," the official said.
Continued on Page 49
#1
Is it like normal Russian subs?
Or can it surface as well as submerge?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/15/2010 13:23 Comments ||
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#2
I'm glad I wasn't the only one wondering if this new sub would sink to the bottom as well as some other Russian subs have. I'm trying hard not to bring up French carriers. ;)
Posted by: Jefferson ||
03/15/2010 15:21 Comments ||
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#3
17 years to build it? And I'm sure the future crew must be thrilled to see the phrase "dogged by financial setbacks" in there.
Space Exploration Technologies successfully test fired its Falcon 9 rocket this weekend, clearing a milestone toward the inaugural flight of a privately developed spaceship to fly cargo, and possibly astronauts, into orbit, the company said.
Saturday's 3.5-second 'static' firing of the Falcon's nine kerosene and liquid oxygen-burning motors took place on a refurbished oceanside launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. It followed an earlier firing test aborted last week due to an improperly configured valve.
The successful test by California-based SpaceX clears the way for Falcon 9's debut mission -- a demonstration flight which could take place as early as April 12 from the same launch site, just south of the space shuttle launch pads at the Kennedy Space Center.
President Barack Obama has proposed adding $6 billion to space agency NASA's budget over the next five years to help private firms like SpaceX develop spaceships that can ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station, which he wants to continue until at least 2020.
With the NASA shuttle fleet retiring due to safety and cost concerns, the U.S. agency has turned over space station crew transport to the Russian government at a cost of about $15 million per seat.
Obama plans to hold a summit in Florida next month to discuss the U.S. space plans and industry.
SpaceX, owned and operated by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, already holds NASA contracts worth nearly $1.9 billion to develop and fly Falcon 9 rockets and Dragon capsules for space station cargo resupply missions.
Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp has NASA contracts of similar value for its Taurus II-Cygnus system, which is scheduled to debut next year.
SpaceX says it needs about three years to develop a launch escape system for Dragon and other upgrades to have Falcon 9 ready for passenger service.
"What we are going through right now is the equivalent of 'beta testing'," Musk, SpaceX's founder and chief executive, wrote in an email after last week's aborted test. "The beta phase only ends when a rocket has done at least one, but arguably two or three consecutive flights to orbit," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2010 00:00 ||
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ION WMF > GLOBAL STRIKE OPERATIONS [GSO]: US/USAF PREPARES TO LAUNCH GLOBAL DETERRENT FORCE TO BECOME WORLD STRATEGIC BOMBING'S
"UNCONTESTED TOP DOG".
Global Strike Command = "Prompt Strike".
* WAFF > [Strategypage]AVOIDING ANOTHER PEARL HARBOR. KIMMIE = NORTH KOREA will prob need another TEN YEARS [2010 thru 2020] TO BE ABLE TO DEV, MANUFACTURE INDIGENOUS LR MISSLES WID NUCLEAR, OTHER ADVANC STRATEGIC WARHEADS.
To where? The station. Mighty singular function that has returned what in practical application other than to consume resources. Disney already is having a challenging time with their existing resort system to make the station a unique destination get away.
About the only cargo that would seem to have a profit potential would be for South American drug runners. If you can afford submarines, you probably could look at an alternative means of transportation. Stripping out redundant backup systems and getting a kamikaze pilot to make a one way run. At least you can strip out the costs of bribes, small armies, and ground transportation across the border they currently carry in the expense column.
#5
I look at this from an entirely different angle.
Private spacecraft is the way to go.
No government crap, just clear flights similar to the FAA system to avoid collisions, and inform the Military so you don't get tracked as Hostile, then lift.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/15/2010 13:13 Comments ||
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#6
Let's hope it gets away and all goes as planned on April 12, 49th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight, so we can raise our glasses to Yuri and the SpaceX crew that night.
Posted by: Aussie Mike ||
03/15/2010 19:32 Comments ||
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Mumbai: Cautioning against environmental propaganda' Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh told journalists here on Saturday that the West was using the science of climate change for political gains.
Mr. Ramesh was on a visit to the Indian Institute of Technology (Bombay), where he met heads and faculty of all the seven IITs to discuss the formation of a pan-IIT network to research environment issues.
In response to a question on the climate change talks to be held in Mexico later this year, Mr. Ramesh said, It's too early to say, but I am not very optimistic simply because the United States will not be in a position to deliver climate change legislation because of their domestic political compulsions. A lot of western politicians like to use the IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] reports for political purposes. We believe in the IPCC as a scientific body and not a political body. We must distinguish climate evangelism from climate science. We support climate science. There is no doubt in my mind that many western countries have distorted and misused IPCC reports to suit political purposes. This, India will never accept. The issue of glaciers is one example.'
In terms of a judicial reform in the area of environment, Mr. Ramesh said, the National Green Tribunal Bill would come before Parliament next week. The Bill would empower citizens to go to courts and claim civil damages resulting from flouting of environmental norms by industries and any other body. The Union Cabinet cleared the bill in December 2009, after the Standing Committee examined it and submitted its recommendations in November last.
In his address to the faculty and students of IIT, he stressed the need for indigenous research on the impact of climate change on India, because you will always have motivated reports,' he said. He went back to an instance where a U.S. report in the 90s stated that methane emissions from Indian wet paddy cultivation was 38 million tonnes per year, resulting in tremendous international pressure on India. However, with the intervention and research of the late Dr. A.P. Mitra it was proved that the emissions were between two to six million tonnes, Mr. Ramesh said.
He said because of the dependence on the monsoons for agriculture and demographics, the nation's vulnerability to climate change was the highest in the world.
By May this year his Ministry would be releasing an emissions inventory for 2007, to be updated every two years.
The last data on emissions dates back to 1994,' he said. In November this year the Ministry is set to come up with a 4/4 assessment report on the impact of climate change. The report would look at four sectors, agriculture, health, water and forests and four regions, the Himalayan ecosystems, the Western Ghats, the North East and the coastal areas.
The Ministry also proposed to set up the National Environment Protection Authority (NEPA), on the lines of the Environmental Protection Authority of the U.S. with a view to strengthening the regulatory framework and improving the environmental governance. A study has been awarded to the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, to work out the scope and configuration of the proposed NEPA.
Institutional collaboration
Mr. Ramesh identified four areas for institutional collaboration, namely, water, cleaner coal, solar energy and Co2 capture and sequestration. The Minister announced the institution of post-doctoral fellowships by September this year to further research in environment sciences. He invited proposals from the IITs on the subject of cleaning the heavily polluted Ganges.
In the light of the controversy over Bt brinjal, the Minister called for an interface of science and society.' He said, while a scientific approach to environment was needed, issues had political and social ramifications. It is impossible to look at scientific issues in isolation. In climate change, science has come into dispute. The distinction between advocacy and science has got blurred.'
Mr. Ramesh advocated a middle path taking into account the nation's aims of achieving high levels of growth and well as the health of our environment. Growth fundamentalism is as bad as ecological fundamentalism. Environment is not a luxury, it's a day-to-day concern,' he said.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/15/2010 00:00 ||
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[Straits Times] WELL over 150,000 red shirt protesters converged in Bangkok yesterday and gave the government until noon today to call fresh elections or face escalating protests.
Despite rumours of negotiations and possible rifts behind closed doors, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva appeared unfazed, saying in his Sunday radio programme that he had every right to stay in power because he had been legally elected in Parliament.
Thousands of supporters of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), all dressed in trademark red, streamed into Bangkok through Saturday night and all day yesterday. Many arrived in trucks and some came down the river by boat.
Many local residents cheered them as they made their way to the rally site about 200m from the Democracy Monument on Rajadamnoen Avenue. At one point, the protesters were joined by about 200 Buddhist monks.
The mood was festive as the 'red shirts' - most of whom support ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra - rallied peacefully in the scorching heat, watched by the thousands of unarmed soldiers and policemen deployed to manage the protest.
Analysts described it as the biggest protest ever in the Thai capital by the largely poorer masses.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2010 00:00 ||
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[Straits Times] THOUSANDS of anti-government protesters in Bangkok plan to march to a military base on Monday to step up pressure on Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to dissolve parliament and call fresh elections.
The red-shirted supporters of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra have given the government an ultimatum: call elections by midday on Monday or face crippling mass demonstrations.
The protests which began on Friday and involved more than 150,000 people by Sunday have been peaceful, and the 'red shirts' say they will remain that way. But Monday's march could stoke anger by paralysing already-congested streets in Bangkok.
'We will march over there, brothers and sisters. We will go to the infantry to get an answer from Abhisit himself,' said Mr Nattawut Saikua, a leader of the protest group, the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD).
'With this many people on the streets, I don't see how he still thinks he has any legitimacy,' he added.
Protest leaders hope a powerful display of popular support will force Mr Abhisit to dissolve parliament and call an election that Thaksin allies would be well-placed to win. They also want to convince wavering partners in his coalition to break away.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2010 00:00 ||
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The red-shirted supporters of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra ...
I see "Star Trek" has never been popular in Thailand.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday that Iranians should shun next week's Persian fire festival as it is un-Islamic and creates "a lot of harm."
Chaharshanbe Soori, an ancient Pagan festival, is held on the eve of the last Wednesday of the Persian calendar year. This year the ritual falls on the night of March 16.
Khamenei, Iran's all-powerful cleric, said on his website that Chaharshanbe Soori has "no basis in sharia (Islamic law) and creates a lot of harm and corruption (which is why) it is appropriate to avoid it."
The festival is a prelude to Nowrouz, the Persian New Year which starts on March 21 and marks the arrival of spring.
In the past few years, local municipalities have helped Iranians organize the festival but it is unclear whether they will do so this year in the wake of Khamenei's remarks.
Iranians celebrate the fire festival by lighting bonfires in public places on the night before the last Wednesday and leaping over the flames shouting "Sorkhiye to az man, Zardiye man az to (Give me your redness and I will give you my paleness)."
Leaping over the flames symbolizes the wish for happiness in the new year and an end to the sufferings of the past year. Several casualties are reported from the event every year and many participants suffer burn wounds, including from accidents with firecrackers linked to the event.
Some clerics see the ritual as heretical fire worshipping, although it has been marked in Iran for centuries and, like the Persian New Year itself and some other ancient rituals, has survived the advent of Islam.
Perceptions are that supporters of Iranian opposition leaders could use the ritual this year to stage anti-government protests.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Do you get the impression from the Iranian News that the Mullahs there are running scared?
They see threats everywhere. And the "help" in the kitchen preparing their meals arent being paid all that lavishly either.
Does the water taste funny? And that smell, what IS that smell?
Its the rich aroma of Allah coming home to spend the Holidays with those He loves.
#2
The fire festival is Zoroastrian, pure and simple, and is a major threat to the Mullahs, and they know it. The "old money" Iranian upper classes are Zoroastrian, and utterly despise Muslims. So the Mullahs have been trying very hard to wipe out all Zoroastrian holy sites, and oppress them wherever they can.
So far, the revolt has been from the "Muslims on the street". But if the Zoroastrians can turn this fire festival into an anti-government demonstration, it will fortify the revolt, because they know that the traditional upper classes back them. And that could be very, very bad news for the Mullahs.
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