I deleted the story about the Tom Delay conviction. No source, and it looked to be clipped whole from an American news service. That could get us into trouble.
Posts from American news sources need to be edited for fair use and brevity, and you should always include your in-line comments (if for no other reason than for fair use).
#2
The interests of the large majority of our readers, and indeed of Fred and the mods, accounts for the mix of stories we have. The mods and Fred frequently discuss the posts and vow to tighten up on the non-WoT stuff. You can see how well it works.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/25/2010 19:33 Comments ||
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#3
The economy is our greatest weapon in the WoT. The economy is tied to our politicians and which way the wind is blowing. The way the wind is blowing depends in part on how ethical our politicians are and how they are dealt with.
It's all related.
If you don't like the stuff below the fold, don't click there.
Four of the six opposition candidates in weekend presidential polls in Burkina Faso said on Wednesday they would reject the outcome of the vote, denouncing what they called "serious irregularities".
"We, candidates of the opposition ... reject all results, even provisional, that will be announced," said a statement signed by the four, who called for a new election to be held.
Benewende Stanislas Sankara, Hama Arba Diallo, Boukari Kabore and Francois Ouampoussogo Kabore said the irregularities "seriously damage the credibility and the regularity of the vote."
They cited the "non-legality of voters' cards", along with multiple voting by individuals, the "existence of parallel voters' rolls" and the "deliberate withholding" of voters' cards in "opposition strongholds."
The independent electoral commission said it would announce the results on Thursday at the latest. The poll pitted the west African country's incumbent President Blaise Compaore against half a dozen opposition figures.
The four opposition candidates called for "the immediate and unconditional resignation of the current head of the CENI (Independent National Electoral Commission), Moussa Michel Tapsoba, and the reorganisation of this panel".
Compaore's two other rivals, Emile Pargui Pare and Maxime Kabore, an independent, did not sign the statement.
The dissenting voices were countered by an observer team from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which has declared that the election was "credible" and "transparent".
"We say that these elections are credible, transparent and free, and that in consequence they are completely valid," the Togolese head of the team, Koffi Sama, told a presser late Monday.
The only flaw was the non-conformity of voters' cards with the regulations stipulated in the electoral code, Sama said, adding that ECOWAS observers also regretted a low turnout on polling day.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2010 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] A second mass student protest in London has turned violent with protesters complaining that the government would not pay attention to their peaceful measures.
There had been a huge turnout for the demonstration - much more than the 20,000 that the organizers had been expecting, a Press TV correspondent reported from London.
There were strong feelings on the march - with much vitriol targeted towards Prime Minister David Cameron and his deputy Nick Clegg. Banners and pictures particularly accused Clegg, often in unambiguous terms, of betraying students, according to the report.
The students accused the Liberal Democrats' leader of breaking his party's promise to students to vote against a fee increase.
The protesters rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud such as, "No ifs, no buts, no education cuts", "Ho Ho Cameron has got to go", and Tory Scum Here We Come".
In London, violence intensified after protesters reached Trafalgar Square and police began arresting students.
As the public frustration gathered pace among protesters, a group of students tried to overturn a police van, while other engaged in street battle with police.
A protester told Press TV correspondent that the government and the media have been trying to induce an image of protesters that the public treat them as anarchists.
"When we protested last week and it escalated into violence the media, kind of, portrayed a different image to what we were trying to communicate. So, hopefully we are trying to make the people hear our message rather than just the media," he said.
Another protestor expounded on the fact that why protests may turn violent, despite their initial peaceful nature.
"Well, on the other hand, I can understand the frustration of the people who resorted to violence because there have been so many peaceful protests recently, but they have not been taken seriously by the government. So, there also needs to be shown that there is a real cause for the anger from the students", she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
If they're so interested in violence, draft them and send them to Afghanistan (but don't give them guns - just truck keys and latrine mops etc.)
[Iran Press TV] The Archbishop of Canterbury has warned of the "piece-by-piece dissolution" of the influence of the Anglican Church around the world.
Leader of the Church of England Rowan Williams ... sometimes known as the Archdruid of Canterbury, an indifferent theologian and a poor communicator, so obtuse as to occasionally be mistaken for brilliant but chock full of bland New Agey Feel-Goodisms ... told the meeting of the bigwigs governing the Anglican Church in England, the General Synod, that all church factions should end their disputes and agree on a common framework to ensure that the 70-million-strong Anglican Communion in Britain and other countries remain united. That framework's kinda been the sticking point, hasn't it? They've got lady bishops and homosexual clergy who don't feel any impulse toward celibacy, and they had at least one "theologian" who didn't even believe in God. Unitarians are pointing the finger at them and criticizing the mushiness of their doctrine.
Members of the synod are to vote on Wednesday on the Anglican covenant amid fears that some priests, who are opposed to the ordination of women bishops, may even defect to Roman Catholicism. What the hell? Why not? They don't even have to learn Latin anymore.
All 38 formerly autonomous members of the Anglican Communion around the world should approve the covenant for the church to survive its differences. Figure the odds on 38 people agreeing on much of anything.
The covenant was set up following the US Episcopal Church's move to endorse an openly homosexual priest as the bishop of New Hampshire. He just couldn 't pretend to be a "bachelor." He hadda flaunt it. Discretion is so Old Age.
Now with the new divisions forcing the autonomous provinces of the communion to act to keep the church uniform, critics say the covenant will weaken the position of the Church of England as the originator of the international communion. Mush didn't present a very solid foundation, does it?
Yet Williams informed the synod that going on without a few changes is an "illusion" and still a "greater illusion" to believe British priests can impose their ideas on the other provinces of the Anglican Church around the world.
Williams added no one can "derail the entire process" of the adoption of the covenant, which is deemed a yardstick by opponents, to determine who belongs and who does not belong to the church.
"The unpalatable fact is that certain decisions in any province affect all," he said. "If we ignore this, we ignore what is already a real danger, the piece-by-piece dissolution of the communion and the emergence of structures in which relation to the Church of England and the See of Canterbury are likely not to figure very significantly," he added suggesting fears that Britain could lose its authority over the Anglican Church.
Endorsing the covenant will define whether a province belongs to the Anglican Church and commits the members to refrain from any decision before gaining approval by other members.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
It's all over if this guy ever becomes king (and nominal head of the church)
#3
it's doomed. too many people now are pretty much atheist and don't go to church anymore. they pray when they think the plane is crashing.
this is not their fault entirely: society's rules have changed and some church practices have remained becoming ever more outdated and irrelevant.
so predictably the religion has slowly been abandoned
meanwhile the muslims keep floating in on an ever-rising tide, out-breeding the natives. with punishments for leaving the faith like... death, the mosque numbers are swelling
more people go to mosque in the UK than go to church. most popular baby name for boys? Mohammed
[Dawn] Clashes between political factions left two dead in Haiti as growing violence and a raging cholera epidemic raised fears Tuesday of wider unrest ahead of key post-quake elections.
The victims were rubbed out late Monday in Beaumont, a small town in southwestern Haiti, after supporters of leading candidates Jude Celestin and Charles Henri Baker squared off armed with firearms, rocks and bottles.
Haiti, already ravaged by a catastrophic earthquake in January, is also battling a spiraling cholera epidemic that has killed 1,415 people, among more than 56,000 cases, including 25,000 who required treatment in hospital.
UN health officials warned that the corpse count was likely underestimated, and that the impoverished nation could see up to 200,000 cholera cases in the next three months and 400,000 over the next year.
"Cholera is virtually everywhere in the country," said Jon Kim Andrus, deputy director of the Pan American Health Organization.
Human rights groups led the calls Tuesday to delay the vote in light of the outbreak of the highly infectious disease.
"Cholera is a game changer in the most fundamental sense. It is an immediate and critical crisis that requires all hands on deck in response," said Melinda Miles, executive director of the group "Let Haiti Live."
"What we can say, definitively, is that... no elections held in the midst of the current exploding cholera crisis can be considered credible."
Nearly 4.7 million Haitians are eligible to vote in Sunday's elections, which will also see 11 of the country's 30 senators and all 99 parliamentary deputies chosen.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Violence grips Haiti
In other words, An Average, Normal, day.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/25/2010 9:35 Comments ||
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#2
ahh Haiti
Is it the people that are broken? Their culture incapable of inventing a system of bureaucracy free of corruption?
Are they genetically like this?
Or are they fully functional capable human beings that are just downtrodden by a corrupt elite?
#1
This is why I am so fanatical about free speech and why I like wikileaks despite the obvious problems with it.
In Australia, nobody can talk to the media or they lose their jobs. This pilot will never get work again.
And for what? Because he did the right thing. He spoke out against a practice that he believes will one day lead to falling safety standards and an eventual plane crash.
This happens ALL THE TIME in Australia.
If you are employed as a casual and they even suspect you spoke out against something wrong in the workplace you are just sacked and they won't even tell you why.
[Dawn] The team of US and French researchers conducted the research by sending out 275 pairs of identical resumes, except that some had a fictitious Mohammedan applicant from Senegal and others had a Christian one.
"For every 100 positive responses received by the fictitious Senegalese Christian applicant, 'Marie Diouf,' Marie's Mohammedan counterpart, 'Khadija Diouf,' received only 38 responses, or two-and-a-half times fewer," said the study.
The only differences in the applications were the names and two indicators of religious identity. They were sent to companies in France that were seeking office workers.
The study authors said their analysis may have underestimated the degree of bias because "a portion of the French population does not readily associate Senegalese Mohammedans with Islam, and companies may wish to appear unbiased by granting call-backs to Mohammedan candidates without an intent to hire."
An earlier study in 2009 that examined 511 Senegalese Christians and Mohammedans in France found that second generation Mohammedan households earned an average of 400 euros less per month than comparable Christian households.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
The original meaning of prejudice is judging on basis of experience.
#2
The study authors said their analysis may have underestimated the degree of bias because "a portion of the French population does not readily associate Senegalese Mohammedans with Islam, and companies may wish to appear unbiased by granting call-backs to Mohammedan candidates without an intent to hire."
I'm not sure I understand here. Are they claiming that their bias study results really should be higher than the results actually obtained:
1) because the potential employers were unaware that the applicant was muslim, they didn't reject the resume as expected. Which insists that the inclusion in response is in error rather than a valid offer. (seems to imply the responders were too ignorant to know they should be denying the app)
or
2) Any positive response to the islamic resumes is due to a desire to appear "politically correct" and thus not a real response.
So the survey responses didn't match the authors' desired outcome proving the respondents were too stupid to act as expected???
#3
well they are free to leave - back to Senegal with you. Go get a job with your mohammedan countrymen and leave us alone.
not to say that discrimination and injustice does not occur.
a 46-year-old female in australia however cannot leave her country and yet will find no job. her resume will get no call backs compared to a 26-year-old female, or a 46-year-old male.
[Al Jazeera] Public services in Portugal have been halted as unions staged the country's first general strike in more than two decades to protest spending cuts that the government says are vital to avoid financial disaster.
Both public and private sector workers joined the one-day strike on Wednesday, which follows similar strikes in other troubled Euro economies such as Greece and France, as governments are forced to implement unpopular austerity measures.
The transport sector was crippled by the stoppage with no flights taking off or landing at any airport.
More than three-quarters of train services were also cancelled and 60 per cent of bus services were also scrapped, officials have said.
The metro system in Lisbon was also closed for the day while the capital's ferries stayed in their docking berths.
The strike, the first that brought together private and public sector workers since 1988, also hit banks, media organisations and petrol deliveries.
Union leaders said the strike had a "massive impact" on the private sector, in particular on the auto sector with less than 10 per cent of the workforce turning up at Volkswagen's Autoeuropa plant near the northern city of Porto.
"The mobilisation of workers is enormous," said Manuel Carvalho da Silva, the head of the major CGTP syndicate.
Drastic cuts
The strike began on the stroke of midnight with union members setting up picket lines across the country, including outside Lisbon's international airport.
The unions' anger has been stoked by government plans for a drastic round of spending cuts and tax rises, worth some $6.85bn which are currently being pushed through parliament.
The package of cuts is intended to reduce the deficit from 7.3 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) to 4.6 per cent next year in a bid to quell growing international unease over the state of its finances.
Portugal's main opposition party said on Tuesday it would not block the government's 2011 budget, paving the way for its adoption on Friday.
But the unions say the cuts are intolerable, particularly from a Socialist government led by Jose Socrates, the prime minister .
"It is unacceptable that workers are making all the sacrifices," said Joao Proenca, a unionist, told AFP news agency.
"We cannot accept that the first, second and third priority of Portugal is the deficit," he added, referring to the country's 10.9 per cent unemployment rate - a record high.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2010 00:00 ||
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#2
he learnt contempt for the media (and hence the public's right to know) in Australia where there is limited media freedom
and where this kind of thing is routine.
in Australia there would be no scandal and he would not be sacked. His flunkies would call the chief of staff and complain about the poor reporter who would then be sacked instead.
[Dawn] Around 250 people staged a demonstration in the central Pak city of Lahore on Wednesday, warning the president not to pardon a Christian woman sentenced to death for insulting Islam.
They also denounced any attempt to change Pakistain's blasphemy law, which critics say is often misused to persecute Christians like Aasia Bibi and other minorities. Her case has prompted outrage from human rights ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you... groups and a personal appeal from Pope Benedict XVI for her release.
But Islamic groups in Pakistain have pushed back and some have even threatened officials in the past who suggested reforming or repealing the blasphemy law. These groups have significant power since politicians from the major parties rely on them for votes.
"We are ready to sacrifice our life for the Prophet Muhammad," chanted protesters in Lahore _ many of whom were students from Islamic seminaries in the city.
The rally was organized by the Movement for Protection of the Prophet's Honor, a group of Sunni Mohammedans that was formed in 2001 to oppose changes in the blasphemy law.
Bibi, a 45-year-old mother of five, has said she was falsely accused by a group of Mohammedan women angry at a dispute over whether they could share the same water bowl. She has been jugged in the eastern province of Punjab since her initial arrest 1 1/2 years ago.
A court sentenced her Nov. 8 to hang after convicting her of insulting the Prophet.
It is the first time a woman has been condemned to death under Pakistain's blasphemy law, often criticized as being abused to inflame extremism and settle personal grudges.
Her lawyer has filed an appeal with a higher court in Lahore, but she could also be pardoned by the president.
Pak President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who showed remarkably little curiosity about who actually done her in ... has asked for a review of the facts of the case, raising the possibility of a presidential pardon.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] A Pak Christian family whose mother has been sentenced to death for insulting Islam has gone into hiding because of death threats, they said Wednesday.
Politicians and conservative holy mans are at loggerheads on whether President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who showed remarkably little curiosity about who actually done her in ... should pardon Aasia Bibi, a mother of five sentenced to hang for defaming Prophet Muhammed under controversial blasphemy laws.
Pakistain's minister for minority affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti, who is himself a Christian, told news hounds that Aasia's family had been forced to flee their home but declined to say where they were staying because of security fears.
Aasia's husband, Ashiq Masih, who works in a brick factory in the Shekhupura district near Lahore, said he and his children aged nine to 20 had left home because of death threats, but declined to say where they were now living.
"We are frightened. We are receiving threats, especially from holy mans. They started demonstrations in the area," he told news hounds in Bhatti's Islamabad office, accompanied by daughters Eesham, nine, and Sidra, 18.
"Yesterday there was a protest in Shekhupura. They said they will not leave Aasia Bibi alive if she is pardoned." Rights activists say Pakistain's blasphemy law, under which the offence is punishable by death, encourages extremism in a conservative Mohammedan country on the front line of the US-led war on Al-Qaeda.
Masih said the case was baseless and that the family were "not mad to insult any Prophet, religion or the Koran", telling how his children broke down in tears when they found out about their mother's plight.
Bhatti said he would submit a petition from the family asking Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to pardon Aasia.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Just some shit in a shitty place. Boycott Pakistan!
And Remember my favorite Motto for 2011 WWJD "What Would John Wayne Do?". :-) - Flashback November 2003 -
The U.S. forces had been told that L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. civilian administrator in Iraq, and Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of coalition forces, would be attending the dinner.
As Bremer prepared to read a presidential proclamation to the troops, he said, "Let's see if we've got anybody more senior here who can read the president's Thanksgiving speech. Is there anybody back there who's more senior than I?"
Bush then emerged, misty-eyed and wearing a U.S. Army exercise jacket, to a roaring ovation.
The shocked and elated soldiers jumped to their feet, pumped their fists in the air, roared with delight, and grabbed their cameras to snap photographs.
"I was just looking for a warm meal somewhere," Bush joked, and added: "I can't think of a finer group of folks to have dinner with."
HT to Weasel Zippers
A former University of Colorado professor who compared some Sept. 11 victims to a Nazi has lost an appeal challenging his firing. See ya! How's that funemployment feel, asshat?
The Colorado Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld a lower court ruling rejecting Churchill's claim that the firing was politically motivated. A three-judge panel agreed that the university is entitled to "quasi-judicial immunity." Let's talk a little about your lies about your training, family tree, background, history, and accomplishments, you POS
Churchill wrote an essay after the 2001 terrorist attacks calling the World Trade Center victims "little Eichmanns," a reference to Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi leader who orchestrated the Holocaust.
The Denver Post reports that Churchill's lawyer plans to push for an appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court. after which he'll appeal to the UN and then ....
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/25/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
I have a question-- Lawyers don't work cheap. How is this twink paying his law bill during the appeals process?
I'm pretty sure the Boondocks Community Colledge don't pay their associate professors much above minimum wage.
The site notes that "the lawyers will get paid only when Ward wins." That would be twink lawfare strategy #2: have some twink with a JD represent you on a pro bono/contingency fee basis. Because the publicity is always free.
#3
Happy Thanksgiving, chief! Hope you find a homeless shelter with a primo meal. Unless, of course, you're one of them National Day of Mourning fake Indians...
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.
Four of the six opposition candidates in weekend presidential polls in Burkina Faso said on Wednesday they would reject the outcome of the vote, denouncing what they called "serious irregularities".
The Archbishop of Canterbury has warned of the "piece-by-piece dissolution" of the influence of the Anglican Church around the world.
