#4
Art history majors who make the cut either have family money or are connected, I'd bet. What do Christies appraisers earn?
Separately, how many of the top 1% have no degree at all? Does one need a degree to become a commodities trader in Chicago or a floor trader on Wall Street?
[Dawn] WHEN a crowd of voices makes distinction difficult, some are forced to sacrifice consistency to distinguish themselves from the pack. Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is someone who can make his modern-day pronouncements without digressing from the set path.
On Sunday, a typically angry Shahbaz Sharif demanded an apology from Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... The chief minister, whose distrust of the federal government goes much deeper in time than the general calls for a banishment of the ZardariGilani set-up, wants the prime minister to apologise to Paks over his remarks about army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... and ISI chief Lt Gen Shuja Pasha.
The Punjab chief minister takes issue with a statement by the embattled Mr Gilani in which he had questioned the route taken by the two army officers to answer the court`s query in memogate.
Shahbaz is sure the prime minister is forwarding a plan to pit one institution against another and is least pleased by the use of parliament for forwarding petty personal interests. True to form, he is quick to trace the origins of this grand conspiracy to the current occupant of the presidency, which Shahbaz`s party wants to throw out as soon as possible so that early elections can be held under a fair, interim government.
Shahbaz Sharif`s thinking is consistent with the old theory that unfortunately not all politicians who are elected by people here can pass the basic test of being patriotic Paks. Taking the same train of thought, some prime ministers are less capable of respecting our chief defenders and minding our nuclear store than others.
Yet Shahbaz`s remarks area break of sorts from the campaign for civilian supremacy everyone including his party and its chief Mian Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... swears by. He chose to speak on the subject and given his position as the more rigid face of the opposition with a record of leading the driveagainst the government, his words would make people wonder if anything has changed in Pak politics.
It is as if in one abrupt sweep he is out to dismantle the holy democratic edifice that we Paks have painfully built over the last four years with our tolerance of an inept government.
The truth is that unlike a host of other political commentators who are under no obligation to replace what they are so keen to destroy, in each of his actions Shahbaz is seen to be promoting himself as the alternative that can be trusted.
Is it only good politics where one politician is rightfully trying to score points against another? Or is it a continuation of the old pattern in which the politicians are ever so eager to find favour with the `establishment` to establish their own little candidatures? Shabbaz`s statement is complemented by the helter-skelter remarks sheet on the army by fellow politician Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani. It seems as if both incumbents and pretenders are probing for answers here. They are groping as are others, yet a coup has somehow come to be described as a museum articlein Pakistain.
Contradictions emerge and confusion reigns. A coup is ruled out even if in popular media narratives a prime minister is shown to have called a western ambassador in panic `apparently` updating His ExceHencyonthechancesofa military takeover and the effects it could have on the world on the lam.
Protected by western oversight that is subject to the foreigners` own interests at a particular moment, this is how fragile democracy is and the working of our politicians does little to reassure us of our own ability to guard our system.
Opposition politicians argue in favour of early elections. The media adds it weight. The strangest part is when it is described as an exit favourable (and honourable) for the PPP. Political logic speaks otherwise.
Politics that culminates in snap polls hardly suits the PPP as a political party since conceding to the opposition`s demands would amount to the PPP signing its own indictment. It has no option but to perpetuate its rule and hope for political redemption in making its removal appear as close to a coup as possible.
A summary dismissal, even a make-believe coup, would suit the PPP which, in the words of one of its bewildered MNAs, is at a loss to understand what more it could do to appease the `establishment` The PPP has taken a lot of pressure, but its ouster may take some more time and it will take a lot of skill from the opposition politicians to deny the party the victim`s tag, for whatever its worth.
The argument has been changing and will intensify once the PPP agrees to holding early elections. Just as, purely politically, Husain Haqqani`s resignation to allow a fair probe into the memo was later declared a sign of guilt, the allegations against this PPP government will get louder once it signs its ownindictment by way of announcing early elections.
This is simple and the same logic can be applied to understand why the government is reluctant to write that harmless letter to the Swiss government. In pure political terms the moment the government dispatches that letter to Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... under the court`s ruling on the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), it will be vulnerable to being viewed as guilty by many if not all as it happened with Haqqani`s voluntary resignation in the memo case.
If there is a surprise in this, it lies in the impression that the PPP is finally looking beyond its current term, which in turn is indicative of how weak its government currently is. The PPP had fought the last election as a party that had benefited from the infamous NRO. That fact will remain unchanged come the next polls.
The verdict by the people`s jury this time around may well be different. The argument has changed and out there in the people`s court, there is no such thing as double jeopardy.
[Dawn] DOES poverty have anything to do with militancy in Pakistain's Pakhtun belt? This question attracted much focus a few years ago when the insurgency inflicted the Malakand division in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... Ostensibly, followers of the firebrand ...firebrands are noted more for audio volume and the quantity of spittle generated than for any actual logic in their arguments... holy man Mullah Fazlullah rose up to implement the Sharia in Swat. But, their main target was the land-owning local elites khans many of whom were killed and whose property was destroyed.
Subsequently, scores of NGOs and think tanks initiated surveys and distributed questionnaires to help seek an answer to this puzzle. Political observers were eager to establish the link between the killing spree and poverty in the troubled swaths of Swat ...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat... and Fata. A vocal section of analysts abandoned the argument that declared militancy a byproduct of jihadi ideology and nothing else.
One cannot contradict their findingsand at the same time it would not be fair to blame the analysts for connecting the wrong dots. Every such argument has its own context and research objective.
Nevertheless, the trend a profitableone of oversimplifying complex phenomena has become so common in Pakistain thatit has confused theissue of militancy altogether.
Most importantly, this trend does not hold any agency responsible for the ongoing violence in the region. Nor does it help to address the symbiotic relationship between religious extremism and factors such as organised crime, a pervading sense of deprivation among the youth, the role of institutions in promoting radicalism and the state`s willingness to outsource its monopoly on violence etc.
More misleading of all has been the dominant official narrative, which holds militancy as an imported phenomenon with its roots across the border in Afghanistan. Of late, however, political observers have linked radical extremism to more pragmatic concepts such as poverty.
In a recently concluded international conference in Islamabad `Securing a Frontline State`, some researchers were of the opinion that poverty in the restive Pakhtun belt provides a reason for militancy to grow. `The most food-insecure districts are the worst militancy-hit areas,` said Dr Abid Suleri, an expert on sustainable development.
Other scholars are cautious about accepting this argument, but they do not reject it outright. `Yes, poverty has animportant role to play, but it is not the engine of militancy; it is the fodder,` says Faizullah Jan, a PhD fellow in the US.
Amidst both these arguments lies the fact that radical ideologues at the top may not necessarily be representing the poor, but thousands of youth constituting the rank and file of turban groups usually come from a poor background. The given context makes it vital for researchers to avoid a top-to-bottom approach in studying the increasingly political role of commanders and, instead, focus more on youngsters, who are used as tools to keep militancy thriving in the troubled parts of the country.
Militancy draws its foot soldiers mainly from the marginalised rural areas, where growing disparity has virtually paralysed the lower strata of society.
Those who failed to identify themselves with their respective social system have lost their sense of ownership as well.
When militancy was at its peak in Swat, a teacher serving in a roadside school talked of his ex-students not beingable to continue their education because of poverty, and then upon joining Fazlullah, looking upon teachers as their arch enemy. Later on, the Swat Taliban with their poor rural background blew up over 700 schools, partly, because such schools did not help them change their social status in any way.
Can we separate the issue of human development from growing insecurity? Not any more. Both are interlinked where one is causing the other. This issue has serious dimensions in Fata where no mechanism is in place even to measure the indicators of development.
Violence has become perennial, causing widespread displacements. This deplorable situation has left few options to the tribal youth other than choose between starvation and a life in IDP camps and militancy.
Awareness about the role of various state agencies in aiding and abetting a violent culture is another important issue crucial to the understanding of religious militancy. Such agencies have always set the mood for disruptive tendencies to grow. But this supportive role is usually ignored, which has helped turban elements give a radical underpinning to the public discourse.
The role of the state agencies is combined with that of non-state religious ele-ments, including certain madressahs and religious groups, producing a mechanism that is so well-knit that nonsensical ideas often end up as the dominant discourse.
Resultantly, people start seeing a US hand behind the gas shortage, the soaring petrol prices and the general inflation in the country. This trend has resulted in an atmosphere in which emotions have superseded reason. This reactionary culture provides a fertile ground for radicalism to grow and prosper.
Of all the contributing factors, ideology at least has less to do with militancy in Fata and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Interestingly, this factor has long been associated with extremism. Had the perception been correct, young Orcs and similar vermin hailing from the Mehsud, Waziri and Afridi tribes in South Wazoo, North Waziristan and Khyber Agency would not have rallied around their respective tribal commanders. Interaction with the Orcs and similar vermin can help understand this observation, where one can find their limited worldview coloured by tribal factors andDire Revenge™ motives.
To defeat militancy, it has become indispensable to understand the culture honing extremism. The latter exists because our institutions are supportive of it, our public dis-course does not discourage it, our sense of deprivation fuels it, our intellectuals misinterpret it and our media romanticises it. More so, our researchers study militancy in a top-to-bottom context.
They are more interested in understanding what turban commanders are doing and what is on their minds. It is least important to them to find out how young foot soldiers are influencing their leadership and how a reactionary culture rooted in their sense of deprivation is influencing them at the bottom.
Strident militancy has already turned the social and administrative system upside down in Fata. The presence of a large constituency of disoriented youth makes future prospects grim. Now is the time to reconsider official priorities.
No reform agenda can serve its purpose in Fata until and unless policymakers stop thinking about rustics in their typical colonial way. Incorporating practical measures aimed at reforming tribal youth has become inevitable for defeating the culture of militancy.
Otherwise militancy, while it might change form, will stay institutionalised for a long time to come.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
You get what you put up with (or, worse yet, let your cultural / creative elites glorify) Here in America, we get hip-hop gangsta asswipes with neck tattoos and droopy pants, and in pakiwakiland they get jacket wallahs and pillion riding gunnies.
Suh-Prise!
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/18/2012 15:45 Comments ||
Top||
One in three American adults is obese, a national level that has stayed the same in recent years, said US data released on Tuesday.
About one in six children and teenagers are also obese, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association report which showed that obesity remains a significant problem in US society despite efforts to combat it.
"Obesity prevalence shows little change over the past 12 years, although the data are consistent with the possibility of slight increases," said the article.
Obesity is defined as a body mass index, or a formula based on height and weight, that is 30 or higher.
Examples would include a six-foot tall man weighing more than 222 pounds (1.82 meters and 100 kilograms) or a five-foot-seven-inch tall woman weighing 192 pounds (1.70 meters and 87 kilograms).
According to the JAMA report, 35.7 percent of US adults are obese and so are 16.9 percent of children and teenagers age two to 19.
When overweight people are added to the adult tally, the prevalence of overweight and obese people jumps to 68.8 percent of the US population. Apparently this is based on the old Metropolitan Life Insurance height/weight table. The US Army originally adopted it, and soon discovered that it is near impossible for a physically fit person to *not* be "overweight", according to that scale. On that scale, the maximum weight for a 6', "large frame" male is 188 pounds, and a 5'7", "large frame" female is 163 pounds.
#1
Go look at photos taken a hundred years ago. The rich sitting around the well stocked dinner tables were fat, hefty, husky. The working class were thin, gaunt, skinny. The social critics of the time bemoaned the situation. Look at the photos today. The rich pay nutritionists and personal trainers to keep them thin and skinny. The working class is 'hefty'. However, the social critics are still complaining - its their purpose to exist in life. For the first time in history, humans on (literally) a large scale have an abundance of food and ready access year around. Instead of celebration we get complaints.
#2
My son-in-law Is 6-1 and 240 theres no fat on him.(Works for the Power company, Clinbing poles)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/18/2012 10:25 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Some of this is BS.
I'm 6-1 and I have weighed between 195 and 215 most of my life, including seven years in the Army and 3 years as a LRP.
When I came back from the Sinai in 72, I weighed 187 and looked gaunt and haggered.
These BMI's would have said I was obese.
Heck, when I played college football, I was measured at 4% body fat, weighing 205...so I was obese???
A density test is a better measure of obesity than a BMI, I have a friend that played OL in the pros, he's 6-3 and weighs 260, a solid ball of muscle and he's obese?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
01/18/2012 10:27 Comments ||
Top||
#4
(Clicked too soon)
He's complained that they constantly list him as "Obese".
No way, he looks like Superman.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/18/2012 10:30 Comments ||
Top||
#5
This is typical of the tyrant's tactics. Invent rules (laws, regulations) that allow you to claim anyone is breaking them at any time.
Yes I'm a little overweight, I'm 6'2.5" and weigh 228. Not great shape but I can still handle 20 pushups. Oh yeah, I've got a bad back and I'm 62.
#6
Golook at photos taken a hundred years ago. The rich sitting around the well stocked dinner tables were fat, hefty, husky.
I have seen many such photos (I do genealogy & local history and this involves poring over old group photos looking for people, their friends and associates). Yes the rich tended to be larger than the poor. Even so, there were then very few really large people in any socioeconomic bracket, compared to the numbers/%-age of population that exist today. Look at 70-year-old group photos of children ages 9-15, even high school marching bands, and compare them to similar group photos today - the proportion of chubby kids and huge ones is much larger today. Or visit a Walmart between 2200 and 0200.
Something is definitely happening among the population at large.
That being said, the "War on Obesity" is utterly stupid and misguided -- it amounts to heaping abuse on the truly obese. The BMI is simply a medical rule of thumb. It is being used to automatically stigmatize an increasing proportion of the population (you can bet the definition will be altered in the near future).
#7
AH, not only stigmatize but control. They're already trying to control fast food and portion sizes at school.
The more they manage to define obesity down the easier it will be for them to control everything related to caloric intake...then exercize will come under their control and pretty soon you, in you Mao suit, will be in the park at dawn doing you state required exercizes.
#8
According to the BMI - most, if not all, world class bodybuilders would be classed 'obese'.
And the type of body does need to be taken into consideration - some people look like skin-over-skeletons at the upper-normal category while others look great and some do look 'larger'.
Also take into consideration the 'average' american is typically larger (height) then they were 100 or 200 years ago. The species is growing larger. What was the average height in the middle ages? 4-foot-something?
#9
I think if you're a life and/or health insurance company you want to know how someone's weight is going to effect their health and/or longevity. Then you will want to adjust their premiums accordingly and you don't want Barack Obama telling you that you can't. Maybe it's not an exact science and I don't want Michelle Obama telling me what I can and cannot eat either. But when you see someone riding some little electric scooter because they're too heavy to walk, you know something's wrong. When you see their butt sticking out for about two feet on either side of the scooter's seat, you don't need a doctor to tell you that something is wrong. Yeah, that's a pretty wide seat on that scooter too. When you go to a concert and the person next to you is taking up all of her seat and half of yours that isn't healthy and it isn't much fun either.
Here in California they dumbed down the phys ed classes by the simple act of not supplying towels for the kids to use after a shower. Who wants to get all sweaty and then go to their next class that way? Ick. Then they put vending machines on campus that sell Coke and candy bars. Uh huh. That's not healthy, folks. I don't wanna tell anybody they can't have Coke and candy bars but I don't want the school selling it to my kids either. Can we get more exercise and less Coke and candy bars?
#11
But when you see someone riding some little electric scooter because they're too heavy to walk, you know something's wrong. When you see their butt sticking out for about two feet on either side of the scooter's seat, you don't need a doctor to tell you that something is wrong.
Those are the 'obese' I was referring to. There are quite a few more of them than seemed to exist just 20 years ago. I was almost killed by one of them at the Dayton Hamvention about 2009. He was riding his electric seat, saw the food court up the next ramp, then turned too sharp & tipped himself and his scooter over - almost rolled over me as I walked by the ramp. That would have been an awful way to die, crushed by someone else's avoirdupois.
#12
Back in the early 60's, my midwestern high school had 2 years of mandatory physical education. No food or snacks of any kind were available to buy on the premises. A student who wanted to eat lunch had to bring it with him in the morning. Upperclassmen were allowed off campus to eat downtown, a block away, if they wished. Most everyone brown-bagged their lunches. Our group photos showed a bunch of skinny boys and girls.
"The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children," said Marshall, a Republican.
"In the Old Testament, the first born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There's a special punishment Christians would suggest." [I wouldn't normally crosspost from a cesspool like Think Progress, but the News Leader has taken the original article down.] I think it would be prudent for those of you reading this who are Virginia voters to make certain that a) This man is NOT the Republican candidate for the US Senate seat being vacated by Jim Webb (he's going to try), b) make sure that he has a credible, vigorous primary opponent from the 13th House of Delegates district next election cycle, and c) vote for whomever runs against him in either general election should he slip through somehow, even if you are a Republican.
Speaking as a Republican, he has no place in the party, and we should work energetically to remove him from our ranks. Delegate Marshall: step down and let the governor appoint a better man or woman to your seat. Then try reading the New Testament for a change. God doesn't punish children for the behavior of their parents. Nature doesn't "take its vengeance on the subsequent children." Period. That is NOT a pro-life position, or a mainstream Christian position. To the best of my knowledge it's not a Jewish or Islamic position, either. It's simply ignorant. My only child has Down syndrome, and she is not a "punishment" on her mother or me. Ridiculous: that's an anti-child, anti-family, and irreligious position.
As for those of us who AREN'T Virginians... well, there's no law against giving money to his opponents in both the primary and general election, now is there? He does sound like a wingnut, doesn't he...
#3
Just as outrageous as thinking that Marxism will cause anything but shortages.
It's strange that people will find this view (which I laugh at in it's ignorance) offensive, and yet will give a shrug to an ideology that has murdered 150+ Million.
#7
God is just so why would God punish children for their parent' sin? This is horsehockey.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/18/2012 12:10 Comments ||
Top||
#8
It's strange that people will find this view (which I laugh at in it's ignorance) offensive, and yet will give a shrug to an ideology that has murdered 150+ Million.
You can't fight human nature. Abuse of animals is more newsworthy than abuse of children.
#9
The link is to an article from 2010. This explains why the original news item isn't up. I didn't realize that when I looked at this gentleman's website last night. I just skimmed his website for press releases on the subject, and didn't find anything specific. I haven't waded through the rest of his stuff.
As the mother of three young adults with Aspergers, living in Berkeley-on-the-lake, I have gotten the "You mean you didn't get genetic screening?" (as if there were a magic test for everything) from assorted lefties who maintain that I have somehow injured Gaia by having more than one kid, never mind kids who take a little longer to learn things. To have something equally callous and judgmental from someone who claims to be pro-life is outrageous.
BP, any braying jackass can say something stupid about God's judgement. For Jesus' view of the matter, see John Chapter 9: "Teacher, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was not for any one's sin, but that the glory of God might be revealed in him."
OK, I guess, for the General Assembly since he's got an R after his name (thank god he's not from MY district) and can't do too much damage, but there's no way in HELL he should be in Congress.
George Allen is running - already got the ads out showing Tim Kaine (D-Bambi) is a butt-buddy of Obama. Unless someone better shows up, he has my support and what little money I can spare.
Posted by: Barbara ||
01/18/2012 14:48 Comments ||
Top||
#11
In all fairness, reproduction is very hard, and it's almost miraculous that it happens at all, given the multitude of reasons why it shouldn't.
Even after going through the obstacle course to achieve pregnancy, 1 in 4 fetuses will be miscarried, with the greatest risk for the first child. There are strong suggestions that many women need to have a "test run" pregnancy before they can have a successful one.
This imbeciles theory is also awful from a medical standpoint, as though in an abortion, a woman may be so damaged that she can never again bring a baby to full term, it's an "either-or" situation. If she can, her baby is statistically the same for any given problem as is a baby of a woman who has not had an abortion.
Good catch, mom. Anonymoose, thank you for clarifying the medical facts for us. I've no doubt that some us will have the opportunity at some point to quote them to bring comfort.
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.
On Sunday, a typically angry Shahbaz Sharif demanded an apology from Prime Minister 
Nawaz Sharif
...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat...
and abetting a violent culture is another important issue crucial to the understanding of religious militancy. Such agencies have always set the mood for disruptive tendencies to grow. But this supportive role is usually ignored, which has helped
"The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children," said Marshall, a Republican.
