From VenomousKate:
A man is accused of applying Vaseline petroleum jelly to every surface in his room at a Motel 6 near Binghamton, New York. After Roger Chamberlain checked out last week, the cleaning crew discovered mattresses and bedding were slathered with the slippery stuff. Vaseline covered the TV set, furniture, carpeting and towels and everything else in the room. Police found 14 empty Vaseline containers and numerous pornographic magazines in the roomâs trash can. Damage to the motel room and its contents was estimated at over $1,000. A sheriffâs deputy found the Virginia man a short time later at another motel. The deputy said the man was âsmeared from head to foot with Vaseline.â Chamberlain was sent to jail after being charged with felony criminal mischief. The motel manager says the room still canât be used.
I couldnât resist this piece of PC idiocy.
Transsexuals were cleared Monday to compete in the Olympics (search) for the first time.
Under a proposal approved by the IOC executive board, athletes who have undergone sex-change surgery will be eligible for the Olympics if their new gender has been legally recognized and they have gone through a minimum two-year period of postoperative hormone therapy.
The decision, which covers both male-to-female and female-to-male cases, goes into effect starting with the Athens Olympics in August.
The IOC had put off a decision in February, saying more time was needed to consider all the medical issues.
Some members had been concerned whether male-to-female transsexuals would have physical advantages competing against women.
Men have higher levels of testosterone and greater muscle-to-fat ratio and heart and lung capacity. However, doctors say, testosterone levels and muscle mass drop after hormone therapy and sex-change surgery (search).
IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said the situation of transsexuals competing in high-level sports was "rare but becoming more common."
IOC medical director Patrick Schamasch said no specific sports had been singled out by the ruling.
"Any sport may be touched by this problem," he said. "Until now, we didnât have any rules or regulations. We needed to establish some sort of policy."
Until 1999, the IOC conducted gender verification tests at the Olympics but the screenings were dropped before the 2000 Sydney Games.
One of the best known cases of transsexuals in sports involves Renee Richards, formerly Richard Raskind, who played on the womenâs tennis tour in the 1970s.
In March, Australiaâs Mianne Bagger (search) became the first transsexual to play in a pro golf tournament.
Michelle Dumaresq, formerly Michael, has competed in mountain bike racing for Canada.
#1
2 years of hormone therapy doesn't make a hoot of difference when one compares the "new" model with the original. Can't erase biological predeterminants that easily. Maybe they can have games just for transsexuals, but otherwise, it's more than a bit unfair to the other competitors. I'd be pretty pissed off if I was an Olympic athlete--especially considering the policies/problems with steroids/hormones and "natural" athletes--not allowed unless you're a transsexual (?).
#2
Maybe they can have games just for transsexuals, but otherwise, it's more than a bit unfair to the other competitors.
While an exceptional situation, athletic performance is one case where original gender poses a gigantic advantage.
For years, nations competing in the Olympics rightfully complained about Soviet "women" athletes who were suspected of having been transgendered specifically for competitive propaganda purposes.
Many sports are not co-ed specifically because of gender dependent issues related to base strength and stamina. To sweep this aside in the name of "non-discrimination" is the height of arrogance.
#3
This decision is because of the outrage over the Paleo bomber who was a hermaphrodite. If they had let hi....her...that PERSON into the Olympics to begin with then...well....IT'S A ZIONIST CONSPIRACY!!
Posted by: Charles ||
05/17/2004 22:42 Comments ||
Top||
#4
"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats."
-- H.L. Mencken
Plans to return to the ring
Former heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe was released from prison Monday after serving 18 months for kidnapping his first wife and their children in 1998. The 36-year-old boxer left a federal prison near Cumberland, prison spokesman Stephen "The" Finger said. His formal release date is June 8, but federal inmates with good conduct credits can be freed early to serve the rest of their sentences at halfway houses or on home confinement. Finger could not comment on Boweâs whereabouts or the terms of his release. Bowe, of Fort Washington, had a 40-1 lifetime record. He was the undisputed heavyweight champion after beating Evander Holyfield in 1992 but lost the crown to Holyfield the next year. He has said he planned to return to the ring after his release despite evidence his former attorneys presented in court that he suffered brain damage from fighting.
He last fought in 1996, when he took two beatings from Andrew Golota. "Iâm going to commit crimes that shock the world again," Bowe told The Associated Press in February. "They didnât convict believe me the first time, and they donât have evidence believe me this time." Boweâs attorney, Stephen Silverman, wasnât immediately available, his office said. Silverman said last month Bowe could not comment on a possible comeback until some unspecified issues were resolved. Bowe recently dropped a lawsuit against former manager Rock Newman and apologized for claiming Newman stole money from him. "I wish he wouldnât fight. I donât want to see him risk his health," Newman said last week.
The heavyweight division lacks a big-name champion following the February retirement of Lennox Lewis. Chris Byrd, John Ruiz, Vitali Klitschko and Lamon Brewster all hold portions of the heavyweight title, though there is no dominant fighter in the division. In April, a judge dismissed a lawsuit filed against Bowe and Newman by a Sports Illustrated photographer who says he was hurt eight years ago during a riot after one of the boxerâs bouts at Madison Square Garden. Bowe was sentenced to a medium-security prison in January 2003 for abducting his estranged wife, Judy, and their five children from her home near Charlotte, North Carolina. In June, Riddick was acquitted of assault charges in Maryland after his wife, Terri, and three other alleged victims disappeared failed to appear in court. Wow! Maybe they can jail match him up with Mike Tyson. Whereâs Don King when we need him?
A German couple who went to a fertility clinic after eight years of marriage have found out why they are still childless - they weren't having sex.
We don't make this stuff up, we don't have to.
The University Clinic of Lubek said they had never heard of a case like it after examining the couple who went to see them last month for fertility tests. Doctors subjected them to a series of examinations and found they were both apparently fertile, and should have had no trouble conceiving. A clinic spokesman said: "When we asked them how often they had had sex, they looked blank, and said: "What do you mean?".
Huh?
"We are not talking retarded people here, but a couple who were brought up in a religious environment who were simply unaware, after eight years of marriage, of the physical requirements necessary to procreate." The 30-year-old wife and her 36-year-old husband are now being given sex therapy lessons while the university clinic undertakes a study to try to find out if there are more couples with a similar lack of sex education.
Some people really need to get out more.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/17/2004 11:49:17 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The University Clinic of Lubek said they had never heard of a case like it...
When I was a teenager I had a book of jokey strange-but-true occurrences. There was a case like that in it. I vaguely remember the couple in that case were Chinese. I'm surprised the clinic had never heard of such a thing. Maybe their doctors need to get out more.
#2
I'm speechless. Were these people the recipients of Islamic sex-ed or something? How dense do you have to be to not know that one part fits into another quite nicely - or, indeed, to figure it out? Have these people been living in a cave or something?
Yeah, I don't think I'd ever heard of a case like it, either; there are a lot of interesting infertility cases, but this one takes the cake.
Posted by: The Doctor ||
05/17/2004 12:34 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Sounds like a really strict fundamentelist christian group of some sort.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/17/2004 12:46 Comments ||
Top||
#4
I think its best that they continue the way thay are - people that dumb don't deserve the "happy ending"
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
05/17/2004 13:15 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Angie> I believe I've also heard that case -- I remember that there was such a case in an Asian country anyway.
#7
That's some kinda religious environment they've got going there. Last time I was in Pennsylvania there were still lots of little miniature Amish people to be seen, and I have a hard time imagining how you can get more religious than them...
Unless the couple was originally from Balochistan, of course...
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2004 14:41 Comments ||
Top||
#8
If I was witty I'd make some comment about how Puritanism is always said to be descending on America, yet always seems to land in Europe.
But I'm not, so I won't....
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
05/17/2004 16:33 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Damn! You dont even have to be TOLD to do it. Its farking instinctive. Like a baby's searching for his/her mother's teat.
#10
if they couldn't figure it out on their own then they prolly shouldn't have kids. OTOH, 10 years from now we'll prolly be reading about how they had 7 kids.....
#15
Yeah, Fred, there are a lot of them here. I live in PA, just outside of Harrisburg; never stopped in the Amish country but travelled through it plenty of times. The sheer number of Stoltfutzes alone makes for some big buggy-jams at times.
Do you know, I once heard some idiot liken the Wahhabis to the Amish, in that both were extremely conservative? Incredible, that. The Amish are a great example of how a conservative religion can for the most part survive and allow the rest of society to pass it by (although if you believe my younger brother, the "simple life" is just a ploy, and they've actually got vast underground complexes powered by packs of mules, and wooden, water-wheel-powered death rays . . .).
Posted by: The Doctor ||
05/17/2004 17:25 Comments ||
Top||
#16
Hey that was S.Floridian's that don't know how to vote,leave us N.Floridian's alone.:)
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2004 20:03 Comments ||
Top||
#19
Germany - The place where a dead guy turned skeleton was only discovered five years after the terminal event because his disability payments finally fell short of his rent and utilities.
Automatic deposit and withdrawl at the bank.
They knew the exact date of death because his robed skeleton was found in the recliner, TV guide opened to the presumed date of death, five years earlier. The TV set had failed somewhere along the line. . . .
Bottom line, why was this couple's respective parents not at least doing the birds and bees thing when they were 12-13 years of age?
How did he get thru school without his comrades showing him certain magazines that at least one in a crowd has access to?
#3
Deacon - I didn't quite catch that. You say you want to have Mucky over to drink a few beers with the animals?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/17/2004 15:43 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Sounds good to me. One of my horses and all 4 dogs plus the pig like beer. 2 of the dogs think they are ducks. They stay with my 2 ducks constantly even when they go down to the creek to swim. The dogs swim very well, having been taught by the ducks 'cause they've been with the ducks since they were 6 weeks old. Somebody decided my place looked like a good home so the ducks adopted them. I've got some very strange animals The cats spend a lot of time in the barn with the horses. I can send you a picture.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/17/2004 16:32 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Deacon - LOL! Why not post the picture here?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/17/2004 17:14 Comments ||
Top||
#6
i love to have beer with you guys and gals and with then animals. im hoping aar come out with franken stein drink my beer with. already order the boxers but not thongs. still waiting for them make janeane beach towel but they not budging. ill continue press them for it.
#7
Thanks, muck. I was thinking about a Fredoneverything thong (Fred Reed) but it's just not my style. For Barbara, I'm not completely computer literate, I don't know how to post a picture. I'll send you some anyway. I'm doing some engineering work here in Tennessee until I find an opening for a proof reader for a skywriter.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/17/2004 20:18 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Got them, Deacon. They're precious pretty-pretty kitty-kitties. Thanks. (Oh, yeah - the horse is nice too.)
By the way, keep us filled in on your job hunt. :-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/17/2004 20:25 Comments ||
Top||
Kuwait's cabinet approved a draft law Sunday allowing women to vote and run in parliamentary polls, moving them a step closer to full political rights they have sought for decades in the conservative Gulf Arab state.
I thought I felt a disturbance in the Force.
The draft needs parliament's approval to pass into law. A decree issued by Emir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah giving women the vote was narrowly defeated in the 50-man house in 1999 by an alliance of Islamist and conservative tribal MPs. Kuwaiti women have been fighting for suffrage for more than 40 years, only to be blocked by slack-jawed mouth breathers Islamists and male politicians. "The council (of ministers) decided to approve the draft law and transfer it to the Emir, God protect him, in order to transfer it to the National Assembly," a cabinet statement said. The current parliament in OPEC) member Kuwait was elected in July by an elite group of males who must be 21 years or older and not recently naturalized or members of the armed forces.
The government of Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, the emir's brother, has made clear it is committed to political and economic reforms in Kuwait, which has one-tenth of global oil reserves. U.S.-allied Kuwait says that pressing ahead with reforms is a top priority as the country promotes itself as a modern investor-friendly nation after the toppling in a U.S.-led war last year of former occupier and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
Leading women's rights activist, Dr. Fatima al-Abdali, welcomed the news, adding that the issue of refusing women the vote was "sabotaging Kuwait's image internationally." Islamist and conservative MPs, who wield great influence in parliament, are opposed to Western influences and may prove to be a stumbling block in the face of the new draft. "I'm hopeful," Abdali said. "If this bill is serious and is not just a fight between the Islamist bloc and the democratic bloc, I think women can quickly gain everyone's confidence." Regarded by some as among the most emancipated in the conservative Muslim region, Kuwaiti women have had to sit back and watch their sisters in other Gulf states -- such as Qatar, Bahrain and Oman -- make modest progress. Kuwaiti women serve as diplomats, run businesses and help steer the vital oil industry in the country of 900,000 citizens. They constitute up to 70 percent of college graduates in Kuwait, but account for less than five percent of the country's decision makers. Some have moved up to mid-level public ranks, but none holds a top post such as government minister.
So they spend 70% of their university budgets on people who they then forbid to make a contribution. Smart, very smart.
Signs of change came last October when the government approved allowing women to stand for office and vote in municipal council elections, a move observers hailed then as a first step toward granting women greater political rights. "Kuwaiti women, yes, they want this. Especially the young generation, those in the universities," Abdali told Reuters. "This generation already has active bodies that elect themselves in schools and universities." The Kuwaiti cabinet said its decision was "in appreciation for the vital role that the Kuwaiti woman plays in building and developing Kuwaiti society, and her big sacrifices and the responsible role she has played in the face of all the challenges the country has been subjected to in its history."
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/17/2004 12:02:11 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
As the World Health Assembly (WHA), the World Health Organisation's decision-making body, convenes in Geneva for its annual meeting today, Taiwan will launch its eighth bid to join the global health body as an observer. This marks another attempt by Taipei to break the international isolation imposed by China, which claims sovereignty over the self-ruled island.
"The EU will vote against us but proposes to let us participate in prevention of infectious diseases," Chen Chien-jen, Taiwan's health minister, said in an interview from Geneva. "We have also made progress as the US and Japan will vote in our favour."
No more than a footnote to the meeting itself, the handling of the issue by the WHO will be a crucial factor for cross-strait relations. Another outright rejection of Taiwan's request could provoke Chen Shui-bian, president, to take a hard line towards China in his inauguration speech this Thursday. When the WHA met last year, Taiwan hoped for a breakthrough because the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) had highlighted the need for cross-border co-operation on health issues. But China continued to block the island's bid. Sha Zukang, one of Beijing's delegates, even derided it, saying: "Who cares about you Taiwan".
Polls show this contributed to a fresh rise of anti-Chinese sentiment in Taiwan. It was in response to this incident that President Chen pledged to hold referenda - a move condemned by China - and hardened his rhetoric and policy towards Beijing. Political analysts say Taiwan's de-facto independence has created a need for a degree of international recognition because continued isolation would strengthen the case of those demanding formal independence.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/17/2004 12:48:06 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
China has warned Taiwan's incumbent President, Chen Shui-Bian, it will crush Taiwanese independence moves "at any cost".
Again.
In three days' time, Chen Shui-Bian will be inaugurated as Taiwan's President for a second term. China has today released a statement warning it will "never put up with Taiwan independence". It fears constitutional reforms planned by Mr Chen will lead to the island declaring formal statehood. China has urged Taiwan's leaders to immediately pull back from what it calls "a dangerous Kerry lurch towards independence", saying if they do not "they will meet their own destruction".
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/17/2004 12:28:56 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Yawwwwn. Goes back to sleep....
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
05/17/2004 10:49 Comments ||
Top||
Veterans are marking the 60th anniversary of one of World War IIâs bloodiest battles - at Monte Cassino. The Duke of Kent is joining 300 British veterans for the service in Italy to mark the end of the battle, which claimed the lives of 200,000 soldiers. Former soldiers from Poland, New Zealand, Canada and other countries will also be at Mondayâs service. It took four months for Allied troops to dislodge a German rearguard from the hilltop near the town of Cassino. In a series of battles Allied troops advancing on Rome attacked retreating German forces dug in at the abbey on top of the hill. The BBCâs David Willey in Cassino said the war graves of more than 4,000 British and Commonwealth servicemen stretched in every direction from the site. He said: "You realise just what a slaughter it was. "Some of the survivors have talked about fighting a World War I battle in the second world war. It really was one of the major events of the Italian campaign."
200,000 dead - makes Iraq look like a picnic.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
05/17/2004 8:35:15 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
One of those battles pushed by the generals, that in hindsight, could have been avoided.
#3
IIRC, there was an agreement to avoid the religious building that was in the area (it was a prime highground spot, would have been highly contested and church woulda gone boom)
in any event the nazis lied and used it anyway
Some U.S. gas stations along the border are noticing a growing amount of a foreign substance in their tills: multicoloured Canadian dollars. While many cost-conscious Canadians in border communities have long filled up their tanks with American gas to save money, some say recent record-high prices at the pumps north of the 49th parallel could be setting off a new wave of cross-border shopping. It is something they are so used to in Point Roberts, Wash., â a tiny chunk of the United States cut off from the rest of the country by Canadian territory about a half-hour from Vancouver â that they post gas prices in loonies and litres, as well as greenbacks and gallons. Faced with pump prices in Vancouver that spiked to an average of 98.5 cents for a litre of regular in the past week, it is no surprise that Canadians â especially those from the nearby suburb of Tsawwassen just minutes away â are crossing the border for prices as low as 83.9 cents. And if things stay that way, Point Roberts, population 1,500, could see its already considerable petro-tourism business go through the roof.
------------Snipped-----
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
05/17/2004 12:55:48 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
I saw this at LGF and I dont think anyone has posted it yet
The warblog drums are growing silent.
Theyâre either running out of time, or money, or steam â or the conviction that Operation Iraqi Freedom was going to be a cakewalk in the sand. Yeah, Fred, where the hellâs my check, you cheap bastard! Oh thatâs right: I do this for nothing, because I believe in winning the WOT
If the above makes no sense to you, then you have not been paying attention to the chest-thumping chaterati of the cybersphere, a post 9/11 class of might-is-right and right-is-might wordsmiths who rode the "War on terror" wave with their warmongering web logs. Imagine Fred on a surfboard, Beach Boys soundtrack in the background
But now, with the news getting more dire, the quag more mired and the cost of war ever higher, the warbloggers find themselves on the wrong side of history. And so some of them are putting down their mice and putting up a white flag. I havenât raised a white flag and no here Iknow of has either
"Where is everybody?" wailed Damian Penny last week. Come to rantburg
The youngish lawyer based in Newfoundland, whose blog (http://www.damianpenny.com) is one of the top right-wing online pit stops for Canadians, noticed that, in recent weeks, his pro-war comrades in keyboards were holding their fire. Pro-war and comrades. Notes the mixing of terms. Perfect intro for splitting opinion on the right thing to do, like splitting hairs on virginity.
"If I may quote (comic Fred) Willard, `wha happen?â" he plaintively asked. "Did everyone else go to a party to which I wasnât invited? This is junior high school all over again ..." No, the war party is over. There is nothing to celebrate any more. (Not that there ever was.) President George W. Bushâs folly is a bloody, costly, tragic, world-dividing disaster that has led to more acts of terrorism by more groups. Antonia has to ignore the acts of multitude terrorism which proceeding the war in Iraq for this to be the operative truth, and she has to ignore the fact acts of terrorism are <> DOWN since 2001.
Even the New York Timesâ pro-war Thomas Friedman admits that the U.S. government has blown it, as he wrote last week: "The world is too complex and dangerous for the pious simplicities and arrogant unilateralism of George W. Bush." Someone in LFG remarked: Are there two Thomas Freidmanâs at the NYTimes?
Sometimes smart, often sassy and always vitriolic, warbloggers beat the Bush-bashers, slag Muslims and Arabs, attack Canadians and the French for not backing the attack on Iraq and, last but not least, pile on pundits who raised questions about weapons of mass destruction or wondered about exit strategies. I beat them for supporting acts of terrorism. See Murat.
Their favourite targets include the New York Timesâ Paul Krugman, American foreign policy critic Noam Chomsky and Robert Fisk, war correspondent for Britainâs the Independent. No that you mention it, most of those folks listed above have been quiet.
In fact, both Krugman and Fisk have inspired warbloggers to coin words. "Krugmanism" means to dramatize events to make a point. (As if the right doesnât!) And to be "Fisked" is to be deconstructed by bloggers. Not that there shouldnât be critics of critics. But many warbloggers resort to dogma, disinformation and personal attacks. Unlike truth, sweetness and light the left is famous for. As it is here, I see nothing but links for supporting arguments. Those who are attacked usually are attacked with good reason for their insanely inhuman views.
They can't handle the truth
Which is why â indulge me here â I found myself called "blousy,ââ a "perpetual outrage machine," "fat AND stupid," a "dumb leftist," "sub-par female impersonator" and "menopause girl" by Canadian bloggeuse Kathy Shaidle (http://www.relapsedcatholic.blogspot.com). Okay, maybe calling you stoopid is out line...
Two weeks ago, she packed it in, at least for a while, after nearly four years of "desperately trying to maintain an increasingly difficult-to-calibrate balance of Righteous Indignation and Smug Superiority to get me through another day of living in this Banana Republic With Snow during wartime." Charles Johnson says thatâs a lie.
Other warbloggers, who spend a lot of time talking amongst themselves, have called me "fat Tony" and "the peroxide Wonder" (letitbleed.blogs.com) while others still have labelled me a Nazi, a "Jew hater," anti-American, anti-Semitic and other terms that involve the political tilt of the parts of me that meet my chair. Someone help me out here. What parts is she talking about?
I believe someone must have pointed out the fact she's a leftist A**hole.
One guy, whom I found last week after following links from other like-minded mouse warriors, actually imagines that I regularly visit his site (http://www.lobowalk.com, and please, say ``Hi!" from me). He calls me a "dumb slut" â among other things that would probably have my boyfriend, a former Golden Gloves heavyweight, pounding him out. We can only assume she meaning pounding with fists and not other âparts of the body.â
Witty, most of these warbloggers arenât. Not like some of their heroes, a genuinely brilliant if misguided, if I do say so myself, bunch led by columnist Mark Steyn. (He used to write for the National Post until last yearâs change of management at the hands of the Asper family.) And a major reason why I delinked them at my website...
Other members of the neocon blogging pantheon include Glenn Reynolds (http://www.instapundit.com), James Lileks (http://www.lileks.com) and Andrew Sullivan (http://www.andrewsullivan.com) â at least until Sullivan felt the anti-gay wrath and hatred of the Bush regime. No rantburg??
Probably the most venomous of all is Charles Johnson. His site (http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com) is the toilet in which all sorts of misinformation and malice about Arabs and, in particular, Palestinians are dumped. Anybody who writes favourably â or even in a half-balanced manner â about them is slimed. Chuck Johnson uses the Palestiniansâ own damn words against them. And he doesnât resort to practical jokes such as sliming.
And yet Johnson was recently likened to a "righteous Gentile," a term reserved for Christians who sheltered Jews from the Nazis during the Holocaust. I wish I could be a righteous Gentile myself.
The praise came in a positive profile from BâSheva, a widely read Israeli publication oriented towards the settler movement. As a warblogger, Johnson is still going strong, as is the violence in Iraq, Israel and the Occupied Territories. Violence, she fails to point out, is caused primarily by Moose Limbs (love that term)
But those that have fed on it are blogging out. And so, their drums grow silent. Call it an operational pause.
Reloading
"There seems to be warblogger fatigue setting in," says popcult blogeratus Marc Weisblott (http://www.radioweisblogg.blogspot.com) who has been tracking the phenomenon. "I think this Iraq debacle is exasperating all of âem. You wish.
"And when your whole schtick is rage against (the New York Timesâ) Maureen Dowd or (the Globe and Mailâs) Heather Mallick ... or, uh, you, thatâs only going to carry one so far." Thankfully, there are a complete range of Leftists out there, not all of them conetrated in NY.
Posted by: badanov ||
05/17/2004 8:19:06 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
A socialist on the right side of history. My suprise meter is stuck in the red zone.
Posted by: Phil B ||
05/17/2004 10:21 Comments ||
Top||
#7
I am SO crushed! Here we are at SSDB, war-blogging as hard as we can, and we don't even get a mention, not even a nasty e-mail.
If a warblogger falls in the forest, but there is no leftoid Canadian columnist to hear it, was there any sound?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/17/2004 15:45 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Extra butter on mine Steve, thanks.
And extra napkins...
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
05/17/2004 16:42 Comments ||
Top||
#10
"...I found myself called 'blousy,' a 'perpetual outrage machine,' 'fat AND stupid,' a 'dumb leftist,' 'sub-par female impersonator' and 'menopause girl' by Canadian bloggeuse Kathy Shaidle (http://www.relapsedcatholic.blogspot.com)..."
Brunette Alexandra Kerry left movie fans gasping at the Cannes Film Festival in her daring see-through dress. Film director Alexandra, 30, showed at least "two reasons" why Americans should vote her dad into the White House in November. Ms. Kerry and friends
Alexandra Kerry can show her tits in public! That really takes a lot of gutsintelligence narcissism. Guess she takes after her "dear old dad." Or maybe she's just trying to rake in some sorely-needed attention. Dad Kerry was always kind of busy with himself.
20 mins standing ovation for âFAHRENHEIT 9-11â, yelling, screaming, cheering... Moore, raising fist, moved to tears... Controversial scene in film shows wounded American GI talking about how Democrats must win election... Movie shows video of American soldiers laughing and taking pictures as they place hoods over Iraqi detainees, with one of them grabbing a prisonerâs genitals through a blanket...
Hey gang,
Right now, this is just a headline at Drudge. Thereâs sure to be more on the way. For myself, I know that Moore is "preaching to the converted", but it still sickens me to the core. I couldnât speak to the fact as to whether he truly is convicted in his beliefs, or if heâs just the nastiest, greediest opportunist of them all. One thing I know for sure though, he will be directly responsible for a LOT of shed blood before this is all over. And if he thinks his purile, masturbatory vendetta against our President is going to help things, he is in for a rude shock. His efforts will only embolden our enemies, weaken our own troopsâ morale, and extend the bloodshed - and that goes for the blood of the Iraqi people who are just waiting to have a stable country to call their own.
#2
This does more than sicken me to the core: it makes me wonder whether we can survive the onslaught from the Left. Islamic fundamentalism we can deal with easily, provided only that we have the will to do it.
But this is something else. It's almost as if the lunacy of the late 60's and early 70's ("Symbionese Liberation Army", remember that shit?) got put in cold storage for thirty years after the end of the Vietnam War, only to be revived for the WoT.
For those of you who are too young to remember the 60's, forget the sentimental bullshit propaganda you've been raised on: THIS is what it was like, especially the hatred of America.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
05/17/2004 13:49 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Look for 'Good Morning We Hate America' type 'news' shows to start lining up to give Moore a blow job over his 'documentary'.
This guy makes me want to puke. How many american soldiers will this kill?
#4
When I saw the headline, I was kind of hoping it was like that other article, the one where the stage collapsed on the sheikh, or mullah, or whatever he was.
Damn fifth columnist bastard.
Posted by: The Doctor ||
05/17/2004 13:52 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Bring on Fahrenheit 911. I'll be going to this piece of crap to heckle, ridicule and really piss off the Boulder leftie f**ks.
Ranting in cyberspace is fun, but shoving it in their America-hating faces, face to face, is too sweet for words. Time to get loud, and remind them that theirs isn't the only opinion out there worth getting loud about...
#8
Hyper, you have a point! Most of America DOES NOT agree with the Hollywood elite. If they did, Howling Howard Dean would be the nominee right now. This film will leave a BAD taste in the mouth of anyone who dares to go see it. I hope Kerry gives it a good review!
#9
The left continuosly whines about being portrayed as traitors if they disagree. This goes beyond political disagreement. This is sheer treason to our country. It slanders us all. The shame of having someone like this portray the USA as this is beyond reprehensible.
Posted by: Bill Nelson ||
05/17/2004 14:40 Comments ||
Top||
#10
I thank the heavens that I live in a country where even these borderline traitors have the freedom to spout their trash. If they wanted to to disagree, even vehemently disagree, with our government and it's poilcies, I'd respect them. This is a horse of a different color entirely. This is insane, mindless, reasonless, spiteful hatred of all things not Left. It hides behind the facades of, "justice" and "peaceful co-existance" but in the end, these are spoiled, tantrum throwing, brats who didn't get their lollypops.
In the end, Michael Moore may turn out to be the Leni Riefenstahl of our generation. While I don't credit him with her amount of talent, I can't deny that he is effective at what he tries to do. After WWII, she insisted over and over again that she was unaware of the evils of the nazi party, and that she was just an artist. Uh-huh...right. And the people who lived just outside the fences of Auschwitz had no idea what was going on inside, either.
Don't worry though, Mr. Moore. If the good guys lose, I'm sure you will be rewarded for your help under the codes of sharia law. If the good guys win, you'll probably get a lifetime achievment award from the MPAA just like she did this year, as all you far-left shills pat yourselves on the back. Personally, I like to think that the reason you are feeding so well (with all those poor people starving in Iraq), is that because somewhere, there's someone in a red suit and horns preparing a really huge shindig for his pals and will need an appropriately sized main course.
Boy, are you going to be surprised the day that you get your special notification that you are to be the next "roast" at that "Fry-ers" club.
#12
So Moore's thesis is that the Bush family's Saudi connections, are deciding deployment of US troops. Hmmm. Exactly, what actions has Bush taken to even hinder Wahabi extremism in America, or anywhere? Powell, that personal friend of Prince Bandar, still employs HAMAS front leaders of the Islamic Society of North America as paid State Department consultants.
George Walker Bush entered the Presidency for the money. He will not protect American interests, where these run counter to oil patch needs.
Bush support is already down to 42%, and when he delivers Iraq to Iran, even his wife will divorce him. Is there an epidemic of brain death in America. Bush failed at every business opportunity that he ever entered. He was programed to fail at the Presidency, and he did exactly that. Only a hardline Congress can undo the damage done by that Texas Crook.
#13
Is there an epidemic of brain death in America.
Noted. Good of you to finally explain yourself.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
05/17/2004 15:49 Comments ||
Top||
#14
Duh! Blind obedience ain't good for the soul. Run your BS meters on the following:
12-yard link
Are the get-a-life flunkies going to jump off bridges when the Texas turd slips to 25% support? Think about it, because that is where that crook is headed.
#15
thanks for F*&king up the screen with your dumb non-linking URL, moron
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2004 16:14 Comments ||
Top||
#16
Yeah, the entertainment section of the Cleveland Plain Dealer is the source of all my hard political news, too.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
05/17/2004 16:15 Comments ||
Top||
#17
Michael Moore brings down house
What, he sat on it? How that gasbag get up on the roof?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/17/2004 17:18 Comments ||
Top||
#18
Mike Moore? In France? Dissed by Disney?
I would mortgage my house and sell all my possesions if I could get a bet down on this piece of shit to win best in show at Cannes. I'd clean up, even on short odds. This is a sure thing, so be ready.
Caught Via Drudge
With crude oil trading above $41 a barrel and terrorism fears helping to inflate the price, the U.S. has quietly continued to fill its emergency reserves to the highest level ever -- an amount experts say could be used to bring prices down, Mondayâs Wall Street Journal reported.
To guard against shortages, the U.S. and other nations have a combined 1.4 billion barrels of oil stored away, as governments have been steadily adding to their stocks since the shock of Sept. 11, 2001. Experts say oil markets have ignored that supply amid fears terrorist activity could reduce Middle East oil exports. The marketâs apparent disregard for that safety net has some analysts questioning whether the U.S. should use the reserves -- or even just threaten to use them -- to help calm the market and signal to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries that the U.S. wonât tolerate actions to maintain high prices.
Terrorism fears have resulted in a so-called terrorism premium that has pushed up crude prices as much as $5 to $10 a barrel over what supply and demand would suggest, some experts say.
The rise of crude-oil prices will be the focus of attention this week when the worldâs oil producers and consumers gather in Amsterdam for the International Energy Forum, a summit to discuss the market and how to better manage energy supply and demand. Among other things, OPEC and the International Energy Agency will be grappling with why prices have soared, even though supplies seem adequate.
Actually, refinery capacity and formulation requirements are the reasons weâre paying $2.37 for regular in San Diego
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2004 11:30:46 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
What the US governement has done is admirable, but unfortunately in terms of supply coverage, that is the number of days the reserve will cover imports, it has been steadily declining as US oil imports increases. From memory at one point it covered 80 days supply that has now declined to 50 days (as the reserve has increased). America MUST get off imported oil.
Posted by: Phil B ||
05/17/2004 11:38 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Frank, don't forget the 50 cents plus in taxes on that gallon.
#3
I'm tending to believe that the price of oil is headed up mainly because China and (to a lesser extent) India are rapidly adding to demand, at levels unanticipated by the refineries. If this is, in fact, the case, then oil is headed upwards of $50 per barrel. That should prove interesting.
#6
How high -- and for how long -- does it need to go before capped wells in the US are re-opened?
I remember wells in Ohio running in the late '70s; they're all capped now. They're not dry, but usually they cost more to run than they can earn.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
05/17/2004 15:13 Comments ||
Top||
#7
forgot to add a comment: remember when AlGore pleaded with Clinton to open the Strategic Reserve before the election? W fills it in case of a calamity...who's got the nation's interest ahead of his own?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2004 15:25 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Refinery capacity problems can be summed up with "Not in MY backyard!" Formulation issues arise whenever supply of the 'special' gas can't make it in a timely or efficient manner. Chicago had sky-high prices a year or so ago, thanks in large part to a pipeline problem down around St. Louis.
BLEEP THE PRESS: CAMERA MOVED OFF POWELL DURING RUSSERT GRILLING; AIDE ATTEMPTED TO CUT OFF INTERVIEW
Sun May 16 2004 10:45:35 ET
**Exclusive Details**
An aide to Sec. of State Colin Powell ordered a halt to a MEET THE PRESS interview and directed a camera to shoot a palm tree during provocative questioning by host Tim Russert!
Powell was being interview by satellite from Jordan.
State Department press aide Emily Miller fumed as Tim Russert went beyond the 10 minutes allotted for the NBC Sunday session.
MORE
On her show this AM, Laura Ingraham wondered why, if this was a TAPED interview, the whole thing couldnât have been edited.
My Answer : Russert became a Druid convert, and wanted to show his ecumenicism by conversing with a Palm Tree which is unknown in England, the home location of the Druid faith.
Posted by: BigEd ||
05/17/2004 11:05:05 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
There was a song, "I talk To The Trees", from the movie musical "Paint Your Wagon". I think it was sung by Clint Eastwood???
Posted by: Steve ||
05/17/2004 12:21 Comments ||
Top||
#3
I saw the interview. GRILLING??? Secretary Powell was more than holding his own against the midget democrat questioner. What was funny was democrat party flak russert screwed up his face and looked like he was going to bawl like max cleland after he lost his Senate seat. The fact little democrat party napoleons like russert actually believe President Bush administration officials are required to answer his royal highness's insipid questions is laughable. Ten minutes is ten minutes. Timmy cannot keep his word.
#5
Come on; Tim Russert may be a Democrat, but it doesn't show. He's as hard on Dems as he his Republicans.
Posted by: Thomas Pruitt ||
05/17/2004 22:18 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Thomas, you're being sarcastic, right?
Because Timmy's partisan slip is always showing!
If you doubt, take his interviews with any Bush official and then compare it to his softball questioning of Her Heinous, Hillary.
Best to take his interrogation interview with President Bush earlier this year for a real good clean impression.
He hates Bush and the GOP and doesn't hide it very well, hence this attempt to play "Gotcha" with SecState Powell.
Posted by: Jen ||
05/17/2004 22:25 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Jen , I admit Tim's a member of the gotcha club, but in this case, an over-enthusiastic staff member blew it. Powell handled it correctly, which Russert acknowledged forthrightly on Hannity's radio program today. He even asked that "Emily" (the nitwit in the camera movement club) not be canned
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2004 23:42 Comments ||
Top||
Burma's military rulers are reviving public debate today on a new constitution as part of a political "roadmap", which Rangoon unveiled last year following pressure from Asian allies to clean up its image.
But with Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's charismatic opposition leader, again under house arrest, and her National League for Democracy party (NLD) boycotting the talks, US politicians and human rights groups have already dubbed the so-called National Convention to rewrite the constitution a sham.
Western diplomats say it appears to have been set up merely to provide a civilian face - and a veneer of respectability - to the perpetuation of military rule.
In 1990, Burmese voters fed up with three decades of inept and oppressive military rule handed a landslide parliamentary election victory to the two-year old NDL, whose leader, Ms Suu Kyi, was also then under house arrest. Burma's stunned generals refused to cede power. Instead, they proclaimed the vote was only to elect delegates for a National Convention, which would write a new constitution before any political handover.
The constitutional talks that eventually started as a result went on for three years, but were suspended in 1996 after NLD delegates walked out. The NLD said last Friday it would not attend the talks, because of the junta's refusal to guarantee free and open discussion, or to release Ms Suu Kyi.
Rangoon's roadmap was charted largely to appease fellow members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations, which were embarrassed when Ms Suu Kyi was attacked and re-arrested last May, just a year after her freedom from house arrest raised hopes of change. Concerned that Asean's reputation was being hurt by the generals' intransigence, Asean countries have quietly told the junta to make progress towards reform by 2006, when Rangoon is due to take over the regional group's leadership.
The national convention is supposed to be the first step towards "free and fair" elections. But ground rules for the talks already point to an outcome far short of real civilian government, as delegates are expected to complete, and endorse, the controversial draft constitution abandoned earlier.
That draft's "guiding principle" - mandated by the junta - states that the constitution will guarantee the military's independence and pre-eminent political role.
I recall another political ideology that had this as a starting point.
Despite this unpromising starting point, the NLD initially said it would participate in the talks if the generals freed Ms Suu Kyi, allowed NLD offices to re-open and guaranteed that all constitutional principles could be discussed afresh, conditions the government has described as "unreasonable".
The NLD's absence will not deter the generals from attempting a political makeover, analysts and diplomats say. The junta's quest will be to try to reach agreements with Burma's myriad ethnic minorities, which together account for around 35 per cent of the population. But if the generals can reach deals with ethnic groups, the junta is likely to present its constitution as a fait accompli, and try to move on to the next stage of the process, ignoring the complaints of the west, as long as their Asian allies do not complain, says the analyst.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/17/2004 12:41:35 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
MICHAEL MOORE BRINGS DOWN HOUSE: LONGEST STANDING OVATION âIN HISTORY OF CANNESâ FOR BUSH BASH FILM
20 mins standing ovation for FAHRENHEIT 9-11, yelling, screaming, cheering... âThis is the longest stading ovation in the history of the festival! Unbelievable!â declared Cannes stalwart Thierry Fremaux. Moore, raising fist, unable to speak over crowd, vows to fight... Controversial scene in film shows wounded American GI in Iraq talking about how Democrats must win election... Movie shows video of U.S. soldiers laughing as they place hoods over Iraqi detainees, with one of them grabbing a prisonerâs genitals through a blanket...
#1
And this film was based on WHAT version of the truth? Everytime I see Mike Moooore I want to punch him in his fat face! Since when did PROPAGANDA become artful film making? And the fact that you can gather a group of Anti-American haters and have them applaud a American bashing film says nothing about the Director (sic).
#4
Movie shows video of U.S. soldiers laughing as they place hoods over Iraqi detainees, with one of them grabbing a prisonerâs genitals through a blanket...
That would explain why Disney wouldn't distribute the film. Does anybody know a Marine that will egg on Moore until he charges? I would like to see the headline " NYC suffers 7.1 Moorequake; Marine claims self-defence ".
Posted by: Charles ||
05/17/2004 14:37 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Bowling for Columbine hasn't changed any 2nd amendment opinions - in fact they have probably stiffen the resolve of most people regarding guns. This will only harden the left but will do little to shift pro-Bush numbers. If anything, it will piss off those who were going to sit the election out and bring them to the right.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
05/17/2004 14:49 Comments ||
Top||
#6
As a french , i am ashamed at the canne's event(don't get wrong ideas, i AM a minority around here).
The level of Bush/US hating is unbelievable in France.It seems that circuiting France is mandatory for every Bush basher.
Can i have faith and hope that the majority of americans will be immune from this media barrage?
I cannot vote nor donate , but sure i will celebrate in november when bush is reelected.I will make cut-outs of every major french paper and keep them for personal delight.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2004 15:27 Comments ||
Top||
#8
"Can i have faith and hope that the majority of americans will be immune from this media barrage?"
I would say there's better than a 50-50 chance of it. Not a LOT better, just a little.
God help us all-- Americans as well as everyone else-- if this fool Kerry gets elected.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
05/17/2004 15:51 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Too bad Democrat party doesn't want to permit those in the military to vote: Gore got a judge to disqualify the votes of Americas soldiers serving in our military in Florida in Nov. 2000
#10
Movie shows video of U.S. soldiers laughing as they place hoods over Iraqi detainees, with one of them grabbing a prisonerâs genitals through a blanket
And pray tell just when was Fat Mike in Iraq filming this event? Or did he just download it off some porn site.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/17/2004 16:42 Comments ||
Top||
#11
It's REAL important that this movie (sic) flops when it opens in the U.S. I still want to pop that fat mug of his!
#2
Apparently, the Indian version of the DJIA was off as much as 17% (http://money.cnn.com/2004/05/17/news/international/india_markets.reut/index.htm). If Bush were expected to win handily and then Kerry won instead, the DJII probably would probably tank but not anywhere near as much (I hope).
With crude oil trading above $41 a barrel and terrorism fears helping to inflate the price, the U.S. has quietly continued to fill its emergency reserves to the highest level ever -- an amount experts say could be used to bring prices down, Monday's Wall Street Journal reported.
It's not there for price support
To guard against shortages, the U.S. and other nations have a combined 1.4 billion barrels of oil stored away, as governments have been steadily adding to their stocks since the shock of Sept. 11, 2001.
Why, it's like there's a war on, or something...
Experts say oil markets have ignored that supply amid fears terrorist activity could reduce Middle East oil exports. The market's apparent disregard for that safety net has some analysts questioning whether the U.S. should use the reserves -- or even just threaten to use them -- to help calm the market and signal to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries that the U.S. won't tolerate actions to maintain high prices.
Continuing to fill them sends a message all it's own.
Terrorism fears have resulted in a so-called terrorism premium that has pushed up crude prices as much as $5 to $10 a barrel over what supply and demand would suggest, some experts say. The rise of crude-oil prices will be the focus of attention this week when the world's oil producers and consumers gather in Amsterdam for the International Energy Forum, a summit to discuss the market and how to better manage energy supply and demand. Among other things, OPEC and the International Energy Agency will be grappling with why prices have soared, even though supplies seem adequate.
Gee, it's almost like we're expecting a "interuption" in the flow of oil from someplace.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/17/2004 11:32:59 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Bwahaahaha
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2004 11:43 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Gee... I wonder why we're topping off the petroleum reserves? Is something up, I wonder? Are we thinking the Saudi oil ticks will be getting upset with us someday soon? If so, why?
Keep pumping.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
05/17/2004 12:05 Comments ||
Top||
#3
The White House knows there a very strong possibility of disruptions of crude oil from the Persian Gulf, Nigeria, Indonesia, Venezuela and other locations around the globe, and therefore must build stock of crude just in case. With each terrorist attack fear continues to mount in the energy trading pits. We can not rule out $4.00 a gallon gasoline over the summer contingent on developments effecting petroleum price treading.
The leadership of al-Qa'ida and OPEC member Iran is also aware that over the short term jacking up the price of crude earns them huge profits to engaged in broad-based on slots against the West.
The breaking news of the failed terrorist usage of sarin nerve gas is also ruffling global financial markets. It's difficult to plan for the long term corporate bottom line when energy costs keep rising to record breaking levels with no real end in sight. The rolling wave of petrol fuelled inflation is also a major concern on Wall Street, as it should have been months ago. Issuing realistic prognostications relating to the oil/inflation ratio does not make for bullish stock investors.
Because of the tension effecting energy outlooks, we could expect a summer with rolling brownouts in some urban areas and the situation will be made worse the coming summer's temps are scorching hot and supplies of energy are 'reported' to be in running low.
Obviously if restrictive EPA regulations allowed for exploration and drilling within the United States we would not be in this mess. It a sad state of affairs when an energy nation such as America needs to import one drop of oil.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
05/17/2004 12:07 Comments ||
Top||
#5
If it got right down to it how much oil does the USA have? Off the coast of California I understand there are large pools. Gulf of Mexico I hear is also a huge oil surplus.
Can anyone answer the question of how many years the USA could be on her own without importing another drop if we were to go after all of the pools of oil within the USA?
By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor in Soweto
All interiors are dark in Africa. Small windows are curtained against the dazzling light. But nothing can dim the light in Nombuleloâs eyes. After years of playing the traditional, obedient South African wife, she has cast off submissiveness and found her own voice. A woman who is infected through no fault of her own is still routinely abandoned, even if it is the husband who infected her in the first place.
"I am glad I told my partner I was HIV-positive because now I am free," she says. Her partner walked out, leaving Nombulelo to care for four of her own children plus five of her brotherâs and four of her sisterâs. Both of her siblings died of Aids. It is a costly kind of freedom, but now Nombulelo can speak her mind. The death sentence that is an HIV diagnosis has liberated her to act as witness against its cause. She is one of a growing band of women who are defying the stigma attached to the disease and speaking out against the main driver of the epidemic: men.
The world has put its faith in the arrival of cheap, anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs to save Africa from devastation. The World Health Organisation has just set out its "three by five" strategy - aimed at delivering the drugs to three million people by 2005 - in its annual World Health Report. A tour last week of three African countries - South Africa, Angola and Zambia - shows that the drugs are finally reaching the hospitals and clinics at the front line. But while drugs are a crucial part of the strategy to tackle Aids, they cannot solve the crisis. They may even fuel the epidemic if the numbers surviving with HIV grow. There is also the risk of drug resistance emerging if patients do not take them consistently - a major challenge in societies where chaos and insecurity are the norm. Or if the drugs are shared out by uneducated patients, a common result of distributing long term prescriptions without medical supervision.
If Africa is to be saved it will be by women like Nombulelo. A vivid red and blue bandana ties her hair, the only splash of colour in the room at the Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital in Soweto, South Africa, where she works. Standing with one hip thrust forward, chin raised, she said: "I disclosed to my partner and he left us. It was his girlfriend who gave it to us - she is dead now. We women have to bring our partners for testing - but it is not easy." Criminal prosecution of those who knowingly infect others might help.
She tells her story with dignity and composure. Only once, as she sets out the school fees she has to find for her monstrously swollen family do her eyes brim. "We have coped, but in the last year it has been hard," she says, a single tear spilling down her cheek. The burden of Aids falls disproportionately on women. In South Africa, one in four women are HIV positive by the age of 24, twice the infection rate in men. Teenage girls have sex with, and are infected by, older men - one symptom of the gender inequality that drives the Aids epidemic. Men become infected later. Overall, of the 25 million people living with HIV/Aids in sub-Saharan Africa, 58 per cent are women and 42 per cent men. For men, Aids is a distant threat. A disease that takes 10 years to kill hardly ranks against all other perils. But for women it shapes their lives. They care for the sick, worry about passing on the virus and worry about who will care for them when they are gone. In South Africa, more than half a million children have been orphaned by Aids and the number is projected to triple by 2010.
Behaviour change is the mantra that is uttered repeatedly in the era of Aids. But the ABC message - Abstain, Be faithful or use a Condom - is misdirected. It is men who need to change and women the only people able to make them do so. Men initiate sex, men control it and men pay for it with their greater wealth. (In Africa, once people become wealthy, they become more vulnerable to HIV.) For men, behaviour change is about denial. But for women, it means liberation. Empowering women through legal, educational and economic measures is the way to change men.
Sibu, 20, who lost both her parents to Aids and now works for Lovelife, the HIV/Aids prevention campaign for young people in South Africa supported by the US charity the Kaiser Family Foundation, said: "Girls are expected to be submissive, not independent. They want a girl who calls them up and pleads âCan you give me 50 bucks for clothes?â Men donât want a girl who is independent, has money, can buy her own clothes. They run - whoosh."
Boys, and men, are the hardest to engage in Aids prevention. In Kwa Zulu Natal, the fertile coastal strip where fields of sugar cane stretch to the horizon, the Gamalake clinic supported by Lovelife offers condoms and treatment for sexually transmitted infections to young people. But 80 per cent of its clients are girls and only 20 per cent boys. Sister Sedaki, who runs the clinic, says: "We need strategies for bringing in the boys. Boys are stupid stubborn." I put this point to Colonel Joao de Deus, head of Aids prevention for the Angolan Armed Forces. Did he accept that without men there would be no Aids epidemic? The colonel, a big man with a bull neck, paused."This is a sensitive social issue. We cannot change it overnight," he then said. Sitting next to him, Colonel Francisco Ernesto, head of public health, delivered a smart riposte. "Polygamy is common in Muslim countries with low rates of HIV, so that cannot be the problem."
Reluctance to acknowledge the crucial role that men play in the epidemic is unsurprising in a country where a manâs status is measured by the number of his female partners. A Portuguese doctor at the dinner later whispered to me: "If you are a general you have three or four women, each with an apartment and a car. It is natural. It is expected." Angolaâs capital Luanda, formerly a city of 600,000, has seen its population swell to four million. Its chaotic rubbish-strewn streets, rutted and pot-holed, are home to a human deluge wandering beside and among gridlocked traffic. Yet in this former Portuguese colony, statuesque young women in improbably elegant clothes sashay down the dusty streets. Faustina, 23, a pretty translator, said: "Men with money - they pay the sex workers and the sex workers depend on the men. That is the problem." The best hope of changing attitudes is to encourage people to have HIV testing. Many have preferred not to know their HIV status because nothing could be done to help them but he arrival of ARV drugs has given testing a new purpose. Mandatory testing of all adults might help.
All over southern Africa you hear the same story: where the drugs are available, people are more ready to be tested. Rolling out the drugs is crucial to delivering the prevention message. But there are problems. At Cajueiros hospital in Luanda, a young doctor who helps run the HIV clinic shows us into a small, stuffy room where the equipment for carrying out CD4 cell counts is housed. The air conditioning is broken and the reagents used in the process congeal in the heat. So the equipment is useless until the air conditioning can be fixed. In Zambia, where 23 per cent of the urban population is HIV positive, the main teaching hospital in Lusaka has lost a third of its nursing staff. Many left for better-paid jobs in Botswana, South Africa ... and the UK. There are also problems of compliance with drugs that may have unpleasant side effects, or no effect at all, and must be taken for life.
Witbank, 70km north of Johannesburg, where slag heaps loom over the squatters shacks, Anglo Coal has instituted an Aids treatment programme for its employees. By the end of March, 1,534 miners had started on ARV drugs. But a fifth dropped out and tests showed a fifth of those who said they took the drugs were not taking them as prescribed. Doctors have warned that if the ARVs are not taken as prescribed, there is a real risk of resistant strains of HIV developing which could worsen the epidemic. If drugs cannot solve the problem, women may. Across the continent, women are driving the campaign against Aids. But their low status and economic powerlessness makes them most vulnerable to it. A more concerted drive is needed to help Africaâs women. If the help were focused on women, it would be more likely to be taken up and, through them, have the greatest chance of impacting on men. Women have the incentive to change that men lack.
Gloria Kingu, a director of the Zambian Network of Persons Living with HIV/Aids, said: "The woman is the backbone of the African household. In marriage, a man becomes a child to a woman and she has to carry him to the end." The United States will propose next week a rapid review process to ensure it provides safe, effective Aids drugs to developing countries in the shortest time possible, under President George Bushâs $15bn Aids relief plan. Some estimates range between 25% to 50% infection rates in certain areas. Africaâs death knell is sounding and its economically privileged chauvanistic men are vigorously tugging on the bell rope. EMPHASIS ADDED
Posted by: Zenster ||
05/17/2004 12:56:50 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Important as sex-ed and condoms are in stopping transmission of AIDS, another major problem in Africa is unsafe, non-sterile medical practices. There is rampant re-use of items that are supposed to be used but one time, such as needles, scalpel blades, etc. When you're dirt-poor these things happen but it makes the HIV infection rate even worse.
Uganda made significant strides in its HIV infection rate by combining sex ed and improved health care practices. That's how it has to be done.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/17/2004 1:58 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Steve, while sex-ed and improved medical practices are certainly important components of reducing overall infection rates there is another factor that might prove much more effective in the long term.
It is critical to break the "woman as chattel" mentality that is so ingrained into much of African society. Once a woman becomes pregnant, she is left to the mercy of this frequently misogynistic and brutal culture.
Long term time release female contraception in the form of Norplant could go a long way towards breaking the vicious cycle of nearly continuous pregnancy that is so deleterious to women's overall health.
Released from teenage childbearing, more women could obtain higher education and thereby throw off the yoke of dependence upon more traditional and repressive family structures that currently predominate. This would also translate into lower infant mortality rates due to better earning power for women.
With so much of the world's population shifting towards urban centers, having large families that support agricultural life styles is now less important than ever.
There are profound paradigm shifts that must occur if African women are to have any real chance of surviving the AIDS epidemic. One of them is overcoming the outmoded tradition of tribal male dominance. Higher education is one of the few hopes for such a sea change in Africa's stagnant culture.
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.
