Oliver Stone has been arrested for investigation of drug possession and driving while intoxicated, police said today.
Stone, 58, was arrested last night at a police checkpoint on Sunset Boulevard after showing signs of alcohol intoxication, police Sergeant John Edmundson said.
A search of his Mercedes turned up drugs, Edmundson said. He did not specify what kind.
Funny how those Hollywierd types all end up the same. Stone has done more to reinforce the howling moonbat conspiracy theorists out there than anyone alive, and has distorted history (Platoon, etc) more than anyone outside of academia. Care to be he gets a slap on the wrist, whereas one of us would see jail time as a repeat offender and posession of drugs?
#2
Roadblock you say? What kinda uniforms were the Nazi jackbooted thugs wearing? Was it jet black supple leather? White crash helmets, crops, circles or whips? I need details!
#6
my bitch with Stone would start with hi sloving tribute to Fidel, and end with representing history through twisted lies without calling it a fictionalized account. If he'd say that up front, fair enough
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/28/2005 19:05 Comments ||
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#7
It was arranged.
Posted by: Man Grassy Knoll On ||
05/28/2005 21:11 Comments ||
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Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Friday offered an overweight youth a job as aerobic trainer at its Sports Science and Recreation Faculty if he manages to reduce his weight by at least 80kg [176 lbs] in six months.
UiTM Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and Internationalisation) Prof Datuk Ir Sahol Hamid Abu Bakar made the offer to Mohd Said Ibrahim, 19, after the youth went for a medical examination and visited the university's training facilities, here. He said the offer raised the spirit of Mohd Said, who weighs 250kg [550 lbs], to go through the "slimming" regime at the university.
He said the faculty would not use drugs to reduce Mohd Said's weight and would seek the cooperation of UiTM's other faculties such as the medical and pharmacy faculties to make the programme a success...
Mohd Said drew media attention recently after he could not take part in the National Service (NS) training programme because of his excessive weight. Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak threw him a challenge to reduce his weight to 100kg [220 lb] to qualify him to participate in the National Service training programme in the next six months.
Another reason, amongst many, why I hit my knees in prayer every night for me, my wife and daughter ...
Eight-month-old girl child Mukta, who was critically injured in an acid attack by unidentified miscreants in Koira upazila on Thursday night, died at Khulna Medical College and Hospital (KMCH) at 2:30pm yesterday. The victim's mother Rexona, 28, and brother Badsha, 6, also injured in the acid attack, were admitted to the hospital in a critical condition. They were shifted to Dhaka at 6:00pm yesterday for better treatment as advised by the doctors.
According to police, Mostafa Molla of Jaigirmahal village under Koira upazila of the district were asleep with his wife Rexona, son Badsha and daughter Mukta when some unidentified miscreants threw acid on them at around 11:30pm. Mostafa escaped unhurt from the acid attack. According to Mostafa, the attack was launched taking advantage of loadshedding.
Police said the acid attack might have been made following a previous dispute between Mostafa Molla and Ebadat Hossain, chairman of Jaigirmahal Union Parishad (UP) under Koira upazila over possession of a shrimp enclosure. The attack was aimed to kill all members of the family at a time, police said.
They said Mostafa Molla is a shrimp trader by profession. UP Chairman Ebadat Hossain threatened Mostafa Molla to quit the shrimp enclosure voluntarily or to pay toll of Tk 2 lakh per month. Mostafa did not agree to either. On May 23, UP Chairman Ebadat Hossain threatened Mostafa Molla to liquidate his entire family, said officer-in-charge of Koira Police Station.
Police could not nab the UP chairman as of 6:00pm yesterday. A case was recorded with Koira Police Station at 4:30pm, two hours after the death of Mukta.
I won't mind a bit, I swear I won't, if the RAB takes care of this one.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/28/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
"I won't mind a bit, I swear I won't, if the RAB takes care of this one."
I second that sentiment Dr Steve. Of course I must readily admit that I favor RAB actions in almost all cases. They fill the obvious vacuum and seem to be the medicine needed. We know this type of thuggery, and we know what it takes to control it.
JAPAN is checking reports that at least two elderly Japanese men found on a Philippines island are soldiers left behind from World War II who are unaware of Tokyo's surrender.
Japanese diplomats have flown to General Santos city, 1300km south of Manila, to meet two men in their 80s, who were said to be living in fear of being executed for deserting the now defunct imperial army.
"What a surprise it would be if it's true," Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said
Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said the embassy in Manila received information that "two men believed to be former Japanese soldiers are alive".
The welfare and labour ministry, which handles veterans' affairs, said it had heard from Japanese people in Mindanao about four possible former soldiers on the lawless island of Mindanao who wanted to return to Japan.
Japan's consul general in Manila, Akio Egawa, said the diplomats would interview the pair to confirm if they were soldiers from World War II.
"It is an incredible story if it is true," he said.
Yoshihiko Terashima, 86, who heads a council of Japanese war veterans' associations, said he spoke last year to a Filipina logger whose husband was Japanese and reported running into two lost former soldiers.
"The men told the woman: We may be court-martialed and executed by firing squad if we return to Japan," Mr Terashima said.
The comment would indicate the men have no idea the once-ruthless imperial army has been defunct for six decades and Japan officially no longer has a military.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda, the Government spokesman, said the two men had a go-between who apparently feared what would happen if the recluses suddenly saw a mass of journalists.
But a senior Filipino police intelligence officer in the area cautioned that the story was yet to be confirmed.
"There is a possibility that this could just be a hoax," the office said.
"Somebody may just want to gain something."
Mindanao, an island of dense jungle, has witnessed more than two decades of Islamic insurgency.
Japanese media reports said the pair had been living in guerrilla-controlled mountains near sprawling General Santos.
A former soldier who served in the unit in which the men were reported to have served said he had heard from other veterans that one of them had been telling residents in Mindanao that his family name was Sakurai.
"In October or November, I heard local residents went into the mountains and met the man, who said 'My name is Sakurai, I am a Japanese'," Goichi Ichikawa, 89, said in Japan.
"The man apparently said he wanted to go home, but was worried."
Kyodo News agency, citing Japanese Government sources, identified the two men as Yoshio Yamakawa, 87, and Tsuzuki Nakauchi, 85.
The Sankei Shimbun daily said the men were believed to belong to the "panther division".
About 80 per cent of the division's members died or went missing while battling US forces.
Japan attacked the Philippines, then a US colony, hours after its 1941 air raid on Pearl Harbour and formed a puppet government of Filipino oligarchs. The occupation was brutal. About one million Filipinos are estimated to have died. Filipina women were sexually enslaved.
Japan was stunned in 1974 when former imperial Japanese army intelligence officer Hiroo Onoda was found living in the jungle on the Philippine island of Lubang. He did not know of Japan's surrender 29 years earlier.
After being repatriated, Mr Onoda emigrated to Brazil.
Another former Japanese soldier, Shoichi Yokoi, was found on Guam in 1972. He returned home and died in 1997.
Hundreds crammed into pubs and clubs and gathered around television sets in shops, Australians were yesterday transfixed as Schapelle Corby learnt her fate. At the MLC centre in Sydney, people seemed stunned as they digested the 20-year sentence. "I really thought she was going to come home today," Rachel Turner, 28, said. "There just didn't seem to be enough evidence to prove her guilty. It doesn't make sense the Bali bombers who killed hundreds of people get nothing, but she gets 20 years."
You're just not Islamic enough to understand, honey.
Eryn Bousfield, 25, said she would protest against the sentence by never holidaying in Bali. "I said if she's found guilty I would never travel to Indonesia as a protest against what's happened to her," she said.
Laura Draper, 18, admired the way Corby handled the pressure of the dramatic sentencing. "I feel for her. I think it's really awful," the Wollongong student said. "It's just horrible."
Sam McCue, 21, showed her support for Corby by wearing a colourful wristband emblazoned with the words "Peace, Courage and Love". "It is great Australians are showing their support," the Cronulla woman said. "Even such a little thing would mean a lot to her."
At the Tugun Surf Club on the Gold Coast, more than 100 Corby supporters were inconsolable after watching the verdict live. Friend Natalie Wolfe stood and wept while Guy Pilgrim looked stunned.
Corby's second cousin, Lyn Lack, screamed: "We want to bring her home - we don't want to leave her over there." Michael Corby, Corby's older brother, was also stunned by the judgment. "I thought I was ready to hear a verdict like this but when it happened I was only half ready," he said from the Tugun Tavern. "Twenty years is a long time. That's most of her life."
Corby's ex-boyfriend Shannon McLure, who watched the sentence on a tiny hand-held television at a Brisbane building site, was shocked. "I just don't know what she's going to do," the 27-year-old said. "I think it'd break anyone - 20 years in jail when you're innocent."
Real supportive schmuck, isn't he.
Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, whose case has been likened to the Corby saga, said she was praying for the beauty student. "My heart goes out to Schapelle Corby and her family," she said. "I know what it feels like and how hard it is to keep your courage up under the circumstances."
The outpouring of anger saw the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra bombarded with hate phone calls from "very emotional people" immediately after the guilty verdict. Before the verdict, federal police upgraded security at Indonesian missions, with a dozen officers guarding the embassy in Canberra.
But not everyone was outraged by the sentence. "I think it's excellent she didn't get the death penalty," Amir Yassa, 26, of Quakers Hill said. "She's got a lot of evidence against her and I don't think she brought up any hard evidence to get her off."
#4
It's a different system of Justice in Indo (inquisatorial). You must prove your innocence. NOT on the balance of probability. In other words.......... She must present the shmuck that planted the gunga in her boogie board bag, or prove who put it there....
Like oh yeah........ he's gonna jump up and say "It's mine...it's mine..... it's really good shit too !!! I'll jump in this rat infested cell for 20 years and eat cold nasi goreng !!!"
Mmm maybe not !!! But that's the Dutch/French colonial system of justice. Guilty until proven innocent....... don't like it ??..... get Mr. Bush to drop some ordinance there.....oh yeah.... I forgot. U.S.A. has just got back into bed with the Jakarta T.N.I Military, and snuggled up next to their Human Rights Violation Record. Well done people !!! Let's shoot the hell out of what's left of Aceh !!! Yipeee *hilk* *hilk*
Oh well....... maybe just call the Wilderness Girls to demonstrate outside the Embassy in Bali and sell some cookies......lol
Forget the baggage handler theory. It was grown in Bali.....put there in Bali...... by a desparate little Javanese Intel Operative to show the world, and impress the International Community that "We're serious about fighting drugs and terrorism.......come invest in Indonesia !!"
Whilst 7 kilo's of Double UO Globe pass the busy Indo Narc dudes and Customs boys....
If only they could have waited for the Bali 9.5 !!! A nice gesture Australian Federal Police........ but a tad too late for Corby Darling.
#5
Sam McCue, 21, showed her support for Corby by wearing a colourful wristband emblazoned with the words "Peace, Courage and Love". "It is great Australians are showing their support," the Cronulla woman said. "Even such a little thing would mean a lot to her."
#6
SE - So it is Bush's fault or not? Need another toke / round to make up your mind? Geez, wotta fucking load.
As if this hasn't been done bafuckingzillions of times the world over - and Americans are juicy targets, too, getting set up regularly all over the world. None of what you're pissed about lies at the US's door asshole, so the roundabout suggestion you make to link it is fuckwit twaddle. It's the oldest gig in the book for a corrupt Fed of any Govt. The guilty until proven innocent complaint, the setup, the corruption, the sting, the prison, the shitty world of Indo - none of it has dick to do with the US or Bush. Unfuckingbelievable.
1) If an US customs officer opened my bag at the airport and found 4 kg of drugs in it, I should have a better excuse than "some baggage handler could have placed it", right? Look up "prima facie" to understand what I mean.
2) If I weren't a pretty young woman, would anybody care?
Conclusion: Do what I have been doing for decades: Go through your baggage once again before you go through customs. Especially in countries that can give you the death penalty when they find things that do not belong in your baggage.
That said, giving people a few years for plotting the slaughter of hundreds of tourists and 20 years to a girl who may or may not have smuggled weed makes me wonder whether I would want to spend my holidays in such a country.
#8
Agreed TWA,
The world has changed, years ago I even traveled (by myself of course)to countrys the US had imposed travel restrictions on, no embassy/counsulate.
I would never let any of my family visit/holiday a/in muzzy country today. Our dollars will go to Alaska etc.
Posted by: R ||
05/28/2005 12:51 Comments ||
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#9
R
Try the Oktoberfest in Munich. When it's there Germany will already have a conservative, US-friendly government.
The insquisitorial system has nothing to do about the fact of being guilty until proven innocent. It is a tecnical term for a system where a judge seeks the truth during the investigation. Thus he orders searches, summons witnesses for interrogation and generally leads the investigation. And in France he is supposed to investigate iun both directions: those who would lead to a guilty verdict and those leading to not guilty.
The opposite is the accusatorial system where cops and lawyers bring proofs and witnesses to the judge during the investigation and he is just a refereee.
In both cases (inquisitorail or accusatorial) once the investigation ends there is a trial by jury with the accused being prresumed innocent.
#11
I think what's happened to this girl is sad, but I don't think it is the court system in Indonesia not working -- except that she had a lousy defense to some really serious charges in a country that is unforgiving toward drug use. As for the argument of inequitable sentences, (e.g., âThat said, giving people a few years for plotting the slaughter of hundreds of tourists and 20 years to a girl who may or may not have smuggled weed makes me wonder whether I would want to spend my holidays in such a country.â), that hasn't happened -- although from reports in the MSM, you wouldn't know that. I think the actual number of death sentences and life in prison sentences related to the Bali bombings are higher, but a quick search found the following at this link:
On 30 April 2003, the first charges related to the Bali bombings were made against Amrozi bin Haji Nurhasyim, known as Amrozi, for allegedly buying the explosives and the van used in the bombings. On 8 August he was found guilty and sentenced to death by shooting. Another participant in the bombing, Imam Samudra, was sentenced to death on 10 September. Amrozi's brother, Ali Imron, who had expressed remorse for his part in the bombing, was sentenced to life imprisonment on 18 September. A fourth accused, Mukhlas, was sentenced to death on 1 October. All those convicted have said they will appeal.
From what I recall, there also have been a number of lesser sentences for participants with minor roles, and these are the sentences in the three to twenty year range that keep getting suggested as the only sentences related to the Bali bombings. Why the MSM wonât report the death sentences can only be explained by the drive to perpetuate controversy and conflict that is the life blood of media.
#12
Her problem was that she was put in a position where she had to offer evidence to support her version of events and to counter the customs officers version. She was unable to do that. In the West the fact that no one is their right mind would smuggle drugs from a place where they are worth a lot to a place where are worth very little, would have been taken into consideration. However, in Indonesia logic and commonsense rarely enter the picture.
BERLIN Germany's Greens, once a protest party of Marxists, Maoists and Trotskyites that first tasted power 20 years ago by joining a Social Democratic government in the state of Hessen, are gearing up for another fight. This time, the stakes are much higher. "The big question is whether the red-green experiment is over," said Ralf Fuecks, director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, which is affiliated with the Greens.
Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who stunned Germany's political parties Sunday after his Social Democrats lost in North Rhine-Westphalia by announcing that he would hold early elections in September, said his party would again form a government with the Greens, his coalition partners since 1998.
But the Greens, which in the late 1990s seemed invincible and even set to become a permanent political fixture on the regional and federal political scene, are in a mess. And to make matters worse, the Social Democrats are divided over running any election campaign on a red-green ticket. So are the Greens. Each feels damaged by each other's policies. One of the Green leaders, Reinhard BÃŒtikofer, said Tuesday: "Of course, the Greens want another red-green coalition. But we will not run a red-green campaign. We will run a Green campaign."
The tide, however, is not in the Greens' favor, judging from a string of election defeats it suffered after joining Schröder's first government in 1998. Since then, like a house of cards tumbling down one by one, the red-green coalitions fell. The first to fall was in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt in 1998, then in Hessen a year later, followed in 2001 by Hamburg.
There was worse to come. The red-green coalition was thrown out in February from Schleswig-Holstein and on Sunday in North Rhine-Westphalia, both states once considered Social Democratic and Green bastions. "The federal government is the last of the red-green coalitions," said Fuecks, who warned that the only chance for the Greens during the coming election campaign was to clearly define what they stood for.
No, the only chance is for the Greens is to obfuscate what they stand for.
So what has gone wrong with a political constellation that generated so much hope in trying to modernize Germany's economic and social system? "It is always difficult being the junior partner," said Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a German who leads the Green grouping in the European Parliament.
Ever since joining the Schröder government, the Greens have repeatedly made compromises or remained silent over issues that represented their core constituency. They failed to criticize the human rights record of President Vladimir Putin of Russia because Schröder had developed a close relationship with him and had won several large contracts for German companies. And they failed to block tough new immigration laws drawn up by the Social Democrat interior minister, Otto Schily.
The Greens managed, however, to secure new rights for gay couples, including approval of a partnership that falls just short of marriage. They belatedly started to speak out against Schröder's decision to back European Union plans to lift the arms embargo that had been imposed on China when it became clear the party was losing support.
The Greens had another falling-out with Schröder when they said that they would not back a new missile defense system that was intended to provide better protection for German troops involved in peacekeeping missions. The Social Democrats were furious and publicly criticized the Greens in a way that exposed serious tensions in the coalition. After enormous pressure, the Greens caved in, yet, paradoxically, it was a Greens member of the government, Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, who led a fundamental shift in Green ideology by agreeing in the late 1990s to send troops abroad.
The Greens also want social and economic changes to go much farther while the left-wing of the Social Democrats want to slow down the reforms because of rising unemployment that has eroded support for the Schröder government. Indeed, younger and more leftist Social Democratic legislators, such as Andrea Nahles, have often blamed the Greens for the growing unpopularity of her party because the Greens want further reforms.
There are other differences but the biggest is one of outlook. "The Greens," said Fuecks, "whose voters are professionals and academics, are still the party for minority rights, environmental and ecological issues for sustainable development. They jar with real existential issues such as having a job. The Greens stance has confused their voters. They will have to spell out clearly what they stand for in the coming weeks if they are to survive and if the red-green experience is to survive."
The Greens are banking on Fischer, the student protester and first-ever Greens minister, to rescue them. Even though he has withdrawn from the day to day running of the party, until recently he was still Germany's most popular politician. That was until he became embroiled in a visa controversy in which lax controls by German embassies in Ukraine and other countries led to hundreds of thousands of people entering Germany under dubious circumstances. The Fischer case was eventually examined by a special parliamentary committee, with the hearings broadcast live on television.
"Fischer ist Geschichte" (Fischer is History), Tageszeitung, Germany's satirical and investigative newspaper, rumbled Tuesday. But Fuecks said it was too early to write him off. "Fischer is a crisis management man. He is best when he is put out on front, when there is a crisis facing the Greens, like now."
Schröder, trying to keep his Social Democratic Party united before campaigning starts for the September federal elections, took a blow Tuesday when his arch rival and former finance minister, Oskar Lafontaine, said he would leave the Social Democratic Party and even try to run for an alternative leftist party. A leftist Social Democrat who has never supported Schröder's changes or attempts to modernize the German economy, Lafontaine could mobilize disillusioned voters and erode support for Schröder.
Lafontaine said he would run against the Social Democrats if the Democratic Socialists, made up of former East German Communist Party members, combined forces with a leftist splinter party called Wahl Alternative, founded by former Social Democrats and trade unionists. So far, no Social Democrats in Parliament, some of whom oppose Schröder's changes, have said they would join Lafontaine.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/28/2005 12:28 ||
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#1
In some fields the Greens have actually been more competent than the Reds (which wasn't that hard). The Greens basically saved Schroeder in 2002.
Today the Greens could double their votes and still Schroeder is going down. The only thing anticipated elections change is that he's going down with a bang, not a whimper.
His party would have sunk him without those elections.
#4
So, what you're saying, TGA, is that Europe could be on the verge of an amazing political transformation, and the Germans could well be leading the way.
Amazing as in positive for the contintent and for the USA. A wrenching 'round of the wheel at the last moment, as Paul Carrell would say.
#5
Europe could be on the verge of an amazing political transformation
If so, it has more to do with economics than a turn toward the US way of seeing things. Europeans (Germany in this case) will still be anti-US when it comes to foreign policy.
Posted by: Rafael ||
05/28/2005 15:47 Comments ||
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#6
Turn around the economy and the US wont be needed as a "capitalist scapegoat".
Of course things won't change overnight and a conservative government cant work miracles.
But it won't have an excuse for not trying, come September 18th.
Unfortunately the CDU/CSU doesn't havce quite its (economic act) together... it's the liberal (free market) FDP that needs to be strong to push Merkel in the right direction. She is free market, too, but not all of her party members favor a cut taxes approach.
Almost all German politicians make the same "Denkfehler" (error of thinking). When they want to cut taxes they always think of balancing the budget with tax raises. The idea is: We don't have the money to cut taxes.
That's what they miss about the US. You HAVE to cut taxes EXACTLY because you don't have the money. Do it and the economy will grow, employment will soar... and tax income.
But the problem is that with the Euro we can't really go the bold Bush approach.
Merci la France
#8
Well, it's an easy one: Did US tax revenues go op after the tax cuts?
They did. Q.e.d.
Wish all theories were that easy to prove. Sometimes you can indeed draw them on a napkin.
#10
But...but...cutting taxes is wrong! The government can put that money to much better use than some *spit* CORPORATION. The corporation will merely increase its profits. And profit is the root of all evil.
Hat tip: Captain's Quarters. EFL.
Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac will be pitched into a furious six-month dispute over the future direction of the European Union if the French people vote No to the EU constitution tomorrow.
Government sources are braced for the French president to round on the Prime Minister and blame him for making the constitution too "Anglo-Saxon" on economic issues and for plunging Europe into crisis as a result. Yeah, yeah, Jackie-baby - it's anyone's fault but YOURS. On the other hand, hallelujah! For once Sir Phrog is not blaming President Bush. (Sorry, Tony.)
They also expect Mr Chirac to launch a fresh assault on Britain's £3 billion rebate from the EU budget. Then Tony will say "boo" and Jackie will surrender.
British diplomats believe that Mr Chirac will call for France, Germany and other nations to form a "core Europe" in which they can push ahead with integration without being held back by laggards such as Britain. That figures. Knock yourselves out, idiots. Though "laggard" is a term the Phrench might not want to be bandying about in public. ;-p
Jaques hasn't figured out yet that he's the laggard.
I've got the popcorn concession! :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/28/2005 01:13 ||
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#1
Tony keeps muttering something about "Henry" and the Salic Law, whatever that is...
#2
Isn't that where England still owns Normandy because it was the property of William the Bastard, that funny little man who conquered England in 1066 A.D.? It seems to me that a couple of wars were fought over it, and some girl, I think St. Joan was her name, was burnt at the stake as a witch? ;-)
Posted by: Captain America ||
05/28/2005 4:26 Comments ||
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#5
Bordeaux not Normandy is what should fall in English hands (so people would drink English wines when they want something good). Normandy was a strongholmd of an anti-english resistance movement during the Hundred Yaers Wars while Bordeaux after being retaken by the French, raised and expelled them. However by that time England wasn't able to help it so the French took Bordeaux again and there was a sttroing repression.
BTW: The use of Salic law for French succession was just a trick if the FRench nobility who wanted to keep the old ways of semi-indpendant noblmes instead of teh British way where the King really ruled and kepot them in check: the French monarchy decendent of the Ripuarian Franks not from the Salian and thus Salic law didn't apply.
#6
Could anyone earse my preceeding post; it is so full of typos to be unreadable. Here is the corrected version.
It is not Normandy but Bordeaux, alongside with its wines, who should fall in English hands English hands. Normandy was a stronghold of an anti-english resistance movement during the Hundred Years War while Bordeaux (capital of Aquitaine and thus a fiedfom of the Plantagenets) after being retaken by the French, raised and expelled them. However by that time England wasn't able to send help so the French took Bordeaux again and exerted a heavy repression against the insurgents. This marked the end of the Hundred Years War.
BTW: The use of Salic law for French succession was just a trick of the French nobility who wanted to keep the old ways of independant nobles paying only lip service to the crown, raising their own taxes and having their own armies instead of the British way where there was a real State and the King kept the nobility in check. The French monarchy was descendent of the Ripuarian Franks not from the Salian Franks and thus there was no legal base for applying the Salic law to France's succession.
#7
"They also expect Mr Chirac to launch a fresh assault on Britain's £3 billion rebate from the EU budget."
Then Tony will say "boo" and Jackie will surrender.
Don't bank on it. Chirac's not alone in demanding an end to the British rebate. Those French farmer types aren't the only ones whose livelihoods and standard of living are threatened by poor continental economic performance. They feel they have a right to a share of Britain's economic success because we're all meant to be so integrated now. We have had a system whereby economic backwaters like Ireland and Spain have been injected with other nations' wealth for decades now, and just because there are fewer and fewer nations able to donate without suffering significantly themselves, they see no reason to change the fundamental system but rather to increase the demands on those left. It's unsporting to be successful and not become a cash cow for your lazier neighbours, especially when more and more of your neighbours are getting lazy by the year. That's the EU / socialistic way.
Britain will have to fight hard to retain the rebate, and become even more unpopular and envied in the process.
How about Winston's old Union of English Speaking Peoples idea? Why EU? Why not a new alternative? Exploratory talks might do wonders when the folks start to complain about the rebate.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/28/2005 10:43 Comments ||
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#12
So easy to get the oui, Monsieur Chirac.
Fire Raffarin TODAY
Promise early presidential elections (without running yourself) if the French vote oui.
Call Giscard, who said that if the French say non they will have to revote, a pompous ass.
#13
But TGA, doesn't Chirac go to jail if he stops being President?
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
05/28/2005 12:21 Comments ||
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#14
Not likely. They can give him a seat in the European Parliament or make him a member of the Senate to enjoy immunity.
Now if you asked "should he go to jail"...
Of course the French "Non" runs deeper than day to day politics. For years the semi-democratic (I'd coin the word "post-democratic") EU has told the French what they can't do without bothering much about common sense. Now it's payback time.
The EU will not crumble. A "Non" will be a welcome opportunity to rethink the EU. Maybe try that "We the people" approach?
Trying to coin a European identity by going anti-American isn't very intelligent.
The leftist German daily "taz" (which is famous for its brilliant snarky headlines) had this to say about Germany voting Yes.
"569 Germans vote for Europe".
The German Parliament had no mandate for doing this. It transferred quite a few sovereign democratic rights of the German people away to post-democratic Brussels. I believe a German vote would have been quite similar to the French one.
#15
TGA, you really think the Anglo-Saxon economy and Turkish membership are just canards relative to a popularity contest for the current administration? All politics is local, but I would hope the French are evaluating the issue with a somewhat broader perspective than that.
After previewing, I can only conclude, how stupid of me to think that.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
05/28/2005 13:12 Comments ||
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#16
Winston Churchill's idea... hmm...
Not bad. US, UK, Aus already work together a lot. Especially in intel and specops. Thats the strongest true alliance on the planet.
Adding India to a "NATO" type of probably wouldn't hurt.
New Zealand and Canada?
Well the Kiwi's usually stand with us.
But the Canadians lately are acting like Euro Tranzis, or a 3rd world country with the kleptocrats in charge (Paul Martin). Put them in as non-voting members since they also require that people speak French.
#18
Mrs Davis... Turkey in the EU would be a "local issue" for the French (or the Germans)... it affects us personally.
But it's certainly not all about clubbing Chirac.. there is a deeper concern about losing identity. This is more important to the French than to the Germans (given the darker periods of German history).
The Germans saw the EU as a convenient institution to "hide" their true strength. It saved them from asserting a visible dominant political role in Europe that would compel other European nations to gang up against them.
The French instead saw the EU as a convenient tool to "dominate" Europe (backed up with German economic power).
In the 90s this all changed. It's common (but not widely published) knowledge that Maastricht Treaty and the Euro was a French invention to curb the newly feared economic power of the Bundesbank.
We were shortchanged.
2007 could be interesting. Sarkozy is much closer to the German conservatives, so Sarkozy/Merkel will make an interesting couple.
2006 will not be a good year for Chirac. Germany will focus on mending the transatlantic fences and France will be a spectator. Oh sure, lots of French/German meetings, smiles for the cameras but Chirac will be a lonely man.
And I think George Bush, who has a good memory, will not forget who stood by him in 2002, when it was very unpopular in Germany to do so.
In what way, recently? It seems to me that they've been increasingly anti-US since the 70s, but maybe I'm missing something ....
Posted by: too true ||
05/28/2005 14:15 Comments ||
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#20
I agree with TGA's analysis. New Zealand has for practical purposes disarmed and gone neutral. They are free-riding on US and Australian defence efforts.
Via Lucianne, we got em.
Much has been made lately of the idea that teenage "cool" is giving way to a renaissance of conservatism. But are young Germans really seeking the security and stability of anachronistic values over their right to rebel They are rebelling, you idiot.
Politically at least, Germany does indeed appear to be in the midst of a shift back to the right, although there are plenty who argue that it is not so much the conservative Christian Democrats who are rising in popularity as the left-of-center Social Democrats who have fallen out of favor.
And Germany, by all accounts, is struggling. Plagued by persistently high unemployment figures and unpopular social welfare reforms, it's hard to shake a collective smile out of the older generations who recall an altogether more sanguine existence.
Wolfgang Peschel of the German Federal Youth Council said the new wave of self-interest among the younger generation is a direct consequence of having witnessed their own parents' struggles. "Young people see that their parents have to move because of work, and they see how rare it is to get a job for life," he said. "Because of that, they are looking for a vision which includes security, a relationship and family."
Trend analyst Retzbach says the desire for the family idyll of spouse, children and a house with a garden has been gaining ground over recent years. He said Germany is experiencing a perceptible return to traditional family values in which youngsters are not only willing to wait for a serious relationship before having sex, but in which they have begun looking to the church -- and its intrinsic values -- as a point of orientation for their lives. Just so long as it's not islam.
But Peschel rejected such claims as unsubstantiated.
#3
I don't buy this rebelling and pendulum swinging. I spent a fair amount of time working in Germany about 5 years ago and what struck me was how risk averse the Germans were, which I attributed to the disasterous German experience in the 20th century. Its natural for the young to take risks. Conservatives would in general say make your own choices, take your risks, just be sure you can live with the consequnces.
#4
14% unemployment can change many attitudes. As with any economy, the young are impacted more than other working classes. The whole generation is impacted.
Posted by: Captain America ||
05/28/2005 4:32 Comments ||
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#5
human nature is human nature. If you raise a bird in captivity, keep it in a cage, and free it's offspring - if they survive, eventually it will be impossible to distinguish them from any other bird of the same species.
#6
I think I read this on Bros Judd, a poster recently commented he was talking to a German acquaintance and the German said there's a church 1-2 towns over that's packed every Sunday and tons of kids.
He asked if the pastor had ever been to America and the answer was yes. The German didn't put 2&2 together.
Turkey's Parliament approved a revamped penal code, a key requirement before Ankara begins European Union entry talks on October 3, but EU diplomats said it did not meet all their concerns on human rights.
"Nope. Nope. Just won't do. Go back and try again."
"Just adopt the Belgian one, it's easier for all of us ..."
The code, which aims to bring Turkey's criminal justice system into line with its EU-inspired political reforms, had originally been due to take effect on April 1 but was pulled back partly due to complaints it tightened curbs on the media. The new code must be approved by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and is meant to take force on June 1. If Sezer vetoes the code, the earlier version will come into force on that date. A total of 346 deputies in the 550-member chamber approved the penal code and only three voted against. The new penal code, the first major overhaul of the 79-year-old legislation, improves the rights of women and children and brings higher human rights standards. It recognizes rape in marriage and sexual harassment as crimes, and includes tougher measures against rape, pedophilia, human traffickers and torture.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Window dressing is my guess. I bet the jails are still Midnight Express on the inside.
Posted by: Mike ||
05/28/2005 12:23 Comments ||
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#5
They're giving this to middle school kids? With homosexual pages on "how-to" for (and I quote):
"F**ckin"
"Suckin"
and even
"Piss Play"
"Fisting"
Along with a "If it feels good then its OK to do it" morality that is reinforced throught the book apparently (Phrases like "You have a right to enjoy sex however you want").
What the hell is wrong with those people up there?
After promoting this sort of activity they then have the temerity to wonder why the kids come out of thier schools messed up?
#6
Are there any Bay Staters out there who can attest to the accuracy of this and describe the reaction. This is the first I've heard of it, but if this had happened in my neck of the Appalachians there would have been rioting at the local school board meeting that might have assummed Pakistani dimensions. So what is going on up there?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
05/28/2005 12:49 Comments ||
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#7
All I know is the schools tried to hide it and then downplay it.
#8
OK, a little Googling led to a couple of posts at some sites that shed a little more light on what happened. What I find fascinating is that the AP apparently covered the story but the only MSM coverage I could find was a column in the Boston Herald that was pay for view. The guys at this show should have been booked for something. Did Masachusetts really send a book seller to jail for four months only 75 years ago for selling Lady Chatterly's Lover (and fining him $1,000 which was a lot of money then) and now allows this without any action?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
05/28/2005 13:03 Comments ||
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#11
Mrs. Davis, if you go to the Article 8 group's "full report" page, you'll find links to a Herald and a Globe article, plus a video report I can't watch on this computer.
I have to say that this smells very much like some kind of hoax, despite the evidence to the contrary. If I were a young gay man, the booklet's chirpy semi-literate vulgarity would have me running to shut myself in the nearest closet. (Maybe it's a Rove plant! Everything else is!) It certainly wouldn't reassure me that the authors knew what the hell they were talking about.
#16
"Fisting Risks - See Senate Judiciary Committee and Sen. McCain"
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/28/2005 23:03 Comments ||
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#17
The 9/004 NPR All Things Considered transcript supports this MASSive creeping garbage. Teachers being forced to be politically correct in giving gays and lezbos equal treatment with straights.
Com - I didn't think that read as your norm but, having three school aged boys, a parent gets a bit defensive about this shitz
Posted by: Captain America ||
05/28/2005 23:04 Comments ||
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#18
Lol - gotcha, bro. I have the habit of adding the [rant] [/rant] tags, but alwasy forget the [sarc] [/sarc] set. I'll work on it, lol! Three boys - shit! Considering the crap I got into, I empathize with you, lol!
THAM KRABOK, Thailand, May 26 -- The largest refugee camp for ethnic Hmong who fled communist Laos was officially closed Thursday, ending another chapter of the Vietnam War era. The closure of the camp in Thailand follows the relocation of 10,000 Hmong, a mountain-dwelling ethnic group, to the United States. About 5,300 more are expected to resettle there by September.
During the Vietnam War, the CIA enlisted the Hmong to help U.S.-backed government forces fight communist insurgents in Laos. When the communists won, many Hmong correctly fled for fear of retribution. A small number continue to fight the government in the jungles of northern Laos.
Under pressure from Thailand, which contended the camp had become a center for drug trafficking and political intrigue against neighboring Laos, the United States started a registration process to accept the refugees. About 15,000 registered. So far, 10,000 have gone to the United States, and 77 to Australia, which also agreed to accept them. Most have resettled in California, Minnesota and Wisconsin, which have Hmong communities.
Kia Li, 53, who fled Laos in 1975, reluctantly joined the camp's closing ceremony. "I'm already old and don't want to go, but my children want to go," she said. "I will have to go."
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/28/2005 00:00 ||
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the camp had become a center for drug trafficking
After seeming to slow for a few weeks, it is now almost back to cumulative cases doubling every 25 days or so. This link has a graph that shows the cases on a log scale. Note how cases accelerated around day 180 as resources were brought in and contacts traced, then slowed as trace and isolate had an effect. We now seem to be returning to the overall trend (a straight line on a log scale).
NEW DELHI - Quietly but surely, India is reopening its diplomatic contacts with the new Iraqi administration. In the first official contact with the new Iraqi government, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's special envoy for West Asia, C R Gharekhan, met Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari earlier this week. While India has offered to help in rebuilding the war-ravaged country and in the drafting of its new constitution, it is also seeking to cut into the estimated US$100 billion reconstruction business. India hopes to garner as much as $10 billion.
During his meeting with Jaafari, Gharekhan handed over a personal letter from Singh emphasizing India's commitment to cooperate with Iraq on the task of national reconstruction. In the letter, Singh invited Jaafari to visit India, a gesture that Jaafari reciprocated by inviting the Indian premier to Iraq. Gharekhan suggested that Jaafari assign the Iraqi oil minister to lead a delegation to India for the next meeting of the India-Iraq Joint Commission. Jaafari, who has studied Mahatma Gandhi's life and teachings, spoke warmly about Indo-Iraq ties and said he supported UN reforms including the expansion of the Security Council while emphasizing India's "important position" in world affairs.
The new government in Baghdad has already indicated that it is more than willing to welcome back Indian businessmen, in order to re-establish thriving Indo-Iraq economic ties that took a hit after the US-led invasion in 2003. Apart from warm relations, there is a healthy respect for quality services rendered for projects delivered by Indian companies in Iraq. According to reports, more than 100 Iraqi businessmen are currently visiting India each month, the number having doubled from last year, and the Indian mission in Baghdad is inundated with inquiries from Indians wanting to do business in a new Iraq.
More at the link.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/28/2005 00:01 ||
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The light has dawned that Iraq is rapidly becoming a "hella-big" potential market for everything Indian made. The $10B reconstruction bid is tiny compared to full throttle textile, IT, and other exports.
Arbil, IRAQ -- Most Kurdish students in northern Iraq learn English as a second language these days, alarmingly for a country whose official language remains Arabic and where fear of Kurdish separatism still runs deep.
As Kurdish former rebel leaders test the limits of their hard-won influence in the new Iraq, some say that even traditional Muslim prayers must be said in Kurdish and that speaking Arabic is out-dated and out of touch. "Certain extremists would like to say prayers in Kurdish," said Salam Khoshnaw, a professor at Salaheddin University who speaks perfect Arabic. "Others, even more radical, dare to say that Arabs sent their language to us on the humps of camels and we must return it to them in a Mercedes."
Oh gawd, that's cold! Heh.
It's not necessarily the students' fault that they don't learn Arabic well - following the 1991 Gulf war when Western intervention established a Kurdish safe haven in Iraq's three far-northern provinces, many schools and universities switched their teaching to Kurdish.
Salaheddin University students learn in Kurdish, Arabic or English as do teenagers at Arbil high school. "Our 1,442 students study in their own language and don't know Arabic these days," said Hany Kader Khoder, 42, the high school director.
No longer bound by the rules of Saddam Hussein's ousted Arab nationalist regime, high school teachers now hold lessons for four or five hours per week in Kurdish and Arabic, one hour less in English, Khoder said. "Arabic became a third language for us," said the principal. "The pupils prefer English, because, to them, Arabic is the language of oppression and the atrocities of the former regime."
Wonder where they got that idea?
For adults, however, the language issue is a paradox. The Kurds' historic failure to establish institutions to promote their cultural identity means that there is no single recognized standard form of their language. All four principal dialects of Kurdish, none of them readily intercomprehensible, are spoken within Iraq's borders and the differences between the two most widely spoken - Kurmanji and Sorani - lie at the root of the continuing division between the two main Iraqi Kurdish factions.
As a result many Kurds use Arabic as a lingua franca to communicate with members of their own ethnic group from other parts of the country.
So they should be more like the Swiss: German, French, Romanche, Italian, but everyone speaks English as well.
Teachers complain that even though students are learning the language of Mohammed, their speaking ability is often poor. "No high school student can claim to express himself correctly at baccalaureate time," said Abdullah Yassin, an Arabic professor at Salaheddin University for 11 years. "They have 73 students per class and the textbooks stress grammar to the detriment of conversation," said the 35-year-old teacher.
I'm waiting to hear what the problem is.
The switch to Kurdish as a teaching medium has gone hand in hand with a radical rewriting of history and geography books from Saddam's time, said Sabah Aram, 55, an education official in the Kurdish regional administration. "Before, the books did not mention Kurdistan. Students knew the history and the geography of all other Arab countries but not their own," Aram said.
"From now on, students first study their native area, then Iraq, and finally, the rest of the world."
Kinda like how I learned history as a kid: first Ohio, then (quickly) the US, then the world.
Authorities in Baghdad still recognize a high school baccalaureate from northern Iraq, teachers said.
"We were in conflict with the Arabs for 1,400 years. Their language was the language of torture," said Ali Mahmoud Jukil, a senior faculty member in languages at Salaheddin University. "English, on the other hand, is the universal language of modernity."
Sing it Ali!
Of the students enrolled at Salaheddin, 999 study in English, 555 study in Kurdish and only 359 study in Arabic. "Those who study in Arabic do so because they did not have good enough grades in the baccalaureate to study in English, or for religious reasons," said Taher Mustafa, 42, who is one of only four Arabic language lecturers at the university. "They might want to understand the Koran, or to work as intermediaries between Kurdish northern Iraq and the rest of the country," said Mustafa.
Khoshnaw said that intellectuals must push to keep the Arabic language alive. "We certainly suffered from Saddam Hussein but as intellectuals we must fight against this state of mind and explain why it is necessary to work within an Arabic environment," Khoshnaw said.
You're just saying that, right?
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/28/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
It would be to the immense benefit of the entire country if English became the lingua franca. Not only would it interconnect them, but it would also open them wide up to international business, scientific, educational, and Internet connectivity. Ideally, it should be a race between Sunni, Shia and Kurds as to who can, as a people, learn it first.
#2
The Imams are right to worry about their prayers not being said in the "offical" holy language, arabic. The change from Latin to venacular changed the Catholic Church from a religion to just another sunday social club. If muslims started hearing the words of the Profit in a language they actually understood, they might start to think for themselves.
Notable only because the second WaPo author in this story perhaps, maybe, just might have stepped away from the hotel bar to investigate the street scene. That's one.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/28/2005 00:00 ||
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#4
The glazier should not be sheepish about his job. He should provide the customer with a quality product, a competitive price, and good service. He should then enjoy the fruits of his labor.
The African Union lifted sanctions against Togo on Friday, declaring the government there constitutional despite opposition accusations that last month's elections were rigged.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2005 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
