Nicholas Fairfax, an English lord and descendant of the famous Fairfax family, visited the Far-Eastern city of Vladivostok on October 21 and shared his plans to take a charity motorbike trip from Vladivostok to St. Petersburg in spring 2005. The planned "White Nights Ride" involving ten participants, aims to raise money for two charities: Charities Aid Foundation Russia and the Royal Marsden Cancer Campaign. According to Fairfax, the rally participants, nine Englishmen and one Russian, expect to collect at least $ 1 million for Russia's orphanages and children's social institutions. He said that Russian sponsors have already donated $ 300, 000 and a number of European companies have expressed their interest. His first visit to Russia was in 1982 when he came to work in marine insurance sphere. Fairfax, an expert in liability insurance, works for the insurance company P & I that has long-time partnership with the Vladivostok-based Far-Eastern Shipping Company (FESCO).
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/06/2004 9:05:04 PM ||
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Mexico is holding out hope that Latin America will get more attention during President Bush's second term and obtain changes in what a senior Cabinet minister calls ``absurd'' U.S. immigration policies. Secretary of State Colin Powell, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and several other U.S. Cabinet members are expected to begin a two-day visit to Mexico City starting Monday. During the talks, Mexico will push for a long-awaited accord on migrants' rights - and seek to put the region back on the White House agenda. ``It's absurd that (the United States) is spending as much as it's spending to stop immigration flows that can't be stopped ... instead of using that money on real threats that pose risks for both countries,'' Interior Secretary Santiago Creel said earlier this week.
Creel said he sensed ``an openness to talking about immigration issues'' but warned against ``raising expectations beyond what is politically viable and really possible,'' a reference to resistance among U.S. legislators, despite a pair of temporary worker bills already before Congress. Mexico acknowledged it suffered a setback in the Nov. 2 elections, when Arizona voters approved Proposition 200, a ballot initiative aimed at keeping illegal immigrants from voting and obtaining some government services. snip. It is hard to tell where to start with these assholes. I have a lot of sympathy for the average Mexican who is trying to come to America to earn a few bucks. But the country is run by a thin crust of crooks who do little to ameliorate the problems of that average guy. Then they have the temerity to tell us their failure is our problem to solve.
They are just another third world country with oil. The big difference is they don't have muslims and are next door to us. Somehow this makes all their problems ours. If we do anything for these jerks, we should be allowed to make Mexico a protectorate and clean the place up. They opposed us in Iraq and, while they were alies in WWII, it was in a very French way.
Recent events have shown that there is a solution to this problem that works. And it is only three words long.
Build a wall.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/06/2004 9:13:01 PM ||
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A U.S.-based children's rights organization said Friday it will close its Costa Rica office in the wake of a sex scandal involving its local director. Bruce Harris, the Central America director of Casa Alianza, a branch of Covenant House, was fired in September after the group said he admitted to paying for sex with a 19-year-old Honduran who had once been a resident at one of the group's shelters. The organization said in a news released that it decided to close the office as of Nov. 15, and use funds that went into it to help children in crisis shelters throughout Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/06/2004 9:12:03 PM ||
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Moves to improve the EU's fractious and often testy relations with Washington were undermined yesterday by a fresh Anglo-French clash over Iraq and Europe's response to the re-election of President Bush. A call from Tony Blair for EU leaders to "work with the new reality" created by the American election result was given a dusty response by the French President, Jacques Chirac, who was the main opponent of the US-led war in Iraq.
Asked at an EU summit about Mr Bush's re-election, M. Chirac said: "It is evident that Europe, now more than ever, must strengthen its unity and dynamism when faced with this great world power. More than ever, we must reinforce Europe politically and economically," M. Chirac added, as he repeated his calls for a "multi-polar" world. The Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, responded: "I respect President Chirac but I don't always agree with him. He has an interesting point of view."
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/06/2004 9:18:51 PM ||
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A group of Quebec veterans denied Canadian flags by their separatist MP is now being inundated with Maple Leaf banners from outraged federal politicians.
(This insane, degrading action is yet another reason why the Bloc is viewed with scorn by the majority of Canadians.)
The flood of flags proceeded Friday as a solemn prime minister teed off on the Bloc Quebecois for refusing to provide flags to veterans for a Remembrance Day ceremony. "It's beyond belief that they would do that,'' Paul Martin said in his office. "This is about respecting men and women who went to war to save their country. And I think that to play politics in that way is just simply beyond the pale. Martin and Conservative Leader Stephen Harper both offered flags to veterans at the Royal Canadian Legion in Richmond, Que., after the local MP — the Bloc's Andre Bellavance — refused to provide them.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/06/2004 9:26:04 PM ||
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What did Newsweek know — and when did the magazine know it?
Barely 24 hours after the polls closed Tuesday, the newsweekly came out with its special election edition, chock-full of fascinating behind-the-scenes tidbits culled by a team of reporters during the lengthy campaign. Included with all the little anecdotes (Teresa Heinz Kerry is a royal pain — duh!) was at least one major political bombshell.
After clinching the Democratic nomination, Newsweek reports, John Kerry was so desperate to enlist GOP Sen. John McCain as his running mate that he made an "outlandish" offer: He'd expand the role of vice president to include the duties of secretary of Defense. Moreover, Kerry — seeking the presidency in a time of grave international danger — promised to put McCain in charge of all U.S. foreign policy should they win. "You're out of your mind," McCain reportedly told Kerry. "I don't even know if it's constitutional."
John Kerry clearly is not out of his mind — and nobody will ever confuse him with a constitutional scholar. No, one lesson here is that he is so utterly devoid of moral fiber that he'd trade away the heart and soul of the presidency in order to win the office in the first place. Faustian doesn't begin to describe the rank ambition behind this proposed bargain: Kerry simply had no soul to sell in the first place. Truly, America dodged a bullet this past Tuesday.
Wotta surprise - actually, I'm surprised they caught them
The 25-year-old son of newly elected congresswoman Gwen Moore was arrested Friday by Milwaukee police and later released in connection with the election day slashing of tires on 20 vans and cars rented by the Republican Party, according to police records. Sowande Ajumoke Omokunde, also known as Supreme Solar Allah, arrived at the Milwaukee police administration building Friday morning with his attorney, was arrested at 9 a.m. and held in the police holding facility for several hours before being released, according to records. Omokunde is one of three suspects who had been arrested as of late Friday. what the hell happened to the "Moore" last name?
Opel E. Simmons III, 33, a veteran Democratic Party activist from Virginia, was arrested Tuesday and released Thursday without being charged. A 24-year-old man was arrested Friday afternoon in the same case, a police source said. Investigators want to talk to Michael Pratt, son of former acting Mayor Marvin Pratt, who led Sen. John Kerry's Milwaukee campaign, but have not summoned him yet, police sources said. Michael Pratt could not be reached for comment. David Feiss, the Milwaukee County assistant district attorney who is handling the case, said he had not received any reports yet and the investigation is continuing. "There are a number of individuals, local and not local, who we are attempting to contact," Feiss said. He said several of the suspects have hired attorneys. After talking to suspects, police will release them, he said. If there are charges, Feiss said, their attorneys will be contacted to arrange for them to come to court. Omokunde, who lives with his Mom Moore, a Democrat elected to Congress on Tuesday, was not available for comment, according to a man who answered the phone at Moore's home. she must be so proud
Omokunde's attorney, Robin Shellow, said he was booked by police and released, but declined to comment further. "I can say no more"
Shellow said she called police to arrange for Omokunde to come in. "If the police are looking for one's client, you pick up the phone and say (to police), 'What would you like us to do, and how could we make your job easier?' . . . That's the way responsible families handle it." Responsible families would kick his ass at home
On Tuesday morning, 27 tires on 20 cars and vans rented by the Republican Party to carry voters to the polls were slashed. The vehicles were parked in the 7100 block of W. Capitol Drive. A security guard reported seeing a man running from the scene that morning, police said. Tuesday night, police arrested Simmons, who was in town drumming up support for the Kerry campaign.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/06/2004 9:39:20 PM ||
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And they aren't even embarrassed about it. EFL. *snip*
For much of Tuesday, campaign workers exuded confidence after surveys of voters leaving the polls showed Mr. Kerry with an edge over Mr. Bush. But as the night wore on, the real results told a different story. The critical moment came at 12:41 a.m. Wednesday, when, shortly after Florida had been painted red for Mr. Bush, Fox News declared that Ohio - and, very likely, the presidency - was in Republican hands. Howard Wolfson, a strategist, burst into the "boiler room" in Washington where the brain trust was huddled and said, "we have 30 seconds" to stop the other networks from following suit. The campaign's pollster, Mark Mellman, and the renowned organizer Michael Whouley quickly dialed ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC - and all but the last refrained from calling the race through the night. Then Mr. Wolfson banged out a simple, two-line statement expressing confidence that Mr. Kerry would win Ohio once the remaining ballots were counted. [Emphasis added]
"What was driving our decision making was the memory of how in 2000, by allowing Florida to go for Bush, a lot of momentum was blocked," said one person who was in the room. "Our whole goal was stop the train from moving that way." Train stopped, lawyers and strategists at the campaign's Washington headquarters prepared court papers to challenge Ohio's process for counting provisional ballots, and made spreadsheets comparing each county's provisional ballots with its margin of victory or defeat. [Emphasis added] And if John Edwards had had his way, it would have been 2000 all over again. Whew!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/06/2004 9:37:18 PM ||
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At 11:02am Eastern Standard Time, November 3, Senator John Kerry called President George W Bush to concede defeat in a hard-fought presidential race that saw the Democratic challenger and the Republican incumbent tied in most polls the day before the election. In the end, though, the outcome wasn't nearly as close as the polls had forecast. Bush's margin of victory in the popular vote was a large 3.5 million and he became the first candidate to win a majority of all votes cast since his father in 1988. As impressive and unpredicted was the length of his coattails: Republicans not only maintained control of the Senate, but increased their seats from 51 to 55; they also added to their majority in the House of Representatives. You have to go back to Franklin D Roosevelt's 1936 re-election for such a feat. A US map published by USAToday.com shows a huge majority (over 90%) of "red" counties (those won by Bush).
How will the Bush II administration transform this mandate into convincing and lasting results? First and foremost by pushing ahead with the type of economic policies that - after the miserable Jimmy Carter years - were ushered in by Ronald Reagan and transformed a basket-case economy, then judged soon to be overtaken by Japan, into by far the world's most productive economy that allows less than 5% of the world's population to produce nearly 30% of global output.
Reagan, in the midst of deep recession and high inflation inherited from the Carter administration, cut taxes, deregulated businesses and labor markets, and rekindled entrepreneurial initiative and record new business formation. He also ran up massive fiscal deficits; but the fundamental reforms he instituted laid the foundation for the unprecedented prosperity of the 1990s and the building down of deficits that ensued.
Continued on Page 49
Vandals spray painted vulgar messages on the walls of the North Carolina Republican Party headquarters and left a burned effigy depicting President Bush and Sen. John Kerry, police said. Authorities detained several suspects early Saturday, hours after the attacks took place Friday night, but had not filed any charges, police spokesman Jim Sughrue said. A police officer reported Friday that about 100 people wearing masks and gloves were walking down a street near the headquarters, authorities said. I thought terrorists hid their faces by 'wearing masks & gloves' to conceal finger prints. The radical left's brownshirts are on the rampage once more.
Police said at least two windows were broken and it appeared that the vandals tried to put incendiary devices inside of the building. Investigators also found a partially burned, two-headed effigy in military fatigues. One head had the face of Bush and the other the face of Kerry.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/06/2004 9:27:03 PM ||
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YANGON: Myanmar's military government removed two cabinet ministers and four deputy ministers on Friday in the wake of Prime Minister Khin Nyunt's ouster. State media said Home (Interior) Minister Colonel Tin Hlaing and Labour Minister U Tin Win "were permitted to retire effective today", a euphemism often used when removing unwanted senior officials. They said Deputy Ministers for Agriculture Brigadier General Khin Maung, Industry-1 Brigadier General Kyaw Win, Livestock Breeding and Fisheries Aung Thein and Science and Technology Nyi Hla Nge were also "permitted to retire".
Posted by: Fred ||
11/06/2004 10:18:54 PM ||
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After working for several decades to recover a portrait of his mother that the Nazis looted during the Holocaust, Stephen Pohlmann was surprised to learn last week that he would have to pay the Israeli tax authorities several thousand shekels to retrieve the family heirloom from Ben Gurion airport customs.
"I naively went to pick up the painting, but they wouldn't let me take it without first paying," he said of his attempt to pick up the century-old painting last Friday. "It doesn't make any sense," he lamented, "and I flat out refused to pay money for something that the Nazis stole from my family 60 years ago. There are some people who get reparation money, but in my case, they were making me pay them."
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/06/2004 10:07:10 PM ||
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It seems that mere stealth technology is not enough; the United States Air Force wants to get from here to there without even traversing the space in between. Are they looking for a Star Trek(TM) transporter?
Hollywood studios have expanded their legal assault on online film piracy, announcing they will "go after" anyone who illegally downloads movies from the Internet. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) announced its member studios will this month follow the music industry's suit and begin filing copyright infringement lawsuits against people who trade pirated films on the Internet. The new crackdown will target any person who trades illegally copied cinema products on file-swapping networks, as well as the pirates themselves.
Dan Glickman, the new president of the MPAA, says "illegal movie trafficking represents the greatest threat to the economic basis of movie-making in its 110-year history". "People who have been stealing our movies believe they are anonymous on the Internet and wouldn't be held responsible for their actions," Mr Glickman said. "They are wrong. We know who they are and we will go after them, as these suits will prove." Officials say the expanded targeting of individual file swappers could generate hundreds of lawsuits a month.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/06/2004 9:42:30 PM ||
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Government warplanes bombed a rebel stronghold Saturday, killing a French peacekeeper and injuring 20 other people, and French troops responded by shooting down two military planes and an attack helicopter, U.N. officials said. The violence threatened to drag French and U.N. peacekeepers into Ivory Coast's renewed civil war, sparked when army hardliners Thursday broke a cease-fire after more than a year of relative peace and launched airstrikes on rebel-held cities.
The government warplanes struck the northern town of Bouake on Saturday afternoon, killing the French soldier, U.N. mission spokesman Jean Victor Nkolo said. It was not clear whether the 20 injured were French soldiers or others, or what the air raid was targeting. Soon after, a U.N. military spokesman said French forces shot down two Ivory Coast warplanes and an attack helicopter over rebel territory. [snip]
Zut alors!
#4
The French were fairly successful against Green Peace in New Zealand at the Battle of the Rainbow Warrior. That was back in '85. A purely naval engagement, though.
Posted by: Darth VAda ||
11/07/2004 22:44 Comments ||
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9 dead French soldiers and 22 wounded + an American aid worker. Sounds like the Ivorans attacked not a rebel, but a French base. Have the Ivorans decided to kick out the French presence and get on with the war?
Posted by: ed ||
11/07/2004 22:45 Comments ||
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French forces in Ivory Coast have destroyed two government warplanes after an air strike which left eight French soldiers dead and 23 injured. The French struck the airbase in the capital, Yamoussoukro, soon after an air raid on the rebel-held town of Bouake hit the French peacekeepers. France said its forces had struck in a direct response to the bombing.
#2
QUAGMIRE!
Chirac was bribed and people died!
French Imperialists out of Africa!
80% of Americans believe France is the greatest threat to world peace!
What other country would claim knocking down a couple of aircraft as a "decisive" victory?
Posted by: Stephen ||
11/07/2004 22:31 Comments ||
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#3
Those warmongering French have finally shown their true colors! Their Imperialistic agenda has finally been put into motion! How dare they attack a sovereign government without UN approval or investigation into the "accidental" bombing of their soldiers! Their unilateral and agressive actions show all, the seething contempt they have for the world and peaceful diplomatic solutions in general. Shame on you Chirac! Shame on you France! How many more innocent lives will you take!!?? The blood of innocents is upon you!!!
uh, ...oh yeah! How dare you "Wag the Dog" to avert attention from your corrupt banks and officials in the Oil for Food Scam!!! FOR SHAME!!!
#7
A few years ago Jacques Chirac stationed French troops in it's former colony for a principal monetary reason. The Ivory Coast produces 40% of the world's Cocoa beans. The Ivory Coast is becoming a French Iraq.
Another critical cause of the civil war is 40% of the population in Ivory Coast as Muslim, compared to about 20% as Christians. Another large segment of the population is animist.
This happened within the last 24 hours:
'Warplanes bombed French peacekeepers today, killing eight French soldiers and one U.S. citizen, and wounding 23, prompting a French counterstrike, officials said, in a clash that threatened to escalate Ivory Coast's renewed civil war.' Also: 'The UN security council was to hold an emergency meeting on Saturday to discuss the violence in the Ivory Coast.'
With civil war breaking out again the cocoa bean crop is threatened, and prices of 'chocolate' beans are beginning to really climb on the global market.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/07/2004 22:33 Comments ||
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We know they like oil and cheese ....
Do the French like chocolate ??
#9
It's a conspiracy... Make those dumb ass Americans pay more for their chocolate as punishment for reelecting W. Unfortunate collateral damage, the one big loser will be Michael "socialist slob" Moore. Too bad, so sad.
President for Life Felix Houphouet-Boigny, once a country doctor, ruled as a mostly benevolent dictator for several decades. During French Colonial times and H-B's regime, the governments kept a tight lid on tribal war. With the death of H-B and no clear successor, plus the bloodbath next door in Liberia, tribal war resurged in Cote d' Ivoire as well.
Remember Tom Lehrer's song about "National Brotherhood Week?" The West African version might be:
Oh the Mano hate Mandinka
And Mandika hate the Mano
And the Krahn all hate the Gio
And everybody hates the Kru!
Take a country with two major climate zones (rain forest and sahel) about the size of Missouri, put in two dozen or so tribes who speak different languages and, because of climatic differences, generally have completely different life styles. Add militant Islam and you get hell.
The Liberian loonies have decided to adopt Jihadi slogans, and the Mandinka in Liberia are now trying to trash that country again.
#13
I'm sure their ICC legal advisor was on the scene and gave them permission to fight back. Otherwise, their troops could end up in the block in Hague, y'know.
#14
The French obtained a Security Council resolution several weeks after intervening in Cote d'Ivoire. Please note that this is primarily a case of Moslems ina the north and illegals, especially from Burkina Faso, entering the country and now wanting power currently held by Christian from the south. Guess which side the French have supported??
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.
