Dutch actress Georgina Verbaan has vowed to publish x-rays to settle a major controversy - is her ample bosom natural or silicone-based?
Is it real, or is it Mammorex?
A spokesperson for Verbaan, 25, said the x-rays of her breasts would be published on her website (www.georginaverbaan.nl) sometime this week.
Judging by her picture at the link, they are going to need the wide angle lens on the x-ray machine.
"Bartender! Milk for everyone!"
Verbaan made her name as a quirky and bubbly 16-year-old in Dutch soap-opera Goede Tijden Slechte Tijden, or "Good Times Bad Times," in the 1990s. She has gone on to become one of the leading Dutch actresses. According to a leaked contract, she was paid EUR 200,000 to appear naked in the Dutch edition of men's magazine Playboy. As soon as the December edition with the 12-page spread hit the news stands earlier this month, gossip magazines began to question whether she had undergone breast augmentation surgery.
Enquiring minds want to know!
RTL Nieuws reported on Tuesday that the issue is such a hot topic that search engine Google has logged 136,000 searches under her name in recent weeks. The debate was stimulated in no small part by the interview Verbaan gave in Playboy. Asked whether everything about her was real, Verbaan immediately assumed the question referred to her breasts. The interviewer said the question related to any plastic surgery, but eagerly agreed to focus on the claims, and Verbaan's denial that her breasts had been artificially enhanced. Verbaan said she had put on weight, "luckily in the right place", when she started taking the contraceptive pill. She also pointed out she is no longer 16.
She's certainly not a "child" anymore
Now, Verbaan say she is tired of people making snide remarks about her cleavage.
Sure you are, honey.
She has warned she will sue three companies that used the 'boobgate' debate as part of their marketing campaigns.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/23/2004 11:10:35 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
OK, Steve or any other MD's, how the heck is an x-ray going to show anything?
I think I remember her from "Good Times", but wasn't she black then?
The Saudis start today Tuesday registration on the election lists in preparation for municipal voting due in 2005 in the first elections in the history of the kingdom in which women are not permitted to take part.
Hummm, should read "hold first elections in country, and women can't"
The elections will start as from the 10th of February and will be held on three stages the last of which will be on April 21. Half the number of the members of the 178 municipal council will be elected in 13 areas in the Kingdom while the Saudi government will appoint the other members. The director of prisons in Riyadh area Lt. Gen. Ali al-Qahtani said in statements that the prisoners will be able to cast their votes.
Well, of course. You can't deny them jugged jihadis the vote, why, it wouldn't be islamic
For his part, Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Muhammad al-Muqarran, the secretary of Riyadh city said that women do not have the right to vote or nominate themselves for the elections but their participation will be discussed in the next elections during 4 years.
They'll think about it, if they have elections
He ruled out the existence of foreign observers in these elections.
Why? I'm sure Jimmy Carter would be happy to certify the vote as fair.
Riyadh municipality announced it has allocated 140 offices in schools, sport clubs and universities to register the voters in an operation which is presumed to last until December 22nd.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/23/2004 2:23:29 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
first elections in the history of the kingdom in which women are not permitted to take part.
LOL!
In other news:
In the long awaited feot race between First Secretary Brezneaev and President Nixon.
Secretary Brevneaev finished second.
President Nixon finish next to last.
President Fidel Castro heaped praise on China's progress but made it clear, with Chinese President Hu Jintao looking on, that Cuba would not adopt China's capitalist path to economic growth.
"Nope. Nope. Ain't gonna do it."
"Socialism will remain in the end the only real hope for peace and the survival of our species," said Castro, in a grey business suit instead of his usual olive fatigues, at a ceremony at the Palace of the Revolution. From his wheelchair, Castro, 78, who is recovering from a fall and a broken knee, said Cuba and China share "the ideals of socialism," and that China "objectively speaking has become the most promising hope and the best example for all developing countries. I do not hesitate to say that it is now the main engine of world economic growth."
But their economic reforms had nothing to do with it?
Yet the Cuban president, whose government has backtracked on the few concessions to capitalism with which it has experimented, said: "each people must adapt its revolutionary strategy and goals to the specific conditions of its own country."
Continued on Page 49
In a mark of China's growing economic confidence, the country's central bank has offered blunt advice to Washington about its ballooning trade deficit and unemployment. In an interview with the Financial Times, Li Ruogu, the deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, warned the US not to blame other countries for its economic difficulties. "China's custom is that we never blame others for our own problem," said the senior central bank official. "For the past 26 years, we never put pressure or problems on to the world. The US has the reverse attitude, whenever they have a problem, they blame others." The commies are becoming real bold.
Mr Li insisted an appreciation of the Chinese currency would not solve the US's structural problems and that although China was "gradually" moving towards greater exchange rate flexibility, it would not do so under heavy external pressure.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/23/2004 2:45:08 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
In a mark of Chinaâs growing economic confidence, the countryâs central bank has offered blunt advice to Washington about its ballooning trade deficit and unemployment.
Lemme get this straight - a country that typically considers criticism directed towards it by others to be meddling in it's internal affairs is now doing the same thing to other countries?
#2
No sweat. Looks like the 2004 US trade deficit with China will be $160 billion. Cut off ALL trade with them and that takes care of over 30% of the deficit numbers. Include the oil price crash when China goes into depression and knock off another $100 billion. Throw in the reduced defense (XX billion) spending required to counter Chinese military expansion financed by Chinese trade surplusses with the US. Throw in the added employment and taxes from all those highly productive manufacturing jobs returning to the US. Fuck yea! Numbers are looking good. Do it now. Germany next?
Posted by: ed ||
11/23/2004 3:29 Comments ||
Top||
#3
I was ready to toss out everything I had (made in china)into a bonfire heap when the Chinese forced our EP3 surveillance plane down a couple of years ago, but when "W" apologized the way 'they' wanted him to, I said "what tha hell" and kept the stuff!
I figure, If I have to eat rice and wear straw hats in the fields in the future, I'll be proud to be there with "W" and his family!
#5
Tossing everything made in China into a bonfire would result in your being naked and without entertainment. A few days after my first visit here, I immediately understood why everything is "Made in China". Streets and streets full of nothing but factories producing every sort of good under the sun. Anything you need, I can find a factory that makes it. Cheap, and the quality's OK as long as you keep a hawk eye on them.
#7
China has a problem and it's of their own making. The Yuan will be revaluated up and there is nothing the Chinese can do to stop it. All they can do is delay it to their own detriment.
#9
Fact is Bush should pay to send Vicente Fox to China. When Vicente returns from his state visit examining all of the factories and such Bush and Fox should meet again.
"Vicente, your country can make that nickle-and-dime bullshit so why aren't they? We'll build the factories, you educate your workforce."
I'm not talking about radios, not yet, but all of the kids toys pumped out of the PRC have got to be easier to manufacture than the cars being built in Mexico. With Nafta Mexico would save a fortune on import costs and the distance required for shipping is practically zero.
#10
RJ. I worked with a company that populated surface mount printed circuit boards. The Chinese drove the Mexicans out of the business because the Mexicans are high labor cost producers. Then, to add insult to injury, they'd come in after they drove the company out of business and buy the equimpent at auction to stock their next factory.
Vincente is screwed and he knew it in 2000. That's why he wants immigration reform so much. Mexico didn't change when it had the chance and now it can't. The curse of the oil drug.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/23/2004 9:11 Comments ||
Top||
#11
The Mexican problem is due to their own nativism. IIRC the Mexican constitution prohibits non-Mexican citizens from owning property in Mexico. Their economic problems are therefore of their own making and means that nothing that is negotiated will end the flood of its institutional failure from pouring over our southern border. There's nothing to talk with President Fox or any Mexican leader about the immigration issue. America's economy is helped by significant invests from England, the Netherlands, Japan, and others. That is not going to happen in Mexico.
Posted by: Don ||
11/23/2004 11:14 Comments ||
Top||
#12
I'm not so sure the Mexicans are in such bad shape. Anecdotal, sure, but I'm hearing and reading reports that some mexican manufacturers have pulled up their socks and figured out how to shift from assembly and production of undifferentiated stuff to higher value-added output in the same way US steelmakers shifted to mini-mills and cold-rolled (?) high-end steel during the 1990s. Some are even taking over bankrupt US producers. Migrating up the value chain.
#13
Chinese manufacturing is only part of a bigger trend.
Automation means less labor is required to make goods. The US manufactures more goods than ever before, but a smaller percentage of the US work force is needed. Even with all the manufacturing for the overseas markets, Chinese manufacturing jobs are disappearing. As old, inefficient Chinese industries fail their workers are laid-off. The modern plants need fewer workers.
As a result of farm and industry automation there is a worldwide glut of unskilled labor. As robots become increasingly sophisticated and cheaper, the trend will continue. Eventually labor costs will be a minor factor in manufacturing costs. The main costs will be for capital and knowledge. Energy and materials will be secondary cost elements.
Successful economies will provide a modern infrastructure to support modern manufacturing, will transition to âinformation industriesâ, and will support market economies and social policies that create new jobs for displaced workers.
The US canât stop this process. If the US stopped importing Chinese goods, Europe and the Asian countries would pick up the slack. Many of the goods manufactured in China would still be sold in the US (but wouldnât have a Made-in-China label). After a financial bump, the Chinese economy would continue to modernize and grow (but relations between China and the US would be far worse).
China canât stop the process. To provide jobs for the displaced factory workers (and hundreds of millions of rural poor) China must continue growing at a fast pace. Trade problems with the US or a war with Taiwan or a Korean war would be a social disaster for the Chinese leaders.
Globalization is affecting every country.
Information is flowing across borders. Modern agriculture and business follows. Significant labor and social disruption follows. The US is best positioned to ride the globalization wave, but even the US has major problems. We live in interesting times.
#14
Yea verily. The world is a global village. The pace of change is increasing. The innernet breaks down barriers. Globalization is globalizing the globe.
#15
Wow, I'm glad I brought up mexico, this has been an informative thread.
In my humble opinion Mexico needs a bit of FDR in their make-up, to get them from third world up to a shakey first world footing. Some work programs to build proper highways would be a start, a dam or two for power, some irrigation so they can produce the kind of crop yields I think they could, a rebuilding of the schools and education infrastructure. Use the oil revenues to pay for it all, get people employed and build up the infrastructure.
#17
and cursed by oil wealth. There aren't many oil-rich large countries on this planet that have figured out how to keep their economies from becoming captive to the oil price rollercoaster and keep their politics from becoming corrupted by oil lobbies of all kinds. In fact the worst corruption often accompanies spectacular oil wealth: Nigeria. Russia. Indonesia. Saudi. Mexico.
#18
rj, You'd also need to remove the several score of families that own and control a tremendous amount of the country and keep the rest down. Don't change that and it won't matter if you've got FDR or JC, nothing will change.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/23/2004 15:03 Comments ||
Top||
#19
The UK and Australia both rode their oil/gas booms to be the most sucessful advanced economies in the 90s. Western Canada did a pretty good job as well. Oil just turns a screwed up country into a screwed up country with money.
#20
True. I'll amend to say that great oil wealth hinders progress from corruption/incompetence toward a productive, advanced economy. Or lack of natural resources is often a blessing in disguise (Japan, SoKorea, Chile w exception of copper etc)
#23
That was a purdy good book about the Mexican-American War borgboy.
Posted by: Bill Peterson ||
11/23/2004 16:49 Comments ||
Top||
#24
That might explain Singapore, somewhat, but not Hong Kong. It was hard work and very limited government that made Hong Kong wealthy. Besides, there are other nations with strategic locations that became basket cases. Panama, Yemen, Somalia, Egypt, Moracco, etc, etc.
#25
In my humble opinion Mexico needs a bit of FDR in their make-up,..
Starting with the basics is very important - they need to improve THEIR country instead of violating our borders, and the U.S. is NOT their outlet, nor is it "lost territory" to be slowly reclaimed.
Many in Southeast Asia say Australia is too Western to join the region's core club of nations. But Canberra has been given a guest pass for the region's annual conference this week, and the promise of free trade talks soon. In a key step toward improving often-icy relations, the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations invited Prime Minister John Howard of Australia and his counterpart from neighboring New Zealand, Helen Clark, to their summit. The ASEAN and Oceania countries are expected to sign agreements to start free trade talks next year. Senior officials start meeting Thursday to prepare for the two-day summit opening Monday.
It will be the first summit between Southeast Asian and Oceania leaders since 1977 — a reflection of deep suspicion that Malaysia and other ASEAN heavyweights have felt toward Australia. Canberra's ties with Kuala Lumpur improved since the retirement last year of Mahathir Mohamad, the former prime minister who made no secret of his dislike for Australian leaders. Mahathir would bluntly explain why he wanted to keep Australia out of ASEAN: The Australians don't look Asian, are culturally European and geographically too distant. "They have a leader who is totally insensitive and thinks he is the white-man sheriff in some black country," Mahathir said of Howard in late 2002.
Analysts say distrust of Australia and New Zealand runs deeper than skin color. "They don't know themselves whether they belong to the West or the East. That's one issue they must settle themselves," said Ramon Navaratnam of the independent Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute in Kuala Lumpur. Indonesia was angry with Australia for leading a multinational force into East Timor in 1999 to end violence by the Indonesian military and its supporters after the territory voted for independence. But it in recent years, Australians have teamed with Indonesians to fight a common enemy: terrorists.
Continued on Page 49
The United States, in a rare move, is giving Australia access to American sonar and underwater warfare systems technology. Australia is spending $355 million to upgrade the sonar and fire control systems on its six Collins class subs, and this new deal with the U.S. means that those diesel electric subs will carry the most advanced electronics in the world. The Collins class boats, mainly because of the quality of their crews, have proved to be among the most capable diesel-electric subs in the world. This is known because Collins class boats often train with U.S. Navy ships and aircraft, and usually come out ahead. This has made the American admirals more concerned about the threat from diesel-electric subs. For the moment, however, none of America's potential naval foes have submarine crews as well trained as the Australians.
The Collins class boats were built in Holland during the 1990s, and are based on a Swedish design (the Type 471.) At 3,000 tons displacement, the Collins are half the size of the American Los Angeles class nuclear attack subs. However, boats that size are nearly twice the size of subs Sweden and Holland are accustomed to designing and building for their own use. Australia needed larger boats because of the sheer size of the oceans that surround Australia. There were a lot of technical problems with the Collins class boats, which the media jumped all over. Australia didn't formally "accept" all the Collins class boats until earlier this year, when everyone agreed that all the major technical problems were fixed, or at least identified. For the moment. Submarines tend to always be a work in progress. But the six Australian subs are a major factor when it comes to naval strength in the western Pacific.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/23/2004 11:40:51 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The latest Atlantic Monthly has an article about the likelihood of a submarine blockade of Taiwan if the island decides to declare independence.
It mentioned that an Australian diesel sub had snuck up on and "sunk" a U.S. missile boat during a recent exercise, and that the Chinese also use them.
Sounds like the Navy wants more high-quality friends to practice with.
Posted by: Baltic Blog ||
11/23/2004 12:58 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Gee, I wonder if the Aussie sub commanders go through the RN's Punisher course.
#3
CH: Some do. The US and Brits both accept allied navies in their courses, though AFAIK, no US Navy officer has been through the Punisher, nor a RN officer through the US course.
So, as a guess, I would say there have been Aussies in each. How many, or what percentage, I dunno.
Seems like all the locals want to talk about the pirate problem but not do anything about it. Probably because they all benefit from it in some way. A rash of sudden disappearances would solve the situation quite nicely. And if the odd Indon or Malay patrol craft gets "lost", well, there's a lesson to be learned there, too.
#5
Tne RN course is called Perisher, not Punisher. Here is a story from the Spring 2003 edition of Undersea Magazine by the first USN officer to attend, LCDR Stpehen Mack.
#6
Perisherâs tradition for handling an unsuccessful student is not to make him aware of his failure until a small boat approaches to remove him from the submarine. Unknown to the unfortunate officer, his sea bag has already been packed by a member of the crew and brought up for the transfer. Upon departure, he is presented with his personal gear and a bottle of whisky, never again to return to submarine service.
Thousands of opposition supporters are surrounding the Ukrainian government offices in a second night of protests over the presidential election. Riot police are blocking their path, but the rallies have stayed peaceful. Tens of thousands more people are rallying in Kiev's Independence Square to protest against the official victory for Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, who says the vote was rigged against him, has appealed for police support. "Ukraine needs you, come over to our side," he urged police and civil servants.
The BBC's Damian Grammaticas, at the front of the crowd outside the presidential offices, says riot police have stopped the protesters going any further. The speaker of the parliament and an aide to Mr Yushchenko have entered the building but outgoing President Leonid Kuchma was reportedly not there. A short time later, a televised football match was interrupted for a statement from the president calling for urgent talks to resolve the dispute. "This political farce being played out now [by the opposition]... is very dangerous and can lead to unforeseen consequences," Mr Kuchma said in a message read out by a presenter. He said authorities would not be the first to use force but were "ready to uphold law and order". Mr Yanukovych, who has the backing of Russia, has said a "small group of radicals" are trying to split the country.
Earlier, in a stormy session of parliament, Mr Yushchenko put his hand on a Bible and took a symbolic oath of office in front of party supporters, as 200,000 people listened to events relayed outside by loudspeakers. The session was suspended and live television coverage was cut off just before Mr Yushchenko spoke. Earlier he told parliament: "Ukraine is on the threshold of a civil conflict. We have two choices - either the answer will be given by the parliament, or the streets will give an answer."
Continued on Page 49
What we are talking about here is a publicly funded group of people hanging around like drunken bookies in chat rooms and web forums, in the comments boxes of leading Euro Bloggers all being paid to push the Commission line. It didn't work for Kerry, why would it work here?
I love the "possibly even clearly identifiable" aspect. Interesting though, maybe the Commission hasn't really noticed the effect of the blogosphere yet, maybe thinking it an entirely American phenomenon. Team Europe by the way is a group of 630 experts employed by the Commission to spread the word - a sort of PR Praetorian Guard. Team Europe types and no doubt e-Team Europe look all the world like independents but are used at conferences when an independent but pro European voice. Ingenious.
The Co-rapporteur of this Commission document (see post below) himself practiced what he preached. For year Mr John Wyles was working as the Commission's propagandist in chief for the Euro. At the same time he wrote a regular column for a magazine called "Euro-impact". He described himself at this magazine as, "Written by Michael Rolfe, euro-impact's monthly 'Thinking about the euro' columnist on the political context of Economic and Monetary Union and introduction of the euro. This is an abridged version of the full column". Maybe his readers should have known? For that matter, with this as a precedence, who, today is a Commission official writing EU propaganda under an assumed nakme?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/23/2004 8:18:29 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Speaking of which, I haven't received my VRWC check for the month of October yet. And it should have had a bunch of overtime in it too, being as how I put in extra hours the last two weeks before the election.
#3
Must be held up in the mail, Christmas rush and all. Should have signed up for direct deposit, Sea. My payment showed up in the Swiss account right on time.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/23/2004 10:38 Comments ||
Top||
#4
I got my VRWC check for October just as Myst IV: Revelation was coming into stores.
Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
11/23/2004 10:43 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Fine, fine. I just don't trust them new-fangled 'lectronic things, being a right-wing reactionary from a red state and all...
Who's supposed to be running opsec around here? All payment is to be in Krugerands or uncut diamonds. We gotta keep the paper trail down to an absolute minimum!
Posted by: Darth VAda ||
11/23/2004 22:31 Comments ||
Top||
#1
Juan Williams has become hysterically emotional lately, which leads to a real (and deserved) lack of respect from Hume. When Juan makes Mara Liason look like the voice of sweet moderate reason, he needs a sabbatical
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/23/2004 7:25 Comments ||
Top||
#2
The problem's not that Young Juan's become so excitable, it's that he's simply parroting the idiotic MSM Meme du Jour: "Bush Crushes Dissent." Hume simply called him on his butt-sucking. And Kristol pointed out the absurdity of arguing that Condi's less independent, less informed, less talented and expert in foreign affairs than Colin Powell, the ultimate insider/player/courtier.
#3
They are both biased toward their side of the house. I like both of these guys though I tend to agree w/Hume more often. I saw him figuratively pimp slap Juan about two months ago on his Fox Show, can't recall exactly what it was over, but it was beautiful.
#4
If anyone's a Washington courtier, it's Colin Powell. His whole career has been about making his superiors feel good. He has no real expertise in anything except how to fight old-fashioned wars with "overwhelming force", ie the kind of war that's utterly irrelevant to our current situation.
Condi's a foreign policy expert. Why then is Powell viewed as the expert and Condi the courtier?
#5
Condi's a foreign policy expert. Why then is Powell viewed as the expert and Condi the courtier?
Because the left can't comprehend that Condi has a bigger pair than Powell.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
11/23/2004 10:18 Comments ||
Top||
#6
":Colin Powell, the ultimate insider/player/courtier." Truer words have never been spoken. I read his autobigraphy and he freely admits being part of the system and working it from the inside. He is a great American and a hero in every way, but he also the ultimate insider. He served both Republicans and Democrats without skipping a beat. Nothing wrong with it, in fact it speaks volumes on his ability to serve the Country regardless of who occupies the White House. If you think Secretary Powell spent meetings arguing with members of the Clinton and Bush Cabinets, then you don't understand politics.
Condi has worked outside the beltway and may have a slanted view towards conservatives but is that a bad thing? The only argument I have heard from the left is that she is in "lockstep" with her boss. I am not sure that public disagreement is a trait that a politician wants from cabinet.
#7
What I don't get[*] is why the MSM is having a collective pants-wetting over the loss of Powell's supposed "independence". We don't elect the Secretary of State to formulate his own foreign policy; we elect the President to formulate policy, and SecState is appointed to carry it out. "Independence", then, is not a good thing.
[*] I lie. I do get it. The MSM doesn't like Bush's foreign policy, and figure any deviation from it can only be for the better. But they could at least say that, and stop pretending that Cabinet members are supposed to be Presidents of their own domains. "We must have dissent! Dissent is a good unto itself! Dissent is holy!" Sheesh.
#8
"I am not sure that public disagreement is a trait that a politician wants from cabinet."
-Exactly Sarge. There have been many times behind closed doors I've disagreed w/my senior leaders, however, once their decision is made you actively support it in front of the troops. It's called loyalty not lockstep "yes man-ism." I'm sure Rice will do the same. Openly criticising your boss shows lack of intestinal fortitude. I'm sure Bush listens to all of them intently, doesn't mean he has to go with their suggestions.
#9
Remember all the dissenters in the Clinton cabinet? There was . . . uh, Whatsisname, and then that other one . . . no, wait, it'll come to me . . . dangit! I can see his face, I swear, but I can't think of his name . . . oh, you know who I mean! . . . don't you?
Posted by: Mike ||
11/23/2004 10:40 Comments ||
Top||
#10
yeah, Vince Foster and Ron Brown
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/23/2004 10:44 Comments ||
Top||
#11
;-)~
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/23/2004 10:44 Comments ||
Top||
#12
James Mann in "Rise of the Vulcans" had it right: Powell's greatest talent is explaining/justifying the military to the politicos and vice-versa. Very valuable, of course, and a great way to ascend the Washington ladder-- especially when there's great bitterness between the two camps, as there was post-Vietnam and post-Beirut-- but his time has passed. We need a SecState who will go all out to defend and advance the president's policies. Powell was next to useless at this-- in fact he's probably the most feckless Sec State since Warren Christopher. Condi can only be more effective than Powell.
#13
Juan Williams is the FOXNews village idiot. Nothing more.
Put yourself in Brit Hume's place. Just when you think Juan can't possibly utter anything stupider than his most recent utterance, he manages to do it.
I'd laugh too...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/23/2004 16:01 Comments ||
Top||
#14
I ALWAYS watch Hume's show, Special Report, as it is, without a doubt, the best news show on TV. He is definitely the anti-Rather/Jennings/Brokow. I really like the roundtables he does.
Juan just follows the latest meme from NYT and parrots it.
Tony Snow does the best job of making Juan look foolish, but you have to watch FOX on Saturday mid-day to see him anymore.
#18
Remember all the dissenters in the Clinton cabinet?
Well, there was George Tenet (CIA), who President Clinton merely ignored, and Louis Freeh (FBI), who Clinton absolutely refused to deal with. But that was sooo long ago... (/mild sarcasm)
The United Nations is investigating some 150 allegations of sexual abuse by UN civilian staff and soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Accusations include paedophilia, rape and prostitution of refugees in UN camps, says UN official Jane Holl Lute. She told a news conference that there was photographic and video evidence for some of the allegations.
Someone has been taking home movies again.
Coming soon, to a porn site near you!
Reports of abuse at UN camps surfaced last year, prompting the UN's internal watchdog to begin a cover-up launch an inquiry. "It's important that those missions be above reproach," the assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping operations said. "We are shining a light on this problem in order to determine its scope, and we will not stop there."
You mean like the investigation into the Oil for Food program and the sexual harassment charges?
A UN probe rejected similar allegations of sexual exploitation of refugees by UN staff in West Africa two years ago.
Why do I think the new probe won't be any different?
After being briefed on its progress, Mr Annan expressed his outrage on Friday saying that a small number of civilian and military personnel had committed "shameful" acts of gross misconduct. He said that those involved must be held accountable.
Hey, Koffi just used the "A" word!
The UN mission in DR Congo now consists of about 10,000 troops and was first deployed in 2001, two years before a major war there ended. Extreme sexual violence has been an integral part of conflicts throughout eastern DR Congo and many girls are reluctant to testify against those in authority.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/23/2004 8:48:41 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
D' ya think that this is going to get the same MSM press coverage as Abu Grabass? Heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/23/2004 11:17 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Smash the MSM. Report and source our own stories. Glasnost Now!
#5
FG - Not sure, but thought that most were from Belgium. They sent back a French soldier and two Tunisian ones last month without saying why.
But it's OK....Kofi's on the case! He'll get to the bottom of this!
#7
There's a list here. One column for MilObs (observers) and one for contingent (troops). What a clusterf**k.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/23/2004 14:15 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Saw elsewhere that this is from report by UN back in MAY! There was already one conviction at time. Wonder why MSM didn't want to report bad news about Dem's favorite organization during the campaign?
Posted by: Stephen ||
11/23/2004 14:15 Comments ||
Top||
#9
I've got some friends who were part of the Lost Boys of Sudan and spent many years in refugee camps in different parts of Africa. Until the U.S. agreed to take the Lost Boys (and just them, not the other refugees), the only way out of the camp was to buy your way into a Western country. It cost something like a couple thousand dollars to get to Australia, and they only wanted to take families, not unattached males. Where are refugees going to come up with that kind of money? Hence, the illicit economy heats up. Of course, the corruption and utter lack of accountablility of many of those under the U.N. banner also contribute mightily to the problem.
Posted by: Kathy L ||
11/23/2004 22:02 Comments ||
Top||
Dan Rather announced Tuesday that he will step down as anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News in March, 24 years after his first broadcast in that position. Rather will continue to work full-time at CBS News as a correspondent for both editions of 60 Minutes, as well as on other assignments for the news division.
Posted by: Dar ||
11/23/2004 12:19 Comments ||
Top||
Now Fox is working the story about how Coffey is feeling the pressure and, just possibly, on the ropes to resign.
Norm Coleman is saying aloud what we've been saying for years here in RB: America won't pay the tab, fill the ranks, provide the resources, the whole nine yards, for the UN if it isn't honest and transparent. So a 2-pronged attack - finally.
#31
It's appropriate that he should announce this the day after the JFK assassination anniversary, for it was that event that made Rather's career. Largely by chance, he happened to be there to cover a what started as a minor story about JFK's partisan fence-mending visit to Dallas.
Fate intervened and "the most trusted man in America", Walter Cronkite, relied heavily on Rather's breathless and melodramatic reports from the scene. This combination; long on emotion, short on fact; was seen to be ideal for television, and Rather's climb to the top was ensured.
It didn't hurt that Rather, like Cronkite, was a member of the small but fanatically devout corps of old-time Texas lefties.
#38
Okay, I'm ready.
Let's me dock, that means park for you lubbers, this fine yacht. Avast and away, mizzen the main mast, pull heart of the kliplines! I don't know what that means but I like to say it. And that's the way it is.
Posted by: Uncle Walter ||
11/23/2004 19:13 Comments ||
Top||
#39
One down (sorta), a whole sick industry to go...
Posted by: Fred ||
11/23/2004 20:52 Comments ||
Top||
#41
tu3031 has it right---the geriatric angle. Why do these guys hang around till they get alzheimers? They made good money.
They spun many a story to their POV.
They were good tools for the LLL.
They advanced their sick agenda to the best of their abilities.
Why do they not retire and count their money?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/23/2004 21:09 Comments ||
Top||
Jarhead nails it. I've heard (and can be reasonably concluded) that Rather still wields mucho power in that newsroom and used that to 'save face' as much as he can. Look at it as a demotion to the bullpen.
Google has launched a new search tool aimed at improving the public's access to academic material. Google Scholar allows searches for keywords in theses, technical reports, university websites and books. The free service spans the academic disciplines from medicine and physics to economics and computer science. Search results are ranked by order of relevance, including the number of citations by other authors, rather than by the number of hits.
While the great majority of recent papers and periodicals are indexed on the web, many have not been easily accessible to the public using normal search engines. The project involved broad co-operation from academic, scientific and technical publishers to improve indexing of restricted-access material. However, many of these publications will still require a subscription to the publishing website to be read but short extracts should be available. Danny Sullivan, editor of the online newsletter SearchEngineWatch, said: "Normally, such material would never get spidered by search engines such as Google, so the material would be invisible to web searchers. "The advantage is that suddenly, searchers have a much better ability to locate material that may be of interest." Google Scholar reflects a growing trend over the last decade by students and academics who begin their research with online search engines. Mr Sullivan predicted that other search engines would soon follow with their own specialised search tools. "What Yahoo doesn't currently provide is a specialised way to search through just this material. It's quite likely in my view that this will come," he said.
Should be a handy tool for fact checking so-called experts and seeing what they have published.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/23/2004 8:57:23 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
While the great majority of recent papers and periodicals are indexed on the web, many have not been easily accessible to the public using normal search engines
As if any of us wanted to read the crap put out by our "intelligent scholars". Bunch of 22 year old's regurgitating the "wisdom" of the professors and citing the same articles that their professors either told them to go read or that they wrote themselves. Such incest always produces deformed children. Yawn.. 20th Century tactics with 21st century tools.
#3
It sounds like a good idea. Iâve tried it a couple of times with little success. Good science articles are picked up, spread, and talked about on the Internet. If it isnât being talked about, itâs probably not that important. So I didnât find better info using the Scholar Search than when using regular Google with good keywords.
Iâd like to set a few flags on my search such as âbackground in scienceâ, âknowledge levelâ, âno storesâ, etc.
#4
Sounds like another good idea from google. There are already online repositories of research papers at sites such as lanl.arXiv.org and CiteSeer, but they are probably too narrowly focussed for most technical searches.
Burned, looted shops dot the commercial capital. European airlines have suspended flights. And only a few ships remain in what was one of West Africa's busiest ports. The latest outburst of violence in Ivory Coast has dealt a serious - and some say irreparable - blow to the world's top cocoa producer and regional economic powerhouse, chasing away many of the foreign business owners and managers critical to its development and stability.
Ivory Coast accounts for 40 percent of economic production in French-speaking West Africa and is the site of two key ports. Its cocoa and coffee plantations provide employment to at least 4 million workers from impoverished neighboring countries; other sectors employ as many as 4 million more immigrants. The harm goes beyond Ivory Coast's borders. Instability here and in Sudan is having a "ripple effect" across Africa - frightening investors away from stable countries like Senegal and Mali, Anne Miroux of the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development said Monday at a conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/23/2004 2:27:51 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
Why should West Africa be immune fromt the self immolation practiced by the rest of Africa. The continent has been in a long slow slide to oblivion since Jomo Kenyatta and the Mau-Mau. Go down the list: Zimbabwe, Angola, Uganda, Rwanda, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Congo Republic, et.al. and think of the common elements in each picture: Corruption, tribalism, society alternating between extreme dictatorship and anarchy, famine, hordes of ineffective NGOs, brutality, disease, squalor, poverty, hopelessness. Africa has been committing suicide by degrees for the last 50 years. Add AIDS and the UN to the picture and there is no hope at all.
AIDS has hit sub-Saharan Africa so badly that the disease will cast a shadow over generations to come, even in countries that succeed in the battle against it, the United Nations warned on Tuesday. Africans account for some 25.4 million of the 39.4 million people around the world who have either the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or AIDS, the UN's World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNAIDS said in an annual report. "HIV infection is becoming endemic in sub-Saharan Africa," AIDS Epidemic Update, released ahead of World AIDS Day on December 1, said. "Current high prevalence levels mean that even those countries that do eventually reverse the epidemic's course will have to contend with serious AIDS epidemics for many subsequent years. The havoc wrought by AIDS will shape the lives of several generations of Africans." Commercial sex, sexual abuse and violence were pinpointed as the big vectors of HIV/AIDS in Africa.
Another source is the re-use of disposable medical instruments such as syringes and needles, but the AIDS organizations don't like to talk about that.
The good news is that east Africa has seen modest declines in HIV prevalence among pregnant women, and levels have stayed steady in central and west Africa. This has helped keep the continent's HIV prevalence to 7.4 percent of the adult population, compared to 7.5 percent in 2003. On the downside, HIV prevalence among expectant mothers has risen sharply in southern Africa from five percent in 1990 to more than 25 percent this year. Southern Africa is "the worst affected sub-region in the world,"Â the report declared bluntly. Around 11.4 million people in the nine countries that make up this sub-region live with HIV or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), representing "almost 30 percent of the global number of people living with HIV in an area where only two percent of the world's total population resides," the report said. South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV in the world -- 5.3 million, more than half of them women. Four other countries in the region—Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland—all have "very high HIV prevalence, often exceeding 30 percent among pregnant women".
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/23/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I wonder how many 5-star lunch'es and exotic dinners it took the U.N. to come to this conclusion......
#3
Malaria kills at least as many people in Africa as AIDS and far more children. Those deaths could be prevented for a fraction of the money now being spent on AIDS treatments. Unfortunately Malaria is not fashionable.
#4
The aid organizations don't like to talk about the vaccines contaminated with unknown viruses from the monkey hosts, either. Or the belief held by many African men that having sex with a virgin is a surefire cure for AIDS, hence the mention in the article of the larger number of young women infected compared to young men. Or the insistence of the South African government that HIV and AIDS are first of all unconnected, that Western AIDS medications are poisonous and ineffective and donations of such must therefore be rejected, and that the native pharmacopia contains the cure.
#5
Malaria kills at least as many people in Africa as AIDS and far more children. Those deaths could be prevented for a fraction of the money now being spent on AIDS treatments. Unfortunately Malaria is not fashionable.
More exactly, AIDS is danger for the chattering classes (people in the show business tend to have disoderly sex lives) while Malaria doesn't affect them: a dozen years ago, on French TV, one of the reporters who had been the most active over AIDS commented about a fund-riase for fighting leper: "It is difficult to feel concerned about a plague who no longer strikes our country"
#6
Not a friend of conspiracy theories... But this is exactly what CFR/Sierra Club planned for Sub-Saharan Africa. Simply depopulate it in 50-100 or so years and make it one big safari. Maybe not safari, just an unbound wilderness, without a trace of human footprint. Of course, the elite NWO Communiati would use it as a personal safari.
#7
Excuse me, but "this is exactly what CFR/Sierra Club planned for Sub-Saharan Africa". What on earth have you been smoking? Of all the looney conspiracy theories I've heard over the years, this one just moved ahead of the one claiming martians are responsible for global warming.
Posted by: Weird Al ||
11/23/2004 8:09 Comments ||
Top||
#8
South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV in the world -- 5.3 million, more than half of them women
Ah yes, so acc to the MSM's Iraq coverage logic, we were wrong to call for an end to apartheid in SA.
Funny that all the left's hand-wringing about post-Saddam chaos and bloodshed isn't applied to the nightmare that is post-apartheid South Africa. And it's still a nightmare ten years later.
--Twenty percent of the population has AIDS.
--Fifty percent are unemployed.
--One third of South AFrica's women have been raped.
And the MSM are absolutely silent on this. Screw these bastards. Source and report our own stories.
#9
Until one changes the internal African culture wrt to the adult males, there will be no end to this. Imho it will only get worse. As TW said -their having sex with virgins as a surefire cure for AIDS or the fact that many do not believe in condom use only precipitates this. We can treat the cases that are present with medicines available but this does nothing to stop the spread of new cases due to the willfull ignorance of the African men. I think it's a money pit.
#10
I remember seeing hard data indicating that the African state that has pushed the sexual restraint approach most aggressively is - surprise! - also the most effective at reducing the spread of AIDS. Think it was Uganda.
#13
Africa can thank Rachel Carson for malaria. Her book, Silent Spring, which led to the banning of DDT and the resurgence of insect borne diseases in the third world is responsible for more deaths than almost any in history.
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.
