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Plans for establishing Al-Qaeda in North African countries
Today's Headlines
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Page 4: Opinion
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Michael Yon is a Finalist in 2005 Weblog Awards - So Vote!
My blog has been nominated as a finalist in the “media journalist” category of “The Weblog Awards 2005.”

I have become aware that some dispatches, such as “Gates of Fire,” and “Jungle Law,” and some photographs, were the #1 postings on the web when they appeared. But with tens of millions of blogs out there, this is an unexpected honor. My congratulations to everyone nominated this year.

To participate in the voting, just follow this link, then click on the word VOTE. Participants can vote one time per day until the polls close December 15, 2005.
If you've enjoyed his work, then let it be known.
Posted by: .com || 12/09/2005 02:41 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Looks like Yon is off to a good start.

Mods - can you put this up every day until voting closes? I wanna stuff the ballot box.

Doesn't everyone?
Posted by: Bobby || 12/09/2005 8:06 Comments || Top||

#2  As we used to say in Youngstown, back in the day:

Vote early and often.
Posted by: Mike || 12/09/2005 11:07 Comments || Top||


Germany backs bigger brothels to fight World Cup sex explosion
Yes, by Gawd! Bigger brothels! With bigger hookers! And bigger honkers!
Posted by: .com || 12/09/2005 02:08 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hmmmm... better facilities than the Nevada 'ranches'...
Posted by: Pappy || 12/09/2005 11:46 Comments || Top||

#2  Predictions suggest that up to three million fans will visit a prostitute

Gee, and I thought the Grand Canyon was impressive.
Posted by: Doc8404 || 12/09/2005 11:53 Comments || Top||

#3  I wonder if this means more big box stores in Berlin.
Posted by: Shiper Phinegum6887 || 12/09/2005 11:56 Comments || Top||

#4  That'll be after the World Cup...
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/09/2005 12:01 Comments || Top||

#5  Predictions suggest that up to three million fans will visit a prostitute


I want to go first...last in line would suck!
Posted by: Frank G || 12/09/2005 12:42 Comments || Top||

#6  suck!

very sloppy maybe....but suck? nowayjose.

»;-)
Posted by: Red Dog || 12/09/2005 13:10 Comments || Top||

#7  Maybe I just need to give soccer another chance, I might just like it! TGA you renting rooms? FYI this happens when they hold the Super Bowl. I think it was HBO that did a special on hookers heading to the big game to make some big bucks. It's all a matter of supply versus demand.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 12/09/2005 17:58 Comments || Top||

#8  up to three million fans will visit a prostitute

She must be really good.
Posted by: Glainter Flomp7031 || 12/09/2005 18:09 Comments || Top||

#9  very sloppy maybe....but suck? nowayjose.

This reminds me very little of when a friend once asked me what was the absolutely worst, crappiest, lousiest most rotten repugnant and repulsive sex I'd ever had.

I told him, "Fantastic!"
Posted by: Zenster || 12/09/2005 22:28 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
CIA 'plot to kill Chavez'
Venezuelan politicians claim that the CIA plotted to kill Hugo Chavez, the president, in an attempt to derail the country’s legislative elections on 4 December. President Chavez has often denounced what he called US-backed plans to assassinate him. American officials deny the claims as populist rhetoric meant to increase support at home, and the CIA has dismissed the latest accusation. Nicolas Maduro, a Chavez ally and president of the National Assembly, said that he planned to file charges with the attorney-general and military prosecutors "of a plot orchestrated by the CIA against the Venezuelan democracy". But Paul Gimigliano, a CIA spokesman, said: "It's nonsense."
Fergawdsake. Just go ahead and bump him off. We're tired of hearing him shriek about it every three weeks.
Posted by: Fred || 12/09/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  proving the ol' saying - just because you are paranoid doesn't mean that they aren't out to get you.
Posted by: 2b || 12/09/2005 0:03 Comments || Top||

#2  The CIA? How are they supposed to be planning on killing him - exploding cigars?

Like Fred says - just bump him off. No matter how or when he croaks the US will be blamed for it. If a lightning bolt comes out of the sky to strike his sorry lying dictator ass dead, we'll get blamed for it. Might as well live up to our press.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 12/09/2005 0:33 Comments || Top||

#3  I dunno... the idea that he and his ilk are constantly looking over their shoulders gives me the warm-fuzzies.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/09/2005 0:44 Comments || Top||

#4  Think how much you'll feel when that lightning bolt gets him :-)
Posted by: Steve White || 12/09/2005 0:45 Comments || Top||

#5  Did you happen to write down the tail numbers on that drone overhead?
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/09/2005 0:49 Comments || Top||

#6  The CIA? Lol, not our current CIA. Pat Robertson would prolly be more effective. Almost makes me wanna send a donation to the 700 Club - earmarked for putting PAID to Chavez. Wotta twerp.
Posted by: .com || 12/09/2005 1:23 Comments || Top||

#7  This makes the 49th CIA plot to kill Hugo he has claimed, this week.

This clown inflates his importance to us to compensate for his 1 inch pecker.
Posted by: Mahou Sensei Negi-bozu || 12/09/2005 6:16 Comments || Top||

#8  Guyana,USA
Ran across this link the other day at http://anglosphere.com/weblog/.Cool idea,an American state on the Atlantic coast,next door to Hugo would sure put a twist in his panties.
Posted by: raptor || 12/09/2005 7:15 Comments || Top||

#9  Boy,I sure scrwed that post.

...an American state on the Atlantic coast of Sth.America
Posted by: raptor || 12/09/2005 7:21 Comments || Top||

#10  Can't get the link button to work.Here is the site:
http://www.guyanausa.org/
Posted by: raptor || 12/09/2005 7:22 Comments || Top||

#11  No thanks, Raptor. We don't need another reliably Democratic state in the U.S.
Posted by: mac || 12/09/2005 8:02 Comments || Top||

#12  Its not official till its leaked to the WaPo.
Posted by: Threarong Sholump2965 || 12/09/2005 8:59 Comments || Top||

#13  Maybe Bush is gonna wait until the last week of the administration in 2008. The he goes Michael Corleone and settles all family business. Sammy's found hung in his cell. Kimmie's train blows up. Ahmadinejad dies of a heroin overdose. Assad takes one in the eye. Fidel "dies in his sleep".
And Hugo buys it from a "stray round" from one of his own guys shooting in the air to celebrate another stirring speech.
The final scene? Howard Dean in the Oval Office kissing W's hand.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/09/2005 9:30 Comments || Top||

#14  And Putin mysteriously chokes on a Super Bowl ring...

*Snicker*
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/09/2005 9:57 Comments || Top||

#15  Any chance the same bullet could mysteriously take out Mucky al-Sadr? Just hoping...
Posted by: Hyper || 12/09/2005 11:38 Comments || Top||

#16  You know, Hugo may be right that the CIA is tring to kill him. The best evidence for this is he is still alive and frothing. Not that I'm accusing the CIA of incompetent buffoonery or anything.
Posted by: SteveS || 12/09/2005 12:12 Comments || Top||

#17  They were going to do a rendition but could not get the flight plan cleared. I vote we release those eco terrorist and tell them Chavez is dumping oil into the ocean and clear cutting the jungles for cattle.
Posted by: 49 pan || 12/09/2005 13:04 Comments || Top||

#18  Why would the Culinary Institute of America want to kill Hugo?

(Don't laugh...you ever see how those guys handle a knife? He'd be filleted in no time!)
Posted by: Desert Blondie || 12/09/2005 13:10 Comments || Top||

#19  Mr. "Johnson" in External Contracts writes:

"Hey, Hugo! If we wanted you dead, you'd BE dead, you stupid bastard."
Posted by: mojo || 12/09/2005 15:50 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Chinese village in prosperous Guangdong province surrounded by armed policemen
Hundreds of riot police armed with guns and shields have surrounded and sealed off a southern Chinese village where authorities fatally shot demonstrators this week, villagers said Friday.

Although riot police often use tear gas and truncheons to disperse demonstrators, it is extremely rare for security forces to fire into a crowd — as they did in putting down pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989 near Tiananmen Square. Hundreds, if not thousands, were killed.

During the demonstration Tuesday in Dongzhou, a village in Guangdong province, thousands of people gathered to protest the amount of money offered by the government as compensation for land to be used in the construction of a wind power plant.

Police started firing into the crowd and killed several people, mostly men, villagers reached by telephone said Friday. The death toll ranged from two to 10, they said, and many remained missing.

State media have not mentioned the incident and both provincial and local governments have repeatedly refused to comment.

This is typical in China, where the ruling Communist Party controls the media and lower-level authorities are leery of releasing information without permission from the central government.

All the villagers said they were nervous and scared, and most did not want to be identified for fear of retribution. One man said the situation was still "tumultuous."

A 14-year-old girl said a local official visited the village Friday and called the shootings "a misunderstanding."

"He said he hoped it wouldn't become a big issue," the girl said by telephone. "This is not a misunderstanding. I am afraid. I haven't been to school in days."

She added: "Come save us."

Another villager said there were at least 10 deaths.

"The riot police are gathered outside our village. We've been surrounded," she said, sobbing. "Most of the police are armed. We dare not go out of our home."

"We are not allowed to buy food outside the village. They asked the nearby villagers not to sell us goods," the woman said. "The government did not give us proper compensation for using our land to build the development zone and plants. Now they come and shoot us. I don't know what to say."

One woman said an additional 20 people were wounded.

"They gathered because their land was taken away and they were not given compensation," she said. "The police thought they wanted to make trouble and started shooting."

She said there were several hundred police with guns in the roads outside the village Friday. "I'm afraid of dying. People have already died."

The number of protests in China's vast, poverty-stricken countryside has risen in recent months as anger comes to a head over corruption, land seizures and a yawning wealth gap that experts say now threatens social stability. The government says about 70,000 such conflicts occurred last year, although many more are believed to go unreported.

The clashes also have become increasingly violent, with injuries sustained on both sides and huge amounts of damage done to property as protesters vent their frustration in face of indifferent or bullying authorities.

"These reports of protesters being shot dead are chilling," Catherine Baber, deputy Asia director at Amnesty International, said in a statement. "The increasing number of such disputes over land use across rural China, and the use of force to resolve them, suggest an urgent need for the Chinese authorities to focus on developing effective channels for dispute resolution."

Amnesty spokeswoman Saria Rees-Roberts said Friday in London that "police shooting people dead is unusual in China and it does demand an independent investigation."

Like many cities in China, Shanwei, the city where Dongzhou is located, has cleared suburban land once used for farming to build industrial zones. State media have said the Shanwei Red Bay industrial zone is slated to have three electricity-generating plants — a coal-fired plant, a wave power plant and a wind farm.

Shanwei already has a large wind farm on an offshore island, with 25 turbines. Another 24 are set for construction.

Earlier reports said the building of the $743 million coal-fired power plant, a major government-invested project for the province, also was disrupted by a dispute over land compensation.

Authorities in Dongzhou were trying to find the leaders of Tuesday's demonstration, a villager said.

The man said the bodies of some of the shooting victims "are just lying there."

"Why did they shoot our villagers?" he asked. "They are crazy!"
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 12/09/2005 14:34 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Do American corporations take these incidents into account when they are doing business in China? I know it isn't a question of ethics over money, I mean it from the possibility of economic riots that expand to where it is a problem for the country.
Posted by: Penguin || 12/09/2005 14:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Penguin: Do American corporations take these incidents into account when they are doing business in China?

A lot of them operate through subcontractors. McDonald's and KFC, which have 700 and 1500 restaurants in China respectively, have Chinese franchisees. No one has to *sell* in China. But many need to manufacture there just to stay cost-competitive with other companies, American or otherwise, that do manufacture in China. China's primary importance continues to be as a production base.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 12/09/2005 15:08 Comments || Top||

#3  No, I don't believe american companies take China's risk factors into account. Herd mentality drove everyone to china... "what's our china strategy" became a US company buzz phrase. They're just now waking up to the fact that the returns aren't as high as they thought... soon they may learn the risk factors were far higher than they thought.
Posted by: Damn_Proud_American || 12/09/2005 15:18 Comments || Top||

#4  All the years of cheap goods for the west and money pouring into corrupt government in China has caused a credit of expectedness from the poor farmers. The bill is now coming due. Remember China, the farmers fueled the last revolution that put your current government in power. They can take it away from you too.
Posted by: mmurray821 || 12/09/2005 15:34 Comments || Top||

#5  ZF can contradict me, but my understanding is that every internal change of government in China has come at the hands of the peasants. Mao was very aware and concerned about that. Part of the logic behind the cultural revolution.
Posted by: Jise Unung6614 || 12/09/2005 15:48 Comments || Top||

#6  DPA: No, I don't believe american companies take China's risk factors into account.

Actually, they do. Whether you believe it or not.

DPA: Herd mentality drove everyone to china...

Nothing to do with herd mentality. If you can't match your competitor on price because he can underprice you at the same level of quality based on low Chinese wages, you're out of business.

DPA: "what's our china strategy" became a US company buzz phrase.

This is ad world related horsecrap. Only ad people actually wonder about this. Most people are trying to figure how to stay in business as their competitor beats the crap out of them on price. Business people don't commit capital before figuring out the odds. Fact is that Chinese investments involve a lot of hassle (joint venture requirements, bribes, etc), and that's before figuring in political risk. However, in the long run, we'll all be out of business if we don't match our competitors on price. We can't come up with brand new inventions every day to stay ahead of the curve. And our competitors are hiring bright-eyed Chinese college grads at one tenth of the cost of slack-jawed high school grads domestically.

DPA: They're just now waking up to the fact that the returns aren't as high as they thought... soon they may learn the risk factors were far higher than they thought.

Returns in China are actually pretty high, because the domestic competition lacks capital, expertise and finesse. But no foreign concern wants to advertise this, because local officials will flock to them like locusts for baksheesh. Of the Chinese businessmen who landed on the Forbes list of China's nouveau riche, many were subsequently arrested and sentenced to long jail terms. Foreign businessmen on the up-and-up don't land in prison - but they can get shaken down for higher tax assessments - and there's no appeals process.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 12/09/2005 15:52 Comments || Top||

#7  JU6614: ZF can contradict me, but my understanding is that every internal change of government in China has come at the hands of the peasants.

Not true. Many of these changes may have started with peasant revolts, but the majority were hijacked by local officials who rode the momentum to the seat of power. Even when peasant leaders won, they did it with the help of local officials, who provided the organizational and administrative skills necessary for the revolt to succeed.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 12/09/2005 15:58 Comments || Top||

#8  Zhang I should have said "accurately take China's risk factors into account"

"Nothing to do with herd mentality. If you can't match your competitor on price because he can underprice you at the same level of quality based on low Chinese wages, you're out of business. "

There are many other locations that goods can be produced at the same cost. Additionaly companies didn't look into automation as from the top down "china strategy" was the mantra. Companies are just now waking up to this and automation and localized manufacturing (to avoid distribution/shipping and tarrifs) is becoming to new mantra.

The rest of your comment is some weird assertion that companies always act in their best interest, are effecient and are logical. Basically a bunch of nonsense. Companies for the most part follow herd mentalities... in the long run they usually end up focusing on what makes sense as the best of the best survive and grow. In the mean time they make huge mistakes in the short term, over invest in fads, misjudge trends etc. Time Warner buying AOL is a good example if you need one.
Posted by: Damn_Proud_American || 12/09/2005 16:02 Comments || Top||

#9  ZF, No question some slick operator took advantage of the turmoil to become new top dog, but my understanding was the initial impetus behind the turmoil was peasant unrest, not the War of the Roses.
Posted by: Whons Ulomoger5955 || 12/09/2005 16:03 Comments || Top||

#10  DPA, is the stock market efficient?
Posted by: Flaish Uloluns7807 || 12/09/2005 16:04 Comments || Top||

#11  WU5955: ZF, No question some slick operator took advantage of the turmoil to become new top dog, but my understanding was the initial impetus behind the turmoil was peasant unrest, not the War of the Roses.

I'll have to agree with that. Chinese political entrepreneurs have traditionally launched their bids for power upon detecting weakness in the central government, whether this relates to military incompetence or simple lack of self-confidence* (i.e. an unwillingness or inability to use force to crush demonstrations). The first sign of weakness usually manifests itself via some sort of peasant rebellion, typically unsuccessful, and crushed with great violence. Follow-on revolts are a sign of systemic misrule and widespread disaffection - grievances that these entrepreneurs can seize upon to discredit the incumbent regime.

* The latter is also why the Soviet Union fell. This is contrary to notion of self-confidence promulgated by Western liberals, which seems to see Gandhi-like non-violence as self-confidence. The reality is that any regime that is self-confident in the liberal manner is likely to become an ex-regime in short order.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 12/09/2005 16:29 Comments || Top||

#12  So how do we judge this? Isolated civil disturbance quickly brought under control by efficient law enforcement or the tip of an iceberg leading to excess force by out of control enforcers stretched too thin, or it doesn't doesn't make any differnece, it's only a matter of time?
Posted by: Whons Ulomoger5955 || 12/09/2005 16:43 Comments || Top||

#13  WU5955: So how do we judge this? Isolated civil disturbance quickly brought under control by efficient law enforcement or the tip of an iceberg leading to excess force by out of control enforcers stretched too thin, or it doesn't doesn't make any differnece, it's only a matter of time?

Probably just the right level of force used for regime preservation. Enough so that others are deterred.* Not so many that other factions are given the opportunity to use massive loss of life to oust the ruling faction.

* The Romanized four-character expressions are: Cheng yi jing bai: Punish one, warn one hundred, and sha ji xia hou which literally means "to kill the chicken to frighten the monkeys."
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 12/09/2005 17:07 Comments || Top||

#14  ZF: years ago it was remarked that China operated on an fire-earth-wind-water cycle.

That is, the first government in the cycle was very constructive, rebuilding China from the ground up.

Its successor government would maintain what their predecessor had built, managing everything and getting "the system" running smoothly.

The third government would allow the nation to fall into disrepair and decay, withdrawing to Beijing, and only acting to prevent any other organizations from performing government functions.

The fourth, or last cycle of government's purpose was to destroy what had fallen into disrepair, and often very violently. This would prepare the way for the new cycle to begin.

The concept was that this actually transcended the imperial dynasties, and still exists today, in some form or another. Ironically, Mao, had he been an emperor, would I believe have been a "water" or destroyer emperor. A role which he performed well, following the "last emperor", clearly a decadent emperor.

With this concept in mind, I suppose that Deng Xiaoping would fit the bill as a constructive leader, but I would have difficulty in seeing if Hu Yaobang, Zhao Ziyang, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao and the country as a whole would still fit into this model.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/09/2005 17:31 Comments || Top||

#15  Well, if you were on the central committee in Beijing looking at this, who would you decide were the chicken and who were the monkeys?
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman || 12/09/2005 17:33 Comments || Top||

#16  AS: Well, if you were on the central committee in Beijing looking at this, who would you decide were the chicken and who were the monkeys?

I guess the village leaders of Dongzhou are the chicken and other similarly-assertive village leaders are the monkeys.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 12/09/2005 17:50 Comments || Top||

#17  It could spiral out of control in the sense that officials can be sought out and killed by vengeful members of a village. Every one of them knows this, which is why a local official bothered to show up to say that it was all a misunderstanding. Now that communism is dead, except in word, the ancient Chinese concept of the blood debt immortalized in chop socky movies (you killed my father - I must kill you, whatever the cost) has made a comeback.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 12/09/2005 17:57 Comments || Top||

#18  Flaish Uloluns7807,

Of course the stock market isn't efficient. If it was people like Warren Buffett wouldn't exist.
Posted by: Damn_Proud_American || 12/09/2005 18:43 Comments || Top||

#19  ...waitasecond, the blood feud EVER existed???

In a "from the other POV" anecdote, "angry chinese blogger" had a December 5 post about a Chinese businessman who bemoaned Western companies buying into the "low cost" myth... and then tried to push Chinese manufacturers into cutting corners to make that myth into 'reality', even if that kept the "low quality" image, because all the companies wanted out of the manufacturers to begin with was low cost.
Posted by: Snump Flaviper5941 || 12/09/2005 18:45 Comments || Top||

#20  ON THIS DAY IN GUANDONG, YET ANOTHER ANTI-SOCIALIST "INCIDENT" NEVER HAPPENED. As for Mao, the CULTURAL REVOLUTION came about because Mao himself recognized the constraints on national development that his own -ISM put on Chinese-centric modernity and industrialization. In true Lefty and Commie form, he blamed it on past Chinese civilizations rather than the defects of his own ideology. By destroying China's past could he control China's present. The Chicoms of today want development, industrialization, and modernity with only minutae de-regulation-libertarianism.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/09/2005 19:46 Comments || Top||

#21  SF5941: In a "from the other POV" anecdote, "angry chinese blogger" had a December 5 post about a Chinese businessman who bemoaned Western companies buying into the "low cost" myth... and then tried to push Chinese manufacturers into cutting corners to make that myth into 'reality', even if that kept the "low quality" image, because all the companies wanted out of the manufacturers to begin with was low cost.

It's not a myth - China has some of the lowest wages and land prices around. Foreign companies that have moved their production to China (typically from other East Asian countries like Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore or Thailand) have cut their costs drastically. There's nothing low quality about Western brands produced in China - they are made using the same capital equipment and production processes moved from other East Asian countries.

Western companies don't push Chinese companies into producing crappy products - products made for the West are generally far superior to those made for Chinese markets. It is actually through exposure to Western markets that Chinese companies learn about quality control. In China, the consumer's motto is caveat emptor (buyer beware) - if a product breaks, you're on your own. In the West, returns are the responsibility of the manufacturer.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 12/09/2005 22:04 Comments || Top||


Russian pipeline agreement for Japan inked By Pooty and Koizumi
From East Asia Intel, subscription.
It looks like Moscow has finally halted its ballet around the route for a major pipeline from fields in Western Siberian eastward.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi signed an agreement in late November for the $11.5-billion, 2,600-mile project to carry 1.6 million barrels of oil a day to a terminus on the Pacific. The agreement was signed despite no progress on a WWII peace treaty or the return of what the Japanese call their “northern territories,” islands the Soviets snatched at the war’s end.
Obviously, it's all about oil.
Japan lobbied hard for the pipeline, hoping to cut its reliance on Mideast imports by up to 15 percent. But last summer, Putin dashed Japanese hopes for an exclusive deal when he announced that the first half of the pipeline would carry oil to China with a leg from the Pacific route to China’s dwindling Daching petroleum complex in Beijing’s northwest. The Russians said work would start next July and be completed by the summer of 2008.
Putin’s decision is part of a strategy of balancing increased economic relations with Tokyo against Russia’s heavy dependence on arms and oil sales to China. Japan now accounts for only 1 percent of foreign investment in Russia. While Russia-Japan trade is expected to hit $10 billion this year, Russian trade with China will top $25 billion. The Pacific route also fits with Putin’s strategy of increasingly going after U.S. petroleum and LPG markets, and could be part of a network of other Siberian fields being developed.
And there is a lot of oil out there in the Russian Far East.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/09/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Be careful Japan - ala NORTH KOREA, the alibi/contingency-for-all-seasons loving Commies had planned to use pipelines to walk-in andor drive-in. Ditto for Europe, etal. - the US had caught a good number of commandos over the decades trying to penetrate by swimming thru the oil.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/09/2005 19:28 Comments || Top||

#2  :>
Posted by: Shipman || 12/09/2005 19:30 Comments || Top||


Bad Typing Costs Japanese Securities Co. $224 Million
CLUMSY typing cost a Japanese bank at least £128 million [around $224 million] and staff their Christmas bonuses yesterday, after a trader mistakenly sold 600,000 more shares than he should have. The trader at Mizuho Securities, who has not been named, fell foul of what is known in financial circles as “fat finger syndrome” where a dealer types incorrect details into his computer. He wanted to sell one share in a new telecoms company called J Com, for 600,000 yen (about £3,000) [$5284]. Unfortunately, the order went through as a sale of 600,000 shares at 1 yen each.

That error alone would have been bad enough, but the consequences were much worse because 600,000 shares represents more than 40 times the total number issued by the company, and the vast discrepancy effectively created a technical shortage of shares, worth about £1.6 billion [$13.3 million].

Despite Mizuho’s attempts to rectify the mistake, some estimates put the possible financial damage to the firm at about 60 billion yen [about $499 million] — a figure that may be big enough to destabilise the securities arm of what is one of the four largest financial groups in the world.

The slip caused immediate shockwaves in the Tokyo market as traders tried to guess which firm had made the mistake. Fearing the impact, traders sold shares in all Japanese broking houses and the sell-off led to the value of the Nikkei 225 falling 2 per cent. It was only later that Mizuho admitted that one of its traders had made the error. If Mizuho has to accept the loss, it may have to sell many of its stockholdings to raise the money, creating further pressure on Japanese stocks.

Mizuho said it was discussing with the Tokyo stock exchange how to deal with the matter. There is a chance that Mizuho will persuade the Tokyo exchange, which is under pressure for allowing the obviously mistaken trade to go ahead, to have it cancelled.

As if the hapless trader was not unpopular enough, the firm also cancelled its end-of-year party, scheduled for last night.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/09/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I keep telling people "spellcheck" is NOT the same as proofreading.

Sounds like the trader should have double-checked his entry before hitting "enter" .... (In the case of the big money traders deal with, triple-check is not a bad idea.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 12/09/2005 0:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Can't happen as described, the very fact that he was trying to sell more shares than existed (The Float) would trigger stop alarms before the transaction could complete.

Something is not being said here, like maybe he disabled the alarms?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/09/2005 8:37 Comments || Top||

#3  I was thinking he'll probably commit hari-kari (spelling?). I just see the trader who committed the mistake killing himself out of shame and humiliation. It seems that Japanese have done so for far less. Does anyone else also think he will kill himself, as I theorize? I cannot believe that they let this go thru. It was a mistake. Why the hell would they let this happen. $500 million! It's ridiculous that the government hasn't stepped in to rectify this. Give the company a break. "UNDO" it.
Posted by: KentuckyBeef || 12/09/2005 11:55 Comments || Top||

#4  RJ: Can't happen as described, the very fact that he was trying to sell more shares than existed (The Float) would trigger stop alarms before the transaction could complete.

Something is not being said here, like maybe he disabled the alarms?


Individual trading platforms have these failsafes - institutional ones do not. This guy will need to branch into some other line of work.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 12/09/2005 12:48 Comments || Top||

#5  I would think after the Barings Bank failure, there would be alarms at every institution, whether or not there were before then.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/09/2005 14:02 Comments || Top||

#6  The trader at Mizuho Securities, who has not been named, fell foul of what is known in financial circles as “fat finger syndrome” where a dealer types incorrect details into his computer.

That'll teach him to post a major trade from his Blackberry after a three Martini lunch.
Posted by: Zenster || 12/09/2005 14:16 Comments || Top||

#7  I wonder if he did the Japanese version of:

"Yes! I'm sure dammit! Why does this program have to ask that every time?"

"Oops!"
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/09/2005 14:31 Comments || Top||

#8  fat finger syndrome?

Amputate?
Posted by: BigEd || 12/09/2005 17:13 Comments || Top||

#9  Let your fingers do the walking.
Posted by: Flagum Flitle2120 || 12/09/2005 17:19 Comments || Top||

#10  Amputate?

The yakuza are on this already.
Posted by: Zenster || 12/09/2005 17:46 Comments || Top||

#11  Why Open outcry beats crap out of computers. It's not fast but you don't have people with "fingers" screwing up.
Posted by: Mahou Sensei Negi-bozu || 12/09/2005 22:56 Comments || Top||


Great White North
After Promising Gun Registration Would Not Lead To Confiscation, Liberal Propose Confiscation
(Liberal Party Site)
The Liberal government is addressing the escalation of gun violence in Canadian cities by proposing an immediate ban on handguns as part of a five-part strategy to make our communities safer, Prime Minister Paul Martin announced in Toronto today.

"We do not accept the threat these weapons pose to Canadians," said the Prime Minister. "To make our communities safer we should ban handguns outright."

The Canada Handgun Ban is part of the Liberal government’s comprehensive effort to make communities across this country safer.

This plan would include federal legislation that would enable provinces and territories to legally prohibit handguns within their borders. It would toughen penalties for gun crimes, help eliminate the supply of illegal handguns, and increase protection for communities across the country.

Prime Minister Martin’s five-part strategy to ban handguns and make safer communities would include:

* Banning handguns through an amendment to the criminal code that would invite provinces and territories to participate to make the ban national; an amnesty and buy-back program to collect existing handguns; and a national Gunstoppers Program to provide financial rewards for information leading to removing an illegal gun from the street.

* Toughening penalties by re-introducing legislation to crack down on violent crimes and gang violence, by doubling the mandatory minimum sentences for key gun crimes.

* Waiving re-licensing fees for owners of long guns in order to encourage full compliance with the Canada Firearms Program.

* Encouraging community-based action by intensifying prevention efforts. This would include a $50-million Gun Violence and Gang Prevention Fund to focus on youth at risk and continued investment in skills development programs to engage young people in the workforce.

* Investing in law enforcement, including $225 million over five years for an RCMP Advanced Community Safety and Rapid Enforcement Team, $10 million a year for 10 years to increase the number of graduating RCMP officers, $50 million over five years for a Rural Community Safety Plan to provide resources for crime prevention initiatives in communities with less that 100,000 residents, and investments to stem the illegal smuggling of firearms into Canada.

Legitimate target shooters who meet requirements would be eligible for an exemption to the handgun ban.

"Supporting a handgun ban in Canada is a statement of principle, but it is also a statement of purpose," said the Prime Minister. By banning handguns and enforcing a comprehensive policing efforts, the Liberal government will get these dangerous weapons off our streets and help to stop gun crime.
"You screwed up and trusted us, ya hosers!"
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/09/2005 10:39 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Thanks, Canada. You give us a perfect example to point to when leftists down here propose Registration "which won't lead to consfiscation."
Posted by: Jackal || 12/09/2005 10:54 Comments || Top||

#2  They left out Midnight Basketball. Midnight Hockey maybe?

Legitimate target shooters who meet requirements would be eligible for an exemption to the handgun ban.

I have a feeling lots and lots of liberals will become "legitimate target shooters". And will have no problems "meeting the requirements".
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/09/2005 11:00 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm just guessing here but this is most likely an attempt to woo Jack Layton and his New Democratic Party back into the political fold. This is something they have always wanted, nasty little Marxists that they are.

Paul Martin: "To make our communities safer we should ban handguns outright."

Adolf Hitler:"This year will go down in history! For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration! Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future!"
Posted by: Secret Master || 12/09/2005 11:31 Comments || Top||

#4  "To make our communities safer we should ban handguns outright."

Yeah...just ask the poor bastards in DC (the ones without bodyguards) how well that works.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 12/09/2005 11:36 Comments || Top||

#5  This is cool! Now I won’t have to pay full price for that Sig I was wanting. I’ll just wait it out and the Canadians will dump their guns on our market. Another early Christmas present to us terrible gun owners, tell the Cheesehead politico’s to hurry with this so I can get the kids Colts for the holiday! Oh Canada! We love you.
Posted by: 49 pan || 12/09/2005 11:46 Comments || Top||

#6  Great idea 49! Full armory for everyone!
Posted by: mmurray821 || 12/09/2005 12:42 Comments || Top||

#7  The Canucks are going to get a choice in this election. We'll find out what they really are.
Posted by: Javilet Unoluque4138 || 12/09/2005 12:45 Comments || Top||

#8  Lord Acton's epic warning "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely"
Posted by: Uninenter Ulereng5655 || 12/09/2005 12:59 Comments || Top||

#9  The only way this would be stopped is to have a Conservative majority (unlikely), as all the other 3 partys are in favor of this. I pity the Canadians, its just another elitist jab at regular folks.

I think Britian is a prime example of disaster that happens when this gun thing gets going. They even want to have knife control there now.
Posted by: BigEd || 12/09/2005 13:15 Comments || Top||

#10  Go to Ottowa, and take your guns.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. "

The guy had a way with words, huh?
Posted by: mojo || 12/09/2005 14:03 Comments || Top||

#11  Standing in the Jefferson memorial in DC reading in awe the words inscribed on the walls, I was rudely interrupted by an idiot wanting to pose for a photo where I was standing.
Needless to say, he did not appreciate the words...

Posted by: john || 12/09/2005 15:49 Comments || Top||

#12  John : I was rudely interrupted by an idiot wanting to pose for a photo where I was standing.
Needless to say, he did not appreciate the words...


Did he look like this :

Posted by: BigEd || 12/09/2005 17:09 Comments || Top||

#13  Ahh, Southern Comfort.

http://xavierthoughts.blogspot.com/2005_09_01_xavierthoughts_archive.html
Posted by: newc || 12/09/2005 17:52 Comments || Top||

#14  Okay, I'll bite - why is a Nation that can barely afford its own armed forces, with a known large Muslim population, and is also a recognized transit point, espec into the lower USA, for Radical Terrorists, and has budget difficulties affording its own police forces let alone expanding into a larger one, now proposing to take away what is likely the last form of local potent civilian personal self-defense!? Iff the main government can't adequately protect its own borders, inter- and intra-, what is the likelihood of protection from criminals, Spetzlamists, and Mama Hillary's/Cindy's Commie Airborne - eerrr, meant the anti-US UN Peacekeepers..
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/09/2005 19:38 Comments || Top||


No more Canadian troops to Afghanistan, Layton says
Posted by: Threatle Groluque1676 || 12/09/2005 07:43 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Too bad! The great white north sent the best looking women in the coalition! The women there brought smiles every time they wondered into the DFAC in their shorts and t-shirts. They will be missed!
Posted by: 49 pan || 12/09/2005 11:29 Comments || Top||

#2  With an election coming up, this has more domestic than foreign import. It may drive more into the Conservative camp, which would be nice, especially if that means the end of a single Canadian nation.
Posted by: Sneatle Griper3711 || 12/09/2005 11:55 Comments || Top||

#3  This is likely to polarize the situation more. The NDP is their Hard Core Socialists, Appreasers, and other netharious spongiform-brained types. This may shrink, as SG3711 suggests, the Liberal vote both ways, some going Cons, and some joining the wussy NDP...

Watch Ontario's polling...

Ontario

SES has a strong Lib bias... Pay most attention to Ipsos-Reid...
Posted by: BigEd || 12/09/2005 12:49 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Clinton Says Bush Is 'Flat Wrong' on Kyoto
And "Ah did not have sex with that women".
MONTREAL - Former President Clinton told a global audience of diplomats, environmentalists and others Friday that the Bush administration is "flat wrong" in claiming that reducing greenhouse-gas emissions to fight global warming would damage the U.S. economy. With a "serious disciplined effort" to develop energy-saving technology, he said, "we could meet and surpass the Kyoto targets in a way that would strengthen and not weaken our economies."
A "serious disciplined effort"? Yeah, he'd know all about that, wouldn't he?
Clinton, a champion of the Kyoto Protocol, the existing emissions-controls agreement opposed by the Bush administration, spoke in the final hours of a two-week U.N. climate conference at which Washington has come under heavy criticism for its stand. Most delegations appeared ready Friday to leave an unwilling United States behind and open a new round of negotiations on future cutbacks in the emissions blamed for global warming.
Okay. Goodbye. We'll wave.
"There's no longer any serious doubt that climate change is real, accelerating and caused by human activities," said Clinton, whose address was interrupted repeatedly by enthusiastic applause. "We are uncertain about how deep and the time of arrival of the consequences, but we are quite clear they will not be good."
Al Gore told me...
Canadian officials said the U.S. delegation was displeased with the last-minute scheduling of the Clinton speech. But U.S. delegation chief Paula Dobriansky issued a statement saying events like Clinton's appearance "are useful opportunities to hear a wide range of views on global climate change."
Even this idiot's.
The former president spoke between the official morning and afternoon plenary sessions of the conference, representing the William J. Clinton Foundation, which includes a climate-change program in its activities.
I can only imagine what other "activities" his Foundation specializes in.
In the real work of the conference, delegates from more than 180 countries bargained behind closed doors until 6:30 a.m. Friday, making final adjustments to an agreement to negotiate additional reductions in carbon dioxide and other gases after 2012, when the Kyoto accord expires. Efforts by host-country Canada and others to draw the United States into the process were failing. The Bush administration says it favors a voluntary approach, not global negotiations, to deal with climate issues.
Sorry about that. See ya, ya hosers.
"It's such a pity the United States is still very much unwilling to join the international community, to have a multilateral effort to deal with climate change," said Kenya's Emily Ojoo Massawa, chair of the African group of nations at the two-week long conference.
Kenya:
Economy - overview: The regional hub for trade and finance in East Africa, Kenya has been hampered by corruption, notably in the judicial system, and by reliance upon several primary goods whose prices have remained low. In 1997, the IMF suspended Kenya's Enhanced Structural Adjustment Program due to the government's failure to maintain reforms and curb corruption. A severe drought from 1999 to 2000 compounded Kenya's problems, causing water and energy rationing and reducing agricultural output. As a result, GDP contracted by 0.2% in 2000. The IMF, which had resumed loans in 2000 to help Kenya through the drought, again halted lending in 2001 when the government failed to institute several anticorruption measures. Despite the return of strong rains in 2001, weak commodity prices, endemic corruption, and low investment limited Kenya's economic growth to 1.2%. Growth lagged at 1.1% in 2002 because of erratic rains, low investor confidence, meager donor support, and political infighting up to the elections. In the key 27 December 2002 elections, Daniel Arap MOI's 24-year-old reign ended, and a new opposition government took on the formidable economic problems facing the nation. In 2003, progress was made in rooting out corruption, and encouraging donor support, with GDP growth edging up to 1.7%.
Population below poverty line: 50% (2000 est.)
Unemployment rate: 40% (2001 est.)

Looks like you should have a few more priorities then Kyoto, Emily.

Clinton's vice president, Al Gore, was instrumental in final negotiations on the 1997 treaty protocol that was initialed in the Japanese city of Kyoto and mandates cutbacks in 35 industrialized nations of emissions of carbon dioxide and five other gases by 2012.
You mean Al "Kiss of Death" Gore? That Al Gore?
A broad scientific consensus agrees that these gases accumulating in the atmosphere, byproducts of automobile engines, power plants and other fossil fuel-burning industries, contributed significantly to the past century's global temperature rise of 1 degree Fahrenheit. Continued warming is expected to disrupt the global climate.
I can't see across the parking lot. There's about ten inches of snow and it's still coming down. Maybe if I get a Secret Service detail with about 20 Suburbans, I can get home tonight. Just like Clinton and Gore used to.
In the late 1990s the U.S. Senate balked at ratifying Kyoto, and the incoming President Bush in 2001 formally renounced the accord, saying it would harm the U.S. economy.
Another reason we have to be grateful that we never heard the title "President Gore".
The Montreal meeting, attended by almost 10,000 delegates, environmentalists, business representatives and others, was the first annual U.N. climate conference since Kyoto took effect in February. The protocol's language requires its member nations to begin talks now on emissions controls after 2012, when the Kyoto regime expires. The Canadians and others also saw Montreal as an opportunity to draw the outsider United States into the emission-controls regime, through discussions under the broader 1992 U.N. climate treaty.
No thanks. Tell Bill to enjoy those Montreal strip joints.
But the Americans have repeatedly rejected the idea of rejoining future negotiations to set post-2012 emissions controls. The Canadians continued to press for agreement early Friday, offering the U.S. delegation vague, noncommittal language by which Washington would join only in "exploring" "approaches" to cooperative action.
We'll pass on the Kool Aid, thanks.
While rejecting mandatory targets, the Bush administration points to $3 billion-a-year U.S. government spending on research and development of energy-saving technologies as a demonstration of U.S. efforts to combat climate change.
Nope. Don't want to hear it. Todays Topic: How BushHitler will kill us all.
Posted by: Velvet Al-Jones || 12/09/2005 15:32 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Billy knows he can say what he likes because he's an Ex-Prez. Fortunately, nobody cares what he says anymore. Because he's an Ex-Prez.
Posted by: mojo || 12/09/2005 16:49 Comments || Top||

#2  Clinton Says Bush Is 'Flat Wrong' on Kyoto

College girls eat that sh*t up. He is so going to get laid.
Posted by: BH || 12/09/2005 16:54 Comments || Top||

#3  Let us not forget that Kyoto came about during the Clinton administrations time in office. The Senate voted to kill it and Clinton put it in the drawer instead of fighting to push the protocal through.

All Bush did was admit that it was dead instead of pretending and that is "flat wrong". Methinks Clinton is trying to rewrite history, again.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/09/2005 17:08 Comments || Top||

#4  Dear Mr. Clinton,

How come you didn't submit the Kyoto Treaty to the Senate for a up or down vote? Maybe because during the summer of 1997, the Senate voted 95 to 0 to assert its opposition to any treaty that endangers the U.S. economy and spares developing countries from constraints imposed on developed nations. Seems to have slipped your mind.

In Kyoto, a leading Democratic member of the observer delegation agreed that the treaty was not acceptable to the Senate in its current form. "What we have here is not ratifiable in the Senate in my judgment," Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/climate/stories/clim121197b.htm


Now run along and interview some more interns. At least you demonstrate the ability to follow through with women subordinate to you.
Posted by: Uninenter Ulereng5655 || 12/09/2005 19:46 Comments || Top||

#5  "There's no longer any serious doubt that climate change is real, accelerating and caused by human activities," said Clinton,

OKAY, please explain why there is clear evidence of "Global Warming" on the planet MARS
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/09/2005 21:01 Comments || Top||

#6  Former President Clinton told a global audience of diplomats, environmentalists and others Friday that the Bush administration is "flat wrong" in claiming that..

This buffoon simply has no phuquing class.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 12/09/2005 21:20 Comments || Top||

#7  Clinton brought prosperity, Bush gives us corporate welfare and lies, lookit how he just gave more tax breaks to the rich and cut your dumbass military budget. You're fools.
Posted by: Gravirt Flineth9460 || 12/09/2005 23:03 Comments || Top||

#8  *pfffft*

(sprays air freshener)
Posted by: Frank G || 12/09/2005 23:30 Comments || Top||


Founder of Greenpeace praises US's rejection of Kyoto
A founding member of Greenpeace, who left the organization because he viewed it as too radical, praised the United States for refusing to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. "At least the [United] States is honest. [The U.S.] said, 'No we are not going to sign that thing (Kyoto) because we can't do that,'" said Patrick Moore, who is attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal.

Moore noted that many of the industrialized nations that ratified the treaty limiting greenhouse gas emissions are now failing to comply with those emission limits. Moore, who currently heads the Canadian-based environmental advocacy group Greenspirit Strategies helped found both Greenpeace in 1971 and Greenpeace International in 1979. "Canada signed [Kyoto] and said, 'Oh yeah, we can do that,' and then it merrily goes on its way to increase CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions by even more than the U.S.," Moore told Cybercast News Service.

Other industrialized nations - including Japan and at least 11 of the 15 European Union nations that ratified Kyoto - are struggling to meet their emission targets. As Cybercast News Service previously reported, many organizations attending the Climate Change Conference have declared the Kyoto Protocol "dead" because of the signatories' lack of compliance. The treaty establishes a 2012 goal of having top industrialized nations cut their industrial emissions 5.2 percent below the level that was produced in 1990.

"I think this whole Kyoto process is a colossal waste of time and money," said Moore, who rejects alarmist predictions of human-caused 'global warming." The U.N.'s 11th Annual Climate Change Conference in Montreal failed to impress Moore, who is there to promote nuclear energy. "There is nothing concrete going on here. There is nothing good happening here as far as I can see. [The participants at the U.N. conference are] just spending a whole pile of money and auguring and talking," he added.
But the caterers are making a bundle.

Moore also slammed the movement he helped found, accusing today's environmental groups of being co-opted by the political Left. "The Left figures it owns the environmental movement and that has corrupted the movement greatly," Moore said. "The [left-wing] influence has brought great dysfunction into the environmental movement. [It's turned it into] an elitist movement."

Moore said he decided to leave Greenpeace in 1986 after the group became too radical and he could "no longer agree with the policies that were being espoused." The final straw, according to Moore, came when he failed to persuade Greenpeace to abandon its campaign to ban chlorine worldwide. "I pointed out that chlorine was the main element used in our medicine and adding it to drinking water was the biggest advance in public health in human history," Moore said. "[My argument] just fell on deaf ears. [Greenpeace] didn't care about any of that because a global chlorine ban was a good campaign [for them]."

Even though he was a pioneer of the movement, liberal environmentalists spare no criticism of Moore, frequently referring to him as a "traitor" and an "Eco-Judas." Moore dismissed the criticism and asserted that the green movement has steered off course from its original mission. "I think it's in a dismal state - I think almost across the board, whether it's in energy policy or agriculture policy regarding their zero tolerance on GM [genetically modified foods] or in forestry policy," Moore said.
Posted by: Jackal || 12/09/2005 10:58 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well, now we know what happened to the environmentalists that actually have a brain. They got the f00k out.
Good for him going against the grain.
Posted by: mmurray821 || 12/09/2005 12:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Sounds famaliar doesn't. For the Left it is not about dicussion and compromise but it's "Our way or NO WAY. This attitude just helps drive consrevatives into a reactionary stance.
Posted by: Cheaderhead || 12/09/2005 12:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Eco-fatwa in 5...4...3...
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/09/2005 13:36 Comments || Top||

#4  "Eco-Judas". Good one. What's Gore, "Eco-Jesus"?
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/09/2005 16:39 Comments || Top||

#5  This guy clearly doesn't know squat. Bill Clinton says, flat out, that Bush is "flat wrong" about global warming and we can fix it without hurting the economy. So there.
Posted by: Themble Thutle5180 || 12/09/2005 16:49 Comments || Top||

#6  Moore is right. (Good for him).

The ONLY way the environment may be dealt in a sane manner is to build the wealth of nations to a point where conrols are economically feasable.

Contrary to popular belief, Nature has ways of clensing that are probably not even noticed but the onus is still on mankind to treat the environment with as much respect as possible - while also thriving in it.

As for Clinton, he never even read the treaty.
Posted by: newc || 12/09/2005 17:46 Comments || Top||


Reservist arrested in Migrant Case sues Sheriff
An Army reservist arrested in April for holding seven undocumented workers at gunpoint is suing the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office for false imprisonment, emotional distress and abuse of process. In a Maricopa County Superior Court lawsuit, Patrick Haab also accused Sheriff Joe Arpaio of acting with an "evil hand" and "being guided by an evil mind" for disclosing Haab's military records.

At the time of his arrest, Haab described himself as an Iraq war veteran. But military records showed he had been sent home for a mental health evaluation without ever serving in Iraq. They showed Haab was on the verge of being kicked out of the military, suffered from paranoia, threatened to commit suicide, pulled a knife in an altercation with fellow soldiers and reportedly told an officer that he wanted to kill all Muslims, including a soldier in his own unit.

In his lawsuit, Haab claims that Arpaio released the records to The Arizona Republic only after the county attorney refused to charge Haab with any crime. The Republic had sought Haab's military records since his arrest and had filed public records requests with the county and the U.S. Army before publishing a story about the records in August.

On April 10, a Maricopa County sheriff's deputy arrested Haab and charged him with seven counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after he drew his pistol on seven immigrants at a desolate Interstate 8 rest stop. County Attorney Andrew Thomas later dismissed charges against Haab because of a state law that allows citizens to make an arrest when a felony has been committed. According to Thomas, all seven of the immigrants were committing felonies: the smuggler in planning the operation and the six immigrants in "conspiring" to illegally cross the border.

Haab's arrest and subsequent release triggered a storm of protest on both sides of the immigration issue and has prompted a review by the U.S. Department of Justice to determine if Haab violated federal civil rights laws.

Arpaio said Wednesday that Haab's lawsuit was frivolous.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/09/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "reportedly told an officer that he wanted to kill all Muslims, including a soldier in his own unit"

Uh oh... So okay, who enlisted? Was it SayDoom! or VladTheFootImpaler/Inhaler? Lol.
Posted by: .com || 12/09/2005 1:20 Comments || Top||


International-UN-NGOs
Ronery Attention Whore Clinton to Speak at Climate Conference
Posted by: .com || 12/09/2005 02:29 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Trying to save that which should be killed.

Well, the TimesOnline seems to get it - and even a little bit more. Money shot:

"In the meantime, it is ridiculous for countries to berate the US for failing to join a treaty they may find virtually impossible to observe themselves."
Posted by: .com || 12/09/2005 4:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Interesting. When he was president,(gag) clinton pointedly did NOT sign Kyoto. (He left that for algore) Clinton knew the treaty could not pass the Senate given the 96 to 0 Senate resolution against a Kyoto treaty even before it was finalized. (July 1998?

It looks like clinton will try to rewrite history now that he's out of office.
Posted by: Dave || 12/09/2005 5:19 Comments || Top||

#3  Great ta be heah. Where the hookers at? And who's payin fa mahn?
Posted by: William Jefferson Clinton || 12/09/2005 12:10 Comments || Top||

#4  Yo Bill! The broads are here at the hotel, your wife is busy with the NY gay community. Have we got a girl for you better hurry before Kerry gets here and takes the best ones.
Posted by: Ark State Troopers assoc || 12/09/2005 12:37 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Coulter Lampoons Loudmouth UCONN Lefties in Shortened Speech
More than 2,000 people streamed through the doors of the Jorgensen Center of Performing Arts Wednesday, all to see, hear, support or criticize the conservative speaker Ann Coulter.

Campus police were in attendance to maintain order as College Republicans rounded up their brothers and sisters from chapters across Connecticut and some out-of-state, to lend a hand at the event.

Supporters came to hear Coulter, others waited out in the freezing cold weather with their poster boards wisped by the wind, all to protest against Coulter.
And the wait was over.

Coulter, who came in late due to a delayed flight, strode in from Miami, with a smile, and spoke amongst the mixtures of cheers and boos.

Coulter poked fun at liberals and defended President George W. Bush, but her speech was interrupted by boos after she made several comments about gays, only to stir up snickering and boos up on the balcony.

"I think we have a long way to go with censorship when we have 'Will and Grace' on TV," Coulter said as she laughed. "I think someone finally got the joke in the liberal section."

The event, which was sponsored by Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute, lasted less than 30 minutes before her speech was cut short as groups of students seated in the balconies began protesting Coulter shouting, "You suck."

One student shouted, "I want my money back."

"That was an affecting response by the liberals," she said in response. "And it took them two months to come up with that."

A South Park song, "Kyle's mom is a big fat bitch," broke out, and some students jeered.

Coulter continued to laugh and said that liberals were "big, fat, taunting babies."

"It didn't matter what the song was," Coulter said after the lecture. "I'm giving a speech, they blast something and I can't speak. What does that say of how powerful what it is I have to say. They are so afraid that if someone hears me, they will change their mind. I guess they shouldn't be now that I think about it."
The speech went straight into a question and answer session between Coulter and students.

Coulter defended Bush in that U.S. is winning the war in Iraq, and said American troops would be out of Iraq, "sooner than Bosnia."

One student asked what would Coulter do if she had a gay son.

"Did I tell you, you were adopted, " Coulter answered.

Another student who said she was a lesbian, called Coulter hot.
She later admitted the comment she made about homosexuals was a joke and had made the comments to stir up the people who were already upset.

In response to comments made after 9/11 about converting Muslims in Iraq into Christianity, Coulter stood by her comment.
"This is what America has done to create freedom," she said. "America was founded on Christian principals, and the idea people could live in freedom."
...more...

Lol. She always gives better than she gets... but then we're only talking about moonbat college kids. House pets, pet rocks, and potted plants are more challenging intellectual opponents, methinks.
Posted by: .com || 12/09/2005 01:53 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  thanks for the post.

Lol. She always gives better than she gets

hey i love the gal, whats not to like .com? She looks good and is smart as hell..and accomplished!

if Joe don't run ima votin for her.
Posted by: Red Dog || 12/09/2005 5:25 Comments || Top||

#2  i wana see ann coulter in the JAN. issue of playboy.
Posted by: Jerelet Thineling2988 || 12/09/2005 7:15 Comments || Top||

#3  JAN. issue of Playboy, hell! I want to see her as Attorney General! She'd tear the ACLU a new one.
Posted by: mac || 12/09/2005 8:00 Comments || Top||

#4  Others differed in opinion, like Jorge Cruz, a 5th-semester psychology major.

"I can't believe we paid to support racism," Cruz said. "She produces hate-crime."


I would guess this dweeb was one of those who does not believe in free speech, except for people he agrees with.
Posted by: Bobby || 12/09/2005 8:13 Comments || Top||

#5  I almost put a reference to fascist lefties in the title, but after consulting several dictionaries and wanting to be precise, I left it out. They act like little Eichmanns, but they're merely powerless brats throwing yet another tantrum. Ann has a style that simply drives them mad. That's a short trip since they're already clinically insane on BDS, lol. :-)
Posted by: .com || 12/09/2005 8:26 Comments || Top||

#6  RD - She's a little skinny, methinks, but I overlook it cuz it's fun - like watching a cat playing with its next meal to pass the time - to watch and listen to her bat them about... they're a little bloodier after each swipe, and just a little more tender, heh. AG sounds damned good, lol. ;-)
Posted by: .com || 12/09/2005 8:31 Comments || Top||

#7  ..I just wish she'd put on a few pounds, and THEN we'd really be talking world-class hottie.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 12/09/2005 8:32 Comments || Top||

#8  5th (of 8) semester psych major...obviously destined for great things if he can't listen without biased judging


"do you want fries with that combo"?
Posted by: Frank G || 12/09/2005 10:15 Comments || Top||

#9  UCONN is essentially a girl's basketball school, so it's easy to understand how its slack-jawed student body got confused between a game of roundball and public debate and started chanting "You suck." This is the expected level of academic discourse for this intitution.
Posted by: regular joe || 12/09/2005 11:13 Comments || Top||

#10  Everytime these tards pull of their shouting stunts Coulters book sales and speaking fees jump.
They may want to have a chat with their marketing-majors about "free pub.".
Posted by: DepotGuy || 12/09/2005 11:49 Comments || Top||

#11  UCONN is essentially a girl's basketball school, so it's easy to understand how its slack-jawed student body got confused between a game of roundball and public debate and started chanting "You suck." This is the expected level of academic discourse for this intitution.
Posted by: regular joe || 12/09/2005 12:07 Comments || Top||

#12  Mike K,

meaty gals are great too, bon appétit »;-)

Posted by: Red Dog || 12/09/2005 13:28 Comments || Top||

#13  Rice / Coulter '08
Posted by: DMFD || 12/09/2005 18:38 Comments || Top||

#14  UCONN is essentially a girl's basketball school,

UConn has one of the best mens bastketball programs in the country, rivaled only by Duke and ( this year at least) Texas.
Posted by: badanov || 12/09/2005 19:25 Comments || Top||

#15  Obviously, the Commie Clintons and Dems STILL haven't informed their base that all DemoLefties are Repubs and Conservatives and Fascists, etc Rightists now [RINO's/CINOs] ERGO THE STUDENTS ARE ANGRY ONLY AT THE GOP AND RIGHT-WING FOR THEIR SIDE'S LEADERSHIP LACK OF COMMUNICATION. ITS DUBYAS FAULT FOR FOLLOWING HIS WELL-STATED AGENDAS BUT THE DEMOLEFTIES OR THE DEMS FAULT FOR OVERWHELMINGLY SUPP DUBYA'S AGENDAS WHILE SIMUL CRITICIZING HIM FOR THE SAME - Lefty Secular Moralism and genteel Equalism once again proves it is about Honesty and Truth and Fairness, NOT Politics, Policraticism, andor PC!? THE DEMOLEFTIES LOVE AMERICA, FREEDOM AND CAPITALISM ERGO ITS THE RIGHT'S FAULT THE DEMOLEFTIES CAN'T CAN'T, C-A-N-N-'-T-T-T, D**** YOU, SAY IT IN PUBLIC - in a Constitutional and Representative Democracy, the Amer Voters have to UNILATERALLYAND UNCONDITIONALLY ASSUME/PRESUME the DemoLefties are universal, undeniable "Patriots" no matter their rhetoric to contrary and no matter their refusal to remind us, the Voters, of said Patriotism, as honest injun as America was founded on the "sure thing", a "pre-guaranty" of anything and everything in life, not strugggle for life and existence and one owns prosperity by one's own hands and efforts. THE DEMOLEFT > HARD WORK, LIKE TRUTH, HONESTY, AND GOD, ETC. IS FOR SUCKERS AND SCHMOES!?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/09/2005 20:40 Comments || Top||

#16  JM that's way too dense for Friday evening. gyros all spinning at once.
Posted by: head spinning || 12/09/2005 20:48 Comments || Top||

#17  Head Spinning: JosephMendiola is an acqured taste. :o)
Posted by: badanov || 12/09/2005 21:08 Comments || Top||

#18  Annie's always UP because she KNOWS that she's always RIGHT. Too skinny? Naw..."Just tall, that's all". A lithe, erotic, happily righteous patrician Connecticut Yankee (with well-turned calves in my book, anyway). "The closer the bone, the sweeter the meat".
Posted by: Asymmetrical Triangulation || 12/09/2005 21:18 Comments || Top||

#19  The UCONN men's program has nowhere near the historical dominance of the women's program. And the men's program would not be as strong as it is if municipal, state and school laws were actually applied to and enforced upon the players.

Yes, I did go to Duke, why do you ask?
Posted by: Remoteman || 12/09/2005 21:20 Comments || Top||


Home Front Economy
U.S.: Why Economic Growth Is Galloping
Also titled, "Why Democratic Strategists are So Depressed Lately". Low inflation, low unemployment, oil prices falling, excellent growth in GDP, stock prices doing fine, housing prices ditto. Yup, lots there for the Dhimmis to attack.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/09/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  not to worry - they will just fire up their articles that invoke the ol' "underneath the happy surface lurks a dark and sinister reality" theme.

Expect a whole series of articles that begin something like, "although the economy appears to be doing well....upon closer inspection doom and gloom awaits"
Posted by: 2b || 12/09/2005 0:20 Comments || Top||

#2  The missing word: Bush
Posted by: Unetch Flinetch3868 || 12/09/2005 1:28 Comments || Top||

#3  The other missing words: the American people. Give yourselves a pat on the back and go buy something nice for yourselves!
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/09/2005 3:03 Comments || Top||

#4  other missing words

tax cuts

fewer insane regulations

progress in tort reform
Posted by: mhw || 12/09/2005 6:35 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Streisand Cancels LA Times Subscription
LOS ANGELES - Barbra Streisand has canceled her subscription to the Los Angeles Times over the firing of the paper's liberal columnist. The newspaper dropped Robert Scheer and several other columnists last month; Scheer speculated he was let go because the Times had tired of his politics.
Or maybe it’s because the LA Times is going broke.
Perhaps the most liberal voice on the paper's opinion pages, Scheer had been a Times columnist for 12 years. He was a reporter for the newspaper for 17 years before that. "Robert Scheer's column, with its often singular voice of dissent and groundbreaking expositional content, has been among the most notable features that have sustained my interest in subscribing to the LA Times for many years now," Streisand wrote in a letter she sent to the newspaper and posted on her Web site.
That’s a pretty complex sentence for Babs. I hope her ghost blogger got a raise.
Streisand, a well-known supporter of Democratic candidates and liberal causes, wrote that by firing Scheer the Times had reduced the diversity of voices on its opinion pages. A shortened version of her letter was printed in the Times Nov. 23. The full letter is posted on her Web site.

In a note to its readers, the Times reported Nov. 15 that hundreds of readers had written or called to complain about Scheer's departure.
An L.A. Times “hundreds” actually means dozens.
As the Captain notes, the LA Times edited her letter and upset her even more. Heh.
Posted by: Secret Master || 12/09/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  why would anyone, owning stock in the NYT or LAT be running down the street screaming, sell! sell NOW!
Posted by: 2b || 12/09/2005 0:08 Comments || Top||

#2  not be
Posted by: 2b || 12/09/2005 0:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Sorry if I don't get all hot and bothered, but why the hell does the "news" media think anyone with any working synapses gives two hoots in Hades about what this idiot does or doesn't do?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 12/09/2005 0:29 Comments || Top||

#4  Perhaps the most liberal voice on the paper's opinion pages


...And that's saying something.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 12/09/2005 8:34 Comments || Top||

#5  #1: why would anyone, owning stock in the NYT or LAT be running down the street screaming, sell! sell NOW!

It's called a "Short Sale" you do that when you expect the stock to fall.
Simply put, sell now, buy back later, the difference in the two prices is your profit (If it does indeed go down)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/09/2005 8:42 Comments || Top||

#6  Will she ever move to Canada like she promised? She needs to realize the press is a money making businees, not a propaganda machine for the left. When people stop buying the paper because they are tired of the bull%&$t leftist drivil the management have no choice but to change. The Time will have to shift to the more popular right of go out of business. This is great news!! Merry Christmas!
Posted by: 49 pan || 12/09/2005 8:58 Comments || Top||

#7  2b: why would anyone, owning stock in the NYT or LAT not be running down the street screaming, sell! sell NOW!

Because American media companies are actually pretty well-run. They spout socialism, but are quick to cut back on staff and upgrade their technology whenever their fat profit margins are threatened. GM, by contrast, pretends to be run by capitalists, but is actually run like a Scandinavian socialist state.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 12/09/2005 9:06 Comments || Top||

#8  Great. Now she'll read it on the web, like everybody else.
Cheap bitch.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/09/2005 10:12 Comments || Top||

#9  Dear Mr. Martinez,

This letter is to inform you that I am canceling my subscription to the LA Times, and here is the reason why:

The greater Southern California community is one that not only proudly embraces its diversity but demands it. Your publisher's decision to fire Robert Scheer is a great disservice to the spirit of our community.

I'm almost embarrassed for you in seeing the LA Times being referred to as the "Chicago LA Times" on the myriad of internet sites I've visited in the last few days. It seems, however, an aptly designated epithet, representing the feeling among many of your readers that your new leadership, especially that of Jeff Johnson, is entirely out of touch with them and their desire to be exposed to views that stretch them beyond their own paradigms. So although the number of contributors to your op-ed pages may have increased, in firing Robert Sheer and putting Jonah Goldberg in his place, the gamut of voices has undeniably been diluted, and I suspect this may ultimately decrease the number of readers of those same pages.

In light of the obvious step away from the principals of journalistic integrity, which would dictate that journalists be journalists, editors be editors and accountants be accountants, I am now forced to carefully reconsider which sources can be trusted to provide me with accurate, unbiased news and forthright opinions. Your new columnist, Jonah Goldberg, will not be one of those sources.

Robert Scheer's column, with its often singular voice of dissent and groundbreaking expositional content, has been among the most notable features that have sustained my interest in subscribing to the LA Times for many years now. Apparently, previous leadership at the LA Times had no trouble recognizing Mr. Scheer's journalistic prowess in that they nominated him for the Pulitzer Prize.

My greatest fear is that the underlying reason for Mr. Scheer's termination is part of a larger trend toward the corporatization of our media, a trend that we, as American citizens, must fervently battle for the sake of our swiftly diminishing free press.

Sincerely,

Barbra Streisand
Posted by: Babs || 12/09/2005 23:07 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2005-12-09
  Plans for establishing Al-Qaeda in North African countries
Thu 2005-12-08
  Iraq Orders Closure Of Syrian Border
Wed 2005-12-07
  Passenger who made bomb threat banged at Miami International
Tue 2005-12-06
  Sami al-Arian walks
Mon 2005-12-05
  Allawi sez gunmen tried to assassinate him
Sun 2005-12-04
  Sistani sez "Support your local holy man"
Sat 2005-12-03
  Qaeda #3 helizapped in Waziristan
Fri 2005-12-02
  10 Marines Killed in Bombing Near Fallujah
Thu 2005-12-01
  Khalid Habib, Abd Hadi al-Iraqi appointed new heads of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan
Wed 2005-11-30
  Kidnapping campaign back on in Iraq
Tue 2005-11-29
  3 out of 5 Syrian Supects Delivered to Vienna
Mon 2005-11-28
  Yemen Executes Holy Man for Murder of Politician
Sun 2005-11-27
  Belgium arrests 90 in raid on human smuggling ring
Sat 2005-11-26
  Moroccan prosecutor charges 17 Islamists
Fri 2005-11-25
  Ohio holy man to be deported


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