ALGIERS - Algeria released a leading journalist from prison on Wednesday at the end of his two-year sentence for violating a law governing the transfer of money abroad, witnesses said. Mohamed Benchicou, editor of independent newspaper Le Matin and a critic of the authorities, was sentenced on June 14, 2004 for breaking a foreign exchange and money transfer law after police found bank vouchers in his luggage at Algiers airport.
"Pack your gear and get out!"
“He left prison this morning. He is free,” said a journalist who worked at Le Matin, which has gone out of business for financial reasons.
So there's more than one way to stifle a journalist ...
International human rights groups have accused Algeria of using legal action to silence journalists who annoy its leaders. The government rejects accusations it targets the media, saying cases brought by the authorities had nothing to do with politics or press freedom.
"What were they about then?
"It's an Arab thing. Complex. You wouldn't understand."
Benchicou was the first journalist to be sentenced under the money transfer law.
Last month, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika pardoned journalists sentenced to prison for defamation and insulting officials in the first such step since he took office seven years ago. The move, to mark World Press Freedom Day, covered reporters convicted of “gross insult to state officials, offending the president of the republic, injuring state institutions, defamation and insult”. None of those journalists had actually been sent to prison, despite their sentences.
That must make sense somewhere ...
Algerian journalists supposedly enjoy more freedom than those in many other Arabic-speaking countries.
Talk about setting a low bar ...
About 119 titles, including 43 dailies, have sprung up since the sector was liberalised in the early 1990s.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2006 00:00 ||
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DHAKA - At least 60 people were injured in Bangladesh on Wednesday as opposition activists fought pitched battles with police on the second day of a two-day strike to press for electoral reforms. Clashes erupted in the capital Dhaka after police fired tear gas and used batons to stop activists gathering in the streets to enforce the strike called by a 14-party opposition alliance.
The arrest of a local opposition leader from the old quarter of Dhaka further angered the stick-wielding partymen who set fire to at least one car, damaged half a dozen others and attacked the police with rocks. Fifty people were injured in the clashes in the city, police said.
Ten others were injured when ruling party supporters, armed with iron rods and sticks, attacked an opposition march in southern Barisal town, witnesses said.
The strike, the latest to hit the impoverished nation, shut down most transport, factories, schools and the countryÂ’s two stock exchanges in Dhaka and the port city of Chittagong. Police arrested 30 people on Wednesday for causing unrest during the strike called by the main opposition Awami League to try to force the government to accept electoral reform ahead of next JanuaryÂ’s parliamentary election.
The opposition demands included the removal of the election commissioner and an opposition say in the caretaker administration to be appointed to run the country ahead of the polls. “We are agitating to assert our democratic rights,” said Tofayel Ahmed, a former minister and senior Awami leader.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2006 00:00 ||
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The strike, the latest to hit the impoverished nation, shut down most transport, factories, schools and the countryÂ’s two stock exchanges in Dhaka and the port city of Chittagong.
Cause and effect in the same sentence. Stop fighting and try working hard to improve your lot. Try working. It's time to stop all handouts to such "impovished" nations and make them work their way out of it like everyone else.
#2
the cost of pilgrimages to Maccah is a major burden on the economy of a so poor country. They should do like in Tunisia where the pilgrimage is, say, discouraged.
Fidel Castro's brother said the Communist Party will remain in control of Cuba if there is a leadership change, according to comments published Thursday.
Raul Castro, the island's defense minister and designated successor of his 79-year-old brother, dismissed claims that Cuba's political system would change dramatically after his brother is no longer president, saying the party would quickly fill any political vacuum.
I believe the term you're looking for is "implosion"
'Only the Communist Party - as the institution that brings together the revolutionary vanguard and will always guarantee the unity of Cubans - can be the worthy heir of the trust deposited by the people in their leader,' he said in a speech Wednesday marking a military anniversary. 'Anything more is pure speculation.'
The comments were published Thursday in state-run media.
As first vice president of the Council of State, Cuba's supreme governing body, Raul Castro, 74, is legally designated to assume his brother's role as president of the council in the event of 'absence, illness or death.' Fidel Castro turns 80 in August. Raul Castro appears to have the loyalty of the nation's top generals, giving him control over as many as 50,000 active troops and firepower that includes aging Soviet-era tanks and MiG fighter planes.
In his speech, he said Cuba's emphasis on building a strong military has been justified by the constant threat posed by the United States ever since Fidel Castro embraced communism. 'We Cubans are conscious of the fact that without the effort sustained by our people to consolidate the defensive capacity of the country, we would have ceased to exist as an independent nation a long time ago,' he said. He said the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq proved how far the United States will go with its 'imperialist aims of planetary hegemony.'
With that war, he said, 'It became obvious that the hawks of the empire were considering the possibility of settling scores with those who represented an obstacle to their dreams of world domination.' Cuba, he added, is surely near the top of their 'target' list.
Well, at least in the top 100.
With this in mind, the Cuban military has been steadily strengthened over the past few years, Raul Castro said. Hundreds of miles of underground tunnels have been built to shelter citizens during an invasion, and endless hours devoted to 'dispassionate analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of our likely enemy,' he said.
Watching those air strike videos on CNN have you?
But Cuba does not see the American people as enemies, he said.
Raul Castro fought alongside his brother in the 1950s during the battle to topple the government of Fulgencio Batista. Other aging revolutionary leaders, including Juan Almeida and Guillermo Garcia, accompanied him at the Wednesday military event.
Raul doesn't have the cult following Fidel does.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2006 14:08 ||
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Cuba is a dictatorship disgused as a communist state.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/15/2006 15:05 Comments ||
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#4
Wouldn't want it anyother way. There needs to be a nearby location with 'good' PR for all the LLL to go to when their world here collapses. Consider it sort of reverse 'migrant' movement. We should encourage it just like those in other countries encourage 'migration' to here.
#6
But Cuba does not see the American people as enemies, he said.
Dude, I am an "American people" and I am Cuba's enemy, so you got that wrong, punk.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
06/15/2006 16:37 Comments ||
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#7
I recall the not-funny joke that Cuba's biggest city is Miami.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/15/2006 18:02 Comments ||
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#8
There are billions in Cuban-American hands that will flood the place when Castro goes. That green tidal wave will wash away whatever communism is left in about 5 minutes.
Russia will launch its first fifth-generation aircraft, which would be invisible to air-defense systems, in 2007, the commander of the country’s air force said Thursday. “Several experimental models will take to the skies as early as 2007, but for now they will be equipped with intermediary engines,” Vladimir Mikhailov is quoted by RIA Novosti news agency as saying. “In the future they will get fifth-generation engines, development of which is ongoing.” He said fifth-generation engines would be created by 2010, but that: “If everything goes well, we will be able to complete work earlier.”
Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said June 14 that RussiaÂ’s first fifth-generation plane could make its maiden flight in 2009. He said the air forceÂ’s financing would be increased in 2007, but did not name the exact figure.
Russians have always had superb aircraft designers, their problems have been a shortage of high tech materials and cash. This poses an interesting question. When both sides of an airbattle are equipped with stealthy fighters, with low radar and infra-red signature, are we returning to an age when pilots go eyeball to eyeball using guns or directed energy weapons?
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2006 08:56 ||
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That's why the F-22 is also the highest thrust, most maneuverable fighter available.
Posted by: ed ||
06/15/2006 9:34 Comments ||
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#2
Soo... If it is a stealth aircraft, it wouldn't really appear if it was stealthy. ;)
Seriously, I'm not too worried about a new Russian stealth aircraft. They don't have the tech to make something as stealthy as the B-2. F-117, maybe they could make, but our radar is also much, much, much, much better than theirs.
Steve, that would be kinda cool, wouldn't it?
#3
One of the things people forget is that the F117 is 1970's vintage technology...well, technically late 60's. Even with that in mind, there was never much worry that even if the Russians could capture one that they could reverse engineer it. The big problem they had was materials engineering...they wouldn't have been able to manufacture what it is made out of. Another interesting thing of note, we've ALWAYS had the ability to track the F117. Now the F-22 is a totally different beast. A modern F15-E won't pick up a '22 until it's already well within it's attack window. And there's no way the Russian stuff will be as good as a F22, they just don't have the money or materials tech to build something like that. And neither does China by the way.
#8
and here i clicked on the link hoping for a picture, or at least artist's conception, but then again i believed everything my UNS recruiter told me.....
#10
The russians have great aerospace designers and they also have overly optimistic press statements on anything relating to tech.
Fact is the US is unlikely to be flying against Russian pilots and even the best plane in the world flown by third world pilots is going to go down before the highly trained pilots of the west. Having said that I don't know where the Chinese will fit into that equation by 2010 but if our pilots are dogfighting with the Chinese we've got big problems.
#11
The Russians are going to field a multi-billion dollar new stealth fighter at a time when they cannot even afford to buy the pre-existing planes that they have in service and need to replace? Bull!!! This is propaganda to pump export sales! If the Russian aviation industry is so strong and capable, and the Russians are pumping in the R&D rubles, why is it a known fact that only the foreign sales to China WITH technology transfer is allowing the Russian military plane makers to not shutter their plants? Besides which, the French fielded a "stealthy" plane in the Rafael, which blows goats. We can make the F-15, F-16, and F-18 "stealthy" too, with the proper paints/coatings and some structural component material changes - they still would not be a stealth fighter like the F-22.
BEIJING: One of ChinaÂ’s top brass has been charged with accepting millions of dollars in bribes from contractors after one of his mistresses blew the whistle, independent sources with ties to the military said on Wednesday. If found guilty, Vice Admiral Wang Shouye, 63, one of five navy deputy commanders and a member of ChinaÂ’s parliament, would be the most senior PeopleÂ’s Liberation Army (PLA) officer ever convicted of a crime.
“Wang Shouye kept several mistresses. One of them reported him to the authorities” after he refused to give in to her demands for money, a source with knowledge of the case told Reuters, requesting anonymity.
Pay her now or pay for it later
The corruption scandal deepens the woes of the PLA, currently reeling from the worst air force disaster in more than five decades. Forty people were killed when a military plane crashed in the eastern province of Anhui on June 3.
Wang, a Tianjin University civil engineering graduate, was promoted to deputy commander of the navy in 2001 after heading the Logistics Department office which oversaw the construction of barracks. He was also in charge of housing reform. He was accused of accepting up to 120mn yuan ($15mn) in bribes from contractors in exchange for throwing construction projects their way, a second source said. It was unclear when the military court would hand down a verdict. ChinaÂ’s state media have not reported the case. WangÂ’s family, mistress and lawyer could not be reached.
Last year, Major General Liu Guangzhi, who was targeted by Taiwan for recruitment as a spy, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for accepting bribes from subordinates seeking promotions or transfers. State media have made no mention of Liu’s imprisonment either other than reporting that parliament had expelled him for unspecified “economic crimes”. Liu was also sacked as commandant of the Air Force Command Academy.
Official graft was virtually wiped out in China in the years after the 1949 Communist takeover but has bounced back in the wake of economic reforms that have spawned wealth and greed. Leaders have warned repeatedly that corruption threatens the Communist Party’s survival. In 1999, a general and a colonel were executed for spying for Taiwan in the biggest espionage scandal of the Communist era. Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other since their split in 1949 at the end of the Chinese civil war.–Reuters
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06/15/2006 13:40 ||
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So, what are the chances of a best-selling book about all this, entitled "Gone With The Wang"
***exits the room rapidly, in a hail of thrown shoes, rotten vegetables and other debris****
#2
Hey, that's fun, Wang (spelled differently in latin characters) is my mother family's original name (chinese, too), perhaps we're related. Oh, boy, I'm so excited, if that guy gets the bullet-in-the-head routine, I might get a share of his inheritance or something... more money to spend on ebay, yeah!
#3
Official graft was virtually wiped out in China in the years after the 1949 Communist takeover but has bounced back in the wake of economic reforms that have spawned wealth and greed.
Official graft is an integral part of one party states, rich or poor. Just an opportunity for the writer to take a shot at capitalism.
#4
Good one, Sgt. Mom! I once worked in an office that had a Wang mainframe system tended by a very nice and wickedly competent IT person named Wong. You can imagine the punmanship that combination inspired.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/15/2006 17:18 Comments ||
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A delegation of visiting Indonesian MPs has warned Australians of the dangers of becoming Indonesia's silent enemy.
Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer says the Australian and Indonesian governments are doing a good job of patching up problems in their relationship.
Australia is angry and disappointed by the release of Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir from jail, after serving two years for his part in the 2002 Bali bombing that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.
Indonesia is concerned about Australia's decision to grant temporary asylum to 42 arrivals from the Indonesian province of Papua.
The group has urged the Federal Government to be understanding and sensitive when it comes to Indonesian policies.
Mr Downer says there is no comparison between the two issues.
"At the government-to-government level, we're doing a very good job in patching things up and, as you know, the Prime Minister [John Howard] and the President [Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono] will be meeting soon," he said.
"But of course Members of Parliament are not part of the executive, but having said that, my meeting with the parliamentary delegation was a friendly and positive meeting."
A member of the Indonesian delegation, Yuddy Chrisnandi, told a forum in Melbourne last night that Australia should practise sensitivity.
"Is Australia a good neighbour for Indonesia, is Australia a true neighbour or is Australia just a silent enemy," he said.
Yesterday the United Nations (UN) cancelled a contract with an Indonesian organisation founded by the cleric, which had been given food to distribute to victims of the Yogyakarta earthquake.
The Federal Government had lodged complaints with the UN's World Food Program, after a spokesman for the organisation Majelis Mujahideen Indonesia (MMI) revealed Bashir would hand out 95 tonnes of donated food.
Mr Downer welcomed the UN's decision to cancel the contract.
"A spokesman for MMI has said that Abu Bakar Bashir himself will come and distribute food - well, that would obviously be a great propaganda win for a political extremist and the UN shouldn't be associated with that," he said.
"It's good news that they clearly don't want to be and that they've cancelled the arrangement."
Meanwhile, Dr Yudhoyono says his country's legal process against the cleric has been exhausted.
Dr Yudhoyono made the announcement about the alleged spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiah on Indonesian television.
However, he says his country's commitment to the fight on terrorism should not be measured by the end of legal action against the cleric.
Shares in European Aeronautic Defense & Space, the parent company of Airbus, plummeted Wednesday, wiping €5.5 billion off its market value, as a fresh delay in the delivery of the new double-decker A380 airplane raised questions about the company's management and strategy.
EADS stock slid as much as a third after the French-German company warned late Tuesday that a delay of six to seven months in the A380 delivery schedule would probably reduce operating profits by a total of €2 billion between 2007 and 2010. Several leading customers for the aircraft, including Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Qantas Airlines, suggested that they would seek compensation for the delay, adding momentum to the sell-off... IHT won't let me copy 'n' paste the rest...
#2
The runway at Colorado Springs' airport is 13,500 feet, but it's already breaking up due to the use of inferior concrete. Both the Air Force (which paid half) and the city are investigating. Denver also has a couple of 13,500 foot runways. Unfortunately for Airbus, the thin air up here would require at least a 15,000 foot runway to land their monster on. BTW, both airports regularly handle C-5 and C-17 aircraft.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/15/2006 15:32 Comments ||
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The highest court in France on Wednesday rejected a bid by George Soros, the billionaire investor, to overturn a conviction for insider trading in a case dating back nearly 20 years, leaving the first blemish on his five-decade investing career.
Ron Soffer, his lawyer, said Soros planned to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights, saying that the length of the proceedings had prevented his client from having a fair trial.
"The investigation started in 1989," he said. "The appeals trial occurred in 2004. How can you call witnesses and ask them about what happened in 1988?" The French stock market regulatory authority investigated the matter separately and concluded that Soros had not violated the law or any ethical rules, Soffer said.
The French authorities have not yet determined what fine Soros will pay.
But he denied that knowledge of the raid had amounted to insider information or influenced his transactions, which he said were part of a broader, documented strategy of investing in newly privatized French companies. Soros' lawyer said he had cooperated in the case from the beginning.
A spokesman for Soros, Michael Vachon, called the decision "an absurd miscarriage of justice" and said Soros was confident he would be cleared by the European court.
"As he has from the beginning, George Soros maintains that he engaged in no illegal or unethical conduct," Vachon said in a statement.
Soros, who emigrated to the United States in 1956 and set up Soros Fund Management 17 years later, has billions of dollars under management in his Quantum Fund.
At an appeals hearing in 2005, Soros told the court his insider trading conviction had been a "gift to my enemies" in the United States and elsewhere. "My reputation is at stake," he said.
Soros has often drawn criticism for speculating heavily on the collapse of fragile currencies. In 2004 he also angered many conservatives in the United States by pumping millions of dollars into election campaigns to try to unseat President George W. Bush.
#4
Bottom line question: are the French going for extradition, or what? In the interests of better relations between the governments of France and the United States, I would advocate complete cooperation on the part of the US government to an extradition request by France.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/15/2006 22:46 Comments ||
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#5
They don't want Georgie, they want his money. This is "deep-pockets justice".
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2006 00:00 ||
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"Where does this hatred come from?"
Well, that's what you get for calling David Beckham's mother "ugly". And his sister fat. And kids too. All in the German press. All in time for the World Cup.
Posted by: Rafael ||
06/15/2006 0:06 Comments ||
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Missed that famous WENDY'S Soviet-parodying commercial from the 1980's, didn't we??? The ancestral house of the HOUSE OF WINDSOR is GERMAN, just SSSSSSSHHHHH don't tell the Brits that.
The lefty website Truthout.org, which reported a month ago that "Karl Rove has been secretly indicted," finally responds to the news that Karl Rove will not be indicted:
Yesterday, most Mainstream Media organizations published reports about a letter supposedly received by Karl Rove's attorney Robert Luskin. As an example of the supposed letter's contents, TIME Magazine stated that, "Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald said or wrote, 'Absent any unexpected developments, he does not anticipate seeking any criminal charges against Rove.'" Note the liberal (pun intended) use of weasel words.
Truthout of course published an article on May 13 which reported that Karl Rove had in fact already been indicted. Obviously there is a major contradiction between our version of the story and what was reported yesterday. "In the category of 'Year's Boldest Understatement in an Online Publication,' the nominees are . . . "
As such, we are going to stand down on the Rove matter at this time. We defer instead to the nation's leading publications.
Mr. Leopold did not act alone in his reporting of this matter. His work, sources and conclusions were reviewed carefully at each step of the process. "We here at Truthout have one or twoa bunchmaybe a dozen or sodozens and dozens armies of editors and fact-checkers, so we're superior to some anonymous guy at Time magazine writing an internationally-published weekly newsmagazine in his pajamas. And that goes double for the New York Times!"
There is no indication that Mr. Leopold acted unethically.
Unethical? Nah. Gullible? Over-excited? Mean-spirited? Jumping the gun? Jumping the shark?
Please keep in mind that over the years we have reported on many examples of individuals being scapegoated in crisis situations by superiors seeking cover from controversy. Truthout, however, does not do scapegoats. And we stand firmly behind Jason Leopold. ". . . until Monday. Then we'll throw him under the bus."
The Confidentiality of Our Sources
As journalists, nothing is more critical to being able to report guarded facts than the guarantee of confidentiality we provide to our sources. Truthout has never compromised the identy of our imaginary friends a confidential source. We will protect our sources on this story, as we have on every other story we have ever published.
Expect a more comprehensive accounting of this matter on Monday, June 19.
Harder than it looks, huh Mr. Ash?
Marc Ash
Executive Director - Truthout
director@truthout.org The Mayor of Rantburg, in cooperation with the Rantburg Chamber of Commerce, the Rantburg Convention & Visitor's Bureau, and the Army of Steve, hereby proclaims June 19, 2006 official 'Truthout.org Schadenfreude Day.' Come down to the pillory in the town square and watch 'em squirm."
Moved, accepted and so proclaimed. AoS.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/15/2006 13:13 ||
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They want Luskin to prove his client is NOT being indicted?
President Bush made it clear Wednesday: His top political strategist, Karl Rove, is staying at his side in the White House. Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald had taken a "hard look" at Rove's role in the CIA leak case, Bush noted, and declined to seek federal criminal charges. The decision "speaks for itself," the president told reporters during a White House news conference. "I trust Karl Rove," he said. "He's an integral part of my team."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Bwahahahahaha!
Subtitle: Moonbat Meltdown Progressing Per Rovian Schedule
#4
Look for Fitzgerald to take a beating in the Lib press for not uncovering anything in the Plame case - he is after all a Republican. He's doing a great job as US Attorney in Chicago though. Lots o' crooked pols jugged here.
LAHORE: Amjad Chaudhry, the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) Youth Wing president, and five others were injured in a shootout started by the former on Montgomery Road on Wednesday. The PML Youth Wing president had gone to Montgomery Road to buy car parts, said Liaqat, the Qilla Gujjar Singh police station duty officer. "Chaudhry told the employees of Ahad Motors to tend to his car before serving other customers, and later tried to force the shop owner Adeel Butt to reduce the price of items he had bought," said the police official. Butt refused and Chaudhry left threatening to return to "take care of him", he added.
"Chaudhry returned later with two unidentified men and shot at Butt ," said Liaqat. Butt's brothers, Amir and Wahid, and friend Mirza Suhail Baig stepped in front of the shooters to try and save him, and were also shot, he said. Wahid managed to take a gun out of his desk, and shot and injured Chaudhry, he added. "Butt, Amir, Wahid, Baig and Chaudhry were taken by a passing police mobile to a hospital and are in stable condition." No case had been registered because both parties had not filed an application, said the police official. All shop owners at Montgomery Road closed their shops and protested the incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2006 00:00 ||
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#2
Bad dhimmie, I shoot you. I'm a pious mooooslim leader (call me Abu Adolphe) and you have to do everything I say. It's in the Koran. If you don't, I get to kill you. That's in the Koran too. so you can't charge me wid nuttin.
QUETTA: Security forces raided a home in Turbat on Wednesday, seizing more than 8,000 bottles and cans of illegal alcohol and detaining a suspected smuggler, an official said. The raid took place following a tip that a large quantity of smuggled alcohol had been left in the home in Turbat, about 600 kilometres southwest of Quetta, said Maj Mohammed Omar, a spokesman for the Frontier Corps that made the seizure.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2006 00:00 ||
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LONDON - Britain has appointed Dominic Asquith to be its new ambassador to Iraq, replacing William Patey, the Foreign Office said on Wednesday. Asquith, 49 and an Arabic speaker, will take up his new post in August.
The married father-of-four has been Iraq director at the Foreign Office in London since 2004. He was previously the charge dÂ’affaires at BritainÂ’s embassy in Riyadh during the deadly May 2003 attacks on the expatriate compounds in the city by the Al Qaeda terror network.
Jamie Bowden has been appointed as BritainÂ’s new ambassador to Bahrain, replacing Robin Lamb. Bowden, 46, will take up his new post in November. The married father of five has been BritainÂ’s deputy head of mission in Kuwait since 2005 and previously filled the same role in Baghdad.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2006 00:00 ||
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TOULOUSE, France, June 15, 2006 (AFP) - The problems that have thrown the Airbus A380 superjumbo airliner into dramatic production delays and slashed the value of Airbus spark from the complexity of electrical systems specific to each customer, the company says. The weak point in the production line is called work station 30. It is here that the framework of the aircraft is fitted out and electronic and electrical systems are wired up.
In announcing 12 months ago an initial delay of six months in delivery of the first airliners, Airbus referred to difficulties in supplying cabling adapted to the needs of each customer airline. At the time Airbus played down the impact of this, but in the statement late on Tuesday about a further and deep production delay, associated with a profit warning, the company repeated that the problems arose mainly from bottle necks in the specification, manufacture and installation of electrical systems.
The other production point for the giant airliner is work station 40, where the six main structural components such as wings and fuselage are put together after being transported from production sites around Europe. Convoys of trucks bringing these parts from the airport at Bordeaux in southwest France to Toulouse, where Airbus is based, were running at the rate of two per month at the beginning of the year, but there has been almost no traffic for two months.
Continued on Page 49
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06/15/2006 13:54 ||
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The commanding officer of the submarine USS Columbus has been replaced because his commanding officer lost confidence in his leadership in the wake of a hazing scandal, the Navy said. The Navy on Tuesday announced the dismissal of Cmdr. Charles Marquez from his Columbus job. Capt. Brian McIlvaine, former commander of the Trident submarine USS Ohio, will replace Marquez temporarily, the Navy said.
A Navy statement said Capt. Scott Bawden decided to relieve Marquez of his duties on the Columbus because of concerns about his "ability to establish and maintain appropriate standards of professional conduct, provide the crew a safe, positive, professional environment in which to work, and maintain good order and discipline."
A report completed on May 30 by an independent officer at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard here led to Marquez's dismissal. Bawden oversees Submarine Squadron 17 at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor. The Columbus has been assigned to the base since September 2004 while undergoing an overhaul at the shipyard.
Marquez may contest the decision in a written statement.
Rear Adm. Frank Drennan, commander of Submarine Group 9 at Bangor, already has endorsed the administrative punishment. According to Navy personnel guidelines, it "has a serious affect on the officer's future naval career."
In March, a sailor on the Columbus alleged he was the victim of hazing and assault, which led to an inquiry by Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Seven Columbus sailors were charged on April 14 in connection with the investigation. The victim reported to base security that he had rubbing alcohol poured on his clothes and then had them set on fire. He said he was hit on the head with a wrench and another sailor pointed a loaded gun at him more than once.
The first criminal trials in the hazing case are scheduled to begin next week. Six sailors facing special courts-martial could receive a maximum penalty of one year in confinement, forfeiture of two-thirds pay for a year, reduction to the lowest pay grade and a bad-conduct discharge. A seventh sailor would see lesser penalties if convicted at summary court-martial, the least serious form of military trial.
Marquez was commander of the Columbus since February 2005. The alleged abuse dates back to January 2005, according to Navy court documents. Lt. Cmdr. Shawn Nisbett, Columbus' second in command, was transferred off the sub after an April 21 arrest by Poulsbo police for driving under the influence.
#1
Lt. Cmdr. Shawn Nisbett, Columbus' second in command, was transferred off the sub after an April 21 arrest by Poulsbo police for driving under the influence.
I've hard of "running a tight ship" before, but I don't think that's the kind of "tight" we're looking for here.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/15/2006 11:14 Comments ||
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#2
The victim reported to base security that he had rubbing alcohol poured on his clothes and then had them set on fire. He said he was hit on the head with a wrench and another sailor pointed a loaded gun at him more than once.
That's not hazing, that's assault, or hazing russian army style.
#3
I know the Navy has rough initiations but this sounds like above and beyond. Hard to believe that the sailors would start a fire on a sub. I think that is the MOST feared incident because it eats oxygen, they have a limited ability to generate, and they are under water.
via DCRTV.com
CBS executives have decided there is no future role at the network for Dan Rather, making it certain that the man who sat in the anchor chair for 24 years will depart by this fall. These executives recognize Rather's contributions over four decades and are not trying to boot him because of the controversy surrounding his botched story on President Bush and the National Guard, say network sources who declined to be named while discussing a sensitive personnel matter.
"Nothing to with Rathergate, nope, nope, nope. I can say no more, and for Gawd's sake don't quote me!"
But the executives concluded there was no room for Rather at "60 Minutes," particularly with incoming anchor Katie Couric planning to report a half-dozen stories a year and the hiring of CNN's Anderson Cooper as a part-time contributor.
#2
I love it. He got away with that same type of reporting for decades and then got finally got caught red handed. You and all of your work will be remembered Dan - just not as you'd like.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of U.S. workers claiming an initial week of jobless claims unexpectedly fell by 8,000 last week to the lowest level in nearly four months, a government report showed Thursday.
First-time claims for state unemployment insurance benefits fell to a seasonally adjusted 295,000 [this level is close to the 'labor shortage' button] for the week ended June 10 from an upwardly revised 303,000 claims in the previous week, the Labor Department said.
Despite this, we learn from this site:
#3
The jobless rate has got to jump next month. I mean the whole Get Rove industry is kaput and this has to throw tens of hundreds of LLL m0ob@+5 out of a job. But then they probably were not counted in the employment statistics. I mean how employed can someone be if they live in their parents garage, collect cans for money, and spend all day blogging at the Library?
"Scientists have an independent obligation to respect and present the truth as they see it," Al Gore sensibly asserts in his film "An Inconvenient Truth", showing at Cumberland 4 Cinemas in Toronto since Jun 2. With that outlook in mind, what do world climate experts actually think about the science of his movie?
Professor Bob Carter of the Marine Geophysical Laboratory at James Cook University, in Australia gives what, for many Canadians, is a surprising assessment: "Gore's circumstantial arguments are so weak that they are pathetic. It is simply incredible that they, and his film, are commanding public attention."
But surely Carter is merely part of what most people regard as a tiny cadre of "climate change skeptics" who disagree with the "vast majority of scientists" Gore cites?
Continued on Page 49
#3
wow somebody combed the world, and got some folks from 2nd or 3rd rank universities (one of who is an Emeritus prof - IE not really active any more) to deny global warming.
#4
I, for one, think global warming is a fact, sure fact.... I mean, just one example, this morning I was all hot and sweaty, grunting, even, while staring at the Julie Newmar pic.
#5
LiberalHawk are you ready to recant 'water vapour isn't the most important (or even a) greenhouse gas'?
You ducked out of the last debate after your ignorance was exposed.
I could give you a litineny of facts that prove global warming just aint happening. Record cold temperatures across Australia and New Zealand recently and our winter has just started. But it doesn't matter because GW has now become a matter of religous belief and you are a believer.
#6
Be honest Liberalhawk, how many real people who are scientists actually working in real fields that study the climate?
Let me guess. None?
I know hundreds of real scientists who all think global warming pure politics for wanna believers just like you. Climate has been in a warming cycle long before your buddies realized they could find a way to put political blame on every storm. Your always willing to suck up whatever they throw your way aren't you?
When "1st rank" universities are involving themselves in politics and grants securing expediencies, by following the fashionable paradigms, it may be the 2nd and 3rd rate universities that have to step up as science is concerned.
However, that you've never heard of some of the universities does not mean that they are 2nd and 3rd rate. Many a prestigious university today became the PC BS indoctrination facilities.
#8
Im not gonna conduct an in depth debate here. Im not a climate expert, and its gonna be all of y'all against just me, this aint exactly a balanced forum. But I know that if somebody had posted something like this in favor of a position you disagreed with, youd dismiss it casually.
Do you really mean to say the hard science faculties at the top universities are as politized as say, the literature faculties. Ive never heard that, and quite frankly, I think its absurd.
#10
"Climate has been in a warming cycle long before your buddies realized they could find a way to put political blame on every storm. Your always willing to suck up whatever they throw your way aren't you?"
Uh, seeing as the industrial revolution began well before the discussion of climate change began, to you understand that the sentence of yours ive quoted does not contradict human caused global warming?
Or did you mean to say that the climate has been warming since before the industrial revolution, but you couldnt resist tossing in an irrelevant political remark. Cmon, if I have to conduct BOTH sides of the debate, it really isnt worth it.
#11
Think about the smartest people you knew at school.
Any of them went on to become "climatologists"?
'Nuff said..
Posted by: john ||
06/15/2006 14:34 Comments ||
Top||
#12
Do you really mean to say the hard science faculties at the top universities are as politized as say, the literature faculties.
"as politicized", maybe not.
"politicized to a distorting degree", unfortunately there's reason to believe this is true in far too many cases.
Note also that the experts being quoted are actually studying climate in specific areas about which Gore has made false or misleading statements. And before you reject the value of U. Alabama at Huntsville on weather issues, consider who has major facilities in Huntsville (i.e. NASA and the military, including the Army's Missile and Space Command and the Army's Strategic Missile and Defense Command). Spencer is well known as a NASA researcher who happens to be located there.
#13
I don't know why you guys keep going on about the climate. If you read the Club of Rome reports and Paul Ehrlich's The Population Bomb, you will know that by 1980 the world will be out of resources, over-populated and we will be totally *bleep*ed. That reminds me, I need to take that book back to the library.
#14
LH, part of your problem is that you try to reason on this issue from general principles without having either the specific research skills or the data to draw well-founded conclusions. And that's being done by people on ALL sides of this, unfortunately.
The point of citing people who DO have those skills and ARE collecting and analyzing directly relevant detailed data is tro come to informed conclusions. You are not, so far as I can tell, in any position to do that yourself. Nor are most of the other readers and commenters here, including me. A little humility is prudent on our part on so complicated an issue IMHO.
#16
I'm no climate expert, but I do know that my weatherman's five-day forecast is usually crap, so I'm not impressed with his buddies' hundred year computer models. Let me also add that I took advanced fluid mechanics and heat transfer in graduate school and that may bias me a bit towards believing that most computer models are crap, especially so when they are extrapolating.
#17
we are in a warming cycle that spans thousands of years. The ice ages expand and contract. REAL scientists will agree that temperatures are currently warming and that man may contribute in the way that one stream feeds the ocean. It's all politics, LH. Stick to what you know.
#18
I'm no climatologist, but I DO read a lot. One of the areas I found very intriguing was the Midieval Warm Period, from about 1100 to 1400AD. Part of my interest was aroused by working on a couple of archeological excavations as a volunteer in 1986-87 (the Raunds Area Project- available online, but I don't have the URL). Average temperatures were several degrees higher during this period than they are now - as much as 10-12 degreed F. The estuary of the Nene River was nearly twice as large, allowing the establishment of a Danish trading post nearly 20 miles inland from The Wash. We found seeds of plants that don't exist in that part of England today because the climate is incompatible with it.
Global warming may exist, but my bet would be on periodic fluctuations of solar output, not Man's 20% increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. BTW, ice cores from both Greenland and Antarctica show levels almost twice as high as they are today, yet the ice caps in Greenland and the Antarctic still existed. I have some links on my website to global warming links. Some of them are actually quite interesting, even the "proponents" group.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/15/2006 15:52 Comments ||
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#19
One of the areas I found very intriguing was the Midieval Warm Period, from about 1100 to 1400AD.
Curiously, that time period was also the peak of the Mississippian culture AND the Anasazi. Earlier warm periods coincide with the peaks of other pre-Columbian cultures.
But LH has already said he thinks "this time it's different". Not that he's put forward any evidence of that, but, hey, what's evidence matter when you're talking SCIENCE.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
06/15/2006 16:17 Comments ||
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#20
One of the areas I found very intriguing was the Midieval Warm Period, from about 1100 to 1400AD.
IIRC, it was also that warmer period which allowed better harvests in Europe, population growth, and consequently the building of the cathedrals, titanic construction undoable without that climate change.
#21
Here is a link to graphs showing estimated temperatures over various time periods. It's still not as warm as it was during the Medieval warm period.
I'm so sick of this debate because there isn't one. It's like the damned "ozone hole." Nobody knew there was one until Skylab spotted it. Then without any research at all, the greens pinned it on human activity. I'm willing to bet that the damn thing has always been there and always will.
#22
interesting posts. But don't think that Al and his snake oil selling buddies will let facts get in the way. There's money and votes to be made whipping up a good ol' witch burning hysteria over whatever ails ya. I'm surprised they haven't found a way to blame Bush and the GOP for baldness, small breasts, warts and bad breath. All in due time, I suppose.
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.
The highest court in France on Wednesday rejected a bid by George Soros, the billionaire investor, to overturn a conviction for insider trading in a case dating back nearly 20 years, leaving the first blemish on his five-decade investing career.
President Bush made it clear Wednesday: His top political strategist, Karl Rove, is staying at his side in the White House. Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald had taken a "hard look" at Rove's role in the CIA leak case, Bush noted, and declined to seek federal criminal charges. The decision "speaks for itself," the president told reporters during a White House news conference. "I trust Karl Rove," he said. "He's an integral part of my team."
LAHORE: Amjad Chaudhry, the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) Youth Wing president, and five others were injured in a shootout started by the former on Montgomery Road on Wednesday. The PML Youth Wing president had gone to Montgomery Road to buy car parts, said Liaqat, the Qilla Gujjar Singh police station duty officer. "Chaudhry told the employees of Ahad Motors to tend to his car before serving other customers, and later tried to force the shop owner Adeel Butt to reduce the price of items he had bought," said the police official. Butt refused and Chaudhry left threatening to return to "take care of him", he added.
QUETTA: Security forces raided a home in Turbat on Wednesday, seizing more than 8,000 bottles and cans of illegal alcohol and detaining a suspected smuggler, an official said. The raid took place following a tip that a large quantity of smuggled alcohol had been left in the home in Turbat, about 600 kilometres southwest of Quetta, said Maj Mohammed Omar, a spokesman for the Frontier Corps that made the seizure.
"Scientists have an independent obligation to respect and present the truth as they see it," Al Gore sensibly asserts in his film "An Inconvenient Truth", showing at Cumberland 4 Cinemas in Toronto since Jun 2. With that outlook in mind, what do world climate experts actually think about the science of his movie? 
