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IAF Booms Hezbollah HQ, Misses Nasrallah
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Phoenix in Fear of Two Serial Monsters
Frankenberry and Count Chocula?
Posted by: Tibor || 07/14/2006 14:42 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Phoenix (sometimes pronounced Pee-nis), generally has something going on, but the police and local news are very careful to keep it under wraps.

For example, there is a kill zone west of town, a stretch of desert known for perhaps 25-35 bodies, all Hispanics killed execution style in the course of a year or two, then dumped there. Because drugs were most likely involved, they didn't treat the cases as if they were related.

Serial crimes are only publicized if they are middle class anglo. Too rich or poor or ethnic and they are ignored.

The most prolific serial criminals around here are burglars and indecent exposures.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 07/14/2006 17:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Don't forget how tight they both are with the Chamber of Commerce. Can't have anything revealed that would make Phoenix look anything less than spiffy. It might keep some corporation from moving in, goshdarnit, and there go the property values!

I don't think most of the victims (at least of the Baseline Rapist guy) have been white, though. He's just been too brazen and they can't ignore it for long. But Anonymoose is right....as long as they stay outta North Phoenix and don't bother the rich white people, they don't make too much noise about killers on the loose.
Posted by: Swamp Blondie || 07/14/2006 18:35 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Not even popcorn safe from terrorists
About three miles from the nearest town, Brian Lehman's popcorn factory near Berne has somehow ended up on the federal government's list of potential terrorist targets. "I don't have a clue why we're on the list. We're on a gravel road, not even blacktop. We're nowhere," said Lehman, owner of Amish Country Popcorn, which employs five people.

Nevertheless, Amish Country Popcorn is one of 8,591 places or events in Indiana that the Department of Homeland Security regards as serious potential terrorist targets, according to an inspector general's report that raised questions about the accuracy and relevance of what's known as the National Asset Database.
Obviously, someone at Homeland Security reads Rantburg and understands popcorn is a critical asset in the War on Terror.
Posted by: Steve || 07/14/2006 14:06 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That's because each little kernel is like a tiny little bomb that explodes. What if one of those kernels found it's way onto a tiny little train or a tiny little airplane. Oh the humanity!
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 07/14/2006 14:39 Comments || Top||

#2  The Amish are stuck in the middle. We're in the 21st century, The Amish are fixed in the 15th century, and al-Q is fixed in the 7th. Note how the Amish woman's outfit is nearly a burka. All they are missing is the hajib. All the Amish men have beards, even if they do shave their moustaches. And those black hats are pretty close to turbans. And the horse drawn carriages are perfect for smuggling WMD through the US. I think it's pretty clear what happens when these fundamentalist, word of the book types get together.

Continue the surveillance.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 07/14/2006 14:55 Comments || Top||

#3  To the barricades! To the barricades! We must defend the Strategic Popcorn Reserve at all costs!

/Happy Bastille Day?
Posted by: Seafarious || 07/14/2006 15:03 Comments || Top||

#4  The enemy positively hates the RB popcorn graphic.
Posted by: Sid 6.7 || 07/14/2006 16:09 Comments || Top||

#5  Ah yes.... Bastille Day.... the day the french people stormed the Bastille Prison and freed all the prisoners (see I was paying attention in European History class!). Isn't this kind of a french Independance day?

Wasn't this yesterday or Wednesday?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 07/14/2006 16:37 Comments || Top||

#6  There are many places on the list that don't make sense at first, because they seem to be small backwaters doing unimportant things. But either they have some hidden value, such as being near the headwaters that flow into a major reservoir, for example, or they have been identified already as of being of some interest to bad guyz. Maybe some al-Qaeda operative thought working in a popcorn plant was a great cover.

Some might be targets like in the movie Telefon, that were targets many years before but are now unimportant.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 07/14/2006 19:07 Comments || Top||

#7  I think it was on Instapundit where I read that Indiana has submitted more site for protection under the Homeland security program than any other State. The ammount of money a State receives is directly proportional to the number of sites. A really good scam.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 07/14/2006 20:01 Comments || Top||

#8  Looks like DeaconMan got it figured out.
Posted by: 6 || 07/14/2006 21:17 Comments || Top||


Europe
Missing Kyoto targets will cost Spain EUR 3bn
From the Dept. of Be Careful What You Wish For:
The government's efforts to meet the Kyoto Protocol climate change agreements are to cost up to EUR 3 billion, it was reported on Thursday. The bill between 2008-2012 will reach EUR 3 billion, but even then the country may not cut down greenhouse gases enough to meet the agreement, the environment ministry said. The Spanish daily El Pais reported Spanish greenhouse gas emissions have risen by 53 percent since it signed the Kyoto agreement. Under that accord, it could only increase CO2 emissions by 15 percent above 1990 levels. The Spanish government now admits it will probably only be able to cut its emissions down to 37 percent above the 1990 levels by 2012. Spain will have to buy up emission rights – paying cash to pump CO2 and other harmful gases into the atmosphere. The bill for doing this is could reach EUR 3 billion.

Posted by: Seafarious || 07/14/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Oopsies"
Posted by: Throse Angeretch7863 || 07/14/2006 0:20 Comments || Top||

#2  tax Islamist gains....
Posted by: Frank G || 07/14/2006 0:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Who gets the loot? Whoever it is has my vote as among the greatest scam artist(s) of all time. Kyoto was the 'magic bullet' that would destroy the U.S. economy, but (so far!) we saw through the scam and didn't play along. Now the Tranzi fools find themselves holding the bag. What I think will actually happen is that faced with these bogus bills, one government after another will treat the payments like their UN dues, i.e. just never quite get around to cutting the check.
Posted by: PBMcL || 07/14/2006 1:44 Comments || Top||

#4  First Al-Qaida came for Spain and took their lives, next the EU comes and takes their wealth. What's next?

Much of the money will be sent to Russia...
Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) || 07/14/2006 2:20 Comments || Top||

#5  And the rest will go bogus 'carbon capture' projects. My favourites are those that 'capture' methane from pig shit etc and then burn it producing - you guessed it - CO2.
Posted by: phil_b || 07/14/2006 5:30 Comments || Top||

#6  It's all a bunch of hot CO2. When it starts to hurt economically, seriously affected countries will quietly ignore payments. If threatened (Heaven forbid) with a strongly worded message of sanctions of some other crap, the countries will get out of the treaty. The Kyoto Treaty will fall like a deck of cards. Heh heh, the bureaucrats answer to the threats of junk science. So how is the Minister of Climate Change doing these days? What's his CO2 output figures?
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 07/14/2006 10:39 Comments || Top||

#7  We told em' it wouldn't work.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 07/14/2006 14:45 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
'MMA will defend Hudood Ordinance'
KARACHI: A top leader of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) said on Thursday that the six-party religious alliance would launch a campaign to protect the Hudood Ordinance and foil the government's attempt to repeal or amend the law that was enacted during the regime of military dictator General Ziaul Haq as part of his Islamization process. "The presidential ordinance giving relief to women prisoners is based on mala fide intentions and if we remain idle and do nothing to protect the Hudood Ordinance the government would encourage a repeal or amendment to other Islamic laws as well," Maulana Asadullah Bhutto, provincial president of the MMA, said at an 'Ulema Convention' held at the Jamaat-e-Islami's Karachi headquarters Idara Noor-e-Haq. He said all the religious leaders and pesh imams of mosques would raise their voice against the government.
Posted by: Fred || 07/14/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


CDWP stops HEC project for scholarships to Thai Muslims
The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) has stopped the Higher Education Commission (HEC) from executing the decision of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to offer scholarships to Thai Muslims teachers and students at a cost of Rs 100 million and also chided HEC Chairman Dr Attaur Rehman for overstepping his mandate. "This is not your mandate, Mr Rehman, to offer scholarships to foreign students from HEC resources meant for Pakistani students," read the CDWP decision seen by Daily Times.

Mr Aziz announced the scholarships for 25 Thai Muslim teachers and 50 students at the signing of a joint declaration with his Thai counterpart during a recent visit to Singapore. The CDWP, which met here recently to take up 52 development projects, dismissed the project on the grounds that it was not in the HEC's mandate to offer scholarships to foreign students. After a long and heated discussion, Mr Rehman was made to withdraw the project.
Posted by: Fred || 07/14/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just execute Prime Minister Aziz. You'll be muuuch further ahead.
Posted by: SOP35/Rat || 07/14/2006 12:10 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Inflatable spacecraft blows itself up
A small test version of an inflatable space hotel has reached orbit and filled with air. Bigelow Aerospace made contact with its Genesis I spacecraft for the first time on Wednesday. Then, just after midnight GMT on Thursday, the spacecraft passed over the company's control centre in Las Vegas, Nevada, US.

Information received from the spacecraft indicates that it has inflated successfully – to 3 metres long and 2.4 metres wide – and that its solar panels have deployed. The temperature inside the spacecraft was measured at a cosy 26° Celsius.

The Genesis I craft lifted off on Wednesday at 1453 GMT from a site in Yasny, Russia. The Dnepr rocket, a converted intercontinental ballistic missile, "flawlessly delivered the Genesis I into the target orbit", company founder Robert Bigelow said on the firm's website. The spacecraft is orbiting 550 kilometres above Earth, with a 64° inclination to the equator.

Cameras onboard the spacecraft were to automatically take pictures of Earth and the spacecraft. The company has not released any imagery so far. It is expected to remain in orbit for two to five years, gradually falling in altitude as friction with the upper atmosphere causes it to lose momentum. It will eventually burn up in the atmosphere.

The spacecraft is the first in a series of test craft designed to prove the feasibility of inflatable space stations – which could be used as space hotels. Genesis I is 3 metres across at its widest, one-third the length of a future habitable space station envisioned by the company.

The company hopes to launch a similar spacecraft called Genesis II later in 2006. They plan to send a total of six to 10 inflatable test craft into orbit, culminating with the launch of the space station as early as 2012. But a launch vehicle suitable for carrying people to a Bigelow space station still needs to be developed.
Posted by: Chaish Threlet2390 || 07/14/2006 03:37 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Great! Now the CIA will be keeping secret terrorism prisoners in it! Provoking a stinging response from the UN Space Ambassador.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 07/14/2006 10:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Blew itself up? Sounds rather ... Islamic.
Posted by: Jackal || 07/14/2006 10:47 Comments || Top||

#3  The Dnepr rocket, a converted intercontinental ballistic missile

RS-20 (SS-18)
Posted by: john || 07/14/2006 11:04 Comments || Top||

#4  That's a great idea. Offload all further detainees to space orbit. When it's time for release, give them a scuba tank and a piece of tin foil to protect their ass from overheating on the way down.
Posted by: SOP35/Rat || 07/14/2006 12:13 Comments || Top||

#5  Echo I only teeny, tiny.
Posted by: 6 || 07/14/2006 13:06 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Superman Actor Throws Tantrum Over Makeup While WW3 Looms
Posted by: FOTSGreg || 07/14/2006 20:31 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Makeup musta contained Kryptonite
Posted by: Captain America || 07/14/2006 23:49 Comments || Top||


Home Front Economy
Senate cuts deal on gulf drilling
Senate leaders announced a bipartisan deal Wednesday to open much of the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas exploration, while providing significant protections for Florida's west coast over the next two decades. The compromise would create a 125-mile no-drilling zone off the Florida Panhandle, while the waters off Tampa Bay would be off-limits to drilling for 234 miles. The protections would last through 2022. Energy companies, meanwhile, would gain access to reserves of oil and natural gas in waters that are now off-limits, and states that allow offshore drilling would earn a larger share of royalties that companies pay for federal drilling rights.

Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., helped broker the deal and said he supports it, though passage by the full Congress is not assured. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., joined the news conference where the deal was announced but stopped short of endorsing it. "The devil is in the details, and both Sen. Martinez and I want to see it in writing," Nelson said. "If it is as described to me, it is very promising."

The new deal shows that although political pressure to drill off the nation's coasts is rising with energy prices, the Senate is not ready to adopt the sweeping measure the U.S. House passed last month, which called for opening to drilling all U.S. waters past 50 miles, unless states opted to restrict it up to 100 miles.
Posted by: Fred || 07/14/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's a start. Let's set-up a rig right next to the ChiCom's
Posted by: Captain America || 07/14/2006 1:27 Comments || Top||

#2  What the hell is wrong with the senate?

They dont approve the judges.

They run roughshod over border defense.

They support amnesty.

They refuse to fix earmearks.

They allow antiquated filibuster rules to clog up the function of government.

The Senate is broken. Time to shoot them all and reset the rules.

Posted by: Oldspook || 07/14/2006 10:28 Comments || Top||

#3  The senate isn't being held accountable is the problem. People are to addicted to their Pork to think of the larger picture and throw the bums out.

Perhaps shooting (figurtivly) them all and resetting the rules is a good idea.

The ban on drilling is not to protect the environment (since it doesn't stop China or Cuba - both of whom don't give a shit how dirty their wells are - from drilling right in out own backyard).
Posted by: CrazyFool || 07/14/2006 10:36 Comments || Top||

#4  My proposition would be to drill anywhere in the Gulf up to the line of sight (horizon) from Florida. What's the horizon, something like 12 miles offshore?

That way, you don't "disturb" the tourists (they can't see the rigs) AND you get a lot more territory to drill in. And, I'm one who actually vacations in the panhandle of FL every year! Much like drilling in ANWR while the LARGE majority of Alaskans want it (jobs and such), the Senate continues to whine about prices while ignoring domestic resources we could tap ASAP. Let them eat cake, I guess is their attitude. Time to throw them out.
Posted by: BA || 07/14/2006 11:39 Comments || Top||

#5  Not good enough, we in Florida get nauseous at the sight of rig support boats and swoon at heavy machinery. It's no go, we must save our (whee minimum wage increase alert) $6.30/hr less tips jobs.
Posted by: 6 || 07/14/2006 13:02 Comments || Top||

#6  The problem is the 17th Amendment, allowing for the direct election of senators. Up until then, all senators were appointed by the governor of the state they were supposed to support, and were supposed to represent the STATES against the federal government. With the passing of the 17th Amendment, senators are purchased by the highest bidder, to do that person's or group's wishes. We need to repeal the 17th Amendment. That and the passing of the 16th Amendment authorizing an Income Tax were two of the worst pieces of governing the United States has ever been subjected to.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 07/14/2006 19:44 Comments || Top||

#7  Hear, hear!
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 07/14/2006 19:46 Comments || Top||

#8  Yep, sales tax and appointed Senators, that'll solve most problems. And going back to the GOLD STANDARD! Destroying the FEDERAL RESERVE with their nest of INTERNATIONAL BETTY CROCKERCRATS! Hell, why not, let's give it a try.

Posted by: 6 || 07/14/2006 21:20 Comments || Top||

#9  Because, since the Great Depression, which the Fed caused, the Fed has done a better job than gold would have.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 07/14/2006 21:26 Comments || Top||

#10  Lets drop this whole democracy thing too.

And make our own Joe M. King!
Posted by: CrazyFool || 07/14/2006 22:21 Comments || Top||



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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2006-07-14
  IAF Booms Hezbollah HQ, Misses Nasrallah
Thu 2006-07-13
  Israel bombs Beirut airport, embargos coast
Wed 2006-07-12
  IDF Re-Engages Lebanon, Reserves Called Up
Tue 2006-07-11
  163 dead in Mumbai train booms
Mon 2006-07-10
  Shamil breathes dirt!
Sun 2006-07-09
  Hamas gov't calls for halt to fighting
Sat 2006-07-08
  Lebanese Arrested In Connection With New York Plot
Fri 2006-07-07
  Somali Islamists:death for Muslims skipping prayers
Thu 2006-07-06
  UN divided over missile response
Wed 2006-07-05
  Israel destroys Palestinian Interior Ministry building
Tue 2006-07-04
  NKors fire Taepodong fizzle
Mon 2006-07-03
  Paleoterrs issue ultimatum
Sun 2006-07-02
  Binny sez will take fight to America
Sat 2006-07-01
  66 killed in car bombing at Baghdad market
Fri 2006-06-30
  IAF strikes official Gaza buildings


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