Hi there, !
Today Tue 01/22/2008 Mon 01/21/2008 Sun 01/20/2008 Sat 01/19/2008 Fri 01/18/2008 Thu 01/17/2008 Wed 01/16/2008 Archives
Rantburg
533772 articles and 1862118 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 68 articles and 204 comments as of 5:14.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Opinion    Local News       
Nasiriyah mosque raid ends two days of slaughter
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 3: Non-WoT
18 00:00 borgboy2001 [9] 
1 00:00 Thomas Woof [10] 
2 00:00 Sock Puppet of Doom [4] 
1 00:00 Woozle Elmeter 2907 [6] 
8 00:00 Whomong Guelph4611 [13] 
4 00:00 john frum [9] 
8 00:00 gorb [4] 
0 [5] 
6 00:00 Pappy [9] 
2 00:00 Redneck Jim [7] 
12 00:00 DarthVader [6] 
4 00:00 john frum [6] 
0 [10] 
1 00:00 Super Hose [6] 
0 [3] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
6 00:00 borgboy2001 [16]
2 00:00 GK [9]
6 00:00 Ptah [6]
8 00:00 Varmint Slaing5309 [9]
1 00:00 Galactic Coordinator Gloluth1321 [9]
10 00:00 DarthVader [12]
5 00:00 M. Murcek [7]
1 00:00 Glenmore [4]
1 00:00 Glenmore [8]
0 [13]
1 00:00 Chenter Unimp7361 [9]
0 [10]
11 00:00 bruce [9]
3 00:00 Thomas Woof [8]
1 00:00 g(r)omgoru [9]
3 00:00 Frank G [4]
0 [6]
1 00:00 Ptah [8]
2 00:00 Redneck Jim [5]
0 [4]
1 00:00 g(r)omgoru [4]
0 [5]
0 [4]
2 00:00 mhw [8]
0 [5]
Page 2: WoT Background
5 00:00 www [6]
1 00:00 Frank G [8]
5 00:00 Frank G [12]
5 00:00 OyVey1 [9]
4 00:00 Anonymoose [5]
1 00:00 ed [10]
0 [5]
2 00:00 john frum [10]
0 [8]
2 00:00 Redneck Jim [7]
6 00:00 OyVey1 [11]
1 00:00 Thomas Woof [8]
0 [8]
0 [6]
0 [9]
4 00:00 Thomas Woof [8]
4 00:00 Galactic Coordinator Jainter8045 [9]
0 [9]
0 [7]
0 [4]
3 00:00 Redneck Jim [5]
0 [10]
Page 4: Opinion
0 [8]
Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
1 00:00 Redneck Jim [9]
2 00:00 Fly Ash Liberation Army [5]
11 00:00 Old CFI [12]
1 00:00 Broadhead6 [6]
14 00:00 Deacon Blues [5]
-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Gen Yury Baluevsky: Russia has right to 'preventative' nuclear strike
Posted by: 3dc || 01/19/2008 10:09 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Look far southeast, Yury.
Posted by: twobyfour || 01/19/2008 15:01 Comments || Top||

#2  What we ought to be telling Mexico.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 01/19/2008 18:31 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Kenyan Opposition Turns to Boycott
Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


Kenya opposition protests toll rises to 25
NAIROBI - The death toll for three days of opposition rallies against Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki’s re-election soared to 25 Friday when police killed five protestors and found several bodies across the country. The fresh wave of violence following last month’s disputed presidential poll came as former UN chief Kofi Annan announced he would fly in Tuesday to broker a deal and the opposition said it would halt its demonstrations.
Oh great, why not send in Carla del Ponte? That way there'll be UN lunches for the next decade.
Four people were shot dead in Kibera, Nairobi’s largest slum, and another shortly after Friday prayers in Mombasa, Kenya’s second city, police said, bringing to 25 the number of people killed since rallies kicked off Wednesday. 'The demonstrators (in Kibera) were charging at the officers with stones and that is when police fired at them. Four of them have been killed,’ a police commander told AFP.

At least 20 other Kenyans have been killed over the past two days, including five in overnight clashes in the Narok area, northwest of the capital.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/19/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
Mugabe Ends Talks to Resolve Zimbabwe Crisis
South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki worked hard to persuade the elderly Zimbabwe leader to honor pledges made in negotiations since April, according to African diplomatic sources.

ZANU-PF negotiators had promised South African facilitators and the MDC that a new constitution would be in place before the next elections and that elections could be delayed so that reforms and new laws could be implemented.

The two parties agreed on a new constitution. But in December, ZANU-PF negotiators and Mr. Mugabe made clear there would be no new constitution before elections and that the polls would be held on time in March.

President Mbeki offered three alternatives to the Zimbabwean leader. Mr. Mugabe rejected all of them including one, which would allow the country to consider the new constitution in a referendum ahead of elections.

Well-placed African diplomatic sources say President Mbeki did not ask the MDC to change its position. President Mbeki will now report back to the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which asked him last March to facilitate the talks to end the crisis.

Meanwhile, Mr. Mbeki is apparently trying to keep the door open for new talks. "You can't doubt the commitment of everybody," he said. "The Zimbabwe leadership, you can't doubt the commitment of the Zimbabwe leadership to ensure that all of these challenges that face the country are solved."
Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The tragedy of Somolia and Zimbabwe is that it will take 25 to 30 years to return these places to a resonable standard of living after the toilet is finaly plunged. Worse yet, Mr Rotorooter hasn't even been identified yet alone called.
Posted by: Super Hose || 01/19/2008 13:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Yesterday I offered ten dollars american for a Ten Million Zimbucks bill.
Last night I got an offer to try from a man named Mike with a Hotmail UK address, but today all mail I send is rejected as "Spam"?

Mike please check your filters, I really want a couple of ten Megabucks Zimbucks, thank you. Jim David
Monitors, I apologise, there seems no other way to reach "Mike"in the UK, he read yesterday's posts, maybe he will read todays.
Thank you
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/19/2008 21:07 Comments || Top||


Britain
Doctors in trouble for not giving man cervical smear
Go ahead. Pap smear me.
Posted by: tipper || 01/19/2008 03:27 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They're talking about testing the wrong end. It's his head that needs a thorough examination.
Posted by: GK || 01/19/2008 6:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Give it to him. It's free..
Posted by: Beavis || 01/19/2008 10:36 Comments || Top||

#3  "There are some people with ambiguous genitalia but I have not come across a man who was normal physically and fertile who was in this inter-sex group. My advice would be to refer the patient to a sexual dysfunction clinic."

As GK said, wrong end.

Send him to a mental defective disfunction clinic. And keep him there.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/19/2008 11:19 Comments || Top||

#4  And send the "primary care trust" clowns with him.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/19/2008 11:28 Comments || Top||

#5  The hose sat in fearful anticipation waiting for the picture at the link to materialize. A heavy sigh of relief escaped when the picture resolved itself into an advertisement.
Posted by: Super Hose || 01/19/2008 12:56 Comments || Top||

#6  Should read, "doctors in fear of Hillary's Cervical apt."
Posted by: Icerigger || 01/19/2008 13:12 Comments || Top||

#7  There is a reason to perform a Pap test on males, that being to screen for cancer for those who engage in anal-receptive sex. That being said, this sort of stuff is seen when the customer is always right and you let the inmates run the asylum.
Posted by: Clart Henbane8757 || 01/19/2008 14:26 Comments || Top||

#8  The refusal of one of the doctors to put Mr X on the recall list for cervical sceening has resulted in a complaint

Hee hee! You mean Mr. XXY or something?
Posted by: gorb || 01/19/2008 16:23 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Moscow Resumes Annual Military Parade, But On V-E Day, Not May Day
Full-scale, Soviet-style military parades – with displays of tanks and other military hardware – will return to Red Square beginning May 9. The decision to resume this public display of military might was reportedly taken at a January 12 meeting of top Russian military leaders.

The new Topol-M (SS-27) mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles will also roll past the reviewing stands near the Kremlin wall. The parade is timed to celebrate VE-Day, the end of the European portion of World War II.

The planned high-profile parade will apparently coincide with the inauguration of the next Russian president, presumably Dmitry Medvedev, whom Vladimir Putin has designated as his successor.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/19/2008 10:32 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hot dawg Happy Days are here again so laissez les bons temps rouler yawl.
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 01/19/2008 19:00 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Australians Remove Anti-Whaling Protesters from Japanese Vessel
The transfer of the two campaigners Thursday has ended a tense standoff in the icy waters of the Southern Ocean. The two men from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society had boarded the Japanese whaler Yushin Maru No. 2 on Tuesday. They ostensibly wanted to deliver a letter protesting the annual Japanese whale hunt, but the boarding - captured on video by their colleagues - was also meant to give international visibility to their anti-whaling campaign.

After jumping aboard the Japanese ship, Briton Giles Lane and Australian Benjamin Potts were detained by the Japanese crew for almost three days. During that time the whaling fleet and the protesters traded accusations of kidnapping, piracy, and even "terrorism." The Australian government finally offered to end the impasse by sending a customs ship, the Oceanic Viking, to retrieve the activists.

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith says the transfer worked smoothly because of Canberra's close diplomatic ties with Tokyo. "If we didn't have such a strong relationship with Japan, then over the last couple of days we wouldn't have seen both the Australian government and the Japanese government at one wanting to secure and affect the safe and speedy transfer of Benjamin Potts and the U.K. national," said Smith.

The Japanese had offered earlier to send the men back to their ship, if the protesters would stop harassing the whaling fleet. The captain of the protest ship refused to accept the condition. The men are now back on board the Sea Shepherd vessel. Potts, the Australian, says the campaign against the whalers will continue. "Hopefully we'll continue with the chase until such time that we have to head back - same as before, we'll continue to harass the Japanese fleet and prevent them from whaling," he said.

The Japanese plan to kill about a thousand whales during the Antarctic summer. Now that the two Sea Shepherd members have been released, the controversial whaling expedition will resume. The Australian government calls the whale hunt an unnecessary slaughter, while the Japanese say their fleet is conducting scientific research.

Australian police are investigating the actions of two men. Law experts say the pair are subject to Australian law, and could face a range of charges including a criminal act of terrorism. Australia sent the Oceanic Viking to the Antarctic last month to collect evidence that could be used in international court action against the Japanese whaling program.
Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Harvesting a thousand whales does seem to be a bit of an excess for scientific research, but there are more appropriate ways of dealing with this than with attempts at fouling the screws of the whaling ship. The protesters' behaviors are smacking of piracy, and need to be treated as pirates.

The protestors could easily have used telephoto lenses with video and still cameras and could have made a propaganda video that would make one weep. They are moroons and pirates.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/19/2008 0:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Concur AP.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 01/19/2008 9:33 Comments || Top||

#3  If they claim they are harvesting a thousand whales, they are harvesting 10 thousand whales. I call bullshit on the scientific research thing also.
Posted by: Tiny Omerens2017 || 01/19/2008 9:47 Comments || Top||

#4  a customs ship, the Oceanic Viking

Yes, that is a damn fine name for a customs ship.
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 01/19/2008 19:02 Comments || Top||

#5  Sea Shepherd crew attacks Japanese Whaling Ship with stink bombs

http://news.smh.com.au/stink-bombings-to-continue-sea-shepherd/20080119-1mwb.html

(Link button didn't work for me- am using Firefox)
Posted by: Oztralian || 01/19/2008 22:30 Comments || Top||

#6  Yes, that is a damn fine name for a customs ship.

Actually, a leased commercial vessel (with a hull strengthened for ice-breaking). Also has a 'boarding party' armed with .50 cal machine guns; the latter stowed below decks.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/19/2008 23:15 Comments || Top||


Captain of protest vessel claims spy trawler is shadowing him
The Japanese government is thought to have sent a large ocean-going trawler into the Southern Ocean near Antarctica to track one of the environmental activist ships trying to stop a whale hunt.

Captain Paul Watson, on board the Sea Shepherd conservation society's vessel, the Steve Irwin, said yesterday by satellite phone that the drag trawler Fukoyoshi Maru No 68 was shadowing his ship. "It has no fishing gear on board and appears to have more electronic gear than normal for a fishing vessel. It is not part of the whaling fleet of seven ships. It is apparently reporting our position to the Japanese fleet."
Posted by: Steve White || 01/19/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They did not mention the submarine in the report, did they? Mum's the word.....
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/19/2008 0:25 Comments || Top||

#2  It has no fishing gear on board and appears to have more electronic gear than normal for a fishing vessel.

Hey the guys just want their normal electronic fix they feed back home in Yokohama. You've never seen the kids walking around with the latest and greatest in tech gear in Japan?

Captain of protest vessel claims spy trawler is shadowing him

Stalker bitchin about being stalked. Rich :)
The 'victimhood' culture.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/19/2008 7:43 Comments || Top||

#3  Stalker bitchin about being stalked. Rich :)

The hull of the Steve Irwin is apparently made of irony.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/19/2008 10:48 Comments || Top||

#4  Powered by steam from DeNile River.
Posted by: Seafarious || 01/19/2008 11:49 Comments || Top||

#5  It's always good when the ELINT people get a chance to do live exercises. I'm sure the Japanese navy is grateful to those idiots for the training opporunity.
Posted by: lotp || 01/19/2008 12:49 Comments || Top||

#6  What the hell is a tracking vessel going to do anyways? They sure as hell aren't going to move the whalers in time. If I was Watson I'd be having a beer on deck mooning the Maru.
Posted by: Icerigger || 01/19/2008 13:07 Comments || Top||

#7  Watson grow a spine you leftist twit.
Posted by: Icerigger || 01/19/2008 13:09 Comments || Top||

#8  His plans were spoiled by the meddling kids.
Posted by: Super Hose || 01/19/2008 13:27 Comments || Top||

#9  What the hell is a tracking vessel going to do anyways?

How about Jamming the "Activists" com gear, no incoming or outgoing electronic messages, no E-Mail, No internet, No video, no telephone, in other words cut off their publicity generating ability, their main reason for being there, harrassing the Whalers, will NOT be broadcast.
Let them die of frustration, they're media whores, no media, no attention.

Sounds entirely practical to me.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/19/2008 15:23 Comments || Top||

#10  I'd be keeping a weather eye out for the Oceanic Viking.
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 01/19/2008 19:04 Comments || Top||

#11  Australia was suppose to be sending a government spy ship to track the Japanese.. This is turning into a game of 'cat and mouse'.

Both sides suck and should go home.
Posted by: Oztralian || 01/19/2008 22:33 Comments || Top||

#12  I would just settle for a "Rogue Wave" and call the Irwin lost.
Posted by: DarthVader || 01/19/2008 22:53 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Dem Candidates talk incoherently about Second Amendment Rights
http://www.nrapvf.org/

Assault weapons ban - what a joke. Unscrupulous gun-dealers? Another straw man.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 01/19/2008 09:42 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That's why we need Fred in the White House to veto all the schemes bound to be coming out of a demo Congress.
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2907 || 01/19/2008 12:34 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
India's "baby boomer"
Located up the winding shipping channel in Visakhapatnam harbour is a secret, completely enclosed facility known only as the Shipbuilding Centre (SBC).

Inside this dry dock, nearly 50m below ground level, is a cylindrical black shape, which is as tall as a two-storey building and at 104 m in length, is longer than the Qutub Minar lying on its side.

Technicians working on it confess to a surge of national pride: India’s first nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine or SSBN is arguably its greatest engineering project.
rest at link
Posted by: john frum || 01/19/2008 08:37 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A good thing it's a secret. If I knew, I might mention it over dinner some night, clearly a bad thing.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/19/2008 12:37 Comments || Top||

#2  An Indian junior minister lost his job for mentioning this. Quite absurd given all the info in the public domain for more than a decade.

The defence minister is on record in the parliament, replying to a question.. "India has no missile project named sagarika".
Yet the DRDO released a picture of the missile launcher (it seems three of these will fit into each tube of the SSBN), in front of a building marked "sagarika annex".
Posted by: Harry Hupereper4949 || 01/19/2008 13:04 Comments || Top||

#3  I wasn't that impressed until they pointed out it is longer than the Qutub Minar lying on its side. That sh*t is long.
Posted by: Excalibur || 01/19/2008 13:17 Comments || Top||

#4  Given the Indian experience assembling and operating their German HDW 209s, operating the previous Soviet Charlie class boat and with their purchase of French Scorpene sub technology, it would be interesting to see how this compares with the larger Chinese SSBNs.

Posted by: john frum || 01/19/2008 14:30 Comments || Top||


Britain seeks nuclear cooperation with India
NEW DELHI — Ahead of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's visit here, Britain yesterday voiced interest in having civil nuclear cooperation with India but said any such collaboration will have to await changes in the international rules.

The nuclear issue is expected to figure in the talks that Brown will have with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here on Monday. The Summit talks will also cover the subjects of terrorism, climate change and business cooperation besides regional issues.

"Civil Nuclear cooperation (between India and the UK) is dependent on international status (of rules of trade)," British High Commissioner Sir Richard Stagg said while briefing journalists on Brown's two-day maiden visit here. Noting that Britain supports the Indo-US nuclear deal, he said the agreement will "open opportunities for collaboration which do not exist at present".

However, Stagg said the "real opportunity for major India-UK collaboration will require changes" in the status of international rules which New Delhi "is trying to do" with the IAEA and the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

The High Commissioner said the Brown government was keen on enhancing Britain's nuclear capacity. "We see ourselves using international expertise," he said, suggesting the scope for cooperation with India.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/19/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:


Southeast Asia
Doctor: Suharto Could Recover
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Former Indonesian dictator Suharto's condition has improved and he has a good chance of recovering, his doctor said Saturday. ``We're optimistic,'' presidential doctor Marjo Subiandono told reporters during a briefing Saturday.
I'm optimistic that I'll keep my New Year's resolution and lose my pear shaped body.
The 86-year-old has been in hospital for more than two weeks, suffering from multiple organ failure, pneumonia and sepsis, a potentially lethal blood infection. The former leader is still attached to a ventilator, but his heart and lung capacity have improved, and his sepsis is also receding, Subiandono said.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/19/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I thought his organs were reported to be dissolving?
How do you recover from that?
Posted by: 3dc || 01/19/2008 2:52 Comments || Top||

#2  They embalmed him.
Posted by: gorb || 01/19/2008 4:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Did Castro visit Suharto any time in the past? He might have bitten Suharto and passed on the zombie disease.

Is Suharto eating human flesh yet?

Posted by: FOTSGreg || 01/19/2008 12:16 Comments || Top||

#4  Perhaps some Haitians have migrated to Indonesia and practice Voodoo there. Suharto the Zombie may well be Indonesia's eternal president
Posted by: john frum || 01/19/2008 18:49 Comments || Top||


Sanctions ‘not central’ to Myanmar policy: EU
BRUSSELS - The European Union signalled a shift of emphasis in policy towards Myanmar’s ruling junta on Friday, saying its main focus was on encouraging steps towards democracy rather than exerting pressure with sanctions.
Boy howdy that soft power thing really works, doesn't it?
After the Myanmar leadership’s bloody crackdown on peaceful pro-democracy protests in September, the 27-member bloc approved toughened economic and other sanctions in November and threatened more a month later if repression did not ease.

But Piero Fassino, the EU’s special envoy to the region, said it was clear Asian states did not back the use of sanctions as mooted by EU and US officials. ‘Sanctions are not central, they are not the objective in themselves. The core of our strategy is ensuring that a dialogue opens in Myanmar,’ Fassino said after meetings in Brussels.
"A condemnation before lunch shall suffice."
‘Asian states are very sensitive to the issue of regional stability ... They are not favourable (to sanctions). We have to take that into account and respect that. They prefer a strategy of persuasion,’ he told a news conference.

He said it was too early to assess the impact of EU sanctions introduced in November, which target more than 1,200 firms in Myanmar and impose visa bans and asset freezes on its military rulers. It is up to EU member states to apply such measures nationally.
Any bets about how the French are applying the sanctions? The Germans?
Asked whether the EU had scrapped any plans to tighten sanctions, he said the priority of its policy now was to support an early visit to the country by UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari and to see what emerged from that. ‘We shall see whether Mr Gambari can go and what his visit achieves. After that we shall evaluate,’ he added, stressing that Gambari should go as soon as possible.

The UN Security Council upbraided Myanmar on Thursday for slow progress on reforms since the September protests, including dragging its heels on the release of political prisoners and in pursuing a genuine dialogue with opposition leaders.
Was that a standard upbraiding or a strongly-worded one?
Posted by: Steve White || 01/19/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Use of Soft Power = accepting the status quo without increasing the level of guilt above the normal level of self-hatred.
Posted by: Super Hose || 01/19/2008 13:10 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Mexico complains - Mexicans crossing its borders looking for work
YJCMTSU

A delegation of nine state legislators from Sonora was in Tucson on Tuesday to say Arizona's new employer sanctions law will have a devastating effect on the Mexican state.
And your point....?
At a news conference, the legislators said Sonora - Arizona's southern neighbor, made up of mostly small towns - cannot handle the demand for housing, jobs and schools it will face as illegal Mexican workers here return to their hometowns without jobs or money.
Awwwww - my heart just breaks for them. No, wait.... it's just the chili.
The law, which took effect Jan.1, punishes employers who knowingly hire individuals who don't have valid legal documents to work in the United States.
'Bout damn time
The Mexican delegation, members of Sonora's 58th Legislature, belong to the National Action Party (PAN), the party of Mexico's president, Felipe Calderón.
Of course they do
"How can they pass a law like this?" asked Mexican Rep. Leticia Amparano Gamez, who represents Nogales.
Because Arizona is part of a sovereign nation (a concept you don't seem to understand - except of course for your nation), not your dumping ground for excess people?
"There is not one person living in Sonora who does not have a friend or relative working illegally in Arizona," she said in Spanish.
Gee, here's an idea - if you're going to complain to an English-speaking nation in that English-speaking nation, try complaining in English. You might get more people to actually, you know, listen.
"Mexico is not prepared for this, for the tremendous problems" it will face as more and more Mexicans working in Arizona and sending money to their families return to hometowns in Sonora without jobs, she said.
And this is our problem because....?
"We are one family, socially and economically," she said of the people of Sonora and Arizona.
Ummmmm - NO. Sonora and Arizona are IN TWO SEPARATE COUNTRIES. With an INTERNATIONAL BORDER between them. You know, kinda like that international border your country brutally vigorously enforces at the southern end of Mexico?
Amparano said the Mexican legislators are already asking the federal government of Mexico for help for Sonora.
So Sonorans are Democrats; first response is to demand to suck at the federal teat. GFL on that one....
"What do we do with the repatriated?" he asked. "As Mexicans, we are worried. They are Mexicans but they are also people I can't believe he said that - fathers and mothers and young people with jobs" who won't have work in Sonora."
Gee, ever thought of changing your corrupt communist socialist ways and embracing capitalism? You might be surprised how many jobs can get created with that. But then YOU might not be able to protect your phoney-baloney job. Which apparently is demanding for your whole country to suck at the American teat.

Hat tip: Mickey Kaus

Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/19/2008 11:36 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  As a guest, the nine shoulda been served a nice cuppa STFU, then laughed out of the room. Build the fence
Posted by: Frank G || 01/19/2008 12:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Everyone please, stand and give a resounding round of applause to Arizona. They've done the right thing and here's the direct proof it's working. Not the shit proposed by McClain about comprehensive (translate = amnesty) reform. When the sorry ass Mexicans are bawling, it's working. What an example for the other 47 contiguous states. Thanks, thanks, thanks, Arizona !!!!
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2907 || 01/19/2008 12:31 Comments || Top||

#3  LOL! Servers the pricks right. Now if every state did this our Federal prison population would go down, meth use would go down, welfare costs would lessen etc.
Posted by: Icerigger || 01/19/2008 13:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Mexico is not prepared for this

Cause your friggin ruling class has squandered trillions in petro dollars to line their greedy little peonages rather than develop your country and economy for decades. And they and you expect the average American taxpayer to underwrite the needs by dumping your unskilled, unemployed and racially unwanted meztisos and indios upon us. The game is up. Heck, I've driven through one of our own Indian reservations for the past decade and since they got gambling I've witness the social application of their bounty in new housing, expanded social services and facilities and education opportunities. If they could figure it out in ten years, what the hell is your problem. Not enough graft?

Here's the deal, keep your sovereignty and your people. Become a Commonwealth of the US, and the future and opportunity of the people you are using for your cheap show will be the same as those Puerto Rico. Open travel, open jobs, and even the right to vote in this country. Meanwhile Puerto Rico enjoy extensive local autonomy of their own affairs. Put up or shut up.

/rant off
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/19/2008 13:32 Comments || Top||

#5  none of this shit will hit home until the homes the rich ppl live start falling down. The housing market is gonna have another boom in about 10 years and i hope the builders over here are smart enough too know not too use them again.
Posted by: sinse || 01/19/2008 14:43 Comments || Top||

#6  Just wait until they get the ACLU to sue us.
Posted by: danking70 || 01/19/2008 15:00 Comments || Top||

#7  f*ck you sonora & the burro you rode in on. I could really give a rat's #ss what your problems are.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 01/19/2008 15:40 Comments || Top||

#8  You go Arizona!! Illegals - just go.
Posted by: DMFD || 01/19/2008 15:58 Comments || Top||

#9  Never in my life have I seen a more telling example of gall and massive disrespect for a neighbor than this. To complain that we are causing them harm by refusing to cope with their own citizens who were here in our country stealing our prosperity and benefits is beyond tolerance. Every one of these guys needs a massive bitch-slapping and immediate expulsion. Any US official that actually listened to this tripe needs to be recalled, whatever level of office they hold. This is BS!
Posted by: No More BS || 01/19/2008 16:07 Comments || Top||

#10  Heh heh heh. We feel your pain, Senorita Gamez.
Sucks, don't it?
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/19/2008 16:12 Comments || Top||

#11  Tell them that for every illegal we find in our country from theirs, we annex 1 sq mile of their country. No Mexican citizens will be allowed to remain and they will be shoved across the new border.

Anyone we catch in our country twice that's illegal will make a nice addition to the organ banks. The first time their president complains, put a MOAB through his bedroom window.

I only have mercy and compassion for those who deserve it. Those invading my country get neither.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 01/19/2008 16:22 Comments || Top||

#12  Cry us a river. No please, we could use the extra water.

Otherwise, reap what you sow asshats.
Posted by: DarthVader || 01/19/2008 17:32 Comments || Top||

#13  None of the usual suspects like the law, for various reasons.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/19/2008 17:45 Comments || Top||

#14  Great snarks, Barbara.
Posted by: GK || 01/19/2008 18:16 Comments || Top||

#15  I agree at employer sanctions drying up the attraction, but ...what about THE FENCE?
Posted by: Frank G || 01/19/2008 20:27 Comments || Top||

#16  "We are one family, socially and economically,"
Maybe, but I have never let my distant relatives jump my fence and move in at will.
Posted by: Darrell || 01/19/2008 20:55 Comments || Top||

#17  What did you say Mexican Rep. Leticia Amparano Gamez? I do not speak Spanish. You need to start putting everything in English and Spanish.

Say what, Senora Gamez? Did you say, "Where do you think you are, America!"?
Posted by: www || 01/19/2008 22:18 Comments || Top||

#18  I am a teacher here in Tucson. My school is located in south Tucson and the number of parents who deliver their kids to school in Mexican 9State of)Sonora plated cars is huge...
Posted by: borgboy2001 || 01/19/2008 22:35 Comments || Top||


Science
Humans Are No Different Than Mice
Except for the tails, of course. And that thing they have with cheese.
New research on mice shows the brain processes aggressive behavior as it does other rewards. Mice sought violence, in fact, picking fights for no apparent reason other than the rewarding feeling.
I've always found cuts, bruises, missing teeth, and the occasional shredded ear to be a rewarding feeling.
The mouse brain is thought to be analogous to the human brain in this study, which could shed light on our fascination with brutal sports as well as our own penchant for the classic bar brawl.
Ah, yes. Brutal sports. Y'gotta love 'em. I get so excited when the knives come out at basketball games, or when the umpire turns thumbs down at the World Series and the pitcher is shot.
In fact, the researcher say, humans seem to crave violence just like they do sex, food or drugs.
Like, wow, man. I'm, like, freakin' out here. I need my sex, food, and drugs! And then I'm off to the Spahn movie ranch with Susan Atkins and that Krenwinkel bitch!
Scientists have known that mice and other animals are drawn to fights. Until now, they didn't know how the brain was involved. The new study, detailed online this week in the journal Psychopharmacology, reveals the same clusters of brain cells involved in other rewards are also behind the craving for violence. "Aggression occurs among virtually all vertebrates and is necessary to get and keep important resources such as mates, territory and food," said study team member Craig Kennedy, professor of special education and pediatrics at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. "We have found that the reward pathway in the brain becomes engaged in response to an aggressive event and that dopamine is involved."
So in the course of a billion or so years of evolution we've worked out that sometimes y'gotta defend your territory or someone or something else will take it over, leaving you with what the little pig got. Who'da ever guessed that?
For the experiments, the researchers placed a pair of mice, one male and one female, in a cage. Then, the female was removed and a so-called male intruder mouse entered the cage. That triggered aggressive behavior in the resident male. The tell-tale signs of aggression included tail rattle, an aggressive sideways stance, boxing and biting.
Classic mousie behavior involves an extended courtship marked by the male climbing on the female's back and briefly shoving her the minibaloney. Mice live about 24 months and they're ready to breed when weaned, which is at the 21-day mark. Male and female left together will breed, whether he buys flowers or not. Two males left together will fight, even if there's not a female involved. Other rodents have different levels of aggressiveness, though, and other critters have different levels than rodents -- it's common to see two male dogs or cats sharing territory, for instance.
After the initial scuffle ended, the resident male mouse was trained to nose-poke a target to get the intruder to return. Results showed the home mouse consistently poked the target and fought with the introduced mouse, indicating, the researchers say, that the aggressive encounter was seen as a reward. "We learned from these experiments that an individual will intentionally seek out an aggressive encounter solely because they experience a rewarding sensation from it," Kennedy said.
I'm assuming that the nose poker was the winner in the encounter and that he was letting the same opponent return for more of the same. Were the results the same when a different mouse was likely to come out of the chute, ready for a smackdown? Did they try tag teams?
To figure out whether the brain's reward pathway was involved, the scientists treated the home mice with a drug to block dopamine in certain parts of the brain known to be involved in rewards like food and drugs. The treated mice were less likely to instigate the intruder's entry. “This shows for the first time that aggression, on its own, is motivating, and that the well-known positive reinforcer dopamine plays a critical role," Kennedy said.
It shows that aggression is a useful behavior, which is something that 20th century ideology tried hard to demonstrate was not so. I'd say the study also puts the aggressive urge at the instictive level, which I find comforing. The theoretical establishment can try and say it ain't so all it wants, and it's still going to be so. There's a point past which conditioning won't take you. Unless you're a European, of course.
Kennedy explained that the experiments have implications for humans. The reward pathway in the brains of humans and mice are very similar, he said. "Aggression is highly conserved in vertebrates in general and particularly in mammals," Kennedy told LiveScience. "Almost all mammals are aggressive in some way or another."
Pretty much all creatures great and small are aggressive in some way or another. Probably -- and I'm just guessing here -- salps and trilobites were, though I don't think plankton is.

Not all are the same, however. Our closest relative are a case in point: a male gorilla will usually kill the offspring of a new female. A silverback will chase off his own offspring as they reach sexual maturity, not always but based on behavior. Chimps become more aggressive with age and sexual maturity, and adolescent males form roving bands of fascisti, fighting among themselves only to about the same extent teenaged humans do. Bonobos -- pygmy chimps -- are a less aggressive strain; rather than all that fighting and strife they just try to get along, putting flowers in their fur, singing folk songs, and trading sex like hippies in a commune.

Contrary to the expectations of the ideologues, the chimps are holding their own in the wild, while the bonobo population is drifting inexorably downward -- my ultimate point being that not all creatures are equally aggressive or aggressive in the same way.
He added, "It serves a really useful evolutionary role probably, which is you defend territory; you defend your mate; if you're a female, you defend your offspring."
If you're researching the obvious you state it.
Even though it served a purpose for other animals, in modern human societies, Kennedy said, a propensity toward aggression is not beneficial and can be a problem.
Right. Just ask any bonobo. Or any Dutchman.
"The first rule of Mice Club is - you do not talk about Mice Club."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/19/2008 08:53 || Comments || Link || [13 views] Top|| File under:

#1  LOL inline, Fred, and Mice Club? Genius, Moose :-)
Posted by: Frank G || 01/19/2008 12:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Some humans are no different from rats....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/19/2008 12:39 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm bringing a can of mace next time we go to Chukee Cheese ... as a precaution.
Posted by: Super Hose || 01/19/2008 12:51 Comments || Top||

#4  Lulz, Fred was just idling in the captains chair when this sucker came thru... Sometimes the owner reminds me of that killer San Fransisco tiger.... only with less hair.
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 01/19/2008 19:28 Comments || Top||

#5  Humans Are No Different Than Mice

Explains why I like Cheese so much.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/19/2008 21:15 Comments || Top||

#6  Explains my erotic fantasies about Minnie.....
Posted by: Uncle Walt || 01/19/2008 21:29 Comments || Top||

#7  Explains my erotic fantasies about Minnie.....
Back to your cryo-jar, buddy....
Posted by: M Eisner || 01/19/2008 21:31 Comments || Top||

#8  "Aggression occurs among virtually all vertebrates and is necessary to get and keep important resources such as mates, territory and food,"

Well, this explains liberal behavior - they have no spine and thus gladly give up resources required for survival.

I suppose you could dope entire generations of humans or breed aggression out of them, raise them like cattle and nature would still do its thing. The keepers who retained the aggressive tendencies would fight among themselves to control the human cattle. Kind of like the democratic party.
Posted by: Whomong Guelph4611 || 01/19/2008 23:12 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
45[untagged]
5Taliban
3Govt of Pakistan
2Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
2al-Qaeda
1Govt of Syria
1Hamas
1al-Qaeda in Iraq
1Jamaat-e-Islami
1Lashkar e-Jhangvi
1Lashkar e-Taiba
1Mahdi Army
1Palestinian Authority
1Iraqi Insurgency
1al-Qaeda in Yemen
1Global Jihad

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

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
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2008-01-19
  Nasiriyah mosque raid ends two days of slaughter
Fri 2008-01-18
  Tennyboomer kills 9 Pakistani Shi'ites
Thu 2008-01-17
  Army 'flees second Pakistan fort'
Wed 2008-01-16
  Four arrested after Kabul hotel attack
Tue 2008-01-15
  PRC, Islamic Jihad to attend Hamas-sponsored conference in Syria
Mon 2008-01-14
  Attack on luxury Afghan hotel kills guard, militant: ISAF
Sun 2008-01-13
  Bissau extradites al Qaeda suspects to Mauritania
Sat 2008-01-12
  Militant threat on Eiffel Tower intercepted
Fri 2008-01-11
  Lahore suicide kaboom kills at least 20, injures 80
Thu 2008-01-10
  40,000 pounds of US bombs hit 38 Qaeda 'safe havens'
Wed 2008-01-09
  Mullah Fazlullah deadullah?
Tue 2008-01-08
  Chadian planes bomb rebels in Sudan
Mon 2008-01-07
  Arab FMs urge immediate Leb presidential election
Sun 2008-01-06
  Morocco jails 50 Islamists for terror plots
Sat 2008-01-05
  Fatah al-Islam sez they're infesting Ein el-Hellhole


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.
18.224.39.74
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (25)    WoT Background (22)    Opinion (1)    Local News (5)    (0)