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Gunnies blow Rafah wall, thousands of Paleos flood into Egypt
Today's Headlines
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
1 00:00 DarthVader [9]
1 00:00 Redneck Jim [2]
2 00:00 Woozle Elmeter 2907 [4]
13 00:00 Atomic Conspiracy [12]
8 00:00 gorb [7]
3 00:00 Spusomp Darling of the Wee Folk5351 (aka Darrell) [1]
6 00:00 RD [4]
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
The wrath of Winfrey descends upon Dr. Phil
(Xinhuanet) -- Uh, oh, TV doctor Phil McGraw has raised the ire of one-time booster Oprah Winfrey who has told the National Enquirer she has had it with her former protege because of his controversial meeting with Britney Spears. "Oprah is furious," an insider told the magazine. "She expected Phil to apologize before the situation got out of hand. Instead he used the spotlight to tout his struggling talk show. ... Oprah thinks he has completely lost his sense of right and wrong."

Having handled scandals of her own, Winfrey is angry about how McGraw's handled his public embarrassment. "Oprah has made mistakes but the difference is that she's known when to step back and apologize," a friend revealed. "She feels Phil should have done that when he had the chance. ... He betrayed her trust."

A show source told the Enquirer that Winfrey cautioned McGraw before, and her angry reaction was "coming for a long time." Seems the two clashed over several issues in the past. In 2005, McGraw "threw a hissy fit" when Winfrey's close pal Maria Shriver failed to wrangle hubby Arnold Schwarzenegger to introduce him at an obesïty conference. He also earned Winfrey's ire after his "Shape Up!" dïet products failed to deliver and later led to a 10.5 million U.S. döllar settlement.

Phil may have his own show, but getting on Winfrey's bad side carries a hefty price. "Phil got a whopping 75 million dollar deal, but Oprah is still his boss," another close source explained. "She even has control of what time slots he's in. If she doesn't want him around, she can make him disappear."
Posted by: Fred || 01/23/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oprah thinks he has completely lost his sense of right and wrong.

Oprah would be right.
Posted by: Mike || 01/23/2008 6:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Who made Oprah the Holder of the Golden Key to what's wrong or what's right? What'd he doe, steal some of her limelight?
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 01/23/2008 7:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Oprah thinks he has completely lost his sense of right and wrong.

Not sure if he ever had it, actually...
Posted by: Raj || 01/23/2008 8:33 Comments || Top||

#4  Damn, missed one:

If she doesn't want him around, she can make him disappear.

Oprah Soprano? Time to sleep with the fishes!
Posted by: Raj || 01/23/2008 8:35 Comments || Top||

#5  Who made Oprah the Holder of the Golden Key to what's wrong or what's right?

His show is produced by the studio she owns.
Posted by: lotp || 01/23/2008 8:42 Comments || Top||

#6  Read recently that she got her own TV network.
When will we rename the planet "Oprah"?
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/23/2008 8:52 Comments || Top||

#7  Whether she's the Holder of the Golden Key or not, Dr. Phil is 'way off base here. Plus, if you had a choice between a world with a Dr. Phil Show and one without, wouldn't you prefer the second option? Go Oprah! Rub him out!
Posted by: Mike || 01/23/2008 8:52 Comments || Top||

#8  I can do without Oprah, too.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 01/23/2008 9:18 Comments || Top||

#9  Ditto Deacon, and the mule she rode in on.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/23/2008 9:23 Comments || Top||

#10  I don't like Dr. Swill any more then the rest of the world but, how much truth is there to any article reported by the Nation Enquirer?
Posted by: smdshack || 01/23/2008 9:38 Comments || Top||

#11  The real first black president.
Posted by: ed || 01/23/2008 9:39 Comments || Top||

#12  I like Okrah better than Dr. Phil, but not by much.
Posted by: Bill Cheresing8196 || 01/23/2008 9:40 Comments || Top||

#13  You can flatten that pancake as much as you want, pardner, but it still will have two sides.
Posted by: Dr Phil || 01/23/2008 12:15 Comments || Top||

#14  Remember, these people all just want to help, and, by God, when they are finally in charge, they will help you to death...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/23/2008 14:14 Comments || Top||

#15  When will we rename the planet "Oprah"?
Too late - it's Microsoft World v1.1 Version 1.2 comes out after the next giant asteroid collision...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/23/2008 14:17 Comments || Top||

#16  Oprah is getting flack from her mostly female audience for siding against the female candidate in the Presidential election. Seems Dr Phil is the fallguy to distract attention and put Oprah back on the side of the victimized wimenfolk.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 01/23/2008 15:36 Comments || Top||

#17  had the same thought rjschwarz.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/23/2008 17:40 Comments || Top||

#18  Britney has been sent ot all kinds of private help. Nothing worked. When Phil helped Oprah whoop up on a bunch Texas panhandle meat packers, she made all his help public.

Sounds to me we are going to have another dead star in the near future, while grown up folks who can help the kid claw down a Dr over how he wants to help the kid. If she got her act straight in public, she would be a star again. But, ain't gonna happen. Time to dig a hole in the ground for another young celebrity.
Posted by: www || 01/23/2008 19:45 Comments || Top||

#19  Time to dig a hole in the ground for another young celebrity.

Got a spare shovel? I'll help.
Posted by: Vortigern Snaitch7695 || 01/23/2008 20:58 Comments || Top||

#20  Who made Oprah the Holder of the Golden Key to what's wrong or what's right? What'd he doe, steal some of her limelight?

Heh Deacon right on!! You hit her Highness right on her over-rated opinion of herself and that sound you hear is her AstroDome size ego deflating.
Posted by: RD || 01/23/2008 22:23 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Over 2000 complain of 'fever' in Avian Flu area, govt says 'it means nothing'
Kolkata, January 22 About 2,324 cases of people suffering from fever have been reported from the Birbhum district — Ground Zero of the bird flu outbreak in the state — in the last five days.

“The West Bengal Government is failing to understand the gravity of the situation,” said Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare P Lakshmi, during a visit to Birbhum on Tuesday.

Lakshmi, who is currently in the state to get a first hand assessment of the culling operations, did not find adequate health infrastructure to combat the bird flu threat. She criticised the state government for acting irresponsibly and lacking seriousness to fight the disease. “There is no infrastructure, not even qualified doctors. We have sent pills and gear but the required equipment is not in place till date. They do not understand that this is an emergency situation and they should be prepared for it,” she added.

She blamed the state Animal Resource Development department for the spread of the virus to new areas, as it did not carry out culling operations in a swift manner.

The state government, however, maintained that there has been no case of H5N1 virus infecting humans, and tried to play down its own figures of fever cases in Birbhum. “There is no need to panic. We do not have any reports of humans being infected. Therefore, a few hundred fever cases means nothing,” said Sanchita Bakshi, state director health services.

According to the status report, as many as 707 fever cases were reported from Birbhum district on January 18. A day later and another 304 people were added to the list.

For January 20, which happened to be a Sunday, the report does not give any figures. On January 21, 707 more cases were added to the existing figures and today an additional 613 cases of fever were recorded.

The report further stated that that six central rapid response teams are assisting the state government in culling operations. Five human blood samples taken from South Dinajpur district have tested negative, the report added.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/23/2008 13:02 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh, crud. Sorry mods.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/23/2008 13:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Either a lot of people are going to start dropping dead in a hurry, or it is mass hysteria. Even if it was another disease, it is unlikely it would spread so quickly.

Ironically, the spread of this 'fever' tracks about the same as Avian flu would spread. At this point, the next outbreak would be in the tens of thousands.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/23/2008 13:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Personally I hope the big bird flu epidemic will be delayed long enough for John Ringo's _Centurion_ (which has bird flu, among other things, as background plot elements) to come out.
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman || 01/23/2008 16:43 Comments || Top||

#4  ION,PRNEWSWIRE > CHINA FACES REIGN OF SAND - CIRCLE OF BLUE'S [.org] REPORT ON INNER MONGOLIA'S EXPANDING DESERT. Pan-enviro desertification due to host of natural = man-made probs. DESERT SIZE HAS DOUBLED IN FOUR YEARS.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/23/2008 18:17 Comments || Top||

#5  ANCIENT EGYPT + SAHARA/NILE VALLEY???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/23/2008 18:18 Comments || Top||

#6  Isn't this the norm for the African areas?
Periodic overpopulation, followed by plague? Repeat forever?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/23/2008 18:56 Comments || Top||

#7  1. No deaths.
2. No positives on H5N1.
3. Symptom profile limited to fever -- no conjunctivitis, cough, sore throat, muscle aches, pneumonia, acute respiratory distress, nausea, vomiting or neurologic changes.
4. Atypical spread from human to human.

This could be a lot of things, but avian flu isn't a good candidate yet.

2,324 is a lot of fevers, but the district has over three million people. It could just be that fevers not normally reported are now getting reported out of extreme caution.

-- Spusomp Darling of the Wee Folk5351 (aka "Darrell")
Posted by: Spusomp Darling of the Wee Folk5351 || 01/23/2008 19:46 Comments || Top||


Strong quake hits Indonesia, triggers panic
(Xinhua) -- A powerful earthquake with magnitude of 6.2 rocked Nias Island off Sumatra Island early Wednesday, meteorology agency here said. The quake epicenter was at 24 kilometers southwest Gunung Sitoli of Nias Island and at 10 kilometers under sea bed, an official of the agency Andri Setiaji said. He said the quake struck at 00:14 a.m. local time (1714GMT). "Gunungsitoli town, the closest with the epicenter seems to be the worst hit, with some buildings cracked," he told Xinhua.

The intensity of the quake was 5 MMI (modified mercally intensity) at the town, and 3 to 4 MMI at Sibolga town in Sumatra Island and Singkil town, said Setiaji. "The report so far we get, there are some buildings crack in Gunung Sitoli," he said.

The official said resident in harsh fled their home as the quake took place. "People waked up and panic, they fled homes. They are scared and still stay outside," he said after receiving report from the Island.
Posted by: Fred || 01/23/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  6.2 is not all that strong. But there have been quite a few such moderate quakes in the area recently. Each one represents a transfer of stress from one area to the adjacent areas. I haven't looked at the distribution, but if there's a pattern, and a 'gap' in the pattern, the system could be charging up for a big one.
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/23/2008 7:26 Comments || Top||

#2  They've had the "big one", Glenmore. These are the quakes to relieve the stresses that one caused. Expect an upturn in volcanic action (already begun) in the area, too. Sumatra's not going to be a "paradise" for the next 20-30 years until things "settle down".
Posted by: Old Patriot || 01/23/2008 16:33 Comments || Top||

#3  OP - small correction: smaller quakes after a large one aren't relieving stresses...they are minor continuances of the same stress relief the first was caused by..."settling". Of course, that assumes all shelf stress was addressed by the first "big" quake...heh. Allan wills it?
Posted by: Frank G || 01/23/2008 17:41 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Zimbob opposition leader jugged
Posted by: Seafarious || 01/23/2008 03:31 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:


Governor says armed insurgents attack Niger city, leaving 3 dead
Armed insurgents attacked the south-central city of Tanout in an overnight raid that left three people dead and five seriously injured, a governor in the region said Tuesday.

The attackers battled the city's security forces for about four hours late Monday night before pulling back, regional Governor Yahaya Yandaka told state radio. The assailants also set fire to the city's electrical utility building and stole five vehicles before pulling back, he said.

A small group of ethnic Tuaregs have been waging a low-level rebellion for more than a year in northern Niger. The rebel group known as Niger Movement for Justice accuses the government of reneging on promises to improve economic opportunities for the nomadic Tuareg people and of trying to push the northern-based blue-robed nomads off uranium-rich lands so the state can profit.
Posted by: Fred || 01/23/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Finland: Joint Nordic air surveillance including NATO possible
Finland’s Chief of Defence, Admiral Juhani Kaskeala, does not believe there are any restraints to Finland’s joint air surveillance effort with Sweden and Norway. Since Norway does not have a national air surveillance system of its own, Sweden and Finland would have to join in the NATO system. Kaskeala was speaking on Monday at the opening ceremony of a national defence course in Helsinki.

Kaskela does not see joining in the NATO air surveillance system as a problem. In addition to NATO countries, for example Austria and Switzerland already belong to the system. In Kaskela’s view it is up to Sweden and Finland to decide to what extent they want to exchange airspace information with NATO. Kaskela also presented other possible examples for Nordic defence cooperation.

At the Defence Forces, plans are being formulated for the joint use of military exercise and target practice areas as well as extending the maritime surveillance area further east. According to Kaskeala, the advantages of joint maritime surveillance outweigh the drawbacks if other Baltic Sea countries are also included in the undertaking. Estonia and Russia have already expressed their interest in the intent.

Russia is also interested in supplying Finland with air traffic information from the air-traffic control station to be set up on the Suursaari island in the Gulf of Finland. The purpose of the station is to prevent Russian aircraft from violating the airspaces of Finland and Estonia.

The cooperation proposals will be presented to Finnish political leaders later this spring.
Posted by: mrp || 01/23/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  All those Bears making you nervous?
Posted by: SteveS || 01/23/2008 1:51 Comments || Top||


Sweden: Four indicted after major gun-running weapons seizure
A gun-running pipeline from Kosovo to Malmo.
Four people have been indicted in Malmö on gun-running charges following the seizure last autumn of a major consignment of weapons.

Customs officials in Malmö found 40 semi-automatic weapons concealed in the seats of a car on October 10th last year. The driver of the vehicle was pulled over after customs officials noticed him behaving in a nervous manner when crossing the border from Denmark to Sweden. One of the driver's two passengers was also arrested. A woman travelling in the car was released almost immediately. A criminal investigation conducted by the customs authorities also led to the identification of two further suspects.

"Cooperation on the international and national levels has worked extremely well," said Rolf Bårdskär, head of Swedish Customs' investigative division.

The customs authority has described the haul as one of the largest weapons seizures ever made in Europe. The four suspects, each with addresses in southern Sweden, have been indicted on arms trafficking charges.

Both men arrested at the Lernacken border station in Malmö admit to smuggling Beretta and Zastava weapons from Kosovo to Sweden. The two suspects arrested later deny committing an offence.
Posted by: mrp || 01/23/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Swen? Lars? Henrick? Anders?
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/23/2008 8:55 Comments || Top||

#2  "from Kosovo to Sweden"

I think that may tell us it wauldn't Lars. The stupid socialist Swedes are about to have the entire country decapitated thanks to their subservience to their "guests".
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2907 || 01/23/2008 9:59 Comments || Top||

#3  White AQ, the other meat?
Posted by: Danielle || 01/23/2008 12:01 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Huckabee trims costs, press travel
Battling to stay competitive after his weekend loss in South Carolina, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is taking new steps to save money, including no longer scheduling planes and buses for journalists trying to cover his presidential campaign.

Huckabee said he will continue to campaign in Florida on a shoestring budget, but added that he may pull out of the state before its Jan. 29 Republican primary if his prospects look dim.

"I don't want to abandon Florida yet," Huckabee told reporters Monday on a late-night flight from Orlando to Atlanta, where he planned to campaign Tuesday. "We have not come to the conclusion that Florida is out of play."

He said his campaign will evaluate the Florida situation day by day. Meanwhile, he said, he will find time to campaign in several other southern states holding primaries on Feb. 5. "We really need to conserve as much as we can" for TV and radio ads in those states, Huckabee said in a 36-minute news conference at the back of his press charter. He said he is airing no ads in Florida, one of the nation's largest and costliest states for campaigns.
Posted by: Fred || 01/23/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Minute 14...
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/23/2008 9:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Fred's out of the race. The damage is done. Huckster's work is complete.
Posted by: Iblis || 01/23/2008 13:29 Comments || Top||

#3  ?? Not sure I follow you Iblis. Huckabee announced back in January, well before Fred.
Posted by: lotp || 01/23/2008 14:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Huckabee locked down a lot of resources that Thompson needed by entereing the race way early -and by waiting, Fred let Huckbee get the air he needed to pull resouces together in Iowa.

Huck was smart enough to know when to wedge himself in - Fred left an opening with evangelicals, and Huckbee took it in Iowa with those mindless isdiot sheep evangelicals who vote the "Jesus" candidate every time regardless of the lack of other credentials. Its herd behavior in Iowa.

And the press overhyped the hell out of him for it. Remember, Pat Buchanan got a high percentage of the votes there in the past, and Pat Robertson actually *won* Iowa.

That's Gomer's high water mark.

Thank you GOP for leading off with the stupidest state in the GOP, and then following with letting Democrats and Independents from all over New England decide the next race (NH).

GOP is the suicide party this year.

Posted by: OldSpook || 01/23/2008 15:30 Comments || Top||

#5  Back on topic:

I guess Huckster is realizing that all those conservatives and thinking evangelicals that were on Fred's bandwagon are not coming his way. Like me, they are leaning to Romney to deny McCain a win.

Times up Huckster - go home.
Posted by: OldSpook || 01/23/2008 15:36 Comments || Top||

#6  Fred lost because of a lack of competent political professionals on his team. If he wants it, he'll accept the VP nod from Romney and spend his time between Dec 08 and Nov 12 campaigning, team building, and fund raising. But I doubt he wants it that much. The country's loss.

Minute 14:30.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 01/23/2008 16:19 Comments || Top||

#7  I'm open to Mitt now that Fred! has bowed out. Rudy's been largely MIA lately.

I've never cared for McCain's media attention whore ways.

I don't like the Huckster's class warfare rhetoric at all. Nor do I find his record on allowing the Mexican Consulate to rent a state building in AR for $1 a month. Or was that per year? I don't think it would bode well for immigration policy.

That said, what's up with Duncan Hunter endorsing the Huckabeenajad?(*)
(* - Yeah, I totally ripped that one off)
Posted by: eLarson || 01/23/2008 17:54 Comments || Top||

#8  embarrassing. Hunter should know better
Posted by: Frank G || 01/23/2008 18:09 Comments || Top||

#9  By the time Fred got serious, all the resources were locked up, including media people, advisors, organizers, key access keepers for venues, state legislators, etc.

The campaign started in 2006. Thats why its so broken now.

GOP is bcoming the Stupid Party (Senators under Lamar Alexander still delusional about spending, corruption and earmarks, trying to pass legislation now to shwo they can DO something 0- instead of doing the RIGHT thing. Stupid bastards. The GOP must die in its current form, especially the Seante. TERM LIMITS dammit!).



Posted by: OldSpook || 01/23/2008 19:19 Comments || Top||


Hillary Clinton, Barack O'Bama Get Personal At Testy Debate
Obama also responds to Bill Clinton's jabs: 'I can't tell who I'm running against sometimes.'
The Clintons are so obviously trying to push O'Bama into the position of being the "black" candidate -- thereby alienating all those voters who wouldn't vote for Jesse Jackson or Rev. Al if their lives depended on it -- that I'm surprised the pundit class isn't laughing its collective head off. Instead, they pretend that it's all to subtle for them to grasp.
Problem for the Hildebeast is that with her behavior, there are plenty of people who'd vote for a black president just to make sure she doesn't win.
Posted by: Fred || 01/23/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yep Fred, that's the exact strategy and it will probably work. Bill's little pin pricks keep adding up and he can't ignore them. OTOH, this is mild compared to what Rove and the operatives will hit him with if he is nominated.
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2907 || 01/23/2008 10:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Have this vision of Robot Jox where two giant machines are battling for control of the United States.

Now that Thompson/Steele is out and I'm in the predicting business, IMO both bo and hillarity believe that whoever wins the d nod will be president they will pull whatever they need to do to get that nod, the loser will be so discredited that the only viable vice will be headwards.

Off topic, if you don't know who governor sebilius is she is doing to dissenting opinion at the SoU address - the media is gearing up to let you know so get a head start! Her bio is in the latest issue of Vogue magazine. She is being billed as the 'great uniter' as a d governor in a traditionally Republican state.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/23/2008 11:17 Comments || Top||

#3  I see a lot of Carville's junkyard dog approach in all of this. But I tell you, the way she looks at Obama when she lectures him - that has got to make every white, black, hispanic even muzzie male think instantly of their harpy, bitchy wives. (That is the ones that have those type). I just can't see any male voting for her except for maybe gays - I mean she has that haughty bitchiness that all gay men want in their own makeup.
Posted by: Ron Paul || 01/23/2008 12:31 Comments || Top||

#4  "...they pretend that it's all to subtle for them to grasp."

Um, this is the MSM we're speaking of. They don't need to pretend. Anything short of a sledge hammer between the eyes is too subtle for that crew.
Posted by: AlanC || 01/23/2008 13:58 Comments || Top||

#5  they pretend that it's all to subtle for them to grasp.

like a list of "This Is To Complicated" issues..

MSM, the few Political and Media Celebs that decide "What's too complicated" sort of like the "IN Crowd" of Political and Media Stars who also decide what is "NewsWorthy".

example: the adoring Camelot Crowd of Political and Media Sirens braying "Too Complicated" over every DemoCrap Malfeasance, yet the same Sirens will tirelessly re-hash every jot and tittle of a possible Rethuglican misdemeanor ..
Posted by: RD || 01/23/2008 14:47 Comments || Top||

#6  There's entirely too much testosterone at these debates.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/23/2008 14:55 Comments || Top||

#7  Forgot to add, bo was asked on the morning show about the 'looming economic crises' and was glad that the bush administration was finally doing something about it. When asked what he (bo) would do in this situation he was a dodgy as a clintoon. I guess when a house is on fire nobody sees the pickpocket.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/23/2008 15:20 Comments || Top||

#8  she does have that "future ex-wife" thing down, doesn't she? Heh. I would crawl across broken glass to vote against her, and a third term for Billy Boy. The more those two show their willingness to say and do anything to get back in power, the more I would bring up the everyday drama that tied this nation in knots. The bald-faced lies they both are telling will come back to haunt in the general election ads. I consider her the best thing to happen to the GOP this year
Posted by: Frank G || 01/23/2008 15:54 Comments || Top||

#9  "Vote for Monica Lewinski's ex-boyfriends wife"
(Bumper sticker I saw last week)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/23/2008 19:02 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Saddam Stars and Scrawl Dropped From Iraq Flag
The Iraqi flag will no longer boast Saddam Hussein’s handwritten praise to God nor its distinctive three stars, the Parliament decided yesterday. The house passed a new flag law by 110 votes to 50 which will change the appearance of the standard but keep its horizontal red, white and black stripes.

Instead of the executed dictator’s handwritten “Allaho Akbar” (God is Greatest), the phrase will be printed in green on the central white stripe in the Kufi form of Arabic script, Parliament ruled. The three green stars, which symbolised unity, freedom and socialism will also be dropped. Under an earlier proposal, the stars were to be kept but the symbolism changed to represent peace, tolerance and justice. Before being given new meaning by the Baath party, the stars had represented Arab unity between Iraq, Syria and Egypt. Ethnic Kurds in particular had wanted the flag changed as it symbolised the Saddam-era regime that launched campaigns of persecution in which thousands were killed with poison gas.
Posted by: Fred || 01/23/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  About time!
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 01/23/2008 15:32 Comments || Top||

#2  Saddam who?

/Dems
Posted by: Frank G || 01/23/2008 16:38 Comments || Top||

#3  You remember: Rumsfeld's pal!

/The Nutroots
Posted by: eLarson || 01/23/2008 16:39 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Sun pays $1bn for MySQL
Sun Microsystems has agreed to acquire MySQL in a deal worth roughly $1 billion (€683 million). Sun will spend $800 million to purchase all shares of the open source database firm, plus an additional $200m to cover "options". The vendor plans to position MySQL with its other web application offerings and bundle the database software with its commercial products.

MySQL will be divided among Sun's Software, Sales and Service groups, and MySQL chief executive Martin Mickos will be given an executive position at Sun.

"MySQL's employees and culture, along with its near ubiquity across the web, make it an ideal fit with Sun's open approach to network innovation," said Sun president and chief executive Jonathan Schwartz. "And most importantly, this announcement boosts our investments into the communities at the heart of innovation on the internet and of enterprises that rely on technology as a competitive weapon."

Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT, suggested that the acquisition could create friction between Sun's open source efforts and its proprietary software business. The analyst added that Sun has endured criticism in the past for its reluctance to open its code. "MySQL could create numerous commercial opportunities for Sun, and may strengthen Sun's credibility among open source adherents," King wrote. "However, those same folks are likely to keep a very close watch on how the company manages MySQL."
Posted by: Fred || 01/23/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  MySQL is free, and it rocks. Hope Sun doesn't ruin it....
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 01/23/2008 11:23 Comments || Top||

#2  If sun owns it you can bet your ass it wont be free any more.
Posted by: Grump Grundy9594 || 01/23/2008 12:38 Comments || Top||

#3  I work for Sun, be nice.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 01/23/2008 13:38 Comments || Top||

#4  Hmmm. Citrix bought Xen. Soon all the "open sores" software will be for-pay products. The new owners will still let you free download a stale version that will only get staler with time. Just watch...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/23/2008 14:12 Comments || Top||

#5  K Mart bought Sears (Still seems backwards to me) now Sears stores are overpriced Wal Mart copies, food in one corner, overpriced junk in the rest. Havent looked at their tools lately, probably "Sears-Mart" quality. (Crappy)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/23/2008 18:53 Comments || Top||

#6  How much do you pay for open office?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 01/23/2008 18:55 Comments || Top||

#7  How much do you pay for open office?

Same as I pay for (another Sun product) Java. Sun has done more to advance the computing field than just about any other company (with the possible exception of Bell Labs).
Posted by: DMFD || 01/23/2008 19:46 Comments || Top||

#8  Oh, and Xerox PARC.
Posted by: DMFD || 01/23/2008 19:46 Comments || Top||

#9  They'll take away Emacs and TEX over my dead body.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 01/23/2008 21:24 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Thai junta disbands, vows no more coups
Posted by: Fred || 01/23/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...until the next one.
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/23/2008 9:02 Comments || Top||

#2  “In a political transition into a full democracy, which is a sensitive period for all sides, the military should not be involved in politics and politicians should not interfere with the military,”

No wonder they can't control their military
Posted by: Bill Cheresing8196 || 01/23/2008 9:45 Comments || Top||

#3  Interesting that an article with the message "politicians should not interfere with the military" should get such play in a Pakistani newspaper....

Posted by: Solomon Clash7349 || 01/23/2008 14:49 Comments || Top||

#4  Is there a twelve step program for that?
Posted by: DMFD || 01/23/2008 19:48 Comments || Top||


Home Front Economy
UC Berkeley: Rich Countries Do $1.8 Trillion Damage To Poor Countries
Well, $1.8 trillion for starters
Posted by: Seafarious || 01/23/2008 03:48 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  We supply them with medicine, which leads to population growth and stripping the land of virtually anything organic so the soil washes or blows away.
We show them Western wealth in magazines, on video etc., making them realize there could be more to life than a mud hut, and leading some of them to attempt to rise above their stations.
And are they counting China as a rich country now? They supply weapons to poor country leaders to suppress, 'enslave,' and starve their people.
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/23/2008 7:35 Comments || Top||

#2  I suppose a better question is this - what isn't our fault?
Posted by: Raj || 01/23/2008 8:30 Comments || Top||

#3  I believe it. All the environment wackos prevent them from building canals to fresh water because of the damage to the wilderness, prevent them from using effective DDT prevention, prevent them from using good farming fertilizers and pesticides.

The green movement does more damage to the third world than anyone.
Posted by: DarthVader || 01/23/2008 8:31 Comments || Top||

#4  This is terrible. I vote that all money that would be used to fund the salaries of UC Berkeley professors be spent to assist poor countries instead. It's the least we can do.
Posted by: Matt || 01/23/2008 8:45 Comments || Top||

#5  "You don't see it until you do the kind of accounting that we do here."

Say no more.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 01/23/2008 8:46 Comments || Top||

#6  I vote that all money that would be used to fund the salaries of UC Berkeley professors be spent to assist poor countries instead.

I vote for more direct action, and say we send the professors over there to help out. For however long it takes to rectify this situation.
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/23/2008 8:58 Comments || Top||

#7  Some of the author's other accomplishments include:

a. Coordinating a team on a policy paper on “ecological debt.” (any questions concerning who may owe the debt?)

Published poetry in several journals including the conservation-oriented Snowy Egret.

Accomplished artist and classical flutist.

Volunteer plant propagator at UC Botanical Garden.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/23/2008 9:21 Comments || Top||

#8  I vote that all money that would be used to fund the salaries of UC Berkeley professors be spent to assist the despotic kleptomaniacs and their retinue that rule poor countries instead.

Fixed it for you.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/23/2008 9:23 Comments || Top||

#9  Way back as a college senior ('72) I did a paper on the environmental damage in the USSR.

My conclusion was that the damage was much more severe than equivalent activities in the US due to the Marxist accounting principle known as "a free good". Seems that nothing of a resource nature has any value except as a function of the amount of human labor involved. Ergo waste and rapine were endemic.

Now, who taught economics to all these poor countries?
Posted by: AlanC || 01/23/2008 9:47 Comments || Top||

#10  Is that a net cost? You mean they totalled up all the benefits, subtracted the costs, and came up with $1.8 T? I doubt it. $1.8 T has got to be miniscule compared to the benefits of western techology and know-how. How would you put a value on the benefits, given that the benefits include many more people being alive than would have been without western know-how? What's the benefit value of a billion people's lives?

If it's not net cost, or in other words if they didn't do a cost-benefit analysis, then the study is worthless.

But it's worthless anyway, because the uncertainty on any one factor in the cost equation is so large, that when you multiply them out, the result is garbage. No one knows how the climate is going to change, or how much of the change is "anthropogenic". No one knows what the harmful effects will be, or if those harmful effects are balanced by the harmful effects of a static climate (such as the current death rate from cold weather). No one knows how to put dollar values on those hypothetical harmful effects. That's three layers of uncertainty right there.
Posted by: moody blues || 01/23/2008 9:49 Comments || Top||

#11  Waiting for the other shoe (reparations) to drop.
Posted by: ed || 01/23/2008 9:57 Comments || Top||

#12  When we want more tripe from the whack jobs at Berkeley in the peanut gallery we'll ring the bell. Until then, STFU.
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2907 || 01/23/2008 10:06 Comments || Top||

#13  Abou 1,799,999,999,999,999 of that damage is due to Berkeley and similar whackon nests. Just remeber the millions dead due to the DDT-related brainwashing and also the consequences of their antiwar propaganda in Vietnam (2 million dead in Cambodia) and today's ideological support to islamonazism.
Posted by: JFM || 01/23/2008 11:21 Comments || Top||

#14  "ozone completion"
No, it's ozone DEpletion.
"Oh, that's very different... Never mind."

Why do we even ponder "news" from people who are so stunningly ignorant?
Posted by: Darrell || 01/23/2008 11:48 Comments || Top||

#15  1.8 Trillion dollars ain't sh1t. We have 4 Quadrillion worth of pain and anguish from Katrina based on similar calculations.
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 01/23/2008 13:19 Comments || Top||

#16  Believing they are being thoughtful causes immeasurable, permanant damage to lefty whackademics' brains...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/23/2008 14:08 Comments || Top||

#17  Something Must Be Done (for the children, doncha' know).

I suggest we start by evicting all those pampered exploiters from the Berkeley campus and turning it into a residential, welfare, and health-care center for undocumented workers and suffering third world refugees. We can finance this with a confiscatory tax on Volvos, Priuses, and redwood hot-tubs in lefty infested Marin County.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 01/23/2008 15:25 Comments || Top||

#18  A typical Berkeley day.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 01/23/2008 18:47 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Greenpeace Blockades Refueling of Whaling Factory Ship
The Nisshin Maru whaling factory ship met with the Panamanian-registered supply ship Oriental Bluebird in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica to refuel and transfer frozen whale meat. When they attempted to come alongside Greenpeace attempted to stop the refueling by placing their inflatable boats between the factory ship and the supply ship, hindering the refuelling for a time.
Remind me what happens to an inflatable boat when it comes between two metal-hulled large ships? Oh right, jelly.
Eventually the Nisshin Mau and Oriental Bluebird were side by side and able to start the refuelling and transfer of frozen whale meat. While this was ocurring Greenpeace had inflatables circling, and two whaling catcher ships also circled and maneurvered at high speeds with fire hoses aimed at the activists in the Greenpeace inflatables.
Antarctic-cold sea water piped right to them!
Greenpeace Japan whales campaigner Sakyo Noda said in a statement radioed to the Oriental Bluebird, in Japanese, Spanish and English: "The Oriental Bluebird must leave Antarctic waters immediately: your presence here is unwanted and a threat to the pristine Antarctic environment which has been declared a particularly sensitive sea area by the International Maritime Organisation and a 'natural reserve, devoted to peace and science' by the Environmental Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty. A refueling operation within the Treaty area would be contrary to the spirit of the Antarctic Treaty. Japan, as a party to the Treaty, must comply with the letter and the spirit of the Treaty and not refuel within the Treaty area and comply with Annex IV on the Prevention of Environmental Pollution".
Posted by: Fred || 01/23/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ok, the GreenPirates didn't pilot their dinghies all the way from Kiwiland, so they have a mother ship somewhere out there.
Japan can bribe some poor southern country (Argentina?) to provide a foreward base, fly in a couple of P-3s armed with Harpoon, and dispose of these pests once and for all.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 01/23/2008 5:08 Comments || Top||

#2  I see a submarine exercise out there, anyone's submarine will do.

Find 'em. Shoot 'em. Sink 'em.

Old Silent Service motto of WW2 still applies today.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/23/2008 14:22 Comments || Top||

#3  I would consider any hinderance to refuel my ship in dangerous waters as a threat to crew and ship. I would then find out what a harpoon does to a rubber dinghie. The pirates could prove me wrong and that the ocean conditions are not dangerous by just floating out in that antartic water until their mother ship arrives - and if I'm wrong I will apologize to them after their conviction for pirate and terrorist activities.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/23/2008 14:52 Comments || Top||

#4  Nice to se that they went ahead and finished what they started, and got the fuel and meat transferred. While the article says the hoses were aimed it doesn't specifically state they were charged.... mised an opportunity i think.
i like the jelly reference, but enviro-wacko jam leaves a nasty mess on the sides and is probably corrosive.
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 01/23/2008 16:31 Comments || Top||

#5  Don't tell RUSSIA - INTERFAX > RUSSIA TO REBUILD 500 FISHING BOATS...
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/23/2008 18:20 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
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ryuge
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trailing wife
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Fred
Besoeker
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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2008-01-23
  Gunnies blow Rafah wall, thousands of Paleos flood into Egypt
Tue 2008-01-22
   Musharraf: Pakistan isn't hunting Osama
Mon 2008-01-21
  Darkness falls on Gaza
Sun 2008-01-20
  Spain arrests 14 over possible Barcelona attack
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?


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