Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a guru to the Beatles who introduced the West to transcendental meditation, has died at his home in the Dutch town of Vlodrop, a spokesman said Tuesday. He was thought to be 91 years old. "He died peacefully at about 7 p.m.," said Bob Roth, a spokesman for the Transcendental Meditation movement that the Maharishi founded. He said his death appeared to be due to "natural causes, his age."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2008 00:00 ||
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straight from God's mouth,
tattle tales.. Maharishi appreciated humping his young and lucious female devotees.
#2
"'E's not dead, 'e's pinim' for th' 'igher planes of existence."
Posted by: Mike ||
02/06/2008 6:13 Comments ||
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What will the New Age glitterati do now ? A little interesting background history:
After 50 years of teaching, Maharishi turned to larger themes, with grand designs to harness the power of group meditation to create world peace and to mobilize his devotees to banish poverty from the earth.
Maharishi's roster of famous meditators ran from The Rolling Stones to Clint Eastwood and new age preacher Deepak Chopra.
Director David Lynch, creator of dark and violent films, lectured at college campuses about the "ocean of tranquility" he found in more than 30 years of practicing transcendental meditation.
Some 5 million people devoted 20 minutes every morning and evening reciting a simple sound, or mantra, and delving into their consciousness.
"Don't fight darkness. Bring the light, and darkness will disappear," Maharishi said in a 2006 interview, repeating one of his own mantras.
Donations and the $2,500 fee to learn TM financed the construction of Peace Palaces, or meditation centers, in dozens of cities around the world. It paid for hundreds of new schools in India.
In 1971, Maharishi founded a university in Fairfield, Iowa, that taught meditation alongside the arts and sciences to 700 students and served organic vegetarian food in its cafeterias.(Clinton buddy and supermarket magnate Ron Burkle helped build Vedic City)
Supporters pointed to hundreds of scientific studies showing that meditation reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, improves concentration and raises results for students and businessmen.
Skeptics ridiculed his plan to raise $10 trillion to end poverty by sponsoring organic farming in the world's poorest countries. They scoffed at his notion that meditation groups, acting like psychic shock troops, can end conflict.
"To resolve problems through negotiation is a very childish approach," he said.
In 1986, two groups founded by his organization were sued in the U.S. by former disciples who accused it of fraud, negligence and intentionally inflicting emotional damage. A jury, however, refused to award punitive damages.
#4
If I had young and lucious female devotees I'd prob'ly enjoy humping them, too.
But then, I'm prob'ly just as dirty as the Maharishi, just not as old.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2008 15:05 Comments ||
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Just another wannabe, except, of course, he pulled it off...
In Hindi, maha means great, and rishi means seer. Maharishi is a title traditionally bestowed on Brahmins. Critics of the yogi say he presented himself with the name, which he was ineligible for because he was from a lower caste.
The Kenyan Red Cross says the death toll from post-election violence in the country has passed 1,000. Another 304,000 Kenyans are said to have been displaced. Most of the deaths have been caused by ethnic fighting between supporters of President Mwai Kibaki and Opposition leader Raila Odinga.
Meanwhile, hundreds of business leaders in Kenya are meeting in the capital Nairobi to press for action to halt the crisis. The former UN chief and leader of mediation efforts in Kenya , Kofi Annan, has applauded the initiative. "I think it is extremely important," he said. "This crisis is having a real impact on business, on innocent men and women. I'm not even talking about the violence - people losing their jobs, not knowing when they get it back, children unable to go to school - so I'm extremely delighted that the business community is taking leadership here."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2008 00:00 ||
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Moved to Wednesday for further discussion and snark. AoS.
For the second, third, fourth time in a week, an undersea communications cable has apparently been cut (or "failed due to a power outage," as some sources suggest), and while no official reports of subversion have surfaced just yet, things are beginning to get suspicious. no, reeeaallllyy?
Flag Telecom, a subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Reliance ADA Group, has had two cables damaged in the span of a week -- a quandary it has never dealt with until now. As it stands, traffic from the Middle East and surrounding areas is being routed through various other cables in an attempt to remain online, but any more snips and we could be dealing with ping times eerily similar to those seen in 1993 (or much, much larger issues). thank you, HDMD
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
For the second, third, fourth fifth time in a week
A total of five cables being operated by two submarine cable operators have been damaged with a fault in each. These are SeaMeWe-4 (South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe-4) near Penang, Malaysia, the FLAG Europe-Asia near Alexandria, FLAG near the Dubai coast, FALCON near Bandar Abbas in Iran and SeaMeWe-4, also near Alexandria.
www.menareport.com
#2
5 is still a coincidence. Nothing to see here. Go about your business, otherwise we'll let the wife know what sites you're visiting, k? hint? baaaahhh
#5
How do they repair this thing? Do they have connectors every mile or something and they just replace the section that's screwed up? Is it one continuous cable and it requires tons of expertise to not cross the wrong wires?
I don't see how tapping it could be useful. How would you get the data shipped to whoever needs to sift through it without running a parallel cable all the way to where it is going to be processed. Even a satellite uplink would be too obvious and (seems to me, anyway) too small.
You'd have to funnel all the traffic to monitored cables and satellites somehow. Isn't the US able to monitor all the cables and satellites already anyway?
#6
You gave me an idea, gorb. Why indeed WOULD someone cut all these cables, if not to stop data flow, and if tapping - at the cut - was impractical? Camoflage/diversion of attention. Maybe other stuff was happening to those cables elsewhere while attention was focussed on the breaks.
#7
Yeah, that's been tossed around a bit. But it still begs the question about how would you get the data from the newly installed tee to where it was being processed? Computers don't work well underwater, and eventually someone will happen across the tee during some maintenance procedure and follow the cable to where it hits land. That's not gonna look good!
#10
This just in via Vodkapundit: Reports are coming in this morning that a fifth undersea fiber optic cable was severed in the Middle East. However, by several accounts, the fifth cable cut is actually a second cut on a different segment of the FALCON cable. How exactly these cables are being cut is still unknown, though Egyptian officials maintain a ship didnt cause the breakages near the port of Alexandria.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/06/2008 12:50 Comments ||
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#11
It's those crazy dolphin's with the lasers on their heads. There just like kids.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/06/2008 13:20 Comments ||
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A aquatic radioactive reptile may be responsible. This is the kind of thing normally seen before he surfaces and takes out a city. You may notice a few boats missing in the Indian ocean as well. Another sign. You have been warned.
Rebels in Chad announced Tuesday an immediate ceasefire as France - emboldened by UN condemnation of the insurgents - declared it was poised to intervene militarily.
With refugees pouring into neighbouring Cameroon by the thousands, fearing renewed fighting in the capital Ndjamena, rebel spokesman Abderaman Koulamallah said the insurgents were bowing to diplomatic pressure to halt their offensive against President Idriss Deby Itnos regime.Aware of the suffering of the Chadian people ... the forces of national resistance have given their agreement to an immediate ceasefire, Koulamallah told AFP by satellite telephone.
Ceasefire pointless: Reacting to the announcement, Debys government said a ceasefire was pointless because the rebels - who last week surged across the width of Chad from bases inside Sudan - had been decimated. Why a ceasefire? They dont exist any more. With whom would we sign a ceasefire? ... Weve got them under control, Prime Minister Nourredine Delwa Kassire Coumakoye told the French global TV channel France 24.
France ready to do its duty: In the wake of Mondays unanimous Security Council statement, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said France - with 1,450 troops and Mirage fighter jets stationed in Chad - was ready to do its duty and intervene if need be.Now there is a legal decision taken unanimously by the Security Council, and if Chad was the victim of an aggression, France could in theory have the means to oppose such action, he said in the French coastal town of Aytre.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2008 00:00 ||
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At least 1449 farms seized from their former white owners have now been taken back by government because they were either empty or no farming was taking place.
The state owned Herald newspaper quoted State Security and Lands Resettlement Minister Didymus Mutasa saying his ministry was repossessing, 'all vacant and underutilised A2 farms,' and the ministry was, 'not going back on this exercise.' Although the minister said the farms would be given to deserving applicants the issue has highlighted one of the major criticisms of the land grab, which saw political cronies with no farming experience helping themselves to huge tracts of land.
Over 4000 white commercial farmers who formed the backbone of the agricultural economy were forced off their farms in a violent campaign that Mugabe tried to use to shore up his waning popularity. A defeat in a constitutional referendum in 2000 triggered this backlash from the Zanu PF leader who alleged that white farmers were supporting the opposition. The regime sponsored violent thugs to evict, brutalise and, in some cases, murder the farmers. Mugabe's regime then passed a raft of laws in parliament aimed at blocking any legal action farmers might try to oppose acquisition by the government.
Another feature of the land reform exercise was how influential members of Mugabe's inner circle were rewarded with farms. Members of the military, police, prison and security services were given farms, as were other individuals working for the state owned media, judges and businessmen loyal to Zanu PF. The few villagers who had been used to invade some of the farms were later kicked out to make way for the senior figures in the regime. As the dust settles on this farming upheaval, audits by government officials now show how the farms have fallen into ruin. Houses on the farms have had their roofs, windows and other equipment stripped. The few farm inputs given to the new farmers have all been sold on the black market.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
At least 1449 farms seized from their former white owners have now been taken back by government because they were either empty or no farming was taking place.
And just WHO are you going to "Give" them to this time?
Your actions are duly noted by all who would farm, and I'd be really surprised if you get any "Takers" this go round.
Theft is never an incentive to work harder.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/06/2008 1:07 Comments ||
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And just WHO are you going to "Give" them to this time?
Bob and (other) friends, of course!
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/06/2008 3:38 Comments ||
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"So little done, so much to do." Forget the Uitlanders, send for Krüger!
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
02/06/2008 6:45 Comments ||
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helping themselves to huge tracts of land
HERBERT: But I don't want land.
FATHER: Listen, Alice...
HERBERT: Herbert.
FATHER: Herbert. We live in a bloody swamp. We need all the land we can get.
HERBERT: But I don't like her.
FATHER: Don't like her?! What's wrong with her? She's beautiful, she's rich, she's got huge... tracts of land.
(I couldn't resist.)
France has threatened to intervene in the battle between the Chad Government and rebels. The French are supporting the Chadian President Idriss Deby, who the rebels are trying to overthrow. French President Nicholas Sarkozy has warned the rebels that France would do its duty if they continue to threaten Chad's capital. There are 1,400 French troops in Chad, who have been helping evacuate foreigners from N'Djamena since insurgents invaded the city on the weekend.
The rebels are intent on removing Chadian President Idriss Deby from power, however they have pulled back from the capital and claim to be regrouping ahead of another assault. They accuse the French military of fighting in support of the Chadian Government, a claim France denies. Meanwhile, thousands of civilians are continuing to flee Chad.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2008 00:00 ||
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Could a new citation of the "à l'ordre de armée" await the 2eme REP? Lets hope so. They don't ask questions or engage in mindless negociate, they shoot to KILL and get the phuech OUT!
A senior member of Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party, Simba Makoni, says he will run for president in the March 29 election in what could be the first major internal challenge to Robert Mugabe in 20 years.
Mr Makoni said he decided to run following extensive consultations with party members and activists across Zimbabwe, where Mr Mugabe had been expected to win the election unchallenged by a weak and divided opposition. "I have accepted the call and hereby advise the people of Zimbabwe that I offer myself as a candidate for the office of President of Zimbabwe in the forthcoming elections," Mr Makoni, a former finance minister, told a news conference.
Speculation has been rife that some party stalwarts opposed to Mr Mugabe may launch a breakaway party this week to field a candidate for the poll. Mr Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, is seeking another five-year term after brushing off attempts from top officials in his governing ZANU-PF to force him to retire. Mr Mugabe has vowed to clinch a landslide victory to silence the opposition and shame Western foes he says are sponsoring his rivals to remove him from power.
Critics say the veteran leader has ruined Zimbabwe through controversial policies such as the seizure of white-owned farms for blacks and lately plans to localise foreign-owned companies, including banks and mines. Mr Mugabe denies charges he has wrecked a once promising economy and blames former colonial ruler Britain for leading a Western onslaught against his government as punishment for the land seizures.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Look for "Accidental Death" notices featuring Simba Makoni shortly.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/06/2008 1:09 Comments ||
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"...and there will be 1449 possible places he might be buried in."
An employee of Bangladeshs biggest state-owned gas company who earned a mere $100 a month allegedly used his position to pocket a colossal $145 million in bribes over 12 years, an official said yesterday. Authorities here described the deception as one of the countrys biggest corruption scandals, with countless workers using the company to siphon millions out of public coffers. He identified the man as Abdul Kader Mollah, a former sales assistant with the Titas Gas Distribution Company. As a low level employee, he was to supervise gas distribution in one of the countrys biggest industrial areas. And he made the money there, a company spokesman said of Mollah. Mollah, who has not yet been arrested, insists he was only worth $66 million, and that he made the money through hard work, including setting up textile plants.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2008 00:00 ||
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perhaps he invested per the WSJ, following his advisor, Miss Hillary?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/06/2008 3:41 Comments ||
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Yeah, if I were worth $66M I'd still hold onto my crappy $100/month job. You never know when your investments might lose 99.99999% of their value!
Police in Moscow say they have arrested four Russian teenagers linked to a skinhead gang that prosecutors accuse of murdering at least 20 foreigners. Attacks on dark-skinned foreigners have risen dramatically in Russia, especially on migrants from former Soviet states in Central Asia and the Caucasus attracted northward by an ecomony stronger than their own. "They were all arrested in the course of an investigation into a group of skinheads guilty of the murder of at least 20 non-Slavic people," a spokesman at the Moscow Prosecutor General's office said.
Police have now arrested nine members of the group headed by a 17-year-old, the spokesman said. Last October Moscow's deputy mayor warned the Russian capital stood on the brink of an explosion in racist skinhead violence directed at foreigners.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2008 00:00 ||
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Attacks on dark-skinned foreigners have risen dramatically in Russia,
The backlash begins.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/06/2008 1:11 Comments ||
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#2
What we're seeing in the West is the intimidation of whites by their own governments in favor of Muslims and brown-skinned minorities. It's not rocket science to figure out that the reason the governments are kowtowing to those groups is because they threaten violence if not conciliated.
I think whites have turned the cheek for a long time, but I also think that, for many reasons, that time is coming to an end. When it does, the white multiculti crowd is going to find themselves in an awfully uncomfortable position. We'll see how long their commitment lasts when it's actually their (and their families')necks on the line against nonwhites who hate them simply because of their color.
#3
im surprised to hear sympathy for Russian skinheads here. Racism and xenophobia has a long history in Russia, and under the tsars was also directed against Poles, and especially Jews. The brown people in Russia are a legacy of the Russian/Soviet empire, an empire Russia is reluctant to give up, and which was in many ways more brutally exploited than the peoples of western empires. Skinheadism is a failure of Russia to westernize, to become a democratic capitalist state. Its NOT the result of EEVIL muslims particularly (its also been directed against laotians living in Moscow, and afAIK against christian Georgians) . Its something to be loathed, not emulated.
#4
Russia, according to my honored history professor, the Hungarian Freedom Fighter, always considered itself the One True Nation and Faith. Hence the Czar's demands for a "Holy Alliance" at the Congress of Vienna; Europe's leaders rolled their eyes and nodded their heads and let the Czar think he'd had his way. Hence the icons carried into battle, and the same title, "Little Father", given to the czar as well as to Christ. And hence the Soviet notion that they had to carry their policy all over the world.
Liberalhawk is right. Jim and Bluetooth, I will assume that you hadn't had your morning coffee when you wrote.
Russian skinheads are thugs, pure and simple, and I stand against thuggery, no matter who they are and what they say they 'stand' for.
I especially stand against racist thugs.
Let's be clear: Rantburg is NOT going to go down the path of 'Gates of Vienna' and 'Brussels Journal', blogs that have played footsie with malovent racist and nationalist nonsense in the guise of standing against Islam. We're not going to do that, and the mods are going to make sure we don't do that.
We stand against terrorism, thuggery and fascism, no matter who's committing it, and that's why we condemn the Serb atrocities with the same vigor as the Iraqi or Afghan or Pak atrocities. There's no essential difference between Osama bin Laden and Slobodan Milosevic.
Most Rantburgers (as far as I can tell) understand this, and stand for classical western liberalism, for individuals and individual rights, and against the notions of class and race. That's where we're going to keep it.
A lack of morning coffee won't be a valid excuse in the future.
AoS
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/06/2008 10:52 Comments ||
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#7
Twenty racially-motivated murders.
Let's be clear: Rantburg is NOT going to go down the path of 'Gates of Vienna' and 'Brussels Journal', blogs that have played footsie with malovent racist and nationalist nonsense in the guise of standing against Islam. We're not going to do that, and the mods are going to make sure we don't do that.
We stand against terrorism, thuggery and fascism, no matter who's committing it
Yup. Notice that these murders occurred in Russia, where the national government hasn't exactly bent over backwards to promote multiculti dhimmitude.
#9
So, Brussels journal and GoV are guilty by association? A rather broad brush, I'd think. Nice reductio ad hitlerum. So, now I know why some posts were removed (note I don't discuss this, this is your website, not mine, I'm fine with that)..
By the way, that's the whole trouble of being opposed to the islamization of/mass immigation into Europe, where do you draw the line?
Can you admit that the ethnic factor is an issue, too, or are we all suppozed to play along and pretend it's just "islam", as a pure spirit of a religion that is posing problem, and that anti-white and anti-european racism and resentment and grudgeholding about past woes (real, or imaginary, be they from local victimology or marxist-learned) are not playing into that?
Note that the wannabe nazis are clearly into the "muslim" camp, as they hate foremost the "West", and that for example in France, the new stand of the FN is quite ambivalent, some kind of jacobinism-national-leftist, siding more with iran than with the USA. And russia and putput are the idols of many, many rightwingers, along with the serbs, because they're seen as some kind of a possible regenerative force for decadent Europe (pretty ironical, no?). I have no doubts those skins are either neo-nazis, or hate the West because of the new nationalist and supremacist ideology of putin's russia, or both, in addition to killing caucasians... but are we forced to associate them with the VB, or Fjordman?
I don't want RB to become a white nationalist website, thank you very much, I already have my bookmarks, but, please, at least, admit the issue exists, and don't declare people who side with you in the ideas struggle as Infidels and Nazis.
The Brussels journal and GoV are not white nationalist websites, they're not even rightwing, they just acknowledge reality, and have had a psychodram with LGF over that.
#11
Russia, according to my honored history professor, the Hungarian Freedom Fighter, always considered itself the One True Nation and Faith.
Russia sees itself as the "Third Rome", and putput plays into that, and may be himself a believer of that messianic destinity, I'll try to find the articles I've read about that.
#12
Signing in with A5089, each camp's manefesto makes them natural enemies.
That is, a week ago I was not cheering for either football team but knew they were going to play a big game soon.
As non-muslims -or any grouop for that matter- get picked on and watch family get raped there will be a question of whether to stay on the reservation or ride with Crazy Horse. But if you think that people are better because how light does or does not bounce off of skin you have self-capped your usefullness in this world and are part of the problem and not the solution.
#13
Russian Skinheads go after those of darker hues because they are easy to single out in a crowd, and there aren't that many of them, which makes them easy targets for beating up. I've a Bangladeshi friend, of one the families that quietly run the country while the politicians gesticulate, who went to military school and then university in Moscow in the '70s. There were problems then, too, it's just that then it didn't get reported in the newspapers.
In Western Europe the Muslim gangs beat up the lighter hued natives because they are easy targets, and the native Skinheads either join them because they like the religious justification, or fight them because they are habituated to hitting darker skin. In the past the Skinheads and their predecessors went after Jews because they were easy to identify, isolate, and hit. These are simple men with a simple need, which they will work to fulfill unless forced not to.
By the way, that's the whole trouble of being opposed to the islamization of/mass immigation into Europe, where do you draw the line?
'Islamization' of Europe is a problem because a fair number of the immigrants have decided to throw in with Deobandism and Islamofascism. I doubt seriously that Europe would have a problem today if all the immigrants, regardless of race/color/religion, were peaceful, hard-working types who assimilated into the culture.
It isn't religion. It's behavior. Fascism is a philosophy, not an identity.
Can you admit that the ethnic factor is an issue, too, or are we all suppozed to play along and pretend it's just "islam", as a pure spirit of a religion that is posing problem, and that anti-white and anti-european racism and resentment and grudgeholding about past woes (real, or imaginary, be they from local victimology or marxist-learned) are not playing into that?
Of course it's playing into that. As I've said before, if nineteen Esquimaux had flown planes into WTC, boomed Bali, boomed Madrid, boomed London, murdered the kids at Beslan, etc., we'd all be looking suspiciously at anyone wearing a mukluk.
But I also acknowledge that such a situation would be unfortunate. And I wouldn't hate all Esquimaux, just the killers amongst them. And I wouldn't be practicing my own brand of racism/ethnicism/religiosity to fight them.
That's the difference.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/06/2008 13:15 Comments ||
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It doesn't matter what color shirt they wear if they're all fascisti.
Even though it's unfashionable to have any at all, we all have our prejudices, which is why we, the people, are regularly derided for our ingrained "racism." It's politically incorrect to mention it, but many of those prejudices are gained empirically. We expect groups of people to behave based on how we've seen them behave or how we've heard they behave.
I'm of the opinion that there's a pretty distinct line between having prejudices -- which can overridden temporarily or disproved permanently -- and bigotry, which stubbornly remains in the teeth of any evidence to the contrary. I generically dislike Paleostinians and Paks, having observed both on a daily basis albeit from a safe distance for almost seven years. Yet I have no doubt that there are Paleos who don't fit my prejudices -- I just can't think of any off hand. As far as Paks, go, I regard Najam Sethi, the publisher of Daily Times and Friday Times as something of a hero, and I'm well aware that there are thousands, even millions of Paks who are just as or nearly as exemplary.
My prejudices about the Chinese are mostly favorable, but I've met lots of them who've been shitz. My prejudices about the Japanese in 1969 were moderately unfavorable -- I had grown up with much discussion of and reference to that unpleasantness in the years immediately before I was born. My view of the Japanese as a group today, after living in Okinawa and learning to speak, read and write the language, is generally favorable despite my awareness of the warts on their society. Had I been bigoted, rather than prejudiced, they'd still be Japs.
A gang of Russian thugs beating up foreigners strictly on the basis of their being foreigners is a case of bigotry, not of self-defense. They're the same sweepings who carried out the pogroms, and I'd be offended to be categorized with them. The enemy of my enemy -- assuming their victims are in fact my enemy -- are still trash.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2008 13:36 Comments ||
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#16
A gang of Russian thugs beating up foreigners strictly on the basis of their being foreigners is a case of bigotry, not of self-defense. They're the same sweepings who carried out the pogroms, and I'd be offended to be categorized with them. The enemy of my enemy -- assuming their victims are in fact my enemy -- are still trash.
#19
Careful, now. Don't all of you except A5089 get hurt by crowding together too closely to pat yourselves on the back for your impeccably liberal credentials.
I don't see how anyone who is actually informed about what has happened in both Europe (including Russia) and America could draw racist inferences from either comment. I've talked to a number of ethnically Caucasian Russians who had family out in various 'stans when the Soviet Union broke up. There were a LOT of resentful locals and they took the opportunity to put some pretty serious payback on the ethnic Russians who remained. I can easily see how that might engender a lot of unhappiness back in the metropole, not to mention Beslan. That's a provocation/incitement in a category all by itself, one that is bound to poison relations between ethnic Russians and their erstwhile colonials for quite some time.
What we're seeing in the West is the intimidation of whites by their own governments in favor of Muslims and brown-skinned minorities. It's not rocket science to figure out that the reason the governments are kowtowing to those groups is because they threaten violence if not conciliated.
Do any of you really want to argue that this isn't happening? Just reading your own blog should make this statement crystal clear, but there's plenty of information and examples out there for proof. Pim Fortuyn and Hirsi Ali are just two examples of many, and don't forget about Mark Steyn.
I think whites have turned the cheek for a long time, but I also think that, for many reasons, that time is coming to an end. When it does, the white multiculti crowd is going to find themselves in an awfully uncomfortable position. We'll see how long their commitment lasts when it's actually their (and their families') necks on the line against nonwhites who hate them simply because of their color.
I don't see how you can reasonably construe this as support for racist attacks. That atrocity tends to breed atrocity should be pretty clearly understood by now. Don't shoot the messenger for only pointing out the truth. My comment only noted that there are a lot of white multiculti supporters out there who are going to find themselves in a real tough spot if it comes to a choice between their principles and their lives.
I remember reading Norman Mailer's comment after getting mugged by a couple of black criminals on his way to a party. He showed up at the party with blood on his face and several bumps and bruises, recounted what had happened, then plaintively asked, "Don't they know I've always been a friend to the Negro?" Typical lib cluelessness.
What I've seen in this thread is little in the way of support for skinhead violence but lots in the way of moderator chest-bumping. Some of you really seem to think you've got POWER by being able to redact comments. Steve White is particularly bad about this. Hey, it's Fred's blog and he can do what he wants, but for a place called "Rantburg" there sure seems to be an awful lot of PC attitude enforcement.
BTW, I fully expect this comment to be redacted. If it isn't I'll be pleasantly surprised.
#4
OK, McCain-Feingold allows unions a priveliged place in the political process, granting them the ability to pay for political advertising that many other groups don't have.
SO are you sure he doesn't agree with you more than "us" (I put that in quotes for reasons I'll explain later) on the matter of unions?
Second, are you sure that he disagrees about the universal health insurance? The status quo, with a mish-mash of private and public insurance companies setting one price for procedures for their customers and another price for the rest of us, is just a slow road towards national health insurance, sooner or later.
Bush's prescription drug plan was a pretty big brick in that wall.
#6
We do not have a candidate for President this year. Question from Limbaugh. "Who is the Chairman of the Democratic party?" Of course everyone knows. Dean. "Who is the Chairman of the Republican party?" Who knows, and who cares. The Republican party does not exist anymore. The Republican party does not support the conservative platforms anymore. The conservatives need to nominate and vote on independant individuals who will carry the conservative banner.
Blair's Law - n - "the ongoing process by which the world's multiple idiocies are becoming one giant, useless force." Coined by Australian journalist and blogger Tim Blair.
Despite the talk of how divisive she'd be, Hillary Clinton is turning out to be quite the uniter. Prominent endorsements from the right wing keep pouring in. First it was Ann Coulter. And now....
...On the three issues that have ravaged the Bush presidency--the misbegotten war in Iraq, the failure to secure America's borders, and the trade policy that has destroyed the dollar, de-industrialized the country, and left foreigners with $5 trillion to buy up America--McCain has sided with Bush.
Now McCain is running on a platform that says your jobs are not coming back, the illegals are not going home, but we are going to have more wars. If you don't like it, vote for Hillary.
Good advice, Pat. When confronted with two evils, one lesser and one greater, I always go with the greater evil, too. The greater evil, as we all know, has the habit of purging the lesser evil, often using firing squads and bands of roving fascisti to do it. The greater evil will also be more robust than the lesser evil and will try to perpetuate its iron-fisted rule, even thinking in terms of millenia. How're things going in the Reform Party over there, Pat? They sure are lucky to have a genius like you at the helm.
(Emphasis added.) When Ann Coulter endorsed Hillary, some people assumed she was just being an attention whore kidding, so she had to reiterate the endorsement by insisting she was serious. I don't doubt that Pat Buchanan means what he says too.
Go, Pat, Go. And stay gone.
For years, I've beenpredicting support for Hillary coming from the far right, but I have to say, I didn't think it would be this blatant. Pat may be "far right," but he's no conservative. He's a Richard Nixon liberal, and he's far closer to Hillary! than either he or Hillary! would ever admit. In fact, if Buchanan would just endorse first-trimester abortions, he'd be the perfect running mate for the Dem nominee.
Buchanan's the classic Paleoconservative, the anti-Neo Con. He's the last remnant of the isolationist wing of the Publican party and assuming he doesn't pass his views on to any unsuspecting younglings the country will be better off when he shuffles off the mortal coil.
As to Hillary's reaction, she welcomed Ann Coulter's support, so I'm sure she's tickled pink to be attracting another "bedfellow."
Hey don't look at me. Hillary said that about her girlfriend Ann! (There's a mental picture I could do without.)
Posted by: Mike ||
02/06/2008 07:04 ||
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Pat Buchanan was a Nixon liberal only in the Jonah Goldberg "Liberal Fascism" sense of the word. Buchanan was nominally Nixon's intercessor with the conservatives of the era. I've always thought he was the closest figure on the national scene to a true fascist, even before it became fashionable to call leftists "fascist".
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/06/2008 8:30 Comments ||
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read the article at the link - its all about McCain, and nary a word about Hillary. The final line is more a throwaway of frustrated rhetoric than an endorsement - theres no rationale given for preferring Hillary over Obama, say - its just saying "vote for Hillary" has more shock value for consies than "vote for Obama". IIRC the Ann Coulter thing turned out to be less than met the eye as well.
This isnt Blairs law, its just pundits grabbing for attention.
#2
Ah, this great nation of ours. She's like some fickle young girl. You never know why she does these silly things. whimper
Posted by: Abu Uluque6305 ||
02/06/2008 9:32 Comments ||
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Besoeker, I hope so. Any half-assed political strategist should be able to exploit the rift those two had, "Can you afford to have the pres and vice hating each other?" Absent a major kumbaya moment after the selection the winner may have to take headwards. The closer the "d" race stays the more intense the rivalry will become.
Gawd, watching hillarity and b.o. talk was painful. hillarity had her face of many people crowd behind her with the afro girl holding a Latinos for Hillary! sign. Not the spanish expert but should it not read Los Latinos con Hillary, like in salsa con queso? The lighting for b.o. was so bad it looked like he was in front of a blue screen. Both had the stands behind them packed full, that is until the zoom out and you realize the stand was only as wide as the lens angle - like watching a Royals game; it looks crowded until someone hits a foul ball.
On the "r" side, seeing mcclaim and huckleboy.
Didn't see any talks from the r side, after watching the d part it was bed or heavy drinking.
(folks, once the primaries are over I promise to use more respectful typing as they will be nominees for the presidency). Quick, hillarity needs a new slogan fast even npr notices: Tracks of my Tears -or- Tears of a Clown? Hope Jaquelyn comes back, the wife would love to talk to her about how she (wife) signed off her campaign. In a nutshell theres no crying in baseball politics. "If she can't handle a campaign how she going to handle ahmadinnajad?", "Anyone whose husband cheats on her for 20 years and she sticks with him she is either a walkover or a blackmailing caniving shrew.", "Even if she gets elected president it will be remembered it is because her husband came out and actively campaigned for her. That further women's power? Looks like she went crying home to her husband." Its even better in person - I have to play advocate sometimes (I do consider all candidates thoughtfully) just to keep from cracking up.
But how can B.O. be called a leader and reformer when he has spent so much of his freshman year campaigning for president? A bs poll said 25% of his supporters like him for his political experience..huh?! His mom may be from Kansas but she was a beatnik hippy who ran off at a young age to the west coast and then to Hawaii. KS governor sebelius endorses him and I know about her record vs rhetoric so I am immediately against him on that alone.
#5
It's difficult for me to see Hillary linking up with Obama. Their egos are too strong to get along. However, I never thought someone with the name Barack Hussein Obama had a chance in hell of making it this far--particularly after 911. Should Hillary become the candidate of the Communist Democrap Party, I wonder who would be her running mate--Barack Obama? Slick Willie? Does anyone get along with this woman? She seems to have a tyrannical streak and she seems to be vindictive and petty also. Is she going to cry her way out of world problems?
NEW DELHI: The Army has launched preparations to raise two new mountain divisions, with around 15,000 soldiers each, which will be tailor-made for swift offensive operations in the mountains of north and North-East India.
The groundwork on the 'organizational structure' and 'equipment profile' of the two new proposed mountain divisions is already under way after the cabinet committee on security recently approved this plan, said sources.
The two new mountain divisions, to be raised at a cost of around Rs 650-700 crore each, will have 'integral tactical air mobility assets' in the shape of medium to heavy-lift helicopters.
They are also likely to be equipped with the new ultralight howitzers which the Army plans to induct in the near future. As first reported by TOI , the Army is hunting for 140 ultralight howitzers at a cost of around Rs 2,900 crore in the overall Rs 12,000-crore artillery modernization plan.
The approval for the new mountain divisions comes at a time when the Indian security establishment is warily watching the massive upgrade of Chinese military infrastructure along the 4,057-km Line of Actual Control (LAC) in all the three sectors western (Ladakh), middle (Uttarakhand, Himachal) and eastern (Sikkim, Arunachal).
China has established a robust network of road, rail and air links between its mainland and Tibet over the last few years, which makes it possible for it to rush a couple of army divisions near the border with India within a matter of days. The need to have additional specialised offensive mountain formations has been felt even on the front with Pakistan despite the fact that the 14 Corps, with around 50,000 troops, now guards the Ladakh region after the 1999 Kargil conflict.
"There was a move to establish an offensive corps in the mountains after Kargil. But the 14 Corps has limited offensive capabilities, roughly equivalent to that of any other corps in the mountains," said an officer.
The 1.13-million strong Army does have 10 mountain formations in a total of around 35 divisions. But in terms of being organized and equipped for "dispersed operations" in mountains, with adequate "fire-support elements", only six of them (Silchar, Dibrugrah, Bombdila, Rangia, Gangtok and Kalimpong) can be said to be true mountain formations. "The mountain divisions in J&K are more like standard infantry divisions," said another officer.
While the two new mountain divisions will be fully in place only by the middle of the next decade, the government has now finally kickstarted infrastructure development plans along the Indo-Chinese border. These plans include a 608-km road network project along LAC, which will have 27 road links along J&K, Himachal, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal, as well as the overall 7,603-km Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for the entire North-East.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/06/2008 19:36 ||
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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday said it would further bolster its defence to counter huge Indian defence purchases.
Good luck with that. The last increase in the Indian defense budget was greater than the entire Pakistani defense budget. The increase in Indian GDP last exceeded the entire Pakistani GDP. And India is only spending 2.7% of its GDP on defense...
''Pakistan is averse to introducing new weapon system in the region because we need economic and social development and no armament,'' foreign ministry spokesman Muhammad Sadiq said here.
However, he said, Pakistan will do whatever it could do to defend its sovereignty and its borders.
The spokesman was commenting on huge defence purchases by India.
Referring to the concern expressed by the Indian Naval Chief on Gwadar Port in south-western Pakistan, the spokesman said that Gwadar is a project for the development of the country and the uplift of the people of Balochistan.
''It will provide linkage to landlocked countries with the sea and it has nothing to do with any other activities and there should be no concern on this project,'' he said.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/06/2008 14:51 ||
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India has signed its biggest military deal yet with the US to buy six Super Hercules C130J special role aircraft in a $1 billion-plus package deal.
Air Chief Marshal FH Major, Chief of Air Staff of the Indian Air Force (IAF), told India Strategic website and defence magazine that a Letter of Agreement (LAO) was signed on January 30 in New Delhi for six aircraft, infrastructure, spares and spare engines, related equipment, and operational and maintenance training.
"It's a package deal with the US government under its Foreign Military Sales Programme (FMS), and India has retained options to buy six more of these aircraft for its special forces for combined army-air force operations," the IAF chief told the magazine's website which he will inaugurate Thursday.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/06/2008 15:20 Comments ||
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Bangalore: Indias state-owned aircraft maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) will produce 57 additional Hawk advanced jet trainers, under licence from British defence contractor BAE Systems Plc., for the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the navy.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/06/2008 15:21 Comments ||
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next fiscal will likely to see the Israeli industries signing a deal for more than one billion dollars with India for 50 Green Pine radars to bolster air defence.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/06/2008 15:23 Comments ||
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As Indias defense imports are expected to balloon to about $30 billion by 2012, generating offsets worth more than $10 billion, the countrys major defense producer, the Tata Group of companies, is maneuvering to take advantage of the boom ahead.
The licenses allow Tata Power to design, develop, assemble, manufacture and upgrade electronic warfare systems, avionics, air defense guns and missile launchers for Indias military.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/06/2008 15:25 Comments ||
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The first of three long-range radar detection EhI (DRLO) airplanes which are being built for an Indian air force order, will be sent for further tests in Israel before years end, the chief of the Beriev Taganrog Aviation Scientific and Engineering Complex (TANTK) OKB, Ivan Gavrilov, has reported.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/06/2008 15:26 Comments ||
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In the biggest-ever deal for a public sector defence undertaking, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has signed a $1 billion manufacturing outsourcing contract with American aerospace major Boeing over ten years.
Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed here by Jim Albaugh, President of Boeing Integrated Defence System and HAL Chairman Ashok K Baweja, the Indian defence PSU, will manufacture subsystems for Boeing's wide range of fighter planes like F-15, F-18 Super Hornets and Apache Helicopters
Posted by: john frum ||
02/06/2008 15:27 Comments ||
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Northrop Grumman's Ship Systems division is planning to pursue opportunities in India and arrangements should be announced this year, Aerospace Daily has learned.
The Ship Systems division will follow the lead of Northrop's Integrated Defense Systems and Electronics divisions in tapping opportunities in India.
The Indian navy plans to induct 120 warships and 12 submarines over the next decade to protect its maritime interests and expand its influence in the Indian Ocean region.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/06/2008 15:28 Comments ||
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India has signed a contract with Russia for the licensed assembly of 40 multi-role Su-30MKI (Flanker-H) fighter jets, news agencies reported last week. According to experts, the agreement will cost India more than $1.5 billion. It will be a follow-up to the contract concluded in 2000 to deliver 140 fighters of the same type to New Delhi. The contractor will be the Irkut Scientific Production Corporation in Irkutsk, a part of the Sukhoi Aviation Holding Company (AHK). It assembles practically all the Su planes Moscow supplies to the subcontinent.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/06/2008 15:33 Comments ||
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The Indian Air Force is going into a high drive to revamp its entire fleet of helicopters by planning to induct two more squadrons of attack gunships, capable of operating in high altitudes, and six heavy lift choppers.
he US aviation giant Boeing's world best seller AH-64A Apache helicopters, Russian Kamov and MI series and European consortium EADS would be bidding for the IAF's order, which could run up to more than a billion US dollars.
Along with attack and heavy lift helicopters, Major said a global tender would be floated jointly with the army within three months to acquire 317 multi-role light helicopters.
If the Navy also joins in the joint Request For Proposals (RFP), which according to the Air Chief, would be out by May, the Indian purchase order could go up to 367 helicopters.
For this contract, the bidders could include Boeing's CH-47 Chinhooks, Sikorsky and Russian MI's. IAF already operates a fleet of Russian MI-26 helicopters in this range.
Major said IAF was in the process of finalising procedure for implementing an extended contract given to the Russian to acquire 80 upgrade MI-17IV helicopters.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/06/2008 15:36 Comments ||
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Very interesting John. So Boeing is outsourcing some of its military aircraft manufacturing offshore eh?
I just have to wonder of some of their commercial aircraft manufacturing will soon follow - if so things are going to be quite interesting here in the Peoples Republic of Washington State.
I kind of expected that Boeing would start outsourcing some of their work when they moved their Headquarters from Seattle (where some of their manufacturing plants (and Unions members) are located) to Chicago.
That train has already left the station, commercial is well on the path to outsourcing. Take the Japanese Heavies building Dreamliner wings for example.
Thousands of pashmina goats and changluk sheep — only reared along the pastures on India-China border in Ladakh region of Jammu & Kashmir — are on the verge of starving to death. The pastures have disappeared under a thick layer of snow and the temperature below — 25 degree Celsius is taking its toll on the livestock. Many animals have not touched even a blade of grass for the past three weeks.
The Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) has approached the State and Central Governments for airdropping fodder in inaccessible areas, lest the precious species become extinct due to starvation. Some herdsmen in Changthang, who possess mobile phones, have reported that animals have started dying and the situation will worsen if fodder does not arrive. With no other means of communication available, the authorities are airing special programmes on the local radio station to pass instructions to the cut-off nomads.
Every winter scores of herdsmen leave for Changthang pastures along the India-China border in Numa block of Leh to feed the cattle. The winter migration is a pre-requisite for growing a special wool on the pashmina goats' skin. The fine wool is used to manufacture pashmina shawls by craftsmen in Kashmir Valley. The Korzuk sheep, a rare breed, is used by the nomads to carry their belongings.
Chief Executive Councillor of the LAHDC Chering Dorje told The Pioneer from Leh that some of the pastures are around 300 km from the district headquarters with no road link available to access them. He said that herdsmen from Tsomoriri, Kharnag, Karzuk, Tegazone and Champoor are in the far-off pastures along with around 2,00,000 cattle. He said that pashmina goats were the mainstay of livelihood of these nomads.
Deputy Commissioner MK Bhandari said the administration has dumped 3,000 quintals of dry grass for the starving cattle. "We have despatched some truckloads of fodder to Numa but it is impossible to carry it to the pastures," he said. The district administration has approached the State Government to "press into service the Air Force to airdrop grass and fodder".
He said that in some areas, patches of pastures have opened due to powerful cyclonic winds that sweep away the powdery snow, "but most areas are covered and the animals are dying a slow death".
The LAHDC has constituted a Special Task Force to work out measures to save the rare breeds.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/06/2008 00:00 ||
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Don't you know to store hay for the winter?
Morons.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/06/2008 1:13 Comments ||
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Compare agz IRAN-DAILY > DISRUPTION IN THE GLOBAL FOODS SYSTEM, as due to Warming.
The UN's top human rights official is heading to Kenya to assess allegations of grave human rights violations since the country's disputed presidential election, which sparked weeks of deadly violence.
The three-week mission by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, will gather information from the government and the opposition, along with victims and witnesses. The findings will be made public.
"Truth and accountability are of critical importance in putting an end to the violence and preventing future human rights violations," she said.
The December 27 election, which foreign and local observers say was rigged, returned President Mwai Kibaki to power for a second five-year term after opposition leader Raila Odinga's lead evaporated overnight.
The ensuing violence has killed more than 1,000 people and has devastated the country's economy. Violence continues in western Kenya, scene of some of the worst post-election clashes.
Police said opened fire to disperse hundreds of residents who had barricaded the gates of the police station in Litein, 145 miles west of Nairobi. Two teachers were killed.
In a forest nearby, officers retrieved 18 bodies with gunshot and machete wounds. They had been killed in four days of clashes between rival gangs which police stopped by throwing grenades.
Aside from clashes with police, much of the fighting has been between rival ethnic groups, with much of the anger aimed at President Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe, long resented for dominating politics and the economy.
Mr Odinga is demanding a new election, but President Kibaki has refused, arguing his re-election was fair.
Mr Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement threatened to organise more mass rallies and stop a gathering of African foreign ministers in Nairobi because they were not consulted about the meeting.
An article in French from le Monde. Excerpt translated (perhaps without nuance, given my current French skills):
The military members of the UN Mission in Western Sahara are responsible for graffiti defacing the walls of a prehistoric site which contains 6000 year old drawings ....
The vandalized site, known as the Devil's Mountain, is considered sacred by the Saharans. The study which exposed the extent of vandalism attributed to UN forces stresses that this kind of behaviour has become common within the MINURSO despite the existence of such legislation as the Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, signed in 1954. The report concludes (as quoted by The Times) by saying that "the personnel of the MINURSO contributed significantly to damage of archaeological sites."
"I was appalled. One would have thought that some of them would have been better educated. These are officers, not second-class," said Julian Harston, the UN special representative in Western Sahara, who promised that the guilty will be punished and sent back to their country of origin.
This case adds to the list of similar cases involving UN missions in Africa, including Côte d'Ivoire, Eritrea, Burundi, Sudan, Liberia, and especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) , where personnel of the UN Mission in DRC (MONUC) had been involved in 140 cases of alleged sexual abuse or exploitation between December 2004 and August 2006.
#3
Third world soldiers?
From what've I've read along the years, non-westerners (and I'm thinking about the third world, this seem untrue with Japan or RSK for example) don't seem too concerned with preservation, be it for wild animals, the environment in general, or archaeology, and this is true tenfold if this doesn't touch their own culture directly
#4
Shocking. The UN being multi-culti these soldiers and officers could be from anywhere.
IIUC, the Epyptian Pyramids were essentially a rock quarry for a long time until the French and British showed up. Why expect the UN - soldiers without a nation - to behave themselves?
Iraq's controversial new flag, shorn of its perceived Ba'athist associations, was raised over parliament in Baghdad for the first time yesterday in what Iraqi leaders hailed as a symbolic break with the past. It is the country's seventh flag in eight decades. The current design is temporary and will fly over state buildings and institutions throughout the country for one year. Then Iraqi MPs will debate the colours of a new and potentially permanent standard.
The new flag is similar to the old one. The red, white and black horizontal stripes stay, but three green stars in the centre representing unity, freedom and socialism, the Ba'athists' motto, have gone. The phrase Allahu Akbar (God is greatest), added in green Arabic script on Saddam Hussein's orders during the 1991 Gulf war, remains, but since his downfall it has no longer been in his handwriting. Last month the National Assembly agreed to adopt the new flag in a move to head off potential embarrassment at a summit of Arab legislators in the Kurdish regional capital, Irbil, later this month.
Massoud Barzani, president of the self-rule Kurdistan region, has ordered that only the Kurdish flag should fly in areas under Kurdish control. Kurds say the old Iraqi banner is a reminder of the attempted genocide against them by the former Ba'athist regime. They want the Iraqi flag to include yellow, which features in the centre of their flag in the form of a blazing sun. However, a new design could not be agreed in time for the Irbil conference and so the temporary flag was chosen.
The new national colours have met with a lukewarm response from many Arabs, including the prime minister Nuri al Maliki. At a ceremony to hoist the new flag above the cabinet building inside the Green Zone, Maliki said that he believed the flag "could have been changed in a better form but it was voted for by parliament, and we have to commit ourselves to it".
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/06/2008 00:00 ||
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Enlightened Mullahocracy, or just the inscrutable East? We report. You decide.
Nasser didn't think much of Iran's Islamic regime -- until it paid for him to become a woman.
Growing up in the city of Mashhad, Nasser knew he was different from the other boys, sneaking around in his aunt's skirts and experimenting with makeup. At age 14, he told his parents he wanted to have a sex change.
``I realized that I had a problem and that I needed to solve it through an operation,'' Nasser, now 18, says at a downtown Tehran clinic two days after he became a she called Hasti. ``Even if lots of negative things are said about the regime, they also do things that are good.''
In Iran, where men and women are segregated, and homosexuality is punishable by death, the government plans to spend 6 billion rials ($647,000) this year to help pay for sex- change operations. The policies aren't as contradictory as they seem, because in traditional societies there is more pressure to conform to standard gender roles, says Mahdis Kamkar, a Tehran psychologist who works with transsexuals.
``In closed cultures, a transsexual will be encouraged to clarify things, starting from his or her appearance,'' Kamkar says. ``Dressing up or behaving as the other sex is not satisfying enough.''
Hasti grew up in a religious family, shocking her parents by letting her curly hair grow, wearing tight pants and makeup.
At 14, she was expelled from an all-boys school in Mashhad, a city of 2 million in northeastern Iran, because her looks and behavior were deemed ``immoral.''
An article in a local magazine prompted Hasti to learn more about transsexuals. Then, like many Iranians seeking answers about issues not discussed at home, she turned to the Internet.
``Before that I thought I'm a homosexual, but fortunately I got more information and realized it wasn't the case,'' she says.
Hasti's transformation took four years. She worked at her uncle's clothing shop and then a candle factory to save money for the operation. At 15, she began 14 months of medical examinations and psychoanalysis to make sure she qualified for a sex change.
In May 2007, a panel of doctors gave Hasti permission for the surgery.
``It was very difficult,'' says Mahsoumeh, Hasti's mother, who like her new daughter spoke on condition their family name not be disclosed. ``I would go pray all night: `God, please don't let this happen, let him remain a boy.'''
Hasti's surgery, which involved removing the male genitals and creating a vagina from a section of intestine, lasted nine hours. Her doctor, Bahram Mir Jalali, is one of about 10 sex- change surgeons in Iran. He says he has performed more than 460 operations during the past 12 years.
Iran authorized such operations in 1984 under a decree issued by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The government considers transsexuals to be people who are ``trapped'' in a body of the wrong sex, says Mohammad Mehdi Kariminia, a cleric who wrote a thesis on the rights and duties of transsexuals.
``It's extremely enlightened thinking, and it's most welcome,'' says Bernard Reed, who founded the Gender Identity Research and Education Society in Surrey, England, which promotes transgender issues in the U.K. ``Would you see President Bush or Tony Blair making such a statement?''
Tehran, 5 Feb.(AKI) A decision by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to acquire four guard dogs has upset the ayatollahs from the holy city of Qom. The four dogs, bought in Germany at a cost of 110,000 euros each, are the topic of theological controversy because Islam considers dogs to be impure. They're costly, but impure.
For this reason, the government has banned owners of domestic animals from taking them on the streets of the city, and owners risk penalties or the 'detention' of their animals in a pound.
Now that Ahmadinejad is protecting German dogs, many are asking the question: why can he have dogs while other citizens are banned?
The move has been badly received by several high-ranking ayatollahs.
In the middle of the controversy, the Fars agency considered the unofficial spokesman for Ahmadinejad, gave wide coverage to the issue related to the president's dogs. "First of all these dogs are only of a German breed, bought as puppies, but grown and trained in Iran in the hands of Iranian instructors," Fars said. So, they're from the Master Race, after all? That's weird, I thought GERMANS were the Master Race, or at least, they used to be.
"The purchase of these dogs was authorised by a fatwa issued by several ayatollahs who approved the use of these animals if the only goal was to guarantee personal security and not infringe on any religious rule." I like fatwas, they're very convenient, your local Holy Man can edict one that exactly suits your needs, whatever they might be, and for a very reasonable fee, too.
It's a judgement not shared by other religious leaders, for example, those that issued yet an another a fatwa authorising police to fine whoever is seen on the street with a puppy.
#6
At first I figured the high cost included some special Joooo-sniffing and extermination training, but it seems they paid the Germans $160 grand each for an untrained puppy.
THAT's pure-bred!
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/06/2008 12:52 Comments ||
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sinse, beagles don't make good guard dogs. The only way my beagle would stop an intruder is if he licked the intruder to death.
#8
My guess would be German shepherd dogs/Alsatians, partially trained in schutzhund (protection). They are usually sold at that stage to finish training with the police or other unit where they will serve.
Scientists believe they have made a potential breakthrough in the treatment of serious disease by creating a human embryo with three separate parents. The Newcastle University team believe the technique could help to eradicate a whole class of hereditary diseases, including some forms of epilepsy.
The embryos have been created using DNA from a man and two women in lab tests. It's been tried before, I assure you.
It could ensure women with genetic defects do not pass the diseases on to their children. OK, that's interesting. In a different sort of way.
The technique is intended to help women with diseases of the mitochondria - mini organelles that are found within individual cells. A different sort of way that's not nearly as much fun.
They are sometimes described as "cellular power plants" because they generate most of the cell's energy. Faults in the mitochondrial DNA can cause around 50 known diseases, some of which lead to disability and death. About one in every 6,500 people is affected by such conditions, which include fatal liver failure, stroke-like episodes, blindness, muscular dystrophy, diabetes and deafness. Still no cure for liberalism then?
At present, no treatment for mitochondrial diseases exists.
The Newcastle team have effectively given the embryos a mitochondria transplant. They experimented on 10 severely abnormal embryos left over from traditional fertility treatment.
Within hours of their creation, the nucleus, containing DNA from the mother and father, was removed from the embryo, and implanted into a donor egg whose DNA had been largely removed. The only genetic information remaining from the donor egg was the tiny bit that controls production of mitochondria - around 16,000 of the 3billion component parts that make up the human genome.
The embryos then began to develop normally, but were destroyed within six days.
Experiments using mice have shown that the offspring with the new mitochondria carry no information that defines any human attributes. They're mice. Identical twins differences arise because they don't share the same mitochondrial DNA I understand. True?
So while any baby born through this method would have genetic elements from three people, the nuclear DNA that influences appearance and other characteristics would not come from the woman providing the donor egg.
However, the team only have permission to carry out the lab experiments and as yet this would not be allowed to be offered as a treatment.
Professor Patrick Chinnery, a member of the Newcastle team, said: "We believe that from this work, and work we have done on other animals that in principle we could develop this technique and offer treatment in the forseeable future that will give families some hope of avoiding passing these diseases to their children." Cool.
Dr Marita Pohlschmidt, of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, which has funded the Newcastle research, was confident it would lead to a badly needed breakthrough in treatment. "Mitochondrial myopathies are a group of complex and severe diseases," she said. "This can make it very difficult for clinicians to provide genetic counselling and give patients an accurate prognosis."
However, but the Newcastle work has attracted opposition. Josephine Quintavalle, of the pro-life group Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said it was "risky, dangerous" and a step towards "designer babies". Beats dead babies.
"It is human beings they are experimenting with," she said. "We should not be messing around with the building blocks of life."
Mrs Quintavalle said embryo research in the US using DNA from one man and two women was discontinued because of the "huge abnormalities" in some cases. Which cases, exactly? My BS detector just bent a needle.
Dr David King, of Human Genetics Alert, expressed concern about a "drift towards GM babies". Bad to ignore this science, good to stay skeptical. But even nature makes mistakes. But what may look like a mistake could be a kluge that has a use. Be careful and look both ways before crossing this street.
He makes them rough,
he makes them tough,
and this is why we say,
"WHAT'S GOOD FOR GENERAL BULLMOOSE, IS GOOD FOR THE USA".
(Anybody else that old?)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/06/2008 13:41 Comments ||
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#4
Wut I sed wuz, what's good for the country is good for General Motors and vice versa.
Posted by: Motor Charley ||
02/06/2008 15:15 Comments ||
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#5
OOOOKAY, no one is old enough.
The phrase comes from "L'il Abner (Movie, parody of a parody)
The phrase is "General Bullmose Motors" (Parody of GM)
the trick here is that GM's president really said, "What's good for General Motors, is good for the USA"
General Bullmose is a cartoon of a Tycoon, having a secretary listed as "Private, and Very Personal secretary, Miss Apasionata Climax".
I guess L'il Abner is mostly forgotten. Too bad, prime sarcasm. Cutting edge snark.
(Indian, "Lonesome Polecat", partner "Hairless Joe" covered with shaggy red hair, they brewed "Kickapoo Joy Juice"(Moonshine) with anything they could throw in the tub)
Joe Fiftsplik, Walked around under a permanent black thundrcloud, only had bad luck
Etc, Etc.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/06/2008 19:16 Comments ||
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#6
"Biftsplik"(Sorry)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/06/2008 19:18 Comments ||
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#7
Btfsplk, RJ.
No vowels.
Never did figure out how to pronounce it. And I'll bet Al Capp didn't either. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/06/2008 19:33 Comments ||
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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.
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.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a guru to the Beatles who introduced the West to transcendental meditation, has died at his home in the Dutch town of Vlodrop, a spokesman said Tuesday. He was thought to be 91 years old. "He died peacefully at about 7 p.m.," said Bob Roth, a spokesman for the Transcendental Meditation movement that the Maharishi founded. He said his death appeared to be due to "natural causes, his age."
The Kenyan Red Cross says the death toll from post-election violence in the country has passed 1,000. Another 304,000 Kenyans are said to have been displaced. Most of the deaths have been caused by ethnic fighting between supporters of President Mwai Kibaki and Opposition leader Raila Odinga. 
France has threatened to intervene in the battle between the Chad Government and rebels. The French are supporting the Chadian President Idriss Deby, who the rebels are trying to overthrow. French President Nicholas Sarkozy has warned the rebels that France would do its duty if they continue to threaten Chad's capital. There are 1,400 French troops in Chad, who have been helping evacuate foreigners from N'Djamena since insurgents invaded the city on the weekend. 
The UN's top human rights official is heading to Kenya to assess allegations of grave human rights violations since the country's disputed presidential election, which sparked weeks of deadly violence.
Tehran, 5 Feb.(AKI) A decision by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to acquire four guard dogs has upset the ayatollahs from the holy city of Qom. The four dogs, bought in Germany at a cost of 110,000 euros each, are the topic of theological controversy because Islam considers dogs to be impure.
