The Finnish embassy in Kenya has stepped up security after recently receiving three threatening e-mail messages, officials said Wednesday. "We are investigating the situation," Erkki Vaatainen, head of security at the Finnish Foreign Ministry, told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa. Vaatainen declined to comment on the nature of the threats but said they were "general" and it was "better to be careful" so staff had been advised to be on the alert.
Earlier, Finnish Ambassador to Kenya, Heli Sirve, told Finnish media the messages were sent over the weekend and were being investigated by Kenyan police. The threats were apparently not related to the current unrest in Kenya but rather to Ethiopia, public broadcaster YLE reported. Sirve said according to Finnish news agency STT that the messages warned of an attack from Ethiopia and were signed by persons using Somali names. Finland had passed on information about the threat to other embassies, Vaatainen said.
Meanwhile, Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, currently visiting India, told YLE that he was not aware that Helsinki was engaged in any controversial policy in the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2008 00:00 ||
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Zimbabwe's state-controlled media Wednesday went into action against new presidential candidate Simba Makoni, a former cabinet minister and senior ruling party official, dismissing his ambition as "a loud fart."They also denounced the former finance minister and respected businessman as having being planted in the election by Western governments to overthrow President Robert Mugabe and install a regime of "Western puppets."
Makoni (57), who was in Mugabe's first cabinet at independence in 1980, on Tuesday blamed the 83-year-old's "failed leadership" for the catastrophic collapse of the once-prosperous nation's economy.
Zimbabwe is characterized by world record inflation that has pushed the cost of a banana to over a million Zimbabwe dollars, crippling power and water cuts, dysfunctional hospitals, a dangerously potholed road network after decades of neglect, and famine.
Makoni announced his candidacy Tuesday and declared he would stand as an independent candidate in presidential, parliamentary and local government elections on March 29, promising, if elected, he would "work with elected MPs."
He said he would elaborate further when he announced his election platform. State radio reacted within hours of his announcement on Tuesday, reporting that he had joined the presidential contest but adding that the presence at his press conference of officials of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and of the British and US embassies "raised suspicions of a hidden hand."
Then Wednesday in the state-run Harare-based daily Herald newspaper, a senior columnist scorned descriptions of Makoni's announcement as "a bombshell" and said it was more like "the loud fart all silently agree never happened.""He has been sent to do someone's dirty work," the paper said. "It all shows there is a hand calling the shots."
Since the emergence seven years ago of the MDC, Mugabe's state media relentlessly characterized the party as a "puppet" of the British and US governments. Every reference to the party's founding leader, former trade unionist Morgan Tsvangirai, is followed by charges that he is given orders directly from London and Washington, using him to bring down Mugabe's regime so that Britain and the US can recolonize the former British possession which gained independence in 1980.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I don't know what they're worried about. It's the silent but deadly ones you've got watch.
#2
first they came for the farting middle schoolers, and I said nothing, for I was not a middle schooler,
then they came for the farting Zanu-PF internal opponents, and I said nothing....
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/07/2008 5:49 Comments ||
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The Zimbabwe Elections Support Network says President Robert Mugabe violated the constitution in January by proclaiming elections and not allowing legislators to inspect or debate the new boundaries. The group says the constitution calls for legislators to approve or seek to change boundaries and to see that voter populations have been allocated fairly.
The government has doubled the number of voting districts for the March 29 elections. Zimbabweans will for the first time vote in presidential, parliamentary, senate and local government elections on the same day. But there is still no map or even a description of the voting areas for the local government elections and neither candidates nor voters know where they will be able to cast their vote.
The Zimbabwe Elections Support Network says election authorities have made, what they describe as "a mockery" of new election laws that went into force in January. The group also says the government ran out of voter registration materials and has failed to adequately let people know where and when they could register. In apparent acknowledgment of election-preparation problems, the government has delayed the candidate filing deadline by more than a week, until February 15.
Analysts say the election preparations are chaotic because President Mugabe was determined to hold the polls in March and there was not enough time to introduce so many new laws and voting districts.
South African negotiators who facilitated eight months of negotiations between the ruling ZANU-PF and the opposition MDC failed to persuade President Mugabe to delay the elections until the new laws could be fully enforced.
The Zimbabwe Elections Support Network says new electoral laws are being regularly broken. One of them is a new media law that demands all contesting candidates and parties be given equal treatment by state owned media.
The Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe which closely monitors domestic media says in its weekly reports that the only daily newspapers, and the only radio and television stations in the country break the law every day.
Opposition parties say high candidate filing fees are hurting the opposition. The 210 parliamentary candidates from each party, need two billion Zimbabwe dollars each.
Opposition election organizers say ruling ZANU-PF candidates have access to government cash, but people in Zimbabwe are only allowed to draw 500 million Zimbabwean dollars a day from their bank accounts.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2008 00:00 ||
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Zimbabwe's ruling party has formally expelled a former ally of President Robert Mugabe for announcing plans to challenge the leader in next month's election.
The party's secretary for legal affairs, Emmerson Mnangagwa, said Wednesday that former Finance Minister Simba Makoni expelled himself by entering the race.
Makoni had been loyal to the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front. But he announced Tuesday that he would run in the March election as an independent.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2008 00:00 ||
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A 37-year-old American businesswoman and married mother of three is seeking justice after she was thrown in jail by Saudi Arabia's religious police for sitting with a male colleague at a Starbucks coffee shop in Riyadh. Yara, who does not want her last name published for fear of retribution, was bruised and crying when she was freed from a day in prison after she was strip-searched, threatened and forced to sign false confessions by the Kingdom's “Mutaween” police.
Her story offers a rare first-hand glimpse of the discrimination faced by women living in Saudi Arabia. In her first interview with the foreign press, Yara told The Times that she would remain in Saudi Arabia to challenge its harsh enforcement of conservative Islam rather than return to America. “If I want to make a difference I have to stick around. If I leave they win. I can't just surrender to the terrorist acts of these people,” said Yara, who moved to Jeddah eight years ago with her husband, a prominent businessman.
For Yara, it was a matter of convenience. But in Saudi Arabia, public contact between unrelated men and women is strictly prohibited. “Some men came up to us with very long beards and white dresses. They asked ‘Why are you here together?'. I explained about the power being out in our office. They got very angry and told me what I was doing was a great sin,” recalled Yara, who wears an abaya and headscarf, like most Saudi women.
There's your first mistake. I'd suggest business casual.
The men were from Saudi Arabia's Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, a police force of several thousand thugs men charged with enforcing dress codes, sex segregation and the observance of prayers.
Yara, whose parents are Jordanian and grew up in Salt Lake City, once believed that life in Saudi Arabia was becoming more liberal.
Guess you're wrong, huh?
But on Monday the religious police took her mobile phone, pushed her into a cab and drove her to Malaz prison in Riyadh. She was interrogated, strip-searched and forced to sign and fingerprint a series of confessions pleading guilty to her “crime”.
“They took me into a filthy bathroom, full of water and dirt. They made me take off my clothes and squat and they threw my clothes in this slush and made me put them back on,” she said. Eventually she was taken before a judge. “He said 'You are sinful and you are going to burn in hell'. I told him I was sorry. I was very submissive. I had given up. I felt hopeless,” she said.
Wrong again. Don't apologize to them. You're an American -- stand up.
Yara's husband, Hatim, used his political contacts in Jeddah to track her whereabouts. He was able to secure her release.
And where the hell was the American embassy?
“I was lucky. I met other women in that prison who don't have the connections I did,” she said. Her story has received rare coverage in Saudi Arabia, where the press has been sharply critical of the police.
Yara was visited yesterday by officials from the American Embassy, who promised they would file a report.
Oh that will help. How about getting Condi on the phone with the foreign minister?
An embassy official told The Times that it was being treated as “an internal Saudi matter” and refused to comment on her case.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/07/2008 00:00 ||
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#2
recalled Yara, who wears an abaya and headscarf, like most Saudi women.
Looking like a duck eh, not an American. One might expect the duck treatment from those buggers in man-dresses in such cases. To confirm her ignorance, she stays on in the Kingdom. No sympathy from me.
#3
It's my understanding that expat American women wear abaya and headscarf when they leave their guarded compounds, even when they go out as a group tour. Wearing Western garb is asking for a very different kind of trouble than poor Ms. Yara received. One of many reasons I wasn't in the least interested the several times Mr. Wife was offered an assignment over there.
#4
...While stationed in the Magic Kingdom in 1995, I was at a market in Riyadh when I came around a corner and almost ran smack into a Mutaawa. As these guys are escorted by a Saudi policeman - carrying an 9mm submachine gun - I felt it best to apologize and go about my way. In perfect, American english, the Mutaawa smiled and said, "Don't worry about it - where you from?"
HE'D grown up in Chicago.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/07/2008 4:55 Comments ||
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POLICE are now just a "minor irritant" to crime gangs, a top cop claimed yesterday. Leicestershire deputy chief constable David Lindley warned villains saw the law as "almost an irrelevance".
He said a shortage of officers meant they could not "stick with" investigations. Mr Lindley said there was a shocking rise in the number of local gangs.
He added: "We are not talking about a few kids squaring up to each other. These are people for whom violence is a part of their criminality." When government does not enforce the law, then crime rises. When crime rises too much, citizens form vigilante groups to do the job of government.
#2
When government does not enforce the law, then crime rises. When crime rises too much, citizens form vigilante groups to do the job of government.
Which is why "government" goes after vigilantes with so much enthusiasm because they view the vigilantes as a direct threat to their power but not the criminals.
Doctors from India, South Africa and other Commonwealth countries are to be barred from the NHS in an attempt to preserve health service jobs for British graduates. For generations the health service has been sustained by immigration but yesterday the Home Office moved to end a crisis that has prevented thousands of highly trained British doctors from advancing their careers. Last year the system for selecting doctors for higher training collapsed in what was described as the greatest disaster for medical training in a generation.
The change will end a long tradition of importing doctors to the NHS. Among the 277,000 now registered with the General Medical Council, almost half got their first medical qualifications abroad — the majority from India, Pakistan, South Africa and Australia. Without them the NHS could not have run a service since the 1960s.
Since 1997, however, the number of medical school places in Britain has almost doubled. There are now enough home-grown graduates to fill training posts, reducing or eliminating the need to import doctors.
Last year many UK-trained doctors were denied initial posts, or won only short-term positions, as 10,000 overseas doctors joined the queue for 20,000 posts. The chairman of the British Medical Association had to resign after writing to The Times to defend the system of applying for training posts, in the face of widespread fury.
The Home Office announced yesterday that, from next month, doctors living outside the European Union will not be eligible to apply for posts through the Highly Skilled Migrants Programme — hitherto an open door to migrants with the right qualifications.
From April 1, the door will also be closed to migrants from India who are applying under a new points system. So-called Tier 1 migrants — those with the highest qualifications — will be barred from applying for higher medical training posts. Non-EU doctors already in Britain as Highly Skilled Migrants, or those seeking leave to remain as Tier 1 migrants, will still be free to apply.
The new rules are expected to cut the pool of potential applicants by between 3,000 and 5,000 by 2009. But the Government has admitted that this will still not be enough to ensure that all British graduates who are good enough will get posts. Between 700 and 1,100 young doctors will be denied jobs in 2009 and beyond.
#1
They still have too many doctors? Even after the self-immolations at the Scottish airport and all? Hand out some more gas and maybe some others will use it to leave for P'stan (or burn up trying).
#3
Doctors from India, South Africa and other Commonwealth countries are to be barred from the NHS in an attempt to preserve health service jobs for British graduates. For generations the health service has been sustained by immigration but yesterday the Home Office moved to end a crisis that has prevented thousands of highly trained British doctors from advancing their careers.
Somebody point this out to Congress on their continuing increase in H1B visas? They're undermining Americans from developing tech skills in the same manner here.
#4
How's about the medics from Jordan & Pakland who are also trained in airport explosions. No mention of them. Or is this the actual purpose of this finding ?
#6
We need those Aussie doctors here in Australia.
No we don't. The main problem with socialized medicine is the 'its free' syndrome and the resultant over-doctoring.
For example, the Royal Perth Hospital (a public hospital where healthcare is 'free') scheduled me yesterday for a very expensive radiology procedure that after 5 minutes on the internet and 1 minute on the phone with a doctor, I established this procedure (renal perfussion) was a waste of time for someone like me who has kidney problems, but normal blood pressure and no indications of cardio disease.
I assume they were trying to fill a quota to justify their funding.
Mitt's out.
WASHINGTON - John McCain effectively sealed the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday as chief rival Mitt Romney suspended his faltering presidential campaign. "I must now stand aside, for our party and our country," Romney prepared to tell conservatives.
"If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror," Romney will say at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.
"This is not an easy decision for me. I hate to lose. My family, my friends and our supporters... many of you right here in this room... have given a great deal to get me where I have a shot at becoming President. If this were only about me, I would go on. But I entered this race because I love America, and because I love America."
I disagree with Senator McCain on a number of issues, as you know. But I agree with him on doing whatever it takes to be successful in Iraq, on finding and executing Osama bin Laden, and on eliminating Al Qaeda and terror. If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.
This is not an easy decision for me. I hate to lose. My family, my friends and our supporters... many of you right here in this room... have given a great deal to get me where I have a shot at becoming President. If this were only about me, I would go on. But I entered this race because I love America, and because I love America, I feel I must now stand aside, for our party and for our country.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/07/2008 13:14 Comments ||
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#2
Gloom. The importance of Congressional/Senate races now become paramount concern.
#4
What a wonderful statement. Thank you, Steve. I agree with Omung Squank9908 that Congressional and even state and local races are going to be critical, both to keep Mr. McCain focussed, and to change the consensus on such things as fighting the Long War -- the current brouhaha in Berkeley ought to be the last time such stupidities are considered do-able.
#5
Looks like it is now time to fish or cut bait: Either it will be McCain or whichever lefty loser bribres the most delegates: I cannot stomach either Shrillary or Obama ( the Burg's mugshot of him smiling still reminds me of a 54 Buick grille)
#8
McCain made the correct promises today (without the usual weasel words) to get my backing. Of course, I was a (in order) Hunter/Thompson/Romney fan, so apparently I'm the kiss of death :-)
but he's better than the Donks on most issues, and far better on Iraq/WOT (except the waterboarding shit) and as long as he does the fence.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/07/2008 19:58 Comments ||
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Barack Obama said he emerged from Super Tuesday as the leader in the delegate count over Hillary Clinton in a Democratic presidential race that both campaigns expect will be a protracted battle.
Clinton's advisers said the two candidates would end up after yesterday's voting separated by no more than five or six delegates, who will determine the party's nominee for the general election in November. ``Two weeks ago, nobody thought we would come out of Feb. 5th standing,'' Obama, an Illinois senator, said this morning in Chicago. ``But we won more delegates and we won more states.''
Super Tuesday left Arizona Senator John McCain in clear command of the Republican presidential contest with victories in nine of 21 states holding contests, including six that awarded delegates on a winner-take-all basis.
Democratic delegates, which are awarded based on a combination of popular votes statewide and results in congressional districts, were still being tallied in states such as New Mexico and Missouri because of close margins between the two Democratic candidates.
David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager, said during a conference call this morning that the candidate accumulated 847 delegates to Clinton's 834 by winning more states than Clinton did and piling up large margins of victory in those states. That would bring the overall delegate count to 910 for Obama and 882 for Clinton, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
...More and more commentators are quietly asking about the elephant in the convention hall: the fact that Obama could very well hit the convention with a lead in delegates but still lose the nomination. That's being aggravated by Howard Dean's comments yesterday that suggest the fix is already in for Hilary.
Oh well - live by the recount, die by the recount...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/07/2008 4:59 Comments ||
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#2
Go O!
Make Hilly show
Her vindictive side
[couldn't rhyme the third line]
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/07/2008 6:34 Comments ||
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#4
HillBilly thought they had the Superdelegates in their pocket. Then Teddy Keneddy broke from the pack and went to Obama. Question is how many others will follow and how many FBI files did the Clintons keep for this event.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/07/2008 7:46 Comments ||
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#6
Yes, but he's a manipulatively smooth exterior with a harder leftist ideology than he lets show often. And while Hil's friends corrupt, a few of his seek the overthrow of Whitey &/or the Caliphate.
#7
4 years of McCain ? A shattered Republican party. Trade-offs and favors for ring kissers.
4 years of Hitlery ? The destruction of the healthcare industry, higher taxes, voting privilages for illegals and a grand military exodus.
4 years of Obama ? A stronger Republican party taking Senate seats at all opportunities, and full control of the House.
I'll take Romney.
A year ago people were wondering how Israel would be isolated and left without allies, but now you see unfolding before your eyes, the abandonment of Israel, and even the possible abandonment of military strength.
#8
$ years of Hitlery. Also muzzling free speech (talk radio) and grabbing guns. Replacing religion with PC. Trashing all enemies of the Clintons. Getting the rest of the stuff out of the White House they missed the last time. More and larger government and thus more control from Washington. Abortion on demand. More Janet Reno like tactics throughout the country. Bill as VP and first man.
#2
who ever gets the nomination if it was not a forgone conclussion going into the convention the other side is gonna scream bloody murder. plus how many ballots are the delegates bound to vote for the repsective candidate.
Elector votes/Rep District = 4
Broken thus %25= 1
%26-%64 = 2
%65 - %74= 3
%75 = 4
Then If the district has a Democratic Congress Critter they get 1 more vote that the congress critter chooses.
State gets one for each Democratic Senator they have with Senator choosing...
So think about it....
If it is a close election and your district doesn't have a Democratic Congress Critter your vote is totally nullified.
IF it does have a congress critter your district matters but your opinion doesn't. The critter's opinion does.
Republican Sen. John McCain won a big victory in the Republican delegate race over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney on Super Tuesday, extending his lead by capturing nearly all the delegates in California. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton held onto a relatively small lead over Sen. Barack Obama. However, there were still outstanding delegates to be awarded in Illinois and Georgia, where Obama fared well.
McCain won 601 delegates to 176 for Romney and 147 for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in incomplete results. A total of 1,023 delegates were up for grabs in 21 states. Overall, McCain led with 703 delegates, to 269 for Romney and 190 for Huckabee. It takes 1,191 to win the nomination at this summer's convention in St. Paul, Minn.
Clinton led with 739 Super Tuesday delegates to Obama's 700. A total of 1,681 delegates were at stake in 22 states and American Samoa. Overall, that gave Clinton 1,000 delegates, to 902 for Obama with 2,025 delegates required to claim the nomination in Denver at this summer's convention.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2008 00:00 ||
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The controversial head of India's external intelligence agency, Ashok Chaturvedi, has come under the spotlight for a series of embarrassing faux pas, a major handicap when he is meant to keep the country's leaders abreast of events.
His list of public embarrassments has littered the pages of not only the Indian newspapers, but perhaps more embarrassing for the world's largest democracy, Chaturvedi is also becoming the focus of the international press as well.
Prior to being named head of India's intelligence services, the Research and Analysis Wing, known as RAW, Chaturvedi had been described as "serially paranoid and too incompetent to function. And in any other intelligence agency he would probably have been drummed out a long time ago," according to extremely reliable sources, who for obvious reasons asked not to be named.
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Posted by: john frum ||
02/07/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Ashok Chaturvedi, has come under the spotlight for a series of embarrassing faux pas
Not to worry Ash. Do as US intelligence folks do here, deny wrongdoing, ignore the naysayers and write your own book!
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp, the Pentagon's No. 1 supplier, has been told India may be ready to look into possible U.S.-Indian collaboration on ballistic missile defense, a top company official said Wednesday. "I would not be surprised if over the next couple of months we begin to have some exploratory discussions with various members of the government and with Indian industry," Richard Kirkland, Lockheed Martin's top executive on South Asia, said in a telephone interview with Reuters.
Indian missile-defense cooperation with the United States could complicate relations with China, Russia and Pakistan.
Until now, India's policy has been to develop its missile shield domestically, closing a potential multibillion-dollar market to Boeing Co, Lockheed, Raytheon Co and Northrop Grumman Corp -- the biggest players in the emerging ground, air, sea and space based U.S. missile defense system.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: john frum ||
02/07/2008 00:00 ||
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Politicians using tragedy to advance an agenda has been a tried-and-true strategy. Paint the idea green and a natural catastrophe became political fodder for former Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry (Mass.).
Kerry appeared on MSNBC on February 6 to discuss storms that have killed at least 50 people throughout the Southeastern United States. So, of course, Kerry used the platform to advance global warming alarmism.
“[I] don’t want to sort of leap into the larger meaning of, you know, inappropriately, but on the other hand, the weather service has told us we are going to have more and more intense storms,” Kerry said. “And insurance companies are beginning to look at this issue and understand this is related to the intensity of storms that is related to the warming of the earth. And so it goes to global warming and larger issues that we’re not paying attention to. The fact is the hurricanes are more intensive, the storms are more intensive and the rainfall is more intense at certain places at certain times and the weather patterns have changed.”
KerryÂ’s assertion tornado activity is related to any type of climate change is questionable based on the writings of at least one meteorologist. Roger Edwards, a meteorologist at the Storm Prediction Center of the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla., has doubts about any global warming and tornado relationship.
“As of this writing, no scientific studies solidly relate climatic global temperature trends to tornadoes,” Edwards wrote on the Earth & Sky Web site in April 2007. “I don’t expect any such results in the near future either, because tornadoes are too small, short–lived, hard to measure and count, and too dependent on day to day, even minute to minute weather conditions.”
#1
and that is why the Senator (D-Masshole) has given up all private jets, SUV's and recreational power boats, riding only public transportation, right? Pompous windbag POS has never let facts stand in the way of his bleating
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/07/2008 5:07 Comments ||
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#2
the good thing is that he was on MSNBC, so hardly anyone saw it
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/07/2008 5:09 Comments ||
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#3
I blame Senaator Kerry for global warming.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/07/2008 6:37 Comments ||
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#4
"There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gasses is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate. Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments of the Earth."
This petition has been signed by over 19,000 American scientists.
And one civil engineer. But you can't sign it on-line. But you can get a copy of the mail-in form.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/07/2008 6:47 Comments ||
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#5
Mark my word: Some day some leftist somewhere is going to say:
Rantburg.Com? They're crawling with civil engineers.
#12
Once again, the Donks show they have no problem in exploiting death for political gain.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
02/07/2008 10:56 Comments ||
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#13
Severe storms are causing by a contrast in temperature between two air masses, that is true. There are two ways for this contrast to manifest ... unusually warm temperatures on one side of the interface or unusually cold temperatures on the other side. This time we have the unusually cold scenario which causes a drastic difference in temperatures across a frontal boundary causing the storms.
#14
Folks, you should just do what most of Jawn's constituents have taken to doing. Pay no attention to anything he has to say at any time on any subject. It's almost like he doesn't exist, which, in his eyes, is the absolute worst thing that could ever happen to him.
He endorsed Obama. Did anyone know that?...See, it's working already.
#15
Crosspatch you're right on the money. In another life I was a Meteorologist for 10 1/2 years. If we had Global Warming, then the contrast would be less and the Tornado activity would be much less. Tornadoes are very local in nature, unlike Hurricanes.
An interesting slight of hand has taken place with Tropical Storms. When I was in the weather business Tropical Depression were given numbers not names. Only Tropical storms and Hurricanes were named. The trick is now they give depression names and it makes it appear that we are having as many or more storms than we used to have each summer.
In fact the last two years have been below normal with only one Hurricane hitting the US in two years. That storm had marginal winds and was a Hurricane for less than 24 hours.
Other interesting tidbits. Last winter the Southern Hemisphere had the coldest winter in decades. China is going through the coldest winter in 50 years. It's snowed in Baghdad, Jerusalem and Tehran. The net/net is the term "Global Warming" is disappearing and being replaced by "Climate Change". That way any time the weather is different than you expect you can blame CO2 from man.
The hell with Sun Spots who's activity in the early 2000s was so intense it was knocking out satellites.
#7
My Winchester 120 Ranger slug gun has a serious case of firepower envy.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
02/07/2008 6:08 Comments ||
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#8
Guys! This looks like a killing machine! Something a Cylon would use. It's way too powerful and deadly for our military. Besides, the adaptable, flexible freedom-fighters would get them from the black market, supplied by the evil military-industrial complex.
Can't we have smart bullets?
[/liberal loon]
Bobby sez: Holy cow! I want one for Christmas!
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/07/2008 6:22 Comments ||
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#10
The devil is in the maintenance and operation. To start with, drums are notoriously easy to jam, and what happens if you get a defective round--how easy is it to clear?
Next is the weight of drums and the time it takes to load them. One thing about urban combat is that it can go on for hours and hours at times. The typical shotgunner will probably only have two drums, one in and one in reserve.
Often a special weapons guy will just have to sit still during a firefight because his weapon just isn't right. This means one less rifleman. And the enemy will adapt to fight in less than optimal circumstances for that weapon.
Snipers will intentionally target the most effective enemy weapon as well as its operator.
I'm sure that these questions are just the tip of the iceberg from those asked by experienced urban combat soldiers, of which we have plenty right now.
Doesn't stop the transnational progressives from stipulating why we should follow the lead of every little country in the world who don't contribute squat to world peace and order. Hell, it doesn't stop the tranzies from making it up like we did sign on since they've demonstrated they've never really read the Convention.
#12
This thing is very, very impressive. Just what's needed when going blindly thru a door. Only one problem: everything in the room is dead including bunnies. Has been my choice for home defense for years. Nothing survives a 12 gauge close up. That grenade round goes out 175 meters. Wow. Yeah, it fires auto, Gorb. Watch the video. What's great is the shock absortion enabling auto fire. If you've ever cracked off a round of 12 ga., you know you feel the recoil. Great weapon. Yeah, carrying the ammo would be difficult, but for close up encounters, I'd want one. When the ragbags view the corpses, or what's left of one, they're going to lose sphinter control ASAP.
#14
'Moose, if this were employed in the USMC fire-team concept, the shotgunner would have another Marine carry spare drums of ammo, much like the asst saw gunner does for the actual saw-man.
Recoil can be reduced by size of shell shot implemented -you can whack jihadis then go dove hunting!
#15
Iraqis are by and large scared shitless of being killed by a shotgun. In fact nothing strikes fear in the hearts of an average Iraqi like a good ole scatter gun. It's a cultural thing. They believe shotguns to be dog killing weapons, and since dogs are unclean in Islam, being shot down like a dog is the cause of much fear in their world. So this shotgun is just a bundle of joy in such a situation.
#19
Broadhead6: Don't get me wrong, I have really enjoyed automatic shotguns since the South Africans came up with their gnarly brush clearer back in the 1980s. They are like a man-carried Claymore. BTW, it used about a two foot long magazine.
Loaded, the AA-12 20-round drum weighs 4.6 pounds, on top of an 11.5 pound shotgun. That will be 16 pounds for the shooter, and another 5 pounds for his loaded extra drum.
Typically, soldiers would like to mix ammo types if they can, and in urban combat the mini grenades would probably be preferred unless it was a target rich environment. Instead of humping more loaded drums, they would bring boxes of ammo and refill during the fight.
But in a "tight fight", something like a sawed off 20 gauge might be better.
During Prohibition, there was a distinct boundary between urban and rural mobs in Illinois, in that the Tommy Gun, the preferred weapon for urban fighting, was no match for the shotguns in more open, rural combat. But back in the cities, the Tommy Gun was king.
This is why urban fighting experts have to be the real arbiters of this debate.
#20
When I was in the Corps we had a BAR man and Assistant BAR man in each fire team. Guese what the BAR was heavy and it only fireed 20 rounds per mag.
AnonymooseBut in a "tight fight", something like a sawed off 20 gauge might be better.
Downright Laughable moosey.
******************************************8 During Prohibition, there was a distinct boundary between urban and rural mobs in Illinois, in that the Tommy Gun, the preferred weapon for urban fighting, was no match for the shotguns in more open, rural combat. But back in the cities, the Tommy Gun was king.
'O Jesus H Christ what the Hell does urban and rural mobs in Illinois have to do with the price of potatoes moosey.
I have to agree with GolfBravoUSMC, inspite of its weight the BAR was used quite effectively in Urban warfare and in the Jungle etc., and it was a handful for a not so strong Marine or Soldier.
Browning Automatic Rifle M1918A2
Weight (Empty): 19.4 lb lbs (8.8 kg)
Weight (Loaded):
Weight of box magazine 0.44 lb
Weight of 20 30-06 rounds for box magazine ?
******************************************
AA-12 Shotgun
Weight Approximately 10.5 lbs. (unloaded)
Weight w/ loaded 8 round magazine Approximately 11.25 lbs.
Weight w/ loaded 20 round magazine Approximately 13 lbs.
& 360rounds per minute
********************************
This new shotgun has the makings of one fine TOOL to assist in the house to house urban searches like our GREAT Marines did not very long ago in Fallujah.
The rule is always to, Test Test Test the Hell out of any NEW weapon no matter how awesome it appears to be..
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
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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
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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.
Zimbabwe's state-controlled media Wednesday went into action against new presidential candidate Simba Makoni, a former cabinet minister and senior ruling party official, dismissing his ambition as "a loud fart."They also denounced the former finance minister and respected businessman as having being planted in the election by Western governments to overthrow President Robert Mugabe and install a regime of "Western puppets."
The Zimbabwe Elections Support Network says President Robert Mugabe violated the constitution in January by proclaiming elections and not allowing legislators to inspect or debate the new boundaries. The group says the constitution calls for legislators to approve or seek to change boundaries and to see that voter populations have been allocated fairly.
Zimbabwe's ruling party has formally expelled a former ally of President Robert Mugabe for announcing plans to challenge the leader in next month's election.
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Doctors from India, South Africa and other Commonwealth countries are to be barred from the NHS in an attempt to preserve health service jobs for British graduates. For generations the health service has been sustained by immigration but yesterday the Home Office moved to end a crisis that has prevented thousands of highly trained British doctors from advancing their careers. Last year the system for selecting doctors for higher training collapsed in what was described as the greatest disaster for medical training in a generation. 
Barack Obama said he emerged from Super Tuesday as the leader in the delegate count over Hillary Clinton in a Democratic presidential race that both campaigns expect will be a protracted battle. 
Republican Sen. John McCain won a big victory in the Republican delegate race over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney on Super Tuesday, extending his lead by capturing nearly all the delegates in California. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton held onto a relatively small lead over Sen. Barack Obama. However, there were still outstanding delegates to be awarded in Illinois and Georgia, where Obama fared well.
Politicians using tragedy to advance an agenda has been a tried-and-true strategy. Paint the idea green and a natural catastrophe became political fodder for former Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry (Mass.).
