Hi there, !
Today Sun 05/24/2009 Sat 05/23/2009 Fri 05/22/2009 Thu 05/21/2009 Wed 05/20/2009 Tue 05/19/2009 Mon 05/18/2009 Archives
Rantburg
531690 articles and 1855967 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 62 articles and 197 comments as of 11:36.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Opinion        Politix   
Iran tests long range missile
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 3: Non-WoT
2 00:00 746 [2] 
0 [] 
6 00:00 Rambler in Virginia [2] 
0 [] 
4 00:00 Anguper Hupomosing9418 [] 
6 00:00 Deacon Blues [] 
0 [] 
4 00:00 Mitch H. [] 
0 [1] 
3 00:00 newc [] 
0 [] 
8 00:00 Mitch H. [] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
0 [1]
0 [1]
1 00:00 CrazyFool []
3 00:00 Seafarious []
0 []
12 00:00 Pliny Sninelet4308 [1]
4 00:00 Ptah []
8 00:00 Iblis [1]
4 00:00 tu3031 []
3 00:00 Jack is Back! []
2 00:00 funky skunk []
0 []
2 00:00 Jack is Back! []
0 []
0 []
3 00:00 gromky []
0 []
7 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [3]
Page 2: WoT Background
1 00:00 Richard of Oregon [1]
1 00:00 tu3031 []
2 00:00 Redneck Jim []
0 [1]
0 [1]
0 []
0 []
6 00:00 JosephMendiola [2]
4 00:00 Glenmore [2]
0 []
1 00:00 The One [1]
1 00:00 Redneck Jim [1]
4 00:00 Mitch H. []
0 []
Page 4: Opinion
0 []
6 00:00 texhooey [2]
2 00:00 DMFD [1]
3 00:00 Frank G []
0 [1]
16 00:00 Anonymoose []
0 []
0 [1]
0 []
Page 6: Politix
1 00:00 Frank G [1]
4 00:00 Frank G [1]
0 []
14 00:00 Cornsilk Blondie [2]
0 [1]
8 00:00 OldSpook []
6 00:00 DoDo []
10 00:00 Redneck Jim []
13 00:00 Cornsilk Blondie []
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Egypt tycoon to hang in slaying of pop diva

CAIRO -- Suzanne Tamim shot to fame in an "American Idol"-style TV show, a green-eyed Lebanese beauty whose pop songs about love's agony mirrored her troubled life.

Now, the man reported to be her secret lover -- a married, politically powerful Egyptian tycoon -- has been sentenced to hang for paying a former government security agent $2 million to slit her throat, a murder almost as clumsy as it was horrific.

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/21/2009 17:07 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  hang? *snap!*
Posted by: Frank G || 05/21/2009 19:06 Comments || Top||

#2  no endless appeals, he was a victim, look at her!
Posted by: 746 || 05/21/2009 20:32 Comments || Top||


Serious Bad Guys Taken Down In Gilbert, AZ
Two of four men accused in a Tuesday home invasion and high-speed chase with police in Gilbert were booked on charges of first-degree murder in connection with the death of one of their alleged partners.
Felony murder? I love felony murder cases!
Even though Anthony Gonzalez, 21, was crushed by a Jeep Cherokee that rolled when a Gilbert police officer used a driving maneuver to stop the vehicle, his brother, Robert Gonzalez, 20, and Dominicio Soldano, 22, are being held responsible for his death under Arizona's felony murder rule.
Fat Tony was killed in the commission of a murder that Bob the Pig and Greasy Thumb Soldano were in the process of committing. Doesn't matter that he was in the process of committing the same felony.
The rule allows authorities to charge accomplices in a crime in which someone was killed to be charged with first-degree murder.
Should be used a lot more often, too. I'm in favor of a Felony Battery law, too. And maybe Felony Abortion...
Rafeal Chacon, 22, was booked on a charge of attempted first-degree murder and several other felonies, and Isidro Pineda, 21, was booked on a charge of misconduct involving weapons. Pineda was driving a separate car and was arrested without incident, according to court documents. All five men grew up in Phoenix. Some of them have gang ties and all but Pineda have spent time in prison, according to court records.
Y'kinda suspect that they all have gang ties, don'tcha?
Gilbert police allege in court documents that four masked men robbed a family and beat the father in a house at 2 a.m. Tuesday in the 3600 block of East Stampede Drive. The men identified themselves as police as they tried to bust in the front door and smashed an arcadia door.
"Hey! You ain't cops! Cops ain't got tatz on their necks!"
The 25-year-old wife was able to get to a neighbor's house and call police, but her 9-year-old and 3-year-old children were still inside. The men pointed a gun at the mother as they sped away.
"Betcha scared her, Fat Tony!"
Sgt. Mark Marino, Gilbert police spokesman, said the residents and the men did not have any "direct" relationship with each other, but investigators are still trying to figure out the motive.
"Honey? There's a man at the door with a tatoo on his neck. He says he's a policeman. You haven't been driving after you've had too many again, have you?"
When the smoke cleared after the Jeep Cherokee rolled at 140th Street and Williams Field Road, police found among the debris on the road a duffle bag with a loaded semiautomatic handgun, a magazine of ammunition for a rifle, duct tape and two badges. Bullets for a .357-caliber handgun were spilled on the ground near a ballistic vest. Farther down the road was another ballistic vest, a rifle and handguns. The suspects were also carrying items on them from the house, court records said.

Guns, body armor and robberies have all been a part of the criminal pasts of each of the men, court records show. The Gonzalez brothers were each sentenced in March 2006 to 3.5 years in prison for a series of four robberies on June 12, 2005, in which they drove up to pedestrians and threatened them with a shotgun. When police arrested them, they also had a small machine gun.

Phoenix police arrested Chacon in March 2006 while he was on probation for burglary when they saw him sitting inside his car wearing body armor. Police also found a handgun within reach of where he was sitting.

While he was on parole for that, Chacon was involved in a brawl on Dec. 23, 2006, in downtown Phoenix and was found with two guns, but the case was dismissed before trial because a key witness couldn't be found, according to court records.
"Youse got nuttin' on me. All da witnesses is dead."
Soldano served 18 months in prison for being a convicted felon with a handgun and Pineda was sentenced to probation in April for having a stolen handgun.
Needed stinking badges?
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/21/2009 09:14 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Arizona is becoming Mexico. :(
Posted by: borgboy || 05/21/2009 12:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Or Noo Joisey.

Be sure to vote Democrat.
Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2009 12:31 Comments || Top||

#3  We had a great one a few years back. Three or four Messicans were boosting stereos in a club parking lot, when they were spotted by a female police officer. They lit her up and she returned fire, then they jumped in their car and sped off.

They made a pretty straight stretch for a half mile at high speed, then made it to an intersection at the same time, but perpendicular to an eighteen wheeler going about 50. Their car vaporized.

They had to close that section of road for over half a day, picking up nickel sized pieces of car and Messican over a quarter mile area. There is still the odd bit of frag you can find out there.

They are still unsure if it was three of them, or four.

That says a lot.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/21/2009 13:57 Comments || Top||

#4  #3 - sounds like a case of Kash Karma Karnage.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 05/21/2009 18:42 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Nigerian Army Sacks Delta Community
Troops on Tuesday intensified their offensive against Okerenkoko, another community in Delta State, razing down all buildings in the all-out confrontation against militants intent on making life impossible in the Deep South. Community leaders said over 200 homes in Okerenkoko, the second largest settlement after Oporoza in Gbaramatu Kingdom, were left desolate by the Joint Task Force (JTF).

The soldiers came at about midday from the air and waterways, bombing and shooting before going into the community to set it ablaze.

Prominent leaders like Bello Oboko confirmed the attack by the military forces that have held sway in the area for five days. But he could not establish if there were still people in the community which had come under attack at the weekend. They had fled before the latest offensive, and now wonder what the troops are still looking for.

JTF Spokesman, Rabe Abubakar, confirmed in a statement that "in continuation of the search and rescue operations in some militants hideouts, the (JTF) has moved into the outskirts of some communities where suspected militants are hiding and still holding expatriates kidnapped last week hostage.

"What we are doing today is an extension of the operations we started five days ago and our aim is to rescue expatriates kidnapped and get rid of criminals in various communities in the Niger Delta. Our actions are based on credible information about certain places where we know that these miscreants are hiding and not on the whole communities as they claim."

Abubakar urged indigenes of communities infested by militants to assist the JTF with timely and accurate information. "You know these people and they live with you. To avoid the innocent being inconvenienced, we call on all of you to aid in the extradition of these miscreants for your safety and interest."
"So give them up before we inconvinence you like we did to the miscreants in Okerenkoko."
Posted by: Steve White || 05/21/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Bangladesh
Bangladeshi Professor Dr. Abdul Mannan Choudhury, A "Live Defender"
"If you want to be a self reliant person, a responsible member of your family as well as of your country and the world and respected personality of your society, you have only one alternative that is you must have utilitarian education for economic emancipation." It is the massage for the students from Professor Dr. Abdul Mannan Chowdhury.

Professor Dr. Abdul Mannan Choudhury, an alternative name of "Live defender" served in University of Dhaka as a professor for 37 years. Professor Choudhury was born in a successful family in Comilla district of Bangladesh. He passed his education life in Comilla, Dhaka, Manchester and London. He got his higher education in Master of Business Administration from Manchester Business School, PhD from London. He also served Bayero University, Nigeria as Head of Department, Academic Dean and Syndicate Member. He was the Proctor of Dhaka University, Syndicate Member of Dhaka University, Member of Finance Committee, Founder Director of Evening MBA study, Founder Chairman of Department of MIS, Founder Chairman of National Management Association, Bangladesh Commerce Education Society and Founder Chairman of a Government Bank of Bangladesh. He is also an excellent writer and columnist. Dr. Choudhury was a freedom fighter too. He was the Assistant Commander (and was commander for few months) of Mujib Bahini (Bangladesh Liberation Force) of eastern side of Bangladesh in the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh.

At present, Professor Dr. Abdul Mannan Chowdhury is serving as Honorable Vice Chancellor in World University of Bangladesh. ItŽs one of the most popular and leading universities in Bangladesh. Now, World University of Bangladesh is among top five universities of the country and it has been possible due to Mr. ChowdhuryŽs excellent efforts and guidelines.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Hasanuzzaman Talukdar Shemul || 05/21/2009 10:03 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Britain
Britain announces climbdown on Gurkha settlement rights
LONDON (AFP) – Jubilant Gurkha veterans won the right to settle in Britain Thursday, after a government climbdown in the face of a campaign spearheaded by Indian-born actress Joanna Lumley.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said all of the Nepalese fighters who retired before 1997 and have served at least four years with the British army can now apply for residency. Smith's announcement was greeted by an explosion of applause and victory cries by former Gurkhas and campaigners including Lumley who were gathered outside the House of Commons.

An emotional Lumley praised Prime Minister Gordon Brown, calling him a "brave man who has made today a brave decision on behalf of the bravest of the brave. This will be received in Nepal today with the greatest joy and gratitude," she said, standing in front of Gurkha veterans in wheelchairs wearing their British military service medals.

Brown said in a statement the new rules recognised "the unique nature of the service given to the UK by the Brigade of Gurkhas".

Under the outgoing rules, Britain would only grant residency rights to 4,300 ex-Gurkhas, falling short of demands that all 36,000 of the Nepalese who served with the British army before 1997 be eligible. But announcing the new policy, Smith told lawmakers: "All former Gurkhas who retired before 1997 and who have served more than four years will now be eligible to apply for settlement in the UK. On the basis of the figure of 10,000 to 15,000 main applicants that has been suggested by Gurkha representatives, I expect to be able to welcome these applicants and their families over the course of the next two years. I'm making resources available... to do this and I'm making it clear there should be no time limit on these applications."

The government was forced to change its stance after it suffered a defeat on the issue in a Commons vote last month. Smith said ministers had undertaken to "respect the will of the House" and drawn up the new rules. She reiterated that Gurkhas who retired after 1997 -- when their base was moved from Hong Kong following the territory's handover from Britain to China -- already had the right to settle here and more than 6,000 had done so.

Britain's border authorities have been instructed to process 1,400 outstanding applications from former Gurkhas "as a matter of urgency by June 11," she added. Successful applicants will be entitled to bring with them their spouses and dependent children under 18.

Lumley, the star of cult TV comedy "Absolutely Fabulous", said: "It is one of the happiest days of my life. This is a landmark day we will never forget. It is so thrilling to have overcome something which has gone on for so long." Lumley said she was proud to be regarded as a "daughter of the regiment" because her late father had fought with the Gurkhas.

More than 100 veterans attended an impromptu garden party at Brown's Downing Street office after the announcement, where the prime minister described the Gurkhas as the "bravest of all". Their campaign has also been backed by the opposition Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

Some veterans last year returned their medals to the British government in one of a number of high-profile protests. As public anger built over the government's original position, Brown agreed to hold a private meeting with Lumley over the issue. And amid extraordinary scenes, she ambushed Immigration Minister Phil Woolas in a TV studio after several veterans were told their residency applications had been rejected.

The Brigade of Gurkhas was formed in 1948 from Indian army regiments.About 200,000 Gurkhas fought for Britain in World Wars I and II and more than 45,000 have died in British uniform. Around 3,500 currently serve in the British army, including in Afghanistan.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/21/2009 16:13 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
Colombia's Uribe now closer to a third term
BOGOTA, COLOMBIA - Colombia's conservative President Alvaro Uribe never had much in common with leftist President Hugo Chavez of neighboring Venezuela ... until now. Late Tuesday, Mr. Uribe came one step closer to staying in power for another four years after lawmakers passed a measure calling for a referendum on whether to allow him to run for a third term.

Uribe still hasn't said publicly whether he will run if given the chance, but to Michael Shifter, an analyst at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, "It's clear he's made up his mind," since he has done nothing to stop the referendum campaign that would let him run again in 2010.

If Uribe -- a staunch United States ally -- does seek a third term, he will be taking a page out of the book of Mr. Chavez, and a slew other of Latin American leftist leaders, whose moves in recent years to extend their hold on power have raised concerns about eroding democratic institutions. For the past decade, leaders across the continent have reversed strict constitutional limits that allowed presidents to sit for only one term. Those restrictions were put in place to prevent leaders from holding on to power for too long.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White || 05/21/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well, FDR had FOUR terms. And before you say 'see, that proves extra terms are bad', do note that he did a better job (from my perspective) in the later years than the earlier ones.
Posted by: Glenmore || 05/21/2009 8:26 Comments || Top||

#2  The trouble is that longer terms usually mean one of two things. The first is the obvious, that "El Supremo" has decided to become dictator for life.

The second is far less obvious. It is when a good leader thinks himself irreplaceable, or is so in love with his good ideas that he cannot bear to see them unfinished. But this overlaps with a leader who is good at everything but naming a good replacement.

In either case, either the fruit remains on the tree too long and is spoiled, or it is attacked from within by worms.

The best of leaders is the lucky one, who leaves at their peak, leaving both their supporters and opponents promising to do exactly what they did, but just a little differently.

An example of this was the first female president of Ireland, who became president right before the worst non-political problem in the country, the Catholic church, had a major scandal, so lost most of its political clout; and an economic boom, on which she got to ride on the crest of the wave.

She left office after her one term with a 94% popularity rating, and neither major political party even tried to put up a male candidate, and both female candidates promised to do everything she was doing, but more of it, and faster.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/21/2009 10:55 Comments || Top||

#3  He did better than his predecessors. He ended the drug whoo ha ha
Posted by: newc || 05/21/2009 10:56 Comments || Top||


Guatemala murder scandal could threaten the presidency
We need to keep a careful eye south of the border. Mexico is a mess, FARC is still active in Colombia, Hugo is creating a disaster in Venezuela, Argentina is melting down again, and commies are back in charge in Nicaragua. Now this.
GUATEMALA CITY AND MEXICO CITY - The scandal surrounding accusations that Guatemala's president orchestrated the murder of a prominent lawyer is intensifying -- deepening divisions in a country still recovering from a 36-year civil war. It is also, according to some analysts, handing the country its greatest threat to democracy since that war ended in 1996.

Tens of thousands of Guatemalans have taken to the streets since a video emerged in which Rodrigo Rosenberg, the lawyer, accused Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom and three others of murder and corruption.

Mr. Rosenberg, who was shot dead while riding his bike on May 10, recorded the video days earlier, saying in it that: "If you are watching this, it is because I was murdered by President Alvaro Colom, with the help of Gustavo Alejos," the president's secretary.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White || 05/21/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
Obama Supporter Nominated as Envoy to Japan
John Roos, a lawyer without diplomatic experience, has been nominated as the next U.S. ambassador to Japan. The campaign supporter of U.S. President Barack Obama was picked over Joseph Nye, a Harvard University professor who was believed the likelier candidate.

A graduate of Stanford University Law School, Roos has chiefly handled mergers and acquisitions of IT businesses in Silicon Valley. He still is the head of a law firm and has no political or diplomatic experience. Nor does he seem to have any previous relationship with Japan, the Asahi Shimbun reports.
You usually give your bestest campaign supporters their choice of Spain, Italy or Austria ...
Good lawyers are good at listening to others with the appearance of intense interest, a useful skill in Japan... or anywhere, really.
But Roos has had a close relationship with Obama since he threw a fund-raising party at his home in February 2007 before Obama joined the Democratic Party's presidential race. The New York Times last August called him one of the biggest fundraisers for the Obama camp.

Tokyo had welcomed rumors of Nye's appointment as a token that the Obama administration values ties with Japan but has made no comment on news of Roos' nomination.
No doubt they, too, are looking forward to having somebody -- anybody -- answer the phone when they call.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/21/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Britain, check.
Israel, check.
Japan, check.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/21/2009 7:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Steve,

The reason John Roos didn't get Austria was, well, he doesn't speak Austrian.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 05/21/2009 11:14 Comments || Top||

#3  ...and he could get his Sony TV, DVD player, sound system, Playstation 3, and satellite dish to work on a single remote. :)
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/21/2009 11:48 Comments || Top||

#4  Says something about how the current gang sees Japan. Japan *used* to get the elder statesmen - Mondale, that sort of thing. Nowadays, they're just an imploded industrial country with even higher corporate taxes than ours.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 05/21/2009 16:59 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Bank error in your favour; Collect $7.8 million and scarper
Posted by: Phil_B || 05/21/2009 01:58 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "scarper"?
Posted by: gromky || 05/21/2009 7:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Run away, scamper. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/21/2009 8:35 Comments || Top||

#3  scarper - to run away with the implication of owing money or having done something wrong.
Posted by: Phil_B || 05/21/2009 10:30 Comments || Top||

#4  How far is China from New Zealand? Good place to start.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 05/21/2009 11:15 Comments || Top||

#5  i don't blame them i would have scarpered too. Or shit myself
Posted by: funky skunk || 05/21/2009 11:21 Comments || Top||

#6  4 years ago I wanted to take 20 bucks out of my account a an ATM. I couldn't get it because the machine said I had insufficient funds so I poked the button for a quick statement. The machine told me I was $986,452.00 bucks overdrawn. Talk about pucker factor!
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 05/21/2009 17:41 Comments || Top||


Economy
Fed's economic forecast worsens
The next stage of the recession is coming ...
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Federal Reserve's latest forecasts for the U.S. economy are gloomier than the ones released three months earlier, with an expectation for higher unemployment and a steeper drop in economic activity.

The Fed's forecasts, released as part of the minutes from its April meeting, show that its staff now expects the unemployment rate to rise to between 9.2% and 9.6% this year. The central bank had forecast in January that the jobless rate would be in a range of 8.5% to 8.8%, but the unemployment rate topped that in April, hitting 8.9%.

The Fed also now expects the gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the nation's economic activity, to post a drop of between 1.3% and 2% this year. It had previously expected only a 0.5% to 1.3% decline.

At the April meeting, the Fed decided to once again leave its key federal funds rate near 0%, a level it has been at since last December. The central bank also announced that it did not plan on increasing purchasing more long-term Treasury notes anytime soon. The Fed disclosed plans to begin buying $300 billion's worth of such Treasurys in March in order to try and keep long-term rates down and boost economic activity.

But according to the minutes, some members of the central bank's policy committee indicated they were open to increasing its purchases of Treasury notes and mortgage securities as a way of spurring more lending.

According to the minutes, Fed members did indicate they expected GDP to increase slightly in the second half of this year. However, it would not be enough to overcome the anticipated declines in the first half. GDP shrunk more than 6% in the first quarter.

Policymakers acknowledged that there were some better economic readings in the period leading up to the April meeting, but added that they were not convinced the economy was out of the woods yet.

In the minutes, Fed members indicated that there are a number of factors that "would be likely to restrain the pace of economic recovery over the medium term" and added that the credit crunch would "recede only gradually" and that "households would likely remain cautious" in their spending.

Fed members expressed concerns about rising problems in the commercial real estate market as well, indicating that this could cause further problems for financial institutions still struggling with the effects of the collapse of home prices and rising mortgage defaults.

The Fed also reduced its GDP targets for 2010 and 2011, but the central banks still expects the economy to grow in both years.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/21/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Gosh what a shock...

/sarcasm.

Maybe someone will now stop encouraging consumption funded by debt?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles the pedantic || 05/21/2009 3:49 Comments || Top||

#2  A guy I know from work who has become a bit of an NPR lefty over the past two or three yearswas loudly proclaiming how 'things had turned around', went out and bought a new car he really can't afford with two kids in college, and started investing in risky stokcs again a couple of months ago. Obama had 'saved the economy'.

I tried to tell him that the rally was a 'sucker's rally', that the worst was yet to come, but to believe that would have destroyed the na-a-a-a-a-arative...
Posted by: no mo uro || 05/21/2009 6:09 Comments || Top||

#3  I don't know no mo - perhaps we are the suckers.

How long do you think it'll be before Obama 'forgives' your workmate's debt on his shiny new car he can't afford? (All on our grandchildren's dime of course...)
Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/21/2009 8:30 Comments || Top||

#4  The stock market will "boom" on all that printed money.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/21/2009 8:54 Comments || Top||

#5  I'm thinking about buying a toyota tacoma and parking it in the barn. It will be priceless in 10 years.
Posted by: bman || 05/21/2009 9:32 Comments || Top||

#6  SITYS.

I hate being right on this one.

And if you ahve not applied for credit lately, you are in for a shock: they simply are not lending money, even to people with "decent" credit. If you have even one late payment on your record, you're not getting a loan these days. And the old "junk" lenders, they are not loaning at all - friend of mine got behind while unemployed, and now that he is working he wanted to get a loan to consolidate and pay off some unpaid medical bills. No go. Not even by the "sub prime" lenders.

The greedy jerks in Congress have killed our economy, with the blessing of the Idiot In Chief.
Posted by: OldSpook || 05/21/2009 10:27 Comments || Top||

#7  Yeah, but just think where we'd be without that stimulus package!!!
Posted by: Barack Obama || 05/21/2009 14:10 Comments || Top||

#8  OldSpook, I don't know what market you're looking for loans in, but they love my ass. I almost bought a house this month, but it failed inspection in a really ugly fashion, and I bailed before I got too deep into the money-pit. The mortgage part of things was the least of my troubles.

Nightmare-inducing foundation problems? Now *that* was a problem.

I'm just worried I won't get my status turned around from creditor to debtor before Bailout Ben & his helicopters of doom hyperinflate my savings into oblivion.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 05/21/2009 17:04 Comments || Top||


Europe
Turkish bulldozers raze 1,000 years of Romany history
Just an excerpt - read the rest at the link.
Anti-riot police supervised this final phase last week of the demolition of Sulukule, a neighbourhood on the European bank of Istanbul once home to a vibrant community of musicians and artists whose rhythmic songs and belly dancing served as the city's musical heart.

Similar scenes have been repeated across the country as municipalities, supported by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), drive home a programme of urban renewal, destroying ramshackle and often unsanitary housing in favour of new tower blocks, often many kilometres (miles) outside localities.

But the demolition of Sulukule caused controversy as it razed an ancient community of Rom gypsies who can trace their history in the suburb back to Byzantine times.

City officials in the Fatih district, run by mayor Mustafa Demir from the AKP, estimate the project will relocate about 3,500 people from Sulukule -- 1,300 of them Roms -- and replace their old housing with fancy, wood-panelled "Ottoman style" buildings.
Posted by: Seafarious || 05/21/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Politix
Darth Cheney speaks out on keeping America safe
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 05/21/2009 15:13 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well over seven years into the effort, one thing we know is that the enemy has spent most of this time on the defensive - and every attempt to strike inside the United States has failed.

Game. Set. Match.
Barry better pray he can say the same thing when he leaves. We all better...
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/21/2009 16:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Our government prevented attacks and saved lives through the Terrorist Surveillance Program, which let us intercept calls and track contacts between al-Qaeda operatives and persons inside the United States. The program was top secret, and for good reason, until the editors of the New York Times got it and put it on the front page. After 9/11, the Times had spent months publishing the pictures and the stories of everyone killed by al-Qaeda on 9/11. Now here was that same newspaper publishing secrets in a way that could only help al-Qaeda. It impressed the Pulitzer committee, but it damn sure didn't serve the interests of our country, or the safety of our people.

That just had to leave a mark.



Posted by: Matt || 05/21/2009 17:35 Comments || Top||

#3  Really good to see him speaking out and people seem to be listening. His polls are up. All three cable news networks covered his speech today. Two of the cable news channels will try to trash him. Just means more watchers for Fox and less for them. The knife that is slitting their throats is being held by themselves.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 05/21/2009 17:37 Comments || Top||

#4  He was so straightforward, so calm, so on point that anyone who saw the speech had to be impressed/scared (hardcore leftists would be in the latter group).
Posted by: remoteman || 05/21/2009 18:14 Comments || Top||

#5  "Now here was that same newspaper publishing secrets in a way that could only help al-Qaeda. It impressed the Pulitzer committee, but it damn sure didn't serve the interests of our country, or the safety of our people."

The NY Slimes consideres that a feature, not a bug. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 05/21/2009 18:28 Comments || Top||

#6  NY Times: but, but the first amendment guarantees freedom of the press! It allows us to publish anything we want. It doesn't say anything about keeping America safe.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 05/21/2009 21:19 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
50[untagged]
3al-Qaeda
3TTP
2Govt of Pakistan
1al-Shabaab
1Iraqi Insurgency
1Taliban
1al-Qaeda in Europe

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

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

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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

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

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2009-05-21
  Iran tests long range missile
Wed 2009-05-20
  Army takes Sultanwas, kills 81; Mullah Fazlullah maybe titzup
Tue 2009-05-19
  Prabhakaran dead as a rock!!!!!
Mon 2009-05-18
  Norks to nullify Kaesong agreements
Sun 2009-05-17
  Tamil Tigers say they surrender
Sat 2009-05-16
  Sri Lanka president declares victory in civil war
Fri 2009-05-15
  60 Talibs killed in Swat
Thu 2009-05-14
  Morocco dismantles Salafiya Jihadiya cell
Wed 2009-05-13
   113 deaders, thousands flee Somalia festivities
Tue 2009-05-12
  Pak commandos dropped into Taliban stronghold
Mon 2009-05-11
  200 Taliban killed in Swat operation
Sun 2009-05-10
  Scores dead as drone hits S. Wazoo Mehsud stronghold
Sat 2009-05-09
  1.2 million people leave Buner, Swat other areas
Fri 2009-05-08
  Gilani orders all-out war on Pak Taliban
Thu 2009-05-07
  Sufi Mohammad's son killed in Lower Dir shelling

Better than the average link...



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.
174.129.93.231
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (18)    WoT Background (14)    Opinion (9)    (0)    Politix (9)