Farmers near Shrewsbury claim to have witnessed sheep being lasered' by unidentified light from UFOs.
They have linked the unexplained incidents, where sheep's brains and eyes were removed, to the mysterious orange lights in the sky. They have found sheep with neat holes' while their brains and other internal organs were removed. Other animals have lost eyes or had their flesh carefully stripped away', usually on the left side.
Phil Hoyle, 53, who has spent almost a decade investigating how the livestock have died, said the UFOs were found to have roamed a 50-mile "corridor" between Shrewsbury and Powys.
Mr Hoyle and 15 members of the Animal Pathology Field Unit, claimed they witnessed UFOs at work last month while working during the night at a Welsh hill farm near Radnor Forest.
The technology involved in these attacks is frightening,' he told The Sun.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/06/2010 17:35 ||
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#1
What? Nobody had a camera?
Crackerjack investigators you guys are...
Apparently the ACLU is too shocked to have done anything about it yet.
Exercise is good, everyone knows that. More exercise is better, everyone knows that, too. And tv is bad. The ACLU is more likely to demand that all televisions sold in poor communities have this kind of set-up.
PHOENIX -- Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is implementing a new inmate program at Tent City Jail called "Pedal Vision." The program uses inmate-powered cycles to generate electricity for televisions.
Reports say Arpaio's recent visit to Tent City inspired the idea, when he saw that many of the inmates were overweight.
The stationary bikes are customized so that as an inmate pedals, a connected television is powered once the cycle generates 12 volts of electricity. One hour of pedaling equals one hour of television viewing for the inmates, according to Arpaio.
Arpaio said the inmates will only be able to watch television in the television room if they choose to pedal.
"I started with the females because they seemed more receptive to the idea," Arpaio said. "The only exercise the females get right now is speed-walking around the tents yard and few are doing that. This gives them a reason to get moving and a way to burn up to 500 calories an hour. They won't be charged a monthly gym fee but they will have to sign a contract."
Sheriff Arpaio debuted the pilot program on April 1.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/06/2010 8:41 Comments ||
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#2
Moving the power requirement for non-essential use off the 'net' is so green. Karma for the the usual suspects. How could you be against going 'green'? /sarc
#3
I love it. These female inmates can watch Oprah if they can pedal fast enough. Losing weight while watching Oprah. And you can get all tingly up your leg at the same time.
#4
Though I have admired some of Sheriff Joe's actions and attitudes, apparently he's a power-mad crooked official that regularly abuses his authority for his own ends. Power corrupts etc. ...
Here's a good link with more info and links, written by someone who is closer to the reality on the ground.
#5
xbalanke: It's different for outsiders to understand, but there is "crazy", and there is also "Arizona crazy", which is a very different thing.
Put bluntly, if Arizona still executed by hanging, Joe would be doing a lot of hanging, and would probably be elected king of Arizona.
If UFO aliens landed here, they would be treated no differently than Mexican illegals, and would likely be sent to Nogales, instead of turned over to ICE, who would just let them go.
#6
Sheriff Joe needs a minder who can keep him within the limits of the law.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/06/2010 9:54 Comments ||
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#7
Sheriff Joe is a reminder to the governing elite that law, like government itself, is derived from the consent of the governed. Sheriff Joe is simply the active reflection of the passive side of government that chooses to 'look the other way' in regards what the words in print say is the law. If the other elements of government did their job rather than their personal choosing, Sheriff Joe wouldn't exist.
#11
I used too like sheriff Joe , but after the jailor stealing the attorneys papers in the middle of court incident last November he's letting alot of this go too his head.
Posted by: chris ||
04/06/2010 11:17 Comments ||
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#12
I want a set up like that for my couch potato kids.
#13
I like to think of Arpaio as a pressure release valve for the rest of the country. Locally we see how pampered our CRIMINALS are and its good to see that someone does not.
About two dozen women marched topless from Longfellow Square to Tommy's Park this afternoon in an effort to erase what they see as a double standard on male and female nudity. Yeah, everyone was seeing double that day.
The women, preceded and followed by several hundred boisterous and mostly male onlookers, many of them carrying cameras, stayed on the sidewalk because they hadn't obtained a demonstration permit to walk in the street. About a thousand people gathered as the march passed through Monument Square, a mix of demonstrators, supporters, onlookers and those just out enjoying a warm and sunny early-spring day. Watching the first annual Tit Parade.
After the marchers reached Tommy's Park in the Old Port, some turned around and walked back to Longfellow Square, but most stayed and mingled in the park. Some happily posed for pictures. And sold autographed jump-ropes.
Police said there were no incidents and no arrests nudity is illegal in Maine only if genitals are displayed. Hmm, maybe they could hold the next one in Alaska . . . .
Ty McDowell, who organized the march, said she was "enraged" by the turnout of men attracted to the demonstration. The purpose, she said, was for society to have the same reaction to a woman walking around topless as it does to men without shirts on. Your cause is doomed to failure because men don't have tits, Ty. But you're welcome to keep trying.
However, McDowell said she plans to organize similar demonstrations in the future and said she would be more "aggressive" in discouraging oglers. What a bunch of boobs.
#1
The problem with this is one of set theory. Very few members of the set of "women who look good topless" are also members of the set of "women who march in topless protests." On the other, er, hand, the members of the set of "women who march in topless protests" are almost always also members of the set of "women who should not go topless under any circumstances because--AIEEE! MY EYES! MY EYES!"
Posted by: Mike ||
04/06/2010 8:25 Comments ||
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#2
Your cause is doomed to failure because men don't have tits, Ty.
#3
in the immortal words of Selma Bouvier: "Damn that back fat"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/06/2010 9:06 Comments ||
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#4
I have no issue with this, or anyone going completely buck naked either. Just as long as there are dedicated "clothing optional" areas. Because when I'm eating lunch out in a park the last thing I want to see is a bunch of ugly fucks running around naked. You want to just be in your skivies, fine. Do it in the proper district and area, not where it ruins my BLT lunch.
#7
Hokay....have a topless protest, go out of your way to get attention for the event, and then get mad when some guy looks at your...um....talking points.
#8
men who go topless, Mike, are rarely a welcome sight either. But they do reveal some pretty impressive boobies at the beach and that beer belly is a real turn-on.
#9
So these women don't get arrested and put on the sexual offender list? I heard about a young guy who "streaked" as a prank and that did happen to him. I guess there wasn't anyone complaining in Portland.
What were they protesting again? Oh double standard. A kind of national silliness.
#10
Besoeker you still staying in GA?I was sitting in traffic in north GA on A BRIDGE THE OTHER DAY AND CAUGHT MYSELF WORRYING ABOUT THE WEIGHT LIMIT OF SAID BRIDGE.
Posted by: chris ||
04/06/2010 11:54 Comments ||
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#14
BFD. Big freakin deal. So its like the sixties all over again. A war is being waged and hippies are jockeying for attention with their headlights on.
#15
Reminds of the Breasts Not Bombs protest in (where else?) Berkeley a few years ago. The event came about 30 years too late for most of the participants and was yet another example of the triumph of time and gravity over politics.
#16
the funny thing is the laser hair removal ad that pops up with this article>>>>>
Posted by: chris ||
04/06/2010 15:19 Comments ||
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#17
I had to laugh at the guy wearing a box with pink balloons glued on the front of it. And yeah, most of those gals looked like refugees from a gourd festival.
Posted by: Jefferson ||
04/06/2010 15:43 Comments ||
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#18
What's the opposite of Viagra? That's what we got here.
A major earthquake of magnitude 7.8 shook the Indonesian island of Sumatra, the U.S. Geological Survey said on Tuesday. A local tsunami watch was in effect for Indonesia, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.
The quake was centered 127 miles (204 km) west-northwest of Sibolga, Indonesia, and was at a depth of 28.6 miles (46 km), the USGS said.
#1
hmmmm..we're kinda busy. Let the Arab League do the humanitarian effort
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/06/2010 19:06 Comments ||
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#2
Here on Guam I'd observed yet anuther giant sky lightball in the sky, in the strategic direction/vector towards Malaysia-Indonesia. + HEARD LOUD RUMBLING BUT DID NOT FEEL ANY AREA GROUND SHAKES = MOTIONS.
Lest we fergit, YEAR 2012 > "QUAKE HEARD/FELT AROUND THE WORLD" [universal quake]???
#3
You know, maybe Deepak is on to something [in the story below this one]. Now that I think about it, this Indonesian quake happened right after I got pissed off at a guy who cut me off in traffic. And he looked like he could have been Sumatran as well. Sure, why not?
The U.S. Geological Survey is blaming day-to-day seismological changes for Sunday's 7.2 earthquake along the U.S.-Mexico border. But Deepak Chopra, the famed alternative-medicine practitioner and transcendental meditation guru, is pretty sure he knows what really happened.
"Had a powerful meditation just now -- caused an earthquake in Southern California," Chopra wrote to his nearly 179,000 Twitter followers shortly after the quake. And then, to clarify: "Was meditating on Shiva mantra & earth began to shake," he tweeted. "Sorry about that."... Me, I think that claim's a little, uh, shaky.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/06/2010 11:24 ||
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#1
Just do not think about Yellowstone......
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/06/2010 11:38 Comments ||
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[Straits Times] A STRONG 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck northern Indonesian waters on Monday but there were no reports of damage and no tsunami warning was issued, geologists said.
The quake struck below the sea about 218 km south of Manado, Sulawesi island, just after 5pm (1000 GMT, 6pm Singapore time), according to the US Geological Survey website.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre did not issue a warning.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Is the planet still ringing like a bell from the big undersea earthquake that caused the tsunami that cleared the shores of Indonesia a few years ago?
The new U.S.-Russian arms control treaty is a much better deal for Russia than its predecessor, but Moscow reserves the right to withdraw from it if a planned U.S. missile defense system grows into a threat, Russia's foreign minister said Tuesday.
Sergey Lavrov said Russia will issue a statement outlining the terms for such a withdrawal after President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sign the treaty Thursday in Prague. The new accord replaces the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START I, which expired in December.
Lavrov has said before that Russia could withdraw from the treaty. But his comments at a briefing Tuesday were his most specific yet on how and why a withdrawal could occur.
"Russia will have the right to opt out of the treaty if ... the U.S. strategic missile defense begins to significantly affect the efficiency of Russian strategic nuclear forces," he said.
Moscow welcomed Obama's decision to scrap the previous administration's plans for missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic, but expressed concern about plans for a revamped shield, including a possible facility in Romania.
Lavrov said the site in Romania poses no immediate threat, but Russia could opt out of the new treaty if U.S. missile interceptors become capable of intercepting Russia's strategic missiles.
"We have noted that the U.S. system won't have a strategic capacity in its early stages," he said. "We shall see what will happen next. When and if this system gets a strategic capacity, we shall see whether it creates risks for our strategic nuclear forces."
The talks on a START successor had dragged on for nearly a year. They were stymied most recently by Russia's demand for an explicit link between strategic arms cuts and development of the U.S. missile defense system. The U.S. Senate, however, has opposed any restrictions on the shield.
Moscow eventually agreed to have just a general statement noting a link between strategic offensive and defensive weapons. U.S. officials said the wording imposes no constraints on missile defense.
Lavrov said the new agreement will be the first arms-control treaty to make the parties fully equal. He said Russia shares Obama's goal of a nuclear-free world, but said other nations must join the disarmament process, as well.
#1
Why would they? The Russians already outnumber us 2:1 in nukes.
Posted by: ed ||
04/06/2010 17:40 Comments ||
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#2
CNN + FOX NEWS > the latent danger lies not only in the USA NOT responding to any major MWD Terror strike, or even a Country-specific direct mil attack, but also in the USA INTENTIONALLY SLOWING DOWN ANY MODERNIZATION OF ITS REMAINING NUCLEAR ARSENAL, I.E. ALLOWING OTHER NATIONS TO ACHIEVE PARITY + USA BECOM DEPENDENT ON THEM FOR OUR OWN STRATEGIC, GEOPOL SECURITY + MIL DEFENSE???
Lest we fergit, as per the MSM-Net the above may occur when the USA IS REPOR FACING DECADES + GENERATIONS OF ECON TROUBLES VEE GLOBAL RECESSION-DEPRESSION GREATER AND LONGER THAN 1929???
GWOT > WW1, WW2 followed by 1929 + GREAT DEPRESSION, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND???
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Even though he was almost a member of the new Obama administration, New Hampshire Republican Judd Gregg Sunday slammed President Obama's approach to handling the country's fiscal outlook.
Gregg, known as one of the keenest fiscal minds on Capitol Hill, also told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King that he thought it was "almost unconscionable" for the White House to continue with its planned course on fiscal matters with unprecedented actual and projected budget deficits in the coming years.
"It is as if you were flying an airplane and the gas light came on and it said 'you 15 minutes of gas left' and the pilot said 'we're not going to worry about that, we're going to fly for another two hours.' Well, the plane crashes and our country will crash and we'll pass on to our kids a country that's not affordable."
Despite his criticism of Obama's approach to the long-term finances of the country, Gregg praised how Obama's top economic lieutenants are trying to get the sick banking system back to health.
"They're doing the right things," Gregg said about embattled Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House economic adviser Larry Summers. "They haven't done it as definitely as they should have . . . but they are moving in the right direction and the Fed is moving in the right direction," Gregg said on CNN's State of the Union.
Gregg broke ranks with some of his fellow Republicans and said he did not think Geithner should step down from his Cabinet post.
On the recent scandal of more than $150 million in bonuses paid to the AIG employees whose work pushed the financial giant to the brink of collapse, Gregg criticized the plan afoot on Capitol Hill to tax those bonuses at very high rates. But, Gregg pointed out that the Obama administration and, to some extent, the Bush administration before it failed to "discipline" the bonuses paid out by AIG, which is now 80 percent owned by the federal government.
The Republican senator was appointed to be Obama's Commerce Secretary but then bowed out unexpectedly, citing policy differences with the Democratic administration.
"The practical implications of this is bankruptcy for the United States," Gregg said of the Obama's administration's recently released budget blueprint. "There's no other way around it. If we maintain the proposals that are in this budget over the ten-year period that this budget covers, this country will go bankrupt. People will not buy our debt, our dollar will become devalued. It is a very severe situation."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2010 11:27 Comments ||
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#5
Sen. Gregg is a day late and a dollar short with his brilliant insight. This Congress has systematically destroyed this economy and its currency. Too bad there is no accountability for congress.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/06/2010 11:37 Comments ||
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#6
Problems will strike at the state & local level first: April 5 (Bloomberg) -- Los Angeles will run out of cash on May 5, city Controller Wendy Greuel said today in a release in which she requested a $90 million transfer of reserve funds to pay bills.
[Al Arabiya Latest] An Istanbul court ordered on Sunday the re-arrest of 19 serving and retired military officers charged over an alleged plot to overthrow the government, according to media reports. Among the 19, who were freed from detention on Thursday pending trial, were retired four-star general Cetin Dogan, the former head of Turkey's First Army, and Lt. Gen. Engin Alan, a former special forces commander.
The suspects were among 70 serving and retired soldiers rounded up in February over an alleged 2003 plot to overthrow the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP). Forty of the suspects were eventually remanded in custody.
After prosecutors in charge of the investigation appealed against their release, a court on Sunday decided to issue arrest warrants against the suspects, the Anatolia news agency reported.
General Dogan went into a military hospital after his release and is due to have a hernia operation next week.
The court also issued arrest warrants against two other suspects -- a general and an admiral -- who were released pending trial after giving testimony last week, the NTV news channel said.
The unprecedented investigation of the Turkish army has seen prosecutors accused of issuing arrest rulings liberally and effectively punishing suspects before the charges have been proved in court.
The alleged plot -- codenamed "Operation Sledgehammer" -- reportedly involved plans to bomb mosques and provoke tensions with Greece, thus sparking political chaos and justifying a military takeover.
Dogan has denied the charges, claiming that papers from a contingency plan based on a scenario of domestic unrest had been doctored to look like a coup plot.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] When Turkey's family affairs minister recently described homosexuality as a curable disease, she was roundly criticized for discrimination and flouting human rights. But for activists her remarks only underscore what they say is increasing prejudice, discrimination and violence -- even from police -- against homosexuals and transgender people in this Muslim-majority country stuck between its conservative roots and flourishing modernism.
And heading backwards as quickly as the government can manage.
A total of 45 gays and transgender people were killed over three years in "hate murders", said Demet Demir, a transsexual and leading activist from Istanbul-LGBTT, a civic body promoting homosexual rights.
"In February alone, five people were killed. In Antalya (southern Turkey), a transsexual friend was brutally murdered; her throat was slit. In Istanbul, another was stabbed to death. Three young men... killed her for money, but she only had 70 liras ($46 dollars, 34) and a gold chain," Demir said, adding that three gay men had also been killed in Anatolia.
The violence comes against a backdrop of clashing values in this secular democracy that is vying to join the European Union. Unlike other Muslim countries, same-sex relationships have never been criminalized in Turkey. Prostitution and sex change operations are legal.
Several gay and transgender bars have flourished in major cities such as Istanbul, while a transsexual singer and homosexuals figure among the country's top celebrities. There are also several associations fighting for gay and transgender rights that organize regular conferences, parades and demonstrations.
But at the same time, traditional Islamic values hold sway over large sections of this macho society, which frowns upon displays of femininity.
Discrimination is rife: transgender people are forced to work in the sex sector as nobody will employ them while homosexuals feel they have to hide their sexual identity so as not to risk losing their jobs. Last year, for example, a football referee came out on television, only to see his refereeing license revoked.
The Turkish army classifies homosexuality as a "disease" while police are notoriously harsh against transsexuals.
"Just yesterday, police raided the flat where we meet our clients, breaking down the door," Ece, a 43-year-old transsexual, said. "They arrested everyone and beat one of the girls with a truncheon. She had to have three stitches to her head," she added.
Although the Islamist-rooted government has enacted a series of rights reforms to boost the country's EU bid since it came to power in 2002, it has turned a blind eye to homosexual rights.
In March, Family Affairs and Women's Minister Selma Aliye Kavaf declared in a newspaper interview that she believed homosexuality was a "biological disorder, a disease."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2010 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Turkish police have detained 86 more suspects as part of a probe into an alleged 2003 plot to topple the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
On Monday, the suspects, most of them serving soldiers, were rounded up in Istanbul, Ankara and a dozen other provinces in the third wave of arrests since the investigation was launched in February, NTV television reported.
Seventy of detainees were serving in the armed forces. One of them was a retired general, Anatolia news agency reported.
The alleged plot, codenamed 'Operation Sledgehammer', was reportedly drawn up in 2003, shortly after the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power amid fears it would undermine Turkey's secular system.
The plot reportedly involved plans to bomb mosques and provoke tension with Greece, thus sparking political chaos and justifying a military takeover.
In an unprecedented action targeting Turkey's influential army, police initially detained about 70 serving and retired officers, among them the former chiefs of Turkey's navy and air force.
The alleged plot was first reported in January by The Taraf newspaper, which routinely targets the army.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2010 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Ukraine's newly-inaugurated President Viktor Yanukovych has reportedly revoked a 2006 executive order for eventual NATO membership, a sore point in relations with neighboring Russia. "No, thanks. We'd rather be in the Soviet orbit."
It was a cold winter. Colder because of the threat of random natural gas shut-offs by Russia.
Russian media reports said that the president signed a decree dissolving a government commission tasked with preparing the country for NATO ascension.
The president, who was inaugurated in February, spent Easter Monday in Moscow in his second trip to the country in a month. Both governments said the visit was private but could include talks with Medvedev on gas transit and bilateral ties.
"These will be purely personal Easter meetings. Possibly, an Easter lunch, a friendly talk," Yanukovych's deputy chief of staff Anna German was quoted by AFP as saying.
Yanukovych, who seems keen on restoring good relations with Russia, says Moscow is a natural ally and that it is imperative that Ukraine maintain the best relations with Kremlin.
His predecessor, Viktor Yushchenko, was an outspoken supporter of Ukraine's NATO membership and even compared its importance as "synonymous" to the country's independence.
Russia says that Kiev's NATO participation would directly threaten its national security and has warned the alliance against eastern expansion in ex-Soviet states.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Good luck wid that VIKTOR, + VLADMEDEV/VLADIMI too.
To wit,
TIMES OF INDJUH [India] > BEGINNINGS OF JIHAD IN THE HEART OF RUSSIA?
and
VARIOUS MSM-NET > AL QAEDA, TALIBAN, andor LeT, etal. the scope of the AFPAK INSURGENCIES has expanded outside of same into CENTRAL ASIA + RUSS CAUCASUS + BEYOND.....@ STRATEGIC FRONTS.
What used to be labeled or described in the COLD WAR as [Soviets-Commie Bloc] "ATTACKING WHERE THE US/US-NATO ARE NOT".
Justice John Paul Stevens is expected to announce by month's end whether he will retire from the Supreme Court, sources close to him tell CNN. His departure after nearly 35 years on the bench would give President Obama another opportunity to shape the nation's highest court.
Stevens, who turns 90 on April 20, has told colleagues he wants to decide soon -- for his own peace of mind -- but also to give the White House time to select a replacement and for the Senate to confirm the nominee.
He was not on the bench for a brief public session Monday; the court will hold its next public session in two weeks.
Sources close to him suggest he could announce something during this two-week recess, or shortly after the high court's oral arguments end for the term April 28. As of late last month, Stevens had not formally made up his mind, the sources said.
Those sources asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to speak for Stevens, who himself has only hinted at his future.
CNN Senior Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin, who interviewed the media-shy justice in early March, is convinced he will leave the court this year. "The fact that he's given interviews to me and others, which is also very out of character for him, suggests that this is part of a leave-taking operation," Toobin said.
But several close friends suggest Stevens may wish to stay for another year, and several former law clerks have privately encouraged him to do just that.
Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pennsylvania, a member of the Judiciary Committee that would hold confirmation hearings for any replacement, urged Stevens to delay his exit.
"I think the gridlock in the Senate might well produce a filibuster, which would tie up the Senate on a Supreme Court nominee," Specter told Fox News Sunday. "I think if a year passes, there's a much better chance we can come to a consensus."
Speculation over Stevens has increased since he confirmed last fall he had hired only one law clerk for the next court term, which begins in October. Sitting justices can hire four law clerks, while retired members only get one.
The White House has quietly but actively prepared for weeks in anticipation of a vacancy, government sources told CNN. Top officials have no specific information that Stevens or even another justice will retire after the court's session ends in late June, but want to be ready, those sources emphasized.
Obama nominated Justice Sonia Sotomayor last year, putting the first Hispanic on the court. Democrats cited that choice as a uniting force among progressives, saying it gave the president a signature moment in his first year in office. White House officials privately express hope another high-profile nomination would build political momentum in an election year.
"There isn't an immediate candidate who could give them just as much the second go-around," said Thomas Goldstein, a prominent Washington lawyer and founder of Scotusblog online. "There isn't a candidate who has Justice Sotomayor's personal history and also her ethnic background. But I think that the model for the administration is probably the same -- get someone in there who doesn't generate a lot of political heat against you and is a relatively easy person to confirm."
Some Senate Republicans certainly hope that will be the strategy.
"I think the president will nominate a qualified person. I hope, however, he does not nominate an overly ideological person," said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Arizona, another member of the Judiciary Committee, told Fox News on Sunday. "That will be the test. And if he doesn't nominate someone who is overly ideological, you may see Republicans vote against the nominee, but you won't see them engage in a filibuster."
Government sources say three candidates top the current, informal list of possibles at this very early stage:
Judge Diane Wood, 59, of the Illinois-based 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Many administration insiders believe this Texas native would be a strong intellectual force on the high court, where the newly emboldened conservative justices have achieved recent victories on campaign finance reform and gun rights.
Solicitor General Elena Kagan, 49, who has no judicial experience but has impressed the White House with her skill arguing a range of important cases before the Supreme Court as the government's top appellate attorney.
Judge Merrick Garland, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The 57-year-old Chicago, Illinois, native is considered more moderate than other leading candidates, and his confirmation could be considered a relative breeze.
All three were among nine finalists last year for the seat that went to Sotomayor, said sources with knowledge of the process. She, Wood and Kagan were personally interviewed for the job by the president, they said. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano also met privately with Obama last May, and remains in the mix, sources said.
Other possible contenders could be Cass Sunstein, 55, an old law school associate of Obama and head of a key White House agency; and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, 53, a longtime friend of the president. Patrick is favored by some insiders but is seeking re-election this fall to his current job.
It took about 26 days for Obama to announce his selection of Sotomayor, but officials hint the president may be prepared to move much faster if Stevens steps aside.
Cynthia Hogan, Vice President Joe Biden's chief counsel, headed the day-to-day vetting and confirmation process for Sotomayor, and government sources say she would be likely to play the lead role again. Obama's new White House counsel, Bob Bauer, also would be likely to serve a key liaison role, given his long political experience working as an adviser to several Democratic lawmakers.
One source said if Stevens were to retire, there would be less political pressure on Obama to name another woman to the court. Justice David Souter's exit led to universal agreement inside the White House that a woman should join Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, then the lone female on the court.
Many advocacy groups believe there will be a high court vacancy this year, and have already sounded the alarm on the political and social stakes.
"If in fact Justice Stevens is stepping down, he's been a major strategist and tactician on the court," said Nan Aron, president of the left-leaning Alliance for Justice. "The president should start putting together a list of names of individuals who can begin to change the conversation on the court and assert a leadership role."
Aron cited Wood as someone with a long record of taking strong stands on a variety of key issues.
On the right, many observers seem confident that in an election year filled with several legislative challenges, Obama could have a hard time choosing a high court nominee with a clear liberal portfolio.
"The burden of proof is clearly on the White House with any future Supreme Court nominations," said Gary Marx, executive director of the Virginia-based Judicial Crisis Network. "It was assumed on the last go-around that it would be more of a rubber stamp," with Sotomayor winning easy confirmation. "But we're in an entirely new world politically. Obama, I think, wants to take a more aggressive posture, and continue to appeal to his liberal base with the next court nominee, but the Democratic Senate may decide it's not in their best interest to hitch their wagon to the president."
One legal source who was deeply involved in the vetting process for Sotomayor cautioned against Obama picking what was termed a "liberal [Antonin] Scalia," saying, "it could derail the president's entire agenda, by picking a fight over ideology. Very much in line with his philosophy of picking qualified, thoughtful judges, the president was extremely successful naming Judge Sotomayor last year. I'd expect him to follow that same path if we get something this year."
One sign of encouragement for Democrats was the president's strong tone dressing down high court conservatives in his recent State of the Union address. Obama criticized the majority's ruling giving corporations greater power to spend their money in federal elections, causing Justice Samuel Alito, sitting in the audience, to shake his head and mouth words interpreted as "not true."
#2
The Senate has an advice and consent role in the appointment and approval of SCOTUS appointees. A simply majority is required to approve an appointee by the Senate.
The Republicans now have 41 votes in the Senate. Even though Pubs can't stop a simple majority vote, do they have enough votes for a filibuster; thus slowing down the process?
#3
It is interesting that the conservative justices always emphasize supporting the constitution, but the liberal justices are far more determined that their "seat" remain a liberal one, and specifically for their "kind" of liberal.
This is why the left were so bitterly opposed to Clarence Thomas, because he "took away" the "liberal black seat" previously held by Thurgood Marshall.
Ruth Bader Ginsberg has decided that her seat is now the "liberal Jewish seat", so will refuse to retire until she gets a guarantee to be replaced by another liberal Jew.
Sonia Sotomayor probably assumes that hers is the "liberal Hispanic seat", but that's a tricky one, as she is Puerto Rican, and most Hispanics in the US are Mexicans, and different Hispanic groups do not associate with each other.
Obama will be torn between this "identity politics" and appointing what the Chicago machine want. On his own, he would want only the most radical leftist he could find, hopefully black. But the machine, and the rest of the party, have their own ideas as to what identity group they want to back.
Meanwhile, the Republicans are just limited to finding justices that back the constitution.
NEW DELHI: As Pakistan drums up officially-sponsored hysteria on the "water dispute" with India, the government believes Islamabad is giving political overtones to "technical" issues.
On Saturday, Sharat Sabharwal, Indian envoy to Pakistan, described Islamabad's attempts to paint a picture of India as a water thief as "preposterous and completely unwarranted".
Even though Pakistan submitted a "non-paper" to India during the foreign secretary talks in February, Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was quoted as telling TV interviewers on Friday that it wasn't India stealing Pakistan's water but Pakistan was wasting its water.
"The total average canal supplies of Pakistan are 104 million acres/ft. And the water available at the farm gate is about 70 million acre/ft. Where does the 34 million acre/ft go? It's not being stolen in India. It's being wasted in Pakistan," Qureshi is reported to have said in an interview.
In fact, in an interview on March 16, Pakistan PM Yousuf Raza Gilani contradicted his own government's contention that India's "water theft" was adversely affecting its crops. "When I took over as prime minister, there was shortage of wheat, Now there is a surplus. There is so much surplus that we had to construct new storage for our strategic reserves," he said.
Sabharwal quoted Pakistan's own documents to say that it lets 38 million acre feet (MAF) of water flow into the sea, and that too, during the kharif crop season. Pakistan has, in its internal strategies, bemoaned the lack of its own storage capabilities and the lack of hydropower generation capabilities.
According to World Bank, Pakistan has only 150 cubic metres water storage capacity as against 5,000 cubic metres in US and Australia and 2,200 cubic metres in China. With the appalling lack of storage capacities in Pakistan, World Bank estimated that its water shortfall would increase by about 12% in the next decade. Sabharwal noted that this had nothing to do with India but was a more fundamental question of mismanagement of scarce resources by Pakistan.
"Water productivity in Pakistan remains low... crop yields are much lower than international benchmarks. India has nothing to do with these issues of water management that are internal to Pakistan. Only Pakistan can seek solutions to these matters," Sabharwal said.
"We have never hindered water flows to which Pakistan is entitled, not even during the wars of 1965 and 1971... those who allege that India is acquiring the capacity to withhold Pakistan's share of water completely ignore the fact that this would require storage and canal network on a large scale. Such a network simply does not exist," he added.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/06/2010 13:55 ||
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No other upper riparian has given up all rights to use three entire rivers to the lower riparian. No other upper riparian has allocated 80% of water to the lower riparian.
This type of generosity shown by India in the Indus Waters Treaty is unprecedented. Nehru believed it would buy Pakistani goodwill.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/06/2010 13:59 Comments ||
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PATNA, India Maoist rebels launched a series of devastating attacks Tuesday on government forces patrolling the forests of eastern India, killing at least 75 troops in the deadliest strike against the state in the 43-year insurgency.
The attack, which came amid a major Indian offensive aimed at crushing the Maoists, also known as Naxalites, fueled concerns the government is sending poorly trained forces to the front lines to battle the raging insurgency.
Posted by: ed ||
04/06/2010 09:29 ||
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Some of these paramilitary police are quite poorly equipped. The ones killed last month had no defensive perimeters at their camp and were caught making dinner.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/06/2010 9:50 Comments ||
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Other sources indic Indian casualties may be high as 84 CRPF armed policemen killed, another 50-plus wounded or missing/captured. The majority of same may had been killed by IEDS includ a possible 20-kilogram yield IED which took out their Mine-Resistant Police Vehicle via remore detonation - the rest by LIGHT MACH GUN [LMGS] fire???
Seven repor CRPF Survivors.
* BHARAT RAKSHAK > [Maoist] CADRES FROM ANDHRA-PRADESH MAY HAD PLANNED CHATTISGARH AMBUSH.
SAME > ACTVISTS BLAME GOVT. OPERATIONS + MAOSTS IN MODI LAND; + NO MEDICAL EVACUATION PLAN FOR PARAMILITARY FORCES. Read, Indian AF-Army Helo Rapid Response + MASH [ALAN ALDAS], etc.
* WMF > THE INDIAN CIVIL WAR HAS BEGUN: INDIAN MAOISTS DECLARE ALL-OUT WAR AGZ MAIN NEW DELHI GOVT WID DEADLY POLICE AMBUSH, SERIES OF ATTACKS ACROSS INDIA.
SIERRA VISTA — Parts of Cochise County will be used for a major Air Force exercise later this month, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base's Angel Thunder 2010.
Southern Arizona's terrain lends itself to meeting the goals of the exercise, which will bring in personnel from a number of nations, Staff Sgt. Jacob Richmond said.
Along with American forces, others involved in the event will be coming from Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, said Richmond of the Davis-Monthan 355th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
Office.
Additionally, a number of different aircraft, from fixed winged to helicopters, will be involved, he said.
The Air Combat Command's annual personnel recovery and combat search and rescue exercise will take place between April 12 and 23, the spokesman said.
The exercise will be headquartered at Davis-Monthan, where in 2006 Angle Thunder began as a local endeavor, with major operations including heavy flying beginning on April 14, Richmond noted.
Although the headquarters for the event is at the Tucson air base, operations in other southern Arizona and New Mexico areas will take place, he added.
Angel Thunder is designed to simulate a comprehensive government response to isolated citizens and is the world's largest personnel recovery exercise integrating other services, state, national and multinational assets, Richmond noted.
Besides the foreign personnel, those participating will include people from the Army, National Reconnaissance Office, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Justice Department, Joint Forces Command, Southern Command, Special Operations Command and other federal agencies, according to the operations plans.
Cochise County Sheriff's Office has been notified of the planned exercise, which includes use of the Bisbee-Douglas International Airport, spokeswoman Carol Capas said.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Jordan's former finance minister has gone on trial in a corruption scandal that has rocked Jordan's political establishment.
On Monday, a military prosecutor accused Adel Qudah of receiving bribes and exploiting a public position for personal gain.
Qudah, a member of Jordan's political old guard, is the first senior government official to answer corruption charges in a country, where detention of top figures is rare.
Mohammed Rawashdeh, a senior economic adviser to the prime minister, and Ahmad Rifai, former head of the country's sole refinery, were also accused of receiving bribes and exploiting a public position for personal gains.
Khaled Shaheen, ranked as one of the country's wealthiest businessmen, was accused of "offering bribes and encouraging public officials to abuse their posts."
Prosecutors say during his tenure as the government-appointed chairman of the Jordan Petroleum Refinery, Qudah has received kickbacks by giving Shaheen's company an exclusivity deal to undertake a one-billion-dollar project to expand the country's sole refinery.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2010 00:00 ||
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And the Iranians oughta know - they corrupted him.
A federal appeals court has ruled that the Federal Communications Commission lacks the authority to require broadband providers to give equal treatment to all Internet traffic flowing over their networks.
Tuesday's ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia is a big victory for Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable company. It had challenged the FCC's authority to impose so called "net neutrality" obligations.
It marks a serious setback for the FCC, which needs authority to regulate the Internet in order to push ahead with key parts of its massive national broadband plan.
#1
This is a big win for the forces of good. It likely puts the kibosh on the US government requiring ISPs to monitor users for copyright violations, or the equivalent of an "Internet Fairness Doctrine", which would shut down thousands of conservative Internet sites.
Hopefully it also kills the downright evil ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) secret treaty between the US, European and Asian powers:
[The draft ACTA treaty] would require ISPs to police user-generated content, to cut off Internet access for copyright violators, and to remove content that is accused of copyright violation without any proof of actual violation.
"ACTA also completely prohibits DRM workarounds, even for archiving or retrieving ones own work.
"As it stands, Internet users around the world would be headed for a new regime of IP enforcement a culture of invasive searches, minimal privacy, guilt until innocence is proven, and measures that would kill our normative behaviors of file-sharing, free software, media downloading, creative remixing, and even certain civil liberties.
[Straits Times] JUBILANT red-shirted Thai protesters vowed on Monday to keep up their efforts to overthrow the government after a court declined to issue a legal order to evict them from Bangkok's tourist hub.
Tens of thousands of supporters of fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra paralysed the capital's main shopping and luxury hotel district for a third day and also briefly stormed the offices of the election commission.
Loud cheers rang out among the Red Shirts after a Bangkok court dismissed the government's request for an injunction to force the protesters out of the tourist district, where they have halted traffic and caused stores to close. They are demanding immediate elections, accusing Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's government of being undemocratic because it took office in 2008 through a parliamentary vote after a court stripped Thaksin's allies of power.
'It's clear that Abhisit cannot do everything in Thailand,' Reds leader Jatuporn Prompan told the cheering crowd. 'Our demonstration is constitutional and we will continue to press for House dissolution to return power to people,' he said.
But it was not a clear-cut victory for the protesters because the court also said that the government already had power to evict the Reds under a tough emergency security law, so a legal injunction was not necessary. The government has already announced a ban of the mass rally in the tourist heartland but had sought the backing of the judiciary to evict the protesters.
The authorities said they would continue to press the Reds - mostly from the country's rural north - to leave the area, but added they wanted a peaceful end to the standoff.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2010 00:00 ||
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#9
...keep us updated on Barry's nose candy habit please.
It is just my opinion B, I can prove it definitively but I'd bet money on it. Even more off topic for this thread...maybe not. Here is a link to a short youtube video where Michelle O, states that Kenya is Barry's homeland.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
04/06/2010 20:14 Comments ||
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What Besoeker said. The alternation between euphoria and irritation is telling. Please keep on the trail, Asian Man, and report further signs when you spot 'em.
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.
Farmers near Shrewsbury claim to have witnessed sheep being lasered' by unidentified light from UFOs.
Phil Hoyle, 53, who has spent almost a decade investigating how the livestock have died, said the UFOs were found to have roamed a 50-mile "corridor" between Shrewsbury and Powys.
About two dozen women marched topless from Longfellow Square to Tommy's Park this afternoon in an effort to erase what they see as a double standard on male and female nudity.
A major earthquake of magnitude 7.8 shook the Indonesian island of Sumatra, the U.S. Geological Survey said on Tuesday. A local tsunami watch was in effect for Indonesia, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.
