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The United States of America vs. The State of Arizona; and Janice K. Brewer
Today's Headlines
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Manson follower faces parole board for 19th time
Leslie Van Houten, the one-time Charles Manson follower long seen as the most likely of his ex-acolytes to win freedom someday, faces her 19th parole hearing on Tuesday with a new lawyer and new case law which may give her the best chance yet for release.

Even if there is a finding of suitability for parole at the hearing, freedom would not be immediate. The entire state parole board would review the decision within 120 days and it would then be submitted to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for a final ruling.

Van Houten, 60, remains incarcerated at the California Institution for Women at Frontera, the same prison where another Manson follower, Patricia Krenwinkle, is imprisoned. Susan Atkins, the third woman convicted of murder in the crimes directed by cult leader Manson, died in prison last year after parole officials denied her dying request for freedom.

Van Houten last appeared before a parole board in 2007. Her chances for parole are enhanced by the fact that she has been discipline free since her incarceration in the early 1970s, has positive psychological reports and has been active in self-help groups at the prison including "Golden Girls," a group for elderly women inmates.

She has a new lawyer, Brandie Devall, who told The Associated Press she will refer to rulings by the California Supreme Court in 2008 and 2009 affecting standards for parole.

Most significant is the case of Sandra Lawrence, a convicted murderer who was paroled after 23 years in prison after the court held that to refuse parole there must be evidence that a prisoner is currently a danger to public safety. The court said the board could not base a refusal only on the details of the crime committed by the inmate long ago.
Posted by: Fred || 07/06/2010 13:06 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Are her victims alive yet?

See you next time.
Posted by: gorb || 07/06/2010 21:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Hey, like the death penalty opponents say..."life means life". And, being morally superior, they wouldn't lie. Right?
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/06/2010 21:12 Comments || Top||

#3  The court said the board could not base a refusal only on the details of the crime committed by the inmate long ago.

Yeah, 'cuz locking someone up just because they committed some utterly heinous crime is like mean and stuff. /me rolls eyes.
Posted by: SteveS || 07/06/2010 23:42 Comments || Top||


Photos of Next Gen Narco Sub
Posted by: 3dc || 07/06/2010 09:25 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Illicit submarine technology will continue to improve until someone decides to change the risk/reward equation for these drug runners.

Depth charges?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 07/06/2010 11:45 Comments || Top||

#2  For those interested, go Here.

5 part video. In Spanish w/ subtitles.
Posted by: logi_cal || 07/06/2010 21:57 Comments || Top||

#3  E U - it's made of fiberglass, and when they mention, "submerge" I suspect it means just below sea level.

Seems like a waste of depth charges, when ma deuce perforation drainage would do the trick.
Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division || 07/06/2010 22:01 Comments || Top||

#4  More pics of the sub & site here.

Vid I linked to previously was combined into one video...I think it was about 15 min long in total.
Posted by: logi_cal || 07/06/2010 22:30 Comments || Top||

#5  Riding on a real submarine makes me nervous. Boarding a homemade one is out of the question. There must be at least ten Beta versions lying on the bottom. Save the depth charges, drive a large ship up next to them and the bow wave will take care of business.
Posted by: Super Hose || 07/06/2010 23:28 Comments || Top||


Indonesia to charge 8 over celebrity sex tape
[Al Arabiya Latest] Indonesian police said Monday they would charge eight suspects over a celebrity sex video scandal that has gripped the mainly Muslim nation and fuelled calls for Internet controls.

Chief detective Ito Sumardi refused to name the suspects but said they did not include models and television personalities Luna Maya, 26, and Cut Tari, 32, who allegedly appear in the videos with rock star Nazril Ariel, 28.

Ariel, the singer with local pop band Peterpan, has already been charged with breaches of the anti-pornography law and remains in police custody awaiting trial.


Sumardi said the eight other suspects had uploaded the two explicit videos to the Internet, sparking a national scandal.

"They'll be charged under the electronic information and transactions law for an illegal distribution," Ito Sumardi said, meaning they each could face up to six years in jail and a fine of a billion rupiah ($110,000).

"The investigation is ongoing. There may have been others," he added.

Ariel was arrested on June 22 but Maya and Tari remain free pending investigations.
Posted by: Fred || 07/06/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Chrysler Ad an Appeal to the Tea Party?
Chrysler won the ire of the Tea Party movement when it borrowed billions of dollars from the federal government, but it may be trying to win the Tea Partiers back with a new ad that largely borrows from the movement's themes.

An ad called "Freedom" for the Dodge Challenger depicts an impending battle in the Revolutionary War. The Redcoats are ready, muskets poised, to take on enemy troops, when three Dodge Challengers zoom toward them, large American flags flying out the window. George Washington is behind the wheel of one of the cars. The Redcoats go running.

"Here's a couple of things America got right," a narrator says. "Cars -- and freedom."
I saw that commercial. It was massively, condescendingly, utterly stoopid. I was seriously offended. I'll buy a Ford if I ever buy another car.
The Washington Post contends the ad, which first aired during the World Cup, is part of a trend in which companies are appealing to the current anti-establishment mood gripping the country, especially Tea Partiers. "People who are closely identified with the Tea Party movement feel very much this sense of betrayal," J. Walker Smith, executive vice president of the Futures Company, a market research firm, told the Post. "They feel very much betrayed by a lot of the institutions and people they have invested their trust in. This creates a situation for a lot of companies as they try to navigate how best to appeal to consumers in this environment."
Posted by: Fred || 07/06/2010 13:17 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Chrysler still makes cars?
Posted by: Mitch H. || 07/06/2010 14:44 Comments || Top||

#2  "They feel very much betrayed by a lot of the institutions and people they have invested their trust in."

Including Chrysler. These clowns must think we're idiots. WHEN I need another car (which I will eventually), I'll get another Honda.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 07/06/2010 14:53 Comments || Top||

#3  I'd threaten to buy a Ford, too, but Chrysler already knows they'll never see another dime from me.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/06/2010 15:56 Comments || Top||

#4  Pretty much a FAIL in my book. They should have had the freedom to tank.
Posted by: miscellaneous || 07/06/2010 16:00 Comments || Top||

#5  F-150! Drink up!
Posted by: Frank G || 07/06/2010 17:17 Comments || Top||

#6  At least the Poms got it right. They ran AWAY from the Chryslers.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/06/2010 17:39 Comments || Top||

#7  ...freedom to fail, right? Jeep commercial is irritating to me as well. The fact those commercials went through a committee and were approved tells me all I need to know.

There have been a whole series of commercials featuring 4th ring actors dressed in garb and being called by a famous founder's name. They can all go stick it in their nose cuz I ain't buying anymore.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 07/06/2010 17:56 Comments || Top||

#8  Who knew Glen Beck was a marketing genius?
Posted by: Skunky Glins**** || 07/06/2010 19:08 Comments || Top||


Chess icon Fischer's body exhumed over paternity
AP so here's the short version.
REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) -- Authorities in Iceland have exhumed the body of American chess champion Bobby Fischer to determine whether he is the father of a 9-year-old girl from the Philippines.

Police district commissioner Olafur Helgi Kjartansson said Fischer's corpse was dug up from a cemetery near Selfoss in southern Iceland early Monday in the presence of a doctor, a priest and other officials.

Kjartansson said the exhumation "was done in a professional and dignified way and according to law. The privacy of the deceased was protected at all times."
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 07/06/2010 12:01 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Went through Selfoss two weeks ago to go to the Geysir area and the falls called Selfoss. Nice town. Did not know that Bobby was buried there.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 07/06/2010 21:39 Comments || Top||

#2  when they rebury him, it will be in a new spot: two plots up and one to the left
Posted by: Frank G || 07/06/2010 21:41 Comments || Top||

#3  My favorite jewish anti-semite. He gave to the left a whole new meaning.

Posted by: Goober Goobelopolous || 07/06/2010 22:51 Comments || Top||


California To Drop State Rock Over Asbestos Concerns
"The LA Times reports that Californian legislators are close to dropping the translucent green rock Serpentine as the state rock of California because of its tenuous association with chrysotile asbestos. Sen. Gloria Romero declares in her bill (SB 624) that Serpentine should be dropped as California's state rock because it 'contains the deadly mineral chrysotile asbestos, a known carcinogen, exposure to which increases the risk of the cancer mesothelioma.'

The bill has backing from mesothelioma support groups. Critics point out that Serpentine is a group of 20 different minerals, and Californian Serpentine rarely contains much chrysotile, never mind its dangerous fibrous asbestos form.

It is suspected that lawyers involved in asbestos compensation claims and cleanup companies will profit from the bill.

Vast tracts of California where bedrock is made of Serpentine could be declared hazardous to health... even if it contains no crysotile at all!

It looks like SB 624 will be passed; it won unanimous bi-partisan support from an Assembly committee last week."
Posted by: Fred || 07/06/2010 10:45 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Pure unadulterated BS. Wish I can say that can only happen in Californica, alas, I can't.
Posted by: twobyfour || 07/06/2010 13:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Dig up all the serpentine in California and ship it to Nevada for disposal. That ought to work.
Posted by: Glenmore || 07/06/2010 13:14 Comments || Top||

#3  "It looks like SB 624 will be passed; it won unanimous bi-partisan support from an Assembly committee last week."

Of course it did.

Obviously all of California's problems have been solved, since they have time for this kind of stupit bullsh*t.

Useless idiots.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 07/06/2010 13:30 Comments || Top||

#4  Vast tracts of California could be declared hazardous to mental and economic health. Hell, the whole state should be declared a Superfund site of bad laws.
Posted by: SteveS || 07/06/2010 14:00 Comments || Top||

#5  The new rock, crack rock, is much more popular anyway.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 07/06/2010 14:17 Comments || Top||

#6  Wow, sounds like Gloria's a busy woman...
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/06/2010 21:16 Comments || Top||


Prince Says Internet Is Over
"According to the artist currently known as Prince, 'The internet's completely over.' At least that what he says in an interview with the British newspaper Mirror. Quoting Prince: 'The internet's like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can't be good for you.'"
Posted by: Fred || 07/06/2010 10:39 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "... a series of tubes..."
Posted by: M. Murcek || 07/06/2010 11:50 Comments || Top||

#2  That's okay, this midgets career was over 20 odd years ago.
Posted by: Jefferson || 07/06/2010 12:45 Comments || Top||

#3  Who's Prince?
Posted by: lex || 07/06/2010 12:47 Comments || Top||

#4  ...the once and future Prince. Be careful of advice from half baked noodles.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/06/2010 13:18 Comments || Top||

#5  Well, that settles it then. I mean, if Prince says it's over, it's over. Guess we're goin' back to vinyl LPs and reel-to-reel.
Posted by: Mike || 07/06/2010 13:19 Comments || Top||

#6  Internet says Prince is over...

Youtube video at 11....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 07/06/2010 13:30 Comments || Top||

#7  So who asked him?

Siddown and shaddap, has-been.
Posted by: mojo || 07/06/2010 13:54 Comments || Top||

#8  Amazon sells great rasberry berets, pink cashmere coats and platform booties. What he talking about?
Posted by: Ford Maude Elle || 07/06/2010 14:11 Comments || Top||

#9  The true pity is that his career was ruined by a combination of religion and ego. When he became a Jehovah's Witness, his talent just hit a brick wall, no longer able to express his inner perverted little gremlin muse.

And now he has two bad hips, but refuses to get hip replacements, which would mess up anyone.

But I will always think of him fondly for one reason. When Raspberry Beret came out, junior enlisted personnel with the 82nd AB drove their NCOs nuts just by humming it. Which they did with the malicious glee known only to junior enlisted men.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 07/06/2010 14:28 Comments || Top||

#10  And there you go, America = Amerika, RAP MUSIC KILLS ANOTHER ONE.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 07/06/2010 18:26 Comments || Top||

#11  I understood Joe without the cheat sheet, I must be loosing it!
Posted by: illeagle || 07/06/2010 19:57 Comments || Top||

#12  So long, folks. It's been fun.
Oh, wait. It's Prince...
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/06/2010 21:19 Comments || Top||

#13  But I will always think of him fondly for one reason...

Is there any other little red corvette, purple rain, 1999, rasberry beret, when doves cry, kiss, etc? Nothing but nothing is more fun to jam out to during karaoke than Prince, in my humble opinion. Prince, the wild young version, is sorely missed, in my book.
Posted by: Ford Maude Elle || 07/06/2010 22:38 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Bad News for Bam: Kennedy Won't Retire Until Obama No Longer President
Shouldn't have blasted those folks wearing the black in that SOTU speech
President Obama may get liberal Elena Kagan on the Supreme Court, but conservative swing-voter Anthony Kennedy says he's not going anywhere anytime soon.

Justice Kennedy, who turns 74 this month, has told relatives and friends he plans to stay on the high court for at least three more years - through the end of Obama's first term, sources said.

That means Kennedy will be around to provide a fifth vote for the court's conservative bloc through the 2012 presidential election. If Obama loses, Kennedy could retire and expect a Republican President to choose a conservative justice.

Kennedy, appointed by President Ronald Reagan, has been on the court 22 years. He has become a bit of a political nemesis at the White House for his increasing tendency to side with the court's four rock-ribbed conservative justices.

With the retirement of fellow Stanford graduate Sandra Day O'Connor in 2006, Kennedy has inherited O'Connor's mantle as the court's swing vote. His voting pattern suggests he's actually become a far more reliable vote for the conservatives.
Posted by: Sherry || 07/06/2010 13:03 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He may have to hire a food taster.
Posted by: Muggsy Glink || 07/06/2010 13:27 Comments || Top||

#2  He may have to hire a food taster.

You beat me to it, Muggsy...so I guess I'll have to add "install a remote-starting system in his car" and "make sure his doctor's not a Kool-Aid drinking Obamabot."
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) || 07/06/2010 14:23 Comments || Top||

#3  Hope he's under Secret Service protection....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 07/06/2010 14:42 Comments || Top||

#4  About the only thing I agree with O is the corporate contribution thing. How is unlimited corporate campaign contributions a conservative value?
Posted by: Graising Ulinter8671 || 07/06/2010 14:53 Comments || Top||

#5  Unlimited any contributions, Graising.

As soon as you start limiting which citizens can donate, you start deciding which party can get donations.

I say let everybody donate as much as they want, but politicians have 24 hours (maybe 48 for state elections) to post to their website who donated and how much. That way, we at least know who's buying them.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 07/06/2010 15:18 Comments || Top||

#6  ....or all contributions must go through a central recording office who posts the donation, taking a five percent processing fee. They get to keep all anonymous or untraceable contribution. Unlimited amounts by anyone, but severe punishments upon anyone or any entity using fronts or aliases to funnel the moneys. Sixty days after the election, all unspent funds by the campaigns revert to the posting office which will process any valid outstanding claims up to 180 days. Any remaining funds after that revert to the Treasury.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/06/2010 17:18 Comments || Top||

#7  Great idea, P2k!

Though I'm sure Bambi and his minions would figure out how to corrupt it. And his ass-kissing MSM would cover it up. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 07/06/2010 18:39 Comments || Top||


Britain
A gay bishop for the Church of England?
The Church of England may be on the verge of promoting a gay priest to bishop, a step that would widen the split over sexuality in the global Anglican Communion.

If that happens, it would appear to be a significant turnaround for Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the Church of England and the world's Anglicans, who recently imposed sanctions on the U.S. Episcopal Church for electing a lesbian bishop.

According to newspaper reports, Williams is prepared to back the elevation of the Very Rev. Jeffrey John, who withdrew seven years ago from an appointment as a suffragan (assistant) bishop in the face of a heated controversy about his homosexuality. Williams' office will not comment.

"I think the strength of the opposition is much weaker this time," Rev. Canon Giles Goddard, the chairman of Inclusive Church, said Tuesday. His group was founded by people disappointed by John's failure to become a bishop in 2003.

John, who is now dean of St. Albans Cathedral, might be seen as a more acceptable candidate than the U.S. bishop because he has declared he is celibate--and therefore not in violation of church teaching.

A Crown Nominations Commission, composed of 14 Church of England representatives, including Williams, met in secret Monday and Tuesday to choose two nominees to become bishop of Southwark diocese, the half of London that lies south of the River Thames.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who has spoken strongly in favor of equal rights for gays, will have the final decision about whom to recommend to Queen Elizabeth II, who will make the formal appointment. Southwark diocese says a decision may not be announced before October.

Williams has said nothing publicly about the issue.
Posted by: Fred || 07/06/2010 13:14 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Russian beauty out to seduce Wills & Harry: report
I always thought spy's were given hard tasks. What's hard about seducing William and Harry?
Fighting them off would be the hard part.

The hard part is fighting your way through the hundreds of other women trying to get next to the princes
What a royal mess!
British intelligence officials are investigating reports that accused Russian red-headed spy Anna Chapman worked her sexy secret-agent wiles on Princes William and Harry, the grandsons of Queen Elizabeth II.

A bombshell report revealed that Chapman, 28, was actively trying to infiltrate the royal scions' social circle with the intent of meeting them.

Chapman -- now locked up in New York on charges of being a Russian agent -- frequently visited the naughty nightclub Boujis in London expressly to bump into the princes and chat them up, London's Mirror newspaper reported.
Posted by: tipper || 07/06/2010 08:44 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Villy, dahlink!"
Posted by: mojo || 07/06/2010 11:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Wills & Harry. For a brief, horrifying moment, I interpreted that as "William and Hillary".
Posted by: Anonymoose || 07/06/2010 14:30 Comments || Top||

#3  And in the US she was trying to kill Rocky and Bullwinkle.
Posted by: Formerly Dan || 07/06/2010 16:09 Comments || Top||

#4  Don't laugh, FD - Natasha's last name was "Fatale"...
Posted by: mojo || 07/06/2010 16:59 Comments || Top||

#5  *** cough *** cough ***
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 07/06/2010 18:37 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Ecuador says could arrest Colombia's Santos
Ecuador's President Rafael Correa said on Monday that Colombia's president-elect Juan Manuel Santos could be arrested if he visited Ecuador because of an outstanding warrant against him.

An Ecuadorean court ordered Santos' arrest for the 2008 Colombian bombing of a FARC rebel camp in neighboring Ecuador when he was Colombia's defense minister. Diplomatic ties in the Andean region have not fully recovered from the raid.

The leftist Correa told Reuters in an interview in Caracas that the case was in the hands of the independent judiciary and that Santos, who takes office in August, would not be able to go to Ecuador until the issue was resolved.

"It's a shame but he won't be able to do it while the arrest warrant exists and the file is open," Correa said. "The justice system is independent and I can't do anything."
Posted by: Fred || 07/06/2010 13:19 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Spoken boldly while the Sun pulls away from the shore and the Ecuadorian economic ship sinks slowly in the west.
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 07/06/2010 15:25 Comments || Top||

#2  "would not be able to go to Ecuador until the issue was resolved"

And why, exactly, would he want to?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 07/06/2010 15:27 Comments || Top||

#3  Another Hugo wannabe. Even though Hugo blusters and plays stupid dictator games, he's smart enough not to create a causa bellum with a country with the most proven military on the continent. Correa should take a cue from his patron.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/06/2010 17:27 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
China jails US geologist for stealing state secrets
Posted by: 3dc || 07/06/2010 09:17 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Economy
China Steel Group Accuses U.S. Lawmakers of Protectionism
Posted by: tipper || 07/06/2010 11:49 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You have to grant them a world class case of gall.
From the people who rig, cheat, steal and subvert everything they touch here, outrage. An we might well enough to fall for it, at least the elected officals already on their payroll.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 07/06/2010 13:06 Comments || Top||

#2  What a bunch of assholes!
Our steel industry lies in tatters because of unchecked foreign steel flooding the market for 20 years.

Go to Steubenville, Ohio and take a drive around town for a few minutes. Protectionism is not the word that will come to mind.
Posted by: bigjim-CA || 07/06/2010 15:18 Comments || Top||

#3  bigjim-CA, when the US and China trade, the US pushes little pieces of US paper which costs practically nothing to produce onto China and China pushes goods which costs very little to produce onto the US.
The net result is China has lots of US paper and the US has lots of Chinese goods.
Problem for the Chinese is that they now have too much US paper, so they buy US Government bonds to to get rid of some of it. The US government (politicians really) then go on a Krugmanite Keynesian porkulus binge
An alternative would be for the Chinese to invest that US paper in productive firms (which is actually what Keynes recommended) say along the lines of Toyota etc.
Between the two options, I know which I prefer.
Posted by: tipper || 07/06/2010 21:04 Comments || Top||


Foreign firms vying for BP takeover
[Iran Press TV Latest] A sharp drop in BP's market value has triggered a fierce competition among foreign energy firms to take over the energy giant, a senior analyst has told Press TV.

BP "has lost 50 percent of its market tap but is still earning up to $100 million in revenue per day," said Roger Von Hanwehr in a phone interview with Press TV.

Rosneft and Gazprom, two major Russian oil companies, are seeking to take over BP amid the Gulf oil spill crisis, he said.

However, "the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council, even China and certainly the western nations don't want to see Russia become the predominant oil producing power within 15 years from now," Von Hanwehr added.

When asked whether a possible government takeover of the oil giant would be in the public's interest, he said, "Certainly it's not the question of the public's interest or the state holders of BP which in the majority are the British labor unions."

The BP-leased Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded on April 22, some 50 miles (80 kilometers) off the coast of Louisiana, killing 11 workers.

An estimated 35,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil have gushed per day from the ruptured well ever since.

An estimated 1.9 to 3.6 million barrels of oil have contaminated the Gulf of Mexico amid fears of an international oil slick calamity and no sign of containment.

BP continues to sell fuel to the US government despite its poor record in maintaining environmental standards.
Posted by: Fred || 07/06/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Obama has reached success. He has helped to kill BP and hand it to the Russians and chinese, communists that is....
Posted by: 49 Pan || 07/06/2010 0:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Rosneft and Gazprom? Won't happen. These are the Russian state mafia's slush funds, writ large. Putin himself probably pulls over a billion a year from each one using the time-honored new Russian trick of funneling profits through trading subsidiaries registered in Switzerland or Lichtenstein. These companies make Enron look like a Junior Achievement project.

That said, with Turkey's defection and NATO nations' impotence and impending bankruptcy, it esems pretty obvious that this nation will either have to develop some kind of alliance with Putin's Russia, shambolic bandit-state thought it is, or else face the prospect of the Chinese filling all the breaches left by a retreateing and near-bankrupt West. Even the Brits have announced large military cuts, as well as an end to the "special relationship." With NATO's 2nd-largest military gone over to the other side, and 3rd-largest military a shell of its former self, the alliance is a dead letter.

And Fortress America's not an option when your debt's being downgraded and most of your public pension funds are permanently, irretrievably underwater.

Look east, fellow Americans. Russia's the only game in town now.
Posted by: lex || 07/06/2010 8:36 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Illegal Immigration Costs U.S. $113 Billion a Year, Study Finds
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 07/06/2010 10:49 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Small change for a country that can afford to blow trillions.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 07/06/2010 11:01 Comments || Top||

#2  And that new tv is free until the credit card bill comes in.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 07/06/2010 11:21 Comments || Top||

#3  I see the cost of remittances (~$30B?) leaving the US every year isn't included.
Posted by: ed || 07/06/2010 11:22 Comments || Top||

#4  If you follow the liberal American Immigration Council's logic, we should bring to the US every poor immigrant we can find. This would erase the national debt over night and we would have budget surpluses as far as the eye can see. Happy days would be here again.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 07/06/2010 12:17 Comments || Top||

#5  I love Tweedledum/dee's mantra on this: "we need their labor" ie there's a shortage of low-end labor.

So riddle me this: Real low-end wages in this country have been falling for the past 35 years. In what alternate universe does a shortage of a good co-exist with a FALLING price for that good? How does that work, exactly?
Posted by: lex || 07/06/2010 12:39 Comments || Top||


Census worker taken to court for trespassing
Ay-Pee . . .
Census workers have met more hostility than they did in the last count. The agency tallied 436 incidents involving assaults or threats through June 29, more than double the 181 incidents in 2000.
Posted by: gorb || 07/06/2010 02:11 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Haitian found not guilty of terrorism is not free, either
Posted by: ryuge || 07/06/2010 02:21 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Veterans Affairs head blasts administration over hospital incident
The Democratic chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee lambasted the Obama administration over its handling of an incident at a St. Louis VA center in which more than 1,800 veterans were told they may have been exposed to HIV.

“It's outrageous, one, that this happens, but even worse is this secretive, almost cover-up mode that they go into when something like this happens,” Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif.) said on CNN Monday.

The Department of Veterans Affairs last month sent a letter to 1,812 patients informing them that could have been exposed to HIV and other deadly viruses because of dental equipment that was insufficiently sterilized over a period of 13 months. The agency said the risk of infection was “extremely low” but it urged patients to return for blood tests.

Filner criticized the administration for taking more than three months to send out the letters after it discovered the faulty safety precautions in March. “We should be much more caring not only about the procedures but the way we deal with them after they're known,” the congressman said. He said it was “disgraceful” that Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki did not know about the lapse until last week.

Filner said the “only way you can get accountability is if there is someone who actually pays a price for this,” although he did not explicitly call for Shinseki to be fired.

The Veterans Affairs Committee is holding a hearing on the issue next week.
Posted by: gorb || 07/06/2010 02:04 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The likeliest outcome is that the innocent will be punished and the guilty promoted.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 07/06/2010 11:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Guvmint health care. Nuthin but the best...
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/06/2010 21:22 Comments || Top||

#3  Stateof the art care.

More like the walmart of care. Save money, live better worse.
Posted by: Ford Maude Elle || 07/06/2010 21:33 Comments || Top||


Obama and Supreme Court may be on collision course
The president's agenda on healthcare and financial regulations sets the stage for a clash with the Supreme Court's conservative majority.

Reporting from Washington -- The Supreme Court wrapped up its term last week after landmark decisions protecting the right to have a gun and the right of corporations to spend freely on elections. But the year's most important moment may have come on the January evening when the justices gathered at the Capitol for President Obama's State of the Union address.

They had no warning about what was coming.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: gorb || 07/06/2010 00:42 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "You lie!"

wonder if any of the Justices will show for Oblahblah's next year's SOTU speech?
Posted by: Frank G || 07/06/2010 11:34 Comments || Top||

#2  You think the Obammunist will bother to do a SOTU speech next year?

I kind of assumed he'd be too busy playing golf, or something.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 07/06/2010 16:31 Comments || Top||

#3  The LA Times MAY be a useless fish-wrapper.
Posted by: mojo || 07/06/2010 16:57 Comments || Top||

#4  Just who is he not on a collision course?
Posted by: Skunky Glins**** || 07/06/2010 19:15 Comments || Top||


International-UN-NGOs
Paying the polluters: The carbon credit way
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 07/06/2010 21:25 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Dance fever sweeping through Israeli military - Of course they get in trouble for it.
Links and, most importantly, videos at the link. :-)
Remember a few weeks back when a video featuring a group of U.S. soldiers stationed in Afghanistan performing their own version of Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” video stormed the Internet? Well, it looks like they’ve got some competition from their counterparts in the Israeli military, AFP reports.

The clip features six soldiers on patrol in Hebron, an ancient city on the West Bank, which is home to many sites that Jews, Muslims and Christians consider holy. Some 600 Israeli settlers live in the city among roughly 160,000 Palestinians — which means it has also been the site of tension over the Israeli occupation.

As the soldiers canvass the street with weapons in hand, a muezzin can be heard leading a call for Muslim prayers. Suddenly, Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok” abruptly comes on and the six soldiers break out into a dance routine. After a few seconds of hearty gyrating, the soldiers promptly return to their patrol duty and to appropriate military postures.

The Israeli Defense Forces brass is not amused, AFP reports: In a statement, the IDF leadership called the performance a “joke by the soldiers” that amounts to “inappropriate conduct during a military operation” and will be “investigated by battalion commanders.” The video, first posted to YouTube on Friday by the user "cleangrunge," has since disappeared from its original account — but several other users have reposted it.

Since women also serve in the Israeli army, it bears noting that they, too, have lately succumbed to a bit of dance fever. A video uploaded to YouTube on Monday allegedly features female Israeli soldiers shaking it to Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend.”
Posted by: gorb || 07/06/2010 15:49 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I find it funny as hell and is a great way to relieve combat tension.

Typical the brass don't find it amusing.
Posted by: DarthVader || 07/06/2010 16:06 Comments || Top||

#2  LOL

Win!
Posted by: badanov || 07/06/2010 19:27 Comments || Top||

#3  It's only funny because no one interrupted the dance with gunfire. Do your dancing when off-duty.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 07/06/2010 21:32 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Dutch Agency Admits Mistakes In UN Climate Report
"The AP reports that the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency has taken the blame for one of the glaring errors that undermined the credibility of a seminal, 3,000-page UN report last year on climate change, and disclosed that it had discovered more small mistakes.

However, the review by the agency also claims that none of the errors affected the fundamental conclusion by a UN panel of scientists: that global warming caused by humans already is happening and is threatening the lives and well-being of millions of people.

The Dutch agency reported in 2005 that 55 percent of the Netherlands is below sea level, when only 26 percent is. The second previously reported error claimed the Himalayan glaciers would melt by 2035, which the Dutch agency partly traced to a report on the likely shrinking of glaciers by the year 2350.

The original report also said global warming will put 75 million to 250 million Africans at risk of severe water shortages in the next 10 years, but a recalculation showed that range should be 90 million to 220 million.

The analysis said future IPCC reports should have a more robust review process, and should look more closely at where information comes from."
Posted by: Fred || 07/06/2010 10:43 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Admiting such trivial errors is admiting you have no quality control, AKA checking.

Without QC, you ain't got doodly-doot.
Posted by: Bobby || 07/06/2010 17:11 Comments || Top||

#2  What happened? Did they spell "seminal" wrong?
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/06/2010 21:18 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Firebombs thrown at Indonesian magazine offices
Two Molotov cocktails were thrown at the office of a news magazine which is embroiled in a dispute with Indonesian police over an article about alleged corruption, police said Tuesday. The homemade firebombs were thrown at Tempo magazine's Jakarta headquarters before dawn on Tuesday but did not ignite or cause damage, a police spokesman said.

"Two Molotov bombs without wicks were thrown this morning in front of Tempo's office. It happened at around 3:00 am. The bombs didn't explode and nobody was hurt," police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar said. "We're trying to find the culprits. We suspect two people on a motorcycle threw them."

Police last week threatened to sue Tempo over an article alleging massive corruption among senior police generals accused of amassing millions of dollars in bank accounts from illegal activities. The threat was not related to the corruption allegations, however, but to the magazine cover art which depicted a police officer with piggy banks. Pigs are considered haram (forbidden) in Islam.

Police were unavailable to comment on reports in the local media Tuesday, saying they had dropped the threat of legal action.
Posted by: ryuge || 07/06/2010 02:44 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran unveils human-like robot: report
Iran has developed a new human-like walking robot to be used in "sensitive jobs," government newspaper Iran reported on Sunday.
Do they call it Moqtada?
Soorena-2, named after an ancient Persian warrior, was unveiled by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday. It is 1.45 metres (4.7 feet) tall and weighs 45 kilograms (99 pounds), the report said.
Was nutjob standing on his stool when he unveiled it?
"Walking slowly like human beings with regular arm and leg movements are among its characteristics," it said. "Such robots are designed and developed to be used in sensitive and difficult jobs on behalf of a person or as help."
I had a lego set that would do that.
The report did not elaborate on the robot's capabilities.
Let me guess: It can bang its head on the ground at 20 cycles per second, has speakers that can project "Allahu akbar!" at 200dB, and jaw-dropping when it comes to throwing rocks?
Iran has pursued a number of scientific projects in recent years such as cloning, stem cell research and satellite technology while it has come under increasing international pressure over its controversial nuclear programme.
They even developed an artificial-intelligence brain for their robot, but that part of the project was canceled when it committed heresy as soon as it became self-aware.
Posted by: gorb || 07/06/2010 01:46 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The pics they issued look like crude photoshops of the Honda ASIMO.
Posted by: lotp || 07/06/2010 5:43 Comments || Top||

#2  It is 1.45 metres (4.7 feet) tall and weighs 45 kilograms (99 pounds), Ahmadinejad's clone.

Posted by: Goodluck || 07/06/2010 7:17 Comments || Top||

#3  technologically it looks like they bought it from the Japanese. If you want to knock it over, how does it get up again?

Will it even know its knocked over if it gets knocked over? Or does it just whirr and buzz down there?

If you wanted to carry a bomb aboard in a ( let me guess) "sensitive" job..wouldnt it be cheaper and more accurate to use a remote controlled kids battery powered item?

You wouldnt have to worry about it being 'Knocked over" then.

How do you say ," Blow air up my a88". in Farsi?
Posted by: Kofi Clereque8760 || 07/06/2010 9:23 Comments || Top||

#4  Bender, Gigantor , Gort , Johnny5 , Kitt , Marvin
, Voltron and CP30 move over theres a new gunslinger in town .

Hi, Im Amadinnabot , I can d.d.do ....

Malfunction 1011101, invalid syntax at command line 1

Ack Achmed , I told you not to use chinese parts
Posted by: Oscar || 07/06/2010 9:33 Comments || Top||

#5  I'd submitted a similar article on Saturday that had a few more nuggets of info at the unveiling. (Didn't make the cut tho')

The report did not elaborate on the robot's capabilities.

Launch party info: more than 20 IT experts worked on the project, robot has no sound or visual capabilities. I have an autobot vacuum with grander capabilities than this Asimo DIY kit.

They've got to be kidding. Even Iranians aren't going to swallow this tinkertoy "accomplishment".
Posted by: Swanimote || 07/06/2010 9:40 Comments || Top||

#6  But can it belly dance?
Posted by: ed || 07/06/2010 9:50 Comments || Top||

#7  Actually, it has voice capability to say

"exterminate.... exterminate..."

but doesn't seem to be able to climb stairs
Posted by: lord garth || 07/06/2010 10:38 Comments || Top||

#8  Why would they use 'Latin' lettering rather than 'Farsi' for the name on its torso?
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 07/06/2010 10:52 Comments || Top||

#9  Their next trick: Designing a Human-like Mullah.
Posted by: mojo || 07/06/2010 17:00 Comments || Top||

#10  Can it kneel down and bang it's head on the floor six times a day?
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/06/2010 21:25 Comments || Top||

#11  LOL, almost showered by keyboard tu3031.
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/06/2010 22:43 Comments || Top||

#12  Wonder how much Honda charged them?
Posted by: DMFD || 07/06/2010 22:53 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
68[untagged]
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1Lashkar e-Taiba
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1al-Shabaab
1Govt of Iran
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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2010-07-06
  The United States of America vs. The State of Arizona; and Janice K. Brewer
Mon 2010-07-05
  Bangla Jamaat rampage
Sun 2010-07-04
  Ayatollah Fudlullah dies at 75
Sat 2010-07-03
  Obama signs toughest-ever US sanctions on Iran
Fri 2010-07-02
  37 people killed in bomb blasts at Pakistan shrine
Thu 2010-07-01
  Protests rock Bangla capital
Wed 2010-06-30
  Bangla Jamaat big turbans held on court order
Tue 2010-06-29
  Kabul dismisses report Karzai met Haqqani
Mon 2010-06-28
  Drone strike kills six Taliban in N Wazoo
Sun 2010-06-27
  15 insurgents killed by their own bombs in Afghan mosque
Sat 2010-06-26
  Mir Ali dronezap waxes two
Fri 2010-06-25
  7 Afghan construction workers killed in bombing
Thu 2010-06-24
  Iranian Flotilla Backs Down
Wed 2010-06-23
  President Obama Relieves Gen. Stanley McChrystal of Afghan Command
Tue 2010-06-22
  Guilty Plea to all Counts in Times Square Bomb Plot


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