HERSHEY, Pa. -- Maj. Richard "Dick" Winters, the man whose quiet leadership was chronicled in the World War II book and television miniseries "Band of Brothers," has died in central Pennsylvania.
Winters died Jan. 2, a family friend confirmed Monday. Winters was 92. He lived in Hershey but died in Palmyra, Pa.
In September 1944, Winters led 20 men in a successful attack on 200 German soldiers. He and his men later helped hold the Bastogne area of Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge.
The exploits of Winters and the other members of Easy Company were chronicled in the Stephen Ambrose book "Band of Brothers" and later the HBO miniseries of the same name. Winters also published a memoir in 2006 entitled "Beyond Band of Brothers."
Winters was buried in a private funeral. Arrangements for a public memorial service are pending. Let us all pause a moment to remember the true heroes that kept this country free. A selfless man, a leader, a hero, a citizen. Thank you, sir. AoS at 1310 CT: pic added; found this at Ace.
#1
I've watched BoB many times and visited Normandy and Bastonge last year. I was humbled to walk in the footsteps of men like Major Winters - a real hero. Read "Beyong Band of Brothers" if you have a chance. Rest in peace Major.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
01/10/2011 13:38 Comments ||
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#2
I have (and watched) the series and read the book. What I got from it was that he was an example of true leadership. Not just a 'manager' or 'boss' (or 'commander') but a real leader who balances the concern of those under his command with obtaining the objectives and makes it work out.
In my limited experiences I've only known a few men like that.
#3
My father was in the 7th Armored from the Ardennes offensive all the way through to V-E Day. They ran a BoB marathon one Memorial Day weekend a few years ago, and I made a point of having my two boys watch it. It's probably as close as I'll ever get to experiencing what my father did, and I hope my boys never have to get any closer.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/10/2011 17:33 Comments ||
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#4
I heard somewhere that the only reason he didn't get the Medal of Honor for taking out the German battery was that the military leaders had decided ahead of time that there would only be on MOH for the whole Normandy landing.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/10/2011 17:51 Comments ||
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#7
David winters not only was an officer but led out front and was true soldier who went no where he wouldn't ask the men following him. Not too take away anything did from the men who did get the MOH throughout the years but if anyone whoever deserved it this man sure did. Not just one D day but throughtout the entire war in Europe.
Posted by: chris ||
01/10/2011 18:23 Comments ||
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#8
My dad was a 155mm howitzer gunner at Bastogne. There were two batteries of six/eight, I'm not sure how many, attached to the 101st. Some of the tales he told...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/10/2011 20:53 Comments ||
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The likelihood that a child develops autism may be tied to how close together a mother spaces the births of her children, according to research in the journal Pediatrics. The new study found that children conceived before their older sibling was a year old were three times more likely to be diagnosed with autism than children spaced at least three years apart.
What seems to be driving this increase? Study author Keely Cheslack-Postava, Ph.D., from Columbia University in New York says that she and her fellow researchers did not investigate this specifically, but they suspect mothers may not have had enough time between pregnancies to build up the much needed nutrient reserves of folate and iron, important to a developing fetus. This would suggest that older siblings have a lower risk from autism, but that would interfere with the idea that autism is dependent on the age of the parents.
It still doesn't explain why the incidence of autism has gone from 1/10,000 to 1/100.
#1
Gorb, I suspect 40-50 years ago they called it something else like retardation. When you change the charts for diagnosis you change the stats. I also suspect that is the case with with some of the the obesity diagnosis.
As the psychiatry industry and parents become able to obtain funding for certain diagnoses, the incidence of the "disease" will increase over time. To the point where some docs are now referring to "autism spectrum disorder". Leaving this open like that allows them to define down the diagnosis at will. Thikn "global warming" becoming "climate change" and finally "climate chaos". The definition changes as the need for income and grants increases.
The real losers are the kids who actually ARE autistic in the classic sense.
In a similar way, much of what used to be called lazy and stupid is now attributed to ADD, ADHD, and other acronyms. Not saying those conditions don't exist, but sometimes kids really are just lazy or stupid.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
01/10/2011 6:46 Comments ||
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#3
So they are basically saying, in effect, that a deficency in Folic and Iron are the cause for Autism?
#4
Sounds like it, CF. But it's a developmental disorder, like Down syndrome, only with no visibly apparent features. Unlikely that a deficiency in this or that would account for it. I agree - quacks who conflate correlation with causation are just vacuuming up research money. Real researchers are looking at improper neural cell migration during fetal development, caused by faulty gene switches. Structural and functional MRI data reinforces that, as the area of the brain responsible for emotional and social cognition is basically fried.
About half of those with ASD also have a parent on the spectrum - but the other half do not. But then, Down syndrome parents generally don't have it either. So sometimes it's just a spontaneous glitch, and finding the reason for that would be interesting. Down syndrome is easy: three copies of chromosome 21 instead of two. Autism a tougher nut to crack. But molecular biology is hard. Why bother, when you can just crank out some random crap like this, get it published, and call yourself a scientist?
#5
Actually, it's not so unlikely as you might think.
The last 10 years have produced substantial evidence that epigenetics - the interaction of gene expression with environmental conditions - significantly influences development of the fetus. Iron and folate uptake is mediated by other metabolic processes in the mother, then made available to the fetus through the placenta.
'Faulty gene switches' don't act alone - they *interact* with the metabolic environment in the womb.
#6
I saw something not long ago that, as I recall, claimed as many as 100 different genes could possibly be involved in autism, not one chromosome... and not necessarily all of the 100, but any combination that in combination with the environment to push the brain over the edge.
I'm not sure that the number was 100, though. Like 40 in the Arab world, that may be my mental equivalent of many.
#7
Of course, lotp - DNA methylation is one way gene expression is regulated, and whether that occurs with the correct timing and sequence is in turn dependent on many other factors. I'm skeptical because folate and iron are just enzyme cofactors, not directly implicated in DNA methylation or cell signaling. Just about any randomly selected mother is going to be deficient in something, yet homeostasis compensates and healthy births happen all the time.
Bottom line, no one really knows the underlying cause of autism at this point, so I'm skeptical of claims that this or that may increase the risk. I haven't read the original research article either, but if they can't link up iron/folate deficiency to what IS known, it remains just another untested hypotheses. Not worthless, but file under "wait and see."
#9
Bingo, lotp. Speculation and a buck fifty will get me a cup of coffee. Perhaps the real nit to pick here is breathless "science" reporting every time some researcher maybe might've possibly spotted kinda sort of a pattern.
TW, I was going to mention the multifactorial angle too, but I can't remember if it was 40 or 100 genes either. Too complex, as of yet, to reach any firm conclusions. Interesting, though.
...she and her fellow researchers did not investigate this specifically...
This is the shoddiest, most dishonest of pseudo-science going. This kind of observation MAY point you in a direction for real research and targeted studies but providing anything worthy of publishing???!!?!?!!???????
The journal "Pediatrics" should be given the publishing equivalent of expulsion for this.
Posted by: Alan Cramer ||
01/10/2011 10:14 Comments ||
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#11
No they shouldn't.
The breathless reporting is from a CNN site, which has the article linked above.
The journal has the science paper, which is not breathless at all. It's quite appropriate for a research paper to discuss potential future research directions that result from a given investigation.
#12
The further research is not right.
The first thing to do is obviosuly look at differences between
spaced birth autistics and non-autistics
spaced birth autistics and closely spaced autistics
closely spaced autistics and closely spaced non-autistics.
Millions of jubilant south Sudanese voted Sunday in an independence referendum expected to see the region splitting away from the north to create Africa's newest nation. People queued for hours in the burning sun outside polling stations in the southern capital Juba, and many were turned away as the first day of voting in the week-long ballot ended around sundown. Southerners view the poll as a new beginning after decades of civil war.
Hours after voting started, the celebratory atmosphere was marred by reports of fresh fighting between Arab nomads and tribespeople associated with the south in the contested oil-rich Abyei region that borders north and south.
[Arab News] Eight non-combatants were killed in festivities with police in two provincial towns in the past 24 hours, the Tunisian government said Sunday. Witnesses said another three people were killed in festivities on Sunday in a third town, but there was no official confirmation of those accounts.
People taking part in the unrest, which has lasted for nearly a month, say they are angry at lack of jobs and investment, but officials say the rioting is the work of a minority of faceless myrmidons intent on damaging Tunisia.
A leading opposition figure urged President Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali to order a cease-fire to prevent further bloodshed.
The government had earlier issued a statement saying two people were killed when police fired in self-defense during overnight festivities in the town of Thala, about 200 km southwest of the capital, near the border with Algeria.
In a later statement it said three people injured in the Thala violence had since shuffled off the mortal coil and that three people had been killed in separate disturbances in the nearby town of Gassrine on Sunday.
"Several government buildings in Gassrine were attacked by groups who set fire to and destroyed three banks, a cop shoppe and a filling station and set fire to a police vehicle," the statement said.
"The police fired in the air but the crowds continued and the police acted out of legitimate self-defense, which led to three deaths."
Two witnesses in the town of Rgeb, 210 km west of Tunis, said three people there, including one woman, were killed in festivities with police on Sunday.
Government officials did not respond to phone calls from Rooters seeking comment on the casualties.
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01/10/2011 00:00 ||
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minority of faceless myrmidons intent on damaging Tunisia
[Ennahar] The young rap singer, Lotfi Double Canon, called for calm and vigilance, in a video posted on youtube and facebook, addressed to angry youth which protests against rising prices.
Lotfi calls for calm but also to vigilance, because he thinks, hands of strangers are trying to destabilize the country. He also calls for all the forces of the country not to remain with their hands tied in front of what is happening in the country.
The singer warns in the video, after the event that shook Algiers and several other provinces the last for 24 hours, on the consequences of this drift, the violence and bloody confrontation between the children of the same country.
Lotfi, who enjoyed great popularity among young people, has recorded a video of ten minutes that began with the words of his famous song "We continue to fight the evil that surrounds us ...and we are still strong" before turning to youth, recognizing that youth are entitled to expressing their anger, but refuses what he calls the "thugs".
Some young people grow up in violence and therefore, they express themselves violently, he said, but on the other hand he calls for calm in their claims to block the road to those who want to destabilize the country and to interfere in our business. Those people who want instability in the country so that nobody can judge them," he adds.
Young people must know this in order to judge those who are accountable. We must not lose sight of those who want the mess and the state of emergency, closing ports and airports and a ban on writing about them in newspapers. It is an experience that we have already experienced, and we do not want to do it again.
Lotfi Double Canon concluded his message by advising young people to avoid vandalizing people's property. This will lead to shifts and drifts with serious consequences. The price of oil and sugar, he said, were increased in this time for desired objectives. It is the poor who will pay the bill ... I hope that calm will return and that violence will give way to dialogue.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2011 00:00 ||
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[Ennahar] Poor Algerian families pay dearly for being out on the streets, driven by rumours on rising food prices. They are the big losers in this unhealthy game being subject to wholesale arrests, while food retailers are just spectators. The latter are the winners following the government's decision to lower taxes on food products.
This unhealthy game, work of food products' lobbies that lasted only four days, made the happiness of these lobbies, although they were the cause of this Fitna. They have lobbied the government until they have been successful, reducing taxes on import transactions that have reached 41%, allowing them to make large profits.
If the riots had a positive impact on their sponsors who put the government in a difficult situation, they have had adverse consequences for cons on Algerian families who pay the bill. The victims of these riots are nothing but ordinary citizens as well as those injured or jugged.
The relative calm that has returned to the towns and villages in Algeria, after the wave of protest that lasted four days, gave way to sadness in many Algerian families punished by the authorities, and joy in the lobbies rewarded by the government for causing Fitna in holding down taxes.
The riots left five people dead, 677 injured and over 1,000 arrests.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2011 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] Former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo has made an unannounced visit to Cote d'Ivoire in yet another bid to convince incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo to step down following a disputed election.
Obasanjo met both Gbagbo and his rival Alassane Ouattara separately on Saturday and was to meet the leaders again on Sunday, Ali Coulibaly, an Ouattara front man said.
Details of their talks were not immediately available.
The UN, the African Union, the 15-nation West African regional group ECOWAS and other world powers have recognised Ouattara as the winner of the country's November 28 presidential run-off vote.
But Gbagbo has refused for more than a month to step down after a decade in power, sparking political crisis that has left more than 170 people dead.
A close adviser to Ouattara said Obasanjo's visit is meant to convey a message from the government of Nigeria, whose president is the current chair of ECOWAS. The bloc is scheduled to meet in the coming days to decide whether or not to move forward with plans to oust Gbagbo by force.
The crisis has sparked an exodus of refugees into neighbouring Liberia, where the UN says some 20,000 Ivorians have already decamped. Some refugees have told Al Jizz that they were forced to leave their homes by pro-Ouattara rebels because they had voted for Gbagbo in the election.
Gbagbo has claimed victory in the election based on the constitutional court cancelling hundreds of thousands of votes from Ouattara strongholds, alleging voter fraud. International observers, however, have declared that no such fraud took place, and that Ouattara was therefore the winner of the poll.
Ouattara remains confined to the Golf Hotel, where he set up his headquarters following the poll. The Ivorian military, still loyal to Gbagbo, has blockaded the compound, and the only way for diplomats, news hounds and provisions to enter or leave is via UN helicopter.
So far, four African presidents have met with Gbagbo for talks regarding his leaving office, but all attempts at mediation appear to have failed. Gbagbo has also refused to take phone calls from US President Barack B.O. Obama, according to the US State department.
Experts say the only way to make him leave may be through force, but observers question whether the military arm of ECOWAS has the manpower and sophistication to carry out a so-called "decapitation strike". A second issue is whether ECOWAS will go ahead with a move that could lead to mass casualties.
A more fundamental issue is whether ECOWAS could march without tripping over its own feet...
That's why they stock up on white Toyota trucks.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2011 00:00 ||
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Asian community leaders criticised former Home Secretary Jack Straw after he claimed some Pakistani men see white girls as "easy meat".
The Labour MP faced denunciation from party associates and Muslim leaders after discussing so-called "street-grooming" where young girls are seduced by older men before being sexually abused.
Straw expressed his views after two Asian men were jailed for raping and sexually assaulting a series of girls.
Mohammed Liaqat, 28, and Abid Saddique, 27, were jailed at Nottingham Crown Court for the rape and sexually abuse of several girls aged between 12 and 18.
The judge in the case called the race of the victims and their abusers was "coincidental". But the Straw said there is a problem with young Pakistani men grooming and abusing vulnerable white girls.
He said: "Pakistanis are not the only people who commit sexual offences and overwhelmingly sex offenders' wings are full of white offenders. But there is a specific problem which involves Pakistani heritage men who target vulnerable young white girls.
"We need to get the Pakistani community to think much more clearly about why this is going on and to be more open about the problems that are leading to a number of Pakistani heritage men thinking it is OK to target white girls in this way."
Straw added: "These young men act like any other young men. They're fizzing and popping with testosterone, they want some outlet for that but Pakistani heritage girls are off-limits.
"So they then seek other avenues and they see these young women, white girls who are vulnerable, some of them in care, who they think are easy meat."
Some Labour colleagues challenged his comments. Former Govan Labour MP Mohammad Sarwar said: "It is very unhelpful to tarnish any community in a blanket way. There are good and bad in every community.
"I don't know many cases in Scotland where the people who are subject of an investigation are Pakistani men."
Labour MP Keith Vaz, chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said: "I understand what he said, but I disagree with it. I think we should look at this issue, primarily, as one of criminality."
Cuba has begun the process of laying-off a tenth of its state workforce in a drive to push employees into small businesses that could mark the beginning of the end of the 50-year communist experiment on the island. But the regime insists it is staying true to its socialist ideals. "Many Cubans confuse socialism with handouts and subsidies," said Raul Castro.
[Iran Press TV] A leak has forced the shutdown of an oil pipeline in Alaska, drastically cutting production in one of the United States' major oil supply lines.
Alyeska Pipeline Service Company said the 800-mileTrans Alaska Pipeline, which carries more than 13 percent of the United States' domestic oil production, was shut after the leak was discovered on Saturday.
The operator added the oil was released from a concrete encapsulated pipe outside the Booster Pump Building, and flowed into the building sump.
Oil is believed to be still trapped within the space between the pipe and the concrete of the encapsulated line.
The volume of the spill will be determined through a metering procedure once it is safe to do so.
The closure has caused the North Slope oil producers to reduce production by shutting the wells. British Petroleum, one of Alaska's three major oil producers, has also been forced to cut its local output by 95 percent.
No injuries have so far been reported in the incident. The cause of oil release in the network, which carries crude oil across the northernmost US state, is under investigation.
Crews are on the site and a crisis management team is working in Anchorage. The 800-mile line carries about 630,000 barrels of oil a day between the North Slope and Valdez.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Good job BP
Posted by: Water Modem ||
01/10/2011 1:38 Comments ||
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#2
I suspect large portions of the line are in disrepair and wearing thin.
#3
The leak is, per reports from Abc, at a pumping station on the north slope.
Normally, this area has temps way below zero at this time of the year but currently they are having relatively warm weather. The max in Barrow yesterday was 28F above zero.
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/10/2011 4:33 Comments ||
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#7
This is bizarre. Crashed in her own garage? No evidence of foul play (so far). But also probably not suicide, as a 37-year-old mother of three young children. This would be a weird way for a female to commit suicide anyway (or a male, for that matter). So if not suicide, then - ? Strange.
One of the fiercest gun-control advocates in Congress, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), pounced on the shooting massacre in Tucson Sunday, promising to introduce legislation as soon as Monday targeting the high-capacity ammunition the gunman used.
McCarthy ran for Congress after her husband was gunned down and her son seriously injured in a shooting in 1993 on a Long Island commuter train. I feel for her, but she's not so upset that she forgets to try to take advantage of the situation, which she is politicizing.
We've all heard Sheriff Dumkopf's opinion about how we are supposed to all be less vitriolic. Now I'd like to hear Sheriff Dumkopf's take on this sort of behavior.
#1
This is what Rep. Giffords had to say last March after the window to her Tucson office was shattered: “I have a Glock 9-millimeter, and I’m a pretty good shot.” (quoted in New York Times)
#2
We've all heard Sheriff Dumkopf's opinion about how we are supposed to all be less vitriolic. Now I'd like to hear Sheriff Dumkopf's take on this sort of behavior.
Would that be the same Sheriff Dumkopf that failed to provide a security detail to the congresswoman and blamed....the world? If it's all the same to you, I'll take a rain check on hearing anything additional from the Sheriff thank you.
#3
AH, McCarthy and all those like her would respond that it's good that a Dem congresscritter has the right to own and use a gun, and wrong if anyone else does.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
01/10/2011 6:40 Comments ||
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#4
It's becoming my opinion that liberals tend to try to tweak and upgrade the system every time something bad happens. They seem to operate on the principal that a perfect system is achievable, and ignoring the fact that something bad will always come of it. This guarantees total government in the end. And the government will be more of a pain than the problems they prevent. Because humans make the government, and humans are too often corruptible. And despite how strict and controlling the government gets, determined individuals will always find a way to poison the well.
I'll stick with my simple conservative way of doing business and punish the wrongdoers as they rear their heads.
#9
Rep. McCarthy's husband and son were shot by Colin Ferguson on the subway. As I recall, Ferguson reloaded several times while shooting up the subway car. He wasn't so disorganized and crazy that he couldn't carefully plan the shootings--like the Tucson shooter.
McCarthy has a personal vendetta against all firearms and would like to ban firearms. Although I can sympathize with her personal loss, banning firearms would be an assault on our Constitution and an invitation to tyranny.
There are many instances where firearms have saved citizens and prevented crimes. Some of these stories are documented in the American Rifleman in a column titled The Armed Citizen.
#10
Rep. McCarthy's husband and son were shot by Colin Ferguson...
Cause taking it out on the atmosphere of hate generated by black racism is not PC. Sort of like seeking the banning of rope because of the actions of the KKK.
#1
The truth is that brain injuries are highly variable. There was almost nothing that could be done for her brain as far as first aid goes, other than removing anything stuck in the hole.
What was done, however, holding her head up to keep the blood from her sinuses from choking her was good. But the doctors are quite truthful that they have no idea if she will survive, or have more than minimal function.
Unique among injuries, the one thing they cannot do is give her more than topical anesthetics.
#2
Forgive me but there is quite a bit the docs can do, and they're doing it.
We've learned a lot about traumatic head injury over the last few decades. Trauma surgeons and neurosurgeons, both civilian and military, have learned how to handle someone shot in the head. Many do die, but we're some that you'd think wouldn't make it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/10/2011 9:14 Comments ||
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#3
Steve: I was talking just first aid on scene, as in the article. Once she's in the hands of a trauma team and a neurologist, it's a whole new ball game.
#5
Sounds like she survived it because she was incredibly, incredibly lucky.
I know a couple of guys with traumatic brain injuries. One was a marathoner, the other a Marine reservist. They're functional, but they'll never be what they were. Not even close. It's very sad.
If she makes it, she has a very tough road ahead. And I truly do wish her luck.
[Arab News] Pakistain's Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani bowed to 11 key opposition demands on Sunday in order to shore up his government after a week in which the ruling party briefly lost its majority in Parliament.
The move was the latest sign of the beleaguered government's willingness to compromise to stay in power amid ongoing fears that the fragile ruling coalition could collapse and plunge the country into fresh crisis.
Gilani telephoned former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Müslim League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... on Sunday and assured him that his government would accept the nine-point agenda of the PML-N (Pakistain Mohammedan League-Nawaz).
An official statement from the prime minister's house with a "most urgent" tag stated that Gialani telephoned Sharif and assured him of his acceptance to implement the PML-N agenda that includes implementation of Dec. 16, 2009 Supreme Court's verdict on reopening of corruption cases both in Pakistain and in Swiss courts against President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who showed remarkably little curiosity about who actually done her in ...
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2011 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] The Sindh government has taken initiative to establish betel leaf farms in various areas of the metropolis and in this regard, officials of the Revenue Department have started work, PPI learnt on Sunday. For those who've never had the pleasure, betel is a mildly narcotic leaf that's chewed by rustics throughout South and Southeast Asia. It stains the gums, tongue, lips, chin, and front of the shirt bright red, while the teeth turn black prior to decomposition.
On the directives of President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari, ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who showed remarkably little curiosity about who actually done her in ... the Sindh government has engaged some officials of the Revenue Department in Bloody Karachi and Minister for Zakat and Ushr Sajid Jokhio has said that they had started search for pieces of land measuring 10,000 acres to establish betel leaf farms in the metropolis.
President Asif Ali Ten Percent Zardari issued directives in this regard during a meeting of Sindh cabinet ministers and MPAs at Bilwal House the other day. He directed Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah to take some officials of the Revenue Department on board to find the land where government will establish betel leaf farms in order to raise jobs in the agriculture sector.
President Zardari also directed revenue officials to develop coordination with Sajid Jokhio in order to complete the work on the project.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
No... is a 3 element drug
1) the nut of the Areca palm tree.
well actually not a nut... wikipedia: The areca nut is not a true nut but rather a drupe
2) the nut is wrapped in the Betel leaf - The betel plant is an evergreen and perennial creeper
The Betel (Piper betle) is the leaf of a vine belonging to the Piperaceae family, which includes pepper and Kava.
3) some slaked lime. (calcium hydroxide)
Chemical reaction ruins the mouth, teeth and makes the narcotic.
Disgusting filthy dirty habit.
Makes chewing tobacco with overflowing spittoons look hygienic in comparison.
The lime acts to keep the active ingredient in its freebase or alkaline form, thus enabling it to enter the bloodstream via sublingual absorption. The areca nut contains the alkaloid arecoline, which promotes salivation (the saliva is stained red), and is itself a stimulant. This combination, known as a "betel quid", has been used for several thousand years. Tobacco is sometimes added.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
01/10/2011 3:01 Comments ||
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#2
How does betel compare to qat? Other than that one causes red dribbling, and the other causes green dribbling, I mean.
#3
my limited understanding is qat is more like speed.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
01/10/2011 12:41 Comments ||
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#4
In its defense, Chewing Betel Nut properly can give someone a good, long-lasting "natural high" widout any addictive or physical side effects.
Also, personally I have never met anyone here on Guam or in the States that got CANCER directly from chewing Betel Nut, while the same is not true for those whom had chewed tobacco or were regular Smokers. At worse, Guam, US Locals I'd met whom have Cancer, etc. + chew Betel Nut do so as a complementary Pain-Killer, akin to so-called "Medical Marijuana".
Lastly, IMO those whom chew betel Nut + have LT Teeth Stains + Gum Disease are also those kinds of individuals whom don't brush or see their dentist regularly to begin with. TOO MUCH OF ONLY ONE THING IS NEVER GOOD.
[Al Jazeera] About 30,000 supporters of Thailand's "red shirt" movement have gathered in the capital, Bangkok, demanding the release of the group's leaders who were nabbed in the wake of last year's deadly violence.
Sunday's anti-government protest appeared to be peaceful on the lam, but a brief scuffle occurred in the upmarket Ratchaprasongan shopping area where police had tried to seal off the main intersection with barricades.
A few hundred protesters hurled plastic water bottles and pushed past the police, who stepped aside to avoid further conflict.
More than 1,000 police were deployed across the city.
Jatuporn Prompan, a red shirt leader who avoided arrest because he has parliamentary immunity, vowed to hold "frequent and symbolic gatherings" twice a month - a change from the large sit-in last year that lasted 10 weeks and prompted a violent crackdown.
"We have learned a lesson that big gatherings will not lead to the result we want," Jatuporn said.
About 90 people were killed and more than 1,400 were maimed in the March-May unrest, as the protesters tried to force Abhisit Vejjajiva, the prime minister, to call early elections.
Ban lifted
The rally comes as Abhisit has announced nine welfare policies, aimed at addressing social inequalities and helping low-income groups in the country.
Sunday's protest was the first major rally since Abhisit's government on December 22 lifted a state of emergency in Bangkok that technically barred gatherings of more than five people.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2011 00:00 ||
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AP has been collecting stories from people who knew him.
Among his beliefs was that the govt (presumably the US Govt) was behind the 9-11 atrocities.
He almost died once from drinking too much tequila and liked poetry.
Mr Loughner believes a great many strange things. Truther nonsense is only a small part of it, and not the defining part. The psychiatrist-blogger Dr. Sanity has concluded Mr. Loughner is a classic paranoid schizophrenic.
That I would believe. That's why he had days where he could hold it together, and presumably it was one of those days that he bought the pistol he used in this terrible crime.
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/10/2011 02:59 ||
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#1
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
The left's narrative keeps falling apart. How long before this whole story is swept under the rug and put on the history sites as, "Schizophrenic gunman shot 12 people, killing a federal judge and a 9 yo girl."
#3
The government is appointing his defender to insure that there are no errors that might lead to an acquittal.
They are picking San Diego attorney Judy Clarke, who served on teams that insured Timothy McVeigh was executed, Unibomber Ted Kaczynski got life in ADX Florence, and Susan Smith, who murdered her children and created racial strife by blaming an unidentified black man, got life with no possibility for parole for 30 years.
As a rule of thumb, never, ever let the government pick who will defend you in a criminal case, if the government hates you.
This is why in a duel, it is the person who is challenged who has the right to choose the weapons used.
#4
THe question remains: who hold people like that ass Krugman, and the editors who greenlit his inflammatory article, and others in the left dominated media accountable for spewing the hate and disinformation attempting to politicize this and pin it on conservatives and libertarians and the TEA party?
#5
In the early minutes after the shooting CNN and MSNBC tried desperately to tie this nutcase to the right. The narrative didn't take. He is not connected to the left either. He is a truly troubled man that needs some mental help.
#6
Personally, I feel he is connected to the left. As are his actions.
Two of his favorite books are Mein Kampf and The Communist Manifesto. Those who went to school with him say he's a liberal. His actions parallel those of Lee Harvey Oswald and Ted Kaczynski. He blames the world's woes on a group of people, as socialist societies seem to do in order to divert the people's attention from the true problem. In his case, it's Jews.
He's got some paranoid stuff in the mix, too, like government mind control through grammar. Remove that and the violence from the mix and you're back to liberal thinking and the problems of a socialist governmental system.
#7
He was (is) obviously an agent of THRUSH. He reads Animal Farm and Lewis G Carrol too. Almost as bad. We must begin counter-tactics immediately. And Robert Ludlum!!! Shoot to kill!
#11
Quick grammar lesson for the spelling-impaired.
The word is "ensured" if you want to be "sure" of something. The spelling is "insured" if you are paying monthly premiums to know that if you crash into someone with your car there will be a payoff to the injured party.
#12
Grammar is important. For example, you can help your Uncle Jack, off a horse or you can help your uncle jack off a horse. Apparently the distinction of things like this drove him nuts.
Another Sixties radical speaks up. She's the one who wanted to cause the revolution by overloading the Welfare rolls until the system collapsed. Now she has new ideas, demonstrating that she really, really does not understand the American psyche.
During the last 4 to 6 weeks a major Leftist, Francis Fox Piven has been calling the unemployed young people to violent action, like that in Europe...
Wants to relive the palmy days of her youth, does she? "To the barricades, brothers and sisters, to the barricades!"
[W]orkers must realize that others have put them in their current, uneasy situation: "[T]he out-of-work have to stop blaming themselves for their hard times and turn their anger on the bosses, the bureaucrats or the politicians who are in fact responsible."
Punish bad bosses by giving your labour to a more worthy one -- even if it is yourself, punish the bureaucrats by downsizing them and reducing their pay and benefits, punish the politicians by voting them out of office, punish the unions by giving up your membership. (Ms Piven forgot to mention the unions in her little rant. Clearly she needs to look more carefully at her factors.)
Only then, once their rage has been properly stoked, can the angry take action.
Having a little trouble getting the stoking going, my dear? I believe there are medicines for that, nowadays.
And when they do, she says, the "protesters need targets."
She's like an ant preserved in amber, poor thing. Once she was a slip of a girl, leading the charge of her age-mates. Now she's that friend of Grandma's, the one who dribbles her tea.
What she is calling for is nothing less than the chaos and violence engulfing Europe," writes Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Ron Radosh on his blog. "Disgruntled leftist unionists, students who expect an education without cost, and citizens of social-democratic states cannot accept that the old terms of the social contract they thought would last forever have worn out their welcome. The European welfare-state governments can no longer function with the kind of social programs that now far exceed their nation's budgets and hence are moving their countries to the precipice of total collapse."
But violence has always been Piven's preferred method of collapse. In 2004, she admitted as much, saying that violence is condoned as long as it is part of a grand plan...
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.
HERSHEY, Pa. -- Maj. Richard "Dick" Winters, the man whose quiet leadership was chronicled in the World War II book and television miniseries "Band of Brothers," has died in central Pennsylvania.
[Iran Press TV] A leak has forced the shutdown of an oil pipeline in Alaska, drastically cutting production in one of the United States' major oil supply lines.
