h/t 'Or Does it Explode' Originally published in YahooNews 5/31, but we missed it.
DUBAI (AFP) - You see them at government offices, together in malls and cafes, or glimpse their silhouettes behind dark-tinted car windows on Dubai roads, but otherwise the city's natives keep to themselves.
Amid the massive construction and development drive under way in Dubai that is bringing in each year tens of thousands of expatriates and Asian labourers and aims to attract 15 million tourists by 2010, a large number of the small native population have resettled on the city's fringes to preserve cherished tribal and family values.
Many are proud of Dubai's achievements, but an increasingly vocal few speak of alienation, question the social and political cost of fast modernisation and even say they should have been consulted.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/16/2006 00:35 ||
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WASHINGTON (AP) - House Democrats, determined to make an election-year point about ethics, voted 99-58 Thursday night to strip Rep. William Jefferson of his committee assignment while a federal bribery investigation runs its course. The rank and file acted despite a last-minute plea by the embattled Louisiana lawmaker and persistent complaints from the Congressional Black Caucus that there was neither rule or precedent for the action.
Jefferson has not been indicted and maintains his innocence. In remarks to reporters, he conceded that ``serious allegations'' swirl around him.
Swirl -- a word a politican shouldn't use.
After weeks of defiance, he also left open the possibility that he might at last surrender the seat voluntarily before the issue reaches the House floor for final action. ``I don't want to speculate,'' he said.
The three-hour closed door meeting marked the culmination of a drive by the Democratic leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, to take action. ``This isn't about proof in a court of law. This is about an ethical standard,'' she told reporters.
And no one knows ethics like Pelosi.
Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, who is a member of the Democratic leadership as well as the black caucus, said the rank and file had confronted ``two competing interests, the legal interest and the political interest.''
Earlier, Pelosi brushed aside criticism from members of the black caucus, telling reporters she had been ``more than fair.''
"Pshaw!"
The issue has left many lawmakers torn, and several black lawmakers have appealed privately to Jefferson, who is black, to step aside from the Ways and Means Committee voluntarily.
The chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Melvin Watt, said after the vote that by taking the action they did, fellow Democrats chose ``political expediency'' or some other unacceptable factor over precedent. ``Even at the end of the meeting we don't know what the standard has been,'' he said. Watt said that constituents of some lawmakers will adopt the view that race was a factor in the decision. ``I think there are people who will say that's the basis,'' he said.
And those people are loyal Dems.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/16/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
...maintains his innocence.
Unfortunately for the Honorable Congressman, Johnnie Cochran is no longer available.
"If the money don't fit (in the freezer), you must acquit!"
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/16/2006 6:45 Comments ||
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#3
Actually the Congressional Black Caucus does have a point. I can't remember his name but a Representative from West Virgina is under indictment but has not been confronted by the Democratic leadership to vacate his seat on a committee.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/16/2006 8:15 Comments ||
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#4
There have been no charges or indictments against Rep. Jefferson to date. The rule of law states that one is innocent until proven guilty.
Usually the Dems would use the above logic to defend one of their own to the death (but certainly not for a Republican). Could it be that it's an election year and we want to appear "Tough on Crime®"?
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
06/16/2006 8:30 Comments ||
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#5
Innocent? What about Tom DeLay and the Dems' howl for his head?
#8
I just wish they couldn't be bought so cheaply. It oughtta cost you several hundreds of millions of dollars to buy a Congresscritter, not 100K wrapped in tinfoil. That's pitiful.
#3
I mean, it's so obvious. Don't know why they didn't think of it sooner.
But I thought tornadoes spawned in trailer parks? I may have been misinformed...
#4
Heck, that isn't as good as another story on that page. Check out Did Bush Jets Influence Hurricane Katrina? And then cease to wonder if that site is run by a bunch of nuts.
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.
