I know. You’re shocked. As was I. However, the reason I’m posting is not the report itself, but allll the related Barry links at the bottom of it.
Marion’s…
·November 14, 2006: Barry Pleads Not Guilty To DUI
·September 11, 2006: Marion Barry Detained By Police
·August 7, 2006: Barry Facing More Legal Woes
·May 12, 2006: Police: Former Mayor Fails Field Sobriety Test
·March 9, 2006: Marion Barry Sentenced On Tax Charges
·February 27, 2006: Barry Shows Off Gasifier Machine
·February 8, 2006: Federal Judge Postpones Barry Sentencing
·February 7, 2006: Marion Barry Heads Back To Court
·January 11, 2006: Marion Barry Fails Drug Test
·January 3, 2006: Marion Barry Robbed At Gunpoint
·November 11, 2005: Gasification Machine Removed From Anacostia Parking Lot
·November 10, 2005: Energy Machine Demonstration Held Without Fireworks
·November 10, 2005: D.C. Leaders Almost Go Toe-To-Toe
·October 28, 2005: Marion Barry Pleads Guilty To Tax Charges
·October 5, 2005: Mayor Offers Words Of Support For Barry
·October 4, 2005: Barry To Plead Guilty For Failing To File Tax Returns
…been a busy guy. Hell, he’d be in office for life if he’d move to New Orleans.
(And WTF is a ‘gasification’ machine you ask? An antipollution thingermabobber.)
…baton twirling passing.
…Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, once the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Sunday that he didn’t see how a troop surge would make a difference because there was a minor surge in the summer of 2006 and it didn’t quiet down Baghdad.
This puts Powell on the same page with the man with whom he supposedly clashed on the war, Donald Rumsfeld – who made clear last week as he was leaving the Pentagon how skeptical he was of committing new troops to a “combat situation.”
Powell and Rumsfeld also agree on what tactics to use if we are to win the war in Iraq: training, training, training. Let’s train the Iraqis and get out by the middle of 2007. Powell calls it the “baton pass,” though he might have just used the word “escape” and been done with it.
The problem with Powell’s likening the current “surge” idea to last summer’s surge is that Keane designed the new plan as a counterweight to what happened six months ago.
As Keane said on Sunday, “We cleared out the insurgents and the Shia death squads from the areas but never committed ourselves to phase two of the operation, which is significant, and that is to put a 24/7 force in the neighborhoods to protect the people . . . [so that] they do not go back to their bases at night.”
…This is a “heavy footprint.” If we do this, we will be saying we will engage and roust the enemy and then stay put for a while. Show our presence. Make it clear to the Iraqis that we’re not bugging out.
Ironically, it’s only with this kind of time that the “train, train, train” option becomes a viable security measure for Iraq’s future – because training takes time, too.
Can it work?
That may be the wrong question.
The right question may be: Will America allow it to work?
Considering how badly the Bush administration has botched this whole thing, I’m not optimistic. The tragedy would be if W suddenly grows a pair, gets in there, hammers bad guys left and right and then BAM. Gives in to whines from the losing Iraqi factional side and/or the ‘worldwide community’, and holds everything up for ‘negotiations’. Like the general says above, you HAVE to stop them from coming home at night. (Sweet JESUS, what does it take? I’d offer to draw a pie chart but they pay guys big bucks for that already and still don’t pay attention.) We have ‘negotiations’ to thank for Shamu the Cleric Sadr alive and skulking. The Marines know how helpful hold-ups for ‘negotiations’ were in Fallujah. And all that ‘native’ participation in Afghanistan’s been a real success, too, right?
I’m as gloomy as Podhoretz, I’m afeared. I’m completely behind anything that lays a sustained case o’ cans o’ whupass on the whole slimy, murderous snakepit. To parrot Dennis Miller, “I thought we went into Iraq to be scary again?” I thought we did, too ~ “Oh thank God, we’re gonna lay a hurt on these cavedwelling assholes.” Nope. And now? If W grows a pair only for a limited engagement again?
Our troops pay the piper in vain AGAIN.
And that sickens me.
…called “Cyprus”.
…Mr Erdogan was the first Turkish prime minister since the invasion to unfreeze the glacial position of immovability into which Ankara had put its Cyprus policy during the 1980s and 1990s. Appearing to put the interests of 70m Turks ahead of 150,000 Turkish Cypriots, he urged support for the Cyprus unification plan drawn up by Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary-general, and which was put to a referendum on the island in early 2004.
In doing so, he undercut the position of Rauf Denktash, the TRNC leader at the time. Mr Denktash actively opposed the deal, and had been blamed for squandering earlier opportunities for a settlement during two decades of fruitless negotiations with his Greek Cypriot counterparts and UN officials. The 2004 referendum turned out to be another false Cypriot dawn, but it ultimately secured for Turkey the bigger prize of getting its EU entry process under way.
However, to the growing dismay of Mr Erdogan’s government and the Turkish public, the EU was unable, partly because of its own mis-steps, to broker the ending of the trade and political embargo on the TRNC. In Turkey, the EU is widely blamed for this, but so, to his political discomfort, is Mr Erdogan.
…Turkey’s experience in dealing with the EU in the past three years has turned Cyprus from a positive – the key that unlocked the door in 2004 – to a negative. Many in Turkey cannot understand why an institution as powerful as the EU is unable to honour a small and relatively uncontroversial pledge to bring the TRNC in from the wilderness.
Imagine that. The EU is unable to act on even the littlest promise.
More stories on Cyprus.
Daughter told me this last night, and I thought I would share this heartwarming tale with you in the Spirit of the Season…
Once upon a time, many years ago, Santa was having a very, very bad Christmas Eve.
Rudolf had a bad head cold and couldn’t fly. Santa’s sleigh was still broken from a particularly bad landing last year. The packages weren’t wrapped because the elves had been hitting the eggnog early and hard and were now stumbling about, singing bawdy songs about dwarves. Mrs. Claus had burnt the Christmas cookies again. And the little angel that Santa had sent out to get a tree for the house had been gone all day and still had not returned. No, Santa was not neither jolly nor merry.
Suddenly, the door burst open and in fluttered the little angel, hauling a large tree behind him. The angel glanced about the house and said in a loud voice…
Read more »
Of course they are.
France to withdraw 200 special forces
France is to withdraw its 200-strong special forces from Afghanistan, (all of its ground troops engaged in the U.S. antiterror operation there**) a contingent engaged in the U.S. anti-terror operation there, authorities announced yesterday.
The decision to pull the elite troops, based in the southeastern city of Jalalabad, comes as the Taliban militia gain strength despite the strong engagement — about 32,800 troops — in NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, which includes Canadian troops. France has balked at sending its 1,100-strong NATO contingent outside the relatively safe Afghan capital, Kabul.
“Elite troops” who wouldn’t leave the ‘safe’ capital and now are buggering out completely, since the bad guys are, like, getting badder.
That’s how they keep those fashion forward “elite” uniforms looking so spiffy.
**SPTimes
Head on over to the Deutsche Oper
Airport-style scanners will be used to search people attending a production of a Mozart opera in Berlin featuring the severed head of the Prophet Muhammad.
Security has been tightened because of fears of a Muslim backlash against Deutsche Oper’s version of Idomeneo.
Jesus, Buddha and Greek god Poseidon are also decapitated in the show.
I wonder if they will be serving ham sandwiches and danish blue cheese during the intermission?
Hurrah for red hot chile peppers
In a discovery that has stunned even those behind it, scientists at a Toronto hospital say they have proof the body’s nervous system helps trigger diabetes, opening the door to a potential near-cure of the disease that affects millions of Canadians.
Diabetic mice became healthy virtually overnight after researchers injected a substance to counteract the effect of malfunctioning pain neurons in the pancreas.
“I couldn’t believe it,” said Dr. Michael Salter, a pain expert at the Hospital for Sick Children and one of the scientists. “Mice with diabetes suddenly didn’t have diabetes any more.”
Here’s the cool part
Dr. Dosch had concluded in a 1999 paper that there were surprising similarities between diabetes and multiple sclerosis, a central nervous system disease. His interest was also piqued by the presence around the insulin-producing islets of an “enormous” number of nerves, pain neurons primarily used to signal the brain that tissue has been damaged.
Suspecting a link between the nerves and diabetes, he and Dr. Salter used an old experimental trick — injecting capsaicin, the active ingredient in hot chili peppers, to kill the pancreatic sensory nerves in mice that had an equivalent of Type 1 diabetes.
“Then we had the biggest shock of our lives,” Dr. Dosch said. Almost immediately, the islets began producing insulin normally “It was a shock, really out of left field, because nothing in the literature was saying anything about this.”
I hope this works out, and quickly.
Youe don’t get much more Nanny State than this
Oversize clothes should have obesity helpline numbers sewn on them to try and reduce Britain’s fat crisis, a leading professor said today.
And new urban roads should only be built if they have cycle lanes, according to Naveed Sattar, Professor of Metabolic Medicine at the University of Glasgow.
It boggles the mind how they want to control every aspect of your life.
And the Vulcan Tummy Tickle
I guess ‘Heimlich’ was a Romulan.
First off, I certainly hope he recovers.
But if he doesn’t then…
Should Johnson not be able to complete his term, which ends in 2008, South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds, a Republican, would appoint his replacement, which could shift the balance of power in the Senate.
Reading the relevant SD statutes here I find these rules:
12-11-1. Special election to fill congressional vacancy–Time of election of representative. If a vacancy occurs in the office of a senator or representative in the United States Congress it shall be the duty of the Governor within ten days of the occurrence, to issue a proclamation setting the date of and calling for a special election for the purpose of filling such vacancy. If either a primary or general election is to be held within six months, an election to fill a vacancy in the office of representative in the United States Congress shall be held in conjunction with that election, otherwise the election shall be held not less than eighty nor more than ninety days after the vacancy occurs.
12-11-4. Temporary appointment by Governor to fill vacancy in United States Senate. Pursuant to the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, the Governor may fill by temporary appointment, until a special election is held pursuant to this chapter, vacancies in the office of senator in the Senate of the United States.
12-11-5. Special election to fill senate vacancy. The special election to fill the vacancy of a senator shall be held at the same time as the next general election. The general election laws shall apply unless inconsistent with this chapter.
The kicker in all of this is that there’s nothing that defines ‘vacancy’ or ‘unable to complete term’. Oh sure, there’s this
3-4-1. Events causing vacancy in office. Every office shall become vacant on the happening of any one of the following events before the expiration of the term of such office:
(1) The death of the incumbent;
(2) His resignation;
(3) His removal from office;
(4) His failure to qualify as provided by law;
(5) His ceasing to be a resident of the state, district, county, township, or precinct in which the duties of his office are to be exercised or for which he may have been elected;
(6) His conviction of any infamous crime or of any offense involving a violation of his official oath;
(7) Whenever a judgment shall be obtained against him for a breach of his official bond.
But let’s say, god forbid, that he lapses into a coma or vegetative state. He’s not ‘dead’, but can he stil be said to occupy his office, Strom Thurmond notwithstanding? The Senate Rules make no mention of whether the Senator is actually able to attend and function.
And you can bet the Dems will fight tooth and nail that unless he’s dead the office ain’t vacant.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: HE’S GOT A ROTTEN BRAIN! IT’S ROTTEN, I TELL YA! ROTTEN!
The Monster: RAAAAAAAA!
Igor: Ixnay on the ottenray.
…..
[Upon seeing the monster’s manhood]
Elizabeth: Oh my God. Woof.
[after sex with The Monster]
Elizabeth: Oh. Where you going?… Oh, you men are all alike. Seven or eight quick ones and then you’re out with the boys to boast and brag. YOU BETTER KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT. Oh… I think I love him.
We did, too.
…made me laugh.
Merry Christmas! That’s right, Merry Christmas. Whether you’re Christian, Jewish, Muslim, agnostic, pagan, barbarian or whatever, Merry Christmas!
It’s what most of us say in this country come this time of year. It’s about who we are, where we are and where we’ve been. And all the namby-pamby, little sensitive darlings among us who can’t handle this verbal assault on their delicate senses should immediately begin seeking emergency psychiatric care.
…remind me of Ted WIlliams’ charming son?
A family at cross-purposes
Billy Graham’s sons argue over a final resting place
Franklin wants the old man buried in his new theme park, while Ned (the son who’s actually been taking care of Rev. Graham and his frail, suffering wife Ruth) wants them buried…where they want to be buried.
…Ruth Graham has told her children that she doesn’t want to be buried in Charlotte. She has a burial spot picked out in the mountains where she raised five children, and she hopes her husband will join her there.
Ned Graham has been working to convince his three sisters, Gigi, Bunny and Anne, that their mother’s wishes should be followed.
They’ve been married for a GAZILLION years and the best she has is to ‘HOPE’ her husband will be buried with her?! How is there even a discussion?
My personal opinion? Franklin Graham is a pretentious monster. He’s Jesse Jackson to Dr. King ~ a coattail riding idealogue who will f*ck his parents over for a dollar in a heartbeat. I can’t stand him or his sister Anne. They’re as hateful as they come, just sprinkling “Lord, this or that’ in to make it palatable.
I can’t wait for Rev. Graham’s head to wind up in a cryogenic freezer bucket. Just watch.
Honestly. I need to work for these people.
Brussels breached rules in banning ‘mad’ official
The European Commission acted improperly when it declared one of its civil servants mentally unstable and forced him to leave his job, according to an employment tribunal decision that could have a far-reaching effect on how Brussels unburdens itself of officials it considers troublesome.
Paul Mahoney, president of the European civil service tribunal in Luxembourg, read a brief judgement annulling a decision by the Commission’s in 2004 which barred José Sequeira from his entering the development directorate where he was an administrator. His seniors claimed he had circulated documents insulting his colleagues.
…Generous employment rules mean Commission staff have jobs for life. Each year, some 200 are placed on long-term sick leave, half due to mental ill health.
Other cases alleging that the Commission forced outspoken staff to take sick leave are pending before the Luxembourg tribunal, which forms part of the European Court of Justice.
Is this any way to rule the free world? ‘Mad’ because he insulted his colleagues? Long term sick leave? Benefits? I am SO all over that. 
BINGLEY SUCKS!!!
He knows where to send the checks.
I meant to put this up the other day. Insta linked to a shocking editorial in the Washington Post on the legacy of Pinochet that is well worth reading. It’s one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen in the WaPo; someone must be off their meds there. Heck, if they wrote more like this it might almost make me subscribe.
Look, in no way am I trying to lessen the evil that Pinochet did, but the fact remains that Chile is one of the strongest economies in Latin America because of Pinochet, while Cuba is one of the worst because of Castro. Yet everybody loves and worships Fidel. Blech.
Follow the link or the full editorial is below the fold for those who aren’t registered, as I want to save it.
Read more »
Thanks to a link from Tim, I can finally complete my shopping: The most dangerous toys of all time.
But his killer’s the one with her name on a NYC College community room.
New York City college students who share a community room named for an escaped cop killer called the fugitive their hero Tuesday as the school’s officials demanded the removal of the honor.
A handful of campus groups at the City College of New York commended the school for allowing them to work in the name of domestic “terrorist” Assata Shakur, now believed to be hiding in Cuba.
“We know that many Black people that fought for better conditions in the 70’s were framed,” the groups said in a statement released to FOXNews.com. “We consider Assata Shakur to be one of the people who were wrongfully and purposefully framed for her activities.
“And we consider her a hero and role model for standing up for our people and putting her life on the line.“
Doncha just love these young, passionate kids?
…because the moron isn’t helping, with laughable whines like this:
…The rabbi had received “all kinds of calls and emails,” many of them “odious,” Grad said, adding he was “trying to figure out how this is consistent with the spirit of Christmas.”
Odd. That’s what we were all wondering about him and his bullsh*t lawsuit.
…PUH-LEEZzzzz…
Blair Shocked by Holocaust Denial Meeting
How else do you explain something like this
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — A suicide bomber targeting laborers killed 60 people Tuesday in Baghdad and wounded 220 others, Iraqi officials said.
A pickup truck, loaded with about 440 pounds (200 kilograms) of explosives, pulled into Tayaran Square as hundreds of unemployed Iraqis holding picks and shovels gathered seeking a day’s work.
The truck driver signaled to the would-be workers that he had jobs — prompting people to crowd around the pickup before he detonated his bomb, said an Iraqi Interior Ministry official.
The explosion, which sent a cloud of black smoke into the sky, set several cars ablaze, and gunfire sounded after the blast, Reuters reported.
“A driver with a pickup truck stopped and asked for laborers. When they gathered around the car, it exploded,” a witness told Reuters as he helped a stumbling survivor with a blood-stained head bandage.
“They were poor laborers looking for work. The poor are supposed to be protected by the government.”
I’m just sickened by this. And there’s really only so much the government can do when there are people willing to slaughter their fellow citizens wholesale, short of really clamping down with martial* law and basically shooting anyone who moves with out permission.
*oops! Thanks John!
And almost were.
Hamas gunmen fire on Fatah protesters
Hamas gunmen opened fire on demonstrators from the rival Fatah movement in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, wounding four people in the first factional violence following the deaths of three children in a drive-by shooting, officials said.
The demonstration was organized to protest the deaths of the children, whose car was riddled with bullets as they drove to school Monday morning. Fatah officials have accused Hamas of being behind the shooting. The children’s father is an intelligence officer and Fatah loyalist who is considered an enemy of Hamas.
Saleh Hammad, a local Fatah leader, said the demonstration was peaceful, though he acknowledged that some children had provoked the Hamas militiamen by throwing rocks at them.
“Even if one or a few children lost their temper and stoned the members of the unit, this is not a reason to be fired at,” he said.
Hamas continues to impress with their version of ‘governance’.
…could.
Bringing new meaning to ‘firing blind’
Texas legislator introduces bill to allow blind people to hunt
The blind would be able to go hunting if a Texas bill becomes law.
The bill would allow legally blind hunters to use a laser sight, or lighted pointing instrument, which is forbidden for sighted hunters, according to State Rep. Edmund Kuempel, who introduced it.
You have to give Putin credit for knowing what Russia’s cards are these days and for not being afraid to play them
Shell is being forced by the Russian government to hand over its controlling stake in the world’s biggest liquefied gas project, provoking fresh fears about the Kremlin’s willingness to use the country’s growing strength in natural resources as a political weapon.
After months of relentless pressure from Moscow, the Anglo-Dutch company has to cut its stake in the $20bn Sakhalin-2 scheme in the far east of Russia in favour of the state-owned energy group Gazprom.
The Russian authorities are also threatening BP over alleged environmental violations on a Siberian field in what is seen as a wider attempt to seize back assets handed over to foreign companies when energy prices were low.
Now that’s a good joke, the Russians seizing the oil fields to ‘defend the environment.’ But the bigger political move is scary for Western Europe, and it should be. Russia showed last winter that they’re not afraid to shut off oil and natural gas pipelines for political reasons, and this is a warning shot to the Euroappeasers that Ivan wants a big chair at the table. Unfortunately, this will also drive the Euroappeasers closer to Iran as a way to try and counter the Russian move, which means any hope of firm action against Iran is even more of a fantasy than before. Frankly, you’d think the Russians would support sanctions against Iran, as that would raise the value of their holdings…but would also lead to increased tensions with the muslim elements in their southern regions. Moscow’s trying to juggle a couple of chainsaws here. Honestly, I can see Putin gaining control of the foreign oil assets in Russia, then supporting a tougher stance vis a vis Iran, which would provoke unrest in the southern Russian republics, which would allow him to really crack down on them, and pay for it with the much higher energy prices he’d be getting. Ugly and bloody, but there’s going to be a housecleaning over there eventually and I’m sure he would prefer it to be somewhat on his terms.
…comes up a little…well…
Condoms a big problem for men in India
Most men’s *p-words* are an inch too short for popular prophylactics
Condoms designed to meet international size specifications are too big for many Indian men as their *p-words* fall short of what manufacturers had anticipated, an Indian study has found.
The Indian Council of Medical Research, a leading state-run center, said its initial findings from a two-year study showed 60 percent of men in the financial capital Mumbai had *p-words* about 1 inch shorter than those condoms catered for.
For a further 30 percent, the difference was at least 2 inches. A poor fit meant the prophylactics often didn’t do the job they were bought for, and led to some tearing or slipping off during use.
Sounds as if the research was…inadequate. Of course, who do you send out to do the survey in the first place?
I hope all the snickering and gloating in other countries doesn’t affect the national psyche.
*Edited to protect the children.
…Iranians still party like no other. See, it works like this: If you go to a party or a club in Ibiza or Madrid, you usually come home at 10:00 a.m. the next morning, but in Iran you come home the following week. There are no clubs or bars in Iran (that is common knowledge to most of the world) but really nothing, and I mean nothing, compares to a house party in Teheran.
Every repressed attraction to the opposite sex, every urge to have a beer with your lunch, every desire to have a “happy hour” after a long day’s work, every desire to give your partner a kiss at a restaurant forms into a tidal wave of absolute debauchery consisting of heavy drug use, massive alcohol consumption and, unfortunately, not-so-safe sex. With unemployment so high, inflation that doesn’t cease, and a generation of youth that have lost ALL hope in their national government, the best thing you can do, for the time being, is pour yourself some illegally imported Russian vodka, light up a cigarette, and watch the world, as you know it, go to hell.
And ‘shiraz’ is originally an Iranian wine district?
I had no idea.
Politics | Mr. Bingley | 
December 19, 2006 10:24 am | 
Comments (5) 
Subscribe