I say, fine, let them eat cake, and choke. The poor unfortunate jihadists in Iran have lost hundreds of millions of dollars due to their beligerant and petulant anti-American attitudes. I hope the people of Iran have paid attention. Beyond my deep enjoyment at knowing how much Iran has lost, is knowing that with the sale of the euro, it becomes less likely the Euro will remain useful in 1-2 years. Consider the Euro was the second most widely distributed currency just two years ago. In the last six months, seriosu questions have arisen aas to whether the EU can even stay afloat let alone a unified currency. Result - the selling of the Euro into $ and gold. With every sale, and I don't mean the €30 that sits in my desk drawer, rather, the billions that sit in the Arab drawer or the Persian drawer - anticipating the imminent (2 years ago) collapse of the US dollar. And how did that work out for you. Like dominoes ... Iran followed by every Persian Gulf state ... and even RUSSIA who called for a world currency to battle down the US dollar, is selling 4% of its Euro stockpile (and I anticipate more as the Euro continues to decline). Glad the sale of dollars to Euro worked out so well for you. : )
Quite likely the Euro will be the 3rd most circulated currency in the next few months, and it may simply ... taper off further, which brings us back to Iran. Glad to know your petulant stance has managed one thing - you to lose hundreds of millions of dollars. I am sure you can make that up - BUYING oil from countries who can refine it. Maybe use some of that NUCLEAR energy you so defiantly claimed was a right, to compensate for the fewer barrels of oil you can purchase now that you have HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS less.
Maybe build another nuclear bomb. That will help a lot.
IRAN WILL SELL OFF PART OF ITS EURO SUPPLY
With all the talk a year ago over pricing oil in Euros, this headline sure has me laughing: Iran Selling 45 Billion Euros of Reserves for Dollars
Iran’s central bank began the first phase of the 45 billion-euro ($55 billion) sale of some of its reserves for dollars, the state-run Jaam-e-Jam newspaper reported, citing people it didn’t identify.
The bank is selling 15 billion euros in the first of three stages, which will be completed by Sept. 22, the newspaper reported on its website on May 31.
Iran will “substantially” decrease its oil sales in euros, the paper said. It informed Japan and other crude-oil customers of the change, Jaam-e-Jam said. The Persian Gulf country’s euro reserves are 55 percent of the total, and would be reduced to 20 to 25 percent after the sale is complete and after oil sales in euros have been reduced, the paper said.
Iran’s shift out of euros has been prompted by the single currency’s decline, said Jaam-e-Jam, which is owned by the state broadcaster. Other central banks, including those of the Persian Gulf states, also are selling their euro reserves, it said.
Iran
Sunday, June 6, 2010
The Euro is dead
or at the very least very well could be within five years, so say the majority of economists.
Euro 'will be dead in five years'
The euro will have broken up before the end of this Parliamentary term, according to the bulk of economists taking part in a wide-ranging economic survey for The Sunday Telegraph.
By Edmund Conway
05 Jun 2010
The Telegraph
The single currency is in its death throes and may not survive in its current membership for a week, let alone the next five years, according to a selection of responses to the survey – the first major wide-ranging litmus test of economic opinion in the City since the election. The findings underline suspicions that the new Chancellor, George Osborne, will have to firefight a full-blown crisis in Britain's biggest trading partner in his first years in office.
Of the 25 leading City economists who took part in the Telegraph survey, 12 predicted that the euro would not survive in its current form this Parliamentary term, compared with eight who suspected it would. Five declared themselves undecided. The finding is only one of a number of remarkable conclusions, including that:
• The economy will grow by well over a percentage point less next year than the Budget predicted in March.
• The Government will borrow almost £10bn less next year than the Treasury previously forecast, despite this weaker growth.
• Just as many economists think the Bank of England will not raise rates until 2012 or later as think it will lift borrowing costs this year.
But the conclusion on the euro is perhaps the most remarkable finding. A year ago or less, few within the City would have confidently predicted the currency's demise. But the travails of Greece, Spain and Portugal in recent weeks, plus German Chancellor Angela Merkel's acknowledgement that the currency is facing an "existential crisis", have radically shifted opinion.
Two of the eight experts who predicted that the currency would survive said it would do so only at the cost of seeing at least one of its members default on its sovereign debt. Andrew Lilico, chief economist at think tank Policy Exchange, said there was "nearly zero chance" of the euro surviving with its current membership, adding: "Greece will certainly default on its debts, and it is an open question whether Greece will experience some form of revolution or coup – I'd put the likelihood of that over the next five years as around one in four."
Douglas McWilliams of the Centre for Economics and Business Research said the single currency "may not even survive the next week", while David Blanchflower, professor at Dartmouth College and former Bank of England policymaker, added: "The political implications [of euro disintegration] are likely to be far-reaching – Germans are opposed to paying for others and may well quit."
Four of the economists said that despite the wider suspicion that Greece or some of the weaker economies may be forced out of the currency, the most likely country to leave would be Germany.
Peter Warburton of consultancy Economic Perspectives said: "Possibly Germany will leave. Possibly other central and eastern European countries – plus Denmark – will have joined. Possibly, there will be a multi-tier membership of the EU and a mechanism for entering and leaving the single currency. I think the project will survive, but not in its current form."
Tim Congdon of International Monetary Research said: "The eurozone will lose three or four members Greece, Portugal, maybe Ireland and could break up altogether because of the growing friction between France and Germany."
The recent worries about the euro's fate followed the creation last month of a $1 trillion (£691bn) bail-out fund to prevent future collapses. Although the fund boosted confidence initially, investors abandoned the euro after politicians showed reluctance to support it wholeheartedly.
euro
Euro 'will be dead in five years'
The euro will have broken up before the end of this Parliamentary term, according to the bulk of economists taking part in a wide-ranging economic survey for The Sunday Telegraph.
By Edmund Conway
05 Jun 2010
The Telegraph
The single currency is in its death throes and may not survive in its current membership for a week, let alone the next five years, according to a selection of responses to the survey – the first major wide-ranging litmus test of economic opinion in the City since the election. The findings underline suspicions that the new Chancellor, George Osborne, will have to firefight a full-blown crisis in Britain's biggest trading partner in his first years in office.
Of the 25 leading City economists who took part in the Telegraph survey, 12 predicted that the euro would not survive in its current form this Parliamentary term, compared with eight who suspected it would. Five declared themselves undecided. The finding is only one of a number of remarkable conclusions, including that:
• The economy will grow by well over a percentage point less next year than the Budget predicted in March.
• The Government will borrow almost £10bn less next year than the Treasury previously forecast, despite this weaker growth.
• Just as many economists think the Bank of England will not raise rates until 2012 or later as think it will lift borrowing costs this year.
But the conclusion on the euro is perhaps the most remarkable finding. A year ago or less, few within the City would have confidently predicted the currency's demise. But the travails of Greece, Spain and Portugal in recent weeks, plus German Chancellor Angela Merkel's acknowledgement that the currency is facing an "existential crisis", have radically shifted opinion.
Two of the eight experts who predicted that the currency would survive said it would do so only at the cost of seeing at least one of its members default on its sovereign debt. Andrew Lilico, chief economist at think tank Policy Exchange, said there was "nearly zero chance" of the euro surviving with its current membership, adding: "Greece will certainly default on its debts, and it is an open question whether Greece will experience some form of revolution or coup – I'd put the likelihood of that over the next five years as around one in four."
Douglas McWilliams of the Centre for Economics and Business Research said the single currency "may not even survive the next week", while David Blanchflower, professor at Dartmouth College and former Bank of England policymaker, added: "The political implications [of euro disintegration] are likely to be far-reaching – Germans are opposed to paying for others and may well quit."
Four of the economists said that despite the wider suspicion that Greece or some of the weaker economies may be forced out of the currency, the most likely country to leave would be Germany.
Peter Warburton of consultancy Economic Perspectives said: "Possibly Germany will leave. Possibly other central and eastern European countries – plus Denmark – will have joined. Possibly, there will be a multi-tier membership of the EU and a mechanism for entering and leaving the single currency. I think the project will survive, but not in its current form."
Tim Congdon of International Monetary Research said: "The eurozone will lose three or four members Greece, Portugal, maybe Ireland and could break up altogether because of the growing friction between France and Germany."
The recent worries about the euro's fate followed the creation last month of a $1 trillion (£691bn) bail-out fund to prevent future collapses. Although the fund boosted confidence initially, investors abandoned the euro after politicians showed reluctance to support it wholeheartedly.
euro
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Egypt announces it has abandoned law and order and has embraced insanity as a legal procedure.
Egypt to strip men married to Israelis of citizenship
AFP
by Jailan Zayan Jailan Zayan – Sat Jun 5, 11:14 am ET
CAIRO (AFP) – A Cairo court on Saturday upheld a ruling to strip Egyptian men married to Israeli women of their citizenship in a case that has highlighted national sentiment towards Israel.
Judge Mohammed al-Husseini, sitting on the Supreme Administrative Court, said the interior ministry must ask the cabinet to take the necessary steps to strip Egyptian men married to Israeli women, and their children, of their citizenship.
The court said that each case should be considered separately, in a ruling that cannot be appealed.
The ruling reflects Egyptian sentiment towards Israel, more than 30 years after Egypt signed an unpopular peace deal with the Jewish state.
Before reading the verdict, Husseini said the case would not apply to Egyptian men married to Arab Israeli women.
"The case for (Egyptian) men married to Israeli Arab women is different to those married to Israeli women of Jewish origin because (Israeli Arabs) have lived under Israeli occupation," Husseini told the court.
"The court's decision is taking into account Egypt's national security," the judge said.
[It is nice to know that Egypt's judicial system is a farce. From the top to the bottom, it is entirely a joke. The judicial appointees, lawyers,and eminent legal minds - are unable to distinguish between justice and buffoonery, between law and disorder, between a mockery of justice and criminal actions. Nothing can repair this.]
Lawyer Nabil al-Wahsh said he originally brought the case to court in order to prevent the creation of a generation "disloyal to Egypt and the Arab world."
Children of such marriages "should not be allowed to perform their military service," he said.
The number of Egyptian men married to Israeli women is thought to be around 30,000, according to Wahsh. Only 10 percent of them are married to Arab Israelis.
"This ruling is for the benefit of Egypt, a nation of leadership, history and civilisation," Wahsh said. "It is for the protection of Egypt and Egypt's youth and its national security."
"The decision comes as Israel continues its assault on those who love peace. The latest example is the aggression against the aid boat which was heading towards the blockaded Gaza Strip," he added.
On Monday, Israeli naval commandos raided a humanitarian flotilla carrying aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip, in a bungled operation that left nine pro-Palestinian activists dead and scores injured.
A lower court ruled last year that the interior minister must look into the cases of Egyptian men married to Israeli women, and their children, in order to "take the necessary steps to strip them of their nationality."
The interior and foreign ministries had appealed the case, saying it was for parliament to decide on such matters.
Thousands of Egyptians, particularly a large number who lived in Iraq and returned after the 1990 Gulf War over Kuwait, moved to Israel in search of work and married Israeli women.
In 1979, Egypt became the first Arab country to sign a peace deal with Israel.
fools
AFP
by Jailan Zayan Jailan Zayan – Sat Jun 5, 11:14 am ET
CAIRO (AFP) – A Cairo court on Saturday upheld a ruling to strip Egyptian men married to Israeli women of their citizenship in a case that has highlighted national sentiment towards Israel.
Judge Mohammed al-Husseini, sitting on the Supreme Administrative Court, said the interior ministry must ask the cabinet to take the necessary steps to strip Egyptian men married to Israeli women, and their children, of their citizenship.
The court said that each case should be considered separately, in a ruling that cannot be appealed.
The ruling reflects Egyptian sentiment towards Israel, more than 30 years after Egypt signed an unpopular peace deal with the Jewish state.
Before reading the verdict, Husseini said the case would not apply to Egyptian men married to Arab Israeli women.
"The case for (Egyptian) men married to Israeli Arab women is different to those married to Israeli women of Jewish origin because (Israeli Arabs) have lived under Israeli occupation," Husseini told the court.
"The court's decision is taking into account Egypt's national security," the judge said.
[It is nice to know that Egypt's judicial system is a farce. From the top to the bottom, it is entirely a joke. The judicial appointees, lawyers,and eminent legal minds - are unable to distinguish between justice and buffoonery, between law and disorder, between a mockery of justice and criminal actions. Nothing can repair this.]
Lawyer Nabil al-Wahsh said he originally brought the case to court in order to prevent the creation of a generation "disloyal to Egypt and the Arab world."
Children of such marriages "should not be allowed to perform their military service," he said.
The number of Egyptian men married to Israeli women is thought to be around 30,000, according to Wahsh. Only 10 percent of them are married to Arab Israelis.
"This ruling is for the benefit of Egypt, a nation of leadership, history and civilisation," Wahsh said. "It is for the protection of Egypt and Egypt's youth and its national security."
"The decision comes as Israel continues its assault on those who love peace. The latest example is the aggression against the aid boat which was heading towards the blockaded Gaza Strip," he added.
On Monday, Israeli naval commandos raided a humanitarian flotilla carrying aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip, in a bungled operation that left nine pro-Palestinian activists dead and scores injured.
A lower court ruled last year that the interior minister must look into the cases of Egyptian men married to Israeli women, and their children, in order to "take the necessary steps to strip them of their nationality."
The interior and foreign ministries had appealed the case, saying it was for parliament to decide on such matters.
Thousands of Egyptians, particularly a large number who lived in Iraq and returned after the 1990 Gulf War over Kuwait, moved to Israel in search of work and married Israeli women.
In 1979, Egypt became the first Arab country to sign a peace deal with Israel.
fools
Turkey: Hamas is not a terrorist organization. Rachel Corrie stopped by Israeli navy
Israeli troops board Rachel Corrie after 4 calls ignored. Erdogan may join next flotilla
DEBKAfile Special Report
June 5, 2010, 10:07 AM
After four calls to change course from Gaza to Ashdod were ignored, Israeli troops were reported to have boarded the Irish-flagged Rachel Corrie some 28 miles out to sea and sailed it to the Israeli port of Ashdod after the ship's pro-Hamas passengers stood by their determination to break the Israeli blockade.
No violence or injuries were reported.
Midday Saturday, June 5, the cat and mouse game between the Israeli Navy, with orders to keep the ship from entering Gaza and the pro-Hamas activists aboard the ship reached its climax. Israeli calls transmitted to the Rachel Corrie ever since dawn met with no response.
Earlier reports during the morning elicited a denial from the Israeli military spokeswoman that troops had boarded the Irish-flagged ship. "At this minute, there's no takeover," she said cautiously.
Turkish security sources quoted Prime Minister Recep Erdogan as preparing to go beyond abusive rhetoric against Israel and considering using his navy to break Israel's siege of Gaza - or even sailing aboard the next flotilla to break the blockade in person on the assumption that Israel would not dare stop him.
According to debkafile's sources in Ankara, the Obama administration is in contact with the Turkish PM and trying to cool him down.
Mike Hammer, spokesman of the National Security Council, urged the Irish boat to sail to Ashdod and deliver materials for Gaza there in the interests of avoiding a confrontation and protecting their own safety and the safe transmission of assistance to the people of Gaza.
Regarding the Gaza blockade, he said "the current arrangements are unsustainable and must be changed." The US is working urgently with Israel, the Palestinian Authority and other international partners," he said, "to develop new procedures for delivering more goods and assistances to Gaza while preventing the importation of weapons."
But for now, the US official called on all parties to act responsibly.
Friday night, Rachel Corrie's 20 passengers rejected a deal reached between the Israeli and Irish governments for UN and Irish officials to attend Israel's inspection of the cargo before sending it overland to the Gaza Strip, insisting on sailing straight to Gaza and delivering the materials themselves. They were also unresponsive to an earlier Israeli offer by Foreign Ministry Director-General Yossie Gal inviting the activists on board the Rachel Corrie to accompany the shipment to the Gaza border.
"We will cooperate with the UN and international organizations in order to ensure that all of the cargo is put to the use of Gaza's citizens," said the Israeli official.
In Washington, Turkish ambassador Namik Tan said his government would break relations with Israel unless it apologized for the commando raid on its flotilla for Gaza which left 9 activists dead after they attacked the troops. In Ankara, prime minster Recep Erdogan said Friday, June 4: "I do not think Hamas is a terrorist organization. They are Palestinians in resistance, fighting for their own land."
Switching from Turkish to Hebrew and English he quoted the Ten Commandments back at Israel saying: Thou shalt not kill."
temerity
DEBKAfile Special Report
June 5, 2010, 10:07 AM
After four calls to change course from Gaza to Ashdod were ignored, Israeli troops were reported to have boarded the Irish-flagged Rachel Corrie some 28 miles out to sea and sailed it to the Israeli port of Ashdod after the ship's pro-Hamas passengers stood by their determination to break the Israeli blockade.
No violence or injuries were reported.
Midday Saturday, June 5, the cat and mouse game between the Israeli Navy, with orders to keep the ship from entering Gaza and the pro-Hamas activists aboard the ship reached its climax. Israeli calls transmitted to the Rachel Corrie ever since dawn met with no response.
Earlier reports during the morning elicited a denial from the Israeli military spokeswoman that troops had boarded the Irish-flagged ship. "At this minute, there's no takeover," she said cautiously.
Turkish security sources quoted Prime Minister Recep Erdogan as preparing to go beyond abusive rhetoric against Israel and considering using his navy to break Israel's siege of Gaza - or even sailing aboard the next flotilla to break the blockade in person on the assumption that Israel would not dare stop him.
According to debkafile's sources in Ankara, the Obama administration is in contact with the Turkish PM and trying to cool him down.
Mike Hammer, spokesman of the National Security Council, urged the Irish boat to sail to Ashdod and deliver materials for Gaza there in the interests of avoiding a confrontation and protecting their own safety and the safe transmission of assistance to the people of Gaza.
Regarding the Gaza blockade, he said "the current arrangements are unsustainable and must be changed." The US is working urgently with Israel, the Palestinian Authority and other international partners," he said, "to develop new procedures for delivering more goods and assistances to Gaza while preventing the importation of weapons."
But for now, the US official called on all parties to act responsibly.
Friday night, Rachel Corrie's 20 passengers rejected a deal reached between the Israeli and Irish governments for UN and Irish officials to attend Israel's inspection of the cargo before sending it overland to the Gaza Strip, insisting on sailing straight to Gaza and delivering the materials themselves. They were also unresponsive to an earlier Israeli offer by Foreign Ministry Director-General Yossie Gal inviting the activists on board the Rachel Corrie to accompany the shipment to the Gaza border.
"We will cooperate with the UN and international organizations in order to ensure that all of the cargo is put to the use of Gaza's citizens," said the Israeli official.
In Washington, Turkish ambassador Namik Tan said his government would break relations with Israel unless it apologized for the commando raid on its flotilla for Gaza which left 9 activists dead after they attacked the troops. In Ankara, prime minster Recep Erdogan said Friday, June 4: "I do not think Hamas is a terrorist organization. They are Palestinians in resistance, fighting for their own land."
Switching from Turkish to Hebrew and English he quoted the Ten Commandments back at Israel saying: Thou shalt not kill."
temerity
Friday, June 4, 2010
The French and their Displeasure over Donations
French condemn 'mean' British over memorial
French fundraisers have condemned the British as "mean" after less than ten donated money for a statue in honour of one of the few living heroes of D-Day.
4 Jun 2010
The Telegraph
Piper Bill Millin, now 86, braved enemy fire on Sword Beach in Normandy to play 'Highland Laddie' on his bagpipes repeatedly to boost morale among the landing troops,
But one year after a French pipe band launched a campaign to raise £80,000 for a bronze statue of Piper Millin they revealed that just eight Britons have contributed.
The majority of the money raised so far has come from the French who made 66 out of 87 donations. A handful of donations have also come from Americans, Swiss and Belgians.
Organisers are still £70,000 short of their target.
[I would be interested in knowing how much was sent by those handful of donations from America and the 8 Britons - of the 10,000. By the way France, they liberated YOUR country. Perhaps you should be erecting these statues everywhere using YOUR money. Why is it we/them/someone saves your ass and each time must then take responsibility for ensuring YOU remember. Perhaps it is time for your collective memory to kick in.]
Leading fund raiser Serge Athenour de Gourdon, president of the Mary Queen of Scots Pipe Band of France, revealed he was "disappointed" by the reaction so far from across the channel.
Mr Athenour de Gourdon, a policeman, said: "I hesitate to say it, but it is a bit mean. The image of Bill coming ashore playing his pipes s iconic.
"All the men who helped liberate Sword Beach that day were heroes and Bill had an important role in giving them the courage to face the onslaught.
"I hope we can raise more this weekend."
Piper Millin, who lives in a nursing home in Dawlish, Devon, has travelled to Normandy to help with the fundraising despite being confined to a wheelchair after suffering a stroke.
He said yesterday : "I never expected anything like this. I am pleased to be able to help raise some more money. It is very good of the French to do this for me."
He will be at Pegasus Bridge today at 11am for a ceremony and to sign books in return for donations, then at 3pm he will be at the cemetery at Omaha Beach.
Tomorrow he will attend a fund raising concert at 2.30pm at Colleville Montgomery.
Piper Millin, who was immortalised in the Oscar winning 1962 film The Longest Day, has never been honoured in Britain.
On D-Day he was a member of the 1st Commando Brigade under Lord Lovat, who ignored orders that no pipes should be played, because of worries about a high death toll.
He waded ashore wearing the kilt his father had worn in the First World War and was ordered to play.
He said: "I just said okay and got on with it."
He found out later that the Germans didn't try to shoot him as they thought he was mad.
French
French fundraisers have condemned the British as "mean" after less than ten donated money for a statue in honour of one of the few living heroes of D-Day.
4 Jun 2010
The Telegraph
Piper Bill Millin, now 86, braved enemy fire on Sword Beach in Normandy to play 'Highland Laddie' on his bagpipes repeatedly to boost morale among the landing troops,
But one year after a French pipe band launched a campaign to raise £80,000 for a bronze statue of Piper Millin they revealed that just eight Britons have contributed.
The majority of the money raised so far has come from the French who made 66 out of 87 donations. A handful of donations have also come from Americans, Swiss and Belgians.
Organisers are still £70,000 short of their target.
[I would be interested in knowing how much was sent by those handful of donations from America and the 8 Britons - of the 10,000. By the way France, they liberated YOUR country. Perhaps you should be erecting these statues everywhere using YOUR money. Why is it we/them/someone saves your ass and each time must then take responsibility for ensuring YOU remember. Perhaps it is time for your collective memory to kick in.]
Leading fund raiser Serge Athenour de Gourdon, president of the Mary Queen of Scots Pipe Band of France, revealed he was "disappointed" by the reaction so far from across the channel.
Mr Athenour de Gourdon, a policeman, said: "I hesitate to say it, but it is a bit mean. The image of Bill coming ashore playing his pipes s iconic.
"All the men who helped liberate Sword Beach that day were heroes and Bill had an important role in giving them the courage to face the onslaught.
"I hope we can raise more this weekend."
Piper Millin, who lives in a nursing home in Dawlish, Devon, has travelled to Normandy to help with the fundraising despite being confined to a wheelchair after suffering a stroke.
He said yesterday : "I never expected anything like this. I am pleased to be able to help raise some more money. It is very good of the French to do this for me."
He will be at Pegasus Bridge today at 11am for a ceremony and to sign books in return for donations, then at 3pm he will be at the cemetery at Omaha Beach.
Tomorrow he will attend a fund raising concert at 2.30pm at Colleville Montgomery.
Piper Millin, who was immortalised in the Oscar winning 1962 film The Longest Day, has never been honoured in Britain.
On D-Day he was a member of the 1st Commando Brigade under Lord Lovat, who ignored orders that no pipes should be played, because of worries about a high death toll.
He waded ashore wearing the kilt his father had worn in the First World War and was ordered to play.
He said: "I just said okay and got on with it."
He found out later that the Germans didn't try to shoot him as they thought he was mad.
French
Hamas, Palestinians,and the Flotilla
Hamas is a social organization, providing aid to those who are in need. Supplying money to the poor to pay for electricity and to buy food, pay for a doctor, or surgery, even for school. This is the popular myth, and it is in part accurate. It is more propaganda than it is truth, and more fictional than reality, yet some people accept it, believe it, and act upon the fictional purpose of Hamas as a saving grace for the destitute and hungry, the powerless and poor. It is purely political, even as it operates a killing arm to force capitulation by the subjugated masses. It cries out for freedom from Israeli control yet oppresses the masses. If they were 'free' of Israeli 'control' Hamas would be unable to rationalize its purpose.
Hamas has sworn to destroy Israel, it lives to destroy Israel. It exists, the reason d'etre is to destroy Israel. They wake up each day and dream and think, believe, and act in a manner they believe will end the existence of Israel. On Thursday, June 3, four kassam rockets were launched into Israel. This is ongoing. It matters not how many casualties, but for luck and the general stupidity of hamas, many could have been killed.
How do you make a rocket? Not difficult. Neither is a launcher all that difficult to make. All you need is some pvc piping. The same type of piping used for ... water / sewage. Israel placed a blockade around Gaza to prevent material that would be used to rebuild Hamas' ability to attack Israel and or provide cover for Hamas killers and kidnappers.
Israel allows in aid and has tried allowing in piping - you know, piping for the sewage that is building up - all 55 million metric meters that flows into the Mediterranean. Here is the simple fact - Israel would and will, and has allowed in the piping for that sewage system, BUT hamas send out stupid fools to dig it up, to use the piping for rocket launchers. If you are Israel, what would you do?
a) continue sending piping to repair and replace the stolen piping used for rocket launchers
b) send rocket launchers to make unnecessary the ripping out of the piping, thereby allowing the sewage to be diverted and saving the Mediterranean.
c) ignore the facts and open the gates, fences, sea lanes and let the chips fall where they will.
d) tell Hamas to stop digging up the piping or you will prevent further pipes from being sent in to be used in the same form, and not for the purpose they were sent into Gaza.
I don't know. I suppose if you are Roseanne Barr or Helen Thomas, you would choose E, stop occupying Palestinian lands and go home and when all the Jews are gone, they will stop digging up the pipes.
It is a choice for Hamas - dig up the pipes, pollute the land, allow people to get sick and die, or stop digging up the pipes for rocket launchers. Simple enough. Where is their passion, dedication, and commitment? With the people or with death?
So Roseanne would say - it most certainly is with the people (this is my opinion of her position, and I am reasonably confident if it was a direct question, and required a direct answer she would come down on this side)
They cannot build sewage systems and prevent 55 million metric meters of sewage flow into the Mediterranean because the Israelis limit the amount of construction materials into Gaza.
Hamas calls on the world to help them, and it did - billions in aid money was promised. Under any normal situation, such as Haiti, billions in aid and concrete would flow in, and will be used to rebuild Haiti. The people of Haiti will receive water and food, clothing, supplies - all free of charge, without restriction or hindrance. This is what hamas should aspire to be, and to do - but instead, they use the aid to bribe the people, to intimidate and threaten, to coerce and control. They use piping to save the environment and the community from illness and disease to send bombs and missiles into Israel, with the resulting strikes by Israel against Gaza resulting in deaths, used by Hamas as further proof they need to resist which leads to more flotillas and more rockets and more deaths and more weapons and more ...
According to Imam Fethullah Gulen, a highly influential Turkish religious figure - the Turkish-led aid flotilla that clashed with Israeli forces was defying authority” for failing to seek permission from Israel before attempting to deliver aid and said that assigning blame in the matter is best left to the United Nations. He also said he only recently heard of the IHH and that “it is not easy to say if they are politicized or not.” Meaning - they were recently created, maybe a week, maybe a month, maybe about the time someone decided to put the flotilla together.
The Israeli navy warned the convoy by radio not to approach Gaza, told the captains of the boats they were approaching a blockaded area and asked them to either proceed to the Israeli port of Ashdod or turn back. Activists on board responded that they would continue toward their destination.
Sidebar: According to the fringe left and the Arab moderates - Israeli forces are a) killers without conscience, b) killers of babies and the innocent who do not feel anything but blood lst when they kill. c) instinctively murderous and seek to kill any innocent they see, or d) all of the above. Answer: D. So, if you believe it is D why the heck do you arrogantly and defiantly sale through a blockade if you believe the blockaders are killers of babies and would sink your ship with babies and families on it without a second thought. Why. Why. Why do you put the children at risk, why do you put innocent lives at risk if you believe Israel kills children wantonly. Why. Answer: because you care even less about children and the innocent and would like to provoke the killing of your children in order to attain a political win. You would like Israel to sink your ship with families and children on board, and if you are sunk by the Israeli navy, you will ensure your children die one way or another to use as propaganda while you wail next to their lifeless bodies.
Expel hamas, renounce violence and murder, stop using rockets to fire into Israel and rebuild your city. Stop with the violence. Blow up the tunnels used not to bring in necessities, but to smuggle in weapons, terrorists, and food you will sell to the Palestinians, supplies you will sell, clothing you will sell, aid you will sell - and then you will use the money to buy more weapons to bring death upon the Palestinian people.
When you stop the evil in your midst, I would bet the average workers per capita earnings for a year, in Gaza, that Israel will cease and desist with its defensive measures as they would be unneeded.
What the US should not do is to send fools like Congressman Brian Baird who urged that the US break the blockade in the same way "we did when we circumvented the Berlin Blockade. We would accomplish this using roll-on/off ships supplying the needed material for Palestinians to rebuild their society."
foolish fools
Hamas has sworn to destroy Israel, it lives to destroy Israel. It exists, the reason d'etre is to destroy Israel. They wake up each day and dream and think, believe, and act in a manner they believe will end the existence of Israel. On Thursday, June 3, four kassam rockets were launched into Israel. This is ongoing. It matters not how many casualties, but for luck and the general stupidity of hamas, many could have been killed.
How do you make a rocket? Not difficult. Neither is a launcher all that difficult to make. All you need is some pvc piping. The same type of piping used for ... water / sewage. Israel placed a blockade around Gaza to prevent material that would be used to rebuild Hamas' ability to attack Israel and or provide cover for Hamas killers and kidnappers.
Israel allows in aid and has tried allowing in piping - you know, piping for the sewage that is building up - all 55 million metric meters that flows into the Mediterranean. Here is the simple fact - Israel would and will, and has allowed in the piping for that sewage system, BUT hamas send out stupid fools to dig it up, to use the piping for rocket launchers. If you are Israel, what would you do?
a) continue sending piping to repair and replace the stolen piping used for rocket launchers
b) send rocket launchers to make unnecessary the ripping out of the piping, thereby allowing the sewage to be diverted and saving the Mediterranean.
c) ignore the facts and open the gates, fences, sea lanes and let the chips fall where they will.
d) tell Hamas to stop digging up the piping or you will prevent further pipes from being sent in to be used in the same form, and not for the purpose they were sent into Gaza.
I don't know. I suppose if you are Roseanne Barr or Helen Thomas, you would choose E, stop occupying Palestinian lands and go home and when all the Jews are gone, they will stop digging up the pipes.
It is a choice for Hamas - dig up the pipes, pollute the land, allow people to get sick and die, or stop digging up the pipes for rocket launchers. Simple enough. Where is their passion, dedication, and commitment? With the people or with death?
So Roseanne would say - it most certainly is with the people (this is my opinion of her position, and I am reasonably confident if it was a direct question, and required a direct answer she would come down on this side)
They cannot build sewage systems and prevent 55 million metric meters of sewage flow into the Mediterranean because the Israelis limit the amount of construction materials into Gaza.
Hamas calls on the world to help them, and it did - billions in aid money was promised. Under any normal situation, such as Haiti, billions in aid and concrete would flow in, and will be used to rebuild Haiti. The people of Haiti will receive water and food, clothing, supplies - all free of charge, without restriction or hindrance. This is what hamas should aspire to be, and to do - but instead, they use the aid to bribe the people, to intimidate and threaten, to coerce and control. They use piping to save the environment and the community from illness and disease to send bombs and missiles into Israel, with the resulting strikes by Israel against Gaza resulting in deaths, used by Hamas as further proof they need to resist which leads to more flotillas and more rockets and more deaths and more weapons and more ...
According to Imam Fethullah Gulen, a highly influential Turkish religious figure - the Turkish-led aid flotilla that clashed with Israeli forces was defying authority” for failing to seek permission from Israel before attempting to deliver aid and said that assigning blame in the matter is best left to the United Nations. He also said he only recently heard of the IHH and that “it is not easy to say if they are politicized or not.” Meaning - they were recently created, maybe a week, maybe a month, maybe about the time someone decided to put the flotilla together.
The Israeli navy warned the convoy by radio not to approach Gaza, told the captains of the boats they were approaching a blockaded area and asked them to either proceed to the Israeli port of Ashdod or turn back. Activists on board responded that they would continue toward their destination.
Sidebar: According to the fringe left and the Arab moderates - Israeli forces are a) killers without conscience, b) killers of babies and the innocent who do not feel anything but blood lst when they kill. c) instinctively murderous and seek to kill any innocent they see, or d) all of the above. Answer: D. So, if you believe it is D why the heck do you arrogantly and defiantly sale through a blockade if you believe the blockaders are killers of babies and would sink your ship with babies and families on it without a second thought. Why. Why. Why do you put the children at risk, why do you put innocent lives at risk if you believe Israel kills children wantonly. Why. Answer: because you care even less about children and the innocent and would like to provoke the killing of your children in order to attain a political win. You would like Israel to sink your ship with families and children on board, and if you are sunk by the Israeli navy, you will ensure your children die one way or another to use as propaganda while you wail next to their lifeless bodies.
Expel hamas, renounce violence and murder, stop using rockets to fire into Israel and rebuild your city. Stop with the violence. Blow up the tunnels used not to bring in necessities, but to smuggle in weapons, terrorists, and food you will sell to the Palestinians, supplies you will sell, clothing you will sell, aid you will sell - and then you will use the money to buy more weapons to bring death upon the Palestinian people.
When you stop the evil in your midst, I would bet the average workers per capita earnings for a year, in Gaza, that Israel will cease and desist with its defensive measures as they would be unneeded.
What the US should not do is to send fools like Congressman Brian Baird who urged that the US break the blockade in the same way "we did when we circumvented the Berlin Blockade. We would accomplish this using roll-on/off ships supplying the needed material for Palestinians to rebuild their society."
foolish fools
Helen Thomas
... is anti-semitic, or a better adjective would be anti-Israel, and anti-Jew ... worse than that, she is an ignorant bufoon.
Click here to watch her speak, in her words, telling Jews where they should go and where they belong.
Dear God, take Helen so we can live without her ignorance.
Click here to watch her speak, in her words, telling Jews where they should go and where they belong.
Dear God, take Helen so we can live without her ignorance.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
The Real Che Guevara
One problem with retardicans is that they idolize simple men and women, whether with lipstick or actors who wore makeup, or used car salesmen, or the simple folk who were born to wealth and laziness. It is, to some degree, understandable why reasonable Democrats have serious problems with such flaws from the right. No wonder we are so confused.
On the other side of the aisle, the left do not idolize simple men and women, they idolize the incompetent (Jimmy Carter), the criminal (Bill Clinton and his lies), the fools (Obama), and the murderers. They find solace with the likes of Che and Fidel, as if these men represent the downtrodden and lost, and they only desired social justice and peace. Please. What a bunch of morons to fall for the delusions and propaganda, and they attack the retardicans for their foolishness. At least the right place hope in simple men and women, the left embrace cold-blooded killers.
The Real Che, not the made for TV movie version -
The Real Che Guevara
1 December 2005
Humberto Fontova
Capitalism Magazine
Che excelled in one thing: mass murder of defenseless men. In anything like a fair fight Che was consistently routed, stomped and humiliated.
Mike Tyson used to end fights with his arms upraised in triumph. Then he got a Che Guevara tattoo. Now he ends fights on the ground, a bloodied mess, battered and bowed, pounded almost beyond recognition. Lennox Lewis didn't just defeat him, he stomped him. It was a hideous thing to watch, even if you loathe Mike Tyson.
Tyson was jinxed by that Che tattoo. There's no other explanation. Somebody should have enlightened mighty Mike about the real Che Guevara.
Che was hell on smiting his enemies, all right – thousands of them – but only when they were bound, gagged and blindfolded. I'm afraid the Boxing Federation doesn't allow that. In anything like a fair fight Che was consistently routed, stomped and humiliated.
Ineptitude in combat defined Che Guevara. In every conflict he was pounded like a gong. When he whimpered to his American-trained captors in Bolivia, "Don't shoot – I'm Che! I'm worth more to you alive than dead!" he had a point.
We blew it by not kidnapping him from the Bolivians in time and using him the way Luddendorff used Lenin in WWI. Recall that the Germans shipped Lenin through their lines into Russia "like a sealed bacillus" (in Churchill's phrase) to infect the Russian army, to demoralize and incapacitate it, thereby shutting down the Eastern front.
It worked like a charm. The mighty Che, airdropped into Vietnam's Central Highlands with bundles of his "Lessons in Guerrilla War" in October 1968, would have crippled the V.C. worse than 10 Operation Rolling Thunders.
We'd have had the boys home by Christmas. No Tet. No Cambodian invasion. Upon graduating from Che's Academy of Guerrilla War, the V.C. would have become black-Pajama'd Beavis and Butt-heads. In a month they'd all be bedraggled and lost, starving and bickering, enraging the peasants, blundering into ambush after ambush.
We'd have cleaned house in two months, maybe even without employing the firepower and cojones of Al "To Hell and Back" Gore.
Actually, I dream here. Halfway through the first page of Che's legendary book, the V.C. would have impaled Che on pungi sticks as a CIA agent – a very stupid one, trying a transparent ruse to get them all killed.
Cuban-American fighters who faced Che at the Bay of Pigs and later in the Congo still laugh. The Bay of Pigs invasion plan included a ruse where a little boat packing a huge fireworks show and tape recording of battle sounds landed in extreme western Cuba as a diversion.
Sure enough, the wily Che immediately recognized this as an Anzio-type "second front." He snapped on his holster, cocked his beret at just the right angle, scowled for the camera and rushed over with a few thousand troops. He spent the whole battle there. It was the only thing in the invasion that went according to plan.
Later, many of these Cuban-American BOP vets itched to get back into the fight (but with ammo and air cover this time). The CIA obliged and sent them with ex-marine Rip Robertson to the Congo in ‘65. There they linked up with the legendary mercenary "Mad Mike" Hoare and his "Wild Geese."
Here's Mike Hoare's opinion, after watching them in battle, of the men routinely smeared by the Beltway media as cheap Mafiosi, bumblers and cowards, of the outfit the Church Commission and Clinton regime disparaged and emasculated: "These Cuban-CIA men were as tough, dedicated and impetuous a group of soldiers as I've ever had the honor of commanding. Their leader [Rip Robertson] was the most extraordinary and dedicated soldier I've ever met."
Saved From Cannibals
Together Mad Mike, Rip and the Cubans made short work of the alternately Chinese-and Soviet-backed "Simbas" of Laurent Kabila, who were murdering, raping and munching (many were cannibals) their way through the defenseless Europeans still left in the recently abandoned Belgian colony.
Forget Frank Church and the Clintonites. Ask the hundreds of Europeans rescued from butchery (literally!) by these men. You'll hear a different song, believe me. You can read about their exploits in Hoare's book, "Congo Mercenary," and in Enrique Ros' "Cubanos Combatientes" (sadly, available only in Spanish).
Kabila made Idi Amin look like Gandhi. Castro, itching to be rid of this nuisance, sent Che (code-named "Tatu") and a force of his rebel army "veterans" to help these cannibals. The Congolese reds, unfamiliar with Che's true record, accepted Tatu gratefully.
The masterful "Tatu's" first order of business was plotting an attack on a garrison guarding a hydroelectric plant in a place called Front Bendela on the Kimbi River in Eastern Congo. His masterstroke was to be an elaborate ambush of the garrison.
The wily Tatu was stealthily leading his force into position when they heard shots. Whoops! ... Hey?! WHAT THE?! Ambushers became ambushed – and by the same garrison he thought was guarding the plant. Che lost half his men and barely escaped with his life.
Some Ally
His African allies started frowning a little more closely at Tatu's c.v. and asking a few questions. (But in Swahili, which he didn't understand.)
Thing was, any teen gang member in East L.A. or south Bronx has 10 times the battle experience and savvy of any of these strutting Fidelista "Comandantes." Imagine the Germans atop Monte Cassino outnumbering and outgunning the Allies 10 to 1 in early ‘44. Hell, they'd STILL be there. It was a defender's dream.
Well, the brilliant Tatu and his comandantes had that very set-up in a place called Fizi-Baraka in Eastern Congo for their second clash with the mad dogs of imperialism. Mad Mike and his CIA allies sized the place up and attacked. Within one day the mighty Che's entire force was scrambling away in panic, throwing away their arms, running and screaming like old ladies with rats running up their legs.
Teen ‘Rebels'
One of the most hilarious and enduring hoaxes of the 20th century was the "war" fought by dauntless Che and the Castro rebels against Batista. But I hear it was a kick – a fun way for adolescents to harass adults, loot, rustle a few cows, and play army on weekends with real guns, maybe even getting off a few shots, usually into the air.
What 17- or 18-year-old male could resist? Petty delinquency became not just altruism here, but downright heroism. How many punks get such a window of glory? Normally these stunts land you in reform school. In Cuba in 1958 it might get your picture in the New York Times:
"Comandante Humberto ‘El Guapo' Fontova shown here relaxing with a bottle of rum and a grateful senorita after smiting the Fascist hordes of the Tyrant Batista in the ferocious Battle of Santa Clara, described by senior correspondent Herbert Matthews as ‘bloodier than Stalingrad!' "
Here's an insider account of one such "battle," from "Comandante" William Morgan as recounted to Paul Bethel after the glorious victory. Bethel was press attaché in Cuba's U.S. Embassy in 1959. It's in Bethel's superb and meticulously researched book "The Losers":
"We had a helluva time, Paul! We used a short-wave radio to broadcast the battle. Eloy and I yelled fake battle commands into the mike while a few of the muchachos shot BARs and pistols into the air for the sound effects. We really whooped it up!"
Here's another insider account from Bethel's book about a "famous battle." This one features Che the Lionhearted himself and his invincible "Column" on their Long March through Las Villas province:
"Guevara's column shuffled right into the U.S. agricultural experimental station in Camaguey. Guevara asked manager Joe McGuire to have a man take a package to Batista's military commander in the city. The package contained $100,000 with a note. Guevara's men moved through the province almost within sight of uninterested Batista troops."
This was part of the famous "Battle of Santa Clara" where Che "Blood ‘n' Guts" Guevara earned his eternal fame. Skip Dave Barry one Sunday and instead read the New York Times version of this historic military engagement. You'll laugh louder. Here's the headline in that "Newspaper of Record" for Jan 4, 1959 (and, like Barry, I swear I'm not making this up):
"One Thousand Killed in 5 days of Fierce Street Fighting! .... Commander Che Guevara appealed to Batista troops for a truce to clear the streets of casualties! ... Guevara turned the tide in this bloody battle and whipped a Batista force of 3,000 men!"
Funnier Than Geraldo
We laugh at Geraldo Rivera's buffooneries in Afghanistan. Hell, next to NYT reporters, Geraldo looks like Ernie Pyle.
To give them credit, most of Castro's comandantes knew their Batista war had been a gaudy clown show. After the glorious victory, they were content to run down and execute the few Batista men motivated enough to shoot back (most of these were of humble background), settle into the mansions stolen from Batistianos, and enjoy the rest of their booty.
Che's pathological power of self-delusion wouldn't allow him to do this. And he paid the price.
Statistically speaking, a nocturnal stroll through Central Park offers more peril than Castro's rebels faced from the dreaded army of the beastly Fulgencio Batista. According to Bethel, the U.S. Embassy was a little skeptical about all the battlefield bloodshed and heroics and investigated. They ran down every reliable lead and eyewitness account of what the New York Times called a "bloody civil war with thousands dead in single battles!"
They found that in the countryside, in those two years of "ferocious" battles, the total casualties on BOTH sides actually ran to 182. New Orleans has an annual murder rate DOUBLE that.
Alas, the Viet Cong took its lessons from guerrilla leaders who – get this, Che groupies – actually fought in a guerrilla war. Yes, where people shoot back and everything. Che eventually tried his hand at this novelty and ... well, we saw what happened. He was run out of Africa with his tail between his legs in months. Then in Bolivia he and his merry band of bumblers was betrayed, encircled and decimated in short order.
Dissed by Mao
Real guerrillas had Che's number. Mao refused to see him when he visited China. He had him cool his heels in a reception room for two hours, then stood him up. He knew. Che the Lionhearted's image is still ubiquitous on college campuses. But in the wrong places. He belongs in the marketing, PR, advertising – and especially – psychology departments. His lessons and history are fascinating and valuable, but only in light of Sigmund Freud or P.T. Barnum. One born every minute, Mr. Barnum? If only you'd lived to see the Che phenomenon. Actually, 10 are born every second.
Here's a "guerrilla hero" who in real life never fought in a guerrilla war. When he finally brushed up against one, he was routed.
Here's a cold-blooded murderer who executed thousands without trial, who claimed that judicial evidence was an "unnecessary bourgeois detail," who stressed that "revolutionaries must become cold-killing machines motivated by pure hate," who stayed up till dawn for months at a time signing death warrants for innocent and honorable men, whose office in La Cabana had a window where he could watch the executions – and today his T-shirts adorn people who oppose capital punishment!
‘Greens' Love This Polluter
Here's communist Cuba's first "Minister of Industries," whose main slogan in 1960 was "Accelerated Industrialization!" Whose dream was converting Cuba (the hemisphere, actually) into a huge bureaucratic-industrial ant farm – and he's the poster boy for greens and anarchists who scream and rant against industrialization!
Here's a sniveling little suck-up, teacher's pet and momma's boy who was the constant pride of joy of his teacher (Alberto Bayo) and parents (the most obnoxious sort of Limousine Bolsheviks) – and he's idolized by millionaire delinquents such as
Rage Against the Machine!
Here's a humorless teetotaler, a plodding paper-pusher, a notorious killjoy and all-around fuddy-duddy – and you see his T-shirt on MTV's Spring Break revelers!
Perhaps competent psychologists (if any exist) will explain this some day.
Che excelled in one thing: mass murder of defenseless men. He was a Stalinist to the core, a plodding bureaucrat and a calm, cold-blooded – but again, never in actual battle – killer. And there was an actual method to this murderous madness.
Recall that in 1940 Stalin's commissars rounded up the Polish officer corps, herded them into the Katyn Forest and slaughtered them to a man. Stalin didn't want any Polish contras messing up his plans. These officers would have led them. So his men dug a huge mass grave and lined up the Polish officers. The Russian pistol barrels went up against the backs of the necks:
POW! ... Thump. Fifteen thousand shots later the deed was done and the dirt replaced. Any contra problem was nipped in the bud.
Che followed suit in Cuba. As a communist flunky in Guatemala he'd seen the Guatemalan officer corps rise up against the communist Arbenz government in ‘54. (And you pinko professors, please stifle the noise about Arbenz as a harmless "social democrat" and "nationalist" victimized by the fiendish United Fruit Co., OK? When ousted, Arbenz sought refuge in Czechoslovakia, not Sweden.)
Beloved Mass Murderer
Anyway, Che didn't want a repeat in Cuba. Upon entering Havana in January ‘59 he started rounding up all army officers. Then – FUEGO!! – his firing squads got busy. Real busy. By his own count, Che sent 2,500 men to "the wall."
The "Cuban Katyn," I call this slaughter. The reds called these executed men "war criminals" and the Beltway press naturally parroted the charge. Nothing new there.
The New York Times' (Pulitzer Prize-winning, no less) reporter Walter Duranty had parroted Stalin and Beria's charges against the victims of the 1930s show trials, too. Later, they, along with Chris Dodd, Ted Kennedy and Tip O'Neill, labeled Nicaragua's contras "war criminals." But today Nicaragua is free because of them.
Che's true legacy is simply one of terror and murder. That dreaded midnight knock. Wives and daughters screaming in rage and panic as Che's goons drag off their dads and husbands – that's the real Che legacy.
Desperate crowds of weeping daughters and shrieking mothers clubbed with rifle butts outside La Cabana as Che's firing squads murder their dads and sons inside – that's the real Che legacy.
Thousands of heroes yelling "Viva Cuba Libre!" and "Viva Christo Rey!" before firing squads of murderous drunks whom they'd have stomped in open battle – that's the real Che legacy.
Secret graves and crude boxes with bullet-riddled corpses delivered to ashen-faced loved ones – that's the real Che legacy.
And let's not forget the craven "Don't shoot – I'm Che! I'm worth more to you live than dead!" (Then why didn't he save his last bullet for himself?) Perhaps the defiant yells of the men he murdered actually affected Che the Lionhearted?
By 1960 he started ordering that his victims' mouths be taped shut. Perhaps there was a trace of human emotion in this icy dolt after all? Genuine bravery and defiance unnerved him.
When the wheels of justice finally turned, Che was revealed as unworthy to carry his victims' slop buckets. He learned nothing from their bravery. He could only beg for his life. So yes, the craven request when cornered in Bolivia is also the real Che legacy.
So anyway, friends, I hope you'll excuse all the champagne corks that popped in Cuban-American households back in October 1967 when we got the wonderful news. Yes, our own compatriots serving proudly in the U.S. Special Forces had helped track down the murderous, cowardly and epically stupid little weasel named Che Guevara in Bolivia. Then he got a major dose of his own medicine.
Justice has never been better served.
the real che
On the other side of the aisle, the left do not idolize simple men and women, they idolize the incompetent (Jimmy Carter), the criminal (Bill Clinton and his lies), the fools (Obama), and the murderers. They find solace with the likes of Che and Fidel, as if these men represent the downtrodden and lost, and they only desired social justice and peace. Please. What a bunch of morons to fall for the delusions and propaganda, and they attack the retardicans for their foolishness. At least the right place hope in simple men and women, the left embrace cold-blooded killers.
The Real Che, not the made for TV movie version -
The Real Che Guevara
1 December 2005
Humberto Fontova
Capitalism Magazine
Che excelled in one thing: mass murder of defenseless men. In anything like a fair fight Che was consistently routed, stomped and humiliated.
Mike Tyson used to end fights with his arms upraised in triumph. Then he got a Che Guevara tattoo. Now he ends fights on the ground, a bloodied mess, battered and bowed, pounded almost beyond recognition. Lennox Lewis didn't just defeat him, he stomped him. It was a hideous thing to watch, even if you loathe Mike Tyson.
Tyson was jinxed by that Che tattoo. There's no other explanation. Somebody should have enlightened mighty Mike about the real Che Guevara.
Che was hell on smiting his enemies, all right – thousands of them – but only when they were bound, gagged and blindfolded. I'm afraid the Boxing Federation doesn't allow that. In anything like a fair fight Che was consistently routed, stomped and humiliated.
Ineptitude in combat defined Che Guevara. In every conflict he was pounded like a gong. When he whimpered to his American-trained captors in Bolivia, "Don't shoot – I'm Che! I'm worth more to you alive than dead!" he had a point.
We blew it by not kidnapping him from the Bolivians in time and using him the way Luddendorff used Lenin in WWI. Recall that the Germans shipped Lenin through their lines into Russia "like a sealed bacillus" (in Churchill's phrase) to infect the Russian army, to demoralize and incapacitate it, thereby shutting down the Eastern front.
It worked like a charm. The mighty Che, airdropped into Vietnam's Central Highlands with bundles of his "Lessons in Guerrilla War" in October 1968, would have crippled the V.C. worse than 10 Operation Rolling Thunders.
We'd have had the boys home by Christmas. No Tet. No Cambodian invasion. Upon graduating from Che's Academy of Guerrilla War, the V.C. would have become black-Pajama'd Beavis and Butt-heads. In a month they'd all be bedraggled and lost, starving and bickering, enraging the peasants, blundering into ambush after ambush.
We'd have cleaned house in two months, maybe even without employing the firepower and cojones of Al "To Hell and Back" Gore.
Actually, I dream here. Halfway through the first page of Che's legendary book, the V.C. would have impaled Che on pungi sticks as a CIA agent – a very stupid one, trying a transparent ruse to get them all killed.
Cuban-American fighters who faced Che at the Bay of Pigs and later in the Congo still laugh. The Bay of Pigs invasion plan included a ruse where a little boat packing a huge fireworks show and tape recording of battle sounds landed in extreme western Cuba as a diversion.
Sure enough, the wily Che immediately recognized this as an Anzio-type "second front." He snapped on his holster, cocked his beret at just the right angle, scowled for the camera and rushed over with a few thousand troops. He spent the whole battle there. It was the only thing in the invasion that went according to plan.
Later, many of these Cuban-American BOP vets itched to get back into the fight (but with ammo and air cover this time). The CIA obliged and sent them with ex-marine Rip Robertson to the Congo in ‘65. There they linked up with the legendary mercenary "Mad Mike" Hoare and his "Wild Geese."
Here's Mike Hoare's opinion, after watching them in battle, of the men routinely smeared by the Beltway media as cheap Mafiosi, bumblers and cowards, of the outfit the Church Commission and Clinton regime disparaged and emasculated: "These Cuban-CIA men were as tough, dedicated and impetuous a group of soldiers as I've ever had the honor of commanding. Their leader [Rip Robertson] was the most extraordinary and dedicated soldier I've ever met."
Saved From Cannibals
Together Mad Mike, Rip and the Cubans made short work of the alternately Chinese-and Soviet-backed "Simbas" of Laurent Kabila, who were murdering, raping and munching (many were cannibals) their way through the defenseless Europeans still left in the recently abandoned Belgian colony.
Forget Frank Church and the Clintonites. Ask the hundreds of Europeans rescued from butchery (literally!) by these men. You'll hear a different song, believe me. You can read about their exploits in Hoare's book, "Congo Mercenary," and in Enrique Ros' "Cubanos Combatientes" (sadly, available only in Spanish).
Kabila made Idi Amin look like Gandhi. Castro, itching to be rid of this nuisance, sent Che (code-named "Tatu") and a force of his rebel army "veterans" to help these cannibals. The Congolese reds, unfamiliar with Che's true record, accepted Tatu gratefully.
The masterful "Tatu's" first order of business was plotting an attack on a garrison guarding a hydroelectric plant in a place called Front Bendela on the Kimbi River in Eastern Congo. His masterstroke was to be an elaborate ambush of the garrison.
The wily Tatu was stealthily leading his force into position when they heard shots. Whoops! ... Hey?! WHAT THE?! Ambushers became ambushed – and by the same garrison he thought was guarding the plant. Che lost half his men and barely escaped with his life.
Some Ally
His African allies started frowning a little more closely at Tatu's c.v. and asking a few questions. (But in Swahili, which he didn't understand.)
Thing was, any teen gang member in East L.A. or south Bronx has 10 times the battle experience and savvy of any of these strutting Fidelista "Comandantes." Imagine the Germans atop Monte Cassino outnumbering and outgunning the Allies 10 to 1 in early ‘44. Hell, they'd STILL be there. It was a defender's dream.
Well, the brilliant Tatu and his comandantes had that very set-up in a place called Fizi-Baraka in Eastern Congo for their second clash with the mad dogs of imperialism. Mad Mike and his CIA allies sized the place up and attacked. Within one day the mighty Che's entire force was scrambling away in panic, throwing away their arms, running and screaming like old ladies with rats running up their legs.
Teen ‘Rebels'
One of the most hilarious and enduring hoaxes of the 20th century was the "war" fought by dauntless Che and the Castro rebels against Batista. But I hear it was a kick – a fun way for adolescents to harass adults, loot, rustle a few cows, and play army on weekends with real guns, maybe even getting off a few shots, usually into the air.
What 17- or 18-year-old male could resist? Petty delinquency became not just altruism here, but downright heroism. How many punks get such a window of glory? Normally these stunts land you in reform school. In Cuba in 1958 it might get your picture in the New York Times:
"Comandante Humberto ‘El Guapo' Fontova shown here relaxing with a bottle of rum and a grateful senorita after smiting the Fascist hordes of the Tyrant Batista in the ferocious Battle of Santa Clara, described by senior correspondent Herbert Matthews as ‘bloodier than Stalingrad!' "
Here's an insider account of one such "battle," from "Comandante" William Morgan as recounted to Paul Bethel after the glorious victory. Bethel was press attaché in Cuba's U.S. Embassy in 1959. It's in Bethel's superb and meticulously researched book "The Losers":
"We had a helluva time, Paul! We used a short-wave radio to broadcast the battle. Eloy and I yelled fake battle commands into the mike while a few of the muchachos shot BARs and pistols into the air for the sound effects. We really whooped it up!"
Here's another insider account from Bethel's book about a "famous battle." This one features Che the Lionhearted himself and his invincible "Column" on their Long March through Las Villas province:
"Guevara's column shuffled right into the U.S. agricultural experimental station in Camaguey. Guevara asked manager Joe McGuire to have a man take a package to Batista's military commander in the city. The package contained $100,000 with a note. Guevara's men moved through the province almost within sight of uninterested Batista troops."
This was part of the famous "Battle of Santa Clara" where Che "Blood ‘n' Guts" Guevara earned his eternal fame. Skip Dave Barry one Sunday and instead read the New York Times version of this historic military engagement. You'll laugh louder. Here's the headline in that "Newspaper of Record" for Jan 4, 1959 (and, like Barry, I swear I'm not making this up):
"One Thousand Killed in 5 days of Fierce Street Fighting! .... Commander Che Guevara appealed to Batista troops for a truce to clear the streets of casualties! ... Guevara turned the tide in this bloody battle and whipped a Batista force of 3,000 men!"
Funnier Than Geraldo
We laugh at Geraldo Rivera's buffooneries in Afghanistan. Hell, next to NYT reporters, Geraldo looks like Ernie Pyle.
To give them credit, most of Castro's comandantes knew their Batista war had been a gaudy clown show. After the glorious victory, they were content to run down and execute the few Batista men motivated enough to shoot back (most of these were of humble background), settle into the mansions stolen from Batistianos, and enjoy the rest of their booty.
Che's pathological power of self-delusion wouldn't allow him to do this. And he paid the price.
Statistically speaking, a nocturnal stroll through Central Park offers more peril than Castro's rebels faced from the dreaded army of the beastly Fulgencio Batista. According to Bethel, the U.S. Embassy was a little skeptical about all the battlefield bloodshed and heroics and investigated. They ran down every reliable lead and eyewitness account of what the New York Times called a "bloody civil war with thousands dead in single battles!"
They found that in the countryside, in those two years of "ferocious" battles, the total casualties on BOTH sides actually ran to 182. New Orleans has an annual murder rate DOUBLE that.
Alas, the Viet Cong took its lessons from guerrilla leaders who – get this, Che groupies – actually fought in a guerrilla war. Yes, where people shoot back and everything. Che eventually tried his hand at this novelty and ... well, we saw what happened. He was run out of Africa with his tail between his legs in months. Then in Bolivia he and his merry band of bumblers was betrayed, encircled and decimated in short order.
Dissed by Mao
Real guerrillas had Che's number. Mao refused to see him when he visited China. He had him cool his heels in a reception room for two hours, then stood him up. He knew. Che the Lionhearted's image is still ubiquitous on college campuses. But in the wrong places. He belongs in the marketing, PR, advertising – and especially – psychology departments. His lessons and history are fascinating and valuable, but only in light of Sigmund Freud or P.T. Barnum. One born every minute, Mr. Barnum? If only you'd lived to see the Che phenomenon. Actually, 10 are born every second.
Here's a "guerrilla hero" who in real life never fought in a guerrilla war. When he finally brushed up against one, he was routed.
Here's a cold-blooded murderer who executed thousands without trial, who claimed that judicial evidence was an "unnecessary bourgeois detail," who stressed that "revolutionaries must become cold-killing machines motivated by pure hate," who stayed up till dawn for months at a time signing death warrants for innocent and honorable men, whose office in La Cabana had a window where he could watch the executions – and today his T-shirts adorn people who oppose capital punishment!
‘Greens' Love This Polluter
Here's communist Cuba's first "Minister of Industries," whose main slogan in 1960 was "Accelerated Industrialization!" Whose dream was converting Cuba (the hemisphere, actually) into a huge bureaucratic-industrial ant farm – and he's the poster boy for greens and anarchists who scream and rant against industrialization!
Here's a sniveling little suck-up, teacher's pet and momma's boy who was the constant pride of joy of his teacher (Alberto Bayo) and parents (the most obnoxious sort of Limousine Bolsheviks) – and he's idolized by millionaire delinquents such as
Rage Against the Machine!
Here's a humorless teetotaler, a plodding paper-pusher, a notorious killjoy and all-around fuddy-duddy – and you see his T-shirt on MTV's Spring Break revelers!
Perhaps competent psychologists (if any exist) will explain this some day.
Che excelled in one thing: mass murder of defenseless men. He was a Stalinist to the core, a plodding bureaucrat and a calm, cold-blooded – but again, never in actual battle – killer. And there was an actual method to this murderous madness.
Recall that in 1940 Stalin's commissars rounded up the Polish officer corps, herded them into the Katyn Forest and slaughtered them to a man. Stalin didn't want any Polish contras messing up his plans. These officers would have led them. So his men dug a huge mass grave and lined up the Polish officers. The Russian pistol barrels went up against the backs of the necks:
POW! ... Thump. Fifteen thousand shots later the deed was done and the dirt replaced. Any contra problem was nipped in the bud.
Che followed suit in Cuba. As a communist flunky in Guatemala he'd seen the Guatemalan officer corps rise up against the communist Arbenz government in ‘54. (And you pinko professors, please stifle the noise about Arbenz as a harmless "social democrat" and "nationalist" victimized by the fiendish United Fruit Co., OK? When ousted, Arbenz sought refuge in Czechoslovakia, not Sweden.)
Beloved Mass Murderer
Anyway, Che didn't want a repeat in Cuba. Upon entering Havana in January ‘59 he started rounding up all army officers. Then – FUEGO!! – his firing squads got busy. Real busy. By his own count, Che sent 2,500 men to "the wall."
The "Cuban Katyn," I call this slaughter. The reds called these executed men "war criminals" and the Beltway press naturally parroted the charge. Nothing new there.
The New York Times' (Pulitzer Prize-winning, no less) reporter Walter Duranty had parroted Stalin and Beria's charges against the victims of the 1930s show trials, too. Later, they, along with Chris Dodd, Ted Kennedy and Tip O'Neill, labeled Nicaragua's contras "war criminals." But today Nicaragua is free because of them.
Che's true legacy is simply one of terror and murder. That dreaded midnight knock. Wives and daughters screaming in rage and panic as Che's goons drag off their dads and husbands – that's the real Che legacy.
Desperate crowds of weeping daughters and shrieking mothers clubbed with rifle butts outside La Cabana as Che's firing squads murder their dads and sons inside – that's the real Che legacy.
Thousands of heroes yelling "Viva Cuba Libre!" and "Viva Christo Rey!" before firing squads of murderous drunks whom they'd have stomped in open battle – that's the real Che legacy.
Secret graves and crude boxes with bullet-riddled corpses delivered to ashen-faced loved ones – that's the real Che legacy.
And let's not forget the craven "Don't shoot – I'm Che! I'm worth more to you live than dead!" (Then why didn't he save his last bullet for himself?) Perhaps the defiant yells of the men he murdered actually affected Che the Lionhearted?
By 1960 he started ordering that his victims' mouths be taped shut. Perhaps there was a trace of human emotion in this icy dolt after all? Genuine bravery and defiance unnerved him.
When the wheels of justice finally turned, Che was revealed as unworthy to carry his victims' slop buckets. He learned nothing from their bravery. He could only beg for his life. So yes, the craven request when cornered in Bolivia is also the real Che legacy.
So anyway, friends, I hope you'll excuse all the champagne corks that popped in Cuban-American households back in October 1967 when we got the wonderful news. Yes, our own compatriots serving proudly in the U.S. Special Forces had helped track down the murderous, cowardly and epically stupid little weasel named Che Guevara in Bolivia. Then he got a major dose of his own medicine.
Justice has never been better served.
the real che
Budget Issues
I asked a group of people how it was that the government did many of the things it did, where did it get the authority to do them? Despite my making it clear that if the government did anything it was not constitutionally given the authority to do, it would 'implode'* - I still had many student who responded to my question with - because they are the government and they can.
The answer I was looking for was Article I, Section 8, last sentence. Many students did find it!! Yippee, we have now all been fooled.
I think the next time I will ask another question - who proposes a budget? Who ultimately passes the budget and who has greater control of the budget - the Executive or the Legislative? The answer is the legislative - House of Representatives to be even more specific. So - a president who proposes a budget of $1 trillion dollars in spending may see only a portion of his proposed budget ever see the light of day or the touch of a president's pen. The Congress creates, modifies, changes, revises, and controls the budget - AKA - the spending AKA the debt AKA the deficit.
I have to go a little further and ask - who controlled Congress in 2006 (December)? And who immediately after the election in November, began taking control of the committees and restacking the bills? From November 2006 through and up to and including November 2, 2010? That's right - the Democrats.
The budget for fiscal year 2008, 2009, 2010 ... have been Democratically controlled, but we cannot forget 2007 spending by Congress using continuing resolutions. Spending in this country, has been almost exclusively since 2007, and completely since 2008 - under the control of the Democrats. All debt, all deficits, all of it is the Democrats. INCLUDING the votes by Obama when he was the Senator from Illionis for a year, for all those continuing resolutions, and balooning budgets.
Yet we hear how it is all Bush's fault. True, it can be argued. From October 2001 through November 2006, those 5 years are Bush's responsibility, and the war that was thrust upon us in 2001. Yes, those costs are high, have been high, and are in some cases, questionable. So what is Obama's excuse? Just before he left office, Bush accepted a huge debt under his administartion - one he could have left for Obama to incur, but he accepted it - you know that whole fanny and freddie (thrust upon us by yet more idiots and fools disguising themselves as serving the poor and oppressed).
Get it straight, even if you wish to continue blaming everything on Bush - recognize where the responsibility lies, accept the facts, and then go on with whatever nonsense. Reality is painful, but not as painful as ignorance.
* - I meant this facetiously yet still, if the government acted unconstitutionally in creating ... a new department of taxation, without the authority to do so, it would be ruled unconstitutional and would be disbanded. Again, it would not happen quite as simply as this, but the end result would be changes or deletions. The government can only do what it is given the authority to do.
dems
The answer I was looking for was Article I, Section 8, last sentence. Many students did find it!! Yippee, we have now all been fooled.
I think the next time I will ask another question - who proposes a budget? Who ultimately passes the budget and who has greater control of the budget - the Executive or the Legislative? The answer is the legislative - House of Representatives to be even more specific. So - a president who proposes a budget of $1 trillion dollars in spending may see only a portion of his proposed budget ever see the light of day or the touch of a president's pen. The Congress creates, modifies, changes, revises, and controls the budget - AKA - the spending AKA the debt AKA the deficit.
I have to go a little further and ask - who controlled Congress in 2006 (December)? And who immediately after the election in November, began taking control of the committees and restacking the bills? From November 2006 through and up to and including November 2, 2010? That's right - the Democrats.
The budget for fiscal year 2008, 2009, 2010 ... have been Democratically controlled, but we cannot forget 2007 spending by Congress using continuing resolutions. Spending in this country, has been almost exclusively since 2007, and completely since 2008 - under the control of the Democrats. All debt, all deficits, all of it is the Democrats. INCLUDING the votes by Obama when he was the Senator from Illionis for a year, for all those continuing resolutions, and balooning budgets.
Yet we hear how it is all Bush's fault. True, it can be argued. From October 2001 through November 2006, those 5 years are Bush's responsibility, and the war that was thrust upon us in 2001. Yes, those costs are high, have been high, and are in some cases, questionable. So what is Obama's excuse? Just before he left office, Bush accepted a huge debt under his administartion - one he could have left for Obama to incur, but he accepted it - you know that whole fanny and freddie (thrust upon us by yet more idiots and fools disguising themselves as serving the poor and oppressed).
Get it straight, even if you wish to continue blaming everything on Bush - recognize where the responsibility lies, accept the facts, and then go on with whatever nonsense. Reality is painful, but not as painful as ignorance.
* - I meant this facetiously yet still, if the government acted unconstitutionally in creating ... a new department of taxation, without the authority to do so, it would be ruled unconstitutional and would be disbanded. Again, it would not happen quite as simply as this, but the end result would be changes or deletions. The government can only do what it is given the authority to do.
dems
Ya Gotta Wonder: Obama Connections
Read through and see if you catch the interesting line!
Obama brother refused entry to UK
BBC News
Sunday, 12 April 2009 03:42 UK
Barack Obama's half-brother was denied entry to the UK after being accused of a serious crime on an earlier visit, the Home Office has confirmed.
Samson Obama, who lives in Kenya, was on his way to the US presidential inauguration in January when he was stopped at East Midlands Airport.
According to the News of the World, fingerprint tests linked him to an alleged sex attack on a British girl.
He was questioned but not charged over the incident in Berkshire, it added.
'Public good'
A Home Office spokesman said Samson Obama was denied a visa after immigration officers noticed one of his documents was false. That led them to further inquiries.
Samson Obama, who runs a mobile phone shop outside Nairobi, had been planning to make a short break in the UK on his way to Washington.
--> He eventually took a connecting flight to the US without formally entering the UK. <--
A UK Border Agency spokesman said in general, Britain would oppose the entry of individuals where their presence was "not conducive to the public good".
Samson Obama is one of several half-siblings of the US president.
Barack Obama Sr left his son when he was two years old and lived most of his life in Kenya, where he fathered a number of other sons and a daughter with three other wives. He died in a car crash in 1982.
***************************************************
He was/is charged with a sex attack, had false documents and ... he was sent through to the US.
I have to wonder - did we simply open the door for him and let him in or what?
obama
Obama brother refused entry to UK
BBC News
Sunday, 12 April 2009 03:42 UK
Barack Obama's half-brother was denied entry to the UK after being accused of a serious crime on an earlier visit, the Home Office has confirmed.
Samson Obama, who lives in Kenya, was on his way to the US presidential inauguration in January when he was stopped at East Midlands Airport.
According to the News of the World, fingerprint tests linked him to an alleged sex attack on a British girl.
He was questioned but not charged over the incident in Berkshire, it added.
'Public good'
A Home Office spokesman said Samson Obama was denied a visa after immigration officers noticed one of his documents was false. That led them to further inquiries.
Samson Obama, who runs a mobile phone shop outside Nairobi, had been planning to make a short break in the UK on his way to Washington.
--> He eventually took a connecting flight to the US without formally entering the UK. <--
A UK Border Agency spokesman said in general, Britain would oppose the entry of individuals where their presence was "not conducive to the public good".
Samson Obama is one of several half-siblings of the US president.
Barack Obama Sr left his son when he was two years old and lived most of his life in Kenya, where he fathered a number of other sons and a daughter with three other wives. He died in a car crash in 1982.
***************************************************
He was/is charged with a sex attack, had false documents and ... he was sent through to the US.
I have to wonder - did we simply open the door for him and let him in or what?
obama
Rwanda: Genocide News Update (Hint: US butts in)
I find it difficult to read or listen to people (Americans) argue issues on which they are so uninformed. The State Department arguing anything, and I mean, anything in regard to genocide makes me want to laugh, cry, and throw up all over them. Rwanda should hand down indictments against a few Americans (now retired from their previous positions) and slap a few morons around who are now holding positions. I cannot believe Samantha Power would sit still while the State Department made such a fool of the United States.
It was not the US that lost nearly one million people to a genocide the US pretended wasn't happening and ignored at every opportunity. It was Rwanda, and Rwandan justice has taken all these years to catch some guilty parties - let them continue and stay out of their internal affairs lest they cast their net wider and scoop up a few retired Americans.
The US is so busy condemning events everywhere. I am amazed we get much done with all the condemnations going around.
Rwanda: US genocide lawyer 'attempted suicide'
Thursday, 3 June 2010 19:30 UK
A US lawyer arrested on allegations of genocide denial tried to commit suicide in his cell, Rwandan officials said.
Peter Erlinder arrived in Rwanda last week to help defend opposition leader Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, who has been charged with promoting genocide ideology last month.
Police spokesman Eric Kayiranga said Mr Erlinder has "admitted" that he tried to kill himself.
His daughter told the BBC shes does not believe he would try to take his life.
Rwanda's 1994 genocide claimed the lives of about 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
'Concern'
According to the spokesman, Mr Erlinder swallowed a cocktail of drugs after realising the "gravity of the charges against him".
Mr Erlinder's daughter told the BBC that her father was not the type of person who would consider committing suicide.
"We are now concerned that this is really laying the groundwork for something else to happen to him and for it to be blamed on suicide," Sarah Erlinder said.
Earlier the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson had accused the Kigali government of restricting freedom ahead of the 9 August presidential election, in which Ms Ingabire wanted to be a challenger.
Mr Erlinder is the lead defence counsel for top genocide suspects at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania.
He had been planning to help Ms Ingabire's defence team but chief prosecutor Martin Ngoga said he had been arrested for remarks made in publications and statements.
The Rwandan opposition leader, an ethnic Hutu, was arrested for allegedly propagating genocide ideology after she called for action to be taken against those responsible for killing Hutus during the 1994 conflict.
She was freed on bail but her passport was seized and she was banned from leaving the capital, Kigali. She could be sentenced to more than two decades in prison if convicted.
rwanda
It was not the US that lost nearly one million people to a genocide the US pretended wasn't happening and ignored at every opportunity. It was Rwanda, and Rwandan justice has taken all these years to catch some guilty parties - let them continue and stay out of their internal affairs lest they cast their net wider and scoop up a few retired Americans.
The US is so busy condemning events everywhere. I am amazed we get much done with all the condemnations going around.
Rwanda: US genocide lawyer 'attempted suicide'
Thursday, 3 June 2010 19:30 UK
A US lawyer arrested on allegations of genocide denial tried to commit suicide in his cell, Rwandan officials said.
Peter Erlinder arrived in Rwanda last week to help defend opposition leader Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, who has been charged with promoting genocide ideology last month.
Police spokesman Eric Kayiranga said Mr Erlinder has "admitted" that he tried to kill himself.
His daughter told the BBC shes does not believe he would try to take his life.
Rwanda's 1994 genocide claimed the lives of about 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
'Concern'
According to the spokesman, Mr Erlinder swallowed a cocktail of drugs after realising the "gravity of the charges against him".
Mr Erlinder's daughter told the BBC that her father was not the type of person who would consider committing suicide.
"We are now concerned that this is really laying the groundwork for something else to happen to him and for it to be blamed on suicide," Sarah Erlinder said.
Earlier the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson had accused the Kigali government of restricting freedom ahead of the 9 August presidential election, in which Ms Ingabire wanted to be a challenger.
Mr Erlinder is the lead defence counsel for top genocide suspects at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania.
He had been planning to help Ms Ingabire's defence team but chief prosecutor Martin Ngoga said he had been arrested for remarks made in publications and statements.
The Rwandan opposition leader, an ethnic Hutu, was arrested for allegedly propagating genocide ideology after she called for action to be taken against those responsible for killing Hutus during the 1994 conflict.
She was freed on bail but her passport was seized and she was banned from leaving the capital, Kigali. She could be sentenced to more than two decades in prison if convicted.
rwanda
Mexican Immigration: Handing out ID cards in California
Mexican consulate moves illegal immigant ID card handout
By: Sara A. Carter
National Security Correspondent
06/03/10 12:37 PM EDT
Mexican government officials have moved their satellite consular office from the Catalina Island Country Club to a Catholic Church – citing protection under the Vienna Convention - after it was discovered that they did not have the appropriate paperwork to issue the island’s illegal immigrants identification cards.
Since The Washington Examiner reported that the management of the club, on the island of Catalina, discovered that the event was not a multi-cultural celebration as they had been told and refused to allow the Mexican government to set up shop.
The Mexican officials will provide "matricular" card services to Mexican nationals at St. Catherine’s Church, on the island.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican whose district includes Catalina Island, is heading to the island by helicopter today to confront the officials.
“If the Catholic Church insists on preventing immigration law from being enforced, then they should step up and pay the bill. Let the Catholic Church open up its schools for free and use their vast resources to pay for the benefits of illegals if they feel it’s such a moral issue,” Rep. Rohrabacher told The Examiner. “I don’t exactly see Cardinal Mahoney announcing the sale of catholic church property to pay the bills for illegal immigration. This holier than thou hypocrisy has got to stop.”
**************************************
Mexico opens California office to provide ID for illegals
By: Sara A. Carter
National Security Correspondent
June 3, 2010
The Mexican government is opening a satellite consular office on Catalina Island -- a small resort off the California coast with a history of drug smuggling and human trafficking -- to provide the island's illegal Mexican immigrants with identification cards, The Washington Examiner has learned.
The Mexican consular office in Los Angeles issued a flier, a copy of which was obtained by The Examiner, listing the Catalina Island Country Club as the location of its satellite office. It invites Mexicans to visit the office to obtain the identification, called matricular cards, by appointment.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican whose district includes Catalina Island, said handing out matricular cards will exacerbate an already dangerous situation.
"Handing out matricular cards to Mexicans who are not in this country legally is wrong no matter where it's done," he said. "But on Catalina it will do more damage. It's a small island but there's evidence it's being used as a portal for illegals to access mainland California."
Rohrabacher added, "If there were a large number of Americans illegally in Mexico and the U.S. consulate was making it easier for them to stay, Mexico would never permit it."
Mexican officials with the consular office in Los Angeles could not be reached immediately for comment. The matricular consular identification card, is issued by the Mexican government to Mexican nationals residing outside the country, regardless of immigration status. The purpose is to provide identification for opening bank accounts and obtaining other services. But the cards are usually used to skirt U.S. immigration laws, since Mexicans in the country legally have documents proving that status, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said.
In 2004 testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, FBI officials called the card an unreliable form of identification. The agency said that Mexico lacks a centralized database for them, which could lead to forgery, duplication, and other forms of abuse.
Officers with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said their agency was asked by Mexican officials not to enforce U.S. immigration laws on the island while the cards were being issued.
"It amazes me every time that the Mexican government has the gall to tell us what to do," said an ICE official, who asked not to be named. "More surprisingly is how many times we stand by and let them. This is just an example of one of hundreds of requests we've had to deal with."
In April, Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies seized a boat carrying large quantities of marijuana and detained three Mexican nationals who said they were being smuggled into the United States.
The island has a sizable Mexican migrant population. Most are undocumented low-income workers.
1:15pm UPDATE:
Mexican government officials have moved their satellite consular office from the Catalina Island Country Club to a Catholic Church – citing protection under the Geneva Convention.
immigration
By: Sara A. Carter
National Security Correspondent
06/03/10 12:37 PM EDT
Mexican government officials have moved their satellite consular office from the Catalina Island Country Club to a Catholic Church – citing protection under the Vienna Convention - after it was discovered that they did not have the appropriate paperwork to issue the island’s illegal immigrants identification cards.
Since The Washington Examiner reported that the management of the club, on the island of Catalina, discovered that the event was not a multi-cultural celebration as they had been told and refused to allow the Mexican government to set up shop.
The Mexican officials will provide "matricular" card services to Mexican nationals at St. Catherine’s Church, on the island.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican whose district includes Catalina Island, is heading to the island by helicopter today to confront the officials.
“If the Catholic Church insists on preventing immigration law from being enforced, then they should step up and pay the bill. Let the Catholic Church open up its schools for free and use their vast resources to pay for the benefits of illegals if they feel it’s such a moral issue,” Rep. Rohrabacher told The Examiner. “I don’t exactly see Cardinal Mahoney announcing the sale of catholic church property to pay the bills for illegal immigration. This holier than thou hypocrisy has got to stop.”
**************************************
Mexico opens California office to provide ID for illegals
By: Sara A. Carter
National Security Correspondent
June 3, 2010
The Mexican government is opening a satellite consular office on Catalina Island -- a small resort off the California coast with a history of drug smuggling and human trafficking -- to provide the island's illegal Mexican immigrants with identification cards, The Washington Examiner has learned.
The Mexican consular office in Los Angeles issued a flier, a copy of which was obtained by The Examiner, listing the Catalina Island Country Club as the location of its satellite office. It invites Mexicans to visit the office to obtain the identification, called matricular cards, by appointment.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican whose district includes Catalina Island, said handing out matricular cards will exacerbate an already dangerous situation.
"Handing out matricular cards to Mexicans who are not in this country legally is wrong no matter where it's done," he said. "But on Catalina it will do more damage. It's a small island but there's evidence it's being used as a portal for illegals to access mainland California."
Rohrabacher added, "If there were a large number of Americans illegally in Mexico and the U.S. consulate was making it easier for them to stay, Mexico would never permit it."
Mexican officials with the consular office in Los Angeles could not be reached immediately for comment. The matricular consular identification card, is issued by the Mexican government to Mexican nationals residing outside the country, regardless of immigration status. The purpose is to provide identification for opening bank accounts and obtaining other services. But the cards are usually used to skirt U.S. immigration laws, since Mexicans in the country legally have documents proving that status, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said.
In 2004 testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, FBI officials called the card an unreliable form of identification. The agency said that Mexico lacks a centralized database for them, which could lead to forgery, duplication, and other forms of abuse.
Officers with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said their agency was asked by Mexican officials not to enforce U.S. immigration laws on the island while the cards were being issued.
"It amazes me every time that the Mexican government has the gall to tell us what to do," said an ICE official, who asked not to be named. "More surprisingly is how many times we stand by and let them. This is just an example of one of hundreds of requests we've had to deal with."
In April, Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies seized a boat carrying large quantities of marijuana and detained three Mexican nationals who said they were being smuggled into the United States.
The island has a sizable Mexican migrant population. Most are undocumented low-income workers.
1:15pm UPDATE:
Mexican government officials have moved their satellite consular office from the Catalina Island Country Club to a Catholic Church – citing protection under the Geneva Convention.
immigration
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
The Dark Side - Doing Business in China
The Flip Side of China's Economic Miracle
A German Businessman Finds Corruption in Dealings With China
By WIELAND WAGNER
ABC News
SHANGHAI, China, June 2, 2010—
Expo 2010 is underway in Shanghai, and the luxury bars along the Huangpu River are filled with the delegations of Western companies drinking toasts to the new partnerships they have just formed with Chinese companies. In March, this was also where the Chinese adventure of M.C.M., a construction machinery dealer from the southwestern German city of Mannheim, got its start. But now, despite initial high hopes for the deal, the company is struggling to stay afloat.
The head of M.C.M. has spread out a number of photos on a table in his hotel. They are among the few certainties that Mohammad-Reza Mouazzen, 62, can still cling to. One photo depicts a beaming Mouazzen, an Iranian-born German citizen, at a banquet with Chinese businessmen. It was the day after Mouazzen's Chinese business partners, as he believed at the time, had shipped a used mobile crane, for which he had paid ¬100,000 ($122,000), to Iran, as their contract had stipulated.
Mouazzen has gray hair, is wearing a dark suit and, as he points out, is not a "baby." For the past 30 years, he has been buying used heavy equipment in countries like Poland and Russia, and then selling it at a profit, often in Iran. It is a tricky business, which is why Mouazzen was careful to cover his bases during his first deal in China. He and his son Omid, 23, documented every step of the process with both photos and videos. One cannot say he behaved naively or negligently in Shanghai.
Still in Disbelief
Nevertheless, the two businessmen were "shanghaied," so to speak, unscrupulously duped in a way Mouazzen has never experienced anywhere else. In early May, after Mouazzen had returned to Mannheim, he received a furious phone call from his client in Iran. Instead of delivering what was expected, a well-maintained crane, made by the Japanese company Kato and freshly overhauled at Mouazzen's behest, the Chinese had shipped a rusty Mitsubishi -- a wreck without an engine or a loading arm, weighing 12,590 kilograms (27,700 lbs.) less than the original crane.
Mouazzen places the photos of both cranes next to each other. He is still in disbelief. The two machines were photographed standing on the same container, which was marked YMLU 700754 6. Mouazzen photographed this number and the crane when it was being loaded in Shanghai. At the time, he and his son remained with the truck carrying the container in the Shanghai customs port until 1 a.m. Only after the truck had taken its place in the long line of other trucks waiting at the harbor did they return to their hotel, satisfied that everything was legitimate.
The container number is listed in the bill of lading. "No one questions what's in the bill of lading," says Mouazzen. "That's how I've worked my entire life." But his Chinese partners, he assumes, must have replaced the heavy container cargo on that same night: a daring logistical feat that they could only have been performed with the help of two large hoisting cranes -- and hardly without accomplices in the Shanghai customs office.
But the dealer from Mannheim noticed nothing that night. In fact, he was overjoyed as he raised a glass to his new business relationship with the Chinese. An enormous market seemed to be opening up for M.C.M., because the majority of used building machines are offered for sale in China, primarily through the Internet. "We Chinese wish to learn from you," the head of the company, which calls itself China Heavy Equipment, vowed solemnly. Mouazzen, who felt flattered at the time, says: "They treated me like a father."
Serious Doubts
And because everything seemed to be going so perfectly in China, the visitors from Germany agreed to the next deal: the purchase of another used crane, this one made by the Japanese company Tadano, also for shipment to Iran. Mouazzen gave the Chinese a 60-percent down payment for the ¬110,000 crane, which he characterizes as "a wonderful machine." For another ¬6,000, the Chinese promised to provide the crane with an air-conditioning system.
But when he returned to Germany, Mouazzen began receiving a flood of e-mails that raised serious doubts. China Heavy claimed that the crane's entire electrical system had burned out during installation of the air-conditioning unit. As the customer Mouazzen, the Chinese wrote from Shanghai, would be responsible for the added costs. The Chinese partners demanded more than $40,000 for the repair and claimed it would take three months. When Mouazzen insisted on inspecting the machine in person, the e-mails became increasingly hostile.
China Heavy eventually sent its German customer a "letter of urgency," in which it stated that if he did not react to the letter within eight hours, it would be "responsible for nothing." But the flight to Shanghai alone would have taken Mouazzen about 11 hours, and besides, most European airports were shut down at the time because of volcanic ash. The Chinese apparently did not seriously expect that they would ever see their business partner again.
The small Mannheim business, which consists of Mouazzen, his son and three employees, is now struggling to survive. In addition to the money he had already paid for the cranes, Mouazzen owes his Iranian customers a 30-percent contractual penalty for the incorrect shipment. Even worse, says Mouazzen: "My reputation with business partners of many years is ruined."
Now the Mouazzens are back in Shanghai. During their previous visits, they splurged on a suite, but now father and son are saving money by sharing a double bed. And instead of spending their time marveling at the glittering facades of this city of skyscrapers, they are struggling with the harsh realities of everyday business in China.
'Why Don't You Arrest These People?'
The Mouazzens have one of their first appointments with the police. The officers listen patiently to the foreigners' story, but they do not seem surprised. In light of the overwhelming evidence -- the photos of the cranes, the Chinese partners' shipping container, the manifests, the contracts --, the Chinese agree that a "crime" was committed. "Well, then why don't you arrest these people?" Mouazzen asks. The officers reply that they will conduct a thorough investigation of the matter, because their aim is to crack the entire ring of swindlers later on, in one fell swoop.
The Mouazzens spend one day after the next in Shanghai, in much the same way, achieving nothing. Instead, they discover that the crane they had already paid for is apparently being offered for sale on the Internet again.
Every day they spend in Shanghai costs them a lot of money. Their Chinese attorney alone charges ¬250 an hour. And with each passing day in China, Mouazzen loses potential contracts that his company urgently needs.
In their desperation, the Mouazzens begin conducting their own investigations. They discover, for example, that the address of their Chinese "partners" listed in the contract is incorrect. Suddenly no one is answering any of the mobile phone numbers the Mouazzens were given, and the interpreter, who attended every meeting, is supposedly in the hospital. The shipping agent who transported the crane to the port starts shouting at the Mouazzens when he sees them approaching from a distance. He claims that neither the truck nor its driver belonged to his company.
Finally, on the fifth day of their stay, the Mouazzens are sitting across the table from a representative of China Heavy. The meeting, held in their lawyer's office, is a perfect example of the Chinese art of wearing down negotiating partners. The head of China Heavy has sent an assistant, the same person who had signed the contracts. But the attorney for the Chinese company controls much of the conversation. His name is Tony Hang, he is wearing black glasses, and he behaves as boldly as if he were the prosecutor in this case.
'Do Not Call Us Cheaters!'
When the Mouazzens present their photos, Hang pushes them aside, saying that they are not evidence. Nevertheless, he says he would like photocopies, a request the Mouazzens deny. Then Hang launches into a debate over the model name of one of the cranes, which is different in China than it is in Japan. Finally, he pulls out the "letter of urgency" and says that his client had demanded that Mouazzen appear in Shanghai within eight hours. "But you didn't show up!" he shouts.
The air becomes more and more stifling in the conference room, and Mouazzen begins breathing heavily. When his son berates the opposing party as "cheaters," Hang shouts: "You do not call us cheaters! You are cheaters!" The representative of China Heavy looks on silently.
Mouazzen silences his son with a wave of his hand. There are beads of sweat on his forehead, his eyes are moist, and he still hopes that he can appeal to the Chinese on a human level. "Why did you do this to me, after I had brought so much money to China?" he asks quietly. "And why do you defend such people?" he asks the attorney. "You only harm your country by doing so."
The parties eventually go their separate ways. The Mouazzens' attorney, a young man who said very little during the meeting, smiles encouragingly at his clients and tells that the opposing party will undoubtedly get back to him soon. Mouazzen has already heard many variations on the same theme in Shanghai.
When the police fail to pursue his case, Mouazzen takes matters into his own hands and searches for his building crane in Shanghai, which, as he has already discovered, is being offered for sale on the Internet. He watches as the crane is loaded onto a truck. Then he instructs his attorney to ask the police to intervene. But the police refuse, claiming that the officer assigned to the case is now on vacation and that nothing can be done about the matter at the moment.
"What kind of a city is this," Mouazzen asks, "where swindlers are simply allowed to go about their business?"
china
A German Businessman Finds Corruption in Dealings With China
By WIELAND WAGNER
ABC News
SHANGHAI, China, June 2, 2010—
Expo 2010 is underway in Shanghai, and the luxury bars along the Huangpu River are filled with the delegations of Western companies drinking toasts to the new partnerships they have just formed with Chinese companies. In March, this was also where the Chinese adventure of M.C.M., a construction machinery dealer from the southwestern German city of Mannheim, got its start. But now, despite initial high hopes for the deal, the company is struggling to stay afloat.
The head of M.C.M. has spread out a number of photos on a table in his hotel. They are among the few certainties that Mohammad-Reza Mouazzen, 62, can still cling to. One photo depicts a beaming Mouazzen, an Iranian-born German citizen, at a banquet with Chinese businessmen. It was the day after Mouazzen's Chinese business partners, as he believed at the time, had shipped a used mobile crane, for which he had paid ¬100,000 ($122,000), to Iran, as their contract had stipulated.
Mouazzen has gray hair, is wearing a dark suit and, as he points out, is not a "baby." For the past 30 years, he has been buying used heavy equipment in countries like Poland and Russia, and then selling it at a profit, often in Iran. It is a tricky business, which is why Mouazzen was careful to cover his bases during his first deal in China. He and his son Omid, 23, documented every step of the process with both photos and videos. One cannot say he behaved naively or negligently in Shanghai.
Still in Disbelief
Nevertheless, the two businessmen were "shanghaied," so to speak, unscrupulously duped in a way Mouazzen has never experienced anywhere else. In early May, after Mouazzen had returned to Mannheim, he received a furious phone call from his client in Iran. Instead of delivering what was expected, a well-maintained crane, made by the Japanese company Kato and freshly overhauled at Mouazzen's behest, the Chinese had shipped a rusty Mitsubishi -- a wreck without an engine or a loading arm, weighing 12,590 kilograms (27,700 lbs.) less than the original crane.
Mouazzen places the photos of both cranes next to each other. He is still in disbelief. The two machines were photographed standing on the same container, which was marked YMLU 700754 6. Mouazzen photographed this number and the crane when it was being loaded in Shanghai. At the time, he and his son remained with the truck carrying the container in the Shanghai customs port until 1 a.m. Only after the truck had taken its place in the long line of other trucks waiting at the harbor did they return to their hotel, satisfied that everything was legitimate.
The container number is listed in the bill of lading. "No one questions what's in the bill of lading," says Mouazzen. "That's how I've worked my entire life." But his Chinese partners, he assumes, must have replaced the heavy container cargo on that same night: a daring logistical feat that they could only have been performed with the help of two large hoisting cranes -- and hardly without accomplices in the Shanghai customs office.
But the dealer from Mannheim noticed nothing that night. In fact, he was overjoyed as he raised a glass to his new business relationship with the Chinese. An enormous market seemed to be opening up for M.C.M., because the majority of used building machines are offered for sale in China, primarily through the Internet. "We Chinese wish to learn from you," the head of the company, which calls itself China Heavy Equipment, vowed solemnly. Mouazzen, who felt flattered at the time, says: "They treated me like a father."
Serious Doubts
And because everything seemed to be going so perfectly in China, the visitors from Germany agreed to the next deal: the purchase of another used crane, this one made by the Japanese company Tadano, also for shipment to Iran. Mouazzen gave the Chinese a 60-percent down payment for the ¬110,000 crane, which he characterizes as "a wonderful machine." For another ¬6,000, the Chinese promised to provide the crane with an air-conditioning system.
But when he returned to Germany, Mouazzen began receiving a flood of e-mails that raised serious doubts. China Heavy claimed that the crane's entire electrical system had burned out during installation of the air-conditioning unit. As the customer Mouazzen, the Chinese wrote from Shanghai, would be responsible for the added costs. The Chinese partners demanded more than $40,000 for the repair and claimed it would take three months. When Mouazzen insisted on inspecting the machine in person, the e-mails became increasingly hostile.
China Heavy eventually sent its German customer a "letter of urgency," in which it stated that if he did not react to the letter within eight hours, it would be "responsible for nothing." But the flight to Shanghai alone would have taken Mouazzen about 11 hours, and besides, most European airports were shut down at the time because of volcanic ash. The Chinese apparently did not seriously expect that they would ever see their business partner again.
The small Mannheim business, which consists of Mouazzen, his son and three employees, is now struggling to survive. In addition to the money he had already paid for the cranes, Mouazzen owes his Iranian customers a 30-percent contractual penalty for the incorrect shipment. Even worse, says Mouazzen: "My reputation with business partners of many years is ruined."
Now the Mouazzens are back in Shanghai. During their previous visits, they splurged on a suite, but now father and son are saving money by sharing a double bed. And instead of spending their time marveling at the glittering facades of this city of skyscrapers, they are struggling with the harsh realities of everyday business in China.
'Why Don't You Arrest These People?'
The Mouazzens have one of their first appointments with the police. The officers listen patiently to the foreigners' story, but they do not seem surprised. In light of the overwhelming evidence -- the photos of the cranes, the Chinese partners' shipping container, the manifests, the contracts --, the Chinese agree that a "crime" was committed. "Well, then why don't you arrest these people?" Mouazzen asks. The officers reply that they will conduct a thorough investigation of the matter, because their aim is to crack the entire ring of swindlers later on, in one fell swoop.
The Mouazzens spend one day after the next in Shanghai, in much the same way, achieving nothing. Instead, they discover that the crane they had already paid for is apparently being offered for sale on the Internet again.
Every day they spend in Shanghai costs them a lot of money. Their Chinese attorney alone charges ¬250 an hour. And with each passing day in China, Mouazzen loses potential contracts that his company urgently needs.
In their desperation, the Mouazzens begin conducting their own investigations. They discover, for example, that the address of their Chinese "partners" listed in the contract is incorrect. Suddenly no one is answering any of the mobile phone numbers the Mouazzens were given, and the interpreter, who attended every meeting, is supposedly in the hospital. The shipping agent who transported the crane to the port starts shouting at the Mouazzens when he sees them approaching from a distance. He claims that neither the truck nor its driver belonged to his company.
Finally, on the fifth day of their stay, the Mouazzens are sitting across the table from a representative of China Heavy. The meeting, held in their lawyer's office, is a perfect example of the Chinese art of wearing down negotiating partners. The head of China Heavy has sent an assistant, the same person who had signed the contracts. But the attorney for the Chinese company controls much of the conversation. His name is Tony Hang, he is wearing black glasses, and he behaves as boldly as if he were the prosecutor in this case.
'Do Not Call Us Cheaters!'
When the Mouazzens present their photos, Hang pushes them aside, saying that they are not evidence. Nevertheless, he says he would like photocopies, a request the Mouazzens deny. Then Hang launches into a debate over the model name of one of the cranes, which is different in China than it is in Japan. Finally, he pulls out the "letter of urgency" and says that his client had demanded that Mouazzen appear in Shanghai within eight hours. "But you didn't show up!" he shouts.
The air becomes more and more stifling in the conference room, and Mouazzen begins breathing heavily. When his son berates the opposing party as "cheaters," Hang shouts: "You do not call us cheaters! You are cheaters!" The representative of China Heavy looks on silently.
Mouazzen silences his son with a wave of his hand. There are beads of sweat on his forehead, his eyes are moist, and he still hopes that he can appeal to the Chinese on a human level. "Why did you do this to me, after I had brought so much money to China?" he asks quietly. "And why do you defend such people?" he asks the attorney. "You only harm your country by doing so."
The parties eventually go their separate ways. The Mouazzens' attorney, a young man who said very little during the meeting, smiles encouragingly at his clients and tells that the opposing party will undoubtedly get back to him soon. Mouazzen has already heard many variations on the same theme in Shanghai.
When the police fail to pursue his case, Mouazzen takes matters into his own hands and searches for his building crane in Shanghai, which, as he has already discovered, is being offered for sale on the Internet. He watches as the crane is loaded onto a truck. Then he instructs his attorney to ask the police to intervene. But the police refuse, claiming that the officer assigned to the case is now on vacation and that nothing can be done about the matter at the moment.
"What kind of a city is this," Mouazzen asks, "where swindlers are simply allowed to go about their business?"
china
Helen Thomas lets us all know why she is still alive and useful - God is afraid of her.
Helen Thomas rips into Robert Gibbs over US response to flotilla massacre
At Tuesday’s White House press briefing, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs called on Helen Thomas, who in a very animated fashion, confronted him for refusing to assign responsibility in the raid, which left nine people dead.
Thomas: “The initial reaction to the flotilla massacre, deliberate massacre, an international crime, was pitiful.
What do you mean you regret something that should be so strongly condemned, and if any other nation in the world had done it, we would have been up in arms?
What is this sacrosanct ironclad relationship where a country that deliberately kills people and boycotts every aid.. and abet the boycott?”
Gibbs: Well, Look I think the initial reaction regretted the loss of life as we tried and as we still continue to gather the relevant. ..
Thomas: Regret won’t bring them back.
Gibbs: Nothing can bring them back Helen, because I think if you could that wouldn’t be up for debate. We are.. we believe that a credible and transparent investigation has to look into the facts and we’re open to international participation in that investigation.
Thomas: Why did you think of that so late, why didn’t you initially condemn it?
Gibbs: Why didn’t we think of?
Thomas: Why didn’t you initially condemn it?
Gibbs: Again, I think the statements that we initially released speak directly to that.
*************************************************************
This woman. She is ... I have no words for her.
fools
At Tuesday’s White House press briefing, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs called on Helen Thomas, who in a very animated fashion, confronted him for refusing to assign responsibility in the raid, which left nine people dead.
Thomas: “The initial reaction to the flotilla massacre, deliberate massacre, an international crime, was pitiful.
What do you mean you regret something that should be so strongly condemned, and if any other nation in the world had done it, we would have been up in arms?
What is this sacrosanct ironclad relationship where a country that deliberately kills people and boycotts every aid.. and abet the boycott?”
Gibbs: Well, Look I think the initial reaction regretted the loss of life as we tried and as we still continue to gather the relevant. ..
Thomas: Regret won’t bring them back.
Gibbs: Nothing can bring them back Helen, because I think if you could that wouldn’t be up for debate. We are.. we believe that a credible and transparent investigation has to look into the facts and we’re open to international participation in that investigation.
Thomas: Why did you think of that so late, why didn’t you initially condemn it?
Gibbs: Why didn’t we think of?
Thomas: Why didn’t you initially condemn it?
Gibbs: Again, I think the statements that we initially released speak directly to that.
*************************************************************
This woman. She is ... I have no words for her.
fools
AID to the Poor Palestinians: Stopped (by Hamas)
IDF: Hamas stops flotilla aid delivered by israel
By the CNN Wire Staff
June 2, 2010 1:04 p.m. EDT
Jerusalem (CNN) -- Israel has attempted to deliver humanitarian aid from an international flotilla to Gaza, but Hamas -- which controls the territory -- has refused to accept the cargo, the Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday.
Palestinian sources confirmed that trucks that arrived from Israel at the Rafah terminal at the Israel-Gaza border were barred from delivering the aid.
Ra'ed Fatooh, in charge of the crossings, and Jamal Khudari, head of a committee against the Gaza blockade, said Israel must release all flotilla detainees and that it will be accepted in the territory only by the Free Gaza Movement people who organized the flotilla.
Israel said it had 20 trucks of aid found on the ships, such as expired medications, clothing, blankets, some medical equipment and toys.
Israel has released all foreign flotilla detainees by Wednesday, but four Israeli Arabs remain in custody.
Nine people died Monday when Israel intercepted an aid vessel bound for Gaza.
Under Israeli policy, humanitarian aid must come through Israel and be checked by Israeli authorities who are looking to intercept smuggled weapons bound for militants aiming to attack Israel.
As part of this policy Israel forbids ships from dropping off goods at Gaza ports and works to thwart smuggling via tunnels between Gaza and Egypt.
bad kitty
By the CNN Wire Staff
June 2, 2010 1:04 p.m. EDT
Jerusalem (CNN) -- Israel has attempted to deliver humanitarian aid from an international flotilla to Gaza, but Hamas -- which controls the territory -- has refused to accept the cargo, the Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday.
Palestinian sources confirmed that trucks that arrived from Israel at the Rafah terminal at the Israel-Gaza border were barred from delivering the aid.
Ra'ed Fatooh, in charge of the crossings, and Jamal Khudari, head of a committee against the Gaza blockade, said Israel must release all flotilla detainees and that it will be accepted in the territory only by the Free Gaza Movement people who organized the flotilla.
Israel said it had 20 trucks of aid found on the ships, such as expired medications, clothing, blankets, some medical equipment and toys.
Israel has released all foreign flotilla detainees by Wednesday, but four Israeli Arabs remain in custody.
Nine people died Monday when Israel intercepted an aid vessel bound for Gaza.
Under Israeli policy, humanitarian aid must come through Israel and be checked by Israeli authorities who are looking to intercept smuggled weapons bound for militants aiming to attack Israel.
As part of this policy Israel forbids ships from dropping off goods at Gaza ports and works to thwart smuggling via tunnels between Gaza and Egypt.
bad kitty
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Divorce: Bad for the Planet
So now you can say you are staying together for the children and the planet.
Divorce pains the planet
by Elsa Wenzel
December 3, 2007 10:30 PM PST
As if the burden of divorce weren't bad enough, people with failed marriages can be blamed for global warming, according to a study by Michigan State University.
Divorced couples use up more space in their respective homes, which amounts to to 38 million more rooms worldwide to light, heat and cool, noted the report.
And people who divorced used 73 billion kilowatt-hours more of electricity and 627 billion gallons of water than they would otherwise in 2005.
Dissolving a marriage also means doubling possessions, from the lowly can opener to the SUV. The report, however, did not estimate how many more natural resources the children of shared-custody parents consume by getting birthday and holiday gifts twice.
Nor did it count the greenhouse gases spent to shuttle kids between their pair of energy-hogging households. (Tip for carbon offsetting services: the domain name OffsetMyDivorce.com is available.).
The research suggests that singletons who shack up with someone again can undo the ecological damage. Although it might be inferred that "living in sin" is also eco-friendly, the findings did not necessarily endorse the practice of unmarried couples living together.
Rates of divorce are rising around the world, while dropping in North America along with those of marriage, according to the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University.
Divorce ends 46 percent of marriages in the United States, the seventh highest rate in the world, according to Divorce Magazine. The top world record is held by Sweden, where 55 percent of marriages end by divorce. On the other end is Guatemala, with a mere .13 percent divorce rate.
The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and funded partly by the National Institutes of Health.
global warming
Divorce pains the planet
by Elsa Wenzel
December 3, 2007 10:30 PM PST
As if the burden of divorce weren't bad enough, people with failed marriages can be blamed for global warming, according to a study by Michigan State University.
Divorced couples use up more space in their respective homes, which amounts to to 38 million more rooms worldwide to light, heat and cool, noted the report.
And people who divorced used 73 billion kilowatt-hours more of electricity and 627 billion gallons of water than they would otherwise in 2005.
Dissolving a marriage also means doubling possessions, from the lowly can opener to the SUV. The report, however, did not estimate how many more natural resources the children of shared-custody parents consume by getting birthday and holiday gifts twice.
Nor did it count the greenhouse gases spent to shuttle kids between their pair of energy-hogging households. (Tip for carbon offsetting services: the domain name OffsetMyDivorce.com is available.).
The research suggests that singletons who shack up with someone again can undo the ecological damage. Although it might be inferred that "living in sin" is also eco-friendly, the findings did not necessarily endorse the practice of unmarried couples living together.
Rates of divorce are rising around the world, while dropping in North America along with those of marriage, according to the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University.
Divorce ends 46 percent of marriages in the United States, the seventh highest rate in the world, according to Divorce Magazine. The top world record is held by Sweden, where 55 percent of marriages end by divorce. On the other end is Guatemala, with a mere .13 percent divorce rate.
The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and funded partly by the National Institutes of Health.
global warming
Turkey: It was like 9/11 !!
You have to wonder how people like this actually get to be a Foreign Minister, well, forget that, you have to wonder how a country like this manages to ... forget it - none of it makes sense regardless of how pathetic a country it is.
Turkish FM likens flotilla raid to 9/11
Shortly before meeting with US Secretary of State Clinton, Ahmet Davutoglu tells reporters in Washington, 'Israelis think they are above any law, but we will stop them'. American sources tell Ynet decision to call off Netanyahu visit prevented embarrassment for Obama in light of events
Yitzhak Benhorin
June 1, 2010
WASHINGTON – As the tensions between Israel and Turkey escalate, senior officials from both countries arrived in Washington on Tuesday for a series of meetings, on the backdrop of the deadly Israel Defense Forces raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.
The incident prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to call off his meeting with US President Barack Obama, which was scheduled to take place at the White House on Tuesday.
A day after leading the move to condemn Israel at the United Nations Security Council, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was expected to meet with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday evening in Washington.
During a press conference ahead of the meeting, Davitoglu said he was disappointed with Washington's cautious response to an incident he likened to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
"Psychologically this attack is like 9/11 for Turkey because Turkish citizens were attacked by a state, not by terrorists, with an intention, a clear decision of political leaders of that state," he said.
"The Israelis think they are above any law, but Turkey and the rest of the international community will stop them," he said, comparing between the IDF operation and pirate operating in the Gulf of Eden.
Sources in Washington told Ynet that the decision to call off the Obama-Netanyahu meeting was made at the request of the Israeli side, which asked to move up the meeting to Monday evening, when the American president was unavailable after returning from a visit to Chicago.
The sources clarified, however, that they regretted the decision to postpone the meeting, which prevented an embarrassment for Obama in light of the recent events in the region.
PR efforts in Washington
National Security Advisor Uzi Arad continued his trip from Canada to Washington, where he met with Obama's national security advisor, James Jones and other White House officials.
Despite the wide protest against Israel across the world, former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger expressed his support for Israel in an interview with the MSNBC channel. He explained, however, that although the Navy operation was justified, its performance caused Israel damage.
Despite the claims of a serious PR failure following the incident, Israeli Ambassador to Washington Michael Oren presented Israel's stance on the major news channels. Oren told MSNBC that Israel was cooperating with the Americans and that Netanyahu had spoken to Obama three times in the past day.
Information Minister Yuli Edelstein joined the media efforts as well, giving interviews to a number of different channels. During a press conference at the Israeli Consulate in New York, the minister said that "Israel has nothing to apologize for over the operation it took in order to protect its citizens.
"Bringing goods into the Strip without supervision, as well as weapons and ammunition, is a move which could inflame the entire region and renew the circle of violence. The Turkish ship had activists trained by al-Qaeda who tried to hurt our forces."
retards
Turkish FM likens flotilla raid to 9/11
Shortly before meeting with US Secretary of State Clinton, Ahmet Davutoglu tells reporters in Washington, 'Israelis think they are above any law, but we will stop them'. American sources tell Ynet decision to call off Netanyahu visit prevented embarrassment for Obama in light of events
Yitzhak Benhorin
June 1, 2010
WASHINGTON – As the tensions between Israel and Turkey escalate, senior officials from both countries arrived in Washington on Tuesday for a series of meetings, on the backdrop of the deadly Israel Defense Forces raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.
The incident prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to call off his meeting with US President Barack Obama, which was scheduled to take place at the White House on Tuesday.
A day after leading the move to condemn Israel at the United Nations Security Council, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was expected to meet with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday evening in Washington.
During a press conference ahead of the meeting, Davitoglu said he was disappointed with Washington's cautious response to an incident he likened to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
"Psychologically this attack is like 9/11 for Turkey because Turkish citizens were attacked by a state, not by terrorists, with an intention, a clear decision of political leaders of that state," he said.
"The Israelis think they are above any law, but Turkey and the rest of the international community will stop them," he said, comparing between the IDF operation and pirate operating in the Gulf of Eden.
Sources in Washington told Ynet that the decision to call off the Obama-Netanyahu meeting was made at the request of the Israeli side, which asked to move up the meeting to Monday evening, when the American president was unavailable after returning from a visit to Chicago.
The sources clarified, however, that they regretted the decision to postpone the meeting, which prevented an embarrassment for Obama in light of the recent events in the region.
PR efforts in Washington
National Security Advisor Uzi Arad continued his trip from Canada to Washington, where he met with Obama's national security advisor, James Jones and other White House officials.
Despite the wide protest against Israel across the world, former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger expressed his support for Israel in an interview with the MSNBC channel. He explained, however, that although the Navy operation was justified, its performance caused Israel damage.
Despite the claims of a serious PR failure following the incident, Israeli Ambassador to Washington Michael Oren presented Israel's stance on the major news channels. Oren told MSNBC that Israel was cooperating with the Americans and that Netanyahu had spoken to Obama three times in the past day.
Information Minister Yuli Edelstein joined the media efforts as well, giving interviews to a number of different channels. During a press conference at the Israeli Consulate in New York, the minister said that "Israel has nothing to apologize for over the operation it took in order to protect its citizens.
"Bringing goods into the Strip without supervision, as well as weapons and ammunition, is a move which could inflame the entire region and renew the circle of violence. The Turkish ship had activists trained by al-Qaeda who tried to hurt our forces."
retards
Biden and Obama's Schedule for Today
The Official White House Schedule for The President and Vice-President
Tuesday Jun. 1, 2010All Times Eastern 9:00 AM
9:30 AM Obama and Biden receive the presidential daily briefing.
10:00 AM Obama and Biden receive the economic daily briefing.
11:00 AM
11:15 AM Obama meets with BP Oil Spill Commission co-chairs.
12:00 PM
12:15 PM Obama delivers a statement to the press.
12:30 PM Biden attends an event for Rep. John Hall in Bedford, N.Y.
1:00 PM Adm. Thad Allen briefs members of the press.
2:00 PM Gibbs briefs members of the press.
2:30 PM Obama meets with senior advisers.
3:00 PM
4:00 PM
5:00 PM
6:00 PM Obama meets with President Alan Garcia of Peru.
6:30 PM Biden attends an event for the campaign of Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden in New York City.
*************************************************
So I have some questions. If these two men work for us, and they do, and we pay them, and we do - what are they doing for all the hours unaccounted for.
Biden goes from a lunch at 12:30 until 6:30 doing nothing we know of. Perhaps it is 6 hours of helping out an endangered congressman. I am curious what else these people do given their White House Schedules are so ... open. I remember viewing (although this is only memory and not a specific day) Bush and Cheney's schedule for a couple days and they seemed to be filled in doing stuff. These two seem to be open more than busy. I have to wonder.
biden
Tuesday Jun. 1, 2010All Times Eastern 9:00 AM
9:30 AM Obama and Biden receive the presidential daily briefing.
10:00 AM Obama and Biden receive the economic daily briefing.
11:00 AM
11:15 AM Obama meets with BP Oil Spill Commission co-chairs.
12:00 PM
12:15 PM Obama delivers a statement to the press.
12:30 PM Biden attends an event for Rep. John Hall in Bedford, N.Y.
1:00 PM Adm. Thad Allen briefs members of the press.
2:00 PM Gibbs briefs members of the press.
2:30 PM Obama meets with senior advisers.
3:00 PM
4:00 PM
5:00 PM
6:00 PM Obama meets with President Alan Garcia of Peru.
6:30 PM Biden attends an event for the campaign of Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden in New York City.
*************************************************
So I have some questions. If these two men work for us, and they do, and we pay them, and we do - what are they doing for all the hours unaccounted for.
Biden goes from a lunch at 12:30 until 6:30 doing nothing we know of. Perhaps it is 6 hours of helping out an endangered congressman. I am curious what else these people do given their White House Schedules are so ... open. I remember viewing (although this is only memory and not a specific day) Bush and Cheney's schedule for a couple days and they seemed to be filled in doing stuff. These two seem to be open more than busy. I have to wonder.
biden
Canada's Healthcare - Crumbling
The Canadian system, crumbling under the massive weight of 33 million patients. Enjoy the change, America.
Soaring costs force Canada to reassess health model
Claire Sibonney - Analysis
Mon May 31, 2:38 pm ET
TORONTO (Reuters) – Pressured by an aging population and the need to rein in budget deficits, Canada's provinces are taking tough measures to curb healthcare costs, a trend that could erode the principles of the popular state-funded system.
Ontario, Canada's most populous province, kicked off a fierce battle with drug companies and pharmacies when it said earlier this year it would halve generic drug prices and eliminate "incentive fees" to generic drug manufacturers.
British Columbia is replacing block grants to hospitals with fee-for-procedure payments and Quebec has a new flat health tax and a proposal for payments on each medical visit -- an idea that critics say is an illegal user fee.
And a few provinces are also experimenting with private funding for procedures such as hip, knee and cataract surgery.
It's likely just a start as the provinces, responsible for delivering healthcare, cope with the demands of a retiring baby-boom generation. Official figures show that senior citizens will make up 25 percent of the population by 2036.
"There's got to be some change to the status quo whether it happens in three years or 10 years," said Derek Burleton, senior economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank.
"We can't continually see health spending growing above and beyond the growth rate in the economy because, at some point, it means crowding out of all the other government services.
"At some stage we're going to hit a breaking point."
MIRROR IMAGE DEBATE
In some ways the Canadian debate is the mirror image of discussions going on in the United States.
Canada, fretting over budget strains, wants to prune its system, while the United States, worrying about an army of uninsured, aims to create a state-backed safety net.
Healthcare in Canada is delivered through a publicly funded system, which covers all "medically necessary" hospital and physician care and curbs the role of private medicine. It ate up about 40 percent of provincial budgets, or some C$183 billion ($174 billion) last year.
Spending has been rising 6 percent a year under a deal that added C$41.3 billion of federal funding over 10 years.
But that deal ends in 2013, and the federal government is unlikely to be as generous in future, especially for one-off projects.
"As Ottawa looks to repair its budget balance ... one could see these one-time allocations to specific health projects might be curtailed," said Mary Webb, senior economist at Scotia Capital.
Brian Golden, a professor at University of Toronto's Rotman School of Business, said provinces are weighing new sources of funding, including "means-testing" and moving toward evidence-based and pay-for-performance models.
"Why are we paying more or the same for cataract surgery when it costs substantially less today than it did 10 years ago? There's going to be a finer look at what we're paying for and, more importantly, what we're getting for it," he said.
Other problems include trying to control independently set salaries for top hospital executives and doctors and rein in spiraling costs for new medical technologies and drugs.
Ontario says healthcare could eat up 70 percent of its budget in 12 years, if all these costs are left unchecked.
"Our objective is to preserve the quality healthcare system we have and indeed to enhance it. But there are difficult decisions ahead and we will continue to make them," Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan told Reuters.
The province has introduced legislation that ties hospital chief executive pay with the quality of patient care and says it wants to put more physicians on salary to save money.
In a report released last week, TD Bank said Ontario should consider other proposals to help cut costs, including scaling back drug coverage for affluent seniors and paying doctors according to quality and efficiency of care.
WINNERS AND LOSERS
The losers could be drug companies and pharmacies, both of which are getting increasingly nervous.
"Many of the advances in healthcare and life expectancy are due to the pharmaceutical industry so we should never demonize them," said U of T's Golden. "We need to ensure that they maintain a profitable business but our ability to make it very very profitable is constrained right now."
Scotia Capital's Webb said one cost-saving idea may be to make patients aware of how much it costs each time they visit a healthcare professional. "(The public) will use the services more wisely if they know how much it's costing," she said.
"If it's absolutely free with no information on the cost and the information of an alternative that would be have been more practical, then how can we expect the public to wisely use the service?"
But change may come slowly. Universal healthcare is central to Canada's national identity, and decisions are made as much on politics as economics. [This is unfortunate that an identity is based upon your ability to tax someone enough to provide you with healthcare.]
"It's an area that Canadians don't want to see touched," said TD's Burleton. "Essentially it boils down the wishes of the population. But I think, from an economist's standpoint, we point to the fact that sometimes Canadians in the short term may not realize the cost."
canada
Soaring costs force Canada to reassess health model
Claire Sibonney - Analysis
Mon May 31, 2:38 pm ET
TORONTO (Reuters) – Pressured by an aging population and the need to rein in budget deficits, Canada's provinces are taking tough measures to curb healthcare costs, a trend that could erode the principles of the popular state-funded system.
Ontario, Canada's most populous province, kicked off a fierce battle with drug companies and pharmacies when it said earlier this year it would halve generic drug prices and eliminate "incentive fees" to generic drug manufacturers.
British Columbia is replacing block grants to hospitals with fee-for-procedure payments and Quebec has a new flat health tax and a proposal for payments on each medical visit -- an idea that critics say is an illegal user fee.
And a few provinces are also experimenting with private funding for procedures such as hip, knee and cataract surgery.
It's likely just a start as the provinces, responsible for delivering healthcare, cope with the demands of a retiring baby-boom generation. Official figures show that senior citizens will make up 25 percent of the population by 2036.
"There's got to be some change to the status quo whether it happens in three years or 10 years," said Derek Burleton, senior economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank.
"We can't continually see health spending growing above and beyond the growth rate in the economy because, at some point, it means crowding out of all the other government services.
"At some stage we're going to hit a breaking point."
MIRROR IMAGE DEBATE
In some ways the Canadian debate is the mirror image of discussions going on in the United States.
Canada, fretting over budget strains, wants to prune its system, while the United States, worrying about an army of uninsured, aims to create a state-backed safety net.
Healthcare in Canada is delivered through a publicly funded system, which covers all "medically necessary" hospital and physician care and curbs the role of private medicine. It ate up about 40 percent of provincial budgets, or some C$183 billion ($174 billion) last year.
Spending has been rising 6 percent a year under a deal that added C$41.3 billion of federal funding over 10 years.
But that deal ends in 2013, and the federal government is unlikely to be as generous in future, especially for one-off projects.
"As Ottawa looks to repair its budget balance ... one could see these one-time allocations to specific health projects might be curtailed," said Mary Webb, senior economist at Scotia Capital.
Brian Golden, a professor at University of Toronto's Rotman School of Business, said provinces are weighing new sources of funding, including "means-testing" and moving toward evidence-based and pay-for-performance models.
"Why are we paying more or the same for cataract surgery when it costs substantially less today than it did 10 years ago? There's going to be a finer look at what we're paying for and, more importantly, what we're getting for it," he said.
Other problems include trying to control independently set salaries for top hospital executives and doctors and rein in spiraling costs for new medical technologies and drugs.
Ontario says healthcare could eat up 70 percent of its budget in 12 years, if all these costs are left unchecked.
"Our objective is to preserve the quality healthcare system we have and indeed to enhance it. But there are difficult decisions ahead and we will continue to make them," Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan told Reuters.
The province has introduced legislation that ties hospital chief executive pay with the quality of patient care and says it wants to put more physicians on salary to save money.
In a report released last week, TD Bank said Ontario should consider other proposals to help cut costs, including scaling back drug coverage for affluent seniors and paying doctors according to quality and efficiency of care.
WINNERS AND LOSERS
The losers could be drug companies and pharmacies, both of which are getting increasingly nervous.
"Many of the advances in healthcare and life expectancy are due to the pharmaceutical industry so we should never demonize them," said U of T's Golden. "We need to ensure that they maintain a profitable business but our ability to make it very very profitable is constrained right now."
Scotia Capital's Webb said one cost-saving idea may be to make patients aware of how much it costs each time they visit a healthcare professional. "(The public) will use the services more wisely if they know how much it's costing," she said.
"If it's absolutely free with no information on the cost and the information of an alternative that would be have been more practical, then how can we expect the public to wisely use the service?"
But change may come slowly. Universal healthcare is central to Canada's national identity, and decisions are made as much on politics as economics. [This is unfortunate that an identity is based upon your ability to tax someone enough to provide you with healthcare.]
"It's an area that Canadians don't want to see touched," said TD's Burleton. "Essentially it boils down the wishes of the population. But I think, from an economist's standpoint, we point to the fact that sometimes Canadians in the short term may not realize the cost."
canada
Guatemalan Sink Hole - AKA: US Economic Problems
This is not a sinkhole. This is a ... journey to the center of the earth hole.This is not a 'sinkhole in Guatemalan neighborhood swallows a building' this is a 'hole swallows entire city'. And how do you fill such a hole. I suppose throwing US dollars into it might help.
guatemala
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