Category: International

British Express Anger Over Deaths in Rescue of New York Times Reporter Who Ignored Repeated Warnings Not to Go Into Taliban Stronghold

Afghanistan Harrison225px-NewyorktimeslogoNew York Times reporter and blogger Stephen Farrell is being criticized in the wake of his rescue by British commandos, a rescue that claimed the lives of a woman, child, and a British soldier, Corporal John Harrison, 29. Commanders are expressing anger that Farrell not only ignored repeated warnings not to go to the site in hostile territory, but was specifically told by a local man that the Taliban was coming.

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Be Prepared, But No Packing: English Scouts Told Not To Carry Penknives to End “Knife Culture”

140px-Norman_Rockwell-_Beyond_the_Easel180px-Swiss_Army_Knife_Wenger_Opened_20050627Scouts in England have been told that they are no longer allowed to carry their classic penknives in a move against a “knife culture” by English officials. Both scouts and their parents are asked not to carry knives so not to foster criminal images.
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Taliban Call For An Investigation of a Bombing — By Someone Else

250px-Taliban_conference_will_not_exile_without_evidence_2001There must have been a bit of confusion in the German military headquarters. The Taliban has called for an investigation into a bombing ordered by the German commander in Afghanistan. That’s right, the Taliban who routinely bomb civilians, throw acid on little girls, and commit acts of terrorism as a matter of religion. That Taliban.
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Making Sarkozy’s Short List: French President Seeks Citizens Who Can Measure Up

210px-Jacques-Louis_David_017180px-Nicolas_Sarkoky_Bastille_Day_2008_n2-SarkoIt is well-known that French President Nicolas Sarkozy is a bit sensitive about being 5′ 5” tall. He often stands on his toes for pictures or uses a box. He has, however, come up with a new idea. If you can make yourself taller, you can make the world smaller. Reporters have learned that for a recent speech at the Faurecia motor technology plant near Caen in Normandy, Sarkozy’s people rounded up any workers shorter than the president (no easy task) to stand behind him. The result was the new towering Sarkozy — a giant among his Lilliputian workers.
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Really, Really Cold Case: New York Detectives Re-Open the 400-Year-Old Unsolved Murder of John Colman

halfmoonfrontThe murder of John Colman is not exactly a cold case, it is positively glacial. New York detectives have taken up the case 400 years after the English seaman was found murdered and buried in a shallow grave. No weapon, no motive. The culprit, however, is believed to be out of the New York jurisdiction and even Interpol.

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Dutch Prosecutors Charge Arab Group With Hate Speech Over Cartoon

stone-1We have been following the trend among Western countries in rolling back on free speech with different forms of blasphemy laws, here. Much of this attack on free speech began after the controversy over the publication of cartoons depicting Muhammad. Now, Dutch prosecutors are charging an Arab group for publishing cartoons questioning the Holocaust.
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Reich Message All Wrong? German AIDS Awareness Video Under Attack

preview_320_260_1There is an interesting controversy brewing internationally over the use of the advert (shown below) entitled “Aids is Mass Murder” featuring Adolph Hitler as engaged in unprotected sex. It is a PETA-like shock video that has many activists complaining that it vilifies HIV-positive people here.

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Former Attorney General Arrested After Allegedly Killing Bicyclist in Road Rage Incident

225px-MichaelJBryantWhen he served as the attorney general for Ontario, Michael Bryant argued for harsh punishment for criminals, including a crackdown traffic crimes such a speeders. He is now accused in a shocking act of road rage that killed a bicyclist who Bryant allegedly rammed into a mailbox.

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Dutch Royals Win While Italian PM Sues Media

250px-Willem_Alexander,_Den_Haag_Veteranendag_2009,_by_FaceMePLSsilvio_berlusconi_29-01-2008The Dutch royal family of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander has prevailed in its suit against the Associated Press for taking pictures of them on vacation in Argentina. In Italy, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is suing the media for the coverage of his private life. Both cases turn on the right to privacy of public officials and public figures.
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Saudi Arabian Father Forces 10-Year-Old Daughter To Return to 80-Year-Old Husband

150px-muslim_woman_in_yemenA ten-year-old girl found hiding in her aunt’s home was forcibly returned to her eighty-year-old husband by her father. While the man would be called a pedophile in the West, he is called a husband under Sharia law in Saudi Arabia and could rightfully demand the return of the child wife.

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Saudi Arabia Bans “Evil” Summer Festivals

Saudi Arabia flagThe morals police in Saudi Arabia has directed their attention toward the latest conspiracy to corrupt the youth and undermine Islam: summer festivals. The religious police have declared that these festivals improperly encourage the mixing of men and women and involve such evil acts as dancing and magic shows.

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Obama Administration Loses Bid to Keep Secret the Recipients of $2 Trillion in Stimulus Money

180px-Preska225px-official_portrait_of_barack_obamaFor months, many Democrats and civil libertarians have complained about the disconnect between what President Obama says and what he does as President. One area of the greatest criticism has been the effort of the Obama Administration to block public review of embarrassing pictures, White House logs, controversial memoranda, or disclosure of governmental actions — despite his promise to guarantee transparency in government. One such person who appears to have lost patience with the Administration is Chief U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska. Judge Preska has rejected efforts by the Obama Administration to withhold information on who received $2 trillion dollars in bailout funds. The Obama administration argued that the public has no right to know such information. Given today’s news that the federal debt level will be reach $9 trillion, many people would like to look a bit closer at what Congress and the White House has been doing with the public fisc.
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Walmart Conquers the Wilderness: Virginia Board Allows Big Box Store to Build Near Civil War Battlefield

300px-Battle_of_the_WildernessIt took almost 150 years, but Virginia has finally surrendered at the Battle for the Wilderness — without firing a shot. In a terrible blow to historians and preservationists, the Orange County Board of Supervisors caved into pressure from Walmart and business groups to allow the construction of a huge Walmart store next to the historic Wilderness battlefield where 145,000 Union and Confederate soldiers fought and close to 30,000 were killed or wounded. Despite international objections to the damage to this historic area, the pro-development board voted 4-1 to side put a big box store ahead of its own proud legacy.

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A Pence of Power and a Paucity of Sense: London Police Drop Case Against Film Maker For Stealing .003 Pence in Electricity — After Spending $8,200

150px-Toggleswitch180px-Various_British_PennysMark Guard, 44, is a film maker and electricity thief. Arrested for stealing .003 pence of power, the police and prosecutors spent $8,200 prosecuting Guard before dropping the case and finally letting their Guard down.
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