Mood:  chatty

The new, British, 80mph 'Mad Max'

Monster targeting the Taliban

It looks more like a vehicle from one of Mel Gibson's Mad Max movies.

But this four-ton monster truck is the British Army's new weapon designed to take on insurgents on the front lines of Iraq and Afghanistan.

British-made, the Supacat Weapons Mounted Installation Kit boasts awesome firepower which will be unleashed early next year. British and other Nato troops are being targeted by roadside bombs and daily firefights.

Infantry soldiers have complained existing Land Rovers provide insufficient protection from the bombers.

Now, the Ministry of Defence is buying 130 of the light-armoured beasts -- which can reach a maximum 80mph -- and will take delivery of the first early next year.

They will use a grenade machine gun which fires at up to 340 rounds per minute, usually in bursts of three to five rounds, at targets up to a mile away.

The Supacats will also employ a 7.62mm-calibre General Purpose Machine Gun, which fires 750 rounds per minute with a range of nearly a mile.

The vehicles, made at Honiton in Devon, will also have a mounted 0.5in-calibre heavy machine gun, which fires huge rounds more than a mile at a rate of 485 to 635 a minute. They are powered by a 5.9-litre turbo-diesel engine and will carry three or four crew.

One senior Army officer described the new super-truck as a "serious bit of kit", adding it would be a "huge boost to our long-range patrolling capability".

Senior defence sources say the Supacats will particularly come into their own against the Taliban in Afghanistan's Helmand Province, which has no roads.

Defence Minister Lord Drayson said last night: "These vehicles are well armed, swift and agile and will boost our capability with some serious firepower.

"The MoD and the Treasury have worked hard to get them to our troops in quick time, and they start going out to theatre early next year."

Comments
UK Daily Mail ~ Christopher Leake ** The 80mph 'Mad Max' monster targeting the Taliban

Who runs Barter Town?

But the soldiers are dressed all wrong ... where's the buttless chaps and mohawks? And I don't see any feral kids, either.

LOL, Just because it says 'Bud' on the car, doesn't mean I have Bud IN the car...
Crazy, mutant desert guys!

Posted by yaahoo_ at 7:14 AM EDT

Updated: Friday, 29 June 2007 7:20 AM EDT

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Demented-crat House Legislates $4,400 Salary Increase for Themselves...

House Grudgingly Accepts a Pay Raise, as Usual

By Lois Romano

Democrats have for weeks been privately wringing their hands over whether to accept an automatic 2.5 percent pay increase, fretting that the raise may appear inconsistent with their campaign promises.

But last night, the House made its peace with it, rejecting a bid to block the automatic cost-of-living raise of about $4,400 on a 244 to 181 vote.

Sources say Majority Leader Steny Hoyer supported accepting a bump in the $165,200-per-year salary since the Democrats kept their word by quickly pushing through the first federal minimum-wage increase in nearly a decade after taking power in January.

But Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel-- ever conscious of ensuring that Democrats stay in power -- was said to be a bit skittish about it, because Democrats made the raise a big issue during the elections. The Illinois congressman has long donated his salary increases to charity.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, with Emanuel at the helm last year, ran ads attacking Republicans for accepting automatic pay increases while voting against a minimum-wage increase -- a move that infuriated the GOP. "There has been an unspoken agreement between the parties that the leadership could bring the pay raise up and allow people to vote their conscience, but the members would not use it as a campaign issue," said one GOP aide, adding that Republicans are still mighty angry.

The cost-of-living increases for Congress are automatic by permanent law, and have for years been in the fine print of an appropriations bill, which also gives civil servants a COLA increase. Having the measure lumped with other legislation insulates the members from specifically voting on a raise just for themselves.

Members must actively vote to block the raise to stop it. As he has in the past, Democrat Jim Matheson of Utah moved to hold a direct vote to block the increase -- and his motion was defeated by a majority of both parties, as it has been in the past. The vote ends up being the only public record for members on the issue.

So by voting against Matheson's proposal last night, the House gave itself a pay raise.

"If you and I sat down and read the bill, we probably couldn't even find the language that authorizes the raises," said Matheson, who also gives his increase to charity. "I think it is important that we have an up-or-down vote just on the raise -- that what we do is transparent. It shouldn't be buried in an appropriations bill."

The issue was so touchy for Democrats that all staff was kicked out of a recent leadership meeting where it was discussed, sources say.

Supreme Court justices have also been advocating to increase the salaries of federal judges. A bipartisan group of senators has a bill pending to increase the salaries of all federal judges by 16.5 percent and to end the linkage of congressional pay to judicial pay, so that Congress's decision to deny itself pay raises wouldn't affect judges.

Washington Post ~ Lois Romano ** House Grudgingly Accepts a Pay Raise, as Usual

Posted by yaahoo_ at 5:52 AM EDT

Updated: Thursday, 28 June 2007 5:55 AM EDT

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Protests at Iran fuel rationing

Iranian motorists have reacted with fury after the government announced fuel rationing for private vehicles.

One petrol station was set on fire in Tehran. Fights were reported and drivers caused massive traffic congestion as they tried to fill up.

Iranians were given only two hours' notice of the move that limits private drivers to 100 litres of fuel a month.

Despite its huge energy reserves, Iran lacks refining capacity and it imports about 40% of its petrol.

Iran has a large budget deficit largely caused by fuel subsidies and the inflation rate is estimated at 20-30%.

The BBC Tehran correspondent Frances Harrison says Iran is trying to rein in fuel consumption over fears of possible UN sanctions over its nuclear programme.

Iran fears the West could impose sanctions on its petrol imports and cripple its economy.

'Dangerous move'
The restrictions began at midnight local time on Wednesday (2030 GMT Tuesday).

The BBC's Frances Harrison in Tehran says there is anger and frustration the government did not give people more notice.

"Guns, fireworks, tanks, [President] Ahmadinejad should be killed," chanted angry youths, throwing stones at police.

Eyewitnesses have seen at least one petrol station in the outskirts of the west of Tehran on fire.

All over the city there are huge queues and reports of scuffles at petrol stations as motorists try to beat the start of the rationing and fill their tanks.

"I think rationing is not bad by itself but it must be organised," one man told the Associated Press news agency.

"One cannot announce at 9pm that the rationing would start at midnight, they should have announced the exact date at least two days earlier."

Iran's petrol is heavily subsidised, sold at about a fifth of its real cost.

The price of 1,000 rials ($0.11) per litre makes Iran one of the cheapest countries in the world for motorists.

So far there has been no announcement about whether Iranians can buy more petrol at the real market cost.

Licensed taxi drivers will be able to buy 800 litres a month at the subsidised price.

US pressure
Our correspondent says rationing fuel is only likely to add to high inflation.

It is a dangerous move for any elected government, especially in an oil-rich country like Iran where people think cheap fuel is their birthright and public transport is very limited, she says.

The US, which is leading efforts to pressure Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities, has said Iran's fuel imports are a point of "leverage".

Washington and other Western nations accuse the Islamic Republic of seeking to build nuclear weapons.

Iran says its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful and is solely aimed at producing civilian nuclear power.

BBC News ** Protests at Iran fuel rationing

Posted by yaahoo_ at 5:03 AM EDT

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ChiCom Students Not Interested in Marxism...

RUSH: We have a bunch of anti-capitalists that have grown very powerful in this country, and they're pushing for their own socialist dominance. In fact, it's interesting to note, too, because in China they're having trouble educating kids. Marx is not interesting to the students. The students are seeing this wild market development. In places like Beijing and Shanghai, development's going crazy. They're putting up buildings; people are driving cars, and students don't want to read Das Kapital. They want to read about capitalism, because they want a part of it, they want a piece of it. So teachers are having big problems. The Chinese government has unleashed the free market there. They've tried to control it like Gorbachev did with "glasnost" and "perestroika," but you can't. Once you unleash freedom to people who have had it denied them, it's only a matter of time before they're going to get what they want.

Marx loses currency in new China

Teaching socialism is mandatory, but learning it is monotonous for today's students, who revere money more than Mao.

Beijing -- It was like watching a man try to swim up a waterfall.

Professor Tao Xiuao cracked jokes, told stories, projected a Power Point presentation on a large video screen. But his students at Beijing Foreign Studies University didn't even try to hide their boredom.

Young men spread newspapers out on their desks and pored over the sports news. A couple of students listened to iPods; others sent text messages on their cellphones. One young woman with chic red-framed glasses spent the entire two hours engrossed in "Jane Eyre," in the original English. Some drifted out of class, ate lunch and returned. Some just lay their heads on their desktops and went to sleep.

It isn't easy teaching Marxism in China these days.

"It's a big challenge," acknowledged Tao, a likable man who demonstrates remarkable patience in the face of students more interested in capitalism than "Das Kapital." The students say he isn't the problem.

"It's not the teacher," said sophomore Liu Di, a finance major whose shaggy auburn hair hangs, John Lennon-style, along either side of his wire-rim glasses. "No matter who teaches this class, it's always boring. Philosophy is useful and interesting, but I think that in philosophy education in China, they just teach the boring parts."

Classes in Marxist philosophy have been compulsory in Chinese schools since not long after the 1949 communist revolution. They remain enshrined in the national education law, Article 3 of which states: "In developing the socialist educational undertakings, the state shall uphold Marxism-Leninism, Mao Tse-tung Thought and the theories of constructing socialism with Chinese characteristics as directives and comply with the basic principles of the Constitution."

But today's China is, in some respects, less socialistic than much of Western Europe, with a moth-eaten social safety net and a wild free-market economy. Students in almost any urban Chinese school can look out their classroom windows and see just about everything but socialism being constructed: high-rise office buildings, shopping malls, movie theaters, luxury apartment buildings, fast-food restaurants, hotels, factories -- the whole capitalist panorama.

It seems an understatement to say that there's a disconnect between reality and what the students are learning about Marx and Mao, who held that capitalism would inevitably and naturally give way to communism.

"Compared to my normal opinions about the world … it's something like fiction," said Du Zimu, one of Liu's classmates.

Professor Tao's lecture on this day was devoted to the arcane study of epistemology, ranging over the beliefs of Bertrand Russell, Charles Darwin and Marx, and building up to Mao's famous admonition to "seek truth from facts" -- hardly a disagreeable notion, but one that kindled no apparent flicker of interest in the students.

Chinese education officials are acutely aware of the problem, and say they have substantially reformed the country's ideological education. They haven't given Marx the heave-ho, but students in up-to-date primary and secondary schools learn more about patriotism and ethical behavior than about class struggle and the dictatorship of the proletariat.

Students take two classes a week in ideological education from kindergarten through high school, and then must take two more courses in college.

"Before, there was a lot of indoctrination," said Zhou Mansheng, deputy director of the National Center for Education Development Research, an arm of the Education Ministry. Now, he said, "we stress a lot of traditional virtues, like respecting teachers and respecting the elderly. Especially now, we stress honesty.

"So as far as communist ideology," he continued, "some students will take it as their belief, but as for the majority, I think it will be enough if they act as legal and qualified citizens…. Not necessarily everyone has to become a Marxist believer."

There was a time, and Zhou, at 58, knows it well, when such a statement from a Chinese official would have been inconceivable, not to mention extremely dangerous.

Things certainly have changed. Daniel A. Bell, a Canadian who is the first Westerner in the modern era to teach politics at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China's most elite educational institution, wrote in the spring issue of Dissent magazine of his surprise at how little Marxism is actually discussed in China, even among Communist Party intellectuals.

"The main reason Chinese officials and scholars do not talk about communism is that hardly anybody really believes that Marxism should provide guidelines for thinking about China's political future," he wrote. "The ideology has been so discredited by its misuses that it has lost almost all legitimacy in society…. To the extent there's a need for a moral foundation for political rule in China, it almost certainly won't come from Karl Marx."

Still, it isn't easy to find students who will expressly renounce Marxism.

It may be because they know that to succeed in China, it helps immensely to be a member of the ruling Communist Party. It may be because Marxism and Maoist philosophy are so deeply woven into the fabric of Chinese life that students take them for granted, the way some American students accept a constitutional democracy without thinking too deeply about the alternatives. It may be because they truly believe in Marxism, and see the current period as a necessary stage on the path to true communism.

Or perhaps it may simply be because they're afraid.

"The students I know generally don't accept Marx as the best ideological foundation for modern China," said one student at a prestigious Chinese university. "Marx in China is only a flag used by different kinds of persons. Then, what is the ideological foundation for modern China? I think no one can give a satisfied answer."

Added the student: "You'd better not use my name."

On a recent morning when a light spring rain glistened the walkways and gardens of the Foreign Studies University, a group of students from Tao's class, all finance majors, gathered in a cafe on campus. Sitting around a long table, they talked -- guardedly at times, openly at others -- about their ideological education.

Zhao Fan, who uses the English name Nathan while he's studying the language, was the most conservative, arguing that Marxist education, if somewhat boring, was essential for any Chinese student.

"I think it's very important to learn these principles," he said. "Sometimes it's boring, but it's really useful."

Nathan saw no contradiction between Marxist beliefs and his career goals: He wants to go into marketing, ideally for one of China's largest corporations, get an MBA from a foreign university and go into management.

Gao Pan was on the other side of the ideological spectrum. Dressed in a black T-shirt, he was the rebel of the group, complaining about the lack of academic freedom in China. Referring to Marxism, he said, "If a theory proves to be wrong, you ought to be able to challenge it." That you can't, he said, "is a problem in China."

The one statement that everyone agreed with came from Liu, who had grumbled about China teaching "the boring parts" of philosophy.

"In our real life," he said, "most students complain a lot about these kinds of lessons. Nearly everyone. I think it's because we have learned all these things from the very beginning … even since kindergarten, so it's become so routine that everyone's bored. I think all of these lessons are very important and useful. But we shouldn't learn them every year."

That is where Chinese educators say reform will make a difference.

To demonstrate, they invited a reporter to a model junior high school in Beijing, not far from the iconic Temple of Heaven, one of China's greatest religious and architectural shrines. At the school, students are participating in a pilot program to learn the fundamentals of environmentalism, as part of a "values" class that used to contain a strong dose of Marxist ideology.

Tian Qing, a professor of environmental education at Beijing Normal University, said this was one of 30 schools in Beijing, and a larger number scattered around the country, using an environmental curriculum developed in conjunction with the World Wildlife Fund and the British oil giant BP.

"Good afternoon!" the seventh-graders shouted in unison as teacher Song Xuefeng entered the room.

Song is a young man of boundless enthusiasm, and he led the class through a sometimes raucous, sometimes serious, always riveting hour of discussion about what the pupils can do to save Earth.

It was a sweltering day outside, temperatures well into the 90s.

"It's really hot," Song said to the students. "But we don't feel that hot now because we have air conditioning." This, in itself, is a rarity in a Chinese school. Song asked the students how low they should set the thermostat. One girl's hand streaked into the air. The air conditioner, she declared confidently, shouldn't be set higher than 26 degrees Celsius -- 79 Fahrenheit.

The whole class corrected her, shouting as one: "It can't be LOWER than 26 degrees!"

Later, Song had them write all the ways their families waste energy or water, and selected students to read their answers to the class. Everybody cracked up when one boy said his family might be wasting water because they have a fish tank with just one fish in it. "Maybe we should get another fish," he said with a smirk.

There wasn't a moment when interest flagged. The students peppered an American visitor with questions about U.S. environmental law and what families in the United States do to save water and power. The class, one education official added, adheres to the motto "Think globally, act locally" and is involved in trying to conserve a nearby canal.

"We do like it," 13-year-old Yu Yang said after class, "because it's relevant to our lives." Not, he said, like some classes -- history, for instance.

A lot of American students would say the same thing, so it's not fair to blame Marx for Yang's distaste for history. Still, what's happening at schools like his, not to mention what's happening outside their doors, suggests that Marx's hold on China may be slipping.

Talking over tea at the Education Ministry's modern offices in central Beijing, education official Zhou laughed a bit about today's students.

"They don't believe in God or communism," he said. "They're practical. They only worship the money."

mitchell.landsberg@latimes.com
LA Times ~ Mitchell Landsberg ** Marx loses currency in new China

Posted by yaahoo_ at 4:10 AM EDT

Updated: Wednesday, 27 June 2007 4:37 AM EDT

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Shock Photo of Rosie O'Donut's Daughter Wearing Bullet Belt Causes Stir at Her Own Blog...

A picture provokes a thousand libtard posts

Don't EVER ask me to explain why the moron does what she does, but Rosie O'Donut posted a pic of her little girl Vivi -- wearing a bullet belt -- at her blog. And the peacenik pacifist, hyper sensative, gutless pussy, candy ass libtards had a fit! Here's some of my favorite whiney-ass libtarded comments...

Jessi
My god… that picture. I can’t stop crying. This war is such bullshit.

Bill
Ro- So dissapointed to see your little ones with bullets…where are the guns? I thought for sure you would protect them more from such things…The internet is NOT OK…but bullets ARE?? Why Why??

The full effect of piss-lava libtardation has to be seen for yourself at her blog... Rosie.com ~ ro ** a picture says a thousand posts

Posted by yaahoo_ at 4:12 PM EDT

Updated: Wednesday, 27 June 2007 4:45 AM EDT

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Women Arrested, Accused Of Bathroom Sex In Front Of Children At Pool

  Third Woman Photographed Alleged Sex Acts, Police Say

Two women in Seminole County, Fla., are accused of performing sex acts in front of children at a community pool bathroom while a third woman photographed them, according to a police report.

Seminole County sheriff's deputies arrested Emily Hernandez and Johannie Jimenez over the weekend at the Casselberry public bathroom.

A woman told police that she was walking into the bathroom with her children, and noticed Hernandez and Jimenez naked and apparently performing oral sex. She said another woman was photographing the acts.

The pregnant mother said she tried to leave the area with her children but the women would not let her leave. She said she was threatened not to call the police.

The woman eventually left the area with her children unharmed, police said.

Hernandez and Jimenez face lewd and lascivious exhibition charges as well as battery on a pregnant person, false imprisonment of an adult and child under 13 years old.

While the women were being transported to the Seminole County Jail, an officer said that Hernandez apparently bit Jimenez inside the patrol car, according to the police report.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.
Video: Police: Bathroom Sex In Front Of Kids Leads To Arrests
Local6.com ** Women Arrested, Accused Of Bathroom Sex In Front Of Children

Posted by yaahoo_ at 3:24 PM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, 26 June 2007 3:44 PM EDT

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Mood:  irritated

Parents Arrested For Leaving Toddler In Florida Sun 

Parents Accused Of Leaving Toddler In Sun For 45 Minutes At Disney Ride

Sheriff's Office: Girl Found Covered In Sweat, Nearly Lifeless 

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Two Orange County parents face child abuse charges after riding the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride at Walt Disney World -- with their toddler left in a stroller in the sun for about 45 minutes.

Authorities said concerned guests moved a sleeping girl's stroller out of direct sunlight Monday and into some shade and called for help.

When investigators found the parents, they said there was confusion about who had the child.

The parents told investigators they accidentally left the 3-year-old girl in the stroller on Saturday afternoon.

They were with a group of other adults and children, and each parent thought the other had the girl.

According to the Orange County Sheriff's Office, the girl was found in the sun, turning red, covered in sweat and nearly lifeless.

Paramedics revived the girl after taking her indoors and giving her water.

Each parent was released from the Orange County jail on $2,500 bail.

Their children have been turned over to relatives while the Department of Children and Families investigates. Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

Photos: Images From Story - Video: Parents Charged After Child Found Alone At Disney
Local6.com ~ AP ** Parents Accused Of Leaving Toddler In Sun For 45 Minutes At Disney Ride

Posted by yaahoo_ at 2:46 PM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, 26 June 2007 3:39 PM EDT

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UK Survey finds 71% of people believe global warming 'natural occurrence'

    Source: UK Life Style Extra ---- UK News

Three Quarters Believe Global Warming A 'Natural Occurrence'

Almost three quarters of people believe global warming is a 'natural occurrence' and not a result of carbon emissions, a survey claimed today.

This goes against the views of the vast majority of scientists who believe the rise in the earth's temperatures is due to pollution.

The online study which polled nearly 4000 votes found that a staggering 71 percent of people think that the rise in air temperature happens naturally.

And 65 percent think that scientists' catastrophic predictions if pollution isn't curbed are 'far fetched'.

Emma Hardcastle, publisher at Pocket Issue which carried out the research, said: "If 71% of people feel that Man has nothing to do with the recent change in our climate then those same people are not going to buy into any movement to reduce their carbon footprint.

"We need to make it clear that there is nothing natural about the significant rise in both carbon emissions and global temperatures since the industrial revolution.

"Pocket Issue’s brief is to help people to understand the facts, encouraging them to click through to a carbon counter as a result.

"Pocket Issue feel that the poll highlights the need for government and influential bodies to concentrate on getting the public to understand the facts about global warming and ‘why’ rather than ‘how’ they should reduce their carbon footprint."

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which represents most scientists, stated earlier that the increase in global temperatures is 'very likely due to the observed increase of man-made greenhouse gas concentrations'.

They define very likely as 'more than 90 percent certain'.

UK Life Style Extra ** Three Quarters Believe Global Warming A 'Natural Occurrence'

Posted by yaahoo_ at 2:35 PM EDT

Updated: Wednesday, 27 June 2007 6:19 AM EDT

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Photos You Won't See in The Lame-stream Media

Even though you've probably seen at least one of these photos, just posting them on the off-chance a libtard dares to click here...

Click pics for full size images...

Posted by yaahoo_ at 5:23 AM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, 26 June 2007 5:52 AM EDT

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