Stalin voted third-best Russian
Former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was beaten by medieval prince Alexander Nevsky in a poll held by a TV station to find the greatest Russian.
Stalin came third, despite being responsible for the deaths of millions of Soviets in labour camps and purges.
Alexander Nevsky fought off European invaders in the 13th century to preserve a united Russia. more
.
The image of shoes being thrown at George W. Bush during his tarnished legacy tour of Iraq has already entered legend. That a Saudi offered to pay $10 million for just one of the shoes attests to the power of symbolism. The Turkish cobbler who made the shoes is being inundated with new orders from around the world. more
If you've ever wondered how big the universe is, you're not alone. Astronomers have long pondered this, too, and they've had a hard time figuring it out. Now an estimate has been made, and its a whopper.
The universe is at least 156 billion light-years wide.
In the new study, researchers examined primordial radiation imprinted on the cosmos. Among their conclusions is that it is less likely that there is some crazy cosmic "hall of mirrors" that would cause one object to be visible in two locations. And they've ruled out the idea that we could peer deep into space and time and see our own planet in its youth.
First, let's see why the size is a number you've never heard of before. more
An eight-year-old girl who was married off to a 58-year-old must stay with the man until she reaches puberty, a Saudi court has ruled.The youngster was married off by her father in exchange for a £4,000 dowry.
Relatives of the girl said the groom had agreed not to consummate the marriage for 10 years and to allow the youngster to live with her mother.
The girl's mother, who is separated from her husband, had filed a petition for divorce with a court in Unayzah, 135 miles north of Riyadh.
But the court ruled that the girl must file the case herself when she reaches puberty, it was reported.
"The judge has dismissed the plea because she does not have the right to file such a case, and ordered that the plea should be filed by the girl herself when she reaches puberty," lawyer Abdullah Jtili told the AFP news agency.
The marriage contract was signed by the father and the groom.
It is understood the father had debt problems and wanted to secure an advance dowry.
Arranged marriages involving pre-adolescents are occasionally reported in the Arabian Peninsula, including in Saudi Arabia where the strict conservative Wahabi version of Sunni Islam holds sway and polygamy is common.
A girl aged eight was granted a divorce in Yemen in April after her unemployed father forced her to marry a man of 28. source
Pope Benedict XVI has said that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour is just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction.
He explained that defending God's creation is not limited to saving the environment, but also protecting man from self-destruction. more
Well you can imagine that it ain't going to be no love letter from Stoddy.
“I was so shocked by it,” Montoya – a six-time grand prix-winner for McLaren-Mercedes and Williams-BMW – commented in an interview with the Associated Press. “When they sent [the video] to me, I was like ‘no way!' Now, I'm just like ‘Hey, he's just an old guy trying to have some fun'.
“I loved it – it's a laughing matter! You know, when I first heard about it, it was shocking, but then he decided to play it like nothing has happened and it's just so hilarious.”more from the man.
This individual seeks an executive position. He will be available in January 2009, and is willing (and hopeful) to relocate.
RESUME
GEORGE W. BUSH
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20520
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:
Law Enforcement:·
I was arrested in Kennebunkport , Maine , in 1976 for driving under the influence of alcohol. I pleaded guilty, paid a fine, and had my driver'slicense suspended for 30 days. My Texas driving record has been 'lost' and is not available.
Military:·
I joined the Texas Air National Guard and went AWOL. I refused to take a drug test or answer any questions about my drug use. By joining the Texas Air National Guard, I was able to avoid combat duty in Vietnam .
College:·
I graduated from Yale University with a low C average. I was a cheerleader.
Past Work Experience:·
I ran for U.S. Congress and lost.
I began my career in the oil business in Midland , Texas in 1975. I bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas . The company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.
I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land
using taxpayer money.
With the help of my father and our friends in the oil industry (including Enron CEO Ken Lay), I was elected governor of Texas .
Accomplishments
As Governor Of Texas :·
I changed Texas pollution laws to favour power and oil companies, making Texas the most polluted state in the Union .
During my tenure, Houston replaced Los Angeles as the most smog-ridden city in America .
I cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas treasury to the tune of billions in borrowed money.
I set the record for the most executions by any governor in American history.
With the help of my brother, the governor of Florida , and my father's appointments to the Supreme Court, I became President of the United States, after losing by over 500,000 votes.
Accomplishments
As President (with 4 3 5 Notable Firsts):·
I am the first President in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal
record.
I invaded and occupied two countries at a continuing cost of over one billion dollars per week.
I spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankrupted the U.S. Treasury.
I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in U.S. history.
I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period.
I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period.
I set the all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the U.S. stock market. In my first year in office, over 2 million Americans lost their jobs and that trend continues.
I'm proud that the members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in U.S. history. My 'poorest millionaire, ' Condoleezza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her.
I set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips by a U.S. President.
I am the all-time U.S. and world record-holder for receiving the most corporate campaign donations.
My largest lifetime campaign contributor, and one of my best friends, Kenneth Lay, presided over the largest corporate bankruptcy fraud in U.S. history, Enron.
My political party used Enron private jets and corporate attorneys to assure my success with the U.S. Supreme Court during my election decision.
I have protected my friends at Enron and Halliburton against investigation or prosecution. More time and money was spent investigating the Monica Lewinsky affair than has been spent investigating one of the biggest corporate rip-offs in history.
I presided over the biggest energy crisis in U.S. history and refused to intervene when corruption involving the oil industry was revealed.
I presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history.
I changed the U.S. policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts
I appointed more convicted criminals to my administration than any President in U.S. history.
I created the Ministry of Homeland Security, the largest bureaucracy in the history of the United States Government.
I've broken more international treaties than any President in U.S history.
I am the first President in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the Human Rights Commission.
I withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law.
I refused to allow inspector's access to U.S. 'prisoners of war' detainees and thereby have refused to abide by the Geneva Convention.
I am the first President in history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 US election).
I set the record for fewest numbers of press conferences of any President since the advent of television.
I set the all-time record for most days on vacation in any one-year period. After taking off the entire month of August, I presided over the worst security failure in U.S. history.
I garnered the most sympathy ever for the U.S. after the World Trade Center attacks and less than a year later made the U.S. the most hated country in the world, the largest failure of diplomacy in world history.
I have set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously protest me in public venues (15 million people), shattering the record for protests against any person in the history of mankind.
I am the first President in U.S. history to order an unprovoked, pre-emptive attack and the military occupation of a sovereign nation. I did so against the will of the United Nations, the majority of U.S. Citizens and the world community.
I have cut health care benefits for war veterans and support a cut in duty benefits for active duty troops and their families in wartime.
In my State of the Union Address, I lied about our reasons for attacking
Iraq and then blamed the lies on our British friends.
I am the first President in history to have a majority of Europeans (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and security.
I am supporting development of a nuclear 'Tactical Bunker Buster,' a WMD.
I have so far failed to fulfil my pledge to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice.
Records And References:·
All records of my tenure as governor of Texas are now in my father's library, sealed and unavailable for public view.
All records of SEC investigations into my insider trading and my bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
All records or minutes from meetings that I, or my Vice-President, attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review. I specified that my sealed documents will not be available for 50 years.
Judging from the photo it's just the blokes dropping their strides. What ever happened to tits out for the lads?
A protest involving around 50 bare-bottomed activists spilled onto Sydney streets today, stalling an APEC motorcade and triggering scuffles with police.The Bums for Bush campaign was hailed a success by organisers, even though drizzling rain kept many protesters away from the mooning anti-Bush protest.
Around 50 people lined up at Hyde Park's north end and mooned an audience of several hundred people, including supporters and media. more
A Derbyshire man who has spent almost 20 years collecting East German Trabant cars has lost his final appeal against an order to remove them.Graham Goodall,61,who lives in lives in Middleton-by-Youlgreave, has been involved in a dispute with the Peak District Park Authority since 2004. The authority issued planning notices to remove 40 of his 49 vehicles.
Two judges at London's High Court said Goodall was the "author of his own misfortune" and turned down the appeal.
Graham Goodall began collecting the Trabant - the two-stroke workhorse of former communist East Germany - after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Cheap to make but notoriously smoky and unreliable, they were one of the few cars available to Germans behind the Iron Curtain.more
The Trabant was an East German car-like vehicle. In reality, it was more like a lunch box with the starter motor of a lawn mower as engine. It could accelerate from 0 to 100km/h on the same day and was the only vehicle known to man, that had the squashed insects on the rear window rather than the wind screen.
While most of the Known World never knew about the Trabant, it was very popular in East Germany. In fact it was so popular, that the waiting period for delivery was 15-17 years.
According to reports, the little blue puffs of blue smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe of the Trabant, were mistaken for smoke signals by some. This caused an international incident at one stage, when an American tourist of Sioux descent was highly offended by the apparent insults coming from a Trabant, which was stopping at a set of traffic lights. The situation could eventually be defused, after an interpreter, who was called to the scene, could clarify that the car was actually talking in a rare Apache dialect and was being friendly with the Tourist.more wiki.
Chris Clark, 43, accepted the offer from an anonymous bidder after a week-long online auction.
"It's crazy, it's just crazy," Mr Clark, who lives in North Potomac, Maryland, was quoted as saying by the Baltimore Sun newspaper.more
Whatever.A bullet-proof hooded top designed to protect against street violence has been made by an east London firm.The £300 "Defender" top will stop 9mm Magnum handgun bullets, according to the manufacturer Bladerunner, which also makes slash-proof vests.
Owner Barry Samms denied the hoodie was targeted at teenage gang members and said it was primarily aimed at US customers concerned about gun violence.
Mothers Against Murder and Aggression said it spread "the fear factor".more
Eighteen of the girls, aged between 6 months and 17, are in state custody. The rest are being found foster homes.
Jeffs, head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was jailed in November for 10 years for being an accomplice to rape.
He was convicted after he forced a 14-year-old girl to marry her cousin.more
Max, one word, toast.FIA president Max Mosley is facing renewed pressure to resign over newspaper allegations about his private life.Germany’s national motoring body, ADAC, has written to Mosley asking him to “very carefully reconsider his role” in light of the controversy.
And the Dutch motorsport federation, KNAF, has said it will vote for Mosley to stand down at the upcoming extraordinary general meeting of the FIA membership.
On Thursday four of the six major car manufacturers involved in Formula 1 expressed their concern that the scandal risked damaging the sport's image and the FIA's reputation, and urged the governing body to give an official response.more
"Given the history of BMW and Mercedes Benz, particularly........" Stroll on! need I say more?
Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF has for several days been on the defensive.
In the face of the party's defeat in parliamentary elections, losing its majority for the first time in 28 years of independence, the leadership had nothing to say in public.
Requests for interviews were summarily dismissed. In private, Zanu-PF was trying to work out how to respond to what a serious and unexpected blow.more
I have had to say it so many times before about Islam, and I'm sure this won't be the last.
Members of a group accused of plotting to blow up passenger planes mid-air as they crossed the Atlantic made Islamic martyrdom videos, a court has heard.Six of the eight men recorded videos in which one warns of "martyrdom operations" that would "rain down" on non-believers, jurors were told.main story
This is what the jury heard:
"I'm doing this because the rewards, the big rewards that Allah has promised those who step on his path and Inshaallah [God willing] become martyr and the best of amongst those to me is the guarantee of Jannah [paradise] for myself and my family and those that are close to me.....
"Thanks to God I swear by Allah, I have the desire since the age of 15/16 to participate in Jihad in the path of Allah. I had the desire since then to punish the Kuffar for the evil they are doing.
"I had the desire since then for Jannah [paradise] for the Koran. I want to go to my prophet and his companions.
"Leave us alone. Stop meddling in our affairs and we will leave you alone.
"Otherwise expect floods of martyr operations against you and we will take our revenge and anger, ripping amongst your people and scattering the people and your body parts and your people's body parts responsible for these wars and oppression decorating the streets."more
MLK assassinated. Former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto hanged. "Satanic Abuse" Orkney kids return home, what a croc that turned out to be. Greenham common women evicted and a cold spell.
Argentina invades the Falklands, or Malvinas depending on your politics. John Paul the second takes first step to sainthood, dies. Papon guilty of war crimes. Triple for Red Rum.
This is rich coming from a goddamn war criminal. Is that why you turned Catholic mister Blair, so you could get on your knees and get absolution for the deaths of thousands that you are personally responsible for, wipe the slate clean and clear your conscience with a bit of mumbo jumbo, is that how it works Mister Blair?
Former prime minister Tony Blair has called for faith to be given a central role in tackling the world's problems.Mr Blair said faith should be rescued from extremism and be a force for progress, in his first speech on faith since becoming a Catholic.
He said politicians found it difficult to talk about faith because they "may be considered weird".
His speech was accompanied by a noisy anti-war protest and silent vigil by Catholic peace group Pax Christi.more
Mr Mitchell said: “We would hope that the police will do the decent and proper thing and open up the files."
“I would go further than that, and say once they have completed the interviews with the friends, they should go back to Portugal and assess the evidence and eliminate Kate and Gerry and allow everyone once again to concentrate on the search for Madeleine.”
"Kate and Gerry and their friends have long expected this visit by Portuguese police officers."
"It comes as no surprise to them at all that some reports in the Portuguese papers in the last few days have been speculating about the arrival date."
" I am not in a position to confirm any dates or give any details about the re-interviewing of the friends and all matters will have to go to Leicestershire police to be dealt with."
"However, Kate and Gerry and their friends welcome the police interviews. The friends are more than happy to co-operate fully, as are Kate and Gerry, although in this case Kate and Gerry will not be re-interviewed."
" This has not been requested but Kate and Gerry would have agreed to answer any questions had they police wished to put anything to them.
" There were some reports from Portugal last week that police were not going the question Kate and Gerry because they thought they would not co-operate. This is utterly ridiculous and completely baseless."
"Kate and Gerry and their friends see this as an important chance to help the police."
" We hope that the police will realise that there is no evidence to link Kate and Gerry with Madeleine's disappearance in any way and that they will be rapidly eliminated from the inquiry and the arguido status, which was imposed too hastily as the head of the Portuguese admitted, will be lifted as soon as possible."
MOSCOW, March 27 (RIA Novosti) - Russian military intelligence services are reporting a flurry of activity by U.S. Armed Forces near Iran's borders, a high-ranking security source said Tuesday."The latest military intelligence data point to heightened U.S. military preparations for both an air and ground operation against Iran," the official said, adding that the Pentagon has probably not yet made a final decision as to when an attack will be launched.
He said the Pentagon is looking for a way to deliver a strike against Iran "that would enable the Americans to bring the country to its knees at minimal cost."
He also said the U.S. Naval presence in the Persian Gulf has for the first time in the past four years reached the level that existed shortly before the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.
Col.-Gen. Leonid Ivashov, vice president of the Academy of Geopolitical Sciences, said last week that the Pentagon is planning to deliver a massive air strike on Iran's military infrastructure in the near future.
A new U.S. carrier battle group has been dispatched to the Gulf.more
Murdering Iranians
Terrible rumors from Russia continue to swirl around the Middle East that the Cheney-Bush junta has decided to bomb Iran on April 4th or 6th, targeting not only nuclear-power research facilities but ships, planes, antiaircraft installations, and the Iranian pentagon. Apparently the nuclear-power reactor being built by Russian companies will be spared, but not much else. Will it happen? Certainly the neocon hate network is working overtime to make it so. Bush fired the anti-neocon Admiral Fallon. One thing we know for sure: it will be the typical Bush administration snafu, with horrific consequences for the region and the world, not to speak of the Iranian people, and reap much trouble for the US empire. Indeed, it could mark the end of the empire if, as Bill Lind worries, the Iranians in retaliation cut off water-food-ammo supply routes to US troops in Iraq, and, with the help of Shiite militians, capture large numbers of them. Need I mention that Ron Paul, our champion of peace, is the leading opponent of war on Iran?source
For an explanation of the lower graphic watch the video of Iranian troops in this previous post.
Khalida's father says she's 9—or maybe 10. As much as Sayed Shah loves his 10 children, the functionally illiterate Afghan farmer can't keep track of all their birth dates. Khalida huddles at his side, trying to hide beneath her chador and headscarf. They both know the family can't keep her much longer. Khalida's father has spent much of his life raising opium, as men like him have been doing for decades in the stony hillsides of eastern Afghanistan and on the dusty southern plains. It's the only reliable cash crop most of those farmers ever had. Even so, Shah and his family barely got by: traffickers may prosper, but poor farmers like him only subsist. Now he's losing far more than money. "I never imagined I'd have to pay for growing opium by giving up my daughter," says Shah................
Eradication efforts aren't the only thing pushing opium marriages. Poppy acreage is expanding in Helmand province, but loan brides are common there, too, says Bashir Ahmad Nadim, a local journalist. He says moneylenders in Helmand are always looking for "opium flowers"— marriageable daughters ready for plucking if crop failure or family emergency forces a borrower into default. In the south's drug-fueled economy, fathers of opium brides often get hefty cash bonuses on top of having their debts forgiven.more
An 80-year-old church deacon was removed from the Smith Haven Mall Saturday in a wheelchair and arrested by police for refusing to remove a T-shirt protesting the Iraq War.
Police said that Don Zirkel, of Bethpage, was disturbing shoppers at the Lake Grove mall with his T-shirt, which had what they described as "graphic anti-war images." Zirkel, a deacon at Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Wyandanch, said his shirt had the death tolls of American military personnel and Iraqis -- 4,000 and 1 million -- and the words "Dead" and "Enough." The shirt also has three blotches resembling blood splatters.more
"she needs more of ze punishment!"
FORMULA One motor racing chief Max Mosley is today exposed as a secret sado-masochist sex pervert.
The son of infamous British wartime fascist leader Oswald Mosley is filmed romping with five hookers at a depraved NAZI-STYLE orgy in a torture dungeon. Mosley— a friend to F1 big names like Bernie Ecclestone and Lewis Hamilton— barks ORDERS in GERMAN as he lashes girls wearing mock DEATH CAMP uniforms and enjoys being whipped until he BLEEDS.
The multi-millionaire son of Sir Oswald, who was a pal of Adolf Hitler, plays a concentration camp commandant in a FIVE-HOUR torture chamber video.Mosley—the most powerful man in motor-racing—barks orders in German as he WHIPS two hookers dressed in striped uniforms reminiscent of AUSCHWITZ garb while girls in Nazi uniforms look on.
At one point the wrinkled 67-year-old—who publicly likes to give the impression he has put his father's evil legacy behind him—yells "she needs more of ze punishment!" while brandishing a LEATHER STRAP over a brunette's naked bottom. more and video.
Max Mosley, one of the most powerful men in world sport, was under pressure to resign as boss of Formula One’s governing body last night after he was exposed enjoying a Nazi-style orgy with five prostitutes.And every dog must have it's day.Jewish groups condemned the behaviour of Mosley, 67, whose father, Sir Oswald, was the leader of the British Union of Fascists and a friend of Adolf Hitler.
Martin Brundle, the driver-turned-pundit who was recently the subject of a libel action brought by Mr Mosley, said: “It’s not appropriate behaviour for the head of any global body such as the FIA.”more
