Regarding Kansas’ anti-abortion stance. . .

Is KS in a race with ND in that regard?

http://washington.cbslocal.com/2013/03/19/north-dakota-lawmakers-considering-outlawing-all-abortions/

Maybe it’s a construct for the next election cycle in those states, but how? Writing off half the electorate doesn’t make sense.

‘Course, we know from public statements so many of them have made, that their conception (pardon pun) of the female reproductive system doesn’t make sense either.

Sigh.

Thanks so much, maa8722.

Huffington Post has a piece about a commoners’ cemetery in ancient Egypt…

Almost all we ever see or read of ancient Egypt is by and for the elite. Here’s some of the other side.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/19/egyptian-cemetery-amarna-skeletons-ancient-commoners_n_2902433.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D286104

Did you see this very sentence at the end, maa8722?

“Other research has found that even Egypt’s wealthy suffered widespread malnutrition and disease, often living only to age 30.”

It sort of contradicts the rest of the article.

Regardless, the fate of the common person of that time surely brings to mind Hobbes’ famous saying abut life: “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”

Rumors of Pakistan’s death have been exaggerated.

It’s barely a day when headlines haven’t predicted it. Lasted not for lack of U.S. efforts to destabilize it. Endless drone attacks on Waziristan, U.S. sponsored terrorist attacks against Shia in Baluchostan oriented to prevent construction of Iran-Pak pipeline.

Despite all that, and Zardari’s reputation for corruption & incompetence, Pak has lasted a full election cycle for the first time in its history. A toast to them. A failure for the U.S. empire.

Interesting discussion of Kenya’s election, pros & cons of Kenyatta, son of founding father and enormously wealthy, esp land. Land dist big problem in Kenya. In Kenyatta’s favor, he is not wanted by the West and ICCaA (International Criminal Court against Africa) is going to prosecute him.

Zimbabwe constitutional reform, including bill of rights, approved as expected.

Playing catch up on African countries, so don’t know background on Zimbabwe other than western demonization of Mugabe.

I think prez elections are later this year. Apparently, according to normal rule of law, prez term limits passed in constitutional reform are NOT retroactive, allowing Mugabe, now 89 and prez since 1980, to run for 2 more 5-year terms.

Now that would be a record.

Gillard apologizes for forced adoption of babies of unwed mothers that lasted from after WWII until 1970s.

Aloha, fatster…! Here’s an excellent read on Iraq… Drinking the Kool-Aid…

❖ Some Democrats in the House are set to vote in favor of bills to weaken Dodd-Frank

Surely this must all be a misunderstanding.
After all, Jim Himes was a Blue America fave back in 2007.
(I’ll admit to being suckered along with everybody else.)

Unpossible: Andrew Ross Sorkin assured us that Cyprus was no big deal.
Euro zone call notes reveal extent of alarm over Cyprus

In detailed notes of the call seen by Reuters, one official described emotions as running “very high”, making it difficult to come up with rational solutions, and referred to “open talk in regards of (Cyprus) leaving the euro zone”.

“The Ninth Circuit Court issued a temporary injunction in December in favor of the Japanese whale-poaching fleet and against Sea Shepherd U.S.’s activities in the Southern Ocean, overturning a decision by the Honorable District Court Judge Richard A. Jones in March of last year. At the time, the temporary injunction was issued with no opinion whatsoever. The opinion was finally issued late Monday and ignored the well-reasoned ruling in Sea Shepherd’s favor by Judge Jones.

In this most recent ruling, the Ninth Circuit called Sea Shepherd “pirates,” but it is indeed the whale poachers who are the real pirates in this scenario — pirates of greed and murder. At a press conference at the National Press Club earlier this month, iconic Environmental Attorney Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. echoed that sentiment about the ICR:

“…The Institute for Cetacean Research, which is an arm of the Japanese government, is really a pirate organization masquerading as a scientific research group. … If you are violating international law on the high seas, you are a pirate,” he added.

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/2013/02/27/ninth-circuit-court-of-appeals-hands-down-ruling-in-favor-of-japanese-whale-poachers-1491

also Australia sees it differently

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/02/20/uk-australia-whaling-idUKBRE91J07K20130220

“Australia has filed a complaint against Japan at the world court in the Hague to stop Southern Ocean scientific whaling. A decision could come this year.

“The government condemns so-called ‘scientific’ whaling in all waters and we urge everyone in the ocean to observe safety at sea,” Australia’s Environment Minister Tony Burke said in a statement.

Japan introduced scientific whaling to skirt a commercial whaling ban under a 1986 moratorium. It argues it has a right to monitor the whales’ impact on its fishing industry.”

Sea Shepherd estimates they saved 800 whales from illegal Japanese slaughter.

Come on USA get on the right side of this please!

‘Eternal’ alliance, huh? This guy’s just not as conscious as he was once given credit for. The secret plan in Kansas, meanwhile, is to empty the state of people once and for all.

All hail, the new Shah of Syria, a telecommunications guy from Texas. Last Shah-in-waiting, selected in Germany, lasted three months before the internal politics of the coalition deposed him. This guy, 30 years in a America, obviously will hold the country together through…..

Is Texas a tell? Or are we back to complete clueless institutional stupidity?

Bonjour les pups,

I saw the story about the descent of France’s financial fraud brigade on Lagarde’s apartment in Paris this morning, but Fatster got there first. This story has strong legs and concerns Lagarde’s interference (with Sarkozy’s backing) into judicial investigations into Bernard Tapie’s fraudulent goings on. She wad essentially pulling a Holder. The judiciary here is independent and there s no love lost between her and the present government. Couldn’t happen to a nicer girl. When she goes down the IMF is going to have big time egg on its face. Financial fraude in other countries is still treated more seriously than a blow job in a hotel room.

as a resident of NJ I am calling Scott Garret and express my anger over co sponsering another banking de reguation bill. He used the phrase “Job Creators” when defending this bill. I know where his mind is on this.

Good for you for keeping track. I got lost several U.S. appointed leaders ago.

And a late Aloha to you, too, CTuttle. THnx for the link.

Speaks Spanish and English, Harvard grad, Rhodes Scholar – Oxford, and “business-oriented solutions to urban poverty”. It’s all in the packaging, I guess, allan. Only later do we get to see what we really bought.

What has me baffled and distressed is why so many “minority” Dems are co-sponsoring HR 677 – Marcia Fudge (D-OH), Gwen Moore (D-WI), Joyce Beatty (D-OH), David Scott (D-GA), Juan Vargas (D-CA). (from the Mar 19 Roundup).

Thanks so much for the links.

You know, mafr, that ruling by the 9th left me speechless as well. Usually the 9th is the one place you can expect decent decisions.

Thanks for bringing that story back; it’s very important.

And, . . . Good Morning!

Knut, thank you, and please keep us up-to-date on that Lagarde story. That’s one very interesting, major development, indeed.

Oh, and Bonjour to you, too.

You go, bearman! :)

Couldn’t happen to a nicer girl.

My thoughts exactly, only I used woman instead of girl. :-)

She has ice water in her veins.

” empty the state of people once and for all”–you got it, Matthew Detroit! Thnx.

Hi Fatster….

Sea Shepherd returned to it’s port in Australia in the last day of two, Melbourne I think.

Paul Watson stayed at sea, being worried about being arrested. I heard an Australian Broadcasting company radio broadcast that said the Australian government has no plans to arrest him.

Also, the Sea Shepherd and other vessels were damaged as a result of their blocking the Japanese whale murderers.

I read recently that Germany withdrew charges against him.

so don’t know background on Zimbabwe

What would you like to know?

-Two Major Tribes Shona (Majority) and Matabele (South West in Matabeleland)
-The Matabele are Zulu Speaking, and a break off from the Zulu is South Africa
-Tropical Highland mostly (high-veldt in the North and low-veldt in the south), except for the Zambezi valley
-Limpopo forms the southern border, Zambezi the Northern, African -Escarpment the eastern, and Botswana to the West, as the high-veldt slowly become semi-desert.
- Colonized by Cecil Rhodes’ Company (The British South Africa Company)
- Was a part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, which was dissolved in the dissolution of the British Empire into Northern and Southern Rhodesia (Zambia and Zimbabwe) and Malawi
- Southern Rhodesia (under white rule) declared independence in 1963. The whites believed the UK Government was not living up to its promises.
- Increasing terrorism of rural areas from about 1970 through 1980, when it became Zimbabwe.
- Largest industry was farming, at independence farms mostly owned by white farmers. Every farm seemed to contain a small village of local (black) farm labor.
- Mineral wealth, Coal and Metals.
- Initial tolerance of white framers after independence, but increasing hostility from Mugabe’s Government
- Many promises by UK Government to help Zimbabwe’s government slowly transfer framing from majority white to black ownership, which Mugabe’s Government believe was not delivered by UK government.
- Hostility increase greatly in 1995 to 2000 when confiscation of farms began
- Confiscation of farms caused drop in farm output, generally due to Mugabe’s friends and family acquiring the farms, and running then as absentee owners, and eviction of the farm labor.

Zimbabwe is a stunningly beautiful country. My Parents lived there in the ’70s.

And you are so right, mafr. Thanks for the update and nudging me to follow-up on this. I’ll try and work it in today’s “Planet Earth News” section, space permitting.

http://www.theprovince.com/technology/Pirate+Paul+Watson+jumps+ship+before+Shepherd+vessels+dock/8125673/story.html

Thanks very much Synoia. Short enough for me to remember many of your points.

When I start a new topic, I have to pick it up little by little, and the way I do that depends on what falls into my lap.

Which tribe is Mugabe a member of, and what is local opinion of him?

Is there enough animosity betw the two tribes that U.S. could split the country into warring factions?

I assume bc the country name begins with Z that it’s near the bottom of the list (/s) but Rhodes descendents probably have long memories and greater resentments.

Gossip alert. There’s a rumor you can find on the internet that Bill Clinton is related to Rhodes. Apparently Clinton left Oxford with NO degree, and according to what I read, you have to screw up mightily to accomplish that. So source attributed that to Clinton’s sense of entitlement. (/laugh of the day)

Great green greasy Limpopo. Is it? I’m not a Kipling fan but have read a bit bc he’s such a part of British empire lore.

New pope.

New archbishop of Canterbury.
Welby supports women bishops but not gay marriage.

Once upon a time, the only oath that was taken by the congress, the pres, and the scotus was to preserve and protect the US Constitution. Now they have to swear absolute allegiance to Israel. The Palestinians are out in the cold, have been out in the cold, and will be out in the cold no matter who is our pres. Those that thought our “leaders” would ever be honest brokers were simply kidding themselves. You can see it here.

Synoia, what is your background? You always seem to know so much.

What a bum. And it’s a shell game, you know? Any argument that Israel just needs this or that little bit more lebensraum is never gonna stop.

fatster, I got so excited about making comments that I didn’t say hello to you and all. I’ll have to come back for more meals here when I can. Thanks.

True. Israel will never give up the Golan Heights and they want parts of Lebanon and Jordan too.

You’re always welcome, BearCountry, always great to see you! :)