There are four times more crime in the capital of Norway than in New York, with a 20% increase in robberies over the last year alone. The Oslo police are blaming the increase on an influx of East Europeans.
Brazil has nuclear reactors. They can turn out nuclear fuel using existing enrichment facilities. They even have a "fleet" of five submarines. What they don't have is a nuclear powered sub. But, thanks to France, all that may be about to change.
Why does Brazil want a nuclear sub anyway? Perhaps to protect them from the pirates of Costa Rica? Or to stave off invasion from Hugo Chávez of Venezuela?
Whatever the reason, it must be pretty good. They've been at it since 1979 and just last year Brazilian President Lula announced $540 million in new funding for the program (and for improving existing uranium enrichment efforts).
Over half a billion dollars! Just to go chasing a nuke dream. I'm glad they don't need that money for anything important, like cleaning up the vast "favelas" (shanty towns) that sprawl next to every major Brazilian city. [Some 3 million people live in the Rio de Janeiro slums alone, a city where murder claimed an average of 80 victims a week last year.]
Maybe a sub that can go under the ice cap will intimidate the drug lords that rule the favelas with impunity. Maybe it will inspire the police force to put a stop to rampant corruption.
And what do the French get out of it (besides a rumored $600 million for the sub, not to mention more money for any follow-up technology transfer deals)?
[Defense Ministry spokesman Jose] Ramos said Brazil wants to establish a strategic partnership with France to transfer technology. France is interested in Brazilian know-how on jungle warfare and "the use of electronic equipment in the humidity of tropical rain forests," he said.
Yeah, that "jungle warfare" will no doubt come in handy when the next time France needs to quell riots that are spreading across the country.
Finally, a journalist that doesn't do the usual PC mouthings about an assassinated foreign leader:
We need have no sympathy with her Islamist assassin and the extremists behind him to recognize that Bhutto was corrupt, divisive, dishonest and utterly devoid of genuine concern for her country.
She was a splendid con, persuading otherwise cynical Western politicians and "hardheaded" journalists that she was not only a brave woman crusading in the Islamic wilderness, but also a thoroughbred democrat.
In fact, Bhutto was a frivolously wealthy feudal landlord amid bleak poverty. The scion of a thieving political dynasty, she was always more concerned with power than with the wellbeing of the average Pakistani. Her program remained one of old-school patronage, not increased productivity or social decency.
Whoa, here's a poll to make you think:
Almost two-thirds of the world's people say there must be urgent action to tackle global warming, a poll for the BBC World Service showed on Tuesday.
Then again, two-thirds of the world's people are illiterate, live in huts and cook over dung fires. Listen to them on matters of global policy? I don't think so. *
*Before I get flamed, this was literary exaggeration to make a point. In actuality, a report was recently released that claimed that for the first time in history half the world population is urban. But just because they live in the "big city", it doesn't mean that they aren't ignorant savages. [Heh]
Like much of Europe that is under attack by hordes of immigrant Muslims, the Netherlands is tilting to the Right. As a result, the home of the marijuana "coffee shops" is looking to officially ban magic mushrooms, which up until now could be obtained legally in "smartshops".
The source of public focus is the death of a 17-year-old French girl with a history of psychiatric problem who jumped from a building last March. Since then:
It sounds to me as if the Dutch should ban tourists. Or, at least, screen them for mental disorders.
In a country with a population almost equal to that of Florida's (the fourth most populous state), one would think that there would be more incidences of deaths from drunk driving, bar fights and alcohol poisoning that there are of shroom-induced psychosis. But you don't hear anyone advocating prohibition.
Last March, the UK Academy of Medical Sciences conducted a study in which drugs were ranked according to potential harm in nine different categories.
You will note that alcohol is ranked fifth, well ahead of cannabis and even LSD. Spokesperson Professor Nutt cited the statistic that one person a week dies in the UK from alcohol poisoning.
Basically, it all comes down to personal restraint. Drink in moderation, and you probably won't choke on your own vomit. Don't eat mushrooms when you are near psychotic and you probably won't talk a walk on air while 30 feet up.
Does the world really need more drug laws?
A quake registering 6.8 in magnitude rocked Japan's largest island (Honshu), killing at least six people, injuring over 700, leaving thousands homeless, causing a fire at the world's largest nuclear power plant and causing millions of dollars in damage. Hardest hit was the city of Kashiwazaki.
The epicenter was just off the coast, about ten miles below the earth's surface.
In May of 1968 a quake registering 7.9 struck just off the coast of the northern island of Hokkaido, leaving 52 dead. I was in band class about 200 kilometers away in Misawa when the platforms our chairs were sitting on began walking across the room and light fixtures began falling. We evacuated to the parking lot and I will never forget the sight of the asphalt rolling like small ocean waves, the cars gently bobbing up and down, the cracks forming in the hard surface. Stupidly, I straddled one crack as it formed and widened between my feet.
Some people never get over such an experience. Indeed, as aftershocks struck in the days following we would watch as people panicked and ran outside. Some were afraid to go back inside at all.
I, of course, thought I was totally indestructible (being a young teen), and thought that it was all great fun.
The Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom has released the early results of their upcoming Religious Freedom in the World 2007. Some highlights:
Marshall also pointed out that some tyrannies, and their apologists in the West, prioritize "economic rights" and supposed "Asian" and "Islamic" values over religious freedom for individuals. But non-Western and historically poor countries such as Mongolia, Thailand, Mali and Senegal have achieved relative religious freedom, without sacrificing their culture or their religion. "It is a moral travesty of the highest order to maintain that because people are hungry or cold it is legitimate to repress their beliefs as well," Marshall riposted.
So who did the best? The top "free countries" were:
| Country | Religious Freedom | Political Rights (PR) | Civil Liberties (CL) |
| Estonia | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Hungary | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Ireland | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| United States | 1 | 1 | 1 |
And the most repressive places on Earth:
| Country | Religious Freedom | Political Rights (PR) | Civil Liberties (CL) |
| Belarus | 6 | 7 | 6 |
| China | 6 | 7 | 6 |
| Iran | 7 | 6 | 6 |
| Iraq | 7 | 6 | 6 |
| Libya | 5 | 7 | 7 |
| Cuba | 6 | 7 | 7 |
| Eritrea | 7 | 7 | 6 |
| Saudi Arabia | 7 | 7 | 6 |
| Burma | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| China-Tibet | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| North Korea | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Sudan | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Turkmenistan | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Uzbekistan | 7 | 7 | 7 |
Scott Adams thinks that the Taiwan government is pretty cool because "Jerry Springer-like fights" regularly break out in the legislature. Where most civilized people would look down their nose at this kind of behavior from our elected servants, Adams sees real potential:
Apparently this sort of thing happens all the time in Taiwan. A legislator objects to a parliamentary procedure and the next thing you know, the Minister of Shellfish is bitch-slapping him. A moment later, the air is filled with shoes, lunchboxes, and microphones. Can you imagine CSPAN’s ratings if we followed that model in America? I don’t think you’d be able to pry yourself away from the TV long enough to take a dump. You’d just sit there all day long with an adult diaper waiting for someone to sucker punch Teddy Kennedy.
I just can't get that picture out of my head. And he's right -- I'd pay for CSPAN to see that kind of stuff!
Adams has a thought on a withdrawal plan from Iraq. Funny stuff.
One of every seven Brazilian legislators are being investigated on charges ranging from corruption, embezzlement and bodily harm to manslaughter -- and that's only taking the federal courts into account.
Claudio Abramo, of the non-governmental organization Transparencia Brazil, said the numbers also were a worrying indication of corruption at local and regional levels of government.
Gee, ya think?
Villagers are puzzled by the Chinese government's decision to paint a mountain green. Theories range from improving the area's feng shui to the government wishing to appear more "green" -- the barren mountain used to be a rock quarry.
Another Hollywood myth explodes: the recent discovery of an ancient coin reveals that Cleopatra wasn't all that good looking.
Hey ladies, we just can't help it:
When a man fails to help out around the house, his poor performance might be related to a subconscious tendency to resist doing anything his wife wants, a new study suggests.
We've known for a while that our desks and computer keyboards are little germ factories. But now we find that women's work spaces have four times the bacteria than their male counterparts. My childhood best friend was right -- women are gross!
Microsoft released the first security fix for Vista on patch Tuesday. This one is especially ironic for the OS billed as the "most secure ever": the hole allows someone to take complete control of your computer.
Incumbent Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da 
Silva has easily won a second term.
With 99 percent of the votes counted, Lula had 61 percent leaving his opponent, Geraldo Alckmin, only 39 percent.
While a Lula victory was expected, the margin of victory comes as a surprise; Lula's administration has been marred by a series of scandals, forcing him to fire his chief of staff and his minister of finance, as well as the president, treasurer and secretary general of the Worker Party, which Lula founded in 1980 and has led ever since.
Alckmin, nicknamed "chuchu" after a flavorless green vegetable because of his boring speaking style, received even fewer votes in the general election than he did in the primary.
Brazilian law makes it mandatory for everyone to vote, making it easy to buy votes.
In a victory address, the burly, bearded Lula promised to take care of the poor people whose support helped carry him to re-election. He said he would govern Brazil for everyone but "The poor will have preference in our government."
Lula has drastically increased spending on social programs without raising taxes. While this has raised millions out of poverty, it has also left the country in dangerous economic condition. If Lula cannot figure out how to stabilize the situation and the economy crashes, tens of millions will end up worse than when they started.
List of Lula scandals:
Technorati tags: Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Geraldo Alckmin, Brazil, Brasil, Brazilian Politics, President of Brazil.
In a stunning development in Brazilian politics, incumbent president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva did not win a clear majority in Sunday's election. With only 48.6 percent of the vote, da Silva will have to face his strongest challenger in a runoff.
Da Silva is a popular figure in Brazil, responsible for instituting a sweeping series of socialist policies that have brought millions out of poverty, stabilized the economy and stopped rampant inflation — all without raising taxes.
But scandal has plagued the administration, costing da Silva his chief of staff, his finance minister and other aides. Scandal struck again in the days leading up to the election when allegations arose that leaders of da Silva's Workers Party tried to buy political dirt on the opposition — $770,000 worth of dirt! As voters tried to decide how to cast their votes, newspapers ran photos of piles of money seized in the Worker Party sting and the names of six party members that face arrest warrants.
Da Silva's main opponent, former Sao Paulo Gov. Geraldo Alckmin, is known for speeches that are so boring they would put a cheerleader with a meth addiction into a coma. While da Silva is affectionately known as "Lula" to his supporters, Alckmin has earned the nickname "chuchu" after a flavorless green vegetable.
Yet Alckmin beat predictions by inspiring 41.6 percent of the voters to side with him and now the over-confident da Silva is facing a fight for the 29 October runoff.
Markets rose on the election news, as investors believe that da Silva and Alckmin will have similar economic policies, even though Alckmin has attacked the sky-high interest rates that have kept inflation under control because they have kept Brazil's economy from growing as strongly as their Latin American neighbors. Further, da Silva's support in the legislative body has been so severely eroded by scandal that he has trouble gaining support for his initiatives.
In fact, Goldman Sachs circulated a letter to its clients stating, "We believe an Alckmin administration could have better political conditions than President Lula to push for ambitious structural reforms." And reform is necessary for this county in which companies often keep incompetent or lazy employees on the payroll because of the high costs associated with firing them.
And in the words of another disgraced president, "It's the economy, Stupid!" This is particularly true of this election.
Da Silva won his first election in 2002 with over 50 percent of the middle-class vote and only a minority of the poor's. This year da Silva has only 35 percent of the middle class.
Working class people are worried about the effect that long-term double-digit inflation has on the economy. Says one worker, "Interest rates are so high that people are starting to lose jobs -- there's no investment because of that." Others are worried that the lack of employment, banking and social security reform will lead to a collapse of the ambitious social programs that will wreck the economy.
But da Silva's support by those who earn less than $340 per month has skyrocketed to almost 60 percent. When it became apparent that this latest scandal was eroding his base, da Silva cranked up the rhetoric, returning to the firebrand working class socialist character designed to appeal to the poor. And there are a lot of poor people in Brazil.
Da Silva's programs, like giving $30 per month to needy families who agree to vaccinate their children and keep them in school, have raised over ten million people out of poverty, yet 18.5 percent (over 35 million) remain. 70 percent of the population has less than eight years of schooling.
Just how many of Brazil's poor will trouble themselves to get to the polls? Voting is mandatory in Brazil.
Links:
7-Eleven has announced that it will no longer use Citgo as a gas supplier, severing a 20-year relationship:
7-Eleven officials said Wednesday that the decision was partly motivated by politics.
Citgo Petroleum Corp. is a Houston-based subsidiary of Venezuela's state-run oil company and 7-Eleven is worried that anti-American comments made by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez might prompt motorists to fill-up elsewhere.
I'm thinking, "Great! I'll drive miles out of my way just to go to a 7-Eleven."
And I'm thinking that 7-Eleven will become the Gas King of Middle America because there's a whole lot of people that would feel the same way.
But no, 7-Eleven was quick to put a knife through the heart of any perception that a business decision has anything to do with keeping Americans from funding anti-American regimes or protecting Americans from terrorist-friendly, hate-spewing madmen:
The company's decision appeared to represent a broadening of U.S.-Venezuela tensions, which previously had been little more than a war of words between Chavez and the Bush administration, but 7-Eleven spokeswoman Margaret Chabris told Reuters that was not the case.
The decision to drop Citgo, a subsidiary of Venezuelan national oil company PDVSA, was made well before the speech, she said, and based on 7-Eleven's desire to sell its own branded gasoline.
"People are making it out to be more than it is," Chabris said.
Further, 7-Eleven's official position is that Americans should keep funding anti-American socialist regimes:
The 7-Eleven statement said it was not calling for a boycott of Citgo, which employs 4,000 people in the United States, and supplies 14,000 US retailers.
"Americans with no substantive connection to Venezuela would be economically harmed by boycotts," the statement said.
In other words, 7-Eleven believes that a boycott that harms one thousandth of one percent of Americans is a bad thing. But giving millions billions of dollars every year to a nation that harbors Arab terrorists, openly declares support for Syria and cozies up to China is just fine.
I'll not be stopping at a 7-Eleven again. Ever.
The dispute over the elections in Mexico continues . . . bizarrely.
After the top electoral court of the land confirmed Felipe Calderon's 240,000 vote margin of victory, leftist Lopez Obrador takes his fight to the streets:
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, convinced he won't be awarded the presidency, has vowed to create a parallel leftist government and is urging Mexicans not to recognize the apparent victory of the ruling party's Felipe Calderon. ...
Both scenarios are possibilities as the former Mexico City mayor lays out plans to create his own government to rule from the streets, with the support of thousands who are already occupying protest camps throughout downtown Mexico City.
There is fear that Obrador's "parallel initiative" could lead to violent revolt (violence is never far from Mexican politics), yet the split continues. (And you thought an Iraq civil war will be bad?)
There was even a newspaper ad taken out on Tuesday calling on Obrador to set up his own treasury and said all Mexicans should "should channel federal revenues to the new treasury department."
Hmmm, I wonder who backed that ad and whether Obrador will act on it.
Interestingly, Obrador's hero is 18th century President Benito Juarez, who (in addition to making many wonderful democratic reforms) suspended payment of the national debt, giving Emperor Napoleon III an excuse to invade and install their own governor, Maximilian I. Juarez ran an outlaw government during the occupation and eventually the French were driven out and Maximilian was executed.
"Juarez ran the government from a carriage and restored the republic," said Rosario Ibarra, a human rights activist who frequently shares the stage with Lopez Obrador at his rallies. "We just hope there won't be any need to shoot anyone."
What a nice "human rights" activist, not wanting to shoot someone unnecessarily.
Hat tip to Cold Fury, who quips:
Leftists here, leftists there, they’re all the same: all cut from the same sore-loser crybaby cloth. Maybe we ought to just give them their own island someplace and sit back to watch the rib-tickling fun, as they hiss and scratch each others’ eyes out over a disputed election to see whose turn it is to shin up the tree for more coconuts.
BTW, one of the major reasons the French withdrew from Mexico (other than the fierce armed resistance, of course) was the Monroe Doctrine. In addition to intense diplomatic pressure, United States positioned military forces along the Rio Grande in 1866 and viola, the French troops were removed.
So to all you Mexican flag waving, illegal alien Mechistas marching on our streets and demanding rights, your welcome!
Technorati tags: Felipe Calderon, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Mexican Politics, Mexican Presidential Election, Mexican Civil War, Mexican History, President Benito Juarez, Monroe Doctrine.
Calderon, a conservative who preached free-market values and financial stability during the campaign, was already reaching out to other parties to build a "unity government." His opponent, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, blamed fraud for his narrow loss in the vote count and called on his supporters to fill Mexico City's main square Saturday in a show of force.Yep, the leftist opponent is going to try to litigate his way to the presidency. You'd think this was a disappointed Democrat going for the White House.
Mexican stocks opened higher and the peso rebounded Thursday on news of Calderon's apparent victory.Yep, you'd think a Republican just won a close contest. Deja vu! I think it's December 2000!
Other Ractions:
As we know from our own experience, whatever the outcome–even if the guy who “won” on the original count also “wins” on the recount–the losing side will never be satisfied with the election’s legitimacy. Therefore, I offer a modest proposal that should make everybody happy: They should give it to Al Gore.
How do you say "Bush-Gore 2000" in Spanish?
Remember, Bush won the official count in Florida, and Al Gore sued to have hand recounts in heavy Democrat districts and to have all overseas ballots thrown out. Expect something similar here.
These results will be passed within the IFE to the magistrates' tribunal, called the Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación (TEPJF) where they will be reviewed for legality. The TEPJF will also adjudicate all the complaints and charges and counter-charges, so the outcome is still somewhat in doubt. AMLO has been demanding a full recount which the TEPJF can allow, but only under the most strict of circumstances. AMLO and the PRD have, so far, been demanding that the election laws be broken. I doubt that the TEPJF will permit this. The IFE has been quite right in asserting that if it allowed the sealed ballot packages to be opened, except as prescribed by law, the entire election could be annulled.
Technorati Tags: Felipe Calderon, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Mexico, Mexican Politics, Mexican Presidential Race, Democrat Tactics in Mexico.
My daughter-in-law (whom I refer to as "AlphaDaughter") was born and raised in São Paulo, so when I read about the war that gangs were waging on police I called her. Having been busy with selling their home and purchasing a new one, she had missed this particular bit of news (easy to do with our MSM being so provincial) and immediately called her parents to get the scoop.
I tell you this so you will know how good my sources are for this post, because I have trouble believing some of it myself. Bizarre hardly describes this story.
Background:
First, in order to understand the big picture, some information beginning with this factoid: in Brasil, most criminals are allowed to go home to be with their families on all major holidays — Christmas, Easter, Mother's Day, and so on.
Let me repeat that. Criminals serving lengthy jail sentences in Brasil are allowed to go home for Mother's Day. And Father's Day, of course. So maybe they aren't "in jail" so much as "being grounded".
Not all criminals, of course, just the "good criminals", AlphaDaughter assures me, although she does not know what constitutes the distinction. Hopefully murderers and rapists are kept in jail. Perhaps aggravated assault. Who knows. Maybe they only let out the shoplifters. Still, the concept is rather extraordinary.
Second factoid: São Paulo is the largest city in South America and one of the largest in the world, with an estimated metropolitan area population of 18 to 20 million (depending on the method used), which is about the size of New York City.
Third factoid: Brasil has some of the most draconian gun control laws in the world. As a result of the Disarmament Statute of 2003, it is virtually impossible for a citizen to purchase a gun and those that are purchased must be registered. Citizens are prohibited from carrying guns in public, failure to register a weapon is punishable by up to four years in prison, gun buyers must undergo a background check and the legal age for owning a weapon was raised from 21 to 25. As a result of the statue, gun sales fell dramatically from 800,000 in 2003 to just 56,000 in 2004 (and only 7,000 of these to private citizens — out of a population of 188 million.).
Fourth factoid: Brasil ranks fourth in the world for wealth inequality. 58 million Brasilians live on less than a dollar a day and crime is rampant, particularly in the tenaments of large cities like São Paulo. The police force is corrupt and brutal, with police death squads allegedly executing hundreds, if not thousands, of people every year.
Today's Urban War in Brasil:
The war taking place in the streets of São Paulo was initiated by Marcos Willians Herbas Camacho, aka Marcola, 
leader of the powerful gang First Command of the Capital (PCC), pictured at right.
Last week, authorities transferred Marcola, along with several hundred other inmates (seven of whom were also part of PCC's leadership) to a remote maximum-security prison over 400 miles away from São Paulo. This was a deliberate effort to break up the gangs in prisons and to isolate the most dangerous drug lords and gang leaders. Predictably, Marcola and his homies didn't like that.
Gang members that were released for Mother's Day as well as gangsters on the streets were instructed to retaliate, to literally wage a war on the police force. And they did, in a wave of violence that has left 133 people dead. 
Police stations were attacked, banks were sprayed with gunfire, and buses were hijacked and burned. Although the attacks were centered in the city of São Paulo, a violence occurred throughout São Paulo State. Pictured at left is a police station in Fransisco Morato, 31 miles northeast of São Paulo, which was destroyed by a bomb.
Over the past five days:
More than 250 separate attacks on "symbols of government authority" have been reported, primarily on police stations, patrol cars, banks and buses.
If this were Iraq, the MSM would be all over it.
On Sunday (the third day of the urban war), AlphaDaughter's parents (who live in a gated community in one of the more affluent portions of the city) heard sirens all day. I mean all day! It must have been terrifying.
On Monday the city was a virtual ghost town. Schools and universities closed, buses and subways stopped service, businesses shut down, roads usually clogged with traffic were clear. Cell service, which was initially overwhelmed by calls from worried residents, was shut down in an attempt to disrupt gang communications.
The federal government offered 4,000 troops to São Paulo on Monday, but the governor refused, saying that the violence was subsiding and the situation was under control. This understandably angered some of the terrified citizenry, but there is a presidential election this fall and politics is very much in play. After these attacks, gang violence is certain to be a central theme in the campaigns. 
São Paulo Mayor Gilberto Kassab has already hired 120 police officers this month and promised another 500 by the end of the year, a 10½ percent increase.
On Tuesday some bus service was restored — under the watchful eyes of armed police escorts. Today (Wednesday), the violence has quelled with only scattered outbreaks and the city is returning to normal.
Ending the Violence:
In addition to the strong police reaction (heavily armed checkpoints, frisking of citizens on the streets, blocking off streets in front of police stations, armed patrols hunting gang members by night, etc.), AlphaDaughter reports that some of the released criminals were due to return to their prison cells on Monday, more on Tuesday, and the really "good criminals" weren't due back until Wednesday. Presumably, the latter were not involved in murdering police officers.
Local media reported that government officials met with PCC leader Marcola and negotiated a settlement, but the government strongly denied it. However:
The head of the prison system, Nagashi Furukawa, told reporters Tuesday that he had allowed a lawyer to visit Marcola on Sunday and report that the gang leader had not been harmed.And you thought the French urging negotiating with terrorists was bad.In return the criminals on the street "sought to stop what they were doing," he said.
This is not the first time that the PCC has waged this kind of war. Since forming in the prison system in the 1990s the PCC has initiated at least 20 prison riots and in November 2003, launched attacks on security forces that left 11 officers and 7 gangsters dead.
Victim Disarmament:
As a dues-paying member of the GOA, I would be remiss if I did not mention that gang members were attacking and killing armed policemen. But how? Brasil has some of the most draconian gun control laws in the world! Yet gang members were armed with machine guns and hand grenades, as well as more conventional handguns, shotguns and Molotov cocktails.
200 people marched silently through a cemetery on Monday at the funeral of two of the fallen police officers:
Ten fire trucks and police forces guarded the cemetery, to prevent gang members from targeting family members.The entire law-abiding citizenry of Brasil has been left defenseless in further proof that when you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns. And, evidently, grenades.``The concern is that the bandits attack the cemetery and we get trapped here, with our families and the dead,'' said Sylvia, 46, who attended the service for one of the fallen police officers and declined to give her surname. ``We all feel defenseless.''
Hmmm, how's that whole "population disarmament" thing working out for y'all?
Not so Humorous Notes:
From the "News from the Looney Left" department:
Of the 71 gang members killed, 33 were shot dead on Monday night and Tuesday morning as special police units hunted them down in slums and working-class districts of the city.First, in a war, it is always "shoot-to-kill". Second, why are "human rights groups" concerned about animals like these? Third, notice that they don't even mention the 115 criminals arrested rather than shot. Now that's a crime.Nine gangsters were reported wounded, raising human rights groups' concerns that police operate a shoot-to-kill policy.
From the "why lawyers should be the first to be put up against the wall and shot" file, comes this:
A lawyer for accused PCC members, Anselmo Neves Maia, said the actions were a "natural reaction" to conditions in the overcrowded prisons, he said.Overcrowded prisons = 40 dead police officers. I wonder, what would be justified if their cable TV were taken away?
From the "depends on your point of view" file:
"The mood of terror we have had in the past few days, that civil-war like situation, cannot justify giving the police a licence to kill," said Ariel de Castro Alves, coordinator of the National Movement for Human Rights.
Fernanda Lopes, a 19-year-old college student majoring in public relations, conceded that innocent people would probably die but said there's no other way to take strong action against the PCC ...Yeah, I agree with Ms. Lopes."They all need to die," she said. "It may not be the best solution, but it's the only solution."
Update: Rumors are flying around Brasil concerning the São Paulo Governor's decision to refuse military troops from the federal government. The story is that he was paid off by the drug cartels that called for the violence in the first place.
This seems reasonable when one looks at the long history of political corruption in the country.
Sources:
Technorati Tags: Brasil, Brazil, Sao Paulo, Gang Violence, Drug Lords, Second Amendment, Citizen Disarmament, Disarmament Statute of 2003, PCC, First Command of the Capital.
By international standards, 72 of 158 nations monitored by Transparency International and a German-based think tank at the University of Passau are deemed corrupt. They range from the tiny military dictatorship of Myanmar to some of the world's largest countries--Russia and Indonesia. ...Slide Show: Most Corrupt NationsAfrica is clearly the most seriously corrupt region, since nine of the 16 most seriously corrupt nations are on that continent, with Chad occupying the No. 1 spot. In 2002, the African Union estimated that the continent was losing $150 billion a year to corruption, and things haven't improved much since. Two of the 16 members of the current most-corrupt list are former Soviet republics, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, while three are in Asia and two are in Latin America.
Actually, Transparency International thinks it is even more serious:
More than two-thirds of the 159 nations surveyed in Transparency International’s 2005 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) scored less than 5 out of a clean score of 10, indicating serious levels of corruption in a majority of the countries surveyed. ...Here are the entries from the top and bottom of the list:“Corruption is a major cause of poverty as well as a barrier to overcoming it,” said Transparency International Chairman Peter Eigen. “The two scourges feed off each other, locking their populations in a cycle of misery. Corruption must be vigorously addressed if aid is to make a real difference in freeing people from poverty.”
| Most Corrupt Countries | Least Corrupt Countries | ||||
| Rank | Country | Score | Rank | Country | Score |
| 158 | Chad | 1.7 | 1 | Iceland | 9.7 |
| 158 | Bangladesh | 1.7 | 2 | Finland | 9.6 |
| 155 | Turkmenistan | 1.8 | 2 | New Zealand | 9.6 |
| 155 | Myanmar | 1.8 | 4 | Denmark | 9.5 |
| 155 | Haiti | 1.8 | 5 | Singapore | 9.4 |
| 152 | Nigeria | 1.9 | 6 | Sweden | 9.2 |
| 152 | Equatorial Guinea | 1.9 | 7 | Switzerland | 9.1 |
| 152 | Cote d'Ivoire | 1.9 | 8 | Norway | 8.9 |
| 151 | Angola | 2.0 | 9 | Australia | 8.8 |
| 144 | Tajikistan | 2.1 | 10 | Austria | 8.7 |
| 144 | Sudan | 2.1 | 11 | Netherland | 8.6 |
| 144 | Somalia | 2.1 | 11 | United Kingdom | 8.6 |
| 144 | Paraguay | 2.1 | 13 | Luxembourg | 8.5 |
| 144 | Pakistan | 2.1 | 14 | Canada | 8.4 |
| 144 | Kenya | 2.1 | 15 | Hong Kong | 8.3 |
| 144 | Democratic Republic of Congo | 2.1 | 16 | Germany | 8.2 |
| 137 | Uzbekistan | 2.2 | 17 | USA | 7.6 |
| 137 | Liberia | 2.2 | 18 | France | 7.5 |
| 137 | Iraq | 2.2 | 19 | Belgium | 7.4 |
| 137 | Indonesia | 2.2 | 19 | Ireland | 7.4 |
| 137 | Ethiopia | 2.2 | 21 | Chile | 7.3 |
| 137 | Cameroon | 2.2 | 21 | Japan | 7.3 |
| 137 | Azerbaijan | 2.2 | 23 | Spain | 7.0 |
Technorati Tags: Corruption, Poverty, War on Poverty.
Of course, this is a rather insignificant amount when considering that 2004 exports totaled $73 billion. But wouldn't it be great if western shoppers deliberately sought out Danish goods? We would more than make up that measly million a day and in the end Denmark would come out ahead, thus striking a ringing blow for freedom of expression.
To this end a site has been set up to aid the Western shopper: Buy Danish Campaign.
HT to Deja Vu, organizer of the buycott.
Technorati Tags: Denmark, Muslim Boycott, Buycott, Mohammed Cartoons.
The assignments were made based on the prices of food, alcohol and tobacco, clothing, electrical goods, driving and restaurant meals. Below is the entire list:
| Countries ranked by cost of living for expatriates: | ||
| Countries | Ranking in 2005 | Ranking in 2004 |
| Norway | 1 | 1 |
| Denmark | 2 | 3 |
| Japan | 3 | 2 |
| Switzerland | 4 | 4 |
| Finland | 5 | 5 |
| South Korea | 6 | 10 |
| Ireland | 7 | 6 |
| France | 8 | 8 |
| Sweden | 9 | 7 |
| Britain | 10 | 9 |
| Germany | 11 | 11 |
| Belgium | 12 | 12 |
| Italy | 13 | 13 |
| Netherlands | 14 | 14 |
| United States | 15 | 15 |
| Canada | 16 | 20 |
| Australia | 17 | 18 |
| Hong Kong | 18 | 16 |
| Spain | 19 | 17 |
| New Zealand | 20 | 19 |
| Hungary | 21 | 21 |
| Czech Republic | 22 | 23 |
| Singapore | 23 | 22 |
| Poland | 24 | 24 |
| Mexico | 25 | 25 |
| Brazil | 26 | 27 |
| Chile | 27 | 26 |
| South Africa | 28 | 28 |
| Malaysia | 29 | 29 |
| Thailand | 30 | 30 |
| Argentina | 31 | 32 |
| Philippines | 32 | 31 |
Norway's Directorate of Immigration (UDI) reports that despite being illegal, there are an increasing number of men with multiple wives in Norway.After having one, what sane man would make a special trip to get another?The reason is married men travel to countries where polygamy is legal and then add a wife, NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting) reports.
Let's keep telling ourselves that this is purely an economics problem.
Of course, E-nough! has evidence otherwise.
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez sets a new long-distance record in his travels away from reality when he says that Holloween is part of the cu
