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| Locked on 08/06/2005 5:10:54 PM PDT by Admin Moderator, reason: |
Posted on 07/11/2005 8:12:04 PM PDT by nwctwx
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HOPE YOUR BBQ IS GREAT!
Enjoy the day, Velveeta.
Do you have a url where the message was posted or was that message emailed to you?
you're posting all the links for the next thread, spy. ;-)
This is the top part of the article.
granny
Sat, Aug. 06, 2005
Hospitals not ready if terrorists strike U.S.
Still Not Ready in The ER
By Arthur Kellerman
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/04/AR2005080401826.html
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/news/editorial/12320109.htm
One of the fundamental responsibilities of government is to coolly and
dispassionately assess health threats against the populace and take
decisive action to counter these threats.
Faced with the twin specters of mass casualties from international
terrorism and emerging biological threats, our government has failed to
take effective action on either front.
International terrorism’s weapon of choice is explosives –
improvised and otherwise. The London attacks and the devastating Madrid
bombings are only some of the more recent examples. Over the past decade
terrorist bombings have caused many civilian deaths and injuries in
Israel, Russia, Bali, Colombia, Iraq, Spain, Egypt, Yemen, Kenya, Tanzania,
Argentina, Afghanistan, the Philippines and other places, including two
U.S. embassies in Africa.
But unfortunately, rather than strengthen our nation’s beleaguered
emergency and trauma care system to meet this threat, the federal
government has turned a blind eye to the problem. Across the U.S., underfunded
emergency rooms and trauma centers lack sufficient beds to meet their
daily mission, much less absorb large numbers of victims from a
terrorist attack. Few ambulance personnel know how to assess a blast scene or
properly evaluate multiple casualties from a bombing. The tiny amount of
federal funding ($3.5 million) devoted to trauma systems planning and
development is being targeted for elimination by the House.
One reason we are so ill-prepared is that the bulk of federal
preparedness funds have been poured into bioterrorism, a frightening but less
likely threat. Over the past three years, billions in taxpayer dollars
have been spent to purchase "sniffer stations," mount an ill-fated and
ultimately unsuccessful vaccination campaign against smallpox, and
stockpile antibiotics. There are 17 federally funded Centers for Public
Health Preparedness in the U.S. that focus exclusively on biological and
other exotic weapons of mass destruction. There is not one focused on
civilian injuries from explosives.
But at least we are safer from biological agents, right? Well, no. Two
years after SARS had a devastating effect in Southeast Asia and in
Toronto we are woefully unprepared to handle a recurrence of severe acute
respiratory syndrome. We are even less capable of meeting a more deadly
threat: the emergence of a pandemic strain of influenza from Southeast
Asia.
In 1918-19 the Spanish flu killed 20 million to 40 million people
worldwide – more than 500,000 in the U.S. Despite knowledge that pandemic
strains occur every 10 to 50 years, and despite increasingly worrisome
reports from Southeast Asia, we are unprepared to protect the U.S. from
an outbreak of pandemic flu. Federal officials are "meeting," but a
national plan for countering pandemic flu has not progressed beyond the
draft stage. State-level planning and preparedness efforts vary widely;
no specific deadline exists for their completion. The Health Resources
and Services Administration does not plan a meeting to discuss the lack
of hospital "surge capacity" before next fall.
Notorious MS-13 gang surfaces in Hillsborough County (Tampa, Fla.)
THE TAMPA TRIBUNE
TAMPA — A ruthless street gang with a reputation for cutting off rivals’ fingers and carving up snitches with machetes appears to have a foothold here.
They are the Mara Salvatruchas, or MS-13, and a week ago, Hillsborough County deputies arrested three members in a northwest county neighborhood after they tried to persuade a Honduran man to “join us or die,” Sgt. Scott Wellinger said.
Fortunately for the man, a deputy was driving by and saw him gesture for help. Recognizing what appeared to be gang tattoos on the suspects, he called for backup.
The victim, a 38-year-old illegal immigrant, told the MS-13 that he was too old to join their gang and wasn’t interested, Wellinger said. One man shoved him, and when he shoved back, the rebuff angered the MS-13 enough for one to raise his shirt to expose the handle of what turned out to be a pellet gun.
For weeks, deputies heard from tipsters that the gang was making its presence known on the streets through intimidation and threats, but the July 30 arrests became the first official record of an MS-13 presence in the county.
And where there are three, there are likely to be more, Wellinger said. It’s going to take time to find out how many. It’s unlikely an MS-13 problem would keep to the north end with plenty of Hispanic migrants for the gang to target in eastern and southern portions, he said.
Detectives suspect each of the men arrested are in the country illegally. Court records show they were all born in Central American countries.
Frank Dasaro, assistant special agent in charge of Tampa’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement office, said his agency is committed to targeting MS-13 members in the country illegally.
“They are the next big problem as far as gangs,” he said. “When you remember California, there were the Crips and Bloods. They’re pansies compared to these guys.”
Yep.
Gang bangers.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1458337/posts
"Islamic Group Vows to Fight Ban in Britain (Hizb-ut-Tahrir)"
AP on Yahoo ^ | 8/6/05 | AP - London
Posted on 08/06/2005 2:15:44 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
And it wouldn't surprise me one bit if they have ties to AQ. They undoubtedly help smuggle in terrorists, for a not-so-nominal fee.
Ditto.
Where was this posted? Haven't heard from him in a while.
Excellent articles and links today. Thank you Granny.
QUETTA: Iranian border forces arrested 38 illegal Pakistani here Friday. As per information 38 Pakistani hailing from different parts of Punjab entered in to Iranian territory for onward journey to Europe and Turkey.
Iranian forces apprehended them at zero point and pushed them back in to Pakistan area. Levies officials rearrested them and handed over them to FIA for further investigation.
Meanwhile, The Frontier Corps (FC) has arrested 50 Afghan nationalists who were trying to Pakistan territory from the border areas of Shelabagh. The FC deployed on the border attested them and handed over them to FIA for further investigation. FIA officials started investigation from the apprehended suspects.
That's interesting.
Yep, that is odd.
Apparently this might be considered an area of interest.
Somali hijackers to release ship, hostages -WFP
Sat Aug 6, 2005 11:45 AM BST
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=worldNews&summit=&storyid=2005-08-06T104505Z_01_SPI636576_RTRUKOC_0_SOMALIA-HIJACK.xml
By Andrew Cawthorne
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Somali pirates who have held 10 hostages for more
than a month on a ship chartered by the U.N. World Food Programme to
carry food aid have agreed to release the vessel and free the crew, the
WFP said on Saturday.
"An agreement has been reached for the release of the ship, crew and
food in the next three days," WFP spokeswoman Rene McGuffin told Reuters
in Nairobi.
The Somali militiamen hijacked the MV Semlow on June 27 as it headed
for the northern port of Bossaso carrying 850 tonnes of rice donated by
Japan and Germany for post-tsunami relief to the Horn of Africa nation.
The pirates had initially demanded a $500,000 (281,000 pound) ransom
for the eight Kenyan crew members, Sri Lankan captain and Tanzanian
engineer. They then reduced that to demand only the rice.
WFP said agreement was reached at a meeting on Friday in Jowhar -- the
seat of the new Somali government -- between diplomats, local leaders
and WFP country director Robert Hauser.
"We are tremendously grateful to the Somali Transitional Federal
Government and the Kenyan ambassador for their combined efforts to ensure
that the vessel, the food, and most importantly the ten-member crew who
have suffered greatly during this ordeal will be released
unconditionally," Hauser said.
The WFP statement said the ship would discharge the rice in El Maan, a
port to the north of Somali capital Mogadishu, for distribution in
central regions of Somalia.
It would then return to its base in Mombasa, Kenya.
Kenyan Ambassador Mohamed Abdi Affey confirmed the deal to Reuters.
"I'm very happy because we worked hard to get our nationals out. But it
is not over until it's over," he said.
The pirates, however, were satisfied with the agreement to distribute
the food in central Somalia, Affey said in Nairobi.
Somalia has been synonymous with insecurity since warlords overran the
country of approximately 10 million in 1991, carving it into fiefdoms
after ousting dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
The International Maritime Bureau classes Somali waters as some of the
world's most dangerous, with frequent hijackings.
LOL
As long as I am not posting all the wrong stuff.
Thank you for all your work and the time you give to our thread.
You are welcome.
Taking time to read my Yahoo mail.......LOL
I don't think it's wrong... just things I happened to google for the next thread. I guess we are on the same page, and that's a good thing. :)
http://www.airportbusiness.com/article/article.jsp?siteSection=5&id=2992
"Canada to Develop No-Fly List as Part of Security Upgrade"
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (AP) -- Canada is developing a no-fly list in an effort to prevent terrorist attacks and make air travel safer, the federal transport minister announced Friday.
The program, called Passenger Protect, will identify people who pose ''an immediate threat to aviation security'' and will work with airlines to stop suspects from flying, Transport Minister Jean Lapierre told reporters in Halifax, the provincial capital of Nova Scotia.
''This list is going to be revised regularly, and it's not going to be published all over the place,'' said Lapierre, adding that the list would be ready by 2006 and shared with all airlines, sea ports and border crossings."
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