MaroonBlog

According to the survey conducted by the Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) research center, 46 percent of French voters gave the reason that unemployment will increase with the introduction of the EU constitution for their rejection, and 40 percent said no due to their continued dissatisfaction with the current situation in the country. While 35 percent of the people who voted "no" find the constitution "too liberal", and the other 19 percent voted no because their anxiety that France will lose its identity.

In the CSA survey published in Le Parisien newspaper, on the other hand, 41 of voters rejected the constitution due to "the social problems France experiences", and 26 percent said "no" because of the "role of France in Europe".

The summaries of FBI interviews, obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union as part of an ongoing lawsuit, include a dozen allegations that the Koran was kicked, thrown to the floor or withheld as punishment.

America's media and entertainment industry has a gross (as it were) revenue of $316.8 billion a year. If we subtract the income derived from worthy journalism and the publishing of serious books, that leaves $316.8 billion.

They all wanted me to realize that justice without mercy is inhuman and a boon to tyranny. That's true. But I wanted them to realize that mercy without justice is a sickening evil unto itself, one that corrodes the souls of victims and victimizers alike. God is indeed love, but love without responsibility is just a pretty bubble on the wind. I heard too many demands for "mercy" that were just softly-scented pleas for sentimental injustice. Real mercy respects justice enough to submit to it. Real mercy seeks atonement, not excuses.
(emphasis is mine)

And lastly, the phrase simply smacks of that typical, annoying, testosterone drenched attitude of Hill Republicans. Noooo...we can't use a phrase like "restore comity" or "reform debate" for we are Klingons! We must talk the manly talk. We must show off our big swinging nuclear options.

"...the Internet is beginning to play the watchdog role in China that the press plays in the West. The Internet is also eroding the leadership's monopoly on information and is complicating the traditional policy of "nei jin wai song" - cracking down at home while pretending to foreigners to be wide open."

The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear.

"It's our intention to support Bill C-43, the original budget," Harper said, looking tired after a long day for the Conservative frontman that included the surprise defection of high-profile former leadership contender Belinda Stronach.

"We'll oppose Bill C-48, which was the deal with the NDP, which is complete irresponsible fiscal policy," Harper added.

...

Prime Minister Martin has said that both pieces of legislation are confidence matters, and that losing either vote would result in a federal election.

The Leger Marketing poll for the Sun chain of newspapers put support for the Liberals at 43 percent in Ontario compared to 31 percent for the main opposition Conservative Party.
...
n the June 2004 election the Liberals won 75 of Ontario's seats with 45 percent of the vote, a result which allowed them to form a minority government.

Chuck Cadman, who lists guitarist Eric Clapton among his heroes, and David Kilgour, who quit Martin's ruling Liberal Party over its policy toward the Darfur region of Sudan, are the only undecided lawmakers as Martin moves toward a critical vote in Ottawa this week. Without their support, his 10-month-old minority government will fall, leading to elections in June.

"The Syrians have managed to get themselves in a situation of standing in the way of the progress of people in the Middle East and I would think that wouldn't be a very comfortable place for a Syrian regime to be," Rice said.

The division in the House is so close that every vote will count on Thursday's budget motion, which would bring down the government if it's defeated.
...
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper called on Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson to step in - although she can't force an election on her own.

However, the Governor General can summon the prime minister to Rideau Hall and advise him to dissolve Parliament and call an election

"several Tory MPs wore blue jeans to the Commons in a work-to-rule protest."

"I also don't think we get to pick and choose from the Constitution," she said in the interview, which was taped for airing Wednesday night. "The Second Amendment is as important as the First Amendment."

"there might be circumstances that people like my father experienced in Birmingham, Ala., when, in fact, the police weren't going to protect you."

"Book the flights, let's go, let's give them both barrels," his spokesman quoted him as saying.

"That's guns, not oil."

"It is vital that you enhance the inter-departmental syngergies of your operation," I said. And then I killed him.

Dimitri spoke fluent English with an American accent. He was tough and businesslike. “The Alazan rocket will cost $200,000 (£105,000),” he said. “The price is not negotiable. It’s a very special thing.”

The Alazan he offered, a slender rocket 4ft 7in long with a range of eight miles and a radioactive “warhead”, is considered by defense specialists to be an ideal weapon for terrorists.

...in 2003 it emerged that at least 38 Alazans were fitted with warheads containing up to 400g of caesium-137 and strontium-90, apparently to help scientists track the clouds.

Specialists said that if they fell into terrorist hands and were fired into a city center, they would spread contamination for miles, causing widespread panic and economic disruption that would cost many millions of pounds.

The rockets are believed to be part of a huge stockpile of ageing, unwanted weapons guarded by Russian soldiers in Transdniester, a 129-mile-long sliver of land on Moldova’s border with Ukraine.

Unsurprisingly, she enjoys the enthusiastic support of a bipartisan majority of senators.

Yet a partisan minority of senators now insists that Owen may not be confirmed without the support of a supermajority of 60 senators — a demand that is, by their own admission, wholly unprecedented in Senate history. Why? Simple: The case for opposing her is so weak that changing the rules is the only way they can defeat her nomination.

Ten years after a firefighter was left brain-damaged and mostly mute during a 1995 roof collapse, he did something that shocked his family and doctors: He perked up...
"It's almost unheard of after 10 years," she said, "but sometimes things do happen and people suddenly improve and we don't understand why." (emphasis is mine, of course)

At least seven of the 19 9/11 hijackers used government libraries in the run-up to their mass killings in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. This fact should quiet critics of the Patriot Act who demonize it as a magnifying glass through which federal snoops read over the shoulders of law-abiding Americans. Instead, the Patriot Act should be reauthorized, and federal agents, with court permission, should feel anything but bashful about conducting counterterrorism investigations at U.S. libraries.

"An important step would be for former Cold War rivals to commit themselves, irreversibly, to further cuts in their arsenals so that warheads number in the hundreds and not the thousands," he said.

"Unless violations are directly addressed, the most basic collective reassurance on which the treaty rests will be called into serious question," Annan said.