Sunday, October 23, 2005

TWENTY-TWO YEARS AGO...

A.) NEVER FORGET...
Never forget
Twenty-two years ago, on October 23, 1983, a large truck drove into the lobby of the USMC Barracks on the grounds of Beirut International Airport, Lebanon. It carried a deadly load equivalent to 12,000 ton TNT. The four-story building nearly evaporated, killing in their sleep 241 American servicemen of whom 220 were Marines. Not for the first time was the Marine Force in Lebanon to help secure the peace and keep the warring parties – Christian maronite, Shiite, and Druze militias - apart, who since 1976 had transformed the former "Switzerland of the Middle East" into a near-moonscape. The attack was ordered and organized by the Hezbollah, a Shiite terrorist organization. It was the bloodiest day in the Corps' history since Iwo Jima. A simultaneous attack on the French compound in Beirut killed 58 French service members.

You can find the names of the cowardly murdered US servicemen here. Print this list out. Next time a loonylefty tells you it's all about the oil, or better, that Bush has ignited the Middle East by deposing a murderous regime, slap the list in his/her face.


B.) LECH KACZYNSKI NEW POLISH PRESIDENT.

Lech Kaczynski, Law and Justice party
My wife called my mother-in-law and one of the topics was the final run of the presidential elections between the two main candidates. As you may remember, 14 days ago 12 candidates came up for the Presidency of the Polish Republic (parliamentary elections took place two weeks before that, resulting in a big win for both Rightwing parties, PO and PiS). Since no contender managed to secure 50% of the vote necessary to make it in the first run, a final run was scheduled today and the candidate with the most votes would replace current president Kwasniewski.

It is now certain that the successor will be Lech Kaczynski, mayor of Warsaw and PiS strongman. He got somewhere near 53.5% of the vote while Donald Tusk of the PO got around 46.5%. Both men are right of center, but Tusk is more the free market man, advocating a 15% flat tax. Kaczynski does want tax cuts, but prefers the system under which high earners pay more and proposes tax breaks for those with large families. On the other hand, he is more rightwing than Tusk on the ethical chapter, claiming he wants to root out corruption and restore morality. Either way, like I said before, it's a big win for Rightwing Europe.


C.) RIOTS IN BIRMINGHAM, UK.

Some 35 people, including a police officer, were taken to hospital after ethnic clashes in Lozells, Birmingham on Saturday evening. One black man was stabbed to death and 80 offences committed. Five people were arrested. During the hour-long violence, a number of petrol bombs were thrown, and at least 12 gun shots were reported, officers said. The riots followed a week of mounting tensions between the large black and Eskimo Inuit communities in Birmingham. It appears 14 Inuit Eskimos gangraped a 14-year old Jamaican girl.


MFBB

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