Mr. Thomas doesn't listen to his own words.

In this Monday, Feb. 27, 2012 photo, Egyptian lawmaker Anwar al-Balkimy, center, gestures during a session of parliament in Cairo, Egypt. Egypt's ultraconservative Islamic Al-Nour party said Monday one of its lawmakers has resigned from parliament because he got a nose job and then lied about it, claiming he was beaten. Lawmaker Anwar al-Balkimy told police he was attacked last week during an attempt to steal his car while he was driving on a highway on Cairo's outskirts. Then it turned out there was no carjacking, no beating and no robbery. Al-Balkimy just had a nose job. The problem with that is that his party follows a strict line of Islam that forbids cosmetic surgery as meddling in God's work. (AP Photo)


 Mr. Thomas is representative of a large number of the Political Right Wing that actually believes the USA is being stupidly naive about the Muslim Brotherhood.  


They believe Egypt was better off with USA controlled leadership.  If Mr. Thomas only read his own words he would have to reassess his conclusions about how the Egyptian leadership is deceiving The West.  


The West is not deceived and the Muslim Brotherhood ain't all that.  The real problem Mr. Thomas has is that he wants the USA to be the global police.  He wants USA dominated governments.  Well.  That is what got us in trouble in the Middle East in the first place.  Bin Laden's favorite propaganda was that the USA owned the Middle East and Islam would be destroyed and replaced with other pluralities.


Al Qaeda was formed to hate the USA.  Mr. Thomas should actually wonder where his country got the honor to be hated.  If he could answer that question, he could actually understand why the Arab Spring was inevitable.


...Consider a Pew poll conducted last year which showed 48 percent of Egyptians say that Islam plays a large role in politics in Egypt and 85 percent say Islam’s influence in politics is positive. Only 2 percent said it is negative. “Not surprisingly,” writes Schoen, that a Zogby poll found two-thirds of Egyptians think, “Egyptian life would improve when clerics play a more central role in the political life of the country.”...


...I’m betting on the Muslim Brotherhood, or an affiliated organization with similar goals, to eventually gain political power in Egypt.


Now, if Egyptians don't take themselves seriously, why should we?  I find it completely laughable that an Egyptian pursued a facade of violence in order to explain facial bandages from a nose job.  Oh, wait.  If I had only thought this through Mr. Thomas' way, I would have realized plastic surgeon's abound within the ranks of al Qaeda.


So, you see, deceptions come in all sorts of venues and predicting failure to a burgeoning democratic movement in Egypt is silly at best.  Whether women are in favor of what follows is a good question, but, I doubt seriously "The Taliban are Coming."  Perhaps Mr. Thomas should get the Egyptians he is so concerned about a horse and a watch tower.


By Aya Batrawy

Associated Press / March 5, 2012

CAIRO—A lawmaker from Egypt's most conservative Islamist party (click title to entry - thank you) resigned from parliament after he was caught lying to cover up a nose job, claiming the injuries to his heavily bandaged face were from a carjacking and beating.

Parliament member Anwar al-Balkimy represented the Al-Nour party, whose members known as Salafis follow a strict interpretation of Islam that forbids cosmetic surgery as meddling in God's work.

The party said Monday that he had resigned and Al-Nour was forced to issue an embarrassing and apologetic statement.

"In light of the regretful incident involving Al-Nour party lawmaker Anwar al-Balkimy, the head of the party, Emad Abdel-Ghafour, went to the hospital with a team of party members to question the lawmaker," it said. The party added that it found his claims of an attack were not true....


With that out of the way, now maybe we can sincerely look at what Israel is so concerned about.

Egypt’s Dim Future

This is an editorial by Cal Thomas from February 14, 2012.  This expresses the view of the Political Right Wing in the USA.  It is also called Islamophobia.  It is what taints the events surrounding Israel as well.  

I am not about to state that Israel is overreaching.  But, there is a falsehood in the air that needs to be cleared up.

...Much of the television commentary (click title to entry - thank you) revealed complete ignorance about the history of the region and of Egypt and especially the clear and present danger of a theocratic coup by the Muslim Brotherhood. First prize for those who are clueless about what is transpiring before their blind eyes goes to James Clapper, director of National Intelligence (though the runner-up prize goes to a TV commentator who compared demonstrators in Tahrir Square to America’s tea party movement.)

Clapper told a congressional hearing that the Muslim Brotherhood is a “heterogeneous group, largely secular, which has eschewed violence and has decried al-Qaida as a perversion of Islam.”

Perhaps Clapper can explain then why the Brotherhood endorsed Hitler’s goal of eradicating the Jews and conspired to assassinate the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and his predecessor Gamal Abdel Nasser.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, “The Muslim Brotherhood no longer openly conducts terrorist operations; it is primarily a political organization that supports terrorism and terrorist causes. Many of its members, however, have engaged in terrorist activities and the group has spawned numerous terrorist groups, such as Hamas and Egyptian Islamic Jihad.”...

It is Monday Night

The Middle East - Land of the Bloody Unknown [We Are Mediocre cover] (click title to entry for official website - thank you)

There were letters unopened at the foot of my bed
When I woke up with you in the morn
There were lions roaring on ships in the harbour
The night my true love was born

There’s a minstrel singing of the holy dove
On the mountain of old St Jerome
There is glass on the floor of the hallway I walk
When the stars bear down from their throne
And the old southern cross is shown
And it points down the sad road home
To the land of the bloody unknown

I heard that your mother took off in the fall
With her pretty curls and her wooden spoon
I heard you whispering to yourself last night
She’ll be coming home some day soon

Well the wine you drink is stained deep in your shirt
And just like the sin in my soul
It is never ever ever ever coming out
While the stars bear down from their throne
And the old southern cross is shown
And it points down the sad road home

To the land of the hunter dancing under the trigger
And the bride washing up on the shore
I could never really dance that well
I can’t raise the flags or ring them bells
But I can shoot my gun down the line towards my home
To the land of the bloody unknown

There’s a black dog watching over me in my sleep
And I stir just to toss him the bone
There’s a red moon rising on the hills tonight
Where the stars bear down from their throne
And the old southern cross is shown
And it points down the sad road home

This is the third major action of a strict constructionist that demonstrates no respect for the Office of the President.

Judge calls his impartiality into question (click title to entry - thank you)

Posted: Monday, March 5, 2012 12:00 am

Judge Cebull has been hoisted by his own petard. His political leanings and questionable sense of humor are his own, except when they are shared from a federal email account during federally paid time. He has rendered himself impotent as a judge.

He has created a situation in which his impartiality in decisions affecting segments of our population will forever be in question. He has opened the door to legal challenges for his past, present and future decisions. He has succeeded in adding needless expense to an already overburdened system. He must step down.

April Potter

Missoula

April Potter has it exactly correct.  Judge Cebull cannot be trusted with cases involving people of color.  He is the third major figure of the Right Wing Judiciary demonstrating the level of irreverence that exists for the Office of the President unless it is held by a Republican.


John Roberts didn't swear President Obama in correctly and that was a slap in the face.


Alito expressed his decent during President Obama's State of the Union Address.


And now this.  The judges appointed by Bush have attitudes.  They have arrogance beyond arrogance and this is another case.  Judge Cebull has proven that if he disrespects President Obama this much, what then will his bias and hate be in his courtroom?

Ms. Fluke is handling her sudden spot light extremely well. She is correct, there has been no apology.

Today, the Right Wing Media is screaming about First Amendment Rights as if their form of communication is actually speech.


There is no integrity in what they do.  It is pure victimization day after day.  This was an all time high for them.


All too often the Right Wing media makes lemonade out of the every lemons they dole out and that is exactly what is occurring now.


There is no respect for Ms. Fluke.  There is no heart felt anything.  There is simply graveling for money with churlish language. 


It is more than obvious, if a woman does not fit the regressive and restrictive mold of the Right Wing then she is a not woman.  The demonstration of lack of respect for women by these broadcasters is more than anyone should have to be subjected to.  


I congratulate Ms. Fluke for continuing to be willing to stand up for her integrity and the integrity of all women.  The attacks are continuing by mispronouncing a her name to make it sound like a sexual act.  The Right Wing media continues to victimize the young lady.


I sincerely appreciated "The View" taking on the responsibility of providing a platform for Ms. Fluke to speak to defend herself and provide more insight to her character. Thank you.


Is it too much to hope for that Ms. Fluke might actually be the next Gloria Steinem.  One can only hope.

In the lower 48 the tragedy of the tornadoes now realizes the loss of an entire family.

Angel Babcock, (click title to entry - thank you) 14 months, died in hospital after being found with severe head injuries following a deadly storm which tore apart her family's mobile home in New Pekin, southern Indiana, on Friday evening.

Her tragic story ignited international sympathy. Twenty members of her extended family including both sets of grandparents were at her bedside as her life support machine was turned off at 4.10pm.

She was discovered by rescuers in the dark near the town of Salem, in a field which some reports suggested was as much as 10 miles from her home.

Other sources said that the distance was less, but that Angel's initial survival remained a miracle given the severity of the winds....

There have been several changes in the lead team, but, the weather is getting rough, too.

Iditarod Homepage (click title to entry - thank you)

Kristy and Anna Berington join ranks of mushing families (click here)

By Heather Hintze
By John Thain, Photojournalist

Story Created: Mar 2, 2012 at 10:00 AM AKST

Story Updated: Mar 2, 2012 at 10:00 AM AKST 

KASILOF - Any Iditarod veteran knows it’s never a good idea to play favorites.

“I don't like to use the f-word for favorite, but yeah, I do. I don't like to say it in front of them,” said Kristy Berington of her sled dogs.

Kristy readied her team for a training run, mostly rookies and a few vets, all raring to go....

An Iditarod veteran herself with two races under her belt, Kristy will have one more pup tagging along on the trails to Nome this year—her sister Anna, who’s younger by all of five minutes....

Not that the race is conducted at sea, but, there are some considerable gale warnings (click here) along the coast.  That interprets into inland storms.  The 'sheltered coast' is seeing small craft advisories.

The link to this map provides an excellent interactive to the weather conditions.

The race started in Anchorage and ends in Nome.  This year is an even numbered year, so the Northern Route is used.  

Anchorage is in southern Alaska on the map above and Nome is in northwest Alaska.

Right now the racers/mushers are experiencing zero to five below weather.

The field is stated to be the best in it's history.  The twins are not the only women in the race.

Photos (click here)

Some hints about outcomes according to an expert:

Dan Seavey, age 74, on 13 day race schedule

Final Thoughts (click here)

Check out times later tonight, especially the ones to Yetna. That will indicate the condition of the trail. as I mentioned, a 3.5 hour run is fast trail, 5 hours is slow trail. That will affect strategy.

Secondly, times into Finger Lake will suggest our pack of contenders....

2010 Iditarod Restart on Willow Lake in Willow, Alaska

Institutionalizing Racial Stereotype with Religious Bigotry. I'll cover the Middle East tomorrow night.

I was astounded when I saw this film. It is at the heart of the Guns and God culture. The format is that of a B Movie because it instills a sense of 'second class citizen' by being a Christian. I am quite confident the film maker could easily afford more in the way of upgrading the cinematography, but, that would defeat the sense of deprivation and mission with the audience.  The comment was made to me, as the lady that invited me felt embarrassed by the 'quality' of the film and film making.  She stated the film makers simply do the best they can.  No lie.  The film maker knows the audience all too well and patronizes and enforces their feeling of victimization by outside forces.


These are church folks.  Nice people.  Good citizens.  One is a very good friend and the others close enough to be worried about them.


This movie institutionalizes racial stereotypes and the ultimate hero is hard work at the generous generational hand of "Old White Men."  


The movie was called a tear jerker.  A grown man in the room wept while in the arms of his wife.  This theme strikes at the very heart of the masculinity it captures of this culture within a segment of the Christian faith. 


The opening scene is dramatic to introduce the black man as a dedicated father. But, when the scene opened to a car robbery by another black man, the women who sponsored the film in her home for the evening stopped it immediately and started to apologize for the violence as she thought this was a family film.  There is very little blood and guts, with marginal violence in the film.  So, the opening trauma needed to be thought through before continuing.  There were young children and teens in the room.  They were all allowed to watch it eventually.


All the violent criminals in the film are black men by the way. Not all the black men in the film are criminals.  One white collar criminal was a white man, a police officer.


No one wants to dismiss the tragic death of a young girl, but, the 'family movie' speaks eons to the problems facing Americans with the Religious Right's depth of fear of 'losing their religion.'


I was told if I really appreciated this film, I should see one entitled "The Fifth Quarter," about a girl killed in an auto accident and being maintained on a ventilator.  She was in the car with four (quarters) young people and evidently she was the 'fifth quarter' and was not suppose to be in their company.  I haven't seen that film yet.  These people love to use girls to build movies on, evidently.


There are some Promise Keeper Moments as well.


In my opinion, it is an attack on the psyche of people believing to be only in the keeping of God's Graces.  I sincerely believe it has an Anti-American theme at its heart and one that instills uncertainty about the future, even in the good ole' USA.


Bush's "Cult-ure of Fear" lives.


For the record, the couples use contraception and there are three children per family at the gathering. They keep mainly to (caucasian) family.  As a matter of fact, one couple are second cousins (good looking people, too). No lie. I cannot honestly say they have any friends of other ethnicity. I don't believe they do. Probably the only contact with ethnicity the adults have is at work. I'm trying to remember if their neighborhood is mostly segregated and I would have to say yes. As often as I have been to visit, which is about six times a year, I don't recall any other people in the neighborhood other than caucasians. I also don't recall neighbors being invited to their home. I don't remember them talking about their neighbors, actually. They talk about their family and church. The children are friendly and very talented by the way. They like music. They do well in school, public school, fairly certain of that. I am an outside and one of the few involved with them, I think. The family is not really group think either, some actually agree with my point of view. Practice is an entirely different story.

For 30 bucks...

...you can 'believe' in the plutocrat nightmare, in the spin, in the rhetoric and the wedge issues.

OR


get three really cool car magnets with the candidate's name on them.

The Gun Lobby said...

Marines salute Saloma Bejar (click title to entry - thank you) and Mariam Bejar, the mother and wife, respectively, of fallen police Officer Javier Bejar, after presenting the ceremonial flag at services in Reedley, Calif., in March 2010. (AP Photo/Gary Kazanjian, File)






"Gun control is what is killing Americans."  


The Right Wing Media made a wedge issue out of it and the Assault Weapons Ban was allowed to expire.


"Every American needs to be armed to protect themselves."


The Right Wing media made a wedge issue out of it and now there are states passing legislation for weapons in parks, universities, the work place and every bathroom in America.  At least one per household and more than one per month.


"Every crazy needs to be banned from owning guns."


That became the common cry of the Right Wing Media.  Stop the crazies and arm the citizens.


H.R.3801 Ultralight Aircraft Smuggling Prevention Act of 2012 (click here)

Wow, that was a relief to me.  Those ultralights simply buzz day and night in the USA carrying weapons to every corner of the nation.


Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold obtained their weapons from a gun show.  Today, does that matter?  Absolutely not.  Why?  Because the 'Statisticians for the Gun Lobby' play with percentages and completely disregard THE ONE LIFE necessity.


...Our results … (click here) provide no evidence to suggest that gun shows lead to a substantial increase in the number of homicides or suicides in either California or Texas. If anything, we find evidence of a modest decline in the number of homicides following the average gun show in Texas, though our aggregate implied effects amount to just 1 percent of all homicides in the state of Texas. Taken together, our results suggest that gun shows do not increase the number of homicides or suicides and that the absence of gun-show regulations does not increase the number of gun-related deaths as proponents of these regulations suggest....


California is where Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold carried out their 'dreamscape' to eventually highjack a plane and crash it into New York City.  It was California where Harris and Klebold killed with impunity until they were satisfied they were going to die at the hand of police.


YET, this study chooses to ignore 'The One Death Rule' and hide those statistics in percentages and a game called wealth and politics.


Gun Shows should be highly regulated as a source of obtaining illegal weapons.  They should be required to have competitions as the reason for the show and all transactions done on consignment through a gun dealer and/or store where background checks are required by law.  There should be absolutely no changing ownership of guns and/or ammunition at gun shows.  Appraisals are a good thing as gun shows, but, sales should be outlawed to opt for consignment.


The justification for a highly regulated gun lobby is this statistic:


Over 80% of guns recovered in crime are obtained by perpetrators illegally (click here).


It is, oh so easy.  Oh, so easy, for the NRA to point to government as the problem preventing every citizen from arming themselves.


BUT.


It is not so easy for the NRA to claim they have facilitated the control of ILLEGAL GUN distribution in the USA or anywhere in the world.


Then legislation to control 30 bullet clips was submitted as a solution to the attempted assassination of a USA House Representative, the death of a child, the death of her dearest assistant, the death of a federal judge and dear sweet citizens that came to a gathering exercising their right to assembly.  But, that was never going to happen in a completely dysfunctional house controlled by the NRA and their Wall Street cronies.  Even when one of their own was nearly assassinated, the USA House looked the other way and opted for more munitions on the streets of the USA.  

...A Maricopa County Superior Court (click here) jury on Wednesday awarded $36 million to the family of a man shot to death by a mental patient in a Walmart parking lot in 2005.

ValueOptions Inc., the company that held the state contract for providing behavioral health care until last year, was found 90 percent at fault in the death of Patrick Graham, 35, of Glendale. Graham was one of two men shot by Ed Liu, a ValueOptions patient who has suffered from paranoid schizophrenia for more than 20 years....

Even after the Right Wing's Precious Plutocracy was sued for millions of dollars US that won't find its way into their political coffers, they still acted in offense of the best interests to the American people.


Well, it must be the schizophrenia, you know.  Wait.  I have an idea.  Let's simply lock up every schizophrenic and throw away the key now that indefinite detention is allowed by the USA.  Sounds like a plan.  But.  It doesn't sound like a plan the USA has, should or could embrace.


Why is the GOP so offensive to the best interests of the people of the USA?


Political wedge issues.  


Just that simple.  If talking about gun control is political suicide then no one will do it.


The laws of the USA and the law making of the USA do not belong to the people anymore, they belong to wedge issues and what works for the wealthy to control their profits.


...The NRA never misses a chance to misrepresent (click here) the positions of people who advocate reasonable gun control, to make Americans afraid that the government wants to take away their right to defend their homes and their loved ones, and to turn any attempt to have a sensible conversation about guns into an assault on the Second Amendment....


...So it makes sense for military counselors to talk to at-risk active-duty soldiers about owning a gun. No, that’s against the law. A rule in last year’s National Defense Authorization Act — backed by the NRA of course — prohibits such conversations. The NRA was outraged, apparently, that a Kansas army base wanted soldiers to register privately owned weapons. Oh the horror! Next thing you know they’ll just take rifles away from combat soldiers and replace them with ACLU cards....


The right to council a person at risk for violence against themselves of others is a PATIENT PRIVACY ACT, yet, the NRA managed to override that privacy issue by instituting laws that PROHIBIT 'Therapeutic Speech.'


Wake up, America.  


The enemy is sincerely within our borders.

As Chardon, Ohio lays its school shooting victims to rest, it is time to reflect on the fact the Gun Lobby has yet to own up to its problems.

I can see the legacy now in reunions spanning decades, "Yes, we were the class that lost wonderful people to excess guns in our society."

Experts: School shootings leave deep trauma, require long-term healing by school communities (click title to entry - thank you)

Shooting will become part of Chardon's life story

CHARDON, Ohio - Counselors, educators and experts who have lived through the aftermath of school shootings say the shootings leave deep trauma and require long-term healing.

"They are forever changed. In what direction, I do not know. But they will have to form a new identity. It is not going to be easy," Ann Bauer, associate professor and chair of the Department of Counseling, Administration, Supervision & Adult Learning at Cleveland State University's College of Education, said about the students, staff, parents and community members impacted by Monday's school shooting at Chardon High School.

Bauer knows first-hand the long-term scars left by a school shooting. She and her colleagues provided counseling for students, school staff and other members of the community following the March 24, 1998 shooting that left five students dead and 10 others injured at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas....

This scenario just won't end for the USA and those that sell guns and ammunition do NOTHING to change the dogma that surrounds the gun culture.

..."It is a chronic condition that comes back every so often. On the Monday morning of the Chardon shooting, I was right back and I could see the faces of the parents who drove away with their kids" from Westside Middle School in 1998, Bauer said....

Chronic problems in the USA that takes lives, young lives, lives full of hope and ambition, cannot be dismissed as 'one of those things that happens in the USA.'


Solving these problems requires people that are WILLING to tackle the problem.  They need to be more than faithful, they need to be dedicated to the purpose of ending 'the violence culture' within the USA.  The Gun Lobby cannot be viewed as anything but dangerous to the people, especially children, of the USA.


There are those within the 'power structure' of the country that view 'incidences' such as this as an 'odds' issue. In other words, sooner or later, such problems will occur and there is simply nothing that can be done. That is a lie. There is plenty to be done. These same people have no answers. They have no ideas and support the lucrative practice of gun sales.

...The State of Virginia’s repeal (click here) of a law limiting handgun sales to one weapon per buyer per month is sheer , bloody madness. And very bad news for New York.

Virginia is already the single biggest supplier of guns used by criminals in the city. Up the so-called Iron Pipeline, otherwise known as Interstate 95, gunrunners transport illegal firearms into the five boroughs, selling them in dark alleys and out of the backs of vans, to wreak death and destruction on the populace....

Do I have to go through the exercise of listing all the schools?  No.  That would simply add to the victimization of the students and community.  Do I have to go through the exercise of listing all the dead?  No.  That would simply involve innocent people in more pain when they should have or are healing.


Every American voter knows the problem.  It could be a neighbor, a friend, a peer or a child now dead and we all know the dreaded reality of the violence that unleashes in our society, especially among children, students and the very hope for our nation to be a great nation.


I find the resolve by the USA Congress to recognize the violence unleashed on Gabrielle Giffords by some lame legislation to inhibit planes from carrying weapons to the USA a travesty.  As far as I am concerned the measure is meaningless.

WASHINGTON -- Two days before resigning from Congress, (click here) Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) on Tuesday announced her final piece of legislation aimed at cracking down on cross-border drug smugglers.

Giffords, who is stepping down to focus on her recovery from the January 2011 Tucson shootings that nearly took her life, said the bill would impose new penalties on smugglers who use small, low-flying aircraft to illegally bring drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border.

The bill is set for a House vote on Wednesday morning, according to Giffords' office, and the congresswoman will be there to vote on it as her last official act as a member of Congress....

Cross border weapons traffic didn't injure Gabby or kill a child along with others that day; Wal-mart did along with the liberal gun laws of the GOP.  Gun trafficking didn't have a damn thing to do with the nearly deadly violence released against our former Representative to the USA House.


How many times now is the USA going to have empty legislation used as a tool for politics of the Plutocracy to win the day.  The legislation passed into law, empty meaningless legislation is a victory for the Plutocratic Gun Lobby.


When there was still yet another school shooting in the USA, I could nearly hear the political media go 'Oh, dear god, we don't want to go there again, do we?  I mean there is not a darn thing anyone is going to do about it anyway.'


Our politics is corrupted by the powerful, the wealthy.  We are witnessing a GOP candidate purchase his way into nomination and then Michael Steele has the nerve to state, "We planned a long primary process to allow the underdog to compete."  Sure and I was born yesterday.


The USA electorate has to take themselves seriously enough to realize they are being manipulated into believing they are too 'under qualified' to vote for the opposition to the wealthy.  The American public doesn't know what is best for them anymore.  They are allowed to organize and make noise, sometimes, but not to really have a voice in the 'authority' of their own best interests.


The American electorate allow themselves to believe others can tell them what is best in their lives rather than relying on their own experiences, insight and intelligence.  


The violence that continues to take our young people from us is a clear example of corrupt politics that offers sympathy, but, without resolution.  In the back halls of the NRA a sigh of relief is breathed to realize 'we got the politicians where we want them now.'  That is not only immoral, it is a reality the electorate of the USA should not and cannot accept.

The Russian elections are much more interesting. (click title to entry - thank you)

116-Year-Old Man Votes at Polling Station in N. Caucasus (click here)

MAGAS, March 4 (RIA Novosti)

A 116-year-old man came to a polling station in Ingushetia, a small republic in Russia’s North Caucasus, to cast his vote in the presidential elections, Muslim Albogachiyev, a member of the republican election commission, said on Sunday.

“Iliyev, Appas Lorsovich, born in 1896, came to polling station No. 6 in the village of Guli,” Albogachiyev said.

The elderly and sick have the right to vote at home if they invite a member of the local election commission beforehand. However, retirees are usually the first ones to arrive at the polling stations when they open at 8.00 a.m.

Albogachiyev said no incidents or breaches of the electoral legislation had been registered by the election commission of the republic....

I am just wondering if they voted before they died.  I guess not.  

Five Die of Heart Attacks at Russian Polling Stations (click here)

MOSCOW, March 4 (RIA Novosti)

Five people died of heart attacks at seperate polling stations during the presidential elections in Russia on Sunday, police said on Sunday.

One man, a 65-year old member of a local election commission in Zelenograd (northern Moscow), went for a cigarette break a few minutes before the polling station was supposed to open for voting, when he suffered a massive heart attack and died before the ambulance arrived.

Another man, who was 53-year old and had been discharged from hospital two days ago, also died from a heart attack after getting his ballot paper at a polling station in Omsk, West Siberia.

A 77-year old pensioner died near a polling station in eastern Moscow.

A 59-year old former school principal died in the village of Domna (Zabaikalsky Territory) as she arrived at a polling station.

A similar tragedy occurred in Vologograd where a 72-year old woman died five meters away from her polling station....

Does this mean voting is taking on importance?  This is a communist nation with nearly guaranteed outcomes, yet, there seems to be enthusiasm for voting.  

Turnout Exceeds 15% in Russia Presidential Poll (click here)

MOSCOW, March 4 (RIA Novosti)

Electoral turnout for Russia’s presidential poll on Sunday exceeded 15 percent in the first two hours of voting, the Central Election Commission said on Sunday.

“Electoral turnout reached 15.3 percent as of 10.00 a.m. Moscow time (06:00 GMT),” Stanislav Vavilov, deputy chairman of the Central Election Commission, said.

Russians are voting on Sunday to elect a president for the fifth time in the nation’s post-Soviet history. Putin faces four opponents, none of which, analysts say, is likely to prove a serious threat to his bid to return to the Kremlin after working as prime minister for the past four-years....

...Some 110 million Russian citizens, including 2 million expatriates around the world, are eligible to vote in the election. The winner will serve a six-year presidential term and not four as was previously the case....

This source is stating there is now a 30% turnout with a rise of 4% participation.  See, where candidates don't necessarily succeed is that they don't seek to encourage voters to participate.  They are counting on the same voters to change their mind and that may not happen.

Voter turnout in Russian presidential elections is over 30% by 1:00 p.m. Moscow time: CEC (click here)

04 March 2012 | 14:31 | FOCUS News Agency

Moscow. The voter turnout in today’s presidential elections in Russia is 30.1% by 1:00 p.m. Moscow time, announced Leonid Ivlev, deputy chairman of the country’s Central Electoral Commission (CEC), cited byITAR-TASS.
He specified this is a rise of over 4% in comparison with the 2008 presidential elections and 2011 parliamentary elections.


There is a second source reporting a 30% turnout, but, the video defies understanding due to the dialect.  That is a joke, I don't speak Russian.  I am sure they are perfectly understandable.


04 MAR 2012 15:10

ELECTIONS TURNOUT PASSES 30 PERCENT IN RUSSIA (click here)

The turnout at the presidential elections in Russia so far passed 30%, representatives of the Central Election Committee said at a press conference.

None of the polling places are reporting in yet, but there are turnouts of voters as high as 91% being reported.  That shows a lot of enthusiasm for this election.  I think a great deal of credit has to go to the candidates for building that enthusiasm.

Russian Presidential Elections (click here)

Voting, turnout, first results 


I don't know if this is a political cartoon in Russia or not, but, I am all for innovation.


Remember that picture in black and white where it is unclear what the subject is?  Like an inkblot test. The Russians figured it out.









Now this one on the right, is definately political.  I think that might be Tod Palin.

Oh, so this is what is going on in Afghanistan.