Microwave gun to be used by US troops on Iraq rioters
By Tony Freinberg and Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 19/09/2004)

Microwave weapons that cause pain without lasting injury are to be issued to American troops in Iraq for the first time as concern mounts over the growing number of civilians killed in fighting. The non-lethal weapons, which use high-powered electromagnetic beams, will be fitted to vehicles already in Iraq, which will allow the system to be introduced as early as next year.

The beam rapidly heats water molecules in the skin to cause intolerable pain and a burning sensation. The invisible beam penetrates the skin to a depth of less than a millimetre. As soon as the target moves out of the beam's path, the pain disappears.

The armoured vehicles will be named Sheriffs once they have been modified to carry the microwave weapons.

By Jeanne King

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New Yorkers dreading jury duty take note: it's OK to be drunk on booze or high on pot or cocaine while doing your civic duty.

Petre Preda was checking sheep near Magurii Casinului, in Vrancea county, when a bear came out from bushes and started chasing him.

He thought he was doomed when he slipped and broke his leg - but his little dog had other ideas.

 "The giant bear came out of the blue and swooped upon me ready to tear me into pieces.

"I ran as fast as I could but I stumbled and broke my right leg. I thought only God could help me and started my last prayer.

"Then I heard my little Pekinese, I'd completely forgot about it. The little one attacked the bear distracting it from me. After an hour the dog returned from the woods safe."

25 YEARS AGO TODAY

Sep 20 1979

With the aid of 700 French paratroopers, David Dacko mounts a successful coup against the regime of Jean-Bedel Bokassa (February 22, 1921 – November 3, 1996)  in the Central African Republic.

Emperor Bokassa during his coronation

Born in Bobangi, Bokassa was a career soldier. He joined the Free French Forces and ended World War II as a sergeant major with the Legion d'Honneur and the Croix de Guerre. He left the French army in 1964 to join the army of the Central African Republic. Bokassa rose to the rank of colonel and chief of staff of the armed forces.

On January 1, 1966, with the country in economic turmoil, Bokassa overthrew the autocratic President David Dacko in a swift coup d'état. He abolished the constitution of 1959 on January 4 and began to rule by decree.

In March 1972 Bokassa made himself President for Life.

After a meeting with Colonel Qadaffi of Libya, Bokassa decided to convert to Islam and changed his name to Salah Eddine Ahmed Bokassa.

In September 1976 he dissolved the government and replaced it with the Conseil de la Révolution Centrafricaine.

On December 4, 1976 Bokassa declared the republic a monarchy,  converted back to Catholicism and had himself crowned Emperor Bokassa I.

Over $20 million was spent on the coronation, but despite generous invitations, no foreign leaders attended the event.

Though it was claimed that the new Empire would be a constitutional monarchy, no significant democratic reforms were made, and suppression of dissenters remained widespread. Torture was said to be especially rampant, with allegations that even Bokassa himself occasionaly participated in beatings.

France remained a supporter of Bokassa. French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing was a friend and loyal supporter of the emperor, and supplied the regime with much financial and military backing. In exchange, Bokassa frequently took d'Estaing on hunting trips in Africa and supplied France with uranium, a mineral which was vital for France's nuclear weapons program. It was revealed the emperor had been giving the president frequent "gifts" of diamonds.

On April 17-19 a number of schoolchildren were arrested after they had protested against wearing the expensive, government required school uniforms. Around 100 were killed. It was claimed that Bokassa had participated in the killings and even that he had eaten some of the bodies. Former President David Dacko was able to gain French support and lead a successful coup using French troops.

Bokassa had been sentenced to death in absentia but when he returned from exile in France he was arrested and tried for treason, murder, cannibalism and embezzlement. He was sentenced to death again.

His sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in February 1988.

 Bokassa was released on August 1. He had seventeen wives and a reported fifty children. He died of a heart attack.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-B%E9del_Bokassa

 Yes, Four Ounces of Marijuana at Home is Legal, Says Alaska Supreme Court 9/17/04

The Alaska Supreme Court reaffirmed its groundbreaking 1975 decision barring the state from criminalizing the possession of up to four ounces of marijuana in the privacy of one's home on September 9, when it denied a petition from state Attorney General Greg Renkes asking it to overturn a Court of Appeals ruling from a little more than a year ago. 

 Attorney General Renkes has vowed to soldier on. "We're not giving up," Renkes said. He added that he will try to convince the state legislature that marijuana is so harmful it should approve a constitutional amendment allowing the state to ban it. It's more powerful and it's a gateway drug, he argued.

 "To me it's all about the kids and what kind of message we're sending to our kids."

Alaska voters have a chance to make it a moot point in November --an initiative on the ballot, if successful will give the voters' stamp of approval not only to home possession, but for regulated cultivation and distribution as well.

Saturday, September 18, 2004

CRTC, station receive complaint over comments by Sunday morning evangelist

An Ottawa viewer's complaint about "outrageous" comments on homosexuality by U.S. evangelist Jimmy Swaggart has sparked an apology by the television station, and a complaint to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

According to a transcript of the program, Mr. Swaggart said: "I'm trying to find the correct name for it ... this utter absolute, asinine, idiotic stupidity of men marrying men. ... I've never seen a man in my life I wanted to marry. And I'm gonna be blunt and plain; if one ever looks at me like that, I'm gonna kill him and tell God he died."

John Kerry, action hero

Later this month Senator John Kerry's service in Vietnam  receives the full video game treatment with "John Kerry and the men of Swift Boat PCF-94." 

Available for download from kumawar.com as a free seven-day trial, the game will put players in the combat boots of a 25-year-old Lt. Kerry on Feb. 28, 1969, the date he earned his Silver Star citation. 

Players will have the opportunity to view and participate in the action from Kerry's perspective, up to and including the point where Kerry beached his swift boat on the banks of the Mekong and chased down the enemy on foot.