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19. september 2007
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In Norway, we don't even have proper electoral fraud.
Drug addicts in the town of Drammen say they were offered money or free kebabs to vote for the Labour Party in the local election last week.
Bent Sandberg was offered NOK 50 (about USD 9) to vote for the Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) in the local election last week. He declined the bribe.
"It is nasty to take advantage of society’s weakest people. And to offer NOK 50 [~US$ 9] is scornful. But I know many people accepted the money," he told local newspaper Drammens Tidende.
Reports were also coming out Wednesday that some drug addicts had been offered free kebabs to vote Labour.
Else Marie Romset is one of the people who accepted money to go to the voting both. On her ballot, someone had already put a cross next to the name of local Labour politician Yousuf Gilani.
Gilani denied any knowledge about the alleged bribe, and told the local newspaper that he believed someone had planted the story to damage his reputation.
Romset actually voted for the Progress Party instead.
The police say they are now investigating, as is the Labour party.
7:45:49 PM 
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The Russians are not always learning the right lessons from the Pentagon.
The embarrassing leak followed what was supposed to be a confidential meeting between the commander of the secret submarine and officials in the closed town, which is home to Russia’s main nuclear research facility.
Instead, overly assiduous officials wrote a press release that covered the meeting in minute detail, not only naming the prototype vessel’s commander as Capt Sergei Kroshkin but even revealing the project’s code number: 20120.
Other technical and tactical specifications were also given, including the submarine’s water displacement of 3,950 tonnes.
It was not until the story was dutifully picked up by local newspapers that officials noticed the slip.
And another webmaster is sent to Siberia.
7:42:06 PM
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Syria and Iran's chemical weapons blew up in their faces.
Proof of cooperation between Iran and Syria in the proliferation and development of weapons of mass destruction was brought to light Monday in Jane's Defence Weekly, which reported that dozens of Iranian engineers and 15 Syrian officers were killed in a July 23 accident in Syria.
According to the report, cited by Channel 10, the joint Syrian-Iranian team was attempting to mount a chemical warhead on a Scud missile when the explosion occurred, spreading lethal chemical agents, including sarin nerve gas.
Reports of the accident were circulated at the time; however, no details were released by the Syrian government, and there were no hints of an Iranian connection.
A few days ago, there were strong rumours that Israel had bombed a nuclear facility in Syria which was built in cooperation with North Korea. Israel is still not acknowledging the raid, which supposedly destroyed a nuclear weapons cache from North Korea (which, we remember, is disarming).
7:30:54 PM
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Anti-Syrian politicians in Lebanon live very dangerously.
A bomb rocked a Christian suburb east of the Lebanese capital Wednesday, killing an anti-Syrian lawmaker and six other people, security officials said.
Antoine Ghanem is the eighth prominent anti-Syrian figure assassinated since 2005.
Ghanem, 64, a member of the right-wing Christian Phalange Party, was targeted by the bomb, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Syria and its allies literally get away with murder, again.
7:23:03 PM
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The people have spoken (800 of them anyway): the US presidential campaign is too damn long.
While political junkies have enjoyed the extended pre-season for Election 2008, most voters say that the debates and other campaign activities so far have been annoying and a waste of time. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 56% of Likely Voters hold that view while only 29% say the campaign so far has been interesting and informative.
In fact, 72% of voters would favor a proposal to shorten the Presidential campaign season so that no one could begin campaigning more than a year before election day. Just 14% of Likely Voters are opposed and another 14% are not sure.
The problem with "shortening" a campaign is: how do you do that? You can't, at least not in a country with freedom of speech, prevent anyone from campaigning. Now, if experience should show that the early birds get punished in the election, that may do the trick.
7:20:29 PM
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© Copyright 2007 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.10.2007; 17:26:31.
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