Rational Review

"Investigators are questioning Mexico's former deputy defense minister and a top army general for suspected links to organized crime, in the highest level scandal to hit the military in the five-year-old drug war. Mexican soldiers on Tuesday detained retired general Tomas Angeles Dauahare and general Roberto Dawe Gonzalez, and turned them over to the country's organized crime unit, military and government officials said." (05/16/12)

"Greece will go to the polls for the second time in less than two months on June 17, the Athens News Agency said Wednesday, as fears grew of more instability over the country's eurozone future. State-controlled ANA said Council of State president Panagiotis Pikrammenos, the head of Greece's top administrative court, will be caretaker prime minister and organise the ballot after a May 6 poll failed to produce a government ready to implement in full a tough EU-IMF bailout accord." (05/16/12)

"Eleven mutilated or burned bodies were found in the greater Kirkuk region. Gunmen killed a Kurdish civilian. Three beheaded bodies were found in Aziria. They may be part of a group of mutilated bodies found in the Kirkuk region. In Mosul, the body of a woman who had been tortured and shot was found. A pharmacist’s body was found in Shirqat." (05/16/12)

"According to local authorities in western Herat province, unknown gunmen on Wednesday shot dead at least 3 local tribal elders in this province. ... Provincial police chief spokesman Noor Khan Nikzad said the incident took place around 6:30 am local time after unknown gunmen attacked the tribal elders in a mosque at Shindand district." (05/16/12)

"Six people were killed and 10 wounded in separate acts of violence in Karachi, Pakistan, Wednesday, officials said. ... a former Muttahida Qaumi Movement Union Council counselor was killed when unidentified gunmen opened fire on him .... The other attack was on a hotel in the Quaidabad area of the city .... the attack killed one person and injured seven others, including a child. ... Earlier, four people, including a Muttahida Qaumi Movement activist, died in separate incidents across the city ..." (05/16/12)

"Bangladesh has ordered a four-member commission to investigate 54 businesses linked to the pioneering microlender Grameen Bank founded by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus. The probe came weeks after Finance Minister A.M.A. Muhith said the bank’s board had not authorized most of the affiliates. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged Bangladesh’s government on a recent visit here to not to do anything that might undermine the effectiveness of the bank. Muhith later dismissed her remarks as unwarranted." (05/16/12)

"A California Democratic congressman is asking the Navy to name a ship after the late San Francisco lawmaker and gay activist Harvey Milk, but some of the strongest opposition appears to be from the gay community. Rep. Bob Filner has written a letter to the heads of the Navy and Defense Department saying he 'wholeheartedly' agrees with local efforts in San Francisco and his San Diego district to honor Milk, a Navy diver better known for his term as San Francisco city supervisor. Milk was gunned down in 1978 by a former city supervisor." (05/16/12)

"Former Liberian President Charles Taylor has accused the prosecution of paying and threatening witnesses in his war crimes trial. Taylor, who was convicted last month, also told judges in The Hague he was 'no threat to society.' It was the 64-year-old's last chance to speak at the international court before he is sentenced later this month. Taylor was found guilty of aiding and abetting rebels in Sierra Leone during its civil war." (05/16/12)

"American consumers may soon be able to test themselves for the virus that causes AIDS in the privacy of their own homes, after a panel of experts on Tuesday recommended approval of the first rapid, over-the-counter HIV test. The 17 members of the Food and Drug Administration advisory panel voted unanimously that the benefits of the OraQuick HIV test outweigh its potential risks for consumers. While the test, which uses a mouth swab to return a result in 20 minutes, does not appear to be as accurate as professionally-administered diagnostics, panelists said it could provide an important way to expand HIV testing." (05/16/12)

"Medical records showing that George Zimmerman was treated for a fractured nose and cuts to the back of his head after fatally shooting 17-year-old Trayvon Martin will likely bolster Zimmerman's argument that Martin attacked him, CBS News legal analyst Jack Ford said on 'CBS This Morning' Wednesday. The records came to light Tuesday. CBS News has also confirmed they show that Zimmerman had a pair of black eyes when he was examined by a doctor Feb. 27, the day after he shot Martin in a gated Florida community." (05/16/12)

"The Russian authorities pressed their crackdown on antigovernment protesters on the streets, and in Parliament, on Wednesday .... The protesters had been warned ahead of a court order to remove them by noon Wednesday, and though more than 20 were detained, many slipped into the subway and set off for another city square." (05/16/12)

"In a primary election race for Oregon's top law enforcement post, the candidate who pledged to protect medical marijuana patients scored a decisive victory Tuesday night over a rival who led a cannabis crackdown last year. Retired judge Ellen Rosenblum, strongly backed by proponents of liberalized marijuana laws, captured 63 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary .... Because no Republicans sought their party's nomination for attorney general, the Democratic primary victor, Rosenblum, becomes the presumptive winner in November's general election, making her the first woman to claim that office." (05/16/12)

"Someone who may be posing as a police officer is pulling cars over on Mississippi highways and then shooting drivers dead, authorities said. After two such shootings this month, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is asking for the public's help to find the person. ... Authorities were asking citizens to be careful if they are pulled over and feel uneasy. They advise drivers to call 911 and verify that a legitimate officer is pulling them over or drive to a well-lit, crowded place before stopping, actions permitted under Mississippi state law." (05/16/12)

"Twenty years after Serb forces unleashed a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, their military commander Gen. Ratko Mladic is finally going on trial on charges of masterminding atrocities throughout the country's devastating 1992-95 war. Mladic will enter the United Nations' Yugoslav war crimes tribunal Wednesday a frail 70-year-old, a far cry from the swaggering general who commanded Serb forces during the war that left some 100,000 people dead." (05/15/12)

Dear readers,

Up to this point, I've kept our fundraiser updates infrequent (every 2-4 weeks), and off the web site (only email readers got them). Time to escalate a bit.

Our fundraiser goal is to reach either total contributions of $10k, or subscribing contributor revenues of $1,000/month, by December 23rd (our 10th anniversary as RRND).

To be on track for that cash goal, we should be at somewhere in the neighborhood of $4,100 by now. We're at $2,392.50.

Contributing subscriber revenues are at $490 -- but they were around $450 at the beginning of the year.

We aren't getting there. And while we've avoided "The World Will End!" hype for the last nine years and just kept on plugging, this time there will be consequences if we don't make our goal (the most likely one being my "retirement" from RRND/FND).

That's the long and short of it; I won't belabor it further. Thanks to all of you who have supported this publication financially. To those who have never returned value to us for value received (at whatever valuation YOU would place on the product if it was "cash up front"), now's the time to consider doing so. Here's the handy-dandy link:

http://rationalreview.news-digests.com/support-rrnd

Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Rational Review

"A bomb blast on a crowded street in Colombia Tuesday reportedly killed several people and injured 19 others. NBC News said there were reports that the attack in northern Bogota was aimed at former Colombian Minister of Interior and Justice Fernando Londono and that two of his bodyguards were among the dead." (05/15/12)

"European anti-piracy troops carried out their first ever air attack against Somali pirates’ equipment on land, strafing a series of skiffs with small arms fire during an early morning helicopter raid. ... The attack involved troops from several of the European navies currently patrolling off Somalia, from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Portugal. " (05/15/12)

"Iraqi officials say a suicide bomber who drove an explosives-rigged fuel truck into the front gate of an army post has killed five soldiers in the country's north. Officials at the scene in the city of Mosul said another 15 people were wounded in Tuesday's attack. Three of them were soldiers." (05/15/12)

"According to a statement released by Afghan defense ministry at least 2 Afghan national soldiers were killed following a roadside bomb explosion at eastern Paktia province and another Afghan national army soldier was killed at southern Helmand province. The statement further added another Afghan national army soldier was injured in a separate incident at western Herat province of Afghanistan." (05/15/12)

"Ukraine's High Court on Tuesday postponed the appeal of ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko against her seven year jail sentence until well after the Euro 2012 football tournament gets under way, to the fury of her defence. ... Tymoshenko's supporters have accused President Viktor Yanukovych of pursuing the case in an act of revenge against his arch political rival while the European Union has also objected that the case is politically motivated." (05/15/12)