MARGARET THATCHER: THE IRON LADY

A look back at the life and legacy of Margaret Thatcher. On becoming Britain's first female prime minister in 1979, she promised harmony – but became one of the most divisive figures in postwar politics.

AIR-POWERED CARS

Are we environmentally friendly?

After more than thirty years with the combustion engines, the French engineer Guy Negre has developed a concept of a totally non-polluting engine for use in urban areas. The different versions of MDI engines provide the most comprehensive answer to the urban pollution problem: simple, economic and clean.

In urban areas, the engine powers a five-seat vehicle with a range of approximately 200 km using 300 litters of compressed air  (300 bar) stored in either carbon or glass fiber tanks.

A compressor driven by an electric motor connected to a standard electric outlet does the recharge of the compressed air tanks. A rapid recharge, using a high-pressure air pump, is also possible.

THE WARRIORS OF THE RAINBOW - SEEDIQ BALE

The Seediq are a Taiwanese aboriginal people officially recognised as the Taiwan's 14th indigenous group in 2008.

Aboriginal Formosans lived in all districts of Taiwan until large inmigrations of Han Chinese forced the “barbarian tribes” to withdraw into the central mountains about 300 years ago. This trend towards isolation continued throughout the fifty years of Japanese colonial rule (1895-1945) when indigenous peoples still remained relatively undisturbed from Western contact.

Headhunting in Taiwan
Between 1903 and 1908 there  were seventy advancements made to the guard lines by the Japanese, but indigenous men in search of heads often came over or under the barrier at nightfall to lay waiting in ambush for unsuspecting victims. 

Headhunting, the primary ritual component of the Atayal, Paiwan, Saiset, and other groups, not only served to maintain the prosperity of society by ensuring agricultural and community fertility through the propitiation of the deities and ancestors, it also ensured that a man would meet with success in finding a wife while at the same time guaranteeing his safe passage to the afterlife. Thus, the custom was considered indispensable to life and existence itself.

Among the Atayal, success met on the headhunt was deliberately marked upon the chins of warriors with tattoos. And those headhunters who acquired more than five heads using old weapons, like a curved machete-like knife, might also have their chests tattooed or the backs of their hands. 

Wushe events

Starting from 1897, the Japanese began a road building program that brought them into the indigenous people's territory. This was seen as invasive. Contacts and conflicts escalated and some indigenous people were killed. In 1901, in a battle with the Japanese, indigenous people defeated 670 Japanese soldiers. As a result of this, in 1902, the Japanese isolated Wushe. Between 1914 and 1917, Japanese forces carried out an aggressive 'pacification' program killing many resisting people. At this time, the leader Mona Rudao, tried to resist rule by Japan, but he failed twice because his plans were divulged. At his third attempt, he organized seven out of twelve groups to fight against the Japanese forces.

THE FILM: Fiction or history?

"This type of movie, done well, can inspire whole societies with nationalist pride, reinforce the prominence of folk heroes (including, quite often, violent ones), and strengthen a people’s togetherness at the expense of foreigners."

After the film's release, an Atayal elder said that a year before Wushe Incident there was Qingshan Incident, in which Mona Rudao cooperated with Japanese and attacked his village. The elder "said Mona Rudao was not a hero as described in the movie but a brutal man who killed 26 women, children and old people in the attack." Walis Pelin, a former lawmaker, and Chiu Hung-shui, a chairman of a local organization from Nantou, confirmed the elder's story, and added that Mona Rudao was forced under the Japanese policy of "using barbarians against barbarians." However Dakis Pawan "quoted a spokeswoman for the Mona Rudao family and the chief's foster-daughter as saying that she had never heard of the Qingshan Incident."

IMDB CRITIC

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S FULL VICTORY SPEECH

At a rally on Wednesday in his hometown of Chicago, Barack Obama delivers a victory speech after being re-elected to serve a second term in the White House. President Obama reaffirms his belief in the strength the United States derives from its diversity and reiterates the need for Washington to work in a bipartisan way.                   

                   
                   
                 
Full transcript
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/07/barack-obama-speech-full-text




http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/about.html

HEALTH CARE CUTS IN SPAIN

Public anger in Spain over health care cuts por euronews-en


Spaniards protest government's health care cuts  por presstv

news about health care cuts and 2012 situation in Spain

"WE LOVE YOU". ISRAELI AND IRANIAN PEOPLE SPEAK...

QADDAFI'S DEATH (The Daily Show)

October 20th 2011      Reports of Qaddafi's death on the Daily Show...
     (9 minutes)

• Born: 7 June 1942
• Birthplace: Near Sirte, Libya
• Died: 20 October 2011 (killed in battle)
• Best Known As: Dictator of Libya, 1969-2011

Muammar Gaddafi ruled Libya as the African country's dictator for more than four decades before he was overthrown and then killed in 2011. Born a Bedouin tribesman, Muammar Gaddafi attended military college and almost immediately set about plotting to overthrow Libya's ruler, King Idris I. He succeeded in 1969, taking power in a bloodless coup. Muammar Gaddafi was 27. He took the title of colonel, and in the 1970s he seemed to have philosophical pretentions, publishing his so-called Green Book of political philosophy and leading Libya in a path of "Islamic socialism" while ruthlessly suppressing dissent. But in the 1980s he tangled with the U.S. and President Ronald Reagan; Reagan called Gaddafi "the mad dog of the Middle East" and ordered U.S. Air Force bombings in Tripoli in 1986 that killed Gaddafi's daughter. The 1988 bombing of a Pan Am passenger airplane over Lockerbie, Scotland, was blamed on Libyan terrorists, which led to international sanctions on Libya throughout the 1990s. Libya took responsibilty for the bombings in 2003, easing the sanctions and leading to better relations with the West. Throughout all, Muammar Gaddafi remained firmly in power and built a reputation as a shrewd, if eccentric, dictator. In 2011, he attacked protesters in his own country, leading an allied group of Arab and Western countries to attack Libyan air defenses and establish a "no-fly zone" over Libya. Rebel forces overran Tripoli in August of 2011. Gaddafi escaped, but two months later he was wounded in battle by rebel forces after being cornered near his home town of Sirte; he reportedly was captured and then died of his wounds shortly thereafter.
Muammar Gaddafi was born in the desert, so no specific place of birth can be listed; the BBC and other sources say it was near the town of Sirte... His son, Seif al-Islam el-Gaddafi, was widely seen as his successor before the rebellion of 2011 ended that idea... His Arabic name has been translated variously as Quaddafi, Qaddafi, and Khaddafi as well as Gaddafi and al-Gaddafi... He was famous for his all-female contingent of bodyguards, and for his habit of receiving visitors in a Bedouin-style tent.

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No'Amor Qaddafi
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