FOR MORE THAN HALF A CENTURY the eminent physicist Freeman Dyson has quietly resided in Princeton, N.J., on the wooded former farmland that is home to his employer, the Institute for Advanced Study, this countrys most rarefied community of scholars. Lately, however, since coming out of the closet as far as global warming is concerned, as Dyson sometimes puts it, there has been noise all around him. Chat rooms, Web threads, editors letter boxes and Dysons own e-mail queue resonate with a thermal current of invective in which Dyson has discovered himself variously described as a pompous twit, a blowhard, a cesspool of misinformation, an old coot riding into the sunset and, perhaps inevitably, a mad scientist. Dyson had proposed that whatever inflammations the climate was experiencing might be a good thing because carbon dioxide helps plants of all kinds grow. Then he added the caveat that if CO2 levels soared too high, they could be soothed by the mass cultivation of specially bred carbon-eating trees, whereupon the University of Chicago law professor Eric Posner looked through the thick grove of honorary degrees Dyson has been awarded there are 21 from universities like Georgetown, Princeton and Oxford and suggested that perhaps trees can also be designed so that they can give directions to lost hikers. Dysons son, George, a technology historian, says his fathers views have cooled friendships, while many others have concluded that time has cost Dyson something else. There is the suspicion that, at age 85, a great scientist of the 20th century is no longer just far out, he is far gone out of his beautiful mind.
Yeah, well, they also got mad at Galileo. A hat tip to Tigerhawk..
and yes that is Freeman Dyson of the Dyson Sphere, Project Orion and a zillon other great efforts
BITHLO, Fla. - Authorities said a man threw a Molotov cocktail at his neighbor's trailer, but the wind shifted and set fire to two cars, a pickup and a travel trailer in the man's own yard. Winds, why do they hate trailers?
The Florida Highway Patrol reported that a 51-year-old man got into a fight with his neighbor on Tuesday night and threw the makeshift gasoline bomb. "I'll teach you, mofo! Take this.....oops!"
Authorities believe alcohol was involved. No, really?
The man faces multiple charges, including arson. He was being held at the Orange County Jail.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/27/2009 14:05 ||
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...but the wind shifted and set fire to two cars, a pickup and a travel trailer in the man's own yard.
#2
Authorities said a man threw a Molotov cocktail at his neighbor's trailer, but the wind shifted and set fire to two cars, a pickup and a travel trailer in the man's own yard.
It was a Happy Hour Molotov cocktail 2-for-1 special.
Posted by: Mike ||
03/27/2009 16:43 Comments ||
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Barack Obama, heading overseas for the first time as president next week, aims to use a combination of summit protocol and campaign flash to corral support for his programs.
Facing political headwinds but with a European public still on his side, Mr. Obama will attend three high-profile international events -- the meeting of Group of 20 nations that kicks off Wednesday evening in London, a North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting at the end of the week, and a European Union-U.S. summit in Prague on April 5.
But Mr. Obama also intends to extend his efforts beyond official meetings. He will hold a town hall-style meeting at a sports arena in Strasbourg, France, European diplomatic officials said.
TOTUS just has to be so excited! He'll get some Euro current (easy on the 220V) and maybe even get a foreign language upload.
And the White House is looking for a site in Prague for the first public foreign-policy speech of Mr. Obama's presidency, according to Petr Kolar, the Czech Republic's ambassador to the U.S.
Turkish press reports say Mr. Obama's visit to Istanbul after the Prague summit will include a stop at the Hagia Sophia, a Byzantine-era church converted to a mosque under the Ottomans, and a stop at the national Sultan Ahmed Mosque.
The emphasis on including public events, a deliberate nod to Mr. Obama's successful tour through Europe as a presidential candidate, stands in contrast to the divisions that have opened on policy since he took office.
Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, who resigned on Thursday after an earlier parliamentary vote of no-confidence, this week called Mr. Obama's economic prescriptions "the road to hell." Paris and Berlin have been openly hostile to the U.S. president's calls for more fiscal stimulus. And his pleas for more troops for Afghanistan have given way to more modest calls for help in propping up Afghanistan and Pakistan's civilian governments.
A senior administration official shrugged off those concerns. "If there's a positive receptivity to the president, it does help enhance America's image abroad and moves along the agenda," the official said. "We're not afraid to be a world leader, and people want to be seen with our president. That's a good thing."
Mr. Obama spent much of his campaign lamenting his nation's diminished status and influence after eight years under President Bush. On his trip, President Obama will meet leaders from more than 40 countries and will see first hand whether the damage he spoke of is there and lasting.
"President Obama has been talking for many months, if not a year or more, about the need to restore U.S. leadership around the globe," said Reginald Dale, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Europe program. "This trip is the first chance, actually, to start doing something about that."
Regardez fixement dans ma grandeur, vous des serfs!
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
03/27/2009 11:46 Comments ||
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#2
Well, considering Barry's track record so far on protocol when dealing with foreign leaders, I anticipate much hilarity.
Make sure you get those DVDs checked out Barry...
Venezuela's foreign exchange market was thrown into turmoil Thursday after the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration obtained a court order freezing a Bank of America account handling a large percentage of ''parallel market'' business.
The parallel market emerged in 2003 after the government of President Hugo Chávez imposed exchange controls, banning the free trading of foreign currency. It consists of an indirect exchange mechanism involving the buying and selling of bonds that can be traded in either dollars or Venezuelan bolívars.
With the cash-strapped government strictly rationing dollars at the official rate of 2.15 bolívars to the dollar, the parallel market has had to take up the slack, and political and economic uncertainty had helped push the rate in recent days to around 6.0 bolívars.
Late Wednesday, funds in an ''umbrella'' account belonging to Miami-based Rosemont Finance Corporation were frozen, after a grand jury in Massachusetts indicted its principal, Rama Vyasulu, on charges of money laundering and a warrant for his arrest was issued.
According to specialist financial websites in Venezuela and the Reuters news agency, the account consisted of a large number of sub-accounts belonging to around 50 foreign exchange brokers -- 65 percent of those operating in the parallel market.
After the parallel exchange rate shot up to 7 bolívars to the dollar Thursday morning, the market closed down because of the uncertainty of the situation.
Criticism of the corruption associated with the government's handling of the exchange market has grown, particularly after it was reported that the state oil corporation, Petróleos de Venezuela, was illegally selling dollars on the parallel market.
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday blamed the global economic crisis on "white people with blue eyes" and said it was wrong that black and indigenous people should pay for white people's mistakes.
Speaking in Brasília at a joint press conference with Gordon Brown, the UK prime minister, Mr Lula da Silva told reporters: "This crisis was caused by the irrational behaviour of white people with blue eyes, who before the crisis appeared to know everything and now demonstrate that they know nothing." Not that he's racist or anything, hell no!
He added: "I do not know any black or indigenous bankers so I can only say [it is wrong] that this part of mankind which is victimised more than any other should pay for the crisis."
Mr Brown appeared to distance himself from Mr Lula da Silva's remarks. "I'm not going to attribute blame to any individuals," he said.
#1
Any time he wants to come up to Massachusetts and bring back his thousands of fellow citizens living here illegally, thereby sparing them from "the irrational behaviour of white people with blue eyes", tell him he's more then welcome to...
#3
Understand Racism Theory 101 as taught on many college campuses:
1) Racism is hatred directed towards 'the other' (minority, whatever)
2) Racism is always based on a power structure
3) Only whites have power
4) Therefore, only whites can be racist
You can have lots of fun in a classroom discussion by asking innocently, "what do you call it when a minority person hates all people of another skin tone?" It will never be defined as 'racism'.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/27/2009 14:59 Comments ||
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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vowed Wednesday that Washington will stand by Mexico in its fight against drug cartels and said the United States shared blame for the deadly unrest. Mexico welcomed the new strategy adopted by the administration as Clinton''s trip heralded more high-level visits culminating next month in a summit.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/27/2009 00:00 ||
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Well, go after the cartels' means. Cut off the real flow of drugs north and the flow of money and imagined flow of guns south with a real border. Had Madame Clinton and her fellow Senators done that years ago, Mexico indeed would have avoided the a lot of the present deadly unrest. This is what transnationalistic policies to stuff the local ballot boxes get everyone.
#2
"Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians."
Goodness! Isnt it taboo to use the term illegal when one discusses the US southern border these days? Perhaps from now on the Secretary can refrain from such vulgarity and refer to these mechanisms as Undocumented Siegecraft.
#3
The problem isn't guns really going south. That's in the left's narrative, to be used to gut the 2nd Amendment, which not grounded on fact. Even the LAT recognizes it.
Most of these weapons are being smuggled from Central American countries or by sea, eluding U.S. and Mexican monitors who are focused on the smuggling of semiautomatic and conventional weapons purchased from dealers in the U.S. border states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California
#4
Cut off the real flow of drugs north and the flow of money and imagined flow of guns south with a real border. Had Madame Clinton and her fellow Senators done that years ago, Mexico indeed would have avoided the a lot of the present deadly unrest. This is what transnationalistic policies to stuff the local ballot boxes get everyone.
Don't forget that her husband Bill was asleep at the switch for eight years in the 1990's while drugs and illegal aliens flowed freely across the border.
MOSCOW (AP) - Russia is planning to create a dedicated military force to help protect its interests in the disputed Arctic region.
Oh no! The bastids, they're going to attack Ice Station Zebra!
The presidential Security Council has released a document outlining goverment policy for the Arctic that includes creating a special group of military forces. The report was released this week and reported by Russian media on Friday.
Russia, the United States, Canada and other northern countries are trying to assert jurisdiction over the Arctic. The dispute has intensified amid growing evidence that the shrinking polar ice is opening up new shipping lanes and allowing natural resources to be tapped.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/27/2009 09:36 ||
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A JAPANESE law lecturer who bared her bottom to a judge and had to be removed from her own trial for incessant screaming has been jailed for contempt. Brisbane District Court Judge Stuart Durward sentenced Megumi Ogawa, 41, to four months' jail for her "disgusting behaviour" during her trial.
Judge Durward charged Ogawa with contempt just moments after a jury found her guilty of two counts of each of using a carriage service to harass and using a carriage service to threaten to kill Australian Federal Court officials in 2006. During the trial, the court was told Ogawa, who is a lecturer at Lismore's Southern Cross University, sent 83 emails and made 176 phone calls to Federal Court staff. During some of the contact, she made threats to kill registry staff.
One staff member said in a victim impact statement that he was so affected by stress because of her actions that he had started going bald.
Ogawa was sentenced to six months' jail for those four offences.
She refused legal representation at the start of her trial, electing instead to represent herself. However, she was repeatedly kicked out of court for screaming, making disparaging comments about the justice system and wrestling with corrective services officers. She also flashed her bottom on one occasion when being dragged into court.
Barrister Paul Smith took on the case two days ago, and today made an application that Ogawa not be present when Judge Durward handed down his sentence.
Judge Durward read out his full sentencing remarks in Ogawa's absence before the screaming lecturer was brought into the court room so she could be told her fate. Ogawa had to be carried into the dock by three corrective services officers who had to hold her down as she was sentenced.
She will be released on a good behaviour bond in September.
IBM Corp. will lay off about 5,000 employees in the United States in line with its restructuring plans directed at cutting costs.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/27/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
And meanwhile ask for stim money out of the other corner of mouth perchance? We have 5.5 Million Unemployed people right here at home. How about giving them some jobs? Business at the cost of any morality is no longer business, but corporatism. Even Jack Welch CEO of GE would agree with me there, as much of a bottomliner as he is known for . IBM does this crap time and time again, and they are doing just fine fiscally. There is more to being an American business than shareholder profit, or at least there should be. Our futures depend on still having some damn jobs here at home.
#4
Yes, but respectfully I dont think that explains the entire phenomena in IBM's case.
IBM has been playing musical factories since the 80's. hire and fire. hire and fire. They are fiscally irresponsible perhaps? In fact, some programmers I know that work there locally EXPECT to be laid off. IBM is like a binge and purge drunk prom queen, they need to reign it in a bit.
#5
IBM is famous for bringing in H1B visa workers, laying off their American engineers and programmers and then offering to rehire them as contractors for $25/hour.
Shipping traffic on the Great Lakes is down. Way down.
SAULT STE. MARIE -- Freighters usually are lined up soon after the Soo Locks open in the spring, with another brisk summer tourism and shipping season not far behind. This year the opening only served as another reminder of recession's grip on Michigan and the nation.
No commercial vessels were nearby when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened the Poe Lock at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. None arrived, in fact, until the 450-foot Canadian tanker Algo Star finally passed through 17 hours later -- around 5 p.m. -- upbound with fuel for Thunder Bay, Ontario. "I can't remember when we've had it like this," said Dennis Campbell, chief lockmaster on duty for the day. "Things are going to be slow this season, I can tell you that."
So slow is this year's start that Campbell didn't expect another freighter to navigate the locks before the Algo Star's downbound return trip Sunday.
Locks have been a key part of the waterway connecting Lake Superior to the lower Great Lakes since the first was built in 1855, bypassing rapids where water falls 23 feet from Lake Superior to the lower part of the St. Mary's. They close between Jan. 15 and March 25 for maintenance work while the waterways are jammed with ice.
The work to get the locks ready this year will be featured on an episode of the popular cable program "Dirty Jobs." Host Mike Rowe helped workers grease huge gears, make repairs and clean up after winter. The episode is scheduled to air in September.
The March 25 reopening of the locks each year clears the way for massive freighters to ply the Great Lakes after three months in layup. An average of 10,000 vessels and 80-90 million tons of freight usually pass through the locks before winter lockdown. Shippers expect that to be down significantly this year.
The industry is hard-hit by the economic doldrums. Demand for such staples as limestone, iron ore and coal plummeted in the second half of 2008.
#1
I was looking for some electrical wire online & found this startling notice at a website for one supplier:
"To our valued customers:
The current economic situation has damaged the scheduled manufacturer chain, in that mill after mill has cut back on personnel and work days and extended shipping schedules from 2 to 4 weeks delivery to as many as 10 to 12 weeks. Some major links in the chain have shut down temporarily and some have closed until further notice. We are feeling the effects of this situation on an increasing number of our products, and we are being forced to delay shipping on an increasing number of orders. We are also seeking alternate suppliers for some items where possible. We apologize for any delays."
Posted by: no mo uro ||
03/27/2009 6:31 Comments ||
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Ross Perot's "giant sucking sound" finally sucked itself dry? We can no longer get products from China and no one dares attempt a start-up under the Barry administration. Guess we'll be doing without for a spell.
#5
perfect time in history to bring'em all home...we have the capacity and the talent to produce the majority of what we need...screw the world
I for one will pay 15,20,30 dollars for a toaster if it is made in the US...everything is going up regardless of of where it's made.
The baltic dry index has been scary and the chain is def limping if not broken...bring it home
Posted by: dan ||
03/27/2009 8:29 Comments ||
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Anyone crossing into Germany or France beginning on Friday should not forget their passport. Border controls have been reinstated ahead of next week's NATO summit.
Such checks have long been done away with within the Schengen area which includes 25 European countries but police will be checking identification for a short while prior to the April 3 and 4 summit.
Travellers will also be subject to border controls at ports. Officers will attempt to get people back on their way as quickly as possible, though they cant rule out long waits.
Those going into the Czech Republic wont be bothered, head of the Rosenheim police force Ernst Peter told the Bavarian daily Die Abendzeitung. Our main focus is those travelling into Germany and France.
Police will check the border traffic in samples and ask that all travellers carry their passports until April 5.
The checks aim to stop the travel of those who could be dangerous to the meetings in Germany and France, Peter said.
A fuel-gauge malfunction was partly to blame but prosecutors also said the pilot succumbed to panic, praying out loud instead of following emergency procedures
PALERMO (Rooters) - A Tunisian pilot who paused to pray instead of taking emergency measures before crash-landing his plane, killing 16 people, has been sentenced to 10 years in jail by an Italian court along with his co-pilot. The 2005 crash at sea off Sicily left survivors swimming for their lives, some clinging to a piece of the fuselage that remained floating after the ATR turbo-prop aircraft splintered upon impact.
A fuel-gauge malfunction was partly to blame but prosecutors also said the pilot succumbed to panic, praying out loud instead of following emergency procedures and then opting to crash-land the plane instead trying to reach a nearby airport.
Another five employees of Tuninter, a subsidiary of Tunisair, were sentenced to between eight and nine years in jail by the court, in a verdict handed down on Monday. The seven accused, who were not in court, will not spend time in jail until the appeals process has been exhausted.
President Abdullah Gul won 1 Turkish Lira from main opposition Republican Peoplés Party (Chp) Izmir deputy, Mrs. Canan Aritman, as compensation for saying the president is of Armenian origin, Hurriyet daily reports. Aritman said Gul was supporting a campaign launched by a group of Turkish intellectuals to apologize to Armenians for mass killings in 1915 because he was favoring "the ethnic origins of his mother". "Look into Gul's ethnic origin from his mother's side, and you will see", Aritman had declared.
Aritman said Gul had Armenian roots and this is the reason why he did not openly reject the apology campaign. "She tainted his statesman image, which (Gul) fulfills with great responsibility and rigor, through false statements on his mother's ethnic origin", Gul's lawyer, Omer Kucukozcan, said.
Gul had responded earlier saying his family is 100% Turk and Muslim, which Aritman countered by demanding a DNA test.
To raise awareness for the endangered species, a design company has come up with a life-vest for displaced polar bears. From Inhabitat.com, part of the Guardian Environment Network
As the climate crisis mounts and Arctic icebergs slip away, polar bears are suffering starvation, population declines, and drowning as they must swim further and further to find food. Seeking to raise awareness for the endangered species' plight, ADDI Concepts has taken wildlife preservation literally by designing a life-vest for displaced polar bears struggling to stay afloat as their homes sink into the sea.
Polar bears are facing a bleak future as Arctic icebergs continue to melt and ancient shelfs of ice collapse. The species inhabits only the Arctic Ocean and its surrounding areas, and they and can hunt consistently only from sea ice.
ADDI Concepts conceived of their polar bear life jackets not as a solution for the endangered species, but as a means to increase awareness about global warming and inspire action. Their portfolio states: "A dog who lives most of its days carried around in an expensive handbag doesn't need a camouflage hoodie and a small cap over its ears. There are a few other [creatures] who we should give at least the same attention"
The design group has also conceived of a bulletproof vest for Bengal tigers, whose numbers have decreased by 95% since 1910 due to illegal hunting.
#1
That a) Polar bear numbers are on the increace, b) Polar bears can _swim_, and c) Polar Bears will often swim great distances, not really in search of ice, but in search of PREY, seems to have escaped them.
Answer: They can swim for up yo 38 km without coming up for a breath.
While in the water they paddle with their front feet, and use the hind feet as rudders. They can swim at a speeds of 4-6 mph and paddle non-stop for 100 miles. Have been seen swimming several hundred miles from the nearest ice or land. While swimming, they keep their eyes open, their nostrils shut and their ears flattened to their heads. Polar bears can stay under up to 2 minutes. They are also capable of leaping out of the water 7'-8' feet from a swimming start. They have been seen catching seals that way.
Methinks the Guardian Environment Network is full of the, nhow you say, shit?
#7
It was quite good, 3dc. My undying gratitude to Alaska Paul.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/27/2009 18:59 Comments ||
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#8
Wonder no more, Amerika, its official - your Holiday fruity Fruitcakes are indeed good enuff to be used as life rafts/preservers, even for non-humans!
#4
Another lost transnationalist, a brilliant mind torn between cultures and dedicated to the destruction of traditional America. As it applies to the keeping of the rule of law, he claims to be searching for the key to "internal restraint" but ignores religous foundations of our own nation's success. So much in common with Barry. YouTube
Indian-American Bobby Jindal, rising star of the Republicans, has asked his partymen to end their "navel gazing" over the 2008 election debacle and don the role as the opposition to President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party.
"Let's agree on this tonight, the time for talking about the past is now over," Mr. Jindal (37), charismatic Governor of Louisiana, told 1,200 people attending a House GOP fundraiser here on Wednesday; same time when Mr. Obama was addressing his second post-election press conference at the White House.
"It has been healthy for Republicans to look in the mirror. It has been healthy for us to realise and admit the mistakes of the past. We have done that quite a bit. I personally have done that quite a bit since the election last fall. It's now been close to five months since the last election," he said at the $ 2,500-per-plate dinner.
The Republican leader is widely considered a potential 2012 Grand Old Party (GOP) presidential candidate.Mr. Jindal credited his former colleagues for standing united in opposing Mr. Obama's policies. "Thanks primarily to the Republicans in the House of Representatives, the Republican Party has once again decided to be the conservative party in this country," said Mr. Jindal. Mr. Jindal, who served two terms in the U.S. House, returned to Washington to help his former colleagues raise more than $6 million for the 2010 midterm elections. So far, Mr. Jindal has sidestepped questions about his contesting the 2012 elections. But on Wednesday he seemed to be laying the groundwork in case he eventually decides the political climate is right, CNN reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/27/2009 00:00 ||
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I like you Bobby, you must not be afraid of power. Use it.
#3
As a life-long Republican, I would have serious problems voting for someone who helped inject creationist crap into the curriculm of LA.
Then you (and the rest of us Republicans) can stay in the wilderness. Conservatives are going to have to let go of some things if they want to be back in control. Leave abortion and religious issues way back on the back burner until we have actually regained a majority.
There are a lot of folks (Independents & Conservative Dems) that would gladly help us rid ourselves of the Marxists, but the whole anti-abortion and creation vs. evolution thing really turns them off. It's a deal killer...so here we are, and the country is suffering for it.
#4
As a life-long Republican, I would have serious problems voting for someone who helped inject creationist crap into the curriculm of LA.
Then you (and the rest of us Republicans) can stay in the wilderness. Conservatives are going to have to let go of some things if they want to be back in control. Leave abortion and religious issues way back on the back burner until we have actually regained a majority.
There are a lot of folks (Independents & Conservative Dems) that would gladly help us rid ourselves of the Marxists, but the whole anti-abortion and creation vs. evolution thing really turns them off. It's a deal killer...so here we are, and the country is suffering for it.
#5
As a life-long Republican, I would have serious problems voting for someone who helped inject creationist crap into the curriculm of LA.
Then you (and the rest of us Republicans) can stay in the wilderness. Conservatives are going to have to let go of some things if they want to be back in control. Leave abortion and religious issues way back on the back burner until we have actually regained a majority.
There are a lot of folks (Independents & Conservative Dems) that would gladly help us rid ourselves of the Commies, but the whole anti-abortion and creation vs. ev0lution thing really turns them off. It's a deal killer...so here we are, and the country is suffering for it.
Albany, hear this: Western New York is mad as hell and we're not gonna to take it any more.
The Western New York Tea Party kicks off at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Terminus of the Erie Canal. The guest list includes any and all residents who've had enough of Albany's "insanity."
Jean Kiene of Lockport plans on attending with "carful" of like-minded neighbors. They already have their tea bags, property tax bills and lists of grievances about state government packed for the trip. Tea Party organizer Rus Thompson wants 'em all thrown in a trash can and delivered to Gov. David Paterson personally.
"This state is in shambles. We're all saying goodbye to our kids. ... Imagine the faces of the politicians in Albany if they saw thousands of people on TV waving tea bags and signs. Do you think they'd take notice?" he said.
Thompson, who's known for relentless protest of Thruway tolls at Grand Island, is organizing Western New York Tea Party as an offshoot of the tea parties erupting nationwide to protest the "stimulus" legislation recently approved by Congress and President Obama. The target of the protest is New York state.
A new state budget is due April 1, and Thompson suggested it's more important this year than ever that Western New Yorkers pay attention to what's going on. Considering the way Albany really works, he said, they're on their own trying to fight higher taxes and ever-more bloated government.
Now-quashed budget proposals floated by the Legislative majority expose the chasm between everyday people and their government: Instead of measures to downsize bureaucracy and the state's vast reach, it backed new taxes on soda pop and bowling, health insurance and health club memberships, even a $10 charge to file paper income tax returns.
Paterson already took most of those off the table, but he also turned to "sweeps" of cash from quasi-independent public agencies like New York Power Authority -- which then turned around and promptly proposed a hydropower rate increase that would have hit millions of upstate residents had it not been derailed this week by massive public outcry.
NYPA insisted state law, not the cash sweep, drove talk of a rate hike. The episode merely served to make taxpayers angrier than they already were.
"The governor had his highest (popularity poll) ratings when he talked about the need for everybody to bite the bullet. Now look where he is," Thompson said. "It turns out everybody is biting the bullet except the state. They're not looking inward at all, they're just looking to taxes to increase revenue. The status quo makes money off the way things are."
Paterson, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, all Democrats from New York City, exert nearly complete control over the Legislature. Consequently, Thompson said, "we have no representation in Western New York any more. Members of the minority (party) are shut out completely; our Democratic legislators go along (with downstate preferences) blindly, because the party will punish them if they don't.
"We have to break down that power structure. ... It's not a party thing, we want our representation. Our birthright was a constitutional republic, and we don't have it."
The tea party will feature speakers including regionalism advocate Kevin Gaughan, WBEN-AM show host Kathy Weppner and other reform-government activists.
Not welcome at the microphone, according to Thompson, are elected representatives of government at any level, from either side of the aisle. It's time the politicians stepped off to the side and listened, he said.
According to Thompson, party-goers are expected from as far away as Rochester and Syracuse.
The act of trashing tea bags and tax bills may seem melodramatic, but if it's the lure that draws people together to protest the state of their state, Kiene says it's just right.
"If I sat home and watched this on TV, I'd say 'shame on me.' I really feel as though every voice counts," she said. "If a number of people join together, it makes for an important statement: Enough is enough. Our government leaders have to do something different. ... Any elected leader who thinks raising taxes is the answer should be removed from office."
The Terminus at the Erie Canal is next to the Naval and Military Park, behind the old Memorial Auditorium.
For more information about the tea party and directions to the Terminus, visit Thompson's Web site.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/27/2009 00:00 ||
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San Antonio's Tea Party is set for April 15th. Website is here, and a planning meeting set for Sunday afternoon - me, I am coordinating news releases for it. The guy who kicked it all off is another military veteran and San Antonio blogger. The website for it is here. I think this is going to be huge. I have talked to some of my neighbors, who are nice retired ladies... and they are interesting in turning out. A lot of people who had never before thought of going to a protest are going to make an exception for this one. I don't believe the legacy media will be able to ignore them, after the 15th.
#3
Googling tea parties in my state, I get a mixed bag. The site that looks most likely isn't responding, unfortunately. Another is actually protesting cigarette taxes; snother's registration sheet is full of obscenities. This last is a craiglist item talking about a march on the state capital on Tax Day. And other sites are party supply stores. Interesting mix.
There was a time when New England sent lots of Republicans to Washington. These were fiscally conservative but socially liberal "Rockefeller Republicans," also found in the Northwest, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states. As the party turned socially conservative and fiscally reckless, many Yankees departed. The trend culminated in the George W. Bush administration, which seemed to stand for everything New Englanders didn't.
The 2008 election felled the region's last surviving GOP House member, Connecticut's Christopher Shays. The six states now send only three Republicans to the U.S. Senate. They are New Hampshire's Judd Gregg, who will not run again in 2010, and the two Mainers, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, whom party hotheads dismiss as irritating curiosities.
But green Republican shoots are emerging from the spring muck. The most conspicuous one involves the falling fortunes of embattled Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd, up for re-election next year. A new poll has the once seemingly invincible Democrat tied with former Congressman Rep. Rob Simmons, a Republican from eastern Connecticut.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
03/27/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"These were fiscally conservative but socially liberal"
IOW, leftists who don't like high taxes. See Andrew Sullivan.
Look, I find some of the more extreme social conservatives intensely annoying, but without some of the social stuff, it isn't real conservatism, folks.
(Just as I find those like Huckabee who are driven purely by bible thumping but are fully open to big-government collectivsm to be missing the point.)
Small government and social restraint/social norming feed off of each other in a positive way. Small government societies tend to be ones where social conservatism holds sway, because it is necessary in that environment. And social conservatism (within reason) favors a small government approach.
Both are necessary for strong small "l" libertarianisn and small "c" conservatism to flourish.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
03/27/2009 6:29 Comments ||
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About 10,000 red-shirted protesters rallied from Sanam Luang to the Government House in Bangkok on Thursday, demanding Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva resign.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/27/2009 00:00 ||
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THAILAND will repatriate thousands of ethnic Hmong to Laos, officials said on Thursday, despite concerns that the asylum-seekers will face political persecution.
The first group of 350 will be repatriated on Thursday, said Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongpakee. He said they would go voluntarily, but a Hmong advocate disputed that claim.
An agreement was reached to repatriate a total of about 5,000 Hmong tribal people when Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya met with his Laotian counterpart Tuesday during a visit to the neighboring country, Thani said.
The Hmong are currently living in Huay Nam Khao village in Phetchabun province, 300 kilometres north of Bangkok. Laos has previously denied they are Laotian, describing them as Thailand's problem.
The refugees say they will be persecuted by Laos' communist government if they return because of their Vietnam War-era ties with the United States. Many Hmong fought under CIA advisers during a so-called 'secret war' against communists in Laos. Thailand has repeatedly asserted that the Hmong are not legitimate refugees and have entered Thailand illegally.
A Chicago-based Hmong advocate, Joe Davy, said some of those to be returned on Thursday were going against their will. 'At least five heads of households were reportedly coerced into returning,' he said in a statement. The Thai Foreign Ministry denied the allegation.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has repeatedly expressed concern about the fate of the asylum seekers, noting they have been denied access to the agency to determine their reasons for fleeing.
Mr Kasit said Thailand has offered to pay 1.5 million baht (S$64,522) to Laos to help build shelters for those who return.
A separate group of 153 Hmong asylum seekers who have UN-certified refugee status will be allowed to leave for third countries willing to accept them, Kasit said. They are currently being held at an immigration detention center in Nong Khai province, 500 kilometres northeast of Bangkok, where they have been since the end of 2006.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/27/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
The repatriated Hmong will no doubt be exterminated by the Laos commies. See Mongnards in Vietnam and Cambodia for the greatest unknown genocide occuring today.
Earlier this month, an expedition fertilized 300 square kilometers of the Atlantic Ocean with six metric tons of dissolved iron. This triggered a bloom of phytoplankton, which doubled their biomass within two weeks by taking in carbon dioxide from the seawater. The dead phytoplankton were then expected to sink to the ocean bed, dragging carbon along with them. Instead, the experiment turned into an example of how the food chain works, as the bloom was eaten by a swarm of hungry copepods. The huge swarm of copepods were in turn eaten by larger crustaceans called amphipods, which are often eaten by squid and whales. "I think we are seeing the last gasps of ocean iron fertilization as a carbon storage strategy," says Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution at Stanford University. While the experiment failed to show ocean fertilization as a viable carbon storage strategy, it has pushed the old "My dog ate my homework" excuse to an unprecedented level.
#1
Actually, I think it proved that the experiment worked better than expected. That is, while the carbon didn't sink to the ocean floor, it was not only sequestered in -desirable- higher forms of life, such as whales, but by feeding them, they will likely make more whales, that will eat a lot more of these crustaceans. And whales live a long time.
Not the "green revolution" they had in mind perhaps?
SPOKANE, Wash. -- The quest for squeaky-clean dishes has turned some law-abiding people in Spokane into dishwater-detergent smugglers. They are bringing Cascade or Electrasol in from out of state because the eco-friendly varieties required under Washington state law don't work as well. Spokane County became the launch pad last July for the nation's strictest ban on dishwasher detergent made with phosphates, a measure aimed at reducing water pollution. The ban will be expanded statewide in July 2010, the same time similar laws take effect in several other states. But it's not easy to get sparkling dishes when you go green. So...screw em!
Many people were shocked to find that products like Seventh Generation, Ecover and Trader Joe's left their dishes encrusted with food, smeared with grease and too gross to use without rewashing them by hand. The culprit was hard water, which is mineral-rich and resistant to soap. As a result, there has been a quiet rush of Spokane-area shoppers heading east on Interstate 90 into Idaho in search of old-school suds. Pssst...Cascade. Who needs Cascade? Good deal...good deal. "Say buddy, you got proof of Idaho residency for that box of Cascade?" Continued on Page 49
#1
Phosphates are a peculiar problem. They are not harmful for people to drink, but they act as fertilizer for microorganisms. This means that swimming pools need more chlorine, ponds and lakes tend to have problems with algae
Ironically, a good alternative to using *any* dish washing detergent is a strange one: using "degassed" water.
"Detergent-free cleaning is being developed by researchers in Australia. Oil and grease can be washed away with nothing but pure water, they say.
Oily dirt does not normally dissolve in water. But Richard Pashley and colleagues at the Australian National University in Canberra have shown that water is much better at dispersing oily substances if any air dissolved in it is removed, in a process called degassing.
Water can be degassed cheaply and efficiently by pumping it through a porous membrane, the researchers say, and then sprayed on to surfaces and fabrics.
Normal water contains tiny nitrogen and oxygen bubbles. These accumulate on the surface of water-repellent, or hydrophobic, materials that are in contact with the water.
This layer of gas molecules causes larger bubbles to form between hydrophobic surfaces. And the surface tension of any bubble bridging two surfaces pulls the particles together.
In effect, air bubbles act like a glue that prevents oily substances from breaking up. This makes it harder for an oil droplet to detach from a greasy stain and become dispersed in water. But if the tiny bubbles are removed, that happens more easily.
Conventional detergents surround grease droplets with a layer of detergent molecules, giving them a water-soluble coating.
The team removes gas from water samples using several cycles of freezing and vacuum pumping. But they say that "industrially, other methods may be more appropriate", such as passing the water through a membrane made from hydrophobic material, which would absorb dissolved gas.
Degassed water reabsorbs gases when exposed to the air, but the researchers say that this would happen so slowly that it would not harm the cleaning power of freshly degassed water sprayed on dirty material. In fact, as air seeps into the used water, it could cause dirt particles in the water to stick together, making them easy to filter out."
#2
Damned good thing I know how to make lye soap. Imma gonna go into a dual buisiness. Selling incandescent light bulbs and Cascade on the Black Market. I'll make Gazillions!
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/27/2009 19:30 Comments ||
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#4
FWIW I used to have a pool and from my junior scientist studies in dealing with "crisp and clear" pool water I learned a few things.
First off is that algae feeds on phosphates.
When you kill off algae, the dead algae becomes - phosphates. (bad)
Second, if not chlorinated properly, new algae eats dead algae (phosphates)and grows. (ugly)
Third, phosphates can be removed by using polymers to coagulate them and then trap them in the filter for backwashing later to fertilize the yard with. This result in using less chlorine. (good)
Now I also recall an ongoing study to use algae as a means to creating a bio-fuel in the form of algae farms and processing centers at the same site. A nice, easy and plentiful renewable energy source without using food crops as a source.
With that being said, I propose creating more phosphates, harvest them in waste water treatment plant and use them to accelerate the growth of algae for a renewable fuel source. Even the "greenies" in Spokane should be able to feel better about the use of phosphates in this manner.
I know I feel better now that I've solved their problem and helped out with the energy issues as well. And hopefully helped you pool owners with keeping your pool "crisp and clear"
#5
Consumer Reports a couple years back found the 'new' greener washing machine not only failed to clean as well as the previous non-green machines they actually made the wash dirtier in some cases. One of those unique instances that it would be more effective to repair rather than replace the old machine.
#6
The ban is being phased in, starting with Spokane County. "It's nice to be on the cutting edge," Spokane resident Ken Beck, an opponent of the ban, said sarcastically.
And how stupid was that? Shopping in Idaho from Spokane is almost like driving across town. Good for Idaho though.
Zeituni Onyango, aunt of President Obama and illegal immigrant from Kenya, is scheduled for a deportation hearing on April 1. Since being ordered deported in 2004, Onyango has resided in the U.S. illegally; living five years in Boston's taxpayer-funded public housing. This will be the third effort by the 56 year-old to avoid deportation. Onyango came to the U.S. in 2002, seeking political asylum from the violence in Kenya.
President Obama stated that he hasnt been involved in the matter and that it should be resolved the same way as any other case. Some critics of the President see this issue as a test of his duty to enforce laws concerning immigration. Regarding Onyango living in Boston public housing, critics also point out that there are countless legal immigrants and citizens on waiting lists for the accommodations.
Executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, Mark Krikorian, stated that if Obamas aunt is finally deported, it could raise the presidents credibility enormously on immigration enforcement."
#1
The timing is ironic. I see no reason for Obama to treat auntie any diferently than his mother and close friends. Another one coming under the bus. Legally, the decesion seems clear, though how often is the law followed through on in imigration cases like this?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
03/27/2009 5:03 Comments ||
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#2
Onyango came to the U.S. in 2002, seeking political asylum from the violence in Kenya.
That's kind of amusing, given that her (Muslim) tribe was doing the slaughtering. Maybe the sight of unclean infidel blood disturbed her.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
BITHLO, Fla. - Authorities said a man threw a Molotov cocktail at his neighbor's trailer, but the wind shifted and set fire to two cars, a pickup and a travel trailer in the man's own yard. 
