He was refused a plane ticket to Australia on Monday as he didn't have a valid credit card. So, an angry Neil Melly, 31, stripped naked, sprinted across the tarmac and climbed into the wheel well of a moving jumbo jet yesterday at the Los Angeles Airport. Pilots of the Qantas Airways flight stopped the plane and the Canadian was coaxed out. He was arrested for trespassing, said airport spokesman, Ms Nancy Castles. She said: 'This was an extremely dangerous thing for him to do. If he had continued to cling in there with the aircraft taking off at over 320kmph, he might have fallen out and could have been sucked up by an engine. 'If he had survived that and was in the wheel well when the landing gear was retracted, he could have been crushed by the mechanism. And if not he very likely would have frozen to death during the 15 1/2 hour flight at 9,150m while wearing no clothes.'
The lack of oxygen would have killed him first.
Mr Melly had been reported missing to the Canadian police and is a nut was suffering from a manic-depressive illness, she said.
Maybe he was upset about Bush winning?
It wasn't an easy run for Mr Melly. He had managed to climb over an airport fence, topped by three strands of barbed wire, without injury and was spotted by a worker 'running naked, full-speed' towards the plane.
Missed the Darwin Award by that much.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/04/2004 11:31:18 AM ||
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#3
It's fairly common to engage in urination and defecation whilst asleep. I've done the former (I'll spare you the details, but suffice to say it involved a short walk, though my sleeping self isn't good with opening bedroom doors). A friend of mine woke his girlfriends' parents on his first night at their house when they found him squatting at the end of their bed and preparing to evacuate some solids, still utterly asleep. Alcohol's often a factor, but not always. You know, when you've really gotta go, your body doesn't always wait till you've woken up.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/04/2004 2:28:28 AM ||
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Hummm, can't answer any of theses, told you my general culture was no good; btw, I hope #6 is not french (as a thanks for the palme d'or of Cannes)! I'm going to check the results.
#3
What language will Quentin Tarantino’s next film be shot in?
Mandarin, he got so stoked doing "Kill Bill" he's filming a Kung Fu epic in Chinese with subtitles. Then he plans to release it dubbed into English, bad english slightly out of sync like the old Kung Fu flicks. Why, yes, I do like Tarantino.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/04/2004 8:52 Comments ||
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Here's two to make rantburgers feel better - What did Rantissi see just before he saw his 72 Virgins?
The R. Kelly and Jay-Z bunfight is getting nastier. Kelly is now suing Jay-Z for $75 million for dumping him from their Best of Both Worlds tour. Kelly claims he was sabotaged on the tour. His suit claims Jay-Z's lighting director deliberately sabotaged him in Chicago and Cincinnati forcing him to miss a show and he says technical problems during his set in St Louis were also the fault of Jay-Z's crew. The lawsuit was filed in New York two days after Kelly was dumped from the tour.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/04/2004 2:10:03 AM ||
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Why don't they do us all a favor and shoot each other like Biggie and Tupac...
#3
Fun part was when R. Kelly raced off stage of last concert, claiming he saw guns in the audience. He was then pepper-sprayed by Jay-Z's bodyguard...
Islamofascists see stuff like this and feel confirmed about American decadence...
#4
c'mon guys, you know Kerry was keepin' an ear to da street to get the peeps on what deez dope ass mutha fuckas wuz up to so he could be down wit dat........sorry 8 mile flashbacks.....
In all honesty, I'm a big fan of the blues and mo-town, to go from that pure form of expression & actual talent to the materialism of rap only proves to me that black music is in a tail spin. Hip-hop oriented music for the most part is a bunch of nonsensical mysognistic chest-thumping self congratulatory oral masturbation. In otherwords I think it's boring and pretty much sucks ass. These guys and that loser P-Diddy (grown man calling himself that, lol) make a lot of cash off kids by glamorizing violence, drugs, and the disrespect of women...pathetic.
Posted by: Hillary-BinLaden in 08 ||
11/04/2004 01:11 ||
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For Auction, Item number 3850553305 Michael Moore's Relevance
After the Kerry/Edwards election failure tuesday, Michael Moore's relevance is one of the rarest items available on E-Bay today. This auction is for whatever relevance Mr. Moore has seven days from now. I do not anticipate there will be much left, but there just might be enough to give to the highest bidder. I am positive that once his relevance is gone seven days from now there will be no more to be found anywhere, at any price. Good Luck in your bidding..........
Q: Do we get the entire Michael Moore? And if so, how much will shipping be.. I'd imagine quite alot because of the weight of the package. answered on: Nov-03-04
A: The entire Michael Moore would cost way too much to ship. I am selling his relevance because it is the 2nd smallest part of him....
Told your neighbours and friends that you would move to Canada if George W. Bush won?
I have the answer.
I am willing to trade one Canadian Citizenship plus job for one US Citizenship with job. I live on sunny, mild Vancouver Island (minor earthquakes, but the trees are nice!). No pictures available, just check out tourism websites for British Columbia and Vancouver Island. "
#3
My wife is from Vancouver and I have been fighting a rearguard action to avoid moving there for 15 years. If the serial killers don't get you, the super-subduction quake will.
#7
Jeez, imagine my disapointment, I saw the headline and figured it would have been a half eaten sandwich. But then it occured to me it what kind of fearless lunatic would try to snatch chow out of the gaping maw of that treasonous tub of lard?
NHS walk-in clinics are to be placed in train stations to enable commuters to see GPs on their way to work. Seven new centres are being set up in or around train and Tube stations in London, Newcastle, Manchester and Leeds at a cost of £25m by next spring. Some 57 NHS walk-in centres are already open in high streets across the country but the only medical centres in train stations are private at the moment. Doctors' groups have expressed concern about the services they will offer. The centres will be open from 7am to 7pm and while they will be predominantly staffed by nurses, GPs will be on hand during the busiest periods. Patients will not need an appointment to be seen. It is estimated that more than 30,000 patients a year will be treated in the centres, with more sites possible in other cities if the clinics are a success.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/04/2004 2:16:43 AM ||
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The United States has recognized the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia as "Macedonia," the name strongly disputed by Greece for the past 13 years, a senior Macedonian government official said on Thursday. "Yes they have recognized Macedonia by its constitutional name," he told Reuters in Skopje, on condition of anonymity. The decision was the first major policy move to be announced by Washington following the re-election of President Bush on Wednesday, and it was greeted with joy in Macedonia. "It's a huge gesture, the first political gesture made by Bush after his victory, which is bizarre, but however bizarre we welcome it," said Ljubomir Frckovski, an ex-foreign minister.
You're very welcome
But the move sparked outrage in NATO ally Greece, where broadcasters broke into normal programing with the news and Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis called in U.S. Ambassador Thomas Miller to lodge a formal protest. "Apart from our protest, I noted the many negative effects that this unilateral U.S. decision will have," Molyviatis said.
Let me look around, nope, don't see any.
Greece blockaded the Macedonian border for 18 months until October 1995, cutting off trade with its northern neighbor until an agreement to change the Macedonian flag and alter the constitution thawed their relations. But the name, the appellation for northern Greece down through the millennia, remains one of the most emotive issues in Greek foreign policy because of its historic association with Alexander the Great. Yet it is equally cherished in Macedonia. "This is a question of identity, not just the name," said Macedonia's Frckovski. Macedonians are a Slav people whose language is similar to that of their Bulgarian and Serbian neighbors, but who claim they are also descendants of Alexander the Great. Athens opposed adoption of the name since the republic of two million won independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Until now it had the support of all NATO allies, except Turkey, for refusing recognition. They refer to it in all documents by the acronym FYROM, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Washington's move short-circuited deliberations by the United Nations, which has been mediating talks between Skopje and Athens to find a mutually acceptable name.
Bahahahahahaha!!! A two-for bitch slap!
But the gesture to Macedonian nationhood may defuse tension that is building in Macedonia ahead of a nationwide referendum on Sunday to overturn a law giving the ethnic Albanian minority more local autonomy. This law is backed by NATO allies and the European Union, who would like to see the nationalist-inspired referendum fail. Macedonia is also a member of the U.S.-led military alliance in Iraq and was recently visited by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for a medal award ceremony. The vast majority of Greeks, by contrast, opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Cause, meet effect.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/04/2004 10:44:36 AM ||
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"Macedonia is also a member of the U.S.-led military alliance in Iraq and was recently visited by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for a medal award ceremony. The vast majority of Greeks, by contrast, opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq."
There's your answer...actions have consequences.
Pappy - you stirrer! (tut tut tut)
mojo, I think you mean Fred, not Frank...
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
11/04/2004 22:34 Comments ||
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And in the second act after the election, the Bush administration now recognizes the Former Republic of Greece as Lesbos.
Posted by: C. Powell ||
11/04/2004 22:40 Comments ||
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#20
Whenever I see the phrase "NATO ally" in the news I know that what follows is a story of seething or betrayal or both.
Unbelievable...
Turkey's most adored belly dancer has appealed to the authorities for protection after threats from her former lover, the country's best-known balladeer. Onur Cakmak, whose stage name is Asena ("She Wolf") filed a lawsuit against Ibrahim Tatlises in Istanbul saying she feared for her life. "I will take the matter to the prime minister if have to," she said. Tatlises said their relationship could end only "if I want it to", that he could track down Asena "in 12 hours to take what action is necessary", and that "she is my honour". That word has chilling resonance in a country where scores of women die every year in so-called honour killings for disgracing their families through liaisons with men.
"This man [Tatlises] is synonymous with violence and crime," said Ayse Kismet, a woman activist, referring to the Kurdish singer's reputation for beating wives and lovers and his repeated detentions in connection with alleged possession of arms and drugs. "Tatlises is the prototypical Turkish man," said Hidayet Tuksal, another feminist. "Sadly we live in a society where machismo is revered and beating your wife is seen by men and women alike as a sign that he cares." But as Turkey increases efforts to join the European Union, the nation's patriarchal laws and mentality are beginning to change. Legislation scrapping reduced sentences for honour crimes was approved by the Turkish parliament last month among other improvements to women's rights.
Tatlises is Turkey's best-known performer of Arabesque, mawkish ballads that draw heavily on Arabic popular music. Lyrics typically extol the virtues of dying young "so that your corpse may be handsome" and are punctuated by drawn out wailing noises. Extending to the Arab world and former Soviet Central Asia, Tatlises's immense popularity enabled him to build a multi-million pound empire, that includes a chain of pizza parlours and a bus company.
Last year Asena was shot in the leg by a youth who said he was acting "to avenge" an undisclosed "wrong" against Tatlises. In February Asena said she was breaking the relationship off for good. It was the first time that Tatlises had been publicly dumped by a woman. "Even if I should die of hunger" Asena said this week, "I will never work or come together with Tatlises ever again."
Posted by: Bulldog ||
11/04/2004 9:35:18 AM ||
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The best thing she could do right now is to come out with a counter threat. Depending on which would work better, it should be "A REAL man should kill another man who threatens a woman"; or, "I would feel very close to any man who would cut the throat of this villain"; or "I will pay good money to anyone who will kill this monster, who threatens to kill me."
This would not only seriously threaten the a-hole, but send a message both to other Turkish women and to their parliament that murder is, and should be, repaid with murder, if the government refuses to intervene.
Well to tell the truth he did not beat her (at least not known) but threaded her not to leave him (such a yummy girl I can understand the feelings to miss her).
But I agree with all of you to exterminate al the men who can beat such yummy girls :)
Posted by: Murat ||
11/04/2004 11:31 Comments ||
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What's the word I'm looking for...?
Oh, yes: Hrowf! Hrowf!
Posted by: Fred ||
11/04/2004 21:17 Comments ||
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The fashion conscious women of Roman Britain used a tin-based foundation to get a pale and appealing look. The evidence comes from a sealed pot of ointment found at an archaeological dig in Southwark, south London, last year. Bristol University scientists analysed the cream and found it to be made from animal fat, starch and tin oxide. They tell Nature magazine that their own version of this second century AD cosmetic leaves a smooth, powdery texture when rubbed into the skin.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/04/2004 2:20:47 AM ||
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#2
They had a lot of surprising stuff, most of it with no explanation left of how they developed it.
Potato jam. Condoms. The Pantheon, straight roads, aqueducts, tunnels, and shafts. There is no record of how and when their engineers evolved their designs to near perfection.
Straight roads were achieved using quite simple triangluation techniques, essentially the same as Victorian cartographers employed. Adam Hart-Davis said so.
#7
We know a lot of what went wrong, though What I find fascinating is how in less than a generation (and perhaps much less time) all the Roman technologies - pottery, iron working, building, plumbing, etc. just dissapeared from Britain around 425 AD and didn't reappear for over 500 years.
BTW, I recall the Romans used animal intensines as condoms.
#8
This discussion reminds me of the claim that the ancient Egyptians must have had unknown techniques to be able to polish large stones to incredible flatness. It's very simple really: you put the roughly flat side up, pour water on the top, and instruct your slave to polish everywhere the water doesn't puddle.
Posted by: Tom ||
11/04/2004 8:13 Comments ||
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There is more to Roman roads than the fact that they were rather straight. I didn't mean the adjective to limit the scope of their achievement to that aspect.
I'm not claiming the Romans had unknown, magical techniques. I'm saying we don't have any record of how they evolved their techniques. And flat stones are a lot less impressive than the Pantheon or an aqueduct system -- these constructions require a lot of design and planning, rather than lengthy slave labour.
#14
You say "Pantheon" and thought "Parthenon." Happens all the time.
Roman girlies used to wear bikinis and eat hamburgers when they went on holiday to the Isle of Capri...
Posted by: Fred ||
11/04/2004 11:17 Comments ||
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Thanks Fred - exactly. Would you believe Roman / Romano-British girls also wore bikinis on the banks of the Thames? They've found at least one such leather number in the London mud. It's finds like that that make history come to life. To me, anyway.
In another sign the NHL season is slipping away, the league yesterday canceled its All-Star Game because of the lockout. No regular-season games have been played since the season was scheduled to begin Oct. 13, and NHL arenas have been given the go-ahead to release dates on a 45-day rolling basis. With the All-Star Game now off the schedule, the next announcement could be the cancellation of the entire season.
Good thing they don't have many guns or the fans would be eating them. Sorry, was that insensitive of me?
Posted by: Steve ||
11/04/2004 3:01:36 PM ||
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One more generation of console games and they won't need players anymore, just broadband leagues. Is it live or is it EA?
Posted by: Don ||
11/04/2004 16:27 Comments ||
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We've still got minor league and college hockey. And the Miracle DVD.
Posted by: Mike ||
11/04/2004 17:06 Comments ||
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The only we're missing is the Rangers November slump. Which is folowed in short order by the December & January slumps. The Feburary fade is my annual favorite though.
This was very impressive--some other sites were way off, but ElectionProjection.com missed the EV total by only THREE votes--predicting WI (10) for Bush and IO (7) for Kerry, but it actually was the reverse--for a predicted Bush total of 289 vs. the actual 286.
This is a bookmark to hold onto for four more years!
Posted by: Dar ||
11/04/2004 3:18:28 PM ||
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Dar, you have posted a great collection of election related maps. This one gets a bookmark!
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/04/2004 18:15 Comments ||
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The county-by-county (Red/Blue)Presidential vote map is up (.pdf file).
Posted by: Steve ||
11/04/2004 11:49:40 AM ||
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Cool Map!
Check out the thin swath of blue counties in the deep south, running from northern South Carolina thru south Georgia and Alabama into the bottom country of Mississippi. It's the thin decaying remanent of the once magnificent cotton belt. This is the real deal rural South. See it while you can.
#2
One thing we have to remember is that no matter how you may have voted whether it was for the winner or loser the people on the other side are Americans too (even if some of them don't act like it). I'd personally like to see a lot of the bitter feelings of the past couple of years put behind us so we can start trying to solve our common problems not create more divisions
#5
Another site I enjoy often has commenters from the south who say things like 'give the northeast states that voted for Kerry to Canada'.
I live in Pennsylvania. Our state went for Kerry, barely. But county by county Pennsylvania is a lot redder than most of the south. We're just outnumbered by the fools who want to pack themselves in like sardines around Philly and Pgh. In my county the deer outnumber the people. And we have lots of guns to defend ourselves from all those deer.
By Dick Morris:
GEORGE W. Bush was re-elected on Tuesday because the Hispanic vote, long a Democratic Party preserve, shifted toward the president's side.
The USA Today exit poll shows Hispanics, who had voted for Al Gore by 65 percent to 35 percent, supported Kerry by only 55 to 43. Since Hispanics accounted for 12 percent of the vote, their 10-point shift meant a net gain for Bush of 2.4 percent — which is most of the improvement in his popular-vote share.
The other two pillars of the Democratic Party citadel remained intact. John Kerry carried blacks by 89-11, only two points less than Gores 2000 showing of 91-9. The Democrat won the votes of single women by 63-36, even as Bush was winning 54 percent of married women to Kerry's 45 percent.
In America today, the Democratic Party is a demographic institution, anchored by its appeal to blacks, Hispanics and single women. Together, these three groups, a combined one-third of the electorate, voted 4 to 1 for Kerry and accounted for more than half of the Democrat's votes. The Republican Party is an intellectual and economic peer group that carries everyone who is not black or Hispanic or a single woman by 2 to 1.
So any crack in the demographic Democratic phalanx is historic and could herald a major party realignment, the first since blacks started to vote Democrat and Southern whites voted Republican in the late '60s/early '70s.
Bush has worked incredibly hard for his Hispanic vote share. He reversed historic Republican Party positions on issues of importance to Hispanics and showed a willingness to listen to the needs of the Latino community.
A Republican-passed denial disability and other Social Security benefits to documented foreigners who pay into the system (part of the 1996 welfare reform) was reversed under pressure from GOP governors like New York's George Pataki in 1997. And Bush has endorsed a limited amnesty for undocumented workers who are willing to become legal and to begin the path to citizenship.
If the GOP doesn't continue its inroads among Hispanics, even core Republican states like Texas will flip to the Democrats. The Census now puts Texas at 49.5 percent minority. It is not hard to see it switching to a blue state, as California has done, unless Bush's drawing power among Hispanics becomes institutional in the Republican Party.
Social-values issues are likely part of the reason for the Hispanic vote for Bush is likely. Always more Catholic than they were liberal, Latino voters are among those who cited values as most influencing their vote. But, beyond this is the fact that Hispanics are behaving like any other immigrant population — drifting toward the GOP after they have begun to establish themselves economically.
Determined not to remain united, one-party and politically inert as the African-American population has been, Hispanics are up for grabs and are eagerly cultivating their reputation as America's most sought-after ethnic vote.
Bush's efforts to connect the War on Terror with keeping families safe worked wonders, winning him 54 percent of married women. But among single women, Bush got only 36 percent of the vote, almost 20 points shy of his performance among married females.
The social issues, which cut so well in luring Hispanics to the Republican fold, are killing the GOP among single women — who are 38 percent of all women. The party can ill afford to write off so large a vote.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/04/2004 6:11:18 AM ||
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It's noteworthy that Kerry winning the Muslim vote by 95% - far and away the most newsworthy ethnic split - is still taboo.
"The example of such a small system as a butterfly being responsible for creating such a large and distant system as a tornado in Texas illustrates the impossibility of making predictions for complex systems; despite the fact that these are determined by underlying conditions, precisely what those conditions are can never be sufficiently articulated to allow long-range predictions."
-- The Butterfly Effect
Once again, it appears that a Supreme Court ruling gave the election to George Bush. In this case, it was the Massachusetts Supreme Court, which issued a ruling that Massachusetts’ failure to recognize gay marriage was unconstitutional.
People who want to sound smugly knowledgable about chaos theory will tell the story of a butterfly flapping its wings and causing a storm. In the 2004 election, that butterfly was the Massachusetts Supreme Court. Their ruling on gay marriage stoked fears among religious conservatives. This inflated the religious conservative vote, helping President Bush and hurting the candidate from Massachusetts. I interpret the election returns not as a mandate for America’s tough stand on terror or for privatizing Social Security. This election was a rebuke to the Massachusetts Supreme Court. If they had not out-ed the gay marriage issue, then the result of the election, for better or worse, would have been different.
The exit polls, which if anything may have undersampled Bush voters, showed that one of the top issues among voters was "moral values," with Bush gaining an overwhelming majority of the "moral values" voters. In my pre-election essay, I despaired of what I called President Bush’s decision to run as a Bible-thumping moral legislator. It’s a good thing for Republicans that I wasn’t their chief electoral strategist.
Although I take a liberal attitude toward gay marriage, I do believe that the Massachusetts Supreme Court need not have found a right to gay marriage in that state’s Constitution. The Democratic Party reaped the whirlwind from that exercise in judicial activism.
As I indicated in my pre-election essay, my hope has been that younger voters would influence the two major parties in a libertarian direction. To me, this means pulling the Democrats away from statist economic policies and pulling Republicans away from trying to legislate morality (like most libertarians, I have nothing against morality per se.)
Even though I voted for the winner in the Presidential race, I am not smug that my views prevailed in the election. On the contrary, I share with my Democratic friends the sense of being humbled by an expression of public opinion that is much at variance with my own.
Posted by: tipper ||
11/04/2004 2:03:28 AM ||
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Hold on here. I'm a libertarian - well a utilitarian, but the difference is fairly arcane - the issue with Gay marriage is not what adults do for their own pleasure - that's entirely their business - but what governments legislate to encourage/discourage for the public good. The issue is whether gay 'marriage' increases the public good (at least as much as hetero marriage). That is the debate and to pretend otherwise is a profound dishonesty.
#2
I heard the same thing: Ohio Republican rural voters that otherwise wouldn't have come out to vote for Bush came out to vote in a gay-marriage ban, and voted for Bush as an afterthought.
Mrs. Du-Toit wrote a scathing post lecturing the gays for jumping the gun AND not waiting on public opinion to change in their favor. by opting instead to force the issue down their throats via the court system, she said they would reap the whirlwind. Looks like she was right.
#3
Whatever caused them to come out and vote against Kerry who supports "gay marriage" is good to go with me. I don't support "gay marriage" either.
I also am a libertarian and I have no problem with legal contracts or "civil unions" that give rights to inheritance and some legal benefits like fair tax rates to gays who enter into a "contract." Marriage is a religious thing. The State should stay out of "marriage." Oh yea I should mention I sometimes marry folks and it irks me to have to send the paperwork to the county clerk after I marry them. The clerk should issue a license and that is that. They shouldn't need to have me or a "judge" perform a ceremony. They should only have to do that if they want to. The state can stay out of my religion and morality.
#4
Okay, so is anyone saying that it was Karl Rove who got this thing going? That Rove got the Mass. Supremes to rule the way they did, and thus helped Bush win the White House? Or will the liberal left finally admit they screwed up big time, by taking the issue through the courts, rather than through the ballot boxes?
Posted by: Ben ||
11/04/2004 7:51 Comments ||
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I disagree with you Sock, Its not a religious thing. Its a cultural and social thing, and I think one that is pretty important for the continued existence of any society or culture. But, as its implimentation has been performed traditionally by churches, its easy to see how most folks would think it is religious in nature.
When you marry, you are in essence entering into an agreement with the rest of society. So, it makes sense that society will set up some mechanism that records and recognizes those agreements. I am not seeing why it bothers you to do the paperwork. (Well other than the general thing about paperwork, which I share.)
Posted by: Ben ||
11/04/2004 7:55 Comments ||
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#6
Marriage is ordained from God as a union between man and woman the old testament teaches. But I am all for keeping the state out of religion. If the state and society want to add to that fine but the marrying part is a religious thing between them and God. Legal cohabitiation is a societal thing. While society may share interests in "marriage" with religion they are seperate. A marriage license is a act of the state. You need no permission from God to get married and you don't need a religious "license" to do so either. It's a good idea to ask her Dad though.
#7
SPOD, The Puritans did not believe matrimony was a sacrament and early Americans did not wed in the church. Some churches today do not include matrimony as a sacrament. The primary purpose of marriage is to establish lines for inheritance of property. This is now a state issue not a church one.
Matrimony provides benefits from the state to reward and thus encourage certain patterns of behavior. The debate over gay matrimony is over exactly the question of whether the state should encourage such behavior.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/04/2004 8:07 Comments ||
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The state shouldn't encourage or discourage most private acts that don't harm others, encourage death, slavery or mutilation.
Sorry I am not a puritan by any means. It's a sacrament in my cult and was in my prior organized religion (same one Bush is) Gay ordiantion and just talking about gay marriage was one of the reasons I left.
The state should stay out of it. A civil union doesn't equal a marriage.
I will tell you the one reason there is a thing called marriage: children. It is in the interest of society to encourage their conception and later them becoming "profitable men". In the average when people have more children when they have some guarantees about not being let down wile pregnant by their partner or that the fruit of their efforts will no go to the children of another person. And children raised by a single parent have a higher probability of falling into crime, faring badly in life. That is why society goes through the cost of mantaining a legal system around marriage and gibing tax cuts to married couples: more and better children.
If gays want to have sex together it is THEIR problem, if they want to have PRIVATE meetings where they exchange vows and are handled a piece of paper with their names on it, it is THEIR problem.
But marriage has a cost and I see no reason to accept have my taxes raised for funding a form of marriage who would give me _zero_ benefits be it direct or indirect, present or future (in the form of children who will keep the society running when I will be old). In fact, if any, the differential in taxes is far too low given that single persons or childless couples fare better financially than married people with children.
#14
I have to take issue with the idea that gay marriage got people out in droves for Bush. I have a post up on my blog showing the percentage of voters for Bush, and for the same-sex marriage bans in 11 states. In all cases but two, the numbers voting for the bans was much higher than those voting for Bush. This must mean that many Kerry supporters also voted to ban gay marriage. I think this undercuts the idea that Bush's support was overwhelmingly from Christian conservatives.
Furthermore, since the lowest percentage of passage of all the bans was 57% (in liberal Oregon), and tended to hover around 66%, then any notion that opponents of gay marriage are the right wing "fringe" is absurd. People (like me) who are against the bans are the fringe.
#15
JFM, if you really think marriage is about raising the children, you'd do better to put your efforts into curtailing single parenthood and divorce, not preventing people who will never have children from marrying.
Secondly, I don't believe that arguing that tax rates are too low because some people are wealthier is going to win you many friends 'round these here parts.
And lastly, if you really think that we are to allow people extra privileges to support their creation of future citizens, then I want a damn sight more quality control. In other words: licenses to breed. I (well, not I alone, of course) want to decide who gets to have kids, and who doesn't.
(I don't, of course, want that. But it always ticks me off when people tell me they're doing their civic duty by reproducing. If so, society ought to have more input into who gets to do it, and how, don't you think? No, they never do.)
Indian-American Piyush "Bobby" Jindal coasted to victory Wednesday in his bid for a seat in the US House of Representatives, rebounding from his failed attempt last year to become governor of Louisiana. A Republican, Jindal won 78 percent of the votes cast Tuesday in his district in suburban New Orleans, according to news reports. His nearest competitor, Democrat Roy Armstrong, netted a little less than seven percent of the vote. With his resounding victory, Bobby Jindal, 33, whose parents come from the Punjab in northern India, affirmed his status as a rising star in the Republican Party. His engineer father and civil servant mother emigrated from India before his birth, and Jindal was born and raised in the Louisiana capital Baton Rouge.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/04/2004 1:56:04 AM ||
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#1
Looks like his run for Senate really did good things for his name recognition. This is a man who's going places.
Exit polls are showing that President Bush has won the Catholic vote 51-48 percent, which was decisive in states that were the key to Bush's victory, especially Ohio and Florida. "We trimmed 5 percent off of what Kerry needed in Youngstown, Ohio," according to Kevin Collins of Catholics Against Kerry. "Kerry needed 65 percent and got only 60 percent," Collins told NewsMax. Bush won the Catholic vote in Florida 57-42 percent (among weekly mass-goers, 66-34 percent) and in Ohio 55-44% (among weekly mass-goers, 65-35 percent). Based on exit polling, Collins believes that it was Catholic voters who put Bush over the top in Florida and Ohio. "No one who has won the Catholic vote has lost the popular vote since 1972," according to Collins.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/04/2004 1:53:12 AM ||
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#1
Something that may of been key in this was the letter put out by the Catholic Bishops and the sremons over the weekend about remembering and voting the Gospel of Life
#2
The Democrat intolerance of dissent on abortion, objections to resonable constraints on abortion, and fanatical stand on litmus tests for judicial selections will continue to drive Catholics away.
The Democrat stand on the side of allowing, promoting and funding abortions, will continue to lever Catholics away from the traditional Democrat leaning bloc vote behavior.
One weakness for Republicans is this issue too: Areln Specter may as well be a Democrat with his dogmatic attempts to pre-judge Supreme Court nominees. Time for the Republicans to dump him and call him what he is: A Democrat. We'll take Nelson of Nebraska in exchange. You can bet 6 years from now Specter will be retired - he will lose in the primary.
Although final tallies will not be counted for three months, voters in the military communities of Europe and the Middle East appear to have voted at lower rates this year than overall overseas military personnel did in 2000. More than 5,000 last-minute ballots were mailed from U.S. post offices in Europe, according to figures released Tuesday by the Air Force, Army and Navy. As of Election Day, 88,788 ballots had been mailed from APO and FPO address in Europe, up 5,250 from Thursday. The Air Force mailed 42,130 ballots, the Army mailed 36,203 and the Navy, 10,455. The eligible pool of military and depending voters in Europe is about 150,000 people, meaning roughly 59 percent of eligible voters mailed back ballots for this year's election.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/04/2004 1:28:05 AM ||
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#1
This seems to be a late press release from the Kerry Suppress the Vote program. Is Stars and Stripes really an MSM training program?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/04/2004 7:25 Comments ||
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#2
Stars and Stripes is a mostly civilian run paper with some military reporters that cover the local bases for military issues. A lot of them take advanced classes at the same civilian media colleges as MSM. Same with civilian leadership at AFRTS, they tend toward the liberal side. I know from personal experience they hated putting Rush on AFRTS, but were pressured into it by the military audience.
On the low voting numbers, might not the problem be that they had applied for absentee ballots, but didn't get them in time?
Posted by: Steve ||
11/04/2004 10:09 Comments ||
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#3
That absolutely was a problem in Pennsylvania. Santorum stuck up for the service personnel but Specter couldn't have cared less.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/04/2004 10:20 Comments ||
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#4
this overseas vote snafu crap HAS to be resolved. Our military, on our behalf, in harm's way, more than anyone else deserves to vote and have it counted. There's gotta be a better way
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/04/2004 10:20 Comments ||
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Matt Blunt set aside a promising Navy career to pursue his family's political trade. Now, the Navy Reserve officer has charted a course to the Missouri governor's mansion, downing Democratic State Auditor Claire McCaskill on Tuesday to become Missouri's second-youngest elected governor. The victory for Blunt, just shy of his 34th birthday, comes a mere six years after he left active duty to run for the Missouri Legislature and just four years after his election as secretary of state. In November 2000, Blunt was the only Republican besides Bush to win a statewide vote. "Throughout my life, I've been very mission-oriented, objective-oriented," says Blunt, who wakes every day around 5 a.m., runs 6-8 miles, reads his Bible, then works virtually all day long, all the while limiting his sweets.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/04/2004 1:19:16 AM ||
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U.S. Border Patrol agents this week began conducting patrols at Phoenix-area bus stations in an effort to disrupt smuggling organizations that transport undocumented immigrants from the border to other parts of the country. Since Saturday, when the patrols began, Border Patrol agents have apprehended 228 undocumented immigrants, said agent Andrea Zortman, a spokeswoman for the Border Patrol's Tucson sector.
Border Patrol agents began patrolling bus lines after noticing a decline in smuggling activity at Sky Harbor International Airport, where Border Patrol agents have maintained a presence for more than a year. "It just makes sense, if they are not using the airports, they are using the bus stations," Zortman said. Zortman declined to identify which bus stations or bus lines are being targeted, to avoid tipping off smugglers. The bus station sweeps will continue indefinitely, Zortman said, as part of the Arizona Border Control Initiative, a multimillion-dollar effort to stem the flow of illegal immigration through Arizona, which remains the nation's most popular entry point.
Border Patrol agents have conducted patrols at bus stations in Tucson for years, but this is the first time the tactic has been used in Phoenix, she said. With its major airport, proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border, and access to interstate highways, Phoenix has become a major transportation hub for smugglers to transport undocumented immigrants from the border to other parts of the country. Border Patrol agents apprehended 67 undocumented immigrants Saturday, 59 on Sunday, 53 on Monday and 49 on Tuesday, Zortman said. Patrols continued Wednesday, but the number of undocumented immigrants apprehended was not available, she said. Zortman said Border Patrol agents rely on intelligence and experience to identify suspected undocumented immigrants, not racial profiling. "The color of one's skin or their perceived ethnic identity has nothing to do with how we do our job," Zortman said. Snipped: illegal alien advocate whines.
#1
Just because people are engaged in illegal activities is no reason to go around treating them like criminals and arresting them. Oh wait! Illegal... criminal. Uh, never mind.
#2
Both funny and stupid at the same time. Heading *South* from Phoenix on a bus, we were stopped for an ID check. A German national in the back was very agitated because they were not interested in seeing his papers, so they finally asked as a courtesy, and he relaxed. Then the INS guy approached a Vietnamese family and asked for their ID in Spanish. They looked at him funny so he asked in Spanish again, but louder. Then someone told them, in English, that he wanted to see their IDs. "Oh, okay", the father replied, showing his driver's license.
Not all is well in Euroland.
German unemployment rose for the ninth month in October, keeping the jobless rate at a five-year high of 10.7 percent, as companies including General Motors Corp. announced plans to fire thousands of workers. The number of jobseekers in Europe's largest economy rose a seasonally adjusted 12,000 to 4.46 million, the Nuremberg-based Federal Labor Agency said. Economists expected an increase of 15,000, the median of 41 forecasts in a Bloomberg survey showed. The increase in German unemployment underlines the divergence between the economy of the 12 nations sharing the euro and the U.S. and U.K. The U.S. jobless rate probably held at 5.4 percent in October as 175,000 jobs were created, a Bloomberg survey of 68 economists showed. The Labor Department releases the report on Friday. The U.K. unemployment rate held at a 29-year low of 2.7 percent in September.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/04/2004 12:52:04 AM ||
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#1
That olive branch our (former) "allies" are holding out to the US appears to be attached to a hand rapidly disappearing beneath the quicksand of socialism.
#2
Whilst I am no fan of Eurosocialism, this has more to do with metal bashing industries going to China. The UK was arguably the first country to get a post-industrial economy (all praise to Maggie Thatcher) and it will be a few years (generations) before the Chinese become competative with the UK's knowledge and information based economy. By way of example, a couple of days ago I bought a set of knives made in China for 5 AUD. The brand was a German name, although I knew at that price there was no way they were made in Germany.
#3
Although I take a certain glee over the demise of German economy, we will have to help them fix it somehow. The last time we let them try to fix it we got the National Socialists. I know TGA will tell me I am wrong, but unemployed and hungry people are ripe for recruiting. It has always been that way with radicals.
The REAL cause of European economic self-destruction is the ever-expanding welfare state, the labor laws (if you can't fire 'em why hire 'em), and the lack of entrepreneurial spirit. I grew up and lived in several European countries, I've seen it all. Anyone with self-respect and ambitions for their happiness and prosperity emigrates to the anglo-sphere.
Cheaper manufacturing in China should free up more advanced economies to invest capital in higher productivity jobs (law of comparative advantage). That it is barely happening in Europe (apart from the UK where the Thatcher revolution re-invigorated a bit of entrepreneurial spirit and dismantled most deleterious labor laws) is evidence that European economies are frozen by socialist interference and unable to respond to market changes. The EU has made matters worse overall -- once you discount the initial positive effects of removing borders, customs, and tariffs.
European economic woes will only dissipate after they abandon Marxist economics and return to reading Smith, Say, and Bastiat -- and things will really improve once they learn to read von Mises.
(There are exceptions, my comments apply directly to Old European countries.)
#5
I think the best policy that the US can have with France, Germany, Spain...Old Euro is to disengage from them. They've gone the way of the Muslims - looking outward for a Satan to blame rather than demanding that their leaders fix their problems.
Welfare states are a bit like alcoholics - addicted to the freebies and always demanding more. They need to hit rock bottom before they can get it together. The best message we can send to the Euros's is the same message that needs to be sent to an addict - you are on your own...good luck to you.
The United States demanded Wednesday that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan explain why he overruled an internal finding that the world body's refugee chief sexually harassed a female employee. The U.N. watchdog agency had found that refugee chief Ruud Lubbers, a former Dutch prime minister, harassed the 51-year-old American woman last year. It recommended "appropriate action" be taken. But after reviewing the evidence, Annan concluded that the allegations did not hold up and said Lubbers would not be punished.
In a statement to the U.N. administrative budget committee, Tom Repasch, a U.S. adviser to the U.N. General Assembly, asked Annan to explain the contradiction. "On the one hand, the investigation found the allegations to be true, on the other hand the secretary-general believed the evidence did not substantiate them and closed the matter," Repasch said later. "We just need more information." U.S. Ambassador John Danforth said the discrepancy between the report's findings and Annan's decision begged clarification. "It's not something that I think would be just out of the blue to say that there is a difference between the conclusions made in the investigation and the conclusions reached by the secretary-general," Danforth said. "We don't understand the basis for that disjuncture, and we'd be interested in learning more." Annan spokesman Fred Eckhard had no immediate comment on the U.S. demand.
"We will say no more! And we wish you'd go away."
Lubbers was traveling in Spain and unavailable for comment. His spokesman in Geneva, Ron Redmond, said the refugee chief stood by comments he made to The Associated Press last week, when he called the report by the Office of Internal Oversight Services "miserable" and "not well-founded." He insisted that he had been cleared by Annan. Lubbers said in a statement in May that the case was filed April 27 and related to a Dec. 18, 2003, meeting in his office that also was attended by five other staff members. He had acknowledged making "a friendly gesture with his tongue," which he said the woman misunderstood.
"And just how friendly was that gesture?"
"Very friendly!"
#1
What do you expect from a muslim? It is the muslim way to treat women as property and to disrespect any woman not in all enveloping dress because she was asking for it.
#4
Is there any chance we could get some nice links?
Soft family links, but ones that might enthuse?
I always gather the gang around the monitor when the UN comes up to give the guys an idea of their future.
Flush from its success as a cable TV outlet for political news, Fox is following the news of the demise of CNNfn by preparing to offer a business channel of its own. Fox, a division of News Corp., will roll out a business channel in the "foreseeable future," Multichannel News quoted Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of News Corp., as saying. Murdoch told reporters he couldn't pinpoint precisely when a new channel would come along. It is expected to share expenses with his Fox News Channel.
Murdoch has previously suggested that News Corp. intends to take on CNBC by unveiling a rival financial-news network. The issue has taken on urgency because of the announcement last week that CNNfn, a unit of CNN and its corporate parent Time Warner, would cease operations because it couldn't reach distribution goals. A Fox News spokesman didn't return a call seeking comment this morning.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/04/2004 6:20:21 PM ||
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Are you aware of the ongoing world war between a French-led high tax alliance and the United States and its free market allies?
France and its statist allies have been losing the war for economic supremacy to the lower-tax developing and developed countries, like the United States. The French are well aware that their economy and those of other statist European countries perform relatively poorly because they are noncompetitive with lower-tax-burden countries. Rather than correctly cut their own taxes and government spending, they actively try to force others to raise taxes so they might also have stagnant economies. (It appears the French never learned envy is a sin.) snip
The U.S. economy, as well as the economies of many other low tax rate nations, could be severely damaged were the OECD's Fiscal Affairs Committee to succeed in its antitax competition agenda. Even worse, much of the world's population would see its standards of living fall if the high tax advocates succeeded. Fortunately, with the urging of more than 30 public policy organizations, the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee has approved a funding bill that would prohibit the OECD from receiving U.S. taxpayer funds if OECD has tried "to identify, report on, or penalize any country that encourages foreign investment through tax incentives."
As you would expect, the OECD and the French are unhappy with the Senate action, and are trying to use their influence in the U.S. government and the news media to stop it. For years, the French have been able to influence certain officials in both the State and Treasury Departments to favor the interests of French statists over those of U.S. citizens. It has now been revealed, as part of the investigation into the Iraqi "oil-for-food program," that certain U.S. State and Treasury Department officials were, at least, partially aware of the massive duplicity and undermining of U.S. policy by the French, yet did nothing. Despite clear evidence of massive financial and human rights corruption on the part of the French, there are still those in State and Treasury who toe the French line and are fighting for the OECD funding, without demanding the necessary changes in the Fiscal Affairs Committee.
Most members of Congress and representatives of interested public policy organizations have no desire to kill the OECD's legitimate statistical collection and reporting. However, the only way Congress can get the attention of the OECD and its allies in the State and Treasury Departments is to deny the OECD funding. The sensible compromise would be for the OECD to agree to cease and desist from all activities designed to discourage tax competition, and for the Treasury Department to withdraw its related French-inspired, proposed interest reporting regulation in exchange for U.S. funding of the OECD. Under this compromise, the taxpayers of the world would win, but the French socialists would lose — a win-win for economic growth and human rights.
Treasury and State Department officials are in the position to work out such a compromise. If they fail to do so, what will it tell us about where their loyalties lie?
Government warplanes bombed the largest city in Ivory Coast's rebel-held north twice on Thursday in what a government military commander said was the launch of a new offensive to reunite the war-divided nation. The raids - at sunrise and in the afternoon - threatened to reopen Ivory Coast's civil war, ended by a 2003 peace deal after nine months of fighting.
I think by general agreement, once the bombing starts the festivities are considered open...
The sunrise bombing run seriously injured 25 civilians in this insurgent stronghold, rebels said. There were no details of casualties from the second raid. "We are going to reconquer our territory, and reunify Ivory Coast," Col. Phillipe Mangou, a government military chief for operations, told The Associated Press by telephone. "We've just been bombed. The war has started again," rebel military commander Cherif Ousmane told the AP in the rebel stronghold of Boauke.
Well, at least they both agree on something.
The raid at sunrise by two Russian-made Sukhoi jets targeted a rebel military camp in Bouake. An AP reporter in Bouake saw the aircraft fly in low over the town. A boom followed, and a plume of black smoke rose. The morning bombardment woke residents, who stayed indoors with shops closed. Rebels deployed in force across the city afterward, and many with their faces covered by hoods erected checkpoints.
Such proud lads.
In Abidjan, the government-held commercial capital in the south, about 2,000 loyalists marched on army headquarters to demand a full-scale offensive to retake the north. The government's military spokesman, Lt. Col. Jules Yao Yao, said the government would issue a statement later. A French military spokesman, Col. Henry Aussavy, confirmed the bombing, saying the target was a rebel military battalion headquarters within Bouake. "It seems to be a limited action," Aussavy said, about three hours after the bombing.
Y'see, if the Frenchies hadn't confirmed it, it wouldn't have been official...
Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer and a former economic powerhouse of West Africa, has been divided since a September 2002 coup attempt launched months of civil war. A 2003 peace deal, brokered under pressure from former colonial ruler France and others, ended major fighting. A power-sharing deal failed to take hold, however, and distrust and ethnic, regional and political hatreds continue to run strong.
Another French success story.
Last week, rebel political leader Guillaume "George" Soro accused the government of massing troops near rebel positions in the west and warning the country's long-stagnant war could resume soon. Soro also imposed a 9 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew in the north and called on eight rebel ministers in Abidjan to leave their posts and head to Bouake.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/04/2004 10:26:49 AM ||
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A brother and sister in the US have been convicted of sending hundreds of thousands of unsolicited email messages - or spam -to AOL subscribers. It is the first criminal prosecution of internet spam distributors. Jurors in Virginia recommended that the man, Jeremy Jaynes, serve nine years in prison and that his sister, Jessica DeGroot, be fined $7,500. They were convicted under a state law that bars the sending of bulk emails using fake addresses. They will be formally sentenced next year. A third defendant, Richard Rutkowski, was acquitted.
Prosecutors said Jaynes was "a snake oil salesman in a new format", using the internet to peddle useless wares, news agency Associated Press reported. A "Fed-Ex refund processor" was supposed to allow people to earn $75 an hour working from home. Another item on sale was an "internet history eraser". His sister helped him process credit card payments. Jaynes amassed a fortune of $24m from his sales, prosecutors said. "He's been successful ripping people off all these years," AP quoted prosecutor Russell McGuire as saying.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/04/2004 2:23:57 AM ||
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#4
The Judge knows that these guys are going to be lynched the moment they get out. the only question is will they wind up as strage fruit, or will they "steal some logging chains and try to swim away."
Posted by: N Guard ||
11/04/2004 10:16 Comments ||
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#5
Jurors in Virginia recommended that the man, Jeremy Jaynes, serve nine years in prison . . .
As his cellmate's intentions became frighteningly all too clear, Jeremy realized to his horror that Fate had arranged a merciless punishment for all those "Enarge your Pen1s!" e-mails he'd sent.
Posted by: Mike ||
11/04/2004 12:35 Comments ||
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The convergence of an improving economy, increased international trade, bumper crops and higher fuel prices has led to a record-setting year for U.S. railroads. During one week last month, the rail industry moved the most freight volume in its history -- 33.1 billion ton-miles, just eclipsing the 32.7 billion ton-miles mark set a week earlier, according to the Association of American Railroads. Through the end of October, railroads had moved 1.3 trillion ton-miles this year, or 4 percent more than at the same period last year. A ton-mile is an industry standard measurement of one ton of goods moving one mile. Companies said they've had to scramble to buy new locomotives, schedule more trains and hire more people.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/04/2004 2:12:45 AM ||
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#1
I am under the impression that trains are more energy-efficient than trucks. Am I correct?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/04/2004 6:33 Comments ||
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#4
Trains have 0% efficiency getting gas to my local gas station, mail to my local postoffice, antibiotics to my local drug store, or food to my local grocery, none of which is next to railcar sidings.
#6
Nothing more efficient than rolling steel on steel True in the right circumstances, but far from true in all circumstances. I recall a study from the UK that measured the relative energy efficiency of medium range transport (for people). Buses won hands down. Planes and trains were about the same. Trains are heavy and take a lot of energy to stop and start and then there is the energy required to make all that steel.
#7
So you'll die of thirst if you try to drink from a gun.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/04/2004 7:22 Comments ||
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#8
Who's trying to drink from a gun? who's claiming trains deliver to your local grocery shop?
trailing wife and Ptah were obviously not claiming trains to be a universal transport solution. Just that they are rather efficient for their purpose. Or are you claiming that trains are always less efficient than trucks?
#9
Railroads declined when the US gov decided to fund interstate highway construction following WWII.
Posted by: V is for Victory ||
11/04/2004 8:53 Comments ||
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#10
Some random thoughts and observations--excuse the rambling 'cause railroads are one of my favorite topics:
Part of the railroads' problem in competing effectively with trucks is that they have to pay for their own infrastructure, while truckers use highways paid for with tax dollars from everybody. Only by getting rid of so many ridiculous restrictions on the railroads (via the Staggers Act) have railroads been able to bounce back in recent years to compete.
As far as energy efficiency, on level track it only takes 1HP to move 1 ton along at 60mph. That's like putting a riding lawn mower engine in your car.
Trains are heavy because of the forces that are exerted on them and the forces they are required to exert. Locomotives are very heavy not only because they contain giant diesel engines and alternators, but they are the sole tractive force for the entire train and need that weight to help establish traction without wheel slippage. Freight cars are very heavy (typically 20 tons empty) because they not only need to be able to support their own load but need to be strong enough to pull all the cars behind them when accelerating and withstand the weight of those cars crushing it when decelerating. Also, when empty you want the cars to be heavy enough they won't be bouncing off the track.
Ebbavith--Trains aren't efficient for getting those goods distributed on a small scale to get to you directly, but they are excellent for moving them in bulk to distribution centers where they can be transferred to truck. The railroad is a big part of the transportation chain that gets that stuff to you one way or another. The mail is the only thing you mentioned that probably didn't get to you by rail--although if you ship via UPS there's a good chance it will go by rail.
It was the railroads that helped this country become the consumer society it is today by removing so many boundaries between consumers and goods. It allowed Northerners to enjoy Florida oranges in winter. It allowed farms to move out of the cities so city dwellers could enjoy fresh milk and meat without keeping their own livestock. It supported the development of the suburbs so people didn't need to live within walking distance of their workplace.
Phil B--That report about moving people doesn't reflect the railroads' efficiency in moving bulk things like coal, chemicals, timber, automobiles, electronics, etc. People are an entirely different cargo with their own needs and aren't well suited to move along the same lines as heavy freight. Part of the inefficiency comes from the need for heavy passenger cars able to exert and withstand the same forces freight cars experience. Dedicated light rail with lighter cars is much more efficient than the traditional rail model.
I'm still holding out for a successful maglev line to get built in this country--that could really help rail travel come back in the US and alleviate airport congestion by competing with short- and medium-distance flights (e.g. Chicago to NYC). Last I knew, there were only two candidates left (Pittsburgh and the Baltimore/D.C. area) for some major federal funding to develop a maglev line, but I haven't heard anything more about it in 3 years. 9/11 may have delayed or nixed it altogether.
Posted by: Dar ||
11/04/2004 10:04 Comments ||
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#11
I posed the question to find out if trains are a good defence against the oil weapon held at our throats. It sounds like the answer is yes, although an incomplete one, and our economy is wielding it. Thanks, all!
#12
V, I believe the RR's were in trouble at the end of WWI as a result of a nationalization from which they did not recover until the Staggers act that Dar mentioned.
It is interesting that all forms of transportation except car/truck require substantial subsidy by government. I do not know that it has been demonstrated that trucks do not pay their fair share for the road infrastructure and would be interested to read any links that address the issue one way or the other.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/04/2004 10:18 Comments ||
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#13
Dar, thanks for the info on railroads. How does shipping compare today?
#14
No one has mentioned yet that logistical role the RR played in WWII where all troops and material were moved by rail. The RR infrastucture was completely beaten up pulling the load in the war effort, and we could not have managed the world wide mobilization without the RR here at home.
After the war, it was RR taxes that funded not only he interstate system but also the many airport projects.
Quite frankly I wouldn't mind funding RR projects with toll money, rather than letting my state continue to toll road projects that have paid themselves off 3X over...
#15
tw--I *think* we could get away from the oil dependency if we used more nuclear power for electricity generation and then used that electricity to power trains. Of course, if nothing else, we can always go back to steam as a last resort as long as we have coal or even wood for fuel! Even as recently as WWII nearly all locomotive power in the US (and the world) was steam-powered, although it's not nearly as efficient and requires much more maintenance than diesels and electrics.
Anon5032--Not sure I understand your question. Do you mean shipping as in ships, or something else? I'm not very familiar with ships. I'm mostly a railfan.
A great book for understanding how railroads work is Railroad: What it is, what it does by John Armstrong. That explains a lot about how the railroads work and why they do the things the way they do. For example, why using a longer, less straight route may be more efficient because of grading and braking concerns. Or how "humping" cars is done in a marshalling yard, using a small hill and gravity to sort cars.
For more on the history of railroads and less on the day-to-day operations, I'd recommend Hear that Lonesome Whistle Blow by Dee Brown. As I mentioned earlier, it was the railroads that created the suburbs, allowed Northerners to enjoy fresh fruits and veggies year round, and pushed dairy cattle and other livestock out of downtown New York City. It also introduced the traveling salesman, a new architecture, traffic signals, time zones, and many other concepts. For example, before time zones every city and town had its own time--it could have been noon here in Pittsburgh; 11:37 in Columbus, OH; 12:24 in Philadelphia, etc. The railroads, after many scheduling headaches, finally imposed their own time zones on the country in 1883 to standardize their schedules, which Congress later passed into law in 1918.
That's enough rambling for now...
Posted by: Dar ||
11/04/2004 12:51 Comments ||
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#16
Dar? Same Dee Brown as "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee"?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/04/2004 12:53 Comments ||
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#17
Um...Looks like it's the same Dee Brown, per the Amazon links.
Posted by: Dar ||
11/04/2004 13:14 Comments ||
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#18
She is pulling a full load.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/04/2004 15:14 Comments ||
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#19
Thank you for all the info and recommended books, Dar.
#20
My family worked for Central of Georgia and the famous LOP&G, The Live Oak, Perry & Gulf aka the Loping Gopher or Living Off Protctor and Gamble. My uncle is an ACL/Seaboard lifer.
#21
Dar, I wasn't suggesting rail is not good (energy efficient) for moving bulk goods long distances. My issue is governments pushing rail for transporting people on the grounds that it is 'energy efficient'. In many and perhaps most cases its less energy efficient than buses.
And BTW, in some circumstances trucks can be made more energy efficient. Where I live 'road trains' can be over 50 meters long. Link
#22
Phil--I agree as far as regular rail being less suited for passenger service. Light rail might be more suitable. I'd be interested to see if the report specified between the two. If you don't need to build such heavy and strong passenger cars to survive the forces freight cars experience that's a huge savings in tonnage and fuel expenditure right there.
My God! How can you get around one of these 'road train' montrosities on the highway? If I ever got stuck behind one of these, I would go out of my skull! Getting behind one of them on a hilly, curvy, 2-lane highway with no passing zones would be a justifiable case of road rage if I ever saw one.
Posted by: Dar ||
11/04/2004 17:42 Comments ||
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#23
One thing with moving freight by rail over long ditances is that it is much less man power intensive. A unit train moving coal from the Powder River Basin or containerized freight from port facilities with the prime movers today can move 100+ car trains at least a 1000 kilometers with only 2 to 3 crew men. But short ditances trucks are abetter way to go not so much from the fuel standpoint but from the flexibility of the system. As far as passenger traffic goes up to a certain didstance and if the volume of people using the system is great enough city center to city center it would be hard to beat a dedicated true high speed (300+KPH)rail system that did not have to share the right of way with freight traffic. An airplane might get you there faster but what about all the time spent getting into and out of the airport. This will continue to grow more attractive in my opinion as the number of people trying to fly goes up and the air traffic system grows more burdened. We could see a time when travel out to 1000KM might shift more to rail systems and longer distances being more the norm for air travel. Plus look at the major political battles that take place when an airport is constructed or even expanded. Plane, trains and automobiles (plus buses) are all part of the transportation mix we need in this country.
#24
How can you get around one of these 'road train' montrosities - I used to find meeting them headon on one lane roads more unnerving. At least you can pass them at a time/place you choose.
#25
Dar: "Part of the railroads' problem in competing effectively with trucks is that they have to pay for their own infrastructure, while truckers use highways paid for with tax dollars from everybody."
A significant portion of the taxes you mention are paid by the Trucking Industry by way of fuel and use taxes. Not to mention a whole bunch of other taxes and tariff's etc. In fact, if it wasn't for the various fees and taxes paid by the transportation industry, we would not have the road system we have.
AR
Posted by: Analog Roam ||
11/04/2004 18:29 Comments ||
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#26
..although if you ship via UPS there's a good chance it will go by rail.
Especially from the midwest/east to out here in CA. Santa Fe runs those UPS trailers from Chicago to Richmond in about three days. Pretty amazing, considering how busy its transcon racetrack is.
Madonna will star in a 30-second commercial to promote Israel as a safe place. An Israel newspaper reports that Madonna filmed the commercial when she was recently in the country. The ad will screen in London 10 times on large screens at the World Tourism Fair from November 8-11. Meanwhile, the singer has also announced she will lend her voice to an animated character in the forthcoming film Arthur. She plays Princess Selina who tries to held 10 year old Arthur save his grandfathers house from developers. The movie will be released in 2006.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/04/2004 1:44:56 AM ||
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A man recovered his 14-year-old son on Tuesday night from a madrassa where his teacher had chained and tortured him for the last 15 days. The victim's father, Sardar Muhammad Sadiq, submitted an application with the South Cantt police station to register a case against the teacher. Around a month ago, Mr Sadiq admitted his son, Hasan, to a madrassa in Nishter Colony for learning the Quran. A couple of weeks ago, madrassa students were brought to a house in Gulberg to recite the Quran. After completing the recitation, Hasan went to his house, which was only a short distance away, for a brief visit and missed the ride back to the madrassa with the rest of students. Later, he went to the madrassa to explain his absence to his teacher Qari Ajmal who got infuriated. Qari Ajmal chained and severely tortured him, and then locked him in one of the madrassa rooms.
Mr Sadiq visited the madrassa on Tuesday to see his son, who he found chained and locked in a room. His body was badly bruised. Mr Sadiq took his son to the South Cantt police station to file a complaint and later went to Services Hospital with South Cantt police officials for Hasan's medical treatment and a medico-legal report. Dr Muhammad Ishfaq, the medical officer at Services Hospital, confirmed in his report that Hasan had been severely tortured. "We received the medical reports and have registered a case against Qari Ajmal," said Sub-inspector Muhammad Bashir, who is investigating the case. No arrest had been made till this report was made.
"Oh, I doubt we'll arrest him. He's a holy man, y'know..."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/04/2004 1:37:46 AM ||
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The Lahore High Court has freed Muhmmad Rafiq and his wife, Jannat, after 10-day illegal custody and summoned the Lahore Sadar SP and Manga Mandi SHO on November 11. Ghulam Murtaza, a relative of the detainees, moved the court to recover the couple. He said they were not wanted in any case. SI Hussain informed the court on Wednesday that he had not arrested the couple, but it was SHO Azam who had arrested them. Ms Jannat informed the court that SI Hussain had tortured them and forced her to strip of her clothes.
"Yer under arrest, lady!"
"Why?"
"'Cuz I wanna look at yer honkers, dat's why!"
Posted by: Fred ||
11/04/2004 1:14:44 AM ||
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#1
Are these the same gents that were looking for Butt?
Posted by: Dr Walter M ||
11/04/2004 18:21 Comments ||
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A 6-year-old girl died while 5-year-old girl and a woman were injured when a mosque's private security guard's gun went off accidentally outside Jamia Masjid Saadi Park on Wednesday evening. Hafiz Tariq, alias Papu, was posted outside the mosque during Maghrib prayers. Reportedly, his gun went off accidentally injuring passersby Suriyya, 35, Mariam, 6, and Minahil, 5. They were taken to Mayo Hospital where Mariam died. The injured are stated to be in critical condition. The Lytton Road police said Mr Tariq fainted when the gun went off. He was also taken to hospital, but is out of danger.
Kinda makes you wonder what the rest of the story is...
... must have turned down his advance, the little hussy ...
Posted by: Fred ||
11/04/2004 1:12:42 AM ||
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The Lytton Road police said Mr Tariq fainted when the gun went off.
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.
