#4
Better yet, buy it and let Fred run it,
should cause heart attacks around the globe.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/04/2007 22:57 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Oooooh, Redneck Jim, could we bring .com out of retirement to write articles, too? Fred's opening edition could be a "Best of Rantburg", and it could go downhill from there!
Based on results so far from over 600 English council wards the BBC's projected share of the vote across Great Britain is, Con 40%, Lab 27%, Lib Dem 26%, Others 6%.
Posted by: ed ||
05/04/2007 14:32 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Does that Others 6% include the BBC's share of the vote? ;-) Actually, it looks like another country falling to their conservatives.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Thursday threatened to nationalize the country's banks and largest steel producer, accusing them of unscrupulous practices. "Private banks have to give priority to financing the industrial sectors of Venezuela at low cost," Chavez said. "If banks don't agree with this, it's better that they go, that they turn over the banks to me, that we nationalize them and get all the banks to work for the development of the country and not to speculate and produce huge profits."
It was not clear if Chavez was only referring to Venezuelan banks like Mercantil Servicios Financieros CA and others, or if he was aiming the threat at major international banks that do business in the country, such as Banco Santander Central Hispano SA and Citigroup Inc.
Chavez also warned the government could take over steel producer Sidor, which is majority controlled by Luxembourg-based Ternium SA. Sidor "has created a monopoly" and sold the bulk of its production overseas, forcing local producers to import tubes and other products from China and elsewhere, Chavez said. "If the company Sidor ... does not immediately agree to change this process, they will oblige me to nationalize it," Chavez said. "I prefer not to," Chavez added, as he ordered Mining Minister Jose Khan to depart immediately for the company's headquarters and return with a recommendation within 24 hours. "Sidor has to produce and give priority to our national industries ... and at low cost," he said.
Chavez's government has already begun nationalizing the country's largest telecommunications company and the electricity sector. It also took control of Venezuela's most promising oil fields and refineries from foreign oil companies processing crude in the Orinoco River basin on Tuesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/04/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Go for it, dipshit.
In for a penny, in for a pound....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/04/2007 0:15 Comments ||
Top||
#2
He's also reportedly in favor of World Bank-style, etc. regional bank for the lower Americas, by and for only the same.
#5
This country is heading for the dumper. They won't be able to attract any capital--but that is the least of their problems. Chavez taking this country down fast. First he took industry and now the banks--he likes Castro's model of failure.
#12
Maybe the oil companies gave him a pass because they have so many other sheep to fleece, but just try to phque with a banker and his cash and you are gonna see a world class ass whippin', i think.
Fugitive army recruits tried to hijack a plane to the United States and killed a military officer they took hostage in the failed attempt early Thursday, the Interior Ministry said. Two of the escaped recruits were arrested after Army Lt. Col. Victor Ibo Acuna Velazquez was killed in the aborted hijack that began in the pre-dawn hours when they commandeered a bus carrying several passengers to get to a plane on the tarmac, said a ministry statement. "Despite being unarmed, he heroically tried to prevent the commission of the terrorist act," the statement said of the officer killed. Others who had been held hostage on the bus were unharmed, it added.
Throughout the day Thursday, there were rampant rumors of a shooting at the airport but the Cuban government and its official media were silent. There had been a massive manhunt under way for three army recruits sought after fleeing their base. The two arrested were among three army recruits who escaped from their military base on Sunday after killing a fellow soldier and wounding another. The third was captured earlier, the ministry statement said.
The Defense Ministry over the weekend distributed wanted circulars around Havana, describing the fugitive recruits as armed and dangerous and saying they were sought for abandoning their posts. Some circulars were displayed in public places, including post offices.
The men, all from the eastern province of Camaguey, were identified as Leandro Cerezo Sirut and Alain Forbus Lameru, both 19, and Yoan Torres Martinez, 21. Several baggage handlers told an Associated Press reporter who visited the airport that police had told them to tell anyone who asked to say that nothing had happened there that morning. Even so, none of them had appeared to have heard or seen the pre-dawn incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/04/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"To say that nothing had happened" > SGT. "I see/saw Nothing, NOTHING, N-O-T-H-I-N-G" SCHULTZ of Stalag 13???
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez this week showed how his impulsive management style can backfire when he sowed confusion by vowing to leave the IMF, seemingly unaware that could trigger a massive debt default. The leftist, who is leading a self-styled socialist revolution and nationalizing swathes of the economy, often announces far-reaching decisions in speeches and then leaves his officials to work out how to put policy into practice. "Chavez spoke prematurely regarding withdrawal from the IMF, unaware of the full consequences of these actions," said ABN AMRO, one of several banks that urged a cautious approach after Chavez's announcement.
Chavez, who has long criticized the International Monetary Fund as a capitalist institution in the service of Washington, slipped the unexpected announcement into a lecture on Monday and demanded the withdrawal be formalized immediately after his speech. Two days later, Finance Minister Rodrigo Cabezas could not explain how Venezuela would quit the IMF without defaulting on as much as $21 billion of debt as investors fear.
Clauses in sovereign issues mean much of Venezuela's debt will be in technical default if it leaves the IMF, allowing investors to demand the government pay them back immediately. Cabezas sought to reassure investors by pledging that Venezuela would continue payments and saying that no withdrawal date had been set. But on Thursday, he reiterated that Venezuela planned to quit the 185-nation Fund.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/04/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
It should be obvious by now to the most rabid moonbat that Hugo the assclown is not even fit to manage a 7/11.
#5
Chavez is also threatening to nationalize all of the banks. This loon is the poster boy for failed Latin American dictatorships. Perhaps he will make his biggest contribution by setting an example for other South American leaders to avoid. In any event, this goon really needs to get capped stat!
#6
bobo is just another red hands; in a long line of red hand extorionists.....wont be long before his thugs start killing people....you wont here a word out of the pathetic left.
#9
The US (and most of Central and South America) need to give this nutjob exactly what he's been fighting for - total control of his country and its economy. That means moving ALL American business elsewhere, cutting off all loans to Venezuela, demanding payment for all outstanding loans, not allow Venezuelan-flagged vessels into the United States, and literally strangling all business with the mad mullahdictator of Caracas. Allow Venezuela to go Tango Uniform on its own, with absolutely no help, one way or the other, from the US. Let it also be a warning to other tinhorn dictators, like Evo Morales in Bolivia.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/04/2007 19:51 Comments ||
Top||
Well, it's certainly getting interesting on the Eastern front ...
TALLINN -- Estonia has launched a criminal probe to try to identify who has posted calls on the Internet for the armed overthrow of the Estonian government, officials said Thursday.
"The security police have opened a criminal inquiry to identify the persons who are issuing calls on the Internet for violence targeting the sovereignty and independence of the Republic of Estonia," Piret Seeman, spokeswoman of the prosecutor's office, said in a statement. "The text of the appeal repeatedly refers to the violent seizure of power and to violent changes to Estonia's constitutional order," Seeman said.
That's a direct threat and can't be tolerated for a second. And Estonia is part of NATO.
The appeal calls for the creation of a "Russian Resistance Army" to fight the Estonian government. I live in Estonia. I talked to several Russian friends last night who received an e-mail instructing them that a rebellion would occur on May 9, and they should arm themselves to take down the 'fascist government'. None of them had any idea how they got their e-mail addresses.
More importantly, how do they intend to respond?
Interior minister Juri Pihl said Thursday that while he hoped "the most difficult point has passed" since two nights of rioting last Thursday and Friday, "we have to be vigilant about possible breaches of the law May 9.
"There are many Internet appeals and SMS messages calling for rallies on that day, but I am asking everyone not to submit to provocation," he said.
May 9 is the day Russia, and the large ethnic Russian minority in Estonia, marks the 1945 defeat over Nazi Germany in World War II. Estonia marks the allied victory over Hitler May 8, together with the rest of Western Europe. Demonstrations have been banned until May 11 in Tallinn ... ... as well as most alcohol sales ... :-(
... and the surrounding region, following last week's riots over the removal of a Soviet war memorial. The removal of the statue has plunged Estonia into a bitter row with Moscow, which ruled over the Baltic nation for five decades after World War II ... ... don't forget the year of "rule" BEFORE World War II
... when Estonia was a Soviet republic.
Russians see the statue at the heart of the row as a sacred memorial to Red Army soldiers who defeated Nazism, while Estonians view it as a bitter reminder of the long Soviet occupation. The statue is fine. It's in a very good place, surrounded by the honored war dead. Here are some pictures I took on May Day, surrounded by hundreds of the honored (Soviet) dead: Bronze Soldier
I'm not a conspiracy theorist. But there is plenty of stories that this entire episode has been orchestrated from the highest levels of the Kremlin. From the cyberattacks and the meetings with Russian embassy staffers with some of last week's riot instigators, to the economic boycott to the attack on the Estonian ambassador yesterday ... then you combine it with this post from the editor of City Paper with a Russian military officer (City Paper is a pan-Baltic English-language news magazine for business-oriented ex-pats) ... it looks like May 9 will be an interesting day in this part of the world.
You're not a conspiracy nut, this makes sense to me. Especially since Putin thinks the Lilliputians in the Dhimmicratic party have sufficiently tied down Dubya so that he can't act. And Blair is about to leave. And France won't act to save the Estonians even if Sark wins.
BTW, Estonians want to know -- where's the button to open the NATO umbrella, anyway?
#3
regarding the arming: in Lithuania it is allowed to carry guns up to 6 mm for self-defence without any permission, just be over 18. Weapons over 6 mm are allowed for self-defence, but this needs passing courses, doctors, paperwork.
#5
Just read the gun laws, which basically say that:
1. Estonian citizens at least 18 years old can apply for permits to own non-rifled guns and hunting weapons.
2. Estonian citizens at least 21 years old can apply for permits to own all civilian-use firearms.
3. Resident permit holders can apply for permits to own non-rifled guns and hunting weapons, if they have permits to own such weapons from their country of citizenship, if such permits are required there.
So any weapons these people would be carrying would likely be illegal. I wouldn't recommend waving around guns in Estonia, as both our cops and the Kaitseliit, our semi-civilian National Guard are armed to the teeth as well.
Posted by: Sam ||
05/04/2007 16:28 Comments ||
Top||
#6
We looked for it on 9/12 and couldn't find it.
Not quite true. They volunteered to help in Afghanistan. Rummy decided to pursue things in alone. Not a bad decision as events have shown.
#8
One of my govt. sources told me that the Estonians have identified the sender of the incitement e-mail as a 20-something Russian in Moscow. NOT the Kremlin, which is a relief, IMO, regarding May 9.
They've asked the Russian govt. to arrest him. ;-D
#9
P.S.: This guy is probably part of the Nashi "pro-Putin" brigade that has been barricading the Estonian embassy.
Since the Nashi's were paid for their "demonstration," this week, who knows how far the rabbit hole goes?
#10
Wel-l-l, various international messageboard/forum sites have received postings or articles from seemingly dedicated anti-Americans = anti-Caucasians/Xtremists calling for de facto ARMED REVOLUTION INSIDE THE USA + ESTABLISHMENT OF INDEPENDENT SOVEREIGN, OR "PARALLEL", ISLAMIST-MUSLIM + AFRICAN/NEGRO + HISPANIC-LATINO "STATES"
= "HOMELANDS" = ARMED ENCLAVES. IMO, their greatest debate between these anti-US Xtremists is whether these new "Nations" = "Homelands",
etc. will be $$$ dependent? on Washington DC = remnant of America???
#11
It's probably a bit late to say it, but welcome! Nesvarbukas and Sam! Oh, and Sam, I quite enjoyed your "beyond the soundbites" series. And there was much rejoicing, indeed.
A long, interesting report on naval affairs in the Baltic. Excerpt:
It is likely, for instance, that Russian submarines operate in Finnish waters.
It is perfectly well known that at least in the coastal corridor between Porkkala [the headland jutting out into the Gulf of Finland just west of Helsinki] and the island of Utö, in the outer islands south-west from Turku, there are any number of ideal hideout spots in deeper-water locations.
On the other hand, there is little sense in submarines going exactly where they are expected to go. "We have reported quite openly on our suspected sub sightings, but there has not been one absolutely open-and-shut case", says Lillqvist.
There are a number of submarine bases along the Baltic coast: the Poles keep their vessels in Gdansk, the Russians in Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg. The German submarines are stationed in Eckernförde in the Bay of Kiel, while the Swedes base theirs in Karlskrona.
Sometimes a British or Dutch submarine can slip through the Kattegat into the Baltic basin. There may also be some top-secret smaller installations along the Baltic coastline about which little or nothing is known. The Swedes, for instance, also use midget submarines. "They are even more secret. According to public record there are not many of them, but it is not something people talk about", says Lillqvist.
Because the Baltic is a shallow sea (the average depth is only 55 metres, and the maximum recorded depth is less than 500 metres), for the most part the submarines used here are coastal vessels of around 55-70 metres in length. "When the Cold War came to an end it looked as if there was no future for submarines. But they haven't gone away anywhere in the years since then", says Lillqvist.
And what about the other submarine countries in the Baltic, are they going to increase the size of their underwater fleets like the Russians are? Sweden? "I don't believe they have any such decisions on the table", Lillqvist replies.
Poland? "No decisions."
Germany? "The Germans are planning to get two new large Type 212A-class subs."
The Baltic Sea is a difficult area for submarine-hunting. "The sea-bed topography is uneven. There are a lot of blind-spot areas where a submarine can hide and remain undetected", comments Lillqvist. He opens up a chart and points to depth readings in the Gulf of Finland: the numbers range from less than ten metres to 110 metres. This is enough to allow the passage of a sub - and quite a sizable one, too - since coastal submarines generally require a depth of "a good 40 metres", but they can operate in shallower water than this.
It is a relatively common sight on the narrow international sea lanes of the Gulf of Finland to see Russian submarines travelling openly on the surface. Only they are Russian-built subs and not ones belonging to the Russian Navy. They have been assembled at the giant shipyard in St. Petersburg and are destined for export to India or China. Sea trials are routinely carried out in the Gulf. "When they are on the surface they are ships like any other. They have lights fore and aft and all", says Lillqvist.
The conditions for the crews on the Baltic fleet submarines are nothing much to write home about. The quarters are cramped in the extreme, since the whole idea is to make the vessels as compact as possible. "One way of saving space is to use the warm-bunk' principle - in other words, two crew members share the same bunk. One is at work while the other is off-duty", explains Lillqvist.
On the Helsinki island of Isosaari, off-limits to civilians as a restricted military area, is a coastal artillery battery and a fixed maritime surveillance station, in a cavern blasted from the bedrock.
The underwater monitoring at the station keeps tabs on sub-surface sounds day and night. A network of passive sonar hydrophones - sound-to-electricity transducers that pick up and transmit ambient noise - has been set up on the bed of the Gulf of Finland, and the signals it captures are transmitted back to the station on Isosaari. "The locations of the hydrophone sensors are understandably not for public consumption, as they can each monitor only a relatively limited area. And they can be moved around as necessary", says Lillqvist.
Hydrophones have certainly been installed alongside the major maritime arteries and offshore from the country's harbours. If, for instance, the Russians were to know of the precise locations of the devices, it would be easy for their submarines to move around out of reach of listening ears. Suspicious sounds that are picked up in Finnish territorial waters are examined at the Navy's research establishments in Espoo and Turku. And if the technicians in Espoo suspect that the noises might be coming from a submarine, the Navy are sent to intercept the intruder.
#1
Anybody seen the new book on the Scorpion disaster yet? I just saw it at Barnes & Noble, but didn't pick it up. The jacket cover says the authors say the Scorpion was destroyed by a Soviet submarine and the USN knew it from the start.
There was a fiction novel many years ago that contended hat 4 subs were lost in 1968 as part of a secret NATO/USSR submarine war. Good stuff.
It wouldn't really surprise me a whole lot if there was a lot of underwater skullduggery going on all over the world. The book Blind Man's Bluff revealed a lot of the USN's work against the Soviets during the Cold War and is also a good read.
The suggestion that Scorpion was lost dueling with a Soviet sub has been around for a while, but it's been pretty much debunked. The evidence from the wreck and SOSUS clearly show that Scorpion was alone when - most likely - either a torpedo cooked off inside the ship, or they were able to get said torpedo into the water, but it came back at them.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/04/2007 19:00 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Tried to dump a hot running torpedo.
That said it does kinda fit in with the second shooter theory. I've also noticed that crop circles started about that time. Coincidence? Ima report, you 'en are crazy.
#5
A skeleton was reportedly found outside a sunken Soviet boomer sub lost in the 1960's, a sub wid a Rogue Soviet captain aboard whom wanted to start a nuke war agz the USA by unilaterally firing his missles. Elements within the Soviet sub crew deliberately destroyed and sank their own sub by preventing the missles from leaving the ship after ignition. MTV > WWIII: DESTRUCTION OF THE BATTLESHIP OKLAHOMA [Pearl Harbor - Ben Affleck]> THE THEME FROM "TITANIC" [Celine Dion] + "PERFECT STORM". Celine + Mariah Carey is in love wid a dead man Keanu Reeves, ala MATRIX - D *** nged pinko Liberal Asteroids + Planet X's!
French conservative Nicolas Sarkozy extended his lead after a television debate with Socialist rival Segolene Royal and stayed on course for victory in Sunday's election, opinion polls showed on Thursday.
A poll for the Opinionway institute showed 53 percent of viewers found Sarkozy more convincing during the sometimes fiery debate, against 31 percent who judged Royal better. A separate survey by the same polling organization gave Sarkozy, who has come out on top in over 100 opinion polls since the start of the year, an eight point lead with 54 percent support, versus 46 percent for Royal.
But with just over two days left until voting begins on Sunday morning, neither candidate relented. Both were back on the campaign trail on Thursday evening, with Sarkozy hammering his favorite themes of security and pride in being French. "I want to be able to talk about the nation without being called a nationalist," he told a rally in the southern city of Montpellier. "I want to be able to talk about authority without being called an authoritarian." For all our occasional divergence of interests, it would be nice see the Frenchies able to take pride in being French again.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/04/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Let's hope Sarko wins. But to get France turned around will be as much challenge as pivoting an aircraft carrier on a dime.
#3
FOX NEWS > I wasn't able to get all of the specific news segment, but what I did see was Sarkozy politely but firmly accusing Segolene of "losing her cool", directly inferring that a "cool head" was necessary to be a National Leader of France.
#7
Newc, don't over rejoice too fast. Sarkosy is going against decades of indoctrination coming from every side. It will take a lot of time before France becomes an ally again. For now all he can do is here and there cut the subsidies and advertaisements from stea controlled companies who are the lifeline keeping some chic-leftistantiameriacn MSM alive (the Liberation newspaper comes to mind). He can also carefully purge French history books from their violent antiamericanism.
PARIS (Reuters) - France risks violence and brutality if right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy wins Sunday's presidential election, Socialist opponent Segolene Royal said on Friday.
On the last day of official campaigning, opinion polls showed Sarkozy enjoyed a commanding lead over Royal, who accused the former interior minister of lying and polarizing France.
"Choosing Nicolas Sarkozy would be a dangerous choice," Royal told RTL radio. "It is my responsibility today to alert people to the risk of (his) candidature with regards to the violence and brutality that would be unleashed in the country (if he won)," she said.
Pressed on whether there would be actual violence, Royal said: "I think so, I think so," referring specifically to France's volatile suburbs hit by widespread rioting in 2005.
I'll take this to mean that she believes she's toast?
#9
Royal warns of violence if Sarkozy wins
So she's become the Al Sharpton of France.
Posted by: ed ||
05/04/2007 13:12 Comments ||
Top||
#10
JFM, What are your thoughts about the outcome of this election? Do you think the French people are fed up with immigration, car burnings, and liberal policies? Do you think the election will go to Sarkozy?
In a debate packed with silly questions and ones matching left-wing attack points on GOP candidates, in the first Interactive Round of questions submitted by the public on Politico.com, a co-sponsor of the debate, Mitt Romney got the most bizarre. The Politico Executive Editor Jim VandeHei, a Washington Post political reporter before jumping to The Politico earlier this year, found this one worth posing: Daniel Dekovnick [sp phonetic] from Walnut Creek, California wants to know, 'What do you dislike most about America?'" Romney responded: Gosh, I love America. I'm afraid I'm going to be at a loss for words...
Here, let me help you out, Mitt: What I dislike most about America
I really can't stand smug, sophomoric halfwits who make the assumption everyone else shares their low opinion of their country.
The Interactive Rounds at the Republican presidential debate, from the Ronald Reagan Library in California and carried live on MSNBC, became an opportunity to raise hostile questions from a left-wing agenda or meant to embarrass the candidates (what's the difference between Shia and Sunni? How many have been killed or injured in Iraq? etc.)
Some of the other questions VandeHei chose to ask during the same round (about 25 minutes into the debate) in which he posed the whopper to Romney:
To Rudy Giuliani, Bradley Winter of New York would like to know if there's anything you learned, or regret, during your time as Mayor in your dealings with the African-American community?
I really hate -- utterly despise -- race hustlers, the sort of dimbulb to whom the color of one's skin is he most important thing going, much more important than individual accomplishment or concern for the nation as a whole.
To Mike Huckabee, Thousands of reputable scientists have concluded, with almost certainty, that human activity is responsible for the warming of the Earth. Do you believe global warming exists?
Oooh, I utterly hate the kind of beauzeau who's determined to prove that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Show me a man or woman or other who'll swallow and half digest received quasireligious truth today and I'll show you a man or woman or other who 500 years ago would have been killing Lollards or Huguenots.
Later, to Tom Tancredo: Will you work to protect women's rights, as in fair wages and reproductive choice?
Dishpits who intrude on the political processes of other parties set my teeth on edge, just like they do most normal people.
Moderator Chris Matthews, the long-time Democratic operative-turned journalist, also asked his fair share of ridiculous questions, bizarrely attacking White House aide Karl Rove and favorite target Scooter Libby. Regarding Libby, Matthews asked whether the former vice presidential aide deserved a pardon (he does not according to Matthews). The "Hardball" host went hard after Rove, attempting to pressure former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore. "Is Karl Rove your friend," he asked, wondering whether Gilmore would even think of allowing the nefarious Rove in the White House. Gilmore rebuffed Matthews: "It isn't a matter of Karl Rove. What's important to this nation isn't Karl Rove."
VandeHei's question about Islam was a true stump-the-candidate moment which Giuliani handled fairly well. The tables were turned later in the debate when Matthews wrongly tried to correct Romney after the latter mentioned altered nuclear transfer as an alternative to fetal stem cells. Matthews appeared to think the former Massachusetts governor was talking about nuclear energy.
Things did not improve for Matthews. Near the end of the 90-minute plus session, he actually asked the candidates if they approved of the idea of having former president Bill Clinton back in the White House: Would it be good for America to have Bill Clinton back living in the White House? he wondered. Amazingly, no one agreed with him.
This article starring:
Bill Clinton
Chris Matthews
Jim Gilmore
Karl Rove
Mike Huckabee
Mitt Romney
Politico Executive Editor Jim VandeHei
Rudy Giuliani
Scooter Libby
Tom Tancredo
Posted by: Fred ||
05/04/2007 08:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The big winner in this debate was Fred Thompson.
#3
I got a question. How come Democrats never get asked these questions? And how come they get Brian Williams as a moderator and the Republicans get this quack?
#4
I listened to this so-called debate for a bit on the radio last night. This was the most sophomoric, dipsh*t debate I ever heard. It was shallow, it was stupid. And where in the hell did they get Chris Mattews for the moderator? I turned it off after 15 minutes. I literally could not stand the stupidity any more. Where is the leadership? It ain't here.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/04/2007 10:10 Comments ||
Top||
#5
"What do you dislike most about America?"
"Well, you see, I believe this is the greatest country in the world but what I dislike most is the lack of any Constitutional authority to tar and feather miserable little media swine like you and run them out of town on a rail."
#6
I watched all but the first 15 minutes. Matthews' style of "moderation" was the same as that used on his Hardball program-invested in promoting his own version of truth. I have no opinion either way on Karl Rove, but it was really something to watch Matthews' bias so out front in an event which demands disinterested professionalism.
#7
I got a question. How come Democrats never get asked these questions?
Because they essentially own the questioners. Compare that to the Dem candidates who were too scared of that mean old Fox Network to let them host their debate.
I'm already sick of this campaign, but giving up on politics completely will only help the Dems.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/04/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I thought Secret Service protection was extended to Presidential candidates only. This would imply ONE Democrap and ONE Repub, following the conclusion of the nominating conventions. What the hell gives ?
#4
This is just another new "cost of doing business" passed onto the taxpayers at the expense of political strategists, 24/7 news cycle content seekers and those in the business of spending those hundreds of millions of dollars being raised. Where was my say in starting this presidential election picnic at 6:30 in the morning instead of in the afternoon?
I don't see a candidate I can listen too for that long who I won't be sick of by next spring.
Community groups that help subprime borrowers try to save their homes from foreclosure would receive $300 million in aid under legislation introduced on Thursday. The infusion of federal money would help consumer groups reach out to troubled borrowers and, in some cases, provide new financing directly.
The groups that would benefit from the money are in direct contact with delinquent homeowners and guide them through the complicated steps they can take to save their homes, said Sen. Charles Schumer, chairman of a Senate subcommittee on housing and sponsor of the legislation. "They know how to do it. Their role is critical," he said of the consumer groups that aim to help troubled borrowers. "We've learned that borrowers who are delinquent on their loans are at a distinct disadvantage," when trying to change the terms of a bad loan, the New York Democrat said.
Chuckie should get the 'Master of the Obvious' lifetime achievement award for that one.
Schumer's legislation is the first proposal from federal lawmakers aimed at alleviating the crisis in the subprime mortgage market that serves borrowers with damaged credit. Schumer's legislation also would give mortgage brokers, lenders and investors greater responsibility for loans that go bad. Lenders would be accountable for their brokers who use fraudulent means to sell loans, and investors might have to pay if the mortgages they own were offered to borrowers who were not fit to make the payments.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/04/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
It has nothing to do with bailing anyone or anything out. This just happens to be the thing in that miserable whore's judgment that will get him face time on the boob tube this week.
#3
$300M? WTF is $300M? Fannie Mae wipes its a$$ with $300M. What is going on here? Is this money going directly in to a select few's pockets to get them to do what they should do anyway?
#4
Isn't it time we realized that our 75 year obsession with everyone - even those who really can't afford it - living in self-owned housing has become an albatross?
I know why the feds wanted this in the first place, and in 1933 I'm sure it seemed like a great idea, but the end result of this obsession (no other word will do) has been reckless real estate speculation, habitat destruction for lots of animals and plants, loss of open space, a tax code which subsidizes real estate as an investment (not a place to live) while at the same time NOT subsidizing things like stocks and bonds and other investments, a skewing of interest rates from the actual cost of borrowing money, etc.
Home ownership is a great thing for those who can truly afford it, but in 2007 we have enough experience now to know that it makes little sense to throw government money at those who cannot, just to prop up a three-generation old outdated ideal. If you can't afford to live in a house you own, you rent. That's it.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
05/04/2007 6:12 Comments ||
Top||
#5
no mo uro, or you buy a smaller house.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/04/2007 7:32 Comments ||
Top||
#8
The cynic in me figgers there will be a price to pay for this bailout; namely, Congresscritters can count and they know how much tax revenue is sheltered (heh) by the home loan interest deduction (hint: it's a LOT). They prolly can't grab it directly without a total middle-class riot, since that's basically the only tax shelter us proles can "afford".
BUT, perhaps with enough grieving immigrant widows, sympathetic single moms who took in their sister's kids too, and kindly old folks who want to leave a home to their grandkiddies, all of whom trusted in a fine caring loan shark (ultimately, code words for Joooos BTW), Congress can nobly suggest that in order to help these fine diverse Americans stay in their homes, then one, perhaps two percentum of that home loan interest deduction should be "recaptured" in the name of all that's good and holy.
Hence $300 million will swell into $50 or $60B overnight, Congress gets its photo ops and more schwag to toss at their pals in the develpoment biz.
#13
This is just the start. One of the things that Ronald Reagan blew was bailing out the failed Savings and Loans in the 80s. The American people assumed to liability and the government turned around and sold the assets at below bargain basement prices to the banking industry. Meanwhile the banks continued to fill their executive salaries and inhouse trading profits by rigging the credit interest levels multiple times above the prime rate. They knew that sitting on the now unencumbered property, that eventually the market would catch up and they'd make an even greater killing, which they did.
Watch as both parties now sell us out again to the same people. We're going to get stuck with the debt and the usual suspects will come off with the capital. Of course it will all be phrased as being in our own long term interest.
When you gamble at Vegas and owe the bank 10 grand they have you by the balls. When you play the property speculation market and owe the banks 10 billion, you have them by the balls. They just turn around to their agents in Congress and arrange it so that, once again, they have everyone by the balls.
#15
Two words: moral hazard. Unfortunately Squiggy Schumer doesn't understand the meaning of either word.
Posted by: regular joe ||
05/04/2007 21:19 Comments ||
Top||
#16
What ever happened to "Buyer beware"?
If it looks too good and smells too good and you still bite - then you just failed your Darwin test and should be removed from that niche.
It is against GAIA's will (something the nutty left can grasp) to save a failed herd animal. It makes the whole heard weak. That's what the lions and stuff are for - THEY KEEP THE HERD HEALTHY.
Doctors have warned people against cousin marriages as they may cause thalassaemia, a disease that is gradually increasing in Pakistan.
Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Haemophilic and Thalassaemic Centre Head Dr Tahira Zafar said medical sciences were not against cousin marriages but it was a source of the spread of thalassaemia in most cases. She said currently 7.5 million people were suffering from this hereditary form of anaemia in Pakistan. She said 5,000 cases were reported per year and that this hereditary disease originates from a faulty synthesis of haemoglobin.
Dr Tahira said children aged between six months and two years were the main victims of this disease and died between the ages of two and five due to inadequate or no treatment. She said a newborn child might appear normal even if his or her parents had thalassaemia in such cases the disease could be detected during pregnancy, and parents could opt for an abortion. She said bone marrow transplants were the only cure to thalassaemia, which costs Rs 6 million a year.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/04/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Nonsense.
Would allen let that happen?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/04/2007 0:14 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Science says all humanity can be traced to a common pair of Male-Female genes, i.e. ADAM and EVE. The jury still out on LILITH - YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS,MORIARTY, WHEN YOU SERVE APPLES FROM SNAKES, INSTEAD OF MANGOS OR BANANAS.
#3
Thalassaemia is a genetic disorder found a lot in the Mediterranean area and people with that blood.
In the major form, it's fatal. The minor form, about 20 percent of your red blood cells are mis-shaped and don't carry hemoglobin efficently. I understood it was a variant off sickle cell anemia, which I understand was a genetic attempt to ward off malaria.
I have the minor form, which means I don't run marathons.
Cousin marriages, eh? Well, I do have relatives in Mississippi ... :-D
#4
Thanks for the input, MM, but ya never wanna let a few facts get in the way of a mediocre story.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/04/2007 6:15 Comments ||
Top||
#5
The Wikipedia article explains that thalassemia comes from genetic defects that cause reduced production of either the α or β-globin proteins of hemoglobin. The excess proteins of the other type form unstable chains that work really badly. Sickle-cell anemia, on the other hand, is caused by a point mutation that results in a single amino-acid substitution; that changes the protein's shape and mkes the red blood cell sickle. The two diseases aren't that similar.
You know, the Ashkenazi-Jewish population managd to figure out what to do with its genetic diseases. I've got one of them in my family. But will the Arabs and the Pakistanis learn from us? Nooooo! Also quoting:
A screening policy exists on both sides of the island of Cyprus to reduce the incidence of thalassemia, which since the program's implementation in the 1970s (which also includes pre-natal screening and abortion) has reduced the number of children born with the hereditary blood disease from 1 out of every 158 births to almost zero.
Well, I guess that's an intelligence test.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
05/04/2007 8:09 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Withhold all medical treatment and aid intended to combat this avoidable condition. Do this, if only to confer the financial burden of costly treatments upon our enemies. Discouraging any intermarriage of cousins is a vital first step in dismantling the deeply embedded tribal mentality that helps pepetuate terrorism in Muslim majority countries. Not interfering with natural selection's own penalties for such disadvantageous practices is one of the few benign strategies we can adopt in the fight against Islam. We must allow Muslims to kill themselves and each other to the maximum extent with their barbaric and ill-conceived (so to speak), institutions. Our only other alternatives are far more brutal and lethal.
A virulent strain of tuberculosis resistant to most available drugs is surfacing around the globe, raising fears of a pandemic that could devastate efforts to contain TB and prove deadly to people with immune-deficiency diseases such as HIV-AIDS.
Known formally as extensively drug-resistant TB, or XDR-TB, the strain has been detected in 37 countries. It arises when the bacterium that causes TB mutates because antibiotics used to combat it are carelessly administered by poorly trained doctors or patients don't take their full course of medication. Rather than being killed by the drugs, the microbe builds up resistance to them.
At least 50 percent of those who contract this strain of TB will die of it, according to medical experts. In trying to stop the spread of the disease, which can be transmitted through coughing, spitting or even speaking, health officials have imposed sometimes extreme controls on infected people.
Continued on Page 49
#3
Now if he had AIDS you could expect both the usual suspects and the MSM howling in righteous indignation about this right to spread death with a politically correct disease.
#4
It's not right," Daniels said in a telephone interview. "I'm not a criminal.
Perhaps not, but your voluntary incompetence makes you a threat to the public's welfare and that represents sufficient reason to confine you against your will.
Daniels said he bounced among friends' houses, partying and trying to ignore the bloody sputum he was coughing up. "I knew I was going to have to treat it, but I had other plans at that time," he said. "I didn't think it was a big deal. Now I know better."
Daniels acknowledged that he had visited a fast-food restaurant and stores in Phoenix without a mask but denied that he had stopped taking his medicine there. "That's a nasty lie," he said.
Whatever, your prior pattern of conduct demonstrates reckless disregard for how you endanger the lives of others. You should face criminal charges.
Next Issue:
Known formally as extensively drug-resistant TB, or XDR-TB, the strain has been detected in 37 countries. It arises when the bacterium that causes TB mutates because antibiotics used to combat it are carelessly administered by poorly trained doctors or patients don't take their full course of medication.
This sounds like its going to hit Russia and the Muslim majority countries pretty hard. While I'm not fond of people dieing miserable deaths, there really needs to be a culling in both of these regions in order to neuter their threat levels. If it takes a TB plague, so be it. Africa, especially, needs the calming effect of massive population reduction. Again, I realize that the poorest will be hit hardest, but that is a historical fact anyway. I'd certainly rather that some other more benign method like birth control could create this effect, but whatever reduces the current spate of psychotic behavior in Russia, Muslim countries and Africa can only have beneficial results for the outside world.
I'm certainly hoping that Western nations will have the self preservation instinct intelligence to prohibit any medical aid for terrorist sponsoring nations.
Dear Leader sez, "Drink up, Imperialist Yankee Swine!"
SEOUL, South Korea - A traditional North Korean liquor that is clear and tastes smoother and sweeter than vodka is expected to hit the U.S. market as early as next month, a news report said Thursday. A New York-based Korean-American trader is importing the traditional Korean liquor called soju from communist North Korea for the first time, Yonhap news agency reported, citing the importer, Park Il U. Anybody ever partake?
The report said the U.S. government has approved the import and the first shipment of Pyongyang Soju left North Korea last month. It is expected to arrive in the U.S. later this month and could be available in American stores next month, the report said. Park Il U could not be reached for comment, and there was no immediate U.S. confirmation of the report.
Alcohol importation into the U.S. needs authorization from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Because North Korea is subject to U.S. sanctions, Park Il U would also need a license from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. North Korea is among the countries subject to the U.S. Trading with the Enemy Act. Washington agreed in February to begin discussions with North Korea on removing it from the list, one of a series of economic and political concessions offered in exchange for the North's promise in an international agreement to start dismantling its nuclear program.
Soju is a popular liquor in both South and North Korea. It is generally distilled from rice combined with other ingredients such as sweet potatoes, wheat or barley. Usually clear in color, it resembles vodka in taste and ranges in alcohol content from about 20 percent to 45 percent. In the U.S., soju is sold mostly in Korean markets and wine bars. It is also used as a popular cocktail base in restaurants in California and New York. The liquor originated 5,000 years ago and its distillation method was introduced to Korea in the 13th century. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency says hundreds of thousands of bottles of Pyongyang Soju are sold in various countries annually. I wonder if it's "efficacious"?
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
05/04/2007 13:25 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Oh crap. Get ready for a load of methanol blindness from soju drinkers. And that's the SKor stuff. The only use should be disinfecting the toilet bowl.
Btw, can I interest anyone in a nice steaming bowl of Chinese wheat gluten to go with their NKor soju?
Posted by: ed ||
05/04/2007 13:30 Comments ||
Top||
#5
This has to be very similar to Shochu from Nihon. Try that out instead if curious.
#6
traditional North Korean liquor that is clear and tastes smoother and sweeter than vodka
Juche(tm) brand soju-- The breakfast of champions heroes of the revolution!
I have some painful morning after memories involving soju and SOFA clubs. Especialy 05:30 PT run type memories. Owie.
Posted by: Helmuth, Speaking for N guard ||
05/04/2007 13:46 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Soju is an acquired taste. It is, in the Land of the Morning Calm, cheaper than beer or wine. It can be made from anything that can be fermented, which can lead to some serious allergic reactions (had a friend wind up in the hospital from soju made from cabbage) to various homebrews. The alcoholic content varies widely too, but most of it is around 40 proof. As to comparing it to vodka, a more apt comparison is to MD 20/20. Can't imagine what is left in the North to ferment. Maybe the secret ingredient is Soylent Green.
#14
SOJU tastes very good but has a potent aftertaste, and I do mean POTENT aka POWERFUL. I have to wonder how is it that a [pan]Korean and espec NORTH KOREAN SOCIETY which has such wonderful stuff to give to the world could have such dterimental domestic = political troubles, not the least of which is being PC controlled or dominated by its larger Chicom neighbor. YOU KNOW ITS BAD WHEN NORTH KOREAN EMIGRES IN NEIGHBORING ASIAN COUNTRIES DEMAND TO BE TREATED AS ILLEGAL ALIENS IFF IT MEANS NOT GOING BACK TO NORTH KOREA.
#3
I wonder how the Muslims would feel about a Christian or Jewish school to be built in a Muslim country. I suspect there would be protests too.
I don't know what to make of the intentions of the Muslim community in Brooklyn. It could be for noble intentions or a possible front for future recruiting. But it does not sound the like the Brooklyn citizenry are not taking any chances.
Perhaps if the Muslims in Brooklyn were more vocal about their discontent for members of their religion who want to kill Americans and Jews, they might have found a more sympathetic ear.
#4
Is Brooklyn another Arab encampment like Dearborn ? We don't need sepratist schools. The only chance there is to converting the young minds to a democratic mode of thinking and logic is public schooling with a common curriculae. Bloomburg is in charge of the NY schools is he not ? He ought to strictly council this idiot Klein or replace him. This idiotic idea needs squelching now.
#5
As others here and elsewhere at these boards have noted, all construction of mosques, madrassas and any other Islamic facilities in the West should come to an immediate halt until Christian and other non-Islamic institutions can be built in Muslim majority countries. Until that time, for the destruction of each church or other non-Islamic place of worship that occurs in those countries, a mosque should be demolished in retaliation.
The West is idiotic to allow any continuation of this lopsided relationship with Islam. In no way do the vast majority of Muslims have any interest in supporting Western goals or modern civilization. We are worse than fools to pretend that they do. Islam must be called on its overt hostility to all that is not submissive to its cause. Our continued hesitation only assures increased and even more needless loss of life when an actual confrontation finally begins. Worst of all, further delays virtually guarantee the escalation of avoidable deaths in the West.
Another point came to mind after my last post, Mosque's tend to be centers of communities. Once this place gets established, watch what becomes of the neighboring real estate. I wouldn't be surprise that you see a larger Muslim community taking root in a couple of years.
As what has already happened in Europe, you will see attempts to impose their own set of laws separate from the rest of the State. eg. Calls for Sharia to surplant Constitutional Law. Sharia has no room for coexistence with secular law.
An extreme case would be requiring non-Muslims who visit the area to conform to Islamic Law eg. Clothing, Entertainment etc..This has already taken place in a number of places throughout Europe.
At least the Jews, Christians, Hindus acknowledge U.S. and City laws and live by it as well as religous law.
#7
So it begins. Jihad Prep Of New York. I give them credit. It takes chutzpah to use the name of a Christian Lebanese writer to indoctrinate little jihadis. Young Muslims Secret Camp The Young Muslims (YM) was founded well over a decade ago, as a subsidiary of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), an organization that was created specifically to emulate the violent Muslim Brotherhood of Pakistan, Jamaat-e-Islami. Through ICNA, YM holds events that feature as speakers some of the most radical individuals in the Islamic community. These events include youth camps, which, prior to the attacks on 9/11, were referred to as jihad camps.
...
The confirmed list of speakers are as follows: Shamsi Ali, the Deputy Imam of the Islamic Cultural Center of New York and Director of the Jamaica Muslim Center, who was the moderator at a February 2006 demonstration against Danish cartoons of Muhammad held outside the Danish Consulate in Manhattan, where a poster was seen being waived which read, Insult the Prophet, you will pay, Allahs wrath is on the way.
Why is Mohammad Razvi, an immigrant from Pakistan, so hot on his kids being taught in Arabic? Why is he promoting the Arabization of muslims in America, just as Wahabis are promoting in Pakistan?
Posted by: ed ||
05/04/2007 12:27 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Ms. Almontaser said she was prepared for the reaction. Quite frankly, I dont let it bother me, she said. I dont lose sleep over it. My main objective is the opening of the school.
That's right. Once that foot's in the door, it's tough to shut it...
A new conservative African-led group will provide a home for members of the splintered U.S. Episcopal Church who are upset over gay issues and looking to leave, the head of the new group said on Thursday. The body, under the auspices of a Nigerian archbishop, is an alternative for American followers who do not support the 2003 elevation of the first gay Episcopal bishop and other liberal stances. I'm feeling really old. When I was a lad, missionaries used to go to Africa to convert the heathen. Now Africa's sending them here.
"We are what the church used to be," said Bishop Martyn Minns, who on Saturday will be installed -- over protests from the Episcopal Church leadership -- as head of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America. "Our desire is not to interfere with what they're (the Episcopal Church) doing. We just don't agree with it," he said in a conference call with reporters. So now they're gonna have their choice of being an Episcopalian or an Anglican?
The U.S. branch of the 77-million-member worldwide Anglican Church has been splintered since the Americans consecrated Gene Robinson of New Hampshire as the first openly gay bishop in more than 450 years of Anglican church history. It felt good, so they did it. Hilarity ensued. Or maybe it was just that everybody laughed at them.
Some parishes in the 2.4-million-member U.S. church have already formed alliances along orthodox lines, and others have placed themselves under the jurisdiction of conservative bishops in Africa. The group Minns will head was put together by Nigeria's Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola, who will formally install him as "missionary bishop" of the group in a ceremony on Saturday in Woodbridge, Virginia.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/04/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Midwest Conservative journal has the letter Shiori wrote and Akinola's response.
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.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Thursday threatened to nationalize the country's banks and largest steel producer, accusing them of unscrupulous practices. "Private banks have to give priority to financing the industrial sectors of Venezuela at low cost," Chavez said. "If banks don't agree with this, it's better that they go, that they turn over the banks to me, that we nationalize them and get all the banks to work for the development of the country and not to speculate and produce huge profits." 
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez this week showed how his impulsive management style can backfire when he sowed confusion by vowing to leave the IMF, seemingly unaware that could trigger a massive debt default. The leftist, who is leading a self-styled socialist revolution and nationalizing swathes of the economy, often announces far-reaching decisions in speeches and then leaves his officials to work out how to put policy into practice. "Chavez spoke prematurely regarding withdrawal from the IMF, unaware of the full consequences of these actions," said ABN AMRO, one of several banks that urged a cautious approach after Chavez's announcement. 
French conservative Nicolas Sarkozy extended his lead after a television debate with Socialist rival Segolene Royal and stayed on course for victory in Sunday's election, opinion polls showed on Thursday.
Community groups that help subprime borrowers try to save their homes from foreclosure would receive $300 million in aid under legislation introduced on Thursday. The infusion of federal money would help consumer groups reach out to troubled borrowers and, in some cases, provide new financing directly.
Doctors have warned people against cousin marriages as they may cause thalassaemia, a disease that is gradually increasing in Pakistan. 
A virulent strain of tuberculosis resistant to most available drugs is surfacing around the globe, raising fears of a pandemic that could devastate efforts to contain TB and prove deadly to people with immune-deficiency diseases such as HIV-AIDS.
A new conservative African-led group will provide a home for members of the splintered U.S. Episcopal Church who are upset over gay issues and looking to leave, the head of the new group said on Thursday. The body, under the auspices of a Nigerian archbishop, is an alternative for American followers who do not support the 2003 elevation of the first gay Episcopal bishop and other liberal stances.
