He maintained a youthful physique and joked in 2006 that "I can't afford to die. It would wreck my image." I wonder how long it will be before the Jack LaLanne Memorial Juicers show up on HSN.
#3
Kind of makes you wonder how much extra time a healthy diet and exercise earned him. Would it be worth it to die at 90 if you could eat food you liked and not exercise your entire life?
#6
RIP. He has left us, unfortunate. By far Jack was a favorite exercise scientist of many and whether he lived to be 80 or 120- Jack LaLanne felt vital and healthy while he was alive.
Grossly obese people are not complete humans. A walking, talking 300 lb. (Unless your are 6'7") human alimentary canal with fat strangled organs wearing the soles out of shoes too soon, leading limited lives, and parading their misery around so everyone around them that see them wants to barf or weep is not the ideal. It takes its toll in other ways on those who must interact with these sad big little whales. See Michelangelo's statue of David over there, the 300 pound David? Of course not, David would never let himself become obese, obesity is not healthy for children and other living things.
Posted by: Fire and Ice ||
01/24/2011 18:45 Comments ||
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Hawaii is mourning the loss of World War II veteran Barney Hajiro. The Oahu man was the oldest living Medal of Honor recipient in America.
"He wants to be remembered as a simple person," said son Glenn Hajiro.
Barney Hajiro, 94, served in the Army's famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team. He single-handedly destroyed two German machine gun nests during the rescue of the "Lost Battalion" in France. He was shot in the cheek, shoulder and wrist, leaving his left arm paralyzed.
"There were snipers, lot of shooting, and people were saying it's going to be suicide, but he said he had a duty to do," recalled Glenn Hajiro.
More than half a century after the bloody battle, President Bill Clinton presented the Medal of Honor to the Nisei veteran in 2000.
"He said he was a little bit excited and he was proud to receive the medal for the boys. He said, 'It's not for me. It's for the boys.' He would always say that," said Glenn Hajiro.
Glenn Hajiro was by his father's side for the final moments on Friday morning.
"His dream was to be a track star, but he only went to the 8th grade. He never got to do his thing, so I told him, on his death bed, to run," said Hajiro's son.
Funeral services are still pending. In World War II, the 442nd RCT became the most highly decorated regiment in the history of the United States armed forces, including 21 Medal of Honor recipients. The motto of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team was "Go for broke."
Thank you, sir. We live free because of the sacrifices you and your boys, and the men and women before and since, have made.
#1
Savage said, acquired them from a company that renovated the amphitheater in the mid-1990s. Savage said the company performing the renovation replaced the urns with modern replicas and was allowed to take away the originals.
[Ennahar] seven copperswere maimed, including two at death's door and several protesters in addition to the RCD member of parliament Mazizi, yesterday at the unauthorized march initiated by the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD), which was prevented by security services at the party headquarters in Didouche Mourad St., and the Place du Premier Mai in Algiers.
The party's general secretary, Said Saadi stated yesterday at the headquarters of his party that this march will not be the latest against the sign of corruption in the regime, adding that 34 activists were jugged while security sources have reported only five arrests among the the RCD cut-thoats, who tried to walk in the streets despite the ban on marches in the province of Algiers because of the state of emergency.
Many party activists, about fifty, threw from the balconies of the party headquarters chairs and other broken furniture on the law enforcement personnel causing injuries and fainting in the crowd. The security forces have managed to encircle the party headquarters in Rue Didouche Mourad, preventing the beturbanned goons out in the street.
The march planned by the RCD has been a real big failure because of the large number of security forces on the one hand and secondly the lack of support from citizens. There were even some opponents of the march among the city inhabitants who kept chanting slogans hostile to the party, "RCD funeral procession, where were you before."
The services of the province of Algiers had initially warned the citizens of the consequences of participating in such march which would be an affront to public order because of the state of emergency decreed in 1992 and which is still into force.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2011 00:00 ||
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[Arab News] In a desperate attempt to break the momentum of the "Jasmin Revolution",
Also sometimes called the Tunisian Intifada...
Tunisia has jugged the owner of a private TV station and his son and placed two former allies of ousted President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali under house arrest. The official news agency TAP announced the arrests Sunday as protesters from rural Tunisia came to the capital in a "freedom caravan" of cars, trucks and cycle of violences to lock the old guard out of power.
TAP said former Ben Ali allies Abdallah Kallel and Abdelaziz Ben Dhia have been placed under house arrest, and police are looking for a third man, Abdelwaheb Abdallah.
Kallel, the Senate president and a former government minister, was stopped from leaving the country after Ben Ali decamped. A Geneva-based legal advocacy group, Trial, said torture was widespread in Tunisia while Kallel was interior minister in the early 1990s.
Ben Dhia is considered one of Ben Ali's most influential advisers, and Abdallah was a top political adviser to the former president.
Explaining the detention of the owner of a private TV station and his son for "grand treason", a government statement said: "The owner of Hannibal TV (Larbi Nasra), who is a relative of the former president's wife, is using the channel to abort the youth's revolution, spread confusion, incite strife and broadcast false information. The aim is to create a constitutional vacuum, ruin stability and take the country into a vortex of violence that will bring back the dictatorship of the former president."
Saleh Attia, a columnist from the daily Assabah newspaper, said however that the move was a sign the daily protests had begun to unnerve the authorities, which were divided over how to proceed.
Hundreds of protesters rallied in the capital to press on with their demands that holdovers of Ben Ali's 23-year regime be kept out of power. "We have gotten rid of the head of the snake but the tail is still alive -- and we need to completely kill it," said protester Nizar Bouazziz, a 24-year-old student who said he walked to the rally from Sidi Bouzid.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
ION "JASMINE", TOPIX > [US Analysts]DEMOCRACY DEMANDS A FACE CHALLENGE AS [Tunisia] PROTESTS SPREAD INTERNATIONALLY. US must support PAN-AFRICAN DEMOCRACY while also not avoiding or alienating any African Allies.
[Pak Daily Times] Tunisia's top private television channel was taken off air on Sunday and its boss jugged for "high treason," as protests in Tunis kept up the pressure on Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi to quit.
An official quoted on state news agency TAP said Hannibal TV's boss Larbi Nasra "was using his channel to stamp out the revolution of the young, sow chaos, incite civil disobedience and broadcast false information".
Officials said they had also nabbed two key figures from the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who quit on January 14 after 23 years in power.
Senate leader Abdullah Kallal and top Ben Ali adviser Abdel Aziz Ben Dhia were being held under house arrest, TAP news agency reported.
Hundreds of people, meanwhile, rallied outside Ghannouchi's offices in the city centre at a protest that had drawn thousands earlier on Sunday, many of them from impoverished regions where Tunisia's uprising began last month.
Protesters said they intended to spend the night in the streets and called for a complete removal from power of anyone associated with the old regime, including Ghannouchi, who has served as prime minister since 1999.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2011 00:00 ||
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[The Nation (Nairobi)] Embattled Cote d'Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo wants to send a delegation to Kenya to explain his rejection of Prime Minister Raila Odinga as African Union envoy on the political crisis facing the West African country.
Government sources, who requested anonymity, said Mr Gbagbo's representatives delivered the request through the Kenya embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which then forwarded it to the Foreign Affairs ministry in Nairobi last Friday.
Cote d'Ivoire does not have an embassy in Nairobi, with diplomatic affairs handled through its Addis Ababa mission.
On receiving the message, which had been delivered verbally, the ministry asked that it be put formally in writing.
The Ivorian delegation, the source disclosed, wants an appointment with acting Foreign Minister George Saitoti.
Last week, Mr Gbagbo camp rejected Mr Odinga's mediation and accused him of taking sides with the opposition rival to the presidency Alassane Ouattara. (Read: Gbagbo rejects Raila as mediator)
As Mr Odinga was leaving Cote d'Ivoire last week after his second failed mission, Mr Gbagbo's Foreign Affairs minister Alcide Djedje announced that the Kenyan Prime Minister was no longer wanted.
"Mr Odinga failed in his mission and we are no longer prepared to receive him here in Cote d'Ivoire. We reject Mr Odinga," he said.
"He sides with Mr Ouattara. We think he has become an actor in the Ivorian crisis and can no longer be an African Union special envoy.
Mr Gbagbo declined to hand over the presidency after a pliable court overturned the results in is favour. He has rebuffed all diplomatic efforts to quit.
The United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society, the AU, the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), the European Union and the United States all recognise Mr Ouattara as the legitimate winner and president.
Mr Odinga was first appointed AU mediator in December and ravelled soon afterwards to Abidjan, the Cote d'Ivoire capital, but met no success in his mediation.
He had announced even before his appointment as AU envoy that he wanted Mr Gbagbo removed by force if he refused to hand over to Mr Outtara.
On January 17, Mr Odinga flew back to Cote d'Ivoire for his second visit, but again failed in his mission to bring together Mr Gbagbo and Mr Ouattara for face-face-talks and persuade the former to step down. His second visit.
On Monday, the Nation can reveal that the PM had prepared a brief dated January 10 had called on Cote d'Ivoire's neighbours to cut trade links with Mr Gbagbo and his close associates. In addition, he asked African states to isolate Mr Gbagbo diplomatically.
The use of force, he wrote, would only be a last resort. The US and EU are understood to have supported Mr Odinga's position and would like to see him carry on with the mission.
Mali and Burkina Faso who share borders with Cote d'Ivoire are believed to be in support of the proposal for economic sanctions.
On Sunday, Mr Odinga's front man on the Cote d'Ivoire issue Mr Salim Lone said the PM was only representing the position which was taken by the AU in the crisis.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
A muslim Raila Odinga sided with a muslim Alassane Ouattara...
[Pak Daily Times] West African presidents tightened the screws on Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo on Saturday, ridding him of an ally at the top of the regional central bank who had safeguarded his access to funds.
World powers and African states have been pressing Gbagbo to cede power after a November presidential election that UN-certified results showed he lost to rival Alassane Ouattara, with the regional bank last month announcing it would no longer accept Gbagbo's signature.
But the bank's governor, an Ivorian seen as close to Gbagbo, failed to impose the decision by the bank's ministers and will be replaced, the heads of state from West Africa's single-currency zone announced.
"The conference is concerned about the impact of the non-application of (the ministers') decision on the stability of the economic, financial and monetary system of the union," they said after an emergency summit in Mali's capital. "The conference has taken note of the resignation of Mr Philippe Henri Dacoury-Tabley from his post as Governor of the Central Bank of West African States," the leaders added in a declaration.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2011 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Top British religious figures are warning against removing religion as a GCSEs subject in the new English baccalaureate amid campaigns by orc anti-Mohammedan groups.
A question for those educated in Britain: is Religious Ed. a course in Anglicanism, in comparative religion, or in one of the recognized religions of the country, eg. Anglicanism, Islam, Judaism?
Bishop of Oxford, the Right Rev. John Pritchard who heads the Church of England's education board described lack of attention to religion as "highly dangerous" in the context of violent campaigns by the likes of the English Defense League (EDL) against British Mohammedans.
"The Church of England is pretty astonished at the omission of RE [Religious Education]. I want to fire a warning salvo that there will be huge objection from the church and many other parts of society if it is not part of the core curriculum," Pritchard said.
He added RE is a "real tool" to remove concerns similar to those expressed by Conservative party's co-chairwoman Baroness Warsi last week about the EDL and Islamophobia, which she said, has "crossed the threshold of middle-class respectability."
Pritchard warned the education system is 'neglecting' religion as a GCSEs subject "at our peril" as it is highly popular among student with almost 460,000 pupils now studying it to GCSE level compared with 113,000 some 15 years ago.
Pritchard's remarks come as many religious groups including Mohammedan organizations have written to the Department of Education calling for a review in the decision to remove RE from the English baccalaureate.
Vice-chairman of the Mohammedan Council of Britain's education committee, Hojjat Ramzy, for one, said he is "extremely worried" about the move.
"In our ever-growing multi-cultural and multi-faith society, it's very important that people, especially the younger generation, are aware of the religions and cultures of others," he said.
His worries were echoed by the academics who described RE as a key part of humanities element of the English baccalaureate.
Oxford church historian professor Diarmaid MacCulloch slammed the decision as short-sighted saying "religion matters to most human beings in the world today."
"To leave religion to the religious orcs, outside a good education system, is to distort it," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Religion has no place in education in much the same way facts have no place in religion.
Cuba is set to join the high-speed broadband era with an undersea fibre-optic cable laid from Venezuela, bringing the promise of speedy internet to one of the world's least connected countries.
A specialised ship sailed from Camuri beach, near the Venezuelan port of La Guaria, this weekend, trailing the cable from buoys on the start of a 1,000-mile journey across the Caribbean sea.
Venezuelan and Cuban officials hailed the project as a blow to the United States' embargo on the island. It will make Cuba's connection speed 3,000 times faster and modernise its economy.
[Iran Press TV] Venezuelan His Excellency President-for-Life, Caudillo of the Bolivarians Hugo Chavez has said that he would be the country's leader for another eight as he sees himself as the winner of the country's 2012 presidential election.
"So it is written. So it shall be done."
"I will be elected in December 2012. It is written," Chavez told thousands of his supporters in the capital Caracas on the "National Democracy Day" on Sunday as he sought a mandate for another six-year term in office in the next presidential election, AFP reported.
The 56-year-old president, who has been in power since 1999, also hinted that the next term in office would be his last in Venezuela.
"I will be your servant until 2019 and then, good-bye," said Chavez.
Chavez assumed his first presidential office in February 1999 and reelected twice for six-year terms under Venezuela's 2000 constitution.
He made the remarks as Supporters of Venezuela's government were staging a rally in the streets of the capital to mark the anniversary of a popular uprising that overthrew a dictatorship in the South American country in 1958.
January 23 marks the anniversary of the ouster of former Venezuelan dictator Gen. Marcos Perez Jimenez.
Earlier on Sunday, opponents of the government held a demonstration in the eastern part of the capital, many criticizing last month's decision by Venezuela's National Assembly to grant Chavez the power to pass laws by decree for 18 months.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
"I will be your servant until 2019 and then, good-bye," said Chavez.
10) Because by then there will be nothing left to plunder.
9) And then I will retire in Iran. If they are still there.
8) And then I will be drawn and quartered by angry masses who have nothing left to lose.
7) And then my parrot will peck my eye out for nationalizing him.
6) At which time I will head off to Cuba to attend Harry Belafonte's funeral and Venezuela won't let me back in.
5) After which a fatwah will be issued against me and one of the local moderate muslims will run me down with his camel.
4) Then I will sneak off to North Korea for cancer treatment, only to be eaten as soon as I get off the plane.
3) At which time I will head off to Cuba to replace the ailing Fidel Castro.
2) At which time my fawning subjects will appoint me to be king.
1) And then I will head off to the US to be Obean's running mate in the 2020 elections.
The maiden flight of China's new stealth jet fighter humbled those officials and observers who initially dismissed the possibility that the country could come up with such a sophisticated weapon any time soon. It was strikingly demonstrated that neither the intelligence apparatus of the United States nor that of Taiwan had a clue about the speed of Chinese advances.
Unnoticed by Beijing's adversaries, the J-20's engineers have mastered advanced stealth-shaping techniques, and even if mass production still lies a few years ahead, it is understood that the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) in the foreseeable future will have super-cruising aircraft at hand that can't be stopped by any air defense system in Asia, including those of the US Navy's aircraft-carrier battle groups. Needless to say, this has tremendous repercussions for Taiwan's security situation.
Yet, despite the grave implications for the island, intelligence officials in Taiwan were at first quick to dismiss photos depicting the J-20 as fakes prior to the test flight. Then, after the authenticity was proved, they kept remarkably quiet. But now as the dust begins to settle, Taipei senses that mainland China's show of force could well give Washington a justification to revive major arms sales to the island.
#2
all that's needed for a first response is that buried TW device in the middle of a certain huge dam.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
01/24/2011 9:21 Comments ||
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#3
super-cruising aircraft at hand that can't be stopped by any air defense system in Asia, including those of the US Navy's aircraft-carrier battle groups.
That's pure propaganda. All its missing is a bit of North Korean Juche style.
#6
it's supposedly largely from the downed F-117 pieces over Serbia that they recovered
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/24/2011 14:13 Comments ||
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#7
That story seems like face-saving crap to me. That technology relies on a faceted double-diamond shape. The picture I saw looked more like an F-22, which is a very different approach.
#9
Here's a good wrap of the situation, history, and implications of China harvesting F-117 tech
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/24/2011 19:46 Comments ||
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#10
If the PRC gained anything from that downed F-117 it wasn't the shape; you could download an F-22 mesh and get results and it was the concept of stealth as much as its realization that was at issue.
Composites and coatings, on the other hand, might be gleaned from F-117 wreckage. Even then, I imagine the most complicated work is in the software that keeps an inherently unstable, unaerodynamic shape in flight. That information would have to be stolen at its source in the United States.
Just as likely one of Clinton's cronies gave it to them. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/24/2011 22:02 Comments ||
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#14
TOPIX > [Taipei Times OpEd] TAIWAN THE WEAK LINK IN THE CHAIN.
ARTIC = JSDFS = TAIWAN part of the TOKYO-GUAM-TAIWAN TRIANGLE [T-G-T] vital for detecting + monitoring CPLAN naval movements, espec PLAN SUBMARINE OPERATIONS.
* SAME > [PRC OFFICIAL: THE US IS STILL UNBEATABLE, oer the next 20 years i.e. until roughly Year 2030??? DIRECTOR-GENERAL FOR POLICY PLANNING LE YUCHENG OF THE CHIN FM.
* PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > JAPAN'S FM HOPES TO TONE DOWN RUSSIA'S STANCE ON DISPUTED ISLANDS. Japan FM diplomatic visits to the now-Russian former Japanese Kurils = Kuriles.
As per CHINA, Russia's notice that the former Japanese Kurils are now sovereign Russ Territories effec means that MOSCOW DEEMS THE SEA OF OSKHOTSK/KAMCHATKA, ETC. = NORTH CHINA SEA AS DE FACTO SOVEREIGN "RUSSIAN LAKE/SEA" + "AIRSPACE" [military jurisdiction = NatSecur Zone] REQUIRING FORMAL RUSS CONSENT TO TRANSIT.
Despite the rants of local Russ Far East authorities, MOSCOW would covertly prefer to LIMIT CHINESE ECON MIGRATION,INFLUENCE IN THE RFE.
* WAFF > {Australian AirPower.Net] WHAT IFF- THE END OF US PACIFIC OCEAN HEGEMONY?
OPERATION "LONG MARCH" = Aussie fictional but "realistic" WAR SCENARIO/SIMULATION depicting PLAAF J-20, H-6, + PLA "SECOND ARTILLERY" LRBMS Milstrikes on or circa 12/06/2020 agz US Pacific Milbases.
> JAPAN > US, JSDF Bases attacked by DF-21 IRBMS, GLCMS, + waves of J-20 Strike Bombers.
> HAWAII > PLA LR DH-10 + PLAN SUBMARINE SLM Strikes.
> GUAM > Andersen AFB, NB Guam, + GIAA Tiyan/Agana attacked by waves of J-20 + likley LR H-6 Bombers.
What interests me is the symbolism of the simulation Date 12/06/2020 = Guam's "KAMALEN/
CAMARIN" time frame; + also that tiny rocky volcanic IWO JIMA AB [Bonins] is also attacked by the CPLA.
Japan used IWO as a staging area for launching fighter-plane raids agz US heavy B-29 bases in the lower Marianas, espec SAIPAN + TINIAN VHB BASES, in order to attempt to stop US B-29 strikes on Japan. THE AUSSIES APPEAR TO BELIEVE THAT CHINA + CPLA WILL DO A SIMILAR THING DURING US-CHINA WAR IN ORDER TO ISOLATE US MIL UTILITY OF GUAM-CNMI.
[Pak Daily Times] Ireland's junior coalition party withdrew from Prime Minister Brian Cowen's government on Sunday but said it would support the passage of the final piece of legislation underpinning the 2011 austerity budget.
"We have decided that we can no longer continue in government," party leader John Gormley said in a hastily-called news conference in a Dublin hotel. The Greens said they would support the Finance Bill from the opposition benches and called on Cowen to speed up its passage. Their decision to leave government and resign their ministeries means that an election will now likely be held before the March 11 date chosen by Cowen last week.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2011 00:00 ||
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Emanuel told a news conference he would appeal the decision to the Illinois Supreme Court and would ask for an injunction so his name will appear on the mayoral ballot.
"We'll now go to the next level to get clarity," Emanuel said.
In a 2-1 ruling, the appellate panel said Emanuel does not meet the residency requirement of having lived in Chicago for a year prior to the election. The judges reversed a decision by the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, which had unanimously agreed that Emanuel was eligible to run for mayor. And to think he gave up a position as WH Chief of Staff for this. Such a disappointment. I'm sure Rahm is crying in his beer somewhere. If only we could find which bar he's in .... CBS2 news account here.
Yes, we are all patriots. Or at least, most of us are patriots, and there are a few who just think they are patriots.
No matter what political disagreements you may have had with President Reagan and I certainly had my share there is no denying his leadership in the world, or his gift for communicating his vision for America. Communists, dictators, oligarchies, and socialists generally disagreed with Reagan. Capitalists generally agreed.
Remember Reagan's faint praise for Carter at his inauguration speech? I wonder what he'd have to say about Obean.
#10
It was a philosophy that President Reagan took to heart famously saying that he and Democratic Speaker Tip O'Neill, with whom he sparred constantly, could be friends after 6 o'clock.
Funny, I don't recall Reagan ever uttering the slurs and insults about O'Neill that O'Neill did about Reagan...
The news is crushing in many remote communities where the post office is often the heart of the town and the closest link to the rest of the country. Shuttering them, critics say, also puts an enormous burden on people, particularly on the elderly, who find it difficult to travel out of town. Just makin' sure everyone suffers, even if it isn't right. So much for equal access.
#1
Of course they'd never consider giving up the monopoly on doing first class mail particularly for those areas soon to be devoid of their presence, now would they? /rhet question.
#3
Unions. A couple of years ago they took out stamp machines from several locations in my neighborhood so that people would have to wait in line to buy from union Postal Clerks instead.
Posted by: Boss Omeamp8033 ||
01/24/2011 13:07 Comments ||
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#4
Same here, boss. No stamp machines in the Post Office. Try buying stamps after closing time on Saturday.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/24/2011 16:20 Comments ||
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#5
my bank's ATMs dispense stamps
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/24/2011 17:22 Comments ||
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#6
I'm in Texas - and in the branch post offices (and even in the main city post office) they have installed the auto-mail kiosks, to stamp and mail packages, and dispense postage, charged to a debit or a credit card. I used to mail large envelopes of manuscripts and query letters, after hours, and I would still use it to mail my books to customers, except that the kiosk doesn't offer the media mail rate.
Senior citizens often find the kiosk a bit daunting - but when they were first installed here in San Antonio, the clerks used to wait in ambush for customers with parcels during the slow times, and walk them through using it. (Weirdly enough, the post office employees here in SA are very friendly and helpful. So are the personnel at the county clerks' office, where you have to do to process paperwork to do with auto registration. The Bexar County office customer service is outstanding, and so is the service at the Main Post Office...)
#7
Ditto for Cincinnati, Sgt. Mom. The nearby Hallmark card shop got themselves registered as a satellite post office about a decade ago, too -- they're open until 9 pm on weeknights, I believe. Only they won't cash checks, because periodically forgers come through; they send them down to the village post office, where the stupids get themselves arrested.
#8
I like the new kiosks in the USPO except that you can't buy just a few stamps anymore, the lowest amount is a full book.
If the USPO gave up its first-class monopoly, it would probably have to shut down altogether, and many isolated areas would lose service. Just remember that postal service in the US has been worse. Back in the mid-1800s (?1830) a first class stamp was 25 cents when you could buy an acre of government land for $1.25. At other times there was no 'rural free delivery', sometimes you could get your mail delivered only by paying the mail man for his time in addition to the postage. There are probably a lot of opportunities for privatizing that have not even been considered, such as outsourcing deliveries to small communities, and applying surcharges. IIRC, UPS now charges extra to deliver to some remote areas, which is only fair.
Privatizing / outsourcing would also increase the unemployment rate until displaced postal workers could find new employment (Ha! - as if...) or retired.
#9
We've got the automatic stuff in the Post Office here (central Virginia), though I haven't used it. The closest PO is right on my way to work, and it's no trouble to swing in and mail something that's too light to waste the Priority Mail rate on (i.e., anything under 13 ounces, or any Media Mail).
I've got an account with the PO so I can print my own Priority Mail labels and just drop the package off at the local PO (it was great to walk to the front of the line around Christmas and just drop the package on the end of the counter ;-p) - works well for my part-time businesses on Etsy and Artfire.
If I have to, I can also mail stuff from work and they'll take the charge out of my check. (Have I mentioned I LOVE my job?)
Just about all the postal clerks around here are very friendly and helpful.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/24/2011 22:00 Comments ||
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#10
btw AP - I'm waiting to get to the Santee PO when it's not a zoo to mail that book. I swear!
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/24/2011 22:03 Comments ||
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#11
I dont really care about the stamps/postage mailing something after hours. It's going to the post office to pick up registered mail. Or when my mailbox gets too full and they take the lot back to the post office for me to pick up later. And now their hours are like 9-4:30 M-F and Sat 9-1pm. How am I going to get there with those stupid ass hours if I work 8-5. ( and am too hung over on Sat to get there reg hours :0 )
Posted by: Mr. Bill ||
01/24/2011 22:45 Comments ||
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Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told The Hill that oversight would be a key function of the panel, particularly funding to the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) that is "a waste of taxpayer dollars." Don't be so narrow-minded, Ileana, there's lots of other parts of the federal budget that are also a waste...
"I'd like to make sure that we once and for all kill all U.S. funding for that beast," she said last month. "Because I don't think that it advances U.S. interests, I don't think that that's a pro-democracy group, it's a rogue's gallery, pariah states, they belong there because they don't want to be sanctioned." Thus making clear what the progressive community would like to obfuscate.
Supporters of continued U.S. support of and participation on the HRC say that it's essential that Washington have leverage on the panel, renowned for including countries that have their own records of human-rights violations. Supporters who say things like "We have to pass the bill to find out what's in it!" That whole 'leverage' idea has worked well so far, hasn't it...
The Obama Administration knew that ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was an anti-democratic anti-Semitic pig whose goal was to become ruler for life like his buddy Hugo Chavez. Team Obama decided to support him for the greater good of Latin American relations anyway. Barack Obama even cut off aid to Honduras in order to appease Marxist tyrant Hugo Chavez at the expense of the Honduran people.
The news that President Obama cut off aid to American ally Honduras did not make many headlines. Barack Obama openly sided with Marxists Raul Castro, Hugo Chavez and Daniel Ortega in punishing the government of Honduras.
Last month, thanks to a leaked Wikileaks cable, we found out that the Obama Administration knew that Zelaya was a dangerous leftist thug who could not be trusted. But, the Obama Administration sided with the wannabe tyrant anyway at the expense of the Honduran people. He did this to appease Chavez.
But thats not all. Now the Obama Administration is lobbying Honduras to drop charges against the far left thug and allow him to reenter the country.
After their amateurish and myopic miscalculation, which exposed the Obama State Departments lack of experience and incompetence, one could imagine the White House would want to avoid the subject of Honduras and Zelaya altogether. That, however, does not seem to be the case, as we learn from the new chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL).
According to Ros-Lehtinen, she has received reports that the State Department is applying considerable pressure on members of the Honduran government to absolve Zelaya of his alleged crimes.
Imagine: a country or an individual could get redress for a drought that destroyed farmland, for floods and storms that created an army of refugees, for rising seas that wiped a small island state off the map.
In the most eagerly-awaited case, whose ruling is expected by the end of June, the state of Connecticut is demanding an injunction against major power companies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Barb, would you happen to know where I can buy some calls on popcorn futures? I have a feeling that the Law of Unintended Consequences is going to result in some interesting politics for the next decade or two. Well then, just shut the power companies down. Can't have them raising global temperatures.
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View from the inside Iblis: the majority of successful mass tort litigation is based mostly on junk science.
Posted by: Ulomons Oppressor of the Antelope1175 ||
01/24/2011 16:59 Comments ||
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Isn't that how Edwards got his millions - suing hospitals and doctors for malpractice - mostly preying on bad births and birth defects. All based on 'Junk' science.
This is why hospitals and Doctors often need to perform unnecessary (and expensive) tests - to cover themselves from Edwards-style lawsuits.
[Straits Times] THOUSANDS of Thai 'Red Shirts' gathered in Bangkok on Sunday, police said, to mark eight months since a deadly military crackdown on their mass anti-government protest last year.
Wearing their trademark colour and singing the 'Red in the Land' anthem, protesters waved banners reading 'Liar State!' and held aloft pictures of their hero, runaway former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Police said around 12,000 people joined the peaceful demonstration by the Reds, whose April and May rally last year calling for snap elections ended in festivities between troops and protesters that left more than 90 people dead.
Jatuporn Prompan, a prominent figure in the movement, said Red Shirts would continue to gather twice a month, calling for the release of many of their leaders, who are in prison on terrorism charges following the 2010 unrest.
He said the protest will be held until midnight but there would not be a telephone address from Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup and lives abroad, having been sentenced in absentia to prison for corruption.
The controversial Thaksin, who draws support among the mainly poor and working class Red Shirts but is loathed by the urban elite, spoke to a larger demonstration earlier this month.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2011 00:00 ||
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"Do I really believe that Jesus hates Obama? Absolutely not," Belfry, a comedian based in L.A. who sells Jesus Hates Obama apparel on his site, told the Daily News.
The company admits on its site that it doesn't really hate Obama. Belfry insisted he was merely trying poke fun of the Obama Administration and to also sell his merchandise. Thanks for playing along, Fox. Mission accomplished. ;-)
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.
He maintained a youthful physique and joked in 2006 that "I can't afford to die. It would wreck my image."
Tunisia's top private television channel was taken off air on Sunday and its boss 
[Pak Daily Times] West African presidents tightened the screws on Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo on Saturday, ridding him of an ally at the top of the regional central bank who had safeguarded his access to funds. 
Top British religious figures are warning against removing religion as a GCSEs subject in the new English baccalaureate amid campaigns by
His Excellency President-for-Life, Caudillo of the Bolivarians Hugo Chavez
Emanuel told a news conference he would appeal the decision to the Illinois Supreme Court and would ask for an injunction so his name will appear on the mayoral ballot.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told The Hill that oversight would be a key function of the panel, particularly funding to the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) that is "a waste of taxpayer dollars."
