My Grandaddy's thinking of putting a bid in. Uncle Bob thinks it's pretty silly, though...
A WOMAN who turned to eBay to auction off her father's ghost asked buyers to show some restraint as bidding reached the $US14,000 ($17,923) mark over the weekend in a media-driven frenzy. "I can't believe this went so far. Please keep the bidding at a minimum," said Mary Anderson in a posting on the online auction site today.
Has anyone who's alive put in a bid yet?
Ms Anderson, who hails from Hobart, Indiana, said the unexpected attention generated by her whimsical eBay sale had "left her a nervous wreck", and that she had cancelled some of the more "outrageous bids". She reiterated that the purpose of the exercise was simply to reassure her five year-old-son who was uneasy about living in a house that he felt was haunted by his "mean" grandfather.
"Y'little brat! I'd belt ya, if I still had arms!"
By way of explanation, Ms Anderson said that her father had died of cancer at home, and towards the end had occasionally become irritated with his young grandson and had tapped him with his walking cane. "It didn't hurt my son, but it hurt his feelings," Ms Anderson wrote. "I promise you he's not a meanie like my son thinks, but it's hard to tell that to a five-year-old when all he remembers is the bad things. My dad was the sweetest most caring man you'd ever meet."
Actually, he told Grandaddy he never really liked the kid. Too whiney. But don't tell her that. It'd just hurt her feelings.
To convince her son that the ghost had indeed gone, Ms Anderson decided to offer her father's walking cane along with his ghost for sale on eBay - with free shipping. And she requested that the winning bidder write her son a letter after getting delivery of the cane to let the youngster know that both buyer and ghost were "getting along great."
What if they're not? When I'm in that condition, I plan on making somebody miserable. I'm gonna howl all night, clank chains, and make people's heads spin around...
The quirky auction entry, which ran under the headline "This isn't a joke," was picked up by the US media, spawning copycat eBay auctions, and driving the bidding up rapidly. With just three hours left to run on the clock on Monday, the highest bid was just shy of $US15,000 ($19,203), according to the eBay website.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
12/06/2004 5:21:30 PM ||
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A British archaeologist has uncovered a cave in the mountains near Jerusalem which he believes conclusively proves that the Biblical figure of John the Baptist existed. [snip]
A Panhandle couple is under arrest after notifying police Thursday that their quarter-pound stash of marijuana was stolen and that they needed the weed back, because they were going to later sell it. "They're America's dumbest criminals," said Lt. Ricky Ramie, head of the Bay County Sheriff's Office narcotics task force. Deputies arrested 18-year-old John Douglas Sheetz and 17-year-old Misty Ann Holmes and charged the duo with possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia. According to the police report, the couple returned to the home they share and found the home broken into and a quarter-pound of marijuana missing. They immediately called authorities to report the break-in and theft.
"Dude, where's my dope?"
Police said the couple told them they were going to resell the marijuana and allowed the detectives to search the apartment. Investigators discovered several marijuana stems among other drug paraphernalia during the search, The News Herald in Panama City reported for Saturday editions.
Easiest bust they ever made.
They were taken to the Bay County Jail and are each being held on $17,500 bond.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/06/2004 8:44:29 AM ||
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The truly sad thing was that the pot was later found in the apartment, hidden in a box of laundry soap. John said "Dude! I knew Misty would never look there!"
#7
This is very typical of Florida. I lived in Ft. Lauderdale and you did NOT need a T.V. you could sit outside and watch car's being stolen out of the parking lot's of ones complex or the shopping malls. You see a Toyota Four Runner used with 50.000 miles on it was shipped out of Port Authority in Miami and sent to Iran, Iraq and re sold for $35,000.00 any U.S. 4x4 was
priceless overseas. A couple from the mid west was vacationing in Ft. Lauderdale and while at the beach they found a neat package that "floated up onto the beach". They wondered what it was....while carrying it back to their car, they were stopped by beach patrol and arrested for possession. The elderly couple thought they found a "present". A co worker of mine had rented a Toyota from the Ft. Lauderdale
INternational Airport and was stopped at the end of an exit ramp in Ft. Lauderdale, a car hit Mark from behind ...so Mark reported the accident to Hertz, Hertz road service came out gave Mark a new car and towed the damaged Toyota back to the airport. At 2 a.m. the Ft. Lauderdale police were knocking on Marks' door He was being arrested for transporting drugs...You see in trunk of the damaged toyota rent a car "someone"
who rented the car before Mrk did had forgotten their "stash" and Mark was now to "take the fall". Florida can be like Manhattan, fast and nice to visit, but NOT reside there. I lasted
10 weeks and moved back to Massachusetts.
END OF STORY *
Andrea
Posted by: andrea ||
12/06/2004 17:33 Comments ||
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#8
You are probably correct on your diagnosis!
Ignorance of the law is no excuse! Too bad
F.Lee Bailey use to practice law in Florida
before his "legal termoil and disbarment".
He was hired by many and highly recommended.
Andrea
Posted by: andrea ||
12/06/2004 18:00 Comments ||
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Getting ready for the restoration of the lost al-Outbakiyya Caliphate...
Parts of Australia's Outback could soon be overrun by wild camels if drastic measures are not taken to cull them, a wildlife scientist said today.
"How drastic?" Very drastic"
Australia is now home to about 500,000 camels roaming the country's vast tracts of desert, said Glenn Edwards, a senior scientist for the Northern Territory provincial government and camel colony-counting government grant seeker. Camels were first introduced to Australia in the mid-1800s to transport goods across the desert. When trucks and trains made the beasts of burden unneeded, their owners simply turned them loose. With no natural predators and ample grazing land, the camel population has exploded in parts of central, northern and western Australia, and could exceed one million in the next decade, Edwards said. "The feral camel population is growing by about 10% each year and doubling in size every eight years," Edwards said in a statement. "These camels feed on more than 80% of the available plant species in the area they inhabit and have serious impacts on vegetation." Edwards said camels were also beginning to encroach on agricultural land, causing extensive damage to stock fences and rural infrastructure.
"We're also seeing some evidence of a new 'seething' type of behavior...more of a 'simmer', actually, but something we definitely want to keep an eye on."
Combine their spitting with seething and you have a wicked combination, but nothing you can't handle wth a .303 Winchester.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
12/06/2004 12:50:36 AM ||
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#1
I've seen camels out in the Oz desert. They are BIG suckers. Must be 20 foot tall.
#5
Surely there must be some old .303 jungle carbines lying about.
[span class=BreakerMorant]
"Those camels were roaming the outback in violation of Rule 303. We caught them and we shot them under Rule 303."
[/span]
Posted by: Mike ||
12/06/2004 11:16 Comments ||
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#6
Crikies! 'E's a big un! Watch me stick a finger...
#7
I'd like to see PETA against one of the eco-nazi groups on this one. Much like the whitetail deer article the other day, these animals are destroying "natural habitat" and I, for one, would like to see those groups duke it out for once!
Posted by: BA ||
12/06/2004 14:22 Comments ||
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#8
I remember reading a NatGeo article on a woman who crossed Oz by camel. The only danger she faced (and was armed with a shotgun for) was from other camels. She had to dispatch at least one of them. Mean, smelly, ornery, horny beasts, those wild camels.
Note my restraint. Camel toe mentioned by the Sheikh and I did not post any suggestive pix. [See Doc, I'm getting better, heh] Now if I could just control this eye-tic that makes it look like I'm winking 3/second...
Saudi Arabia yesterday criticized its neighbors for forging separate economic and security agreements with foreign powers, accusing them of weakening Gulf solidarity.
"It is alarming to see some members of the GCC enter into separate bilateral agreements with international powers in both the security and economic spheres, taking precedence over the need to act collectively," said Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal.
"These separate arrangements are not compatible with the spirit of the charter of the Gulf Cooperation Council. They diminish the collective bargaining power and weaken not only the solidarity of the GCC as a whole but also each of its members in both the intermediate and long terms," he told a conference in Manama on security in the Gulf.
"In the economic sphere, the agreements entered into are in clear violation of the GCC's economic accords and decisions. What is more important, these agreements impede the progressive steps needed to achieve full GCC economic integration... They will ultimately have a negative impact on the economic sectors in all GCC countries, which in turn will have dire consequences and will adversely affect the GCC business community," he said.
The GCC, which groups Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, is due to hold a summit in Manama later this month. Saudi Arabia is the only GCC state that is not a member of the World Trade Organization.
"In the military sphere, any agreement with a third party cannot compensate or substitute for the necessity of developing the indigenous resources of the GCC," the foreign minister said. In2002 , Kuwait renewed for a second10 -year term a defense pact with the United States and it also has a defense pact with Britain. Qatar also signed a defense agreement with the United States in2002 .
Prince Saud stressed that the GCC states must realize that their individual and collective needs are best served by uniting economically and militarily, and developing a clear security strategy.
GCC foreign and finance ministers will meet in Manama tomorrow ahead of this month's GCC summit, which is to focus on economic integration and fighting terrorism.
The meeting will review progress on plans for a common market and a unified currency ahead of the Dec.20 - 21summit in the Bahraini capital, GCC Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Al-Attiyah said in a statement from the group's Riyadh headquarters.
In their bid to establish a monetary union in2005 , a common market in 2007 and a single currency at the start of2010 , the GCC states have agreed on several key criteria to bring their economic and fiscal policies closer.
The ministers will also discuss relations with other economic groups, including the European Union, in addition to regional and international developments and combating terrorism, Al-Attiyah said.
Their meeting will also focus on the situation in Iraq, developments in the Middle East peace process and relations with Iran, including its territorial dispute with the UAE over three strategic islands, he added.
Al-Attiyah has also said that the summit will discuss a feasibility study by Kuwait to build a railway linking the GCC states.
Hundreds of suicide cases involving young Asian women are being re-investigated to determine whether they were prompted by so-called 'honour crimes'. They can involve false imprisonment, forced marriages - and even murder, as happened to Heshu Yones, 16. Heshu was stabbed to death two years ago in Acton, London, by her Kurdish father - who believed she had dishonoured the family by having a boyfriend. There are 117 other suspected 'honour killings' currently under investigation in the UK alone. Suicides among such women in Britain are three times the national average.
A conference organised by the Crown Prosecution Service is to focus on so-called 'honour crimes' in the Asian community. It will aim to raise awareness of the problem and improve the way such crimes are handled across the criminal justice system. CPS spokesman Nazir Afzal said: "Crimes of honour take the form of many types of violence against women. "Murder, assault, false imprisonment and forced marriage are among them." Among the other speakers will be Meena Patel and Hannana Siddiqui of women's rights group Southall Black Sisters. They will be joined by Foreign Office official Heather Harvey and Jasvinder Sanghera of the Karna Nirvana Refuge in Derby. 'Yvonne Ridley was not available for comment.'
Posted by: Bulldog ||
12/06/2004 5:21:07 AM ||
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#1
"A conference ... to focus on so-called âhonour crimesâ in the Asian community."
Those damn Hindus are to stop immediately!
#2
Wouldn't that also inclue middle eastern women, not just Asains? It's culture and religion that causes this honor killing, the religion tells them it's OK to kill and abuse women.
#3
Wouldn't that also inclue middle eastern women, not just Asiains?
They're using the Kipling usage of "Asian", which seems to mean anyone east of the Med.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/06/2004 12:44 Comments ||
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#4
A "conference"? How about a message of f**king zero tolerance a la We're going to hunt you bastards and prosecute you to the maximum and any other family member that's accessory to cold-blooded murder?
#5
#1, Muslims do honor killing, it is extremely rare in Hindu families, although, they have their share of crazy people. It is true that some of the married Hindu women are abused and on rare occasions, murdered by in-laws, because the brides did not bring the dowry which was promised in their arranged marriages. There are examples on the contrary, one in Hindu myth and two during Mogal (Muslim) dynasty in Indiaâs past, in which women made suicide in order to protect their or family dignity but they were not killed. At the worst, you may say, they were persuaded to commit suicide. Female were free and respectable members of society in ancient India, they went into hiding during the long Muslim dynasty because ruling Muslims were abducting them. Hindu women recovered a little bit during British rule, but never as they were in ancient times. History repeats. The west can only ill-afford to allow repeat of this chapter of history.
The good times just keep rolling along in Sweden's social-democratic paradise. Welcome to a veritable welfare wonderland, where everyone is taken care of from the cradle to grave; where alcoholics can retire on government pensions; where the average worker calls in sick one day a week, even if he or she is not sick; where drug addicts get disability checks and the where the real unemployment rate is close to 25 percent. If all this sounds like a recipe for disaster, congratulations for grasping some basic economic principles that most Swedes, and in fact, most Europeans, still haven't figured out.
If Sweden ever was an economic paradise, welcome to what is turning into paradise lost. Economists here seem to think that all that is needed are a few tweaks. But this bloated welfare state needs more than a tweak. That's not likely, because most Swedes, and most of the world, assume Sweden has found a combination of socialism and capitalism that works. But does it work?
"Uh, No," comments Frederik Erixon. "It's quite simple. No, it doesn't work."
Erixon, one of the few free market economists in Stockholm, says Sweden's standard of living continues to fall farther and farther behind.
"Sweden is much poorer today in comparison to other countries than say 10, 20, 30 years ago," Erixon continues. "The GDP (gross domestic product) growth has been declining for a number of decades."
Sweden's official unemployment rate is six percent, but that figure is "cooked", to use an economic expression. Because it doesn't include another six percent on sick leave, at least 10 percent on disability, and a significant chunk of the nation's high school and college graduates are well, just loafing. This according to top Swedish Economist Stefan Folster:
"If one adds all that together, it's probably fair to say that one in four people is not in work but could be," Folster says.
All Swedish workers get a minimum of five weeks of vacation every year. Not enough, apparently, because, as we mentioned, the average worker also takes one sick day a week, often to work a second job, because taxes take at least half of their first income.
Sweden's welfare state has even managed to turn alcoholism into a career option, since government policy effectively pays people to stay home, drunk.
But if you want to be a Swedish entrepreneur, then you have a problem. Most small businesses in Sweden consist only of the owner. It's too expensive to hire employees and too difficult to fire them. Just ask Trucking Company owner Lars Jansson.
"Somebody said it's easier to divorce your wife than to terminate an employment," explains Jansson. "When you hire someone it's extremely difficult to fire him if he's not doing his job."
"Economically productive behavior is very difficult to pursue," agrees Erixon.
But it's a similar situation across most of Europe, which continues to fall farther and farther behind the United States.
A study by the Swedish free market think tank Timbro found that the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy now have a lower per capita Gross Domestic Product than all but four U.S. states.
So you might think that would make Europeans want to change their economies to be more like ours, and you would be wrong.
First off, most Europeans don't know that they're poorer than Americans are. Their media, which is largely anti-capitalist, and people like Michael Moore, tell them that the quality of life in America is awful.
In fact, there are so many European misconceptions about America that it took a book to hold them all. In "Cowboy Capitalism", German journalist Olaf Gersemanna, a business reporter who lives in the U.S., demolishes the strange myths that many Europeans believe about America: that most of us have to work three low-wage jobs just to make ends meet; that America only has low unemployment because we throw so many people into prison, and that most Americans don't have healthcare.
Even the head of one of Germany's most pro-business parties has said that in America, "âŠfreedom is the freedom to sleep under bridges."
Our cameraman discovered that's also a freedom enjoyed by Europeans.
But Swedish economist Folster says Swedes would rather be poor than have an American-style economic system, which is so cruel.
"Poverty is to a greater extent than in most European countries," points out Folster. "Homelessness, wide income distribution, and things like that that many Swedes are afraid of."
They should be afraid of their own future. Mauricio Rojas, a free market economist from Chile, who has lived in Sweden for 30 years, says the welfare state is turning what was once one of the hardest working nations in the world into a nation of idlers, which is also killing the welfare state itself.
Says Rojas, "Because the welfare state needs people paying taxes, working, behaving in a moral, responsible way. But people say, 'I don't need to go work. I have too much. I'm tired. My children need me.' And the state's going to pay."
And Sweden's problem is Europe's problem: high taxes, low growth, huge welfare payouts, and a shrinking population.
Gersemanna says these days, German politicians refer to "the American way" with a sneer. But compared to Europe, the American way looks pretty good.
After 10 months of unsuccessful job applications, Christian Noelte accepted a position paying 1.50 euros ($1.99) an hour. Noelte is one of the first volunteers for a controversial German work promotion scheme paying far below a living wage. The government hopes it will drive the long-term unemployed back to work or at least make them more employable. Critics say the posts will exacerbate, rather than alleviate, the problems of Germany's labor market, potentially destroying existing positions and cutting the incentive to work.
The jobs are not as bad as they seem. Those earning the meager monthly salaries of up to 180 euros ($239) retain their jobless benefits. Noelte, 25, was one of about 300 people who applied for 70 low-paying jobs in the Berlin suburb of Spandau. The positions also offer the promise of something better. Noelte worked previously as a gas and water system installer but now has a nine-month stint at a nursing home -- a change he hopes will prove to future employers that he is keen to work. "For me it's an opportunity to make myself more attractive to an employer and to show that I have drive," he said.
Part of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's controversial labor market reforms, the scheme starts officially in January. An extensive pilot program aims to employ around 50,000 long-term unemployed by the end of this year. There had been talk of 600,000 such posts by the end of 2005, but that target has been cut to about 350,000. Thousands of Germans have taken to the streets to protest the labor market reforms, which include benefit cuts for the long-term unemployed and increased pressure on them to take up jobs even if they are overqualified. The new scheme's posts were instantly dubbed "one euro jobs" by Germany's media, although the Federal Labor Office prefers "top-up job." The official title is "extra expense allowance" or MAE for short.
Continued on Page 49
#3
Cut the German draft and go to an all voluntary force. This will open up some jobs that are currently taken by pacfists in the draft program and will certainly save Germany a boatload of money since they don't really need an army they won't really use anyway.
Serious safety breaches were found last year at a Commission-owned nuclear plant in the Netherlands, but further investigations were blocked by authorities, it has emerged.
According to Dutch daily De Volkskrant on Saturday (4 December), a police raid in September 2003 revealed dangerous abuses of environmental and safety standards at a reactor based in Petten, which is owned by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre.
However, documents from the Dutch Justice Ministry, obtained by the paper, show that the Dutch government hindered further judicial investigations against the plant.
The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs allegedly feared a diplomatic conflict with the European Commission.
The Commission had stated in a series of letters to the Dutch authorities that it would find prosecution of the Petten plant staff unacceptable, as Commission employees working at Petten possess legal immunity in the Netherlands.
Ongoing investigations against the plant by the Dutch public prosecutor were therefore hastily broken off in March 2004.
Explosion risk
However, after the police raid, Dutch prosecution authorities characterised the situation at Petten as very serious.
The investigations had revealed that toxic waste was stored without protection, bearing a risk of explosion.
De Volkskrant quotes concerned Dutch officials at the Public Prosecutors Office, who fear a situation of lawlessness at the Commission's power plant.
One official is quoted as saying that a "nuclear free-haven" has been created at Petten.
However, both the Joint Research Centre and the Dutch Ministry for the Environment reacted over the weekend saying that after a series of recent improvements, safety at the plant is now guaranteed.
French president Jacques Chirac has suggested three conditions before EU membership talks with Turkey can begin.
First, it must be clear to Turkey that negotiations could end with much less than full EU membership, Mr Chirac has insisted, according to the Financial Times.
Mr Chirac has also underlined the ultimate right of the French people to reject Turkish EU membership in a referendum.
Finally, the president has asked for accession talks not to start until the second half of 2005.
The last demand is to make sure that the discussion on Turkish EU membership is separate from the debate on the EU constitution.
A French referendum on the Constitution is expected already in Spring of next year.
"If there is a link between Turkey and the constitution, we will lose the referendum. It's as simple as that", the French foreign minister Michel Barnier was quoted saying by the Financial Times.
German opposition worried over EU future
The debate about Turkey's EU membership continues in the EU's largest member state, Germany.
The leaders of the CDU and CSU, Angela Merkel and Edmund Stoiber, have sent a letter to the German Chancellor, out of "great concern" about Europe's future.
In it, they ask Gerhard Schröder to prevent membership negotiations with Turkey, due to be agreed at the end of next week, from leading to full EU membership.
1) Turkey must declare eternal emnity with the U.S.
2) Turkey must change the name of the country to 'Jacquesland'.
3) Chirac to get $1 billion in a secret numbered Swiss account.
#2
"It must reliably be ascertained that hell has frozen solid. Verification is the key."
Posted by: Matt ||
12/06/2004 19:02 Comments ||
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#3
First, it must be clear to Turkey that negotiations could end with much less than full EU membership, Mr Chirac has insisted, according to the Financial Times.
Or, put another way, "you will probably not get what you want."
Mr Chirac has also underlined the ultimate right of the French people to reject Turkish EU membership in a referendum.
Phrance is only one of many members. What about the others? Don't their votes count? Or does Phrance have sole veto power?
Heh, it looks like the Turks are at the end of a losing proposition. And to think, they gave the U.S. the shaft for nothing. Haahahahaha...
#8
Every country has veto power when EU accepts new member states.
Sounds as if one no vote will torpedo the whole deal, and any one country can say no. Could have the potential to make some people pretty angry, with consequences to follow.
#9
So, Aris, if France wanted someone in, Belgium could veto it? Uh-huh.....
Yes, it could. That's the meaning of the word "veto".
Now if you want to debate that it *wouldn't* because that wouldn't be prudent on its part and ruin valued partnerships and so forth, all that's self-evident, but it has nothing to do specifically with the EU, with France, or with Belgium.
#10
:-( Back to realpolitik and Franco-hegemony, is it?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/06/2004 22:07 Comments ||
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#11
France sure has a lot of Gaulle. [ok, that being said]
Chiraq is just toying with Turkey like a cat plays with a ball or a mouse. If I was the Turkish govt, I would be furious, insulted, humiliated, and would tell Chiraq just where he would stick it.
The EU has lots of issues to be dealt with before it can have a chance to succeed. But Chiraq's manipulation and his twisted agenda will sink this entity faster than anything. If the EU members don't tell him to take a hike, they can watch the organization go down the tubes.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/06/2004 22:16 Comments ||
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#12
That's your game, not mine.
The wisdom of pissing on the collective desire of 24 other nations is something that all states have to deal with, great or small. That's why solo vetoes tend to be counterproductive IMO. Spain and Poland once blocked the Constitution -- when Spain yielded however, Poland decided it wouldn't do her good to be alone in its objections. So it also yielded rather than veto alone.
"realpolitik"? That's not the way the word is used AFAIK. Realpolitik basically means the giving up morality for benefit. I'm talking about the imprudence of pissing on your partners instead. You veto them, they'll veto you -- and it might hurt more when your turn comes.
And Francohegemony? Alas, most solo vetoes have come from the UK, I believe, so Britohegemony, I'd say.
#13
"Every country has veto power when EU accepts new member states. Which is as should be, I think."
I understand you mean that this is a good thing.
"The wisdom of pissing on the collective desire of 24 other nations is something that all states have to deal with, great or small. That's why solo vetoes tend to be counterproductive IMO."
Oops, are you now saying this is a bad thing? Or are you saying it's intentionally designed as a bad thing, so you can piss and moan and gripe and bitch about those nasty nations that exercise the sole veto they're entitled.
"Alas, most solo vetoes have come from the UK, I believe, so Britohegemony, I'd say."
Oh, those damned blasted Brits! Their filthy nationalism and imperialism! Damn them all to burn in hell for exercising the rights granted them as a member state of the Holy EU!
Or not, Aris? It's really rather tiresome, to be so nuanced as to avoid any sort of discrimination whatsoever.
Lest anyone suggest that this is Aris-bait, please note that the door was left wide open.
For fun reference:
"The pacta conventa, imposed on Henri de Valois, in 1573, put all important power in the hands of the diet, fixing the times and places of the sessions, as well as the length of each session. In spite of the unanimous agreement declared necessary to give force to the decisions of the diet, a majority of votes governed in its deliberations up to 1651. Sycinski, a deputy from Upita, gave at that time the first example of the liberum veto, annulling, by his protest, all deliberations taken and to be taken. This abuse, tolerated at first, was constitutionally recognized in 1718, and placed the country, so to speak, at the mercy of a single man. In this way diets were seen broken up by a single veto, pronounced even before the opening of the session. It sometimes happened that the author of the veto, when the gauntlet was thrown down to him, carried his opposition with him into the tomb, and in that way restored full liberty of action to the deputies. The liberum veto was abolished at last by the constitutional diet, which lasted four years, from 1788 to 1792, and which gave to Poland the wise constitution of May 3."
http://www.econlib.org/library/YPDBooks/Lalor/llCy370.html
#16
Chirac is probably saying Turkey is going to have to accept an inferior status compared to other EU members. We have already heard of immigration restrictions. Turkey will probably not get agricultural subsidies and will get cut out of industrial coops. If France can get enough poison pills in preconditions,Turkey might say no thanks.
Chirac and the referendum bit is saying Turkey will have to convince the French populace-NOT the French govt.(Chirac is trying to guarantee that his successor doesn't have option on saying Yes to Turkey.)
Posted by: Stephen ||
12/06/2004 23:32 Comments ||
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#17
No problem and no worries, Asedwich. I think France will veto, and to heck with the consequences.
#18
Asedwich> "I understand you mean that this is a good thing."
Yes, I feel the veto must exist because membership and sharing sovereignty is a huge thing. It's only through the existence of the veto when deciding membership (and ofcourse through the possibility of withdrawal from the Union), that abolishing the veto in other lesser decisions is justified.
Oops, are you now saying this is a bad thing?
No, I'm not. The existence of the possibility of the veto in membership is a good thing. It's a safety measure.
At the same time however the veto is a sign of *failure*, failure to convince the other nations of the rightness of your position. It's a last resort.
For years and years Greece was the one that was using the veto against Turkish membership not as a last resort but as an automatic kneejerk reaction. "Turkish memb--?" "We veto!"
It was a stupid tactic that (among other issues) helped keep Greece isolated from the rest of the EU members. Everyone was pointing at big bad Greece that was stopping the European integration of Turkey. And then suddenly Greece decided to call the bluff of other nations and said that now it *supports* Turkey's EU membership.
At which point other nations, France, Germany so forth, were forced to stop hiding behind Greece's veto and they brought forward their own objections -- they didn't want Turkey in the EU either. See? The veto was counterproductive in Greece's case. It helped her none at all.
Alas, most solo vetoes have come from the UK, I believe, so Britohegemony, I'd say." Oh, those damned blasted Brits! Their filthy nationalism and imperialism! Damn them all to burn in hell for exercising the rights granted them as a member state of the Holy EU!
Yes, exactly. Yawn.
Do you know the difference between "should have the right to do" and "should do"?
For example, I think that everyone should have the right to do drugs. At the same time I despise the very idea of people doing drugs.
Is that "overnuanced" for you? I see it only as a matter of freedom and responsibility. Yes, UK is only exercising the rights given her by the treaties -- that's "freedom". And yes, I have the right to call the UK an obnoxious sabotaging ass that should burn in hell, when I feel its abusing those rights in order to harm the rest of the Union. That's "responsibility".
On other matters, and to make myself clear, I support the existence of the veto when deciding membership. I oppose however the veto in every other decision.
#19
Of course France will veto. They've got enough problems with unassimilated muslim population, the EU "free travel" rules would open the floodgates...
RUSSIA revealed today it was fitting its strategic bombers with cruise missiles capable of delivering a massive precision strike thousands of miles away - giving away the first clear hint of its post-Cold War military strategy. "Russia's long-range air force finally has a new weapon," the government's Rossiyskaya Gazeta daily announced in a headline. "We now have a strategic cruise missile with a non-nuclear warhead," the paper wrote. "We have broken the US monopoly on the use long-range conventional cruise missiles," an unnamed senior air force commander told ITAR-TASS.
The technology appears to be similar to cruise missiles that the US has long attached to its own intercontinental bombers like the B-2 Stealth bomber. The announcement followed months of cryptic statements from President Vladimir Putin and his top generals that Russia was developing a new missile program that is a step ahead of any Western rivals - including technology developed by the US. Mr Putin declared last month that Russia had "conducted tests of the latest nuclear rocket systems" in a cryptic comment that puzzled military strategists but seemed aimed at Washington and its mooted missile defence shield that Moscow considers illegal. Russia has been developing a range of new missiles capable of penetrating US defences as a result. Generals announced earlier this year the successful tests of a hypersonic intercontinental missile that has no officially-confirmed rival in the US. Moscow is also believed to be developing a multi-stage intercontinental ballistic missile that uses cruise missile technology to zigzag and avoid being shot down once it re-enters the earth's atmosphere. Russia also announced that it was making its most feared and powerful trans-Atlantic missile mobile within the next two years. But the latest technology announced today would see old Soviet-era conventional missiles be carried by strategic bombers with a global range.
#1
Yeah, well, let's seem them actually test some before we all get excited.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
12/06/2004 16:19 Comments ||
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I'm still not worried. US cruise missles only have around 400 mile range. The new versions will most likely only be 600 miles. To get the "thousands" of miles, you have to put them on a plane and fly them, with several in air refuels, to get across the atlantic or pacific. The Russians still don't have anything close to defeating the Slammer (AIM-120 AMRAAM) air-to-air death dealer. The bombers wouldn't even get close to the launch point if they came at the United States. A launch at one of our Middle East bases would be a problem, but not a knock out blow and the whole MAD concept would come back.
#3
Mruise missile: Welcome to the club, 25 years late. Wonder what guidance system it uses, e.g. other than digital terrain mapping? Can it be spoofed?
Maneuvering reentry vehicle: Again 25 years late. Pershing 2.
Air launched non ballistic trajectory missile: Are they they going to launch them from AN-224s or do they propose to launch them over Baltimore to hit DC? Maybe the Russians are really worried about close, and rapidly modernizing, neighbors? Also non ballistic trajectory makes decoy discrimination a snap.
Posted by: ed ||
12/06/2004 17:25 Comments ||
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It's good enough for ME, Central Asia and China. I suspect those are areas of greater concern for the Ruskies than the U. S. and more likely theaters of use, not to mention export.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/06/2004 17:29 Comments ||
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#5
Since, as far as I know, Putin hasn't done much to prevent another Beslan, it seems to me that this announcement is for domestic PR purposes. Much easier to announce you have a new toy than to get rid of Basayev.
Posted by: Matt ||
12/06/2004 17:36 Comments ||
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Matt> Since, as far as I know, Putin hasn't done much to prevent another Beslan, it seems to me that this announcement is for domestic PR purposes
Why would Putin care to prevent another Beslan? More Beslans are good for Putin. After all he took advantage of the last Beslan to abolish municipal elections. Next Beslan he'll just use to abolish any last pretense at democracy. "This last terrorist atrocity shows that we don't have the luxury for the instability of democratic elections, so I'm declaring myself dictator for life. Hurrah."
Putin's much more interested in preventing more Orange Revolutions.
Posted by: Matt ||
12/06/2004 20:16 Comments ||
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US CM's have a much greater range than 400 miles - its only so because we make extensive use of our powerful CVN's, surface warfare ships, subs and airpower to deliver these CM's close to target, as closer means greater accuracy + regional/geopol intimidation. The gen implication here is that Russia has finally dev working MICRO-MISSLES, as compared to the large or huge, comparatively inaccurate but still devastating, air-launched monsters the "former" USSR dev during the Cold War for its air forces. PRIVATELY, I'm NOT convinced these CM's are the weapons, as Russian military editors-commens have been calling for the Russian Navy to dev and convert their mediocre aircraft carriers into full-fledged multipurpose sea control ships capable of using LR nuclearized attack missles plus Unmanned Vehicles for anti-surface and anti-sub defense. Thanks to GMD, SPAWAR/SATWAR, and micro-techs, etc. I believe the dawn of submarine based, wholly underwater FLEET/ NAVAL ACTIONS AND DECISIVE BATTLES, includ UV vs UV, IS ABOUT TO DROP ON THE HEADS OF THE WORLD'S MAJOR NAVIES. Lets all sing the "TRANSFORMERS" SONG, "more than meets the eye, ...robots in disguise"! The Russkis and Chicoms know many of the fluttering "stars" and light streaks overhead at night is actually US GMD, and they know the US tech is way way ahead of anything they can dev or deploy in space, in the air, or on the earth's surfaces land or sea surface - this leaves their navies and hyper deficit -ridden Commie Fascist Commie governments the underwater warfare dimension., besides the Clintons of course, and the Left's 2020 maxima timeline to force or induce America unto anti-sovereign Socialism and OWG, i,e, Communism. International Leftism-Socialism-Communism right now is akin to a desperate wild animal - selfish power for the sake of power matters more than reform, self-worth/dignity, lket alone telling the truth or even making an honest mistake. THEY KILLED 000'S ON 9-11, ARE PUTTING AMERICAN LIVES IN JEOPARDY VIA THIER PLANNED ANTI-US/W INSURGENCY IN IRAQ, WANT AND ARE WORKING FOR THE US TO WAGE WAR AND BE WARRED AGAINST, AND ARE WILLING AND PREFER TO DESTROY THE WHOLE WORLD UNLESS THE USA AND THE WEST CONCEDES TO ANTI-DEMOCRATIC, ANTI-CAPITALIST GLOBAL SOCIALISM, GLOBAL REGULATION, GLOBAL SECULARISM, AND OWG, ETC.!
A disgruntled French non-commissioned officer gave himself up before dawn Monday after barricading himself in an explosives depot for more than two days to protest his lack of promotion. Officials said the man, Regis Le Tohic, surrendered peacefully after receiving guarantees that his case would be reviewed.
Following in the great French tradition of caving in
Authorities later allowed about 400 people to return to their homes around the weapons dump, after they had been evacuated as a precaution over the weekend. Le Tohic, an explosives expert, locked himself in a fortified storehouse, known as an igloo, holding 64 tonnes of mines.
That'll get attention.
The depot is in the midst of the flat Marne valley battlefields of World War I and World War II. Dominique Dubois, the local prefect, the top regional government official, originally said Le Tohic had threatened to blow himself up, but his lawyer, Gerard Ducrey, said late Sunday that his client was "calm and has no aggressive or violent intentions."
Other than sitting on 64 tons of explosives
Aided by members of Le Tohic's family, specialised negotiators belonging to a gendarmerie rapid response unit (GIGN) kept the soldier talking. Ducrey said Le Tohic had made no attempt to booby-trap the depot, and officials said police did not try to storm it.
"We may be French, but we ain't that stupid!"
"He manifestly needed to hear the voice of someone he knew, someone who would defend him," said Ducrey, who specialises in military cases and had previously represented Le Tohic in a long and fruitless battle with the military hierarchy. Le Tohic was unhappy at being passed over for promotion, which meant that he was being made to leave the army on December 17, his 47th birthday, rather than being allowed to serve until he was 54.
So he decided to celebrate "Passover" in his own way.
Divorced, with no children, he had worked as an explosives expert at the base since 1999. Le Tohic remained in the depot after his shift Friday night, and on Saturday slipped a note under the door addressed to the defence ministry protesting his forced retirement. Ducrey said the military hierarchy had been dysfunctional. He told AFP that Le Tohic had been considered "an excellent professional" by fellow soldiers and "felt that he was a victim of injustices and victimised by several of his superior officers."
"The man is oppressing my client, yer honor!"
After Le Tohic surrendered, Ducrey told reporters, "I have had an assurance that his case will be re-examined. I hope that will be carried out with alacrity, profundity and good will." Ducrey said his client was clearly a good professional and it was therefore "difficult to understand why he has vegetated in the same rank for 14 years." Le Tohic is an adjutant, equivalent to a master sergeant in the US army or a warrant officer in Britain.
Fourteen years as a master sergeant and he's complaining?
The local prosecutor, Vincent Lesclous, said Le Tohic was under arrest at the military base, and faced a possible charge of making a deadly menace for which he could, in theory, be jailed for up to three years. After talks with family members and friends on Sunday, Le Tohic agreed to meet with his lawyer at 6.15 am (0515 GMT) and gave himself up 30 minutes later, the prefect, Dubois, said.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/06/2004 10:00:24 AM ||
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Hard to believe such a stable and responsible soldier was passed over for promotion.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/06/2004 10:43 Comments ||
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Ducrey said his client was clearly a good professional and it was therefore "difficult to understand why he has vegetated in the same rank for 14 years."
Didn't kiss the Commandant's ass enough? Just a guess.
The Budwiser Coors Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia is to announce plans today to record an oral history of the life and career of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, a six-year, multimillion-dollar project that is the center's first effort to chronicle the history of a sitting senator.
"It's Miller Time!"
Kennedy, who suggested the project and will extort raise money to cover its $3.5 million cost, will sit for 75 hours of talks with the center, which also plans to interview more than 100 of the veteran senator's former and current staff members, colleagues from both sides of the aisle, family, and other notable figures who have known him.
Pity Mary Jo is still dead.
While the center has completed an oral history of President Jimmy Carter and is completing similar projects for presidents George H. W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton, it has never made a senator the subject of a historical study. Kennedy will be able to provide insights into the presidency of his brother, John F. Kennedy. Although the senator, who earned his law degree at the University of Virginia, will raise money to fund the project, he will not control who is interviewed or what questions are asked, said Stephen Knott, associate professor at the Miller Center.
Right, and I've got this bridge for sale....
Historians said they could not recall a case in which such an exhaustive project was undertaken for a senator, especially a sitting senator. ''This is very unusual. Even an important senator or president will write a memoir or do some interviews with a ghost writer, and that is basically it," said historian Michael R. Beschloss. But the oral history project Kennedy will participate in ''is just the way an historian would like to see it done -- without fear or favor," he said.
Uh huh
Kennedy said the project does not presage the close of his 42-year Senate career. He intends to run for a ninth term in 2006, he said. The project will also touch on the senator's sometimes rocky personal and family life, Knott and others said. While the questions have not been written yet, historians said they expect that the center would address the Chappaquiddick episode and other nonpolicy-related matters.
You mean like his alcoholism and the family habit of dropping their pants at the drop of a waitress?
Posted by: Steve ||
12/06/2004 9:43:34 AM ||
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Teddy's history? It's just water under the bridge, man.
#7
Especially moving will be the interviews with young Teddy's swimming instructor, as well as the 312 upstairs maids his family went trhough during his teenage years.
#9
Heh, Heh-heh, they said oral. With appologies to Beavis and Butthead.
Posted by: Jim K ||
12/06/2004 13:41 Comments ||
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#10
I suppose there is someone who holds some regard for this lefty socialist windbag. I for one do not , nor do I know anyone who does. Just another pat on your back thing to be covered widely by the self fulfilling MSM in my mind.
Posted by: Bill Nelson ||
12/06/2004 14:18 Comments ||
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#1
registration required(I don't do regi if they do not want me to read thier news screw'em)Most of the NASCAR folks I know do not and would not own a Porche.If this is about Dems trying to appeal to Red-Staters they are screwing the porche(ooops pooch).
#2
Something tells me that an actual Porsche-Driving, Leno-Loving NASCAR fan. I'm guessing (I don't register, either) that the article is about market research driving political campaigns.
The BC04 used a lot of these techniques, as I understand it.
#3
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
After the 2000 presidential campaign, strategists for President Bush came to a startling realization: Democrats watch more television than Republicans. So by buying millions of dollars' worth of television advertising time, Republicans were spending their money on audiences that tended to vote Democratic.
What to do? With the luxury of four years until the next election, the Bush team examined voters' television-viewing habits and cross-referenced them with surveys of voters' political and lifestyle preferences.
This led to an unusual step for a presidential campaign: it cut the proportion of money that it put into broadcast television and diverted more to niche cable channels and radio, where it could more precisely reach its target audience.
While advertisers of commercial products have been heading to cable for years, presidential campaigns have generally relied on the reach of broadcast television to try to influence the widest possible audience.
But the Bush team's micro-target strategy could change all that, making an enormous difference to cable channels and networks as they vie for the escalating amount of money in politics. Candidates, political parties and independent groups at all levels of government spent at least $1.6 billion on television commercials this year, more than double the $771 million they spent in 2000, according to the nonpartisan Alliance for Better Campaigns. At least $600 million of this year's total went to the presidential election alone, more than twice the amount spent in 2000.
Kenneth M. Goldstein, director of the Wisconsin Advertising Project, which analyzes political advertising, said the Bush campaign's use of targeted data and its exploitation of cable was likely to be the beginning of a trend, particularly as advertisers pursue new ways of reaching consumers using technology like text-messaging and cellphones.
"We're talking very, very small effects, but we live in a time when small effects can be decisive," Mr. Goldstein said, citing Mr. Bush's 537-vote victory in Florida in 2000, which catapulted him into the Oval Office.
Donny Deutsch, the New York advertising guru, said that now, "the selling of a candidate is no different from the smart media buying for toothpaste and automobiles, especially as people fragment their media habits."
As the Bush team analyzed the data, stark differences between the viewing habits of Republicans and Democrats quickly emerged. The channels with the highest proportion of Democrats were Court TV and the Game Show Network; for Republicans, Speedvision and the Golf Channel.
During the week, Republicans switch off the tube earlier than Democrats do. (Republicans who stay up are more likely to tune in to Jay Leno, while Democrats flock to David Letterman.) Such revelations persuaded the Bush team to alter its media-buying strategy. In 2000, the campaign spent 95 percent of its media budget on network television; this year, that dropped to 70 percent.
The campaign spent no money on national cable channels in 2000; this year it spent $20 million. It spent very little on radio in 2000; this year it spent $12 million, much of it going to religious, talk and country music programming.
"This year, we reached a wider audience of potential Republicans than we did in 2000," said Matthew Dowd, a top strategist for Mr. Bush's re-election campaign.
Democratic strategists working for Senator John Kerry's presidential campaign said they had much the same consumer data as the Bush team, but they stuck largely with broadcast television because that was where their viewers were.
"You're tying one hand behind your back if you're not using the most sophisticated tools possible," said Mark Mellman, a top polling and media strategist for Mr. Kerry.
The additional money in this election allowed the Republicans to experiment with a different media mix and to apply techniques used by advertisers of consumer products.
"Politics is a mass product: 50 percent of American adults 'consume' the election," said Will Feltus, senior vice president for research and planning of National Media Inc., which bought media time for Mr. Bush's re-election campaign.
The most alarming realization for the Bush team, he said, was learning that Democrats watch more television. "It's like Coke finding out that they can't get to their consumers on television as easily as Pepsi can," Mr. Feltus said.
The Republicans' data, compiled by Scarborough Research, a leading market research firm, showed that nationally, Democratic voters were 15 percent more likely on average to be watching television than Republican voters. The research did not investigate the reasons for the lopsided viewing, but some analysts surmised that it had to do with Republicans not trusting the broadcast networks and with more programming being aimed at women, who tend to vote Democratic.
Mr. Feltus said that the Bush campaign, which began analyzing the data shortly after Mr. Bush took office in 2001, ran test projects in 2002 in the Senate race in Texas and in a Colorado Congressional race. The data in Colorado revealed, among other things, which roads Republicans drove as they commuted to work, helping the Republicans determine where to place billboards.
This year, before the Democrats had even selected a presidential candidate, the Bush strategists were considering advertising in movie theaters and health clubs. The data showed that Democrats were more likely to go to the movies than Republicans, so they dropped that idea. But it also showed that health clubs were a good way to reach Republicans and swing voters ages 18 to 34. So the campaign bought time on a cable channel that goes into health clubs across the country. It had reams of data that were not of immediate practical value but that helped the campaign understand its voters: for example, Porsche owners were more likely to be Republican; Volvo owners, Democratic.
Evan Tracey, who analyzes political television advertising for the Campaign Media Analysis Group, said the Bush campaign helped solidify its base of Republicans early with targeted cable commercials. These commercials, he said, were filled with "images of people saying grace and talking about faith and being optimistic about America, but there was also a lot of negative on Kerry."
The Democrats said they used similar data, with help from a new group called Media Vote, based in Los Angeles, but came to different conclusions about how to use it. They focused strictly on the battleground states, buying on local cable instead of national cable but still mainly relying on local broadcast programs.
The Republicans mostly bought on national cable channels instead of breaking down those purchases by market. This had unexpected benefits, like helping Mr. Bush in Hawaii, a reliably Democratic state that Republicans had not focused on. In October, Mr. Bush was suddenly running strong there, a result of his presence on national cable, Democrats said. That forced the Democrats to buy advertising time in Hawaii and route party notables to the state to try to counter Mr. Bush's gains.
The data also yielded unexpected insights. One of the shows most popular with Republicans, especially Republican women ages 18 to 34, turned out to be "Will & Grace," the sitcom about gay life in New York. As a result, while Mr. Bush was shoring up his conservative credentials by supporting a constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage, his advertising team was buying time on a program that celebrates gay culture.
The Bush team broadcast commercials 473 times on "Will & Grace" in markets across the country from Jan. 1 to Nov. 2, according to the Wisconsin project. (The Kerry campaign broadcast commercials 859 times on the show.)
Mr. Dowd said the campaign had not tailored its message to match the demographics of the "Will & Grace" audience or any other audience but rather wanted to reach more viewers who might vote Republican. Besides, he said, "people are interested in broad national messages."
Mr. Goldstein said Republicans did not customize their message because they had one basic point. "If your message is 'Kerry is bad,' you don't have to tailor it," he said.
The Democratic strategy was to focus on swing states and tailor the Kerry message to the market. In Pennsylvania, for example, the campaign ran commercials in Pittsburgh with workers talking about their jobs; in more liberal Philadelphia, it ran commercials with the actor Michael J. Fox, who has Parkinson's disease, talking about expanding embryonic stem cell research.
But such targeting did little to resolve the question of how much difference advertising makes in a presidential campaign, particularly when there is so much of it.
The real force of political advertising may be felt when it is absent.
Bradley Perseke, a Democratic strategist who bought the television time for Mr. Kerry, said that Mr. Bush's get-out-the-vote effort probably made more of a difference in the election than his advertising, although if one candidate had not advertised at all, that candidate surely would have lost.
Mr. Dowd of the Bush campaign agreed up to a point. "What is discussed in earned media is more important than what's on the paid media," he said of news versus advertising. "But if they are in concert and the message is consistent, it has a tremendous effect."
THE United Nations — desperately in need of some positive spin — is considering a ploy to steal some of the Norwegian Nobel thunder by launching its own annual peace prize. It doesn't hurt that the highly politicized Nobel Peace Prize has been bestowed to such unpeaceful types as Yasser Arafat and appeasers like Jimmy Carter. "The United Nations peace prize would be announced each year with the fanfare of a Live Aid-like concert, to be broadcast on a youth channel like MTV," said one source. "In the face of widespread corruption in Iraq's oil-for-food program, weapons proliferation and terrorism, it strikes one as both tone-deaf and feckless of them even to have that on the table."
Wonder if Koffi will award himself the prize?
Posted by: Steve ||
12/06/2004 9:55:28 AM ||
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Wow. Just when you couldn't think of anything more meaningless than a Nobel Peace Price comes... the UN Peace Prize.
#7
You get a plaque, a picture of you and Kofi, and a lovely blender.
No doubt Saddam will be the first winner.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
12/06/2004 12:18 Comments ||
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#8
I'm betting on Kimmie-boy-the-baby-killer (N. Korea) for the first UNpeace prize followed closely by whatever is in charge in Sudan and the the Mullah's of Iran....
Saddam is a big disappointment to the UN since he is no longer in power and cant torture his own people any more.
#16
The United Nations peace prize would be announced each year with the fanfare of a Live Aid-like concert, to be broadcast on a youth channel like MTV.
I can see it now: hosted by Ben Affleck, with special appearances by the VichyBlixie Dixie Chicks, Green Day, Ashlee Simpson & Her Lip-Sync Orchestra, Barbara Streisand, Joan Bayez, Bruce Springsteen, Tone-Loc, the surviving members of the Village People, . . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
12/06/2004 15:12 Comments ||
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#17
the prize is a beautiful statuette of a UN member dining on a mound of dead women and children.
#3
Mixed feelings: inspired by this brave woman, outraged that it requires such extraordinary heroism for these nightmare societies' quaint customs of honor killings and rapes to be brought to light.
Where the f*** are all the western feminists now? Why are they silent on these horrific and constant attacks on muslim women?
A next-generation leukemia pill designed to help patients not cured by the successful drug Gleevec works even better than doctors had hoped, researchers said on Sunday. The new drug, made by Bristol-Myers Squibb, put 86 percent of patients who tried it into remission -- meaning signs of their cancer disappeared, the researchers said. Although this was only a Phase I trial meant to show the drug was safe, the effects were dramatic, the doctors told a meeting in San Diego of the American Society of Hematology. "Certainly it is wonderful. It will save lives," said Dr. Alan Kinniburgh, senior vice president of research for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, which helped sponsor the study.
Rumors of the new drug's success have been leaking for months because cancer experts are so excited by the results. Oncologists hope the approach may work in many other cancers, too. The new drug is being tested in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia, which affects about 4,400 Americans a year and 10,000 people around the world. The drug is known by its experimental name BMS-354825. During the trial, also financed by Bristol-Myers, 31 of 36 patients with advanced CML who had not been helped by Gleevec had a complete hematologic response, meaning their bodies stopped producing leukemia cells. This translates to an 86 percent remission rate, said Dr. Charles Sawyers, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at the University of California Los Angeles who is helping test the drug.
Gleevec, made by Swiss drug company Novartis, targets an enzyme called BCR-ABL that leukemia cells use to proliferate. It attaches to the cancerous cells and stops them from growing and spreading. Sold in Europe under the name Glivec, it was the first "targeted" cancer drug. It made headlines when it was approved in 2001 because never before had a simple pill shown such dramatic effects in cancer. Later on Sunday Novartis will report on its new compound AMN107, dubbed "super Glivec," also designed to overcome the weaknesses in Gleevec. Gleevec, or imatinib, is Novartis's second-biggest product, with sales in the first nine months of this year of $1.1 billion. But in a few patients, perhaps 12 percent, the cancer cells mutate just enough to slip out of Gleevec's grip. The cancer comes back. So some of the researchers who worked on Gleevec teamed with Bristol-Myers Squibb to develop the new pill, which is less picky about how it grabs onto a cancer cell to deactivate it.
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Oil exporters have sharply reduced their exposure to the US dollar over the past three years, according to data from the Bank for International Settlements.
Members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries have cut the proportion of deposits held in dollars from 75 per cent in the third quarter of 2001 to 61.5 per cent.
Middle Eastern central banks have reportedly switched reserves from dollars to euros and sterling to avoid incurring losses as the dollar has fallen and prepare for a shift away from pricing oil exports in dollars alone.
Private Middle East investors are believed to be worried about the prospect of US-held assets being frozen as part of the war on terror, leading to accelerated dollar-selling after the re-election of President George W. Bush.
The BIS data, in the organisation's quarterly review, state that Opec countries' stock of dollar-denominated deposits has fallen by 4 per cent in cash terms since 2002 in spite of Opec revenues' surging to record levels this year.
Opec officials say the cartel is trying to protect its purchasing power per barrel, as Europe is its largest trading partner. Opec imports from Europe rose 29 per cent between 2001 and 2003 while those from the US fell by 14 per cent, according to Morgan Stanley, the US investment bank.
Simon Derrick, head of currency research at Bank of New York, said: "It makes sense to diversify their reserves as much of their spending is in the eurozone and Japan."
Opec officials also point to political motivations after the 2001 terror attacks on the US.
Middle Eastern foreign exchange reserves are relatively small - those of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait and Qatar are estimated at $61bn by BNP Paribas - but any switch may be seen as indicating the mood of private investors in the region, who control far greater wealth.
Hans Redeker, global head of foreign exchange strategy at the French bank, said the Patriot Act, introduced after September 11 to stop US financial institutions being used by terrorists to launder money, was worrying private investors.
"If you trade with what the US regards as a 'dodgy' bank, you are at risk of your assets in the US being frozen," he said. "After the re-election of George Bush, the Middle East started to sell dollars like crazy due to the fears of assets being frozen."
The BIS report also showed that, in spite of oil prices having risen 85 per cent since the fourth quarter of 2001, overall OPEC bank deposits have barely risen. "Oil reserves have not been channelled into the international banking system in the most recent cycle," the report said.
One school of thought is that Middle Eastern businesses and individuals increasingly prefer to invest at home, leading to sharp rises in real estate and equity prices in many countries. Another argument is that many Opec governments are having to increase public spending to support rapidly growing populations.
#2
Opec imports from Europe rose 29 per cent between 2001 and 2003 while those from the US fell by 14 per cent
Meaningless statistics unless the base numbers are given. Prior to these changes, did Europe import as much oil as the US? A lot less? More?
It matters.
in spite of oil prices having risen 85 per cent since the fourth quarter of 2001, overall OPEC bank deposits have barely risen. "Oil reserves have not been channelled into the international banking system in the most recent cycle.
One school of thought is that Middle Eastern businesses and individuals increasingly prefer to invest at home, leading to sharp rises in real estate and equity prices in many countries.
Another argument is that many Opec governments are having to increase public spending to support rapidly growing populations.
Yup - they are facing real demographic strains.
Posted by: too true ||
12/06/2004 20:42 Comments ||
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This is part of an overall trend away from holding reserves in USD, which is in a large part the cause of the US trade deficit. Countries should hold their reserves in currencies that reflect their trade, otherwise the currencies of exporting countries are artificially depressed relative to those of the country whose currency you keep in your reserves (causing unsustainable trade surpluses for some countries and deficits for others), which is the problem currently for the USA (and unremarked by the world media Australia has an even worse problem - its trade deficit is 20% larger as % of GDP).
Hat tip: Drudge. Edited for brevity.
Scientists said on Monday they have come up with a cell phone cover that will grow into a sunflower when thrown away. Materials company Pvaxx Research & Development, at the request of U.S.-based mobile phone maker Motorola, has come up with a polymer that looks like any other plastic, but which degrades into soil when discarded. Researchers at the University of Warwick in Britain then helped to develop a phone cover that contains a sunflower seed, which will feed on the nitrates that are formed when the polyvinylalcohol polymer cover turns to waste. "It's a totally biodegradable and non-toxic plastic," said Pvaxx spokesman Peter Morris. Just remember to get a new cover every few years before the sunflower eats your phone.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/06/2004 3:53:29 PM ||
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Actually, the original headlines and mine above as well are very misleading--it's not a biodegradable phone, but a phone cover. More precisely, biodegradable plastic. I'm sure the rest of the phone components are just as enviro-friendly as before--especially the batteries.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/06/2004 15:58 Comments ||
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Don't worry about your ear. It's perfectly safe, just do like you mom said and keep it clean and dry.
Blood donated by President Thabo Mbeki after an urgent appeal in South Africa was destroyed because it was regarded as a health risk, it emerged yesterday. South Africa's National Blood Service incinerated Mr Mbeki's donation after the president failed to complete a compulsory questionnaire about his personal health.
Mr Mbeki's aides said the president never filled in application forms and had asked for a special dispensation. But Ravi Reddy, the National Blood Service's technical director, told the Sunday Independent newspaper that the president's donation had simply been destroyed. "We had to take a decision whether to abort bleeding the president, which would have been a disaster from a publicity point of view, or whether to draw blood and then dispose of it," he said.
But the Sunday Independent said there might have been a further reason for the disposal of Mr Mbeki's blood after he arrived at a clinic in Durban in December 2001. The National Blood Service incinerated many donations from black South Africans because they were considered a high Aids risk, although it had now dropped race from its risk assessments.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
12/06/2004 4:02:12 AM ||
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#1
I wonder if one of his staff would be willing to accept a transfusion from Mr Mbeki if they had the same type of blood, or one that would not react badly to a transfusion from him (ie. Mr Mbeki has O negative and the transfusee has AB positive).
#2
Yessir, none of that damn aids stuff down here. I recently heard a quote from this same fellow to the effect that he had never met anyone with aids. Must not get out much. Either that or he doesn't like girls, who are now the population group with the highest rate of infection.
Posted by: Weird Al ||
12/06/2004 15:13 Comments ||
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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.
A British archaeologist has uncovered a cave in the mountains near Jerusalem which he believes conclusively proves that the Biblical figure of John the Baptist existed. [snip]
