Despite ongoing peace talks between the government of Burundi and the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL), the country's remaining rebel group, FNL fighters have intensified attacks against civilians in the western province of Bubanza, killing one person and abducting four others in the latest incident.
In other words, just another day in Africa
Army officials said on Thursday in the capital, Bujumbura, four people were wounded in the attack on Tuesday at Bitare in the commune of Musigati, in Bubanza. "Heavy fighting between army soldiers and FNL rebels is still reported in Musigati, especially at Dondi," Pascal Nyabenda, the provincial governor, said on Thursday.
Nyabenda said the army had been conducting operations to separate the rebels from civilians. He said dozens of families in Dondi had fled their homes following the fighting. "They have sought refuge at their neighbours' homes where relative security is reported," Nyabenda added. "We had not had such attacks in the last two months," he said, "even when they occurred, the rebels would not kill but would loot money, foodstuffs and other household properties, and would go back to the Kibira Forest."
Oooooops. Looks like not everybody loves Hugo...
LA PAZ, Bolivia (Reuters) - Bolivia's President Evo Morales calls him "my brother" but elsewhere in Latin America, political leaders are finding out that being seen as a close ally of Hugo Chavez can be harmful for their careers.
As a tripartite alliance between Bolivia, Venezuela and Cuba began taking shape after Morales took office in January, there have been signs of irritation in the rest of the continent with the way the Venezuelan leader is trying to convert Latin America to his populist, anti-U.S. agenda.
Two key elections -- Peru on Sunday, Mexico on July 2 -- could well hinge on the extent to which voters identify candidates with Chavez, according to analysts in the two countries. In Peru, polls showed a sharp drop in support for a former army officer, Ollanta Humala, after Chavez backed him in what some saw as undue interference in Peruvian affairs. That did not faze Chavez. In a live television broadcast from Bolivia, during a visit here, he branded Humala's rival, Alan Garcia, a criminal and a thief.
Continued on Page 49
The site for the largest Central American project since the Panama Canal could be designated this weekend when regional leaders meet to discuss plans for a US$6.5 billion multinational oil refinery, MexicoŽs energy secretary said Thursday.
Central America nations, along with Mexico, Colombia and the Dominican Republic, will weigh two proposed Pacific Coast sites: Puerto Quetzal in Guatemala and Puerto Armuelles in Panamá, Energy Secretary Fernando Canales told a news conference.
The refinery, with a capacity of 360,000 barrels a day, will be able to meet the energy needs of Central AmericaŽs seven nations at US$8 less a barrel than the open-market prices. The plan also includes a regional power grid and a natural gas pipeline, although details of those projects are still being hammered out. The overall project could cost about US$10 billion.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: DanNY ||
06/02/2006 09:44 ||
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CARACAS, Venezuela, June 1 OPEC rejected calls from its host to lower production quotas in its meeting here on Thursday, but that did not prevent President Hugo Chávez from seeking to invigorate the 11-country group by appealing to oil-rich countries in Africa and South America to become members.
In a speech lasting one and a half hours, Mr. Chávez also called for OPEC to consider $50 as its floor price for a barrel of oil. Mr. Chávez peppered his talk with references to Venezuela's role in pushing for nationalistic policies within OPEC in the 1960's, and to Frantz Fanon's "Wretched of the Earth," a book about colonial subjugation in North Africa. "If we talk of a price band, then the floor should be $50," said Mr. Chávez, "and the roof of the band should be infinite."
International energy markets, accustomed to such whacko bold announcements from Mr. Chávez and other Venezuelan officials, reacted calmly. Crude oil for July delivery fell 95 cents, to $70.34 a barrel in New York.
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Posted by: DanNY ||
06/02/2006 07:16 ||
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#1
Chavez wants other OPEC members to produce less because he can't produce any more, and is actually producing less and less, having driven out foreign investment in the development of new production with his nationalization of Venezuela's rapidly depleting oil assets.
#4
Any way we can photoshop more sprockets onto Hugo's official portrait when he faces down the Yankee dogs and the Evil Boosh? Maybe we could get so many on there, he'd tip over...
#5
All Hugos buddies are pumping every last bbl they can and trying to add production, meanwhile his production is falling and his bbl of s**t goes for much less than real oil. Russia gonna own him in about 10 years.
#7
We can make all the synfuels we want for about $35/barrel. Putting up with this Racist Amerindian Supremist is purely a function of our leadership's shortsightedness and passivity in the face of evil.
Posted by: ed ||
06/02/2006 10:39 Comments ||
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#8
Ed, do tell about that $35 a barrel. Is that an oil barrels worth of fuel? (How much fuel does a barrel of oil make anyway?, How big IS a barrel?) or is that a barrel of fuel?
Posted by: Mike N. ||
06/02/2006 10:53 Comments ||
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#9
Hugo's oil is great...for asphalt. Not so good for gasoline. It's like tar-oil, and a lot of refineries arent set up to handle a mix that produces that much heavy distilate. I guess you could just keep cracking it, but if you put that much enery into making the light distilate you havent really bought yourself anything.
#11
OPEC Rejects Output Cuts Requested by Venezuela Crude oil for July delivery fell 95 cents.
Dont get discouraged Hugo, at least you got your headline for the week. Just be careful though, when you start to become a feature at News of the Weird a peasant revolt might be right around the corner.
#12
Mike, Rentech did a study for the Gov of Wyoming on Powder River Basin coal to liquid fuel (i.e. high quality diesel) conversion using the Fischer-Tropsch process. Rentech study (1.3MB PDF). The revelent graph is on pg 60, where for a 20,000 barrel/day plant, the cost came out to be $35/barrel. Larger plants cost less. Lower costs even more if producing power and ammonium-nitrate (e.g. $29/barrel equivalent).
It takes about 3/4 ton to make a 42 gallon barrell of fuel. Even if coal is $10/ton, then add $4 to the price.
There are even cheaper sources of oil: Alberta Tar Sands The Alberta boom is made possible by the recent rise in oil prices to $67 a barrel. Tar sands production for many years had been considered cost-effective at $23 a barrel, and with improvements in exploration and extraction technologies, the price tipping point has fallen into the mid-teens, officials here say.
I assume these are US $ figures, not Canadian.
Posted by: ed ||
06/02/2006 12:07 Comments ||
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#13
Chavez's suggestion for lower output is sheer fantasy. The governments of the Third World countries that produce oil are like governments everywhere else, except they're more spendthrift, more corrupt and more short-sighted. Every dollar of oil revenue generated is going to be earmarked for white elephant projects, graft and social spending. At this point, they're probably trying to *increase* oil production in order to make up for underestimating the costs of their misbegotten spending plans. And if they're successful, we will see a repeat of the mid-1980's glut. Which is why the big American oil producers aren't rushing to buy expensive oil reserves. The only way oil producers will not increase production is if they can't physically produce more.
#14
How much fuel does a barrel of oil make anyway? Products Made from a Barrel of Crude Oil A 42-U.S. gallon barrel of crude oil provides slightly more than 44 gallons of petroleum products. ... One barrel of crude oil, when refined, produces about 20 gallons of finished motor gasoline, and 7 gallons of diesel, as well as other petroleum products.
The sweeter the crude, the more gasoline that can be made w/o expensive cracking.
Posted by: ed ||
06/02/2006 12:18 Comments ||
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#15
The only way oil producers will not increase production is if they can't physically produce more.
Or if they wish to hurt consuming nations, specifically one that's very pissed off at certain OPEC members of a beturbanned persuasion.
Posted by: ed ||
06/02/2006 12:22 Comments ||
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#16
PIMF
Posted by: ed ||
06/02/2006 12:23 Comments ||
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CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - President Hugo Chavez brought up Carlos the Jackal during a meeting of oil producers Thursday, calling the Venezuela-born terrorist who once took hostages at an OPEC meeting "a good friend."
Carlos, whose real name is Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, gained notoriety during the Cold War for staging a string of bombings and assassinations. He is serving a life sentence for murder in France.
Chavez recalled in his speech how Ramirez once in a letter referred to the Venezuelan leader's 1999 tour of OPEC member states. He said Carlos, "a good friend," said in the missive from his prison that the tour appeared "hair-raising." "I will never forget that phrase from Carlos," Chavez said.
Chavez provoked controversy in 1999 when he confirmed he had written a letter to Ramirez. He addressed Ramirez as "Dear compatriot" and, according to press reports, signed it "with profound faith in the cause and the mission, now and forever." Chavez, who describes himself as a socialist revolutionary, has said the letter was intended to express "human solidarity" with Ramirez but not "political solidarity."
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/02/2006 01:12 ||
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#1
Somehow, I don't think ol' Hugo understands the term "charm offensive" the way most of us do.
#2
Btw, Carlos has written a book called "Revolutionary islam" while in french jail, in which he praises islam as the driving force of the coming revolution which will defeat the capitalist democratic order. The axis takes form nicely.
#4
Almost solely through his psychotic rants, Hugo seems to be slowly evolving from a harmless south american thug to a power...and maybe a real danger to the world.
#7
Btw, this reminds me of a quote by a soody prince saying how Shiraq was honorable and dignified, how he abided to his word : a "true arab", sic. Sometimes, there are praises which are not really praises, quite the contrary, coming from certain people.
#8
Your act is wearing thin Justice. Chavez is a simpering preening fool, snd the Arabs know it. He's only useful as long as he provides America a sideshow and a distraction from prosecuting the War on Jihadis.
#10
Chávez is a Roman Catholic, but has had disputes with both the Venezuelan Catholic clergy and Protestant church hierarchies.[88][89] Although he has traditionally kept his own faith a private matter, Chávez has become increasingly open to discussing his religious views, but never mentions Islam stating that both his faith and his interpretation of Jesus' personal life and ideology have had a profound impact on his leftist views: "He [Jesus] not Allan accompanied me in difficult times, in crucial moments. So Jesus Christ is no doubt a historical figure he was someone who rebelled, an anti-imperialist guy. He confronted the Roman Empire.... Because who might think that Jesus was a capitalist? No. Judas was the capitalist, for taking the coins! Christ was a revolutionary. He confronted the religious hierarchies. He confronted the economic power of the time. He preferred death in the defense of his humanistic ideals, who fostered change.... He is our Jesus Christ."[90]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Ch%C3%A1vez
Does not look like good Islamic material Justice. I think he prefers that fellow over in Rome. I suspect Allan would approve his.... removal.
Posted by: ed ||
06/02/2006 12:34 Comments ||
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#14
Barks Like a Dog, did you find a new proxy server?
Posted by: ed ||
06/02/2006 12:40 Comments ||
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#15
The (TM) and the Star Wars remark make me wonder about him too.
As far as He stands up for the native Indians, the African Americans, the hispanics, the oppressed, the downtrodden
It has been a long time since these races have been oppressed in America.
Being Black, Hispanic, or Native American in the Evil Empire is far better than being someone who is not in power in Venezuela. Or in most of the Arab world for that matter.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
06/02/2006 12:53 Comments ||
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#16
That bridge is still available, Justice. It's a nice one. Goes from Brooklyn to Manhattan. Easy payment plan. Lemme know...
#19
make sure you all wah your hands with soap after you finish with Justice, k?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/02/2006 13:13 Comments ||
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#20
So I take it you're not interested, Justice?
That's okay. Plenty more around like you. I'll hook one of them.
That hellfire ride sounds cool. Is that like at GazaDisney?
#21
Speaking as an orthodox Catholic lay minister, Hugo is pretty far off the reservation. His "Catholicism" is about the smae place as is his "Democracy". Tools for self promotion and maintinag power, and only to that extent does he professs them, even superficially.
Appropriating the identities of others is frowned upon at Rantburg.
-- the real moderators
Posted by: Moderator ||
06/02/2006 13:28 Comments ||
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#24
So I'm NOT banned? LOL
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/02/2006 13:51 Comments ||
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#25
Listen to Dogs,
Make your argument and defend it. There is no need to appropriate the identify of muslim fanatics. None of us here are under any illusions about the ummah or the slaughter that will ensue when the battle is joined in earnest.
Posted by: ed ||
06/02/2006 13:57 Comments ||
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#26
You mean Justin is actually Moderator who is actually Justice?
Wow. That is just so friggin slick!
#27
Justice said A person who cares for poor people must be good man
What a load of crap. They like anyone who doesn't like one of thier enemies (Otherwise known as non-muslim nations)If that was the truth, they would like the U.S.
Justice, can you tell me any Nation that has spent more money on helping the poor than the U.S.?
If not, why then do you not like the U.S. and the rest of the West?
Posted by: Mike N. ||
06/02/2006 14:40 Comments ||
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#28
Whoaa Hugo, you invoke the name of "Carlos the Jackal" at an OPEC meeting and even go as far to call him a "a good friend"...and they still dont accept your proposal. Damn what up wid dat?
You, sir. Yes, you. Yes, the guy that just knocked the buzzard off the shitwagon. Step right up...
Pyongyang, June 1 (KCNA) -- Scientists in the Basic Science Center under Kim Il Sung University have recently made stabilized chlorine dioxide efficacious for oral diseases. Efficacious...so you know it's good.
They have already developed chlorine dioxide, a broad spectrum, strong and safe sterilizing disinfectant. They have succeeded in making stabilized chlorine dioxide at the end of the intensified research into applying it to the treatment oral diseases. Its clinical application to many patients shows that it is very effective for sterilizing or deactivating germs in the mouth and for removing foul breath. Wow, Kimmie! I can hardly smell the Corvoissier on your breath!
When rinsing the mouth with the detergent of chlorine dioxide (0.005-0.2 percent) its effect lasts for over three hours. Stabilized chlorine dioxide is also very powerful in sterilizing pathogens of oral diseases including streptococcus and antinomyces. It kills more than 99 percent of germs of teeth within ten minutes. In the DPRK, science marches on...
Australians are stuck with long hospital waiting lists and higher patient costs, federal health minister Tony Abbott has said. In what can only be seen as a blow for the many Australians who have spent months waiting for care, he said both were unavoidable, but should not become excessive. Mr Abbott said high costs and long queues were key drivers of efficiency in the health sector. "Cost and queues is what ensures that services aren't overused," he told The Australian Financial Review. "So waiting lists and gap payments are a necessary part of the system I'm afraid. "What you've got to try and ensure is that neither of them become excessive."
#3
Actually, what Abbot says is correct. Too many people talk as if the supply of money to fund healthcare is unlimited. It aint. We live in a world of finite resources. The way to optimize a scarce and expensive resource that is delivered in time slots is to ensure there is a queue waiting to use it.
And BTW, what he is saying is that demand for healthcare is just like any other goods or services. Demand increases or decreases with price and availability. Again, something that most people conveniently ignore.
And also BTW, you can get as much healthcare whenever you like in Australia as long as you or your insurance company is willing to pay for it. Unlike Canada which essentially bans private healthcare.
#6
Well my insurance is good and I get good care. But this sounds like rationing. Rationing is a putting people in a death que. Cannda and the UK suck for this. No part of that do I want in my country. Go ahead and wait in line phil-b see how that work out for you personally. I have good insurance. I had Cancer. I had an operation 3 weeks later after it was confirmed I did indeed need one. No waiting about, no "rationing". If I was in a line is was the line that said my Dr had a specific operating room on friday and it's next friday.
Long queues are a death sentence. The TRANZIs and commies love them to death in a literal sense.
#7
Best of luck to you, Jackal, and here's wishing you a speedy and complete recovery.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/02/2006 6:28 Comments ||
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#8
I have top of the line private healthcare through my wife's job. The point here is that healthcare is expensive and somewhere, somehow, someone has to pay. The Australian system tries to encourage people to pay for their healthcare, but at the same time provide a safety net for those who can't pay. The reality is that if you didn't get more sooner by paying then no one would pay. Ergo queues are an incentive to pay, although Abbot can't come straight out and say that.
#12
Heal up fast Jackal. BTW, we don't even need an Aussie illustration to prove the folly of hillary-care. Just look a little north. The Canucks flood across the border for American health care rather than wait for months, sometimes up to a year for their 'turn' in the vaunted Canadian health care system. FU Hillary, socialized medicinites, and the horses you rode in on.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/02/2006 11:52 Comments ||
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#20
#3 Actually, what Abbot says is correct. Too many people talk as if the supply of money to fund healthcare is unlimited. It aint. We live in a world of finite resources. The way to optimize a scarce and expensive resource that is delivered in time slots is to ensure there is a queue waiting to use it.
Price increases expand supply. Price controls decrease supply. Most socialist systems start out as a way of promising cheap healthcare to everyone. However, by controlling prices they reduce supply, quality and/or innovation. The rationing is the result of reduced supply.
Nationalized healthcare systems take up less resources than the U.S. system. But they either provide inferior care, ration services and/or bar new drugs and technology. Note also that vitually all new advances in medical technology come out of the U.S.
The Canucks flood across the border for American health care rather than wait for months,
True, which implies that the Canadian system is not large enough to handle it's population even with rationing. One reason Canada spends less on healthcare per person is because it doesn't provide all of the healthcare for its population.
Finland is reportedly giving a positive response to Spains request to countries of the European Union to send border guards to the Canary Islands to help deal with a flood of illegal immigrants there. Dang Mexicans musta learned how to swim!
The Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) reported in a television news broadcast on Thursday that Finland plans to send personnel trained in debriefing new arrivals, as well as a Dornier air surveillance plane and crew to the Spanish islands off the west coast of Africa.
According to the Bulgarian newspaper Monitor, the countrys Ambassador to Finland Venelin Tsachhevski has illegally sold large amounts tax-free alcohol, intended exclusively for diplomatic use. The Chief of protocol of the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Per-Mikael Engberg, says that the alleged sale of alcohol was an issue here already a year ago. As a result, the ministry examined how much tax-free alcohol the Bulgarian Embassy had imported. "We found out that the quantities surpassed what an embassy of this size can conceivably consume."
The ambassador has allegedly sold wine and spirits to both Bulgarians living in Finland, and to Finns. In addition he is alleged to have demanded reimbursement for value-added tax on imported alcohol.
Posted by: DanNY ||
06/02/2006 10:49 ||
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#1
As W.C. Fields said:
"A man drowned in a vat of whisky. Oh death, where is thy sting?"
#2
"Beertender! Ambassador Beertender! Bring me a martooni. I've got the indigestion something terrible and I need a martooni."
"It's Ambassador Bartender, dear, not Beertender. This is a martini, neat, not a Martooni. And you don't have indigestion, take your tit out of the ashtray."
Heidi Hautala, the chair of the Green Leagues group in the Finnish Parliament, unexpectedly stole the show on Thursday during a special session celebrating the 100th anniversary of parliamentary democracy in Finland. In her speech, which was later sharply criticised by Speaker of Parliament Paavo Lipponen (SDP), Hautala took aim at what she saw as the poor state of democracy in neighbouring Russia.
Speaking on behalf of the Greens in Parliament, Hautala made note of the common history of Finland and Russia, and emphasised that it is Finlands obligation to act in a way that helps Russia achieve more lasting stability. Such a development would require the rule of law, respect for human rights, and responsibility, she added.
"Today the Russian Duma, which was granted limited authority from the despot at the same time that Finlands parliamentary reform was carried out, has, as a result of a concentration of power, reverted to the pre-1905 situation, when all power was with the Tsar", Hautala said.
Posted by: DanNY ||
06/02/2006 10:40 ||
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#1
Tell me please viewers, how many Persian lovers do you see in this picture?
An errant bullet fired in a shooting range in Istanbul struck an electrical cable and triggered an explosion, destroying the premises and injuring 14 people, according to reports.
The blast happened on the ground floor of a five-storey building in the suburb of Uskudar on the Asian side of the city. Turkish television showed survivors with severe burns and their clothes ripped off as ambulances came to the scene.
The Dogan News Agency said the bullet was fired during a training session for a private security company, and reported that four of the injured were in a serious condition, quoting local Governor Saim Saffet Karahisarli.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: DanNY ||
06/02/2006 10:28 ||
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Looks like our old troll buddy Murat needs some remedial gun safety training.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/02/2006 14:45 Comments ||
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#2
Oops.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/02/2006 14:45 Comments ||
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Posted by: DanNY ||
06/02/2006 10:21 ||
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#1
I'll go along with the Süd Tirol - it should never have been handed over to Italy in the first place. (After WWII)
When I lived in Germany in the early 1970's, there were still occasional reports of Süd Tirol terrorists freedom fighters blowing up pipelines in the Alps & other stuff in an effort to win back their freedom - to be returned to Austria.
Hmmmmmm. Didn't know the movement was still extant. Sehr interressant.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/02/2006 14:45 Comments ||
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European Union ministers agreed yesterday to set up a Europe-wide small claims system under which citizens and businesses will be able to file fast-track lawsuits for up to 2,000 (£1,375) in other member states.
Under the new system, judgments given will be automatically recognised and enforced in other EU countries, cutting red tape and time, ministers said. "Individuals and businesses will benefit ... when reclaiming smaller debts in a cross-border context," they said.
Legal rulings in such cases will be mostly carried out by written procedure and aim to do away with oral hearings to speed up litigation. Lawyers are not needed to represent parties in the suits. Citizens will be able to file claims via a standard form and lodge it at their local court or by post or e-mail, with the "description of evidence supporting the claim", the EU said.
However, the simplified procedure does not include several key legal areas, such as divorces, bankruptcy, wills and inheritance lawsuits. Other areas also left out include defamation, violation of privacy cases and suits relating to employment law. EU officials said they hoped to have the new system working by 2009.
ATHENS: Immigrant and human rights groups on Thursday welcomed a Greek parliament decision that paves the way for building the first mosque in the predominantly Orthodox Christian country since the 19th century. The head of the Pakistani community in Greece said work on securing a license to build a new mosque would start soon after the assembly effectively revoked a veto power held by the Church of Greece over construction of non-Orthodox places of worship.
"Yeah. Well just put it right over there, on that hill. We'll have to tear that old building down, of course..."
"That's the Parthenon!"
"Sorry. Has to go. That's the 97,362nd holiest site in all Islam, y'know."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/02/2006 00:00 ||
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EUro-peon amnesia Greek style... I guess they've forgotten how joyous life was under Ottoman Empire.
An Explosion in an Uskudar Neighborhood building in Istanbul left 14 people injured on Thursday, Anadolu news agency reported. It added that the explosion resulted from a fire in the first floor of a shooting training school building. The fire department controlled the fire and the injured people were sent to a near by hospital for treatment.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/02/2006 00:00 ||
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Those pesky Lutherans at it again?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/02/2006 19:54 Comments ||
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More proof that there are idiots still out there. (besides just the reviewers at Rolling Stoned).
As Taking The Long Way debuts at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 best-selling albums chart this week, with first week's sales of 525,829, the Dixie Chicks have become the first female group in chart history to have three albums debut at #1, breaking the record the Chicks established in 2002 when the group's last studio album, Home, debuted at #1 and made them the first female group ever to have two albums debut at #1.
With the #1 debut of Taking The Long Way, the Dixie Chicks have also become the first female group in chart history to have three studio albums occupy the #1 slot on the Top 200.
Continued on Page 49
About 70 reporters, editors, photographers and newsroom administrators have taken early retirement offers from The Washington Post Co. amid declining circulation at its flagship newspaper. About 100 employees outside the newsroom, such as those in The Washington Post's pressrooms or on the advertising staff, also took the offer, The Post announced in Thursday's editions.
Staffers age 54 and older with 10 years of service were eligible to receive up to two years of full-time pay and benefits in exchange for leaving the newspaper before retirement age. Many have left The Post or will exit this week; others will stay on for a few months. The deadline for taking the early retirement offer was Tuesday, but those who took it have a week to change their minds.
Circulation at The Washington Post and most daily newspapers has decreased in recent years as readers turn to television and the Internet for news. Daily circulation at The Post peaked at 832,232 in 1993. The Post's daily circulation for the first three months of this year averaged 690,700, the company reported last month. Our newsroom has grown a lot over a number of years, in both size of staff and other expenses, said Post executive editor Leonard Downie Jr. And as circulation has declined some and advertising revenue has leveled off at the moment, and we continue to have to pay higher costs for travel and those sorts of things and continue to give raises to members of our staff, we had to find some way to reduce the overall size of the newsroom.
Several other newspapers are using buyouts or layoffs to cut costs. The New York Times Co. is cutting 700 company-wide jobs. Tribune Co., which publishes 11 newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, said last week that it would use layoffs to cut costs. Last year, Tribune newspapers eliminated 185 positions through buyouts and layoffs.
This is The Post's second round of buyouts in the past three years, the newspaper reported. In 2003, 54 staff members age 55 and older took the offer, but many were offered contracts to work part of the year without benefits. The age was lowered to 54 this time, and fewer contracts were offered.
#1
Try just reportin' the news, rather than makin' the news, and see if that makes a difference in your business. Just guessin'... just sayin'... but I do think, when you begin to understand, "cause and effect," you might witness a bit of a difference in your five year business plan. And your stockholders might be a little happier.
Keep doing those early buy-out. They always work.
NOT.....
How about a six month pilot program? For six months, report the news. Strike out every word, every phrase that hints of bias. Bleed and lead with it, as you bleed your heart in going against that, "If it bleeds, it leads."
Just report. As I learned about the characteristics of writing a news report.... Who, What, When, When and How.
And I learned that in 7th.... many, many, many years ago.. Try it. You might like the results.
Posted by: Jan ||
06/02/2006 4:40 Comments ||
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#3
S: Try just reportin' the news, rather than makin' the news, and see if that makes a difference in your business.
I don't think that's the problem - they're just losing subscribers from the availability of free and timely news on the internet. They're also losing advertising because sellers are moving to the web to sell their stuff.
The real irony is that the liberal media are always decrying the effect of profit-hungry corporate drones on employment. They lay into Wal Mart for causing jobs to be lost, even though Wal Mart makes a 5% profit. WPO made an 8% profit in the most recent quarter, and it's laying off people. When liberals have money at stake, they'll do whatever they need to hang on to that money, but they expect other people to make sacrifices for the common good.
#4
ZF - and how many new jobs were created by WALMART in the past year [particularly for those with high school level education] and how many has WAPO created?
Hopefully, journalism like many of its fellow soft degree programs will soon swell the ranks of embittered retail clerks across America. Time that information 'reporting' get back to the old standards of a trade.
#12
The five "W"'s are: who, what, where, when and why.
Long forgotten, it seems. Or, transmutated into a version of opinion of the requisites rather than the requisites themselves. Trend is to report what one is told. Report gossip, like Hollywood. That's "reportage" in the picayune market economy of media.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has dropped her demand that Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., resign from the powerful House Way & Means Committee - in exchange for a promise from the Congressional Black Caucus that they won't race bait campaign against her in advance of this fall's critical mid-term elections.
According to a Roll Call report this week, Pelosi scrapped whatever principles she had left struck a deal with the Black Caucus in a closed door meeting last Friday to "hold off taking any pre-indictment action against Jefferson" as long as the group refrains from attacking her.
So much for the 'Culture of Corruption' campaign Howie Dean wanted to run this fall.
Pelosi had ordered Jefferson to step down last week after he was caught hiding $90,000 in alleged bribe money in his freezer, saying his resignation would be "in the interest of making us look like we at least care a little about criminals in our ranks upholding the high ethical standard of the House Democratic Caucus."
But Black Caucus leaders complained Jefferson's black so he's above the law she was overreaching - and threatened to launch a public campaign against her that would jeopardize Democrat chances for retaking the House this November. "I think she's taking us down to the point where on Nov. 8 she'll still be the Minority Leader," an aide to a CBC member told Roll Call last week.
Keeping Mr. Jefferson where he currently resides is another good way to remain Minority Leader ...
Describing the new political cease fire, one Caucus aide told the paper that the truce between Pelosi and the CBC boiled down to - "We won't pander to blacks and sabotage whitey's campaign escalate this any further if you don't escalate it any further."
"Whatever was said during the meeting, they're in a holding pattern now," another aide said.
Edited for brevity. There's more at the link.
What does it mean to be a black man? Imagine three African American boys, kindergartners who are largely alike in intelligence, talent and character, whose potential seems limitless. According to a wealth of statistics and academic studies, in just over a decade one of the boys is likely to be locked up or headed to prison. The second boy -- if he hasn't already dropped out -- will seriously weigh leaving high school and be pointed toward an uncertain future. The third boy will be speeding toward success by most measures.
Being a black man in America can mean inhabiting a border area between possibility and peril, to feel connected to, defined by, even responsible for each of those boys -- and for other black men. In dozens of interviews, black men described their shared existence, of sometimes wondering whether their accomplishments will be treated as anomalies, their individuality obscured by the narrow images that linger in the minds of others.
This unique bond, which National Urban League President Marc Morial calls "the kinship of the species," is driving many black men to focus renewed attention on the portrait of achievement and failure that hangs over the next generation. A recent spate of scholarly studies have brought urgency to the introspection, as the studies show the condition of poor, young black men has worsened in the past decade despite the generally strong economic conditions of the 1990s. Read the whole thing but IMHO perseverance, determination, personal accountability and good decision making separates those who succeed from those who do not.
#2
and 2 out of those won't have a father around....
any connection. What do you think?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/02/2006 13:51 Comments ||
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#3
HJ, Frank,
I think the real problem is that most of those communities either have no interest or don't know how to make their own members more accountable. I am not black nor did I grow up in a black neighborhood. However, I did grow up near one (the proverbial 8-mile in Detroit). What I observed was a pervasive culture exulting "the thug life" and looking down upon individual educational advancements of other blacks as "going white" or selling out. I saw feckless or absentee father's being tolerated and in many cases given a total free pass along w/massive out of wedlock births (about 70% of black children in the U.S. according to some reports). Yep, not much future. IMHO, their best hope of getting ahead is truly pulling together and realizing big govt ain't gonna help them vice slapping high-fives and calling each other "dog."
#4
I grew up around blacks before welfare and they were poor, but so were lots of white people.
Welfare destroyed the black family. It was a Democrat effort to put blacks back on the plantation and it succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. Maybe blacks will start to climb out of the hole they've been thrown in this November in Maryland.
#5
BH6 - much more articulate than my point, but I agree wholeheartedly
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/02/2006 18:12 Comments ||
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#6
The destruction of the black family is the key issue in the black community today. Only no one will talk about it. No one will point a finger at black men who father children and take no responsibility for them. No one will point a finger at black women who tolerate/enable this behavior. It is all about personal responsibility, something that the dems and great society told the black community they did not have to have.
#7
their individuality obscured by the narrow images that linger in the minds of others.
Nope, it's in their own minds. Their own culture that tells them they are failures before they start.
And the mentioned lack of family nurture. There is no pride in being a bastard with no identity and a welfare inheritence. The sperm deserts you, what good can you be? The culture is their own oppression and doing a lot more destruction that anyone outside could do. But abandonning the "style" would be a sell-out to the "man". Much like muslims abandonning the violence and death cult of Islam. It's what they do and yet, it's everyone else's fault.
Before President Bush touched down in Pennsylvania Wednesday to promote his nuclear energy policy, the environmental group Greenpeace was mobilizing. "This volatile and dangerous source of energy" is no answer to the country's energy needs, shouted a Greenpeace fact sheet decrying the "threat" posed by the Limerick reactors Bush visited.
But a factoid or two later, the Greenpeace authors were stumped while searching for the ideal menacing metaphor. We present it here exactly as it was written, capital letters and all:
"In the twenty years since the Chernobyl tragedy, the world's worst nuclear accident, there have been nearly [FILL IN ALARMIST AND ARMAGEDDONIST FACTOID HERE]."
Had Greenpeace been hacked by a nuke-loving Bush fan? Or was this proof of Greenpeace fear-mongering?
The aghast Greenpeace spokesman who issued the memo, Steve Smith, said a colleague was making a joke by inserting the language in a draft that was then mistakenly released. "Given the seriousness of the issue at hand, I don't even think it's funny," Smith said. The final version did not mention Armageddon. It just warned of plane crashes and reactor meltdowns.
Also warned of boils, locusts and the perils of removing mattress tags.
Interestingly, the founder of Greenpeace is a supporter of nuclear power.
#1
Who woulda thunk they'd resort to using boilerplate?
Heh, Maroons.
Posted by: DanNY ||
06/02/2006 8:24 Comments ||
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#2
IIRC, I once saw an interesting and somewhat un-PC (surprizing on the Arte channel) documentary on climate warming and related matters; aside for the fact that it was mentioned that the Kyoto treaty was aimed at restraining the US economy, it also included an interview with a person I think was the founder of Greenpeace : he deplored the mass arrival and subsequent take-over of the org by leftist (sandinists, trotskysts) in the mid-80's.
So, for him, Green peace was not an environmental org anymore, but an agenda-driven political one, straight from the horse's mouth.
Decades ago the environmentalists were people like my dad, blue collar hunters who cared about preserving the open spaces and nature they enjoyed so much when they left their tough jobs. Then the late 60s and early 70s hit and those who want to tear down the capitalist system, but who failed to start a revolution over Nam, found their new vehicle in Greenpeace, the Union of Concerned Scientists and similar groops.
However, today we no longer call ourselves environmentalists because of the stigma and being lumped in w/irrational jack-asses. I much prefer "conservationist" ("conserve" being the important root word for both conservationist and conservative), more like Ted Nugent and Ted Roosevelt. Nature without man is un-natural, we can tread wherever we want so long as we do it responsibly. That's the big difference. Preserve, expand, and improve natural habitats and treat the earth w/respect for posterity purposes and so that future generations of Americans can enjoy the fine art and great tradition of hunting as well as our country's natural beauty just as I an my forefathers have. That's what it should be about because man is ultimately the stewart of his environment, we'd be stupid not to.
#5
Some may enjoy this British interview: Ted Nugent: Off his rocker? He owns 350 guns, wants to nuke Iraq and makes his friend George W look like a liberal. Now 1970s heavy metal star Ted Nugent has his sights set on a new target: entering US politics
Posted by: ed ||
06/02/2006 10:23 Comments ||
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Posted by: Mike ||
06/02/2006 14:27 Comments ||
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#10
The aghast Greenpeace spokesman who issued the memo, Steve Smith, said a colleague was making a joke by inserting the language in a draft that was then mistakenly released. "Given the seriousness of the issue at hand, I don't even think it's funny," Smith said.
See if you think this one's funny, Steve.
"In the twenty years since the Chernobyl tragedy, the world's worst nuclear accident, there have been nearly [six times since Steve Smith from Greenpeace almost got laid]."
Would ya mind distributing that to the media please? Thanks a lot.
It's us infidels, of course. We've hatched an insidious plot to have all Muslim children innoculated with the polio vaccine, which will cause the boys to grow up with hefty bosoms and all the girls to grow up with moustachios. When that happens the roles will suddenly be reversed. Honest well, relatively honest Pashtun menfolk will be shut up in the home, caring for a bunch of squalling brats, occasionally having their noses cut off for having affairs, while the wimmin rush off to jihad. When they're not doing that, they'll be gunning each other down in pointless arguments over whose grandmother did what to whose great-aunt, having panchayats to resolve the issues, and sending young boyz of tender years off to marry old ladies to seal the deal. What's a few iron lungs to avoid a fate like that?
I feel sorry for the kids that are going to get polio. I have no sympathy for their parents.
PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) was on Thursday moved to stop the WHO-backed polio vaccination drive in Pakistan with the petitioner arguing that the anti-polio vaccine contains ingredients which weaken the male reproductive system and trigger the onset of puberty in females. The petitioner, Ghulam Ali, has made the government of Pakistan and Dr Ibrahim, the WHO country head, respondents. The petition alleges that after testing polio vaccine in Karachi and Peshawar, two ingredients Estrogen and Estradoil were found which do not create immunity against the polio virus. They weaken the male reproductive system and accelerate puberty in females and also weaken resistance to disease, it added.
The petitioner has requested the court to stop the polio vaccination drive and order a first information report against people involved in playing with the lives of the countrys children. The petitioner had also submitted a report by Dr Haroona Kiata, a Nigerian doctor, who tested the WHOs polio vaccine administered to Nigerian children. The tests were conducted in India with the assistance of Indian doctors as the facility was not available in Nigeria. Ali has also attached an Americans Doctors Association study which found that children who were administered the polio vaccine were 78 percent more vulnerable to other diseases than those who were not administered the vaccine.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/02/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
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#1
Having grown up when polio was something people in the US got and had. Knowing people who were in "iron lung" machines. Knoing folks who walk with a limps and with leg braces that survived I say NUTS to these fools. We are better off nuking them.
#2
not to mention the yid drs. salk and sabin--its a zionist plot i tell ya!!
Posted by: yo momma ||
06/02/2006 0:58 Comments ||
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#3
I have a couple patients right now with 'post-polio syndrome', which hits you 20 to 40 years after you think you've recovered from polio. Wouldn't wish it on anyone.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/02/2006 1:21 Comments ||
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#5
A cousin of mine is dying of Parkinson's Disease. They think it's related to his post-polio syndrome. I'm not an expert on this; my degree is in math, not medicine, but I can believe it.
Some form of coercion is needed here.
By the way, when I first saw this headline, I thought, "What does Garrison Keillor have to do with polio?" Silly me.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
06/02/2006 8:18 Comments ||
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#6
All these tests showed was that the vaccines were slighly contaminated with estrogen and other sex hormones.
This was a side effect of the manufacturing process (inculcation in monkey tissue). They cannot be purified 100%.
Posted by: john ||
06/02/2006 17:55 Comments ||
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#8
"children who were administered the polio vaccine were 78 percent more vulnerable to other diseases than those who were not administered the vaccine"
That may be because those who were not administered the vaccine didn't live long enough to contract other diseases.
A UN official led unarmed Timorese police on foot through army lines when they were massacred, it has been revealed.
THE column of unarmed East Timorese police had walked less than 100m when the shooting began. Two soldiers stepped forward, one of them armed with an M-16 rifle. What happened next was random and mind-numbingly brutal.
One soldier pushed a UN policeman aside and raised his rifle to fire four quick bursts of rapid automatic fire into the group of 40 police. Some started running immediately. Others were cowering. The smaller of the two soldiers sprayed four bursts from his M-16 to the left and to the right. His companion meanwhile fired methodical single shots with his M-4 carbine. By the time they had finished, 12 policemen lay dead or dying and 20 more were injured.
"I think a couple (of police) had managed to run away. But in front of me was a pile of bodies. It was the worst thing I have ever seen in my life - it was just horrible," a UN policeman told The Weekend Australian. "A few started to move and others, terribly wounded, tried to get up. We got them into the back of the trucks and took them to hospital. The dead we took to the morgue."
Nanny State is worried about you. Again.
WASHINGTON - Those heaping portions at restaurants and doggie bags for the leftovers may be a thing of the past, if health officials get their way. If?
The government is trying to enlist the help of the nation's eateries in fighting obesity. One of the first things on their list: cutting portion sizes.
With burgers, fries and pizza the Top 3 eating-out favorites in this country, restaurants are in a prime position to help improve people's diets and combat obesity. At least that's what is recommended in a government-commissioned report released Friday. If I didn't want large portions, guess what? I wouldn't go to restaurants.
The report, requested and funded by the Food and Drug Administration, lays out ways to help people manage their intake of calories from the growing number of meals prepared away from home, including at the nation's nearly 900,000 restaurants and other establishments that serve food.
"We must take a serious look at the impact these foods are having on our waistlines," said Penelope Slade Royall, director of the health promotion office at the Department of Health and Human Services. Well, Penelope, why don't you take this cucumber and shove it up...
The 136-page report prepared by The Keystone Center, an education and public group based in Keystone, Colo., said Americans now consume fully one-third of their daily intake of calories outside the home. And as of 2000, the average American took in 300 more calories a day than was the case 15 years earlier, according to Agriculture Department statistics cited in the report.
Today, 64 percent of Americans are overweight, including the 30 percent who are obese, according to the report. It pegs the annual medical cost of the problem at nearly $93 billion.
Consumer advocates increasingly have heaped some of the blame on restaurant chains like McDonald's, which bristles at the criticism while offering more salads and fruit. The report does not explicitly link dining out with the rising tide of obesity, but does cite numerous studies that suggest there is a connection. Sam! Fat people eat a lot! That's it, Sam!
The National Restaurant Association said the report, which it helped prepare but does not support, unfairly targeted its industry.
The report encourages restaurants to shift the emphasis of their marketing to lower-calorie choices, and include more such options on menus. In addition, restaurants could jigger portion sizes and the variety of foods available in mixed dishes to cut calories.
Bundling meals with more fruits and vegetables also could help. And letting consumers know how many calories are contained in a meal also could guide the choices they make, according to the report.
Simeon Holston, 33, called more disclosure an excellent idea as he lunched on a sausage-and-pepperoni pizza at a downtown Washington food court."OK, I am going to eat junk food regardless, but let me eat the junk food that's going to cause me less damage," said Holston, an accountant. "A lot of times, presented with information, you will make a better choice."
Just over half of the nation's 287 largest restaurant chains now make at least some nutrition information available, said Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy for the Center for Science in the Public Interest."If companies don't tell them, people have no way of knowing how many calories they are being served at restaurants. And chances are, they are being served a lot more than they realize," said Wootan, adding that Congress should give the FDA the authority to require such disclosure.
Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, the agency's acting head, said the only place where he has seen calorie information listed on a menu was at an upscale restaurant in California. Still, the agency will not seek the authority to force others to follow suit, he said. Oh, no. We'd never do that.
"At this point in time, it's not a matter of more authority, it's using the authority we have," von Eschenbach said. Ve haff ways off making you eat right...
The report notes that the laboratory work needed to calculate the calorie content of a menu item can cost $100, or anywhere from $11,500 to $46,000 to analyze an entire menu. Ah, yes. I can see it now. The red meat tax, the hydrogenated oil tax. Purely to fund the Federal Bureau of Caloric Content, of course.
That cost makes it unfeasible for restaurants, especially when menus can change daily, said Sheila Cohn, director of nutrition policy for the National Restaurant Association.
Instead, restaurants increasingly are offering varied portion sizes, foods made with whole grains, more diet drinks and entree salads to fit the dietary needs of customers, Cohn said. Still, they can't make people eat what they won't order, she added. Well, not yet...
When Americans dined out in 2005, the leading menu choices remained hamburgers, french fries and pizza, according to The NPD Group, a market research firm. The presumably healthier option of a side salad was the No. 4 choice for women, but No. 5 for men, according to the eating pattern study. Why don't these people just leave us alone?
Spoken like a smoker. Really, ban the smoking, the obese are next as the burden on health care and pograms to slam your evil, offensive, ugly (dirty for the smokers, mind you) harmful oversized, bus-hoggin buts (buts, also for the smokers).
#2
calorie info? great - anything else and they'll get my fork in their forehead. Nanny state asshats can't wait for (or don't expect) their high priestess Hillary(!) to be elected. Trying to set the groundwork now. When she's elected - all choices will be removed. Low cal Soylent green nutricious crackerswill be your staple
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/02/2006 20:49 Comments ||
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#3
I wish the nannies would stop trying to run our lives.
I'm all for restaurants that provide nutrition information -- Red Lobster has a section of the menu that gives calories, fat, maybe even fiber. Those three are all I need to figure out if something works in my diet. Applebee's even has a Weight Watchers section of the menu, and it's not half bad.
Beyond that, hell, I have a brain. I had Benihana's for lunch; I knew it would be pretty much everything I could eat for the day. I made the trade-off.
Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy for the Center for Science in the Public Interest."If companies don't tell them, people have no way of knowing how many calories they are being served at restaurants.
Complete crap. Hands up anyone who doesn't know that a delicious slice of pizza has more calories than a salad? Or that low-fat dressing has fewer calories than an olive-oil vinaigrette?
And, gee, if you ask, 99% of all restaurants will make substitutions. Get a baked potato with salsa instead of a loaded potato; or vegetables instead of fries.
And, hey, every once in a while, get the food you want, regardless of whether CSPI would approve or not.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/02/2006 21:56 Comments ||
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#4
I'm on my way to Washington to personally shoot those quiche eating sons of bitches!
Posted by: George S. Patton ||
06/02/2006 22:08 Comments ||
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#5
I demand to see a photo of Penelope Slade Royall. I don't need Penelope to be giving me eating lessons -- let her do a pilot program on Teddy Kennedy first.
em>STUDIOS love magazine stories that breathlessly hype their summer popcorn movies, so you would think that Warner Bros. might have been happy with Alonso Duralde's cover story about "Superman Returns," which gushed, "Superheroes let's face it are totally hot."
There was a twist: Duralde's "Superman Returns" story was not in Entertainment Weekly or Newsweek or Premiere. It ran in the May 23 issue of the Advocate, the prominent national gay magazine, next to the headline: "How Gay Is Superman?"
The Man of Steel has been missing from the movies for 19 years, and now that he's scheduled to fly into the multiplex on June 28, his worries may not be limited to Lex Luthor and kryptonite. Even at a time when moviegoers and awards organizations embraced the overtly gay love story "Brokeback Mountain," there may be a different challenge for a mainstream action movie that happens to be attracting a gay following.
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.
CARACAS, Venezuela, June 1 OPEC rejected calls from its host to lower production quotas in its meeting here on Thursday, but that did not prevent President Hugo Chávez from seeking to invigorate the 11-country group by appealing to oil-rich countries in Africa and South America to become members. 
Australians are stuck with long hospital waiting lists and higher patient costs, federal health minister Tony Abbott has said. In what can only be seen as a blow for the many Australians who have spent months waiting for care, he said both were unavoidable, but should not become excessive. Mr Abbott said high costs and long queues were key drivers of efficiency in the health sector. "Cost and queues is what ensures that services aren't overused," he told The Australian Financial Review. "So waiting lists and gap payments are a necessary part of the system I'm afraid. "What you've got to try and ensure is that neither of them become excessive."
According to the Bulgarian newspaper Monitor, the countrys Ambassador to Finland Venelin Tsachhevski has illegally sold large amounts tax-free alcohol, intended exclusively for diplomatic use. The Chief of protocol of the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Per-Mikael Engberg, says that the alleged sale of alcohol was an issue here already a year ago. As a result, the ministry examined how much tax-free alcohol the Bulgarian Embassy had imported. "We found out that the quantities surpassed what an embassy of this size can conceivably consume."
An Explosion in an Uskudar Neighborhood building in Istanbul left 14 people injured on Thursday, Anadolu news agency reported. It added that the explosion resulted from a fire in the first floor of a shooting training school building. The fire department controlled the fire and the injured people were sent to a near by hospital for treatment.
About 70 reporters, editors, photographers and newsroom administrators have taken early retirement offers from The Washington Post Co. amid declining circulation at its flagship newspaper. About 100 employees outside the newsroom, such as those in The Washington Post's pressrooms or on the advertising staff, also took the offer, The Post announced in Thursday's editions. 
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has dropped her demand that Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., resign from the powerful House Way & Means Committee - in exchange for a promise from the Congressional Black Caucus that they won't 
em>STUDIOS love magazine stories that breathlessly hype their summer popcorn movies, so you would think that Warner Bros. might have been happy with Alonso Duralde's cover story about "Superman Returns," which gushed, "Superheroes let's face it are totally hot."
