Hat tip No Pasaran!
Guy Fawkes has been banned by council bosses in east London - and replaced with a Bengali folk tale. Tower Hamlets said it wanted to provide an "alternative" theme to celebrate November 5 and the attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Yup, renuncing to one's identity and tradition for the sake of the Holy Diversity is Double-plus good. Too bad it's always one-way, and the ones bending themselves over backward are always the same.
The council has commissioned a £75,000 fireworks display entitled the Emperor and the Tiger, which tells the story of the "Moghul Emperor, the Wise Man and the Guardian of the Jungle". As a mock Bengal tiger paces a giant catwalk, fire will light up a "forest" to the sound of Bangla drummers and dancers.
Around 20,000 people are expected to pack into Hackney's Victoria Park for Sunday night's display - but there will be no mention of the date's enormous significance in British history. The move came under fire from George Galloway and campaigners. Mr Galloway, Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow said: "It beggars belief that this council should organise a Bonfire Night without a bonfire or a Guy." Oh, no I'm agreeing with loathsome one! What's wrong with me?!
John Midgley, spokesman for the Campaign Against Political Correctness, said the council's move would "explode in their faces". He added: "There's a time and a place for everything and November 5 is for Bonfire Night. It's time for common sense and for people to tell bureaucrats that politically correct actions like these undermine our historic occasions and harm community relations."
One third of Tower Hamlets' population of 196,000 is Bengali - about 65,000. But Bengalis dominate the council and its cabinet with 31 of the 51 councillors. Tower Hamlets council insisted they were neither being politically correct nor forgetting the Gunpowder Plot.
Officials said: We did Guy fawkes last year" and insisted it was their tradition to have a different theme each year. In a statement, a spokesman said: "And this differentiates our celebrations from other boroughs and our events are proving to be extremely popular.
"Our sole aim is to stage an exciting event - on the traditional Fireworks Night - that will attract the interest of as many people as possible. Since introducing the themed events four years ago, visitor numbers have increased from 3,000 to a massive 23,000 people at last year's event. Let's judge the event by how much people enjoy themselves on the night."
Three nights of displays will light up the skies of London this weekend. Bonfire Night is Sunday, but many displays have been brought forward to Friday and Saturday - which means a 72-hour bonfire bonanza. Check the comments.
#1
Well, Ima gonna celebrate it here with bonfire and seal bombs, heh. No party poopers here.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/02/2006 15:59 Comments ||
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#2
I have to agree with the Council. It's been four hundred years and the threat of Fawkes, the Pope and even the Jesuits is sufficiently small that they no longer constitute a threat worthy of burning in effigy. Instead I suggest the holiday be brought up to date for Cool Britannia
Remember, remember
July the eleventh,
Train station treason and Plot.
I see no reason
why train bombing treason
should ever be forgot.
Then the kiddies can go from door to door and ask for "Pennies for the Mo."
The evening can end with the torching of Mohammed Sidique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer, Germaine Lindsay, Hasib Hussain, the current Mullah or Imam of contempt and the original Mo together with Any combination of Shemp, Curly and Larry the revelers may chose. Khameni and Ahmedinajihad would be my current candidate for torching. Any child failing to collect Pennies for the Mo should be subject to stoning by the torchers as closet Muzzies.
Final clearance to build the Royal Navy's new aircraft carriers risks slipping further behind schedule amid continuing disagreements between industry and the Ministry of Defence over rising costs. The two sides meet tomorrow to try again to resolve their financial differences after the consortium building the carriers said the price would be around £300m above MoD expectations.
After years of negotiations the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, which includes BAE Systems, VT Group, Thales and MoD officials, should have submitted final price details for the long-delayed project last Thursday. Recent guidance from the MoD has been that the cost of the two vessels would be about £3.5bn, which itself is up from an initial estimate of between £2.8bn-£3bn.
However, the consortium says the carriers cannot be built for less than £3.8bn, but has agreed to work on a incentive scheme that the MoD hopes could reduce the cost to £3.6bn. The consortium partners would share any cost saving. That's $7.2 billion USD
One person linked to the alliance expressed exasperation yesterday on learning that last week's deadline for a final price had been missed. "I just can't believe that. I really thought everything had been sorted out," he said. Clearly a youth with little experience in defence contracting.
Another source suggested that the last-minute hitch was due to concerns that the Treasury will not agree to £3.8bn. "I think that after all this time the Defence department would settle for £3.8bn - but they are not the ones paying for it."
Once the price is approved, the companies can start preparing to construct the carriers and employ staff. The MoD's latest timetable for that to start was December, with the two carriers expected to enter service in 2012 and 2015.
An MoD official said yesterday: "We are making progress on negotiations and we are optimistic that we can finalise negotiations at a price we can afford and industry can deliver."
Construction of the carriers was hailed as a new way of working for the MoD and industry, and an attempt to avoid the large cost overruns that have dogged other major defence projects. Nothing new there. They promise that every time
Lord Drayson, the defence procurement minister, has demanded that industry share more of the risk should the carriers hit problems or run over budget. The defence industry now has to work to fixed prices and pay penalties fees when things go wrong.
The carriers, each weighing 65,000 tons and 280 metres long, will be three times the size of the existing Invincible-class vessels.
Sounds and looks a lot like a Forrestal class carrier. (Even has an E-2 on deck in the romantic artists rendering.) Considering that the current cost of a CVN 21 carrier is $8.1 billion USD, wouldn't it make a lot more sense for the Brits to order two of those instead of getting into bed with the frogs and their CDG trackrecord? Precedent was set with the SSBNs and I can't imagine we'd object to a deal that allows them to share some of the fixed costs. Learn a lesson from Airbus, mates. Get a real carrier for a small bit more. And maybe less by the time they're done.
#1
That's £3.8bn for 2 carriers. That carrier pictured lost out. The Brits are going to build jump jet carriers.
A Nimitz carrier cost $5bn and carries more aircraft than the 2 Brit carriers combined, carries the E2C, nuke powered so has much more room for avgas and stores, has catapults for full fuel/full warload flights.
Posted by: ed ||
11/02/2006 10:12 Comments ||
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#2
Color my face red. But the point still holds, even if they only get Nimitz carriers. Though Norm Schactman estimates the outyear cost of a Nimitz to be higher than a CVN 21. The $5billion is in historic dollars for the GHW Bush.
#3
The basic problem with jump jet carriers is that the planes take off with little fuel and weapons. While adequate for a defensive carrier protecting Atlantic convoys, it will be in serious danger attacking land targets. Those carriers will have no E2C, but short ranged AEW helicopters and will be within range of land based aircraft long before the the carrier's jump jets can attack the land bases. A very scary proposition that gives the British little capability to operate by themselves. They should have gone with CTOL carriers and the F-35C and limited the jump jets to the small carriers.
Posted by: ed ||
11/02/2006 10:54 Comments ||
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#4
What always stopped the Russians cold was that only the US has ever mastered the ability to stabilize one of those big suckers. That is, beyond a certain size, it's like balancing an elephant doing a handstand with one foot on a bowling ball.
Right now, China is discovering the same nightmare, and I wouldn't be surprised if they build a big carrier that doesn't make it out of the harbor before it visits the bottom.
#5
Wow Anonymoose, I never have heard that, but when you look at the ship it makes sense. But given current design technologies I don't understand how center of gravity issues could not be overcome.
#8
remoteman: The Russians basically gave up at anything larger than 2/3rds Nimitz class. Even then they only have one that will float in that size, the other was always too unseaworthy.
Back in the day, they had one that capsized in a still harbor on a clear day, never even making its maiden voyage out of port.
One effort led to a successful small carrier, with planes stored on deck. Unfortunately, the deck was too small for landings, with less than 50% success rates. So they cantilevered a extra section of deck, which did the trick. But then, some bureaucrat said "Extra deck space! Let's add another plane!"
Back to less than 50% successful landings.
Aircraft carriers are as much art as science. Any day now I expect the Chinese to have an awful disaster, because they, like the Russians, just figure they can slap one together.
#9
NS, you gotta also remember lead time in production costs and effectively mass manufacturing. These aircraft carriers (CVFs) are also essentially one off production units hence a higher per unit cost potentially. Also might want to remember none of the US nuke powered aircraft carriers have ever been sold to anyone. I'd suspect we'd rather make a new reef than even give up to Nimitz to the Brits and Aussies.
#10
The fixed costs on the CVN 21 are estimated to be $5 billion for the class. So the first model will be $13 billion. Follow ons will be $8 billion per ship. While each one is customized from going down the learning curve, there are economies. Newport News would love to get as many orders for the class as possible.
We sold the Brits the Trident D-5 and SSBN to go with them. I think that's as close to the family jewels as a CVN, especially as they are already buying the F-35 and getting some sort of source code.
#11
Since they are looking to run Harriers anyway, why not sell them the LHAs or LHDs? The LHAs are scheduled for retirement beginning in 5 years, build 2 more LHDs and retire them early. Then sell them to the Brits, who would then have a Harrier carrier with the built-in amphibious assault capabilities.
#12
Heck if we started a formal replacement building program now, we could have all of the LHAs replaced in about 7 years, with SLEP run on the first two in the next 4 years. That would let us equip the British Navy with 2 Harrier carriers in 4-6 years, the Indian Navy with 2 of the same in 6-9 years, with one left over for Taiwan. And with the SLEP running about $1 billion per ship, we could sell the LHAs to them for $2 billion each, recoup all our major costs and keep our shipbuilders going for another decade.
Scientists warning of climate change disaster are "eco-fundamentalists" who regard any argument as "blasphemy", former chancellor Lord Lawson has said. He warned of "alarmist" predictions and said some countries would "actually benefit from a warmer climate".
This week, economist Sir Nicholas Stern said mankind had to act "urgently" to stop temperature increases.
But Lord Lawson told the Centre for Policy Studies sea level rises should not be "too difficult to live with". He said that, according to Sir Nicholas' predictions, there would be "an additional sea rise of less than a quarter of an inch per century".
The Stern Report suggests that global warming could shrink the global economy by 20%. But taking action now would cost just 1% of global gross domestic product, the 700-page study says. Up to 200 million people could become refugees as their homes are hit by drought or flood, Sir Nicholas, a former chief economist of the World Bank, claims.
Environment Secretary David Miliband said the Queen's Speech would feature a climate bill to establish an independent Carbon Committee to "work with government to reduce emissions over time and across the economy". Tory leader David Cameron has also led calls for action on climate change.
But Lord Lawson, who served as chancellor for six years under Margaret Thatcher, said scientists had a "pre-determined alarmist global narrative", containing "distinctly unconvincing" models for climate change. Some countries would benefit from higher temperatures, as farmers would adapt by growing new crops, he added.
If ocean levels rose, there was a "clear case" for governments spending money on better defences for low-lying areas, such as already happened in the Netherlands. Poorer countries, including Bangladesh, should be given help to achieve this, Lord Lawson said.
The Kyoto agreement, under which many of the world's industrialised countries agreed to reduce carbon emissions, was an "absurd response" to supposed global warming, he said. It would do "virtually nothing" to slow change, as the US had not signed up and developing economies like Brazil, China and India would increase their building of coal-fired power stations. People in rich countries would not be willing to pay higher fuel taxes, and the costs would affect poorer countries unfairly.
One possible solution to global warming could be "geo-engineering", such as "blasting aerosols into the stratosphere, so as to impede the sun's rays", Lord Lawson said. He added: "In primitive societies it was customary for extreme weather events to be explained as punishment from the gods for the sins of the people; and there is no shortage of examples of this theme in the Bible, either - particularly but not exclusively in the Old Testament.
"The main change is that the new priests are scientists (well rewarded with research grants for their pains), rather than clerics of the established religions, and the new religion is eco-fundamentalism."
#1
Were global warming a real problem and it's not, there is a ridiculously simply solution - cover the roofs of buildings with a reflective coating (a common practice here in Oz).
I really should crunch the numbers but it comes down to how much you can reduce solar heating on a watts per sq meter basis times the area over which its reduced, versus the global total of supposed global warming calculated again as watts per sq M.
#2
Global warming is a lot of hot air.
Sure it's happening but we can't stop it. And the planet has heated and cooled many times in history: change is NORMAL.
To stay the same would be unnatural.
We have to evolve and change and move with it, not try to stop it!!!
Anyway, they are ensuring nuclear power gets a ramp up so buy uranium shares, people, it's now inevitable (though I believe not healthy). Paladin are good, as are Summit Resources.
#3
The people that output these scenarios are idjits. Unless there is a sudden change of external and internal conditions, the changes are gradual and adjusted for.
For instance, a warmer climate would mean more evaporation and thus water vapor released as precipitation. In the case of polar regions, that translates to more snow and more deposits on ice sheets. That also would mean higher albedo as the reflective surface would increase.
#4
Sure, you can mock them as 'alarmists', but we will see who is laughing when Earth is overpopulated and uninhabitable.
I've read the Club of Rome reports and The Population Bomb and I know for a fact if we don't take immediate and drastic action that we humans will be utterly and irredeemably screwed by the time the 1980s roll around.
#5
Steve, it's already too late. The world as we knew it ended in 1986, and we are all having a collective delusion, a la Ambrose Bierce's An Incident at Owl Creek Bridge
Guatemala and Venezuela agreed to withdraw from the race for a seat on the UN Security Council and support Panama as a consensus candidate, Ecuador's UN ambassador announced Wednesday. Ambassador Diego Cordovez, who hosted two meetings between the foreign ministers of Guatemala and Venezuela, made the announcement at Ecuador's UN Mission. "The two candidates reached an agreement to step down and they came up with Panama as a consensus candidate," Cordovez said.
He said Guatemalan Foreign Minister Gert Rosenthal and Venezuela's Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro "will present Panama" to the 34 Latin American and Caribbean nations at a meeting on Thursday for their approval.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Aw, too bad but thanks for playing! What do we have for them, Johnny?
Fiji Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase said Thursday that it was business as usual in his Pacific island state and shrugged off threats of violence and bloodshed by the chief of his military forces. 'Security is normal and there is no intention of staging a coup,' he told Radio New Zealand, insisting that his government would introduce the annual budget as scheduled when Parliament met on Friday.
Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes said all was calm in the country and he did not expect the military to try to take over government despite troops taking illegal possession of 600,000 rounds of ammunition from the docks in the capital Suva.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2006 07:40 ||
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The fact that Turkish Premier Tayyip Erdogan may be unable to meet with Pope Benedict XVI when the pontiff visits Turkey should in no way be seen as a snub, a spokesman for the premier told ANSA on Thursday . There have been reports in the Italian and Turkish press that Ergodan would refuse to meet with the pope because of Benedict's recent alleged criticism of Islam . Ahmet Arslan said the premier had previous commitments which conflicted with a possible meeting with the pope, who will be in Turkey from November 28 to December 1 .
The Turkish premier will be in Riga, Latvia, for a NATO summit until the night of November 29 and the next day he must chair a meeting in Ankara of the Supreme Defence Council, which had been scheduled since the start of the year and would last all day, he added. "Any intention of a diplomatic snub of the pope for his statements on Islam is totally out of the question," Arslan said .
Meanwhile, ANSA has been told by another spokesman, who preferred to remain anonymous, that final details still need to be worked out on the pope's schedule and a meeting with Erdogan may still be possible. A statement from the Vatican press office on Thursday said the Holy See had been aware of the Turkish premier's scheduling problems when arranging the pope's visit . According to the Vatican, Erdogan had indicated he would try to find time to meet with the pope, but if this was not possible a deputy premier would stand in for him. Turkey, which is overwhelmingly Muslim, was one of the countries which reacted strongly to Benedict's observations on Islam during a lecture at a German university in September .
The Turkish Premier and leading Islamic clerics sharply criticised the German pontiff and demanded an apology for citing a medieval emperor who criticised Islam . Benedict later said on at least four occasions that he deeply regretted the angry reactions his words had caused, saying the quotation did not reflect his own opinion . The pope was invited to Turkey by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and will visit the capital Ankara, Ephesus and Istanbul.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2006 11:53 ||
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Hundreds of euro bills in Germany have mysteriously disintegrated in the last several months, apparently due to exposure to sulfuric acid. Authorities in Berlin and the Bundesbank confirmed a report in the daily Bild that the state crime offices in the German capital and the southwestern state of Rhineland-Palatinate have opened investigations after a number of bills began self-destructing.
The first case surfaced in June in Berlin when a 20-euro bill crumbled upon contact. Police first suspected a fluke but the number of "broken notes", as investigators have dubbed the bills, continued to rise in August. Bild, which splashed the headline "Acid attack on our money!" on its front page, said that chemists believed the bills may have been sprinkled with a sulfate salt that becomes sulfuric acid when it comes in contact with moisture, such as hand perspiration. The bills then gradually disintegrate.
The Bundesbank said that more than 1,000 bills were affected, mainly found in the north and the east of the country, and ruled out a printing defect. Serial numbers confirm the bills were produced by the Federal Printing Press. "To date we do not have any indication that a crime has been committed," a Berlin police spokesman said, adding that it was possible that an accident led to the contamination of the bills. Investigators had told Bild that they suspected that would-be extortionists were behind the case, aiming to prove they can destroy currency at will.
#6
From a zen POV, the bills as elementals know what's coming (disintegration of EU and uro) and thus they get depressed and desintegrate in anticipation of the changes.
Tony Soprano would be so proud.
Seven murders in five days, with three dead within the space of a few hours: an upsurge in violence in Naples has shocked Italy. The Italian prime minister is considering sending in troops to fight organized crime.
Naples may be famous for its architecture, art and being the traditional home of pizza. But it also has a less enticing claim to fame: the Camorra, a home-grown version of the Sicilian Mafia, ... actually, AFAIK, they're independent regional organizations, Italy has several of them, La Cosa Nostra, the N'dranghtta, the Camorra, the Sacra Corona Unita, plus various albanian criminal clans.
... whose insalubrious business ventures include drugs and arms trafficking, prostitution, extortion and illegal gambling.
Now a bloodier than usual crime wave is forcing the authorities in Rome to try to come up with a long-term solution. A series of armed robberies and murders during the past week has persuaded the Interior Minister Giuliano Amato to send an extra 1,000 police to Naples. The continuing bloodbath has also prompted Prime Minister Romano Prodi to consider sending in troops to quell the violence in and around the city.
It's a quagmire!
Three people fell victim to violent crime on Tuesday alone. A 36-year-old man was killed in his computer games shop about 13 kilometers north of Naples. A few hours later in Torre del Greco, 17 kilometers south of the city, two known members of a local gang were shot while riding a moped. Since Friday the number of murders has risen to seven, with a number of the deaths thought to be linked to organized crime. On Monday evening a suspected gangster called Vincenzo Presigiacomo was shot in the center of the city as he left a bar. Presigiacomo is believed to be a member of a Camorra clan involved in a turf war with a rival clan. According to police estimates, around four thousand inhabitants of Naples and the surrounding region are members of various Camorra 'families.'
Interior Minister Giuliano Amato announced on Tuesday that 1,000 extra police were to be sent to bolster Naples' current force of 13,000 officers, in order to bring the city under control "street by street." In addition, surveillance cameras are to be installed throughout the city starting Nov. 9. Police will also receive more motorbikes so they can move faster through the city's narrow streets and alleys. "We must radically and permanently revisit the way we defend the safety of our citizens," Amato said in a statement.
Assuming first that a socialist state would actually defend its citizens ...
The authorities are also worried about the effect on tourism in a city that draws tens of thousands of visitors every year. Just last month a Canadian was hit by a stray bullet while walking through the city. Even more alarming is the danger of a complete breakdown in law and order, as some locals turn to vigilantism. One recent fatality was a thief shot dead by the owner of a tobacconist that he was trying to rob.
That's not a problem, that's part of the solution ...
In the fight against Neapolitan organized crime, the government is examining all the options, including sending soldiers into the southern Italian city. Prime Minister Romano Prodi promised concerted action to defeat crime. "This time the fight against crime will not be carried out to soothe public opinion for a few days or a few months, but it will be a permanent fight to bring safety to the citizens," Prodi told reporters Tuesday. However, the regional governor Antonio Bassolino is sceptical of the wisdom of sending in the army, rather than extra police.
Soldiers have been used before in the fight against organized crime in Italy. In 1992, troops were deployed in Sicily following the murder of two prominent anti-Mafia prosecutors. The soldiers remained on the island for six years. Quagmire!
#4
Visited Naples last summer. Largest sprawling urban area in Italy and the region. Large regional port city with regular ferry boats from Tunisa and other North African ports. I asked out guide about "urban problems". He immediately said "immigrants who know nothing of Italy". I am figuring we are about to start talking about muslim ghettos... suprisingly no. Eastern Europeans where taking over whole sections of the city, bringing with them their particular brand of crime.
This might be more of a territorial dispute between competing crime organizations- Italian organizations against eastern european syndicates.
Just the view from a curious visitor.
#1
I feel that the ballots should be in english only. So as to understand what the issues are and know what's going on. If voters don't understand english they miss out on alot of the necessary information.
There should be ID checks done, (not just showing a utility bill), and with the age level needing to be 18 or older; being age 18 used to mean that by now you had a high school education. To understand what's going on.
Scary with proper ID's not being necessary, nor being educated, or that it isn't necessary to be able to read!
Many illegals I'm finding, don't know how to read. Having a 2nd or 3rd grade education level seems to be commonplace.
Voting is a right. I don't want to see discrimination, but this country is going to go down the tubes if folks are allowed to vote on issues that don't know what the f*ck is going on.
Posted by: Jan ||
11/02/2006 14:35 Comments ||
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#2
and yes, I feel alot of illegals are going to be able to vote, not needing the proper ID to do so.
Posted by: Jan ||
11/02/2006 14:38 Comments ||
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#3
"A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user."
Posted by: Captain America ||
11/02/2006 0:34 Comments ||
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#2
We salute you, the "Red Bulls" of the 1/34 BCT, Minnesota National Guard
Posted by: Mike ||
11/02/2006 1:09 Comments ||
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#3
Senator Kerry's national ambitions are toast. The tape of his original statement and what it pleased him to term an apology drew loud audience laughter from back to back episodes of Jon Stewart's Daily Show and the Colbert Report on the Comedy Central channel last night.
#5
Think about it. The amateurs in less than 24 hours have had far more impact up the presentation of the war than all the professional PAOs have had this year. They innately understand the medium far better than all of Rummeys generals stacked together.
A big part of the problem is that the 'brass' wants to wear blinders and just focus on tactical and operational aspects of war ignoring even the classes at the War College where they teach Clausewitz - war is an extension of politics. The uniform leadership [outside the traditions of the Marine Corps*] doesn't want to deal with 'selling' the war. Even before Rummey started to outsource functions, the flag officers long ago decided to outsource telling the story to MSM. And we know how successful that was. Anyone remember that during WWII the War Department [pre-DoA] was running their own productions, had companies for combat and propaganda films. When you downsize, guess what got dumped. And they didn't learn from Vietnam. You can win on the battlefield, but if you lose in the homeland, it doesn't make any difference.
However, technology has provide the services a new means to sell the story. Its there and they could use it, but its like trying to get a 19th century general to effectively use mid-twentieth century technology. Theyre oblivious to it. Blogs are just one example. The MI people trying to justify their existence have convinced the Army leadership that theyre a threat to security without understanding that they are also a significant means by which this war has been told without the filter and bias of MSM. The brass doesnt understand the trade off. Lose the war to MSM or maybe suffer some additional casualties. If you lose the war, the saved lives dont mean anything.
Those whove served, do you remember the company clerk. It didnt matter what the Military Occupational Specialty of the soldier was, 11B, 76Y, 21M, etc. If he had the arcane and mystical skill of typing, he became the company clerk. The same goes for those young soldiers out there who can assemble things like this [warning:52MB] then you have the means to communicate the war back home. Its rough, but that is where some technical skill like editing can come in. If Netflixs can send DVDs through the mail and when you can buy 50 blank DVDs for $15, think how those kids could flood their friends and family back home with the story of what is going on. The dramatic, the mundane, the real story without having to rely upon a few over paid pompous producers deciding what the American people get to know or see tonight at six. You have the technology and skills right at hand, but the old farts at the top cant see it. The kids know how to make it work. They actually speak in the language of the neighborhood street back home, they speak in the manner that their peers will listen to. Time to bring back the tradition of the company clerk, find that kid who can do the arcane and mystical skill of assembling such videos and start telling the units stories. Skip the pros and send it directly back home by mass mailing, to friends, family, and [in the case of National Guard and Reserve] the community.
#6
I kin c that sum pepol thank da militerry is full of sTewpuds. That picture is priceless. I guess a bunch of dullards in Iraq dont get Kerrys bland of humor. It must be too far above them.
#7
Procopius 2K,
In reading your post it occurred to me that you really identified a critical problem. During WW2, both the Army & Navy had their own internal press departments. They RELEASED press clips and movie shorts they made. When island invasions occurred with large casualties, no movies showing thousands of US casualties were released. Americans knew the price was heavy, because they would get the telegrams saying " We regret to inform you", but they were not treated to up close and personal shots daily. This changed in Viet Nam. A crucial mistake. This ought to be changed. All MSM and Al-Jizz out of all sensitve areas. In Iraq, this would be entire country. Revert to old system where military supplies information. Easily done by well informed soldiers of today. Get rid of Wolfman Blitzer and Seymour Hersh.
I've seen some incredibly well done video montages of action (and inaction) from Iraq, expertly synchronized to music. These aren't just sky-view videos of airstrikes (feel-good though those may be), but video made by the boots on the ground during combat ops and other activity. Truly impressive - I just wish they could get much wider distribution.
I'll try to dig up some links when I get back home tonight (work firewall issues).
#9
When such information gets through to the home front, it is quite compelling. However, there is a fog of misinformation, distortion and distraction (I'm not referring to the MSM) we have to wade through to get to it. I spend a couple of hours every day reading the net for substantial reports on what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Wider distribution"? We've all got Rantburg! Post your links.
20 million Americans must have seen it all over the Internet, and nothing sums up the nothingness of Kerryism better than those smiling soldiers. After seeing that, no wonder he's offering deer-in-the headlights apologies. This is a man who remembers everything and learns nothing.
Then there was the finger-in-the wind initial Democratic response: their supposedly slight ill breeze suddenly became a Katrina hurricane, and, Presto!, they were all over the airwaves demanding from poor Kerry the apologies that just a few hours ago they thought were not necessary.
As for Kerry how quick the 24-hour metamorphosis from smugness to defiance to purported contriteness! At his earlier blame-the-wing-nuts-and-Rush-Limbaugh press conference, he thought he was a strutting, strong-jawed Napoleonic general leading his troops to rout the evil Bush-Cheney Prussians, and then, alone, suddenly turned around and Mein Gott in Himmel!! his Old Guard was heading for the hills.
Posted by: Mike ||
11/02/2006 17:26 Comments ||
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(CNN) Netcraft, an Internet monitoring company that has tracked Web growth since 1995, says a mammoth milestone was reached during the month of October. "There are now 100 million Web sites with domain names and content on them," said Netcraft's Rich Miller. "Within that, there are some that are busy and updated more often, and that represents the active sites, which are at about 47 or 48 million," he said.
Bloggers, small businesses, and simplicity have combined to create the dramatic growth of sites, much of it just in the past two years. "The bottom line is it's much easier to create a Web site nowadays, and it's much easier to make money with a Web site," said Miller.
Netcraft uses the domain name system to identify Web sites, check how many of them are in a particular location, such as what operating system and Web server software they're running, and then publishes its information in a monthly report. There were just 18,000 Web sites when Netcraft, based in Bath, England, began keeping track in August of 1995. It took until May of 2004 to reach the 50 million milestone; then only 30 more months to hit 100 million, late in the month of October 2006. Netcraft says the United States, Germany, China, South Korea and Japan show the greatest Web site growing spurts.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
wonder what percent is porn, seriously bet its in the 90% area.
Posted by: Shep UK ||
11/02/2006 5:25 Comments ||
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#4
You want to put it that way?
I tried to get Rantburg on a recent trip to our Mobile (Alabama) Public Library, it's banned as porn, and you can't even complain unless you're an "Administrator" of the Library.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/02/2006 19:24 Comments ||
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#5
Well, Redneck Jim, I've gotta admit, between the Rantburg Times-Picayune pics and the "Rangerup.com" girl, I've had lustful thoughts.
Posted by: BA ||
11/02/2006 20:19 Comments ||
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Clambakes, crabcakes, swordfish steaks and even humble fish sticks could be little more than a fond memory in a few decades. If current trends of overfishing and pollution continue, the populations of just about all seafood face collapse by 2048, a team of ecologists and economists warns in a report in Friday's issue of the journal Science. "Whether we looked at tide pools or studies over the entire world's ocean, we saw the same picture emerging. In losing species we lose the productivity and stability of entire ecosystems," said the lead author Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. "I was shocked and disturbed by how consistent these trends are - beyond anything we suspected," Worm said.
While the study focused on the oceans, concerns have been expressed by ecologists about threats to fish in the Great Lakes and other lakes, rivers and freshwaters, too. Worm and an international team spent four years analyzing 32 controlled experiments, other studies from 48 marine protected areas and global catch data from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's database of all fish and invertebrates worldwide from 1950 to 2003. The scientists also looked at a 1,000-year time series for 12 coastal regions, drawing on data from archives, fishery records, sediment cores and archaeological data. "At this point 29 percent of fish and seafood species have collapsed - that is, their catch has declined by 90 percent. It is a very clear trend, and it is accelerating," Worm said. "If the long-term trend continues, all fish and seafood species are projected to collapse within my lifetime - by 2048."
"It looks grim and the projection of the trend into the future looks even grimmer," he said. "But it's not too late to turn this around. It can be done, but it must be done soon. We need a shift from single species management to ecosystem management. It just requires a big chunk of political power will to do it."
The researchers called for socialism new marine reserves, better management to prevent overfishing and tighter controls on pollution. In the 48 areas worldwide that have been protected to improve marine biodiversity, they found, "diversity of species recovered dramatically, and with it the ecosystem's productivity and stability."
While seafood forms a crucial concern in their study, the researchers were analyzing overall biodiversity of the oceans. The more species in the oceans, the better each can handle exploitation. "Even bugs and weeds make clear, measurable contributions to ecosystems," said co-author J. Emmett Duffy of the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences. Do liberals? How about jihadis?
The National Fisheries Institute, a trade association for the seafood industry, does not share the researchers alarm. "Fish stocks naturally fluctuate in population," the institute said in a statement. "By developing new technologies that capture target species more efficiently and result in less impact on other species or the environment, we are helping to ensure our industry does not adversely affect surrounding ecosystems or damage native species.
I actually agree with them 5%. Some species have been overfished. A major improvement would be to establish property rights o the oceans. Of course, these people would never agree to that.
Eight years after it bought the US automaker Chrysler, DaimlerChrysler is believed to be mulling a sale of the loss-making division. "We would be completely thoughtless if we were not preparing an exit strategy," an unidentified member of the DaimlerChrysler board was quoted by the weekly German magazine Der Spiegel as saying. Financial director Bodo Uebber told reporters last week: "We are not ruling out anything."
DaimlerChrysler shares have gained more than five percent in the past week, and closed on Wednesday at 45.69 euros, a gain of 2.21 percent on the day. Third quarter results published last week were underpinned by the German division Mercedes, while Chrysler, which also includes the Dodge and Jeep brands, posted an operating loss of 1.2 billion euros (1.5 billion dollars).
The Chrysler catalogue is comprised in large part of four-wheel drive sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and pick-up trucks but US consumers are beginning to favor cars that consume less gas owing to higher prices at the pump. In October, DaimlerChrysler sales in the United States fell by two percent compared with the same month a year earlier, even though Mercedes-Benz dealers reported their best October ever, the group said Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
It was a stupid acquisition for Daimler from the beginning anyway. What's more, the only way US car manufacturers are going to get their act together is if one of them is allowed to fail, which will tend to put a little fear of God in the remaining two. Might as well be Chrysler.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
11/02/2006 6:55 Comments ||
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#2
Killing one of the big three will do nothing to loosen the death grip of the UAW on the other two. They will continue to choke the auto industry till it looks like the domestic steel industry. That's what unions do.
Now let's think, what is the biggest union in the country and why?
The implications of the experience in steel, autos, and rail should give you pause when you consider the future of your children and thereby the country. That is why I consider the NEA to be a much bigger threat to the continued existence of the U. S. than al-Qaeda or Islam.
But really, it's all just a plot to bust the union. They should go on strike.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2006 7:48 Comments ||
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#4
I used to consult at Chrysler for awhile in the 80s. The only thing they were good at was dashboards. They could make them cheaper, more reliable and more ergometric than anybody on the planet.
Their transaxles that always failed? They didn't have a clue. They had just copied from the rabbit and a couple of others varying the dimensions.. so when it didn't work...well .... well put off until the next meeting..
#5
The Chrysler minivans' interior design was absolutely the most comfortable (for my frame) of any vehicle I have ever experienced. Its handling in high cross winds, in snow, and on slippery roads was superb.
OTOH, it was delivered to me new without a functioning relay for the radiator fan, as I found out when it suddenly overheated on a spring vacation trip to the Great Smokies. The plastic material of the steering wheel began to disintegrate immediately & when I could pull chunks of it off with my fingers, I had it replaced under warranty. The electronic control for the windshield wipers was replaced under warranty, and still never worked. It spent more time in the shop at the dealer for warranty service than all the other new vehicles I had, put together. Two months after the warranty expired, so did the compressor on the A/C, costing $1200 to repair, the repair having only a 12-month warranty. 13 months after that, the replacement A/C compressor also expired, and then the dealer wanted $2,000 to make the same repair he had made 13 months earlier. After doing my own internet research I had the dealer rip out the compressor and replace it with an idler pulley and non-A/C serpentine belt, an option the dealer's repair people never mentioned to me. At trade-in it still looked like new, but the transmission was starting to fail to engage when put in gear, and it was only worth $2,000 at 100,000 miles, depreciated from $26,000 new, 78 months earlier. Had Chrysler put as much effort into reliability as it had into design, I would still be driving one of their minivans. I suppose the company deserves to die.
#6
Any individual can moan about any one car/truck from just about any manufacturer. I turned to Mopar after bad experiences with Ford and GM.
As someone who has owned several Mopar vehicles and has had great success with them, while having had problems with the GM and Ford priducts I've owned, count me as one who would rather see one of the latter two be the one to be streamlined out of existence.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
11/02/2006 18:49 Comments ||
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#7
My Chrysler minivan has 46000 miles in 2 years, no reliability problems at all, handles well in ice/snow/rain and with heavy loads of dogs, show equipment (portable metal dog runs etc.) and/or with a full load of passengers.
My biggest gripes are a) the mini spare tire and where it is carried -- the one time I needed it was on a snowy/wet day and getting it out from under the middle of the car was a bitch. And b) I wish they offered the run-flat tires that Toyota offers on the Sienna.
Posted by: dog fancier ||
11/02/2006 18:57 Comments ||
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#8
Mini spares are a problem waiting to happen. I got a full size spare with my minivan instead of the smaller one, it fit in the space available just fine. Changing any tire in bad weather is a mess unless you have someone else to do it for you.
Everyone's individual experiences vary. The market is the summary of all these experiences.
#9
Fred:
Chrysler actually did go the way of Willys and AMC: got bought out by someone, but continue to produce their products.
Kaiser bought out Willys, mainly for the Jeep.
AMC bought the auto business from Kaiser, mainly for the Jeep.
Chrysler bought out AMC, mainly for the Jeep.
Daimler-Benz bought out Chrysler (for the Jeep??).
As for Studebaker-Packard, they merged with Worthington (in Canada, I think). They were Studbaker-Worthington for a while, but I think went back to just Worthington.
Well, I grew up near Detroit, after all. We get taught this stuff in 4th grade.
It's interesting to note that a few years ago, it was the Chrysler/Dodge line that was making the money, while the Mercedes line was losing money and was having problems with warranty work and development overruns.
I'm still pretty happy with My 300C (bought 1 month after they came out). The sunroof has become problematical recently, but for the rest, I still don't see anything of comparable size, comfort, and performance at a comparable price.
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.
The fact that Turkish Premier Tayyip Erdogan may be unable to meet with Pope Benedict XVI when the pontiff visits Turkey should in no way be seen as a snub, a spokesman for the premier told ANSA on Thursday . There have been reports in the Italian and Turkish press that Ergodan would refuse to meet with the pope because of Benedict's recent alleged criticism of Islam . Ahmet Arslan said the premier had previous commitments which conflicted with a possible meeting with the pope, who will be in Turkey from November 28 to December 1 .
This is just too good.
