Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Secretary-General Anyang Nyongo called for Kenyans in towns around Kenya to gather for three days of protests next week, in a move that it hopes will mimic the Ukrainian revolution that led to the overturning of flawed election results. Just minutes after the plan was announced, Kenya's police commissioner said the rallies would not be allowed.
Leaders of the opposition laid blame for the country's political deadlock in the lap of President Mwai Kibaki's government which says the opposition should bring its complaints to court. Opposition leaders says that the vote count, which has been surrounded by allegations of rigging, was a violation of the constitution and that the courts are in Mr. Kibaki's pocket.
Flanked by opposition presidential candidate Raila Odinga and ODM lawmakers who won parliamentary seats, Nyongo called the vote-rigging and the government's stance a betrayal of the rights of all Kenyans.
"The Kibaki side does not want a just solution," he said. "It is hell-bent on clinging to power regardless of the verdict of the people of Kenya. The Kibaki side wants only to dictate terms that we should follow. There are no compromises and no second thoughts about what they have done. Talks are just an opportunity for them to delay and silence us, while they consolidate themselves in power."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/12/2008 00:00 ||
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U.S. prosecutors disclosed the existence of dozens of audiotapes and videotapes from a probe of five men accused of covering up a clandestine attempt to provide $800,000 to influence the presidential election in Argentina.
When America meddles in the affairs of other nations, it's evil. When socialists do it it's .. different ...
Prosecutors in a court filing catalogued their evidence against the men accused of trying to silence Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson, a Florida businessman allegedly acting as a courier for the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. U.S. authorities say the cash was meant to help fund the campaign of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, elected president of Argentina on Oct. 28, succeeding her husband Nestor.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/12/2008 09:27 ||
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#1
It doesn't read as if the money actually made it to the Kirchners. I wonder where up whose nose it disapeared.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/12/2008 14:35 Comments ||
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Russia has described consultations on the problem of Russian Polish missile shield in Europe as "useful".
Uh oh.
The Russian Foreign Ministry in a statement distributed here today revealed that the consultations held by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kiseljak with Polish Foreign Minister Rodslav Sikorsky and his deputy Vetold Vaschekovski in Warsaw recently focused on discussing the deployment of an American missile shield in Europe.
The statement said that these consultations have contributed to clarify the positions of both sides on this issue and agreed to continue to exchange views in a frank atmosphere before resorting to take final decisions on the deployment of an American missile system in Poland.
The Russian Federation had warned more than once that it would take action against any state permitting the deployment of elements of a US missile system in its territories. Poland and the Czech Republic agreed in principle to deploy U.S. missile shield in their territories despite warnings from Russia.
#1
WORLDNEWS > BBC - NATO WARNED BY RUSSIA'S NEW ENVOY; + TOPIX > PUTIN'S LIKELY SUCCESSOR CALLS FOR REBUILDING OF RUSSIAN NAVY/NAVAL POWER + MEDVEDEV SAYS RUSSIA MUST INCREASE FOOD PRODUCTION.
SPACE WAR > RUSSIA'S ABM WARNIBG PART I.
TOPOLS, Warships, Food, new systems to defeat US GMD - what can go wrong?
When my father was a king
He was a king who knew exactly what he knew,
And his brain was not a thing
Forever swinging to and fro and fro and to.
Shall I, then be like my father
And be willfully unmovable and strong?
Or is it better to be right?...
Or am I right when I believe I may be wrong?
Shall I join with other nations in alliance?
If allies are weak, am I not best alone?
If allies are strong with power to protect me,
Might they not protect me out of all I own?
Is a danger to be trusting one another,
One will seldom want to do what other wishes;
But unless someday somebody trust somebody
There'll be nothing left on earth excepting fishes!
Some say. Other say, "Not so hot." North warmer than average, so maybe south is cooling? Data collected from around the globe indicate that 2007 ranks as the second-warmest year on record, according to a new analysis from climatologists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
A second team of scientists, at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has come up with slightly different results using the same raw data -- suggesting that last year was the fifth-warmest on record -- but the groups reached the same conclusion on where Earth's climate has been headed for the past quarter-century. Taking into account the new data, they said, seven of the eight warmest years on record have occurred since 2001.
NOAA's National Climatic Data Center researchers used the same readings but did not include December in their preliminary assessment, which will be finalized next week. The groups also analyzed the data a bit differently to compensate for phenomena such as the urban heat island effect and gaps in data.
Asked about the agency's findings, NOAA spokesman Scott Smullen said, "Most of the observed increase in global average temperatures in the last 50 years is very likely due to increased human-induced greenhouse gas concentrations, but we cannot yet discern warming trends in the last 10 years with the same resolution." A voice of moderation? Not-so-moderate follows.
Rafe Pomerance, president of the advocacy group Clean Air-Cool Planet, said he expects "the new data will continue to heighten concern around the world. The need for intervention to turn down emissions is more apparent than ever."
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/12/2008 09:53 ||
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#1
but did not include December in their preliminary assessment
hmmmmmm
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/12/2008 11:08 Comments ||
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#2
The second warmest, the fifth warmest, the ninth warmest. 2007 the coldest year of the century.
substantial changes occurring in the suns surface will bring about the next climate change to one of a long lasting cold era
We today confirm the recent announcement by NASA that there are historic and important changes taking place on the suns surface. This will have only one outcome - a new climate change is coming that will bring an extended period of deep cold to the planet. This is not however a unique event for the planet although it is critically important news to this and the next generations. It is but the normal sequence of alternating climate changes that has been going on for thousands of years. Further according to our research, this series of solar cycles are so predictable that they can be used to roughly forecast the next series of climate changes many decades in advance. I have verified the accuracy of these cycles behavior over the last 1,100 years relative to temperatures on Earth, to well over 90%. (emphasis added)
It won't take much for land that is marginally arable now (due to slightly warmer temperatures than in the past 50 or so years) to become useless for food-growing again. And said gore-ball warmenisting idiots will continue to demand that fuel be made of FOOD (corn) even as people begin to starve.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/12/2008 12:02 Comments ||
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#4
Many years ago in the Navy, there was a vacuum gage on the engines condenser stuck at a reading of 31 inches of vacuum (Impossible), I was required to take hourly readings and log them on a record sheet (Measuring overall efficiency)when I reported it I was told to simply log it as 31 inches, they didn't care if it was broken. some six months later someone noticed and tried to nail me for "False reporting", I showed them the gage, told them I had reported it as broken, and showed where I'd logged it as "Broken" (Against the chief's orders, saved my butt)
This whole "Temperature of the Earth" thing looks the same, get the figures you want, not what is "Accurate".
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/12/2008 14:26 Comments ||
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#5
Redneck Jim, in 1996 I was working in a civilian power plant as a maintenance supervisor. We had a PM that required us to change cartridges in a duplex oil filter. The Operations Supervisor refused to let my mechnic change the filter because the differential was still too low. He was a stickler. After we received a refusal over a walkie talkie, my mechanic showed me that the gages were showing a higher pressure downstream of the filter. I wonder sometimes if they ever changed that cartridge.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/12/2008 15:11 Comments ||
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#7
The surface temperature record has many problems and at the resolution we are talking about - 1 or 2 tenths of a degree is essentially useless as a measure of a global effect.
The satellite record is better although not without problems as shown by the fact the 2 main satellite records differ significantly.
Btw, Barb S your link is generally agreed to be fraudulent. They are running some kind of hoax or scam.
Having said that we have seen rapid cooling over recent months. Whether it is short term variability due to the la nina or the start of a long(er) tern trend remains to be seen. Watch the sea ice extent (available at Cryosphere Today), which is a more reliable metric than the surface temperature.
#9
Were these results released by the same "NASA Climate Specialist" who was caught fudging the data not too long ago? I've given up trusting NASA for anything. It's an organization needing a MAJOR overhaul, from top to bottom and back up again.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/12/2008 17:52 Comments ||
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Goerbals Warning.
Not out this direction. Had my fun in December on call watching branches fall and rescuing spun-off vehicles.
Had an interesting conversation with someone close. She brought up the parallels between communist USSR rhetoric and the gw push. It had to do with the 'common people' giving up luxuries and working harder, meanwhile the 'elite' travel about in luxury selling the dream.
It can't be said they haven't been warned a zillion times.
The US is at risk of losing its top-notch triple-A credit rating within a decade unless it takes radical action to curb soaring healthcare and social security spending, Moody's, the credit rating agency, said yesterday.
The warning over the future of the triple-A rating - granted to US government debt since it was first assessed in 1917 - reflects growing concerns over the country's ability to retain its financial and economic supremacy.
It could also put further pressure on candidates from both the Republican and Democratic parties to sharpen their focus on healthcare and pensions in the run-up to November's presidential election.
Most analysts expect future administrations to deal with the costs of healthcare and social security and there is no reflection of any long-term concern about the US's financial health in the value of its debt.
But Moody's warning comes at a time when US confidence in its economic prowess has been challenged by the rising threat of a recession, a weak dollar and the credit crunch.
In its annual report on the US, Moody's signalled increased concern that rapid rises in Medicare and Medicaid - the government-funded healthcare programmes for the old and the poor - would "cause major fiscal pressures" in years to come.
Unlike Moody's previous assessment of US government debt in 2005, yesterday's report specifically links rises in healthcare and social security spending to the credit rating.
"The combination of the medical programmes and social security is the most important threat to the triple-A rating over the long term," it said.
Steven Hess, Moody's lead analyst for the US, told the Financial Times that in order to protect the country's top rating, future administrations would have to rein in healthcare and social security costs.
"If no policy changes are made, in 10 years from now we would have to look very seriously at whether the US is still a triple-A credit," he said.
Mr Hess said any downgrade in the US rating would have serious consequences for the global economy. "The US rating is the anchor of the world's financial system. If you have a downgrade, you have a problem," he said.
Moody's did once threaten to cut the rating of some of the US Treasury's debt when Congress refused to pass the president's budget in the mid-1990s. Other large economies, notably Japan in the 1990s, have had to suffer the symbolic blow of losing their top-notch credit rating.
Last year, David Walker, comptroller general of the US, caused controversy when he compared America's current situation with the dying days of the Roman empire and warned the country was on "a burning platform" of unsustainable policies.
Medicare and Medicaid spending, which has risen sharply over the past few decades and now accounts for about 45 per cent of total federal spending, up from about 25 per cent in 1975, has long been a source of concern.
Last month, Peter Orszag, director of the Congressional Budget Office, which advises Congress on the federal budget, said the issue was "the central fiscal challenge" facing the US.
Most presidential candidates have vowed to reform the healthcare system but many of them, especially on the Democratic side, have focused on extending coverage to the 40m-plus uninsured Americans rather than on cutting costs.
#1
Moody's did once threaten to cut the rating of some of the US Treasury's debt when Congress refused to pass the president's budget in the mid-1990s.
Which resulted in the gutting of Defense and relying upon Madam Halfbright an her diplomacy as a substitute. We all know how well that worked out in the long run. Penny wise, Dollar foolish. How much has the WoT cost so far? Bean counters should be held accountable as well.
#2
Will it be the next Congress or the one after that that starts taxing Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid payments to the top income brackets... and then the next lower income brackets, and then...
#3
The US is at risk of losing its top-notch triple-A credit rating within a decade
WITHIN A DECADE? Bullshit piece if panic-crap.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/12/2008 14:15 Comments ||
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#4
Sounds like a liberal at Moody's wants a tax hike. It's amusing that these guys still rate a lot of asset backed securities (aka toxic waste) AAA. Of course, they get paid by the companies that issue asset backed securities but not by Uncle Sam. I look forward to Moody's getting sued out of existence by the holders of asset backed security when they lose trillions of dollars.
JAKARTA - Indonesias former president Suharto has suffered multiple organ failure and is on a ventilator, doctors said, while the Vice President had been summoned to his bedside to witness the 86-year-olds death.
The doctors said Suhartos brain and other organs failed as his blood pressure fell and he had trouble breathing. He is still in an unstable condition, said Muhammad Munawar, a member of the medical team treating the former general. We cannot say how long he can be kept alive.
"Give us a minute, though we're not sure we can give him one."
Suharto, who ruled Indonesia for more than three decades until he quit in the face of a student-led uprising in 1998, was losing consciousness and having difficulty breathing at 5 p.m (0800 GMT). on Friday, according to a statement released at 8.30 p.m. by Pertamina hospital in Jakarta where he is being treated.
Indonesias Vice President Jusuf Kalla had arrived at the hospital in order to be a witness at the former generals death, said a source in Kallas office who did not want to be named. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is currently in Malaysia. Family members had earlier gathered at his bedside, witnesses said.
Suharto was taken to Pertamina hospital a week ago suffering from anaemia and low blood pressure due to heart, lung and kidney problems. His health worsened on Friday as doctors said he appeared to have a lung infection. The former general has been critically ill for several days, receiving blood transfusions and undergoing haemodialysis to drain excess fluid from his body.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/12/2008 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
U.S. prosecutors disclosed the existence of dozens of audiotapes and videotapes from a probe of five men accused of covering up a clandestine attempt to provide $800,000 to influence the presidential election in Argentina. 
Data collected from around the globe indicate that 2007 ranks as the second-warmest year on record, according to a new analysis from climatologists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
JAKARTA - Indonesias former president Suharto has suffered multiple organ failure and is on a ventilator, doctors said, while the Vice President had been summoned to his bedside to witness the 86-year-olds death.
