among this year's strains of human flu. It would be a mistake to assume the stuff would take care of a human-to-human variant of bird flu if a pandemic does break out.
#1
I have long been dubious about the value of Tamiflu and similar drugs.
Simply put, influenzas consist of an H factor, which is how they enter cells, and an N factor, which is how they leave cells. (Thus H5N1 for avian flu.)
Tamiflu works by inhibiting the N factor, preventing the virus from breaking out of infected cells to infect other cells. But in a manner of speaking, this is closing the barn door after the horse has left.
To use a military analogy, it is like a static defense.
Instead of using Tamiflu as the first line of defense, it should be the last ditch method used, once several others have been overwhelmed.
To begin with, a defense in depth is always the best approach to an attack. In the case of influenza:
1) Vaccination, if possible. Even if they cannot make a vaccine for the exact H5N1 variant in quantity and time, which they can't, a generic H5N1-type vaccine could provide *some* protection, or reduce severity.
2) Avoidance of vectors and contamination. The virus must get from the infected to the uninfected in a short period of time, or else it dies out. Influenza acts something like a wildfire, and if intelligently blocked, it will burn itself out.
3) Prophylaxis and sanitation. Either blocking the virus with things like gloves, masks, and clear eyeglasses to absorb or stop the large droplets the virus is carried in; and using antiseptics to kill it. The most important of these is to use hand sanitizer when out in public during an epidemic. (Like right now, when much of the US is in the ordinary flu season.)
4) Adhesion inhibitors. There are some chemicals that can prevent viruses from sticking to cells they try to infect. If they cannot stick to them, then they cannot infect them with their H factor. One such chemical is common cranberry juice, which is known to prevent adhesion for some viruses, but it is not known if it would also do so for influenza. The emphasis here is the upper respiratory tract and sinuses.
5) Reproduction inhibitors. Several metals are known to inhibit the reproduction of both bacteria and viruses. These include zinc, silver, sodium, potassium, magnesium, and others. By delaying the progress of the infection, it gives the immune system more time to react. Again, the emphasis is in the upper respiratory tract and sinuses.
6) After all of this, comes Tamiflu and related N factor inhibitors.
7) The last form of defense, which is highly dangerous, is to suppress the immune system, to prevent the lethal "cytokine storm" effect, an overreaction of the immune system to the flu which is lethal. The fight happens in the lungs, and destroys them in the process. But many of the immune system suppressants are very toxic.
#2
I've always had doubts about permitting medicines in countries that we know are going to be cut and made less effective against the disease by middlemen and officials in corrupt cultures. The usual process of nature is to evolve a strain that negates the full strength drug. You kill it. You don't nurture it.
#3
The effectiveness of Tamiflu and other neuraminidase inhibitors (the N) has been questioned for a while, but they're the best we have.
As Moose notes, they work by inhibiting the spread of the virus. So one needs to start therapy the first day you have flu symptoms, or else the virus has replicated sufficiently that the drug is clinically ineffective.
If we get into a major bird flu epidemic with human-to-human transmission, we'll need a huge supply of the drug and we'll all need to take it RIGHT NOW to slow the epidemic. I don't think our public health system can move the current stockpiles quick enough, and those stockpiles are some limited.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/03/2008 14:42 Comments ||
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#4
Dr. Steve, what is the shelf life of Tamiflu? I.e. what limitations are there re: stocking ahead of time?
#6
Not sure of shelf life. If it's like other oral meds, 6 - 12 months.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/03/2008 19:25 Comments ||
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#7
Steve White: I've been wondering why there isn't a stampede to identify adhesion and reproduction inhibitors.
The FDA has identified the patented form of zinc in Cold-Eeze lozenges, which unlike typical zinc supplements is readily uptaken into the mucous membranes, as "reducing severity and duration" of URT infections. And that is just one metal, out of several with strong possibilities.
And ordinary cranberry juice (and other berry juices) have been shown to significantly interfere with several types of viruses adhering to cells in the bladder and bowels.
Between these two, you would think that there would be intense research to find a way to block infection in the first place. An inexpensive prophylaxis to help keep people from getting infected, with Tamiflu as just the icing on the cake in case they don't stop it all.
Especially since H5N1 needs just a fraction of the amount of pathogen of typical influenza to cause infection.
THE tragedy of Kenyas violence was etched on the face of James Kamau, a softly spoken 43-year-old biology teacher, as he steeled himself to search Nakuru city mortuary for his murdered brother-in-law this weekend. We are glimpsing an enormity of evil in Kenya larger than any of us imagined, he said. Look how they have destroyed our people.
He flinched in a moment of shock as he spotted a familiar pair of brown shoes on the feet of a man burnt beyond recognition who was lying on the floor. It is Eliud, he said, turning away in sorrow and comforting his sister.
At least Eliud, 40, could now be buried. Kamau had feared when he could not find him that his brother-in-law had been thrown - like other victims of the violence - into the 1,600ft-deep crater of the dormant Menengai volcano five miles from the city centre. There he would have been devoured by wild animals.
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Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
This is almost exactly how the Rwanda genocide got started. So I guess the only thing left to do is for the rest of the world to sit around with their thumbs up their asses for a few months and watch. I have no doubt Reuters will be there to take pictures though.
#2
No, Jim. The rest of the world can provide the murderers with weapons, and they can support the murderers when they eventually flee. That's what happened with the Hutu in Rwanda.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
02/03/2008 10:39 Comments ||
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#3
Chaos reigned in and around the town, Kenyas fourth largest, as tribal gangs fought with knives, pangas, stones and poisoned arrows.
Chadian rebels seized the countrys capital on Saturday after intense fighting with government forces, while President Idriss Deby Itno remained holed up in the presidential palace, a military source said. The whole of the city is in the hands of the rebels. Its down to mopping-up operations, according to the military source. France sent an extra 150 troops to the central African country and prepared to evacuate its citizens, while French Defence Minister Herve Morin said rebels were battling government forces as they closed in on the presidential palace.
Despite the reports, Chads foreign minister told AFP that Deby was at the presidency and the situation was under control in the city. I spoke with the presidency 10 minutes ago and they assured me that the situation (was under) control, Amad Allam-Mi said in Addis Ababa, where he was attending an African Union summit, shortly before 1030 GMT.
Heavy fighting between some 2,000 rebels opposed to Deby and government forces had raged in the capital on Saturday, a French army source said. The rebels had entered the capital in trucks armed with machine guns, rocket launchers and Kalashnikov assault rifles.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
So whom supports the rebels.
Also, when do they become the government and the old one the rebels?
#2
N'Djamena, then known as Fort Lamy, was the jumping off point for Free French General Jacques LeClerc's epic 1940 campaign to combine his forces with the allies in the Western Desert.
His command, recruited from colonial troops and recent refugees, first pushed north through what is now Chad for over 1000 miles, captured the Italian outpost of Khufra in southern Libya, then crossed the Sahara to link up with the British in Egypt.
LeClerc commanded French troops during the liberation of Paris and later the drive into Germany, had traitors shot out of hand, and fought the Vietminh in Indochina. He died in a plane crash in 1947.
Oh how I pine for a return to the good old days! Maybe we can get a revival of that time honored custom here.
Posted by: Graviling Dark Lord of the Welsh1001 ||
02/03/2008 7:09 Comments ||
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#4
3dc,
The rebels are supported by Bashir's regime in Sudan. If you remember Chad agreed to be the staging area for UN force to stop the Genocide in Darfur. Bad news for Sudan if that were to happen. Remember Darfur fighters are muslim as well and have blood fueds if they get any kind of an advantage they will look to settle old scores. These forces are known as the Chadian Taliban supported by Sudan, Saudi, Syria and Iran. Deby is Muslim but not the right kind/tribe. Plus pro-French.
They must have had a dozen ceasefires in Liberia as Chuck Taylor was ushered out the door. My guess would be that they're trying to find someplace for Iblis to make a somewhat graceful exit.
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has persuaded Chadian rebels to stop fighting in Chad's capital, Libya's official news agency reported Saturday. The agency JANA said Gadhafi contacted the chief of the biggest rebel force, former diplomat Mahamat Nouri, and persuaded him to cease hostilities. The African Union on Saturday appointed Gadhafi a mediator in the crisis in the oil-rich Central African nation.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2008 00:00 ||
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He said: "Parental choice in the market leads to segregation."
"Consumer choice in housing leads to segregation."
"Consumer choice in shopping leads to segregation."
"Consumer choice in marriage leads to segregation."
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
02/03/2008 10:26 Comments ||
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#6
We must choose for you!
You are not allowed choice, only I can choose properly.
/power trip.
The middle classes pay all the taxes. Most of which are now used to punish and hurt them. I don't think were too far away from some tipping point. Especially with the economy farked!
MOSCOW Russias arms industry is suffering a near collapse in exports to China as military top brass agonize over which technology the neighboring state should be allowed, a Russian daily reported Jan. 29.
That's a good conversation to have, though I think it need be a short one.
The independent newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta said that Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov would visit China to try to resolve problems in this key relationship before President Vladimir Putins final term ends in May.
From a situation where 40 percent of Russian earnings from arms exports came from China, recently exports to China of our military equipment and weapons have dropped almost to zero, the paper said.
One problem is the recent breakdown of a contract to supply transport and refueling aircraft after problems at an Uzbek contractor, the paper said.
But the main issue is indecision over which technology can safely be sold to China, as well as Beijings desire to receive licenses to do the work itself, the paper said, citing a senior officer overseeing the arms industry, Mikhail Dmitriyev.
And their habit of 'sharing' designs and information with other unsavory clients.
Russias arms export agency declined to comment on the report when contacted by AFP, as did the defense ministry.
The paper said Moscows willingness to deliver cutting-edge technology to India, another major importer of Russian weapons, had embittered the Chinese generals, the paper said.
Russia has sought close military ties with China, particularly through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, while the two countries have often aligned their policies as permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/03/2008 09:31 ||
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#2
Puty can join all the copyright and patent holders from the West in a good cry about it. Here's an idea, why not go to the WTO and get a finding against them? ROTFL.
#5
CHINESE MIL FORUM > TAIPEITIMES - Legislation is being introduced to the US Congress [Foreign Affairs Cmte]to reinforce US-TAIWAN ties + suppor Taiwan's Presidential election, plus praise Taiwan's democracy and recent ventures.
#6
ION, TOPIX > NORTH KOREA STILL GETTING MISSLE PARTS FROM THE OUTSIDE. NOKORS are considered self-sufficient as to missles - can effec strike all of SK plus most of Japan, but allegedly still lack the ability to mount a warhead atop a missle??? + US ENVOY: NO FINAL NUCLEAR DECLARATION FROM NORTH KOREA.
*DEFENSE NEWS > TAIWAN ACCIDENTALLY REVEALS NEW MISSLE. HF-3 LR ANTI-SHIP Missles reportedly capable of hitting ships near to China's coasts, + possibly INLAND TARGETS?
French President Nicolas Sarkozy married former model Carla Bruni on Saturday at the Elysee Palace, according to the official who performed the ceremony. "The bride wore white, she was ravishing, as usual," Francois Lebel, mayor of Paris' eighth arrondissement, or neighborhood, told Europe-1 radio. "The groom wasn't bad either."
Sarkozy, 53, and Bruni, 40, were married in the presence of close family and friends, Lebel said, calling the ceremony "a moment of family intimacy for the young newlyweds, of great simplicity and apparently a lot of affection between the spouses. "I wished them a lot of happiness," he said.
Under French law, couples must tie the knot before a mayor to make their union official.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#3
He also musta got somethin that wimmin pine for...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/03/2008 9:07 Comments ||
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#4
Is Nicolas on the list?
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
02/03/2008 9:17 Comments ||
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#5
See Bill. First you get the office then divorce the wife and then get the hottie who is more interested in you than power. No interns, no investigations, no dragging the whole country through perverse perjury circuses. Of course you'd lose the clients at NOW, but really, do you really believe they're worth all those votes your Donks threw away doing it the sleazy way?
Just remember this when you say "staying away is better if McCain is the GOP nominee". This is Socialism writ large and in plain view by someone who knows better than you how to spend your money
Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday she might be willing to have workers' wages garnisheed if they refuse to buy health insurance to achieve coverage for all Americans.
The New York senator has criticized presidential rival Barack Obama for pushing a health plan that would not require universal coverage. Clinton has not always specified the enforcement measures she would embrace, but when pressed during a television interview, she said: "I think there are a number of mechanisms" that are possible, including "going after people's wages, automatic enrollment." "for their own good!"
Clinton said such measures would apply only to workers who can afford health coverage but refuse to buy it, which puts undue pressure on hospitals and emergency rooms. Under her plan, she said, health care "will be affordable for everyone" because she would limit premium payments "to a low percent of your income." "low percent" is so malleable in a Clinton's hands
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/03/2008 13:00 ||
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#1
sorry mods - should've been Pg 3
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/03/2008 13:07 Comments ||
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#2
"From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs."
#5
A simpler solution is for the state to confiscate all wages and give back portion based on how much you deserve and whether you will spend it wisely.
#6
Maybe so, but the Democrats have already elected her President, Media be damned. Voting be damned.
They think they can just declare her "KING" and it will happen, that scares me badly.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/03/2008 14:03 Comments ||
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#7
It bears repeating. My modified version of Moore's Law - Hillary Clinton shows her true Marxist bona fides every six weeks.
#12
Hillary says a lot of things. Voters really ought to pay more attention to what she is saying. They might find themselves living in a Marxist country if they are not careful. The American Conservative Union rates Hillary and Obama around 8-10 percent based on voting record. McCain is rated around 65-80 percent depending upon whether you are talking about 2006 or 2005. He made a large blunder linking up with Kennedy on the Immigration bill. Hopefully, he has seen the light.
#13
FOXNEWS > O'REILLY [paraph] > "ARNOLD CARE" failed in California becuz the CA STATE GOVT couldn't afford it, and most CA voters don't want to pay more = higher taxes, ESPEC FOR ILLEGALS.
#14
"Living in a MARXIST country" > Again, FREREPUBLIC Poster - WHY SHOULD RUSSIA-CHINA WANT TO ATTACK A SOCIALIST AMERICA???
9-11/WOT > PCorrectness-Deniability > ITS NOT SOCIALISM, GOVERNMENTISM, the WELFARE-NANNY STATE, .......or even EMPIRE, etc. ITS "NATIONAL SECURITY", PUBLIC SAFETY, DEFENSE OF AMERICA + DEMOCRACY-LIBERTIES [Socialist-Govtist?], etc.
*Lest we fergit, FASCISM = RIGHTIST SOCIALISM-GOVTISM = relabeled as LIMITED LEFTISM-SOCIALISM, LIMITED COMMUNISM, etc.
AMONG OTHER PREMISES/THINGYS, YEAR 2008 > WILL BE THE YEAR OF DECISION AS TO WHETHER AMERICA REMAINS A TRADITIONAL CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC = REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY; or else CONTINS ON THE PATH TO NATIONA-GLOBAL SOCIAL + GOVT CENTRALISM, traditional Constitutional Federalism + SEPARATION OF POWERS; versus anti-/non-Constitutional, anti/non-Traditional CENTRALISM + UNITARIANISM. etc.
And now you know, VIRGINIA, why SANTA CLAUSE says STATUS QUO [Nationalist] = EMPIRE [Globalist].
#15
D *** NG IT, THE AMER VOTERS ARE NOT UNDERSTANDING OR COMPREHENDING THE INFORMATION WE DIDN'T TELL THEM = REFUSED TO TELL THEM - you know, Leadership, Ethics, Morality, Family Values, ....................................@!
Ergo, the problem is the INTERNET + FREE SPEECH +....!
Chicago federal Judge Mark Filip, slated to be the No. 2 official at the Justice Department, is caught in a standoff between Senate Democrats and the Bush administration, putting his nomination on hold. And he can thank one of his home-state senators, Dick Durbin, for it.
The bad blood between the Senate and the Justice Department has been brewing since the Democrats gained control of the chamber after the 2006 elections. After that, conflicts were perhaps inevitable between the administration and Senate committees eager to probe the origins of controversial anti-terror policies on interrogation and eavesdropping, among other issues.
It has left Filip caught in the middle of a classic war between the branches of government. He was tabbed by new Atty. Gen. Michael Mukasey to serve as the deputy attorney general.
Late Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to confirm Filip and send his nomination to the floor for a vote, where he is expected to encounter little opposition. But before that happens, Durbin, the majority whip, wants some answers from the Justice Department, and under Senate rules, he can block the vote until he gets them. Durbin's office said the senator holds no animus toward Filip.
Filip's nomination has been hamstrung from the start by Mukasey's refusal to declare the interrogation technique known as waterboarding as torture under U.S. law. During his Senate confirmation hearing last October, Mukasey said he couldn't deliver a legal judgment on the practice, a technique that makes a prisoner believe he is in imminent danger of drowning, because he hadn't been briefed on it.
In turn, during his hearing, Filip demurred on the same question. Durbin, who had backed Filip's nomination, said that answer presented him with "a moral dilemma."
The moral dilemma isn't waterboarding: we did it exactly three times in the past, we don't do it anymore, and we're not planning on doing it again.
No, the moral dilemma is whether he's going to screw a decent guy in his quest to attack Bush at every turn. Which way will the Senator go? I think I know.
Mukasey, however, again punted on waterboarding Wednesday, telling senators that because the CIA was no longer authorized to employ the practice, an inquiry wasn't appropriate.
#1
Senator Turban. Another wart on the asshole of the body politic...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/03/2008 9:03 Comments ||
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He is Sen. Turban. One of the original supporters of Barry Hussein. Lil' Dickie Durbin is about the biggest Dem embarassment in the Senate behind Fat Ted. Oh wait, I forget Kerry and Boxer, and Feinstein, and McCain(honorary Dem), and Leiberman, and, and, .......well, you know.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I'd expect Obama to lead his own state, just like Miz Hill is leading in NY.
In a flashback to the 2000 general 'lection, if Gore had won his home state of Tennessee, the Florida count would have been irrelevant. I say you can't be Prez if your own folk don't support you.
Today's WNBC/Marist poll finds both Hillary Clinton and John McCain with double-digit leads over their opponents in the Feb. 5 New York primaries. Clinton crossed the 50 percent mark, with 54 percent of likely Democratic voters, including leaners, saying they will vote for her. Barack Obama gets 398 percent, and 8 percent are undecided. Seventy-eight percent of Democrats said they strongly support their candidate, and 79 percent of Clinton's backers are strongly committed to her, compared to 76 percent of Obama's supporters.
On the GOP side, John McCain is leading Mitt Romney among Republicans likely to vote Tuesday, including leaners, 61-24. Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul are in the single digits. A majority of New York Republicans, 51 percent, think Rudy Giuliani's endorsement of McCain helps the Arizona senator. Three in 10 said they don't care that The Times has endorsed McCain, but 42 percent said the paper's backing makes them less likely to support him.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Obama gets 398%!! Did the dead from Chicago, St Louis, and the homeless from Seattle vote?
all of the polls have been way off and then even after they correct just before the election, have almost always been wrong. Paying attention to them is becoming foolhardy.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
$19 million, just for one week of the primary, to win a job that pays $400,000 a year. In fact OpenSecrets.org is reporting that she has spent $77,704,487 so far.
#4
I can't decide whether to ask for a DemoncRat ballot and vote for Obambam, just to screw over Billary, or to ask for a Republican ballot and vote for Fred, just to send a message to the trunks.
Any suggestions or (usable) advice?
(In Virginia, we don't need to register as a particular party adherent, just be registered to vote. Can ask for either Dem or Rep ballot in the primary, but not both.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/03/2008 10:26 Comments ||
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#5
commenter at AOSHQ:
"I'd vote for Obama if he changed his first name to Al"
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/03/2008 11:04 Comments ||
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#6
You're not alone in that quandry, Barbara. I donated a chunk of $$ to Fred. But at this point, and this is JMHO and I know that others here may come down quite differently, but at this point my own choice is to support Romney. He's not perfect but he has some strong points IMO:
He understands how to reform a bureaucracy. We've seen how Bush has been sabotaged again and again by the permanent Beltway crowd. Romney has been successful in dealing with similar issues in the business world. I have a friend who worked in a business he did a turnaround on. Friend was prepared to hate the guy's guts, ended up a huge admirer. DC's not a totally identical problem, but there are important similarities. McCain and, I think, Fred wouldn't stand a chance of actually gaining power over the entrenched agency staffs.
Romney also understands how the economy works, which neither McCain nor the Dems show any evidence of whatsoever. We're going to have to pay for this expensive war including a long stretch ahead of us and I just don't think we can afford to make a lot of mistakes economically over the next few years.
BTW - as a businessman Romney will be pragmatic, not ideological. From my own time in business, and to paraphrase Rummy: you do business in the market you have, with the company (or national economy) you have. Improve things over time, but if you don't compete with what you've got there is no next time to do right. I don't see that as a sell-out, just as good business sense.
Romney can negotiate internationally. Again, per my friend's experience, he does quite well despite (really because of) the surface impression of not aggressively defending his interests.
I personally see McCain not only as unpalatable to me as the wife of a career military officer but also as extremely vulnerable in the general election. It would be so very easy to pull up all the scandals he's been involved in and (accurately) paint him as a tired old poster child for everything wrong about Washington. His nomination would hand the presidency to Obama or even Hillary I think, unless we suffer a major attack between now and November.
Billary is/are corrupt to the core and appear to have been bought by foreign countries from China to the Saudis to a dismaying degree. Obama is worse - a strongly left-wing ideologue with ties to Islamists and white-hating black leaders as well as to the Ill. machine and now to Teddy Kennedy. I truly fear that if he is elected we will not be able to undo the damage he + a Dem congress would do. Think of treaties that basically dissolve our borders, cutting Israel off from aid and support, forbidding the FBI from wiretapping mosque leaders here no matter what reasonable suspicion exists that they are supporting/funding extremists .....
So for me it comes down to Romney. I don't think we have the luxury of voting just to signal the Trunks that they have drifted leftward too far.
Were we not facing a really serious global collapse of Western civilization and will I might see things differently. I donated a chunk of $$ to Fred. But my own take is that we are indeed at war for our civilization's survival. Countries that should be our allies in this war are committing cultural and demograqphic suicide. Of the candidates, Romney has the best chance of pulling us together and taking us in the right direction I think.
I'm not sanguine about that happening, just think he's the best option in front of us.
#7
One other thing I like about Romney, or actually 2:
First, he is the only candidate who got where he is mostly on his own smarts and energy. I know his father was CEO of GM and then Gov. of Michigan. But that did little for him at Bain, other than to open doors initially. I interviewed at Bain years ago & know their corporate culture ... it's different from a place like McKinsey which loves consultants whose daddies bring business their way. And he got elected in Mass. based on his huge success at Bain and his impact while in business on the high tech corridor around Boston.
Second, I'm pretty impressed by the people Romney has quietly assembled on his team. Like Liz Cheney for foreign affairs and some top counterjihad people.
And third, I'd really like a mature adult with a stable family life in the WH. No affairs, no tantrums, no dual-presidency. Not my first criteria but it does influence how I feel.
#11
I'm with you most of the way, lotp. But two big concerns for me about Mitt --
1) if he's that smart and organized, and spent all that money, why the hell can't he catch fire and win some big primaries? It's like the dog food joke: CEO of the dog food company doesn't understand why sales are down, since they use the best ingredients, have the best packaging, marketing, advertising, and shelf space. The answer: dogs don't like what he's selling.
Romney strikes me like that. Great ingredients, great packaging, but he can't close the sale.
2) does he have a core? When Mac went after him in the last debate, that was time for Mitt to push back, publicly and maybe with a little temper. Instead he just took it. I don't want a president for the next four years who gives the impression of 'not aggressively defending our interests'. I want a president that will push back, both quietly and loudly, whatever the situation requires.
I vote in Illinois, and I'm very likely to vote Mitt. But I don't think he's going to make it, and gives me considerable heartburn as I'm forced to vote Mac over either Shrillary or 'Bamer.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/03/2008 15:20 Comments ||
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#12
I don't have definitive answer Steve. I think it's partly the persona of maintaining a polite exterior which he's had forever I think.
Re: core - yes, I think he does have a core and it includes some deep personal values he holds himself accountable to. I also think he really really detests the nastiness McCain is spewing out. Like Fred, he does not want to play that game.
And he may be right from a political perspective to avoid it. Obama has a lot of support from people who are sick of the venom in DC and who are investing (what I think is dangerously misguided) hope that He will Be Different. McCain on the other hand is gleefully embracing venom, as he has all his life whenever he meets obstacles or disagreement.
Mitt's challenge is to be the adult in the campaign without playing McCain's poisonous attack game, while still getting a message out.
He's begun to push back in his ads and interviews. Like his response to Hillary's threat to have the federal government impose a legal freeze on adjustable mortage rates: "I don't know if that even goes on in Russia today." It's an effective critique.
The MSM have been giving McCain a huge amount of free coverage and promotion. They WANT him to be the nominee.
Think about that for a while .....
And they have downplayed or simply ignored a lot of what Mitt has said and done in the race so far. We'll see if he gets his message out via ads sufficiently to make a difference on Tuesday.
I honestly don't know what I'll do re: voting if McCain is the nominee. Forget about policies: it's a deep deep character issue for me and a real repugnance re: the way he has been leveraging an entire career out of his POW experience over 30 years ago. The final straw for me was McCain's "leadership out of patriotism vs. management for profit" bit. There's lots and lots of evidence of sleaze on McCain's part since the 70s -- and for the son of an oil heiress whose money sent him to expensive private schools, and the husband of a business heiress whose money paid for his first successful political campaigns to play that anti-profit, anti-businessman card is clear evidence that he himself has no dependable moral core. Add to it the fact that he personalizes any disagreement on issues into personal enmity and I think he'd be a dangerous and probably disastrous president.
But I doubt he'd get elected unless the Islamists did something really stupid. Because even a political novice like I am could press his buttons with a couple town hall questions and have him blow his cover in 45 seconds. The Dem pros won't even need that long to shred him and send people rushing into Obama's arms.
#13
Some GUAM LOCALS are claiming PATRIOTS by 20-30 points.
D *** NG IT, BOYZ, SUPERBOWL SEXY/PRETTY CHEERLEADER PIC THREADS AREN'T GONNA START THEMSELVES. But, since I don't have any said pics I'll have to search the Net.
#2
Wouldn't it be outstanding if swillary and mcamnesty (the establishment elites' candidates) both lost in the primaries? They'd be even more insufferable than jimmuh telling everyone how they'd do it if they had won...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/03/2008 12:46 Comments ||
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#3
Again with the Romneyism. Let's not play this here lotp. This is not a political forum. I do not like this Steve. The mods should not be playing politics on the Burg.
#4
Sorry, Elvis, but the WOT has a political angle.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/03/2008 17:03 Comments ||
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#5
Elvis, not trying to push my opinions on anyone. I did respond to Barb S's request for comments in the other thread. Others are more than welcome to argue against or for whomever.
#6
Elvis: I hear you. It's a presidential election with important WoT implications. Just as in 2004, lots of us have opinions and we're pro'ly going to express them. Makes a big difference to what we do in Iraq, Afghanistan and a dozen other places over the next four years.
Our political coverage isn't much different today than last time. Mods, regulars and occasionals will be debating the issues throughout the year, alwaysusually sometimes with emphasis on the WoT.
We mods will generally let it go in comments, but we'll be cautious in posts. We will generally NOT be posting opinion pieces that are 'inside baseball' or about the mechanics of the election. We won't be posting the ins-and-outs of the election. The posts will either be WoT-related, or they'll be brief ones (like this one) with room for comment.
But in comments people are going to say what they wish, and we're not going to impede that.
Hope this helps. All other usual mod rules apply.
AoS
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/03/2008 20:05 Comments ||
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Another Middle East undersea Internet cable has been damaged, adding to disruption in Indian online services caused when several lines were cut earlier this week, a cable operating firm said Saturday.
The Falcon cable was cut 56 kilometres (35 miles) from Dubai, between Oman and the United Arab Emirates, according to its owner FLAG Telecom, part of India's Reliance Communications.
The company said on its website that a repair ship had been notified and was expected to arrive at the site in the next few days.
The cause of the latest cable damage was not immediately known.
Flag Telecom owns another undersea cable which was damaged off Egypt on Wednesday in the Mediterranean. Indian media reports have attributed that damage to a ship's anchor which dropped on the cable.
On the same day in Kuwait, the government reported two cables damaged by "weather conditions and maritime traffic."
The cable damage has left India's vital outsourcing industry grappling with major communications disruptions and businesses saying they could take up to two weeks to return to normal.
It has also disrupted Internet service across the Middle East and other parts of South Asia.
A repair ship was expected to arrive by next Tuesday to restore the FLAG Telecom cable that was damaged off Egypt, the company said.
Smaller Indian firms will be harder hit as they depend on a single service provider, said R.S Perhar, secretary of the Internet Service Providers' Association of India (ISPAI).
"But traffic has already started moving after being re-routed," Perhar said.
Around 90 percent of the services were expected to be restored by Sunday, the ISPAI said.
India's 11-billion-dollar outsourcing industry is made up of 1,250 firms that deliver services ranging from answering customer queries to processing credit card and mortgage applications.
The industry employs 700,000 people, serving clients mainly in the United States and Europe that sought to cut costs by farming out work to the country.
#2
We've been hitting Iran's international banking links pretty hard. Maybe Imanutjob went looking for a little internet back door action (banking, that is) and somebody is taking it out.
Posted by: Who knows? ||
02/03/2008 19:49 Comments ||
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#3
India may have an Internet problem, but check the connectivity status of another country in the region.
#4
#2. Is someone taking out Iran's surreptitious banking action? Could be. But I bet these "accidents" are playing hell with the service desks in India.
#4
See also ASIA TIMES > RUSSIAN TURBULENCE FOR INDIAN AIRBASE [Tajikistan], Russ unhappy wid India over latter's new, closer MILPOL RELATIONS with US-FRANCE.
St. Paul, Minn. Gov. Pawlenty is calling for repeal of Minnesota's moratorium on new nuclear power plants. It's part of his preliminary action plan on climate change. He also wants to reduce red tape for renewable energy projects. His proposals are included in a report sent to the legislature Friday.
The report is required by the law that set up the Minnesota Climate Change Advisory Group. That stakeholder group has been meeting for nearly a year.
Some of Pawlenty's proposals follow the advisory group's recommendations; others deviate.
Edward Garvey, Director of the new Office of Energy Security and MPCA assistant commissioner David Thornton participated in the advisory group's deliberations, and they presented the governor's plan. They stressed that it's only a partial plan, saying they want to study some of the issues further.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/03/2008 12:21 Comments ||
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#2
They'll just follow the Mexicalifornia approach of keeping the nasty dirty power generation out of their neighborhood. Just import it from other states and bitch about the price.
#3
# you have captured it exactly. What is most astonishing to me when I talk to the liberal policy makers in state government here, is the total lack of consistency in their environmental policies. When stripped away, the "green" never actually runs counter to their class-warfare, union-appeasement, swamp the state with illegals-who-vote-democratic, paternalistic attitudes.
Ask a California democrat about the impact on the environment by population growth and they scream about protecting the ecosystem. When faced with the fact that all the growth in California population is based on legal and illegal immigration and you recommend a moratorium on the former and enforcement of the border for the latter... they always counter that you are a racist and want to keep the masses pouring in.
When asked about the damge of carbon emmissions, they spout green gibberish about alternative energy, but nuclear......they grow apoplectic...
waste storage... but oppose the planned Nevada site because there might be a spill in transit...
Behind it all is the paternal political agenda, not the real concern for the environment.
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.
Chadian rebels seized the countrys capital on Saturday after intense fighting with government forces, while President Idriss Deby Itno remained holed up in the presidential palace, a military source said. The whole of the city is in the hands of the rebels. Its down to mopping-up operations, according to the military source. France sent an extra 150 troops to the central African country and prepared to evacuate its citizens, while French Defence Minister Herve Morin said rebels were battling government forces as they closed in on the presidential palace.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy married former model Carla Bruni on Saturday at the Elysee Palace, according to the official who performed the ceremony. "The bride wore white, she was ravishing, as usual," Francois Lebel, mayor of Paris' eighth arrondissement, or neighborhood, told Europe-1 radio. "The groom wasn't bad either."
Today's WNBC/Marist poll finds both Hillary Clinton and John McCain with double-digit leads over their opponents in the Feb. 5 New York primaries. Clinton crossed the 50 percent mark, with 54 percent of likely Democratic voters, including leaners, saying they will vote for her. Barack Obama gets 398 percent, and 8 percent are undecided. Seventy-eight percent of Democrats said they strongly support their candidate, and 79 percent of Clinton's backers are strongly committed to her, compared to 76 percent of Obama's supporters. 
St. Paul, Minn. Gov. Pawlenty is calling for repeal of Minnesota's moratorium on new nuclear power plants. It's part of his preliminary action plan on climate change. He also wants to reduce red tape for renewable energy projects. His proposals are included in a report sent to the legislature Friday. 
