Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai launched a scathing attack on President Robert Mugabe's rule of Zimbabwe on Friday, saying he had transformed a country rich in natural resources into a "state of despair".
In a self-styled state of the nation address to lawmakers from his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, Tsvangirai also vowed there would be no amnesty for perpetrators of political violence if he takes power from Mugabe at a run-off election due in four weeks. "The state of our nation is a state of despair," said Tsvangirai, who is looking to end Mugabe's 28-year rule at the ballot box on June 27. "We have the world's highest inflation rate, 80% unemployment, an education sector that has plummeted from one of the best to one of the worst."
Tsvangirai said there could be no justification for the mess in a country that was regarded as a post-colonial role model in the first decade and a half after independence from Britain in 1980. "We are a rich country with natural resources. We have the resources to attract foreign investors," said Tsvangirai.
Zimbabwe's economy has been in meltdown since the start of the decade, when Mugabe embarked on a controversial land-reform programme that saw thousands of white-owned farms expropriated by the state. A spiralling inflation rate, officially put at 165 000% but thought to be many times higher, has frightened off investors, as has a new Bill that requires locals to own a 51% stake in all firms operating in Zimbabwe. Mugabe has in turn blamed the country's problems on a limited programme of sanctions imposed by the West after he allegedly rigged his 2002 re-election.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2008 00:00 ||
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Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's opposition leader, has called for reform of the ruling Zanu-PF party in a gesture that could open the door to a national unity government. However, an ally of Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean president, has rejected prospects of any co-operation saying both parties have conflicting ideologies.
Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, said in a speech on Friday: "Instead of focusing on what divides us, we must now try to heal our nation. This means that we can even talk about restoring Zanu-PF. "Let us seek out those peaceful members of Zanu-PF whose eyes are open to the disastrous state of our nation. Let us listen to their views. Let us invite them where we have policy agreements," he said in Harare, the capital.
Tsvangirai is trying to rally support across party lines as he prepares to face Mugabe in a June 27 presidential run-off election. However, Patrick Chinamasa, the Zimbabwean justice minister, said the two parties pursued conflicting ideologies.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2008 00:00 ||
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Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe will never vacate his office for opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai even if he loses a run-off election next month, his wife said Thursday.
Grace Mugabe told followers of her husband's Zanu-PF party that Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would not be allowed to take power under any circumstances. "Even if people vote for the MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai will never step foot inside State House," she said after meeting victims of political violence that has rocked Zimbabwe since the first round of voting on March 29. "He will only get to hear about what it looks like inside State House from people who have been there. Even if Baba [Mugabe] loses, he will only leave State House to make way for someone from Zanu-PF."
The 84-year-old president, who has ruled the former British colony since independence in 1980, is to square off against Tsvangirai on June 27 after an inconclusive first round.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2008 00:00 ||
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I hope this worthless skank gets eaten by a hungry mob
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/31/2008 6:32 Comments ||
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#4
I've never seen a man more deserving of being the guest of honor at a necktie party in my life. I hope someone in Zimbobland has the guts to perform that honor soon.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/31/2008 13:26 Comments ||
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Hopelessly clueless as the Olympics are being held in China, but here's the story anyway.
Athletes in the Beijing Olympics should use the platform they provide to speak out against China's continued human rights abuses, according to John Amaechi, an ambassador for London's successful 2012 bid who today takes on a similar role with Amnesty International.
Amaechi, who was raised in Stockport but made his name at the pinnacle of American sport in the National Basketball Association, will travel to Beijing as Amnesty's official sporting ambassador. He will attempt to highlight what Amnesty claims is China's failure to deliver on the human rights reforms promised when bidding for the games, and will press athletes to do likewise. Amaechi is also scheduled to provide commentary for the BBC while in Beijing, a platform that may allow him to speak out.
Speaking to the Guardian, Amaechi said that athletes with any doubts about the Chinese regime had a duty as Olympians to raise their concerns publicly. "I would encourage athletes not to distract themselves by burying themselves in the nuance and facts and figures and legislation of China, but simply to acknowledge that being an ambassador for human rights in China is the most Olympian thing to do. Anything less than that is not being a true Olympian, no matter the colour of the medal that you hold up," he said.
The International Olympic Committee is acutely concerned about the prospect of athletes criticising China and will remind all teams of their responsibilities under the Olympic charter, which outlaws "propaganda". Earlier this year the British Olympic Association was forced to abandon a clause in its athletes contract that would have prevented competitors from speaking about political issues.
Amaechi, who last year became the first NBA star to come out as gay, contends that the Olympic charter compels athletes to take a moral stance. "I've read the Olympic charter and when you read it, it is quite clear that it expects from athletes something more than being hugely talented beasts of burden," he said.
"It expects that sport be more than entertainment of the masses. It demands that they are intended to be a tool for wholesale change in the lives of individuals and groups." He called on the IOC to do more to pressure China into reform. "If you have the power to make the world better then that's something you should do, particularly when it is directly in line with your charter. To ignore those ideals so as not to embarrass a host compromises the movement."
Amaechi's appointment as a sporting ambassador is a coup for Amnesty, which maintains that China has failed to deliver promised reforms to the use of the death penalty, the justice system, media freedoms and the right of ordinary Chinese to express dissent.
Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International UK, said: "Amnesty International is delighted John Amaechi has chosen to work with us. We hope John's involvement will help encourage fellow sportsmen, the Olympic authorities and the thousands of press due to descend on the games to take a closer look at the appalling human rights record of the Chinese authorities. It is only through public scrutiny that we can hope to achieve a lasting legacy of human rights for the people of China."
Computer hackers in China, including those working on behalf of the Chinese government and military, have penetrated deeply into the information systems of U.S. companies and government agencies, stolen proprietary information from American executives in advance of their business meetings in China, and, in a few cases, gained access to electric power plants in the United States, possibly triggering two recent and widespread blackouts in Florida and the Northeast, according to U.S. government officials and computer-security experts.
One prominent expert told National Journal he believes that Chinas Peoples Liberation Army played a role in the power outages. Tim Bennett, the former president of the Cyber Security Industry Alliance, a leading trade group, said that U.S. intelligence officials have told him that the PLA in 2003 gained access to a network that controlled electric power systems serving the northeastern United States. The intelligence officials said that forensic analysis had confirmed the source, Bennett said. They said that, with confidence, it had been traced back to the PLA. These officials believe that the intrusion may have precipitated the largest blackout in North American history, which occurred in August of that year. A 9,300-square-mile area, touching Michigan, Ohio, New York, and parts of Canada, lost power; an estimated 50 million people were affected.
A second information-security expert independently corroborated Bennetts account of the Florida blackout. According to this individual, who cited sources with direct knowledge of the investigation, a Chinese PLA hacker attempting to map Florida Power & Lights computer infrastructure apparently made a mistake. The hacker was probably supposed to be mapping the system for his bosses and just got carried away and had a what happens if I pull on this moment. The hacker triggered a cascade effect, shutting down large portions of the Florida power grid, the security expert said. I suspect, as the system went down, the PLA hacker said something like, Oops, my bad, in Chinese.
The power company has blamed human error for the incident.
#1
Disturbing, if true. I don't understand why nets controlling infrastructure would be accessible from the public Internet in the first place. Never underestimate either the malicious intent of outsiders, or the stupidity of your own IT department.
#2
I blame the lawyers who worry about retaliatory actions. Their approach has been about effective as multiple UN resolutions. First step is to plant viruses that when accessed activate, it doesn't have to be completely malicious, but it will tell us who opened it by its propagation. It will pin point within a 20kt range who needs our attention.
#3
Musta been Chinnee Hackers, couldn'a been anyone in the companies involved, clean as a whistle. Chinnee Hackers, yep. SwampCabbageMan also played a minor role in the Florida case.
Posted by: George Smiley ||
05/31/2008 8:42 Comments ||
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#4
There have been severe SADA security deficiencies in the power grid. Just sayin.
Posted by: George Smiley ||
05/31/2008 12:47 Comments ||
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#6
Alth I guess you could hack in the really hard way.
Posted by: George Smiley ||
05/31/2008 12:47 Comments ||
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#7
Supposed to be isolated. But rumor had it that some places wanted to have experts fix things remotely, or control remote sites simultaneously, and so skipped a few security steps. The only place I have any hard knowledge of locked things down fairly tightly last year and I don't know of any mission-critical holes. It is not a power company, though.
Posted by: James ||
05/31/2008 13:00 Comments ||
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#8
We could face similar issues with water treatment plants. The AWWA (American Water Works Assoc.) has developed standards to avoid and protect against these kinds of attacks against SCADA systems.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/31/2008 17:56 Comments ||
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A Croatian court has sentenced Mirko Norac to seven years in jail over his role in the killing of Serb civilians and prisoners of war. Another former general and co-defendant, Rahim Ademi, was acquitted of all charges.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2008 00:00 ||
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ANKARA - Turkey has passed a law easing restrictions on airing programmes in Kurdish and other minority languages after the curbs drew criticism from the European Union. The amendment, passed by parliament late on Thursday, allows state broadcaster TRT to broadcast freely in languages other than Turkish and coincides with an initiative to boost development in the impoverished, mainly Kurdish, southeast.
Any restrictions on Kurdish were "cultural vandalism", state-run Anatolian news agency quoted a deputy from the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) as saying. "It is the right of Turkey's 20 million Kurdish citizens, who do military service and pay taxes, to expect from TRT broadcasts in their own language," Hasip Kaplan was reported as saying in parliament.
State broadcaster TRT began airing weekly half-hour programmes in Kurdish and several other minority languages in 2004 as part of Turkey's bid to join the EU. But the political and military establishment has long feared that encouraging minority languages might harm unity among Turkey's 72 million people.
Commentators say the latest move is an attempt to attract viewers in the mainly Kurdish southeast away from Denmark-based Roj TV, a popular channel in the region and which authorities regard as the voice for Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels.
Turkey's ruling AK Party won strong support in the southeast in the last parliamentary election, attracting many voters from the DTP after pledges to improve living conditions. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan launched a multi-billion dollar development programme for the southeast on Tuesday to try to ease poverty, which he said fed the conflict.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/31/2008 00:00 ||
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Senator Barack Obama emerged as Europe's favourite candidate for Americas presidency today when a poll conducted for Telegraph.co.uk gave him 52 per cent support across five of the worlds richest nations, including Britain.
Barack Obama is the only consistent opponent of the Iraq war in the race for the presidency
John McCain, the presumed Republican nominee, received only 15 per cent of the vote in unprecedented survey covering Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia.
#2
EUropeans can HAVE Obamalamadingdong. In fact, they can take him NOW - why wait? We sure as hell don't want him.
And of course they don't want any of our tainted evil money, right? Right?
*crickets*
Jealous self-centered fools.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/31/2008 0:33 Comments ||
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#3
So the Euros are ignorant. Unfortunately, nothing is being done to educate them. In the fifties, the Council on Cultural Freedom did a bang up job at countering leftist opinion. Now we do nothing, and a leftist is poised to take the US Presidency.
#4
Please keep something in mind. We Americans, we're the descendants of the people who moved here to get away from Europe.
Posted by: Mike ||
05/31/2008 8:13 Comments ||
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#5
The Euros? You mean those people who dragged American screaming and shouting into their own dirty political failures of 1914 and 1939. I don't recall they asked us of what we felt about who should run things over there. Instead we get tagged with hundred of thousand of war dead, trillions of dollar in expenses to act as baby sitters for over a half a decade, they get the longest period of peace and prosperity since Roman times, and all we get is well kept cemeteries for our grandfathers, uncles, and other family relations. They're about as useful as a gaggle of Trust Fund Babies.
May 30 (Bloomberg) -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice criticized Russia's activities on the resource-rich Arctic shelf as ``not helpful'' and called for international laws governing the disputed waters to be obeyed. Rice made the comments today at the Hofdi House in the Icelandic capital, Reykjavik -- where President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev famously met in October 1986 to discuss arms control.
A Russian mini-submarine planted a flag under the polar cap in August, a move Danish Science Minister Helge Sander at the time called a ``joke.'' Russia contends the underwater Lomonosov Ridge links Siberia to the Arctic seabed, evidence of which may allow the country to extend its territory under international law. Russia's government predicts the area may hold 10 billion tons of oil equivalent, as well as gold, nickel and diamonds.
``I think we have to be concerned not just about the resources but about the resurgence of some activity that the Russians have been'' carrying out, Rice said alongside Icelandic Foreign Minister Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir. ``We're quite aware of it. We speak to the Russians.''
Under the United Nations Law of the Sea convention, the countries on the Arctic Ocean have rights to economic zones within 200 miles (320 kilometers) of their shores. The UN will accept scientific data until 2014 and then decide on ownership of the parts of the Arctic claimed by Russia, the U.S., Canada, Norway and Denmark, through its semi-autonomous territory of Greenland.
``We believe very strongly that international law needs to be respected here,'' Rice said. ``This certainly shouldn't be an issue of conflict.''
Canada responded to Russia's flag-planting by saying it would move troops to its north to assert Arctic sovereignty.
The five countries with Arctic shorelines will work for an ``orderly settlement'' of their claims, their governments said in a joint declaration yesterday after concluding a two-day summit on the dispute in Ilulissat, Greenland.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/31/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
KOMMERSANT > IN THE CLOSE ARCTIC CIRCLE: ARCTIC WILL BE DIVIDED BY FIVE STATES. USA, Canada, Denmark, Norway and Russia.
Also, WAFF > RUSSIA TO INCREASE BLACK SEA FLEET FROM 25 TO 100 SHIPS. POSTER - RUSS SHOULD SEND NEW SHIPS UP NORTH AS PER PROPOSED/LOOMING ARCTIC DIVISION.
#2
So now we get a confrontation with Russia. Our only real enemy are the koran thumpers. Let's work out a private deal on the Arctic, without reference to UN sharia, and then dig into the Arctic bonanza.
HT to AOSHQ. Any doubts he would've remained a member, barring media attention? Another group kicked under the bus, but he held out on this one, unlike his poor grandma. Make your own conclusions. Hope and changey hope
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/31/2008 19:41 ||
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#1
After marinating in Black Liberation Theology for a couple of decades, I don't know how much more saturated he could possibly become.
#2
"It's clear that now that I am a candidate for president, every time something is said in the church by anyone associated with Trinity, including guest pastors, the remarks will be imputed to me, even if they totally conflict with my long-held views, statements and principles even though I was a member for twenty years and never said anything in disagreement."
#4
I think it has to do with simple electoral math : in the primaries, blacks make up about 25% of the votes cast excepting certain Southern states where they can be as high as 60%; in the general election, blacks make up about 11% of the voters. Now that he seems to have the nomination locked up, he is willing to sacrifice 10-15% of the 90% black vote he has been getting to get better percentages of the white/Latino voters. Whites and Latinos make up close to 86% of the total electorate, with the remaining 3% not so far accounted for being made up of Orientals, American Indians, and other smaller groups.
#5
He far from has the nomination locked up and this move puts it farther from his grasp. He acknowledges that it is an issue and that his religious relationships are an albatross. The war in Iraq is not going his way. He throws his mother/grandmother under the bus, he throws his preacher under the bus, he muzzles his wife, he throws his church under the bus; the guy looks more and more like a hack politician who will do anything for the nomination. Every day the super delegates get more and more reasons to throw him under the bus; and all their guaranteed black votes with him. Rock, meet hard place.
#8
That this guy could even get voted into the senate (and that's not a high bar by any means) amazes me. That nearly 50% of America would vote for him for President makes me order ammo. Change is comin but I doubt it's the kind obama expects.
My best case. Military coup. Petreus runs the place, congress jailed.
Today, the 30 members of the Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee will hear challenges to that decision and a later ruling, which together barred delegations from Florida and Michigan from the national convention in Denver because those states violated the party's rules governing the nomination process. Will the Dems follow their own rules, or make 'em up as they go along? Tune it at 11!
Is that a trick question?
Democrats on and off the committee said yesterday that a compromise appears likely that would restore half of the delegations from each state, although the precise terms remained under discussion. "It's clear something's going to be worked out," said Carol Fowler, the party chair in South Carolina and a member of the rules committee. Fowler is also an Obama supporter but was not speaking for the campaign.
Among the unresolved issues is how to allocate the delegates between the two candidates, particularly delegates from Michigan, where Clinton's name was on the ballot in the Jan. 15 primary but Obama's was not. There was growing talk yesterday that the committee could agree to split the state's delegates evenly between Clinton and Obama, a blow to Clinton. In determining the allocation of delegates from Florida, the committee appears likely to use the results of the state's primary on Jan. 29.
Clinton will gain more delegates than Obama under almost any outcome, but there is widespread agreement that nothing the committee is likely to do will change the nomination battle's trajectory, which now has Obama moving steadily toward victory.
But after months of sparring and bad feelings between the two camps, the real question is whether both sides -- and the two states -- are prepared to accept what the committee decides, or will instead take their grievances to the party's credentials committee next month or possibly to the convention in August.
"What's at stake is whether this nominating process will come to a quick conclusion in a way that unifies the party, or whether it will drag on for weeks and perhaps months in a way that threatens party unity and potentially hurts the nominee and the party," said Tad Devine, a Democratic strategist and veteran of rules battles.
Clinton will send her team to today's meeting with a demand that the full delegations from both states be seated in Denver, that each of those delegates be given a full vote and that the delegates be allocated strictly on the basis of the results of the two primaries. But while she has drawn a hard line in the pre-meeting maneuvering, her advisers stopped short yesterday of threatening to take the fight beyond today.
"We think it's not useful to cross streams before we come to them," said Harold Ickes, who oversees Clinton's delegate operations and is also a member of the DNC's rules committee.
The story of how the Democrats got to this moment is a tale of personal egos, state pride, institutional integrity and raw political maneuvering. Its beginning dates back many years, and is rooted in competition between political leaders in Michigan, led by Sen. Carl M. Levin, who think their state should have a larger role in the nominating process; and those in New Hampshire, who have zealously guarded their state's first-in-the-nation primary. So it's an issue of egos resulting in disenfranchisement.
Levin, who will present Michigan's case today, said in an interview Thursday night that he is prepared to carry on the fight if his state's full delegation is not seated in Denver with full voting rights, arguing that any other outcome would be appealed to the credentials committee.
The Republican National Committee, dealing with a similar problem, cut violating states' delegations in half and moved on. The Democrats, determined to send a tough message to other states that might have been contemplating further moves up the calendar, inflicted the maximum penalty of a total ban. Once again, the Donks took a good Trunk idea and fouled it up.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/31/2008 05:42 ||
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Total Ban is not harsh enough. 20 years without parole.
Posted by: George Smiley ||
05/31/2008 8:47 Comments ||
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#7
Donk democracy in action...so much for the repubs always being accused of denying voters rights..usually a precinct here and there were these accusations fly...but never a whole state let alone 2 states!! It is a disgrace how the media gives passes for thier boys..
Posted by: Dan ||
05/31/2008 11:12 Comments ||
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#8
Oh come on, there's no doubt how this "Vote" will go.
If it's favorable to Hildabeast, the answer is yes,
if it's favoring O'bama, the answer is NO.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/31/2008 13:53 Comments ||
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The committee for the Democratic convention considers cuts in light of the fundraising shortfall. Consider starting with a less-expensive venue. Perhaps the Supermax in Virginia. The participants would feel at home and the commute would be short.
Millions of dollars behind in raising money and unlikely to meet a fast-approaching final deadline, the Denver committee hosting the Democratic National Convention is considering spending cuts.
Time to shake the can at the trial lawyers ...
Committee sources say they are working with the Democratic National Convention Committee to consider lowering the $55 million in private cash and donated services that must be raised to bring the convention to town. The cuts would be made to the many parties the host committee is obligated to throw for the delegations and the news media, and other hospitality functions not tied to production aspects inside the convention hall.
"There have been no specific decisions made," host committee spokesman Chris Lopez said. "We're always identifying costs and weighing them against our anticipated revenue." Lopez said the committee is still working to satisfy its full obligation.
Time to shake the can at the hedge-fund operators ...
Steve Farber, a Denver lawyer leading the host committee's financial charge, agreed, saying, "I continue to believe we are going to raise the money."
With less than 90 days to the convention and no way to stage it elsewhere, the shortfall in funds could mean the Democratic Party's plan to showcase itself in a smaller city will result in making do with less. The development could likewise hurt Denver's desire to showcase itself, both in the civic programs it wants to stage during the convention week and in future bids. "It's never good to not deliver the goods," said Eric Sondermann, a political analyst in Denver.
Time to shake the can at the labor unions ...
Sondermann says he thinks it's understandable that the money has been hard to come by because potential donors have been reluctant to step in without a clear Democratic presidential nominee. The problem is worsened by the possibility that a vote on the convention floor might be what settles the question of whether to seat delegates from Florida and Michigan.
Also, Denver has fewer corporate headquarters than past host cities, and fewer also than St. Paul, Minn., where the Republicans are holding their convention and where fundraising is on schedule.
"But whether those are accepted as reasonable explanations years down the road when the particulars of 2008 are forgotten and Denver is making an application for some major event, time will tell," Sondermann said.
Time to shake the can at the currency speculators ...
Host committees often struggle with fundraising until much closer to opening day, when big-city mayors and big-state senators and other political powers come to the rescue. But Colorado lacks that kind of clout, and the host committee leadership within the last week and a half concluded the full $55 million could be impossible to fulfill.
DNCC spokeswoman Natalie Wyeth declined to discuss the matter but said in a statement, "We are always reviewing our budgets and plans to ensure we are being fiscally responsible and budgeting efficiently and effectively throughout the planning period."
The host committee sources didn't specify an amount they wish to cut. But committee officials are $15 million short of the $40 million in cash they are contractually obligated to raise by June 16. The committee also must raise $15 million in donated services, which, if those aren't offered, must be bought. The value of donated services offered to date has not been released.
The committee never established an $19.5 million line of credit it agreed to in its contract with the DNCC. Officials had said they didn't think it would be necessary. Now those officials say it would be impossible to establish.
Time to shake the can at the Chinese ...
Mayor John Hickenlooper has frequently commented about the "backbreaking" work of trying to raise the money. Earlier this month, he said, "I'm not sure I could put in any more time. There's weekends, there's nights. My 5 1/2-year-old's ready to ship me off to Siberia."
Denver's committee missed its first milestone in June 2007 by $1.5 million but hit its second deadline in December with $15 million. It missed its third deadline March 17 by $5 million, and has raised only $2 million since then.
Democratic National Convention fundraising progress
#1
Sounds like the original Coloradans are in charge of the party, and won't pony up for a lot of trash-generating grandstanding. Just as Governor Love turned down the Winter Olympics, the current Colorado Democratic Party isn't wild about staging an event that will burden the City of Denver for years into the future, for no possible gain. I also think the outlook of the Colorado Demoncritic Party is reflected throughout the party's regular, down-to-earth members, that while this should be a Democratic year, the outlook isn't too bright - even if they win.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/31/2008 13:41 Comments ||
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#5
Nancy and Harry forgot that earmark too? Well, damn, if they can't be relied upon to use the public trough for their antics what can of phony baloney jobs do they think they're holding down?
#6
At $13,600 per convention delegate it should be a hell of a party. Free booze and hookers for all.
Posted by: ed ||
05/31/2008 17:13 Comments ||
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#7
Dems here are going to face a fight now that the "Transexual Men in Women's Showers" law has been passed.
They dont realize but the galvanized a ton of people who were tired of politics into getting involved with that, across the state.
The problem is the Colorado GOP is full of country club types and losers, to the point they havent even fielded valid canididates in a lot of districts where they could be competitive. All due to the Denver people running the party and putting "its his turn next" people from thier country club elite up as candidates.
#8
Call George Soros. He is good for it, and has not shown too much reluctance at shoveling millions their way.
BTW, has Al Gorelioni slapped a study on the carbon footprint this festival of love will leave on the planet? What is he gonna do? Plant trees all over Kansas to do penance?
Bloody hypocrites. Dems are ideologically driven traitors and leeches. Republicans are just greedy and stupid. What a formula for national leadership.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/31/2008 18:54 Comments ||
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An influential coalition of Fortune 500 companies and environmental groups that was formed to support climate-change legislation has splintered over the Lieberman-Warner bill that is headed next week to the Senate floor. Ha ha!
The U.S. Climate Action Partnership formed last year won't take a position on the bill, although nine of its members - including General Electric (GE, Fortune 500), Alcoa (AA, Fortune 500) and four utility companies - signed a letter to senators backing the legislation.
The letter, also signed by big environmental groups and obtained by Fortune, says: "Prompt action on climate change is essential to protect America's economy, security, quality of life and natural environment." Unless it cuts into our profits.
But other members of the coalition known as U.S. Cap, most visibly Duke Energy (DUK, Fortune 500), a coal-burning utility, are strongly opposed. "It's going to translate into significant electricity price increases," says Jim Rogers, Duke's CEO.
Without widespread corporate support, passage of the bill - already a long shot at best - becomes even more unlikely this year. President Bush remains opposed. House Democrats have been slow to act.
Besides that, a backdrop of rising gasoline prices and the sluggish economy makes it difficult to win votes for a regulatory scheme that will raise the prices of electricity and gasoline. In fact, a key purpose of the bill is to put a price on the emissions of greenhouse gases, as a way to speed the transition to a clean-energy economy and slow down global warming.
With the Senate scheduled to begin debate Monday, lobbying and advertising around the bill are intensifying. (Here's a new TV commercial supporting the bill from Environmental Defense Fund, and a radio ad opposing the bill from the Club for Growth.) But even supporters concede that the debate will set the scene for action in 2009.
"This will put us in a position to have action next year," says David Doniger, director of the climate center at the Natural Resources Defense Council, a supporter of the bill. "We expect in the Senate that the 60-vote rule will be applied. That's a hard one to get over."
"It's a teachable moment," agreed Scott Segal, an advocate for coal-burning utilities that oppose Lieberman-Warner.
The Lieberman-Warner bill sets a cap on greenhouse gas emissions that would reduce them by 70% by 2050. Companies would need permits to emit pollutants that cause global warming. The government would allocate some permits to utilities and industrial companies, and auction others to generate revenues. The question of how to distribute permits and what to do with the money divides even supporters of greenhouse gas regulation.
As currently written, Lieberman-Warner might fall short of a 50-vote majority in the Senate, let alone the 60 votes required to close debate, insiders say. Presidential candidates (and Senators) Clinton, McCain and Obama all support climate-change legislation.
Businesses supporting Lieberman-Warner stand to profit from clean-energy or energy-efficiency iniatitives. GE, for instance, sells wind turbines, compact fluorescent lightbulbs, and energy-efficient locomotives and aircraft engines. Just this week, GE and the oil-field services firm Schlumberger announced plans to work together on clean-coal technology.
Utility companies Exelon, FPL Group, NRG Energy and PG&E Corp., which signed a letter supporting the bill, are developing nuclear energy, wind or solar power, or so-called clean-coal plants. They would gain as the costs of burning coal in conventional plans goes up. About 50% of electricity in the United States comes from burning coal.
"In the long run, you want people who burn carbon to pay more," says John Rowe, the CEO of Exelon, the nation's biggest generator of nuclear power. Still, even Rowe worries that the economy could be shocked if the cost of emitting carbon dioxide rises too quickly. "We don't think the economy can stand $30 to $40 carbon in the early years," he says. Political support for climate action could also erode if consumers revolt. In Europe, where permits to emit carbon have been trading since 2005, it now costs nearly $40 to emit a ton of carbon.
The Environmental Defense Fund circulated the letter supporting the bill, which was also signed by U.S. Cap members NRDC and the National Wildlife Federation. The letter was put together in a hurry, a backer said, and not all of the 30 or so companies in U.S. Cap were asked to sign it. The climate action coalition was announced with great fanfare in January of last year.
Rogers, Duke Energy's CEO, says he supports climate action but warns that Lieberman-Warner would have a "draconian effect" on his customers and others in the 25 states that now burn 80% of the coal in the United States. It's unfair, he argues, to place the burden of solving the climate-change problem on coal-burning states, which were urged by regulators to build coal plants in the 1970s and 1980s to achieve energy independence.
"I believe in cap and trade. I believe we ought to put a price on carbon," Rogers says. But senators who want to auction permits, and then use the money for a variety of projects - ranging from deficit reduction to water projects to job training - threaten to turn the climate-change bill into the "ultimate in earmarking."
Billions of dollars are at stake in this argument over how to auction or allocate the pollution permits. The outcome is "almost surely going to be a product of a lot of horse-trading," says Exelon's Rowe, once a final bill is written.
But the fact that businesses and senators are arguing about the details suggests that agreement is growing over the broader idea that Congress ought to regulate greenhouse gases.
"There is absolutely a majority of support for a cap-and-trade bill in the U.S. Senate," says Manik Roy, director of congressional affairs for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. But, as Duke's Rogers likes to say, "both God and the devil are in the details."
#3
This will line the pockets of rent seekers who have enough political clout to receive these carbon credits to the tune of $60 billion/year every year just on coal alone. Add in nat gas and oil products and the annual total will rise to $150 billion or more. Damn nice position to be if you are a Kennedy.
Posted by: ed ||
05/31/2008 17:05 Comments ||
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#4
Hypocrites:
Alcoa, a large electricity consumer backing the legislation, has long enjoyed the benefit of cheap government-developed hydroelectric power.
Exelon, FPL Group, NRG Energy and PG&E Corp. are nuclear energy companies.
Tax government-developed hydroelectric for the benefit of all and make the nuke plant operators fully address nuclear waste issues at their own expense -- than see who's game.
#6
"Chances Dim"? It's a good job the journalist wasn't thinking this regulation is a good idea, otherwise it might imply a certain amount of bias in the media and we know that's just not true.
Listen to audio of Bill Clinton's conference call below.
With Hillary Clintons presidential campaign on the verge of defeat, Bill Clinton has been placing blame on enemies including a brazenly biased media that tried to suppress blue-collar votes, a powerful anti-war group that endorsed rival Barack Obama and weak-willed party leaders unable to stand up to either of these nefarious forces.
Pieced together from the former presidents public remarks at his wifes campaign events and a private conversation last week with top donors to her campaign, the theory goes something like this: After Hillary recovered from a string of losses to rival Barack Obama with March 4 wins in Texas and Ohio, powerful forces conspired to pressure the superdelegates who will decide the nomination to back Obama by discouraging her supporters from voting and trying to hide evidence proving she would fare better than Obama against presumptive GOP nominee John McCain
While the former president has offered parts of this theory publicly, he fleshed it out more explicitly during a conference call last week with maxed-out donors to his wifes campaign, a recording of which has been obtained by Politico.
Hear Bill Clinton's call
After rattling off a series of poll numbers showing Hillary Clinton faring better than Obama against McCain, Bill Clinton told donors: We are in the strongest conceivable position electorally and not in a good fix with the superdelegates, because they have felt all the pressure from the Obama side, from the media, from the MoveOn crowd who they think is an automatic ATM machine for everybody for life. So, theyre reluctant to take on all that.
While the campaign has been blasting the media for weeks for prematurely calling the race for Obama, President Clinton has added a new entry to his enemy list: MoveOn.org, the anti-war group that endorsed Obama and that, through its political action committee, has raised millions for Democratic candidates, money the Clintons apparently believe has unfairly purchased superdelegate support for Obama.
Campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson offered another interpretation, telling Politico that the president was referring to efforts online to pressure superdelegates in support of Sen. Obama, pointing to a petition the group circulated in February asking superdelegates to let the voters decide between Clinton and Obama, then support the people's choice.
That means supporting the candidate with the most pledged delegates, said MoveOn spokeswoman Ilyse Hogue, who wouldnt comment on Clintons charge, except to say that we respect the president very much.
Hillary Clinton has privately complained about MoveOn before, at a small fundraiser held after the Super Tuesday primaries. They flood into these caucuses and dominate them and really intimidate people who actually show up to support me, she said, according to an audio recording obtained by Huffington Post. In the recording, she also refers to the fundraising prowess of MoveOn.org, telling donors that "MoveOn.org endorsed [Obama], which is like a gusher of money that never seems to slow down." More at link.
#1
Bill Clinton has been placing blame on enemies including a brazenly biased media that tried to suppress blue-collar votes, a powerful anti-war group that endorsed rival Barack Obama and weak-willed party leaders unable to stand up to either of these nefarious forces.
Gee, sounds just like Sen. Lieberman's situation. By the way, how'd you support o'Joe when that went down?
Pakistans armed forces still consider President Pervez Musharraf their supreme commander, as well as the legal and constitutional president of the country, Geo news quoted sources within the Pakistan Army as saying.
"You been warned..."
The channels senior anchor and analyst Kamran Khan quoted these sources as saying that the recent rumours of Musharrafs resignation were completely baseless. He reported that the United States administration, including its envoy Anne W Patterson, had been very active during the last 24 hours with regards to the political situation in Pakistan. He said the US wanted the present government to respect the agreements reached between President Musharraf and the PPP before the general elections. He revealed that the Saudi government had also forwarded messages to the political leadership in the last 24 hours.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2008 00:00 ||
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Link ||
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#1
I'll order more popcorn....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/31/2008 0:30 Comments ||
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KYAUKTAN, Myanmar - Myanmar's junta started evicting destitute families from government-run cyclone relief centres on Friday, apparently out of concern the 'tented villages' might become permanent. 'It is better that they move to their homes where they are more stable,' a government official said at one camp where people have been told to clear out by 4 pm (0930 GMT). 'Here, they are relying on donations and it is not stable.'
Locals and aid workers said 39 camps in the immediate vicinity of Kyauktan, 30 km (19 miles) south of Yangon, were being cleared out as part of a general eviction plan. Rumours are flying around the international aid community in Yangon that the evictions are occurring in state-run refugee centres across the delta.
The U.N., which has local and foreign aid workers in the delta, said it did not know if that was the case. 'We certainly don't endorse premature return to where there are no services, and any forced or coerced movement is completely unacceptable,' U.N. spokeswoman Amanda Pitt said in Bangkok.
The evictions come a day after official media in the former Burma lashed out at offers of foreign aid, criticising donors' demands for access to the delta and saying cyclone victims could 'stand by themselves'. 'The people from Irrawaddy can survive on self-reliance without chocolate bars donated by foreign countries,' the Kyemon newspaper said in a Burmese-language editorial.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/31/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Rope. Tree. Some assembly required.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/31/2008 0:35 Comments ||
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#2
NOSI.org > US NAVY RELIEF SHIPS MAY BEGIN LEAVING MYANMAR, going back home widn a week? iff not allowed to debark relief supplies.
#3
This idea has its merits. If you continue to provide for people they tend to continue to need to be provided for. They grow addicted to the aid and become more afraid to try to regain their independence. As a resident of Katrinaland I see it every day. The rest of you can see it in your local public housing projects and welfare offices - or in the news reports from the Paleo 'refugee camps.'
The hard part in Burma is knowing whether it is possible for the people to return home and restore some semblance of function to their communities yet - they'll have to give it a try and see.
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.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe will never vacate his office for opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai even if he loses a run-off election next month, his wife said Thursday.
The committee for the Democratic convention considers cuts in light of the fundraising shortfall.
