Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook are trying to hash out a custody agreement during a four-hour break in their divorce trial, the Daily News has learned. Testimony is delayed until 3 p.m. while the two sides hold talks, a source said.
Brinkley, 54, and Cook, 49, were coy about whether progress was being made. Asked whether she wanted to settle, the supermodel clasped her hands together and told reporters: 'It's what I pray for.'
Cook was cryptic. 'Do you like a cake when it's half-baked or when it's finished?' the architect asked the media. Asked whether he wanted to strike a deal or forge ahead with his case against Brinkley, he said, 'What purpose would it be to badger the mother of my children?'
Under a temporary custody agreement, Cook has the children from Friday night until Monday morning every other weekend and every Wednesday night. Brinkley has been pushing to curtail his visitation so that the children stay with her every weeknight - which would leave Cook with just four nights a month with the kids. Meanwhile, Cook has been pushing for more access than he has now.
The talks got started a day after a court-appointed psychiatrist was critical of both Brinkley and Cook on the witness stand. Dr. Stephen Herman testified Tuesday that both parents need therapy but that Brinkley should get full custody. He described Cook as a narcissist who wrecked his marriage by sleeping with an 18-year-old and performing sex acts on the Internet. The shrink also questioned Brinkley's choice of men and her track record of four failed marriages and said she hasn't been able to move on from Cook's betrayal.
Even if the couple strikes an agreement on custody, the trial isn't over. The next phase is a fight over their shared assets. I sure do hope they get this over with quick so I can devote all my time to reading about who A-Rod was banging last night...
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#1
No interest? She's old and she lost her looks. And she never had talent.
Heard a good one about Jeter the other day. When asked what was the most dangerous food he ever tried (expecting sushi, magic chicken, etc) he said, "Wedding Cake". Guess some people are allergic to such things - guess they shouldn't use children as guinea pigs.
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. - Christie Brinkley's lurid divorce trial came to an abrupt end Thursday when lawyers for the former supermodel and her fourth husband reached an out-of-court settlement that gives her custody of their two children.
...A transition from La Niña to ENSO-neutral conditions occurred during June 2008, as sea surface temperatures (SSTs) returned to near-average across the central and east-central equatorial Pacific Ocean...
----------------
It will take the atmosphere a few months to fully entrain the ocean temps but this may result in some marginal suppression of Atlantic Hurricane formation. Also, it should marginally increase world temps in the lower troposphere
#3
The effects of El Nino and La Nina are strongest in the equitorial regions and weaker in the mid latitudes.
However, generally La Nina correlates with more numerous tropical storms in the Atlantic and fewer tropical storms in the E.Pacific.
La Nina also correlates with higher precip between 35N and 45N lattitude in the US.
The way this works in a causal sense isn't really understood very well; the correlations are thought to be the result of the atmospheric response to the ocean surface temps but no mathematical model has yet been developed which shows significant skill (i.e. beats regression to the mean climatology) in predicting these effects.
#4
El Nino and La Nina are the 500 pound gorillas of weather. And they are also indicative of the system as a whole, which is why they are so important. For instance, during this solar quiescent period, if La Nina reappears, and reappears strongly, it could make for a very cold winter.
This March, for example, the phenomenon had sea temperatures in SE Asia down by 2C degrees. This is why it was kicking butt on temperatures all over the northern hemisphere.
Conversely, a weak El Nino may stabilize falling temps, giving us a milder winter. The system seems to have a corrective mechanism, instead of a reinforcing one, so this is possible as well.
We shall see. But the one thing I wouldn't expect would be a strong El Nino.
(Xinhua) -- Cote d'Ivoire's Integrated Command Centre (ICC), a joint military body bringing together former rebels and government troops, has held discussions with pro-establishment militia groups in readiness for disarmament, according to official sources.
The meeting, which was attended by senior military officials and representatives of self-defense groups in the western part of the country, was held in the political capital of Yamoussoukro, the official Ivorian News Agency reported Tuesday. The meeting is a prelude to the implementation of the long-delayed process to Disarm and Dismantle Militias (DDM), one of the most important issues in the Cote d'Ivoire's peace process, according to keen observers.
Formerly one of the most stable democracies in sub-Saharan Africa, Cote d'Ivoire plunged into a serious political-military crisis six years ago after the New Forces rebels seized the northern part of the country in the wake of a botched coup against President Laurent Gbagbo. Since then, the world's largest cocoa producer has been divided in two and is currently in the middle of implementing a peace process that is expected to culminate in free and fair presidential elections later this year.
Speaking with reporters shortly at the end of the meeting, Col. Nicolas Kouakou, a senior ICC commander, said the meeting was intended to provide some useful information and also lay the basis for the official start of the DDM process. 'We have specifically agreed to begin with the disarmament of self-defense groups in the Grand West, because for us, this is one of the regions that have suffered the horrors of this terrible crisis,' said Col. Kouakou.
'The DDM activities have actually started in the presence of the head of state (Laurent Gbagbo). That is why, in an agreement with our partners, some heads of departments in places such as Blolequin, Guiglo and Toulepleu were chosen to carry out this mission,' he said.
A little more than a dozen groups, chief among them, the Front for the Liberation of the Grand West (FLGO), the Movement for the Liberation of Western Cote d'Ivoire (MILOCI), took part in the meeting, led by their leaders. At the height of the political-military crisis, currently in its sixth year, splinter self-defense militia groups sprouted across much of Cote d'Ivoire, especially in regions under governmental control, with the aim of helping the government to fight the former New Forces (FN) rebels.
The country embarked on a process to end the crisis after President Gbagbo and the FN leader Guillaume Soro, the country's prime minister, met and agreed to sign a comprehensive peace agreement in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in March 2007. Despite suffering a few setbacks and challenges, the latest being a rebel-led mutiny in the central parts of the country, the West African nation is well on the right path and there are hopes that it will emerge from the bitter crisis.
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07/10/2008 00:00 ||
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GORDON BROWN used a graphic image of a man beaten to death in Zimbabwe to rally world leaders behind imposing new sanctions against President Robert Mugabe's regime. The British Prime Minister showed the G8 summit two pictures of Joshua Bakacheza, an opposition activist whose body was found on Saturday. No Flaming Michelin Neckware pictures available?
Afterwards, the leaders of the world's eight richest countries agreed to punish 'individuals responsible for the violence' in Zimbabwe with 'financial and other measures'.
But the Zimbabwe Government said threats of financial measures were an insult to African leaders. 'They want to undermine the African Union and [South African] President Mbeki's [mediation] efforts because they are racist, because they think only white people think better,' the Deputy Information Minister, Bright Matonga, said. ...and if whitey's so smart, how come everybody in Zimbabwe's a millionaire?
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07/10/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
No Flaming Michelin Neckware pictures available?
Tires are now currency, like Yap rocks only vulcanized.
#2
What, the abducting and beating of the mayor's wife +4 just wasn't brutal enough? What happened to this guy which was just too much, testicles pulled through the nose? Dress him in a pink shirt and wig with clown nose?
Interesting theory - an unstable zim and sa to ruin power and authority of au. And all this racism could have been avoided if they all would have just put tobasco in their scrambled eggs.
#2
Only wish our Congresscritters would take similar deliberation with the check every year or so. Sorry, it's back to the sub committee for further study, but we're working on it. I think they went to lunch, nothing four star, just safe which means outside the beltway.
A Dhaka court yesterday issued arrest warrant against Jubo League General Secretary Mirza Azam in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for amassing wealth worth over Tk 53 lakh illegally and giving false information to the commission. Arrest warrant was also issued against Momtaz Ahmed, wife of detained former state minister Redwan Ahmed, in a case filed for accumulating wealth through illegal means and concealing information of the assets to the ACC.
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Charges have been pressed against Barisal City Corporation (BCC) Mayor Mojibar Rahman Sarwar and Khulna City Corporation (KCC) Mayor Sheikh Tayabur Rahman in two separate cases filed against them in connection with ill-gotten wealth and extortion.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) pressed charges against BCC Mayor and president of district BNP committee Mojibar Rahman Sarwar and his wife Nasima Sarwar in a case filed for amassing wealth worth over Tk 9 crore illegally and giving false wealth information to the commission.
Sub Inspector Golam Rabbani of the Detective Branch of Khulna Metropolitan police (KMP) submitted the charge sheet against KCC Mayor and three others in connection with an extortion case.
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The Election Commission (EC) has accepted a good number of nominations filed by mayoral and councillor aspirants having criminal records.
Because good government starts with good people.
A few of them have even been convicted by local courts. Out on bail granted by the High Court, they are now seeking re-election on full throttle. Most of the contenders in question are incumbent ward heelers commissioners belonging to Awami League (AL) and BNP. The commission will unveil a final list of contestants after July 13, the last date for withdrawing nominations in the August 4 polls to four city corporations.
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Detained former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar is going to be chargesheeted in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for possessing illegal wealth and concealing information about it.
Not that he'll ever have to worry about a crossfire ...
Sources said the ACC On Wednesday approved the submission of charge sheet against the ex- BNP minister for amassing wealth worth Tk 7.05 crore beyond his known sources of income and concealing information.
ACC Deputy Assistant Director Rupok Kumar Saha will submit the charge sheet next week with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's (CMM) Court, Dhaka. The first information report (FIR) was filed on January 13.
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(Xinhua) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday hailed the growth of his country's arms exports, saying Russia has already become one of the world's key weapons producers. 'The consecutive annual growth of Russia's arms exports prove that Russia has become one of the leading weapon producers of the world,' he said in a congratulatory letter for the opening ceremony of an international arms fair in Nizhny Tagil, a city on the eastern flank of the Ural Mountains that is considered the home of Russia's weapons industry.
A total of 463 Russian companies, as well as those from 11 foreign nations are exhibiting hundreds of pieces of military equipment and parts in a forested range near the once-secret city located some 1,500 km east of Moscow.
I never have been able to figure the success of Russian arms exports. I'm guessing it's their price that sells them. After watching its performance in the first Gulf War, they'd have to get me into a Russian tank with a crowbar before I'd face an Abrams.
You don't buy a T-80 to go up against an Abrams, you buy a T-80 to crush your own civilian population ...
Posted by: Fred ||
07/10/2008 00:00 ||
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They have a proud tradition of keeping every miserable despot and drug running warlord supplied with quality, up-to-date weapons. Not like the chinese and their junk they peddle.
#2
up-to-date is a matter of the conjecture. Also see above US sending advanced spotting systems to the Pakis and the spokesman has to be a first cousin to this russ.
(Xinhua) -- The senate has accorded a rare standing ovation to former French-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt, who was freed recently after spending over six years in captivity, deep in the jungles of Colombia, according to official sources.
Betancourt, who visited the senate Tuesday, was received through a moving tribute marked by a long-standing ovation interspersed with claps and words of encouragement from lawmakers, said one of the senators who took part in the emotionally-charged session. 'She explained that if she had been forced to celebrate the July 14 holiday in the jungle, then she would have dressed herself in blue, white and red,' said the source, noting that she was referring to the forthcoming French national day and colors of the flag.
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#1
No Stockholm Syndrome? I'll wait until I see the FARC videos before I pronounce her a heroine.
WASHINGTON - Former White House adviser Karl Rove defied a congressional subpoena and refused to testify Thursday about allegations of political pressure at the Justice Department, including whether he influenced the prosecution of a former Democratic governor of Alabama.
Rep. Linda Sanchez, chairman of a House subcommittee, ruled with backing from fellow Democrats on the panel that Rove was breaking the law by refusing to cooperate — perhaps the first step toward holding him in contempt of Congress. Just like 91% of the population.
Lawmakers subpoenaed Rove in May in an effort to force him to talk about whether he played a role in prosecutors' decisions to pursue cases against Democrats, such as former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, or in firing federal prosecutors considered disloyal to the Bush administration.
Rove had been scheduled to appear at the House Judiciary subcommittee hearing Thursday morning. A placard with his name sat in front of an empty chair at the witness table, with a handful of protesters behind it calling for Rove to be arrested. A decision on whether to pursue contempt charges now goes to the full Judiciary Committee and ultimately to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. I'm your faaaaather, Nancy...
House Republicans called Thursday's proceedings a political stunt and said if Democrats truly wanted information they would take Rove up on an offer he made to discuss the matter informally.
The House already has voted to hold two of President Bush's confidants in contempt for failing to cooperate with its inquiry into whether the administration fired nine federal prosecutors in 2006 for political reasons. The case, involving White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers, is in federal court and may not be resolved before Bush's term ends in January. The White House has cited executive privilege, arguing that internal administration communications are confidential and that Congress cannot compel officials to testify.
Rove says he is bound to follow the White House's guidance, although he has offered to answer questions specifically on the Siegelman case — but only with no transcript taken and not under oath. Democrats have rejected the offer because the testimony would not be sworn and, they say, could create a confusing record. "Confusion"? Aw, no. Can't have that in Congress.
Rove has insisted publicly that he never tried to influence Justice Department decisions and was not even aware of the Siegelman prosecution until it landed in the news. Mr. Rove, where were you when the Hindenberg blew up?
I don't think I was even born y...
ANSWER THE QUESTION!
Siegelman — an unusually successful Democrat in a heavily Republican state — was charged with accepting and concealing a contribution to his campaign to start a state education lottery, in exchange for appointing a hospital executive to a regulatory board. He was sentenced last year to more than seven years in prison but was released in March when a federal appeals court ruled Siegelman had raised "substantial questions of fact and law" in his appeal. Hey! I'm a Democrat! They can't do that!
Right you are governor. Baliff, release him!
Siegelman and others have alleged the prosecution was pushed by GOP operatives — including Rove, a longtime Texas strategist who was heavily involved in Alabama politics before working at the White House. A former Republican campaign volunteer from Alabama told congressional attorneys last year that she overheard conversations suggesting that Rove pressed Justice officials in Washington to prosecute Siegelman. I've heard suggetions that Rove causes earthquakes and volcanos and shit...
The career prosecutors who handled Siegelman's case have insisted that Rove had nothing to do with it, emphasizing that the former governor was convicted by a jury. Oh, so he was, like, guilty? No wonder they're pissed...
#3
When the Congress is Constitutionally overreaching into the Executive branch's powers and responsibilities, yes, a subpoena can be useless.
They will file contempt charges, and then it goes to the courts.
The influencing a prosecutor stuff has already been pretty much demolished over on Powerline, months ago. Their prime witness is a habitual liar and attention whore, who will get ripped to shreds in a court hearing over the subpoena.
DAYTON, Ohio - It flew on a daring but unsuccessful raid to free U.S. POWs in North Korea in 1970. Actually it was Vietnam, but I'm sure those AP proofreaders are busy guys....
Thirty-eight years later, after subsequent tours in Bosnia and Iraq, helicopter No. 357 is being retired — with honor. The 88-foot-long special operations chopper has made its final landing at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, where it went on permanent display Monday. "It's been a busy aircraft," said museum historian Jeff Underwood. "It absolutely encompasses U.S. military history for the fourth quarter of the 20th century and carries into the first quarter of the 21st century."
No. 357 — nicknamed "Magnum" after the gun — flew for 38 years. It is the last to remain of the handful of helicopters used in the Son Tay raid in Vietnam. Its final flight was a combat mission in Iraq on March 28.
There were originally about 70 MH-53s. There are still 12 in service, but the last of those will be retired in September. The fleet will be replaced by the Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft.
The massive MH-53s were created from the HH-53s — the "Super Jolly Green Giants" — by outfitting them with new engines, rotors and skins."This is really the first real beast of a helicopter that they ever made," said Lt. Col. Shawn Henrie, aircraft commander for the helicopter's final flight in Iraq. "When this thing was developed, it was enormous."
The MH-53s were later equipped with infrared sensors, global positioning systems and terrain-avoidance radar that enabled them to fly clandestine missions at night, in bad weather and under enemy radar.
Henrie, who now flies Huey helicopters in Wyoming, said he has developed a special attachment to No. 357 and other MH-53s he's flown. "I feel like I've cut off an arm and left it behind," he said. That was echoed by Tech Sgt. Vin Depersio, flight engineer on No. 357's final flight. "We've all lived through some pretty hairy conditions. The thing that always seems to bring you back home is the '53," Depersio said. "I've crashed in one. It took care of me. Even though we crashed, it still takes care of you."
The Son Tay raid using MH-53s was an attempt to rescue more than 50 U.S. prisoners of war believed to be held at the camp in North Vietnam. Fifty-six special forces troops used a full-size mock-up of the camp at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida to train for the raid. The force took off from Thailand at night, flying low. Arriving at the camp, one helicopter destroyed the guard towers with gunfire and another made a controlled crash landing in the middle of the camp. They found that the prisoners had been moved.
The Air Force says the attack boosted the morale of POWs and prompted North Vietnam to gather POWs in fewer locations to try to better defend against such raids, making communication and organization among POWs easier. The raid also served as a model of organization, cooperation among the services and flexible execution, according to the Air Force.
Henrie was aircraft commander for a March 28 mission in Iraq. He said it was a fitting last hurrah for a helicopter with so much history. The crew inserted a team of U.S. Army and Iraqi special forces into a spot north of Baghdad. "They grabbed all the bad guys they were looking for," Henrie said.
Master Sgt. Kevin James, a flight engineer on No. 357's final mission, said he has always been impressed by the helicopter's history."You walk out to 357 and you just think about what that thing has done," James said. "And you're just like, 'Man, I can't believe I get to fly on that bird today.'"
#1
It flew on a daring but unsuccessful raid to free U.S. POWs in North Korea in 1970.
Oooo! More proof of the imperialistikkk amerikkan empire launching illegal raids into soverign nations under the aspice of humanitarian efforts! I told you Behind Enemy Lines 2 was a covert bush administration attempt to gain support of the preneocons who conducted such aggrevis...wait what was that...this is coffee not kool-aid? Well then, for professional writers they sure suck last years Easter eggs.
Seriously, an impressive record with likely more impressive crews.
The fleet will be replaced by the Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft.
I hope so, but I wouldn't let the JG's get dusty too quick.
The Church of England's vote for women bishops will be an 'obstacle' to reconciliation between Anglicans and Catholics, the Vatican has said.
The Church of England's General Synod voted in favour of consecrating women and against safeguards demanded by traditionalists opposed to the move. A Church group will now draw up a code of practice to try to reassure critics. But Roman Catholic leaders believe this goes against the will of Christ, who chose only men as his apostles.
Apostolic tradition
In a statement, Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, said: 'For the future, this decision will have consequences for dialogue, which until now had borne much fruit. Such a decision is a break with apostolic tradition maintained in all of the Churches in the first millennium, and is therefore a further obstacle for reconciliation between the Catholic Church and the Church of England.'
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#1
But Roman Catholic leaders believe this goes against the will of Christ, who chose only men as his apostles.
Not that in the patriarchal environment of the early church fathers, that Mary Magdalene would have been 'written' out of the story line even if she had been. We know what was left in the Bible. We know some of the stuff that they threw out. What we don't know is all the stuff they keep out.
Moses: The Lord, the Lord Jehovah has given unto you these fifteen...
[drops one of the tablets]
Moses: Oy! Ten! Ten commandments for all to obey! - History of the World:Part I (1981)
#2
Proc, the theology of this has been discussed for several hundred years of the ROman Catholic Church. There is simply no *Biblical* nor traditional evidence to support a change to add female appointment as priests and bishops (the apostolic successors from the original apostles), and considerable case for the opposite.
Unlike the priestly celibacy (which can be changed, and in all likelhood will be within our lifetimes), this one is non-negotiable. Christ had plenty of opportunity to designate female apostles - Mary and Martha, Mary of Magdelena, and even His own mom Mary - after all she was the first Christian (she was the first to believe His divinity).
This is another one of those things that have about 2 millinea behind it of thought, study, scholarship and tradition, and thus will not be changed in the Catholic Church (Roman and Eastern).
The Anglican Church, with civil divorce, openly practicing homosexual priests and bishops, etc, is straying ever further from the orthodox core of Christianity. This is just another step in their becoming Unitarians and completely abandoning the core of beliefs and Bible, and will eventually be leaving Christianity all together.
Thats why the (orthodox) American and African Bishops are fighting this, and will eventually schism, along with many of the US congregations.
#3
And FYI, the Red Sea Scrolls and other early manuscripts that have been recovered show that the Bible is remarkably unedited from its time in the 1st century to its canonization in the late 300's culminating in the Council of Trent and the Latin Vulgate Bible. That includes the deuterocanonical books tht have additions to Esther, the book of Judith, etc - which have prominent roles for women in positions of power, and (Daniel, the Story of Susannah) men of power misusing said power via lies to execute a woman who refused to be blackmailed into having sex ith them (and were excised by the Protestants for that reason, amongst many others).
(please note that these are NOT the same as "apocrypha", which is a term that seems to constantly be misused pejoratively by Protestants)
#4
While women were not chosen to be apostles, they were chosen by God to be prophets, or to "speak the Word of God". Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Huldah, Hannah, Abigail, Esther of the OT, and Anna, Mary, and the four unmarried daughters of Philip in the NT. In fact, Acts 2 promises that both sons daughters would prophesy in these Last Days. The only NT restriction for women in the Church is that of teaching in the assembled congregation, and Phoebe called a 'deaconess' by no less than Paul. Both Anglicans and Catholicism seem to have instituted non-biblical roles for women. Females can be rabbis is husbands and children don't prevent them from fulfilling their duties. If there is no law forbidding it, it can't be broken and therfore not sinful....it is in Christ, we have freedom.
#8
If there is no law forbidding it, it can't be broken and therfore not sinful
By the way that is extremely BAD reasoning - and poor philosophy as well as poor bilbilcan study and bad morality. You end up with nearly "anything goes" - tholgoy of that sort is what has openly practicing homosexual Bishops, gay marriage endorsing homosexual practices, and all kinds of other heterodox problems out there in the Protestant parts. Discarding centuries of biblical and tehologocal scholarship for a hip but stupid set of "feel good" reasoning is the way to destroy faith, not refine it.
The head of Total, Christophe de Margerie, told the Financial Times the company's planned development of the huge South Pars gas field in southern Iran would not go ahead.
"Today we would be taking too much political risk to invest in Iran because people will say: 'Total will do anything for money'," he said.
Total was the last major Western energy group to have seriously considered investing in the country's huge gas reserves.
Analysts say the move will be a big blow to the Iranian energy industry - it means Iran is now unlikely to significantly increase its gas exports until late into the next decade.
AP IMPACT: An American life worth less today
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON - It's not just the American dollar that's losing value. A government agency has decided that an American life isn't worth what it used to be. The "value of a statistical life" is $6.9 million in today's dollars, the Environmental Protection Agency reckoned in May -- a drop of nearly $1 million from just five years ago.
The Associated Press discovered the change after a review of cost-benefit analyses over more than a dozen years. Though it may seem like a harmless bureaucratic recalculation, the devaluation has real consequences.
When drawing up regulations, government agencies put a value on human life and then weigh the costs versus the lifesaving benefits of a proposed rule. The less a life is worth to the government, the less the need for a regulation, such as tighter restrictions on pollution.
Consider, for example, a hypothetical regulation that costs $18 billion to enforce but will prevent 2,500 deaths. At $7.8 million per person (the old figure), the lifesaving benefits outweigh the costs. But at $6.9 million per person, the rule costs more than the lives it saves, so it may not be adopted. ...and why? TA DA!
Some environmentalists accuse the Bush administration of changing the value to avoid tougher rules -- a charge the EPA denies."It appears that they're cooking the books in regards to the value of life," said S. William Becker, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, which represents state and local air pollution regulators. "Those decisions are literally a matter of life and death." He's gonna kill us all! He's a maniac! A MAAAAAAAAAANIAC!!
Dan Esty, a senior EPA policy official in the administration of the first President Bush and now director of the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, said: "It's hard to imagine that it has other than a political motivation." Look soon for my new book, "Bush Wants You Dead So He Can Eat The Meat Off Your Bones".
Agency officials say they were just following what the science told them. Well, obviously, they're lying. Or using the "wrong kind" of science.
Never could trust those shifty scientists ...
The EPA figure is not based on people's earning capacity, or their potential contributions to society, or how much they are loved and needed by their friends and family -- some of the factors used in insurance claims and wrongful-death lawsuits. Instead, economists calculate the value based on what people are willing to pay to avoid certain risks, and on how much extra employers pay their workers to take on additional risks. Most of the data is drawn from payroll statistics; some comes from opinion surveys. According to the EPA, people shouldn't think of the number as a price tag on a life.
The EPA made the changes in two steps. First, in 2004, the agency cut the estimated value of a life by 8 percent. Then, in a rule governing train and boat air pollution this May, the agency took away the normal adjustment for one year's inflation. Between the two changes, the value of a life fell 11 percent, based on today's dollar. EPA officials say the adjustment was not significant and was based on better economic studies. The reduction reflects consumer preferences, said Al McGartland, director of EPA's office of policy, economics and innovation. "It's our best estimate of what consumers are willing to pay to reduce similar risks to their own lives," McGartland said.
But EPA's cut "doesn't make sense," said Vanderbilt University economist Kip Viscusi. EPA partly based its reduction on his work. "As people become more affluent, the value of statistical lives go up as well. It has to." Viscusi also said no study has shown that Americans are less willing to pay to reduce risks.
At the same time that EPA was trimming the value of life, the Department of Transportation twice raised its life value figure. But its number is still lower than the EPA's. EPA traditionally has put the highest value on life of any government agency and still does, despite efforts by administrations to bring uniformity to that figure among all departments.
Not all of EPA uses the reduced value. The agency's water division never adopted the change and in 2006 used $8.7 million in current dollars. From 1996 to 2003, EPA kept the value of a statistical life generally around $7.8 million to $7.96 million in current dollars, according to reports analyzed by The AP. In 2004, for a major air pollution rule, the agency lowered the value to $7.15 million in current dollars. Just how the EPA came up with that figure is complicated and involves two dueling analyses.
Viscusi wrote one of those big studies, coming up with a value of $8.8 million in current dollars. The other study put the number between $2 million and $3.3 million. The co-author of that study, Laura Taylor of North Carolina State University, said her figure was lower because it emphasized differences in pay for various risky jobs, not just risky industries as a whole.
EPA took portions of each study and essentially split the difference -- a decision two of the agency's advisory boards faulted or questioned. "This sort of number-crunching is basically numerology," said Granger Morgan, chairman of EPA's Science Advisory Board and an engineering and public policy professor at Carnegie Mellon University. "This is not a scientific issue." No matter what it is, my head hurts.
Other, similar calculations by the Bush administration have proved politically explosive. In 2002, the EPA decided the value of elderly people was 38 percent less than that of people under 70. After the move became public, the agency reversed itself. Dammit, he wants to kill us all!
Soylent Green is granny and gramps!!!
#1
not confined to this report:
right now San Franfansisco is looking at a retrofit to the Golden Gate bridge to try to stop those that want to jump. The $$ amount is staggering and they are trying to determine how to defend that amount.
snark/ seems diving boards would be cheaper, and limit costs associated with clean up /end snark
The Pentagon said today that it will rebid one of its largest programs -- a $40 billion contract to build a fleet of new aerial refueling tankers for the Air Force, essentially starting from scratch on a years-delayed deal to replace the service's aging aircraft.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced today that John J. Young Jr., defense undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, will oversee the competition and he wants it done quickly. The Air Force earlier this year awarded the contract to a partnership of Northrop Grumman and European Aeronautic Defence and Space, the parent of Airbus, but rival Boeing protested the decision as unfair.
Some defense analysts said they are skeptical that the Pentagon could rebid the complicated contract before year's end, and many anticipated that it would likely get kicked to the next administration, especially given that Gates recently fired the Air Force secretary and his chief of staff after questioning their leadership.
Suggestion: when they re-bid, specify that the winner gets to build 75% of the aircraft, and the second-place finisher gets to build 25%, each at whatever price was bid. That way there's a strong incentive to win but also reason to stay in the game. The Air Force has said previously that they were going to do the tankers in three lots, so even if you lose in the first bid, you have reason to build some planes and hope to do better next time.
This would force Boeing to stay honest and allow Airbus a shot of winning.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/10/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
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#1
Shoot makes sense to me Fred. Maybe help increase the production shedule to make up lost time and have some mission diversity.
#3
When visiting airshows and talking to the brave men and women who fly the refuelers--boy they are old, old aircraft. If making it impossible for America to fight or have a useful Air Force is the goal, it's only a decade away.
Posted by: Herb Jomolet3634 ||
07/10/2008 12:52 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Gosh-darn it, we're going to rebid this until Boeing wins! I don't care how many times it takes!
#5
Not a Boeing-phile, but go back and read the RFP. The USAF screwed the pooch when they wandered from the requirements and started putting a lot of brownie points on the niceties.
And all the wanking about an old airframe; that is only a tube, the real value is in the systems; and those are top shelf. New for new's sake is what gets you Micrsoft Vista.
#8
USAF/NRO satellites? Like the one that failed to ever become operational and got popped by an SM3?
Not exactly inspiring confidence.
I hope they do this contract QUICK, and mark it for split production and subbing out.
My only beef, other than the inferior aircraft and short legs and lower cargo capacity and older design (= more maint), of the Boeing bid was their ramp is VERY slow compared to the NG/EADS delivery schedule.
We need something that's good enough to meet the specs - and we need it damned fast.
This delay isn't helping things at all, no matter what aircraft we end up with.
#9
agree OS with delay unacceptable; if Boeing hadn't poinsoned the well with tanker bid V 1.0 and tried to bribe USAF folks we would already see new birds on the ramp.
i would like to see your info re: maintenance issues, the 767 is proven and has gone thru several system upgrades, the airbust bird hardly exists. ok so it says NG on the grille, but underneath it is still airbust.
for the record: 18 of 26 years active duty was wrenching on Ironworks aircraft, so I do have a soft spot for Bethpage.
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.
Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook are trying to hash out a custody agreement during a four-hour break in their divorce trial, the Daily News has learned. Testimony is delayed until 3 p.m. while the two sides hold talks, a source said.
The Election Commission (EC) has accepted a good number of nominations filed by mayoral and councillor aspirants having criminal records. 
Detained former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar is going to be chargesheeted in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for possessing illegal wealth and concealing information about it.
The Church of England's General Synod voted in favour of consecrating women and against safeguards demanded by traditionalists opposed to the move. A Church group will now draw up a code of practice to try to reassure critics. But Roman Catholic leaders believe this goes against the will of Christ, who chose only men as his apostles.
