A hunter in Belarus was shot in the leg by a fox that he had wounded and was trying to kill.
The man was trying to finish the animal off with the butt of his rifle, but as the pair struggled the fox got its paw on the trigger of the gun and fired a shot.
Prosecutors from the Grodno region said the unnamed hunter ended up in hospital with a leg wound.
"The animal fiercely resisted and in the struggle accidentally pulled the trigger with its paw," the Telegraph quoted one prosecutor as saying. (ANI)
[Iran Press TV] In the United States a death row inmate whose execution was postponed three times has finally been put to death with a drug normally used to euthanize animals. The heart simply burns... [Urp!] Jeffrey Matthews was convicted of murdering a 77-year-old man named Otis Earl Short in a 1995 burglary. ... and here it is, only 16 years later, and we're getting around to putting him down. That should deter anybody else, by Gum.
During his time in prison, the 38-year-old had continuously fought for his freedom, claiming that he had no part in the crime. "I'm innocent, I tells yez! Y'got the wrong man!"
His support committee had also unraveled documents referring to various points of evidence that is believed to support Matthews' claims of innocence. They argued that no fingerprints, hair, nor DNA were found at the crime scene and that not even the wife of the victim saw Matthews face. On the other hand, Short's wife, Minnie, testified that Matthews and his accomplice, Tracy Lynn Dyer, broke into their house. Otis Short was shot at close range as he came out of the bedroom, and Minnie Short's throat was slit, although she lived.
However, despite the lack of proper evidence, Matthews was put to death at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. Minnie's since dead of natural causes, but she'd probably think the evidence was proper.
In his final statement, Matthews told his family he was enjoying his last moments. Enjoy them while they last, Bub.
Matthews is the second person to have been killed using the sedative pentobarbital in the US state of Oklahoma this year. On Thursday, Billy Dawn Alverson was executed for the killing of a convenience store worker in 1995.
A shortage of sodium thiopental -- an anesthetic usually used to make death row inmates unconscious just before their execution -- has forced Oklahoma to use pentobarbital. Experts argue that the use of the new sedative, which is typically used to put down animals, is inhumane since inmates could be conscious but paralyzed when the other drugs were administered. Fortunately the conscious side effect doesn't last long.
There are 3,261 death row inmates in the United States, as of January 2010, according to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, a leading US civil rights organization.
This article starring:
Jeffrey Matthews
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2011 00:00 ||
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[Emirates 24/7] German bosses can order female employees to wear bras in the workplace after a landmark legal ruling published Wednesday. Darn.
A more important question is, can they also order the women to go braless?
Inshallah!
An airport security firm took the 'bra wars' case to court in the western city of Cologne arguing it was essential "to preserve the orderly appearance of employer-provided uniforms," the local reported. No more bobble? I'll take my business elsewhere!
The court agreed bosses had the right to require female to staff to either wear undershirts or white or skin-colored bras. Even during Octoberfest?
Their demands do not violate workers' personal rights, the North Rhine-Westphalia state labor court ruled.
Officials also agreed the firm was entitled to demand staff keep their hair "clean, never worn looking unwashed or oily" and that men could only sport a well-groomed beard or be clean-shaven.
Fingernails were another source of contention, with the German court endorsing the view they should be kept shorter than half a centimeter to protect passengers from injury.
However, the company, which was not named, was knocked back in its efforts to dictate which colors employees could paint their nails.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2011 00:00 ||
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"However, the company, which was not named, was knocked back in its efforts to dictate which colors employees could paint their nails."
Well, OK then - as long as they got the really important stuff right....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/14/2011 0:06 Comments ||
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I'm sure NOW will show solidarity with their German sisters and get right on this.
[Ennahar] President Ben Ali has left Tunisia, according to sources close to the government Tunisian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi announced Friday evening on television that he assured the acting president to replace Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who left the country after 23 years in power.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2011 15:38 ||
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My bet is that an Islamist revolt is in the works. Look for a second Sudan-style leadership.
#5
There's an article in the New York Times claiming that Tunisian youth are actually angry about the sudden prosperity of former president Ben Ali's second wife's upstart family (Mrs. Ben Ali was a hairdresser before she caught the eye of the big guy), when so many can't even find jobs. Sorry, I don't have the link.
#6
A hairdresser. Surely she has other talents. They shouldn't begrudge her
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/14/2011 17:07 Comments ||
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#7
Islamists now have a new base from which to destabilize Libya and Algeria.
Mods: one of us has to ask Fred about whether either Libya or Algeria can be destabilized further than what they are now.
I suggest we send TW.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/14/2011 17:43 Comments ||
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#8
Mods: one of us has to ask Fred about whether either Libya or Algeria can be destabilized further than what they are now.
Dr. Steve, you are being very silly. Libya, at least, will be considerably less stable without that fashion plate of a colonel and his stable of girl guards, with their neckerchiefs and sashes of merit badges to match his.
#10
Mods: one of us has to ask Fred about whether either Libya or Algeria can be destabilized further than what they are now.
I suggest we send TW.
Anyone who's kept track of the Middle East (and, indeed, much of the Third World) for any length of time knows that it can always get worse. Th real problem is that when it gets worse, taxpayers from developed countries get to foot the bill, whether it's in the form of aid or increased commodity prices (due to security expenses, or the outright stoppage of production as a result of complete chaos). Zimbabwe used to be an agri-export powerhouse. Its former export markets are now buying from somebody else. We are also sending huge amounts of aid into Zimbabwe ($500M from the West alone).
ZF and TW: Libya is an absolute shithole of a country. The only reason it isn't compared to Zimbabwe -- unfavorably -- is that Qadaffy has always been better with the press. The people are repressed and miserable, there's no wealth outside of what Qadaffy steals for himself and his evil son, and everything is broken. Read Michael Totten on how bad it is.
Algeria is in the middle of terrorism and near full scale civil war. It's another cesspit. I suppose it could get worse there -- they could have plague and locusts -- but only just.
So now Tunisia goes down, and a 'moderate' government falls -- moderate because they had a little wealth, no polygamy, and no terrorism. Trapped between two shithole countries, they don't have much of a chance.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/14/2011 23:18 Comments ||
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[Arab News] Sporadic sounds of festivities and rounds of gunfire echoed in the suburbs of Tunisia's capital early Thursday as youths defied a government curfew order aimed at calming more than three weeks of riots by protesters angry about high unemployment.
Central Tunis appeared to have been spared any further festivities overnight and life appeared to be returning to normal there, La Belle France-Info radio reported, a day after tear gas and stone-throwing youth reached the government's doorstep for the first time. Police have repeatedly opened fire on protesters.
Demonstrators defying autocratic President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali have set off festivities with police as protests spread around the country, leaving at least 23 dead and shattering Tunisia's image as an island of calm in volatile North Africa.
One of those killed was a professor of computer science in La Belle France, at the University of Technology at Compiegne.
University spokeswoman Nadine Luft said Hatem Bettahar had taught there for a decade.
Bettahar had gone to vacation in Tunisia to see his mother, she said. The school board, meeting Thursday, observed a moment of silence for Bettahar, who was a French citizen, she said.
Slah Nebti, a Tunisian teacher, said Bettahar was shot to death Wednesday by police in a protest in the central city of Douz. He filmed a video of the shooting's aftermath and posted it to Facebook: It showed Bettahar lying in a pool of blood, and the crowd shouting "God is Great!" in Arabic.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2011 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Security forces and tanks have streamed to Tunisia's capital city, Tunis, as authorities try to quell mounting anti-government protests.
Security is tight in Tunisia's capital on Thursday, a day after festivities broke out between protesters and the police, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Heavy troop presence has been reported in Tunis and security forces have been taking up positions at major intersections in the city.
Eleven people were reportedly killed in festivities across Tunisia on Wednesday.
This comes shortly after a night-time curfew was imposed by the government on Wednesday.
Demonstrators have been protesting unemployment and rising food prices for almost a month.
International observers say security forces have killed more than 50 people in demonstrations in a western town over the weekend.
The government of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali sacked Interior Minister Rafik Belhaj Kacem on Wednesday and said he would investigate allegations of police's use of excessive force.
In a live address on Monday, the Tunisian president promised to create 300,000 new jobs.
If he figures out how to do that, bring him to the US...
Despite the appeasing pledge, all classes were canceled and all campuses closed on Monday to dampen huge rallies by college and high school students around the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2011 00:00 ||
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[The Nation (Nairobi)] At least one United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society police vehicle was completely burnt in Cote d'Ivoire's main city Abidjan today, a front man for the UN mission here said, with no casualties reported.
"I know at least one car has been burnt that I'm sure of. I'm waiting for information on others," Kenneth Blackman told AFP.
The destroyed car was a four-wheel-drive belonging to the UN police mission in crisis-stricken Ivory Coast, an AFP photographer said, still smouldering in the eastern Riveria II district on Thursday afternoon.
Incumbent strongman Laurent Gbagbo has called on UN troops to leave the country and his supporters have been blocking movement of the troops.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... the government of Cote d'Ivoire's internationally recognised president today rejected Gbagbo's charges that his camp was behind deadly unrest in parts of Abidjan.
"We reject these accusations," Alassane Ouattara's government front man Patrick Achi said after army chief of staff General Philippe Mangou accused his camp of orchestrating attacks on Gbagbo's Defence and Security Forces (FDS). "It's the security forces who once more have sought to provoke the peaceful population. We will not respond to these provocations," Achi told AFP.
Abidjan's Abobo and Anyama districts, bastions of Ouattara, the man the world says won November's presidential vote, were on Wednesday placed under nighttime curfew after two days of festivities in which at least 11 people died.
Gbagbo loyalist General Mangou appeared on state television late Wednesday to denounce attacks on his FDS that he said amounted to "acts of war."
"Not a day goes by that the FDS... are not the main targets of hidden individuals answering the endless calls for civil disobedience, armed insurrection and murder of all sorts made by the politicians holed up in the Golf Hotel."
Ouattara's camp has been besieged by Gbagbo's forces at Abidjan's Golf Hotel resort, where they have for weeks been protected by United Nations peacekeepers and former rebels from the New Forces.
At least 200 people have died in the stand-off pitting Gbagbo against Ouattara. The international community has demanded that incumbent Gbagbo stand down or face regional military intervention.
"What would be the interest for Ouattara's camp?" said Mr Achi. "We don't have anything against the people, or the security forces.
''We simply want the outgoing president to leave power peacefully." Mr Achi said those behind reported rocket-propelled grenade attacks on FDS in Abobo could be renegade pro-Gbagbo militias, or member of the FDS "who say they are disgusted" and "want to help and support the civilian population."
"Anything is possible, but it's nothing to do with us," he said.
Gen Mangou has said the curfew would be used to "seek and flush out everybody behind these attacks," threatening to extend the curfew to other Abidjan neighbourhoods.
Today, parts of Abidjan were under a curfew imposed by Gbagbo today, in districts loyal to his rival for the presidency, where at least 11 people have died in recent unrest.
"The districts of Abobo and Anyama are under curfew" from 7 pm to 6 am until Saturday, said a decree read out on state television.
The northern districts are home to many supporters of Ouattara, who the international community says beat incumbent Gbagbo in a November 28 presidential run-off.
At least eight police and three civilians have been killed in Abobo, which neighbours Anyama, after hundreds of Gbagbo's Defence and Security Forces (FDS) swooped on the neighbourhood before dawn on Tuesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2011 00:00 ||
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If you're so friendly and peaceful Obey the Election law.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/14/2011 12:09 Comments ||
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[El Universal] Democracy significantly moved back in 25 countries in 2010, and the democratic world did not resisted the process, Freedom House, an independent group which monitors the status of liberties, reported on Thursday.
Latin America was represented in this list by Venezuela, Mexico and Haiti.
For the fifth year in a row, Freedom House reported a setback in political rights and civil liberties in the world. "Our adversaries not only apply widespread repression, but also do it with unprecedented aggressiveness and confidence," Executive Director David J. Kramer said. "And the democratic community has not caught up with the challenge."
The survey of 194 countries and 14 territories in the world found that China, Egypt, Iran, Russia and Venezuela kept on escalating its repressive measures with little resistance of democracies.
The number of electoral democracies went down to 115, the lowest level since 1995, after peaking 123 in 2005.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2011 00:00 ||
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Republicans have made unraveling the Obama administration's climate rules one of their top priorities this year, and with the GOP-led House expected to easily pass a measure to handcuff EPA's authority, the rules' fate may be determined by how hard the agency's champions in the Senate will fight. However....
At least 56 senators -- just four short of the 60 needed to overcome a filibuster -- will most likely support measures to hamstring climate rules, and an additional eight votes may be in play this Congress. Lessee ... 56 plus eight is ...um ...carry the one ... 64!
But given the sluggish economy and the long list of moderate Senate Democrats up for reelection in 2012, "the chances are better than ever" for a vote to limit EPA's authority. However....Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) said EPA supporters are "not going to roll over and play dead. I plan to do everything in my power to ... protect the Clean Air Act." Of course you'll do everything you can to protect big government and handcuff the economy. That's why you're a Democrat.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/14/2011 08:01 ||
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Oh, the drama, the show. I cried, I laughed.
The House controls the purse strings. Just don't fund the sucker. Done. Over. No more debate.
You want funding, then get with the program. No negotiations. Just do.
#5
If I were a critter on that committe, I'd have a standing meeting every Monday morning at 8 AM & the 1st words out of my mouth would be, "So what mischief do you intend to cause this week?"
And a tour of Central Kalifornia.
The Stupid party - they should really have a 1-stop shopping link on the rep's website for this stuff.
[Al Jazeera] Barack B.O. Obama, the US president, has reversed an earlier decision to expand offshore oil exploration to the Atlantic Ocean and eastern Gulf of Mexico, but allowed deepwater drilling to continue in the part of the Gulf hit by the BP oil disaster. What with the oil glut and all, I'm surprised he didn't shut down all deepwater drilling.
The move would ban oil and gas exploration in areas such as the area of the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida, and the mid- and southern Atlantic Ocean, until at least 2017. That's to keep the price from dropping like a rock...
Drilling in the Arctic, where only one company, Shell, has applied for a permit to drill a well, would proceed with "the utmost caution," Ken Salazar, the US interior secretary, said on Wednesday. Wouldn't want to break the Arctic, y'know...
He said the policy reversal was made in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill which brought with it a stricter regulatory regime and tougher safety rules for offshore drilling. We have lots of oil, got oil coming out our national ears, so we don't need any more exploration or development...
"We have revised our initial March announcement ... to focus and expand our critical resources on areas with leases that are currently active." You can drive from New York to San Francisco on $10 worth of gas. However, The infamous However... the policy shift does not affect drilling in the central or western Gulf of Mexico, where an kaboom on BP's Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20 triggered the worst maritime oil disaster in US history. "The modified plan allows currently scheduled lease sales to proceed in the western and central Gulf of Mexico, subject to rigorous environmental analysis," the interior secretary said. "And we mean rigorous! Probably none of them will be approved!" Mixed reaction
The decision brought mixed reactions from politicians in states that were affected by the oil spill or would have seen oil rigs off their coastlines if exploration had gone ahead in the Atlantic and eastern Gulf. "Mixed," I suspect, because half the population is below average. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democratic senator, said the decision would safeguard his state's vital tourism and fishing industries, and Florida's "unique environment". ... but won't do a thing for Florida's stillborn energy production industry.
The US Chamber of Commerce criticised the B.O. regime for keeping "America's abundant oil and natural gas resources under lock and key ... ensuring that we will continue to increase our dependence on foreign oil". That's okay. We got lotsa money. We can just keep buying from Arabia forever. John Culberson, a Republican congressman from Texas, also gave the move the thumbs-down, saying it would "raise energy prices, dampen economic growth, send American jobs overseas, and inflict more pain and suffering on American consumers during these difficult economic times". But surely that'll all be made up for by Green Jobs? I mean, Green Jobs have been popping up left and right, the U.S. unemployment rate dropping so fast that some people are working two or three Green Jobs at once, keeping up with the demand and rolling in money, right?
Environmental groups, which had bitterly opposed the March decision, gave the announcement a mixed reception. Lemme guess: they don't want the itty-bitty bits that have actually been allowed to be allowed?
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) said the move "did not go far enough" because it left the door open for drilling in the Arctic and allowed seismic testing in the Atlantic, both of which could endanger fragile environments and the livelihoods of millions of Americans. Toldja so. Boy, can I call 'em! Athan Manuel, of the Sierra Club environmental group, said that while keeping drilling out of the eastern Gulf and Atlantic was a "step in the right direction ... an oil spill like the BP disaster could happen anywhere in Alaska or in the central and western Gulf where drilling is allowed." "So it shouldn't be allowed there, either. Oil comes from Arabia. Keep it that way!"
The kaboom on the Deepwater Horizon rig killed 11 workers and caused a record 4.9 million barrels, or 185 million gallons, of crude to spew into the sea, crippling the fishing and tourism industries in the Gulf coast states and causing untold damage to the region's fragile eco-system.
This article starring:
Athan Manuel
Bill Nelson
John Culberson
Natural Resources Defense Council
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2011 00:00 ||
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OPEC oil hit $100 today. High energy prices in WINTER during a recession with rising food and commodities as well as inflation in the currency. This will double dip this nation a plunge too far.
This will devastate the US on all levels, starting with the poor.
Democrats, always looking over their shoulder at the "little guy".
You enslaved the United States to un-friendly actors, and did not even "bat an eye".
You are not a President, Obama, you are a slave owner.
#4
I'm surprised he didn't shut down all deepwater drilling.
It's no longer a moratorium, but it never had to be - that was just political posturing. It IS still an effective moratorium, because I don't think they are approving new drilling permits yet. (The only active deepwater drilling I am aware of are water injection wells or sidetracks of existing wells.) While we dither, rigs, crews, support boats, services all move to Brazil or Angola, so even if our government does figure out what to approve the means to drill it anytime soon won't be there.
#5
Here is an argument that I find works well with my liberal friends (which is to say, causes them to become red-faced with anger as they search for a way to counter it) --
I first point out the potential environmental problems with drilling. They're with me on that.
I then point out that because we won't drill in our own country, we have to buy oil from elsewhere. Yes, they acknowledge that.
Which means, then, that these other countries take on all of the environmental risk. Hmmm, they don't quite know how to respond.
Especially when I sweetly ask them who they think is better at protecting the environment, the US EPA or the Nigerian EPA.
In all seriousness, the position of the progressive Democrats is just another form of modern-day imperialism: we take resources from the rest of the world and give them increasingly worthless dollars in return.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/14/2011 9:11 Comments ||
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#6
Bobby: "And these folks think they're progressive?"
You are forgetting the important, unspoken but understood clause in all Progressive beliefs: present company excluded.
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
01/14/2011 10:22 Comments ||
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#7
Oil comes from Arabia. Keep it that way!
Wonder if anyone's ever done any research as to how much Saudi money flows into the coffers of the radical-green groups...seems to me the Soddies and the Watermelons (green outside, red inside for the uninitiated) would be natural allies.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
01/14/2011 11:00 Comments ||
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#8
Steve I have had the same discussion with the same results. It works not because it is sneaky or slanderous, but because it is absolutely true.
Think the Chinese or Cubans could or would give a crap, other than an apology, if one of their rigs goes ballast up off the coast of Florida?
#9
Are the oil rigs still in the gulf? These are expensive to lie idle. Have they moved on to the highest bidder? Just asking.
The progressives could care less about the little guy other than his or her vote. They are just more hypocritical and self-righteous about things. I don't think they would have many qualms about imposing tyranny on citizens if they could. Oh, come to think of it they have: health insurance, higher taxes, higher gasoline prices, gun control, speech, broadcasting, and environmental restrictions on just about everything moving and stationary.
When I think of progressives, I tend to think of George Soros, Frances Fox Pivens, Bill Ayers. There are others. Frances Fox Piven appears to be a person advocating for the downfall of this country by any means--violence if necessary.
[Iran Press TV] The Commonwealth of Virginia is planning to file a bill under which it would begin minting its own gold and silver coins as an alternative currency to the US dollar. Doubtful anything's gonna come of it, but it would make sense if you believe in hard currency.
Virginia's Republican Delegate Bob Marshall, from Prince William County, was to ask the General Assembly to consider the idea on Wednesday when it convenes for its annual legislative session, The Washington Post reported. For that matter, it would make sense to allow anyone to mint their own coinage as long as it was up to snuff. A half ounce gold coin would be the same whether it was minted by the state of Virginia or by Joe Doaks as long as both attested to its fineness.
It is a companion bill to a proposal Marshall has already filed to establish a study committee to examine alternative currencies to that distributed by the Federal Reserve System "in the event of a major breakdown of the Federal Reserve System." How about "in anticipation of"?
The currency alternative bill intends to inject competition into the national economy of the US and oblige the federal government to change its monetary policy, which is believed to be leading to hyperinflation, Marshall said. "Many widely recognized experts predict the inevitable destruction of the Federal Reserve System's currency through hyperinflation in the foreseeable future," the bill says. That's because the dollar's now tied to printer's ink, rather than silver or gold.
"State legislatures have to get a little more creative and savvy to counter the buffoonery that's been plaguing Washington," Marshall noted. "We want to provide competition and some restraint on the profligates that have been running the Federal Reserve and the people in Congress who don't know the word 'no'," he stated.
Marshall's critique reflects that of the populist, libertarian Tea Party movement of the US, some members of which have called for an end to the Federal Reserve System.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2011 00:00 ||
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"Marshall's critique reflects that of the populist, libertarian Tea Party movement of the US, some members of which have called for an end to the Federal Reserve System."
Typical news story - just the facts, no editorializing. /sarc
As for the minting our own Confederate Dollars, I haven't seen a bill about it, although the study commission bill is true (here's the summary):
"HJ 557 Alternative currency; subcommittee to study whether should adopt if breakdown of Federal Reserve.
Introduced by: Robert G. Marshall
SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: Study; adoption of an alternative currency; report. Establishes a joint subcommittee to study whether the Commonwealth should adopt a currency to serve as an alternative to the currency distributed by Federal Reserve System in the event of a major breakdown of the Federal Reserve System.
Bob appears to like tilting at windmills - here's another of his bills:
"HB 1398 Carbon dioxide emissions; defers USEPA enforcement of any standards or cap and trade provisions.
Introduced by: Robert G. Marshall
SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: Air pollution emissions. Defers to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the enforcement of any carbon dioxide standards or cap and trade provisions that are included in the federal Clean Air Act. The Governor through an executive order or the General Assembly is prohibited from enforcing any climate change international agreement until such agreement is part of an international treaty that has been approved by the U.S. Senate. The bill requires the Governor, in consultation with the Attorney General, to examine these provisions and determine whether Congress has the authority to enact mandates upon the state. The Governor is to report his findings to the General Assembly. The bill authorizes the Attorney General to bring an action against the EPA if he finds that the mandated standards are based on a finding that is not scientifically demonstrated."
Go, Bob, go! :-D
Be interesting to see if this gets passed - the Dems hold the Senate by a couple of votes (the House of Delegates has been held by Repubs for some years).
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/14/2011 0:26 Comments ||
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#2
Oh, for goodness sake. The reason kings started stamping their faces on coins throughout the ancient world was to guarantee the weight and purity of gold, silver and copper coins, because private producers had taken to shaving coins and diluting the metals, causing inflation. Then, as their expenses expanded, the kings took to debasing their own coinage in the same way, leading to inflation, war, and being conquered because they couldn't afford to pay the army. And the occasional flood, famine, or plague led to scarcities and inflation as demand for food or labour exceeded supply.
#4
Instead of minting metal money (government or private), how about printing scrip backed by commodities? Soybucks, printed by ConAgra, or Petrobucks, printed by Exxon, etc?
#5
TW, kings did the same -- check out the debasement of currency in the later Roman Empire, the Habsburg dynasty and the last several Louis' of France.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/14/2011 9:13 Comments ||
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No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.
The lawyers, both accredited and unaccredited, will now declare day night and night day with their rhetoric.
#8
I thought this was one of the original powers in the Constitution which explicitly names something states cannot do, as PSK notes.
California's (proposed or now using?) IOU's I think would also fall into this category. Local chamber of commerce bucks I have also scratched my head about, even the true legality of school bucks.
I do understand the idea though (if true), heard some guy the other day suggest that CA should approach the federal reserve for a loan of sorts since it is not actually part of the government and therefore not a bailout...lots of head scratching on that one.
#11
I'll take $1,000.00 in those coins, whether or not they're valid currency, the coins have both historical and Metal Value.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/14/2011 12:28 Comments ||
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#12
Yokay-y-y, I'll bite, how is this going to work iff the HISTORY CHANNEL says THE LOST CONFEDERATE/REBEL GOLD [US Civil War] HASN'T BEEN FOUND YET!?
#13
glenmore: I think it's a superb idea for States to issue scrip if the dollar becomes unstable.
First of all, it would concentrate dollars at the State level, so that the State could use them to procure essential items not made in the State. Dollars would still be available, so that consumers could choose whether dollars or scrip were more stable. As such, scrip would have a stabilizing effect on dollars.
The State could back its scrip with a whole assortment of commodities, with buy-in from State producers.
And the scrip itself would be very controlled, to the point where scrip bills would be registered to their owner, by having their reverse covered with encrypted dot matrix bar code. It is a public domain bar code, and its readers are common. Scrip printed cheap on plain paper.
To spend say $20 in scrip, the retailer would just scan your bill, connecting by phone to the issuing authority that would confirm the value of the bill. Then the owner would enter his PIN to confirm the transfer.
#16
good point - we'll see this year. I was fooled once...twice?.....eh...
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/14/2011 22:33 Comments ||
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#17
Missouri did that to me two years ago, delaying my return. Last year I filed early to avoid the 'delay'. I will do the same this year for a lesser extent, but expect to owe next year rather than have a 'rebate' of my own money.
Politicians, if they are not on your back, they are in your pockets.
Andrei Sitov, a reporter for official Russia news agency ITAR-TASS, argued that the "quote-unquote freedom of the deranged mind to react violently: It is also America." Well, yeah.
It's called a tradeoff, Andrei. Something that liberals may never fully come to grips with, either.
Yes, you may be able to diminish it to some degree with minor "restrictions" to freedoms, but once you've gone past the knee in the curve, you've gone too far.
It's easy for anyone to see the bad, but unless the hidden good comes with a tag on it for all to see, not everyone will understand let alone accept the tradeoff.
Too bad we had Gibbs there at the mic instead of someone who gets it.
#1
Gibbs should have said: "We are a gun toting nation. Russia shouldn't get any ideas just because we signed the woozie START Treaty! It don't mean nothin."
Defense officials say the original cost estimates have now doubled to make each plane's price tag reach some 92 million dollars. My. $92M would sure buy a bunch of UAVs, now wouldn't they.
Private analysts say the whole F-35 program is becoming a money pit. I hope we didn't pay these geniuses for this analysis.
"The incredibly unfortunate phrase 'too big to fail' applies to this aircraft more than any other defense program," said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace industry analyst with the Teal Group. I'd say it's already a failure.
"It's difficult to think of a civil or military program in the past decade that hasn't experienced similar delays and cost overruns." So those aren't just Oscar-winning well-practiced looks of astonishment then?
Another place to cut back that useless defense budget.
I read a couple of months ago the first B-17 (Boeing Model 299 test aircraft) was too complicated for one man to fly. The first flight crashed because the pilot forgot to release the ground-lock on the rudder and elevator.
Then someone dreamed up a pre-flight checklist, and technology moved on.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/14/2011 6:37 Comments ||
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Posted by: Bobby ||
01/14/2011 6:41 Comments ||
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#3
It is indeed becoming a money pit, and I don't know why. Are we gold-plating the sucker, or are there other problems in development we don't know about?
For the kind of money our own military wants to spend on it, however, we could buy a couple hundred more F22s and make up the volume on F18Es. The latter may not be as 'good' as an F35 but it's comparatively cheap, and it's on the assembly line right now.
If we did that, of course, our allies who have invested in the F35 program would go nuts. We'd probably have to sell F22s to Japan, Australia and Israel, which would bring the unit price down -- hmm ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/14/2011 9:17 Comments ||
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#4
I'm under the strong impression that most of the problems are related to the STOVL variant and that it's basically dragging the other two variants down.
#5
You won't hear that from many people because now that we have so much money invested in it, and it's the only stealth aircraft program we have _now_, they're going the route that the only thing to do is cancel it and start over from scratch. Which gives us nothing.
The day _after_ the F-22 was cancelled and the F-35 was it, it started being described as the worst thing since the Brewster Buffalo. Which I think is an exaggeration.
#6
I suspect the $ 92 million isn't incremental flyaway costs. They always use total sunk costs and pretend to be quoting flyaway costs when they want to cancel a program and start over.
#8
Part of the problem is that the manufacturing tlerances are exceedingly tight and industry cannot meet them without huge costs ( either up front or in the MRB proces) The goal was to have a 'Lego-Like' aircraft that just snaps together, rather than the traditional hand work that previous aircraft assembly methods have enjoyed. JIT or one part flow is also invoked and while it removes the storage cost of extra assets, it does add to part set up time. with 3 variants being built at the same time, and in no particular sequence this can add a lot of cost upstream.
#9
Thing from Snowy Mountain,
I thought the F-35 was a lemon before the F-22 was cancelled. It was tremendously expensive before the costs went up, and its payload and performance kept getting cut "to bring costs down".
I thought at the time that we should keep the F-22 (which is a real game changer) and cancel the F-35. What we did was pure madness.
The other thing we need to ask is why we have to build everything stealthy. We are fighting against an enemy that thinks the earth is flat.
I think a mix of stealthy/nonstealthy weapon systems would be better. It would present the enemy with a wider range of threats and allows us to have airplanes for the bucks.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
01/14/2011 12:06 Comments ||
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#10
British discuss deployment of F-35B on their new Aircraft Carriers
#11
"The other thing we need to ask is why we have to build everything stealthy. We are fighting against an enemy that thinks the earth is flat."
Al, keep in mind that most of our civilian (and some military) electronics are made in China. And their theft of our Stealth tech is huge and ongoing. Don't forget the did first flight of their J-20 Stealth 2 days ago during Gates visit to China. Calling everyone stupid is not realistic and doesn't win wars. China hasn't spent itself into bankruptcy and has money to spent on new military tech.
#12
"The other thing we need to ask is why we have to build everything stealthy. We are fighting against an enemy that thinks the earth is flat."
Al, keep in mind that most of our civilian (and some military) electronics are made in China. And their theft of our Stealth tech is huge and ongoing. Don't forget the did first flight of their J-20 Stealth 2 days ago during Gates visit to China. Calling everyone stupid is not realistic and doesn't win wars. China hasn't spent itself into bankruptcy and has money to spent on new military tech.
#14
Any time the number of aircraft purchased is reduced, the per copy price will go up. The development cost is the same regardless of how many are produced so if you produce fewer copies, that cost must be split across fewer aircraft making each aircraft cost include a larger percentage of the development cost.
We are soon going to get to a point where our government probably won't be able to develop anything at all.
#16
Was reading an article in Road & Track during lunch today that dealt with "forged composites" They offer a way to lower costs involved with anything built with carbon fiber. Supposed to be able to work to +/- .001" but I take that with a certain grain of salt.
#18
Reality check: why is an STOL version needed at all other than the vanity of the USMC, and to placate the Brits who no longer have a real aircraft carrier. Dump the STOL, and produce a regular and a navalized version. Put the savings into more F-22s and some UAVs.
Posted by: No I am The Other Beldar ||
01/14/2011 16:57 Comments ||
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#19
NS, I believe one of Augustine's Laws was/is that based upon cost projections sometime in the future the US will only be able to buy one aircraft which will then be shared by the Air Force and the Navy on alternating days, with the Marines getting it on Leap Day.
#20
Correctimundo, P2K. And he has a frightening graph that pretty much proves it. The book was written, what, 30 years ago, and it's right on track.
That's why new technologies, like UAVs emerge as low cost alternatives to the bloated end of technology life cycle behemoths. Can you imagine a 50" crt?
* WAFF > THE TELEGRAPH: "BRITAIN MAY LOSE ITS TANKS". Britannia, fka "Gem of the Ocean", could realitically one day be defended by as few as 50 CHALLENGER II MBTS, ETC, OR LESS???
IIUC, the Brits will have no choice but to seek closer closer MILPOL COOPERATION + INTEGRATION WID ITS EU BRETHREN, PARTICULARLY FRANCE + RUSSO-GERMANY???
#22
One thing that has always irritated me about the accounting is that they roll the development cost into the production costs. Once we have budgeted for 175 aircraft, its false to imply that the per-plane cost of the first batch (with the development costs rolled in) will then be the per-plane cost of any additional planes.
We need the truth: This plane cost X to develop, and each airframe built and delivered has a price has a price of Y. Now that we have paid the development and production setup cost of X, how many of the planes do we wish to buy at Y?
#23
They don't want the truth. They want to spend fifty billion building an assembly line for the F-35, then run off a half dozen prototypes and declare it a failure and shut it down. It's a way of phrasing the argument so that we're essentially disarmed.
#24
OldSpook is right on this. Combining development cost into the acquisition cost is crazy. But that is not the real problem.
The real problem is that actually buying stuff is expensive. Developing stuff and studying stuff is cheap. The Marine's amphibious vehicle, the Army's FCS, and the Air Force's F-35 are development programs that are ready for production NOW.
The administration is unwilling to spend real money on procurement NOW. So those programs are canceled NOW. And that decision is probably reasonable given that there is no threat right NOW.
Don't lose faith happy warriors. The F-35 is a good design, but we don't need it NOW. F-18s and F-15 Stealths will do the job for NOW. Buy some of them NOW.
It is time to start development on F-36's and B-3's NOW. We can buy them later, when we need them.
[Emirates 24/7] A group of Arab researchers have made a scientific breakthrough by developing a medical formula for treating cancer extracting from camel's immune system, Dr Abdalla A Alnajjar, President of Arab Science and Technology Foundation, announced.
Alnajjar told reporters on Tuesday the team of researchers had commenced its project in 2008 and reached wonderful results at the international level.
"The medicine, a combination of camel's milk and urine, has been tested on experimental mice and will be tested on human beings," he said.
He added that experiments had started at Sharjah University and completed at the cancer institute in Baghdad.
"The new medicine was registered with the UK Patents Office last February," he said.
Citing studies by the Union for International Cancer Control, he said about 16 million people will be infected with the killer disease by 2010 with 50 per cent of cases in the developing world. Cancer kills six million people every year in the world.
According to the Arab Cancer Control Association, cancer is the second cause of death in the Arab World after heart and communicable diseases. Infection has reached alarming rates with 100-150 cases per 100,000 people, an increase of 213 per cent per annum.
Sabah Jassim, head of the team at Arab Biotechnology Company (ABC), said the team found that the camel's immune system was rejuvenating itself every time they took samples of milk and urine, making its one of the strongest immune systems.
He said the researcher had reprogrammed the immune system to accept certain chain of foods and the results were amazing.
According to him the formula treats Leukaemia (blood cancer) and can be developed to cure other types of cancer infecting lung, liver and breast. He added that experiments conducted on mice had proven 100 per cent success.
"The lab mice that have been injected with the new drug since six months are still live and their behaviour are natural like the healthy ones. The new remedy carries smart cells that can attacks poisonous substance in the cancerous cells without producing any side effects," he elaborated.
The experiments were conducted in camels at the farm owned by UAE citizen Saeed Mattar bin Dalmouk Al Kitbi in Sharjah.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2011 00:00 ||
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#3
Boy! Think what it'll do to bacteria and viruses! They won't need any more of that suspicious western medicine, that the juice tamper with so as to dampen their manhoodliness.
Izzat 50-50, milk and urine, or 60-40?
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/14/2011 6:31 Comments ||
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Narrated Anas:The climate of Medina did not suit some people, so the Prophet ordered them to follow his shepherd, i.e. his camels, and drink their milk and urine (as a medicine). So they followed the shepherd that is the camels and drank their milk and urine till their bodies became healthy. Then they killed the shepherd and drove away the camels. When the news reached the Prophet he sent some people in their pursuit. When they were brought, he cut their hands and feet and their eyes were branded with heated pieces of iron.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
01/14/2011 10:19 Comments ||
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#8
Get these guys a space station and a chocolate factory.
Registere at the UK Patent Office, you mean nobody else had thought of drinking camel piss, I'm shocked.
#9
I remember My father saying "Cleaner than a Hound's tooth" hen I asked what that meant, he told me that as dogs Bodies ha a different "Operating Temperature" than humans they could not either catch human diseases, or Give us Humans any dog diseses.
Sounds like Camels also have a different temperature.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/14/2011 13:03 Comments ||
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#10
Talk about the camel's nose under the tent ...
(AFP) NASA this week told Congress it cannot afford to build a new heavy-lift rocket and spacecraft to replace the retiring space shuttle programme within the current budget approved by Congress. Somehow I suspected that...
Lawmakers from the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation shot back that the plan is not optional and that the US space agency must find a way to devise a workable plan. "Well, take up a collection or something! Hold a bake sale!"
"The production of a heavy-lift rocket and capsule is not optional. It's the law," said a joint statement issued late yesterday by Senators John Rockefeller, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Bill Nelson and David Vitter. "... whether we give you the money to do it or not!"
"NASA must use its decades of space know-how and billions of dollars in previous investments to come up with a concept that works. We believe it can be done affordably and efficiently -- and, it must be a priority.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
"The production of a heavy-lift rocket and capsule is not optional. It's the law," said a joint statement issued late yesterday by Senators John Rockefeller, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Bill Nelson and David Vitter.
And once again the US government does a fine impression of Book I of Atlas Shrugged.
#4
Can't have a Bake Sale. The Safety in Foods Act prohibits people who do not have the required Licenses and Permits from selling or giving away food.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/14/2011 7:53 Comments ||
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#7
This is my memory. Back when the Shuttle program was in budget problems in the 70s, they took the overrun money from DoD above what had already been allocated from Defense to cover recon and communication satellite launches [how did that work out?]. This is while my married troops were qualified for food stamps and living in ghetto quality government housing. Kept the engineers, scientists, administrators, and contractors in a manner they wanted to be accustom to. Post me the smallest violin in the world.
#10
I remember reading that the first lift to 100yards consumed the most fuel.
AND i remember reading about using helium Balloons to lift rockets into the stratosphere before firimg.
SEEMS to me That combining these ideas will allow heavy lifters and light(er) Weight at the same time.
Yup I read Science fiction,(Hard science) not the crap today where vampires and horror is labeled SF.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/14/2011 12:54 Comments ||
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#11
Why not buy one from spaceX or United Launch?
The idiots have already spent 40 billion on a capsule with no mock up or launcher to show....
Posted by: Water Modem ||
01/14/2011 14:48 Comments ||
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#14
NASA has overplayed its hand. It has more proportional fat than does Manuel Uribe, and strictly obeys Bureaucrat Rule #1, "When threatened with budget cuts, cut the meat and leave the fat."
For example, while NASA has only 18,000 employees, if you add all the pricey subcontractors it uses, that number is about 300,000. This is because they are limited in the number of actual employees they have, but subcontractors are paid from its operational budget.
So it has an immense janitorial maintenance subcontract staff, all of whom are SEIU, btw. Every single union in the US gets full pay from NASA, even in Right to Work States.
[Straits Times] CAMBODIA'S UN-backed genocide tribunal has refused to drop indictments against four former senior members of the Khmer Rouge, rejecting their appeals.
The tribunal says Nuon Chea, the Khmer Rouge's chief ideologist; Khieu Samphan, its head of state; Ieng Sary, its foreign minister; and his wife Ieng Thirith, who was minister for social affairs, were ordered on Thursday to be sent for trial. Court officials have suggested the trial would start midyear.
Charges against the four include crimes against humanity, genocide, war crimes and murder, torture and religious persecution.
An estimated 1.7 million people died under the Khmer Rouge's rule in the late 1970s.
The regime's chief jailer was convicted last year of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2011 00:00 ||
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The Council on American-Islamic Relations said it will remove a poster from the group's website promoting an upcoming conference that encourages people not to talk to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
#2
Righthaven's implicit threat to sue me merely because I exercise my right of free speech, and for the transparent purpose of unjustly enriching Righthaven rather then enforcing the law, has caused me great pain and suffering. I am quite confident that I can identify at least five doctors who will testify that my suffering is on the order of being ripped apart by rabid badgers; and at least two psychiatrists who will swear that I'm much crazier than I used to be.
Posted by: Matt ||
01/14/2011 17:16 Comments ||
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#3
Wasn't clear from the article how they identified individual commenters.
Does make me wonder if individual commenters could indeed get some shelter from the DMCA registration provision.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/14/2011 17:31 Comments ||
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#4
waiting for them to sue an alquada terrorist posting some copyrighted stuff...
crickets chirping... more crickets.... more crickets....
Posted by: Water Modem ||
01/14/2011 17:51 Comments ||
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#5
They are really trying to bring back vigilante justice, aren't they?
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.
[Iran Press TV] In the United States a death row inmate whose execution was postponed three times has finally been put to death with a drug normally used to euthanize animals.
[Arab News] Sporadic sounds of 
[Iran Press TV] Security forces and tanks have streamed to Tunisia's capital city, Tunis, as authorities try to quell mounting anti-government protests.
[The Nation (Nairobi)] At least one 
[El Universal] Democracy significantly moved back in 25 countries in 2010, and the democratic world did not resisted the process, Freedom House, an independent group which monitors the status of liberties, reported on Thursday. 
[Al Jazeera] 
[Iran Press TV] The Commonwealth of Virginia is planning to file a bill under which it would begin minting its own gold and silver coins as an alternative currency to the US dollar.
Defense officials say the original cost estimates have now doubled to make each plane's price tag reach some 92 million dollars.
A group of Arab researchers have made a scientific breakthrough by developing a medical formula for treating cancer extracting from camel's immune system, Dr Abdalla A Alnajjar, President of Arab Science and Technology Foundation, announced.
(AFP) NASA this week told Congress it cannot afford to build a new heavy-lift rocket and spacecraft to replace the retiring space shuttle programme within the current budget approved by Congress.
[Straits Times] CAMBODIA'S UN-backed genocide tribunal has refused to drop indictments against four former senior members of the Khmer Rouge, rejecting their appeals.
