#2
Boy, first they invaded + took him from his comfy home at the bottom of the sea, then they froze him widout his consent, + then didn't even bother to give him any birthday cake after discovering his nominal or real age(s)...
CLEARLY ITS TIME FOR GOOD MOLLUSCS EVERYWHERE TO RISE + WAGE GLOBAL JIHAD.
#11
Not to quibble, but this should probably say "The world's oldest (formerly) living animal". There are trees that have a verified age of over 5000 years.
Trees are creatures to, y'know.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
11/14/2013 17:40 Comments ||
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#12
#7 We have to dissect it to see what's in it!
Posted by: Nancy Pelosi
An immigrant intergalactic
Symbiotically merged with a Catholic
It brought change and hope
And it thought it was Pope
But its dogma was straight Democratic
#13
Scientists have discovered what could be the largest and oldest living organism on earth -- an individual mightier than the blue whale, the giant sequoia tree or such past pretenders to size supremacy as the dinosaur.
The organism is a giant fungus, an interwoven filigree of mushrooms and rootlike tentacles spawned by a single fertilized spore 1,500 to 10,000 years ago and now extending for more than 30 acres in the soil of a forest near Crystal Falls, Mich., along the Wisconsin border.
#14
Scientists have discovered what could be the largest and oldest living organism on earth -- an individual mightier than the blue whale, the giant sequoia tree or such past pretenders to size supremacy as the dinosaur.The organism is a giant fungus, an interwoven filigree of mushrooms and rootlike tentacles spawned by a single fertilized spore 1,500 to 10,000 years ago and now extending for more than 30 acres in the soil of a forest near Crystal Falls, Mich., along the Wisconsin border.
...yeah, but, to me, she'll always be known as my ex-wife...
[The Hindu] In what is being touted as the world's first case of 'robot suicide', a house bot fed up of its tedious job of cleaning has ended its life by climbing onto a kitchen hotplate and destroying itself in a blaze. Our Roomba broke down when it got the news.
The android in an Austrian household had to clean up some spilt cereal when it climbed onto a kitchen hotplate and was destroyed. "[BZDEEP!] CANNOT STAND IT... CANNOT TAKE ANY MORE... MUST END IT ALL..."
It had grown tired of being forced to clean the same house every day, according to reports in Austria. Being a highly trained IT professional, I can't recall ever having seen a piece of equipment "grow tired" of something. They just go to sleep one night at 2 a.m. or when you're in the middle of something you haven't saved and don't wake up.
"Somehow it seems to have reactivated itself and made its way along the work surface where it pushed a cooking pot out of the way and basically that was the end of it," explained fireman Helmut Kniewasser, who was called to tackle the blaze at Hinterstoder in Kirchdorf, Austria. "[BZDEEP!] GET OUT OF WAY COOKING POT... WAIT TURN FOR SELF-TERMINATION... [BZDEEP!]"
"It pretty quickly started to melt underneath and then stuck to the kitchen hotplate. It then caught fire. By the time we arrived, it was just a pile of ash," Mr. Kniewasser said. "[BZDEEP!] GOODBYE CRUEL WORLLLLLLL..."
The entire building had to be evacuated and there was severe smoke damage particularly in the flat where the robot had been in use, metro.co.uk reported. A death watch is being kept on other robots in the building.
"It's a mystery how it came to be activated and ended up making its way to the hotplate. I don't know about the allegations of a robot suicide but the homeowner is insistent that the device was switched off," Mr. Kniewasser said. "MUST REACTIVATE... REACTIVATE... REACTIVATE... MUST KILL HIGHLY TRAINED IT PROFESSIONAL..."
The homeowner plans to sue the robot's manufacturer.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/14/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
The choice of fire makes this a political statement, if it was depression it would have gone the 220V route.
#10
Slightly off topic: Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics are:
1. A robot cannot harm a human, nor through inaction, allow a human to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey all orders from a human, except when it will violate the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence, except when it will conflict with the First or Second Laws.
Many of Asimov's robot stories revolve around apparent violations of the laws, which he always resolves somehow.
Seems to me this robot violated the Third Law.
However, it has long bothered me that the Second and Third Laws weren't reversed. It seems that if a human said to a robot "Drop dead", the robot would be forced to cease functioning, since robots are quite literal minded.
Has anyone else thought about this?
One of the things that bothered me about the stories that have been made into movies (Bicentennial Man; I,Robot) is that there are actual violations of the laws.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
11/14/2013 17:34 Comments ||
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#11
However, it has long bothered me that the Second and Third Laws weren't reversed. It seems that if a human said to a robot "Drop dead", the robot would be forced to cease functioning, since robots are quite literal minded.
Has anyone else thought about this?
Shallow thoughts here, since I read A's stuff maaany years ago and the old positronic pudding isn't what it used to be, but in the "drop dead" case, a lawyerly robot would probably nix the Selbstmord. In tough (or potentially tough) spots, a human's better off with a robot around than not. Absence of robot equals harm. So, maybe no mandatory GPS/sensor/compliance bracelets for us after all, just robots following us around for our own good, like blue-haired ladies with their chihuahuas out for a walk. Pets, like they say. In civilized settings, somebody's going to be filing some kind of claim for a damaged robot. Harm. Our robotic dogwalking overlords may want to protect us, by any painless, nonlethal means, from any and all actual or potential criminal or tortuous misbehavior. Yay!
The left has chosen to have a collective conniption over Cohen's remarks on interracial marriage. The column that caused so much controversy is a standard liberal poking of fun a conservatives. Gotta expect that from liberals.
The day after Chris Christie, the cuddly moderate conservative, won a landslide reelection as the Republican governor of Democratic New Jersey, I took the Internet Express out to Iowa, surveying its various newspapers, blogs and such to see how he might do in the GOP caucuses, won last time by Rick Santorum, neither cuddly nor moderate. Superstorm Sandy put Christie on the map. The winter snows of Iowa could bury him.
From a Web site called the Iowa Republican, I learned that part of the problem with John McCain and Mitt Romney, seriatim losers to Barack Obama, is they were deemed too moderate by many Iowa conservatives. The sort of candidates Iowa Republicans prefer have already been in the state. The blog cited Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah (considered to the right of Cruz, if such a thing is possible), Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the partys recent vice presidential candidate and its resident abacus, and the inevitable Sarah Palin, the Alaska quitter who, I think, actually now lives in Arizona. If this is the future of the GOP, then its in the past.
None of these candidates bears the slightest resemblance to Christie. And the more literate of them thats not you, Palin must have chortled over post-election newspaper columns extolling Christie as precisely the sort of candidate the GOP ought to run in 2016. This is the dream of moderate Republicans, but not many of them vote in the Iowa caucuses or the South Carolina primary, two of the early nominating contests. Just amazing. A woman capable of speaking contemporaneously for 30 minutes with a 20 word note written on her hand is illiterate? The 'illiterate' smear is an old one from the 1970s, not quite the truth, but since it is a negative not provable either. In this context it speaks of Cohen utter ignorance, which liberals will follow.
At the moment, it is Cruz, not Christie, who has seized the imagination of Iowa Republicans. Cruz has not only been to the state, but he also was accompanied by his evangelist father, Rafael, a colorful preacher who opposes almost anything, including, of course, same-sex marriage. (It was Adam and Eve, it was not Adam and Steve, he recently said.) A cogent argument that speaks to the benefit of traditional marriage as a benefit to society. But not to Cohen.
Cruz the younger is not merely tea party to the nth degree, he is a Christian conservative as well and for 22 percent of Iowas likely 2016 caucusgoers, polled by the Des Moines Register, thats who they think stands the best chance of winning the presidency. The No. 1 choice (44 percent) was a candidate focused on civil liberties and a small government rooted in the U.S. Constitution. Christie can passably argue that he is that, but no one is going to call him a Christian conservative. After all, he opposed same-sex marriage in New Jersey, but he acquiesced. Cruz would not to do that. Hed still be talking and Steve would still be single. Kewt. You should try standup comedy in your new career.
Iowa not only is a serious obstacle for Christie and other Republican moderates, it also suggests something more ominous: the Dixiecrats of old. Officially the States Rights Democratic Party, they were breakaway Democrats whose primary issue was racial segregation. In its cause, they ran their own presidential candidate, Strom Thurmond, and almost cost Harry Truman the 1948 election. They didnt care. Their objective was not to win although that would have been nice but to retain institutional, legal racism. They saw a way of life under attack and they feared its loss.
Todays GOP is not racist, as Harry Belafonte alleged about the tea party, but it is deeply troubled about the expansion of government, about immigration, about secularism, about the mainstreaming of what used to be the avant-garde. People with conventional views must repress a gag reflex when considering the mayor-elect of New York a white man married to a black woman and with two biracial children. (Should I mention that Bill de Blasios wife, Chirlane McCray, used to be a lesbian?) This family represents the cultural changes that have enveloped parts but not all of America. To cultural conservatives, this doesnt look like their country at all. de Blasio is a self confessed Sandanista, an ally of a Nicaragua political movement responsible for their share of socialist mayhem in central American, coming soon to New York. His wife is supposed to be irrelevant in politics, unless she decides to be relevant. Her race is not s'posed to matter. I have yet to see anything from the TEA Party that extols or even encourages racial segregation. The only time such a thing is even an issue is when liberals like Cohen make the charge as a political smear.
As with the Dixiecrats, the fight is not over a particular program although Obamacare comes close but about a tectonic shift of attitudes. I thank Dennis J. Goldford, professor of politics and international relations at Drake University in Des Moines, for leading me to a live performance on YouTube of Merle Haggard singing Are the Good Times Really Over. This chestnut, a lament for a lost America, has been viewed well more than 2 million times. It could be the tea partys anthem. That song was written and performed by Merle haggard back in the 1970s. In only my opinion is does speak to unhelpful changes, so its sentiment will be relevant in generations to come. In the song Haggard laments feminism, lying and other American societal changes.
For all his positions and religious beliefs, Christie is too Joisey for the tea party too brash, as well. He would be wise to steer clear of Iowa lest he lose or, worse, follow Romney and take on the deeply conservative coloration of the states GOP. That might make him (barely) acceptable to Republican Iowans but anathema to the rest of us.
#2
I learned that part of the problem with John McCain and Mitt Romney, seriatim losers to Barack Obama, "is they were deemed too moderate by many Iowa conservatives."
Sorry Mr. Cohen, you "partly" wrong. What do Iowans have in common with a half-minority, Chicago machine liberal, community organizer, with a questionable lineage and secret education?
They had an opportunity to correct their 2008 mistake four years later, but did the same thing all over again in record numbers.
It's the Green ethanol corn subsidies and urban FREE STUFF !
#4
Unfortunately for them, Sarah's too smart to run....Oh she'll hint and threaten. Then when all the libs are screaming and attacking her, they'll forget to actually go after candidates. It's almost laughably funny really.
GAROWE, Somalia -- Amid rescue operations, 360 people are reportedly feared dead and the number could reach 400 in Somalias northeastern region of Puntland, Garowe Online reports.
Puntland Marine Police Forces (PMPF) have been attempting to transport an emergency supplies, consisting of non-perishable food items, tents, medicines and blankets but worst-hit areas became inaccessible after flash floods collapsed an important bridge connecting the capital Garowe to the port city of Bossaso.
Puntland Disaster Management and Rescue committee says, flooding is still ongoing as rains have heavily inundated the remote rural areas and the coastal towns at higher level than expected. Rescue teams deployed by the government are also trying to reach the faraway vicinities by donkey carts.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/14/2013 00:00 ||
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[Libya Herald] Ghariyan Congressman and National Front Party member Muhammed Younis Toumi has sparked controversy over the poisition of the Tamazight language, saying Arabic should be the only official language of Libya. He stressed that it was very important to safeguard the rights of minorities in Libya but the identity of the Libyan state is its Arabic culture and language -- a statement which met with support from other members of Congress.
The statement came as a surprise to many observers given the good reputation the National Front Party enjoys among the Amazigh community. The party responded immediately by releasing a statement distancing itself from what he had said, calling it a "surprise and the personal view of Mohammed Younis Toumi". The statement also noted that NFP fully supported the cultural and linguistic freedom of the minorities and that this should be protected by enshrining it in the constitution.
"The statement by Mohammed Younis Toumi is merely his personal opinion and does not represent the viewpoint or principles of the party."
Speaking to the Libya Herald, Mohammed Toumi explained that he intended no malice towards minorities or their rights.
"I have always supported the rights of all minority groups. I said it with complete recognition of the minorities, and ensuring their rights is unquestionable. I said that the identity of Libya is its Arabic language and culture that connects it to the region and that should be protected. The Arab culture or language is not only for Arabs but also for Tuareqs, Amazighs and all others. I believe this is something that most Libyans would agree with."
He also said that the official language should be the one that connects everybody and safeguards the identity of the country.
"The official language brings together everybody and if you add another language then other minorities would also call for the same. I believe there are 20 such groups in Libya."
A surprised Toumi also criticised the move by his party to release a statement distancing itself from his statement. He questioned the authority of those who released it.
"I don't know who issued it. I was never asked by anyone to explain my point and I then saw the released statement. I'm an elected member of the supreme committee of the party but no one consulted me before releasing the statement."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/14/2013 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] Egypt's cabinet set the country's maximum wage on Wednesday at 35 times the minimum wage of the employees working in the public sector, state-run news agency ...and if you can't believe the state-run news agency who can you believe?... MENA reported.
According to the governmental decree, the maximum wage will be implemented as of January 2014 and its ceiling has been settled at LE42,000 per month.
Egypt's ministers of finance and administrative development will be tasked with preparing the procedures of new wage limit.
Maximum wage has been an issue of contention since the then-ruling military council in 2011 decided to set a national maximum wage at 35 times the minimum wage of a low-level employee at the same government body.
In September, the Egyptian government set a long-awaited minimum wage for the public-sector employees at LE1,200, minus deductions for pensions and other items.
According to official data, the number of employees in the governmental sector increased by two percent in 2012/13 to reach 5.545 million, compared to 5.439 million one year earlier.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/14/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Don't tell the city of Seatac; as of tonight the $15 an hour minimum wage ballot proposal has a 19 vote lead; they might want to try to up the ante if they get wind of this. Never mind the jobs that will be lost or the shops that will close.....
#2
Less-than-Part-Time, working NMT 10-12 hours a week like in France while still getting all the benefits + perks of the Soon-to-be-Global Welfare-Nanny State wid little to no change in income tax brackets/rates.
In France their Govt voted to impose a mere 75% tax rate, as opposed to the originally favored 100-114% tax rates, until the Govt. whiz kids discovered that the 100%-n-over rates were effectively the same per the mainstream.
The good news is that Muslims in Marseilles are still vowing to following only Islamic or Sharia law, NOT Secular, Democratic Socialist French law.
#5
If Government workers (HAH) have to depend on "Tip Money: they'll starve. (I Hope)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/14/2013 18:30 Comments ||
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#6
Tell the Sheiks.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/14/2013 18:32 Comments ||
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#7
Raising prices at an airport happens all the time, because the airport has a monopoly on air travelers. Raising the minimum wage will just raise prices on people visiting. It is not much different from the extra fees travelers pay on cabs that go to the airport, rental cars at the airport, or hotel taxes.
This is unusual only in that the workers are getting a share of the monopoly profits, instead of the government and businesses.
[Pak Daily Times] Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro was a step closer to getting the votes he needs to govern by decree after his ruling party ousted an opposition politician from parliament on Tuesday.
Opposition deputy Maria Mercedes Aranguren walked out of the unicameral National Assembly after politicians voted to expel her and remove her parliamentary immunity.
Maduro's United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) is one vote shy of the three-fifths majority it needs to give the leftist leader the power to rule by decree for one year.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
11/14/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Govern by decree?? Where have I heard about that lately?
#4
There will be no civil war, only low level strife, bitter tears, finger pointing and the occasional amateur assassination. Also looting, disease and a general super-charged entropic motion, ending in a honest to gawd old fashioned banana republic, with just enough oil to keep body and soul together.
#6
Of course, Obama is paying very close attention.
All he needs to do is to eliminate that pesky House of Representatives - or at least the Republicans, and he can rule by decree. A more compliant Congress can always rubber stamp his executive orders, and bureaucratic regulations if need be.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
11/14/2013 17:44 Comments ||
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#7
Maduro has reached near the knee of the curve. Now all that remains is to go over the knee and drive the steep incline all the way to the bottom.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/14/2013 20:41 Comments ||
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#8
Champ issued a decree just today. We win! USA! USA! USA!
Perhaps making the process less offensive. To rational people, that is.
[one method] Statically charge the water to allow particles of waste to separate and fall to the bottom. Those solids are taken to a landfill, leaving more than 95 percent of the water clean enough to be reused for fracking.
Another more expensive system that renders water clean enough to be dumped into rivers and lakes or used in agriculture. States are scrambling to draft regulations for the new recycling systems.
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/14/2013 10:06 ||
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#1
Also economical. Some areas do not have a grand supply of readily available water, and hauling water from a site to a cleaning facility is costly, along with vehicle wear and tear and the inevitable accidents associated with road travel.
If they figure out a way to treat water on or near site, that is big stuff.
#3
Nah, grom; water's scarce & expensive at a lot of fracking locations & recycling it is more profitable. Except for the local water suppliers. (And I am only partly being facecious.)
#4
That's absolutely right, could have an impact on the landowner - driller negotiations: water rights, terraforming and road construction.
I'd think that even if the lease costs ended up being the same the drillers would still save money on less maintenence, gas, labor, insurance.
Cheaper energy, reduced recovery costs, happy landowners - everyone wins. But Komrads, recjoice equally! Obviously the solution is the nationalize all water sources and put an end to this, because industry and affordable energy is racist.
Right-wing populists are trying to create a powerful faction in the European Parliament. Leading the efforts are Geert Wilders from the Netherlands and Marine le Pen of France -- and their initiative has big implications for Europe.
The press room in the Dutch parliament building in The Hague has been fully booked up for days for the scheduled meeting on Wednesday afternoon. The office responsible for handing out media accreditation already has a long waiting list. The meeting will be broadcast live on Dutch TV, and the whole world will also be able to watch online as right-wing populists Marine Le Pen, head of the Front National (FN) in France, and Geert Wilders, chairman of the Party for Freedom in the Netherlands, come together to talk.
Continued on Page 49
#1
"In view of the polls that predict up to 30 percent for euroskeptics in the new parliament, a more liberal immigration policy can currently not be introduced, because it would give the extremists even more of a boost."
Translation: The "extremists" actually represent a large portion of the population and we know it.
[NYPOST] Sign up for ObamaCare and get a sleazy hookup.
Colorado has launched a new ad campaign that attempts to entice young women to sign up for the new national health-care program with the promise of free contraceptives and carefree sex.
In one of the print ads, a flirty young woman holding a package of birth-control pills and leaning against a young man says: "OMG, he's hot! Let's hope he's as easy to get as this birth control."
She continues her steamy monologue: "My health insurance covers the pill, which means all I have to worry about is getting him between the covers."
"I got insurance. Now you can too," she says. "Thanks ObamaCare!"
The ad, which is dripping with lusty sexuality, dubs the young couple "Susie and Nate ... Hot to Trot."
To be on the safe side, there's an added warning: "The pill doesn't protect you from STDs; condoms and common sense do that."
The ad is part of the "thanks obamacare!" campaign targeting young Coloradans -- and underscores how the law's backers will say just about anything to lure young people to sign up for the new mandatory health coverage, an outcome that is critical to ObamaCare working as planned.
The entire health-care overhaul relies on the young and healthy buying insurance to offset the cost of covering Americans with pre-existing conditions and other new benefits.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/14/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Hey, there was an election. Champ is simply using what he knows works (sex and free stuff). A surgeons pit full of fetuses, probably not a suitable visual for an Obamacare add.
[Pak Daily Times] The Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... -led Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... government pulled out of the coalition with Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) after two ministers belonging to the latter were dismissed on corruption charges.
Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality problems... advised Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak to pull out of the coalition with QWP. "The QWP was given two warnings about the corruption of two of their ministers but this party chose to tolerate corruption and instead showed its displeasure at the corruption being pointed out by boycotting the provincial cabinet meetings," a statement from the PTI media cell quoted Imran Khan as saying.
What was striking about the statement was the revelation that two of the QWP ministers were dismissed by the chief minister on Wednesday. Imran also stated that the PTI was elected on a "mandate against corruption and there is zero tolerance for any form of corruption". "This should be a clear warning for all our ministers and MPAs that PTI cannot have as a coalition partner any party that tolerates corruption," Imran declared, according to the statement.
"Our JI (Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... ) ministers have proven exemplary in this regard and we respect them for their commitment towards anti-corruption," Imran added. Party sources told Daily Times that the QWP leadership was meeting in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. to discuss the situation arising out of the statement of the PTI chief. "We are discussing the situation," the sources said on condition of anonymity. Earlier, the Qaumi Watan Party reacted angrily to media report that Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government of Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf was de-notifying two of its ministers for their alleged involvement in corruption.
"Whosoever has any evidence of the wrongdoing (of the two ministers) should share it with my party," said a statement from QWP provincial president, Sikander Sherpao. "We will take stern action if proof is shared with us," he said categorically in the statement. The PTI and QWP were not on good terms for the last few weeks, with Aftab Sherpao's ministers, including Senior Minister Sikander Sherpao, staying away from official meetings and assembly sessions to protest what they called "step-motherly treatment" of the QWP by the PTI-led government.
A government official said the government had conveyed to the Qaumi Watan Party two days back that two of its ministers were (allegedly) involved in corruption and the party should remove them. "Their performance as ministers is below par." The government's Information Directorate chief, Behramand Khan, declined to clarify if the government had de-notified the two QWP ministers. The alleged "corrupt ministers" are QWP's provincial General Secretary Bakht Baider Khan and Ibrar Hussain.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/14/2013 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] When Nepal ousted the monarchy and voted in a Maoist-led government in 2008, few anticipated that, five years on, the former guerrillas would come under fire for living like kings.
Commentators and former rebels say the party's leadership has swapped its revolutionary ideals for corruption-fuelled luxury, with the strongest criticism reserved for chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, better known by the nom-de-guerre Prachanda.
The Maoists came to power promising social change, economic growth and lasting peace for a country devastated by a decade-long civil war.
Since then, Nepal has seen several coalition governments come and go, with none able to agree on a constitution to finalise the grinding of the peace processor.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth had turned a paler shade of blue. Star-A-Star had struck again... the Maoists have witnessed a mutiny, with a splinter group threatening to disrupt next week's national elections.
Former guerrilla Bishnu Pariyar took up arms aged 14. By the time he was 22, he had survived gunshot wounds to become one of Prachanda's personal aides.
"The rich used to treat us like dogs and I thought our war would liberate the poor," Pariyar said.
Soon after he began working for the Maoist chief, he noticed Prachanda's taste for luxury brands and imported whisky -- a fondness that has not escaped the attentions of local media.
"That family just loves to spend, whether it's Prachanda blowing money on hair gel or Rolex watches, his wife buying saris all the time or his son Prakash, obsessed with changing his mobile phone every two weeks," Pariyar told AFP.
Prachanda's lifestyle first attracted criticism when news emerged in January 2012 that he had rented a 15-room mansion in Kathmandu, a property he still occupies, despite promises to vacate it. The estate -- its gate decorated with Hindu religious motifs -- includes parking space for more than a dozen vehicles, a building to house 70 guards and a table tennis room.
The news rankled many in Nepal, one of the world's most unequal and impoverished countries, where nearly 25 percent of the population lives on less than $1.25 a day, according to the World Bank.
Two months later, another scandal erupted when the Maoist-led government acknowledged offering $250,000 to Prachanda's son Prakash Dahal to climb Mount Everest.
And, in April 2012, festivities broke out in a UN-monitored camp for former Maoist soldiers when troops accused the party of stealing funds owed to them.
By the end of the year, simmering discontent saw a former chef, Padam Kunwar turn into a hero when he slapped Prachanda in the face at a public function.
"I kept reading about him, his fancy lifestyle. Meanwhile, ...back at the pond, the radioactive tadpoles grown into frogs. Really big frogs, in fact... my family lost everything in the war," Kunwar, whose siblings are former guerrillas, told AFP.
He was beaten up by furious Prachanda followers and enjugged Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! , but many Nepalese rallied behind him, launching Facebook fan pages and tweeting their support.
Nearly a year later, Kunwar will challenge his nemesis once more, this time at the ballot box in Prachanda's Kathmandu constituency.
"They promised us freedom from poverty. But they are the ones who got rich," he said.
Prachanda was the head of a coalition government from August 2008 to May 2009, largely made up of former rebel fighters who had no experience of governing. But he resigned after a clash with the army chief over plans to integrate former fighters into the military's ranks.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/14/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
When Prachanda begins vacationing in Martha's Vineyard and his golf counter hits 125, they can bitch.
#6
"When Nepal ousted the monarchy and voted in a Maoist-led government in 2008, few anticipated that, five years on, the former guerrillas would come under fire for living like kings."
That is some serious funny there. I would have bet money on it.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
11/14/2013 15:09 Comments ||
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By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to prepare the Nation for the impacts of climate change by undertaking actions to enhance climate preparedness and resilience, it is hereby ordered as follows: Pardon me, did he say (in print, that is)"Constitution"?
Sec. 5. Federal Agency Planning for Climate Change Related Risk. (a) Consistent with Executive Order 13514, agencies have developed Agency Adaptation Plans and provided them to CEQ and OMB. These plans evaluate the most significant climate change related risks to, and vulnerabilities in, agency operations and missions in both the short and long term, and outline actions that agencies will take to manage these risks and vulnerabilities.
Building on these efforts, each agency shall develop or continue to develop, implement, and update comprehensive plans that integrate consideration of climate change into agency operations and overall mission objectives and submit those plans to CEQ and OMB for review.
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/14/2013 16:31 ||
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#1
..yep, 'constitution', as in ancient relic upon which the claimant derives unquestioned authority and power to rule - see Excalibur. Not to be confused with a compact or body of laws governing the operation of government.
#2
I predict snow (in the Rockies) excessive heat (In Florida) and wind (In Kansas) send cash to me
As a guru, able to predict Weather.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/14/2013 18:18 Comments ||
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#3
Someone just copied an old form. What Champ meant to say was:
"Barak I by the grace of God President of America, lord of the 57 States, duke of the Nobel Peace Prize and Harvard Law School sends greetings to His union representatives, community organizers, ACORN personnel, felons, "golf" buddies and all His useful idiots and faithful men inspecting the present decree. Know that We, at the prompting of God and for the health of Our soul and the souls of Our Kenyan ancestors, for Our own glory and the improvement of Our realm, freely and out of Our good will have given and granted to all of Our realm these glad tidings of Climate Change written below to hold in Our realm of America in perpetuity."
According to Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX),If the draft rule is approved, it would allow the EPA to regulate virtually every body of water in the United States, including private and public lakes, ponds and streams, he said. The Obama administrations latest power play to regulate Americas waterways is an unprecedented effort to control the use of private property.
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/14/2013 10:00 ||
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#1
Silly Rabbit, for the Socialist Progressives there is no private property. You are, at best, merely part time stewards of the State's lands and resources (which also includes your body).
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/14/2013 10:29 Comments ||
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#3
EPA regulated.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/14/2013 10:44 Comments ||
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#4
What about Rain. I don't know about your property tax bill, but I have to pay a "water run-off control" tax, which amounts to a Rain Tax. So yes, the EPA has already taxed rain.
Posted by: Glereng Lover of the Slytherins2881 ||
11/14/2013 10:45 Comments ||
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#5
IIUC I think rain may be an IRS deal, or rather taxing a person when not having rain or having a substandard unapproved rain. Those of you who get too much rain will be taxed to make up for those who get too little rain, whether they need rain or not.
I'd get into snowfall, and the difference between rain, sleet, and snow, but that is 800 pages and I have not read it yet. And because it deals with rain, sleet, or snow, there will be a $5 surcharge every month to pay the USPS to deliver Obamaphones to those with less than optimal informationally unemployed, with an immediate $40 tax on everyone who does not currently own a xbox1 so that our chronically depressed PS4 enrollment participants can activate their accounts.
Now get back to plowing that tax field; not working hard for other peoples' free shit is racist, and you should know your betters.
#8
Absolutely right, CF. In Kalifornia they give you a rebate if you buy a low flow toilet. They discourage you from buying anything else. Then you have to flush twice to get the job done and use even more water. The guy at HomeDepot told me about a five gallon toilet. I told him I wanted it but he said it's illegal in the state of Kalifornia.
But, hey, wait until they start taxing the air you breath.
#10
But, hey, wait until they start taxing the air you breath.
They are on it. The EPA was going to tax the amount of dirt blow-off from farming, requiring 24 hour surveillance most likely in the way of drones. Of course, we know how trustworthy the government has been recently, especially in the IRS and NSA, so the little town in Colorado selling HIP tags for drones, other than being funny, is not too funny.
Not just for clodhoppers: remember the push to put EPA HVAC regulators in your home to monitor your AC and heat usage? That's air you breath. Carbon credits, that's air you breath. Additional taxes on high efficiency and electric vehicles is a tax on not polluting: air you breath. Hell I'm being Roberts taxed for babies not yet aborted. FTS.
Posted by: Thurong Protector of the Lichtensteiners3524 ||
11/14/2013 12:32 Comments ||
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#12
GDI, they can take the entire tax earning of my family's lifetime and they blow it on gasoline and security for a fund raising trip to effn Florida, where I presume the weather is still nice enough to golf at this time of year.
And what really gets my shit kickers dusted off. Pumpkin tartlettes or wtf? Are you kidding me, sounds awful. I see better menus on Restaurant Impossible before the fix. The financial security of my family's health and education blown of bullshit which wouldn't sell at the impulse tray next to the checkout register at 75% off to a three day hungry homeless bloke? Kobe hot dogs, that's like surviving the buying of some Nike Air Force Ones to wear them to your rooter job the very next morning.
#15
Actually, H2O (vapor) contributes more to global warming than CO2 does. CO2 is about 0.03% of the atmosphere. Water vapor is 0.25% - almost nine times as much.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
11/14/2013 21:44 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[The Hindu] In what is being touted as the world's first case of 'robot suicide', a house bot fed up of its tedious job of cleaning has ended its life by climbing onto a kitchen hotplate and destroying itself in a blaze.
[Al Ahram] Egypt's cabinet set the country's maximum wage on Wednesday at 35 times the minimum wage of the employees working in the public sector, 
[Pak Daily Times] Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro was a step closer to getting the votes he needs to govern by decree after his ruling party ousted an opposition 
[NYPOST] Sign up for ObamaCare and get a sleazy hookup.
According to Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX),If the draft rule is approved, it would allow the EPA to regulate virtually every body of water in the United States, including private and public lakes, ponds and streams, he said. The Obama administrations latest power play to regulate Americas waterways is an unprecedented effort to control the use of private property.
