A Beach man was in jail Friday, charged with DUI and felony hit-and-run after a crash in which his girlfriend was left trapped in waist-deep water, police said.
Police said Michael Brandon Walck, 23, lost control and ran into a ditch on Sandbridge Road early Friday morning.
His girlfriend told police that he was drinking and ran from the scene, according to Adam Bernstein, a police spokesman.
It took about an hour to remove her from the wreckage, Bernstein said. She was flown to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital with a leg injury, he said.
Officers found and arrested Walck. He was being held without bond in the Virginia Beach jail.
A simmering feud over U.S. policy toward Latin America burst into the open Thursday when Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) tried to prevent a fact-finding trip to Honduras by a Republican senator who is blocking two important diplomatic appointments.
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) denounced Kerry's move on the Senate floor and sought the intervention of the minority leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). The Republican leader appealed to the Defense Department to provide an aircraft for DeMint's trip and the Pentagon agreed to do so, according to the South Carolina senator's office.
"These bullying tactics by the Obama administration and Senator Kerry must stop, and we must be allowed to get to the truth in Honduras," DeMint said in a statement. His spokesman, Wesley Denton, called Kerry's action "unprecedented."
Kerry fired back in a news release: "Senator DeMint's statement wins an A for 'audacity.' Thanks to his intransigence, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee can't even hold hearings on our policy in Central and South America."
The statement, issued by Kerry's spokesman, Frederick Jones, added that when DeMint allows a vote on the appointment of the two diplomats, "the Committee will approve his travel to Honduras."
The clash showed the depths of animosity that have developed in Congress over Obama's policy toward Honduras since its leader was removed by its military in June and expelled from the country.
The administration, along with all other governments in the hemisphere, branded the action a "coup." It also cut off millions of dollars in aid and suspended the U.S. visas of Honduran officials. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton helped organize negotiations, led by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, that produced a plan to allow ousted president Manuel Zelaya to return to his post temporarily, with limited powers.
The de facto Honduran government, led by Roberto Micheletti, a former leader of the National Congress, has rejected that proposed settlement.
DeMint and a handful of other conservative Republicans have said Zelaya's removal was legal because he had violated a constitutional ban by trying to extend his presidential term. They have protested that the Obama administration is supporting a politician with close ties to Venezuela's leftist president, Hugo Chavez. For weeks, DeMint has held up a critical Senate vote on Arturo Valenzuela, Obama's choice to be assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, and Thomas A. Shannon Jr., the nominee to be ambassador to Brazil.
DeMint aides said he was preparing to travel to Honduras on Friday with three Republican House members -- Aaron Schock (Ill.), Peter Roskam (Ill.) and Doug Lamborn (Colo.) -- when they learned that the trip had been nixed by Kerry.
As head of the Foreign Relations Committee, Kerry can withhold committee funds for travel and deny permission for the use of military aircraft. But he had never before used that power to block another senator's travel, his aides said.
DeMint's office said Thursday evening that thanks to McConnell's intervention, the trip would go forward. DeMint's statement accused the State Department of being part of the effort to block his trip.
But Philip J. Crowley, a State Department spokesman, denied that it had played any such role. "We don't control congressional travel," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
So,
Kerry is backing Obama's COUP lie, and trying to kill any disent or truth finding.
He was a buffoon, now he's a criminal.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/03/2009 12:19 Comments ||
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#2
Kerry is definitely supporting the coup. His wife,Teresa Heinz Kerry and UN translator in Geneva, along with Soros, gives heavily to the Tides Foundation. Wealthy contributors give to tax-exempt foundations who the restribute it to whomever, making donations untraceable. They are the slick group that bailed out Rathke's embezzlement from ACORN before he went to SEIU.
Top White House adviser David Axelrod says "politics" played a key role in the International Olympic Committee's decision to reject President Obama's appeal in support of Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Olympics.
The U.S. had the Olympics in 1996, in Atlanta. In 1984 they were in Lost Angeles. There's never been a southern hemisphre Olympics. Likely enough people thought it was time for one. I kinda felt that way myself.
In an interview moments ago on CNN, Axelrod said, "I don't view this as a repudiation of the president or the first lady. I think that there are politics everywhere, and there were politics inside that room." Axelrod said that a former head of the IOC was leading Madrid's effort for the games, and others involved in other Olympic bids also had connections with the IOC. "As with any process like this, there are all kinds of crosscurrents in the room, there are relationships," Axelrod said.
But President Obama's personal charm and rock solid arguments were not enough to overcome national interests. How unexpected.
Plenty of other blogs have pointed out Bambi's stupidity in flying to Copenhagen and putting his prestige on the line. The deal wasn't done, the fix wasn't in, and yet he went there thinking his charm and spiffy persuasive skills would turn the IOC around. Now the whole world knows that Bambi can't argue his way out of a paper bag.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
So maybe its time for Axelrod to go under the bus?
#3
The Chicago Way totally defines politics and government as bribing your friends and punishing your enemies. For them, government has no other function.
#4
...It should be pointed out, however, that after the 96 games there was a quiet consensus among the rest of the IOC that it would be a highly frigid planetary rotation in Hades before the US got another summer Games. It seems our fellow sports enthusiasts were appalled at the way we marketed things - not to mention the fact that home-grown American terrorists bombed the Games. (Yes, I know - lone nut, but the IOC hoi polloi remain convinced that Eric Rudolph is representative of the average citizen.)
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/03/2009 1:06 Comments ||
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#5
It wouldn't be the first southern hemisphere games. Australia has hosted two of them (Melbourne and Sydney).
It would be the first time that they have been in South America, though. And if any country there has previous experience in hosting large international events, it's Brazil.
#6
Ah, that's too bad. I guess Valerie Jarret and Richard Daley will be divesting in Grove Parc Plaza
"In one of those endless Chicago coincidences, Grove Parc Plaza Apartmentsnow targeted for demolition as a result of years of neglect by Obamas developer friendssits in the shadows of the proposed site of the citys 2016 Olympics Stadium. Valerie Jarrett is vice chair of Chicagos Olympics committee. "
You know, Valerie Jarret,a senior adviser to Obama's presidential campaign and a member of his finance committee. Jarrett is the chief executive of Habitat Co., which managed Grove Parc Plaza from 2001 until this winter and co-managed an even larger subsidized complex in Chicago that was seized by the federal government in 2006, after city inspectors found widespread problems
#7
Well good luck thar Brazil. Australia and Tokyo were bad enough with tape delay. Gawd knows what will happen with Rio and the huge time (6 month) difference.
#8
The Chicago Way totally defines politics and government as bribing your friends and punishing your enemies.
I think Obama has just discovered that being a Chicago political fixer, makes you strictly bush league on the world stage.
Each IOC member gets one vote and most of those voting members are micro-states or third world kleptocracies. It's no secret that those votes go to the highest bidder.
#9
I hope Daley, Jarrett, and the rest of those corrupt Donks lose their ass financially on property they bought up expecting to sell at prime price for the Olympics. F*ck em all
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/03/2009 7:24 Comments ||
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#10
Mike: For some reason, it is common for people to assume that "hoi polloi" means elitist snobs, but in fact it means just the opposite, the unwashed masses. I got corrected on this once, so I share the wealth.
"Hoi polloi (Ancient Greek), an expression meaning "the many", or in the strictest sense, "the majority" in Greek, is used in English to denote "the masses" or "the people", usually in a derogatory sense. Synonyms for "hoi polloi" include "...commoners, great unwashed, minions, multitude, plebeians, proletariat, rabble, rank and file, riffraff, the common people, the herd, the many, the masses, the plebs, the peons, the working class".
#11
But President Obama's personal charm and rock solid arguments were not enough to overcome national interests. How unexpected.
Snark O' the Day already? I know there are larger geopolitical implications but, I'll worry about that later. For now, my heart feels like an alligator.
Posted by: regular joe ||
10/03/2009 8:34 Comments ||
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#12
Moose -
I did not know that!
Wondering though how it seems to have taken on another meaning? Besides being the title of a classic Three Stooges short...:)
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/03/2009 9:25 Comments ||
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#13
I heard Sebelius convinced Obama to bow out gracefully, because watching the Samba procession will give the average American male an equivilant of 3 hours of exercise, thus cutting costs for Obamacare.
/BS
Local boy high-jumped in Sydney. It is time for a South American olympics, Brazil is on the up and up. Chicago? Where ya gonna put the damn thing? It looked like from the get-go Obama running a errand to save investments but to come back empty handed is aweful. That is, using public office for private accounts. We all know that happens but this was so...unashamed.
There is a lot about the politics I don't agree with or like or accept, but this was a real hold my beer moment, and like Nimble said it echos of the Gates debacle but on a world stage.
#14
So Slick Slease couldn't sway Facts? it's the end of Obama.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/03/2009 12:26 Comments ||
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#15
Doc, it seems to me the fix was in, just not for Chicago, but for Brazil. Various sources have described the IOC's politics as "Byzantine". Actually, they're just plain corrupt.
#19
Well good luck thar Brazil. Australia and Tokyo were bad enough with tape delay. Gawd knows what will happen with Rio and the huge time (6 month) difference.
I hope .5MT doesn't mind, but I'm going to quote him for the next week. Bloody brilliant, my dear!
Euros vote for theirs, Asians vote for Tokyo, S America and probably much of Africa votes for Rio. Not all that many votes for Chicago.
Plus, if you are an IOC member, and were thinking about ti, where would you rather be in July/August? On the muggy shores of Lake Michigan, down wind from Chicago with a bratwurst, or watching a carnival then hanging out on the beaches of Rio?
And I'm sure Chicago's rep as a corrupt boss-run town didn't hurt them a bit.
The only ones stupid enough to think Chicago could get this were Daly and Obama, and the suck up press.
#21
I read somewhere recently (can't remember where) that the IOC has (probably not publicly) decided that the US won't get any more Olympics until the US Olympic Committee agrees to a change in the greedy way they get too much of a cut of the income. (Too Byzantine for me to understand, or care about, how it works.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/03/2009 20:11 Comments ||
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#22
The majority of Olympic funding comes from US TV rights (~$2B/Olympic out of a total $2.6 billion worldwide for the 2006 and 2008 games). That's much more than all the rest of the world put together. A portion of that is then routed to national Olympic committees to fund athletes and training. The IOC wants less of that percentage to go the the US Olympic Committee.
A better option would be for the US Olympic Committee to control US TV rights, negotiate broadcast rights w/ the IOC and sell time to the US networks. Plowing the profit back into US Olympic training. It's the Chicago Way.
Posted by: ed ||
10/03/2009 20:36 Comments ||
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#23
I think it's time for Obumble to go under the bus, along with all his cronies, including Biden, Pelosi, Reid, Dodd, Murtha, Hoyer, and the rest of the entire democrank screwup committee.
BTW, the way the US Olympic Committee has been shafting the citizens of Colorado Springs lately, they don't DESERVE any funding - from anybody. The athletes, yes. The committee, no.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/03/2009 22:21 Comments ||
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Senate Democrats are quietly crafting a compromise over the so-called public option behind closed doors -- two days after a pivotal Senate panel struck down amendments to create the government-run program, congressional aides told FOX News. Thereby leading to the conclusion that the objective isn't a health care bill, but a "public option" camel's nose.
No, no, perish the thought!
Democratic Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, is spearheading the effort as a way to appease liberal Democrats -- vying for a government-run insurance option -- as well as party moderates and Republicans who claim it will lead to a single-payer system.
Carper is proposing what one aide called "an opt in plus a trigger," which would allow individual states to choose to create a public option to compete with private insurers in their state. He's also proposing a non-profit cooperative, which is a member-owned group that assembles a network of salaried providers and negotiates payment rates with them. States could opt to create both, Carper says, but it would be up to the decision of states. Carper's compromise would also allow states to create their own health care exchanges to permit interstate insurance pools.
Senate Democrats are hoping to appeal to moderate Republicans, especially Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, in passing some form of a government-run health plan to compete with private insurers.
The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, said Thursday that the panel was nearing a vote, saying he has "high hopes" of finishing work on the bill by day's end.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2009 00:00 ||
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Utter hooey. Right now the States can create their own socialized medicine if they want to, and Massachusetts has already disastrously done so. But nobody else has done so, because they don't want to.
#2
Moose, both Oregon and Tennessee tried versions of a 'public option' and later backed off. Have someone from Tennessee tell you about 'TennCare' sometime ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/03/2009 10:25 Comments ||
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#3
The true goal is single-payer, federally-run health care, which would provide uniform health care for ALL. Power, ego, and naivete are behind it. To a lot of (most?) people it sounds good - getting the greedy and rich companies and people out of the picture just HAS to be an improvement! (Never mind the inability of the government to run anything very well, and nobody can run anything that big very well.) The biggest danger is one seldom mentioned - without those greedy capitalists taking big risks trying to get filthy rich on the backs of the poor and sick, there will be virtually no further advancement in medicine (and a slow degradation from the present level.) But won't government research grants be more efficient at such developments??? Yeah, right - anyone with experience in the government research grant industry knows it is the most 'hidebound conservative' means possible for developing new ideas (it generates research papers a lot faster than research.) Advances in innovation come fastest under free & greedy capitalism and on the battlefield; nothing else comes close.
#7
The true goal is single-payer, federally-run health care, which would provide uniform health care for ALL the proles - does not apply to Congresscritters and other "elites."
Fixed that for ya', Glenmore.
No extra charge.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/03/2009 20:01 Comments ||
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(CNSNews.com) -- National Council of La Raza President Janet Murguia said that health care reform should include "everyone," and this means illegal immigrants as well because with more people paying into the system it might lower the costs of health care.
Speaking to reporters Thursday at a press conference in support of President Barack Obama's efforts to pass a government-led overhaul of the nation's health care system, Murguia said that while the issue of illegal immigrants was politically difficult, there were "strong" arguments for covering the illegals.
"From our perspective there's a strong case to be made in this country for us to reform health care [and] it ought to include everyone," said Murguia. "There's a lot of different reasons why we should try to reform this system once and for all so that everyone is covered. The more people who are covered, the more cost-effective and the more and better health outcomes we're going to have."
"We know that politically it's very difficult right now to take on the issue of undocumenteds [but] there's no reason why we shouldn't be trying to cover as many people as possible, certainly when it comes to undocumented children," she said. "Our goal should be to have health care reform for everyone."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
When loyalty to blood trumps loyalty to the community, you are no longer a member of the community. Any calls upon the 'community' by those who do put blood above the community have no standing.
#2
Procopius has succinctly captures the whole issue of illegal immigration and the reconquista of the American Southwest.
Time to take a time out on immigration of all sorts. And all those American troops guarding the borders of Iraq and Afghanistan, time to bring them home and use that experience to secure the important borders for good.
Time to step back from the world stage a bit and fix the problems at home before our nation collapses.
#3
and this means illegal immigrants as well because with more people paying into the system it might lower the costs of health care.
Pure spin. We can't even coerce the illegals out of the woodwork to be counted in the Census and she thinks they're going to willingly sign up and pay into the system, thereby lowering costs?
Idiot. They're getting free healthcare here already and she full well knows it.
There's more than one way to get cap-and-trade, President Obama's energy czar said today.
Carol Browner, the former Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) administrator who now serves in the Obama administration's newly created role of energy czar, floated the possibility today of the EPA implementing cap-and-trade energy policies, during an interview at The Atlantic's First Draft of History symposium in Washington, DC.
"We also have the reality of EPA, under current law, moving forward...to start the traditional regulatory clock," Browner said when asked, during an interview with Atlantic Media Political Director Ronald Brownstein, about the difficulties of passing the stalled energy/climate bill--which would implement a cap-and-trade carbon emissions scheme--through the Senate.
Starting that "clock," as Browner puts it, would "obviously encourage the business community to raise their voices in Congress"--since businesses could wind up with a less cohesive regulatory scheme, more difficult to comply with in multiple states, if the EPA moves forward on its own.
Environmentalists have pushed for the EPA to implement emissions reforms if Democrats can't pass a bill, circumventing the politics of Congress and using the EPA's environmental authority to get the job done, and there's a pending Supreme Court case on the matter.
But it's not viewed as a likely scenario--which some members of the environmental community readily admit--even as the reforms passed by the House have become mired in the upper chamber, with analysts skeptical that a formidable cap-and-trade plan will pass.
The Obama administration strongly prefers a congressional consensus, as creating a cap-and-trade scheme would be a massive, controversial, and perhaps unprecedented undertaking for the EPA.
And after floating the possibility of circumventing legislative difficulties, Browner made that point.
EPA action "is a little bit more diff, there are ways it can be done...but it's much better if Congress does it, and that's what the president wants," adding that legislation is "absolutely" the administration's preference over EPA action.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2009 00:00 ||
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okay they went overboard on health care...
the good ship Acorn is sinking..
and now they want Cap and Trade....
I take it none of these guys want to be re-elected?
#2
NO, it's all about POWER,
WE CAN DO THIS, and you can't do shit to stop us.
Oh and IT"S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD so of course we'll be reelected until we fall over dead (In the public service, of course)
DON'T PAY ANY ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN(Translation, the high salary, medical perks and POWER, doesn't count), we do this for your own good (Peasants)
Now reward us with Idolization, and cash (Plenty of Both) and hurry up about it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/03/2009 0:51 Comments ||
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#3
I thought cap and trade was an attempt to combat global warming, which in my mind is losing credibility almost as fast as The One.
#5
We don't need no stinking laws. Hey, Carol, just make the EPA one of the first federal bureaucracies to be axed when the time comes to downsize the Beltway. Stand up and say 'Kick Me'. Yeah, I know in some of the processes the EPA does stuff it probably should, but when its grossly misused as she proposes it has become as destructive as contributory and unlikely to be properly reformed in its current incarnation.
#9
Neville - good, but once was enough. I hope the mods don't ban you until you learn good manners.
The entire EPA is unconstitutional. The Congress passed off some of its responsibility to an uncontrolled mess, and got away with it so far. The other thing is that Cap and Tax will be the ONE thing that will ignite a revolution in this nation faster than anything, and the people ARE paying attention, Fred. There are a dozen NEW groups forming up in Denver to fight this piece of total nonsense, and some of them are armed. The Democrats are playing with dynamite in an oil refinery - not a smart move.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/03/2009 22:56 Comments ||
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(CNSNews.com) - Sen. Thomas Carper (D.-Del.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, told CNSNews.com that he does not "expect" to read the actual legislative language of the committee's health care bill because it is "confusing" and that anyone who claims they are going to read it and understand it is fooling people.
"I don't expect to actually read the legislative language because reading the legislative language is among the more confusing things I've ever read in my life," Carper told CNSNews.com.
Carper described the type of language the actual text of the bill would finally be drafted in as "arcane," "confusing," "hard stuff to understand," and "incomprehensible." He likened it to the "gibberish" used in credit card disclosure forms.
Last week, the Finance Committee considered an amendment offered by Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) that would have required the committee to post the full actual language of the proposed legislation online for at least 72 hours before holding a final committee vote on it. The committee defeated the amendment 13-10.
Sometime in the wee hours of this morning, according to the Associated Press, the Finance Committee finished work on its health-care bill. "It was past 2 a.m. in the East--and Obama's top health care adviser, Nancy-Ann DeParle in attendance--when Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., the committee chairman, announced that work had been completed on all sections of the legislation."
Thus far, however, the committee has not produced the actual legislative text of the bill. Instead the senators have been working with "conceptual language"—or what some committee members call a "plain English" summary or description of the bill.
Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), who sits on the committee, told CNSNews.com on Thursday that the panel was just following its standard practice in working with a "plain language description" of the bill rather than an actual legislative text.
"It's not just conceptual, it's a plain language description of the various provisions of the bill is what the Senate Finance Committee has always done when it passes legislation and that is turned into legislative language which is what is presented to the full Senate for consideration," said Bingaman.
But Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tx.), who also serves on the committee, said the descriptive language the committee is working with is not good enough because things can get slipped into the legislation unseen.
"The conceptual language is not good enough," said Cornyn. "We've seen that there are side deals that have been cut, for example, with some special interest groups like the hospital association to hold them harmless from certain cuts that would impact how the CBO scores the bill or determines cost. So we need to know not only the conceptual language, we need to know the detailed legislative language, and we need to know what kind of secret deals have been cut on the side which would have an impact on how much this bill is going to cost and how it will affect health care in America."
Carper said he would "probably" read the "plain English version" of the bill as opposed to the actual text.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
The "plain English" version is not what will be passed into law. The gibberish version will be passed. The "plain English" version will have no legal standing. The gibberish version will be picked over, interpreted, reinterpreted, and made to do precisely what the drafters and their co-religionists want it to do.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2009 9:48 Comments ||
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#2
That's a feature, Fred, not a bug. The gibberish version will be interpreted by those 53 boards and panels, and it will say what they say it says.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/03/2009 10:30 Comments ||
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#3
If Representatives are not smart enough to read and understand the legislation they should either be replaced by those who are, or they should hire writers smart enough to make the legislation understandable (and unambiguous) - but of course that would defeat the purpose.
#4
Gibberish is legalese which is why the legal ruling caste needs libraries to understand the common English of the American Constitution [or for that matter to corrupt the American Constitution into nothing more than a historical document overcome by special interest groups].
The world's most powerful man traveled to Copenhagen to ensure the Olympics to Chicago in 2016. But sensational smoke Americans out in the first round, while the IOC members did hosting the Rio de Janeiro.
The international attention directed at the big loser in Copenhagen: American Chicago. And perhaps more accurately the city's famous son and the U.S. President, Barack Obama.
The explanations are many. The former Danish IOC member Kai Holm says to Berlingske that he believes that it is due to disrespect. Professor of sport history at the University of Copenhagen Hans Bonde suggests presidential arrival at the last minute and neglected personal lubricant of IOCs members.
- At Chicago kicked out so early shows to me that Barack Obama does not understand the psychology of the IOC, said Hans Bonde.
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.
A simmering feud over U.S. policy toward Latin America burst into the open Thursday when Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) tried to prevent a fact-finding trip to Honduras by a Republican senator who is blocking two important diplomatic appointments.
