Probably lots of "issues" here. Nice irony of History, though, and much, much better than theses stories of neonazis logically becoming ROPers, another "winning group", but with a vastly different purpose.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - A relative of Nazi Luftwaffe commander Hermann Goering is considering converting to Judaism, according to an article published on the Spiegel Online website Wednesday.
Matthias Goering, a 49-year-old physiotherapist working near the Swiss city of Zurich, already wears a skull-cap, sticks to Jewish rules for preparing and eating food, observes the Jewish Sabbath and is learning Hebrew, the English-language website of Germany's leading news magazine reported.
Matthias Goering, whose great-great-uncle was Hermann's great- uncle, has been to Israel and is also considering moving there, the report said.
Referring to his family's past and the Nazi
Holocaust led in part by Hermann, Matthias Goering was quoted as saying: "I don't feel any guilt, myself ... There is a spiritual guilt in our family, guilt in the German nation and it is our responsibility to declare it openly. I think God is taking this opportunity to use my name to change something in the hearts of others."
Matthias Goering said he grew up surrounded by hatred for the Jews as his affluent family lost all their wealth after the Second World War. "Our parents would always say to us, 'You can't have that, because all our money's gone to the Jews,'" he was quoted as saying. "They became a symbol of everything we couldn't have."
He said he and his siblings were also "bullied mercilessly" at school because of their Nazi history.
In 2000, when he became suicidal after losing his physiotherapy practice and his wife and son leaving him, Matthias Goering said he received two signs from God that led him to Judaism: one was an almost immediate job offer after praying for help and the other was God telling him in a dream, "I want you to guard the gates of Jerusalem."
The Spiegel Online quoted a Cambridge scientist as saying guilt could play a part in Matthias Goering's conversion, but also a desire of an outsider to belong to a "winning group" like the Jews in Israel.
#2
There are actually quite a few stories like this, have been for decades. Not so much a desire to join the "winners", as that Cambridge ass suggested (how hard did the reporter have to look to find him, I wonder? And how revealing that he describes Jews and Israel in such terms), as to reject the evil they saw in their relatives and cleave to the Good. And as such families are inveritably described as faithful Churchgoers, Christianity is poisoned for them. They tend to marry and have large families, unlike the majority of Germans and unlike most European Jews, and believe passionately in the necessity of Israel. Like most of the converts to Judaism that I have met, and for some reason the congregation I belong to is chock full of them, they are an asset to the faith they have chosen -- three I know of personally having gone on to become rabbis. :-)
#3
interesting kerfuffle going on in the Orthodox world on conversions
The Israeli rabbinute is only automatically accepting the conversion documents of about 40-50 American Rabbis (anyone else, including people who converted with several hundred other American orthodox rabbis - including some black hatters, has to either reconvert or persuade the presiding Israeli rabbi).
The issue was observance and it was possibly trigger by a big increase in the number of conversions performed by the IDF (from about 50 4 years ago to about 1000 last year). The rabbanut hasn't decided which IDF conversions to automatically accept.
A blogging orthodox rabbi who is following this (and who is ticked off about it) is at: http://adderabbi.blogspot.com/
A patient's "gas leak" is being blamed for bringing a hospital operation to a fiery end. The man suffered minor burns in a brief but "dramatic" operating theatre fire which is believed to have been caused by flatulence, The New Zealand Herald reported today. The man was at the Southern Cross Hospital in Invercargill to have haemorrhoids removed and was singed in the "exceedingly rare" incident involving his own gas.
"singed" = "Ouch!"
"This was thought to be flatus containing methane igniting," a health source told the newspaper. "There was a sort of flashfire and that was it, but it was fairly alarming at the time."
Flamable gas + oxygen rich environment + spark = "Fire in the hole!"
Haemorrhoids are swollen veins in the lining of the anus. If they protrude outside the body and become troublesome, they can be removed by surgery, which in the Invercargill case employed an electrical "diathermy" machine. A hand-held tool for cutting tissue and cauterising to stop bleeding, it produces heat and can spark.
They used one of these to remove a platars wart from the bottom of my foot. When they fired it up it looked like an arc welder.
Southern Cross is releasing little detail other than confirming an "electrical fire" occurred on March 22 and that it commissioned an independent forensic scientist to investigate.
Little Tom has big fight on his hands
By Kieren McCarthy
Scientologist Tom Cruise has taken the owner of TomCruise.com to domain name arbitrator WIPO to win it back.
The Hollywood star, and lead of recently released Mission Impossible III, is a bit slow off the mark - the domain was registered in November 1996, and other super-celebs have been going to WIPO for years trying to win back their namesake domains.
The domain owner is none other than the world's biggest cybersquatter, Jeff Burgar, registered under his Alberta Hot Rods company name.
Burgar has been referred to WIPO's headquarters so many times he could take up a permanent residence there. And he knows exactly how to pick holes in WIPO's case law.
He has won against Bruce Springsteen (for, surprise surprise, BruceSpringsteen.com), and Kevin Spacey (for KevinSpacey.com, having lost kevinspacy.com only a few months earlier in another arbitration forum, the NAF), but has, however, lost against many others, including Michael Crichton, Pierce Brosnan and Celine Dion.
What has taken Tom so long to stake a claim to his domain? Who knows? But maybe it's because the internet has recently become a Tom Cruise mockery extravaganza, with, just for starters, tomcruiseisnuts.com, a video of Cruise apparently killing Oprah Winfrey, and any number of references to that South Park episode. ®
#2
Back in the 90s when most of Hollywood was ignorant of the web, some fans paid the ticket for the domain names of some of their idols and then transferred ownership to preclude this very thing from developing. Seems o'Cruise didn't have those kind of fans. Tells you something.
Lew Anderson, who died Saturday at 84, was known most recently for his big band's regular Friday night gig at Birdland, but in the 1950s, he burned his way into the psychic landscape of millions of boomer kids as Clarabell the Clown on the "Howdy Doody Show."
Dressed in a striped clown suit, big clown shoes, and a clown nose, and armed with a trademark bottle of seltzer to facilitate carbonic interplay, Anderson was a jolly, unpredictable presence on the Howdy Doody set, and a foil for the more rational, reassuring Buffalo Bob.
Clarabell did not speak, and like another silent clown, Harpo Marx, he was fond of communicating via squeeze horns. It thus came as a shock when, on the show's final day in September of 1960, Clarabell turned to the camera, and said, "Goodbye, kids."
#1
Awwwww, HOWDY DOODY was a staple during the black-and-white 1960's - RIP, Clarabell, and know that you made a lot of us kids in Guam laugh in joy and happiness.
Joe, I can just see you me and the Moose sitting up in the bleachers wearing our Buster Browns and screaming our friken kiddy lungs out at Clarabell and Howdy and Doody!! »:-)
betcha Pappy, Old Spook and Old Patriot were there too!
#7
We youngsters will remember that when we set up the Rantburger Old Folks Home for retired whatchamacallums. Howdy Doody, The Mickey Mouse Club and Captain Kangaroo for your adorable and curmudgeonly dotage. And of course an O-Club, and a target area to keep your shooting skills up, and high speed computer access in every room. We'll all call before visiting, to make sure we aren't mistaken for bad guyz, 'cause y'all won't miss when you shoot... and someone will have to turn off the minefield so we can get to the front door.
#8
TW - if Fred stocks the toy chest with Lawn-Darts, super-balls and the rest of the Whammo toys, I'm there!! Oh yeah, and a #12 Girder and Panel Hydro set.
#12
Captain Kangaroo and Bozo the Clown were the TV staples of the day, although I did appreciate the nuances of Crusader Rabbit and The Bullwinkle Show.
#13
Ah yes, the Classics ptah. Funniest political commentary ever aired on TV was on the Rocky & Bullwinkle show. Crusader Rabbit was pretty dead-on, too but nothing like the way Mr. Peabody's Way Back machine always seemed to dig up a fractured version of history that just happened to comment on current events ...
#16
I think you're ready to take on your alternate identity as an American citizen, a5089. That cute little pudgy tummy of yours will help you fit right in. ;-)
GORT, don't you go bothering Fred with such things; I'll take care of it. The erector set, too, Fred -- the deluxe set with all the cool little motors, I promise. And tea every day, promptly at 4:00 -- so y'all will know when to have your diapers changed. *giggle*
#19
Always wanted to sit in the "Peanut Gallery". Never made it. My aunt dressed up as as Clarabelle's sister for my 6th birthday party. I was seriously impressed...
Dad was an engineer, I had the biggest, bestest set they made, spent mny hours making things like a huge operating Ferris Wheel, it came with a wind-up "Motor" (Pre electricity set, later ones had a small geared down electric motor)
Alas, long gone.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/17/2006 20:17 Comments ||
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#22
Rocket Robin Hood and Bozo from KCOP in L.A....
later
Jonny Quest and Clutch Cargo and Lego sets with wheels!...
we had it good
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2006 20:31 Comments ||
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Captain James Cook's Endeavour, the 18th Century ship he sailed on his epic voyage to Australia, may be one of the four shipwrecks found off the coast of the US. The ship is among four from a British fleet used during the US Revolutionary War found off Rhode Island. Researchers with the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project say they believe the ships, and two others previously discovered, are part of a 13-vessel transport fleet. The fleet was intentionally sunk by the British in Newport Harbor in 1778 to keep French ships from landing to aid the Americans' drive for independence.
The archaeologists say one of the 13 ships in the sunken British fleet was the Lord Sandwich, which records show was once the Endeavour. Captain Cook used the Endeavour to sail the Pacific Ocean, map New Zealand and survey the eastern coast of Australia in 1768-1771. Archaeologists say it is unclear which ship could be the Endeavour. Seven of the ships in the British fleet have not been found but the archaeologists say the latest find raises the chances that one of the discovered ships is the Endeavour. "There is a 47 per cent chance that we have our hands on the Endeavour," DK Abbass, executive director of the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project, said.
She adds it is unlikely anything on the ships would provide a direct link to Captain Cook. "Quite frankly, we could be working on her right now and never be able to prove it," Ms Abbass said. Ms Abbass says it may take years to fully investigate the shipwrecks found so far.
Relics found
Using historical materials and sonar, the archaeologists discovered the ships in Narragansett Bay, about about a kilometre off Newport. They also found at least one cannon, an anchor with a five-metre shank and a cream-coloured fragment of an 18th century British ceramic teapot.
Historically, the finding is significant because it helps tell the story of the siege of Newport, marking France's first attempt to aid the American insurrection against the British. Though the effort failed, leaders from each side - George Washington representing the Americans and Comte de Rochambeau for America's French allies - met in Newport two years later, to formalise their cooperation for subsequent battles. The French ultimately helped the Americans entrap British forces on a peninsula at Yorktown, Virginia. "So, what you have here is the British are geared up for the colonial rebellion and now they're looking at an international conflict," Rod Mather, an associate professor of maritime history and underwater archaeology at the University of Rhode Island, said.
Ms Abbass says the shipwrecks are Rhode Island property. There are no plans to raise them. Officials estimate more than two dozen ships from the Revolutionary War period lie beneath Rhode Island's waters. They include British Royal Navy frigates, vessels from the Continental Navy and a French ship.
#1
I think it'll be great iff the ENDEAVOR/LORD SANDWICH, or any one of these ships, could be refurbished and moored next to the Yorktown battlefield. However, considering the importance of Capt. Cook, I expect Britain's Royals and science buffs will lobby hard for the ENDEAVOR.
#2
The Endeavour was Cook's ship when he discovered Hawaii and explored the south central coast of Alaska (Cook Inlet, Resurrection Bay, Prince William Sound, etc.).
I doubt that the ship could be raised, but if it could it and any artifacts mean as much to the U.S. as they do to the British.
I was born in Anchorage and would love to to see Captain Cook's ship.
Striking security guards rampaged through Cape Town on Tuesday during a protest linked to a national strike.
Cars were vandalised and shops looted in the city centre after a legal protest over wages and work conditions by 5,000 strikers turned violent.
Two union leaders were among 39 people arrested and were due to appear in court on Wednesday.
Security guards first went on strike in March. One of the unions is holding out for a better wage deal.
Protesters smashed shop windows and seized goods from shops and street traders, according to reports from the city.
More than 100 cars were vandalised in the city centre.
Arrests
Most shops in the city centre later closed their doors and vendors were seen packing up their goods and leaving the area.
Tony Ehrenreich, provincial secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), and Evan Abrahams of the SA Transport and Allied Workers' Union (Satawu), were among those arrested and held overnight pending a bail hearing.
Satawu and 14 other unions first went on strike in March.
Satawu resumed the strike in April, and is continuing to demand an 11% pay increase after other unions agreed to a rise of 8.3%.
South Africa's security industry has boomed as a result of high crime levels and under-resourced police.
Guards typically work long hours in dangerous conditions for minimal wages.
Mr. Zuma can fix all this when he's elected president.
Nigerian anti-corruption authorities are investigating whether opposition politicians have been bribed to allow the country's President to contest a third term in office. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo is supposed to step down from office next year, but a campaign to allow him a third term threatens to destabilise Africa's most populous country.
That's the African pattern. There's always some reason why they should stay in office until they're carried out feet first, one way or the other.
Anti-fraud officials are investigating whether opponents of allowing him another term have been paid to vote yes when the issue comes before the Senate in a few days. Mr Obasanjo has portrayed himself as an African statesman during his time in office. He has also conducted a prominent anti-corruption campaign. Critics say his push for another term has tainted his democratic image, while the United States and Britain are opposing the proposal.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Fraud? In Nigeria? Whodathunkit?
Posted by: Mike ||
05/17/2006 8:50 Comments ||
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#2
I've yet to get the email offering me a cut of the bribe money, so I can't confirm or deny this. I will, however, make sure to keep everyone posted...
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has giving his strongest signal yet that he backs the building of a new generation of nuclear power stations.
That will cause the reflexive lefties to squeal like piggies. They'll dismiss the fact that nuclear production frees the nation somewhat from dependence on an increasingly greedy and adversarial Arab world. Once the idea's safely dead, the same people will turn around and bitch about being dependent on the Arabs for energy.
Mr Blair says the nation faces the prospect of being largely reliant on foreign gas imports.
I just said that.
"These facts put the replacement of nuclear power stations, a big push on renewables and a step change on energy efficiency, engaging both business and consumers, back on the agenda with a vengeance," Mr Blair told the Confederation of British Industry. His remarks have been made in the middle of a wide-ranging speech covering globalisation, education, pensions and public sector reform. They follow a private briefing by the Energy Minister on the progress of a review into the use of the power, which is due to be concluded by July. Mr Blair implies that without nuclear power, Britain cannot meet its targets for greenhouse gas emissions and answer questions over energy security.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2006 00:00 ||
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The year was 1993. A friend of mine who worked at a hospital in Texas' Rio Grande Valley -- a short ride from Mexico -- described "the baby predicament."
Here's a sketch of his story: At the first indications of impending birth, a pregnant Mexican woman crosses the border in a car. As her labor begins in earnest, her driver drops her off at the hospital. The doctors confront an immediate challenge: A baby is definitely being born. In the typical case, the soon-to-be mother has had no prenatal care. However, she has had a plan -- her child will be born in the United States, come political hell in Washington or high water in the Rio Grande.
"I'm in a legal and moral bind," my friend continued. Denial of services has potentially severe legal consequences. No one wants a patient to die or suffer. "But," he said, "we've medical costs. And the doctors suspect she's in the U.S. illegally. What do you do?"
"You help her and her child," I replied.
"That's right," my friend agreed. "But this happens at the hospital every day. We don't have the funds for this. Where's the limit?"
I said I didn't know. And I still don't. I suspect the child born in my friend's hospital is now a U.S. citizen, meaning the mother's ploy worked. Why did she do it? No doubt a few women pulling this trick seek an economic or legal gain for themselves, but the most likely reason the mother crossed the border to give birth was to give her child a shot at a better life in the United States, the land of liberty and economic opportunity. That's a hard slap at Mexico, and a deserved slap.
I didn't ask my friend about his hospital's role in documentation. This was a conversation at a college reunion, not an investigation.
"Where's the limit?" leads to another question: "Who's at fault?" Even if a lawyer made the case the mother's action was "borderline" legal, she certainly jinked the immigration system. An angry voter might also blame the hospital for providing a birth certificate. A smart cop might finger the driver who dumped her at the curb. Politicians of various stripes will bewail "the broken system" and scream about "lack of leadership."
In 1993, Ann Richards -- a liberal Democrat -- was governor of Texas. Democrats controlled the Texas legislature. Bill Clinton, a liberal of sorts, was president, and Democrats controlled both branches of Congress. The Simpson-Mazzoli immigration reform bill -- a bipartisan bill -- had been in effect since 1986. That bill didn't solve the immigration crisis. Critics blame lack of enforcement. In 2006, Republicans are in charge in Texas and in Washington, and the immigration crisis continues.
What's changed since 1993? In 2006, the United States, Mexico and "points further south" have larger populations. That means there are more people in the United States and more people -- with and without proper papers -- looking for work. The power of narcotrafficantes along the U.S.-Mexico border has grown. The gang violence spills across the border, increasing tensions.
Today, the United States is more security conscious -- 9-11 did that. New security concerns have a subsidiary effect: an increased emphasis on immigrant assimilation. Most new Americans learn English and salute the flag. However, radical "multiculturalists" (many drawing paychecks at U.S. universities) urge separatism. Their abrasive identity politics lacks political traction, but they have media pizzazz. One suspects they want to exacerbate existing problems.
Putting 6,000 National Guardsman on border duty, as President Bush proposes, will only minimally enhance security. As a symbol of long-term intent to improve U.S. security, however, a troop deployment may lead to a political compromise in Washington.
But no Washington compromise will solve the problem. The real "broken systems" are the corrupt economies to the south. Mexico's leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador agrees, calling illegal immigration to the United States "Mexico's disgrace." However, his prescription is more statist economics policies. That's wrong. Mexico needs freer markets, but a free market needs an honest judiciary.
The long-term solution lies in expanding economic and political opportunity in Mexico. That's what NAFTA was really about -- evolving Mexico. In the short term, however, that doesn't pay bills at the border hospital.
#4
The long-term solution lies in expanding economic and political opportunity in Mexico. That's what NAFTA was really about -- evolving Mexico. In the short term, however, that doesn't pay bills at the border hospital.
That will require the Mexicans to alter their Constitution. Not going to happen from within. That means the only source of real change is from outside. Best to use the NG troops to start building forward bases along the frontier, just like we did in Iraq.
#5
The Government and elites that control the political partiers will hold course. After a new "imigration law" they will just ignore it and profit from doing so.
Posted by: SPoD ||
05/17/2006 16:18 Comments ||
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#6
no anchor babies! Repeal the amendment
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2006 17:16 Comments ||
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#7
At the first indications of impending birth, a pregnant Mexican woman crosses the border in a car. As her labor begins in earnest, her driver drops her off at the hospital. The doctors confront an immediate challenge: A baby is definitely being born. In the typical case, the soon-to-be mother has had no prenatal care.
Substitute 'heart-attack' and you have another and just as expensive problem.
He proposed the same BS 2 years ago. He is sounding a bit desperate now.
Venezuela has hinted it could price its oil exports in euros rather than US dollars, further weakening its links to the US.
President Hugo Chavez said he was considering taking the step following a similar declaration by Iran.
Earlier this month, Iranian authorities gave backing for the launch of an oil exchange that traded solely in euros.
Some reports have suggested Iran's move may be part of a bid to undermine the importance of the dollar.
But in an interview with Channel 4 News in London, Mr Chavez said the move was merely a matter of choice.
"I think the European Union has made a large contribution with the euro," he said.
"So what the president of Iran says ... is recognising the power of Europe - they have succeeded in integrating and have a single currency competing with the dollar, and Venezuela might also consider that - we are free to do that," he added.
Dollar concerns
Experts have suggested that, should Iran demand payment for its exports in euros, central banks could opt to convert some of their dollar reserves to euros and therefore possibly trigger a further decline in the US currency.
The dollar has already come under pressure in foreign exchange markets in recent weeks, triggering nervousness in world stock markets.
Central banks, especially in Asia, who hold large amounts of the US dollar, could find the value of their foreign currency reserves substantially reduced.
Tensions rising
Iran is currently embroiled in a stand-off with the US in a row over its nuclear ambitions.
Iran, the second-largest exporter in oil producing nations group Opec, insists merely wants to build power stations, but the US claims it is building nuclear arms.
Meanwhile, Venezuela - the world's fifth largest oil producer - has been trying to reduce its dependence on the US, as relations have been strained under President Hugo Chavez.
In April it signed a joint venture with Cuba - a long time opponent of the US - to revamp an oil refinery and supply unrefined oil to the country.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/4990302.stm
The US says it is cancelling free-trade negotiations with Ecuador, after the South American country seized the assets of a US oil company. Ecuadorean oil officials cancelled Occidental Petroleum's operating contract after a long-running dispute. The US administration said it was "disappointed" with the decision.
Bolivia recently declared it was nationalising foreign energy companies, but Ecuador says other foreign energy companies have nothing to fear. It insists the dispute is specific to Occidental, which it says violated the terms of its operating contract by selling part of an Ecuadorean field to Canada's EnCana in 2000 without Ecuador's approval.
On Monday, the Quito government cancelled Occidental's contract, and the following day officials from Ecuador's state-owned oil company Petroecuador began to take over offices and installations run by the company. Ecuadorean President Alfredo Palacio has sent troops to guard oil facilities seized from Occidental as they are transferred to state control, news agency AP quoted officials as saying.
Officials say they are considering teaming up with another South American state-owned company to operate the fields formerly run by Occidental, which produce a fifth of Ecuador's oil output.
Gee, now who will that be?
The takeover of Occidental was welcomed by indigenous groups in Ecuador, who had campaigned for the company to be expelled. They were also at the heart of protests in March against free-trade negotiations with the US, which saw a state of emergency declared in five provinces. The US has already reached such bilateral agreements with Peru and Colombia, but some Latin American campaigners say they do not benefit ordinary workers.
Separately, both Bolivia and Venezuela have this month announced measures to increase revenue from foreign energy companies operating within their borders.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/17/2006 08:45 ||
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Venezuela is considering replacing its contingent of U.S.-built F-16 multi-role fighters with Russian Su-35s, a high ranking Venezuelan general said. "We are considering procurement of Russia's Su-35 fighter aircraft to replace F-16s, after the United States banned weapons exports to Venezuela," Venezuelan General Staff official General Alberto Muller Rojas said. "At the moment the Su-35 is world's best multi-role fighter."
The United States announced a ban on arms sales to Venezuela May 15. The U.S. State Department accused the South American country of having an intelligence-sharing relationship with Iran and Cuba, both of which the U.S. says are state sponsors of terrorism. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accused the United States of breaching an agreement to supply parts for Venezuela's F-16s.
Rojas, a military advisor close to Chavez, said the issue had previously been discussed with Russia, but that the White House's decision to stop supplying spare parts for U.S. aircraft had given fresh impetus to the talks. Rojas said he had proposed to Chavez that Venezuela selling its 21 F-16s to a third party or share it with Cuba as a gift. He added that Iran or Chile could be potential customers of the planes, as both countries had F-16s and spare parts in inventory.
A U.S. State Department spokesman said Monday that the United States would not allow Venezuela to sell the planes to Iran. Under U.S. arms-sales contracts, "you can't transfer these defense articles, in this case, F-16s, to a third country," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "And I would expect that even if such a request were made that [permission] would not be forthcoming from the U.S. Government."
The U.S. and Venezuela signed a contract on the F-16s in 1982, and Venezuela does not have the right to re-sell its F-16s under it. But Rojas said the U.S. had broken the agreement unilaterally, so Venezuela considered itself free not to comply with its obligations.
Flight testing continued and up to 1994 eleven prototypes were built. Intended to enter service around 1995, the first test flights of an improved Su-35, the Su-37, in 1996 and the transfer of existing Su-35 prototypes to this program appeared to suggest the end of the Su-35 without any production aircraft.
Kinda hard to buy aircraft that don't exsist.
Also:
Russia has not ordered Su-37s, but it might find customers abroad, a market that now constitutes a sizable share of Sukhois income. Several prototypes have been built, but the aircraft is not in production.
The most recent news regarding the development of the Su-37 is that the project was cancelled due to lack of funding.
#4
In that case maybe they will have to buy Irans lawnmower plane thing, or perhaps the ultra-horizon weapon if anyone can figure out what that is.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
05/17/2006 13:22 Comments ||
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#5
Realistically, what is there best option for a fighter? Mig-25?
Posted by: Mike N. ||
05/17/2006 13:23 Comments ||
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#6
But Rojas said the U.S. had broken the agreement unilaterally, so Venezuela considered itself free not to comply with its obligations.
So, seeing how we're free not to comply with obligations, I'd assume there would be no problem with us, I dunno, strafing said F-16's on the runway at Caracas International to prevent the sale?
#7
Iran does NOT have F16s : they have some F4s, F5s, Mirages {courtesy of Saddam}, and F14s as their Western-built fighters. The parts and avionics are not swappable between the models. Once again, the stupid are proposing things that have no basis in reality. Chile could buy the F16s, and even have some support for same, or Pakistan could.
#9
Hugo should just sell his F-16s on eBay. Then he can take the cash and buy a handful of those Chinese MiG knock-offw we were discussing the other day. They may not be state of the art fighters, but they will be enough to go up against his neighbors and own people. Assuming he has pilots, of course.
LA PAZ, Bolivia (Reuters) - Bolivia's leftist government on Tuesday outlined its plan to redistribute idle land to poor peasants, ruling out mass expropriations and proposing instead the distribution of state-owned property.
For now.
The announcement came two weeks after President Evo Morales nationalised the country's energy industry, surprising neighbouring states and foreign oil companies that had expected to be consulted before Bolivia took action.
Land reform is another pillar of Morales' policy to increase the state's role in managing natural resources, but the government sought to soothe landowners' fears of arbitrary expropriations by ruling out seizures of productive lands. "As long as the land fulfills its economic and social function, the state will respect it. But if it doesn't fulfill that role, the state will act with the necessary force," Vice President Alvaro Garcia said.
And the gummint will determine whether the 'land' is 'fulfilling' its function.
He urged Bolivians to discuss the proposal and said rumours about expropriations or government-backed squatting stemmed from blackmail by those opposed to the "agrarian revolution."
The first step of the proposal involves distributing up to 5 million hectares (12.36 million acres) of state-owned property to indigenous groups and then identify unproductive private land for possible redistribution.
Unproductive according to the government.
Wealthy landowners concentrated in eastern parts of Bolivia have expressed concern over the reform plans, which fit into Morales' wider agenda to champion the rights of the poor, indigenous majority from where he draws his support.
While the sweeping May 1 energy nationalisation has been relatively noncontroversial within Bolivia, land reform has exposed the deep divisions between its indigenous people and the richer European-descended elite. Unease has been strongest in the eastern economic powerhouse of Santa Cruz, where fertile soils are home to vast soy plantations, cattle ranches and migrants who moved from the impoverished Andean highlands in search of a better life.
And what's more unproductive than a cattle rannch or a soy plantation?
"It's important that the government avoids creating uncertainty and confrontations," said Gabriel Dabdoub, head of the powerful Santa Cruz business association CAINCO. "We need to unify the country and the important thing is for government ministers to sit around a negotiating table in a transparent way," he told Reuters after the announcement.
Despite assurances that productive farmland will not be earmarked for redistribution, some landowners say the definitions are unclear. "What concerns us is that the rules of the game aren't clear," said Mauricio Roca, acting president of the Eastern Agricultural Chamber, which represents landowners.
A recent report by the Roman Catholic Church found a small group of wealthy businessmen owned 90 percent of the country's territory. The rest is shared among Bolivia's 3 million indigenous peasant farmers, who form Morales' support base."That is the reality we have to fix," Garcia said as he detailed the reform proposals. "This will bring justice for communities and for the peasants."
The thought of using the oil money to buy land from the wealthy and distribute it to the peasants never occurred to you, huh?
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/17/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
"Pa! It's them danged Agrarian Reformers agin..."
#2
The only place it worked was when the US made the ROC do land reform in the early 1950s. Its one of the key reasons Taiwan is successful and stable today.
#8
hopefully he's gone to school over this issue and studied the famously unsuccessful Zimbabwe example.
Posted by: bk ||
05/17/2006 9:50 Comments ||
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in·sane
adj.
1.
a. Of, exhibiting, or afflicted with insanity.
b. Characteristic of or associated with persons afflicted with insanity: an insane laugh; insane babbling.
c. Intended for use by such persons: an insane asylum.
2. Immoderate; wild: insane jealousy.
3. Very foolish; absurd: giving land to people that don't know how to work it
#12
"productive farmland" = owned by Morales' friends.
Posted by: James ||
05/17/2006 11:58 Comments ||
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#13
"As long as the land fulfills its economic and social function, the state will respect it. But if it doesn't fulfill that role, the state will act with the necessary force," Vice President Alvaro Garcia said.
This is rather more blatant and openly tyrannical, but fundamentally not much different from the Kelo decision IMO.
London - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez branded US President George W Bush Monday a 'genocidal assassin' and the 'worst criminal in humanity' during a a private visit to London. "The loss of my lips left me scarred and deformed, but my resolve has never been stronger!"
During a visit hosted by Ken Livingstone, London's controversial mayor, Chavez described the Iraq war as the 'Vietnam of the 21st century' and said he did not believe Iran was trying to gain nuclear capability.
Livingstone, standing next to the radical Venezuelan leader, said: 'I sometimes have views on George Bush - not too dissimilar from yours.'
Chavez was given a 'hero's welcome' by Livingstone at a public rally attended by left-wingers from Britain and Latin American countries Sunday evening. Livingstone, Hugo Chávez is evil!
"From my point of view the free world is evil!"
Well then you are lost!
But he did not call, nor had he been invited to, on British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whom he has described as a 'main ally of Hitler' on account of British support for the Iraq war. "The free nations are plotting to take over. This is a plot generations in the making."
At a lunch hosted by Livingstone Monday, Chavez had talks with a number of prominent left-wing parliamentarians in Blair's ruling Labour Party, as well as celebrities and trade unionists.
The guest list included playwright Harold Pinter, a stern opponent of the Iraq war, Bianca Jagger, Nicaraguan ex-model and former wife of Rolling Stone Mick Jagger.
Bianca Jagger, now a human rights activist, told the Guardian Monday that it was 'important for Europe to understand the history of the oil companies in Latin America.'
'They left a terrible environmental disaster behind them and they have never been accountable for it,' she said.
Chavez repeated his warning that the price of petrol would rocket in Britain, if war is declared against Iran. 'The English middle classes would have to stop using their cars', he said.
Referring to Iraq, he said: 'If you are going to compare me to the worst criminal in humanity - the president of the US; He is an assassin. He is a criminal responsible for genocide, completely immoral.' "Every single leader of the free world is now an enemy of humanity. Show no mercy; do what must be done."
Chavez added: 'I believe that he should be put in jail. He has invaded a country. Are we bombing cities?'
On the conflict surrounding Iran's nuclear programme, he said: 'We want dialogue. We are not for war. All we want is respect for the will of the people of Iran.' "The Rebel Alliance seeks to destroy Alderaan for agitation purposes."
Livingstone, a strong Chavez supporter, defended him as 'the best news out of Latin America in many years.'
Figures from the worlds of culture, finance and fashion also attended the lunch at London's City Hall.
The guest list included Peter Voser, chief financial officer of Shell International, fashion designer Katherine Hamnett, as well as left-wing Labour parliamentarians Tony Lloyd, Jon Cruddas, Diane Abbott, Colin Burgon, Dawn Butler and Jon Trickett.
During his last visit to London in 2001, Chavez warmly embraced Blair and had tea with Queen Elizabeth II.
But since then, relations between the two governments have deteriorated. Makes you wonder how Sidious would have handled the Yuuzhan Vong threat.
#2
Now, now, Hugo, is that any way to describe or talk about Clintonian SOCIALIST/PSEUDO-COMMUNIST America's misguided/ditzy/clutzy = malicious imperialist Motherless Rightist younger brother to Marx, Stalin, and Mao??? THE FINAL HOURS OR DAYS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN EMPIRE IS AT HAND . thereby proving once again the 9-11/WOT is about Radical Islam, and only Radical Islam, NOT and NEVER the defeat, domination, andor destruction of America and Western civilization. SO MANY LEFTIES, SO MANY "DAMN THE TORPEDOES", CLINTONIAN STRAIGHT ARROWS, MORALIST = ANTI-MORALS DISPLAYS OF TRUTH. Iff BillC. were himself, he wouldn't believe himself either.
#3
Qaradawi, Chavez.. what's the fascination with the criminally insane, Ken? What next? Famous serial killers being invited down to Town Hall? WHat a complete and utter prick.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
05/17/2006 4:42 Comments ||
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#4
So what's up with Londoners electing Red Ken?
Posted by: ed ||
05/17/2006 6:52 Comments ||
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#5
Qaradawi, Chavez.. what's the fascination with the criminally insane, Ken?
Red Ken's a socialist. He's fascinated with the criminally insane because he's one of them.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
05/17/2006 7:21 Comments ||
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#6
How come I wasn't invited? *sniff*
Posted by: Gorgeous George ||
05/17/2006 9:01 Comments ||
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#7
LOL on the Brits for letting him in their country.
#8
Worse than Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Ghengis, Attila,
Hirohito, Mussolini, the Kaiser, King Leopold and even Cortez? Come on Hugo, this makes you the biggest asshole ever.
SAO PAULO, Brazil - Police struck back Tuesday at gangs that rampaged through South America's largest city, killing 33 suspected gang members in less than 24 hours and frisking motorists at roadblocks while reporting only one death of their own. At least 133 people including 40 police officers have been killed since Friday night, when a prison transfer of gang leaders sparked attacks on police stations, courts, city buses and other symbols of government authority.
But while gang attacks fell off sharply in Sao Paulo on Tuesday, the death toll within their ranks rose dramatically. Officers "acted within the law, but that doesn't mean we have to let them humiliate us," Marco Antonio Desgualdo, a top Sao Paulo state law enforcement official, told reporters. He did not give specifics about the killings. Separately, prison officials said the bodies of 18 inmates were found after police retook control of dozens of jails where prisoners rioted at the same time that gang members attacked officers across Sao Paulo.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
If this was Baghdad it would have been plastered all over the nightly news and papers in America, but when insurgents gangs do this in Brazil, it's buried under the tv listings for Univision.
For those of us who don't how industries are 'nationalized', here's how it works:
The Bolivian government set a deadline of 72 hours for Spain's second-biggest bank to surrender its shares in energy companies after La Paz nationalised this sector. The BBVA bank and the Swiss insurers Zurich Financial Services must now transfer their oil and gas shares to the government "free of charge".
And their investors, employees, beneficiaries, and baby bunnies can "go to hell."
Two weeks ago, Bolivian president Evo Morales signed a decree by which the state assumed "absolute control" over the country's energy sector. "There will be intervention in these pension funds if they don't comply with the decree within three days," warned a spokesman.
Since 1997, BBVA and Zurich Financial Services have managed Bolivia's pension fund management entities Prevision and Futuro, respectively. The two entities administer a joint fund created with the shares resulting from the partial privatization process of the state firms carried out in the 1990s and allowing the entry of a large amount of foreign investments. Now Prevision and Futuro must turn over to the state the shares they manage in the petroleum firms Andina, an affiliate of Spain's Repsol YPF; Transredes, owned by Enron and Royal Dutch Shell; and British Petroleum's Chaco. The companies arose after the dismemberment of the state-owned petroleum company YPFB, which now will recover its executive role by receiving the shares administered by the pension-fund managers in the oil firms, which represent some EUR 547 of the EUR 1.25 billion in the fund. "We have spoken for ... several months with the AFP people (the pension-fund managers) and we've gotten the cooperation of one more than the other. We received verbal resistance and verbal excess from some of the representatives of the pension funds," said a government spokesman.
#4
Bolivia is well on it's way to becoming a financial pariah. Venezuela and Ecuador are coming along for the ride,Argentina is even giving it some thought. Only a maniac would put money into anything in south america at this point.
#5
You rock on with your bad self Bolivia. Without foreign investment your little shithole will become an even bigger shithole in the years to come. Once your peasants get poor enough and desperate enough, 'Viva la Revolucion!'
#6
"Now Prevision and Futuro must turn over to the state the shares they manage in the petroleum firms Andina, an affiliate of Spain's Repsol YPF; Transredes, owned by Enron and Royal Dutch Shell; and British Petroleum's Chaco. The companies arose after the dismemberment of the state-owned petroleum company YPFB, which now will recover its executive role by receiving the shares administered by the pension-fund managers in the oil firms, which represent some EUR 547 of the EUR 1.25 billion in the fund."
Good luck getting funds from Enron. And wasn't Dutch Shell the owner of a couple of stolen laptops right before some Nigerian booms?
"The BBVA bank and the Swiss insurers Zurich Financial Services must now transfer their oil and gas shares to the government "free of charge"."
This massive shell game of resources smells, but I think Morales is going to hit a dry hole on this one.
#8
when the cost of companies losing their economic investments exceeds the cost of a .50 Cal bullet in your forehead, you jump into the dead pool.....how long for Evo?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2006 17:14 Comments ||
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#9
In the history of the world, has "nationalizing" industries and assets ever turned out well
Maybe (passenger) railways? Or at least they didn't get worse.
WASHINGTON -- China's exchange rate has breached the psychological threshold of eight yuan to the U.S. dollar for the first time in a dozen years -- the latest sign of thawing relations with its major trading partners.
Yesterday, less than a week after the Bush administration opted not to brand China a currency manipulator, Chinese banking officials responded with the first significant move in China's exchange rate in more than a month. The People's Bank of China set an official exchange rate of 7.9982 yuan to the dollar at the opening of heavily regulated trading in Shanghai. During the day, the Chinese currency strengthened a little further, to 7.9972, but then reversed direction to close at 8.003.
Less -- not more -- political pressure appears to be driving Chinese decision making, analysts said. Merrill Lynch economist David Rosenberg said the small but significant upward move in the yuan is likely a "quid pro quo" for last week's decision by the U.S. Treasury Department report not to identify China as a currency cheat, which would have been the first step to imposing sanctions on the country. China, on the other hand, is eager not to be seen to be bending to U.S. pressure. Chinese officials also worry that wild fluctuations in the yuan could undermine the country's fragile banking system.
The go-slow strategy seems to be winning over some key U.S. critics. "The fact that the yuan finally dipped below eight is good news, but only if it portends further movement," said New York Senator Charles Schumer, co-sponsor of a bill that would hit China with a 27.7-per-cent tariff on all imports.
Thanks for that important insight, Chuckles.
U.S. Treasuring Department spokesman Tony Fratto said the Bush administration welcomes the upward adjustment of the yuan. "Greater flexibility in China's exchange rate is something we've long advocated," Mr. Fratto said.
Chinese officials suggested yesterday that a further upward move in the yuan is likely. In a joint statement issued after a meeting of Chinese and European Union officials in Beijing, China pledged to "further improve" the yuan exchange rate mechanism and "constantly make the exchange rate more responsive to market supply and demand."
China's trade deficit with the United States and the rest of the world hit record highs in 2005. Critics said Beijing may be artificially undervaluing the yuan by as much as 40 per cent to flood global markets with cheap goods. Last July, China adjusted its peg to U.S. currency from 8.28 to the dollar to 8.11. Under the new rules, China allows the yuan to move by as much 0.3 per cent above or below the daily rate it sets. So far, China has only allowed the yuan to rise by a total of less than 1.5 per cent.
Last week, U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said China is in the midst of "a historic transformation to a market system" that would be good for both countries in the long run. And he said Chinese currency policies don't rise to the level of manipulation.
The warmer climate of relations began with a visit to China earlier this year by Mr. Schumer and Lindsey Graham, who co-sponsored the U.S. tariff bill. After meeting top Chinese banking officials, Mr. Schumer and Mr. Lindsey said they would delay a vote on the legislation until at least September. All that was a prelude to last month's visit to the United States by Chinese President Hu Jintao. At a White House meeting, Mr. Bush prodded his Chinese counterpart to do more to ease the U.S.-China trade gap, which hit a record $202-billion (U.S.) last year.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/17/2006 00:21 ||
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#1
IONews, China's rising economy had led to an increase in DIVORCES, AND HAPPY DIVORCES AT THAT, including amongst long-time married or elderly couples!?
A VIRTUAL tsunami triggered by an earthquake off the coast of Chile is testing emergency services in Australia and New Zealand.
The computer-generated disaster, known as Pacific Wave 06, has been set up to test communication networks throughout the region.
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock, who is observing the exercise in New Zealand, said no one would forget the Boxing Day 2004 tsunami disaster, which claimed thousands of lives across South-East Asia.
"By joining with our neighbours to test the Pacific Tsunami Warning System, we are taking an important step to ensuring we are better prepared for an ocean-wide tsunami," Mr Ruddock said.
The exercise will also involve Emergency Management Australia (EMA) activating the National Emergency Management Coordination Centre to liaise between government departments and disaster management offices in other countries.
A proposal to translate Norway's national anthem into a language used by many of the country's immigrants is stirring controversy. Opponents claim those who can't understand the Norwegian lyrics should just hum along instead. During a week that brings out huge displays of patriotism in Norway, because of Constitution Day celebrations on the 17th of May, debate is brewing over a move to write an Urdu version of the Norwegian national anthem.
Ůrk.
The editor of a newspaper for minorities in Norway, Utrop, floated the anthem translation proposal in the national newspaper Vårt Land this week. The idea is that an Urdu version of the anthem would allow many immigrants from Pakistan, for example, to watch the dhimmis dance on a string more easily express their love for Norway.
"Ja, ja, ve luff dear old Norge, just as long as you keep the jizya rolling in, keep yer infidel eyes'n'hands to yerselves, and keep your mouths shut as we prepare the way for Caliph Krekar. And by the way, anthems are un-islamic. So don't bother."
The title of Norway's national anthem is, after all, "Ja vi elsker," which in English translates to "Yes we love (this country)." Norway's most evil conservative party, the Progress Party, was quick to slam the proposal. "This is integration in reverse," claimed Per-Willy Amundsen, the Progress Party spokesman on issues dealing with immigration. The "best gift" immigrants can give to "their new homeland," argued Amundsen, is to learn Norwegian. He has no sympathy for immigrants who have problems singing the national anthem in Norwegian. "It just takes practice to learn it," he claimed. "Those who are new to the country can hum along while we others sing." Progress Party staff may need to tune up their own knowledge of the anthem, however. In a press release issued by the party on the issue, the anthem's title was misspelled as "Ja vil elsker," which some might take to mean "I want to love," instead of "Ja vi elsker."
Italy's Romano Prodi has finally been asked to form a new government, more than a month after narrowly winning a national election. President Giorgio Napolitano gave Mr Prodi the mandate after consulting former presidents and party chiefs, including outgoing centre-right prime minister Silvio Berlusconi who insisted he wanted more checks on the results of the election. Mr Prodi accepted and went straight back into talks with his coalition allies, who range from Roman Catholic moderates to communists, over the make-up of the Government. The Government is expected to be sworn in on Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2006 00:00 ||
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A University of Colorado investigative committee found deliberate and serious misconduct by ethnic studies professor Ward Churchill, including plagiarism, fabrication, and "serious deviation from accepted practices in reporting results from research," according to a report made public today. The committee also noted Churchill was "disrespectful of Indian oral traditions" when he wrote the U.S. government distributed blankets infested with smallpox to Mandan Indians in 1837 on the Upper Missouri River.
Did they say anything about the fact that he's a pretend Indian?
Three of the five members of the committee said the transgressions were serious enough that CU could revoke Churchills tenure and fire him.
That's a majority, but I'm sure that doesn't count...
But two of those three said the most appropriate sanction would be a five-year suspension without pay. The other two committee members said they were "troubled by the circumstances under which these allegations have been made," and "believe his dismissal would have an adverse effect on other scholars ability to conduct their research."
I'm not sure how firing him for plagiarizing other people's work, making up his facts, and pretending to be an Indian would have an adverse effect on academic research, except on those researchers who use the same methods.
Those two recommended that Churchill be suspended without pay for two years.
At which point he could resume plagiarizing and making up facts. I think it's becoming trendy to pretend to be a Mexican now, though.
The committee also said it was concerned about the timing and motives of the investigation, which was launched amid public outcry over and essay Churchill wrote about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The university knew Churchill was a "controversial public intellectual" when he was given tenure in 1991, the committee said in the report.
Controversial public intellectuals apparently deserve a pass when it comes to swiping other people's work, and they're allowed to pretend to be anything they want. The concern over the timing is a method of distracting attention from the charges and casting some sort of blame on the people who were bitching about his shoddy methods and purposes.
Last year, as the Churchill inquiry gathered momentum, Joseph Rosse, chairman of the standing committee on research misconduct, explained why the allegations had to be taken seriously. "Research misconduct is one of the most serious allegations that can be brought against a faculty member," Rosse said, "because it strikes at the very heart of integrity and public trust so crucial to the mission of a university."
Much of that public trust has been burned away by "researchers" like Churchill.
The five-member investigative committee was chaired by CU law Professor Mimi Wesson. It also included two other CU faculty members, history professor Marjorie McIntosh and sociology professor Michael Radelet, as well as José Limón, professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin, and Robert N. Clinton, professor of law at Arizona State University.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Fire him. No suspension FIRE HIM!
Posted by: SPoD ||
05/17/2006 0:14 Comments ||
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#2
Nope SUE him and the university to death. Look at it like this; "yes your honor I got a crappy job because at university I lost my time listening prfopaganda while I had paid for instruction. Now I have a bad paying job due to him and people like him hiread by the uiniversity. I want a gazillion dollars as a compensation."
The day universities are faced to paying fortunes when professors don't deliver they will no longer hire such pathetic clowns.
#6
I know of an air tour company in Hawai who, after an accident, was put out of business by the suings of teh families: the pilot had lied about his qualifications and the comapny didn't check.
If the university of Colarado didn't check Ward Crurchill's background then it is guilty of negligence and deserves to be sued. If it knowingly hied a fraud then it is also guilty and should have to pay for it.
OTTAWA The Harper government plans to fulfill its pledge to gut the federal long-gun registry by providing amnesty to gun owners who don't sign up and eventually unveiling legislation to eliminate it. Auditor-General Sheila Fraser will release her report on the controversy-plagued registry today.
Sources said the amnesty would be announced imminently and legislation would come some time this spring. They were unclear what the legislation would say, but it's assumed the law would not get rid of the handgun registry, merely the portion of the registry that deals with long guns.
It's a start, and when Canadians see that, contrary to Liberal assertions, their country doesn't immediately dissolve in American-style crime, then Harper can come along and finish the job.
The Conservative election platform included an unequivocal promise to scrap the registry, but the minority government is concerned that it might lose a vote on legislation to kill it in the House of Commons, hence the apparent need to introduce an amnesty to make the registry essentially inoperable. Even if the government managed to unveil a bill before the summer break, as sources say is its intention, it is unclear when or if the law would pass.
All three opposition parties have expressed support for the registry, even if some of that support has been qualified. Although the Tories are 31 seats short of a majority, sources said the government may be able to count on enough Bloc Québécois MPs, some Liberals and even the odd New Democrat to eventually pass the bill.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/17/2006 00:12 ||
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(AP) -- A civilian border watch group considers President Bush's crackdown plan on illegal immigration insufficient and is sticking to plans to start putting up a short border security fence on private land along the Mexican border.
On Monday, the president announced his intent to temporarily deploy up to 6,000 National Guard troops to support the U.S. Border Patrol -- but not conduct patrols themselves -- as part of an effort to gain control of the porous southwestern border with Mexico.
In a nationally televised address, Bush endorsed a temporary worker program and said he wants new, secure identification cards for legal foreign workers; would let illegal immigrants with otherwise clean records pay a fine and start along a path to become citizens and would make employers take responsibility for those they hire.
Chris Simcox, the head of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, said last month that unless military reserves or the National Guard were deployed to the border and the White House endorsed more secure fencing, his group would begin constructing fencing on private land along the border.
Last week, the group said construction would begin May 27 because it was not anticipating any imminent effort to put troops on the border.
On Tuesday, Minuteman spokeswoman Connie Hair reiterated that position, despite the president's announcement to have guardsmen fill in on some behind-the-lines Border Patrol jobs while that agency's force is expanded by 6,000 by 2008.
"This is a token deployment of unarmed and grossly inadequate numbers of National Guardsmen to the border, placing them in the same demoralizing position as the Border Patrol ... outmanned and outgunned against the international crime cartels," Hair said.
"We're now more determined than ever to build it, because this is not by any means putting troops on the border. It's adding more people to the mix who will not be in position to do actual patrols," Hair added.
Hair said the plan remains to build 50 to 150 feet of a double fence on a privately owned ranch over the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
Nearly 1,000 Minuteman volunteers had signed up on the group's Web site, but probably 300 to 350 will be used to work on the fencing, according to Hair.
Others who turn out at a gathering point in southeastern Arizona will help set up stationary observation posts Friday through Monday along a stretch of the border with Mexico. The observers will watch for and report illegal border crossers to the Border Patrol.
Hair said the president could well be placing those National Guard troops who are to be assigned to build roads along the border in a perilous situation, where they potentially could come under fire from criminal elements across the international boundary.
"From everything we can tell, they're going to be unarmed," she said. "Who will guard the National Guard? If it's the Border Patrol, doesn't that defeat the idea of sending troops to the border in the first place?"
#1
I think the fnece part of the Snate bill, passed toady, will change a lot of minds inthe Minutemen. Its what I and they have been wanting.
Now to get enforcment on the Canadian border into the laws as well - because any time you put up strong barriers, you force your opponent to find the next weak spot - thats why fenes work - we now no longer have to protrl fenced areas ans intnesely, and can instead partol the areas we have force the traffic into. Its an old military tactic - thats why military uses minefield: to force the enemy into a channel that we are prepared to deal with and deny him the ability to operate wherver he wishes.
So, after the Mexican Borders is protected, you have to look to the next "weak spot". For the US, on land, that the US-Canadian border. the US SE/Gulf Coast is also vulnerable, but htat is a different problem set (radar works well over the water and targets are quite obvious - and there is a bigger reaction time available for those threats).
A conference geared to help Democrats infuse God into their politics begins tomorrow at All Souls Unitarian Church in the District with the unveiling of a "spiritual covenant with America."
How appropriate.
The "Spiritual Activism Conference" aims to equip liberals to operate in a political arena where religion has played a more prominent role since 2000, says Rabbi Michael Lerner, founder of the Jewish magazine Tikkun and a chief conference organizer. "While we support the liberal agenda, we are going to a much deeper level with this spiritual critique," he said. "We want to bring in a nonutilitarian framework that sees other human beings as embodiments of the sacred."
How about a utilitarian framework that sees human beings as individuals, rather than as members of "the masses"? I realize the Publicans have difficulty getting large amounts of votes with this approach, but people with genuine religious beliefs react well to it, which is why the Dems are trying to line up their votes — as a bloc.
After some 1,200 conferees receive copies of the covenant -- an alternative to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's successful 1994 "Contract With America" that led to a Republican takeover of the House later that year -- they are expected to discuss it Thursday in meetings with members of Congress.
And they talk about generals fighting the last war...
"We're not taking the liberal agenda and sticking on some Bible quotes," Mr. Lerner said. "It's a whole rethinking on how to do liberal and progressive politics in a whole different language." One element of this rethinking was to come up with a new term, "spiritual progressives" for the religious left. Next was to come up with some sort of document that expresses their values.
"Spiritual progressives" sounds like the same old pig with a fresh coat of lipstick.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2006 00:00 ||
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#2
I was trying to find a new church to go to and I can say that the Dems have found their home in many a pulpit. The sad thing is that you can tell these most of these churches when you walk in the doors. They have the same feel as a store going out of business. But they often do good charity works.
It's not all bad. These people are lost souls and in need of something more meaningful that the culture of self. As a Christian - I can't help but think that if you get them interested in The Message(TM) - and they will benefit - even if The Message(TM) is buried deep inside a paid poltical advertisment by a pig wearing a new coat of lipstick.
#5
Leftist spirituality is nothing new. From crystal gazing to metaphysics to 'Earth Day', the list goes on and on. The only thing missing is the concept of SIN. Let 'em try. Without the basic understanding that some behaviors are reprehensible simply because God says so, the truly spiritual will see right through them. Same old pig with lipstick indeed, Fred.
#6
Sin? The left uses hefty doses of 'guilt' to sell their programs. You are evil because you or your forbears were successful. The only way to relieve that guilt is to do as they say. Now give me 80% of your earnings and property.
#7
I could give a rat's ass about their religious beliefs. If they're not going to try to secure the border, minimize govt spending, and reduce taxes they won't get my vote, period. That goes for both sides. Our founders are turning in their graves.
#12
I want to listen to these half-wits talk about "spirituality" about as much as I want to go to mass to hear the priest talk about nuclear proliferation and opening dialogue w/Iran.
#15
Frank, my idea of purgatory for any self respecting heterosexual redblooded american male is singing "here i am lord" over and over while flanked in a pew by the hildebeast and ward churchill......w/sermon provided by the reverend jesse jackson.......of course it will be religious out reach day and lou farakhan will be the guess speaker.
WASHINGTON: Google, the worlds most popular Internet search engine, has found in a survey that mostly Muslim states seek access to sex-related websites and Pakistan tops the list. Google found that of the top 10 countries - searching for sex-related sites - six were Muslim, with Pakistan on the top. The other Muslim countries are Egypt at number 2, Iran at 4, Morocco at 5, Saudi Arabia at 7 and Turkey at 8. Non-Muslim states are Vietnam at 3, India at 6, Philippines at 9 and Poland at 10.
#2
It's not really they're sex-starved, they're very busy critters from what I've read, with widepsread bordellos, female abuse, prostitution, plus many of lil' pak kiddies that have to come from somewhere... it's just they're repressed about about sexuality, and quite obsessed with it (and with bodily functions in general, cf islam's absurd list of prescriptions about it).
And btw IMHO, this is deliberate from a doctrinal point of view, as this help control the faithfuls' lives.
A woman was burnt by her in-laws in a domestic dispute in the Ghaziabad police precincts. Police said that Saima, the mother of five children, was on bad terms with her mother-in-law and sister in-law Misbah, who had tried forcing Asghar to divorce Saima, but he had refused. On Tuesday, Saima's in-laws locked the house on Pola Pir Road (Tajpura) and threw kerosene oil on her. When Saima started screaming, her husband and some neighbors rescued her. She is being treated at Services Hospital and she is out of danger.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2006 00:00 ||
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NEW YORK: As UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has embarked on a trip to Asia, thoughts of who will succeed him when he steps down in December are not far from mind especially since geographical etiquette would give Asia the next appointment.
In Seoul yesterday, Annan met South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon, one of the three Asian candidates. He is likely to hold talks with Thai Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, who has the backing of the regional Asean
But that system of geographical entitlement, which Annan, a Ghanaian, has endorsed, is being challenged by the United States, which in its drive to build efficiency at the UN could force the Asian candidates to compete with non-Asians who possess top administrative and political skills to manage the troubled organisation.
The US has urged qualified people, including women, to get in the race to succeed Annan at the helm of the 191-nation body. And Washingtons envoy to the UN, John Bolton, has said if the geographic system were to be applied, it should be Eastern Europes turn, not Asias.
So far, the seven UN secretaries-general since 1945 have all been men, prompting calls for a woman leader as more women have reached the top government echelons in Liberia, Latvia, Chile and the Philippines.
Latvia President Vaira Vike-Freberga has been touted as a possible candidate. Forbes magazine named her among the 100 most powerful women in the world.
Polish politicians have also been mentioned. But as with the Latvian president, UN diplomats said Russia would not feel comfortable looking up to one of its former vassals for political guidance.
In addition to stopping in South Korea, Annan is set to visit Japan, Thailand and China and make the first ever visit by a UN secretary-general to Vietnam over the coming days.
In Asia, Annan will tread a minefield of diplomatic politicking with the three candidates trying to jockey for the limelight and be seen with the Ghanaian who has been UN leader for 10 years.
Sri Lankas Ambasssador Jayantha Dhanapala, the third candidate, will miss an opportunity to meet him, since Annans itinerary does not take him there. But South Koreas Ban and Thailands Surakiart will have a rare opportunity to gain Annans attention.
Annan has preferred not to get involved in the selection process, and on the eve of his journey, he insisted he planned to avoid discussing the issue. But it will be difficult for him to completely skirt the theme. After all, he has thrown support for Asia by virtue of geographic rotation among the worlds regions for UN posts.
The last Asian to occupy the post was U Thant of Burma (now Myanmar) from 1961 to 1971, and Asia is demanding its turn since Latin America and Africa occupied the post since that time. A Swede, Norwegian and Austrian held the post in the early decades of UN history.
The US and the other four UN Security Council permanent members Russia, China, France and Britain are expected to use their clout and prerogatives to guide and influence the process of nominating Annans successor.
They will recommend their candidate to the 15-nation council, which then will formally nominate the person for an up-or-down vote by the 191-nation UN General Assembly, where developing countries hold the majority of votes.
The US called for the most efficient administrator or manager to come forth for the job because it says such leadership is needed to restore credibility to the world organisation, which has been battered by corruption charges and scandals by peacekeepers who raped and sexually exploited refugees under their charge.
Reform after its first 60 years is at the top of the United Nations agenda this year. The US and Japan are the largest UN contributors, providing 22% and 20% respectively of the UN budget.
The race to succeed Annan began early this time around. Surakiart entered the race last year, while counterparts from South Korea and Sri Lanka entered early this year. All three have visited UN headquarters in New York.
The UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly have begun discussing orderly procedures for the election something they have fallen short on during the past 60 years.
According to diplomats involved in the discussions, a three-stage scenario for the election process has been proposed. Until the procedures are formally accepted by the two bodies, the stages remain just a proposal.
The process would begin with the Security Council presidents circulating a list of candidates that could be updated, followed by informal discussions in search of a consensus. If there is a large field of candidates, Security Council members may hold secret ballots to "encourage" or "discourage" a candidate.
Under the proposed procedure, the Security Council would then use a secret ballot for the final nomination, which would then go to the General Assembly. But the General Assembly is also working to increase its role in the selection process, and its not clear if it would approve by simple majority, two-thirds vote or acclamation.
I also like the idea of picking a North American, perhaps a Canadian. I don't think Australia/New Zealand ever got a shot either. It's continental discrimination, that's what it is.
#7
Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freberga had escaped to, and was trained in the US, and only went back to help the old country when they became democratic. Very pro-US, very professional, a good candidate.
#10
Polish politicians have also been mentioned. But as with the Latvian president, UN diplomats said Russia would not feel comfortable looking up to one of its former vassals for political guidance.
Anyone else rubbed the wrong way by this sentiment? Anyone else think the "UN diplomats" are essentially bowing to the idea that Russia's imperialism was OK-fine, and that its end was a disaster?
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
05/17/2006 16:18 Comments ||
Top||
You'd think that with global terrorist threats and fighting two wars, the US Defense Department would have little time on its hands to start a circus troupe.
However, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has filed a patent application for a contraption designed to hurl SWAT teams and other emergency workers onto the roofs of inaccessible tall buildings human cannonball style, New Scientist reports.
The lethal-looking device consists of a forward-facing chair mounted on rails that point at an angle of up to 80°. Powered by compressed air, the foolhardy payload would shoot up until the saddle reaches the end of the rails, at which point he would flail free skyward. The application is extremely detailed, with proposals for computer control, feedback mechanisms, and valve pneumatics. They don't seem to have considered in as much depth what happens once gravity takes over. But no matter, the designers reckon a four metre high launcher could put a man on the top of a five storey building in less than two seconds.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2006 19:38 Comments ||
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#4
They don't seem to have considered in as much depth what happens once gravity takes over.
HAW HAW HAW! Them smarty-pants scientific fellers sure are dumb! Forgive me for raining on your humor parade, Mr. Journalism Major, but at the top of the trajectory, your vertical velocity component is zero. This means the fall is more like jumping down from the apex of your trajectory to the roof. Not the entire five storey drop the article implies.
As an aside, people aren't the only thing you could launch. iRobot makes some rugged suitcase sized Packbots. I've seen a demo vid where one was tossed thru a window, caromed off a wall and bounced a couple times on the floor. It then deployed itself and headed off down some stairs sending video back to its controller, shotgun at the ready.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2006 20:11 Comments ||
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#6
D *** It, how can America do this when the world, or at least PRAVDA-MSM, say the Russians and North Koreans are the ones that invented everything!?
Scientists on Thursday publish the finished sequence of Chromosome 1, the longest and final chapter in the so-called Book of Life that makes up the human genetic code.
[..]
#1
Nukes are so old 20th Century. Wait till those who have the ability to start making customized plagues. We now have the 'book'. Thanks for all the fish!
#5
It is scary when many of the scientists are amoral, being they tend to be non-religious. They have identifying markers that show Jewish ancestry and the cohen line; diseases or drugs could be customized to target only that gene. It's a Nazi's dream come true.
#6
The Devil is the final 10% - iff this were truly the "final chapter", "Dolly the Sheep", etal cloned animals would still be alive instead of dead. More new work from God for Madonna's daddy, or RUSH LIMBAUGH, in his next lifetime.
The relative age of genetic changes between the human and chimp genomes varies over a period of ~ 4 million years, depending on where in the genome you look. This figure illustrates this concept (note -- these are not actual data points). For example, Gene A first diverged millions of years before Gene B. Of particular note is the X chromosome, which falls almost entirely in the time just before final speciation. Credit: Broad Institute
New study suggests that the last common ancestor shared between chimps and humans may be ~1 million years more recent than previous estimates. Additional findings reveal a particularly young age of one of the human sex chromosomes and point to a complex process of speciation, with possible interbreeding during speciation.
The evolutionary split between human and chimpanzee is much more recent and more complicated than previously thought, according to a new study by scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and at Harvard Medical School published in the May 17 online edition of Nature.
The results show that the two species split no more than 6.3 million years ago and probably less than 5.4 million years ago. Moreover, the speciation process was unusual possibly involving an initial split followed by later hybridization before a final separation.
#3
That interbreeding thingy is still going on out in the African bush (although not with offspring anymore). Isn't that how the monkey HIV virus first transferred to humans? There are always those for whom any mammalian orifice will do in a pinch. *shudder*
#6
Additional findings reveal a particularly young age of one of the human sex chromosomes and point to a complex process of speciation, with possible interbreeding during speciation.
To quote Frank Zappa (re: AIDS coming from monkeys): "So, who's been plunkin' the monkeys?"
#8
About HIV, some guy named Hooper came out with a very boring, unnecessarily long book about how SIV-->HIV might have been the unintended result of early polio vaccine trials, but he couldn't prove it.
Humans probably had some sort of hybridization event after breaking off from the rest of the family tree. Humans are the only apes with 23 pairs of chromosomes instead of 24. I've seen some proponents of aquatic ape theory suggest that this hybrization occured between a group of saltwater swimmers bred with a group of freshwater swimmers.
#11
Humans are the only apes with WEBBED FINGERS. So, we must be the Aquatic apes.
Actually, a good argument can be made that we made the intertidal zone our home. Its fits.
Omnivore: Meat, shell fish, fish vegies.
Webbed: Lion comes by you swim out to sea a bit.
Shark comes by you return to land further down the coast than the Lion.
On the way you pick some clams up and a little seaweed and have sushi.
Posted by: SPoD ||
05/17/2006 19:59 Comments ||
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#13
Having 23 chromozomes instead of 24 would be, IMHO, a serious impediment to hybridization by cross-mating. Nothing a serious geneticist can't bridge, but there were none presumed to occur at the time ~ 6mya, or even 100kya. Actually, the 2nd and 3rd ape-ish chromosomes look as if they were, for the lack of better word, 'spliced' in humans. What does that mean? Nobody has the faintest... We can conjecture til kingdom come, but that would be all we can come up with--conjectures.
Apropos, I would like to see the methodology for the revelation in the article, specifically The relative age of genetic changes between the human and chimp genomes varies over a period of ~ 4 million years. Without available genome of the represenative samples in between ~6mya and now, it is possible to generate gazillion of scenarios, depending on where in the genome you look.
Oh, yea, the aquatic ape theory... if true, the sea otters should have no hair either. But nooo, they don't want to get rid of it since at least Miocene.
#16
I find the aquatic ape hypothesis persuasive. It's not just the physical evidence, its also the behavioral evidence. Ever wonder why people pay a fortune for beachside property, or why kids are fascinated by ponds, streams and other bodies of water.
#17
I remember reading a popularization of the aquatic ape theory back in the '70s. Supposedly that's why young females grow long hair (for the floating babies to grab on to), and adult males go bald (I didn't quite grasp the explanation for that one, I'm afraid). I don't remember any explanation for why some men have hairy torsos, and others are practically bald, chestally. ;-)
#19
Dare Hollyweird fergit - LANCELOT LINK, SECRET CHIMP [theme song follows]!? Good job, #1, as I was going to post EXPLORE YOUR INNER "CHEETAH" [chimp from the '60's].
#20
This is a complete crock. It goes against everything we know about human paleontology, anthropology, and our race's history. It's equivalent to revisionist archaeology by a group that has determined to determine that we are closer, genetically, to chimps than we actually appear, genetically, to be historically IMO.
There is hard evidence that "modern" humans go back a helluva' lot farther than most paleontologists, anthropologists, and archaeologists are willing to admit in public. In private, however, they will tell you that our species is far older than we think it is or may believe it might be.
There's even recent genetic evidence to intuit that dogs and humans are gentically closer, due to our long history together, than chimps and humans are.
We simply do not, currently, understand how species cross-polonization of genetic material occurs or why.
Until we do, genetic studies like the one cited here are highly suspect.
In addition, the stufy would seem to deny the archaeological and dated fossil record of a long line of human/hominid ancestry dating back more than a dozen millions of years. It would deny Austrolopithecus, Homo Erectus, Neanderthal (on off shott shown conclusively to have not given rise to Homo Sapiens), and possibly even Cro Magnon ancestry for modern humans IMO.
(Yes, I do know a little about the science - everything else I learned by working, occasionally, at the Joint Genome Institute)
A strong earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale struck near Indonesia's Nias island late on Tuesday. There are no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The underwater quake hit at 10:28pm (local time) at a depth of 1.9 kilometres, some 270 kilometres south-west of Sibolga on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre says "a destructive widespread tsunami threat does not exist based on historical earthquake and tsunami data. However, there is a very small possibility of a local tsunami that could affect coasts located usually no more than 100 kilometres from the earthquake epicentre."
Nias was one of the worst areas affected by the December 26, 2004 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that killed more than 220,000 people around the Indian Ocean, including 168,000 people in the Indonesian province of Aceh.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
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May 16 (Bloomberg) -- Oil prices would soar to $100 a barrel if Venezuela decided to cut sales to the U.S. amid worsening relations between the two countries, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said. Venezuela, South America's biggest oil producer, can sell crude that now goes to the U.S. to China, Europe and other nations, Chavez said in an interview with the U.K.'s Channel 4 television. The U.S. yesterday banned all arms sales to the South American country, saying it wasn't cooperating enough in the fight against terrorism. ``If we decided now to stop selling oil to the U.S., among other things, the price of oil would shoot up to $100 a barrel,'' said Chavez, who called the U.S. decision on weapons sales ``absolutely ridiculous.''
That's a lot of CITGO stations you'd need to close, Hugo. Plus the Russkies are supplying all of your reliable weapons needs, right? Right????
Venezuela now sends about 60 percent of its daily 2 million barrels in oil exports to the U.S. A bit more at the link.
#2
Hugo will assume room temp way before that happens.
We are talking about multinational oil company profits here as soon Hugo the boy wonder actually gets too big for his britches he will be a dead hero.
Posted by: SPoD ||
05/17/2006 1:06 Comments ||
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#3
This assertion makes no sense. All of the oil produced in the world is accounted for. Any oil he sells to someone else is that much less oil that customer will buy from its current supplier. He'll also get less money for that oil, since transportation costs to any large customer other than the US will be way higher.
#5
Oil's going to a hundred dollars a barrel anyway. Chavez might make it happen a bit sooner and consequently bring to an end the age of oil dependence that much sooner.
#6
Once again phil-b cheers on the damage the western economies by hoping and praying for 100 dollar a barrel oil.
50 dollar a barrel oil will do everything 100 dollar a barrel oil will do in stimulating the use of non petrolium sources of reliable energy all with out the damange to western economies 100 dollars a barrel will bring.
It will not matter to poor Hugo he will be dead and in the ground long before the oil cartels allow him to wreak havoc on their vested interests. Chavez is one small turd in a very large cesspool.
Posted by: SPoD ||
05/17/2006 5:28 Comments ||
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#8
Hate to burst your bubble Hugo, but at best, shutting off sales to the US would make oil prices spike for only about 2 days on the exchange, maybe up to $74 a barrel. Oh, and it would also trash your economy, Bozo.
#10
For that matter, it takes a lot of crackin to get any gas from Venezuelan crude. It looks like tar, has more asphaltenes than you can shake a stick at and doesn't make as much light distilates(gas & diesel) as Brent or Light Sweet.
#11
But that doesn't matter anyway cause after all this privitization bullshit nobody in his right mind is going to build a refinery in S.America anyway. Not so they can steal it in 5 years and give you a bill for the legal work to do it.
#12
SPoD, oil will go high enough to result in a crisis that convinces enough people to realize that dependence on imported oil is dumb and unecessary. Conventional wisdom had $100/b as a magic number to bring about this realization.
The world economy has proved remarkably resilient to higher oil prices, which proves the shock is at much higher prices.
#14
Is there any way for Bush to get a message to the right people that says. "Citgo is done here if Chavez keeps it up."?
Posted by: Mike N. ||
05/17/2006 11:39 Comments ||
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#15
It's already $75 a bbl. What's $100 goin to matter, up another 25%. So, its up another $.75 a gallon for a little while. It would be worth it to squish that little turd and let the world know that we arent especially scared of paying a few more cents at the pump. Sure we like cheap gas, but if that means we have to take shit, f*ck you.
#16
"For that matter, it takes a lot of crackin to get any gas from Venezuelan crude. It looks like tar, has more asphaltenes"
I don't know much about oil refining and extraction but until we get new technology to break our oil dependence, it looks we need to get the most out of what we have. This sounds dumb, but Jim's comments triggered some thoughts in a slightly different tangent. The ancient name of the Dead Sea is Lake Asphaltis; National Geo printed an old diary of early British explorers seeking the source of local legends. It was so caustic, it ate through their wooden boats and burned their skin. Great clumps of sticky asphalt could only be removed with "menstrual blood", although it never said how such a discovery was made. There could be vast deposits under Israel and Jordan. Then on CSI, they removed a couple of bodies encased in tar by injecting liquid nitrogen and removing an entire block of the tar. The Canadian oil sands are basically washed with hot water and the sand returned in a clean mining operation. Then there are the vast methane beds under the ocean, waiting to be tapped. A kid on FOX won the Invention Convention by inventing a lawnmower propelled with compressed air, using graphite and no gasoline. New processing techniques could prove to be economical and open new sources of energy. Everyone has previously been discouraged from anything besides the status quo by big oil and big auto makers but it seems like the world is finally waking up to the threats of blackmail we are open to by refusing to change.
#17
"For that matter, it takes a lot of crackin to get any gas from Venezuelan crude. It looks like tar, has more asphaltenes"
I don't know much about oil refining and extraction but until we get new technology to break our oil dependence, it looks we need to get the most out of what we have. This sounds dumb, but Jim's comments triggered some thoughts in a slightly different tangent. The ancient name of the Dead Sea is Lake Asphaltis; National Geo printed an old diary of early British explorers seeking the source of local legends. It was so caustic, it ate through their wooden boats and burned their skin. Great clumps of sticky asphalt could only be removed with "menstrual blood", although it never said how such a discovery was made. There could be vast deposits under Israel and Jordan. Then on CSI, they removed a couple of bodies encased in tar by injecting liquid nitrogen and removing an entire block of the tar. The Canadian oil sands are basically washed with hot water and the sand returned in a clean mining operation. Then there are the vast methane beds under the ocean, waiting to be tapped. A kid on FOX won the Invention Convention by inventing a lawnmower propelled with compressed air, using graphite and no gasoline. New processing techniques could prove to be economical and open new sources of energy. Everyone has previously been discouraged from anything besides the status quo by big oil and big auto makers but it seems like the world is finally waking up to the threats of blackmail we are open to by refusing to change.
So in short, you don't know much about the oil industry but you feel certain that "big oil and big auto makers" are behind supressing all the magic technologies that keep us oil dependent?
This is the same Powerful Big Oil that can't change the fact that you can only drill offshore of _three_ states of the union?
Put another way: I'm in the oil industry. I sell a specialized tool for working with dual-shouldered rotary connections.
Of the last thirteen delivered-or-under-construction tools I've made in about the past year and a half, three have been for the US, and ten for overseas. And one of the US tools is used mainly in support of a company using it to make river crossing pipelines for fiber optic data lines.
We're five years into this crisis and thus far those who don't want more drilling here have been able to block the smallest expansion of drilling in the north slope of Alaska, which is one of the most desolate regions on earth.
That decision wasn't made by "Big Oil." That decision was made by the Electorate. The People. In short, US.
Posted by: Phil ||
05/17/2006 13:40 Comments ||
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#19
3dc: How are you going to get anyone to spend money on a large capital-intensive scheme like that when they'll be liable to wake up the next morning to find themselves villianized in the press as "big biodiesel" price gougers, _or_ as environmental despoilers (based on the same sort of lies that actual-meaningful-scaled wind power projects have to put up with), or finally, when the Saudis get around to lowering the price to $ 15.00/bbl because an administration they like is in office but the algae guys haven't managed to pay off their loans yet...
Posted by: Phil ||
05/17/2006 14:27 Comments ||
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#20
In short, show me where all the political and economic problems that bedevil oil drilling in the US aren't going to happen to these guys.
Posted by: Phil ||
05/17/2006 14:27 Comments ||
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#21
We pump that heavy stinky crude here. I see pumping units going that I have never seen in operation in 12 years. Hugo doesn't have the good stuff everyone wants. His oil like ours here gets treated and "blended" in with lighter crude and is then refined. It is not the good stuff everyone wants.
If people want new energy sources they will have to get rid of the the Democrats in congress and the senate, the enviromental wackos and put the enviromental litigators out of business. The price of energy will continue to rise and we will be oil dependent until you overcome the luddites communist and pastorialists all who have an agendas that block development of new energy sources, drilling off our coasts and, development in the places the energy source is at.
Hugo is a pest and will get swatted in due time. This is the way in that part of the world
Posted by: SPoD ||
05/17/2006 14:50 Comments ||
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#22
SPod: Nothing like a burning flare or the sound of a pump jack off in the distance.
#23
Now Phil, don't be mean. You know we can't drill off the coast of Florida because we have millions of $7 an hour hotel jobs that must be protected at all cost.
#26
3dc, I don't know if the US is the only country with refineries able to process 'heavy' crude. I suspect there are others as many oil fields world-wide with refineries in the area able to process them.
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 patient's "gas leak" is being blamed for bringing a hospital operation to a fiery end. The man suffered minor burns in a brief but "dramatic" operating theatre fire which is believed to have been caused by flatulence, The New Zealand Herald reported today. The man was at the Southern Cross Hospital in Invercargill to have haemorrhoids removed and was singed in the "exceedingly rare" incident involving his own gas. 
Lew Anderson, who died Saturday at 84, was known most recently for his big band's regular Friday night gig at Birdland, but in the 1950s, he burned his way into the psychic landscape of millions of boomer kids as Clarabell the Clown on the "Howdy Doody Show."
Nigerian anti-corruption authorities are investigating whether opposition politicians have been bribed to allow the country's President to contest a third term in office. Nigerian President 
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has giving his strongest signal yet that he backs the building of a new generation of nuclear power stations. 
The US says it is cancelling free-trade negotiations with Ecuador, after the South American country seized the assets of a US oil company. Ecuadorean oil officials cancelled Occidental Petroleum's operating contract after a long-running dispute. The US administration said it was "disappointed" with the decision. 
Venezuela is considering replacing its contingent of U.S.-built F-16 multi-role fighters with Russian Su-35s, a high ranking Venezuelan general said. "We are considering procurement of Russia's Su-35 fighter aircraft to replace F-16s, after the United States banned weapons exports to Venezuela," Venezuelan General Staff official General Alberto Muller Rojas said. "At the moment the Su-35 is world's best multi-role fighter."
LA PAZ, Bolivia (Reuters) - Bolivia's leftist government on Tuesday outlined its plan to redistribute idle land to poor peasants, ruling out mass expropriations and proposing instead the distribution of state-owned property.
London - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez branded US President George W Bush Monday a 'genocidal assassin' and the 'worst criminal in humanity' during a a private visit to London.
SAO PAULO, Brazil - Police struck back Tuesday at gangs that rampaged through South America's largest city, killing 33 suspected gang members in less than 24 hours and frisking motorists at roadblocks while reporting only one death of their own. At least 133 people including 40 police officers have been killed since Friday night, when a prison transfer of gang leaders sparked attacks on police stations, courts, city buses and other symbols of government authority.
WASHINGTON -- China's exchange rate has breached the psychological threshold of eight yuan to the U.S. dollar for the first time in a dozen years -- the latest sign of thawing relations with its major trading partners.
A proposal to translate Norway's national anthem into a language used by many of the country's immigrants is stirring controversy. Opponents claim those who can't understand the Norwegian lyrics should just hum along instead. During a week that brings out huge displays of patriotism in Norway, because of Constitution Day celebrations on the 17th of May, debate is brewing over a move to write an Urdu version of the Norwegian national anthem. 
Italy's Romano Prodi has finally been asked to form a new government, more than a month after narrowly winning a national election. President Giorgio Napolitano gave Mr Prodi the mandate after consulting former presidents and party chiefs, including outgoing centre-right prime minister Silvio Berlusconi who insisted he wanted more checks on the results of the election. Mr Prodi accepted and went straight back into talks with his coalition allies, who range from Roman Catholic moderates to communists, over the make-up of the Government. The Government is expected to be sworn in on Wednesday.
A University of Colorado investigative committee found deliberate and serious misconduct by ethnic studies professor 
A conference geared to help Democrats infuse God into their politics begins tomorrow at All Souls Unitarian Church in the District with the unveiling of a "spiritual covenant with America." 
A strong earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale struck near Indonesia's Nias island late on Tuesday. There are no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The underwater quake hit at 10:28pm (local time) at a depth of 1.9 kilometres, some 270 kilometres south-west of Sibolga on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre says "a destructive widespread tsunami threat does not exist based on historical earthquake and tsunami data. However, there is a very small possibility of a local tsunami that could affect coasts located usually no more than 100 kilometres from the earthquake epicentre." 
May 16 (Bloomberg) -- Oil prices would soar to $100 a barrel if Venezuela decided to cut sales to the U.S. amid worsening relations between the two countries, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said. Venezuela, South America's biggest oil producer, can sell crude that now goes to the U.S. to China, Europe and other nations, Chavez said in an interview with the U.K.'s Channel 4 television. The U.S. yesterday banned all arms sales to the South American country, saying it wasn't cooperating enough in the fight against terrorism. ``If we decided now to stop selling oil to the U.S., among other things, the price of oil would shoot up to $100 a barrel,'' said Chavez, who called the U.S. decision on weapons sales ``absolutely ridiculous.'' 
