Sandra Bullock looked on great form when she made a surprise appearance at Spike TV's annual Guys Choice Awards event. The actress, who split from husband Jesse James over his alleged infidelity, oozed class when she graced the stage in a fitted leather LBD at the event which was held in Culver City, California. You just might want to click to see Sandra with the military guys. And Oh... yea, the dress is a knockout!
I had to see the dress to realize LBD means 'little black dress'. Now you know too, dear Reader.
It was the first time she has been seen since news broke of her husband's apparent affair with a tattooed model named Michelle 'Bombshell' McGee.
The special award was voted for by members of the military.
And her appearance was a total surprise not only to audience members, but to many of the staff working on the event.
According to People.com, Bullock's appearance was kept secret from even the show's staff and participants.
U.S. Army 1st Sergeant Nicholas McClain, who shared the stage with Bullock, told the wesbite: 'Originally we were told she wasnt going to be here at all, and somebody would be accepting on her behalf. So it was a great surprise to see her coming out on the stage.'
Accepting the award from presenter Robert Downey, Jr. she said: 'Let's be honest here, just for a moment. We're all going to be honest, right?
'Did I win this for being entertainer of the year, or did I win this because of the spectacular I.E.D. [improvised explosive device] explosion that became my personal life?!
Once the laughter had subsided, she continued: 'No, it's okay. Because I would do it over again if it was to entertain our troops , and our extraordinary troops deserve something much more than some actress in a tight dress talking about herself.'
She also told the audience: 'I would sing, but you've seen enough pain in your lifetime. I would dance -- I'm a pretty good dancer, but as I mentioned, the dress is pretty tight.'
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. All our hearts go out to the fighter pilots, whose brilliant actions we see with our own eyes day after day
#4
I believe it is the Discovery Channel that had a show about restoring WWII tanks. A guy out west restored a Hellcat and found out the WWII Commander of that tank lived in the area so he put on a small celebration for the event of re-uniting the tank and Commander. Really interesting.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/06/2010 16:25 Comments ||
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#5
About a year ago, the local air museum hosted a visit by a P-51 pilot that had managed to track down his aircraft, purchase it, and restore it.
THE City watchdog is stress-testing Britain's biggest banks over fears they could be hit by the growing financial problems of the eurozone.
A risk map' of Europe has been drawn up by senior officials at the Financial Services Authority, examining potential problems on a country by country basis.
Banks have been asked to model a number of disaster scenarios, including Greece defaulting on its loans. Analysts estimate that British banks have a total exposure of more than £100 billion to Greece, Portugal and Spain alone.
Disclosure of the stress tests underlines how serious financial regulators think the eurozone crisis could become.
On Friday, Hungary became the latest country to spread fear across Europe when the new government warned that its predecessor had falsified data' about the country's public finances.
Although Hungary is not part of the single currency, banks across Europe would be hit by any sovereign crisis. The euro slid below $1.20 for the first time since March 2006 on the news. Analysts now expect it to hit parity with the dollar.
François Fillon, the French prime minister, said on Friday that the weakening currency was good news' because it could boost European exports. His comments accelerated the currency's slide and prompted selling of French government bonds.
Yesterday G20 finance ministers called for governments to put their national finances in order to calm the international financial markets.
Meeting in Busan, South Korea, the ministers also stepped back from plans for a global bank tax following complaints from Canada, Australia, Brazil and India.
The meeting also concluded that new bank capital rules should be introduced gradually in an effort to ensure that lending to businesses is not curbed.
#4
I don't have a subscription to the WSJ. Might be a regional thing. Some places get access without a subscription cos no print WSJ where they are, like here in Oz.
#7
THE City watchdog is stress-testing Britains biggest banks
They should talk to Borat's Kazakh government on how to do it right, before they do anything.
TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's new prime minister made his diplomatic debut Sunday in a telephone call with President Barack Obama, reaffirming his country's alliance with Washington and promising to work hard on an agreement to relocate a contentious U.S. Marine base.
Naoto Kan, a straight-talking populist, was elected prime minister Friday, replacing Yukio Hatoyama who stepped down last week after breaking a campaign promise to move the Marine base off the southern island of Okinawa. Kan told Obama that relations with Washington are a "cornerstone" of Japan's diplomacy and vowed to "further deepen and develop the Japan-U.S. alliance to tackle global and regional challenges," Japan's Foreign Ministry said.
He also promised Obama to "make a strenuous effort" to tackle the relocation of Marine Air Station Futenma, it said.
Under an agreement signed last month between the two governments, the base is to be moved to a less-crowded part of Okinawa, but Kan faces intense opposition from island residents who want it moved off Okinawa completely, as Hatoyama had promised. Because their opposition is so intense, some analysts have questioned whether the plan can actually be carried out.
A White House statement did not mention Futenma, saying "the two leaders agreed to work very closely together" and consult on the nuclear programs in North Korea and Iran. An administration official added the leaders "hit it off well on a personal level."
The Futenma issue is just one of many tough challenges facing Kan, whose foremost mission is to win back voters disgusted by Hatoyama's broken promise and the corrupt image instilled by party heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa, who also resigned last week from the party's No. 2 post.
Kan spent the weekend crafting his Cabinet, which he plans to formally announce early this week. He told reporters that he had asked Reform Minister Yukio Edano to become the party's deputy leader, in an apparent attempt to distance himself from Ozawa's influence and corrupt image.
Japanese media reports said Sunday that key ministers from the Hatoyama Cabinet, including Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and Defense Minister Yoshimi Kitazawa, are likely to be retained.
Kan's Democratic Party of Japan swept to power just nine months ago, trouncing the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party amid high hopes for change and more government accountability. But public opinion quickly soured after Hatoyama became ensnared in a political funding scandal and reneged on his campaign promise on the Futenma issue, while Ozawa was implicated in a separate funding scandal.
Unlike the blue-blooded Hatoyama, Kan comes from an ordinary family and received his political start in civic activism. He's known for speaking his mind and gained popularity in the 1990s for exposing a government cover-up of HIV-tainted blood products.
Seen as decisive and down-to-earth, Kan may have what it takes to regain support for the battered Democrats and "seems to be well aware of his mission," the national Asahi newspaper said in an editorial.
A survey by the Mainichi newspaper found 63% of respondents expressed high hopes for Kan, while 37% said they had little hope. Those who said they supported the Democrats rose to 28% from 17% in the previous survey in May.
A separate survey by the Asahi had similar results, with 59% of respondents expressing high hopes for Kan and the Democrats' approval rating jumping to 33% from 28%.
Neither poll gave a margin of error. The Mainichi survey, which conducted random telephone interviews of 981 voters, would normally have a sampling error of about 5 percentage points, while the Asahi's, which interviewed 1,074 people, would have approximately a 4-point margin.
Even if Democrats do poorly in elections for half of the upper house expected around mid-July, they would still remain in power because they command a large lower-house majority. But heavy losses could prompt the party to woo new coalition partners to ensure smooth passage of bills -- and could cost Kan his job.
#1
WMF > NORTH KOREA CALLS SOUTH'S REFERRAL TO THE UNSC A "DANGEROUS MOVE" AND "LIGHTING THE FUSE OF WAR"; + TOPIX > NORTH KOREA VOWS RETALIATION FOR SOUTH'S COMPLAINT TO UN OVER SHIP SINKING/SOUTH'S UN CAMPAIGN, + SOUTH KOREA ASKS UN, CHINA TO CONDEMN NORTH OVER CHEONAN AFFAIR/INCIDENT.
* SAME WMF > KIM JONG-IL: UN OR INTERNATIONAL SANCTIONS WILL NOT STOP THE UPWARD PROGRESS OF NORTH KOREA AND ITS PEOPLE.
* SAME TOPIX > GATES RULES OUT MILITARY OPTION AGZ NORTH KOREA IN SHIP SINKING + SOUTH KOREA: NO PLANS TO ATTACK NORTH + SOUTH KOREA RULES OUT THE POSSIBILITY OF WAR ON THE KOREAN PENINSULA.
* RENSE > CHINESE HIDING 3.0MILYUHN BABIES A YEAR [espec Baby Girls].
versus
SAME > CHINA CARRIES OUT 13.0MILYUHN ABORTIONS EVERY YEAR. Also mainly Baby Girls; + PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > [Femme Infants + "Honor" Killings]FEMALE KILLING: THE GREAT CIRCUS OF INDIA.
* WMF > RUSSIA'S LR MILEX INTO EASTERN SIBERIA TO BULLY, RAID INTO CHINA? RISING CHINA POSSESSES CERTAIN/SELECTIVE CAPABILIIES WHICH ARE ALREADY PAR OR GREATER THAN RUSSIA'S. ONCE ESTABLISHED, CHINA'S INTENT WILL BE TO RESTORE
ITS ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY [lost territories], EITHER SINGLE OR IN JOINT SINO-US INTEGRATION/
PARTNERSHIP.
* SAME WMF > BEWARE AMERICA: THE THREAT TO REGIONAL AND WORLD PEACE CAUSED BY THE US-LED OBTRUCTION OR CONTRACTION OF CHINA'S STRATEGIC FRONTS IN NORTHEAST ASIA AND SOUTH CHINA SEAS ["First Island Chain" Strategic = Area/Theater Denial].
* SAME WMF > US AMBASSADOR THOMAS: US DOES NOT OPPOSE CHINA'S TENTACLES REACHING TO THE PHILIPPINES AS LONG AS ITS INTENTIONS ARE "TRANSPARENT", SOUTH CHINA SEAS INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY DISPUTES IS A MULTI-NATION/STATES ISSUE, NOT OTHER.
* SAME > ANTI-BEIJINIG, PRO-TAIWAN FORCES ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN THE ISSUE OF "HONG KONG RETURN".
[Geo News] It has been raining cats and dogs for last one hour in metropolis city of Karachi, leaving all the power units at Bin Qasim Plant shut down, which has resulted in darkening over 50 percent of city parts and multiplying the miseries of Karachiites, Geo news reported.
The officials at metrological department have forecast that the ongoing spate of incessant rainfall will constantly last for some days to come with small recesses.
Meanwhile, the Governor Sindh Dr. Ishratul Ebad Khan is on a visit to different areas of city to review the situation created by the torrential rain.
It may be mentioned that Director General Met Office said the Cyclone Phet heading to Pakistan, has been downgraded to lower level of category 1 in terms of intensity after hitting Oman coast and is 300-kilometers away Karachi coast.
He said the Phet Cyclone is going to hit Karachi coastal areas tomorrow afternoon.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2010 00:00 ||
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Link ||
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#1
Picture of Karachi,Pakistan - in day light. It may look the same at night.... what... washed away ?
'Cap is producing around 10,000 barrels of oil a day to the surface'
ON BARATARIA BAY, La. - A containment cap fitted onto a leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico is capturing 10,000 barrels of oil per day, BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward said Sunday.
Hayward, the subject of speculation that he may be forced out of his position due to the political fallout from the environmental disaster, also told the BBC that he had strong support from BP's board.
"The containment cap is producing around 10,000 barrels of oil a day to the surface which is being processed on the surface," he said.
Asked what proportion that represented of the total oil leaking, Hayward said: "At the moment it's difficult to say but we would expect it to be the majority, probably the vast majority of the oil."
Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said Saturday that after its first full day of work, the cap placed on the gusher near the sea floor trapped about 252,000 gallons of oil, which is somewhere between a quarter to half of the oil flowing from the well, according to government estimates.
Next, BP engineers must attempt to close vents on the cap that were deliberately allowing streams of oil to escape the system so water cannot get inside. When water and gas combined in an earlier containment box, it formed a frozen slush that foiled the system.
Allen, who said the goal is to gradually increase the amount of the oil being captured, compared the process to stopping the flow of water from a garden hose with a finger: "You don't want to put your finger down too quickly, or let it off too quickly."
While BP plans to eventually use an additional set of hoses and pipes to increase the amount of oil being trapped, the ultimate solution remains a relief well that should be finished by August.
'Absolute commitment'
Public and political pressure has been mounting on London-based BP to cap its gushing seabed oil well and take full financial responsibility for the clean-up and damage caused to Gulf coast fisheries, wildlife and tourism.
"We are going to stop the leak, we are going to clean up the oil, we're going to remediate any environmental damage and we are going to return the Gulf coast to the position it was in prior to this event," Hayward said. "That is an absolute commitment. We will be there long after the media has gone making good on our promises."
The oil has steadily spread east, washing up in greater quantities in recent days.
Government officials estimate that roughly 22 million to 48 million gallons have leaked into the Gulf since the April 20 explosion that killed 11 workers.
In Gulf Shores, Ala., boardwalks leading to hotels were tattooed with oil from beachgoers' feet. A slick hundreds of yards long washed ashore at a state park, coating the white sand with a thick, red stew. Cleanup workers rushed to contain it in bags, but more washed in before they could remove the first wave of debris.
"This makes me sick," said Rebecca Thomasson of Knoxville, Tenn., her legs and feet smeared with brown streaks of crude. "We were over in Florida earlier and it was bad there, but it was nothing like this."
Alabama Gov. Bob Riley and Allen met for more than an hour Saturday in Mobile, Ala., agreeing to a new plan that would significantly increase protection on the state's coast with larger booms, beachfront barriers, skimmers and a new system to protect Perdido Bay near the Florida line.
At Pensacola Beach, Erin Tamber, who moved to the area from New Orleans after surviving Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, inspected a beach stained orange by the retreating tide.
"I feel like I've gone from owning a piece of paradise to owning a toxic waste dump," she said.
Back in Louisiana, along the beach at Queen Bess Island, oil pooled several feet deep, trapping birds against containment boom. The futility of their struggle was confirmed when Joe Sartore, a National Geographic photographer, sank thigh deep in oil on nearby East Grand Terre Island and had to be pulled from the tar.
"I would have died if I would have been out here alone," he said
#1
They seem to be capturing a signficant amount but I don't know if it's a majority. Certainly not a 'vast' majority. Still, it's barrels that won't be able to wash into the marshes and onto the beaches.
It is a fragile system - let's hope hurricanes find somewhere else to go for now. It is also a very hazardous system for the crews working at the surface. They are surrounded by oil floating on the sea, with gas bubbling out of it, from the previous and continuing leak, while they have a 20 MMCFG/D Bic lighter flaring the gas they are recovering with the oil. At least it's not sour oil & gas.
I suspect the 'truth' is that BP basically knows what they are doing, given that they are working in a new environment a mile deep in the ocean. They have much more experience dealing with well blowouts than anyone in the current administration.
As for the journalists and photographers who are prevented from getting in the way, let them stay home and make stuff up & practice photoshopping.
#4
BP may or may not know what it is doing, it certainly has not been able to cap it so far.
But SteveS, I find your comment on the journalists pretty disturbing.
The one thing I cherish over all others is freedom: freedom of speech, freedom of the press. IT's why Rantburg is such a great site because it provided a platform for information especially after the WTC attack when the MSM was shutting down any mention of the role of Islamism in the terror networks because of political correctness.
It is very important for reporters, photographers and cameramen to have full access to public beaches etc - that is media freedom.
To be able to fly over and document the disaster is important.
Recently BP was trying to stop photographs of dead and dying wildlife - that is called SPIN and trying to control the news.
In a democracy the people can only be FREE if they are INFORMED
To limit and curb the ability of the media to report is to ensure the people remain uninformed and controlled.
#6
BP doesn't have the authority or ability to stop photographers in Louisiana, the officials of which are mad enough at them already. I suspect this is just the feds being passive-aggressive, "Look at what BP is making us do now."
Muslim Indonesia colonised Christian/traditional belief West Papua.
Now the locals cannot even run a business.
How will the men with spears ever win over the Javanese with machine guns?
From The Economist - who managed to smuggle a reporter in
--
Continued on Page 49
#1
Indonesia's expansionist aims are not confined to West Papua.
The Australian Government has been silent on West Papua, and even once sent back a boatload of *real* refugees from the province to certain imprisonment or death (despite housing loads of economic boat people from elsewhere in the world)
(CNN) -- Conservative bloggers called for a protest Sunday against plans to build a mosque near the site of Ground Zero in lower Manhattan, where the twin towers of the World Trade Center were destroyed by Islamist hijackers on September 11, 2001.
"Building the Ground Zero mosque is not an issue of religious freedom, but of resisting an effort to insult the victims of 9/11 and to establish a beachhead for political Islam and Islamic supremacism in New York," the group "Stop the Islamicization of America" says on its website.
"Ground Zero is a war memorial, a burial ground. Respect it," says the group, which is run by conservative blogger Pamela Geller.
"No one's telling them they can't. We're asking them not to," Geller told CNN's Joy Behar recently.
"We feel it would be more appropriate maybe to build a center dedicated to expunging the Koranic texts of the violent ideology that inspired jihad, or perhaps a center to the victims of hundreds of millions of years of jihadi wars, land enslavements, cultural annihilations and mass slaughter," Geller said.
The project calls for a 13-story community center including a mosque, performing art center, gym, swimming pool and other public spaces.
It is a collaboration between the American Society for Muslim Advancement and the Cordoba Initiative.
The Cordoba Initiative aims to improve relations between Muslims and the West.
"The Cordoba Initiative hopes to build a $100 million, 13-story community center with Islamic, interfaith and secular programming, similar to the 92nd Street Y," its website says, referring to the cultural institution on the upper East side of Manhattan.
Daisy Khan of the American Society for Muslim Advancement told CNN it was a "community center with a prayer space inside."
She said the project was an opportunity for American Muslims living in New York to "give back" to the community.
"There is a lot of ignorance about who Muslims are. A center like this will be dedicated to removing that ignorance and it will also counter the extremists because moderate Muslims need a voice," she told CNN. "Their voices need to be amplified."
Local political leaders turned out in support of the community last month after Mark Williams of the conservative Tea Party Express reportedly said the mosque was for "the worship of the terrorists' monkey-god."
"To make room for peace there can be no room for hatred, bigotry or prejudice," council member Robert Jackson said at the May 20 demonstration.
The project has the backing of the Community Board of lower Manhattan. It does not require city permission to go ahead.
The plan has split people touched by the September 11 attacks.
"Lower Manhattan should be made into a shrine for the people who died there," said Michael Valentin, a retired city detective who worked at ground zero. "It breaks my heart for the families who have to put up with this. I understand they're [building] it in a respectful way, but it just shouldn't be down there."
Others such as Barry Zelman said the site's location will be a painful reminder.
"(The 9/11 terrorists) did this in the name of Islam," Zelman said. "It's a sacred ground where these people died, where my brother was murdered, and to be in the shadows of that religion, it's just hypocritical and sacrilegious. "
But Marvin Bethea, who was a paramedic at ground zero, said it was "the right thing to do."
"I lost 16 friends down there. But Muslims also got killed on 9/11. It would be a good sign of faith that we're not condemning all Muslims and that the Muslims who did this happened to be extremists," he said. "As a black man, I know what it's like to be discriminated against when you haven't done anything."
#2
It is 0736 local time and I was at Omaha Beach this morning at 0630. I've been in Normandy for the past 3 days touring around with my family. We did a full-day tour with the second half of the day dedicated to the Band of Brothers - awesome.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
06/06/2010 1:38 Comments ||
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#3
Omaha Beach holds the remains of 9,383 servicemen and four women, their white gravestones a permanent reminder of war's terrible costs.
At 3 am on 6 June 1944, a huge armada of 6,000 ships including 864 converted merchant ships and 4126 landing craft set sail for Normandy in 47 convoys. They carried 200,000 seamen, 185,000 soldiers and 20,000 vehicles. The weather was still fairly bad. Many of the soldiers were so seasick that they joked that they would not mind going into battle, just to get off the ships!
A few Royal Navy ships raced back and forth between Dover and Calais to make Nazi radar operators think that the invasion was going to take place at Calais.
20,000 men were by parachute dropped or landed in gliders behind enemy lines to disrupt communications and seize key points. The invasion was supported by 11,000 planes, which attacked the Nazis from the air.
7 battleships, 23 cruisers and 105 destroyers laid down a massive bombardment of the Nazi shore defences.
More than 19,000 civilians in Normandy also died in Allied bombing before and after D-Day to soften up German defenses.
The concept of "Total War" to defeat an enemy was the watchword. Total defeat of ours enemies was a part of this concept. The war was not fought for stalemate or some kind of compromise. As a young boy during this time, I can recall that nearly all civilian and military efforts were geared towards defeating a ruthless enemy. Everyone felt the importance of winning this war. We had rationing of materials such as gasoline, tires, and many other things. Civilians collected such things as tins and lard which were placed at the curb and collected for the war effort. Our industrial might was mobilized and companies were churning out war materials. I can recall miles and miles of tanks passing our house in Farmington, Michigan as they came out of Detroit. I remember blackouts where air raids were simulated in case the real thing came along. Air raid wardens came by your house if they could see any lights coming from your house to tell you to turn off your lights. Any light allowed targeting from the air. There was no liberal press spewing out venom. The term political correctness did not exist. Our country was not split and Balkanized. After the war and into 1950s everyone was aware of the price paid for victory. You could go through the small town where we lived in Ohio after moving from Michigan and count the fatherless homes in the town. Everyone was aware of this terrible loss. Nearly all men and many women were veterans of WWII. Nearly all civilians took part in the war in some capacity. When men and women went to war it was for the durationuntil victory.
#5
While I was having a haircut I overheard a (French) guy telling he was a child living in Normandy and about his joy seeing Germans under Allied bombing shit in their pants.
Wow! Had no idea. And the French in the area aren't even rude to us (and certainly don't go blowing up our rental cars.) Is our problem in A'stan that we don't have enough collateral damage? (Or is it a religious thing?)
#7
Amazing sacrifice by the Allied troops. This was western civilization at its best. I also think of General Eisenhower, bearing the awesome weight of command, making the decision to go with the chance of a weather window.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/06/2010 13:50 Comments ||
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#8
The greatest German general of WWII was Eisenhower. There is a lesson in that fact.
It wasn't so much during D-Day, though substantial, but in the two months of fighting before the breakout. The worst was at Caen.
Posted by: ed ||
06/06/2010 15:22 Comments ||
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#10
19,000 civilians in Normandy also died
Wow! Had no idea. And the French in the area aren't even rude to us
Actually both communists and Gaullists have done their best to poison French minds about that.
However when I visited Coleville American graveyard in 2004 I remember a French about 70 who looked to be there for paying hommage not for tourism. I tend to believe the resentful people aren't in Normandy but in Paris.
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.
