A New York man is clubbed in the street. Another rammed off his bike. Another beaten. Luckily, it's all on film. Unluckily, police are the ones seen doing the beating.
The New York City Police Department (NYPD) encourages witnesses to shoot footage of crimes -- but officers were less happy last week when the camera turned on some of their own.
In the first of three incidents, a hulking cop body-checked and sent flying a cyclist at a pro-bicycle rally known as Critical Mass.
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I read an awful lot about the takedown of the Critical Mass guy and watched that video in slow motion four or five times. What I saw, which coincided with what other people noted as well, was that the police officers must have been trying to apprehend this particular guy. If all the cops had wanted to do was whack some character on a bike, lots of them were closer and easier to hit than the guy they stopped. It appears that the bicyclist did something that wasn't shown in the video and the police had been directed to specifically get him.
He looked like he was expecting it, too; he made no effort to stop for the officer, as a reasonable person would have, but tried to barrel his way through with brute force. That showed up clearly on the video as well.
This episode reminded me a lot of the Rodney King video. There are 30 to 45 seconds of that video showing King getting his butt beat by several cops. What is never shown is the whole 45 minute video, which shows the LA police trying everything to stop this guy except beating him. When he refuses to obey orders and continues attacking them, they had no choice but to either use the sticks or shoot him.
If I'd been one of those cops in LA Rodney King would be pushing up daisies right now because I sure as hell wouldn't have taken on a drug-crazed guy his size with just a nightstick. I'd have put three in center mass before he ever got close enough to grapple.
Remember: the people who took that video in NY were looking to have the cops appear brutal. If you take it at face value, they've succeeded. That said, we need to remember the axiom that a country which wars on its police better make peace with its criminals. We forget that at our peril.
#3
Yeah, Go after the Mike Nifongs who abuse their power but let the ones with badges alone?
I don't know the facts of this case, but I do know there are some bad cops along with plenty of good cops. While the good cops may not be champing at the bit to turn in the bad ones, I doubt they are too mightily disappointed when someone else does.
Let's give these guys a chance at the administrative justice process and see what the facts show.
#4
I don't know the facts of this case, but I do know there are some bad cops along with plenty of good cops.
Let's remember the latter point. Each time the bad is shown we get the Abu Ghrab of the men in blue. Every petty or imagined slight or less than professional act by someone is magnified to broad brush the entire body of police.
Because police always stand together.
Any different than Marines? ie those who recently refused to testify against their mates in the civilian trial?
Yes, there are bad cops. They need to be weeded out because of the level of responsibility we assign them. We also need to hammer DAs who routinely plea bargain assault charges down to misdemeanor resisting charges building frustration among the force. If video is good to hammer these police miscreants it should be all the evidence that a judge needs to take out of society the low lifes that the police have to deal with daily. The right to trial doesn't mean you get to drag out the process and clog the court system if all that is needed is to play a vid. What's good for the vilification and conviction of the cop is just as good for the vilification and conviction of anyone.
#5
I always used to carry around a small tape recorder on me when out in public as a civilian police employee. It cost me maybe $50, but it sure saved me a ton of aggravation when I got the inevitable complaint for daring to give someone a parking ticket for taking a handicapped space they weren't entitled to, telling someone to stay on the curb and obey the "walk/don't walk" sign when a semi was coming their way, etc.
And yes....I encourage anyone to have a little tape recorder any time they deal with a cop. It doesn't matter if it is just a parking ticket or a "get moving" lecture. The good cops know that pretty much anything they say can (and will) be ready for broadcast on the evening news and will be professional while doing their jobs. The bad ones? Well, it's nice to have a little bit of insurance on your side just in case.
(Note....call up your local PD nonemergency line first to see if you live in a state where you have to notify the other party that they are being recorded, just to make sure that they can't come back on you later for not telling Officer Unfriendly about your leetle friend.)
Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields ||
08/04/2008 9:49 Comments ||
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#6
I try to support the police, I know they are underpaid and frequently overworked. I know some of these videos are biased in what they fail to show.
I still have to ask, Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
#7
As a former police officer, albeit in the 70's in a small town, ALL police personell know (or should know) there are ALWAYS going to be people who go out of their way to set up and antagonize them. Just sayin'...
#8
Yes, I'm sure this was all planned out in advance with the camera positions, most probably locations of police personnel, the unobstructed views, etc.
And yes I (and a zillion others) looked at the video, too. The police ran straight for the same excuse they always do. There was no visual signaling effort whatsoever to get the guy to stop. Whatever he allegedly "did" was not worth risking slamming the guy's skull on the ground. The cop just sauntered near his path and suddenly ambushed him. He's probably one of those cops who can't tell the difference between right and wrong. There are a lot of them out there, and their willful denial of this doesn't wish it away. And yes, the guy did try to avoid running into the cop. Bicycles don't turn on a dime, especially if you expecting the cop to refrain from being un-"reasonable" like that one was. Oh, and by the way, anyone else notice that nobody in the crowd was paying particular attention to the guy before he got nailed by the cop? Except for the other cop, who probably got warned about what was about to happen. That cop didn't seem too thrilled about the whole thing, by the way.
And King has nothing to do with this other than he was beaten unnecessarily, too. I'm sure a dozen cops with a combined body mass of over a ton could have put their clubs down long enough to hogtie a 300 pound guy. And if all that particular cameraman wanted to do was make the police look bad, then why did he shoot 45 minutes of video? Did he copyright the other 44 minutes or something? That kind of accusation shows bias.
The best the cops can hope for here is an extreme lack of judgment bolstered by expectations of getting away with it. Had the guy or a bystander been injured I'm sure the defense "we nailed him because he was rude to another cop or pedestrian" or "he wasn't wearing a helmet" would sound hollow. The net effect here is negative. Unless, of course, it turns out he had just assaulted a pedestrian, in which case it shouldn't take more than about a day for the deeply offended party to step forward. Or maybe someone else can step forward and say they heard the cop warn the guy to stop. Judging by the crowd's lack of anticipation of the event, I'd say there's a slim (read: NO) chance of that happening.
And all the arguments I hear in favor of the cops are conjecture. That tape is a pretty damning witness and a thousand times more credible than anything the cops have called in their defense. And remember, all this happens in real time. The cops and the bicyclists had to make their decisions in real time, not in fantasy time with a pause button to allow thought for perfect decision-making.
I'll go to bat for and give privilges and leeway to police whose decisions were made to benefit the society they help shepherd, but those privileges come with correspondingly higher expectations of good judgment and standards ethical behavior. And correspondingly higher consequences.
No, Gorb, it doesn't. It shows that I actually watched the ENTIRE Rodney King incident video. I was lucky enough to have an opportunity to see the entire Rodney King film and could make a proper assessment. Please also note that there was a JURY of people in Simi Valley--people who also saw the WHOLE video--that came to the same conclusions I did. A JURY, gorb. In Simi Valley, CA, a place that isn't exactly Selma, AL circa 1960.
The fact that two policemen went to jail via double jeopardy for beating Rodney King after they were already tried once and exonerated of any wrongdoing is one of the more egregious recent blots on American justice.
As for this cyclist, go back and watch that video again, closely. Watch his FEET. They show he was trying to power his way by that cop. Plus, when he got hit he was leaning INTO the officer, not away, as in trying to avoid the collision. This WASN'T just some rogue cop trying to smackdown some CM jerk. Again, if they had wanted to do that there were easier and smaller targets. Hell, seconds earlier one of them almost hit the cop who stopped the cyclist.
I wrote a letter to the Governor of Utah and the head of the Utah DPS concerning the jerk who tasered that poor schmo in front of his pregnant wife and kids. I have no sympathy or support for cops who exceed their brief or use excessive violence.
That said, because of the King case I'm very well aware of how people on the left try to manipulate the media to make their case (and yes, Critical Mass is DEFINITELY watermelon) against the authorities. I consequently no longer take such things at face value.
I suggest checking your own bias level first before you accuse others of it.
#11
Wow. A JURY. like the one that acquitted Simpson?
And what if King was diabetic and was acting like he was due to low blood sugar? The cops could have easily subdued him and ended the whole thing right then. No need for the protracted beating. They should have put away the clubs and cuffed him. I don't care what the almighty PROCEDURE says to do.
I do agree that the double-jeopardy thing should not have happened, though.
I did see the cyclist's feet. I did see him hunch into the linebacker cop. The way I read it was that he was just trying to be polite and avoid a close call by getting around him. I've done it before when people aren't paying attention or are not considering my reaction to getting too close to my path. If he'd turned left he would have ended up on the curb, so I can see why he did it.
Yes, I know why the cop did it. He ran a red light. But the cop overreacted simply because he could. He should have just blown it off and come back better prepared logistically next year, and not risked the man's health. Maybe the cop was right. But was he acting responsibly? Would he have been within procedural limits to whip out his baton and crack the guy across the teeth? What if the guy landed face first on the curb? Same result.
Did you notice the other team of two cops in the second video? They played it much smarter. The one cop was in front telling the biker to pull over while simply tugging at him, and then he let go. The cop's partner was about 15 feet behind him about where the overenthusiastic biker was able to stop his bike. The cop even helped him dismount if I remember right. That's the way to do it. Not like the big cop with the chip on his shoulder.
That's what I'm talking about. You don't shoot a guy for spitting on the sidewalk. And the big cop shouldn't have wiped out the biker for what he did. It's too much risk for the infraction he committed, especially considering the mitigating circumstances. Cops should not inject greater risk into situations than are already there.
And you can think what you want.
And so can everyone watching the video.
And when you add up the numbers, the cops lost on this one any way you cut it.
It was granted to me to carry away from my prison years on my bent back, which nearly broke beneath its load, this essential experience: how a human being becomes evil and how good. In the intoxication of youthful successes I had felt myself to be infallible, and I was therefore cruel. In the surfeit of power I was a murderer and an oppressor. In my most evil moments I was convinced that I was doing good, and I was well supplied with systematic arguments. It was only when I lay there on rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself the first stirrings of good. Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart, and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. Even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained; and even in the best of all hearts, there remains a small corner of evil.
-Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Gulag Archipelago
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/04/2008 00:00 ||
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MOSCOW - Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the Nobel Prize-winning author whose books chronicled the horrors of the Soviet gulag system, has died of heart failure, his son said Monday. He was 89.
Stepan Solzhenitsyn told The Associated Press his father died late Sunday, but declined further comment.
Solzhenitsyn's unflinching accounts of torment and survival in the Soviet Union's slave labor camps riveted his countrymen, whose secret history he exposed. They earned him 20 years of bitter exile, but international renown. And they inspired millions, perhaps, with the knowledge that one person's courage and integrity could, in the end, defeat the totalitarian machinery of an empire.
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Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/04/2008 00:00 ||
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#2
I read the Gulag Archipelago twice; the first time it scared the hell out of me. Solzhenitsyn undoubtedly outed the Soviet Union's warts and ugly secrets and he deserves credit for that. However, anyone who opens that book should remember the first few pages, the ones where he says "everybody knew what to do with German women; first you raped them, then you shot them."
If raping and murdering noncombatants is something you can overlook in establishing someone in your pantheon of heroes, go for it. For me, that doesn't work. It's one of the reasons I despise Mo and his followers as well.
Paris Hilton's mother doesn't share John McCain's sense of humor.
McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, said last week that his campaign ad mocking Democrat Barack Obama with images of Hilton and singer Britney Spears was part of an attempt to inject humor into the presidential race.
On Sunday, Hilton's mother, Kathy Hilton, a McCain donor, in 1984 registered her disapproval.
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Posted by: Bobby ||
08/04/2008 05:50 ||
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#1
When I think of political and cultural sages, I think of Kathy Hilton
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/04/2008 8:25 Comments ||
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#2
"And another thing--he has the gall to put my Paris in the same category as that little tramp Britney! That's the worst insult. Say what you will about Paris, she has too much class to ever make babies with the likes of Kevin Federline!"
Posted by: Mike ||
08/04/2008 8:27 Comments ||
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#3
Apparently, Granddad isn't impressed by Paris either. Now that is registered disapproval.
#4
The 79-year-old Hilton appears to be so fed up with how Paris has sullied the family name that he has also cut off his 10 other grandchildren too. He will instead put the family fortune into a charitable foundation.
I'll bet the other 10 grandchildren are a little pi$$ed about the sullying...
#5
And it is a completely frivolous way to choose the next president of the United States
Yes, those peasants actually choosing their own by voiting? Preposterous! They should do what we, their betters, tell them to do and be good little peons and go about their poor little mundane lives while we choose the leaders for them.
The gall of those little people to think they can make light of my daughter or beleive they are smart enough to choose a leader without our enlightened guidance.
#6
So she is annoyed that her daughter is considered a celebrity because that is the gist of the McCain ad. If she's inferring more she's the one projecting her opinions into the ad.
Having said that Brit and Paris were flashed so quickly one has to wonder why McCain's people bothered.
#7
I always had nothing but contempt for the wealthy who so despise their children they wish to impoverish them.
It shows that they are multiple failures: they did not raise their children well; they have no ability to persuade instead of coerce; they are mean bastards; they see no chance of redemption in their progeny; and they have no creativity in even wanting to try.
All they have left is disappointment, hate and a desire to hurt. Their memory will be scorned, their charity most likely wasted, and their history blemished.
Since such people leave behind far more enemies than friends, it is an opportunity for their enemies to exact revenge by extending friendship and support to their children, if for not other reason than to deny them their revenge.
#8
Does anyone recall Mommy Hilton registering her disapproval (in public) when daughter Paris was seen on tape on the internet having doggie style sex? Or when her daughter was hauled off to jail for multiple dui / dus and probation violations?
Gunmen have kidnapped two French expatriates near Nigeria's oil industry hub of Port Harcourt in the restive Niger Delta, military and security sources said on Sunday. More than a dozen gunmen late on Saturday ambushed patrons at a local bar in Onne in Rivers state and exchanged fire with navy personnel, resulting in at least three deaths, a security source said. The French Foreign Ministry confirmed two of its citizens were kidnapped.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Knowing the French - the bandits will give them back within 2 weeks.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/04/2008 2:34 Comments ||
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(Xinhua) -- A senior Russian parliamentarian said Russia is resuming its military presence in Cuba, the RIA Novosti news agency reported Saturday. "Russia should take advantage of all its capabilities to protect its national interests, including the interests in the field of security," said Andrei Klimov, deputy head of the International Affairs Committee at the State Duma, lower house of the parliament.
Russia should "own its supporting points" in different regions in the world, Klimov said, noting that "Cuba's location has geopolitical importance" and a presence in both economic and military affairs must be built in America.
The lawmaker did not rule out the possibility of a military presence on the Caribbean Island just off the U.S. coast. "It's possible Russia could do this in response to the U.S. plans to place a missile defense system near the border of Russia," he said, adding that Russia's plans would not involve targeting its missiles at the United States.
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Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2008 00:00 ||
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The oil money must be good if Russia can both afford fuel for the Bears and prop up failed states like Cuba again.
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows the race for the White House is tied with Barack Obama and John McCain each attracting 44% of the vote. However, when "leaners" are included, its McCain 47% and Obama 46%.
This is the first time McCain has enjoyed even a statistically insignificant advantage of any sort since Obama clinched the Democratic nomination on June 3. . . . A week ago today, Obama had a three-percentage point lead and the candidates were even among unaffiliated voters. Today, McCain leads 52% to 37% among unaffiliateds.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/04/2008 10:12 ||
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#1
This is very strange. Donks usually enjoy a healthy lead in the polls before the election, whether they win or lose. If their crappy biased polls actually show McCain ahead by 1, imagine how far ahead he really is.
#2
Polls prior to the conventions don't mean much.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2008 11:45 Comments ||
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#3
I'm trying to image what it must be like for some of the Dem delegates preparing to go off to Denver to annoint "The One". Some of them must realize that he's a loser. The more scrutiny he gets, the weaker he looks. Great times to be a Republican. I've got so much smugness, I could fill my hot tub with it -- to overflowing.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
08/04/2008 11:45 Comments ||
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bigjim, this sort of analysis is exactly what several of my friends have been taking great comfort from for some time. It does seem significant that BO lacks the large polling lead normally enjoyed by Dem candidates, esp. in the summer. Couple that with the striking strength of McCain in places like Michigan, as well as among key demographics like older white women, and BO's prospects seem joyfully dim. I've always thought the GOP electoral vote edge was enhanced by the BO candidacy - it's just hard to imagine PA or OH or even WI or MI or IA going for someone like BO - and this just adds to that.
Task one: crush the ridiculous Dem candidate. Task two: knee-cap the GOP winner on a range of key issues. Strange election.
Kate Snow, ABC The interview took place in Monrovia, Liberia. Odd place for an ex-president to be hanging out.
In his first broadcast interview since his wife dropped out of the Democratic presidential race, former President Bill Clinton said he still has regrets, and insisted he's "not a racist," despite controversies surrounding his comments about Sen. Barack Obama's win in the South Carolina Democratic primary. . . .
#4
Don't worry John. The word racist has lost its value, just like the word liberal lost it's decades ago when the same socialist copped it for cover and power.
#5
Bill is only now seeing how Obama used the "rascim" card against him, in a very underhanded manner.
I expect the Clintons are quitly preparing thier covert cutting of Obama's support to ensure he fails, massively in November, clearing the deck for Hillary in 2012.
#6
I expect the Clintons are quitly preparing thier covert cutting of Obama's support to ensure he fails, massively in November, clearing the deck for Hillary in 2012.
Posted by OldSpook 2008-08-04 14:25|| Front Page|| ||Comments Top
Not so 'covert' I suspect. I still think the Hilderbeast is going to pop up again somewhere soon.
Intensified attacks by Republican John McCain on the character of his Democratic opponent have coincided with Barack Obama losing a nine percentage point advantage in a national poll, which showed the candidates running dead even over the weekend.
McCain, who had vowed to avoid the kind of negative tactics that were used against him in the 2000 Republican primary contest with George W. Bush, began attacking Obama during the Illinois senator's trip to Iraq and Afghanistan late last month. Hmmm.... I don't see it so much as attacking, more like exposing.
#5
The fact that McCain, who is a pretty weak republican candidate, can bring down Obama's lead just by a few flimsy ads should be making the dhimocrat leadership have kittens. Once the shine is fully off the Messiah, he is gonna sink like the Titanic.
#8
And wait until after the convention: the clintons will help put the knife in Obambi's back, so as to et up Hillary for 2012 against a very old (78 years old) McCain.
#9
Once the shine is fully off the Messiah, he is gonna sink like the Titanic.
I wonder how long it will take corporate America to wake up that even with MSM shilling for the O'man with the full force of the media's power that they can't sell that product? On that morning, corporate America will move its advertising budgets and MSM will deflate as fast as any market bubble.
#10
I'm confused. Which of McCain's tactics are bad? I read this thing and all of his tactics appear ok to me.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
08/04/2008 11:38 Comments ||
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#11
Mr Steven Hurst apparently loves the word "apparently". He apparently also hates video tape that records Obama's own words that allow Obama to be mocked (I like that word, mocked, as BHO really dislikes being mocked (grin)). But apparently I'm too dumb to know what is negative, according to Mr Hurst, as I am not of the smart folks of the media.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is behind on a dark horse in the Democratic veepstakes: Rep. Chet Edwards of Texas.
"I hope he will be the nominee," Pelosi said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."
Edwards, first elected in 1990 and now in his ninth term, represents Texas' 17th District, which includes Waco, College Station, Fort Hood and the small town of Crawford, where President Bush has a ranch. He serves as a senior member on the House appropriations and budget committees and has guided funding measures for military veterans.
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#1
Considering Nancy's part in the Congressional polls, I'd move Chet to the top of the list, O.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/04/2008 6:13 Comments ||
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BO could make a lot of worse choices. Assuming BO would win anyway, I wouldn't mind seeing Edwards as VP. Like Cheney, he'd be a lot better qualified for President than the one elected. I don't know anything about his ethical 'lapses' but figure they're comparable to most successful politicians'. The fact that Pelosi is for him is unnerving though.
Posted by: Menhaden S ||
08/04/2008 9:07 Comments ||
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#3
Pelosi's pimping-out of Chet Edwards is causing the lefties an intramural debate over this guy.
#4
I've never heard of him. I suspect most people would get confused and think that John Edwards was back on the ticket.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/04/2008 11:07 Comments ||
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#5
I've never heard of him. I suspect most people would get confused and think that John Edwards was back on the ticket.
Maybe they'd already had a bunch of bumper stickers made up when the first Edwards' indiscretions caught up with him and now they have to recycle them by finding a different candidate with the same name.
Posted by: Full Bosomed1072 ||
08/04/2008 00:36 ||
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McCain's choice for VP for once should be practical. Right now, there are several projected major events that the next president is going to have to face. If any one of these stands out as a major threat, then it would be very wise to choose a specialist.
For example, if war with Iran is the #1 concern, then McCain should select a retired General Officer or Admiral, to in essence become a "war czar" (as much as I dislike the corruption of the use of the word czar).
If an economic catastrophe is expected, then he should pick a brilliant and innovative economist to both insulate the US from an international catastrophe, and to strongly accelerate recovery.
If it is anticipated that after the election, there will be rioting and civil disruption, along with Homeland Security issues like terrorist attacks, he will need a powerful police commander like Rudy Giuliani, whose mastery is reestablishing domestic security.
#3
So, anonymoose, you're suggesting Gen. Petreus, Thomas Sowell, or the current head of the National Intelligence Agency, right? I could probably agree with any one of those. I would NOT pick another senator, or any member of the House. McCain needs someone with some outside experience, preferably with some industrial credits on his resume. An academian would also be a less than ideal choice, for similar reasons that another congresscritter would be less than ideal. Maybe McCain should look at the head of Blackwater. THAT would raise a LOT of eyebrows!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/04/2008 17:28 Comments ||
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Virginia is a toss up state. VA and OH are must wins for McCain.
Posted by: ed ||
08/04/2008 17:49 Comments ||
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Ralph Nader, the former Green Party candidate and scourge of many Democrats who blame him for Al Gore's defeat in 2000, earned a place on the California ballot Saturday as the newly minted candidate of the Peace and Freedom Party. Nader won the party's presidential nomination over the spirited challenge of a socialist candidate, Gloria La Riva, in an eclectic gathering of the political left in a Sacramento hotel.
The crowd at the Peace and Freedom convention was minuscule when compared to the crowds who will greet John McCain at the Republican convention at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., and turn out to see Barack Obama accept the Democratic nomination at the Invesco Field football stadium in Denver.
But in a packed, sweaty room at the Hawthorn Suites, Nader emerged as the champion for "progressive" activists who rallied to send a message to the two "corporate" parties, lambasting Democrats and Republicans alike for condoning sustained war, abusing workers and neglecting families.
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Posted by: Steve White ||
08/04/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Hey green-antiwar moonbats - you ideal candidate is in the race now, be sure to vote for him over tht backsliding flip-flopping Obama.
#3
The media will disappear Nader with a thoroughness that would make Orwell's fictitious Ministry of Truth envious.
This illustrates their pragmatism: Nader, of course, is the ideal personification of media values and objectives, but he has no chance of winning and must therefore be tossed under the proverbial bus lest he bleed moonbat votes from the Messiah.
Hat tip to the Gateway Pundit. Long, long article about Marshall Davis, one of Barack Obama's early mentors in Hawaii. Mr. Davis, it seems, was a life-long communist, and Obama acknowledges his influence in his 1995 book, Dreams From My Father.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/04/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
He also admits to cocaine use. etc.
But they give him a free pass on that. As well as being a smoker, etc.
All those thigns that woudl have been huge public issues if his skin coor were not black, or if he were a Republican.
#2
His mother was an out and out communist. He portrayed her as a conservative Kansas girl. LOL! You have to be completely ignorant of her life.
Obama went to campaign for Odinga, a candidate in Kenya who signed a pact with radical muslims. Odinga lost, but subsequently mobs raged Christian homes, raping and murdering. They then rounded up Christians in a church, burned it to the ground with the Christians inside and hacked any Christians who tried to escape from the burning building with machetes. Don't expect the MSM to pick the story up. You'll have to find it online and read it for yourself.
Here's a start: Orange democratic party
#4
About that cocaine thing, it's funny how the DU moonbats always went after Dubya over the allegation (never proven or witnessed) that he'd tried cocaine. That was enough of a disqualifier that Dubya shouldn't have been elected, etc, etc.
Now Obama admits to a few snorts as a youth, and now it's no big deal.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/04/2008 13:07 Comments ||
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The spiritual leader of the world's Anglicans urged church leaders Sunday not to consecrate any other gay bishops for now, as he ended a once-a-decade Anglican assembly that was dedicated to preventing schism in the troubled fellowship.
In his final speech at the Lambeth Conference, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said the Anglican Communion needs "space for study and free discussion without pressure" about whether to accept changes in the traditional biblical understanding of same-sex relationships.
"A fellow Christian may believe they have a profound fresh insight. They seek to persuade others about it. A healthy church gives space for such exchanges," he told the 650 bishops at the meeting in Canterbury, England. "But the Christian with the new insight can't claim straight away that this is now what the Church of God believes or intends."
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Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2008 00:00 ||
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Schism is still going to happen. Presbyterians in the US have become unitarians in some plces in terms of abandoning orthodox Christian beleif, biblical basis, and the Traditions that date back to before the Bible's codification.
#3
The key phrase is "for now". The Anglican Church has lost its way and is no longer a Christian church, just an outlet for ineffectual social activism. Nobody takes these loons seriously anymore. The US Episcopal Church is headed in the same direction. To whit, who would have ever believed Episcopal congregations in the Deep South so disillusioned with the US Episcopal hierarchy that they transfer allegiance to the Nigerian church because at least it is still believes in Christ.
#5
Archbishop Atkinson is a master at beating dead horses. He just knows that if he can get all the other bishops to clap their hands, then Tinkerbell will live.
A technology used to detect the location of sniper fire in war zones is helping prevent damage to natural gas pipelines.
By listening to sound waves traveling through the natural gas in the equipped pipelines, operators in a remote control room can detect and pinpoint to within a few feet the location of an object striking a pipeline, such as a construction backhoe. In some cases the system can detect if digging is happening in a pipeline right-of-way, even if machinery hasn't come in contact with the pipe.
A warning goes to the pipeline operator immediately, letting the operator intervene before the pipeline is breached or respond to a rupture more quickly.
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Posted by: Bobby ||
08/04/2008 15:32 ||
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#1
3DC where are you??????
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/04/2008 16:15 Comments ||
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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. [from U of I press release] In the largest field trial of its kind in the United States, researchers have determined that the giant perennial grass Miscanthus x giganteus outperforms current biofuels sources by a lot.....
What weve found with Miscanthus is that the amount of biomass generated each year would allow us to produce about 2 1/2 times the amount of ethanol we can produce per acre of corn, said crop sciences professor Stephen P. Long, who led the study.
----------- I can't figure out if they've actually done the processing into ethanol or are just assuming it can be done
#3
Vader has a wonderful question. Is this grass growable like typical grass. Could homeowners grow it to offset the vast amount of land usually required and in exchange get some kind of gas credits (assuming a home ethanol brewing machine isn't available).
#4
Grass, is there anything it can't do? Bamboo (grass shoots) can be used in building, flooring. Miscanthus x giganteius grass can run our cars. Cannibas can distract our bleeding hearts and artists.
You could, as long as you don't mind losing your dog and kids. Miscanthus test plot
Its value is it grows fast, is perennial, and doesn't require lots of care and fertilizer, like corn. The down side is that the cellulose must first be broken down into sugars. That requires enzymes and processes that are not quite ready for commercialization, then fermented.
Ethanol is a bridge fuel. Personal transportation will have to migrate to electricity centric, the sooner the better for the civilized world. Electricity can be produced using any fuel, including the sun at 20-30% efficiency while plants convert sunlight at less than 1% efficiency. In addition electric motors are much more efficient than internal combustion engines.
Posted by: ed ||
08/04/2008 18:15 Comments ||
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A private rocket carrying three satellites, including a Nasa space sail, has failed to reach orbit. It is the third unsuccessful launch attempt for the Falcon 1 rocket, built by private space firm SpaceX.
The vehicle's two stages failed to separate two minutes and 20 seconds into launch from Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. SpaceX's engineers are still investigating the cause of the rocket's failure.
"It was obviously a big disappointment not to reach orbit on this Flight 3 of the Falcon 1," said Elon Musk, chief executive of SpaceX, in a short statement read to reporters. "The most important message I'd like to send right now is that SpaceX will not skip a beat in execution going forward. We have flight four of Falcon 1 almost ready for flight and flight five right behind that."
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Posted by: john frum ||
08/04/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
One awfully expensive hobby...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/04/2008 8:05 Comments ||
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#2
Unfortunately, James Doohan's ashes were on the flight.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
08/04/2008 21:12 Comments ||
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#3
Terrible news on all fronts here, commercial space transport is past-due.
Sri Lanka's president has ordered an immediate ban on pornographic websites in a bid to prevent children being exposed to adult content, the telecommunications regulator said Sunday.
Service providers in Sri Lanka have been asked to filter websites showing obscene, pornographic and other sexually explicit material, said the head of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, Priyantha Kariyapperuma. "If an adult wants to have unrestricted access to the Internet, they have to pay and get a password from the service provider," Kariyapperuma said.
Sri Lanka, home to 20 million people, has more than 200,000 Internet users. The ban was imposed on a directive by President Mahinda Rajapakse, who wanted to protect children against Internet pornography, he said. The regulator said authorities will hold subscribers responsible if children access pornographic websites. Earlier, the regulator had asked service providers to block access to the pro-separatist Tamilnet.com website.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2008 00:00 ||
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President Hugo Chavez on Sunday said 24 missile-firing Russian Sukhoi fighter jets have been delivered to Venezuela, and warned the recently reactivated US Fourth Fleet to steer clear of Venezuelan waters.
#4
"Any gringo ship that sails into brown waters (river waters) will itself turn brown and go to the bottom, because they'll not get through," Chavez said.
If that ever happens, Hugo, the only "brown water" you'll be seeing will be shooting outta your ass.
#5
Oh, look. Another line of death *yawn* I seem to recall the last bozo who said something about a "line of death" got his bathroom blown to smitherenes and we didn't hear much from him for a few decades. Now he looks like Michael Jackson. You have been warned!
I say we honor international law in our sailing, and if he's got a problem with that we can pull the plug on another dictator who's drunk on oil.
#9
I wonder if the Venezualan coast is within proper combat radius of Puerto-Rico-based air superiority fighters? It *looks* like it, but I'm not very good on Air Force stuff.
I believe the Argentinian Air Force got their collective asses handed to them during the Falklands, mostly because they had absolutely no margin for messing about over the British fleet and the islands after the long flight from continental air-bases. As I understand it, the Argentinian jets were superior to the British Harriers, but their inability to spare any thrust for dogfighting meant that they lost heavily, basically trading their fielded squadrons for a half-dozen non-essential ship kills.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/04/2008 15:27 Comments ||
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#10
Personally, I'd argue for a Tomahawk-based answer to the tactical problem of Russian air superiority assets in the hands of the Fascist in Caracas. Su-30MK2 can't be flown from mud postage-stamp runways - you could probably blanket their bases given enough provocation without having to commit air-superiority assets.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/04/2008 15:34 Comments ||
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#11
Gromky, it was poor damage control and the lack of any effective CIWS (close in weapons system) that gave the British fits a quarter of a century ago. Things are different now.
Actually, they were different just a few years later when the USS Stark was hit by an Exocet basically identical to the ones that sank the larger HMS Sheffield and the enormously larger Atlantic Conveyor in 1982. The Stark survived and returned to service.
#14
What happened to the proposed buy of CHINESE J10's???
ION FREEREPUBLIC > IRAN THREATENS [again] TO SHUT DOWN THE STRAITS OF HORMUZ, as before likely via a combo of TacAir, TLCMS, Gunboats + SILKWORMS, etc. Compare wid TOPIX [old] > HIZBULLAH THREATENS TO USE SILKWORMS AGZ ISRAELI WARSHIPS OFF LEBANON.
ALso from TOPIX > AHMADINEJAD: PALESTINIAN STATE AND COLLAPSE OF ZIONIST ISRAEL ARE NOT UNACHIEVABLE GOALS.
#15
With 2 hit samples we cant say that Stark is better than Type42 in damage control. Both were crippled and Sheffield went down in towing. Stark has a CIWS and it didn't worked... As far as i know also it appears it is uncertain if Exocets exploded.
Ships are vulnerable to aviation and that is so since Billy Mitchell despite the Navy dreams.
The Argentine performed with honor and courage but their infra-red missiles werent all aspect like the new , at time, AIM-9L that came from NATO stocks, neither their air-to-air tactics were professional, and like it was said their Mirages performed at limit of their range.
#16
Stark's CIWS was not turned on, nor were AA missiles fired. Same the Israeli ship grazed off Lebanon 2 years ago.
Posted by: ed ||
08/04/2008 20:26 Comments ||
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#17
I didn't say that Stark didn't have a CIWS. As ed points out, it wasn't turned on. Sheffield didn't have one. The Stark was hit by two Exocets, and one them definitely exploded. "Ships are vulnerable to aviation and that is so since Billy Mitchell despite the Navy dreams."
Sure, just ask the owners of the 50+ tankers that were hit by Exocets and Silkworms during the Iran-Iraq war. Oh, wait a minute.
Billy Michell proved only that a defenseless, unmanned, anchored ship with all the hatches open could eventually be sunk by the bombers of the time. The Navy of the time was well aware of the risks, which is why they put so little faith in Mitchell's suicidal level-bombing technique.
The real lesson, a balanced fleet and the ludicrous inaccuracy of high-level attack, had to wait until World War 2.
#18
The subject at hand is not a generalized discussion of air power at sea, but the specific applicability of certain incidents in the Falklands to the current scenario.
A great deal has changed or was different in the first place.
#19
According to ignorant moonbats who want naval funds for their own bureaucracies and pet projects, warships have been obsolete at least since the invention of the self-propelled torpedo in 1868.
The same is true of tanks which have been declared extinct almost since the day the first primitive specimens clanked into action on the Somme in 1916. Direct-fire artillery, infantry anti-tank rifles, flamethrowers, mines, shaped charges, and guided missiles have all been declared the agents of the tank's demise. Yet tanks are still here and the current crop are less vulnerable in relative terms than at any time in the past.
How many times have aircraft been declared obsolete by the rise of missiles, most notoriously by the 1957 Defence White Paper that virtually wrecked the British aviation industry? We heard the same zombie-like propaganda resurrected after Gary Powers's U-2 went down over Sverdlovsk in 1960 and, especially, after the 1973 Yom Kippur war. We haven't heard it so much in recent years.
#20
Chavez is inhaling too much cocaine. Uncle Sam isn't about to topple him. The real question is what Chavez might do in the region. If he tries to swipe the Dutch Antilles, expect fireworks.
Miles of mountain ridges hugging the state's western border could hold the key to Virginia's search for alternative energy sources. FreedomWorks, a company with projects in four states, wants to generate electricity for the power-hungry Washington area and beyond, despite concerns about disturbing wildlife, spoiling untouched lands and creating noise and light pollution.
"Wind is catching fire," said L. Preston Bryant Jr., Virginia's secretary of natural resources. "It is literally all the rage." Virginia is one of a dozen states, most of them in the Southeast, with no wind farms. But that might change this year.
The State Corporation Commission has approved a request by another company to build 19 turbines in remote, mountainous Highland County, known as Virginia's Switzerland. That is expected to produce enough electricity to power 15,000 homes in the mid-Atlantic. Construction is expected to begin this year.
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Posted by: Bobby ||
08/04/2008 15:42 ||
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#1
OK, I've asked this before and I'll ask it again, cause I really do want to believe that this could work. How does a windfarm do ANY good in the abscence of a load shedding type powerplant? The windfarm is going to crank up and die down with the winds, demand is going to remain elevated during the day, and very slack at night. It seems to me the strain of sudden demand on their local powerplant is going to be enormous when the wind dies down. So without storage capacity, which is economically out of the question at this time, how will it provide RELIABLE power?
I read an extensive article on the very subject w/r to wind power in the British Isles. Power not available at peak, known periods of no winds during winter for all of UK & Europe (period of highest demand for heat), requirement for power plants for backup designed to withstand surge loads on/off (expensive and inefficient due to design requirements). Risk to health and safety if system fails.
#3
Wind is part of the answer but not the answer on its own. wind farms are foolish and wind should be used on a point basis. Got a windy town, build a windmill to suplement the power in that town. Very windy, build two or three and perhaps sell power back to the grid.
Solar areas can do the same.
This one size-fits all demand and centralized thinking is either stupid or the power companies and politicians hoping to maintain control.
#4
I can't see where wind farms are anything but an auxiliary or supplemental source of energy that you can't always count on. It can help but it is not the "be all end all" solution to energy problems.
I think we need to stop listening to the shrill cries of the enviros. They would have all of us riding bicycles and generating our electricity from the bicycles. Come to think of it they would probably find something wrong with bicycles also (and nuclear and solar and coal and gas and tides and water, etc.).
#6
Denmark also has the highest electricity rates in Europe, 3X the avg US rate. One guess why.
Posted by: ed ||
08/04/2008 19:04 Comments ||
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#7
POST 9-11 + "GLOBALISM" + "OWG-NWO" > NOT just Multinationals, but SUPER- + GLOBAL MNCS. POST 2050-2100 > prob add "SPACE/UNIVERS CORPRORATION" + "A SPACE/UNIVERS LLC", etc to the descriptions in the future MOODY'S LIST OF SPACE/UNIVERS COMPANIES.
#8
In LT these WIND FARMS will prob integrate or merge wid SOLAR- and OCEAN-BASED ENERGY COMPANIES. IMO "OCEAN" and related EnerTechs is the best option as ocean/riverine currents [dams?] are stronger and can be measurably controlled for energy purposes. MORE RELIABLE YEAR ROUND + BAD WEATHER ONLY MAKES THE GROSS ENERGY OUTPUT STRONGER.
DAMS, DIKES, CANALS, etc. > were built by our ancestors for CROP IRRIGATION [food] + RELIABLE SOURCE-NETWORK DRINKING WATER + ENERGY FOR WORKING MILLS [Food + Industry]. WINDMILLS WERE OFTEN BUILT NEXT TO WATER MILLS, etc. CORRECT???
#9
And, Lest we fergit, MURPHY BROWN [Candice Burgen > Murphy discovers that the Anti-Establishment, anti-Capitalist, and Anti-War Author of the Book TECHNICOLOR HIGHWAY and 1960's Hippies-Yippie Activist Counter
Revolutiona Icon had in decades since become a PRO-ESTABLISHMENT, PRO-CAPITALIST/CORPORATION, NIXONIAN? REAGAN-ESQUE? "DIRTY REPUBLICAN PIG"???
NO? howzabout THE SIMPSONS > IIRC HOMER and BART discover that the friends of HOMER's 1960's On-The-Run Radical Felon Mom not only grow marijuana, but SSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH grow marijuana to use in the various Comsumer Products they sell under their Company label???
#11
I remember enviros back in the 90's worrying about the effect of windfarms on things like 'the microclimate' and migrating birds and such.
I suppose it all just depends on whose pet cause gets gored.
Can an individual windmill produce enough energy in its lifetime to cover the energy required for its materials, the transport of those materials, the assembly and maintenance?
#12
The key for wind and solar is that it all needs to be grid connected, large numbers and large geographic dispersal.
For large amounts of wind power connected to the grid from several geographically dispersed wind farms, total wind power generally varies smoothly and therefore cannot be described accurately as "intermittent". Thus, the variability of large-scale dispersed wind power is unlike that of a single wind turbine. Nevertheless, it may require some additional back-up, I don't dispute that.
The question is can you build enough of them, far enough dispersed, so that they will provide enough power on a stable basis to add to current generation capability, and to do wo without using the backup natural gas turbines more than 30%.
Furthermore, consider the time and geography separation of east, wes and central wind farms, not just N-S distribution.
And consider that agains the typical variations in demand versus day (of the week) and time, as well as season.
Remember that even coal fired plants have down time.
So you guys are making a serious error when you confuse a single turbine or single area with an entire grid-connected array, spread acoss the continent.
The purpose isnt to completely displace conventional and nuclear power, its to add generative capacity that reduces the need to import fuel.
As for cost? Subsidize it as a matter of national defense. Same goes for nukes, and solar-thermal (with storage) and geothermal.
Wind is part of the answer, as well as drilling the OCS and ANWR, oil shales, clean coal, solar-thermal, hydro-electric (screw the snail darters), geothermal, natural gas, solar-electric, nukes, hybrid vehicles, electrical vehicles, etc.
This either-or is bullshit, whether it comes from ignorance on the right, or obstinance on the left.
#13
We don't import fuel to generate electricity. Coal, nuclear and even nat gas is comestic. The problem with wind power is cost (3X coal) and intermittentcy, which requires backup generation (expensive nat gas) as well as expensive power grid conditioning. Someone (you and I) have to pay for that.
Posted by: ed ||
08/04/2008 20:54 Comments ||
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#14
comestic - domestic..
Posted by: ed ||
08/04/2008 20:55 Comments ||
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#15
Read the engineering studies.
Power generation is not a flat "make this much" item, despite your notions to the contrary. It requires a large mix of capacities, of reliabilites, and costs. This is a neccesarily complex thing to model and to control.
Even coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear power stations are not 100% reliable. To achieve this level of reliability with any single technology would require an infinite amount of back-up and hence an infinite cost. In practice, a generating system has a limited amount of back-up and a specified reliability. This can be measured in terms of the average number of hours per year that supply fails to meet demand or by the frequency and duration of failures to meet demand. Wind can be factored into this, like any other source, once the variaiblity is known and sufficient backup is provided as part of the system.
For intermediate load using widely dispersed wind farms, the back-up capacity only has to be one-fifth to one-third of the wind capacity. In the special case when all the wind power is concentrated at a single site, the required back-up is about half the wind capacity. (Martin & Diesendorf 1982; Grubb 1988a & b; ILEX 2002; Carbon Trust & DTI 2004; Dale et al. 2004; UKERC 2006).
To replace the electricity generated by a 1000 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power station, with annual average power output of about 850 MW, a group of wind farms with capacity (rated power) of about 2600 MW, located in windy sites, is required. The higher wind capacity allows for the variations in wind power and is taken into account in the economics of wind power.
Although this substitution involves a large number of wind turbines (for example, 1300 turbines, each rated at 2 MW), they are grouped and seperated by large distances to offset localized weather events.
Also, remember base load is typically the lowest normal demand, intermediate load is typical daytime average, and peak is specifically high demand, like a heat wave in summer, or cold snap in winter.
Furthermore, because the back-up can be used as a peak-load plant, it does not have to be run continuously while the wind is blowing. Instead the gas turbines can be switched on and off quickly when necessary. Since the gas turbine has low capital cost and low fuel use, it may be considered to be reliability insurance with a small premium.
One size does not fit all, and wind power can and should be a solid part of the mix.
Same as geothermal, solar-thermal, drilling, shales, nukes, etc.
#16
And you are wrong - we use oil (petroleum) to generate power. Not as mcuh as coal (50%+ of our power), but its still there.
In 2007, the USA produced than 7,000 Thousand-MW-hours of electrical power from petroleum, per the US Dept Of Energy.
That's why its important to do this and make natural gas the primary transportation fuel.
And that in turn is why wind power makes sense as part of an overall solution. Replace all natural gas and petroleum generation capacity with wind while we bring the nukes online. Use the gas as the standby/back and peak capacity. Use coal as the backbone, that we do now, while we build up nukes for future capacity.
Push the automatkers to proviude dual-fuel vehicles, and subsidize nat gas distribution to fuel centers (via tax policy).
That will drop the need to import large amounts of oil for transportation, and buy us the time we need to get off oil as a fuel, and drilkl our own productively.
Wind can be done in 3-5 years, vehicles in 10. THat puts this as the gap filler until the new drilling shows up - along with huge new amounts of natural gas that will accompany the new drilling.
That in turn buys the 20 years to get the nukes built and vehicles into some sort of electrical, reserving petroleum for military and industrial use.
And it all creates jobs HERE, and keeps the money HERE, instead of going to Hugo Chaves, the Wahabbis in Saudi, etc.
#17
Coal and nuclear plants operate at 90% of rated capacity or better. Outages are, well, planned in advance for maintenance and refueling.
Wind turbines average 1/3 of rated capacity. Of that capacity, only 1/3 can be classed as pseudo-baseload (10-12% of rated capacity) if and only if you have a large number of turbines spread over a large geographical area. I know of no power gird that meets that criteria. Whether pseudo-baseload conditions are met or not, that still requires the majority of wind generated capacity to have fossil fuel backup plants. Outages (and surges) can't be predicted 5 minutes in advance. That leads voltage transients that will bring down the grid if wind is a high enough percentage. Somewhere around 20% is the figure cited.
Wind replaces fuel, and expensively at that. Fed subsides are 2/3¢/kWH (production and accelerated depreciation). That's 1/2 the cost of coal or nuke power and that's not including costs of backup plants and grid reliability measures that are spread across all producers. Even then wind power sells at a premium. But fuel for electricity is the least of problems for America. We have 200 years of coal, 500 years of shale, thousands of years of transuranics. Heck even the used nuclear fuel still has 99% of its energy untapped.
Bottom line: wind is a bad use of limited resources. We can spend less money for more reliable power and use the left over billions to improve our lives in other areas.
Posted by: ed ||
08/04/2008 21:47 Comments ||
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#18
In 2006 the USA produced 4,064,701 MWH of electricity. 7000 MWH is 0.17% of that. It doesn't even register in power production charts.
Posted by: ed ||
08/04/2008 21:56 Comments ||
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#19
Fed subsides are 2/3¢/kWH = Fed subsides are 2.3¢/kWH
Posted by: ed ||
08/04/2008 22:01 Comments ||
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#20
Missed 3 zeros.
In 2006 the USA produced 4.064,701 Trillion KWH. Thats 4,064,701,000,000 KWH or 4,064,701,000 MWH.
7,000 THOUSAND MWH is still 0.17% of that.
Posted by: ed ||
08/04/2008 22:23 Comments ||
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#21
The key for wind and solar is that it all needs to be grid connected, large numbers and large geographic dispersal.
I've always thought that the best application for wind power would be millions and millions of micro-turbines at each home to supplement consumption. If we're going to subsidize someone let's subsidize homeowners to install these things, that'll have the same net immediate economic effect as subsidizing billionaires to build wind farms and provide an ongoing bump as homeowners pocket the difference on their new lower energy bills and plow that money back into the economy.
#22
You won't want to live under the noise of turning blades. Large wind turbines also give a much better $/kWH return than small ones. That's why 5MW rated wind turbines that are 600 feet high are state of the art.
Posted by: ed ||
08/04/2008 22:38 Comments ||
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#23
Granted Ed and replication of all of the necessary power conversion infrastructure millions of times over is also highly inefficient but I'd still rather see the government subsidize my neighbors than Boone Pickens.
#26
Paleolithic regressives (not progressive, not conservatives) like you are determine to not be part of the solution - to me that makes you part of the problem.
If we celebrate all the Muslim holidays we'd have a 1 day workweek.
Workers at the Tyson Foods poultry processing plant in Shelbyville will no longer have a paid day off on Labor Day but will instead be granted the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr. According to a news release from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, a new five-year contract at the plant included the change to accommodate Muslim workers at the plant.
Tyson's director of media relations Gary Mickelson said the contract includes eight paid holidays -- the same number as the old contract. Eid al-Fitr -- which falls on Oct. 1 this year -- marks the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting.
Awwwwwww, that's too bad. Since I won't be buying anymore of their stuff (my wife went apoplectic when she heard it on the radio)they can subtract what I would've spent too from their bottom line.
#2
Lawson said they consider religious accommodations on a case-by-case basis. She said that so far, no one has asked for any other type of religious prayer room.
#3
Interesting. A union agreement that bags the holiday that celebrates labor. Wonder what the rest of the members of that union think of that? Or has the union been taken over by illegal and muslim immigrants?
#8
I have refused to buy from Tyson's since the Hillarity escapades in Arkysaw. This is beyond belief. How are all these illegal Somalians getting in here and handling meat being fed to American populace ? I think a large share of workers at another packing facility in SW Kansas was also large percentage Somalians. These packing plants have to be importing them. How do they get in and get to these rural locales ? The only safe meat is from a local butcher shop and that's without doubt.
#9
The Postville plant that produces Kosher beef is now hiring Somalis to replace the Hispanic illegal immigrants they had employed.
Also, these immigrants are the assembly line workers. The supervisors of these workers, the managers, the accountants, etc. are typically long time townies with a few out-of-towners from company HQ or other plants.
#12
If you have Tyson chicken, and are still in the supermarket, you may want to slip it behind the Pepsi shelf and check out. We could invent a new game...hide the Tyson.
Posted by: Frank Perdue ||
08/04/2008 15:16 Comments ||
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#13
You could have just had them trade off Christmas for Eid al-Fitr. That way, the Muslims and Christians have different days off, thus letting you keep your plant in operation over the two holidays.
Shit-for-brains. Is that the Arkansas Shelbyville?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/04/2008 15:36 Comments ||
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#15
They aren't illegal immigrants but legal refugees, with health benefits and food stamps. Some are even given used cars and taxis, which really torques the local single moms who have a 5- year limit to benefits with the new workfare reforms.
#17
These packing plants have to be importing them. How do they get in and get to these rural locales ?
Mostly Chritian charity groups like Catholic Charities/Relief Services is importing them. Yes, they are making millions of $ from the Feds by importing these muslim barbarians.
Somalis, Shelbyville and Severe Culture Shock Shelbyville, Tennessee is a rural community located in the middle part of the state. Four years ago, the character of this community was changed irrevocably when a major employer, Tyson Foods, hired several hundred Somali émigrés to replace illegal Hispanic meat packers at a facility there. The Somalis emigrated from other centers in the heartland of the US, after coming to America under a legal humanitarian immigration program established by the 1980 Refugee Act, controlled by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and by the US State Department Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration with a budget of over $1 billion. In 2007, there were an estimated 70,000 plus Somali legal immigrants in the US. Major centers of Somali émigrés include, Minneapolis, Minnesota and Columbus, Ohio. This was facilitated in the 1990s when the Clinton Administration, through the US Office of Refugee Resettlement, decided to vector Somalis and other humanitarian refugees away from major coastal cities and into the interior of the American heartland.
Lewiston's Somali surge Most Somali refugees in the United States came from refugee camps in Kenya. Many Somalis in Portland were initially settled by Catholic Charities Maine, the state's primary, federally funded refugee resettlement agency. Many Somalis who are relocating to Lewiston from other states are no longer eligible for federal refugee assistance. As a result, those who cannot find work rely on city, state and federal welfare programs.
Since February 2001, a total of 210 Somali families (more than 600 individuals) have been served by Lewiston's general assistance office, Charron said. At this time, 200 Somali families (563 individuals) are receiving food and housing vouchers. Among them, 339 are children, 224 are adults.
...
Still, city officials estimate that only about 40 of the 400 to 500 Somali adults living in Lewiston are working.
Posted by: ed ||
08/04/2008 18:54 Comments ||
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#18
If 700 of the 1200 workers are going to be gone on that day, they might as well shut the plant; they aren't going to get work done anyway. The non-Muslims will have nice a day for shopping and running errands when they won't have to compete with the rest of the people in town... and the doctors' offices will be open. Labor Day is a concept, dating back to when laborers were fighting for a 40-hour work week. Memorial Day is much more important to me.
#19
Speaking as a Catholic - if Catholic Charities (of Maine) brought them here, then they ought to a) Prosetylize (convert) them, and b) take care of them instead of dumping them on that community. Typical Northeastern snobs dumping on the South again.
#20
We're boycotting Tyson chickie here at Casa Z. Wife is estatic. For years she has wanted nothing but free range chickie from the Amish folk down the road. I thnk it too expensive. Wife says she'll get my bulk package of chickie wings (something I make once every 10 days or so) from the folk at Perdue. Boycott is growing if you can believe what people say at work and on the net.
Tyson screwed up big time on this one. Next thing ya know muzz cab drivers will decline to transport booze carrying passengers and seeing eye dogs. Female muzz will insist on wearing hijabs at A&F and Mickey D's in place of employer provided uniforms (Hooters too!!!)....oh wait...
#21
Thanks for finding that info Ed. Keeerist, the f**king Clintons right in the middle of this. She was probably the key to bringing them in to supply slave labor to Tysons. If we don't demand a stop to any more Muzz infiltration from anywhere for any reason, we will have the same mess as the Brits have now within 15 years. I wish I could grab each Congresscritter and strangle the shit out of them until they turn purple, then have a nice calm talk with them about the danger of the Muzz scum.
(Xinhua) -- The United States has become the world's leading wind power producer and is expected to see rapid growth in places like Texas, the Great Plains and California, according to figures released on Saturday.
The U.S. wind industry now tops Germany in terms of how much energy is being produced from wind, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) said.
Germany still has more installed capacity -- 22,000 megawatts vs. 17,000 in the United States at the end of 2007. But the average wind speed is stronger in the United States, which means more energy is being generated, the group said.
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Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
We could set up some wind turbines in Congress, but the excess output would destroy the whole electrical network...
"Breaking Wind" is nullified from the overall megawatt totals which knocks America down to 7th place.
bummer dude... :(
/hopefully
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
08/04/2008 1:33 Comments ||
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#4
The American people will re-gain some overall megawatt totals after GAS-ASS BO quits flapping his jaw and ass, and Congress quits their G'D constant farting on Presidential concerts, "educational" gatherings and G'D junkets.
Hold yer noses folks, it's brutal ... especially around rotten belly & GASEOUS Pelosi, Feinstein, Boxer, Murtha, John Conyers, Alcee Hastings, Barbara Lee, Joseph Biden, Kennedy, Sheila Jackson Lee, Landrieu, Leahy, Reid, Sanders, Schumer and incontinent Arlen Specter
PU!!
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
08/04/2008 2:54 Comments ||
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#9
Just imagine how much we could produce if Sen. Kennedy wasn't so preoccupied with the view from Martha's Vineyard....
Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields ||
08/04/2008 15:57 Comments ||
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#10
OS - How about BOTH! Lets do everything.
Drill, Gasification of Coal, Natural Gas Conversion for buses and other fleets. Nuke, 2nd Gen bio-fuels, Wind, Solar Thermal, GeoThermal, everything...
#11
If we had cheap energy in this country, it would help offset cheap labor from other countries. We might be able to pay decent wages and still compete with foreign countries. If we pulled out the stops on energy in the USA, you would see the economy soar like it hasn't in a long time.
#12
Thats exactly what Im pushing - do it ALL. Get us 100% self sufficient on energy, excepting imports from Canada and possibly Mexico.
Drilling will not be a permanent solution, but between that and shales, we buy plenty of time to move away from petroleum as a fuel.
Had we gone there in 1990, when Bush I the stooge put in that executive ban, we would already be producing from the OCS and ANWR.
And don't forget there are massive amounts of natural gas - that can be used as-is for transportation fuel while the electric vehicle gets sorted out and the power grid it needs gets built.
That's what pisses me off about Obama and the fecking Sierra club - they want to do it all by cutting consumtion and in the proce4ss destroying the government.
Better "fleet fuel mileage" and tire inflation is NOT the answer -- it MUST be attacked form the supply side as well as the demand side.
#14
Drilling will not be a permanent solution, but between that and shales, we buy plenty of time to move away from petroleum as a fuel.
Trouble is if we embark on a serious exploration campaign here in the US I don't theink the equilibrium price of oil will settle at a level that will continue to make a broad array of alternatives economically feasible. Then we're right back in the 70s when Carter threw a lot of federal money at economically unviable alternatives which shriveled away as soon as the subsidies ran out.
#15
AZCat, thats why you'll see me advocate somethign I never do: an exicse tax to guarantee an equivalent of $100/bbl for energy, mainly on imports. Use this to fund the stuff to self sufficiency, and write off the expense as part of the cost of strategic national defense.
Energy independence, combined with drying up money to Chavez, Wahabbit/Saudi, etc, is a vital, survival issue to the US.
#16
I've turned that idea over for quite a while now and don't really see any other way to guarantee an orderly migration. As much as I hate to admit that a new tax might not be a bad idea I must agree with you on that one.
#17
An oil price stability floor definitely needs to be in place. It needs to just high enough so enough alternatives are profitable to replace import the imports. I think it is $50+-10.
Posted by: ed ||
08/04/2008 22:42 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Paris Hilton's mother doesn't share John McCain's sense of humor.
(Xinhua) -- A senior Russian parliamentarian said Russia is resuming its military presence in Cuba, the RIA Novosti news agency reported Saturday. "Russia should take advantage of all its capabilities to protect its national interests, including the interests in the field of security," said Andrei Klimov, deputy head of the International Affairs Committee at the State Duma, lower house of the parliament. 
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is behind on a dark horse in the Democratic veepstakes: Rep. Chet Edwards of Texas. 
Ralph Nader, the former Green Party candidate and scourge of many Democrats who blame him for Al Gore's defeat in 2000, earned a place on the California ballot Saturday as the newly minted candidate of the Peace and Freedom Party. Nader won the party's presidential nomination over the spirited challenge of a socialist candidate, Gloria La Riva, in an eclectic gathering of the political left in a Sacramento hotel.
The spiritual leader of the world's Anglicans urged church leaders Sunday not to consecrate any other gay bishops for now, as he ended a once-a-decade Anglican assembly that was dedicated to preventing schism in the troubled fellowship.
Sri Lanka's president has ordered an immediate ban on pornographic websites in a bid to prevent children being exposed to adult content, the telecommunications regulator said Sunday.
