PETA Pam gave the thumbs up yesterday to KFC Canada's humane treatment of animals and its faux fried chicken sandwich. Now we can all sleep better.
Actress Pamela Anderson endorsed the chicken chain's choice to phase out suppliers that slit birds' throats while they are fully conscious and scald them to death in favour of suppliers who suffocate birds using an inert gas.
"It's very Canadian of them, very forward thinking and I'm very proud that," said the former Baywatch babe at a crowded KFC restaurant on Davie Street. "Canadian KFC was the first one to do it and hopefully everyone else follows suit."
Anderson entered the restaurant wearing sunglasses, a snug-fitting black PETA T-shirt, dark denim jeans and heels. Once at the counter the B.C. native ordered her first KFC vegetarian sandwich. "Snug fitting black PETA T-shirt": she is showing off her compassion, both of them.
PETA spokesperson Nicole Matthews said the soy-based patty has all of the flavour and texture of real chicken but it's cholesterol and - most importantly - cruelty free. Matthews described Anderson's involvement as "critically important." "People have a warm reception for her image," she said.
Matthews said PETA plans to continue its five-year protest of KFC restaurants outside Canada until they make similar agreements.
Anderson had some advice for those yet to come on board. "Just look at what Canada has done and I think they need to follow suit," she said. "In the meantime boycott any KFC that doesn't follow the same methods and is still doing all the cruel stuff that they're doing."
#5
although she's still a PETA spokesperson I applaud Pam for being reasonable and understanding that dead chickens being eaten by humans is sort of part of the KFC business plan and thats not likely to change no matter how folks pretend soy tastes just as good.
Paris Hilton has finally responded to the taunting attack ad which so insensitively compared her to Barack Obama.
Paris shows that unlike either Obama or rival John McCain (to whom she refers herein as "that wrinkly white-haired guy"), that she can gracefully and eloquently explain complicated matters of energy policy...while wearing a bikini and heels and looking at magazines. "I'm not from the olden days and I'm not promising change like that other guy," she explained. "I'm just hot."
But though her aspirations may have been limited before, that all changed when McCain exploited her image in his ad. "Which I guess means I'm running for president," Hilton pledged.
Hilton then explains her energy plan, an incredible feat unto itself, as the heiress explodes all prejudices against her intellectual prowess by saying like 25 big words in a row without messing up.
If no one else has done so yet, I would like to be the first to endorse Paris Hilton for president of the United States.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2008 00:00 ||
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She isn't 35 yet, except around her ….
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
08/06/2008 0:25 Comments ||
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HMMMMMMM, so does this mean Cuzin PARIS will visit DISNEYLAND, FLORIDA + MALL OF AMERICA wid her Commie captors at a time she was suppos to had been tortured and abused in a North Vietnam POW facility???
#7
I fear Paris's dealing with the economy. I mean she's got money and forgot to pay for some stupid storage unit so her possessions were sold? Yeah, that'll work out well on a national scale.
#10
Economy? She made like 175M$ last year, owns her own hotel. If a storage unit didn't get paid, that's obviously her accountant's fault. She's not going to be involved personally at that level of detail.
#14
If the McCain campaign is awake they'll float the idea of inviting her to participate in McCain's next town hall meeting attached to a comment about Obama's refusal to show.
MOGADISHU -- Somali kidnappers released two Italian aid workers on Tuesday who had been held hostage since May, local elders and a peacekeeper said. One elder involved in ransom negotiations said the pair had left for neighbouring Kenya, and a Ugandan peacekeeper at Mogadishu airport confirmed that.
In Rome, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said the two former hostages were in good health and were en route to Nairobi.
Jolanda Occhipinti and Giuliano Paganini were abducted on May 21 when Somali gunmen stormed the offices of the Rome-based group, Cooperazione Italiana Nord Sud (CINS).
Mohamed Hussein, a local worker at Mogadishu's international airport said he had seen the Italian man and woman arrive. "They were brought in a car with masked faces wearing dirty clothes which looked like they hadn't been washed since they were abducted three months ago," Hussein told Reuters.
A Ugandan peacekeeper at the airport confirmed the former hostages had flown to Kenya, but declined to be named. The clan elder, who also asked not to be named, said a ransom of between $700,000 and $1 million had been paid.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/06/2008 00:00 ||
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NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania - Renegade army officers staged a coup Wednesday and detained Mauritania's president and prime minister, after they fired the desert country's top four military officials, the presidential spokesman said.
Perfect time to drop in a bunch of Paleos ...
President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi is being held by renegade soldiers at the presidential palace in Nouakchott, spokesman Abdoulaye Mamadouba said. Soldiers also detained Prime Minister Yahya Ould Ahmed Waqef, the spokesman said. State radio and television have gone off air, and witnesses said soldiers are deployed throughout the capital. No violence was immediately reported.
Abdallahi's civilian government took control from a military junta which seized power in a 2005 coup and and stepped down after 2007 elections.
No official reason was given for firing the military commanders, which were announced early Wednesday. Among those fired was army chief staff Gen. Mohamed Ould Sheikh Mohamed.
A Mauritanian lawmaker, Mohammed Al Mukhtar, told the Arab satellite television staiton Al-Jazeera by telephone that many of the country's people were supporting the takeover attempt. He described the government as "an authoritarian regime" and asserted that the president had "marginalized the majority in parliament."
GENEVA (AP) - The International Red Cross said Wednesday that Colombia broke the Geneva Conventions by deliberately using the humanitarian group's emblem during the covert military mission that freed Ingrid Betancourt and other hostages. New video footage of the operation contradicts an earlier claim by Colombia's government that the emblem was a last-minute addition to the daring ruse that rescued 15 hostages from the FARC rebel group last month, the Red Cross said.
"It seems to be a deliberate improper use of the emblem," said Anna Schaaf, a Red Cross spokesman, noting that is a violation of international law.
I can understand why they're unhappy. Then again, the ICRC hadn't done much to help free the hostages nor to ensure they had proper care. Listen to Ms. Betancourt and the other hostages and it's clear that FARC treated them miserably.
Use of the Red Cross symbol in a military operation violates the first Geneva Convention because it could damage the relief group's neutrality in conflicts, endangering medical personnel on the battlefield who are using the red cross for protection.
Colombia's government offered renewed apologies to the Red Cross, and President Alvaro Uribe blamed Colombia's military for not coming clean after an internal investigation. "Errors can be excused when they are in good faith. ... But the lie in an investigation of this importance for Colombia cannot be excused," Uribe told reporters Wednesday.
In the July 2 rescue, a team of Colombian military intelligence agents posing as members of a fake international humanitarian group airlifted the hostages safety, including Betancourt, a former Colombian presidential candidate, and three U.S. military contractors.
Uribe first apologized to the Red Cross in July after footage surfaced showing one member wearing the Red Cross emblem, but he described the incident as an unauthorized error by a nervous soldier. New video footage of the rescue aired by Colombian broadcaster RCN this week showed a rescuer already wearing the Red Cross insignia before boarding a helicopter at the start of the mission. RCN declined to say how it obtained the video.
The Geneva-based Red Cross said it had accepted Uribe's original explanation. "The situation is different for us now," Schaaf said. She said it is up to the Colombian government to take action against those responsible for misusing the symbol.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/06/2008 22:14 ||
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Russia indicated yesterday that it might take action if violence in the Georgian breakaway province of South Ossetia escalates. Last weekend six died in clashes between Georgian forces and separatist guerrillas in Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital.
Yuri Popov, a Russian special ambassador, said: "If events develop according to the worst-case violence scenario, Russia will not allow itself to remain indifferent," according to Interfax news agency.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/06/2008 00:00 ||
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WAFF.com > SOUTH OSSETIA WANTS TO BE PART OF RUSSIA + WAR IMMINENT/LOOMS BWTN GEORGIA AND SOUTH OSSETIA + SOUTH OSSETIA BEGINS MOBILIZING FORCES, BEGINS SENDING WOMEN, CHILDREN TO RUSSIA.
*Bullah artiiikles on KOMMERSANT today > RUSSIAN AIR FORCE DESIRES TO BEGIN PATROLS IN INDIAN OCEAN + US ARMS CACHE/HOARD FOUND IN KYRGYZSTAN + RUSSIA TO SET UP MISSLE DEFENSE IN CAUCASUS, CNETRAL ASIA + THE DEFENSE MINISTRY ACKNOWLEDGES THAT THE USA IS THE MAIN THREAT TO RUSSIA.
Methinks this means VLADVEDEV now formally recognizes that OSAMA, etal. = RADICAL ISLAM is gunning for the pro-Islamist destabilization and domin of CENTRAL ASIA, ala "THERE CAN ONLY BE TWO" [US-Allies + Radical islam] + MACKINDERIAN WAR FOR EURASIA!
#4
Russia has a problem. If they let one region go the others want ot leave as well. They need to develop special autonomous regions like the Chinese do. Then let the region more or less do what they want.
Create close economic ties to hold them enthrall while defuising nationalist tendencies.
#1
Because northern Europe is so enriched by Diversity. Why not relocate them in a muslim country? Oh, yeah, I forgot, this stuff strictly is a western thing.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
A U.S. Border Patrol agent was held at gunpoint Sunday night by members of the Mexican military who had crossed the border into Arizona, but the soldiers returned to Mexico without incident when backup agents responded to assist. Agents assigned to the Border Patrol station at Ajo, Ariz., said the Mexican soldiers crossed the international border in an isolated area about 100 miles southwest of Tucson and pointed rifles at the agent, who was not identified. OK, Gringo, get your ass in the air or I'll blow your hands off."
It was unclear what the soldiers were doing in the United States, but U.S. law enforcement authorities have long said that current and former Mexican military personnel have been hired to protect drug and migrant smugglers. Got too close to some one's ratline.
"Unfortunately, this sort of behavior by Mexican military personnel has been going on for years," union Local 2544 of the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) said on its Web page. "They are never held accountable, and the United States government will undoubtedly brush this off as another case of 'Oh well, they didn't know they were in the United States.' Riiight!
"It is fortunate that this incident didn't end in a very ugly gunfight," said the local's posting. The NBPC represents all nonsupervisory personnel among the agency's 16,000 agents.
Border Patrol spokesman Michael Friel did not return calls for comment Tuesday.
State Department spokeswoman Nicole Thompson said Tuesday that the department had no information on the incident, and referred further questions to the Border Patrol. "It is not an incident that we are aware of," she said.
Ricardo Alday, spokesman at the Mexican Embassy in Washington, said Tuesday that Mexico and the United States are engaged in "an all-out struggle to deter criminal organizations from operating on both sides of our common border." "Law enforcement operations have led, from time to time, to innocent incursions by both U.S. and Mexican law enforcement personnel and military units into the territory of both nations, and in particular along non-demarcated areas of our border," he said.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/06/2008 12:16 ||
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Seems like a good place to re-deploy some of those troops coming back from Iraq.
There's nothing in Posse Commitatus that prevents the Army from guarding our borders.
#3
State Department spokeswoman Nicole Thompson said Tuesday that the department had no information on the incident, and referred further questions to the Border Patrol. "It is not an incident that we are aware of," she said.
Seems he thinks Sammy got a raw deal...
Former Democratic presidential candidate Mike Gravel was caught on tape last week telling a crowd in Washington, D.C., that they should harass a federal prosecutor who helped bring criminal contempt charges against a Palestinian activist. Geez, we won't have a chance to vote for this guy? What a shame...
In the tape, Gravel can be heard telling people to pressure Gordon Kromberg, an assistant U.S. attorney in the eastern district of Virginia, to drop the charges against Sami Al-Arian. Sure. Sammy's pure as the driven snow...
Find out where he lives, find out where his kids go to school, find out where his office is, picket him all the time, Gravel said, in an audio tape obtained by the Investigative Project on Terrorism and provided to FOX News.Call him a racist in signs if you see him. Call him an injustice. Call him whatever you want to call him, but in his face all the time. Good move, Mike. Antagonize the Justice Department. They certainly couldn't find a way to hang you out to dry. Ask your buddy, Ted Stevens...
Al-Arian is a former Florida professor who in 2006 pleaded guilty to providing goods and services to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Prosecutors had tried him on more serious charges, but that ended in a hung jury, so Al-Arian took a plea. He later was charged with contempt for refusing to testify before a grand jury in Virginia.
Gravel told FOX News that he doesnt want people to break the law and that he personally wouldnt do the things hes recommended but that it could be an effective way to change the behavior of U.S. officials. Big mouth...small balls.
How do you deal with this kind of an injustice? I wouldnt protest. I dont believe in protesting. I think it demonstrates the failure of representative government. My answer to that problem is, I want to empower you as a lawmaker. Dont rely on your elected officials, the former senator said.
Some terror analysts dont buy that explanation. The question is whether he crossed the line in saying find out where his kids go to school, said counter-terrorism expert Steve Emerson. That to my mind and to government officials including those in the FBI crosses the line into a direct veiled threat. He said the evidence at the Al-Arian trial overwhelming showed and incontrovertibly demonstrated that he was head of the Islamic Jihad network in the United States.
Krombergs boss, U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg, wouldnt comment on Gravels statement, but he lauded Krombergs record in a statement.Gordon Kromberg is a dedicated, talented and scrupulously fair prosecutor. Further, when we decide to prosecute an individual, that decision is based strictly on the facts and the law, and in the pursuit of justice, period, he said.
Al-Arian is still sitting in a Virginia jail. Hes also been ordered deported, but the United States still is searching for a country that will take him. Popular guy, that Sammy...
The Obama campaign is trying to strike a balance between courting Muslim American voters and dispelling rumors intended by some to link the candidate to radical Islam. Sen. Obama is a Christian. errrr, no. He's been a twenty-year member of a racist black liberation theology church that appears to hate Whitey more than they love Jesus. Not Christian in my book
The eight-year-old connection between Mr. Asbahi and Mr. Said was raised last week by the Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report, which is published by a Washington think tank and chronicles the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood, a world-wide fundamentalist group based in Egypt. Other Web sites, some pro-Republican and others critical of fundamentalist Islam, also have reported on the background of Mr. Asbahi. He is a frequent speaker before several groups in the U.S. that scholars have associated with the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Justice Department named Mr. Said an unindicted co-conspirator in the racketeering trial last year of several alleged Hamas fund-raisers, which ended in a mistrial. He has also been identified as a leading member of the group in news reports going back to 1993.
Mr. Said is the imam at the Bridgeview Mosque in Bridge-view, Ill., outside Chicago. He left the board of the Islamic fund in 2005, Securities and Exchange Commission filings state. A message left for Mr. Said at the mosque was not returned.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/06/2008 04:40 ||
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Another one's down, another one under the bus...
Wanted: Illegal immigrants with clean records who have ignored court orders to leave the country. Immigration officials are standing by to help you leave the country. No jail. No joke.
That invitation drew hardly any takers Tuesday on the first day of a new federal "self-deportation" program that offered 457,000 eligible illegal immigrants the chance to turn themselves in, get their affairs in order and leave the country without being detained.
The tepid response only reinforced doubts about an idea that has drawn criticism and even ridicule from both sides of the immigration debate.
"You would have to be crazy -- who would want to turn themselves in?" said Angel Martinez, a construction worker who waited Tuesday outside ICE's Charlotte, North Carolina, office while his son visited a friend detained on immigration violations.
"Nobody wants to go back," said Martinez, who came to the U.S. illegally 15 years ago from Mexico City. "We risked everything to get here for a reason."
The offer from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement runs through Aug. 22 in Santa Ana, California; San Diego, California; Chicago, Illinois; Phoenix, Arizona and Charlotte, as part of the agency's new Scheduled Departure Program. It could be expanded nationwide if successful.
Agents were waiting to speed people through the process -- which grants participants up to three months to get their affairs in order and provides the comfort of knowing their homes won't be raided.
But by Tuesday afternoon, only one person -- in Phoenix -- took the offer, according to an ICE official who spoke on condition of anonymity because not all the numbers are in. Officials in the other cities said they had no takers by mid-afternoon.
"Are people actually doing it? I really find it hard to believe," said Wendy Chavez, 22, of Anaheim, who took her mother for a citizenship test.
An ICE advertising campaign being launched Wednesday targets so-called immigration "fugitives," illegal immigrants who got caught and ignored a judge's order to leave but avoided other trouble with the law.
Of the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants, about 572,000 are fugitives, although about 20 percent of them are ineligible to participate because they have criminal histories, officials said.
By turning themselves in, immigrants can also avoid spending weeks, months or possibly years in detention centers as their cases are processed.
The program "gives you time to make arrangements and take care of your personal matters," the ad reads. "It is a way for you to plan your return home."
When ICE agents arrive at a home to arrest a fugitive, they often find relatives and friends who are in the U.S. illegally but haven't been ordered home. Those people may get deported too.
Robin Baker, who heads ICE's detention and removal operations in San Diego, said participants in the program get up to 90 days to put their affairs in order, possibly longer, after turning themselves in. They are asked to check in with U.S. officials after leaving the country to let authorities know they kept their promise.
"We understand the impact it has on them when we knock on their doors early in the morning and take them out of their homes," he said. "This allows them to leave on their own terms."
And fugitives who aren't from Mexico are likely to get another benefit: A one-way plane ticket home if they can't afford the trip, just like immigrants arrested in raids. For Mexicans who are deported, ICE will consider paying bus fare to the border.
The program could also ease pressure on immigration courts and detention centers, which have been crowded by the Bush administration's immigration crackdown at homes, factories and offices.
Juan Laguna, a Santa Ana immigration attorney, said some of his clients might be interested.
"They don't want their children to go through the trauma of being arrested in the morning," he said outside ICE offices Tuesday.
Some may sign up for the program to improve their standing with the government in case they ever seek to return legally, Laguna said. The ad says surrendering to authorities will be "noted by ICE as a factor in your immigration records."
One anti-illegal immigration group welcomed the effort. Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said taxpayers would save money if even only a few surrender because ICE won't have to look for them.
The ad campaign targets ethnic media in the five cities, starting with the Prensa Hispana newspaper in Phoenix. In Chicago, ICE planned ads in La Raza, the city's largest Spanish-language weekly, and on Spanish- and Polish-language radio.
ICE officials hesitated to predict turnout but Robert Alfieri, supervisory deportations officer in Charlotte, had a message for critics: "For anyone to say no one will do it, that's absolutely wrong. We've already had one taker so far."
#1
Agents were waiting to speed people through the process -- which grants participants up to three months to get their affairs in order a new identity and run for it and provides the comfort of knowing their homes won't be raided.
fixed. No charge
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/06/2008 4:47 Comments ||
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After dueling for days with Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., over whether to allow offshore oil drilling and how much to inflate tires, Sen. John McCain today turned the discussion nuclear.
The Arizona Republican toured the 20-year-old Enrico Fermi Nuclear Plant near Detroit today in a campaign effort to portray himself as an energy problem solver. McCain used the visit to the plant to highlight his call to build dozens of new atomic power plants in the United States and to distinguish himself from his likely Democratic opponent.
"I proposed a plan to build 45 new nuclear plants before the year 2030. And that would provide 700,000 jobs for American workers," McCain told the crowd of reporters that gathered at the plant.
McCain said he believes nuclear power is a viable way to produce electricity and decrease America's reliance on foreign oil. Some experts agree.
"The 40 or so power plants are consistent with some of our analysis and what would be required to the next 20 to 30 years to provide electricity at a reasonable cost," said Chris Larsen of the Electric Power Research Institute.
McCain accused Obama of opposing expanding the use of nuclear power. "Sen. Obama has said that expanding our nuclear power plants 'doesn't make sense for America,'" McCain said. "He also says no to nuclear storage and no to reprocessing. I could not disagree more."
However, Obama does not completely oppose more nuclear power plants. Instead, he favors going forward only at a time when it's proven that it can be done safely. McCain said that the time is now. "My experience with nuclear power goes back many years to being stationed on the first nuclear powered aircraft carrier [the USS Enterprise]," McCain said. "I knew it was safe then and I know it's safe now."
The McCain campaign believes it is scoring points with voters by hitting Obama hard on the issue of energy. McCain strategists have tried to brand Obama as entirely opposed to nuclear power and offshore oil drilling. This week, McCain ridiculed Obama for his comments that, by inflating your tires, Americans can improve gas mileage. "Instead of calling on his party's leadership to return to Congress and carve out an 'all of the above' approach to America's energy crisis, Barack Obama would rather tell commuters to inflate their car tires," McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said. "Barack Obama does not have the judgment or experience to understand that Americans aren't choosing between offshore drilling and inflating their car tires -- they're demanding action now."
The Sierra Club released a video today in which the environmental group claimed that McCain prohibited nuclear waste to pass through his home state of Arizona. But the clip of McCain the group used to back up the claim stopped short, before McCain added the comment, "I think it can be made safe."
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/06/2008 00:00 ||
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McCain's right on this, of course. If the Republicans are smart enough to ride this issue properly, they can put him in the WH and at least break even in the Congress.
#4
He should also announce he is supporting two or three thorium reactors which will be able to burn most of the left overs radiative material from the U- reactors
#6
Put the breeder reactors on military installations, use them to power the coal-to-fuel plants that the military needs to build to get off the petroleum.
US Military becomes energy and fuel self-sufficient, bringing us a HUGE strategic advantage.
Plus it creates a large number of jobs - in the coal refinery and in the power plant and in their constructions. A huge boost to the economy.
Economy-Security-Military Win-Win-Win all around. Except for the Dems who oppose military, nuclear and coal.
#8
45 will barely replace older nukes scheduled to retire. 200 nukes in the 1500MW class is more realistic. That will provide a nuke base load that is 50% of total electricity use. By 2030, electric cars will be common enough to make use of that extra nighttime capacity. Even better would be 3-400 nukes producing a combination of electricity, heat and hydrogen that can be used to upgrade the massive amounts of coal, shale and tar sands to liquid fuels found in North America.
Or chuck all that and inflate our tires another 5 PSI.
Posted by: ed ||
08/06/2008 13:02 Comments ||
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#9
They may not retire completely ed, the nuclear license is good for 30 years, after that they have to have a complete refit. That will put them in competition for labor if there are a number of plants being built at the same time though.
#10
The energy issue is one the Republicans can use to retake the House, and maybe cut the Dems' lead in the Senate. I also agree with Ed. We need to add 10 nuclear power plants every year for the next 30-40 years, just to keep up with demand. We can also build another 50-100 clean-burning coal-fired plants until the nuke plants come online.
Two things that a Republican-controlled House needs to address immediately are nuisance suits by "environmentalists" whose sole purpose is to push the cost of any new project beyond its ability to be profitable, and to rein in the EPA, especially over CO2. My suggestion on the nuisance suits is to allow the energy sector to sue the "environmentalist" group bringing a suit for the added costs imposed by the legal action. It wouldn't take more than one or two lawsuits to break the Sierra Club, etc.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/06/2008 13:42 Comments ||
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#11
McCain needs to get away from his command-economy plan mindset. Roll back the overregulation, ban the fucking activists from the plant-licensing process, and stop threatening "windfall profit" over-taxation. The market will built the nuke plants needed, as they're needed, if the environmentalists and BANANA nudges and other so-called "stakeholder" parasites are banned from interfering in the decision-making process and the investors aren't threatened with potential government expropriation of their potential risk-incentives. IE, extreme profits for unusually high market risks.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/06/2008 14:34 Comments ||
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#12
What sized towns could be run off a reactor the size that is in the Ohio class SSBNs? How about the Nimitz class?
Would more, smaller reactors be a better idea than the super large, multi-Billion dollar energy sites?
#14
Exactly. Leave to the companies what kinds of plant equipment to use - what size, what technology, what level of investment - with a minimum of regulatory interference with a strict emphasis on safety concerns - and not made-up China-Syndrome hysterics, either.
Small platoons, people. Try not to think like Soviet five-year-planning committeemen. There *aren't* any nuclear engineering experts in the Senate, and I'm willing to bet that there aren't too many among their aides, either.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/06/2008 17:56 Comments ||
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#15
And being on, or associated with, the Atomic Regulatory Commission does not automatically qualify you as a Nuclear Engineering Expert - no matter what the MSM might think.
#16
McCain needs to get away from his command-economy plan mindset.
This is McCain's big problem. He's a child of the depression and loves the government. Not to slight his father's or his service, but the reality is that he has never, not since the moment of his birth, been part of the private economy. He has always been a government dependent.
When someone says "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you." he breathes a sigh of relief.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2008 00:00 ||
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He also defended his suggestion that Americans inflate their tires to the proper PSI to save on energy costs as accurate, saying of Republicans, its like these guys take pride in being ignorant.
Wow. I had no idea why all four of my tires were flat. Who knew you could add air to them? And looking around, it seems like another 2% of drivers out there haven't figured this out, either. When I see one, I roll down my window at the stop light and educate all these fellow Republicans about how it is possible to add air to their tires, and if all 2% of us ignoramuses did it we could save our country several hundred thousand barrels of oil each day.
And I also understand that Obama plans to help folks with the higher price of gas by mailing taxpayers a thousand dollar check to defray the rising cost of fuel. Will Freightliner's $1000 check take care of the higher cost of their transportation operations somehow? And American Airlines check will somehow take care of them? I also hear he plans to pay for this brilliant idea by cutting into part of Evil Big Oil's 4% profits. I had no idea that at least $25,000 of my income went into paying for personal fuel consumption and heating.
#2
However, before an expansion of nuclear power is considered, Obama thinks key issues must be addressed including: security of nuclear fuel and waste, waste storage, and proliferation
In other words, right after all uranium is finished emitting neutrons, photons, bosons, muons, etc. in about a bazillion years
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/06/2008 7:02 Comments ||
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#3
I also find it interesting the article is titled McCain, but most of the article is about His O-ness.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/06/2008 7:13 Comments ||
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#4
"Who knew you could add air to them?"
Everybody "knows" that, but the economics have changed and old habits die hard. A tank of gas costs $60 and a portable cordless inflator w/gauge cost $40. I now check and top off my tires twice a month, even if they don't LOOK low. Same a w/oil change: $25 for a change and $60 for a tank of gas. I now get EPA rating +10%. We need to do a lot of little things.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/06/2008 12:25 Comments ||
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#7
Not only regular oil changes, but with synthetics. That adds another 5% to mileage. Even better than over inflating tires.
Posted by: ed ||
08/06/2008 13:21 Comments ||
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#8
McCain is doing a good job of keeping BO on the defensive. McCain knows what he is doing and it shows. BO still has his training wheels on, in the form of some 300 personal advisors. Many of these are old Clinton advisors giving the same advice they did 15 years ago. Others are radical Left and militant Blacks whose heads are forever frozen in the 1960's and 70's. Even if he picks just the right advice out of this progressive salad, it still takes time to respond to McCain's quick, sharp jabs. We've seen what happens when the great orator tries to wing it. He crashes his little bicycle, hurts his knee, and cries "racism". His knee jerk responses backfire on him. Since I'm not one of BO's fans(you can tell, can't you), this is going to be really fun to watch. Let's see... the first debate is around Sept 26, or so. Better get some more popcorn.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
08/06/2008 13:49 Comments ||
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#9
I think McCain should apologize for his celebrity ad and add that it's clear that Paris has a far better thought out energy plan than Obama's tire pressure scheme.
#11
If we can save gas by inflating our tires to the proper pressure (something they taught us in high school drives ed.), think how much gas we can generate by *over*inflating our tires.
Come on, people! Pump those suckers up to 80~100 psi and let's end our dependence on Middle Eastern oil.
#12
3% improvement in milrage. For 10% of cars that are not properly maintained. From the less than 50% of petroelum that we use as gasoline
.5 * .1 * .03 = 0.0015 = 0.15%.
Thats 30,000 barrels a day. Tops. ANWR alone will yield 5 times (or more) that amount quite early in its extraction life.
Add in shales, and more agressive drilling thant the half-measures called for, and you have it being nearly insignificant.
Do the math Obama.
In the words of "Lazarus Long" (Heinlein)
What are the facts? Again and again and again-what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what the stars foretell, avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable verdict of history--what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your single clue. Get the facts!
U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Tuesday that the softness in the dollar was contributing to higher costs for gasoline and if it were to rise that would ease some of the problem with costly fuel. "If we had a strengthening dollar, that would help," Obama, a Democratic senator from Illinois, told a town hall forum in Parma, Ohio.
He spoke in response to a question about whether he thought the United States should go back on the gold standard. Obama said he did not favor that but said the best way to help the dollar would be to improve the U.S. economy. "The way to strengthen the dollar is for us to get our economy back in shape," he said.
So, B.O., what're y'gonna do to make the U.S. competitive again?
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
He spoke in response to a question about whether he thought the United States should go back on the gold standard.
About 60+ years too late for that. The previous democratic 'messiah' FDR took care of all of that long, long ago. We've been printing devaluating dollars and borrowing ever since.
#3
ANd he wants to get the dolalr stronger by driving capital AWAY form the US by letting Pelosi accomplish th highest total marginal tax rate in the world?
#4
Total money supply: ~$15 trillion
Fort Knox gold: 147 million ounces.
$/ounce = $100,000
That's gonna work.
Posted by: ed ||
08/06/2008 13:07 Comments ||
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#5
Ed, it's called fractional reserve banking. The difference is that in the old days, the guarantee of the greater money supply was gold (and foreign currencies likewise backed by gold. and maybe commercial paper, although that got everybody into trouble in the early Thirties.) Nowadays the guarantee is "the full faith and credit of the Federal Government". It's worked relatively well since the late Thirties, and the biggest economic sin of the Roosevelt administration was its insistence on maintaining (and randomly fucking around with) the gold standard for years after most of Europe bailed.
Bernanke wrote a pretty interesting paper describing how the US & France's stubbornness in maintaining the gold standard prolonged the Depression in those countries for years after the rest of the developed world got out from under the hammer, and the local end of the Depression roughly tracked to when the local central bank bailed on gold.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/06/2008 14:46 Comments ||
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The dollar traded near a seven-week high against the euro as the price of a barrel of oil tumbled to the lowest level in three months.
The U.S. currency was near its highest versus the yen in more than a month on optimism lower crude prices will bolster economic growth in the world's largest consumer of the fuel. Australia's dollar declined to a four-month low and Canada's traded near its weakest in almost a year as prices of commodities the nations export fell.
``The U.S. dollar should continue to be buoyed,'' said Tsutomu Soma, a bond and currency dealer in Tokyo at Okasan Securities Co. ``The fall in oil is a plus for the U.S. At the same time, it encourages the withdrawal of funds from the commodity currencies.''
The Indian army has ordered an additional batch of BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles from the Russian-Indian BrahMos Aerospace joint venture, the company's CEO said Tuesday.
"The army leadership realizes that weaponry such as the BrahMos missiles will ensure victory to the country which posses it in any conflict," Sivathanu Pillai, who is also the managing director of BrahMos Aerospace, said without disclosing the exact size of the order.
The BrahMos missile has a range of 290 km (180 miles) and can carry a conventional warhead of up to 300 kg (660 pounds). It can hit ground targets flying at an altitude as low as 10 meters (30 feet) and has a top speed of Mach 2.8, which is about three times faster than the U.S.-made subsonic Tomahawk cruise missile.
Pillai said the recent acquisition of an assembly plant in the state of Kerala from Kerala Hightech Industries Ltd in addition to the main plant in Hyderabad, would allow the company to increase production to 50 BrahMos missiles a year and fulfill the army orders on schedule.
Established in 1998, BrahMos Aerospace designs, produces and markets supersonic missiles, whose sea-based and land-based versions have been successfully tested and put into service with the Indian army and navy.
Pillai said in June that the company had finished the development of the airborne version of the BrahMos missile and the Indian air force had chosen SU-30 MKI Flanker-H multirole fighter as a trial platform for the missile.
Experts estimate that India could purchase up to 1,000 BrahMos missiles for its armed forces in the next decade, and export 2,000 to other countries during the same period.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/06/2008 00:00 ||
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Shaul Mofaz, Israel's Iranian-born deputy premier, launched a campaign on Tuesday to succeed scandal-struck Ehud Olmert as prime minister with a vow to put the country's security at the top of his agenda.
Mofaz, 59, who, if elected, would become the country's first prime minister not born in Europe or in territory now Israel, announced he would be running in a September 17 leadership contest being held by the ruling Kadima party.
Opinion polls show Mofaz trailing closely behind Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Israel's top peace negotiator with the Palestinians, though some party loyalists feel Mofaz's military past could tip the contest in his favor.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2008 00:00 ||
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A Texas startup says that it has taken a big step toward high-volume production of an ultracapacitor-based energy-storage system that, if claims hold true, would far outperform the best lithium-ion batteries on the market.
Dick Weir...chief executive of EEStor [who used to be with IBM]...says that...results suggest that the materials can be made at a high-enough grade to meet the company's performance goals...can withstand the extreme voltages needed for high energy storage....The company also says that the solid-state device will be safer and longer lasting, and will have the ability to recharge in less than five minutes. Toronto-based ZENN Motor, an EEStor investor and customer, says that it's developing an EESU-powered car with a top speed of 80 miles per hour and a 250-mile range. It hopes to launch the vehicle, which the company says will be inexpensive, in the fall of 2009.
... skepticism in the research community is high. At the EESU's core is a ceramic material consisting of a barium titanate powder that is coated with aluminum oxide and a type of glass material.... [skeptics worry whether the product can hold up under intense use]
EEStor has won support from...Lockheed Martin...Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers... and former Dell Computer chairman Morton Topfer. The company is also in serious talks with potential partners in the solar and wind industry....the company is working toward commercial production "as soon as possible in 2009," although when asked, he gave no specific date.
----------------------
Other companies are doing similar work, e.g. MaxwellTechnologies and Enable IPC Corporation
#1
Let's see now. That's 240 miles in 3 hours. Then 5 minutes to recharge and pee. Then, another 3 hours and 240 miles more... About $5 a pop for the juice. That's about $75 and 40 hours or so to make a coast-to-coast run. And not one penny of that goes to Islamic radicals. Yeah, I can live with that.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
08/06/2008 10:19 Comments ||
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#2
I think the 250 mile range would be with 40 mph or so.
The 80 mph may be reachable for a short period but there is no way to eliminate the turbulent drag.
#3
I know nothing about electrical engineering, and as a result of ignorance I have a lot of questions about these.
The one thing I seem to recall is that capacitors are always labelled as being very dangerous. If this is true, wouldn't an ultra-capacitor be particularly dangreous?
Second, materials that are subject to drastic changes in temp. or are subject to vibration tend to breakdown. What would be the useful life of one of these in a car subject to vibration, road salt, temp. change, etc.?
How much heat do they generate?
How would they react if damaged, and how fragile are they?
Sounds like a great idea, but I also remember when bubble-memory was the be all and end all of computer storage.
#4
Ultracaps can handle the power (energy rate) of regenerative braking and re-acceleration and seem most suitable for city buses and delivery trucks. Only if they have truly solved the bulk energy storage problem at an affordable cost will light duty highway drivers benefit.
#5
Alan, Like you I don't know a lot about them but I think the main danger in a capacitor is that it can discharge so fast that a short or bad connection can lead to a serious fire or explosion. As for charging speed, charge density, # of lifetime cylces, shock resistance, lower production cost, and discharge rate, they are far superior to batteries. They have been largely sidelined for years because of their size I think.
#6
Wiki has an article on their Ultracapacitor, with tech info. It actually looks promising, if they are on the level, many startups have a bad habit of overstating the progress of their research.
Posted by: Scott R ||
08/06/2008 12:45 Comments ||
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#8
What I don't get is why there is a speed limit. If the power is in the battery isn't there a way to use it up faster to go faster? Or perhaps mechanical gears to increase/lesson torque and maximize the usage?
To be honest an 80 miles per hour limit is not unreasonable and I hope this isn't smoke and mirrors.
#9
I don't see, off-hand, why the limit is on the capacitor. Perhaps their proto vehicle has the limit for some other reason.
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
08/06/2008 13:05 Comments ||
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#10
The Capacitor problem is they want to discharge instantly, it's very hard to regulate discharge to reasonable usage volt/amp range.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/06/2008 13:13 Comments ||
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#11
Hopefully it all works out. Like all things that are new and promised to be all pie in the sky and will lead us to a new tomorrow and the promised land...
Show me.
I'll believe it when I see it and the market accepts it.
You both bring up one of my concerns if these want to discharge instantly what happens if they DO discharge instantly due to a short or something caused by an accident?
Something tells me that dealing with these things might not be a job for a shade tree mechanic, or even your local shop.
#13
It's really troubling that no prototype, even a teeny tiny one, has been unveiled and hooked up to a power meter. Until then, I will place it in the category of other ultracapacitors. That is, it stores about 1-5% of the energy of lithium ion batteries.
Posted by: ed ||
08/06/2008 13:45 Comments ||
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#14
Seems from what I'm reading is they need to put a few smaller ones in a car so that if one pops off permaturely the car doesn't blow up and burn and/or end up without power. I could be wrong but it seems as if it would be easier to keep one from draining fast if it wasn't draining at all, but held in reserve than by draining it slowly. if that's so than you just use one at a time.
Design the car so they can be removed and replaced in case of fault so your average garage doesn't need to fix it. They just put a new one in, and make sure the old one is discharged and then fedex it to wherever it needs to go.
#16
Since Ultracapacitors can charge really really quickly... hmmm... I wonder how big a bank you would need to capture a lightening bolt?
3 sq blocks?
If you could do it you would have a great energy source...
#17
I don't know about lightning, but a large bank of them could make wind power a lot more usable. It might even make the entire grid last longer. If power plants could chug away all night at low load and save it away for the next day's peak load time they could run at maybe 60% round the clock. I'm pulling that number out of my ass, but you get the point. It would take a massive effort to make that many units, but the effect could be massive.
In case you are actually serious, you should realize that the current in a lightening stroke is very, very serious stuff -- something like 100,000 amps or thereabouts (you probably have a 30 amp circuit breaker for your electric clothes dryer).
#19
mhw - I know...
in the 30s somebody tried to capture a lightning bolt with a giant lead-acid battery 3 sq blocks by 3 stories.
Kite went up.
Bolt came down
a 3 block pile of lead slag was the result.
UV lasers have had some success creating an ionized path for a bolt.
The big problem has aways been oodles of current in an instant.
Capacitors have a charge discharge curve much faster than a batteries - think attempts at fusion reactors or rail guns...
A lightning bolt has lots of power in it.... Free power if it could be harnessed or captured..
On the same token... if the heat of a bolt could be captured in a giant tank of salt (most phase change energy of any common substance) then slowly drained away by boiler tubes for a generator turbine... same thing...
Its real mad scientist stuff but worth considering based just on the energy in those bolts.
#20
I can see lots of military applicaiton for banks of this fast-discarhge ultracap. Quikc firing hypervelocity rail gun comes to mind, driven by a nuc reactor on a ship.
Launching the U.S. Justice Department's largest identity-theft case, federal prosecutors said Tuesday that they have charged 11 people with stealing and selling 40 million credit-card and debit-card numbers obtained from several major U.S. retailers.
The targeted retailers include TJX Cos., BJ's Wholesale Club Inc., OfficeMax Inc., Boston Market, Barnes & Noble Inc., Sports Authority Inc. and DSW Inc., prosecutors said. "This is the single largest and most complex identity-theft case ever charged, " U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey said during a press conference in Boston, where some of the charges were filed. Prosecutors have filed other charges in San Diego and New York.
The identity-theft ring caused "widespread losses by banks, retailers and consumers," Mukasey said.
The data thefts date back to 2003 and continued through this year, prosecutors said in court filings.
Officials said it was difficult to quantify the total financial impact of the thefts, but estimated losses of at least tens of millions of dollars. The data thefts date back to 2003 and continued through this year, prosecutors said in court filings.
In charges filed in Boston, prosecutors allege that three defendants hacked into the wireless computer networks of nine major retailers and installed computer programs that captured consumers' credit-card numbers and other account information. The defendants allegedly concealed the credit-card data in computer servers they controlled in Eastern Europe and the United States.
Prosecutors allege that the defendants sold the credit-card data over the Internet to others who encoded the stolen information onto blank cards and used those cards to withdraw tens of thousands of dollars at a time from ATM machines.
In related charges filed in San Diego, prosecutors charged eight people with operating an international distribution ring of stolen credit and debit cards. The San Diego indictment alleges that one of the defendants alone received $11 million in proceeds from selling stolen credit-card information. Prosecutors said three of the people charged in the theft are U.S. citizens. Others are from Estonia, Ukraine, China and Belarus. Some of the defendants are also facing identity-theft charges in New York for allegedly hacking into the computer network of the Dave & Buster's restaurant chain.
One of the leading defendants, Albert "Segvec" Gonzalez of Miami, faces life in prison for his alleged role in the scheme. He faces several charges including computer fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Mukasey said the charges sent a clear message to would-be identity thieves: " We will track you down wherever you are in the world," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
"We will track you down wherever you are in the world,"
Woo-f'n-hoo. Eleven down, eleven thousand to go. At this rate, we might get 1% of them before they die of old age.
Write the law such that if someone steals your identity that you may whack'em and then petition the government for a new one since you are now 'officially' dead. Can't be charged with murdering yourself, can you? So, it's just an administrative act to issue new personal date. That's put a pause in anyone doing that sort of theft. When you steal hundreds, if not thousands of id's, I'm betting there are some out there who'd like to start a new life again. Feel lucky punk?
#4
Identity theft should be a felony and anyone aiding and abetting it should face fines or jail. Additionally any crime commited with a stolen identity should immediately implicate the identity thief with that crime. You provide stolen ID to terrorist and you are now part of any acts they commit. Make it clear and well known.
About 1,000 people from a Christian group in Indonesia's Papua province held a rally on Tuesday to protest against any implementation of Islamic law in the province where an increasing number of Muslims have settled. The protesters, some wearing headbands with white crosses and carrying banners saying "Papua, shariah no", also said they rejected the establishment of Islamic boarding schools and Islamic banking in the remote eastern province. "We reject shariah implementation in Indonesia in general and especially in Papua," Pastor Salmon Jumame told the crowd.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
The muzzies have been trying to simply outpopulate the New Guinea Christians, and take from them their property. Why? Because there are gold mines in the hills.
Papua New Guinea (the other side of the island) has seen Muslims with firearms causing trouble with the upland tribes there as well.
#2
By who?
Nobody gives a rat's ass about Papua province, and certainly not the Christians that live there.
Now if they had oil, that might be another story.
#1
I think Johnny is very comfortable at Sturgis. Most of the bikers are over 50, after all. John should purchase a Hog and spend his time biking, he'd be a lot happier. I must say, I don't know his relationship with his wife, but he must not regard her highly. He told her, in front of the crowd, she oughta enter the Miss Buffalo Chip contest. Maybe, in his view of humor, this was an offhand compliment to her, but this event can get purty down and dirty. Maybe ole John didn't know the history of this little show.
#3
Here's a page with some webcams in Stugis and Deadwood. I hear numbers are down, likely because of the higher fuel costs, but the Rally always attracts thousands of bikers regardless.
Posted by: Dar ||
08/06/2008 13:13 Comments ||
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Aug. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve kept its benchmark interest rate at 2 percent and signaled that weak employment and financial instability will delay any increase in borrowing costs.
``Labor markets have softened further,'' the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement today in Washington. ``Tight credit conditions, the ongoing housing contraction, and elevated energy prices are likely to weigh on economic growth.''
Stocks extended gains on speculation that policy makers will leave the rate unchanged in coming months. Officials said they still expect inflation to slow, while acknowledging that the outlook for prices is ``highly uncertain.''
``This says the Fed is on the hold for the rest of the year,'' said John Silvia, chief economist at Wachovia Corp. in Charlotte, North Carolina, and a former chief economist at the Senate Banking Committee. ``The next move may be up, but it won't occur for a while.''
Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher dissented for a fifth time this year, preferring an increase. ``Although downside risks to growth remain, the upside risks to inflation are also of significant concern to the committee,'' the statement said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
That's great, for banks. Home borrowers are still in it for 6.5 to 7.0% best case scenario. That's not a bad spread, I'm pretty sure I could make money with a setup like that, how come they can't?
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.
PETA Pam gave the thumbs up yesterday to KFC Canada's humane treatment of animals and its faux fried chicken sandwich. 
MOGADISHU -- Somali kidnappers released two Italian aid workers on Tuesday who had been held hostage since May, local elders and a peacekeeper said. One elder involved in ransom negotiations said the pair had left for neighbouring Kenya, and a Ugandan peacekeeper at Mogadishu airport confirmed that.
"Nobody wants to go back," said Martinez, who came to the U.S. illegally 15 years ago from Mexico City. "We risked everything to get here for a reason."
After dueling for days with Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., over whether to allow offshore oil drilling and how much to inflate tires, Sen. John McCain today turned the discussion nuclear.
U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Tuesday that the softness in the dollar was contributing to higher costs for gasoline and if it were to rise that would ease some of the problem with costly fuel. "If we had a strengthening dollar, that would help," Obama, a Democratic senator from Illinois, told a town hall forum in Parma, Ohio.
Launching the U.S. Justice Department's largest identity-theft case, federal prosecutors said Tuesday that they have charged 11 people with stealing and selling 40 million credit-card and debit-card numbers obtained from several major U.S. retailers.
