#4
We were amazed at how terrible ol Mick was. We all hoped he was going to survive the first song without having to go to his O2 bottle or have paramedics rescue him. Next thing we know Geritol will be the Stones world tour sponsor.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
02/06/2006 14:36 Comments ||
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#5
On the bright side, 90 million television viewers and no terrorist incident.
A crew member of the ferry that sank Friday in the Red Sea said Sunday water used to extinguish a fire aboard caused the ship to list in heavy winds. The crew member said the fire occurred shortly after the ferry with 1,401 people aboard left the Saudi port of Doha, but that the ship's captain chose to continue the 195-kilometer (120-mile) voyage to Egypt. Radar contact with the ship was lost at midnight Thursday, three hours after it left port.
The crew member said the fire alarm sounded as a result of a fire in a truck on the second level of the ship. The ship's cargo included 22 cars and 16 trucks, said Maher Abdel-Wahed, Egypt's attorney general. Transportation Minister Mohammed Mansour said initial reports indicated the fire started in a storage luggage area, then spread to the ship's mechanical room.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Again, where is the captain? He got off that runaway boat at somebody's shore! My guess is that the government will hide him to bury any testimony about his non actions,ship regulations and inspections by his superiors!
In Zimbabwe's capital and in need of a bath or a hot meal? Call a friend, though it'll likely take several attempts to get through. "We call it social bathing," said James Martin, a businessman who visits friends across Harare during extended water outages after making sure their taps aren't dry. When the electricity is out, as it often is, he also invites himself over for dinner, bringing supplies from his thawing freezer and warm beer to be chilled. This week, there was less cheer in the beer: With inflation spiraling, its price rose by 40 percent, the fourth increase since October.
The nation is suffering its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1980, with acute shortages of food, gasoline, medicines and other essential imports. The crash has been blamed on the JooosGeorge Bush disruptions in the agriculture-based economy caused by drought and the seizures of thousands of white-owned commercial farms since 2000. Martin buys scarce gasoline on the black market at five times the official price. Fees for phone calls have increased by at least 1,000 percent in the past year, even though service has deteriorated. Water shutoffs are blamed on pump failures and shortages of water treatment chemicals. One Harare entrepreneur with a well has begun advertising deliveries by truck. Last month, Martin's neighbor paid $150 to replace a car tire slashed open by the razor-sharp edges of a pothole in a main street in the capital. Zimbabweans now joke that sober drivers steer in a zigzag pattern to miss the holes, while drunks foolishly drive in a straight line.
City authorities say they lack the manpower, vehicles and gasoline to mobilize sufficient road repair crews. Potholes deepened by seasonal rains have even inspired a painting by Zimbabwe artist John Kotze. He said his pothole-in-oil symbolized the nation's economic and political decline. But "water in the pothole represents life. Blue sky reflected in the water signifies better days to come. I'm trying to be optimistic as well," he said of his painting.
The state power utility has warned that electricity outages will persist, saying it lacks the money to import more power from neighboring countries and the spare parts to fix and upgrade its aging equipment. Even now, Zimbabwe imports 40 percent of its power. Sydney Gata, head of the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority, noted in a recent report that the cost of monthly power imports rose from $4.5 million to about $9 million since October. Gideon Gono, governor of the Reserve Bank, last week predicted that by March, the official inflation could reach 800 percent, the highest in the world. Currently, inflation is nearly 600 percent. The power utility has proposed a threefold increase on its fees this month, and sales of home generators from China, heard rumbling in well-to-do suburbs and office compounds, already have surged.
Accidents have increased sharply at blacked out traffic signals. An experimental solar powered signal was reportedly too expensive and a target for thieves. Shortages of new bulbs means many traffic signals have only one working light. "You take your life in your hands when you think the lights are down but there's an oncoming green on the other side and people are speeding through thinking you are on red," said Harare driver Jonas Mashu. It took Mashu a week to find imported brake and clutch fluid for his van. He said he used a viscous mixture of soap and water as a temporary measure, something he learned from a mining prospector in the bush. "Hardship teaches us unusual lessons," he said.
#5
Strangely enough, generators are very popular in China as well, for the annual summer power outages.
In Zhejiang province, they just finished a brand-new power plant. Only problem is, it has no feedstock, as the pipeline to supply the plant is at least a year away from completion.
#6
The country goes down the toilet as bob and cronies sip $400 a bottle cognac and smoke Havana cured coronas. What are we supposed to say? The world wants us to mind our own business nowdays.
#7
You have the US and UK diplomatic community to thank for the Rhodesian disaster. You'll have the same community to thank for a similar endstate in SA.
President Thabo Mbeki said Sunday he would not seek a third term at the helm of Africa's economic powerhouse. "By the end of 2009, I will have been in a senior position in government for 15 years, and I think that is too long," Mbeki said in an interview with the South African Broadcasting Corp. "After 15 years, I think one should really step aside."
Mbeki, who served as Nelson Mandela's deputy before succeeding him as president in 1999, fired his own deputy in June after he was implicated in a graft scandal. Jacob Zuma's dismissal threw open the question of who would succeed Mbeki at the end of his second term in 2009. South Africa's constitution limits a president to two terms. But the South African National Civic Organization, an ally of the governing African National Congress, proposed recently that the possibility of a third term should be explored.
That way he could stay in office until he either died of old age or was removed in a coup, just like all the other African dictators. I'm surprised he didn't take it. Maybe he's a better man than I think he is.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2006 00:00 ||
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Mind old Jacob Zuma if you will. If Zuma follows Mbeki, the world will have another bad Bob Mugabe or possibly even worse.
supply at Heathrow airport in the wake of Decembers fire at the Buncefield depot. But some US airlines are now saying that unless the issues of supply are resolved in a series of crisis meetings this week, passengers could soon find themselves facing lengthy delays.
Although few flights have been cancelled, Qantas has been forced to re-route some passengers, while Thai Airways has been taking on fuel in Copenhagen, South African Airways in Milan and Singapore Airlines in Frankfurt.
Heathrow is overwhelmingly dependent on three pipelines for its supplies of jet kerosene, one operated by Esso from a depot south of Heathrow, one by BP from its depot at Walton-on-Thames and the Buncefield depot operated by a consortium of oil companies, including Total and Chevron Texaco. The destruction of the Buncefield depot in the December fire eliminated a third of the flow of jet fuel, with no alternative source easily available to make up the shortfall.
The US carriers United Airlines and American Airlines have avoided the need for technical stops by tankering in large amounts of extra fuel on their transatlantic flights to Heathrow. But they have done so only at the penalty of adding weight to the aircraft, thus incurring significant extra costs. They are particularly upset that a rationing system that favours domestic carriers is putting them at a competitive disadvantage against the rival UK carriers, in particular British Airways, as well as Virgin Atlantic.
According to James May, president of the Air Transport Association, the US airlines trade association, non-UK carriers are spending an extra $1m (£567,000) a day to fly fuel to London.
This week the International Air Transport Association is seeking to broker a revised fuel allocation scheme that would pacify the international carriers objections. At the same time urgent work is being conducted by the oil companies, BAA and UK government officials, to try to find ways of increasing jet fuel supplies to Heathrow to make up at least some of the shortfall.
These include the use of road and rail tankers, as well as increasing supplies by pipeline via a route that would bypass Buncefield, and would use two large storage tanks at Heathrow, that were due to be decommissioned, to store and test the quality of incoming fuel.
These are only medium-term fixes, however. A long-term solution is nowhere in sight to get back to pre-Buncefield supply levels and in the short term, negotiations are all about reaching a perception of a fair distribution of commercial and financial pain among all the airlines using Heathrow.
Inevitably, British Airways is at the centre of the international row, as it has its global hub at Heathrow and alone accounts for more than 41 per cent of the takeoffs and landings.
Some foreign carriers, led by those in the US, claim that the rationing scheme favours BA. They say it has not had to make technical refuelling stops at other airports en route, thus lengthening passenger journeys, and it has not been bringing in such large amounts of extra fuel from the US, thus incurring less additional cost than American or United.
According to one mediator in the row, the supply situation at Heathrow is highly complex. He says it appears logical that with such a large amount of their businesses based at Heathrow, the home carriers deserve some particular support. The question is how much extra support.
He also warns that if BA starts cancelling flights and parking aircraft, it very quickly screws up the whole airport.
Heathrow is one of the worlds most congested airports and its operations are highly vulnerable to disruptions. According to another close participant in the negotiations: If BA catches a cold, all the airlines will be sneezing by the end of the week. If BA has a problem, that very quickly has an impact on all carriers.
No one wants a replacement scheme that jeopardises operations and hits passengers.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned supporters on Sunday that the United States could try to sabotage his upcoming re-election bid, his latest salvo in a new row with Washington over alleged U.S. spying. Left-wing Chavez, who frequently accuses the Bush administration of seeking to overthrow him, has presented what he calls the U.S. "empire" as his principal adversary in the December election.
Washington believes Chavez's self-styled socialist revolution risks destabilizing the region, but it has dismissed as propaganda charges that it wants to oust him. "They're going to call for the government to be rejected, and they're going to try to push us toward a situation of ungovernability and chaos," said Chavez. "This is the empire's plan ... they'll try to do anything, so we need to be alert."
Venezuela's presidential election is set for December. The accusation comes days after Chavez ordered the expulsion of U.S. Naval Attache John Correa for allegedly trying to convince Venezuelan military officials to pass state secrets to the Pentagon. The U.S. State Department denied the accusations, and on Friday expelled the Venezuelan embassy chief of staff in a tit-for-tat response.
Chavez told a rally of tens of thousands of supporters on Saturday that he could shut down Venezuelan-owned refineries in the United States if Washington severed ties with the oil-rich South American nation. He added that he would seek to arm 1 million Venezuelans to protect the nation from a possible U.S. invasion.
Chavez has won over many poor Venezuelans with a multibillion dollar social development program and harsh rhetoric condemning U.S. foreign policy and free market policies. Last week Chavez announced a minimum wage hike, a tax cut and new state spending initiatives, opening his campaign for an election he is widely expected to sweep. Under his leadership Venezuela, the fourth largest supplier of oil to the United States, has worked to reduced U.S. influence in the region and built alliances with U.S. foes like Iran and Cuba.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/06/2006 02:31 ||
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#1
Curses (tin) foiled again.........
Posted by: Dorf ||
02/06/2006 13:21 Comments ||
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MCCAIN RELEASES LETTER TO OBAMA
For Immediate Release
Monday, Feb 06, 2006
Washington D.C. Today, Senator McCain sent the following letter to Senator Obama regarding ongoing Congressional efforts towards bipartisan lobbying reform. The following is the text from that letter:
February 6, 2006
The Honorable Barack Obama
United States Senate
SH-713
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator Obama:
I would like to apologize to you for assuming that your private assurances to me regarding your desire to cooperate in our efforts to negotiate bipartisan lobbying reform legislation were sincere. When you approached me and insisted that despite your leaderships preference to use the issue to gain a political advantage in the 2006 elections, you were personally committed to achieving a result that would reflect credit on the entire Senate and offer the country a better example of political leadership, I concluded your professed concern for the institution and the public interest was genuine and admirable. Thank you for disabusing me of such notions with your letter to me dated February 2, 2006, which explained your decision to withdraw from our bipartisan discussions. Im embarrassed to admit that after all these years in politics I failed to interpret your previous assurances as typical rhetorical gloss routinely used in politics to make self-interested partisan posturing appear more noble. Again, sorry for the confusion, but please be assured I wont make the same mistake again.
As you know, the Majority Leader has asked Chairman Collins to hold hearings and mark up a bill for floor consideration in early March. I fully support such timely action and I am confident that, together with Senator Lieberman, the Committee on Governmental Affairs will report out a meaningful, bipartisan bill.
You commented in your letter about my interest in creating a task force to further study this issue, as if to suggest I support delaying the consideration of much-needed reforms rather than allowing the committees of jurisdiction to hold hearings on the matter. Nothing could be further from the truth. The timely findings of a bipartisan working group could be very helpful to the committee in formulating legislation that will be reported to the full Senate. Since you are new to the Senate, you may not be aware of the fact that I have always supported fully the regular committee and legislative process in the Senate, and routinely urge Committee Chairmen to hold hearings on important issues. In fact, I urged Senator Collins to schedule a hearing upon the Senates return in January.
Furthermore, I have consistently maintained that any lobbying reform proposal be bipartisan. The bill Senators Joe Lieberman and Bill Nelson and I have introduced is evidence of that commitment as is my insistence that members of both parties be included in meetings to develop the legislation that will ultimately be considered on the Senate floor. As I explained in a recent letter to Senator Reid, and have publicly said many times, the American people do not see this as just a Republican problem or just a Democratic problem. They see it as yet another run-of-the-mill Washington scandal, and they expect it will generate just another round of partisan gamesmanship and posturing. Senator Lieberman and I, and many other members of this body, hope to exceed the publics low expectations. We view this as an opportunity to bring transparency and accountability to the Congress, and, most importantly, to show the public that both parties will work together to address our failings.
As I noted, I initially believed you shared that goal. But I understand how important the opportunity to lead your partys effort to exploit this issue must seem to a freshman Senator, and I hold no hard feelings over your earlier disingenuousness. Again, I have been around long enough to appreciate that in politics the public interest isnt always a priority for every one of us. Good luck to you, Senator.
#5
As I noted, I initially believed you shared that goal
That fellows "goal" is parallel that of Ray Nagin and his followers. Always has been, always will be. The President will be in Atlanta tomorrow snarling traffic and spening $ 10m dollars of taxpayer money attending a funeral of another who's goal was along with re-writing history, pretty much identical to O'Bomba. The President believes he is doing the right thing, the honorable thing. It will be forgotten before his plane leaves Dobbins AFB.
#6
You know, I'm not a big fan of McCain's but that was as righteous a bitch-slap as I've seen in quite awhile. Too bad nobody but Rantburgers and other politics junkies will notice.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
02/06/2006 22:21 Comments ||
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#7
Obama's opponents will notice
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/06/2006 22:50 Comments ||
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#8
Don't whack him too hard , John. I am still eager to be educated how any Illinois politician can be the spokesperson for "clean government".
"Vote early, vote often, vote Daly"
A little like Kirstie Ally being a shill for a diet company... oh wait, strike that last part.
The major U.S. political parties have begun to focus on the few races in November's election expected to be competitive and so mean control of Congress.
As members gather for the second half of the 109th Congress, already attention is turning to the 110th. The Republicans have 55 seats in the U.S. Senate vs. 44 for the Democrats and one independent, who usually votes with the Democrats. In the House, there at 231 Republicans, 201 Democrats and an independent who also usually votes with the Democrats.
The Washington Post reported Monday each party is targeting six Senate seats held by the opposition while in the House as few as 25 seats could be called into question.
The redrawing of congressional districts after the 2000 election further entrenched incumbents and makes any large swing of seats unlikely...
#1
It occurs to me with events unfolding as they are and spiraling quickly out of control that the Democrats have a platform that will become increasingly out of touch and this will have a huge impact on the elections.
The Dems will simply defer to the "george bush has not done enough - was not strong enough" platform, but I suspect that as events get even more out of control, the American public - like the European public - will not be willing to accept words instead of actions.
#2
The Repubicans unfortunately are unwilling to fight the war at home. With one party declaring defeat and aiding the means of the enemy to conduct operations against the citizens of the US, they refuse to carry the fight literally to their opponents. They don't have the killer instinct to push back hard and play and replay the words and images of Dems and make the issue the security of the people in their persons, their families, and their country. If they are willing to use the same tactics the Dems use and do not pull back, the Dems would be lucking just to prevent the Reps from gaining 2/3rds of the House and Senate. Fortune never favors the timid.
Celebrity took an unusually nerdy form at this year's Sundance Film Festival. The man everyone wanted to meet, talk to and be seen with wasn't a film star or daring new director. It was a politician, who is in his sixth year of retirement and more famous for what he didn't achieve than for what he did. What do you mean??? The man invented the internet for gosh sakes!!!
Al Gore has been to Sundance before, but never as a leading man.He's a great kisser. This year he was appearing in An Inconvenient Truth, a 90-minute star-vehicle documentary.Truth and Gore in the same sentence is a oxymoron. If 'former vice-president turns movie star at the age of 57' sounds improbable, remember that this is also Al Gore: famously wooden, inauthentic in front of a crowd, closed down in the face of a television camera. Al Gore, who ran a plodding campaign for the presidency and whose main response to accusations that he came across as pedantic and patronising was to wear more earth tones.Well at least they got him down right!
Yet An Inconvenient Truth sold out at Sundance and received standing ovations. The Q&As with Gore following the screenings were packed. 'The reception he got was extraordinary,' says the film's producer, Lawrence Bender (Pulp Fiction, Good Will Hunting, Kill Bill). 'He was a phenomenon at Sundance. He seemed larger than life.' That's because he is larger than life, dude. larger than a fridge, or a VW Bug for that matter. Those who failed to get into the movie made do with catching up with Gore at parties, where he was making out hanging out with his wife, Tipper, and Larry David, the creator of Seinfeld, and the husband of An Inconvenient Truth's executive producer, Laurie David. Ahh. Now we know the rest of the story.
'He was the celeb of the week,' says the Village Voice's Amy Taubin, 'both in terms of reporting about him and people reporting to each other. They were all saying, "He's so amusing. Why wasn't he more like that when he was running?" There was a lot more buzz about him than there was about Paris Hilton.' Uhhh, no comment.
What can a film that has helped make Al Gore sexier than Paris Hilton possibly be about?How about a Hilton-esque home movie with Tipper? Perish the thought. A partial list of its contents would include the greenhouse gas effect, the proliferation of carbon dioxide, the convection energy of hurricanes, the paradoxical flood-drought syndrome, melting methane in Siberia, the history of the Ice Age and the physics of solar ray absorption. It becomes no clearer why this film is having such an impact when you learn that it largely takes the form of a souped-up Powerpoint presentation. And the BS factor of researchers like NASA's Hanson who have a political axe to grind, and who ignore the 25 year NPO cycle and it's implications...but I digress.
Read the rest. I think this is an example of the LLL's fascination of all things trivial and their inability to focus on what America really cares about. And why they will continue to lose elections everywhere but Massachusetts where the voters will prostitute themselves ad infinitem...but I digress.
#4
This is a great example of the left embrasing losers. He's been tried and tested and he is a certified loser and defeatist. A man for all to follow. I certainly hope the Dems wake up, our two party system depends on them for balance.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
02/06/2006 9:33 Comments ||
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#5
his wife, Tipper, and Larry David, the creator of Seinfeld, and the husband of An Inconvenient Truth's executive producer, Laurie David.
For the first time in my life it mahes me ashamed to hold the last name "David" however I'm still glad that neither of these "David's" are any relation whatever, other than the misfortune of my having the same last name. (Ptui)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/06/2006 9:43 Comments ||
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#6
I love al gore! I can't wait to see him and Hildabeast locked in an epic battle for the Dem nomination, while the GOP picks one person that can win.
When the Gore gives a fire and brimstone diatribe close your eyes and picture him in his boxers...works for Teddy "The Bridge" too. I can't be held responsible for images of Pelosi though...
NEW DELHI In a rare no to Washington, the Indian Navy has called off the leasing of two US Navy P-3C Orion maritime reconnaissance aircraft (MRA) on grounds they are too expensive.
The 18-24 months it would take the US Navy to retrofit the two aircraft to the Indian Navy specifications once the lease had been finalised also contributed to New Delhi opting out of the deal. "The lease (of two P-3C Orions) is timed out. It was expensive and time-consuming," a senior Indian official associated with the lease negotiations said.
Fear of US sanctions, like the ones imposed following India's 1998 nuclear tests that led to the Indian Navy's entire Sea King MK42 fleet being grounded due to a shortage of spares, also influenced the navy's decision, officials indicated. Sanctions on India and Pakistan for its nuclear tests were lifted in late 2001.
India's P-3C Orion lease was to be a precursor to purchasing eight others to augment its reconnaissance requirements which the navy presently considers highly inadequate for anti-piracy operations, narcotics control and to counter natural and ecological disasters like tsunami's or oil and chemical spills. In anticipation, P-3C Orion manufacturers Lockheed Martin had signed a non-disclosure technical assistance agreement with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd in Bangalore last year to share export controlled data related to technical and commercial proposals to retrofit the MRAs to the Indian Navy's requirements.
The Indian Navy has now sent out to MRA manufacturers in the US, France, Britain and Russia a request for proposals for the outright purchase of eight MRAs. These will replace a similar number of Tupolev Tu 142 'Bear Foxtrot' MRAs that are being retired after negotiations with Russia and Israel to retrofit them were called off three years ago.
The Indian Navy confirmed that it was also involved in exploratory talks with Boeing Corp for possible involvement in the P-8A MMA it is developing based on the Boeing 737NG platform. The Indian Navy believes that the P-8A would match the combined operational profile presently being executed by its existing fleet of Ilyushin Il-38 and Tu 142 MRAs. It also considers its involvement in the Boeing MMA programme an 'evaluation' and 'test' of Washington's long-term military and strategic commitment to India and a possible counter to possible future sanctions.
Washington considers the Indian Navy a stabilising force in the Indian Ocean region and wants a closer working relationship with it as it straddles the strongest area of strategic convergence: sea-lane protection. The US is also keen that the Indian Navy, which has a formidable presence in the Indian Ocean region, to officially join the Washington-led proliferation security initiative (PSI) which seeks to interdict vessels suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction and associated equipment.
Meanwhile, the Indian Navy last month received the first of its five Il-38 MRAs upgraded to the Il-38 SD standard and equipped with the Morskoi Amei (Sea Dragon) radar system compatible with the navy's proposed strategic deterrence. The remaining four similarly upgraded MRAs will be delivered to the Indian Navy by early next year. Two of these aircraft are replacements being provided by Rosonboron export for the ones that crashed in October 2002.
Currently, the Indian Navy is dependent on its fleet of around 20 Dornier 228 aircraft and Israeli Searcher Mark II and Heron unmanned aerial vehicles to monitor India's 7,516-km long coastline, 1,197 islands and a two-million-sq-km exclusive economic zone.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/06/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
They'll go crying for the nookie from mama Bear, down the road.
#2
smn,
I don't think so. The P-3C is light years beyond the old Bears they were flying. I think this is just a bargaining tool.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/06/2006 6:33 Comments ||
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#3
Bears were modernised with Israeli electronics and arent in same class with P-3, being bigger. Il-38 Mays in another hand are and they have been modernised by Russians. Same sets that Russians proposed for Bear but Indians said that was inferior to Israeli proposal.
I doubt that P-3´s without being updated can reach the levels of both.
Thaksin Shinawatra, the Thai prime minister, says he intends to finish his second term in office while his opponents insist they will increase calls for him to quit. Tens of thousands of protesters held an all night anti-givernment rally in Bangkok on Saturday to call for the resignation of prime minister Thaksin, accusing him of corruption and using political power to further his personal business interests.
However, Surapong Suebwonglee, a spokesman for the prime minister, said on Sunday that Thaksin intended to continue in his role for another three years and rejected opposition calls for him to stand down or hold new elections. The prime minister's defiance comes despite the resignation of two junior ministers in as many days from a rebellious faction within Thaksin's ruling party. Surapong said that Thaksin had no plans to reshuffle his cabinet but would appoint deputies to fill the vacant posts. "We consider the resignations of two ministers as an internal problem of our Thai Rak Thai party, which is part of the evolution of a political institution. The resignations had nothing to do with the 4 February demonstration," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2006 00:00 ||
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.com, you and I differ about Thaksin. He aint perfect but then what politican is? What we are seeing is peaceful protest and dissent in what is increasingly a real democracy. Compare and contrast with other parts of the world.
#3
phil_b - I guess we are. Actually, I'd say that democracy peaked at Thaksin's initial entry on the scene - and has slowly, incrementally, declined since.
I spoke last night to a couple (American guy / Thai wife) who are headed back after a few months in the US. Thaksin was once a God to the Thai poor, but his overt corruption (this story being just one of many examples) and lack of action in the South has finally begun to erode this base. They know that he has given them a few baubles - beads for Manhattan as a corollary - in exchange for the power to run roughshod in the PM slot, but he's surprised them with his venality. He actually believed he and his party would own Thailand for the next 20 years or more. But the shine is off, now.
I presume you know how Thailand "works" - with the King being the pivot point on which everything turns. Bhumibol is incredibly popular with the Thais - for good reasons. I was there in May 92 when the two generals, competing to control the country - one with military rule and the other pro-democracy, were televised on their knees before the King. It was really something to see - and the junta guy was gone the next day. End of military rule, birth of democracy in TL.
Well, things have reached a point with Thaksin that the King is now making noises about intervening. It's sad that he's so old, now, because I believe (from input via many Thais) that he would've intervened by now if he was the Rama IX of the 70's and 80's. From an old 1998 article: "His son, the Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn (born 1952) is the heir-apparent but his younger sister, Princess Sirindhorn (born 1955), has been given equal rank because of her tireless work on the Royal rural projects. In one interview Queen Sirikit seemed to foreshadow the possibility that the Princess might be chosen as successor. Her brother seems to prefer soldiering. Since 1974, Thai law has permitted a woman to succeed to the throne, and the Queen herself acted as Regent while the King left his duties to spend some months as a monk. (The other Royal children are Princess Ratana, born 1951, and Princess Chulabhorn, born 1957.)"
The Monarchy is, ironically, Thailand's ace-in-the-hole regards preventing the devolution of democracy into strongman politics. From TL's history, and given Bhumibol's record and wild popularity, this has proven true - thus far with this King.
My Thai friends all agree that they need the King to rein in Thaksin - or toss him out on his ass. They worry about who comes after Bhumibol... Most say that Princess Sirindhorn, very popular for her good public works, would be the best ruler by far (the word on Prince Vajiralongkorn is not good), but also doubt that the poor Thais, Thaksin's actual base, will accept a Queen, i.e. a femalian ruler. The Ace, whomever that turns out to be, needs to make a play on Thaksin - to slap him down a few notches and signal his malfeasance is unacceptable. Gone or restrained, whichever, would be better for TL - or so I'm told.
I'd like to hear what Lone Ranger and other TL-based posters say about this, too.
Faced with mounting election-year public pressure to curtail illegal immigration, Arizona lawmakers are trying to expand state trespassing law to enable local authorities to arrest illegal border crossers. Supporters say the state has to get involved in combating illegal immigration because the federal government has failed in its responsibility. The state is the busiest illicit entry point along the nation's southern border.
One proposal would make it a felony for immigrants violating federal immigration law to be in Arizona. Immigrants arrested for trespassing could then be deported, prosecuted by local authorities, or handed over to federal immigration agents. Another proposal would make immigrant trespassing a top-tier misdemeanor, punishable by six months in jail and a $2,500 fine. The bills' authors also proposed increased funds - $75 million in one plan and $30 million in another - for communities' enforcement efforts.
Opponents say the proposals will not be effective, noting that a similar strategy flopped last year in New Hampshire because states don't have authority to enforce federal immigration law. A judge dismissed the cases of illegal immigrants arrested on New Hampshire trespassing charges, ruling that the tactic was unconstitutional.
The author of the Arizona misdemeanor bill, state Rep. Russell Pearce, insists local authorities do have power to act. "It just supports federal law, so it's perfectly legal," he said.
State Sen. Barbara Leff, who proposed the felony trespassing bill, said that if state and local authorities cannot enforce federal immigration law, "We'll make it a state crime and then they can enforce state law." Her proposal cleared a committee last week.
Ray Borane, mayor of the southeastern Arizona border city of Douglas, said the trespassing approach would be expensive to enforce and that his community would have to double its police shifts. "I have never heard of anything more ridiculous in my life," Borane said.
Ray's gonna need some lotion after all that hand-wringing.
#1
Oh, dear! This seems so harsh. Once we start arresting people for committing illegal acts, where will it all end?
When they came for the illegal aliens, I said nothing because I was not an illegal alien. When they came for the muggers, murderers and rapists, I said nothing because I was not a mugger, murderer or rapist. After that, things were kind of quiet. Nice!
#3
Hold them for a few months detention (in nice conditions). They won't earn any money and it will serve as a massive deterant for the next go around.
Then when they are deported don't just let them off at the US/Mexico border. Send them to the Guatamala/Mexican border. The additional time and distance required to get back to square one will serve as a further deterent, and even trying to get into Mexico from Guatamala will be a lesson in how brutal a border crossing can be.
#4
Opponents say the proposals will not be effective, noting that a similar strategy flopped last year in New Hampshire because states don't have authority to enforce federal immigration law. A judge dismissed the cases of illegal immigrants arrested on New Hampshire trespassing charges, ruling that the tactic was unconstitutional.
Isn't it amazing how judges find what they want to find? I mean if states and cities can override the 2nd Amendment and ban gun ownership, in fact or defacto, why can't the local governments likewise move along those who are illegally in their jurisdiction. What the judges are really saying, that it is all about power.
#5
Our beloved Governor Napolitas (D-Trial Laywers) won't sign it. She's way ahead in the polls [sigh], so doesn't need to tack to the right very much.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A crew member of the ferry that sank Friday in the Red Sea said Sunday water used to extinguish a fire aboard caused the ship to list in heavy winds. The crew member said the fire occurred shortly after the ferry with 1,401 people aboard left the Saudi port of Doha, but that the ship's captain chose to continue the 195-kilometer (120-mile) voyage to Egypt. Radar contact with the ship was lost at midnight Thursday, three hours after it left port.
In Zimbabwe's capital and in need of a bath or a hot meal? Call a friend, though it'll likely take several attempts to get through. "We call it social bathing," said James Martin, a businessman who visits friends across Harare during extended water outages after making sure their taps aren't dry. When the electricity is out, as it often is, he also invites himself over for dinner, bringing supplies from his thawing freezer and warm beer to be chilled. This week, there was less cheer in the beer: With inflation spiraling, its price rose by 40 percent, the fourth increase since October.
President 
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned supporters on Sunday that the United States could try to sabotage his upcoming re-election bid, his latest salvo in a new row with Washington over alleged U.S. spying. Left-wing Chavez, who frequently accuses the Bush administration of seeking to overthrow him, has presented what he calls the U.S. "empire" as his principal adversary in the December election. 
Faced with mounting election-year public pressure to curtail illegal immigration, Arizona lawmakers are trying to expand state trespassing law to enable local authorities to arrest illegal border crossers. Supporters say the state has to get involved in combating illegal immigration because the federal government has failed in its responsibility. The state is the busiest illicit entry point along the nation's southern border.
