In a nation already suffering from plagues both natural and man-made, the rising prevalence of HIVexacerbated by ignorance and drug addictionthreatens to become an epidemic
KABUL, Afghanistan The man, thin as a coat rack, said he started shooting heroin because a friend told him it was easier to quit the needle than to stop smoking the drug. His friend died, and now the young man is dying too.
The addict is 28, but sharp cheekbones and tiny wrinkles around his lips make him look much older. His is the face of AIDS in Afghanistan, a conservative Islamic country that has been reluctant to acknowledge the problem the disease poses.
A former refugee in Iran, he said he tested positive in March and already has full-blown AIDS. His fate is fairly certain. There is no treatment for AIDS in Afghanistan yet.
"Life is just passing, one day starving, one day a full stomach," he said, crying and wiping his eyes where he sleeps on the floor of the bombed-out grounds of the Russian cultural center, now home to as many as 1,000 itinerant drug addicts. He did not want to be identified because of the shame associated with the disease here.
In a country plagued by war and Islamic militants, by one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world, by malnutrition and starvation and even by locusts, AIDS has arrived. So far the Afghan government has officially identified only 435 cases of HIV a small number, considering how many there are in neighboring countriesbut international and Afghan health experts say there are likely thousands in Afghanistan.
1 scourge falls, 2nd rises
The rising number of cases is the unexpected fallout of the end of the strict Taliban regime in 2001, the rise in Afghan-grown heroin use and the intrusion of the world into this once-isolated, war-torn country that is now a focus of U.S. and Western efforts to contain the terrorist threat in South Asia.
AIDS now is a test for the government of President Hamid Karzai, caught between Western backers and conservative clerics, many of whom believe AIDS victims deserve their fate.
"You see where Afghanistan is going," said Dr. Saif-ur-Rehman, director of the National HIV/AIDS Control Program in the Health Ministry. "How do we tackle this problem before it turns into a major fire, an epidemic?"
Although there were cases of HIV before in Afghanistan the first was registered in 1989 only a handful were identified. The Taliban health minister insisted in 1998 that there was no AIDS in Afghanistan, because it was against Islam.
But after the Taliban fled, refugees addicted to heroin and opium returned from Iran and Pakistan, some bringing HIV with them. More and more Afghans who never left the country are now using drugs and injecting them as the heroin trade booms in the post-Taliban era.
More long-distance truck drivers are carrying goods to this landlocked country and using Afghan prostitutes. Sex between men, never acknowledged, is common, health workers say.
The conditions could be ripe for many more cases, especially given the average Afghan's ignorance of the disease. Nationwide, the medical infrastructure is rudimentary at best, and many doctors know nothing about AIDS. Most people are illiterate, and women have such a low status that they cannot insist on condoms.
Several parliament members at a budget debate in March described people living with the disease as "criminals and adulterers who deserve death."
Hiring Afghan doctors for HIV-prevention programs can be difficult. Hospitals often refuse to treat addicts.
"To recruit a doctor willing to work with drug users is a nightmare," said Carole Berrih, general coordinator with Doctors of the World, a French aid group that runs a clean-needle and education program for addicts.
Last year, the government's HIV testing center in Kabul conducted 6,700 tests, but mostly for people going abroad for work or school. That's a tiny amount, considering that about 4 million people live in the capital.
Some gains in fight
But some Afghans and many international donors are waking up to the problem. The amount of money devoted to the government AIDS program has increased from $100,000 in 2003 to a total of more than $23 million as of this year, officials said. Six centers in Afghanistan now test for HIV and hand out condoms. Another program tests drug addicts in the field. Other programs target sex workers.
The UN and international aid groups soon will pay for anti-retroviral drugs to start treating patients.
UNAIDS is supposed to set up a program here soon. Clean-needle programs will be expanded throughout the country, including to jails in eight cities. Education campaigns are planned. Doctors of the World is hoping to bring methadone to Afghanistan to wean addicts off heroin; with methadone, HIV-positive addicts could be stable enough for treatment.
There is some evidence that the message is working, in Kabul at least.
At the Russian cultural center, where anti-American films were shown in the 1980s and addicts now shoot up and smoke heroin amid piles of trash and human waste, there are also plenty of wrappers from disposable needles. The addicts know about AIDS and that they should not share needlesalthough some do.
Last week, one man known for sharing needles was lying on the floor on his side, breathing fast, unable to talk. When other addicts lifted his blanket, sores could be seen over his entire body. The next day, his friends tried to get him help, but no hospital would take him. Friends and aid workers later said he had died.
Abdul Hamid, 36, squatted as a friend shot heroin into his arm with a new needle. Hamid said he has been addicted since a rocket killed his wife and two children in the civil war. He started using needles 1 1/2 years ago and recently tested negative for HIV.
"I know nothing about AIDS," he said. "But I have heard it's a dangerous sickness and can kill you. I've heard from some people that it's even more dangerous than cancer."
#1
AIDS victims are "criminals and adulterers who deserve death."
I once said something quite similar to the hiring partner at a very large law firm who had gone particularly far off the left-wing side of the ranch on this issue. For some odd reason he didn't find me a suitable candidate for their firm.
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush signed legislation Monday that allows the State Department to settle all remaining lawsuits against Libya by U.S. terrorism victims and paves the way for complete rapprochement between Washington and Tripoli.
The last rifts between the U.S. and Libya can now be cleared, once the country fully compensates Americans harmed in Libyan-sponsored attacks, including the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland and the 1986 bombing of the La Belle discotheque in Berlin.
It creates a new fund to compensate the victims and grants Libya immunity from terror-related lawsuits once the secretary of state certifies that they have been paid. "For too many years, Libya has refused to accept responsibility for its horrific acts of terrorism against American victims," said Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., who strongly supported the legislation. "But after the pressure we applied, Libya will finally be held accountable for these devastating events."
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/07/2008 00:00 ||
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So, when do we re-open Wheelus?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/07/2008 3:28 Comments ||
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ISMAILIA, Egypt - Egyptian police shot dead a Sudanese man as he tried to sneak across the border to Israel on Wednesday, bringing to 19 the number of migrants killed at the frontier this year, medical and security sources said. Haroun Mohamed Yehya Haroun, 24, died of gunshot wounds to the head. The sources, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said he was shot after he ignored orders to stop.
[BANG!] [thwip] [THUMP] [shudder] "rosebud" [rattle] "Stop or we'll shoot!"
Police arrested two other Sudanese crossing at the same time, one of whom was hurt by barbed wire.
"OWWW! That really hurts!"
"Shaddup or we'll tell you to stop or we shoot."
"Um, it's really not so bad after all ..."
Border violence has escalated since Egypt launched a crackdown on African migrants in recent months. As well as the Africans, police have killed an Egyptian smuggler at the border this year, and gunmen shot dead a police officer last month. Egypt also deported up to 1,000 jailed Eritrean asylum seekers in June despite UN protests.
Amnesty International says thousands of migrants try to cross into the Jewish state from Egypt each year, with numbers rising since 2007. The migrants are seeking work or asylum away from conflict at home and harsh living conditions in Egypt, where activists say African migrants face economic marginalisation and racism.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/07/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Huh? Breaking INTO Isreal, the most racist state on the Earth? And the peace-loving arabs are actually racists? How can AI report this with a straight face?
#3
Doc, the proper sequence is "Halt/Halt/Halt", bang/bang/bang. There has to be AT LEAST three nanoseconds between each "Halt", two nanoseconds before you start firing, and three nanoseconds between shots. Less time than that, and you're not doing it right.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/07/2008 21:53 Comments ||
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Mexicans struggling with increasingly gruesome crimes at home gave the most muted reactions in recent memory to the execution of one of their own citizens in Texas.
With Mexican news dominated by the kidnap-killing of 14-year-old Fernando Marti, the execution of Mexican Jose Medellin for the 1993 rape-murder of two girls in Texas appears to have sparked far less outrage than people here have shown in previous death penalty cases.
Some Mexicans are even calling for the death penalty here.
"The terrible news of the Marti youngster has overshadowed the execution in Texas last night of a Mexican," said Gabriel Guerra, a political analyst on the Televisa television network.
Indeed, banner headlines about the domestic kidnapping case dominated in almost all of the country's daily newspapers. Medellin's execution was relegated to small mentions lower down on the front pages -- and in some cases, wasn't on the front page at all.
"There is no reason for outrage. The man was a rapist," said lawyer Gustavo Sanchez, 40, as he got a shoeshine on a Mexico City street. "If we had the death penalty here, there wouldn't be so many crimes."
Marti, the son of a prominent businessman, was kidnapped on a Mexico City street in June and found dead last week, even though his family paid the ransom his captors demanded. Several Mexico City policemen have been detained for questioning in the death; prosecutors believe they may have supplied kidnappers with information about the victim.
Guerra noted that "there are those who see this as an opportunity to call for a return to the death penalty." In fact, the congressional leader of Mexico's former ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, Emilio Gamboa, said earlier this week that he supported capital punishment, long a taboo in Mexico.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2008 00:00 ||
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"There is no reason for outrage. The man was a rapist," said lawyer Gustavo Sanchez, 40, as he got a shoeshine on a Mexico City street. "If we had the death penalty here, there wouldn't be so many crimes."
You mean the conservative path saves lives? Whoda thunk it.
#3
Most Mexicans are OK once you get them out of Mexico. The place is a medieval society in modern architecture financed by oil money. Wait, there's another country or two that reminds me of that description.
#4
Mexico is just another case in which the 'elites' refuse to allow the 'people' to actually have their way on the issue of a 'death penalty'. Wait, there's another country or two that reminds me of that description. :)
#5
This doesn't surprise me at all, Mexico is a very conservative country, probably more conservative than the U.S.
If you ever get the chance to spend some time there (and I'm not talking about Cabo)you will come back with a different attitude towards them. The only ones you generally meet in the mid-west are illegals and "activists", both pains in the ass. When you go to Mexico you meet actual Mexicans that love their country and have jobs, families, houses. The ones that come to the US are all poor country folk, for the most part, and are usually no better than semi-literate.
#7
And most of wealth is held by the top 1%, most of whom are elitest Spaniards that have no intention in putting their own money into social programs for the indigenous Indians they despise. That leaves them all at the mercy of drug lords.
#11
You should never be surprised when ordinary Mexicans exhibit common sense just like ordinary Americans. The problems we have with Mexico are due to the corruption in their government and in our own government.
#12
Actually the Catholic Church does allow for capital punishment. Its against the defective way that the death penalty is frequently given in most places (i.e. error).
#13
The historical reason for abhorring the death penalty in Mexico comes from their very bloody revolution. Much like the French revolution, but lasting for decades of bloodletting.
A group of Mexicans or Indians would be met by an indistinguishable armed group, who would ask them a question of which of two sides they supported. Most people supported neither side, but if they answered wrong, or if they said they didn't support either, they would be killed on the spot.
To this day, the Yaqui Indians still have the strong cultural trait that they will divide right down the middle on every issue. This was learned so that at least half of them would survive. Big issue or small, if you ask a group of Yaquis if they like apples, for example, half will say yes and the other half no.
It was that traumatic. So there is a general deep fear of the death penalty for anything.
Variations on this appear throughout Mexican culture. It really messed them up.
(Xinhua) -- The death toll rose to two in a clash between Bolivian policemen and miners who were blocking a highway Tuesday, leaving some 30 people injured, according to news reaching here from La Paz, administrative capital of Bolivia.
The Bolivian government urged the Huanuni mine workers of Oruroto avoid further clashes with the police after their confrontation on Caihuasi Highway, which connects the Bolivian department of Cochabamba and La Paz. "We ask the workers to avoid affrays so that we can normalize the situation in the highways," Labor Minister Walter Delgadillo said at a press conference.
Interior Minister Alfredo Rada denied the police had used fire arms during the Caihusi operation, but the bodies and several injured have bullet impacts. All the injured have been taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2008 00:00 ||
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CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Riot police used tear gas Wednesday to block hundreds of Venezuelans protesting the latest moves by President Hugo Chavez to concentrate his power. The demonstrators said a blacklist of opposition candidates and a series of socialist decrees are destroying what's left of their democracy.
Though the protest of about 1,000 people chanting "freedom!" was small compared to past marches, there is a growing public outcry over the sidelining of key government opponents ahead of state and local elections in November. Chavez opponents also are outraged by 26 laws the president just decreed, some of them mirroring the socialist measures voters rejected in a December referendum.
"We said in the referendum that we didn't want that, and now he's put it in the decrees," said protester Josefina Bravo, a 59-year-old who wore a sticker reading "No means no" on her baseball cap. "That's the problem we have: All the powers are concentrated in the president."
Chavez issued the decrees just before the expiration of special legislative powers that allowed him to make laws without National Assembly approval for the past 18 months. For a time after the defeat of his constitutional referendum in December that would have imposed radical economic changes and let him run for re-election indefinitely, Chavez seemed to be taking a more pragmatic, less confrontational approach to his socialist project.
Now the leftist leader is pushing hard again to remake Venezuelan society.
One decree establishes a civilian militia that critics warn could emulate the citizen groups that control many aspects of community life in Cuba. Another gives Chavez the ability to designate regional authorities who critics say could undermine the power of locally elected officials. Other decrees empower Chavez to expropriate goods from private businesses and increase state control over food, punishing business owners who fail to comply with price controls with fines, closure and even 10-year prison terms.
The decrees came down just as the Supreme Court, whose justices were appointed by the Chavista-dominated National Assembly, on Tuesday upheld a decision by Venezuela's top anti-corruption official to bar 272 mostly opposition-aligned candidates from running. The blacklist was drawn up by another Chavez ally, Comptroller General Clodosbaldo Russian. None of the candidates on the list have been convicted of corruption or other crimes. Opponents note that some pro-Chavez politicians who have been publicly accused of corruption aren't on the list.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/07/2008 00:00 ||
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This reminds me - how come Obama isn't planning any visits to Venezuela during his campaign? And if he did visit would he have any protestors?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/07/2008 3:29 Comments ||
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> punishing business owners who fail to comply with price controls with fines, closure and even 10-year prison terms.
So the way to avoid jail, is to stop selling at a loss? i.e. stop selling.
Will I be called a Cassandra for predicting food shortages?
#7
Big Jim, the people defeated Hugo at the polls, but the count went to Hugo. I'm not sure how, ask Jimmah Carter.
Bush should'a dropped a dime on Hugo after that.
Russia could base bombers and missiles in neighbouring colony Belarus in response to US missile defence plans in Eastern Europe, Moscow's ambassador to Minsk said Wednesday, Russian news agencies reported.
"We could be talking about the possible basing of Iskander missiles, the possible basing of strategic bombers in Belarus, Kaliningrad and so on," the ambassador, Alexander Surikov, was quoted by Interfax as saying.
"When Poland signs the agreement with the American side about hosting elements of the missile defence system, then we can discuss some additional aspects of military-technical cooperation with Belarus," Surikov said. "We will counter the deployment of (a) missile defence system in Poland. We have to judge the situation. We will counter the way we have to. But this excludes the return of nuclear weapons to Belarus," he added.
(Xinhua) -- Most Italians now favor a return to nuclear power, according to the results of a new poll released Wednesday.
The poll, carried out by the SWG research group for the Confesercenti, the national association of retail service operators, found that 54 percent of Italians are in favor of nuclear power while 36 percent are opposed to it. A total of 800 respondents participated in the poll carried out between July 25 and 30.
Italy abandoned nuclear energy after a 1987 referendum, the result of which was strongly influenced by the Chernobyl disaster in Russia the previous year.
The poll also found that an overwhelming majority of Italians -- 83 percent -- were opposed to their country building new nuclear power plants for itself in neighboring countries, while 11percent thought it was a good idea. A 2007 poll taken by the IPSOS research institute had found that some 82 percent of Italians were opposed to the return to nuclear power.
Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi has vowed to return Italy to nuclear power as a means of reducing dependence on costly oil imports.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2008 00:00 ||
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In an earlier life, I was involved in developing nukes in Italy. Actually, public opinion was always positive but due to the nature of minority rules politics of Italy, the socialist, communist, greens etc. had enough votes to kill it and keep it killed. Not surprising poll results but Berlusconi has enough on his plate for now. It must be that $9/gal gasoline that is the driving factor.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/07/2008 3:32 Comments ||
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Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic demanded on Wednesday that former U.S. peace mediator Richard Holbrooke and ex-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright appear at the U.N. war crimes tribunal to back his claims of an immunity offer from the United States.
Karadzic, who was transferred to the Hague's International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia last week to face war crimes and genocide charges after 11 years on the run, challenged the legality of the case against him, a filing released by the tribunal showed.
In the document, Karadzic repeated his claims that in 1996 Holbrooke had offered him immunity from the tribunal if he disappeared from public life.
Karadzic argued that when Holbrooke realised he could not persuade the court's chief prosecutor to drop the indictment he decided to "liquidate" him instead.
He said several attempts had been made to locate and assassinate him, and that he feared "the long arm of Mr. Holbrooke or Mrs. Albright" could reach him even in jail.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2008 00:00 ||
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If this ever happened, think of the popcorn sales!
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/07/2008 3:51 Comments ||
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Holbrooke and Albright are both Obama advisors--a preview of future policy?
I knew she wasn't finished yet... Clinton Leaves Option Open for Convention Floor Vote
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is seeking a way for her delegates to be heard at the Democratic National Convention, telling supporters such a step will help unify a party that split between her and Sen. Barack Obama during their hard-fought nominating contest.
"I happen to believe that we will come out stronger if people feel that their voices were heard and their views respected. I think that is a very big part of how we actually come out unified," Clinton, D-N.Y., told supporters last week at a California fundraiser. A video clip of her remarks was posted on YouTube. "Because I know from just what Im hearing, that theres incredible pent up desire. And I think that people want to feel like, 'OK, its a catharsis, were here, we did it, and then everybody get behind Sen. Obama. That is what most people believe is the best way to go," she said.
The former first lady did not rule out the possibility of having her name placed into nomination at the convention, being held Aug. 25-28 in Denver. But she also said no decisions had been made.
Waiting another couple of weeks to see what the polls do to Obama ...
Barack Obama spokesman Bill Burton told FOX News that nothing has been decided in terms of the role of Clintons delegates. He said Democrats remain united, despite the hard-fought battle between Clinton and Obama.
"We are trying work all this through with the (Democratic National Committee) and with the Obama campaign," said Clinton, who suspended her White House bid on June 7 and endorsed Obama, an Illinois senator.
Clinton campaign officials are negotiating with both parties to determine the full scope of her role at the convention. She is expected to deliver a prime-time address to delegates on Aug. 26, the second night of the gathering.
Obama will deliver his speech at Invesco Field at Mile High, home to footballs Denver Broncos. Nearly two-thirds of the tickets will go to residents of the West and Southwest, including Colorado, where Democrats have made inroads in recent elections. "You dont have to be a delegate or party insider to witness this historic moment firsthand," Democratic National Convention Committee CEO Leah Daughtry said, announcing the plans for credentials.
Ticket selection was designed "to showcase the gains the party has made in the West," she said. Convention committee spokeswoman Natalie Wyeth declined to say how many tickets would be issued.
Last week, Obama campaign officials said they hope to turn the stadium crowd into a giant phone bank, with attendees using their cell phones to ask friends and others to register and vote.
The first three nights of the convention will be held at the 21,000-seat Pepsi Center.
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/07/2008 05:27 ||
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Popcorn! I need more popcorn.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
08/07/2008 8:53 Comments ||
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Barry, you idiot! You have to drive the stake through the heart, stuff the mouth with garlic, and cut off the head. He's heading to Hawaii on vacation tomorrow to prep for his coronation. She's setting up parades in Denver for "her supporters", and demanding floor votes. He should vet his aircraft's mechanics verrrrry carefully
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/07/2008 9:07 Comments ||
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#3
Obama keeps stepping on his crank, Hillary might forgo the sure win in 2012 (which she would have by backstabbing him after the nomination), and instead take a chance now and put the shiv into him in a floor fight.
#5
If Barry is going to Hawaii, it's to cover the bogus birth certificate issue. He better bring a lot of cash on this trip. Rodham is betting on a birth at sea, which makes Barry a citizen of the nation the ship was flagged under.
Damn those technical issues.
#6
It's like watching a football game when you don't really care who wins. You just want it to be a close, exciting, hard hitting game to the very end. As much as I despise her, I have to admire the way Hillary is fighting like an alley cat to the bitter end. And you never know, if Obama does something really stupid between now and then some of those super delegates might change their minds. Maybe we could even get some tear gas going. That'd be soooo cool.
#8
This has been a possibility ever since Mr. 0 started dropping in the polls.
At this time in almost any election the Dem has a big lead. Clinton has sat back and waited to see it there was a shot. Since it all depends on the Super Delegates that was always a possibility.
With 0s humourless gaffe filled past month (see reaction to Paris) the door is open.
Now, if you want violence Mr./Ms. Pebbles wait for the reaction if 'bama-rama DOESN'T get the nomination.
#9
Last week, Obama campaign officials said they hope to turn the stadium crowd into a giant phone bank, with attendees using their cell phones to ask friends and others to register and vote.
#14
rjschwarz I agree; every time he gets into trouble he takes a vacation somewhere. It should be pointed out that only a few Americans are able to just pack up and leave for Hawaii for 2 weeks, and I believe this is his 3rd such trip already this year.
#15
Hillary better get cracking on shaving away Obama's superdelegate edge. Kwamei K. is already in stir. How many more can she get jugged before the convention? Seems like there's a natural affinity of Dems and crooks. Work it baby!
#17
Rodham is betting on a birth at sea, which makes Barry a citizen of the nation the ship was flagged under.
If one parent is American, the baby is American, wxjames. Unless both the American parent and the baby were/are born outside of American territory. Thus trailing daughter #2, who was born in a German hospital, will need to make sure she flies home from that assignment in Beijing to have her baby... unless she marries an American lad.
John McCain called for an "economic surge" Wednesday, putting extra heft behind his domestic agenda as both he and Barack Obama stress energy and the economy in battleground states.
How about restoring American competitiveness, John?
Speaking in front of about two dozen employees of the Merillat cabinet company in Jackson, Ohio, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee repeated his call for an "all of the above" plan to lower energy costs using alternative energy, expanded oil drilling and nuclear power. He said that needs to complemented by business tax cuts and other economic incentives. "What we need today is an economic surge. Our surge has succeeded in Iraq militarily, now we need an economic surge to keep jobs here at home and create new ones," McCain said, essentially repackaging his economic proposals.
"We need to open new markets to U.S. products and we need to reduce the cost of health care and we need to end the out-of-control spending in Washington that is putting our debt on the backs of our children."
"We need to reduce the tax burden on businesses that choose to make their home in the United States of America.
"We need to open new markets to U.S. products and we need to reduce the cost of health care and we need to end the out-of-control spending in Washington that is putting our debt on the backs of our children."
Meanwhile, Obama told an audience one state over in Elkhart, Ind., that McCain's claim in an ad the day before that Washington is broken is a belated declaration. "John McCain started running an ad yesterday saying that Washington is broken. No kidding," Obama said. "It's taken him 26 years to figure it out."
And he said McCain has traded in his maverick stripes to embrace the policies of President Bush. "You can't be a maverick when politically it's working for you and then not a maverick when it doesn't work for you, when you're seeking your parties' nomination," Obama said.
Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, who is talked about as a potential running mate for Obama, also criticized McCain at the town hall meeting for aligning himself with Bush. "John McCain is not a bad man, but he is badly mistaken when he has embraced the Bush and Cheney economic policies and he is badly mistaken when he has embraced their energy policies. Someone was telling me this morning that ... his solution to the American energy challenge was to drill, drill, drill. Well it sounded a lot like my dentist to me," Bayh said.
Very witty. Hah hah. Or maybe he makes it halfway there. When your dentist finds you've got a mouthful of cavities, his program will be to drill, drill, drill. If you're all healthy and glowing he turns you over to his hygenist and leaves you pretty much alone. You might get a sugar-free lollipop when you leave.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2008 00:00 ||
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Jobs are a cost, not a benefit.
You need to increase the efficiency of the economy, and the best way to do that is to let comparative advantage work, and stop punishing people for working through consumption and income taxes.
#2
Christ. I hate it when politicians militarize economics. Working for a living isn't a war, Senator. You can't outflank marketplace efficiencies, or sneak up on a 'market failure' with some clever rent-seeking strategy.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/07/2008 8:17 Comments ||
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#3
Obama "said McCain has traded in his maverick stripes to embrace the policies of President Bush"
Oh really? I call bullshit.
Jeebus these people are trying to run against Bush again. BDS writ large. Obama is a fugging moron if he thinks that works with anyone other than those in his leftist elitist Hyde Park cocoon, and the leftard fellators at DailyKos, Moveon and other Soros funded swamps.
thats whats costing him now - slagging on Bush does nothing for the middle class except invite people to wonder why -- andf then realize that Obamessiah is trying to get people to ignore his own paper thin and inconsistent record, especially compared to McCain.
I don't like McCain (wrong on amnesty for illegals & border security, wrong on global hoax warming, etc), and I'll probably have to slam a few shots of cheap whisky to pull the lever for him, but he is most certainly NOT Bush.
As for McCain's "job surge"?
SImple - Drill HERE drill NOW. Lay the pipelines we will need, build nuclear power plants, set up wind and geothermal and thermal solar (with tax credits), start drilling in the OCS and ANWR, and start developing the oil shales.
That will boom the hell out of the job market form blue collar roughnecks in the fields and derricks, to engineeers to design and run all of this energy infrastructure.
Latest CNN "Poll of Polls" shows Obama ahead by five points
Political observers are wondering why Obama isn't doing better
They say numbers may change dramatically if undecided voters go for the new guy
Could be that B.O.'s been around long enough to become boring. Just a thought.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2008 00:00 ||
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FTA "The CNN "Poll of Polls" consists of four surveys: CNN/Opinion Research Corporation (July 27-29), AP-IPSOS (July 31-August 4), USA Today/Gallup (July 25-27), and Gallup tracking (August 2-4). The Poll of Polls does not have a sampling error."
Note that most of the polls are in July with only Gallup in August alone. And there is no mention of swing states.
I think if you look up 'tin ear' in the dictionary, you get a picture of Obama ...
(CNN)Academy award winning actor George Clooney is set to host a fundraiser for Barack Obama in Switzerland next month. The event, taking place on the evening of September 2 in Geneva, Switzerland will be split into two parts: a reception and a dinner. According to Obamas National Finance Committee, tickets for the reception where Clooney will speak are going for $1,000, followed by a dinner at the home of NFC member Charles Adams for $10,000 a plate. Space for the dinner is limited to 75 guests.
Clooney made headlines in February when he told CNN he was hesitant to campaign for the presumptive Democratic nominee, calling it a slippery slope. I feel that at times you can harm the person that you are trying to help, Clooney told CNNs Kiran Chetry in reference to campaigning for Obama. I dont want to damage anybody.
Well heck, he's gotten over that fear ...
The Academy Award winning actor officially endorsed Obama early last year calling him a rock star. Clooney compared him to the likes of John and Robert Kennedy saying, Few people in my lifetime, that Ive heard speak made me want to get up and do something, but cautioned, I dont want to hurt him by saying that.
Although next months fundraiser is taking place overseas, the campaign specified only U.S. Citizens with a passport will be allowed to contribute to the campaign.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/07/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Chocolates , muppets and moonbats all round then !
#2
Not at all surprising, tyrants, dictators, etc. Switzerland handled three-quarters of the Nazis' transactions during the war years, even after the Swiss knew of the Nazi extermination scheme.
#5
EU6305, yes there is. That is why the last paragraph in the article specifies that only US citizens can contribute.
Of course, if their European friends give money to the US citizens, who then give the money to George, who then gives the money to Obama ..., why, who is to know for certain where the money came from?
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
08/07/2008 13:18 Comments ||
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#6
Shouldn't there be some kind of a law against foreigners contributing to a US election campaign?
Posted by Ebbang Uluque6305
Yeah, there oughta be. We don't need a bunch of socialists or communists trying to sway our elections.
And frankly, WTH cares what a bunch of people who lie to themselves for a living (i.e. all actors and most lawyers) think?
#8
All those US citizens with passports gonna write checks from their Swiss bank accounts or they just gonna bring cash? Hmmmmm....I admit I didn't read that last sentence but it still smells funny.
#9
Blogger Atlas Shrugs has been looking in detail at Obama's campaign contributions in detail. Some US Citizens have given numerous times, money suspected to come to them from foreigners.
Local news article not too interesting in its own right, but an example of the quiet development of regional emergency response centers around the country. There's one is NJ that is being set up to deal with WMD, extreme weather, pandemics etc. in the wider NYC area. Purpose is to integrate federal, state & local capabilities on a flexible, as-needed basis. They're not ready for prime time yet but people are working on them FWIW
#1
they are forming up here in CO wiht the Guard providing a lot of the "special weapons" expertise. Lots of those Guard resources are also state and local LEOs, so its a very good cross-fertilization effort. Big item remains comms C3I for the state/local/regional stuff. That's where I might be working if things fill in right. CO due to terrain needs overhead assets, and I know how to integrate those from an end user and back end engineer standpoint. Trying to use some "Friends of..." pull to get an appointment.
#2
Colorado has been somewhat ahead of the curve for a while now. I can recall about 15 years ago, a good friend of mine, was on a team with Mil / Fed / State / Local agencencies for disaster planning (he was one of regional healthcare side of team).
They were very serious even back then about terrorists and WMD attacks along with med emergencies like Hanta outbreaks.
It was very comprehensive and he was VERY impressed with the results. Showed me some of the response plans, and they were some of the most thourough I had seen to date (and even since).
#3
These regional centers raise some interesting command & control issues at the operational level (vs. tactical at the low end and strategic at the high end). Especially given that they essentially get active on a disaster by disaster basis and coordinate people across a lot of organizational and cultural divides.
The Defense Dept. wants to make a decision by New Year's Day on whether Northrop Grumman or Boeing gets the hotly contested $35 billion contract to build a new generation of aerial-refueling tankers for the U.S. Air Force. That speedy timetable already has Boeing supporters crying foul.
Politicians from Washington State fear that the reopened contest, which was detailed at the Pentagon on Aug. 6, is being rigged to give Northrop an edge. "While it will take time to analyze this document, there are several issues that already raise red flags," argued Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.). For one, the Pentagon plans to give extra credit to the amount of fuel that can be off-loaded from the tankers, she said, and that will favor the bigger Airbus A330 design that Northrop would base its planes on. Boeing based its tanker on a version of its 767 commercial jetliner. The short timetable, Murray added, "is simply unrealistic."
Certainly, the Pentagon's new timetable is ambitious. It plans to discuss requirements in detail with the competing companies next week, and then give them until Oct. 1 to submit their proposals. After more discussions, it would then require a "best and final" offer by the end of November or early December. It would expect to choose the winner by New Year's Day and debrief both contestants in the first week of 2009.
Northrop officials reacted warmly to the Pentagon's latest plan. A Northrop spokesman said the company "applauds the Defense Dept. for recognizing the urgency of replacing the Eisenhower-era refueling tankers via a thorough yet speedy revised acquisition process." By contrast, Boeing seemed to suggest it could be getting ready to take the issue back to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) if need be. "Given the very narrow window for commenting on this draft," a Boeing spokesman said, "our team is focused on identifying and understanding any changes that may have been made to the original requirements and evaluation criteria. We also need to see how the document addresses the strong concerns the Government Accountability Office identified in sustaining our protest."
The GAO forced defense officials to reopen the competition) between the companies in mid-June by ruling that the initial award to Northrop was deeply flawed. Among the problems: The Air Force had told Boeing that going with a larger plane to boost fuel capacitybasing it on the Boeing 777wouldn't give it an edge. Then the Air Force cited the Airbus A330's greater capacity as a reason that Northrop and its partner, Airbus maker European Aeronautic Defence & Space, won the competition in February.
That contract award triggered a furious reaction by Boeing and U.S. politicians who fret that the deal could ultimately mean more jobs for Europeans than Americans.
The Pentagon's terms of engagement for the latest round of tanker competition sparked a similar reaction from Boeing supporters. An aide to Representative Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) said the Pentagon's new Request for Proposal (RFP), or request for bids, appears to favor a larger tanker. Boeing would likely need 12 to 15 months to come up with a design larger than the 767-based design it has planned on, said the aide, George Behan. Said Dicks: "The unusually brief timeline of the new RFP process also suggests that the Pentagon wants to justify its previous decision. In the original selection process, the Air Force took nearly 10 monthsand botched the jobto do what it now plans to do in three."
Dicks argued that "it's time for Congress to exert greater control of this process."
Funding for the contract may be held up in defense appropriations legislation. "Supporters on Capitol Hill will prevent this from going forward," predicted Loren Thompson, an analyst with the Lexington Institute military think tank in Arlington, Va. "This RFP seems to confirm the suspicion that there was no way Boeing could win this with existing Pentagon management."
"If the new solicitation favors a large plane and yet Boeing isn't given the time to offer one, that sounds like a stacked deck," added Thompson, who noted he hasn't taken sides in the argument but is troubled by the process. "When you try to do things fast, there's not much time to change the proposal." He said it appears the Defense Dept. "is pushing for the same outcome by a different means" and skewing the competition accordingly.
At the same time, Boeing should have read the tea-leaves from the botched award and have been working day and night to prepare a 777-based bid, no matter what the deadline.
Boeing, which attacked the earlier award to Northrop in newspaper ads, through political allies, and through the government's protest process, isn't yet saying how it will respond to the new requirements. "Despite the fact that the first competition appropriately addressed the aircraft's intended mission, until we receive the final RFP it is too early to offer any details about Boeing's path forward," a spokesman said.
While praising the timetable, Northrop officials said they, too, would need to review the new competition terms in detail. But they took a shot at the politically charged backing Boeing has had. "We are reviewing the draft RFP with an eye toward ensuring that it addresses the issues raised by the GAO in a way that facilitates a fair and nonpolitical evaluation of the competing bids," the company's spokesman said.
The tankers, which can refuel fighters and bombers in flight, would be a key part of the Air Force's arsenal for decades to come. The winning company will be obligated to produce 179 of them. The planes they would replace have been flying for some 40 years and are wearing out. Defense Secretary Robert Gates had urged haste in the reopened competition. He had said few programs in the Defense Dept. were "more time-critical."
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/07/2008 00:00 ||
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FUBAR: Definition = "New AF tanker procurement process"
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/07/2008 3:58 Comments ||
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Jack -
You think THIS is FUBAR'd? Wait until you see the mess that the F-35 program has become while everyone was focused on the KCX. That one is so far outta whack that some folks are quietly talking about killing it.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/07/2008 5:34 Comments ||
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Boeing is reacting like the Democrat party, they want to keep doing it until they win. One of the reasons they don't like the schedule is they want to push the decision to the next Congress which they think will be overwhelmingly Democrat and President Obama, both of which are inclined to view the Defense budget as a source of patronage.
#5
Boeing has best get its stuff together -- they got teeir appeal.
Now the AF needs to do whats best for the nation, not whats best for Boeing, and get the first batch of the best tankers we can get at the time going ASAP. And then rebid the second batch which willl likely go to Boeing with a 767 or 777 plan.
No harm in flying half of one, half of another, as long as we get the first half delivered and flying much more quickly.
THat was one of the major deciding factors in the previosu contract - I recall that by the time Boeing said they would deliver their first aircraft, the NG/EADS would have had 20+
And the whole "foreign vs domestic" angle is pretty much trash. 35% or more of the Boeing tanker will be from overseas sources as well.
No such thing as a 100% single nation jetliner anymore. Unless you want to buy from Russia, heh.
#6
Boy, some big money is behind screwing Boeing out of this contract.
"...the bigger Airbus A330 design that Northrop would base its planes on."
Reading this article you'd believe it was a Northrup plane vs. a Boeing plane. I'm not going to get into a debate here, but the belief that a 'larger' tanker meets the US needs better is laughable.
But this process is no laughing matter.
I consider even debating a European product for a key strategic role TREASONOUS,
and not just because it isn't American.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices briefly dropped below $118 a barrel Wednesday -- $30 below their record high -- after a jump in U.S. crude and other fuel supplies fed beliefs that high energy prices are eating into demand.
Light, sweet crude for September delivery finished the session down 59 cents at $118.58 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was crude's lowest settlement price since May 2; prices earlier fell as low as $117.11, a $30, or 20 percent, drop from their trading high of $147.27, reached July 11. Some investors believe a 20 percent pullback signals the beginning of a bear market.
At the pump, falling crude kept weighing on prices. U.S. filling stations hungry for business ratcheted down the price for a gallon of regular on average by another penny overnight to $3.862, according to auto club AAA, Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. Prices have now fallen more than 6 percent from all-time highs above $4 a gallon reached July 17.
Oil market traders are paying close attention to see if oil falls below $117, a key resistance level expected to trigger a rash of technical selling by computers programmed to dump oil contracts once prices fall below a certain threshold. "There's a line in the sand just below $117. If you close below that, it signals traders are giving up on the bull market in oil," said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst of the Oil Price Information Service in Wall, N.J. "Subsequent rallies may take us higher, but the highs for the year have probably been put in."
Still, Kloza said a surprise event -- such as a flare-up of violence in the Middle East or a major hurricane slamming the U.S. Gulf coast, could send prices soaring again. Other analysts say oil remains in a long-term upward trend, noting that futures contracts years out still peg prices above $100 a barrel.
The U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said crude supplies rose by 1.7 million barrels to 296.9 million for the week ended Aug. 1, slightly more than the 1.2 million-barrel increase expected by analysts surveyed by energy research firm Platts. The EIA said inventories of distillate fuel, which include diesel and heating oil, jumped 2.8 million barrels to 133.3 million barrels, above the 2.3 million barrels expected by analysts.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/07/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Believe it or not, this is not good news. Knowing the fickled nature of the American public as reflected through the politicians they keep electing they will take this to mean that there is now now need to increase upstream and downstream outputs while developing an alternative non-fossil fuel economy. I wager that in less than a year - hopefully before the elections - we are right back to nearing $200/bbl.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/07/2008 3:53 Comments ||
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It's not good news because it's a demand contraction which probably signals lower consumer spending across the board going forward. Recession here we come.
#4
This country has no long term energy plan or energy policy, so we are sitting there responding to the markets, instead of making our own news by achieving petroleum independence from our suppliers who are also our enemies, i.e., ME plus Venezuela, plus corrupt POS states like Nigeria.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/07/2008 17:22 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
ISMAILIA, Egypt - Egyptian police shot dead a Sudanese man as he tried to sneak across the border to Israel on Wednesday, bringing to 19 the number of migrants killed at the frontier this year, medical and security sources said. Haroun Mohamed Yehya Haroun, 24, died of gunshot wounds to the head. The sources, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said he was shot after he ignored orders to stop.
Mexicans struggling with increasingly gruesome crimes at home gave the most muted reactions in recent memory to the execution of one of their own citizens in Texas.
(Xinhua) -- Most Italians now favor a return to nuclear power, according to the results of a new poll released Wednesday. 
John McCain called for an "economic surge" Wednesday, putting extra heft behind his domestic agenda as both he and Barack Obama stress energy and the economy in battleground states.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices briefly dropped below $118 a barrel Wednesday -- $30 below their record high -- after a jump in U.S. crude and other fuel supplies fed beliefs that high energy prices are eating into demand.
