From the "Water: Why does it continue to hate us?" Dept. Edited for brevity.
A 50-foot Pacific wave temporarily disabled a "Semester at Sea" ship filled with hundreds of college students yesterday, injuring two crew members as it broke windows and damaged the vessel's controls, the Coast Guard said. Coast Guard vessels and aircraft from Alaska and Hawaii were dispatched to help the 591-foot Explorer, about 650 miles south of the Aleutian Islands and about 1,600 miles from Honolulu. The ship for a time operated on just one of its four engines and could do little more than keep the bow headed into heavy seas using emergency steering. By last night, a second engine had been started and the ship was making headway at a speed of about 10 knots, or about 11.5 mph, said Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Glynn Smith in Alameda, Calif. Jim Lawrence, a spokesman for V. Ships, the technical managers of the ship, said no one was critically hurt but he did not have details on injuries. He said the ship may head to Midway Island, about 800 miles away. The weather in the region has been unsettled recently, with winds gusting to 50 mph or more.
Posted by: Dar ||
01/27/2005 12:09:15 PM ||
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Posted by: Dar ||
01/27/2005 12:11 Comments ||
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#2
Engine's broke. Steering's broke. Ship is in danger of capsizing. That is not a disaster, that is a training opportunity of the first order. Drag those sorry college boys out of the swimming pool, throw them in the engine room and make them save their own lives. Make 'em barf in the bilge instead of their stateroom. Let 'em figure out what a crescent hammer is all about.
#5
My brother actually stowed away on board the old ship (SS Universe) in '79 or '80. His girlfriend was a student. The ship left Long Beach for Honolulu. He helped load baggage, acted low key, went to classes and hid in her closet during the lifeboat drill. The bartenders all knew him by name (how odd??). There were 5 other stowaways on that trip, all of whom ended up in the brig. My brother ate dinner at the captain's table and the girlfriend payed for his flight back to LA. God I miss him.
Via Freedom and Whisky:
There's some big numbers here.
DO THE poor really benefit from Labour? It's not such a daft question: welfare payment goes up, certainly, but is Scotland more socially cohesive as a result? Are people escaping sink estates, finding work and helping their children prosper?
**SNIP**
But dig below the data, step into the housing schemes, and you find that the generosity is breeding tragedy. Under Labour's welfare payments, 266,000 people in Scotland are now categorised as "incapacitated" - claiming dole and deemed unable to work.
This figure is staggering. If they all lived together, they would occupy a city greater than Aberdeen or Dundee - yet such people do not show up on unemployment figures. Nor do they work. They are in the invisible zone of the labour market.
There are 2.4 million of them across Britain - people who have been effectively decommissioned, and usually ushered into a life of housing schemes, sink schools and social failure.
**SNIP**
Yet the share of the UK workforce actually in employment remains well below its peak in 1989. Glasgow's unemployment may be 8 per cent, but a third of its adults have no job. The same is true for one in four Scots.
Labour has, in part, fought unemployment by finding alternatives to work. One is studying: universities have proliferated, in varying qualities, offering a bewildering array of not always useful courses. Then comes the option of being categorised as permanently sick. Since 1993, the number of Britons considered "incapacitated" has doubled from 1.2 million - a rise not seen since troops returned from the Second World War.
There has been no crippling, nationwide epidemic. But there has, instead, been a political disease - where the definition of welfare is entitlement, not empowerment. Where the aim is to write cheques, not to aid careers.
**SNIP**
Posted by: anonymous2u ||
01/27/2005 12:42:16 AM ||
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#1
BD, et al, is this a Scottish problem or all of Britain?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/27/2005 7:16 Comments ||
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All of the UK. This is the Labour Government's way of deceiving the British public about the true levels of unemployment here. They get away with it because the media, well, I don't need to go on...
#3
BD: I think incapacity benefit existed prior to the Labour Government being in power and the Tories certainly, like all governments, massaged the unemployment figures in the nineteen eighties to their political advantage.
I was given the choice of taking incapacity benefit when I was ill several years ago. The sum offered was pitiful and I got on with things. However, for some it does provide a more lucrative opt-out than unemployment benefit. Although a staunch believer in the need for a welfare state that provides a helping hand, I do, however, think a review of the social security system in the UK is long overdue.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
01/27/2005 8:12 Comments ||
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#4
I wouldn't say it's an exclusively Labour thing or even a Labour invention, but it's been exploited by Blair and his spin machine like by nobody else. The fact that "the share of the UK workforce actually in employment remains well below its peak in 1989" demonstrates that the problem of unemployment is worse than before Blair became PM - yet Blair's actually managed to make the public believe that unemployment has gone down...
#6
when i was stationed there, i got the distict impression that the conditions had as much to do with the culture as anything else (no offense scotland). work didn't seem to be valued like it is here (by here, of course, i mean houston). i'm not passing a value judgment, cuz i don't know that work is what i value most either. no doubt the dole does not help to encourage the (moral) value of work. but then niether does (what seemed to me) to be the view of brits that scots were 2nd class citizens. i still remember the change of attitude when i spent bank of scotland money down south, and it wasn't a positive one.
#7
It can be hard trying to get rid of Bank of Scotland money south of the border. Same goes for Royal Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale Bank. I know. It's not because you're Scottish - it's because it's so damn rare people are either suspicious of it or know they themselves might have difficulty passing it on (like a mangled coin or any torn note). IIUC it's not even a legal obligation to accept other British notes in England. In England we only have Bank of England notes. Much simpler. I dread to think what happens when you try offloading one of the four(?) Northern Ireland issuers' notes...
There's a saying about the Scots / English that I think sums it up pretty well:
The Scots say they're superior to the English, but don't believe it.
The English don't say they're superior to the Scots, but the do believe it...
China has detained dozens of people, some of whom have been severely beaten, for trying to mark the death of former leader Zhao Ziyang, witnesses said. The allegations came as the government intensified security to prevent mourners attending Saturday's funeral in Beijing for Zhao, the former Communist Party secretary general purged for opposing the 1989 military crackdown on the Tiananmen democracy movement. At least three people, including a woman in her 70s, were punched and manhandled by police officers outside the government offices which receive complaints in the Chinese capital, witnesses said. They were among some 60 people who pinned white paper flowers to their clothes, a traditional Chinese symbol of mourning, said a bystander who took pictures of the beatings and posted them on overseas websites. "A man from Henan province was beaten badly. His left eyeball looked like it was beaten out of its socket and he had a one inch cut to his right eye," said the man who requested anonymity. "An elderly woman from Shandong province was beaten to a point where she couldn't move and a man from Hunan province was also beaten," he said. Police shouted at the petitioners that Zhao, who spent nearly 16 years under house arrest until his death last week, was a "political criminal," the witness said.
#1
So if poor Zhao was an unperson with an unfuneral does that make him undead? It will serve them right if he lives forever, as it were.
Posted by: Land of fog and mold ||
01/27/2005 15:28 Comments ||
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#2
The ChiComs live Beyond the Valley of Petty Peevish. Had they just let it go, it would've gone rather quietly. Instead, once again, they highlight their vindictive differences from China's average man & woman.
Keep it up. You and the Mad Mullahs have this petty and insensate blind streak in common. Both will fail and fall because of it.
May you live in truly revolutionary interesting times.
Edited by yours truly
China is open to discussing its currency at the upcoming G7 finance ministers meeting but will not be pressured on any appreciation, central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan was reported as saying. Zhou acknowledged the growing pressure for change on the yuan but said China has been taking gradual measures to relax its control of the capital markets as it becomes further integrated into the global economy. "We would like to discuss that issue in the context of international cooperation," the China Daily quoted Zhou as saying. "For any country, the exchange rate issue should be decided by the sovereign state," he added. China has repeatedly pledged to free up its dollar-peg over the last several years but has not indicated a timetable or specific measures, only saying that any eventual loosening of the peg will be gradual and stable. snip
Bush, speaking at a news conference, said his administration must face up to the "twin deficits," referring to the budget gap and current account deficit, which measures trade and investment flows. But he also said an important factor is China, whose clout in global commerce is growing. "In terms of the trade deficit, it is important for us to make sure ... that countries treat their currencies in market fashion," Bush said. "I've been working with China, in specific, on that issue; secondly, that people knock down their barriers to our goods and services." Washington has for some time been pressing China to adjust or float the yuan, saying the undervalued currency gives Chinese exports an unfair advantage.
Posted by: Secret Master ||
01/27/2005 11:37:01 AM ||
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#1
al-Reuters, of course, played this as evidence that China is abandoning the dollar peg as a show of no confidence in the US economy.
#2
Reuters may have slanted its reporting to suit its anti-GWB agenda. However, we cannot ignore the fact that China owns considerable US debt, and because we have twin deficits accumulating, China being part of our trade deficit and our too much spending deficit, there is some truth to China having to weigh its response to GWB's request in light of its being a major creditor rather than merely a major trader. In other words, China will unpeg the yeun from the dollar even though it will hurt its exports because it is concerned about its credit to the USA, about the value of its investment.
I never underestimate the capabilities of the calculating Chinese...
January 27, 2005: Department of Defense intelligence analysts are having a hard time figuring out when China thinks it will be ready to make a grab for Taiwan. The recent surge in the construction of short range amphibious ships, and constant movement of more ballistic missiles to within range of Taiwan, indicate something may happen sooner rather than later. Taiwan is only 300 kilometers from China. There are about 600 DF-15 missiles (with a range of 600 kilometers) aimed at Taiwan now, and by next year, there may be 800. Moreover, it is suspected that these missiles, and their half ton warheads, are being equipped with precise GPS navigation systems. Such systems could cripple Taiwan's air force and air defenses. China has been training its marines and army troops for amphibious operations. Because of all this, it is believed that China would be ready to make a run at Taiwan by 2010. By then they would have several hundred modern warplanes, dozens of destroyers and submarines, bombers equipped with anti-ship missiles and a long standing declaration that they would regain control of Taiwan one way or the other.
But other analysts point out that China has always done poorly in the early stages of a war, and that their program to create a large force of professional troops, and modern equipment, will take longer. Only small portions of the Chinese armed forces are getting trained and equipped to Western standards. Over 90 percent of the Chinese military are beset by decades old equipment designs and corrupt or incompetent leaders. Only with highly trained and well equipped troops, would they have a chance against Taiwanese and American forces. To produce a large force like this would take another ten or twenty years, at least. In the meantime, the Taiwanese have noted the Chinese preparations, and have suddenly for modernization fever. Until recently, Taiwanese legislators were keen to cut their defense budget. No more.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve ||
01/27/2005 9:26:35 AM ||
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#1
What happens after the ChiComs take Taiwan? Then they won't have that issue to blame for their governmental shortcomings?
#2
More like, what happens when they are repelled into the sea? They'd be crazy to threaten a nuke exchange w/us. Within 20 yrs we may have a fully functioning anti-missile defense sheild. If they were to somehow take Taiwan I believe it would be a very pyric victory.
#3
glen - theyd ride for a long time on the glory from the military win. Theyd let the next gen of chicoms worry about legitimacy with the Taiwan issue gone. I mean when youre a system fundamentally in decline, why worry about the long term if you can buy 10 or 15 years?
JH - I cant see the US threatening a nuke exchange over Taiwan.
Ive always assumed theyd be repelled, and that a blockade against Taiwan would be the optimal strategy. Amphib makes sense if they think they have to win fast, before a US counterblockade begins to hurt. Still pretty hard to pull off, I think, even with them finally getting some amphib capability - and of course theres a lot more to amphib capability than just getting the boats, right JH? Not too many modern militaries have managed an opposed amphib landing - its not easy, IIUC.
I suspect building up capabilities is more important as part of the dance of threats with Taiwan. I mean if its 90% sure the Chicoms will fail, and youre a Taiwan leader, do you really take the chance they'll succeed for some symbolic jesture towards independence?
#4
LH, the U.S. wouldn't be threatening the exchange, the article states the Chinese would be initiating that threat. My contention is such a threat might be moot in 20 yrs due to our advancing technology. Or, are they really willing to threaten the exchange w/us over Taiwan either way?
Your right wrt amphib capability, boats is not enough. Amphib planning is the most tedious thing (according to many of our pubs) a modern mil can undertake. The USMC has some great books on amphib planning that the hard core buff may like but pretty dry for anyone else. The biggest problem imho is coordination of fires, maneuver, air assets that can give you vertical envelopment capabilities, and follow on logistics. Decent weather also helps. If they were planning an invasion of Taiwan we'd pick up on their troop movements and massings pretty quick. Not sure we'd cut them off in the straits but we could get there quicker then they'd like. Plus, whose to say that in 20yrs the chinese political/economic/socio situation may have changed and this is no longer a viable goal for them.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/27/2005 14:30 Comments ||
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#7
Davis, so right. Moreover, the $200M Chinese investment in Europe's GPS project, >"US Could Shoot Down Euro GPS Satellites If Used By China In Wartime: Report."
Posted by: Duke Nukem ||
01/27/2005 15:11 Comments ||
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#11
300km is not like crossing the English Channel on D-Day. Conventional amphibious troop carriers would take a day or more, they would be sitting ducks. Night vision and radar makes this a 24hr sitting duckfest. As the saying goes, you cannot get there from here.
Posted by: john ||
01/27/2005 18:57 Comments ||
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If this was posted already, sorry, via EU Referendum:
In early December 2004 the European Union (EU) decided "in principle" to lift the embargo on arms sales to China put in place after the Tiananmen massacre of 1989.[1] Washington is strongly opposed. But if the Europeans go ahead, then the question for the United States—and its friends and allies in Asia, including Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, India, and even Australia—will be: what can the Europeans provide that China does not already have, and how would such provision affect US and allied security? To assist in answering those questions, here are two issues to consider:
#1
Any -- the French GPS tech has been covered and possibly the German stealth subs, but I don't recall seeing the nanotech stuff.
Posted by: Duke Nukem ||
01/27/2005 18:21 Comments ||
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#2
Of course, all bets are off starting in July with the lifing of the ban on arms sales to China. With allies like these, who needs enemies?
Posted by: Duke Nukem ||
01/27/2005 18:24 Comments ||
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#3
This will affect our relationship with NATO, or what is left of it. How in good faith can we give our allies access to our stuff when they could be sending it along to the Chicoms?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/27/2005 22:19 Comments ||
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#4
even, sad to say, the Brits
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/27/2005 22:33 Comments ||
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#5
That is what really hurts, Frank.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/27/2005 22:34 Comments ||
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Kosovo is fast becoming "the black hole of Europe" and could descend into renewed violence within weeks unless the EU takes urgent action, senior diplomats and international experts warned in Brussels this week. But continuing EU indecision (!!!) over the breakaway province's demand for independence from Serbia, coupled with the ethnic Albanian majority's failure to embrace reform and respect Serb minority rights, are paralysing plans to launch "final status" talks this year. Key words: paralyzing plans launch talks Hand wringing details continue for many more paragraphs.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/27/2005 2:02:04 AM ||
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#1
Well Thank GOD, Allah and Buddah all at once. It's hot here in Thailand and it stinks with all of these dead bodies around. I'd much rather lunch in Brussels.
Posted by: UN Weenie ||
01/27/2005 9:00 Comments ||
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#2
Sounds like it's time for another conference. Can I get my usualy catering fee this time, dad: cost plus 150 percent?
#3
Classic case of Muslim intolerance. I've stated before that Serbia needs a strong leader not a cow-towing UN Weenie. The map of Europe can longer afford to be changed. If Kosovo becomes independent it will lead to yet another welfare state the EU will have to financially support. More importantly another launch pad for Muslim extremists to infiltrate into Europe. Kosovo will drain Europe financially and militarily. Bring Slodo back from the Hague and let him crush this rebellion. If the Kosovars are such sweeties why hasn't Albania absorbed more of them. Thanks for all the help Turkey. Not only did you screw us in Iraq, but you continue tacit support of the Chechen quagmire. Your hideous Ottoman Empire has spawned these Muslim states in Europe proper which can't seem to get along with anyone. PS thanks for all your support for the Azeri's I'm sure the Armenians and Cypriots appreciate all the help. Definately a strong candidate for the EU
#6
I am on the fence about Kosovo, given the treatment they (Kosovars) recieved from Serbia over the last couple of decades. Picture what Saddam did to the Kurds (less the gas) and that gives you a base for how they feel. I also feel that since all the provinces were allowed to go their on way, why not Kosovo? If Slovenia can break away and become it's own country why not let the Kosovars determine their future? They may be 'intolerant' but the Serbs taught them all about tolerance.
#7
perhaps our moral and intellectual superiors, Aris and the EU, could handle this and STFU about Iran. Let us handle the really big problems outside your neighborhood. Although this may be over their competence level, you should tackle it. Keep the tut-tutting to yourselves as well.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/27/2005 10:24 Comments ||
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#8
A Marshal Tito is needed. That kind of strong leadership is pretty much all these disputatious people understand. Their nature is not to be peaceful and get along with others. They don't even get along amongst themselves. Their evolution as a ethnic group is retarded so much that they don't fit well with any other group of people. Do they even get along with other ethnic Albanians?
#9
The problems in the former Yugoslavia are Europe's problem. If they cannot deal with a donneybrook in their backyard, then they cannot deal with anything. I understand that the issue of Kosovo being used as a base for Islamic extremists is a serious one. It is about time for the EU to sh*t or get off the pot. THEY need to be faced with this serious issue and be forced to deal with it.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/27/2005 11:31 Comments ||
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#10
..unless the EU takes urgent action, senior diplomats and international experts warned in Brussels this week.
"Hello? EU? Uncle Sam here. It's your turn; this is YOUR backyard and quite frankly, we're busy so we're going to sit this one out. Good luck."
#14
Frank G, since I see that your obsession about me still hasn't diminished, just let me remind you that I had opposed the Kosovo bombings, claiming that they did nothing but promote Albanian imperialism and create an anti-Serb ethnic cleansing from *their* side, when most of the rest of Rantburg was praising Kosovo for the multiethnic paradise that it had supposedly become after the USA intervention.
Can you parse the above paragraph or do you need smaller sentences, you fucktard?
If the Kosovars are such sweeties why hasn't Albania absorbed more of them.
It's Albanian imperialism, the only European territorial imperialism still undefeated (besides Russian). That means they want to increase the territory of their nation, not retreat their external minorities within the border of the nation-state they already possess.
You keep on talking about Muslim extremists, when you forget that this is national imperialism of the Balkan variety. Religion has a very secondary role in this.
If Slovenia can break away and become it's own country why not let the Kosovars determine their future?
Slovenia was a federal republic of Yugoslaviain its own right, and constitutionally empowered to withdraw. Kosovo was an autonomous region of Serbia, with no rights of withdrawal. That's the legal argument.
The moral argument is that Slovenes had no other national state of their own, *Slovenia* was the state of their peoples. Albanians already have a nation-state. The wish for Kosovar independence, is a disguise for Greater Albanian imperialism. They don't want Kosovo to be independent, they want a Great Albania that will contain all the Albanian minorities of the region. Hence, the similar attempts to steal away territory from FYRO Macedonia as well.
Give Kosovo independence, and you'll not be approving a wish for national independence, all you'll be doing is rewarding Albanian imperialism.
#18
Okay, Aris, sounds like you know what to do with your little Kosovo/Albania/Macedonia tasks. Now you and your EU go handle them and we will handle Iran. I don't care how you handle them, just don't have a little hissy fit when The Great Satan finally gives the mullahs their due. Besides, not much of the fallout will land in the EU anyway.
Posted by: Tom ||
01/27/2005 19:04 Comments ||
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#19
"Okay, Aris, sounds like you know what to do with your little Kosovo/Albania/Macedonia tasks. Now you and your EU go handle them and we will handle Iran."
"You" will handle Iran? I hope so, but I don't see it happening.
#20
So's a sizeable region in Greece. One wants to be specific when talking about this stuff.
So call it by it's real name, and refer to the other one as "the region in Greece known as Macedonia". Or simply let context indicate which one you mean -- my daily commute takes me through California, but no one would ever take that to mean I cross the continent twice a day. And only rarely does anyone confuse a Miami in Ohio with a Miami in Florida.
Of course, my impression of the "FYRO" crap is that it's a bunch of hyper-nationalist claptrap, with Greeks unwilling to let people even consider that Alexander might not have been from Greece.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/27/2005 19:17 Comments ||
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#21
So call it by it's real name, and refer to the other one as "the region in Greece known as Macedonia".
Do you typically call Taiwan by its real name, that being "Republic of China"?
When EU starts recognizing it as Republic of Macedonia, I'll start calling it such as well. Until then I'm still hoping-without-hope for a compromise name which will appease paranoid fears that Greek chauvinists try to instill on the population. "Macedonia of Skopje" would be good. Or even "Northern Macedonia". "New Macedonia" sounds like crap, but still better than nothing.
Of course, my impression of the "FYRO" crap is that it's a bunch of hyper-nationalist claptrap,
Yeah, I'm well known as a hyper-nationalist.
with Greeks unwilling to let people even consider that Alexander might not have been from Greece.
Well, he kinda *was*, if by "Greece" you mean the territory currently known as that name, namely both his birthplace and the capital of his empire is currently within the boundaries of the "Greek region known as Macedonia"...
... and if you're talking modern-day ethnicities, other than the descent of our language I don't know any common element between the modern Greek people and the ancient Greek people, so in many ways he wasn't "ours" either, but then again neither was Pericles or Socrates...
...but then again he was even less "Macedonian" since the modern day slav-Macedonians don't even have the linguistic connection with that time, they are northern peoples that descended far afterwards...
So both territorially and ethnically Alexander isn't "theirs", and he's probably hardly anyone's, besides History's.
In short, so long as the EU tells you to, you'll go along with the paranoid fears instilled by the Greek chauvanists. No chance of you simply rejecting the paranoid fears and calling Macedonia what it wants to be called? You know, make a stand, be a good example, maybe change a few minds.
I'd think it would be a stunningly easy thing to do, especially on something so trivial. At least do it while you're at Rantburg, even if you don't do it around other Greeks.
Ah well. Never mind. I get your point: your government says it's 'X', so you'll go along.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/27/2005 19:44 Comments ||
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#23
you'll go along with the paranoid fears instilled by the Greek chauvanists.
Um, no. I don't believe in the paranoid fears instilled by the Greek chauvinists. The Greek chauvinists don't want a compromise in the name at all. If I were a Greek chauvinist, I'd be calling it "Skopje".
What I want is a name, that'll make it easier for our two nations to live side-by-side -- namely I want a name that'll defang the Greek chauvinists of *some* of their power, by the fact of not being able to be interpreted as laying territorial claims.
And among other things, I do want a name that reminds people that more than 50% of the region once known as Macedonia lies outside that small country.
No chance of you simply rejecting the paranoid fears and calling Macedonia what it wants to be called?
I'm afraid of the fear itself, the way everyone should be afraid of it also. The EU was the only thing that forced Greece to stop a catastrophic embargo against FYRO Macedonia. Now the uncompromised name will be the excuse that the Greek chauvinists will use to block FYRO Macedonia's entry into the EU.
So, yeah, I'm favouring a compromise in the name. We live in the real world, not a universe of ideal solutions where everyone is 100% happy.
More on the issue, I'd posted here: http://www.livejournal.com/~katsaris/28307.html
Robert, why didn't you answer on whether you are calling Taiwan Taiwan or whether you are using its real name?
#24
If I had a reason to refer to them formally, I'd use their formal name. In the US, "Taiwan" is the commonly used name, so I'd normally use that.
I certainly wouldn't use whatever name the PRC insists on using for them, simply out of fear.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/27/2005 20:10 Comments ||
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#25
"In the US, "Taiwan" is the commonly used name, so I'd normally use that."
But you nonetheless object to my using the commonly used name of FYRO Macedonia in Greece?
In fact among the *two* commonly used names of FYRO Macedonia in Greece, I used the one that actually contains the word "Macedonia".
Sure, making a stand and simply calling "Republic of Macedonia" is the path that *some* people have chosen. Perhaps they are right, though since I do prefer a compromise, it's not the path I've chosen.
But don't go about lecturing on me, when I'm doing what you yourself just said you are doing -- using one of the commonly used names in each person's own country.
I certainly wouldn't use whatever name the PRC insists on using for them, simply out of fear.
No, if you were Chinese, I'm sure you'd be not be doing it out fear, you'd be doing it out of Chinese nationalism.
Never mind, Aris. It's clear the newspeak nature of "FYRO" doesn't grate on your nerves like it does mine.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/27/2005 20:26 Comments ||
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#27
One of the characteristic of newspeak was that all terms used in politics had to have an inherent positive or negative meaning so as to combine (and thus destroy) meanings.
Examples of newspeak: "Death tax", "Pro-life", "EUrabia", "Eurorealist" as opposed to the more neutral "Inheritance estate tax" or "anti-abortionist" or "European Union" or "Eurosceptic"
Even "socialist" is soon becoming newspeak when it's used by conservatives as a useful word to combine and destroy the different meanings of European-style socialdemocracy and USSR-style "socialistic" tyranny.
The nature of "FYRO Macedonia" doesn't seem very newspeak-like with that criterion. It doesn't combine and destroy meanings, it doesn't have an inherent positive or negative feel. It's an abbreviation but not one meant to distance the mind from the actual words and concepts discussed.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/27/2005 21:06 Comments ||
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#29
Lets have a UN conference. Then Aris can tell us how much he knows and how little we know, and we can all get fat on fois gras, filet mignon and French Champagne!
#30
Ah, screw it. This time give the Serbs carte blanche, and let the muslims have a serving of the sh*t sandwich they insist on feeding the rest of the world.
Another French BrainstormFart
January 27, 2005; Page A12
Speaking of bad French ideas, yesterday President Jacques Chirac proposed an "experimental" international tax to fund research and treatment of AIDS. He suggests raising perhaps $10 billion a year from a tax on all airline tickets, or a levy on fuel or global capital movements.
There is of course no such thing as an "experimental" tax; once created it is more or less permanent, and merely increases in rate and breadth. Such a global levy has long been the dream of the United Nations, which must now depend on the contributions of sovereign governments that would prefer to spend their money on their own priorities. The Bush Administration, for example, has already pledged $15 billion from U.S. taxpayers for anti-AIDS spending.
If we can nonetheless return the favor to Mr. Chirac, we'd recommend that he actually cut taxes on his fellow Frenchmen. That would help revive the anemic French economy, making that country richer and its citizens better able to donate their own money to charity
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/27/2005 9:22 Comments ||
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#6
Good to go, and I want a global tax to go to funding the U.S. Military. Since we do more meals on wheels, peace keeeping, and disaster relief then the UN could ever dream, I'd like this "experimental" tax to take effect immediately. Your first check M.Chirac should be addressed to:
World for American warmongers we hate but need.
Care of Mr. Jarhead, Capt, USMC
10 November Ln.
Red State, USA
01775
P.S. Please no personal checks or pay pal. Certified mail and cashiers checks okay.
Vice President Dick Cheney voiced his support Wednesday for Ukraine's new president, and his bright orange tie — symbolic of Viktor Yushchenko's "Orange Revolution" — drove home the message. "The world has been inspired by the remarkable images emanating from Ukraine in recent months," Cheney said at a cultural center in Krakow, Poland, where the two met during a heavy snowstorm. "We have watched as Ukrainians, by the hundreds of thousands, converged on Kiev's Independence Square to preserve their freedom and safeguard their right to determine the destiny of their nation." He said the Ukrainian people have shown the world the "unstoppable power of the popular will."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
And Pleasseee...Mr Cheney, let the Secret Service double taste the food, or better yet, bring your own!!
Today is the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Rantburg's dear friend True German Ally is part of that select group of extraordinary persons who survived the horrors of Hitler's final solution and now is able to return to participate in this commemoration. It is incumbent upon all of us to remember how thin the line is between good and evil, and to strive always to propagate the good and vanquish the evil, in all its forms.
The linked article was not written by TGA (as far as I know), but by an Auschwitz survivor, and I would like TGA to know he's in our prayers today.
Sixty years ago, the Russians liberated Auschwitz, as the Americans approached Dachau. The Allied advance revealed to a stunned world the horrors of the greatest catastrophe ever to befall our civilization. To a survivor of both death factories, where Hitler's gruesome reality eclipsed Dante's imaginary inferno, being alive and well so many years later feels unreal.
We the survivors are now disappearing one by one. Soon history will speak of Auschwitz at best with the impersonal voice of researchers and novelists, at worst with the malevolence of demagogues and falsifiers. This week the last of us, with a multitude of heads of state and other dignitaries, are gathering at that cursed site to remind the world that past can be prologue, that the mountains of human ashes dispersed there are a warning to humanity of what may still lie ahead.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Seafarious ||
01/27/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#8
As I stand their bound at rifle point I watch as my daughters 8 and 3 clutch their most prized possessions, their favorite dolls and their mother's hands. They are led off on a rail car to certain death. My wife cannot look back on me for the emeny forces her to keep her head straight. I can't look upon the face of the love of my life and the most precious people in world to me. My wife will not disobey the enemies commands because she couldn't stand to think I would have to watch her and my daughters be killed. Off she goes never to be seen again. Clutching my hand and silently sobbing is my son only 5. He has no use to the enemy either. It is my toughest pill to swallow. I'm strong and they can use me but the innocent, the young and weak will be destroyed. Soon they will come for him, rip him from me and do as they may. All I can do is stand helpless and defeated, a broken man a mere vision of myself. As they approach I have a mere moment to recount the joys of my family and pray their death will not be to horrible. At that moment is life worth living? I can't imagine the horror, I've put myself in their position many times before. What do you do? I don't think words can express anymore. I only hope we learn, learn to fight hatred and phobias. Is Islam the next Nazi Regime? Would they do this to all non-believers? I would step on that train for my family, leave them be! I'm a firefighter and I do it everyday for strangers. But, will my sacrifice be enough? This radicalism has to be fought now, not when Christians, Jews and Hindus are once again being loaded on trains.
#9
I couldn't attend the ceremony in Auschwitz due to some health problems. But I'll definitely attend the ceremony for the liberation of Buchenwald by US troops.
#10
"weh mir, nito nit kejner schojn...
gewen a volk, gewen, un schojn nito... gewen
a volk, gewen, un schojn... schojn ojs!
a meissele asa, es hejbt vun chumeschl
sich on un bis, bis jetzt... a meissele
gor trojerik, wer sogt as schejn?
a meisse vun Amolekn un bis an
ergeren vun ihm, dem deitsch... o himl weit,
o breit die erd, o jamim groiss â
nit balt zusamen in eijn knojdl sich
un nit varnicht die schlechte ojf der erd,
soln sej varnichtn sich alejn!"
"Woe is unto me, nobody is left.
There was a people and it is no more.
There was a people and it is ... Gone ...
What a tale. It began in the Bible and lasted till now.
A very sad tale. A tale that began with Amalek and concluded with the far crueller Germans...
O distant sky, wide earth, vast seas,
Do not crush and don't destroy the wicked.
Let them destroy themselves!"
Itzhak Katzenelson
Dos lied vunem ojsgehargetn jidischn volk
(The Song of the Murdered Jewish People, written in the concentration camp of Vittel before the author, who fought and survived the uprising of the Warsaw ghetto, was murdered in Auschwitz on Mai 1st 1944)
#11
"weh mir, nito nit kejner schojn...
gewen a volk, gewen, un schojn nito... gewen
a volk, gewen, un schojn... schojn ojs!
a meissele asa, es hejbt vun chumeschl
sich on un bis, bis jetzt... a meissele
gor trojerik, wer sogt as schejn?
a meisse vun Amolekn un bis an
ergeren vun ihm, dem deitsch... o himl weit,
o breit die erd, o jamim groiss â
nit balt zusamen in eijn knojdl sich
un nit varnicht die schlechte ojf der erd,
soln sej varnichtn sich alejn!"
"Woe is unto me, nobody is left.
There was a people and it is no more.
There was a people and it is ... Gone ...
What a tale. It began in the Bible and lasted till now.
A very sad tale. A tale that began with Amalek and concluded with the far crueller Germans...
O distant sky, wide earth, vast seas,
Do not crush and don't destroy the wicked.
Let them destroy themselves!"
Itzhak Katzenelson
Dos lied vunem ojsgehargetn jidischn volk
(The Song of the Murdered Jewish People, written in the concentration camp of Vittel before the author, who fought and survived the uprising of the Warsaw ghetto, was murdered in Auschwitz on Mai 1st 1944)
I fear it will be unless it can be turned onto another path, at the end of which "submission to God" no longer means "submission to man". But if it cannot be guided-- or shoved-- off its present course, then a showdown is inevitable: it will be either them, or us.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
01/27/2005 17:05 Comments ||
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#13
NEVER F&*KING AGAIN.
Before that happens? an Imam a day - it's all we ask. The Jews will always be the canary in the coal mine, and we need to be there for them
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/27/2005 17:31 Comments ||
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#14
Hope you're back to full strength again soon, TGA.
Bless you, Frank. If there should, God forbid, be a next time, we won't wait quietly -- we'll fight with teeth and toenails if that's all we have, until you bring up the artillery. Deal? Last time around we didn't believe in the pure evil of the plan until it was too late; now we know better.
#16
"weh mir, nito nit kejner schojn...
gewen a volk, gewen, un schojn nito... gewen
a volk, gewen, un schojn... schojn ojs!
a meissele asa, es hejbt vun chumeschl
sich on un bis, bis jetzt... a meissele
gor trojerik, wer sogt as schejn?
a meisse vun Amolekn un bis an
ergeren vun ihm, dem deitsch... o himl weit,
o breit die erd, o jamim groiss â
nit balt zusamen in eijn knojdl sich
un nit varnicht die schlechte ojf der erd,
soln sej varnichtn sich alejn!"
"Woe is unto me, nobody is left.
There was a people and it is no more.
There was a people and it is ... Gone ...
What a tale. It began in the Bible and lasted till now.
A very sad tale. A tale that began with Amalek and concluded with the far crueller Germans...
O distant sky, wide earth, vast seas,
Do not crush and don't destroy the wicked.
Let them destroy themselves!"
Itzhak Katzenelson
Dos lied vunem ojsgehargetn jidischn volk
(The Song of the Murdered Jewish People, written in the concentration camp of Vittel before the author, who fought and survived the uprising of the Warsaw ghetto, was murdered in Auschwitz on Mai 1st 1944)
#17
"weh mir, nito nit kejner schojn...
gewen a volk, gewen, un schojn nito... gewen
a volk, gewen, un schojn... schojn ojs!
a meissele asa, es hejbt vun chumeschl
sich on un bis, bis jetzt... a meissele
gor trojerik, wer sogt as schejn?
a meisse vun Amolekn un bis an
ergeren vun ihm, dem deitsch... o himl weit,
o breit die erd, o jamim groiss â
nit balt zusamen in eijn knojdl sich
un nit varnicht die schlechte ojf der erd,
soln sej varnichtn sich alejn!"
"Woe is unto me, nobody is left.
There was a people and it is no more.
There was a people and it is ... Gone ...
What a tale. It began in the Bible and lasted till now.
A very sad tale. A tale that began with Amalek and concluded with the far crueller Germans...
O distant sky, wide earth, vast seas,
Do not crush and don't destroy the wicked.
Let them destroy themselves!"
Itzhak Katzenelson
Dos lied vunem ojsgehargetn jidischn volk
(The Song of the Murdered Jewish People, written in the concentration camp of Vittel before the author, who fought and survived the uprising of the Warsaw ghetto, was murdered in Auschwitz on Mai 1st 1944)
#1
Local and federal law enforcement authorities are finalizing a task force that is to look into potential fraud in Milwaukee in the Nov. 2 election, sources confirmed today.
The details are being worked out between Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann, U.S. Attorney Steve Biskupic, Milwaukee Police Chief Nannette Hegerty and the local office of the FBI.
A commenter to the blog suggests WI may in the end be officially moved to the Bush column, and many pols jailed. Interesting times, indeed.
#2
That commentator was optomistic. What really needs to happen is for the GOP to have poll watchers at EVERY urban polling place. I think I'll go to Philly next time.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/27/2005 7:13 Comments ||
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#1
Summary: Its Not Just Here *insert suitably heavy music, possibly on a classic concert organ* Centrists across the Anglosphere -- Bush, Blair, Howard -- win consistently over moribund opponents inhabiting both ends of the spectrum, by working to reform the welfare state.
#5
"The Democratic Leadership Council, the party's leading centrist organization, and Third Way, a new group working with moderate Senate Democrats, expect to issue statements soon opposing Bush's push to divert part of the Social Security payroll tax into accounts that individuals could invest in the stock market, officials of the groups say.
Social Security is not welfare. These funds have been paid into the Government by people who have worked. SS could use reform. The best thing would be to have a system whereby Congress cannot fund pet projects from these funds. Maybe the Bush plan of individual accounts would be a way to keep Government's fingers out of the pie.
Rantburgers passionately (as always) discussed Ms. Noonan's response to Bush's Inaugural Address. Apparently she heard about it, and wrote this response in the Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal.com. Enjoy the whole thing.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/27/2005 12:12:57 AM ||
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Excerpts from Peggy Responds:
A week later, do I stand by your views?
Yes because someone hurt my feelings on the night of the inagural ball. Downright snubbed me they did. Said Bush's speech was the best speech ever written. Excues me? Hello! I wrote speeches for Ronald Reagan, and my long flowery speeches are waaay better than that straight-to the-point, Gettysburg type crap.
But isn't hard criticism of such an important speech at such a serious moment disloyal? You're a Bush supporter!
I am. I even took off from the Journal to work for his re-election. I did exciting and I hope helpful work at considerable financial loss. And what praise did I get? None! I got nothing but financial loss and had to listen to crap about how that was the best speech ever written!
Why don't you see the speech as so many others do, as a thematic and romantic statement of what we all hope for, world freedom? Don't we all want that?
Yes. But words have meaning. To declare that it is now the policy of the United States to eradicate tyranny in the world, that we are embarking on the greatest crusade in the history of freedom, and that the survival of American liberty is dependent on the liberty of every other nation--seemed to me, you know, just a bunch of blah, blah, blah, and is , rhetorical and emotional overreach of the most embarrassing sort. You see, I am a speech righter before an American. It matters more to me how it is being presented, rather than what is being presented
I mean, look, they forgot context!! *Scoff* All speeches take place within a historical context, a time and place. A good speech acknowledges context often without even mentioning it. The American masses are just too stupid to put it in context themselves. A good speech writer, like me, does that for them.
What's wrong with a little overweening ambition? Shouldn't man's reach exceed his grasp?
True. But despite the fact that it was clarified that Bush's speech does not indicate a change in policy, I'm going to rant on and on as if it did. Because, I'm washed up in the Republican Party circles now, and I'm tired of not getting all of the press kudos for my brilliant speeches that far less talented people like Michael Moore and Maureen Dowd get. And the Democrats have better parties then the Republicans do. All the cool people hang out with the Dems. I'm going to prove to Howard Dean - or whoever gets the spot, that I can write for them. Look, Howie, Look!!! I can write meaningless, petulant, childish crap myself.
Exhibit A Refrain from breast beating, and don't clobber the world over the head with your moral fabulousness.
Exhibit B
It is Bush, the dumb, unnuanced, chimp, cowboy trying to be fancy. It is a tough man who speaks the language of business, sports and politics trying to be high-toned and elegant.
Do you have anything else to say, Peggy?
Yes, I have over 2,000 words of flowery, meandering words, painting pretty pictures that you can read if you have nothing better to do. I really don't say anything other than my own opinion. If you want to cut to the crap, I just basically say that Bush's speech wasn't as good as anything I could have written and that he's a dumb cowboy.
#2
Shorter version: Peggy is in serious defense mode. Peggy drops down several notches in my esteem meter.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/27/2005 9:30 Comments ||
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#3
Here is an unhappy fact: Certain authoritarians and tyrants whose leadership is illegitimate and unjust have functioned in history as--ugly imagery coming--garbage-can lids on their societies. They keep freedom from entering, it is true. But when they are removed, the garbage--the freelance terrorists, the grievance merchants, the ethnic nationalists--pops out all over. Yes, freedom is good and to be strived for. But cleaning up the garbage is not pretty. And it sometimes leaves the neighborhood in an even bigger mess than it had been
What weve learned is that the garbage comes out anyway. The garbage lids arent really very effective. The lids have been stripped off in Latin America, east asia, and eastern europe, and the garbage has proven less than anticipated. Weve kept the lids on in the mideast, and thats where the shit comes from. Bush to his credit understands that.
And the choice between "we're going to push for democracy everywhere NOW" and "its just a romantic and thematic speech" is a false one. There are clearly a range of policy implementation steps that can and must be taken to implement this, which go beyond mere words in a speech, yet are less than global crusade.
#4
time for Peggy to do a LONG sabbatical and get some hubris-reduction
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/27/2005 10:20 Comments ||
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#5
Brother 'Hawk, you took the words right out of my keyboard!
Peggy, please, in the name of all that is holy, stop hanging out with Brent Scowcroft and go spend time with normal people. The "realists" are tyrrany's enablers.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/27/2005 10:23 Comments ||
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#6
really think I'm right on this one. Everything I need to know I learned in kindy-garten.
Right after the speech - Peggy had glowing words on Fox. Then, after a poor night sleep (fire alarm) she panned it - and panned it big. Using all the left's buzz words...cowboy, lack of nuance etc.
She's a good speech writer, but this is a great speech. One for the ages and she knows it. Plus, it was written in a style 100% opposite her own - blunt and to the point.
I think someone hurt her feelings that night and after suffering a financial loss, poor night sleep and a blow to her ego - she, in a moment of human weakness said words that just can not be taken back. First she very publically loved it then she very publically hated it. Loving it again wasn't an option without losing her position of authority and credibility forever. No, then she'd be a stooge, a pansy, a flake. It was a no win. So now she's digging in.
Personally, I think it's tragic. She knows it's a great speech. She said so immediately following. But she'll spend her life trying to justify herself here - never being able to admit it was a small moment of human failing, jealousy and spite.
In her efforts to maintain her head high in this life, she will be mocked by the future, something she must be acutely aware of. The Getttysburg address was widely panned in its time too.
That she, a great writer of her time, will go down in history as a small minded critic of one of the greatest speeches of our time, is truly a tragedy indeed.
#7
Her response to your-all response to her response to Bush's speech should be even more amusing, or so one can hope. And a fun time is had by all...;-)
#8
2b, I read the whole article, I thought she was saying it was not blunt enough?
I don't have a problem w/what she said. One person's opinion, such is life. So she thinks Bush sounded out of character, so what. I think she supports Bush, I know I do, and I don't like everything he does all the time.
"The "realists" are tyrrany's enablers."
-um, no. I consider myself a realist, & have yet to enabled any despot to take rule anywhere. Those who passively stand by and watch bad things happen are tyrrany's enablers.
I think more to the point is that the U.S. military can realistically & pretty conventionally kick the shit out of any two dictatorial countries in the world at the same time, and definitely any one dictatorship. We can take them all on one at a time, but not all at the same time realistically speaking. I think the worry is that by promoting a possible policy shift (which was denied by the admin anyhow) could possibly lead to too many fires we'll have to piss on and not enough bladder to do it with. Even so, I think LH is quite correct that there is a whole spectrum of means to encourage democratic reform all over the world w/out getting militarily involved. Bush prolly did not have the time w/an inaugural type of speech to put it in that context (as Noonan hoped) but I hope that's what it boils down to. Though I'm not sure we havn't already been promoting this since the cold war.
#12
Though I'm not sure we havn't already been promoting this since the cold war.
To the extent Clinton did it, it was not particularly strategic, and it was too quiet, and it was way inadequate. Which, I suppose, goes some way to excuse the GOP assault on Clintonist demo promotion, and their preference for "humility". But its only become clear that this is essential since 9/11, and its been quite disputed since then. And since the speech, I might add.
I think it is sad that some of you view Noonan's criticisms about the President's speech equates "disloyalty." Noonan did not haphazardly criticize the speech without supporting the problems she had with it. She writes an opinion column - get it? - opinion column= her opinions.
When we smugly dump on left wing journalists as biased hacks towing the DNC party line, how much better are we for pressuring conservative journalists to be in lockstep with the Admin, oohing and aahing about every utterance the President makes?
#14
oh please. Your "loyalty" issue is a blatant strawman. Calling Bush a simpleton "trying to act fancy" is not serious dialoge (though it would pass for it on the left) - it's just petty and childish as are all her other cowboy references. It adds nothing of substance to the discussion.
Her complaints are as shrill and meanigless as if she had denigrated a speech about civil rights because the man giving it didn't have perfect diction, didn't say his "s's" right, and the public just wasn't ready for such frank talk. Besides, wink, wink, there's reason to fear that he won't stop with just equality for just schools and the busses - what he really wants is an excuse to go after your women.
#15
you can tell her what you think at peggy@peggynoonan.com
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/27/2005 17:44 Comments ||
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#16
Your analogy lost me, 2b, particularly the bold what he really wants is an excuse to go after your women. Huh?
As I recall in the initial opinion piece Noonan did not say the cowboy things that you say offended you and she mentioned them now only to defend herself because others did focus on the superficial things she did not.
Whatever.
Noonan's opinion piece will be viewed as a disloyal by some conservatives( yes, 2b, that's the slam that Noonan has taken by and large). Other conservatives will see Noonan's piece as reasoned observations. I thought GWB's speech was over the top and you likely thought it was perfect. So we it follows that we would evaluate Noonan's piece depending on whether or not she reinforces our reaction to GWB's speech. No mystery there.
#17
no - if I/we didn't like her 2nd take we're accused of seeing her as disloyal to W - your words. How about seeing her as deeply wrong? How about questioning her personal, not party, motives since her two takes on the speech, a day apart, were so different?
If someone else see it as reasoned observations, fine. Don't paint dissent from her 2nd take as kneejerk W loyalty, and the argument's over
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/27/2005 18:10 Comments ||
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#18
Frank - agreed.
Bush the uppity n&^^$r cowboy
Had Peggy given it a day or two and written a thoughtful piece - she would have had my respect and attention.
Bush's speech was simple and, for anyone not already primed to be paranoid, Bush was speaking to a simple truth - democracies don't attack each other and thus we should do all we can to encourage democracy around the world.
It's a big F'ing duh. Yet Peggy rushes out, fans the flames of paranoia, "I fear he's going after your women to invade the world!
#19
I think it is sad that some of you view Noonan's criticisms about the President's speech equates "disloyalty."
The quote is for you, Frank, read my words carefully. Do I make any reference to Noonan's first opinion piece or to her 2nd opinion piece? No, I don't.
I am speaking generally that the reaction to Noonan's opinions about GWB's speech has been to slam her for disloyalty by conservatives who are pissed that she held the opinions she did. I do not name you or anyone else specifically in my quote. It is a just a passing observation I made with reference to this huge fury that Noonan has directed at her from some conservatives.
Noonan is in the employ of the WSJ not the GOP. She is paid to write thoughtful reasoned opinion pieces, and that's what she did. To disagree with Noonan's opinions is one thing but to ascribe unsourced, unproven, "hidden" motives to Noonan claiming her opinions about GWB's speech represented ( the following is an example of the personal attacks against Noonan) "a small moment of human failing, jealousy and spite" is silly.
#20
Yawn. I'm not interested in defending Noonan's petulant rant. She's entitled to her opinion, and I'm entitled to mine. And my opinion is that, rather than sounding like a professional historian critiquing a historic speech, she sounded like a catty, chat-room troll. In the future, I intended to afford her all of the attention I think she merits - none.
On walking, quacking, swimming, and crapping like a duck...
Rep. David Dreier's new bill will not create a new national identification card. Oh sure, it will add a magnetic identification strip and identifying photo to your existing Social Security card, and you'll be required to present the new card for identification any time you want to apply for a new job. At that point, your prospective employer would then check the identification listed on your card against a national database which identifies eligible employees.
But Rep. Dreier's bill will not create a national identification card. How do I know? The card will say so! Look:
To offset fears of government intrusion, the card would be clearly marked, "This is not a national ID card," Dreier said.
#2
I no longer fear a non-counterfeitable nat'l ID card. In fact, I'm now for it
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/27/2005 21:20 Comments ||
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#3
I've slowly moved over to the "OK" column, too. My biggest reservation is still the possibility of it being used too broadly. I realize no law will be able to stop the spread of its use, but maybe put a ten-year expiration on it.
Or, heck, a Constitutional amendment saying that any law establishing a form of national identification expires in ten years, and that any use beyond immigration, verification of eligibility for employment and voting is forbidden.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/27/2005 21:29 Comments ||
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#4
Not only no more multiple dipping (eventually), but you'll actually have to be a citizen to get those bennies.
#6
Mag stripe - ha! Hope the (non-national ID) National ID contains a smart chip. Then the data in it can be digitally signed by the Feds. Make it a whole lot harder to either alter or counterfeit.
Posted by: ed ||
01/27/2005 08:35 ||
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#1
I see the word "profiteer" and I automaitcally guess a bunch of people with French, German, & Russian surnames and UN credentials.
I RTFA and was disappointed. I guess the real graft has yet to be uncovered.
#2
High oil prices don't seem to be doing serious harm to the American economy, although it is one more factor weighing down the European economies, especially Germany and France. I wouldn't mind oil prices staying on the high side long enough for us as a people to shift toward higher fuel efficiency -- cars, Energy Star household equipment, the cute little light diodes that are supposed to replace regular lightbulbs in the next few years. With the U.S. as a market for these kinds of goods, manufacturers will have the economy of scale to enable such goods to be priced within reach of the rest of the world.
#3
Well said Trailing Wife, but I pray to God that those cute little light diodes won't be coming only and straight from China. My conscience is already bothering me over the greater weight of Saudi oil versus Chinese goods! Which presents the greater strategic threat?
#4
smn, I am seriously the wrong person to ask that question of. Give me a couple more years here at Rantburg, and then perhaps I'll be ready to give it a try. But I do hear that the diodes have something like a 10-year lifespan, which if true makes them pretty much a buy-once item -- should be easier on your conscience then.
#5
Time for my cold fusion plug. Not withstanding what you may have heard/read, cold fusion is real and offers the potential of almost unlimited almost free energy. Why the possibility it could exist should be rejected by the scientific powers-that-be is an interesting question, but no more intersting than the completely fictitious global warming nonsense. I assure you cold fusion is a real phenomena and in the next few years you will see a car battery size device that will produce kilowatts of power for months. EBook for those who are interested. And it may well come out of China.
#6
My conscience is already bothering me over the greater weight of Saudi oil versus Chinese goods
Both are bad for our economy. We are importing way more than we sell abroad. We are suffering from twin deficits - gov't over spending and foreign goods importation out weighing our goods being exported.
I read the article that was posted earlier about the federal gov't debt as a modest percentage percentage of our GDP and the article suggesting that running huge deficits wasn't bad for our economy.
But such interpretation is misleading because the GDP reflects our entire economic base, whereas our debt can only be paid down by gov't revenues. Our debt is financed upwards of 40% by foreign investors. Our dollar's devaluation reflects foreign investors thinking it's unlikely we will pay back the debt. So I don't agree that our economy is in good shape.
#7
Our dollar's devaluation reflects foreign investors thinking it's unlikely we will pay back the debt. Cause and effect are by no means so clear cut. Arguably the main reason for the US trade deficit is people hold USD because they trust the US gov most of all to protect its value. A similar argument holds for US Gov debt, although gov debt is primarily a domestic problem.
#9
Interesting article in the WSJ today regarding cost of oil. Cost to discover is $2-3 per barrel. Cost to lift is $.5-1 in the ME. Author argues that the abundance of supply is what allows the price to fluctuate so violently. Cost to lift Alberta tar sands is $15 per barrel but it requires substantial capital investment that will be at risk if the ME lowers the price. We should be taking some of their profit by way of an oil import excise and providing incentives to develop Alberta sands.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/27/2005 8:28 Comments ||
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#10
Mrs Davis: That's an interesting counterpoint to the "peak oil" conspiracy theorists, don't you think?
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
01/27/2005 8:55 Comments ||
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#11
On this subject, any Rantburgers know semiconductor materials "in, around and through"?
#12
I see no one has risen to my cold fusion post. A shame becuase its perhaps the biggest story of my generation. Cold fusion will affect society as profoundly as the internal combustion engine.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/27/2005 18:12 Comments ||
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#14
2xstandard: Our debt is financed upwards of 40% by foreign investors.
This doesn't mean that we need foreigners to finance the debt - it's a result of the fact that foreign central banks trying to depress the value of their currencies by buying dollars tend to prefer to park these dollars in relatively liquid instruments like Treasuries. At present levels, Treasury yields aren't attractive to American investors. If foreign investors pull out, and yields rise, the slack will be taken up by US investors, who have $34T in assets, dwarfing the $5T or so outstanding Treasury debt. In 2003, money market mutual funds alone held $2.3T in debt assets. This excludes corporate, other institutional and individual holdings of specific debt securities.
2xstandard: Our dollar's devaluation reflects foreign investors thinking it's unlikely we will pay back the debt.
If foreign investors thought this, they would stop buying US debt, causing interest rates to rise. In recent months, interest rates haven't changed.
The devaluation of the dollar is a result of the fact that foreign economies aren't growing, meaning that their economies aren't absorbing US goods. The US economy is growing, which has increased demand for foreign goods, driving down the US dollar, which may further slow down foreign economies, as goods from US companies crowd out goods made by local companies.
This is why foreign countries are complaining about the weak US dollar, not because they think a weak dollar is bad for the US, but because it's bad for them. Airbus is going to need massive subsidies because it now has to compete with a Boeing quoting the same dollar prices that it was before, whereas Airbus must increase its prices 50% in dollar terms just to make the same number of euros it used to make before the dollar fell.
#15
When you consider that many companies have margins in the mid-single digits (percentage-wise), it's clear why Europe is complaining. American companies are going to clean their clocks. All the whining about central banks switching away from the dollar is just smoke-and-mirrors. They can't switch and have their companies remain competitive. And if they hold dollars to keep their home currencies weak, they need to invest these dollars in something. Only Treasuries have the kind of liquidity they need. US corporate or municipal debt won't do.
#18
ZF and Phil, I am not a trained economist so maybe my take on our twin deficits and our foreign indebtness and how the cost of oil is bad for us is wrong or too simplistic. I apologize if that is the case. However, what I've read from trained economists led me to view things as I do. Maybe they are wrong?
For example:
http://www.aei.org/news/filter.all,newsID.21611/news_detail.asp
"Washington Fiddles While the Dollar Falls" by Desmond Lachman who is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute
Over the past two years, the dollar has shed almost 40 percent of its value against the euro. This has not been the mere result of the vagaries of the international capital market. Rather, it has been a reflection of the growing concerns in those markets about U.S. profligacy and about the increasing tendency of the United States to live considerably beyond its means. Never before over the past hundred years has the gap between U.S. imports and exports been so large in relation to the size of the economy. Never before has the U.S. been so indebted to foreigners as it is today. The deterioration of the U.S. net international investment position at an annual rate of 5 percent of GDP is now very much on Alan Greenspan's mind.
Contrary to what the Treasury would have us believe, the U.S. external payment imbalance is not a reflection of foreigners' hunger to invest in U.S. companies and in the U.S. stock market. Alas, those days went with the bursting of the equity bubble in March 2000. Instead, the main factor now holding up the dollar is the massive purchases of U.S. Treasury paper by foreign central banks, which now finance an unprecedented 50 percent of the U.S. external deficit. They do so not because they believe that the U.S. is an attractive place in which to invest. Rather, they do so as a means to keep their currencies cheap in relation to the dollar so as favor their export sectors.
Depending on foreign central banks to support the dollar is a very thin reed on which to base a dollar policy. Already some foreign central banks, notably those in India and Russia, are showing clear signs that they are tiring of having to accumulate ever-increasing amounts of depreciating dollar paper. They also fear the loss of domestic monetary control and inflationary pressures that flow from having to issue currency to prop up the dollar. It is only a matter of time before other central banks too balk at the potentially large costs to their balance sheets of continuing to pile up dollar holdings in magnitudes that have no historic parallel.
As Alan Greenspan suggests, any serious solution to the U.S. balance of payments problem must begin with a substantial reduction in the U.S. budget deficit as part of a strategy to improve U.S. savings performance.
It would be a grave mistake for Washington to count on endless forbearance in the world currency market while it fails to address the U.S. budget deficit problem. For when currency markets lose confidence, they can be brutal and they can wreak havoc on the equity and bond markets. One can only hope that Washington heeds the alarms already sounding in the currency markets and stops fiddling about the budget before it is too late.
#19
My understanding is that the drop in the dollar is deliberate, specific policy on the part of the Bush administration. That is to say, he wants it to drop.
#20
ZF is mostly right. In addition, the current account (trade) deficit and gov deficit are different things and only weakly related. For example, Australia runs a bigger trade deficit than the USA, yet gov revenues are strongly in surplus (by about as much in GDP terms as the US gov is in deficit). Germany and several other European countries run large trade surpluses and large gov debts. THERE IS NO NECESSARY RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TWO.
So any statement that refers to both the USD and the US gov debt is largely meaningless. In very basic terms if you hold USD, then the most convenient way to hold them is in the form of US gov paper. If they don't hold USD then the gov finances its debt some other way (or doesn't finance it) almost exclusively a domestic issue. Which is where Greenspan is coming from. His remit is inflation and that will be the consequence. BTW the no historical parallels is complete nonsense, the UK was in an almost identical situation a hundred years ago when the pound was the world's currency.
#21
dish, a devalued US dollar is a double edged sword for us, and once again I am looking at the issue based on a layman's readings of opinions from economists.
Yes, GWB had wanted the $ to be devalued a bit in hopes that our exports would pick up to close the gap on the trade deficit. But that did not happen.
In spite of the devalued US $, the trade gap increased.
And the cost of oil had to go up when the dollar's value went down, because most OPEC producers take a hit on a US dollar devaluation because the US dollar is the official currency for petroleum markets. Most of the OPEC countries are making most of their purchases of goods and services ( imports) from countries who use currencies other than the US dollar. So the OPEC countries need to raise prices of oil to make up for their losses the take for imports from the EU and China. American consumers get hit with the rising oil prices and foreign investors who own alot of our debt ( Lachman says it's over 50%) get nervous about devalued US dollars, which they own alot of.
It's kind of a vicious circle, but I think the bottom line is the federal government is getting way over its head with the 2 deficits growing and Congress merrily raising the ceiling for gov't borrowing. At some point in the very near future our nation will pay the price.
I read that the Social Security Trust will be the mitigating factor of reality speak to the USA if no other eventuality comes before it. At around 2016, the gov't can't borrow against the Social Security Trust surplus anymore because there will be too many geezers reaching retirement age all at once and drawing on Social Security.
Maybe ZF or Phil can shed more light on the pros and cons of a devalued US dollar.
January 27, 2005 -- THE three CBS News execs asked to resign earlier this month over the embarrassing Memogate scandal still haven't quit. Instead, they've hired lawyers. Unlike veteran producer Mary Mapes — who was fired outright for using bogus documents in a George Bush-bashing Dan Rather report on "60 Minutes" — the three were asked for their resignations. CBS is still waiting. Sources say Josh Howard, Betsy West and Mary Murphy are no longer coming into the office and could be threatening wrongful dismissal lawsuits as they negotiate severance packages. A spokesman said, "CBS refuses to comment on speculation."
BWAHAHAHAHAHA - thought this could be swept away?
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/27/2005 6:01:48 PM ||
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"CBS refuses to comment on speculation."
"But we're more than happy to air it as news!"
Posted by: Dar ||
01/27/2005 18:36 Comments ||
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#2
Life imitates art. This is a riff on the cereal commercial where the simpleton eating crunchy cereal can't hear his supervisor repeatedly firing him. If CBS doesn't have the institutional discipline to have security escort these people from the premises, box up and ship their personal belongings, and bar them from reentry, it is even more pathetic than it currently appears.
#3
Too close to the UN building. 12 resolutions later....Don't hold your breath. These people will be in place. Remember for liberals its all about appearence not results. Report issued. Resignations request. That's all folks.
via Drudge
Description: The Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS San Francisco (SSN 711) in dry dock to assess damage sustained after running aground approximately 350 miles south of Guam Jan. 8, 2005.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/27/2005 5:07:35 PM ||
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CRAP! That was a hit!
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/27/2005 17:08 Comments ||
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Wow, that was close to head on. The designers. construction crews and actual crewmembers should feel proud. Thanks for not doing "good enough for government work."
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/27/2005 17:17 Comments ||
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#8
Well, geez, no wonder! If they took off that tarp they could see where they're going!
Posted by: Dar ||
01/27/2005 18:33 Comments ||
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#9
Sorry--I shouldn't be making light of this accident since it did claim the life of a sailor. Thank God the boat managed to survive this and bring the rest of the crew home.
Posted by: Dar ||
01/27/2005 18:35 Comments ||
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#10
reminds me of 007 returning a car to Q - slightly used...good design, and crewwork saved the ship, obviously. Crew and Capt should get commended, not slapped around, if that seamount was uncharted
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/27/2005 18:36 Comments ||
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#11
Holy Shiite!
Damn, that crew is good.
Can you imagine a sub from any other country in the world surviving this?
Me neither.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/27/2005 19:37 Comments ||
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#12
Interesting. The hit seems to be from the side and above rather than head-on or from below. She must of rolled into the impact. She is sitting on a block up front indicating the keel is intact all the way forward. She was on her way to buckling too it appears. Witness the hump where that guy is walking. That is not part of the design. I think the fore-aft green bulkhead separates the A and B side of the number 1 forward main ballast tank. And the green bulkhead oriented port-starboard separates the number 1 and 2 main ballast tanks. Separating Main Ballast Tanks into 6 forward and 6 aft tanks was a smart design choice instead of going with 2 big ones. If she had ruptured all of the forward main ballast tanks, recovery would have been more challenging than it already was. Whether she would have been able to move enough water from forward trim tanks to maintain a neutral fore-aft trim let alone positive buoyancy is an interesting question. If she could not obtain positive buoyancy, she would have had to ground herself in shallow water in order to save the crew. Also note the 2 shutter doors on the port torpedo tubes. They remain shuttered and bent with the outer hull. They did not rip off let alone peel back. The shutter door sits in front of the muzzle doors of the tubes. The shutter doors are not part of the pressure hull. The muzzle doors are part of the pressure hull if the breech doors are open for tube loading. I wonder what the muzzle doors look like. The tarp is on to hide the sonar array from view, methinks.
#13
Hmmm. Here is another thought. I wonder if the torpedo tubes themselves are bent. Since the boats always have warshots loaded when underway, I wonder if there might be a Mk-48 torpedo stuck or breeched in the tubes. That would be a challenge to get out. The torpedos use OTTO fuel which is not kind to humans.
Not to worry about the tube. As far as I know, "688 boat" tubes are located amidships. They're in that position so as not to interfere with the fully hemispherical sonar dome at the bow.
I hope any "real squids" will correct me if I'm Wrong
Posted by: Ralph ||
01/27/2005 22:26 Comments ||
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#15
First thing I noticed after the frontal damage was the hump, indicating buckling. This submarine hit HARD!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/27/2005 22:33 Comments ||
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#16
...Holy Mother of Gawd....
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/27/2005 22:58 Comments ||
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The people of Bristol Bay, Alaska, had little use for the energy exploration business back when a salmon was worth about the same as a barrel of oil.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, when state officials and oil companies pushed for onshore and offshore drilling, many residents in the sparsely populated region fought back.
"A sockeye salmon was going for over $2 per pound, oil was $14 a barrel and the Exxon Valdez had just gone up on the rocks," said Tom Hawkins, chief operating officer of the Bristol Bay Native Corp. "People made a good living from fishing and asked themselves, 'Do we really want to take this risk?'
#1
Ah, yes, the King of Swaziland. The MONEY QUOTE:
Some 39 per cent of adult Swazis are infected with HIV/ Aids, the highest proportion in the world. King Mswati responded to the crisis in 2001 by banning virgins from having sex for five years. Any man caught deflowering a virgin would be fined one cow.
This law proved too rigorous for the king. Months later, he chose a 17-year old bride and fined himself one cow.
LMAO! This may not be an RB classic, but it is definitely a runner-up.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/27/2005 22:29 Comments ||
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"Imagine everything you did between the years of 1976 and 1992. Now remove all of it. Those 16 years were taken away from Sunny Jacobs, convicted and sentenced to death for a crime she did not commit. But her story is not unique, and it could happen just as easily to you. The Exonerated tells the true stories of six innocent survivors of death row." — website for the play The Exonerated
fact, Sunny Jacobs, the main character in The Exonerated, is both legally and factually guilty, a woman who has been exonerated only by the Hollywood glitterati who take these claims at face value. The TV-movie version, produced by CourtTV, stars Susan Sarandon as Jacobs. Four other well-known actors perform in what is essentially reader's theater. Six people have been released from death row, all supposedly innocent, railroaded by incompetent police or prosecutors who hid evidence. It is only the latest in a recent spate of political propaganda masquerading as entertainment with the very specific intent of driving and influencing public policy on the death penalty, all funded at least in part by left-wing billionaire George Soros.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve ||
01/27/2005 10:12:12 AM ||
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As opposed to all the people wrongfully convicted for non-capital offenses. I bet the celebrities are beating down the doors of prisons trying to talk to them.
Oh, yeah, you can't push an agenda that way. Sorry, forgot.
#2
With Susan and George what else did you expect. What was this "plea" that is allowing convicted murders to walk free? If I were a member of those officers families, I would want to know what that is all about.
#1
Tipper-Thanks for posting an interesting article. A few noteworthy comments:
â...'Even if we include immigration, the population of the original EU-12 will fall by 7.5 million over the next 45 years, according to the UN calculations. Since the times of the 'Black Death' epidemic in the fourteenth century, Europe has never seen such an extensive population decline,' writes Niall Ferguson, a British historian..."
â...First, a young man graduates from a college or vocational school; then he secures his living, which is followed by marriage; and only then children are born. This succession not only conforms to social conventions but is also based on a profound economic logic: it is simply foolish to start having children before getting a living. The taboo of sex in Western cultures has profound economic reasons...â
â...Instead of integration of immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa into a majority European society, the opposite will occur: the immigrants will integrate the existing European culture into their own civilization. After some time, it will be their civilization that will become dominant...â
We're not the business pages, folks. Let's stick to the WoT and strange animal stories.
Posted by: Dar ||
01/27/2005 10:28:23 AM ||
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CSX also released 2004 earnings reports a couple days ago:
CSX Corporation today reported its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2004.
* Net earnings were $66 million, or 30 cents per share, including international terminal's discontinued operations and related tax obligations, which lowered net earnings by $93 million, or 41 cents per share;
* Net earnings from continuing operations were $159 million, or 71 cents per share, up $47 million, or 42% compared to the prior year's quarter;
* Surface Transportation operating income, including rail and intermodal operations, was $315 million, up $76 million, or 32% compared to the fourth quarter of 2003.
Not too shabby for both east coast RRs--especially considering their 3rd and 4th quarters were in upheaval thanks to the onslaught of hurricanes that not only devastated FL but caused landslides, washouts, and flooding all through the east (even up here in western PA--thanks, Ivan!).
Posted by: Dar ||
01/27/2005 10:36 Comments ||
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Mark Espinola, call your office Crude oil fell for the first day in four after a government report showed an unexpectedly large rise in U.S. inventories last week and OPEC's president signaled that the group wouldn't cut production. Supplies climbed 3.4 million barrels to 295.6 million barrels, more than triple the 1 million-barrel increase that was the median forecast among 13 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Oil prices are too high for a further cut in production or quotas, said Sheikh Ahmad Fahd al-Ahmad al-Sabah, who is the OPEC's president and Kuwait's oil minister. OPEC ministers decided on Dec. 10 to reduce daily oil output by 1 million barrels. ``The promised OPEC cuts are not impacting U.S. import levels,'' said Marshall Steeves, an analyst with Refco Group Inc. in New York. ``I'm not sure whether shipping times or a lack of compliance are responsible, but it's not being felt.'' It could be that all those dreadful snowstorms which kept people off the streets, also kept them from using up the gasoline in their cars. And overall the winter has been warmer than usual, I understand, which means that home heating oil is being used up more slowly as well.
Crude oil for March delivery fell 86 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $48.78 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Yesterday's close of $49.64 a barrel was the highest since Nov. 29. Oil is up 42 percent from a year ago. In London, the March Brent crude-oil futures contract fell 45 cents, or 1 percent, to close at $46.51 a barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange. Brent touched $46.94 yesterday, the highest since Nov. 4. Much more at link
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/27/2005 1:50:55 AM ||
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Hmmm...the price of gasoline had gone up about six cents during the past week...
#2
oil consumption up - heating oil mostly.... still, gas is under $2/gal for mid-grade in SD for the first time in two years
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/27/2005 11:04 Comments ||
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I dunno, I could never wrap my brain around the idea of "heating oil". Of course, being a CA native and a lifelong resident (so far) has something to do with that....
#2
Didn't see anything about Jane Fonda in the link, but did get a rude awakening this morning about 0500 EST. Turned on the TV to AMC in time to see the ending of "The Sands of Iwo Jima" followed by "Barbarella". Only in America could you have John Wayne in one of his most patriotic military roles followed by Jane Fonda as a Slut from Outer Space.
An opposition candidate in the March election escaped unhurt after he was shot at here last weekend by ruling Zanu PF party supporters allegedly on the orders of Deputy Minister of Transport, Andrew Langa. Langa, who is the sitting Member of Parliament (MP) for Insiza, about 120 kilometres south of Bulawayo, is also the Zanu PF candidate for the area in the March poll. He was in the area campaigning when he met the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party's Siyabonga Malandu, who was also canvassing for support. The MP allegedly ordered his younger brother and his driver, who were part of a group of supporters he was travelling with, to shoot at Malandu and his supporters. Neither Malandu nor his supporters were injured because of the shooting although three youths who were part of the opposition group were assaulted.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Fred, is that Fearles Fosdick? Where the hell are the bullet holes?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
01/27/2005 21:27 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.
China has detained dozens of people, some of whom have been severely beaten, for trying to mark the death of former leader Zhao Ziyang, witnesses said. The allegations came as the government intensified security to prevent mourners attending Saturday's funeral in Beijing for Zhao, the former Communist Party secretary general purged for opposing the 1989 military crackdown on the Tiananmen democracy movement. At least three people, including a woman in her 70s, were punched and manhandled by police officers outside the government offices which receive complaints in the Chinese capital, witnesses said. They were among some 60 people who pinned white paper flowers to their clothes, a traditional Chinese symbol of mourning, said a bystander who took pictures of the beatings and posted them on overseas websites. "A man from Henan province was beaten badly. His left eyeball looked like it was beaten out of its socket and he had a one inch cut to his right eye," said the man who requested anonymity. "An elderly woman from Shandong province was beaten to a point where she couldn't move and a man from Hunan province was also beaten," he said. Police shouted at the petitioners that Zhao, who spent nearly 16 years under house arrest until his death last week, was a "political criminal," the witness said.
Vice President 
Via Lucianne:
Crude oil fell for the first day in four after a government report showed an unexpectedly large rise in U.S. inventories last week and OPEC's president signaled that the group wouldn't cut production. Supplies climbed 3.4 million barrels to 295.6 million barrels, more than triple the 1 million-barrel increase that was the median forecast among 13 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Oil prices are too high for a further cut in production or quotas, said Sheikh Ahmad Fahd al-Ahmad al-Sabah, who is the OPEC's president and Kuwait's oil minister. OPEC ministers decided on Dec. 10 to reduce daily oil output by 1 million barrels. ``The promised OPEC cuts are not impacting U.S. import levels,'' said Marshall Steeves, an analyst with Refco Group Inc. in New York. ``I'm not sure whether shipping times or a lack of compliance are responsible, but it's not being felt.'' 
An opposition candidate in the March election escaped unhurt after he was shot at here last weekend by ruling 
