Our National Slut Emeritus holds forth for an Irish audience:
Madonna: 'Katrina was worse than 9/11'
Pop superstar Madonna was left stunned by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which she describes as worse than the September 11th terrorist attacks.
The singer was quizzed on the devastating floods that left much of America's deep south under water, killing thousands and robbing millions of their homes, on the fourth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington DC. She said: "We have had another natural disaster that's kind of making that look like nothing in comparison. Well not nothing, but it's worse in a lot of ways."
A German inventor says he's found a way to make cheap diesel fuel out of dead cats.
Well, out of a lot of stuff. Dead cats just makes for a better headline.
Dr Christian Koch, 55, from Kleinhartmannsdorf, said his method uses old tyres, weeds and animal cadavers. They are heated up to 300 Celsius to filter out hydrocarbon which is then turned into diesel by a catalytic converter. He said the resulting "high quality bio-diesel" costs just 15 pence per litre.
"Bio-diesel" being easier to market than "Road-Kill" diesel
Koch said the cadaver of a fully grown cat can produce 2.5 litres of fuel - meaning around 20 cats are needed for a full tank. He said, "I tank my car with my own diesel mixture and have driven it for 105,000 miles without any problems."
"Except for being chased by all those dogs"
Annelise Krauss of the Dresden Animal Protection Association blasted Koch's new diesel though, saying, "This is as bad as experimenting on animals."
#12
Making fuel this way isn't all that new. It's just now people are interested in it, yes you can make fuel out of plastic, plastic bags and garbage as well.
People have been making stuff out of dead critters for ever and ever. People are doing this fuels production now. It's a good thing tossing petro chemicals away is wasteful.
MICHAEL JACKSON rented out an entire water park in Dubai so children and their parents could have fun for free. The reclusive superstar, now based in the middle east, baffled onlookers at the Wild Wadi park, wearing a white lycra body suit that exposed just his nose and eyes. A lifeguard tells British newspaper the Daily Express, "He looked even stranger than usual. "His body is very skinny and lycra does him no favours."
Posted by: ed ||
09/14/2005 14:22 ||
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Abdula bin Jackson? Thank Gawd no graphic. Hide the little turbins.
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/14/2005 17:48 Comments ||
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#3
You can have mine. She's really very nice, if you like Scarlett O'Hara, as played by Doris Day with the maternal tendencies of Joan Crawford. Oh, sure, she was deported from Hong Kong in a straightjacket, but that was just a misunderstanding over a "figure of speech". I'm sure she really wouldn't have cut those childrens hearts out.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/14/2005 13:14 Comments ||
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#4
Someone originally felt a law was necessary to stop this?
I was researching cousin marriage laws not too long ago, and found that some states do explicitly outlaw marriage between DIL and FIL, etc. I couldn't figure it out, either, because if the woman is still married to the FIL's son, she can't contract a second marriage, and if she's not still married to him, then the father is not her FIL anymore. But there those laws were on the books.
#6
The problem here is not the law in particular, it's the EU claiming sovereignty in this area.
As far as I can tell, there's damn little sovereignty left for the EU members. Of course the elites in Britain, et. al. are happy as pigs in poop over that. They have always been aiming for the US of E. Espeically the elites that expect to run the place without those bothersome elections.
JAKARTA: Wings Air passengers were baffled on Monday when the aircraft that took them from Jakarta landed in a deserted airport after the cabin crew announced they were arriving in Padang, West Sumatra, just on schedule.
Although the recent air disaster that killed 150 people in the neighboring Medan was still on the mind of the 130 passengers, they did not panic because the MD-82 aircraft touched down perfectly.
Still, they were confused when informed they had just landed on the wrong airport, Tabing Airport, which was closed on July 21, following the opening of the new Minangkabau International Airport elsewhere in Padang outskirts.
The aircraft soon took off again with the cabin crew assuring everybody on board that nothing was to worry about the aircraft.
A passenger, Syahrial, said he heard the pilot tell the air traffic control tower of the Minangkabau airport that the runway was in perfect view and ready to touch down. And the tower controller told the pilot to go ahead.
A Minangkabau Airport spokesman Youhanes Gaffar said the incident happened because of bad weather and disruption of the aircraft's navigational system.
"Apparently a passenger used his or her mobile phone when the aircraft was ready to land," he was quoted by Kompas daily as saying.
Posted by: DanNY ||
09/14/2005 00:00 ||
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I'm not saying this is impossible, but I find it very suspicious.
#2
I call bullshit.... a deserted airport with a working instrument landing system? I'm not a pilot, but I assume visual landings are not done in bad weather.
A passenger, Syahrial, said he heard the pilot tell the air traffic control tower of the Minangkabau airport that the runway was in perfect view and ready to touch down. And the tower controller told the pilot to go ahead.
LOL. Excellent hearing. Unless the guy was listening in with a scanner.
Posted by: Rafael ||
09/14/2005 0:39 Comments ||
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#3
I seriously doubt that having a cell phone on makes you line up with the wrong airport. The theory is that it makes controls screwy, not perfect for the wrong place. And that theory is highly suspect to the point where they're loosening rules on electronic devices.
#4
In some parts of the world pilot training is say, somewhat poor. The following story is allegedly true.
It happenned in Africa to two low ranked professional tennis players. They boarded the plane (they told it was a big plane so I guess it was a jet), the plane took off and after a while one of the players noticed the plane was flying unusually low so he asked the stewardess if tehre was a problem. "Don't worry, it is just that if we fly higher the pilot will no longer see the road".
Reeves Air had the contract to fly people out to Shemya Air Base in the Aleutians. One day a pilot was making an approach in zero visability due to fog conditions. Ground control warned him, but he pressed on anyway. Got the plane down, couldn't see to taxi, shut it down and called base ops to come and guide him in. Well, they couldn't find him anywhere on the runway. They kept asking him where he was and all he could say was; "I'm on the ground". Turns out he had landed on the old, and now abandoned WWII airstrip that was next to the active runway.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/14/2005 8:51 Comments ||
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#6
There was a story about an Aeroflot pilot flying under the influence who landed at his old air force base instead of the destination airport.
#8
"Don't worry, it is just that if we fly higher the pilot will no longer see the road". Not only in Africa. 25 years ago, I used to regularly fly Empire Airlines, the NY state regional carrier. Part of their fleet was small 6 or 8 seat passenger planes that flew relatively low and followed the NY state thruway from Utica to NY city rather than a direct route over the Catskills. I sat behind the copilot on one occasion and could see the road map on his lap.
A Chinese cosmetics company is using skin harvested from the corpses of executed convicts to develop beauty products for sale in Europe, an investigation by the Guardian has discovered.
Agents for the firm have told would-be customers it is developing collagen for lip and wrinkle treatments from skin taken from prisoners after they have been shot. The agents say some of the company's products have been exported to the UK, and that the use of skin from condemned convicts is "traditional" and nothing to "make such a big fuss about".
It is unclear whether any of the "aesthetic fillers" such as collagen available in the UK or on the internet are supplied by the company, which cannot be identified for legal reasons. It is also unclear whether collagen made from prisoners' skin is in the research stage or is in production. However, the Guardian has learned that the company has exported collagen products to the UK in the past. An agent told customers it had also exported to the US and European countries, and that it was trying to develop fillers using tissue from aborted foetuses.
When formally approached by the Guardian, the agent denied the company was using skin harvested from executed prisoners. However, he had already admitted it was doing precisely this during a number of conversations with a researcher posing as a Hong Kong businessman. The Press Complaints Commission's code of practice permits subterfuge if there is no other means of investigating a matter of public interest.
The agent told the researcher: "A lot of the research is still carried out in the traditional manner using skin from the executed prisoner and aborted foetus." This material, he said, was being bought from "bio tech" companies based in the northern province of Heilongjiang, and was being developed elsewhere in China.
He suggested that the use of skin and other tissues harvested from executed prisoners was not uncommon. "In China it is considered very normal and I was very shocked that western countries can make such a big fuss about this," he said. Speaking from his office in northern China, he added: "The government has put some pressure on all the medical facilities to keep this type of work in low profile."
#1
The agent told the researcher: "A lot of the research is still carried out in the traditional manner using skin from the executed prisoner and aborted foetus." This material, he said, was being bought from "bio tech" companies based in the northern province of Heilongjiang, and was being developed elsewhere in China.
He suggested that the use of skin and other tissues harvested from executed prisoners was not uncommon. "In China it is considered very normal and I was very shocked that western countries can make such a big fuss about this," he said. Speaking from his office in northern China, he added: "The government has put some pressure on all the medical facilities to keep this type of work in low profile."
The Good Earth?
Posted by: Red Dog ||
09/14/2005 15:40 Comments ||
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Cosmetics makes sense. Not much of a mark-up in lampshades....
#3
Executed convict penis much more powerful (and tasty) than tiger penis.
Posted by: Hung Lo ||
09/14/2005 20:23 Comments ||
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#4
Like olden times when certain spies, assassins, or assorted bad guyz would impersonate an enemy by de facto skinning him and later wearing his face.I'll bite, doesn't Socie-Comie Progressivism imply that society was suppos to positively evolve beyond such primitive, base acts, instead of status quo and regressing backward.
I was under the impression that Heliongjiang was kinda-sorta left behind in the big capitalist boom, sorta like the rust belt here in the 70's and 80's, and wasn't exactly known as a high-tech research center in the country.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
09/14/2005 23:27 Comments ||
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China is building facilities for its strategic oil reserve but stocking it with global prices at current levels would be too risky, a top planning official says.
Zhang Guobao, deputy director of the State Development and Reform Commission, said that even if China moves ahead with plans to stock the reserve it will not be buying oil from the international market. "I can tell you clearly, we are not going to buy now," Zhang said. The government had planned to start filling the stockpile by the end of this year. "International prices are at high level, and to purchase oil for the strategic reserve now would be too risky," Zhang told a news briefing. Hmm...someone else thinks that prices will come down soon.
On Tuesday, New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October was trading around 63.35 dollars a barrel.
China was moving ahead with plans to create a strategic reserve as its economy expands rapidly and demand for imported oil grows, Zhang said. "We think that under the present conditions that we need to set up an oil reserve system but there are many different views among economists on how many days of oil reserves is the optimum (level)," Zhang said.
"Some people say 90 days, others say 120 days; I beleive that this must be decided in accordance with the specific needs of each country," Zhang said, adding that the stategic reserve would likely be filled from domestic sources. As much as humanly possible, says I.
He said China produced 175 million tons of crude oil in 2004 and had net imports of 117 million tons, up 34.8 percent as it overtook Japan as world's second largest importer after the United States. However, in the first eight months of this year, oil imports were up only 3.9 percent to 83 million tons, according to government statistics. "The basic policy for China's energy industry is to rely on domestic supply. China is able to maintain production of crude oil at around 180 million tons a year over the next 20 years," Zhang said.
An undated file photo shows the construction site of the Zhenhai oil reserve in east China's Zhejiang Province. Woohoo, right near here.
Similar to the US strategic reserve, Beijing aims to stockpile up to 100 million barrels of petroleum, equivalent to almost a month's national consumption.
Earlier state media reports said China was set to start filling a 16-tank facility in Zhenhai city in the eastern province of Zhejiang sometime this year. The official also reiterated that China had no plans to set up a special energy ministry in the near future. More bureaucracy...hooray.
Instead, China has established a top level task force headed by Premier Wen Jiabao to handle urgent energy needs, he said. Are they taking lessons from the U.N., or did the U.N. take lessons from them?
China, a net importer of oil for the past decade, is hurriedly looking to meet the demands of an economy which last year grew 9.5 percent. It is estimated the nation of 1.3 billion people will need 450 million tonnes of crude oil and 200 billion cubic meters of natural gas by 2020 to power its factories, cars and offices. Well, there were not nearly as many power outages this summer as there were last summer. At least not in the residential areas, there were plenty in the factories. They even called you and let you know ahead of time.
#1
"International prices are at high level, and to purchase oil for the strategic reserve now would be too risky," Zhang told a news briefing.
Hmm...someone else thinks that prices will come down soon.
This should be taken seriously, if China thinks oil will be coming down in price, odds are damn good they're right.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/14/2005 10:52 Comments ||
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They might be awaiting the special Iranian discount in exchange for their Security Council vote against Iranian nukes.
That should be kicking in in the near future.
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/14/2005 10:57 Comments ||
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#3
If China were to fill its reserve at the time the USA and Europe are releasing oil from their reserves, it would negate the effect and everyone would lose out as prices would go higher.
The reality is that the release of stockpiles made a minimal impact on the price, far less than anticipated. I still maintain oil will continue to rise until a severe recession stops demand increasing.
#4
I just don't see oil returning to below 40 bucks a barrel even long term. Demand for refined products is still almost higher then demand than can be supplied.
#5
Is there anyone from the US who can help them with Shale or reserves from some of the "Zahong" or greater China provinces that may hold crude - long term?
They need a long term reserve system. Why are they still burning it for power? Can we get the Nuclear project off the ground or not?
Since Schroeder was one of the Axis of Weasels, I hope this article is OK?
German opposition challenger Angela Merkel huddled with her closest advisors in a bid to get her election campaign back on track against a resurgent Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. He's surging just like J. Forbes Kerry.
After holding a clear advantage for much of the election campaign, Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats have seen their lead slashed in half by Schroeder's Social Democrats with just four days to go until Sunday's voting.
In a campaign dominated by the economy and tax, Schroeder has apparently succeeded in scaring undecided voters away from the Christian Democrats by homing in on controversial proposals for a 25 percent flat tax rate made by Merkel's shadow finance minister Paul Kirchhof. Aaaah! Lower taxes! Run awaaaaaaaay! I like being a serf, turning over half My produce to the feudal lord.
The Emnid poll for N24 television also predicted that Merkel's chosen coalition would score the same 48.5 percent as an alliance of Schroeder's Social Democrats, their current partners the Greens and the Left Party, an amalgamation of former communists and disgruntled Social Democrats. I wouldn't be sure about that "former" part.
#1
Much cross messages, as typical at this juncture.
UK Telegraph today shows Herr Schroeder sitting in a new innovative car, the message being that he is riding a new innovative car during the German car industry collapse, with plans to reduce tens of thousands of workers in near term (probably after election).
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/14/2005 11:01 Comments ||
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This should be interesting. Previous polls for state elections have underestimated opposition support, and it was Schroeder's party's last trouncing that generated this election.
This is fundamentally a fear of the future election. Staying with Schroeder is a clear path downhill; Merkel a movement out of the comfort zone. Not dissimilar to the U.S. election of 1980 except that Reagan's optimism and confidence made that one a rout.
#3
Schroder may win. In a society where "social justice" (i.e. socialism) rates as a priority for 2/3 of the population, it would be surprising if he did not.
#4
Is Germany still buying nuclear generated electricity from France, since the greens won't allow nuke plants to be built and shut fossil fuel plants under the "Pollution" cry?
Sounds like Germany's doomed to power blackouts and death this winter.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/14/2005 14:38 Comments ||
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She'll make it. The SPD has tried to turn the page with the most stupid lies that are falling apart now.
The CDU has made a few very unnecessary mistakes in the last 2 weeks. But I still hold on to my prediction. CDU/CSU and FDP will secure about 51% of the votes.
#6
TGA, I just found out I'm going to the Bundeswehr USA Oktoberfest again. Can you get me a "Merkel for Chancellor" button/sticker/whatever Germans use for campaign material? Much obliged...
#7
TGA - I hope she does. I really don't want to see Germany go down the socialist toilet to oblivion.
Fingers crossed....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/14/2005 18:48 Comments ||
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The German MSM is full of it. It will be close but Schroeder's Social Democrats are going to be out of power. Of the German MSM think US MSM with brass balls and no problem with outright lies.
It's going to be a Black, Yellow government not a Black, Red or Red, Red, Green one.
#10
Drat. Well, the party is well after the election anyways. I thought 'twould be fun to talk politix between beers. Oh well. Me and my date will have fun anyway.
Germany's Angela Merkel has promised a legal and educational campaign against anti-Semitism if she succeeds in her bid to oust Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, according to an interview published Wednesday in Israel's Haaretz daily.
Merkel, front-runner in opinion polls ahead of Sunday's election, said she intends to step up Israel-German student exchange programs as one measure to increase awareness of anti-Semitism in Germany.
A June 2005 survey of anti-Semitic sentiment in Germany by New York-based Jewish watchdog the Anti-Defamation League shows intolerance of Jews slightly down from last year but still prevalent.
The ADL reported three cases of desecration of Jewish cemeteries in Germany between January and April this year, while in March a giant Nazi swastika symbol was carved onto a frozen lake on the flight path to Berlin's Tegel airport.
"We will fight with determination against this and use all legal means at our disposal," Merkel told Haaretz. "It is important to heighten the society's awareness of the meaning of anti-Semitism, which means the hatred of mankind."
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - The Dutch government plans to open an electronic file on every child at birth as a tool to spot and protect the troubled kids of the future. Beginning Jan. 1, 2007, all citizens will be tracked from cradle to grave in a single database - including health, education, family and police records - the health ministry said Tuesday.
Why don't they just tatoo a bar code on the kids neck and be done with it?
As a privacy safeguard, no single person or agency will be able to access all contents of a file. But organizations can raise "red flags" in the dossier to caution other agencies about problems, ministry spokesman Jan Brouwer said.
Can Rantburg get access? There's a few dossiers on which I'd like to put red flags.
The intention is to protect troubled children, Brouwer said. Until now, schools and police have been unable to communicate with each other about truancy records and criminality, which are often linked.
"Child protection services will say, 'Hey, there's a warning flag from the police. There's another one from school. There's another one from the doctor," Brouwer said. "Something must be going on and it's time to call the parents in for a meeting."
"As a wise woman once said, it takes a village to raise a child"
Every child will get a Citizens Service Number, making it easier to keep track of children with problems even when their families move, said Secretary of Health Clemence Ross. "Safety, guidance, education and supervision are incredibly important for the development of children," Ross said. All Dutch births are currently registered with local authorities.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/14/2005 00:00 ||
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Will that "Citizens Service Number" be a tattoo or a chip implant? I assume this will also have a DNA sample and, as the child matures, a complete financial history added to everything else.
I always thought the survivalist types were way over the top, but I'm beginning to wonder.
#3
This'll make it easier to collect jizya from those who survive the hospital after they're born.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/14/2005 12:58 Comments ||
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I think they ought to stick neon signs up their asses that flash "Troubled Child" so that everyone will know and steer clear. Why should just the government have the inside edge?
The foot in the door really is "It's for the children", isn't it? This is insane.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/14/2005 14:47 Comments ||
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#6
Y'know, on second thought this concept is entirely normal to the German Psyche.
Having failed to impose the concept of "German Supermen" on the world by force, it seems entirely a continuation of that concept to "Track" citizens cradle to grave to see, (And correct) just which flaw doomed the original concept.
Then apply the "Corrections" and try again.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/14/2005 14:57 Comments ||
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Chilling thought, what if you're only allowed to reproduce if you're one of the "Good" people.
Seems right in line with this "Tracking"
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/14/2005 19:22 Comments ||
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There is a shot where Blanco is being set up several days ago for a TV interview, and her press secretary is helping her adjust her mic. Theyâre having a personal conversation, but the cameraman catches it!! In it, she kinda jokes to her press secretary something like âyeah, well I guess I really need to ask for troops,â and a couple more things she says. A bit later in hte segment she gets into a semi-argument with Miles OâBrien, and heâs pointedly asking her exactly WHEN she asked the President for troops.She gets frustrated and says she didnât even know what day it was the, she was confused, but Miles presses her.
Video download at link too. She needs to be impeached more than anyone in this whole mess.
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/14/2005 17:45 Comments ||
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#6
Ok, all together now, one more time, DEMOCRAT=CRIMINAL. They way they keep pounding that home through their own actions, you'd think everyone should know it by now.
Posted by: mac ||
09/14/2005 19:23 Comments ||
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#7
Boys, boys, it's very fashionable to elect a dumbass woman to the governors mansion.
SAN FRANCISCO - Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools was declared unconstitutional Wednesday by a federal judge ruling in the second attempt by an atheist to have the pledge removed from classrooms. The man lost his previous battle before the
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled that the pledge's reference to one nation "under God" violates school children's right to be "free from a coercive requirement to affirm God." Karlton said he was bound by precedent of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which in 2002 ruled in favor of Sacramento atheist Michael Newdow that the pledge is unconstitutional when recited in public schools.
The Supreme Court dismissed the case last year, saying Newdow lacked standing because he did not have custody of his elementary school daughter he sued on behalf of. Newdow, an attorney and a medical doctor, filed an identical case on behalf of three unnamed parents and their children. Karlton said those families have the right to sue.
Karlton, ruling in Sacramento, said he would sign a restraining order preventing the recitation of the pledge at the Elk Grove Unified, Rio Linda and Elverta Joint Elementary school districts, where the plaintiffs' children attend. The decision sets up another showdown over the pledge in schools.
The Becket Fund, a religious rights group that is a party to the case, said it would immediately appeal the case to the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. If the court does not change its precedent, the group would go to the Supreme Court. "It's a way to get this issue to the Supreme Court for a final decision to be made," said fund attorney Jared Leland.
Newdow, reached at his home, was not immediately prepared to comment.
Posted by: ed ||
09/14/2005 14:36 ||
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I'm old enough to remember going to school and finding the words changed from "One Nation, Indivisible" to One Nation, Under God, Indivisible"
I spoke up and said "That's wrong" and was punished for it.
I agree, the words were inserted, and were NOT part of the original "Pledge".
Adding those two words changes the entire intent of the pledge from "America" to "God".
They should indeed be removed, and the pledge restored to it's original intent and wording, a pledge to America, not a pledge to God.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/14/2005 15:18 Comments ||
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I am agnostic but I cannot support this decision.
This is not about the Constitution, it is about the power of a fraction of a small minority (not all atheists/agnostics support this ruling) to compel acceptance of their agenda.
In my view, the "under God" provision is simply an acknowledgement that the majority belief exists and is a significant factor in national history and culture.
It is not a demand or a coercive requirement to change one's belief.
A hypothetical example:
We present a true/false test question to public school students.
"A great majority of the American people profess a belief in a god or various gods."
Is it a coercive "establishment of religion" to require students to answer "true"? To even present the question in the first place?
The crucial assumption in this case is particularly insidious: that the mere acknowledgement of belief carries the full weight of official authority if it is made in an official setting.
This is a projection of the left-totalitarian view of authority, that all official pronouncements are coercive edicts to be obeyed by virtue of their official origin alone.
This is directly opposed, of course, to common-law ideas of due process and rule of law, in which an official pronouncement is worthless in and of itself.
In bringing this case at all, the Left has once again betrayed its real worldview and objectives.
#9
politely as well: remember teh Iran kidnapping? started Mecca madness...Clinton was just a buffoon and criminally negligent. Carter seemed to design his policies to shrink American power and prestige
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/14/2005 20:39 Comments ||
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The Judge obviously never had visions of Nostradamus' future "hideous beast seen near Orogon", aka Satan/Lucifer walking the earth, sub aka the real Godzilla, sub-sub aka God's Father of All VelociRaptors. Rest assured ole Gizzy or Rapty will be Leftist-style "equalist" as he equally and hungrily hunts down and munches on all humans within his grasp, be they JudaeoChristian, Moslem, Wiccan, Pagan, Buddhist or Secularist Naturalist, ... etc.? SCIENCE = the dynamic forces of the System or Universe flow andor ebb over time or certain parameters, but said forces are not supposed to speak or manifest to people in conscience and sentience.
(CNSNews.com) - John Roberts' confirmation hearings and hurricane relief efforts may be dominating the headlines, but the Democratic National Committee is not deterred: It continues to issue daily reminders about the Karl Rove controversy in an effort to keep the issue alive. Each day, the DNC is highlighting a "specific fact" that "Americans deserve to know about the White House's involvement in the improper and possibly illegal disclosure of an undercover CIA agent's identity for political gain."
Memo to DNC: She wasn't undercover, hadn't been for years
Dems are going to be mighty unhappy when the only person indicted in the PlameNameBlameGame is Judith Miller.
The DNC headlines its daily "reminder" with the phrase, "Mr. Bush, Tear Down That Stone Wall!"
Memo to DNC: I'd be careful about mentioning "Walls" if I were you.
The DNC cites news reports saying that the 20-month-long federal grand jury probe into the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity could wrap up within weeks. And if that probe implicates Rove, as the DNC assumes it will, "will Bush keep either of his promises" to fire the person responsible? the DNC is asking.
You assume too much, I think
"Why didn't Bush at least revoke Rove's security clearance when it became clear Rove had improperly used his access to national security secrets to achieve a partisan, political objective?" the DNC asked in Tuesday's daily reminder.
You mean like when Sandy Berger shoved classified documents into his pants?
The Rove controversy made headlines for a few weeks in July, but as "scandals" go, it has failed to produce much grassroots interest or outrage. In a statement released on July 19, the Democratic National Committee suggested that President Bush had nominated Judge John Roberts to torpedo the Rove story. "Faced with a growing scandal surrounding the involvement of Deputy White House chief of Staff Karl Rove and Vice President Cheney's Chief of Staff Lewis Libby in the leaking the identity of a covert CIA operative, President Bush announced his nomination of John Roberts to the Supreme Court late this evening," the DNC said on July 19.
And now he killed 10 thousand people to cover......oh, wait
Posted by: Steve ||
09/14/2005 09:43 ||
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One of Rove's secret fax-memos, the instruments of his control over the entire universe, can be seen here.
Shhhhhh! Don't tell anyone.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/14/2005 10:00 Comments ||
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#2
Can they call me The Evil Karl Rove? My wife says that makes her hot. Thanks a lot...
Posted by: Karl Rove ||
09/14/2005 10:03 Comments ||
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#3
Andrew C. McCarthy writing for NRO. Hat tip to Michelle Malkin. EFL:
Just four months ago, 36 news organizations confederated to file a friend-of-the-court brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington. At the time, Bush-bashing was (no doubt reluctantly) confined to an unusual backseat. The press had no choice - it was time to close ranks around two of its own, namely, the Times's Judith Miller and Time's Matthew Cooper, who were threatened with jail for defying grand jury subpoenas from the special prosecutor.
The media's brief, is fairly short and extremely illuminating. The Times, which is currently spearheading the campaign against Rove and the Bush administration, encouraged its submission. It was joined by a "who's who" of the current Plame stokers, including ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, AP, Newsweek, Reuters America, the Washington Post, the Tribune Company (which publishes the Los Angeles Times and the Baltimore Sun, among other papers), and the White House Correspondents (the organization which represents the White House press corps in its dealings with the executive branch).
The thrust of the brief was that reporters should not be held in contempt or forced to reveal their sources in the Plame investigation. Why? Because, the media organizations confidently asserted, no crime had been committed. Now, that is stunning enough given the baleful shroud the press has consciously cast over this story. Even more remarkable, though, were the key details these self-styled guardians of the public's right to know stressed as being of the utmost importance for the court to grasp - details those same guardians have assiduously suppressed from the coverage actually presented to the public.
Though you would not know it from watching the news, you learn from reading the news agencies' brief that the 1982 law prohibiting disclosure of undercover agents' identities explicitly sets forth a complete defense to this crime. It is contained in Section 422 (of Title 50, U.S. Code), and it provides that an accused leaker is in the clear if, sometime before the leak, "the United States ha[s] publicly acknowledged or revealed" the covert agent's "intelligence relationship to the United States[.]"
As it happens, the media organizations informed the court that long before the Novak revelation (which, as noted above, did not disclose Plame's classified relationship with the CIA), Plame's cover was blown not once but twice. The media based this contention on reporting by the indefatigable Bill Gertz - an old-school, "let's find out what really happened" kind of journalist. Gertz's relevant article was published a year ago in the Washington Times.
THE MEDIA TELLS THE COURT: PLAME'S COVER WAS BLOWN IN THE MID-1990s
As the media alleged to the judges (in Footnote 7, page 8, of their brief), Plame's identity as an undercover CIA officer was first disclosed to Russia in the mid-1990s by a spy in Moscow.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
09/14/2005 10:58 Comments ||
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#4
LinkTV considers Rove right up there with Hitler and is releasing a show called "Bush's Brain" in which they claim that Rove is the evil brain of Bush.
This was followed by "Harry Bellefonte" pleading for more money for LinkTV to persue their great informative projects like "Bush's Brain". "They are making us aware of the major dangers of our times."
Next up was "How the Patroit Act Ruined My Life."
This evil Rovian Act.
#5
Do they realize that Rove is neither elected, nor running for any office?
Or that they're facing having one of their governors being responsible for the deaths of hundreds and endangering thousands?
Or that, well, they're a party of traitors, moonbats, and clowns?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/14/2005 13:04 Comments ||
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#6
" In a statement released on July 19, the Democratic National Committee suggested that President Bush had nominated Judge John Roberts to torpedo the Rove story."
Close circut to Howard Dean: Those stunts only work on the lemurs in the Democratic Party.
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton insists that he knew nothing about Yahoo collaborating in the arrest of a Chinese journalist when he spoke at a Yahoo-related Internet event in China last weekend.He asserts open letters from two organizations warning him about Yahoo's role in the controversial matter never reached him. He apparently also didn't hear the company's co-founder scrambling to explain the affair at the same conference.
"I would've raised it in the speech to the Internet people had I known about it," Mr. Clinton maintained later.
Right after asking for a contribution for his presidential library ...
We do know, from colleagues who were in Hangzhou, at the conference sponsored by Yahoo's new Chinese partner Alibaba.com, that after giving his keynote address journalists peppered Mr. Clinton with questions about the arrest of journalist Shi Tao. The former president simply brushed them off and refused to answer, according to these witnesses.
We also know that Reporters Without Borders, which issued the open letter along with Human Rights in China, faxed a copy of the letter to the Clinton Foundation in New York on Friday morning. That left its staff enough time to tell the former president before his speech Saturday that a journalist had been convicted and jailed for the simple act of writing an email about press restrictions in China. Yahoo helped the authorities track down Mr. Shi by supplying them with his IP address, and is now facing growing calls for a boycott.
Most major papers had the story -- this newspaper and the Financial Times carried both a story and an editorial -- that Yahoo was involved in this controversy on Thursday, 48 hours before Mr. Clinton was due to speak at the Yahoo-related event in China.
Of course, the Shi case is but the latest example of Western Internet companies kowtowing to Chinese authorities. Mr. Clinton could have mentioned Microsoft not letting Chinese clients of its MSN Spaces use words such as "democracy," "freedom" or "human rights." (Microsoft sends its Chinese clients a window warning them not to use "profanity" when they do). Or he could have mentioned Google agreeing to censor its news site in China.
Mr. Clinton could have talked about that. It was after all a forum addressing the Internet in China. Mr. Clinton somehow found time to address the threat to the environment in China. The Associated Press, a wire service not really known for any anti-Clinton bias, found this puzzling too. This was its lead:
"HANGZHOU, China (AP) Former U.S. President Bill Clinton urged China on Saturday to recognize the urgency of the environmental threats to its growth, and to use the Internet as a tool to surmount them. But he remained silent on the risks faced by those who use the Internet as a forum for dissent."
Mr. Clinton also found time to undercut his country's foreign policy on the key matter of China's arms' build-up. The U.S. secretaries of state and defense, Condoleezza Rice and Donald Rumsfeld, have questioned why China's military needs to grow at the spectacular rate it has done recently. But Mr. Clinton sought to put distance between himself and these sentiments, observing, "Once someone else becomes as rich as we are, then whether we have the only big military in the world is their choice, not ours."
What this has to do with the Internet in China is of course not that clear. But we do remember the neglect of the U.S. military during the Clinton years.
The former U.S. president is no longer in command of the American armed forces or of its foreign policy, but China's leaders do read newspapers and know that his wife seems to be preparing to run for the presidency in 2008. His words, therefore, carry weight. Again and again we hear from people inside China's government that Western criticism does make a difference.
Mr. Clinton's political party, meanwhile, continues to press in Congress for laws that would it make it more difficult for China to trade with the U.S. It bears repeating that the way to deal with China is to encourage its commercial engagement with the world and discourage its militaristic and repressive tactics.
Vintage Bubba -- won't find this in MSM
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/14/2005 00:31 ||
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Amid the chaos and confusion that engulfed New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina struck, a local congressman used National Guard troops to check on his property and rescue his personal belongings â even while New Orleans residents were trying to get rescued from rooftops, ABC News has learned.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/14/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Go ahead. Guess. You get just one, but that's all you'll need.
"In an unrelated matter, authorities have recently searched Jefferson's property as part of a federal investigation into the finances of a high-tech firm. Last month FBI officials raided Jefferson's house as well as his home in Washington, D.C., his car and his accountant's house."
Unrelated my ass.
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/14/2005 0:54 Comments ||
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#3
WELL!!! Now we know where the money for the levees went!!!!! I'll bet Landieus' involved TOO!!!!
#4
While leaving his residence in New Orleans, he was heard to say "OK, I've got the bags of unmarked bills irreplaceable family heirlooms, we can go now".
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Four people who operated an electronics firm pleaded guilty Tuesday to illegally shipping nearly $400,000 in items that could be used for military purposes to entities controlled by the Chinese government.
Manten Electronics Inc. president Xu Weibo, 38, and three co-defendants each pleaded guilty to a single charge of conspiring to violate export laws. All four are naturalized U.S. citizens from China. They admitted they lied to U.S. distributors and on shipping documents to conceal the shipments. The conspiracy charge carries up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice any profits.
Didn't they know that it was easier to make out a check to the "Clinton in '96" campaign?
Xu also pleaded guilty to other charges, including a count of violating the Arms Export Control Act, which carries up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million or five times the value of the export or twice any profits.
Among the restricted items Manten obtained was an electronics component that is used in a variety of weapons systems and is found on U.S. bombers, fighter aircraft, military helicopters, missiles and satellites, according to court papers.
The four people at Manten, as well as four people at Universal Technologies Inc. in Mount Laurel, were arrested in 2004 following an 18-month investigation by the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Commerce Department. Prosecutors have reached plea deals with the Universal defendants but the agreements have not yet been formalized, Assistant U.S. Attorney Judith H. Germano said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it has seen a dramatic increase in shipments of sensitive technology and weapons components to China. Since January 2000, the agency has launched more than 400 investigations into illegal technology and arms exports to China.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/14/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
This is nothing less than premeditated treason. Shoot them. 10 or 12 small caliber gut shots each. Let 'em bleed out. Then have a nice trial and present a bill to the Chinese Embassy for the cartridges and all miscellaneous costs. Not kidding. Fuckers.
#2
Does seem that conspiracy charges and five years is kinda light, huh? Guess the constitutional requirement for two witnesses to treason is getting in the way. I wonder if each diode, resistor and chip in a piece of equipment could count as a separate offense ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/14/2005 0:54 Comments ||
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Diplomats at the United Nations finally reached agreement last night on a watered-down document to reform the organisation and tackle poverty just hours before leaders arrived for the start of a world summit. This final draft, to be presented to the leaders for publication on Friday, fell far short of ambitious proposals for an overhaul of the UN which was set out earlier this year by Kofi Annan, the secretary general.
Development campaigners expressed disappointment at the lack of progress on aid, debt and, particularly, trade. Ambassadors at the UN, who have been engaged in tortuous negotiations for weeks, made one final push yesterday to find consensus but soon abandoned the attempt.
Instead, Jean Ping, Gabon's ambassador to the UN and president of the general assembly, unilaterally removed all the remaining points of contention, leaving in place a bland final draft. It is far removed from the original plan to reform the UN to meet the challenges of the 21st century. The general assembly voted in favour of the final draft, which is unlikely to be changed between now and Friday.
About 149 leaders are scheduled to attend the summit, which would make it the biggest-ever world gathering. The general assembly will be addressed by George Bush this morning, and Tony Blair this evening.
Campaigners and diplomats who favoured a bold approach put much of the blame for the failure on John Bolton, the US ambassador to the UN, who introduced hundreds of late changes to the original document.
Attaboy, John. You got a drink coming at the O-club on me.
Mr Bolton said he was pleased with the final draft: "This is not the alpha and omega and we never thought it would be." The US ambassador, who had argued that UN reform was too important to be done in a rush, said: "It was only ever going to be the first step."
Oxfam described the development section of the final draft as a "recycling of old pledges". Save the Children said the chance of a historic breakthrough on poverty "had all but slipped through the fingers of world leaders".
The final draft document shows progress has been made during negotiations on intervention to prevent genocide, but limited progress on the creation of two UN bodies, a human rights council and a peace-building commission. There is no new money for aid or debt relief, and the language on fair trade has been weakened. Nor has there been movement on climate change, arms proliferation or expansion of the security council.
The negotiations have been caught in a squeeze between Mr Bolton, and a group of countries that one diplomat referred to as "the awkward squad of evil", which includes Pakistan, Egypt, Sudan, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Cuba and Venezuela.
Mr Blair, who will meet Mr Bush this morning, is worried that progress made at the G8 meeting at Gleneagles in July on aid and debt may end up being reversed. The prime minister believes elections in Germany and Japan, together with the impact of Hurricane Katrina in the US, may make it more difficult to persuade G8 members to make good on their promises and to widen the Gleneagles agreement to other rich countries.
Rather hard for the Germans to pledge what they don't have.
Although some development campaigners have criticised the government for exaggerating the success of the Gleneagles deal, Mr Blair believes he pushed the G8 as far as possible. A Downing Street source said: "We always said Gleneagles was just a beginning and it is going to take quite a fight to build on it. There is the risk of a backlash."
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/14/2005 00:00 ||
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"Campaigners and diplomats who favoured a bold approach..."
They misspelled "old".
Throwing money, other people's money, is always their "answer". The UN is the most concentrated nest of con artists, kleptocrats, crooks, scammers, and schemers ever assembled.
#2
"Poor nations lose in watered-down UN document" What did they lose? Jaques and Kofi's attempt to put the UN;s hand in my wallet? Oxfam? Save the Children? Are they here in my town saving children? Those recycling old pledges would be the EU of course.
Stick a fork in this waste of space and time called the UN, it's done.
#9
Oxfam described the development section of the final draft as a "recycling of old pledges". Save the Children said the chance of a historic breakthrough on poverty "had all but slipped through the fingers of world leaders".
#1
Aide pretty much stolen from the Red Cross, diverted from their non-political efforts to support Cindi's terrorist friends.....
So thanks to the efforts of the Veterans For Peace, crackpot radicals like Malik Rahim (and Andrea Garland and Ward Reilly) are receiving and distributing donated supplies which have been diverted away from the Red Cross's non-political efforts.
And of course the Veterans For Peace themselves are getting money and media and computer equipment out of this. Donations that may have otherwise gone to helping actual Katrina victims, are going instead to an organization that supports terrorism, seeks to impeach the President and hates America on principle.
Remember, all of this is being done by the VFP under the guise of "supporting the Red Cross" and helping the victims of Katrina.
Sold her soul to anyone who would bite at the oppertunity for gain over those who were devestated over anger inflicted by people like her and her ilk using money given by GOOD people.
The husband-and-wife owners of a nursing home were charged with homicide for not evacuating 34 elderly patients who later died in Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters. The arrests mark the beginning of an attempt by prosecutors to hold those responsible for the New Orleans catastrophe accountable. The Louisiana attorney general's office said all of its investigators have been pulled from other tasks to work on the Medicaid Fraud Unit, the team whose work led to the arrests Tuesday of the owners of the St. Rita's nursing home in Chalmette. Kris Wartelle, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Charles Foti, said the office is looking into other allegations of neglect that may have led to injuries or deaths at nursing homes and hospitals. "Reports are flooding in. It just depends on what's legitimate and what is not," Wartelle said today.
In Washington, Senate Republicans today scuttled an attempt by Sen. Hillary Clinton to establish an independent, bipartisan panel patterned after the 9/11 Commission to investigate what went wrong with federal, state and local governments' response to the hurricane. Separately, a Senate committee opened a hearing on the disaster, with the panel's Republican chairwoman saying that changes instituted after Sept. 11 in the government's emergency-preparedness failed their first major test during Katrina. With billions of dollars to boost disaster preparedness at all levels of government, "we would have expected a sharp, crisp response to this terrible tragedy," said Sen. Susan Collins, RINO-Maine. "Instead, we witnessed what appeared to be a sluggish initial response."
For Louisiana alone, the death toll surged by more than half Tuesday to 423, and the number is certain to climb. Including deaths in four other states, Katrina's overall toll stood at 659. "Let me caution everyone: We have not done the secondary searches in the areas where the water was the highest. So we still have a lot of work to do, and those numbers probably will go up," Mayor Ray Nagin said.
Authorities said the toll would be lower if nursing-home owners Salvador and Mable Mangano had heeded warnings to evacuate their patients as Katrina came ashore Aug. 29. "The pathetic thing in this case was that they were asked if they wanted to move them and they did not," Foti said. "They were warned repeatedly that this storm was coming. In effect, their inaction resulted in the deaths of these people." The Manganos were released on $50,000 bail each; each of the 34 counts against them carries up to five years in prison. Their attorney, Jim Cobb, said his clients were innocent and had waited for a mandatory evacuation order from the officials of St. Bernard Parish that never came. Cobb said the Manganos were forced to make a difficult decision as Katrina approached: risk the health of the patients â many of them frail and on feeding tubes â in an evacuation, or keep them comfortable at the home through the storm. Tom Rodrigue, whose mother died in the home, was not satisfied. "She deserved the chance, you know, to be rescued instead of having to drown like a rat," he said.
The attorney general is also investigating the discovery of more than 40 corpses at flooded-out Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans. A hospital official said the 106-degree heat inside the hospital as the patients waited for days to be evacuated likely contributed to their deaths.
On Tuesday, President Bush said he took responsibility for the fitful federal response to the devastation. New Orleans' mayor was asked on ABC's "Good Morning America" if he took responsibility for the city's response. "I'm going to be a man about this. Whatever I did, whatever I could have done better, I'm going to stand up and history will judge me accordingly," Nagin said in an interview broadcast today. "But let's make sure that as we analyze what Ray Nagin as mayor did, let's look at what everybody in authority (did) so that this never happens again in this country."
The updated Louisiana death toll was released as Gov. Kathleen Blanco lashed out at the federal government, accusing it of moving too slowly in recovering the bodies. The dead "deserve more respect than they have received," she said. However, Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman David Passey said the state asked to take over body recovery last week. "The collection of bodies is not normally a FEMA responsibility," he said.
I hope they have that request from the State in writing.
Not all the news was grim. The New Orleans airport reopened to commercial flights Tuesday, the port resumed operations far earlier than expected, and Nagin said dry sections of the city â including the French Quarter and central business district â could be reopened as early as Monday, provided the Environmental Protection Agency determines the air is safe to breathe. "We're bringing New Orleans back," Nagin said. "We're bringing this culture back. We're bringing this music back. I'm tired of hearing these helicopters. I want to hear some jazz." Government test results released today said the floodwaters in New Orleans still pose a health risk because of dangerous levels of sewage-related bacteria and toxic chemicals. But air pollutants were found to be at acceptable levels.
Nagin also said Tuesday the city does not have the cash to keep paying its employees and was working "feverishly" with banks and federal officials to secure a line of credit to get the city through the end of the year.
Local authorities have been issuing more passes allowing residents to return to the city for the day to check on their businesses, save vital records and retrieve data from computers â although some people arriving by a highway south of the city had to endure a four-hour wait at a checkpoint. Nagin hoped other evacuees scattered across the country also would return, despite speculation that some would prefer to settle in their new towns rather than face the chore of rebuilding in New Orleans. "I know New Orleanians. Once the beignets start cooking up again and the gumbo is in the pots and red beans and rice are served on Monday â in New Orleans, and not where they are â they're going to be back," Nagin said.
The Army Corps of Engineers reported significant progress pumping out flooded areas of New Orleans and neighboring parishes. The pumps are removing more than 9 billion gallons a day, the Corps said. Col. Duane Gapinski estimated that half of the flooded area or less was still under water, and the city was on target to be almost completely drained by Oct. 8. More than 40 pumping stations were operating, including the city's biggest pump. "That will change the world as we know it," Nagin said. The news was more gloomy to the east in St. Bernard Parish, where more than 90 percent of an 17-foot-high levee is damaged and nobody will be allowed to return for four months. "I think about 95 percent of the parish was under water. I would say it's pretty well destroyed," said Col. Richard Baumy of the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office. "You've got to see it to believe it."
Dan Packer, chief executive of Entergy New Orleans, said the company had restored power to 75 percent of the 1.1 million customers who were out at the height of the storm, mostly in Mississippi and areas of Louisiana north and west of New Orleans. Packer said about 264,000 customers were without power Tuesday afternoon, largely in the metro New Orleans area. He said all of the central business district and French Quarter should have power back within two weeks.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/14/2005 15:40 ||
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#1
I hope those charges include criminal negligence against Nagin and Blanco.
Well, I can dream, can't I?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/14/2005 16:42 Comments ||
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#2
...We're bringing this music back. I'm tired of hearing these helicopters. I want to hear some jazz...
Er, Mr. Mayor, your work's not done yet. It's barely even begun. No music for you!
#3
Nagin's a serious piece of work. All he seems to want to do is get the party started again.
Yeah, gotta be the Feds fault that his city went down the shitter in about half a day...
#4
All he seems to want to do is get the party started again.
I'd be willing to bet NO's biggest business is tourism, just like SF and Colonial Williamsburg. Adult theme parks. Nagin knows the taxes don't roll in till the good times roll on. You can bet he will get the party restarted ASAP.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/14/2005 17:22 Comments ||
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Recovery of bodies from the storm-ravaged streets, homes and medical facilities of southeast Louisiana is expected to ramp up by week's end after state and local officials started howling Monday that corpses still dotted sidewalks and occupied long-drained buildings two weeks after Hurricane Katrina's landfall. State officials announced Tuesday that they had contracted directly with Kenyon International Emergency Services, which has been in the area under federal authority since Sept. 7 collecting the remains of dead hurricane victims. The state stepped in, Gov. Kathleen Blanco said, because federal emergency managers were not moving quickly enough to extend the short-term contract, which was set to expire Tuesday.
Depending on which version of the story you read: Since 1997, FEMA has had a working agreement with Kenyon International to provide disaster relief services including mobile morgues and body recovery services, said Bill Berry, a Kenyon spokesman. FEMA first contacted Kenyon on Aug. 30 after Katrina hit. The next day, Kenyon was told where to deliver a mobile morgue in Louisiana as bodies began to surface. On Sept. 7, Kenyon began its recovery process. Neither Kenyon nor FEMA would elaborate on whether a contract between them usually follows. Sounds like they moved pretty fast to me.
"In death, as in life, our people deserve more respect and dignity," Blanco said Tuesday as the state's official number of those who died as a result of Katrina rose to 423. "The failure to execute a contract for the recovery of our citizens has hurt the speed of recovery efforts."
Meanwhile, a Kenyon spokesman said the company will boost the number of its workers on the ground to handle the increased workload as putrid flood waters recede in the hardest-hit neighborhoods. "Our numbers will increase," spokesman Bill Berry said. "We are prepared now to grow to meet the need. We would expect to see the roughly 115 people to increase by the tens and twenties at least, if not more."
Kenyon, which worked at the World Trade Center site in 2001 and retrieved bodies of Australian citizens in Thailand after last year's tsunami, arrived in the New Orleans area nine days after Katrina under a short-term agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to support the state's Department of Health and Hospitals in its recovery of corpses. Under that arrangement, Berry said, Kenyon personnel, who are required to wear hazardous-material-proof suits and undergo toxic decontamination daily, were living at a Baton Rouge funeral home and commuting about four hours round-trip to visit work zones. They also traveled in civilian vans that could not access areas that had a few feet of water or downed trees, he said. "Nothing was made available to us," he said. "We have simply asked for that relief, and it had not yet been found."
A FEMA spokesman could not be reached to respond to those comments.
Berry said the state deal promises his company "proper lodging" somewhere in New Orleans, military vehicles to trudge through severely damaged areas and a central communications truck to dispatch tips about the location of corpses to forensic retrieval teams in the field.
"We will have more commitment from the Louisiana National Guard in their support and escort duties," Berry said. "Things are just moving very effectively. They were already beginning to develop, but this is simply going to give us the might of the state of Louisiana that has the governor saying, 'Bring my people home. It has been long enough.'"
David Passey, a FEMA spokesman, could not say why active-duty and National Guard soldiers have not been participating in body collection even though they constitute the largest relief personnel presence in the New Orleans area. "I don't know that they can't," Passey said. He speculated that it might be because state and federal authorities want to be sure the process is handled "with dignity" by people with experience in such delicate tasks. Another FEMA spokesman, Ricardo Zuniga, said Monday that the agency's policy bars military and municipal police officers from touching the bodies, except to tag them and report their location to other authorities."The general feeling is that if you have people who are trained and experienced, there's less likelihood that there would be a disturbance that would affect the identification of that individual," Passey said.
Berry said Kenyon aims to collect corpses intact or in as "physically compact a group of remains as possible." He said victims have been found in various states: in large groups at nursing homes; floating in flooded basements amid bobbing machinery; and alone on city sidewalks.
"We're finding remains in many different conditions," he said, adding that the recovery process is handled in a dignified manner based on "cultural" norms. No religious services are conducted at the site of retrieval. Blanco aides did not say how long Kenyon will be retained or how much it will be paid. Passey said the state will be reimbursed under FEMA's public-assistance program for any money it spends on corpse retrieval.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/14/2005 15:20 ||
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Perhaps this new sound economical move will get us introduced to an another relative of Mr. Farmin' B. Hard?
A Cabinet minister in Zimbabwe has warned the government may take over white-owned firms in an exercise similar to actions under Harare's five-year-old land-reform programme, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Minister of Transport Chris Mushohwe told a business conference in the mountain resort of Nyanga last week that the government could seize companies owned or run by whites, the privately run Daily Mirror reported. "Most of these companies do not want to give us equity. We might decide to take over these companies just like we did during the land-reform exercise," Mushohwe was quoted as telling the conference.
Zimbabwe's economy has been in rapid freefall decline since the launch of the land-confiscation reform programme, which has obliterated cut production in the key agricultural sector.
Last Friday, Mugabe signed into law controversial amendments to the Constitution that will make it impossible for the 4 000 or so white farmers who have lost their land to contest the takeovers in court.
The Daily Mirror said black executives attending the conference, organised by the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), were unimpressed by the transport minister's comments. "What signals does this send to investors?" one executive was quoted as asking.
All the ones Bob wants you to see.
The changes to Zimbabwe's Constitution also promote "affirmative action" in favour of "persons who have been previously disadvantaged by unfair discrimination".
Economists say the new land laws, which also give ownership of all agricultural land to the state, will drive off foreign investment. But the paper said Minister of Finance Herbert Murerwa told the CZI conference that the amendments to the Constitution were not a threat to commerce and industry. "The intention [of the constitutional amendments] was to confirm the acquisition of land that had already been taken anyway. We have never said that this would apply to other forms of business," Murerwa said.
It was not immediately clear how many whites still own businesses. A recent population census revealed that whites and Asians make up 0,5% of the country's 11,6-million people.
#2
Yo, Farmin! Check it out! I gonna be famous like you!
Posted by: Bidness B. Hard ||
09/14/2005 11:32 Comments ||
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#3
Whoa. A few years ago, Zimbob had 1 million more people. even thought AIDS is (estimated) to kill 1% of the population each year, that still does not accont for the 10% population decline, especially taking into consideration the large birth rate. While other African countries are increasing 2-3% each year (in the face of AIDS and civil war), Zimbobland manages to lose 10% of its population. Bob is a special kind of leader not seen since Stalin and Pol Pot.
Posted by: ed ||
09/14/2005 11:46 Comments ||
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#4
Affirmative action for "persons who have been previously disadvantaged by unfair discrimination."
At this point, I'd say the white farmers also fit into that category very nicely.
#5
That wacky Zim-Bob! The only good to come from this will be a textbook business case on How To Ruin A Country. Too bad for the average Zim citizen/victim, though. It sucks to be you!
#6
don't forget: South Africa is teh key , allowing Bob to stay afloat. China plays a small part, but if SA quit supporting Bob - he'd be gone. Thanks Mbeki, you ignorant racist asshole
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/14/2005 12:53 Comments ||
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#7
Are there even White Farmers left in Zim-land? I would think they all left to neighboring countries by now.
Posted by: Charles ||
09/14/2005 13:18 Comments ||
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#8
Hmm.
The seemingly frivolous seizure of private property by the government for the alleged greater good. It seems so familiar...I can't quite put my finger on it...
Posted by: SLO Jim ||
09/14/2005 13:21 Comments ||
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#9
SLO Jim: Hillary Clinton's economic plan ring any bells?
Agreeing there was sex discrimination in her firing, jurors awarded $788,000 to a principal at an elementary school run by an Islamic group.
Zakiyyah Muhammad, a convert to Islam, was fired two years ago as principal of the Orange Crescent School in Garden Grove, run by the Islamic Society of Orange County.
Her lawyer, Ed Connor, said she challenged male superiors, and gender bias led to her dismissal.
"Our case was she did not fit stereotypical notions held by Muslim men of how Muslim women should act," Connor said.
Jurors said there was no evidence to support a separate allegation of racial bias by Muhammad, who is black.
Muhammad, 60, said her case showed the cultural schism that can exist between U.S.-born Islamic women who believe they are equal to men.
Defense attorney Barbara Fitzgerald called the verdict "erroneous" and predicted it would be overturned on appeal.
Jurors deliberated two days before deciding late Friday that the Islamic Society, school board president Fazal Mirza and board treasurer Refat Abodia should pay Muhammad $788,000, which included punitive damages of $130,000.
Besides discrimination, jurors convicted the defendants of intentional infliction of emotional distress, fraud, negligence and conspiracy to defraud.
#1
Well that's a hard learned lesson in cultural norms and respecting women from an american perspective. I'd venture a guess you've got to try pretty hard to PO a jury to tag em like that. The fraud and conspiracy to defraud thing is very hard to prove and denotes particularly bad behavior. Usually the defendant has to literally stick their own foot in their A&% to win on that type of claim.
#3
Obviously a travesty of justice. Ms. Muhammad must have known, or should have know, that Islam considers women property, useful ony when bearing male children.
Since she chose to convert anyway she should not be entitled to any award for emotional distress, fraud, negligence or conspiracy.
Just to show the moonbat lunacy of all this ...
Minister Louis Farrakhan was in Charlotte Monday to rally support for his Millions More March. However, he did have some choice words about the response to Hurricane Katrina victims some of whom are staying at the Charlotte Coliseum.
Farrakhan's been traveling across the country to visit shelters like the one that is set up at the coliseum. He said he's not happy with the job the American Red Cross is doing.
He had harsh words for FEMA too. But that was just the warm up. Farrakhan also shared his thoughts on how the levee breached in the first place. "I heard from a very reliable source who saw a 25 foot deep crater under the levee breach. It may have been blown up to destroy the black part of town and keep the white part dry," Farrakhan said.
Gilton Balanos lived in the very neighborhood Farrakhan was talking about. "I think that's ludicrous," Balanos said. "When this happened we were caught by surprise. Individuals, the government and everybody were caught by surprise."
Farrakhan also said that the Red Crossâ response to the disaster was inadequate. Red Cross Spokesperson Pam Dagle said "there was no basis for the criticism." As for the issue of how the Red Cross spends money and on whom, Daigle said "the Red Crossâ books are open for anyone who wants to see the audits, who wants to see how we spend money."
"I'm sure some good is being done, but not enough to answer the cry." Farrakhan said.
Some evacuees who spoke to 6NEWS said they support Farrakhan and his look into what happened in New Orleans and other affected areas.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/14/2005 00:39 ||
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FaraCon
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/14/2005 0:48 Comments ||
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Poor little tiny Fort Sumter - will the Lefties and aligned Anarchists/ALternatists-for-Regulation-Anti-Sovereignty-and-Socialist Secular World Order ever stop firing on your well-battered walls!? EQUALISM = even when you win, you lose> you know, VICTORY, or MacArthurian "NO SUBSTITUTE FOR VICTORY"???
#3
October 17, 1995FARRAKHAN: Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president. Thomas Jefferson, the third president, and 16 and three make 19 again. What is so deep about this number 19? Why are we standing on the Capitol steps today? That number 19 -- when you have a nine you have a womb that is pregnant. And when you have a one standing by the nine, it means that there's something secret that has to be unfolded.
Farrakan 9/14/05:I heard from a very reliable source who saw a 25 foot deep crater under the levee breach.... Another enigma. Seven days in a week minus a day of rest is six days. When you subtract 6 from 25 you get 19. A 1 standing beside the 9 equals a dark dark secret. Thanks Louie. Not very helpful, but enlightening.
#4
I'm still working on the background research as I have time, but I'm still fairly sure that blowing a levee in the Ninth Ward won't do anything to save the rest of the city from rising water.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
09/14/2005 1:32 Comments ||
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Why do they let Farrakhan into the shelters to speak?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/14/2005 7:44 Comments ||
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SCREWY LOUY ought to team up w/ that stupid BITCH GARLAND and the likes of FATBOY MIKEY MOORE and the ever so popular THIEVING MOMMYSHITHAN!!
Blowing up a levee, INDEED!!!
Too bad we can't WACK EM'ALL!!!
#9
Ahem; an interesting theory indeed. I believe we would ALL be a lot better if the Reverend Sultan simply persued his classical violin hobby. I hear that he is quite good.
#10
A friend of one of my daughters' spent a little time in jail last week, and reported that two black prisoners were seriously discussing the "hurricane machine" that had been used to strike the black folks in New Orleans.
Farrakhan is a racist demagogue, but is he leading, fabricating the lies himself; or is he following, and repeating back what people already say and want to hear a famous name say also?
Posted by: James ||
09/14/2005 15:34 Comments ||
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He said he's not happy with the job the American Red Cross is doing.
Farrakhan laying the ground work for the American Red Crescent.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
09/14/2005 15:52 Comments ||
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And some people wonder why racial prejudice is alive and well in America.
Posted by: mac ||
09/14/2005 19:28 Comments ||
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What the H*ll is going on? How come nobody blames "zionists" for Katrina?
One month after suspending an exhibit comparing animal cruelty to slavery, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is resuming the traveling show on the West Coast.
PETA came under fire after a man began yelling that the exhibit was racist during an Aug. 8 showing in New Haven, Conn. National civil rights groups said the comparison demeaned blacks. The Animal Liberation Project involves a display of panels juxtaposing graphic images of slavery and other human abuse with pictures of chained animals. In one panel, titled "Hanging," a white mob surrounds two lynched blacks swinging from a tree. A nearby picture shows a cow hanging in a slaughterhouse. Priceless and boneheaded all in one.
PETA president Ingrid Newkirk defended the decision to continue the show, even as she acknowledged the display's impact. "I unequivocally apologize for the hurt and upset that this exhibit has caused some of its viewers," she wrote in a statement Monday. "That said, I would fail in my duty if I allowed this exhibit to disappear."
She shouldn't sully the word 'duty'.
Newkirk argued the same mind-set of "human supremacy" that she said caused slavery has a role in animal abuse.
Her message fell flat with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which has called the display a ploy to get attention. "I'm not surprised," NAACP spokesman John White said of the decision to resume the display, declining to elaborate.
But are you mad?
PETA, based in Norfolk, apologized earlier this year for a campaign comparing the suffering of Holocaust victims with that of factory animals. That campaign ran from February 2003 to October 2004.
The Animal Liberation Project was scheduled to resume its tour Tuesday in Portland, Ore. Stops also are scheduled for Seattle and Spokane, Wash.; Boise, Idaho; and Salt Lake City. A PETA spokeswoman, Dawn Carr, said Tuesday that the decision to continue the display followed weeks of reviewing e-mail and completion of an online poll. First the gays compared themselves to black history, now it's cows and little bunnies.
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/14/2005 00:00 ||
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Robert Crawford, I'm not sure if they publicly explained but here is the gist.
PETA think it is more ethical to destroy animals than to have them live in an unfit home. They don't generally belive animals should be pets at all and most of them would be happy if humans died off in a great plague.
After weeks of intense Katrina coverage from the main press, LA TIMES guru Michael Kinsley divulges that CNN was coaching guests to artificially enhance emotions!
Kinsley writes:
"The TV news networks, which only a few months ago were piously suppressing emotional fireworks by their pundits, are now piously encouraging their news anchors to break out of the emotional straitjackets and express outrage. A Los Angeles Times colleague of mine, appearing on CNN last week to talk about Katrina, was told by a producer to 'get angry.'"
Developing...
Posted by: ed ||
09/14/2005 00:00 ||
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Wow. And I thought no one else would notice. Aaron Brown, Paula Zahn, Anderson Cooper... sometimes it's subtle and you have to be quick to catch it, but it's there. Too bad about Cooper. I actually liked him until his coverage of Katrina revealed him to be a moonbat.
Posted by: Rafael ||
09/14/2005 0:29 Comments ||
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This will die a quiet death, like so many outrages before it. Next.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
09/14/2005 1:09 Comments ||
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Rarrrr! Grwollll!
GRRRRRRRR!
Angry Press?
Heh!.
Try Angry People AT the press.
What a useless organization the press has become.
Those mean old natural disasters and the shitstorms people can make out of em.
WASHINGTON - US President George W. Bush said on Tuesday he takes responsibility for the federal government not doing its job in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina hitting the US Gulf Coast.
Wonder if Gov. Blanco has the stones to do this.
âKatrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government,â Bush said at a press conference in a rare admission of fault. âAnd to the extent that the federal government didnât fully do its job right, I take responsibility.â
Bush added that while he will not âdefend the process going inâ to the disaster area, he would âdefend the people who are on the front line of saving livesâ.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/14/2005 00:00 ||
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Bad form, the MSM will twist this to focusing exclusively on Bush.
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/14/2005 0:55 Comments ||
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I think the public like me understands it's his job to take the blame, he is the boss. That puts him head and shoulders above all the hacks who are trying to shed their due share of the blame.
Bush knows something the Dems and MSM have totally overlooked. You can't fix things while you are looking for people to blame. "The buck stops here", it certainly does. There is more understanding and class in GWB's little finger than in all of the MSM and Democrats who are trying to get us to focus on a diversion into the blame game.
Message to the MSM and Dems. How about actually rolling up your sleeves and geting your asses to work. If you can't, get out of the road for people who can. Oh yea and STFU too.
#3
CA - the MSM will do this anyway. Watched ABC coverage and they basically said Bush took responsibility for everything which went wrong which he clearly didn't.
#4
I agree that this mornings coverage on ABC and in the Chicago papers (I assume elsewhere) overstates what GWB said in his reply to the reporters question.
Whats up next?
"Mr President, Don't you think you owe the American public and apology for killing all those black people?"
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A German inventor says he's found a way to make cheap diesel fuel out of dead cats. 
Diplomats at the United Nations finally reached agreement last night on a watered-down document to reform the organisation and tackle poverty just hours before leaders arrived for the start of a world summit. This final draft, to be presented to the leaders for publication on Friday, fell far short of ambitious proposals for an overhaul of the UN which was set out earlier this year by Kofi Annan, the secretary general.
