The Augustine Volcano in Alaska could erupt in hours or days, according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory. The level of concern color code is now orange, which indicates it could erupt at any time. The only color code more serious than orange is red, indicating the volcano is already erupting or is expected to at any time.
Over the past six hours, earthquake activity beneath Augustine has increased markedly. The observatory considers this activity indicative of a heightened possibility of an explosive eruption within hours to days. The volcano showed signs of unrest last week with steam explosions and blasts of ash from the summit.
The volcano hasn't seen much activity since it erupted in 1986, spraying ash over the city of Anchorage, Alaska's most populated city. Recent observations indicated the volcano is producing new magma and a thermal camera measured steam temperature from one of the vents at 750 degrees â well above the average temperature. Seismic activity also increased this week.
#2
HERE is a link to the Alaska Volcano Observatory. There is a webcam on Augustine volcano. Could finally see some of the plume this afternoon after the low cloud layer thinned out. Most of the ash is going WNW to about 50 miles. We are about 120 NM North of Augustine volcano. However, we are taking precautions in case an ash plume heads our way.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/11/2006 23:06 Comments ||
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German scientists have discovered a new source of methane, a greenhouse gas that is second only to carbon dioxide in its impact on climate change. The culprits are plants.
Run for your lives!
They produce about 10 to 30 percent of the annual methane found in the atmosphere, according to researchers at the Max-Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany.
Feed me, Seymour.
The scientists measured the amount of methane released by plants in controlled experiments. They found it increases with rising temperatures and exposure to sunlight. "Significant methane emissions from both intact plants and detached leaves were observed ... in the laboratory and in the field," Dr Frank Keppler and his team said in a report in the journal Nature.
"We also observed large piles of downy feathers, fur and bones, which we have determined to belong to baby bunnies and week-old ducklings. They never had a chance."
Methane, which is produced by city rubbish dumps, coal mining, flatulent animals, rice cultivation and peat bogs, is one of the most potent greenhouse gases in terms of its ability to trap heat. Concentrations of the gas in the atmosphere have almost tripled in the last 150 years. About 600 million tonnes worldwide are produced annually. The scientists said their finding is important for understanding the link between global warming and a rise in greenhouse gases. It could also have implications for the Kyoto Protocol, which calls for developed countries to cut their emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12. Keppler and his colleagues discovered that living plants emit 10 to 100 times more methane than dead plants. Scientists had previously thought that plants could only emit methane in the absence of oxygen.
David Lowe, of the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in New Zealand, said the findings are startling and controversial. "Keppler and colleagues' finding helps to account for observations from space of incredibly large plumes of methane above tropical forests," he said in a commentary on the research. But the study also poses questions, such as how such a potentially large source of methane could have been overlooked and how plants produced it. "There will be a lively scramble among researchers for the answers to these and other questions," Lowe added.
Such as how this new finding can be tied to the Bushitler regime and if emergency measures are needed to tighten controls of household philodendrons.
#2
Scientists had previously thought that plants could only emit methane in the absence of oxygen.
Oooops! Kinda like that "sunshine causes cancer - except you need it" or the "cholesterol is bad for you, waitaminnit, you need it anyway" thingy. Look, understand that you don't have the grand unifying theory of how all things work, and stop trying to manipulate the system! It's worked for beelyuns and beelyuns of years, we don't have to be The Loving Shepherds of Frickin Gaia!
#4
This isn't new. In the latter part of of the 1990s scientists discovered that the Blue Ridge Mountains appear blue because of smog, the chemical constituents are emitted by the trees growing there. In 1998 or -9 I wrote to lead professor on the research (I'm afraid I don't remember his name) to find out which species were most culpable so that we wouldn't plant those at the trailing daughters' school nature preserve, but he never answered. As I recall, however, cottonwoods are wonderful at drawing out pollutants from the groundwater and sequestering the chemicals in their trunks, sunflowers are especially good at removing heavy metals from the soil, and the native Blue Flag iris (iris [virginicus] shrevei) is particularly good at pulling pollutants out of running water.
#5
Sniff, Sniff - and to think it only took twenty to thirty years to affirm my old science thesis, and by the Germans no less. Time to celebrate wid a Beer, or 24; and maybe a nice Philly Cheeseteak SUb, or 3.
#6
Sniff, Sniff - and to think it only took twenty to thirty years to affirm my old science thesis, and by the Germans no less. Time to celebrate wid a Beer, or 24; and maybe a nice Philly Cheeseteak SUb, or 3.
A man wielding a knife has stabbed nine people at a Moscow synagogue. The man, described as a skinhead, burst into the synagogue on Bolshaya Bronnaya street during evening prayers.
He struck out at random before being wrestled to the ground by the rabbi and his son, Itar-Tass news agency said. The man is now in police custody. Four of those injured are in a serious condition, reports say. Rabbi Yitzhak Kogan, quoted by Itar-Tass, said the attacker had shouted "I will kill you" before lashing out indiscriminately with his knife.
He was identified as a 20-year-old Muscovite. Several ambulances were called to the scene in central Moscow to deal with the casualties. Russia's Chief Rabbi Berl Lazar announced he was cutting short a visit to Israel and returning to Moscow. He called on the Russian authorities to fight the "brown plague" of fascism.
In recent years, there have been a number of attacks on synagogues and Jewish centres across Russia.
FORT SUMNER, N.M. -- A small -town rumor that sparked world -wide interest about a mouse burning down a house has been found to be untrue.
After 81-year-old Chano Mares's house burned down Saturday in Fort Sumner, news services picked up the quirky story. "Flaming Mouse Burns Down House" read the headline over an Associated Press story that appeared on WSBTV.com, for example. According to the initial report, Mares threw the critter in a pile of burning leaves near his home, but it ran back to the house on fire. A local firefighter said the mouse ran to just beneath a window and the flames spread up the window and throughout the house. All contents of the home were destroyed, but no one was injured.
Interest in fires has been high lately. Unseasonably dry and windy conditions have charred more than 53,000 acres and destroyed 10 homes in southeastern New Mexico in recent weeks. The mouse story, however, has been doused by Mares.
"It's really humorous more than anything that a mouse burned down the house," he told KOAT-TV in Albuquerque. The mouse was dead when it hit the burning leaves.
Mares said he trapped and killed the critter and tossed it on the fire. The flames, he said, probably reached his house because they were driven by high winds. Capt. Jim Lyssy of the Fort Sumner Fire Department said the rumor probably got started because there was "a little too much excitement" at the time of the fire.
Mares lost everything -- and has no insurance -- but the mouse story still makes him smile.
"I started laughing, and I'll be laughing from now on," he said. "It's silly."
#4
There is something glarinly missing from this story.
According to the initial report, Mares threw the critter in a pile of burning leaves near his home, but it ran back to the house on fire. A local firefighter said the mouse ran to just beneath a window and the flames spread up the window and throughout the house. All contents of the home were destroyed, but no one was injured.
Sooo... did a local firefighter tell the reporter this and he was mistaken, or did the reporter just make it up? Enquiring minds...
#6
It is an urban legend; one of the oldest. Used to involve hilbillys tying a stick of dynamite to a small animal in the desert, who promptly takes cover under one of the hilbilly's brand new dualie pickup truck. As soon as I heard this story, the BS detector went off.
Posted by: Mark E. ||
01/11/2006 16:07 Comments ||
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#7
I too, welcome our mousee overlords!
Are they white? And is the answer to the question of life, the universe and everything an integer .... ??? (Hitchhiker's reference)
JOHANNESBURG, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Attacks on humans by man-eating lions are on the rise in Tanzania and Mozambique, raising the stakes in the conservation game as environmentalists strive to save the big cats from extinction.
Lions in the area have developed a taste for human flesh because people have been sleeping outdoors to protect their crops from raiding bushpigs, which the cats follow onto croplands, a leading expert said.
"In Tanzania in the early 1990s there were about 40 recorded lion attacks a year. In the past couple of years they have risen to over 100 and about 70 percent are fatal," said Craig Packer, an ecologist at the University of Minnesota.
"The problems are down in southern Tanzania and northern Mozambique, a region which is very remote and very poor," Packer told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday. Packer, who has headed the Serengeti Lion Project since 1978, was in Johannesburg for a conference on conservation strategies to save the African lion which also aims to find ways to reduce human-feline conflict.
Estimates for the continent's lion population range from 23,000 to 40,000.
Sealink for balance.
Lacking indoor plumbing, people could also be encouraged to build toilet facilities closer to their homes to limit the distance taken on nocturnal forays when the lions were on the prowl.
#3
No doubt this will be the target of sneers and mockery. O Senator Proxmire, where are you when we need you? I predict, however, this will be an interesting and useful step in the understanding of thin film chemistry and nano-scale particle interactions. Lots of important science looks silly and useless at first.
I can imaging early venture capitalists looking at Galvani's twitching frog legs and saying "That's great, Luigi. We'll call you when we need some twitching frog legs". Silly stuff at its birth, but electrochemistry and neuro-physiology were wating down the road. (If you slept thru science class, here is a hint )
#6
ZURICH, Switzerland (AFP) - Albert Hofmann, the Swiss chemist who discovered the now-banned hallucinogenic drug LSD that was an icon of the Hippy movement, celebrated his 100th birthday.
"I'm just an ordinary Swiss, who likes the simple things in life," said Hofmann in an interview with the Tages Anzeiger newspaper.
Firemen in a small Japanese town have been left red-faced after a party to mark the end of a fire awareness promotional event ended in a blaze that badly damaged their station. The two-storey wooden fire station in Shimohetsugi, southern Japan, has been extensively damaged by the blaze. No one has been injured in the fire, which is thought to have been started either by a gas canister used for the firemen's barbecue or by a kerosene heater. "It's very embarrassing that this should happen to people whose job it is to go and put out fires," the spokesman said.
And you thought you were having a bad day ...
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
I did something like that over christmas I was installing an A/V system and accidentally created a loop sending 1000 watts into the board. I am a A/V tech
#1
Brilliant idea: if we ever actually go to war with this man who apparently staged a tactical retreat when he turned over his nuclear program to the U.S., it will take considerably fewer of our missiles (or whatever) to blow up the things we want blown up. I'm all for waging war on the cheap, if it can be done effectively. ;-)
#2
I'm sorry, refresh my memory.
Who brokered the mideast road map to a new palestinian state?
Who is the largest foreign contributor to the palestinian authority?
Who leans on Israel to keep them from annihilating those worthless, thankless, brainless toads?
It's a damn shame we are against the palestinians.
"Fears remain that 16 medical workers accused of deliberately infecting almost 400 Libyan children with HIV could be sentenced to death if convicted."
"The groupâa male doctor and five female nurses from Bulgaria, a male Palestinian doctor, and nine Libyan former hospital managers and staffâhave been held in prison for four and a half years as their court case continues (BMJ 2001;322:260)."
"Charges were brought against them in February 1999 after 393 children were found to have been infected with HIV at Al-Fateh Children's Hospital in Benghazi. The health staff are accused of deliberately injecting the patients with blood contaminated with HIV. Twenty one infected children are known to have died by 2000, and up to 60 more are believed to have died since then."
"The Libyan authorities have just agreed to let Professor Luc Montagnier, the discoverer of HIV, and Professor Vittorio Collizzi, of the Virology and Immunopathology Laboratory at Tor Vergata University in Rome, testify at the trial next month."
"Professors Montagnier and Collizzi visited Libya on the official invitation of the Qaddafi International Foundation for Charity Associations, run by Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi's son Seif El Islam Gadaffi, with the aim of identifying the cause of the tragedy. The professors recently submitted a joint report in which they concluded that the mass infection was due to poor hygiene standards at the hospital that pre-dated the foreign health workers' employment there."
#5
Bobby-trapping everything would cause a chain-reaction to a well-placed MOAB - same sort of effect that the firebombing of Tokyo had. The fires all joined together and created a massive firestorm that actually melted streets. With everything booby-trapped {including people}, one MOAB would effectively become the world's most powerful cluster munition.
#8
"The Colonel" by describing the premises of Cold War-era Commie "People's War", and post-Cold War/USSR "Asymmetric Warfare" is indirectly affirming that these and suicide attacks are mostly political weapons, not a military one, where final victory is achieved by means and methods other than direct organized/centralized linear combat. The Colonel is also affirming what is likely to be used against any America attack by Iran and North Korea wid the exception that the guerillas will also have nukes, biowar, and chemwar assets. Liberalism = Popular Capitalism > akin to LIMITED SOCIALISM -the glitch here is that America's Liberals and aligned no longer want alleged LIMITED SOCIALISM, THEY WANT TOTAL/ABSOLUTE SOCIALISM OR GOVERNMENTISM IN EVERYTHING. For the time being America's Liberals or Colonel-noid "Popular Capitalists" want Limited-Total Socialism disguised as the PC, ambiguous, subjective "Status Quo" or other. By inferring America as a "gigantic power" the Colonel is indir affirming that America is too successful and too big for the world to seemingly contain or control, too big and strong for the world's britches. THe world has to combine in order to stop = destroying America while internally the US DemoLefties poison us and save = weaken us from within.
More than two million Muslim pilgrims have begun the ritual stoning of the devil that signifies the climax of the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Pilgrims flocked to the site at Mena's Jamarat Bridge to cast the first set of stones before the crowds arrived. They must stand and stone three thick walls in a symbolic casting out of the devil and rejection of temptation. The occasion is subject to strict security as it had witnessed deadly stampedes in the past, like in 2004 when 250 pilgrims were trampled to death.
Let's go for 300 this year...
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Where's the caption for the photo? You know, the one that says
"In case of Islamist attack, Insert 100KT warhead here".
I see this photo and I think "I wish I had the ability to fly a plane and drop a big fat nuke right on that square".
It's kinda like a big square target.
Not a little nuke. Not a proto-nuke like those dropped on hiroshima, but a big bum-thumping mushroom clouder the kind they made in case of war with the old USSR.
Think of it.
The Wahhabis would have to admit Allah wasn't the most powerful any more otherwise He surely wouldn't let such a thing happen to his most devout followers.
Imagine the soul searching!
It would be best if the bombing were done by a fanatical Iranian Shi'ite, so the Wahhabist anger could be taken out on Ahmed Ahmedinijad and not on the West.
DOPY [sic] Gary Telford showed drunken pals how he caught his manhood in a mouse trap â and did it again. Pub manager Gary, 32, was in agony after the party piece went wrong.
Amazingly it was the SECOND time he has been taken to casualty after getting his privates mangled in the stunt. The first accident happened at the age of 14 when a schoolboy prank went wrong. He needed 14 stitches to fix his wounded willy.
When regulars at The Railway pub in Ipswich, Suffolk, heard about Garyâs painful past they egged him on to show them what happened. A pal put a mouse trap on a pool table for the demonstration â but Gary tripped as he walked towards it with his manhood hanging out.
Last night Gary said: âI was quite drunk so I undid my flies and walked over to the trap. I really didnât mean to set the trap off again but I stumbled and it went. I must be the only bloke in Britain to have caught my bits in a mousetrap not once but twice.
âIt is completely and utterly embarrassing.
âLuckily I only nipped the end of my privates but I still had to go to casualty for a tetanus injection.
âThe nurses thought it was hilarious â especially when they realised it was my second visit for the same accident.â Or maybe they were laughing at you for another reason...
There was an extraordinary case the other day in the local [Kadiköy, Turkey] press. A man discovered that his neighbour had used the manâs chicken for sexual purposes. He was very angry, and shot him. Sexual congress with chickens would probably have been the most direct way of contracting bird flu...
The article didn't mention whether the chicken was beheaded or stoned.
Continuing our series from yesterday....Where's PETA and ALF when the animals strike back?
The Muslim faithful are supposed to sacrifice sheep or other livestock for the Eid al-Adha festival, but in Turkey more than 1,600 people cut themselves and two died of heart attacks on Tuesday. Are they considered "martyrs", too?
Turkey's streets annually run with blood as sheep and cattle have their throats cut on pavements and waste ground to commemorate Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son for God. The scenes are decried by the secular media which every year calls for an end to the public slaughter.
Television showed a number of bulls escaping the knife and running down the streets. One butted open the door of a corner shop and took refuge inside. Angry bulls in at least two places attacked their would-be killers and put them in hospital.
But one man in the western province of Bolu solved the problem of how to catch an escaped bull by shooting it in the legs with a shot-gun and then cutting its throat.
Welcomed with a standing ovation, Cindy Sheehan and co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace gave a rousing talk. She stressed the need to impeach this administration as war criminals who continue to lie to the American public about pre-war Iraq intelligence. She also contends that Pres. Bush's assertions about pulling the U.S. troops out of Iraq would lead to chaos are a part of a calculated strategy to mislead the American public. Cindy reminded the audience that we all need to take responsibility for Iraqâas we elected the officials who ultimately allowed the invasion and occupation. We have the power to remove them from office. Cindy emphasized we must exit Iraq now to save precious lives. After expressing her support for a Dept. of Peace, Cindy concluded that she'd like to create a U.S. Dept. of History, with herself as the first secretary.
Actor Sean Penn added to the enthusiasm of the day by stressing that all of the nation's anti-war activism was taking hold and was starting to workâwhile admitting that the stress of living under the current administration was making it tough for him to quit smoking. Stating that he "was not a pacifist on the inside", he was moved to be one on the outside for the sake of his children and grandchildren's future. He said we have to fight for everything we have.
Perhaps the most unforgettable moment occurred when Jesse Dyen, Camp Casey's beloved sound guy and songwriter, played his guitar and sang "Sons and Daughters", the beautiful and plaintive anthem that was born in Crawford during those hot August nights. Before he sang, Jesse asked the audience which direction southeast was. He explained that when the song was sung every night at Camp Casey, they always faced Bush's ranch. The emotion in his song was reflected and magnified by the packed hall. It was aching and palpable.
#1
Stating that he "was not a pacifist on the inside", [Penn] was moved to be one on the outside for the sake of his children and grandchildren's future.
As any photographer in Hollywood can attest. Killing 3000 Americans? Not so bad, but take my picture and it's go time.
#2
"After expressing her support for a Dept. of Peace, Cindy concluded that she'd like to create a U.S. Dept. of History, with herself as the first secretary."
Good God...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
01/11/2006 18:52 Comments ||
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Things really got ugly--really ugly--between Sens. Kennedy and Specter. Kennedy (D-Mass) asked further hostile questions on CAP--the Princeton University concerned alumni organization that, among other things, opposed co-education at the university. Kennedy said he did not think Alito's responses to the committee on CAP "add up." Kennedy proposed issuing a subpoena to the owner of the organization's records and go into executive session to do so. Specter reacted angrily, asking why Kennedy had not brought this up in public as opposed to consulting with Specter on it in advance. Kennedy claims he sent Specter a letter. Specter, angrily, said he never got one.
"If you're going to rule it [a subpoena] out of order, I want to have a vote on that," Kennedy said.
"I take umbrage at you telling me what I received," Specter said, with growing anger.
Kennedy: "I would appeal the ruling of the chair."
Specter: "There's been no ruling of the chair."
Kennedy says he's moving for an executive session and "we're gonna have votes of this commlittee again and again and again" until Specter goes along. Specter: "I'm not going to have you run this committee," Specter said. "I will consider it in due course."
Earlier, Kennedy had read some racist-sounding article from a CAP-related magazine--Prospect--in an apparent effort to associate Alito with it. Alito said "had I thought that that's what this organization stood for, I would never have been associated with it in any way." Kennedy then read from an apparently anti-gay article from the same magazine in an apparent effort to associate Alito with it. "I would not have anything to do with statements of that nature," said Alito.
Alito said he was unaware of these articles. "Many of the things that you've mentioned are things I have always stood against," Alito said. "If I had received any information at any point" like that, "I would never had anything to do with it." Just before the recess, Kennedy asked that the now-infamous letter be included in the record.
#2
tainting with innuendo, lies, personal smears. Joe McCarthy would feel at home in current the Dem party, especially if he'd killed a girl, cheated in college and was kicked out and was a habitual drunk...oh, wait...
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/11/2006 14:41 Comments ||
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#3
"In an era when America is still too divided by race and by riches, Judge Alito has not written one single opinion on the merits in favor of a person of color alleging race discrimination on the job: in 15 years on the bench, not one."
quote from Mr. Kennedy. He seems to be saying that a judge should not rule on the law, but on the "merits" of a particular person's position based on skin color. He seems to be in favor of racial quotas in judicial decisions. I think hes' gone off his trolley.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/11/2006 15:16 Comments ||
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#4
What a proud day it must be for Democrats. The Huckster from Massachusetts was able to insinuate a Pointy-Hat connection to the Supreme Court nominee and induce Irritative Jowl-Syndrome with Chairman Spector all in one adolescent exchange. Never mind Alito sufficiently and predictably disavowed improper quotes attributed to another person; Teddy scored a perfect ten on the Drama scale. After all, isnât perception what really counts with Democrats? The pundits on the nightly news probably wonât delve too in-depth into the mundane aspects of Judicial vs. Legislative powers. But you can bet your ass this heated exchange will be discussed ad nausea thus insuring even the casual observer will hear about âCAPâ.
#6
I liked what one of the powerline guy's said about Sen Schumer ....his sneering, bullying tactics reminded him of (the actor playing) Sen. McCarthy.
#2
I said before our recall campaign, "any idiot can be Gov when things are going well, you find out who you elected when things are going well." Our idiot over-reacted to a (short lived) energy crisis and cost the State BILLIONS of dollars. Then he wanted to have the voters pay for his mistake instead of using some fiscal discipline. Not sure how vulnerable Blanco is after Katrina but the voters certainly got a good look at her disaster plan: âWait for feds and then blame them.â I also heard Blanco is facing a fiscal crisis at home and maybe that will be her downfall.
A Justice Department investigation into influence-peddling on Capitol Hill is focusing on a "first tier" of lawmakers and staffers, both Republicans and Democrats, say sources close to the probe that has netted guilty pleas from lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Law-enforcement authorities and others said the investigation's opening phase is scrutinizing Sens. Conrad Burns, Montana Republican; Byron L. Dorgan, North Dakota Democrat; and Minority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, along with Reps. J.D. Hayworth, Arizona Republican, and Bob Ney, Ohio Republican.
A source working with the Justice Department on the investigation told The Washington Times that Abramoff was questioned during several interviews about the lawmakers and their purported ties to the lobbyist and his former clients.
The source said prosecutors asked Abramoff whether the lawmakers had performed "official acts" in exchange for campaign cash or other favors. Although it is unknown whether any of the five will be charged in the case, the source said Abramoff was being "prepped" by five Justice Department attorneys in that event.
Others familiar with the investigation confirmed the names of the three Republican and two Democratic legislators.
All five lawmakers said that they have not done anything illegal and that all their dealings with Abramoff and his clients were legitimate.
The sources also said that at least two legislative directors and other lobbyists are under investigation in the preliminary round of inquiry. The probe is expected to widen and could ensnare "a minimum" of 20 members of Congress, they said.
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has not been directly implicated by Abramoff in the probe, but the Texas Republican's former deputy chief of staff, Tony Rudy, has emerged as a person of interest in the preliminary probe, the sources said.
Mr. DeLay's former communications director, Michael Scanlon, also worked as an Abramoff business partner and pleaded guilty in November to corruption charges. Scanlon also is cooperating in the government probe. ...more...
#1
Party people, both Democrat and Republican, will get all hot and bothered about who gets the worst of this. Regardless, I see this mess as a great example ofthe reason people are so interested in corrupting politicians is because they're given so much control over our money and our ves. If they had little control, people would have little incentive to corrupt them. The reason Republicans seem to outnumber Democrats in this mess is because the Republicans are in control of the Government. If the situation were reversed it would be the Democrats outnumbering the Republicans. Why try to influence someone who has no , or very little, power?
...if you back government solutions for any given problem, the corruption just comes with the scenery. When you put people in a position to make decisions arbitrarily, there's no accounting for the arbitrariness of their decisions. When we find someone with their hand in the cookie jar, we should put 'em up in the stockades, no question.
...but that isn't the solution to the problem of corruption. The problem is that there's little substantive difference between corruption and the arbitrary manner in which government does business as usual. It's the nature of the beast.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/11/2006 7:35 Comments ||
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At the heart of the proposals is one critical, and controversial, recommendation: All parts of the city â even the devastated Lower Ninth Ward and other neighborhoods that were submerged to their rooftops â should be given a chance to rebuild
#1
He said New Orleans would end up with "spotty development and angry residents" if the future of the city's devastated areas are left up to market forces.
Angry residents, oh no, not THAT! Wait until the Federal Emergency Motel Agency (FEMA) gets wind of this!
#2
I thought NOLA had spotty development and angry residents before Katrina/Rita, the difference now is that there is a great deal less of both factors. The rest of us should only support rebuilding above sea level, and let market forces determine what else happens < /FAT CHANCE>
#7
You(we)'ve paid roughly $15,000 per pre-Katrina resident SO FAR!!! And virtually nothing has been accomplished.
Would have been far more effective to just give every man, woman, and child $15,000 cash and walk away. The foolish would've p**sed the money away, just like the government, but the others would've restored electricity, raised & rebuilt homes, re-created jobs, or started over elsewhere.
Edited for brevity.
Israel will not do business with Pat Robertson after the evangelical leader suggested Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's massive stroke was divine punishment for the Gaza withdrawal, a tourism official said today. Robertson is leading a group of evangelicals who have pledged to raise $50 million to build a large Christian tourism center in Israel's northern Galilee region, where tradition says Jesus lived and taught. But Avi Hartuv, a spokesman for Tourism Minister Avraham Hirschson, said Israeli officials were furious with Robertson, a Christian broadcaster. A day after Sharon's Jan. 4 stroke, Robertson said the prime minister was being punished for "dividing God's land," â a reference to last summer's pullout from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements.
"We can't accept this kind of statement," Hartuv said. He said the Christian Heritage Center project was now in question, though he left the door open to develop it with others. "We will not do business with him, only with other evangelicals who don't back these comments," Hartuv said. "We will do business with other evangelical leaders, friends of Israel, but not with him. Those that publicly support Ariel Sharon's recovery ... are welcome to do business with us."
Posted by: Dar ||
01/11/2006 12:44 ||
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Venezuelan Deputy Foreign Minister in Asian Affairs Alcidis Roundon said, "Caracas will use Tehran's municipality experiences in rendering services to the residents." Speaking in a meeting with Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf here Monday, [the] Venezuelan official added he was pleased with his trip to Iran.
The two officials discussed ways of mutual cooperation between Tehran and Caracas in the fields of urban services. Roundon said in the next Venezuelan president visit to Iran, the mayor of Caracas will accompany him. He also invited [the] Tehran mayor to visit Caracas.
#1
Modding of shower heads, and importing your toilets from Canada or Mexico is just one of those things you have to do to thwart the bungling bureaucrats.
I lost all sense of need to conserve water in the home when I saw this little water use statistic for my State:
industrial, 60%
agricultural, 39%
residential, less than 1%
And yet, there was always a big push on for residential users to cut back on their use.
Then, the mining industry in my State decided to recycle the water it used to process ore, and overnight, we had 30% more water!
And yet they still clamored that everybody had to conserve their residential use. A few admitted that it was done solely to "make everybody conservation conscious."
#3
When my house was about 50 years old, the local water authority decided that they needed to install a new meter in my basement so they could read the meter directly from a vehicle on the street. I cooperated and the installation only took 15 minutes an cost me nothing.
A few weeks later, I noticed a puddle at my electric water heater. It kept coming back. I replaced the T&P valve. It kept coming back. I replaced the aging water heater. It kept coming back. I studied the whole system. Lo and behold, the new water meter assembly included a check valve that had not been there before. The check valve left thermal expansion no where to go except out through the T&P valve. I had to buy and install an expansion tank. I was furious. My system had worked fine for 50 years without an expansion tank.
A few months later, there was a card left at my door that asked me to read my meter and mail in the reading. I figured it was an error, but did it anyway. A few months later... another card. The water authority had abandoned its automatic meter reading program.
They will never get any benefit of the doubt from me again.
#4
Any suprise the bureaucrat is from the Peoples Republic of Seattle? Where its against the law to have more then 10% recyclables visable from the top of your garbage.
Perhaps things would improve if Seattle were to place simular restrictions on their fire-hydrants :).
#6
When I was a kid we rarely needed plungers....
Now?... #$@@*^
The shower thingy is interesting but doesn't the constant temp mandated do-hinky restrict the flow too?
Its like when we did the addition.
I am 6'4" the wife 5' 3". We wanted bi-level bathroom sinks. Mine higher so splashes wouldn't make it look like I pissed in my pants and her's lower so she wasn't like a kid reaching.
The Fricking Inspectors wouldn't let us build it that way in our own home!
Guess it's not our castle but theirs! And now with the SC's ruling on E. Domain we know its theirs to give to their buddies.... so why aren't the bureaucrats paying my mortgage and water bill?
#8
I have the whole Mississippi River running a few hundred feet from my door, after the rest of the country is done using it, and I still have to 'save water' with the new shower heads that take twice as long to rinse with, and the new toilets that take twice as many flushes.
#9
Here's something weird - years ago, I decided to "do my part" for water conservation and I installed one of those low-flow shower heads in my apartment's bathroom. Some time after that, the manager had some contractor go through and redo the bathrooms in the units (shower stall and low-flow toilets) and when my unit was redone, the low-flow head got removed and a head with the original heavy flow was put back in.
#10
Fortunately, shower heads aren't all that costly and can easily be replaced. Just be careful that the $100 you just flushed down your low flow toilet doesn't clog it.
#11
Uwing your elementary plumbing skills, locate the flow-restrictor orifice & widen it with a drill bit to solve your "low-flow" problems in a few seconds. What the inspectors don't know won't hurt 'em.
#12
Dang, no "creeping" laser dots, snake-eyes, andor camera flashes, etal., in the name of the Feds and State, the FBI and CIA and Police - you know, the Mafia, or Penn State.!?
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.
More than two million Muslim pilgrims have begun the ritual stoning of the devil that signifies the climax of the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Pilgrims flocked to the site at Mena's Jamarat Bridge to cast the first set of stones before the crowds arrived. They must stand and stone three thick walls in a symbolic casting out of the devil and rejection of temptation. The occasion is subject to strict security as it had witnessed deadly stampedes in the past, like in 2004 when 250 pilgrims were trampled to death.
DOPY 
Welcomed with a standing ovation, Cindy Sheehan and co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace gave a rousing talk. She stressed the need to impeach this administration as war criminals who continue to lie to the American public about pre-war Iraq intelligence. She also contends that Pres. Bush's assertions about pulling the U.S. troops out of Iraq would lead to chaos are a part of a calculated strategy to mislead the American public. Cindy reminded the audience that we all need to take responsibility for Iraqâas we elected the officials who ultimately allowed the invasion and occupation. We have the power to remove them from office. Cindy emphasized we must exit Iraq now to save precious lives. After expressing her support for a Dept. of Peace, Cindy concluded that she'd like to create a U.S. Dept. of History, with herself as the first secretary.
Things really got ugly--really ugly--between Sens. Kennedy and Specter. Kennedy (D-Mass) asked further hostile questions on CAP--the Princeton University concerned alumni organization that, among other things, opposed co-education at the university. Kennedy said he did not think Alito's responses to the committee on CAP "add up." Kennedy proposed issuing a subpoena to the owner of the organization's records and go into executive session to do so. Specter reacted angrily, asking why Kennedy had not brought this up in public as opposed to consulting with Specter on it in advance. Kennedy claims he sent Specter a letter. Specter, angrily, said he never got one.
A Justice Department investigation into influence-peddling on Capitol Hill is focusing on a "first tier" of lawmakers and staffers, both Republicans and Democrats, say sources close to the probe that has netted guilty pleas from lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Venezuelan Deputy Foreign Minister in Asian Affairs Alcidis Roundon said, "Caracas will use Tehran's municipality experiences in rendering services to the residents." Speaking in a meeting with Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf here Monday, [the] Venezuelan official added he was pleased with his trip to Iran.
