#2
Joe? Bob? Mike?
If they want to run a welfare scam, why didn't they save the airfare and just move to Massachusetts. They probably could've granted political asylum too...
#3
Don't laugh it still is this bad in some places in the States. The States did crack down with welfare reform but there are other scammers and always a new way to cheat the system.
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 16 (KUNA) -- The General Assembly on Monday afternoon resumed its elections process of a fifth Security Council non permanent member to fill in the Latin American seat, with Guatemala, which was in the lead, losing more votes and Venezuela gaining more.
In the fifth round Guatemala got 110 votes, compared to 116 in the previous round, and Venezuela 75, compared to 70. Both are still far away from the two-thirds majority of 125 votes needed for either one to win.
Since the assembly was deadlocked when it ended its morning session, the door was then opened to other countries from the region to step in, except for Peru which is already a council member until the end of 2007 and Argentina which is retiring in December of this year. Mexico did present its candidacy but won only one vote, its own. The assembly then decided to hold a sixth round.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/16/2006 22:23 ||
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Venezuela President Hugo Chavez suffered an embarrassing defeat Monday at the United Nations, where the General Assembly failed to give his county the necessary votes for a coveted seat on the Security Council. Guatemala topped Venezuela in the first four rounds of voting, but it too failed to get the necessary two-thirds majority to win a two-year term on the decision-making body.
Venezuela's U.N. envoy vowed not to give up the fight. "We are going to continue and we are going to call on countries of dignity, strength, independence and autonomy, which is what the United Nations needs right now," Ambassador Francisco Arias Cardenas told state television in an interview from the U.N.
Chavez, who had waged a highly public campaign including spending millions of petro-dollars to win support accused the U.S. of waging a "dirty war" to defeat Venezuela's candidacy. "Go forth with the bayonet! Venezuela is going to the Security Council," Chavez said Sunday, encouraging Venezuela's ambassador to the United Nations,
The U.S. and its allies argued that Venezuela's constant anti-American rhetoric could stymie the council and undermine its credibility. Actually, there's no credibility to undermine.
Guatemala, whose candidacy had been backed by the U.S., won 109 votes in the first round, 114 in the second, 116 in the third and 110 in the fourth. Venezuela's chances appeared to fade as the voting continued it received 76 votes, then 74, 70, then 75.
More of the same. Chavez Accuses U.S. of Waging 'Dirty War' Against Venezuela's Bid for Seat on Security Council
President Hugo Chavez on Sunday accused Washington of waging "a dirty war" to keep his country from winning a seat on the U.N. Security Council.
The United States is supporting Guatemala in an effort to stop Chavez from winning a seat on council a platform to voice opposition to what he calls Washington's "imperialist" policies. The U.S. has said that Chavez, whose government maintains friendly ties with North Korea and Iran, would be a disruptive force on the 15-member council.
Chavez, a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, has warned that Washington could attempt to drag out Monday's vote for days, weeks or even years if neither candidate garners the required two-thirds majority to win a seat on the council.
"Go forth with the bayonet! Venezuela is going the Security Council," said Chavez, encouraging Venezuela's ambassador to the United Nations, Francisco Arias Cardenas, on the eve of the vote.
Both Venezuela and Guatemala say they have a majority of votes in the 192-member General Assembly. If neither side is able to muster the two-thirds majority, however, the 33-nation Latin American group might decide to put up another candidate.
The vote for the rotating seat, one of 10 on council, is a secret ballot, and countries aren't obliged to make known their preference, though much of the Caribbean and South America have voiced support for Venezuela. The 53 countries in the African group are expected to tilt toward Venezuela, while Asia's 54 nations are said to be split.
Guatemala allegedly has the support of Colombia, most of Central America, and Europe.
Chile will abstain Monday in the vote for the non-permanent seat, presidential spokesman Ricardo Lagos Weber said Sunday night. He said President Michelle Bachelet decided not to support either Venezuela or Guatemala.
The 10 non-permanent seats on the council are filled by the regional groups for two-year stretches. The other five are occupied by the veto-wielding permanent members: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.
#3
Yes, Dumbass, actions promote reactions. Ya ain't gonna make it. And, how much does your little oilpatch contribute to UN on an anuual basis ? You wanna play, you better pay. Start with a base contribution of $100 million, then we can begin negotiations. Until then,STFU.
An Ecuadorean banana tycoon and an ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez appeared headed to a November run-off after neither candidate won Sunday's presidential election outright, two exit polls showed. Rafael Correa, a former finance minister who has rattled investors with talk of debt default, had led the race for the presidency but banana mogul Alvaro Noboa gained some momentum in the last weeks of campaigning with his free-market platform.
A Cedatos Gallup poll showed Noboa with 27.2 percent of votes and Correa with 25.4 percent after first round voting while a Informe Confidencial showed Noboa with 28.5 percent of votes and Correa with 26.5 percent. If no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the votes on Sunday or 40 percent of votes with a 10 percentage point advantage, a second round will be held on November 26 between the two top contenders. Official results were expected later on Sunday.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2006 00:00 ||
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It's AP, so you know who gets their juicy bits quoted.
Justice Antonin Scalia on Sunday defended some of his Supreme Court opinions, arguing that nothing in the Constitution supports abortion rights and the use of race in school admissions.
Scalia, a leading conservative voice on the high court, sparred in a one-hour televised debate with American Civil Liberties Union president Nadine Strossen. He said unelected judges have no place deciding politically charged questions when the Constitution is silent on those issues.
Arguing that liberal judges in the past improperly established new political rights such as abortion, Scalia warned, "Someday, you're going to get a very conservative Supreme Court and regret that approach."
"On controversial issues on stuff like homosexual rights, abortion, we debate with each other and persuade each other and vote on it either through representatives or a constitutional amendment," the Reagan appointee said.
"Whether it's good or bad is not my job. My job is simply to say if those things you find desirable are contained in the Constitution," he said.
Strossen countered that such a legal approach would have barred the landmark 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, a unanimous decision outlawing racial segregation in public schools.
"There are some rights that are so fundamental that no majority can take them away from any minority, no matter how small or unpopular that minority might be," she said. "And who is better positioned to represent and defend and be the ultimate backstop for rights of individuals and minorities than those who are not directly accountable in the electoral process - namely federal judges?"
The ACLU debate comes as the Supreme Court this term will hear closely divided issues involving partial-birth abortion and school integration. They are expected to test the conservative impact of the court's two newest members, Chief Justice John Roberts and Samuel Alito.
Scalia, 70, has consistently voted to limit the use of race in school admissions and has called for the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision establishing a woman's right to abortion to be overruled. But his influence was often limited by moderate Sandra Day O'Connor, who cast deciding votes on those issues against him.
With O'Connor now retired and Alito succeeding her, Scalia _ whom President Bush passed up for chief justice _ will have new opportunities to sway his new colleagues and centrist Anthony Kennedy closer to his viewpoints.
During Sunday's debate, Scalia outlined his judicial philosophy of interpreting the Constitution according to its text, as understood at the time it was adopted. He reiterated that race has no place in school admissions, a viewpoint that put him on the losing side in 2003.
"The Constitution very clearly forbids discrimination on the basis of race," Scalia said in response to a question by moderator Pete Williams of NBC. "It doesn't seem to me to allow Michigan to say we think it's good to discriminate on the basis of race when you want to make sure everyone is exposed to different backgrounds. We cannot use race as the test of diversity."
Scalia, who marked his 20th anniversary on the court last month, generally finds himself taking the opposite position to the ACLU. Most notably, he wrote a majority 5-4 opinion last term giving police more leeway to enter private homes.
He also unsuccessfully sided with the government in cases where the court struck down Ten Commandments displays in Kentucky courthouses and declared that the military commissions President Bush established to try suspected al-Qaida members were unconstitutional.
But during Sunday's debate, Scalia noted there were cases in which he and the ACLU agreed. They included rulings upholding flag burning and a 2004 opinion arguing that a U.S. citizen seized in Afghanistan in wartime could challenge his detention as an enemy combatant in U.S. courts.
Strossen, who enjoys a friendly relationship with Scalia despite their differences, applauded those opinions but added, "I don't want you to think you're too popular with this group."
"I'm very distressed about your failure to find protections in the Constitution for the right of consenting individuals in their homes to decide what they see and read, and what type of sexual relations they have," she said as hundreds of ACLU audience members cheered.
Scalia, who has at times had a prickly relationship with the media, agreed to have C-SPAN televise Sunday's event live - a more recent accommodation as the court begins to show greater signs of openness under Roberts. Damn. No advance notice so I missed it. If anyone comes across a scheduled replay, plz post details. TIA.
#1
"Whether it's good or bad is not my job. My job is simply to say if those things you find desirable are contained in the Constitution,"
Ah, but there's something the dems can NEVER concede. If they did, they'd actually have to get their ideas and policies implemented through the electoral and democratic process, instead of the courts. Your honor, why cast your pearls before swine?
In an essential rite of passage for American politicians, Mitt Romney was ushered into the presence of Baroness Thatcher at a Washington think tank last month. If not quite an official anointing, the handshake and chat with so venerable a figure was an unmistakable sign to conservatives that he was one of us.
The improbably handsome right-wing governor of left-wing Massachusetts is generating enormous buzz as the conservative with the best chance of beating the independent-minded Senator John McCain for the 2008 Republican nomination. When his term in office expires in January, Romney is expected to throw himself helter-skelter into the presidential race.
Romney is already crisscrossing the country as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, bearing large cheques and a ready smile for candidates in the November mid-term elections. His meeting with Thatcher was swiftly incorporated into his patter on the stump.
Can you imagine? It was such an extraordinary honour to be able to sit down with her person-to-person, he said in his first interview with a British newspaper. We talked about the condition of the world and I said, Im optimistic that well overcome these problems, and she paused and said, We always have.
Romney looks like a taller version of Martin Sheen in The West Wing, has been married to his high school sweetheart for 37 years and has five photogenic children. At 59 he is no youngster but is frequently ribbed about his film star appearance. My wife and I know better. Shes the one with the looks in the family, he joked.
He would be straight out of central casting were it not for one startling drawback: Romney is a Mormon, a religion some evangelical Christians regard with disdain. In a potential double whammy, he also speaks French (a source of ridicule for the 2004 Democratic candidate John Kerry), having been a Mormon missionary as a young man in France.
Romney, who already has a fan club called Evangelicals for Mitt, thinks the religious issue will fizzle. People used to wonder whether a divorced actor could be elected, he said, referring to Ronald Reagan, or whether a Mormon could win Massachusetts, a state that is 55% Catholic.
There was probably a time when people cared which church you went to, but thats past. People today look to see a persons faith in the way they live in their home with their family.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints outlawed polygamy long ago. But as one wag has noted, in a 2008 Republican field consisting of McCain, Rudolph Giuliani and Newt Gingrich, the only man who has had one wife would be the Mormon.
On the campaign trail last week he stopped by at a fundraiser in Philadelphia for Rick Santorum, one of the senators most identified with the Christian values voters who kept President George W Bush in power in 2004.
The night before, Romney had attended a 10th anniversary party for the conservative journal National Review Online where the stars of Washingtons conservative firmament gossiped over cocktails about his rising status as the candidate who could unite the Republican wing of the Republican party.
Laura Ingraham, the popular conservative talk show host, recalled how the smooth Romney had rung to sympathise after she announced that her dog Troy had gone missing. Hes the man, she said approvingly.
Jeb Bush, the governor of Florida and a favourite with the right, said last week Romney would be a formidable candidate.
As governor, Romney has already proved his appeal to swing voters. One party-goer described him as an American Tony Blair. Hes extremely eloquent with strong convictions. Hes a visionary who is attempting to create a health system which could be a model for the whole country.
Romney is pioneering a market-based system for universal healthcare in his home state that he believes easily trumps Hillary Clintons botched proposal when she was first lady. The first difference between hers and mine is that mine got voted in, he said tartly.
On abortion, he has switched to being pro-life (some question his sincerity) and opposes gay marriage, which the courts have permitted in Massachusetts. He is also tough on immigration and hawkish on national security.
Were under attack by jihadists, Romney said. Theyre not simply a band of lunatics in the hills of Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is a worldwide effort by a small slice of Islam to subjugate all the nations of Islam to a caliphate.
Romney defended Bushs new laws regarding the treatment of terrorist suspects last month, but criticised him for allowing the former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami to visit America.
He has spent time recently with Paul Bremer, the former head of the provisional coalition authority, and other Iraq experts. Mistakes were made, he freely admitted, but the Iraqi government had to be given more time to establish security.
When that is achieved he did not say by 2008, but he must be hoping there will be a relatively rapid withdrawal.
Romney will have to take more risks to lift his candidacy out of the ordinary, observers believe. Just as the Democrats are searching for a credible alternative to Clinton, so the Republicans want a candidate who can square up to the heavyweight McCain an American hero, in Romneys words, who is certainly one of the leading contenders.
We will know Romney is outpacing him if the Tories invite him to address next years party conference McCain attended this years gathering in Bournemouth. Id love to speak to my conservative colleagues in the mother country, Romney laughed. Of course, he may have to keep the Thatcher yarns to a minimum.
#3
Mitt's an empty suit. The reason he's outta here is that he can't get anything done even when dealing with the Mensa candidates in the Mass Legislature. Decent guy, half decent governor, but I can't see him facing down the Chinese or the North Koreans.
#4
Same thing I thought about the actor who hung around with monkeys and the Kid who got to run baseball tems after he went on the wagon. Not touting him, but if Mitt can fix the big dig, I'd like to see a lot more of him before making up my mind.
#7
Heh, in dealing with the Massachusetts Mensa clowns he had to play by a set of rules which prevent success - all they hadta do was coordinate the graft. He shoulda resurrected Murder Inc and whacked several of them to get their attention. That might have helped. Maybe.
Anyway, thanks for your take - I find Romney interesting but have no idea about how others see him - and youse guys know him best. Would you say you're being hardcore cynical - or not? I guess I'm hoping you'll give me / us a peek at what you think the general MA opinion of him is - sans the satisfying fun bits...
#9
The Soviet Union is no longer the Soviet Union due to the efforts of three people from the late 20th century: Ronald Reagan, JPII, and Maggie Thatcher.
If that magnificent old broard says this guy Romney is okay, then I willing to keep an open mind.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
10/16/2006 19:50 Comments ||
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#10
"been a Mormon missionary as a young man in France."
Speaks well for him - he could have asked to be sent to someplace civilized... like the Congo....
The NAACP said Monday that it will holler 'racism' and minority 'disenfranchisement' monitor voting in 10 states next month, sending intimidators observers to polling places, trumping up taking citizen complaints and notifying the Justice Department of anything that doesn't favor democrats any serious problems.
The states were chosen based on those with Republicans that stand a fighting chance pivotal elections, states with concentrations of people who are expected to tow the party line black voters, and those with a history of fairness and lack of favoritism polling problems, according to the Baltimore-based civil rights organization.
President Bruce Gordon urged voters to cast two or three votes persist in trying to cast ballots.
"While the NAACP will take steps to counter democracy and fairness obstacles to voter participation, we are encouraging our communities to cast their votes, even if it requires extra voting effort," he said in a statement released before a news conference at the group's headquarters.
"Civil rights activists went to extraordinary lengths to earn the right for black Americans to vote. Some lost their lives. We owe it to them and ourselves to honor their sacrifice by committing voter fraud voting, no matter what challenges we face."
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People plans to have hundreds of volunteers monitoring elections in Maryland, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.
WASHINGTON - Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid announced Monday he is amending his ethics reports to Congress to more fully account for a Las Vegas land deal that allowed him to collect $1.1 million for property he hadn't personally owned for three years. The Nevada Democrat also disclosed he failed to report two other smaller land deals on those same reports.
Reid acted several days after The Associated Press reported the senator didn't disclose to Congress that he first sold land to a friend's company back in 2001 and took an ownership stake in the company. He didn't collect the seven-figure payout until the company sold the land again in 2004 to others.
Reid portrayed the 2004 sale as a personal sale of land, making no mention of the company's ownership or its role in the sale. Reid said his amended ethics reports will list the 2001 sale and the company, called Patrick Lane LLC. "I directed my staff to file amended financial disclosure forms noting that in 2001, I transferred title to the land to a Limited Liability Corporation," Reid said in a statement issued by his office.
Reid said he believed the 2001 sale did not alter his ownership of the land but that he agreed to file the amended reports because "I believe in ensuring all facts come to light." Funny how that works...after the fact.
Reid blamed the AP story as the "latest attempt" by Republicans to affect the election. AP reported last week that it learned of the land deal from a former Reid adviser who had concerns about the way the deal was reported to Congress. Bwooouup Bwooouup All hands on deck engage Damge Control sequence this is Not a drill I repeat this is NOT a drill.
Reid also announced he failed to disclose two other land transactions on his prior ethics reports and would account for those on his amended reports. The first, he said, involved the sale in 2004 of about one-third acre of land in 2004 he owned in his hometown of Searchlight, Nev. And, he said he had not reported his ownership since 1985 of a quarter acre of land his brother gave him in 1985. Reid blamed the failure to disclose those transactions previously as "some clerical errors and two minor matters that were inadvertently left off my original disclosure forms." Its a simple matter really in multi-million dollar land deals that require the influence of a public official these minor clerical errors inadvertently happen alllll the time.
Reid had asked the Senate Ethics Committee last Wednesday after the story broke for an opinion on the 2001 land sale but decided to amend the forms prior to the committee acting. Reid's announcement came after numerous newspapers nationwide published editorials criticizing both his initial failure to disclose the full details of his Las Vegas land deal and his response to the AP story. Rehash of shennanigens at link
#2
heh heh and he used campaign funds to Christmas tip teh staff at the Ritz-Carlton where he has a condo...he's promised (post-exposure - to repay that....methinks dingy Harry's getting dirtier by the minute.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/16/2006 22:54 Comments ||
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#3
He received some rather unkind coverage of this locally. No kids gloves need apply here, there's strong competition among TV stations. Scoop or die mentality. For dead-tree rags, not so much.
Carter's spawn runs tons of ads - lousy, unflattering, uninspiring ads. Snowballs in hell have a better chance. Ensign (R) will waste him.
#2
First, nobody outside the blue cities in the blue states gives a fig about the Foley situation.
Second, the republicans have 5 times as much $ as the crats, so the last week blitz will be recognizable republican vs. whatsisname.
Third, if they can use that $ to get out the vote, then republicans will win a few more than even Rove expects.
#3
Let's hope the GOTV effort is extra-special effective this time because the magic numbers are 5 in the Senate and 15 in the House, and current polls have the GOP losing both houses. As Hindrocket points out on Powerline, nobody has gone 4-0 in a long, long time and I don't think W will be the exception.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
10/16/2006 9:56 Comments ||
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#5
I stand by my original prediction in August. The Republicans will loose a few seats, but no where near what is needed to loose control of Congress. The Democrats will whine/seath/blame and get even more paranoid and hateful for '08.
#6
Given the Senate RINO population, that chamber appears to already be a tossup - if not a write-off. The House is where the action is, where all of the good bills have originated, and that is what most concerns me. It's also where a Bill of Impeachment would originate and where the "hearings" would be held.
#9
On the TV news this morning was a report that the US gov has been vastly underestimating the numbers of illegal aliens crossing the Mexican border. The previous figure was 3 million/year but is closer to 9 million/year.
Posted by: ed ||
10/16/2006 14:11 Comments ||
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#10
That's prolly why they don't want to deal with the issue, but that would imply a conspiracy, and we all know there are no conspiracies. Or was that there are no cover-ups ? Whatever, won't happen here.
#11
Yep, this a master of the obvious. Unfortunately the senate has not had any balls on this. Hey Senators, we want illegal immigration stopped and limits put on those who do come here legally! Build a fence, now.
At last weeks fund-raiser celebrating the 25th anniversary of People for the American Way, one of the core liberal groups in Hollywood, the comedian and master of ceremonies George Lopez Who? left no room for doubt about his expectations for next months Congressional elections. Were in! Were in! Mr. Lopez shouted from the stage, to loud applause from a crowd of 600 at the Beverly Hilton.
In their more sober moments, however, the film industrys Democrats and Democratic sympathizers remain pointedly reluctant to declare this election cycle a hit, even while the conventional wisdom points toward coming Republican losses in the House and Senate.
Two years ago we thought we understood the country and we thought there would be change and we got smashed, said Irina Medavoy, a major fund-raiser for the Democrats who is married to the producer Mike Medavoy, in a telephone interview. After the last time, there will be no strutting or Bruce Springsteen playing. We have learned.
With three weeks remaining before the vote, liberal Hollywood has been watching the Congressional midterm elections with the kind of attention usually reserved for presidential races and Oscar night. Potential donors are fielding invitations to as many as three fund-raisers for a single Democratic candidate. So many people are doing events that you just cant go to them all, said Lawrence Bender, a producer of the global-warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth. There tend to be at least two events every night.
Still, the dominant note, at least among more than a dozen prominent Hollywood Democrats interviewed in the last several days, stops noticeably short of confidence. Several players, like Ms. Medavoy, pointed toward bitter disappointments in the past, when a politically energized film community found itself flummoxed by the perceived maneuvering of Republican strategists and the tendencies of a complex electorate.
Ive learned not to be too optimistic, said Alan Horn, president of Warner Brothers, though he was quick to add, I believe the tide has turned.
Along with natural reluctance to declare victory in advance, Hollywood Democrats may feel a certain reserve born of the fact that Congressional politics is something that mostly occurs elsewhere. Few of the House seats in California are likely to change hands, thanks to a redistricting arrangement that rendered most of them safe for whichever party has them in hand.
All of this points toward a stay-at-home election night for many on Hollywoods glamour circuit. The filmmaker Rob Reiner, for instance, said that he planned to watch the returns on television with his friend the philanthropist and film producer Steve Bing, and that he remained distinctly cautious. You dont want to spike the ball at the 10-yard line, Mr. Reiner said.
In the last several weeks many of the industrys Democratic regulars, including Haim Saban, a Democratic fund-raiser and movie producer, and the former Paramount Pictures chairwoman Sherry Lansing, got a bit closer to the action by throwing support behind Arnold Schwarzenegger, the states Republican governor, in his so-far-flourishing re-election bid.
But there is also an abiding sense here that Democrats have in the past defeated themselves by underestimating the skill and motivation of their foes. There are still a lot of things they could pull with three weeks to go, Mr. Bender cautioned, notwithstanding polls that favor his team and a recent Time magazine cover that looked for the end of the Republican revolution.
On the other side of the aisle, at least one member of Hollywoods somewhat truncated Republican establishment also saw an up side in the current mood. Im a much more popular lunch guest of late, said Lionel Chetwynd, a conservative-leaning writer and producer, who finds Democratic friends more than usually interested in his views.
Mr. Chetwynd, who predicted that the Republicans would hold one and perhaps both sides of Congress, added that his feelings were not all that different from those of his opponents. The truth is, we share a cautious optimism, he said. I hope theres enough to go around. I hope they do stay at home on election night, lol. I like the fact that they sound so depressed, but I figure they will be feeling much better in a few weeks. How much better is what remains to be seen, methinks.
#2
In their more sober moments, however, the film industrys Democrats and Democratic sympathizers remain pointedly reluctant to declare this election cycle a hit, even while the conventional wisdom points toward coming Republican losses in the House and Senate
Let me get this right. According to the polls, Al Gore and John Kerry were presidents of the United States. The Democrats took back Congress a few elections ago. Well, if you listened to them. And if you listened carefully, each time the closer you got to the actual day of election, the numbers always seemed to close, it became tight. It may actually happen this time, but .
In those races where the Democrat opponent is behind by a margin that cant be fudged, like the Kovanator or Senator Lieberman, the declaration is rather clear. Now why is Lieberman, a clear and unrepentant supporter of the war so far ahead if the issue is the war? Where the pollsters cant play loose with their numbers for their main employers, both the Democrats, who seem to live and die by polls, and their allies in the MSM, who need to have drama and action to sell and fill air time, the game appears over already. Do you really think the polling businesses would keep the money flowing in from their main suppliers if they had consistently projected 6 months out the actual results of the previous elections?
It remains me of the behavior of the Soviet bureaucracy leading up to its collapse. Everyone was lying up the chain of command on production because that is what Moscow wanted to hear. Its their food chain and employment office. Certainly some things were getting done, but nothing near to what the papers said. Those were the same papers the CIA was reading which is why they were also caught by the quickness of the collapse of the system. They too believed the numbers.
Now this time around, maybe theyre right. However, if you start hearing the words which indicated that once again the gap is closing or its becoming tight, know that weve been handed another fast one by the usual suspect.
#3
Completely agree!! They get the buzz out and then right before the election they close the gap so that they can keep some shred of a reputation after the election is over. If we start seeing a general overall shift, in favor of the GOP, right before the election, then you know it isn't chance and is just another fast one.
But you know what is the biggest indicator from this article?
In the last several weeks many of the industrys Democratic regulars, including Haim Saban, a Democratic fund-raiser and movie producer, and the former Paramount Pictures chairwoman Sherry Lansing, got a bit closer to the action by throwing support behind Arnold Schwarzenegger, the states Republican governor, in his so-far-flourishing re-election bid.
ha, ha. I've been hearing them say Arnie was in serious trouble and talk about "his faltering reelection bid" due to the fact that Californians were upset about XY&Z for weeks.
You know what I think. I think that above paragraph is very significant. And I also think that this article is the beginning of the "closing of the gap". We shall see.
#5
When I read the WaPo say that Bush are Rove are "almost inexplicably upbeat" about the elections, I figure the MSM is setting the stage. If the Republicans retain control of Congress (not that they've used it well), expect some on the left to go back to this story and declare that it's obvious Bush and Rove were upbeat because they knew of plans to fraudulently steal the election / rig the reported vote results.
#2
Global warming was far worst 600 years ago, the ice caps are getting smaller at the edges but its getting cold in the center. the Sahara desert gets smaller every year as does death valley and cooler, because all this is measured in 0.01 or less pricks like Al Gore jump on the band wagon. He is only doing this because he wants back in to the limelight. Great way to discredit yourself further AL crack on
#6
The real objective of these scammers is to destroy western society, the US in particular.
While they're invoking Nuremberg, they need to pay special attention to one Julius Streicher: Follow his path, share his fate.
#11
I only wish there actually was a global warming "denial industry". Then the "global warming misinformation and indoctrination industry" might have a tougher fight.
The Indian Navy is getting a new base on the country's east coast. It is 50 kilometers south of Visakhapatnam, where the navy's eastern command is headquartered. This is India's second east-coast naval base, and it is designed to help protect the country's trade with Southeast Asia and to keep a wary eye on China's naval posture in the Bay of Bengal.
The new base - it doesn't have a name yet since it is still at a concept and design stage - is expected to berth two aircraft carriers, support ships and submarines. India's first indigenously built aircraft carrier, which is capable of operating a fleet of 30 aircraft, including naval light combat aircraft, MiG 29K and Sea Harrier aircraft, is likely to be berthed there.
Visakhapatnam houses a naval base and a commercial port, the latter India's leading port in terms of tonnage for the sixth year in a row. Since expansion of the port is not feasible and with maritime traffic expected to increase in the coming years, the need for a complementary port has been felt for a while now. That culminated in the decision to set up a commercial port at Gangavaram.
#1
India is building its navy the smart way: slowly and methodically. Unlike the Russians and Chinese, this is how you get a navy that floats, doesn't continually break down, and doesn't fall apart under routine use. This is especially true of submarines.
#2
Some Indian newspapers have criticised the purchase of the USS Trenton, aliming the ship is an old rustbucket, with a history of problems.
What they fail to notice is the Indian Navy's eagerness to acquire the ship.
The IN knows the Trenton is old. They know that they only have about a decade left to use it.
They know of its history of problems.
They want experience using it, to learn its problems, figure out solutions, figure out what an Indian built version would be like.
Slow, plodding operational experience.
The IN believes it knows more about carrier ops than the Russians. It has operated carriers for longer. Even though they are buying an old Russian carrier and Mig29K, the pilots are being trained by the US Navy.
Posted by: john ||
10/16/2006 20:51 Comments ||
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#3
Well, after all, they had a couple centuries of apprenticeship under the best.
THE tribunal established by the UN to prosecute the leaders of the 1994 Rwandan genocide has been plunged into renewed controversy by claims that up to a dozen Rwandans accused of genocide crimes were on its payroll. The allegations were made to the UN General Assembly by Joseph Nsengimana, Rwanda's envoy.
Everard O'Donnell, the tribunal's spokesman and registrar, dismissed Rwanda's claim as politically motivated. While he acknowledged up to a dozen genocide suspects had been on the payroll, he said they had never been employed as tribunal staff, but had worked on defence teams for various accused.
They were reiterated by Martin Ngoga, the country's prosecutor-general when he produced a list of suspects, saying several of them featured on Rwanda's list of 100 most wanted figures in the genocide.
Mr Nsengimana said his Government last month told the Security Council that 14 well-known "genocide suspects" were employed by the tribunal. Ten had since resigned and he said the tribunal must "expeditiously resolve that very serious issue, including by making public the report of the independent investigation and following thatup with arrests and prosecutions". Everard O'Donnell, the tribunal's spokesman and registrar, dismissed Rwanda's claim as politically motivated. While he acknowledged up to a dozen genocide suspects had been on the payroll, he said they had never been employed as tribunal staff, but had worked on defence teams for various accused.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2006 00:00 ||
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#7
Lol. They certainly aren't working for us and, from our POV, a more (otherwise) useless bunch of tools is hard to imagine, no? It's that damned quid pro quo thingy that worries...
Indonesian health authorities confirmed Monday that two more people had died of bird flu, bringing the national toll from the H5N1 virus to 54 -- the highest in the world.
Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, trails Vietnam, which suffered 42 deaths, none of which however occurred this year.
Samples taken from a 67-year-old woman who died overnight and an 11-year-old boy who died two days ago returned positive results from two laboratories, the health ministry said.
Positive results from two Indonesian laboratories mean that the World Health Organization includes the case in its records.
Runizar Rusin, head of the ministry's national bird flu information centre, identified the pair as Mamah Komariah, who had been hospitalised in West Java's
Bandung, and Aulia, the boy who died in Jakarta.
Hadi Yusuf, who headed the team of doctors treating Komariah in hospital, said the woman died late Sunday "with complications from the virus affecting all of her organs."
"She had been unconscious for the previous two days," he told AFP.
Yusuf said last week that the woman was also suffering from encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain, believed to be caused by the virus.
He said that if she was confirmed as carrying H5N1, she would be the first case in Indonesia where the virus has attacked the brain. At least one other similar case has been found elsewhere, he said.
The younger victim died at Jakarta's Sulianti Saroso hospital, the country's main facility for treating bird flu patients, after being admitted on Saturday.
The boy had previously been treated for 10 days at another hospital in south Jakarta and health officials said that he had come into contact with poultry, the usual method for transmission of avian influenza.
Monday's confirmed results bring the archipelago nation's overall number of cases to 71.
The bird flu centre's Rusin also said that another patient, whose details he did not provide, had returned positive results to an initial test but the results from a second laboratory were not yet available.
#2
It seems to have got itself established in a mammalian host in Indo, possibly cats. The virus can now adapt to mammalian physiology - substantially different from birds.
I still think that one of these days we will wake up to 20 or 30 new cases rather than 2 or 3, then off it goes.
#3
Please contribute today to MOBIRDS, the secret organization who are responsible for throwing dead birds into mosques. The members of MOBIRDS work hard to fulfill their goals of a real chance of bird flu for every muzzie, but they can't do it without you. Thank you for your support.
Posted by: A Snackbar ||
10/16/2006 7:56 Comments ||
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#4
Phil, no evidence of that, I believe. The most likely mammal is the pig, and those are probably rare in Indonesia. All of the mammalian cases reported so far, in Europe and Asia, appear to be the result of the animal eating sick birds.
WHO reports three new cases, two of which are related to poultry deaths and one of which is under investigation. They're showing 55 cases in Indonesia.
Poultry, poor hygiene and limited healthcare are still the predominent factors in this situation. The number of cases will incease, as Phil states, because we are moving into the influenza season.
#6
The aftermath of enormous plagues can be very interesting. The Black Plague in the 14th Century was followed by Renaissance; and the Black Plague in the 17th Century was followed by the Industrial Revolution.
First of all, farming becomes a lot more efficient with small farms combining into larger ones. Prices strongly drop on most commodities, yet the shortage of labor drives up wages.
Capital is freed up, with young people inheriting earlier and investing, which applies across the economic spectrum. Art and science are fully funded, resulting in a "knowledge boom".
Unlike with famine, that can devastate a region for hundreds of years and has only very slow recovery, the recovery from a plague is very quick.
Plagues also have a strong Darwinian factor, and demographically, they tend to work from the bottom of the pyramid up. They are also followed by a strong decline in organized religion, because banding together to pray away a plague is not a good idea.
After a plague there is a strong decline in those people who are both stupid and fanatical, along with kooks of all varieties. It also purges those who are incapable of changing their high-risk behaviors.
If the avian flu maintains its mortality, we can expect both radical change and strong stability in the rest of the world. Initially, there might be a shuffling of the deck politically, in many nations. But afterwards, both the status quo reigns, and there is a sharp decline in inter-nation hostilities. Many of the reason to go to war will strongly diminish.
#8
Phil, Dr. Niman doesn't qualify as a reliable source in my view. He cites his own commentary rather than any independent sources.
We know cats can get avian flu through eating infected birds. That's been demonstrated in cases both in Asia and in Europe. Indonesians are reportedly not cat lovers, however, so exposure by feral cats is an unlikely route.
If anything, the continued association of sick and dying poultry with human cases suggests that the primary link is there. The cat association described though not well-cited by Dr. Niman was of a healthy cat. The other instances known resulted in illness in the cat.
#9
There has not been a pandemic since rapid worldwide air travel has become normal. This has contributed to faster spread of flus and is thus documented. Flus which once took the entire winter to spread are reduced to about a month total effective lifespan. If H5N1 goes nuclear, we will be hit hard from all sides. Home schooling is recommended. And, the birdies may bring it back and forth with their migrations, so we could have multible waves of fatal H5N1.
Concentrations of population will be hurting, and medical professionals will be overwhelmed.
It could get ugly.
#11
.com: My rather morbid point, I suppose, is to ponder what will happen in Asia, post epidemic. A WHO epidemologist gave a prediction a while back of a 300M mortality--he was promptly told to STFU, and non-medical/non-scientific WHO bureaucrats reduced that number to 3M.
However, more and more, I suspect that his original estimate may be on the low side. That being said, with 80-90% of the casualties being in Asia, there will be some major changes to that stubbornly unchanging continent.
One aspect of the disease that is missed is how it utterly mucks up Asia's food supply. Not just from killing off vast numbers of chicken, ducks and pigs, but also from wild bird feces contaminating low-processed grain, fruits & vegetables, and other foods.
So you've got to admit that some pretty major changes could result from say a billion Chinese, Indians, Malaysians, Indonesians, etc., being suddenly gone in a few months.
#12
I was funnin' - but also take you seriously - your points are persuasive, heh. "Funny" thing is, it doesn't matter much whether we like the scenario or not. I have few doubts that the day will come, eventually, unless our medical prowess mushrooms dramatically and manufacturing capacity for those miracles magically appears - not likely until there's some serious liability reform.
Just a review of 1918 with the global travel of today should scare the bejesus out of every health official on the planet - including the political drones. Don't see that happening.
Can you tell I've read The Coming Plague? Lol. About a decade ago - been watching this topic with serious interest ever since.
#13
Doncha see? Few pigs in Indonesia - muslim country. It's Allen's will.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/16/2006 16:01 Comments ||
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#14
.com: I've been interested in killer flu since I was in high school. Back then, I got to interview several old folks who lived through the Spanish flu.
Surprisingly, some of our biggest advances aren't what you would imagine. One of the most important is public hygiene awareness. Back then, even though the medical community was aware of good hygiene practices, the public as a whole was pretty ignorant. That cost many lives.
Today, however, a large part of our society could overnight become mysophobic, afraid of uncleanliness and contamination. And if given good information on how to protect themselves through our other great advance, communications, this could be a major life-saver.
An advanced communications system can be a godsend in an epidemic. Even small towns can set up phone banks to routinely call every household--vastly improving emergency services. And then masked volunteers can police up any house that doesn't answer. This means that household quarantine signs can be put up quickly, limiting unintentional spread, the sick can be isolated and cared for, and the dead can be secured by mortuary services.
In many ways, an epidemic is like a forest fire, almost puzzling in its spread, unexplainably missing large areas yet devastating others. But at the same time, there are all sorts of means by which you can "short circuit" a fire or an epidemic, and inhibit much of its damage.
At the federal level, in an effort to short circuit outbreaks, we are using a vaccination system that hasn't been used in years. Normally, for flu, we vaccinate the old, very young, and infirm. But this is being changed to vaccinating school aged children, the biggest spreaders of disease, and outbreak areas.
Ironically, there are some things that we used to do that were wise precautions against epidemics, that we have generally forgotten. This is because back then they were *used* to epidemics of all sorts.
One of these is the "sick room" idea. Any family that could afford to had a small sick room, like a walk-in closet, for anyone in the family who became ill with a communicable disease. This limited exposure and contamination (and mess) through vomiting and diarrhea considerably.
Another is the use of quarantine, which is an ill-understood thing today. Every Doctor carried quarantine signs around with him, and the authorities were very strict about homes registered as quarantined staying marked as such until they had been certified by the health department.
A big shock to most people will be how authoritarian the health department can become in such a situation. They have virtually unlimited power.
And though travel restrictions are not particularly useful, undoubtedly some will be set up, and checkpoint guards will most likely be authorized to fire weapons when idiots attempt to run them.
All-in-all, the US should have at worst mortality from 300k to 1M, in an epidemic that could last over a year; and an equal number of casualties with severe lung damage. This will be insignificant to what the rest of the world experiences.
One of the things we've noticed in preparing for a possible pandemic (from the EMS angle, as well as some others) is that most businesses are absolutely unprepared for the effects of a pandemic. Many of them will have to close down completely for who knows how long, particularly if they haven't prepared for 50% absenteeism as people are sick or are caring for sick relatives, and particularly if their business isn't able to be carried on remotely by computer (retail, for instance). Delivery systems will be disrupted. In a major pandemic there will be a cascade effect on the economy far beyond just the illness.
And I haven't even looked into the costs to the insurance companies having to pay out for hospitalization, disabilities, and deaths.
But you're right - no matter how bad it is in this country, it will be much, much worse in others. And that's just the more westernized countries....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/16/2006 21:47 Comments ||
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Edited for Brevity - Complete Article at Link
Taxpayers along with radical groups that aim to reconquer the Southwestern U.S. are funding a Hispanic K-8 school led by a principal who believes in racial segregation and sees the institution as part of a larger cultural "struggle."
Among the school's supporters are the National Council of La Raza Charter School Development Initiative; Raza Development Fund, Inc.; and the Pasadena City College chapter of MeCHA, or Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan.
"La Raza," or "the Race," is a designation by many Mexicans who see themselves as part of a transnational ethnic group they hope will one day reclaim Aztlan, the mythical birthplace of the Aztecs. In Chicano folklore, Aztlan includes California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and parts of Colorado and Texas.
Continued on Page 49
#2
This is the kind of crap that should really tee off US taxpayers. Even worse, the California assembly has turned the LA school system over to the LA Mayor, another Mexican activist. Worse yet, the Donkey-in-Disguise Schwartzenegger signed the legislation to allow it to become law. Talk about a putz.
#2
Toward the end of the performance I attended, I heard one man choking back sobs and another snoring.
...
It is all the more surprising, then, to discover that for long stretches Rachel Corrie feels dramatically flat, even listless. This is not the fault of the text. From earliest adolescence, Ms. Corrie, who wanted to be a poet, had a voice that was unusually and emphatically her own, and a precocious gift for concrete metaphors that give form to nebulous feelings.
#2
So what is the formula that the Census Bureau been using to calculate the illegal immigration numbers since 2000? 'X' number per hour, plus or minus harvesting or new home construction variable?
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.
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 16 (KUNA) -- The General Assembly on Monday afternoon resumed its elections process of a fifth Security Council non permanent member to fill in the Latin American seat, with Guatemala, which was in the lead, losing more votes and Venezuela gaining more.
President Hugo Chavez on Sunday accused Washington of waging "a dirty war" to keep his country from winning a seat on the U.N. Security Council. 
The NAACP said Monday that it will 
WASHINGTON - Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid announced Monday he is amending his ethics reports to Congress to more fully account for a Las Vegas land deal that allowed him to collect $1.1 million for property he hadn't personally owned for three years. The Nevada Democrat also disclosed he failed to report two other smaller land deals on those same reports.
THE tribunal established by the UN to prosecute the leaders of the 1994 Rwandan genocide has been plunged into renewed controversy by claims that up to a dozen Rwandans accused of genocide crimes were on its payroll. The allegations were made to the UN General Assembly by Joseph Nsengimana, Rwanda's envoy. 
Indonesian health authorities confirmed Monday that two more people had died of bird flu, bringing the national toll from the H5N1 virus to 54 -- the highest in the world.
