John Beddington, the government's current chief scientific adviser, has already expressed scepticism about biofuels. At a speech in Westminster this month he said demand for biofuels from the US had delivered a "major shock" to world agriculture, which was raising food prices globally. "There are real problems with the unsustainability of biofuels," he said, adding that cutting down rainforest to grow the crops was "profoundly liberal stupid".
Britain will move cautiously in its battle with Brussels because José Manuel Barroso, the European commission president, is championing the 10% target for 2020. Barroso this month dismissed as "exaggerated" claims that biofuels can lead to increases in food prices and greenhouse gas emissions due to deforestation. But other members of the commission and other countries, including Germany, sympathise with Britain.
Brown was due to release a report touching on issues including biofuels, when he met Barroso in Brussels last month. But the prime minister decided that the time was "not right or ripe".
The prime minister made clear that Britain is wary of the target when he said last November: "I take extremely seriously concerns about the impact of biofuels on deforestation, precious habitats and on food security, and the UK is working to ensure a European sustainability standard is introduced as soon as possible, and we will not support an increase in biofuels over current target levels until an effective standard is in place."
#1
"Due to deforestation" > this point has been well-argued/debated since the 1980's. In order naturally reclaim large swathes of land used for the production of bio-based altern fuels, GENETICALLY-ENHANCED/ENGIN PLANTS + TREES WOULD LIKELY HAVE TO BE DEVELOPED TO REPLACE WHAT WAS USED OR DESTROYED, A MAJOR "TALKING POINT" WHICH MANY DEDIC ENVIROS ARE AGAINST. This is exclusive of any artificial WATER SUBSTITUTE(S), which is separate major "talking point" in and of itself.
#2
I tell all morons who scream "Carbon Dioxide causes Global warming" this
1. Plant trees and greenery.
2. Stop breathing.
3. Problem solved.
Somehow they never listen, Odd?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/25/2008 21:55 Comments ||
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The Minister of Religious Affairs, Mr. Ghlamallah Bouabdellah, has called on the Algerian people to stand up against the Christianization campaigns targeting some regions across Algeria, we are all accountable, but not only the public authorities, the Minister was quoted saying.
Muslims do not accept seeing their holy symbols to be attacked, said the Minister in a news conference, on the wake of the works of the 9th Quran Meeting which extended along one week, calling the Algerian people to face up to the campaigns aiming at undermining the Muslims holy symbols, inciting to defend the identity and the unity of the nation, I am quite sure all Algerians agree with me, he added.
In this regard, Mr. Ghlamallah indicated he applied for the Ministry of Home Affairs, to provide him the list of the registered Christian associations, while ordering to convene its chairmen to regularize their situation with the concerned services, adding that the associations law is clear, as they are obliged to renew their bodies, their agency, their status law, and their rules of procedure. About whether the associations shall abide by a deadline religious affairs minister said it is of the prerogatives of the interior ministry. He said the number of the churches is 8 Anglican, protestant and catholic ones. They are to abide by law or their activity is to be banned.
Moreover, 96 Imams, or martyrs as the minister described them, have been killed by terrorists, while announcing that the Ministry is elaborating a biography for each of the killed Imams, to be edited in an illustrated encyclopaedia, with the view of keep their martyrdom in memory.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#1
I suspect that they are starting to notice a lot of defections of Muslims to Christianity. It is happening everywhere in the world it can, and Muslim controlled governments are having fires lit under them by nervous Muslim clergy.
Further South in Africa it is a flood. Some of the (conservative) Anglican dioceses have almost doubled in size with Muslim converts, and cannot build churches fast enough.
Ironically, much of their growth is funded by US Episcopal congregations leaving the Episcopal branch of Anglicanism (holding their noses) and becoming African missionary churches. They are conservative and wealthy, and pump money into their African dioceses and archdioceses.
#2
In Africa Alone Everyday, 16,000 Muslims Leave Islam The Internet site aljazeera.net published an interview with Ahmad Al Qataani, an important Islamic cleric who said: In every hour, 667 Muslims convert to Christianity. Everyday, 16,000 Muslims convert to Christianity. Ever year, 6 million Muslims convert to Christianity."
The results of a recent survey of converts from Islam. First, we can look at the experiences that most influenced Muslims. For example, respondents ranked the lifestyle of Christians as the most important influence in their decision to follow Christ. A North African former Sufi mystic noted with approval that there was no gap between the moral profession and the practice of Christians he saw. An Egyptian contrasted the love of a Christian group at an American university with the unloving treatment of Muslim students and faculty he encountered at a university in Medina. An Omani woman explained that Christians treat women as equals. Others noted loving Christian marriages. Some poor people said the expatriate Christian workers they knew had adopted, contrary to their expectations, a simple lifestyle, ...
The next most important influence was the power of God in answered prayers and healing. Like most of the factors that former Muslims list, experiences of God's supernatural intervention often increase after Muslims decide to follow Christ. ...
It helps to note that a third of the 750-person sample were folk Muslims, with a characteristic concern for power and blessings. It is also worth noting that the Jesus portrayed in the Qur'an is a prophet who heals lepers and the blind and raises the dead. Not surprisingly, many Muslims find him attractive. Of course, power and blessings do not constitute the final word for Muslims. The Bible also offers a theology of suffering, and many Muslims who follow Christ find that their faith is strengthened through trials.
The third biggest influence listed by respondents was dissatisfaction with the type of Islam they had experienced. They expressed unhappiness with the Qur'an, which they perceive as emphasizing God's punishment more than his love (although the Qur'an says he loves those who love him [3:31]). As for Islam's requirement that liturgical prayer should be in Arabic, a Javanese man asked, "Doesn't an all-knowing God know Indonesian?" Others criticized folk Islam's use of amulets and praying at the graves of dead saints.
Some respondents decried Islamic militancy and the imposition of Islamic law, which they said is not able to transform hearts and society. This disillusionment is broad in the Muslim world. Many Iranians became interested in the gospel after the Khomeini revolution of 1979 brought in rule by clergy. Pakistanis became more receptive after President Zia ul-Haq (1977-1988) tried to implement Islamic law. And Afghans became more open after Islamist Taliban conquest and rule (1994-2001).
Posted by: ed ||
03/25/2008 11:25 Comments ||
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#3
We still face three problems:
1) In a society based on fear, the opponents could
become majority without even knowing it. We could
even imagine a society where everyone has rejected Islam|communism|whatever but is afraid of his neighbor while ignoring that neighbor has rejected it and is afraid of telling it. And that is how a mob made entirely of people who have rejected
the faith hangs someone who converted and got caught.
2) Even when outnumbered Muslims still have an edge by the fact that they more readily use violence. New Christain converts tend to shun
violence much more than old ones. Unfortunately
I fear that Mulims will not let them go peacefully out of Islam so Christains will have to strike back or be wiped out.
3) A consequence of easy and fast transportations is that Muslims from a country where Islam is
crumbling will be able to get reinforcements
from outside. Christians could theorically too but unfortunately the Crusading spirit (travelling
to foreign lands to defend Christians under attack) is nearly non existent.
The Air Force mistakenly shipped to Taiwan four electrical fuses designed for use on intercontinental ballistic missiles, the Pentagon said Tuesday, but has since recovered them and launched an investigation.
The error is particularly disturbing because of its indirect link to nuclear weaponry and because of the sensitivity of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, which China regularly denounces as provocative.
At a Pentagon news conference, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said the misshipped items were four electrical fuses for nose cone assemblies for ICBMs. He also said they were delivered to Taiwan in 2006 and had been sent instead of helicopter batteries that had been ordered by Taiwan.
Wynne said the investigation is meant to sort out what happened and how.
The fuses were manufactured for use on a Minuteman strategic nuclear missile but contained no nuclear materials.
It is the second nuclear-related mistake involving the Air Force in recent months. Last August an Air Force B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and flown from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., to Barksdale Air Force Base, La. At the time, the pilot and crew were unaware they had nuclear arms aboard.
Wynne emphasized that the mistaken shipment to Taiwan did not include nuclear materials, although the fuses are linked to the triggering mechanism in the nose cone of a Minuteman nuclear missile.
"This could not be construed as being nuclear material. It is a component for the fuse in the nosecone for a nuclear system," Wynne said. "We are very concerned about it."
Defense Secretary Robert Gates ordered the investigation, putting Navy Adm. Kirkland H. Donald in charge and asking that he report an initial assessment by April 15.
Wynne said that Taiwanese authorities notified U.S. officials of the mistake, but it was not clear when the notification was made. He said the fuses had been in four shipping containers sent in March 2005 from F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., to a Defense Logisitics Agency warehouse at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. It was then in the logistics agency's control and was shipped to Taiwan "on or around" August 2006, according to a Gates memo ordering Donald to investigate.
The Chinese Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Taiwan official said Tuesday that the island's diplomats in Washington typically do not comment on Defense Department matters.
Ryan Henry, the No. 2 policy official in Gates' office, said President Bush was notified of the mistake and the actions to recover the items. Henry called the mistake "disconcerting" and intolerable. He said the Chinese government has been notified of the error.
Henry said an examination of the site in Taiwan where the components had been stored after delivery indicated that they had not been tampered with. He said the components were "quite dated," as part of a system designed in the 1960s.
Henry said the exact sequence of events that led to the mistake and the recovery of the items was unclear.
U.S. arms sales to Taiwan are especially sensitive because China vehemently objects to U.S. defense assistance to the island that Beijing deems to be part of China.
Taiwan, which split from China amid civil war in 1949, potentially is the most sensitive issue in U.S.-China relations. Beijing claims Taiwan as its own and has threatened to attack should the self- governing island make its de facto independence formal. Washington has hinted that it would go to war to protect Taiwan.
While Washington switched its recognition from Taipei to Beijing in it remains the island's most important foreign backer, providing it with the means to defend itself against a possible Chinese attack.
#2
Boy, I bet the Chinese had their entire padding for their seat cushions disappear after hearing that news. Not surprising the AF fixed and admitted the issue as quickly as possible before seat cushions started coming out of Chinese mouths.
#3
So according to the AP, the 'batteries' were first packaged in 2005 and they compare them to the nuclear weapons loaded on the B-52s occurring 'in recent months.'
wonder what the technician thought when he pulled the diehard out of the box; probably spent several months looking for the terminals.....
#5
"mistakenly shipped to Taiwan four electrical fuses designed for use on intercontinental ballistic missiles, the Pentagon said Tuesday, but has since recovered them and launched an investigation."
Ummm, I'd have chosen a less unfortunate word there.
But that's just me....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/25/2008 19:46 Comments ||
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#6
I wonder if Procopius hasn't got the gist of it.
Nancy Reagan is endorsing John McCain.
A McCain aide says the Republican presidential nominee in waiting will travel to the former first lady's home later today to receive her endorsement.
Reagan says she typically waits until after the GOP convention to announce her support, she says it is clear the Republican Party has chosen its nominee.
"John McCain has been a good friend for over thirty years," Reagan says in a statement. "My husband and I first came to know him as a returning Vietnam War POW, and were impressed by the courage he had shown through his terrible ordeal. I believe John's record and experience have prepared him well to be our next president."
Yesterday on the Clinton campaign's conference call, a reporter asked, "If Bill Richardson is Judas Iscariot in the mind of James Carville, who is Hillary in that metaphor?" (The Hillary camp didn't want to touch that answer.) A Democratic strategist yesterday told me yesterday he's more interested in another part of the metaphor: What were the "thirty silver pieces"?
It's a brilliant bit of nasty political jujitsu to audaciously charge, without evidence, that Richardson traded his endorsement for a reward of some kind. What Carville's comment does is make it much harder for a President Obama to put Richardson in his cabinet. Not impossible, obviously, but Secretary-of-State-designate Richardson (to pick a hypothetical example) would inevitably face questions of whether there was a quid pro quo for his endorsement. Richardson would start any new position with a bit of a taint as, after all, "Carville said he sold his endorsement back in March 2008..." . . .
An interesting lesson coming out of this elongated Democratic primary is how Democrats aren't just nasty, unfair, no-holds-barred artists of the politics of personal destruction when fighting across the aisle; they can't keep their claws sheathed and their bile repressed when fighting within the party, folks who were their closest allies not too long ago.
Were there tempers flaring and bad blood on the Republican side? Sure. But I don't know if there were surrogates calling each other monsters, or bringing up the equivalent of Monica's dress, or "while you were working for that slumlord", or accusing each other of trying to disenfranchise voters, etc. And day by day, those fights seem further away.
I wonder if the winner of an intensely negative Democratic primary goes even more negative on the GOP candidate in the fall, whether voters will just recoil and conclude they've had enough after two years of campaigning...
Posted by: Mike ||
03/25/2008 12:43 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
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#1
Repubs were worse, they called McCain a liberal and a Democrat ;)
vicious and unrelenting back and forth...warms my cockles
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/25/2008 19:11 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Carvile is one of the few human beings without any redeeming qualities what so ever. Also one of th few I would unhesitatingly punch in the mouth if I met him.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The CEO of a company whose employee is accused of improperly looking at the passport files of presidential candidates is a consultant to the Barack Obama campaign, a source said Saturday. John O. Brennan, president and CEO of the Analysis Corp., advises the Illinois Democrat on foreign policy and intelligence issues, the source said. Brennan briefed the media on behalf of the campaign this month. The executive is a former senior CIA official and former interim director of the National Counterterrorism Center. He contributed $2,300 to the Obama campaign in January.
When asked about the contribution, a State Department official told CNN's Zain Verjee, "We ethically awarded contracts. Political affiliation is not one of the factors that we check."
On Friday, the department revealed that Obama's passport file was improperly accessed three times this year, and the security of passport files of the two other major presidential candidates -- Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican John McCain -- had also been breached. Three contract employees are accused in the wrongdoing, including the one who works for Analysis Corp. and who was disciplined. That contract employee accessed McCain's file in addition to Obama's. None of the contract employees was identified. "Should you be caught or killed, we will disavow any knowledge of your actions."
The other two contract employees worked for Stanley Inc. They were fired.
The Washington Times, which broke the story Thursday night that Obama's records had been improperly accessed, reported Saturday that the State Department inquiry is focusing on the Analysis Corp. employee. Also, the investigation by the department's inspector general will include polygraph tests for supervisors in the passport section to find out whether there was any political motive.
The department spokesman said Saturday that he would not comment on whether the department was administering polygraphs to employees in connection with the investigation.
"While this is a rare occurrence, we regret the unauthorized access of any individual's private information," the company said Friday in a statement.
Stanley has had contracts with the department since 1992 and was recently awarded a $570 million contract to continue providing support for passport processing. Its CEO, Philip Nolan, contributed $1,000 to the Clinton campaign. SnickerThe department official said the three contract employees worked in three offices in the Washington area. One office does consular work and visas on evenings, holidays, weekends and overnights; another office issues passports; the third office scans and files materials.
The source said there has been no problem in the past with the Analysis Corp. employee, who has "extensive" experience. The worker has been with the company for years and has always worked under a State Department contract. Explaining that the department had "complimented" this person for work in the past, the source said the individual is considered a "terrific" employee, except for this one instance, characterized as an "aberration." The department asked the Analysis Corp. not to take any administrative action against the employee while the investigation is under way.
On Friday, the company released a statement saying it would fully cooperate with the federal investigation. The source said the Analysis Corp. has told the employee to do the same.
Echoing the State Department spokesman Friday, this source said there is no indication the motivation was anything but curiosity.
The source said Analysis Corp. learned of its employee's actions from the State Department on Friday morning. In its statement, Analysis Corp. confirmed that one of the accused was an employee and called the incident "isolated." Since it's turned into a case of "Friendly Fire" for the Dimocrats, I think it will drop off the radar.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
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#1
The boyz at FOX and FREEREPUBLIC are going ballistic on this news.
#2
A tempest in a teapot. I imagine the same thing takes place repeatedly at credit card bureaus, colleges, and your local Department of Motor Vehicles - in short, anyplace that has a database with names of public figures.
It was getting a lot of play in hopes of providing a distraction from Obama's "spiritual advisor" problem. It will fade fast now.
#2
So Mrs Clintons advisers are trying to shift the goalposts once more...
Didn't the Clin-toons invent that concept?
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/25/2008 6:05 Comments ||
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#3
Hillary Clinton plots to win super-delegates
In other breaking news, the sun rose in the east, water ran downhill, geese were observed flying in a "V" formation, . . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
03/25/2008 6:31 Comments ||
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#4
Whatever problem we might have in this country, Hillary is not the solution--unless of course you like schemers, connivers, snake oil hawkers, or con artists who you can't trust or believe.
Though he is little known in the West, Coptic priest Zakaria Botros named Islams Public Enemy #1 by the Arabic newspaper, al-Insan al-Jadid has been making waves in the Islamic world...he appears frequently on the Arabic channel al-Hayat (i.e., Life TV). There, he addresses controversial topics of theological significance free from the censorship imposed by Islamic authorities or self-imposed through fear of the zealous mobs...discurses on little-known but embarrassing aspects of Islamic law and tradition have become a thorn in the side of Islamic leaders throughout the Middle East.... third reason for Botross success is that his polemical technique has proven irrefutable. Each of his episodes has a theme from the pressing to the esoteric often expressed as a question (e.g., Is jihad an obligation for all Muslims?; Are women inferior to men in Islam?; Did Mohammed say that adulterous female monkeys should be stoned? Is drinking the urine of prophets salutary according to sharia?). To answer the question, Botros meticulously quotes always careful to give sources and reference numbers from authoritative Islamic texts on the subject, starting from the Koran; then from the canonical sayings of the prophet the Hadith; and finally from the words of prominent Muslim theologians past and present the illustrious ulema.
Typically, Botross presentation of the Islamic material is sufficiently detailed that the controversial topic is shown to be an airtight aspect of Islam. Yet, however convincing his proofs, Botros does not flatly conclude that, say, universal jihad or female inferiority are basic tenets of Islam. He treats the question as still open and humbly invites the ulema, the revered articulators of sharia law, to respond and show the error in his methodology. He does demand, however, that their response be based on al-dalil we al-burhan, evidence and proof, one of his frequent refrains not shout-downs or sophistry.
#3
IMO, Father Botros is simply doing in arabic what Robert Spencer and Hugh Fitzgerald do in English (minus the sarcasm of Robert and Hugh and their news reports of Islamic violence).
#4
Hey, I thought we, The Great Satan, were Islam's Public Enemy #1. Or if not us, then Western Civilization at least. Now we learn it is some Egyptian Christian guy? I'm both disappointed and encouraged at the same time. Islam needs its Martin Luthers and Zakaria Botroses, as many as it can get.
PetroSun Issues Algae-to-Biofuels Corporate Updates
SCOTTSDALE, AZ--(Marketwire - March 24, 2008) - PetroSun, Inc (PINKSHEETS: PSUD) announced today the following corporate updates.
The Rio Hondo, Texas algae farm will commence operations on April 1, 2008 as PetroSun's initial commercial algae-to-biofuels facility. The current algae farm consists of 1,100 acres of saltwater ponds that the Company projects will produce a minimum of 4.4 million gallons of algal oil and 110 million pounds of biomass on an annual basis [about 300 barrels oil per day equivalent - not much but not nothing either].
#3
Basically a Company press release. It will be interesting how it actually pans out. In addition, how much to the output is actually convertible to something useful? I've seen articles about environmental pollution from alcohol plants lately. It seems like the "green" processes can be pretty dirty environmentally. Who knew?
Short term enclosed bioreactor (controlled env) experiments fed w/ enriched CO2 have claimed up to an equivalent of 15,000 gal/acre using higher oil content algae species. But this farm is using unenriched atmosphere (AFAIK) and open ponds w/ attendant temp and light swings, infections and prey species that are unavoidable. Others have tried it and given up.
For comparision, 100,000 lbs-algae/acre and 4000 gal-oil/acre is 50 times the yield of soybeans. If these folks can produce even 1/4th as claimed, 1000 gal-oil/acre, that still yields 12X soybeans or 2X palm oil. The non-oil portion can also be used as livestock feed (if low toxicity), produce ethanol (to 100-140 gal/ton) or gasified to produce many hydrocarbon products.
Posted by: ed ||
03/25/2008 19:19 Comments ||
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#6
I can picture what would be needed for an efficient operation. Start with about 10' wide, long, shallow canals in parallel rows that connect at the ends, which amount to a snaked, single canal.
Water flows the length of all the canals, with pipes on the bottom to bubble up CO2 and NOx gases. On rails over the canal, a harvester runs the snaking length, first with the flow of water, then against it, raking the algae up and putting it on a sluice/conveyor belt on the side of each canal.
The algae flows to the end of the canals, where it is deposited in another sluice/conveyor belt, running perpendicular to the canals, which takes all the algae to a single dumping point.
All the canals are covered with "self-cleaning" glass, which limits evaporation and keeps the CO2 and NOx gases in, allows in sunlight, but keeps contaminants out.
Once the water reaches the end of the "snake" of canals, it is filtered for reprocessing and sent back to the beginning of the snake.
So all during daylight hours, the accelerated growth of the algae and its processing continue. Because water cooling is mostly through evaporation, a greater problem is keeping the water cool enough in the warmer months.
This might require cool water injections at points along the snake, as well as at its head.
Other, trace minerals will probably need to be added to the water as well, and some toxic algae waste chemicals might need to be removed during filtering as well.
The rest of the process is producing the biodiesel from the algae. This amounts to mixing the algae vegetable oil with alcohol and sodium hydroxide.
#1
Standard governmental negotiating ploy #42: When asked to make budget cuts, always cut the most popular program. Wait for complaints; then ask for more money.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
03/25/2008 22:04 Comments ||
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Thankfully, the Supreme Court actually used the Constitution to slap down the "International Law taking over US sovernty" brigade.
President Bush overstepped his authority when he ordered a Texas court to reopen the case of a Mexican on death row for rape and murder, the Supreme Court said Tuesday.
In a case that mixes presidential power, international relations and the death penalty, the court sided with Texas 6-3.
Bush was in the unusual position of siding with death row prisoner Jose Ernesto Medellin, a Mexican citizen whom police prevented from consulting with Mexican diplomats, as provided by international treaty.
An international court ruled in 2004 that the convictions of Medellin and 50 other Mexicans on death row around the United States violated the 1963 Vienna Convention, which provides that people arrested abroad should have access to their home country's consular officials. The International Court of Justice, also known as the world court, said the Mexican prisoners should have new court hearings to determine whether the violation affected their cases.
Bush, who oversaw 152 executions as Texas governor, disagreed with the decision. But he said it must be carried out by state courts because the United States had agreed to abide by the world court's rulings in such cases. The administration argued that the president's declaration is reason enough for Texas to grant Medellin a new hearing.
Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, disagreed. Roberts said the international court decision cannot be forced upon the states.
The president may not "establish binding rules of decision that pre-empt contrary state law," Roberts said. Neither does the treaty, by itself, require individual states to take action, he said.
Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter dissented.
The international court judgment should be enforced, Breyer wrote. "The nation may well break its word even though the president seeks to live up to that word," he said.
Justice John Paul Stevens, while agreeing with the outcome of the case, said nothing prevents Texas from giving Medellin another hearing even though it is not compelled to do so.
"Texas' duty in this respect is all the greater since it was Texas that by failing to provide consular notice in accordance with the Vienna Convention ensnared the United States in the current controversy," Stevens said.
Medellin was arrested a few days after the killings of Jennifer Ertman, 14, and Elizabeth Pena, 16, in June 1993. He was told he had a right to remain silent and have a lawyer present, but the police did not tell him that he could request assistance from the Mexican consulate.
Medellin, who speaks, reads and writes English, gave a written confession. He was convicted of murder in the course of a sexual assault, a capital offense in Texas. A judge sentenced him to death in October 1994.
Texas acknowledged that Medellin was not told he could ask for help from Mexican diplomats, but argued that he forfeited the right because he never raised the issue at trial or sentencing. In any case, the state said, the diplomats' intercession would not have made any difference in the outcome of the case.
State and federal courts rejected Medellin's claim when he raised it on appeal.
Then, in 2003, Mexico sued the United States in the International Court of Justice in The Hague on behalf of Medellin and 50 other Mexicans on death row in the U.S. who also had been denied access to their country's diplomats following their arrests.
Mexico has no death penalty. Mexico and other opponents of capital punishment have sought to use the court, also known as the World Court, to fight for foreigners facing execution in the U.S.
Forty-four Mexican prisoners affected by the decision remain on death row around the country, including 14 in Texas. One Mexican inmate formerly facing execution now is imprisoned for life because of the Supreme Court decision outlawing capital punishment for anyone under 18 at the time the crime was committed.
Bush has since said the United States will no longer allow the World Court to judge the consular access cases because of how death penalty opponents have tried to use the international tribunal.
#3
Well, anytime they see an issue as a "social" one that they can litigate from the bench, yes.
Other than that, they are constitutionalits. As long as you remember it is a "living" document and can be interpreted at will instead of bothering with all those pesky amendments.
The CEO of JPMorgan, James Dimon, agreed to pay $10 a share in stock (up from $2 last week) and to purchase 95 million new shares of Bear Stearns, giving JPMorgan an immediate 39 percent stake in the collapsed brokerage firm and paving the way to a likely deal closing on April 8. He also agree to absorb the losses (if any) of the riskiest $1 billion of $30 billion of Bear Stearns riskiest assets, leaving the NY Fed at risk of loss (or profit) of the remaining $29 billion. Last week's deal put the entire risk on the NY Fed. Dimon was also concerned about a large number of Bear Stearns employees defecting to his competitors. This is like a falling out among pirates, but with better hygiene and grooming and less swordplay.
#2
There is a possibility that nobody has talked about yet, that would seem to make sense.
In an odd set of circumstances, close to, if not a majority of stock is held by people who may not want to sell. This being the case, and to insulate itself from liability if things really go into the dumper, JPM might consider a different approach:
Keep Bear alive as a *subsidiary* to JPM. In that way, JPM could profit if Bear recovers, but not get horribly stuck if Bear fails. It keeps all the Bear employees doing their jobs, and if Bear is failing, it can take its time and cherry pick both the successful parts of Bear and its best employees.
The bottom line is that JPM could make a LOT more money by keeping Bear alive than by cannibalizing it.
#3
My take is Bear was all ready to bail at $2. Major stockholders in bear made the observation:
"If Bear Sterns can crash the economy, then we can crash the economy by stopping this deal"
That puts the stockholders in a negotiating position, as neither JPM nor the fed want to see Bear crater. That's why you see a $10 offer right now.
The stockholders are doing exactly what they should do - extract every cent out of their investment.
Now 10 cents on the dollar from the peak is $16 or so, and thats usually fire sale pricing. Bear stock holders probably won't settle for less than that (they would rather just loose the investment)
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.
John Beddington, the government's current chief scientific adviser, has already expressed scepticism about biofuels. At a speech in Westminster this month he said demand for biofuels from the US had delivered a "major shock" to world agriculture, which was raising food prices globally. "There are real problems with the unsustainability of biofuels," he said, adding that cutting down rainforest to grow the crops was "profoundly 
The Air Force mistakenly shipped to Taiwan four electrical fuses designed for use on intercontinental ballistic missiles, the Pentagon said Tuesday, but has since recovered them and launched an investigation. 
