Police planned to increase patrols and put SWAT officers and specialized units on the streets of Chicago over the weekend, a show of force aimed at deterring violence like the three dozen shootings that left nine people dead last weekend.
"Weather permitting, we will have our helicopter up," said police spokeswoman Monique Bond, who said Thursday night was relatively quiet, with only four shootings, none fatal...
...Meanwhile, it was announced yesterday that Weis plans to arm and train the city's 13,500 officers with more powerful weapons, including equipping many with M4 carbines to match the firepower of the street gangs they have to face.
Chicago Police SWAT teams are already equipped with M4 carbines, but rank-and-file officers are currently only allowed to carry handguns.
The M4 is a short assault rifle used by the Marine Corps, and it fires more shots in less time than most handguns. The fully automatic version can fire up to 1,000 rounds a minute, although the magazines only hold from 20 to 30 shots...
#1
The devil is in the details. What about Rules of Engagement for the Po-leese? The gangs will always be a step or two ahead. With the Lawyers waiting in the wings. M-4s are just a tool. What will run the tool?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/26/2008 13:20 Comments ||
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#2
What they need is some of that advanced audio and visual equipment we are using in urban environments in Iraq.
#5
Great... now there will be double the number of stray bullets flying around. There is absolutely no need for street cops to carry automatic carbines in an urban environment. Better to leave the big guns for SWAT.
#6
If they truly are desperate for heavier weapons, they should go with shotguns which have a great amount of flexibility on loads or with submachineguns. MP-5's or UMP's would be far more suited to police than M4's, which will over penetrate like crazy compared to SMG's.
The only reason to use M4's would be if the gangers are wearing body armor, which I haven't seen any reports of.
#8
I have several black powder weapons that would ruin the day of someone wearing body armour. They won't penetrate but the sheer hitting power would put someone down.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/26/2008 16:43 Comments ||
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#9
Most people wouldn't dare play with your toys, Deacon Blues dear.
#11
More militarization of the Police is not the answer. Shotguns and a few mp5s are a better answer. An armed populace is the better answer. I also would like to know the "demographics" of the majority of the victims and perpetrators. I bet my guess is right and I wouldn't be surprised by the truth.
Bottom line is people with real jobs and a real future don't have time for this crap. That would eliminate 75% of this "problem" right off the bat. Turn the remaining 25% into worm food.
#13
This weekend will show a marked improvement... It's a chilly 55 degrees which will chase the gangers inside.. until next weekend.
Watch for "improvement" this weekend.
Posted by: George Smiley ||
04/26/2008 20:16 Comments ||
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#15
#10 With all the killings that happened last weekend, I thought Chicago's BIG answer was to increase the number of gun control laws.
Posted by AlmostAnonymous5839 2008-04-26 17:14|| Front Page|| ||Comments Top
Mayor Fredo is already demanding more 'common sense gun laws' in the Democratic Party Paradise of Chicago, but the residents of the neighborhoods most affected want the right to have guns to protect themselves.
With prices for rice, wheat, and corn soaring, food-related unrest has broken out in places such as Haiti, Indonesia, and Afghanistan. Several countries have blocked the export of grain. There is even talk that governments could fall if they cannot bring food costs down.
One factor being blamed for the price hikes is the use of government subsidies to promote the use of corn for ethanol production. An estimated 30% of Americas corn crop now goes to fuel, not food.
I dont think anybody knows precisely how much ethanol contributes to the run-up in food prices, but the contribution is clearly substantial, a professor of applied economics and law at the University of Minnesota, C. Ford Runge, said. A study by a Washington think tank, the International Food Policy Research Institute, indicated that between a quarter and a third of the recent hike in commodities prices is attributable to biofuels.
Last year, Mr. Runge and a colleague, Benjamin Senauer, wrote an article in Foreign Affairs, How Biofuels Could Starve the Poor.
We were criticized for being alarmist at the time, Mr. Runge said. I think our views, looking back a year, were probably too conservative.
Ethanol was initially promoted as a vehicle for America to cut back on foreign oil. In recent years, biofuels have also been touted as a way to fight climate change, but the food crisis does not augur well for ethanols prospects.
It takes around 400 pounds of corn to make 25 gallons of ethanol, Mr. Senauer, also an applied economics professor at Minnesota, said. Its not going to be a very good diet but thats roughly enough to keep an adult person alive for a year.
Mr. Senauer said climate change advocates, such as Vice President Gore, need to distance themselves from ethanol to avoid tarnishing the effort against global warming. Crop-based biofuels are not part of the solution. They, in fact, add to the problem. Whether Al Gore has caught up with that, somebody ought to ask him, the professor said. There are lots of solutions, real solutions to climate change. We need to get to those.
Mr. Gore was not available for an interview yesterday on the food crisis, according to his spokeswoman. A spokesman for Mr. Gores public campaign to address climate change, the Alliance for Climate Protection, declined to comment for this article.
However, the scientist who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Mr. Gore, Rajendra Pachauri of the United Nationss Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change, has warned that climate campaigners are unwise to promote biofuels in a way that risks food supplies. We should be very, very careful about coming up with biofuel solutions that have major impact on production of food grains and may have an implication for overall food security, Mr. Pachauri told reporters last month, according to Reuters. Questions do arise about what is being done in North America, for instance, to convert corn into sugar then into biofuels, into ethanol.
In an interview last year, Mr. Gore expressed his support for corn-based ethanol, but endorsed moving to what he called a third generation of so-called cellulosic ethanol production, which is still in laboratory research. It doesnt compete with food crops, so it doesnt put pressure on food prices, the former vice president told Popular Mechanics magazine.
A Harvard professor of environmental studies who has advised Mr. Gore, Michael McElroy, warned in a November-December 2006 article in Harvard Magazine that the production of ethanol from either corn or sugar cane presents a new dilemma: whether the feedstock should be devoted to food or fuel. With increasing use of corn and sugar cane for fuel, a rise in related food prices would seem inevitable. The article, The Ethanol Illusion went so far as to praise Senator McCain for summing up the corn-ethanol energy initiative launched in the United States in 2003 as highway robbery perpetrated on the American public by Congress.
In Britain, some hunger-relief and environmental groups have turned sharply against biofuels. Setting mandatory targets for biofuels before we are aware of their full impact is madness, Philip Bloomer of Oxfam told the BBC.
Biofuel advocates say they are being made a bogeyman for a food crisis that has much more to do with record oil prices, surging demand in the developing world, and unusual weather patterns. The people who seek to solely blame ethanol for the food crisis and the rising price of food that we see across the globe are taking a terribly simplistic look at this very complex issue, Matthew Hartwig of the Renewable Fuels Association said.
Mr. Hartwig said oil companies and food manufacturers are behind the attempt to undercut ethanol. There is a concerted misinformation campaign being put out there by those people who are threatened by ethanols growing prominence in the marketplace, he said.
The most obvious impact the food crisis has had in America, aside from higher prices, is the imposition of rationing at some warehouse stores to deal with a spike in demand for large quantities of rice, oil, and flour. The CEO of Costco Wholesale Corp., James Sinegal, is blaming press hype for the buying limits, which were first reported Monday in The New York Sun.
If it hadnt been picked up and become so prominent in the news, I doubt that we would have had the problems that were having in trying to limit it at this point, Mr. Sinegal told Fox News Thursday. I mean, I cant believe the amount of attention that is being paid to this.
The Suns article, which came as food riots were reported abroad, circulated quickly on the Internet, was republished in newspapers as far away as India, and prompted local and network television stories.
Speaking in Kansas City, Mo., yesterday, the federal agriculture secretary, Edward Schafer, blamed emotion for the spurt of rice buying at warehouse stores. We dont see any evidence of the lack of availability of rice. There are no supply issues, he told reporters, according to Reuters.
#4
We had a local TV station interview a local oriental restaurant owner, he stated "Yes the price of rice has gone up seventy-five cents per fifty-pound bag"
I do NOT call that a "Huge Price Increase", do you?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/26/2008 14:08 Comments ||
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#5
Biofuels aren't nessecarily a bad idea. But the idea of using a food crop to make them IMO is. If cellulose ethanol comes on line it should be more efficent as it would have greater amounts of feedstock per ton. The process using algae feeding of of the waste CO2 from power plants should be better yet provided it works on an industrial scale. Better yet I am waiting to find out just what the results of Los Alamos's latest Wiffle Ball design.
In an unprecedented move against Zimbabwe's political opposition, police have arrested hundreds of opposition supporters at the headquarters of the Movement for Democratic Change. The police claim they were looking for the party's election data from the March 29 polls. Police also raided the offices of a non-governmental group that promotes the democratic process, apparently looking for its election data.
For the past two weeks, the reception area and the pavement in front of MDC headquarters in Harare have been full of injured people seeking medical treatment and comfort. Most struggled in from rural areas where they say they were savagely beaten by people wearing army and police uniforms. Some people, especially from the northeast, say they were beaten by well- known personalities of the governing ZANU-PF party.
At mid-morning Friday, scores of riot and uniformed members of the Zimababwe Republic Police forced their way into MDC headquarters and climbed the stairs to its administrative section. According to an MDC security official, who spoke outside the now deserted offices in central Harare, about 300 party officials and supporters were taken away.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Disturbing trends in Mexico. We need a Scarface graphic
Fourteen Mexican drug gang members were killed and eight others were injured in a gun battle near the U.S. border Saturday that was one of the bloodiest shootouts in Mexico's three-year-long narco-war. Rival factions of the local Arellano Felix drug cartel in Tijuana on the Mexico-California border fought each other with rifles and machine guns in the early hours of the morning, police said. Arellano-Felix has been broken into factions by the arrests and killings of the heads...
The bodies lay in pools of blood, strewn along a road on the city's eastern limits, surrounded by hundreds of bullet casings. Many of the victims' faces were destroyed.
By the way this happened and the guns used, we believe the men are from the same cartel, the Arellano Felix gang, said a senior police officer in Tijuana who declined to be named.
Two of the dead are believed to be senior hitmen for the Arellano Felix cartel and were identified by the large gold rings on their fingers. The rings carried the icon of Saint Death, a ghoulish grim reaper figure that gangsters believe protects them, police said.
Officials also found police helmets and body armor that the two hitmen used for protection. hmmmm, and where would they get that?
Six men were arrested but the remaining survivors escaped, the office said.
A source close to the Tijuana mayor's office said local authorities had requested more troops for the city bordering San Diego, California, and that they could arrive this weekend.
President Felipe Calderón has sent thousands of troops to Tijuana and Baja California state on Mexico's Pacific coast since taking office in December 2006. Some 25,000 soldiers and federal police are deployed to fight cartels in drug hot spots across Mexico.
The army in Tijuana said it was on high alert for reprisals against soldiers and federal police following the shootout and the ensuing arrest.
The risk of attacks against our agents after an event like this is extremely high, said Lt. Col Julian Leyzaola, Tijuana's police chief.
The Arellano Felix gang was long the dominant drug-trafficking organization in Tijuana, smuggling drugs into California. Recently the group has been under attack from a rival gang from the Pacific state of Sinaloa, led by Mexico's most wanted man, Joaquin Shorty Guzman.
Some 190 people have been killed in Tijuana so far this year. In 2007, there were more than 2,500 drug killings across Mexico and there have been more than 900 this year.
having grown up gotten older from birth here in San Diego, I've seen the spiral down. Mexico is taking a dangerous turn into olumbia, circa 1980's. I used to go south all the time, to Ensenada and San Felipe (Tijuana's for tourists). You couldn't pay me to go now....
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2008 14:55 ||
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#1
I used to drive down to Ensenada to go land sailing on the beach in the late 80's. That run from TJ down the 1-D has been unsafe for touristas for at least 12 years.
Russia's lower house of parliament voted Friday to widen the definition of slander and libel and give regulators the authority to shut down media outlets found guilty of publishing such material. Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied plans to marry former gymnast Alina Kabyeva.
The bill's passage comes just days after a scandal involving a tabloid newspaper that reported Putin had divorced his wife and planned to marry a champion gymnast. The legislation, passed by the State Duma 339-1, is the latest attempt by the government to squeeze the country's increasingly embattled news media. The bill allows authorities to suspend and close down media outlets for libel and slander -- punishment that is identical to that for news media found to be promoting terrorism, extremism and racial hatred. It also expands the definition of slander and libel to "dissemination of deliberately false information damaging individual honor and dignity."
The legislation will be considered in two more readings before heading to the upper house of parliament, where approval is likely, and then goes to President Vladimir Putin for signing.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2008 00:00 ||
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KATHMANDU: China will extend its railway link from Tibet to Nepal's border in five years, Nepali officials said on Saturday, bringing the traditionally friendly nations closer and boosting trade and tourism.
The rail link with China could help Nepal reduce its heavy dependence on its giant southern neighbour India for everything from oil to motor parts and medicines.
Ai Ping, director general of China's international department, met Nepali Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala on Friday and told him that the rail link would bolster their diplomatic and trade ties, officials said.
"They discussed the benefits of the project," Basanta Gautam, special secretary in Koirala's office, said. "The railway link should be complete in five years."
China and Nepal share a more than 1,400 km border. The planned railway project would link Tibetan capital Lhasa with Khasa, a border town near China-Nepal border.
"It will be an extension of the famous railway link between China and Tibet," Gautam said. The 1,142-km rail link between China and Tibet opened in July 2006.
The world's highest, it passes through spectacular icy peaks on the Tibetan highlands, touching altitudes of 5,000 metres (16,400 feet).
Posted by: john frum ||
04/26/2008 06:44 ||
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THE WORST OF TIMES
STAFF BRACES FOR LAYOFFS AFTER BUYOUTS FALL SHORT
THE New York Times' news room is bracing for a bloodbath in the next 10 days. The word from inside is that approximately 50 unionized journalists have accepted the buyout proposal, and only another 20 non-union editorial employees have gotten on board.
That means the ax could fall on as many as 30 editorial people in the company's first-ever mass firing of journalists in its 156-year history.
Executive Editor William Keller had said originally that he was looking to cut 100 people from the Times staff in response to the dismal newspaper advertising environment. But then a week ago Assistant Managing Editor William Schmidt issued a memo saying it was almost certain that the company would be forced to make involuntary cuts, and he urged more volunteers to come forward.
The plea apparently fell on deaf ears.
With just 70 people stepping forward for buyouts, it is very likely that 30 newsroom staffers will be forced out in coming days. "We're bracing for it," said one insider with some knowledge of the developments. "There's a lot of anxiety."
With competitive threats looming from The Wall Street Journal, which like The Post is owned by News Corp., sources said the business desk and national desk will be spared and will absorb only token cuts. The Metro desk, headed by Joe Sexton, is headed toward a major reorganization and could absorb the brunt of the involuntary axings.
But, as with all developments inside the Times, things move slow. Tuesday was the deadline for employees choosing to accept buyout packages, which offer three weeks of severance for each year worked. Management and other non-unionized employees were to have accepted their buyout offers by Monday.
#1
But then a week ago Schmidt ... urged more volunteers to come forward. The plea apparently fell on deaf ears. With just 70 people stepping forward for buyouts, it is very likely that 30 newsroom staffers will be forced out in coming days... as with all evelopments inside the Times, things move slow.
Ah - beautiful. This is exactly the type of illogic and reporting that got the paper into the mess it is in. They tell us that things are moving sooo slow. But 70 out of 100 rushed forward within a week and the whole thing will be done within the next ten days.
It is hard to know whether the reporters actually believe what they are write or if they just think they can make up any ol' analysis and attach it to any set of facts, no matter how detached from reality it sounds.
#3
Heh. Don't be silly, OS. These are lib loons we're talking about. If they were honest, their masthead would read something like: "Logic and reason are the Enemies of progress!" It's all about the 'narrative,' and economics be damned.
The protracted and increasingly acrimonious fight for the Democratic presidential nomination is unnerving core constituencies -- African Americans and wealthy liberals -- who are becoming convinced that the party could suffer irreversible harm if Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton maintains her sharp line of attack against Sen. Barack Obama. O'Bammy! O'Baaaamy!
I'd walk a million miles
For one o' yer smiles
O'Baaaaamy!
Clinton's solid win in the Pennsylvania primary exposed a quandary for the party. Her backers may be convinced that only she can win the white, working-class voters that the Democratic nominee will need in the general election, but many African American leaders say a Clinton nomination -- handed to her by superdelegates -- would result in a disastrous breach with black voters.
"If this party is perceived by people as having gone into a back room somewhere and brokered a nominee, that would not be good for our party," House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (S.C.), the highest ranking African American in Congress, warned yesterday. "I'm telling you, if this continues on its current course, [the damage] is going to be irreparable."
That fear, plus a more general sense that Clinton's only route to victory would be through tearing down her opponent, has led even some black Democrats who are officially neutral in the race, such as Clyburn, to speak out.
Clinton's camp has a vastly different interpretation, arguing that the most recent primary demonstrated that Democrats remain very interested in seeing the contest continue. "Pennsylvania did the job of calming any nerves that existed," said Clinton campaign spokesman Jay Carson. "It showed that the big states around the country think she's the best person to be president."
Campaigning for Clinton in Gary, Ind., yesterday, Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (Ohio), who is black, said she does not share her colleagues' concerns. "I don't think Bill and Hillary Clinton will 'do anything' to win this election," she said. "They are trying to be successful, but I disagree they will do anything or they are trying to hurt Barack Obama." She added that black voters "are not a monolith, and we recognize the importance of this election."
"We're just bleeding each other out," Guerra-Mondragón said when asked why he had decided to join Obama's finance committee. "Looking at it as coldly as I can, I just don't see how Senator Clinton can overcome Senator Obama with delegates and popular votes. I want this fight to be over -- the quicker, the better."
The Obama converts include William Louis-Dreyfus. The billionaire New York financier said he had been impressed by Clinton's performance in the Senate and distressed by eight years of the Bush administration when he donated the maximum to her campaign last August. Then, he said, he began watching more closely.
"However much one might have supported the Clintons, or one might support the usual suspects in the Democratic Party, I began to believe Obama represents a new approach. He gives off such a sense of relevance that he's sort of irresistible," Louis-Dreyfus said.
He also expressed, as did other big givers who crossed to Obama, exasperation about the tone of the Clinton campaign and frustration with the candidate herself. "At the end of the day, all she had to do was open her mouth for me not to believe her," Louis-Dreyfus said. Catches on quick, doesn't he?
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/26/2008 08:45 ||
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#1
The protracted and increasingly acrimonious fight for the Democratic presidential nomination is unnerving Obama's core constituencies
#2
What would the blacks do about it? Abandon the Party of the Plantation? I doubt it. They're too firmly attached to the teat of Mother Fed. Even Cosby has to realize that by now. If not, this could be a historic moment.
#3
Its a nightmare anyway when their favored candidate is runnign mainly on the color of his skin. Without the idiotic race-based bloc voting, Obama would never be where he is. His experience, leadership and knowledge certainly did not put him where he is on his merits.
Its all race and press buzz, as surely as George Wallace did the same the with southern racist Whites in the 60's.
WHen wil black people stop voting their skin color? THey yell at whites bout it, and now its pretty much a moot point (skin color)for white voters. When will blacks stop voting primarily on skin color?
#5
Hilly quitting is more important than Bashing Bush?
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/26/2008 10:44 Comments ||
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#6
With Democrat John McCain criticizing North Carolina Republicans for running an anti-Obama ad, at least the Democrats will be in the White House for sure one way or the other.
#7
When will blacks stop voting primarily on skin color?
I think Obama's an empty suit from the Chicago machine whose convictions, insofar as he has any, are hard left. I will not vote for him, period.
But to answer your question, OS, I do think Blacks have not had many national-office Blacks to vote for or to examine and discard. When there have been more of them, I'm confident the race-based voting will fade away among all but a fringe (as there is a fringe of white-only idiots).
That said, I plan to expose & ridicule the Jesse Jacksons and Wrights of the world.
#8
If I believed that, lotp, I would also be astounded at the unanimity of Italian-Americans for Giuliani. Or Polish-Americans for Kucinich.
But we didn't see that because everybody else who came to America came as a result of an individual decision. And they made an individual decision on whom to vote for based on their opinions and interests. Sure, they were proud that "one of their own" could be seriously considered for the big job, but it didn't change their vote in substantial numbers because after generations of assimilation they make their decisions as individual Americans.
Blacks, by and large, did not come here as a result of individual choice, and have rarely been treated as individuals since they got here. This election has revealed that there has been a lot more change in attitude among whites than blacks. I am not nearly as sanguine as others about how soon blacks will start thinking about themselves as individuals instead of a group.
#9
Why should a candidate quit while in second place by about 160 votes ? Of course she shouldn't quit. When I was younger, these things were worked out at the conventions.
What I find more disturbing is that the republicans, my party of choice, has nominated a RINO for the job. He will have to sign a list of promises before I vote for him. Everyone I talk to says that we have a choice between two incompetent fools at best, and between two anti-American traitors at worst. We have time left, but we can't seem to organize to correct this clusterblunder. And, those with a microphone in their hand, who could start something, refuse to make a stand. We're going to throw away 4 years. I hope nothing critical happens then. God help us, as we fail to help ourselves.
#10
The Repubs nominated McCain because he was the only man who had a chance to win in November.
Read that again.
Romney, Huckleberry, et al. were NOT going to win. Either would have received 40% of the vote and ~180 electoral votes, and would have been at the top of a ticket that would have lost 6 - 8 Senate seats.
No thank you.
One thing we at the Burg sometimes don't acknowledge: despite our best efforts, the country has swung modestly left. That's the legacy of the MSM and the Dhimmis. They've pounded on Dubya good and hard, and the country has reacted.
In that situation, McCain is the ONLY Pub who can win in the fall, because he too is a little to the left (of the Pubs, anyway), and as a RINO he can bring the party to a win. At the very least he'll be able to protect most of the Pub Senate and House seats.
So count yer blessings. It could be a lot worse.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2008 13:33 Comments ||
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#11
Dems Fear Racial Divide; Hilly Should Quit to Heal It
To the Parté who has played the race card hard and Long for decades, Never before have desserts been so Just.
#12
One thing we at the Burg sometimes don't acknowledge: despite our best efforts, the country has swung modestly left. That's the legacy of the MSM and the Dhimmis. They've pounded on Dubya good and hard, and the country has reacted.
In that situation, McCain is the ONLY Pub who can win in the fall, because he too is a little to the left (of the Pubs, anyway), and as a RINO he can bring the party to a win. At the very least he'll be able to protect most of the Pub Senate and House seats.
So count yer blessings. It could be a lot worse.
Huey Long once said that when they finally brought fascism to America, they'd call it anti-fascism.
Well, when they nationalize all the industries, it'll be called "a moderately left Republican presidential candidate."
#14
"If this party is perceived by people as having gone into a back room somewhere and brokered a nominee, that would not be good for our party."
Whoa lill doggies Jimmy the whip sure do have himself a bone-e-fide conundrum on his hands. He sure needs some of that perception stuff. And pronto! We aint talking bout yer garden variety perception either he needs the good kind. Hell he needs some that historic perception. You know with two historic candidates and what-not.
#18
I see the unfolding events as an Urban vs Rural devide. As more and more of our population moved from agrarian to urban environments people lost the ability and will to do things for themselves. The fall-back position for them is the Government. Increasingly, people are not able to do for themselves.
I don't need electricity to live. It's nice, but I don't need it. Urban environments would be devasted without it. I can grow most of my food. City people rely on the grocery store. City people really don't understand what it takes to supply them with the things they need and therefore, with more and more Government "help", rely on the Government. The Katrina hurricane is an example. Rural and small town people did for themselves and each other. The city people sat there and waited on the Government but in fairness, they have been programmed to rely on the government. The only comparable event I can think of is the 1906 San Fransisco earthquake and fire. People did for themselves and helped each other but they were new to the urban environment and knew how to do so. Modern urbanites do not. The shift toward socialism is understandable for urbanites and as there are more urbanites than ruralites this shift will continue.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/26/2008 16:35 Comments ||
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#19
The people who relied on the government during the the first hours of the aftermath of Katrina were deserted by the government (city and state). They spent days of drama in the dome in New Orleans before the national guard (federal) came in to get them.
The goverment should stick to keeping the roads and infrastructure in tact so that capitalism can do what it does best, provide quality of life.
The socialists who want to play god-of-all-things-and-peoples are the rats that are the first to abandon ship during a crisis. And the ones who rely on them are the ones left in high water.
I agree with what you are saying, but the huge error occuring is that people are moving away from capitalism to socialism. Capitalism works in both rural and urban settings. Socialism is a far lessor solution. How America got here is another onion to try to peel.
#21
Government should do for the people what they can't do for themselves. That used to mean defense and interstate commerce.
A history article in Civil Engineering magazinr quotes Jefferson as having misgivings about a federal harbor in Delaware, circa 1800. He said, (paraphrasing), "The next thing you know, the government will be dredging the river to get to the port". Let alone creating the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway...
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/26/2008 21:20 Comments ||
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#22
www, what I was trying to explain is one of the reasons this country is leaning towards Socialism. I agree the Government were not served. When Citizens can no longer Do for themselves and each other the only alternative is the Government.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/26/2008 21:22 Comments ||
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#23
I did not have sex with that woman.
I may have had sex with that one over there but definitely not That woman there..........well let me rephrase that.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/26/2008 22:59 Comments ||
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The Rev. Jeremiah Wright is on a campaign to explain controversial remarks of his that created a firestorm for his former congregant, presidential hopeful Barack Obama, but many believe Wright's fiery remarks could burn Obama once again. "If he was a Barack Obama supporter, I think he would pull himself off of the stage at this point," said National Public Radio senior political analyst Juan Williams. "Nothing good comes of this for Barack Obama," concurred ABC News political contributor Cokie Roberts.
Six weeks after controversial video clips of sermons by Obama's former pastor splashed across the national media, Wright is now speaking out publicly in an interview on PBS. Wright will also be speaking to the NAACP on Sunday and will be in Washington D.C. on Monday addressing the National Press Club.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2008 00:00 ||
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LOL at the graphic, Fred!
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2008 0:16 Comments ||
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#2
JON STEWART has also done a piece on MCCAIN's "Pastor" controversy.
#3
JON STEWART on RICE/FOOD SHORTAGE > Iff JON understands things correctly, the GOVT = MAJOR COMPANIES desire to LIMIT THE NUMBER OF EXTRA, LARGE/OVER-SIZED, BRAND-NAME RICE BAGS WHICH MOST AMERS DON'T NORMALLY BUY = BUY IN SUCH QUANTITIES ANYWAYS??? The Gubmint is restricting the amount and type of food Amers don't buy or eat.
#5
Well Cokie, let's hope your decision on who you will vote for (if your still undecided by now) isn't changed again by Rev. Wright...Ohhh the horror, what if Mr. Wright admits to using Charmin, will you stop??
#7
Trailing Wife; as in Rev. Wright can't even go to the crapper without it somehow affecting Barack Obama's Presidential aspirations!! As in Juan Williams and Cokie Roberts not piling on to Pastor John Hagee and his remarks by association to Senator McCain! I still don't know who even Hillary's pastor is, why so, could it be he has no differentiating views, not black, inquiring minds would like to know?!!
Cokie, you and 'Little juan' still haven't cracked the source of who hired Craig Livingstone, and if you feel that doesn't amount to a hill of beans at this point, then you'll realize how we Obama supporters feel about your Opins!
If a candidate in the middle of a campaign is endorsed by a pastor who is a racial bigot and the candidate accepts this endorsement, does this reflect poorly on the candidate's judgment?
If a candidate admires a racially bigotted pastor, attends his church services and brings his children there for 20 years does this not reflect even more strongly on the candidates's character and unsuitability to be elected?
The first is McCain, the second is Obama. One is a one-time association, likely of convenience, the other a continuous association and by Obama's account based on his admiration of and endorsement of Wright's sermons.
For anyone to make the moral equivalence argument is a phony comparison. If you have any doubts, try the thought experiment and turn the tables. Make McCain be the one who attends a church with a KKK-loving pastor preaching hate agaisnt the blacks. Do you really think that the press would not be all over that story - more than they are with the Wright story?
#9
Wright points out that his history shows that he's not unpatriotic. He volunteered for the Marines and fought in Vietnam. As a corpsman in 1966, he served on the medical team that cared for President Lyndon Johnson. The White House gave him three letters of commendation.
"The church members are very upset because they know it's a lie, the things being broadcast," Wright said, adding that there have even been death threats on him and bomb threats on his church.
A Web site has now been set up by one of the church's members seeking to defend Wright and to provide fuller context of the sermons: you can visit TruthaboutTrinity.blogspot.com by clicking here.
Actually, I didn't do the linky thingy; you'll have to type.
The Obama campaign says it had nothing to do with either the timing or the content of Wright's interview.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/26/2008 8:13 Comments ||
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#10
With the usual slight of hand: the "Serious Media" presents a Show Trial Piece which covers Obamas ass with Charmin and makes the Rev look like a human being.
let's see, the cast of characters:
PBS Bill Moyers: LefTard and Maximus Loon
Cokie Roberts: Eastern Establishment Effete Liberal
NPR Jaun Williams: Liberal honest
Rev. Jeremiah Wright: Commie, race agitator
Barack Obama: Empty Suit
#11
Both Obama and Wright are problems for each other.
For Wright, If Obama wins the Dem nomination, it contradicts Wright's fundamental thesis that Whitey is keeping the Black Man down.
For Obama, having supporters like Wright is an advantage in Chicago where he has been succesful playing racial identity politics. However, the president is president of *all* the people and running as the 'black' candidate will not help him nationally.
#12
smn, in the words of Rev Wright, its Obama's "chickens coming home to roost". His past and present long-time association with domestic terrorists, racists and radicals.
THAT is why he is getting "beat up" - the truth hurts him. Grow up and realize Obama is NOT who you have projected him to be. He is just another slick talking Chicago machine politician, with ties to the leftist powerbrokers there. Rezko, etc are the trail that leads to Obama.
The guy is not qualified nor fit to become president, and if it were anything other than his skin color, he'd be a non-entity in this race.
#13
Wright says he is a pastor and says what pastors say. He also says Obama is a politician, and says what politicians say.
Translation:
In order to get donations and hold followers, a black preacher must play the race card and dump all blame on whitey.
In order to get elected, a black smooth talkin' Senator must promise change without being specific. After all, we all know that Washington does mostly everything wrong, slow, and expensive, so change is good.
(that is unless it's the wrong change like more free stuff and welfare and other non-specified handouts)
The key here is that neither one of these bullshit artists stand for anything so to hold their position, they better heed the street thugs or else. If Obama becomes president, I guarantee the lowest of criminals will sleep in Lincoln's bed. When you stand for nothing, everything is equal.
#14
For political candidates, observe the following:
***Watch what they do, and not what they say.
***Who is giving them money?
***What kind of company do they keep?
That should be enough to tell you what kind of person they are and how they stand on issues. What they say means nothing, as it is just propaganda to placate the idiots.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/26/2008 13:27 Comments ||
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#15
Jeremiah Wright last I checked, wasn't running for President. Last I checked, Hitler was nominated Fuhrer of the Nazis party, despite the views of his 'Pastor' and the consideration of 'the people' in response to those views, Same with Chairman Mao (research shows his 'Pastor' promoted Nationalism [not communistic views]); and even Abraham Lincoln (research indicates his 'Pastor' had anti abolitionist views); see where this leads! If everyone who could vote, did so on the basis of the influence or views of the figure's Pastor...the world would look drastically different!! I rest my case!
#16
your "case" is nonsense. Over the last couple days several responses have been posted to your delusional denial of Obama's well-documented faults. You chose to stick your head deeper. You're on "ignore"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2008 18:39 Comments ||
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#18
Thank you for explaining your Charmin metaphor, smn. I'm not accustomed to thinking in such terms. As for Candidates McCain and Obama, the pastor endorsing the former was just some guy, whereas the pastor endorsing the latter was a close personal friend, mentor, and surrogate father. The opinions of the holders of those three rolled into one matter a great deal, smn dear, since the close relationship is entirely a matter of choice. Whereas the opinion of just some guy...
#19
SMN - Obama is running, so the company he keeps, including racist pastors, domestic terrorists and leftist radicals IS fair game. And no amount orf your trying to wiggle is going to get you out of the trap. His own words paint him as an arroganr elitist, and the peopel he says influence him are not the sorts that you want to have associated with a president.
Try denying that you dimwit.
These peopel are the pool Obama swims in. ANd THAT is enough to disqualify him. Were he not getting racial bloc voting, and were the Dems using a sane system, he'd already be another leftist footnote in history.
WASHINGTON- Families of Iraqis who died in a shooting involving Blackwater Worldwide contractors accused the company of shredding documents and destroying evidence. Lawyers for the families made the accusations in court documents but identified the source of the information only as former employees. They said officials at the company's North Carolina compound shredded documents related to ongoing investigations sometime around March 18.
Company lawyers had no immediate comment Friday night, but they are quoted in court documents as saying Blackwater took appropriate steps to make sure documents were not destroyed.
Lawyers for the Iraqis do not say what investigation the documents relate to. Blackwater, a major security contractor in Iraq, is under scrutiny in several matters. Most notably, its guards are under investigation for a September shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead. There is no indication the Justice Department is investigating shredding as part of that case.
Family members are already suing the company for alleged wrongful death in connection with the September shooting, and they asked a judge Friday to let them add document destruction to that lawsuit. The families also say Blackwater destroyed evidence by repainting and repairing its trucks after the shooting. The company has said the work was done to protect the guards from retribution and was approved by the State Department.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Link ||
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Former Union minister and Bharatiya Janata Party member Arun Shourie on Saturday said that China was a greater threat to India than Pakistan.
Although Pakistan was a threat to India's security, it was manageable, but China posed a bigger threat to the country since it was not manageable, Shourie told reporters after a seminar on 'Are we safe? Threats to India's security', organised by the Calcutta Chamber of Commerce.
Shourie said that China had been entering into countries with 'comprehensive national strength' with long-term objectives.
He said the external situation of India was very ominous since the country was surrounded by 'failed states'.
Shourie, however, said that since Pakistan was busy with its own problems now, this had given some respite to India as the number of killings had come down significantly in Kashmir.
The BJP Member of Parliament said that the country's internal security was also in peril since there was no 'functioning government'.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/26/2008 13:16 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
One factor being blamed for the price hikes is the use of government subsidies to promote the use of corn for ethanol production. An estimated 30% of Americas corn crop now goes to fuel, not food.
Mr. Gore was not available for an interview yesterday on the food crisis, according to his spokeswoman. A spokesman for Mr. Gores public campaign to address climate change, the Alliance for Climate Protection, declined to comment for this article.
Russia's lower house of parliament voted Friday to widen the definition of slander and libel and give regulators the authority to shut down media outlets found guilty of publishing such material. Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied plans to marry former gymnast Alina Kabyeva.
THE WORST OF TIMES
With just 70 people stepping forward for buyouts, it is very likely that 30 newsroom staffers will be forced out in coming days. "We're bracing for it," said one insider with some knowledge of the developments. "There's a lot of anxiety." 
The protracted and increasingly acrimonious fight for the Democratic presidential nomination is unnerving core constituencies -- African Americans and wealthy liberals -- who are becoming convinced that the party could suffer irreversible harm if Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton maintains her sharp line of attack against Sen. Barack Obama.
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright is on a campaign to explain controversial remarks of his that created a firestorm for his former congregant, presidential hopeful Barack Obama, but many believe Wright's fiery remarks could burn Obama once again. "If he was a Barack Obama supporter, I think he would pull himself off of the stage at this point," said National Public Radio senior political analyst Juan Williams. "Nothing good comes of this for Barack Obama," concurred ABC News political contributor Cokie Roberts. 
