The Pentagon has shown it has a great appetite for drones and robots -- everything from missile-firing UAVs to prototype patrol-bots guarding air base perimeters.
But a Maryland company working on a program for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA, has the idea of giving the robots their own appetites, letting them feed on biomass as a means of fueling themselves. Turbans and birkenstocks.
But as the image of flesh-eating drones refueling off the battlefield dead has spread in recent days, Cyclone Power Technologies of Florida, the company developing the robot's engine, has issued a statement about the Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot's -- aka EATR -- diet.
It is vegetarian, the company said in a press statement released Thursday, in response to stories with headlines such as "Dawn of the corpse-eating robots?" and "Pentagon contracts company for flesh-eating robots." A Vegan killer robot sounds plenty scary to me though.
"We completely understand the public's concern about futuristic robots feeding on the human population, but that is not our mission," Harry Schoell, chief executive officer of Cyclone, said in the statement. "We are focused on demonstrating that our engines can create usable, green power from plentiful, renewable plant matter. The commercial applications alone for this earth-friendly energy solution are enormous."
One is forced to wonder about methane production. After all, this ia a problem for cows, also famous for digesting almost anything vegetable.
EATR is being developed by Robotic Technology Inc. of Maryland under a program sponsored by DARPA. EATR is envisioned as a robotic platform able to conduct long-range, long-endurance missions without the need for manual or conventional refueling, Cyclone explained in its statement.
Cyclone said RTI's EATER will be able to find, ingest and extract energy from biomass -- that is, "twigs, grass clippings and wood chips -- small, plant-based items for which RTI's robotic technology is designed to forage. That's a relief but those most affected by such rumors are not likely to be mollified: "Ok, so like, man, how do we know it ain't gonna, like, devour our hash stash or some shit like that?"
"Desecration of the dead is a war crime under Article 15 of the Geneva Conventions, and is certainly not something sanctioned by DARPA, Cyclone or RTI," the company said. Apparently this has gotten a lot of coverage from the paranoid tin-foil media.
AoS note: do NOT embed Rantburg pics using external links -- e.g., "http:// etc". Use the embed pic links within the posting window.
Look, it's the Apollo 11 lunar module! And astronaut footprints left by Apollo 14!
Well, you can make them out if you squint. NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has been honing its camera-hound skills. The lunar probe captured images from five of six Apollo sites between July 11 and 15, after first reaching lunar orbit on June 23.
Photos at the link.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/20/2009 12:39 ||
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real time tracking ( with real live recorded audio) of the Apollo 11 Moon Mission can be found here www.wechoosethemoon.com.
Closest thing to having being there in '69.
Posted by: frank martin ||
07/20/2009 14:41 Comments ||
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Now everyone knows that the first person on the moon was a Muslim. Must have been Mohammad on one of his drug-induced excursions (see 'trip to Jerusalem' etc...).
In fact one of the 'craters' down near the lower left of the 2nd photo is, in actuality, a dome, a mosque (complete with AK47's and suicide belts) and the 3,304,302th holiest sites of Islam.
#4
Isn't one of the reasons the Saudis especially deny the moon landing is that Mo-ham-head predicted that Islam would "conquer the whole world" before a man walked on the moon? The entire "the moon landings were fake" scenario is to deny that Mo was wrong.
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07/20/2009 20:59 Comments ||
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Whoopi doubts it. And she ought to know. I mean, why is the flag still fluttering? Everyone knows there's no air up there, right?
The triumphant success of NASA's Apollo 11 moon landing 40 years ago is a familiar story to most Americans, but it may be a surprise to some that then-President Richard Nixon was ready for disaster.
Tucked away in the National Archives the speech written for Nixon for the historic lunar landing on July 20, 1969, but one he never hoped to read. It was a contingency speech, one Nixon would only read if tragedy struck the Apollo 11 mission and stranded commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin on lunar surface forever while their crewmate Michael Collins circled the moon in the command module. The speech surfaced about 10 years ago, around the 30th anniversary of the first moon landing.
In his 2001 book "Almost History," which chronicles backup plans, speeches and documents that were never needed, author Roger Bruns details the origins of the Apollo 11 failure speech. They can be traced to astronaut Frank Borman, who commanded the 1968 Apollo 8 mission around the moon, who recommended to Nixon speechwriter William Safire that it would be prudent to have a plan in case the Apollo 11 astronauts suffered a very public demise, Bruns explained.
According to the plan, Bruns added, Nixon would have called the wives of the Apollo 11 astronauts to express his condolences and then give the following speech:
"Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace. These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.
"These two men are laying down their lives in mankind's most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding. They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by their nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.
"In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man. In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood.
"Others will follow, and surely find their way home. Man's search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.
"For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind."
According to Bruns, the stricken Apollo 11 astronauts would then shut down communications with Mission Control and there would be a brief ceremony by a clergyman commending their souls to the "deepest of the deep." Safire entitled his memo containing the backup speech "In the Event of a Moon Disaster."
Of course, there was no moon disaster and the Apollo 11 astronauts and Nixon spoke with them by a phone-to-moon link while Armstrong and Aldrin were on the lunar surface. They lifted off on July 21, 1969 as planned and returned to Earth a few days later. Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins splashed down in the ocean, were quarantined for a short period to make sure they didn't pick up any cosmic maladies, then received the star treatment with ticker tape parades and a world tour.
But the fact that Nixon was prepared for such a tragedy is a reminder of the unknown risks that faced the first moon explorers, especially as NASA celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing and prepares to return astronauts to the lunar surface by 2020 in new Orion capsules and Altair landers.
#1
It was a good speech - sure nice he didn't have to give it. Kind of ironic that the tragedy we were prepared for didn't happen and the tragedies that happened we weren't prepared for.
Some call the Gettysburg Battlefield the most haunted place in America as many thousands died on that fateful month of July 1863.
The story of the Battle of Gettysburg and 50th Anniversary Reunion would make for a heart-warming and touching TV Historic mini-series or Hollywood movie.
"Comrades and friends, these splendid statues of marble and granite and bronze shall finally crumble to dust, and in the ages to come, will perhaps be forgotten, but the spirit that has called this great assembly of our people together, on this field, shall live forever."
-----Dr. Nathaniel D. Cox at 1913 Gettysburg Reunion
The summer heat of July 1913 did not keep the old Confederate and Union Veterans from attending the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. It has been written that over 50,000 sons of the North and South came for what has been called the largest combined reunion of War Between the States veterans.
The youngest veteran was reported to be 61 and the oldest was 112 years young.
No one dared to criticize the United States and Confederate flags that flew side by side at the Gettysburg soldier's reunion of honored men who had been enemies on the field of battle just 50 years earlier. Some of today's politicians and people's rights groups could learn something from these grand old men of yesterday. Knowledge is Power!!
The State of Pennsylvania hosted the 1913 reunion at the insisting of state Governor John K. Tener. Tener also encouraged other states to arrange rail transportation for the participants. Down South in Dixie, the United Daughters of the Confederacy helped raise money for the transportation and uniforms for their Confederate veterans.
The soldiers of Blue and Gray, Black and White, came with heads high and full of war stories. It is written that the hosts did not count on Black Confederates attending the meeting and had no place to put them but the White Confederates made room for their Southern brothers. Black Union veterans also attended this event.
It is written that nearly 700,000 meals were served that included fried chicken, roast pork sandwiches, ice cream and Georgia watermelon. The temperature soared to 100 degrees and almost 10,000 veterans were treated for heat exhaustion and several hundred more were hospitalized. The United States Army was also present in support and the old men loved the attention.
A highlight of the reunion was the Confederate Veterans walk on the path of Gen. George Pickett's charge that was greeted, this time, by a handshake from the Union Veterans.
President Woodrow Wilson spoke to those veterans with compassion and appreciation, and said, quote "These venerable men crowding here to this famous field have set us a great example of devotion and utter sacrifice. They were willing to die that the people might live. But their task is done. Their day is turned into evening. They look to us to perfect what they have established. Their work is handed to us, to be done in another way but not in another spirit. Our day is not over; it is upon us in full tide."
#1
White Confederates made room for their Southern brothers
...in a large barn that I believe still stands today. Tentage was limited and crowded. Chow was shared as the Confederates made room for them at their tables.
#4
yes, a very good post. Having had the privelege of visiting Gettysburg several times I have been awed with the enormity of the battle and what it meant in shaping our history as a country.
Michael Jackson's dermatologist is tossing his hat into the three-ring circus that is the custody battle over the late pop star's eldest kids -- claiming to be able to prove he's their father, according to published reports. They are not! The money... I mean the Little Darlings® are mine! I dunnit!
Hollywood doc Arnold Klein, reportedly the sperm donor for Prince Michael, 12, and Paris, 11, has confided to pals that he will seek custody, London's Daily Mirror reports. "He says he can prove he is their father with Debbie [Rowe]," a source told the paper.
Rowe, who worked as Klein's assistant when she was artificially impregnated, "Nurse Debbie, our favorite patient would like you to be artificially inseminated with my sperm!"
"Artificially? What's the matter with the broom closet? We're here every day!"
"You silver-tongued devil, you!"
reportedly plans to drop her claim to the tots for a $4 million payoff. I might be willing to drop my claim for the same amount.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/20/2009 00:00 ||
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In other new developments in the Jackson case, there is no change in the King of Pop's condition . . . he is still dead.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/20/2009 9:27 Comments ||
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The Russian military's drive to revamp its Soviet-era missile arsenal has suffered a major setback after a nuclear-capable missile touted as the new pride of its rocket forces failed again in testing. The submarine-launched Bulava intercontinental missile has now reportedly failed on more than half of its 11 test-firings and the latest launch was particularly disastrous as it blew up before completing the first stage.
The defence ministry late Thursday confirmed that the Bulava had exploded after launch from the nuclear-powered submarine Dmitry Donskoy off northern Russia "due to a failure in the first stage". I'd wager the sailors on the Donskoy were very happy it cleared the tube before it went boom.
It was the sixth failure in 11 test launches, according to the specialist military newswire of the Interfax news agency. ITAR-TASS said the flight lasted a mere 28 seconds. "It is a big setback that puts into doubt the validity of the nuclear deterrent," independent Russian military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer told AFP. "This time it was in the first stage. That's not good."
#4
In a sign of the importance of the project, the Kommersant newspaper said a colossal 40 percent of the defence ministry's purchasing budget is currently being spent on development of the Bulava.
Awesome! Spending their budget on useless crap that doesn't work and can't be used anyway! I thought we were the only ones who did that. God forbid they should spend money on something useful like a working army or a floating navy.
[Maghrebia] Mauritanian former junta leader General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz is the presumed winner of Saturday's presidential elections after receiving 52.2% of the vote, according to the preliminary tally on Sunday (July 19th). With about half the ballots counted, four presidential candidates published a joint declaration rejecting the reported results. Speaking on behalf of Rally of Democratic Forces party chief Ahmed Ould Daddah, former junta chief Ely Ould Mohamed Vall and ex-ambassador Hamadi Ould Meimou, parliamentary speaker Messaoud Ould Boulkheir told a press conference: "The results which are starting to come out show that it is an electoral charade which is trying to legitimise the coup." He asked the international community to create a commission of inquiry.
Boulkheir had 16.63 percent of the votes. Daddah was third with 13.89 percent.
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07/20/2009 00:00 ||
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South Africa is launching clinical trials of the first AIDS vaccines created by a developing country, a feat by scientists who forged ahead even when some of their political leaders shocked the world with unscientific pronouncements about the disease. Probably something like an injection of pureed monkey brains.
Trials to test the safety in humans of the vaccines begin this month on 36 healthy volunteers, Anthony Mbewu, president of South Africa's government-supported Medical Research Council, said in an interview Sunday. Mbewu's respected organization shepherded the project. And so far none of them have contracted AIDS. They have, however, taken to swinging from vine to vine to get home and to eating lots of bananas. Doctors belive they will be fine because they are still opening the bananas from the wrong end.
A trial of 12 volunteers in the United States began earlier this year.
Mbewu said the vaccine was designed at the University of Cape Town with technical help from the U.S. National Institutes of Health, which also manufactured the vaccine. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and a leading AIDS researcher, was in South Africa for the launch. "I was just kidding but they took me seriously!"
During nearly 10 years of denial and neglect, South Africa developed a staggering AIDS crisis. Around 5.2 million South Africans were living with HIV last year--the highest number of any country in the world. Young women are hardest hit, with one-third of those aged 20 to 34 infected with the virus.
In 1999, the ministries of health and of science and technology founded the vaccine initiative and poured 250 million rand into it over nearly 10 years. Some 250 scientists and technicians worked on the project, along the way gaining scores of doctorates and producing work for professional publications as well as a model for continued biotechnology development in South Africa.
The government decided it was important to develop a vaccine specifically for the HIV subtype C strain that is prevalent in southern Africa "and to ensure that once developed, it would be available at an affordable price," Mbewu said. "We have the biggest problem" in the world, Mbewu said on the sidelines of an international AIDS conference in Cape Town. "Every emerging country is trying, wants to develop their own capacity to design and develop vaccines--Brazil, Korea," Mbewu said. But the South Africans are the first to reach the clinical trial stage, though years of testing will be needed. And lots more bananas.
The field of AIDS vaccine research is so filled with disappointments some activists are questioning the wisdom of continuing such expensive investments, saying the money might be better spent on prevention and education. Mbewu said the crisis in South Africa more than justifies the expenditure. "With 5.2 million already infected and with hundreds getting infected every day despite all the condom distribution and behavioral education programs, we know that a vaccine really is what we need," he said.
And he said there are many other benefits. The cadre of South African scientists now able to develop complex technological vaccines for HIV can use that same expertise to fight tuberculosis and avian flu. "When the next influenza pandemic hits the world, every country will be scrambling to develop a vaccine ... so it is important that countries like South Africa have the technology and capacity to develop vaccines and the industry to manufacture them," Mbewu said.
South Africa was the site of the biggest setback to AIDS vaccine research, when the most promising vaccine ever, produced by Merck & Co. and tested in a study in South Africa in 2007, found that people who got the vaccine were more likely to contract HIV than those who did not. Gee. Thought they were immune, did they? There is more than one strain of AIDS, guys. And gals.
In the 1990s, South Africa's then-President Thabo Mbeki denied the link between HIV and AIDS, and his health minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, mistrusted conventional anti-AIDS drugs and made the country a laughing stock trying to promote beets and lemon as AIDS remedies.
At the conference opening, co-chairman Dr. Hoosen Jerry Coovadia reminded the thousands of scientists, researchers, doctors and activists of the importance the international scientific community had made to South Africa's progress in mounting an effective AIDS response in 2000, when the largest international AIDS meeting was held in the South African port city of Durban. Some 5,000 scientists signed the Durban declaration that affirmed the human immunodeficiency virus was the cause of AIDS.
Coovadia, who is professor in HIV/AIDS research at the University of Natal-Durban, said today the international science community must ensure that governments keep their commitment to ensuring universal access to life-giving anti-retroviral drugs. $$$ talks.
It was the Durban conference that opened the way for the rollout of ARV therapy in poor and middle-income countries where today more than 3 million people are receiving treatment, said Dr. Julio Montaner, president of the International AIDS Society. He said those gains are threatened today by warnings that the global financial crisis must affect supplies of ARVs.
Montaner said it was extraordinary that the United States is the only member of the G8 conference of rich developing countries that has paid up what it promised to fight AIDS. Extraordinary? How so? It's exactly what I expected would happen.
"We must hold the G8 leaders accountable for their failure to deliver on their promises," Montaner said. How about people in the developing nations start by keeping their pants zipped up while not at home?
"A retrenchment now would be catastrophic for the nearly 4 million people who are already on treatment in resource-limited countries" and some 7 million others waiting for treatment.
"AIDS is not in recession!" South African AIDS activist Vusikeya Dubula said to cheers from the conference. " Ka-ching!
In all seriousness, thanks SA for taking this seriously.
#2
Montaner said it was extraordinary that the United States is the only member of the G8 conference of rich developing countries that has paid up what it promised to fight AIDS.
No mention of the man behind that effort, President George W. Bush. Of course, evil white colonialists should never be given proper mention.
[Bangla Daily Star] At least 11 persons including four policemen received bullets in an hour-long gunfight between police and robbers early morning yesterday at Thaingkhali under Ukhia upazila on Cox's Bazar-Teknaf highway.
Police and witnesses said, when around 10 to 15 armed dacoits put up a barricade on the highway with logs of wood at around 4:30 am and were preparing to rob Dhaka bound goods-laden trucks from Teknaf land port, a police team led by Ukhia thana OC Prodip Das reached there.
Wherever "there" is. I certainly haven't a clue.
The robbers, sensing presence of the police, asked them to retreat and started firing indiscriminately.
"sensing", "asked"? The police writer has clearly not been through RAB report training.
Police also opened fire in self-defence and exchanged 20 rounds of bullet, sources said.
*sigh* At least he got the "rounds of bullet" correct.
In an hour-long gunfight, Ukhia thana SI Ekramul Haq, Md Kibria, Amir Hossain, constable Jamshed were wounded when bullets lodged in their hands, legs or head, police said.
They have been admitted into Ukhia Upazila Health Complex.
"Anyone dead, Jim?"
"Hard to say, Dr. Quincy. They show none of the usual signs, I fear."
Confirming the incident Prodip Das said, police conducted a raid in the area later and arrested bullet-hit gang leader Mujibur Rahman alias Monia dakat, 30, and his accomplice Badsha Miah, 30.
The left leg of Monia was torn off by the gunshot.
Ouch.
Monia and Badsha were admitted to the upazila health complex. Later, Monia was taken to Cox's Bazar Sadar Hospital in the morning as his condition deteriorated.
"I'm not dead, yet -- just resting!"
Police also recovered five bullets, two long-range guns, a light gun and a sharp weapon from them. Monia, son of Abul Manzur of Palongkhali union under Teknaf upazila, is accused in five robbery cases with the Ukhia police station.
Police said, at least five other dacoits were injured during the battle but could not be arrested as they managed to flee into the nearby jungle.
Two separate cases were filed.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/20/2009 00:00 ||
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A light gun? Cool, I used to play Duck Hunt on the Nintendo with one of those.
[Bangla Daily Star] Unidentified criminals gunned down a Juba League leader, who is also a contractor and a restaurant owner, in the city's Mohakhali area yesterday evening.
Anwar Hossain Liton, 44, a joint secretary of Dhaka city unit Juba League, was killed following a dispute over submitting a tender to the Chest Diseases Hospital at Mohakhali.
Witnesses said two men in a white microbus stormed into Liton's own restaurant 'Fuljhuri Hotel and Restaurant' at around 8:30 pm and shot three shots at him and fled the scene by the vehicle, waiting for them. Police said Liton was rushed to the hospital where on duty doctors declared him dead.
Talking to The Daily Star at Mohakhali residence of Liton, some of his friends told that he might have been killed following a dispute over the tender.
Sources said there was a feud among the contractors over the tender valued at Tk 4 crore against supply of food to the chest diseases hospital. Today is the last day of submitting the bid.
OC Kamal Uddin of Gulshan Police Station told The Daily Star, "The dispute over the tender might be one of the reasons behind the killing."
"We are yet to know any more about the motive behind the murder," he added.
The victim's sister Nasrin Zahan said, "My brother was involved in politics, contracting and hotel business. We could not ascertain the cause behind the murder."
Other than politics, contracting and the hotel business ...
Posted by: Fred ||
07/20/2009 00:00 ||
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Britain's opposition Conservatives have extended their lead over Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour Party to 17 percentage points, according to an opinion poll published on Sunday.
The Conservatives had 42 percent support among those polled against Labour's 25 percent, extending their lead from 16 points last month although down from a 19-point gap last year, according to the YouGov poll in the Sunday Times. The poll of nearly 2,000 people underlined the likelihood the Conservatives under David Cameron will win the next election, ending Labour's rule after more than 12 years, if current voting intentions continue.
The next parliamentary election has to be held by June 2010. Brown is expected to wait as long as possible before calling the election, hoping to give himself and his party a chance to claw back support if the economy and sentiment improve. The poll showed voters' dissatisfaction over the government's policy on Afghanistan, where Britain has more than 9,000 troops serving as part of a NATO- and US-led coalition. This month, 16 British soldiers have died as they have stepped up an offensive against the Taliban. The total British death toll - 185 - exceeds that in Iraq, from where Britain has withdrawn its troops.
According to the survey, 60 percent of those questioned believed Brown was fighting the war "on the cheap", following criticism that the government was not doing enough to supply frontline troops with helicopters and armoured vehicles. Twenty-four percent of those polled described the campaign as a worthwhile objective for which it was worth risking British lives, while 48 percent said it was a worthwhile objective but not worth risking British lives for. Twenty-one percent said Britain should withdraw its forces right away, no matter what other countries might do, down from 26 percent who felt that way in the last poll in March.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/20/2009 00:00 ||
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The Labour still gets 25% amazing...
Posted by: Large Snerong7311 ||
07/20/2009 3:14 Comments ||
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The Labour still gets 25% amazing...
Either you haven't looked at Conservatives recently, or you're easily amazed.
#3
The important thing will be the inroads made by third parties. The "conservatives" are pretty much a joke, and just a slower version Labour. If a real conservative alternative arose, England might actually have a chance.
Talks on resolving Honduras' leadership crisis broke off Sunday after the interim government rejected a proposed compromise, saying a provision calling for ousted President Manuel Zelaya to serve out his term was "unacceptable."
The two sides remained deadlocked on the issue of Zelaya's return after a fourth day of negotiations, but the mediator, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, promised renewed efforts to seek a solution and avoid bloodshed in the Central American country. "It was not possible to reach a satisfactory agreement. The Zelaya delegation fully accepted my proposal, but not that of Mr. Roberto Micheletti," Arias said, referring to the interim president sworn in by congress after the June 28 coup.
Great negotiator. Undercuts one side completely. I'm sure they're eager to talk with you again, Oscar.
Arias said he will spend the next three days "working much harder to see if we can reach an agreement, because what is the alternative to dialogue?"
On Saturday, Arias proposed a plan that would let Zelaya serve out the final months of his term, move up elections by one month to late October, grant a general amnesty and include representatives of the main political parties in a reconciliation government.
Except that the major parties, including Zelaya's own, were united already -- they didn't want to constitution violated with the referendum.
The Micheletti government endorsed several of his proposals on Sunday - but his foreign relations secretary, Carlos Lopez, rejected the overall plan, specifically citing the issue of Zelaya's return. "Dear mediator ... I'm very sorry, but your proposals are unacceptable," Lopez said at a news conference after the talks. Arias' compromise, he added, "interferes with Honduran internal affairs."
The government that deposed Zelaya offered instead to create a truth commission to "let the Honduran people and the international community see all the acts that led to the current situation," according to a letter signed by Lopez. It refused to budge on its insistence that Zelaya would be arrested and prosecuted if he returns, guaranteeing only that he would be given "due process."
Lopez told CNN en Espanol that his delegation would return to the Costa Rican capital on Wednesday "to continue our conversations." But Enrique Flores, a negotiator for Zelaya, said that while Arias may continue "personal efforts" to reach an agreement, formal talks are over. "Today, the dialogue ended," Flores said.
Zelaya, who previously vowed to go back to Honduras to set up a parallel government if the talks failed, told The Associated Press that he was willing to leave "the door open for diplomacy and dialogue." Aide Allan Fajardo has said Zelaya planned to return before Friday, the date suggested by Arias for his return. "The president is preparing his return to Honduras, with or without an agreement," Fajardo said Sunday.
The Honduran military thwarted Zelaya's first attempt to fly home on July 5 by blocking the runway at the airport in the capital, Tegucigalpa.
In Washington, OAS chief Jose Miguel Insulza said Sunday that the international community continues to support Zelaya's return to power, and the Micheletti government needs to confront that reality. "This is a coup that failed," Insulza told a news conference.
Insulza is an old commie, so of course he's on Zelaya's side.
Honduran labor groups supporting the ousted president called for a general strike Thursday and Friday. And in Nicaragua, Zelaya's Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas called for a massive march if mediation fails. She attended the 30th anniversary celebrations of the Sandinista revolution there on Sunday.
Honduras' Supreme Court issued an arrest warrant for Zelaya before the coup, ruling that his effort to hold a referendum on calling for a constitutional assembly was illegal. Many Hondurans viewed the referendum as an attempt by Zelaya to push for a socialist-leaning government similar to the one his ally Hugo Chavez has established in Venezuela. Zelaya, a wealthy rancher who shifted to left during his presidency, charged that the current constitution protects a system of government that excludes the poor. But he never specified what changes he wanted to make.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/20/2009 00:00 ||
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Hundreds of heavily armed soldiers set up roadblocks on major highways on Saturday in President Felipe Calderon's home state, where drug gangs have stepped up attacks on Mexican security forces.
Troops toting automatic weapons and wearing ski masks to shield their identity searched vehicles in the western marijuana-growing state of Michoacan for signs of drug smuggling after the government ordered 5,500 soldiers and police to deploy to the area by land, sea and air. The surge, one of the biggest in the three-year drug war, came after drug gangs targeted federal police in recent days in retaliation for the capture of a high-ranking member of the local La Familia (The Family) cartel.
In a brazen move last week, the cartel dumped the tortured and blood-smeared bodies of 12 federal police in a heap by a remote highway - the latest victims of tit-for-tat violence that has killed some 12,800 people since Calderon took office in 2006. A video allegedly showing the policemen being stripped, beaten and executed was briefly posted on YouTube, reported El Universal newspaper.
Ten municipal police officers from Michoacan were being held in custody on Saturday, suspected of collaborating with the cartel in the murders, the Mexican attorney general's office said. "We've reached a point where the local authorities are tapped out, and so unfortunately it's necessary to call in extra forces to try and restore the peace to Michoacan," said Gerardo Gomez, a resident of the state's capital city Morelia where suspected drug gang hit men threw two grenades into a packed crowd celebrating Mexico's independence day last September.
La Familia has grown in strength to the point where it controls elements of local police and even politicians in Michoacan, which has become a flash point of violence in a raging drug war that is worrying Washington and investors. Calderon is from the large state of sparsely inhabited mountains hiding drug farms and labs, and it was the first place he decided to send troops.
But the recent wave of revenge attacks on security forces indicates that La Familia - which is battling the armed wing of the Gulf Cartel known as the Zetas for control of Michoacan - has been little weakened by the military crackdown. La Familia appears to have gained enormous power in the state. Troops rounded up 10 mayors and a string of police chiefs in May accused of working for the cartel in one of the biggest single corruption sweeps of the drug war. The cartel follows a code of conduct that bars its members from taking drugs or drinking alcohol and has contacted the media in the past to claim its aim is to protect Michoacan from Zeta hit men.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/20/2009 00:00 ||
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And who indeed can tell the troops from the Zetas/Narcos?
Bolivian President Evo Morales says he wants to expand the leftist ALBA alliance into the realms of militaries, political parties and social movements He said he wants the matter discussed in September at the next summit for ALBA countries, including Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador and Nicaragua. He says the leaders expect to create commissions on military affairs, political parties and social movements. He didn't give details Sunday about the extent of that cooperation. Morales this week urged Latin American countries to shake off military cooperation with the United States.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/20/2009 00:00 ||
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Well of course he does. This is news?
Ask him if "countries" have "boundaries", or if "people" have "rights". Better yet, ask him to define "profit" or "production", or for real kicks, "collateral".
There is an apparently unending need to keep exposing leftists' ignorance and knowledge (which are too often identical) at home and abroad.
Colombia has sent a copy of a video, in which a leftist rebel says the guerrillas supported the presidential campaign of Ecuadorean leader Rafael Correa, to the OAS and Interpol, the government said on Sunday.
Correa says the video is a setup and has denied receiving any funds from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Friday's release of the video, in which a top rebel chief says the FARC gave money to Correa's campaign, has heightened tensions between the the Andean neighbors.
"Colombia has handed the material over to the Organization of American States (OAS) to analyze the situation and act according to its mandate," Colombian presidential spokesman Cesar Velasquez told Reuters.
The OAS is a hemispheric pro-democracy body. Velasquez said a copy of the tape was also handed over to Interpol.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/20/2009 00:00 ||
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Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega accused unnamed U.S. intelligence agencies of planning the coup that ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya without the knowledge of President Barack Obama. "I believe U.S. intelligence didn't tell Obama they were planning a coup," Ortega said today at a celebration in Managua for the anniversary of the 1979 Sandinista revolution.
Ortega called Costa Rican President Oscar Arias a "Yankee instrument" for mediating U.S.-backed talks to resolve the crisis in Honduras. Arias is brokering talks today in San Jose between Zelaya representatives and leaders of the acting Honduran government, which took power after soldiers ousted Zelaya on June 28. Ortega said the acting government's demands are "unacceptable" and demanded Zelaya be restored immediately as president.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/20/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Obama could not plan a business, much less a government coup, lest it be his own.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will announce Monday that his department is temporarily barring the filing of new uranium mining claims on about 1 million acres near the Grand Canyon, an Obama administration official said.
The land is being "segregated" for two years so that the department can study whether it should be permanently withdrawn from mining activity, said the official, who requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly on the matter. It's not the US is short on energy production or anything.
The announcement comes ahead of Tuesday's congressional hearing on a bill to set aside more than 1 million acres of federal lands north and south of the canyon. The bill's sponsor, Democratic U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, and environmental groups had been looking to Salazar for temporary protections at the Grand Canyon while the legislation is pending. Perhaps they will change their minds if a nuclear powered private jets were developed to ferry in luxury high government officials and their rich sponsors around.
The Interior Department under President George W. Bush was unresponsive to efforts to ban new uranium mining claims. The House Natural Resources Committee invoked a little-used rule to stop any new claims for up to three years, but Interior officials refused to recognize the action and continued to authorize additional mining claims. A contract is a binding document,
A coalition of environmental groups sued, but not to the left.
and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management later rescinded Congress' right to withdraw lands from mining and other activities in emergencies. What's the emergency, other than you've bankrupted the world's richest nation by forcing the import of the energy it uses from those who want to kill or enslave us?
Since then, environmentalists and Grijalva have been hanging their hopes on Salazar for temporary protections. Ken "The US can't tap its single largest source of energy, shale" Salazar.
Any companion bill to Grijalva's in the Senate is unlikely to come from Arizona's two U.S. senators. Republicans John McCain and Jon Kyl told Grijalva in a letter last month that adequate protections already exist. Let the Enviromental Luddites eat yellowcake.
Posted by: ed ||
07/20/2009 07:53 ||
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#1
Well, we are not going to make any nuclear reactors, sell over seas, and we sure as heck are not going to renew our nuclear force so why not?
Posted by: Kelly ||
07/20/2009 13:06 Comments ||
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#2
I'm pretty sure we're nowhere near Peak Uranium, so perhaps aside from the financial idiocy of withdrawing valuable resources from auction in the face of trillion-dollar-plus deficits, this isn't the most important of issues.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/20/2009 13:26 Comments ||
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#3
If we were really serious about stretching Uranium fuel supply beyond the near future we would be building breeder reactors.
Regulators on Friday shut two banks in California and two smaller banks in Georgia and South Dakota, boosting to 57 the number of federally insured banks to fail this year.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver of the four banks. The two biggest were Temecula Valley Bank, in Temecula, Calif., with $1.5 billion in assets and deposits of about $1.3 billion as of May 31 and Vineyard Bank, National Association, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. It had assets of $1.9 billion and $1.6 billion in deposits as of March 31.
The two smaller banks were First Piedmont Bank, based in Winder, Ga., which had about $115 million in assets and $109 million in deposits as of July 6 and BankFirst, based in Sioux Falls, S.D., with around $275 million in assets and $254 million in deposits as of April 30.
The FDIC said all of Temucula's deposits will be assumed by First-Citizens Bank and Trust Company of Raleigh, N.C. The bank also will purchase essentially all of the assets. San Diego-based California Bank & Trust agreed to assume the deposits of Vineyard Bank, excluding about $134 million from brokers. California Bank & Trust will purchase about $1.8 billion of assets. The FDIC will retain the remaining assets for later disposition.
The FDIC and First-Citizens struck a loss-share agreement on about $1.3 billion of Temecula's assets. The agency and California Bank & Trust agreed to a loss-share transaction for about $1.5 billion of Vineyard assets.
All of First Piedmont's deposits will be assumed by First American Bank and Trust Co. of Athens, Ga., which also agreed to buy about $111 million of its assets. Alerus Financial, based in Grand Forks, N.D., agreed to assume all the deposits of BankFirst as well as $72 million in assets.
In addition, the federal agency and First American Bank and Trust entered into a loss-sharing agreement covering about $90 million of First Piedmont Bank's assets. And Beal Bank Nevada, based in Las Vegas, agreed to acquire $177 million of BankFirst's loans.
Friday's move brings the number of bank closings in California this year to eight.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/20/2009 00:00 ||
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July 19 (Bloomberg) -- India will resist pressure from the Obama administration to accept legally binding caps on its carbon emissions, the South Asian nation's environment minister told visiting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
"There is simply no case for the pressure that we, who have been among the lowest emissions per capita, face to actually reduce emissions," Jairam Ramesh said at a meeting today with Clinton in Gurgaon near New Delhi, according to a statement he issued to reporters. "And as if this pressure was not enough, we also face the threat of carbon tariffs on our exports to countries such as yours."
Clinton is on a state visit to India meant to showcase trade and security ties and seek common ground on climate change and arms control. India has said it will reject any new treaty to limit global warming that makes it reduce emissions because that will undermine the country's energy consumption, transportation and food security.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/20/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Damn right. Why bow to their made up crises?
Screw the US and all of their "global" whatever they are pumping. People have to eat.
#2
Eventually, global warming will be recognized as the biggest hoax since the Piltdown Man. Yeah, there is is money to be made and power to be gained, but I'm still stunned and amazed at how many people willingly drink the kool-aid.
One man was killed as police opened fire on people protesting against load shedding near the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) office in Hyderi on Sunday, while angry protesters in other parts of the city attacked the house of
A man named Hassam was killed when police allegedly opened fire on a mob protesting against excessive load shedding.
Petroleum Adviser Dr Asim Hussain and a police checkpost.
A man named Hassam was killed when police allegedly opened fire on a mob protesting against excessive load shedding, a private TV channel reported. After the incident, KESC officials called Rangers to guard the company's installations. Meanwhile, angry protesters pelted the house of Petroleum Adviser Dr Asim Hussain with stones, while shouting slogans against load shedding. The protesters dispersed after police fired teargas shells at them.
In North Nazimabad, infuriated protesters blocked the Landhi Kotak Chorangi Road with burning tyres and shouted slogans against the KESC administration, another private TV channel reported. The rioters attacked vehicles of MNAs Salahuddin and Farha Khan of the Mutahidda Qaumi Movement, while another angry mob attacked a police checkpost and snatched ammunition from the constable on duty.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/20/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
If you ever wondered how USA will look under Obama's energy laws...
#1
Iff one desires "BARRAGE", its likely goin' to be hard to beat the ARSENAL/FIRE SHIP, e.g. 21st-Century CONVERTED SUPER-FREIGHTER/TANKER DESIGNS as integrated wid other Nav-MilSystems.
Long discussion on the plane's problems. If it ain't Boeing, I ain't going.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/20/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Just breaking in the new technology. Same thing happened when they switched to jet engines. It'll cost a couple of thousand lives for them to get it right.
Actually, the worrying part is that software usually sucks because there are no standards to follow. We're still in the era in which anyone can build software - at one time, anyone could build a bridge or a railroad, too.
#2
Kapton again? In the mid to late 80's, Kapton was found to be unsuitable for use in missile and aircraft circuitry due to its hydrophilic properties and the near certainty of forming carbon fiber filaments (between runs with even low potentials across them) in the Kapton itself, which could (and did) act as 'weather-variant' resistors in pcb's that used the material. This is an old problem, with a known solution: don't use Kapton. Amazing that this is still cropping up.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
07/20/2009 3:08 Comments ||
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...The 500 lb gorilla in the room is that Airbus is a quasi-governmental entity where EVERY aspect of the aircraft's design and its safety take a back seat to bureaucratic standards and most importantly, cost. The reason Airbus designed that HAL-like computer system in the first place was because it resulted in an airplane that was cheaper and lighter than the Boeings with their multiple-redundant systems. Cheaper means you can sell more, lighter means you can haul more passengers.
You want to see what happens when governments get involved in technical matters? Look at Airbus.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
07/20/2009 6:18 Comments ||
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#4
Airbus uses a different type of wiring, but one that Block considers equally dangerous. On every model built until at least 2006 Airbus wont say if new aircraft are fitted with it now it employed aromatic polyimide, better known by its trade name, Kapton.
Kapton has banned by the US military. So I guess Airbus did spill the beans to the US Air Force for the A-330 to make it to the tanker competition. Electrical shorts and fuel vapors do mix, but only once.
Posted by: ed ||
07/20/2009 9:44 Comments ||
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#5
I came to the conculsion a while ago I wouldn't fly airbus. This just reinforces that decision.
#6
"Actually, the worrying part is that software usually sucks because there are no standards to follow. We're still in the era in which anyone can build software - at one time, anyone could build a bridge or a railroad, too."
The software dilemma is that you only get paid while you work. Good code ---> Unemploymen, bug fixes -------> fat paycheck.
Experience rewards marginal programmers. So thats what you get.
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.
The Pentagon has shown it has a great appetite for drones and robots -- everything from missile-firing UAVs to prototype patrol-bots guarding air base perimeters.
Michael Jackson's dermatologist is tossing his hat into the three-ring circus that is the custody battle over the late pop star's eldest kids -- claiming to be able to prove he's their father, according to published reports. 
In other new developments in the Jackson case, there is no change in the King of Pop's condition . . . he is still dead. 
[Maghrebia] Mauritanian former junta leader General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz is the presumed winner of Saturday's presidential elections after receiving 52.2% of the vote, according to the preliminary tally on Sunday (July 19th). With about half the ballots counted, four presidential candidates published a joint declaration rejecting the reported results. Speaking on behalf of Rally of Democratic Forces party chief Ahmed Ould Daddah, former junta chief Ely Ould Mohamed Vall and ex-ambassador Hamadi Ould Meimou, parliamentary speaker Messaoud Ould Boulkheir told a press conference: "The results which are starting to come out show that it is an electoral charade which is trying to legitimise the coup." He asked the international community to create a commission of inquiry.
South Africa is launching clinical trials of the first AIDS vaccines created by a developing country, a feat by scientists who forged ahead even when some of their political leaders shocked the world with unscientific pronouncements about the disease. 
[Bangla Daily Star] Unidentified criminals gunned down a Juba League leader, who is also a contractor and a restaurant owner, in the city's Mohakhali area yesterday evening.
Britain's opposition Conservatives have extended their lead over Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour Party to 17 percentage points, according to an opinion poll published on Sunday. 
Hundreds of heavily armed soldiers set up roadblocks on major highways on Saturday in President Felipe Calderon's home state, where drug gangs have stepped up attacks on Mexican security forces. 
Bolivian President Evo Morales says he wants to expand the leftist ALBA alliance into the realms of militaries, political parties and social movements He said he wants the matter discussed in September at the next summit for ALBA countries, including Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador and Nicaragua. He says the leaders expect to create commissions on military affairs, political parties and social movements. He didn't give details Sunday about the extent of that cooperation. Morales this week urged Latin American countries to shake off military cooperation with the United States.
Colombia has sent a copy of a video, in which a leftist rebel says the guerrillas supported the presidential campaign of Ecuadorean leader Rafael Correa, to the OAS and Interpol, the government said on Sunday.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega accused unnamed U.S. intelligence agencies of planning the coup that ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya without the knowledge of President Barack Obama. "I believe U.S. intelligence didn't tell Obama they were planning a coup," Ortega said today at a celebration in Managua for the anniversary of the 1979 Sandinista revolution. 
Regulators on Friday shut two banks in California and two smaller banks in Georgia and South Dakota, boosting to 57 the number of federally insured banks to fail this year.
