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Boom misses Masood's brother
Today's Headlines
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Page 3: Non-WoT
7 00:00 Memesis [2] 
4 00:00 Long Hair Republican [3] 
2 00:00 badanov [1] 
38 00:00 Angie Schultz [2] 
3 00:00 crazyhorse [] 
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1 00:00 BigEd [3] 
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3 00:00 Poison Reverse [2] 
6 00:00 Alaska Paul [] 
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20 00:00 RJSchwarz [1] 
5 00:00 Don [5] 
2 00:00 John (Q. Citizen) [2] 
4 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [3] 
8 00:00 Poison Reverse [10] 
0 [3] 
11 00:00 BigEd [3] 
21 00:00 Super Hose [2] 
2 00:00 Bomb-a-rama [2] 
12 00:00 Mark Espinola [2] 
15 00:00 Atomic Conspiracy [] 
3 00:00 2b [3] 
9 00:00 USN, retired [2] 
10 00:00 Dave D. [1] 
3 00:00 someone [3] 
3 00:00 lex [] 
11 00:00 Phil Fraering [2] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
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5 00:00 Sock Puppet of Doom [3]
4 00:00 Howard UK [4]
2 00:00 Frank G [1]
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8 00:00 Antiwar [13]
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4 00:00 remote man [3]
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2 00:00 chicago mike [3]
14 00:00 Bryan [1]
8 00:00 Angash Spinenter1178 [3]
15 00:00 RN [4]
6 00:00 trailing wife [3]
6 00:00 BH [3]
4 00:00 Mike Sylwester []
2 00:00 Mark Espinola [5]
2 00:00 2b [1]
5 00:00 Antiwar [6]
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Page 2: WoT Background
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21 00:00 Mark Espinola [8]
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3 00:00 Querent [3]
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Page 4: Opinion
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5 00:00 Don [1]
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Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
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9 00:00 mojo [2]
-Short Attention Span Theater-
baghdad plans bid to host world cup
Posted by: muck4doo || 10/06/2004 19:53 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Who says we aren't winning? This is a wonderful development for the Iraqi people, even if it doesn't pan out in the end.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/06/2004 22:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Baby steps first.

Hows about hosting an NCAA preseason basketball game?
Posted by: badanov || 10/06/2004 22:29 Comments || Top||


Making love in a toilet okay in Italy
Making love in a bar lavatory does not breach public decency laws so long as the door is shut, an Italian court has ruled. A Swiss couple were accused of committing obscene acts after the owner of a bar in the northern Italian town of Como caught them having sex in the lavatory, Ansa newsagency reported.
State prosecutors demanded a six-month prison term for the un-named male defendant and a five-month term for his partner. But Judge Luciano Storaci threw out the case, saying public decency was not offended because the door was closed. However, he fined the Swiss man 200 euros ($NZ366) for breaking the lock on the lavatory after he was caught with his trousers down. "If the barman had given me time to get dressed then nothing would have happened," Ansa quoted the Swiss woman as saying.
Posted by: tipper || 10/06/2004 6:29:47 AM || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Making love in a toilet okay in Italy"

I say fair enough, provided you're not going to damage anything, inconvenience anyone else, or are doing it against the wishes of the toilet owner. Reasonable enough?
Posted by: Bulldog || 10/06/2004 7:04 Comments || Top||

#2  and clean up your jizz!
Posted by: Gleath Elmeash1399 || 10/06/2004 8:46 Comments || Top||

#3  Next, sex in outhouses and port-o-johns. Hooray for Switzerland!
Posted by: ed || 10/06/2004 9:13 Comments || Top||

#4  I tried making love in a toilet once. I had blue-stained butt cheeks for a month.
Posted by: Dar || 10/06/2004 9:30 Comments || Top||

#5  Bang! Bang! Bang! Come out of there! Lot's of people are waiting!

Go Away! This is a perfectly legal use of this room! Buzz off!
Posted by: 2b || 10/06/2004 9:38 Comments || Top||

#6  Here's a toilet with a view...outside and inside.

I think this would appeal to the closet exhibitionists...
Posted by: .com || 10/06/2004 9:45 Comments || Top||

#7  Admittedly, this helps explain how they came up with "Honey Bucket".
Posted by: Dar || 10/06/2004 9:49 Comments || Top||

#8  "Making love in a bar lavatory does not breach public decency laws so long as the door is shut, an Italian court has ruled."

Interesting. Does the shutting of a door in a public place make the space behind the shut door private? And if it was one of those toilets where people can still see your feet when the door's closed would that be private?

And what if the owners closed the door to the bar and everyone participated in a mass orgy? Would the bar no longer be a public place?

Posted by: Bryan || 10/06/2004 9:54 Comments || Top||

#9  Ick! While wandering through Italy with the kidlings (they were toddlers then), we were forced by circumstances to use a pub's toilet. Ceramic, like a shower stall with a drainboard, 2 foot shapes on either side of a largish hole in the floor. Veeery slippery, not exactly clean, and how do I explain to kids what to do in this emergency?

If the Swiss want to disport themselves in such a place, better they smash their skulls than I dirty my shoes. Ick, ick, ick.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/06/2004 10:40 Comments || Top||

#10  Gives a whole new meaning to the terms:

"Coming and Going"
Posted by: RN || 10/06/2004 10:45 Comments || Top||

#11  Now we don't know if grunting coming from "inside the booth" is a sign of constipation or relaxation...
Posted by: BigEd || 10/06/2004 10:57 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Japanese, Mongolian researchers unearth Genghis Khan's mausoleum
Posted by: tipper || 10/06/2004 01:21 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ya know, it's rumored that Khans tomb has several times more riches than King Tuts.
Posted by: Charles || 10/06/2004 7:50 Comments || Top||

#2  I understand that he rampaged across Asia, cutting off ears, raping and pillaging in a manner reminiscent of Kerry's Swiftboat Brothers In Arms™
Posted by: Frank G || 10/06/2004 8:22 Comments || Top||

#3  Very cool. Now they just need to find his stately pleasure dome in the "caverns measureless to man".
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/06/2004 10:44 Comments || Top||

#4  Ain't that "Gengis Can?" Well thats how they must say it in Basston.

I remember seeing a Documentary on Discovery Science. I was left with the impression that the people of Mongolia wanted Genghis Khan's buruial site secrect. He is really a national Hero of some of the best horsemen in the world.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 10/06/2004 10:45 Comments || Top||

#5  The Japanese said they "found" the tomb in 2000, the Chinese in 2001, and now the Japanese say they have found the mausoleum. Until someone can say habeas corpus and do it, all this is just so much hooey. Of course, legend says all sorts of strange and terrible things are supposed to happen when the Khan's tomb is found. Could be interesting.
Posted by: RWV || 10/06/2004 10:51 Comments || Top||

#6  The "stately pleasure dome" was attributed to Kublai Khan, Ghengis' grandson...
Posted by: mojo || 10/06/2004 10:57 Comments || Top||

#7  Cool,The Great Kahn was brutal.But so were the times.To give credit were it's due,Gengis and his Grandsons united one of the greatest empires ever.
Saw a Dis.Ch.one the Mongolion Horsemen.Interesting Lasso technique.
Posted by: Raptor || 10/06/2004 11:03 Comments || Top||

#8  Seven posts and nobody has done this yet. You guys are starting to disappoint me:

Khaaaaaann!!!!
Posted by: BH || 10/06/2004 12:04 Comments || Top||

#9  Ghengis Khan, now there was a real man of nuance.
Posted by: Shipman || 10/06/2004 12:16 Comments || Top||

#10  I thought, according to Kerry, his name was "Jengzhis" Khan, the guy that later invented the game "Jenga".
Posted by: Dar || 10/06/2004 12:45 Comments || Top||

#11  Its a PLOT.
For the second time in the Presidential Campaign,
Jen-Jess Khan's name has been raised!

As to Kubla Khan--

Opening Stanza from Univ Va
Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1798)

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree :
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.

So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round :
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree ;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

Music Inspried by the poem by Am Composer
CT Griffes:
CD from Amazon
Posted by: BigEd || 10/06/2004 13:37 Comments || Top||

#12  Coleridge had read Bertrams travels in Florida right before.... add a little opium and viola!
Kubla Khan!
Posted by: Shipman || 10/06/2004 14:15 Comments || Top||

#13  viola? would a cello work?
Posted by: Frank G || 10/06/2004 14:39 Comments || Top||

#14  I prefer the viola, you can't carry a chopper in a cello case.
Posted by: Shipman || 10/06/2004 16:04 Comments || Top||

#15  Genghis was a man of his time, a serious brute but not as brutal or treacherous as many of his enemies. He was also a notably enlightened ruler once the head-lopping and city flattening were done.
He also killed a hell of a lot of Muslims and, in fact, is a kind of boogey-man in Muslim folklore to this day.
The decline of Muslim civilization can reasonably be dated from his, and his successor's, depredations. The Mongol hordes devastated Eastern Europe, but they might well have saved Western Europe by drastically reducing the power of the Muslim world.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 10/06/2004 16:48 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Strong Earthquake Rattles Eastern Japan
An earthquake struck eastern Japan late Wednesday, shaking buildings in Tokyo and other nearby areas, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The 5.8-magnitude quake hit at 11:40 p.m. and was centered some 40 miles beneath the earth's surface in Ibaraki state, northeast of the capital, the Meteorological Agency said. A magnitude-5 earthquake can cause damage to homes if it occurs in a residential area. But the depth of the temblor dampened much of its potentially destructive power. The temblor, which lasted more than 30 seconds, was most strongly felt in Tsukuba city, in Ibaraki state, and Miyashiro town, in Saitama state, the agency said. Office buildings and homes in Tokyo swayed for about 10 seconds. It also shook cities in Tochigi, Chiba, Gunma, Kanagawa, Shizuoka and Nagano prefectures.

Tsukuba city police spokesman Nobuo Abe said there were no reports of quake-related injuries or damage. He said the temblor wasn't strong enough to dislodge items from shelves. Tokyo Electric Power Co. official Katsuya Uchino said power plants and electricity services across the region were unaffected. However, the quake triggered an automatic safety device on trains, temporarily bringing railway transport in Tokyo and other areas to a halt, according to Japanese media. Service was resumed minutes later, the reports said. There was no danger of tsunami -- or huge waves triggered by seismic activity -- the agency said. Japan, which rests atop several tectonic plates, is among the most earthquake-prone countries in the world.
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 10/06/2004 2:58:44 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Almost 250 bodies found in Bosnian grave
Posted by: Fred || 10/06/2004 8:56:35 PM || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  May God bless them and keep them, and give them peace. When is it that Milosevic be convicted, again?
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/06/2004 21:11 Comments || Top||

#2  We should recall the deep rooted hate in this area of the Balkans.

If not for 'peacekeepers' all these same players would be slughtering each other again as the did in the 1990's World War Two, World War I and all the way back to to 1300's with the invasion of the Ottomans Muslims into the southern Balkans.
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 10/06/2004 21:56 Comments || Top||

#3  hmmm...call me grouchy, but it seems to me that the peacekeepers do little more than watch the slaughter.
Posted by: 2b || 10/06/2004 22:34 Comments || Top||

#4  Call me crazy, but they are all Moooooslims. In a place where they should not be. Serbs are fighting the future war. Most people don't see it that way but the truth hurts now don't it!!
Now you can call me whatever you want.
Posted by: Long Hair Republican || 10/06/2004 23:08 Comments || Top||


Welsh furious as Wales wiped off map
Take the hint, Wales. They'll tolerate no lip from you...
The Welsh are bristling with indignation after the European Union wiped their homeland off the face of the earth.
...Women, Minorities Hardest Hit.
The EU statistics office printed a map of the newly enlarged bloc on the cover of its annual yearbook which clearly showed England, Scotland and Ireland but simply omitted Wales.
Jesus, the EU can't even read a map?
"As you may have heard, we've just been left off the new EU map," said Conservative Party leader Michael Howard, who was born in South Wales. "Now I know I've had my differences with Brussels, but this is just ridiculous," he told his party conference on Tuesday.
Declare war! You could probably take it all! And it wouldn't take long!
Glenys Kinnock, a member of the European parliament and a Welshwoman, described the mistake as "a shocking omission" but accepted that it was simply an unfortunate error.
Yeah...that's just what they want you to think...
Welsh historians drew attention to Wales's contribution to Europe and one Welsh politician vowed to make a formal complaint to Eurostat -- which apologised for the oversight.
So sorry. We're stupid. We thought you knew. Won't happen again.
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/06/2004 11:27:12 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Wales? Hi, I'm Israel!"

"Pleased to meet you. Say, nice club you have here."
Posted by: BH || 10/06/2004 12:10 Comments || Top||

#2  "Dewd! Where's my country?"
Posted by: Fred || 10/06/2004 16:04 Comments || Top||

#3  Now they have gone and gotten Tom Jones pissed at them. I wonder how you say "fuck Brussels" in Welsh
Posted by: Cheaderhead || 10/06/2004 16:49 Comments || Top||

#4  I'd tell ya Cheaderhead, but it's the length of War and Peace.
Posted by: Shipman || 10/06/2004 17:08 Comments || Top||

#5  You mean zat sheety leettle cuntry?
Posted by: a french ambassador || 10/06/2004 17:12 Comments || Top||

#6  Farewell you colliery workers
the muffler and the cap
Farewell you Rhonda valley girls
We never will come back
the mines they are a closing
The valleys are all doomed
There's no work in the Rhonda, boys
We'll be in London soon.

---exerpt from Rhonda valley song, Wales
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 10/06/2004 18:40 Comments || Top||


Irish naval vessel damaged during Canadian sub rescue

The Irish Naval Service vessel LÉ Róisín is to return to Halbowline in Cork Harbour after temporary repairs have been carried out in Donegal Bay. The Róisín had been going to the assistance of a stricken Canadian submarine when she was damaged in rough seas. The crew had to abandon its efforts to assit the crew of the fire-damaged submarine after incurring what a naval spokesman has called "significant damage" to her bow in stormy conditions. The damage is being assesed by the service`s marine engineering staff though none of the crew on board was injured. Two other Irish Naval Services vessels, which were on fishery patrols off the south coast of Ireland have been dispatched to assist the submarine.
The LÉ Róisín is a "P51 Class Offshore Patrol Vessel". I guess it's not built to be too offshore, however.
Posted by: Dar || 10/06/2004 11:13:47 AM || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  argh--somehow screwed up the image URL--are links to outside pix now discouraged? I thought I had the syntax right.
Posted by: Dar || 10/06/2004 11:15 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 10/06/2004 11:40 Comments || Top||

#3  It was your quote marks. I fixed it.
Posted by: Fred || 10/06/2004 11:43 Comments || Top||

#4  ..I was under the impression that a lot of tehse smaller patrol boats have huge amounts of composite or GRP construction, which makes them a bit fragile out on the open ocean. OTOH, the crew of the Canadian SSK they helped rescue would probably gladly assist in the repairs.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 10/06/2004 12:05 Comments || Top||

#5 
The vessel is designed to patrol the EU zone adjacent to The Republic of Ireland to implement Fishery protection, conservation and management.

The vessel is designed for good sea-keeping qualities allied with top speed when desired plus an economical cruising speed of approximately 15 knots. The ship is of monohull design, its profile streamlined in appearance and functional in design with a single funnel positioned aft of amidships.

The vessel is capable of surviving in wind force 12 and Sea State 9.
LINK
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 10/06/2004 14:54 Comments || Top||

#6  I would just like to take this moment to thank Canada and Ireland for not f*cking up participating in the invasion of Iraq.
Posted by: BH || 10/06/2004 17:10 Comments || Top||

#7  If there were heavy seas involved, I still would have preferred a berth on the LÉ Róisín vice the surfaced submarine. That would have been a barf fest.
Posted by: Super Hose || 10/07/2004 0:31 Comments || Top||


Being gay is a sin, says EU's justice chief
Italy's new European commissioner for justice introduced himself to the parliament in Brussels yesterday by describing homosexuality as a sin and defending calls for asylum camps in north Africa. But Rocco Buttiglione promised that his personal beliefs would not affect the way he does his job. Mr Buttiglione, the commissioner-designate for justice and home affairs, and a close friend of Pope John Paul II, told MEPs: "I may think that homosexuality is a sin; this has no effect on politics unless I say that homosexuality is a crime." He added: "The rights of homosexuals should be defended on the same basis as the rights of all other European citizens. I would not accept the idea that homosexuals are a category apart."
Posted by: Bulldog || 10/06/2004 8:49:39 AM || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Isn't that considered "hate speech" in EU-land and a crime?

I think this guy just make some serious CLMs (Career Limiting Moves).
Posted by: Xbalanke || 10/06/2004 10:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Yes, Xbalanke, at least in several of the Scandanavian countries, and Holland...

But, remember, the Italians and British are the only members of "Old Europe" left with any soul...
Posted by: BigEd || 10/06/2004 10:54 Comments || Top||

#3  Not wise for a guy called Rocco Buttiglione to go around calling buggery a sin.
Posted by: lex || 10/06/2004 11:51 Comments || Top||

#4  I thought the EU didn't believe in old-fashioned concepts like "sin."
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 10/06/2004 12:47 Comments || Top||


U.S. Plutonium Shipment Reaches France
Working under tight security from helicopters and police, port crews unloaded U.S. military plutonium from a British ship on Wednesday after its arrival in northwest France, nuclear industry officials said. The nuclear material was unloaded from the Pacific Pintail while another ship in the convoy, the Pacific Teal, remained at bay following its role as escort vessel and decoy. The two heavily armed vessels left from Charleston, S.C., on Sept. 20. "The plutonium is going to now be unloaded with the greatest precaution," said Henri Jacques Neau, a spokesman for Cogema, the French company responsible for treating the plutonium, moments before the unloading. It was to be taken to a company processing plant in the La Hague by way of a secret itinerary, he said.

A small flotilla of boats from environmental group Greenpeace mounted a peaceful protest against the arrival of the shipment in the Normandy port of Cherbourg at about 7:20 a.m. local time. "This shipment of weapons plutonium is a wake-up call to the world," said Tom Clements of Greenpeace International. "Rather than ship this dangerous material worldwide now is the time for aggressive steps to halt proliferation of all nuclear weapons materials." The military nature of the arrival in France clearly demonstrates that nuclear weapons materials are a threat to global security and have no place in commerce," he said in a statement.
(Bla, bla, bla ,,blaaaa)
Greenpeace led a string of protests against the shipment of 308 pounds of military-grade plutonium -- enough to make nearly 10 Hiroshima-style bombs -- taken from U.S. nuclear warheads. A French court ruled that the environmental group could face fines if any of its boats got closer than 300 yards at sea or 100 yards in port. The highly radioactive substance has been brought to France for conversion into a commercial fuel called MOX at the Cadarache factory in southeast France.

On Tuesday, a dozen militants holding a "Stop Plutonium" banner chained themselves to a truck and blocked a regional highway leading to the Cogema company plant, where the plutonium is to be treated. France's state-of-the-art nuclear technology is being used to help fulfill the terms of a September 2000 U.S.-Russia disarmament accord in which both countries promised to destroy 34 tons of military plutonium. France has received shipments of radioactive material in the past for conversion into MOX fuel, a mixture of plutonium oxide and uranium oxide, but this is the first time weapons-grade plutonium is involved. The U.S. Energy Department must ship the plutonium overseas for conversion because there isn't a plant in the United States that can do it.
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 10/06/2004 8:07:56 AM || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ah, you just have to love AP stories. An error a sentence, that's all we ask.

First, plutonium is not highly radioactive. If it were, it'd be useless in nuclear weapons since it would decay away too fast.

Second, there's no such thing as weapons grade plutonium. That's why plutonium is such a risky commodity; all its isotopes are fissile and don't require enrichment. Uranium, on the other hand, requires enrichment.

Third, if one wishes to invoke the ghost of atomic weapons past, then it would be more appropriate to refer back to the bomb (Fat Man) that levelled Nagasaki since that used plutonium, not the one that was used on Hiroshima.

Finally, there's no better way of getting rid of plutonium than using it as fuel in a civilian reactor.
Posted by: Dreadnought || 10/06/2004 15:27 Comments || Top||

#2  swords into plowshares and all that.
Posted by: eLarson || 10/06/2004 15:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Bon appetit, monsieurs et madames!
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/06/2004 15:48 Comments || Top||

#4  "The U.S. Energy Department must ship the plutonium overseas for conversion because there isn’t a plant in the United States that can do it."

Thank you Jimmy Carter. He cancelled our reprocessing plans so as to Set A Moral Example so that other countries wouldn't. So, now we have all the high-level waste storage problems.

But at least our moral example has inspired Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, India, ... to not develop any weaponizable technologies.

Idiot.
Posted by: jackal || 10/06/2004 16:01 Comments || Top||

#5  If you liked Jimmuh you'll love Kerry. Even the Iranian foreign minister had to laugh out loud at Kerry's latest proposal.
Posted by: lex || 10/06/2004 16:09 Comments || Top||

#6  Jackal,

Your indictment of Jimmah is correct in spirit, but not quite relevant in this case.

Carter's action prevented us from extracting plutonium from spent commercial reactor fuel. The non-fissile U-238 in the commercial fuel accounts for 96-98% of the uranium and transforms to plutonium after neutron capture. When a reactor shuts down to refuel, there is a fair amount of plutonium remaining in the rods.

In the case presented here, these are warheads that are being retired, so there is no real reprocessing issue. Just a question of what to do with a pile of plutonium.

Frankly, I'm not sure if that's we can't mix the fuel or we just aren't allowed by law. I'm inclined to think the latter because accounting for plutonium in the reactivity calculations is no big deal.
Posted by: Dreadnought || 10/06/2004 16:14 Comments || Top||

#7  Thanks, DN. I must have MEGO'ed the "warhead" part. Too bad we took the suckers apart. We could have done Kerry's "nuclear material to Iran" proposal by Minuteman.
Posted by: jackal || 10/06/2004 20:31 Comments || Top||

#8  "nuclear material to Iran" proposal by Minuteman.

It's a lot faster than shipping by sea. Two birds with one stone.
Posted by: Poison Reverse || 10/06/2004 22:14 Comments || Top||


Spain snubs US as France joins the big parade
The Spanish government snubbed the United States yesterday by cancelling an annual invitation to US troops to join the celebrations of Spain's national holiday parade and instead invited French soldiers to Madrid. The Spanish defence minister, Jose Bono, told the COPE radio station there would be no Americans in this year's "fiesta nacional" which commemorates the day on which Christopher Columbus sighted the New World. The national day "is not the national holiday of the United States, and no one is under any obligation to see the flag of another country in the parade, though it was is a friend and an ally for sure," said Mr Bono. "This is in no way an insult nor a sign of contempt towards the United States."
Weasel words, too. Learning fast
However, the minister then added that Spain was "no longer subordinated" and "kneeling" before Washington.
"We have bravely chosen to adopt a - what do you call it - doggy position, better to accommodate jihad."
"With Bush, peace and liberty have not exactly triumphed," he said.
"We loved Saddam. [sniff] He was a good man. A National Socialist, you know. No time for democracy. A good, good man. Now look at Iraq and Afghanistan: elections! [sniff}. It's just awful. It's horrifying!"
Then in reference to the former prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar, who was often lampooned as a puppet of President Bush, Mr Bono said the new Socialist administration wanted to "show its sovereignty".
"We're Chirac's puppets now!"
Relations between Washington and Madrid have been tense since the Spanish Socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero won elections in March and infuriated Washington by withdrawing troops from Iraq. American troops have taken part in the Oct 12 military parade every year since 2001, when the government invited them out of respect for the victims of the Sept 11 attacks. Mr Bono, who was once recorded calling Tony Blair "a complete dickhead", has suggested French troops could appear as part of the 60th anniversary celebrations of the liberation of Paris in 1945.
At which Spanish troops were notably absent, the French contingent were allowed a role out of proportion to their actual number, whilst the Brits and the Yanks once again did the lions' share of enabling "peace and democracy" to triumph - a role which certain Euroturds try to denigrate through sick propaganda. Sounds familiar.
Posted by: Bulldog || 10/06/2004 4:40:29 AM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  no one is under any obligation to see the flag of another country in the parade

So I guess France has the OK to fly their white battle flag. Wonder if they will also parade their tanks in reverse.
Posted by: 2b || 10/06/2004 4:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Just a piffle, but my snarky quote (snarquote?) "...peace and democracy'..." should read "peace and liberty". Wouldn't want anyone to think I was misquoting the Hon. dickhead Mr Bono.
Posted by: Bulldog || 10/06/2004 6:01 Comments || Top||

#3  What fools.

Under Aznar, Spain was a brave ally; after the 3/11 bombings, I ascribed their withdrawal to a failure of nerve; but anymore, my view of the Spanish is once again informed by the portrayal of the Spanish waiter in Fawlty Towers.

Idiots.
Posted by: Dave D. || 10/06/2004 7:36 Comments || Top||

#4  France and Spain, coalition of the scared, stupid and spineless.

Posted by: JerseyMike || 10/06/2004 10:03 Comments || Top||

#5  Oh no! We can't be in their parade? Oh no!
Guess they showed us.
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/06/2004 10:09 Comments || Top||

#6  I wonder if the Muslims will "unveil" their new plan, to take steps to implement Sharia within the Spainish, French and Canadian governments, during the parade.
Posted by: 2b || 10/06/2004 10:19 Comments || Top||

#7  I! Can speaka English!
English! I can speak English!
Posted by: Shipman || 10/06/2004 10:27 Comments || Top||

#8  Spain peaked with the Armada.
Posted by: RWV || 10/06/2004 10:30 Comments || Top||

#9  BFD. Good we wont be spending any money on that.
If Spain wants to be under France's heel I say good on them.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 10/06/2004 10:30 Comments || Top||

#10  Yeah, Dave. But at least Manuel had a good heart.

Jose Bono told the COPE radio station there would be no Americans in this year’s "fiesta nacional" which commemorates the day on which Christopher Columbus sighted the New World...

They are celebrating the discovery of the new world but are snubbing the actual new world. Yep-sophisticated Euro thought at its best.
Posted by: jules 187 || 10/06/2004 10:36 Comments || Top||

#11  Spain, France, most of Europe = has been.

I really believe Islam is invading Europe in a very smart way. They are being patient about it, taking gererations to do it. They will integrate and dominate Europe in the next 75 years and they will succeed at it because they are not constrained by the sanctamonious view that political correctness directly corrolates to civility.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam || 10/06/2004 10:41 Comments || Top||

#12  "Big Parade" is about right. A big party under the big circus tent led by the world's greatest clowns. I wonder if Anzar will honk Chirac's big red nose. Too bad Bill Clinton isn't still around - a regular Ruldoph, he was.
Posted by: 2b || 10/06/2004 10:41 Comments || Top||

#13  I wish Spain well, but have no desire at this juncture to either help or hinder them in any endeavor, nor to patronize them in any sort. The Spanish wil decide whether it wants to fight for western civilization, or not, when the battle for al-Andalus is joined. Either way, Americans should stay out of it, except to make money. If they win, well good for them. If not, then my grand and great-grand kids will take it back and colonize it for America. Either way, we win.
Posted by: ed || 10/06/2004 10:57 Comments || Top||

#14  The re-reconquista of Al-Andalus, one step closer to reality.
Posted by: lex || 10/06/2004 12:13 Comments || Top||

#15  I wish Spain well, but have no desire at this juncture to either help or hinder them in any endeavor, nor to patronize them in any sort. The Spanish wil decide whether it wants to fight for western civilization, or not, when the battle for al-Andalus is joined. Either way, Americans should stay out of it

Amen. Time to admit that the notion of "the West," as a coherent entity unified in the face of a mortal threat, no longer has much meaning. Spain does not share our moral universe. Aznar was a giant in a nation of pygmies.

Let NATO die a quiet death. Start instead to forge significant bilateral and regional alliances with truly serious nations that recognize the threat and are willing to project power alongside the US into the jiahdists' home turf.
Posted by: lex || 10/06/2004 12:26 Comments || Top||

#16  To quote Lewis Grizzard (A Great American), "Spain!? Spain couldn't beat Vanderbilt, for God's sake."

This is not really a new development in the U.S. - European relations. Read Kissinger's Years of Upheaval regarding U.S. attempts to become closer allies to European countries, to actually make them more important. France put up all kinds of obstacles and the U.S. was seen as trying to subvert European soveriegnty. It would seem they still haven't gotten over their collective inferiority complex.
Posted by: Psycho Hillbilly || 10/06/2004 13:28 Comments || Top||

#17  I think we need to distinguish between Spain (which is really a very nice country since they finally tossed out the fascists), and the current Spanish Government, which is a bunch of lily-livered commies/socialists of the worst sort.

Give 'em a few years, they'll wake up.
Posted by: mojo || 10/06/2004 13:32 Comments || Top||

#18  Isolation does not work. Appeasment of the terrorist does work. I doubt that 3/11 is the end of terrorism for them.
Posted by: John (Q. Citizen) || 10/06/2004 13:49 Comments || Top||

#19  Now that Aznar is over here, perhaps we can get him to form a Espana Libre government to oppose the Vichy government ruling over there.
Posted by: jackal || 10/06/2004 16:04 Comments || Top||

#20  The Spanish government snubbed the United States yesterday by cancelling an annual invitation to US troops to join the celebrations of Spain’s national holiday parade and instead invited French soldiers to Madrid.

If by this Spain is insinuating that they'd rather the French assist them in any future conflict, I don't have a problem with it. Good luck, boys.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 10/06/2004 23:58 Comments || Top||

#21  Wasn't the Aznar administration more of the exception than the rule?
Posted by: Super Hose || 10/07/2004 0:23 Comments || Top||


US embassy groundbreaking in Berlin
Severely EFL
Ending years of wrangles with German authorities, the US ambassador to Germany on Wednesday will preside over the groundbreaking for a new American embassy close to Berlin's historic Brandenburg Gate. Washington's future embassy is being built on the site of the former United States embassy which was destroyed at the end of World War II by bombing and during the 1945 Battle for Berlin between Soviet Red Army forces and the remnants of Adolf Hitler's Wehrmacht.
TGA, will you be attending?
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/06/2004 10:26:57 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and US President George W. Bush managed to restore cordial if not warm relations during a series of meetings earlier this year. Thus the groundbreaking ceremony, presided over by Ambassador Daniel R. Coats and Interior Minister Otto Schily are a symbolic reminder that transatlantic ties have weathered the Iraq war storm. Smith said German-American ties were improving following the Iraq war and both sides were seeking to elevate positive achievements.
"So this day is not only a celebration of groundbreaking but a celebration of successful US-German diplomacy," Smith concluded.


There's hope for Germany yet. Perhaps we can in time get back to a good and useful relationship with a pragmatic post-Schroeder administration.

Not so for Spain or France, though.
Posted by: lex || 10/06/2004 12:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Diplomacy is cheap. Let's see if actions follow word.
Posted by: jules 187 || 10/06/2004 14:21 Comments || Top||

#3  We had a rough time during the 1980s as well, but Schmidt stood by us. I suspect a German administration that has more guts and vision than Schroeder's will make a significant difference.
Posted by: lex || 10/06/2004 14:28 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Pro-Kerry thugs invade Milwaukee GOP center
More than 50 demonstrators supporting Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry stormed a Republican campaign office in West Allis at mid-day today, trespassing, creating a disturbance through the use of a bullhorn in the office and then refusing to leave when asked. The Chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin (RPW) condemned the action by Kerry supporters, and asked the Kerry campaign and the Democrat Party of Wisconsin to do the same. "Do John Kerry and Wisconsin Democrats really believe this is conduct becoming of a presidential candidate and his campaign?" RPW Chairman Rick Graber asked. "It is unfortunate that Team Kerry feels the need to engage in such childish and obnoxious behavior.

"The President and his campaign will continue to talk about the issues in Wisconsin," Graber added. "Let's hope that someday soon, the Kerry campaign and Wisconsin Democrats will join us and put an end to this foolishness." Graber called the latest incident part of a disturbing trend of criminal conduct by anti-Bush forces in Wisconsin, pointing to an incident in Madison last week in which Bush-Cheney yard signs were stolen from the yards of three homes. The vandals then used chemicals to burn swastikas into the lawns of the homes, which were within a two-block radius of one another. In addition, reports of stolen, defaced and damaged Bush-Cheney campaign signs are surfacing throughout Wisconsin. "Our volunteers, from children to the elderly, have every right to feel safe when they are working on behalf of a cause and candidates they believe in," Graber commented. "This type of thuggish, intimidating conduct is absolutely unacceptable. It is time for John Kerry, the Wisconsin Democrat party, and Kerry's campaign leaders, including Gov. James E. Doyle, to put a stop to this shameful behavior."
Posted by: Fred || 10/06/2004 4:31:12 PM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That was mid-day yesterday, which would make it part of the same wave of disturbance which resulted in a similar sack of that campaign office in Orlando. I wonder how many more we haven't heard of yet?
Posted by: Mitch H. || 10/06/2004 17:12 Comments || Top||

#2  Here's one in Dearborn, MI, about the same time.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 10/06/2004 17:15 Comments || Top||

#3  This is starting to seriously look like it was planned at a higher (DNC, KC) level. What are the odds that random crowds of moonbats would so this all around the same time.

Perhaps they are testing the waters. When there is little to no response from the press and the Republicans are too weak to really bring attention to this behavior, they will ramp it up.

Eventually they will get either the intimidation delivered that they want, or they will get sympathetic press attention when the police are called in to put them down.

In fact, both are probably their goals.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats || 10/06/2004 17:18 Comments || Top||

#4  Coordinated, nation-wide effort to suppress free speech and coerce our political process. Time for the FBI to step in. How soon do the brownshirts become blackshirts?
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 10/06/2004 17:19 Comments || Top||

#5  Sounds like it was coordinated by one of the Dems' proxies, like the AFL-CIO.
Does RICO apply here?
Posted by: lex || 10/06/2004 17:21 Comments || Top||

#6  Is there good footage? The RNC could always convert film of the thugsters to a campaign commercial and use the RPW Chairman's own language: “Do John Kerry and Wisconsin Democrats really believe this is conduct becoming of a presidential candidate and his campaign?”
Posted by: jules 187 || 10/06/2004 17:25 Comments || Top||

#7  Jimmahs right. We can't have a free election with this kind of violence and coercion going on all around this lawless nation. Another DU success.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 10/06/2004 17:50 Comments || Top||

#8  Like I said yesterday this is brownshirts using Nazi tactics to accuse conservatives as Nazis.

And I do think it is a coodinated effort by the AFL-CIO and/or moveon.org. Once is an accident, twice might be coicidencs(sp), but thrice is intentional.

This has been going on for some time. Didn't some moonbats go to some white house offical's home and scare his children? Walking on his lawn and banging on his windows... pointing.... calling names?

And I do think they are 'testing the waters'.
Posted by: Whumble Sneth6418 || 10/06/2004 18:01 Comments || Top||

#9  Damn lost cookies. I am the above Whumble Sneth6418...
Posted by: CrazyFool || 10/06/2004 18:03 Comments || Top||

#10  Conspiracy to commit a crime, any crime inluding misdemeanors, is a felony.

Period.

Using inetrstate means to commit a crime is another federal crime.
Posted by: badanov || 10/06/2004 18:05 Comments || Top||

#11  "Didn't some moonbats go to some white house offical's home and scare his children? Walking on his lawn and banging on his windows... pointing.... calling names?"

If I remember rightly, that was at Donald Rumsfeld's residence... about a year or so ago.

Whumble Sneth6418, indeed...
Posted by: Dave D. || 10/06/2004 18:08 Comments || Top||

#12  Dave D.:

That was Karl Rove's house.
Posted by: Secret Master || 10/06/2004 18:15 Comments || Top||

#13  The following quote by local Democratic Chairman Jim Gray appeared in the Knoxville News Sentinel today 10/06/04:

"Gray noted it's a big assumption that 'its a Democrat responsible for the shooting. On the other hand, he said, Republicans could be happy that at least one Democrat supports the Second Amendment.'"
Posted by: John (Q. Citizen) || 10/06/2004 18:18 Comments || Top||

#14  Ah. Yep, that rings a much louder bell than Rumsfeld. Thanks for correcting that.

First, the hair starts thinning; then the teeth go; then finally, the mind starts crapping out...

If it continues to crap out, will I end up being a Democrat again? Shit...
Posted by: Dave D. || 10/06/2004 18:20 Comments || Top||

#15  They will get worse as Kerry sinks farther in the polls. By November 2 they will be in armed rebellion.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 10/06/2004 18:25 Comments || Top||

#16  And so it starts.

Study the downfall of republics like Athens and Rome and it becomes clear the end is brought on by factionalism. A pox on both your houses.
Posted by: nomorestupidhandlesplease,fred || 10/06/2004 18:31 Comments || Top||

#17  Remember the days when the AFL-CIO types took on the anti-war crowds? Now they're thuggin' for 'em. Pathetic.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 10/06/2004 18:31 Comments || Top||

#18  Study the downfall of republics like Athens and Rome and it becomes clear the end is brought on by factionalism. A pox on both your houses.

That makes three houses then, I guess. Splitter!
Posted by: Bulldog || 10/06/2004 18:35 Comments || Top||

#19  "They will get worse as Kerry sinks farther in the polls. By November 2 they will be in armed rebellion."

Have you ever tried cornering a really fervent, Bush-hating Democrat and asked him what Bush has actually done to deserve all this hatred? I have.

They say things that start with "Well, Bush thinks..." or "Bush wants..." or "If Bush got the chance, he'd..." or "Bush is the kind of person who..." or something like that. And when you stop them each time and ask, "No, what has he actually DONE?" they eventually go nuts and get really hostile.

I've never, not even once, encountered a Democrat who could actually cite any specific action by Bush that warranted the kind of hatred we're seeing. Never.
Posted by: Dave D. || 10/06/2004 18:42 Comments || Top||

#20 


A picture is worth a thousand words. Notice the 'they stole the election' sign in the background... (Click on picture for a close-up)
(Hat tip Drudge...).
Posted by: CrazyFool || 10/06/2004 19:00 Comments || Top||

#21  Imagine what it will be like if Kerry wins-- the Triumph Of The Mob.
Posted by: Dave D. || 10/06/2004 19:08 Comments || Top||

#22  Dave D.---It is this pathological hatred of Bush that may be explained by a eons old fear of death. Many people just want to say "can't we all just geat along?" You know, appeasement. Hope that the problem goes away. Bush wants to go after the terrorists and the source of the threat and doing so will necessarily put us in harm's way. This is a threat to people's balance and comfort in their lives, so like a primordal instinct, they lash out at the thing they perceive as the immediate threat, and that is President Bush. Sociopaths like Kerry recognize those primordial fears in people and are quick to capitalize on them. If enough of the country is divided, then it becomes paralized and becomes wide open to the very threats that caused the primeval fear of death in the first place.

At least that is my take on it. People following their feelings and instincts without standing back and taking a look at them objectively.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 10/06/2004 19:11 Comments || Top||

#23  Yeah, I suspect you're right, AP. Whatever it is, it is something primordial and instinctual or they wouldn't be acting like this. On another, less intellectual level, it's another sad example of how easy it is for demagogues to whip up an ignorant mob into a frenzy.

I wonder if the people in that photograph could understand that they are acting out of exactly the same impulses as the mobs who lynched their own ancestors a hundred years ago?

On the subject of Democratic mobbery, Professor Bainbridge (link) has a roundup of eight (!) incidents (so far).
Posted by: Dave D. || 10/06/2004 19:20 Comments || Top||

#24  You got to wonder how many of these incidents are not being reported by the media.....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 10/06/2004 19:22 Comments || Top||

#25  CrazyFool: Nice photo. Is that Flava Flav standing on the table? Did Bush steal his clock or something?
Posted by: BH || 10/06/2004 19:23 Comments || Top||

#26  #19. Ditto here and they stick to 7 minutes like glue.
Posted by: crazyhorse || 10/06/2004 19:33 Comments || Top||

#27  I got the pic from Drudge (this the Hat Tip). Thought everyone here might like to take a gander.

Notice how the one on the table has 'DNC' enblazoned on her shirt.....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 10/06/2004 19:43 Comments || Top||

#28  This kind of thing could get out of hand. Loyal oppposition is one thing - blatant intimidation is another.
Posted by: JP || 10/06/2004 19:45 Comments || Top||

#29  JP, we are no longer "opposition" in these peoples' minds: to them, we have become the enemy.
Posted by: Dave D. || 10/06/2004 19:54 Comments || Top||

#30  SADdaM iS NoT tHE EnEMy--bUSH iS thE eNEmY!!!!

We aRe NOt aT wAR wItH iRan. we ArE aT WAr wITH rEPuBLiCANs.
Posted by: Mad How || 10/06/2004 20:00 Comments || Top||

#31  Yes, that captures it. That really, truly is what the people in that picture say, think and feel.

Can you believe it's only 36 months and change after 9/11? I find that thought bogglesome. We've come so far. So far down.
Posted by: Dave D. || 10/06/2004 20:06 Comments || Top||

#32  BTW, I'm in the middle of reading another one of Bill Whittle's excellent essays, a new one called Deterrance. It's well worth a read.
Posted by: Dave D. || 10/06/2004 20:09 Comments || Top||

#33  It's becoming more and more clear to me that as the left gets more and more radical and detached from reality, like the boomers of Allan, the less and less human they become.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 10/06/2004 20:10 Comments || Top||

#34  Yeah, that sorta occurred to me as well-- that there's not much daylight between the fanatical Muslim jihadi and one of these thugs: each believes that his malice is righteous.
Posted by: Dave D. || 10/06/2004 20:20 Comments || Top||

#35  apparently axe handles need to be distributed to Bush campaign HQ's
Posted by: Frank G || 10/06/2004 20:57 Comments || Top||

#36  They're welcome to try that shit down here in Texas. This is a concealed carry state. I'd put a Bush sign in my yard, but they got rules about setting out bait for varmits.
Posted by: Steve || 10/06/2004 21:57 Comments || Top||

#37  Imagine the explosion in the main stream media if a Republican group did this to a Kerry headquarters. This is the modern expression of the intolerant self-righteous supercilious anti-war Democrats of the 70s, part of the JFKerry Winter Soldier Revival Tour. They think rules are for Republicans and they can do anything they can think of. Should they, God forbid, win, they are going to be very surprised and upset when they call for Republicans to support them in the spirit of bipartisanship. Fuck these fools.
Posted by: RWV || 10/06/2004 22:40 Comments || Top||

#38  we ArE aT WAr wITH rEPuBLiCANs.

Torgo? Is that you?
Posted by: Angie Schultz || 10/06/2004 22:46 Comments || Top||


Poll Free Play VP Debate

CLEVELAND, Ohio (CNN) -- Early polls indicated differing reactions to Tuesday night's debate between Vice President Dick Cheney and Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. John Edwards.

{SNIP}
Posted by: BigEd || 10/06/2004 12:20:28 PM || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Apples Oranges and all that stuff ---

It is amazing how the MSM are reporting each other's polls...

ABC Cheney 43 Edwards 35 Tie 19 Brain-dead* 3
* to make it add to 100!
ABC IndependentsCheney 42 Edwards 37 unspecified 21
CBS Independents
Edwards 41 Cheney 28 unspecified 31

Does anyone imagine that CBS was conducting the poll amongst their viewers? Since Rather and his voyage through Times New Romanland, more needs to be known about the sample CBS used...

But even the ABC internals are suspect:
Presidential Choice Before
Bush 51-48
After
Bush 50-49.

It works about as well as the internals of CNN USAT Gallup recently...
Posted by: BigEd || 10/06/2004 12:24 Comments || Top||


Meeting Was Not First for Cheney, Edwards
I am posting this article because I cannot believe the press is making a big deal of this. Perhaps I am contributing to the problem.
  • "On Feb. 1, 2001, the vice president thanked Edwards by name at a Senate prayer breakfast and sat beside him during the event.
    "And I'd like to thank Whatsisname for passing me the sugar..."
  • On April 8, 2001, Cheney and Edwards shook hands when they met off-camera during a taping of NBC's "Meet the Press," moderator Tim Russert said Wednesday on "Today."
    Boy is that unforgetable, I would remember these days the rest of my life. It would go along with the day we landed on the moon or the day JFK got shot. I cannot believe he forgot this vital incident after only 3 1/2 years.
  • On Jan. 8, 2003, the two met when the first-term North Carolina senator accompanied Elizabeth Dole to her swearing-in by Cheney as a North Carolina senator, Edwards aides also said.
Edwards didn't forget their prayer-breakfast meeting. The Democratic vice presidential candidate noted the discrepancy at a post-debate rally in a Cleveland park, calling it an example of Cheney "still not being straight with the American people."
How about it being an example of Edwards not being straight with the American people by trying to deflect the issue of what a lousy senator he was. Notice none of the meetings mentioned above had anything to do with work which is Cheney's entire point?
Posted by: Ol_Dirty_American || 10/06/2004 11:56:27 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Maybe the little dork just didn't make much of an impression on Mr. Cheney. I can sympathize.
Posted by: BH || 10/06/2004 12:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, Cheney's people should have checked for this before he used the line on national teevee.
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/06/2004 12:10 Comments || Top||

#3  All this is laughable, if this is the best that the Dimheads can come up with, how badly did Cheney really cream Edwards?...
Posted by: BigEd || 10/06/2004 12:10 Comments || Top||

#4  Advantage still goes to Cheney. Point was made that Senator Gone isn't a familiar face around the hallowed halls of the Senate. Ouch. And the 3 examples listed are brief handshake encounters that seem harldy memorable to a man who meets thousands of important people every year.

MSM losing more credibility by applying resources to jump to defense of Edwards, while maintaining a thundering silence on the pen episode or other Kerry inconsistencies far worse than this.

Posted by: 2b || 10/06/2004 12:26 Comments || Top||

#5  Pardon me while I vent:

IT WAS A GODDAMNED JOKE!!!!

Thanks for your indulgence.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 10/06/2004 15:14 Comments || Top||

#6  Stephanopolous was just flitting around for a good 5 min. of precious airtime in his seat as he pressed Cheyney's daughter ad nauseum over this point.

Has your father revised his statement yet? Gosh, George, I don't think he's thought too much about it. Paraphrase
Posted by: chicago mike || 10/06/2004 16:05 Comments || Top||

#7  Apparently Cheney has actually only presided over two Tuesday sessions in the last 3.5 years. Total trivia, but why did he bring it up?
Posted by: VAMark || 10/06/2004 17:13 Comments || Top||

#8  VAMark: where'd you get that information?

Cheney's statement was hard hitting at the time. I'm discouraged that it wasn't true--it still would have been just as hard hitting if he said "I've seen you three times in the last four years, BUT NOT IN THE SENATE SESSIONS.
Posted by: ex-lib || 10/06/2004 17:20 Comments || Top||

#9  #7 You have got to be kidding. It is irrelevant that he saw him 3 times over the last 4 years in non working functions. Put it this way, it was true enough that Edwards did not remember meeting Chemey until after the debate. That is close enough for me. I don't remember people I meet one month ago and it is not like I meet hundreds of people per week which Cheney probably does. This is semantic bullsh*t. End of story.
Posted by: Ol_Dirty_American || 10/06/2004 19:41 Comments || Top||

#10  oops, my comment above was wrt to post #8, sorry :).
Posted by: Ol_Dirty_American || 10/06/2004 19:42 Comments || Top||

#11  President of the Senate
As President of the Senate (Article I, Section 3), the Vice President oversees procedural matters and is given the ability to cast a vote in the event of a tie. There is a strong convention within the U.S. Senate that the Vice President not use his position as President of the Senate to influence the passage of legislation or act in a partisan manner, except in the case of breaking tie votes. In fact, the Vice President is constitutionally prevented from voting except in the case of ties. In practice, the Vice President rarely presides over day-to-day matters in the Senate; in his place, the Senate chooses a President pro tempore (or "president for a time") to preside in the absence of the Vice President.
__________________

What really happened is that John Edwards never had the class nor the grace to come up and introduce himself to Dick Cheney, his senior and his superior. Cheney said he is at the Senate every Tuesday. Yet he had never met John Edwards, been properly introduced there.
Posted by: dennisw || 10/06/2004 19:53 Comments || Top||

#12  Cheney's not telling everything, he also saw Senator Gone on the back of a milk carton
Posted by: Capt America || 10/06/2004 22:04 Comments || Top||

#13  LOL Capt America!

And thanks dennisw: makes sense.
Posted by: ex-lib || 10/06/2004 22:49 Comments || Top||

#14  ex lib - you'd be right if Cheney remembered these events - but it's highly unlikely that he does. Edwards is a Jr. Senator who went to ONE prayer breakfast, in 2001 where Cheney was present. And he shook hands with him twice. Once, at a large event - again where Edwards was just a bit player among probably hundreds of far more important participants. As a VP - everyone shakes his hand and remembers. Perhaps Cheney might have remembered the one at the broadcast - but again, Edwards just wasn't that noteworthy back. Hello, Hello, pleased to see ya. Good bye.

Cheney meets THOUSANDS of important people every year. What makes you think he'd remember such brief and unmemorable encounters from (at that time) such a non-player?

It would be like you being a vice principal in a large high school and then being accused of not remembering that you previously met one of the students. What it does tell us is that Edwards wasn't a stand-out kindof guy.
Posted by: 2b || 10/06/2004 23:30 Comments || Top||

#15  Kerry confirms that he met with both Edwards and Cheney when they all visited Cambodia together.
Posted by: A Jackson || 10/06/2004 23:54 Comments || Top||

#16  AJ...heh! No doubt the media will get right on that Cambodia thing now.
Posted by: 2b || 10/06/2004 23:57 Comments || Top||

#17  Something just occurred to me: if simply being in the same room with someone means that you have indeed "met" them, then I know Majel Barrett and Leonard Nimoy! (from a Star Trek convention I attended some twenty-odd years ago) ;)
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 10/07/2004 0:12 Comments || Top||


CBS Says Probe Results Unlikely Until After Election
An external review of how CBS News came to use disputed documents in a report on President Bush's military record will probably not be concluded until after the November election so as not to interfere with the presidential race, a top executive said on Tuesday.
Gee, my surprise meter must still be broken.
Les Moonves, the co-president of CBS parent company Viacom, told an analyst meeting that the review of the CBS "60 Minutes II" report being done by former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and retired Associated Press chief Louis Boccardi had no timetable for completion. But he said he did not want it to interfere with the Nov. 2 election. "Obviously, it should be done probably after the election is over so that it doesn't affect what's going on," he told a Goldman Sachs media conference in New York.
Yeah, we wouldn't want voters to know about CBS working hand-in-glove with Democratic operatives to smear the President with fake documents now, would we?
Posted by: Steve || 10/06/2004 9:53:58 AM || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Geez, I hope they tell the advertisers and local affiliates that I will behard pressed to watch CBS until, like, after Nov 2 so that I don't "affect what's going on" with the probe...
OK...I will just TIVO Survivor for the wife and kids, but be sure to forward through the commercials.
Posted by: Capsu78 || 10/06/2004 10:54 Comments || Top||

#2  I don't want to say I'm pessimistic, but they've welded the windows shut in my office and Ed Anger's been in and out for interviews.
Courage.
Posted by: Dan Rather || 10/06/2004 11:10 Comments || Top||

#3  capsu78 - better yet - make a note of whose advertising and don't buy their products.
Posted by: 2b || 10/06/2004 11:12 Comments || Top||

#4  And then apply Parental Control - lock CBS out.
Posted by: .com || 10/06/2004 11:22 Comments || Top||

#5  However, CBS said it would continue its 2000 Election Night coverage tradition of calling Florida before the polls close in the Panhandle.
Posted by: Don || 10/06/2004 18:25 Comments || Top||


Debunking the AP Claim that "VP's Claim About Meeting Edwards Debunked"
Posted by: unix23 || 10/06/2004 03:17 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Edward's is a very forgetable kinda guy.
Posted by: Raptor || 10/06/2004 11:23 Comments || Top||

#2  We can be hopeful...that he is forgettable.
Posted by: John (Q. Citizen) || 10/06/2004 19:54 Comments || Top||


FBI Probes Clinton Senate Campaign
WaPo - Reg Req'd so I'm posting the nugget...
The Justice Department is trying to secure the cooperation of an indicted businessman as it pursues Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2000 Senate campaign for possible fundraising violations, according to interviews and documents.

The FBI told a U.S. magistrate in Los Angeles two years ago that it has evidence Clinton's campaign deliberately understated its fundraising costs so it would have more money to spend on elections. Prosecutors contend that businessman Peter Paul made donations because he wanted a pardon from President Bill Clinton. Paul has denied he raised money for Mrs. Clinton to boost his chance for a pardon, and he asserted that campaign officials told him the contributions would be disclosed as required by law, his defense team said. He did not receive a pardon.

Noel L. Hillman, the Justice Department's top public corruption attorney, has met three times -- most recently in May -- with lawyers for Paul to discuss a plea deal. The investigation has continued for more than three years. The department wants to interview Paul to determine whether he can substantiate allegations of wrongdoing, his defense lawyers said.

Paul is a three-time convicted felon who hosted a Hollywood fundraising event for Mrs. Clinton in 2000. He alleges he underwrote most of the costs for the event. Lawyers for Mrs. Clinton and the former chief fundraiser for the New York Senate 2000, David Rosen, say their clients have done nothing wrong.

Justice Department spokesman Mark Corallo said he had no comment
"I can say no more"
Posted by: Frank G || 10/06/2004 7:44:02 AM || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Meet Some of the Men John Kerry Betrayed Comments from POW/MIA Family Members
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 10/06/2004 00:51 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I continue to be surprised that the more recent complaints about Kerry's actions as a Senator havn't gotten more play. Here is a sample from the link:

"As the chairman of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIAs in the 1990s, he ignored the vast evidence of living Americans left behind in Southeast Asia. In fact, Kerry shredded some of that evidence. John Kerry was more interested in complimenting the Vietnamese for their so called cooperation. He tirelessly pushed for normalization of relations with Vietnam. John Kerry is not worthy of the title of Vietnam War Hero or President of the United States.

Barbara White
sister of MIA Capt Samuel Larry James
4-18-73 over Cambodia"


Maybe the Swift Boat Dudes aren't done.
Posted by: Super Hose || 10/06/2004 3:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Hope the Swift Boat dudes are not done. They are effective.
Posted by: John (Q. Citizen) || 10/06/2004 13:07 Comments || Top||

#3  I remember hearing some time back, that there are two other groups who plan to attack Kerry. The Vientnmese Americans and another Vet group who is not a 527 - but is a for-profit that is not subject to the restrictions on advertising.

The 527's have to stop advertising very soon.
Posted by: 2b || 10/06/2004 13:12 Comments || Top||


House Votes to Break Up 9th Circuit Court
Posted by: Fred || 10/06/2004 11:07:51 PM || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Not to worry, asshats. The 9th will sue, take the case themselves, and rule the action unconstitutional.
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/06/2004 9:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Patrick Leahy and Ted kennedy are warming up their pipes in anticipation.
Posted by: RWV || 10/06/2004 10:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Spread the 9th Circuit disease among -two more- new circuits? Terrible idea. One more is enough.
Posted by: someone || 10/06/2004 16:59 Comments || Top||


International-UN-NGOs
Physicists win Nobel prize for quark theory
As the western world marches smartly into the 21st Century ...
Posted by: Steve White || 10/06/2004 12:06:41 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  any comments, Brett?
Posted by: Frank G || 10/06/2004 8:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Haven't seen B the Q in awhile.
Posted by: Shipman || 10/06/2004 10:30 Comments || Top||

#3  The scientists breakthrough in their study came from attending Democratic rallies and studing the brains of the participants.
Posted by: 2b || 10/06/2004 10:58 Comments || Top||

#4  I once had 3 cats I named Color, Charm and Spin.

Because, y'know, everybody has their little quarks...
Posted by: mojo || 10/06/2004 11:04 Comments || Top||

#5  mojo - Lol! Quantum Mechanics - where spin actually means something...

Here's a link to a cool project at Kansas State - Visual Quantum Mechanics (Shockwave req'd - Free Player Here)
Posted by: .com || 10/06/2004 11:14 Comments || Top||

#6  There once was a young man from Fiske
Whose stroke was exceedingly briske;
So fast was his action
That the Lorenz Contraction
Foreshortened his rod to a diske.


There. That's EVERYTHING I know about physics.
Posted by: Dave D. || 10/06/2004 11:24 Comments || Top||

#7  ROFL! Excellent!
Posted by: .com || 10/06/2004 11:36 Comments || Top||

#8  Hey .com glad to see you show up. Sorry about the other day. Meant no harm. I hope you see that if you have been following some of the posts.

I like the Nobel being given to the two physiologists for smell. I could not help but think as I watched my Rottweiler and German Shepard sniffing stuff on their walk that I thought they deserved the Nobel Prize.???
Posted by: John (Q. Citizen) || 10/06/2004 11:49 Comments || Top||

#9  There once was a lady named Bright
Who traveled much faster than light.
She left one day
In a relative way
And returned the previous night.


Of course, it's not scientific and dirty, like Dave D.'s, but you can't have everything.
Posted by: Angie Schultz || 10/06/2004 16:09 Comments || Top||

#10  Ha! Good one!
Posted by: Dave D. || 10/06/2004 16:17 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Economy
Instead of paying tax at gas pump, someday you may pay by the mile
Paying your road taxes in the future might depend more on how much you drive than how much gasoline you pump. Texas is among a group of states researching how to replace the fuel tax with a fee based on the number of miles traveled — making every road a virtual tollway. Transportation officials from across the world discussed the concept here at last month's annual meetings of the trade groups representing the highway and tollway industries. Fees for miles traveled would be measured by Global Positioning System receivers embedded in vehicles. The system would track which roads a motorist uses so the virtual tolls could be distributed to the appropriate agency. Each jurisdiction could set its own per-mile fee. Data would be downloaded from vehicles monthly for billing, or could be transmitted at service stations in lieu of the gas tax.
How about an alternative plan of cancelling the gas tax altogether? No politician would dare propose it, but if it came to be it would cause massive growth in the economy.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/06/2004 7:35:51 PM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Fees for miles traveled would be measured by Global Positioning System receivers embedded in vehicles. The system would track which roads a motorist uses so the virtual tolls could be distributed to the appropriate agency."

Now, THERE is an idea that will have wannabee totalitarians absolutely giddy with anticipation...
Posted by: Dave D. || 10/06/2004 22:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Absolutely the dumbest idea I've ever heard. How long until someone finds a way to disable the GPS tracking device? Or recode it to say you never drive?
Posted by: RJSchwarz || 10/06/2004 22:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Or make it appear like someone else's device?
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 10/06/2004 23:13 Comments || Top||

#4  Each jurisdiction could set its own per-mile fee.

And you thought the proverbial speed-trap villages were something...
Posted by: Pappy || 10/06/2004 23:20 Comments || Top||

#5  If someone is Texas proposed this, then all I can say is "String 'em up."
Posted by: Matt Helm || 10/07/2004 4:36 Comments || Top||

#6  A dam Texas Democrat probably cam up with this one.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 10/07/2004 5:12 Comments || Top||

#7  Someone is invoking a darwinian karma. Itsa bitch.
Posted by: Memesis || 10/07/2004 5:28 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Tech
Map and List of Cascade Eruptions in the last 4,000 years
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 10/06/2004 15:09 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's gonna suck big time when Ranier blows.
Posted by: ed || 10/06/2004 17:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Cool chart.

I was out in the Seattle area back in 2001 when there was a deep earthquake. Ground was shaking at Fort Lewis, slight damage in Seattle. I remember looking over at Ranier to see if that was going to blow. First earthquake I was in. Creepy.
Posted by: nada || 10/06/2004 19:11 Comments || Top||

#3  Great snap shot of the "Pacific Ring Of Fire".
Posted by: crazyhorse || 10/06/2004 23:45 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine
Israelis and Americans win Nobel Prize
Two Israelis and an American won the 2004 Nobel Prize for Chemistry on Wednesday for helping to understand how the human body gives the "kiss of death" to rogue proteins to defend itself from diseases like cancer. Israelis Aaron Ciechanover and Avram Hershko and American Irwin Rose won for work in the 1980s that could help treat illnesses like leukemia and cystic fibrosis by identifying how the body "degrades" unwanted proteins.
So, while Israelis continue to pursue knowledge, developing new ways of understanding medicine and technology, arabs pursue hate and death (of themselves and others). Instead of hating Israel, they should learn from them.

Guess this website needs to be updated, once again (it compares the number of Arab vs. Jewish Nobel prizewinners - and Arafart is one of the few Arab ones):
Lack of Arab Intellectual Output.
http://www.glennbeck.com/news/05012002.shtml
Posted by: PlanetDan || 10/06/2004 10:04:43 AM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well you can substract Alfred Camus from that list: apparently he had been added to the lsit because he was born in Algeria but he was a "Pied Noir" ie a descendent of Europeans who colonized Algeria and I have been unable to dind any trace of conversion to Islam. All the info I have points to him having lived and died an atheist.
Posted by: JFM || 10/06/2004 15:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Nice work by the Nobel squad. They'd been in a slump lately. I just figured I'd let it out of the bag before somebody inevitably accused us of engineering it.
Posted by: The Mossad || 10/06/2004 15:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Move that Arafat ass kisser, Shimon Peres, to the Arab/Muslim column, on the list.
Posted by: Poison Reverse || 10/06/2004 16:00 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Ind. Woman Puts Anti-Bush Tattoo on Skull
No, we don't have to make this shit up. They just keep doing it for us...
Kerra Fowler is a mother of four who decided to wear her opposition to President Bush on the back of her head. She offered up on eBay her shaved skull for an anti-Bush message and received a tattoo of a large W, complete with a cowboy hat, with a red slash across it after a sympathetic buyer bid $103.50.
Her kids must be so proud.
Fowler, 29, said she placed her eBay advertisement with an opening bid of one penny after seeing two others offering to sell space on their heads for tattoos backing Democratic candidate John Kerry.
Kerry: The Choice of Shaven Head Women With Tattoos On Their Heads. "I'm John Fn Kerry and I approved this message."
"One wanted 10 grand and the other, $30,000," she told The Herald-Times of Bloomington for a story Tuesday. "So I thought, that isn't right, to say you believe in something and then charge $30,000. I thought that was audacious."
...whatever "audacious" means. I heard it on "Oprah" once. Or was it "Jerry Springer"?
Fowler said the winning eBay bidder asked her not to get the tattoo. But she went through with it after she and her husband, Jeremy, came up with the design with a tattoo artist in Bedford, some 20 miles south of Bloomington.
I think she just wanted a tattoo on her head and some idiot bankrolled it for her. And another quick question. Does mom have a ...ummmmmmm... job?
Fowler did accept the money, gave half to the tattoo artist and used the rest to buy beer, pay part of a bill and buy a gift for her children.
Now there's one of Kerry's hard core constituents...
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/06/2004 10:25:52 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  She should get in touch with the Michael Moore minutemen in Iraq---maybe they'll send her someone else's skull for another message.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 10/06/2004 10:31 Comments || Top||

#2  For a more "in depth" profile of tattoo girl...

http://www.bmezine.com/news/pubring/20040927.html

It's... interesting.
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/06/2004 10:36 Comments || Top||

#3  Fowler's husband also got a "Vote for Kerry" tattoo, but on his little head.

After the job was done, the tattoo artist reduced the price of the tattoo because all he could inscribe was "V.
Posted by: RN || 10/06/2004 10:42 Comments || Top||

#4  "Doing another auction would be lame but if I can get tattoos that can mean something to people besides myself, I’ll keep on. I recently tattooed “Allah Akbar” in Arabic on my husband and I will copy it on myself if he doesn’t mind. Talk about going over people’s heads though; who can read Arabic?"

It probably sez "I am a total fuckwit!" - Who can read Arabic? Lol.

Permanent. Good. Amazing how often tatoos lose their meaning and / or become incredibly stupid sentiments 5 or 10 yrs later. No Rogaine for her or hubby, plz.
Posted by: .com || 10/06/2004 10:45 Comments || Top||

#5  I told you they are going crazy. Pretty soon they will have group suicides for Kerry, probably after the elections.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 10/06/2004 10:49 Comments || Top||

#6  Ooooh! Can I help? I'll mix the Kool Aid.
Posted by: .com || 10/06/2004 10:51 Comments || Top||

#7  OK...step right up!

Is that orange or lime Kool-Aid you want?

Step lively...there're more people behind you waiting in line.
Posted by: RN || 10/06/2004 10:52 Comments || Top||

#8  The illustrated woman.

Another Kerry Supporter?

Posted by: BigEd || 10/06/2004 10:52 Comments || Top||

#9  don't get our hopes up
Posted by: anon || 10/06/2004 10:52 Comments || Top||

#10  BE - Imagine this twitter going thru airport security.
Posted by: .com || 10/06/2004 10:54 Comments || Top||

#11  Lordy BigEd, that is the most disgusting display of facial mutilation I've ever seen. I wonder what went wrong in her upbringing that caused such a psychological malfunction.
How would you like to bring that mess home to Mom?
Posted by: JerseyMike || 10/06/2004 11:39 Comments || Top||

#12  Sounds like a hard-core unemployable.
Posted by: Fred || 10/06/2004 11:45 Comments || Top||

#13  Nah, Fred. According to her, she's an...wait for it..."anarchist"!
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/06/2004 11:48 Comments || Top||

#14  "I wonder what went wrong in her upbringing that caused such a psychological malfunction."

Parents were Democrats, maybe?
Posted by: Dave D. || 10/06/2004 11:57 Comments || Top||

#15  Fowler said the winning eBay bidder asked her not to get the tattoo. But she went through with it after she and her husband, Jeremy, came up with the design with a tattoo artist in Bedford, some 20 miles south of Bloomington.
Fowler did accept the money.....


In other words she cheated the winning bidder (yup! Thats a democrat alright!). He elected to have no tattoo but she defrauded him by getting one anyway of her and her husband's design and not of the bidder's design (which is what he paid for)...
Posted by: CrazyFool || 10/06/2004 11:59 Comments || Top||

#16  Damn... after listening to Sen. JoKe, I would have thought that Bush had the white trash vote sewn up.
Posted by: BH || 10/06/2004 12:18 Comments || Top||

#17  I love this part:

Fowler did accept the money, gave half to the tattoo artist and used the rest to buy beer, pay part of a bill and buy a gift for her children.

"You wanna pay off the phone bill?"
"Hell, no! Get me another suitcase of Pabst! And a nice toy for our four children, maybe a lawn dart set."
Posted by: BH || 10/06/2004 12:22 Comments || Top||

#18  Most "quality of life" polls give low marks to Southern Indiana for the very reason that its inhabitants seem to invest more in Tattoos than in dental care. It is full of Beer bellyed , foul mouthed, missing toothed yahoos... and their husbands.
Posted by: Capsu78 || 10/06/2004 12:38 Comments || Top||

#19  Well I live in Northern Indiana, and I can confirm the "foul mouthed" part of Capsu's comment is not limited to the southern portion of the State. Fuck you Capsu, and your stereotypical comments. This State is a Republican stronghold, and the majority of those "beer bellyed, foul mouthed, missing toothed yahoos..and their husbands" will be turning out in droves to reelect President Bush on November 2nd. As for this woman, every state has their own idiots, and we are certainly no diffrent.
Posted by: Destro || 10/06/2004 19:17 Comments || Top||

#20  How brave to have a tatoo where your hair will naturally cover it when you're tired of it. If she truly hated Bush she'd put the tat on her neck or chest or something.
Posted by: RJSchwarz || 10/06/2004 22:46 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Economy
Crude Oil Trades Near a Record on Winter Fuel Supply Concern
Crude oil futures traded near a record after rising above $51 a barrel yesterday on concern Gulf of Mexico producers won't fix hurricane damage fast enough to meet winter demand. The U.S. pumped 27 percent less oil than normal in the Gulf because of damage from Hurricane Ivan three weeks ago, the government said yesterday. Weather forecasters are predicting a colder-than-normal winter in the U.S. Northeast, which uses 80 percent of the nation's heating oil. ``The market was already tight as a drum and then you have four hurricanes in the U.S.,'' said David Thurtell, a commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney. Crude oil for November delivery traded at $50.99 a barrel at 11:02 a.m. Sydney time, 10 cents lower than yesterday's record close of $51.09 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose as high as $51.18 in after-hours electronic trading.
-----Snipped------
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 10/06/2004 1:42:38 AM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Matt Rogers, manager of energy weather services at Earth Satellite Corp., a Rockville, Maryland-based consultant, said he’s expecting 1.5 percent more ``heating degree days’’ this winter compared with the 30-year average."
I love it. My weather web sites can't even reliably predict two days ahead, and this guy is so good he's predicting a full season to within 0.1 percent. I guess he's barred from Vegas, Atlantic City, and the Maryland lottery. Wouldn't be fair.
Posted by: Tom || 10/06/2004 8:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Crude oil futures traded near a record after rising above $51 a barrel yesterday on concern Gulf of Mexico producers won’t fix hurricane damage fast enough to meet winter demand.

Just more proof that people are needlessly bidding up oil prices on fear, or "concerns" of one sort or another that may or may not be valid.

Idiots.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 10/06/2004 23:38 Comments || Top||


Oil Prices Hug $51 Mark in Asian Trade
Oil prices hugged the $51 mark in early Asian trade Wednesday, ahead of a key report in Washington on the level of commercially available oil in the United States - the world's largest consumer of crude. Crude prices stood at $50.95 in after-hours trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange for November delivery after settling at $51.09 overnight. It hit an intraday high of $51.29 in Tuesday's floor trade. uesday's surge came amid concern among traders about violence in oil-producing giants such as Nigeria and Iraq, and over the slow pace of recovery in Gulf of Mexico oil output - still around 3 million barrels per week below average since Hurricane Ivan hit in mid-September. Oil prices are nearly 70 percent higher than a year ago, but when adjusted for inflation, still remain around $29 below the level reached in 1981.
---snipped---
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 10/06/2004 1:35:15 AM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "...but when adjusted for inflation, still remain around $29 below the level reached in 1981"
Okay, Mark, I give up: why is this article relevant to anything? Is it because it shows how high Jimmy Carter drove up oil prices?
Posted by: Tom || 10/06/2004 8:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Mark-
Nothing personal, but the next time I see a comment about oil prices that includes the words "adjusted for inflation", I'm gonna freaking lose it. My pay hasn't been adjusted for inflation, and I still gotta pay $2.00/gallon.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 10/06/2004 12:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Being that we are only in the first week of October and crude oil is over $50 a barrel should be food for thought when it this winter is a cold snowy one, and those of us in the Northeast jack up the heating oil or natural gas bills. As I type this crude oil is at $51.35. Heating oil is already at $1.41 a gallon and could climb much further contingent on usage and other 'global' factors. Natural gas is not cheap either with December contract listing today at $7.980 per 10,000 MMBtu (million British thermal units) and Jan-05 is listing even higher at $8.390. In other words, not inexpensive for early autumn prices. I could get considerable more technical but there is no purpose.

The comment in the article "Any prolonged supply disruption is likely to push prices even further up." will indeed transpire for another key geostrategic reason, Iran, Opec's number two oil exporter, is going to have to be dealt with over its blatant drive for offensive nuclear weapons. Even though America is not dependant on Iranian crude, Japan and E.U. nations do import large volumes. Once again winter is not even here yet.

Other major Opec exporters are also being keenly viewed by oil traders such as Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela for additional disruptions in supply flows this winter. It seems no matter how many Iraqi oil pipelines are blown up by Iranian backed terrorists, the energy trading market has already factored in most of those losses.

Yet another petroleum point to ponder is the following from quote from a leading energy trader, Phil Flynn, "Today's New York Times reports that Europe is worried about Russia's influence over their natural gas market. Russia has the world's largest supply of natural gas and because of that, they hold a huge economic influence over the European Union. The E.U. is seeing their dependence grow even stronger on the Russians with 44% of their natural gas and 18% of their crude oil requirements coming from Russia."

The recent rash of hurricanes which slammed into the Gulf of Mexico only caused prices to make another bullish run.

In terms of another quote in this Bloomberg new item, "Every other investment vehicle has disappointed over the last 12 months." That is not entirely true, since copper prices in one year have shot up from around 68 cents to $1.43 caused surge in demand from Red China,the world’s biggest user, continues to erode inventories of the metal used to make electrical wiring and power cables. They have a housing/construction boom taking place pushing copper to nine year highs. Purchasing.com reports "Inventories at warehouses monitored by the LME have slid 76% this year and are close to 100,000 metric tons, which is a 14-year low."

In addition to copper, the price of silver is on the move upward, coupled with other metals required for construction. If things get rough out there gold could rise much higher as well.

During the early summer soybeans, corn and wheat price rose dramatically as well, with the largest importer being, you guessed it, Red China.

If oil prices remain at these current levels or higher that ugly word 'inflation' will really begin to claw at the American and world-wide economies.

I could list numerous other components for additional increases in future energy costs, but would it be relevant :)


Happy motoring
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 10/06/2004 12:15 Comments || Top||

#4  Mike, I agree 100%, and going to the supermarket these days is no bargain either. The prices are 'adjusted for inflation' and are high!
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 10/06/2004 12:18 Comments || Top||

#5  Two words, Benjamin: nuclear power.
Posted by: lex || 10/06/2004 12:19 Comments || Top||

#6  Thank you, Mark! Your lengthy #3 comment was far, far more insightful and thought-provoking than the article.
Posted by: Tom || 10/06/2004 12:23 Comments || Top||

#7  Mike, thank you sir, but I noticed I made a few goofball typos through, sorry about that, it must be this keyboard. (always blame the keyboard never the fingers)
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 10/06/2004 12:31 Comments || Top||

#8  agree..interesting. Well - I'm going to go turn of lights, turn off the AC and shut down the puter to make sure my bill doesn't rise accordingly.
Posted by: 2b || 10/06/2004 12:35 Comments || Top||

#9  2b, in addition to being in the dark, freezing, roasting & pulling the computer's plug, you forgot one item.

Dump your real American, full size, smooth riding highway car, like mine, and start driving one of the new Kerry-Edwards 4 Wheel Bathtubs, which will save gas but, have you at your local chiropractor's office in less then 3 days


lol
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 10/06/2004 12:49 Comments || Top||

#10  Mark how many clowns got out of that thing? LOL
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 10/06/2004 13:34 Comments || Top||

#11  One very, very small 16 year old kid who just got his learners permit, and three other 2 year olds. lol
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 10/06/2004 13:39 Comments || Top||

#12  Some additional news on the international copper supply and price situation via the link.

Save those pennies!
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 10/06/2004 14:05 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Tech
Satellite Mishap Blamed on Human Error
A $239 million satellite toppled to a factory floor last year because nobody bothered to check that it was secure before moving it, according to a NASA investigation board's report on the mishap. The NOAA N-Prime satellite fell about 3 feet as it was being moved from a vertical to a horizontal position on Sept. 6, 2003, to remove an instrument at a facility in Sunnyvale, Calif. Nobody noticed that the 24 bolts that should have secured the spacecraft were missing.
I've had days like this.
Investigators were especially critical of the Lockheed Martin operations team for its "lack of discipline in following procedures," a problem that evolved from "complacent attitudes toward routine spacecraft handling, poor communication and coordination." Buddy Nelson, a Lockheed Martin spokesman, said NASA's final report was consistent with the findings of the company's internal investigators. "Lockheed Martin has implemented improvements to company policies, procedures and practices that ensure such an incident will not occur again," he said Tuesday.
"Anybody see a set of bolts and a restraining strap 'round here?"
It will cost an estimated $135 million to rebuild the spacecraft's main section and two damaged instruments. No one was injured in the incident. On Monday, NOAA announced that it has reached an agreement with Lockheed Martin to finish the satellite. In addition, the company will contribute all profits it earned from the contract to rebuild the spacecraft and will complete the work on a cost-only basis, Nelson said. Before the accident, the spacecraft was supposed to be placed into storage until launch in 2008. It's now scheduled to be launched in December 2007.
Posted by: Steve White || 10/06/2004 12:15:47 AM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Somebody didn't follow the checklist. A new career in the food service industry awaits!
Posted by: PBMcL || 10/06/2004 0:35 Comments || Top||

#2  PBMcL,do you really want that guy preparing your food?
Posted by: GK || 10/06/2004 1:50 Comments || Top||

#3  Ummmmmmmmmmm... sorry?
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/06/2004 9:14 Comments || Top||

#4  Tip for Lockheed Martin: Although designed for it, the satellite is not actually in a zero-gravity environment until it is launched.
Posted by: Dar || 10/06/2004 9:44 Comments || Top||

#5  "It will cost an estimated $135 million to rebuild the spacecraft's main section and two damaged instruments."

That's more than $5 million per bolt.
Posted by: Bryan || 10/06/2004 10:06 Comments || Top||

#6  My ex-girlfriend built microwave antennas for DirectTV satellites. Metal tubes are precisely positioned to distribute the signals to the horn array. One night an overzealous cleaning person decided that the “loose tubes on that equipment looked like a safety hazard” and duct taped the wave-guides to the satellite frame, ruining them in the process.
Posted by: Anonymous5032 || 10/06/2004 10:53 Comments || Top||

#7  Somebody watched the "fish store" video, perhaps?
"Hey Alan, toss that satellite over here."
"Here it comes!"
"Oops."

Here at Raytheon, the saying is: "If it were easy, Lockheed could do it." I guess moving satellites around is not easy.

If you read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, you will understand the importance of a $0.05 nut in a $9000 motorcycle. Similarly, some people now understand the importance of $1.50 worth of bolts in a $239,000,000 satellite.

I find it interesting that after the accident, the satellite will now be launched earlier.
Posted by: jackal || 10/06/2004 16:20 Comments || Top||

#8  you should reade my monograf on the importance of girl friends and fuel addatives in high compression motorcyle engines

gin and and tarts of motorcyle maintenance
Posted by: half || 10/06/2004 17:19 Comments || Top||

#9  Into orbit early makes sense; the booster can experience a 'guidance system failure' and then after the operational (?) satellite plunges back to Earth in a firey ball, LM can file for loss of income (or some such) because "...the gpv't cannot prove the repairs were unsuccessful..."
And eventually they will get paid.
Posted by: USN, retired || 10/06/2004 18:46 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Protestors Ransack Bush/Cheney Headquarters In Orlando
A group of militants protestors stormed and then ransacked a Bush-Cheney headquarters building in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, according to Local 6 News. Local 6 News reported that several hard boyz people from the group of 100 Orlando protestors face possible assault charges after the group forced their way inside the Republican headquarters office. While in the building, some of the activists protestors drew horns and a mustache on a poster of President George W. Bush and poured piles of letters in the office, according to the report. "We told them to leave, they broke the law," Republican headquarters volunteer Mike Broom said. Two protestors received minor injuries when the crowd stormed the building, as well as a Republican volunteer. One of the protestors said she wanted to send a message:
"Kids, get your BDS treated early, before it eats your brain. I didn't, and look at me. I'm a mess."
yet more democrat violence. they know they're gonna lose and they're lashing out
Posted by: spiffo || 10/06/2004 9:56:33 PM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Since mass media will naturally ignore their own side's misdeeds, there is now a website that tracks and documents Democrat storm-trooper tactics:When angry Democrats Attack
The tempo is increasing exponentially. A prediction: "Fort Sumter" will be in Florida this time around.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 10/06/2004 5:13 Comments || Top||

#2  "yet more democrat violence. they know they're gonna lose and they're lashing out"

Or, they've been learning things from their (religion of peace) allies. Imagine that'll happen if they'll win.
Posted by: Jurt Thugh6744 || 10/06/2004 5:55 Comments || Top||

#3  protestors drew horns and a mustache on a poster of President George W. Bush
Bwahahahaha! Take ought to teach him!
Posted by: Spot || 10/06/2004 9:43 Comments || Top||

#4  This must be what Kerry means by reaching out to allies. The French and the Germans have been giving the Democrat faithful lessons on the use of organized violence by brownshirts to influence elections.
Posted by: RWV || 10/06/2004 10:21 Comments || Top||

#5  Note that this was part of a coordinate set of attacks -- another campaign HQ was attacked the same way in Wisconsin, and there were 18 or more other protests that appear to have been stopped before they got violent.

I think it's time for some federal prosecutors to start subpoening(sp?) lots of people and organizations.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 10/06/2004 10:35 Comments || Top||

#6  "some of the activists protestors drew horns and a mustache on a poster of President George W. Bush"

I don't necessarily advocate retaliation in kind for all blackshirt lefty outrages, but I thought it might be appropriate for this example of superior Demo nuance and intellect.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 10/06/2004 11:55 Comments || Top||

#7  Lol! Love the mustache - nice Chirac touch, heh.
Posted by: .com || 10/06/2004 11:59 Comments || Top||

#8  The AFL-CIO follows in the steps of the SEIU in devolving into common thugs?

Where are the police batons ... and isn't the US military busy killing similar "rowdies" in Iraq? *wink*
Posted by: Edward Yee || 10/06/2004 12:06 Comments || Top||

#9  Open letter to Al "Al" Gore:

October 6, 2004

Dear Al,

What color shirts were these various attackers wearing?

Best,
Erik Larson
Posted by: eLarson || 10/06/2004 15:38 Comments || Top||

#10  Robert, I think the idea of this tactic is to stop short of anything that can be lumped into a racketeering charge. There is an animal rights group in England that does a lot of this harassment type of stuff that basically adds to the price of doing business until the target gets exasperated but is left without much of a legal recourse. An example of this type of tactic would be flooding an organizations fax machine to prevent their use of the device.
Posted by: Super Hose || 10/06/2004 16:46 Comments || Top||

#11  I wonder if the vandalism is actually a cover for theft of information pertaining to GOTV efforts, such as has recently happened in Washington State.
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 10/06/2004 17:04 Comments || Top||



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