*snicker* The NYT is reporting it as if it was a real election. *snort*
Claims of violations from losing candidates in Saudi Arabia's first nationwide elections raised concerns on Sunday that challenges could sour the country's tentative step toward democracy.
More than 30 losing candidates in the Riyadh municipal elections have cried foul, claiming that the seven winners - all affiliated with mainstream Muslim organizations - violated campaign guidelines by presenting themselves as an unofficial alliance endorsed by religious sheiks. But the idea of challenging any results generated criticism from those who feared that the ground-breaking elections, held Thursday, would be marred by the bickering.
"If there was variety in the council it would be much more helpful to the city than having members all alike," said Ahmed Owais, a chemistry professor and reform activist. "But the most important thing is that this is a great experiment, so we should defend it and it should continue."
The elections, from which women were barred, are being held in three stages, with the next two in March and April. Only half the representatives in a total of 178 municipal councils are being elected; the rest will continue to be appointed.
With the sheer number of candidates - nearly 100 in each district - many voters had appeared bewildered as to how to make a choice in each of the seven races. Political parties or other public organizations are illegal.
The candidates who are considering filing an official challenge said up to six of the winners appeared on a list that was spread over the Internet, and more importantly by telephone via text messages.
Riyadh residents who had seen one such message said it carried a note that read roughly, "These are the trusted people; we urge you to go and vote for them." The term "trusted people" would be recognized as an endorsement from the religious hierarchy given the backgrounds of the men, the losing candidates said. The message also suggested that forwarding it would bring blessings.
"Of course there are violations; an alliance was formed, and this is in violation of the law," said Thafer Said al-Yami, a losing candidate and lawyer, who said he was informally advising more than 30 candidates considering challenging the results before an independent appeals committee.
He noted, however, that the election bylaws did not specify the remedy for any violation, so it was unclear where the appeal would go.
Another candidate, Badr bin Saedan, said he filed a complaint on Sunday in his district because the winner had violated several bans, including campaigning in person or over the Internet on the election eve. But Mr. bin Saedan, too, emphasized that he did not want to muddle the importance of gaining the vote. "These are the first elections, and I care that they succeed," he said. "That's more important than who wins or loses." The winners denied that they had been part of any coordinated slate, arguing that all kinds of lists were whizzing around via text message.
One winner, Dr. Ibrahim Hamad al-Quayid, went with a group to visit the mufti, Saudi Arabia's highest religious figure, right after the results were announced.
"The winners are not extremists," he said. "They are moderate academics generally trusted by the people. They do not represent a particular religious current, but Saudi society, which is essentially religious."
Parsing the various schools of thought among Saudi Arabia's religious conservatives remains extremely difficult, not least because senior princes tend to quash any such attempt. The interior minister, Prince Nayef bin Abdel Aziz, rejected the notion of calling the winners an Islamist slate.
"We all have religious inclinations and we are all Muslims," the prince said at a news conference. "I strongly object to the press concentrating on this issue because we do not accept questioning the choice of the Saudi community." Questioning the veracity of the Iraqi election, where people were willing to face real terror and possible death, where the Sunnis consciously and voluntarily trached their future for a few press clippings, then having the enormous gall to portray this PR joke as a serious election leaves me astonished, not. How typical -- MSM disingenuity in extremis. Ranks right up there with faithfully quoting Nayef with a straight face as a man fighting Islamists in the Kingdom of the House of Saud. Yewbetcha.
Posted by: .com ||
02/14/2005 7:05:59 AM ||
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Saudi Arabia's interior minister has dismissed allegations that winners in the first round of the kingdom's nationwide municipal elections are Islamists. Dozens of the 640 candidates who lost in the first round of elections said they would contest the results of the poll, claiming that the winning candidates in Riyadh were on a list said to be endorsed by religious clerics. "The leadership and people of the Arab Kingdom of Saudi Arabia refuse these labels," Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abd al-Aziz said late on Saturday of characterisations of the winners in his first comments since results were announced. "We all have religious inclinations and we are all Muslims."
"And there is only one possible way of Islam and only one possible outcome of any election here in the Kingdom. So stop bothering me."
Local newspapers have characterised the winners as so-called Islamists. Although government-guided, the privately owned papers widely reported the complaints about the so-called Islamic bloc. Nayif said it was incorrect to make such classifications and that the results conveyed a free choice. "I strongly object to the press and media that is concentrating on this issue because we do not accept that the choices of the Saudi community be questioned," he added. "This is the outcome of the voters' choice."
They could pick one from Column A, and another one from Column A.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Nice headdress, Nayef. Do you happen to work at Papa Gino's by any chance?
It's a labour of love if you're trying to find the colour of passion for your Valentine's Day gift in Saudi Arabia, where Muslim religious police force shops to hide roses and smuggle heart-shaped cards under stacks of "To my grandmother" greeting cards. "I am sorry. No red roses. I had to remove them three days ago," a Filipino florist said, standing in front of a rich collection of roses and carnations of various colours, except red.
He said the Commission enforced the ban for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (the Mutawa religious police), which raid shops to make sure that no signs of Valentine's Day celebrations are visible. "Mutawa come every morning and evening" to insure that shops are complying with the orders, he said. Four years ago, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Sheikh, branded Valentine's Day a "pagan Christian holiday" and decreed that "no Muslim who believes in God or judgement day should celebrate" on this day. The religious police bar shops from selling red roses, teddy bears, greeting cards or any kind of red-colour or heart-shaped gifts to celebrate St Valentine's Day.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2005 00:00:00 ||
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I got a feeling the Religious cops have the best porn and booze stashes in Saudi Arabia.
A large black ball, originally designed by Swedish scientists for use on Mars, could be the latest weapon in the war against burglars.The device, developed at the University of Uppsala, acts as a high-tech security guard capable of detecting an intruder thanks to either radar or infra-red sensors. Once alerted, it can summon help, sound an alarm or pursue the intruders, taking pictures. It is capable of travelling at 20mph, somewhat faster than a human being. Even worse for intruders, the robot ball can still give chase over mud, snow and water.
"Number Six is trying to escape again. Release the ball!"
The ball relies on an internal pendulum to control its motion which, when shifted, changes the centre of gravity and starts it rolling. Other devices, including microphones, cameras, heat sensors and smoke detectors are mounted on its central axis.
Nils Hulth, co-founder of Rotundus, the company which is marketing the ball, said it was especially well-suited to patrolling the Village perimeter fences. The prototype, just under 2ft in diameter, weighs about 10lb. "It is extremely light, which is why it moves so fast," Mr Hulth said.
While the current version can only raise the alarm, it could be adapted to corner an intruder if the customer wanted, Mr Hulth added.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/14/2005 9:41:16 AM ||
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All I can picture is Indy chased by that giant rock in Temple of Doom.
Posted by: Dar ||
02/14/2005 10:34 Comments ||
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Steve - The Prisoner, lol, one of the reasons that UK television used to rock - Thx for the reference and laugh! Figure out a way to work Emma Peel in there next time, K? Yumm, lol!
London mayor Ken Livingstone has been censured by the London Assembly for a Nazi jibe made to a Jewish reporter. Two motions were passed asking him to apologise and withdraw his comments. Labour's Mr Livingstone, who says he is "standing by" his remarks, had accused an Evening Standard journalist of being like a "concentration camp guard". The local government watchdog, the Standards Board for England, could investigate after a complaint from The Board of Deputies of British Jews. The row was discussed at Monday's budget meeting of the assembly, which is made up of 25 members elected to examine the mayor's activities. Inviting Al-Qaradawi to address the London Assembly and now anti-semitic comments to journalists... maybe the intellectual left is the new home of anti-semitism. But I thought Ken was supposed to be so PC... [/irony]
Posted by: Howard UK ||
02/14/2005 9:39:45 AM ||
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Isn't this clearly a violation of their anti-hate speech laws?
Prince Charles could be barred from marrying Camilla in a civil ceremony, legal experts have warned. Plans have been drawn up for the couple to marry in a low-key ceremony at Windsor Castle, followed by a chapel blessing. But in a BBC Panorama television special last night, family law experts said there were "serious doubts" over the couple's wedding plans, arguing that the 1836 Marriage Act barred the royal family from civil marriages.
"I was very surprised when I heard this was proposed," said Stephen Cretney, Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. "The legislation which governs civil marriage in England is expressed not to apply to members of the royal family. "There is no statutory procedure whereby members of the royal family can marry in a register office."
Were the couple to wed under current legislation, Dr Cretney said the Prince of Wales would not be legally married and Camilla would not be his wife. "This would be a very, very serious matter," he said.
Valentine Le Grice QC, a specialist in family law, said a "heavy question mark" hung over the proposed marriage. "It would not be possible for them to get married in the way most people understand a register office marriage," he said. "It is not open to the two of them to follow the normal procedures of a registry marriage."
Clarence House said it had taken advice from four independent legal experts and said there was nothing in law which would prevent Charles and Camilla getting married.
The warnings came as it was revealed today that Camilla could still become Queen if public opinion swings in her favour. Mrs Parker Bowles will be the first Princess Consort, reflecting the huge public opposition to her becoming Queen. But senior courtiers admitted that they had deliberately left the possibility of her becoming Queen open if there is a change in the public mood. "When the time comes, which we hope is a long way off, an option would be to reflect the mood in the country at that time," a senior aide to the Prince of Wales told The Times.
Yesterday Charles and Camilla attended a church service near the Prince's Highgrove home, joining a congregation of 34 people in St Lawrence's Church in Didmarton, Gloucestershire. They appeared not to have decided how to spend St Valentine's Day today. Asked if they had any plans, Mrs Parker Bowles said: "Not as yet." The Rev Christopher Mulholland said there was a great sense of goodwill in the church as Charles and Camilla took their seats. "I prayed for their happiness," he said. Some things just boggle. Leave them alone, for crying out loud. They've been bonkers for each other for 30 years.
Posted by: .com ||
02/14/2005 6:17:43 AM ||
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Theyâve been bonkers for each other for 30 years.
And they've been bonking each other for at least that long, too. ;)
I think the law will be changed to allow the marriage, without much fuss. This sounds like a typical contemporary Panorama fluff-piece. It used to be a programme worth watching, you know.
#2
Were the couple to wed under current legislation, Dr Cretney said the Prince of Wales would not be legally married and Camilla would not be his wife. "This would be a very, very serious matter," he said.
Funny, I thought it was the current situation.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/14/2005 8:13 Comments ||
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Maybe Charles can abdicate the throne he may never get and then he can get married to Camilla, and become the governor of Bermuda...or something like that.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/14/2005 10:42 Comments ||
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And I thought that the medieval(sp?) royal line was a soap opera!
Mexico has been shaken by the arrest of a senior member of President Vicente Fox's staff on suspicion of leaking information to drugs traffickers.
It has not been proven, but the suspicion is that the tip-offs - about the president's movements - were designed to help hitmen assassinate him. The conclusion being drawn is that organised crime has infiltrated the inner circle of the president, who has repeatedly declared all-out war on the cartels.
Observers have been jolted into asking whether Mexico is losing the war on the drug-related corruption, and whether it is in danger of descending into a Colombia-style chaos of narcopolitics.
But Bruce Bagley, professor of International Studies at the University of Miami, points out that corruption and the contraband economy are nothing new in Mexico - what is new is Mr Fox's attempt to eradicate them. In the 1920s, Mexico's PRI party began a 71-year uninterrupted stretch in power, allowing corruption to become embedded within the system, he says.
"The election of President Fox in 2000 in effect broke those traditional linkages," Mr Bagley told the BBC News website. "In co-operation with the US, President's Fox's PAN party went after the largest cartels.
"This in turn unleashed an internecine warfare among the cartels, as they sought to protect themselves, to recover and fight off the cartelitos" - the forest of smaller drugs organisations which sprang up as the government decapitated the big cartels.
Mr Bagley argues that the cartels' apparent attempt to infiltrate the presidential palace - with the suspected, though unproven ambition to target the president himself - is in fact a sign of their weakness. "There's huge paranoia - they're fighting for their economic and political survival, and it's entirely possible they blame President Fox personally for their situation," he says.
Diane Davis, a sociologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has studied the Mexican police, accepts that Mr Fox "has had some high-level successes" against the big cartels but adds that he is in a Catch 22 situation. In order to tackle the cartels, the president must be able to rely on a loyal police force. However, at the same time he is trying to restructure the police force to stamp out "pervasive, endemic" corruption, which turns officers against him. "These are two very hard battles to fight at the same time," she says. "It's a constant revolving door of reform."
Some of the problems Mexico faces are similar to Colombia's. Authorities in both countries have found that they faced down the big cartels - Medellin and Cali in Colombia, Tijuana in Mexico - only to find they created openings for new "mini-cartels".
Events in one country can also influence events in the other. In the 1970s, a strong US-backed policy against the cultivation of marijuana in Mexico served to encourage both cultivation and cartel activity in Colombia, they say. Then in the 1990s, tough measures against cocaine traffickers in Colombia appeared to give new life to cartels in Mexico.
But analysts caution that comparisons between the two countries should not be made lightly. Colombia's internal conflict involving Marxist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries and the state has a highly ideological slant, they point out. This is absent in Mexico, where oddly - says Peter Andreas, associate professor of political studies at Brown University - the Zapatista rebel movement has failed to become deeply entangled with the drugs trade. And, he adds, there is a "dramatic difference in the level of violence".
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/14/2005 12:51:13 AM ||
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Illegal drugs are as cheap as ever.
What makes anyone think cartels aren't well established here in the good ole USA. Anyone who doesn't think so has been listening/reading the usual suspects in the MSM too long.
#5
Legalize it.... When was the last time someone was killed over liquor in the US? The day before prohibition ended? Coincidence? The largest influence it'll have then is distributors (cf. large liquor distributors in the US) making illegal campaign contributions. Also reduce or eliminate the international trade/law enforcement issue.
Posted by: Mark E. ||
02/14/2005 19:48 Comments ||
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You beat me to it, tu.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/14/2005 21:50 Comments ||
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Sorry Mark E., but people get killed over alcohol all the time. Between drunk driving and general idiocy around drunks the casualty rate is quite high . . . but your point is probably that Busch is not ordering hits on Coors; Makers Mark not attempting to eliminate the board of Wild Turkey; etc, etc.
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
02/14/2005 22:47 Comments ||
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The Mexican federal government is investigating whether the feared Gulf Cartel drug-smuggling mafia is armed with surface-to-air missiles as part of a plot to assassinate President Vicente Fox or shoot down a commercial airliner. "We do not want to alarm the public," Mexican Attorney General Rafael Macedo de la Concha said at a news conference Saturday. "The first thing is to find out if it is true."
"Then we'll alarm the public."
Federal agents are trying to determine the source of what may be a U.S. government analysis warning as many as 80 SA-7 Soviet-made shoulder-mounted missiles are on the black market in Nicaragua, he said.
But the threat surfaces during especially troubling times in which no threats or perceived threats are being treated lightly. The document, dated Jan. 31, mentions the missiles were in the hands of the Nicaraguan authorities and were to be sold to drug cartels and paramilitary groups, Vasconcelos said. "We do not have anything new on this," Vasconcelos said. "We are still investigating."
In addition to Fox, other potential targets include Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and Central American commercial airliners.
U.S. government officials could not be reached for comment Saturday.
The Washington Times reported late last month that the United States government and Nicaraguan police thwarted an attempt to sell some SA-7 missiles on the black market and that authorities feared stashes of the missiles were still for sale.
Shortly after Fox declared he would fight the "mother of all wars" against the drug cartels, Nahúm Acosta, a key member of the president's travel staff, was arrested and is accused of providing information to drug traffickers. Fox played down the incident and authorities have taken pains to say the matter is under investigation.
The Zetas are the bogeymen of the border. They were linked to the attack last week on Monterrey television reporter Jorge Cardona, whose car and home were sprayed with bullets after he aired an interview with a hooded informant who gave supposed names and codes of alleged Zeta members operating in the U.S.-Mexico border city of Nuevo Laredo. The informant said the Zetas were backed by city police and have a military informant.
The reporter, fearing for his life, remains in hiding.
Vasconcelos said the Zetas' leadership has been disrupted, that the group's soldiers have dwindled to about 30, and that he expects the group will soon be history.
A U.S. federal agent, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the cartel is troubled enough to carry out bold attacks. "These people are desperate," the agent said. "Is it possible? Yes," he said of a missile attack. "Would it happen? Probably not."
But the agent cautioned the Zetas are not traditional criminals, as they are military trained and take orders.
With Gulf Cartel boss Osiel Cärdenas in prison and authorities taking steps to isolate him from his empire, the situation could play out similarly to what happened when Colombian cocaine king Pablo Escobar was captured and feared extradition to the United States. "Look what happened in Colombia," the agent said. "The president starts to talk about extraditing people (Cärdenas) is going to be fighting back."
Colombia saw explosions, assassinations and a bomb detonated aboard a commercial airliner, killing government witnesses prepared to testify against traffickers. There have also been false alarms, including a recent bulletin in which the FBI's San Antonio office advised all U.S. federal officers of a possible plot by the Gulf Cartel to kidnap and murder two of them. After it could not be substantiated, the FBI recalled the bulletin, which warned the cartel had 250 armed men outside the border city of Matamoros and a contingent had visas to enter the United States.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/14/2005 12:47:34 AM ||
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Sister Lucia Marto, the last of three children who claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary in a series of 1917 apparitions in the town of Fatima, has died, Portuguese media reported. She was 97.
Sister Lucia, a Roman Catholic nun, had been ill for the past three months and died Sunday at the Convent of Carmelitas in Coimbra, 120 miles north of Lisbon, TSF radio reported, citing family sources.
Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes called Lucia's death "very emotional news."
Lucia and two of her cousins, siblings Jacinta and Francisco, said in 1917 that the Virgin Mary had been appearing to them once a month and predicting events, such as world wars, the reemergence of Christianity in Russia, and one that Church officials say foretold the 1981 attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II. The appearances took place on the 13th day of each month in Fatima, a town about 70 miles north of Lisbon.
The first sighting was May 13, and the appearances took place for another five months, ending abruptly in October of that year.
Shortly after, both Jacinta and Francisco died of respiratory diseases. But Lucia became a nun and penned two memoirs while living in convents.
The Catholic Church later built a shrine in Fatima, which is visited each year by millions of people from around the world. More than 100,000 people from dozens of countries routinely attend the annual commemorations of the sightings.
The pope has visited three times since becoming pontiff in 1978, spending a few minutes with Lucia during a 1991 trip to the site. He has claimed the Virgin of Fatima saved his life after he was shot by a Turkish gunman in St. Peter's Square in 1981. The attack, on May 13, coincided with the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima, and John Paul credits the Virgin's intercession for his survival.
In 2000, he visited Fatima to beatify Jacinta and Francisco.
Posted by: tipper ||
02/14/2005 10:03:08 AM ||
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I once talked with a fortune teller who took his job seriously, unlike the typical fraud. "People want me to 'see' the future, but they have a strange idea of what the future looks like: like watching the TV news, or reading a newspaper. What if someone asked you to 'see' the present? "Uh, I'm sitting here talking to you" "But what about my Uncle Frank?" "I've no idea what he's doing right now" So what about the future? 'Well, okay, next Tuesday I'm at home having dinner then going to bed. Well, that's what I see in the future'. And that brings up the second problem: 99.999% of everything people do is boring and repetitious. Try 'seeing' the future without having a 'fast forward' button. 'Okay, I see you lying in bed sleeping, but you are older and fatter.' It's not like people go around talking about interesting things that happen to them all the time, hoping some seer will see them talking out loud and tell them what they said before they say it. Then there is the probabilities thing: some things *will* happen, such as your getting older, unless you die. Other things, like lottery numbers have a lot more possible outcomes. This is why fortune tellers rarely hit on the lotto." "But," he continued, "for most people that is all academic. They don't care about what the future really holds--knowing that information wouldn't change them one bit--they want you to *change* their future for them, somehow." "And the best part is, that even if you tell them what to do to change their future, like 'go on a diet', they won't do it.
#2
Not a Catholic - but, we cannot understand those who have had mystical experiences. Now as to visions absolutely... As to actual correspondence to actual events. Like Nostradamus. The devil (so to speak) is in the interpretation...
RIP Sister
#3
it's true and we were all much more powerful and interesting persons in previous lives. I, for instance was Caesar, and Ben Franklin (and yes, I did get the chicks) heh heh
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/14/2005 19:14 Comments ||
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This was Paul Atreides problem in Frank Herbert's Dune series. If you can see the future, truly see every moment, it woould probably drive you mad. Nothing would be a surprise, nothing wondrous. Just boring, day to day drivel.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/14/2005 19:53 Comments ||
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02/14/2005 11:07:39 AM ||
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"We expect an official apology from Britain," NPD leader Udo Voigt told Reuters on the margins of the march.
Demand your apologies from the a**hole responsible for getting this firestorm rained down on you. Oh wait- you can't. The filthy chickensh*t killed himself before he could be brought to justice.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- The Federal Election Commission will soon look at ways to tighten restrictions on political activities in cyberspace, Roll Call said Monday. The idea make some FEC members uneasy.
Me too..
"I don't think the FEC should do anything that restricts or interferes with the ability of citizens at the grass-roots level to use the Internet or support the candidates of their choice," FEC Vice Chairman Michael Toner said.
Under U.S. law, coordinated communications are considered campaign contributions subject to strict limits. Regulations adopted in 2002 carved out an exemption for coordinated political communications transmitted over the Internet, which is exactly the sort of thing the FEC now wants to review.
Toner said there is no evidence Congress intended to regulate the Internet when it enacted the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. "Congress is clearly familiar with the fact that the Internet is an increasingly important tool in politics and yet did not mention it in the McCain-Feingold law so I still see no evidence that Congress intended to regulate the Internet at all," Toner said.
Yeah, but that was before the Swift Boat Vets, Rathergate, Howell Raines and Eason Jordan. If the FEC doesn't do anything, I expect McCain to try something. I'll wager they will try to say that linking to another blog or website is proof of "coordinated political communications". We need to follow this closely.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/14/2005 2:26:42 PM ||
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They only have jurisdiction over organizations raising and/or spending money to promote a political message, POV, or support a candidate or party.
We work real cheap. They wouldn't dare pretend thay can regulate the free discussion of individuals. The First Amendment would make child's play of turning them into sushi.
Uneasy? Hah, how about so far out of their depth that they wouldn't have the first clue what to do? Lol!
#4
McCain seems to be positively irritated by that Constitution thingy. He is perplexed why everybody is always talking about it, and why people keep telling him he can't do what he wants because the Constitution won't let him. In fact, if everybody would just do what he wants, then everything would be fine--no more of this senseless argument and disagreement.
#5
I'd surely like to see Arizonans put the fear of losing on his arrogant butt. Maybe even let a smart up and coming youngster, some Lt Col fresh from Iraq, say, someone who can cancel out his POW status and just whoop his ass in the primary and bulldoze the Donk. That, I'd pay to see.
#8
McCain just doesn't like anyone else having free political speech, huh?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/14/2005 16:08 Comments ||
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Sorry, .com, but we have until 2010, when I hope he'll retire. I voted for him this time, too. I wasn't happy, but he has the right ideas on the war, which is the most important issue. He's pretty good on judges, too. If we can only get him to support the First and Second amendments, he'd be very good.
#10
Yeah, but that was before the Swift Boat Vets,...
It was also before Kerry hired Kos to shill for him on the web. This is just like their regulating advertising (with which I have problems, but it is the law). Maybe next time, Kos will have to have a picture of Kerry pop-up and say "I'm John Kerry and I paid for this blog."
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/14/2005 17:21 Comments ||
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Headline: FEC looks at policing cyberspace
If the FEC started looking at policing the liberal media, we wouldn't need conservative blogs to counteract their lies.
#12
At some point, they'll decide that trackback is a form of coordination, if that's what it takes to shut down the critics of incumbents.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/14/2005 19:04 Comments ||
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I'd surely like to see Arizonans put the fear of losing on his arrogant butt.
We tried a few years back with a petition, and there was enough momentum that it forced him to tack back. Like Jackal, I unhappily voted for him this time.
EFL. Anyone got any history on how the Whigs faded into oblivion? Howard Dean, whose revolutionary bid to lead the Democratic Party fell short one year ago with the collapse of his presidential candidacy, received a second chance to rebuild the party on Saturday as he was elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee. The former Vermont governor tapped into the grass-roots support that once fueled his presidential campaign to win over skeptical Democratic activists, who unanimously selected him to lead the party for the next four years. While pledging not to run for president in 2008, Dean said his work would pave the way for Democrats to win in all regions of the country. "If we want to win nationally, we have to start winning locally," Dean said. "Today will be the beginning of the re-emergence of the Democratic Party. The first thing we have to do is stand up for what we believe in." With Republicans in control of the White House, Congress and the majority of state capitals, Dean billed himself as the man to shake Democrats from their doldrums, vowing to make the party competitive in Southern and Western states. Before being handed the party's reins, Dean worked to convince Democrats that he had learned from the mistakes of his campaign, which was diminished by his controversial statements and unpredictable behavior. I'm not nuts. Well, not anymore. Yes, really.
In his acceptance speech, Dean said Democrats "cannot win if all we are is against the current president and his administration." But moments later, he lashed out against the budget proposed by the White House, saying: "It brings Enron-style accounting to the nation's capital and it demonstrates once again what Americans, all Americans, are now beginning to see--you cannot trust Republicans with your money." Oh, no! Ennnnnnnnnronnnnnnnnn! Coming up next... Hallllllllliburrrrrrrrrton! Any other outdated buzzwords for evil I can throw out there?
"Tippecanoe and Tyler, too"?
If Democrats are to be successful, Dean said, the party must convince voters that it is in their economic interest to support their candidates by offering a compelling alternative for protecting Social Security, improving health care and even balancing the federal budget. Okay. Let's see. 1.Euthanasia 2.Euthanasia 3.Surrender in Iraq and tax you into the Stone Age.
"I think I'll be living in red states in the South and in the West for quite a while," Dean said. "That's where we need a lot of work. I think that's where the people who are most skeptical about the Democratic Party are." He probably takes the Dimbo line that if they were dumb enough to vote for Bush, his superior intellect will make them easy pickins . Maybe John Fn Kerry can give him some of those "man of the people" tips that worked so well for him in the campaign?
To gain the support of a Democratic establishment he had once campaigned against, Dean pledged to leave legislative discussion to others, including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), both of whom had reservations about his candidacy. When attempts to find other candidates failed, the congressional Democratic leaders agreed to support him if he promised not to meddle in policy. I figure these two figured he wasn't screwy enough...
On Saturday, the Republican National Committee declined to criticize, with Chairman Ken Mehlman issuing a statement saying: "Howard Dean's energy and passion will add to the political discourse in this country and he will be a strong leader for his party." ...and he said to himself, "Karl Rove was right. With you're dealing with these people, this job isn't nearly as hard as it looks."
In replacing Terry McAuliffe as chairman, Dean emerged from a field of more than a half-dozen serious contenders, winning over Democrats skittish about elevating a politician from a Northeastern state with liberal traditions. So let's get another one in there! They'll never get it, will they?
Even as Dean prepares to travel across the country, several admirers said they hoped he would stick to his blunt, straight-talking ways. "I think you will see his bluntness, his directness, his energy and intellectual honesty," said Scott Maddox, the Florida chairman. "I'm a pickup truck-driving, gun-owning Southern chairman, with a bulldog named Lockjaw, and I'm perfectly comfortable with Howard Dean as chairman of the national Democratic Party." As long as that paycheck don't bounce, and I can keep this high paying party hack job, Howard's my man.
#1
The Bellman himself they all praised to the skies--
Such a carriage, such ease and such grace!
Such solemnity, too! One could see he was wise,
The moment one looked in his face!
He had bought a large map representing the sea,
Without the least vestige of land:
And the crew were much pleased when they found it to be
A map they could all understand.
"What's the good of Mercator's North Poles and Equators,
Tropics, Zones, and Meridian Lines?"
So the Bellman would cry: and the crew would reply
"They are merely conventional signs!
"Other maps are such shapes, with their islands and capes!
But we've got our brave Captain to thank:
(So the crew would protest) "that he's bought us the best--
A perfect and absolute blank!"
-- Lewis Carroll,
"The Hunting of the Snark", Fit the Second
I saw a tv clip of dean talking to "young people" and he was such a piece of work. Apparenty thinking they would find his sports jacket to be offensive, he apologized for having to modify his look to appear to be an adult.
And I just thought how completely representative that was of today's Democratic party. Their desperate need to find approval by the "young people" in order to justify their leadership as the party of the hip, cool and nuanced.
These grandparents are absolutely terrified they might accidently see themselves in the mirror and discover that, despite their lifetime commitment to raging against the machine, they are, in fact, over 40.
Old people desperately needing acceptance by the young. So truly pathetic.
#4
I still like the reply from the elderly lady during the primaries, and I wish to hell I could find the quote, "I like that nice young man, you know, the Dean of Howard College." When informed the Dean of Howard was not running but that Howard Dean was she said, "Yes, that's the one".
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/14/2005 14:49 Comments ||
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#5
Skipper Of Damaged Sub Relieved
Dean takes over helm of the DNC
Does anyone else see the amusing coincidence in that these two articles are next to one-another...
Well thongs, actually. Click the link to see 'em. I'm not sufficiently proficient to do the com thing. Wonder if anybody else is reminded of the 8th grade question about the square root of negative 69.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/14/2005 8:53:10 AM ||
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Thongs?
She had actual Boxer shorts back when she was first running for the jr. senator slot. What happened?
#2
While I find it hard to keep my breakfast down with mention of Babs and thongs, I really support her as a candidate. A Boxer/Clinton or Clinton/Boxer ticket would be great for both parties. Of course this phenom will only last until someone asks Babs a really tough questions (Like what State does she represent). She really is a total dunce and won because our state is infested with LLL types that robotically pull the lever for anyone with a D after their name.
Now it is Indonesians and Filipinos who fill the factories, building sites and plantations. "Around 11% of the workforce are foreigners," said Shamsuddin Bardin, director of the Malaysian Employers Federation. Their labour has helped Malaysia to build up the region's most successful economy after Singapore.
Some argue that foreign workers are taking jobs away from Malaysians. But unemployment is low and falling - and is currently just 3.5%. "The foreign workers do the three D jobs that Malaysians don't want - dirty, dangerous and difficult - especially working on plantations and in construction," said Mr Shamsuddin.
Even young male Malay graduates, a group amongst which there is a shockingly high rate of unemployment, will not take the jobs the illegal workers do. For 30 years or more, Malaysia has given economic privileges to the Malay community to help it win a more proportionate share of the economy.
But even former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, the great champion of Malay rights, ended his 22 years as premier frustrated that, rather than develop a work ethic, many Malays had simply developed a sense of entitlement. Middle-class Westerners might be happy to slum it for a few years before settling into a career, but their Malaysian counterparts are far less willing to get their fingers dirty. "That is not our culture yet," said Mr Shamsuddin. "Malaysians who've been through tertiary education want to go straight into middle management. Even those with no degree don't want to take up low-paid jobs."
#2
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, the great champion of Malay rights, ended his 22 years as premier frustrated that, rather than develop a work ethic, many Malays had simply developed a sense of entitlement.
It is becoming a constant, like gravity: Maureen Dowd opens her mouth, and I get email from guys saying, "Fred! Geez, man, how much do apartments go for in Guadalajara?" Maureen is the resentment columnist for the New York Times. She serves as newsprint megaphone for the angry, selfish, wretchedly unhappy career woman who can't understand why she is living alone in an apartment with two cats. (I understand the alone part. I question the judgement of the cats.) Maybe I can explain.
Not that you actually have to. We've read her stuff before...
In a recent column, headed "Men Just Want Mommy," Maureen tells us, "A few years ago at a White House Correspondents' dinner, I met a very beautiful actress. Within moments, she blurted out: 'I can't believe I'm 46 and not married. Men only want to marry their personal assistants or P.R. women.'" The bastards.
That's because their wives spend the day at home with nothing to do but bang the 16-year-old Brazilian pool boy or the Swedish tennis pro named Sven.
Here we have the eternal cry (at least it's beginning to feel eternal) of the unhappy feminist: "The whole world can't stand me. What's wrong with the whole world?" If men don't want to marry a self-absorbed menopausing ocelot, there is something wrong with men. I listen to this stuff and I want to marry someone's personal assistant, just to be sure I don't get drunk and marry a very beautiful actress.
You won't. She doesn't have time for that. She's banging the pool boy...
But more of Maureen and the personal assistants. She continues observantly, "I'd been noticing a trend along these lines, as famous and powerful men took up with the young women whose job it was to tend to them and care for them in some way: their secretaries, assistants, nannies, caterers, flight attendants, researchers and fact-checkers."
Shucks, that's never happened before, has it? I mean, if it had, it would have been a plot element in thousands of second-rate novels, wouldn't it?
Men want to marry Mommy, she implies, with forty-weight passive-aggressiveness you could lube a diesel with.
Of course, it could be that they just don't want to marry Maureen.
Actually, what men very much do not want is to marry Mommy. The problem for Maureen is that she is Mommy: censorious, moralizing, self-pitying, endlessly instructive, and so achingly tedious that men find themselves thinking of moldy bath sponges. I have never seen her and don't know how old she is. She may be twenty-three, radiantly gorgeous, and have seven husbands. She writes as if she were fifty, a tad overweight and, having grossly overestimated her value in the meat market, missed the train. (I have a federal license to mix metaphors like that.) Since nothing can be her fault, that leaves men.
If we can't stand to read what she writes, can you imagine living with her and having to listen to what she has to say?
Now, why might a man want to date his secretary instead of some virile pit-viperess of a lawyer, forever coiled to strike? To start with, twenty-five is more appealing than fifty. Sorry, but there it is. Second, secretaries usually lack the misandry, vanity, and abrasiveness of the viperess. (Think Alan Dershowitz in drag, but hostile.)
Though, come to think of it, when was the last time you ran into somebody who actually had a secretary? Do they still exist? Or have they gone the way of the Model T, helped out the door by ever increasing minimum wage and the advent of Microsoft Office?
Which leads to, Third, the secretary is likely to be lots more fun.
Maybe they're talking about receptionists and dental assistants? And nurse's aides?
You don't have to spend time comparing penises with her. She won't always be looking for discrimination, like a chicken clucking after bugs in a barnyard. You won't get the throwaway snotty remarks about men. I can't imagine doing a fast double-step jitterbug in a dirt bar in Austin with a warlike partner from Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe—you know, Little Richard shrieking Long Tall Sally, skirts flying in the twirls. A secretary is likely to think it is a hell of a good idea.
I'm sorry. I'm still lost. The closest to a secretary I can come up with is Jan, the admin assistant at my last job. She was a nice lady who used to tell me about her grandkids when she wasn't explaining to me for the 1732nd time how to enter my charge number on my time card. Maybe things are different in Noo Yawk?
Maureen pretty much answers the question of why these creatures stay single. In another column she says, "When I asked a 28-year-old friend how he and his lawyer-girlfriend were going to divide the costs on a California vacation, he looked askance. 'She never offers,' he replied. 'And I like paying for her.'"
Whatever happened to the Mann Act, anyway? Though I can understand. If you're a gent sneaking off for a weekend of sexual promiscuity, it's good manners to pick up the tab...
Maureen knows lots of these. "Carrie, a publicist in her late 20's from Long Island, is not unwilling to dig into her Kate Spade bag. 'He can get the jewelry, the dinners, the shoes and the vacations,' she says. 'I'll get the cab.'"
I see. We're talking about a certain type of woman, not all of them. I'm assuming that not all the women in Noo Yawk are the descendents of the chorus, hat check, and cigarette girls of yesteryear...
Who would marry that? Carrie is a parasite, like a screw-fly larva. You could find better leaning against a lamppost.
Some of those hat check girls used to get pretty pricey, I understand...
Honest prostitution is preferable to dissimulated. (Incidentally, Stanford did a genetic study in which they found that a New York career woman shares ninety-five percent of her genes with the common tape worm. The remaining five percent, speculated the scientists, explains why tapeworms, though parasitic, are not uncivil.) Maureen's women are forever nattering about sexual equality.
They're also the ones who ruin it by making it a political act.
Maureen, speaking of some movie: "Art is imitating life, turning women who seek equality into selfish narcissists and objects of rejection, rather than affection." Actually art isn't doing anything. A woman who wants a man to pay her bills is already a selfish narcissist. I find myself wondering what parallel universe Maureen inhabits, and how she found the door.
I think it's because she only exists in Noo Yawk. When she crosses into Noo Joisey she disappears. All that remains is a dangling participle that reconstitutes itself into her when safely back in Manhattan.
In fairness to at least some career women, maybe most of them, I dated mostly such for a decade or two in Washington, and expected them as a matter of course to split the bill. They did. It didn't seem to bother them. And—surprise—I thought of them as equals. They acted that way.
When I was young and single, I didn't really give much thought to it. I'd ask a girlie for a date because I liked her. But that was many years ago, before there was bowling, so we'd do things like go out and hunt wooly mastodons by the light of the silv'ry moon...
So little of what Maureen says tracks with the world I know. She thinks men don't like smart women. I know a lot of bright guys, and they all look for bright women. They just want agreeable bright women.
I love smart women. In my jaded youth I made the mistake of asking a few dummies for dates. Women really resent it when you take them back to the cave after ten minutes of conversation and say "Good night."
Further—am I alone in this?—I don't think of women I date in terms of superiority and inferiority. Sally is my date, not my competitor. Does it run through Maureen's tiny little mind that I walk along with a secretary thinking, "Hah! Mere secretary. My inferior. Hah!"? Actually I think, "How'd I get so lucky? Hope she doesn't think of that."
I'd be walking along thinking, "Geeze! A secretary! That's the bee's knees! Where the hell did she come from?"
This erosion of pecking order by mating explains why the military doesn't want officers to date enlisted women: A cute corporal is on equal terms with an admiral by virtue of seeing him. Hierarchy doesn't survive romance. But, as Maureen's status-obsessed women discover, neither does romance survive a relentless concern with hierarchy.
I miss the good olde days. How many people can dwell on heirarchy when they're bowling?
Thing is, the times have changed. The age-old bargain was that women exchanged sex for whatever they wanted, and men exchanged whatever they had for sex. Part of the deal was that the woman would be reasonably agreeable. A career woman today, being independent, no longer has to be agreeable, and frequently isn't.
This is not a new phenomenon, either. They used to call them "spinsters."
On the other hand, a man doesn't have to commit himself to anything to get sex. So the man dates his secretary, and the career woman sits in her apartment with the cats. I'm going to move to Mexico. (Though come to think of it, I already have.) I like Fred Reed's writings. He says it all here. What more can I say?
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/14/2005 9:53:36 AM ||
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Happy Valentine's day all, and Maureen? I hope your vibe's batteries are dead
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/14/2005 19:24 Comments ||
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That said my last secretary was 25 years older and 50 pounds heavier than me. I could tell when she was angry about something because she'd dump the contents of my desk drawers on my desk/floor and leave dozens of post-it notes with identical messages pasted all over my office. All in all she made the proverbial warlike partner at Dewey, Cheetum, & Howe look fairly appealing.
#8
ROFL! Sure wish there was a link to the original, but I have to say I haven't smiled and laughed and snorted and snickered for quite so sustained a period of time in forever! Waay funny, both the article and Fred Pruitt's inline commentary, a jewel - of perspectives and sparkling memories. Combining the two Freds like this is dangerous to my health, lol! Can we do it again, soon?!
Kirkland Project Director Resigns
Action is Effective Immediately
Nancy Rabinowitz, in a telephone call to Hamilton College President Joan Hinde Stewart Thursday night (Feb. 10), announced her resignation as director of the Kirkland Project.
The action, which takes effect immediately, comes in the wake of controversy surrounding a speaking invitation extended by the Kirkland Project to University of Colorado Professor Ward Churchill and the project's offer of a temporary teaching position to former prisoner Susan Rosenberg.
In a paper written immediately after the September 11 terrorist attacks, Churchill suggested that many of those killed that day deserved their fate. He subsequently reaffirmed those remarks. Rosenberg was indicted but never tried for a 1981 armored car robbery that left a guard and two police officers dead. She was sentenced for 58 years on charges of weapons possession, but President Clinton granted her clemency in 2001. Rosenberg was invited by the Kirkland Project to teach a half-credit course on memoir writing but withdrew following criticism of her past.
In a statement posted to the Kirkland Project's Web site, Rabinowitz said, "Hamilton College finds itself in the midst of a crisis that is deeply rooted in the institution's history and set against a backdrop of increasing political and cultural tension. Much of the resulting media attack has been directed personally at me as director of the Kirkland Project. This, in turn, has been destructive to the project and to the educational mission of the college, in particular to its desire to create a more diverse and welcoming environment for all students. In the interests of the college and its community, therefore, I am stepping down as director, effective immediately."
Rabinowitz continued, "I am resigning under duress, for I would have preferred to stay on until I took my long-awaited sabbatical; however, my strengths have been in the intrinsic work of the project itself, and what the project needs now is someone more adept at the kind of political and media fight that the current climate requires. Therefore, it is in the interests of the mission of the project itself and for no other reason that I am yielding to requests that I resign."
Congratulations to Hamiltonians and bloggers who made this happen. This is really big news as it's one of the first steps I can think of to begin the de-radicalization of American campuses. There's plenty left to do, but as the Devil himself says, the longest journey begins with a single step.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/14/2005 5:00:44 PM ||
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Where's my nano-violin when I need it?
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
02/14/2005 17:18 Comments ||
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#2
Don't worry, honey. Being head of Gender Studies department at Kirkland College must qualify you to do just about...ummmmmmm...well... something, right?
Maybe Wardo will hire you to put on his warpaint for him at all his public appearances?
#3
If these asshats feel that their version of free speech is worth defending, then they need to stick around and take the heat. Free speech gives you the right to say it, but does not protect you from the reprocussions of your speech.
With freedom comes responsibility. More freedom---more responsibility. Freedom without responsibility (which is what the LLL think freedom is) is nothing more than license.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/14/2005 17:25 Comments ||
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#4
--Much of the resulting media attack has been directed personally at me as director of the Kirkland Project.--
#5
When it is too hot, stay out of the kitchen. They ain't used to being challenged and when they are, they tend to wilt. You see, they are used to hiding behind politically correct anti hate speech codes and the like. These benign appearing good behavior codes that supposedly treat all ideas as equal, long as you don't disagree with them or point out that they really ain't equal. These codes really just protect the educationer's leftist educating plans. Not being used to being challenged, sometimes they quit and go home like Rabinowitz. They won't all be that easy though, but folks should continue exposing the Churchills and Rabinowitz types.
USS San Francisco Commander Guilty Of Hazarding Vessel Registration required, entire article
The captain of a submarine that hit a seamount Jan. 8 in the western Pacific Ocean, killing one crewman and seriously injuring 23 others, has been found guilty of operating the submarine unsafely and has been issued a letter of reprimand, effectively ending his career.
Cmdr. Kevin Mooney, the captain of the USS San Francisco, was permanently relieved as skipper after an administrative proceeding known as an admiral's mast. The proceeding was convened by an order of the commander of the Seventh Fleet, Vice Adm. Jonathan Greenert.
Cmdr. Ike N. Skelton, a spokesman for the Seventh Fleet in Yokosuka, Japan, said late Friday night that Greenert determined during the investigation that Mooney failed to follow "several critical navigational and voyage planning" standards.
"By not ensuring those standards were followed, Mooney hazarded the vessel," Skelton said, reading from a statement issued by Greenert.
The mast concluded that Mooney's crew had access to charts that showed there might have been an underwater obstruction in the area, and that a sounding taken just minutes before the accident did not correlate with the charts that were in use at the time, which should have prompted him to be more cautious.
The news stunned several Navy sources who have been following the accident investigation, particularly because Mooney's actions after the accident were characterized as heroic by everyone familiar with the situation. Despite extensive damage to the ship, he and his crew got it to the surface and kept it floating long enough to limp back to its homeport of Apra Harbor, Guam.
The San Francisco was heading to Australia when it came to periscope depth a little more than 400 miles southwest of Guam to fix its position accurately. Minutes after diving, and while traveling at a high rate of speed, the submarine slammed into a seamount in an area where official Navy charts list 6,000 feet of water.
Other charts of the area, however, show muddy water in the area, which normally indicates shallowness, and other government agency charts show evidence of the seamount less than 150 feet below the surface.
The grounding destroyed three of the four ballast tanks in the submarine's bow, shattered the sonar dome and smashed the sonar sphere. In addition, a bulkhead at the front end of the ship was buckled.
Machinist Mate 3rd Class Joseph Ashley was killed when he was thrown more than 20 feet and struck his head on a large pump. Almost two-dozen others were injured so badly they could not perform their duties, though they have all since been treated and released from the hospital in Guam. Seventy-five others received less severe injuries.
The crew saved the ship by constantly running a low pressure blower meant for only intermittent use to force water out of the badly damaged forward ballast tanks, as well as using exhaust from the ship's diesel motor to augment the blower.
Despite the force of the blow, the nuclear reactor and the ship's turbine generators continued to operate normally, and even sensitive electronic and navigation gear continued to function.
On Jan. 20, Mooney was reassigned to Submarine Squadron 15 in Guam, pending the results of an investigation to determine the cause of the sub's grounding. Cmdr. Andrew Hale, the squadron's deputy commander, assumed duties as captain of the San Francisco.
The mast means that Mooney will not face a more serious proceeding known as a court martial, but the letter of reprimand and the decision to relieve him of command "for cause" means that his promising career is over, the Navy sources said.
In a related development, Lt. Cmdr. Jeff A. Davis, a spokesman for the Pacific submarine force commander, said late Friday night that assessment of the damage to the San Francisco is proceeding and that shipyard workers in Guam are planning to make temporary repairs to the bow of the ship so it can be moved under its own power to a shipyard where it can be repaired.
Although the location where it will be repaired has not been determined, Navy sources said it would likely be Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, or Bangor, Wash.
"These temporary repairs will be engineered to ensure a successful transit," Davis said. "As part of having on-hand materials for potential use in these temporary repairs, a large steel dome about 20 feet high and 20 feet in diameter will be arriving at Guam in the next few days. As of now, no decisions have been made about when USS San Francisco will depart Guam, where it will go, or what her final disposition will be."
Other Navy sources said that if the assessment determines it makes sense to repair rather than scrap the San Francisco, the Navy will likely use the entire bow section from the recently decommissioned USS Atlanta to replace the badly damaged bow of the San Francisco.
#2
Mooney failed to follow âseveral critical navigational and voyage planningâ standards.
If you're not cheating, you're not trying. No boat would ever leave the pier if it followed all the standards required of it. Not only does no boat follow all the standards, but the vast majority of the procedures, instructions, notices are not even read. There simply is no time.
I remember walls in our off-crew offices in Charleston of binders of instructions. Every level of the chain of command puts out instructions - boat, squadron, group, on up to Navy. Chop to a new fleet, squadron, group - a new set of standards applies. All must be followed. Every commander that come's along, adds to the list.
I remember holding a 10 pound instruction in my hands at sea and thinking, if my ship sinks because we were 10 pounds heavy, I am going to be pissed. All of submarining has been reduced to trying to read the standards and follow them. Initiative and independent thinking are the kiss of death in the submarine force.
Every submariner with a conscience eventually comes to the conclusion that the purpose of written guidance is not to make operations better, but to provide ammo to nail submariners who tried to make decisions in good faith, under trying circumstances and with little sleep. At some point every submariner will screw up and leave his guts on the deck for any upper echelon punk to stomp on.
Nothing of use will be learned from this event. All the instructions will be revised and amplified with further steps and cautions all of which will never be read except at some mandatory training that submariners everywhere will be woken up to attend. They won't hear anything at such training because they either will have fallen back asleep or they will be zoning-out in a mental fog.
If they are serious about improving operations, then for goodness sake, abolish the 18 hour operational cycle. Human beings work on a 24 hour cycle in case the instruction-writing weenies have not noticed.
#4
that a sounding taken just minutes before the accident did not correlate with the charts that were in use at the time
That's cause. SOP requires checking your sounding against the chart. If the sounding doesn't match the fix, both are in question. They should have slowed down until they got another sounding. Even worse if the sounding they got was less than the yellow or red limit -> either you aren't where you think you are, or you Nav screwed up.
Other charts of the area, however, show muddy water in the area, which normally indicates shallowness, and other government agency charts show evidence of the seamount less than 150 feet below the surface.
That one's bogus, you can't use a detailed area chart for a transit. You'd be changing charts 5 times a watch. Though presumably the Nav team would look at the detailed chart when laying out the track.
Chop to a new fleet, squadron, group - a new set of standards applies.
Nav standards were promulgated by SubPac, unless it's changed recently. It's not even that thick. The operational manuals are (were) alot less verbose than the admin ones, after all, someone actually has to use them.
XXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SUN FEB 13, 2005 21:06:25 ET XXXXX
HOST CHRIS ROCK SHOCK: ONLY GAYS WATCH OSCARS ACADEMY MEMBERS ALARMED OVER CHOICE OF COMIC
**Exclusive**
Veteran members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have grown concerned over the choice of Chris Rock as host of this month's awards show, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. Concern deepened after Rock claimed only gays watch the Oscars!
"I never watched the Oscars. Come on, it's a fashion show," Rock recently declared. "What straight black man sits there and watches the Oscars? Show me one!" Rock added: "Awards for art are f---ing idiotic."
MORE
Academy members have privately called for Chris Rock to be removed as host, sources claim, fearing Rock may "tarnish" the reputation of the Academy.
"Simply put, this is a disgrace," one veteran Hollywood mogul, who asked not to be identified, said from Los Angeles. "This guy is out there saying 'awards for art are f---ing idiotic' and he is hosting the show produced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences? I guess the joke is on us!"
Gee, ya think?
One nominated actress questions whether producer Gil Cates was even aware that Rock has "never watched the Oscars." Other unpublicized comments made by Rock threaten to throw the scheduled Feb. 27 broadcast into complete chaos.
Popcorn?
During a recent hate-filled rant, Rock imitated a White House press briefing:
"Mr. President, what about gay marriage? 'F**k them faggots,'" Rock said of Bush.
What will Rock be wearing to the show?
"Nothing against people who aren't straight, but what straight guy that you know cares? Who gives a f---?" Rock explained.
Developing...
Posted by: Steve ||
02/14/2005 9:19:54 AM ||
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*snicker* The truth hurts.
Catch 22. Nobody watches the Oscars, because it is a self-masturbating love fest. So they bring in Chris rock - in the hopes that they can draw people in, not to watch the Oscars, but to watch Chris instead. But the show is just a loser throwback from the Hollyweird era, an era whose glitter is long gone and of no interest to anyone except the old dinosaurs themselves. Chris is probably embarassed to host it and doesn't want to be tainted with the stench of the old foggies Depends.
#5
Hey guys... you knew who Chris Rock was when you hired him. It's just like the Howard Stern thing, or Limbaugh doing sports - they want somebody "shocking" but think they can control them. Quit trying to be edgy and stuff like this doesn't happen.
Thermometers on the ground, measuring the near-surface air temperature, demonstrate a marked increase in globally-averaged temperature over the past two decades. Computer models of global warming predict that the temperature trend in the Earth's thick lower atmosphere, called the lower troposphere, should be experiencing an even more pronounced warming that increases smoothly with altitude. And yet, satellite observations of the temperature of the Earth's lower troposphere do not reveal any overall warming trend. Facing comment to appease the global warming mob cut.
These results will be presented today (February 6) at the 77th meeting of the American Metorological Society in Long Beach, California in a special session dedicated to the scientific study of global warming.
Dr. Roy Spencer, a scientist at NASA/Marshall and principal author on the paper, has been monitoring the temperature of layers in the Earth's atmosphere from space. Along with Dr. John Christy of the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Spencer has produced a temperature record spanning 18 years. Acquired from Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU) instruments flying aboard the TIROS series of weather satellites. Their data show temperature variations in the lower troposphere, a region from the surface to about 5 miles into the atmosphere.
"The temperatures we measure from space are actually on a very slight downward trend since 1979 in the lower troposphere. We see major excursions due to volcanic eruptions like Pinatubo, and ocean current phenomena like El Nino, but overall the trend is about 0.05 degrees Celsius per decade cooling," Spencer remarked. The interesting thing about this data is it is hard and not open to question. The earth's atomosphere is definitely cooling. Combine this with rural temperature records from co2science.com that show a clear cooling trend in most locations and the evidence I have posted that the southern oceans (most of the world's oceans) seem to be cooling and it seems the day of reckoning for the Kyoto sky-is-falling industry is not far off.
Posted by: phil_b ||
02/14/2005 4:19:50 AM ||
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A child of 7 can plainly see that it runs 5F warmer in the concrete/asplalt neighborhoods of Philadelphia than out here in the suburbs. Could it just be that that ground thermometer data is being interpreted poorly, the satellite data looking at the bigger picture is correct, and those climate models are nonsense? I have never trusted climate models from the folks who can't tell me what the weather will be three days from now.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/14/2005 8:37 Comments ||
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#3
Tom, that's exactly it. Many, many ground stations are in the middle of cities, or better still, at airports. Nothing like a bunch of jet engines running nearby to warp your readings.
The late John L Daly ran a site that talked about this a lot. His family keeps it up, and one of the features are a "Ground Station of the Week" showing records for various sites going back years, decades in most cases.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
02/14/2005 8:54 Comments ||
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#4
The climate has more variables than we understand as yet; and Tom's point about the location of thermometers is interesting. Cutting emissions is still a good idea, for the sake of cleaner air in general. It's unfortunate that in the political football game over "global warming" the plain good sense of cutting emissions gets lost.
I would be very interested to hear what progress we're making in cutting emissions based on good science. This is not my field of expertise, and I would appreciate some NON-POLITICIZED information.
#5
The problem here is that Kyoto focuses on CO2, which is harmless (unless you believe in the whole global warming hoax). The money spent to reduce CO2 would be much better spent getting old junkers off the roads (buy the people a brand new Prius; it would be cheaper than Kyoto), cleaning up massively polluted areas (under old military bases, for example), and stuff like that. I used to live in southern California. I like the idea of reducing harmful pollution, even at a cost. I hate that we're spending money on CO2 reduction which would be much better used to get rid of real pollution.
#9
however the greenhouse hypothesis also predicts cooling in the upper troposhere (near the stratosphere)--
the stratosphere is not at the same height each day and at each latitude -- there are seasonal and geographic differences but it averages about 15 miles or so up; see http://www.metoffice.com/research/stratosphere/
#11
The whole reason for the Kyoto Agreement was to create CO2 pollution credits which the US would have been forced to purchase from the third world. Nothing more than a global socialist money grab.
#13
Mom, CO2 is not a pollutant. Like water vapour (the main greenhouse gas) its necessary for life on earth. If by emissions you mean genuinely harmfull things like lead and various nitrogen compounds, then the air in all western countries continues to steadyly improves and as someone has pointed out, more could be done by buying up old cars and junking them. Otherwise the MSM avoids the cost of Kyoto, but it is almost certainly the most expensive exercise ever undertaken except the 2 world wars. Something that only now seems to be dawning on countries like the UK and Japan
#14
Ken Lay of Enron (remember him?)was one of Kyoto's most enthusiatic supporters. Enron stood to make even more boodle by "facilitating" the exchange of empty promises. For that reason alone I can deduce that Kyoto was not about the environment but solely about ca$h.
#15
I just came across this piece of info in Rooters report - some Kyoto signatories such as Spain and Portugal have increased greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent over 1990 levels.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/14/2005 20:05 Comments ||
Top||
#20
Crichton's "State of Fear" is pretty good, with heavy (nonfiction) footnotes. He's in the "more science" camp.
ACRIM seems to have some pretty good information on solar activity, which seems to account for a large percentage of short-term (less than 1000 years) variation.
Longer term (glaciation cycles, ~120,000 years) seem to relate more to variations in the Earth's orbit (it's not a Newtonian 2-body problem).
TGA, no palm trees, but at least your home is not being scraped by a glacier.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Saudi Arabia's interior minister has dismissed allegations that winners in the first round of the kingdom's nationwide municipal elections are Islamists. Dozens of the 640 candidates who lost in the first round of elections said they would contest the results of the poll, claiming that the winning candidates in Riyadh were on a list said to be endorsed by religious clerics. "The leadership and people of the Arab Kingdom of Saudi Arabia refuse these labels," Interior Minister 
It's a labour of love if you're trying to find the colour of passion for your Valentine's Day gift in Saudi Arabia, where Muslim religious police force shops to hide roses and smuggle heart-shaped cards under stacks of "To my grandmother" greeting cards. "I am sorry. No red roses. I had to remove them three days ago," a Filipino florist said, standing in front of a rich collection of roses and carnations of various colours, except red.
XXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SUN FEB 13, 2005 21:06:25 ET XXXXX 
