DAPHNE, Ala. -- Worried about the safety of her family during a stormy Memorial Day trip to the beach, Clara Jean Brown stood in her kitchen and prayed for their safe return as a strong thunderstorm rumbled through Baldwin County, Alabama.
But while she prayed, lightning suddenly exploded, blowing through the linoleum and leaving a blackened area on the concrete. Brown wound up on the floor, dazed and disoriented by the blast but otherwise uninjured.
She said 'Amen' and the room was engulfed in a huge ball of fire. The 65-year-old Brown said she is blessed to be alive.
Firefighters said its likely she was hit by a bolt of lightning that apparently struck outside and traveled into the house yesterday afternoon. She was found lying on the floor by her 14-year-old granddaughter.
Fire officials think the lightning likely struck across the street from the couple's home and traveled into the house through a water line. The lightning continued into the couple's backyard and ripped open a small trench.
A family member said he will no longer assume it is safe to be indoors during a lightning strike.
Dime-sized hail and wind gusts of up to 45 miles-per-hour moved across coastal Baldwin County. As much as three inches of rain fell in some areas in three hours.
Posted by: john ||
05/31/2006 19:50 ||
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When I was a firefighter, I saw some really weird lightning strike paths.
Probably the "best" one (witnessed) was in an older neighborhood with huge (50-100-foot) trees all over the place. A ball of lightning shot down the street, knocking out any homeowners' driveway lamps while leaving taller county streetlights alone and hitting not one tree.
It hung a left, went underground in a lady's paved driveway, hit a pipe, traveled through the pipe into the house to the sump pump, blew out the sump pump and traveled around the pipe along the wall to a sink, where it discharged.
The explosion knocked a whole bunch of decorative glass bottles off the kitchen window upstairs and scared the hell out of the female homeowner, who was home alone, sitting in a tub full of water, taking a bath in a thunderstorm. (Darwin, phone home.)
The worst part of it was, the previous year lightning had also struck the house, coming out through an electrical socket and narrowly missing her teenage daughter.
There's a sign in there someplace. Me, I'd MOVE.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/31/2006 21:02 Comments ||
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#2
or run a big friggin copper ground rod deep in mama earth
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/31/2006 21:29 Comments ||
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Frank, that's why my old TV antenna is still on the roof, though I've had cable for about 20 years.
That TV antenna cable attaches to a 3-foot copper ground rod pounded almost all the way into the ground. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/31/2006 23:27 Comments ||
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Conspiracy theorists, beware: That aluminum foil beanieheadwear believed, since at least the 1950s, to stop brain-control raysmay make it easier for The Man to read your mind, according to Massachusetts Institute of Technology grad students. Inspired by fringe beliefs that invasive radio signals can probe citizens thoughts and that wearing foil on your head may fend them off, an experiment by four Ph.D. candidates found that certain key frequenciesowned by the Feds, naturallyare actually enhanced by such protection.
The students first recorded a baseline transmission from a radio-frequency spectrum analyzer, a device that emits radio waves of various frequencies, to its receiver antenna, located on four test subjects bare noggins. Then they performed the same measurements sweeping from 10 kilohertz to 3 gigahertzwhile the subjects wore one of three double-layered foil helmets: the classical (foil hood wrapped close to the head), the fez (cylindrical, flat-topped hat) and the centurion (conical shape with a peak). The antenna, a stumpy plastic-coated stub, was fitted between the helmet and the subjects cranium to determine how much of a signal was absorbed or deflected before reaching the brain.
What started strictly as a desire to play with some expensive equipment ended with surprising results, says lead study author Ali Rahimi, a recent graduate of MITs doctoral program in electrical engineering and computer science. Overall, the foil effectively weakened radio waves by up to 10 decibels over most of the frequency spectrum (there were no significant differences among helmet shapes). But at 1.2 and 2.6 GHzwhich fall within the band reserved for government satellites, GPS systems and mobile phone corporationspassage through the foil amplified these waves by 20 to 30 decibels. Although Rahimi doesnt know why the foil increases only those frequenciesantenna design is a black art, he saysthe implications of the research were clear. It requires no stretch of the imagination to conclude that the current helmet craze is likely to have been propagated by the Government, possibly with the involvement of the FCC, the students sagely declared. If there are radio waves involved in reading minds, aluminum hats arent an effective way to counteract them."
~twirls the propeller on Tipper's carbon fiber beanie~
Posted by: DanNY ||
05/31/2006 1:21 Comments ||
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#2
SSSSSHHHHHH, Madonna's and siblings great daddy can read minds, etal. - see lyric "if you can read my mind". While Madonna's daddy can easily destroy Planet Earth at a whim, his ultimate duty under God is to observe, teach, guide, question and instruct, NOT DESTROY. NO WEALTH OR POWER ON EARTH IS OF INTEREST TO HIM BECUZ HE'S SEEN IT, HAD IT, DONE IT, CREATED IT ANDOR "DESTROYED" =RE-CREATED IT, ETAL. IT TIMES AND TIMES BEFORE IN MILLENIAS. On a separate note, what this tech describes is actually DREAM/VISION/REM CONTROL by third-party remote means.
#3
They definitely don't work. I tried wearing a lead-lined crash helmet, but the government simply zapped me from the front instead, through the visor.
Posted by: Al Gore ||
05/31/2006 2:14 Comments ||
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#5
OK who leaked it this time? Now how is our secret conspirators going to control all the moonbats and make them say stupid things then go to rallys for dems? This is just not fair!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
05/31/2006 7:51 Comments ||
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#6
Idiots. Every techie worth his salt knows you need to use fine copper mesh soldered at the joints and grounded for proper EMP protection.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/31/2006 8:25 Comments ||
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It is also essential to be standing on an ESD matt. Duh!
Israel has condemned a "repulsive" vote by Britain's main university lecturers' union to boycott colleges and academics unless they publicly oppose government policy in the Palestinian territories. Education Minister Yuli Tamir said Monday that the decision by members of the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE) at their annual conference in Blackpool, northern England, would only serve to undermine academic independence. "The decision to boycott the academic institutions is deplorable and repulsive," said Tamir in a statement. "Whoever applies this boycott will harm academia's independence and turn it into a tool in the hands of political forces," she added.
The NATFHE vote was also criticised by the British government as a counterproductive move. "We believe that such academic boycotts are counterproductive and retrograde," said junior foreign minister Lord David Triesman in a statement issued by the British embassy in Tel Aviv.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2006 00:00 ||
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Nice to see anti-semitism is still alive and well in Europe. Gives me a warm fuzzy. /sarcasm
#2
Do they plan on boycotting US Americians too? I can think of a lot of atheistic professors I know that don't think too highly of Palos and tend to prefer Jews given a choice.
#7
In the meantime antyone noticed their deafening silence about Soudan? Anyone heard them when Saddam gasssed Kurds? When Taliban slaughtered the Hazara? When Al Quaida bombs Iraqui children?
Why is that this bunch of Nazis only care about Israel?
#14
A pity that his comment was deleted, I would have enjoyed thrashing him. Last year an islamist came here and I had the pleasure to mop the floor with him. I told him about the crimes of Islam (very important since all the islamist propaganda centers in presenting Muslims as victims) I told him that Allah had no obligation to help so repugnant people and that in fact he hated Muslims and that was the reason for their defeats.
He was taken completely off guard and left virtually spechless: he posted a vague threat and never came back. Who knows, perhaps he had been shaken in his beliefs?
#18
I swear to Christ. God as my witness. If I ever become POTUS I am putting an end to all welfare to all the Arab states. These milking losers might have to confront reality if they had to take care of themselves instead of us taking care of them
I say let Arabia get invaded, overthrown or whatever, and then bomb it relentlessly for a few months.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
05/31/2006 16:21 Comments ||
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Mike - we just give them what they want, to be left alone like Garbo.
Then watch them squeal like stuck pigs and monkeys.
#24
I'd suggest we put a stop to all Visas and entries from any member of such a discriminatory group. Let em rot at home, cloistered buggery fanatics
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/31/2006 16:59 Comments ||
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I also redacted you, Justice (the second time). Your comments are vile, anti-Semitic (yes, even if you yourself are an Arab, it's anti-Semitic), gutter language. Feel free to spew your hatred on some Islmaic website, or over at Daily Kos, but you don't get to do it here. We simply won't tolerate it.
AoS
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/31/2006 17:01 Comments ||
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#26
If you're interested, visit the sink trap to see how wacked out the people over there (Saudi Arabia) really are. I would have left it up because it is so stupid as to be harmless except to expose how the author has been corrupted by his utter hatred. The guy is not having a problem with his meds, he just hates all Jews and wants to kill them. I suspect his opinion is a very clear expression of mainstream thought in the Magic Kingdom and deserves the disinfectant of sunlight.
#31
Justice note what Christopher Hitchens had to say:
"Bin Laden forgot to consult the Talmudic sub-text. Each of the 72 virgins comes with a mother-in-law. His terrorists should have read the fine print."
#32
If any US group tries do to the same thing, might they be prosecuted under the Anti-Arab Boycott laws?
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
05/31/2006 21:43 Comments ||
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I waded into the sinktrap, what giggles I had.
--Every civilization they have come across has humiliated them. --
And they have been rewarded for their suffering. They are productive, you are extractors.
Every civilization which has gone against them is either dying like Germany/Old Europe or a footnote in history. As so shall you be because you don't get it.
What really pisses you off is you can't understand why your glory days were 1000 years ago and they're still having theirs/contributing after 5000 years.
#34
no censorship in Saudi, nosirree. How's the sheets? Hot in summer eh? Get thee behind the hijab and quiet! 7th century misogynist culture....good luck wid that!
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/31/2006 22:51 Comments ||
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Dutch investigators cleared Lance Armstrong of doping in the 1999 Tour de France on Wednesday, and blamed anti-doping authorities for misconduct in dealing with the American cyclist.
A 132-page report recommended convening a tribunal to discuss possible legal and ethical violations by the World Anti-Doping Agency and to consider "appropriate sanctions to remedy the violations."
Posted by: ed ||
05/31/2006 10:39 ||
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A 132-page report recommended convening a tribunal to discuss possible legal and ethical violations by the World Anti-Doping Agency and to consider "appropriate sanctions to remedy the violations."
"What? You mean we are going to suffer the CONSEQUENCES of our actions?"
#6
Well, at least it only took 7 friggin YEARS to iron that out.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
05/31/2006 14:02 Comments ||
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What, again?
Think they'll give up after this?
Nah, me neither.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/31/2006 14:02 Comments ||
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It just has to kill the whole EU that the worlds greatest cyclist is an American. It was bad enough when Greg Lamond won, now the sport is dominated by American. Then if that bitch slap was not enough, Lance is going to pick a commoner to replace him on the team! degrading the tour to a reality where the winner can race in the tour. This is really making my day!!!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
05/31/2006 14:19 Comments ||
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Mon Dieu! It's bad enough that our beloved Frech wines suck compared to zat upstart California piss water, but now we have to suffer zis capitalist merde also? Manolo, fetch me another Gitane and Perrier immediatly, si vous plais....
#10
Let's clarify something quickly here, before the local lightning knocks me off the Internet. There are actually three classes of Frenchmen: Amis (JFM, 5089), Phrench (common French inhabitants) and Gaulists (utter dispized swine exemplified by our "good buddy" Jack "Crazy" Chirak and Dominique de Villipan (who might possibly be a man, who knows).
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/31/2006 22:13 Comments ||
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Seems that the British got much improved ships after Jutland because after the war when the British fleet was sent to supervise the suurendering of the German one the feeling on the German side was that their own ships were completely obsolete and no longer a match for the British.
#5
The RN was much bigger and more experienced in naval warfare than the German, but suffered at Jutland from the above + poor to barely adequate damage control, weak armor in many vital spaces, and Navy-wide poor to obsolete ammo handling methods-systems. The over-confident Brits were shocked post-Jutland at how advanced or superior the Germans were in many key aspects compared to the contemporary RN. BRAVE SAILORS ALL.
Consumers, businesses and even government departments could pay a special tax on emails and mobile phone text messages under a scheme floated by a centre-right French MEP to finance the EU. Alain Lamassoure, rapporteur of the European Parliament's budget committee, has suggested to all 25 EU national parliaments and governments that users pay a "tiny" tax of 0.15 (10p) on SMS text messages and 0.00001 on every email. "I have discussed this with national parliaments in Luxembourg, Portugal, Finland, Germany and France with varying responses," he said.
"I have not met my UK counterparts so far but I had a written response from the House of Lords saying the idea was very interesting - and the House of Commons Treasury committee wrote back, saying: 'It is none of your business nor ours,'" he added with a laugh.
Mr Lamassoure, a member of President Jacques Chirac's UMP party, has called a meeting with MPs and MEPs from all 25 member countries for June 21 when he hopes to persuade Laszlo Kovacs, the EU budget commissioner, of the merits of his concept. Calling it an element of "a fiscal system for the 21st century", he said: "Our idea is not to be revolutionary but to create a new system of our own resources without imposing new burdens on national budgets."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2006 00:00 ||
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ICQ and Instant Messaging .... Idiots
followed by stuff like totaly web page based token passing that lets you read the letter at its source without mailing it.
#9
RUNNING OUT OF XEROX PAPER ARE WE - Yep, the way to save Utopia and the already over-taxed, over-burdened current system is more un-affordable taxes regulations, and bureaucracies to support said new tax!?
by Robert Sibley, The Ottawa Citizen Pierre Trudeau is the archetype of the modern "enlightened," "free-thinking," "progressive" "liberal" politician--the guy that the likes of John Kerry has spent his whole life trying to emulate. And yet, . . .
A new biography of the former prime minister, whom Canadians have long been taught to regard as a great liberal politician, reveals that as a youth and young man, Mr. Trudeau was an anti-Semite, admired fascist dictators such as Hitler and Mussolini, promoted revolution and longed for an independent and Catholic Quebec that would be home only to francophones.
"We discovered a Trudeau who was remarkably different from what we and everyone else had assumed," authors Max and Monique Nemni write in their book, Young Trudeau: Son of Quebec, Father of Canada, 1919-1944.
. . . the Nemnis' book draws on Mr. Trudeau's own writings to demonstrate that in the late 1930s, as a student at the Jesuit-run College Jean-de-Brebeuf, Mr. Trudeau ardently embraced the chauvinist francophone nationalism. . . . Mr. Trudeau's youthful fantasy of war and revolution "hardly suggests that he was impregnated with the culture of federalism, of democracy, or of pluralism" that he advocated as prime minister of Canada in the 1970s, the Nemnis say.
Mr. Trudeau also demonstrated a distinct lack of multicultural credentials in his youth. He wrote a one-act comedy of manners in 1938 that "was intended to bring out the difference between dishonest and profiteering Jews and honest but too naive French Canadians." The play was selected by the college to mark its 10th anniversary and was "a great success."
One book Mr. Trudeau particularly admired was by Alex Carrel, who won the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1912, and, in 1941, returned to Nazi-occupied Europe to become a star in the collaborationist Vichy regime led by Henri Petain. In L'homme, cet inconnu, published in 1935, Mr. Carrel denounced democracy as foolish and harmful.
"The equality of rights is an illusion. The feeble-minded and the man of genius must not be equal before the law. ... The sexes are not equal."
Young Mr. Trudeau regarded it as the "perfect" book that needed "to be assimilated entirely." . . . As a first-year law student at the Universite de Montreal in the fall of 1940, Mr. Trudeau wrote notes on the defects of democracy: "Ignorance, credulity, intolerance, hatred for superiority, the cult of incompetence, and excess of equality, versatility, the passions of the crowd, the envy of individuals."
That might explain some of the more non-democratic features of the Canadian constitution.
The Nemnis also explode the myth that Mr. Trudeau's lack of support for the war effort in the 1940s was due to his ignorance of the situation. . . .
In short; he was rooting for the bad guys in a John murtha sort of way.
The Nemnis sum up Mr. Trudeau's schooling at Brebeuf, saying: "It must now be obvious that, contrary to a well-established myth that he cultivated, as did others, we nowhere could discover the young man rowing against the current." Mr. Trudeau, in short, was a conformist."
There's a bigger issue here than just the political history of the Great White North, and whether they ought to be naming high schools after this guy. Why is it that if you really dig deeply into the personality of an "enlightened," "free-thinking," "progressive" "liberal" person, you tend to find that they're contemptuous of their fellow men, conformist as all hell, and hostile to religion in general and, often as not, Jews in particular? Or am I overgeneralizing here? Discuss.
Posted by: Mike ||
05/31/2006 14:16 ||
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Uh, no.....I think you hit it generally on the head.
#2
Very interesting, as it explains the Canadian angst against the Iraq war. They were among the Nazi collaboraters! I have an ex-Nazi brother-in-law that fled the war through the Canadian ratlines, which later allowed him to enter the US and eventually become a citizen. He was in the Nazi Youth Corps and served in the Luftwaffe, but fled the Russian front....his fear of the Communists was greater than the anti-Semetic indoctrination. My French Protestant ancestors also fled the iron-fisted Jesuits of Quebec for the US. The book, The Secret War Against the Jews, or How Western Espionage Betrayed the Jewish People by John Loftus discusses this progressive liberal agenda that defies logic. Jesuits were key in the Nazi smuggling.
#4
Yawn. A lot of people (myself included and BTW a such Ronald Reagan) were moonbats when young. What ius interesting is what they do later:
-some continue to be moonbats and support the same genocidical dictators they supported when young
-some others change the sign of their moonbatship (eg Allende who was close to Nazis, became a Commie all while keeping a soft spot for Nazis and protecting from extradition)
-others feign to have converted to democracy and freedom but continue secretly to undermine it (eg former French PM Lionel Jospin and many writers in the French press)
-others genuinely convert and become ferocious opponents of liberals and moonbats, the more fearsome because they know their tactics and methods from inside
I am not interested by what kind of idiot Pierre Trudeau was when in high school, what interests me is what he was when he entered politics and still more, when he became PM.
#6
The book, The Secret War Against the Jews, or How Western Espionage Betrayed the Jewish People by John Loftus discusses this progressive liberal agenda that defies logic. Jesuits were key in the Nazi smuggling.
I have read books who presented irrefutable evidence about existence of UFOs and Michael Moore movies who presented irrefutable evidence that Bush/chenay/Haliburton was behind 9/11. Irrefutable, that is if you accepted that the book or the movie was really reporting the facts.
So I am sorry to dispel some of your illusions.
First: Jesuits were not involved in the inquisition (it was the Dominicans).
Second: it was Louis XIV not the Jesuits who expelled the protestants
Third: Jesuits have ever been hated by anticatholics not because they were bad but they were ideologically dangerous: they were much better learned and trained than priests, mixed with populace and preached (unlike monks), didn't live in luxury, didn't have obvious mistresses and progression in the Jesuit order was based on merit not on being the junior son of a noble (in fact the second general of the Jesuits was son of converted Jews), they also had military-like discipline and had sworn loyalty to the Pope.
Fourth: First time in history of American continent where death penalty, torture and slavery were abolished was in the Jesuitic missions (at a time where the major philosophers of enlightenment owned shares in slave-trading companies and opposed abolition because... it would "make sugar more expensive")
Fifth: Jesuits obey what the Pope orders. In fact their motto is "Perinde ac cadaver": even if it smells like a cadaver. And despite what some leftist authors hacve said (in order to divert eyes from comunist complicity with Nazis) the Pope (who BTW, was trapped in Vatican, with a mere hundred Swiss Guards and with the power station who fed Radio Vatican in Italian hands) did his utmost to save the Jews. In fact after the war his action was praised by the World Jewish Congress and at his death by Golda Meir. The Pope was ordering Jesuits to try to derail the Nazi death machine and Jesuits don't disobey the Pope, Never.
#7
Mike, If you want some more examples of the arrogance of the enlightened, and haven't yet, read Intellectuals by Paul Johnson.
My conclusion is that these people are all utilitarians. They believe in providing the greatest benefit to the greatest number. The important key is that only they and their equally intelligent peers posess the secret way to do this because it has escaped all of mankind heretofor.
As JFM points out most of us are, shall we say, unfamiliar with how the world truly works when we are young. As we grow older, we grow wise. Thus the universal lament that youth is wasted on the young.
#10
Safaris through ancestral memories teach me many things. The patterns, ahhh, the patterns. Liberal bigots are the ones who trouble me most. I distrust the extremes. Scratch a conservative and you find someone who prefers the past over any future. Scratch a liberal and find a closet aristocrat. It's true! Liberal governments always develop into aristocracies. The bureaucracies betray the true intent of people who form such governments. Right from the first, the little people who formed the governments which promised to equalize the social burdens found themselves suddenly in the hands of bureaucratic aristocracies. Of course, all bureaucracies follow this pattern, but what a hypocrisy to find this even under a communized banner. Ahhh, well, if patterns teach me anything, it's that patterns are repeated. My oppressions, by and large, are no worse than any of the others and, at least, I teach a new lesson.
Some whine to go with this morning's cheese omelette. Chateau Wapo 2006
Huge mines here turning tarry sand into cash for Canada and oil for the United States are taking an unexpectedly high environmental toll, sucking water from rivers and natural gas from wells and producing large amounts of gases linked to global warming.
The digging -- into an area the size of Maryland and Virginia combined -- has proliferated at gold-rush speed, spurred by high oil prices, new technology and an unquenched U.S. thirst for the fuel. The expansion has presented ecological problems that experts thought they would have decades to resolve.
"The river used to be blue. Now it's brown. Nobody can fish or drink from it. The air is bad. This has all happened so fast," said Elsie Fabian, 63, an elder in a native Indian community along the Athabasca River, a wide, meandering waterway once plied by fur traders. "It's terrible. We're surrounded by the mines."
Posted by: ed ||
05/31/2006 07:49 ||
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Canada pays for U.S. oil thirst
I'm very confused : doesn't the oil-thirsty USA PAY for the canadian oil?
#4
And don't forget the enviro-terrorist have convinced Congress to keep nearly all the American continental shelf off limits for oil production. Time to end the game. Make it the responsiblity of the objectors to come up with new fields elsewhere when they shut out existing fields anywhere else. Don't have any. Objections overruled.
#5
The major oil companies built some pilot 'synfuel' plants to exploit the huge Alberta tar sands back during the oil crunch of the late '70's to early '80's. Operating costs were high, capital investment costs were high, and extraction efficiencies were not so high. Projects were not really profitable once prices fell. Still, operation, experimentation, and test expansions continued, with the sure knowledge that prices would eventually rise. I doubt they expected the rate of price increase that happened. However, at $70 all those years of trial and investment are paying off fast. Plant capacities are doubling every year.
I am sure Canada, and even Alberta, have responsible environmental regulations. However, tar sand extraction is not a lot different from strip mining coal in terms of environmental impact. I am sure that the 'boom' expansion of the industry has put a load on environment, and on those who are trying to protect it (both the regulators and in the companies themselves) - no one has the numbers of experienced people available, either engineers or inspectors, to cope with the radically increased scale of operations. No doubt the environment is degraded in some areas, and given how nice it was, I am sure the change is very noticable. If the development was in the 'old' New Jersey Meadowlands, it would probably seem like an improvement.
#10
Of course this is all America's fault and Bushes plan to destroy the world. This says nothing about CANADIAN GREED that is driving the rape of their own land. Over 90% of Canada's population is along the US border, why, because that is where the money is! If Canada really gave a damn about their environment they would have stopped this years ago. But no they continue to take our money and talk bad about us in the press. They can be worse than Mexico some times.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
05/31/2006 14:12 Comments ||
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#11
It's true, SU and ERF pay me, but the Canucks take their tax every month.
(CNSNews.com) - A liberal advocacy group is asking its members to choose three "big, positive ideas" to form its platform for the midterm elections in November. MoveOn.org said nearly 10,000 people gathered in living rooms and dining rooms across the nation last week "to talk about the goals we share for our country." The group said "thousands of inspiring" ideas poured in -- and now it's time for MoveOn members to choose three ideas "that we most want to focus on together in 2006."
MoveOn.org is asking its members to vote on the following ten options, which it described as the most popular ideas from last week's house parties:
A living wage for all
Global leadership through diplomacy
Verifiable, accurate elections
High quality education for all
Balanced federal budget
Health care for all
Publicly funded elections
Preserve our natural resources
Energy independence: clean, renewable sources
Restored constitutional rights
"And a pony!"
The online voting closes at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday and the official results will be announced on Thursday morning, the group said. After that, MoveOn.org said it would launch a campaign "to spread the word about the three positive ideas you select. Then, all year, we'll look for key opportunities to work together to turn these ideas into reality." The idea, the group said, is to "show the nation what we're for, not just what we're against."
The group assured members that the "new positive agenda" won't be its only focus: "Together we'll still work to bring the troops home from Iraq and stand firm against radical Republican initiatives."
So they're not giving up their current Three-Point Agenda: Cut/Run/Impeach
MoveOn.org said it wants every voter to understand "what progressives will do for our country -- and 3 big ideas is about as many as most of us can easily remember at one time.
" I want clean, renewable leadership and, uh.....Dude, what were the last three?"
It's about "focus," the group said: "We can only fight so many battles and together we must pick which ones to put first."
Republicans (and various political analysts) repeatedly have accused Democrats of failing to advance a coherent political agenda for the midterm elections.
MoveOn.org apparently has decided not to wait for the Democrats but to "move on" by itself.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/31/2006 09:25 ||
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Had they put national security on the list (at all) and chosen a balanced budget and energy independence, they would have a sportin chance. Without security, the rest is meaningless.
Liberals are top-notch at picking a losing agenda, aren't they?
By means of confiscating it from those of us who earned it.
Global leadership through diplomacy
Ah. The Chamberlain model.
Verifiable, accurate elections
From the party that brought you the Chicago machine, a decades-long record of election fraud, and the 2000 Florida fight -- including the purposeful blocking of military ballots.
High quality education for all
From the people who made the US education system what it is today!
Balanced federal budget
From the people who call an increase in spending a cut!
Health care for all
AKA "government control over who lives and who dies" with an added frisson of Democrat/Union apparatchiks having access to your medical records.
Publicly funded elections
Welfare for the political class!
Preserve our natural resources
Welfare for the Greens!
Energy independence: clean, renewable sources
Welfare for the Saudis and their comrade Chavez!
Restored constitutional rights
Well, except for the 1st and 2nd Amendments. And maybe a few others -- they'll get back to us on them.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
05/31/2006 10:44 Comments ||
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Gene the (appropriately) moron -- "Living Wage" means increased welfare and yet another jack in the minimum wage. All it ever does is force the marginally skilled out of the work force by making them too expensive to employ.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
05/31/2006 10:45 Comments ||
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#6
Gene, I couldn't disagree more about the so-called 'living wage'. It's proponents are ignorant of basic economics as well as historical fact. Try this link for a more definitive argument:
By means of confiscating it from those of us who earned it.
Uh no.. Living wage means just that. It is not right that a person can work 40-50 hours a week and still not make enough money to afford a place to sleep or decent food. Been there done that.
Nobody wants to take anything from you jsut to get paid enough to live.
Competeing with illegal aliens just makes the problem worse.
Do the math.
High quality education for all
From the people who made the US education system what it is today!
As oppsed to the people who want to dismantle it completely.
Balanced federal budget
From the people who call an increase in spending a cut!
Again do the math. You cannot have an expensive war and cut taxes.
Shit is falling apart here. buying bigger cars so that you can cruise over the mess is not an answer.
Health care for all
AKA "government control over who lives and who dies" with an added frisson of Democrat/Union apparatchiks having access to your medical records.
How is this worse than corporate profit margin stockholder CFo's of Healthcare insurance companies deciding what you can and can't have and the collusion they are often in with employers ?
Preserve our natural resources
Welfare for the Greens!
You are against decent water, air , trees etc. ?
Energy independence: clean, renewable sources
Welfare for the Saudis and their comrade Chavez!
How would becoming energy independednt create welfare for oil producing countries ?
Let 'em sell pistachios.
Restored constitutional rights
Well, except for the 1st and 2nd Amendments. And maybe a few others -- they'll get back to us on them.
I really used to like the 4th amendment. Too bad huh ?
I guess our MExican AG isn't going to restore that one.
#8
Gene, we've done the math. There's absolutely no evidence that raising the minimum wage helps the poor. History and economic facts prove just the opposite.
#9
mcsgeek I appreciate your comments and on some macro level it might be true,
But if you are on your own, and working some poor-ass job, maybe you'd feel different.
I remember once when I was in that position .
It was most unpleasant.
Couldn't pay my $175 one-room apt. rent and eat and keep a
used Honda.
Luckily I moved in with friends.
I don't know exactly where the disconnect is but it seems absurd
that wages and prices are so out of wack at the low end.
From the people who made the US education system what it is today!
As oppsed to the people who want to dismantle it completely.
Who said anything about dismantling? Open it up to competition, get the damn NEA out of there (they are not interested in your child's education!) and hold schools responsible.
You are against decent water, air , trees etc. ?
Are you saying the greens are? Sorry but lately they are more interested in their own political power then the 'environment'. Look at Al Gore's actions and not his words to see what I mean.
I really used to like the 4th amendment. Too bad huh ?
What ever happened to the 10th admendment? You know the one which says that any power not specifically given to the Feds in the consitution is reserved for the people and the states?
#11
I appreciate that. I struggled at one time, like alot of people. Practically lived on boxed mac and cheese. Over the years however, with lots of study and a little more experience, I've concluded it's the 'living wage' socialists who actually exacerbated the problem. Would a pay raise help a particular person? Of course it would. But a mandated 'living wage' would simply devastate the economy that the working poor are barely clinging to already.
#12
Gene, have you ever hired anyone yourself ? Have you ever observed a motivated individual boring into his job without hesitation ? I think not. I think you wouldn't know a stud worker from a sack of rice. Some people have what it takes to get ahead. What better system than one which allows anybody to work their way to the top. This is it. America, the land of the free, the home of the brave, and the home of the chickenshits.
#13
A company I worked with had a guy in the mailroom who got his annual review and and a raise of about 4%. He was extraordinarily unhappy with the raise and complained to anybody who would listen that "he will never be able to afford a house if the company won't pay him more money".
Gene: Some jobs just aren't worth it. If you want to afford a good place to live and good food, get a real job. Leave the minimum wage for teenagers.
#14
Raising the minimum wage actually hurts everyone. Prices will rise since employeers need to make up the cost of the higher wages. The people making minimum wage end up right back where they were before. I used to work a minimum wage job and could barely make ends meet. I decided it sucked, got a loan from the government for an education, got educated and now am a happy middle class employee. If you don't like low wages, do something about your life. Otherwise, sit down and shut the fuck up.
#16
It is foolish to think the world owes you a living and that money grows on trees.
It is stupid to lack compassion for people who do everything they should, work hard, sacrifice much, and then have to listen to others in comfortable lives tell them about how lazy and whiny they are being.
#17
Well said Jules. Individual compassion toward those less fortunate is an admirable and essential trait for the civilized man. But government mandated compassion is not compassion at all.
#19
Dude, is the pony an illegal alien? Well, okay then.
Posted by: Captain America ||
05/31/2006 13:04 Comments ||
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#20
Everyone in school gets a "C" so no one feels above anyone else or inferior.
Posted by: Captain America ||
05/31/2006 13:05 Comments ||
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#21
"But government mandated compassion is not compassion at all."
Actually it is, in a sense; it's what Walter Williams called "animal compassion" (as opposed to human compassion) in a tight little essay he wrote a decade ago, about the failed War On Poverty.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
05/31/2006 13:07 Comments ||
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#22
I want, like, FREE POT, man! And all other kinds of free stuff, man! And, like, I want somebody else to pay for it, man!
Is that, like, three things?
#23
I don't see any "sexy" campaign issues here. Even if you agree with the items, they're too wonky to run an effective campaign.
All I see are the "usual suspects": a leftist's wetdream of the Ideal Society (no resemblance to reality included).
#24
It's a hard world
To get a break in.
All the Good Things
Have been taken...
But girl there are ways
To make certain these days
Though I'm dressed in these rags
I'll wear sable, someday...
Hear what I say!
#26
It's a sad day for liberal advocacy groups when legalized marijuana doesn't even make the top ten.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/31/2006 13:16 Comments ||
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#27
I luvs ear worms...
I like the "Restored constitutional rights" item. When challenged, they can never quite put their finger on what rights they've lost. But they're pretty sure that The Man has Done Them Wrong... somehow. I chalk it up to an IQ deficiency.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Shredded. Nobody (including me) minds if they shred it on the right people. There is doubt about the system's ability to discriminate.
Like searching everyone getting on an airplane. Making everyone remove articles of clothing and expose their personal items etc.
Like how I am offended thyat I have to bring 4 ID's including a passport to RENEW my driver's license but if a cop stops an illegal with a forged license he is liable to let him go rather than risk the hassle.
#30
It's a sad day for liberal advocacy groups when legalized marijuana doesn't even make the top ten.
A sad day for us all that there are so many things wrong that it has dropped off the list.
But look at the bright side. It'll be a dark day before you have too any queers getting married and after all doesn't that really help us all ?
#32
By Gene: Uh no.. Living wage means just that. It is not right that a person can work 40-50 hours a week and still not make enough money to afford a place to sleep or decent food. Been there done that.
Apparently you aren't doing it anymore, though, eh? Good for you! (and that's the point)
And here I was feeling a tad sympathetic toward you. Silly me.
I wasn't around in the late 1700's, but I can remember not needing to lock the doors at bedtime, but that doesn't mean I'm a idiotic mark who lives in a freaking dreamworld where bad shit doesn't happen to good people. Common sense comes into the picture when you're not posturing for the peanut gallery.
How do you propose to identify the right people from the wrong people for your selective view? No, you can't do that (profile) - it violates that very same principle which you hold up.
I already know all the worthy idealistic quotes. None of them will bring back anyone. In the real world, you either get real or get others killed. I was a cop for 9 years - kiss my ass.
#35
How do you propose to identify the right people from the wrong people for your selective view?
That's a good question. What do you think, expert ?
No, you can't do that (profile) - it violates that very same principle which you hold up.
As I said, I don't mind if you do it right but they don't.
After they passed the Patriot Act the highest profile arrest and conviction was of Tommy Chong.
BZZZT!
Oh? They're going to bring in school choice? The ONLY proven method to increase education quality. That and wresting control of the teachers away from the unions, and teaching fundamentals and enforcing classroom discipline.
Nice to see the Kos Kids finally seeing the light.
Or did they mean more of the smae - more tx money spent, less education done, and arguably less prepared and less innformed "graduates" as the result....
#37
You're an idiot - you made no point. You cannot parade the 4th Amendment from the Bill of Rights and then violate it at the same time, dipshit.
As for who has been nabbed under the more common sense provisions of the Patriot Act they include most or all of the jihadists arrested over the last 5 years. Do you even know what it entails? I think not. Tommy Chong? You are an idiot.
#39
Look, I believe in the 4th Amendment, but we apply shit to everyone because the judges and lawyers own the system's results. Just imagine putting in 300-400 hours on an arrest, much of it off the clock, only to see some judge dismiss the case.
#40
What they mean by High Quality Education is smaller classrooms'. (Translations: more teachers and more fees being paid to the unions - also more people paying the 'DNC' tax to the democratic party (if they want to or not)).
Classrooms have been getting smaller over the past' 40 years - yet schools have been declining over that same 40. Smaller classrooms isn't the problem.
Heres how to fix it:
1) Open up the system to charter and school choice.
2) Get the damn unions out of there. The unions can represent the teachers in contract negociations but thats *IT*.
3) In fact end the union's protection and mandated union membership / fees. (as in Washington State where you *will* pay the union and the DNC tax or you will not teach!).
4) Teacher and Administrative promotions based on *merit* and not *senority*.
5) Dump tenure (or just about the same thing) for teachers who cannot be fired unless they kill or rape someone. Give the administrators the right to fire people.
Diplomats do not Lead. They seek consensus and compromise through endless babble.
"Publicly funded elections"
Uuhh?? Isn't that the Politburo and about every other Marxist/Leninist Dictatorship?
"Energy independence: clean, renewable sources"
Nuclear power? Right? Off shore drilling in the Gulf of Mex., ANWAR, Could be a winner then. Not.... Solar and Wind Power will ALLWAYS be a technology for the future as using these products still takes up more money than they pay. Not to mention the NIMBY problem. Bio Fuels, Ethanol, Saw Grass, etc. are closer though we will need to feel A LOT more pain to make them practical. Hydrogen you say? that might work in a 100 year plan.
"Restored constitutional rights
Winner !!!! 2nd Ammendment!!........ Oh, not that one??? WTF?
#43
None of the above points would provide better education.
I have a 12 year-old daughter.. ( 99.8% on Iowa Basics)
My wife is a Teacher.
We lived in a bad neighborhood.
I refused to send my kid to the school up the street where there was a desk for her paid by my taxes.
I sent her to the next town over and paid for it till we could move there.
I didn't ask for my taxes back. I excersized the choice I already have.
None of the points you stress would make the kids , THE KIDS, in that school any less scary.
Maybe replace the parents.
#44
Moron idiot asshole whatever I have my moments.
Considering I got banned from Free Republic and DU I feel very happy with Rantburger's tolerance in general and salute you all.
#45
You should hear some of the names I've been called, lol. :) Sometimes it went on 20 or 30 minutes. I never laughed so hard. Remember the scene in The Long Kiss Goodnight where Samuel Jackson tells Geena Davis that he used to think she was some goody two shoes saying "Gosh darnit, I burned the muffins!" but now she goes into a bar and 10 minutes later sailors come running out? Lol. I know what he meant.
#46
And I want, like, FREE COLOR TV's like the Indians get, man...
Thousands of Indians to get color TVs -- for free
CHENNAI, India (Reuters) - The government of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu said Tuesday it would float a global tender for color television sets that will be given free to tens of thousands of poor people.
New state Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi said the 14-inch (35-cm) TV sets, which he had promised to people living below the poverty line in the run-up to local assembly elections this month, would be distributed from mid-September.
The 83-year-old leader, who wrested power from his opponent J. Jayalalithaa in the elections, also promised rice at 2 rupees ($0.43) per kg for the poor.
About 30 percent of India's more than one billion people live below the poverty line.
And they deserve it because the white man, like, took all their land...
#47
I can't wait for their final 3. Will they include a disclaimer excusing them from the usual democrat corruption effect. Gary Condit, Grey Davis, William Jefferson, William Jefferson Clinton, Robert Toricelli, McGreevey, McKinney, Pat Kennedy, Fat Kennedy, Nagin, Burger, Wilson/Plame, Jackson, Sharpton, and a cast of thousands.
#52
May I suggest either Dr. Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics, A Citizens Guide to the Economy or PJ O'Rourke's Eat the Rich?
Thomas Sowell advocates public education till third grade. "once they can read the sign on my lawn that says "Keep out" that's enough for them"
Practically a direct quote . What a fuckin' humanitarian this peice of work is !
All "living wages" do is establish an underclass.
And we wouldn't want to do that being as we just established an undeclass right under the old underclass.
America's about incentive and moving up, not staying stagnant.
As I said I dropped out in 1971. I make my modest living doing digital video and DVD authoring from my home office.
I think I've kept up reasonably and not really stagnated till recently.
#53
MoveOn.org said nearly 10,000 people gathered in living rooms and dining rooms across the nation last week "to talk about the goals we share for our country."
How come I got a mental image of a couple hundred (that's close to "nearly 10,000" right?) geeks in their parent's basement (+ Al Franken) typing away on the moveon.org server? Guess we now see just how big the "far left" movement really is...don't know why it gets so much attention.
Posted by: BA ||
05/31/2006 15:29 Comments ||
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#54
I hear ya Gene. Those are the kids - perhaps introduce some dicipline at the schools would help (I can hear the ACLU braying now...). Outside of the kids I think the above would improve the quality of the school.
Personally I think everyone, and I mean everyone should pay something for school. Be it $50 month or $10 a month. Make the parents actually have to pay (even when they are on welfare) *something* and they will *value* the school more and perhaps pay more attention to their kids (homework, etc..) and perhaps make sure they are prepared to learn when they get to school.
My niece went through school and some of the teachers were great! And some were simply 'putting in time' and couldn't care less. Unfortunately they get rated on their senority and not their merit.
My sister and her husband are both elementry school teachers who also taught over seas (last in Abi Dhabi) and they said that the students there were far better prepared. When they arrived at school they were ready to learn. Here hanf the students are ill-prepared so the teacher has to take time to help them.
#55
Personally I think everyone, and I mean everyone should pay something for school. Be it $50 month or $10 a month.
This is part of the fallacy of a "voucher system" As a homeowner I know I am paying 5-7k .
Yet they always refer to that "innercity parent" who needs vouchers to go to a better school.
But this theoretical person is an apartment dweller. Given the benefit of the doubt and a $2000 voucher she is still short by two thirds for a PUBLIC scholl never mind a private 8-12k per year school .
#56
Gene: If you send your young scholar to a private school as I did, you get the double treat of property taxes and private school tuition as well as child transport. I paid gladly, as do most. In the State of Georgia the school taxes are removed as the homeowner reaches age 65. Some folks ain't as lucky as Georgians.
#58
Regards apartment dwellers, commercial property is (at least in the states I've lived in) taxed at a higher rate by school districts... that's being passed along, of course.
#59
Same here Gene. The winters are mild, and the locals are fun to watch. No even 'cold, instant grits without butter' could move me now. (the common antidote for Yankees who stay in Ga. too long)
#61
Regards apartment dwellers, commercial property is (at least in the states I've lived in) taxed at a higher rate by school districts... that's being passed along, of course.
That's why I allow $2000. I cannot see a low-income aprtment dweller in an inner city (socalled) getting more than that..
They would then be "on their own" to find an appropriate school.
I feel that in many cases the 2k would dissappear and those kids would end up on the street.
#65
Gene may eba self proclaimed Moron, but he made a good point about education.
It's the parents. End of story.
That's why private schools do such a good job educating children. Not just because they don't have bad teachers protected by unions, but because thier parents care about the childs education. That's why the child is in private education. The parents cared enough to send them.
Home schooling can be very good also if the parents know what they are doing.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
05/31/2006 16:41 Comments ||
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#66
It's the parents. End of story.
Darlins, it's always the parents. Been that way since Grog started the first plow skool.
#67
Of course private schools have to compete (1), and are often not run by unions (2 & 3) and promote based on merit (4 & 5). And if the parents of a district are engaged with the school (and are allowed to be engaged by the school admin) it certainly helps!
I agree its the parents. I think having the parents pay something for schooling might, just might, get them to _value_ the school and not treat it as a glorified babysitting service.
Also the students who are prepared, and ready to learn suffer when a teacher has to take time out to help a ill-prepared student - or has to take time to handle a misbehaving brat who's parents simply don't give a flying F.
#68
That's all very nice but it's about how people live and what they teach their children at home.
Contrary to what you might think teachers unions do not create 8 year old felons, bad parents or no parents do.
#69
Aka: 1. Universal Welfarism
2. Anti-US OWG - "America must obey the
World community/UNO", i.e. payout without
asking where the $$$ went.
3. Democrats-Leftists must always win,
legit or illegit.
4. More $$$ to hire fewer, unqualified
teachers to teach PC, stratified,
anti-discriminatory discriminatory,
Alternatist-Surreal agendas to
larger class sizes that teachers
can't handle.
5. Break elex promises while pretending
balanced budget + surplus was achieved.
Disavow after leaving Oval Office - claim nationwide that iff he was himself,
he woouldn't believe himself either.
6. Be like FRANCE that can't bury the dead
or prevent payless Paydays, Work Weeks, or
vacation-employment benefits, etal. for
Public employees or regular citizens.
7. Govt. pays all elex costs for
candidates.
8. Buy togas, drive camels, use canoes, etal.
GET A HOSS, YOU D*** FASCIST MALE BRUTE
YOU! POOR POTUS JOHN KERRY ONLY HAS FIVE
MANSIONS THANKS TO UNCARING DECADENT
GREEDY FASCIST REPUBLICANS LIKE YOUSE.
9. Free Market = based only in USA + Fed/
Govt assumes all bottom-line debt.
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ANTI-COMPETITION,
EXCESSIVE PAY=LOW WORK/PRODUCTIVITY UNION
AND MAFIA SYNDICATE.
10. Govt-Subsidized National Cantons/Enclaves
e.g. Legal Polymory-Polygamy, Legal
Pedophilia, Legal Murder, Legal Incest,
Gay-Lesbian Marriage, Legal Teacher-
Student Sex [In-School/Class], ....etc.
ALL THE THINGS TO GIVE AND PROMISE BEFORE POYUS HILLARY, OR MURTHA, TAKES IT AWAY FROM AMERICANS IN THE NAME OF DEFICIT BUDGETING, AND DEFICIT -INDUCED GOOD SOCIALISM AND NATIONAL-FISCAL-ECON CONSERVATISM, i.e. America can longer afford anything.
Its NOT Communism or SOcialism, but "Anti-Fascism", i.e. anti-Rightist SOCIALISM; NOT Conservatism but "Alternativism/ALternatism"; NOT Centralism or Totalitarianism but "TRIANGULATION",
.................@!? GOD HELP US ALL, THE LEFTIES AND COMMUNISTS DON'T KNOW HOW TO STOP DUBYA FROM MOVING AMERICA TOWARDS COMMUNISM, SOCIALISM, TOTALITARIANISM, AND OWG - the RINO's don't know how to stop their RINO-isms, the CINO's their CINO-isms, the Lefties and Commies to stop their Leftist and Communist Amrikkkan victory over America. THE HORROR, THE HORROR, THE HORROR ....
#4
So Mother Cindy is calling for another purge of the mad Mad MAD M-A-D-D-D INSANE WARMONGERING IMPERIALIST ARROGANT BRUTE Fascist-Rightist minority fron Clintonian Amerikkk'a sacred feminine, national Communist/Globalist-majority Party and mainstream, eh!? Again fighting hard for those few special reserved seats on the Amerikkkan CPUS/CCUS Politburo andor Presidium which Russia-China never promised the US- or Western Lefts. ONCE DUBYA IS DONE WID IRAN, SYRIA, TAIWAN AND NORTH KOREA, i.e. where the Nukes are, all any Dem POTUS has left is AFRICA-CHAVEZ-POST-FIDEL CUBA, etc. i.e. where the Nukes [mostly?]are NOT, sub i.e. USA WILL SPEND SPEND SPEND US $$$ FOR ANTI-US OWG!? Whats the betting rate on any post-2008 Dem POTUS successfully dealing wid SOMALIA, SUDAN, CHAVEZ, etc., i.e democratizing them, as opposed to merely paying them not to attack Fascist =Half-A-Communist Amerikkka vv FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE flick starring Gina Lolobrigida!? Or was that Sophia???
#9
DarthVader is correct. There is nothing even vaguely rightwing about Bush. Much less extremist.
Al Gore is clearly a jackass who can't even correctly identify what it is he's railing against.
#10
So far, Bush has appointed a couple of USSC Justices who might turn out to be somewhat conservative in their judicial approach. This does not make him a "renegade rightwing extremist."
He also pushed through a small, temporary decrease in our Federal Income Taxes. This, too, falls a bit short of making him a "renegade rightwing extremist."
And following the attacks of 9/11, Bush also decided to get serious in dealing with Islamic terrorism. These aren't the actions of a "renegade rightwing extremist," either.
And off the top of my head, those are the ONLY things Bush has done that I could call "conservative."
On everything else, he's more like a Rockefeller Republican. JMHO...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
05/31/2006 8:57 Comments ||
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#11
He rails because he's jealous. He's the petulant little child who didn't get his way so now he goes WAAAAAAHHHHHH. I know he's considered a very 'intellectual' fellow, but considering the bilge that he spews every day, I see no evidence of a true disciplined logical thinker or intellectual. It's easier and probably more acccurate to assess him as the pissed off little brat that he is.
#16
It astounds me every time I hear about how intelligent/cerebral algore is supposed to be. As if the "Reinvention (of our Federal Government" and all other things unwieldy, could even possibly be remotely attributable to young Al.[--Kack! Expulsion of hairballSorry!]
And, we thought McVain's elephantine sense of entitlement was a skoshi overblown; what with Daddy being an Admiral, just like Gramps. Well, that's heady stuff- especially in 1940's-70's.
Too many years in those posh digs in Officer's Country most likely prepared USN Ace Johnny for the future hardship he endured while a Hanoi Hilton POW . (just my gut. Probably unfair.) What an asshole he turned out to be. (as)
Posted by: as ||
05/31/2006 21:54 Comments ||
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Henry Paulson, a top Wall Street banker who has done business in China, was nominated by President George W Bush to be the new US treasury secretary in place of John Snow. Paulson, 60, "has an intimate knowledge of financial markets and ability to explain economic issues in clear terms," Bush said at a White House announcement.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
It took me a moment but then..... whahhahahaa, I got it.
"Lessee here, carry the 2, multiply by the hypotenuse...by the Profit's beard this is making me edgy. "
Federal Minister for Information Technology (IT), Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari, said that the ministry was planning to computerise Pakistan Railways (PR) ticketing and information sectors and provide online services to corporate customers and passengers.
Awais said in a meeting with Minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmed that the IT ministry had agreed to bear the cost of automation of various processes within Pakistan Railways and introduce a paperless environment in Pakistan's biggest public sector organisation. He said that they were in the process of finalising a project that would allow people to buy tickets on the Internet and keep track of their cargo consignments. The minister said that the project would come into effect by January 2007. There would be an electronic office online that would entirely replace the traditional mode of ticketing.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2006 00:00 ||
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#6
Computerized railway? No problemo. Can't be any harder than baggage handling at the Denver Airport. Maybe the Pakis could get the guys that built that system to help out.
Balochistan Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani has called upon religious leaders to play a role in eradicating religious extremism and sectarianism by promoting religious harmony and tolerance. Addressing the inaugural session of the provincial Ulema and Mashahik Convocation on Tuesday, he said the Islamic world was confronted with extremely dire problems in all domains of life.
The state of the Muslim Ummah, he said, needed to be reformed in order to grapple with the challenges of the modern era. We need to fight the existing challenges faced by the Muslim world. Our enemy is not external but it lies within us. We need to fight it. It is important for the Muslims to create unity in their own ranks and act for the eradication of religious intolerance and extremism, he said. He urged the religious scholars to teach peace, patience and tolerance in their Friday sermons. There is an urgent need for a united and tolerant Muslim society for development and prosperity of the Muslims, he added. The governor said Islam was a religion of peace and utterly spurned violence. It is you people who can convince the world that Islam abhors violence and preaches love, brotherhood, tolerance and respect for every being, he said.
The convocation was also addressed by leading religious scholars. All the speakers agreed that Muslims were currently facing their worst days and they need to unite to regain their lost glory.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
The picture - is that a frame from Beneath the Valley of the Shadow of the Planet of the Apes?
I was wondering where Tony Orlando had gone. Now I know, he's advising the Myanmar junta.
Myanmar's military junta is using a civilian front to kill off detained Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party and put an acceptable face on its rule as international pressure mounts, exiled foes alleged on Tuesday.
The Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) could win eventual elections and cloak the junta in civilian guise, the Thailand-based Network for Democracy and Development (NDD) said. "The regime is little interested at this time in genuine democratisation, and has already developed an elaborate plan using the USDA to hold onto power," former Thai ambassador Surapong Jayanama said in a preface to an NDD report. "The UN Security Council is needed to end the political deadlock in the country. The people of Burma should not have to wait any longer," he said in a report entitled "The White Shirts: How the USDA will become the new face of Burma's Dictatorship".
It counts high-ranking members of the State Peace and Development Council, as the junta is known formally, as patrons, secretaries and members of its Central Executive Committee, the exiles report said. "With a long history of oppression, the potential for the USDA to become a political party and run in future elections is troubling," it said. "A transition to a new, civilian government would be in name only."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2006 00:00 ||
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05/31/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Now, now, is no longer any so-called "Liberal" vision, as many dedicated Lefties are now using "Leftist" andor "Liberal" synonymously wid SOCIALIST, ergo proving once again 9-11 and the GWOT for the Failed/Angry Left is NOT about forcing Failed and Failing Socialism and eventualy COMMUNISM upon an unsuspecting America. THE LEFTIES, LIKE SAINT BILL, WANNA TELL THE TRUTH , D*** YOU, ERGO IS WHY THEY ARE RINOS AND CINOS!? *"America under Dubya is a SOCIALIST country moving towards Communism, Totalitarianism, and Global Govt and, God help us all, American Lefties, Socialists, Anarchists, and Communists don't know how to stop it, to stop Dubya and only Dubya, America and only Amerikkka, the USA and only the USSA".
#3
Recently there was an article at TCS about why the left keeps appealing to people. The author concluded that the mythos of liberalism was more exciting and sexy than the mythos of capitalism, and that facts about the success of one relative to the other didn't really enter into things.
Sowell seems to agree with this.
Leftism isn't a cancer - it's more like herpes, a condition which pops up when the body politic is stressed.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
05/31/2006 6:04 Comments ||
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#4
Feelers vs. thinkers man, feelers vs. thinkers. Why, for example does a conservative do well on radio, and not so well on TV, while a liberal does well on TV, but not so well on radio? TV is a far more passive medium and doesn't usually require much thought. Radio requires the engagement of your brain. A liberal's ideas are exposed for the lunacy that they are when the audience is used to thinking.
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.
Conspiracy theorists, beware: That aluminum foil beanieheadwear believed, since at least the 1950s, to stop brain-control raysmay make it easier for The Man to read your mind, according to Massachusetts Institute of Technology grad students. Inspired by fringe beliefs that invasive radio signals can probe citizens thoughts and that wearing foil on your head may fend them off, an experiment by four Ph.D. candidates found that certain key frequenciesowned by the Feds, naturallyare actually enhanced by such protection.
Israel has condemned a "repulsive" vote by Britain's main university lecturers' union to boycott colleges and academics unless they publicly oppose government policy in the Palestinian territories. Education Minister Yuli Tamir said Monday that the decision by members of the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE) at their annual conference in Blackpool, northern England, would only serve to undermine academic independence. "The decision to boycott the academic institutions is deplorable and repulsive," said Tamir in a statement. "Whoever applies this boycott will harm academia's independence and turn it into a tool in the hands of political forces," she added. 
Consumers, businesses and even government departments could pay a special tax on emails and mobile phone text messages under a scheme floated by a centre-right French MEP to finance the EU. Alain Lamassoure, rapporteur of the European Parliament's budget committee, has suggested to all 25 EU national parliaments and governments that users pay a "tiny" tax of 0.15 (10p) on SMS text messages and 0.00001 on every email. "I have discussed this with national parliaments in Luxembourg, Portugal, Finland, Germany and France with varying responses," he said.
Balochistan Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani has called upon religious leaders to play a role in eradicating religious extremism and sectarianism by promoting religious harmony and tolerance. Addressing the inaugural session of the provincial Ulema and Mashahik Convocation on Tuesday, he said the Islamic world was confronted with extremely dire problems in all domains of life. 
