A collection of heartwarming, true-life tales of women using firearms in self-defense.
. . . This is the kind of womens empowerment that gets me going. A new womens studies program just doesnt do it for me the way a gleaming .380 does. . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
09/26/2006 07:01 ||
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A group of lawmakers urged the Labour party on Tuesday to open debate on the contentious issue of replacing Britain's aging Trident nuclear missile system. The four nuclear-powered submarines - each capable of carrying up to 16 nuclear-armed missiles - are expected to end their operational life by 2024. The Labour Party, led by Prime Minister Tony Blair, promised in its 2005 campaign platform to maintain the country's nuclear capability as long as the current system lasts. Blair has promised a decision by the end of this year on whether to replace or renew it.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/26/2006 00:00 ||
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I'm pretty sure a couple of countries will be interested in purchasing surplus items.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/26/2006 0:44 Comments ||
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Didn't the Brits [MOD]in late 2004 decide to extend the service life of their Tridents until Year 2035 or thereabouts, which basically means they're gonna renew them???
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexican President-elect Felipe Calderon on Monday slammed U.S. plans to build more fences on its southern border, saying it would not solve illegal immigration. ``We are worried ... about the actions that the United States is discussing concerning building a border wall and tightening restrictions on migrants,'' Calderon said after meeting with Mexico's foreign secretary.
We like you, Felipe, and we prefer you to the other guy, but we're still building the fence.
President Vicente Fox, of Calderon's conservative National Action Party, has called the plans ``shameful'' and said the fence would be like the Berlin Wall. Calderon succeeds Fox on Dec. 1.
There are an estimated 11 million Mexicans in the United States, about half of whom are illegal. Last year, Mexican migrants sent home more than $20 billion in remittances.
That's what it's all about from the Mexican side, the remittances and the relief of social pressure.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/26/2006 00:00 ||
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President Vicente Fox... said the fence would be like the Berlin Wall.
#3
"called the plans [to build a wall at the border] 'shameful'"
No, assholes, shameful is a so-called country (that would be you, Mexico) with an acknowledged policy of urging its citizens to break another country's laws in order to earn money because you're too lazy/greedy/stupid to encourage employment in your own country.
Anyone with one iota of self-respect would be ashamed of your official "jobs" program.
Get over yourselves, give up the graft and greed, and get your own economy running - just like any adult country is supposed to.
You're obviously Leftists. You're acting like spoiled children, sponging off the rich "uncle" (who isn't actually a relation) next door, instead of getting off your dead asses and making your own way in the world.
Pfui.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/26/2006 0:53 Comments ||
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#6
Crackdown on remittances like Arizona is doing, and hear the screams and squeals all the way to the Arctic Circle! Dollars from El Norte is the only thing keeping half of Mexico afloat; and the other half is headed our way, unfortunately. That is why we need, in order, the following : 1) the Wall to prevent illegal crossings; 2) Crackdowns on remittances, and 3) more and much harder illegal sweeps/deportations. The remittance crackdown will cause a couple of million illegals to head back home with their money in the form of fixed goods like cars and appliances, by itself. Because the illegals are not stupid, if they are going to lose it to the US, they would rather take the bird in the hand back home and live off of it.
#9
He's right, it would be like the Berlin Wall; ugly modern and insignificant. We need something like the Great Wall of China. A structure to last, able to support an M1A1, visible from Mars, no gaps, effective.
#12
Well, it's because the third worlders have a *right* to migrate into/settle/invade/colonize the West, dont you know?
This is based on the narrative propaged by the marxists (neo and gramscists), IE the West has a debt toward the "brown people" who are poor and unsuccessful because they were deprived of what's their by the colonizers/imperialists/capitalists (and still are, of course).
And while the West (and its White Male Westerner embodiment) will *never* be able to repay this forever debt, the natural compensation is to let itself be dissolved through the settlement of the Poor People of the South... hence the right to colonize.
And the perverse thing is, this narrative pushed by the whole cultural marxists apparatus is in total symbiosis with the own resentment and envy of the third worlders; their resentment meets our guilt (with islam often being the flagbearer of this resentment, and it will more and more), a match made in Hell.
#14
Look guys, about 40 family groups in Mexico own around 60 percent of the place. They are going to do nothing to jeapordize their power. Period. Dump the unemployed upon the US, play the victim game, whatever. The country with an abundent supply of natural resources and agricultural bounty is like number eleven in the world in GDP. South Korea which was leveled in a war less than fifty years ago, which has neither the vast resources or agricultural lands, is number thirteen. For the ruling strata of Mexican politics, everything is legit to retain and remain in power. There will be no reform. Corruption is there to stay. So the people are screwed. There is not going to be a domestic uprising. So its time to just blow off relations with the government. Building the wall will only work if there is will in Washington, and the reality is that both parties have blown us off. One doesn't want to and the other only wants to make motions to placate the unwashed masses they need to vote in November. Like the Mexican obero, we too are screwed.
#15
It's so annoying when people speak of walls meant to keep people in (berlin wall) as if they are the same moral equivalent of walls meant to keep people OUT (israel's wall, mexican border fence).
#19
wow! only a week or so in certification and already he's earned a STFU
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/26/2006 10:28 Comments ||
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Yep, I want the Great Wall of the Rio Grande, along w/a moat and a mine field, alligators, crocodiles, and evil sea bass w/mounted lasers on their heads.
To all illegals - stay the f*ck out of my country - go start a revolution and fix your own. It's more than security it's called sovereignty.
#23
In almost as bad a mess as those colonized by Belgium. Only Brazil (Portuguese colony) seems to be doing ok, and that's probably because I'm missing something.
#24
Portugal also had Angola, Madagascar and Macao. Not a great track record. As I linked the other day, the key event is the faithful adoption of common law.
#25
-- Look guys, about 40 family groups in Mexico own around 60 percent of the place. They are going to do nothing to jeapordize their power. Period. --
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's verbal attacks against his American counterpart, George W. Bush, should not affect diplomatic relations between the two countries, the US ambassador said Monday. William Brownfield said officials in Washington would try to overlook the string of insults uttered last week by Chavez, who called Bush "the devil" at the UN General Assembly and an "alcoholic" at a New York church.
"My government's position is that we are going to ignore, we can ignore and we should ignore the words. It's the actions that count," Brownfield told the Venezuelan TV station Globovision. "This bilateral relation is so important for the two countries that we try to ignore the polemical words, the rhetoric."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/26/2006 00:00 ||
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Translation from Le Diplomatique:
"You can say what you like, Hugo, but mess with our economy and see how fast you take up daisy-pushing as a full-time occupation."
September 26, 2006: The U.S. has revealed that China's developed a powerful, land based laser, that has been fired at American satellites. This has apparently been going on for three years. In theory, a land based laser of sufficient power could damage some types of low orbit photo and radar satellites. No details on the effects of the laser attacks were given, as this would inform the Chinese as to how well, or not well, they were doing. The Chinese may have lasered some of their own satellites, as part of what is apparently a development project.
It's long been believed that interceptors (small satellites that can maneuver) would be a better way to take down enemy birds. Electronic jamming can also be used to interfere with communications with a satellite. A laser is also limited to satellites that pass nearby. Moreover, satellites can be modified to make them more difficult for lasers to damage. It is believed the Chinese project is a result of China realizing that a major American vulnerability is its large satellite network. Thus any damage to U.S. satellites would have a larger payoff than if the money were spent on more conventional defense investments.
Posted by: DanNY ||
09/26/2006 08:43 ||
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If we did, would you want to issue a press release, too? It's not like we'd go to war over it, though I'd use it as a pretext to kick China out of the WTO.
#10
The Chinese may have lasered some of their own satellites, as part of what is apparently a development project.
The Chinese are better at reverse engineering than they are at developing their own technology. They probably accidentally discovered this laser capability when trying to pirate NFL Sunday Ticket on DirecTV.
#15
I foresee a lot of space-deployed conventional weaponry. Moving on from "the rods from God", all sorts of specialized projectiles could cause massive damage.
For example, several tons of grapefruit sized ceramic balls deployed from something akin to a cluster munition, could behave like a massive meteorite storm, destroying surface targets over many square miles.
Even small bb-sized projectiles could be designed to wipe out all aircraft or a massive salvo of missiles, yet burn up before they hit the ground.
Metallic dusts and abrasives could be used in a cloud to negate radar and broadcast communications and interfering with aircraft, staying in the atmosphere for hours or days.
#18
disabling or jamming our GPS satellites removes the pinpoint accuracy of our cruise missiles. An excellent missile defence for some of our systems.
Now we are going to have to spend millions hardening our satellites.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
09/26/2006 14:53 Comments ||
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would think only the oldest haven't been hardened
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/26/2006 15:40 Comments ||
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light up somethign strong enough to jam access to 5-12 visible GPS satellites, for long enough to affect any attack and wht do you have?
A big assed homing beacon for HARMs.
Gotta love them 3 words: Home On Jam.
If I remember correctly though GPS jamming isn't very feasible because JDAMs and newer missile/bomb types are being made with features such as this or having other anti-jamming capabilities built in.
#25
We need to field a satellite with a huge supercooled retroflector plus it's own chemical laser beam line. When China's laser powers up, our bird directly reflects their shot back into the originating beam line and we pump a few extra gigawatts down line as well.
China is making enormous strides in advancing its space programme over a short period of time but the likelihood of any significant co-operation with the US over the near-term is slim, the top US space official said on Monday. We were very impressed with what we saw, Michael Griffin, head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa), said after meetings with Chinas top space authorities. [And] we have seen only a portion of the overall programme.
His comments signify that China, only the third nation to put a human into orbit, is determined to continue investing vast human and financial resources into space-related projects, which Beijings leaders view as a barometer of scientific progress.
Mr Griffin, the first Nasa administrator to visit China, said US and Chinese space officials have only been working together on data sharing and climate research. There were no immediate plans for bilateral co-operation on manned flights or space station projects but the possibility remained, he said.
We do desire to have a closer relationship with China, said Mr Griffin, who met Sun Laiyan, his Chinese counterpart at the China National Space Administration, and toured the countrys main space technology academy. Mr Griffin said one of the main hindrances to Sino-US space co-operation has been the fact that Chinas space programme is backed the military. He also said Chinas controls of missile technology criticised by Washington as being insufficient as a sticking point.
Which means we'd be nuts to have any meaningful cooperation with the Chinese space program. Far better to do the occasional visit and learn what we can about their capabilities.
The Nasa delegation insisted the visit to China has been exploratory. US officials saw some new aerospace facilities but did not go to the mission command centre on the outskirts of the capital. But the few foreigners who have visited the inside of Chinas space facilities have come away impressed. It was a lot newer and nicer than I expected, said one US official who was taken on a rare tour of a launch site in western China earlier this year. It was absolutely spotless.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/26/2006 00:00 ||
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Article: It was a lot newer and nicer than I expected, said one US official who was taken on a rare tour of a launch site in western China earlier this year. It was absolutely spotless.
From someone who been to China more than once, I can tell you that the spotlessness isn't such a big deal. They hire armies of cleaning staff for about $50 a month and have them cleaning up. The cleaning staff work quick and sloppy, but when they're doing it day in and day out 250 days a year, of course it's spotless.
#3
Who gives a f&ck about their ground based facilities? How many capsules make it into orbit and send back useful data? How many spam-in-a-can cosmonauts make it back alive? How many years will it take China to do more than hurl some meat into orbit? That's what counts and using old outdated Soviet designs tells a lot about where China is headed.
During the Yuan dynasty (A.D.1280-1368) China was ruled by the Mongolian people. Leaders from the preceding Sung dynasty (A.D.960-1280) were unhappy at submitting to foreign rule, and set how to coordinate the rebellion without it being discovered. The leaders of the rebellion, knowing that the Moon Festival was drawing near, ordered the making of special cakes. Backed into each moon cake was a message with the outline of the attack. On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attacked and overthrew the government. What followed was the establishment of the Ming dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644). Today, moon cakes are eaten to commemorate this legend.
#5
While China is following the "government path" trodden by the US and USSR, the private sector is quietly working to develop innovative and inexpensive alternatives (e.g., the recent X prize winner). Go market!
TALLINN -- Cheers erupted in bars and shops across Tallinn as Toomas Hendrik Ilves was declared Estonia's new president on Sept. 23. "This was a choice between looking backwards or moving forwards," explained one jubilant celebrator. Ilves, 52, won 174 votes in the Electoral College, beating incumbent Arnold Ruutel, 78, who gathered 162 votes.
It's been a surreal weekend for me living in Tallinn. A couple years ago, I was shared cab fare with this guy when we worked at the same university. I USED TO SHARE CAB FARE WITH THE PRESIDENT.
I just like saying that ...
Until the last weeks of campaigning, Ruutel was widely expected to enjoy an easy re-election.
Ruutel was the last general secretary of the Estonian SSR. He only spoke Russian and Estonian, and was an empty suit when it came to influencing events. He got elected 5 years ago because the ruling-right parties This election came down to a split between the generations as much as anything. Ilves his in his 50s, Ruutel was 77.
Yet the nation reacted angrily toward the underhanded politicking of Ruutels supporting parties, the Center Party and the Peoples Union both minority left-of-center parties, which forced the Parliamentary round of voting to fail and brought about the formation of the Electoral College.
I'll say the Estonians were angry, as much as Estonians ever do get. There were rallies, demonstrations, and a huge outdoor concert right outside the door of the Electoral College before the vote. The Center and the People's Union parties didn't allow their parliamentarians to even pick up their buzzers during the election, which meant that a plurality couldn't be had by any stretch. They thought they'd have a better chance in the Electoral College, which adds representatives to the parliament voters with delegates from the country municipalities. They were wrong ...
The final result was viewed as much as a protest vote against Ruutel and his supporting parties as a vote in favor of Ilves.
The 174-162 vote makes it looks more decisive than it was. Ilves got two more votes than he needed to win. The pubs in Old Town went bananas when the live count got Ilves to the brink, and the woman counting the ballots still had ballots in her hand.
Ilves, a Social Democrat who has served as Estonias foreign minister and is currently a member of the European Parliament, said he wanted to re-unite the nation, which had been split by the divisive election campaign. He said Estonia should become one of Europes leading idea generators.
Ilves also gave an indication of the direction of Estonias future relations with Russia. "The road to Moscow goes via Brussels," he said.
"In a number of fields we have seen that after the enlargement of the European Union the influence of the new member states has been significantly smaller than what we would have liked it to be. I believe that Estonia should be one of those who start taking the floor more in Europe."
Much has been made of Ilves western leanings.
The oppossition tried to turn it into an issue, by suggesting -- stop me if you've heard this before -- that he was a CIA agent.
He grew up in the United States and was educated as a psychologist, attending and receiving degrees from Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania and then working in academic positions.
Ilves worked as an analyst and researcher with Radio Free Europe in Munich, Germany, from 1984-1988, and as head of the Estonian desk of Radio Free Europe from 1988-1993.
After returning to Estonia and relinquishing his US citizenship, Ilves served as Estonia's ambassador to the United States from 1993-1996, becoming foreign minister in December 1996 and serving in that position until September 1998. He then began campaigning for the Moderates (now the Estonian Social Democratic Party) in the parliamentary elections.
In March 1999, after the elections, he became foreign minister again, serving until 2002. He was member of the parliament from 2002-2004.
During 2001-2002 he was the leader of the Social Democrats. In 2004 Ilves was elected to the European Parliament, remaining a member of his party's governing board. He sits with the Party of European Socialists group.
At home, the Social Democratic Party is part of the opposition, siding on a number of key policy issues with the center-right opposition rather than the other center-left parliamentary parties.
Ilves sees as his political role model Daniel Patrick Moynihan, which is why he wears the bow-tie. He would be a liberal's liberal on social issues in the States -- he would like to see a Scandinavian-style safety net in Estonia (which will never happen). But he's totally hawkish on foreign policy issues, particularly Russia (as you might expect the son of refugees to be).
Ilves' election means that now all the three Baltic states have presidents coming from the exile community.
Vaira Vike-Freiberga has been the Baltic star, although Adamkus in Lithuania isn't bad, either. But Vike-Freiberga is stepping down soon, and Adamkus is in his 70s, I believe.
Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip was quick to congratulate Ilves, and predicted he would unite the nation and project a positive international image.
You look around Europe, and you don't see much leadership to be inspired about. Brown? Prodi? Merkel might be a international star in the making, but she has a thin majority. I think its rock-solid that Ilves will be punching above his weight on the international stage very soon. I'd recommend his addition to the Rantburg mugshot archive.
"We are happy that we were able to carry out the will of the people," Ansip said. "We have reason to be glad not so much because Toomas Hendrik Ilves was our candidate, but first and foremost because Estonia got a good president," he said.
Bush will get his first look at Ilves when he visits the country at the end of November. It will be the first visit of a sitting U.S. president to the country.
#2
Americans seem to do quite well in Estonia. I remember an old, retired SF Colonel by the name of Einseln who became the Estonian Army Chief in the 1990's. Don't know what ever happended to him, retired retired maybe.
I forgot some interesting details. The effect of Ilves' presidency:
One, the president has veto power over the parlament and is the one that invites the dominant parties to form a coalition. That's about it; the position is largely ceremonial.
But I predict two outcomes. Even though Ilves is a "Social Democrat", he will see himself in the mold of the first real post-Soviet president, Lennart Meri. Which means that he will try to be above politics. He told his party today to stop running recruitment ads with his face on them, as his party won anything. No, he won because the center-right parties supported him over the candidate of the left.
The left parties are totally screwed. I asked Ilves once about the leader of the Center Party, Edgar Savisaar (who was the main party who didn't allow his members to vote in the first parliamentary election), and he started to froth at the mouth (pull a Fox-style Clinton). Edgar Savisaar stepped down as prime minister after he was caught secretly recording conversations with his opponents (including Ilves). Even though Ilves is on the left side of the spectrum politicallly on domestic issues, he will not let the left parties form a coalition if he can help it. He's going to stick it to the pro-Russian, anti-American left.
Two, I see Mart Laar, the wunderkind behind the flat tax in Estonia becoming prime minister again. By the end of the year. He's been out of government, writing books and getting Cato awards. His time in the wilderness is about over. This is the guy that took the only economics book he'd ever read, by Friedman, and made the whole thing as government policy.
So, the end result -- Estonia will be more pro-American and NATO friendly than it ever has. "Eesti on vaba!!" (Estonia is free!!) was a sign I saw on Saturday.
Estonians certainly haven't been this fired up politically since 1991. And it was fun to be here for it.
#7
Besoeker, Einseln basically broke his spear in his stint as the chief of their armed forces.
The organization was still too heavily Sovietized in the mid-1990s. Einseln made a lot of changes, but a little like Rumsfeld, he fought inertia during his stint.
I don't know where he is now, but to his credit, the Estonian armed forces are much more professional than they've ever been. They are in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
Their speciality is IED bombs. Some of the bomb-sniffing dogs that came back from Iraq in the last year are known by their first names.
They are talking about making the Estonian military a voluntary force, which should improve things.
#8
Thanks for the update Mizzou. I'd lost track of the old bugger. I was always surprised the US State Dept and the gummit permitted him to accept the job. Hope he's still cashing retirement checks.
I would see the best short-term good for U.S. policy in the Baltic States, (and Eastern Europe) to lift the visa restrictions that exist today. There has been talk about it, but little action.
My Estonian girlfriend has to pay around $170 for a U.S. visa when she goes with me on a visit. That's when the average salary is a little north of $400 a month. There are plenty of good Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, and Polish kids, who are now going to places like the U.K. to work, who would go to the U.S. if the visa restrictions were lifted, as they have been for countries like FRANCE. France was the home of Richard Reid for one, and I can't remember the last time a terrorist bomber came out of this region.
I think this is a travesty in the making. The U.S. has the opportunity to affect the outlook of the younger generation of these countries, but is preventing their best and brightest from coming there, even to work.
The European Union's chief on Monday said no more countries should join the bloc - after Romania and Bulgaria - until the EU has decided what to do with its stalled constitution. "It would not be wise to proceed with any further enlargement before we have dealt with the constitutional issue," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told reporters after talks with French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. "It would be unwise to bring in other member states apart from Romania and Bulgaria," Barroso said. Barroso said there were limits to the EU's capacity to absorb new members without new rules to make an expanded EU work more effectively.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/26/2006 00:00 ||
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I wonder if Turkey will buy this one.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/26/2006 0:41 Comments ||
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#2
Ah, the dilemma of the post-modern superstate. Yes, you generally have to decide on some principles of governance before any governing can be done. Of course, this involves making value judgments. Aiiieee!
Get your shit together, Europe, or the Qur'an will be your constitution before you can say "Pact of Umar."
#4
No no, I meant "principles of governance" as opposed to "342-page list of tyrannical, intrusive, arbitrary, counter-productive, pointless and ultimately suicidal" regulations.
#5
That 342-page list also enumerated a bunch of "fundamental human rights"-- such as the right to "free job placement services." I'm still trying to get my mind around that one...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
09/26/2006 10:19 Comments ||
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The EU Constitution's preamble is 21 pages long. The US Constitution's Preamble is a popular song. Which would you prefer?
Well, Lyn Ahrens had to skip the phrase of these United States because it didn't scan.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
09/26/2006 18:38 Comments ||
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#7
Perhaps we are missing the point here. The constitution has been voted down in France and one other country. They have paused the by-country voting process for at least a year.
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/26/2006 22:30 Comments ||
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#8
All of their usual antics aside, this is still a nice big fat bird flipped at Turkey (so to speak). Now let's see what happens when the Pope visits there.
#10
HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF THE BELGIANS, THE PRESIDENT OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC, HER MAJESTY THE
QUEEN OF DENMARK, THE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY, THE PRESIDENT OF THE
REPUBLIC OF ESTONIA, THE PRESIDENT OF THE HELLENIC REPUBLIC, ...
Just sounds SO much better than "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility ..."
CONSPIRACY: Almost half of Americans think Republicans are manipulating the price before elections, poll says.
WASHINGTON - There is no mystery or manipulation behind the recent fall in gasoline prices, analysts say. Try telling that to many U.S. left-wingnut motorists. Who ya gonna believe some highfalutin analyst or a motorist with a 2004 Kerry/Edwards Bumpersticker?
Almost half of all Americans that were willing to waste their time taking this idiotic poll believe the November elections have more influence than market forces. For them, the plunge at the pump is about politics, not economics. Retired farmer Jim Mohr of Lexington, Ill., rattled off a tankful of reasons why pump prices may be falling, including the end of the summer travel season and the fact that no major hurricanes have disrupted Gulf of Mexico output. "But I think the big important reason is Republicans want to get elected," Mohr, 66, said while filling up for $2.17 a gallon. "They think getting the prices down is going to help get some more incumbents re-elected."
According to a new Gallup poll, 42 percent of respondents agreed with the statement that the Bush administration "deliberately manipulated the price of gasoline so that it would decrease before this fall's elections." Fifty-three percent of those surveyed did not believe in this conspiracy theory, while 5 percent said they had no opinion. Almost two-thirds of those who suspect President Bush intervened to bring down energy prices before Election Day are registered Democrats, according to Gallup. Shocked I tells ya who woulda thunk it?
#1
Sheesh. In Colorado Springs today, prices for 85 octane gasoline range from $2.53 to $2.75 per gallon. My advice to the wing-nut motorists who are not happy with the falling gas prices is to tank up at a $2.75 station. I know. Mohr and the folks in the mid-west would have to go out of state to find gas at those prices.
#2
Here in Philly, Regular is going for around $2.33/gal. today. Damn that Karl Rove!
Posted by: Dave D. ||
09/26/2006 14:53 Comments ||
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#3
Understanding the free market is a simple but effective IQ test.
If you don't understand free markets, or don't believe in them, you fail the test.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
09/26/2006 14:59 Comments ||
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#4
So right after the election I suspect Bush will have Halliburton fire up the hurricane machine, have the levees blown up, destroy New Orleans, and gas will be up to 5.00 a gallon?
Next week on "Paranoid Nation"...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
09/26/2006 15:52 Comments ||
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#7
Personally, if the Bush-Rove-Chaney crowd are responsible for lowering the price, that's more than enough to convince me to vote for them. People with power and influence like that need to be in high positions, not incompetent dolts and blame gamers.
#9
Here's a plan.... for every $ .03 cents below $2.00 per gallon, the gummit gets an additional $ .01 cent in tax revenue. Lets but the "incentive" back on the bums in Washington.
#10
According to a new Gallup poll, 42 percent of respondents agreed with the statement that the Bush administration "deliberately manipulated the price of gasoline so that it would decrease before this fall's elections."
Reminds me of that old joke: Why are you hitting your head against the wall? Because it feels so good when I stop.
This is what passes for logic in way too many Dem's minds.
#11
Dems are just building up the excuses for their coming disappointment.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
09/26/2006 17:33 Comments ||
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#12
As I recall, gasoline prices did a nose dive right before the 2000 elections. Alot of folks said it was a conspiracy by Clinton to influnce the votes then.
#13
IIRC, wasn't Clinton (at Gore's insistence) releasing bigtime from the strategic reserve? That would be crude manipulation (pardon the pun)
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/26/2006 18:00 Comments ||
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#14
Good memory, Frank. Republican senators are accusing Clinton of tapping the oil reserve to help Vice President Al Gore's presidential bid. Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla., speaking Tuesday, said: "The emergency oil is for a severe shortage and not to help a candidate seven weeks before the election." Sep 27, 2000 article here.
Washington, Sept. 26 (PTI): Maintaining free and open access to the sea is an important and critical challenge and in this regard the navies of India and the United States are "very closely aligned", Admiral Gary Roughead,the Commander of the American Pacific Fleet, said.
Speaking at the Washington Foreign Press Center, he said: "One of the reasons we have been very effective in operating together and looking to the future is because we see the challenges that we face on the Oceans, on the sea lanes and the importance of keeping those open".
The top American Navy official was recently in India. He said discussions with his counterparts were comprehensive that included future operations, exercises and exchanges. "I remain very impressed with the Indian Navy", he said.
There was a highly personal element to the Admiral's visit to India recently- he wanted to track down the house he lived in as a youngster in Mumbai. "I went to visit my house and I found it. It was wonderful to go back eventhough I was a young boy. Many memories came floating back" Admiral Roughead recalled even while making the point that his former house is no longer in the remote area of Mumbai it once was. "Mumbai has expanded so much. There is so much energy" he commented.
The Commander of the Pacific Fleet was all praise for the fashion in which the Malabar exercises were going and said that this series of exercises will not only continue but also look at the prospect of advancing these. For example this year the Admiral pointed out India and the United States will be doing some expeditionary warfare training which takes on additional significance because the United States is transferring one of its amphibious ships to India-the USS Trenton.
The USS Trenton, the Admiral explained, will give capability to the Indian Navy to move troops and equipment to great distances and having the ability to remaining off shore for a prolonged period of time and in the ability as well of moving smaller boats in and out. The transfer is expected to take place sometime this December.
"Apart from Malabar exercises, we are also looking at exercises at a more short term notice which I think navies that are as capable as the Indian Navy and the US Navy we can do that. In fact we did that with aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan at short notice" Admiral Roughead remarked going on to praise the role of an Indian medical team of about 19 persons getting on board USNS Mercy at very short notice when it was recently in South and South East Asia.
Admiral Roughead also expressed the hope that Indian Navy Observers could come and watch the Rim of the Pacific Exercises off Hawaii. "I am hopeful that the Indian Navy could perhaps join us and conduct an exercise perhaps in 2008", the Pacific Fleet Commander said.
"It is so apparent that our two navies share so many common interests and see the world in much the same way and are committed to maintaining safe and secure sea lanes, and safe and secure oceans so that we can get to enjoy prosperity that is vitally so important", he said.
The Pacific Fleet Commander emphasized the criticality of all navies to be willing to operate and participate in ways to build the "Maritime Demand Awareness" that not only has the ability to share information so that navies in the region have a better sense of ensuring the sea lanes of communications but also the ability of navies to "collectively" gather for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
Posted by: john ||
09/26/2006 19:44 ||
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A US commissioner from the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) emerged unharmed after falling into a water tank at the Dukovany nuclear power plant on Friday. The daily Mlada fronta Dnes reported Friday that commissioners training at the facility were moving around the plant in a group. One of them, however, left the group and fell into the tank. The water in the tank was not radioactive.
A spokesman for the plant told MfD that the commissioner admitted he had made a mistake. "The rules say that no one is allowed to leave the group," the spokesman said.
The water tank is used in the process of loading and unloading nuclear fuel. Although the water was not in contact with any nuclear fuel during the training, the commissioner was examined to make sure he was not contaminated with radioactivity.
Oil exporting countries may consider a cut in output after crude prices fell below $60 a barrel on Monday for the first time in six months. The decline came as global demand fell back from its mid-year peak and tensions over Iran eased.
Ministers from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are understood to be concerned about the drop in oil prices, which are down almost a quarter from their recent peaks. They have discussed the prospect of trimming production ahead of the oil cartels next ministerial meeting in Nigeria in December, according to Opec officials.
The oil price fall over the past month has been accompanied by investor selling in oil and other commodity markets, mainly on concerns that economic growth in the US is slowing. There is a concern by hedge funds that oil and commodities are no longer the one-way bet they once were, said an Opec official.
Brent, the European benchmark oil price, dropped 50 cents to $59.91 a barrel, down 24 per cent from its record peak of $78.40 reached last month. The US benchmark oil price, West Texas Intermediate, yesterday hit $59.62, its lowest level since early March, before recovering to $60.54. It was flat on the day.
The WTI is now lower than the level it ended at last year. The magnitude of the decline in percentage terms is the largest in more than three years. Investors have been selling out of oil futures over the past month, after taking bets earlier in the year on expectations of hurricanes disrupting oil supplies in the Gulf of Mexico. But with the Atlantic hurricane season finishing at the end of September, there is little prospect of a repeat of last years devastating storms.
I think we just might see free drinking glasses with every fill-up if this continues.
Opec is not only worried about investor activity in oil markets, but also about preserving high export prices, which underpin government budgets in member countries. Many Opec producers have embarked on big spending programmes in recent years on the back of the higher oil price.
Opec maintained its quota of 28m barrels a day at its recent meeting in Vienna, and this is close to the cartels actual production last month. Saudi Arabia, Opecs linchpin member and the worlds largest oil exporter, has been cutting its output since the end of last year.
If Opec does trim its official production ceiling, it would be the first cut since December 2004, when oil prices were close to $42 a barrel.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/26/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Saudi Arabia, Opecs linchpin member and the worlds largest oil exporter, has been cutting its output since the end of last year.
Interesting. Coupled with denied rumours that the king has been speaking with Israeli PM Olmert...
#2
Spending is up, revenue is down, prices are falling, so we'll lower volume. Yeah, that's it! Or at least that's what we'll tell everybody else so they'll cut volume. Even OPEC can't control the price of oil.
#3
fuck the bastards . we should remember this shit when it comes too wanting AID or weapons. let al the islamist take over every ME gov for a year let them live like that then nuke the shit out of them at least they will be miserable as hell like we are while fueling up
#3
Missile defense has had far more successes than have ever been achieved with embryonic stem cells, yet notice which is being pushed so hard.
Hmmm, how many billions have been spent on missile defense and how many lifes have been saved? (Im not against missile defense, just against ignorance.)
How many millions have been spent on embryonic stem cell research and how many diseases may be cured in the next two decades?
"These observations are very exciting as they show that one day it will be possible to treat diseases of human eyes with cells," says Ian Wilmut, Ph.D., Editor-In-Chief of Cloning and Stem Cells and director of the Centre for Regenerative Medicine, in Edinburgh, Scotland. "They also emphasize the great potential benefit of research with human embryo stem cells, in this case for cell therapy."
The authors reported 100% improvement in visual performance (spatial acuity) in treated animals compared to an untreated control group, and the transplanted RPE cells did not cause any pathology. In the treated rats, spatial acuity, or the ability to see fine detail, was approximately 70% that of normal rats (that had no RPE defect).
Macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness in persons over age 60 in the United States and affects more than 30 million people worldwide. Embryonic stem cells would offer a readily available, safe, and reproducible source of replacement tissue to restore photoreceptors damaged or destroyed by disease and to restore a range of visual functions.
#4
"Hmmm, how many billions have been spent on missile defense and how many lifes have been saved?"
I guess we dont' know that just yet, do we?
"Im not against missile defense, just against ignorance."
Well, since this thread isn't about stem cells (it was mentioned merely as a comparison of the press that one thing gets vs. another), surely you aren't ignorant of the successes of ballistic missile defence?
Posted by: Mark E. ||
09/26/2006 15:46 Comments ||
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#5
IIUC, stem cell advances haven't done anything for incineration "wounds" nor high gamma and neutron exposure from a nuke ICBM blast. Correct me if I'm wrong, though....
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/26/2006 16:07 Comments ||
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#6
Quite so Frank. I'll vote for genetic survival over genetic engineering any day.
#7
The public has been lead to believe that there have been advances in embryonic stem cell research in foreign countries and the US must catch up or be left behind. We now know that these well publicized advances in Italy and Korea were frauds, yet we still see the results quoted by scientists who wish to receive state funding; scientists whom you would think would have the intellectual honesty to admit that there have been no such advances. So failing obtain private funding from knowledgably investors in the public sector, researchers turn to the not-so-knowledgeable politicians.
The researchers you quote would be the direct recipients of embryonic stem cell funding so of course theyll be proponents. Not everyone is as enthusiastic about embryonic stem cell research. Dr. Lyle Sensenbrenner, who is not a proposed recipient of this funding, is not so enthralled. Dr. Sensenbrenner is a retired physician/scientist who spent most of his professional career doing both laboratory and clinical research in the use of stem cells for the treatment of human disorders. He was the director of the Experimental Hematology Laboratory at the Johns Hopkins Oncology Center from 1976 until 1987. He states After 25+ years of research, embryonic stem cells have not produced a single cure. While scientifically fascinating, so far embryonic stem cells have not been shown to be medically useful.
In fact, embryonic stem cell treatment worse than not medically useful. Research on animals has shown that in each and every case, the animal patients were worse off than before the treatment with embryonic stem cells. Not only were the animals not cured of their (often human induced) diseases, they were often left with tumorous growths and crippling arthritis. How could any responsible person suggest that after 25 years of failure in animal trials, we now begin treating humans knowing that they would be exposed to heavy doses of anti-rejection drugs, tumors and other crippling side effects that result from having foreign cells implanted in their bodies?
Embryonic stem cell research is reminiscent of the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment where humans were unknowingly used for publicly funded research on the effects of syphilis. In this 40 year long experiment, black men received fake treatments for syphilis in an effort to gain scientific data to combat a devastating disease. Just like the recipients of the unproven embryonic stem cell research, these desperate men and their families were given false hope by scientists and politicians they trusted. To lead people on, to give them false hope just to obtain funding and further ones scientific career in this manner is not only unethical, it is barbaric.
According to Dr. Sensenbrenner , non-embryonic stem cells, from adult tissue, umbilical cords, umbilical cord blood, and placentas, and even the patients own body have been used to treat at least 65 conditions to date. Almost every day, one can read about advances using adult stem cells. After 25 years we are still waiting for one positive result from embryonic stem cell research. Even researcher who promote embryonic stem cell research have to admit that treatments for real diseases in real people are 10 or more years off using embryonic stem cells. Private funding for adult stem cell research is pouring in to start-up companies in the US and abroad. The paucity of results for embryonic stem cell research has resulted in this miss-guided and reckless plunge into dangerous and un-ethical research funded by your tax dollars.
Telling people with crippling or incurable diseases that embryonic stem cell research will help improve their condition is not supported by facts and its cruel to suggest it is.
Posted by: John J. Simmins ||
09/26/2006 20:42 Comments ||
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#8
Facts, JJS??? Facts??? We don't need no stinkin facts!
#9
JJ Simmins - thks for your comments - as I understand it, private investmnt has shied away from embryonic stem cells for lack of progress, pushing the grant-feeders to ask for gov't funding. If it were that promising, private money would be all over it, irregardless of the moral/ethical issues.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/26/2006 21:04 Comments ||
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Posted by: DanNY ||
09/26/2006 09:02 ||
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The projectile, fired from an Abrams M1A2 SEP (system enhancement program) tank, scored an extended-range, guided direct hit. The test firing at the U.S. Army's Yuma, Ariz., Proving Grounds demonstrated the laser-guided seeker's ability to successfully target, acquire and track a moving tank and guide the munition to intercept at a distance of 5.4 miles (8.7 km).
If I'm understanding that correctly, that's an over-the-horizon hit on a moving target.
Wow!
Posted by: Mike ||
09/26/2006 9:39 Comments ||
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Raytheon successfully conducted the first beyond line of sight mission with a test firing of its Mid Range Munition Chemical Energy (MRM-CE) guided projectile with digital semi active laser sensor.
Nope. This beats the Slammers. The Slammers' powerguns were strictly line-of-sight, and, as frequently mentioned in the stories, even a leaf coming between the target and the gun would stop the shot.
Granted, the Slammers' tanks could probably blow their way THROUGH intervening terrain, but even they had limited ammo.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
09/26/2006 11:02 Comments ||
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The Taliban don't have tanks. We need something that kills infantry out of sight in Pakistan.
#15
Notice also this is the MRM-CE, its the shaped charged variant thats being developed by Raytheon. The MRM-KE which is being developed by ATK is even LONGER ranged at having an effective range at 7.5 miles and was tested earlier last year and had some maneveuring tests this year as well.
Thailand's ruling military, which has promised to hand over power to an interim civilian regime by early next week, announced Monday it will have a hand in approving a new permanent constitution. The military has said it will hold elections by October next year after drafting a new permanent constitution to replace the one it scrapped when it ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra last week. In addition to several specially-picked civilian bodies to draft and scrutinize the permanent constitution, the military council will also have the right to review it, said Lt. Gen. Boonsrang Niumpradit, the military's deputy supreme commander.
Additional: Bangkok, 26 Sept. (AKI) - Military leaders in Thailand who took control of the country in a bloodless coup last week, said on Tuesday that they would not disband after a new prime minister is named. The members of the junta said that they had appointed themslves as advisors to any interim government. Reports on Thai media also said on Tuesday that the former head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Supachai Panitchpakdi, would be named new prime minister, however the leader of the coup, Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, declined to confirm the reports.
Supachai, a former Thai commerce minister, is currently secretary-general of the UN conference on trade and development. The English language Thai daily, The Nation, reported that he had already agreed to take the post.
On Tuesday, the military council announced on television that it was appointing several businessmen, civil servants, academics and other prominent figures to committees to deal with various issues in the country such as the economy, foreign affairs and ethics and governance. However many of those mentioned have said that they were not informed of the appointments.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/26/2006 00:00 ||
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On to the inevitable slowdown in transferring power back to those wussie civilians ...
BANGKOK - Thailands coup leaders will yield power to a civilian prime minister once an interim constitution is in place later this week, General Winai Phattiyakul said on Monday. We are not the prime ministers boss and the prime minister is not our boss, said Winai, a senior member of the military council that ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra last Tuesday. After the constitution is announced at the end of this week, the CDR will then transfer to be National Security Council, he said.
After the coup, the Council for Democratic Reform (CDR), as the generals call themselves, promised a civilian prime minister within two weeks and to step back once he was in place.
However, Winai said the National Security Council would work in parallel with the civilian administration while a legislative council of an initial 2,000 people picked by the army drew up a new constitution. The legislative council would then trim itself to about 200 people, he said. We will assist the next government in looking after the country, to sustain the economic and social stability.
Winai said it would take about six months to complete the constitution, which would be subject to final approval by the military. It would then be put to a referendum before elections were held, a process, which might take about eight months from now, he said. The generals would return to barracks only after the election, he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/26/2006 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's verbal attacks against his American counterpart, George W. Bush, should not affect diplomatic relations between the two countries, the US ambassador said Monday. William Brownfield said officials in Washington would try to overlook the string of insults uttered last week by Chavez, who called Bush "the devil" at the UN General Assembly and an "alcoholic" at a New York church. 
China is making enormous strides in advancing its space programme over a short period of time but the likelihood of any significant co-operation with the US over the near-term is slim, the top US space official said on Monday. We were very impressed with what we saw, Michael Griffin, head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa), said after meetings with Chinas top space authorities. [And] we have seen only a portion of the overall programme.
The European Union's chief on Monday said no more countries should join the bloc - after Romania and Bulgaria - until the EU has decided what to do with its stalled constitution. "It would not be wise to proceed with any further enlargement before we have dealt with the constitutional issue," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told reporters after talks with French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. "It would be unwise to bring in other member states apart from Romania and Bulgaria," Barroso said. Barroso said there were limits to the EU's capacity to absorb new members without new rules to make an expanded EU work more effectively.
CONSPIRACY: Almost half of Americans think Republicans are manipulating the price before elections, poll says.
Oil exporting countries may consider a cut in output after crude prices fell below $60 a barrel on Monday for the first time in six months. The decline came as global demand fell back from its mid-year peak and tensions over Iran eased.
