#1
The Smoking gun had a nice "serie", tapped phone conversations between wiseguys, very colorful and rather silly (far from the Godfather, if you wish), don't know if it still works, but here it is anyway :
In the course of a federal racketeering investigation, FBI agents and prosecutors received court authorization to wiretap the home telephone of Federico "Fritzy" Giovanelli, a Genovese crime family soldier. The feds hoped to hear Fritzy discussing mob business with fellow New York wiseguys, conversations that would then form the basis for a RICO prosecution against Giovanelli and Co. As it turned out, during the six months the FBI was listening, Fritzy was fairly careful -- there was little talk of mayhem and only occasionally did he slip and refer to his criminal enterprises (and then it was often just about his gambling operation).
But while the tapes do not contain the sort of reckless chatter that sent John Gotti away for life, they're remarkable for the funny, profane, and whimsical conversations Fritzy had with his Mafia cohorts, namely Frank "Frankie California" Condo, a fellow Genovese soldier. Like two old hens, Frank and Fritzy would gab daily about life's rich pageant, their conversations a stream-of-consciousness potpourri. While most men their age were out working, the duo would convene on the telephone in the early afternoon -- both speaking from their homes -- and launch into wildly veering conversations. A typical 15-minute chat could touch on sex, work, girlfriends, vitamins, movies, enlarged hearts, cholesterol counts, and marital strife. Peppered with malaprops and featuring Frank and Fritzy's Central Casting voices, the tapes are a raucous, slice-of-life look at two hoodlums.
Listening to them talk, the pair's mutual love and camaraderie is clearly evident. A conversation doesn't pass without one telling the other, "I love ya" or "I miss you." One could almost forget that Frank and Fritzy are career criminals, racketeers who belong to an organization that uses murder as an enforcement tool.
As for where we got the tapes, which were recorded in 1985-86 and have never previously surfaced, we're not saying. We prepared the transcripts after carefully (and repeatedly) reviewing the tapes and did our best to decipher assorted Italian slang and stray utterances. Some transcripts will carry a "UI" entry, for unintelligible, when we were stumped at certain points. Finally, a note about "oogatz." Fritzy's favorite catchphrase, the word is derived from the Neapolitan "un cazzo." As he liberally uses it, the term translates to "bullshit!"
A new episode of The Frank & Fritzy Show airs every Wednesday (you'll need Real Player or Windows Media Player to listen). It is the inaugural series on WMOB and is produced by your pals at The Smoking Gun. And we are:
Editor: William Bastone
Managing Editor: Daniel Green
Reporters: Andrew Goldberg, Joseph Jesselli
Creative Director: Barbara Glauber
Designers: Barbara Glauber, Elizabeth Ellis, Beverly Joel
Programming: Mike Essl
Music: They Might Be Giants (featuring Robin "Goldie" Goldwasser)
E-mail: editor@wmob.com
#1
But for every dollar advertisers pay to reach a print reader, they pay about 5 cents, on average, to reach an Internet reader. Newspapers need to narrow that gap, but the rise in Internet revenue slowed sharply last year.
There's the killer. You have to appeal to 20x as many readers to keep the revenue flow going at the old levels. You don't do that by alienating your readers, posting half truths and lies, representing opinion as fact, and becoming nothing but tabloids on line. The internet is self checking. Too many choices, too many competitors. It's the real market place. You'll keep the Koolaid drinkers, but the old folk are dying off and the youngin's aren't biting the hook anymore. Meanwhile the autopilot classifieds now are being exploited by those quick enough to establish themselves years before MSM woke up. And my sympathy meter is broke.
#2
With the possible exception of the WSJ on most topics besides immigration, there isn't a single newspaper in America I trust anymore. They confused their editorial pages and their front pages, to the severe detriment of the truth. Consequently, they now get none of my money, hopefully to the severe detriment of their bottom lines. That's what they get for telling lies. Sympathy meter pointer here welded on zero.
#5
Whole forests sacrifice themselves for a bunch of filler and crap. American newsprint production is about 12.2 million metric tons per year, according to the American Paper Institute. I know it is sustained yield and all that, but something just sticks in my craw with the whole system.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/08/2008 22:41 Comments ||
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Climate Change: Not every scientist is part of Al Gore's mythical "consensus." Scientists worried about a new ice age seek funding to better observe something bigger than your SUV the sun.
Back in 1991, before Al Gore first shouted that the Earth was in the balance, the Danish Meteorological Institute released a study using data that went back centuries that showed that global temperatures closely tracked solar cycles.
To many, those data were convincing. Now, Canadian scientists are seeking additional funding for more and better "eyes" with which to observe our sun, which has a bigger impact on Earth's climate than all the tailpipes and smokestacks on our planet combined.
And they're worried about global cooling, not warming.
Kenneth Tapping, a solar researcher and project director for Canada's National Research Council, is among those looking at the sun for evidence of an increase in sunspot activity.
Solar activity fluctuates in an 11-year cycle. But so far in this cycle, the sun has been disturbingly quiet. The lack of increased activity could signal the beginning of what is known as a Maunder Minimum, an event which occurs every couple of centuries and can last as long as a century. Such an event occurred in the 17th century. The observation of sunspots showed extraordinarily low levels of magnetism on the sun, with little or no 11-year cycle. AKA: The Little Ice Age
This solar hibernation corresponded with a period of bitter cold that began around 1650 and lasted, with intermittent spikes of warming, until 1715. Frigid winters and cold summers during that period led to massive crop failures, famine and death in Northern Europe.
Tapping reports no change in the sun's magnetic field so far this cycle and warns that if the sun remains quiet for another year or two, it may indicate a repeat of that period of drastic cooling of the Earth, bringing massive snowfall and severe weather to the Northern Hemisphere.
Tapping oversees the operation of a 60-year-old radio telescope that he calls a "stethoscope for the sun." But he and his colleagues need better equipment. In Canada, where radio-telescopic monitoring of the sun has been conducted since the end of World War II, a new instrument, the next-generation solar flux monitor, could measure the sun's emissions more rapidly and accurately.
As we have noted many times, perhaps the biggest impact on the Earth's climate over time has been the sun. For instance, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Solar Research in Germany report the sun has been burning more brightly over the last 60 years, accounting for the 1 degree Celsius increase in Earth's temperature over the last 100 years.
R. Timothy Patterson, professor of geology and director of the Ottawa-Carleton Geoscience Center of Canada's Carleton University, says that "CO2 variations show little correlation with our planet's climate on long, medium and even short time scales." Rather, he says, "I and the first-class scientists I work with are consistently finding excellent correlations between the regular fluctuations of the sun and earthly climate. This is not surprising. The sun and the stars are the ultimate source of energy on this planet."
Patterson, sharing Tapping's concern, says: "Solar scientists predict that, by 2020, the sun will be starting into its weakest Schwabe cycle of the past two centuries, likely leading to unusually cool conditions on Earth."
"Solar activity has overpowered any effect that CO2 has had before, and it most likely will again," Patterson says. "If we were to have even a medium-sized solar minimum, we could be looking at a lot more bad effects than 'global warming' would have had."
In 2005, Russian astronomer Khabibullo Abdusamatov made some waves and not a few enemies in the global warming "community" by predicting that the sun would reach a peak of activity about three years from now, to be accompanied by "dramatic changes" in temperatures.
A Hoover Institution Study a few years back examined historical data and came to a similar conclusion. "The effects of solar activity and volcanoes are impossible to miss. Temperatures fluctuated exactly as expected, and the pattern was so clear that, statistically, the odds of the correlation existing by chance were one in 100," according to Hoover fellow Bruce Berkowitz.
The study says that "try as we might, we simply could not find any relationship between industrial activity, energy consumption and changes in global temperatures."
The study concludes that if you shut down all the world's power plants and factories, "there would not be much effect on temperatures."
But if the sun shuts down, we've got a problem. It is the sun, not the Earth, that's hanging in the balance.
#2
Well, China is already hurting food wise and if the planet cools more, they are truly fucked. No wonder they are the biggest CO2 "polluter".
Although, if the planet cools more and the food supply is made less, won't that make less people as more die from starvation and malnutrition? Isn't less people what the greenie loons want?
#3
National Geographic Channel did a one hour documentary last night called "Solar Force" on the Naked Science program. They can now follow Sun Spot activity or lack thereof for thousands of years in the past.
They tied the disappearance of the Indians from the pueblos in Northwestern New Mexico to the beginning of the Mini Ice Age that swept Europe starting in 1250AD (Excuse, 1250BCE Before the common error).
#5
I think it's all a plot by Time magazine so they can save some money by recycling their already-written early 1970's story about "The Coming Ice Age."
(I think we're gonna get colder, too.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/08/2008 15:08 Comments ||
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#6
...it may indicate a repeat of that period of drastic cooling of the Earth, bringing massive snowfall and severe weather to the Northern Hemisphere.
#8
"It is the SUN, NOT the EARTH, thats hanging in the balance".
As said before, IIRC Bible and other Net/World sources, can be ascribed as TO KILL THE MESSIAH/SAVIOR IS TO KILL THE SUN. IOW, the pan-SECULARISTS are only literally destroying yourselves = end up destroying yourselves by DENYING THE EXISTENCE OR REALITY OF GOD.
*D *** NG IT, IFF SOMEONE WANTS TO KILL, CONTROL, or otherwise SUBORN THE MESSIAH, THATS THE JOB OF OWG MADONNA + HER GREAT MOM, NOT HER SIBLINGS OR THE WORLD OR THE OWG-NWO, etc.
SOmebody tell Madonna, etc to tell her Mom Dad is tired of Mom being an uncaring PC manipulative frozen fish, and wants to start seeing some TLC + Sex from Mom, becuz Daddy's stubborn enuff + powerful enuff + tight wid God enuff, etc. to let the Sun freeze to hell and back, + NOT let Madge + Messiah + World Kids be born to begin with. SUNSPOT CYCLE > ACID REFLUX.
#9
And now, Virginia, you once again know the important symbolism of MADONNA's infamous
"BBBUUUUUUUURRRRRRRPPPP - HI, I'M/SHE's MADONNA"! in her 1960's = 1980's MTV Rockumentary.
WHERE BURPS GO, SUNSPOTS FOLLOW.
--the site has great stuff for weather/climate geeks---
January posted a -.08°C near global anomaly [compared to the 1979-1999average]
between -70S and 82.5N latitude (the viewshed of the satellite sounder). That makes it the coldest month since January 2000, and the 2nd coldest January for the planet in 15 years. Both northern and southern hemispheres posted negative anomalies of -.120°C and -.038°C respectively, happening for the first time since January 2000. for comparison there was a one month +0.88 anomaly in 1998 during the late stage of a mega El Nino the global cooling is consistent with the fact that we are now in about the 7th month of a very big La Nina some of the truly geeky may be disappointed that we don't have full coverage, e.g., the microwave sensors don't work well over antarctica and north of Greenland; the other method of estimating global temp (the GISS, aka, Goddard Inst for space studies method) tries to factor in the polar regions using proxies, interpolation, etc. - a technique pioneered by Dr. Hanson
Posted by: Almost Anonymous5839 ||
02/08/2008 10:13 Comments ||
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#2
ION SCIENCE FREEREPUBLIC/TOPIX > SPY SATELLITE TO CRASH INTO EARTH IN EARLY MARCH.
Still waiting on NASA's-JPL = US Govt's Officiale' or pro forma explanationez on the fireballs and space explosions observed before, during, and some after the passage of TU24 + WD5 [Mars]???
#3
DRUDGEREPORT > SUN'S "DISTURBINGLY QUIET" SOLAR/SUNSPOT CYCLE BRINGS IN FEARS OF GLOBAL COOLING.
Where Madonna's BURPS on MTV go, SUNSPOTS [+ OWG-NWO] follows. GLOBAL COOLING > must be the bouts of chills and limb(s) numbness, ala "feels so cold"???
#4
Central and eastern Interior Alaska temps currently between -31F and -45F. Anchorage area currently about +6 to -11F.
Meanwhile, our neighbors in Dawson City, Yukon have -49F. Old Crow, Yukon is -47F. At Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, a balmy -31F. All ice fog generators running smoothly.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/08/2008 22:54 Comments ||
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The average temperature in January 2008 was 30.5 F. This was -0.3 F cooler than the 1901-2000 (20th century) average, the 49th coolest January in 114 years. The temperature trend for the period of record (1895 to present) is 0.1 degrees Fahrenheit per decade.
2.21 inches of precipitation fell in January. This was -0.01 inches less than the 1901-2000 average, the 65th driest such month on record. The precipitation trend for the period of record (1895 to present) is -0.01 inches per decade.
#1
Let's see. The average coldest January of 114 years would be the 57th coldest. Dang! Missed it by 8! Oh well, the 49th coldest January is also the 65th hottest. Better luck next January.
#3
TOPIX > RUSSIAN SCIENTISTS: BACK TO THE FUTURE IN THREE MONTHS.Results of Euro "atom-smashing tests" may hold key to opening a portent/tunnel bwtn different time realities.
IOW, BUY BUY BUY YOUR SOYLENT-GREEN SPACE BIG MACS FUTURES NOW, ESPEC BEFORE THOSE WEIRDO ROSWELLIAN SPACE TWEENS = SPACE UNIV CO-EDS FROM THE FUTURE RETURN AGAIN TO PARTY AND TRASH OLD EARTH.
The United States has warned eight Kenyans it could bar their entry on suspicion of stoking the violence that has convulsed the country since President Mwai Kibaki's disputed re-election, officials said on Thursday.
The move came as pressure mounted on Kenya's feuding parties to resolve a crisis triggered by the December 27 polls that has killed more than 1,000 people and uprooted some 300,000 others.
The U.S. ambassador to Nairobi sent letters on February 5 to the politicians and business leaders -- described by a U.S. official as "regional figures" suspected of inciting the chaos -- telling them that their visas were under review. "It's a very clear warning to them that their actions have put them in jeopardy of losing their visas," said State Department spokesman Tom Casey. "We are going to continue to evaluate these cases over the next few days here to see whether in fact they ought to have their visas revoked."
He did not give names. Earlier on Thursday, U.S. embassy officials in Nairobi said Washington had barred entry to 10 Kenyans -- five politicians and the rest business people. The violence has shattered Kenya's image of stability, horrifying locals, neighboring states and world powers alike.
Western states have used such moves before against African corruption suspects, including politicians. Those targeted tend to spurn the sanctions as a neo-colonialist weapon. "I have not received any letter and even if I received it, I would write back 'Heaven is not in your country, it is right here in my country,'" Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Martha Karua, one of Kibaki's toughest backers, told reporters.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2008 00:00 ||
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A former Congo warlord was arrested and taken to the International Criminal Court in The Hague on Thursday to face war crimes charges including murder, sexual slavery and using child soldiers, the court said. Mathieu Ngudjolo was arrested by Congolese authorities on Wednesday and handed over to ICC custody.
He was the head of the Front of Nationalists and Integrationists (FPI) militia during conflict in northeast Ituri Province that grew out Congo's 1998-2003 war. "With this arrest again, we are showing that there can be no impunity for massive crimes," Deputy Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said at a hearing in The Hague after Ngudjolo was taken into custody there.
The third Ituri warlord to be transferred to the ICC, Ngudjolo is charged on three counts of crimes against humanity and six counts of war crimes. His first court appearance is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 11, the court said in a statement. "(Ngudjolo) attacked primarily the Hema ethnic group with the participation of children under the age of 15," Paul Madidi, a spokesman for the court in Kinshasa said. "He is responsible for the murders of 200 civilians, looting, and reducing women and girls to sexual slavery."
Another Congolese militia chief, Thomas Lubanga, was taken into custody by the court in 2006 and his trial is due to start on March 31. He is accused of recruiting children under the age of 15 to kill members of another ethnic group.
The ICC is also in the process of prosecuting Germain Katanga, another Ituri ex-militia leader who is accused of murder, sexual slavery and using child soldiers.
Ngudjolo's arrest comes as the government of President Joseph Kabila is trying to end a decade of violence in Congo that experts estimate has killed 5.4 million people, mainly through hunger and disease.
Last month, the government signed peace deals with 25 armed groups, including renegade General Laurent Nkunda's Tutsi insurgency, in a bid to finally stabilise the east, where fighting has continued despite the end to the broader war.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
The ICC is also in the process of prosecuting Germain Katanga, another Ituri ex-militia leader who is accused of .......
Another good reason, albeit totally unncessary, to forego military involvement in the Congo or Africa.
#3
Neil Bush has done a good job of staying out of the news. Good for him. I wonder what kind of security he has with him when he hangs out in Saudi Arabia.
#6
I imagine it has a lot of freedom if you're from the priveliged, connected, and wealthy classes who can afford bodyguards for any women who might want to leave the compound.
#8
"I was boasting about Riyadh, telling (Neil Bush) it doesn't deserve its bad reputation," she said. "I told him I never experienced any harassment. I'd had no trouble as a woman. It was business as usual."
It was business as usual when the lady got busted by the Kingdom's religious police. Why she felt exempt from the dictates of sharia law escapes me. Did she think she was still living in Utah?
I'd hesitate to do business with a woman or the company who employed a woman who boasted of Saudi freedoms to Brother Bush or anyone else. That person ain't in touch with reality.
#9
She was definitely a prisoner of a childish liberal fantasy. "I am anti-political" = "I am a naive fool." Why she remains in Saudistan is beyond me, and needs a much more detailed explanation than so far provided.
#10
Anyone who expects support from the American diplomatic missions abroad is a damned fool. If you need a new passport, or more pages in your passport, go to the embassy. Otherwise, they're about as useful as a bucket of warm spit.
Is this why Presidente Chavez was demanding cash payment upon order the other day?
"In Oogo we trust. All others pay cash."
Exxon Mobil Corp has moved to freeze up to $12 billion in Venezuelan assets around the world as the U.S. company fights for payment in return for the state's takeover of a huge oil project last year. The company said it has received court orders in Britain, the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles each freezing up to $12 billion in assets of Venezuela state oil firm PDVSA.
Exxon also won a court order from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in December freezing more than $300 million belonging to PDVSA, as Exxon argued it would have little chance to recoup its investment from PDVSA should it win its arbitration. Exxon filed for arbitration in September. It has not specified how much it wants for the 41.7 percent stake in the Cerro Negro project, but it has said its remaining net book investment in the project was about $750 million at the time the assets were expropriated.
PDVSA, one of the largest suppliers of crude oil to the United States, was not immediately available for comment. Exxon said in court filings that recent estimates have placed PDVSA's global asset value -- including its operations in Venezuela -- at over $62 billion.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez took over Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips stakes in multibillion-dollar heavy oil projects in Venezuela's oil region last June.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/08/2008 1:19 Comments ||
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#2
It occurs to me after a night's sleep that ConocoPhillips will want some asset freezing to cover their Venezuelan investments. The last sentence of the article says multibillion-dollar heavy oil projects.
Barbara, I'll start setting up platters of crudites and dips. Popcorn may well not be enough, and I'm tired of waiting for Israel to get on with it.
#4
So why hasn't there been a 'work accident' at these refineries putting them out of action? seems the hugo will have to pay dearly to find workers to put it back on line should some calamatiy befall it!!
#5
USN Ret - Maybe they think Yugo is going to get whacked soon and they don't want to have to repair the facilities when they move back in?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/08/2008 15:51 Comments ||
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#6
"Seniorita Payback," Hugo lamented, "esa muchacha es una perra."
Posted by: Mike ||
02/08/2008 15:56 Comments ||
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#7
Easy on the popcorn. If Chavez and Exxon get into a p*ssing contest OUR shoes are going to get wet. If you think oil prices are high now, just watch what happens if supply goes off-line, or if people even fear it might go off-line, regardless of reason. When oil company profits are lost to stunts like Venezuela's, one (or more) of three things will happen: 1) prices will be increased and profit made up somewhere else (at your expense), 2) investment decreased in other projects (and supply lost and prices increased - again at your expense) and 3) dividends cut, mutual fund based retirement income lost, tax revenues decline, etc. ANY disruption of the force ends up costing YOU.
#9
Hugo turns out to be a common thief but on a large scale. He tries to sell it to the people as socialism and redistribution of the wealth while at the same time lining his own pockets and getting rich--socialism and Marxism--what a sham and scam. Sorry Venezuela that you got such a scumbag leader.
#10
WAFF > THREE KILO SUBS FOR VEENZUELA; + TOPIX > IRAN PLANTS ITS FLAG IN THE WILDS OF NICARAGUA.
As a former IRAN-CONTRA + PANAMA Specops vet, I have to say I find the news on Nicaragua a bit personally ironic = ambiguously dissettling/
perturbing. HMMMMMMM .......HELPED REAGAN AND THE USA WIN A COLD WAR ONLY TO LOSE AMERICA, THE NATION AND THE PEACE, TO SOCIALISM???
#11
I worked for Kennecott Copper when Salvadore Allende tried this nationalization stunt on Kennecott without compensation. This included the El Teniente copper mine, the largest underground copper mine in the world. Kennecott lawyers went all over the world and got court orders seizing the great majority of copper-bearing ships from Chile and Salvadore could not sell his product.
Salvadore tripped on something and the rest is history, so to speak.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/08/2008 23:01 Comments ||
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MOSCOW (Reuters) who and where else?- President Vladimir Putin accused the United States of unleashing a new arms race on Russia's borders on Friday in a speech that is likely to provide a blueprint for his successor's policies. And you'll be right there behind him to help guide, won't you Uncle Vlad??
Laying out his legacy three months before he is to step down, Putin said Russia had to wean itself off energy exports, compete in the world economy and stand up to the West. Call Hil and Obama- tell them Vlad's won the Dem nomination
In an address containing long passages of tough rhetoric aimed at the West, Putin said NATO expansion and U.S. plans for a missile defence shield in eastern Europe had touched off an arms race. Awwwwwwww.... guess the proletariat will just have to keeping starving. Just like mom and pop- And it will be the fault of the evil West
"It's not our fault, we didn't start it. ... funnelling multibillions of dollars into developing weapons systems. Uhhhh... Stalin? Cold war? HELLO? MOM???
"NATO itself is expanding. It's approaching our borders. We drew down our bases in Cuba and in Vietnam. What did we get? New American bases in Romania, Bulgaria. A new third missile defence region (the U.S. defence shield) in Poland, where it's being built," Putin told the State Council. More at da link
#2
That's what happens when you lose a war, Vlad. At least we haven't rubbed your nose in it...yet. But do that spending thingy and see what happens when the price of oil crashes, same as last time. Sucks to be you.
#4
IIRC, ASIANEWS or EURASIAONLINE,net??? > RADICAL/ISLAMIST EXTREMISM SPREADING IN CENTRAL ASIA REGIONS, or title to that effect??? Can also review older Net articles on Russ continuing demographic probs = decline versus increasing Muslim birth rates, immogration, etc. RUSSIA > VARIOUS > BY YEAR 2050, AT CURRENT + PROJECTED RATES RUSS POPULATION IS STILL ANTICIPATED TO BE AT OR BELOW THE 140 MILYUUHN MARK, AS LOW AS 95-110M.
#5
ION, CHINESE MIL FORUM > Japanese town officials are in opposition to US-Tokyo plans enlarge the strategic IWAKUNI Air base into one of the largest USAF = US airhubs in Asia.
OTOH, compare wid MARIANAS BUSINESS JOURNAL, or was it STARS-N-STRIPES??? > PHILIPPINES AIR LINES > MORE PLANES BUT NOWHERE/NO PLACE TO GO [paraph].
#3
The problem is that the choice we are given is who is more likely to walk the walk, Clinton, MuBarak Hussein Obama or McCain. At least McCain knows where he ought to be going and probably has a greater likelihood of doing so than the two former.
#4
For years the talking heads and pundits on television and radio have said that the choice of VP is a non-starter. That the choice doesn't mean anything in terms of creating excitment for the nominee for prez. I don't think that will be true this year for the trunks. I think McCain needs to be very astute in his choice of VP this year.
Here's what I mean: support for McCain among hard core conservatives is flat at best for numerous reasons. An astute choice for VP could very well raise support for "the ticket" or "the team".
I'm thinking this year could prove the exception to the rule in terms of who the VP choice is.
#5
The 2008 vote will be for the lesser of 2 evils. How the hell did we get into this conundrum ? Easy, we were split among factions and regions. Some anti-abortion, some pro war, some anti immigrant, some anti tax, and all anti Hillary.
Well, only a great leader could bring all these factions together. He isn't, and we won't. The anti-Hillary forces may carry the day, but without her as a rallying point, all is lost.
Four years from now all will change.
I suggest a write-in campaign for the one guy the media took a shit on...Senator George F. Allen. I know it takes a moment to write in a candidate, and George is hard to spell, but a little effort, and the Republican party will snap outta it's lethargy and attack and kill the MSM, stabbing the beast with multable thrusts until the life has drained from it.
Think about it; 20 or 30 million write in votes makes a statement, no ?
#9
Considering actuarial data - Mccain has about a 14.5% chance of dieing during his first term - so there is certainly a possibility that his veep would get a chance to lead - but not a huge likelihood.
#10
Here in California a Conservative could not get elected Dog Catcher. Too much immigration has produced too many new Dems.
When my sister-in-law from England got her citizenship we went to the ceremony in San Francisco. Is was a mass swearing in under the Clintone admin. As Caucasians we stood out in the crowd. At the end of the ceremony the Democratic voter registration tables oustide the hall were swamped.
Dick Morris thinks that after 2012 Republicans will not have a chance to elect a President again because of the changes in the population mix.
Look at how being president has aged younger men like Clinton and Bush.
McCain, given his age, history, cancer, and genetic background (father died at 70) is not statistically likely to live long enough to finish 2 terms.
I've seen it posited (actuaries) that he's 20% or so likely to die in office in the *first* term alone, and only 50-50 to make it to the end of his first term healthy enough to continue serving.
So the VP becomes critical, since he will likley be pressed into service at least temporarily, and perhaps permanently durign the first term.
J.C. Watts.
Be appropos that the first Black president would be a conservative from the Party of Lincoln and Reagan.
Later this evening...when my wife finds me slightly intoxicated sitting at the computer...may I refer her to your post at 14:46? It'll go a long way to explain my condition at the time of her question.
Old Spook : coming from you I'm surprised you didn't mention Fred. But JC Watts...hmmm... Inspired. I really didn't think about him. What has he been doing since he left congress? I like him. Hell...I like him alot come to think of it.
#15
Hmmm... JC Watts would be hard to beat. Get the black vote and have a good conservative on top of it. The dhimocrats would paint him as an uncle tom, but he would pull many blacks away.
#16
Y'know, I'm tired as HELL of having to vote for the lesser of two evils. You still end up with something that leaves a very sour taste in your mouth. We've "voted for the lesser of two evils" now for virtually every election since 1964, and our NATION shows the scars. When are we going to get a decent, honest candidate that will govern according to the Constitution? Frankly, I'd like to lock ALL this year's candidates in an iron trunk, drop them in the Marianas Trench, and start over.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/08/2008 20:59 Comments ||
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#17
OP----I feel your pain. I am not joking. This whole election is being manipulated by the media. The problem is that NOBODY decent and smart wants to run for public office, especially at the national level, because it requires so much money, as well as being so corrupt. If some independents get in, in significant numbers, those making the game will have them, ahem, removed with prejudice. There are Billions if not Trillions of dollars at stake. Obama, Hillary, and McCain are all sock puppets of moneyed interests.
The problem is such that we are at a stage of evolution of our system that the Republicans and Democrats cannot be reformed. Change will have to come from without the party system. And with the dumbing down of the electorate over decades by the Left and the MSM, the situation will only get worse.
Our enemies grow strong and our allies few. Our present Congress and the President have bankrupted this country. We are fighting wars on borrowed money from our enemies.
There will have to be some kind of shock to our system for us to wake up. I feel very worried about this situation. I am an engineer and I try to at least offer solutions, and there are no easy or minimally painful ones I see. I have this feeling of slowly circling the drain. I cannot shake this feeling.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/08/2008 23:13 Comments ||
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Posted by: ed ||
02/08/2008 07:35 ||
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#1
It was a very good speech and extremely well received at CPAC. This year is looking very much like a repeat of 1976/1996. If McCain goes down in flames in November, as I fear he might, Romney will be well positioned for 2012. Of course, by then there may be too much damage done in the Supreme Court to recover from.
Sen. John McCain appealed for the support of conservatives today as he drives toward the Republican nomination for president, arguing that he is one of them and that past disputes are outweighed by the need to defeat the Democratic nominee in November.
In a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, the four-term senator from Arizona confronted disagreements over matters such as immigration head on. But he also stressed that he remains a committed disciple of former president Ronald Reagan, whose legacy he charged would be undone if either Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) or Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) wins the White House.
McCain spoke hours after his leading rival for the GOP nomination, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, dropped out of the race, telling the same gathering that he was suspending his campaign so that McCain could unite the party. McCain holds a commanding lead for the delegates needed to secure the nomination.
McCain told the crowd he had congratulated Romney in a phone call for "running an energetic and dedicated campaign." He said the two have "agreed to sit down together, and we agreed on the importance to unite our party."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2008 00:00 ||
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#2
I've never been registered with any party since I've voted back in the 70s. So what do I know about 'unity'. I do think it means my vote for Senator and Rep is far more important.
Republican Mitt Romney's exit from the White House race left dismayed conservatives vowing to sit out the election -- or else hold their noses to vote for John McCain, their party's likely nominee.
Maybe they shoulda voted for him, huh?
"I'm really depressed today because this is the first time that I find myself in a position that I will not work for the nominee (McCain)," said a caller to host Rush Limbaugh's conservative talk-radio show on the verge of tears.
Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, suspended his campaign on Thursday, shocking supporters and all but handing the nomination to McCain, a man some view as too liberal on immigration reform, taxes and free speech.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
All your $$$$$$$$ losses will be made up to you in the resurrection, provided you continue faithful. By the vision of the Almighty I have seen it. Joseph Smith, Jr.
#2
Conservatives will be more dismayed if Hillary or Obama get in and convert 14% of the private sector economy to socialism forever and appoint two or three Ruth Bader-Ginsburg clones to the Supreme Court.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
02/08/2008 5:43 Comments ||
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#3
Indeed, I think they'd find Her Thighness, a tad bit more unacceptable than McCain. I think he's a dope, and a spoiled little frat boy, but I'm not going to vote for a loony leftard just to spite him.
#4
no mo uro, it depends if they Donks can get enough votes for closure. After their little destructive rampage over nominees, they'll of course play up to the MSM as victims, but they've made their bed. Let's see if the Senate stays red enough for us to watch SCOTUS members die off in old age without replacements. Considering the unprecedented power grab by the Judiciary for the last forty years, this could be a feature, not a bug. There's no Constitutional basis for the number on the court. So, nine, seven, five members is just as legitimate as any. Downsizing through attrition. Who has the youngest and healthiest?
#5
"Conservatives" should not have been supporting Romney in the first place. His "conservative" record is exactly two years old. If Rush et al. could have backed, for example, Fred Thompson early on we would not be in this situation.
McCain is not perfect and we are going to have to hold him to his (new) word on the border. But my God he is better than the alternatives. We are at war. We cannot elect the Dhimmis now.
#6
I'm afraid the damage will be even more long lasting if McCain is elected. Those who voted for him in the primaries and contributed to his campaign will be encouraged to do the same again eight years from now with another RINO of his ilk. Candidates like Fred Thompson and Duncan Hunter will be seen as anachronisms. The shift to the left will become permanent and with time people will get to the point where they no longer know any better. The word "conservative" will come to mean something entirely different from what we think it does now. Nobody will even remember what guys like Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon and Barry Goldwater stood for if the tradition is not carried forward.
Sorry, I just can't support this candidate. I do not trust his judgment. If he'll sell us out to the Mexicans and the Chinese and the Albanians what else will he do?
Amidst warming of ties, China has taken exception to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Arunachal Pradesh and his assertion that the state belongs to India, evoking a strong reaction from New Delhi.
Almost a week after Singh visited Arunachal Pradesh and said the state was our land of rising sun, Chinese Foreign Ministry officials have conveyed to officials in the Indian Mission in Beijing that they were unhappy with the visit and his comments there. Beijing feels that it was not appropriate for the Prime Minister to visit a state, major parts of which it claims are its territory.
In a sharp reaction, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee asserted that Arunachal Pradesh was part of India and the Prime Minister has right to visit any part of the country. "Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of our country. We are having regular representation in our Parliament elected by people of Arunachal Pradesh. Therefore, it is quite obvious that the Prime Minister will visit any part of the country," Mukherjee said in Mumbai.
Singh, during his maiden visit to Arunachal on January 31, had said that the state was our land of rising sun, in a clear message to China that it belongs to India.
The Chinese unhappiness comes more than a fortnight after Singh had a good visit to Beijing when the two countries agreed to expedite resolution of the boundary issue.
Chinese claim over Arunachal has been nagging the ties between the two countries for long. The issue gets flared up when the Chinese troops at regular intervals intrude into the Indian territory to demonstrate their claim on the land. India has, however, been seeking to play down these incursions by arguing that these were a result of differences in perception.
The Special Representatives of the two countries are working out a solution as per the Political Parameters and Guiding Principles signed in 2005.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/08/2008 17:08 ||
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"Prometheus" @ Center for Science & Technology Policy Research
Have you ever heard anyone make the argument that we must take a certain course of action because the experts tell us we must? The issue might be the threat of another country or an environmental risk, but increasingly we see appeals to authority used as the basis for arguing for this or that action.
In a new book, David Shearman and Joseph Wayne Smith take the appeal to experts somewhat further and argue that in order to deal with climate change we need to replace liberal democracy with an authoritarianism of scientific expertise. They write in a recent op-ed:
Liberal democracy is sweet and addictive and indeed in the most extreme case, the USA, unbridled individual liberty overwhelms many of the collective needs of the citizens. . .
There must be open minds to look critically at liberal democracy. Reform must involve the adoption of structures to act quickly regardless of some perceived liberties. . .
We are going to have to look how authoritarian decisions based on consensus science can be implemented to contain greenhouse emissions.
On their book page they write:
[T]he authors conclude that an authoritarian form of government is necessary, but this will be governance by experts and not by those who seek power.
So whenever you hear (or invoke) an argument from expertise (i.e., "the experts tell us that we must ...") ask if we should listen to the experts in just this one case, or if we should turn over all decisions to experts. If just this one case, why this one and not others? If a general prescription, should we do away with democracy in favor of an authoritarianism of expertise?
Posted by: Mike ||
02/08/2008 09:14 ||
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#1
I guess Jackboots fit well under those academic robes. Seeing more proof of it every day.
#3
The same thing happened with the Roman empire too. The senate was replaced by a popular general and he became the state. Same thing happened in Germany too. We must not be swayed by the siren song of an easy life at the expense of our liberty. Once lost, it is nearly impossible to get back and only at a great loss of life.
#6
What is astounding is that they could be both so brazen about their knowledge and so ignorant of the origins of our governing structures at the same time. But, perhaps the later explains the former. An argument for more REAL history in undergraduate education.
You are the latest in a long line of obsessives, generally with a scientific background, who have been convinced that a tyrannical government would elevate your bugbear to the number one, indeed, the sole social priority of the nation, over the demands of all other citizens.
That you would choose China as your only evidence for this proposition merely shows how far your feverish obsession with global warming has taken you from sanity.
As someone who has just returned from two years of living in China I can only report to you that the disgustingly polluted air and barren deforested landscape there argue more eloguently than words exactly the opposite case. Liberal Democracy is by far the best system for protecting the environment while dictatorship is the worst.
While the Chinese government may have passed a tokenistic ban on plastic bags it has also been pushing economic development at a breakneck pace and approving scores of carbon-emitting coal-fired power stations.
However, if it pleases you to imagine that a dictatorship would adopt your goals for society (which in your own mind are self-evidently desirable - why can't everybody see.. the fools), instead of exterminating minorities or class enemies, enforcing a state religion, expropriating private wealth to lavish on the rulers, or trying to build the world's tallest building, then by all means keep scribbling.
#8
Nazi Germany too was run by experts. They were very concerned about the environment, animal welfare, public infrastructure, technological innovation and scientific advances and fantastically efficient at killing people.
#9
"Intellects" since Plato have argued about the nobility of 'enlightened rulers' over democracy. Might have something to do with Plato's old teacher, Socrates and some hemlock. Send a case of the '07 vintage to Shearman and Smith.
Posted by: Matt ||
02/08/2008 12:22 Comments ||
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#11
It's sheer laziness. With a tyrant in place, benevolent or otherwise, our savant merely need persuade one person, who might well be overwhelmed by our savant's knowledge and personal charm. In a democracy, our savant must persuade the multitude, some of whom will actually know more than he on the subject -- and disagree, while the majority will be simply uninterested in the subject, hence not amenable to his point of view.
First, the use of language: "perceived liberties"...."consensus science"...."surfeit of democracy ".
Second, he says the following about China:
"China has become, or is just about to become, the worlds greatest emitter of greenhouse emissions. Its economic growth suggests that it may soon emit as much as the rest of the world put together. Its environment is in a deplorable state, with heavily polluted rivers and drinking water, serious air pollution, both of which have a heavy burden of illness. Pollution and climate change are reducing productive land in the face of an increasing population which is compelled to import some of its foodstuffs."
and then argues that we need a government like the "savvy Chinese rulers" because they are banning plastic bags.
#13
However, DoDo, the Chinese emit less CO2 per capita than the US. Therefore they are more enlightened. (Of course, they have 3 or 4 times the population of the US)
And I'll be glad to explain either letter of that to you, you facist IDIOT.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/08/2008 15:23 Comments ||
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#16
So. This individual doesn't think societies made up of the most educated people in the world has the ability to make determinations regarding the weather? Or, maybe this individual knows society can and is trying to find a way to do an end run around the people.
#17
If these guys were serious they'd go to China with a copy of Bob Zubrin's books on Flexi-fuel translated into Chinese. Convince the dictatorship that if they demanded all cars brought into China had to be flexi-fuel it would (a) get the oil monkey off their back (b) stick it to the Japanese who are behind in flexifuel tech. (c) Show how important China is that they can demand things and us foreigners will comply.
Same with India.
Zubrin talks about the US converting and the ripple effect but if China and/or India did so it would have some effect as well and if you are really against global warming and not simply trying to stick it to the US this would be an option.
#18
HMMMMMM, "Communist Capitalism" [Commpitlaism], versus Commie-Socie "Democratic/Popular Centralism-Centrism", etc.; the "US HAS TOO MUCH FREEDOM/DEMOCRACY/LIBERTY" versus PRAVDA's [paraph] "AT LEAST UNDER THE USSR/COMMUNISM, PEOPLE = SOVIET CITIZENS WERE PERMANENTLY POOR BUT OPTIMISTIC".
As said or inferred long ago on the Net, iff one believes that 9-11/WOT > WAR FOR GLOBAL EMPIRE/CONTROL = OWG-NWO, where the US is concerned Amers must ergo believe that Amer will inevitably face an INTERNAL, NATIONAL POINT OF CRISIS-DEBATE , perhaps even SECTARIANISM OR FULL FLEDGED CIVIL WAR, via the "REPUBLIC versus EMPIRE" agendas, most notably ala ancient Rome.
These will be issues which cannot be avoided lest be done to a [worse] national detriment, and which undoubtedly dedic enemies or opponents of America = Free/DemoCapital America will use or manipulate to their own anti-US/anti-USWest advantage and agendums.
#21
I'm sure Betsy and I can persuade him to change his mind (Betsy is a 10-gauge double-barrel shotgun). Leave my liberty and private property alone, or lose your head - literally.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/08/2008 21:35 Comments ||
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#22
See, Old Patriot? Thats why our savant prefers to deal with tyrants.
#23
Saw a video on flexi-fueled cars in Brazil. It turns out that lots of US ones are too. Ones were the models are similar to those in Brazil. Its just that the switches were left off....
So, if he loves flexi-fuel he can just as GM, and Ford how to flip the switch.....
Quoting two major studies, the NewScientist electoronic news service, on Thursday said that biofuels, once seen as a useful way of combating climate change, could actually increase greenhouse gas emissions. It added that it may take tens or hundreds of years to pay back the "carbon debt" accrued by growing biofuels in the first place. "The calculations join a growing list of studies questioning whether switching to biofuels really will help combat climate change," it added.
Biofuel production has accelerated over the last five years, spurred in part by a US drive to produce corn-derived ethanol as an alternative to petrol. "The idea makes intuitive environmental sense - plants take up carbon dioxide as they grow, so biofuels should help reduce greenhouse gas emissions - but the full environmental cost of biofuels is only now becoming clear," it argued.
Extra emissions are created from the production of fertiliser needed to grow corn, for example, leading some researchers to predict that the energy released by burning ethanol is 25 percent greater than that used to process fuel.
#2
Converting corn production to Bio fuel IS driving up the price of food, especially beef, pork and poultry. Sugarcane has a much better energy conversion rate.
Under new regulations proposed by the European Union, Germany will have to cut greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent by 2020. At the same time, the German government has decided to phase out nuclear power, which does not pollute the atmosphere and accounts for a quarter of the country's electricity supply.
Many skeptics doubt Germany can simultaneously replace nuclear power and cut emissions. As a result, economists predict that Europe's largest economy will continue to mine and burn as much coal as ever in future decades, regardless of the environmental drawbacks.
#8
Poorly written articel. The crux is: It added that it may take tens or hundreds of years to pay back the "carbon debt" accrued by growing biofuels in the first place.
No duh. Cut down virgin forest to produce fuel crops and it will take many years to produce a net carbon quantity that was locked up in the trees and vegetation. Produce fuel on existing farmland and this doesn't apply.
Posted by: ed ||
02/08/2008 7:49 Comments ||
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#9
The point of biofuels was never to reduce emmissions. Oxidizing carbon is oxidizing carbon. The point was to replace oil for fuel with something you could grow yourself like sugar cane, switch grass or algae. The economics of using corn for fuel is simply bad. No Food For Oil!
#10
These two studies seem to concentrate on the carbon budget. They also seem to suffer from assuming technology will note improve.
Both assumptions are problematic.
One problem with concentrating on the carbon budget is that it ignores the radiation budget. Since thick and deep vegetation absorbs sunlight efficiently, replacing such vegetation by relatively short crops with no vegation paths for harvesting vehicles radiates more sunlight back into space (at the shorter wavelengths at least) than an old growth forest.
The other problem is fairly obvious. For example, in the past 10 years, the corn-to-ethanol producers have increased their efficiency by about 80% (more productive corn plants, higher liquid product per ton of corn, less input of natural gas for heating).
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The Sun Also Sets
"Prometheus" @ Center for Science & Technology Policy Research
