For the third time, the Supreme Court on Monday reversed the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and restored a death sentence for a California murderer who bludgeoned a young woman in 1981 to steal a stereo from her house.
28 years and counting ...
The justices, in a unanimous, unsigned opinion, rejected the notion that Fernando Belmontes should be spared because his lawyer had failed him by not presenting mitigating evidence about Belmontes' childhood.
"It is hard to imagine . . . additional facts about Belmontes' difficult childhood outweighing the facts of [Steacy] McConnell's murder," the justices said. "We agree with the state court's characterization of the murder" as one of " 'extraordinary brutality' and simply cannot comprehend the assertion by the Court of Appeals that this case did not involve 'needless suffering.' "
Belmontes broke into McConnell's home in the small Central California town of Victor, near Stockton, and struck her in the head 15 or 20 times with a steel barbell, crushing her skull. She put up "a desperate struggle for [her] life," the court said, but died a few hours after the beating. Belmontes and two accomplices sold her stereo for $100 and used the money to buy beer and drugs.
In 1982 a jury convicted Belmontes and condemned him to die, and the California Supreme Court affirmed his sentence in 1988. Since then, the case has been on appeal in the federal courts.
Under the Habeas Corpus Act, state defendants can sue in a federal court and argue that they are being punished in violation of the U.S. Constitution. Three times in this decade, the 9th Circuit Court ruled in favor of Belmontes and set aside his death sentence. In the first two decisions, the appeals court said jurors may have thought they could not weigh evidence about Belmontes' conversion to Christianity as a reason for sparing his life.
As a new-baptised Christian, should not Mr. Belmontes be grateful that he has avoided eternal damnation, without demanding additional rewards in this life?
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2009 00:00 ||
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#3
"LAW ABIDING CITIZEN" Movie > When "the System" fails and Truth Justice + pet Dawgs, etc. can't be found anywhere, not even by those legally andor publicly responsible for protecting, empowering, and defending same, NO ONE IS MORE "EVIL", MORE "MAFIA", MORE "GANGSTA, ANARCHIST + BRAD PITT-AS-ACHILLES-IN-TROY BLOODTHIRSTY AND MURDEROUSLY VIOLENT LIKE A PISSED OFF GOOD GUY!
#4
We don't or rarely use the death penalty. IMHO if it takes 20-30 for justice to runits course then it is a useless punishment. This is but one of the many cases where there is no doubt about the murderer yet it takes 20+ years to carry out the sentence. We need to be more like Texas.
It's the ruling legal caste that desperately wants to impose 'law' of its own mind over the consent of the governed. The death penalty clearly shows that all we're suppose to have is the facade of a representative republic but are not allow to actually make it happen.
There are around 4 to 5 thousand people on death rows across the country waiting decades in these cases. Meanwhile the death penalty is carried out around 18,000 times a year in our streets, our neighborhoods, our businesses, our homes, even our schools. The ruling caste demands perfection of the process, but fails abjectly to deliver perfection in our protection. That daily death penalty alters our behaviors. We lock our doors and windows at night. We do not travel through certain parts of our cities and towns. We worry when the sun goes down about where our children are at. Wasn't always like that. I still remember when it wasn't. However, back then, the death penalty of the state wasn't as perfect, but it was swift.
#6
Importantly, keep your eye on the SCOTUS about death penalty cases. I think they were sending a signal with the expeditious execution of the Virginia shooter that they want States to speed up the process.
The critical thing about this case is that California is in the Kennedy jurisdiction, and he is not in the 5 justice majority that found for Virginia. However, he cannot unilaterally overturn a death penalty.
The nine justices divide up the 13 circuit districts like this:
Roberts - D.C., 4th, and Federal Circuit
Breyer - 1st Circuit
Ginsburg - 2nd Circuit
Alito - 3rd and 8th Circuit
Scalia - 5th Circuit
Stevens - 6th and 7th Circuit
Kennedy - 9th Circuit
Sotomayor - 10th Circuit
Thomas - 11th Circuit
Investigators in New York City raided circulation offices at some of the nation's largest newspapers Tuesday as part of a union corruption probe, a law enforcement official said.
Police officers working with the Manhattan district attorney's office searched circulation offices of The New York Times in Queens, the New York Post and the Daily News in Manhattan, and El Diario in Brooklyn, the official said, speaking to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.
Investigators were seeking paperwork related to the Newspaper and Mail Deliverers Union, which packages and delivers newspapers across the region.
Calls to the union's headquarters were not answered Tuesday. The news deliverers' parent union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, referred inquiries to the local union.
The New York Times issued a statement saying that the office of an employee at its plant in Queens' College Point area had been searched but that its news side was not part of the investigation.
Rosana Rosado, publisher of El Diario-La Prensa, also said that the Spanish-language newspaper is not a subject of the investigation and that the search warrant was seeking information into allegations of corruption at the union.
Bob Leonard of Dan Klores Communications, speaking for the Daily News, declined to comment on the raid. A call to the Post was not returned.
The 1,600-member union wields considerable power over news companies that rely on their drivers to deliver hundreds of thousands of papers each day, and allegations of connections to organized crime are not new.
District Attorney Robert Morgenthau charged that the union was under mob control more than a decade ago, after an investigation that also involved a 1992 search of the Post and Daily News offices.
The probe led to criminal charges against union members including then-President Douglas LaChance, who authorities accused of being an associate of the Luchese crime family. He was acquitted in 1995 of strong-arming the Post into switching delivery companies.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2009 00:00 ||
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A lot of organizations have cashed in on the new presidentĀs image with kitschy trinkets, so why not the Navy? The Navy Secretariat Staff Officers Recreation Association, a service group run by Navy personnel and civilians at the Pentagon, has produced Obama Christmas ornaments for $15 a pop, limited to two per person. The normal Navy image has been replaced for the first time with that of the president.
A gold frame surrounds a photo of Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama as he takes the oath of office on Inauguration Day. Too much cheerleading? Some think soĀand have said so. In fact, after Whispers asked questions, sales were frozen. Yvonne Peterson, one of those selling the ornaments at the Pentagon, says, "We were told to put a stop on sales. They sold out in about an hourĀs time." The money raised funds for Navy morale, welfare, and recreation activities.
Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- Nicolas Cage brought about his own financial ruin with a spending spree that included two castles, 15 palatial homes, a flotilla of yachts and a squadron of Rolls Royces, his former business manager said.
Samuel Levin, responding to a lawsuit Cage filed against him, said he warned the Oscar-winning actor that he could face bankruptcy unless he scaled back his lavish lifestyle.
Cage, one of Hollywood's highest-paid movie stars, sued Levin in October, charging that he "lined his pockets with several million dollars in business management fees while sending Cage down a path toward financial ruin."
"Cage discovered that he is now forced to sell major assets and investments at a significant loss and is faced with huge tax liabilities because of Levin's incompetence, misrepresentations and recklessness," Cage's lawsuit said. He asked the Los Angeles Superior Court for $20 million in damages from Levin.
Levin filed a counter-complaint this week demanding $129,000 owed to him by Cage for recent work on his tax returns. The filing also argued that Cage was "deeply in debt" when he started working for him in 2001 because Cage had "already squandered tens of millions of dollars he had earned as a movie star."
Levin said he warned Cage, whose given name is Nicolas Coppola, that he needed to earn $30 million a year "just to maintain his lavish lifestyle." He urged Cage to save "a cash cushion" of at least $10 million "to alleviate the financial pressure to take film roles that might be detrimental to his career," Levin's response said.
Several of Cage's recent movie roles have been seen by critics as "paycheck gigs" taken only because of his pressing debt.
Levin's filing claimed that starting in 2005 and then "with increasing urgency" over the next two years, he "implored Coppola to stop buying real estate and urged him to reduce his real estate holdings, warning Coppola that the financial press was filled with references to a 'real estate bubble.' "
He countered Cage's claim that the actor was left in the dark about his finances.
"Levin repeatedly warned Coppola that he was living beyond his means, urged him to spend less, and warned him that financial disaster loomed if he continued to spend uncontrollably," Levin's filing said.
"Levin described the folly of several other well-known entertainers who compulsively overspent their way into bankruptcy, and warned Coppola 'it could happen to you,' " the filing said.
Cage should have known about his debt because "he signed every check for every monetary transaction throughout the relationship," Levin said.
"Instead of listening to Levin, cross-defendant Coppola spent most of his free time shopping for high ticket purchases, and wound up with 15 personal residences, most of which were bought against Levin's advice," Levin's complaint said. "Likewise, Levin advised Coppola against buying a Gulfstream jet, against buying and owning a flotilla of yachts, against buying and owning a squadron of Rolls Royces, against buying millions of dollars in jewelry and art."
Cage's four yachts included one each for the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, Newport Beach, California, and Rhode Island, Levin said.
In 2007 alone, Cage's "shopping spree entailed the purchase of three additional residences at a total cost of more than $33 million; the purchase of 22 automobiles (including 9 Rolls Royces); 12 purchases of expensive jewelry; and 47 purchases of artwork and exotic items," Levin's filing said.
"Coppola also spent huge sums taking his sizable entourage on costly vacations and threw enormous, Gatsby-style parties at his residences," it said.
Levin's warnings that Cage was living beyond his means were not just ignored, but "at times Levin was rebuked for trying to restrain the outflow of cash," he said.
"The pinnacle" of Cage's spending spree was the purchase of two castles -- in England and Germany -- which Levin warned "were decrepit and needed huge expenditures," he said.
Cage's financial collapse came in 2008 when real estate values plunged and most of his residences turned "upside down, just as the global credit crunch made it impossible to cover Coppola's endless cash calls by borrowing more money," Levin said.
The case of Nicolas Cage versus Samuel Levin is set for a hearing in a Beverly Hills, California, courtroom on February 3, 2010, according to court records.
#3
Microcosm. "Welcome to Barak" in my worst Connery voice.
Nicolas Cage, too big to fail. "Imagine all the jobs saved if I win this lawsuit!" BTW, $129k seems reasonable for managing a $30mil/year trans-world asset management. My favorite, save $10mil so you can make the crappy films you want to work on.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
11/18/2009 12:05 Comments ||
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#5
Who?
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
11/18/2009 15:42 Comments ||
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#6
I was wondering why I'd seen him advertised in some dog movies that look like they went straight to the DVD bargain bin in B'desh.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/18/2009 15:55 Comments ||
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#7
I remember seeing him in some movie, where he played some nasty yuppie f**kwad who was afraid he had been turned into a vampire. By the end of the movie, I hated it - and him so much, that I actually rather relished and was looking forward to someone - anyone! coming through the door with an ash stake and a hammer and putting all of us out of our misery. I think - IRRC - that this was the movie that he made a lot of play about actually eating a cockroach on-camera. It was a loathsome movie, BTW - in case anyone is tempted to rent it. No, the title is mercifully erased from my recollection. Do an IMDB search, I'm sure that it will turn up. It's horrible - you'll be cheering on all the characters with a grudge against the character. Trust me.
A decree banning women from wearing trousers in Paris is still technically in force, it emerged on Monday, making the laissez-faire French capital theoretically stricter than hardline Sudan in the fashion stakes. I'm all for it. I've always found women without their pants on quite attractive...
The rule banning women from dressing like men -- namely by wearing trousers - was first introduced in 1800 by Paris' police chief and has survived repeated attempts to repeal it.
The 1800 rule stipulated than any Parisienne wishing to dress like a man "must present herself to Paris' main police station to obtain authorisation".
In 1892 it was slightly relaxed thanks to an amendment which said trousers were permitted "as long as the woman is holding the reins of a horse".
Then in 1909, the decree was further watered down when an extra clause was added to allow women in trousers on condition they were "on a bicycle or holding it by the handlebars".
In 1969, amid a global movement towards gender equality, the Paris council asked the city's police chief to bin the decree. His response was: "It is unwise to change texts which foreseen or unforeseen variations in fashion can return to the fore."
The latest attempt to remove the outmoded rule was in 2003, when a Right-wing MP from President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP party wrote to the minister in charge of gender equality. The minister's response was: "Disuse is sometimes more efficient than (state) intervention in adapting the law to changing mores."
Perfectly exemplifying the view that the purpose of laws is to be available should prosecution be wanted.
As Evelyne Pisier, a law professor whose book Le Droit des Femmes (The Rights of Women) unearthed the curious decree points out, given that trousers are compulsory for Parisian policewoman, they are all breaking the law.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Too many laws and not enough common sense. An affliction that is also too prevalent on this side of the pond.
Posted by: ed ||
11/18/2009 1:15 Comments ||
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FARK.COM > D *** NG IT, PICS OR THEY'RE THE EAST GERMAN WOMENS OLYMPIC SWIM TEAM [Man-like]!
A North Buffalo Township, PA, man is keeping his promise to neighbors and has begun removing a pile of hundreds of dead deer from his property. Neighbors came to Channel 11 News on Monday, saying the stench and sight are more than they can take.
On Monday, property owner Randy Good said he is in the process of loading the dead deer into Dumpsters, so he can get them off his Sportsman Road land. Good is paid by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to collect deer, which he then takes to a specific pit.
However, he told Channel 11 News that his truck broke down and he didn't know what else to do with the dead animals, so he brought them home. Um, get the truck fixed? Inspector! How do you do it?
He said the dumps weren't open on the weekends, so the deer started to pile high.
Good, who collects the deer from the side of the road in five counties, said he gathers 50 to 100 a day. "I cover Westmoreland, Washington, Beaver, Lawrence and Armstrong," Good said.
Some neighbors said the carcasses could be smelled up to a half-mile away. "It's just, there's no way to describe what it is. It's horrible," said neighbor Sue Bryan.
Good said there's no pleasing some people. He said his immediate neighbors have not complained one bit about the mess, but he's cleaning it nonetheless.
"Usually around sunset, you can't breathe out here," said neighbor Dallas Bryan.
Good apologizes for the inconvenience and said PennDOT is aware of the situation. According to the contract, Good is not doing anything wrong. He has to pick up deer within 24 hours of being contacted but has no time frame on disposing of the deer. "I don't want them there as much as anyone else," said Good. "Everyone has a job. This is part of it."
#3
Joe, I don't know what part of PA you live in, but where I grew up deer + cars caused a lot of accidents, usually resulting in damaged cars and dead deer.
#4
Joe - come back and visit! During a night trip on US209 between Stroudsburg and Milford (about 25 miles) I once counted 37 dead deer and they looked pretty fresh.
Why I can't seem to find one when deer hunting is another story I guess.
#7
Back in the 70's the fresh kills went to the kitchens to feed the poor and interred then some do-goody decided it wasn't inspected or some such so they dumped perfectly good and tasty venison in the landfills.
Another geologic Coke bottle ready to blow.
A dangerous level of carbon dioxide and methane gas haunts Lake Kivu, the freshwater lake system bordering Rwanda and the Republic of Congo. Scientists can't say for sure if the volatile mixture at the bottom of the lake will remain still for another 1,000 years or someday explode without warning. There are no guarantees, do ya feel lucky?
In a region prone to volcanic and seismic activity, the fragility of Lake Kivu is a serious matter. Compounding the precarious situation is the presence of approximately 2 million people, many of them refugees, living along the north end of the lake. That puts the potential CO2 blanket from a blowout in the catastrophe category.
An international group of researchers will meet Jan. 13-15 in Gisenyi, Rwanda, to grapple with the problem of Lake Kivu. A grant from the National Science Foundation won by Rochester Institute of Technology will fund the travel and lodging for 18 scientists from the United States to attend the three-day workshop. Better camp above the potential CO2 blanket layer.
Anthony Vodacek, conference organizer and associate professor at RIT's Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science, is working closely with the Rwandan Ministry of Education to organize the meeting.
"Rwandan universities suffered greatly in the 1994 genocide and there are few Rwandan scientists performing significant work on the lake or within the rift system," Vodacek notes. "We will work with the government to identify interested researchers."
Vodacek is convening the workshop with Cindy Ebinger, an expert in East African Rift tectonics at the University of Rochester, and Robert Hecky, an expert in limnology-the study of lake systems-at University of Minnesota-Duluth. Core samples Hecky took in the 1970s initially brought the safety of Lake Kivu under question.
Addressing the lake as a whole system is a new concept for the workshop participants, who will bring their expertise in volcanology, tectonics and limnology to the problem. Vodacek's goal is to prioritize research activities and improve communication between the North American, European and African collaborators.
"Most scientists are fairly in agreement that the lake is pretty stable; it's not as if its going to come bursting out tomorrow," Vodacek says. "But in such a tectonically and volcanically active area, you can't tell what's going to happen."
One of the problems with Lake Kivu is that the 1,600-foot deep lake never breathes. The tropical climate helps stagnate the layers of the lake, which never mix or turn over. In contrast, fluctuating temperatures in colder climates help circulate lake water and prevent gas build up. Sounds like a job for some big pumps to circulate water from the depths.
Lake Kivu is different from both temperate and other tropical lakes because warm saline springs, arising from ground water percolating through the hot fractured lava and ash, further stabilize the lake. Scientists at the workshop will consider how these spring inputs may vary over time under changing climates and volcanic activity.
A number of catalysts could destabilize the gas resting at the bottom of Lake Kivu. It could be an earthquake, a volcanic explosion, a landslide or even the methane mining that has recently united Rwandan and Congolese interests.
Close calls occurred in 2008 when an earthquake occurred near the lake and in 2002 when a volcanic eruption destroyed parts of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo, only 11 miles north of Lake Kivu. Although scientists were alarmed, neither event sufficiently disturbed the gas. Tickling the dragon's tail, so to speak.
Vodacek likens the contained pressure in the lake to a bottle of carbonated soda or champagne. "In the lake, you have the carbon dioxide on the bottom and 300 meters of water on top of that, which is the cap," he says. "That's the pressure that holds it. The gas is dissolved in water."
When the cap is removed, bubbles form and rise to the surface. More bubbles form and create a column that drags the water and the gas up to the surface in a chain reaction.
"The question is, and what's really unknown, is how explosive is that?" Vodacek says.
Through his own research Vodacek plans to simulate the circulation of Lake Kivu. Modeling the circulation patterns above the layers of carbon dioxide and methane will help determine the energy required to disrupt the gas and cause Lake Kivu to explode.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/18/2009 21:15 ||
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like a ski-trail cabin at Mammoth. Sometimes you get a restful nap, and sometimes ya get the Big Sleep
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/18/2009 22:04 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] German prosecutors say police are holding two Rwandan militia leaders on suspicion of atrocities committed in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the years following the 1994 Rwanda genocide.
Federal prosecutors said Tuesday that Ignace Murwanashyaka, the leader of Rwanda's Hutu FLDR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) rebels and his deputy Straton Musoni faced charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Murwanashyaka was seized in the western city of Karlsruhe, and his number two was picked up from Stuttgart. Both fled Rwanda to DR Congo after the massacre of some 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis.
Their presence in DR Congo has been the key igniter of years of unrest, leading to the formation of Congo-based Tutsi rebel groups battling their alleged advances.
Their FDLR has been known for its savage acts wherever it has been known to pass -- pillaging villages, mutilating locals, and raping women.
The arrests come amid UN-backed Congolese operations to uproot the FDLR since January. The FDLR has so far managed to remain active.
The FDLR is accused of financing its purchases of arms by smuggling gold and other minerals from areas under its control in the North and South Kivu provinces near the border with Rwanda.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2009 00:00 ||
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Describing Tibet as part of China, US President Barack Obama today supported the early resumption of talks between Beijing and representatives of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama.
"We did note that while we recognise that Tibet is part of the People's Republic of China, the United States supports the early resumption of dialogue" between the Dalai Lama's representatives and Beijing," Obama said after his meeting with Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao.
Chinese President Hu Jintao hailed US President Barack Obama's recognition of sovereignty issues dear to China. "China approves of President Obama's repeated reiteration of the one-China principle," Hu told reporters.
Hu referred to China's "sovereignty over Taiwan and other matters" during a state visit in which some Western analysts had predicted that China would also demand an explicit declaration by Washington of China's sovereignty over the restive frontier regions of Tibet and Xinjiang.
Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei, capital of self-ruled Taiwan, to Beijing in 1979 but remains the island's main arms supplier.
Obama did not meet Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, when he was in Washington in early October. But the Dalai Lama has said they may meet after Obama returns from China, which condemns the Buddhist monk as a separatist for demanding Tibetan self-determination.
China, which has governed Tibet since its troops occupied the territory in the 1950s, has repeatedly accused the Dalai Lama of leading a campaign to split the Himalayan region from the rest of the country.
The 74-year-old Dalai Lama, who fled to India amid a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, has denied the allegations.
The last formal talks between the Dalai Lama's envoys and Chinese officials, the seventh since 2002, ended in an impasse in July last year, with China demanding that he prove that he did not support Tibetan independence.
Relations have been particularly tense this year after large scale riots in Lhasa, Tibet's capital, in which hundreds of shops were torched and Chinese civilians were attacked.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Obama has this thing for 4wheel drive buses to throw his supporters under.
#12
US Presidents never conceded that the Baltic countries were part of the USSR. US Presidents never conceded that Tibet was part of China. Till Obama - what a tool!
#18
Actually the official US policy is that while we consider Tibet part of the PRC, we encourage the PRC to respect the rights of the Tibetans.
US policy on Taiwan is similar. However, Taiwan is lucrative to us from a weapons sale standpoint.
That's why we (and the PRC) blocked Taiwan from becoming a member of the UN.
There are plenty of other reasons to dislike Obama rather than his China policy. Move on folks, there is nothing new to see here.
If you really want to be scared of China, take a visit to Africa and count the number of Chinese MAMs (military aged males). They are securing the natural resources there without firing a shot.
#19
Can't disagree with ya there Grunt, but what the administration can do is cease public and weapon support, or exit the navy from the theatre. And I'm sure India is just thrilled about unchecked expansion into Tibet, nevermind the Tibetans.
And yes, China is expanding into Africa, and there is no public objection (or hardly even notice of) to that either.
Sorry, sometimes I forget the game plan is the post-american world.
#21
ION TOPIX > CHATHAM HOUSE: TURKEY AND RUSSIA COULD FORM "ALLIANCE OF THE EXCLUDED" IN EURASIA; + ROBERT WAXLER: THE US IS INTERESTED IN THE NAGORNO-KARABAKH AND TURKEY-ARMENIA PROCESSES + CHECHNYA CONFLICT, UZBEK MILITANTS SHOW RUSSIA HAS NOT DEFERATED INSURGENTS.
* WAFF > [DAILYNEWS.PK OpEd] PAKISTANI WRITER: "WE ARE A NATION OF BEGGARS/BEGGING WITH DIGNITY.
#22
DAILYNEWS.PK > OBAMA [desires] TO END AFGHAN WAR BEFORE LEAVING OFFICE.
and
* SAME > [UN Report] TACKLING [Regional, World]POPULATION RISE WILL FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE, espec pesky greenhouse gas emissions = CO2.
IIUC above > SUPPOR OWG-NWO WAR IFF YOU WISH TO STOP GLOBAL WARMING = CLIMATE CHANGE. CLearly we will force the Sun to surrender by NOT atackin', invading it.
Then again, it was an Airbus 330 so it may just have had a mind of its own ...
It's an airplane. Cosmic rays abound in the places it travels. If it can't handle that, it should stay on the ground where the air is thicker... and it hasn't so far to fall, in extremis.
#3
"The data device experienced significant spikes in nine different categories of information, leading to the dramatic movements in the aircraft, which was using its autopilot system."
Makes one wonder whether there is a "choke point" in the device for flow of those nine data categories. If so the device should be redesigned and/or hardened. This is probably more than just a software problem.
#4
Assuming aerospace grade parts (they are) and triple or quad redundancy (it is), then it sounds like poor high reliability programming practices to cause uncontrolled maneuvers when encounter single event upsets.
Posted by: ed ||
11/18/2009 14:44 Comments ||
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#5
Cosmic Rays caused Astronaut Capt. Lisa Marie Nowak looks to plunge and short circuited her brain?
I agree with Ed that the programmer is at fault. The auto pilot did a dangerous manoeuvre. The autopilot obviously didn't have a "temporal memory" and the sudden change in input caused a massive output "signal". Very Very wrong.
OAKLAND, Calif., Nov 17 (Reuters) - California faces a budget gap of nearly $21 billion over its current and next fiscal years, according to the state government's budget watchdog agency, the Los Angeles Times reported on Tuesday.
The newspaper said California's Legislative Analyst's Office would issue an official report on Wednesday with its shortfall estimate.
The projection comes less than four months after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers agreed to a budget plan that closed a deficit of more than $24 billion largely with deep spending cuts to respond to plunging revenues amid the worst economic crisis to hit the most populous U.S. state since the Great Depression.
Schwarzenegger said last week he expects a budget gap for the rest of the current fiscal year of between $5 billion to $7 billion. His finance advisors had previously said the state government would see a $7.4 billion gap in the next fiscal year beginning in July.
But next year's budget shortfall will be much larger than initially forecast, the Los Angeles Times said. Citing sources briefed the upcoming report, it said the deficit will be $14.4 billion.
#3
How fast are "taxpayers" leaving or losing their jobs?
Very, a lot of folks I know are moving to places like Texas. Toss on top of this a lot of small to medium size businesses are closing shop as its too expensive to do business here and Cali is losing money hand over fist. Yet we still have a legislature that thinks the way to get out of this is to increase taxes on EVERYONE.
Hat tip, instapundit
Guess what? It turns out the Chinese are kind of curious about how President Barack ObamaĀs healthcare reform plans would impact AmericaĀs huge fiscal deficit. Government officials are using his Asian trip as an opportunity to ask the White House questions. Detailed questions.
Boilerplate assurances that America wonĀt default on its debt or inflate the shortfall away are apparently not cutting it. Nor should they, when one owns nearly $2 trillion in assets denominated in the currency of a country about to double its national debt over the next decade. I don't see that they are worry about
[Iran Press TV Latest] Greek police fired tear gas and arrested 200 people after clashes broke out at a march to honor a 1973 anti-junta student revolt in Athens.
"No, no! Don't honour the anarchists!"
The march began late in the afternoon on Tuesday at the Athens Polytechnic, where at least 44 people were killed in the 1973 student uprising.
The held-back '68ers finally arose!
Around 6,500 police were deployed across Athens for the annual march to the US embassy, which is often marred by clashes between anarchists and riot police.
The US embassy? Oooookay... They want to practice their English?
Students and adolescents were among the tens of thousands marching across the Greek capital, criticizing capitalism and NATO and calling for the legalization of undocumented migrants.
Because legalizing the illegals will increase their own job opportunities in a down market. Clearly they don't teach basic logic in Greek schools nowadays.
Uniformed soldiers and sailors from the Greek military trade union marched behind a banner which read: "No soldiers beyond our borders. Dissolve NATO."
Greece still drafts her young men. This kind of stupidity is the result.
The protestors also called for the withdrawal of all US troops from Greece and the dismissal of certain police personnel, calling them traitors, murderers, and torturers.
Three police officers were injured in the clashes.
Another demonstration in Greece's second city Thessaloniki also produced clashes between youths and riot police, while rival student groups clashed at the city's Aristotelio University before the march even began.
The student wing of the conservative New Democracy party said 10 of its members were hospitalized with bruises after being attacked by leftists.
"Their hair is short and their clothes are clean. Git 'em, boys!"
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2009 00:00 ||
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Dissolve NATO. withdrawal of all US troops
What a great idea. Then the US can sit back and watch on TV as Turkey reclaims their rightful property.
Posted by: ed ||
11/18/2009 1:21 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz on Tuesday told voters that the call of the muezzin, or Muslim imam who calls people to prayer, would not sound in Switzerland, as he campaigned against a referendum motion seeking to ban the building of minarets.
"Muslims should be able to practice their religion and have access to minarets in Switzerland too. But the call of the muezzin will not sound here," said Merz in a video broadcast to the nation.
The Swiss are due to vote on Nov. 29 on the motion launched by right wing groups to ban the construction of minarets, which is backed by the country's biggest political party, the hard right Swiss People's Party (SVP).
" Muslims should be able to practice their religion and have access to minarets in Switzerland too. But the call of the muezzin will not sound here "
Swiss president
The Swiss government and all other major political parties oppose the move to outlaw minarets.
On Tuesday, Merz reiterated the government's stance, calling on the population to "say no to the People's Initiative against the construction of minarets."
"Each religion has its particular architecture, whether it be churches, synagogues or minarets," he added.
"There I see the expression of the diversity of our society. Switzerland guarantees religious freedom. We live in a multicultural and open society. All believers, Muslims too, should be able to practice their faith," he added.
The government has argued that existing planning laws are sufficient to ensure local building rules are respected, while legislation against excessive noise can allow calls to prayer to be stopped.
An opinion poll published early last month by the daily Tages-Anzeiger indicated that more than 51 percent of voters polled would reject a ban, while nearly 35 percent would support it.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
And those minaret's are designed to be used for what? /s
Sarah Palin is no normal politician, and at the Associated Press, apparently "Going Rogue" is no normal book.
When the former Republican vice presidential candidate and former Alaska governor wrote her autobiography, the AP found a copy before its release date and assigned 11 people to fact check all 432 pages.
The AP claims Palin misstated her record with regard to travel expenses and taxpayer-funded bailouts, using statements widely reported elsewhere. But it also speculated into Palin's motives for writing "Going Rogue: An American Life," stating as fact that the book "has all the characteristics of a pre-campaign manifesto."
Palin quickly hit back on a Facebook post titled "Really? Still Making Things Up?"
"Imagine that," the post read. "11 AP reporters dedicating time and resources to tearing up the book, instead of using the time and resources to 'fact check' what's going on with Sheik Mohammed's trial, Pelosi's health care takeover costs, Hasan's associations, etc. Amazing."
AP spokesman Paul Colford said the organization, with more than 4,000 employees, and 49 Pulitzer Prizes earned for asking the hard questions, has the luxury of putting multiple reporters on major stories. He confirmed 11 people worked on the story, but not all full-time. He refused to say, however, if similar number of journalists were assigned to review other political books, or if Palin has been treated differently.
"One byline appeared on AP's Fact Check. Others at AP with knowledge of specific areas covered in the book contributed in varying degrees to preparing the Fact Check quickly on Friday," his statement read.
Reviewing books and holding public figures accountable is at the core of good journalism, but the treatment Palin's book received appears to be something new for the AP. The organization did not review for accuracy recent books by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, then-Sen. Joe Biden, either book by Barack Obama released before he was president or autobiographies by Bill or Hillary Clinton. The AP did more traditional news stories on those books.
WASHINGTON -- The Republican who heads up the federal agency overseeing the proposed construction of Alaska's natural gas pipeline is stepping down at the request of President Barack Obama. Drue Pearce, a former president of the Alaska Senate, was asked to leave her job as the head of the small agency known as the Office of the Federal Coordinator. Her resignation takes effect Jan. 3.
In a statement, Pearce said that it had been "a profound privilege to lead this innovative team."
"I am a passionate supporter of the agency's mission to bring Alaska natural gas to North American markets," Pearce said. "I leave an effective and efficient agency with a highly skilled team of professionals actively pursuing our mission."
Pearce served from 2001 to 2006 as the senior adviser to the Secretary of the Interior for Alaska Affairs until she was appointed to another political job by President George W. Bush, as the federal coordinator for the gas pipeline. She was confirmed as federal coordinator by the Senate in 2006.
Since Obama's inauguration, there has been a quiet but ongoing dispute over whether Pearce, a political appointee, could continue in the job as federal coordinator under the Obama administration. When the legislation creating the office was signed into law in 2004, it included language that allowed the presidential appointee in the job to "serve a term to last until one year following the completion of the project." Ultimately, though, politics prevailed and Pearce was urged to step down.
"President Obama values the Office of the Federal Coordinator and the important role that it plays in promoting our nation's energy security," said White House spokesman Adam Abrams. "He thanks Drue Pearce for her service and looks forward to naming a new federal coordinator in the weeks to come."
Pearce was the first person to hold the job, which is designed to keep federal agencies working together to get the pipeline built without undue delay. Some 22 federal agencies in the United States -- plus others in Canada -- must sign off on an environmental impact statement before the project can move forward. Right now, two proposals are competing for a multibillion-dollar natural gas pipeline to the Lower 48. Under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, a state law, the state is tied to the effort led by the pipeline firm TransCanada Corp. and backed by Exxon Mobil. Conoco Phillips and BP are pursuing a rival project called Denali.
"Her being forced out is a tremendous loss to Alaska," said Republican Gov. Sean Parnell, who served in the state Senate with Pearce. "Drue brought such a wide range of Alaska experience as well as federal experience that I am concerned we're going to be at a loss there for the federal help that Alaska needs in moving a gas line forward. This position should have transcended politics, and I don't see that playing out right now."
As the only Democrat in the Alaska congressional delegation, it'll be up to Sen. Mark Begich to recommend a replacement to the White House. Begich on Monday thanked Pearce for her service but said that Obama should be commended for "bringing new energy to this office and for his commitment to building an Alaska natural gas pipeline." "As a candidate and now as president, President Obama has always believed the Alaska natural gas pipeline is vital to meeting America's energy needs while ensuring our national energy security," Begich said. "The federal pipeline coordinator is designed to be an essential tool to kick-starting the project and moving its approval quickly through the federal regulatory process."
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who is the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said it would be "difficult to match" Pearce's advocacy for the pipeline. "I regret the loss of Drue's experience and knowledge on this project, but I understand that it's the president's prerogative to appoint the person of his choosing," Murkowski said. "The Alaska natural gas pipeline project is important to the economic and energy security of the nation. I've discussed this issue with the White House and I'm encouraged by the president's level of interest in seeing this project succeed."
Murkowksi said she was pleased Pearce's deputy, retired U.S. Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thomas Barrett, will serve as the interim coordinator until the White House appoints someone new. Yet another politically calculated and very dumb move by Barry. Pearce grew up in the oil patch and probably knows more about the business than any ten people Obama could come up with.
#1
I'm baffled - why isn't this just a boneheaded political move?
Leave her there, and do whatever you want through the "22 federal agencies" and others in Canada, and you have plausible deniability for anything you do.
By replacing her you just gave the opposition a huge spotlight on building this (two spotlights whenever Gov. Palin mentions it).
I cannot see any circumstances under which this administration gets more political credit for whatever happens.
#3
Y'all seem to be under the mistaken impression that this capital megaproject is primarily about getting Alaskan gas to market; from the standpoint of the current political administration it is about opportunities to direct funds to patrons.
#4
No doubt whomever is appointed will be financially tied to George Soros through one of his many front organizations. Just like the OPIC investment in Petrobras, the new appointee's position and power will be compromised to benefit Soros.
#5
I am a little suspicious; while each administration likes to reward its own supporters, I wonder if this move is designed to slow the project down or even cancel it outright.
Once you build a pipeline you have to keep it full. While present drilling in Alaska keeps the pipeline full for the near and medium term, long term you have keep drilling. Guess what: that means ANWR, and every Dhimmicrat in this country is against doing that.
No pipeline means no added pressure to drill ANWR. Caribou are more important.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/18/2009 12:57 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Steve White is half right. The other half is that whomever he gets as a replacement will more readily lead programs that help cripple America.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
11/18/2009 13:42 Comments ||
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#7
Glenmore - that's part of my point. Regardless of the POTUS policy intentions, this is a stupid move.
If he wants to deep six this project, why not use bi-partisan cover to do so. If he wants to go forth asap, same rationale and more since Ms. Pearce seems uniquely capable. Even if he wants complete Soros sponsored corruption, same rationale and cover.
This seems boneheaded all around.
I guess it just goes on the list of incompetent nonsense and meaninglessness with everything else, but I'd add it to the unnecessarily useless column.
#9
Doesn't matter if the gas pipeline makes it to the lower 48. As long as it makes it out of Alaska and into the Alberta tar sands, then it will be put to good use. So the Marxist obstruction will come to naught.
Posted by: ed ||
11/18/2009 14:48 Comments ||
Top||
Think the worst is over? Wrong. Conditions in the U.S. labor markets are awful and worsening. While the official unemployment rate is already 10.2% and another 200,000 jobs were lost in October, when you include discouraged workers and partially employed workers the figure is a whopping 17.5%.
While losing 200,000 jobs per month is better than the 700,000 jobs lost in January, current job losses still average more than the per month rate of 150,000 during the last recession.
Also, remember: The last recession ended in November 2001, but job losses continued for more than a year and half until June of 2003; ditto for the 1990-91 recession.
So we can expect that job losses will continue until the end of 2010 at the earliest. In other words, if you are unemployed and looking for work and just waiting for the economy to turn the corner, you had better hunker down. All the economic numbers suggest this will take a while. The jobs just are not coming back.
There's really just one hope for our leaders to turn things around: a bold prescription that increases the fiscal stimulus with another round of labor-intensive, shovel-ready infrastructure projects, helps fiscally strapped state and local governments and provides a temporary tax credit to the private sector to hire more workers. Helping the unemployed just by extending unemployment benefits is necessary not sufficient; it leads to persistent unemployment rather than job creation.
The long-term picture for workers and families is even worse than current job loss numbers alone would suggest. Now as a way of sharing the pain, many firms are telling their workers to cut hours, take furloughs and accept lower wages. Specifically, that fall in hours worked is equivalent to another 3 million full time jobs lost on top of the 7.5 million jobs formally lost.
This is very bad news but we must face facts. Many of the lost jobs are gone forever, including construction jobs, finance jobs and manufacturing jobs. Recent studies suggest that a quarter of U.S. jobs are fully out-sourceable over time to other countries.
Other measures tell the same ugly story: The average length of unemployment is at an all time high; the ratio of job applicants to vacancies is 6 to 1; initial claims are down but continued claims are very high and now millions of unemployed are resorting to the exceptional extended unemployment benefits programs and are staying in them longer.
Based on my best judgment, it is most likely that the unemployment rate will peak close to 11% and will remain at a very high level for two years or more.
The weakness in labor markets and the sharp fall in labor income ensure a weak recovery of private consumption and an anemic recovery of the economy, and increases the risk of a double dip recession.
As a result of these terribly weak labor markets, we can expect weak recovery of consumption and economic growth; larger budget deficits; greater delinquencies in residential and commercial real estate and greater fall in home and commercial real estate prices; greater losses for banks and financial institutions on residential and commercial real estate mortgages, and in credit cards, auto loans and student loans and thus a greater rate of failures of banks; and greater protectionist pressures.
The damage will be extensive and severe unless bold policy action is undertaken now.
Roubini is professor of Economics at the Stern School of Business at New York University and Chairman of Roubini Global Economics.
#3
Recently, I saw a 'bootstrap' proposal that could both help underpopulated States with declining populations, and provide a "safe haven" during severe unemployment and even after recovery.
It starts by building two low cost housing cities someplace in perhaps the Dakotas, as a cooperative venture between States and the federal government.
Both, separated by a considerable distance, begin by being subsistence oriented farming communities.
One of the two is oriented to unemployed families, as a place for them to live during recessions. They basically "work for the food they eat". It is a "temporary charity city" for the most sympathetic of the homeless.
It is not like welfare, because it runs on much the same rules as "those who work not shall not eat." Adults work and children go to school. No slackers.
The other city is designed for the "permanently unemployable", who for the most part are ex-convicts. It is subsidized by other States as a place to send their "trustee" ex-cons to get them off the street. These are low risk for recidivism, if they can just "get by", and are not forced back into crime to survive.
It is more of a permanent set up. A selling point is that it only costs a fraction of the price to keep them in prison, and they are no longer breaking the law. They only get one chance to live there, so if they make trouble, they are sent back to their home State.
Ironically, the prison city should make enough money for the State to support the homeless family city.
#6
Well, if they were just motivated enough to move to Minnesota's 357th congressional district, or California's 456th congressional district, they could have gotten one of them sweet stimulus jobs.
#7
There's really just one hope for our leaders to turn things around: a bold prescription that increases the fiscal stimulus with another round of labor-intensive, shovel-ready infrastructure projects, helps fiscally strapped state and local governments and provides a temporary tax credit to the private sector to hire more workers.
Right, another massive stimulus package is just what the Dr. ordered because the previous one has worked SO well.
Helping the unemployed just by extending unemployment benefits is necessary not sufficient; it leads to persistent unemployment rather than job creation.
They have a point there. That said, since 1980 the only net job creation in the US has come from businesses that are less than 5 years old. In other words, the only possible way to generate the jobs necessary to pull the unemployed out of unemployment is to promote entrepreneurship and investment. Ergo, keep taxes low or lower them. A well-run government program (a shameless oxymoron, I know) to encourage and support entrepreneurship wouldn't be a bad allocation of taxpayer funds, either.
The article says as much itself, "The jobs are not coming back." After this most recent purge, large, well-established firms are only going to start hiring when they believe the recession is in the rearview mirror and capital has started flowing freely again. Given the current state of affairs, that could a couple of years, and that's being optimistic. In the meantime, they will look to outsource and offshore whatever they can and rarely do those jobs ever come back in.
Sadly, the 0ne administration seems rather oblivous to all this.
#8
Besoeker: the purpose of a collective farm is to set people to work for no pay to produce food for someone else. This isn't it.
In this case, the purpose of the farm is to save everyone else money by not having to pay to feed them. If there are no jobs in the economy, they can still work to feed themselves, so that they are neither on the dole nor destitute.
This is pretty much how people lived before the Income Tax, when they just paid a minimal State tax, and a County tax.
The only collective involved is maybe a farm co-op, so they can grow different food to trade with each other, and swap for other stuff as someone new starts making it. Like paying a teacher in food to teach their kids.
They aren't making much money, they are treading water until the economy picks up again. And with the ex-cons, they are staying out of harms way while supporting themselves.
#9
The quickest and most effective way to bring back the jobs is tarrif barriers to all the low cost imports.
The problem results from the era of globalization when the USA and Europe exported their knowhow. Products that previously only they knew how to make are now being made more cheaply in China and other places.
#11
Moose isn't far wrong. If you look at the formation of communal colonies (think Shakers) in the US they, not surprisingly, tend to be founded and grow during times of economic distress.
And there are plenty of collectives in the upper mid-west. They're Hutterite colonies. Got Milk?
#12
From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs, right, Moose?
So during a recession, we move the "unemployed" to ND, uprooting all the extended families that might help. And exactly how do they re-integrate into society?
Subsistence farming is obsolete. Feeding these people is the least of the problem. Where do they get the "necessities" of modern civilization?
If these utopian plans worked, there would still be many communities like the one you're describing. But central planning doesn't work, that's been proven and documented.
And a separate city, "mostly" ex-cons whose compensation is taken and given to the homeless? Sounds like something out of Grapes of Wrath.
Hm, wait a minute, you're not actually suggesting redistributing wealth, are you?
#2
In deference to the patriotic WAC POSTER above, the combined weight alone of gear ionclud personal accessories that Male Grunts typically carry into combat = hot zones is reason enuff to disallow women from joining the combat arms.
#3
OK - as I was saying before my comment was basically nuked ...
I recall doing an interview with a Nantick labs researcher, when I was at Yongsan and assigned to AFKN-Seoul - wherein the researcher lamented that no matter what genius weight-saving idea they came up with, the Army just came up with more stuff for the combat troops to carry.It seemed that the Army had decided that the combat troops should be loaded down with at least half their body-weight of stuff. Useful and necessary stuff - but any weight eliminated from one element was an excuse to add something else...
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio launched a two-day crime-suppression and illegal-immigration sweep on Monday, as dozens of protestors lined a south Phoenix street close to where the sheriff outlined the plans at a crowded press conference. It is the second such operation since the federal government stripped Arpaio of street-level immigration patrols under the direction of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Deputies arrested 29 people Monday, 18 of them on suspicion of state human smuggling charges. According to detective Aaron Douglas, sheriff's office spokesman, 21 people were suspected of being illegal immigrants and they were booked on charges ranging from human smuggling to driving on a suspended license. One person was turned over to ICE, Douglas said.
Arpaio contends he still can seek to identify illegal immigrants during street patrols using state laws against human smuggling and sanctions for employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. The sheriff said his office plans to target semi-trailers and other load vehicles along alternative routes Valleywide, where human smugglers could be attempting to avoid checkpoints, such as those along Interstate 10 and Interstate 17, en route to drop houses.
"We are also noticing a significant change in travel routes," Arpaio said. "State highways still remain the main travel paths for smugglers and their co-conspirators, but more and more vehicles are being apprehended at alternative, out-of-the-way routes." Arpaio said anyone who films the stops along the interstate, including what he described as "open-borders groups," would be arrested, saying it is illegal to stop and stand unless it's an emergency. "These open-borders activists will be warned only once," he said.
Dozens of protestors along Lower Buckeye Road stood with signs carrying statements, such as "We are human" and "I will not be bullied."
During the press conference, Arpaio downplayed questions about whether he was grandstanding while Vice President Joe Biden and the national media were in town. Biden spoke in Phoenix Monday morning about the national economy.
"This is just another example of Arpaio's lack of respect for the Obama Administration and he continues to thumb his nose at the administration," said protestor Lydia Guzman, president of SOMOS America. Guzman was among a group of protestors across the street from the entrance of the MCSO training building. "Arpaio's sweep was nothing but political posturing," she said.
Mercedes Mercado-Ochoa, a member of the Mesa Association of Hispanic Citizens, said she believes Arpaio is doing the sweeps just to impress the national media in town. "He's spending so much taxpayer money on these crime sweeps that it's not funny anymore," she said. "He should be held accountable to the taxpayers for the amount he is spending on these sweeps."
The sweep will entail 200 members of Arpaio's volunteer posse and reserves, as well as sheriff's office deputies. Helicopters will also assist in the operation, which Arpaio said will have a "substantial focus" on the crime of human smuggling. This is Arpaio's 13th crime sweep. Since March 2006, the sheriff's office reports it has arrested a total of 3,532 human-smuggling suspects or illegal immigrants.
The sheriff's sweeps have drawn criticism that Arpaio's deputies racially profile people. The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating Arpaio's office over allegations of discrimination and unconstitutional searches and seizures.
#2
"This is just another example of Arpaio's lack of respect for the Obama Administration and he continues to thumb his nose at the administration," said protestor Lydia Guzman, president of SOMOS America.
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.
For the third time, the Supreme Court on Monday reversed the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and restored a death sentence for a California murderer who bludgeoned a young woman in 1981 to steal a stereo from her house. 
Investigators in New York City raided circulation offices at some of the nation's largest newspapers Tuesday as part of a union corruption probe, a law enforcement official said.
Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- Nicolas Cage brought about his own financial ruin with a spending spree that included two castles, 15 palatial homes, a flotilla of yachts and a squadron of Rolls Royces, his former business manager said.
A decree banning women from wearing trousers in Paris is still technically in force, it emerged on Monday, making the laissez-faire French capital theoretically stricter than hardline Sudan in the fashion stakes.
[Iran Press TV Latest] German prosecutors say police are holding two Rwandan militia leaders on suspicion of atrocities committed in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the years following the 1994 Rwanda genocide. 
Describing Tibet as part of China, US President Barack Obama today supported the early resumption of talks between Beijing and representatives of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama. 
[Iran Press TV Latest] Greek police fired tear gas and arrested 200 people after clashes broke out at a march to honor a 1973 anti-junta student revolt in Athens. 
