#2
bjk: You can take the goat herder out of the tribe, but you can't take the tribe out of the goat herder.
Nah - you get this kind of thing elsewhere, too. It depends on how financially stretched the parties are. An honor killing of a daughter or a wife over being raped would, however, be a Middle Eastern thing. Besides most Arabs who come here were professionals back home. But without the native language skills, they're stuck running small businesses. Their kids generally do really well.
#3
Independent gasoline retailers are being seriously squeezed, often right out of business. The refiners can and do raise prices to reflect the market at the time of delivery of a load to the station, but the marketer is having to pay for that load out of his revenue from selling his PREVIOUS load, and there is almost no profit margin. So in time of rising prices, especially rapid run-ups like we have been seeing lately, the retailer, who may have his entire life invested in his station, could lose everything at any moment. If his competitor gets his delivery a few days earlier, he can afford to undercut a price to grab market share. It is a vicious battle, economically speaking, and it does not surprise me at all that the fight could get deadly.
#4
G: It is a vicious battle, economically speaking, and it does not surprise me at all that the fight could get deadly.
I think the problem is that some of these businesses were built up with a substantial amount of debt, typically funds from relatives and friends. So if they fail, it's not just a loss of livelihood, it's a loss of income for years or decades to come, because the debt needs to be repaid. Why not just declare bankruptcy? Because it's one thing to not pay back a faceless multinational bank, and quite another to welsh on friends and relatives.
#1
I heard a guy on Boortz yesterday with the best line: "Too much aluminum in the sky and too much concrete down below".
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
11/17/2007 11:45 Comments ||
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#2
President Bush opened up military-only corridors along the busiest consumer flight paths in order to ease the crunch over Thanksgiving. There should be room enough up there now.
#1
Bad boy, bad boy
What'cha gonna do?
What'cha donna do when dey tattoo you?
Posted by: Mike ||
11/17/2007 8:15 Comments ||
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#2
the other with bongs for smoking marijuana and other drugs -- one even shaped like a skull.
Gasp and swoon, I just got the vapors!
What a scandal!
A skull bong.
I thought the good ol skull bong was nearly an American institution by now. Guess not.
Not the 380, but still an excuse to run the turkey pic. Condolences to the injured.
TOULOUSE, France - An investigation was under way on Friday after an Airbus passenger jet ploughed into a wall during testing at the planemakers headquarters in Toulouse on Thursday. Airbus said two of the five workers injured when the A340-600 broke free and hit a noise-reduction wall during engine tests were released from hospital late on Thursday. Three remain in hospital.
The 75 metre aircraft lay at an angle against the parapet surrounding the testbed with its cockpit sheared off. It was to have been delivered to Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways next week. The damaged aircraft is one of six ordered by Etihad which have yet to be delivered. The airline has two in operation.
Etihad said none of the injured was in a serious condition. An Airbus spokesman had said on Thursday 10 were injured.
Airbus said it would co-operate with an investigation launched by French authorities into the accident. Ground tests including engine run-ups are a normal procedure on all Airbus aircraft, it said in a statement. The ground test accident was the first of its type at Airbus, owned by European aerospace group EADS.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/17/2007 00:00 ||
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#3
I wonder if a rumor is spreading that Airbuses are cursed or jinxed? I'm sure their sales department would lose their collective marbles if there was one.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/17/2007 17:22 Comments ||
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#8
Oops.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/17/2007 21:29 Comments ||
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#9
The brake system on Airbus aircraft is powered by the "Green" and "Yellow" hydraulic systems. However, when the parking brake is set only 1/2 brake pucks ("yellow system") are set at 1/2 of normal pressure. Somebody didn't folow the checklist
Today, in New York Supreme Court, in response to Dan Rather's civil lawsuit, CBS filed a lengthy 30-page motion to dismiss the case.
CBS executives also released a statement today, noting that they are "mystified" by Rather's "bizarre allegations" but will "vigorously" defend themselves in court if need be.
"Dan Rather is one of the most important figures in the history of broadcast journalism, and for more than 40 years was one of our most valued colleagues," CBS said in the statement. "That is why we at CBS are mystified and saddened by the baseless and self-serving allegations and distortions of fact raised in his lawsuit." Perhaps you could save yourself a lot of $$$ if you have him checked for Altzheimer's before things get too far.
"Today we are filing a motion to dismiss," added the statement. "If we are required to proceed beyond this point, we will defend the case vigorously and demonstrate that the lawsuit is wholly without merit, and that the bizarre allegations by Mr. Rather are untrue."
UPDATE: In the motion, CBS lawyers argue that Mr. Rather's lawsuit is a "thinly-disguised" defamation suit and therefore is time-barred because of a one-year statute of limitations. To wit: They point out that the last "allegedly wrongful act" took place on June, 16 2006, and that Mr. Rather did not file suit until September 19, 2007, roughly 15 months later.
Furthermore, CBS lawyers argue that Mr. Rather's actions are motivated not by any wrongful actions on the part of the defendants but, instead, by Mr. Rather's desire to stay in the limelight.
"This lawsuit is a regrettable attempt by plaintiff Dan Rather to remain in the public eye, and to settle old scores and perceived slights, based on an array of far-fetched allegations," the lawyers write.
"The Complaint is predicated on allegations of a bizarre 'scheme' extending from the White House to an array of CBS executives including Sumner Redstone, CBS's Executive Chairman, Leslie Moonves, CBS's Chief Executive Officer, and Andrew Heyward, formerly president of CBS News, all of whom, according to Rather, colluded to harm Rather's reputation and keep him off the air," add CBS lawyers. "Of course, there was no such nefarious scheme, and Rather's allegations bear no resemblance to reality. CBS and its executives are not now, and never have been, out to get Dan Rather."
#1
Dan Rather is one of the most important figures in the history of broadcast journalism, and for more than 40 years was one of our most valued colleagues," CBS said in the statement
The above outtake is the utmost in revisionist history, dan may have occupied a highly placed position at this network, but as a mouthpiece not as a respected person of objective view.
his leftist orientation drove me away from cbs +20 years ago, and ever since, I've loathed the times I've had to be in earshot of his opinions. cBS now gets what it should have known all along that it would get, for creating this celebrity, celebrity to a leftist is a poison, which once internalized can never be cured.
rant on dan, its wholly in character and expected. a thing is what it is.
cBS......is broken, nobody watching, nobody cares, spin it anyway you want, too many former viewers, your just the lipstick on the pig.
#2
one-sentence motion to dismiss: "what's the frequency, Kenneth?"
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/17/2007 10:21 Comments ||
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#3
I don't know how many times I've flipped past whichever cable channel it is that airs Mr. Rather's investigative reports, before settling on something else to fall asleep to. What are his ratings, I wonder?
#4
Dan Rather is one of the most importantdisgraceful figures in the history of broadcast journalism
All fixed. This maggoty SOB tried to throw a presidential election with patently false "evidence". No matter how vile, there is little one can say about him that could ever constitute slander.
#5
Where there is a statute bar on initiating proceedings after a time limit, the onus is on the Claimant to prove reasons for late registration of the suit. Judges allow the variance where the Claimant found evidence after the time limit. What possible excuse could Rather give? Was he busy producing his lame HDTV show which is probably watched by about 50,000 people?
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.
Today, in New York Supreme Court, in response to Dan Rather's civil lawsuit, CBS filed a lengthy 30-page motion to dismiss the case.
