Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) had to cancel an appearance Monday at a global warming rally in Washington, D.C., that was hit by a snowstorm because her flight was delayed
House Select Energy Independence and Global Warming Chairman Edward Markey (D-Mass.), who was scheduled to speak at the global warming event, also canceled his appearance because of the inclement weather,
despite the lawmakers' absence, about 500 protesters braved temperatures in the mid-20s wind chill temps in the low teens
and congregated on the Capitol lawn.
#3
From a marketing standpoint, wouldn't it make more sense to have a global warming event in the middle of the freakin' summer?
There is a bright side, though. San Fran Nan couldn't create tons of carbon with her private jet, so all the rainforest critters must be breathing huge sighs of relief. Right?
More than a quarter of this year's U.S. Naval Academy graduates will be commissioned as officers in the Marine Corps, the highest number in a decade and a reflection of the need for ground commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The number of graduates sought by the Marine Corps has grown steadily since the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks sent Marines into combat in the two countries. The academy had no trouble finding 273 graduating midshipmen eager to meet the Corps' request.
"Marines are involved in the fight, and a lot of these people are very desirous of being in the fight," said Lt. Col. Bill Tosick, head of officers plans for the Marines at Quantico, Va. "People join the Marine Corps to fight. We have a whole lot of that going on now."
The sense of purpose among Marines, and not simply the prospect of combat, seemed foremost to Michael Gaona, a midshipman from Rockville.
"I saw the Marines on the [academy's] Yard and how they had such a high physical standard," Gaona said. "They're mostly doing something physical."
Gaona said his parents grew up under a repressive regime in Paraguay. "They're always talking to me about how great this country is," he said. "I know this is going to sound corny or cliched, but I'm honored to serve my country in any way possible."
Gaona said his choice was influenced by a month-long summer training program known as Leatherneck, where midshipman are introduced to Marine life.
"Leatherneck was a big part of it for me, too," said Nikhil Kesireddy, a senior midshipman from Bethesda. "It's kind of where I knew I'd fit in."
The Marine Corps is under a congressional directive to expand its overall force from about 180,000 to 202,000 Marines and has consistently exceeded recruiting goals. Tosick said that growth would include adding more than 2,000 officers.
The number of Naval Academy graduates assigned to the Marine Corps each year has been stipulated under an agreement with the Navy; both the Marine Corps and the Navy come under the Department of the Navy. As the number of Marine officers has increased, they have become a larger percentage of the combined Marine-Navy officer corps. The Marines, accordingly, are entitled to a larger share of academy graduates.
"It's just our fair share," Tosick said. "We [now] make up roughly 30 percent of the Navy Department's officers. We're getting 25 to 26 percent [of the graduates]. We're happy with that."
Hutu rebels have retaken positions they lost in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, UN peacekeepers say. The UN says it has reports that FDLR rebels captured several villages and a former military training school, days after Rwandan troops began to withdraw.
However, Congolese officials said the rebels made "hit-and-run" raids, denying it was a major regrouping.
Rwandan troops began withdrawing last Wednesday - five weeks after they crossed the border to attack the FDLR. In January, the government in Kinshasa allowed thousands of Rwandan soldiers to enter eastern DR Congo to fight the remnants of the Rwandan Hutu militia.
Some of the FDLR rebels are accused of taking part in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, before fleeing across the border into DR Congo.
In a separate development, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon - on a visit to Rwanda - said achieving peace peace in the volatile region depended on co-operation between the governments in Kinshasa and Kigali. He said he welcomed a plan by Rwanda's President Paul Kagame for the establishment of full diplomatic relations with DR Congo, speaking of his hope for a "new chapter" in relations between the two neighbours.
In eastern Dr Congo, however, a spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission said on Sunday he had reports that the FDLR rebels had retaken several positions in the area. But Congolese Information Minister Lambert Mende Omalanga said the rebels were carrying out raids rather than moving back. "We didn't hear report that they are retaking the places. What our reports are saying is that they are conducting hit-and-run operations," the minister told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
"They [the rebels] don't remain in a place. When they come they loot, they frighten people and they take what they want to take and they go back because our boys are around."
The latest reports about the FDLR attacks will inevitably raise fears among Congolese civilians that their armed forces are failing to stand up to the rebels, the BBC's Mark Doyle reports from eastern DR Congo.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/02/2009 00:00 ||
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Dinajpur-The India border guards yesterday resumed erecting barbed wire fencing along their side opposite the Monipur camp in Dinajpur and BDR personnel resisted the efforts.Sources said the BDR jawans are performing their duties without high officials.
Tension is mounting between Indian Border Security Force (BSF) and BDR men as India wants to exploit the worse crisis passing Bangladesh.
Local people said 69 BSF Battalion of Amulia camp resumed constructing a ring road to erect barbed wire fence 150 metre inside no-man's-land at Kamdevpur village under the camp on Saturday. But in the face of strong opposition by 40 BDR Battalion, the Indian border force stopped the work.
But BSF men again started their activity with heavy machinery, including shovels and tractors, to develop the groundwork.
The BDR jawans again protested the BSF attempt and called for a flag meeting, but BSF did not respond to the meeting. Despite repeated request, BSF men continued their work violating the international border rules.
Sources said at least 12 BDR men are performing their duties at the Monipur camp without any BDR high-ups. BSF men are exploiting the recent mutiny by BDR jawans that claimed at least 63 lives of army officers.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/02/2009 14:43 ||
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What business is it of Bangladesh if India fences their side of the border? It would be like Mexico protesting because we're ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/02/2009 15:09 Comments ||
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There is a treaty that prohibits defensive works and stationing of the regular army at the border.
How a fence is considered to be a defensive work is something only the BDR can explain.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/02/2009 15:33 Comments ||
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What business is it of Bangladesh if India fences their side of the border?
Bangladesh is India's Mexico. The majority of the illegals in India are B'deshi's.
India has kept its special forces ready to counter possible fallout in case a coup is attempted in Bangladesh, sources told The Telegraph. The 50 Parachute Independent Brigade, also engaged in the Liberation War of 1971, was two days ago moved from Agra to Kalaikunda in Bengal, government sources said.
The parachute regiment has fought on the eastern and western fronts. It had launched the famous Tangail Airdrop operation on December 11, 1971, to capture the Poongli bridge on the Jamuna that would cut off the 93 Brigade of the Pakistani army.
Other sources said such regiments were expected to be kept ready when neighbourhoods were in turmoil and it should not be construed as "an alarmist posture".
The threat to the Awami League government became more pronounced after more than 700 armed BDR men escaped yesterday with heavy guns and rocket launchers. Some of them were arrested and interrogation revealed that the Jamaat-e-Islami was courting these rebels. "They have not joined the Jamaat yet, but if they do, it is a big worry," a source said.
The source said investigating agencies suspected the hand of Jamaat operative Motiur Rehman Nizami whose objective is to topple the Sheikh Hasina government.
The Jamaat and the Khaleda Zia-led BNP are seen as pro-Pakistan. Saifullah Qadir Chowdhury, a former BNP MP reportedly involved in triggering the mutiny, has active ISI links and is known to be close to Zia's son Tarique Rahman.
So the ISI was involved in the mutiny. Surprise, surprise, surprise ...
Reports said some outposts in Bangladesh had been re-occupied by BDR troops, suggesting a return to normality could be under way.
This article starring:
Motiur Rehman Nizami
Saifullah Qadir Chowdhury
Tarique Rahman
Posted by: john frum ||
03/02/2009 14:37 ||
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A large number of army officers yesterday expressed their deepest emotions, frustrations, excitement and expectations at a three-hour grand conference with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina discussing the BDR carnage in which the nation lost at least 73 people, including 60 officers.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2009 00:00 ||
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Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday told parliament that her government has sought assistance from the US and UN, and will request the UK as well for cooperation in probe into the massacre at BDR headquarters last week.
Referring to her telephone conversation with the United States assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, she said, "I've had a talk with Mr. [Richard] Boucher today. I told him I want FBI assistance in the probe."
She said she has asked for cooperation from UN as there is no question of belittling the barbaric acts of violence at BDR Pilkhana.
"I'll also request the British high commissioner for Scotland Yard's assistance."
Hasina, also leader of the House, was speaking on an obituary reference on the death of army officials in the hands of disgruntled border troops on Wednesday and Thursday.
About the government's tackling of what she termed a pre-planned massacre at Pilkhana, she said the focus all along was on saving lives of thousands of innocent people.
"I opted for talks to save lives, to save the officers and their families," she said refuting claims that not resorting to force was a tactical mistake.
She said her government has already directed the army, police and Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) to round up the BDR men who did not report for duty within the 24 hour time limit that ended at 4:00pm yesterday.
She also said she has asked the law minister to arrange for a special tribunal to try those responsible for the vicious killings.
The prime minister said a neutral probe committee was formed yesterday ensuring representation of the army, air force, navy, police and Rab.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2009 00:00 ||
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Over 1,500 Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) men, who left the Pilkhana headquarters during or after the mutiny, reported back to the headquarters yesterday.
The deadline set for them to report back expired yesterday afternoon.
Apart from them, 140 BDR men reported to police stations, sector headquarters and battalion headquarters in Rajshahi, Sylhet Dinajpur, Gazipur, Mymensingh, Pabna, Barisal and Chittagong yesterday. Four BDR jawans surrendered at police stations in Sylhet and Joydevpur while Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) arrested two jawans in Comilla and Faridpur yesterday.
They started gathering at the Pilkhana headquarters following a home ministry order issued Saturday asking all BDR members, who did not take leave but are absent at their stations, to report back within 24 hours.
"I assume between 1,500 and 2,000 jawans gathered at the BDR headquarters. We do not have any official count yet," newly appointed Director General (DG) of BDR Brig Gen Moinul Hossain said.
"Those who have already entered the headquarters will be considered reported back. Some of them are being given leave while others will start working with us," he added.
A number of BDR jawans, who returned yesterday, said many of them were given 15 to 30 days' leave with instructions to come back to the headquarters when summoned. Only 24 BDR jawans were allowed to join work yesterday.
Talking to The Daily Star, a number of BDR jawans, who returned to the BDR headquarters in plain clothes, claimed that they left their uniforms in or around the headquarters before fleeing in plain clothes on Wednesday and Thursday.
They appeared to be very worried about their future and feared many innocent jawans could become victims if the enquiry is not conducted impartially. A number of them had their family members with them. They also looked anxious.
Those in uniform were asked to report at Gate-4 near Jigatola while the rest at Abahani ground in Dhanmondi. All of the BDR men in plain clothes at Abahani ground could not be listed as reported back yesterday; they were asked to come again this morning.
Around 500 BDR men reported back to the BDR headquarters with their uniforms on.
Talking to The Daily Star, the BDR jawans in uniform claimed that most of them had fled just after the mutiny broke out on Wednesday. Some of them were also on leave that day.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2009 00:00 ||
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March 2 (Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist Party suffered a blow in regional elections yesterday, losing control of Galicia.
At the same, his party's gains in the Basque Country left it in a position to form a coalition, ousting the Basque Nationalists who sought to hold a referendum on virtual independence from Spain. In order to displace the nationalists for the first time since 1980, the Socialists would have to form a bloc with the People's Party, its bitter rivals in the national parliament in Madrid.
In Galicia, with 94 percent of votes counted, the Socialists' vote slipped to 30 percent from 33 percent in 2005, allowing the People's Party to reclaim power with 39 out of 75 seats. The Socialists won 25 of 75 seats in the Basque parliament while the PP claimed 13, with almost all votes counted, according to El Mundo newspaper's Web site.
The Galicia result is a set back for Zapatero just a year after his party was re-elected nationally, as Spain faces its worst recession in half a century and the highest unemployment rate in Europe. "These are regional elections with undoubted national consequences," Francisco Llera, a professor of political science at the University of the Basque Country.
The result will offer encouragement to PP leader Mariano Rajoy, who had lost two straight general elections to Zapatero and faces a leadership challenge from within his own ranks from Esperanza Aguirre, president of the Madrid region.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/02/2009 00:00 ||
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Galicia is a pretty liberal area for this to happen, too. For years Barcelona (capital of Galicia) has been the hub of Spanish liberal thought, although maybe the serious leftards all moved to Madrid and joined the small group of communists on the city's south side now that Franco hasn't been around for a few decades.
Yes, he's still dead.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
03/02/2009 18:36 Comments ||
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#2
Galicia is a pretty liberal area for this to happen, too. For years Barcelona (capital of Galicia) has been the hub of Spanish liberal thought, although maybe the serious leftards all moved to Madrid and joined the small group of communists on the city's south side now that Franco hasn't been around for a few decades.
Yes, he's still dead.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
03/02/2009 18:36 Comments ||
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#3
D*MN my Java-Blocker.......
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
03/02/2009 18:37 Comments ||
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March 2 (Bloomberg) -- The euro fell to a one-week low against the dollar after European Union leaders rejected calls to back an aid package for eastern Europe, fueling concern the financial crisis will deepen the 16-nation region's recession.
Europe's single currency dropped for a second day versus the greenback as EU leaders vetoed Hungary's proposals for 180 billion euros ($227 billion) of loans to ex-communist economies in eastern Europe. The dollar and the yen strengthened as declines in Asian stocks added to concerns the global slump will worsen, stoking demand for safety.
"There's disappointment that nothing really concrete came out of the EU's weekend meeting and their failure to address eastern Europe's problems," said Tsutomu Soma, a bond and currency dealer at Okasan Securities Co. in Tokyo. "The bias is for the euro to be sold" to $1.2560 and 122.10 yen today, he said.
The euro weakened for a second day versus the yen as EU leaders also told automakers such as General Motors Corp.'s European arm to look to national governments for help.
"I would advise against taking huge numbers into the debate," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters at an EU summit in Brussels yesterday. "I see a very different situation -- you can compare neither Slovenia nor Slovakia with Hungary."
The worst economic crisis since World War II is devastating eastern Europe, putting at risk the EU's goals of forming a continent-wide free market.
The U.S. and Japanese currencies strengthened as Asian equities slumped. "Risk aversion is re-emerging, so the dollar and the yen are being bought," said Yuji Saito, head of the foreign- exchange group in Tokyo at Societe Generale SA, France's third- largest bank. "Investors appear to be repatriating funds."
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/02/2009 00:00 ||
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TOPIX > VLADIMIR VORONIN: NOOSE IS TIGHTENING AROUND THE NECK OF RUSSIA.
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Nothing says summer in Iowa like a cloud of dust behind a combine. But what may be a fact of life for farmers is a cause for concern to federal regulators, who are refusing to exempt growers from new environmental regulations. It's left some farmers feeling bemused and more than a little frustrated.
"It's such a non-commonsense idea that you can keep dust within a property line when the wind blows," said Sen. Charles Grassley, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee who still farms in northeast Iowa. Who says the EPA has any common sense?
Under rules imposed in 2006, rural areas would be kept to the same standards as urban areas for what the Environmental Protection Agency calls "coarse particulate matter" in the air. Dust to us Rubes.
The American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Pork Producers Council had petitioned the government to provide an exemption to farmers. They argued that evidence of harm caused by dust in rural areas hasn't been determined. If I was the National Pork Producers Council I'd consider changing the name. Don't want to get confused with Congress.
But the U.S. District Court of Appeals in Washington ruled Tuesday that the EPA had already provided the evidence necessary to determine farm dust "likely is not safe." Nothing is safe. We must regulate everything out of existance.
Michael Formica, a lawyer for the pork council, said this means farmers now face the daunting task of proving a negative -- that the dust is not harmful. Try picking peanuts without making dust. It doesn't seem to have harmed me.
Formica said his and other groups will consider a further appeal.
Farmers said they will be hard-pressed to meet the standards. In a letter sent Wednesday to the EPA, Grassley wrote that compliance would be impossible because of the dust produced in farmers' day-to-day activities. That's why they're called Sodbusters.
Grassley also has noted that because many rural roads are not paved, particulate readings could be affected by wind gusts that constantly change. "After all, God decides when the wind blows, not Chuck Grassley," he said. Maybe Obama has taken over that part of God's job. He's gonna lower the Ocean levels.
But the EPA said the regulation was overdue. Every five years, the Clean Air Act requires the agency to review the newest scientific information and recommend changes to its standards. In 2006, the EPA determined larger particles in the air than previously thought were a danger to the public. The increased threshold covered air mixes that occur in rural areas.
EPA spokeswoman Cathy Milbourn said the changes are not just a matter of regulating dust. They serve the public's well-being and, regardless of whether someone lives in a rural or urban area, the threshold for unsafe levels of dust in the air must remain consistent nationally. Sounds like trying to shove a square peg into a round hole. They don't care that conditions are different everywhere, all they want is compliance with an arbitrary uniform model.
"It's health-based," she said. "We don't look at a particular industry. The goal is to protect public health." We know what's best for you. Trust us.
When counties reach "non-attainment" levels, it becomes a state's responsibility to bring the county back into acceptable levels. Milbourn said various options exist for states, such as retrofitting buses that run on diesel engines. What the hell does that have to do with dust?
But farmers insist the regulation will affect their operations and eventually their bottom lines. And they said unlike fixing a bus, they have few options for limiting dust from their fields and roads. Just do all work when it's raining.
Roger Zylstra, a director with the Iowa Corngrowers Association, said if left alone, farmers can compete worldwide. But regulation could impede their success. But they are Regulators! They exist to Regulate!
He said there seems to be a disconnect between farmers and policymakers. My, my. How DID he get so smart?
"Many of the people that are making the rules, it feels like they really don't know what (farming) issues are," said Zylstra, a Lynnville resident who has worked on a farm for 35 years. Zylstra said it's hard not to get frustrated. "We think we've met the demands that have been put upon us and lo and behold, we have new and even more stringent demands. It seems really unrealistic."
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/02/2009 12:13 ||
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About the stupidest effin thing I've heard of.
So let me get this straight: gonna put a dust tax and fart tax on agriculture (you know, that major US export) and run everyone into the red, then what: Bail them out with a bigger farm package? Seize their land and sell it to big boys? Turn it into a big hunting ground for east coast lawyers?
Besides the obvious army of regulators whats gonna happen when states start contesting whether dust is local or blown in from another state? Could states sue the sahara countries for compensation? Whaddabout all that crap thrown up by a forest fire or that shovel ready pork chop express road construction?
When counties reach "non-attainment" levels, it becomes a state's responsibility to bring the county back into acceptable levels.
Gonna pass the regulatory buck down to the state huh? Claim the 12th and tell the EPA to sod off.
Compared to the shortage of food (expensive food will be the least worry) and loss of the farming culture, perhaps a relavent quote from someone smarter than I:
I've got a hundred people down here, and they're covered with dust.
Dust? Who gives a sh!t about dust? Who the f@k is this?
#2
Go anywhere in the agricultural areas of this country during the spring or fall and you'll get "Farm Dust". Sometimes it smells good, too.
Me thinks this is a ploy by the EPA (and their evil goracle masters) to get their fingers (and more unqualified personnel - Look! New Jobs!) deeper into the agricultural and mostly non-industrial, low-polluting states (except for those pesky manure slurry 'accidents' and fertilizer runoff during a flood). This little 'perceived danger' would justify their increased presence in these areas when it comes to budget time. Plus, they'd have the 'mandate' to snoop around.
In the past, they may have been met with angry dogs, evil geese or a load of #4 rock salt.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
03/02/2009 15:43 Comments ||
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Why not - they force commercial fishermen to hire non-fishing 'observers' to make sure that they aren't fishing for the 'wrong' kind of fish.
When all they have to do is have people inspect the catch when they boat pulls up to the dock (or processing ship) to unload.
They are trying to do the same to Farmers that they did the Lumbermen and are trying with the fishermen.
#4
Nothing is safe. We must regulate everything out of existance.
That is precisely what this is all about. You can expect to see more and more bizarre crap like this as we move to the end stage of this insanity.
Personally, I don't think fighting this in court is what needs to happen. Time to give these folks the big middle finger, and when they try and enforce this...well, Iowa is a big place lots of places that things can get lost.
#5
So the EPA will drive all farm crops out of the country and we will import our food. But we will not be able to do that because we will go bankrupt paying taxes for this foolishness.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/02/2009 22:02 Comments ||
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#6
Don't worry about that. I'm sure Obama will issue some Directive that you cannot fire anyone, nor can you quit your job, or close your business....
(sorry don't have the Directive # from Atlas Shrugged on me right now....)
The cruiser Port Royal suffered widespread damage after it ran aground Feb. 5, according to an internal Navy report that detailed problems not only with propulsion gear, but also weapons, radars and other topside systems. The preliminary damage assessment, a copy of which was obtained by Navy Times, depicts a ship in need of repairs that will cost tens of millions of dollars and take months in a dry dock, experts agreed.
Not only did the grounding cost the Port Royal several propeller blades, its sonar dome and both its anchors, the ship suffered extensive damage as it lay aground and rolled with the surf for three days before it was pulled off by salvage ships.
#1
Makes you wonder if it would be cheaper to mothball the Port Royal and take bring back another Tico-class cruiser.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/02/2009 13:05 Comments ||
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The only thing that can save this Navy captain's career is to discover the reef was uncharted. Otherwise, he's toast. From all the conflicting reports, it seems that may be the case (ie, coral reef/sandbar, etc.).
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/02/2009 13:10 Comments ||
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#3
My theory for the great pictures of giant sea monsters on the old charts is as follows:
It was easier for the captain of a disappeared ship to go back to his knig/investors saying "We were attacked by a Monster! It was THIS BIG! I am lucky to be alive!!!!" Than to say, "I sailed it onto some rocks."
If things go well, Indias Chandrayaan-1 probe could be joining forces with two U.S. spacecraft to be launched later this year in looking for water on the Moon.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration plans to launch the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) as well as the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) on an Atlas V rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASAs LRO web site indicates that the launch is currently scheduled to take place no earlier than May 20.
Whether or not water in the form of ice has accumulated in craters at the lunar poles remains an unsettled and controversial issue. One of the instruments on Chandrayaan-1, which is currently circling the Moon, is a compact imaging radar known as Mini-SAR. The radar was specifically developed by a team of U.S. scientists to look for signs of water-ice at the bottom of lunar craters that are permanently in shadow. A similar sort of radar, called Mini-RF, is flying on the LRO as well.
In principle, the two radars one on the Chandrayaan-1 and the other on the LRO could be used together in what is known as a bistatic mode. In that mode of operation, the radar signal would be sent out from the instrument on one satellite and the return echo picked up by the radar on the other satellite.
Because both Chandrayaan-1 and LRO will be in lunar orbit at the same time, the Chandrayaan-1 Mini-SAR and LRO Mini-RF units were designed to operate cooperatively in a bistatic mode, with Chandrayaan-1 transmitting and LRO receiving in S-band radar data, write Paul Spudis and others of the Mini-SAR team in a paper published in the latest issue of the journal Current Science.
The bistatic mode could provide the best evidence for the presence of water-ice, Dr. Spudis told this correspondent when he was in India last year for the launch of Chandryaan-1.
The LRO mission team has approached the Indian Space Research Organisation to explore possibilities for a bistatic experiment using their spacecraft and Chandrayaan-1, said J.N. Goswami, director of the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, and principal scientist for Chandrayaan-1.
The idea is scientifically interesting, Dr. Goswami said. But we may be able to consider it only after preliminary results from radars on both satellites become available. Also, it is important that many of Chandrayaan-1s primary science objectives are first completed.
Once the LRO and LCROSS satellites are put on course for the Moon, NASA intends to have the Atlas V rockets spent Centaur upper stage slam into a lunar crater. The impact is expected to throw up a large cloud of dust and debris that will rise high above the Moons surface, hopefully carrying traces of any water-ice that may be present. Travelling just minutes behind the Centaur stage, the LCROSS instruments will make measurements as the spacecraft passes through the plume of debris. The data will relayed back to Earth before the spacecraft too crashes into the Moon and creates a second debris plume.
Instruments on Chandrayaan-1 may be able to take readings of the debris plumes if the spacecraft is in a suitable position when the impacts occur, Dr. Goswami said.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/02/2009 18:00 ||
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Kochi: Just when coastal India broods over measures to counter seaborne threats, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is in the process of developing an integrated costal defence system under its Project Nayan.
The development of seabed array system, forming its pivot, is making steadfast progress and we have tested the prototype successfully, a top source told The Hindu.
The idea is to get alerted when objects traverse the waters. The echo emanating from various objects like fish, various types of ships, submarines and the like have been calibrated and identified for the purpose. Now that the prototype is ready, we need to test it as a system with multiple layers and at various depths, said the source.
The array would transmit the ricocheted signal to the top water medium, maybe a sonobuoy, which in turn would be transmitted to the shore-based command and control centre by way of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or a satellite.
Once the capability is unambiguously demonstrated, it will be installed initially at Karwar under Project Seabird. However, for the entire system to come into being, we require an exclusive ocean satellite. That, however, has not come so far, said the source.
In progress, however, is another ambitious programme that will augment the DRDOs underwater detection capabilities. Oceanic waves are photographed, in multiple pixels, using a remote sensing satellite.
As in the seabed array system, various types of waves created by movement of different objects are standardised and using signal processing, the cause of a definite kind of wave is recognised.
In its nascent stage, initial trials pertaining to wave-identification have been highly encouraging. At present, we are developing the method of signal processing but we need to demonstrate it at the system level and in real-time to call it a full-fledged programme, the source said.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/02/2009 00:00 ||
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coastal India broods over measures to counter seaborne threats
Although they mention coastal threats (the recent Mumbai events?), this sounds more like a SOSUS-style system - something to track submarines. Hmmm...now who among India's neighbors has submarines?
#2
Karwar base will be the largest Naval base east of the Suez. It will house the IN's nuclear submarines, missile silos and a large part of the western command.
The SOSUS array gets installed here first. They need to monitor who is snooping around their SSBNs.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/02/2009 14:24 Comments ||
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Labor chairman Ehud Barak has called Labor MKs in recent days and told them that the party should join a national unity government led by Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu, sources close to Barak said Sunday.
Barak's associates confirmed a Channel 2 report that he had called Labor MKs to check whether he could obtain a majority in the faction for joining the government, but that he might try to bring Labor into the coalition without his faction's support. "We have to go in," Barak told the MKs. "Be on my side. I don't care if I don't have a majority in the faction. I can pass it in the central committee."
A source close to Barak said the party leader felt it would be better for the country and for himself to remain defense minister, and that it was now a matter of persuading his party that this would not harm Labor.
The fact that Kadima leader Tzipi Livni would be opposition leader and that Labor could at best play second-fiddle in the opposition had to be taken into account, the source said.
The Channel 2 report said that National Infrastructures Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon supported Barak's effort to join the government. But Ben-Eliezer denied the report, and even MK Orit Noked, considered the Labor MK most in favor of joining the government, said she believed Labor's downfall from 19 seats to 13 required that the party remain in the opposition.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2009 00:00 ||
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An indictment may be on the way in one of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's numerous criminal investigations, Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz announced Sunday evening after a final review of the so-called "cash envelopes" affair with State Attorney Moshe Lador.
Mazuz informed Olmert's attorney he was considering charging the prime minister for a string of offenses stemming from the affair.
The announcement was a formality to allow Olmert the option of a hearing with Mazuz before the attorney-general makes a final decision. Justice Ministry officials said the indictments could include charges of fraud, bribery, violation of public confidence and receiving a goods fraudulently.
The cash envelopes affair, starring colorful New York businessman and charitable fund-raiser Morris Talansky, emerged early in 2008. In April, Mazuz decided that suspicions justified a criminal investigation into whether Olmert had received cash bribes when he was mayor of Jerusalem and a cabinet minister.
On Sunday, both Mazuz and Lador agreed to proceed with the case after reviewing the evidence gathered by the Israel Police's National Fraud Unit.
Justice Ministry officials described in detail the suspicions against the prime minister. His relationship with Talansky, they said, began in the early 1990s and was based on "what Talansky described as his identification with the policies that Olmert expressed and on the basis of Talansky's identifying Olmert as a promising key public and political figure."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2009 00:00 ||
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Women are allowed to chant the Scroll of Esther on behalf of men if no competent men are available, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of Israel's Sephardi community, ruled last week in a landmark decision liable to outrage many of his Ashkenazi counterparts.
Esther is traditionally read in synagogue on the holiday of Purim, which this year falls next week. monday night Mar 9 next week
And while some rabbis have long permitted women to read the megillah, or scroll, for other women, most do not allow women to read on behalf of men.
Yosef said that most rabbis forbid women to read the megillah on the grounds that men are forbidden to listen to women sing, because a woman's singing voice can stimulate sexual arousal. However, he said, he does not agree that a woman chanting a sacred text is the kind of singing that stimulates sexual arousal. The analogy rabbis have drawn between singing and chanting sacred texts here he is speaking about the rabbis of the 13th through 19th centuries- this is important because if the 'analogy is false' rule is upheld, it could lead to solving the 'agunah' problem- that is the problem that ensues when men leave their wives but refuse to sign a divorce decree- and it could also lead to a way out of the convert problem where rabbis may rule a conversion to Judaism invalid after the fact
has "no value," he declared.
Yosef also said that women could write a kosher Scroll of Esther - another task
In both cases, Yosef's rulings were specific to Megillat Esther and do not necessarily apply to other sacred texts, such as the Torah or the scroll of Ecclesiateses or the scroll of Ruth or the Song of Songs.
I find it of interest insofar as it demonstrates how at least some parts of Judaism are working to reconcile tradition and law with a role for women that seems more .... respectful.
yes this is a highly technical point but its similar to a highly technical point about a malfunction in satellite ice detection sensors or to a highly technical point about similar stuff.
lotp makes a good point also
I will also admit that, IMO, R. Ovadiah Yosef has gone cookoo for Cocopuffs on some items (e.g., hats vs wigs). But even the cookoo-ness isn't advocating violence like in Islam.
#6
There are five major religions in the world today - Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. Any significant changes in any of those religions will affect the politics, social strata, and economics in the areas dominated by that religion - E.G., Islam. Keeping up with major changes in religion is equally as important as keeping up with major political, social, or economic changes, since they affect each of those areas. It's indeed technical, but so is the constant drop in the value of the Euro, or the collapse of economic growth in China. The effects ripple out far beyond the narrow boundary where the events transpire.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/02/2009 12:57 Comments ||
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#7
OP, don't forget the sixth religion--atheism in its various Marxist, Socialist, Materialist, Fascist, Hedonist, and other ugly forms. The fact that Europe has lost its spiritual moorings has a lot to do with the mess there; and we run the same risks if we follow Europe's example.
Insanity returns for another round of "What Can We do Differently This Time?"
Fannie Mae's already-depleted shares took a new hit on Friday as it became clear that the biggest buyer of mortgages in the United States may need even more money.
On Friday ratings agency Standard & Poor's analyst Kevin Cole said Fannie Mae is expected to need an additional $100.0 billion over the course of the year to maintain a positive net worth in 2009. Fannie reported on Thursday that it needs $15.2 billion from the government for the quarter to restore it to solvency because of larger-than-expected losses. Fannie's losses have piled up as defaults on home loans have soared.
Last week, the government doubled its emergency funds for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to $200.0 billion each, up from $100.0 billion -- a good thing since Cole expects Fannie will need $100 billion just this year. "Next quarter they're going to lose more money so they'll ask for more," Cole told Forbes. "I assume they'll be losing money for at least the next four quarters if not through 2010."
Cole said there is a high probability that Fannie will need to draw down the entire $200.0 billion allotted to it by the government. He widened his 2009 loss per share estimate on Fannie to $20.02 per share up from $19.74. He maintained a $1 price target.
#3
That is not 100 Billion you are short today, it is $400,000. And by next week shall be $500,000 Billion. And in two months, another $320 Billion. How long can ya keep it up?
How long may you stand as an "Honerable" "solution"?
What does China think? You obviouslly don't give a damn about US. You already pimped US out.
#4
Just today I was looking thru the "legal notices" in the Examiner Classifieds: pages and pages and pages of mortgage foreclosures, all originations dating from 2005-2006.
#5
I remember how the donks freaked out when Bush asked for $87 billion for Iraq. It sounded like a lot of money back then but at least we knew where it was going.
#7
You laughed before, but now my Kansas banana farm bailout of $1 million seems like a small price to protect the free trade zone of Kansas banana farmers and protect the now indigenous Kansas banana slug, which would require an additional $500,000.
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.
More than a quarter of this year's U.S. Naval Academy graduates will be commissioned as officers in the Marine Corps, the highest number in a decade and a reflection of the need for ground commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
Hutu rebels have retaken positions they lost in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, UN peacekeepers say. The UN says it has reports that FDLR rebels captured several villages and a former military training school, days after Rwandan troops began to withdraw.
March 2 (Bloomberg) -- The euro fell to a one-week low against the dollar after European Union leaders rejected calls to back an aid package for eastern Europe, fueling concern the financial crisis will deepen the 16-nation region's recession.
An indictment may be on the way in one of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's numerous criminal investigations, Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz announced Sunday evening after a final review of the so-called "cash envelopes" affair with State Attorney Moshe Lador. 
