The US Supreme Court has confirmed that Justice Stephen Breyer, 73, his wife and family friends were the victims of a machete-wielding, home invader at the Breyer vacation home on the island of Nevis on Thursday, February 9.
The suspect wore a mask and escaped, after stealing roughly US$1,000 from the group. Thankfully, no one was injured. The incident occurred at roughly 2100 hours. He didn't jump out of the window and run down the street, like good little disarmed citizens are supposed to do?
This is like the perfect teen girl romantic tragedy. Romeo & Juliet kill themselves on a forbidden but popular holiday that celebrates love and romance.
Girl forced to marry an old, and to be portrayed as vile, foul smelling and disgusting man, for money, by her heartless and cruel parents.
Girls in the region will probably react to this like girls here reacted to the movie "Twilight", times about 10, but far more lethally. I expect there is going to be an s-load of teen suicides.
#2
ION WORLD NEWS > OSAMA BIN LADEN WANTED TO MARRY WHITNEY HOUSTON, FORMER FRIEND SAYS/CLAIMS. Kola Boof, even to the point of Osama mulling to have Bobby Brown killed off so that Whitney could be free.
Narsingdi, Feb 12 (UNB)-A local BNP leader was chopped to death near Meghna bazaar police camp in Sadar upazila Saturday night.
Family sources said Abul Kashem, 55, Pikepara union BNP joint-secretary under Sadar upazila and also a postmaster did not return home at night after some unidentified men called him out of house at 9pm.
Important safety tip: next time unidentified men call you out at night, don't go!
Later, his chopped body was found in a field. On information, police recovered the body Sunday morning and sent it to Sadar hospital morgue.
"He's dead, Jim."
The motive behind the killing could not be known immediately.
But the BNP immediately blamed it on the Tea Party...
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02/14/2012 00:00 ||
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Gasoline prices could soon hit $4 a gallon, a threshold they haven't flirted with since last spring.
Brilliant, Barack, brilliant. You own this one.
The average price paid by U.S. drivers for a gallon of regular now stands at $3.52, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which released its latest figures this afternoon. That price represents an increase of 0.04 percent from a week ago and 0.38 percent from a year ago.
Experts expect prices to spike another 60 cents or more, with the $4 mark being touchedor exceededsometime this summer, probably by Memorial Day weekend, the peak of the summer driving season. The last time the U.S. saw $4 gasoline was back in the summer of 2008.
"I think it's going to be a chaotic spring," says Tom Kloza of the Oil Price Information Service. He expects average prices to peak at $4.05, though he and other industry trackers say prices could be sharply higher in some markets.
Historically, $4 a gallon has been the upper limit of what consumers have been willing to pay. Last April, national prices peaked at about $3.98 a gallon before receding. "It's going to be tough to sustain that level," thinks Brian Milne of energy tracker Televent DTN. "People will drive less."
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
I don't think Memorial Day is the 'peak' of the summer driving season, merely the start of it. IIRC, gas prices fell a bit after Memorial Day in 2011.
If things heat up in the Persian Gulf this year, we will WISH gas was just $4/gal.
#5
Maybe we should come up with a national drinking game [since we won't be driving as much] in which the One and his minions in MSM blame economic refuseniks, sabotagers, and hooligans for the spike in price. Dumb drunk when he or his agents call for 'price controls'.
#6
People are already using a LOT less gasoline in the US; I can only figure that the higher price is being supported by increased gasoline exports.
Obama won't 'own' this, it will be painted as the oil companies' fault - after all, they are making big profits (though refining & marketing companies are not.) It will give the Administration more cover for adding new taxes on the oil companies, which will lead to even higher gas prices, but again, that's revenue to the government that they get to blame others for.
#7
See if you can locate the central problem regarding Federal Motor Fuel taxes from the excerpt provided below:
The motor fuel tax is a per-gallon excise tax levied on gasoline, diesel, and other special fuels, and is deposited into the Federal Highway Trust Fund (HTF). Motor fuel taxes provide about 82 percent of the revenue used for Federal surface transportation funding.
The HTF was established by the Federal-aid Highway Act of 1956 for the direct purpose of funding the construction of an Interstate Highway System and aiding in the finance of primary, secondary, and urban routes. Prior to establishment of the HTF, a federal motor fuel tax of 1 cent per gallon was enacted in 1932 and increased, extended, and rescinded multiple times until 1955. Revenue was not collected in a dedicated fund, but instead was pooled with the General Fund of the Treasury. Similarly, cash to pay for obligations incurred for the Federal highway program came from the General Fund.
Initially set at 3 cents per gallon in 1956, the motor fuel tax was increased to 4 cents per gallon in 1959. Then after a 24-year hiatus, motor fuel taxes were increased to 9 cents per gallon in 1983 and a new dedicated Mass Transit Account was established alongside the existing Highway Account and was funded with one-ninth of the revenues coming into the HTF. The next year, the motor fuel tax on diesel fuel was increased separately by 6 cents per gallon, a differential that remains today.
Since 1987, except from January 1996 to October 1997, an additional 0.1 cent per gallon has been levied and deposited in the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund.
#14
People are already using a LOT less gasoline in the US; I can only figure that the higher price is being supported by increased gasoline exports.
Crude prices are being driven in large part by the simultaneous attempts by the Fed, ECB & Japan to devalue their currencies. Plot the US monetary base against crude prices and you'll see a very very strong correlation. The largest component of the price of finished gasoline is the cost of crude oil thus as crude runs up gasoline prices necessarily follow.
As you noted, the really frightening part isn't the forthcoming price spike, it's that it's happening in an environment where consumption has fallen off a cliff. That may not include imports but even if it doesn't that doesn't explain those two data points at the bottom right corner of the chart. Scary if they're the new normal and not extreme outliers.
#15
AzCat, it looks to me like gasoline prices are up considerably more than crude prices this cycle. Concur that crude prices are running in synch with dollar printing.
#16
And of course the money-printing will mean larger $ amounts (not value) in profits to the oil companies who the Administration, and their lapdog media, will then blame for jacking up the prices.
#18
Glenmore - One possible explanation for the divergence of gasoline from crude is that Obama has regulated a few US refineries out of existence. With refining capacity dwindling due to regulatory fiat the market doesn't know what to expect during the annual transition from cheaper winter gasoline blends to more expensive summer ones and is pricing in the risk that things won't go smoothly.
There's never perfect correlation over the very short term but in the long run that's been the way to bet:
#19
I've been looking for a good graph showing average monthly prices of gasoline versus monthly gasoline, updated from about 1/79 to 12/11.
I've seen partial & incomplete graphs. As best I can tell, people are using a little less gasoline, but not a 'lot less'. The graph I want is, IMHO, necessary to lead any article about US gas prices, just to give readers an accurate perspective on the situation.
In the poorer sections of my part of OH, I have been seeing many more grown men on bicycles or on foot with lunch boxes, backsacks & satchels than I have seen in previous decades. They don't look like students. Perhaps those are the ones who quit driving.
#20
Correction: I've been looking for a good graph showing average monthly US prices of gasoline versus monthly US gasoline consumption, updated from about 1/79 to 12/11.
#21
Anguper,might this help? Only goes back to 1991.
(Can't get the link thing to work - looks like it does, but vanishes when preview. Re-assemble the segments-)
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2012/02/
huge-plunge-in-petroleum-and-gasoline.html
#22
Let's see if I can post the above referenced graph:
Unfortunately, pricing information is left out. Roughly it shows about a 9% drop in US gasoline consumption between 2001 and 2011, a period with 2 recessions. It's a step in the right direction, of clarifying the discussion on gasoline prices.
- Austria: outlook on Aaa rating changed to negative
- France: outlook on Aaa rating changed to negative
- Italy: downgraded to A3 from A2, negative outlook
- Malta: downgraded to A3 from A2, negative outlook
- Portugal: downgraded to Ba3 from Ba2, negative outlook
- Slovakia: downgraded to A2 from A1, negative outlook
- Slovenia: downgraded to A2 from A1, negative outlook
- Spain: downgraded to A3 from A1, negative outlook
- United Kingdom: outlook on Aaa rating changed to negative
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
All of which COULD mean opportunity and increased stability for the US market if things are played correctly. Regardless of what is said in Washington, we are NOT inextricably tied to these losers, but we can certainly learn from them.
#6
You know that a falling dollar is a pay cut for Americans?
Americans are (and will be) paying for the bad debts of the FIRE industry through their falling standard of living. Realistically, pay cuts for Americans seem inevitable under ANY likely scenario, given the current economic situation. The only way through is DOWN. The question is, which path through will cause the least amount of destruction?
(AGI) Rome- Polar temperatures in central and southern Italy are affecting 100 million olive trees. This Mediterranean plant needs a relatively mild climate to survive, even in the winter, and above all it needs to avoid huge temperature spikes, according to Coldiretti. The Italian farmers' association has raised the alarm on the dramatic effects of the ongoing cold snap on the country's most traditional tree, one which also represents the local Mediterranean diet. Temperatures below 10 degrees, claims Coldiretti, wreak havoc on olive trees and exponentially increase the damage to the food and farming industry, which has already reached half a billion euros along the entire supply chain.
It seems to me citrus trees have the same problem. I believe Florida growers handle the occasional cold snap with smudge pots to heat the air around each tree at need... Perhaps the olive growers should consult historical records to see what was done to protect trees during the Little Ice Age, which ended only a few short centuries ago. There are probably even beautiful etchings of picturesque peasants at the work, just as there are of the Great Frost Fairs on the Thames River during the same period.
#1
The difference is orange trees are relatively recent in Florida, whereas olive trees have grown in Italy for millenia.
If there is a large scale die off, I'd be interested if there is a historical precedent and when. Probably the Little Ice Age or perhaps the Year Without a Summer.
#4
As I understand it, the Spartans ran an entire campaign to destroy Athenian Olive Groves, to no avail.
Perhaps the Britons could grow them, next to their grapes.
Seems to me the greatest threat to euro-zone agriculture, is the Euro-Zone, who if I remember right destroys fruit which does not look right and plowed under the pride of French Vinyards.
Libya's delegate stunned the UN Human Rights Council on Monday by claiming that gay people threaten the survival of the human race.
It was the new western-backed regime's first appearance at the 47-nation body. Clearly an auspicious start...
Libya's membership was restored in November.
Protesting at the council's first panel discussion on discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation, scheduled for March 7, Libya's representative told the gathering of ambassadors that LGBT topics "affect religion and the continuation and reproduction of the human race."
Council president Laura Dupuy Lasserre responded: "This council is here to defend human rights and prevent discrimination." Unless it's against Joooz, in which case they're down with it.
Hillel Neuer of UN Watch, which monitors its performance by the yardstick of the UN charter, said: "This homophobic outburst by the new Libyan government, together with the routine abuse of prisoners, underscores the serious questions we have about the new regime's commitment to improving on the dark record of its predecessor." Not to mention the serious questions we have about the new human rights council...
#5
Technically, he's correct: gay sex does not produce babies. Why would this worry him, unless it's so rampant in his corner of the world that he fears it will diminish the number of future muslims? I suppose he went on to explain that this is why rape is justified.
Israel's long-term prosperity depends on getting more ultra-Orthodox Jews and Israeli Arabs to join the work force, the International Monetary Fund said in a report Monday.
Wrapping up a two-week mission to Israel, the IMF also said the country's economy is strong and has weathered the global economic slowdown well. It cited growth of almost 5 percent in 2010 and 2011 and unemployment of 5.5 percent an all-time low while inflation has fallen back.
But it warned that the low work participation of Israeli minority populations poses a long-term threat to the nation's economic health. In particular, it said Arab-Israeli women have an employment rate of 20 percent and ultra-Orthodox men of 40 percent. The two groups are among the poorest and fastest growing in Israel.
The IMF study said the combined ultra-Orthodox and Israeli Arab populations could double over the next three decades, from a combined quarter of Israel's population to half. It said that if the two sectors reached the employment, wage and productivity rates as the rest of the country, Israel's output would rise by 15 percent.
The report underlines highlight a growing rift in Israel between the secular majority and a fervently devout minority whose numbers are skyrocketing and which lives in lifestyle distinct from the rest of the country. In ultra-Orthodox society, men focus heavily on religious study and often do not work, living instead on government welfare.
At current demographic trends with the ultra-Orthodox typically having about six children per couple the religious minority could become increasingly dominant.
Israel's Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz praised the mission and its feedback on the Israeli economy.
"We are acting and will continue to act toward the integration of Arabs and the ultra-Orthodox in the labor market," he said. "We are creating opportunities for ... education and vocational training and call upon those sectors of the population to participate in the labor market for their own good and the good of the whole economy."
Arab women have a low work force participation because of a combination of low education, distance from economic hubs and traditional social constraints.
The low work participation among the ultra-Orthodox, along with their refusal to perform compulsory military service, has fueled widespread resentment among secular Israelis. In some cities, ultra-Orthodox extremists have recently tried to impose their conservative mores on mainstream society, vandalizing billboards with images of women, for instance, further adding to the resentment.
After more than two decades, Raytheon Company has formally restarted production of the laser-guided Maverick missile, with the first weapon expected to be delivered to the U.S. Air Force in late 2012.
"The combat-proven laser Maverick has demonstrated its effectiveness against frigate size ships, small moving boats, tanks, fortified personnel and fast moving maneuvering vehicles in excess of 70 miles per hour," said Harry Schulte, vice president of Raytheon Missile Systems' Air Warfare Systems product line. "We are focused on getting laser-guided Maverick to the U.S. warfighter, and hope to also provide this weapon to U.S. allies since it is available via both Direct Commercial Sales and Foreign Military Sales." The Maverick missile is the most widely-produced precision-guided weapon in the Western world. Nothing succeeds like success.
#1
After more than two decades, Raytheon Company has formally restarted production of the laser-guided Maverick missile, with the first weapon expected to be delivered to the U.S. Air Force in late 2012.
But new production delivery could begin as soon as Saturday if developments in the ME warrant.
#1
I'll say it again - the Bammer should be supporting Newt's schema for the US to return to the Moon by 2020.
I'm all for helping International Allies acheieve success wid their SpaceProgs, but how long is the US going to fund costly, failed-n-failing Solar = "Green Tech" Companies wid little to no viable Consumer/Free Markets, outside of the Govt, for their NT goods + services???
D *** NG IT BAMMER, "IFF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME"! SAVE A SOLAR + WIND COMPANY, + US TAXPAYER DOLLARS - GO BACK TO THE MOON + BEYOND!
Sean Penn has branded Britain 'colonialist' for its refusal to hand over the Falkland Islands to Argentina.
The notoriously left-wing actor said that the UK was being 'ludicrous and archaic' by believing it could hold on to what he called 'the Malvinas Islands of Argentina'. Archaic maybe but ludicrous? Who's going to throw them out?
Penn, who has no personal connection with the islands at all, added that diplomacy was needed to resolve the issue but that he was firmly on the side of the Argentinians. In which case his sense of 'diplomacy' is rather one-sided...
His comments has incensed Britons, Falkland Islanders and the families of those who died in the war in the South Atlantic almost 30 years ago. Sean once again proves he is against freedom and liberty and pretty much a full fledged asshole. The UK should ban him from their country.
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.
Narsingdi, Feb 12 (UNB)-A local BNP leader was chopped to death near Meghna bazaar police camp in Sadar upazila Saturday night.
Gasoline prices could soon hit $4 a gallon, a threshold they haven't flirted with since last spring.
(AGI) Rome- Polar temperatures in central and southern Italy are affecting 100 million olive trees. This Mediterranean plant needs a relatively mild climate to survive, even in the winter, and above all it needs to avoid huge temperature spikes, according to Coldiretti. The Italian farmers' association has raised the alarm on the dramatic effects of the ongoing cold snap on the country's most traditional tree, one which also represents the local Mediterranean diet. Temperatures below 10 degrees, claims Coldiretti, wreak havoc on olive trees and exponentially increase the damage to the food and farming industry, which has already reached half a billion euros along the entire supply chain.
Sean Penn has branded Britain 'colonialist' for its refusal to hand over the Falkland Islands to Argentina.
