HOQUIAM, Wash. -- Guy bursts into an apartment carrying a dead weasel.
"Why are you carrying a weasel?" asks the occupant.
"It's not a weasel! It's a marten!" the guy sez.
Then he punches him.
The attacker was apparently looking for his girlfriend and had gone to her former boyfriend's apartment Monday where the victim was a guest. Police later found the 33-year-old Hoquiam man arguing with his girlfriend at another location and arrested him after a fight. He said he had found the marten dead near Hoquiam, but police don't know why he carried it with him.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
It does sound like the phrase "pining for the fjords" was missing...
The US faces the prospect of "basement levels" of inventories of spring wheat and durum thanks to the rains which have delayed plantings to one of the slowest paces on record.
Alan Tracy, the president of industry group US Wheat Associates, said that the wet weather which had left 21% of the American spring wheat crop unplanted as of Sunday, when sowings are typically all but finished, was "going to have a drastic impact on supplies".
Supplies were going to become "terribly tight" for both conventional spring wheat and durum, the variety used to make pasta which is, in the main, also spring seeded.
"We are looking at a reasonable carryover coming into this year, but I do not think we are going to have a carryout," he told the International Grains Council's annual conference.
"We are going to be down to bargain basement levels," Mr Tracy said.
The US Department of Agriculture has estimated America's hard spring wheat inventories entering 2011-12 at 215m bushels, with those of durum pegged at 47m bushels.
'Farmers giving up'
The severity of the setback for the grains has been heightened by its concentration in the main growing states of North Dakota and Montana.
North Dakota's durum crop is only 25% sown, compared with an average of 94%, with what has been planted backward too. Just 12% of crop had emerged as of Sunday, down from a typical 78%.
In Canada, progress is not so severely behind, with 80% completed compared with 93% typically by now, the Canadian Wheat Board said. Even so that is only 2% more than last year, when wet weather forced growers to abandon millions of acres of spring crops.
"Wet areas in south-western Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan are less than 25% done, with many farmers giving up hope of planting before the June 20 crop-insurance deadline," the board said.
'Quality risk'
The comments come the day after wheat prices soared above $11 a bushel in Minneapolis, where the spring variety is traded, for the first time since 2008.
And the board last month highlighted that durum prices too have risen faster than those for other wheat types, "an indication that durum fundamentals are tightening".
"Significant reductions in seeded area are expected in both the US and Canada," the CWB said, noting that late sowing also "increase quality risk, which is supportive" of prices of higher-grade wheat.
Furthermore, drought had dimmed prospects for Europe's crop, with pre-harvest rains raising concerns for quality of Algerian and Tunisian harvests.
Higher food costs = more instability in the third world
This next year will bring lots of food riots and starvation.
#3
I remember they had a disaster relief map out there and last year was bad according to it(some said it was a government handout for agribusiness). This year is much worse. Potatoes have rotted in the ground in many areas in the east. No seed potatoes to replant. Wheat rust has ruined wheat in Asia and Arab countries. Meat as a result is about to take a major rise in retail prices. The poor countries are much worse off than us. We are close behind. Look what it will do to fast food. I think we had the rapture and us baddies are left behind to suffer the tribulation. When the food assistance programs dry up watch out.
CME, the company that owns the 2 leading futures exchanges in Chicago, considers moving some of its operations to other states in response to increased state taxes.
CME's threat comes at a time when other Illinois companies, including Caterpillar and Sears Holdings Corp., have raised the possibility of leaving Illinois. Other states have tried to dangle lucrative incentive packages to lure companies, and Illinois has offered up many incentives to successfully retain big companies including Motorola Mobility. The result has resembled a national bidding war for some of Illinois' top companies.
It's not like they were going to get any work done if they'd stayed on the job...
[Iran Press TV] Greek workers have walked out of the job to protest the government's harsh austerity measures and privatization plan, as the country struggles to meet the terms of its international bailout.
Ahead of the cabinet meeting, strikers marched through central Athens, AP reported on Thursday. The 24-hour general strike has paralyzed ports, post offices, banks, transportation and the media.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou is expected to approve harsher austerity measures for 2011-2015. The plan includes cuts and tax hikes this year, tougher austerity measures over the next few years and a 50-billion-euro privatization program.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Nunzio had his hands full of angry bleached blonde...
a broader strike is scheduled for June 15.
Greece received a 110-billion-euro EU-IMF bailout loan last year as it faced a massive debt crisis but failed to resolve its financial problems. Greece has a debt of over EUR 300 billion. The Greek government has estimated an overall unemployment rate of 14.5 percent for its 2011 budget.
This comes as the introduction of a second bailout plan has only resulted in harsher austerity measures by the government, which aims to reduce the 2011 budget deficit by EUR 6.5 billion.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Sad part is, they don't have to stay, we're going to go on the hook for their paycheck regardless.
[Straits Times] POLICE say the father and brother of a 20-year-old Indian woman have been sentenced to death for killing her and her husband for marrying in the same Hindu clan.
Brij Lal, a top police officer, says eight other family members also were sentenced to death by a trial court on Wednesday for the killings three years ago in northern Uttar Pradesh state. The defendants can appeal to a higher court.
Judge Rajendra Babu Singh said the punishment should serve as a lesson to all those who kill their kin in the name of saving family honour.
Last month, India's top court recommended the death penalty for perpetrators of 'honour killings,' calling the practice barbaric and feudal.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2011 00:00 ||
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Vietnam has said it will hold live-fire exercises in the South China Sea amid escalating tensions with China over disputed waters.
Vietnam warned vessels to stay out of the area off its central coast when it conducts the drills on Monday. It follows a verbal clash with China over sovereignty in the area.
China reacted angrily after Vietnam said a Chinese fishing boat rammed cables from an oil exploration vessel inside its exclusive economic zone. Beijing said Chinese fishing boats were chased away by armed Vietnamese ships in the incident on Thursday.
One of the Chinese boats became tangled with the cables of a Vietnamese oil exploring vessel, which continued to drag the Chinese vessel for more than an hour before the net had to be cut, the foreign ministry said.
China accused Vietnam of "gravely violating" its sovereignty, saying Vietnam's actions had endangered Chinese sailors' lives, and warned it to stop "all invasive activities".
Beijing's strong-worded statement followed Vietnam's accusation that a Chinese fishing boat had "intentionally rammed" the exploration cables of a Vietnamese boat - the second such incident in two weeks.
Vietnam said the "premeditated and carefully calculated" attack was part of China's attempts to control disputed waters. Vietnam now says it will stage live ammunition drills on Monday in an area off central Quang Nam province.
The announcement was made on Friday on the website of the state-owned Northern Maritime Safety Co-operation, warning all vessels to avoid the area. It said the decision to hold the exercises was taken on 7 June.
China is engaged in maritime border disputes with several countries. The South China Sea includes important shipping routes and may contain rich oil and gas deposits.
#4
Vietnam has actually become very pro American in the past decade. We have strengthened economic ties and Vietnam see us as a counter to an aggressive China.
China has allies with Laos and Cambodia and the Vietnamese are feeling increasingly isolated and are turning toward the west for help.
For me, it is a win-win situation. We can gain ports and bases in the area to further counter Chinese aggression and develop economic ties with a former rival.
Also note, that bases in Vietnam would help go after some radical Islamic groups in Indonesia and Southern Burma via special operation groups.
#7
China reacted angrily after Vietnam said a Chinese fishing boat rammed cables from an oil exploration vessel inside its exclusive economic zone. Beijing said Chinese fishing boats were chased away by armed Vietnamese ships in the incident on Thursday.
More and more, my impression is that some of these Chinese fishing boats aren't manned by fishermen, and that for these boat personnel, fishing is just a hobby. The question is whether they're coast guard or navy. Or just paramilitary toughs hired for plausible deniability.
Posted by: kelly ||
06/10/2011 19:49 Comments ||
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#9
See also DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > VIETNAM ACCUSES CHINA OF HARASSING ANOTHER [Survey]BOAT.
* SAME > VIETNAM URGED [by China] TO HALT VOLATILE ACTS AGZ CHINA'S SOVEREIGNTY IN NANSHAS [Paracel Islands] + SURROUNDING WATERS.
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > VIETNAM'S TOP LEADERS ADD FIRE TO SOUTH CHINA SEAS DISPUTE, agz China.
Vietnam willing to do Any + All things necessary, includ Military means, to defend its SCS interests.
* SAME > VIETNAMESE, CHINESE HACKERS ESCALATE SPRATLY'S ROW.
* SAME > {Poster]CHINA-VERSUS-PHILIPPINES IS [mainland]CHINESE-VERSUS-OVERSEAS-CHINESE!?
Ungrateful relatives = descendants.
FYI Philippine Mil Chiefs have argued that their country's armed forces is still too weak to challenge China's claims oer the Spratleys, etc. - CHINA IS ESSENS CLAIMING EVERY ISLAND GROUP + OCEAN AREA IN THE SCS JUST OFF THE COASTLINES OF VARIOUS REGIONAL NATIONS, FROM TAWIAN TO PHIL TO THE MALACCAS = TIP OF THAILAND, albeit China admits that AT THIS TIME ONLY that it may not be able to effec defend via military means [milfor = power projection]every inch of its SCS claims. IN CHINA'S VIEW, THE OFFSHORE EEZ-SEZ [Air-Sea-Space]OF EVERY SOVEREIGN COUNTRY SURROUNDING THE SCS PROPER IS CHINA'S ANCESTRAL/HISTORICAL + SOVEREIGN TERRITORY.
But China infers that they will be able to militarily defend the whole of their SCS domains one day.
FYI again, as per PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM = CHINA is planning to hold PLAN drills in international waters in WESTPAC, i.e. near GUAM-CNMI.
As said before its no longer just US-VS-RISING-CHINA in East Asia/Asia + Pacific, but US-VS-RISING-CHINA-VS-RISING-NUCLEAR-ISLAMISM [OWG-NWO Nuke "Caliphate"].
ANTI-US COMMIES-N-RADICAL ISLAM NOW = devol into ANTI-US COMMIES-VERSUS-NUCLEAR-RADICAL ISLAM IN FUTURE.
Again again, China + PLA's primary focii is milpol breaking thru the First Island Chain in WESTPAC, etc. vee the strategic Air-Sea [Space?]corridors of the "DRAGON TRIANGLE", i.e. agz US Milbases in ROK + Japan [Taiwan] at one end, + Guam-CNMI barrier at the other end.
WHICH BY DEFINITION INFERS THAT THE [allegedly weakening]POST-GWOT US WON'T BE THERE, I.E. CAN'T OR WON'T MILPOL OPPOSE, CHINA'S NEW POWER + INFLUENCE IN SAME.
#11
* CHINESE MIL FORUM POSTER > argues that Sino-Viet row is an attempt by Vitenam to divert attention away from its econ woes, i.e. double-digit inflation, huge budget deficits, + declining "DOng" currency, + that CHINA should stop any + all investments in Vietnam???
versus
* PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > CHINESE FLEET[PLA drill = training] CROSSES JAPANESE FIRST ISLAND CHAIN!
* SAME > JAPAN'S ALLERGIC [allergy] TO PLA NAVAL DRILL IN WESTERN PACIFIC [late June] UN-NECESSARY.
* DAILY TIMES.PK > [US]PENTAGON DETAILS [manning/crew-optional] NEW NUCLEAR BOMBER.
Wehell, all thing equal, during the Cold War CUBA + UNCLE FIDEL had the Soviets + Commie Bloc - in the 21st Century, GUAM-CNMI-WESTPAC HAS AMBITIOUS, POST-US? RISING CHINA + now RISING NUCLEAR RADIC ISLAMISM???
GUAM SELF-DTERMINATION = still the 1990's so-called "GUANTANAMO/CUBA MODEL"???
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.
HOQUIAM, Wash. -- Guy bursts into an apartment carrying a dead weasel. 
The US faces the prospect of "basement levels" of inventories of spring wheat and durum thanks to the rains which have delayed plantings to one of the slowest paces on record.
