Phenomenol pic at link.
Last April 9th, at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, two soldiers were driving a rented SUV about five kilometers from the part of the range used for live firing. It was at night, and an F-16 that thought it was firing at something in the live fire area, lit up the SUV instead. Only 70 20mm rounds were fired. Fortunately, the two people in the SUV were only injured (both from flying glass, the passenger got a dislocated shoulder as he rapidly exited the vehicle when it quickly turned off the road and stopped.) The investigation of how this happen has not been completed. SUVs are evil!
They are destroying the planet!
This is your last warning!
#3
That's it?
Seems rather minimal damage for that kind of firepower...
Posted by: john frum ||
06/14/2008 9:48 Comments ||
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#4
The two people in the SUV are very lucky. There is a lot of damage to the vehicle. If the vehicle is not considered "totaled," fix-up costs would be considerable. It's not clear what the interior damage looks like. My brother-in-law has one of these vehicles. At the price of gas, he would probably offer his up for F-16 target practice if the pricer were right. These vehicles are, however, flex fuel vehicles and will burn 85% ethanol if you can find it.
#5
In my ignorance that looks like pretty precise firing -- not one hole through the front seat where the two were sitting. The article says it was a rented vehicle, though, so any payments will go to the rental company. I'd call the thing totalled, on general principle.
#12
....Many air to ground ranges have derelict cars, trucks and other vehicles littered all over the place. Without question if he was FIVE clicks off the range some remedial training is is in order, but it's not an entirely impossible occurrence.
Now, the Lawn Dart driver who zapped a school last year was another story entirely...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
06/14/2008 19:37 Comments ||
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#13
"Speed Limit Enforced by Aircraft"
I'd take that sign a little more literally from now on.
#16
Consider this: if this incident had been the result of a UAV pilot error, you could hear the USAF brass bitching all the way to Kalamazoo. No enlisted pilots, all officers, and then there would be the two recent USAF firings to think about (I can hear them now: "I told you so. Neener, Neener")
Two fighter jets from the U.S. Navy's elite training school collided Friday over northern Nevada's high desert, killing one pilot and injuring two others who parachuted to safety.
The pilot who died was based at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, Va., said Jeffery Wells, a spokesman at Fallon Naval Air Station. He was at the controls of an F/A-18C Hornet at the time of the crash.
The two pilots who ejected from a two-seater F-5 Tiger were rescued about 50 miles east of the air station, said Zip Upham, another base spokesman. They were in stable condition and being treated for minor injuries at Banner Churchill Medical Center in Fallon. The two were assigned to the Fallon Naval Air Station, where both jets had taken off.
The names of the three were being withheld pending notification of the pilots' families, Wells said. The cause of the crash was under investigation.
The air station, about 60 miles east of Reno, is home to the Navy's elite Strike and Air Warfare Center. The center was formed in 1996 with the consolidation of the Navy fighter Weapons School known as "Top Gun" and the Carrier Airborne Early Warning Weapons School, or "Top Dome."
The F-5 Tiger is a Vietnam-era fighter aircraft. The F/A-18C Hornet, which was used in Operation Desert Storm, is a fighter-attack aircraft that can carry air-to-air missiles and infrared imaging air-to-ground missiles.
The two aircraft collided about noon near the town of Middlegate, some 110 miles east of Reno, Upham said. Travis Anderton, of Middlegate, said he had seen the two jets before the crash. "Then I heard a crash, looked up and saw them coming out of the sky, falling," he told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "Then it was smoke and you couldn't see any more."
Nevada Highway Patrol spokesman Chuck Allen said some of the wreckage landed about a mile from a highway.
The most recent fatal crash involving aircraft from Fallon was in May 2007. Five crew members were killed when their SH-60 Seahawk helicopter crashed during a nighttime training mission in north-central Nevada about 140 miles west of Reno.
Upham, who has served as base spokesman since 2001, said that crash was the worst in recent memory. Over the previous six years, he said there had been four separate jet and two helicopter crashes, resulting in one death.
The Fourth of July was traditionally celebrated as America's birthday, but the idea of an annual day specifically celebrating the Flag is believed to have first originated in 1885. BJ Cigrand, a schoolteacher, arranged for the pupils in the Fredonia, Wisconsin Public School, District 6, to observe June 14 (the 108th anniversary of the official adoption of The Stars and Stripes) as 'Flag Birthday'. In numerous magazines and newspaper articles and public addresses over the following years, Cigrand continued to enthusiastically advocate the observance of June 14 as 'Flag Birthday', or 'Flag Day'.
On June 14, 1889, George Balch, a kindergarten teacher in New York City, planned appropriate ceremonies for the children of his school, and his idea of observing Flag Day was later adopted by the State Board of Education of New York. On June 14, 1891, the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia held a Flag Day celebration, and on June 14 of the following year, the New York Society of the Sons of the Revolution, celebrated Flag Day.
Following the suggestion of Colonel J Granville Leach (at the time historian of the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the Revolution), the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames of America on April 25, 1893 adopted a resolution requesting the mayor of Philadelphia and all others in authority and all private citizens to display the Flag on June 14th. Leach went on to recommend that thereafter the day be known as 'Flag Day', and on that day, school children be assembled for appropriate exercises, with each child being given a small Flag.
Two weeks later on May 8th, the Board of Managers of the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution unanimously endorsed the action of the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames. As a result of the resolution, Dr. Edward Brooks, then Superintendent of Public Schools of Philadelphia, directed that Flag Day exercises be held on June 14, 1893 in Independence Square. School children were assembled, each carrying a small Flag, and patriotic songs were sung and addresses delivered.
In 1894, the governor of New York directed that on June 14 the Flag be displayed on all public buildings. With BJ Cigrand and Leroy Van Horn as the moving spirits, the Illinois organization, known as the American Flag Day Association, was organized for the purpose of promoting the holding of Flag Day exercises. On June 14th, 1894, under the auspices of this association, the first general public school children's celebration of Flag Day in Chicago was held in Douglas, Garfield, Humboldt, Lincoln, and Washington Parks, with more than 300,000 children participating.
Adults, too, participated in patriotic programs. Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior, delivered a 1914 Flag Day address in which he repeated words he said the flag had spoken to him that morning: "I am what you make me; nothing more. I swing before your eyes as a bright gleam of color, a symbol of yourself."
Inspired by these three decades of state and local celebrations, Flag Day - the anniversary of the Flag Resolution of 1777 - was officially established by the Proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson on May 30th, 1916. While Flag Day was celebrated in various communities for years after Wilson's proclamation, it was not until August 3rd, 1949, that President Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14th of each year as National Flag Day.
#1
I've often wondered how to start a hullabaloo about China's practice of flying their flag above all others. It's an insult of the worst order, and it's regulation - any factory will display the Chinese flag as well as any flags of the investors, but with the Chinese flag in the middle and higher.
International outrage over the crack-down in Zimbabwe grew yesterday as African leaders called for the release of a top opposition leader arrested on the capital charge of treason.
The whereabouts of Tendai Biti, the deputy leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), remained unknown the day after police arrested and handcuffed him as he disembarked at Harare airport.
The High Court ordered police to produce Mr Biti before the court this morning after the MDC filed a case on his behalf, saying it was deeply worried about his welfare. The party had earlier dispatched a team of lawyers and human rights defenders to every possible police station in Harare in an effort to secure his whereabouts, but they were unable to locate him.
In a rare reprimand, Botswana called in the Zimbabwean Ambassador to protest about Mr Bitis arrest and the repeated detention of the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Forty of Africas most prominent figures, including the former leaders of Ghana, Nigeria and Mozambique, also signed an open letter calling for the violence to cease.
Mr Bitis arrest for treason represented a fresh escalation in the war being waged on the Opposition by President Mugabe, the security leadership of the Joint Operations Command (JOC) and the war veteran militias deputed to carry out the violence.
Diplomats said that Mr Biti was travelling back from secret talks with ruling party officials in South Africa, ostensibly aimed at creating a government of national unity and ruling out the need for the presidential run-off vote scheduled for June 27. Human rights groups and Western governments have insisted that no fair vote can be held in the current climate. One diplomat said that Mr Biti had left because he believed that the talks were going nowhere. His arrest, air-side, at Harare airport as foreign diplomats waited outside in the hope of preventing such an incident, confirmed fears that the talks were little more than a smokescreen to deflect attention from state-sponsored violence.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/14/2008 00:00 ||
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(Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe's opposition MDC-T Secretary-General Tendai Biti was arrested at the Harare International Airport on Thursday soon after he returned from South Africa, The Herald newspaper reported on Friday. Biti left Zimbabwe almost two months ago after police said they wanted to question him over alleged treason and uttering statements that are prejudicial to the state.
Chief police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena confirmed the arrest and said investigations were still in progress. "He was arrested at the Harare International Airport today at around 12:30 p.m. on his return from a neighboring country. Biti is facing two charges," he was quoted as saying.
He said these charges arose from the claims Biti made that MDC-T presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai had won 50.3 percent of the presidential vote in the March harmonized elections.
On March 30 this year, a day after the first round of polling, Biti claimed that MDC-T had won both the presidential and parliamentary races in contravention of the electoral law that gives the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission the exclusive mandate to announce results, said the report.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/14/2008 00:00 ||
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#2
Nah Moose. It'd end up like the German Army, used for all sorts of 'useful' social purposed other than real military preparedness. Throw in the wet dreams of EUrocrats, they'd be nothing but serfs doing their time for 'the common good'.
I'd offer any Anglo with a clean record and an employable skill open immigration to the US to make up for decades of reverse discrimination in the quotas. If we can handle 10 million illegal Latins, Haitians, Chinese, etc, we should be able to handle the overflow from the old 'muther' country. Just park your socialism before departing.
A powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake rocked a rural area of northern Japan on Saturday, killing at least three people, triggering landslides and reportedly knocking down a bridge, fire and disaster management officials said. Kyodo News agency said at least 100 people were injured. Officials confirmed 69 injuries and seven people missing. Another 100 people were trapped at a hot springs, according to the government's Disaster Agency, but details of their situation remained unclear.
Two nuclear power plants in the area were undergoing inspections but there were no immediate reports of damage, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura. Electricity had been cut to about 29,000 households in the quake zone, he said. There was no danger of tsunami.
The 8:43 a.m. quake was centered in the northern prefecture (state) of Iwate about 280 miles north of Tokyo. It was located about 5 miles underground revised from an initially estimated depth of 6.2 miles. It was felt as far away as the capital. "It shook so violently that I couldn't stand still. I had to lean on the wall," said Masanori Oikawa, an Oshu city official at home near the epicenter when the quake struck. "When I rushed to the office, cabinets had been thrown onto the floor and things on the desks were scattered all over the place."
One of the deaths was a man who ran out of a building in fear and was hit by a passing truck, and the other confirmed death was a man who was buried in a landslide while he was fishing, Machimura said. A third victim was a 48-year-old construction worker who was hit by a falling rock at a dam in Iwate, according to the National Police Agency. Fire and Disaster Management Agency spokesmen said at least 64 people were injured, including at least two people who in critical condition. One of them was a dam worker in Iwate, who was hit by falling rock. National broadcaster NHK said 67 people were hurt.
Norio Sato, a city official in one of the hardest-hit cities, Kurihara, said a landslide swallowed 15 construction workers, leaving three of them still missing, while the remaining managed to climb out on their own. Four people at Komanoyu hot springs were also missing after a separate landslide hit the resort hotel, said another city official, Katsuyuki Sato. Footage shot from media helicopters showed numerous landslides onto rural roads running along knots of mountains separated by long stretches of rice fields. The footage aired on national broadcaster NHK also showed a bridge that had collapsed.
Germany and France today moved to isolate Ireland in the European Union, scrambling for ways to resuscitate the Lisbon treaty after the Irish dealt the architects of the union's new regime a crushing defeat. Refusing to take Ireland's no for an answer, leading politicians in Berlin and Paris prepared for a crucial EU summit in Brussels this week by trying to ringfence the Irish, while demanding that the reform treaty be ratified by the rest of the EU.
The scene is set for a clash between the Irish and their European partners after a Dublin minister and sources in the ruling Fianna Fail party ruled out any chance of a second Irish referendum on the treaty.
The integration minister, Conor Lenihan, said it was unlikely the treaty would be put to the republic's electorate again. Senior strategists in Fianna Fail said it would be "politically impossible" to try to repeat what happened in 2002, when Ireland voted in favour of the Nice treaty 12 months after having rejected it.
"This time around, the turnout was high, so there can be no justification for it. The government is caught in a political trap," one senior Fianna Fail source said. "There are local as well as European elections in Ireland next year and Fianna Fail will not risk having to hold another referendum. Within the next 12 months, at the very least, there is absolutely no chance that Ireland will re-run Lisbon."
France's Europe minister, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, said a search was on for a way to accommodate the Irish verdict without derailing plans to implement the treaty, which aims to reform the way the EU is run and gives the union its first sitting president and foreign minister.
The Franco-German plan, to be refined at this week's summit, is to have all 26 other EU states ratify the treaty as soon as possible to quarantine the Irish, and then come up with some legal manoeuvre enabling the treaty to go ahead. It is not clear yet how or whether this will succeed. "The legal situation is clear," said a European commission official. "Unless the treaty is ratified by all, there is no treaty."
Jouyet said "specific means of cooperation" could be invoked to deal with Ireland. "The most important thing is that the ratification process must continue in the other countries, and then we shall see with the Irish what type of legal arrangement could be found," he said.
"We're sticking firmly to our goal of putting this treaty into effect," said the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. "So the process of ratification must continue." More at link
Posted by: ed ||
06/14/2008 16:56 ||
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#1
They were warned. And they defied their betters. They deserve what they get. Mugabe should take notice.
#2
a search was on for a way to accommodate the Irish verdict without derailing plans to implement the treaty
You could not possibly find a more un-democratic way if you tried. It is patently obvious that the EU is not in the least interested in democracy. I can't wait until we have our own NAU to deal with.
#4
sounds like the eiltes don't like to be ignored
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/14/2008 21:29 Comments ||
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#5
Obama already thinks there are 57 or 58 states. Makes more sense to offer #51 to Ireland that might want it than to Puerto Rico which definitely doesn't.
PRAGUE, Czech Republic, June 14 (UPI) -- Czech leaders called for an end to the ratification process of the European Commission's Lisbon treaty in the wake of its rejection in an Irish referendum.
Czech President Vaclav Klaus called the defeat of the proposed treaty by Irish voters this week a "victory of freedom and reason" by common people over "artificial elitist projects and European bureaucracy," The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday.
Klaus' comments, written on his Web site, were echoed by Czech Senate Chairman Premysl Sobotka, who said the Irish rejection meant that the EC should halt the treaty's ratification process, the newspaper reported.
Meanwhile, other European governments pressed ahead with calls for the treaty to be ratified elsewhere. The French and German governments are expected to try to minimize the importance of the Irish "no" vote and say privately that if more nations approve the treaty, a second Irish referendum might be held, The Independent reported.
They'll keep voting until they get a 'yes' and then never vote again ...
Eighteen EU member nations have already approved the accord, which would replace an proposed constitution voted down in 2005, but all 27 member EU nations must approve it to take effect.
#1
"The elite we-know-what's-good-for-you "leaders" of Eighteen EU member nations have already approved the accord without bothering to ask the taxpaying citizens little people what they think"
There - fixed.
You go, President Klaus!
Hang tough, Ireland.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/14/2008 20:36 Comments ||
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#2
There are a few pockets of freedom left in Europe. The elitists will to their best to make sure those small fires go out before they spread.
European Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering expressed here Friday regret at the "no" vote in the Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, calling for solutions at the European Union Summit next week.
"It is of course a great disappointment for all those who wanted to achieve greater democracy, greater political effectiveness and greater clarity and transparency in decision-making in the European Union that the majority of the Irish could not be convinced of the need for these reforms of the European Union," he said in a statement. "We must not forget, however, that the European Union has experienced crises and times of difficulty several times before. Today, as in the past, we must keep a cool head." he added.
Poettering said that the rejection of the treaty by one EU country could not mean that the ratifications which have already been carried out by 18 EU countries become invalid. Ireland is a far away country about which we know little and of whose peoples' opinion we care even less.
"The ratifications in the other EU member states must be respected just as much as the Irish vote," he said, "For that reason, the ratification process must continue in those member states which have not yet ratified." We don't need rules any more than the mini-me Democrats in the US>
For its part, the Irish government together with its European partners "will now be required to make proposals as to how to proceed from here," he said. We'll teach you, my little pretties.
He's taking lessons from the Hildebeast ...
"The Summit of Heads of State and Government to be held next week in Brussels will have to address the situation after the Irish referendum and will offer the Irish Government an opportunity to take stock and put forward proposals," the EP president said. You vill do it again until you get it right!
He urged for calm reflection on how to proceed, saying that the reform of the EU "is important for citizens, for democracy and transparency."
Which is why they have a totally opaque treaty being ratified without any ratification by its citizens ...
#1
Will the rest of Europe institute stiff tariffs and restrictions on trade with Ireland? Require passports and visas (limited number) for travel to and from Ireland? And if it works to force Ireland to comply with their will, could they try the same thing with Iran?
#3
TW, you forget that the Irish pols are FOR the treaty! It's only the stupid peons that voted NO.
So.......
Send the treaty back to committee for a rewrite with directions to make it something that won't require a referendum. You know, make it part of a minor treaty change that Parliment can pass by itself. Worked for the Dutch and French and English, it will work here too. /Irish proposal
#2
Methinks the IRISH are thinking ahead and giving EUrope time to save itself > YA KNOW BRUSSELS, PAST THEN AS NOW, AND CONTRARY TO POPULAR OPINION, EUROPE = FUTURE EU? CAN'T FUTURE PROTECT AND DEFEND FROM FUTURE IRANIAN IRBMS-ICBMS + ISLAMIST NUCLEAR TERRORISTS IFF PROPELLERS KEEP FALLING OFF YOUR AIRCRAFT CARRIERS, 30-50% OF YOUR ARMY IS MOTHBALLED BESIDES ALSO SUFFERING FROM LOW PAY AND ESPEC LATE PAY, AND YOUR MOST ADVANC AIRCRAFT WAS WILFULLY DESIGNED TO BE UNSTABLE!
(Xinhua) -- The Netherlands will press ahead with ratifying the European Union (EU)'s Lisbon Treaty although Irish voters had said "No" to it, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said Friday.
He said the result of the Irish referendum is disappointing but will be discussed by EU leaders next week when they meet in Brussels, Dutch media reported. Any statements before then would be premature, he added.
The lower house of the Dutch parliament approved the treaty on June 5 and the upper house is due to complete its deliberations before the summer.
The Lisbon treaty replaces the European Constitution Treaty, which was rejected by French and Dutch voters in referenda in 2005.The new treaty is supposed to amend existing EU treaties and to make the 27-nation bloc more efficient and democratic. Had all EU member countries ratify it by the end of this year, the Lisbon Treaty would come into effect on January 1 next year ahead of elections of the European Parliament.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/14/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
What part of NO don't they understand?
Posted by: Alaska Paul back home ||
06/14/2008 3:19 Comments ||
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#2
When they're literally dangling from lamp posts. This is why our ancestors were either thrown out or left the damn place to begin with. Remember the EUracrats' motto "L'Etat, c'est moi".
"Public opinion will be led to adopt, without knowing it, the proposals that we dare not present to them directly ...."
- V.Giscard D'Estaing, 14 June 2007
#4
EU bureaucrats are like American Democrats: Rules are optional. They will do whatever they want, how they want, when they want, and will adjust the rules and the histories to say they were right all along.
A French court yesterday confirmed a commercial court block on the sale of a luxury yacht that once belonged to dictator Saddam Hussein and which the Iraqi state is seeking to recover.
A ruling issued by the court of appeal in the southern city of Aix-en-Provence confirmed a March 5 order by a tribunal in Nice and also ordered the company Sudeley Ltd. to pay 15,000 euros ($23,000) to Iraq.
Sudeley Ltd says it is the current owner of the Ocean Breeze, an 82-metre yacht delivered to the Iraqi leader in 1981. The company is seeking to have the freeze on the sale of the yacht lifted. The vessel formerly named the Qadissiyat Saddam is currently anchored in Nice.
The ban has prevented Sudeley from negotiating the boat's sale through London brokers for a price of more than 23.5 million euros, according to specialist websites.
Lawyers for Sudeley are trying to show that the boat no longer belongs to the family of Saddam Hussein. They say the boat was passed on firstly to the King of Saudi Arabia and then to King Abdullah of Jordan.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/14/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Hey, the French haven't found all the blood diamonds hidden in it yet.
U.S. President George Bush has urged European leaders to work even more closely with the United States in ensuring that terrorists can never gain a safe haven in Afghanistan.
In an address in Paris to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Mr. Bush urged the allies to stand behind what he called this "brave, young democracy" in its current struggle.
He also stressed the importance of U.S.-European cooperation in spreading the ideals of democracy, liberty and justice in the Middle East, and efforts to deal with Iran's nuclear threat.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/14/2008 00:00 ||
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NEW YORK In an interview for this Sunday's edition of The New York Times Magazine, famed novelist/essayist Gore Vidal appears to question Sen. John McCain's account of being imprisoned by the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam war.
Asked what he thinks of McCain, Vidal calls him a "disaster," then tells Deborah Solomon, "Who started this rumor that he was a war hero? Where does that come from, aside from himself? About his suffering in the prison war camp?" This is an amazing example of outright, upfront, bare-knuckle goebbelism from one of the media culture's foremost icons.
What an odious little man ...
Solomon replies: "Everyone knows he was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam." To which Vidal responds: "Thats what he tells us." At the risk of belaboring the obvious, Vidal's heroes themselves (the Stalinist butchers in Hanoi) saw McCain as quite a prize and made much of him in their propaganda. Were they lying, too?
Why would you doubt him? Solomon wonders. "Hes a graduate of Annapolis," Vidal explains. "I know a lot of the Annapolis breed. Remember, Im West Point, where I was born. My father went there."
Vidal's only reference to McCain's opponent is a fleeting reference to "the United States of America, as Mr. Obama likes to call it." At least he is not supporting Obama. The B*H campaign probably pays him not to.
Asked how he felt when he heard about the passing earlier this year of his conservative nemesis, William F. Buckley, Vidal says, "I thought hell is bound to be a livelier place, as he joins forever those whom he served in life, applauding their prejudices and fanning their hatred." Hell will be a duller place when this g**d****d q***r (Buckley's term) finally croaks.
Vidal refuses to explain again how he is related to Al Gore, claiming that even he has forgotten. The Goracle probably paid him to forget. He is apparently a distant cousin. Vidal's mother's maiden name was Gore. (Incredible as it seems, this wretched piece of fossilized catamite dung did have a mother.)
On other subjects, Vidal says he has no interest in the gay marriage debate, suggests there was "no sex" in his 50-year relationship with one man, and calls Italo Calvino the greatest writer in his lifetime while dissing Norman Mailer and Philip Roth. Unfortunately, Mailer died last November and is therefore finally unable to get drunk and kick Vidal's ass.
Advisory Board:
James Abourezk, former U.S. Senator, South Dakota
Rosemary Candelario, pro-choice activist
Warren Hern MD, Physician and pro-choice activist
Mark Leno, CA State Assembly
Mark Crispin Miller, professor & writer
Tomas Olmos, attorney
Boots Riley, hip hop performer
Lynne Stewart, attorney
Gore Vidal, writer
Sunsara Taylor, writer
Howard Zinn, historian
They're coming from all over the country, lured by their faith in Barack Obama, to spend a weekend in Tamarac, then six weeks bringing the Obama message to Floridians. It's part of a massive mobilization of volunteers for Obama's campaign throughout the nation. The 3,600 volunteers the campaign calls them "fellows" include 400 in the key battleground state of Florida. "fellows?" For crying out loud.
They're unpaid, save for food and gas stipends for some, and they covered their own expenses to travel to the 2 1/2 days of training that begins today. Mom and dad's credit cards. It's a heck of a resource, especially if you're 40 and only halfway to your BA.
About two-thirds will return home after training and will work in their communities. The rest will spend the next six weeks in South Florida and other parts of the state, working from early morning until late at night, sleeping in spare bedrooms in the homes of local Democrats donating the space. "Kumbaya, my lord, kumbaya...."
"I've never seen this level of excitement in a presidential campaign or any campaign ever," said County Commissioner Stacy Ritter, Broward chairwoman of Obama for America. What else would she say?
Obama needs the help in Florida. The state's voters will award 27 electoral votes in November one-tenth of the 270 needed to win the presidency. Polls have shown Republican John McCain, the Arizona senator, doing better in Florida than Obama, the Illinois senator. McCain enjoys another advantage: the backing of Gov. Charlie Crist.
McCain spokesman Jeff Sadosky said the candidate is "building a strong ground game based on Floridians reaching out to their neighbors to spread John McCain's message." He didn't provide details.
The Sunshine State, and especially South Florida, has been strong Hillary Clinton territory. And because Obama didn't campaign in Florida because of the candidates' boycott of the disputed Jan. 29 primary, he never had the kind of massive, up-close exposure he enjoyed in other states.
Many of the fellows are what you'd expect for a big campaign, especially the effort for Obama, who has energized legions of young people and brought them into the political process. It's mostly people not tied down with families, Ritter said. Some are middle-aged or retired. "There are a lot of 20-year-olds."
Many have never been involved in politics, said campaign spokesman Josh Earnest.
Robin Rorapaugh, a Broward political consultant and Obama supporter, said the volunteer fellows could give Obama a big advantage. "The best way to validate a candidate you do not know is having live people speak about the candidate," she said. "Having actual people out in the community, young and excited, is going to do nothing but help."
Like most political campaigns, the Obama camp strictly controls its message, so volunteers weren't available for comment. The campaign said it would consider making some fellows available to comment, but didn't end up doing so.
Florida fellows will be split between the Tamarac Community Center, chosen because it's an easily accessible, and Gainesville. Earnest said the fellows, selected based on applications and telephone interviews, would be trained today, Sunday and part of Monday. After the indoctrination training, they'll spend six weeks door-to-door canvassing and registering voters.
Earnest said their roles would be different from the envelope stuffing and phone calling familiar to previous generations of campaign volunteers. "We've tried to empower and engage these volunteers empower them to be responsible for organizing in their community," he said.
They can exponentially expand the campaign's reach in Florida, where Obama now has about 20 paid staffers.
Though the election is five months away, Rorapaugh said it's not too early. "There hasn't been a lot of infrastructure built in huge Democratic areas like Broward in many, many years, and to get the kind of voter turnout that he is seeking ... you've got to start early," she said. "People are very, very engaged in this election, and they're hungry for information." Mortuary records? There is likely to be a massive backlash against the disenfranchisement of Florida Democrats in the primaries, and against the DNC's deplorable "slave-census" resolution that counts a Florida Dem at half the value of one from, say, Berkeley. Hard-core kool-aid drinkers and Kumbayists are out of reach of course but others, including many Hillary fans, are likely to cross over in hordes in November.
That's all you need to know. Northern machine politics transposed onto a willing northern transplant population. It'll go 75% BO. The school system is used for spoils. An IA on 10 month goes off at 34K.
Posted by: George Smiley ||
06/14/2008 13:51 Comments ||
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#2
I'm not sure the demographic mix will work well either.
#3
I'm sure Obama's fightthesmears.com website will be all over this.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/14/2008 11:56 Comments ||
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#4
This blogger did some sleuthing in Indonesia. A number of posts going back over a year
http://laotze.blogspot.com/
What struck me the most odd from the story was Tine Hahiyary's recollection of a young Obama who was quite religious and actively took part in mengaji classes. A claim that would seem to differ from Obama's much publicized statements that he was not raised in a particularly religious household.
While the word "mengaji" means to either learn or study, however, the actual usage of the word "mengaji" in Indonesian and Malaysian societies means the study of learning to recite the Quran in the Arabic language rather than the native tongue. "Mengagi" is a word and a term that is accorded the highest value and status in the mindset of fundamentalist societies here in Southeast Asia. To put it quite simply, "mengaji classes" are not something that a non practicing or so-called moderate Muslim family would ever send their child to. To put this is perhaps a Christian context, this is something above and beyond simply enrolling your child in Sunday school classes.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain's tax policies have given him an edge as the better man for the economy, various Wall Street experts said at this week's Reuters Investment Outlook Summit.
But, against a backdrop of job losses and deteriorating home values, Wall Street is backing McCain's Democratic rival, Barack Obama with cold, hard cash.
McCain plans to extend the Bush administration's tax cuts, eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax, and slash corporate taxes. Obama, who has derided the Arizona senator's plans, has pledged to raise taxes on the wealthy and introduce a broad range of refundable tax credits.
"My personal opinion is I would argue that McCain is probably the better candidate for the economy and that is more or less because of his tax policies," James Caron, head of global rates research at investment bank Morgan Stanley in New York, said at the Reuters Summit this week. "In this environment that we're in right now, the last thing you want to have is higher taxes and taking money out of the consumers' pockets," he added.
David Bianco, chief U.S. strategist at UBS Investment Research, told the summit that Wall Street would welcome McCain with open arms. "My view is that McCain is better for the market," Bianco said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/14/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Better to have someone who admits he's clueless than a apparatchik Marxist socialist when dealing with the economy. With clueless you can get Laissez-faire consequences. Hell, even the Chinese have figured out that Marxism isn't a functional economic model.
#3
I got in the car last night and heard an interview with Dennis Kucinich. I had left the radio on NPR as I was listening to some local music. I learned that the Bush administration policies have destroyed our economy. I missed that somehow.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/14/2008 9:01 Comments ||
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#4
But, against a backdrop of job losses and deteriorating home values, Wall Street is backing McCain's Democratic rival, Barack Obama with cold, hard cash.
Who on Wall Street is backing BO? Someone expecting a bailout? The country can't tax itself out of energy problems. Obama would increase taxes which would put the brakes on an economy that is already having troubles.
Dennis Kucinich is a real moon bat. He has done a lot for the Ohio rust belt.
#5
It rather makes the point that the people are wisely choosing someone who knows little and won't interfere, rather than someone who (falsely) claims to understand and will harm the economy.
(Xinhua) — U.S. presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and his Republican rival John McCain failed in reaching an agreement on Friday to hold ten "town hall"-style meetings where they are supposed to answer questions directly from a small audiences.
According to McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis, Obama's team only agreed to participate one town hall meeting before the Democratic national convention in late August. The Arizona Senator suggested shortly after Obama clinched nomination last week to hold 10 joint town hall meetings with Obama at locations that both teams agree to, starting with the one in New York City on June 12.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/14/2008 00:00 ||
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#4
"...Obama's team only agreed to participate one town hall meeting..."
And the Obama team wanted it scheduled for July 4th. Do you think it has anything to do with that traditionally not alot of people watch TV that day? It appears as if Senator Lightworker is timid.
#7
the Mike Church show (on Sirius) has some of the best sound bites of obomba attempting to answer impromptu questions - very painful to listen to - for all the libz that say GWB is a horrid public speaker (which I agree with) obomba is just as bad if not worse w/out a teleprompter. Mcccpain is going to crush him in the debates.
#9
Actually, if you take BO's speeches, every one of them, put them on a 33-1/3 RPM record, slow them down, and play them backwards, you find a subliminal message. It is the damnedest thing that you will ever hear. Trust me.
Posted by: Alaska Paul back home ||
06/14/2008 12:08 Comments ||
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#10
Wuss! Spineless, limp wrist, effete, metro-sexual, Marxist, Commie Rat Bag, Nancy-Boy...WUSS! I hope this isn't overly nuanced.
#11
Out here "lightworker" does not and never had a good connotation: basically, someone who looks busy working but definately not working as hard as peers, collects same amount of pay as others who have to pick up his/her slack. ie; the worker going around picking up nails while everyone else is taking the shingles off the roof.
#12
McCain should have his town hall meetings anyway and "debate" an Obama manakin. Start off by saying that there won't be any noticeable difference anyway.
#13
I suspect Obama feels there's little use in looking stupid this early on. He will eventually have to debate Senator McCain. He's probably working out the details with the MSM in an attempt to ensure the event is orchestrated in his favor.
#2
We should have done it a long time ago, Joe. The world would be a safer place now.
Posted by: Alaska Paul back home ||
06/14/2008 3:21 Comments ||
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#3
AQ Khan has himself recently stated that Pakistan didn't have the ability to manufacture sewing needles. They've never built a tractor, or a high speed lathe.
After the 1998 tests at Chagai, U2 sampling planes detected Plutonium. Now Pakistan's reprocessing plant wasn't yet operational so that Pu had to come from somewhere.
Lo and behold, LLNL accuses LANL of contaminating the sample. Then it is claimed that the Pu actually came from India. Seems it must have drifted all the way from Rajasthan, after the underground Indian tests at Pokhran.
After some public Indian scorn at this claim, "contamination" is again proposed.
And surprise, surprise, the sample is now "lost".
When Gadaffi saw the writing on the wall and came clean, he handed over plans for CHICOM4, the 4th Chinese nuclear device (an actual deliverable missile warhead), complete with notes on fabrication in Urdu, all wrapped in a plastic bag from AQ Khan's dry cleaners in Rawalpindi.
Missile delivery systems seem to appear in Pakistan as if by magic. No development history or prior models. They have yet to build an automobile engine.
China has yet to be called up about its weapons proliferating to unstable states (like North Korea, which has just begun bicycle manufacturing, using imported Chinese technology).
Seems to me the risk prone arsenal is Chinese... stuff seems to be popping up everywhere...
Posted by: john frum ||
06/14/2008 7:51 Comments ||
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ZstatFlu utilizes a throat-swab specimen and employs approximately 2 minutes of tech time and 20 minutes processing time. It can be stored at room temperature.
99% of people without flu have a negative test result. That is, there is a 1% false positive rate.
Although the ZstatFlu-II test did not distinguish between influenza virus types A and B, the test identified both types of viruses with a sensitivity and a specificity comparable to those of culture.
(Xinhua) -- U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said Friday that biotechnology tools should be used to help cope with the food crisis. "In the long term, we believe sustainable food security will come from advances in science and technology and the creation of an efficient global market for both agriculture products and food production technologies," Negroponte said during a speech at the World Food Price Laureate Announcement Ceremony.
"We therefore are strongly encouraging countries to remove barriers to the use of innovative plant and animal production technologies, including biotechnology," he said. "Biotechnology tools can help speed the development of crops with higher yields, higher nutrition value, better resistance to pests and diseases, and stronger food system resilience in the face of climate change," he added.
The international community has been grappling with soaring prices of corn, wheat, rice, soybeans and other agriculture products and price hikes have set off riots and protests from Africa to Asia.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/14/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
IIUC, BIOTECH will save us from the very probs it created, e.g. "WHEAT RUST" + GENETIC/BIO INSECURITY for the sake of MASS FOOD PRODUCTION???
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.
(Xinhua) -- The Netherlands will press ahead with ratifying the European Union (EU)'s Lisbon Treaty although Irish voters had said "No" to it, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said Friday. 
U.S. President George Bush has urged European leaders to work even more closely with the United States in ensuring that terrorists can never gain a safe haven in Afghanistan.
NEW YORK In an interview for this Sunday's edition of The New York Times Magazine, famed novelist/essayist Gore Vidal appears to question Sen. John McCain's account of being imprisoned by the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam war.
They're coming from all over the country, lured by their faith in Barack Obama, to spend a weekend in Tamarac, then six weeks bringing the Obama message to Floridians. It's part of a massive mobilization of volunteers for Obama's campaign throughout the nation. The 3,600 volunteers the campaign calls them "fellows" include 400 in the key battleground state of Florida.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain's tax policies have given him an edge as the better man for the economy, various Wall Street experts said at this week's Reuters Investment Outlook Summit.
(Xinhua) — U.S. presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and his Republican rival John McCain failed in reaching an agreement on Friday to hold ten "town hall"-style meetings where they are supposed to answer questions directly from a small audiences. 
