South Africa's former defense minister on Wednesday launched a scathing attack against the ruling African National Congress and suggested that hundreds of members loyal to ousted president Thabo Mbeki were on the verge of forming a breakaway party.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
The whinings by the gov't stiffs about how they were "chust vollowing orters" [/faux German] are so laughable. None of them thought to raise a red flag ("I thought the 12,000 was a bit much but House Authority said it was OK.") D#mb@$$es!
#3
Wrong and stupid are merely intersecting sets, not fully overlapping, although both are unacceptable. Not understanding that is what got the idiots sacked.
The British defence ministry has admitted that a computer hard drive, containing the names and personal details of half the people serving in the country's armed forces, has disappeared. The hard drive belonged to a contractor and was used by the firm to test computer equipment.
Defence officials have only just made the discovery and say the data could have disappeared weeks ago.
The incident is the latest in a series of scandals concerning confidential government documents, which have been lost or misplaced in recent years.
#1
On Linux there is native support for encrypted filesytstems in other words: if someone steals the disk and insertas it into a systems whre he is admoinstrator he will get zero information of it unless he knows the pass phrase (who can be arbitraruily long).
I know there is user space support for the same in Windows. For reasons I will noit discuss this is not as goodd as Linux kernel sapce solution but it is still wmuch<.b> better than strolling around with laptops containing unencrypted information. I were Britain's defence minister there would be a lot of ministry's IT personel either performing sepuku or volunteeering for Afgahanistan.
The government of Iceland on Thursday seized control of the country's largest bank -- the third bank takeover this week -- and suspended trading on the stock market, as the North Atlantic island nation grapples with an unprecedented financial meltdown that has made it the first national casualty of the global economic crisis.
The takeover Thursday of Kaupthing bank now leaves the government in control of Iceland's three major banks, following the seizure earlier this week of Landsbanki, the second largest, and Glitnir, the third biggest bank. The government said domestic depositors would have their money guaranteed and that bank operations, including ATM machines, would continue to operate normally.
But there was nothing normal about this fiscal crisis,which in a few days has wiped out much of the wealth that had been accumulating here for the last decade.
The financial crisis has also caused an unusual public dispute within Europe, as hundreds of thousands of Europeans have money deposited in Icelandic banks, mainly through an online bank called IceSave, a Web-only bank operated by Landsbanki.
Iceland's recently privatized banks had invested heavily overseas, turning this remote country into a financial powerhouse known as the "Nordic Tiger." But the three banks' overall indebtedness was more than 10 times the gross domestic product of Iceland itself, and their growth and reach over the last 10 years had far outstripped the ability of this small country's central bank to back them up.
When global credit markets tightened, it threatened to bankrupt the entire country.
"The Nordic Tiger is not a tiger anymore," said Reykjavik University economics professor Oddgier Ottesen. "It's a kitten."
The government, desperate for cash, will hold talks next Tuesday with Russia about a possible $5.4 billion loan, and the prime minister said help from the International Monetary Fund was "definitely an option."
Iceland's spectacular fall has also meant pain for ordinary Icelanders who had heavily invested in stock in the three banks. In a country of just 310,000 people, as many as 80,000 held bank stock that is now worth nothing, according to Frosti Olafsson, deputy director and chief economist with the Iceland Chamber of Commerce. The country's pension funds were also invested in the banks.
The country's battered currency, the krona, has lost a third of its value in recent days. Since many Icelanders took out foreign-currency loans for home mortgages and car purchases, the collapse of the krona has increased the amounts they owe.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2008 00:00 ||
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HARTFORD, Connecticut - Connecticut's Supreme Court ruled Friday that same-sex couples have the right to marry, making that state the third behind Massachusetts and California to legalize such unions.
The divided court ruled 4-3 that gay and lesbian couples cannot be denied the freedom to marry under the state constitution, and Connecticut's civil unions law does not provide those couples with the same rights as heterosexual couples. This is bad because every other state in the Union now has to acknowledge these so-called marriages under Federal law.
Worse than that: once again a small cabal of judges, the kind of judges Barack Obama would appoint to the Supreme Court, have overriden the express will of the legislature and the people. And unless I miss my guess, the legislature and the people will roll over.
#1
Other States do not have to honor gay marriage, nor does the federal government, according to the Defense of Marriage Act passed in '96.
However, at the State level, voters in California are soon to initiative vote on a change to their State constitution that would outlaw same sex marriage.
There is a big fight in Massachusetts over it as well. The legislature and Supreme Court are overturning voter initiatives on dubious grounds to sustain gay marriage.
#2
Judicual fiat coming soon to a state near you. Sorry state Supremes -- a weekend costume party does not make a marriage -- it's a joke; a very poor joke.
Posted by: regular joe ||
10/10/2008 19:58 Comments ||
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#3
When the real representatives of the people [not the pols] figure out that its a lot easier to remove judges from the bench and then appoint those who understand that law derives from the consent of the governed as much as government itself, then the fiats will curtail. It's a lot easier to replace judges than alter a Constitution.
#4
There are two sentences in this section. I'm no constitutional scholar, but what would you bet that a US Supreme Court would find that the first sentence trumps the second, and that the Defense of Marriage act is unconstitutional? Yes, it probably depends on who's on the bench that year...
Article. IV. - The States
Section 1 - Each State to Honor all others
Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.
Posted by: James ||
10/10/2008 20:39 Comments ||
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#5
Prop 8 - CA state Constitutional Amendment will overrule our CA SC's slamming of the voters' will.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/10/2008 21:00 Comments ||
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Former Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld was under oath Monday when he was grilled on Capitol Hill about his role in the current financial meltdown. But if Members really want to understand the credit mania, they should also call Chris Dodd.
The Connecticut Senator has been out front denouncing the "companies that form the foundation of our financial markets," for "their insatiable appetite for risk." He has also decried "reckless, careless and sometimes unscrupulous actors in the mortgage lending industry" and he has proclaimed that "American taxpayers deserve to know how we arrived at this moment." To that end, we propose he take the stand -- under oath.
#2
It's good to see that Sen. Dodd (D Countrywide) is following in the footsteps of his father -- as a feckless crook. Sorry America, but my dipshit fellow Nutmeggers will doubtless vote him in again and again to rape and pillage you taxpaying suckers.
Posted by: regular joe ||
10/10/2008 20:11 Comments ||
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At the same time the Bush administration was negotiating a still elusive agreement to keep the U.S. military in Iraq, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama tried to convince Iraqi leaders in private conversations that the president shouldn't be allowed to enact the deal without congressional approval.
Mr. Obama's conversations with the Iraqi leaders, confirmed to The Washington Times by his campaign aides, began just two weeks after he clinched the Democratic presidential nomination in June and stirred controversy over the appropriateness of a White House candidate's contacts with foreign governments while the sitting president is conducting a war.
Some of the specifics of the conversations remain the subject of dispute. Iraqi leaders purported to The Times that Mr. Obama urged Baghdad to delay an agreement with Mr. Bush until next year when a new president will be in office - a charge the Democratic campaign denies.
Mr. Obama spoke June 16 to Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari when he was in Washington, according to both the Iraqi Embassy in Washington and the Obama campaign. Both said the conversation was at Mr. Zebari's request and took place on the phone because Mr. Obama was traveling.
However, the two sides differ over what Mr. Obama said.
"In the conversation, the senator urged Iraq to delay the [memorandum of understanding] between Iraq and the United States until the new administration was in place," said Samir Sumaidaie, Iraq's ambassador to the United States.
He said Mr. Zebari replied that any such agreement would not bind a new administration. "The new administration will have a free hand to opt out," he said the foreign minister told Mr. Obama.
Mr. Sumaidaie did not participate in the call, he said, but stood next to Mr. Zebari during the conversation and was briefed by him immediately afterward.
The call was not recorded by either side, and Mr. Zebari did not respond to repeated telephone and e-mail messages requesting direct comment.
Paris Hilton outlines what the White House would be like if she were president and doles out a little advice to Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, in an interview with Harper's Bazaar.
"My advice to Sarah Palin is, youÂ’ve got a hot bod; donÂ’t keep it to yourself," the socialite tells the magazine. "Why wear a pantsuit when you can wear a swimsuit? Welcome to the Lower 48, girlfriend." You tell em Paris! I mean is there is an expert in Decour, style, and class its you! oh wait...
Hilton threw herself into the political arena in August when she released a Web video to get even with Republican presidential nominee John McCain for using her image in an ad mocking Barack Obama as an international celebrity.
In the video, she launched her "fake" presidential campaign, and followed it up Wednesday with another video, in which she solicited advice from actor Martin Sheen, who played the president on the television show "The West Wing." I still think she'd make a better president than Obama. If nothing else it'll cause the Muzzies heads (both the bigger and the smaller) to explode.
Following up with some humor, she added, "I will also be wearing platform shoes when I meet with foreign dignitaries to accentuate my well-toned calves."
The World Bank Group's computer network — one of the largest repositories of sensitive data about the economies of every nation — has been raided repeatedly by outsiders for more than a year. It is still not known how much information was stolen. But sources inside the bank confirm that servers in the institution's highly-restricted treasury unit were deeply penetrated with spy software last April. Invaders also had full access to the rest of the bank's network for nearly a month in June and July.
In total, at least six major intrusions — two of them using the same group of IP addresses originating from China — have been detected at the World Bank since the summer of 2007, with the most recent breach occurring just last month. While it remains unclear how much data has been pilfered from the bank, it's a lot. According to internal memos, "a minimum of 18 servers have been compromised," including some of the bank's most sensitive systems — ranging from the bank's security and password server to a Human Resources server "that contains scanned images of staff documents." One World Bank director tells FOX News that as many as 40 servers have been penetrated, including one that held contract-procurement data. I imagine Rantburg's many IT people are having thoughts right about now...
Meanwhile, the bank's treasurer, Kenneth G. Lay, has been briefing Zoellick's senior management team regularly on the situation since April. Other bank officials are also sleuthing. The bank's chief information officer, Guy De Poerck, has engaged Price Waterhouse Coopers to do a confidential million-dollar assessment that is expected to tell him what's going on in his own department. And a 22-page internal report by a computer security company named MANDIANT, dated August 18, fleshes out many details of the June-July breaches. But very few people have ever seen the report, and nobody has been permitted to retain a paper copy.
At the same time, De Poerck has been downplaying the problem to the bank's 10,000 rank-and-file staffers as mere intrusion "attempts" in his e-mails. Yet most of those staffers have been asked to change their password three times in the past three months. "As previously reported in mid-July," CIO De Poerck and a senior bank treasury official wrote in an August announcement to employees, "we would like to reassure you that there is no evidence that Bank staff personal information is at risk from the recent external attempts." My condolences to the 10,000 rank-and-file staffers, especially those reading this now. Please change your password again as a matter of principle.
In reality, the situation is serious enough that federal investigators have been called in. "We're not talking about hackers playing games or messing up our website," insists a senior member of the bank's IT department at its Washington headquarters. "It's about the FBI coming last summer and saying, 'You should take a look at your systems because we think something weird is going on.' It's about the intruders knowing what information they wanted — and getting to it whenever they wanted to. They took our existing data stores and organized them in a way that they could be easily accessed at will."
In plainspeak: "They had access to everything," says the source. "They had the keys to every room at the bank. And we can't say whether they still do or don't until we fully and openly address what's happening here. IP adddresses in Macao and China, Indian IT subcontractors, World Bank public denial of any problems whatsoever... this story has it all. Go to the link to read the whole thing if you dare. ;-)
Posted by: chris ||
10/10/2008 17:03 Comments ||
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#2
Reading slashdot it sounds like someone cracked the security to MS's implementation of active directory ( or Linux/unix version,I forget what it's called ATM), which contains even more security information. Once that is cracked, you essentially own the bank.
Thailand's political stalemate erupted into open conflict this week, but far from being the "final battle" that the government's opponents anticipated, it has left the country even more divided and further than ever from a solution.
The dim hopes of compromise that Prime Minister Somchai Wangsawat had carefully nurtured since taking office three weeks ago were abruptly snuffed out when police armed with tear gas grenades clashed Tuesday with protesters carrying sharpened sticks and iron bars, leaving at least one person dead and hundreds injured.
The protesters, from the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), were picketing parliament in an attempt to prevent Somchai from presenting his address to the opening session.
On the surface, the protest was part of the group's attempts to force Somchai, whom they accuse of corruption and cronyism, to resign. But many analysts believe the alliance's underlying hope is to create a state of violent political paralysis that will provoke the military into launching its 19th coup since the country became a democracy in 1932.
"Some PAD members would like the military to intervene," said Somchai Pakapaswiwat, a political scientist at Thammasat University. "But this is normal. When people are fighting a big power they want another big power to intervene," said Somchai, who believes any armed military intervention would be a retrograde and dangerous step.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2008 00:00 ||
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Former President Jimmy Carter said on Friday the "atrocious economic policies" of the Bush administration had caused the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Carter told reporters on a stopover in Brussels that "profligate spending," massive borrowing and dramatic tax cuts since President George W. Bush took office in 2001 were behind the market turmoil and economic crisis.
"I think it's because of the atrocious economic policies of the Bush administration," said the 84-year-old Democrat, who served in the White House from 1977-1981 during a period of high inflation and energy crisis.
Whoever wins next month's U.S. presidential election would inherit economic problems that would force them to postpone implementing some of their proposed reforms, he said.
"The economic situation is an entrenched problem. It is going to take years to correct what has been done economically," Carter said, adding he hoped Democrat Barrack Obama would win and immediately improve Washington's image in the world.
Eight years ago, the United States had a budget surplus, low inflation and a stable, strong economy, he said.
Carter said he was astonished that the United States now owed China "in the neighborhood of $1 trillion."
Deregulation and what he called a withdrawal of supervision of Wall Street had encouraged irresponsible elements in the U.S. financial system, enabling banks to borrow 30 times their value.
Carter was on his way back from a private peace mission to Cyprus with fellow elder statesmen Lakhdar Brahimi of Algeria and Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, intended to give a push to talks between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders on a settlement to reunite the divided island.
#1
Who? Mr. Malaise himself who captain the ship into double digit inflation and double digit unemployment? How's that sweater thing doing? And you missed that little part about floating paper at Fannie Mae et al for the greater dogma of socialism there Jimmmy.
#7
"Profligate spending," massive borrowing and dramatic tax cuts -- seems like most of that was approved by Congress. Of course it wouldn't have been necessary if Carter had kicked butt in Iran instead of initiating mortgages to the uncreditworthy.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/10/2008 19:13 Comments ||
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#9
I can't understand why anyone would even WANT to listen to jimmie-the-peanut-brain. He nearly destroyed the US government, had a HUGE hand in destroying a third of our military, and caused more pain and sorrow than any other president in history. And peanut-brain has the audacity to blame BUSH for what started on Carter's watch, and under his direction? Someone needs to lock this idiot inside a detention cell at a mental hospital somewhere - he's demented.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/10/2008 22:20 Comments ||
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#10
I'd add more but it seems like you've already covered the topic adequately.
#12
Don't forget that Mr. Terrorist loving Carter is responsible for a lot of the nation's woes. It was him, and his limp dick response to an overt ACT OF WAR on the part of Iran during the taking of our embassy which sowed the seeds of Al-Q and Dinnerjacket and 9/11.
He's also a Racist of the first order.
We are still trying to recover from Carter's presidency.
And Barak OBAMA is just like him -- right down to the liar's smile.
FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS April 19, 2000
LS-564
TREASURY DEPARTMENT RELEASES CRA STUDY
The U.S. Treasury Department released a report on Wednesday detailing lending to low- and moderate-income borrowers and low- and moderate-income communities covered by the Community Reinvestment Act. The study found that such lending rose significantly, totaling more than $600 billion between 1993 and 1998.
The First Lady likes to say it takes a village to raise a child, at Treasury we say it takes capital to build a village," said Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers. "This study is further evidence that a strong Community Reinvestment Act is critical to ensuring that all neighborhoods are part of our national economic prosperity."
The study focused on lending trends in 305 U.S. cities between 1993 and 1998. Highlights include: Does the name Henry Cisneros ring a bell?
- $467 billion in mortgage credit flowed from CRA-covered lenders to CRA-eligible borrowers.
- The amount of home mortgage lending to low- and moderate-income borrowers, low- and moderate-income communities rose 80% during that time. In 1998 alone, these institutions made $135 billion in mortgage loans to these borrowers.
- CRA-covered lenders and their affiliates increased mortgage lending to low- and moderate-income borrowers and communities at more than twice the rate of increase for other borrowers. The number of mortgage loans made by CRA-covered institutions and their affiliates to these borrowers and areas increased by 39 percent between 1993 and 1998, while such institutions' loans to other borrowers increased by only 17 percent.
- Subprime lending drove growth in lending to low- and moderate-income borrowers and areas for institutions not covered by CRA.
- CRA covered institutions increased their market share in prime mortgage lending to low- and moderate-income borrowers and areas. Lenders covered by the CRA primarily specialize in prime lending to borrowers without impaired credit. In this market, covered lenders and their affiliates increased their market share of lending. In 1993, such lenders accounted for 66 percent of prime mortgage loans to these borrowers and areas; by 1998, their market share had increased to 71 percent.
- In 84 percent of the metropolitan areas studied, CRA-covered lenders and their affiliates increased the share of their mortgage lending going to low- and moderate-income borrowers and areas, by as much as 12 percentage points
.
The study also found that from 1996 to 1998, the first three years these data were collected, lending by CRA-covered institutions to small businesses located in low- and moderate-income communities averaged $33 billion annually. In addition, community development lending by these institutions averaged $17 billion annually.
#3
Interesting that they don't seem to notice the skyrocketing rate of inflation in housing costs during those same years. Good thing for me I bought in 1994. I couldn't afford it now. Everybody tells me how I made a huge amount of money but it does me no good because if I sold the place to get the money out of it I'd have to turn around and sink it all into another place. It's nuts. I didn't buy it as an investment. I bought it because I needed a roof over my head. My opinion is it's a bad mistake to bail out borrowers or lenders because this market needs a serious correction.
Oil prices plummeted to a one-year low below $83 a barrel Friday in European trading as investor fears of a severe global economic downturn caused by the crisis in credit markets sparked a panicked sell-off of both crude and equities.
Light, sweet crude for November delivery was down $3.85 to $82.74 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midmorning in Europe, the lowest since October 2007. The contract fell $1.81 overnight to settle at $86.62.
...
"We haven't seen the bottom of this yet," Pervan said. "We thought $75 would be a floor but if the market mood doesn't change, $50 to $60 a barrel is not out of the question."
In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures fell 10 cents to $2.32 a gallon, while gasoline prices dropped 8.33 cents to $1.94 a gallon. Natural gas for November delivery fell 18.1 cents to $6.64 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, November Brent crude fell $4.46 to $78.20 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
Posted by: ed ||
10/10/2008 07:53 ||
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#4
Every $10 drop is $45 billion/year that stays and circulates in the US economy.
Posted by: ed ||
10/10/2008 10:00 Comments ||
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#5
Gas is down to $3.34 here. If you can find it.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
10/10/2008 12:11 Comments ||
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#6
that's the next excuse for the big refineries. Time too change over too the winter mix so gas won't go down much
Posted by: chris ||
10/10/2008 12:15 Comments ||
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#7
In 1981, at $38 a barrel, the world economy choked and went down the tubes. The inflation adjusted equivalent of $38 oil - the price at which the world economy chocked about 30 years ago - is around $70 today. My feeling is that oil could go down to $30, as excess capacity piles up.
#11
Last night the station selling for $2.82 had a large crowd buying gas, station a mile away posting $2.99 had one customer. Supply and demand strikes again.
#13
Chris, winter blend should actually be a little bit cheaper.
The gasoline price may not come down as far as crude oil (percentage) because gasoline did not keep up with the price of crude at the height (hard as that is to believe.) Refining and marketing margins were non-existent when gas was over $4 or so. NOW they're making money.
#17
Glen i was actuualy making a reference of the cost too changing the refinery over too make the fuel. but anyway, why the hell is gas still $3.89 here in GA?
Posted by: chris ||
10/10/2008 17:05 Comments ||
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#19
With the price of fuel down it will be cheaper to build, transport, and install solar and wind, improve and repair power grid. People will have more money in pocket to upgrade. McCain's plan covers that.
#21
$2.86 at Sam's Club this afternoon, just outside Richmond (Va.).
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/10/2008 18:54 Comments ||
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#22
Ever notice that when oil goes up 10 dollars a barrell the prices of gas goes up 95% overnight?
But when the price of oil goes down, the price of gas goes up 95%?
I say we load up some Q-ships with MOABs and take care of this little problem right now. A 6-element Q-ship ARCLITE mission would be able to lay waste to most of Central Manhattan, given the state of US AA it would be cheep and easy. The resulting shock would deh.... ummmm lead to ummm
Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices closed at their lowest level in a year Thursday, falling below $85 a barrel even after OPEC signaled it may try to slow crude's downward spiral by cutting production. At the pump, retail gas prices kept falling, with a gallon of regular shedding 4.4 cents overnight to a new national average of $3.403, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express.
In Oklahoma, regular gas dropped to an average of $2.987 a gallon, the first time average prices have fallen below $3 in any state since Feb. 21, said Fred Rozell, director of retail pricing at the Oil Price Information Service in Wall, N.J. "Barring some sort of major event, it looks like we'll see $3 gas as the national average in the next few weeks," Rozell said.
Light, sweet crude for November Delivery fell $1.81 to settle at $86.62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest closing price since Oct. 15, 2007. In aftermarket trading, prices edged below $85, a key technical level that traders say could signal another plunge. In London, November Brent crude fell $1.70 to settle at $82.66 on the ICE Futures exchange, after earlier falling to a one-year low of $80.40.
Crude has shed about $60 -- or 40 percent of its value -- since soaring to a record $147.27 on July 11. The massive losses come as a global financial downturn forces people and businesses everywhere to cut back. Overall demand for oil fell for a fifth straight week and year-on-year demand fell for a 24th straight week" this year, noted trader and analyst Stephen Schork in his Schork Report. "In fact last week demand ... fell to the lowest level since the week following the 9/11/2001 attacks."
Demand for gasoline was also weaker, falling 5.3 percentage points over the four weeks ended Oct. 3 compared to the same period a year earlier, according to the EIA report.
In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures fell 7.59 cents to settle at $2.4186 a gallon, while gasoline futures fell less than half a penny to $2.0273 a gallon. Natural gas for November delivery rose 8.3 cents to settle at $6.825 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/10/2008 00:00 ||
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Governments rushed out new emergency measures in a desperate bid to staunch underpin confidence on Thursday, rallying shell-shocked markets as the US treasury secretary warned more banks could go under.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
KOMMERSANT > MEDVEDEV DECLARES SOCIALISM BUILT [ in USA, i.e. Financial Socialism]. Argues Financial Socialism is just one step above self-regulated Capitalism, and that the USA = US Govt is preparing nationalize many financial/banking assets; + NATO BEEFS UP DEFENSES OF ITS FLANKS. Prelimin Dev of NATO defense plans starting first wid considertaion and review for ESTONIA, then all of East Europe next year.
Also from KOMMERSANT > MEDVEDEV DELCARES THE FIVE GUIDELINES FOR EUROPE'S RELATIONS AND SECURITY. IMO, Rusia is basically setting the base framework for OWG-NWO. i.e. Europe/EU + Russia???
#3
Oh yeah, china is doing great despite putting 10,000 only children into the hospital, diverting water from farmers to the olympics, poisoned pet food, narcotic children toys, gross coal plants powered by sketchy mining practices, etc. Think about how great china is, other than barry they are the only ones who have done a spacewalk without the need to already be in space. Oh, and their new line of military submarines will come in handy if/when the gorges dam fails.
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.
South Africa's former defense minister on Wednesday launched a scathing attack against the ruling African National Congress and suggested that hundreds of members loyal to ousted president Thabo Mbeki were on the verge of forming a breakaway party.
At the same time the Bush administration was negotiating a still elusive agreement to keep the U.S. military in Iraq, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama tried to convince Iraqi leaders in private conversations that the president shouldn't be allowed to enact the deal without congressional approval. 
NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices closed at their lowest level in a year Thursday, falling below $85 a barrel even after OPEC signaled it may try to slow crude's downward spiral by cutting production. At the pump, retail gas prices kept falling, with a gallon of regular shedding 4.4 cents overnight to a new national average of $3.403, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express.
