Afghanistan's new anti-corruption chief has a shady past. Izzatullah Wasifi served nearly four years in a US prison for trying to sell heroin to an undercover agent in Las Vegas for $65,000. Have a heart: anyone can change.
It is not the ideal CV for a man appointed to root out corruption in the country that is overwhelmingly the world's biggest supplier of opium, from which heroin in refined.
Mr Wasifi's past came out after an investigation by the Associated Press, which pieced the story together from court records. They revealed that in 1987, Mr Wasifi was arrested at Caesar's Palace Hotel. Identifying himself only as Mr E, he tried to exchange a bag containing a pound and a half of heroin for $65,000 (£34,000) in cash, unaware the "customer" was a policeman. Mr Wasifi was released on parole after three years and eight months.
The government of President Hamid Karzai has refused to say whether it knew about the drugs conviction when Mr Wasifi was appointed to his post two months ago. A childhood friend of Mr Karzai, today he heads an anti-corruption office of 84 people.
Mr Wasifi has admitted he served time in a Nevada prison but claims the circumstances were different. He says he was arrested after his then-wife bought cocaine for her own use and brought it to their Las Vegas hotel room... Its like the captured car thief: I only borrowed it.
#1
It is not the ideal CV for a man appointed to root out corruption in the country that is overwhelmingly the world's biggest supplier of opium, from which heroin in refined.
Not sure I agree, he knows the business from the inside.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/10/2007 10:47 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Well, its not like he's a Congressman with a refrigerator full of cold cash. Instead of being an anti-corruption chief, he'd be the chairperson of a Congressional committee based upon seniority.
Massive corruption, nepotism and malpractice marked the allocation of costly land to set up CNG filling stations during the rule of immediate past BNP-led alliance government. The then minister for communications Nazmul Huda and state minister Salahuddin Ahmed who are now behind bars, distributed the government lands in the capital and suburbs at throwaway prices among the 'favourites' including a former state minister, a few former lawmakers, and the relatives and henchmen of BNP leaders.
Although there was a selection committee comprising representatives from the communications ministry, Dhaka City Corporation (DCC), Dhaka Wasa, Dhaka Metropolitan Police and the office of the deputy commissioner of Dhaka for scrutinising the applications for plots, the committee hardly sat for a meeting, said a committee member.
The then communications minister and his deputy played the decisive role and made the plot allocation keeping the committee members in the dark, the committee sources said. The then estate officer of DCC Fazluzzoha was on the committee but he never attended any meeting of that committee, he told The Daily Star.
When asked why he did not attend any meeting, Zoha, who is now private secretary to DCC Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka, said, "I cannot remember, probably because no meeting of that committee was held."
Influential people related to Hawa Bhaban, which many described as the 'alternative power centre', also played a leading role in the allocation of the plots and distributing them among the partymen. After getting the allotment, some of them sold the lands to others for handsome amounts. Other allottees kept the land under their possession but did not set up fuelling stations or make regular payment against the allotment. However, the allotments were not cancelled allegedly due to the allottees' links with the ruling party.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2007 01:42 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11132 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Sounds like they took some pointers from Senator Reid, (D-larceny)
The joint forces arrested Awami League (AL) Joint General Secretary Obaidul Quader, raiding another AL leader's house in the city's Khilgaon area early yesterday. In Satkhira, former Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker Gazi Nazrul Islam, who like Quader is among the 50 graft suspects listed recently by the government, surrendered to the joint forces yesterday afternoon.
Meanwhile, ex-state minister for education ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon has been sued for extortion, looting and assault. Three cases have been filed against him with the Cognisance Court in Chandpur in three days since March 6, court sources said.
In another development, members of the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) seized a Mercedes-Benz automobile of detained AL leader and former minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain from Suvastu Tower at Panthapath yesterday, sources said. Later, the luxury car was taken to Rab-2 office at Maghbazar.
Besides, the army-led crack forces arrested senior vice-president of Sramik Dal Abul Kashem Chowdhury and Bogra's Gabtoli municipal Chairman Morshed Milton in separate raids at Gulshan in the capital yesterday. Sources said Kashem is an influential trade union leader while Morshed was a close aide to Tarique Rahman, the detained senior joint secretary general of BNP.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2007 01:41 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under:
As the intelligence officials of Joint Interrogation Cell (JIC) started grilling former prime minister Khaleda Zia's son Tarique Rahman, the joint forces yesterday raided BNP chairperson's office in Hawa Bhaban and picked up the office's computer operator SM Parvez. Meanwhile, Hawa Bhaban was visited yesterday afternoon by a police team led by investigation officer (IO) of the case filed against arrested Senior Joint Secretary General of BNP Tarique Rahman in connection with extortion of Tk 1 crore.
Sources said intelligence officials grilling Tarique, who reportedly earned a large amount of money through unbridled corruption, wanted to know from him about foreign bank accounts that he holds himself or through proxy. Tarique gave some information on such accounts, the sources added. The interrogators also questioned him about lands he owns himself or through proxy. Besides, the intelligence officials wanted to know from Tarique whether he has any investment in Malaysia. The sources said investigators already started looking into the information divulged by Tarique, who had been sent to a four-day remand by a Dhaka court on Thursday in connection with the extortion case.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2007 01:40 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under:
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has once again lambasted President Bush, calling him a "symbol of domination" and saying "we are a cry of rebellion against that domination."
His comments came on Friday as both leaders press ahead with simultaneous tours of Latin America. George W. Bush arrived Thursday in Brazil for a weeklong five-nation regional tour which will also take him to Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico. Chavez met with Argentinean President Nestor Kirchner Friday in Argentina's presidential palace, where both men signed mutual accords to strengthen their economic ties. "Argentina and Venezuela are victims of the same recipe that was prescribed by the IMF and which Mr. Bush wants to bring back to our people,'' Chavez said in an interview with Argentinean television.
Observers say the two ideological rivals are touring the region at the same time in a battle to win the hearts and minds of Latin American countries and to enlist allies for their own visions for the region. Chavez already has many regional allies including the leaders of Bolivia and Ecuador.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2007 00:26 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
while at work, one of my patients was watching a spanish news channel.
On this newscast they were showing Chavez being well received by the Mexicans during his speech. They also switched over to the Brazil deal.
All this being broadcast in the United States, showing President Bush in a bad light. With the most of the folks watching this broadcast being illegals with some legal residents thrown in. I don't know how well tempered this newscast is being.
Yes, let's get them all fired up against our country now.
Posted by: Jan from work ||
03/10/2007 0:57 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I don't remember trying to do anything to dominate Vezezuela. Does anyone else? What is this Symbol of Dumbination talking about?
#3
Hell, Jan, why would you expect the Mexes to be any better than our homegrown MSM? At least the Mexes have the excuse of being criminal foreigners.
Posted by: mac ||
03/10/2007 1:40 Comments ||
Top||
#4
"I've got a bad feelin' about this" (forgive me I've been watching Star Wars reruns lol)
It's just so discouraging.
When you mix uneducated folks in our country that speak primarily spanish with this type of hype it's not going to be a good outcome.
Posted by: Jan ||
03/10/2007 2:48 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Do all these communist dictators go to the same clown to get their costumes designed?
No one has forced the world to adopt the American dollar as a standard. The market did because idiots running their own governments keep tanking their economies.
No one has forced the world to listen to or adopt American pop culture. The 'masses' have because, like millions of their neighbors who've pulled stakes and headed to the promised land, it represents vitality, opportunity, and hope that has for generations been ground out of their own culture by dictators, oligarchs, and petty bureaucrats.
If you have something to sell, you'll have buyers. That includes 'ideas' as well as oil.
#11
Oh yeah...
If we're an empire then where's Chavez's tribute money for being allowed to occupy space on our extended landmass? Huh? Oh... nice hat. Very French.
#13
Seeing how this particular bit of news is being accepted by those watching a spanish speaking channel is very worrisome.
I see our country being saturated with illegals that follow the beat of this drum. It's very scary to think that many actually agree with Chavez and his beliefs. That we Americans are to blame for their poverty, and how they deserve more.
I just foresee a very explosive end to all of this.
I hope I'm wrong but I doubt it. Pretty soon a fence won't be enough, as we're being corroded from within too.
Posted by: Jan ||
03/10/2007 13:35 Comments ||
Top||
#14
calling him a "symbol of domination"
That's really rich coming from someone who just got "Dictator by Decree" powers from his "Congress."
Posted by: BA ||
03/10/2007 15:31 Comments ||
Top||
#15
Has anyone publicly criticized this assclown for shipping Venezuela's oil abroad for a pittance to buy influence for "la revolucion" while millions are starving in his own country?
Clashes broke out in Brazil's largest city as US President Bush arrived at the start of a six-day regional tour. At least 20 people were injured in clashes with riot police in Sao Paulo after thousands turned out to protest against George W Bush's visit. The US leader is due to meet Brazil's Luis Inacio Lula da Silva to sign an ethanol energy alliance. He will also go to Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico on a tour aimed at strengthening regional ties.
In Sao Paulo, about 10,000 people spilled out along one of the city's broadest avenues, in the heart of the financial district, banging drums, waving red flags and carrying banners reading "Bush Go Home". Although largely peaceful, clashes flared between some of the protesters and police.
Demonstrators threw rocks and sticks at some of the 4,000 police patrolling the streets. Riot police responded by firing tear gas and lashing out with their batons. Sixteen police officers were reported to be among those injured.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2007 00:23 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11132 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
As an American, I wish to tell the people of Latin America that I could hardly care less how many Communist-inspired anti-Bush rallies you manage to organize.
You're just another symptom of an insane world to me.
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Yearlong talks on the future status of Kosovo ended in deadlock on Saturday, reflecting bitter divisions between Serbia's government and the disputed province's pro-independence ethnic Albanian leadership.
Serbia has rejected a U.N.-mediated proposal aimed at settling the final major dispute remaining after Yugoslavia's bloody 1990s breakup. Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has argued the plan, which has the support of the ethnic Albanian leaders, will lead Kosovo to eventual independence. "Snatching Kosovo from Serbia would represent the most dangerous precedent in the history of the U.N.," Kostunica said at the private talks, according to remarks distributed to reporters.
But Kosovo's president, Fatmir Sejdiu, made it clear that ethnic Albanians saw eventual independence as the only acceptable eventual outcome. "Independence is the alpha and omega - the beginning and end of our position," he said.
The U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari said later the negotiations ended in deadlock. "I regret to say that at the end of the day, there was no will on the part of the parties to move away from their positions," Ahtisaari said. "The parties' respective statements on Kosovo's status do not include any common ground."
Ahtisaari confirmed he would deliver the contentious package to the U.N. Security Council, which will have the final say on Kosovo's status, by the end of the month. There was no point in extending the negotiations, he said, because the disagreement between the rival sides was so broad on the central question of whether Kosovo should remain part of Serbian territory or be given internationally supervised statehood under the U.N. roadmap. "I wish you could have heard the debate" over the past few weeks, an exasperated Ahtisaari told reporters at Vienna's former imperial Hofburg Palace.
The plan envisages that Kosovo - which has been a U.N. protectorate since the end of a 1998-99 war between ethnic Albanian separatists and Serb forces - be granted the trappings of independence, including its own constitution, army, national anthem and flag. In exchange, it would give the dwindling Serbian minority broad rights in running their daily affairs and preserving their culture in the province.
Ahtisaari's deputy, Albert Rohan, conceded that both sides were unhappy: Serbia sees the proposal as a breech of international law, and Kosovo's ethnic Albanians had pressed for full independence. "Neither side is enthusiastic," he said.
The Albanians don't want 'trappings', they want the real deal. The Serbs don't want minority rights, they want their traditional status as overlords. Go figure why the talks are 'deadlocked'.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/10/2007 10:19 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11132 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Divide it down the middle by force. Move the Albanians to the Albanian side, the Serbs to the Serbian side, by force if necessary. Let idiots know that if they can't make a decision by themselves, one will be imposed upon them. If any fighting breaks out, crush both sides equally.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/10/2007 13:25 Comments ||
Top||
President Jacques Chirac is expected to announce Sunday that he will retire after more than 40 years in French politics. The 74 year-old leader is to reveal in an address to the nation on radio and television whether he will stand in the presidential election to be held in six weeks, AFP reported. The content of his declaration has been kept secret by the Elysee palace, but the near universal consensus is that he will explain why he has decided not to seek an unprecedented third mandate.
With official nominations for the race due by next Friday, Chirac has kept open till the last moment the option of running again despite polls that show he would have no chance of winning. Chirac's announcement is expected to unleash a flood of tributes from politicians and the public. While misgivings remain about his legacy after 12 years as president, he commands widespread affection, and even political opponents praise his defense of French interests in the world. Chirac also led international opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Chirac began his political career in 1962 as an advisor to prime minister Georges Pompidou, and had his first cabinet post in 1967. He served twice as prime minister, 18 years as mayor of Paris and two consecutive mandates as president.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2007 00:40 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11130 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
A flood of tributes!?! Not from anyone with any sense! Chiraq is a gutless, corrupt Frog bastard who deserves to be lined up against a wall and shot for his treason to his own country, much less the rest of the West. It's been against tough competition but I think he's done more to send France down the toilet than any living man. I hope that once he is no longer shielded by the Presidency that the Frogs prosecute him for malfeasance in office and that he spends the rest of his life in prison doing hard time.
Posted by: mac ||
03/10/2007 1:30 Comments ||
Top||
#2
#1: "I hope that once he is no longer shielded by the Presidency that the Frogs prosecute him for malfeasance in office:
I suspect he has a pre-retirement get-outta-jail-free agreement from all and sundry - hence his willingness to retire. :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/10/2007 1:45 Comments ||
Top||
Saints preserve us, I pray this bastard cheese dick irritating POS doesn't pull a Cindy Sheehan on us and keep popping up like a rat out of a frog hole Jacques le la Boîte. RD
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2007 01:10 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11130 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Robichaud, a contributor to the Heralds Monday political briefing, said she would not yet identify the other members. The groups website goes live Monday.
Robichaud says she hasnt decided who shell back for president, and said the group is not carrying water for any of Romneys GOP rivals.
Writes for the Globe, won't name more than one member, sole pupose is to trash Romney but they don't support any thing or anyone. Gosh. I'm not a Romney fan, but this just sounds so moveon.orgish.
#3
Romney didn't set them up for a good job at a good wage in his administration. This is their form of payback.
Check the website in two weeks to see how many hits it gets. My bet is double digits. Maybe.
Voters are lining up behind Rudolph Giuliani, who became "America's mayor" on Sept 11, 2001. But many New Yorkers remember the mayor before that day with less affection.
New Yorkers may have enjoyed Giuliani's success at taming the untamed city but are quick to recall the combative mayor who insulted constituents, bullied opponents and made crossing the street in the middle of the block a punishable offense. That's not to mention his multiple marriages, a divorce so acrimonious a judge ordered Giuliani's mistress out of the mayor's mansion and a son so estranged he plans to play golf instead of campaign for his father.
Nevertheless, as he builds on the reputation earned guiding New York after the World Trade Center attack, polls show the moderate Republican leading in the race for the party's nomination for the U.S. presidential election in 2008.
New Yorkers familiar with Giuliani's brash style and hot temper wonder how those traits will play on the national stage. Giuliani is focusing on issues of national security and strong leadership as he woos voters across the country. "He was mean-spirited, he was harsh, but I'm not sure that hurts him on the Republican national stage," said former city councilman Stephen DiBrienza, a Democrat who calls Giuliani the "most divisive elected official in modern history."
"One can only hope that the arrogance of power he "One can only hope that the arrogance of power he displayed and the abuse of process his administration often engaged in will not be mistaken for leadership," said DiBrienza, who now lectures on government at Baruch College in New York.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2007 01:07 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11129 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
a Democrat who calls Giuliani the "most divisive elected official in modern history."
Ha! did you forget about Bill and his harpy?
#2
I'm originally from NYC. I remember Rudy's early years; he'd done some tricky things as a prosecutor, though nothing you've haven't seen on L&O.
He made lots of enemies as mayor, but a NYC mayor who makes no enemies isn't doing anything at all. In fact, the mayors who try to please everyone are worse than useless; see Dinkins for a perfect example.
About the jaywalkers, bite me. That was designed to stop harassment from the “squeegee men” who would extort money from drivers.
Frankly, we need a President with a mean streak.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
03/10/2007 7:59 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Add in Condi Rice's experience with Defense & National Security and I think we could have a winner.
#4
"He was mean-spirited, he was harsh, but I'm not sure that hurts him on the Republican national stage,"
Unlike, say, Hillary Clinton, who is known for her sweet disposition and willingness to compromise.
said former city councilman Stephen DiBrienza, a Democrat who calls Giuliani the "most divisive elected official in modern history."
Anyone else take this as code for "if you think we've treated Bush poorly, just wait until you elect Giuliani"?
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
03/10/2007 9:14 Comments ||
Top||
#5
As a former New Yorker, I can understand why the Dems are worried.
During his re-election campaign, a liberal Democrat was asked why she was supporting Giuliani instead of her own party. She answered:
"He may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch"
Expect Rudy to take lots of voters away from the Dems.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
03/10/2007 12:23 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Before Rudy the streets of NYC were like those of Mogadishu, there was nothing anyone could do -- at least that's what they said. The previous mayor, Dinkins was an enabler who looked at the chaos and pronounced it a "magnificent mosaic" -- as if giving it a pretty name would help. Then came Rudy: he had all those bad things: "combative," "hot temper," "arrogance," "abuse of process," blah blah blah -- and he beat the mob, the dems, the thugs and the machine. Then he beat cancer. Watch out America, if we're not careful, we may wind up w/a real president again.
Posted by: regular joe ||
03/10/2007 13:24 Comments ||
Top||
#7
"if you think we've treated Bush poorly, just wait until you elect Giuliani"?
RC, and like Bush, I'd bet Rudy even more so could just say "bring it on!"
Posted by: BA ||
03/10/2007 15:36 Comments ||
Top||
#8
former city councilman Stephen DiBrienza
yeah, I bet Rudy's really concerned with getting this guy's support.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/10/2007 15:46 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Even before 9/11 Giuliani was a hero to New Yorkers like myself for taking a stand for law and order, rejuvenating the economy by trimming gov't expenditures and taxes, playing hardball in negotiations with the almighty unions, and denying racists like Al Sharpton and Sonny Carson political power by not kowtowing to them or meeting with them.
Believe me, we could do a LOT worse than having someone like Rudy as president.
#10
We know the donks hate Rudy because they are scared shitless. The press also hates him because they have no sway with him. My only problem is not with Rudy, but with the situation. We need Rudy to come to us with a fig leaf, as it were. Instead, as this is playing out, he may win by a landslide withour even spelling out a 'contract with real Americans', like closing the borders, war on terror, war against Islam, fix the broken judiciary, no new taxes, death for treason, fight to win ROE, domestic drilling, etc.
Outside the blinding glare of Hillarobama, John Edwards has been quietly building his campaign organization in the early primary and caucus states and amassing a bankroll to remain competitive in the crush of contests early next year.
He is in Iowa again this weekend on his 19th trip to the state since early 2005, far more than any of his Democratic rivals. He is investing heavily here in the belief that a victory in the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 14, 2008, could make him unstoppable in the dozen or more contests from coast to coast that will quickly follow. The unspoken corollary is that a loss here could spell the end of his try for the White House. Iowa is important for everybodys prospects, Mr. Edwards said Friday in an interview between appearances in Council Bluffs and Sioux City. It is critical for us.
Although he has been on the road almost continuously since announcing his candidacy at the end of December, Mr. Edwards, the Democrats vice-presidential nominee in 2004, is not getting nearly the public and news media attention of the two stars in the party, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois. That is both a blessing and a curse.
He does not have to deal with scores of reporters at every event and front-page articles detailing his personal finances or his political feuds with rivals. He can skip from town to town in his chartered jet, picking up checks from donors and meeting intimately with small groups of voters. But his current lack of national attention also carries a price: he is in third place in most national polls, his appearances on the evening news are far between and he has to battle for standing in what now appears to some to be a two-person race. Im keeping my head down and doing my work, he said in response to a reporters question after an appearance before about 250 people at a center for the elderly in Council Bluffs. In the later interview he added: This is a long campaign, and there will be ups and downs in the attention everyone gets. My plan is to focus on substance and whatever else needs to be done, including fund-raising.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2007 01:03 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I suppose it's to much to dream that both Edwards and Hillary flop really big in Iowa.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/10/2007 11:07 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Edwards is a loud-mouthed, lawyerly piece of nothing. He couldn't win dogcatcher in Boone City. I hope his hopes are crushed more completely than the first grapes of the wine harvest.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/10/2007 13:32 Comments ||
Top||
#3
I hope Edwards wins the Democratic nomination for president. "Slick" would be easier to beat than a pinata in a general election.
An admission of marital infidelity will not keep former House Speaker Newt Gingrich from being Liberty Universitys graduation speaker in May - or from earning the backing of the Rev. Jerry Falwell, should he be the Republican candidate for president.
This commencement address on May 19 is only an invitation, not an endorsement, Falwell, LUs chancellor, said on Friday. But he does have my confidence and Ive fully accepted his open confession of sin. If he is the candidate against Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, hell have my vote. I suppose if he's the candidate running against Hillary or Obama he'll get my vote, too. But I doubt if he will be. He's too easily caricatured. Nor would I consider a Jerry Falwell endorsement as a plus. I'll stick with Giuliani or Condi, thank you.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2007 00:49 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11134 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
He's lucky whoever running against Hillary isn't a pedophile or he'd have to suck that up, too!
#3
Second the opinion, this "Endorsement"
seems like the "Kiss of Death"
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/10/2007 10:59 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Now if he can also get Jesse Jackson and the "Reverend Ike" on board, he's doomed for sure.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/10/2007 11:01 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Mr. Gingrich did some good things when he was in office, but he's been out of politics for quite a while it seems. Who was it that's proud of being in first place of the second tier of Democratic candidates? Mr. Gingrich might get that high.
#6
Newt Gingrich is a brilliant man. There will always be a place for him in conservative politics, but it will more likely be as an originator of ideas and policy suggestions.
Coal-fired power plants are bad, because the contribute to global warming. No alternative is offered, except conservation and "green, renewable source." Wossamatter with nuclear?
From the top of a new coal-fired power plant with its 550-foot exhaust stack poking up from the flat western Iowa landscape, MidAmerican Energy Holdings chief executive David L. Sokol peered down at a train looping around a sizable mound of coal. At this bend in the Missouri River, with Omaha visible in the distance, the new MidAmerican plant is the leading edge of what many people are calling the "coal rush." Due to start up this spring, it will probably be the next coal-fired generating station to come online in the United States. A dozen more are under construction, and about 40 others are likely to start up within five years -- the biggest wave of coal plant construction since the 1970s.
The coal rush in America's heartland is on a collision course with Congress. While lawmakers are drawing up ways to cap and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, the Energy Department says as many as 150 new coal-fired plants could be built by 2030, adding volumes to the nation's emissions of carbon dioxide, the most prevalent of half a dozen greenhouse gases scientists blame for global warming.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/10/2007 13:27 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11131 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The solution is real simple. Every time you need to reduce CO2 emissions by 1%, you go and destroy all the electrical devices in a few thousand homes.
#2
Instead of looking at CO2 as waste, it should be used in water tanks full of algae that can readily be converted to biodiesel and ethanol. A power plant like this would significantly improve its bottom line by producing hundreds of tons of such algae, harvested like any other crop.
And producing biodiesel at a much lower cost than by using more complex plant crops.
#4
Anybody else notice the lie slipped in?
Quote,
emissions of carbon dioxide, the most prevalent of half a dozen greenhouse gases scientists blame for global warming.
no dammit, water vapor is the most prevalent, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it. Short of loony plans to dry up the Oceans.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/10/2007 17:54 Comments ||
Top||
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.
Massive corruption, nepotism and malpractice marked the allocation of costly land to set up CNG filling stations during the rule of immediate past BNP-led alliance government. The then minister for communications Nazmul Huda and state minister Salahuddin Ahmed who are now behind bars, distributed the government lands in the capital and suburbs at throwaway prices among the 'favourites' including a former state minister, a few former lawmakers, and the relatives and henchmen of BNP leaders. 
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has once again lambasted President Bush, calling him a "symbol of domination" and saying "we are a cry of rebellion against that domination." 
President Jacques Chirac is expected to announce Sunday that he will retire after more than 40 years in French politics. The 74 year-old leader is to reveal in an address to the nation on radio and television whether he will stand in the presidential election to be held in six weeks, AFP reported. The content of his declaration has been kept secret by the Elysee palace, but the near universal consensus is that he will explain why he has decided not to seek an unprecedented third mandate. 
Voters are lining up behind Rudolph Giuliani, who became "America's mayor" on Sept 11, 2001. But many New Yorkers remember the mayor before that day with less affection. 
Outside the blinding glare of Hillarobama, John Edwards has been quietly building his campaign organization in the early primary and caucus states and amassing a bankroll to remain competitive in the crush of contests early next year. 
