Some Obama for President campaign buttons made for use in Idaho were printed with the wrong Larry.
A defective campaign button offered a new take on Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's campaign slogan, "Change we can believe in."
The 3-inch button was intended to show Obama next to Larry LaRocco, the Idaho Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate. Rather than LaRocco's face, however, the button had a photo of Sen. Larry Craig, the Republican who is vacating the seat LaRocco wants to fill.
"That sounds like it's going to be a collector's item," said Dean Ferguson, LaRocco's communications director. "I'm sure Senator Obama appreciates Senator Craig's support." . . .
The Ohio-based button manufacturer, Tigereye Design, could not be reached for comment Friday. Its Web site, www.democraticstuff.com, indicates the company "is committed to helping Democrats at every level" and that it "provides the highest-quality merchandise faster than anyone else in the country."
Craig, whose views on many issues differ from Obama's, is not seeking re-election following his involvement in a gay sex sting operation at a Minnesota airport restroom.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/28/2008 12:23 ||
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Hap-py days are here again...
HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe's bank chief plans new currency reforms — removing "more zeros" from the plummeting Zimbabwe dollar and raising the limit on cash withdrawals — to tackle the country's runaway inflation and cash shortages, state media reported Sunday. Previous currency reforms have failed to tame Zimbabwe's inflation — officially pegged at 2.2 million percent a year but estimated by independent analysts to be closer to 12.5 million percent. It also has become virtually impossible to get access to cash as the country's economic collapse worsens. Hmmmmmmm...I know. Why don't ya...print more money!
Authorities last week released a new 100 billion dollar bank note. By Sunday it was not enough even to buy a scarce loaf of bread in what has become one of the world's most expensive — and impoverished — countries. Can ya break a hundred billion?
The Sunday Mail, a government mouthpiece, reported that central bank reserve governor Gideon Gono told an agricultural show Saturday he would introduce the new measures in the coming days to make sure cash shortages are a "thing of the past." That's great, Gideon. Keep up the fine work.
Zimbabwe's government says western sanctions — tightened last week — are mainly to blame. Critics blame mismanagement by President Robert Mugabe's government and a land-reform program that slashed the country's agricultural production. I blame THE MAN!
To improve liquidity on the market, Gono was going to remove "more zeros," the paper reported. "This time, we will make sure that those zeros that would come knocking on the Governor's window will not return. They are going for good," Gono was quoted as saying. So turn that frown upside down...
In 2006, the central bank slashed three zeros from the currency when inflation stood at a few hundred percent, already the highest rate in the world then. I'm starting to think that I could run the central bank of Zimbabwe.
Computers, electronic calculators and automated teller machines at banks have not been able to handle basic transactions in billions — nine zeros — or trillions — 12 zeros — or even quadrillions, with 15 zeros. A new laptop computer was advertised Sunday at 1.2 quadrillion Zimbabwe dollars. That's the equivalent of about $25,000 at the official exchange rate, $8,500 at the black market cash exchange rate, or $2,000 at a third exchange rate used in electronic money transfers through bank accounts that don't involve the physical issue of Zimbabwe dollar bank notes. Sounds like folks are saying "Screw the government. We'll work it out between ourselves".
Zimbabwe's money shortages, inflation and chronic shortages of food, gasoline, medicine and most basic goods have brought many businesses in Harare to a standstill. Smaller shops and at least four main restaurants have shut down. The state media reported Saturday that nightclubs canceling music shows because audiences dried up after a 2,000 percent increase in beer and soft drink prices in the past week. Several bars and clubs were openly accepting U.S. dollars, even though that is against the law. The Sunday Mail said Gono warned businesses against accepting hard currency. "Dollarization is not a position we have taken. We are not in that situation yet. Report all such persons to the nearest police station," Gono said. Oh. They must have the "Start Snitchin" program over there...
Shortages of local cash have worsened dramatically. Earlier this month, a German company, under pressure from the Berlin government, stopped selling bank note paper and printing software to Zimbabwe's central bank. Gono, according to the Sunday Mail, described the end of a 40-year-long contract to supply bank note paper as part of the West's "devilish" economic sanctions against Mugabe's government. The European Union last week tightened sanctions and the United States followed suit on Friday. It dat devil white man...
Central bank officials have indicated bank note paper was being sought in Asia and through neighboring South Africa. Maybe Charmin can help them out...
#4
The next guy would probably be just as bad.
The only thing that would really have a fast impact is re-colonialization. The continent of Africa has proven without a doubt that they are incapable of managing their own affairs. With a few notable exceptions of course.
(Xinhua) -- The South African government Sunday raised objections to new sanctions on Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and his cronies while negotiations are continuing to try to end the country's crisis. SA Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad suggested that sanctions were akin to external interference. "The Zimbabweans are meeting, let them sort out what they want for their future. We should not allow outside interference," Pahad told a news conference.
South African President Thabo Mbeki earlier told reporters that his government wants Zimbabwe's political rivals to speedily reach an agreement on a negotiated settlement to the country's crisis. Mbeki as chief mediator said the talks which opened on Thursday are ongoing and the South African cabinet meeting last week expressed hopes that the participants would work fast towards a conclusive deal.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/28/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Bet he had no objections to the sanctions against Botha in the 1980's.
#2
Zanu PF and the ANC have made such sterling progress since the end of white rule of law. They are finally free to murder and rape without fear of prosecution persecution. I am embarrassed that we took the lead role in dismantling, not reforming , but dismantling the govt there with the S.A. divestiture. Let them eat each other for lunch, I think we've messed around with Africa enough, it never helps, it only leads to worse and worse conditions.
Barack Obama says he was "played" and "hustled" by German tabloid daily Bild after they published a rather embarrassing unauthorized article the day after his popular speech in Berlin last week.
The Messiah got hustled? Say it ain't so!
Bild reporter Judith Bonesky's article, "Bild reporter in the gym with Obama," published on July 25, gushes with sexual innuendo over Obama's "firm rear end" and "well-trained arms," and ends with the phrase, "WHAT A MAN!" The article features a candid shot of the reporter with Obama, and both are smiling.
But Obama told New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd over the weekend that his encounter with Bonesky at the Berlin Ritz Carlton gym was a set up.
Just who I'd go to if a young Bild reporter had her eyes (and arms) on me, an over-aged, vituperative, man-hating red-head ...
"I'm just realizing what I've got to become accustomed to," he told the paper on Sunday. "The fact that I was played like that at the gym. Do you remember 'The Color of Money' with Paul Newman? And Forest Whitaker is sort of sitting there, acting like he doesn't know how to play pool. And then he hustles the hustler. She hustled us. We walk into the gym. She's already on the treadmill. She looks like just an ordinary German girl. She smiles and sort of waves, shyly, but doesn't go out of her way to say anything. As I'm walking out, she says: 'Oh, can I have a picture? I'm a big fan.' Reggie [his assistant] takes the picture."
The unauthorized article was a blow to Obama's carefully orchestrated media image. He has not allowed European journalists to travel with his campaign, and the German media has criticized the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee for denying them interviews during his stop to their country.
#6
hmmm, I guess he doesn't have the German media 'in the tank' as they say.
Posted by: Jan ||
07/28/2008 17:06 Comments ||
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#7
Kept wondering who the GOON lad was, mixing around with the Secret Service. I wonder what NIK the protective detail has given 'ultimate assistant' Reggie.
Barack Obama touched down at Chicago's Midway Airport last night at 8:20pm, Central time, 10 days and 9 nations after he departed his hometown for the Middle East. Before the candidate deplaned after the 8-hour flight from London, he popped into the staff section of his plane, which was filled with advisors and senior staffers. Press couldn't hear what Obama said to them, but in response, the team cheered and applauded.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/28/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Press couldn't hear what Obama said to them, but in response, the team cheered and applauded.
Hope the press joined in. I mean, they're on "the team" too, right?
"...a commercial plantation [of Jatropha Curcas] with an annual output of 60,000 tons, financed by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, is due to be established. A new era of diesel from the ground will start in Hainan."
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That's about 164 tons/day which is, assuming 1 ton of diesel per 3 tons of nuts and assuming 8 barrels of diesel per ton.. about 450 barrels/day equivalent. Of course public affairs announcements from the PRC probably ranks lower even than Reuters in reliability. On the other hand, this plant could be grown in poor soil with low rainfall (where food crops don't work).
#1
Just another cog in the wheel, I wish we'd take this multi-pronged approach to alternative fuels. Not just corn, but switchgrass, jatropha, et al.
The hippies are pushing hard for a base load built exclusively on solar and wind power. The dumbasses don't realize we'd have to plate the entire western plains with solar panels to do it.
#3
The dumbasses don't realize we'd have to plate the entire western plains with solar panels to do it.
That could play havoc with the breeding of the Great Western Jackalope, and that wouldn't be right at all.
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
07/28/2008 13:44 Comments ||
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#4
Stratospheric fuel prices will cause the third world to strip mine and to bulldoze rainforest. Environmentalists, by supporting high fuel prices, encourage this behavior. It's a funny world.
Posted by: Bin thinking again ||
07/28/2008 13:51 Comments ||
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#5
AlanC
well for corn you get about 400 bushels of corn for 3 acres and 3 gallons per bushel (and 1 barrel per 42 gallons) so those 3 acres get you 30 barrels.
however, that also requires fertilizer and you lose food
also, the corn we have now is many generations of productivity better than the corn grown even a century ago... the Jatropha could presumably be bred to be much more productive
#6
You don't have to plow and plant, fertilize, and rotate jatropha once it gets going either. It could turn vast tracks of barren land into productive acreage, or it could replace fragile prairies, savannas and old growth forests in the rush to make a buck or a yuan. I've got a good idea which way the chicoms will go with it.
#7
The former Indian President Abdul Kalam is a strong advocate of jatropa cultivation. He says that there are 300,000 square kilometers of wasteland in India that is suitable for Jatropa cultivation.
Posted by: john frum ||
07/28/2008 14:48 Comments ||
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#8
300,000 sq Km huh? and what are the environmental effects of a monoculture of that size (not to mention the collection and processing and refining needed)?
This goes along with the idea that we can pave the Sahra with solar cells to power europe. I think that one went about 110 sq miles per GW. BUT, that was at theoretical top efficiency with no loss to transmission degredation. I'm not sure but I think they also factored in 24hr/day use.
I'm all for energy diversity where it is effective and economically viable. Until I see a massive pro-nuclear movement I ain't buying the watermelon ideas.
#9
Biodiesel entrepreneur Louis Strydom, in trying to establish a jatropha biodiesel plantation and refinery on a massive scale in Kenya finds that while subsistence biofuel production and refining as a supplemental crop by small farmers around the world is a viable economic model, large commercial scale production is quite a different matter [8]. For one thing, the yields and multiple annual harvests of Jatropha have been exaggerated; they can only be achieved under optimum conditions of rainfall, soil quality, and applications of insecticides and fertilizers.
Posted by: john frum ||
07/28/2008 15:15 Comments ||
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#10
#3 Grenter - it's nice to see you're a Protector of the Jackalopes, too. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/28/2008 15:19 Comments ||
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One of the few things I remember from biology was the idea that "under optimum conditions" a single bacterium would generate a colony the size of the earth in a week.
Of course the lesson was that optimum conditions never exist and all extrapolations aren't straight line.
This whole goofball warmering movement seems never to have learned those lessons.
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.
Barack Obama touched down at Chicago's Midway Airport last night at 8:20pm, Central time, 10 days and 9 nations after he departed his hometown for the Middle East. Before the candidate deplaned after the 8-hour flight from London, he popped into the staff section of his plane, which was filled with advisors and senior staffers. Press couldn't hear what Obama said to them, but in response, the team cheered and applauded.
