Renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement
Opposing the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement
Talking Openly About Bombing Pakistan
Sitting Down with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Pushing the Patriot Employer Act
Promoting Coal-to-Liquid Fuels
Eliminating Income Taxes for Seniors Making Under $50,000
Taxing Oil Companies Extra
Opening the Strategic Petroleum Reserve
#2
cause we got lots of coal, and you cant put coal in your car. And in theory, liquid coal is easier to clean up then the solid variety, IIUC. Still issues with CO2 though.
#5
CTL: Obamas energy policy has much to commend it. But borrowing an idea from World War II Germany and apartheid South Africa? Bad move. Coal-to-liquid fuels produce nearly twice the greenhouse gases of ordinary petroleum, experts say, and its foolish to subsidize an industry that easily could go under if oil prices fall. Under withering fire from environmentalists, the Obama camp clarified his position in June 2007 as, [U]nless and until this technology is perfected, Senator Obama will not support the development of any coal-to-liquid fuels unless they emit at least 20% less life-cycle carbon than conventional fuels. Its since been dropped from campaign materials.
Ooh the CO2 bogeyman. Boo! Better to freeze or enrich muslim and post commie thugs.
Senator Obama will not support the development of any coal-to-liquid fuels unless they emit at least 20% less life-cycle carbon than conventional fuels.
I.e. Obama would rather enrich muslim and commie thugs
its foolish to subsidize an industry that easily could go under if oil prices fall.
The idea is to cause oil prices to fall. Small differences in oil supply cause large differences in price. A few million barrels go a long way to relieving the financial pressure every oil consumer on the planet. In case this author hasn't noticed, most of the world's oil suppliers, whom we are lavishly funding, are our enemies, some that we are at war with.
A rational energy policy would set a stable oil price floor that would allow CTL (or any other large scale method) to be profitable, say $50/barrel. In the med/long term, that also has the effect of setting a price ceiling on oil that is below the CTL price. Not the $100-150/barrel that we have been paying recently to people who us broken, enslaved or dead.
Posted by: ed ||
09/02/2008 16:20 Comments ||
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#6
Mandatory volunteer service for the children(tm) youth of America.
1 - nice repeal of the 13th Amendment
2 - only effects non-voters
3 - lets those adult voters who've never done 'mandatory volunteer' service in their lives off the hook [if its good enough for the kiddies, why not the adults?]
Posted by: European Conservative ||
09/02/2008 16:38 Comments ||
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#9
If you're gonna do mandatory service perhaps they could find baby boomers who dodged the draft during Vietnam and force them to work at old folks homes and stuff because they are gonna be filling up and overwhelming the system soon enough.
#13
Renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement
Opposing the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement
Talking Openly About Bombing Pakistan
Sitting Down with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Pushing the Patriot Employer Act
Promoting Coal-to-Liquid Fuels
Eliminating Income Taxes for Seniors Making Under $50,000
Taxing Oil Companies Extra
Opening the Strategic Petroleum Reserve September Campaign fund raiser in Geneva Switzerland.
#14
I dunno, but Mandatory Service as a Community Organizer seems to be pretty lucrative, with no real progress or milestones-met required, and you meet the most interesting people...at least in Chicago
sounds pretty sweet
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/02/2008 20:02 Comments ||
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#15
Frank: If I sign up, must I agree to attend Trinity United Church?
There's a whole website dedicated to Sarah Palin memes. It seems destined to replace the "Chuck Norris" memes, methinks.
Here's a few:
Sarah Palin is the reason compasses point North.
Sarah Palins enemies are automatically added to the Endangered Species List.
Death once had a near-Sarah Palin experience.
Sarah Palin can win a game of Connect Four in only three moves!
Sarah Palin begins every day with a moment of silence for the political enemies buried in her yard.
Sarah Palin always beats the point spread.
Sarah Palin once bit the head off a live Osprey snatched from the air as it tried to fly off with a fish she caught.
Sarah Palin uses French Canadians as bait to catch giant king salmon.
When Sarah Palin booked a flight to Europe, the French immediately surrendered.
Sarah Palins finishing move in the VP debate will be pulling Bidens still beating heart from his chest & taking a bite.
Sarah Palin once won a competitive eating contest by devouring three live caribou.
Sarah Palin drives a Zamboni to work.
Here's my contribution to the cause:
* Chuck Norris is afraid of Sarah Palin.
* Sarah Palin didn't watch Northern Exposure--she invented it.
* Sarah Palin invented Baked Alaska--in her Hasbro Easy Bake Oven--when she was five years old.
Add your own in the comments.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/02/2008 19:14 ||
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#1
HMMMMM, HMMMMM, I could say some things that may force TOM CRUISE = MADONNA'S "MAVERICK"/AGENT IAN HUNTER to have to kill me afterwards, but won't for now.
#2
The reason all the left wing blogs have gone crazy(worse than usual) is in their haste to find dirt on her they DID find the nude photos. However viewing them without the proper precautions has driven them insane!
Posted by: bruce ||
09/02/2008 19:51 Comments ||
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#3
If McCain and Palin gain traction, look for Obama to throw Biden under the bus.
Posted by: Big Ebbaling6954 ||
09/02/2008 21:01 Comments ||
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#4
no traction on implants, they'll tear right out
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/02/2008 21:13 Comments ||
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#5
Global Warming doesnt kill polar bears. Sarah Palin does - usually with her bare hands.
The Northern Lights are really just the reflection from Sarah Palins eyes.
Sarah Palin fishes salmon by convincing them its in their interest to jump into the boat.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/02/2008 21:24 Comments ||
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Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential hopeful and running mate of John McCain, has revealed that her 17-year-old unmarried daughter is five-months pregnant.
Palin, governor of Alaska and a staunch opponent of abortion, said that her daughter, Bristol, would keep the child and marry the father. "We're proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents,'' Sarah and her husband, Todd Palin, said in a statement on Monday.
The news comes as the Republican National Convention is to open in St Paul, Minnesota.
"Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realise very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family," the statement added.
Steve Schmidt, a spokesman for McCain, said the Arizona senator considered the issue to be "a private family matter". "As parents [the Palins] love their daughter unconditionally and are going to support their daughter. Life happens," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Time magazine has an interesting article on the reaction in Alaska to this story, referenced yesterday by both lotp and Frank G. The key sentence, the second sentence of the second paragraph on page two (coincidence can be so elegant, sometimes) reads as follows:
Sarah Palin is a longterm member of a group called Feminists for Life, which is not opposed to birth control.
Now can we please move on to more edifying issues? Yes, O Visitor from Europe, Canada or the Democratic side of the blogosphere, this does mean you.
#3
Thanks AzCat. I didn't see it then. Beldar makes a great point. Palins sound like a very tight family.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/02/2008 0:40 Comments ||
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#4
You can teach your children and set an example in your lives. Many times the lessons stick, and sometimes they don't. So you work through it and you move on. This has been going on for thousands of years.
Now it is time to move on to Germain issues, like energy, security, the economy, fiscal responsibility, and the gross corruption of Congress.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/02/2008 1:54 Comments ||
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http://www.ontheissues.org/Sarah_Palin.htm
Sarah Palin on Foreign Policy
-No issue stance yet recorded by OnTheIssues.org.
Sarah Palin on Immigration
-No issue stance yet recorded by OnTheIssues.org.
I have no problem believing that Sarah Palin is as qualified to make foreign policy as anyone. I just have absolutely no idea what sort of foreign policy she'd be making. Do you?
Is she sympathetic or opposed to Russia? What does she think about the Iraq war? What's her stance on Darfur? On China? On NATO expansion?
#7
nobody CARES if you have or don't have a problem, you Greek geek.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/02/2008 6:51 Comments ||
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#8
Frank, I don't care that you don't care, haven't you figured it out yet?
You've made your point as much as it's in your capacity to make it, Frank. You've never been genuinely interested in politics anyway, nor have you ever been able to offer a rebuttal above the kindergarten level. So don't tire yourself out, it's futile.
#9
I also don't troll websites that have clearly, repeatedly, and pointedly said: "get out". You are unwanted here, yet you don't have the class or intelligence to stay away. Loser
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/02/2008 7:20 Comments ||
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#10
And the Lord spake, saying, "First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin, then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it." Amen.
#11
"You are unwanted here, yet you don't have the class or intelligence to stay away."
Indeed. But my lack of class is likewise less interesting to me than Palin's lack of stated foreign policy views.
Since nobody brought up the point, I therefore had to ask. And I had to ask in a Republican forum, because it's here where people will actually be interested in defending her. Not much point in making such a question in DailyKos or MyDD.
#12
The Dems are going to dig up anything they can find to tar Sarah Palin.
They are scared to death of her.
Seems to be a normal middle America story. High School sweethearts.....pregnancy.....early marriage.
The only question is how well the hockey playing dad will respond to the media and the noteriety of being married to the VEEP's daughter.
I think McCain can start getting fitted for his inaugural ball tux myself.
Posted by: James Carville ||
09/02/2008 9:26 Comments ||
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#13
I'm sure it would never happen but I would love to see the Palin & Johnston parents give their kids the following advice.
"Kids, what you do is absolutely no one else's business. SO if any reporter or pol. asks you anything at all, feel free to answer in the most satirical, whimsical, insulting fashion you can."
"Ask one of them if they can explain how this pregnancy thing happens since you were nowhere near a cabbage patch and there hasn't been a stork seen in years."
Quick teenage snark and put-downs that's the ticket.
#14
During my senior year in high school the girls were dropping like flies. Some of them were the most prim and proper. In those days they were expelled from school for being pregnant. One girl went around in a trench coat trying to hide her belly so she could stay in school but they finally found out and then she was gone. Really sad.
Nowadays there are some schools that provide day care for the babies of high school students so I guess we've made some advances. Not that we should encourage that kind of thing but life does happen.
#17
A lot of districts in California have one school that Pregnant or new mothers end up being transfered too. This makes sense on a number of levels because you don't promote the pregnancy deal and the bulk of schools don't have to deal with the special needs.
#2
Was flipping channels between the national news last night. They seemed so...disappointed.
Of course they are Tu. Levees holding doesn't generate ratings. The MSM wants us too scared to do anything other than sit infront of their "information machine" and lap up every word like kittens lapping up milk.
#3
So I guess since everything worked out so well, Bush will be getting all kinds of praise heaped on him on tonight's news, right?
Right? Hello? Anybody there?
#4
There wasn't even an eye by the time the storm got here. I want a refund.
Posted by: Phil ||
09/02/2008 14:28 Comments ||
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#5
So why did New Orleans and Louisiana waste all that time and money evacuating everybody. If they had waited a day or two, they would have known that the storm would actually no big deal. Idiots. Of course, its because they have a Rethuglican governor who just wanted to show what a big man he was.
/moonbat rant
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
09/02/2008 14:56 Comments ||
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Rescue teams in northern India are struggling to provide sufficient aid to hundreds of thousands of people affected by flooding, with survivors overwhelming hospitals.
The Indian military said on Monday that it is sending thousands of extra troops, as well as helicopters and rescue boats, in an effort to provide relief to more than half a million stranded people.
Tens of thousands of survivors are sheltering in overcrowded relief camps, more than 12 days after the Kosi river breached flood defences. At least 80 people have died in the flooding, officials in Patna, capital of Bihar state, have said, but the toll is expected to be considerably higher.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2008 00:00 ||
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Mauritania's junta in power since an August 6 coup d'etat announced on Monday the "formation of a government," state television reported. A statement issued by the presidency of the state council said a 22-minister government headed by Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf had been formed, with effect from Sunday. Most of the ministers were backers of the coup, whether affiliated with political parties or independents.
At least three of the ministers belonged to the Union of Democratic Forces (RFD), the second party in the national assembly, headed by Ahmed Ould Daddah. But the party immediately issued a statement saying they should be considered as having "automatically resigned."
The RFD said on August 25 it would not take part in the next government as no guarantees had been given on the length of a transition period and the ineligibility of a member of the armed forces to stand as president.
The foreign minister's portfolio went to Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou, a former professor of political science at Harvard University in the United States. The ministers of defense and justice, Mohammed Mahmoud Ould Mohamed Lemine and Ahmedou Tidjane Bal, kept their portfolios.
After ousting Mauritania's first democratically-elected president, the junta leader, General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, formed a state council comprised of 11 military officials and promised to hold elections quickly. While the coup has been almost universally condemned by the international community, two-thirds of Mauritania's deputies and senators have supported it.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2008 00:00 ||
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Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Monday accused corrupt officials of looting the country's oil wealth and said its 5 million people should be given the money directly. He's only been in power since something like 1969, so he can be forgiven for not thinking of that before.
Gaddafi urged a sweeping reform of government bureaucracy, saying most of the cabinet system should be dismantled to free Libyans from red tape and protect the state budget from corruption. "Body guardettes!"
"Yes, master!"
"Kill all the cabinet members!"
"Yes, master!"
[CRUNCH! SNAP! THUMP!]
"Aaaaaiiiieeee!"
"You have to be ready, each Libyan will get directly his share of the oil money," Gaddafi told a gathering of his supporters including ministers, top military and police officers and members of the General People's Congress, the country's top executive and legislative body. "You're gonna be rich! And you owe it all to me!"
"Why didn't you think of that in 1969?"
"Body guardettes!"
"Yes, master! [CRUNCH!]"
"Aaaaiiiieeee!"
"The implementation will start at the beginning of next year," he said, for the first time giving a date for the direct sharing of oil wealth. Gaddafi was speaking on the 39th anniversary of the army coup that brought him to power. "Yay! Hurrah! Thank youse, sirrah! Long live the revolution!"
Tripoli's government wants to raise oil output to three million barrels per day by about 2012, from 1.6 million now. "Oil people!"
"Yes, master!"
"Increase production!"
"Yes, master!"
Many Libyans say they have not benefited from rising oil revenues and foreign investment after Libya in 2003 abandoned prohibited weapons program and ended its international isolation. "Corruption is linked to bureaucracy everywhere in the world. The solution to ending corruption is to end this administration which manages money spending, and put the money directly in people' hands," Gaddafi said in the speech, broadcast live on Libyan television.
Gaddafi named justice, defense, interior and foreign ministries as the only ministries which would be spared the purge of bureaucracy. "Corruption and theft of public money will remain if bureaucracy remains," he said, giving the example of state bank officials who had stolen millions in public funds and complaints by Libyans of corruption, mismanagement and nepotism.
Gaddafi said Libyans should not fear the consequences of changes which, he said, would encourage them to create a private sector that would make them healthier, richer and freer.
He said Libyans should decide for themselves how to spend the oil money, such as on better education for their children, healthcare and the freer import of goods to counter monopolies and fight price increases.
He warned that direct sharing of oil money and the dismantling of bureaucracy would unleash "chaos in the first stage", but added: "Libyans, with oil money directly in their hands and bureaucracy dismantled, will set up a genuine popular administration and form a society of the masses ruled by a genuine direct democracy."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2008 00:00 ||
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The solution to ending corruption is to end this administration which manages money spending, and put the money directly in people' hands," Gaddafi said in the speech, broadcast live on Libyan television.
Perhaps Khaddafy could be persuaded to run for US congress?
Posted by: ed ||
09/02/2008 1:29 Comments ||
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#2
Libya produces the best light sweet crude in the world for the costs of 1 dollar a barrel (they say).
Guess why Italy agreed to compensations for WW2?
If oil prices remain that high Libya is facing a bounty and Qadaffy may finally convince newspaper editors to settle the way his name is spelled.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
09/02/2008 1:38 Comments ||
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#3
Quackdaffy is probably worried about holding onto power.
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi said his regime's long estrangement from the US was finally over as he marked the 39th anniversary Monday of his overthrow of the Western-backed monarchy. "The whole business of the conflict between Libya and the United States has been closed once and for all," Gadhafi said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2008 00:00 ||
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Not to worry. As long as they have Moammar and his sprocket-laden sartorial splendor, there will be strangement in Libya.
#5
If Ghadafy's repentence is sincere, and it appears so (he's paying victims, turned over his nuclear program), then let's do something useful with him. There's no use dwelling on the past, this is the 21st century.
#6
Funny you mentioned the USMC since they weren't involved in the Libya bombing but their anthem does mention the Shores of Tripoli and I have to imagine Moammer probably wets himself during that part.
#7
Next thing you know he's gonna convert to Christianity. When he goes to the Vatican and kisses the Pope's ring we'll know he's sincere because the crazies would kill him for it if he did.
A humanitarian plane went missing during a storm in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday, U.N. humanitarian coordinator OCHA said.
"We have a missing plane. We don't know if it's landed or crashed," Christophe Illemassene, spokesman in Congo for the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told Reuters. "We don't have the manifest so we don't really know how many people were on board," he said.
The plane was on its way from the city of Kisangani to the town of Bukavu, on Congo's eastern border with Rwanda, when it lost contact with ground control. "The last contact that we had was as they were approaching Bukavu ... Apparently the weather was pretty nasty in Bukavu," Illemassene said.
He said the 19-seat Beechcraft was operated by Air Serv International, a not-for-profit organization which provides air transport services to humanitarian operations around the world. "We know it didn't land at any other airport in the area," he said. "There is not really much we can do right now. There will be a search at dawn."
Air Serv is one of several entities and private contractors which service Congo's large community of humanitarian workers. Most humanitarian organizations operating in the country restrict travel by their personnel on commercial flights in Congo due to local airlines' abysmal safety record and frequent crashes.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2008 00:00 ||
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Little Airplane, Big storm Bad JuJu.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/02/2008 11:23 Comments ||
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#2
You mean, we weren't supposed to eat the pilot?
KAMPALA, Uganda -- Meet Denis Ruharo, an entrepreneur with a master's degree, a man who carries a BlackBerry and two Nokia cellphones, buys organic greens at a grocery store and sometimes does business over a cold Nile beer at a club called Silk.
"I have the mortgage and home improvement," he said, glancing at the budget he and his wife keep on their computer. "The car, carwash and parking tickets. Entertainment -- cable TV, two movies a month. The health club. Then normally we vacation twice a year. Last time it was Nairobi."
"What else," he said, scrolling down on his Mac PowerBook. "Newspapers, charity, clothes, books and CDs . . . "
In a region more often associated with grinding poverty, Ruharo is part of a modestly growing segment of sub-Saharan Africa -- upwardly mobile, low- to middle-income consumers.
The group includes working Africans who make as little as $200 a month, a paltry sum by Western standards, yet hardly the $1 or so a day in earnings that describe life for about half the continent's population. Perhaps a third of all Africans, or 300 million people, fall into a middle category -- people struggling to put their kids through school and pay rent, but able to buy a cellphone or DVD once in a while.
Their buying power is evident around Kampala, a green and hilly city where iron-sheet homes are interspersed with high-rise condos, streets are crowded with bikes and Japanese sedans, and the city's newest mall, Oasis, is under construction. It will be anchored by what amounts to sub-Saharan Africa's first Target-style superstore chain, Nakumatt, which sells corn flour, aromatherapy bath salts and nearly everything else. The company is opening two other superstores here, plus two in Rwanda, three in Tanzania and 11 in Kenya, where it began as a trading firm in the 1960s. "It's psychological -- people want upward movement," said Thiagarajan Ramamurthy, Nakumatt's operations director. "The appetite is increasing -- the 14-inch TV became a 21-inch. The 21 became a 29 and the 29 became plasma. It's an aspiration."
Uganda has therefore become approximately what it was prior to Idi Amin, only updated to the 21st century. Good for them. Probably 20 years after Bob is dead and gone -- assuming he doesn't haunt the place -- Zim can return to some semblance of what it was before he went totally nutz.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2008 00:00 ||
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Iran has sharply criticized the disrespectful approach of the United Arab Emirate's (UAE) airport officials toward Iranian visitors. The Islamic Republic's Foreign Ministry on Monday summoned the UAE's Chargé d'Affaires to protest the Emirate police's mistreatment of Iranian tourists.
Foreign Ministry's General Director of Iranian Expatriates, Mohammad-Javad Rasouli, censured the UAE for numerous instances of offensive behavior and wrongful arrest of Iranians. The UAE Chargé d'Affaires, for his part, said that he would relay Iran's message to the UAE officials to help resolve the problem.
Tehran and Abu Dhabi are at loggerheads over the three Iranian islands of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs which are located near key shipping lanes in the Persian Gulf. While the UAE claims sovereignty over the territory, it is noteworthy that international documents indicate the islands, which were historically owned by Iran, temporarily fell under British control.
The three islands were returned to Iran on November 30, 1971 through a legal process before the state of the United Arab Emirates was created.
According to international regulations, no state can defy any agreements, which came into being before its creation unless such agreements had been officially declared as null and void by the newly created state.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Bolivia's visiting left-wing President Evo Morales on Monday their two nations are natural allies and would boost energy ties, state media reported.
"The two revolutionary nations and the governments of Iran and Bolivia are natural allies and will boost their relations in the fields of commerce, industry, agriculture, gas, oil and politics," he told Morales on the first day of a two-day trip to Tehran. "We are striding on a common path towards a brighter future and will remain by each other's side and supportive of one another under any circumstances," he said, quoted by the state-run television news website.
The website also quoted Morales, whose country sits on South America's second largest gas reserves, as saying he supports Ahmadinejad. "I support and praise Mr Ahmadinejad's stance against imperialism and defending the rights of the Iranian people," he said." I also hail Iranian progress in industry and agriculture."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2008 00:00 ||
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Natural allies BECAUSE they are SO DIS-similar?
Russia praised the European Union on Tuesday for taking a "responsible approach" to its conflict with Georgia by refusing to impose sanctions or freeze ties with Moscow.
Leaders from the 27 European Union member states met in Brussels on Monday and threatened to postpone talks with Russia on a new partnership pact if Moscow did not withdraw its troops to pre-conflict positions in Georgia by mid-September.
But the EU summit was unable to reach a consensus on the sanctions that some members, including the Baltic states, had been pushing for, highlighting the bloc's divisions on whether and how best to punish its largest energy supplier.
"There were calls from some states to impose sanctions on Russia and freeze relations," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. "But the main thing is that ... the majority of EU states showed a responsible approach and confirmed their course towards partnership with Russia, realizing all too well the importance of mutually beneficial cooperation," it added.
...
Posted by: ed ||
09/02/2008 08:16 ||
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...how best to punish its largest energy supplier.
And therein, boys and girls, lies the rub.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/02/2008 10:37 Comments ||
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#2
Will appeasement pacify the great bear? When did it ever?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/02/2008 10:37 Comments ||
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But the EU summit was unable to reach a consensus
#4
Yah, but it was a Good Idea over the last twenty years to export the west's energy production to places like Russia and Saudi Arabia. Producing here is _EVIL_, boys and girls...
You've seen Vladimir Putin the bomber pilot, judo expert and fisherman - but tiger tamer? Russian media, known for hero-worshipping the prime minister and former president, reported on Monday that Putin fired a tranquilizer dart at a tiger that got loose on Sunday during a photo-op at a wildlife sanctuary. According to Interfax news agency, a camera crew from state TV channel Vesti realised the five-year-old tiger had become untied, whereupon Putin leapt into action. "Thanks to the agile and timely action the tiger was immobilised," Interfax said. Photos released by state news agency RIA Novosti showed Putin next to a sleeping tiger and holding a gun used to fire tranquiliser darts. Interfax said Putin kissed the big cat and said "goodbye." He was visiting the Ussuriisky Nature Reserve in the far east of Russia to see how conservation experts track and study tigers.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2008 00:00 ||
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I heard Putin subdued two tigers with his bare hands. Tomorrow he will give guidance to Tyumen Tractor Factory #6 and in the afternoon score 8 hole-in-ones at the workers' golf course.
Posted by: ed ||
09/02/2008 1:03 Comments ||
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#9
was a pic on some site today, drudge link maybe, that showed Putie with his weapon. breakdown sniper rifle ala the "Jackal". I guess some habits are hard to break....
#11
I notice the putz has his finger on the trigger when he's clearly not ready to shoot... unless he's motioning the journalists closer together so he can try a twofer
The European Union has said that its relations with Russia are at crossroads and warned that they could suffer if Moscow does not uphold accords to end the Georgia conflict.
The warning is contained in a draft statement released on Monday at a Brussels summit where leaders of the EU are meeting to discuss relations between Russia and Georgia. The statement also condemned Russia's move to recognise the independence of the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, but it did not mention imposing sanctions.
"The European council is gravely concerned by the open conflict which has broken out in Georgia, by the resulting violence and by the disproportionate reaction of Russia," said the draft. "(The review) may lead to decisions on the continuation of discussions on the future of relations between the EU and Russia in various areas."
The draft statement could yet change, and is seen as an attempt to bridge differences among members on how to treat Russia.
The summit agreed to postpone talks on a new EU-Russian partnership until Moscow withdraws its troops to pre-conflict positions.
Russia's EU envoy dismissed the decision to freeze the talks, saying that the move had damaged the European Union's credibility. "It is more of a self punishment for the European Union because this does not improve the EU's credibility as a negotiating partner," Vladimir Chizhov said.
Talk of sanctions at the summit, meanwhile, has exposed a developing rift between EU ranks. Germany and Italy believe that Russia has to be "engaged not enraged", but Britain and the Baltic states want a tough stance against Russia, said Mark Seddon, Al Jazeera's diplomatic correspondent.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2008 00:00 ||
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Greg Marmalard: But RussiaDelta's already on probation.
Dean Vernon Wormer: They are? Well, as of this moment, they're on DOUBLE SECRET PROBATION!
EU leaders agree to suspend talks on a new partnership agreement with Moscow until Russian troops withdraw from Georgia. That'll never happen, but I'll betcha three dollah the talks resume.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2008 00:00 ||
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Turkey has started carrying out extra border inspections of Russian goods in a mounting trade row that many fear was triggered by the conflict over Georgia, the Anatolia news agency reported. Foreign Trade Minister Kursat Tuzmen was quoted as saying that Russian goods would be subjected to detailed searches at border posts in retaliation.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2008 00:00 ||
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MOSCOW, August 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Black Sea Fleet is capable of destroying NATO's naval strike group currently deployed in the sea within 20 minutes, a former fleet commander said on Friday.
Russia's General Staff said on Tuesday there were 10 NATO ships in the Black Sea - three U.S. warships, the Polish frigate General Pulaski, the German frigate FGS Lubeck, and the Spanish guided missile frigate Admiral Juan de Borbon, as well as four Turkish vessels. Eight more warships are expected to join the group.
"Despite the apparent strength, the NATO naval group in the Black Sea is not battle-worthy," Admiral Eduard Baltin said. "If necessary, a single missile salvo from the Moskva missile cruiser and two or three missile boats would be enough to annihilate the entire group."
"Within 20 minutes the waters would be clear," he said, stressing that despite major reductions, the Black Sea Fleet (Image gallery) still has a formidable missile arsenal.
However, Baltin said the chances of a military confrontation between NATO and Russia in the Black Sea are negligible. "We will not strike first, and they do not look like people with suicidal tendencies," he said.
In addition to its flagship, the Moskva guided missile cruiser, Russia's Black Sea Fleet includes at least three destroyers, two guided missile frigates, four guided missile corvettes and six missile boats.
NATO announced its decision to deliver humanitarian aid to Georgia after the conclusion of hostilities between Tbilisi and Moscow over breakaway South Ossetia on August 12. Moscow recognized on Tuesday both South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another breakaway Georgia republic, despite being urged by Western leaders not to do so.
Russia's General Staff later said the alliance's naval deployment in the Black Sea "cannot fail to provoke concern", with unidentified sources in the Russian military saying a surface strike group was being gathered there. According to Russian military intelligence sources, the NATO warships that have entered the Black Sea are between them carrying over 100 Tomahawk cruise missiles and Harpoon anti-ship missiles. Photo galleries of modernized/newbuild Russian warships and the Black Sea Fleet at links.
#1
And then Russia will be at war with 800 million people. Fucking idiots.
Posted by: ed ||
09/02/2008 0:42 Comments ||
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#2
Yeah, you could do that, Ivan. And I could dunk my head in whiskey and set my hair on fire. But the question you have to ask is would we respect ourselves in the morning?
Nice pix at the links, btw. They may be Godless commies, but they do build some pretty ships.
#3
Ivan is assuming that NONE of the CIWS, Sea Sparrows, RAMs, Standards, or other defensive weapons work; also, that the NATO fleet would NOT notice the targeting radar nor be able to launch a counter strike before the Russian missiles hit. Within 24 hours of a Russian strike on the NATO Black Sea fleet, all of Russia's fleets in the Atlantic, the Med, Black Sea, and the Pacific would be at the bottom of the ocean. Also, the oil and gas pipelines out of Russia would be cut in multiple locations.
Vladivostok and Serbastopol would be rubble with 72 hours of such an attack.
#4
Ivan seems to forget that the US has 11 super carrier battle groups, and that Russia has none. Pretty easy to sink fleets that do NOT have intrinsic air cover/support.
I suppose he forgot thta in that 20 minutes several hundred tomahawks would be on the way to the bucket Moiskva, and would demolish their port facilties and airfields within a 500 mile reach of the fleet.
Their admiral is apparently stupid or unaware of "overhead" coverage and that its not just us, but the Turks as well, who are operating there, including the Turks flying combat aircraft over the region.
Idiot. The "suicidal tendencies" are his.
We need to put Russia back inits place - third rate country with 40 million people in it. Time to hand C4 to the peopel who want to go play with the russian pipelines.
#6
The Black Sea can also be a Russian Lake, with no outlet. Like a big Russian bathtub. Just sayin...
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/02/2008 1:58 Comments ||
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#7
Time to hand C4 to the peopel who want to go play with the russian pipelines.
It's only a matter of time before some Georgians go freelance.
Posted by: ed ||
09/02/2008 2:03 Comments ||
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#8
It is better to hand the playful some Semtex : plausible deniability. Lots of it floating around in the hands of bad guys, and if oops some comes back to bite Mother Russian, c'est la vie.
#9
Also, I would bet money that there is at least 1 if not 2 US attack subs in the Black Sea right now, making like holes in the ocean. Ivan would not like running into the anti-shipping missiles and torps of said attack subs.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
09/02/2008 2:44 Comments ||
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#11
Of course thay can. The NATO has only a puny detachment in teh Black Sea. Just as say Turkey could have destroyed a couple 20 guns ships from Nelson. Problem is what happens after. Also, this guy has drunk too much vodaka in his life.
#13
It seems to me that this rhetoric, although somewhat empty, should be viewed as a sign that Russia may be back into stoking nationalism. That is basically only done for one reason, and that reason is not good.
#15
"Within 20 minutes the waters would be clear," he said, stressing that despite major reductions, the Black Sea Fleet (Image gallery) still has a formidable missile arsenal.
More Ivonic bovine scatology. Make our day Admiral Baltin. We'll be pissing on Lenin's tomb in short order.
#17
I concur, P2K. Must consult with in-house language advisor to determine the correct Russian phrasing for "juche". This passage could definitely use more of it.
Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields ||
09/02/2008 10:22 Comments ||
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#18
Baltin knows he wont get called on his boast and I'm sure he knows very well how silly it is. But this plays well at home.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/02/2008 10:26 Comments ||
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#19
20 Minutes? Those are slow missiles they're using.
#20
And in 21 minuies the Black Sea Fleet no longer exists.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/02/2008 11:30 Comments ||
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#21
We should say simply that we took Russia seriously for a long time but their unwillingness or inability to control their client in North Korea seemed to indicate they were mostly talk. If they were to shut down sales to Iran and end the regime of the North Korean leader we would naturally consider them the Great Power we once had all assumed.
#22
I hope y'all are right about this just being an idle boast. The on-going stream of threats and comments seems to be escalating and while we all want to see Russia settle down, they just might not, seeing it as a loss of face. And even if the targeting radar gets picked up and a retaliatory strike launched, all the boats 9both sides) out there will be resting on the bottom. and things could go downhill from there.
#23
Really no, if the Sovs didn't shoot at us in 50 years of Cold War they aren't going to sink a fleet in peace time. This is all for domestic consumption.
The last oil crash took the Soviet Union with it. Oil is now at $106 and headed south. If we got our act together and imposed a variable import fee that maintained a price floor of $100 on imports, it would go below $60. That would put the hurt to Putin big time. He needs an external bogey man to distract the natives when they run out of vodka. We are the all purpose bogey man. Nothing more. Putin remembers what the Marines and 3ID did to all that great Russian equipment the Iraqis bought.
#24
Everybody with any brains is pulling their investments out of Russia as we speak. They'll manage to steal some when Putie's sock-puppet announces the inevitable nationalization of industries, but not anywhere near as much as last time.
But their economy is going into the dumper, big time.
#25
I don't remember the Ruskies being that reckless with their rhetoric in the bad old days of the USSR. I think most likely there would have been a party boss standing next to the admiral to keep him from making such an ass of himself.
The alleged invincibility of Russian missiles has been a minor, but consistent, theme of western leftist media for over 50 years. Few of you will remember how the SA-2 SAM was alleged to have closed vast areas of airspace to NATO planes back in the 60s, only to be proven a waste of resources in Vietnam and the Middle East.
The fear and trembling over the S-300 SAM is similar today, recycled horse manure from an earlier age.
The Russkies know that media conformists in the west are completely ignorant of even the most basic tactical anti-missile defenses, having been brainwashed for decades to believe that any such defense is impossible.
#29
Youthful posters wouldn't know that after President Reagan announced an intent to place multi-head missiles in Europe, the Warsaw Pact announced that they would "launch on warning," should existing protocol be dated by the unilateral move by Reagan. When friendly Euro dominos started to fall, both sides commenced the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START). Being a Neocon means: never having to remember anything. If you don't like the current Russian regime, DON'T support the ABM project.
#30
You people amaze me. Simply amaze me. You're inability to let go of old news is unbelievable. Nukes??? People have foamed at the mouth over nukes in 20 friggin years. Is a dead issue and here are talking about START.
At least you've finally moved beyond Vietnam. Still so last century though.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/02/2008 19:22 Comments ||
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#33
IIRC, the US was spending 5% of GDP on national defense. The USSR was spending 25% of GDP. USSR could not keep up and went broke.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/02/2008 21:14 Comments ||
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#34
Since Neocon guru, Francis Fukuyama, pronounced the end of both competing ideologies and nations, the flock of war simulation geeks forgot the Cold War rule: no direct confrontation between the 2 Superpowers. Someone above doesn't know that Sevastopol is in the Ukraine. The rest don't know that the 2 sides have sub locators planted everywhere that detect the identity and direction of every nuclear and other submarine, by use of sonar detection of the "signature" of each. Detection in the Black Sea would be a piece of cake. Further, the Russian Navy would know when a US sub was preparing to launch.
Did the USSR crumble because of the SDI? Hardly, the Soviets devised end-runs that would negate any possible laser targeting system. An ABM system is no match for a smart multi-warhead counter. As for the USSR, the Apparatchuk class was universally discredited after the Chernobyl catastrophe. The Soviet leader, Gorbachev, was forced to renovate the management model and came up with "Perestroika" (restructuring), which would be democraticized with "Glasnost" (openness). The latter led to delegitimation of the Soviet system in general, and it crumbled. SDI was long in the wastebasket when that happened.
Neocon fanaticism should give cause to concerns that adherents have little commitment to liberty and democracy. Neocons are afraid to have their beliefs tested.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/02/2008 23:07 Comments ||
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#36
Good grief - the Dims Dems sure have a dearth of decent trolls.
Crawl back into your mommy's basement, rp, and tell your masters we demand better trolls.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/02/2008 23:08 Comments ||
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#37
"the Cold War rule: no direct confrontation between the 2 Superpowers"
I served in the German Army when the Cold War was really cold. We patrolled the border between NATO and the Warsaw Treat. We stared at each other with binoculars, armed, ready to shoot.
One shot could have started WW3
Yes, I demand better trolls as well
Posted by: European Conservative ||
09/02/2008 23:24 Comments ||
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#38
EC - I'm starting to like you, but not in a Chris Matthews or Barney Frank way, k?
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/02/2008 23:36 Comments ||
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Yasuo Fukuda, Japan's prime minister, has resigned in what he says is an effort to break a political deadlock in the country. Fukuda made the surprise announcement on Monday evening at a news conference. His term comes to an end less than a year after he took office.
"If we are to prioritise the people's livelihoods, there cannot be a political vacuum from political bargaining, or a lapse in policies. We need a new team to carry out policies," Fukuda said.
Fukuda has struggled to cope with a divided parliament, where opposition parties control the upper house and are able to delay legislation.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2008 00:00 ||
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(AKI) - A people smuggler's boat with 45 illegal immigrants on board reached the southern Italian island of Lampedusa early on Monday, continuing the wave of summer landings. Initial reports did not state the nationality or sex of the illegal migrants, who were identified and escorted by the coastguard to Lampedusa's temporary holding centre.
Lutherans? Transgendered Esquimaux?
During the summer months, the number of illegal immigrants heading for Europe's Mediterranean countries including Italy, Spain and Malta surges. Hundreds arrive each week aboard rickety people smugglers' boats which mostly set sail from North Africa.
Last Friday, 19 illegal immigrants from Iran and Iraq were intercepted by border police and taken to the southern port of Bari on the Italian mainland.
As many as 71 African migrants aboard a single boat died in the Mediterranean Sea between Sicily and Malta last month, according to eight of their companions who were rescued by a fishing vessel last Wednesday. Most of the survivors were reported to be Sudanese. The people smugglers' boat set sail from Zuwara on the Libyan coast 10 days ago, but ran out of food and water and lost its engine in rough seas before sinking. Some of those aboard died of exhaustion, hunger and dehydration and others threw themselves overboard, survivors said.
The other victims, including a small child and four pregnant women drowned, according to the surviving passengers.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2008 00:00 ||
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The Obama camp is practicing the strategy Microsoft perfected to use against an other when you don't have truth on your side.
FUD - Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt Wikpedia on FUD
Fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) is a "tactic" of rhetoric used in sales, marketing, public relations[1][2] and politics. FUD is generally a strategic attempt to influence public perception by disseminating negative (and vague) information. An individual firm, for example, might use FUD to invite unfavorable opinions and speculation about a competitor's product; to increase the general estimation of switching costs among current customers; or to maintain leverage over a current business partner who could potentially become a rival.
The term originated to describe disinformation tactics in the computer hardware industry and has since been used more broadly.[3] FUD is a manifestation of the appeal to fear.
...
ST. PAUL, Minn. - John McCain's campaign said Tuesday that rival Barack Obama's campaign was spreading "smears" about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's past political affiliations. Yet, some of Palin's previous political activities are a matter of dispute.
At issue are claims by members of the Alaskan Independence Party that Palin was once associated with it. The party, some of whose members have advocated secession from the United States, wants to place all federal lands in Alaska under state control.
The McCain campaign released voter registration documents Tuesday dating to 1990 in which Palin lists herself as a Republican. Campaign spokesman Brian Rogers said Palin has been a registered Republican since 1982, and has never been a member of the Alaskan Independence Party.
Palin addressed the Independence Party's state convention by video earlier this year, welcoming the party to Fairbanks. She gave no indication of a current or past connection to the party.
"Your party plays an important role in our state's politics," she said in the video, which is posted on the party's Web site. "I've always said that competition is so good, and that applies to political parties as well."
Lynette Clark, the chairman of the AIP, told ABC News that Palin and her husband, Todd, belonged to the party in 1994. Mark Chryson, chairman of the Independence Party from 1995 to 2002, told the network that Palin attended the party's convention in 1994. He said he was not certain if she was a party member, and party records do not date back that far.
Obama advisers and surrogates have also linked Palin to conservative former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan. An Associated Press story from Alaska, dated July 17, 1999, states that Palin, then the mayor of the small town of Wasilla, was wearing a Buchanan button during a Buchanan visit to Alaska.
The Miami Herald this week quoted an e-mail from Obama Florida spokesman Mark Bubriski that stated: "Palin was a supporter of Pat Buchanan, a right-winger or as many Jews call him: a Nazi sympathizer."
The McCain campaign says Palin supported Steve Forbes' campaign in 1999.
"Supporters of Barack Obama are engaged in an unfortunate and nasty smear campaign," said Rogers, the McCain spokesman.
While Obama advisers and surrogates have drawn attention to Palin's political associations, the campaign has strictly avoided any comment on issues related to Palin's family, specifically anything focused on her 17-year-old daughter's out-of wedlock pregnancy.
"I think people's families are off limits and people's children are especially off limits," Obama said Monday. This response of Obama's is a perfect example of FUD... now look at her dirty children here. Oh, you shouldn't look and shouldn't consider because not making your kids get an abortion well I have positions on that and it inappropriate to bring them up now... FUD FUD FUD ...
#4
Commonly used in communist conficts and wars of liberation. It is what it is.
Black propaganda is false material where the source is disguised. It is propaganda that purports to be from a source on one side of a conflict, but is actually from the opposing side. It is typically used to vilify, embarrass or misrepresent the enemy.
It contrasts with grey propaganda, the source of which is not identified, and white propaganda, in which the real source is declared. The term is also sometimes used as a synonym for particularly malicious wartime propaganda or falsification of information that is captured by an enemy.
Black propaganda may also be used on one's own side, generated by altering genuine enemy propaganda in such a way as to distort its message. This is a particularly powerful tool if the target audience has a poor understanding of the language of the enemy, and is often used to insult the intended recipients, leading to a rallying effect.
#5
This does not say much regardng Obama's leadership. His campaign seems to be in disarray, the Dems, MoveOn, KOS, the MSM are going crazy trying to derail the Palin news thread. He does little to discourage smear attacks and Obama has completely lost the initiative. Several here have said that McCain is inside Obama's OODA loop, I think that (using a Navy anecdote) McCain is crossing Obama's T. Obama and the Dems are imploding.
#7
channel, lotp!. I'd like McCain to put out an ad immediately (but in a sound alike to Don LaFountaine):
"In a world beset by privacy invasion and identity theft, by the lowest of low lifes, The Democratic Operatives have released Governor Sarah Palin's private personal information, including her social security numbers and address. Information that would allow hackers, thieves, and anarchists to steal her social security check, wreck her private medical file, sully the records of her family. Would you want this to happen to you? Vote for Sarah and her family against evil and deny these thieves, liars and anarchists their victory. America will thank you"
I'm donating this for free
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/02/2008 22:09 Comments ||
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TORONTO - Prime Minister Stephen Harper told Canada's main opposition leader Stephane Dion on Monday there will be an election soon, Dion said. Dion met with Harper on Monday and said after the meeting that the Canadian prime minister wants to go to the polls now, instead of waiting until the next scheduled election. Dion's spokesman Mark Dunn said Harper told Dion there would be an election 'in the not so distant future.'
Harper spokesman Kory Teneycke said there is no common ground with the opposition parties and that Harper will deliberate over the next few days on whether to call an early election. Harper's Conservative government could also be brought down after parliament reconvenes on Sept. 15 if the three opposition parties who together hold the majority of seats vote against the government in a 'no confidence' motion.
Teneycke also said Dion refused to promise he wouldn't bring the government down with a 'no confidence vote' over the next year. 'He provided no such assurance,' Teneycke said.
The meeting with Dion was the last of talks Harper has held with Parliament's three main opposition leaders, meetings he's claimed were intended to seek support for his minority government's fall legislative agenda. But given the acrimonious partisan climate in Ottawa, the meetings appear certain to present Harper with the pretext for an immediate election call. They would provide the prime minister with an excuse to ignore his own government's fixed-election-date law that wouldn't see Canadians go to the polls until October 2009.
Harper is likely to dissolve parliament sometime between Sept. 2-7 and set an early election for Oct. 14, a senior official in the prime minister's office said Friday.
Some analysts say Harper's Conservatives have a better shot of winning an election soon rather than waiting until a time when the Canadian economy might be worse off. Harper also might want to go before voters ahead of the US presidential election in November, which could bring a Democrat to the White House and, some have theorized, encourage Canadians to choose a more liberal government.
The Conservatives unseated the opposition Liberals in 2006 after nearly 13 years in power, but the minority government has been forced to rely on opposition lawmakers to pass legislation. The Conservatives now have 127 of the 308 seats in parliament. The Liberals have 95, Bloc Quebecois 48, the New Democrats 30 and Greens have one. Three seats are held by Independents, and four remain vacant.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/02/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I fear that my country is slowly becoming ungovernable and is splitting into an east/west dichotomy kind of place. The east wants to get their hands on the west's oil and natural gas money . . . . and the west, naturally enough, wants to keep it for themselves.
Polling has consistently shown the Liberals (shudder!!!) to be retaining their popularity in Ontario and the Maritime Provinces while the Conservatives hold the west and show some strength in Quebec.
Only a Federal election will sort this out so I hope we get it over with soon and then the guv can get on with guvving or whatever it is they do.
In any case, I fear that we have become a nation of "whingers".
A while back it was reported that on September 2nd Obama would be jetting off to Switzerland to attend to big-money fundraisers organized by Hollywood A-lister George Clooney. The price to get in the door was set to be $1,000 with an additional $10,000 payment required if you want a plate to put your food on.
Well now its September 1st, the Republicans have all but canceled their national convention due to a hurricane scare in the gulf coast, and according to George Clooney as of yesterday the fundraiser is still on: ...
Consider this: If John McCain and the Republicans had held their convention as scheduled without making any modifications to accommodate the situation in the gulf region they would have been excoriated in the media. Talking heads would have raged, and Keith Olbermann would have launched into a special comment that would have undoubtedly invoked the image of McCain and/or Bush as modern Neros fiddling while America burned.
But apparently its ok if Obama jet-sets with some deep-pocket Hollywood types off in Switzerland for a couple of days.
I think its bad enough that Obama is campaigning and fund raising so much on foreign soil. The trip through Europe? Now an elitist-of-the-elite gathering in Switzerland? But refusing to call off, or even just delay, the event while your political colleagues are focused on what could have been another major disaster in the gulf coast region just takes the cake.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/02/2008 17:33 ||
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#1
It should be interesting to see what comes out of his campaign while he's off in Europe. I'm expecting even lower blows towards Palin, while the Messiah relaxes by the shores of Lake Geneva. He'll then issue a rebuke to those staff/surrogates who got "out of line" in their attacks (as in, any smear that might be backfiring on The One).
Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields ||
09/02/2008 18:12 Comments ||
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#2
With all due respect it looks like the storm was more or less a complete waste of time, based on some of the reports I've read.
There's no point, IMHO, in having the mainstream pols flagellate themselves over this, it isn't gonna get the power turned back on any faster down in Noo Siberia or Morgan City.
(OTOH, why a fundraiser in Switzerland? Wouldn't Nova Scotia be closer, and has that neat total eclipse too?)
#3
The sad thing is that none of this matters to the party faithful. Not Sen. Obama rubbing shoulders with dictators, not him raising funds on foreign soil, not him ignoring Gustav and the city that Pres. Bush was raked over the coals about "ignoring".
Frankly, when this mess started (i.e. before I knew anything about Sen. Obama) I was ready to vote for him just to send a message to the Republicans about putting a RINO up instead of a candidate with real conservative values. Obviously as more info came out about Sen. Obama this quickly ceased to be an option.
But how in the Hell those sheeple can vote for someone for POTUS who is endorsed by America's enemies, the Communist Party, and all the others who would tear down this great nation is beyond me. How anyone can vote for this person after it has been made CRYSTAL clear that nothing he says on any public speaking engagement has any meaning is a mystery beyond the knowledge of us mere mortals.
#1
I'm late to the festivities. I only wrote about Sarah Palin on June 4. Others had been advocating for her since the beginning of the year. Out of nowhere to the media, perhaps. Clueless media.
Let's win 2008 first before we speculate on 2012. History isn't kind to VP nominees on a losing ticket.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/02/2008 14:42 Comments ||
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#8
Palin, Jindal, Crist, Pawlenty, Steele... These are some of the Republican party up and comers. Talk about a fresh, sharp, diverse, scrupulous and reform-minded bunch. I don't think the Democrats have much of an answer for this core group of individuals.
Obama is their flash-in-the-pan hope right now and if he doesn't "pan" out, it's back to Hillary Clinton & Co. Talk about uninspiring.
#9
Don't forget Pence, Fleck and all the other good guys in the House who conducted the candlelight sessions in the House to demand drilling. The should run for some governorships.
#10
#8 nah, if obama loses, we got Mark Warner, Ed Rendell, Evan Bayh, Ted Strickland, and a bunch more. And Im deliberately avoiding the lefties. Our bench is deep. We're better off as a party losing than winning and having a disastrous presidency.
#12
Warner, Rendell, Bayh, Strickland... they're all just a bunch of white guys. As a Christmas card, that's not a very flattering picture for the self-proclaimed "party of diversity."
#15
Warner is a boomer (b. 1954). Whether a '68'er or not I can't say. That his is the first name of Gen X donks says a lot about their bench strength. They may have some, but it's still being drowned out by the class of '74 and its alums in which I would include Hillary and Barrack.
#16
Oh, and had the media paid attention, FreedHeads were touting Palin as a VP last fall. Mainly because we had to do soemthing to balance Fred's basset-hound energy levels.
I was a FredHead because he is so right and well spoken on the vital issues, but even I admit there was a lack of energy. It was said Fred woudl never run for president, but he might SIT for it. ;-)
With Gov Palin, though, she'll put her boots on, grab a rifle, go hunt the election animal down, and end up with its head mounted over the mantle in her office.
I'm hoping she is as tough as what we saw when we checked out her fight against the GOP old-boys club and corruption in Alaska.
Don't mistake her being pretty and her being well mannered for her being a pushover. There's steel beneath the surface backed by a very sharp intellect from what I can tell of her background.
I'm thinking she's Ginger Rodgers - she can do anything Fred (Thompson) did, except she can do it while going backwars and in heels, and look damn good doing it.
#17
Warner, Rendell, Bayh, Strickland... they're all just a bunch of white guys. As a Christmas card, that's not a very flattering picture for the self-proclaimed "party of diversity."
well unfortunately Granholm is Canadian born and inelegible - y'alls inelegible is the Gov of Calif, who is also a white guy. I dont know much about Sibelius. Given that the Dems just nominated the first Black nominee for Prez by a major party, its a little odd for you to tout the Steele as showing GOP is more racially diverse - Im not even going to bother looking through lists for black up and comers.
Thats assumign you believe in this diversity as quotas thingie. Ive got my issues with it. I want to the Dems to advance the needs of the diverse people in our society - not establish a quota by race and gender for up and comers.
On that note, its also interesting Rendell doesnt count toward diversity, but is just another white guy. Also Im waiting for the GOP to actually nominate a Roman Catholic for either Pres or VP. we take that advance so much for granted, we forget how few RCs have been nominated for national office, and so far all Dems.
#18
I argue with the boomer designation extending all the way to 1964. Or even 1960. I say it ends with the class of 1973, the last to face a draft. Say 1955-57.
Its not a nice multiple of 5 or 10, but culturally its a hell of a lot mroe accurate. for anyone graduating after that, Vietnam was done long befiore they had to be concerned with it, watergate was something that interrupted Star Trek reruns in the afternoon, and the first real president they can recall any actions of is Gerald Ford.
#19
15 = well ya know, Warner actually had a career as an entrepreneur and THEN served a full term as gov of Virginia, and is only NOW running for Senate, which would give him even more experience before 2012. I know what with Obama and Palin its not fashionable to expect experience for national office, but given a requirement for experience you tend to bias away from the very young.
Boomer was a demographic phenom , you know, something abotu lots of babies, before it was a culture war meme. The largest birth cohorts were actually '59 and '60, and '61 was still pretty big, so I think that any def that excludes those years is problematic.
#21
#13 Note Im NOT saying Obama ISNT a pragramatist or an inner liberal hawk (other than on Iraq, which is largely over anyway, for all that the campaigns want to focus on it) Its just that I dont KNOW that troubles me (and I think on domestic issues hes quite as much of a pragmatist as Scoop, who was actually a solid labor liberal on economic policy - something much forgotten these days - again its the for policy where he is keeping the real Obama well hidden, and of course where his prior record leaves fewest hints)
#22
A lot of demographers make a strong distinction, LH, between the early and late boomers. The concept of a demographic known as "tweener" (born roughly '59-'67) has gained a lot of traction in the field and they are ackowledged as being distinct both from the early or "true" boomers and gen-X.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
09/02/2008 16:39 Comments ||
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#23
I guess the MSM thinks Alaska is "nowhere." They only consider the Hollowood and the eastern liberal elites as being from somewhere.
#25
I was born in 67 and would rather be included with Gen-X than tweeners which is sort of undefined as a group and somewhat responsible for the disco crisis.
#26
'hawk, Strickland is as phony as a $3 bill with Milli Vanilli's portrait on it. The only reason he won is that Bob Taft so trashed the Republican brand name in Ohio that the Donks coulda run a duckbilled platypus and they'd still have won.
In short, he's a phony, unprincipled son of a bitch.
You make him the face of the party, and you'll be pining away for the (relative) integrity of the Clinton administration.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/02/2008 17:48 Comments ||
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#27
Palin was a member of the Alaska Independent Party. Earlier this year, she made a video expressing good wishes for their annual convention. Palin is an American if necessary, but not necessarily American. I have worked in Alaska, and I know her play on the Pretty Princess tag, has grown tired. And the fact that her hubby has a DUI, doesn't play well either on those of us who drive on the state's little policed highways. Put someone else a heartbeat away.
#29
Well, if your spouse having a DUI at age 22 disqualifies you for holding public office, what's the penalties for Ted Kennedy then? We're talking DUI and murder.
#30
What's the statute of limitations on DUI? I would bet that it is a lot less than 20 years.
Besides, Todd Palin is not running for VP. Nor are their kids.
As for the Alaska Independence Party, there are no records proving she or Mr. Palin were members. The video made for their convention just wished them well, and said competition was good for the political system.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
09/02/2008 18:56 Comments ||
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#31
The problem is 59-60-61 were practically in diapers for JFK's assassination, playing in the sandbox when Booby Kennedy and King were killed, playing sandlot football (or cheerleading for it) during watergate on TV and the Vietnam war, were in Jr High when the war ended, were learning to drive when Nixon resigned, never had to register for a draft, came of drinking age and voting age when Carter was in office, and the first president they probably voted for was Reagan.
NOT culturally Boomers.
That's why I hate lumping them in there - Boomers are universally the "hippies" those events listed above were "key" events - of which the late 50's never really experienced.
Boomer cutoff somewhere around 57-58 is probably best culturally. The Lost Generation is a better term for the next 10 years than lumping them in with Boomers or Gen-X'ers. They tend to be much more individualist, supportive of the military (and were the backbone of Reagan's military buildup that won the cold war), and in general more libertarian-conservative than the far left liberals that preceeded them.
#32
"Palin was a member of the Alaska Independent Party"
Wrong - thats a lie.
You need to go back to Kos and get the next, NEWEST smear/lie, the AIP one is already disproven.
The McCain campaign released voter registration documents Tuesday dating to 1990 in which Palin lists herself as a Republican. Campaign spokesman Brian Rogers said Palin has been a registered Republican since 1982, and has never been a member of the Alaskan Independence Party.
Palin addressed the Independence Party's state convention by video earlier this year, welcoming the party to Fairbanks. She gave no indication of a current or past connection to the party.
"Your party plays an important role in our state's politics," she said in the video, which is posted on the party's Web site. "I've always said that competition is so good, and that applies to political parties as well."
Supporters of Barack Obama are engaged in an unfortunate and nasty smear campaign," said Rogers, the McCain spokesman.
So punky, go back to fellating Obama for the next smear.
#33
<i>Palin was a member of the Alaska Independent Party</i>
Nope. Apparently Todd Palin was for a little while. Sarah Palin has been a registered Republican for years.
LH, re: Warner as entrepreneur. What he was was a Capitol Hill aide who pushed spectrum deregulation and had money lined up to purchase spectrum rights as soon as 'his' bill got passed. To be sure he did a decent job exploiting those rights - but he got them the good old insider way.
#34
gotta get a new sock puppet nym "regional peace". Your "I'm an Alaskan" and your ignorance of her party ID shows you're a lying sack of shit.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/02/2008 20:10 Comments ||
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#35
"Boomers are universally the "hippies" those events listed above were "key" events - of which the late 50's never really experienced."
OldSpook, I resent that remark. I was born in 1947, am definitely a boomer, and am NOT a hippie, and never have been. I wasn't crazy about the VietNam war, but would have fought if sent. I am retired from the Naval Reserve, and have always been a strong supporter of the military.
My point is, not ALL boomers were/are hippies.
I did go to the Woodstock music festival, though. When it was in Woodstock (1968).
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
09/02/2008 20:19 Comments ||
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#36
"The problem is 59-60-61 were...NOT culturally Boomers...That's why I hate lumping them in there"
Thanks, Oldspook, for getting having my back on this one. This is precisely what I was trying to get across. Not sure why exploring this notion is "silly", but no meaningful explanation for the term "silly" was given.
As far as disco goes, yours truly, who is in the tweener demographic, wore a "Death Before Disco" shirt back in the day. FYI, RJS.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
09/02/2008 20:49 Comments ||
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#37
Edit out "getting". PIMF
Posted by: no mo uro ||
09/02/2008 20:50 Comments ||
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#38
At the age of 10, Sarah Palin got her very own bunny rabbit. Which means to say that she crouched down in the grass outside her family home, aimed her shotgun and blew its furry little head off.
#2
Are they bugging people with Skype accounts or just random numbers they get off the internet? If it is just Skype accounts, it would be fun to listen in if they bug the Tsar (not an Obama fan, to put it lightly).
Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields ||
09/02/2008 11:24 Comments ||
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#3
Only the Paleos could out-dumb the Brits.
Not gonna work, you morons. Most likely counter-productive.
#4
Counterproductive. Look at how Ohioans responded to letters from Britain advocating for Candidate Kerry in 2004. Americans do not like foreigners telling them to their faces how to think.
mojo, you're referring to the actions of Guardian readers, please don't assume all Brits are that stupid. That's like me assuming that the New York Times readership represents all you guys.
Doe-eyed Bristol Palin, 17, and ruggedly handsome Levi Johnston, an 18-year-old self-described "f---in' redneck," have been dating a year, locals in Wasilla, Alaska, told the Daily News.
And the pregnancy? An open secret in the close-knit town of 9,780.
Bristol's pregnancy was no secret in the town that lies wedged between two mountain ranges. The mother of one of Levi's friends, who asked not to be named, told The News that locals knew about Bristol's pregnancy for weeks.
Bristol Palin, now a senior, was frequently seen cheering her young beau from the stands. Levi is also a senior. "She was in a cute little outfit like young girls wear," said Jennie Johnston, who is not related to Levi. "She was with Levi."
Wasilla mom Jennie Johnston, whose son Jade played hockey with Levi, saw the young couple in January at a game. She said her son told her the two were already engaged. Game, Set, Match - end of story
#1
I've known several families that thought they were immune to this sort of thing because they were "upper crust". It always brings them down a notch or two when the word gets out. The Palins don't seem at all snobish, so I think they wont have to take too much heat on this. It's the people that say it could never happen to them that get laughed at the most.
#2
Thats just the thing - the Palins are definitely not "upper crust". Union steel worker in the oil field, hunters and commercial fishers, kids in the public schools, son of a fisher daughter of a school teacher.
Maybe that's why the pissed off so many on the left and the right - they don't aowe anyone anything, and they don't need nor do they respect the insider privelege that so many of those in DC cannot live without.
And what makes it worse - Sarah brought down a ton of corrupt GOP officials in Alaska, and made government a lot more transparent so back-room deals are harder to pull off.
Palin is threat to the "go along get along" Beltway/CountryClub set.
Especially if, in 4 years, she becomes president with a strong conservative corruption fighter like Jindal as the VP.
The first day of the RNC was fun but muted. One group, though, wasn't deterred from pursuing its agenda by events in the Gulf. The Communist/anarchist/truther/pro-Obama protesters were out in force, committing various crimes and attempting to disrupt the proceedings.
The most shocking events are described by Jim Hoft, who was on a bus that was attacked from above when a group of protesters dropped sand bags on to the top of the bus. This is attempted murder: if the protesters had succeeded in hitting the windshield, a sand bag would have crashed through and killed the driver. The resulting accident would have killed or injured others on the bus. To my knowledge, the left-wingers/would-be murderers were not caught.
(Note: No source is given for the following. Power Line is usually pretty reliable but salt to taste)
A little later, a busload of Cub Scouts were en route to the convention, where they were to present the colors to open the convention. A group of protesters--liberals, Obama supporters, or whatever--blocked the road, surrounded the bus, and attacked it, rocking the bus back and forth, denting and scratching the sides, and generally terrifying the children trapped inside. The left-wing protesters attacked a number of buses in the same way, but there is something especially despicable about attacking a group of Cub Scouts.
Among us conservatives, it's pretty much an article of faith that people of all political persuasions are good folks who should be treated with respect; we just disagree about issues of public policy. (Liberals generally don't adopt that view, although there are some honorable exceptions.) But sometimes that model doesn't apply. The liberal/anarchist/Communist/pro-Obama protesters we have seen today in St. Paul are terrible people who, in many cases, should be subject to long prison terms. Let's hope that a few of them, at least, are prosecuted.
#3
Well, I can understand attacking Cub Scouts. As part of the Boy Scouts of America, who do not support the gay and atheist agenda, they are obviously haters, and deserve to be attacked.
/sarcasm
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
09/02/2008 12:21 Comments ||
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#4
Darn it, they should have taken my suggestion and had a "gun check" at the door, so that when leaving the convention, they could be armed in case of attack by violent and dangerous criminals.
Scrappleface. It only sounds like it could be genuine.
As news broke of the pregnancy of Sarah Palin's eldest daughter, Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama pleaded with the GOP vice presidential candidate not to be too harsh with her daughter, who plans to marry the father of the child.
"Gov. Palin," said Sen. Obama addressing himself to her personally, "you tried to teach your daughter about morals and values, but she made a mistake, and she shouldn't be punished with a baby."
As a goodwill gesture, Sen. Obama offered to pay for Bristol Palin's abortion "at any time between now and the scheduled moment of birth."
"But it should also include -- it should also include other, you know, information about contraception because, look, I've got two daughters. 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby."
I really hope America (and the world) doesn't get punished with Obama. We do make mistakes but...
Posted by: European Conservative ||
09/02/2008 1:29 Comments ||
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#6
Thanks EC. I was wondering where Scrappleface got the idea for this bit.
Posted by: ed ||
09/02/2008 1:34 Comments ||
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#7
Not a real Scrappleface I think, far too close to the real thing.
What a disgrace this man is
Posted by: European Conservative ||
09/02/2008 1:39 Comments ||
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#8
The link does go to Scrappleface.
Scott Ott is cutting close to the bone with this one.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
09/02/2008 1:43 Comments ||
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#10
Old Spook, true, but Scrappleface didn't really do much editing here
Posted by: European Conservative ||
09/02/2008 1:44 Comments ||
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#11
FYI: Go to the pictures.
Bristol was wearing an engagement ring at the announcement last week.
Clearly, they were not trying to hide it. It's a private matter as far as the Palin family is concerned. The only thing scandalous is the MSM's cynical use of her as a political football.
#12
I am sure that Gov. Palin and her husband thought long and hard about going the VP slot before she accepted. They knew from the git-go just how dirty and low down the MSM can be. So their reason for facing this sh*t tsunami from the MSM has to be devotion to the country. It ain't the money, and it ain't the glory.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/02/2008 2:02 Comments ||
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#13
And it sure isn't the hunting and fishing around DC. Not literally, anyway. Figuratively, well ....
#14
I like the fact that McCain knew about it, and chose her anyway. Shows that both McCain and Palin have strong character and it will resenate well with Americans. Unlike the wheaze and sleaze from the dhimocrats.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/02/2008 9:19 Comments ||
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#18
The Palins are a real life family, dealing with a real life family situation. As Sissy Willis said yesterday, "If McCain can get the votes of all the women who were pregnant at their weddings, it'll be a landslide!" (H/T Insty)
#19
I love how the MSM is spinning out all the stories possible that the McCain camp is "on the Defensive" and "reeling from the discovery".
Um... no, they were up front about it and honest and have nothing to defend and it was known before the announcement. If anything, they look stronger and more confident than before.
#21
Well, someone in Obama's campaign forgot to send the memo to MSNBC. The past couple of hours, they have put "17 year old Bristol Palin is pregnant!" or some variation of that, underneath each and every guest they have had on for a couple of hours.....and pretty much all they talked about was that she is....guess what.....pregnant! OMG!!!
And yeah, they even got Chris Matthews and his brothers to pontificate on it.
Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields ||
09/02/2008 11:16 Comments ||
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#22
The real scandal is going to break when Chris Matthews reveals that he's carrying Obama's love child. It can't be long - he's already showing.
Posted by: Matt ||
09/02/2008 12:13 Comments ||
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#23
And the title says it all.
Babies are not PUNISHMENT, they are a blessing! Yes, they are a boatload of work and in the teen years a ton of emotional trauma. So what? It's an investment that will be repaied 1,000 fold.
But there's not a SIG with deep pockets making obscene amounts of $$$ off of pregnancy or people raising their own families.
I'll even go one step further and say that the leftists would love us all to have huge numbers of children as long as we let the State raise them.
Yet the so called "pro-choice" crowd seems upset. Their hysterics reveal far more about them than the target of their attempted smear. They seem willing to continue to do so.
What's that trick they do up north; coat a knife blade in dried blood and leave it out for a wolf?
There was a reference to this in an earlier posting, but this has a few more details:
ST. PAUL, MINN. (AP) - Some members of Alabama's delegation to the Republican National Convention got a scare when their bus pulled up to the convention hall in St. Paul, Minn.
Retired Alabama Supreme Court Judge Terry Butts said he was on the second bus in a caravan of four when a group of about 100 protesters approached the bus and one of them threw a brick through a window. Butts said the bus driver received small cuts from the shattered glass and that he, his wife Suze and Jefferson County Commissioner Bettye Fyne Collins were all covered with glass. The perps are not protestors, they are terrorists. Club, cuff, and cage; it's the only way.
Alabama Republican Party chairman Mike Hubbard said no one was injured in the incident but it made people mad. How intolerant of them.
#3
The police, FBI, all agencies have had plenty of time to prepare for this. They should be way inside the terrorists/protestors' OODA loops. Jeeze Louise!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/02/2008 1:46 Comments ||
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#6
Having read some of James Lileks stuff, you'd know that the authorities in the cities have turned a political blind eye to their growing crime problems. A combination of denial and some social-economic implications has caused the politicians to undermine 'law and order' institutions which has a corroding effect upon those doing the actual job. They begin to look out for themselves rather than the mission. The 'will' is not there. So, the idgit in the RNC who picked this place for the convention was a world class a-hole who put stupid political tricks ahead of common sense. The 'authorities' allowed it to get out of hand instead of doing an 'in your face, go ahead and sue us, but we're going to be on you like ticks on a dog' approach. Once it gets to a certain point you have a choice to either let them loose or go Kent State on them because you allowed it to reach that point of escalation. Other than after a major sports win/loss, how many universities burned after Kent State?
#8
Well Skunky, they would object. You see they don't view the anarchist as a threat to the legitimacy of their power. Now you all hammer the miscreants sends a signal that the people no longer consent to be governed by these authorities politicians. They take that personal and will of course use all their treasury assets on your ass because you did far more of the people work then they had the nerve to do. Or in the immortal words of Governor William J. Le Petomane, "We have to protect our phoney baloney jobs here, gentlemen! We must do something about this immediately! Immediately! Immediately! Harrumph! Harrumph! Harrumph!"
#9
The St. Paul cops are "Open for Business", you can tell by the riot armor and big nasty sticks. Anyone who is up in their grill asking for trouble is probably going to get more than they can handle. Personally I'd like to see them kick these idiots so hard that they are wearing their ass for a hat. Then prosecute them. Peaceful protesting is not what they are there for, otherwise they'd leave the urine bags and bricks at home. Just having them on hand is an implication that they intended to commit violent acts, how many bricks do you see lying around downtown St. Paul normally?
The US Republican party has opened its annual convention in the city of St Paul in Minnesota, one week after the Democrats' own convention in Denver, Colorado. But officials say several of the planned events are being curtailed because of Hurricane Gustav, currently lashing the US Gulf Coast.
Robert Duncan, chairman of the party, told gathered delegates that Monday's session would be short and urged them and people watching on television to help people affected by the hurricane. The short session was also held to begin the legal procedures needed to officially nominate the candidates for the November 4 presidential election - McCain and Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska and the vice-presidential candidate.
George Bush, the US president, and Dick Cheney, his vice-president, have scrapped plans to attend the convention and will be in Texas visiting relief stations there, officials said.
However John McCain, the Republican presidential hopeful, is still expected to address the convention on Thursday at the end, officials said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
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#1
The mayor of New Orleans and the governor of Louisiana neglected to do their jobs before Katrina hit but it was all Bush's fault so he can't go to the convention.
Nigerian anti-graft investigators have seized money raised by the head of the Nigerian Stock Exchange to support US presidential candidate Barak Obama. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said it would give the money back to those who attended a gala dinner in Lagos last month.
The EFCC said it had seized 74m naira ($630,000, £314,000), but said no Nigerian laws had been broken.
US political parties are not allowed to receive contributions from abroad.
Stock exchange chairwoman Ndi Okereke-Onyuike is also the head of Africans for Obama, a Nigeria-based support group. She was interviewed by the EFCC after media reports that the Obama campaign had disassociated itself from the group.
Mrs Okereke-Onyiuke said in August there had been a misunderstanding in the press regarding the event. The money was going to be spent on adverts encouraging Nigerians in the US to vote for Mr Obama, she said.
Tickets to the lavish event in Lagos on 11 August cost more than $21,000 (£11,000) for an eight-person table.
"We never said we were going to donate money for the campaign," she said. "We paid for the hall and the entertainers and the surplus, we said would be spent on advertisements aimed at persuading Nigerians to tell their relatives in America to register to vote.
"There is not one Nigerian who doesn't have a relative or friend in America. Our aim was to encourage those people to tell their family who have the right to vote in America to vote for Obama."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
"We never said we were going to donate money for the campaign,"
Heh. These people would fit right in with that Chicago crowd.
I'M MICHELLE OBAMA, WIFE OF THE FORMER CANDIDATE FOR US PRESIDENT, BARACK OBAMA.
MY HUSBAND...
Posted by: European Conservative ||
09/02/2008 1:47 Comments ||
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#3
I'm astounded that any Nigerians, of all people, actually thought any money they donated wouldn't disappear.
Posted by: ed ||
09/02/2008 2:06 Comments ||
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#4
From "Casablanca"
Customer: Are you sure this place is honest?
Carl: Honest? As honest as the day is long!
Posted by: European Conservative ||
09/02/2008 2:15 Comments ||
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#5
I'm astounded that any Nigerians, of all people, actually thought any money they donated wouldn't disappear.
Who said they "raised" it from Nigerians, ed?
Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields ||
09/02/2008 7:52 Comments ||
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#6
And all I got was a machine signed letter from The One axin' fo' money; $10, $20, $50, $100 OR MORE!!!!"... so we can the change we are looking for...."
glossy, non-recycled paper, doesn't even make good fire starter. crap.
United States Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W Patterson met PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif in Muree to discuss the country's political situation and the upcoming presidential election, Samaa TV reported on Monday. The US press attaché neither confirmed nor denied the meeting. The channel quoted its sources as saying that the meeting lasted two hours.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2008 00:00 ||
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Link ||
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#1
Who on the Pak political scene is Lurch?
Posted by: ed ||
09/02/2008 1:49 Comments ||
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#2
Anne Patterson is a very well qualified diplomat.
HOWEVER, why on this planet would you make a woman an ambassador to a moslem country that has sympathies for taliban attitudes toward women. That's like making a poddle an ambassador to a kennel of pitbulls. She may be doing a great job but the Paks and all of their distain for women many be working against her.
What they need in Pak right now is John BOlton to go slap those knuckleheads around.
Posted by: James Carville ||
09/02/2008 9:31 Comments ||
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The federal government has decided to rename the NWFP as Pakhtunkhawa, Samaa TV reported.
That's because NWFP's at war with the NATO and the U.S. Rather than get their butts kicked, they're pretending to be somebody else doing the same thing. It probably makes sense if your turban's real tight.
The channel said the decision was made in a meeting between an Awami National Party delegation and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday. It said that ANP chief Asfandyar Wali assured Gilani that his party would support Asif Zardari in the presidential election.
"And in return, we're gonna rename ourselves Guatamala. The U.S. would never beat up on Guatamala. Hell, they like Guatamala!"
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
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#1
Govt decides to rename NWFP as Pakhtunkhawa
Pakistan is beyond parody. I was sure today's RDSTP headline was pure snark. I was wrong.
Posted by: ed ||
09/02/2008 1:53 Comments ||
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Oil prices tumbled below $108 a barrel Tuesday down nearly $8 from Friday's close before the U.S. Labor Day weekend as investors shifted their focus to slowing global demand after worries about Hurricane Gustav subsided.
By midday in Europe, light, sweet crude for October delivery was down $7.85 a barrel to $107.61 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier in the session it had dropped as low as $105.46.
...
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is scheduled to meet Sept. 9 in Vienna and has indicated it may take action to defend the $100 a barrel level.
...
In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures fell 20.8 cents to $3.9839 a gallon, while gasoline prices lost 21.63 cents to $2.6379 a gallon. Natural gas for October delivery fell 68.7 cents to $7.256 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Posted by: ed ||
09/02/2008 07:59 ||
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Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment (ADUG) has concluded a deal to buy Premier League club Manchester City, Arabian Business magazine reported Monday. The deal was struck Sunday night between the club's former owner and ex-Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, although ADUG did not specify how much the Abu Dhabi group had paid.
"We will release details later, but this is a great event for both the club and Abu Dhabi," the magazine quoted Sulaiman al-Fahim, an ADUG board member who will represent the group on the Manchester City board, as saying. "Our goal is very simple -- to make Manchester City the biggest club in the Premier League, and to begin with, to finish in the top four this season," said Fahim, who led negotiations for the deal.
City admitted on Monday that they were in talks with ADUG but stopped short of confirming the sale had been completed. "Manchester City Football Club can confirm that there are discussions ongoing with the Abu Dhabi United Group Investment and Development Limited with regards to investing in the football club," a statement on the club's website said.
Fahim said ADUG will solve all the club's problems and clear any pending payments, and will comprehensively support the club by bringing in some of the best football players in the world.
The ousted Thai premier, who faces legal problems at home related to corruption charges, will stay on as honorary president of the club without any administrative responsibilities, according to Arabian Business. Thaksin took charge at City in July 2007 but his spell as owner looks to be at an end. He had big plans for the club but his hopes have been dashed amid legal wrangling in his own country.
Thaksin has been looking to sell City for several weeks after his assets were frozen as a result of corruption and fraud charges in Thailand and finally appears to have found a buyer. The situation for Thaksin worsened further still recently when his wife, Pojaman, was sentenced to three years in prison on a variety of corruption charges, although she has since been released on bail.
Thaksin himself is facing similar charges but flew to England last month, on the day he was due to make a court appearance in Thailand.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
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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.
Sarah Palin is the reason compasses point North.
Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential hopeful and running mate of John McCain, has revealed that her 17-year-old unmarried daughter is five-months pregnant.
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Monday accused corrupt officials of looting the country's oil wealth and said its 5 million people should be given the money directly. 
The European Union has said that its relations with Russia are at crossroads and warned that they could suffer if Moscow does not uphold accords to end the Georgia conflict.
Turkey has started carrying out extra border inspections of Russian goods in a mounting trade row that many fear was triggered by the conflict over Georgia, the Anatolia news agency reported. Foreign Trade Minister Kursat Tuzmen was quoted as saying that Russian goods would be subjected to detailed searches at border posts in retaliation.
(AKI) - A people smuggler's boat with 45 illegal immigrants on board reached the southern Italian island of Lampedusa early on Monday, continuing the wave of summer landings. Initial reports did not state the nationality or sex of the illegal migrants, who were identified and escorted by the coastguard to Lampedusa's temporary holding centre.
Well now its September 1st, the Republicans have all but canceled their national convention due to a hurricane scare in the gulf coast, and according to George Clooney as of yesterday 
As news broke of the pregnancy of Sarah Palin's eldest daughter, Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama pleaded with the GOP vice presidential candidate not to be too harsh with her daughter, who plans to marry the father of the child. 
Nigerian anti-graft investigators have seized money raised by the head of the Nigerian Stock Exchange to support US presidential candidate Barak Obama. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said it would give the money back to those who attended a gala dinner in Lagos last month. 
United States Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W Patterson met PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif in Muree to discuss the country's political situation and the upcoming presidential election, Samaa TV reported on Monday. The US press attaché neither confirmed nor denied the meeting. The channel quoted its sources as saying that the meeting lasted two hours.
Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment (ADUG) has concluded a deal to buy Premier League club Manchester City, Arabian Business magazine reported Monday. The deal was struck Sunday night between the club's former owner and ex-Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, although ADUG did not specify how much the Abu Dhabi group had paid.
