A former U.S. Marine who survived several tours of duty in Iraq and a knife attack at his Phelan home a few months ago was violently beaten to death with a hammer while installing cable at a Victorville home, authorities said. A relative of the homeowners has been arrested in the attack.
Trevor Neiman, 25, a Charter Communications Cable installer, was found beaten and bloody by San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies who responded to the home shortly after 4:30 p.m. Monday.
While Neiman was working on the cable at the home in the 15200 block of San Jose Drive, a man attacked and repeatedly beat him with a small hammer, authorities said.
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#3
One of my wife's uncles received the Navy Cross for action during WWII. It's not given out lightly. I have a chest full of ribbons, but none of them are for valor. I respect those that do wear such ribbons. Seeing this POS all decked out, and learning it's just "dress-up", makes me want to take an axehandle to his "ribbons".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/12/2009 21:53 Comments ||
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Two U.S. Secret Service armored vehicles used to protect Vice President Biden struck and killed a pedestrian in Temple Hills early Wednesday morning, authorities said. The vehicles were traveling together from Andrews Air Force Base at about 2:30 a.m. when the pedestrian was hit at the intersection of Suitland Parkway and Naylor Road in Temple Hills, U.S. Park Police said.
The drivers stayed on the scene and rendered first aid until police and rescue officials arrived, said Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan.
The pedestrian, an adult male, was transported to Prince George's Hospital Center in Cheverly with multiple critical injuries, police said. He was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.
The armored sport utility vehicle and limousine were occupied only by Secret Service employees and were not carrying the vice president or any other dignitaries, said Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan.
Terrible accident. Condolences to the man's family.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I shudder to imagine the headlines if it were Dick Cheney.
#3
I'm thinking nurses in hot costumes. Though most nurses would object, I bet you could find some young ones who would get quite a giggle out of it. It would also make a dynamite sales pitch.
A PASSENGER plane has inexplicably ploughed into a VIP lounge after a successful emergency landing, killing one person.
The Rwandair plane had been bound for Uganda when the accident happened in Rwanda's capital, Kigali.
Richard Masozera, director general of Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority, said the pilot of the 50-seat jet reported a problem two minutes into the flight and asked to land again.
"He landed safely on the runway and was guided by the marshals into the parking area," Mr Masozera said.
"For some unexplained reason, the plane, from the parking spot, took off again at full power and ... took a right turn, unexplained, into the technical building."
Information Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said the plane had hit the VIP lounge which is inside the technical building.
Mr Masozera said emergency services responded within two minutes of the crash, but one passenger later died of their injuries.
ack Elk, acting chief executive of Rwandair, said the airline's best guess was that the plane "auto-accelerated".
"The captain could not control it. The plane did not get airborne again, it taxied into the building."
He said the aircraft's black boxes would be studied by experts.
"The captain was taken to the hospital with a broken leg. He has not been able to give us any information so far," Mr Elk said.
[Mail and Globe] Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and ministers from his party attended a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday after recently ending a three-week boycott of the country's fragile unity government.
"The prime minister and all the ministers from his party attended Cabinet," James Maridadi, a spokesperson for Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, said.
Tsvangirai, a long-time opposition leader, joined his rival President Robert Mugabe in a unity government deal in February this year.
Tsvangirai's attendance at the Cabinet meeting follows a deadline set by the Southern African Development Community regional bloc last week for the three parties in the government to meet within 30 days to resolve all conflicts.
Since the setting up of the inclusive government, Mugabe and Tsvangirai have disagreed on key appointments of senior government officials such as the central bank governor and attorney general.
Tsvangirai announced his boycott after the arrest last month of one of his top aides, Roy Bennett, on terrorism charges.
Bennett went on trial Monday and the case was adjourned until Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/12/2009 00:00 ||
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HAVANA, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Cuba has ordered all state enterprises to adopt "extreme measures" to cut energy usage through the end of the year in hopes of avoiding the dreaded blackouts that plagued the country following the 1991 collapse of its then-top ally, the Soviet Union.
In documents seen by Reuters, government officials have been warned that the island is facing a "critical" energy shortage that requires the closing of non-essential factories and workshops and the shutting down of air conditioners and refrigerators not needed to preserve food and medicine.
Cuba has cut government spending and slashed imports after being hit hard by the global financial crisis and the cost of recovering from three hurricanes that struck last year.
"The energy situation we face is critical and if we do not adopt extreme measures we will have to revert to planned blackouts affecting the population," said a recently circulated message from the Council of Ministers.
"Company directors will analyze the activities that will be stopped and others reduced, leaving only those that guarantee exports, substitution of imports and basic services for the population," according to another distributed by the light industry sector.
President Raul Castro is said to be intent on not repeating the experience of the 1990s, when the demise of the Soviet Union and the loss of its steady oil supply caused frequent electricity blackouts and hardship for the Cuban public.
So he's bringing in the hardship early ...
The directives follow government warnings in the summer that too much energy was being used and blackouts would follow if consumption was not reduced.
All provincial governments and most state-run offices and factories, which encompasses 90 percent of Cuba's economic activity, were ordered in June to reduce energy use by a minimum of 12 percent or face mandatory electricity cuts. The measures appeared to resolve the crisis as state-run press published stories about the amount of energy that had been saved and the dire warnings died down. The only explanation given for the earlier warnings was that Cuba was consuming more fuel than the government had money to pay for.
The situation is not as dire as in the 1990s because Cuba receives 93,000 barrels per day of crude oil, almost two-thirds of what it consumes, from Venezuela. It pays for the oil by providing its energy-rich ally with medical personnel and other professionals.
Cuba has been grappling with the global economic downturn, which has slashed revenues from key exports, dried up credit and reduced foreign investment. The communist-run Caribbean nation also faces stiff U.S. sanctions that include cutting access to international lending institutions, and it is still rebuilding from last year's trio of hurricanes that caused an estimated $10 billion in damages.
In response, the government has cut spending, slashed imports, suspended many debt payments and frozen bank accounts of foreign businesses. It reported last week that trade was down 36 percent so far this year due mainly to a more than 30 percent reduction in imports.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#5
looks like the promised oil from Hugo Chavez didn't come after all
Posted by: lord garth ||
11/12/2009 12:47 Comments ||
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#6
I checked they use 110vac just like us here in the USA, so any equipment we have would work.
Even the wall plugs are the same, no three-prong bullshit, just two flat spades as normal up till about 1975 or so.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/12/2009 14:18 Comments ||
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#4
The solution for the boy was easy. Put pork grease on his hands. They only get smeared if they attack, and he can give them fair warning if he wants to, or wait until after they are smeared to tell them.
Hang on, I've got some lead in my basement that I can alchemize ...
Aaron Regent, president of the Canadian gold giant, said that global output has been falling by roughly 1m ounces a year since the start of the decade. Total mine supply has dropped by 10pc as ore quality erodes, implying that the roaring bull market of the last eight years may have further to run.
"There is a strong case to be made that we are already at 'peak gold'," he told The Daily Telegraph at the RBC's annual gold conference in London. "Production peaked around 2000 and it has been in decline ever since, and we forecast that decline to continue. It is increasingly difficult to find ore."
Ore grades have fallen from around 12 grams per tonne in 1950 to nearer 3 grams in the US, Canada, and Australia. South Africa's output has halved since peaking in 1970.
The supply crunch has helped push gold to an all-time high, reaching $1,118 an ounce at one stage yesterday. The key driver over recent days has been the move by India's central bank to soak up half of the gold being sold by the International Monetary Fund. It is the latest sign that the rising powers of Asia and the commodity bloc are growing wary of Western paper money and debt.
China has quietly doubled holdings to 1,054 tonnes and is thought to be adding gradually on price dips, creating a market floor. Gold remains a tiny fraction of its $2.3 trillion in foreign reserves.
Gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) -- dubbed the "People's Central Bank" -- have accumulated 1,778 tonnes, making them the fifth biggest holder after the US, Germany, France, and Italy.
Ross Norman, director of theBullionDesk.com, said exploration budgets had tripled since the start of the decade with stubbornly disappointing results so far. Mr Norman said the "false mine of central banks" had been the only new source of gold supply this decade as they auction off reserves, but they are switching sides to become net buyers.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#2
The asteroid 433 Eros, which at the closest point in its orbit will be only 70 times further away from Earth than the Moon, is believed to have more gold, silver and other metals in it than exist in the entire crust of the Earth. It is a mere 34km by 11km in size.
That being said, the extremely rare but useful metals are in the Platinum group. It might be possible to actually create enough of these metals by high speed particle bombardment to be practical.
First you create a thin film sheet of one element, then slam a huge number of high speed particles of another element against it, producing a small number of molecules of the third, desired element.
It sounds ridiculous until you realize that the low grade ores being mined today actually have lower concentrations of the desired metals than that. Having to process a hundred thousand tons of ore to get a fraction of an ounce of metal is pretty ridiculous, too.
#4
Moose, I saw some actual data of mining ops in Western Canada a while ago and the figures were substantially higher than what the article states. And I don't mean prospectuses trying to attract investor by BS-ing them, I mean production data. I smell a rat. Someone(s) wants to make it more profitable.
The bombardment you suggest would be rather an expensive method and furthermore, it would need to be scalable for industrial production volume. I don't think that there are any data of that sort yet, meaning what you bombard with what, specifically?
Fundamentally, there is not enough gold and precious metals to sustain a world economy. All we're doing is tagging something because of scarcity. You get a late planting season in Canada and the US and a very early hard frost, just watch the price of grain. You can't eat gold as a sustainable diet.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/12/2009 12:18 Comments ||
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#9
twobyfour: Here is a patent application to do just that, to create Palladium, one of the Platinum group metals. It uses Molybdenum and Beryllium.
http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090262880
This sort of bombardment has been shown to work at the experimental level (and actually produced more of the new element than expected), and scalability doesn't seem to be a problem. The limit is the size of your particle accelerator.
Make molybdenum into thin sheet. Bombard, then separate and reprocess remaining molybdenum to use again. Since platinum group metals are recovered from ore at only 2ppm, having a continual process to create it is a very attractive idea.
And molybdenum and beryllium are very common compared to platinum group metals.
Any day I see P2k's scenario will be a holiday, Fred. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/12/2009 14:10 Comments ||
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#11
If only the Japanese moneyed class hadn't been so fond of sprinkling gold powder on their food during the go-go days of the 1980s. Ah well, soon enough it will occur to someone to mine the waste treatment plants serving Tokyo.
#13
Why do yall think I plant a big garden and can gobs of stuff? A jar of beans might be worth quite a bit soon. Also, beer and hooch. I'll have it made. That and my stock-piling of incandescent light bulbs.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
11/12/2009 18:57 Comments ||
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#14
This is pure bullsh$$. There are something like 3 billion ounces of gold in the Cripple Creek/Victor area. Currently, they're inaccessible. There's too much water - it fills any shaft sunk below a certain level, and even the biggest pumps used were unable to keep up with the inflow. The several mines still working have to jump through more hoops than the Olympics in order to stay in business, yet they make a profit. There's also more gold dissolved in the ocean than there is in all the vaults in the world. Again, this article is worth about as much as Nidal Hasan's loyalty to the US.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/12/2009 22:06 Comments ||
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#15
I don't know if I would call it worthless OldP.
It would make a great section in a proposal to mine 433 Eros.
A decorated Marine veteran who was famously photographed smoking a cigar after the fall of Baghdad announced Tuesday that he is running for Congress in California's most southern district.
Nick Popaditch, 42, said he will seek the Republican nomination to unseat Democrat Bob Filner on a campaign that promotes limited government, a strong national defense and secure borders.
Known as "Gunny Pop," Popaditch was awarded the Silver Star for combat actions in Fallujah, where he was blinded in one eye by a rocket-propelled grenade to the head.
That April 2004 attack came nearly a year after an Associated Press photographer captured a smiling Popaditch smoking a cigar, with the just-fallen statue of Saddam Hussein in the background. The photograph landed on newspaper front pages, garnering Popaditch worldwide attention.
Popaditch was a tank commander during the Persian Gulf War, was honorably discharged in 1992 and rejoined the Marines in 1995. He took medical retirement after his injury in Fallujah.
"Irresponsible spending, intrusive regulations, and a growing deficit are crippling our children's future," Popaditch, who announced his bid Tuesday, said on his Web site.
California's heavily Democratic 51st Congressional District stretches along the Mexican border from south San Diego to the Arizona state line. Filner, who was first elected in 1992, was re-elected last year with 73 percent of the vote.
Carl Luna, a political science professor at San Diego's Mesa College, predicted Popaditch's appeal for strong borders will not sit well with the district's large Hispanic population.
"It's a nice exercise, but he doesn't have a chance (against Filner)," Luna said.
Filner did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
[Bangla Daily Star] India's ruling Congress, its West Bengal ally Trinamool Congress and also Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) emerged big winners in a string of by-elections to 31 assembly seats and one parliamentary seat spread across seven states.
The biggest losers in the by-elections were India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, Left parties and Samajwadi Party headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav.
As the counting of votes in the by-polls, which were held on November 7, and results of the polls came in by Tuesday evening, it underlined Sonia Gandhi-led Congress party's steady progress towards domination of the country's political stage.
The party won ten out of the 31 assembly seats where by-polls were held and as an icing on the cake it also bagged the Firozabad Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh where its candidate Raj Babbar, filmstar-turned-politician, defeated Dimple Yadav, the daughter-in-law of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, by a huge margin of over 85,000 votes.
The Congress' win came in three seats in Kerala, two in Assam, one each in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
Political analysts said it was the campaigning by Rahul Gandhi, the scion of Nehru-Gandhi family, in Firozabad which turned the tables on Samajwadi Party in the constituency, something acknowledged by Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh after the results were declared Tuesday evening.
Interestingly, Raj Babbar had made "dynastic politics" a major plank in his campaign in Firozabad accusing Mualayam Singh of promoting his family interests in politics.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/12/2009 00:00 ||
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Posted by: lord garth ||
11/12/2009 15:51 Comments ||
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#3
This has great significance in that it means that there's no way to "totally deplete" a gas or oil field. The amount of recoverable oil and gas may reach a point where it's not currently feasible to recover, but the reservoir could possibly replenish itself.
This isn't really new. We've seen methane generation from landfills for decades now. Not all of it can be attributable to plant or animal matter.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/12/2009 22:22 Comments ||
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[Straits Times] CAMBODIA has turned down a request from Thailand to arrest former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who last year was sentenced in absentia by a Thai court to two years imprisonment for violating a conflict of interest law.
A statement from Cambodia's Foreign Affairs Ministry on Wednesday said the request to detain Thaksin for extradition would not be honoured because the legal case against him was politically motivated, and therefore not covered by the countries' extradition treaty.
The ministry handed over a statement refusing to extradite the billionaire - ousted in a 2006 coup and later sentenced to two years in prison for graft - just seconds after officials from the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh submitted the request.
'Cambodia considers the prosecution and legal process against His Excellency Mr Thaksin Shinawatra as a politically motivated proceeding,' the ministry said in a statement. It said it would not recognise the charges because Thaksin was toppled by the military after being 'overwhelmingly anddemocratically elected by the Thai people', adding: 'Taking into consideration these absolute realities ... Cambodia is not in a position to make the provisional arrest for the purpose of extradition.'
The rejection is likely to anger Thai authorities, already fuming after the former telecommunications tycoon arrived in Cambodia on Tuesday to take up a job as economic adviser to its government.
The diplomatic spat could undermine any attempt by South-east Asian leaders to project a united front in talks with US President Barack Obama on Sunday in Singapore, the first-ever meeting between a US leader and all 10 members of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean
Posted by: Fred ||
11/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
There is this whole "emperor's new clothes" bit in the way their droid worshipers brag about her clothes. I think she dresses like a bag lady, although, this teal is not being fair to bag ladies.
#4
One of the commenters notes that Laura Bush wore similar colours for the same occasion, and no one commented. See here and here for photos. In my opinion, were it not for the belt, the outfit would have been fine. There's a point where a personal fashion statement becomes caricature. Were it not that it was stated she hoped to be the Jackie Kennedy of today, nobody would care the slightest bit what that poor woman puts on her body.
#6
I don't care what she wears [as long as she's wearing something] just as long as she doesn't pin on medals like the yahoo several entries below did. [see - Another Military Fake Facing Federal Charges].
#7
I'm a guy so my fashion judgement is immediately suspect, but Laura always seemed to look classy, like she knew she was doing something important with the grownups. Somehow Michelle manages to look like slightly skanky middle school teacher, no offense to that demographic cohort. And yes, it's just downright mean to say that, but that is how America is, you know.
1) Yes, Laura wore teal. But she made it look GOOD. Not your color, babe, sorry. The people who wear it best have a little reddish tone to their hair. You don't. Try a different dark jewel tone if you just can't stand the usual black and gray palette for a somber occasion. Possibly a nice dark purple or burgundy? (You ought to like purple...it is a royal color, after all, and ain't you the Queen of Fashion?)
2) Lose the ridiculous belt, please. There are other ways to accentuate a waist. Try one of them for variety. Your ever-present belt is becoming a cliche.
#13
Dressing for that figure can't be easy. Hard to minimize that fanny. Can't help she seems to have a desire for sharply defined colors and the belt under the boobs that don't help her in the effort.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/12/2009 12:01 Comments ||
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#15
Yes, the outfit was too 'sunny' for the venue.
However, like Ebbang, I am more offended by the smirky smile. Perhaps she was mostly able to look soberly affected by the service performed by the people buried at Arlington Natl Cemetery. I hope so.
Posted by: lord garth ||
11/12/2009 12:07 Comments ||
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#16
"When dressing for any ceremony to give honor and pay respects to those who have passed away, it is vital that your attire not draw attention to you."
Doesn't apply to Michelle, silly. Don't you know It's All About Her and Bambi?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/12/2009 12:31 Comments ||
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#17
Do not criticise Michelle. She is properly dressed and in full uniform for her rank...
#18
She's got big hips. That's not a slam, just a statement of fact. It's probably mostly to do with her genetics--and I say that as the proud owner of French hillbilly DNA that spring-loads me toward pudgy myself..
That being the case, there's ways to dress if you're shaped like that which make you look good. The high belt is not doing that for her--it makes her hips look bigger.
She also seems to be going for flash. Wrong call. Your husband is the Leader of the Free World and most powerful person of color to have walked the Earth. You don't need flash. Go for understatement; it gives you an air of class.
Posted by: Mike ||
11/12/2009 14:07 Comments ||
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#19
"it gives you an air of class"
Unfortunately, Mike, nothing will give Her Whine-ness an air of class.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/12/2009 14:13 Comments ||
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#20
Why is she wearing a belt on the outside of her coat? Is that some kind of fashion trend or something? looks like she's strapped to something.
#21
Delighted to know Michelle still retains the WWF crown, though I hear Randy "Macho Man" Savage will come out of retirement to wrestle her for the belt.
And yes, both her fashion and attitude are way off base, but she is consistent.
Posted by: ed ||
11/12/2009 15:29 Comments ||
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#22
CF, I think it's just proof that the woman doesn't own a decent bra, and is expecting the belt to help hold 'em up.
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.
HAVANA, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Cuba has ordered all state enterprises to adopt "extreme measures" to cut energy usage through the end of the year in hopes of avoiding the dreaded blackouts that plagued the country following the 1991 collapse of its then-top ally, the Soviet Union.
A decorated Marine veteran who was famously photographed smoking a cigar after the fall of Baghdad announced Tuesday that he is running for Congress in California's most southern district.
"Irresponsible spending, intrusive regulations, and a growing deficit are crippling our children's future," Popaditch, who announced his bid Tuesday, said on his Web site.
[Straits Times] CAMBODIA has turned down a request from Thailand to arrest former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who last year was sentenced in absentia by a Thai court to two years imprisonment for violating a conflict of interest law.
