The investigation into the fatal shooting of a prominent Los Angeles attorney outside his Rolling Hills Estates home took a new twist this morning when the L.A. County Sheriff's Department said detectives did not find a weapon at the scene. "What? What? No weapon? Legume! My cape! The game's afoot!"
The revelation comes as detectives try to determine whether the attorney was the victim of a homicide or committed suicide. "Hmmm... Whaddya make of it, McGinty?"
"No gun? Popped in the noggin? Walked out to the car to get his laptop and never came back? Could be suicide, I suppose..."
The fact that no gun was found would make the suicide theory harder to substantiate. Y'might say that. Might have kicked into the gutter after shooting himself in the driveway ...
On Tuesday evening, deputies searched the surrounding neighborhood for evidence. Officials called the death highly suspicious but stopped short of calling it a homicide, saying more investigation was needed. [Thrash!] [Thrash!] [Stomp!] [Stumble!]
"Any clues yet, McGinty?"
Jeffrey Tidus, 53, an attorney with Baute & Tidus, a downtown Los Angeles law firm specializing in civil litigation, was found shot outside his home about 8:30 p.m. Monday. He died Tuesday morning at a hospital. "Jeffrey! Who did this to you? Who was it?"
"It was... It was... [Gasp!]... [Rattle!]... Rosebud!"
"He's dead, Jim!"
"Who did it, Bones?"
"Goddammit, Jim! I'm a doctor, not a detective!"
Neighbors said Tidus' wife told them that he had gone outside to get a laptop computer from his car and didn't return. "Hmmm... It's almost lunchtime and Jeffrey's not back yet."
They said they saw the laptop on the lawn, with blood visible on the driveway. "What's that on the lawn, McGinty?"
"Looks like a laptop, Chief!"
"And in the driveway?"
"I don't think it's a laptop."
Tidus was shot once, and officials would not say whether they had recovered a weapon. "How about powder burns?"
"We haven't recovered any of those, either."
On Tuesday afternoon, deputies scoured the neighborhood, searching in gardens and under bushes for clues. "Whaddya got there, McGinty?"
"Could be a powder burn, Chief!"
Sheriff's Lt. Dave Dolson said authorities would be looking into Tidus' cases to determine whether his death might be linked to his work. He also tried to assure residents that the attorney's death appears not to have been random. "There's a possibility it might not have been self-inflicted, either!"
Attorney Brian Hennigan, a close friend for more than a decade, said he is doubtful Tidus took his own life. "Yeah. He was always so happy. Right up to the end. Then suddenly he wasn't happy."
"What happened to make him so unhappy?"
"Got hit by a bullet. Ruined his day."
"The speculation about suicide makes no sense on any number of fronts," he said. "The location and the timing make this highly unlikely speculation. From numerous conversations with Jeff over the past few years, I can say that it is inconsistent -- and contradictory -- with everything that I know about my friend." "Besides, who shoots himself in the back of the head? From 200 yards?"
"He is a very dedicated family man . . . a by-the-book attorney known for his work on the state bar ethics panel," added Hennigan. "I was in total shock. We only ran together Sunday. He's an avid long-distance runner. We've run a few marathons together." "Legume! My saxophone! And cherchez la femme!"
Posted by: Fred ||
12/10/2009 00:00 ||
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A round of Yuengling for the house!
MEN now have another excuse to go down the pub thanks to new research suggesting that a compound in beer may prevent prostate cancer. Tests showed that the ingredient, xanthohumol, blocked a biological pathway that allows prostate cancer to be fuelled by the male hormone testosterone.
The disease is commonly treated with drugs that act in a similar way.
Xanthohumol is a powerful antioxidant derived from hops. It belongs to a family of chemicals called flavonoids found in fruits and vegetables that are known to have anti-cancer properties. Previous studies have already suggested that xanthohumol may block the female hormone oestrogen's ability to stimulate breast cancer. Scientists now believe it may have a similar effect in men.
In laboratory tests, the compound blocked the molecular "switch" that allows testosterone to trigger changes in prostate cells that may lead to cancer. H/T Instapundit
#6
As Cliff, in his infinite wisdom, said to Norm: "Well ya see, Norm, it's like this. A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first.
"This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells.
"Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine!"
Posted by: Dar ||
12/10/2009 18:36 Comments ||
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#7
beer. Is there anything it can't do?
/Homer
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/10/2009 21:08 Comments ||
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#8
My old man died of Prostrate cancer and definitely did not have a beer shortage. I'd guess he averaged 4 - 6 cans a night for 20 years.
I have to ask, What brand?
I want to know the type that did him No good.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/10/2009 21:56 Comments ||
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Rogersville, Tenn. (AP) -- A Tennessee man's homeowners insurance apparently doesn't cover "acts of cow." Jerry Lynn Davis called the Hawkins County Sheriff's office on Thursday, complaining that a neighbor's cows had been licking his house. EAT MOER CHIKIN
In the process, Davis says the curious bovines did about $100 in damage by ripping off a screen window, cracking the glass and pulling down a gutter.
The Kingsport Times-News reports that Davis' home is just a couple of feet from a fence enclosing the cows' pasture. They managed to poke their heads through to lick the house, though a deputy's report did not indicate what made the house so tasty.
Deputy Chris Funk was able to contact the cows' owner, who said he'd take care of the problem. And that's what is happening in my neighborhood.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/10/2009 11:53 ||
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#1
Actually, this is a real problem. I had something similar happen to my car in England. The local co-op ran a herd of about 50 cows on the pasture surrounding the house I rented. The cows were out one night when I came home from work. Overnight, they broke my radio antenna off, licked the paint in several places down to the primer, and did a job on both side mirrors. It cost me 800 Pounds to have all the damage repaired. The Co-op paid half, I paid half.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/10/2009 16:06 Comments ||
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#5
I have had cow licking problems with a Jeep Cherokee. same thing, the cows came around at night and licked the car all over, very strange, we thought it could have been the wax
#8
Legitimate concern in the oil patch. A cow will stand and drink crude oil from a pipeline leak until it falls over dead. It then becomes very valuable, albeit deceased, prime breeding stock.
#2
My brother works for the VA in Richmaond and every year he and several others take the 'quads' (his words) hunting. They all have a good time and he ensures that the game is shared equally ( the hospital staff cook it up for the patients.)
You left out, "you eat it", Mojo. Those idiots that "only hunt for the sport of it" are just that, IDIOTS. God put plants and animals on this planet to feed one another and us. I quit hunting in Colorado when the number of "sportsmen" outnumbered intelligent, sensible hunters. I don't mind the sound of high-caliber ammunition whizzing past my head in a war zone, but when it's WORSE on a typical "hunting" trip, that's waaaayy too much.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/10/2009 22:23 Comments ||
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In public at least, the early days of the climate summit here have been dominated by developing nations' furor over a proposed "Copenhagen Agreement" that leaked to environmentalists and reporters Tuesday. But many developing nations -- including China and India -- in fact had a hand in drafting the "Danish text," a source with deep knowledge of the negotiations said today.
Developing countries including China, India, Brazil, Algeria, Ethiopia and Bangladesh had "input into the process and product" of the proposed agreement, the source said. Representatives of those nations knew about the agreement's most controversial provisions, including commitments for greenhouse gas reductions by developing countries and a reduced role for the United Nations in climate policy, well before the summit began. It was unclear if everyone in the room agreed to every provision.
The proposal sparked breathless global press coverage; loud protests in the Bella Center, where negotiators are gathered; and a run of outraged press conferences, all from poor nations and nonprofit groups that work closely with them, who complained that the draft provisions would penalize developing nations to the benefit of wealthy countries such as the United States and Denmark.
The Danish text "robs developing countries of their just and equitable and fair share of the atmospheric space," Lumumba Di-Aping, the Sudanese chairman of a coalition of developing nations and China, told reporters earlier this week. The World Wildlife Fund's Kim Carstensen said the text "reflects a too elitist, selective and non-transparent approach."
Summit leaders have called the proposal informal and one of several drafts circulating among negotiators. One of the goals for wealthy-nation negotiators in Copenhagen is to find a way to include developing-nation reduction targets in an agreement with some level of formality -- and the "Danish text" appears to make a first attempt at that compromise language.
Despite a decade of record drought, Australian farmers refuse to buy into climate change
Australians are on the front lines in experiencing the life-altering consequences of climate change, which is the subject of global scrutiny this week at the international climate summit in Copenhagen. Brush fires killed 173 people earlier this year during the most severe heat wave in the history of southeast Australia. Rising temperatures and declining rainfall are, with increasing frequency, transforming the Outback into a crematorium for kangaroos, livestock and farm towns.
In coming decades, the government predicts water shortages, rising seas and catastrophic storms. Climate scientists say a subtropical ridge of high pressure - fortified by a buildup of greenhouse gases - seems to be elbowing rain clouds away from southern Australia and the Murray basin. I wonder what climate "scientists" would have predicted for the American southwest in 1935, in the middle of our "Dust Bowl"?
As in the United States, partisan politics common sense and vested interests have paralyzed some of this country's response to climate change. Australia is the world's largest coal exporter, and its dependence on cheap coal-fired electricity gives it the world's highest per-capita carbon emissions. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's push to slash those emissions with a carbon trading plan was killed last week in the legislature for the second time in less than six months. The embarrassing defeat will leave Rudd, a prominent player in global environmental politics, empty-handed at the U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen.
Yet along the Murray, there is a climate-change conundrum that responsible politicians and smart scientists have yet to solve: Most farmers, the biggest losers as the river shrinks, simply do not buy the notion that southern Australia's climate is changing in a way that is probably in Al Gore's dreams irreversible. Their skepticism has withstood nearly 13 years of unrelenting drought, falling incomes and daily encounters with a river that is dying in front of their eyes.
"I think we are coming to the end of a 10-year cycle of drought," said one of the rubes named Grant, 48, as he drove a visitor out among his apricot trees. He has had to watch many of those trees die, the result of government-imposed limits on the water he can pump out of the Murray. Last year, he was permitted to take just 18 percent of what had been the farm's guaranteed allocation of water; this year, with a slight increase in rainfall, he is getting 46 percent. So the rainfall is already increasing?
"How long we can continue depends, I guess, on the government," Denise said. "How long can the government continue to keep delivering drought relief?"
Not long. The minister of agriculture, Tony Burke, has said that as climate change makes drought an unexceptional circumstance, government must wean farmers off assistance and push them into self-sustaining livelihoods. Like government jobs.
"The recent 12-year, 8-month period is the driest in the 110-years-long record," according to a report this year from Australia's Bureau of Meteorology, which says the declining rainfall pattern "closely resembles the picture provided by climate model simulations of future changes due to enhanced greenhouse gases." Well, that's it then! Enough of this anti-science silliness!
But there is no serious disputing that southern Australia must prepare for a much hotter and drier future; the government forecasts that rainfall will decline 22 to 71 percent by 2100.
What all this means for 2 million Australians who live on farms and in towns along the Murray is that communities must die, families must move and a hugely overbuilt irrigation system will have to shrink, experts said. Sounds like California.
The government is ready and willing to make the exodus happen, with $3.1 billion in the bank to buy out irrigators and $5.8 billion to upgrade infrastructure. New laws have stripped farmers of guaranteed access to water from the Murray, while creating a market for buying and selling water allocations. As a result, the cost of water has soared and waste of water has sharply declined.
"They really do face a bleak future," said Chris Miller, a social scientist and expert climatoligist who teaches at Flinders University in Adelaide and has been interviewing farmers along the Murray for 15 months. "But they do not yet believe the water isn't coming back." Yesterday's WaPo piece on the front page to shore up O's visit.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/10/2009 06:03 ||
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Bad example, Bobby. The Dust Bowl in 1935 was probably a creature of the *actual* peak of global warming, or at least continental warming, IIRC. Wasn't there some micro-scandal when NASA/GISS under Hansen was forced to revise claims that 1998 was the warmest year ever in the continental US with a correction that, um, actually, 1935 was the hottest year on record.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
12/10/2009 9:46 Comments ||
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#2
hugely overbuilt irrigation system will have to shrink
Which is the real problem, plus upstream dams built by Queensland. There is nothing to indicate rainfall is outside historical variability.
Brush fires killed 173 people earlier this year during the most severe heat wave in the history of southeast Australia.
Thats because people are building houses in the bush without adequate clearance around them. A problem compounded by the enviros.
I heard an interview with someone whose house survived the fires, while all his nearby neighbours were burned out. He had incurred two $10,000 fines for clearing the bush around his house.
Here in Western Australia we have far and away the largest bushfires in Australia and they don't even make the local news, because no one lives out there (in an area called the Great Southern Woodland).
#4
Mitch H.: The Dust Bowl (1930-1940) would have been just a bad decade in that region, but became a major problem because of bad agricultural practices, resulting in a vast amount of topsoil being blown away.
Ironically, those farmers *outside* of the Dust Bowl region had such bumper crops that there was major overproduction right when the Great Depression deflation hit. Wheat was less than 50 cents a bushel, and corn was burned for fuel.
This is why "Ol' Frank" created the Federal Surplus Relief Corporation (FSRC), an insanely authoritarian government agency. One of their first acts was to slaughter 6 million pigs, in the very decentralized pork industry, to stabilize prices. Literally going from farm to farm, killing every pig they could catch, on the spot.
Next, they bought up vast amounts of grain to destroy, using a small percentage to feed people who were starving, but had no money. Then they put huge amounts of farmland off limits, paying farmers to *not* grow crops there.
They even went so far as to go into the homes of farmers and destroy the food they had for their own use in storage, such as canned goods. Quite literally telling them that the only food they could have was that provided by the government.
#5
Mitch - I was suggesting that had the Global Warmers been around then, we would've had cap and trade by 1940. Yet, somehow, the agriculture industry in the region survived. Farming practices changed, sure, but so did the weather.
I just love the way the WaPo assumes the farmers are all morons, when the WaPo is drowning in Kool Aide.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/10/2009 12:36 Comments ||
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#6
'moose - I know, I've mentioned the great livestock slaughter elsewhere in connection with Cash for Clunkers. I'm not arguing for causation, just that the correlation makes it a weak comparative argument in this context.
And Bobby, they didn't need watermelon-style subterfuge back in the 'Thirties, because being a straight-out collectivist was expected, even fashionable. No need to hide behind scientific prattle to sell destructive collectivist command-and-control schemes.
Not that didn't stop the Commies & Lysenko around about the same time period...
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
12/10/2009 15:34 Comments ||
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#7
I just read what I wrote, and realized how foolish it was. What the hell is Marxism, but collectivism hidden behind scientific prattle about the dialectic?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
12/10/2009 15:36 Comments ||
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#8
But we love you anyway, Mitch. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/10/2009 15:46 Comments ||
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#9
So it's hot and dry on a continent famous for being hot and dry. Who could have seen that coming?
#10
They even went so far as to go into the homes of farmers and destroy the food they had for their own use in storage, such as canned goods. Quite literally telling them that the only food they could have was that provided by the government.
How many were sot and killed by these "Homeowners", or alternately went on their job, and were never seen again?
Somebody destroys the food I need, they die.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/10/2009 21:48 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A group of Egyptian men have established an organization to fight for men's rights and protect them from the "tyranny" of women as the country's women take advantage of a law allowing them to divorce their husbands with no questions asked.
What kind of masochist would choose to be married to a woman who doesn't want him, when he could be free to turn his attentions to a woman who does?
The kind who dominate women and love men or causes or both
Or, more simply, men who don't consider what a woman wants to be important ...
Yes, but they still have to eat the food she has prepared, the clothes she has washed, and the bed she has made. There are ways the most repressed woman can make her discontent felt, even if it's her maids that do the actual work.
Men who have been unjustly left by their wives want to protect themselves and others like them from women who suddenly decide to get rid of them, Abdul-Rahman Hamed, the founder of the organization, the first of its kind, and one of its most active members, told Al Arabiya.
"The law of unconditional divorce has become a sword hanging over men's heads," he said, adding "men are the ones who now need organizations to fight for their rights," to protect themselves from the "tyranny" of women.
Hamed is talking about khol'a, or the law of unconditional divorce, which was passed in 2000 and grants women the right to get a divorce if she gives up her financial rights.
So he no longer has to support a woman who is uninterested in her wifely duties, meaning he'll be able to afford someone interested. And yet these silly men object?
Prior to khol'a, it was extremely difficult for a woman to be granted a divorce and she had to present strong evidence supporting her wish for separation such as physical abuse or adultery.
Finally, he does not have to be mortified by being shown irrefutably to be so abusive it goes beyond that which is permitted by Sharia, after which few would give him their daughter's hand in marriage. It could be thought these men are a bit confused.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/10/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Remind me again what is the islamic law for divorce (if you are a muslim male)? What's that magic incantation?
Posted by: ed ||
12/10/2009 6:47 Comments ||
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A rise in insecticide resistant mosquitoes has become the latest threat to combating malaria in Nigeria, where roughly up to 300,000 people die each year from the killer disease, experts have warned.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, contributes more than a quarter of the one million malaria deaths in Africa, according to official statistics.
Some 75 million Nigerians, or half of the population, get attacked by malaria at least once a year while children below five years (around 24 million) get up to four bouts each year. Alternate headline: Environmentalists kill 300,000 Nigerians every year, 3 million worldwide.
Posted by: ed ||
12/10/2009 09:02 ||
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#1
The Darwin Effect. I think that all the muslim fundamentalists that don't want to be contaminated by Western culture should be allowed to exist without it. Of course that means NO pharmaceuticals, NO genmod crops, NO electronics, no modern chemistry, etc. Let them live in their 7th century world complete with 7th century lifespans. They would be happier and the rest of the world would be better off.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Mixing of the sexes is permissable in Islam and is a natural part of life, the president of the Mecca branch of the religious police told a Saudi paper, adding he did not understand why there was so much outrage when the co-ed university, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), was opened.
Those who oppose mixing of the sexes are contradicting themselves as they most likely mix with the opposite sex on a daily basis, such as having female servants, Sheikh Ahmed Bin Qassim Al-Ghamdi, the head of Mecca's Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice committee, told Saudi's Okaz newspaper.
Al-Ghamdi added that it is only a minority of scholars that ban mixing of the sexes and said these scholars had no strong evidence to support their claims and were leading today's Muslims astray from the Muslims during the time of the Prophet Muhammad.
The sheikh went on to say that mixing of the sexes was never prohibited during the Prophet's times and was a natural part of life of the Sahaba's, or Prophet's companions.
Al-Ghamdi also argued that the term "mixing" could not be found in Shariah, or Islamic law, and said Shariah says nothing about banning non-married men and women from working, studying and socializing with each other.
"Islamic law says nothing about mixing unlike the numerous laws on things such as divorce, trading and war. Mixing of the sexes does not have official laws or concepts."
Al-Ghamdi said the term mixing was coined simply because some scholars have exaggerated the so-called taboo of mixing of the sexes despite the fact that it is natural.
"It is dangerous when the term mixing is being connected with the science of Islamic law this affects the heritage of islamic law negatively because have given a fake idea merit," which al-Ghamdi said leads to chaos.
There is usually strict segregation between men and women in Saudi circles and the sexes do not mix in schools, universities, officies and even restaurants and malls have female only areas.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/10/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Those who oppose mixing of the sexes are contradicting themselves as they most likely mix with the opposite sex on a daily basis, such as having female servants
Wow! That's a progressive's progressive. He would fit in well at the Dopenhagen soiree. Fire up the Gulfstream V.
Posted by: ed ||
12/10/2009 6:51 Comments ||
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#2
S0 - Does that mean that Tiger is off the hook or what
[Bangla Daily Star] International Anti-Corruption Day was observed in a befitting manner in the country yesterday as elsewhere across the world. On the occasion, different rights groups, organisations observed elaborate programmes all over the country with a call to make the society free from all sorts of corruption with collective efforts.
Stressing the need of a corruption free society, Anti-Corruption Commission Chairman Ghulam Rahman said, "If we can free political parties, its activities and the election process from corruption, we can expect a remarkable reduction in corruption in our society".
The ACC chief said this at a discussion in Rajshahi city yesterday. Promoting Governance, Accountability, Transparency and Integrity (Progati), an USAID initiative, organised the discussion.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also expressed her firm determination to build a corruption-free society. She said her government would bring to justice those who were involved in corruption in the past, for the welfare of the country, reports UNB.
Hasina said this while she was talking to local people in a videoconference after inaugurating a newly installed 1000-kilowatt medium wave transmission centre of Bangladesh Betar in Dhamrai yesterday.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/10/2009 00:00 ||
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Observed by whom?
It sure as hell wasn't any of the politicians....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/10/2009 0:15 Comments ||
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I think they are celebrating the fact Bangladesh is no longer the most corrupt nation on earth. Props to Somalia!
Posted by: ed ||
12/10/2009 6:54 Comments ||
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There are reports that ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is about to leave for exile in Mexico but it is unclear if and when he will go.
Sources close to Mr Zelaya indicated he would leave Brazil's embassy in the capital, Tegucigalpa, where he has been holed up, and fly to Mexico. But Mr Zelaya told Telesur he would not leave as an asylum seeker.
Porfirio Lobo won presidential polls late last month and Congress voted not to allow Mr Zelaya to serve out his last two months of office.
Sources close to Mr Zelaya said he wanted to leave the country but it was not confirmed whether he would be allowed safe passage. However, the AFP news agency quoted the head of the Honduran Civil Aviation Authority as saying a Mexican plane was en route to pick up Mr Zelaya.
The Associated Press news agency quoted a Honduran foreign ministry spokesman as saying a safe-conduct pass had been signed. Mr Zelaya told Telesur he would not leave the country as an asylum seeker and he insisted he was still the president. But he later told Radio Globo he was negotiating a "consensual solution". And he told Honduran television he was waiting to see whether the "de facto regime" would confirm that he had safe passage to leave.
Mr Zelaya returned to Honduras from exile on 21 September and has been staying at the Brazilian embassy to avoid arrest. Conditions inside the embassy are reported to be uncomfortable and the building is surrounded by soldiers and armed police.
After his victory, Mr Lobo pledged to form a unity government and seek dialogue. He also urged the international community to "understand the Honduran reality and stop punishing the country". But Mr Zelaya has described the presidential elections as "electoral fraud". Several Latin American nations, including Brazil, refused to recognise the elections.
#1
Tar, feathers, nearest rail out of town Toyota pickup truck bed. Unwanted house guest problem solved.
Posted by: ed ||
12/10/2009 6:57 Comments ||
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#2
Several Latin American nations, including Brazil, refused to recognise the elections.
Then close your embassy in Brazil [most likely cut off funding] and tell any staff members to return or accept exile. Then tell Brazil to clear their embassy mission out as well. Make life interesting.
Posted by: ed ||
12/10/2009 9:22 Comments ||
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#4
P2K has it: if Brazil were truly serious about this and not just posing, they'd break relations (which is what not recognizing the government means, after all), pack their bags and leave. They could take Mel with them.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/10/2009 9:43 Comments ||
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#5
What is the definition of "Latin America", anyways? Is it "Hispanic-speaking", or "Central and South America, including the Carribean"? Because Brazil isn't Central America, nor is it Spanish-speaking. Why does Brazil's opinion on Honduras matter more than, oh, I don't know, Australia's?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
12/10/2009 9:48 Comments ||
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#6
they speak Latin?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/10/2009 10:00 Comments ||
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#7
So shouldn't we count Canada, what with their Quebecois?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
12/10/2009 12:50 Comments ||
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#8
I dunno, Mel. The Mexicans don't really treat Honduran immigrants all that well, I understand.
Unless they have, oh, say 40 mil stashed somewhere...
Update 10:00: Enrique Flores Lanza, former Minister of the Presidency (who also has charges against him for withdrawing L.40 million in cash from the national bank two days before the proposed June 28 poll), has confirmed to Telesur that Zelaya has not asked for political asylum. The Mexican Chancellor confirmed that Zelaya does not have political asylum in Mexico. Political asylum would prevent Zelaya from political activities and apparently his intent was to do some last minute campaigning with foreign governments to try to return to office. As mentioned above, he's now talking about negotiating a new agreement of some sort. Please! He's violated every clause of every agreement so far.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/10/2009 00:00 ||
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Well boyz and grrls, the gas pipeline US communists and mmonbats warned was the real reason the US attacked the Taliban regime has been built.
A natural gas pipeline linking Turkmenistan and China is nearly operational and President Hu Jintao will attend an inauguration ceremony during a visit to the central Asian nation this weekend, a senior Chinese diplomat said Thursday.
The 1,833-kilometer (1,139-mile) Turkmenistan-China pipeline cuts through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan into China's far western Xinjiang region.
It will eventually be able to bring 30 billion cubic meters of gas annually from gas-rich Turkmenistan, undercutting Russia's near-lock on gas supplies in that former Soviet region.
Posted by: ed ||
12/10/2009 08:43 ||
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(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell to a two-month low after a government report showed that U.S. fuel inventories climbed as refineries bolstered operating rates.
Gasoline stockpiles rose 2.25 million barrels to 216.3 million, the report showed. Supplies of distillate fuel, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, increased 1.62 million barrels to 167.3 million. Refineries operated at 81.1 percent of capacity, up 1.4 percentage points from the previous week and the highest level since October.
"Whenever refiners increase operating rates we get big builds in the products," said Gene McGillian, an analyst and broker at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. "As long as we get no indication that demand is recovering, this market will remain under pressure."
Crude oil for January delivery fell $1.95, or 2.7 percent, to $70.67 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest settlement since Oct. 7. Prices dropped for a sixth consecutive day, the longest decline since July.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/10/2009 00:00 ||
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Bank of America Corp. today said it has sent the U.S. Treasury $45 billion to repay U.S. taxpayers for all loans under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
The bank announced the plan to pay back the government aid last week. The repayment comes after the completion of a securities offering that raised $19.3 billion.
To repay TARP, Bank of America repurchased all of the preferred shares issued to the Treasury. It also paid the government $190 million in dividends owed on the preferred securities.
The Treasury continues to hold warrants to buy Bank of America common stock that were issued as part of the preferred shares. The bank hasn't announced a plan to buy those back.
In addition to buying back the shares, the government also has required Bank of America to raise $3 billion by selling assets. The sales must be approved by the Federal Reserve Board and under contract by June 30. The bank is also raising $1.7 billion by issuing restricted stock in lieu of a portion of cash to certain employees as part of year-end bonuses.
After paying back TARP and taking the other actions, the bank said it would have a Tier 1 Capital ratio of 11 percent, well above the 6 percent required by regulators. Its Tier 1 common capital ratio, another measure of the bank's ability to absorb losses, would be at 8.4 percent.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/10/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Which will be promptly wasted invested by our betters in DC.
Posted by: ed ||
12/10/2009 6:59 Comments ||
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#2
Well now that its been laundered through BOA - it's now the democrap's government's money - not the taxpayers.
One of the most senior figures in the financial world surprised a conference of high-level bankers yesterday when he criticised them for failing to grasp the magnitude of the financial crisis and belittled their suggested reforms. Volcker is merely being used as a figurehead by the Obama administration. Now & then articles like this quote him, but I can't see anything he has advocated or stood for being pushed by O. The MSM continues to support propping up the housing bubble & gives no coverage to the underlying problems that caused the bubble.
As bankers demanded that new regulation should not stifle massive bonuses underwritten by government bailouts going directly into their pockets, the common welfare be damned innovation, a clearly irritated Mr Volcker said that the biggest innovation in the industry over the past 20 years had been ATM's. He went on to attack the rise of complex products such as credit default swaps (CDS). George Soros argued that CDS should be banned. As they once were. The Feds nullified all state laws to the contrary a few years before the credit bubble expanded & then collapsed. At least I assume those quoted are no longer important...
Soros likened the widely traded securities to buying life insurance and then giving someone a license to shoot the insured person. Right after life insurance policies were first marketed, they were abused by policyholder/beneficiaries who then murdered the named insured to collect their ree-ward. Laws were then passed requiring named insureds to give their permission for policies to be issued on their lives. Times are definitely changing when Volcker and Soros are on the same side of an issue, or when Ron Paul's proposal to audit the Fed gets support from both sides of the political spectrum. I still hope something useful will be done before the US financial system collapses under the weight of stupidity & greed.
An interesting article. An interesting collection of people who used to be important in the business do not like how their successors have been handling things.
#1
How about outlawing leveraging, esp the 200-500X leverage in currency speculation? Wipe yourself out all you want but don't take another 100 unsuspecting people down with you.
Posted by: ed ||
12/10/2009 7:04 Comments ||
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#2
The CEO of GE said yesterday: “Rewards became perverted. The richest people made the most mistakes with the least accountability.”
#3
Credit default swaps are evil. The people that allowed them to happen are either evil or dunderheads trolling for votes. CDs were based in part on subprime loans. These were mixed with other investments. As the result no one knows the value of anything with these investments. They helped take the world economy down.
But no worries, the same people in the US who can't stop Medicare fraud and can't catch tax cheats at the IRS will ensure that we don't have any cap and trade fraud.
The Hague - The Netherlands. The European Union (EU) Emission Trading System (ETS) has been the victim of fraudulent traders in the past 18 months. This resulted in losses of approximately 5 billion euros for several national tax revenues. It is estimated that in some countries, up to 90% of the whole market volume was caused by fraudulent activities.
Indications of suspicious trading activities were noted in late 2008, when several market platforms saw an unprecedented increase in the trade volume of European Unit Allowances (EUAs). Market volume peaked in May 2009, with several hundred million EUAs traded in e.g. in France and Denmark. At that time the market price of 1 EUA, which equals 1 ton of carbon dioxide, was around EUR 12,5.
As an immediate measure to prevent further losses France, the Netherlands, the UK and most recently Spain, have all changed their taxation rules on these transactions. After these measures were taken, the market volume in the aforementioned countries dropped by up to 90 percent.
With the support of Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom Europol has set up a specific project to collect and analyse information in order to identify and disrupt the organised criminal structures behind these fraud schemes. There are reasons to believe that fraudsters might soon migrate towards the gas and electricity branches of the energy sector.
Mr. Wainwright, Director of Europol, says "These criminal activities endanger the credibility of the European Union Emission Trading System and lead to the loss of significant tax revenue for governments. Europol is using its expertise and information capabilities to help target the organised crime groups involved". Europol has therefore offered its support to the European Commission - DG Environment to safeguard the integrity of the Community Independent Transaction Log."
Missing trader intra-community fraud (MTIC) is the theft of Value Added Tax (VAT) from a government by organised crime groups who exploit the way VAT is treated within the member states of the EU.
The EU has the objective of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, to reduce climate change and meet its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol. Each MS has granted its emitting facilities a certain amount of emission rights by means of a National Allocation Plan. These emission rights can be traded like any other commodity on the market. The transfer of greenhouse gas emission allowances is a taxable supply of services.
In Europe there are 6 trading platforms: European Climate Exchange (London, UK), Nordic Power Exchange (Oslo, Norway), European Energy Exchange (Leipzig, Germany), Energy Exchange Austria (Graz, Austria), Climex (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) and BlueNext (Paris, France) and various other market platforms such as SENDECO2, Italian Power Exchange GME and most recently Greenmarket, set up by Deutsche Bank at the Munich exchange. More than 2 billion EUAs have been allocated to 12.000 emitting facilities in the 27 MS. The EU carbon market is estimated to be worth about €90 billion a year!
So the fraud they know about is in excess of 5% of the total market ...
The Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) was created as a cap-and-trade system for transactions of European Unit Allowances. Each transfer of EUAs is recorded in a national registry before it is centrally stored in the Community Independent Transaction Log (CITL) at the EU Commission.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/10/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Somehow that news item restores my faith in the inherent order of the Universe.
UPDATED: JSF Cut About 100 Planes, One Year Added to Schedule
Word on Capitol Hill is that the Quadrennial Defense Review should result in the demise of two Navy carÂrier groups and the MarinesÂ’ Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle. On top of that, the Joint Strike Fighter proÂgram is likely to lose a so-far uncerÂtain numÂber of planes and the Air Force looks to lose two air wings.
Folks on the Hill are watchÂing the carÂrier cuts parÂticÂuÂlarly closely. They were willÂing to accept the temÂpoÂrary loss of one carÂrier but two groups may just be too much for lawÂmakÂers to swalÂlow though it would conÂveÂniently answer the hot debate about whether the Navy faces a fighter gap.
“Even if they cut two carÂrier strike groups (which will be an uphill batÂtle for DOD), they still face a sigÂnifÂiÂcant USN fighter gap,” said a conÂgresÂsional aide folÂlowÂing this. “The Navy seems to recÂogÂnize this, but everyÂthing weÂ’ve heard thus far from OSD seems to indiÂcate that theyÂ’d rather try funny math then address a clear gap.”
The 2010 defense authoÂrizaÂtion report noted careÂfully that Congress was willÂing to accept the “temÂpoÂrary reducÂtion in minÂiÂmum numÂber of operÂaÂtional airÂcraft carÂriÂers” from 11 to 10 until CVN 78 is comÂmisÂsioned in 2015. The report also noted that “the Navy has made a long-term comÂmitÂment to field 11 airÂcraft carÂriÂers outÂfitÂted with 10 carÂrier air wings comÂposed of 44 strike-fighters in each wing.” Congress, the reportÂ’s authors said, is “very conÂcerned” about “curÂrent and foreÂcasted shortÂfalls in the strike-fighter invenÂtory.” Given the totemic nature of carÂriÂers for the Navy and the numÂbers of jobs and the money at stake for memÂbers of Congress, a batÂtle royal over plans to perÂmaÂnently reduce the fleet by two carÂrier groups seems assured.
On the Joint Strike Fighter, one conÂgresÂsional aide said a cut to the F-35Â’s overÂall numÂbers would not be surÂprisÂing given the programÂ’s risÂing costs and the tightÂened budÂget sitÂuÂaÂtion the counÂtry faces for 2011. And now we have some detail about just how big those cuts may be, Our colÂleagues at Inside Defense are reportÂing that a draft Pentagon direcÂtive would result in extendÂing, “develÂopÂment by at least a year, reduce proÂducÂtion by approxÂiÂmately 100 airÂcraft and require the addiÂtion of bilÂlions of dolÂlars to the effort through 2015.”
The Marines are unlikely to sit still for the EFV kill. Reports are that Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway will come out swingÂing to preÂserve the abilÂity to kick down the door and ensure forcible entry from the sea. Jones made his basic posiÂtion on the problem-plagued EFV durÂing a May speech at CSIS.
#1
History lesson on why Â’78 should not be repeated
By: James Carafano
Examiner Columnist
October 26, 2009
Extracts
He followed an unpopular president. He received a strong election mandate. He changed the tone in Washington, D.C.
He said human rights mattered, that AmericaÂ’s image in the world had to be remade.
He would receive a Nobel Peace Prize.
As the end of his presidency’s first year drew near, the future looked bright. He had brought change — change that mattered.
It was 1977. The next year was very bad....
...At the same time the White House was amping up the soft power, it was also looking to cut back on military commitments.
Faced with a troubled economy, the Carter administration was also looking to cut back on military spending. Thus, the president embraced Defense Secretary Harold Brown’s “offset” strategy. The Armed Forces would buy nothing new. The Pentagon would “skip a generation” and “rethink” military needs....
#2
I thought so. We're dropping the Taiwan guarantee. No way they can maintain a credible threat to the Straits if we're cutting the carrier groups that much. What is that, twenty percent?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
12/10/2009 12:20 Comments ||
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Even if they only cut carriers and carrier groups from 11 to 10, we're still at only 9 carriers, because several of our carriers need to refuel. With nuclear powered ships, refueling is a year long operation and is combined with a yard stay to update the ship. The plan is to rotate them in one at a time, and so for the next few years one carrier is always unavailable.
So 10 = 9 in this math, and 9 = 8.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/10/2009 13:36 Comments ||
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#4
So we won't buy more F-22s because they're too expensive and buy F-35s instead.
Now F-35s are too expensive. What do we do to ensure air supremacy in the future?
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/10/2009 13:37 Comments ||
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Well, fewer carriers is good because they are just hugely expensive targets in this age of modern supersonic antiship missiles. But reducing the USN isn't the answer because it's them who keep the seas open for American trade.
[Dawn] A Supreme Court bench hearing petitions against the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) questioned the chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday about alleged laundered money lying frozen in a Swiss bank and the amount spent by the state on the case, but was disappointed by the answers.
'Not a single confidence-inspiring answer has been given,' Justice Mohammad Sair Ali, a member of the 17-judge bench, observed. He said that the replies given by NAB Chairman Nawid Ahsan lacked credibility.
The court ordered Mr Ahsan to furnish by Thursday complete information about the status of $60 million allegedly laundered in the SGS case but lying dormant in the Swiss bank, status of the government's claim on the money and the names of claimants.
If the government was not the claimant then where would the money go, why were the case documents picked up from a lawyer's office in Geneva and kept in Pakistan's high commission in London, who ordered the shifting of the papers and whether proceedings before the Swiss court and attorney general were terminated at the behest of NAB, the judges asked.
The court continued to seek answers from NAB despite an assurance given by acting Attorney General Shah Khawar that all facts regarding the cases pending before the Swiss magistrate and attorney general would be provided.
'It appears that the court is widening the scope of the hearing, rather than focussing on the controversial amnesty law, by opening the entire gambit of cases pending even in foreign lands having no effect of the NRO,' a constitutional expert told Dawn.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/10/2009 00:00 ||
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The tiny nation of Tuvalu has driven a wedge in the bloc of developing nations at UN climate talks by calling on China, India and other emerging giants to take on legally-binding commitments to slash CO2 pollution.
Through an arcane diplomatic manoeuvre, the Pacific archipelago cracked a diplomatic axiom that has prevailed since the UN climate convention came into being in 1992: rich countries caused global warming, and it was their responsibility to fix it.
On the third day of the December 7-18 negotiations, Tuvalu proposed opening discussions on a "legally binding amendment" to the Kyoto Protocol that would set targets for the reductions of greenhouse-gas emissions for major emerging economies starting in 2013.
But the move -- which was backed by dozens of the poorest countries most vulnerable to climate change impacts -- was blocked by China, India, Saudi Arabia and other large developing countries.
"The constraints would mostly remain on developed countries but also, partly, on big developing economies as well," Taukiei Kitara, head of Tuvalu's delegation, said.
Mr Kitara acknowledged that the proposal constituted the first serious breach in the up-to-now united front of the "G-77 plus China," a bloc of 130 developing nations.
"We know the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol is not complete and we want to create an impulse for a stronger commitment," Mr Kitara said, referring to the landmark treaty that imposes emissions cuts on rich nations up to 2012.
Tuvalu demanded - and got - a suspension of negotiations until the issue could be resolved.
#2
The company is paying for the research, constuction, launch, and operations. The PUC was just giving the green light to sell the electricity to PG&E. Don't laugh but they are based in Armenia and some of their projects look like like they were built in the 1920s, but I guess they work.
#5
California had the chance to do this in the sixties but it was stopped by environmentalists who sued the corporation out of the funds to do it. The corp won, but no longer had the money.
I have no pity or compassion for the people of California, they deserve their fate and much worse.
#6
I have no pity or compassion for the people of California, they deserve their fate and much worse.
Yes, they certainly do. Unfortunately the Californians are metastasizing out of California and bringing their insanity to wherever they land.
It is becoming a BIG problem here in Texas. Some folks in these here parts are talking about setting a bounty on them. I'm of the opinion it would be easier to just quarantine the Sate of California.
Editor & Publisher, which has chronicled the closing of numerous publications in recent years, now suffers the same unhappy fate. Nielsen Business Media is selling eight magazines -- including AdWeek, Billboard, and Backstage -- to a new consortium, e5 Global Media Holdings. But two of their other brands, E&P and Kirkus Reviews, will be shuttered in the process....
Posted by: Mike ||
12/10/2009 13:41 ||
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As solidly leftist as they came, all the more corrosive because it represented the viewpoint of the MSM. Size the critter for a coffin and get a shovel.
The American Civil Liberties Union has lost a quarter of its yearly donations after a major donor cut off $19 million in annual donations because of economic difficulties.
The censorious intolerance of the gay left is on display again -- a reporter was fired in Waterville, Maine. His offense? Sending an angry private e-mail to the Human Rights Campaign in Washington. The HRC wanted the reporter dismissed -- and bang, he was terminated.
Via the Romenesko media news site, I found Al Diamon of Downeast.com reported that Larry Grard was fired after 17 years at the Waterville Sentinel and 35 years in journalism:
Grard was fired by Bill Thompson, editor of the Sentinel and its sister paper the Kennebec Journal in Augusta, shortly after the Nov. 3 election in which Maine voters repealed a same-sex marriage law approved by the Legislature. Grard said he arrived at work the morning after the vote to find an e-mailed press release from the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, D.C., that blamed the outcome of the balloting on hatred of gays.
Grard, who said he'd gotten no sleep the night before, used his own e-mail to send a response. "They said the Yes-on-1 people were haters. I'm a Christian. I take offense at that," he said. "I e-mailed them back and said basically, `We're not the ones doing the hating. You're the ones doing the hating.'
"I sent the same message in his face he sent in mine."
Grard thought his response was anonymous, but it turned out to be anything but. One week later, he was summoned to Thompson's office. He was told that Trevor Thomas, deputy communications director of the Human Rights Campaign, had Googled his name, discovered he was a reporter, and was demanding Grard be fired. According to Grard, Thompson said, "There's no wiggle room."
He was immediately dismissed.
Is this a new trend? Being Google-canned?
It didn't matter that Grard sent an e-mail privately. It didn't matter that Grard never covered the "gay marriage" initiative battle. He had taken offense at the HRC, and that was apparently grounds for firing.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/10/2009 00:00 ||
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Will the news media's hatred of gays never stop?!
Posted by: ed ||
12/10/2009 7:18 Comments ||
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Sounds to me like he was fired for his private religious views. Isn't that illegal?
Oh wait.... he's a christian - rights don't apply.
#4
If we don't learn to monkey-wrench the greater society and make everything miserable the same way the left has, we'll invariably have less rights than the left. Welcome to the race to the bottom, where everyone has to be chickenshit.
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.
The investigation into the fatal shooting of a prominent Los Angeles attorney outside his Rolling Hills Estates home took a new twist this morning when the L.A. County Sheriff's Department said detectives did not find a weapon at the scene.
Rogersville, Tenn. (AP) -- A Tennessee man's homeowners insurance apparently doesn't cover "acts of cow." Jerry Lynn Davis called the Hawkins County Sheriff's office on Thursday, complaining that a neighbor's cows had been licking his house.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Mixing of the sexes is permissable in Islam and is a natural part of life, the president of the Mecca branch of the religious police told a Saudi paper, adding he did not understand why there was so much outrage when the co-ed university, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), was opened. 
