The Alabama university professor charged with fatally shooting three colleagues is remorseful but does not recall the shooting, her defense attorney said Friday. "What? What? Where am I?" Have my mother call DA Delahunt! Whaddya mean I'm in Alabama? Whaddya mean it's 2010?
Roy W. Miller said Amy Bishop, 44, is likely insane and does not remember pulling out a handgun and shooting six colleagues, three fatally, at a biology department faculty meeting one week ago at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. The mouthpiece is doing his best but he's not going to spin this one enough to get her anything better than life without parole ...
"She just doesn't remember shooting these folks," he said. Bet they remember getting shot, the ones that aren't dead.
But he said she is now "aware of what she's done. She's very sorry for it." "Well, gosh! If I did somethin' I'm really sorry for it! What wuz it I did again?" "I was sorry when I blew away my brother too. And I walked away clean. How come that's not working this time?" "I didn't even put a gun in a car dealer's face this time! What's the problem?"
He said he has not spoken with her about where she got the gun. "Gun? I have no gun!"
Police have said it was not registered to her, and her husband has said he does not know where she got it. "But wait...! Could it have been...?"
"Been who?"
"Mamie. My sister. My twin sister! My evil twin sister!"
Miller said Bishop breaks down and cries, "Oh, woe is me!"
wanting to see her four children, "Oh, my poor babies!"
but is trying to remain strong. [Snif!]
Despite facing a possible death sentence, she is still concerned about her professional life and her position at the university. "She said, 'Do I still have a job out there?' "Why, no. Why do you ask?" Sorry. It's right here in your contract. "Murder of colleagues may result in penalties up to and including job dismissal".
She asked me that yesterday," Miller said. "She said, 'Do you know if I have a job? I assume they fired me. Did they fire me?'" "The wheels turn slowly in academia, but they do turn..." We'll have to convene a peer review within her department. Oh, wait. There's none of them left. Whadda we do now? Run an ad in Science ...
University officials have said she remains on the payroll, but her $83,000-a-year job was ending at the end of the semester because she was denied tenure. So what is she on until then, double secret probation...
Posted by: Fred ||
02/20/2010 00:00 ||
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Oh, I'm sorry!
Did I just premeditatedly murder those people in cold blood? How did that happen?
Posted by: Karl the Fat ||
02/20/2010 0:14 Comments ||
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Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
02/20/2010 1:00 Comments ||
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#4
I expect her defense to become even more colorful. While she and her husband are alleged to both have IQs of around 180, they are both woefully naive about the legal system, how to garner public support, and how to fake an insanity defense.
#6
Well no, she would have been suspended with pay until dismissed. Which takes time even for the cardinal sin of saying something untoward about a person of color. State systems take their time due to the grievance procedure involved.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/20/2010 9:33 Comments ||
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#7
State systems take their time due to the grievance procedure involved. Posted by Steve White
Which could be symptomatic of an even greater ill.
#8
Maybe. But remember: tenure was established as an alternative to the political patronage system.
Pendulum's swung and the process has too many accredtions and unintended side effects. But as we reform it, it's worth keeping in mind that tenure and the appeal system were put in place as reform.
#9
'moose, she'll probably claim Asperger's or something. Not that it will probably work, since she has a pretty good lifetime body count and Alabama's not as tolerant of killing in cold blood like Massachusetts apparently is.....
#11
#8 Maybe. But remember: tenure was established as an alternative to the political patronage system.lotp
Either my logic is woefully skewed or somehow I've awaken this morning in a parallel universe. Are we not discussing the cold blooded murder of three professors and the wounding of two more?
#12
she'll probably claim Asperger's or something.
Cornsilk Blondie, based on student complaints about her teaching style (didn't meet peoples' eyes, read her lectures aloud from textbook) she may have an argument. But that doesn't make deliberate murder excusable.
#13
I'm of coure not privy to the investigation but I've read nothing that would indicate she had a prior history of mental illness. There does appear to be a signficant body of evidence which could lead one to conclude she had a long history of SELFISH EVIL ACTS! I don't think insanity will take her far with an Alabama jury.
#14
re: #11 - Yes, Besoeker, we are. And yes, she's guilty as hell of a heinous crime.
Doesn't change the original intent of the tenure process and the review layers built into public universities.
She's locked up and won't go anywhere. She was gonna face contract end in May or so anyway. They may well fire her before then, depending on whether she's convicted by then.
The personnel process is set up to make sure that firings doesn't happen at the whim of a department head or administrator. A process that could happen quickly to her, when it's warranted, could also be used to push out others where it isn't.
For example, conservative faculty whose political convictions became known to their liberal department head and provost. Or, as happened to a friend of mine teaching physics in the 80s, if a woman declined to sleep with her department head during the tenure review.
given that her husband is working for their startup company, there's a good chance that her benefits provided the only health insurance for their kids. Review committees are supposed to move with deliberation to make sure that disrupting that sort of thing for a faculty member's family isn't done lightly, especially since faculty hiring generally happens only once a year with a very long lead time.
So yeah, one way or another she will never be back in the classroom and her association with the university will end. It just won't be a 'wrath of God thunderbolt' kind of event.
#16
Oh NO! Not the the money, sex, promotion gender discrimination paradigm again. Arguing logic and exceptions to given rules with acadamia. When will I ever learn? Did I mention the gender discrimination default?
My hands are shaking and my eyes are becoming bloodshot. I'm off to Home Depot.
#18
tw, if my comment seemed to imply that I thought it somehow mitigated what she had done, that wasn't my intent. I also wasn't trying to slam anyone with anything on the spectrum, either.
It's just that if her mouthpiece is any good, he/she/it is gonna try anything and everything to save her sorry @ss from whatever punishment Alabama is going to dish out. It has already been tried a few times as a mitigating factor for a murder trial, and even has been used to explain the actions of Dahmer and Kaczynski.
She exhibited some symptoms before this happened, so I'm sure that will be at least floated before a jury. I just hope that all of the other millions of people who have this aren't gonna suffer even more socially than they already do because of this evil broad's acts.
#20
Interesting interview at the Wall Street Journal -- Temple Grandin -- who talks about being autistic, succeeding at her profession both despite and because of her Asperger's, and the importance of teaching and demanding appropriate life skills behaviour for/from autistics. Key quote for this discussion
Born in 1947, she did not speak until the age of four. All of the doctors recommended permanent institutionalization; her father agreed.
But her mother refused and hired a speech therapist and a nanny who spent many hours a week taking turns playing games with her daughter. She insisted that Temple practice proper etiquette, go to church, interact with adults at parties. "I'd be in an institution if it wasn't for her," Ms. Grandin says.
If she's going to play the Asperger card, Professor Bishop is going to have to claim nobody told her explicitly that she wasn't to shoot people when she didn't get her way, whether because shooting people is generally considered rude or because shooting people is not an effective method of persuasion. Either way, not an argument likely to win over juries. Especially because her life skills are clearly good enough for marriage, parenting, and maintaining a viable career for the better part of two decades.
Professor Grandin recently published two books of particular use to those with autism spectrum disorders: Developing Talents: Careers for Individuals with Asperger Syndrome and High-Functioning Autism and Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships. Professor Bishop would have benefitted from reading both.
Cornsilk Blondie, I expressed myself poorly -- I meant to agree with you.
#22
#19 Besoeker, I'm sorry to hear that you've never had sex demanded as a condition for promotion. I'm sure it's no reflection on you ;-
Posted by lotp
There to be honest there were those few odd smiles and pregnant pauses, but I always wore something conservative to an interview. Something in a dark colour, well over the knee, with well polished low heeled pumps. I also used a minimal amount of lip gloss. I hope these tips help.
#25
On a more serious note, Best of the Web yesterday linked to a Psychology Today article which claims
The facts that are emerging about the personal life and behavior of Amy Bishop is that she is a very gifted, extremely hard working woman who has borne the guilt since she was 20 years old of having been her brother's killer.
According to one report by a friend, Bishop carried a deep sense of guilt about the death of her brother and planned to make it up by becoming a prominent scientist. This fact is significant for two reasons: (1) she is one who can not be said to be anti-social or psychopathic to the extent that she was haunted by what she had done, and (2), she felt compelled to try to make up for an act that few could live with. Work to her was thereby primary in her life.
So her odd mannerisms could be due to a lifelong burden of guilt rather than autism. It still doesn't excuse murder. Interesting articles all over the place!
#26
I have met a few 'Burgers, but not had the privilege of meeting Besoeker. I assumed #19 was making fun of your, presumably male, gender. Did I presume in error?
Of course, I used to think Mrs. Davis was a lady, until I met him.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/20/2010 16:52 Comments ||
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Yes, my comment assumed Besoeker is male.
;-) re: Mrs. Davis. There's a long story behind that nym .....
Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig, who served Republican presidents and ran for the office himself, has died.
The Haig family says he died Saturday at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore from complications associated with an infection. He was 85.
As Ace points out, Korea. Two Silver Stars. Bronze Star with Valor device. Seven campaigns in the coldest war. Vietnam. DSC and Purple Heart. I add, Secretary of State and advisor to presidents. Rest in peace, sir.
#1
He was probably safer in Vietnam and Korea then in Europe in the 70's...
On June 25, 1979, Haig was the victim of an assassination attempt in Mons, Belgium. A land mine blew up under the bridge on which Haig's car was traveling, narrowly missing Haig's car but wounding three of his bodyguards in a following car. Authorities later attributed responsibility for the attack to the Red Army Faction (RAF). In 1993 a German Court sentenced Rolf Clemens Wagner, a former RAF member, to life imprisonment for the assassination attempt.
#2
..Haig could be charitably described as intense and very forward..but he served his country with all the determination God could give a man.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/20/2010 14:02 Comments ||
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Background on his DSC...
On May 22, 1967, Lieutenant Colonel Haig was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the US Army's second highest medal for valor, by General William Westmoreland as a result of his actions during the battle of Ap Gu in March 1967. During the battle, Haig's troops (of the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division (United States) became pinned down by a Viet Cong force that outnumbered U.S. forces by a three to one margin. In an attempt to survey the battlefield, Haig boarded a helicopter and flew to the point of contact. His helicopter was subsequently shot down. Two days of bloody hand-to-hand combat ensued. An excerpt from Haig's official Army citation follows:
When two of his companies were engaged by a large hostile force, Colonel Haig landed amid a hail of fire, personally took charge of the units, called for artillery and air fire support and succeeded in soundly defeating the insurgent force...the next day a barrage of 400 rounds was fired by the Viet Cong, but it was ineffective because of the warning and preparations by Colonel Haig. As the barrage subsided, a force three times larger than his began a series of human wave assaults on the camp. Heedless of the danger himself, Colonel Haig repeatedly braved intense hostile fire to survey the battlefield. His personal courage and determination, and his skillful employment of every defense and support tactic possible, inspired his men to fight with previously unimagined power. Although his force was outnumbered three to one, Colonel Haig succeeded in inflicting 592 casualties on the Viet Cong...
(HQ US Army, Vietnam, General Orders No. 2318 (May 22, 1967)
Haig was also awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Purple Heart during his tour in Vietnam. He was eventually promoted to Colonel, and became a brigade commander of the 1st Infantry Division (United States) in Vietnam.
#4
IIRC Haig was the NATO commander at the time. His relationship with the Carter Administration was sort of 'strained'. He made comment to the effect that while he knew it wasn't the work of the WH that it had been so incompetently executed he couldn't help thinking about them.
EU nuke boffins say that mysterious bits of uranium found last year in a Dutch scrapyard originated in the Nazi nuclear-weapons programme of the 1940s.
Forensic nuke scientists at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) traced the two pieces of metal - described as a cube and a plate - back to their exact origins and dates. Apparently both came from ores extracted at the "Joachimsthal" mine in what is now the Czech Republic, though the two are from different production batches.
The cube, according to specialists at the JRC's Institute for Transuranium Elements (ITU), was produced in 1943 for the Nazi nuclear programme and was used in the lab of famous boffin Werner Heisenberg (of uncertainty principle fame). The plate was apparently part of experiments by Heisenberg's collaborator Karl Wirtz.
Most historical analysis, with hindsight, suggests that the Nazi nuclear research programme never got very close to developing an atomic weapon. There was no equivalent of the Manhattan Project; rather, different lines of research were followed in different labs. Furthermore the Germans were hampered by having driven many top physicists out of the country with their anti-Semitic policies, and also by drafting other boffins into the army to fight as ordinary soldiers.
Not content with that, the Nazi leadership also chose to clash with the few top brains they had left. At one point Reichsfuhrer Himmler suggested that Heisenberg should be treated as a "White Jew", with presumably fatal consequences. Himmler later changed his mind, but this climate can hardly have encouraged Heisenberg to do his best work.
The halting progress of the Germans was largely unknown to the Allies, however, a factor which prompted the crash efforts of the Manhattan project. In particular, German plans to acquire large quantities of heavy water from Norway for use as a reactor moderator aroused intense worry among the Allies. A sequence of clandestine operations and bombing raids - by the French and British secret services, Norwegian resistance fighters, spec-ops troops and allied air forces - took place, which saw heavy water and its production tech stolen, repeatedly blown up and in one case sunk aboard a sabotaged ferry.
Though the Telemark operations were some of the greatest spec-ops successes ever seen, they may not in fact have been all that critical. After the war, Heisenberg said that he and his colleagues had always been doubtful of the potential of nuclear fission as an explosive. Furthermore, they had taken good care not to big that aspect of the research up to their Nazi masters, for reasons of self-interest.
"We definitely did not want to get into this bomb business," said Heisenberg. "I wouldn't like to idealize this; we did this also for our personal safety. We thought that the probability that this would lead to atomic bombs during the War was nearly zero. If we had done otherwise, and if many thousand people had been put to work on it and then if nothing had been developed, this could have had extremely disagreeable consequences for us."
Nowadays the Allied nations are once again deeply concerned about hostile countries developing nuclear weapons. According to the Euro nuke-forensics team at the JRC-ITU:
A key international topic today is the work of preventing the spread of nuclear weapon technology and illicit trafficking of nuclear materials that can be used for the production of nuclear weapons or so-called dirty bombs.
They've just set up a new "large geometry secondary ion mass spectrometer" which they're very proud of, which should be very handy for nobbling nuclear malefactors. The Joachimsthal mining region is the origin of the word "dollar", specifically an abbreviation of Joachimstaler, literally "(gulden) of Joachimstal," coin minted 1519 from silver from a mine opened in 1516 near Joachimstal, a town in Erzgebirge Mountains in northwest Bohemia.
#1
Furthermore, they had taken good care not to big that aspect of the research up to their Nazi masters, for reasons of self-interest.
Didn't realize that the (Jamaican?) slang term "Big up" was now part of the general English language.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/20/2010 11:10 Comments ||
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Moose, a bit inaccurate. Joachimsthaler -> Joachimsthal, where thal = valley. The coin was actually silver "guldengroschen" (an equivalent of a half crown gold coin) commonly referred to by Czechs as "tolar". Thalers as currency became popular in Europe in their local renderings and in Netherlands it was called "daaler". Whether that got then transplanted to American colonies or the Czech "tolar" via Moravian Brothers that started to migrate there in mid-17th century, may be debatable. Maybe both had their influence and thus the T got replaced by D (with doubling the L) in the orthography that is closer to the Czech moniker, while the pronunciation is closer to the Dutch variant.
There were also gold "guldens" (or crowns as they became known later, with their national varians: kröne, krona, kronor, koruna) in use, as documented by a 16th century contemporary Czech song expressing economic realities: (transl.) "an ax is for 2 guldens and the handle is for 1 tolar", yeah, it was not cheap then. ;-)
#3
Another explanation for the origin of dollar is thaler (the main currency throughout German speaking Europe in the 17th/18th century) spoken by a German sounds like 'dollar' to an english speaker.
BTW wikipedia is wrong about the origin of 'dollar' in Britain. A 'dollar' was 5 shillings because that was long the exchange rate - 4 USD to the Pound sterling.
The term 'dollar' was in common use in Britain through the 1960s and had no relation to the Thaler. A half crown coin was in circulation (pre-decimal) and that was the term used and not 'half a dollar' as wikipedia claims. However, there was no crown coin in circulation and 5 shillings was usually referred to as a dollar.
First we find out about the guy runs his plane into the IRS building in Dallas a couple of days ago, now we find out about this event that happened a couple of weeks ago. It'll be interesting to see if this kind of activity picks up or if it's just a coincidence.
MOSCOW, Ohio -- Like many people, Terry Hoskins has had troubles with his bank. But his solution to foreclosure might be unique.
Hoskins said he's been in a struggle with RiverHills Bank over his Clermont County home for nearly a decade, a struggle that was coming to an end as the bank began foreclosure proceedings on his $350,000 home.
"When I see I owe $160,000 on a home valued at $350,000, and someone decides they want to take it -- no, I wasn't going to stand for that, so I took it down," Hoskins said.
Hoskins said the Internal Revenue Service placed liens on his carpet store and commercial property on state Route 125 after his brother, a one-time business partner, sued him. The bank claimed his home as collateral, Hoskins said, and went after both his residential and commercial properties. Bad advice from his lawyer when he and little bro' set up their partnership ...
"The average homeowner that can't afford an attorney or can fight as long as we have, they don't stand a chance," he said.
Hoskins said he'd gotten a $170,000 offer from someone to pay off the house, but the bank refused, saying they could get more from selling it in foreclosure. Greedy little ba$tards, aren't they?
Hoskins told News 5's Courtis Fuller that he issued the bank an ultimatum.
"I'll tear it down before I let you take it," Hoskins told them. So did the bank do the wise thing?
And that's exactly what Hoskins did. I guess not.
The Moscow man used a bulldozer two weeks ago to level the home he'd built, and the sprawling country home is now rubble, buried under a coating of snow.
"As far as what the bank is going to get, I plan on giving them back what was on this hill exactly (as) it was," Hoskins said. "I brought it out of the ground and I plan on putting it back in the ground."
Hoskins' business in Amelia is scheduled to go up for auction on March 2, and he told Fuller he's considering leveling that building, too. OK, looks like the bank gets a second chance. Let's see what they do with it. Can anyone give me a spread here?
RiverHills Bank declined to comment on the situation, but Hoskins said his actions were intended to send a message. Banks have deaf ears, Hoskins, as I'm sure you are aware of by now. So tell me, who is your real target audience?
"Well, to probably make banks think twice before they try to take someone's home, and if they are going to take it wrongly, the end result will be them tearing their house down like I did mine," Hoskins said.
Hoskins said he's heard from people all over the country since his story first aired Thursday, and he said most have been supportive. Any calls from any banks?
He said he sought legal counsel before tearing down his home and understands the possible consequences, but he has never doubted his decision once he made it. It'll cost them another $40k/year to stick him in the pokey, and I doubt they have the money.
"When I knew I was going to lose it, I decided to take it down," Hoskins said. Yep, you lost it alright! :-)
#1
Hoskins said he's been in a struggle with RiverHills Bank over his Clermont County home for nearly a decade,
HIS home? Until you make that last payment, it belongs to the mortgage holder. One borrows money to obtain the means to acquire the house upon an agreement to repay the lender. Unless Terry comes up with his own stash of money to buy a home or car or anything else, there's no reason for any institution to loan Mr. Hoskins a dime till he leave us all. Good luck.
#4
If my read on crooked small town and rural county banks is accurate, it would appear the RiverHills Bank now owns a bulldozer, lowboy & tractor, and possibly a pickup truck or two. I hope you enjoyed the short-term satisfaction Mr. Hoskins...wherever it is you now call home.
#6
I wouldn't advocate violence or life ending harm to the crooked bankers, but if something were to happen to them...I'd understand.
The best way to handle the banks and bankers is 1)-make sure none are on or backing any member of your local county commission and 2)-make sure the local treasurer's office is fully manned and up to date on issuing notices of back taxes. That's the tool to literally take the property from the banks who are notorious in making sure the taxes owed on the property are being made. Sheriff sales have a tendency to clear bank holdings if done properly and efficiently.
#7
The best way to handle the banks and bankers is 1)-make sure none are on or backing any member of your local county commission. P2K
Very, very difficult to meet that standard in a small town where debtors (who are also tax officials, and sheriffs) owe their allegiance and extensions of credit to the local bank. Recommendation, eat at the local cafe... do your banking a few counties over.
#9
I made a reasonable offer to the bank that foreclosed on the house and property I was leasing. They didn't take my offer and the property is still for sale. I think I came out just fine.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/20/2010 18:27 Comments ||
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Wonder how many banks would be 'holding out' for a 'better deal' if the government wasn't giving them the idea that house prices could be held artificially high.
#11
Wonder how many banks would be 'holding out' for a 'better deal' if the government wasn't giving them the idea that house prices could be held artificially high. The total volume of such houses now being kept off the market by banks is what's called the 'shadow inventory' of foreclosed or defaulted houses.
[Al Arabiya Latest] A four centuries-old mosque minaret collapsed in Morocco on Friday, killing at least 11 people and injuring more than 50 worshippers, hospital officials and eyewitnesses said.
Up to 80 people were trapped under the rubble and soldiers were working to reach them, said Khaled Rahmouni, a resident in the town of Meknes where the mosque collapsed.
"About 300 worshippers gathered inside the mosque for the Friday afternoon mass prayers. When the imam (preacher) was about to start his sermon, the minaret went down," he said by telephone.
The Lalla Khenata mosque minaret collapsed in the old Bab al-Bardiyine neighborhood of Meknes, which is about 140 km (80 miles) southwest of Rabat.
Neglected old buildings in the old quarters of Morocco's cities collapse fairly often, but the fall of a minaret is rare. Insh'allah...
Posted by: Fred ||
02/20/2010 00:00 ||
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Sorry, guys, but 30 of you will have to get out right away. Fire code limits the use of this minaret to a maximum of 50 combined spotters and snipers at a time."
#4
MEKNES, Morocco Moroccan King Mohammed VI on Saturday ordered experts to check the safety of the country's historic mosques as the death toll from the collapse of a centuries-old minaret rose to 41 people, the official news agency said.
The minaret fell onto a crowded mosque during prayers Friday in the city of Meknes, a UNESCO heritage site and a walled city that is a maze of winding narrow streets. Some 75 people were injured, 17 of whom arestill hospitalized, the North African nation's official MAP news agency said.
A day after the accident, a police officer with a sniffer dog patrolled the site, but the main search operations appeared to have to have wrapped up. The falling tower toppled onto about three-quarters of the mosque, leaving behinds piles of rubble and sand.
Officials blamed the accident on heavy rain that weakened the minaret at the Bab Berdieyinne Mosque, according to an official Interior Ministry release.
[Iran Press TV Latest] The African Union (AU) suspends Niger's membership following a deadly military coup that toppled President Mamadou Tandja.
The military junta took control of the country after soldiers captured the country's leader, along with his ministers on Thursday. It has now lifted a dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed earlier and has cemented its full control on the uranium-rich country.
The AU's Peace and Security Council said on Friday that it has condemned the coup and imposed sanctions on Niger. "As of today, Niger will not be represented in our activities," said Mull Sebujja Katende, who presides over the AU council.
The ruling junta must also revert to the constitution in place before an August referendum which allowed Tandja to stay in office, potentially for life, the AU body said. It's another Honduras. The military moved to restore the previous political order. The Maximum Leader had engineered a 'referendum' ("vote for me or my boyz kill you") to make himself Maximum Leader for Life. Too bad that the world leaders can't bother to, you know, analyze anything before flapping their gums ...
The junta has dissolved the government and appointed Salou Djibo as its leader. Djibo made his first public appearance on Friday just after coup rulers held their first meeting with senior officials of government ministries. The junta said Tandja is being held at a military base in the capital.
This is while, thousands of people gathered outside the military barracks in the capital Niamey, to express support for the junta, shouting "Long live the soldiers" and "We are in your support," AFP quoted the people as saying.
Niger has been embroiled in political crisis for nearly a year since Tandja, who was in power for more than a decade, launched his bid to extend his rule.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/20/2010 00:00 ||
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send Noted Person Joe Wilson for his take. With luck, he and Val would be captured and eaten
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/20/2010 12:23 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Clashes between security forces and demonstrators in the Ivory Coast have killed seven people on Friday. Police fired live bullets and tear gas into the crowd as hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets in the city of Gagnoa, protesting President Laurent Gbagbo's decision to dissolve the government, according to an AFP report.
Gbagbo also adjourned the electoral commission after a dispute arose regarding voter registration.
Hospital staff in Gagnoa told AFP that three bodies were brought to the hospital with gunshot wounds.
Opposition forces also told the Association Press that over a dozen more have been injured during the protests.
On February 12, President Gbagdo announced in a recorded message broadcast on national television that he had dissolved the government and that Prime Minister Guillaume Soro would remain in charge to form a new government.
The Ivory Coast government has been attempting to hold presidential elections to either re-elect or replace Gbagdo, whose term expired five years ago. Election dates have been scheduled and cancelled repeatedly for the past five years. Never do quite get around to replacing the Maximum Leader, do they ...
Posted by: Fred ||
02/20/2010 00:00 ||
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"Effective April 1, 2010, we reserve the right to require (7) days advance notice before permitting a withdrawal from all checking accounts. While we do not currently exercise this right and have not exercised it in the past, we are required by law to notify you of this change," Citigroup said on statements received by customers all over the country.
Nice move. Expect a major drawdown/cancellation of accounts in 5...4...3..
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/20/2010 12:24 Comments ||
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#2
Looks like the Marketing Department of my former and now-deceased IT employer has now found work....!
#6
Per the article this actually only in effect in Texas but mistakenly sent out to all States. BUT if Citi is in trouble in Texas they are in trouble every where else.
Or is this one of those things in the fine print (microscope required) that no one reads and Texas made plain notification a requirement?
#7
This is most likely much ado about nothing. See this 550 page+ PDF from the Federal Reserve. Flip to p. 37, using the Acrobat Reader page select window, there see Highlights of Regulations Q and D
that Affect Consumers
Seven-Day Notice Period
Banks must reserve the right to require at least
seven days notice of a customers intent to
withdraw funds from savings accounts, NOW
accounts, and ATS accounts. Banks have the
option of enforcing this notice requirement, and in practice it is rarely, if ever, enforced.
Only exception is on p. 35: Demand deposit accounts have the following
characteristics:
No maturity period (or maturity period of less
than seven days)
Payable on demand (or on less than seven days notice)
May not be interest-bearing
No limit on the number of withdrawals or
transfers an account holder may make
No eligibility requirements I've never had a Demand Deposit Account, and I doubt few people have. Most people want some kind of interest paid on money they keep in a bank.
I have read many stories online of people who tried to withdraw as little as $500 in cash at one of their banks & could not get it for several days. Many of these stories pre-date the current financial crisis.
#9
Hell, its been a zombie bank for what, a year now? Without another feasting on brainschaange! it was only a matter of time before stuff like this pops up...if this is all in context and correct. Many reporters know as much about banking as they do the military so be sure to look into it yourself if you think you are affected.
If the banks were forced into these situations by laws, then ya gotta mention being pissed at the gov. If the bank was making bad moves which threatened the bank then the gov regulators should have caught it and again must mention the gov.
There are a ton of bank choices out there..if ya still with a bailout bank imho ya askin for it; not suggesting what you should do with your money mind you, just be sure about what you are doing with your money...you wouldn't just drop your kids off with anyone so why do that with your money. Shop around, don't just choose a bank solely because it is on your way home from work.
[Al Arabiya Latest] European NATO allies will urge President Barack Obama to remove remaining U.S. nuclear weapons from Europe, a spokesman for Belgium's prime minister said on Friday.
Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, The Netherlands and Norway will call "in the coming weeks" for scores of Cold War-era airborne American nuclear warheads to be removed from European soil, the office of Prime Minister Yves Leterme said. A joint proposal by the five NATO members will demand "that nuclear arms on European soil belonging to other NATO member states are removed," Dominique Dehaene said. No need to 'demand'; just ask. Good idea. Bring the nukes home; and if Y'urp is ever again threatened, they can depend on the EU nuclear umbrella.
Only the United States has nuclear arms stored in Europe, with British and French nuclear weapons being deployed "in other countries," he added.
"It's a question of launching the debate at the heart of NATO," he stressed, underlining it would form part of broader disarmament talks also focused on conventional weapons.
Former NATO chief Willy Claes and three more senior Belgian political figures urged such a call in Friday's Belgian press, citing "Obama's pledge to work to eliminate all nuclear weapons."
A statement from Leterme stressed that "Belgium is in favor of a world without nuclear weapons and advocates this position at the heart of NATO," in preparation for a New York conference in May on global nuclear arms non-proliferation efforts.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/20/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
So now only the bad guys will have nukes. Typical European idiocy. Go for it. I am sick of saving their asses every generation.
#2
Only the United States has nuclear arms stored in Europe, with British and French nuclear weapons being deployed "in other countries," he added.
Huh? I'm sure that makes perfect sense when blitzed out on Bordeaux.
A statement from Leterme stressed that "Belgium is in favor of a world without nuclear weapons and advocates this position at the heart of NATO,"
Well I'm certainly in favor of Belgium not having anything more dangerous than sharpened barber shears. Look what happened in the Congo the last time Belgians felt a hair grow on their balls.
Posted by: ed ||
02/20/2010 1:41 Comments ||
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#3
with British and French nuclear weapons being deployed "in other countries,"
At first I thought WTF. Then I remembered the EU has 23 official languages. Someone speaks in all the languages on some subject then around 500 language A to Language B translations are required. Some of them are bound to be a bit dodgey.
#6
The current administration wants us to give up all of our nuclear weapons. They can't quite do that outright yet, but are working fast and furiously within DOD and DOE to dismantle as much as they can.
The losses aren't limited to weapons - they include organizational capabilities and people with specialized expertise.
So you'll get your wish NS. The capability is being cut to the bleeding bone right now. The question is whether we'll be safer as a result.
#7
That (#6) is a nearly perfect prescription for insuring that nuclear war does occur. Add to it a hollow narcissistic commander in chief and you're just about there
Posted by: Matt ||
02/20/2010 9:34 Comments ||
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#8
How does pulling our nukes and troops out of Europe equate to abandoning nuclear weapons, lotp? The Europe we saved in WWII has disappeared. To the one that is appearing we owe nothing except our debilitating entitlement programs. Let them grow up and assume the responsibility for their own defence. Let's get out of Nato before it sucks us into another fiasco like the Balkans.
#10
I certainly agree getting rid of nukes is dumb and even dumber is not building new ones. Though I don't know that we need the triad. The genie will not go back in the bottle.
A U.S. Army program at the center of a probe into allegations that Muslim translator trainees threatened to poison soldiers at Fort Jackson was moved to a post in Arizona last month. Spokeswomen at both Fort Jackson and Fort Huachuca, Ariz, confirmed the program - which trains noncitizen native speakers in such languages as Arabic and Farsi to become soldiers and translators - has been relocated.
Fort Huachuca, located about one hour south of Tucson near the Mexican border, is home to the Army Intelligence Corp.
On Thursday, a report by the evangelist Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcast Network and Fox News stated that five Muslim translators had been arrested at Fort Jackson in December for threatening to poison other soldiers. The Army has not reported making any arrests.
A statement Friday from the Army's Criminal Investigation Division confirmed an investigation into the allegations has been ongoing "for almost two months."
"But ... we have not found any credible information to substantiate the allegations," the statements said.
Fort Jackson officials said the allegations involved "potential verbal threats" and at no time were soldiers there in danger.
What on earth are potential verbal threats? Were threats uttered or not?
One local law enforcement official who had been briefed on the investigation told The State the men were considered "malcontents" and "not Army material."
A female sex hormone involved in pregnancy has been found to be so successful in repairing brain damage in both men and women that a large-scale clinical trial is scheduled to begin next month on more than 1,000 victims of severe head injuries.
Progesterone, a "sex steroid" produced in women as part of the menstrual cycle, is to be injected into patients who suffer brain injuries within hours of their accident in an attempt to limit or even reverse the long-term damage that normally results from severe trauma.
Earlier tests on laboratory animals and a smaller clinical trial have shown that the hormone is safe to use and can help the brain recover to the extent that disability was reduced and deaths halved, scientists said yesterday.
Although the researchers cannot fully explain why the female hormone has such a beneficial effect on a damaged brain, they believe preliminary findings are good enough to warrant a full-scale clinical trial on about 1,140 people.
The participants in the American trial will be taken from the thousands of people who will suffer accidental trauma over the next six months. They will mostly be victims of traffic accidents but they may also include US soldiers wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Because of the importance of administering the hormone quickly after an accident, and because it will probably involve injecting substances into an unconscious patient, US scientists have taken the unusual step of bypassing the normal convention of seeking informed consent from close relatives.
"A person might well be enrolled in the study without a legal guardian's or family member's consent. The US Food and Drug Administration has created a set of special rules [which] allow research studies in certain emergency situations to be conducted without consent," said David Wright, assistant professor of emergency medicine at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and lead investigator on the trial.
"No new treatment for severe traumatic brain injury has been approved in over 30 years. We hope to conclude in this national trial that progesterone along with standard medical trauma care works better than standard medical care alone in reducing brain damage," Dr Wright said.
The trial will involve 17 medical centres across 15 states and will cost $14.5m (£9m), funded by the US government. It will be run as a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to establish whether progesterone can help mend damaged brains and, if so, by how much.
Details of the clinical trial were released yesterday at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Diego. Scientists emphasised that progesterone will be given alongside conventional treatments for severe brain injury and only in life-threatening situations.
"We found evidence that progesterone is not only safe, showing no evidence of side-effects or serious harmful events, we also found a 50 per cent reduction in mortality," Dr Wright said. Tests on patients recovering from brain injuries also showed that progesterone could improve recovery and reduce disabilities among those with moderate injury.
Although progesterone is a sex steroid it is also known to be a "protection hormone". It is naturally present in the brains of men and women and human brain tissue is loaded with progesterone receptors. Professor Donald Stein of Emory's School of Medicine suspected that female hormones might be involved in brain recovery when he noticed that women tend to recover more quickly from brain injuries and strokes than men.
#2
I hope that the associated growth of chest size in male recipients would be reversible. It is likely that female recipients would largely welcome the bonus.
#5
I probably shouldn't spoil y'all's fun by pointing out that men produce progesterone themselves, including in their testicles, and that it's estrogen that enlarges breasts.
Of course, men produce a certain amount of estrogen too, so perhaps that wouldn't be a useful comment at all ;-)
#6
uh huh - when I think of stable brain activity and emotional clarity, the first words that come to my mind are: menstruation and pregnancy.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/20/2010 19:27 Comments ||
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#7
With all due respect, gentlemen of the 'burg, you were practically swimming in it for nine months before you graced us with your presence....and you are all still exemplary masculine specimens, correct?
#8
With all due respect, gentlemen of the 'burg, you were practically swimming in it for nine months before you graced us with your presence....and you are all still exemplary masculine specimens, correct?
New Firearms Law Takes Effect Monday - National parks now subject to state and local firearms laws
WASHINGTON A change in federal law effective Monday, February 22, allows firearms in many national parks. People who can legally possess firearms under federal and state law can now possess those firearms in the national parks in that state. The new law (Sec. 512 of P.L. 111-24) was passed by Congress and signed last May by the President.
Prior to February 22, firearms have generally been prohibited in national parks except in some Alaska parks and those parks that allow hunting.
State and local firearms laws vary. Visitors who would like to bring a firearm with them to a national park need to understand and comply with the applicable laws. More than 30 national parks are located in more than one state, so visitors need to know where they are in those parks and which state's law applies.
For nearly 100 years, the mission of the National Park Service has been to protect and preserve the parks and to help all visitors enjoy them,' National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis said. We will administer this law as we do all others fairly and consistently.'
Federal law continues to prohibit the possession of firearms in designated federal facilities' in national parks, for example, visitor centers, offices, or maintenance buildings. These places are posted with firearms prohibited' signs at public entrances. The new law also does not change prohibitions on the use of firearms in national parks and does not change hunting regulations.
Park websites have been updated to include links to state firearms laws to help visitors understand the law and plan accordingly.
Sec. 512 of P.L. 111-24, an amendment to the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act of 2009, also directs the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to follow state and local firearms laws in national wildlife refuges.
#1
Go for it. IT will choke off any relevancy the NYT has online, ensuring that is becomes a nearly irrelevantManhattan-only provincial liberal elitist rag, which is what it is at its core.
#4
Even going behind a pay wall, assuming traffic dips only slightly, will not be enough to prevent altering the newspaper's cost structure.
There is not a whole lotta data out on its effectiveness over the long term.
But what we do know is:
1) Online advertising is amazingly cheap.
2) Advertisers like the cost reduction from production and the like, but they do not like the lack of control they have once their message is out there.
3) Advertising in order to pay for the cost of the rest of the newspapers operations will not be enough without trimming large swaths of operations away totally.
4) You can't go back to the way things used to be and complaining that aggregators are the cause of decline are a waste of time, resources and facts.
5) Newsday in New York placed its content behind a pay wall and what it got for a $4 million redesign of its website was a whopping 35 subscribers, a .2 percent return on investment after three months. You can't make up those losses on volume, I promise you can't.
But this is the New York Times, the nation's newspaper. That can't happen to the New York Times. They're different.
#5
According to a recent AppleInsider article there is a debate at the NYT about having their paper on Apple's iPad: they want to do it but are trying to decide whether to charge $10 or $30 a month.
I say charge $100 for all the difference it will make.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/20/2010 10:10 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.
The Alabama university professor charged with fatally shooting three colleagues is remorseful but does not recall the shooting, her defense attorney said Friday.
