A Belgian man on trial for having sex with dogs claims he did it out of compassion for man's best friend, a Belgian paper says. Daily Gazet Van Antwerpen said on Friday the 36-year old in the eastern Belgian town of Genk told the court he had sex with dogs "out of love for animals", since a lot of them can't have sex, especially those locked up in refuges.
The man, only identified by his initials, could face six months in jail if convicted. He had worked in an animal refuge before and had also posted thousands of pictures on the Internet of himself having sex with dogs, the paper said.
Davis has had surgery to reattach his nose and lips, a tracheotomy, and more facial surgery Monday, while he fights off a lung infection. The Davises' attorney, Gloria Allred, says "the family had not ruled out legal action against the sanctuary's owners." Gee, ya think? Mrs. Davis also implied that there would be further negotiation or litigation to have their pet chimpanzee, Moe (not involved in this attack, though he's bitten others) returned to live with them in their California suburb.
Posted by: mojo ||
03/18/2005 11:00:04 AM ||
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Wouldn't it be easier all round for them to move into the cage with Moe?
Posted by: James ||
03/18/2005 12:03 Comments ||
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The Davisesâ attorney, Gloria Allred, says "the family had not ruled out legal action against the sanctuaryâs owners."
Thus assuring Ms. Allred of even more face time on CNN...
#4
Suddenly, as animal control entered the sanctuary, one of the chimpanzees broke into song...
How many roads must an ape walk down
Before you donât call him monkey?
Yes, 'n' how many times must we pick all the locks
Before we can be truly free?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the rotten apples fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
How many times must a ape look up
Before cages bars dissappear?
Yes, 'n' how many times must we jump a man
Before he begins to cry?
Yes, 'n' how many cakes does that man have to bring
Before he understands he has to share?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
How many years can a place like this exist
Before it's burnt to the ground?
Yes, 'n' how many years can we stay in this dump
Before all the apes can be free?
Yes, 'n' how many times can keepers turn their heads,
Pretending they just do not care?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
#5
Attaching the word "attorney" to Ms. Allred is pretty generous. The venerable title of "Self-promoting media HO" lacking much in the way of original thought would be more on the mark. I think Allred should join her clients in the cage with Moe. I would watch CNN to see that.
Lab fireball 'may be black hole'
Artists representation of a black hole, BBC
Creating the conditions for the formation of black holes is one of the aims of particle physics
A fireball created in a US particle accelerator has the characteristics of a black hole, a physicist has said.
It was generated at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) in New York, US, which smashes beams of gold nuclei together at near light speeds.
Horatiu Nastase says his calculations show that the core of the fireball has a striking similarity to a black hole.
His work has been published on the pre-print website arxiv.org and is reported in New Scientist magazine.
When the gold nuclei smash into each other they are broken down into particles called quarks and gluons.
These form a ball of plasma about 300 times hotter than the surface of the Sun. This fireball, which lasts just 10 million, billion, billionths of a second, can be detected because it absorbs jets of particles produced by the beam collisions.
But Nastase, of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, says there is something unusual about it.
Ten times as many jets were being absorbed by the fireball as were predicted by calculations.
The Brown researcher thinks the particles are disappearing into the fireball's core and reappearing as thermal radiation, just as matter is thought to fall into a black hole and come out as "Hawking" radiation.
However, even if the ball of plasma is a black hole, it is not thought to pose a threat. At these energies and distances, gravity is not the dominant force in a black hole.
Posted by: 3dc ||
03/18/2005 1:40:10 AM ||
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Cool!
Posted by: too true ||
03/18/2005 8:08 Comments ||
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I know that the black hole only lasts an instant, but I have a strange feeling we should hope that Pinky and the Brain never, ever, find out about this. They might get ideas.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
03/18/2005 8:34 Comments ||
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I remember reading a sci fi book about aliens who used a miniature black hole to gobble up the Earth. It bounced around the middle of the planet eating everything.
Cuban President Fidel Castro (news - web sites) criticized Forbes magazine on Thursday for the "infamy" of listing him among the world's richest people, with a net worth of $550 million. "Once again, they have committed the infamy of speaking about Castro's fortune, placing me almost above the queen of England," Castro said in a speech to top officials of Cuba's ruling Communist Party, military and police. "Do they think I am (former Zairian President) Mobutu (Sese Seko) or one of the many millionaires, those thieves and plunderers that the empire has suckled and protected?" he said in reference to his capitalist archenemy, the United States. "What they should be doing is looking for the money of all those people," he said.
Castro, 78 and in power since a 1959 revolution, said he was considering suing. It was the second straight year Castro was on the Forbes list. Last year, the magazine put his worth at $150 million. Forbes on Tuesday published a story on the fortunes of rulers and heads of state, which included Castro, Britain's Queen Elizabeth and the sultan of Brunei, saying none were "exemplars of capitalism" and did not qualify for the world billionaires list. The weekly financial magazine said the estimates were "more art than science."
"In the past, we have relied on a percentage of Cuba's gross domestic product to estimate Fidel Castro's fortune," Forbes explained. "This year, we have used more traditional valuation methods, comparing state-owned assets Castro is assumed to control with comparable publicly traded companies," it said. The magazine said Castro derived his fortune from a web of state-owned companies that included retail and pharmaceutical businesses and a convention center. The Cuban government, in a press statement issued by its embassy in Mexico, called the story a "clumsy slander and a repugnant example of the campaign of lies" orchestrated against Cuba in the United States. It called Forbes "an American magazine of decaying credibility."
"The revenues of Cuban state-run companies are used exclusively for the benefit of the people, to whom they belong," the statement said. Cuba is the only Latin American country that fights inequality and has the fairest income distribution in the world, the statement said.
Posted by: tipper ||
03/18/2005 10:01:42 AM ||
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#1
Looks like it'll be a bad day at El Jefe Industries today. The CEO sounds pissed.
#4
Forbes is wrong.
Castro doesn't own 1 percent of Cubas GDP.
He owns ALL Cuba...including its people.
A worker in the tourism industry receives a salary of 12 dollars a month. The foreign tourism company (hotel chain etc) pays 20 times as much to the state for this employee.
I think Castro would be welcome at any major corporation as CEO if he could pull off the same trick there.
#11
I recall the rice cookers cost $12. An entire months salary to buy a rice cooker. BTW, in the rice eating world, a rice cooker is a must have item.
EFL
Greek prison guards will go on strike next week demanding a change of their American-made weapons that date back to the U.S. wars in central America almost a century ago... The guns do not scare inmates any more as safety experts have advised guards not to fire them. No, it's not ScrappleFace.
Posted by: Tom ||
03/18/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
God. how cheap can you get? a AKS is dirt cheap. Cheaper than most hand guns. No excuse for this stupidity.
#2
A properly maintained 1911 is still a perfectly good pistol. I've seen original issue weapons that still fire perfectly. They are awesome guns and I've heard a few soldiers and Marines in Iraq have started carrying them instead of the 9mm because of the stopping power.
Of course if some folks during the past century didn't keep them up they might be in bad shape now no matter what you tried...
#3
Actually I take that back. The article says 1911 U.S. Cavalry revolvers a pistol I'm not familiar with. I was thinking of the 1911 automatic pistol. I've never heard of any revolver having safety problems.
Posted by: James ||
03/18/2005 12:11 Comments ||
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If they were carried everday these pistols were long ago worn out. They are either 38s or 45s that take 45 auto rim or 45ACP with half or full moon clips.
I am betting they are 45ACPs using full moon or half moon clips.
EFL For the first time a majority of French say they plan to vote 'no' in the national referendum on the European constitution to be held in May, according to a poll to be published Friday in the daily Le Parisien. Perhaps they would prefer "We the people..."!
According to the poll, carried out by the CSA institute, 51 percent intend to vote 'no' and 49 percent 'yes'. The latest poll is likely to worry French President Jacques Chirac, who has been campaigning hard for a yes vote. The John Kerry of France? Not a pretty legacy...
But the French electorate, angry over economic and labour reforms imposed by the conservative government and wary over Chirac's push to have Turkey become an EU member in the future, is in a volatile mood. But what about the "French street"?
Street protests have been gathering pace in recent weeks and reached a crescendo last Thursday with a crippling national strike in a scene reminiscent of demonstrations in 1995 that eventually brought down the previous centre-right government.
Posted by: Tom ||
03/18/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
Damn uncultured AFP hacks don't know what a "crescendo" is: you reach a climax via a crescendo.
#3
Oh yes, it's so close I "predict" it will pass by a slim majority. What else can you expect from "Le Worm"? You think he will let it fail? He is a crook. It will pass come hell or high water. I imagine R. Daley had nothing on old Jacques.
#4
Besides Turkey's membership, French objections concern the fact that they feel the Constitution is too much in favour of neoliberal free-market competition and doesn't include enough socialism in it.
So in short, if the Constitution fails in France it will fail for the exact opposite reason than people here would have wanted it to fail: It'd be a blow of communist and socialist statist-protectionism against the free market ideals of the EU constitution.
If you think *that* to be good news, then I am thinking insults to you right now.
#5
For once I agree with Aris: most people calling for the "no" are doing it for the wrong reasons: because it would dismantle the welfare state and of course, don't forget we are in France, because it would put the country in the orbit of the United States.
Nobody is mentionning the fundamental isuue and is one of democracy, that ancient Greek word some Greeks no longer understand. :-) Don't think for a minute that the 500 pages Constitution is a bug, it is a feature aimed at preventing people from reading it and noticing that the EU would be a soft dictatorship. Perhaps not as soft as that: the public prosecutor can jail you for six months without trial for "anti-european" activities.
Nobody is mentionning a second fundamental reason and is one of centralism: the reason the United States is viable is because the federal governemnt doesn't interfere that much in the daily life of people: Washington doesn't try to force a uniform thickness of coats both for Vermont and in Florida and most of legislature for Texas is voted by people from Texas instead of by people from Massachusetts. The EU Constution tries to force a highly interfering state on people who doon't have the sme climate, the same habits (food, clothing, working hours), history and religion. The prefect recipe for a Yugoslav-like implosion after a few decades.
But even if for the bad reasons, it would be a Good Thing (TM) for the EU "Constitution" going into the dustbins of history.
#6
That the European Constitution will fail is a foregone conclusion, the only open question is whether it will fail to be adopted or fail far more spectacularly thereafter. I, for one, sincerely hope the Constitution is adopted, I've much popcorn at the ready ....
#7
JFM, I'd really like to know where in the world you read that about the public prosecutor. The only place where the Public Prosecutor is mentioned in the Constitution is article III-274, and nothing is said there for either "six months without trial" nor for "anti-european activities".
So, what's the game with the bizarre claims, JFM?
the reason the United States is viable is because the federal governemnt doesn't interfere that much in the daily life of people:
To take as an example drug laws, it seems to me EU allows much more flexibility to its member states to set their own laws than the US does. To take as another example abortion laws, it seems to me likewise. The degree of separation between church and state -- ditto. Same-sex marriage: I gather that in the US both sides worry that the other side will force their preferred solution on the whole of the nation.
Seems to me neither party should be forced into an arranged marriage if they don't want to be in it, irrespective of their reasons for objecting. Democracy: the antidote to elitist paternalism. Ain't it great?
#9
And as a sidenote the only way for EU to turn out like Yugoslavia is if we allowed Russia to join it -- if Russia ever gets membership, *then* it becomes times for the rest of the members to start fleeing the EU.
Important reasons for the Yugoslavia's demise was Serb nationalism and the way one constituent republic (namely Serbia) had enough power to attempt to take on most of the other ones at the same time -- including having minority populations in the neighbouring regions that attempted secession: The obvious parallel here is Nazi Germany with its Germanic populations in Czechoslovakia and elsewhere -- and now Putin's Russia with its large Russian, Russophone (or other) minorities in Moldova, Georgia, Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine and so forth.
Without such desire for dominance of one over all, or such destabilizing minorities in other nations to be used by pawns, there's no Yugoslavia in the making. At worst the fall of the EU will be a peaceful dissolution Czechoslovakia-style.
#12
Aris you are really incredible. The Treaty of Amsterdam states that any European legislation, even derived laws is superior to national laws, even Constitutions. In contrast the US constitution enumerates limitatively the powers of the federal governemnt and stetes the remainder will be assumed by the states or by the people.
Second: You give an example on drugs. Meaning that the liberal legislation on the Netherlands coupled with Schengen will end in my daughter being poisoned by some bastard based in Amsterdam.
In other words she would be affected by Netheralnd laws.
Third: The US federal government doesn't mingle on the size of beds, EU does. Or in if restaurants can put the traditional bottles of olive oil and vinegar on table, EU does. Or about the composition of moussaka and ouzo (you can bet EU will end doing it). And doesn't put Helsinki and Santiago de Compostela in the same time zone (part of the dead from the 2003 heat wave were due to people leaving office at 18h00 but at 16h00 on solar time).
Also you know nothing about what happenned on Yougoslavia. It was not thne bad Serbs against the good everyone else, in fact one of the problems was that was everyone against Serbia and the rotating presidency meant Serbia faced a hostile president 7/8ths of time.
About the peaceful dissolutioj that is wishful thinking. The Constitution can be amended only if there is unanimity for modifying it. Meaning that in practice that Constitution cannot be modified. And there is no right to secession. So when people will have enough of a having a parliamnt who can merely tell yes or nay to propositions of the commisiison when people will have enough of having a Finn deciding on the ways of making olive oil and they want to leave then the only way out will be violence.
#14
JFM, your are not correct about the secession right.
Article 59: Voluntary withdrawal from the Union
1. Any Member State may decide to withdraw from the European Union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements.
2. A Member State which decides to withdraw shall notify the European Council of its intention; the European Council shall examine that notification. In the light of the guidelines provided by the European Council, the Union shall negotiate and conclude an agreement with that State, setting out the arrangements for its withdrawal, taking account of the framework for its future relationship with the Union. That agreement shall be concluded on behalf of the Union by the Council of Ministers, acting by a qualified majority, after obtaining the consent of the European Parliament.
The representative of the withdrawing Member State shall not participate in Council of Ministers or European Council discussions or decisions concerning it.
3. The Constitution shall cease to apply to the State in question from the date of entry into force of the withdrawal agreement or, failing that, two years after the notification referred to in paragraph 2, unless the European Council, in agreement with the Member State concerned, decides to extend this period.
4. If a State which has withdrawn from the Union asks to re-join, its request shall be subject to the procedure referred to in Article 57.
In shorter words: A state that wants to secede can do so anytime, either after negotiating the terms or, if negociations fail, after 2 years WITHOUT the consent of the remaining EU States. The 2 years period can only be extendend WITH THE CONSENT of the seceding state.
No violence. No EU army will cross the Channel if the UK calls it quits.
#16
JFM, the idea of a Finn dictating anything about olive oil production is pretty funny (much as I like the Finns - Finnair is my favourite airline).
#17
JFM, I did study French history and literature quite a bit and dealt with Giscard's politics on a daily basis at times. Rest assured that I admire French culture. One of my favorite authors is Montaigne. One French intellectual of the 20th century I came to like a lot was Raymond Aron, who was a personal friend.
But whereas I'm "incredible" because you simply don't like what I said, you were pretty incredible when you outrageously LIED about what the EU Constitution says about the public prosecutor.
In contrast the US constitution enumerates limitatively the powers of the federal governemnt and states the remainder will be assumed by the states or by the people.
You are all about the theory and never care about the practice of the matter ain't ya? You get your anti-marijuana laws and they can justify that because it affects "interstate trade" and you get you animal cruelty laws and they can justify that because it affects "interstate trade".
Don't be deluded about the US constitution enumerating "limitatively the powers of the federal government".
Second: You give an example on drugs. Meaning that the liberal legislation on the Netherlands coupled with Schengen will end in my daughter being poisoned by some bastard based in Amsterdam.
Oh, I see. What you mean is that you like the right of member-states to set their own laws only if you agree with said laws.
Tell your daughter not to travel to Amsterdam: Problem solved.
And there is no right to secession
How big a liar can you become, before you fall down under the weight of your lies?
Yes, there is a fucking right to secession in the EU Constitution, stated quite clearly and explicitely, you absurd absurd LIAR. No, there's *nothing* about the European Prosecutor imprisoning people for "anti-european activitities", you absurd absurd LIAR.
The Constitution can be amended only if there is unanimity for modifying it. Meaning that in practice that Constitution cannot be modified.
Just like all the previous treaties of the EU, just like the Treaty of Nice, which I guess means that the Treaty of Nice will never be modified, I guess. In which case why are you so wasting so much time talking about the EU Constitution which will never come to be?
Also you know nothing about what happenned on Yougoslavia. It was not thne bad Serbs against the good everyone else, in fact one of the problems was that was everyone against Serbia and the rotating presidency meant Serbia faced a hostile president 7/8ths of time.
What the hell does that have to do with the butchery at Bosnia? The Yugoslavian constitution gave the republics the right to leave the federation -- and so they left: the Serb minorities throughout the region wanted to create a "Greater Serbia" using bits and pieces from all the now-independent states in the regions.
*That* was the problem, that was the imperialism, that was the cause of what we now call "the example of Yugoslavia", the problem was not some kind of "hostile presidency".
#21
pass the popcorn. JFM, you rock! To the lampposts!
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/18/2005 9:57 Comments ||
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#22
JFM, you rock!
For a person who hasn't actually managed to make a single accurate claim about the EU Constitution and what it contains.
The only thing that's left accurate in his posts here is the kind of complaint about issues that don't have anything to do with the changes the EU Constitution makes, but are rather complaints about the EU as a whole -- namely the bureacratic product standardization nonsense that's been true already under the Treaty of Nice and the ones preceding it.
If you want a fucking right to secession, JFM, *then* vote for the EU Constitution, because it's the current treaties that don't contain such a right, and it's the EU Constitution that contains it. When you are wrong about something as fundamental as that, it's time to reconsider your attitude about the EU Constitution as a whole.
JFM, I hope you'll be happy with the more socialist, less free-marketeer version of the EU Constitution that will make its appearance if France rejects the Constitution for reasons of lack-of-socialism. When a vast construction falls, you should very damn well hope it falls on the side you'd prefer, and not on the opposite one.
#28
It's all good if the Froggy electorate turns down the EU Constitution. At the higher levels where it counts, the EU is a repulsive, unelected aristocracy. Damn pro gay atheists too as recently demonstrated
You have known Raymond Aron? Then perhaps you know about that slogan of French leftists: "It is better to be wrong with Sartre than right with Aron".
But after thinking in Nietzche I told "People who drink in the fresh water of Sartre's lies and errors instead of Aron's bitter water of truth are failing the camel stage. And they are taking the first step toward becoming untermenschen". :-)
#30
I had also seen the allegation that dropping out of the EU was a no-go. I think the mistake came from a quote/or misquote of a politican and not from the Constitution. I'm glad to read that's not true because I had a tough time understanding why any nation would sign up for such a deal with no exit strategy if things turned sour.
The other question then is does the Constitution have any comments on the member states voting to expel a member?
#32
The other question then is does the Constitution have any comments on the member states voting to expel a member?
Sort of. Not exactly expelling, but rather suspending member voting rights in the Council if there's a breach of the fundamental values of the EU by a member-state ("human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law"). Hold on a sec, and I'll find you a link to the exact article.
#34
TGA-That agreement shall be concluded on behalf of the Union by the Council of Ministers, acting by a qualified majority, after obtaining the CONSENT of the European Parliament.
#36
BigEd, for chrissakes, read the article again. The agreement is not *required* for the member state in question to withdraw. The member state can withdraw *without* an agreement.
But BigEg, yes, if such an "agreement" is deemed desirable, the very word "agreement" indicates that both sides need to "agree" aka "consent" to it.
I'm sorry that the concept of *consentual* agreements so much offends you. I suppose that you would have preferred an article that said: "Any member state can impose any terms it likes on the rest of the European Union, retaining all rights of memberships but not having any obligations. No consent is needed by the European Parliament or the Council."
#37
the very word "agreement" indicates that both sides need to "agree" aka "consent" to it.
Still if the bulk of the EU does not want one member to go, and that member wants to go, if the EU resists, then there will be violence...2 year cooling-off period not withstanding...WORLD EVENTS CAN HAPPEN A LOT FASTER THAN 2 YEARS...
Then we can talk of a repression, and Brussels installs a puppet governmwent in the capital, and seeks to procecute the people who wanted to leave the EU in the first place.
In the US Civil war, the underlying issue was whether the slave states could defy federal law... Unlike the situation in the US in the 1860s, where there was only 80+ years as a nation, how many of the individual nations have national identities stretching back 1000 years or more? (Greece 3000) Some meddlesome bureaucrat in Brussels is going to suppress that at the snap of his fingers? I think not. And if the EU Constitution goes forward as is, JFM's concerns may be valid. TGA may be an optimist...
Besides, if some repressed bureaucrat is determing the size beds can be, you are done before you start.
#38
BigEd, I have a contract with my mobile phone company over 24 months. I think I can expect from a member state to accept 2 years as well before leaving.
Violence is impossible per se because Brussels has no means to exact it.
This is really a non issue of the EU Constitution.
#39
BigEd, am I supposed to reply to such insanity? Which among all those "ifs" and "thens" have anything to do with the Constitution or the EU whatsoever? Installing puppet governments? Repression? Prosecuting people that want to leave it?
Which national army in the EU shall do this? Name it. Don't use the vague "Brussels". Tell me which president of which nation shall sign the order to send troops of his across another member-states's borders without the consent of the other state's government.
And then tell me, why he would be *more* willing to do it with the EU Constitution, than without it.
You are not discussing either the Constitution nor the EU anymore. You are discussing fevered imaginings which would require neither, if such possibilities as you discuss were remotely conceivable. Shall Germany invade France again, you imagine, at the call of Brussels? If Germany was such a nation nowadays as to do it, then it wouldn't require either the Constitution, nor the EU, nor Brussels.
There's a mantra that Frank and others repeat several times about me -- that I supposedly "know nothing about the United States" (I mean they repeat it even in times when I'm not actually discussing anything specific the US, they just like to mention it in random time, just to annoy.)
Here's however what must be said to you a hundred times more strongly than I've ever been told about the US: YOU, BigEd, KNOW NOTHING ABOUT EUROPE. You don't even comprehend how far removed from reality the scenarios you describe are.
"If the EU resists" - oh, start with the ifs.
"Then we can talk of a repression" -- through what enforcement agents?
"Brussels installs a puppet government in the capital" -- with what army?
"seeks to procecute the people who wanted to leave the EU in the first place" -- with what courts? EU Court of Justice can't even prosecute civilians, only member-states and institutions can be brought to it.
You make mention of "how many of the individual nations have national identities stretching back 1000 years or more? (Greece 3000) Some meddlesome bureaucrat in Brussels is going to suppress that at the snap of his fingers"
and you don't understand that that's EXACTLY part of the reason that such a EU dictatorship can't happen. You claim that a "meddlesome bureaucrat in Brussels" can impose dictatorship with a snap of his fingers.
You are babbling without restraint. I've wasted way too much time to even attempt to wrap my mind around such insanities as you claim. If I argued "What if George W. Bush is a zombie who launched the war on Iraq in order to have fresh supplies of newly-dead brains?" that's how far removed from reality you are.
#43
Typical liberal nonsense. The 10th Mt. is aimed at Montreal with an airdrop by the ready brigade of the 82nd on Quebec City. Ottawa is a non issue for all involved.
#45
AK sez: Sort of. Not exactly expelling, but rather suspending member voting rights in the Council if there's a breach of the fundamental values of the EU by a member-state ("human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law").
#46
I think it's silly to try to argue about interpretations of the EU constitution. For one thing, it's pretty clear that France and Germany do pretty much whatever they want to anyway. And even if these interpretations of the craziness are right, it's a waste of good breath to suggest it.
The fact is that most Euros *like* giving up responsibility to an unaccountable elite, especially if that elite gives them a suitable appearance of participatory democracy. They *like* having things equal a lot more than they like freedom of action and choice.
I wish I were more optimistic about the future for western Europe. But unless something fundamental changes - and that would take decades - I think the continent is a write-off on the western side. I just hope the French and Germans don't bleed Poland and the emerging states so dry that they can't achieve their economic and political potential.
Posted by: Rafael ||
03/18/2005 21:13 Comments ||
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#48
Ship: The 10th Mt. is aimed at Montreal with an airdrop by the ready brigade of the 82nd on Quebec City.
Just don't damage the historic buildings.
Posted by: Rafael ||
03/18/2005 21:17 Comments ||
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#49
anon - well said - see: Gov't deficit limits and theGerman and French attainment of such. Also, Greek debt
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/18/2005 22:08 Comments ||
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#50
I think it's silly to try to argue about interpretations of the EU constitution. For one thing, it's pretty clear that France and Germany do pretty much whatever they want to anyway. And even if these interpretations of the craziness are right, it's a waste of good breath to suggest it.
The fact is that most Euros *like* giving up responsibility to an unaccountable elite, especially if that elite gives them a suitable appearance of participatory democracy. They *like* having things equal a lot more than they like freedom of action and choice.
I wish I were more optimistic about the future for western Europe. But unless something fundamental changes - and that would take decades - I think the continent is a write-off on the western side. I just hope the French and Germans don't bleed Poland and the emerging states so dry that they can't achieve their economic and political potential.
European Union civil servants are building a subsidised creche for their children where places will cost more than £20,000 a year - almost as much as fees at Eton. The 180-place creche is due to open next year, but the costs are already raising eyebrows in Brussels. Even hardened Eurocrats, used to generous living at the expense of EU taxpayers, have been startled. A year's fees at Eton are £22,380.
Fees at private creches in Brussels are no more than £6,000 a year and public creches cost less. But places are hard to come by and waiting lists are long. The creche is being built by the Council of the European Union, the main decision- making body of the EU, which is made up of ministers from each member state, and run by a rotating presidency, at present held by Luxembourg. The presidency and ministers and officials attending meetings are supported by a permanent general secretariat, whose workers will be the main beneficiaries. They will be expected to pay no more than £3,500 a year, thanks to subsidies provided by the EU taxpayer. Diplomats and officials at other EU institutions will pay the full price.
Vittorio Griffo, the director general of administration, said the fees included £5,000 towards purchasing and converting the premises, spread over the next 27 years. "The standards are not Hilton Hotel, you won't find any gold taps, we have nothing to hide. We are simply following Belgian national standards." Why bother to lie anymore? There is nothing the peasants can do to stop them, so why not tell them to eat cake?
Europe, it's up to y'all. Your organization, your money. Knock yourselves (or the euro-bureau-wankers) out.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/18/2005 20:12 Comments ||
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#2
imagine: a whole continent with a "kick-me" sign placed on its back by unelected bureaucrats
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/18/2005 20:29 Comments ||
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#3
We are simply following Belgian national standards."
Which were CAREFULLY written to require this, no doubt.
Posted by: too true ||
03/18/2005 20:29 Comments ||
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#4
You mean there's something left that doesn't have EU standards? I mean, hell, they have standards for seasonings on their tables at restaurants & cafes, but nothing for childrens' nursery schools???
#5
Agreed. Knock yourselves out. Keep piling on the perks on the backs of the EU taxpayers. Take notes, make spreadsheets, plot graphs. See when the taxpayers break down, revolt, etc. and publish a report for the UN---If they haven't taken the cosmolene of ye olde Gillotine by then.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/18/2005 22:25 Comments ||
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#6
..and publish a report for the UN
I don't see what purpose that might serve, nor what good it would do.
NEW YORK -- The senior aide to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he does not expect additional firings of key personnel as the organization struggles to defend itself from multiple scandals. "We're not in the mood for more wholesale change," said Mark Malloch Brown, who became Mr. Annan's chief of staff and primary adviser three months ago. "Senior appointments will not stop, but there is no wholesale change," he told The Washington Times in an interview earlier this week.
As advisers scrambled to put the finishing touches on Mr. Annan's recommendations for U.N. reform, new protocols for hiring senior officials are already being tested. With more than a half-dozen key offices vacant or almost so, senior officials are casting a broad net to find the "bright, energetic agents of change," rather than the usual assortment of bureaucrats, diplomats and nephews that are formally put forward by governments, he said. "When we search proactively, we get, we build a more international team than when we get an ambassador coming in here with the CV of someone they insist we place," Mr. Malloch Brown said. "If you sit here and wait for governments, you don't get the world's best." They know that from experience.
I like that turn of phrase: "bureaucrats, diplomats and nephews." Kinda catches the flavor of the thing.
To find a new person to head the refugee agency known as the High Commissioner for Refugees, a job that became available last month after accusations of sexual harassment and intimidation became public, the organization contacted governments, private aid groups and it circulated criteria for the job search on the Internet. There were ads in the back of the Economist, a weekly newsmagazine. At least a dozen persons have submitted resume packages, and the "short list" will be subjected to interviews by a search panel and unprecedented reference checks. No wonder we haven't heard from Spike.
A similarly public search is under way to find people to run the U.N. Development Program, to direct Middle East peace efforts and to oversee economic programs in Asia and the Arab world. The chief U.N. administrator's job will soon be available, as will the comptroller's. All jobs are theoretically priorities, but as Mr. Malloch Brown said, "It's generally hard to find people who want a job for 18 months." Not if the payoffs are right
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/18/2005 3:56:25 PM ||
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#1
"Not in the mood? Mood is a thing for cattle and love play!"
-- Gurney Halleck
Posted by: Jonathan ||
03/18/2005 16:32 Comments ||
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Request volunteers to show up on 1st ave, then on the count of three, heave ho and away she goes into the East river, from there with wind and current and a little luck the delegates should have no problem sailing her out to sea (permanently).
A 5-year-old boy in central Vietnam has been infected by the bird flu virus which has killed 47 people in Asia, the Saigon Giai Phong newspaper reported on Friday. Doctors could not immediately be reached for comment on the boy, the 25th human case of bird flu infection in Vietnam since December. Thirteen of them have died.
On Thursday, Phan Nhu The, director of the general hospital in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue told Reuters poultry in the boy's village in the nearby province of Quang Binh had been infected by the H5N1 virus. He was taken to hospital early this week with damage to his lungs. His 13-year-old sister had died, but she had not been tested for bird flu, The said. Since December, when the H5N1 virus broke out anew in the Mekong Delta, 35 of Vietnam's 64 provinces have been affected. In addition to the 13 Vietnamese, one Cambodian has died of it. However, the World Health Organization says it has seen no evidence so far to suggest the virus is changing into a form that could be transmitted easily from one human to another, the greatest fear of experts.
If it did acquire the ability to pass easily from person to person, the virus could set off a pandemic in a world population with no immunity to it and millions could die, the WHO says. It has killed 34 Vietnamese, 12 Thais and the Cambodian and has recurred several times despite the slaughter of millions of poultry since spreading across large parts of Asia in late 2003. Easy human-to-human transmission is only a matter of time, according to epidemologists.
#2
Re quarantine-
do we know whether the virus can be spread via animal meat? You can quarantine infected humans, but how would you quarantine the food industry of Asia? ASIA. You couldn't.
#3
Jules, quarantine stops human to human transmission. Stopping the spread in animals is not possible because it is present in wild birds many of which migrate long distances.
A petrol bomb and death threats have been delivered to staff at a guinea pig farm and to the owners' family. Several workers at Darley Oaks Farm at Newchurch, Staffordshire, which breeds animals for medical research, have also received threatening letters. The remains of Gladys Hammond, 82, who was related to the farm's owners, were stolen from her grave in Yoxall last October and have not been recovered. The incidents are believed to be the work of animals rights extremists. Staffordshire Police say the latest attacks are being treated extremely seriously.
The daughter of one of the farm's owners had a petrol bomb left outside her home in Burton-on-Trent this week. Gladys Hammond was related to the farm's part-owner. The petrol bomb and letters are being examined by scenes of crime officers. Detectives investigating the grave desecration have arrested two men and one woman, who all remain on police bail. Mrs Hammond was the mother-in-law of Christopher Hall, who part-owns Darley Oaks Farm. The burial plot of Mrs Hammond, who was laid to rest more than seven years ago, was disturbed on 7 October 2004.
(UPDATE) Animal rights activists arrested for digging up dead body to protest breeding guinea pigs
UK - Five people were arrested yesterday over the theft of a corpse by suspected animal rights activists. The breakthrough came after BBC1's Crimewatch appealed to anonymous letter writers, who claim to have the remains, to provide proof. The body of Gladys Hammond, 82, was dug up last October from St Peter's Church in Yoxall, Staffs, in what was thought to be a protest at her family breeding guinea pigs for research. A man, 32, and woman, 30, from Gloucester and three men from Newchurch, Staffs, are being questioned on suspicion of criminal damage.
#1
The Court has to set up an exclusion zone for "demonstrators" to protect these people just the other day. This is the response of the Animial rights campaigners to the courts decision. Clearly UK Courts don't get it. This is a multi year campaign against people going about a lawful activity on their own property. The lady whom had her grave desecrated was a mother in law. Not even a blood relative whom had died 8 years previous. If these feces for brains should ever get in my way I will hurt them for certain. This is a international problem however, it's not just UK specific.
Friday, March 18, 2005 5:41 p.m. EST
Terri: 'I Waaaannt [To Live]'
A mentally disabled woman whose court-ordered starvation-execution began Friday attempted to contradict her estranged husband's claim that she wants to die hours before her feeding tube was disconnected, an eyewitness is claiming.
Barbara Weller, an attorney for Terri Schiavo's parents, told reporters Friday afternoon that during her visit earlier in the day she told Ms. Schiavo:
"Terri, if you would just say, 'I want to live,' all of this will be over."
According to pro-life activist Randall Terry, who recounted the scene to radio host Sean Hannity, Schiavo tried desperately to repeat Weller's words.
"'I waaaaannt ...,' Schiavo allegedly said, in a prolonged yell that had police stationed nearby running into her hospice room.
"She just started yelling, 'I waaaannt, I waaaannt,'" Terry said, according to Weller's account.
At that point police ejected Weller, he said.
This is most odd. If she is so brain-dead, then why did she respond. Is this for real? Any RB folks out there with medical background to comment
#2
My wife is a clinical psych and has a number of these type of people she deals with. Mainly children. They are very much like infants, with simple emotions and responses to stimuli. In the school district she works in, they are taken care of. Terri Schiavo is probably in the same boat. If her living gives meaning and joy to her parents, she should live. They agreed to take care of her. The husband must have another agenda if he wants to kill her when there is another way. He could walk away from the whole thing.
If she did not want to live that way, then there should be a living will expressing those wishes that was established beforehand. All we have is the husband's word without any backup. She is definitely not brain dead. This is just legally sanctified murder. Nothing less.
No questions on abortion, even with minors not having to tell their parents.
Liberals want a prohibition on capital punishment.
Euthanasia is ok.
Nice consistancy in logic. Makes perfect sense. Carry on. Pretty bad. From the husband to the judge.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/18/2005 18:38 Comments ||
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#3
Something else to consider here, is that this woman breathes on her own. She is not on life support anymore than any newborn baby is. It is murder, and her husband and the judges supporting him should be charged with attempted murder for this. Murder, pure and simple.
#5
"No questions on abortion, even with minors not having to tell their parents. Liberals want a prohibition on capital punishment. Euthanasia is ok." Alaska Paul
Well that is what eugenics is all about. It's not about inmproving the human race through breeding. That is a sop to the moral and "squeamish" according to eugenicists. See it's logical conclusion which was as practiced in National Socialist (NAZI) Germany.
#6
Ageed SPOD, this @$$wipe tries to come across as caring for Terri's wishes. If he cared, he would be at her side, Instead he's shacked up and breeding with some other broad, has been for years. If that's what he wants with his life great - it does not require Terri's death. This thing truly stinks. A US court is ordering that a US citizen be starved to death. But by Jove, do not under any circumstances force a Moose-limb to wear panties on his head - oh the humanity. Sickening.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
03/18/2005 19:55 Comments ||
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#7
agreed with above - this is a killing. Guess the judge considers it a 127th trimester abortion...
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/18/2005 19:58 Comments ||
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#8
I don't agree with this, either, but anything Randall "Operation Rescue" Terry says is extremely suspect to me. I've never heard any reputable source saying she could say anything the past few years.
#9
I agree with you, Desert Blondie. Actually when I was discussing the logic or lack thereof, I was not even thinking about Randall Terry. Statement #5 what Sock said brings out the fundamental issue. When we as a society disregard these issues, then it is easy to go down the slippery slope and start killing the mentally ill, low IQ, freaks, gypsies, etc, a la the Nazis without compunction.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/18/2005 22:21 Comments ||
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#10
The left has no problem with murder and killing people really. Millions of kids since abortion was legal. Their great Camelot is of course, tainted by the deaths of the Cuban's they didn't support and young women left to drown while they stagger home drunk. Waco, and while Khoresh may have been crazy, torching them wasn't exactly the way it's supposed to work.
#11
AP, if I'm blathering here, I'm sorry, but I'm really exhausted right now....
I don't mean to come across as though I think this is the right decision. I think this is nothing more than state sanctioned murder. Since there is no indication that she ever wrote down what she wants, her parents are willing to care for her, and she can breathe on her own, I'd be more inclined to keeping her alive.
It just makes me relieved that I did write out a living will about 5 months ago. I made 4 copies, and passed them out (especially one to my doctor...we even specifically discussed what I would want). RB'ers, if you don't have one now, what the hell are you waiting for???
Nooooobody knows the troubles I've seen...
BOULDER, Colo. - Stacks of papers sit on a sun-drenched table in the home of University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill, some full of praise and others full of dark threats and unprintable insults. In one message, liberal scholar Noam Chomsky calls Churchill's achievements of inestimable value, while an e-mail in another pile warns: "If you ever come to Florida, I will personally bash your (expletive) brains in." Well, if Noam Chomsky's on his side, what're we even talking about here? Game over. Noam Chomsky! Whoa!
This is Churchill's new life: Since January, he has been at the center of a firestorm over free speech for likening some Sept. 11 victims to Adolf Eichmann, a Nazi architect of the Holocaust. The governors of two states have called for his ouster and two attorneys with a Denver radio show have spent weeks compiling data they say proves Churchill is a rotten professor at best, a seditionist at worst.
In a two-hour interview with The Associated Press, Churchill, 57, said he won't back down as the school investigates him to see if he can be fired. But he wearily acknowledged the uproar now dominates his life and makes it difficult to focus on his job as a tenured professor of ethnic studies. Yeah. Lotta heavy lifting involved in that I'm sure.
"I'm struggling desperately to be able to deliver to my students what they signed up for," Churchill said, slumped in a chair and chain-smoking Pall Malls. "All of my time is devoted to responding to gratuitous (expletive). Every day there's a new idiocy." Boofuckinhoohoo, Ward.
In his essay written shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Churchill called some World Trade Center victims "little Eichmanns." The essay drew scant attention until earlier this year, when it resurfaced after Churchill was invited to speak at Hamilton College in upstate New York. Relatives of the dead and the governors of New York and Colorado denounced Churchill and the speech was canceled because of death threats against him. Now, university administrators are investigating Churchill's works to determine whether to recommend his dismissal. CU spokeswoman Pauline Hale said she could not comment on details, but the results are scheduled to be released March 28.
The latest charges are that Churchill plagiarized others' work and threatened physical violence against critics. He denies both claims, though he said he did threaten to sue a woman he said was harassing his family and spreading lies. "Now that's not a cordial conversation. And yes, I supposed you could make a case that the object is to intimidate," he said. "But it's by exercise of legal right, not by beating the woman up. If I was inclined to do that, she'd have been beaten up a long time ago." Oh, Ward, you tough guy, you!
Churchill has many critics, some on his own campus. Law professor Paul Campos said Churchill's writings are unfair and unbalanced, and there is evidence he has plagiarized and fabricated material. "That goes beyond being an ideological hack and having no balance or nuance or intelligence in your work," Campos said. "It goes into the realm of academic fraud, which is a firing offense." Ward Churchill: Ideological Hack. Maybe Soros will fund the chair for him at CU?
Churchill said his critics have mangled the facts in their rush to condemn him. He said the inquiry is not merely an investigation of his work but a pretext for a broader campaign to discourage critical thinking and reduce higher education to "an advanced vo-tech" where students are taught skills useful to corporations. "It's not about me, and it's not about 'little Eichmanns,' either," he said. Bullshit. It's about you. It's always about guys like you.
Churchill acknowledged he is confrontational when he tries to make Americans see the attacks of Sept. 11 not as unprovoked assaults on an innocent people, but as the consequences of years of U.S. policies he likens to genocide. "That's why I'm so in-your-face. You will not ignore this, purport to innocence while applauding genocide. You may not be directly culpable, but you're not innocent," he said. He's just an "in your face" kinda guy...
He also defended his scholarship, citing his induction into the Martin Luther King Jr. Collegium of Scholars at Morehouse College in Atlanta and offering nine pages of endorsements from other scholars. The collection includes praise from Richard Falk, formerly at Princeton and now a visiting professor of global studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who called Churchill an outstanding scholar of indigenous rights. Like what? The right to stand on 16 at the blackjack table?
Churchill has tried to keep his family and students out of the spotlight, insisting reporters get permission for classroom interviews and hesitating to make relatives available for interviews about his Indian heritage — another topic hotly contested by his critics, who argue he cannot prove he is Indian and lied about it on his job application at CU. Churchill said his mother and grandmother told him he was part Indian, and he thought of himself that way while growing up in Illinois. My mother told me we were millionaires.
"I'm not identifying as an Indian because of something out of cowboy and Indian movies," he said. "That's my family's understanding of itself." Got it, white eyes?
Churchill said he is prepared to fight, either to save his job or to negotiate a model settlement for resolving future disputes between universities and faculty. He insists he does not want a victory that would destroy the university but warns he is ready for a protracted battle. "Am I absolutely committed to taking this as far as it will go?" he asked. "No. Am I prepared to? Yes." Make me a deal, I'm ready to cave...
#1
If the university does it by the numbers, I would love to see this bird stripped of any monies he's got left. Most likely, though, some radical attorney will defend him pro bono, and, like Wm Kunstler, watch Churchill go down in flames as he, the attorney, attacks "the system", ineffectually.
#2
Oh, no...NO!! Quoting one of his defenders from a post at RB (yesterday?) - âWeâve done some preliminary research and analysis and itâs become clear exactly whatâs at stake and what weâre up against. CU-Boulder has been made the national frontline of the neocon battle for dominance in academe.â
NATIONAL FRONTLINE! I'm SOOOO important, it's national frontline. Reminds me of a Texas bureaucrat who "thought" she graduated from UT. (She was 16 hours short).
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/18/2005 18:02 Comments ||
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#3
Scumbag Churchill stated in a taped interview (go to KHOW AM Denver web site) that if he gets a ticket in some state, he does property damage of equal value before leaving that state, just to make it even.
Of course I'm not threatening violence, just asking Chief Ward: If the Regents buy him off at, let's say, $500,000, does he recommend that much damage be done to CU, just to make it even?
Anybody know his home address? I feel the need to do some peaceful, in-your-face freedom of speech at this scum fucker.
#4
This SOB has has his 15 minutes of fame. Time for he tenure to be withdrawn. There is more than ample grounds for that. Put him on paid leave until that action and his fireing takes place.
#5
CU has gone about this like a bunch of wusses. What they need to do is to gather data, hire the meanest shit shovelling law firm that has a reputation of a pit bull, and build a case. Review it, plan it, then hit him with it like a march on Baghdad. Overwhelming force. The planning was done so the rest is execution. Plan for contingencies. Just like mil ops. Except you have weak leadership at the top.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/18/2005 19:11 Comments ||
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#6
"Iâm struggling desperately to be able to deliver to my students what they signed up for,"
Somehow I dont think your students signed up (or they/their parents paid for) to get your bullshit.
#7
he's vulnerable now - I see an assault charge in his future...guy's losing it. Suspend w/o pay and then fir ehim for plagiarism, misrepresentation in his art, his resume, his life story.... Crush him like an empty pack of smokes. Dispose of properly, though, of course
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/18/2005 19:49 Comments ||
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#8
CrazyFool, I think CU got pretty much what they wanted when they hired him. (Asking questions about 0 vs 1/32 indian just privileges "white western linear logic," right?) They wanted a manure spreader, so they hired one. What the students sign up for doesn't matter.
Posted by: James ||
03/18/2005 22:23 Comments ||
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Four men who were sentenced to death for gang-raping a woman in Pakistan but then freed on bail — triggering an outcry from human rights activists — have been arrested again, police said Friday.
"You're free to go!"
"Y'r under arrest! Stick 'em up!"
The men were convicted nearly three years ago of raping Mukhtar Mai, 33, on orders from a village council to punish her family for her young brother's alleged illicit affair with a woman from another family. The four walked out of jail Tuesday after a judge granted them bail, following an appeals court decision earlier this month overturning their convictions. That ruling angered rights activists and prompted a mass protest by women in Multan, the nearest city to Mai's remote home village of Meerwala in eastern Punjab province. Mai, who has said she fears retaliation if the men remain free, met with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Friday in the capital, Islamabad, and asked him to order the men's arrests, according to Kashmala Tariq, a lawmaker who accompanied her. However, Ahsan Mahboob, a local police official, said police already had arrested the men late Thursday after receiving orders from provincial authorities.
"Mahmoud! I thought you wuz in jug?"
"I made bail."
"Hokay. Stick 'em up! Y'r under arrest!"
It was not immediately known on what legal grounds the four suspects were detained this time, but Mahboob said they would remain in custody pending a decision by the Supreme Court, the nation's highest court. The Supreme Court intervened in the case last week, giving the parties in Mai's case a week to submit legal documents. After the appeals court ruling two weeks ago, Pakistan's highest Islamic court reinstated the men's conviction, saying the appeals court had no jurisdiction to rule on the case.
"Bug out! That's our bailliwick! Youse ain't got no turbans!"
The Shariat Court works separately from the normal legal system but has the power to overturn decisions involving Islamic law, such as in instances of rape, adultery and some cases of murder. The four men were among six suspects convicted in August 2002 of raping Mai. A fifth had his conviction overturned by the appeals court but was not granted bail.
"Your conviction is overturned!"
"Oh, good. I can go home now!"
"No, you can't. Bailiff! Move him to a clean cell!"
The sixth had his death sentence reduced by the appeals court to life in prison. Mai told The Associated Press on Thursday that she has recently received threats and wants her attackers to be hanged near her village.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2005 11:23:25 AM ||
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The Friday night lights in Texas could soon be without bumpin' and grindin' cheerleaders. Legislation filed by Rep. Al Edwards would put an end to "sexually suggestive" performances at athletic events and other extracurricular competitions. "It's just too sexually oriented, you know, the way they're shaking their behinds and going on, breaking it down," said Edwards, a 26-year veteran of the Texas House. "And then we say to them, 'don't get involved in sex unless it's marriage or love, it's dangerous out there' and yet the teachers and directors are helping them go through those kind of gyrations."
I'd much rather watch cute young cheerleaders wiggling their heinies than leather-clad Janet Jackson bumping, grinding, and mock-copulating with Justin Timberlake. But maybe that's just me.
Under Edwards' bill, if a school district knowingly permits such a performance, funds from the state would be reduced in an amount to be determined by the education commissioner. Edwards said he filed the bill as a result of several instances of seeing such ribald performances in his district.
"Titties! That got titties on them cheerleaders! Cleon, can them gals have titties?"
J.M. Farias, owner of Austin Cheer Factory, said cheerleading aficionados would welcome the law. Cheering competitions, he said, penalize for suggestive movements or any vulgarity. "Any coaches that are good won't put that in their routines," he said. And, most girls cheering on Friday nights were trained by professionals who know better, he said. "I don't think this law would really shake the industry at all. In fact, it would give parents a better feeling, mostly dads and boyfriends, too," Farias said. Although cheerleaders must meet the same no-pass, no-play academic requirements of athletes, cheerleading is not a competition sanctioned by the University Interscholastic League, the governing body of Texas high school sports. The UIL also does not have performance regulations for squads who cheer for their teams at state championships, said Athletic Coordinator Peter Contreras. "I think it should have been cut out a long time ago," Edwards said. "It surely needs to be toned down." I am so full of commentary that I can't comment.
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
03/18/2005 9:23:08 AM ||
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#1
Film at eleven....
Damn, .com should have some illustrating materials around here.
#2
Ahh, the Texas Lege strikes again... it's usually described as the greatest free show on earth, outside of a circus parade. Better make a lot of popcorn, this is going to get hysterical. High school football is like a religion, and the penalties for apostasy are pretty severe.
Posted by: imna non ||
03/18/2005 13:51 Comments ||
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#11
He's a Democrat, been there forever (26 yrs?), from the typical safest of safe black districts in Houston. Typical resident: "I ain't never voted nothing but Democrat and I ain't about to be a changin! What do they stand for? Don't you be sassin' me, boy!" If you're still in the vicinity of 98.6F, upright - more or less, and black they'll re-elect you no matter what looney shit you come up with. His claim to fame, other than longevity, is as the sponsor of some sort of Juneteenth legislation.
I figure he's just whacking off for some press attention. He'll make it look good, but he doesn't give a shit about kids or morals - else he'd be trashing something substantive and relevant, such as his constituency's obsession with Gangsta Rap. Farce.
Just a TX DhimmiDonk Wank-o-matic. Nothing to see here, folks, heh.
Think this happens a lot?
BURLINGTON, Vt. - A former medical school professor was accused Thursday of fabricating research data on closely watched topics such as menopause, aging and hormone supplements to win millions of dollars in grant money from the federal government. Should've studied malt liquor use among the homeless, or global warming, or homosexual sheep, or...well, pick one.
Prosecutors said Eric T. Poehlman, 49, a former tenured professor at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, would fabricate his research to make his proposals look more intriguing, in the hope that the government would be more likely to dole out grants to him. Looks like it worked. For awhile.
"Dr. Poehlman fraudulently diverted millions of dollars from Public Health Service to support his research projects," U.S. Attorney David V. Kirby said Thursday. "This in turn siphoned millions of dollars from the pool of resources available for valid scientific research proposals. As this prosecution provides, such conduct will not be tolerated." If we find out about it. How many don't they find out about?
Poehlman has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges of making false statements in an application for a $542,000 grant he received, federal prosecutors said. He faces up to five years in prison. He is also barred by the federal government from receiving Public Health Research funds and must retract or correct 10 articles. Maybe now he can get a grant to study forceable sodomy in the federal prison system?
Poehlman is accused of requesting $11.6 million in federal funding using false data. Although he did not receive many of the grants, the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Agriculture used $2.9 million in research funding based on the faulty applications, prosecutors said. I could live on 2.9 mil for awhile.
His lawyer, Robert B. Hemley, said Thursday that he was unwilling to comment on the case until at least after the sentencing. AKA: "He's guilty, Jim."
In a paper on published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in 1995, Poehlman said he had tested 35 healthy women and retested the same women six years later in the "The Longitudinal Menopause Study: 1994-2000" when he actually falsified and fabricated test results for 32 of the women. Should've studied "Latitudinal Menopause". He might've pulled it off.
In applications for federal grants, Poehlman lied about the number of subjects he had tested in "The Longitudinal Study of Aging: 1996-2000" and changed the data about their physical characteristics and test results to create trends that did not occur in the research. Looks like he's got some kind of longitude fetish.
Poehlman also made up the results from a 1999-2000 Hormone Replacement Therapy study to seek federal funding. UVM started to investigate Poehlman in December of 2000 when one of his research assistants accused him of scientific misconduct. He pissed someone off. Payback sucks doc.
During the two-year investigation, Poehlman deleted electronic evidence of his falsifications, presented false testimony and documents and influenced other witnesses to provide false documents, the U.S. attorney's office said. Wonder if he got a grant for the payoffs?
Poehlman resigned from the medical school in 2001 and moved to Montreal, Canada to work as a researcher. He has since left his job in Canada. Yeah, I'll move to Canada. They'll never know.
Posted by: tu3031 ||
03/18/2005 8:38:20 AM ||
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#1
What? No surprise meter?
I'm shocked!
These types of grants are basically welfare for the intellectually 'gifted' college rat. How many studies, how much funding are just blackholed without any tangible results to the taxpayers? I guess about 90%. If you remove DoD funding, the figure probably raises to 99%.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/18/2005 12:06 Comments ||
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#4
Seafarious, the magic phrase would be "self-organizing," and you'd be looking for mathematics theory funding. Think of the patterns of links and types of blogs. Ann Althouse spoke at a Chaos Theory seminar here . . .
Posted by: James ||
03/18/2005 22:29 Comments ||
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MAZAR-E-SHARIF: In the Northern province of Samangan, Aminullah Qayumi a 23-year-old youth, sits in front of his mike in a mud hut in Joi Zhwandon village. He has made radio using old machinery and tools and uses this to broadcast programming to the residents of this village for 8 hours a day. The student of 12th grade, dressed in the traditional salwar kameez, with headphones over his ears, was ready to begin his broadcast over the radio which has been locally named Radio Amin after him. "I used very old tools to make this radio station" Amin told Pajhwok Afghan News. In the corner of the room is a small machine resembling the circuit board of an old radio. Some batteries are fixed on it and there is a tape recorder to play songs. The boy says he bought the circuit six months ago for 4,000 Afs. He fixed batteries on it and wired it to the wooden antenna on the roof of their house. The contraption seems to work for the residents of Joi Zhwandon village.
Rajab a 30-year-old resident, who was listening to an Afghan song said "The song you are listening is broadcasted by Amin". The radio station broadcasts for eight hours: 10 am to 2 pm and again from 4 pm to 8 pm. Most of the programs are announcements of games specially Buzkashi, music programs and other entertainment programs. The village has three hundred families living in mud houses and is 4 km away from Aibak city. The people of the village are mainly farmers. Amin's enterprise has found some local support. The governor of Samangan gave him 10,000 Afs a few months ago. Amin however wants more support and has visited the Ministry of Information and Culture in Kabul in the search of help.
Posted by: seafarious ||
03/18/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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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.
Cuban President Fidel Castro (news - web sites) criticized Forbes magazine on Thursday for the "infamy" of listing him among the world's richest people, with a net worth of $550 million. "Once again, they have committed the infamy of speaking about Castro's fortune, placing me almost above the queen of England," Castro said in a speech to top officials of Cuba's ruling Communist Party, military and police. "Do they think I am (former Zairian President) Mobutu (Sese Seko) or one of the many millionaires, those thieves and plunderers that the empire has suckled and protected?" he said in reference to his capitalist archenemy, the United States. "What they should be doing is looking for the money of all those people," he said.
For the first time a majority of French say they plan to vote 'no' in the national referendum on the European constitution to be held in May, according to a poll to be published Friday in the daily Le Parisien.
A 5-year-old boy in central Vietnam has been infected by the bird flu virus which has killed 47 people in Asia, the Saigon Giai Phong newspaper reported on Friday. Doctors could not immediately be reached for comment on the boy, the 25th human case of bird flu infection in Vietnam since December. Thirteen of them have died. 
Four men who were sentenced to death for gang-raping a woman in Pakistan but then freed on bail — triggering an outcry from human rights activists — have been arrested again, police said Friday.
The Friday night lights in Texas could soon be without bumpin' and grindin' cheerleaders. Legislation filed by Rep. Al Edwards would put an end to "sexually suggestive" performances at athletic events and other extracurricular competitions. "It's just too sexually oriented, you know, the way they're shaking their behinds and going on, breaking it down," said Edwards, a 26-year veteran of the Texas House. "And then we say to them, 'don't get involved in sex unless it's marriage or love, it's dangerous out there' and yet the teachers and directors are helping them go through those kind of gyrations."
