The Asian earthquake that triggered the deadly tsunami in December was more powerful than scientists had estimated, according to new studies published in Friday's issue of Science.
"The Earth is still ringing like a bell today," nearly six months after the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake, Roland Burgmann, professor of earth and planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley, told the journal.
According to the study, researchers now believe the quake had a magnitude of 9.15. Initial measurements put it at 9.0. The quake generated a tsunami that killed about 300,000 people in states around the Indian Ocean. That's 1.5 times as powerful as originally thought, and releasing about 5 times as much energy as estimated.
It also set records for the longest fault rupture and the longest duration of faulting, the researchers reported.
In another study published in Friday's issue of Science, Professor Jeffrey Park of Yale said the quake's rupture moved giant slabs of rock a record distance, equivalent to moving from Florida to New England.
Posted by: too true ||
05/21/2005 11:17 ||
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Maverick Antillean minister removed
MPs in the Netherlands Antilles parliament have passed a vote of no confidence vote in deputy prime minister Errol Cova and another of member of his PLKP party, after a bitter fued with Prime minister Ettiene Ys. It means the two have been expelled from the government.
The problems in the government stem from controversial comments made by Mr Cova during a visit to Venezuela two weeks ago.
He is reported to have heaped praise on president Hugo Chavez. This did not go down well with prime minister Ys and the government of the Netherlands, which is responsible for the international relations of the Antilles.
Final warning defied
"He (had given) him a final warning following a similar incident a few months ago", explains Mike Willemse the Editor of the Curacao-based Amigoe newspaper.
Mr Ys' patience with his wayward minister finally snapped, after a defiant Mr Cova declared he does not have to answer to anyone except his own party in the coalition and to the people of the Netherlands Antilles.
"This was sufficient reason for the prime minister to state that there was no space for him and Mr Cova in the cabinet," Mr Willemse told BBC Caribbean radio.
The issues can be resolved in one of two ways. New elections in the Dutch territory, or the restructuring of the cabinet to exclude Mr Cova's PLKP party.
Monday, May 23, 2005
Hugo Chavez: Pirate Of The Caribbean
Latin America: Odd, that as "popular" as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is said to be, he's so detested by Venezuelans that he can no longer go to baseball games without being booed by the whole stadium.
Odder still, as "appealing" as Chavez is touted around the hemisphere, every politician running for office — from Ecuador to Bolivia to Mexico — has one moment where he stresses to voters that he "won't be the next Hugo Chavez."
The contradictions mean something ominous: There's a bully stalking the hemisphere, and his shadow is lengthening. The region's weakened states have well-founded fear of being Chavez's next target. He can cut off their oil. He can crush their economies. In the past two years, he's done it on a hair trigger.
He did it to Colombia this year, shutting down border trade in a dispute over the apprehension of a terrorist. Before that, he did it to the Dominican Republic, cutting off oil in a fit of pique over an asylum case. Indirectly (at the very least), he's supporting Bolivia's coca-growing roadblockers who are trying to starve Bolivian cities into submission to their demands for investment-killing taxes. That's economic warfare.
Now he's telling Caribbean and Central American states that if they hope to buy a drop of Venezuelan oil, they'll go through Castro's Cuba. He has announced a new scheme to put Venezuela's Caribbean oil operational headquarters in Havana.
"There is no technical reason to justify an office in Havana," Venezuelan economist Gustavo Garcia told investors.
Between oil and coercion, the new headquarters is a move to isolate smaller Caribbean and Central American states into a Cuba-Venezuela axis. The map above shows the economic absurdity of moving oil operations from Venezuela's nearby Caribbean ports to Havana's port nearly 1,000 miles away. It also illustrates a new and growing sphere of influence.
Since the countries will be dependent on Venezuelan oil from Cuba's capital, don't imagine any of those countries will try to cross Fidel Castro. The countries are small and numerous, but that's why their votes are so valuable to Chavez and Castro in international bodies like the Organization of American States and United Nations. The implication for the U.S. could be very negative.
Chavez would have the world think that this is just an alternative to the Free Trade of the Americas Agreement proposed by the U.S. It's not. It's isolation from the U.S., with no gains for the region. The fact that Chavez can't persuade even one state to join his ALBA Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas "trade" pact signals Chavez's interest in using a more pointed coercion through this Havana arrangement.
Although the Venezuela-Cuba oil axis apes the idea of free trade, there's nothing economic about it. Alvaro Vargas Llosa, in his new book, "Liberty for Latin America," identifies leaders' views of such protectionist trade deals as "a military exercise," like generals dividing up territory. In these set-ups, Vargas Llosa says, "no government sees trade as a spontaneous activity by people who want to benefit themselves and each other."
Considering Chavez's actual militarization of the region, through huge arms purchases and now his talk of buying advanced Russian aircraft capable of reaching Miami, the comparison may be more than figurative.
At the very least, it's a politicization of oil sales. Venezuela gains nothing by an economic alliance with Castro. Castro gives nothing of value in return for Venezuela's 90,000 barrels of oil a day, worth $1 billion, shipped each year to Cuba. This deal signals Venezuela's growing federation with Castro's Cuba.
Right now, Cuban agents can operate freely in Venezuela. They control the security apparatus and have 30,000 "doctors" in country monitoring the barrios.
Castro does have useful purposes for Chavez. Whatever the true level of Chavez's popularity, he's a nervous leader, cocooned by security, alarmed by the unprecedented corruption around him and raving about enemy encirclement.
He's so afraid of potential rebellions that some observers believe his real game is to set up a safe place in Havana for Venezuela's biggest money centers — oil and banking. That in turn would keep cash within his access. No people-power revolution can reach this money in Havana.
So, if there's a revolt in the restive oil fields of western Venezuela or in Caracas, money will still be accessible to Chavez's political machine, far from the hands of his democratic opponents.
Venezuelan cash in Havana also props up Castro. Ironically, this oil alliance will likely serve to entrench both leaders. That in turn will free them to take up more predatory practices around the region. A long shadow of tyranny over the Americas looks to be lengthening.
May 21, 2005: The UN has backed off from taking on the gangs directly. Thus disarmament is dead, for the moment. The problem is civilian casualties and the resulting bad publicity. Foreign leftists, supporters of deposed president Aristide, have lawyers and reporters on the scene to go after the peacekeepers for real or perceived shortcomings. Meanwhile, the gangs do as they please, robbing, raping and stealing any reconstruction aid that gets handed out. As a result of that, there is little reconstruction going on, despite donors having pledged $1.3 billion, for nearly 400 different reconstruction projects. At the rate things are going now, the UN will eventually declare victory and go home, leaving Haiti as chaotic and miserable as ever.
May 20, 2005: The UN wants another thousand soldiers and police for its peacekeeping force. Without the reinforcements, the national elections this Fall might not come off, or would lead to uncontrolled violence. Member nations are reluctant to send more troops to Haiti, because of the lack of progress in disarming hostile groups there, and carrying out reconstruction.
Posted by: ed ||
05/21/2005 10:59 ||
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The euro dropped on Friday to a seven-month low against a resurgent US dollar as French economic growth fell short of expectations and investors fretted about the political turmoil that could result from three critical European votes over the next 11 days.
The French economy expanded by a smaller than expected 0.2 per cent in the first three months of the year, increasing concern about the fragility of the eurozone economy. Europe's second-largest economy had been expected to grow by 0.5 per cent in the first quarter.
Julian Callow, economist at Barclays Capital, said: "Investors are recognising that the euro does not have a happy set of fundamentals supporting it. The economic news is crumbling and political tensions are rising." The gloomy figures came as opinion polls showed voters in France and the Netherlands were minded to reject Europe's constitutional treaty in referendums on May 29 and June 1 respectively.
The treaty, which contains a new set of rules for the enlarged European Union, can only come into force if it is approved by all 25 member countries.
The latest opinion poll in France put the No camp in front with 53 per cent. This is the fifth successive poll showing the No vote in the lead, suggesting an earlier rebound by the Yes camp has not been sustained in spite of vigorous campaigning by several European politicians.
Economists said market sentiment had also been unsettled by tomorrow's regional election in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state. It is expected to deliver a setback to Gerhard Schröder, chancellor.
The euro has tumbled from $1.311 against the dollar a month ago to $1.255 after falling 0.7 per cent on Friday to its lowest level since October.
France's economy, previously among the eurozone's best performers, has slowed markedly this year. Italy has plunged into recession. Germany expanded by 1 per cent in the first quarter, although that was seen as an erratic result.
With French growth still being hit by oil prices and the delayed effects of the euro's appreciation late last year, economists do not expect any acceleration in the second quarter. Your Arab friends aren't helping you, are they??
On Friday, Wolfgang Clement, Germany's economics minister, joined Italian counterparts in blaming his country's economic weakness on the European Central Bank. Germany had become a "victim" of the ECB's drive for price stability and the bank should take "a very close look" at the country's low growth rate, he said in an interview with the dpa-AFX news agency. The ECB has kept interest rates at 2 per cent for 23 months. Currency traders said the euro's fall was primarily driven by the US dollar, which rose across the board amid continuing talk that hedge funds and other speculators are liquidating dollar carry trades borrowing dollars to buy non-dollar assets as rising US interest rates make these positions more expensive to hold
Posted by: too true ||
05/21/2005 10:27 ||
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#1
And Buffet loses a couple more million on his $21 billion bet against the $.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/21/2005 15:50 Comments ||
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#3
Something got lost in the last sentence. It should read something like speculators are liquidating dollar carry trades, which involve borrowing dollars to buy non-dollar assets, as rising US interest rates make these positions more expensive to hold
PARIS -- Those French citizens who thought they would spend a quiet day at the Louvre this week have found themselves assaulted by German youths, dozens of them, intent on plying them with blue-and-yellow flags, heaps of literature and long, impassioned arguments.
"I'm asking you, as fellow Europeans, to think about whether you want my people to retreat back into our old history," WTF? Die Deitche are going to become Huns and Nazis again if the Phrogs don't vote yes on the EU "Constitution"? Does that include the Germans who said at the beginning of the shooting war that nothing is worth going to war over? What the hell is this clown smoking?
Hans-Stefan Stemmer, a 20-year-old Berlin university student, told a bewildered elderly couple in fluent French How very cosmopolitan! I know I'm impressed.
the other day in the museum's elegant courtyard. They declined his offer of European Union flags, but said they'd think about his entreaties.
Mr. Stemmer and hundreds of his comrades are part of a desperate last-ditch effort this week by leaders across Europe to persuade the French to vote in favour of adopting the European Union constitution in a May 29 referendum.
To the shock and horror of French leaders, the people seem prepared to defy the wishes of the elite BINGO! At least some of the Phrench may become Americans yet. ;-p
and cast a majority Non vote. That would invalidate the constitution, which requires approval by all 25 EU countries.
None of it was working, so this week, it was time to bring in the Germans. Are they as welcome as they were the last time? Did Vichy ChIraq pledge to collaborate cooperate?
The students have been bused from across Germany to beg and plead on French streets for people to cast a Oui vote, in the belief that French citizens, suddenly disillusioned with their media and politicians, are more likely to listen to rank (Must..resist..urge..to..make..snotty..hygiene..crack)
outsiders.
Read the rest at the link. Much possible snark leaps to mind with this story. But I'm not touching it with a 50-foot tuning fork.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/21/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
This scheme has potential backfire written all over it... Personally, I prefer to make up my own mind - and persistent / over-enthusiastic salesmen just piss me off and make me walk out the door.
Hey, there's no mystery - we all know how this is going to go. They'll keep on holding referendums or whatever they call 'em in EUropaland until the vote is Yes. If they don't vote Yes they'll be punished in every way possible. Once they vote Yes, they'll be screwed forever after. Certainly won't be another vote to undo it, once it's done. This is like being tempted to cheat on your spouse. If you ever give in, the baggage, and the lies req'd to protect it, is yours to lug around for life... even if never caught, you'll always know you're a cheat and nobody knows how to punish you better than yourself. Perhaps the only difference is that in the real world the temptations eventualy stop coming your way, heh.
#2
Kinda reminds me of the letter writing campaign started by a British newspaper (Al Guardian?) during the election to sway voters in a swing state (Ohio?) to vote for Kerry. I can't remember all the details, but didn't the targeted county go to Bush?
A mild correction, .com, is in order: for this to have blowback, you have to assume that the French populace will ACT LIKE AMERICANS. What are the chances of THAT?
Seeing the pressure being put on the electorate, the French voting "Non" will indicate the existance of backbone in the Gauls. It may be made out of cartilage instead of calcium carbonate, but it'll be a start. Hell, sharks have cartilage for backbones, and see how well THEY are doing.
#5
Anyway there is no risk of Germany invading France. The French military has developped an infalible strategy against Germany: close the Spanish border. This would have the Germans pleading for mercy.
#7
This sounds like a Monty Python sketch. "But, you VILL, I mean, you MUST vote for der constitution, because the police haf ordered it! I mean, because it vill be gut for snails und croissants und udder Frenchie things!"
Someone in Rantburg, I don't recall who, said it most succinctly and best:
Use your last vote wisely.
Fred, I'd like to nominate this statement for inclusion in the rotating page title list when you bring it back (along with stuff like "Oderant Dom Metuant" and the others).
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
05/21/2005 13:12 Comments ||
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#9
Yeah, watch that last step too, it's a biggie!
Posted by: Rafael ||
05/21/2005 18:52 Comments ||
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"I'm asking you, as fellow Europeans, to think about whether you want my people to retreat back into our old history," Hans-Stefan Stemmer, a 20-year-old Berlin university student, told a bewildered elderly couple
#2
Some day someone will go. It may be the US, it may be an international venture. Hell it may even be the Indians or Chinese. But personally I think no manned Mars mission should be attempted until propulsion technology reached the point that the trip takes 60 days tops
#3
Why? I mean, the human record for being in space is somewhere around a year or so.
And making the trip faster would almost be more a matter of prepositioning supplies or using local resources.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
05/21/2005 17:13 Comments ||
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#4
One would of course want to use local resources for fueling, life support etc. But if the travel times are much lower than with any chemical system then one can launch pretty much when ever one is ready. No more relying on Hollaman transfer orbits or elaborate flyby paths that get to Mars by using the gravity fields of Venus and or Earth
#5
Even with better propulsive methods one is pretty much going to be a prisoner of some form of scheduling. If you have more delta-V one would want to use it to make the crossing shorter rather than put up with a longer crossing at an arbitrary time.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
05/21/2005 19:28 Comments ||
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"60 years of proposals, always 20 years away"
Sounds a lot like fusion, doesn't it? Except fusion is 50 years and $14 billion (at Princeton) and it's still 20 years away.
Posted by: Tom ||
05/21/2005 20:33 Comments ||
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Sending construction robots to Mars first is the way to go. Four to five electrically-powered robots with a small nuclear power plant to recharge them and provide habitat power, on a *one-way* mission. Their main mission is to mine a deep cave in a mountain, reinforce it with rods, line it with pressure sealant and use the shell of their craft as the door and extended door frame. Then they mine deeper into the mountain, not just in length, but mining down to create a large water cistern. Next, they start mining and harvesting water for the cistern, and maybe processing oxygen and hydrogen for lightweight pressurized bladders. Then they can continue to improve their position more and more. Dig more tunnels that are not connected to the main system. They could even build a spaceship runway. Other projects include setting up strong communications with Earth, a weather station, taking core samples, setting up an outdoor shelter tent for equipment to be left outside, and monitoring radiation levels and habitat atmospheric pressure. By doing this, they save thousands of man-hours doing grundge work, while the food/water/air/radiation clock is running. Instead, knowing what the robots have done, and more importantly, what needs to be done, allows the humans to have a far more specialized cargo, and to pack a lot of extras instead of just basic stuff. Best of all, the robots' work is never done. When the humans arrive, they can more directly use the robots, and the robots stay and continue to work when the humans leave. Imagine the savings if the astronauts knew they had tested and pure water and oxygen, and a large shelter, waiting for them.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/21/2005 22:33 Comments ||
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Good reference, Frank.
My second wife (God rest her soul) got me Mars Attacks for Christmas right after it came out on video. I laughed so hard she was seriously afraid I would choke or have a heart attack. It was an absolute classic of satire and visual comedy, from the stupid hippy declaring "They come in peace!" just before he provokes the Martians by releasing a white dove, to the demented old lady laughing at the immolation of Congress.
One sour note was that Carl Sagan, brilliantly lampooned by the Pierce Brosnan character, died just before the film's release. This cast a pall over an otherwise brilliant and hilarious performance by Brosnan.
I think the brain-dead media bitch with a Chihuahua's tranplanted head was perhaps the funniest and most cogent visual.
Posted by: Mike ||
05/21/2005 19:59 Comments ||
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#13
Frank, the Reagan probably is - I have dated myself. I knew they were looking at that as some of the Russian ships were supposedly proof against a torpedo attack. The JFK is newer and was designed as a nuke. The Kennedy family desired not to be associated with nuclear power so the JFK instead was oil fired. (Funny how nuclear is now acceptable to some greens.)
Posted by: Super Hose ||
05/21/2005 22:27 Comments ||
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#14
SH - saved me time, thx. Good thing our carriers didn't ski or drive campaign helpers home, no?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/21/2005 22:45 Comments ||
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#15
Couldn't we have changed the name of the carrier instead of the type? Going from Nuclear to Oil fire Steamed over the name seems stupid.
Posted by: Charles ||
05/21/2005 22:49 Comments ||
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Stupid move, for 3 or 4 different reasons, including the facgt that one way to lower illegal immigration pressure on our borders is to stimulate economies in Latin America
Traditionally pro-business and pro-trade House Democrats have announced plans to vote against the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement, a stance putting at risk support from the rapidly growing high-tech community, one of the few major industries that continue to give substantial backing to Democratic candidates.
The four co-chairmen of the 40-member House New Democrat Coalition have declared their opposition to the agreement, provoking an outcry from high-tech lobbying groups. The opposition is a major setback for the Bush administration, which is struggling to get House and Senate votes on the agreement before the Fourth-of-July congressional recess.
In a letter to the New Democrat Coalition last week, the heads of eight high-tech trade associations wrote: "CAFTA makes important progress in areas critical to the long-term success of our industry, and we consider the vote on this agreement to be one of the most important of 2005. We hope that you will reconsider your opposition."
Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), a New Democrat co-chairman, acknowledged that "there is no question, it's a risky step" to oppose the agreement. But, he argued, the Bush administration, with Republican congressional backing, has undermined the worker-protection precedents for domestic and foreign workers that were added to treaties during the Clinton administration. The Bush administration's goal is to "take care of business first, second and last, and not do enough to make sure workers are getting their fair share," Smith said.
Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), another co-chairman, said "the promise of trade liberalization has not lived up to the rhetoric, certainly not for American workers." She said the administration did not discuss the agreement with Democrats during the negotiations, prompting her to tell U.S. trade officials that "it's at your own risk that you leave Democrats out and you only come to us when you are 30 votes down."
Both Smith and Tauscher accused House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) and Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) of supporting the weak labor and environmental provisions in CAFTA in an effort to build the case with business donors that they should abandon the Democratic Party altogether. "There is no question Tom DeLay and other Republicans are saying 'Don't give to Democrats,' " Smith said.
Dan Allen, a spokesman for DeLay, countered: "These groups can decide for themselves, and, sadly for the Democrats, the record proves that House Republicans have consistently supported efforts to expand our economy as well as expand foreign markets for American goods and services."
The high-tech industry has been one of the most outspoken supporters of free-trade pacts, and its leaders contend the Dominican Republic and Central American countries offer substantial export and investment opportunities.
Since the early 1990s, when the high-tech community first began to emerge as a business powerhouse, the two parties have been battling to win its support, especially campaign contributions. Bill Clinton and Al Gore led Democratic efforts and achieved considerable success. Since then, President Bush and Republican House and Senate leaders have put on a full-court press.
Total contributions from the high-tech industry had amounted to $1.6 million in 1990, but the total had grown to $28.6 million as of 2004, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
In general, Republicans have had the advantage appealing to technology executives on legislative issues because the GOP has voted for trade, tort reform, stock-option and tax-cut bills by much higher margins than the Democrats. However, workers and corporate officers in the industry -- which is heavily concentrated on the West and East coasts -- tend to be liberal on many social issues, which makes the Democrats attractive to them.
The result, in recent years, has been near parity in campaign contributions, splitting 54 to 45 percent in the Democrats' favor in 2004, 51 to 48 percent in the GOP's favor in 2002. This stands in direct contrast to the strongly pro-Republican tilt in such industries as pharmaceuticals (66 to 34 percent pro-GOP), tobacco (74-26), health (62-38) and insurance (68-32).
Posted by: too true ||
05/21/2005 10:54 ||
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NPR is my personal favoraite whipping boy, the sole representative for the haut-left in this country, and it deserves to die. Whether it goes quietly, or it goes loud, it must go.
EFL
...snip...
So should taxpayers, through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, continue to shell out $300 million a year to subsidize the Public Broadcasting System and its local affiliates? No.
And should NPR and its affiliates continue to get $100 million a year from taxpayers? No, and snip
On balance, I think public radio and TV can make a good case for continued funding based on their still-unique roles in media and some pioneering new ventures that PBS has in the works for teaching reading to young children and American history to teenagers. Wrong, Mort. Cable television has far better content than PBS in the history arena. And as the Boston gay sex guide fiasco has taught us, government goes a uniquely sloppy job in providing services where private companies can do much more and far better
But in exchange for federal support, radio and TV owe the public balance - and that is what, in the most modest and non-intrusive way, CPB's Tomlinson has been trying to install. Wrong, again, Mort. PBS needs to go out of business entirely. The left has thrown our culture out of whack by slanting everything to their views. The only remedy is the 'death penalty.'
Specifically, believing that the PBS show "NOW," formerly hosted by Bill Moyers, was tilted to the left, Tomlinson authorized a $10,000 study of the content of the show. Oh noooo. A study!! Censorship!!
He also provided CPB startup funding for two conservative shows, the "Journal Editorial Report," featuring the Wall Street Journal's editorial board, and "Tucker Carlson: Unfiltered."
And Tomlinson appointed two ombudsmen, liberal former broadcaster Ken Bode and conservative former Readers Digest editor William Shulz, to hear and investigate complaints about PBS and NPR accuracy and bias.
Tomlinson said that monitoring of NPR was triggered by testimony from Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) that NPR's coverage of the Middle East was persistently biased against Israel. That's a complaint often raised by others in the U.S. Jewish community. That's nice. Isn't that nice, folks? That NPR is biased against Israel is a little like saying a roadside bomb is bad news.
snip...
In the meantime, the question remains: Do we need PBS and NPR? No. Actually, I think, we do. You would.NPR, despite a liberal tilt on many issues, is the only radio source in America with worldwide range and penetrating depth. A liberal tilt? Tilt? NPR gives money from institutions wioth a vested interest in stories that are being reported. That's not tilt. That is propoganda. Let the left find other funding for it propoganda
NPR itself, the producer of programming, receives only about one-tenth of its funding from the government through CPB. But local stations probably could not survive without it. Then there is not reason not to totaly eliminate funding from NPR. Let them survive like the rest of us do.
And PBS, despite competition from other channels remains the standard for high-IQ cultural programming. I've upped my stanards, Mort. Up yours.
And both PBS and CPB have plans for new ventures other outlets are unlikely to perform. A PBS panel headed by former Netscape CEO James Barksdale and former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt envisions major initiatives in early childhood learning, homeland security communications, public health information and local civic affairs broadcasting. Great, then let him invest his own money into such a project
Mort musta pissed off a liberal sponsor for this ass-kissing session of his.
#1
...is the only radio source in America with worldwide range and penetrating depth.
What arrogant, pretentious claptrap. The only penetrating depth I see here is the collective buttfucking of the U.S. taxpayer by these piously unique self-appointed arbiters of radio 'excellence'. Screw 'em. Let the market decide.
#4
VOA is an official government source and, unlike PBS, it has no pretensions of independence. The government has not just a right, but a Constitutional obligation, to inform the public of its activities and the reasons for them. Another government media operation, Armed Forces broadcasting, is based on the need to provide media services in areas where civilian service is not available, or with an audience-specific emphasis that civilian sources do not provide.
Keep in mind that left-conformist cable companies refuse to carry official Pentagon channels, censoring these on the assumption that some idiotarian cable exec is best qualified to judge political content.
The institutional media (the "MSM") are in many ways a rival government, with their own policies, agenda, and strategy. Collectively, the small, parochial sub-culture centered within the media industry has been more powerful than the government at least since the Tet Offensive in 1968. The latter was a military catastrophe for leftist forces but the result was reversed in the public mind by leftist media exploiting a defacto monopoly.
PBS is essentially the high end of the institutional media culture, and its contact point with the other major center of ideological control, left-subverted academia. There is no more reason for the government to fund this than there is for federal grants to the Zarqawi and his head-choppers.
The media culture does not serve the terrorists, it is the other way around, the terrorists are essentially the action arm of the institutional media culture.
#5
BTW, for 40 years VOA was a beacon of hope to the enslaved peoples of Eastern Europe. No wonder left-media whores hate it so much.
Punks. I mean that literally, the leading edge campus rebels and their yuppie media-slut counterparts are taking it up the ass from media corporations, and they don't have a clue that it's happening.
#6
Maybe we can get the Polish government to set up an English language "Voice of Poland" to broadcast uncensored news to the MSM-enslaved masses of this country.
#7
I do support NPR's classical music programming, with $2000 of my own money going to our local affiliate for that purpose last year.
Other NPR outlets, mainly in enemy occupied media-dens like Madison and Berkeley, have banished Beethoven and Holst in favor of public-affairs programming that might as well be (and sometimes literally is) produced in Havana.
#9
Mort obviously likes NPR and PBS, but knows they lean left and makes the case they need balance if they accept public funds. Answer is simple, cut them off the public teat and they can do as they please, including pay taxes on profits, if any. Moyers is a washed up jaded has been who denigrates any potential encomium with his bitter bile. Fuck him - do an audit on the sources of his funds
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/21/2005 15:50 Comments ||
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#10
AC: Don't forget that there are TWO NPR outlets here in "enemy occupied" Madison. The AM station is yack yack yack, and I never listen to it, but the FM is classical music and news. The music part is very good.
Posted by: James ||
05/21/2005 18:20 Comments ||
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#11
I just heard NPR repeat the NYT's report on military shenanigans that had been resolved in 2002, which the NYT broke yesterday. Trailing Daughter suggested again that I not listen to NPR if I'm going to yell at the radio. ;-)
#12
Thanks, James, didn't know that. I just heard the AM station while I was there. I think they had the Mao Tse Tung Hour on or something very like it. It might have been the Daily Minute of Hate, this was about starting time.
A few words for our friends in Berkeley, Madison, and Cambridge:
"Wound my heart with a monotonous languor"
"Napoleon's hat is in the ring"
"John loves Mary"
"It is hot in Suez"
"The arrow will not pierce"
#13
For AC re: #12
Don't leave "Robert Is Coming" out of that list!
For the uninitiated, AC's list were BBC's "personal messages," passwords to the French Resistance just before D-Day. "Robert is coming" was for Free French and Moroccan agents in North Africa, and "Robert" was Patton.
If you haven't read Cornelius Ryan's "The Longest Day," celebrate June 6 and read it. Read Farrago's "Patton" too.
About liberating Madison: our fair capital is known locally as "67 square miles surrounded by Reality." The city council (thankfully) voted down an ordinance banning advertising on vehicles, a hot-button non-issue; some intelligent person pointed out that the ordinance would outlaw the beloved Oscar Meyer Wienermobile (That's a 20 foot long 300 horsepower rolling hot dog on a bun). The "Progressive Dane" party members on the city council also want to force anybody who meets with a city official to register as a lobbyist, even if the person happens to be a business owner who has a question for the city pertaining to the business.
Guest Column-by D. S. Rajan
The People's Republic of China (PRC) Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to India is over. A new era is said to have begun in Beijing-New Delhi relations by opinion makers in both the countries. A kind of euphoria has come to prevail in India over the likely effect of the "Guiding Principles" agreed to by both the sides on solving the boundary question. But is the picture so optimistic? Does any one see fresh nuances signifying even a slight moderation in Chinese territorial position especially on Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh? The answers are 'no', considering the reported latest Chinese intrusion in the Asaphila area of Arunachal Pradesh... Rest at the link.
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05/21/2005 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
05/21/2005 00:01 ||
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#1
What's really despicable is that these people are being killed for the suspicion of infedelity. And nothing happends to the killer. I'm thinking Prozac in the water supply would go far in toneing down this bull$hit.
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.
