#9
What? No "Umberto D", "Ulysses' Gaze","Leolo", "Mouchette", "Barry Friggin Lyndon" on anybody's list?
This probably looks like John Kerry's DVD collection.
#10
Blade Runner was there - a real surprise. Missing:
Wild Bunch (Fuck Yeah!)
North By Northwest
Catch-22
Fail-Safe
12 Angry Men
To Kill A Mockingbird
High Noon
Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman
Seven Samurai
Cowboy Bebop
Enter The Dragon
They DID get Drunken Master II, but hell, for sheer fun - anything with Jackie Chan.
#15
Id add Jeremiah Johnson although I'm probably a minority on that one. One of my favs
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/24/2005 20:34 Comments ||
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#16
"The way that you wander is the way that you choose
The day that you tarry is the day that you lose
Sunshine or thunder a man will always wonder
where the fair wind blows..."
The only best thing Redford ever did right, IMHO.
You're tight - a classic and should be there. Will Geer was a major hoot, lol!
#23
Awful list. Wouldn't hang around with those bores to watch one of their stupid flicks...
Where was "The Forbidden Planet", "Rocky Horror", both versions of "Little Shop of Horrors", the "African Queen", all the Borgart flicks, the chillers and thrillers, the rock musicals, the sexploitation flicks, Clockwork Orange, and really strange stuff like 200 motels,.,,,,,, Really boring folks at Time Mag...
Course they never got near a bus let alone on one.
Where is ? where is? whole genres are missing.
#26
They have drunken master and finding nemo on there but not "Patton?" Best Picture 1973 and can't even crack the top 100 in this silly assed list? WTF!?
BTW - here's some movies I dig:
A Bridge Too Far
Full Metal Jacket
Dirty Dozen
Sands of Iwo Jima
Bridge Over the River Kwai
Cross of Iron
Apocalypse Now
Excalibur
The Great Escape
Cool Hand Luke
The Shawshank Redemption
Enter the Dragon
The Mechanic
Das Boat
All the early Bond flicks w/Connery
Any Clint western for obvious reasons.
The suspicious object that jammed traffic Monday on Interstate 75 and Daniels Parkway was not explosive, according to the Lee County Sheriff's Office. The device — found on the side of Daniels Parkway under the northbound I-75 overpass — a was prosthetic penis. There's no word yet on whether the penis was designed to serve medical or recreational needs.
I'll take recreational for $500, Alex
A motorist called the Lee County Sheriff's Office shortly after 3 p.m. about the suspicious package on the side of the road under the northbound Interstate 75 overpass. The cylinder was more than a foot long in a plastic bag and wrapped with duct tape.
Glad to see someone was practicing safe sex.
It looked like a pipe bomb.
"Is that a pipe bomb in your pocket...."
Deputies arrived and alerted the bomb squad, which used a robot to disable the cylinder.
"Careful, Bob. That thing could go off at any time!"
The north- and southbound lanes of Intestate 75 were closed for about an hour between Alico Road and Colonial Boulevard. Traffic was blocked on Daniels Parkway at the overpass for an hour while the love rocket device was removed.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/24/2005 15:35 ||
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Onterrio Smith's backup Whizzinator...
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/24/2005 16:43 Comments ||
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#2
Jeez, won't stop traffic for a 30 ft. aluminum ladder landing across two lanes tho...
I have extremely sad news to report of my dear father, Howard, who suddenly passed away this afternoon (May 21, 2005).
He was without a doubt the most amazing father.
In show business, Howard Morris "the star" was one in a trillion, a true genius, and an entertainment dynamo. So many "greats" in this business followed his career with incredible admiration and respect. I for one am one of his biggest fans!
The Andy Griffith Show became a major part of my father's life. He appeared in only five episodes. Regardless, he made a permanent impression on so many people, and was always amazed by and grateful for all of the love and support his fans gave to him.
I shared with Howard every bit of mail that came in, so I know firsthand how important your cards, emails, and gifts were to him over the years.
All I can really say now is that I miss him beyond words. Thank you for being there!
Sincerely,
David Morris
I was gone fighting Yankees over the weekend and don't know if anyone posted this. If so, please delete. Earnest T. Bass was my favorite Andy Griffith Show character.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/24/2005 14:07 ||
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Not that I'm aware of, Deacon. Thanks for posting this.
(BTW, who won this weekend? ;-p)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/24/2005 15:06 Comments ||
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Two Star Wars fans are in a critical condition in hospital after apparently trying to make light sabres by filling fluorescent light tubes with petrol.
Should never have let them out of their basement.
A man, aged 20, and a girl of 17 are believed to have been filming a mock duel when they poured fuel into two glass tubes and lit it. The pair were rushed to hospital after one of the devices exploded in woodland at Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. A third person present at the incident had been questioned, police said. A videotape was found nearby by police called to the scene on Sunday.
Revenge of The Jackass
A police spokeswoman said the pair were taken to West Herts Hospital before being transferred to the specialist burns unit at Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, in Essex. They are both said to be in a critical condition. She said the 17-year-old girl and a 20-year-old man from Hemel Hempstead suffered serious injuries. She added: "At this stage we are unable to confirm the exact circumstances, but glass tubes and traces of accelerant (flammable substance) were found at the scene." The final film in the Star Wars series, Revenge Of The Sith, arrived at UK cinemas last week. One of the crucial scenes features a light sabre battle between Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi and Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker.
"Obviously the film made my clients set themselves on fire, my lord. We are asking George Lucas be made to pay for this crime!"
Posted by: Steve ||
05/24/2005 08:38 ||
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I am speechless. Well, almost. Why couldn't they just have dressed the girl like Carrie Fisher was when she was held prisoner by Jabba the Hut?
#11
They would be nominees for the Darwin Awards only if they managed to make themselves incapable of pollutiong to the gene pool.
Well, they guy might still be an award candidate then. We don't know where his burns are. Plus, both are in Critical Condition. They might be Darwins in a couple of days.
Posted by: Charles ||
05/24/2005 18:52 Comments ||
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#12
They might even breed with each other. The horrors!
Awesome idea! And he really calls a spade a spade!
This is obviously intended to goad the corrupt public sector and shame them. Great idea. The baksheesh involved IS a major burden - which comes out of the pay of the poor imported slugs they enslave. Everything he says is true - only understated. He does "get it", though. I hope some of the lame corrupt assholes in the public sector lose their heads over the embarrassment this will cause the Royals - who run everything, of course. Too bad they won't feel the axe.
Kudos, Amr al-Faisal. I hope you're drowning in wasta, buddy.
A new book on Chilean President Salvador Allende is causing a stir by suggesting that the now-legendary icon of the left -- who killed himself during a 1973 putsch -- was both racist and anti-Semitic. His family and loyalists insist the book's author is committing a "gigantic fraud of history."
#1
Che's own diaries from when he was fighting in Africa show him to be incredibly racist, but that hasn't dimmed the left's love with him. It's easy to ignore unpleasant truths.
#2
The left still DEPENDS on Sen. Robert KKK Byrd, just as Stalin had no compunction cutting a deal with Hitler.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
05/24/2005 12:35 Comments ||
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#3
The ideological difference between Marxist socialism (Lenin/Stalin/Mao/Allende/Castro/Daily Kos) and nationalist socialism (Hitler/Mussolini/Ba'athism/Kim Jong Il/Pat Buchanan) is a lot less than much of the modern Left would like you to believe. Both are totalitarian ideologies in which the state takes the place of God; one's just a variant on the other. "Nazi" is a contraction of the German words for "National Socialist," and at one time, don't forget, Hitler and Stalin were allies! The distinctions are, as I see it, one ideological point, and one practical one:
--Marxists proclaim themselves internationalists, while a nationalist-type socialist is, well, a nationalist. "Workers of the world, unite! vs. "Aryan superiority."
--In practice, nationalist socialists have been willing to leave most of the economy under nominal private ownership, instead of forcing collectivization. Both styles of socialism are still command economies, however.
So, then, is anyone shocked that a Marxist would be in favor of eugenics? Margaret Sanger, patron saint of the Left, was a flaming eugenicist! Did'ya notice that it's the Left who wanted Terri Schiavo dead?
Similarly, is it any wonder that socialists are anti-Semitic? (If you don't believe they are, then you haven't met any Soviet Jews.) If the state is God, then you can't have anyone running about identifying themselves as the Chosen People of some rival God, it undermines support for the state/party/Dear Leader.
Posted by: Mike ||
05/24/2005 12:53 Comments ||
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#4
What is the difference between Nazism and Communism? Both are totalitarian, both are for the state controlling the economy (less for the Nazis), both are agressively atheistic. The main differnce is that Nazis are consistently nationalist, antisemitic and racist while communists aim to undermine nationalism and patriotism as long as it helps to destroy the bourgeois state, they are anti-racist in the states they DON't control for reasons like undermining the ex-colonial power, getting support in third world contries or straining racial relations in the USA. But once they are in power, communists fan the flames of nationalism and chauvinism (so soldiers accept to die for the regime), antisemitism and are betweeen the worst xenophobic (think Maoist China) and racists in world: there are no Black ministers in Cuba, there are no Black generals and only two in 13 governors of provinces. No Cuban Colin Powell or Condolezza Rice.
Far right and far left are not 180 degrees apart, they are 360 degrees apart.
#5
Mike 1. Most of the parallels you express between facism and Marxism are in fact parallels with Marxism-Leninism. Which makes sense, since not only were both totalitarian, but the Nazis immitated the leninist form of party organization. This is not new, but was pointed out decades ago by Hannah Arendt.
2. Note well that not all Marxists are Leninists. Many Marxists have fought against Leninist Communism.
3. I dont think Margaret Sanger was a Leninist.
4. Hardly anyone in the Terri Schiavo dispute was a Leninist, nor was that about Eugenics. Whatever else she was going to do, that woman wasnt going to reproduce.
There were plenty of conservatives who were pro-eugenics pre-1930. I think even Theodore Roosevelt was.
#6
Mrs D - please - no more references to Sen Robert Byrd and "DEPENDS" in the same sentence. Bad visual, thx
Frank
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/24/2005 14:29 Comments ||
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#7
'Hawk:
I never claimed to have a particularly original insight, and perhaps I should have credited Hannah Arendt and the other giants on whose shoulders we stand. Still, I think it important to point out that all totalitarian ideologies are ultimately eugenicist and racist (since they deny that man is fallen, and claim he is "perfectable" if you just employ the right breeding/education/secret police) and ultimately hostile to Jews and Christians (the almighty secular state is a jealous god). Allende was nothing unusual in those respects.
I always find it mildly amusing to hear hard-core Leftists denounce the rest of us as "Nazis," when they're a lot closer to Nazism than you or I will ever be.
Posted by: Mike ||
05/24/2005 14:47 Comments ||
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#8
By the time Hitler came to power, the Soviet union was espousing 'socialism in one country' and their position on the issue was almost indistinquishable from the Nazis. You are correct in that both were socialists. The most important distinction from my perspective was the Nazis believed man was in control of his destiny, while the Soviets still believed in Marx's dictum that man's fate was determined by social forces beyond his control.
#9
since they deny that man is fallen, and claim he is "perfectable" if you just employ the right breeding/education/secret police)
Er, my problem is with your identifying everyone who beleives in some degree in the perfectability of man as a totalitarian. Once again, not all Marxists are Leninists/Communists. Not all socialists are Marxists. Many social democrats, and many liberals and Progressives believe to some degree in the perfectability of man. Especially if youre not just making the parallel between them and their Leninist enemies, but going a step farther and comparing them to Nazis.
BTW, not to go into theology, but Judaism (AFAIK) does not treat the fall of Adam as having the same theological significance as Christianity does. Adams fall means we're mortal, and must work, and bear children in pain. It does NOT mean we're morally fallen, or in special need of salvation for original sin. To Judaism each human is born with the power to choose good or evil, and is responsible for that choice. This may not match "sole gratia" but thats not a Jewish concept.
You know, one could argue that there are many parallels in Nazi and broader fascist theology to the fall of man. There is no hope for most of humanity, only a select portion. Humans are naturally inclined to struggle and war. Etc, etc. Now someone COULD say that this gives Christians something in common with fascists. I would see that this is silly and unfair. And even antichristian. I hope you can see how implying a similarity between liberals, social democrats, etc and Nazis is silly and unfair.
#10
'Hawk: I didn't meant to suggest that plain old social democrats (and the odd LiberalHawk and such!) are indistinguishable from totalitarians; to the extent I didn't communicate myself clearly, I apologize. Of course there's a difference between the two sets. However, I've never been much worried about the taxonomic difference between Marxists, Marxist-Leninists, Trotskyists, Maoists, Ba'athists, and all that. (If my wife starts screaming about bugs in the basement, I reach for the Raid and don't stop to wonder if they're Periplaneta americana or Periplaneta brunea.)
If you're interested in how one's conception of the nature of Man (fallen vs. perfectable) plays against politics and ideology, you ought to come visit over at Brothers Judd, and jump in to the comments next time the topic comes up (like it did here).
Posted by: Mike ||
05/24/2005 17:39 Comments ||
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#11
There is no hope for most of humanity, only a select portion. Humans are naturally inclined to struggle and war. Etc, etc. Now someone COULD say that this gives Christians something in common with fascists
*scoff* one could say that if they wanted to make it up out of thin air. You are the worst kind of bigot.
#12
Hawk, I don't think that Sanger's beliefs on economic policy are the relavent issue. I think the thread of interst is that eugenics begat Planned Parenthood which begat the "Right to Die" enthusiasts. The abortion and euthanasia cheerleaders are definitely a special interest of the New Left. Please understand that I am not equating a doctor who recommends an abortion in a medical emergency or someone who signs a living will with zealots of the grim reaper. I think that many people would agree that a line of 40 sixteen year-old girls at an abortion clinic is pretty trajic and not cause for grabbing pompoms and cheering.
A discertation that extols the beneficient nature of eugenics can't easily be reconciled with the Hipocratic oath and is certainly more embarassing than the fact that Abe Lincoln thought that minstrel shows were a hoot.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
05/24/2005 20:17 Comments ||
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That CFO from Pepsi may be a complete idiot but she did have a good simile. I'd love to see this country give YOU and YOUR COUNTRY the big middle finger. I'd like to see us mine the border and shoot to kill anybody that tries to cross illegally. And, while we're at it, unilaterally abrogate NAFTA and break relations with Mexico. That would teach those narco-kleptocrats down there a lesson they wouldn't soon forget.
Posted by: mac ||
05/24/2005 2:10 Comments ||
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#5
"I think that Mexicans and African-Americans and Latino-Americans need to be on the same side on everything,"Translation:"Hey,Vinnie,between the two of us we can really stick it to those dumb-ass,redneck Gringos."
#6
Last time I checked, neither Sharpton or Jackson were elected to any American political office. Fox is the president of another country, any accords they makes means nothing. Sharpo/Jacko's arrogance as the speakers for all black folks always made me laugh.
#7
RE: Jackson's and Sharpton's dealing with Foxie Loxie. Per the scene in the movie, "Oh, Brother, where art thou?"
Who elected you leader of this outfit?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/24/2005 9:15 Comments ||
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#8
I can't believe how ignorant Sharpton and Jackson are - bringing their shakedown game to Mexico? Give me a break. Fox was only guilty of being correct in his assessment of illegal immigration. Until we learn to mow our own yards, take our trash to the dump, bus our own tables and pick our own veggies I don't see this thing ending. Its like the problem with heroin/coke - stopping the growing and importing won't cure the addiction.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
05/24/2005 9:31 Comments ||
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#9
As far as I'm concerned, that taco eating, sombrero wearing mexican can take his presidential donkey led procession, back to Monterrey!
#11
Nascar got the Jackson tick off after finding out the hard truth. Parasites rarely help
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/24/2005 11:30 Comments ||
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#12
Wonder how this will play out with the hispanic vote in the US... I imagine Rove and Mehlman have won not a few hispanic converts to the Republican side in recent weeks.
#13
It must have been like going for that top step in the dark and finding it wasn't there for Jesse and Rev. Al. I can't recall ever having seen a black Mexican, though I'm sure there are a very few here and there. Some of them might even know who the Revs are, and one or two of those who do might even give a poop.
It's kind of hard to threaten civil unrest when you've got no way of coming through and the guy being threatened knows it. Sitting in El Paso and making faces isn't quite the same as doing it in Juarez.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/24/2005 16:34 Comments ||
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#14
Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a certain Mexican Coca-Cola bottling franchise that's just changed hands.
#15
Good one Lex. I wonder if any Burger King franchises have recently been taken over by 'new management' in Tijuana. Audit Jackson's Tax returns now!
JAPAN will not yield to foreign pressure seeking to stop it from whaling, a fisheries official said today after Australia stepped up a campaign against the annual Japanese hunt in the name of scientific research.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard took the unusual step of intervening personally, writing to his counterpart Junichiro Koizumi to urge Japan to scrap reported plans to increase the hunted species to those considered endangered.
But the Fisheries Agency, without commenting on plans to kill more whales near Australian waters, said Japan would continue its whaling, which it argued was done for scientific research.
"Our position on research whaling will not change just because of foreign pressure," Takanori Nagatomo, deputy director at the Far Seas Fisheries Division of the agency, said.
"We have been engaging in research whaling to collect scientific data so we can resume commercial whaling."
Japan says lethal research is necessary to produce accurate data on whales' ages, eating habits and other details, and to prove its view that whale species such as minkes are thriving and consuming valuable fish stock.
The agency had not been pressured by Mr Koizumi's office or the foreign ministry, Mr Nagatomo said.
"Whaling is also part of the Japanese culture," he said.
In his letter to Mr Koizumi, Mr Howard challenged the Japanese claim that it had to expand its whale kill for research purposes.
"Given that non-lethal methods exist for scientific research, Australia believes that there is no basis for killing whales," Mr Howard wrote in the two-page letter, excerpts of which were published in The Daily Telegraph today.
Mr Howard, who recently agreed to dispatch 450 troops to guard Japanese army engineers in southern Iraq despite domestic opposition to the move, and who visited Tokyo last month, said relations between the two countries had never been closer but "good friends should always feel free to disagree".
Japan, where whale meat is part of the traditional cuisine, reluctantly accepted a 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling by the International Whaling Commission (IWC).
But it resumed catches in 1987 using a loophole that allows "research whaling" and selling the meat on the market, a practice condemned by environmentalists as commercial whaling in disguise.
Tokyo reportedly will tell the IWC at a meeting starting this month in South Korea that it intends to nearly double its annual catch of minke whales in the Antarctic Ocean, currently set at 440.
It also aims to catch the larger humpback and fin whales which are considered endangered by the World Conservation Union, reports said.
The IWC meeting coincides with the start of Australia's whale-watching season, when hundreds of humpbacks swim up the east coast seeking warmer waters during the southern winter.
Mr Howard noted in his letter that 1.6 million tourists flocked to Australian shores each year to watch the whale migration.
"This is clear evidence of the extent of public interest in the continued health and welfare of whales and considerable public concern could be expected, not only in Australia, but across the globe, were whaling to increase," he wrote.
Environment Minister Ian Campbell said Mr Howard's strongly worded letter underscored Australia's determination to fight Japan's whaling plan.
"The sort of efforts that the Prime Minister has put in and the efforts I've been putting in over many months will continue over the next few weeks, and we won't stop until we achieve success," Mr Campbell said on ABC radio.
"What the Prime Minister has demonstrated is that we are prepared to raise this at levels that it's never been raised before.
"We're working internationally, we're working bilaterally, we're very, very keen to see firstly, no reopening of commercial whaling, and very importantly, no scientific whaling in the future," he said.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/24/2005 17:16 Comments ||
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#13
Any lines on surplus functional sub for sale? Screw green peace. A Captian Nemo can clear up this totally unnecessary hunting of Whales in a very simple way. Whalers might not like being sunk on sight in international waters which should be their fate.
A TEAM of Tasmanian scientists today announced its discovery of a huge planet with a revolutionary new astronomy technique. The massive, gaseous planet, cumbersomely named OB-05-071, is in the Milky Way between Earth and the centre of the galaxy, about 15,000 light years away. It is believed to be around 3 times the weight of Jupiter, and to orbit a star similar to our sun.
The odds of the discovery were one in 10 million, said Stefan Dieters of the Canopus Observatory team at Cambridge, which found the planet. On three nights in April, Dr Dieters and Kym Hill were in the right place at the right time to identify the planet, which is 1000 times the size of Earth. The news was announced this morning 10am on the NASA-sponsored website of Harvard University's Centre for Astrophysics. It was found through a technique based on the theory that the gravity of big objects in space bends passing light from stars. The starlight is distorted as a result and astronomers can detect the heavenly culprit.
OB-05-071 is one of the most distant ever discovered and proves the usefulness of microlensing in the hunt for Earth-like worlds across the galaxy. The University of Tasmania team is part of an international collaborative project co-ordinated by the Paris Institute for Astrophysics, which is pioneering the use of gravitational microlensing to look for new planets. The project group has telescopes ringing the southern hemisphere - in Hobart, Perth, Chile and South Africa - enabling members to continuously keep watch at night. Dr Dieters and Dr Hill were at Canopus when they were alerted by a New Zealand group that was not part of the project. Their observations were monitored by the Paris Institute as they made them. "There had been data coverage from many telescopes but we filled in the gaps on three important nights - April 20, 21 and 26," Dr Hill said.
Another planet was identified by the project group two years ago but scientists were not convinced the data was unassailable. The university's head of physics, John Dickey, said: "This is the first confirmed planet discovered using this technique. There is no ambiguity in the interpretation. It is very exciting."
#1
The news was announced this morning 10am on the NASA-sponsored website of Harvard University's Centre for Astrophysics.
Well, I'm not sure what NASA has to do with it, but here's the CfA press release.
Note: "If an Earth-mass planet was in the same position [as the planet we found], we would have been able to detect it," agreed professor Andrew Gould (Ohio State University), a member of the team who made the discovery.
That would be really impressive, at 15,000 light years.
President Jacques Chirac said that the adoption of the EU constitution would extend the timeframe for Turkey's accession into the union. Chirac's comments came in a letter to the France-based CCAF association of Armenian organisations, and at a time when key proponents of the constitution ramp up efforts to convince the electorate ahead of the referendum on Sunday. Polls released over the past two weeks have indicated strongly that a vote against the treaty is likely. Chirac told the CCAF that Turkey 'still has a long way to go' in its bid for EU membership, and that this will become even harder under a constitution which will 'recognise fundamental rights and liberties... and guarantee them to all European citizens.' The Armenian community in France, some 400,000-strong, has been expected to lean towards a 'no' vote as a means to stop Turkey's accession. Community leaders have insisted that France urge Turkey to acknowledge the 1915 genocide which left an estimated 1-1.5 mln Armenians dead, as part of the accession talks.
I'll bet that when Chirac speaks to a Turkish group, he says that a "Yes" vote will ensure Turkey gets in.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/24/2005 11:57 ||
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"Okay, mes amis, what do I have to say to get you to vote yes? Haven't you seen Article 1,471 part B (ii) that provides for a four-hour workweek? Yes, it's there. Look at Appendix 141: the US becomes French colony, as well it should. Mesdames, under secret codicil 848 your bosoms will become larger. Would I lie to you?"
Posted by: Matt ||
05/24/2005 12:36 Comments ||
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#2
Anyone up for a Guardian Clark COunty-style mass email campaign to French voters?
Something like,
"Cher amis,
We in America understand your ambitions and wish to let you know of our deep support for your EU superstate that will include Turkey and eventually Ukraine and Israel as well. Support the war on terror. Vote YES on 27 May!
In solidarity, your American friend,
x"
#4
I wonder what he'll promise next, free government prostitutes for all the Oui voters? Maybe he will offer all women free liposuction, breast enhancement and makeovers by homosexuals.
Are the Dutch tired of Europe? That will be the real question on June 1, when the Netherlands holds its referendum on the European constitution, just three days after a crucial vote on the charter in France. Polls show voters who reject the constitution have the edge over those likely to vote "yes," and the gap is growing. But they also show a majority either won't vote or are confused by the paperback-sized document and haven't made up their minds. "Holland is in a very inward mood. It's hiding behind the dikes," said historian Han van der Horst.
The constitution, a compilation of rules and procedures to make the 25-nation European Union easier to run after last year's historic expansion, has a wide range of detractors. Liberals worry a stronger federal structure could infringe on their tolerant attitudes toward euthanasia, soft drugs and gay marriage. Christians complain the constitution makes no mention of God. Animal rights groups object that it exempts religious rites and cultural traditions from protecting animals. Whatever the particular reason, the underlying motive seems to be discontent with Europe itself. "Dutch people are not interested in Europe," said Daniel de Jongh, a volunteer for a committee campaigning against the referendum. "People felt they never really had a chance to speak out. But with this referendum, now I can say, 'Stop. No. I don't want it.'"
The government is spending $4.4 million on last-minute campaigning, saying it is confident it can still swing the vote. Government ministers have hit the streets to pass out leaflets and talk up the constitution. Mailboxes are stuffed with pro-Europe brochures, printed at taxpayer expense. Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende even plugged the constitution during the May 8 World War II memorial attended by President Bush _ remarks many criticized as inappropriate at a graveyard ceremony eulogizing American dead. Opponents have been equally energetic. Leading the most colorful "no" campaign is Geert Wilders, a maverick lawmaker who has received death threats because of his anti-Islamic views. Escorted by dozens of guards, Wilders is on a two-week bus tour warning that further European integration could cost the Netherlands control over its tough immigration policy. Wilders has tapped into fears that last year's admission of 10 mostly eastern European countries will undermine the Dutch standard of living. He has also capitalized on concern about Muslim Turkey's bid to become a member and on widespread disapproval of the current government. He represents the far right, but opposition here spans the political spectrum.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve ||
05/24/2005 09:07 ||
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#1
But it complains that opponents confuse the constitution with their anti-Europe sentiments or their resentment of politicians in general.
That ain't confusion, honey - that's common sense.
"The referendum is about more than complicated procedures. It's about making Europe faster, more democratic and more transparent"
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Oh, wait - he's serious?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/24/2005 11:41 Comments ||
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#2
The EU constitution's beside the point, which has zip to do with right vs left, capitalist vs socialist. The Dutch, and the French, and the Germans and the Italians and most west Europeans are sik and tired of any talk about greater centralization and would like their governments to focus on matters at home. Most Europeans are still trying to come to terms with competition from Poland and Czech; their minds boggle at the idea of their self-appointed betters expanding the EU to include Turkey.
This could have been predicted a decade ago, when the EU first launched a drive to expand eastward. Simply no way the EU can double its size and retain anything like coherence. EU expansion = EU weakening and greater distraction.
#4
The people see the basic contradiction between the EU elites' aggrandizing vision and their social welfare convictions. The EU cannot be a unitary superpower rival to the US and still be socialist. The only way to make EU socialism more powerful is to destroy it. ie, if the Europeans are serious about challenging the US in the world, then they'll have no choice but to get economic growth up to the 4% range, which requires greater deregulation and diverting a far higher % of economic and social resources to high-growth, private sector technology businesses and to the military. To compete efffectively with the hypercapitalist hyperpower, they have no choice but to become much more like the hypercapitalist hyperpower.
My money's on the EU people choosing to be fat, protected, socialist and a minor player on the world stage. A loose and decentralized federation is the outcome here, no matter how the EU constitution votes are rigged turn out.
#7
2b, as an American I don't find it all that depressing. Of course, I'd feel differently if I were an ambitious 20 year-old Frenchman who wanted to start or join a new high tech company, or if I were an EU partisan lusting for global grandeur.
The best outcome for us and, frankly, the world, is a Europe that is peaceful, prosperous, and focused on solving its own massive internal problems. Namely, the demographic + internal muslim subversion nightmare that threatens the creation of Eurabia in two generations' time. If the elites would focus squarely on these real and present dangers and spend less time posturing absurdly as the "moral superpower", we'd all be better off.
Poll after poll predicts that the French will reject the constitutional treaty in a referendum on Sunday. If that happens, certainly the 25-country EU will go on as before under existing treaties and France, one of the original six founders, will remain one of its most important members. But rejection will have deep repercussions for both France and Europe. It will be a humiliating personal defeat for President Jacques Chirac. Chirac confidently announced last July that the constitution would be decided by a popular referendum and not by the Parliament. His personal approval rating, meanwhile, slipped to an eight-year low of 39 percent in a BVA-L'Express poll released on May 20.
A no vote could paralyze decision-making in the EU for months, delay agreement on the Union's next seven-year budget, slow down the torturous process of admitting new members, inhibit the ability of the EU to project power as a bloc in foreign and economic policy, and make it even more difficult to impose discipline on member's spending and inflation levels. Even if a decision is made to continue the ratification process until all member states decide which way to go, the constitution needs a unanimous yes to come into force. In short, a no vote in France will at the very least slow down the forward momentum of a Europe as a united force. The "partisans for the no," as the rejectionists on both ends of the political spectrum are called, are already celebrating.
The campaign underscores another political phenomenon as well: a vast gap between the French elite and ordinary voters. "There is a real division in French society today between France from on high and France from below," said Jean-Paul Fournier, the center-right mayor of Nîmes, who supports the constitution, but whose citizens voted in 1992 against the EU treaty that ushered in the euro. In a poll in the Midi Libre newspaper released on May 20, 61 percent of the population of the French province of Gard, which includes Nîmes, said it would vote no. Fournier and his administrators have lobbied for the constitution in neighborhoods throughout the city, which suffers from more than 15 percent unemployment and where both the Communist Party and the National Front are strong. In some of its tough suburbs, unemployment is as high as 40 percent.
One of the challenges Fournier faces in selling the constitution is that it promises nothing tangible and immediate. "I get asked all the time, 'What's in this for France?"' he said in an interview in his office. "The problem is that I can't say to the unemployed worker, 'If you vote for the constitution, you will get a job.' I would be lying. I tell them this is a vision for the long-term, for their children and grandchildren."
Patrice Couderc, secretary general of the CFDT union of the Gard region, added another angle: "Our politicians have done a great job of blaming the European Union when things go bad, but never praising it when its money helps build a bridge or a hospital, when it imposes an improvement in working conditions or equal rights for women. The worker, the person in the street, doesn't understand the debate of the elite."
Posted by: Steve ||
05/24/2005 08:45 ||
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But rejection...will be a humiliating personal defeat for President Jacques Chirac
That's not a bug, it's a feature.
#5
Thankew. I thought that one was particularly appropriate...
Posted by: Fred ||
05/24/2005 10:39 Comments ||
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#6
"...the Europe that France played perhaps the most crucial role in building a half-century ago..."
Gasp, gag, gag.
"...inhibit the ability of the EU to project power as a bloc in foreign and economic policy..."
Projecting power in foreign policy? More like projecting inertia or an anchor.
"...I tell them this is a vision for the long-term, for their children and grandchildren..."
And for the King of the Belgians...
Posted by: Tom ||
05/24/2005 11:42 Comments ||
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#7
"Our politicians have done a great job of blaming the European Union when things go bad, but never praising it when its money helps build a bridge or a hospital, when it imposes an improvement in working conditions or equal rights for women. The worker, the person in the street, doesn't understand the debate of the elite."
Maybe that's because the money doesn't come from the magical EU money tree, it comes from the oppressive taxes on those workers.
Just a thought, you elitist asshole.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/24/2005 11:47 Comments ||
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#8
Heh, My fondest memories of College was translating Asterix comix from the Original French for my brother (It helped me in French class too). When they came out in English, I got batches of them for my boys.
Okay, let me get the script straight, okay? Voting "Oui" to the EU constitution means that Jaques Beaujolais (France's Joe Sixpack to the uninitiated), in a rare fit of common sense, decided to back away from the ledge instead of jumping off. Commendable, to be sure.
HOWEVER, what EXACTLY was the benefit that offset losing the delight of seeing the French go SPLAT? Pissing off Chiraq? Pissing off Aris?
The elites' dream of an EU superpower is finished. The people are looking inward, not to the world stage. Most want only subsidies and shelter from the big bad world and have no interest in the grand EU project.
German internet security experts declared victory on Monday in a bid to head off a computer virus before it spreads through millions of personal computers worldwide. Sober.P, a computer worm that sent neo-Nazi German-language e-mails onto hundreds of thousands of computers last week, had been programmed by its unknown author to cease activity on Monday and seek reinforcement with new code hidden around the internet. Virus-hunters funded by the German government decided to block the reinforcements by closing down web computers supplying the code. "Nothing has happened so far today," said Michael Dickopf, a spokesman for the Federal Office for Security in Information Technology (BSI). "Our defensive actions appear to have worked." The BSI analysed the worm last week and won help from internet service providers to take down all offending websites. Without access to the code it needs, Sober was expected to remain dormant on infected personal computers.
Note to the editors: this article is a little old (May 16, 2005) but I don't remember reading about it here. It adds to the feeling I am getting that -- in the West at least -- we may be turning a corner. Suddenly things appear to be changing for the better -- the British professors to vote against boycotting Israeli academics, Schroeder going down in flames, that horrible travesty of the proposed European Constitution going down in flames, the large number of fish being caught in the Senate Oil for Food investigations net... EFL
A little over a year ago, while watching the late-night news, Elizabeth Comper decided she must do something. A rash of anti-Semitic incidents had shaken Toronto, and the former elementary school teacher watched as members of the city's Jewish community rallied to decry the violence and vandalism.
The group was offering a $10,000 reward for information about the perpetrators, but Ms. Comper, who is married to Bank of Montreal chief executive officer Tony Comper, felt it wasn't enough. So she did what anyone in her position would do: She cornered her husband while he was shaving and asked him how they could get involved.
Fourteen months after that bathroom chat, the couple are preparing to launch FAST, or Fighting Anti-Semitism Together.
FAST is a coalition of influential corporate leaders who are donating money and time to educate young people on the issue. Dominic D'Alessandro, CEO of Manulife Financial Corp., Michael Sabia, CEO of BCE Inc., and Peter Godsoe, former chairman of Bank of Nova Scotia, are among the 21 executives who have signed on to the program, and they all have one thing in common: None are Jews.
"It's not something that's going away, and it needs to be addressed. We thought it was very important for . . . members of the non-Jewish community to stand together and speak out against this manifestation," Mr. Comper said. "If any country can get this right, Canada should be the one to get this right."
With acts of intolerance on a steady rise, it is crucial that others beyond the Jewish community step forward and speak out against anti-Semitism, said Hershell Ezrin, CEO of the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy, or CJIA. Mr. Ezrin and his organization helped the Compers focus on specific educational initiatives for FAST that will be introduced in Toronto schools this fall.
So far, the Compers have raised more than $200,000, with about $10,000 coming from each individual and corporation participating. The money is being used to pay for the creation of a four-part DVD series that will be used to help teachers educate students between the ages of 10 and 14. Canadian Idol host Ben Mulroney has agreed to do the introduction.
The intention is to expand the initiative in other parts of the country, and target executive support in different cities. There are also plans to do a French version of the educational material.
#2
I commend anyone who puts some of their own skin in the game in fighting anti-semitism. Now we could get started in addressing the issue at the UN, where anti-semitism is institutionalized.
Posted by: Captain America ||
05/24/2005 19:37 Comments ||
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#3
anyone who takes the slings and arrows is welcomed and applauded. The task has spread
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/24/2005 20:03 Comments ||
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During an interview yesterday with Globe editorial writers and columnists, the former Democratic presidential nominee was asked if had signed Form SF 180, authorizing the Department of Defense to grant access to all his military records.
''I have signed it," Kerry said. Then, he added that his staff was ''still going through it" and ''very, very shortly, you will have a chance to see it."
The devil is usually in the details. With Kerry, it's also in the dodges and digressions. After the interview, Kerry's communications director, David Wade, was asked to clarify when Kerry signed SF 180 and when public access would be granted. Kerry drifted over to join the conversation, immediately raising the confusion level. He did not answer the question of when he signed the form or when the entire record will be made public.
Several e-mails later, Wade conveyed the following information: On Friday, May 20, Kerry obtained a copy of Form 180 and signed it. ''The next step is to send it to the Navy, which will happen in the next few days. The Navy will then send out the records," e-mailed Wade. Kerry first said he would sign Form 180 when pressed by Tim Russert during a Jan. 30 appearance on ''Meet the Press."
(balance of article at link)
#3
He signed it and then delivered:
A) Arms to the Khmer Rouge
B) A (hatless) CIA operative to Laos
C) A speech to MoverOn.org
D) Another load of bullshit
#6
"Kerry first said he would sign Form 180 when pressed by Tim Russert during a Jan. 30 appearance on Meet the Press."
Ahhh, he said he'd sign it. And that took almost four months. Did he ever say he'd submit it?
Posted by: Tom ||
05/24/2005 14:30 Comments ||
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Here, it took me one minute to get the form, and it should take his staff about three minutes to "go through it":
http://www.archives.gov/research_room/obtain_copies/standard_form_180.pdf
My bet is that he NEVER submits it.
Posted by: Tom ||
05/24/2005 14:35 Comments ||
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I'm not familiar with the intricacies of the Naval records.
Can items that used to be in the file (say, for example, memos from COs reprimanding Kerry for his pro VC propaganda) be excised from the record? Can a general discharge that was later overturned by an honorable discharge still be in the record?
#11
MHW, I don't think that there will be much of note in his record. Fitreps and such are forwarded to BUPERs and go in a permanent record. Non-Punative Letters of Caution go nowhere. They are the type of reprimand that he would have gotten on his tin can tour if he had messed up at his underway replenishment station badly enough that his CO/XO wanted to get his attention but not badly enough that his CO/XO wanted to scuttle his career. - I don't think he had any of those anyway.
The types of things that Kerry seemed to be accused of were inaccuracies in his after-action reports. Those wouldn't be in his service record and wouldn't be considered part of his personal info necessarily. I would have thought that a FOI request would have gained release of any of those types of records.
His medical records will be decidedly empty as well. While they might contain some information about treatment in relation to his Purple Heart awards they might also be pretty empty. On my first ship I would not have been surprised to discover that the head corpsman only documented anything for about every fifth treatment he provided to a crew member. For instance, I saw him every six months to have the same ingrown toenail re-removed. Each time he would ask me what type of antibiotic he had given me to control the infection. He would rack his brain each time but never thought to document the medication in my record.
One item of interest that might be there would be documentation concerning his dishonorable discharge and subsequent reinstatment. If that info is in the record, it will not be released.
I thought it quite interesting that Harry Reid made reference to contents of an FBI background file concerning one of Bush's court nominees the other week. When those become fairgame, Kerry is in real trouble.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
05/24/2005 19:52 Comments ||
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Well, he never said what year he was going to send it....
#14
Thanks, SH. So we should not expect much. If there's a smoking gun in there, he's been warned, I'm sure. To flap gums about it now means there isn't one. Though clearly a traitor in time of war, he'll get a pass cuz the system doesn't tar anyone unless it's well beyond egregious. So the cupboard will be bare.
At this point it comes as no surprise. John Kerry is releasing all his military records -- but then again, he isn't.
"They call him Flipper......"
During an interview yesterday with Globe editorial writers and columnists, the former Democratic presidential nominee was asked if had signed Form SF 180, authorizing the Department of Defense to grant access to all his military records. ''I have signed it," Kerry said. Then, he added that his staff was ''still going through it" and ''very, very shortly, you will have a chance to see it."
Checking to see if it really is his signature. Hey, with Kerry, you can never tell.
The devil is usually in the details. With Kerry, it's also in the dodges and digressions. After the interview, Kerry's communications director, David Wade, was asked to clarify when Kerry signed SF 180 and when public access would be granted. Kerry drifted over to join the conversation, immediately raising the confusion level. He did not answer the question of when he signed the form or when the entire record will be made public. Several e-mails later, Wade conveyed the following information: On Friday, May 20, Kerry obtained a copy of Form 180 and signed it. ''The next step is to send it to the Navy, which will happen in the next few days. The Navy will then send out the records," e-mailed Wade.
The Navy sends the file to Kerry, not releases it to the press. It's then up to Kerry to give it.........yeah, that'll be a cold day in hell
Kerry first said he would sign Form 180 when pressed by Tim Russert during a Jan. 30 appearance on ''Meet the Press." Six months after Kerry's loss to George W. Bush, it feels somewhat gratuitous to point out how hard it can be to get a clear, straight answer from Kerry on this and other matters. But as long as the Massachusetts senator is thinking about another presidential run, the candor gap remains on the table, because he puts it there. --------snip-------
The campaign waged against him by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth arouses Kerry's greatest passion. ''What they said was untrue," he said. He considered, but decided against, filing suit against the group, which alleged that he did not deserve his Vietnam military honors.
Even he ain't that stupid.
Kerry insists ''The truth in its entirety will come out . . . the truth will come out."
Paging Agent Fox!
Signing Form 180 is the first step. Releasing his entire military record to the public is the second.
Third Step leads over the edge of the cliff into obscurity
It doesn't get any plainer than that.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/24/2005 10:36 ||
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I have talked to zee couzins here in France, and zey said I was supposed to be any help I could be in zee investigation... of Misseur Kerry's past...
#3
''I have signed it," Kerry said. Then, he added that his staff was ''still going through it" and ''very, very shortly, you will have a chance to see it."
meaning you can see the signed SF 180. You will NEVER see the full file. Ever. Ever
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/24/2005 14:12 Comments ||
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And why that flakey ass salute? If my drill sergent saw that, I would have been pushing Ft. Benning to China.
Jason Holmes, a mechanical engineering graduate student at Boston University and guest researcher at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, has devised a low-cost, highly sensitive array of underwater ears that is perking up interest in both homeland security and ocean research circles.
Holmes' device - an underwater hydrophone array designed to be towed by a small, autonomous submarine - can monitor for ocean-going threats to America's waterways or for sound for ocean acoustics studies.
Holmes will present research on his underwater listening device in Vancouver on May 20 at the semi-annual meeting of the Acoustical Society of America.
The array combines sophisticated engineering with off-the-shelf hardware to create a relatively inexpensive but highly sensitive underwater listening device.
The prototype comprises six underwater microphones, or hydrophones, spaced inside a 30-foot plastic tube filled with mineral oil.
The array tube is filled with mineral oil to create neutral buoyancy, allowing the array to float behind the underwater towing vehicle.
Signals from the hydrophones are captured and stored on mini-disc recorders aboard the unpiloted submarine, which is called Remus.
Designed by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Remus looks like a small torpedo and can navigate autonomously underwater around obstacles and through harbors using GPS sensors, sonar, and electronic maps.
Listening arrays typically used by the military and ocean scientists are towed behind ships and are very long, the shortest being around 1,500 feet long, and are several inches in diameter.
At 30 feet in length and 1.1 inches in diameter, the extremely compact prototype can easily be towed through the water by a small, quiet, battery-powered craft.
The compact size of the towing sub and array make it easy for one or two people to launch the system, compared to the fully crewed ships required for conventional hydrophone systems.
Holmes originally developed the array to help him study how sound waves travel through shallow water, where sound is refracted by the bottom. Until recently, most acoustic ocean studies have been conducted in deep water, where the bottom has little effect on sound.
Holmes constructed the hydrophone system to tackle the problem of how sound waves behave in shallow water, but the U.S. Navy saw the device as a potential security tool, one that is vastly less expensive than the multi-million dollar listening arrays currently in use.
Parts for Holmes' array cost a mere $4,000 and are available as off-the-shelf technology.
Holmes is now working with the military to further develop the array for underwater intelligence gathering.
Holmes says his next project will comprise four underwater hydrophone arrays towed by a fleet of unpiloted subs that could travel up to 4 kilometers per trip.
Holmes and his faculty advisor William Carey, a professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering in BU's College of Engineering, say they envision a fleet of entirely autonomous listening subs will prowl the seas, returning to underwater recharging stations to upload their data and refresh their batteries.
"A lot of people were skeptical this would even work," Carey says. "But the way Jason has designed this array, this will change the way ocean measurements are made."
#2
They're going to let this guy talk aboot this in Vancouver? Why not just send him to Beijing?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
05/24/2005 20:57 Comments ||
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I have to admit the same sort of thoughts crossed my mind, too, Mrs D. Sheesh. Woods Hole. And wouldn't you know it - we're paying most of the tab:
"The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is supported by a mix of grants from federal agencies including the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research, private contributions, and endowment income."
This thing must not be all that the article implies - i.e. less capable than what we've fielded on our subs, given who's minding the store (Office of Naval Research).
Nanotechnology could soon enable a new generation of chemical and biological weapons that could escape current arms inspection schemes, experts told UPI's Nano World.
"There is a very good possibility of weapons developed on the most recent advancements in nanotechnology in the next 10 years or so," said social scientist Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra of the National University of Mexico in Mexico City.
"Nanotechnology does have a lot of potential benefits, especially in terms of preventing chemical and biological attacks with more effective sensors, and with more effective means of containing chemical or biological releases.
"But it is important to keep in mind advances in nanotechnology that can enter the military sphere, in case some actually crystallize in the future," he added.
In talking about nanotechnology-enabled weapons of mass destruction, Pardo-Guerra set aside long-term and purely theoretical nanotechnological innovations such as self-replicating nanorobots. "There are other nanotechnologies that are much easier to implement in the near term," he explained.
Pardo-Guerra and colleague Francisco Aguayo, of the College of Mexico, outlined in Nanotechnology Law & Business Journal three ways in which nanotechnology could enable new weapons.
First, nanotechnology could make delivery of existing drugs more effective. For instance, pharmaceutical companies such as Elan in Ireland, Nanocarrier in Japan, and Solubest in Israel are working on nanoparticles that help the body absorb drugs.
Elan noted up to half of all drug candidates show promise against their targets but are rejected because the body cannot absorb them due to poor solubility.
Nanotechnology could help make a series of drugs viable medicines, but also could, in principle, boost the power of compounds that once would have made ineffective chemical weapons.
"Nicotine is a poison in large amounts, something easy to produce. Delivering nicotine in lethal amounts is difficult but if you can develop something that could help nicotine go through the barriers the body has, you could make a weapon based on something that is not lethal," Pardo-Guerra said.
Second, by improving our knowledge of biology, nanotechnology could help find new ways to attack the body novel weapons inspectors might not recognize.
"For instance, with cyanide you have well-established means of synthesizing it, so you can follow the whole production process and detect it at an early stage. But you could design new agents that attack very specific functions in the body, say the central nervous system, and the amount of chemical you would need would be much less, so you wouldn't need a big industrial base to do that. It would be very difficult to trace," Pardo-Guerra said.
Third, nanotechnology could help make chemical and biological weapons controllable.
"There are some medical applications under development that involve nanocapsules that deliver a drug when activated by temperature, or go to tumors and heat up when beamed with microwaves. The strategic advantage of those weapons is that you can contaminate as many people as possible and then selectively activate them," Pardo-Guerra said. "This scenario is quite difficult, but not impossible."
Much remains unknown about to how feasible such novel weapons are.
"It's not clear what the costs of producing these are. They might not be economically viable," Pardo-Guerra said.
Microbiologist Mark Wheelis, of the University of California at Davis, told Nano World it is one thing to develop a chemical and deliver it to a willing recipient - as with a prescription drug - and another to develop a technology that could target troops or civilians over a large area without their consent in an attack.
"There is a streak of alarmism in the communities concerned about these things that isn't really helpful because it tends to alienate those knowledgeable about the threat and make otherwise sympathetic people more skeptical," said Wheelis, a member of the Washington-based Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation's scientific working group on biological and chemical weapons.
"Still, I and most other people in the arms control field do feel nanotechnology has a lot of significant potential for use in novel weapons," he said. "This is somewhat a threat in the future, but we ignore emerging future threats at our very grave peril."
In the future, political and industry groups should consider initiating special training programs directed at helping future weapons inspectors get a quick capability to identify existing and emerging nanotechnologies that might pose a danger, Pardo-Guerra said. For instance, key developments in nanotechnology-based weapons might grow from otherwise benign fields such as law enforcement.
"There is a lot of research right now for non-lethal weapons for policing operations or riot control that are allowed under the chemical weapons convention. In the hostage situation in Moscow in 2002, the efficiency of the chemical weapons used by police there was very, very low, with a lot of unintended deaths with use of the agent. So there could be development in new delivery mechanisms for new incapacitating weapons that could quickly find other lethal uses," Pardo-Guerra said.
New regulations concerning potential use of nanotechnology in weapons of mass destruction are likely worldwide in the future, Wheelis predicted.
"The nanotechnology community can get ahead on this now and largely determine the nature of the regulatory apparatus if they take as one of their responsibilities the mapping out of harmful applications of nanotechnology and suggest rational and effective ways of reducing and mitigating that harm to the public sector," he said.
Adding if that responsibility is ignored, "the public and governments are going to wake up to the hazards and start calling for regulations anyhow. Any kind of regulatory approaches led by the community itself are almost certainly going to be better because they're technically informed."
All rights reserved. Copyright 2005 by United Press International. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by United Press International. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of by United Press International.
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - The government threatened Tuesday to demolish squatter shacks in what it called an urban beautification campaign after the arrests of about 10,000 street traders in the capital, a stronghold of the opposition. The opposition accused the ruling ZANU-PF party of trying to provoke confrontations so it can declare a state of emergency before the tattered state of the economy leads to riots.
"They are now going for broke," said Paul Themba-Nyathi, spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. "It is obvious these are all punitive measures aimed at urban people who voted against ZANU-PF."
A five-day blitz against street vendors and flea markets already has sparked clashes between the traders and police, and unrest has been reported elsewhere. Police Chief Superintendent Oliver Mandipaka said Monday that 9,653 people have been arrested.
On Tuesday, the government set a June 20 deadline for demolishing unauthorized buildings in Harare unless the residents appeal and receive a grace period. The demolitions could evict more than a million urban poor in the middle of the Zimbabwe winter. "The attitude of the members of the public as well as some city officials has led to the point whereby Harare has lost its glow. We are determined to get it back," government-appointed Mayor Sekesai Makwavara said in a statement.
Clearing the way to build a new Bobland
She said all "illegal structures" would be demolished during the operation, which was dubbed "Operation Marambatsvina" or "drive out rubbish."
Wonder if he's going to pull a Pol Pot and drive them out into the countryside?
The crackdown on street traders - who include teachers and other professionals unable to make a living at their old jobs - is aimed at crushing the black market for scarce staple goods like maize meal, sugar and gasoline. The government claims the traders are not licensed and blames them for sabotaging the economy.
Lovemore Madhuku, a university teacher who leads the National Constitutional Assembly, an umbrella group of organizations seeking radical reform, warned the demolitions might ignite public anger on a scale unseen since the African nation gained independence from Britain in 1980. "I think now people are really going to react," he said. The cleanup ultimatum revived memories of the 1985 elections when ZANU-PF mobs, reacting to comments by longtime leader Robert Mugabe, forced thousands of families suspected of supporting the opposition from their township homes until they could produce ruling party cards. An unknown number of people were killed while police refused to intervene.
Township resident Petros Nyoni said the mood in Harare's crowded suburbs was tense Tuesday, with workers already angry at a police crackdown on the commuter minibuses that are the mainstay of the transport system. Hundreds of the taxis have been grounded by lack of fuel at filling stations while many more have been impounded at roadblocks for allegedly being unfit to drive. "There is a very big crisis. People are so desperate they are jumping through (minibus) windows or onto the roof carriers," he said.
After seven years of unprecedented economic decline, 80 percent of the work force is unemployed and 4 million of Zimbabwe's 16 million people have emigrated. Agriculture, once the mainstay, has been hard hit by Mugabe's seizure of 5,000 white-owned farms for redistribution to blacks. The government last week announced a 45 percent devaluation of the Zimbabwean currency against the dollar, a ban on luxury imports and heavy subsidies for agriculture and exporters.
Michael Davies, chairman of the Combined Harare Residents Association, said more than half of the capital's population of 2 million to 3 million people live in housing marked for demolition. He said in some cases rents from the buildings were the only means of survival for elderly owners.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/24/2005 16:06 ||
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Attention anti-gun crowd: this is an example of why the population should not only have the right to bear arms but also should be armed to the teeth.
Posted by: Tom ||
05/24/2005 16:22 Comments ||
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#2
Yeah, unless they're all too poor to be able to afford rope, I'm thinking a million plus people ought to be enough to swarm Bob's palace and hang him from the nearest balcony. No matter how many armed guards he has sitting around the grounds.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
05/24/2005 17:35 Comments ||
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May 24, 2005: The U.S. carrier America was sunk, off North Carolina, on May 14th, after 25 days of tests to see what effect various anti-ship weapons had on the 84,000 ton ship. The details of the tests, and the results, were kept secret. This is because the information gained reveal which weapons (torpedoes, anti-ship missiles and bombs) have what kind of impact on the ship. Obviously, none of the weapons used sank the ship, as the actual sinking was done as a "controlled sinking" in 6,000 feet of water. The $22 million series of weapons tests, and controlled sinking, was cheaper than scrapping the ship. Environmental rules make scrapping prohibitively expensive.
The America served from 1965-96, after which it was put in reserve. No one has made an attack on a modern carrier (the latest ones weigh 90-100,000 tons), and several generations of new anti-ship weapons have appeared since the last time (1945) an American carrier came under enemy fire. Protection for these ships, and damage control methods, are all derived from theoretical damage from different weapons. Computer simulations have been used as well. But the navy knows that simulations and calculations don't catch everything, so the tests on the America were meant to obtain information needed to improve protection and damage control methods a bit more. This was the largest warship to ever be sunk, in war or peace. The previous record holder was also an aircraft carrier, the Japanese Shinano (a converted Yamato class battleship), that displaced 72,000 tons. Shinano was sunk by four torpedoes from an American sub, and went down largely because the interior of the ship was not complete, and all the compartments were not yet water tight.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/24/2005 10:14 ||
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I suspect that the America has always suffered because of superstition. Ships named after continents, oceans, and countries have long been held as unlucky by the sailors who tend towards superstition. Which is most of them.
#2
I'm always curious how effective these tests are, since there are so many flammables aboard a working ship to begin with that are probably stripped out of a ship like this that is slated to be sunk. The weapon itself usually isn't powerful enough to sink any substantial craft unless it touches off the aviation fuel or a magazine. I'm thinking of those first three Japanese carriers at Midway that were covered with planes in the middle of switching from bombs to torpedoes, and the USS Forrestal fire off Vietnam in '67.
Posted by: Dar ||
05/24/2005 11:25 Comments ||
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I wonder what kind of weapons they used. Would be nice if they had some Russian missiles or torpedoes, since those (or knockoffs of those) are the most likely to be hitting a US carrier.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
05/24/2005 11:52 Comments ||
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#4
I think I can assure both of you that *nobody* outside of tight US navy circles was able to get anywhere near these weapons tests. Not that they wouldn't love to; in fact, just outside the security perimeter there were prolly all sorts of foreign trawlers, submarines, and aircraft desperate to observe any detail they could.
#5
Well the weapon data is all well and good, but that ship is going to be a fish magnet! Get that location loaded into the GPS pronto cause there are going to be some whoppers swimming around there before long.
#6
Simulating most foreign weapons is fairly routine (e.g. expodling a warhead of the same class as that of a Russian 660mm torpedo underneath the keel). What is more interesting, were real pilfered Russian weapons, that the west does not have an analog, (E.g. mach 2 Sunburn missiles used by China and Iran) fired at the carrier or were they simulated (e.g. large supersonic target drone outfitted with a 750 lb. warhead).
Carriers can take a lot a damge. Even as far back as WW2 no Essex/Ticonderoga class carrier (41,000 tons full load) was ever sunk, even with the horrible damage suffered by the USS Franklin.
Posted by: ed ||
05/24/2005 12:41 Comments ||
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#7
Better have a long fish line, remote. the actual sinking was done as a âcontrolled sinkingâ in 6,000 feet of water
They sunk her in 6,000 feet of water. Don't want just anyone checking to see just how much damage those weapons did.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/24/2005 12:55 Comments ||
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#8
Dar, look up the USS Franklin for the worst fire damage ever suffered by a US ship. When hit by 2 bombs, she had a heavy aviation fuel and weapons load. An addition, during the USS Forrestal accident, multiple bombs detonated on her deck and jet fuel poured below.
If the weapons magazines blow, then that's all she wrote, but keep in mind magazines are the most heavily armoured areas and will be flooded if threatened by fire.
Posted by: ed ||
05/24/2005 13:03 Comments ||
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#9
I guess the best way I put my interest in this is:
I am terribly curious about the results, but will be very pissed off if I ever read about them anywhere (meaning somebody leaked).
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
05/24/2005 13:06 Comments ||
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#10
ed -- Thanks, I just did exactly that. There's a fantastic article on the Franklin here, continuing on four good-sized pages. Some truly incredible stories of heroism and perseverence here.
Posted by: Dar ||
05/24/2005 13:26 Comments ||
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#11
Damn--just found an excellent and hefty interview piece there with Maj. Richard Winters. That is definitely worth a read!
My favorite bit, when he describes the Band of Brothers, Episode 5 "Crossroads" bit where he led the charge that resulted in the destruction of two SS companies:
I remember when I was interviewed for the movie, I told one of the writers that as I shot the German, he looked up at me and smiled. Well, I kept going with my story, but later, as it turns out, the writer wanted to play up the thing about the smile. He wanted to play that up as a flashback, the type of bad flashbacks you can have. I have flashbacks every day. But the writer wanted to play up that point. And that is why in the series that German is portrayed as a kid and why later on when I am in Paris they portray me looking at this kid on the train and having another flashback. It's stupid, but I didn't get the chance to review the scenes.
Also regarding his choice of Lt. Ronald Speirs as the replacement under fire for Lt. Norman Dike who froze up during the Foy attack:
The stories about him [Speirs] are true. When I first heard, I was speechless. What he did was unbelievable, inexcusable. If you talk to somebody in today's Army, they would say, well, how come he wasn't court-martialed? Well, you needed every man you had. ... At Foy, he was the first officer I saw when I turned around. It could have been anybody, but it was Speirs. I didn't ask, "OK, would you mind taking over?" No, I just turned around, saw him and said take over. It was just a roll of the dice that he was standing there when I needed someone.
Posted by: Dar ||
05/24/2005 13:45 Comments ||
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#12
I imagine there is going to be some amazing scuttlebutt about this for years to come. For reference, check out the salvage and re-scuttling of the Maine. Even back then, there were uncanny amounts of intrigue involved, and everything was Top Secret.
#14
With respect to diesel fuel tanks, weapons and aviation fuel, I think a carrier is pretty safe. I think the JFK is the last of the conventially fueled carriers. Fuel tanks are generally located at the bottom of any ship to ensure stability - they can be ruptured by a mine but they are kept relatively full so there is no oxygen to explode. Ordinance is stored well inside the skin of the ship. Aviation fuel is closer to the flight deck but tanks are, again, kept full.
A carrier is vulnerable during operations where it is transfering flammable liquids through pressurized piping or moving ordinance about below decks. A terrorist/enemy would be very lucky to time an attack to hit during these vulnerable periods unless the captain/crew of the carrier increase their vulnerability through sloppy practices.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
05/24/2005 21:00 Comments ||
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Zimbabwe police have been targeting minibus taxi drivers as they continue a crackdown on the large informal sector. Eyewitnesses described about 100 minibuses being driven in convoy under police escort in the capital, Harare. Police are manning roadblocks and searching cars in the city and continue to destroy street traders' stalls. Almost 10,000 people have been arrested since the police action began last week. The black market has thrived as the jobless struggle to make a living.
Ataboy, Bob. Destroy the only part of the economy thats working.
The action against the minibus drivers was interpreted as a move to keep commuters out of the city, following protests at the weekend. "Police will leave no stone unturned in their endeavour to flush out economic saboteurs," Police Chief Superintendent Oliver Mandipaka told the state media. The country faces shortages of many basics like petrol, maize and toothpaste, and the head of the UN's emergency relief agency is visiting this week to discuss importing food aid. The police chief said informal business operators had been arrested and fined for operating without licences or possessing scarce staple items such as maize meal, sugar and petrol intended for resale on the black market. But many of the flea market traders selling second-hand goods have been licensed. Police have destroyed 34 flea markets and netted some Z$900m ($100,000) in fines and seized some Z$2.2bn of goods.
Squeezing the last drop of blood from the stones.
Harare residents are said to be furious at the police operation codenamed "restore order". Angry demonstrators clashed with police at the weekend in what AP news agency described as the most serious unrest seen since the ruling party won March parliamentary elections. In recent days only a few government buses have been running, leaving thousands of commuters stranded. Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, said President Robert Mugabe was seeking an excuse to impose a State of Emergency and had ordered the crackdown to stop second-hand dealers undercutting cheap imports from China.
Ah, they were cutting into Chinese profits. Well, we can't have that, can we? They're about the only ones who will still do business with Bob.
The Zimbabwean dollar was devalued by 45% last week.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/24/2005 08:17 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
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#1
Just when you think Zim-Bob-we can't get any worse: Check out this pic of l-o-n-g bus lines in Harare (hat tip to Glenn). Unbelievable. And then Bob closes down the only alternative, the private mini-buses.
#2
This is Bob version of "let them eat cake." Only one person is responsible for this and thats Bob, it's not "street traders". Bob put the Zimbabwe economy in the crapper as long as he and his party are in power it will stay that way.
#3
another share of blame goes to MBeki at SA, who has the ability to take Bob out, yet fawns over hime instead. So much for Africa caring about Africans
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/24/2005 16:18 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Two Star Wars fans are in a critical condition in hospital after apparently trying to make light sabres by filling fluorescent light tubes with petrol. 
President Jacques Chirac said that the adoption of the EU constitution would extend the timeframe for Turkey's accession into the union. Chirac's comments came in a letter to the France-based CCAF association of Armenian organisations, and at a time when key proponents of the constitution ramp up efforts to convince the electorate ahead of the referendum on Sunday. Polls released over the past two weeks have indicated strongly that a vote against the treaty is likely. Chirac told the CCAF that Turkey 'still has a long way to go' in its bid for EU membership, and that this will become even harder under a constitution which will 'recognise fundamental rights and liberties... and guarantee them to all European citizens.' The Armenian community in France, some 400,000-strong, has been expected to lean towards a 'no' vote as a means to stop Turkey's accession. Community leaders have insisted that France urge Turkey to acknowledge the 1915 genocide which left an estimated 1-1.5 mln Armenians dead, as part of the accession talks. 
Are the Dutch tired of Europe? That will be the real question on June 1, when the Netherlands holds its referendum on the European constitution, just three days after a crucial vote on the charter in France. Polls show voters who reject the constitution have the edge over those likely to vote "yes," and the gap is growing. But they also show a majority either won't vote or are confused by the paperback-sized document and haven't made up their minds. "Holland is in a very inward mood. It's hiding behind the dikes," said historian Han van der Horst.
Over sausage sandwiches and vast amounts of beer and local wine, the thousands of Frenchmen stood around and argued over how best to save France. Save France from Europe, that is, the Europe that France played perhaps the most crucial role in building a half-century ago. But now, say the anti-globalizers and anti-imperialists, the farmers and factory workers who crammed into the smoky exhibition hall in this southern city, Europe has lost its way. They may be treated like traitors and imbeciles by their opponents, they add, but they call themselves patriots. "I feel like a rock star," said Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a Socialist senator from Essonne, as he was hugged and kissed by fans for breaking with his party and joining the no camp. "People stop me on the streets to tell me their problems and ask for my opinion about the constitution. I tell them it is absolutely monstrous." 
German internet security experts declared victory on Monday in a bid to head off a computer virus before it spreads through millions of personal computers worldwide. Sober.P, a computer worm that sent neo-Nazi German-language e-mails onto hundreds of thousands of computers last week, had been programmed by its unknown author to cease activity on Monday and seek reinforcement with new code hidden around the internet. Virus-hunters funded by the German government decided to block the reinforcements by closing down web computers supplying the code. "Nothing has happened so far today," said Michael Dickopf, a spokesman for the Federal Office for Security in Information Technology (BSI). "Our defensive actions appear to have worked." The BSI analysed the worm last week and won help from internet service providers to take down all offending websites. Without access to the code it needs, Sober was expected to remain dormant on infected personal computers.
At this point it comes as no surprise. 
Zimbabwe police have been targeting minibus taxi drivers as they continue a crackdown on the large informal sector. Eyewitnesses described about 100 minibuses being driven in convoy under police escort in the capital, Harare. Police are manning roadblocks and searching cars in the city and continue to destroy street traders' stalls. Almost 10,000 people have been arrested since the police action began last week. The black market has thrived as the jobless struggle to make a living. 
