What started as a sale turned into a mob scene as thousands of people pushed their way through the Richmond International Raceway gates to buy a $50 iBook laptop computer from Henrico County Schools this morning. The school district had only 1,000 of these surplus computers to sell, and Henrico County residents got first dibs.
Starletta Wilson came to the sale but when the gates opened at 7 a.m., chaos broke out.
âYeah, they pushed me, look at my child's stroller... they actually pushed me and stampeded over me. Those people who are down there now were behind us," Wilson said.
Dustin Coppinger, who attended the sale, said he saw an older man get trampled.
"An old man in a walker was trampled to the ground. Trampled to the ground... walked all over," he said.
Dozens more were pushed to the ground as the crowd races through the gates.
A one-year-old baby almost became a victim. Her father pulled her out of her stroller.
"Look at her stroller. Her stroller's demolished. Look at my stroller,â said Wilson.
Alice Jemerson was one victim who got trampled.
"Look at my knees. They ran on top of me. I just starting kicking the people," she said.
A man who had been standing in line since 2 a.m. came to Jemersonâs rescue. Bair Hossai was almost guaranteed to get one of the coveted computers.
"I'm not going to leave somebody who's hurt. It's not worth it. I could have been in the line, but I'm not going to do it, because it's not worth it," Hossai said. Thank you, sir.
#1
I live in the Richmond area (thank god not in Henrico) and this was a clusterf*ck from the word go.
They were originally going to go on sale LAST Tuesday (the school system is switching to Dell this year) to anyone who showed up (considering what happened today, thank every god you can think of they didn't), but some Henrico residents complained and the Board of Supervisors passed an emergency ruling that they had to be sold to Henrico residents first before anyone else. (Which makes sense to normal people.)
So they pushed it back a week, and had the changes and what you needed for proof of residency all over the news. (Don't even ask about the people who showed up last week anyway, including people who drove from Michigan and Florida.)
The first guy in line arrived at the gates at 1:30 a.m. last night. By 7 a.m., when the fairgrounds (part of the raceway, but not the track area) opened the gates to let people in - where they were supposed to walk in an orderly fashion to the building where the sale would start at 9 a.m. - the traffic around the raceway/fairgrounds was a nightmare. The traffic reporters were warning everyone to stay away from the area (it's actually on a fairly major artery), and people stuck in traffic were calling the radio station to say the traffic was worse than during the State Fair.
In answer to your unasked question, yes, the school people had hired some off-duty Henrico police officers (4, I think) for crowd "control" and those officers called for backup when things got out of control, but with a crowd estimated anywhere between 5,000 (probably low) and 10,000 (probably high, but not by much) trying to pass through the gates (the middle one is wide enough to pass 2 cars, and the 2 on either side of that are 1-person size) and run walk a distance of about 2 football fields (maybe 3, depending on which building housed the "event") to stand in another line for another 2 hours, it was too late. (By the way, security was totally the responsibility of the Henrico school system; the Raceway people, and the State Fair people who share the space, are NOT responsible for security at an event put on by outsiders who have rented the space. Though I'll bet they're going to take a loooong look at that policy now.)
Everyone I know figured it would play out just about like it did - can't think why the school officials didn't.
All for a 4-year-oldApple computer, fergawdsake! :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/16/2005 19:09 Comments ||
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#2
Sheesh. This sucks and is, well, "sad" is a pretty good start, Jackal. I mean an iBook, for crying out loud. I've always thought Apple people are weird...
Ha! Just kidding - about the Apple folks - not about the the crowd. This prolly would've happened if they were peddling Vic-20's for $50. I hate crowds - the lowest IQ seems to prevail often enough. The best part? Blaming the Henrico County officials:
Steven Poor, who managed to get a laptop, said the problem was simple. âJust poor County management,â he said.
How about greedy asinine behavior by fuckwits, Stevie? I see you got yours, asshole. Who did you step on?
This just made the news on Fox - and there was a woman carrying a destroyed stroller. Amazing.
#3
Hmmm. I was whacking away and watching Fox - so I crossed with yours, Barbara.
I have to disagree about the crowd. People are responsible for their own behavior, IMHO. This kind of shit infuriates me. If people can't be trusted to act civilly, then hold a drawing - and just notify winners by mail. Cracking heads with Ebonite sticks or spring-steel Zaps sounds apropos, IMHO, but none of it should've been necessary. Obviously, people who showed up with small children in strollers didn't expect their neighbors to act like savages.
#4
Man, I can't believe how badly they screwed this up, but then if it's a public school running it I guess it's only to be expected.
How about a lottery? Give out tickets and draw numbers? There were only 1,000 iBooks to sell--this was just asking for trouble to do it live first-come-first-serve.
Posted by: Dar ||
08/16/2005 19:35 Comments ||
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#5
Why not price the laptops so there is an appropriate amount of buyers. Giving stuff away for much less than what it's worth on the market is a recipe for disaster.
I blame the school for a total absence of market savvy. When supply and demand don't freely meet, inhuman behaviour is either the cause or the consequence.
#6
"I blame the school for a total absence of market savvy."
Bingo, Kalle!
That, plus a complete lack of common sense.
It is a public school system, after all.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/16/2005 20:08 Comments ||
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#7
they do this all the time for concerts, with numbered wrist bands....how hard was this to predict?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2005 20:11 Comments ||
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#8
Wife's health dept had a sale where doors opened at 1pm. We were the only ones to walk in at 1.01 pm (elevator was slow) and these crooks had sold them all to themselves. Xeon servers, quads, desktops everything. Fixed price and sold before you could focus on it. Dual 1800mhz Xeon servers for $12. Price printed on the same sheet as the word Sold and in the same pen.
Like...moo...man.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's long winter will just fly by for a herd of Russian cows which, a newspaper reported on Tuesday, will be fed confiscated marijuana over the cold months. In the summer I take it, they'll be in rehab?
Drug workers said they adopted the unusual form of animal husbandry after they were forced to destroy the sunflowers and maize crops that the 40 tonnes of marijuana had been planted among, Novye Izvestia daily reported."There is simply no other way out. You see, the fields are planted with feed crops and if we remove it all the cows will have nothing to eat," a Federal Drugs Control Service spokeswoman for the Urals region of Sverdlovsk told the paper. No glaucoma for those cows.
"I don't know what the milk will be like after this." Pot brownies tasted like shit, but who cared...
#3
My memory (we're talking about ancient history here, lol) tells me my brownies tasted good... at least no one could talk to complain after eating one. Of course, we had these teensy-tiny little tar balls that we'd use like chocolate chips... A mere 7-10 hours later, we'd scrape you up and take you home.
#4
No no no no no! Happy cows come from California!
The cheese commercial told me so. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/16/2005 15:50 Comments ||
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#5
Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase meadow muffins.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/16/2005 16:03 Comments ||
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#6
Those teensie-weensie little tar balls couldn't have been (gasp!!!) HASH or some other similar illegal substance? I am shocked, shocked you hear, to think there might have been DRUGS in SE Asia.
Posted by: Weird Al ||
08/16/2005 16:48 Comments ||
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Obviously some people (such as myself) have too much free time on their hands.
AMSTERDAM - A replica Viking ship made of 15 million ice-cream sticks is to be launched in Amsterdam on Tuesday by a former Hollywood stuntman who hopes eventually to sail it across the Atlantic. The Viking longship, which is 15 meters (about 49 feet) long and took Robert McDonald and two volunteers two years to build, is to be launched in Amsterdam harbor with a crew of around 25 for what is intended to be a 90-minute excursion in a bid to set a world record for the largest sailing ship made of ice-cream sticks. âItâs a dream come true. Itâs truly worth all the hard work,â McDonald said Monday of the painstaking two-year effort to assemble the birchwood sticks into a vessel. âI never want to look at glue again. I donât think I will be in a hurry to look at ice cream sticks again.â The ice cream sticks used to make the ship were provided by Unileverâs ice cream maker OLA and by children who collected discarded sticks around the world.
McDonald is a 45-year-old from Jacksonville, Fla. whose Sea Heart Foundation helps provide leisure activities for children in hospitals, hopes to sail his Viking ship across the Atlantic next year. âThatâs still the ultimate goal, to sail across the Atlantic in the Viking-style,â McDonald said. Christopher Columbus was acclaimed for centuries as the man who discovered America in 1492. But in recent decades, more evidence has come to light showing that Icelander Leif Ericsson and the Vikings were the first Europeans to set foot on the American continent around the year 1,000. Viking longboats let Norse warriors land, pillage and plunder large parts of Europe and sail off knowing that no other vessels could catch up.
#1
At least he didn't have to eat that many ise cream bars to get the sticks. I have no doubt that Norse sailors and settlers reached the Maritime Provinces and possibly the New England area but I question if they they were the first Europeans to do so. They are only the first that can be proven to do so. And I personally think that a significant number of other mariners were crossing the Atlantic pre Columbus. Fishermen from Bristol may of been fishing in the Western Atlantic and going ashore as early as the the 1450s. In addition it looks as if the Portugese may of had settlements on Puerto Rico in the early 15th century. But Columbus gets the credit or blame simply because he was the one to make it stick
#2
Columbus was the last to discover America. People all argue who was here in 1430 or 1180 or -8000. No one claims 1493. That's significant, in that the earlier landings, if they occurred, were not exploited and were forgotten. So they might as well not have happened.
It's the same as all the claims that thus-and-such was really "invented" by someone hundreds of years earlier, when it was some crude drawings that no one ever saw, much less turned into a working model. I count many of Davinci's "inventions" in this category.
RESEARCHERS have proved what mothers have been telling their sons all along â erotic images can make you go blind. A study by US psychologists found people shown erotic or gory images could not process what they were seeing immediately afterwards. Researchers believe emotion-induced blindness could mean drivers simply do not see another car or pedestrian if they have just witnessed an "emotionally charged" scene. The work, published in the Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, helps shed light on how motorists are affected by the use of sexy billboards. It also found that some people were more prone to be affected by the phenomenon known as emotion-induced blindness.
Researchers from Vanderbilt University in Nashville and Yale University in Connecticut showed hundreds of images to volunteers. Most of them were "neutral" scenes but a few showing violent or sexually provocative scenes were also included. "We observed that people failed to detect visual images that appeared one-fifth of a second after emotional images, whereas they can detect those images with little problem after neutral images," researcher David Zald told New Scientist magazine.
"We think there is essentially a bottleneck for information processing and if a certain type of stimulus captures attention, it can jam up the bottleneck so subsequent information can't get through." This appeared to happen involuntarily, Mr Zald said.
Posted by: Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World ||
08/16/2005 04:25 ||
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#1
So we should ban porno on cell phone screens so drivers won't be even more distracted?
#3
Hell, that isn't because of Porn, its because they are distracted! The same happens if they just had an 'emotionally charged' phone call, or if ther SO is -er- doing certain things, or .....
Now where's the hell is my white cane.... hate it when people move things...
#5
I'm so confused... Is that why I'm wearing glasses? Should I stop my bad habits while there is still time? Anyway, I thought it was supposed to be hairy palms, not blindness. My palms aren't hairy, but my legs and feet are, and so is my lily-white butt, is this normal? Please, someone tell.
Damn, this research is very perplexing! I'm so glad they spent a lot of grant money to do it!
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2005 12:53 Comments ||
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#11
yeah, my wallpaper's so, um, top-heavy I keep getting the feeling it's about to tip over - right into my lap. Who'da thunk it? Not that I'm complaining, y'see - or can you?
#15
Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /images/200010_NicoleVanCroft.jpg on this server.
Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
Apache/1.3.33 Server at www.zzzzzzzzz.com Port 80
#16
OK, OK! I won't watch any more porn while driving! Sheesh...
Does it count though if the people in the SUV in the next lane are watching porn on their DVD player?
Posted by: Dar ||
08/16/2005 14:46 Comments ||
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#17
You're trying to access it directly. That's a no-no so that people don't bash my server to death posting links to my RB-linked images in other sites. Just right-click on the link and choose open in new window / tab. Works fine in Maxthon, IE, and Firefox. It has to be opened from this RB page either with a direct left-click or right-click. No passing these babies out to non-RBers, heh. Feel free to D/L and email or whatever - but passing along direct linkys doesn't fly. ;->
#19
Emotionally induced blindness. I wonder if I could have used my low threshold for this syndrom to explain my poor grades in high school to my parents.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/16/2005 14:57 Comments ||
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#20
:) There's inspiration in those pixels, heh. I saw some recent pix of Nadine - and she still looks awesome, weathering very well, indeed. Good genes, heh. These "livepix" images are now no longer available, AFAICT. PB got all pissy and snotty with the websites that featured them and shut them down.
#32
I think it's important to be able to go from this (NSFW) to this so you'll know she really did support the troops, in her own special way. I'll bet she was O Positive, too. Way to go, Whitney, heh. How are those grandchildren?
Seriously, heh, being able to read the dogtags is sooo important. In another, I was able to read the Dick Tracy cartoon the model was reading. I'm a better man for it, too. Wymyns don't understand these things. Bad attitudes. An XX thingy. :-)
A New York woman who was seriously injured when a young man tossed a turkey through her windshield helped spare her assailant a long prison term. Prosecutor Peter Mayer told a judge in Suffolk County, N.Y., that Victoria Ruvolo's compassion convinced him to seek a six-month sentence for Ryan Cushing, Newsday reported. He also said he believed that Cushing did not intend to harm anyone with his "egregious" act. Cushing was a passenger in his cousin's car when he threw the just-purchased turkey out the window. The carcass shattered Ruvolo's windshield. After the hearing, Cushing apologized to Ruvolo as he left the courtroom and the two hugged and cried. Outside, he said that he loved Ruvolo, describing her as "the best person there is."
I'm sure she's "the best person there is," but we'd probably all be better off if Mr. Turkey Tosser was behind bars for 10-20. He damaged her car, injured her, and could have killed her. The fact is, he's an idiot, and he's likely to do something equally stoopid when he's let out. This isn't Pakistan, where criminal cases seem to be resolved in civil proceedings. It's the U.S., where the docket reads "State vs. Turkey Tosser." That means the state, and not the kind-hearted Ms. Ruvolo, is the complaintant and in effect the injured party. A government of laws is in the long run more fair to more people than is a government of men, even though you're more likely to find leniency under the government of men.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
A google on Ruvolo+turkey is very instructive.
Story: Kids stole credit card, bought crap (including turkey), threw turkey out window into traffic, hit woman in face.
#3
Mucky, the un-frozen turkey would probably have almost the same impact at the speed involved. That applies to a live turkey as well, it would probably have no time to flap wings more than once. You may need to ban turkeys altogether.
#4
Don't know if this happens elsewhere, but eagles feeding on roadkill kangaroos and cattle out in the Western Australian bush, end up going through peoples windscreens. I recall a graphic description from someone who found a car that run off the road and the eagle and driver were both dead, the driver having been clawed to death. I make a point of slowing right down when I see eagles on the road.
#5
Tossing a turkey maybe rare but tossing other heavy objects is not. You will find that most pedestrian walkways across freeways are fully covered, especially in metropolitan cities.
Before they were covered, irresponsible kids or gang member initiation usually required that you toss heavy rocks at incoming (high speed) traffic. Usually, people die after impact.
#8
There was a 3 Mythbusters on this.
I saw all of them. The final result, after they got the test conditions correct, was that the thawed turkey splattered on the simulated aircraft windshield while the frozen turkey went thru it like a cannon ball.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/16/2005 8:28 Comments ||
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#9
Mr. Cushing explained:
"With God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."
#10
Steve, aircraft windshield is much stronger than a car windshield. I stand by my un-frozen turkey. I were a part of an involuntary experiment of a similar nature about 4 & 1/2 months ago, so I know my ... err, physics.
#11
Oh, sure, a car windshield would be toast. I've had little rocks you couldn't see coming bust mine bad enough I had to replace it.
Just remembered that when I was a teenager my Dad and I were hauling our boat back from the Cape after a weekend fishing trip. While we were passing under a bridge outside of Boston, we heard a loud bang. Pulled over to see what happened and found the windshield on the cabin of our boat had a big hole in it. Looked inside and found a big chunk of concrete that had gone through the window, smashed thru the cabin door and ended up denting the gas tank in the back of the boat. Saw a couple of kids on the bridge out of the corner of my eye just before we drove under. Cops showed up, but never found anyone. If they had dropped that rock a couple of seconds sooner, it would have gone thru our truck windshield and most likely killed one of us. Turkey boy here needs to do hard time as a lesson.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/16/2005 10:11 Comments ||
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#12
"When you oulaw turkeys,
only outlaws will have turkeys!"
Posted by: BA ||
08/16/2005 10:36 Comments ||
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#13
Steve,
I guessed you backed up #5 with a personal story. This dangerous act hardly ever gets recorded.
#14
Or you could do as Repairman Jack did. Find the one who did it and hang him off the bridge so the truck trailers go splat. Fictional character, sure, but an appealing notion.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/16/2005 14:08 Comments ||
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#19
There's no way in hell I'd let some moron off like this! What'd he think was going to happen when he dropped that turkey with the intent of hitting her windshield? This was not negligence or any sort of accident--this was intentional!
I'd forgive the little bastard after he also went through 8 hours of facial reconstruction and spent several weeks with his jaw wired shut and eating through a tube. But first, let me demonstrate to him the effects of being hit in the face by a turkey with the help of this baseball bat...
Posted by: Dar ||
08/16/2005 15:38 Comments ||
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#20
You could have my Ex cook the turkey and a slap across the jaw with a drumstick would feel just like a Louisville Slugger...
JEDDAH, 16 August 2005 â Rania Al-Baz, the TV presenter who became the poster face for abused women in Saudi Arabia after her ex-husband beat her almost to death last year, is starting a new chapter in her life.
She looks a whole lot better in the photo in this article. You might recall the pic Fred ran of her shortly after hubbie beat the crap out of her.
Rania is co-hosting Al-Arabiya satellite news channelâs morning program âSabah Al-Arabiyaâ for ten days until Aug. 24. Although she still has two more major plastic surgeries to do on her face to repair the multiple fractures she suffered from having her face brutally smashed by her ex-husband Mohammed Fallata, she is putting on a brave new face for the audience she loves.
âAl-Arabiya invited me to guest host this program. It will be a valuable learning experience for me even if it is just for a short period,â Rania told Arab News from Dubai in a phone interview.
She described the new program as a combination of news and general information targeting a new segment of the audience. She appears with a new look and without a veil, which some have criticized, but she feels that there will always be those who support and those who criticize. âBefore, I appeared on religious channels and I was expected to wear the hijab, but I normally donât do that when I travel even though Iâm proud of the hijab,â she said.
"So please don't hit me!"
She is eagerly anticipating the release of a French book in September entitled âThe Disfiguredâ, which showcases the lives of women in Saudi Arabia. Written by a French journalist as told to him by Rania, the book will be distributed in France and other European countries and later translated into Arabic.
âThere is only one chapter about the abuse experience I suffered. The book is a window for the French people on Saudi Arabia, life here and our culture. There has been a lot of misrepresentation and distortion about Saudi women and their lives here and I wanted to present a balanced view of the positives and negatives,â Rania told Arab News.
She recently appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show that raised much criticism by writers and the public here because of the truthful way it portrayed Saudi women. The interview with Rania was aired on Oprah recently as part of an episode on women from different parts of the world, but people here considered it unfair and biased because they said while other women were presented in a positive way, the woman chosen to represent Saudi women was an abused and oppressed woman.
Gee, we westerners figured it out immediately.
âIâm satisfied with the episode, I donât think that Oprah and her producers were mistaken,â said Rania. âI think we are too sensitive about anyone criticizing us and this is our problem. Oprah has presented many episodes before on abused women in the US and other parts of the world. The US is more advanced than us in terms of human rights. Yes, they have higher rates of crime but they accept criticism. Those of us who have traveled to the US, studied there or worked there, know that the American people are very warm and friendly and not biased, so we should not make judgments of people just because we donât agree with their governmentâs policies.â
I think I've just found the chancellor for the Republic of Eastern Arabia, a 50-km wide strip of sand ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/16/2005 00:00 ||
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âBefore, I appeared on religious channels and I was expected to wear the hijab, but I normally donât do that when I travel even though Iâm proud of the hijab,â she said.
ONE of England's busiest roads was brought to a standstill after a girl lost her cuddly toy. Hundreds of motorists faced delays when a 15km stretch of the M11 in Essex was blocked so police could look for Tyrone the Tiger.
Simon Osborn, 46, was travelling home with his wife and two daughters after a family holiday when 10-year-old Amy's toy was sucked out of the sunroof. Mr Osborn, a company director from Ramsgate, Kent, said: "We rang the police and they said it probably wouldn't be possible to get him back".
But he said he was then amazed by the response from the police in Essex. Police set up the rolling roadblock between Stansted and Harlow, causing traffic to back up as an officer searched for the toy. A slightly tyre-marked Tyrone was recovered.
This does not happen on the Dan Ryan in Chicago.
Posted by: Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World ||
08/16/2005 04:23 ||
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#1
"Now, now, Calvin."
"It's Hobbes. We have to save him."
Isn't the Mara Salvatrucha/MS13 gang increasingly present in the USA, notably for smuggling illegals, and officially said to be an AQ associate?At least 30 prisoners have reportedly died and more than 50 have been injured during battles between rival gangs in several prisons in Guatemala. Hundreds of armed police and soldiers were deployed and fired tear gas to regain control of the prisons. At least 18 people were thought to have died during a fight at a prison known as "The Hole" in a town south of the capital, Guatemala City.
The dead were killed by gunshot wounds and hand grenade blasts. Officials said a fearsome array of weaponry - including knives, automatic rifles and hand grenades - had been smuggled into the prisons.
The trouble is thought to have erupted after members of one of Central America's most notorious gangs, the Mara Salvatrucha, clashed with members of their main rival, Mara 18. The gangs appear to have coordinated the fighting using mobile telephones, said Guatemala's Interior Minister Carlos Vielmann. The bloodiest fighting appears to have taken place in the "The Hole" prison in Escuintla town. Witnesses saw corpses covered in tattoos of their gang's symbols. Some bodies were said to have been mutilated.
Eight men were also killed in the Pavon correctional facility near Guatemala City, said the head of the country's prison service. Officials warn that the number of injured could reach as many as 80. Hospitals in the region say they are struggling to cope.
The BBC's Americas editor, Paul Keller, says the rioting is an ominous warning to the authorities in Honduras and El Salvador as well as Guatemala. All are struggling to contain the activities of street gangs known as "maras", which are blamed for a wave of killings and robberies across the region.
The governing Workers' Party (PT) is charged with irregular election campaign funding and funneling public funds through an advertising firm's bank accounts to buy support for key votes in Congress. The main uncertainties arising from the scandal are the likelihood of evidence emerging that could directly implicate Lula and trigger moves toward impeachment and the implications of the political crisis for economic performance and credibility.
Thus far, both the media and opposition parties in Congress have evinced restraint in not encouraging an emotional and chaotic response to the scandal. This has allowed the government to contain the political crisis and avoid spillover into the economic arena. At first sight, this bodes well for continued prudent economic policy and acceptable economic performance. Notwithstanding the evidence of corruption and the resulting political crisis, international financial markets have remained sanguine to date, accepting the government's position that the economy will remain decoupled from the political crisis. However, it is not unprecedented for nervous investors to bolt at the slightest indication of a change in mood, thereby triggering a genuine financial crisis.
The outcome of the political crisis lies in part with the business and financial community. It is precisely the well-managed economic policies and good economic performance that have kept the population and markets complacent. Lula has also been fortunate in the lack of external crises during his term. However, should economic fortunes suffer a sudden downturn, calls for actions against Lula could certainly intensify.
There are at least three possible outcomes to the scandal.
Best-Case Scenario: Even if Lula is not implicated, the threat remains that the political fallout of the final Parliamentary Investigation Committee reports will confirm the erosion of the government's parliamentary base. This would paralyze Congress for the rest of its term, stall enactment of urgent reforms and erode governability. It eventually could even destroy Lula's electoral base. However, short-term economic performance could remain largely unaffected if policy continuity is maintained.
Middling Scenario: The opposition parties and the media could abandon their restrained attitude, possibly due to dissatisfaction with the progress and/or outcome of investigations in the Parliamentary Investigation Committee and Congressional Ethics Committee. Alternatively, a complete discrediting of the PT and Lula could serve the future electoral and political interests of sectors of the political class. Should this lead to the resurrection of accusations and revelations, Brazil could experience a long period of political instability and declining economic prospects.
Lula's impeachment would represent complete disillusionment of the expectations placed upon him by the Latin American Left, giving greater weight to other "new Left" leaders, such as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Moreover, impeachment would represent a grave setback for the Brazilian economy, as well as the dilution of painstaking efforts at democratic consolidation and institutional development over the past 15 years.
The outcome of the political crisis and the resulting fate of the economy is still unclear. Much will depend upon how political elites interpret the situation so as to secure their own best (electoral) interests and upon whether or not international financial markets remain calm.
#1
Lula is finished. If it will be by impeachment or not i dont know. But he and his party are in shambles. Lots of leftist tears (mainly journalists) here in Portugal...
#2
Moreover, impeachment would represent a grave setback for the Brazilian economy,
That's counterintuitive; I'm not sure how getting rid of a socialist makes an economy worse. That, and I don't recall Nixon's or Clinton's impeachments affecting our economy at the time (yes, apples & oranges, I know). Maybe Paul Krugman can help with that one.
A Colombian airliner with 152 people on board has crashed in a remote north-western region of Venezuela. The West Caribbean Airways plane was reported to have been travelling between Panama and Martinica. Rescue workers are said to be on their way to the scene of the crash in the state of Zulia - it is not clear whether there are any survivors. A Venezuelan aviation official said the pilots had contacted air traffic control to report engine problems. Contact with the plane was then lost, Francisco Paz said.
Posted by: True German Ally ||
08/16/2005 07:43 ||
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#1
Well that's two (the Cyrprus-Greece flight being the first). Don't these things come in threes?
If the pilots were reporting engine problems then this will be much more mundane, though still tragic, than the weirdness of the Greek crash.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
08/16/2005 9:01 Comments ||
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#2
That's why I put it on Page 3. I'm still not so sure about the Cypriot flight.
#6
Was there anyone on the plane Chavez had reason to dislike?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/16/2005 10:15 Comments ||
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#7
"Since 1962, the MD-80 does not one record of a fatal crash. This is one of the safest, if not the safest, models around."
You need to recheck your facts. If I am not mistaken, the Alaska Airlines flight that crashed into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California was a MD-80/DC-9 variant. The MD-80 is just a redesignated DC-9. This redesignation occured when McDonnell bought Douglas... and became the McDonnell-Douglas corporation. Which BTW, occured quite sometime after 1962.
HTH
AR
Posted by: Analog Roam ||
08/16/2005 11:16 Comments ||
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#8
It was flying from Panama to the Caribbean island of Martinique with a Colombian crew. Why was it over Venezuela? It also reported engine problems but has twin engines.
#9
Followup: More to the point. The flight was Alaska Airlines Flt. 261. The aircraft was a MD-83. This is just a minor variation of the MD-80. In fact, some casual googling has turned up a number of crashes involving the DC-9/MD-8x aircraft. I will leave that as an educational exercise for whomever is interested.
AR
Posted by: Analog Roam ||
08/16/2005 11:22 Comments ||
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#10
AR,
"I will leave that as an educational exercise for whomever is interested."
You are the one who needs to be interested in a educational exercise, before blasting off your pie hole and before checking the facts.
I said, "fatal crash," not crash(es). I said, "MD-80," not MD-83. Just admit that you are wrong and stop twisting words to save your ridiculous pride.
#14
"I said, "fatal crash," not crash(es). I said, "MD-80," not MD-83. Just admit that you are wrong and stop twisting words to save your ridiculous pride."
You are an idiot. My ridiculous pride does not need saving, but judging from your use of projection I would say yours does. The MD-80 has been involved in a number of fatal accidents over the years, so have its naby variations.
What is the difference between "fatal crash" and
"fatal crashes"? Pinhead.
AR
Posted by: Analog Roam ||
08/16/2005 11:47 Comments ||
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#15
AR,
Hey moron. Why don't you open up the pdf's on your inaccurate link and do a search for MD-80? Did you find it? The so-called MD-80 crashes, on your inaccurate link is listed in the NTSB database as MD-82 and MD-83's, idiot.
I did my research using source database. You've used 3rd party that links to my source database and you still can't get it right.
Again, shut your pie hole, little boy, before you get ahead of your self.
Posted by: Air Capt. Rodney King ||
08/16/2005 12:19 Comments ||
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#18
Whaaaa! Cries Poison Reverse. An MD-82/3/4 etc. is an MD-80 with minor cosmetic changes. The airframes, engines and about 99% of the whole aircraft are the same.
I did my research, and I used to work for McDonnell-Douglas, so I have the factory scoop.
Why don't you just admit that your statement was in error? Nothing wrong with that. I would have thought that your time on RB would have educated you to the point where you would be suspicous of any information maintained by any govt. agency! Even the NTSB.
You used the words "fatal crash" and I used "fatal crashes" implying that the aircraft type had been involved in numerous incidents. There is no fundamental difference in the concept being communicated. I suggest you invest in some remedial English lessons olde stick!
AR
Posted by: Analog Roam ||
08/16/2005 12:23 Comments ||
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#19
PR: Here is an education in aircraft type designations straight from the factory that now has responsibility for the MD-80 series of aircraft.
The Boeing MD-80, a quiet, fuel-efficient twinjet, was certified by the Federal Aviation Administration in August 1980 and entered airline service in October 1980. Its Pratt & Whitney JT8D-200 engines, combined with its efficient aerodynamic design, allow the MD-80 to meet all current noise regulations while producing operating costs among the lowest in commercial aviation.
Four MD-80 models-the MD-81, MD-82, MD-83, and MD-88, are 147 feet, 10 inches (45.08 meters) long and accommodate a maximum of 172 passengers. The MD-87 is 130.4 feet (39.76 m) in length, with a maximum passenger capacity of 139. Wingspan for all models is 107 feet, 10 inches (32.88 m). The MD-80 was produced at the Long Beach Division of Boeing Commercial Airplanes until December 1999.
AR
Posted by: Analog Roam ||
08/16/2005 12:39 Comments ||
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#20
Gentlemen! You can't fight in here! This is the War Room Rantburg!
There are three inconsistencies with your amatuerish rebuttals. I know fully well that MD-82/3/4 are post models from MD-80. Save the education for your little students at LGF. RB is where the big boys and girls live.
1. You never used the word "fatal" until #11.
2. The original BBC article link stated MD-80, not MD-82/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11-999.
3. The NTSB crash database is very accurate. But, crash cause results by the NTSB, are sometimes politically motivated.
If you click on the updated link now, the BBC has updated the number of dead. Also, the BBC also has updated the exact model number, which is a, MD-82.
The NTSB database does show "fatal crashes" for the MD-82. But, not the MD-80.
#30
OK, I have to chime in on this...
Boeing says there are 4 models of the MD-80 type: MD-81,-82,-83,-88. The term MD-80 is used a as a catch-all to refer to all four models.
LOTR: Well that's two
Three if you count the Italian ATR, four if you include the Air France Airbus. NOT a good month for aviation, and we're only half way through.
Posted by: Rafael ||
08/16/2005 14:17 Comments ||
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#31
The md-80 series has the nasty habit of forming clear ice on the wings after a long flight. The fuel becomes cold soaked and condensation forms and freezes in a patch on the wings forward of the engine inlets. After rotation the ice breaks off and is ingested by the engine. Depending on the severity of the damage, it may result in anything from a vibration to total failure of the engine. U.S operators must inspect this area before take off or have heater blankets/ice sensors in this area.
#32
That's a shame because the MD-80 series won my admiration after that Scandinavian MD-80 (SAS?) glided down to earth relatively safely after engine failure (both I think).
Posted by: Rafael ||
08/16/2005 16:32 Comments ||
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#33
...to the ground, I should've said. It's not a freakin' spaceship.
Posted by: Rafael ||
08/16/2005 16:34 Comments ||
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#34
Bloomberg reports - Residents in the area said they heard a large explosion at 5 a.m., Chacon said. One witness told local radio the plane fell in a ball of fire, according to Agence France Presse. While eyewitnesses aren't always reliable, I'd say engine failure is not cut and dried. The media has a tendency to report other media speculation as fact, like the decompression of the Cyprus airliner.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2005 22:43 Comments ||
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#38
Its Dubya's fault - tell Chavez to call in the Commie Airborne to save freedom-loving = freedom-removing/restricting laissez faire despots from America.
#1
You know, given that Europe seems to be trying to encourage immigration, I find myself wondering if they wouldn't be better off trying to recruit Mexicans to come. They speak (for the most part) a European language, most of them aren't religious extremists... Most of the ones who have come to the US legally to settle down have been OK.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
08/16/2005 0:57 Comments ||
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#2
They would, PF, except that it is a cultural thing. The vast majority of the Mexicans who come north illegaly are poorly educated and very distrustful of government in general. It is much easier to enter the U.S. under those conditions than to travel overseas. Your point that most of them who have come to the US are Ok is true. If we ignore the basic illegality of their method of entry, we will probably find that they are as law abiding as any of our other immigrant groups.
That is why I think that some means of permitting them legal and easy entry to the United States for work is the best way to deal with the issue. I do not know if President Bush's plans are the best method, but he is at least trying to deal with the issue in a forthright manner.
In the long term I think that allowing Mexicans to enter the country, make a living and raise families will be as healthy for the U.S. as it has been with every other large immigrant group such as the Irish, Italians, Germans, Chinese that preceeded them.
It will also be good for Mexico in the long term as the influence of the expats who return, having been exposed to our way of life, will demand better and more responsible government south of the border.
Posted by: DanNY ||
08/16/2005 6:21 Comments ||
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#3
OK, we have enough landscapers and fruit pickers, start turning them back. Once they get here all we hear about is how poor they are. So they can be poor in Mexico, or they can be poor here, only difference is they don't run entire hospitals broke in mexico.
#4
That is why I think that some means of permitting them legal and easy entry to the United States for work is the best way to deal with the issue.
No, it is the best way is for the Mexican government to really reform itself so as to have a viable economy. There are millions of Chinese, let alone even more millions of other nationalities who would like to come to America. Why should they be denied simply because their country lacks a physical border with the US? A little racism going on here?
As long as the Mexican government can dump literally millions of its poor and underclass on the US, the longer it can avoid reform and the ruling class can retain their power. Any other ruling elite in the world would be concerned about chaos and revolution in similar situation, but do not have the luxury of a stupid neighbor who puts up with infinite toxic waste dumping on their own property.
Take your heart and sympathy to the Americans who are robbed of medical and education support that's eaten up by an unending stream of illegals. Legals welcomed with open arms. Illegals are just that - ILLEGAL.
How many Americans have been killed or murdered, robbed or raped by illegals? Kill 3,000 Americans in one morning and you're a terrorist. Kill 3,000 in 10 years and you're just poor misunderstood undocumented workers.
#7
Right. And with one swish of a pen, 10 million illegals become legal overnight. But they're soooo LEGAL now. And still no mechanism to stop the Mexican government program of dumping rather than reforming. What problem have you really solved or just put off again for another day?
#8
I do not know if President Bush's plans are the best method, but he is at least trying to deal with the issue in a forthright manner.
Refering to Illegal Aliens as Guest Workers is proof positive The President isn't dealing with the immigration issue in a forthright manner. Refering to Amnesty as Reform is classic double-speak. In fact, very few of our elected officials have shown the political will to address this issue head on. The article says there are 20.64 million "expatriates" in the US. The legal immigrants are allowed to retain dual-citizenship. Even the Illeagal portion retains voting credentials. This crisis is more then just Border Security.
#9
Build the Friendship Wall. It's like trying to reepair a dam while the flood pours through. Shut off the flow, repair the dam, then discuss what's in AMERICA'S interests, not Mexico.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2005 12:22 Comments ||
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#10
1. Stop the flow of illegals into the country by securing the borders.
2. Enforce the existing laws about hiring illegals. Hit the employers in their pocketbooks.
3. Deny free healthcare for illegals.
4. Make it easy to go back to their own hellhole homeland.
5. Start sorting out the illegals in the country and deport them.
6. Set up a guest worker program as required with the necessary controls.
0. Fire all the top management of INS and replace with can-do types that can take on a problem, work it, and solve it.
Steps 1 through 4 will stem the flow and take the financial incentives out of enabling illegals.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/16/2005 23:05 Comments ||
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MOSCOW, August 15 (RIA Novosti) - An exercise involving long-range flights and cruise missile firing will start Tuesday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said at a Cabinet meeting attended by President Vladimir Putin.
"A major Northern Fleet exercise will start Wednesday, involving intercontinental ballistic missile launches landing who knows where, along with preparations for aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov's voyage across the Atlantic which will take few months, longer, if it breaks down like the Charles de Gaulle and we have to tow it" Ivanov said.
The minister said that preparations for joint Russian-Chinese maneuvers would begin August 18. The exercises are in three stages. During the first stage (August 18-19), Russian and Chinese Chiefs of General Staffs will meet in Vladivostok to discuss security in the Far East. During the second stage (August 20-22) the defense ministers of the two countries will meet in China to finally approve a training program for the exercise. During the third stage (August 23-25), training exercises will be carried out in the Yellow Sea.
Up to 1,800 Russian and 8,000 Chinese military are expected to take part in the maneuvers.
Russia will deploy 11 aircraft (including the SU-24 and SU-27 fighters, IL-76 and IL-78 transport planes, and TU-95 and TU-22 long-range bombers), a group of ships from the Pacific Fleet, and a company of marines.
In late August, CIS firing practice will take place in Ashuluka, Astrakhan Region (near the Caspian Sea).
A group consisting of Russian special forces and airborne forces are scheduled to start preparations for joint Russian-Uzbek training on an Uzbek mountain range, Ivanov said.
Given Russian quality control, I'm a little worried I'll have something land in My yard.
#1
Why do I get the feeling that this exercise will be a complete and utter cluster fuck and while the leaders of Russia and China will call it a success, they will never have something like this again 'cus it was too embarassing for both sides?
#4
The Chinese are quite competent in their style of warfare. That isn't saying alot but their are quite a few of them. I suspect we will get lots of good intel if we are still looking.
#12
ICBMS = Commie Aircraft Carriers > protect their submarines: unlike trad USN hunter-killer, CV-based task forces of the 1960's-1980's where enemy subs were the hunted, Commie CV's, air, SSN and naval/LR bomber escorts now protect their subs from Western OTH and undersea attacks. JUST MORE INDICIA THAT IN ANY FUTURE US-COMMIE CONFRONTATION, THE COMMIES HAVE OPTION TO IMMED ESCALATE TO THE NUKE WAR THRESHOLD TO GET CONCESSIONS FROM THE USA-WEST, AND WITH OR WITHOUT POTUS HILLARY OR GORE-KERRY-DEAN!?
The crippling shortage of fuel at many petrol stations in South China's Guangdong Province should not be written off merely as a temporary regional problem.
The case has national implications. It has started alarm bells ringing because of the dire consequences a poorly regulated oil industry could bring about for this increasingly energy-thirsty country.
Many cars have lined up at the very few petrol pumps that are still working. Other drivers have searched their cities in vain.
Such scenes in major cities like Guangzhou and Shenzhen, widely covered by domestic media, have made Guangdong Province, a key powerhouse of the Chinese economy, a nightmare for domestic car makers. While vying for a lion's share of China's dream of becoming the largest country on four wheels, automobile manufacturers hardly expected empty oil tanks to become a reality so soon.
Unfavourable weather that delayed deliveries of the sea-borne oil supply could be cited as a reason for the current drought in the coastal province.
Sky-high oil prices globally are also a factor behind the tight supply in the domestic market.
In spite of the country's more than 9 per cent economic growth in the first seven months of this year, China imported 74.5 million tons of crude oil, up just 5.5 per cent, and 18.1 million tons of refined oil, down 20 per cent year on year.
But aside from these apparent factors, the inefficient oil pricing mechanism regulated by the National Development and Reform Commission is nevertheless the underlying cause.
Baseline prices at domestic petrol pumps are fixed by the commission with reference to international prices at a fixed time in the past. Such a price control mechanism is intended to maintain stability and adjust prices as economic conditions fluctuate.
But the true price of crude oil is determined by lightning-fast changes on the international market both due to the country's growing dependence on oil imports and lack of domestic oil reserves to make up shortfalls.
As a result of the discrepancy in the two pricing systems, the upstream oil companies have raised their prices along with record-breaking international oil prices, leaving downstream domestic refiners to absorb rising costs before retail petrol prices are increased by the authorities.
Sinopec and CNPC, the two State-owned oil giants that monopolize the upstream domestic oil industry, have boasted huge profits in the past year by tapping surging crude oil prices. In sharp contrast, domestic refiners recorded an industry-wide loss.
Though the former's profits surpassed the latter's losses, the National Development and Reform Commission should not have failed to respond as rising costs gradually eroded the profit margins of refiners.
A reduced supply at the petrol pump is the obvious result, as refiners will only suffer greater losses by producing more.
Emergency supplies from other provinces will get Guangdong out of its sticky situation.
But as long as the fundamental pricing mechanism remains distorted, similar problems will occur in other regions.
The pricing authorities should improve regulation by introducing a more advanced pricing system that is in line with market rules. They should not just take into consideration the big State oil companies' profits when making decisions.
#2
Shipman: Folks with lesser cash flow will feel heat of higher gas prices sooner than UGLY AMERICANS DRIVING SUVS. Ahsem. Sorry.
Most people in China ride bicycles. A significant minority drive motorcycles. And a tiny minority drive econocars the size of a Toyota Tercel. I can't begin to imagine what the oil markets are going to look like when the pedal power crew moves on to motorcycles, let alone cars.
#6
Iff American voters want oil producers to be based in the USA like the days of yore, they have to put up with the current price hikes at the pump, which will go down again as per the free market - in JAPAN, US$50.00 only gets you 1/4 - 1/4 + a tank of regular. China's prob is that its Commie SOcialsit govt. is essens hoarding cash reserves for other things.
BEIJING - China plans to launch its first unmanned lunar flight by 2007 in a three-phase mission that aims to bring back rock samples, state media said on Tuesday. In the second stage, a lunar vehicle would land on the moon by 2012 and by 2017 the rock samples could be collected, the report said quoting aerospace officials. âScientists hope to get to know the moonâs environment and analyse the composition of lunar rocks,â the China Daily quoted Luan Enjie, chief commander of Chinaâs lunar exploration programme, as saying.
China has developed an ambitious space programme since its first Long March rocket blasted off in 1970. It became the third country to successfully send a man into space in October 2003 and regularly sends up research satellites.
Chinaâs lunar orbiter weighed more than two tonnes and was expected to fly for a year, collecting information for a mapping of the moonâs surface and studying its mineral content, Luan said. He did not say when China might be sending an astronaut to the moon, but said the 2017 mission would provide data for a manned expedition.
It pays to steal American technology.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/16/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Hey...they bought it from the Clinton administration fair and square. The reason I voted against Al Gore in 2000 was the Clinonistas' dismal record regarding China and technology sales...
#2
The key word is "unmanned". Unmanned is easy - it's the manned part that is tough. Note that the manned version has a target date of 2017. That's almost 50 years after the Apollo missions.
#3
I'm wondering why Japan hasn't jumped into this race. Its unmanned program is a lot like NASA's and the ESA's. They are also ahead in several key technologies, like small nuclear reactors.
#4
Hoo-hum for the NASA, but the real prob for China is its rigid Socialist econ supp such lunar ambitions without effective de-regulation. America will be on Mars or beyond by the time China is capable of affording routine space flight to Terra Luna.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/16/2005 17:14 Comments ||
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#10
Is it unmanned both ways, or just when coming back?
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
08/16/2005 17:46 Comments ||
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#11
âScientists hope to get to know the moonâs environment and analyse the composition of lunar rocks
Okay, let me save you some money, it damn near a vaccuum, the oldest rocks are like some thingy in the Canadian Maritimes. Cold too! Unless it's real hot. The Darksides not really dark, it's more of a New Orleans atmosphere, dark, yet weird, if you catch my drift. Safe? Hardly.
Posted by: Bruce Sagan ||
08/16/2005 18:52 Comments ||
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#12
Ya saved 'em billions. Who sez RB isn't awesome? Say "thank you", you fucking commies.
Brits steal carloads of F**king Austrian roadsigns
An Austrian village called Fucking will not change its name despite sniggering Brits making off with its roadsigns. Mayor Siegfried Hauppl has asked visitors to lay off the signs which began to attract outside attention after British and US soldiers passing through in 1945 illuminated the locals as to the English meaning of Fucking, Ananova reports.
Hauppl explained: "We had a vote last year on whether to rename the town, but decided to keep it as it is. After all, Fucking has existed for 800 years, probably when a Mr F**k or the F**k family moved into the area. The 'ing' was added as a word for settlement."
Its all in the Spelling
We reckon that Fucking has been around a lot longer than 800 years, otherwise there wouldn't have been any F****s to lend their name to the village in the first place, would there?
Be that as it may, the disappointing news is that the residents of Fucking are - according to Franz Duernsteiner, an expert on preposterous Austrian village names - very "conservative" people. He said: "Most of them can speak English, and when someone asks them where they come from they are a little ashamed to say it." Remember, its all in theSpelling
That's fair enough, and certainly something the residents of Milton Keynes can sympathise with.
#2
He said: "Most of them can speak English, and when someone asks them where they come from they are a little ashamed to say it."
Heh, I just have to offer this little (8.24MB) mpeg video in honor of that statement. Note the opening credit, heh. One of the funniest commercials ever made, IMHO.
#4
The Spelling, eh. Is that what they mean by not giving a flying f*@%.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/16/2005 15:41 Comments ||
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#5
TGA: Exactly! Jeez, do people really not see the commercial possibilities of this? I'd have already printed up a bunch of t-shirts that say, "My grandma went to F*cking Austria and all I got was this F*cking t-shirt." Or "Austria: Best F*cking Vacation Ever". Come on, people!
It is near the city of Salzburg. The village is known to have existed as "Fucking" since at least 1070 and is named after a man from the 6th century called Focko. "Ing" is an old Germanic suffix meaning "people"; thus Fucking, in this case, means "place of Focko's people".
#12
Someone once told me, that the old (middle ages??) pronunciation of the word viking (or whatever the word they had for viking back then), is actually fucking.
So when the vikings attacked, the alarm would sound something like: "The fuckings are coming! The fuckings are coming!" (well, it seemed funny at the time I heard this)
Posted by: Rafael ||
08/16/2005 16:19 Comments ||
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#13
"Please : Not so fast" refers to - be careful of the children..."
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/16/2005 17:07 Comments ||
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#26
like the old joke: bishop doing the crossword, asks the priest what's a 4 letter word ending in "nt" for a woman". The priest says: "Aunt". Oh yes, says the bishop and quickly erases a couple letters
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2005 17:07 Comments ||
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Y'know, I get the feeling she's going to be around a long long time and become one of the greats. She seems to have the temperament and, IMHO, the talent (not talents, heh) for those roles that demand subtlety and finesse. She could make some great flix.
Of course, in the three pix you linked she seems very aware and proud of her slutty high-end trailer-trash appearance, lol! Mebbe she's shallow and foolish - I hope not - I really think she's got (had?) class.
Austrian chancellor Wolfgang Schussel has suggested that the EU constitution could be put to voters in France and the Netherlands once again in two years time. In an interview with German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Mr Schussel said there must be a reaction from the EU if French and Dutch voters said No to the constitution for a series of reasons. He suggested that slowing down enlargement may be a way to reassure these voters.
"People fear an over expansion of the EU through the accession of Turkey, Ukraine and further countries", said the chancellor, whose country takes over the EU presidency at the beginning of next year.
He added: "If a more cautious line is adopted here, then we could appear before the French or the Dutch public once again and say 'look here, we have understood and drawn the consequences'". "Then, perhaps in 2007, if in one or other country there has been political change, then a second attempt [at referendums] can be made".
"Ve must keep voting until ve get zee results ve vant"
The chancellor said that, in his opinion, it is not possible to continue without a second try. He indicated that simply adopting some parts of the 465-article document, such as the voting system, will not work as it would again lead to an intergovernmental conference and the outcome would also have to be ratified.
The chancellor's comments come just over two months after the French, followed three days later by the Dutch, strongly rejected the constitution in their referendums. The results left the EU reeling and unsure of how to proceed. One by one, countries that had said they would have a referendum, such as Denmark, Ireland and the UK, abandoned their plans.
Meeting at summit two weeks after the referendums EU leaders called for a "period of reflection" on the constitution and what to do next. However, the reality is that all 25 member states need to ratify the document before it can come into force. A general feeling is that there cannot be a re-run of the two referendums if the same political leadership is in place - something alluded to by Mr Schussel.
One of the major political changes would be if French president Jacques Chirac is voted out of office in the country's elections in 2007.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/16/2005 12:34 ||
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#1
How 'bout re-running the election in the countries that said "yes?"
#3
I certainly wish you could / would, TGA. It's an idea which won't go away, now that there's money on the table, so doing it right, and scrapping the bureaucratic nightmare that they've constructed thus far should be the priority, not trying to fix or force the phonebook.
#9
Until people can sing the Preamble of the EU Constitution, it will be worthless.
"In Seventeen-Eighty-Seven, I'm told, our Founding Fathers did agree...." -- Lyn Ahrens, "The Preamble". Knowledge is power, you know.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
08/16/2005 18:30 Comments ||
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#10
Maybe the question that Herr Schussel should be asking is why did the electorate in France and the Netherlands reject the constitution? Of course, that may interfere with the bureaucrats' agenda. Heaven forbid that they would have to torch the old and rewrite.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/16/2005 18:35 Comments ||
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#1
This CNN report shows a picture of the guy who claimed he got a text message from his cousin. He's bleeding from a nasty cut over the eye he got when he (ahem) fell at a prosecutor's office.
If, as this report says, twenty people were alive at the time of the crash, they can't have been without oxygen for much more than ten minutes. But the plane was unresponsive for hours.
#6
The device's internal components were ejected from the container when the plane crashed into a mountainous region north of Athens on Sunday, Akrivos Tsolakis, head of the Greek airline safety committee, told The Associated Press.
I'm calling bullshit.
"The only fortunate event in the investigation is that we have the flight data recorder," Tsolakis said, adding that the box would be flown to Paris on Wednesday for decoding.
A Web site announcing Hollywood actor Christopher Walken plans to seek the U.S. presidency is a hoax, his publicist says.
The site, walken2008.com claims to quote the actor as saying, It's time to get America back on track, and says he will run for the nation's top post in 2008.
But his rep told Entertainment Tonight Monday that the sit is 100 percent not true.
(It) sounds like someone got a little too excited over his role as secretary of the Treasury in 'The Wedding Crashers' and now they want to make him president, the rep said.
#6
The way your dad looked at it, this watch was your birthright. He'd be damned if any of the slopes were gonna get their greasy yellow hands on his boy's birthright. So he hid it in the one place he knew he could hide something: his ass. Five long years, he wore this watch up his ass. Then when he died of dysentery, he gave me the watch. I hid this uncomfortable piece of metal up my ass for two years. Then, after seven years, I was sent home to my family. And now, little man, I give the watch to you.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
08/16/2005 20:36 Comments ||
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#7
I am SO GLAD my loving image of all Walken's done in a fantastic career is not going to be undermined by this. He's a national treasure, like Robert Duvall and Morgan Freeman and Clint - keep the politics to yourself! I truly see his name on the cast and know his part, no matter teh rest of the show's quality, will be done right.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2005 21:17 Comments ||
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Edited for money quote:WASHINGTON â As an assistant White House counsel in 1984, John Roberts scoffed at the notion that men and women should earn equal pay in jobs of comparable importance, and he belittled three female Republican members of Congress who promoted that idea to the Reagan administration. The memo from Roberts, now President Bush's nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, was a response to a letter that the three women â one of whom was Olympia Snowe of Maine, now a RINO U.S. senator â had sent to the administration. The women had said that the concept of "equal pay for equal work" had not sufficiently boosted women's wages because women were not in many of the same fields as men. The three were promoting the notion of equal pay for different jobs of comparable value, based on factors such as skills and responsibility.
In his memo to White House counsel Fred Fielding, Roberts said the women's letter "contends that more is required because women still earn only $0.60 for every $1 earned by men, ignoring the factors that explain that apparent disparity, such as seniority, the fact that many women frequently leave the work force for extended periods of time. ... I honestly find it troubling that three Republican representatives are so quick to embrace such a radical redistributive concept. Their slogan may as well be, 'From each according to his ability, to each according to her gender.' "
I want this man on the court just so he can write opinions like that.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/16/2005 11:49 ||
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#1
My favorite one is when he asks: "Does this brief say what you want it to say, what I mean does it say nothing at all?" I hate to disagree with Ann Coulter but I think this guy is a keeper.
#2
What? Roberts scoffed at 'equal pay'? That heartless bastard!
But wait! If we actually read the article and not just the headline, he was sneering at the idea of 'jobs of comparable importance'. And how do we determine comparable importance? The categories are set by some Committe of the Proletariat for Job Categorization and the Promotion of Economic Justice and Equality (CPJCPEJE), of course. An idea definitely worthy of sneers
#3
I have no problem with equal pay for equal work in the proper situation (like the same job for the same employer)but to try and equate disimiliar jobs as being of " equal worth to society is just plain nuts.
#4
SteveS, you win the prize. That's exactly the way his opinion was explaned last night. Trying to equate bulldozer operator with a secretary just doesn't get it. His opinion is a woman bulldozer operator and a man bulldozer operator should get the same pay providing they have the same experience and seniority.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/16/2005 14:24 Comments ||
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#5
Starting, SteveS?
Then you're way behind the rest of us.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/16/2005 20:14 Comments ||
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#6
agreed - equal JOBS = equal pay...anything adjudicated by committee? Economic suicide and only the lawyers get rich
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2005 20:26 Comments ||
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#7
Oh come on, you know you can't base things like this on -logic- or -common sense-. Those things are just so unfair to people who get what they deserve instead of what we say they should have. Logic is just so male-centric that it should be banned.
The U.S. Supreme Court recently found that the city's original seizure of private property was constitutional under the principal of eminent domain, and now New London is claiming that the affected homeowners were living on city land for the duration of the lawsuit and owe back rent. It's a new definition of chutzpah: Confiscate land and charge back rent for the years the owners fought confiscation.
In some cases, their debt could amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Moreover, the homeowners are being offered buyouts based on the market rate as it was in 2000 .
Dery owns four buildings on the project site, including his home and the birthplace and lifelong home of his 87-year-old mother, Wilhelmina. Dery plans to make every remaining effort to keep his land, but with few legal options remaining, he's planning for the worst.
And for good reason. It's reasonable to think that people who purchased property years ago (in some cases, decades ago) would be in a position to cash in, especially since they're being forced from their homes. But that's not the case.
The New London Development Corp., the semi-public organization hired by the city to facilitate the deal, is offering residents the market rate as it was in 2000, as state law requires. That rate pales in comparison to what the units are now worth, owing largely to the relentless housing bubble that has yet to burst.
"I can't replace what I have in this market for three times [the 2000 assessment]," says Dery, 48, who works as a home delivery sales manager for the New London Day . He soothes himself with humor: "It's a lot like what I like to do in the stock market: buy high and sell low."
In June 2004, NLDC sent the seven affected residents a letter indicating that after the completion of the case, the city would expect to receive retroactive "use and occupancy" payments (also known as "rent") from the residents.
In the letter, lawyers argued that because the takeover took place in 2000, the residents had been living on city property for nearly five years, and would therefore owe rent for the duration of their stay at the close of the trial. Any money made from tenants -- some residents' only form of income -- would also have to be paid to the city.
NLDC's lawyers wrote, "We know your clients did not expect to live in city-owned property for free, or rent out that property and pocket the profits, if they ultimately lost the case." They warned that "this problem will only get worse with the passage of time," and that the city was prepared to sue for the money if need be.
A lawyer for the residents, Scott Bullock, responded to the letter on July 8, 2004, asserting that the NLDC had agreed to forgo rents as part of a pretrial agreement in which the residents in turn agreed to a hastened trial schedule. Bullock called the NLDC's effort at obtaining back rent "a new low."
An NLDC estimate assessed Dery for $6,100 per month since the takeover, a debt of more than $300K. One of his neighbors, case namesake Susette Kelo, who owns a single-family house with her husband, learned she would owe in the ballpark of 57 grand. "I'd leave here broke," says Kelo. "I wouldn't have a home or any money to get one. I could probably get a large-size refrigerator box and live under the bridge."
Is there any reason why the city council shouldn't be tarred and feathered? Or why the board of the NDLC shouldn't be shot while their families look on?
#3
Jackal beat me by 2 minutes. I think what is happening here is that the development company is now short of cash so the City is going to try to get it for them. Taking people's property (homes) offering them less than half waht it is worth, and then charging back rent so the city winds up not having to pay anything. Hanging's too good for them.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/16/2005 12:27 Comments ||
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#4
They make robbers look good in comparison. Is this Cuba or what?
#7
I'd be curious to hear what TGA thinks about this...
I have no doubts that if these people banded together, put up a website, gave interviews (though only Fox would offer), and pleaded for legal assistance - as well as "other" assistance, does anyone doubt they'd get it - both types. Their plight is simply offensive to me. I'd donate in a heartbeat to help them.
#8
This is a classic case of human rights violations. Where are the self proclaimed protectors of human rights? Where is the court that is supposed to protect those rights?
Crickets? Ya I thought so.
It's things like this that make me certain we need a new revolution to reclaim our constitution and enforce the Bill of Rights for real people not "real persons"
Governor Janet Napolitano has declared the state's border counties a disaster area, in an effort to help fight criminal activity associated with illegal immigration. The governor has earmarked one-point-five-million-dollars from the state's emergency fund to help local law enforcement combat human smuggling operations and illegal border crossers. Her declaration immediately frees up 200-thousand-dollars for Cochise, Pima, Santa Cruz and Yuma counties. It's not clear if the declaration will meet the criteria for funding from the Department of Homeland Security. The poll numbers must show that this is a great way of getting votes. Now I wonder if it will become a trend. The tipping point would be if a non-border State with a large concentration of illegals does the same. Will the republicans jump on board?
#2
JO:
Yup. She has also ordered (like Richardson) that state employees are not to report illegals to INS.
You'd figure in a state that produced Goldwater, there would be some Republicans who could run and beat her. (Yeah, I know about his nephew, but I don't think he'll get far.)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - An Army report has cleared the California National Guard of allegations that it spied on citizens, accusations that triggered an ongoing state Senate investigation. The California Guard's acting adjutant general, Brigadier Gen. John R. Alexander, said Monday that the Army's inspector general determined in the confidential report that a Guard intelligence unit did nothing wrong. "There was never the intent, desire or decision to ever collect intelligence information on any U.S. citizen," Alexander said in a written release. "Any statement to the contrary is flat wrong."
State Sen. Joseph Dunn launched an investigation after a series of e-mails and actions suggested the unit had resorted to the same type of civilian monitoring seen during Vietnam War-era protests. In the 1960s and 1970s, the military collected information on more than 100,000 Americans.
The Guard and the state attorney general say the unit merely tries to assess threats to bridges, buildings and other structures and does no spying.
So stop the program, let al-Qaeda blow up the Golden Gate Bridge, and then listen to the same mopes complain about the lack of security.
Dunn was skeptical of the report's conclusions, in part because he believes the terminology used in Alexander's announcement could be used to hide indirect surveillance activity and record-keeping by the Guard. "I'm concerned that the Guard has been playing a game with us on this issue," the lawmaker said Monday. As for the inspector general's conclusion, "This is a little bit like the fox saying there aren't any hens in the hen house - at least not anymore," Dunn said.
"Proof?" he was asked. "I don't need proof; I have suspicions!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/16/2005 00:37 ||
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Typical leftist with more engagement mouth than brain cell engagement. He would be just as at home in Massachusetts as he is in Garden Grove. Trying to get his 5 min of fame.
Howard Dean, the Democratic National Committee chairman who was the hero of his party's anti-war wing before his gaffe-prone 2004 presidential candidacy crashed and burned in Iowa, still doesn't think the Iraqis are better off with dictator Saddam Hussein out of power and in prison.
Appearing on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday, the fiery former Vermont governor said, "It looks like today, and this could change, as of today it looks like women will be worse off in Iraq than they were when Saddam Hussein was president of Iraq."
Mr. Dean was the guy who said right after Saddam was found hiding in a "spider hole" that his capture by U.S. troops "has not made America safer," a statement ridiculed and condemned by most of his Democratic rivals at the time.
In a brief statement yesterday, the Republican National Committee said, "Dean's wild assertion that Iraqi women would be better off living under Saddam Hussein than democracy is not only counterproductive to meaningful debate, it demeans the hard work of American servicemen and women serving in Iraq."
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/16/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Remember, Madman, the Dems want America to obey a UNO and world community whose directives or mandates are NOT to be obeyed iff the US POTUS is a Democrat. Madman's got nuttin' for 2006 or 2008 like Hillary - the Demmies are just waiting for new 9-11's to take out Dubya and his Admin, so that they can blame alleged "FASCIST" authoritarianism isn't hardline enough to secure the nation. The real threat to America from 9-11 is from domestic, PC, "CREEPING/GRADUAL SOCIALISM" AND ULTIM COMMUNISM!?
#5
Howard Dean is a god-send for the conservative agenda. Nobody could alienate the moderate majority of this country better than this red faced, hysterical, blowhard. I love howard dean!~
#7
Doc Dean should go back to medicine if he really cares about people rather than his ego. His politics and ideas are worse than useless - they're actually dangerous and likely to get even more people killed in the long run.
#8
What gets me about the Dems is the way they want to fight a war based on polling data. War is just that War. For a Dem. to look at how the American Public may feel on one certain day or week and develop a war plan based on that data is no leadership at all. Can the Dems ever be taken seriously with regards to defense ever??
I'm trying in my mind to picture the Dem. Cabinet of the future, Pelosi, Durbin, Boxer, etc.
#9
In 1990 Saddam issued a decree exempting men who kill or assault their female relatives in defense of their family's honor from prosecution and punishment. I'm sure lots of Iraqi women long for those good old days.
The federal budget-deficit picture turned brighter Monday as congressional scorekeepers released new estimates showing the level of red ink for the current fiscal year would drop to $331 billion.
The new report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which does budget analysis for lawmakers in Washington, gave the latest proof that surging revenues and a steadily growing economy are combining to bring the deficit down from a record $412 billion posted last year. CBO predicts a $314 billion deficit for the budget year starting Oct. 1.
Last year's deficit was a record in dollar terms, though many previous deficits in the mid-1980s and early 1990s were larger when measured against the size of the economy. The White House and most economists say that the more relevant measure of the deficit is to weigh it against the size of the economy. Measured that way, the latest estimates for this year are slightly worse than recent historic averages.
Unlike White House estimates released last month, CBO assumes that Bush's tax cuts are allowed to lapse at the end of the decade. Most of the cuts in Bush's signature $1.35 trillion tax relief law enacted in 2001 expire by 2010, but many lawmakers and the White House assume that they will be renewed by then. Even if the tax cuts were allowed to expire, the budget would still stay in the red through the full 10 years covered by CBO's report.
If the tax cuts are renewed, the deficit picture would worsen by $204 billion in 2011 -- to perhaps $327 billion or so. By 2015, the cost of extending the 2001 and subsequent tax cuts would reach $432 billion.
By CBO's scorekeeping rules, the agency must also assume that the costs of occupying Iraq and Afghanistan will stay at current levels, which probably inflates long-term projections. Congress in May passed an $82 billion measure to provide more war funding, and CBO must assume spending would continue at that rate.
The projection for the deficit at the end of the current budget year on Sept. 30 remains far worse than when Bush took office. At that time, both White House and congressional forecasters projected cumulative surpluses of $5.6 trillion over the subsequent decade.
Instead, deficits returned three years ago after four years of budget surpluses. The chief reason was that forecasters assumed that a surge in revenue in the late 1990s - fueled in large measure by the stock market boom - would continue. Instead, the economy hit a recession, the market tumbled and a surge in homeland security spending after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks combined to produce a return to deficits.
In early 2004, Bush said his goal was to cut the deficit in half in five years. Then, the White House forecast the deficit to be $521 billion for the 2004 budget year, and the president said his goal was to see that halved, to about $260 billion by 2009.
"Muslims seethe - Allah sez he's not happy with them"
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2005 13:02 ||
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I hope that this time people will take a moment to identify the political/religious composition of those affected before rushing to their checkbooks.
Via a DC local radio/TV blog that I like a lot:
A new Goldman Sachs report says that the Wall Street Journal's parent, Dow Jones, might be pressured into a sale--and lists the Washington Post Company as a possible buyer. Obviously it's all speculation now, but wouldn't that make for an interesting partnership? After all, what's the Style section but a daily collection of A-heds? Of course with the WaPoCo's stock battered by recent earnings issues, it may not jump at the opportunity to take on another paper.
'Twould be interesting to see the clash of the opinion sections.
MARAUDING elephants have destroyed homes and sent residents fleeing in the Zimbabwean resort town of Kariba, a state daily has reported.
First! First! Elephants, why do they hate us?
"A herd of stray elephants wreaked havoc in Kariba where it destroyed homes and forced a number of Nyamhunga township residents and others on the outskirts of Charara National Park to flee," the Herald newspaper said. The newspaper quoted a resident who said six "violent" elephants had been spotted on the rampage in the area bordering Zambia, trampling vegetable gardens in the township.
Parks and wildlife authorities told the newspaper a team of scouts was in the area to try to control the elephants. "The team is also expected to come up with a report on the changing behaviour of the elephants as to why they appeared to be in moving closer to human settlements," said retired army major Edward Mbewe.
Better take-out food?
One possible explanation is the drought which has hit Zimbabwe and other parts of southern Africa, drying up rivers and depleting forests.
Zimbabwe is grappling with elephant overpopulation. There are 100,000 elephants in national parks that are said to have a capacity of 45,000.
In May, the wildlife authorities offered to sell some of the elephants from the national parks to private game park owners and farmers.
Posted by: Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World ||
08/16/2005 04:26 ||
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#1
Too bad they can't be trained to trample Mugabe's palace, with him in it.
#4
Charles, that would be a .375. More lately, since late '70's poachers were using AK-47's, until the Botswana Defence Force slotted one or two, and then it was a question of "Was it murder"? I think the verdict was "Guilty, Go get some more, (poachers)".
Kariba and elephants go together, but in the old days they were much nicer. Check out "Operation Noah", Rhodesia, and the building of Kariba.
Liberians paraded in the streets of their capital Monday holding giant pictures of a soccer star, a former rebel and other candidates at the official start of campaigning for their nation's first postwar presidential election. Twenty-two candidates were cleared to stand in the Oct. 11 vote citizens hope will lead the war-battered west African nation of 3 million people to long-term peace and development.
I am so impressed. Only a year or two ago, Liberia was Somalia, only with more humidity.
One of the candidates was African soccer legend George Weah. Another was Sekou Conneh, leader of the rebel group whose deadly mid-2003 siege of Monrovia helped drive former President Charles Taylor into exile.
And Taylor's not one of the 22 running. If they're really lucky, Prince Johnson isn't, either.
Here's hoping Samuel Doe isn't there in spirit.
Electoral committee head Frances Johnson-Morris shook off concerns there were too many in the race. "There are so many people who had wanted to participate in our past electoral processes and maybe they did not get the chance," she told reporters. "This is a time that everyone has the opportunity." Also in the race is Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, who lost a 1997 vote to Taylor, a former warlord who launched Liberia into crisis with his 1989-1996 insurgency. Rebels took up arms against Taylor in 2000. The new president is expected to take office in January 2006.
The article doesn't say anything about Gyude Bryant or Moses Blah running, either.
Once an economic model for West Africa, over a decade of strife has left Liberia in ruins, its people among the world's most impoverished. Some 500,000 people who fled their homes during the war have remained in camps despite the August 2003 peace deal that ended the latest fighting. Some 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers are overseeing the peace process and helping provide security in the country as a postwar, temporary administration arranges the vote.
I guess there's always hope. I wish them all the luck in the world. Next time somebody tells you that violence never solves anything, tell 'em about Chuck.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2005 00:00 ||
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I'm rooting for Weah to lose--he's got no experience and they'd eat the poor guy alive. (I don't think I mean that literally...)
He seems to be a straight-up kind of guy, who really cares about the country. And it is nice to see somebody renounce Islam and live to tell the tale.
Posted by: James ||
08/16/2005 11:30 Comments ||
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#1
In North and especially central and South America, there is such a staggering number of major archeological sites that many are catalogued and "forgotten". Even buried great cities. The reason being that it may be fifty or a hundred years before there are enough experts and money to even dig them up. Even existing sites like Chaco Canyon, NM (100 years of excavation), and Tikal, Guatemala (50 years of excavation), are still taking large amounts of resources for new discoveries. And the pace of new discoveries that cannot be explored is still increasing. Satellite observation alone has discovered dozens of previously unknown edifices.
The great irony of such much time, effort and money is that it has only given the barest outline of the history of the Americas, and one that is not even stable--whose greatest axioms are still regularly challenged.
#2
The great irony of such much time, effort and money is that it has only given the barest outline of the history of the Americas, and one that is not even stable--whose greatest axioms are still regularly challenged.
Yep. There was very, very little attention paid to the complete overturning of the Clovis-first timeline this year. That's 30 years or more of scholarship and excavation that has to be re-evaluated.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/16/2005 7:27 Comments ||
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#3
"Yep. There was very, very little attention paid to the complete overturning of the Clovis-first timeline this year. That's 30 years or more of scholarship and excavation that has to be re-evaluated."
Hell hath no fury like an archeologist overturned.
#4
"Supreme Council of Antiquities" would be another way of describing the national government of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, UAE, Oman and alot of other wonderful places.
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.
Howard Dean, the Democratic National Committee chairman who was the hero of his party's anti-war wing before his gaffe-prone 2004 presidential candidacy crashed and burned in Iowa, still doesn't think the Iraqis are better off with dictator Saddam Hussein out of power and in prison. 
Liberians paraded in the streets of their capital Monday holding giant pictures of a soccer star, a former rebel and other candidates at the official start of campaigning for their nation's first postwar presidential election. Twenty-two candidates were cleared to stand in the Oct. 11 vote citizens hope will lead the war-battered west African nation of 3 million people to long-term peace and development.
