COLUMBIA, S.C. Tomi Rae Hynie, who claims to be James Brown's fourth wife, says she stood in front of his open casket and mourned one more time before DNA samples were taken from the late soul singer's body. Lawyers for Brown's trustees wanted DNA samples to help sort out several paternity claims made against the singer since he died Dec. 25 at age 73. His body is being held at an undisclosed location.
Hynie told the Associated Press that she viewed Brown on Thursday. The visit was the intimate farewell she didn't get during two funeral services in December. "We had a saying that his father, Papa Joe, used to say when he would win playing dice. He would say, 'Us win' to James," Hynie said Friday. "So, I was praying and I said, 'Us win, baby. We are going to put you in the ground and you're going to get some rest finally, at last.'" Hynie refused to say when or where Brown would be buried, but said it was something she "had been fighting for all along."
"I'm very happy we're coming to a resolution with the family on that," she said. "He was my life ... and I miss him very much."
A few of Brown's children and a funeral director also viewed Brown on Thursday before the court-ordered DNA samples were collected. Hynie wouldn't say whether a paternity test will be needed for her son, who wasn't included in Brown's will. Attorneys who handled the will told the AP the child may be entitled to some of the estate, but a paternity test would be needed.
Attorneys for the singer have said Brown and Hynie weren't legally married when he died because she was married to another man when they said their vows.
His children are in charge of his burial, Brown attorney and trustee Buddy Dallas said. "If I had a say in it, it would have already been done," Dallas said.
A telephone message for David Yount, an attorney for Brown's children, wasn't immediately returned Friday. Charles Reid, manager of the C.A. Reid Funeral Home in Augusta, Ga., said he was ready to bury his friend. "It needs to be done and that way it will put everything to rest hopefully," said Reid, who handled Brown's funeral.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/06/2007 00:00 ||
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Prince Charles wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, underwent a hysterectomy at a London hospital Monday, officials said. Camilla, 59, arrived for the procedure at the King Edward VII hospital on Sunday, having recently returned to Britain following a 10-day tour of the Mideast with husband Charles.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
The future king's preferred mount will be checked by a vet later today, endure a quick trip to the blacksmiths and be back to public life after a a fortnight's paddock-rest.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
03/06/2007 3:37 Comments ||
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Given the amount of BS he spreads I would say that Charles needs a tonguectomy far more than Camilla needed a hysterctomy.
Friends of Britney Spears have revealed the singer scrawled the devil's digits, 666, over her bald head and screamed "I'm the Antichrist" in rehab last weekend. That girl takes herself entirely too seriously...
One pal told the News Of The World, "The clinic people just didn't know what to do. They knew they weren't supposed to laugh. They're paid not to laugh. But they really couldn't keep a straight face...
"Then she started screaming, 'I'm a fake! I'm a fake!'" We knew that.
The friend added, "Later that night she tried to kill herself. She attached a sheet to a light and tied it around her neck. "Jump! Jump!" yelled the staff...
"Paramedics were called but luckily she was unhurt." "Can you guys show her how to tie a decent knot?"
Fortunately, friends say Britney's apparent suicide attempt was another fake a cry for help rather than a serious bid to end it all. We guessed that, too...
And now they say the 'Toxic' tunestress has had a complete turnaround - she wants to get back with her ex K-Fed, who's lately been described as her "rock", and have another nipper. A source said, "She has been talking to Kevin every night for hours on the phone (from rehab) telling him she still loves him. "Oh, baby, I lubbbb you!"
"She just wants to be with him again and thinks having another baby will seal their marriage." Yeah, sure. That always works.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Ahhhhh, so its about LOVE as far she's concerned -"ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IS ALL YA NEED".
#3
One pal told the News Of The World, "The clinic people just didn't know what to do."
I doubt that - Thorazine? Electroconvulsive Therapy? Lobotomy?
Posted by: Howard UK ||
03/06/2007 3:45 Comments ||
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#4
. . . he singer scrawled the devil's digits, 666, over her bald head and screamed "I'm the Antichrist" . . . Then she started screaming, "I'm a fake! I'm a fake!"
In other news today, the John Edwards presidential campaign announced that it has hired Britney Spears as its new blogger for religious outreach. A campaign spokesman said, "Britney's free and easy sexuality, her emphatic rejection of so-called 'traditional values,' and her authenticity, make her an ideal representative of the modern Democratic party and a unique threat to the Jew-loving neonazi Christofascist wingnuts who are America's greatest enemies. Besides, she looked hot in that school uniform back when she still had hair."
Posted by: Mike ||
03/06/2007 6:12 Comments ||
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I agree with the last two comments. This provides the sympathy so people will root for her success instead of wishing ill upon her as basically everyone was prior to her latest problems.
It also removes any chance she'll get custody of the kid which makes the comeback tour easier and provides a lot more sympathy.
Serbian vampire hunters rammed a wooden stake through the heart of former dictator Slobodan Milosevic to stop him 'returning from the dead'.
Miroslav Milosevic, no relation to the former president, gave himself up to police who have launched an investigation. He claimed he and his fellow vampire hunters acted to stop the former dictator returning from the dead to haunt the country.
Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia, which led the country to civil war and oversaw the break up of the former Yugoslavia, condemned the desecration of the grave in the eastern town of Pozarevac.
The vampire hunters told police the three-foot-long wooden steak had been driven into the ground and through the late president's heart.
Slobodan Milosevic's daughter-in-law Milica Gajic said she planned to sue the vampire hunters and accused the police of failing to protect the grave properly.
Two strong earthquakes hit Indonesia's Sumatra island on Tuesday, killing at least 70 people and sending emergency operations into full swing to deal with dozens of injured. The tremors were felt as far away as Malaysia and Singapore, where several buildings were evacuated.
The first quake of magnitude 6.3 was felt in the West Sumatra provincial capital of Padang at around 11 a.m., sparking panic among seaside residents who feared it might trigger a tsunami. A second 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck the same area two hours later, causing more panic. However, there was no immediate tsunami warning after the quakes, which were on land.
Indonesia's cabinet secretary Sudi Silalahi said 70 people had been killed. The United States Geological Survey said the first quake's epicentre was around 420 km (260 miles) from Singapore. The Indonesian national quake centre measured the quake at 5.8 on the Richter scale.
Some buildings collapsed and several homes and other buildings were badly damaged by the tremors that sent several people scrambling for safety, including 200-300 patients who ran out of a hospital in Padang, a Reuters witness said.
Citing reports from regencies the mayor of Padang, Fauzi Bahar, said 14 people had died in Solok town, 40 km (25 miles) northeast of Padang, 16 in Batusangkar and one in Payakumbuh. "Many have calmed down and are returning home, but we can still see some traffic jams around the city," Bahar told Reuters. "The numbers may increase, not every area provided the report."
The mayor of Solok said hospitals were overwhelmed with dozens of injured. "Our priority is to handle the injured ones, including their families. We have set up six tents at a soccer field as emergency posts," Syamsu Rahim, the mayor of Solok, told Reuters.
#3
I don't find this surprising at all. I expect it will take the Earth ten to fifteen years to adjust to the major earthquake on the trench-line in 2005. We'll see lots of earthquakes and volcanic activity, some of it lasting decades. This isn't unusual. I'm surprised the Indonesian government doesn't tell its people that this is normally what happens after major, deep earthquakes where one plate is plunging under another. Of course, that assumes that there are actually trained, educated geologists in Indonesia...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/06/2007 15:55 Comments ||
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WASHINGTON - Pollution from Asia is helping generate stronger storms over the North Pacific, according to new research. Changes in the North Pacific storm track could have an impact on weather across the Northern Hemisphere. Satellite measurements have shown an increase in tiny particles generated from coal burning in China and India in recent decades, researchers report in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The team, led by Renyi Zhang of Texas A&M University, studied pollution and clouds between 1984 and 2005, concluding that increasing particles enhanced the cloud updraft to generate more intense thunderstorms than previously. Comparing 1984-1994 with 1994-2005 they found an increase of 20 percent to 50 percent in deep convective clouds.
The Pacific storm track, they noted, plays a critical role in global atmospheric circulation, and altering this weather pattern could have a significant impact on the climate. "The intensified storms over the Pacific in winter are climatically significant," the researchers wrote. "The intensified Pacific storm track can also impact the global general circulation."
A particular threat, they added, is the potential for increased warming of polar regions.
The research was supported by National Science Foundation, Department of Energy and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
In another report in the same issue of PNAS, researchers said that in addition to protecting the ozone layer, the reduction on ozone-depleting chemicals has slowed the rate of global warming. The Montreal Protocol, signed in 1987, led to a reduction in chemicals released into the atmosphere in an effort to preserve the ozone layer that screens out many of the sun's damaging rays. Kool!
Those same chemicals are also potent contributors to greenhouse warming, and their reduction has resulted in a slowdown in global warming, according to a team led by Guus J. M. Velders of the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. The savings in trapped heat are equivalent to about 10 years of growth in carbon dioxide concentrations, they estimated. Very kool!
Joining Velders in that study were researchers from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and DuPont Fluoroproducts.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/06/2007 05:53 ||
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#1
Could have been headlined: "Democrats desperately scramble for an election issue."
#2
Yep, it's hard to get "Behind an issue" that's proven to be bullshit, by a very prestigious agency. NOT subject to Ridicule, Not Moonbattery.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/06/2007 10:54 Comments ||
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In another report in the same issue of PNAS, researchers said that in addition to protecting the ozone layer, the reduction on ozone-depleting chemicals has slowed the rate of global warming.
To add to the "consensus" I was reading recently [don't have time to find it right now] that some researchers question whether CFCs have any impact on the ozone layer.
More and more it reminds me of a sophisticated version of the MSM stories that quote one another as sources, only to find that the original was only a single source of dubious or worse credibility.
(SomaliNet) A Zanu-PF ruling party spokesman for Harare province William Nhara, was arrested has been arrested at Harare airport for allegedly trying to smuggle diamonds out of the country. He is alleged to have tried to bribe the police officer who arrested him.
Zimbabwe's economy has collapsed in recent years and the country is said to be losing millions via the illegal smuggling of its mineral wealth. Last weekend a magistrate was arrested for allegedly prospecting for gold without a permit. The government has launched a crackdown on illegal mining, arresting more than 30,000 people since November, according to Zimbabwe's Herald newspaper.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/06/2007 00:00 ||
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Zimbabwe's economy has collapsed in recent years
#2
News reports on British TV show the situation looking bleak and on an apparent knife-edge in Zimbobwe... I've seen these reports before, however, and remain cynical...
Posted by: Howard UK ||
03/06/2007 6:13 Comments ||
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#3
Worse is better. I really think they need to go all the way into an Atlas Shrugged scenario: complete collapse of everything. Maybe then they'll realize the problem is the ruling party and system. Otherwise, they might just get rid of Maximum Bob, but keep their communist and racist government.
RIYADH: A Saudi woman who was kidnapped at knifepoint, gang-raped and then beaten by her brother has been sentenced to 90 lashes for meeting a man who was not a relative, a newspaper reported yesterday.
In an interview with the Saudi Gazette, the 19-year-old said she was blackmailed a year ago into meeting a man who threatened to tell her family they were having a relationship outside wedlock, which is illegal in the kingdom. After driving off together from a shopping mall near her home, the woman and the man were stopped and abducted by a gang of men wielding kitchen knives who took them to a farm where she was raped 14 times by her captors.
Five men were arrested for the rape and given jail terms ranging from 10 months to five years by a panel of judges in the eastern city of Qatif, near the womans hometown. But the judges also decided to sentence the woman, identified by the newspaper only as G, and the man to lashes for being alone together in the car.
Unrelated men and women are forbidden from interacting in public in Saudi Arabia, which strictly enforces Shariah law.
G said one of the judges told she was lucky not to have been given jail time. I was shocked at the verdict. I couldnt believe my ears, said the woman, who has appealed against her sentence. The woman also told the paper she tried to commit suicide because of her ordeal and was beaten by her younger brother because the rape had brought shame on their family.
Fuziyah al-Ouni, described as an activist by the paper, said she was outraged by the case. By sentencing her to 90 lashes they are sending a message that she is guilty. No rape victim is guilty, she said.
#7
Just makes one dream of converting....
...sand into glass.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/06/2007 15:43 Comments ||
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Given such crap as Sharia Law, I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone converts to islamonutterism. I cannot see any appeal. It is a repressive, backward, crazy religion cult of evil as practiced.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) yesterday directed banks to freeze the accounts of former law minister barrister Moudud Ahmed and his wife. It also instructed them to suspend the accounts of BNP leader Mazidul Islam and his wife and their two children. The central authority for tax administration, the NBR asked for bank statements of those by March 8 and said the records should cover all transactions since opening of the accounts.
The decision was taken in the light of an ongoing investigation into their alleged tax evasion, according to the NBR directive to the banks. However, sources said the move is part of the caretaker government's drive against politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen suspected of corruption. Earlier on March 1, the NBR asked all commercial banks to suspend immediately transactions of accounts of the 53 graft suspects. "Accounts of more corruption suspects will be suspended soon," said an NBR source.
Identifying Moudud and Mazidul by tax identification numbers (TIN), in two separate letters to the banks the NBR said that lately its Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) has been investigating alleged tax evasion by these two, their wives and children. Besides the BNP leaders, it mentioned names of Moudud's wife Hasna Moudud, Mazidul's wife Rawnak Jahan Islam, his children Jamiul Islam and Ashfia-E-Mazid. The CIC is convinced that if all confidential and yet-to-be-published information about the accounts held by them or their family members or under joint names is made available, these people might finish up owing the government huge sums in tax.
In this situation, the NBR requests the banks to suspend all types of withdrawal and transfers from the accounts. It asks them to take the matter as a priority revenue collection activity. Besides, the letters direct the banks to furnish the CIC director general with statements of all accounts--current, savings, term deposit, credit, foreign currency, and credit card--of the aforementioned taxpayers. The statements should include information about any closed account that the six would previously hold. When The Daily Star contacted the former law minister for his reaction on the matter yesterday evening, he said, "Let me receive the notice (the NBR letter) first and then I can say what I think of it."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/06/2007 00:00 ||
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A Dhaka court yesterday rejected bail petitions of detained former communications minister barrister Nazmul Huda and nine other BNP leaders arrested for their alleged involvement in activities against the state. Judge Mohammad Momin Ullah of Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court passed the order following ten separate criminal appeals filed by the defence lawyers against the rejection orders of the lower court and also seeking bails for Huda and others.
The nine others are Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, parliamentary affairs adviser to the immediate past prime minister, three former state ministers Amanullah Aman, Mir Nasir and Iqbal Hasan Mahmud, four former BNP lawmakers M Naser Rahman, Manjurul Ahsan Munshi, Mosaddek Ali Falu and Ali Asgar Lobi, and Firoz Mia, a BNP-backed trade union leader at BTTB.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/06/2007 00:00 ||
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Hey, we're trying to kill Hugo again...
CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez on Sunday said he believes enemies including the CIA are out to kill him, and called U.S. diplomat John Negroponte a "professional killer." Negroponte...John Negroponte.
Chavez said Venezuelan officials have intelligence that associates of jailed Cuban anti-communist militant Luis Posada Carriles also are involved in plotting to assassinate him. Maybe he'll do a mind meld from prison and make Hugo's head explode...
He said the death plot idea has "gained weight" due to various factors, including the recent appointment of Negroponte, the former director of national intelligence, as deputy to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "Who did they swear in ... there at the White House as deputy secretary of state? A professional killer: John Negroponte," Chavez said. He did not elaborate, but his government has previously accused Negroponte of playing a key role in the Contra war against the leftist Sandinista government of Nicaragua when he served as ambassador to Honduras a haven for clandestine Contra bases from 1981 to 1985. Thanks for recognizing the skills, Hugo. Negroponte's flattered.
U.S. Embassy officials could not immediately be reached for comment, but they have denied Chavez's repeated accusations that they are plotting to oust him. Ummmmmm...nope. Not today. Check back tomorrow.
Chavez was asked about reports of assassination plots during a televised interview."They have assigned special units of the CIA, true assassins, who go around not only here in Venezuela, in Central America, in South America," Chavez said, without elaborating. And that's why I always look under my bed at night.
He added that while Posada Carriles, a former CIA operative, remains jailed in the U.S. on immigration charges, "Posada Carriles' people are very active in Central America and searching for contacts in Venezuela ... They are going around searching for explosives in large quantities, thinking about a sort of car bombing or searching for ground-to-air missiles, thinking about the presidential plane." But the CIA bought them all up.
#1
Jesus, somebody just kill the guy already so we don't have to hear this shit anymore.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
03/06/2007 14:09 Comments ||
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He doesn't understand that we already have an assiassin in his staff. We're just waiting for the right time for his cook to poison him and his entire family. I hope polonium-110 doesn't have a particular taste...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/06/2007 16:05 Comments ||
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#3
I've heard that the thing that drives Hugo nuts is being ignored. So the US is studiously ignoring him
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
03/06/2007 17:24 Comments ||
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Two people were killed and four injured in a shootout between political rivals in Dagestan ahead of Sunday's regional parliamentary elections.
Shooting began after a fight broke out last Friday between a candidate for the pro-Kremlin United Russia party and a second candidate for the Union of Right Forces party, or SPS, and their supporters, Kommersant reported Monday. Magomed Aliyev, the United Russia representative and head of the Dakhadayevsky district, clashed with Nukh Nukhov, an SPS candidate and head of continuing education in the district. Both of them are candidates in the Dakhadayevsky district in the March 11 regional parliamentary elections, the newspaper reported.
The skirmish took place on a road between Urkarakh and Kubachi in the republic's Kurbiliu district. Two people were arrested, including a police officer from the district. The injured were hospitalized with gunshot wounds, the newspaper reported. The two rivals had been involved in a bitter dispute since 1997, Kommersant reported. The newspaper also reported that the two men were cousins and that most of those involved in the shooting were relatives. But a spokeswoman for SPS said Nukhov and another candidate, Nasrulla Abdulkadyrov, were attacked in their car and that no fight had occurred. Abdulkadyrov was killed in the attack, she said.
China has hit out at Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian after he made a strongly pro-independence speech on Sunday. Mr Chen said Taiwan should pursue independence, write a new constitution and change its official name from "Republic of China" to Taiwan.
China's Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said anyone wanting to split Taiwan from the mainland was a "criminal".
Mr Chen, in a speech to a pro-independence group on Sunday, said: "Taiwan should be independent". "Taiwan is a country whose sovereignty lies outside the People's Republic of China," he added, referring to China by its formal name. He spoke of a "four wants" policy - namely independence, a new constitution, further development and a change to the country's officially designated name.
Since taking office, President Chen has sought to emphasise the island's separate identity, the BBC's Caroline Gluck in Taipei says. But his latest comments are his strongest since taking office and raise new worries of increased tensions with China as well as Taiwan's main ally, the US, our correspondent adds. Those fears contributed to falls on Taiwan's stock market on Monday and a weakening of the Taiwan dollar against the US dollar.
Opposition leaders accused him of being irresponsible and putting Taiwan at risk of a possible war with China.
In response to Mr Chen's comments, China's Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing told Taiwanese reporters in Beijing: "Don't listen to local leaders". "Whoever wants to split away will become a criminal in history".
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
As argued long ago, iff Beijing = China disavows any claims of sovereignty over Taiwan, America can let Taiwan go and will want to foster trade -commercial relations wid both, which in turn means that where China is concerned, America will PROTECT MAINLAND CHINA from TAIWAN's extremist elements.
#2
If Chen was serious about this, he could start the ball rolling away from China in a multitude of different ways.
First and foremost, he could start all sorts of cultural initiatives to culturally move Taiwan away from "the Chinese Way" of doing things. A difficult concept to explain, the Chinese Way is culturally distinct from "the western Way".
It has long been seen on the mainland as critical to expand China's 'cultural hegemony' outside its borders. As long as its neighbors were doing things the Chinese Way, much anything else they did was tolerable. Otherwise they were dangerous barbarians.
More than anything else, changing how Taiwan does business, how the Taiwanese and Chinese on Taiwan live their lives, their social units, familial relationships, etc. A hundred thousand different things comprise the Chinese Way.
And only when Taiwan stops doing things the Chinese Way will it every free itself from China.
#4
Personally I think the Chinese should declare Tiawan (and Tibet) a Unique area the way they did Hong Kong and let them do whatever they want but continue their own fiction of one china without the threats.
Investment would increase and the two nations would become further tied together. I thought the Chinese were the ones saying they look at the long range view all the time.
AUSTRALIA will buy 24 Boeing Super Hornets for $6 billion, Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said today.
Dr Nelson said the acquisition would ensure a safe transition to the F35 Lightning Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) over the next decade. He said the Government was able to do this because of its solid economic management and budget surplus.
"The JSF is the most suitable aircraft for Australia's future combat and strike needs," Dr Nelson said. "Australia remains fully committed to the JSF. But the Government is not prepared to accept any risk to air combat and strike capability during the transition to the JSF."
Under current defence plans, ageing F-111 strike bombers will be retired soon after 2010. The Hornet will fill the fighter and bomber role until the arrival of the Lockheed F-35 Lightning Joint Strike Fighter in the 2014-15 time frame.
#2
JIT for Aussies , as RIAN.RU > RUSSIA to develop NEW MILITARY DOCTRINE to challenge NATO, i.e. preparing for situations invol a uni-polar world whose wierd and mysterious lone [fascist?]superpower insists on acting mil unilaterally. ALSO, RIAN/SPACEWAR > RUSSIA > new TU-160 bombers [all new TWO of them] can penetrate any defense and destroy any Euro city andor Mil-NATO target. IOW, RUSSIA SHOWS EUROPE THE LOVE BY THREATENING TO BOMB EUROS INTO BORSCH-WEENIES.
#3
OTOH, YAHOO/AP > NASA claims does NOT have enuff $$$ to hunt down and track ALL Earth-threatening/killing asteroids-comets, ergo won't get done. ALL TOGETHER NOW, WID FEELING, WE'RE doomed Doomed DOOMED D-O-O-M-E-D DDDOOOMMMEEEDDD, THEY TELLS YA, DDDDDDDDDDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMEEEEEEDDDDDDDD. ONLY THE GUBMINT BY SAVE US BY FAILING TO PROTECT US.
#5
Excuse me! SIX BILLION Dollars for 24 Super Hornets! I do believe there is a typo in this article. That would put the price per plane at $250,000,000. That is one expensive airplane Lucy!
#7
US development costs are over $40 billion. UK contributed ~$2 billion to development, but Australia is a tier 3 contributor (about $150 million or so IIRC) to development costs.
So their cost per plane is higher.
It will be interesting to see what configuration they chose. There's been political controversy in Oz over this purchase, btw.
#10
doesn't matter because Indonesia has more planes than us, more people than us and more guns than us.
Without US protection it's not going to be long before they invade.
And how long can the US protect us if our beloved allies have to fight on so many fronts: Iraq, Afghanistan, soon-to-be Iran, not forgetting Russia and China waiting in the wings to test themselves militarily....
I tell you fellow rantburgers, I am in fear of the future.
The European Union is looking into entering the virtual world and opening up an office in Second Life - an increasingly popular internet-based virtual world - which the Swedish government and the French presidential candidates have already entered. !
"It is certainly an idea we are looking into," commission spokesman Mikolaj Dowgielewicz told EUobserver. "But we do not have enough people dealing with the internet - we could but they are bogged down with other work such as for the EU's 50th birthday," he said, adding that the EU executive might look further into it at a later stage.
Second Life is a virtual world in 3D-format built and owned by its virtual residents - called 'avatars' - where they can explore, meet other avatars, socialise, participate in individual and group activities, and buy virtual items and services from one another. It was launched by the Linden Lab company in 2003 and resident number 4 million moved in last week. Several real-world companies have already created virtual shops in Second Life while Reuters has a correspondent there.
Europeans make up the largest block of Second Life residents with more than 54 percent of active users in January ahead of North America's 34.5 percent, according to Linden Lab data. Mr Dowgielewicz, spokeman for EU communication commissioner Margot Wallstrom, explained that an EU office in the virtual world would be part of the commission's effort to get closer to the EU citizens and communicate better with them, adding that the EU institutions are still quite weak on communication in some areas. "We're looking at communicating through untraditional channels such as the internet and it is a very serious consideration in the reflection of our future internet strategy," he pointed out. "Second Life is just one of them but an interesting one," he said. "We're open to new ideas."
No details have been suggested on how the commission could involve itself in Second Life but Mr Dowgielewicz said it was more likely to be a project of the commission's communication department rather than of the entire EU executive. The European commission is responsible for the 27-member union's EU embassies around the world. Sebastian Kurpas from European think tank CEPS told EUobserver that it is necessary for any governmental body to look into alternative ways of transmitting its message. He explained that the commission has lately changed its communication strategy from communication through mainly mainstream channels such as print media and television to a more diversified approach including the internet.
Mr Kurpas said the commission could "reach a different public that may not normally be interested" in its work. "But the important thing is how you do it," he pointed out. "whether it's tailor-made or just general information."
In the meantime, Sweden has announced that it is - as the first country in the world - going to open an embassy named House of Sweden in Second Life. It will be run by the Swedish Institute, a promotional body which works alongside the foreign ministry. "In order for Sweden to reach out in the world we need to work with alternative as well as traditional ways of communication," said Olle Wästberg, head of the Swedish institute. The embassy's ambition is to attract and provide a conscious and selective young target group with information about Sweden, the institute said in a statement recently. "Well, it's usually the foreign minister's responsibility to open or close embassies, but in this case I give Olle the green light," Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt wrote in his blog, adding that he hoped he would get an invitation to the grand opening.
French presidential hopefuls - the socialist Segolene Royal, centre-right Nicolas Sarkozy and far-right Jean-Marie Le Pen - have all opened election headquarters in Second Life sharing out free pizza slices and t-shirts while promoting their campaign. However, the presence of Le Pen's anti-immigration, ultra-nationalist National Front has proved particularly divisive among virtual users, some of whom protested outside the party's first headquarters until it moved.
#2
Maybe Europeans are flocking to Second Life because it's the only way to get away from the smothering, all-pervasive state. Instead of "reaching out" to citizens, perhaps the EU could try leaving them the hell alone.
#3
Next on the EU agenda will the European Commission on Virtual Reality Life to ensure that all avatars are equal, although, of course, some may be more equal than others.
#6
Does this mean virtual extinction as well as actual extinction?
Posted by: no mo uro ||
03/06/2007 17:41 Comments ||
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#7
50th Birthday of the EU?
I was under the impression that they had not ratified their Constitution yet and thus could not "officially" have such a birthday as the organization does not "officially" exist as such yet.
#8
1957 was when the Treaty of Rome was signed, which created the European Communities. Officially, that's the 50th anniversary the EU is celebrating.
May 9 is a rather arbitrary date, though, seeing as the European Coal and Steel Community and Euratom were already in existence. May 9 was also chosen to mark the Schumann declaration, which set out the vision of a politically and economically united Europe, made on May 9, 1950.
The other important May 9 anniversary is Victory Day -- May 9, 1945, marking the Soviet victory over Germany. Infer from that what you will.
French Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres will sign a controversial agreement on Tuesday to build an annexe of Paris's famed Louvre art gallery in Abu Dhabi, his ministry said Saturday.
In which the Greater Arabian Co-Prosperity Sphere gets an art museum...and a hostage to be named later.
A spokesman refused to give any more details of the project, which according to France's Le Monde newspaper will earn the French state up to 700 million euros (900 million dollars). The new museum satellite, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel and planned for 2012, is one of five to be built as part of a "culture district" on Saadiyat Island, the future site of a multi-billion-dollar tourist resort just off the coast of Abu Dhabi. Under the terms of the contract, Abu Dhabi would reportedly pay France 150 million euros to provide it with four exhibitions per year, for 10 years, drawn from major French museums including the Louvre. During that time, Abu Dhabi plans to spend an annual 40 million euros on establishing its own collection, the report said.
For 200 million euros, a certain number of artworks would also be provided on extended loans, for a maximum of 10 years, and gradually replaced by Abu Dhabi's own collection. France's international museum agency would be in charge of managing the new museum, at a cost of 70 million euros. For the right to use the Louvre brand name for 20 years, the emirate would be expected to pay between 200 and 400 million euros, Le Monde said.
The project, modelled on an initiative pioneered by New York's Guggenheim museum, has sparked outrage in France where some 4,,650 people -- including dozens of museum directors, curators and art historians -- have signed a petition in protest. Critics accuse the Louvre of "selling its soul" by loaning out its prized collections overseas, and dismiss the Abu Dhabi project as a gimmick that will deprive the Louvre's 7.3 million annual visitors in Paris. But the head of the art gallery, Henri Loyrette, and his department heads say it will contribute to the spread of French culture and benefit museums in France financially.
TALLINN Center-right Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, who backs more tax cuts but is reluctant to brake the economy to speed euro adoption, said on Monday all options were open for a new coalition after a slim election win.
Ansip, who has overseen growth of more than 11 percent, has been in power since April 2005 with the left-leaning Center Party. But Ansip said the program of his Reform Party was closer to that of the nationalist Pro Patria-Res Publica bloc. At this stage, you do not find a party leader who rules out cooperation with another party and I do not either, he told Estonian television.
He said differences remained over economic policy with the Center Party, particularly on the question of raising salaries for public sector workers, which the Center backs. Coalitions are not born overnight or in a couple of days, Ansip added.
The Sunday election gave the Reform Party 31 seats in the 101-seat parliament, a big jump from 19. Ansip benefited from strong growth figures and rising wealth to record the highest personal score for a candidate in any election at 22,000 votes.
The election, the first in the world to be held partially via the Internet, gave the Center Party 29 seats while Pro Patria-Res Publica took 19, a better performance than expected. Ansip and the Center Party had ruled with a third, smaller coalition partner, the Peoples Union, which won six seats. Reform and Pro Patria would need a third party for a majority, which is unlikely to be the Center.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/06/2007 00:00 ||
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COPENHAGEN Demolition work began on Monday at a youth center at the heart of a dispute that sparked violent street clashes between protesters and police in the Danish capital. Police fought the street battles with hundreds of youths last week after squatters were evicted from the building in the blue-collar, multi-ethnic neighborhood of Norrebro. We hope they will show their frustration only vocally, but we are out there on the streets, taking no chances, said Per Larsen, a Copenhagen police spokesman, in an interview on Danish television TV2 News.
I keep coming back to the question: Why Denmark? Why now?
And the only conclusion I can draw is that Denmark is being targeted because it has something resembling a spine and is standing in the way of the Tranzis and thir collectivist Utopia.
A crane began tearing down the structure, which has been sealed off since the disturbances. The identity of the demolition company had been painted over on the crane and workers wore masks to conceal their faces. Youths milled around and watched the work from outside the police cordon. Some were crying in the arms of their friends.
There, there, little Tranzi.
Demolition stopped before noon to investigate a possible asbestos problem, Danish media reported. Tensions in the Danish capital subsided over the weekend after more than 600 arrests that included dozens of foreigners. The conflict over the youth centre has simmered since 2000, when local government, which had lent the building to the youngsters since 1982, sold the site to a religious group. Police evicted the squatters last Thursday, implementing a court order issued last year. The religious group said on Monday they did not yet have plans for the area after the demolition.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Despite calls that permeated Europe's pop-culture dens and dope-houses, only a few hundred foreign vandals and hopheads showed up to reinforce the native rioters in their effort to retain control of this stolen property.
The entire Vietcong uprising has been snuffed out with a rapidity that has caught the pro-rioter European media by surprise. They are probably crestfallen that no rank and file rioters were killed, a sentiment with which I agree, oddly enough.
Well done, Danish police.
WASHINGTON - Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was convicted Tuesday of obstruction, perjury and lying to the FBI in an investigation into the leak of a CIA operative's identity. Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was accused of lying and obstructing the investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity to reporters.
He was acquitted of one count of lying to the FBI. Libby had little reaction to the verdict. He stood expressionless as the jury left the room.
The verdict was read on the 10th day of deliberations. Libby faces up to 30 years in prison, though under federal sentencing guidelines likely will receive far less. U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton ordered a pre-sentencing report be completed by May 15. Judges use such reports to help determine sentences.
Libby faced two counts of perjury, two counts of lying to the FBI and one count of obstruction of justice. Prosecutors said he discussed Plame's name with reporters and, fearing prosecution, made up a story to make those discussions seem innocuous.
Libby's defense team said he learned about Plame from Cheney, forgot about it, then learned it again a month later from NBC newsman Tim Russert. Anything he told reporters about Plame, Libby said, was just chatter and rumors, not official government information.
Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said that was a lie. But Libby's defense team had argued that it would be unfair to convict Libby in a case where so many witnesses changed their stories or had memory problems.
Libby's defense attorney, Theodore Wells, said he would ask the court for a new trial by April 13. Such requests are common following criminal convictions.
#1
And the trial for Mr. Armitage is, when? And for Sandy Berger ... oh wait, they already had his and gave him some community service hours to take care of ... :-(
It has been out of whack for a LONG time. Different sets of rules for the Dems vs the Repubs. Personally, I'd like to establish and apply my own set of rules to both sides. But I would pay particularly close attention to the Dems. Scumbags.
#4
Based on a few snippets I heard of an interview with one of the jurors (an "author and journalist", no less), it sounds like the jury itself was pretty predisposed to the "guilt" prior to deliberation. Apparently they were asking "Where's Rove?" "Where's Cheney?"
I'm not a lawyer, but that sounds kind of "appeal-ish".
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
03/06/2007 14:01 Comments ||
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#5
"And the trial for Mr. Armitage is, when?"
EM, Armitage didnt commit a crime in this saga. Ironic? Yes. Double standard? No.
#6
I love the left getting their panites in a wad saying the Bush "Should not Pardon Libby because of the pre-war intelligence manipulation." Umm the trial was not about that unless I missed something. Yep appeal and then aquit.
#9
The Prosecuter should be disbarred and tried and forced to pay back the money spent by all regarding this trial. He's allowed this monkey-trial to go on despite the fact that he's known (a) no crime was actually committed as she wasn't an undercover agent (b) Armitage leaked.
#10
EM, Armitage didnt commit a crime in this saga.
Yeah -- It was a comment on the irony that you picked up on.
The whole thing that is really weird for me is that the Fitzgerald probe was designed to figure out what Mr. Armitage later on admitted to -- who was the one that first told the information to reporters before it was "out and known" common information. So, during the probe, Libby gives reason for Fitzgerald to question his testimony and so he is put on trial for it ... and, pending appeal, convicted of false testimony and obstructing the investigation. And yet, no trial is pending for the actual end-product that was originally sought by the investigation.
It seems that this should be a poor end to the saga ... unless I'm missing or overly confused by something.
#15
Scooter ought to get new attorneys & have them file "incompetent defense" as the main basis for an appeal, That's the only possible explanation for their having allowed a journalist who's worked for the WaPo to get on the jury.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
03/06/2007 23:29 Comments ||
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California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger met with former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani on Monday to discuss gang crime but stopped short of endorsing his fellow Republican for the 2008 presidential race. Giuliani was in Los Angeles and met with Schwarzenegger and law enforcement officials to discuss methods of tackling violence in what is called the gang capital of America.
Schwarzenegger praised Giuliani's past success battling crime as mayor of New York City and said he wants all of the 2008 presidential candidates to put issues pertinent to California high on their agendas. "You're going to see me with a lot of candidates," said Schwarzenegger, who appeared last month with Arizona Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), another presidential hopeful, to call for a nationwide roll-out of California's new low carbon fuel standard.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Obama would have been aware that Said had already been caught falsifying his bio to claim Paleo residency, when his real residence was Cairo. Said was on the PLO puppet structure, the Palestinian National Council. Clearly, Obama was seeking radical credentials, which I am more than happy to grant him.
#3
to be fair, back in 98 Obama was pretty close to a nothing and besides Prof Said was more than just a terrorist apologist (for example he headed the modern language association about that time)
#5
"to be fair, back in 98 Obama was pretty close to a nothing and besides Prof Said was more than just a terrorist apologist (for example he headed the modern language association about that time)"
Ok. I forget, was St Obama already a legilator, or was he still a Con Lawyer? And why, in either capacity, would he need to consult with somebody from the MLA?
#6
FWIW, Obama was a State Senator from 96-2004. He represented a district that contained the U of Chicago. People think of the U of Chicago as a conservative bastian but that is not true (although the B-school and economics dept are right leaning). There were probably a bunch of lefty conferences where a bigshot like Said would have been invited.
#7
This was a structured dinner. Notice numbers on table. Obama was probably asking the guy his name. God knows if every time a young dumbass sat at a table he would have to study the bio of the guy next to him no one would ever eat. This looks more like hillary slime team at work digging up crap again. Obama's a dumbass that plays the race card upfront, but this one is nothing.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/06/2007 16:51 Comments ||
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#8
Is this the best you bastards can do! Keep digging, dammit!! KEEP DIGGING!!!
Posted by: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton ||
03/06/2007 16:53 Comments ||
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An American tourist caused an uproar when he wandered into a Hindu temple strictly closed to non-Hindus, in an incident that highlighted the challenges India faces in presenting itself as an enlightened democracy.
Detained for several hours by local police in India's Orissa state, Paul Roediger, a 59-year-old engineer from New York, was later released on condition he pay a token fine, after what authorities at the Jagannath temple called an "act of desecration."
Roediger's inadvertent wandering into the shrine of Hindu deity Vishnu triggered calls from some Hindus for severe punishment, but local policemen managed to convince temple administrators and angry adherents that he had trespassed in error.
Unaware of rules banning entry of non-Hindus, the American, who is interested in temple architecture, walked into the temple's inner "sanctum sanctorum."
Roediger expressed regret but also blamed temple authorities, noting that no guard had prevented him from entering the area.
Police Inspector Alekh Pahi said Roediger and two Indian companions had been released as "there is no provision in law to take any action against for entering the temple."
Temple authorities afterwards "purified" the "defiled" premises by washing with water and milk. Food worth nearly $5,000, meant for distribution among Hindu devotees as part of religious ritual, was deemed "polluted" and destroyed.
The decision upset a U.S.-based Hindu reform organization, which said it was appalled by the waste.
The Navya Shastra organization said it reflected "a medieval mindset at a time and place where there are thousands of poor and hungry people."
The incident has focused renewed attention onto controversial religious and cultural practices that survive in India despite its stated commitment to secular, democratic principles.
"Low-caste" citizens and "untouchables" (dalits) are still denied entry to various temples or forbidden to use water wells, in contravention of constitutional guarantees.
Dr. Rashmi Patni, director of the Gandhian Studies Centre at the University of Rajasthan, argues that such customs go against the tenets of Mahatma Gandhi who he said stood for human dignity and equality irrespective of caste, sex, creed or color and fought for temple entry for dalits.
"Like in every society, social discrimination in India is born out of centuries' old legacy," she said. "It is similar to the problem and differences among blacks and whites in the U.S. and cannot be eradicated merely by enactment of constitutional statutes."
Patni said, however, that the growing affluence of the middle class, increasing literacy levels and the spread of information technology was making issues of caste, gender and religion of little importance to younger Indians.
Sawai Singh, an activist espousing Gandhi's ideas, said successive Indian governments have failed to curb the menace of religious intolerance, because politicians prefer to pander to their respective constituencies.
"If punishments for social discrimination and depravation were to be severe, many of these evils would get eradicated automatically," Singh argued.
Ironically, the Jagannath temple is immensely popular among pilgrims, because unlike some centers, it does not discriminate between higher- and lower-caste Hindus.
Nonetheless, the temple does not allow entry to non-Hindus or foreigners - with the exception of Western Hare Krishna devotees, who throng to the temple each year in large numbers.
Former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was once turned away from the main gates of the shrine, as she was deemed to be non-Hindu, having married outside of the religion.
#2
"politicians prefer to pander to their respective constituencies"
Now there's a shocker! Who knew? I wonder if politicians do that here, too?
"the temple does not allow entry to non-Hindus or foreigners - with the exception of Western Hare Krishna devotees"
So you'll let in loony Westerners, but not normal ones? And what does that say about you and your "pure" temple, cookie?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/06/2007 21:36 Comments ||
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INDIA has to do something, as per IRAN vs. PAKISTAN + CHINA working on all flanks. VALIDATING ISLAM = HINDUISM, etc is only PART OF THE EQUATION - the other part is MODERNITY.
KARACHI: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is understood to have effectively conveyed to both the European Union and the UK air-safety authorities that it is willing to replace its Boeing 737s with the latest European aircraft for EU and UK destinations, according to well-placed airline and government sources.
As Orrin Judd notes, "Now we'll never know whether they just blew up because they're defective or were exploded by terrorists."
The sources told Daily Times that PIA had told the EU and UK authorities that most of the Boeing 737s (PIA has a fleet of seven) could be replaced with European-made aircraft also known as airbuses and the process for this purpose could begin as early as July.
Asked how this message was conveyed to the EU and UK authorities, the sources said that this communication had taken place through informal channels indicating that lobbyists of European products in Pakistan, Brussels and London had been used as a conduit.
With lots of cash.
Asked if the EU safety committee had asked PIA to replace its old aircraft with those made in Europe, they said that such messages were never delivered formally. As they say actions speak louder than words, the EU in particular had been effectively sending message since the news about a looming ban on the PIA fleet broke out last month, they said. They said that PIA had decided to buy airbuses to use as a bargaining chip to minimise the impact of pressure in the form of temporary restrictions on its fleet.
They must have been talking with the French.
Asked if PIA would replace all seven Boeing 737s, the sources would only say that such a move could affect the countrys relations with the manufacturers of Boeings and US government. Therefore there is a need to strike a delicate balance. They said that a lot of official procedural formalities would need to be put in place before any order to purchase airbuses could be formally put forward.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
D ***, thought is was Pacific Islands Airlines.
#5
related and unsubstantiated comment overheard today: that UPS is in talks w/ the Boeing company over buying some of those 747 LCFs to replace the now cancelled A380Fs. the LCF is that in-house Boeing 747 conversion for delivering 787 fuselage / wings assemblies to final assembly plant in Everett.
Hope this is true; it will drive a stake thru the A380F heart.
A potential flu pandemic vaccine based on one strain of the H5N1 bird flu works against other versions of the virus as well, the vaccine's manufacturer said Monday.
GlaxoSmithKline PLC announced new study results showing that even though their pre-pandemic vaccine uses an H5N1 strain from Vietnam, it reacts against the Indonesian version of the virus. The vaccine was developed with an adjuvant (a component used to stretch the active ingredient) exclusive to GlaxoSmithKline. Results proved the adjuvant could increase the number of vaccine doses by 10 times, which would be crucial in a pandemic situation, when demand would far outstrip supply.
One GlaxoSmithKline study measured the levels of antibodies in 400 adults, after some of them were given two shots of the vaccine. People inoculated with the vaccine tested had strong antibody levels that could potentially fight off the H5N1 Indonesian virus in addition to the Vietnamese virus.
While encouraging, this is not the first time that cross-protection has been seen. Other companies, such as Novartis SA and Sanofi Aventis have previously reported similar results. More than a dozen companies worldwide are working on potential flu pandemic vaccines.
"These results are good news, but we're still in the early days and we don't really know which of the vaccine formulations are the better ones," said Dr. Alan Hay, director of the World Health Organization's Collaborating Center laboratory in Britain. Many basic questions regarding H5N1 vaccines remain unanswered, such as the exact threshold of antibodies necessary for protection.
But the broader a vaccine's protection, the more useful stockpiles might be, since it is unknown which virus might spark the next flu pandemic. Experts believe H5N1 is the most likely candidate to mutate into a pandemic virus, but another flu subtype could ultimately be responsible. To date, H5N1 has killed at least 167 people worldwide.
If a vaccine protects against different H5N1 strains, people could theoretically be pre-vaccinated before getting a booster shot with a new formulation containing the pandemic strain, once the global outbreak strikes. A study last year found that people vaccinated with a bird flu shot using the 1997 H5N1 Hong Kong strain had an immune advantage when given another H5N1 vaccine based on the Vietnam strain, seven years later. This "prime and boost" principle could save the lives of doctors, nurses, and other first responders in a global flu outbreak.
"This anticipated protection is still hypothetical," cautioned Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, director of WHO's Initiative for Vaccine Research. Authorities must weigh the risks of immunizing healthy people with a vaccine that has unknown side effects.
Still, if scientists can create an H5N1 vaccine that fights other versions of the virus, resolving the continuing virus stand-off between Indonesia and WHO Indonesia refuses to share samples unless WHO agrees to certain conditions could be less important. But that would hardly be ideal. "If we had a vaccine that protected against all H5 viruses, maybe we wouldn't care about what new isolates (viruses) there might be," said Dr. John Treanor, a vaccines expert at the University of Rochester. "But we're not at that point yet," he said. "We don't know enough about H5N1 and we need to keep a very close eye on it."
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/06/2007 05:58 ||
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Very long article in the NYT about oil reserves, and how the pessimists once again have been demonstrated to be wrong. Just the first part here; hit the link for the rest.
Why does this article matter? We'll need oil for the next fifty years (at least), and to the extent processes like the ones noted in the article can generate more domestic oil, the better off we are.
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. The Kern River oil field, discovered in 1899, was revived when Chevron engineers here started injecting high-pressured steam to pump out more oil. The field, whose production had slumped to 10,000 barrels a day in the 1960s, now has a daily output of 85,000 barrels.
In Indonesia, Chevron has applied the same technology to the giant Duri oil field, discovered in 1941, boosting production there to more than 200,000 barrels a day, up from 65,000 barrels in the mid-1980s.
And in Texas, Exxon Mobil expects to double the amount of oil it extracts from its Means field, which dates back to the 1930s. Exxon, like Chevron, will use three-dimensional imaging of the underground field and the injection of a gas in this case, carbon dioxide to flush out the oil.
Within the last decade, technology advances have made it possible to unlock more oil from old fields, and, at the same time, higher oil prices have made it economical for companies to go after reserves that are harder to reach. With plenty of oil still left in familiar locations, forecasts that the worlds reserves are drying out have given way to predictions that more oil can be found than ever before.
In a wide-ranging study published in 2000, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated that ultimately recoverable resources of conventional oil totaled about 3.3 trillion barrels, of which a third has already been produced. More recently, Cambridge Energy Research Associates, an energy consultant, estimated that the total base of recoverable oil was 4.8 trillion barrels. That higher estimate which Cambridge Energy says is likely to grow reflects how new technology can tap into more resources.
Its the fifth time to my count that weve gone through a period when it seemed the end of oil was near and people were talking about the exhaustion of resources, said Daniel Yergin, the chairman of Cambridge Energy and author of a Pulitzer Prize-winning history of oil, who cited similar concerns in the 1880s, after both world wars and in the 1970s. Back then we were going to fly off the oil mountain. Instead we had a boom and oil went to $10 instead of $100.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
I was unaware of the use of gas or steam, but "water flooding" of formations is a technique that has been going on for many years here in the States.
#5
This is a dupe of a post from yesterday, which, strangely enough, got no comments at all. Steve's got a magic touch, either that, or Rantburgers don't like clicking on links. A link to this article is here.
The pessimists have not been demonstrated wrong. If the Peak Oil theory is true, it can be known only in retrospect. The theory essentially states at some point world oil production will stop rising & then decline. If the theory is true, what will follow are sporadic shortages, oil price spikes and economic decline unless mitigating measures are taken (such as conservation). Economists just hate to predict things like that. The debate is not about the straw man of "running out of oil" but about how much oil will cost, how hard it will be to extract, and the political & military price that will have to be paid to maintain the world oil economy.
"Oil reserves" are imaginary. The USGS has one estimate, Cambridge Energy has another. A nice thing about reserves is their infinite flexibility. Actual production is something that can be measured, and is usually left out in rah-rah articles like the one cited.
Don't click on my last link. Be happy. It's all good.
#6
The current link to the old article includes [gasp!] a correction:
Correction: March 6, 2007
A front-page article yesterday about technology advances that made it possible to unlock more oil from old fields misstated Saudi Arabias total reserves, which are about a quarter of the worlds proven total. It is 260 billion barrels, not million.
Billion, schmillion - It's all global warming anyway!
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/06/2007 5:42 Comments ||
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Experts have long speculated that heavy oil and bitumen deposits in Venezuela's Orinoco River basin may contain more than 235 billion barrels of commercially extractable petroleum. If that amount can be certified by outside experts and added to conventional reserves, Venezuela would reach 316 billion barrels, moving past No. 1 Saudi Arabia, which holds 262 billion barrels, according to the Oil and Gas Journal.
Venezuela's production falls so far short of Saudi Arabia's that its reserves don't matter as much. Being named No. 1 "might make Venezuelans feel better, but I don't see how it has any impact," said Amy Myers Jaffe of Rice University's Baker Institute. "What you have in the ground is only important if you can take it out of the ground and sell it."
#9
It's all about economics. I've stated to people many times that we will never run out of oil, though at some point it will become too expensive to use. In the meantime, let the market do its wonders (as shown in the article): new sources, new technologies, etc.
#10
The article notes, and gorb notes, that CO2 is used to inject into some of these oil fields.
A number of coal based electrical generating plants are experimenting with the CO2 injection, not necessarily to recover oil, but mostly to sequester the CO2. Its pretty expensive if new wells have to be drilled but seems technically doable. Also the migration of the CO2 underground has to be monitored, which is also a challenge.
#12
. . . we will never run out of oil, though at some point it will become too expensive to use.
Right you are--and, around the point where the cost of oil exceeds the cost of the alternatives, things will get cut over to run on alternate fuels. The "peak oil" crowd seems to believe there are no substitutes, and no substitutes can ever possibly be invented. Awfully pessimistic view of human ingenuity, that.
(Unless, of course, your purpose in espousing "peak oil" theories is to get everyone to abandon this icky civilization of SUVs and air conditioners and other technological stuff, hatred for which burns in the depths of your Luddite soul with the white-hot fire of a thousand burning sparkplugs. Then, despair over technology is merely a means to your desired end: a virtuous preindustrial civilization where you get to be one of the feudal overlords.)
Posted by: Mike ||
03/06/2007 17:15 Comments ||
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#13
I used to work on environmental issues from the "injection" side of the fence. Let me tell ya, there's oil EVERYWHERE. There are even patches of small mom & pop operations up in Kentucky, over in Tennessee, and actually one of the Southeast's largest fields using the injection of liquids is in the panhandle of Florida. Granted the small fries up in KY are only pumping a few barrels/day per well, but get that price back up and there may be new speculation.
I cut out an article on world "proven reserves" from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2004 (based on 2003 data). It broke down all the oil producing nations by their size reserves (and gave more specific import, demand, etc. data on the U.S.). What struck me was the different colored bar for Canada. You add in tar sands oil, and WHAMMO, Canada suddenly becomes the world's SECOND largest reserve, right behind Saudi! Like others more eloquently said, it's all in how much we wanna pay for it (and who has the military to protect it).
Posted by: BA ||
03/06/2007 21:27 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.
COLUMBIA, S.C. Tomi Rae Hynie, who claims to be James Brown's fourth wife, says she stood in front of his open casket and mourned one more time before DNA samples were taken from the late soul singer's body. Lawyers for Brown's trustees wanted DNA samples to help sort out several paternity claims made against the singer since he died Dec. 25 at age 73. His body is being held at an undisclosed location.
Friends of Britney Spears have revealed the singer scrawled the devil's digits, 666, over her bald head and screamed "I'm the Antichrist" in rehab last weekend. 
Serbian vampire hunters rammed a wooden stake through the heart of former dictator Slobodan Milosevic to stop him 'returning from the dead'.
WASHINGTON - Pollution from Asia is helping generate stronger storms over the North Pacific, according to new research. Changes in the North Pacific storm track could have an impact on weather across the Northern Hemisphere. Satellite measurements have shown an increase in tiny particles generated from coal burning in China and India in recent decades, researchers report in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 
(SomaliNet) A Zanu-PF ruling party spokesman for Harare province William Nhara, was arrested has been arrested at Harare airport for allegedly trying to smuggle diamonds out of the country. He is alleged to have tried to bribe the police officer who arrested him. 
AUSTRALIA will buy 24 Boeing Super Hornets for $6 billion, Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said today.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger met with former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani on Monday to discuss gang crime but stopped short of endorsing his fellow Republican for the 2008 presidential race. Giuliani was in Los Angeles and met with Schwarzenegger and law enforcement officials to discuss methods of tackling violence in what is called the gang capital of America.
KARACHI: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is understood to have effectively conveyed to both the European Union and the UK air-safety authorities that it is willing to replace its Boeing 737s with the latest European aircraft for EU and UK destinations, according to well-placed airline and government sources. 
