In 2006, when Kau Makgosa was diagnosed with HIV, a new US-funded program provided him with free antiretroviral (ARV) treatment. Now he's healthy enough to plan an ascent of Africa's tallest mountain, Mt. Kilamanjaro, to raise awareness about HIV and give hope to others living with the disease.
"Basically, I'm healthy now, and I think it's impossible to say if it will be for five years or 15 years, but I know I will be around for a long time," says Mr. Makgosa, a Johannesburg social worker who now lives openly with HIV and teaches other South Africans about the disease and its treatment.
When President Bush announced the signature $15 billion President Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), there were murmurs of disbelief amid the applause. But five years later, PEPFAR is still the largest and most comprehensive program for HIV patients in history, and may have saved millions of lives. By setting targets of putting 2 million HIV patients on medical treatment, preventing 7 million others from contracting HIV through education programs on abstinence, and providing funding for an estimated 10 million children whose parents have died of AIDS, PEPFAR has made a huge impact in Africa, the continent most affected by the disease.
...
Posted by: ed ||
02/20/2008 07:20 ||
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What, no "Bush signed, millions lived" slogans?
#7
Crack is CIA's. AIDS is the military's. We don't want to start a turf war between the two> Not when the NIH is looking to muscle in on spreading bird flu to unwed teenage crack addicted AIDS patients.
Posted by: ed ||
02/20/2008 12:09 Comments ||
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Kuwait's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Muhammad al-Sabah on Tuesday extoled South Africa's advancement in science and technology and expressed GCC's interest in harnessing that advancement for the peaceful use of nuclear power in water desalination.
Speaking here at a joint press conference with his South African counterpart Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the Kuwaiti guest emphasized that his visit to this country was not only to foster stronger ties between Kuwait and South Africa but also between South Africa and member states of the GCC.
He said his talks with officials here dealt with, among other things, the role South Africa could assume in resolving regional conflicts.
Dlamini-Zuma, on her part, underscored the increasing growth of mutual ties with Kuwait, pointing to the existence of myriad Kuwaiti investment projects in her country, concentrated mostly in the real estate and hotels sector.
She indicated that she discussed with Sheikh Muhammad disparate issues, among them being the situation in Iraq, Iran, Palestine, and the Commoro Islands.
Sheikh Muhammad announced that he had passed on an invitation to President Thabo Mbeki to visit Kuwait and that he had accepted the invitation. The visit should take place some time this year.
Serious offenders on the run from the Netherlands have been able to commit further crimes in Britain after the Crown Prosecution Service mislaid a computer disc containing their details.
The disc contained DNA details of 4,000 offenders, some of whom are believed to be murderers and rapists, which the Dutch sent to Britain to be checked against the national DNA database.
Home Office ministers were told within the past two or three weeks that a disc containing details of 4,000 offenders whom the Dutch authorities wished to trace had been missing for almost a year. The disc contained DNA details of 4,000 offenders, some of whom are believed to be murderers and rapists, which the Dutch sent to Britain to be checked against the national DNA database.
Initial checks on 2,000 samples carried out by police since the disc was discovered last month have found matches against 15 people, including 11 who have committed further crimes in Britain during the past year. But the figures could be higher, as a team of police officers still have to carry out checks on a further 2,000 samples provided by the Dutch authorities.
The latest data controversy occured after the Dutch authorities tried to track down 4,000 Dutch citizens who were on the run after committing serious crimes. They sent a disc containing the DNA samples of the offenders to a number of EU states, including Britain. The disc to the Attorney-General in Britain was sent in January last year with a request that the details be checked against the countryÂ’s national DNA database.
It was then sent to the Crown Prosecution Service but disappeared. It was not until last month that it was found and sent to the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), which oversees the DNA database. Whitehall sources said yesterday that it was only when the NPIA received the disc and realised what it contained that Home Office ministers were informed of what had happened.
The disc went missing at the Crown Prosecution Service in the same month that it emerged that 27,000 paper records on British citizens who had committed crimes abroad had been left in boxes in the Home Office rather than being entered on the Police National Computer.
It is not clear exactly when Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, was informed of the latest blunder to hit the justice system over the records of offenders.
David Ruffley, the Shadow Police Minister, said yesterday: “By losing this DNA disc the Government has allowed people judged serious criminals by the Dutch to stay in the UK and commit offences. Government incompetence has put the safety of our citizens at risk yet again.
“The public will want the Home Secretary to tell them what offences these individuals have committed and if they are going to be extradited.”
David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, said: “Yet again we see a disastrous loss of data which has an impact for public security and public safety.”
A statement from the Crown Prosecution Service said: “We can confirm that DNA profiles of around 2,000 unknown individuals were sent by a foreign jurisdiction to the CPS to facilitate a check against the national DNA database.
“These are profiles relating to unsolved crimes in that country. This is not a data security issue as this information was always in the possession of the CPS.” The statement added: “As this information necessarily relates to ongoing police investigations it would be inappropriate to provide any more detail at this stage.”
The disc went missing at the Crown Prosecution Service in the same month that it emerged that 27,000 paper records on British citizens who had committed crimes abroad had been left in boxes in the Home Office rather than being entered on the Police National Computer.
Called your bluff did they, Hugo?
CARACAS, Feb 19, 2008 (AFP) - Venezuela has asked US oil giant ExxonMobil to resume World Bank-sponsored talks to resolve a nationalization dispute and to drop legal cases in New York and London, Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said Tuesday."We have heard various messages from Exxon -- what we are asking is that we return to the situation as it was under arbitration" under the auspices of the World Bank's mediation body, Ramirez said.
The move toward dialogue came almost a week after Venezuela lost a legal battle with ExxonMobil over the leftist Venezuelan government's nationalization of key oil fields in the Orinoco basin that included two ExxonMobil operations. ExxonMobil says it has won court orders in New York, London, the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles freezing some 12 billion dollars of PDVSA assets in those jurisdictions in compensation for the expropriations.
A week ago Venezuela's state petroleum company, Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), said it had suspended oil supplies to ExxonMobil, the world's biggest oil company. The next day a New York federal judge affirmed a freeze of 300 million dollars of Venezuelan assets.
Ramirez said the government wants to pursue talks at the World Bank's autonomous mediation body, the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes. The two sides in the dispute named their judges in December but a tribunal has not yet been installed.
Ramirez said that ExxonMobil "exceeded" the expected actions of the arbitration with its multimillion-dollar freeze on Venezuelan assets. Those court actions "were outside the parameters of the arbitration," he said. Suuuuuurprise, suuurprise, surprise...
Ramirez was responding to an ExxonMobil offer to negotiate with Venezuela a settlement on the forced sale of its participation in an oil project in the Orinoco basin.
ExxonMobil is seeking compensation of up to five billion dollars, while PDVSA is offering about 715 million dollars, the minister said.
#4
Ugo to Xon, You're winning, STOP THAT, RIGHT NOW.
XON to Ugo, hahahahaha.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/20/2008 13:56 Comments ||
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#5
Yeah, sure, Hugo, we will talk, but we will not drop the legal cases yet. We are talking about compensation for our assets you took. Come on over and talk, but stick to the subject at hand.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/20/2008 15:07 Comments ||
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#6
"Ramirez said that ExxonMobil "exceeded" the expected actions of the arbitration..."
translation: they expected XOM to bitch and whine and they would then generously return 'some' of the assets, or value of same. they did not expect XOM to go 'all in.' Wonder who has deeper pockets????? (Hint: what did XOM post as profits last quarter??)
#9
Someone probably told them of the Helms-Burton Act when discussing 'nationalization' of Yankee property.
The Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (Libertad) Act of 1996 (Helms-Burton Act, Pub.L. 104-114, 110 Stat. 785, 22 U.S.C. § 6021–6091) is a United States federal law which strengthens and continues the United States embargo against Cuba. The act extended the territorial application of the initial embargo to apply to foreign companies trading with Cuba, and penalized foreign companies allegedly "trafficking" in property formerly owned by U.S. citizens but expropriated by Cuba after the Cuban revolution. The act also covers property formerly owned by Cubans who have since become U.S. citizens.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helms-Burton_Act
Do one of these on Venezuela after the courts have ruled ExxonMobil is owed big dinero and anyone out there who takes it upon themselves to make money off of former American owned property will quickly find themselves shut out of the American market. Do business with Venezuela or America? Tough choice even for suppliers of goods for Walmart.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said Tuesday the United States will not soon lift its embargo on Cuba despite Fidel Castro's resignation. Asked by reporters at the State Department if Washington planned to change its Cuba policy now that Castro has stepped down, Negroponte replied: "I can't imagine that happening anytime soon." He declined further comment.
The centerpiece of American policy toward Cuba has been the economic embargo, first instituted in limited form in 1960 and strengthened in Castro persistently called the trade embargo "criminal," and claimed that its economic impact on the island ran well into the tens of billions of dollars.
In Rwanda, President Bush expressed hope that the end of Fidel Castro's presidency will launch a transition to democracy in Cuba after nearly 50 years of ironclad, communist rule. "What does this mean for the people in Cuba?" Bush said at a news conference during his trip to Africa. "They're the ones who suffered under Fidel Castro. They're the ones who were put in prison because of their beliefs. They're the ones who have been denied their right to live in a free society. So I view this as a period of transition and it should be the beginning of the democratic transition in Cuba."
"I view this as a period of transition and it should be the beginning of the democratic transition in Cuba."
Tom Casey, deputy spokesman at the State Department, expressed hope for change in Cuba, but said the U.S. remains skeptical. "We would hope that the departure from the scene of Cuba's long-ruling dictator Fidel Castro would allow for a democratic transition. ... We would hope that his departure would begin this transition," Casey told reporters.
But he added that the United States is troubled by signs that Cuba's leadership envisions this as a "transfer of authority and power from dictator to dictator light—from Fidel to Raul." Still, he said the Bush administration remains willing to help support the Cuban people in a true transition to democracy.
"In the meantime, political prisoners will rot in prison and the human condition will remain pathetic in many cases"
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Miami-area Republican who was born in Havana, said Castro's resignation was irrelevant because his regime had already "done great harm to the suffering Cuban people." "It matters nothing at all whether Fidel, Raul or any other thug is named head of anything in Cuba," she said. "What the people want is freedom to vote in multiparty elections that are internationally supervised and freedom to express their dissent from the oppressive regime. The Communist machinery is enslaving them so it doesn't matter who the thug of the moment will be."
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., who is of Cuban descent, said Castro's resignation "is not the cause for celebration that some would believe." "This does not represent the replacement of totalitarianism with democracy. Instead, it is the replacement of one dictator with another," he said in a statement.
From a Democrat no less. Bravo.
The Coast Guard, meanwhile, has not added any additional patrols in light of Castro's resignation, said Coast Guard spokesman Chris O'Neil. O'Neil, speaking from Florida, said there have been no indications or warnings of a mass migration. "The threat has not changed," O'Neil said.
Bush said he anticipates debate about Cuba's future, and that some people will say "Let's promote stability." "In the meantime, political prisoners will rot in prison and the human condition will remain pathetic in many cases," he said.
Bush noted that he had met with the families of some of prisoners, and that their release should be the first step of any transition to democracy. "It just breaks your heart to realize that people have been thrown in prisons because they dare speak out," he said.
"The international community should work with the Cuban people to begin to build institutions that are necessary for democracy," Bush said. "Eventually, this transition ought to lead to free and fair elections—and I mean free, and I mean fair—not these kind of staged elections that the Castro brothers try to foist off as true democracy," Bush said.
"The United States will help the people of Cuba realize the blessings of liberty," Bush said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Castro resigning is like Don Corleone "retiring".
(Xinhua) -- Armenia held a presidential election Tuesday morning, in which nine candidates are vying to replace President Robert Kocharian, who is currently serving his second and final five-year term.
Peaceful change in the government? In that part of the world? Whoa!
All 1,923 polling stations across the country opened Tuesday at 8 a.m. local time (0400 GMT) and close at 8 p.m. local time (1600 GMT) as scheduled for over 2.32 million eligible voters to elect their next president. The Central Election Commission (CEC) said the overall voter turnout when all the polling stations closed at 8 p.m. local time was 69.26 percent with 1,642,057 voters having cast their ballots in the presidential election.
President Kocharian who is to resign in April said after his vote that "I voted for Armenia's stability and prosperity. Every election is a test which we have to go through and emerge stronger. I am confident that this election will mark another step forward to a stronger and democratic Armenia."
Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan, also Chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia which won a majority of seats in parliamentary elections last May, leads the race joined by eight other candidates in opinion polls.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Prime Minister Sarkisian leading with an absolute majority.
Posted by: ed ||
02/20/2008 7:26 Comments ||
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Vietnam, the biggest supplier of coal to China, will cut exports to its giant neighbour nearly in half in 2008 to meet rising demand from its own power plants, state media reported Tuesday.
Vietnam will reduce sales to China to 13 million tonnes this year, the 21st Century Business Herald said, citing an unnamed Vietnamese government official.
Previous reports in the Chinese media said Vietnam's coal exports to China last year totalled 24.6 million tonnes.
Vietnam's industry ministry has recommended to the country's prime minister a total halt in coal exports after 2015, according to the report in the 21st Century Business Herald.
Analysts said a decline in the exports, which accounts for a rather small share of China's total demand, was unlikely to have major impact on China even though Vietnam was its biggest coal supplier.
"The impact will be quite small," Wang Shuai, a Beijing-based analyst with Orient Securities, told AFP.
This is less than one percent of China's own output, as official figures showed it produced 2.5 billion tonnes of coal last year, up 8.2 percent from a year ago.
But the 21st Century Business Herald said a cut in supply from Vietnam would threaten the operations of power plants in southern China's Guangdong province and the Guangxi region. The Chicoms will have to make up the slack with their own dirty coal hauled in from somewhere else.
Guangxi imported 14.0 million tonnes of coal in 2007, with 13.3 million tonnes sourced from Vietnam, while Guangdong imported 14.6 million tonnes last year of which Vietnam accounted for one third, it said.
Separately, the paper said that Guangdong Yudean Group -- the top power producer in Guangdong -- has suspended coal negotiations with Vietnam as Vietnamese suppliers are demanding a 40 percent hike in export prices. Socialist brothers sharing the People's wealth. At Proletariat prices, until recently. Now that Vietnam is booming, they need the power more than the foreign exchange. Unless it is 40% higher than previous contracts.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/20/2008 18:49 ||
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Awwwwwww. Ain't that just too bad.
Heh heh heh. <:-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/20/2008 19:32 Comments ||
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Wasn't Guangdon's coal reserve used heavily quite recently? Seems like some question about heat vs. production....
Go Vietnam. If the chinese try to come and take it in the next 20 years kick their asses again!
French authorities filed preliminary charges Tuesday against three men in connection with a weekend shooting and other violence in a mosque in southeast France, a prosecutor said.
The Al-Rahma mosque in the town of Nimes was shuttered indefinitely after the scuffle Sunday, in which a worshipper was hospitalized with gunshot wounds to the legs, assistant prosecutor Gildas Pavy said by phone. The disturbance apparently stemmed from a swelling and increasingly violent disagreement over the last several weeks between "rival groups" over the way the mosque has been run by imam Driss Saoudi, the prosecutor said.
A 64-year-man faced preliminary charges for armed violence and for bearing a weapon illegally, while two others aged in their 50s faced preliminary charges for violence, Pavy said, declining to further identify the men further.They were released either on bail or under judicial watch.
"A mosque is a place of serenity and peace. I don't accept that some so-called Muslims take it hostage in acts of violence," said Abderrahim Berkaoui, head of a regional Muslim association, calling for calm. "France isn't the jungle," Berkaoui said. "This case has nothing to do with any settling of scores between Algerians and Moroccans. Some people just no longer want Driss Saoudi."
Some government officials and many Muslim leaders say France is badly short of needed number of mosques. The country is home to western Europe's largest Muslim community, with more than 5 million people whose families came from former French colonies in north Africa. Many Muslims often hold religious observances in housing projects or on pavements outside cramped mosques.
President Nicolas Sarkozy, while interior minister before his election last year, once called for state support for mosques _ only to back away from the proposal after critics said it would violate a century-old law separating religion and state.
#1
Raymond Poincare Some government officials and many in the Alsace-Lorraine Muslim leaders say France is badly short of needed number of Germans mosques.
Posted by: ed ||
02/20/2008 6:58 Comments ||
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#3
Well, we had our "rival groups" too. The Fish on Friday crowd vs. the Anything You Wanted on Friday crowd. You can still see the bullet and shell holes in the church wall. Well...not really. I made it up.
#4
Well! Muzz on Muzz violence. Let's settle this peacefully by soaking it with gasoline and lighting it off. The resulting heat and warmth should provide enough comity to both factions so that they could sit down and settle the issue peacefully with only a little seething and spittle flying.
#5
I call bullshit. France has very strict laws about the possesion and use of firearms. It must be a zionnistikkk story plant to defame the religion of peas.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/20/2008 13:53 Comments ||
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#9
Rminds me of the old Joke about the bar in Naw'leens that's so bad they check everyone at the door for knives or guns, if you don't have one, they'll loan you one.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/20/2008 14:01 Comments ||
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#10
The first rule of Muslim Club is that no one talks about Muslim Club...
#11
The disturbance apparently stemmed from a swelling and increasingly violent disagreement over the last several weeks between "rival groups" over the way the mosque has been run by imam Driss Saoudi...
The Serbian Supreme Court on Monday dismissed Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence as a null, void and illegal act, the official Tanjug news agency reported. A statement issued by the Supreme Court said the declaration on Sunday, from the aspect of the Serbian Constitution, is an illegal act with null and void effect.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/20/2008 00:00 ||
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The government of the USA dismissed the CSA's declaration of independence as a null, void and illegal act and you know what a mess that was. Any wagers whether these guys can top that per capita casualty rate?
U.N. police pulled out from a Kosovo border post that was destroyed on Tuesday by Serbs who vowed never to submit to the authority of Kosovo's Albanian government and its Western backers.
Reuters witnesses saw police destroy official documents and remove computers, then leave in a convoy of vehicles escorted by special riot police in armoured cars, and the border post known as Gate 3-1 north of the town of Zubin Potok was abandoned.
It was one of two border posts, between Kosovo and Serbia, attacked and set on fire by Kosovo Serbs earlier in the day in the Serb-dominated northwest corner of Kosovo. It was not clear if the U.N. police planned to return. The U.N. mission in Kosovo said two of the border roads leading north to Serbia were closed for 24 hours.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/20/2008 00:00 ||
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PRISTINA, Feb 19 (KUNA) -- Foreign diplomats of the countries that recognized Kosovo's independence presented their credentials to the President of the province Fatmir Siyedu Tuesday, boosting the constitutional shape of the new born self-declared state.
Note: That's KUNA's spelling. The Western press spells his name as Fatmir Sejdiu.
Pristina's One radio said diplomats from the US, Britain, France, Turkey, Albania and Australia presented their credentials as head of their countries' diplomatic missions in Kosovo. Those countries, added the radio, already have liaison offices in Pristina since 2000 and would now be shifted to embassies. The radio anticipated that Croatia, Slovenia and Austria would follow suit. Seventeen European countries will announce recognition of Kosovo within days.
The government of Kosovo had sent letters to the leaders of 192 UN member states informing them of its independence and requesting official recognition. European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Javier Solana is in Kosovo to launch the EU mission in the province.
On the radio today Medved and Hewitt both asked Obama supporters to call and say why they were supporting their man. Specifics, please. The replies were rather indistinct. He would end the division and bring us together by encouraging us all to talk about common problems, after which we would compromise. He will give us hope by giving us hope: for many, the appeal has the magical perfect logic of a tautology. It's a nice dream. But compromise is impossible when you have a fundamental differences about the proper way to solve a problem. I believe we can achieve a fair society by taking away your house and giving it to someone else. I disagree. It is my house. Then let us agree to give away half of your house. Compromise! But that is not a compromise. You have taken half my house. We have compromised on your behalf with those who would have taken it all. Let us not return to the politics of division. There are strangers living in my spare bedroom. Then we have truly come together. Look, this isnÂ’t a matter on which we can compromise, because we have conflicting premises. YouÂ’re pretending matter and anti-matter have the same relationship as Coke and Pepsi. They donÂ’t.
If he wins, I do look forward to dissenting; since itÂ’s been established as the highest form of patriotism, I expect my arguments will be met with grave respect. Shhhh! HeÂ’s dissenting.
Among the arguments offered by the callers:
* He will help save the planet by encouraging everyone to recycle cans and bottles and paper (the caller discussed a local drought, and said she did not think that recycling would stop it, but if everyone recycled - something she thought Obama would bring about through a general new era of ecological concern - future droughts would not occur.)
* He will pay for college tuition (the caller thought tuition was too expensive, and did not want to be burdened with loans)
* He will meet with the Iranians, personally, and conduct a frank personal interrogation about their nuclear intentions
* He will inspire the Youth of America to get involved in politics again
* He will prevent American companies from moving manufacturing overseas (The caller was unsure how this could be done, only that it would be done, because it should be done)
* He will not raise taxes on anyone except maybe millionaires (The caller was surprised to be asked if Obama would raise taxes; it was a strange, peculiar, irrelevant issue)
* He will give everyone health care (This would make American industry competitive, since companies would be freed of the obligation of making it an employee benefit)
* He will talk to the Europeans
And so on. There is tremendous faith in his ability to just wave a love-wand and get things done. I remember the same zeitgeist afoot in the land in 1992; change was the mantra then, too. Odd how things turn out – I’d be happier with Hillary as President than Obama, simply because she seems a bit more seasoned and realistic. And I do find it interesting that people who have decried the shallow, theatrical, emotion-based nature of contemporary politics are now so effusive in their praise for someone’s ability to move crowds. Perhaps they don’t mind a fellow on a white horse if he promises to nationalize the stables.
I didnÂ’t listen to every call on either show, but I heard a lot, and no one mentioned the race thing. At some point in the last ten years we seem to have stopped asking whether a Black man could be President and agreed that itÂ’s only a matter of time and the right candidate. Between Morgan Freeman in the movies and the fellow who played David Palmer on TV, weÂ’re completely comfortable with the idea. I mean, if youÂ’re watching a movie that cuts to the White House and you see Morgan Freeman, youÂ’re relieved: honor and wisdom and prudence and strength. You see James Cromwell, and you know youÂ’re in for perfidy, corruption, and perhaps some covert-ops teams shooting activist nuns in Central America.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/20/2008 08:49 ||
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He's not anymore black than he is white. Why cant he and others call him what he is:
mulatto (mʊ-lăt'ō, -lä'tō, myʊ-)
n., pl. -tos or -toes.
1. A person having one white and one Black parent.
#4
You see James Cromwell, and you know youÂ’re in for perfidy, corruption, and perhaps some covert-ops teams shooting activist nuns in Central America.
Yeah, which is why I was really surprised he didn't off the pig at the end of Babe.
#5
The morning show could not stop talking about all the name catch phrases - as I called it "got done polling his caucus". Of the 40 or so names most were positive (Barack Star) some were neutral (a gal who named her pet Barack O'llama) and only 1 negative (Obamination).
Definately has a cult of personality thing going for him. As noted in the hillarity! post it would be nice for it to last through the d primary and fade afterwards. I don't see how it couldn't, there is no way to sustain this peak interest for the next 6 months - eventually the Honahlee camp will have to come up with some concrete goals. On one side what he has said concretely has been completely ludicrus. On the other hand, they have had plenty of time to consider the possibilities and now know who they will be running against.
#8
If he wins, I do look forward to dissenting; since itÂ’s been established as the highest form of patriotism, I expect my arguments will be met with grave respect. Shhhh! HeÂ’s dissenting.
Unfortunately, when the Dems are back in charge, it won't be "dissent" anymore, it'll be "hate speech".
#9
Alan: I'm old enough to remember the '68 and '72 conventions, which was back when conventions actually still decided things.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/20/2008 13:45 Comments ||
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#10
Nobody old enough to remember B.O. Plenty?
Been calling him B O lately and "I" remember.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/20/2008 14:10 Comments ||
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#11
They don't make square good-guy jaws like Dick Tracey's anymore, Redneck Jim. But some of us remember him and his ... acquaintances, including the shady and odiferous ones. ;-)
WishinÂ’Â’ and hopinÂ’Â’ and thinkinÂ’Â’ and prayinÂ’Â’
Planning and dreaminÂ’ each night of his charms.
That wonÂ’t get you into his arms
So if yourÂ’re looking for love you can share
All you gotta to is hold himÂ’ and kiss himÂ’ and love himÂ’
And show him that you care.
Show him that you careÂ’ just for him.
Do the things that he likes to do.
Wear your hair just for himÂ’ Â’causeÂ’
You wonÂ’t get himÂ’ thinkinÂ’ and a prayinÂ’Â’
WishinÂ’ and hopinÂ’.
#14
If the stuff I'm reading about this guy is right, there's some real dirt on him. If that's true, he's toast. The only question is if it comes out before the Dem Con or during the runup to the general. Obama's NOT going to be POTUS, that just isn't going to happen. Every day he remains viable is a win for the Trunks as it's that much less time for the eventual Dem candidate to establish their position.
For all the talk about how Hillary is the candidate the Trunks want to fight, I'm sure there are some RNC folks who are just salivating at the thought of ripping Obama's past apart. They're too quiet now about Obama, with only pro forma attacks. If they were really worried about him in the general, they'd be coming after him hot and heavy hoping to knock him out before nomination. There's something in his past and you can bet it has already been dug up and is being prepared for exhibition.
#2
I wonder if it's possible for Obama to lose some of the 90% solid black support the Dems always have. It's easy to predict that blacks will rally behind a black man as candidate, but it's equally possible that a black candidate would open up rifts in that solid voting block.
In his biography of Barack Obama, David Mendell writes about Obama's life as a "secret smoker" and how he "went to great lengths to conceal the habit." But what about Obama's secret political life? It turns out that Obama's childhood mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, was a communist.
In his books, Obama admits attending "socialist conferences" and coming into contact with Marxist literature. But he ridicules the charge of being a "hard-core academic Marxist," which was made by his colorful and outspoken 2004 U.S. Senate opponent, Republican Alan Keyes.
However, through Frank Marshall Davis, Obama had an admitted relationship with someone who was publicly identified as a member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). The record shows that Obama was in Hawaii from 1971-1979, where, at some point in time, he developed a close relationship, almost like a son, with Davis, listening to his "poetry" and getting advice on his career path. But Obama, in his book, Dreams From My Father, refers to him repeatedly as just "Frank."
The reason is apparent: Davis was a known communist who belonged to a party subservient to the Soviet Union. In fact, the 1951 report of the Commission on Subversive Activities to the Legislature of the Territory of Hawaii identified him as a CPUSA member. What's more, anti-communist congressional committees, including the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), accused Davis of involvement in several communist-front organizations.
Trevor Loudon, a New Zealand-based libertarian activist, researcher and blogger, noted evidence that "Frank" was Frank Marshall Davis in a posting in March of 2007.
Obama's communist connection adds to mounting public concern about a candidate who has come out of virtually nowhere, with a brief U.S. Senate legislative record, to become the Democratic Party frontrunner for the U.S. presidency. In the latest Real Clear Politics poll average, Obama beats Republican John McCain by almost four percentage points.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Missed Votes:
Barack Obama has missed 182 votes (38.8%) during the current Congress. See a list of his missed votes since 1991 or see a full list of vote missers.
Voting with Party:
Barack Obama has voted with a majority of his Democratic colleagues 96.5% of the time during the current Congress. This percentage does not include votes in which Obama did not vote. See a list of his votes against his party since 1991, a list of all Senators in the 110th Congress with a similar score, or a full list of party voters.
#5
If Frank Marshall Davis hadn't died in 1987 maybe he could have been a character witness for B Hussein Obama in his upcoming Federal District Court case.
More here Robert Novak Hinted at Sinclair's Allegations in October
Larry Sinclair has filed a federal suit against Barack Obama and others for harassment since the gay man released his video on YouTube alleging that the Senator from Illinois and Sinclair shared gay sex and cocaine in the back of a limo in Gurnee, IL in 1999.
...
Back in October, Robert Novak reported:
“Agents of Sen. Hillary Clinton are spreading the word in Democratic circles that she has scandalous information about her principal opponent for the party’s presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama, but has decided not to use it. The nature of the alleged scandal was not disclosed.”
At the time, it was speculated that this was the story the LA Times supposedly had done major work on and was squashing.
So when is Senator Schumer going to convene a Senate investigative panel to get to the, err, bottom of this?
Posted by: ed ||
02/20/2008 6:25 Comments ||
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#7
Since when has a gay sex and drugs limo party been considered scandalous for Democrats?
#9
We keep hearing about how obama's charisma will make hime unbeatable in the general election, but we also hear that the adults outnumber the chilluns in this country. I hope it doesn't come down to sensible adults vs. stupid adults and chilluns at the polls in November, but I fear it might...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/20/2008 8:28 Comments ||
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#10
The Gay Obama bashing on the Burg...when will it END???
#12
“Agents of Sen. Hillary Clinton are spreading the word in Democratic circles that she has scandalous information about her principal opponent for the party’s presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama, but has decided not to use it. The nature of the alleged scandal was not disclosed.”
You expect me to believe that Hildebeast wouldn't use this kind of information? Now, that's really a stretch.
#16
You expect me to believe that Hildebeast wouldn't use this kind of information? Now, that's really a stretch.
Right, that's an old political ploy "I have information(Proof) but out of the goodness of my heart, I WILL NOT USE IT.
(Bullshit meter clanging away like a fire station bell.)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/20/2008 14:17 Comments ||
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#17
And Kerry thought HE had it tough.
Heh...heh...heh...
#18
Y'all aren't acting very smart, leave O'Bama alone until AFTER he sinks Hildabeast thoroughly and with much whining on her part, THEN put him to shame after he's the official Dem Nominee.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/20/2008 19:09 Comments ||
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#19
#18 Too true, Redneck, too true. We need to allow Barry to capsize the Good Ship Hildebeast, secure the nomination, then tear him to shreds. The Dummocrats will bawl their little ol' eyes out when they realize they f**ked themselves yet one more time. Har har.
Via Drudge. This follows our story yesterday and Old Spook's superb comments contained therein. OS, feel free to follow-up here. Besides, it's not everyday you get a story in the Burg from The Register.
The US military has issued a warning notice barring flights above a large area of the northern Pacific for two and a half hours early on Thursday morning. The stricken spy satellite marked for destruction by US warships will pass over the taped-off area just at this time, indicating that the first shot will take place then.
The NOTAM (NOTice To AirMen) warning reads:
02/062 (A0038/08) - AIRSPACE CARF NR. 90 ON EVELYN STATIONARY RESERVATION WITHIN AN AREA BNDD BY 3145N 17012W 2824N 16642W 2352N 16317W 1909N 16129W 1241N 16129W 1239N 16532W 1842N 17057W 2031N 17230W 2703N 17206W SFC-UNL. 21 FEB 02:30 2008 UNTIL 21 FEB 05:00 2008. CREATED: 18 FEB 12:51 2008
A "CARF" (Central Altitude Reservation Function) designation indicates a NOTAM intended to keep commercial and private flights clear of military operations, and SFC-UNL means the height band of this warning zone reaches from the surface to "unlimited" altitude - in other words all the way into space. The UTC time referred to is the same as UK time, so the zone exists from 0230 to 0500 on Thursday morning for British readers.
The latitudes and longitudes can be plotted with the crippled spy sat's ground track overlaid, which has been done by satellite watcher Ted Molczan in handy pdf form. Those running Google Earth can get a better look using this kmz file, compiled by Molczan's fellow sky-watcher Alan Clegg from the pdf.
As will be evident, the barred area is a cool 1,400 miles long and nearly 700 miles wide at the surface, giving the US Navy plenty of elbow room to fire their interceptor missiles up into the descending spacecraft's path. Reports have it that three US Aegis air-defence warships, the cruiser Lake Erie and the destroyers Decatur and Russell, will be waiting for the satellite west of Hawaii. Each ship carries a specially modified Standard SM-3 interceptor, originally intended for defence against lower-flying ballistic missile warheads. The three interceptors are on separate ships in case of a technical issue with the Aegis radar and fire-control system.
As it passes over the firing area, the satellite will be approximately 3,000 miles and ten minutes out from the western coast of Canada, the next land it will pass over. The satellite has much more mass than the soaring "exo-atmospheric kill vehicle" it will smack into, so this gives some idea of the onward track the wreckage might follow in the event of a hit. The Pentagon believes most of the resulting debris from a successful shot will burn up soon afterwards, and almost all should be gone within "two orbits". Boosters and other gubbins from the interceptors will presumably fall within the ocean NOTAM area.
The firing area seems to have been chosen so as to minimise the chances of debris falling anywhere other than in the ocean or North America, which could lend credence to the idea that the intercept is primarily aimed at safeguarding the satellite's technology.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Link ||
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#1
Whatever falls into the ocean can be handled by the sharks with fricking lasers on their heads.
#2
When will they learn a NOTAM attracts aircraft. We had on pilot do figure 8's over our launch pads at about 300 feet. When you have a full rack ready it's really tempting to have an oops.
Posted by: bruce ||
02/20/2008 7:58 Comments ||
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#3
I had planned to fly over the area looking for sharks, but I will pass on that now.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/20/2008 8:19 Comments ||
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WASHINGTON - High seas in the north Pacific may force the Navy to wait another day before launching a heat-seeking missile on a mission to shoot down a wayward U.S. spy satellite, the Pentagon said Wednesday.
The officer said the assumption had been that the mission would go forward Wednesday night, unless conditions are determined to be unfavorable. Earlier in the day, bad weather in the north Pacific was causing rough seas, which may be a problem for the USS Lake Erie, a cruiser armed with two SM-3 missiles.
"We don't anticipate the weather being good enough today," the officer said, adding that conditions could improve enough in the hours ahead to permit it to go forward. A final decision would be made by Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Alluding to the high seas and strong winds, the officer added, "It has not been enough for us to say `no'" and put the launch mission off until Thursday. But it would take improved conditions to proceed.
The Pentagon had been waiting until the space shuttle Atlantis returned to Earth before launching the missile.
"We're now into the window," the senior military officer said minutes after the shuttle landed at 9:07 a.m. EST.
He said the mission could go forward on any day until Feb. 29, when the satellite is projected to have re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, making it infeasible to attempt to hit it with the Navy missile.
Officers have hours in which to monitor a long checklist of technical factors and conditions before deciding whether to proceed with the missile launch. But the period in which the missile must launch in order to have an optimum chance of success against the satellite is only "a matter of seconds," the senior military officer said.
The attempted shootdown was approved by President Bush last week out of concern that toxic fuel on board the satellite could crash to earth and potentially harm humans, the Defense Department has said.
Officials will know within minutes of the SM-3 missile launch whether the missile has hit the satellite, but it will take a day or two to know whether the fuel tank has been destroyed, officials said.
The military has readied a three-stage Navy missile, designated the SM-3, which has chalked up a high rate of success in a series of missile defense tests since 2002. In each case it targeted a short- or medium-range ballistic missile, never a satellite. A hurry-up program to adapt the missile for this anti-satellite mission was completed in a matter of weeks; Navy officials say the changes will be reversed once this satellite is down.
Adding to the difficulty of the shootdown mission, the missile will have to do better than just hit the bus-sized satellite, a Navy official said Tuesday. It needs to strike the relatively small fuel tank aboard the spacecraft in order to accomplish the main goal, which is to eliminate the toxic fuel that could injure or even kill people if it reached Earth. The Navy official described technical aspects of the missile's capabilities on condition that he not be identified.
Also complicating the effort will be the fact that the satellite has no heat-generating propulsion system on board. That makes it more difficult for the Navy missile's heat-seeking system to work, although the official said software changes had been made to compensate for the lack of heat.
#7
The main thing that concerns me about this so called soot down is just how much the debris will spread around the object's orbit before it all re-enters. The reason I say so called shoot down is most of the object will stay in orbit until the orbit decays enough that the debris re-enters. Some of the idiots out there in the MSM* seem to think that once the missile hits it the object will simply fall to Earth.
#8
The Navy announced the shootdown is gonna occur around 240km up (roughly 50-60%) beyond the officially listed figures of the SM-3, the US tends to be conservative in its range figures on many of its weapons. The other thing is this is still in LEO effectively which puts it at roughly 40-90km before atmospheric friction really heats things up.
#9
The main thing that concerns me about this so called soot down is just how much the debris will spread around the object's orbit before it all re-enters. The reason I say so called shoot down is most of the object will stay in orbit until the orbit decays enough that the debris re-enters. Some of the idiots out there in the MSM* seem to think that once the missile hits it the object will simply fall to Earth.
In this case they're actually right. The object is in a rapidly decaying downward orbit path (even if you break it up the pieces are still gonna continue along that path). The sat the chinese hit last time was about about 860km up and in STABLE orbit. Which meant thanks to the idiot who launched the missile he just spread debris around that would just interfere with everyone else for a long time. Bad math doesn't even begin to describe the idiocy involved in that decision.
#10
Won't the heat generated by the friction of reentry give enough of a thermal image?
It's a mixed bag. If they wait for that effect to take hold they risk the possibility of it breaking up over populated areas, including a potential impact of the toxic fuel on board.
#11
The Pentagon had been waiting until the space shuttle Atlantis returned to Earth before launching the missile.
(Firing Officer) NO DAMMIT, NOT THAT BLIP, followed by OH SHIT.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/20/2008 14:27 Comments ||
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#12
The heat retained from the daylight side will silhouette it against cold space. By doing it at night it also minimizes the IR detectors from locking onto any glint off the solar array and hitting that instead of the main spacecraft body.
I guess even a glancing collision at 10,000 mph is going to vaporize a large part of the spacecraft so I doubt the fuel tanks will survive.
Posted by: ed ||
02/20/2008 14:34 Comments ||
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#13
It is my understanding that the payload was pretty much stillborn after launch and the solar panels never deployed. In fact, it was pretty much like launching a rock to orbit. It was dead on arrival.
#14
Missile Defense Globally Protects Against Toxic Satellite (spacewar.com)
Riki Ellison, President of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, (MDAA) www.missiledefenseadvocacy.org went on record in an Alert to the MDAA membership here and globally in an definitive analysis and explanation of the significance of the importance of the missile defense's program capability of the Aegis and the Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) planned use against a NRO falling satellite. His commentary is as follows:
"The Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General James Cartwright, announced that the Aegis Sea-Based Missile Defense system will be used to intercept a falling U.S. satellite containing toxic rocket fuel in order to reduce the risk of harm to human life as well as to manmade platforms in space, in the air and on earth."
"The capability, the adaptability, the investment and the proven technology of our country's missile defense systems has given our nation and our military an option which it never had before to protect human life globally from falling objects from space."
"The current threat of a 5,000 pound National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) satellite carrying over 1,000 pounds of Hydrazine gas tumbling down through the atmosphere could be negated by the use of any of the current missile defense systems. All of the deployed missile defense systems, with the exception of Patriot, have successfully intercepted fast moving small objects in space."
"Since the United States' decision to deploy missile defense in December of 2002, there have been 16 successful intercepts in space by three different missile defense systems."
"The deployed U.S. Aegis ships, equipped with missile defense capability, offer self contained tracking and discrimination and hold numerous Standard Missile-3s in their berths for multiple shots if required to add redundancy and further reduce the risk. This sea-based system has repeated successes destroying very fast warheads around six feet long and between 1,000 and 2,000 pounds in space. The most recent successes were by the Japanese Aegis Ship Kongo on December 17, 2007 and the United States Aegis cruiser Lake Erie (CG 70) on November 6, 2007."
"In addition to reducing risk to human life globally, the potential kinetic energy intercept of a tumbling, uncontrolled NRO satellite by the Aegis ship's Standard Missile-3 provides a real use military operational case that, in addition to reducing risk to human life, can enhance the current operational development of the SM-3 and its Aegis System. A typical Aegis Missile Defense test costs the Department of Defense around $40 million."
Ellison closed his Alert with the following remarks: "We endorse the flexible use of this remarkable capability and clearly see the return on investment of missile defense for the American taxpayer and Congress. Our country's investment and leadership internationally in Missile Defense provides global options that make our world a safer place. We are a safer world with missile defense than without it."
#16
Its 1000 Hours here Thursday morn in the Guam AM -NOTHING IN THE LOCAL MEDIAS YET OR ON THE NET ABOUT WHETHER THE SHOOTDOWN OCCURRED OR WAS ON SCHEDULE, ETC.
#17
The shot will be pointing toward the night terminator, but the sat will be well above the horizon 243km, and thus well lit against a dark background. Kauai is the home of the pacific missile test range, so plenty of cameras, radars and sensors to be applied to that potential intercept box.
#19
FWI this will be a VERY tricky shot inthat only reflected radiation (heat) will be present. Its not reentering as of yet, so its a COLD target. 16,000 MPH and altitiude of prox 245Km, the larger area pieces (assuming it hits) should deorbit fairly rapidly if they are given enough downward vector.
If the Hydrazine tank actually is pierced, it could simply leak and spin like mad, or (more likely with a diredt kinetic kill)) rupture like a popped balloon, and possibly ignite, imparting all kinds of thrust vectors to all kinds of chunks of the (former) spy satellite.
Then again, the targeting software may have fits trying to pick out a cold target against a cold background, at the extreme extent of the SM-3's stated range, and simply miss.
I'm betting 50-50 they need to take a couple shots. This is a MUCH harder target than an ICBM warhead in many ways.
#21
VARIOUS NEWS > Looks like its NO-GO for another week or so due to inclement weather and lousy seas. OTOH, YAHOO - SATELLITE DEBRIS MAY BE VISIBLE AFTER SHOOTDOWN.
#24
WASHINGTON — A missile launched from a Navy ship successfully struck a dying U.S. spy satellite passing 130 miles over the Pacific on Wednesday, a defense official said. Full details were not immediately available.
It happened just after 10:30 p.m. EST.
Two officials said the missile was launched successfully. One official, who is close to the process, said it hit the target. He said details on the results were not immediately known.
The goal in this first-of-its-kind mission for the Navy was not just to hit the satellite but to obliterate a tank aboard the spacecraft carrying 1,000 pounds of a toxic fuel called hydrazine.
U.S. officials have said the fuel would pose a potential health hazard to humans if it landed in a populated area. Although the odds of that were small even if the Pentagon had chosen not to try to shoot down the satellite, it was determined that it was worth trying to eliminate even that small chance.
Officials said it might take a day or longer to know for sure if the toxic fuel was blown up.
Doubtless there will a deafening silence from the MSM on this, but NH land temperatures fell a huge 2.4 degrees centigrade between January 2007 and January 2008. This is 3 times the supposed warming in the last century and 300 times faster than the supposed unprecedented rate of warming.
The denial of global cooling will be fun to watch.
#1
The denial of the effects on Earth temperatures from SOLAR EMISSIONS, sunspot activity, gamma ray deflection, et. cetera, IS deafening silence. Nothing like making your point in one easy try, is there?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/20/2008 20:59 Comments ||
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#2
The denial of the effects on Earth temperatures from SOLAR EMISSIONS, sunspot activity, gamma ray deflection, et. cetera, IS deafening silence. Nothing like making your point in one easy try, is there?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/20/2008 20:59 Comments ||
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#3
Left Coast:
Northern Hemisphere Land Temperatures fall 2.4C in 1 Year
I made a point to ask friends and family this winter if they thought it was colder. I told them that I did for sure and they pretty much agreed with me.
It may not be scientific but hey, either is AL Gore's "science" or 90% of the weather guessers on Tee Wee. :")
#4
RENSE > POSSIBLE SMOKING GUN - TINKERING WITH OUR SUN. Solar "heartbeat" X-Ray fluxes/changes are "too synchronous" to be anything except man-made???; + PENTAGON - LASERS THAT CAN PUT VOICES IN YOUR HEAD. Schitzos = YOUR FAV ANTI-SOCIAL MANIC-DEMETIAS, ETC. now belong to INTEL-PYWAR - you know, the Mafias???
*SOLAR HEARTBEAT > TO KILL THE MESSIAH/SAVIOR IS TO KILL THE SUN. WHEN OWG MADONNA, etal. DADDY BURPS [or worse], SUNSPOTS [or worse] FOLLOW???
#5
MADONNA > D *** NG IT, DAD kept telling MOM NOT TOO MUCH ANCHOVIES + RIGHT BRAND OF ANCHOVIES ON THE CHICAGO DEEP PAN PIZZAS, BUT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOO.....MOM DIDN'T DO THAT, DID SHE!?
#2
A German spy agency has paid a secret informant some $7.3 million for a CD containing incriminating data on rich Germans who transferred billions to nearby Lichtenstein to avoid taxes. It's the biggest blow against tax fraud in Germany, and the first that has the country's intelligence agency involved.
Riki Ellison, President of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA) informed a national audience of the organization the importance and significance of the budget request as it relates to ballistic missile threats to our national security for the new fiscal year, 2009. A summary of his comments and observations follows:
"This week, the highest ranking members of the United States military, the Secretary of Defense, Mr. Robert Gates, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, testified to Congress and presented the $655 billion budget request for this country's defense and national security for the 2009 fiscal year. Of the $655 billion, which includes a $70 billion supplementary amount, 1.59% is allocated for missile defense, a non-offensive weapons system."
"Both the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense testified on the need for missile defense. Admiral Mike Mullen put forward the justification of why our country needs increased spending for missile defense. Secretary Robert Gates emphasized the growing Iranian ballistic missile threat, and he expects ground will be broken and an agreement will be signed with Poland and the Czech Republic to host a third U.S. missile defense site this year."
At the beginning of the week, the Department of Defense and the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) released a detailed budget for the missile defense program. Citing the MDA 2009 budget estimates overview, Lt. Gen. Trey Obering, Director of MDA, in his written statement preceding the MDA budget funding request amounts stated; "some 30 nations have now deployed a ballistic missile capability, compared to only eight in 1972, and foreign ballistic missiles were launched more than 100 times around the world in 2007 ... Currently, North Korea has hundreds of deployable short and medium range ballistic missiles and is developing a new intermediate range ballistic missile and a new short range solid propellant ballistic missile, which it test launched in June 2007.
"Iran has the largest force of ballistic missiles in the Middle East (several hundred short- and medium-range ballistic missiles), and its highly publicized missile exercise training has enabled Iranian ballistic missile forces to hone wartime skills and new tactics."
Ellison further stated, "On Friday, February 8th, major news released around the world reported that Iran has begun to deploy newer more advanced centrifuges to produce nuclear fuel in order to move forward towards the production of nuclear weapons. This past Monday, Iran announced that it fired a rocket into space. Taken together, these two events leave a real and credible threat to the national security interests of the United States, its allies and moreover our world."
"The Missile Defense budget for 2009, which includes the MDA budget of $9.4 billion as well as an additional $1.1 billion from the Department of Defense, amounting to $10.5 billion, consists basically of two areas of investment over five regional areas of integrated, developing and deployed missile defense.
The Two Areas: 1. Fielding and sustaining defense missile systems at an estimated $4.1 billion, or 39.1% of the total missile defense budget.
2. Testing and developing missile defense systems at an estimated $6.4 billion, or 60.9% of the total missile defense budget.
The Five Regions: 1. U.S. Defense against North Korea Long Range missile defense at $58.5 million at 0.56%.
2. Regional and Theater Defense for US Forces at $6.4 billion at 12.3%.
3. U.S. Defense against Iran long range at $1.7 billion at 16.3%.
4. Europe Defense at $719.8 million at 6.92%.
5. Expand defense to be able to protect two regions at once from both Iran and North Korea at $835.6 million at 8.03%."
Ellison closed his observations and remarks with this statement: "We at MDAA believe that this funding request for missile defense is fair, balanced, affordable and necessary for our public safety and the protection of our troops and allies."
#1
Lest we fergit, STARS-N-STRIPES/OTHER [old] IN DEFENSE OF DEFENSE SPENDING, GDP IS THE ONLY REAL MEASURE, + TOPIX > US DEFENSE SPENDING CONTINUES TO SHRINK AS ECONOMY GROWS.
IIRC Articles > In WW2, USA spent the equivalent of nearly 1/2 of its economy in fighting and winning the war. Compare to 4% now for the US defense budget, including for very expensive hi-techs + GWOT in ME???
#2
Between active and retired [which is carried on DoD's books] and civilian personnel pay take around 50%. Those active and particularly retired medical care promises from the 60s and 70s when monthly pay was just about poverty level are now coming home to roost as 'delayed' compensation is now starting to bit big time in the budget as well [note well universal care advocates!]. So when you see advocates juggling numbers like 1.5%, know what that is in the 'discretionary' portion of the DoD budget not the raw outlays.
Crude oil rose to a record $100.10 a barrel in New York on speculation OPEC will cut production when it meets next month.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, set to meet on March 5, may cut output as winter heating demand wanes, oil ministers from Algeria and Iran said in the past week. Oil also rose after the U.S. dollar fell against the euro, enhancing the appeal of commodities as an inflation hedge. Platinum, soybeans, gasoline and heating oil also reached records today. ``Prices are primarily up because OPEC will more than likely cut production in two weeks,'' said Richard Chimblo, manager of global business development at Calgary-based Genoil Inc. ``OPEC is concerned about the outlook for a slowing global economy and demand.''
Posted by: Fred ||
02/20/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
This article was mentioned in comments on a related one yesterday. From it: "Oil also rose as a weakening dollar prompted some traders to invest in commodities as a hedge against inflation." I suspect this is the larger cause of the spike.
#2
Worry more about the price of foodstuffs. We are on the verge of a food crisis and it will be much worse because of the denialists blinded by the global warming dogma.
#3
Right, phil_b. The world better pray for a good US (and Canadian) wheat harvest this year. Up until now the food shortfalls have been masked by the (relative) decline in price due to the falling value of the dollar - same cause as a big chunk of the rising price of oil. As painful as $3 gasoline is to us, just think what an effect a doubling of the price of bread will have in Europe. Or China. Or a quadrupling in Africa.
#4
1 bushel of wheat makes 73 pounds of bread. So at $10/bushel, there is $0.20 worth of wheat in a 1.5 pound loaf of bread. Bread isn't going to double.
Posted by: ed ||
02/20/2008 7:32 Comments ||
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And you are correct that a doubling in wheat cost won't have a huge effect on the cost of MAKING the bread - but it matters little whether the bread is 1 euro or 2 per loaf if there are no loaves. If the baker can't get his $.20 worth of wheat then (in a free economy) he will raise the price of the bread he has to whatever he can get - which could easily double. And if it is not a free economy, the shortage can be shared more evenly, but the shortage will be more severe because incentives to increase supply will be removed.
#7
i don't have a breakdown on the proportional cost elements that determine bread pricing, but just off the top of my head they include:
- wheat
- other ingredients (small cost for basic bread)
- fuel to grind wheat to flour, transport flour to bakers, transport baked bread to market
- fuel for baking bread
- labor costs
- cost of packaging baked bread (in 1st world, often plastic bags made from oil)
#9
Interesting, Sea. The Canadian Wheat Board probably goes back 110 years, to the rate agreement, which included a subsidy to grain farmers. From that point, the government controlled prices to protect the farmer, vut now the same Board helps to hurt them.
Is there a lesson here, B.O.?
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/20/2008 12:44 Comments ||
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#10
The Canadian Wheat Board probably goes back 110 years, to the rate agreement, which included a subsidy to grain farmers. From that point, the government controlled prices to protect the farmer, vut now the same Board helps to hurt them.
Is there a lesson here, B.O.?
Yes there is, Bobby. But my fingers are stuffed in my ears, and I can't quite hear you.
#11
AH9418 is right. It's a couple of things. There's lots of dollars floating around to chase the wheat. That's why prices are going up generally, oil, gold, wheat etc. The Fed is flooding the markets with easy money because it is afraid the banks will collapse because they have bought lots of garbage like SIVs and CDOs that no one, including the sharks who invented them, truly understand.
The reason the banks had all that easy money was because the Fed flooded the amrket with lots of easy money after 9/11 to make sure the banks didn't collapse.
The reason the Fed had to be worried after 9/11 was because they had had to extend easy money after the .com bubble burst amd they were worried the banks would collapse.
The reason they were worried the banks would collapse was because they had extended so much easy money after the Asian collapse in 1997 to prevent the banks from collapsing.
You get the idea.
The NICE (non-inflationary continuous expansion) times are over. The Chinese are going to have a harder and harder time keeping our costs under control by substituting their low cost labor for our higher cost labor. And they're going to realize their sterile dollar holdings are worth less every day. They'll cash in and then the banks will really collapse. Big Time. Asshole Greenspan.
#12
From memory, there are 800 million vehicle owners in the world and there are 2 billion people who spend half or more of their income on food.
The brutal reality is that the demand reduction will come from those 2 billion people.
Hardly anyone realizes how quickly a global food crisis could be upon us. We have already seen one of the first signs, major exporters banning exports - Russia and Argentina. Not everyone is blind to this. India has been steadily building its stockpiles of wheat.
#1
I'm starting to suspect the "rogue traders" are serving as convenient scapegoats to explain away losses of the Pig Men. It's too much of a coincidence that this "overvaluation" was discovered a couple of days after Qatar bought a chunk of shares in Credit Suisse. SS,DE -- DE meaning "different excuse."
My opinion is starting to shift to that of a WaPo columnist:
So I hope you'll forgive me, dear readers, when I say that the best thing that could happen to our economy is for a dozen high-profile hedge funds to collapse; for investment banking to enter a long, deep freeze; for a major bank to fail; and for the price of a typical Park Avenue duplex to fall by 30 percent. For only then might we finally stop genuflecting before the altar of unregulated financial markets and insist that Wall Street serve the interest of Main Street, rather than the other way around.
Yes, I know it's harsh and vengeful solution, and there will be lots of collateral damage. But as I look out over the destruction sweeping across the financial sector, I just can't silence the small voice in my head that keeps repeating that old '60s expression, "Burn, baby, burn."
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.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said Tuesday the United States will not soon lift its embargo on Cuba despite Fidel Castro's resignation. Asked by reporters at the State Department if Washington planned to change its Cuba policy now that Castro has stepped down, Negroponte replied: "I can't imagine that happening anytime soon." He declined further comment.
On the radio today Medved and Hewitt both asked Obama supporters to call and say why they were supporting their man. Specifics, please. The replies were rather indistinct. He would end the division and bring us together by encouraging us all to talk about common problems, after which we would compromise. He will give us hope by giving us hope: for many, the appeal has the magical perfect logic of a tautology. It's a nice dream. But compromise is impossible when you have a fundamental differences about the proper way to solve a problem. I believe we can achieve a fair society by taking away your house and giving it to someone else. I disagree. It is my house. Then let us agree to give away half of your house. Compromise! But that is not a compromise. You have taken half my house. We have compromised on your behalf with those who would have taken it all. Let us not return to the politics of division. There are strangers living in my spare bedroom. Then we have truly come together. Look, this isnÂ’t a matter on which we can compromise, because we have conflicting premises. YouÂ’re pretending matter and anti-matter have the same relationship as Coke and Pepsi. They donÂ’t.
In his biography of Barack Obama, David Mendell writes about Obama's life as a "secret smoker" and how he "went to great lengths to conceal the habit." But what about Obama's secret political life? It turns out that Obama's childhood mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, was a communist.
