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Wheelchair boomer kills cop in Samarra
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Airline disputes account of woman's death aboard
American Airlines today disputed the account of a man who said his cousin died aboard a flight after she was twice refused oxygen by a flight attendant. He also claimed that medical devices, including two oxygen tanks, failed.

Struggling to breathe, passenger Carine Desir, who had heart disease, asked for oxygen, but was initially denied, her cousin said yesterday. “Don't let me die,” the cousin, Antonio Oliver, recalled Desir, 44, saying after the attendant allegedly refused at first to administer the oxygen Friday.

He said the flight attendant finally relented but various medical devices on the plane did not work, including two oxygen tanks that were found to be empty and what may have been a defibrillator that seemed to malfunction.

American Airlines confirmed Desir's death and said medical professionals had tried to save the woman. Today, airline spokesman Charley Wilson said there were 12 oxygen tanks on the plane and the crew checked them before the flight took off to make sure they were working. He said at least two were used on Desir. “American Airlines, after investigation, has determined that oxygen was administered on the aircraft, and it was working, and the defibrillator was applied as well,” he said.
Posted by: Fred || 02/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Today, airline spokesman Charley Wilson said there were 12 oxygen tanks on the plane and the crew checked them before the flight took off to make sure they were working. He said at least two were used on Desir and American Airlines has heard nothing from her insurance provider regarding payment for the oxygen or her inflight upgrad to First Class.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/26/2008 0:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Like I posted yesterday - someone thinks they've won the lotto. Beside the legal dispositions that are likely to follow, I'm sure the FAA is going to require a lot of paperwork too. Regardless of torte, we'll get the truth eventually.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/26/2008 8:33 Comments || Top||

#3  I bet the quote aboiut the devices "not working" meant they didn't revive the passenger rather than they failed to operate properly. We need to superimpose John Edwards face on the abulance pic for this genre.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 02/26/2008 9:20 Comments || Top||

#4  Ummmmmm, torte I LOVE tortes! Oh, you meant tort? My bad ;^)


Wise ass ain't I?
Posted by: AlanC || 02/26/2008 9:21 Comments || Top||

#5  what I think is funny is that the Media of the Masses bought this guy's story hook, line and sinker and didn't verify it before running with it 24/7.
Posted by: Crease Poodle1618 || 02/26/2008 11:47 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Lurid Moonbat Fantasy #48: the Assasination of Barak Obama
Tim Blair

An expert predicts:

Barack Obama will be assassinated within months if he wins the US presidential election, world champion boxer Bernard Hopkins fears.

Mr Hopkins, known as The Executioner, earns his living getting hit in the head. He joins Doris Lessing ("The Bookinator"), Earl MacRae ("The Unknown Canadian"), Phillip Adams ("The New York Review of Books Subscriber"), Joseph Palermo ("The Assistant Professor"), Fifty Cent ("The Crack Dealer") and Francisco Martin Moreno ("El Chupa Grande Lucha Loco Aguila Sonambulo"*) in the Obama Death Club.

Does anyone else find it creepy that some of Obama's supporters are fantasizing about his assassination. You almost get the sense they'll be disappointed if their prediction turns out wrong. (With supporters like these, who needs enemies?)

*BabelFish translates this as "Great Chupa Crazy Fight Sonambulo Eagle." Go figure.
Posted by: Mike || 02/26/2008 06:50 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Poor old Bernard . Calzaghe will make him look the fool come 19th April. Oooh wait a minute , don't need Calzaghe for that !
Posted by: Beldar Sniling3661 || 02/26/2008 7:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Hopkins: Hillary seems the best person for the job...she has the experience - she has already been a president for eight years
Snicker. Bernard was punched in the head too many times.
Posted by: GK || 02/26/2008 9:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Man, this confirms boxing's in a sad, sad state because I have no idea who this guy is.
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/26/2008 9:35 Comments || Top||

#4  The Death club is so invested in the idea of a racist America it is the only way they can rationalize Obama's overwhelming support. That is the racists are quiet and will take him down they think. This says more about the Death Club members than it does about Obama or America.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/26/2008 10:06 Comments || Top||

#5  Does it say anything about me? Because I'm convinced that if he's elected, at least a few Islamists will take a swing at him. He's an apostate, for the love of Mike. Of course he'll be an assassination target.

On the other hand, I'll be voting for Clinton and McCain respectively when the time comes, so maybe it's just Obama supporters who are to be considered nuts for observing the obvious?
Posted by: Mitch H. || 02/26/2008 10:32 Comments || Top||

#6  One gets the feeling an Obama supporter will take the initiative themselves if the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy doesn't give them the tragedy they seem to want.


Ugh.
Posted by: charger || 02/26/2008 10:40 Comments || Top||

#7  It does say something about you Mitch because the bulk of the Death Club members assume the assassin will be a Racist American, not an Islamic fanatic. In fact I would go so far as to say that most of the Death Club members don't think Islam is a problem at all, but a boogey-man propped up by Bush.

On the other hand the reaction from Muslim states seems to indicate they don't consider him an apostate but instead as one of them. Muslims tend to be very conspiracy minded and no doubt they believe he's pulling a fast one on the Americans in order to get a Muslim in the White House.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/26/2008 11:04 Comments || Top||

#8  Hopkins: Hillary seems the best person for the job...she has the experience - she has already been a president for eight years

Well then she is not eligible to run again, now is she?
Posted by: Crease Poodle1618 || 02/26/2008 11:42 Comments || Top||

#9  Violent coups and chaos - is that what we want for this country?

No?

Then STFU.

I remember when Kennedy was shot and this country went through hell. Any time the leader of a country is assassinated a period of instability will follow and, no matter what you thought of his policies, you might not like the results.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/26/2008 12:24 Comments || Top||

#10  They'd kill for a martyr.
Posted by: Thinemp Whimble || 02/26/2008 13:41 Comments || Top||

#11  Kennedy was elevated to martyrdom by his assassination. There is a romantic view of his presidency defined by what might have been rather than what was.

To get another Kennedy, they need another martyr.


Posted by: DoDo || 02/26/2008 15:22 Comments || Top||

#12  A lot of the craziness of the Sixties can be marked up to the cognitive dissonance of a liberal icon being murdered by a card-carrying communist. In that sense, an Islamist assassination of a President Obama would be a shocking parallel. Assuming the victims of said cognitive dissonance ever make the connection.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 02/26/2008 17:07 Comments || Top||

#13  Some people worked themselves into a corner (hint: it isn't conservatives who insist on treating "African Americans" as children) and hope that their enemies will save them?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/26/2008 17:08 Comments || Top||

#14  #11 DoDo:

You're right, except that many of Obama's followers already treat him as the next messiah. Note how many fans have "swooned" or passed out at his speeches recently (of course, I think it's staged, but that's another argument). IOW, he's ALREADY a quasi-martyr to them, in the god-like/Beetlemania sense.

But, even level-headed blacks I know who don't even like him, still believe he'll be assassinated by whites within months of taking office. I always try to point out that he's lucky he's made it this far against Hillary, but it fails to register with them.
Posted by: BA || 02/26/2008 20:17 Comments || Top||

#15  "If he wins the US presidential nomination" > IMO, Radical Islam's priority now is to milpol [read - militarily]stop the US entrenchment in Iraq-ME. THEY NEED A DECISIVE, NEAR-TERM SIGNIFICANT MIL BATTLEFIELD VICTORY AGZ THE "GREAT SATANS" USA ANDOR ISRAEL PER SE, AGZ ONE OR BOTH. Such a victory agz the IA or US Allies [read - BRITAIN] may not be enuff to induce a unilater US withdrawal in Iraq-AFghani and give inspiration for World Islamism to continue its fight. THE USA IS THE BIG CHEESE IN THE ME AND WIPING OUT SMALLER ALLIED MILFORS MAY NOT INDUCE THE USA INTO ACKNOWLEDGED DEFEAT AND UNILATER WITHDRAWAL, NOR EXCITE THE MUSLIM WORLD TO JOIN ISLAMISM'S FIGHT. The most dangerous time for an AMER HIROSHIMA(S) to take place is now thru Year 2010 [sooner the better vv stopping US entrenchment], and will likely be a MASS DECAPITATION STRIKE agz the whole of the US GOP-DEM NPE, or in the altern AMAP within the USNPE. TO DESTROY ONLY ONE OR TWO US POLS ["lone nut"] ISN'T GONNA STOP US ENTRENCHMENT - CAN DELAY, BUT WON'T STOP IT.

Remember now, HILLARY'S DEMOCRAT CRITICS > many overtly argue HILLARY suppor Dubya's policies including IRAQI FREEDOM. HENCE, RADICAL ISLAM > for Radical Islamism or any US "lone nut" to de facto kill OBAMA may not achieve anything vv larger Radical Islamist ME agenda. REGIONAL-GLOBAL US ENTRENCHMENT NEEDS TO BE STOPPED COLD AND KILLING OBAMA ALONE ISN'T GONNA DO IT.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/26/2008 21:53 Comments || Top||


Scientists find genetic keys to inherited hair loss
Researchers have found the genetic basis of two distinct forms of inherited hair loss, opening a broad path to treatments for thinning locks, according to a pair of studies released Sunday. Creeping baldness is a source of distress to tens of millions the world over.

Hair-challenged adults spend upward of a billion dollars every year on mostly bogus remedies in the United States alone, according to the Federal Drug Administration. They also lavish at least as much on sometimes painful hair implants and other forms of more or less convincing hair substitutes.
If you've ever spent an afternoon strolling in the sun without a hat on a summer day, you remember the experience if you're bald.
Geneticist Regina Betz of the University of Bonn and her colleagues hunted down a gene -- P2RY5 -- that causes a rare, inherited form of hair loss called Hypotrichosis simplex. They found their quarry, after six years of research, among families in Saudi Arabia.
Inbreeding has its uses. Google "C57 mouse" if you don't believe it.
It is the first receptor in humans known to play a role in hair growth, according to the study, published in Nature Genetics. "Although Hypotrichosis simplex is very uncommon, it may prove critical in our search for an understanding of the mechanisms of hair growth," said Betz.

The disease affects both men and women, who begin to go bald during childhood. At fault is a genetic defect that prevents certain receptors on the surface of hair follicle cells from being correctly formed. For the hair follicle to function normally, messengers must bind to these receptors, triggering a chain reaction in the cell interior. The fact that a receptor plays a specific role in hair growth was previously unknown to scientists. "We can now search selectively for related substances that may be used in therapies for very different types of hair loss," said Ivar von Kügelgen of from Bonn's Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology.

In the other study, Angela Christiano of Columbia University lead a team that found another mutation of the same gene that results in "woolly hair" -- sparse, dry and tightly curled hair over the entire scalp. Examining families in Pakistan, the researchers determined that the mutation is expressed in the inner root sheath of hair follicles, which anchor and shape individual hairs.

Until recently, many scientists assumed that mammalian hair follicles were a non-renewable resource. The human head comes equipped with approximately 100,000 of these tiny, hair-generating organs, and once they stop working, it was thought, the scalp was doomed to gradual exposure. A healthy individual loses around a hundred hairs a day, but they are normally replaced at the same rate.
Posted by: Fred || 02/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But on the upside, Peterbalds won't make you sneeze and they don't have hairballs...... just a thought mind you.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/26/2008 1:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Good thing this wasn't discovered earlier or I might have been aborted.
Posted by: DoDo || 02/26/2008 15:26 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
7.2 quake rocks Indonesia
A 7.2-magnitude quake struck on Monday off Indonesia's Sumatra island, sparking a tsunami alert, the geophysics and meteorology agency said. The quake hit 165km northwest of Sumatra's Mukomuko at 15:36 (08:36 GMT) at a depth of 10km, the agency said. The US Geological Survey put the magnitude of the quake at 7.1. The quake was felt in tall buildings in the capital Jakarta, where pictures swayed on walls.
Posted by: Fred || 02/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Forget global warming: Welcome to the new Ice Age
Snow cover over North America and much of Siberia, Mongolia and China is greater than at any time since 1966. The U.S. National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) reported that many American cities and towns suffered record cold temperatures in January and early February. According to the NCDC, the average temperature in January "was -0.3 F cooler than the 1901-2000 (20th century) average."

China is surviving its most brutal winter in a century. Temperatures in the normally balmy south were so low for so long that some middle-sized cities went days and even weeks without electricity because once power lines had toppled it was too cold or too icy to repair them.

There have been so many snow and ice storms in Ontario and Quebec in the past two months that the real estate market has felt the pinch as home buyers have stayed home rather than venturing out looking for new houses. In just the first two weeks of February, Toronto received 70 cm of snow, smashing the record of 66.6 cm for the entire month set back in the pre-SUV, pre-Kyoto, pre-carbon footprint days of 1950.

And remember the Arctic Sea ice? The ice we were told so hysterically last fall had melted to its "lowest levels on record? Never mind that those records only date back as far as 1972 and that there is anthropological and geological evidence of much greater melts in the past.

The ice is back.

Gilles Langis, a senior forecaster with the Canadian Ice Service in Ottawa, says the Arctic winter has been so severe the ice has not only recovered, it is actually 10 to 20 cm thicker in many places than at this time last year.
Posted by: Fred || 02/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  C2CAM > HOPE DIMS FOR EARTH TO SURVIVE SUN'S DEATH. Capture a favoriiite space rock.

SOOOO, Mankind + future OWG-NWO has to either capture PLANET X, etc. and keep it in controlled orbit, or somehow send same into the Sun to recharge/refurbish the Sun's nuke reactions, and prob a goo idea to also dev STAR TREK-STYLE WARP DRIVE??? EITHER WAY NEED OWG MADONNA'S DADDY, albeit Dad may just about hurl X into the Sun anyway to show off to Mom, or to prove to Mom that Mom is a wuss whom can't cook an Eggo Waffle worth a damn.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/26/2008 0:29 Comments || Top||

#2  I see Niven, Pournelle, & Flynn jumping up & down shouting "Yes! Yes! Yes!".
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/26/2008 2:03 Comments || Top||

#3  It's not how cold it is but how rapidly it cooled. Last January (2007) was the warmest on record. January 2008 is the coldest for 20 to 500 years. Northern hemisphere land temps fell a huge 2.4C in 12 months.

In a rational world, this would be big news, but the silence is deafening on this subject.

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2008/jan/global.html#temp
Posted by: phil_b || 02/26/2008 3:30 Comments || Top||

#4  The '500' years was a typo and should have been 50.

But then again maybe it was a Fruedian slip, because the current cooling looks a lot like the start of the Little Ice Age.
Posted by: phil_b || 02/26/2008 3:33 Comments || Top||

#5  Or maybe Brian Aldiss was prophetic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helliconia
Posted by: phil_b || 02/26/2008 3:37 Comments || Top||

#6  Dang. It snowed some more last night. I've used up all my de-icing salt.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/26/2008 7:42 Comments || Top||

#7  I'm not familiar with the National Post. Is this:
"In just the first two weeks of February, Toronto received 70 cm of snow, smashing the record of 66.6 cm for the entire month set back in the pre-SUV, pre-Kyoto, pre-carbon footprint days of 1950."
irony, or could it be genuine surprise on the part of the writers and editors?
Posted by: eLarson || 02/26/2008 10:06 Comments || Top||

#8  Ironic too that while watching the National socialist Geographic channel, they had a big hoopla of reducing your carbon footprint and all that other garbage. I was yelling at the TV, "C02 is plant food, you fucking morons!"

20 years from now these global warming scam artists are going to look pretty silly.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/26/2008 13:13 Comments || Top||

#9  A single sunspot has, at last, been seen on the Sun. Alas, it has no flare activity associated with it. (it's going to stay cold)

Damn. I'm read for spring.

In other news, the local Audubon Society's climate change meeting has been canceled tonight.
Posted by: Citizen of Hoth || 02/26/2008 13:45 Comments || Top||

#10  #8 DarthVader: "20 years from now these global warming scam artists are going to look pretty silly."

They already look silly.
Posted by: Bob || 02/26/2008 16:04 Comments || Top||

#11  We have 3-ft of snow at our house N of Anchorage, Alaska in the mountains, and we have had avalanches nearby. Temps have varied from 15 below to 35 above F in a month. We are looking for carbon footprints, but the snow's too deep.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/26/2008 16:18 Comments || Top||

#12  Sure hope the Polar Bear made it home....
Posted by: TomAnon || 02/26/2008 16:18 Comments || Top||

#13  The last time it snowed this much in Chicago, there was STILL snow on the ground at my mom's birthday... at the end of April. That was in '79.
Posted by: eLarson || 02/26/2008 18:00 Comments || Top||

#14  Shortened the planting season for the farmers around that part of Illinois.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/26/2008 19:01 Comments || Top||

#15  Yup, P2k. Yet the Warmenistas act like a little warming is a bad thing....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 02/26/2008 19:28 Comments || Top||

#16  I agree's with all yoots and more. Heck, we've ALREADY had 2 snow storms (within a week of each other) here in Atlanta for cryin' out loud!

I can't remember the last time it's snowed here, much less twice in 1 week! We've had a few ice storms since 2000 (that's my benchmark, because that was the last really bad ice storm....funny how Bush was elected that year, tee-hee).

And, we've got a shot at some snow showers tonight. Getting down to around 23 degrees (which is bone-chilling cold for here).
Posted by: BA || 02/26/2008 20:06 Comments || Top||

#17  Al Gore is such a LOSER:
http://www.dailytech.com/Temperature+Monitors+Report+Worldwide+Global+Cooling/article10866.htm
Posted by: Darrell || 02/26/2008 21:32 Comments || Top||

#18  No sunspots yet, and the sun has been blank for 17 days. For a week, one sunspot was visible prior to the spotless period, and that followed a 20-day spotless run. K7RA
Posted by: KBK || 02/26/2008 23:32 Comments || Top||

#19  Over the past week many, many e-mails arrived from readers with a link to an article in a daily business publication claiming that we are on the verge of another Maunder Minimum, a decades-long period of little or no sunspot activity that occurred roughly between the years 1640-1710. The article appeared with no byline, quoting Dr Kenneth Tapping of the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics in Penticton, British Columbia; this is the observatory that supplies our daily solar flux values. But I thought the quotes sounded a little strange and not like Ken. Some readers also felt this way. As one wrote, "The article didn't quite ring true," and "I have a fairly broad scientific reading list."

I sent Ken an e-mail. He responded that this has been a difficult week for him. A few weeks ago he received a phone call from a woman who engaged him in "a long discussion involving possibilities ranging from likely to not likely." He wrote that the article promotes something that is untrue, and "in no way do I support the conclusions she assigned to me."

I think we can relax about any possible upcoming 70-year period of a quiet Sun. We cannot say that it could not happen, but in fact there is nothing unusual about the current Solar Cycle minimum, and really no known method of predicting such a period.

K7RA, 15Feb
Posted by: KBK || 02/26/2008 23:36 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
LRA rebels attack civilians in CAR, break truce
(SomaliNet) In an incident that threatens apparent progress at talks to end one of the continent's longest wars, the Uganda government accused Lord's Resistance Army rebels (LRA) on Monday of breaking a truce by attacking civilians in Central African Republic (CAR).

But representatives of the shadowy terrorist guerrilla group, who signed a "permanent ceasefire" with Ugandan negotiators on Saturday at long-running discussions in south Sudan, denied the allegation.
Lasted about as long as a Hamas offer of a hudna ...
LRA fighters, under the terms of that and an earlier deal, are meant to stay at forest camps on the remote border between southern Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo until the final phase of the talks decides how to disarm and demobilise them.

Uganda's military said Monday that it had received eye witness reports that the rebels had moved into Central African Republic (CAR) and killed several people during an attack on Saturday on the small frontier town of Ezo. "This is a blatant violation of the just-signed ceasefire agreement," Captain Chris Magezi, spokesperson for the Ugandan government delegation at the talks, told Reuters. "I hope that the LRA will change their mind and will assemble ... in conformity with the agreements signed."

The top LRA negotiator, David Nyekorach Matsanga, described the latest government charges as "nonsense". "Whoever is perpetuating such allegations must prove that the LRA has fighters in those areas," he told Reuters.

Uganda's state minister for regional cooperation, Isaac Musumba, said the government was in touch with CAR officials "to see how we can deal with this new angle in the conflict".
Posted by: Steve White || 02/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Zimbabwe's biggest state hospital stops operations
(SomaliNet) Due to a breakdown of equipment and shortages of drugs, Zimbabwe's biggest state hospital had stopped surgical operations, a rights group said Sunday.

"There is a critical shortage of items ranging from anaesthetics to surgical equipment at Parirenyatwa Hospital," said Douglas Gwatidzo, chairperson of Zimbabwe Doctors for Human Rights. "Surgeons can carry out operations, but they are saying they cannot risk their profession and increase the risk on the lives of the patient. They are not prepared to be blamed for an operation which goes wrong because it was done without the necessary equipment, and operating on a patient when there are no painkillers to relieve their pain amounts to subjecting that patient to torture."

Parirenyatwa Hospital was referring patients requiring emergency operations to Harare Central Hospital which is also battling with shortages, Zimbabwe's state-owned Herald newspaper said.

Those who can afford it are referred to private hospitals.
One imagines that Bob's access to health care is a touch better than that of his citizens ...
Deputy health minister Edwin Muguti blamed the shortages on Western-imposed targeted sanctions. "Government is aware of the serious anaesthetic drugs shortages. These are results of Western-imposed sanctions. We can't promise when the situation will return to normal, but we want to assure the nation that we are treating this as an urgent matter," he said.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Buy what you need from your new Chinese pals or down in SA. Oh, you don't have any money and you only provide services to customers who can't pay? Well then, that is a bit of a problem. I'd continue to blame the West, failed colonial policies, aparthied, or Dutch farmers. Whatever you can come up with until things get better or worse.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/26/2008 0:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Apathy man, I got nothin but apathy.
I'm sure Bob will win by a landslide again, and the "Evil Western Powers" will continue to bedevil the country.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 02/26/2008 7:24 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm praying for Bob to have any problem requiring hospitalization.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/26/2008 13:27 Comments || Top||

#4  He'd just have it done in Durban, J'burg, or Paris.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/26/2008 14:01 Comments || Top||

#5  Closing makes sense to me. Folks in ZimBob-Land are probably too poor to die.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/26/2008 15:28 Comments || Top||

#6  This is because there are no more sick people in Zimbabwe.

Another triumph for socialized medicine!!

It's all explained in my new documentary:

Sicko II: The Quickening
Posted by: Michael Moore || 02/26/2008 19:23 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Venezuela seeks oust English biz, tech terms like 'marketing,' 'mouse'
President Hugo Chavez's government is taking its battle against US "imperialism" into Venezuelans' vocabulary, urging state phone company workers to eschew English-language business and tech terms that have crept into the local vernacular. Through a campaign launched Monday, newly nationalized CANTV hopes to wean employees and others from words like "staff" ("equipo"), "marketing" ("mercadeo") and "password" ("contrasena"). Stickers and banners printed up by the company exhort Venezuelans to "Say it in Spanish. Say it with pride."

The Communications and Information Ministry said in a statement that Venezuelans must recover Spanish words that are "threatened by sectors that have started a battle for the cultural domination of our nations."
Posted by: Fred || 02/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The French went thru this awhile back, fighting against le cheeseburger and such. How did that work out for them? Hopefully, Hugo will pursue this to the level of comic buffoonery.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/26/2008 0:28 Comments || Top||

#2  There are (almost) a million words in English but only 250,000 in Spanish.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/26/2008 7:05 Comments || Top||

#3  A centrally run language will fail in exactly the same way as a centrally run economy and for the same reasons!
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/26/2008 7:12 Comments || Top||

#4  "we also prohibit such gringo words as 'profit', 'income', 'low inflation', 'infrastructure maintenance', etc....although you will not likely have the need for them in our socialist paradise future anyway!"
Posted by: Frank G || 02/26/2008 8:35 Comments || Top||

#5  How about "pendejo estupido"?
Posted by: mojo || 02/26/2008 12:51 Comments || Top||

#6  Spanish, French, Italian and many other European languages are all vulgar anyway. If Hugo and the French really want to deny the evolution of languages and be such purists about it they should be speaking Latin. What about TV, Hugo? What do you call that? How do you come up with a Spanish word for something that was invented by English speaking Americans? But don't feel too bad. Any language that can come up with terms like "pendejo estupido" is OK with me. :)
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/26/2008 15:07 Comments || Top||

#7  I share an office with a fellow from Venezuela. When I told him about Hugo's latest stupidity, he said that most Venezuelans would probably respond by saying "OK" - a very American expression.
Posted by: Rambler in California || 02/26/2008 16:20 Comments || Top||

#8  Let's go a little further in this moronic thought game. The Spanish came in as invaders. So get rid of the imperialistic Spanish language and all the related trappings, hardware, etc, and while you are at it, burn all the wheels.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/26/2008 16:22 Comments || Top||

#9  Was it somewhere here this week that it was reported that there are over 1,600 languages in the world today, but that only 700 or so are expected to be around 100 years from now?

Maybe Hugo's Spanish is on the proverbial chopping block, eh?
Posted by: BA || 02/26/2008 20:09 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Strike a chord: Axeman Eric Clapton to break cultural isolation of North Korea
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 02/26/2008 14:49 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I just lost all respect for Clapton.

North of the DMZ, if you go there you see -- Pyongyang.
The people all getting ground down into the ground -- Pyongyang.
Then they die, then they die, then they die -- Pyongyang.

When your day is done there is nowhere to run -- Pyongyang.
There is no bad news where the Dear Leader rules -- Pyongyang.
Land of lies, land of lies, land of lies -- Pyongyang.

If you speak your mind, then very soon you find -- Pyongyang.
Sent to a prison camp, you can't ever come back -- Pyongyang.
There you die, there you die, there you die -- Pyongyang.
Posted by: Mike || 02/26/2008 17:38 Comments || Top||

#2  HMMMM, HMMMM, what doth PAULA "YOU'VE GOT TO REMEMBER I'M FOREVER YOUR GIRL" ABDUL remembereth of ERIC CLAPTON + NORTH KOREA.

Some days it just doesn't pay to get out of bed - i.e. the only way for People + the World to learn is to let them blow themselves up into smithereenies, to let them put themselves at the brink of near self-extinction and destruction, TO LET THEM ENTRAP THEMSELVES IN THEIR OWN MANIPULATIONS, DECEPTIONS, HYPER-CORRECTNESS, SELFISH VANITIES + MALICES.

E.g. FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE > USA + GWOT > USA WINS ALL THE BATTLES BUT LOST IT SOUL + NATION TO COMMUNISM-SOCIALISM, wid the latter LEADING THE CHARGE AGAINST THEMSELVES AND THEIR OWN -ISM IN ORDER TO EMPOWER THEIR -ISM.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/26/2008 21:19 Comments || Top||


Europe
MEPs fail in bid to declassify internal EU report on massive expenses fraud
All attempts to publish a secret report allegedly revealing "fraud on a massive scale" by European parliamentarians were "steamrolled" today, officials said.

The internal European Parliament report allegedly pointing to abuse of staff allowances by EU lawmakers will remain confidential for now after attempts by parliamentarians to have it declassified failed.

"All attempts to vote on (calling for the report to be declassified) were steamrolled," British Liberal Democrat Chris Davies said. His political group and the Greens were pushing for the report to be released, while many Conservatives and Socialists were against it.

Under the chamber's rules, the report by its internal auditor assessing the system for paying staff has been available only to a handful of lawmakers on the budget control committee and some senior deputies, none of whom is allowed to discuss it with anyone.

Only the parliament's bureau - consisting of presidents and vice presidents of the political groups and financial officials - can declassify an audit of the assembly. Today, some parliamentarians pressed for the report to be made public, while others wanted to keep it confidential.

Danish lawmaker Jens-Peter Bonde said the audit was being kept sealed and under guard in what he described as a "confidential reading room."

Nevertheless, some lawmakers who have seen it have said they are worried about the way funds for assistants and other support staff are spent, and some have called for the system to be overhauled.

Under the current rules, each of the 785 MEPs can claim around 16,000 Euros (£11,700) a month a month to pay their employees.

Anybody, including family members, can be employed by parliamentarians as an assistant, and there are three different methods of contracting staff and 27 different national taxation, social security and administrative systems. Some assistants work in Brussels and others work in the member states.

"MEPs have the democratic right to manage their funds whichever way they want," Spanish Conservative lawmaker Jose Javier Pomes Ruiz said.

But Davies said the report - a copy of which is already being studied by the EU's anti-fraud body, OLAF - lists what appeared to be cases of "grossly unethical behavior rather than lawbreaking."

He said in one case a parliamentarian claimed to have paid his assistant a Christmas bonus 19 times his salary, and in other instances money had been paid to what appeared to be fictitious service providers.

"There's suspicion of tax evasion and circumvention of labor law," Austrian independent lawmaker Hans-Peter Martin said.

European Parliament spokesman Jaume Duch Guillot said that although the audit did not reveal any individual cases of fraud, it would still implement a new, central recruitment system for support staff after the next European elections in 2009.

The legislature has already reformed the much-criticized pay-and-perks deal for its members in an effort to shed its "gravy train" reputation.

From next year, salary disparities between politicians from different countries will disappear and lawmakers will no longer be able to claim expenses without proper receipts.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 02/26/2008 14:51 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Nazi Treasure Found?
DEUTSCHKATHARINENBERG, Germany - German treasure hunters began digging Tuesday for what they say may be plunder buried by the Nazis in a man-made cavern near the Czech border.

The area's mayor, Hans-Peter Haustein, and a man who believes he found the coordinates for the buried booty in a notebook among his deceased father's belongings, maintain that a scan of the spot has revealed that a large quantity of metal is about 20 meters below the surface.

They believe it to be either gold or silver, based on the scan with a sophisticated metal detector.

A drilling company began boring pilot holes at one-yard intervals trying to find the entrance of the cavern, about 100 yards from the Czech border in the eastern German state of Saxony. Once it is found, the searchers are to snake a camera down into the enclosure to determine exactly what they have found. "It can't be iron," Haustein said as work progressed at the site. "The computer readout clearly indicates gold."

By late afternoon, however, the most excitement for a crowd of onlookers from the tiny settlement was a short-lived geyser of water that shot up as one of the holes was drilled.

Haustein — an amateur treasure hunter who is also a member of Germany's parliament for the opposition Free Democratic Party — said the process could take several days. He has been working with Christian Hanisch, who found the notebook in the belongings of his father, a former Luftwaffe radio operator who died last year.

Haustein said last week that he was convinced they had found the storied Amber Room treasure but later acknowledged that, while there could be "cultural treasures" in the cavern, such as paintings or amber paneling, they are not things that show up with a metal detector.

The Amber Room — named for magnificent wall panels of golden-brown amber — was stolen by the Nazis from a palace outside St. Petersburg during World War II and has never been recovered in its entirety.

Experts have been skeptical of Haustein's claim, pointing out that stories of the Amber Room surface regularly, only to be proved wrong, and that the Amber Room had no significant amounts of gold or silver in it.
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/26/2008 14:09 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


EU hopes to launch Libya talks this year
BRUSSELS - The European Union hopes to launch talks on closer political and economic ties with Libya this year as part of a drive to boost ties with key energy suppliers, an EU official said on Monday. The European Commission is expected on Wednesday to propose a mandate for it to conduct negotiations on behalf of the bloc in areas covering trade, economic cooperation and migration. The mandate has to be approved by the EU’s 27 member states.

‘We want a substantial agreement covering the political, trade and cooperation,’ an EU official said, adding that the hope was to launch the talks this year.
Most of all, they want the oil.
EU ties with Libya were stalled for years over charges that the Libyan government supported terrorism. But Brussels announced in July it would boost ties after Tripoli freed Bulgarian medics accused of infecting Libyan children with HIV. In the deal struck to secure the liberation of the medics, the EU held out the prospect of increased market access for Libya in fisheries and agricultural products, as well as cooperation on migration and tourism.

Europe imports the bulk of Libya’s oil exports and European firms are keen to expand energy investment there. The EU also wants Libya to help in sea patrols aimed at stemming a flood of illegal migrants from Africa.

The EU official said it was not clear whether the EU talks would take place under the auspices of the EU’s so-called Barcelona process, which Libya has appeared reluctant to embrace given requirements for political and economic liberalisation.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Belgian parties reach first reform deal since polls
BRUSSELS - Belgium’s political parties finally agreed Monday on new reforms, setting aside key differences that have prevented them from forming a government almost nine months after general elections. ‘At last there is an agreement for our country,’ said the leader of the French-speaking Socialists, Elio Di Rupo, after a ‘wiseman’s group’ from the main parties hammered out an accord overnight on a first raft of reforms.
Yasss, unity for Belgium. For what it's worth. This government will fall before the Italian government falls again.
Dutch-speaking parties-who represent around 60 percent of Belgium’s 10.5 million population-also welcomed the deal, even though the reforms fall short of the powers they have been seeking for the Flanders region. Belgium’s next likely prime minister, Dutch-speaker Yves Leterme, said he saw in the compromise package a ‘broad spectrum’ of the demands that he had been making.

The issue of ‘institutional reform’-essentially the devolution of powers to the regions-goes to the heart of the kingdom’s political woes, which came to a head following the failure to form a government after elections last June. Belgium’s francophones-living mainly in the poorer southern region of Wallonia and the officially bilingual Brussels capital region-fear that a big loss of federal power could lead to the break-up of the country.

The reform agreement would see the handover of relatively minor federal powers like control over rental legislation, child minding, and a say in where large commercial enterprises may build.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They still around?
I thought the New EU [from the same minds that brought you New Coke] replaced them.
It's like seeing an ad for some 80s MTV band on tour [those clowns must be in their 50s by now - hip surgery is going to be a growth profession].
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/26/2008 8:48 Comments || Top||


New Leader Seeks Unity In Cyprus
The decades-long division of Cyprus could be resolved by the end of the year, the leader of the breakaway Turkish Cypriots said Monday, a day after Greek Cypriots elected a new president. President-elect Dimitris Christofias had campaigned on a pledge to act quickly to restart long-stalled talks to reunify the island. "I believe that it won't be a surprise if we solve the problem by the end of 2008," Mehmet Ali Talat told reporters.

Decades of diplomatic efforts to heal the rift on the strategic island have failed.
Which leads me to believe nothing's gonna happen this year, either.
Reunification would remove one of the obstacles to Turkey's efforts to join the EU and could ease strong objections to Kosovo's new independence among Greek Cypriots, who fear it would act as a precedent for north Cyprus. The island's division is also a major source of tension between NATO allies Turkey and Greece.

Cyprus has been divided into a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north and a Greek Cypriot south since 1974, when Turkey invaded in the wake of a coup attempting to unite the island with Greece. Talks have been stalled since Greek Cypriots rejected a UN reunification plan in 2004. Turkish Cypriots approved the blueprint.

Christofias' election Sunday, after the ouster of hardline Tassos Papadopoulos in a surprise first-round election result last week, has sparked hope for eventual healing of the division.
Posted by: Fred || 02/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Greeks and Turks living on the same island? What they need is a great, big wall to keep them from each other's throats.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/26/2008 15:16 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Oliver Stone Compares Castro with Obama
BTW, Forbes 2006 listed Castro's wealth at $900 million. Viva Revolución for the little people.
Posted by: ed || 02/26/2008 09:13 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wait a second...Ollie wants him to win, right?
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/26/2008 9:41 Comments || Top||

#2  There's a nice campaign commercial.

(Maybe better than McCain's sound bite stating Hillary Clinton will be a fine President.)
Posted by: eLarson || 02/26/2008 9:53 Comments || Top||

#3  I believe it was CNN > many Cuban govt. bureacrats and commercial employees, instead of working for their usual US$15.0 per month average wage, prefer instead to go outdoors and do their own thing, AND NOT BOTHER WITH PAPERWORK, STATE JOBS, OR ANYTHING ELSE. AM-11:00A > "WORK", EVERY HOUR AFTER THAT IS R-N-R SIESTA???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/26/2008 21:01 Comments || Top||


Hillary Clinton supporter stabs Barack Obama backer
THE US presidential race has become a blood sport, with a family feud over which Democratic candidate was the best person for the job spilling over into a full-blown fight, with punches thrown and a man stabbed.

The incident took place last week, when Jose Antonio Ortiz began arguing with his brother-in-law Sean Shurelds about Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, US website The Smoking Gun has reported. Mr Ortiz, 28 is a Clinton supporter. Mr Shurelds, 41, is an Obama man.

The argument began when Mr Shurelds looked Mr Ortiz in the eye and said that Senator Obama was "trashing" the former first lady, in a reference to the 11 straight nominating victories he has had since Super Tuesday. Mr Ortiz fired back with the following comeback: "Obama is not a realist".

The comments apparently enraged each man so much that push came to shove, which then escalated into a full-blown fight - even including a choke-hold. Since the argument was taking place in the kitchen, knives were close at hand and during the melee Mr Shurelds was stabbed in the stomach.

Mr Ortiz has been charged with aggravated assault by Pennsylvania police. Mr Shurelds was taken to hospital in a critical condition.
Posted by: tipper || 02/26/2008 08:52 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They smile in your face
All the time they wanna take your place
The Barack-stabbers (Barack-stabbers)
Posted by: Mike || 02/26/2008 10:38 Comments || Top||


'Hope of the Entire World': Nation of Islam's Farrakhan Sings Obama's Praises
"A black man with a white mother became a savior to us. A black man with a white mother could turn out to be one who can lift America from her fall."
Oh, yasss, Mr Minister! Where do I sign up?
Posted by: Fred || 02/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Too rich! One must wonder how many millions of dollars that superbly timed Farrakhan endoresment cost Bill Clinton. I'd love to see that recent photo of "W" waving a sematar in The Kingdom photoshopped with Obamas face. More "man dress" photos too please.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/26/2008 1:05 Comments || Top||

#2  All the sudden he's black now? What happened? I thought he was an Uncle Tom?
Posted by: gromky || 02/26/2008 4:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Fall? We're in a fall?
I honestly didn't know.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 02/26/2008 7:28 Comments || Top||

#4  I heard all about that goofy looking Somali picture this morning...but not a word about this.
Wonder why that is?
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/26/2008 9:32 Comments || Top||

#5  This is from someone who embraces Islam - where "the black man has the heart of a donkey and is only fit to be a slave..." (as noted in the Koran)
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/26/2008 10:18 Comments || Top||

#6  "A black man with a white mother became a savior to us"

Did a double take at this one
Posted by: john frum || 02/26/2008 12:46 Comments || Top||

#7  I suppose he could've said, "Where da white wimmen at?" but that's already been done...
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/26/2008 12:54 Comments || Top||

#8  A black man with a white mother became a savior to us.

Hahahahahahahaha!!!

Coming from Farrakhan that's a laugh riot. I suspect he's speaking of a certain Jewish carpenter, and not a certain pagan idolater who saw a meteor crash into the desert.

Posted by: FOTSGreg || 02/26/2008 21:19 Comments || Top||

#9  "that goofy looking Somali picture"

When I first saw it, I thought it was a picture of Aunt Jemima (except she was chubbier and prettier).
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 02/26/2008 22:04 Comments || Top||

#10  Savior?

Sorry, already have one. Amd the one I have is truly a Diety, not a socialist little tin god.
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/26/2008 23:47 Comments || Top||


AP Poll: Obama Catches Clinton Across US
Barack Obama has taken clear leads over Hillary Rodham Clinton among white men, middle-income earners and liberals, allowing him to catch his faltering rival in their race for the Democratic presidential nomination, a national poll showed Monday.
If I didn't dislike Madam Clinton so much I'd feel sorry for her. But I do, so I don't.
The Associated Press-Ipsos poll highlights how the bottom is falling out among some supporters of Clinton, the New York senator, since the last survey was taken two weeks ago. Since that poll, Obama has gained momentum by winning 11 consecutive primaries and caucuses while taking a small lead among delegates to the party's convention this summer.

The Illinois senator leads Clinton by 23 percentage points among white men and by 17 points among liberals—groups that were evenly divided between the two in early February. He has a similar advantage among people earning $50,000 to $100,000 annually—whom she led earlier by 13 points.

Clinton maintains robust leads among some groups that have been cornerstones of her candidacy, including those age 65 and up, white women and people earning under $50,000 annually. Overall, Obama has 46 percent to Clinton's 43 percent, a virtual tie. Clinton had a slight 5 point lead nationally in early February.
Posted by: Fred || 02/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Obama 'iceberg' has hit the Clintonic, and it's beginning to list, Frank G must really be squirming over this development!! Will he 'run for the lifeboat or go down with the ship'???
Posted by: smn || 02/26/2008 3:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Given up on Carol, smn?
Posted by: Bobby || 02/26/2008 6:05 Comments || Top||

#3  ?? smn, you're an idiot.
Posted by: Frank G || 02/26/2008 8:38 Comments || Top||

#4  So, what do we have here Frank G..."kill the messenger, not the message"!? Bobby (#2), Carol is a non event, lower than Nader and scratching the barrel bottom with Jackson-Lee.
Frank G, 'Tinfoil' me, call me an idiot, berate my intelligence, but after these elections, i'll still be here, you'll be here. I'll still read your opins and respect your positions.
Posted by: smn || 02/26/2008 18:48 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
India test fires submarine launched ballistic missile
India on Tuesday successfully test-fired the submarine-launched ballistic missile codenamed K-15, extending to sea India’s critical third leg of the nuclear triad.

DRDO said the missile was launched from a pontoon located 50 metres underwater and was seen exiting the sea. K-15 is a two-stage missile with a range of 700 km and can carry a one-tonne nuclear warhead.

The missile is planned to be integrated onto India's ATV, the indigenous nuclear submarine which will reportedly begin sea trials next year. Previously codenamed ‘Sagarika’, this missile has been test-fired five times earlier from underwater pontoons under a secret programme.
Posted by: john frum || 02/26/2008 05:24 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ‘Sagarika’ missile test-fired successfully
Posted by: john frum || 02/26/2008 15:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Shabash!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/26/2008 17:16 Comments || Top||


International-UN-NGOs
Malaria Can Be Beaten In Many Places, Map Shows
Malaria kills one child every 30 seconds, yet in many parts of the world the disease is hanging on by a thread and could be wiped out by concerted action, researchers said on Tuesday.

The first new global malaria map in 40 years shows nearly half the 2.37 billion people at risk from the mosquito-borne killer live in areas where the chance of actually catching the disease is less than 0.01 percent a year.

Simon Hay of the University of Oxford said he was "very surprised" by the finding, which suggests swathes of Latin America and Asia -- and even parts of Africa -- face a significantly lower risk than previously thought.

"The situation isn't quite as dire for large parts of the planet as people had imagined and, with some concerted effort, we could make very big inroads with the tools that we've got," he said in an interview.

Simply using insecticide-treated bed nets more extensively could be enough to stamp out malaria in regions inhabited by almost 1 billion people.

"If mosquitoes don't get enough chances to bite, the transmission cycle wanes and disappears. In these very low transmission areas, you just need to push the disease a little bit and it should collapse," he said.

Eliminating malaria in marginal areas would provide a major boost to campaigns in sub-Saharan Africa, the region worst hit by the disease, where most of the world's more than 1 million malaria deaths occur each year.

Africa is home to almost all the places in the world where prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum, the most deadly malaria parasite, is above 50 percent. Yet even in Africa, significant areas are more amenable to control than previously thought.

Now all we have to do is convince the powers that be that some of the gazillions proposed to be spent on the imaginary problem of global warming be spent solving a real problem that destroys millions of lives.
Posted by: phil_b || 02/26/2008 05:02 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Does this guy realize that mosquitoes bite anything with blood, not just humans?

I think he has a good point though, attack it where you can win easily and save a lot of people for the price of a few square feet of netting.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 02/26/2008 7:21 Comments || Top||

#2  The anti-DDT crowd has a strong Paul Ehrlich bent to it. They don't talk about it much, but they actually like the idea of population control via mosquito borne disease. Fewer poor people using up resources.
Posted by: Iblis || 02/26/2008 14:07 Comments || Top||

#3  The technique existed for 200 years---it's called immunization.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/26/2008 17:52 Comments || Top||

#4  I could certainly be wrong, grom, but I don't think there's an immunization for malaria.

I remember my parents going to Africa for Project Hope a couple of times after Daddy retired, and they had to take anti-malarial drugs for 6 weeks (IIRC) before and after the trip. Daddy used to work for NIH, so if there were a shot they could take instead, I expect he'd have known.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 02/26/2008 19:52 Comments || Top||

#5  I think Barb's right after visiting the CDC site - they're working on one, but it's not ready/out yet. DDT spraying (at proper concentration levels, unlike before) would do more to save lives than anything. Kick an environmentalist's ass for killing African kids
Posted by: Frank G || 02/26/2008 21:09 Comments || Top||

#6  "killing African kids"

You know, Frank, people might not like me saying it, but I do believe that for the Western environazis, that's a feature, not a bug.

You'll notice "1st World" Western (i.e., white) children aren't the ones dying/being permanently debilitated. (And haven't been for what, 75 or more years?) If it were the enviros' kids, they might think differently. Or maybe not.

Pfui. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 02/26/2008 22:01 Comments || Top||


Wheat, Corn, Soyabeans hit record high prices
Posted by: phil_b || 02/26/2008 04:35 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If you thought gas prices got the population riled, you wait till momma comes home from grocery shopping next year. Can you say Biofuel Mr. Congresscritter?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/26/2008 8:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Financial Times: Spring wheat at the Minneapolis Grain Exchange surged an unprecedented $4.75 to a record high of $24 a bushel as consumers scrambled to secure supplies and speculators poured fresh money into the agriculture market.

The price of spring wheat, used to bake bread, has more than doubled since January and has risen fourfold in the last year, contributing to a rise in global food inflation. Gavin Maguire, of Iowa Grain in Chicago, said consumers such as mills and bakers, who needed wheat, were “panicking”. He said: “Historical references are useless. We are breaking all the rules.”

Iraq and Turkey said they were planning substantial wheat purchases to replenish inventories and analysts said China could be forced to follow because of drought damage to its next crop.

Global suppliesare scarce after extreme weather damaged the crops in Australia, Canada and the European Union. As a result, the US is experiencing record demand and its inventories are set to drop to the lowest for 60 years.


One bushel for one barrel. We're getting there.
Posted by: ed || 02/26/2008 9:25 Comments || Top||

#3  Maybe science will come up with a device that will turn the fuel in SUVs back into Corn Flakes. Or, maybe we could drink the Bio-Fuel and skip the flakes.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 02/26/2008 11:37 Comments || Top||

#4  Turning food into fuel has to be one of the stupidest effing idea in history.
Of course, it is popular with the farmers, because it means higher prices for their crops. Which makes the politicians from the farm states happy.
If America truly wants independence from foreign oil, we should start drilling some of the reserves we have ourselves, like ANWR and off the California coast.
Posted by: Rambler in California || 02/26/2008 11:50 Comments || Top||

#5  The article refers to prices going up. But what happens when we start turning more of our foodstuff's into fuel. Food shortages perhaps? This can't end well.

Time to start converting more of fossil fuels into useful stuff like gasoline, diesel and heating fuels. Stop shipping our Sour Crude to Japan. Not mention as previously by well stated by Rambler, start drilling for the stuff we have available.

But at last check, the environmentalists don't want that to happen and have to much to say about increased domestic fuel production and drilling.
Freakin sad.
Posted by: Delphi || 02/26/2008 12:41 Comments || Top||

#6  Even the Financial Times won't state the obvious. Prices rise in a market until demand equals supply. Reducing demand for food means people eating less.

Now that is political dynamite. Khazakstan is the latest country to ban wheat exports to limit prices rises at home.

And that will be the pattern. I think even the USA will succumb if shortages continue and prices will continue to rise.

If you thought oil was strategic. It will be nothing compared to food in a time of global shortages.

Then the globalized trade system falls apart?
Posted by: phil_b || 02/26/2008 18:41 Comments || Top||

#7  Not that I'd want to be around to see it, but if the sunspots have taken a long vacation and the world chills again, you can kiss those Canada and Northern Plains wheat fields goodbye. Toss that into the computations.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/26/2008 18:58 Comments || Top||

#8  Don't worry, folks. We will have all the Soylent Green that we can handle to make up the shortfall of wheat.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/26/2008 19:30 Comments || Top||

#9  This story is about wheat and its price surge due to bad weather, hoarding, and generally increased demand. Soybeans are barely mentioned and corn is not mentioned. 90% of U.S. biofuels production is from corn. Some of you guys are projecting the MSM "biofuels are taking food off our table" theme that has little to do with wheat.

Corn-to-ethanol will drive up animal feed costs and meat costs and will shift more soybean production from the U.S. to Brazil (neither of which is a good thing for us), but singing the blues over that right now is like defending global warming with the argument that it was cooler yesterday than today.

We will get our "food versus fuel" priorities straight about corn only after the government gets out of the market-tampering subsidy business. Unfortunately, thanks to government market tampering, the U.S. soybean business will probably be wrecked by the time we decide corn-to-fuel is not the best answer to our energy needs. Then soybean farming will be largely lost to Brazil and corn farming here will crash.
Posted by: Darrell || 02/26/2008 20:25 Comments || Top||

#10  From the linked article,

March corn rose 11 cents to settle at $5.3325 a bushel after earlier hitting a record $5.4175 a bushel.

BTW, do you know which country is the world's largest importer of wheat?

Answer: Brazil
Posted by: phil_b || 02/26/2008 21:45 Comments || Top||

#11  Procopius, the problem will be much bigger across Russia, Ukraine and Khazakstan.

No bread and nuclear missiles.
Posted by: phil_b || 02/26/2008 21:49 Comments || Top||

#12  Darrell, you are of course free to disagree with my interpretation of the facts, but I do endeavour to get my facts right and my headline is factually correct.
Posted by: phil_b || 02/26/2008 22:02 Comments || Top||

#13  Time for Payback:

Screw OPEC we got OGEC
Organization of the Grain Exporting Countries
Posted by: Farmin B Hard Ass || 02/26/2008 22:33 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Argentina, Brazil to jointly build n-subs
Posted by: 3dc || 02/26/2008 16:50 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  this should keep them occupied, with little product. Better they invested in a force against FARC and Hugo
Posted by: Frank G || 02/26/2008 21:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, the Kirchners are pretty much bought-and-paid-for by Hugo, didn't you see the whole thread of articles about the money laundering?
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman || 02/26/2008 23:08 Comments || Top||


Air (Compressed) Car from Zero Pollution Motors
there was an article back in 2007 about this same concept- nobody other than employees of ZPM has driven the test vehicles

--------


Zero Pollution Motors (ZPM) confirmed to PopularMechanics.com on Thursday that it expects to produce the world’s first air-powered car for the United States by late 2009 or early 2010... Company officials want to make the first air-powered car to hit U.S. roads...to travel as far as 1000 miles at up to 96 mph with each tiny fill-up.
---------
Apparently, compressed air on board the vehicle and the compressed air drives the engine. In some paragraphs, the compressed air is placed in the vehicle at a service station. In some paragraphs the vehicle carries a pump.
Posted by: mhw || 02/26/2008 09:07 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I would imagine you'd want a pump in case you run out, sort of a last ditch get you the extra couple of miles to the net tank deal.

Also compressed air is a bit explosive, I think, so you have to wonder if the tanks are extra thick and if the mileage is any good. I hope it all works out but it almost sounds too good to be true.

I can imagine a Flintstones like setup with pedal powered air compression so you can make the kids bike their way across the country from the backseat, not replacing but suplmenting the compressed air.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/26/2008 10:02 Comments || Top||

#2  Of course in the flintstone case you have to have the vehicle sufficiently stable so that the vehicle won't tip over if a driver gets the extra large serving of ribs handed him at the take out window.
Posted by: mhw || 02/26/2008 12:19 Comments || Top||

#3  When the idea first came out, I investigated it thoroughly.
There are some serious disadvantages to using ccompressed air, that have nothing to do with the concept of "Emissions Free".

The main problem is heat, you allow compresed air to expand and whatever it's expanding in gets very cold.
This automaticly requires use in a hot climate or you have to provide some sort of heater, (There goes your economy)as your engine will freeeze up.
In the same vein the air you compress MUST be dehydrated (Dry) or you destroy your engine with ice chunks going through it.

The actual engine is nothing new, simply a multiple-cylinder modernized steam engine, the fact it's using compressed air instead of steam has no difference in operation, it even allows the use of seals and piston rings (Etc) that have no need to withstand steam temperatures, a huge benefit.

Aluminum and plastic, not cast iron, streel and bronze, much cheaper and much lighter.

But the disadvantages are,

1. the need to heat the compressed air as it expands through the engine, here's why the outside air tempeature is important, in a hot climate, the heating is free, the surrounding air provides your heating free.

A huge benefit, you also get free air conditioning, simply duct some of the engine's surrounding air into the cabin, you cannot use the exhaust, it must have a bit of oil fog in it to make the engine survive.

But in a cold clime heat must be applied, that requires some heat source, electric resistance, or fuel oil and that alone is the flaw in this otherwise good idea.

Air compression is no difficulty, in welding we use liquid nitrogen delivered in a pressuized sealed stainless "bottle" and it's relatively inexpensive, (About 40 gallons a bottle). that's your "Fuel", no, heat is the problem the concept is worthless unless the air is hot or very warm. say 70 farenheit minimum, the hotter the better.

Good idea, serious disadvantages in use.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/26/2008 14:03 Comments || Top||

#4  I am trying to NOT think of what would happen if this vehicle ever got into an accident (very light construction, ultra-high air pressures, probably such a low height that it needs a pole & flag to be seen). Probably safer to be on a high performance motorcycle, in traffic, without safety gear.
Posted by: Throger Thains8048 || 02/26/2008 14:13 Comments || Top||

#5  Maybe I'm missing something. Doesn't it take some sort of energy to compress the air to begin with?

Doesn't this simply transfer the emission to the 'air' station or power plant or something?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/26/2008 14:21 Comments || Top||

#6  OK, the graphics in the article show a 4 wheel, rounded brick. The aerodynamics look marginal for higher speeds. Other than the possible need for a pole & flags for visibility (hard to tell height from graphic) the rest of my previous comments stand.
Posted by: Throger Thains8048 || 02/26/2008 14:24 Comments || Top||

#7  Doesn't this simply transfer the emission to the 'air' station or power plant or something?

No, even though it takes energy to do the work, by compressing the air and moving it somewhere else, it magically becomes free and non-polluting. It's like science and stuff.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/26/2008 17:05 Comments || Top||

#8  I'm not at all sure this concept will actually work.

But if it did work, the point of pollution would be the electrical generating plants. Some of these are zero or near zero pollution themselves (e.g. hydro).Coal powered generation is relatively dirty but since nearly all the pollution is at the stack it is controllable.
Posted by: mhw || 02/26/2008 19:15 Comments || Top||

#9  We just need nuclear electric generation and that problem's solved.

When Mad Max days are upon us this thing will be godsend as we won't be fighting Humungus, the Ayotollah of Rock and rolla for the Gasoline and to rule the wasteland.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/26/2008 19:27 Comments || Top||

#10  I am trying to NOT think of what would happen if this vehicle ever got into an accident (very light construction, ultra-high air pressures, probably such a low height that it needs a pole & flag to be seen). Probably safer to be on a high performance motorcycle, in traffic, without safety gear.

The tanks (there are two I believe) are made out of carbon fiber: light and strong, but it doesn't explode very well when punctured.
Posted by: Secret Master || 02/26/2008 19:48 Comments || Top||

#11  "75-hp equivalent"
This is going to require a pretty big electrical plug back at the house.

Generating electricity has a fair amount of inefficiency at the power plant. A lot of thermal energy is lost up the stacks and out the cooling towers. Then you have your air compressor at home that is least efficient in hot weather. And be sure you allow for energy for an air dryer or you will be compressing a lot of moisture into your car tank. Then you have your "75-hp equivalent" air motor in your car that is least efficient in cold weather. And God help you in a traffic accident when that tank ruptures.

There are good reasons why why we don't use a lot of air motors in industry. Inefficiency is the big one. Maintenance hassle is a close second.
Posted by: Darrell || 02/26/2008 19:49 Comments || Top||

#12  From my student days when I worked in a number of factories, I recall compressed air driven machinery was fairly common. Although the compressed air was piped through the plant. I assume because compressed air was safer to use in some kinds of machinery than electricity.
Posted by: phil_b || 02/26/2008 20:13 Comments || Top||

#13  Air motors are used in the petro-chemical industries where they are cheaper than explosion-proof electric motors, but most compressed air motive power in the factories I've visited is in the form of either air cylinders (pistons) or diaphragm pumps (also sort of pistons), not rotary air motors.
Posted by: Darrell || 02/26/2008 20:49 Comments || Top||

#14  Excellent idea, numbnuts. Riding around with a pressurized cylinder in my car sounds brilliant.

There's a reason it's illegal to drive around with a pressurized clinder in your car.
Posted by: Mike N. || 02/26/2008 21:28 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
U.S. tightens sanctions on Myanmar
(Kyodo)—The Treasury Department said Monday it is slapping more economic sanctions against businesses and individuals liked to Myanmar's military junta as part of efforts to mount pressure on the Southeast Asian nation on human rights abuses.
Hasn't had any effect since 1962, but what the hey? Can't think of anything else to do, unless we feel like invading.
The action targets Asia World Co., a Myanmar company controlled by Steven Law and his father, Lo Hsing Han, which the Treasury branded as "two key financial operatives" of the Myanmar government. Law's wife, Cecilia Ng, is also covered by the order.

It also takes action against some businesses connected to Tay Za, portrayed by the United States as a Myanmar business tycoon and arms dealer with close ties to Myanmar's junta. It is the second action taken against Tay Za's business network this month.

"Unless the ruling junta in Burma halts the violent oppression of its people, we will continue to target those like Steven Law who sustain it and who profit corruptly because of that support," Stuart Levey, the Treasury's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement.
Posted by: Fred || 02/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The action targets Asia World Co., a Myanmar company controlled by Steven Law and his father, Lo Hsing Han

I wonder if they own land in Arkansas?
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/26/2008 1:21 Comments || Top||


Home Front Economy
Nuke plant shutdown cuts power in Fla.
MIAMI - Florida's largest electric company shut down a nuclear reactor south of Miami for safety reasons Tuesday, causing sporadic power outages covering large portions of the state that could last well into the night. More than 3 million people are affected, the state says.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said that the two Florida Power & Light nuclear reactors at its Turkey Point power point 30 miles south of Miami automatically shut down. Two other power plants farther north, the Crystal River reactor and St. Lucie twin reactors, in the state continued to operate, although officials at those two facilities noticed the grid disturbance.

"We don't know whether the grid disturbance caused the units to shut down or that their shut down caused the grid disturbance," said Kenneth Clark, a spokesman at the NRC regional office in Atlanta. He said the two reactors were automatically shut down and in safe standby.

"There are no safety concerns. The reactors shut down as designed," said Clark in a telephone interview. He said both reactor continued to have offsite electric power. He said two coal-burning power plants at Turkey Point also shut down.

FPL in several media interviews estimated that power should be up statewide within 10 hours. The company did not return repeated calls from The Associated Press or speak to a reporter in the lobby of its Juno Beach headquarters.

Outages appear to be concentrated in the southeast portion of the state, including Miami, but were also reported in along the southwest coast and northeastern part of the state as well as in the Florida Keys. The outages began shortly after 1 p.m. EST, though power in some affected areas had been restored an hour later.
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/26/2008 15:17 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  think of all the poor bastards trapped in elevators
Posted by: Frank G || 02/26/2008 18:38 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm dying to hear the excuse of the actual person responsible for the sub-station's maintenance. He or she gets up everyday with the sole purpose of keeping that network primed, running efficiently and reporting problems. Ohh boy I can't wait for the 'blackbox' paper work to be revealed! Here comes..."But it was an unmanned facility!".
Posted by: smn || 02/26/2008 19:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Think of all the poor bastards that are gonna miss the Early Bird Specials...
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/26/2008 19:09 Comments || Top||

#4  As usual, the title is unsupported by the article. FOUR units, two nukes and two coalies, went offline.
Posted by: Ptah || 02/26/2008 19:32 Comments || Top||

#5  What's ironic about this is that this nuke plant was planning on expanding soon (at least 1 more reactor). Guess the "greenies" will keep that from happening, even though the plant shut down as it was supposed to, w/o any releases.

And, the other ironic thing is, this very plant was just featured in an episode of CSI-Miami as a terror target. Of course, it was a rerun, so I don't think it's "coincidence".
Posted by: BA || 02/26/2008 20:41 Comments || Top||

#6  And, Frank, think of the chaos of the combination of being stuck in an elevator with NO Starbucks to boot!

Oh, the humanity.

Funny thing is, the article a buddy of mine sent me was written about all the chaos going on in Miami-Dade (a few accidents b/c of traffic lights out, schools shut down w/ parents rushing around to pick up kids, etc.), and then cut to interview some metrosexual in Boca Raton at the mall, saying "It is romantic" to eat at the food court w/o lights. What a trip.
Posted by: BA || 02/26/2008 20:45 Comments || Top||

#7  I'd rather be stuck without having had a grande mocha latte-extrahot piss-in-your-pants big ol' cup of discomfort (I guess you could refill the cup in the dark, huh?)
Posted by: Frank G || 02/26/2008 21:16 Comments || Top||

#8  They better get that shit up and running before November. Those clowns have a hard enough time voting as it is.
Posted by: Mike N. || 02/26/2008 21:18 Comments || Top||

#9  btw - Fox showed the So. Floridians' traffic manners. No wonder weapons are often displayed. The most ignorant, uninformed traffic manners I've ever seen...but I've never been in NY, so maybe I'm naive
Posted by: Frank G || 02/26/2008 21:19 Comments || Top||

#10  Yeah, there was a clip on NBC which showed two lanes of traffic in an intersection bisecting four lanes headed the other way. Real eye-popper: how'd that happen??
Posted by: KBK || 02/26/2008 23:17 Comments || Top||

#11  Frank G, they got nothing on the A-Holes that drive the beltway around DC, especially the Maryland side.
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/26/2008 23:37 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2008-02-26
  Wheelchair boomer kills cop in Samarra
Mon 2008-02-25
  Yemen foils attempt to bomb oil pipeline
Sun 2008-02-24
  Iraqi security forces kill 10 al-Qaida insurgents
Sat 2008-02-23
  Turk troops enter Iraq after Kurdish fighters
Fri 2008-02-22
  Morocco busts another terror cell
Thu 2008-02-21
  Thirty Taliban killed in joint strikes
Wed 2008-02-20
  Mullahs lose NWFP control after five years
Tue 2008-02-19
  Dulmatin titzup in Tawi-Tawi?
Mon 2008-02-18
  Explosion rocks West Texas oil refinery
Sun 2008-02-17
  Somali president unhurt in mortar attack on residence
Sat 2008-02-16
  Islamic Jihad commander kabooms himself, family, neighbors
Fri 2008-02-15
  Multiple explosions at TX pipelines near Mexican border
Thu 2008-02-14
  Muslim group 'planned mass murder'
Wed 2008-02-13
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Tue 2008-02-12
  Mansour Dadullah in custody in Pak


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