Could you put an appropriate text-encoding declaration in the head <head> section of the Rantburg page template? Apple Safari gives these pages the default encoding, which doesn't work well when people use curly-quotes.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
02/27/2008 7:59 Comments ||
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Followup:
When I set the page to UTF-8, the apostrophe in this headline worked, but the curly quotes two stories down don't.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
02/27/2008 8:07 Comments ||
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#3
I have a software routine that does the coversion. I have to open the article, though.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2008 14:21 Comments ||
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#4
G-d must love standards. There are too damn many of them.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
02/27/2008 21:40 Comments ||
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Im devastated to report that our dear friend, mentor, leader, and founder William F. Buckley Jr., died overnight in his study in Stamford, Connecticut.
After year of illness, he died while at work; if he had been given a choice on how to depart this world, I suspect that would have been exactly it. At home, still devoted to the war of ideas.
As you might expect, well have much more to say here and in NR in the coming days and weeks and months. For now: Thank you, Bill. God bless you, now with your dear Pat. Our deepest condolences to Christopher and the rest of the Buckley family. And our fervent prayer that we continue to do WFBs lifes work justice.
--Kathryn Jean Lopez
Posted by: Mike ||
02/27/2008 11:21 Comments ||
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....WFB was in many ways the godfather of the modern conservative movement. He'll be missed.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/27/2008 11:36 Comments ||
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He certainly had a huge impact on my nascent political thinking back in the '60s when I read his column in the New York papers. Which led me to his books and a subscription to NR when I was 16. I'll never forget his run for Mayor of NYC. When asked what he would do first if he won? "Demand a recount."
-------------
Again, the personal story. My wife began smoking (furtively) when 15, which is about when I also began. When we were both 27, on the morning after a high-pitched night on the town for New Year's Eve, we resolved on mortification of the flesh to make up for our excesses: We both gave up smoking. The next morning, we decided to divorce -- nothing less than that would distract us from the pain we were suffering. We came to, and flipped a coin -- the winner could resume smoking. I lost, and for deluded years thought myself the real loser, deprived of cigarettes. Half a year ago my wife died, technically from an infection, but manifestly, at least in part, from a body weakened by 60 years of nonstop smoking. I stayed off the cigarettes but went to the idiocy of cigars inhaled, and suffer now from emphysema, which seems determined to outpace heart disease as a human killer.
#6
WFB: simply put...a giant intellect of the latter 20th century. One man, one contemporary can claim the distinction of influencing TWO of the THREE GIANTS of the later part of the 20th century: An American President and an English Prime Minister. The THIRD GIANT of the later part of the 20th century - a Catholic Pope from Poland - well, he influenced WFB though I believe by and large they were both on the same page.
I watched his show FIRING LINE all the time when I was younger - he asked questions and discussed issues not brought up in any of the BIG THREE [CBS, NBC, ABC] or even Guam's early KUAM NEWS. Actually, GUAM TV > the BIG THREE was actually THE BIG TWO just beginning to move to 2-1/2. STATESIDE NEWS/ISSUES > for a long time twas only CRONKITE, and BUCKLEY.
BUCKLEY was also one of my personal inspirations to learn how to speak and write at the University-level. Unfortunately, the NET + TEXTING LONG AGO BEGAN ITS DASTARDLY FEEL-GOOD CORRUPTIONS.
Your sentiments are echoed throughout the blogosphere.
Your post brought a smile to my face when you wrote: "BUCKLEY was also one of my personal inspirations to learn how to speak and write at the University-level."
God love ya Joe, but there have been more than a few occasions when I wish I had had WFB's intellect to interpret some your postings.
I think it safe to say we both acknowledge the passing of a great man. Today is a sad day.
Al Gore spoke all over the world last year, right?
Over the past year, anecdotal evidence for a cooling planet has exploded. China has its coldest winter in 100 years. Baghdad sees its first snow in all recorded history. North America has the most snowcover in 50 years, with places like Wisconsin the highest since record-keeping began. Record levels of Antarctic sea ice, record cold in Minnesota, Texas, Florida, Mexico, Australia, Iran, Greece, South Africa, Greenland, Argentina, Chile -- the list goes on and on.
No more than anecdotal evidence, to be sure. But now, that evidence has been supplanted by hard scientific fact. All four major global temperature tracking outlets (Hadley, NASA's GISS, UAH, RSS) have released updated data. All show that over the past year, global temperatures have dropped precipitously.
A compiled list of all the sources can be seen here. The total amount of cooling ranges from 0.65C up to 0.75C -- a value large enough to wipe out nearly all the warming recorded over the past 100 years. All in one year's time. For all four sources, it's the single fastest temperature change ever recorded, either up or down.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/27/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Considering that warming was also seen on Mars and Saturn, its probbly safe to say the major factor is solar.
Man-made global warming is a hoax, as is CO2 being the cause of anthropogenic warming. Its a correlated stat (and only barely at that), not causative one. Its neither necessary nor sufficient.
#2
OWG "BUUUUUUUURRRRP, I'M MADONNA" MADONNA's Daddy "feeling so cold" > God help the world iff he suffers from a heart attack, stroke, or serious acid reflux???
#3
OS, I follow the GW debate closer than most and I'm a regular at Climate Audit.
I buy Svaalgard's argument it's not direct solar irradiance, which leaves an indirect solar effect - I.e. Svensmark's solar magnetic field's effect on cosmic rays and the consequent effect on cloud cover.
I realize this sounds science-fictionish to many people, but I find the argument persuasive. Especially give the plunge in temps during the current solar minimum.
Posted by: Al Gore ||
02/27/2008 9:14 Comments ||
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It wont phase ethe climate nuts one bit, they'll have some lame-ass quasi-scientific excuse for it. They'll say it's just a symptom of radical climate change brought about by global warming, the end result of global warming or some other such horseshit.
#7
Someone help me out here. The green-meanies have been screaming about how we're all gonna drown cause the polar ice is melting in 50, 12, 23, 47, years.
But I just read that the amount of ice in the arctic is back up this winter. Doesn't this mean that their dooms day clock has to start over now?
There seems to be something Sisyphusean about the whole thing. Like maybe Momma G. ain't listening to her supplicants.
Kofi Annan suspended day-to-day mediation talks in Kenya on Tuesday and said that he would now take up the remaining divisive issues with Kenyas leaders directly.
Someone asked the other day when was the last time these experts in conflict resolution ever actually resolved any conflicts.
If they solved all the world's conflicts they'd all be unemployed ...
Could they maybe solve one or two and take only a moderate pay cut?
Depends on the per diem ...
Mr. Annan, the former United Nations secretary general, seems to be growing increasingly frustrated with the pace of the negotiations, which have ground on for more than a month and are intended to solve a political crisis in Kenya that has cost more than 1,000 lives.
We cannot continue on the current basis, said Mr. Annan, who is shepherding the talks. Its important for the leaders themselves to take charge.
Mr. Annan said it was crucial to reach a comprehensive solution and not a patch-up job. Kenyas troubles started in late December after the national election commission declared Mwai Kibaki, the incumbent, the winner of a presidential election over Raila Odinga, the top opposition leader, despite widespread evidence of vote rigging. The turmoil that followed pitted supporters of Mr. Odinga against those of Mr. Kibaki in brutal battles that spread across the country and split many areas along ethnic lines. Mr. Odinga and Mr. Kibaki are from different ethnic groups, and the election seems to have kicked the lid off simmering political, ethnic and economic issues.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Looks like Kofi could use some help. Let's send Amr Moussa down as backup...see if we can keep this thing going til 2050.
A Nigerian tribunal upheld the 2007 election of President Umaru YarAdua on Tuesday, rejecting challenges from rivals who wanted the vote annulled because of massive rigging. The tribunal in Africas most populous nation ruled that opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari, YarAduas main opponent, had failed to prove that violations of the electoral law were substantial enough to invalidate the overall result.
The five-judge tribunal also rejected a challenge brought by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, who came third in the election that local and international observers said was marred by massive fraud. Umaru YarAdua and Goodluck Jonathan remain the president and vice-president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the ruling said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2008 00:00 ||
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A DESPERATE Robert Mugabe has asked China for a £25 billion loan to help repair Zimbabwe's shattered economy. The state-controlled Herald newspaper said industry and trade minister Obert Mpofu had confirmed the request by the Zimbabwean government. Mr Mpofu said the grant would help the Zimbabwe authorities "to take care of our immediate and future long-term requirements". It would also help stabilise the economy, he said.
Analysts warn that the crippling economic crisis could prove Mr Mugabe's downfall in next month's polls. For the first time, the 84-year-old president faces two tough challengers: Simba Makoni, the former finance minister, and the main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, who has already indicated he will ask for international help to rebuild the economy if he survives wins. Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate reached 100,580.2 per cent last month.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Turning to his Chicom pals is he. Must have read the Rantburg posts yesterday. Good on him.
#10
Notice that he didn't ask for it in Zim-bucks, but in real money.......
Also gotta wonder how many Ziminites(Zimbeans?) read the Herald to even know that Bob's a-beggin', what with bread costing so much and all, probably hard to scrape up the necessary 25k Zimbucks to buy a copy.......
My name is Bob and I have many Millions in the bank. The bank will let me withdraw if I put up a bond. If you will send me your loose change, I will share with you my Millions. Please respond soon.
Bangladesh's former prime minister Khaleda Zia was sued Tuesday for misappropriating 1.59 billion taka (about 22.7 million U.S. dollars) by awarding contract of production management and maintenance of a coal mine to a highest bidder foreign company .
Bangladesh Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the case alleging that the country's exchequer incurred a loss of 1.59 billion taka (about 22.7 million U.S. dollars) for awarding the contract of Barapukuria Coal Mine in the northwestern region of the country.
The ACC also sued eight former ministers of Khaleda's government, including former Finance and Planning Minister Saifur Rahman, former Local Government Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan and former Industry Minister Motiur Rahman Nizami.
ACC assistant director Samsul Alam filed the first information report (FIR) with Shahbag police station in capital Dhaka Tuesday afternoon accusing them of misusing power either to benefit themselves or benefiting others in awarding the contract to the highest bidder instead of the lowest.
This is the third case filed by the commission against Khaleda Zia. Earlier, on Sept. 2, 2007, she and her younger son Arafat Rahman Koko were sued in connection with another graft case.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2008 00:00 ||
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EU competition regulators dealt a new blow to Microsoft on Wednesday, fining the US software giant a record 899 million euros for defying a landmark 2004 antitrust ruling. The fine, worth 1.4 billion US dollars, is the biggest ever levelled against a single company in an EU antitrust case and brings the total penalties against Microsoft to just shy of 1.7 billion euros.
"Microsoft was the first company in 50 years of EU competition policy that the commission has had to fine for failure to comply with an antitrust decision," EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said. "I hope that today's decision closes a dark chapter in Microsoft's record of non-compliance with the commission's March 2004 decision," she added.
The European Commission, Europe's top competition watchdog, fined Microsoft 497 million euros in March 2004 and ordered the company to open some key software to rivals so they could make compatible products. In July 2006, the commission fined the company a further 280 million euros after determining that it was not respecting its original ruling.
Why should they? No one else does ...
The commission hit Microsoft with the new penalty, the sum of daily fines running from June 21, 2006 to October 21, 2007, because it said Microsoft had failed to charge rivals reasonable prices for access to key information about its work-group or back-office servers in contravention of the 2004 ruling.
"Microsoft continued to abuse its powerful market position after the commission's March 2004 decision requiring it to change its practices," Kroes told journalists. "Microsoft continued to stifle innovation by charging other companies prohibitive royalty rates for the essential information they needed to offer software products to computer users around the world," she added.
In reaction, Microsoft said it was "reviewing the commission's action" and highlighted that the latest EU action targeted "past issues." "The commission announced in October 2007 that Microsoft was in full compliance with the 2004 decision, so these fines are about the past issues that have been resolved," the company said.
After a five-year investigation, the commission ruled then that Microsoft had abused its share of the market for operating systems running personal computers thanks to its ubiquitous Windows programme. In particular, it accused Microsoft of using its stranglehold on PC operating systems to elbow rivals out of the more competitive markets for media players that play music and videos, and operating systems running back-office servers.
Microsoft fought the decision tooth-and-nail until last September when an EU court threw out the company's appeal against the ruling, significantly strengthening the commission's hand in the long-running standoff.
Despite the court ruling, Microsoft's troubles with EU competition regulators are far from over. Since its court victory, the European Commission has launched a new investigation targeting the interoperability of a broad range of software, including Microsoft's popular Office package, with rival products.
Last week Microsoft said it was making "broad-reaching changes" to its technology and business practices to enhance the ease with which its software interacts with partners, customers, and competitors. "As we demonstrated last week with our new interoperability principles and specific actions to increase the openness of our products, we are focusing on steps that will improve things for the future," Microsoft said.
However the commission gave the move a lukewarm response, saying that it had seen similar promises from Microsoft in the past.
#2
The idea that a software company should and would give it's code to a rival software company is socialistic at best. I hope Gates told them to stick it. Hey EU, if you don't want Windows, buy Macs. Better yet, invent your own computers.
#3
While Microshaft has definitely engaged in some pretty unmoralistic business practices, this is nothing short of extortion by the EU. Tell the EU to go to hell and have 'em run something else.
#5
So next year MS software prices will increase by 5 Euros. It becomes a back door tax on European computer owners.
Posted by: ed ||
02/27/2008 10:14 Comments ||
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Revoke all of Europe's operating licenses, see how they do then.
(And fine them double, hell triple the fine that the euros want to get when they don't comply and shut own ALL their Microsoft Wnndows products)
Hell this is nothing less than theft by
government.
You want Microsoft to give their secrets to you, two can play that bullshit game.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/27/2008 17:13 Comments ||
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#7
What with the USAF Tanker contract decision coming this week ( best estimate now is Friday after markets close) this is a really stupid move on the part of the EU. Only hope the Procuremment czar reads the papers before he signs off on the (Boeing) deal.
Out here in Seattle-land the local gov't and press is drooling like a teenage boy in heat at the prospect of the job$$$.
(So if BMAC gets the contract is it possible the Mariners' will be in post-season play???)
#2
I guess we could offer nukes to Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, etc. If we're not going to control the suckers, we can at least make it interesting for all parties concerned.
#5
Putin MUST be losing his wheat, barley, AND cotton pickin mind! I'm sure he knows that would be tantamount of another 'Cuban missile Crisis' scenario, that the west would have to respond to! I've always said, Putin is the 'wildcard' in all this vitreous venom spewing out of the Kremlin. Then again, an Obama Administration may consider such a 'proposal' by Russia to be in the purview of the UN, NATO and EU, and back off to let them 'handle it'! It would save the US Billions for infrastructure improvements, more jobs and better wages!!
#6
Putin is offering to base Russian nuclear missiles in Serbia, which wouldn't be proliferation.
For many years the US kept nuclear weapons in the UK. I don't know if they still do.
Putin is looking for pushback over Kosovo and US missile defence sites in eastern Europe. This is a twofer.
It makes sense from Putin's perspective, less so from Serbia's.
The Euros will go nuts if this happens and Serbias already slim chance of joining the EU would go out the window. But I understand the mood in Serbia is very angry at the moment. May be they are prepared to say 'Scr#w You' to the Euros.
BRUSSELS - The European Union, concerned at tensions in the Balkans fuelled by Kosovos declaration of independence, expects to sign a key pact on closer ties with Bosnia in April, Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said Tuesday. I would expect that we should be able to sign the SAA (Stabilisation and Association Agreement) with Bosnia-Hercegovina shortly, that is in April, he told AFP.
However Rehn underlined that the signing was conditional on Bosnia-Hercegovina adopting requisite laws concerning the police, which they know very well.
The EU has made police reforms a key condition for Bosnia to seal an SAA accord, essentially a trade and aid pact which is the first step towards joining the rich European club. Rehn and Bosnian officials put their initials to the pact in December, but the EU has refused to sign it until the police reforms are undertaken.
The leaders of Bosnias Serb community insist on retaining control of police in their Republika Srpska entity, which along with the Muslim-Croat Federation makes up post-war Bosnia. But Croat and Muslim leaders want the forces to be unified and put under the authority of the state.
The head of the EUs police mission in Bosnia, Brigadier General Vincenzo Coppola, underlined Tuesday that three previous EU-driven attempts at obtaining the police reforms had failed. The latest attempt, led by the ethnic communities themselves, is a very minimal approach, but nevertheless it could be a step forward if they are willing to pass the laws. He told reporters in Brussels. If they dont produce something, there will be no signature of the SAA.
Rehns remarks came with Bosnian leaders due in Brussels Tuesday and Wednesday to evaluate developments in Bosnia, and as the mandate of the EU and international representative there, Miroslav Lajcak, comes up for renewal. The EU is still supervising inter-communal relations, which remain complicated 12 years after the Dayton accords that ended the 1992-1995 war there.
The recent declaration of independence by Kosovo has been met by a threat from the Bosnian Serbs to follow its example and break away-something the EU dearly wants to avoid.
Which makes no sense: once you recognize the right of an ethnically homogenous region to form a state (e.g., Kosovo), you've let the genie out of the bottle. Not only a Bosnian Serb region but Catalonia, the Basque region, the Tyrol, etc., all become regions that could make a claim to statehood. The time to stop that was before Kosovo, if indeed it was a principle that the Euros wanted to uphold.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/27/2008 00:00 ||
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Rep. John Murtha is hosting a gala dinner tonight at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Pentagon City for defense industry lobbyists who have received and who hope to receive millions of tax dollars via earmarks sponsored by the Pennsylvania Democrat.
Murtha is one of House Speaker Nancy Pelosis closest allies and one of the leading earmarkers in Congress. Tickets for the Evening with Jack and Joyce Murtha dinner cost $1,500 per person. Murtha and cohorts like Rep. James Moran, D-Va., and Rep. Peter Visclosky, D-Ind., have refined the earmark-for-a-contribution process to a fine art. . . .
But Murthas porkfest is not going unnoticed. Three conservative citizen activist groups and a conservative blog that are active in the anti-earmark Porkbusters movement are gathering protesters, posters and pigs and plan to crash the Murtha pork bash.
RedState.com is the blog that put out the original call for protests. The responding groups are Americans for Prosperity, Citizens Against Government Waste and the National Taxpayers Union.
The protesters are meeting at 5:30 p.m. at the top of the Pentagon City Metrorail station outside the Ritz-Carlton Hotel at 1250 South Hayes St. in Arlington. Organizers say photographs of attendees will be taken and posted on the Internet. . . . If you're in the metro DC area and have the time, go give Traitor Jack Murtha a piece of your mind.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/27/2008 10:25 ||
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A British-Iraqi billionaire lent millions of dollars to Barack Obama's fundraiser just weeks before an imprudent land deal that has returned to haunt the presidential contender, an investigation by The Times discloses.
The money transfer raises the question of whether funds from Nadhmi Auchi, one of Britains wealthiest men, helped Mr Obama buy his mock Georgian mansion in Chicago.
How many "special mistakes" would the MSM let slide for a White Male Republican Cannidate?
#6
"The oil-for-food programme administered by the UN used BNP Paribas Bank and it was Auchi's General Mediterranean Holdings that was a major investor in the bank."
#10
According to the Chicago Sun times, in July of 2006, Barak Obama told a group of college activists
"Youll have boundless opportunities when you graduate, and its very easy to just take that diploma, forget about all this progressive politics stuff, and go chasing after the big-house and large salary "
Also according to the Chicago Sun times in Sept. of 1999 Michelle Obama's salary was
$316,962 and their mansion cost $1.65 million.
With just a week to go until the crucial March 4 Democratic Presidential Primaries, Barack Obama continues to gain ground on Hillary Clinton in Ohio.
The latest Rasmussen Reports poll shows Clinton earning 48% of the Ohio Democratic Presidential Primary vote. Thats unchanged from a week ago. Barack Obamas support has grown to 43%. Thats up from 40% last week and 38% the week before.
Overall, Clintons lead is now just five percentage points in Ohio, down from an eight-point advantage last week and fourteen points two weeks ago.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2008 00:00 ||
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#2
She started to go ugly on us last night. Whoops, too late. Someone must have told her during the break that she had better get a grip on herself since she looked like she was going to explode or melt down as in the Wicked Witch of the West.
#4
The funny thing is, I don't really loathe her any more.
She's spent a lot of time over the past twenty years undermining Those Damn Conservatives only to wake up and find out she's a) the more conservative candidate in a primary and b) that the vast undertow she helped create is sweeping her under.
There's only so much she can do with a position like "everyone who voted for the Iraq war is an idiot or corrupt _except for me_..."
#6
And to be honest, everyone _says_ she's a bad campaigner, but what makes a good campaigner for the too-dumb-to-know-they're-marxists has shifted a lot over the past twenty years.
#7
Hillary is too busy sampling the wind to see what she needs to say to capture the vote. At this point there is really no one home other than an opportunist who wants to get elected more than anything.
#9
#3, lotp, I agree. Hillary is evil. She has no real experience leading ANYTHING, other than her staff of sycophants.
On the other hand, Obama has even less experience than Hillary, and he is farther left than Hillary. His evilness is an unknown quantity; his statements about what he would do if he is elected make him very dangerous.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
02/27/2008 16:19 Comments ||
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#10
A local Guam McDonald's patron believes Hillary received her initial high ratings due to the endorsement of California First Lady MARIA KENNEDY SHRIVER, as compared vv hubby DA ARNUUULD??? BOTH FOX + CNN this AM > report HILLARY IS STILL IN A STATISTICAL "DEAD HEAT" AGZ OBAMA.
#11
Personally, Being a Christian, I cringed when I saw that Hillary montage she gave on the stump berating (mocking fun) at the LORD and his Heavenly Host bit toward Obama. I was sure, like King Nebuchadnezzar, that she would be shown the 'error of her ways' by God himself (and maybe the election results will bare this out). Obama 'absorbed' the hit to keep tension down (even the cackling Hillary laughed at her own snubbing remarks); and although he gave her 'extra points' for the presentation, he obviously scored the high points.
Sen. John Warner, R-Va., has been hospitalized for an abnormal heart condition but it is not considered serious, FOX News has confirmed.
A statement from his office released Tuesday says Warner, 81, was "pursuing a re-evaluation and readjustment of medications which require regular monitoring and observation within a hospital environment," after a return of the common condition for which he was treated last fall, known as atrial fibrillation, or irregular heartbeat.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2008 00:00 ||
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I helped campaign for him in the 1970's. Dunno why he went RINO in a lot of ways other than senility.
endorsed one-time presidential rival Barack Obama on Tuesday and said it is time for Democrats to join forces to defeat the Republicans in the fall campaign.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2008 00:00 ||
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As if anyone actually needed another reason to NOT consider Obama presidential material.
#2
What's holding up Edward's endorsement? Logically, 'time pressure' suggests that he should make an announcement by Monday the 3rd, or relegate his support to irrelevancy. Edwards can always chum up to Nader if he wish to stay 'safe' in his support from either candidate!
#2
Here is a woman who has been working 12 hours per day for 8+ years on her campaign to be President, assisted by a huge and loyal herd of followers and fat wallet contributors. She is getting beat by a Senator with almost no experience and almost no policy depth but a good but meaningless slogan "its about the future, not the past".
Now it will be up to Chelsea to carry on the Clinton legacy.
Interview with the Captain of the USS Lake Erie
Capt. R. M. Hendrickson stepped across the deck of the guided missile cruiser USS Lake Erie last Saturday afternoon to a bank of ballistic missile launch tubes, motioning to the particular 2-by-2-foot location from which a missile flew from the ship positioned at the time some 420 miles northwest of Hawaii.
The missile hit its target, destroying a defective intelligence satellite that was falling toward Earth at 17,000 miles per hour. It was unclear where the satellite would have hit had it crashed, most likely into the ocean. But the Pentagon had expressed particular concern about the school bus-size satellite's fuel tank filled with 1,000 pounds of hydrazinewhich defense officials soberly described in a news release as "a hazardous fuel which could pose a danger to people on earth."
Pakistan's navy has expressed concern over India's test firing of a nuclear-capable ballistic missile, launched from a submarine.
But the Sagarika isn't meant for Pakistan. India has SRBMs and bullock carts to carry nukes across the land border. The Sagarika is a second strike deterrent againt China.
"This is going to start a new arms race in the region," Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Muhammad Afzal Tahir, told reporters Wednesday.
Only if you try to maintain the fiction that Pakistan is a "rival" to India. With a fraction of India's economy, Pakistan will find it quite difficult to pay for SSBNs and SLBMs. Those aren't cheap.. even from Uncle Hu's takeout, assuming they are even on the menu. Pakistan doesn't have the capability to build such weaponry on its own. With the military already taking 60% of the overall budget, SSBNs may be affordable if everyone adopts "the North Korean diet". As a plus, that is a guaranteed weight loss program.
"We are aware of these developments. These developments are taking place with the view to put nuclear weapons at sea, which is a very serious issue," he said.
serious for China... the nukes aimed at Pakistan are on trucks and trains and bullock carts
The 8.5-meter-long K-15 missile, with the range of 700 kilometers, was test-fired on Tuesday off the coast of eastern Orissa state. Nuclear-armed neighbors Pakistan and India have agreed to notify each other of missile tests.
Perhaps they should just ignore the Sagarika like they ignore the PSLV and GSLV. There is no attempt to match India in space so why under the sea?
Posted by: john frum ||
02/27/2008 11:16 ||
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#1
China uses Pakistan as a thorn in India's side. What upsets me is that the U.S. sends money to Pak as well. Why do we help India's enemy? We should be courting India as an ally but how can they trust us when we help their enemy?
"...A one-cubic-meter digester, primed with cow dung to provide bacteria, can convert the waste generated by a four-person family into enough gas to cook all its meals and provide sludge for fertilizer. A model this size costs about $425 but will pay for itself in energy savings in less than two years....Government officials plan to end open defecation by 2012 (hundreds of millions of Indians use railroad tracks or other outdoor locales instead of toilets) and say biogas plants are part of the solution. "
#1
That should greatly reduce diseases transmission as well. Openly defecated dung dries to powder in the Indian heat, then the dust carries bacteria and parasites on the wind, contaminating all that it touches.
#9
There is nothing new here. In Nepal and prolly the higher parts of India, the people have been doing this for centuries. They build stone gas collectors and tap the output for the stove. The residue gets spread on the ground as fertilizer.
#10
Cow dung is used for fuel for cooking in India. And the processing is all done by hand.
I read an article few days ago about increasing rural prosperity in India, and what they spend their money on. High on their list of purchases was a machine to shape cow dung into sized lumps suitable for cooking.
And believe it or not you can buy packaged cow dung in grocery stores.
BUDDHISMS holiest tree in Sri Lankas ancient capital, tightly guarded by monks and security forces after Tamil rebels attacked it 23 years ago, is under threat again - this time from monkeys.
Pilgrims are frisked and scanned by metal detectors before being allowed to worship the Sri Maha Bodi, grown from a sapling of a tree in India that sheltered the Buddha when he attained enlightenment more than 2,550 years ago. But primates in the temple compound are free to swing from tree-to-tree, grab sweet offerings and in the process endanger what Sri Lankan Buddhists believe is the worlds oldest religiously significant tree, a Banyan species propped up by iron supports at temple ruins dating back 2,300 years.
In the mainly Buddhist nation, the tree is not only an object of worship, but a symbol of national sovereignty. Buddhist devotees from India, Myanmar, Thailand, Korea and Japan visit to pay homage, while tourists also flock to the scene despite the security procedures. Sri Lankas chief Buddhist monk Pallegama Sirinivasa, 54, said he is now more worried about damage caused by the troops of monkeys than Tamil Tiger rebels.
In 1985, Tiger rebels shot dead three monks, 25 worshippers and 117 pilgrims at the site. Terrorists had an idea of destroying this tree because its a spiritual magnet, the monk told AFP at his temple near the tree. Even in the 1985 attack, this tree didnt suffer a single bullet. He said he was unaware of any recent reports of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) planning to strike again.
What I see as the main challenge today is protecting the Sri Maha Bodi (or sacred fig tree) from macaques and monkeys, the monk said. The tree already arguably has the tightest security in Sri Lanka. It is surrounded by a gold-plated fence and protected night and day, spiritually and physically, by an army of soldiers and police as well as monks.
But the monk said he wanted to use technology to help police as well as civilian volunteers guard the tree from monkeys. Guards ring bells, burst crackers or flash torch lights to scare off the invading primates, but Buddhism wont allow the use of violence to deter the monkeys.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2008 00:00 ||
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But the monk said he wanted to use technology to help police as well as civilian volunteers guard the tree from monkeys.
Few things genuinely frighten me, but monkeys do. They are nasty, agressive and unpredictable.
#2
Related: Recent report on Vancouver BC radio is that Canada has a severe shortage of nurses, need 2000 now and as many as 20k w/in about 5 yrs. probably has soemthing to do with compensation.
#3
EVERYWHERE has a huge shortage of nurses. You have to be smart, take hard classes in school, and then work hard at an often thankless job; the pay is not all that bad, but there are just too many easier careers for people with the ability and attitude nursing takes.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
02/27/2008 19:27 Comments ||
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And note - The body of medical knowledge that a registered nurse has today and the body of medical knowledge a doctor had in, say, 1920 or 1930. Duties [read also status/authority] executed by nurses today and those executed by doctors back then. Does this really make sense?
#6
my Mom is a CA RN, and never made good money til she left nursing and joined, first, Agouron (sp?), then Pfizer, as a clinical trial overseer. She's retired now, before Pfizer did their RIF
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/27/2008 20:20 Comments ||
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I've seen this coming for some time. When the Supreme Court rules a system unconstitutional because people on waiting lists are dying ... floodgates to privatization open.
Daniel Finkelstein
I had a strange idea yesterday. I had the idea of inviting Harriet Harman home for dinner. This isn't a thought that occurs to me often, but I suddenly felt it might be fun.
I'd invite my Dad too. And then, when we'd given Harriet a nice meal (what do you think she likes to eat?), my father could tell her his story.
He could tell her how the Soviets and the Nazis closed in on his home town of Lvov in September 1939 and how the town council chose the Soviets to surrender to. Then he might tell her how the fathers of his friends were taken to the woods at Katyn and shot by the communists.
He might recount the story of his father's arrest as an antisocial element, of Adolf Finkelstein's repeated interrogations leading to a trial in his absence and a jail sentence of 15 years' hard labour. Then Dad could tell the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party about his own experience as a child, exiled to a remote Siberian village. And how he and his mother and his father never saw their home again.
And, when he'd finished, he could let Harriet speak. And she could explain to Dad why she thinks that Fidel Castro is a hero.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2008 00:00 ||
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"Imprison an innocent person in terrible conditions, or [wilfully] starve them, or both, and they die, then you've murdered them" > ITS CALLED "MURDER BY WILFUL/SELFISH/MALICIOUS DEPRIVATION", "MURDER BY STARVATION", "MURDER BY NATURAL CAUSES", ... DENIAL OF QUIET ENJOYMENT, SILENT DEPRIVATION,etc. Its also "LEGAL MURDER" since usually suspects + clique? do their best/utmost to hide their actions behind the PDeniable "cover of law/cloud of authority".
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.
Kofi Annan suspended day-to-day mediation talks in Kenya on Tuesday and said that he would now take up the remaining divisive issues with Kenyas leaders directly.
A DESPERATE Robert Mugabe has asked China for a £25 billion loan to help repair Zimbabwe's shattered economy. The state-controlled Herald newspaper said industry and trade minister Obert Mpofu had confirmed the request by the Zimbabwean government. Mr Mpofu said the grant would help the Zimbabwe authorities "to take care of our immediate and future long-term requirements". It would also help stabilise the economy, he said.
Bangladesh's former prime minister Khaleda Zia was sued Tuesday for misappropriating 1.59 billion taka (about 22.7 million U.S. dollars) by awarding contract of production management and maintenance of a coal mine to a highest bidder foreign company . 
EU competition regulators dealt a new blow to Microsoft on Wednesday, fining the US software giant a record 899 million euros for defying a landmark 2004 antitrust ruling. The fine, worth 1.4 billion US dollars, is the biggest ever levelled against a single company in an EU antitrust case and brings the total penalties against Microsoft to just shy of 1.7 billion euros.
Rep. John Murtha is hosting a gala dinner tonight at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Pentagon City for defense industry lobbyists who have received and who hope to receive millions of tax dollars via earmarks sponsored by the Pennsylvania Democrat.
With just a week to go until the crucial March 4 Democratic Presidential Primaries, Barack Obama continues to gain ground on Hillary Clinton in Ohio. 
