For snow-weary residents of the Midwest and New England, spring can't come soon enough.
Locations such as Madison, Wis., and Concord, N.H., endured their snowiest winter since records began, and parts of the western USA also saw a much snowier-than-average winter, according to NOAA's National Climatic Data Center. How can this be? Oh I know it' "Climate Change".
The U.S. winter of 2007-08 which meteorologists classify as the months of December, January and February will go down as the coldest since the winter of 2000-01, with a national average temperature of 33.2 degrees, NOAA reported Thursday. Yet, despite the chill, the winter was still slightly warmer than the 20th-century average of 33.0 degrees.
However, it's the snowfall that may be the most memorable element of this winter. "We had 13 inches of snow on Feb. 1 alone," said Springfield, Ill., resident Julie Becker. "We haven't had 13 inches of snow in years."
Concord recorded 100.1 inches of snow this season, stressing roofs and frazzling drivers' nerves. Before that, the record had been 78 inches, set during the winter of 1886-87, according to the weather service.
The heavy New England snow has forecasters worried about what will happen when it melts. The weather service warned last week that the seasonal flood potential is "above to well-above normal" for the Connecticut River and its tributaries. Forecasters say a rapid warm-up, combined with more heavy rain, could add to the danger.
In the drought-plagued West, the snowy winter has an upside. "The high snowpack is good news there," says climatologist Jay Lawrimore of the climatic data center. The Natural Resources Conservation Service reports that the deep snow means Colorado's water supplies could be the best in more than a decade.
Good news is not allowed in Climate Change. Defrock that man!
Three straight months of above-average snowfall will benefit residents of Arizona, California, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Wyoming because runoff from the Colorado mountains feeds rivers that run through those states.
The La Niña climate pattern a periodic cooling of the waters of the tropical Pacific Ocean "certainly contributed to what we saw this winter in the USA," says Lawrimore. The current La Niña pattern is expected to continue through the spring, which could mean below-average precipitation across the South, which also suffers from prolonged drought, NOAA's Climate Prediction Center reported Thursday.
Other likely effects this spring are warmer-than-average temperatures in the Southeast, cooler-than-average temperatures in the West and wetter-than-average conditions across the Pacific Northwest, reports the prediction center.
Although final global numbers for winter won't be available until next week, some locations enjoyed their warmest winter ever, including Sweden, Finland and Latvia, according to wire reports. In December, January and February, the average temperature in Stockholm, for example, was 36 degrees the highest mark since recordkeeping began in 1756.
At the same time, other parts of the world, including China, India, and the Middle East, have endured an extremely cold, snowy winter. Intense storms killed dozens and snarled travel in China in January.
#1
Thar's gold in that thar "climate change"...and in inventing the internet.
Gore Invests $35 Million for Hedge Funds With EBay Billionaire
March 6 (Bloomberg) -- Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore left the White House seven years ago with less than $2 million in assets, including a Virginia home and the family farm in Tennessee. Now he's making enough to put $35 million in hedge funds and other private partnerships.
Gore invested the money with Capricorn Investment Group LLC, a Palo Alto, California, firm that selects the private funds for clients and invests in makers of environmentally friendly products, according to a Feb. 1 securities filing. Capricorn was founded by billionaire Jeffrey Skoll, former president of EBay Inc. and an executive producer of Gore's Oscar-winning documentary film on global warming.
Since losing the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush, Gore, 59, is best known for focusing attention on climate change through his book and movie, ``An Inconvenient Truth,'' which helped him win a Nobel Peace Prize. Gore's newfound wealth resulted, in part, from speaking engagements and ties to Silicon Valley firms with soaring stock market values, such as Google Inc. and Apple Inc.
``Gore got a lot of support from Silicon Valley when he ran for president because they knew the Internet was one of his primary concerns,'' said Tony Coelho, a former congressman and investment banker who served as chairman of Gore's 2000 campaign. ``It's very legit that these people would pursue him'' after he left office, Coelho said, adding that Gore received Google and Apple stock options before their shares ``went into the stratosphere.''
Kalee Kreider, a spokeswoman for Gore and his wife, Tipper, declined to comment on the hedge-fund investment or how Gore has made his money.``He is a private citizen, and as a private citizen he has never commented on his private finances,'' said Kreider, who works out of Nashville, Tennessee.
Gore donated his proceeds from the global-warming book and movie to his Alliance for Climate Protection, Kreider added.
Gore's investment, disclosed in a private-placement filing at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, was made through Carthage LP. The partnership, formed in December, has the same name as the ex-vice president's home town in Tennessee.
In the last personal finance report he filed as vice president, Gore disclosed on May 22, 2000, that the value of his assets totaled between $780,000 and $1.9 million. In addition, Gore listed an interest in his father's estate that included Occidental Petroleum Corp. stock worth as much as $1 million.
He and Tipper Gore released tax returns for 1998 showing they earned $224,376 that year, less than half the income of President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, news reports at the time said.
Now Gore charges a $175,000 speaking fee and has a net worth ``well in excess'' of $100 million, including pre-public offering Google stock options, according to an article in Fastcompany.com last year. Kreider said the speaking fees vary and Gore doesn't disclose them. He has served as a senior adviser to Mountain View, California-based Google since February 2001, shortly after leaving public office. Google spokesman Jon Murchinson said in an e-mail: ``We have not provided comment on if or how we compensate Mr. Gore in his role as an advisor to Google.''
The former vice president also served as vice chairman of Metropolitan West Financial Inc., a money manager run in part by former Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. executives, starting in 2001.
He co-founded Current Media Inc., a cable television and Internet company, in 2002 and is listed as its executive chairman in a January SEC filing for the company's initial public offering. It said he earned $1 million in salary and bonus last year, and owned 3.7 million shares of company stock.
Gore joined Apple's board in 2003 and co-founded London- based Generation Investment Management in 2004. Last November, he became a partner with Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm.
#2
appaarently, being a hyperbolic lying asshole, Gulf-V-jetting to speaking engagements around the world, decrying other's use of fossil fuels, is a well-paying gig, huh?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/09/2008 11:37 Comments ||
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Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai called Saturday on his countrymen to stop forcing their under-aged daughters to marry, especially to men several decades older, and to allow them to be educated.
Speaking at a ceremony in Kabul attended by about 300 women to mark International Women's Day, Karzai also said threats from a Taliban-led insurgency were keeping girls out of school. "I call on religious leaders, tribal elders and particularly men: stop forcing your under-aged girls to marry, stop marrying them to old men," he said, adding later he was referring in particular to men aged above 50.
Up to 80 percent of Afghan women face forced marriage, and nearly two-thirds are married before the legal age of 16, according to the United Nations.
Karzai also stressed the importance of educating Afghan girls, who were denied schooling under the 1996-2001 Taliban government. "In parts of Afghanistan, Afghan girls can't go to schools because of the terrorism problem," he said. "In other places, like places without terrorism problems, girls are not allowed to go to schools."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Well the US has never won a summit. We ALSO have NEVER lost a war. Think about that carefully, herr Chavez...
President Hugo Chavez called the United States the "big loser" at a meeting of Latin American leaders in the Dominican Republic, saying Venezuela's allies undermined alleged U.S. efforts to divide the region.
Chavez praised Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega on Saturday for joining him a day earlier in "standing up" to Washington at the Rio Group summit. "Yesterday, there was a big loser: the North American empire," Chavez said during a televised speech. Correa and Ortega "showed the North American empire and its pawns that Venezuela is not alone."
U.S. officials were not involved in or invited to Friday's summit in Santo Domingo, where Latin American leaders agreed to work for a peaceful end to a crisis sparked by Colombia's March 1 military raid inside Ecuador.
#1
I sure hope everyone is avoiding filling up at the local Citgo. The one where I live is about to go under as the Chevron up the street has to expand.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
03/09/2008 9:40 Comments ||
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#2
Hugo is defining 21st century warfare: whoever delivers the most over-the-top sound bite wins.
Posted by: regular joe ||
03/09/2008 10:30 Comments ||
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#3
President Hugo Chavez called the United States the "big loser" ...
#8
I agree, notice they never actually produced those "ten battalions with tanks for me"....just a buncha mooks in buses and a few tanks for newspix. Wonder if the professionals in the Army say FOAD to Hooogo?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/09/2008 11:40 Comments ||
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#9
Somebody else disagrees with him also...
The biggest threat in the region is not Colombia but Venezuela. Mr Chávez has recently veered towards outright support for the FARC. Colombia alleges that the captured laptops show that he gave the guerrillas $300m (and also that the FARC is seeking uranium for a dirty bomb). Mr Chávez's mismanagement of Venezuela's oil boom has made him increasingly unpopular at home. His regime runs a risk of imploding. A cornered Mr Chávez might think of a border skirmish as the perfect distractionand as justification for more repression at home. Even as they scold Mr Uribe, Brazil and other South American countries should warn Venezuela that it is destabilising the continentand it is high time it stopped.
#10
"they never actually produced those 'ten battalions with tanks for me'"
Frank G,
Not only didn't he produce them, from what I hear he can't produce them. His army is disolving and the officer corp is moving to Miami.
Soon, he'll have no one left to defend him but the criminals.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
03/09/2008 13:32 Comments ||
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#11
We have never lost a war, but that unpleasantnes in the early 50s was kinda of a draw and the SouthEast Asian War Games second place award still grinds on a number of us.... The latter certainly was given away by a feckless political elite and the news media, just like this current fights would have been if not for the alternative media linke REB and bloggers, who just wouldn't let the truth be suppressed by CNNABCNBCCBS....
A Latin American border crisis triggered by the Colombian military's incursion into Ecuador to kill a rebel leader was apparently resolved Friday when Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa accepted his Colombian counterpart's apology and promise not to repeat the transgression.
The handshakes among Correa, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at a meeting of Latin American leaders in the Dominican Republic ended a tense week in which Ecuador and Venezuela each had deployed troops on their borders and broken diplomatic ties with Colombia. "With [Colombia's] promise not to threaten ever again its brother nation and the request for pardon, we can consider this grave incident as having been overcome," Correa said in the summit's afternoon session.
Uribe then crossed the conference hall to shake Correa's hand, then that of Chavez, spurring applause. Chavez had added to the crisis by sending 9,000 troops as well as tanks and aircraft to Venezuela's border with Colombia and by blocking nearly all commerce with the nation.
Chavez said he would "normalize" diplomatic relations with Colombia, reopen the border to trade and review his decision to deploy troops. "We're all of us happy. We must unite and integrate," Chavez said afterward. Although no announcement was made Friday evening, it was assumed that Ecuador also would resume diplomatic relations with Colombia.
A joint communique issued by the so-called Rio Group Summit of Latin American Leaders emphasized regional harmony and rebuked Colombia for violating Ecuador's sovereignty. It also noted that Correa had agreed to review electronic files taken from a laptop computer found at the rebel camp that Colombia alleged showed Ecuadorean officials had met with Raul Reyes, the rebel leader who was killed in the raid. Uribe later said he would drop his threat to bring charges against Chavez at the International Criminal Court for allegedly harboring and supporting the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, Colombia's largest rebel group.
The crisis began Saturday after the Colombian military killed Reyes, the No. 2 man in the FARC, and 22 others at Reyes' jungle camp a mile inside Ecuador. Four Mexican youths who were visiting the camp may be among the dead, Mexico's Foreign Ministry said Friday
Colombia had said the raid was a case of "hot pursuit," but Ecuadorean leaders alleged that it was planned, citing signs that Reyes' camp was hit by as many as five "smart bombs" within a diameter of less than 55 yards.
The hostility continued through Friday morning, when Correa and Uribe traded verbal jabs during a morning session of the summit. Uribe accused Ecuador of complicity with terrorists, and Correa accused Uribe of playing the victim when it was neighboring countries, he said, that had been victimized by Colombia's long-running civil war. "Your insolence is doing more damage to the Ecuadorean people than your bombs," Correa said, looking flustered.
The rhetoric was so harsh that it provoked reproof from other leaders "We women are accused of being irrational and hysterical sometimes . . . but some of the scenes that we see here show that sometimes we are the most rational," said Argentina's president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
But the resolution during the afternoon session seemed to make most in the room happy. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega announced he was reestablishing diplomatic relations with Colombia, one day after breaking them. "The fiery rhetoric has subsided and economic interdependence has won the day," said University of Miami political scientist Bruce M. Bagley via e-mail. "Nonetheless, there will be enduring diplomatic scars and ongoing distrust, mutual suspicions and recriminations for the foreseeable future. Uribe does not forgive easily and Chavez and Correa will not forget."
Colombia announced more news Friday in its war against the FARC. It said Manuel Jesus Munoz, who like Reyes was a member of the FARC's nine-member secretariat, had been killed by his own bodyguards in southwestern Caldas state. The killers were motivated by a $5-million reward for Munoz, who was known as Ivan Rios, and the desire to surrender as army units closed in, Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos told reporters. They brought Munoz's hand, identity card and laptop computer to authorities this week, and the positive identification was announced Friday.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
The hand & ID is nice but that laptop is the diamond in the ring.
#2
I wonder why Columbia is making nice now? They have the goods on Correa and Chavez for backing FARC. I don't think either will stop, rebels will still take refuge in their countries. Columbia has given up when they hold most of the stick.
#3
A joint communique issued by the so-called Rio Group Summit of Latin American Leaders ... noted that Correa had agreed to review electronic files taken from a laptop computer found at the rebel camp that Colombia alleged showed Ecuadorean officials had met with Raul Reyes, the rebel leader who was killed in the raid.
Uribe can back off a little in public. He's got 2 senior FARC leaders dead and the goods on Correa, with the threat of making more public if needed to spur a cleanup of the Ecuadorean border.
Plus the regional leaders see past Hugo's bluster: do Hugo's dirty work and expect to be the one who pays.
(Xinhua) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrived in Cuba Saturday for a visit after his country's border crisis with Colombia and Ecuador was defused at a regional summit Friday. It was Chavez's first visit to Havana since Cuba's former leader Fidel Castrol handed over power to his brother Raul Castro last month. The Venezuelan president was greeted by Raul Castro at the Jose Marti airport in Havana, Cuba's official newspaper Granma reported.
At the Rio Group summit in the Dominican Republic's capital Santo Domingo Friday, Chavez shook hands with his Ecuadorian and Colombian counterparts, defusing a border crisis caused by Colombia's cross-border raid on rebels last week. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe apologized for the raid on Ecuadorian soil at the Rio Group summit and dissolved the tension.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I have sort of been praying that this would have turned into more a little banana republic kind of neighborly war (i.e. Nicaragua v. Honduras). Then see if Cuba had any more military muscle left after the USSR imploded. Without that kind of Cuban assistance (i.e. Angola) Venezuela becomes dog food for Columbia.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
03/09/2008 9:44 Comments ||
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Russian President Vladimir Putin says NATO's continued enlargement creates the impression that the alliance is trying to replace the United Nations.
Replace one useless organization with another? He might be on to something ...
He made his remarks on Saturday at a joint press conference in Moscow with German Chancellor Angela Merkel who is visiting Russia. Ms. Merkel sad NATO is purely a defensive alliance.
The German leader also met with President-elect Dmitri Medvedev who is to be inaugurated in May. She is the first Western head of state to meet Mr. Medvedev since he was elected on March 2.
President Putin warned that his successor will defend Russia's interests as staunchly as he has and that Russia's partners should not expect to find him any easier.
Germany and Russia have disagreed over a range of issues in recent years, including Kosovo's independence, Iran's nuclear program and Russia's energy policy. The German chancellor has criticized Russia's human-rights and media-freedom record. She has also questioned the fairness of Russia's presidential election.
President Putin has opposed a possible admission of former Soviet republics Ukraine and Georgia to NATO, saying that many people in those countries are against joining the Western alliance. He has also disagreed with Germany over U.S. plans to deploy a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic. Here's a little hint Mr. Putin... in addition to NATO, we also maintain SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe.) Think about that. CAREFULLY...
#2
I have always believed the truest test of American power and admiration vis a vis the anti-Americanism you read about is to have us unilaterally and immediately disengage from NATO and the UN. Then lets see how much we are missed and who comes hat in hand to apologize. For starters, Rummy's "Old Europe", then the Saudis and their bosom buddies, then all of Africa as well as those hand-biters in South America.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
03/09/2008 9:48 Comments ||
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#3
Actually, Putin has a point. The UNSC only has legitimacy when it represents the world powers.
But right now, it both needs to be pruned and enlarged with the changed structure of power in the world.
Since it refuses to change, then another organization that *does* represent the new power structure will supplant it.
Thus the only question that remains is who belongs in the new organization. Membership has to be based on three things: Economic and military power, and the willingness to project that power.
Based on this, I see the new veto members arrangement as being the US, Russia, China, India, the EU and Japan (if these last two develop their military and are willing to deploy them.)
Added to this are those blocs that are missing one of the three elements. A South American nations bloc, an African nations bloc, and an Oceanic and non-aligned bloc. They can vote, but not veto.
#5
If I was looking for a drop-in replacement for the UN, I would get one of those circus cars, the kind with an endless stream of clowns coming out of it.
Spain votes on Sunday in an election likely to return the ruling Socialists to power, though again short of an absolute majority, after an ill-tempered campaign focused on a weakening economy.
Four years ago, then opposition leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero came from behind to win power on a wave of voter anger at the ruling Popular Party, who tried to blame the ETA Basque separatists for election-eve bomb attacks by Islamic militants.
The killing of a former Socialist councillor in the Basque Country on Friday, which all major parties blamed on ETA, has again cast a pall over a Spanish election. But political commentators say this time around, the attack is unlikely to radically change the outcome after a campaign dominated by worries over soaring immigration and the end of an economic boom.
Economists say growth could fall as low as 2.0 percent this year -- a rate not seen since the early 1990s -- from over 4 percent a year ago as a global credit squeeze chokes Spain's already-cooling property sector.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Always assumed that Spain's cajones left w/the armada -- we'll see.
Posted by: regular joe ||
03/09/2008 9:40 Comments ||
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#2
Its the Economy, Stupitero!
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
03/09/2008 9:49 Comments ||
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BELGRADE - Nationalist Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said Saturday that his government had shattered on Kosovo policy and announced early elections for May 11. The government no more has a common policy regarding a most important issue and a government which has no common policy cannot function, Kostunica told a press conference. It is the end of the government.
Kostunica earlier said he lost confidence that his coalition partners were honestly trying to keep the breakaway province Kosovo Serbian.
The cabinet would meet Monday to dissolve the parliament and agree to hold early elections on May 11, together with municipal polls and elections for authorities in Vojvodina, Serbias northern province, Kostunica told reporters.
Serbian government and parliament had been deadlocked since mid- January, when Kostunica clashed with his pro-European partners by insisting that Serbia should not continue negotiating membership of the European Union because of Western support for Kosovo. Ministers from President Boris Tadics Democratic Party and the reformist G17 outvoted Kostunica in his own cabinet on Thursday to block a resolution that would have effectively cemented the suspension of Serbias EU talks. Unlike Kostunica and his Democrartic Party of Serbia (DSS), DS and G17 want Serbia to continue moveing closer to EU despite Kosovo.
The draft, fielded by the ultra-nationalist opposition Serbian Radical Paerty (SRS), insisted that Serbia could negotiate membership only if EU recognized its sovereignty over Kosovo -an impossibility which would have cemented Serbias turn away from EU.
DS and G17 top officials already on Friday said elections were the best way out of the crisis. The May elections would effectively be a referendum on Serbias view of its European prospect.
Much of the momentum Tadic gained for the pro-European bloc by closely defeating an ultra-nationalist challenger in his re-election in early February may have been wasted meanwhile.
No popularity surveys have been completed since Kosovo declared independence. The latest polls, from before mid-February, indicated that elections were likely to produce more of the same. The SRS were surging and DS and G17 were also gaining, pollsters said, but neither appeared to be strong enough for a majority, so Kostunica and his Democratic Party of Serbia may again emerge with the keys to the majority despite their receding popularity.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/09/2008 00:00 ||
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The greenwood sighs and shudders,
the westwind wails and mutters
Somehow, being the first Indian-American and the youngest person ever elected to govern a US state wasn't enough.
Within weeks of taking office, rising Republican star Piyush "Bobby" Jindal's name was thrown into the ring as a possible vice-presidential candidate by influential conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh.
And some say the 36-year-old son of Punjabi immigrants could make a great president if he plays his cards right.
A cowboy boot-wearing social conservative, Jindal built his political support among Christian conservatives and middle-class whites with his promises to cut taxes, tighten government spending and impose a total ban on abortions.
Since taking office on January 14, the new governor is winning respect from blacks, liberals and other traditional Democrats with his ethics reforms and a vigorous approach to economic progress.
"Bobby Jindal is striking a chord with Democrats. They're saying, 'I love Bobby Jindal and I am so glad he's our governor," said Democratic media consultant Cheron Brylski who calls Jindal "Louisiana's last hope."
"There is also an overwhelming pride about having a minority governor," she said in an interview.
Jindal's youthful enthusiasm and ability to bridge calcified divides of race and party has led some to see him as the Republican party's answer to Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama.
"Jindal is not near the poet that Obama is -- yet -- but he has a great story to tell," said political consultant Allan Katz.
Born in Baton Rouge in 1971 to recent immigrants from India's northern Punjab state, Jindal's career in this southern state once known for deep racial differences has been meteoric.
His father, an engineer and one of nine children of a poor rural family, came to the United States so that his mother could continue her graduate work in nuclear physics.
Jindal took easily to US culture. As a boy, he adopted his nickname "Bobby" from a character on "The Brady Bunch" television show. As a teenager, he converted to Roman Catholicism from Hinduism.
A policy wonk and Rhodes scholar who graduated from Oxford University, Jindal was appointed secretary of Louisiana's health department at age 24.
Three years later he was handed the helm of the state's higher education system after being tapped by President George W. Bush to head a national commission on medical insurance reform.
In his first major political setback, Jindal was narrowly defeated by Kathleen Blanco when he ran for governor in 2003.
But he was then elected to Congress in 2004 from a suburban New Orleans district, and won reelection in 2006, one year after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated New Orleans and put a harsh spotlight on state and local government incompetence -- opening the door for his second quest for the governor's office.
Katz says he has not seen so much public enthusiasm for a governor in decades.
"Bobby Jindal is off to a great start," he told AFP. "He knows how to build public support, work the media and to bring public pressure to get his stuff passed."
For now, Jindal is focused on lifting the state of Louisiana from the barnacled bottom of national quality-of-life rankings.
His first foray was to attack the culture of corruption which has long dominated Louisiana politics.
Sunday, Jindal launches another special session aimed at improving infrastructure, cutting taxes on business, and boosting hurricane protection and coastal restoration as the legislature sorts out how to spend a 1.2 billion dollar surplus... India would utterly lose its marbles, in a good way, if he was selected for VP.
#1
little too quick for Bobby - he's smart - his time will come. Let him clean up LA politics a bit first. I wouldn't mind Duncan Hunter or Haley Barbour as VP, though....
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/09/2008 18:27 Comments ||
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Deeeeeeeeelicious!
``We can't have half the Democratic Party walk out thinking there was some deal cooked, and that's why their person didn't win,'' Dean said today on CBS's ``Face the Nation'' program. ``The loser in the race has to feel that they've been treated fairly.'' Sure, Howie. What are you on and can I get some, too?
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
How many sheep are there in Wyoming that are registered Democrats?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
03/09/2008 9:50 Comments ||
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#2
he'll beat her like a drum too, in Mississippi, due to her stoopid elitist remarks. Next big state is PA, where she's ahead by 12% according to real clear politics. This should get really fun. I'm looking for the fragmentation/destruction of the Democrat Party at the Denver convention
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/09/2008 10:18 Comments ||
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#3
Obama does well in caucuses; not so well when it's a primary-format.
#4
kinda wonder if all that "Tom Bradley Effect" talk isn't right. Libs like to show how advanced they are by supporting a black man for high office, and in a caucus, you have to show your face with your support. But when you get in the voting booth, nobody knows who you voted for. The exit pools showed Bradley winning CA Governorship huge...when the votes were actually counted...not so much
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/09/2008 12:17 Comments ||
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#5
In a close heated demoC'rap primary election who do the dead folks vote for?
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) demonstrated their 2/3rds majority in the Punjab Assembly at a dinner hosted by PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif on Saturday.
According to data issued by PML-N Punjab Information Secretary Raja Ashfaq Sarwar, 274 MPAs-elect attended the dinner. Of these, 165 belong to the PML-N; 103 to the PPP; four to the PML-Functional (PML-F); and two to the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal. The Punjab Assembly has a total strength of 371, with a 2/3rds strength coming to 245. Therefore, there were 29 members in excess of the required majority at the dinner. Two members of the PPP were unable to attend the dinner.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2008 10:35 ||
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ISLAMABAD - Pakistani security agencies arrested a state minister from the previous government on charges of smuggling people to Europe and Canada, a senior official said on Saturday. Mushtaq Victor was picked up on Friday night in the capital Islamabad after a case of human trafficking was registered against him last month, said an official of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
You were wondering how all the various Pak immigrants got to Europe and Canada ...
In all, he sent three women and 16 boys to Germany, Britain, Austria and Canada between 2003-06, passing them off as his wives and sons, Umar Hayat Gondal of the Federal Investigation Unit, a special cell of the FIA, told Reuters. Gondal said most of the people he sent abroad were job-seekers and paid him up to 800,000 rupees ($12,851).
During the investigation, Victor said he was innocent and that his staff might have been mis-using his name.
"Lies! All lies!"
Victor, 68, was the state minister for religious minorities in the coalition led by the Pakistan Muslim League, the party that backs President Pervez Musharraf.
Gondal said his agency was pursuing Victor since 2006 after a tip off from a Norwegian embassy official.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/09/2008 00:00 ||
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NEW DELHI - India has signed a 960-million-dollar contract with Russia for the upgrade of five squadrons of MiG-29 fighter aircraft which were inducted into the Indian Air Force in the mid- 1980s, newspaper reports said Saturday.
The upgrade of the Russian-made aircraft, which form the backbone of the Indian Air Force (IAF), would extend their life from the current 25 to 40 years and turn them into all-weather multi-role jets, the Times of India newspaper reported, quoting an unnamed senior air force official. Under the agreement signed between Indias Defence Ministry and Russias RAC MiG company, the first of the 69 MiG-29s with the air force would be upgraded in Russia, while the rest would be retrofitted at an IAF base in India, the official said. The upgrade is expected to be completed within three years.
The package will include state-of the-art avionics and cockpit ergonomics as well as fuel capacity increase, the official said. Some sub-systems would be sourced from Israel, he added.
The upgrade would include multifunctional radar and a new weapon system. The upgraded aircraft would carry sophisticated air-to-air missiles, air-to-ground missiles and smart aerial bombs.
RAC MiG would invest 30 per cent of the contract value in India by setting up consignment depots, service centres and simulator centres with training aids.
Indias number of fighter squadrons, each of which has 12 to 18 aircraft, has fallen below 30 and strategic experts say this places it at a disadvantage if it has to engage on two fronts. The IAF has identified a requirement of 44 squadrons to meet the contingency of a full conflict with Pakistan and a dissuasive posture against China, the Times of India reported. A simultaneous conflict with Pakistan and China would require 55 squadrons.
The need to upgrade Indias ageing fleet of MiGs as well as Jaguars and Mirage-2000s and induct new aircraft has assumed greater urgency with Pakistan readying to induct several F-16 aircraft from the United States and JF-17 fighters from China.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/09/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
hope they do this deal better than the Carrier....
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/09/2008 10:21 Comments ||
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ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The white killer whale spotted in Alaska's Aleutian Islands sent researchers and the ship's crew scrambling for their cameras. The nearly mythic creature was real after all.
"I had heard about this whale, but we had never been able to find it," said Holly Fearnbach, a research biologist with the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle who photographed the rarity. "It was quite neat to find it."
The whale was spotted last month while scientists aboard the Oscar Dyson, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research ship, were conducting an acoustic survey of pollock near Steller sea lion haulout sites. It had been spotted once in the Aleutians years ago but had eluded researchers since, even though they had seen many of the more classic black and white whales over the years.
Fearnbach said the white whale stood out. "When you first looked at it, it was very white," she said Thursday.
Further observation showed that while the whale's saddle area was white, other parts of its body had a subtle yellowish or brownish color. It likely is not a true albino given the coloration, said John Durban, a research biologist at NOAA's Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle. That's probably a good thing true albinos usually don't live long and can have health problems.
Durban said white killer whales have been spotted elsewhere in the area twice before: in 1993 in the northern Bering Sea around St. Lawrence Island and in 2001 near Adak in the central Aleutians. There have also been sightings along the Russian coast.
While Alaska researchers have documented thousands of black and white killer whales in the Bering Sea and the Aleutians during summer surveys, this was something new and exciting, Durban said. "This is the first time we came across a white killer whale," he said.
The scientists observed several pods over a two-week period. The white whale was in a family group of 12 on a day when the seas were fairly rough. It was spotted about 2 miles off Kanaga Volcano on Feb. 23.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/09/2008 00:00 ||
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"It is an evil voyage, I tell thee. If Ahab has his way, neither thee nor me, nor any member of this ship's company will ever see home again."
"Aw, come on, Mr. Starbuck, you're just plain gloomy. Why don't you retire from whaling and open a coffee stand in Seattle?"
Posted by: Mike ||
03/09/2008 0:27 Comments ||
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#2
I'm sure the Japanese will skewer the poor guy for "scientific research".
#3
At the time, I didn't think anything about it, but I wonder iff that's the same whitish whale [spots] I'd spotted from Guam's TWO LOVER'S POINT back in January???
D *** NG IT, MADONNA > SHE FELL IN LOVE WITH SIR/MR. PEDRO, in "LAS ISLA BONITA".
Actually, some on Guam believe that the basis for Guam's Two Lovers Point legend goes further back than the Spanish = even pre-Spanish era, i.e. in that the sides of the HARMON cliff resembles the side profiles two human faces [male-female?] looking out into WESTPAC-EAST ASIA + SUN. TLP SUFFERED HEAVY US NAVAL BOMBARDMENT DURING WW2 [1944], as the US inavsion force believed the cliffline was prime for Japanese fortifications, espec given that TUMON was a viable alternate landing site for US ground forces.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Malaysias opposition threatened on Saturday to hand the ruling coalition its biggest upset in 40 years by winning the northern industrial state of Penang, putting the prime ministers political future at risk. The multi-racial National Front coalition is almost certain to get a majority and form the government at the federal level, but it was as yet uncertain of retaining the two-thirds majority it has held for most of its five-decade-long rule.
Its bad. They have lost Penang, a source close to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told Reuters just two and a half hours after polling booths closed at 0900 GMT. Its a perfect storm, he added. Big guns are falling all over the place.
The chief minister of Penang conceded defeat and said he would hand over power to the opposition, one of the states opposition leaders said. He has contacted the governor. He respected the wishes of the people and hoped there are no untoward incidents, said Chow Kon Yeow, head of the Chinese-dominated Democratic Action Party (DAP) in Penang, which was set to lead the new government in the state.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/09/2008 00:00 ||
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An none too subtle message that non-Muslims don't like having Sharia shoved down their throats.
YANGON - Myanmars military government has rejected a UN proposal for the regime to allow observers at its constitutional referendum planned for May, state television said Saturday. The proposal was made by meddling visiting UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari during his talks with election officials on Friday, when he offered to help provide independent observers and UN technical assistance with the polls.
A member of the commission organising the balloting, Thaung Nyung, rejected the offer, saying the referendum was a domestic affair. We have enough experience, but we take note of your offer, Thaung Nyung said, according to state television. Holding the referendum on the constitution is within the countrys sovereignty, he said. For internal affairs in the past, we have never had observers from outside.
He noted that no observers were sent in 1947 and 1974 to monitor referendums to approve Myanmars earlier constitutions.
And look how well those turned out!
The commission answered few of Gambaris questions about the referendum, declining to give an exact date for the balloting, according to state television. They said only that the voting would take place on a single day and that tens of thousands of polling stations would be set up around the country.
The regime says the referendum to approve a new constitution will pave the way for multiparty elections in 2010, but critics say the process will only enshrine military rule.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Well this could explain a lot...
A vast array of pharmaceuticals including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.
Here are some of the key test results obtained by the AP:
Officials in Philadelphia said testing there discovered 56 pharmaceuticals or byproducts in treated drinking water, including medicines for pain, infection, high cholesterol, asthma, epilepsy, mental illness and heart problems. Sixty-three pharmaceuticals or byproducts were found in the city's watersheds.
Anti-epileptic and anti-anxiety medications were detected in a portion of the treated drinking water for 18.5 million people in Southern California.
Researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey analyzed a Passaic Valley Water Commission drinking water treatment plant, which serves 850,000 people in Northern New Jersey, and found a metabolized angina medicine and the mood-stabilizing carbamazepine in drinking water.
A sex hormone was detected in San Francisco's drinking water.
The drinking water for Washington, D.C., and surrounding areas tested positive for six pharmaceuticals.
Three medications, including an antibiotic, were found in drinking water supplied to Tucson, Ariz. Long. Rest at the link.
#1
I am really looking forward to the new water filter technology using nanotubes. The tubes are just large enough to pass individual water molecules, nothing else.
It uses only 1/4th of the energy of reverse osmosis and is pretty low maintenance. The only obvious drawback is that a tiny amount of trace element salts need to be added.
#2
I note that this "Scare them to death" story completely left out any percentages, in other words the percentage difference between
"Detectable" and "Harmful" is NOT MENTIONED. (Wonder why?)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/09/2008 18:31 Comments ||
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IOW, nothing has changed since the introduction of BOTTLED WATER [versus tap], espec the 5-gal variety.
#4
All this story means is that the chromatagraphs, mass spectrum analysers, etc. are getting more accurate. This stuff has always been there. Now we can just (barely) detect it. Note the lack of quantification in the story below.
On a related note, I recall not too long ago the hysteria over hormones in beef were causing precocial (sp?) sexual development. I think it turned out to be a mixture of statistical noise, anecdotal stories, and what i think of as "if a critter is well (or slightly over-) fed, it will start preparing to breed ASAP" effect.
Just more hysterical scare mongering.
Posted by: N guard ||
03/09/2008 19:03 Comments ||
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#5
Did they test the drinking water after it was passed through a Pur or Brio filter? I didn't bother reading the article, but I'm going to check the Pur 800-number to see what they say. But in the meantime, a nice piece of sari silk will filter out everything short of chemicals in solution. In case any Rantburgers happen to be out in the back of the beyond with unsafe water. Filter, then boil, then be grateful that terminal dehydration has been avoided. ;-)
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.
Locations such as Madison, Wis., and Concord, N.H., endured their snowiest winter since records began, and parts of the western USA also saw a much snowier-than-average winter, according to NOAA's National Climatic Data Center. 
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai called Saturday on his countrymen to stop forcing their under-aged daughters to marry, especially to men several decades older, and to allow them to be educated.
A Latin American border crisis triggered by the Colombian military's incursion into Ecuador to kill a rebel leader was apparently resolved Friday when Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa accepted his Colombian counterpart's apology and promise not to repeat the transgression.
(Xinhua) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrived in Cuba Saturday for a visit after his country's border crisis with Colombia and Ecuador was defused at a regional summit Friday. It was Chavez's first visit to Havana since Cuba's former leader Fidel Castrol handed over power to his brother Raul Castro last month. The Venezuelan president was greeted by Raul Castro at the Jose Marti airport in Havana, Cuba's official newspaper Granma reported. 
Russian President Vladimir Putin says NATO's continued enlargement creates the impression that the alliance is trying to replace the United Nations.
Spain votes on Sunday in an election likely to return the ruling Socialists to power, though again short of an absolute majority, after an ill-tempered campaign focused on a weakening economy.
ISLAMABAD - Pakistani security agencies arrested a state minister from the previous government on charges of smuggling people to Europe and Canada, a senior official said on Saturday. 
NEW DELHI - India has signed a 960-million-dollar contract with Russia for the upgrade of five squadrons of MiG-29 fighter aircraft which were inducted into the Indian Air Force in the mid- 1980s, newspaper reports said Saturday.
YANGON - Myanmars military government has rejected a UN proposal for the regime to allow observers at its constitutional referendum planned for May, state television said Saturday. The proposal was made by 
