James Carville, to Eleanor Clift: "If she gave him one of her cojones, they'd both have two."
(Please tell me some enterprising 527 group is preparing an ad around that statement.)
Obama, in response:
"Well, you know, James Carville is well-known for spouting off his mouth without always knowing what he's talking about," Obama told "Nightline." "And I intend to stay focused on fighting for the American people because what they don't need is 20 more years of performance art on television. And that's what James Carville and a lot of those folks are expert at ... a lot of talk and not getting things done for the American people."
Posted by: Mike ||
05/06/2008 10:34 ||
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#1
Hillary has three cojones? Does she collect them from men who offend her?
#2
Yeah, picturing something like the necklace on the Predator. "What, the hell, are you?" "huhaaha haa, ha haaa haaa haaa!" - whine of gauntlet powering up
"Well, you know, James Carville is well-known for spouting off his mouth without always knowing what he's talking about," Obama told "Nightline". "And I intend to stay focused on fighting for the American people because what they don't need is 20 more years of performance art on television. And that's what James Carville and a lot of those folks are expert at ... a lot of talk and not getting things done for the American people." He continued on to say, "I get away with doing that all the time, so it shows his lack of expertise on how to use the media."
Anyone else see bo drinkin, or at least passing around, a budweiser? With the convention in Colorado shouldn't he have been seen with a coors?
#6
Best view I ever had of Carville was on election night 2004 when he was sitting there with a garbage can on his head. I'd have paid a grand, easy, to have just one swing at that can with a 34 oz. baseball bat...
YANGON, Myanmar - The cyclone death toll soared above 22,000 on Tuesday and more than 41,000 others were missing as foreign countries mobilized to rush in aid after the country's deadliest storm on record, state radio reported.
Up to 1 million people may be homeless after Cyclone Nargis hit the Southeast Asian nation, also known as Burma, early Saturday. Some villages have been almost totally eradicated and vast rice-growing areas are wiped out, the World Food Program said. Images from state television showed large trees and electricity poles sprawled across roads and roofless houses ringed by large sheets of water in the Irrawaddy River delta region, which is regarded as Myanmar's rice bowl. "From the reports we are getting, entire villages have been flattened and the final death toll may be huge," Mac Pieczowski, who heads the International Organization for Migration office in Yangon, said in a statement.
President Bush called on Myanmar's military junta to allow the United States to help with disaster assistance, saying the U.S. already has provided some assistance but wants to do more. "We're prepared to move U.S. Navy assets to help find those who have lost their lives, to help find the missing, to help stabilize the situation. But in order to do so, the military junta must allow our disaster assessment teams into the country," he said.
Myanmar's military regime has signaled it will welcome aid supplies for victims of a devastating cyclone, the U.N. said Tuesday, clearing the way for a major relief operation from international organizations. But U.N. workers were still awaiting their visas to enter the country, said Elisabeth Byrs of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. "The government has shown a certain openness so far," Byrs said. "We hope that we will get the visas as soon as possible, in the coming hours. I think the authorities have understood the seriousness of the situation and that they will act accordingly."
The appeal for outside assistance was unusual for Myanmar's ruling generals, who have long been suspicious of international organizations and closely controlled their activities. Several agencies, including the International Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders, have limited their presence as a consequence. Allowing any major influx of foreigners could carry risks for the military, injecting unwanted outside influence and giving the aid givers rather than the junta credit for a recovery. However, keeping out international aid would focus blame squarely on the military should it fail to restore peoples' livelihoods. Some aid agencies reported their assessment teams had reached some areas of the largely isolated region but said getting in supplies and large numbers of aid workers would be difficult.
Shari Villarosa, the top American diplomat in Yangon, told NBC's "Today" show that the cyclone had knocked huge trees in the country's largest city. "And it blew down a significant portion of them, some of these are 6, 8, 10 stories tall — huge trees, 6 feet, 5 feet in diameter. So they came down on roofs," she said.
The cyclone came only a week ahead of a key referendum on a constitution that Myanmar's military leaders hoped would go smoothly in its favor, despite opposition from the country's feisty pro-democracy movement. However, the disaster could stir the already tense political situation. State radio also said that Saturday's vote would be delayed until May 24 in 40 of 45 townships in the Yangon area and seven in the Irrawaddy delta, which took the brunt of the weekend storm. It indicated that the balloting would proceed in other areas as scheduled. The decision drew swift criticism from dissidents and human rights groups who question the credibility of the vote and urged the junta to focus on disaster victims. Myanmar's generals have hailed the referendum as an important step forward in their "roadmap to democracy." It offers the first chance for voters to cast ballots since 1990, and the probability is high they will approve the constitution — a legal framework the country has lacked for two decades. But critics, including the United Nations, the United States and human rights groups, question whether it will lead to democracy.
#1
Latest reports say death toll could reach 250,000. And MSM hasn't caught up with the fact this has probably wiped out most of the rice crop. Some very rough numbers - 5 million tons lost = 25% of world rice trade.
It's who we are. The Burmese generals didn't offer us any help after Katrina ...
Posted by: Fred ||
05/06/2008 00:00 ||
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WASHINGTON (AFP) - A US amphibious assault ship off the coast of Thailand could be used in humanitarian relief operations in cyclone-hit Myanmar if the government there requests US help, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday.
The USS Essex, which carries helicopters and landing craft, is currently involved in a naval exercise but could be directed to Myanmar if there is a request, said Bryan Whitman, the Pentagon spokesman. "I know it's a very capable ship for an operation of this nature. It's in the vicinity," he told reporters.
He said the Essex was "one of any number of assets that could be used if directed to do so. There hasn't been a request for assistance and the president made it clear the offer was out there if they are so inclined," Whitman said.
#3
GOD IS PISSED, LET THE MURDERERS (and their families)STARVE.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/06/2008 20:29 Comments ||
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#4
HMMMMMM, DREAM > the intensity or magnitude of the storm, espec HOW IT FORMED IN THE SKIES + APPROACHED MYANMAR = REGION; + later ESSEX relief [future Guam].
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed deep concern Monday at the rising levels of violence and intimidation in Zimbabwe and called on African leaders to resolve the electoral crisis quickly, peacefully and with the agreement of the parties.
Moon seems a nice man.
Ban told reporters he is consulting with leaders from the African Union and the Southern African Development Community on how the organizations can work together and help the Zimbabwean situation "reach a very harmonious and credible" solution.
Yeah. So they can go back to being the Breadbasket of Africa.
He said among the ideas he plans to discuss with African leaders are the possibility of shooting Bob sending a U.N. envoy to Zimbabwe and providing U.N. monitors for a runoff election.
From someplace noted for the transparency and honesty of its elections, no doubt. Someplace like Pakistain or maybe Cuba.
Zimbabwe's Electoral Commission announced last Friday that opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai won 47.9 percent of the vote in the first round of Zimbabwe's March 29 presidential elections — more than longtime President Robert Mugabe who got 43.2 percent, but not enough to avoid a runoff. Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change rejected the long-awaited outcome, claiming the opposition leader won outright, and has not said whether he will participate in a runoff against Mugabe. Tsvangirai's party and independent rights groups have accused Mugabe of delaying the official results while his army and party militants mounted a campaign of violence and intimidation intended to undermine support for the opposition before any runoff.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/06/2008 00:00 ||
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Doh! A quick peaceful solution - why didn't *we* think of that?
#2
Ban told reporters he is consulting with leaders from the African Union and the Southern African Development Community on how the organizations can work together and help the Zimbabwean situation "reach a very harmonious and credible" solution.
Something akin to consulting with the city council of Las Vegas concerning the dangers of gambling. Double yawn and head nod.
#3
Another"talker". Ya know, Obamamessiah needs to be planted in the Useless Nayshuns assembly so he could talk all the slimeballs into peace and sunshine forever.
#5
I'm of two minds. On the one hand, I'd like to see a swift, violent solution featuring their neighbors invading and hanging Mugabe. On the other hand, I'm not confident of their neighbors' armies being disciplined enough to not make the trip worth their while, and let any intervention turn into another orgy of resource looting, like the Congolese intervention last decade.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
05/06/2008 13:25 Comments ||
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#6
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed deep concern...
...and is working on the Sternly Worded Letter as we speak!
Royal Dutch Shell over the weekend shut down more of its production following fresh attacks on its facilities by militants in the Niger Delta.
Militants suspected to be members of the Henry Okah-led Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger (MEND) on Saturday launched an attack on a flow station in southern Bayelsa State. They were said to be reacting to something or other a ruling of a Federal High Court in Jos that the dreaded Okah should be tried secretly.
Shell sources say oil wells and other valuable equipments have been blown up in the attack which brings fifth the numbers of attacks in just over a month, a development that has led to the shutting down of about 164,000 barrels a day by Shell in the country. According to Shell sources, the weekend attacks have affected some oil delivery lines and spilling of oil into the environment. but efforts are being made to stop a further spread of the oil.
Attacks by militants in the area have resulted in the halving of the nation's entire oil production, a trend which has consequently led to great economic loss with an end- effect on world oil price, which has been on the upward drive.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/06/2008 00:00 ||
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(Xinhua) -- At least 20 people were injured on Sunday during confrontations between sympathizers of Bolivian President Evo Morales and his opposers that are currently holding an autonomous referendum in Bolivia's eastern Santa Cruz department.
The violence occurred between Morales' sympathizers, of the Movement For Socialism (MAS), and autonomist rightwing groups, including of the rightwing Santa Cruz Youth Union (UJC).
In Santa Cruz de la Sierra, the department's capital, a clash between officials and opposers left eight people injured, including one that suffered head injuries.
Government spokesman Ivan Canelas said Santa Cruz's popular consultation was tarnished with violence by radical rightwing autonomist groups.
Santa Cruz department on Sunday started at 8:00 a.m. local time(13:00 GMT) the popular consultation of the Autonomous Statute, headed by the department's governor and the Civic Front, but it was rejected by the central government, the National Electoral Court and Bolivias Armed Forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/06/2008 00:00 ||
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The Joint Guam Program Office and the government of Guam will hold village meetings next week to discuss the increase of U.S. military forces on Guam. The meetings will include a question and answer session, small-group discussions and information displays. Attendees will include retired Maj. Gen. David F. Bice, head of the program office; Capt. Robert Lee, acting director of the program office in Guam; Rear Adm. William French, commander, Naval Forces Marianas; and other Pentagon officials.
The Joint Guam Program Office will hold a series of village meetings this month to discuss the newly released draft master plan for the anticipated military buildup on Guam.
The plan contains few new details about the proposed move of 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam, a new Army ballistic missile defense unit and a pier capable of receiving an aircraft carrier a few times a year, a military spokesman acknowledged on Thursday.
Marine Corps Capt. Neil A. Ruggiero said the planÂ’s contents are a sign that the military has been as forthcoming as possible during the past two years, since the U.S. and Japan agreed to move III Marine Expeditionary Force from Okinawa to Guam.
“We’ve been keeping the public informed,” Ruggiero said Thursday.
One local legislator disagreed. “I was expecting something a little more definitive,” said Guam Sen. James V. Espladon, a Republican who chairs the island’s Committee on Tourism, Maritime, Military, Veterans and Foreign Affairs. “We waited all this time. We’ve been waiting around for this?”
The 11-page draft plan restates many of the militaryÂ’s objectives for the buildup, including a goal to use existing military-controlled land to absorb the increase in buildings and living spaces.
Most of the future Marine Corps home would be on current Navy and Air Force-controlled land at the northern end of Guam, on Andersen Air Force Base and the Naval and Computer Telecommunications Station at Finegayan.
The possible locations for some training areas have yet to be determined, according to the plan. The military may look for additional land on Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands for both firing and non-firing training areas, the report reads.
No site has been proposed for the ArmyÂ’s air defense unit, the report reads.
The plan is in draft form because the EPA must approve an environmental impact statement before the military can start any construction, Ruggiero said. The military expects a decision on the environmental statement by 2010, according to the draft plan.
A “working-level” master plan is expected out this summer, the plan reads.
The buildup is expected to bring nearly 40,000 servicemembers, family members and workers to the island by 2014. The islandÂ’s current population is about 171,000. The estimated cost of the move is $10.3 billion, with Japan paying about $6 billion of the total.
#2
Guam is worrying over News reports of leaked budget-spending report information indic that the 3rd MARDIV and a MAREG may be reloc to HAWAII, NOT GUAM, which is consistent wid 1990's BRAC specul that the US Navy-DOD desired to make Guam a transient and R&R Port, i.e. US Milfors will come only for Training and under War Emergency. MORE > third-party sources - THE MARINE RELOC TO GUAM, FULL OR IN PART OR NONE, IS STILL CONSISTENT WID US REGIONAL PLANNING SCENARIOS, INCLUDING PULLOUT, FROM GUAM-WESTPAC NLT 2040-2050. I've been told that Guam could be offered unilateral formal independence from the USA anytime after 2015, as due to:
* advances in super-technology
* no major war occurring bwtn major world states.
* decline in natural resources
* US-specific costs as per Domestic/Homeland
Security
* Radical Islamist-Terror threat being mostly defeated or confined to historical regions or enclaves, i.e. NO EXPANSION OF THREAT.
NET > US MIL PLANS > MOSTLY TO COUNTER LOCAL INSURGENCIES AGROSS THE GLOBE/WORLD, NO LONGER TO FIGHT ANY "BIG/GREAT POWER" CONFLICT ALBEIT WILL STILL PLAN FOR THESE. E.g. "GLOBAL TASK FORCE" = "1000-FLAG/NATION" OWG NAVY?
I'VE BEEN TELLING LOCAL PEOPLE FOR A LONG TIME NOW THAT GUAM'S LEADERS HAD BETTER MAKE CERTAIN THAT THE MARINES COME, becuz said Reloc remains subject to the whims of National-Global Politics + Politicians, that the Reloc is NOT SET IN STONE, + THAT GUAM'S BUSINESS-POL SECTOR ARE UNILATER PUTTING THEMSELVES IN FOR A WORLD OF $$$ HURT IFF THESE MARINES EITHER DON'T COME OR THE BUILDUP IS NOT AS BIG AS ANTICIPATED. I've also been telling locals that the BEST PROTECTION GUAM CAN GIVE ITSELF AS PER THIS BUILDUP-RELOC IS A VOTE ON FORMAL SELF-DETERMINATION, as Guam will be coming up agz other Pols in the halls of Congress whom will argue WHY SHOULD A DE FACTO US STATE LOSE BIG $$$ TO A AN UNINCORPOR TERRITORY WHOM CAN'T FORMALLY OR OFFICIALLY DECIDE IFF IT WANTS TO BE PART OF THE USA OR NOT.
WOT > WAR FOR OWG-NWO > "STATUS QUO" IS NO LONGER ACCEPTABLE OR TOLERABLE, which for Guam means GUAM CANNOT KEEP RIDING FOREVER THE "MIDDLE/GREY LINE" OF AMBIGUOUS PCORRECT/DENIABLE POLITICS. WOT > Guam must choose bwtn FORMAL STATEHOOD versus FORMAL INDEPENDENCE vv USA LEST IT RISK LOSING HAVING SAY IN ITS OWN DESTINY.
At least those HAWAIIAN INDIGENS ACTIVISTS have had legal recognition and certain rights from the US Congress since the turn of the early 20th Century - ITS 2008 AND COUNTING IN THE 21ST CENTURY, AND GUAM'S INDIGENOUS, ETC. LOCAL RSIDENTS WILL HAVE LITTLE TO NO FORMAL PROTECTED RIGHTS AS SUCH TO HELP AND PREVAIL AGZ THESE LOOMING NEW PRESSURES, TO INCLUDE POTENTIAL INDEPENDENCE FROM THE USA BEFORE 2050.
D *** NG IT, GUAM'S IDENTITY = IT HAS NO IDENTITY, SAVE FOR "WHAT DO YOU OR THIRD PARTY(S) THINK WE ARE???
AGAIN, GUAM > after 2010 it become subjected to various escalatory Local, Regional and Global Pressures which potens can forever alter its traditional establishment and historical identity, most certainly for many future generations. 2008 - 2012/13 IS NOT JUST PER THE USA VERSUS RADICAL ISLAM-TERROR ONLY.
*2008 - 2012 [2020] > WAR FOR OWG-NWO = ITS FOR THE WORLD, INCLUDING GUAM, AND NOT JUST BECUZ OF TERROR!
OWG MADONNA + HER DEAD GHOSTSOLDIER/WARRIOR-LOVER.
#3
SONGS OF THE THIRD WORLD WAR > "ONE TIN SOLDIER" - Theme from BILLY JACK; + "APU MAGE" by Guam's JD CRUTCH.
In the Bloody Morning after, in the Valley of the Little Big Horn, the villains got a hold of Nixon, She wants to know what Love is, and One Tin Soldier rides away.
#5
WAFF.com > US NAVY's FLEET PLANS [Shipbuilding] ENCOUNTERS ROUGH SEAS. Big budget battles loom in Congress for smaller fleet - retirement of USS ENTERPRISE NLT 2014 or 2015???
GEORGIA is "very close" to a war with Russia, a Georgian minister said today, citing Moscow's decision to send extra troops to the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia. "We literally have to avert war,'' Georgian State Minister for Issues of Reintegration, Temur Iakobashvili, said.
Asked how close to such a war the situation was, he replied: "Very close, because we know Russians very well.
"We know what the signals are when you see propaganda waged against Georgia. We see Russian troops entering our territories on the basis of false information,'' he said.
Russia has said the troop build-up is needed to counter what it says are Georgian plans for an attack on breakaway Abkhazia and has accused Tbilisi of trying to suck the West into a war - both of which are allegations that ex-Soviet Georgia rejects.
An extra Russian contingent began arriving in Abkhazia last week. Moscow has not said how many would be added but said the total would remain within the 3000 limit allowed under a United Nations-brokered ceasefire agreement signed in 1994. Diplomats expect the reinforcement to be of the order of 1200.
Georgia, a vital energy transit route in the Caucasus, has angered Russia by seeking membership of NATO.
Mr Iakobashvili said Georgia was urging the European Union to take a more active role in reducing tensions in the region, with options including participating in border control or policing operations. However, he said no decisions on a bigger EU role had been taken during talks in Brussels with ambassadors from the 27 member states of the bloc.
#4
PRAVDA > ABKHAZIA: WHAT THIS COMMOTION IS ALL ABOUT. Artic indics that ABKHAZIA IS SECOND IN WORLD ONLY TO THE MIDEAST WHERE A MAJOR WAR OR WORLD WAR COULD BREAK OUT??? Abkhazia was arbitarily incorporated into Georgia under the USSR, but artic claims was never historically a part of Georgia.
A close ally with the local war protest group Re-create 68, which is organizing for the 2008 Democratic National Convention, is severing its ties, the group told R-68 today.
Tent State University, a national group represented locally by Adam Jung, says it is having trouble organizing support and bands to perform because of the violent imagery associated with R-68's name, and with recent heated rhetoric from R-68 organizer Glenn Spagnuolo, who has been the face of the local effort to date.
From the outset, Spagnuolo's group has attracted criticism because of its name, which suggests for many the violence outside the convention hall in Chicago in 1968.
"We don't feel that Re-create-68 is working well with the anti-war left," Jung said. "Runs with scissors; doesn't work and play well with the other little moonbats . . . "
Posted by: Mike ||
05/06/2008 15:48 ||
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Just try not to piss in each other's sandbox, okay, boys and girls?
#2
Pass the popcorn, the Democratic convention is going to be more fun than Monty Python reruns.
I guess these morons forget that the 1968 riots in Chicago essentially elected Nixon. I bet they have no clue that a train wreck convention for the Democrats will have McCain sending out Inaugeral ball invites in October.
Posted by: Ebbatle Protector of the Leprechauns7911 ||
05/06/2008 22:17 Comments ||
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Carefull, Hill. You may have to work with these folks in the future. Unless you are planning something like drilling in ANWR, of course.
Clinton's attacks on oil prices as artificially inflated, Enron-style, keep escalating, and today she appeared to threaten to break up the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. You forgot to mention that it's all W's fault . . . .
"WeÂ’re going to go right at OPEC," she said. "They can no longer be a cartel, a monopoly that get together once every couple of months in some conference room in some plush place in the world, they decide how much oil theyÂ’re going to produce and what price theyÂ’re going to put it at," she told a crowd at a firehouse in Merrillville, IN. Sorta like the UN. Except they talk about how they are going to explain avoiding meaningful action.
"ThatÂ’s not a market. ThatÂ’s a monopoly," she said, saying she'd use anti-trust law and the World Trade Organization to take on OPEC. Hard to do without some serious backup. Like having nuclear online and drilling in Anwar. But what do I know.
Clinton has cast herself as a warrior for working people against the oil industry and malicious "speculators," and made that -- along with her push for a gas tax holiday -- central to her closing message in Indiana.
It's a potent message, like the attack on "Wall Street money brokers," with deep roots in American politics. It' It's also very hard to figure out what exactly she means by the threat to break OPEC. Can you say "Presidential Nomination"?
UPDATE: The Obama campaign points out that Clinton has not signed on to cosponsor a bill that aspires "to make oil-producing and exporting cartels illegal." That'll work. About as well as my telling my neighbor what he should do.
UPDATE: Clinton's campaign says she voted a version of the bill in 2007 and has long favored filing a WTO complaint against OPEC. That WTO complaint and $4 will buy you a gallon of gas.
#1
Saw an article the other day in the Cinci Enquirer or some such about reducing the fed gas tax as a bad thing? They had several economists saying that getting rid of the fed gas tax even for a short period of time would hurt the consumer in the long run - I couldn't understand it? Maybe one of you can explain or my original assumption is that the newspaper itself was just wrong.
#2
For Pets's Sake lets forget about ANWAR, an oil there is at least ten years away because there is no infrastructure. We should be drillin in our half of the Bekkan Formation in N. Dak and in the TWO new fields in the Gulf of Mexico... we could get oil form them by August!
#3
Broadhead6, reducing the gas tax lowers prices thereby (theoretically) increasing consumption thereby increasing prices. Most likely this is what would happen. We have a finite refining capacity and when consumption reaches that capacity there ain't no more. Scarcity would drive prices even higher in the short ter until consumption again is reduced to below refining capacity.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/06/2008 19:03 Comments ||
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#4
I'd like to see the public rise up and DEMAND the Donks bend and allow ANWR drilling, Gulf drilling, CA and FLA drilling. That won't happen til there's critical mass of outraged drivers and peopel suffering price increases. Start now! Letters to teh Ed in local papers, letters to your congresscritter, unpleasant questions at voter gatherings. If we don't do it now (election time), we'll wait two years. Op DrillNow!
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/06/2008 19:14 Comments ||
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#5
DB - thanx for the response. That's essentially what the article said. I wasn't sure if taking off $.18 a gal would really do all that.
Instead of threatening the oil co.'s the gov't should be providing them incentives to finding new & realistic alt fuels.
Posted by: Snash Oppressor of the Mohammatans aka Broadhead6 ||
05/06/2008 21:15 Comments ||
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#6
Boneheads.
Its odd the Democrats pass legislation preventing us from developing VAST oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico and also preventing construction of new refining capacity. THEN they scream and caterwaul at big oil for making money because of these market twisting rules and regulations/restrictions.
We should let em drill anywhere they find oil. We should be doing everything we can to encourage oil companies develop domestic capacity.
I think a tax incentive on finding domestic oil would do a lot....come to think of it how about giving them exemptions on environmental regs to allow them to expand refining capacity.
Also stop the AQMD silliness of having different gasoline blends for each major city. How about one or two blends, that would help the price of oil and help buffer the refining capacity.
Posted by: Ebbatle Protector of the Leprechauns7911 ||
05/06/2008 22:22 Comments ||
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#7
And get rid of these 95 different summer blends - that should ease capacity.
And to do that we need your help. We need more of your blood, your sweat, and your tears. This weekend our Charlotte organization knocked on an incredible number of doors – but there are still many doors to knock, more stories to hear, more voters to inspire. So please join us as we knock on your neighbors doors and bring Senator Obama’s message of hope, unity and change. There is nothing more effective than connecting with another voter and expressing your story. Only you can do that. You know how important this is! I know I don’t have to ask, but I will one last time – please join us tomorrow. Call in sick if you have to and help us all day by canvassing or offering rides to the polls.
Even as Democrats fret over the damage that the battle for the party’s presidential nomination has already done to their chances of regaining the White House, Hillary Clinton’s campaign is talking of a “nuclear option”.
If she wins in Indiana and does well enough in North Carolina in today’s crucial primaries, her campaign believes it may yet be able to overturn party rules that currently ban delegates awarded in her vexed “victories” in Florida and Michigan.
The theory is that it would help her to overtake Barack Obama in the popular vote, cut his lead among elected delegates to less than 100, and give wavering super-delegates an excuse to choose her as the presidential candidate in defiance of the results from Democratic primaries and caucuses. . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
05/06/2008 08:46 ||
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#1
I distinctly remember headlines from not long ago
"Obama May Be able to Stop Hillary"
Now the reverse?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/06/2008 21:40 Comments ||
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Republican John McCain castigated Democrat Barack Obama for voting against John Roberts as Supreme Court chief justice in a speech about the kind of judges McCain would nominate. McCain promised to appoint judges who, in the mold of Roberts and Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, are likely to limit the reach of the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion. Which, as we all know, is the only thing that matters about judges.
"They would serve as the model for my own nominees if that responsibility falls to me," McCain said in his prepared speech.
McCain offered an olive branch strike 1 to the Christian right in a speech planned for Tuesday at Wake Forest University. The far right has been deeply suspicious but that not a bad thing of McCain, the expected GOP presidential nominee, because he has clashed with its leaders and worked against them on issues like campaign finance reform.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/06/2008 06:30 ||
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"He [McCain] voted to require parental consent for abortion and voted to criminalize anyone but a parent crossing state lines with a minor to help get an abortion."
BTW, Senator Obama sided with a small minority of Senators and voted against those two measures. Even though the vast majority of the American electorate (Of all political affiliations.) strongly agreed with the laws he aligned himself with the Babs Boxer crowd. They believe that this kind of parental involvement in their minor children’s decisions to have an abortion “restrict a woman’s right to choose”. Apparently, it was more important for Obama to maintain his street cred with Planned Parenthood rather then to vote for these Bi-Partisan no-brainers. Not exactly the kind of “new politics” he’s been telling everyone about is it?
Public Policy Polling released its final poll today on the Democratic nomination race in North Carolina and it's got Barack Obama 10 points ahead of Hillary Rodham Clinton, 53%-43%. The firm has been reliable in some primary contests this year but blew Pennsylvania bigtime last month. It had Obama winning by 3 percentage points (he lost by 9).
Posted by: Fred ||
05/06/2008 00:00 ||
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With any poller, it's hard to avoid the 'skewing' if folks resort to lying to conceal their innermost feelings of one individual or the other. The 'Limbaugh Effect' may also be a factor (in being that Republicans will 'cross over' to vote for the candidate most likely to be less of a threat to McCain in the fall). Since Iowa and New Hampshire, Blacks are block voting with a sizable percentage of white voters for Obama (in states where this would help), which mean the skewed results of these polls are being 'intentioned' by whites to influence other whites!
In a severe embarrassment, ironically for both the UPA government and its Left allies — although for quite the opposite reasons — the Non-Aligned Movement countries which are signatories to the Non-Proliferation Treaty have called for “complete prohibition” of any kind of nuclear cooperation with countries that have not acceded to the NPT. Iran, too, has jumped in, making this part of a formal proposal and calling all NPT members for an endorsement.
At the ongoing meeting of the preparatory committee for the 2010 NPT Review Conference in Geneva, Indonesia, making a statement last week on behalf of NAM countries that have signed the NPT, stated: “Without exception, there should also be a complete prohibition of the transfer of all nuclear-related equipment, information, material and facilities, resources or devices and the extension of assistance in the nuclear, scientific and technological fields to states, which are not parties to the NPT.”
Going beyond this, the statement reads: “The recent developments, in particular the nuclear cooperation agreement signed by a NWS (Nuclear Weapon State) with a non-party to the NPT is a matter of great concern.”
Taking this forward, Iran today included “prevention of transfer of any nuclear material, equipment, information, knowledge and technology to and cooperation with non-parties to the NPT” as one of the key points of its seven-point strategy proposal to combat proliferation. Iran wants this to be taken up at the NPT Review Conference.
While some official quarters here claim that all this could be a reference to Israel given the historical position of the countries from the Middle-East in the NAM that have spoken against alleged US-Israel nuclear cooperation, the sense of disquiet is clear.
In fact, NAM has so long desisted from using such language in forums where India too is participating and would have to be consulted before framing a common position.
This being an NPT meeting, India and Pakistan — the two NAM countries that have not signed the NPT — were not there. Among individual countries, Egypt strongly objected to nuclear cooperation between NPT countries and non-NPT members “regardless of the motives declared and the intentions stated” while Iran associated itself to the statement by Indonesia on behalf of NAM, saying that it “fully supports the positions reflected therein”.
Ironically, while the Left has always asked the UPA government to develop a position closer to that of the NAM on pressing nuclear disarmament issues as a mark of independent foreign policy, NAM members have called for upholding the NPT and tightening the screws on countries like India by not showing any exception to the NPT regime.
What is worrying officials here is the growing confidence with which other countries are beginning to make statements that negatively impact the nuclear deal that has been held up for domestic political reasons.
For the past three years since the deal was agreed to, sources said, developing countries have been cautious not to annoy either India or US through any remotely negative statement despite grudging opposition among many of them.
But the first indication that the problem in domestic politics was derailing the momentum built internationally came when Egypt, a key member of the NAM, came out strongly against the exception being made for India at this yearÂ’s session of the UN Disarmament Commission last month.
“Among serious challenges which threaten to do away with the principles and objectives of the NPT, is the danger of working to amend the guidelines of the Nuclear Suppliers Group in order to enable cooperation in the nuclear area with states not party to the NPT. This categorically contradicts to the letter and spirit of the NPT.”
This clear reference to the Indo-US nuclear deal was treated with some surprise in New Delhi as Cairo had gone on to state: “Such a development will forever eliminate the opportunity to destroy nuclear weapons developed outside the NPT regime — the result will be loss of credibility of the NPT and the collapse of the global non-proliferation and disarmament regime for which the treaty represents the cornerstone.”
It may be noted that the nuclear deal would allow India access to civilian nuclear commerce while still allowing it to retain its strategic weapons programme. For this, special arrangements like an India-specific Safeguards Agreement with IAEA and an exemption from the Nuclear Suppliers Group are in the works.
But given that the international opposition to the deal is incrementally coming out in the open, crossing each stage is going to be more difficult as many of these countries are in the IAEA Board and the NSG. All this, notwithstanding tough domestic opposition which has already upset the timeframe.
Posted by: john frum ||
05/06/2008 16:42 ||
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#1
If India wants to aspire to be a big dog, they need to tell the yapping Chihuahuas of the NAM to sit down and shut up and take their (India's) place on the stage.
The Asian Cultural Association of Pakistan (ACAP) will hold the launching ceremony of a 60-day long event to mark the 60th anniversary of the Pakistani film industry at the Alhamra Art Council on May 27th.
The event will be titled ‘60-Year Tribute to the Pakistani Film Industry’. The logo for the event will also be unveiled on the same day.
ACAP Secretary General, Syed Sohail Bokhari told Daily Times that Information Minister Sherry Rehman would preside over the ceremony while the Culture Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique would be the chief guest. The chairman of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority would also be invited, he added.
He said that the function would begin with a song from Pakistan’s first movie, ‘Teri Yaad’. Film stars and models would also perform on the occasion.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/06/2008 00:00 ||
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All our fault, of course. Couldn't be that a big chunk of the world is incapable of settling down to grow food themselves.
BRUSSELS - The United States and Europe should cut back on production of biofuels because they are hurting food supply at a time of rising prices, an adviser to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday. Biofuels derived from crops have come under attack in recent weeks on fears they compete with food for farming land and help to push up food prices, worsening a global crisis that is affecting millions of poor.
"We need to cut back significantly on our biofuels programmes," said Jeffrey Sachs, a prominent U.S. academic who is a special adviser to Ban on anti-poverty goals. "(They) were understandable at a time of much lower food prices and larger food stocks but do not make sense now in a global food scarcity condition," Sachs told a news conference.
"In the United States as much as one third of maize crop this year will go to gas tank. This is a huge blow to the world food supply," Sachs said before talks in Brussels with EU lawmakers.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Okay-y-y, I'll bite, when did we start???
OTOH, NET > GLOBAL COOLING thru Year 2030 or so > SCOPE - nothing will grow + we're all staying mostly indoors/secluded anyways, correct??? WE'LL KNOW 2010-2015 as per HOW ACTIVE = INTENSE SOLAR/SUSPOT CYCLE "24" GETS.
*BIGNEWSNETWORK > PLAN IN WORKS TO PROBE/STUDY THE SUN.
*FARK/REDDOT.com POsters > CLIMATE MODELS > THE ONLY THING WE KNOW FOR SURE AS PER LIMATE CHANGE IS THAT WE DON'T KNOW ANYTHING. US-WORLD PERTS are absolutely positively undeniably categorically..............................@ CERTAIN WE ARE UNCERTAIN = KNOW LITTLE OR NOTHING ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE, ERGO KNOW EVERYTHING D *** YOU???
#3
I hear there is lots of nice unused farmland in Zimbabwe. If Farmin B. Hard and his lazy-ass pals would get busy and grow something besides election fraud...
#4
For once, the U.N. gets one right. Ethanol is highly inefficient - it is produced as a political subsidy to Iowans and its increased usage has had a spillover inflationary effect in wheat and rice with consequences for both American and foreign consumers.
The first political candidate who can propose a reasonable energy policy would have an enormous advantage. This issue will gain traction as the average citizen begins to understand its significance.
#8
Last I looked, most of these folks don't like us. Their problem is they want us to provide them with cheap (preferably free) food so they can breed like rabbits and spend their money on weapons and madrassas rather than food, or even better, food production. They can FOAD.
#9
The UN has no business telling the US, or any country for that matter, what it should do with the food it grows. If we prefer to shift our foodstocks into countering our dependence on foreign oil and the despots of the world, screw them. The UN is envious of the rising clout of the US biofuel business model with our record production. We cannot let the UN interfere with our investment in the future, in an industry spawned by environmental caring (special interests) backed by (specious) scientific reasoning, vesting itself in rising commodity & raw material prices resulting in higher pump prices...wait a minute...HUH?
Posted by: Ike ||
05/06/2008 10:48 Comments ||
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#10
Mr. Moondog, go f**k yourself. We'll handle these big decisions ourselves. You just keep your toenails trimmed, that's all you can handle. And, McCain, alone, is strongly for an agressive buidup of nuclear power here. Way, waay past time.
#11
Forcing the world to pay the same as we pay for food would indeed effect the populations of poorer countries. This would be a good thing. There is no practicle need for rising populations, rather, earth would be better off with fewer people. So, remove all food subsidies and let the procreating level off.
But all those people will starve, don't you care ?
I care. If the world population continues to grow, we all starve. Don't you care ?
#12
wxjames, in a word, no. If I thought feeding them would do any good, I would. It won't. It prolongs their misery and just makes us feel good. Most of these people are victims of their governments and holy men. Until they are willing to help themselves, I see no value in continuing to support them. Further, there have been too many scenes of western bodies being drug through the streets to the amusement of celebrating throngs of ghouls for me to feel much pity for these peoples. For people like the Somalis or the Palestinians, what good will sending more food do except feed our enemies?
#13
The United States and Europe should cut back on production of biofuels because they are hurting food supply at a time of rising prices, an adviser to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday.
Damn, guys, these banquet prices are killing us! We've even had to dip into the hooker money for crissakes!
#14
Iowa corn farmers are supposed to stockpile corn just in case there's a poor rice harvest in southeast asia or a poor wheat harvest in central asia? I think not. As usual, the world has problems and they're all our fault.
Just the other day we found out that the U.N. food program was begging for money while sitting on top of 1.2 billion dollars. Let's tell the hungry people about that instead.
We also recently learned that Africa is producing less food than in colonial times. Maybe the U.N. needs to relocate to Africa and give Africa its advice.
#15
U.N. adviser Jeffrey Sachs "is an American economist known for his work as an economic advisor to governments in Latin America, Eastern Europe, the former Yugoslavia, the former Soviet Union..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Sachs
With a resume like that, it's amazing he can even find work at all. I guess the U.N. was the best he could do.
#17
Maybe a program distributing free condoms to third worlders will help, Ban Ki?
Dunno for sure but I'd guess that condoms are unislamic.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/06/2008 17:33 Comments ||
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#18
Abu, only if they are green.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
05/06/2008 18:52 Comments ||
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#19
I read just today that the Cyclone has destroyed about 1/4 of the world's rice crop, just how are we responsible for God's wrath?
And since when is the UN involved in the USA's crops? Go tend the third world you so love to reap(Sorry Rape)
What, nothing left to steal? tough shit.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/06/2008 21:18 Comments ||
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#20
Ah another phony baloney environmentally sensitive alternate fuel bites the dust.
Everyone forgot to do the math that it takes more BTU's of fossil fuel to distill ethanol than the ethanol produces.
When the environmental wackos get over their pathology about nuclear power, we'll have some rational energy policies AND we'll be much less dependent on oil for power.
The law of unintended consequences always gets the goof ball enviro groups that seem to find some miracle cure for oil in about every looney idea that comes along.
I wonder how many of these nimrods wears a tin foil hat to bed.
Posted by: Ebbatle Protector of the Leprechauns7911 ||
05/06/2008 22:27 Comments ||
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Iraq on Monday signed two deals worth $5 billion to buy 40 planes from Boeing and 10 planes from Canada's Bombardier to upgrade Iraqi Airways' aging fleet.
The deals were signed by Finance Minister Bayan Jabr in a ceremony attended by Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as well as U.S., British and Canadian diplomats. The first Boeing plane will be delivered in 2013, Jabr said, while the Canadian company will start delivering the planes later this year.
A Boeing spokesman in Seattle, Peter Conte, said the firm order from Iraq was for 30 Boeing 737-800s worth $2.2 billion at list prices. He said Boeing and Iraq are still finalizing an additional order for 10 new 787s. "This is seen as among the first steps in re-establishing Iraq's scheduled commercial aviation operations," Conte said.
Al-Maliki said the government was working to improve the country and called for investments in Iraq. "Today, the process of developing economy has started," al-Maliki said in a speech during the ceremony.
#4
I had no idea Canada made anything but beer and petroleum, which only shows my ignorance. But if they make their airplanes as well as their beer, Iraqi Airways needn't worry about anything except people who go boom.
#5
If they are flying out of Baghdad International, not much chance of a boom - REALLY tight security. I think the Kurdish airport has its security handled by Blackwater; would not be trusting anything coming out of the Basra airport for a long while, unless they go with Blackwater as well.
Supposedly these lurid details are not allowed to be published in Israeli media, but that may just be the NY Post talking.
A Long Island mogul is at the center of a sensational bribery scandal that could bring down embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, The Post has learned.
Millionaire financier Morris Talansky - who runs an investment firm out of his home in Woodmere - allegedly passed money to Olmert while the politician was mayor of Jerusalem in the '90s, sources said.
In a highly unusual move, Israeli authorities have barred the country's media from publishing Talansky's name - revealed now in The Post - saying it could hamper their investigation. Israeli media has referred only to the involvement of an "American businessman."
Talansky is apparently set to sing to Israeli authorities about his alleged role in the scheme, sources said.
"It looks serious, and it looks like they have a state witness" in Talansky, one source said.
Talansky - a philanthropist and political contributor to everyone from Rudy Giuliani to Bill Clinton - is in Jerusalem, where he has an apartment, preparing to head to a closed-door court hearing as early as today, sources said.
The 75-year-old was earlier questioned about the alleged scheme almost immediately after arriving in the country for Passover, and he implicated Olmert, sources have said.
It was unclear what the alleged payments to Olmert were for, but sources said they involved hefty amounts of cash.
Talansky repeatedly appears - sometimes under the nickname "The Laundry Man" - in the logs of financial dealings kept by Olmert's longtime aide, Shula Zakan, a source said.
Olmert was grilled :-) by investigators Friday. He has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.
The allegations are only the latest in a string of woes for Olmert, who has battled past charges of government corruption and questionable personal business practices.
"But this time seems very serious, and it seems eventually, we don't know if it will be days, weeks or months, in the end, he may not be able to continue to be prime minister," one source said.
A man answering the phone at Talansky's multimillion-dollar mansion in Woodmere yesterday said, "He's not available."
Talansky lists himself as CEO of the Global Resources Group, a self-described financial-investment firm.
FYI for all you high powered executives out there...
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - US federal court officials have warned that hackers are emailing phony subpoenas embedded with malicious software to high-ranking executives to steal valuable corporate information.
Thousands of powerful US executives have received the bogus emails that contain links which, if clicked on, install software letting hackers take control of computers and swipe passwords or other sensitive data.
Internet security insiders refer to the attacks as "whaling" because they use social-engineering trickery involved in "phishing" but target individual "big phish" instead of casting nets in a sea of Internet users."The success rate was incredibly high," Websense Security Labs manager Stephan Chenette told AFP."Most likely due to the nature of the content and the real data, the emails had their exact names and legal language in there that made it seem like a serious subpoena."
The emails are crafted with the seal of the US federal court in San Diego, California, and are addressed to executives using their names, addresses and other individual details. Clicking on a link to see a "subpoena" displays a realistic looking document and stealthily installs malicious computer code in the reader's computer. "When the recipient tries to view the document, they unwittingly download and install software that secretly records keystrokes and sends the data to a remote computer over the Internet," court officials said in their warning."This enables criminals to capture passwords and other personal or financial information and starts software that allows the computer to be controlled remotely."
Subpoenas in the United States are usually served in person to assure judges that the orders from courts have been properly received by those named. US investigators believe the hackers are not familiar with the court system because the website executives are directed to uses a "uscourts.com" domain name while actual court online addresses typically end in ".gov."
Aspects of writing in the messages appear British, according to police.
Among the targets have been executives at banking giant CitiBank, Time Warner-owned America OnLine and Internet auction house eBay, according to the courts.
The hackers likely got confidential information about intended victims stolen or gathered in the Internet's underworld. "In the malicious community there is a lot of buying and selling of credit card and other information," Chenette said. "Attackers buy cell phone numbers, home addresses and other specifics about people. In this case they were identifying and going after larger executives."
There is a trend toward more convincing, targeted "whaling" attacks, according to Chenette, who says to be wary of supposed court or tax department emails. Trick emails with giveaway spelling errors of the kind that gave "phishing" its name are giving way to well-crafted, believable messages honed using confidential information about targets. "The future of spam is to become more evasive and successful," Chenette said. "It is always a cat and mouse game ... a very real game."
#1
It's amazing how computer illiterate some of these big wigs are.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/06/2008 15:27 Comments ||
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#2
pretty smart - the big wigs wouldn't wanna call in the big-mouthed IT guy to see a subpoena, so they open it themselves....
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/06/2008 16:34 Comments ||
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#3
I'm gonna have to switch sides on this one, after the way banks are screwing us, they deserve to be scrwed back, while I'm against crime, I get a maddening delight in this crime. I can't think of a more deserving target.
Go for it hackers. (Grin)See how many millions you can get.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/06/2008 21:34 Comments ||
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Malaysia rejected on Monday a proposal to impose restrictions on women travelling overseas on their own following an outcry from womenÂ’s groups.
Home (Interior) Minister Syed Hamid Albar said his ministry could not impose conditions requiring women to get written consent from their family before they can travel abroad alone. “There cannot be (such) a rule,” the national Bernama news agency quoted him as telling reporters, adding, “When a person applies for a passport, we don’t ask them where they are going. A person who wants to travel, makes his or her own decision to travel and how they are going to do it is up to them.”
Using women to smuggle drugs: Foreign Minister Rais Yatim said on Saturday that both the Foreign and Home ministries mooted the idea in response to a string of cases where international drug syndicates used women travelling alone to smuggle drugs across borders.
The Foreign Ministry clarified on Monday that Rais’s proposal only related to children and women below 21 years of age. “The proposal to facilitate young people with parental letters of intent would not be a violation of human rights since it would, if accepted, only apply to those who are still under the legal guardianship of their parents to begin with,” said the ministry in a statement, adding, “The proposal is not in any way intended to belittle or violate any rights.”
Women’s groups over the weekend had reacted with outrage, calling the proposal “ridiculous” and “regressive”. One of the groups, Sisters in Islam, declined to speculate a hidden religious motive but said the idea assumed women were less capable than men to make decisions. At the weekend, Bernama portrayed the proposal as an anti-crime measure rather than a religiously inspired idea and said it aimed to ensure that a woman’s family would “monitor her departure and serve as a preventive measure against being duped”.
Rais was quoted as saying that the idea came out of a review of criminal cases involving Malaysians abroad. He said in 119 cases of Malaysian women being brought before foreign courts, around 90 percent were linked to drugs.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/06/2008 00:00 ||
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After paying $75 to fill his black Dodge Ram pickup truck for the third time in a week, Douglas Chrystall couldn't take it anymore. Feeling pinched at the pump, and guilty as well, Chrystall, a 39-year-old father from Wellesley, is putting ads online to sell the truck, and the family's other gas-guzzler, a Jeep Grand Cherokee. He knows it will be tough to unload them because he is one of a growing number of consumers downsizing to smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. He was used to that extra space for a bag of groceries from 7/11.
Americans are turning away from the boxy, four-wheel-drive vehicles that have for years dominated the nation's highways. Sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks - symbols of Americans' obsession with horsepower, size, and status - are falling out of favor as consumers rich and poor encounter sticker shock at the pump, paying upward of $80 to fill gas tanks.
The sale of new SUVs and pickup trucks has dropped precipitously in recent months amid soaring gas prices and a weakening economy: SUV sales for the month of April alone fell 32.3 percent from a year earlier and small car sales rose 18.6 percent. This fundamental shift comes against a backdrop of relentless gas increases, and growing concerns over the environment and US oil consumption, according to auto analysts and car dealers.
"The SUV craze was a bubble and now it is bursting," said George Hoffer, an economics professor at Virginia Commonwealth University whose research focuses on the automotive industry. "It's an irrational vehicle. It'll never come back." First the "Housing Bubble" and now the "SUV Bubble", next the "Flat Screen TV Bubble" or maybe the "Cellphone Bubble"..
With stocks of unwanted new SUVs and pickups piling up at dealerships across the country, automakers are offering unprecedented promotions. Incentives for large SUVs, including cash rebates, topped $4,000 in March, or more than double those offered in March 2002, according to Edmunds.com, which monitors the motor industry.
At the same time, consumers like Chrystall are flooding the market with used SUVs, trying to trade in hulking Hummers for compact Corollas, and getting thousands of dollars less than they would have just a few months ago. In April, the average used SUV took more than 66 days to sell, at a 20 percent discount from vehicle valuation books, such as Kelley Blue Book, compared to 48 days and a 7.8 percent discount a year earlier, reported CNW Marketing Research, an automotive marketing research company. Next there will be a "Stolen SUV found burned out in a run down area Bubble".
Some desperate car dealers and consumers, are willing to lose thousands of dollars just to get rid of their SUVs. Last July, 20-year-old Sannan Nizami, of Lowell, bought a 2007 Toyota 4Runner SUV for $32,000 when it cost about $65 to fill the tank. Six months later, as a gallon of gas soared to $3.50 and more, and tank refills climbed over $80, Nizami put the vehicle up for sale. He posted it online for $27,000 but received no responses for months.
Frustrated and unable to afford prices at the pump, Nizami last month turned over the Toyota to a dealer who only sells vehicles from private owners. Nizami is still paying the $450 loan but now is bumming rides to work with a cousin and worrying about making enough from the sale to cover the car loan.
"I didn't think gas would shoot up this much. I'm willing to take a hit just to take the pressure off," Nizami said. "I'll probably get a really cheap Camry or Corolla. Something that gets more than 18 miles to the gallon." In the Seventies the Japanese car makers were ready for the gas crunch and cleaned our clocks, they're ready again for the coup de grace, we never learn.
The slowdown in the home construction industry has also lowered demand for used SUVs and full-size pickup trucks. Meanwhile, midsize and small domestic 4-cylinder vehicles have fetched higher used prices during this period of high gasoline prices, according to Paul Taylor, chief economist for the National Automobile Dealers Association. For example, wholesale prices of used small cars increased from $8,480 to $9,240 between December and March as gas prices rose from $2.98 to $3.22 per gallon.
The growing popularity of crossover vehicles, which offer SUV features on a car platform, is putting a dent in SUV sales and reshaping the focus of the auto industry toward the more fuel-efficient crossovers. In March, twice as many crossovers were sold compared to SUVs, according to the auto dealers association.
Herb Chambers, who owns more than 40 dealerships across Massachusetts and Rhode Island, said the incentives offered on new SUVs are pushing down the value of the used vehicles, and increasingly, he is taking a loss on SUV trade-ins at his various dealerships, which include everything from Chevrolet to Jeep to Mini.
"The incentives have never been higher than they are today for the large SUVs and small pickup trucks," Chambers said. "I don't know how factories can make any money for these cars." Maybe Detroit will have to start pricing their vihicles based on the miles per gallon versus the tonnage.
At his Mini dealership, Chambers said people have been turning in Chevrolet Suburbans for the tiny British car in recent weeks. He currently has a one-year waiting list for the coveted Smart Car, an 8-foot-8-inch vehicle that gets more than 40 miles per gallon. "Having SUVs as an everyday commuter car is largely going away," Chambers said.
Jon McHugh, of Swampscott, is celebrating the last payment on his 2003 Acura MDX by putting the SUV up for sale. He had expected to drive it a year longer, but rising gas prices and growing economic uncertainty made him reconsider. Plus, McHugh recently reacquired a taste for the convenience of a smaller car. Whenever possible, he drives his wife's new Civic Hybrid, which costs half as much as the Acura to gas up. "I don't need this much space," McHugh said of his SUV. "It just seems ridiculous."
#2
tu - look in the Globe parking lot sometime; my man there confirms at least 1/4 of the vehicles are SUV's; more where the bigshots park (the upper parking lot you can see from the Expressway or the Red Line after the UMass stop).
#3
"I'll probably get a really cheap Camry or Corolla"
Good luck with that: as the gas prices climb out here, it is amazing to see what is being drug out of the woodwork and put back on the road: just last Friday a saw a 1958(?) Renault Dauphine, and anything with a Japanese nameplate and a For Sale sign is not sitting in front yards long.
#4
Driving on the incline out of Hoover Dam last month, one of my indicator lights went on. Checking the manual it said something was afoul of my emission system and that it might just be a loose fuel cap. Had 600 more miles to get home, light or not. I did notice that my mileage suddenly shot up from 25 to 30 miles per gallon. Then somewhere east of Gallup, I refueled at a truck stop just on the other side of the fence of the brand's refinery. Now I'm getting 35 miles to the gallon. Take the car in the next day to the dealer for a check up just to make sure I didn't fry anything. The tech came back and said it was just a loose gas cap and a replacement has kept the light off. Now my mileage is back to 25 mpg. When you load all that emission control and all the safety 'up armorering' to the vehicles, you tend to sacrifice on the mileage issue. Everyone gets stuck with the emission consequence whether you're in the dense cityscape or open plains.
#5
cellphones serve some purposes that at this point nothing else can, and their prices are stable or declining. No particular reason for plan costs to soar. Until everyone falls in love with a new tech, I cant see them going away.
Flat screen TVs are a luxury that doesnt make sense for everyone, but as their price declines, its hard to see what would make them go away.
SUVs make perfect sense for people who need to drive off road, in uncleared snow and ice on a regular basis,etc. For lots of folks theyre an affectation - a minivan has as much or more space for the money and is about as easy to get into. CUVs are really only useful for non-offroaders if you really need the height. None of which would have made the SUV bubble burst if not for the oil price increases. How long that will last is another question.
#6
I filled my '96 Dodge 2500 Friday. 96 bucks. I'm glad I only use it for farm stuff as it gets 9 mpg (V-10 engine). Now I'm paying 40 bucks to fill up the Cavalier. It gets 30mpg.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/06/2008 16:01 Comments ||
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#7
Where I live in California there is a high concentration of SUVs. The only off-road time they experience is in the Safeway parking lot and the family driveway.
#9
3dc Why are you wasting time posting when you could unload your "guzzler"? Unless $4.00 plus per gallon for gas it not an problem for your family.
Our local gas has already exceeded $4 and is still climbing. Our in-laws in England are spending more than twice that much per gallon converted from liters. (Over $2 US per liter)
#10
I'll keep my '04 F150 Supercrew Lariat 4X4, thankyewverymuch.
It's a truck-love-thing. You either get it or you don't, fuel costs were part of the calculation when buying
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/06/2008 18:13 Comments ||
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#11
Love my Dakota. Small V-8, acceptable mileage, you can get it in a 3/4 ton configuration (more than a Chevy or Ford or Dodge fullsize entry level model) and a towing package that can handle a decent sized trailer. Look for Dodge to sell a lot of these in the coming year or two.
The next bubble to burst will be the education bubble.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
05/06/2008 19:15 Comments ||
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#12
Let's see ....
the Jeep Grand Cherokee gets 13-14 mph and is up there in mileage
the minivan gets 18 mph or so and we're still paying for it
my now deceased father-in-law's 1967 Porsche 912 which Mr. Lotp is lovingly restoring gets 25 mph on the highway.
#13
If this article is true why does the dealership call asking to buy back my 4WD Trailblazer with the 4.2 liter and tow bar?
They last called a month ago complaining about not enough trucks like that on their lot.
Because the thing they're not telling you is the pittance they'll give you, and the price they intend to stick you for the next dog they plan to sell you.
Don't fall for it, put the truck in the garage for a few years and buy a small car WITH NO TRADE IN then see just how generous your "Friendly Dealer" really is.
He only makes money sticking you for the new car AND the trade in, no trade, he's hurting.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/06/2008 20:52 Comments ||
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#14
I personaly drive a 1988 Isuzu 2.6 4cylinder and get around 22 MPG loaded to the gills with tools (Don't ask) I'm currently buying a 1994 mustang with a V-6 3.8 mainly because when I took it down the interstate on a test drive the tachometer dropped to 1000 RPM at 65 mph, That little Horsey has some very long legs. Needs work, but at $3,500 I can sink a good bit of cash into it and still come out way ahead.(Body's straight, needs some wiring work)
I'll use the truck for town, and the "Horsey" for trips.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/06/2008 21:07 Comments ||
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#15
I'm not giving up my V-6.
SUVs are status symbols and they're about to become even moreso - cos only the well-to-do can afford to run them...and now the rabble can't afford them.. It was hard for the well-to-do - the rabble could afford so much and now they can't.
#16
If you're in the Mobile area, look for a huge red toolbox, with a small brownish truck under it.
That's me.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/06/2008 21:23 Comments ||
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#17
GUAM > for an "irrational vehicle", I'm seeing more SUVS + VANS than ever before. As for smaller passenger cars, I'm attributing that to YOUNG NEW FAMILIES + GREAT-GRAND KIDDIES. The LARA KROFT = PS2/XBox Generation have grown up, gotten jobs andor joined the Army, married?, and have begun introducing the kiddies to McDonalds and other fast food.
#18
2008 Toyota Yaris 2-door hatchback. Averages 38.5 mpg in combo city/freeway driving and 40+ mpg straight highway (with the 5 speed). $14,128.00 out the door TTL.
Peppy engine and lots of zip, turns on dime and will return 9.5¢ change. Fun to drive too!
I need it for my (part-time) business, I like sitting above the traffic, I like not having to worry about getting to work in snow or high water.
I use about $20/week in gas - though lately it's gotten up to around $25.
And, most important of all, IT'S PAID FOR.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/06/2008 22:54 Comments ||
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#20
that's all fine. When you need to carry 6 or 20 sheets of plywood or a 15 gallon tree and passengers, or a full set of camping gear and 4 passengers? I've got the best of all worlds IMHO
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/06/2008 23:37 Comments ||
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You hippy-crites! When it comes to saving the planet do celebrities practise what they preach?
Is the hot air emitted by celebrities when they spout ecological platitudes a greenhouse gas?
If so, then the melting of the polar ice caps just moved a step closer, following calls by Trudie Styler, a leading celebrity ecological hypocrite - call them hippy-crites for short - for the general public to eat more locally grown vegetables.
Campaigning against food miles might seem an unlikely cause for Styler, given that a tribunal last year heard how she ordered her personal chef to travel over 100 miles to make a bowl of pasta for her youngest child and has sold olive oil and honey from her Tuscan estate, Il Palagio, 1,000 or so miles away, in Harrods in London.
So it was hardly surprising that an alert journalist present at the lecture, which was being staged as part of the Earls Court Real Food Festival, had the wit to question the environmental record of Styler and her husband Sting.
The couple's carbon footprint, the impertinent ink-stained wretch pointed out, has been estimated at 30 times greater than the average Briton's. How did Styler and Sting - who have seven homes - square that with their environmental crusading?
#2
well, how do expect them to otherwise save the Planet? They can't save the Planet without making other people sacrifice.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/06/2008 12:06 Comments ||
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#3
Perhaps that little captain planet leo would like to donate some of that 'hard earned' money to Greensburg and surrounding fire departments so that we can help his precious little hobby not burn down this summer.
#4
Perhaps the world should listen to these goofs. Start by not driving to the movies, not buying the DVDs. Since movie channel royalties support the movie industry, cancel them. Then hollywood would not be wasting all that electricity and other resources making their crappy movies.
I also see Tom Hanks, star of Money Pit and another movie starring a pot smoking coke sniffing animal, feels it is important for him to share his opinion on a particular candidate - guess I don't need that HD copy of Private Ryan either.
#5
If the Hollyweird types wanted to truly live a low carbon lifestyle, they would live in a shack like Ted Kaczynski (the UnaBomber) did. Raise or hunt for their own food, wash (if they do) in a creek, etc. Now, not many people can live that way - because it takes a great deal of land to support a person using primitive agriculture like that. But each person would be living low carbon.
Or they could live like the people in North Korea - starving or on the verge of starvation.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
05/06/2008 18:41 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
James Carville, to Eleanor Clift: "If she gave him one of her cojones, they'd both have two."
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed deep concern Monday at the rising levels of violence and intimidation in Zimbabwe and called on African leaders to resolve the electoral crisis quickly, peacefully and with the agreement of the parties.
Royal Dutch Shell over the weekend shut down more of its production following fresh attacks on its facilities by militants in the Niger Delta. 
The Joint Guam Program Office and the government of Guam will hold village meetings next week to discuss the increase of U.S. military forces on Guam. The meetings will include a question and answer session, small-group discussions and information displays. Attendees will include retired Maj. Gen. David F. Bice, head of the program office; Capt. Robert Lee, acting director of the program office in Guam; Rear Adm. William French, commander, Naval Forces Marianas; and other Pentagon officials.
Tent State University, a national group represented locally by Adam Jung, says it is having trouble organizing support and bands to perform because of the violent imagery associated with R-68's name, and with recent heated rhetoric from R-68 organizer Glenn Spagnuolo, who has been the face of the local effort to date.
The Asian Cultural Association of Pakistan (ACAP) will hold the launching ceremony of a 60-day long event to mark the 60th anniversary of the Pakistani film industry at the Alhamra Art Council on May 27th.
After paying $75 to fill his black Dodge Ram pickup truck for the third time in a week, Douglas Chrystall couldn't take it anymore. Feeling pinched at the pump, and guilty as well, Chrystall, a 39-year-old father from Wellesley, is putting ads online to sell the truck, and the family's other gas-guzzler, a Jeep Grand Cherokee. He knows it will be tough to unload them because he is one of a growing number of consumers downsizing to smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. 
For example, wholesale prices of used small cars increased from $8,480 to $9,240 between December and March as gas prices rose from $2.98 to $3.22 per gallon.
Is the hot air emitted by celebrities when they spout ecological platitudes a greenhouse gas? 
