Even tho the article doesn't mention his party in the first sentence, he is, in fact, a Republican.
Embattled and embarrassed by the confession he fathered a child from an extramarital affair, New York Rep. Vito Fossella is facing public calls for his resignation. Secluded with his family, he must decide if he wants to keep his job badly enough to grapple with the lingering questions and fallout from the scandal.
In admitting the affair and a secret child Thursday, the Republican lawmaker indicated he planned to stay in Congress for months to come, but there are signs he could be out much sooner: House Minority Leader John Boehner pointedly said he expected Fossella to make a decision about his future this weekend.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/10/2008 06:44 ||
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We'll it's not like he's running for president.
Africa led the way to the first rise of deadly airliner crashes in a decade, followed by Brazil and Southeast Asia, an international aviation trade group said Thursday.
"The problem is still Africa, and ... it's a problem of resources and a lack of political will," IATA Director General and Chief Executive Giovanni Bisignani said. "You have many airlines that do not meet (certain safety) standards, and you have governments who are not taking safety seriously." Africa remained the most dangerous region in which to fly, with 4.09 accidents per million flights — down modestly from the previous year. North America, Europe, and the countries of the former Soviet Union had the lowest accident rates last year.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/10/2008 00:00 ||
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Water still wet, grass still green, Japan still weird, etc.
#5
I don't want to be in a pic like that with my bird. I had a few instances of 4-wheelers and pickup trucks coming across a runway while on approach. Had to go around.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/10/2008 15:58 Comments ||
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#5 I don't want to be in a pic like that with my bird. I had a few instances of 4-wheelers and pickup trucks coming across a runway while on approach. Had to go around. Posted by: Alaska Paul 2008-05-10 15:58
At least you're not sitting in the aircraft waiting for clearance onto the runway when a "follow me" truck backs into your nose gear, AP. I heard that crash happen - it was too foggy to SEE it. One senior NCO became a slick-sleeve on that one.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/10/2008 23:23 Comments ||
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Myanmar's military regime distributed international aid Saturday but plastered the boxes with the names of top generals in an apparent effort to turn the relief effort for last week's devastating cyclone into a propaganda exercise.
The United Nations sent in three more planes and several trucks loaded with aid, though the junta took over its first two shipments. The government agreed to let a U.S. cargo plane bring in supplies Monday, but foreign disaster experts were still being barred entry.
State-run television continuously ran images of top generals — including the junta leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe — handing out boxes of aid to survivors at elaborate ceremonies. One box bore the name of Lt. Gen. Myint Swe, a rising star in the government hierarchy, in bold letters that overshadowed a smaller label reading: "Aid from the Kingdom of Thailand."
"We have already seen regional commanders putting their names on the side of aid shipments from Asia, saying this was a gift from them and then distributing it in their region," said Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, which campaigns for human rights and democracy in the country. "It is not going to areas where it is most in need," he said in London.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/10/2008 06:59 ||
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In other news, water is wet....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/10/2008 9:53 Comments ||
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I thought it was the U.N.s job to take credit for someone else's hard work.
Sounds like there may be a strongly worded letter in the works.
#4
The UN didn't have the chance to put their names on the boxes. The generals controlled the battlespace. And you can thank the Chicoms for supporting this despotic regime.
It would be cool if leaflets could be dropped all over the place, stating that the international community is ready to give aid, but the junta will not let them come in and help.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/10/2008 15:55 Comments ||
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Read this this morning, and it sort of explains what's happening, and sets us up for what SHOULD happen over the next 10 to 20 years. Seems like something called the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) is to blame.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/10/2008 23:28 Comments ||
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The military leaders of Myanmar seized a shipment of United Nations food aid on Friday intended for victims of a devastating cyclone, declaring that they would accept donations of food and medicine but not the experienced aid workers international groups say are in equally short supply there.
The ruling junta continued to permit a small number of aid deliveries and promised to allow the first air shipment from the Pentagon. But the refusal of the countryÂ’s iron-fisted rulers to allow doctors and disaster relief experts to enter in large numbers contributed the growing concern that starvation and epidemic diseases could end up killing people on the same scale as the winds, waves and flooding that destroyed villages across a wide swath of coastal Myanmar nearly a week ago.
The International Red Cross estimated on Friday that the combined efforts of relief agencies and the Myanmar government has distributed aid to only 220,000 of up to 1.9 million people left homeless, injured or subject to disease and hunger after the storm. "There are problems to get the aid inside, and there are problems to get the aid out to the delta area," the Danish Red Cross director, Anders Ladekarl, said in a satellite telephone interview from Myanmar to Danish broadcaster DR. "We are simply lacking transportation. There are almost no boats and no helicopters. This is really a nightmare to make this operation run."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/10/2008 00:00 ||
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YANGON - Myanmar's junta showed no signs on Friday of bending to a chorus of angry and anguished demands to admit foreign aid workers, saying it can distribute relief to the 1.5 million people affected by Cyclone Nargis by itself.
Frustration is mounting over Myanmar's generally feeble response to one of its worst disasters in memory and particularly the delays in giving visas to aid workers and landing rights for relief flights.
Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej cancelled a planned trip to Myanmar this weekend after the junta's announcement that it would not welcome foreign aid workers, just hours after he said he would go. 'After they said today they would not welcome foreign staff, there is no point of me going there,' Samak said.
In a statement in the official media after Myanmar turned back a team of Qatari rescue workers coming in on an aid flight this week, the foreign ministry said Myanmar would accept 'relief in cash and kind' but not foreign aid workers. 'Myanmar is not in a position to receive rescue and information teams from foreign countries at the moment,' the statement said. 'But at present Myanmar is giving priority to receiving relief aid and distributing them to the storm-hit regions with its own resources.'
The Qatar plane was one of 12 international relief flights that landed in the former capital on Thursday, it said, the first to arrive since Saturday's cyclone.
Western aid experts in Bangkok will have to wait at least four more days to get into Myanmar to help cyclone victims because the Myanmar embassy in the Thai capital took a local holiday on Friday. 'This is a four-day wait which just should not happen,' said Paul Risley, spokesman for the U.N. World Food Programme. 'This is too long to wait for people whose lives are at such a precarious balance.'
In a just world the Burmese generals would already be hanging from lampposts ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/10/2008 00:00 ||
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Myanmar would accept 'relief in cash and kind' but not foreign aid workers.
Authorities in Somalia's autonomous region of Puntland have detained a broadcast corporation chief for inciting political unrest. Eyewitnesses said police on Friday arrested Mowlid Haji Abdi the director of Somalia Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) -which operates radio and television stations- in an early morning raid in the port town of Bosasso.
"Policemen raided the station this morning at around 9:45 am (0645 GMT) and arrested the director. They told us they had orders from the local authorities," AFP quote a staff member as saying.
Puntland officials said Abdi's arrest was due to broadcasts that appeared to spread instability in the region, which split from Somalia proper in 1995. "The media house he runs is creating instability through its broadcasting," said an official on condition of anonymity.
Press rights watchdogs pushed Puntland to release Haji Abdi, accusing the authorities of harassing the media with the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders asking the regional authorities to explain the incident. "We demand unconditional and immediate release of our colleague from Puntland authorities," said Omar Faruk, the secretary general of the National Union of Somali Journalists.
Faruk accused Puntland police of using 'all forms of harassment and intimidation to journalists' to prevent accurate and independent reporting of current events.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/10/2008 00:00 ||
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Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has said he will contest a presidential run-off, despite fears of widespread poll violence. Speaking in South Africa, he said people would feel "betrayed" if he did not run, and vowed to return shortly.
Mr Tsvangirai called for an end to violence, as well as full access by international monitors and media. Official first-round results put him ahead of President Robert Mugabe, but not by enough votes to win outright. Mr Tsvangirai had earlier insisted he had secured more than 50% of the vote, and that there was therefore no need for a second round.
On Saturday, he told reporters that his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had faced a "very difficult" decision but that after consulting supporters in Zimbabwe, it had decided to take part. "I am ready, and the people are ready for the final round," he said.
The opposition leader went on to demand "unfettered access of all international observers" and journalists covering the vote. He also called for the deployment of southern African peacekeepers to curtail any violence.
The BBC's Peter Greste in Johannesburg says the announcement was not a big surprise, as boycotting the poll would have meant handing victory to President Mugabe by default. Our correspondent says Mr Tsvangirai has to get home soon - as long as he remains outside Zimbabwe, it will be hard to maintain the support he needs to win the run-off. The MDC leader said he expected to return to Zimbabwe in the next two days.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has not yet set a date for the run-off. Mr Tsvangirai said it should take place by 23 May - within three weeks of the first-round results being declared. According to these official declarations, he won 47.9% of the vote, against 43.2% for Mr Mugabe. Although the first round was largely peaceful, the results were not announced until 2 May.
The MDC says the delay gave the authorities time to rig the counting and carry out attacks on its supporters in anticipation of a run-off. A trade union official on Thursday said that 40,000 farm-workers and their relatives had fled their homes because of violent attacks The MDC says at least 25 of its supporters have been killed since the first round, and hundreds have been forced from their homes in rural areas. But police and officials from Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party have accused the MDC of staging attacks, while accusing the MDC of exaggerating the scale of the violence.
Mr Mugabe has been in office since independence in 1980. And will be for the foreseable future.
(Xinhua) -- About 50 National Liberation Force(Palipehutu-FNL) rebels were killed in heavy fighting Wednesday, the Burundian army said. The violent clashes, which took place in the Kabezi area on the outskirts of the capital Bujumbura, also left two soldiers dead and four others injured. The army launched an air and artillery attack to flush out pockets of Palipehutu-FNL resistance.
The clashes were among the worst since the resumption of hostilities three weeks ago. A Palipehutu-FNL attack on April 17 triggered the fresh round of fighting that has now claimed more than 100 lives, and already forced thousands of civilians to flee their homes, local officials said.
Burundi is attempting to rebuild itself following a brutal civil war between its Hutu majority and Tutsi minority, which began in 1993. The government and Palipehutu-FNL signed a ceasefire agreement in 2006, but the implementation of the agreement was obstructed by the rebels' pursuit of a power-sharing agreement that the government has rejected.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/10/2008 00:00 ||
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(Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday called for peaceful and transparent electoral process in Zimbabwe. "The secretary-general is closely following the evolving situation in Zimbabwe, and has remained in contact with leaders in the region," Ban's press office said in a statement.
"He continues to be concerned by reports of politically motivated violence and intimidation in the country as the current impasse continues," it said. "He reiterates his strong belief that future stages of the electoral process must be conducted in a peaceful, credible and transparent manner in the presence of international observers," it added.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/10/2008 00:00 ||
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HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!
And a pony, too?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/10/2008 9:58 Comments ||
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Thabo Mbeki, the South African president, has visited Zimbabwe for talks with the country's president over the political crisis and violence following disputed elections in March. Mbeki met Robert Mugabe on Friday in Harare, as the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) demanded that Mbeki step down as mediator in the crisis.
Mbeki is on his third visit on behalf of the Southern African Development Community, and was met at the capital's international airport where he walked hand in hand with Mugabe and was decorated with flower garlands. The talks lasted for nearly four hours, after which Mbeki returned to South Africa. He did not talk to any other government officials or opposition leaders.
The MDC, which won the March 29 parliamentary elections and claims its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, also won the presidential vote outright, said that it had not been invited to the talks between Mbeki and Mugabe. They have called for Mbeki to be dismissed as a mediator due to his softy-softly approach towards Mugabe.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/10/2008 00:00 ||
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HARARE - Levels of organised violence and torture have escalated dramatically in the last fortnight in Zimbabwe amid mounting tensions over the country's disputed elections, a coalition of doctors said on Friday.
Let's see, torture is wrong when we do it, what about when Bob does it ...
"Since the last report on 25 April, our members have reported a dramatic escalation in incidents of organised violence and torture with the number of victims documented in the post election period now standing over 900," the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights said in a statement. "This figure grossly underestimates the number of victims countrywide as the violence is now on such a scale that it is impossible to properly document all cases."
I'm waiting for Human Rights Watch to jump in ...
The association said that the number of cases appeared to have risen particularly sharply in the last week, blaming the security services and hardline supporters of veteran President Robert Mugabe for the attacks. "In the last 24 hours alone, 30 victims have been treated for limb fractures in Harare hospitals and clinics and supplies of plaster of Paris bandages are reported to be exhausted in most health centres," it said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/10/2008 00:00 ||
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All a product of native African tribal governance. Some things never change.
#2
Uncanny! That is exactly how we celebrate the wheat growing season out here! Except instead of violence and torture we have a BBQ, and a brownshirt is someone who had worked cattle that day.
#3
..wait until the general populace finds out that the strongly worded letter bob received is carried around in his pocket and written on rice paper with soy ink.
DUBAI - Saudi Arabia, one of the world's top rice buyers, is likely to start investing in rice farms in Thailand by the end of 2008 in a move to boost security of food supply, industry sources and traders said on Friday.
"A number of private companies and Saudi officials already met last week with Thai investors to discuss possible partnerships," said a Gulf industry source, who asked to remain anonymous. "Those interested will be looking at meeting domestic demand and then exporting to neighbouring Gulf Arab countries, mainly the United Arab Emirates," he told Reuters.
India, the world's second-biggest rice exporter in 2007, banned all non-basmati rice shipments in March, one of a series of protectionist measures worldwide that triggered a wave of panic buying, causing benchmark Thai prices to nearly treble.
Last year Saudi Arabia imported 960,000 tonnes of rice, making it the world's sixth biggest rice importer, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/10/2008 00:00 ||
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If only we had a lever - a strategic commodity they could not live without - we could use to pressure the Saudis.
Here for now. Not organized terror, it would appear — but the trend to gang violence in Britain has just upped considerably if they did indeed make and use methyl ethyl ketone peroxide to seriously injure a teen they disliked and kill her neighbor.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez says Venezuela will not tolerate a movement for secession in Bolivia's eastern lowland states. Chavez says his government has not meddled in the domestic affairs of other Latin American nations, but would if Bolivian states now seeking greater autonomy from Bolivia's central government push for total independence.
He did not say Thursday what specifically Venezuela would do.
Tread carefully, Hugo, your people are getting tired of you, and we still have a big stick ...
Bolivia's largest and richest state overwhelmingly backed a May 4 referendum seeking greater autonomy from the leftist government of President Evo Morales. Leaders insist they have no interest in full independence.
Chavez, a close Morales ally, accuses the U.S. of fomenting the state's autonomy movement, a charge U.S. officials deny.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/10/2008 00:00 ||
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Ya know what?!? Someday Chavez's alligator mouth is gonna overload his hummingbird ass!
#2
One aspect I seem to see in all this is an ethnonationalism directed against white europeans; hugo is rightly seen as a neomarxist and a bolivarist (whatever that actually means, past the man-on-a-horse thingie), but he also uses and agitates indian resentment against european venezueleans (a fact hidden/unackownledged by his leftist/rightwinger admirers in the West), whom he derides as not "really" venezuelean, as opposed to his supporters from indian ethnic background, and often as pawns of foreign powers. Morales is the same, a self-proclamed champion of the indian identity poilitics, and IIUC, the parts of bolivia that want greater autonomy are both the richest and most productive, and the most europeanized.
I think it is very interesting to see all this unfolds right before our eyes; after having white europeans ejected from africa, ME and Asia, the underlying, subtext message is "it can be done here too", and chavez and morales are representative of this, as is the la raza or the aztlans movements in the USA, or the idea found in at least some of mexico's Elites that the "lost territories" can be taken back by virtue of demographics.
This is a very deep trend, the white, european, western world is in full retreat (both demographically and territorially, having been chased away from its foreign possessions and being in a very clear way under siege in his various homelands) and in full identity crisis mode... all this exploited in the purest ideological legacy of the grand marxist/soviet plan (since 1922) of using non-white nationalisms, including minorities in the USA, to weaken the western civilization.
#3
the real trials for all the chaos momentum will be adjudicated by; the Supreme law of social systems; RO/RS=CF
Corollary #1
All systems are only as good as their sensory Organs.
A System is no Better than its sensory organs
Corollary #2
To those within a system, outside reality tends to pale and disappear;
In an effort to introduce quantitative methodology into this important area of research a group of dedicated systemologists has paid particular attention to the amount of information that reaches, or fails to reach the relevant systems administrators also classified as Control Units (CU) of any particular system.
The crucial variable they have found is the fraction Ro/Rs where Ro equals the amount of reality which fails to reach the control unit. And Rs equals the total amount of reality presented to the system.
The fraction Ro/Rs varies from 0 (full awareness of outside reality) to unity ( no reality getting through) The result is known naturally enough, as the COEFFICIENT OF FICTION (CF)
Ro/Rs=CF
Positive Feedback (P.F. )obviously competes with reality R for input into the system. The higher the PF the larger the quantity of reality which fails to gain entrance into the system Ro, and thus the higher the resulting CF. In systems employing PF; values of CF in excess of 0.99 have been recorded. Examples include evangelistic religious movements, certain authoritarian government systems and the executive suites of some very large corporations.
#4
Interesting analysis anonymous5089 but it misses one big point. The illegals coming into the US might be primarily of Indian heritage but those running the show in Mexico City and exporting their problems are very much of European decent.
#5
I had a Mexican girlfriend who had been derided in her youth for not being truly Mexican because of her German father, even though her mother had the dark skin and long, dark braids of a native. This isn't new.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/10/2008 00:00 ||
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Let's face it. Russia bore the brunt of the war against the Nazis. I fear that if the Germans had been able to effect a negotiated settlement much less out-right victory in the East the Western Allies would of never been able to defeat Germany having to invade across the Channel short of employing nuclear weapons
#2
Yes, but without having been propped-up materially by the allied (read the USA), russia never would have been able to withstand the german onslaught. And don't forget, this aid was (pragmatically) going to a former ALLY of the nazis that would have stayed so for some more time, hadn't they been foolishly attacked by hitler. Russians certainly weren't the "good guys" in WWII... yet ultimately they were its greatest victors, that's very unfair, in some way (though that could be discussed, if one takes the bleeding out of the population into account, from which, added to the devastation of the revolution, civil war and terror, it never recovered).
#3
The US and the British Empire, surely. My father spent some time camped on the Persian side of the Russian border as a translator for the British Army.
North Koreans are dying because of food shortages in rural areas, and a massive famine is just a matter of time, a South Korean aid group said Friday.
The food situation was as bad as the famine that hit the country in the mid-1990s, which left as many as 2 million people dead, Seoul-based Good Friends -- a Buddhist-affiliated group that sends food and other aid to the North -- cited an unidentified but soon-to-be-dead anyway North Korean official Friday as saying.
"So far, mass deaths have not occurred as people have shrunk in stature become more used to starvation than in the 1990s, but famine is a matter of time," the official was quoted as saying by the aid group.
Good Friends also quoted walking dead man Kim Ki-nam, 39, a resident of Sariwon, south of Pyongyang, as saying one or two deaths were happening every day in rural areas around the city.
North Korea has relied on grass, treebark, insects, and foreign assistance to help feed its 23 million people since the mid-'90s.
This year's food situation has worsened because last year's harvests were hampered by devastating floods. The North also has refused to ask for help from South Korea after a new conservative government took office in February that has been critical of the immature and well-fed Pyongyang regime.
The aid group urged North Korea to acknowledge the situation's seriousness and ask for international help to prevent massive famine. It also urged South Korea to lengthen the suffering of NorK's population soften its position on the North and offer aid without waiting for Pyongyang's request.
The United States has offered to provide food and held talks this week in North Korea over how to guarantee aid gets to the needy by giving them grain instead of money. North Korea said Thursday the talks were "in-depth and good."
The World Food Program warned last month the North faces a food crisis, saying the country's annual food deficit is expected to nearly double from 2007 to 1.83 million barrels of biofuel tons. The U.N. agency estimated 6.5 million people were short of food, and the number could rise if shortages were not addressed assuming that those starving now don't actually die.
#1
Since Global Warming is now re-labeled Climate Change, and since North Korea's climate has not been productive enough to feed their population, I suggest that we increase our greenhouse gas production (more beans for dinner?) so their Climate can Change to something that might let them grow more food.
Chinese companies will be encouraged to buy farmland abroad, particularly in Africa and South America, to help guarantee food security under a plan being considered by Beijing. A proposal drafted by the Ministry of Agriculture would make supporting offshore land acquisition by domestic agricultural companies a central government policy. Beijing already has similar policies to boost offshore investment by state-owned banks, manufacturers and oil companies, but offshore agricultural investment has so far been limited to a few small projects.
If approved, the plan could face intense opposition abroad given surging global food prices and deforestation fears. However an official close to the deliberations said it was likely to be adopted.
“There should be no problem for this policy to be approved. The problem might come from foreign governments who are unwilling to give up large areas of land,” the official said.
The move comes as oil-rich but food-poor countries in the Middle East and north Africa explore similar options. Libya is talking with Ukraine about growing wheat in the former Soviet republic, while Saudi Arabia has said it would invest in agricultural and livestock projects abroad to ensure food security and control commodity prices.
China is losing its ability to be self-sufficient in food as its rising wealth triggers a shift away from diet staples such as rice towards meat, which requires large amounts of imported feed.
China has about 40 per cent of the worldÂ’s farmers but just 9 per cent of the worldÂ’s arable land. Some Chinese scholars argue that domestic agricultural companies must expand overseas if China is to guarantee its food security and reduce its exposure to global market fluctuations.
“China must ‘go out’ because our land resources are limited,” said Jiang Wenlai, of the China Agricultural Science Institute. “It will be a win-win solution that will benefit both parties by making the maximum use of the advantages of both sides.”
In the first quarter of this year, food prices in China rose 25 per cent from a year earlier, the highest level of farm inflation since the early 1990s, said UBS.
China is still a net exporter of agricultural commodities but is increasingly reliant on soybean imports and is about to become a net buyer of corn.
It imported up to 60 per cent of the soybean it consumed last year and the crop would be a focus of policy support for companies acquiring land overseas, along with bananas, vegetables and edible oil crops, said an official familiar with the ministryÂ’s proposal. The ministry is already talking to Brazil about the possible acquisition of land for soybean, according to this official.
Some countries would find it particularly problematic if Beijing supported Chinese firms to use Chinese labour on land bought or rented abroad – common practice for most companies operating overseas.
#6
"China's agriculture is horribly inefficient due to all the small farms. Tractors are still a recent development in a lot of places."
This is their Achilles heel, as Gromky points out. There's simply no way to produce food for large population nations without a capital intensive large scale farm model in place. There isn't - and won't be - a small farm means of doing this. Undoubtedly, smart Chinese recognize this and will act accordingly.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
05/10/2008 11:48 Comments ||
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#8
There's simply no way to produce food for large population nations without a capital intensive large scale farm model..
Unless, they go fully organic only to ship the output at low cost a la Walmart but tagged at the market price to the dilettantes of the Euro-blue enclaves in the States and then turn around and import the mass agribusiness output from the States.
#9
"There's simply no way to produce food for large population nations without a capital intensive large scale farm model"
Never heard of Soylent Green? ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/10/2008 20:31 Comments ||
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#10
g: I spent a few enjoyable minutes imagining that will happen to some "Mugabe" who tries to nationalize Chinese-owned farms.
He will become an instant nationalist hero, and the Chinese will retire to lick their wounds? White Rhodesians couldn't hold the place, and they were there in significant numbers, had a well-trained air force and army.
Bottom line is that the cost of fighting a guerrilla war on foreign soil far outweighs the benefits from having farms there. Think about it - you have the normal costs of farm operations, and on top of that, you have the costs of fielding an army of fifty thousand to keep the guerrillas under some kind of control, in the face of guerrilla sanctuaries (and funding) in every neighboring country. Assume they produce 1/10 Chiquita's (formerly United Fruit Company) earnings, back when it was making money - $13.1m a year. The cost of 50,000 soldiers, at $2,000 in salaries per person per year, is $10m. What about equipment and supplies? Unless the Chinese start shipping millions of settlers into individual countries alone, they can't resist nationalization efforts.
The campaign for Serbia's parliamentary and municipal elections closed on Friday with the main protagonists accusing each other of treason and lies. Around 6.7 million eligible voters will elect 250 members of parliament on Sunday and local assemblies in 170 municipalities.
But according to latest surveys the outcome will be very tight, with nationalist Serbian Radical Party less than two percentage points ahead of president Boris TadicÂ’s Democratic Party.
A survey published by the Factor Plus agency just before the election blackout imposed on Thursday night, gave the SRS 37.3 per cent, followed by TadicÂ’s Democrats with 35.9 per cent.
Prime minister Vojislav Kostunica was third with only 11 per cent, but analysts said he will nevertheless hold the key to the new government.
Only two other parties are expected to satisfy the required five per cent threshold, the Socialist Party of Serbia of former president Slobodan Milosevic with 5.4 per cent and the Liberal Democratic Party of Cedomir Jovanovic with 6 per cent.
The main election battle has been fought between Tadic and Kostunica, whose “democratic coalition” collapsed in March over breakaway Kosovo province and European integration, which prompted early elections. Although both Tadic and Kostunica oppose Kosovo 's recent independence, Tadic insists Serbia should proceed with the EU membership bid, while Kostunica wants Kosovo to be recognised as a part of Serbia.
In what is predicted to be a tight finish to a bitter election campaign, observers say anti-Tadic forces are unlikely to get a two-thirds majority, but Kostunica and Nikolic are in a good position to form a new government with the support of the socialists.
Kostunica has carefully avoided declaring himself in favor of any coalition, but analysts said it was almost unthinkable that he would again support Tadic after the accusations and insults exchanged between the two leaders.
In Moscow's Red Square, the Russian military stages a display of weaponry not seen since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Check out the General standing behind the new Russian President. He has 25 rows of ribbons by my count. Must of fought in every campaign from Napoleon's invasion forward. The scene is near the end of the video.
Students at a California public school have written a series of letters to Chicago's Heartland Institute, which works to discover and develop free-market solutions to society's problems, attacking its members for "destroying our planet" by refusing to endorse the politics of Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" film.
According to students in the sixth-grade class of teacher Michael Steria at David A. Brown Middle School, the institute consists of "fools" and "horrible people."
"I think your (sic) fools for denying G.W. you know it could kill us all & you're just adding to it. I want you to help stop G.W. not increase it," said one letter.
"We are going to tell you about global warming. I don't care if you don't want to read, but I'm making you read it you horrible people," said another.
Officials at the school, a part of the Lake Elsinore School District, declined to respond to WND requests for a comment. Officials at the district office also declined to respond.
But Maureen Martin, a senior fellow for legal affairs for the institute, told WND that it was heart-breaking to see the results of such indoctrination of students."It's tragic," she said. "The kids were terrified."
She said some of the students expressed their belief they would be dead in 10 years. The district's allowance of such teachings is "shameful, especially when there's a divide in the scientific opinion," she said.
She said the lessons reflected probably don't even meet the requirements of the state's educational guidelines, which for sixth graders demand lessons in earth sciences and the scientific methods of examining data.
Among the students' other comments:
* "We feel that it is wrong what you are doing. We know that you know that global warming is NOT we repeat NOT a myth, And we think it is selfish that you would take money over yours and your peers lives."
* "We feel upset because you are making Global Warming worse instead of helping it. We know that almost half of the country knows that G.W. is a crisis. We know that you could help the environment with the $800,000 you have."
* "We feel that they are destroying our planet by saying G.W. is not a crisis. You think GW is not a crisis but it is; you know deep down that it's a real thing that's happening. Everyone has a part in helping GW, and you're making worse."
* "I do not think that what you are doing is right because you are telling people that global warming is not a crisis. If this is not a crisis, how come floods have occurred in asia, Mexico, and India. Plus, how can you explain why the glacier glaciers are melting. they can't melt themselves, because they are in the coldest region in the world..."
Brave, brave teacher, hiding behind his students ...
They are right - it's not a myth, it's a scam. I'm totally boggled how the propaganda and PR have gotten out ahead of the science. Quite impressive in a sad, scary sort of way.
/me wanders off singing "Oh where, oh where have my little sunspots gone..."
The Democratic front-runner's wife did not comment on other rival candidates for the party's nomination, but she has been sniping at Clinton since last summer. According to Obama sources, those public utterances do not reveal the extent of her hostility.
And please don't call it the "Queen Bee Syndrome." . . . Do powerful women hate to see other women succeed? Do they want to be the only woman? Or do you think "sisterhood is powerful" at the highest levels? Surely, Michelle Obama has plenty of reason to hate Hillary, but don't you think she wants to be the First Lady? If a woman is Vice President, that woman seems to be above the President's wife. She'd be the first lady.
Michelle would even have competition as the top spouse of the land, what with a former President roaming in and about the VP mansion. He'd catch the spotlight, project the glamour.
And speaking of Bill Clinton... Hillary certainly made it her business over the years to keep other women down whenever those women interfered with her plan to ascend to power via the spousal role. There was no powerful sisterhood then. And now: turnabout! Turnabout is... a bitch.
Posted by: Mike ||
05/10/2008 11:47 ||
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With Obama in the Whitehouse, disaster enough. With Obama (President), Bill Clinton (former President) and Hillary (Obama's VP, but was President Wannabe) much in fighting and power playing.
COLUMBUS — Passions that flared last Sunday among Ohio Democrats who were united against scandal-scarred Attorney General Marc Dann have slowed to a deliberative crawl, as officials in both parties consider the possible fallout of a prolonged impeachment trial.
House spokesman Phil Saken said Democrats were still meeting on the topic Friday — five days after signing a letter to Dann indicating that if he refused to resign they would “immediately introduce a resolution” seeking his impeachment. What a difference a week makes.
He has refused to resign, saying his actions have not warranted it. "Bill Clinton didn't resign, why should I?"
Yet media reports Friday continued to confound him. The Columbus Dispatch reported that another office employee, Kathleen Walley, was suspended and put on paid leave April 21 after she erased the contents of her computer without permission. Walley worked as an office assistant in Youngstown to DannÂ’s since-fired General Services chief Anthony Gutierrez, the central figure in the sexual harassment scandal. . . .
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland says he won't support impeachment if there's not a credible case against embattled Attorney General Marc Dann.
Strickland seems to have a pattern of saying something bold and declaring a refusal to compromise, then backing off. Examples here, here, and (sort of) here. He also likes to proclaim that, as an ordained minister he's guided by the teachings of Jesus--but when the teachings of Jesus conflict with the latest version of the Democrats' talking points, guess what happens?
Posted by: Mike ||
05/10/2008 10:45 ||
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Could it be Marc used his position to collect data on his fellow Democrats?
Posted by: ed ||
05/10/2008 8:19 Comments ||
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#2
How about instead of a televised debate, both party candidates have to appear on a live broadcast of "Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?" as contestants.
#3
This needs to be on the front pages. He was in the midst of belittling McCain about losing his "bearings" when he drops this big turd. The idiot doesn't know how many states are in the union. I believe Frank mentioned his IQ drops 20-30 points when there's no pre-written speech from Axelrod and no teleprompter. This is wrong. I'd say it drops down to IQ 80 without text. Have you noticed how there's ummm's and more umm's, uhh's ,etc. when he's asked any questions he doesn't know are coming ?
#4
Lets see, did Texas exercise the option to split into 5 states? That would acount for 4. Did the UP and Northern WI split off into The State of Surperior? That's 5. NoCal and SoCAl? That's 6. PR?
#7
That's only something like a 11% error, cut him some slack, will you! Would have he said 74, or 86, then, yes, it would have been bad, but 50, 52, 57, what's the diff? It's not like you have to actually know the history nor geography of the country you intend to be a president of, as long that you know what's its name, at the very least.
#9
In all seriousness, he does seem to get worn out and make dumb little mental errors after a long string of campaign appearances. Campaigning is bloody hard work, and I could understand why it happens--but most people running for president seem to hold up better. Plus, if he thinks running for President is hard, it's probably nothing compared to being President.
Posted by: Mike ||
05/10/2008 11:55 Comments ||
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I think we need to read between the lines here.
According to the DNC Convention site - there are 50 US state delegations (Michigan and Florida included), and the following non-state territories, commonwealths, district, and "Democrats Abroad":
American Samoa
Dems Abroad
DC
Guam
Puerto Rico
The Virgin Islands
Methinks Barry was trying to add up the non-state delegations as well. Certainly the Dems are on record advocating statehood for PR and DC and Obama is probably signaling statehood support for additional territories.
In celebration of his having traveled to an impressive 57 states in his bid for the Presidency (and to finally put to rest the notion that he abhors patriotic accessories), Barack Obama's campaign has introduced a custom line of American flag lapel pins.
Get yours today and show your support for the least senile candidate in the race!
#12
Not OB's first gaft -- via Mark Steyn in The Corner, via Powerline:
April 14, 2008 -- Barack addressing the Associated Press's Annual Meeting
I've now campaigned in 47 states, actively. And I think South Dakota is the last state that I have not had a campaign event in.
Now that doesn't mean that I expect that I will win all 50 — or 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii...
Steyn continues: But that was last month. Here's this month's state tally from Senator Obama:
I've now been in 57 states. One left to go.
Is Hillary tossing in new states just to prolong the nomination process? Or is Obama having McCainesque senior moments? The viciously partisan John Hinderaker wonders if the Senator can spell potato. Of course he can. He's been to both North and South Idahoe.
#17
He's counting Puerto Rico, Guam and other territories where they have primaries but no vote in the General Election. He should be more careful with what he says, and the media certainly would have jumped on anyone else making the same mistake but it's not as bad as it sounds. States and territories just got shortened to states through repetition on the campaign plane or whatever.
#18
Actually, it is worse than it sounds : NO ONE who does not know the difference between a territory, a Commonwealth, and a state has ANY business running for President. Those are some of the most basic divisions of the country that there are, and if you don't have a handle on them, what else don't you know?
No constituency as defined by the media is more eager to see a woman win the presidency than America's feminists, yet — despite Hillary Rodham Clinton's historic candidacy — the women's movement finds itself wrenchingly divided over the Democratic race as it heads toward the finish. Maybe not all women consider themselves part of the "Women's Movement"?
At breakfast forums, in op-ed columns, across the blogosphere, the debate has been heartfelt and sometimes bitter. Are the activist women supporting front-runner Barack Obama betraying their gender? Are Clinton's feminist backers mired in an outdated, women's-liberation mind-set? Oh, feminist! Now I understand!
Ellen Bravo is a Milwaukee author and activist who advocates on behalf of working women — and is an Obama supporter. She faults Clinton for her 2002 vote authorizing the Iraq war and believes the Illinois senator would be more supportive of grass-roots political action. At times, Bravo, 64, has been dismayed by the harsh criticism directed at women like herself from pro-Clinton feminists.
"I felt it was an ultimatum — vote for Hillary Clinton or you're betraying the women's movement," Bravo said. "It's very self-defeating and alienating, particularly to younger women who, regardless of who they support, don't like to be told, 'Do this. Do that.'" As opposed to old white men, who love to be told what to do. Earth to Bravo, come in?
Clinton supporter Gloria Feldt, former president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, accepts that the women's movement is not single-minded, yet worries that the Obama-Clinton rift is eroding whatever clout it might have.
"We're squandering an opportunity to be seen as a voting bloc that turns elections," Feldt said. "Unless we are working together, in a strategically thought-out effort to vote in our own best interests, we are in danger of never having another election where people will say women can determine the outcome." Not everybody thinks the same way that I do. What's the matter with these people?
Overall, Clinton's now-endangered campaign has survived largely because of her 60 percent to 36 percent edge over Obama among white women voters in the primaries to date. But among college-educated white women — the demographic of many feminists and of Clinton herself — her edge is much smaller, 54 percent to 43 percent, according to exit polls conducted for The Associated Press and television networks. So Hilly has it wright. The un-educated ones vote for her.
One factor in play is generational. There is a widespread perception in the women's movement that younger feminists tilt more toward Obama while most of their elders favor Clinton.
Indeed, 74-year-old Gloria Steinem, one of the youngest feminists, a Clinton supporter and icon of the women's movement, riled some younger, pro-Obama feminists with a New York Times op-ed suggesting that they were in denial about America's persisting "sexual caste system." There's more at the link...
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/10/2008 06:34 ||
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You mean the 'feminists' who expressed their concern for and solidarity with the women of Islam?
The United States Armed Forces have 'liberated' more women in the eight years than all these cackling powermongers have for decades past and decades to come.
#2
Saw something in Colorado the other week - car still had the kerry/edwards sticker (in good condition, possibly a reposting over the years) but the obama sticker was just taped onto the inside of the rear window.
#3
swksvolFF, Obama stickers elicit such passion either way; one's property is subject to being scraped off if additional protective measures are not sought! Pssst, I heard his commemorative medallion would bring twice the price to the Presidential Series for collectors! Order early!
#4
I am SO looking forward to the Dem Convention in Denver this summer! Just a piece of information - I used to be a registered Democrat but 4 years of Jimmy Carter cured me of that affliction. As a matter of fact, no one in my immediate family is a Democrat anymore - Jimmy and Bill took care of that.
(Xinhua) -- Despite a weakening position in the Democratic presidential nomination race, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York is very popular among Democrats in West Virginia, the location of next primary, a survey showed on Friday. The poll by TSG consulting showed Clinton lead 63-23 percent over rival Sen. Barrack Obama of Illinois in West Virginia, said the Charleston Gazette, a West Virginia newspaper.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/10/2008 00:00 ||
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Interesting...it suddenly donned on me, why West Virginia is WEST of Virginia; I could explain, but The Mods are watching me!
Hillary would make a fine President!!!
#2
dawned on you, smn? As in, the dawn broke, or by the dawn's early light?
I believe West Virginia separated from the rest of Virginia about the time of the Civil War, perhaps because the folks did not support freedom for some, and slavery for others?
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/10/2008 6:23 Comments ||
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#4
So, now we get our West Virginia news from China(Xinhua)? Ahh! Globalization.
Posted by: Jack Slineger4174 ||
05/10/2008 12:09 Comments ||
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Pappy #3, I've been warned to equalize my dissenting views on the 'Obama Issue' so all I can say is...gulp...can't we all just get along??
I...gulp...appreciate the richness of your effervescent rhetorical analysis! Rantburg stands tall, A giant among men!!
Washington's civil nuclear deal with India is in such desperate straits that the State Department has imposed unusually strict conditions on the answers it provided to questions posed by members of Congress: Keep them secret.
The State Department made the request, even though the answers are not classified, because officials fear that public disclosure would torpedo the deal, sources said. The agreement would give New Delhi access to U.S. nuclear technology for the first time since it conducted a nuclear test in 1974, but leftist parties in the coalition government remain skeptical and view it as a possible infringement on India's sovereignty.
Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), the late chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, agreed to the request in February, and the current chairman, Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Calif.), has abided by that commitment, though Berman is not considered a strong supporter of the deal. A group of prominent nonproliferation experts has decried the "virtual 'gag' order," but thus far, the answers have not leaked, in part because only a handful of congressional officials have been able to read them.
"The administration's unwillingness to make their answers more widely available suggests they have something to hide from either U.S. or Indian legislators," said Daryl Kimball, director of the Arms Control Association.
President Bush's agreement with India, considered a key part of the administration's foreign policy legacy, is designed to solidify Washington's relationship with a fast-emerging economic power. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed to the pact in July 2005, but it has faced many hurdles. If Congress gives the deal final approval, India will be able to engage in civil nuclear trade with the United States, even though it has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The nearly 50 questions posed by Congress are highly technical, but they were carefully crafted to get to the heart of the balancing act the administration has performed between adhering to the letter of U.S. nonproliferation law and assuaging Indian concerns that it was not being treated like a true nuclear power.
Congress passed a law, known as the Hyde Act, to provisionally accept the agreement, but some lawmakers have raised concerns about whether the implementing agreement negotiated by the administration fudges critical details.
For instance, one of the questions pertains to whether the United States would terminate nuclear trade if India resumes nuclear testing. This is a sensitive point in India and is required under U.S. law, but the answer is not entirely clear from the text of the U.S.-India agreement.
Another series of questions addresses the commitment by the United States to supply India with a "reliable supply of fuel" for its reactors, including a pledge to take steps to "guard against the disruption of fuel supplies." A series of questions asks whether these commitments are legally binding, whether the two governments agree on the definition of a fuel supply disruption and whether the commitments would be affected by a nuclear test.
At one point, the lawmakers question whether these commitments in the implementing agreement are consistent with the Hyde Act.
Given the pointed nature of the questions, sources said the State Department had little choice but to be candid with lawmakers about the answers, in ways that senior State Department officials had not been in public.
Lynne Weil, a spokeswoman for the committee, said the State Department provided a lot of information, but the committee has agreed not to disclose the answers because "some data might be considered diplomatically sensitive." She said the nuclear deal still must come back to Congress for final approval, and, at that point, public hearings will be held and "the questions will come up again."
State said it had no plans to make the answers public. "We've handled answers to sensitive questions in an appropriate way that responded to congressional concerns," said State Department spokesman Tom Casey. "We're going to continue with that approach."
The disaster in Burma presents the world with perhaps its most serious humanitarian crisis since the 2004 Asian tsunami. By most reliable estimates, close to 100,000 people are dead. Delays in delivering relief to the victims, the inaccessibility of the stricken areas and the poor state of Burma's infrastructure and health systems mean that number is sure to rise. With as many as 1 million people still at risk, it is conceivable that the death toll will, within days, approach that of the entire number of civilians killed in the genocide in Darfur.
So what is the world doing about it? Not much. The military regime that runs Burma initially signaled it would accept outside relief, but has imposed so many conditions on those who would actually deliver it that barely a trickle has made it through. Aid workers have been held at airports. UN food shipments have been seized. US naval ships packed with food and medicine idle in the Gulf of Thailand, waiting for an all-clear that may never come.
Burma's rulers have relented slightly, agreeing Friday to let in supplies and perhaps even some foreign relief workers. The government says it will allow a one? US C-130 transport plane to land inside Burma Monday. But it's hard to imagine a regime this insular and paranoid accepting robust aid from the US military, let alone agreeing to the presence of US Marines on Burmese soil — as Thailand and Indonesia did after the tsunami. The trouble is that the Burmese haven't shown the ability or willingness to deploy the kind of assets needed to deal with a calamity of this scale — and the longer Burma resists offers of help, the more likely it is that the disaster will devolve beyond anyone's control. "We're in 2008, not 1908," says Jan Egeland, the former U.N. emergency relief coordinator. "A lot is at stake here. If we let them get away with murder we may set a very dangerous precedent." To quote the immortal All (Bundy): "Let's Rock"
'Let them get away with murder'? As opposed to whom, the Khmer Rouge?
Posted by: Col B. Guano (ret.) ||
05/10/2008 13:43 ||
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Translation: We here at Time Magazine are so desperate for subscribers that next month we'll be featuring articles advocating nun beating and NAMBLA, accusing John McCain of being the Antichrist, and touting the all-you-can-eat pasta weight loss diet.
#2
The government says it will allow a one? US C-130 transport plane to land
The Burmese dictators remember Panama. Remember in prelude to action -
Dec '89
# Marine lieutenant shot and killed by PDF*. Navy lieutenant and wife detained and assaulted by PDF (16 Dec).
# NCA directs execution of Operation JUST CAUSE (17 Dec).
#3
"We here at Time Magazine are so desperate for subscribers that next month we'll be featuring articles ... accusing John McCain of being the Antichrist"
I believe it, 'moose. How'd you get an early edition?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/10/2008 20:28 Comments ||
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Did we make the same kind of effort the last time North Korea had a devastating flood?
#5
I think Time recommended military invasion, overthrow of the evil junta and supplies to the malnutrition afflicted...oh wait, what was I thinking?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/10/2008 21:04 Comments ||
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#6
Time magazine has been bitching and complaining about Iraq since we went in, and now they want us to invade Burma? I suggest that they read up on the WWII campaigns in Burma - nasty jungle there. Besides which, if the US is going to be invading countries based on the criteria of "the rulers are bad and won't let foreign aid in", Darfur and North Korea need to be at the head of the list. Plus we will need to expand the Army to about 2 million and the Marines to about 750,000 to have enough troops and equipment. So say 300-500 BILLION dollars in new weapons and equipment ALONE.
#9
We're only allowed to invade countries that have no strategic importance to us whatsoever.
Burma -- good.
North Korea -- bad.
Darfur -- good.
Iraq -- bad.
Doing it this way allows the do-gooders at Time the illusion that we're using our power for 'pure' purposes, as opposed to the ickiness of self-interest (since we're not allowed to have any).
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/10/2008 21:47 Comments ||
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Steve, you beat me to it. Liberals only like to invade "feel good" countries. They like to sacrifice American blood (never their, mind you) and treasure interfering in other peoples' fights as long as there is no possible hint of advantage to the US to be gained from it.
South African snow adventurer Correne Erasmus-Coetzer has been forced to abandon her dream of becoming the first African woman to cross the icy continent of Greenland on foot. The dream came to an end this week when the expedition of nine men and women came up against a ferocious wind and snow storm, and rapidly dwindling food supplies, as they approached the quarter-way mark of their 550km slog from the east to west coast of Greenland, across the Arctic Circle.
I'd have given up my dream of slogging across the continent of Greenland when I discovered it's not a continent, merely an island that looks bigger than it is on Mercator projection maps.
Erasmus-Coetzer was hoping to create awareness about global warming and raise money for the Durban-based Wilderness Leadership School.
But the weather had a chilling effect on her ambitions...
In a satellite phone message posted on her on expedition website, a disappointed Coetzer said the future of the journey had been in the balance for several days, but a decision was taken on Wednesday to turn back.
"Captain! We must turn around and go back! We will freeze! If we don't freeze we will fall off the edge of the world!"
Erasmus-Coetzer said the conditions in Greenland were worse than anything she had experienced during previous expeditions to the North and the South Poles.
"It's true. Y'see, global warming drops the temperature of the ocean's currents. The heat shrinks continents to the size of islands that look bigger than they are on Mercator projections. When things compress like that, their temperatures get lowered. That's why it's so cold in Greenland: Global Warming®!"
It was a bit like "walking in milk" she said, explaining that the sky was full of snow and this made it impossible to distinguish between the horizon and the sky.
Good Gawd! Snowstorms in Greenland! We're doomed! The entire planet's turning into a griddle!
For nearly three days the expedition had been snowed-in by icy, gale-force winds which tore against their tents.
There was no sun to charge her solar-powered phone and her sleeping bag was sopping wet. The clincher was the fact that insurance cover for two members of the party would expire if the journey was delayed, and it would have become too expensive to evacuate them if things went wrong.
If we had Hillarycare that wouldn't happen, of course.
#2
"There was no sun to charge her solar-powered phone and her sleeping bag was sopping wet. The clincher was the fact that insurance cover for two members of the party would expire if the journey was delayed, and it would have become too expensive to evacuate them if things went wrong."
ROFLMAO.
How the hell did Amundsen, Byrd, Lewis & Clark, Colombus, and all the other explorers of the past even mount (let alone finish) their expeditions without evacuation insurance and solar telephones?
Oh yeh, that's right - they were explorers, not self-important, self-indulgent, uninformed dilettantes.
When's she going to get around to Blaming Bush™?
Loon.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/10/2008 9:49 Comments ||
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#3
Sounds like God had a good laugh at the expense of another self-appointed god.
#4
SNowing today in Colorado - several mountain passes are closed due to blizzard conditions. Many passes opening later than normal due to the extreme cold and extra snow we got up there this year.
#5
In 1982 while I was stationed in Greenland, I interviewed a group of Brit adventurers who had done pretty much the same thing, successfully - crossing from east to west, over the ice-cap roughly along the Arctic circle. They, however, very sensibly performed this feat in the summer months - not the dead of winter!
They had gone on cross-country skis, and pulled their gear on sledges, if memory serves. I do remember asking them how they navigated and being rocked at their answer - they just took a bead every day when the regular daily SAS flight flew overhead, and took care to head in more or less the same direction.
They had a blast, doing this - it was just a very long camping trip for them.
A member of OPEC signaled for the first time in months that the oil cartel might increase its output if prices keep rising, even as oil hit another record on Friday. The comments from Libya's senior oil official, Shukri Ghanem, suggested a possible rift among OPEC members. Since the cartel's last meeting in March, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has argued that the market was not lacking in oil supplies and blamed speculators for driving up prices.
In recent weeks, prices have come under renewed pressure because of a string of export disruptions from Nigeria. Crude oil for June delivery rose $2.32, or 1.9 percent, to $126.01 a barrel in New York trading on Friday. Prices have been above $100 since early February.
Since they last increased oil supplies in September, members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries have abdicated most of their responsibilities toward the market, arguing that the higher prices had more to do with investment flows than with supply and demand. The problem for OPEC is that prices have become largely unhinged from real market factors. As the dollar declines and the economy slows, investment funds have moved into commodities like oil or gold, which they consider safer and more profitable than stocks.
But the political cost of rising energy prices, especially in the United States, which is in the midst of a presidential election, is making OPEC's position increasingly delicate. Economic growth in the United States has slowed and gasoline demand is set to fall this year for the first time since 1991.
At a meeting of oil producers and suppliers in Rome last month, many OPEC delegates, including the Saudi Arabian oil minister, Ali Al-Naimi, said there were not enough buyers to justify an increase in production. But some producers are becoming increasingly uneasy about the run-away prices and are finding it difficult to maintain OPEC's position.
"They are playing with fire," an analyst at Lehman Brothers, Adam Robinson, said. "Every time the price goes up, and we break a new psychological mark, they risk killing the goose that lays the golden egg. Their biggest fear is triggering something they can't control."
The group, which accounts for 40 percent of the world's oil exports, is not scheduled to meet until September. At its March gathering, OPEC ignored calls from President George W. Bush and other industrialized leaders to bolster production, opting instead to keep output steady.
"We would consider among other options the possibility of increasing output as a way to ensure market stability," Ghanem, the Libyan official, was quoted by Bloomberg News as saying Friday. "I expect a meeting before September. I am not calling for one, but I would support one."
Another OPEC delegate, quoted by Reuters on Friday, also raised the prospect of an OPEC consultation to increase production before the September meeting.
But there is no suggestion that the cartel will meet soon. On Thursday, the organization's secretary-general, Abdalla Salem El-Badri, issued a statement from the group's headquarters in Vienna, saying there was "clearly no shortage" of oil in the market. "In recent month, oil prices have become increasingly volatile, mainly driven by financial market developments and the increased flow of speculative funds into oil futures," the statement said.
But he seemed to leave the door for OPEC. "The organization stands ready to act if the market shows a need for any further measures," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/10/2008 00:00 ||
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I don't think OPEC CAN increase production any more, at least not by much or for long. The big, easy reservoirs are all getting old, and the stuff coming on to replace that old, declining production is not as prolific or flexible.
#3
Partly, NS, but not entirely. Oil has roughly doubled in dollars over the past year, but (for instance) the Euro has increased only something like 20%.
#5
The beauty of markets is this - whether monopolists like it or not, the marketplace will find a way around them when they raise prices. These morons will overshoot on price and find that demand has gone down permanently because of substitutes and technology-based innovations. Then prices will plunge and they will have a few decades of rock bottom prices, during which many oil-producing countries will hover on the brink of insolvency. They had better be socking away their budget surpluses instead of spending it on massive boondoggles and social programs. They will need these surpluses when oil prices crater.
In black America, oh, how the mighty have fallen. Bill Clinton is no longer revered as the "first black president." Tavis Smiley's rapid-fire commentaries on a popular radio show have been silenced. And the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., self-described defender of the black church, has been derided by many on the Web as an old man who needs to "step off." If you don't love the Messiah, you are banished from the fold.
They all landed in the black community's doghouse after being viewed as endangering Sen. Barack Obama's chances of being elected president. And the community's desire to protect the first African American ever to be in this position may only grow with his win in North Carolina and his close loss in Indiana this week. Actually, this is not good news for the Republic...
"I have parents who are still living who are very enthusiastic about Obama," said Valerie Grim, the chair of Indiana University's Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies. "They live in Mississippi. For a time, my parents couldn't vote, and when they could, their only choice was a white person.
"This means more than just saying there's a black person on the ticket. It represents the things they had been denied - they never had a real choice. It's being able to see the unbelievable, that the impossible might be possible for the first time since 1863. No, 1954. How about 1964? It represents for them a new day, a new opportunity to see that black people can contribute, on the ultimate level, to the social order." By electing the only kind of person who can really understand your needs - he is, after all, half-African.
Given such sentiment, it has not taken much for other public figures to move from icon to pariah. When Bill Clinton called Obama's position on Iraq a "fairy tale" in New Hampshire, "I think black people felt betrayed," said Andrea Plaid, a blogger who writes under the pen name the Cruel Secretary. African Americans continued to regard Clinton highly even after he was impeached for lying under oath. "And you turn around and do this to us?" Plaid said. Listen to yourself, Andrea. Lying, impeachment, cigars and interns, all O.K.? Questioning the potential first real black President? How dare you?
Smiley, the renowned black author and commentator, took issue with Obama for skipping his "Covenant With Black America" event in New Orleans so he could campaign in Texas and Ohio. The resulting backlash left Smiley feeling "hammered" and "barbequed" by black Americans. "There's all this talk of 'hater,' 'sellout' and 'traitor,' " Smiley said at the time. ". . . They are harassing my mama, harassing my brother."
The animus dogged him even on the radio, where his commentaries on black causes for the popular "Tom Joyner Morning Show" were renowned. In a terse statement issued last month, Smiley announced that he was leaving the show to focus on other ventures.
Smiley "did a disservice to the black community," said L.N. Rock, the blogger known as the African American Political Pundit. He noted that Smiley billed the New Orleans gathering as an event for the people. But while the people agreed with Obama's compromise of dispatching his wife, Michelle, to speak in his stead, Smiley balked. "He should have been hammered for that," Rock said.
Wright has been hailed by many in the black clergy as a brilliant liberation theologian. But after his speech and question-and-answer session at the National Press Club last month, people commented on the blog Jack and Jill Politics -- billed as a political sounding board for the "black bourgeois" -- that the minister should have known better than to pick a fight with the media at such a crucial point in the presidential campaign. I'm sure Bill Cosby is hammered on subsequent pages...
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/10/2008 07:06 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
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Top|| File under:
#1
Black, black, black, black, black. He seems nice enough, but you cant win the election with 13% of the population.
It always comes back to black with this guy. And his voters.
#4
Judging from the voting in the Dem primaries so far, an extremely strong case can be made that blacks are the most racist group in American society. If you want to argue against that point, tell me another group that has ever been known to vote as en bloc as blacks in this Dem primary cycle.
Posted by: Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707 ||
05/10/2008 9:24 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Irish for Kennedy? I'll bet there weren't a lot for Nixon. And if Giuliani had run, I suspect he'd have gotten a disproportionate Italian vote.
The first time any one of "our boys" runs, they'll get a lot of votes just be cause they're "one of us".
#8
I thought bo said he was Irish? Or didn't he say he was related to Dick Cheney? Or didn't he say he...
Perhaps after black america, or at least those who consider their opinions better than yours and decide to speak for everyone based upon a superficial aspect of human genetics, circles the wagons and discover that bo has thrown everyone under his bus, and when they get hosed just like everyone else bo has embraced at the current political expediency, they will wall in the spaces between the wagons and fill the center with concrete.
#10
"Irish for Kennedy? I'll bet there weren't a lot for Nixon. And if Giuliani had run, I suspect he'd have gotten a disproportionate Italian vote."
I don't think that's an equivalent, NS. I'll cheerfully grant that a goodly majority of the groups you've cited would have voted for their "favorite son," so to speak, but I don't think you can cite either Irish or Italian as a race. Plus, by the time either of those two (JFK or Rudy) was in a position to run, there were plenty of people from their ethnic background who would have voted against them based on their perception that personal economic issues trumped any perceived ethnic loyalties.
Posted by: Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707 ||
05/10/2008 18:22 Comments ||
Top||
#11
hmmm, NS may be on to something. That would explain the bloc voting for Kerry by fake-Irish, French-speaking Pompous Assholes and Cowardly Traitors who married for money
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/10/2008 18:43 Comments ||
Top||
#12
Let me be clear that I do not believe races exist.
#13
Agreed about races, Nimble Spemble -- when discussing scientific evidence. But sociologically, race has been a galvanizing idea in all directions.
John F. Kennedy's election run attracted the Catholic bloc. Rudy Giuliani's run obviously didn't. But Candidate Obama is the first African-American to have a real possibility of representing his party in the national election. The Reverend Jesse Jackson was never a serious candidate. I don't really have a problem with that.
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.
Africa led the way to the first rise of deadly airliner crashes in a decade, followed by Brazil and Southeast Asia, an international aviation trade group said Thursday.
Myanmar's military regime distributed international aid Saturday but plastered the boxes with the names of top generals in an apparent effort to turn the relief effort for last week's devastating cyclone into a propaganda exercise.
(Xinhua) -- About 50 National Liberation Force(Palipehutu-FNL) rebels were killed in heavy fighting Wednesday, the Burundian army said. The violent clashes, which took place in the Kabezi area on the outskirts of the capital Bujumbura, also left two soldiers dead and four others injured. The army launched an air and artillery attack to flush out pockets of Palipehutu-FNL resistance. 
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez says Venezuela will not tolerate a movement for secession in Bolivia's eastern lowland states. Chavez says his government has not meddled in the domestic affairs of other Latin American nations, but would if Bolivian states now seeking greater autonomy from Bolivia's central government push for total independence.
The campaign for Serbia's parliamentary and municipal elections closed on Friday with the main protagonists accusing each other of treason and lies. Around 6.7 million eligible voters will elect 250 members of parliament on Sunday and local assemblies in 170 municipalities.
In Moscow's Red Square, the Russian military stages a display of weaponry not seen since the fall of the Soviet Union. 
No constituency 
A member of OPEC signaled for the first time in months that the oil cartel might increase its output if prices keep rising, even as oil hit another record on Friday. The comments from Libya's senior oil official, Shukri Ghanem, suggested a possible rift among OPEC members. Since the cartel's last meeting in March, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has argued that the market was not lacking in oil supplies and blamed speculators for driving up prices.
