sob story: "But I'm dying!" Her victim(s) couldn't be reached for comment.
A follower of Charles Manson who stabbed pregnant actress Sharon Tate to death nearly 40 years ago but is dying of brain cancer in a California prison was denied compassionate release Tuesday. Compassionate release???
The California Board of Parole released its unanimous decision on the release of Susan Atkins hours after a 90-minute hearing, during which it heard impassioned pleas from both sides.
"Obviously, it was too hot of a potato for them to handle," said one of Atkins' attorney, Eric P. Lampel. "Of course we're disappointed. There's no basis for denying this." other than justice
Lampel filed a motion July 10 with Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David Wesley asking for his client's release no matter what the parole board recommended. No hearing has been set, Lampel said after the hearing. "We're going to be able to make the case in court. We'll take it to the next step," he said after being informed of the board's decision by The Associated Press.
Atkins' doctors and officials at the women's prison in Corona made the request in March because of her deteriorating health. She also has had her left leg amputated and is paralyzed on her right side, her husband, James Whitehouse, told the California Board of Parole Hearings.
Whitehouse, also acting as one of Atkins' attorneys, had argued that his wife was so debilitated that she could not even sit up in bed. He told the parole board there was no longer a reason to keep her incarcerated. "She literally can't snap her fingers," he said. "She can put sentences together three or four times a day, but that's the extent of it."
He said doctors have given her three months to live. Atkins, in a hospital near the Southern California prison where she was housed for nearly 40 years, did not attend Tuesday's hearing.
The request for compassionate leave generated opposition from relatives of the victims, the state corrections department, Los Angeles County prosecutors and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. "Those kinds of crimes are just so unbelievable that I am not for compassionate release in that case," Schwarzenegger said Tuesday before the parole board issued its decision.
Atkins, Manson and two other cult members, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten, were tried for the 1969 cult killings of Tate; Leno and Rosemary La Bianca; and four others. Tate, the wife of filmmaker Roman Polanski, was 8 1/2 months pregnant.
Sharon Tate's sister, Debra Tate, the last surviving member of her immediate family, sent a letter to the board opposing Atkins' release. "She is a cold-blooded woman who to this day has not displayed any remorse," wrote Tate, who lives in the Los Angeles area.
The defendants maintained their innocence throughout the trial. Once convicted, the women confessed to the killings during the penalty phase. On the stand, Atkins recounted her role in stabbing Tate, who pleaded for the life of her unborn baby. Atkins claimed she was on LSD at the time but did not apologize for the crime until a parole hearing years later.
Her brother, Steve Atkins, told the parole board Tuesday that he and his sister had been abused as children. "After Susan got in with Manson, she was lost to me," he said. "Please let us be with Susan in private in her last days, to pray with her and give our last good-byes."
The defendants were sentenced to death, but their terms were commuted to life sentences when the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily ruled the death penalty unconstitutional. Manson and the two other women remain in state prison. and death it will be. F*cking Rose Bird
Atkins has spent 37 years in the California Institution for Women, where she has been held longer than any other female inmate in state history. She was transferred to the hospital in March.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said that's where she ought to remain. In a letter to the parole board, Cooley said the nature of Atkins' crimes alone should rule out any release. He noted that after Atkins stabbed Tate, she tasted her blood and used it to write the word "Pig" on the victim's door. Burn in hell, Susan
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/16/2008 00:00 ||
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Yes she is a cold blooded killer who still hasn't shown remorse but given that she is terminal, has only 3 months to live and has family, I they could have worked something out short of full release.
#2
No, she should never be released. Let her die in her cell or the prison sick bay.
No remorse for the absolute gristly way Sharon Tate and her baby were stabbed to death. This is not a political hot potato issue. This is the best justice she can get because the death penalty was denied.
Let the doctors and officials at the Corona prison attend to her medical needs in a compassionate way in prison.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/16/2008 0:32 Comments ||
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Good idea MHW.
Like maybe give the family of her victims a blunt knife where they could cut the unborn tumor from her head and write the word "PIG" on the wall of her house...
#5
If the death penalty hadn't been outlawed years ago, she would have been dead almost 40 years ago. I have no sympathy. She has lived almost 40 years more than Sharon Tate did. Sharon's unborn baby never had a chance at life at all.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
07/16/2008 0:41 Comments ||
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file under the "only her mother cares" category.
#7
Frank G:sob story: "But I'm dying!" Her victim(s) couldn't be reached for comment.
sums it up quite well Frank.
Right now the State of Caliphornia is showing her a World more compassion than she gave her victims.
Her Attorney:
"she could not even sit up in bed"
"She literally can't snap her fingers," he said. "She can put sentences together three or four times a day, but that's the extent of it."
Steve G. a good buddy of mine [RVN [Vietnam] Vet] is in the latter stages of terminal brain cancer.
It would be an Insult to Justice to afford Susan Atkins with the same rights to choose her place to die and who she is with, as my buddy has, Steve G...
And Sharon Tate and her baby never did have..
in Fact Sharon and her baby recieved Horror for Death, They had no choice but to be with vicious rabid animals ripping her belly up and her unborn child with steel when she and her baby died..
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
07/16/2008 3:42 Comments ||
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Given the extent of the crimes, this site here has a pretty compact version of events including evidence, testimony, reports, and photos of the criminals and the folks who were murdered - both before and after.
I didn't realize that "Squeaky" Fromme replaced Manson after he was caught and thrown in jail.
After they caught a bunch and sentenced them to death, the supreme court overturned a bunch of their penalties, so many are eligible for parole. Thanks, USSC, for looking out for our interests as if they were your own. I guess it's a good thing you don't have to live next to any of these folks and probably enjoy all kinds of police protection. Just like the little people.
What kills me is that even to this day they have not been able to round up all of them, who are still involved in things like death cults and chylde pjornografee.
#11
He told the parole board there was no longer a reason to keep her incarcerated. "She literally can't snap her fingers," he said. "She can put sentences together three or four times a day, but that's the extent of it."
Too bad this didn't happen to her forty years ago.
When Sharon Tate can get out of her coffin, Susan Atkins can get out of jail.
#12
In California, it's usually easy to find compassion for bloody killers. Persons guilty of the most horendous murders have no trouble getting midnight candle vigils at their executions. But kill a Hollywood star and California will show you no mercy.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/16/2008 9:51 Comments ||
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Life in Prison means life in prison. You die there.
#16
I was thinking of having some compassion for Susan Atkin's family who I take to law abiding citizens with an interest in spending time with their kin during the end of her life.
They could be granted extended visiting hours or something similar.
#17
Teletubbies on 24/7 with the remote just out of reach.
If there is not going to be a death penalty, criminals need to know that this is how they will spend their final days. No exceptions.
F@kn sick. If that baby wasn't killed when they carved Sharon's womb open that baby likely cried before its blood was drank and used as ink. Lampel, how bout someone shoves a hot potato up your ass, then cuts it open and adds butter via your belly button using a dull knife then writes 'snake' on the walls with your testicles so that is the last you see as your vision fades; then maybe you will have true compassion for someone at the kool-aid slaughter.
#20
Her brother, Steve Atkins, told the parole board Tuesday that he and his sister had been abused as children.
Steve, there are a lot of people who have rough childhoods and they don't become mass murderers. They actually make something of their lives. A bad childhood doesn't excuse the murder and torture of others.
Next year, Patricia Krenwinkel, 60, another one of the principal defendants, comes up for parole again.
So far, the core participants in the killing sprees, including Krenwinkel, Charles "Tex" Watson and Leslie Van Houten, along with Atkins and Manson, have been denied parole a combined 57 times.
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate, already the highest in the world, has hit 2.2 million percent, central bank Governor Gideon Gono said on Wednesday. "Some independent economists say our inflation is 7 million percent annually but the CSO (Central Statistical Office) says it's 2.2 million percent," Gono said at the launch of a government program to supply basic goods. Oh, good. Sounds like you're getting a handle on it, Gideon.
The last official inflation figure of 164,900 percent year-on-year for February was released in April.
#2
Reporting an inflation rate of that magnitude reminds me of the old Star Trek episodes where Spock would advise of some event in 43.7 seconds - by the time it's stated, it's already wrong.
(Xinhua) -- Chevron Corporation said operations have restarted at a Nigerian oil pipeline attacked by militants in June, Chevron spokeswoman Margaret Cooper said late Monday. "The pipeline is back into service and production is restored," she said but declined to elaborate on whether the company's force majeure on Nigerian Escravos oil exports had been lifted.
The U.S. oil major declared force majeure -- a legal clause allowing producers to miss contracted deliveries because of circumstances beyond their control -- on its Nigerian Escravos exports after armed youths blew up the Abiteye-Olero crude pipeline in the western Niger Delta.
The assault cut about 120,000 barrels a day of crude output, according to military officials at the time.
Chevron declined to say how much production was affected by the attack but said output losses would delay loadings of some Escravos cargoes.
The Abiteye-Olero pipeline's return to service comes days after Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN) lifted its force majeure on exports from its 225,000 barrels-a-day Bonga offshore oil field in Nigeria following a June militant attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/16/2008 00:00 ||
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Compare wid TOPIX > THE ISLAMIST THREAT, NIGERIAN OIL, AND THE BATTLE FOR CENTRAL AFRICA, + AFRICAN UNION WARNS OF CIVIL WAR IN SUDAN.
(Xinhua) -- President Robert Mugabe has said he has no assets in foreign countries and told the British and the European Union to seize any if they find them, according to a report by Zimbabwe's state-owned The Herald newspaper Tuesday.
This report came after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday that he had asked the British Finance Ministry to hunt down the assets of senior Zimbabwean officials and pledged to ramp up the illegal sanctions.
The report quoted analysts as saying that Britain's move is aimed to help Zimbabwean opposition MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who won a leading number of votes in Zimbabwe's first round of presidential election but boycotted the run-off, citing violence against his supporters as the major reason.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/16/2008 00:00 ||
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I guess that means he must have bags of Zimbucks stashed away in Swiss safety deposit boxes.
#3
This report came after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday that he had asked the British Finance Ministry to hunt down the assets
Easily done. For the past 30 years, Comrade Mugabe's biggest 'asset' has been a feckless, guilt-ridden WEST, screaming apartheid and hellbent on native African governance. Buteo rufofuscus home to roost I'd say.
#6
Try the British offshore banks in the Caribbean. Besides the Caymans, Bahamas, and Antigua, it is the BVI's largest industry. Mugabe sympathizers amongst former slaves have a lot of antipathy toward their former Colonizers.
(Xinhua) -- The United States is taking "potential action" to punish Zimbabwean leaders, President George W. Bush said Tuesday. "These sanctions were not against the Zimbabwe people. These were against the people that, you know, in the Mugabe regime that made the decisions it made," Bush told a press conference.
Bush made the pledge after UN Security Council failed last week to reach an agreement to impose sanctions against the southern African country. He did not elaborate details of the possible sanctions.
Russia and China vetoed a U.S.-drafted resolution in the UN Security Council on Friday that would impose sanctions on Zimbabwe over the country's presidential run-off election in late June.
The failed text calls for a travel ban and an assets freeze on President Robert Mugabe and his top officials, as well as an arms embargo.
The Bush administration has been threatening to act unilaterally against Mugabe and his government following his re-election in the vote denounced by Zimbabwean opposition parties, the United State States and some Western countries as unfairy. "We don't believe that the Mugabe regime is a legitimate government ... because they ran a sham election," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said last month.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/16/2008 00:00 ||
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Don't worry, Zim Bob. The Chicoms and the Nigerian smugglers will neutralize the fantasy sanctions and you will suffer no discomfort.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/16/2008 0:34 Comments ||
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How about 'sanctioning' them by dropping a couple of reinforced brigades of Airborne Infantry on Kentucky Airport.
A three-day World Interfaith Dialogue Conference to find a common solution to the problems facing humanity will be inaugurated by Saudi Arabia King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz today (Wednesday).
The conference, which seeks to bring together religious figures from all leading religions, including Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism and Confucianism, will discuss approaches to end common problems and reinforce the values shared by the faiths. Spanish King Juan Carlos, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Muslim World League (MWL) Secretary General Dr Abdullah Al-Turki are also scheduled to address the opening session.
The Makkah-based MWL has convened the conference, which is a continuation of the process that was initiated in June with the organisation of a Muslim scholars' conference that suggested the organisation of an international interfaith dialogue. The idea for the conference stemmed from King Abdullah's view that if everyone focused on the universal values common to all faiths, they would find that we were bound by much more than we were divided by. The event, which is being covered by nearly 130 reporters, has been given a great deal of importance in both Muslim and non-Muslim countries. Talking to Daily Times, Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan Ali Awadh Asseri said that the conference would prove to be a milestone in improving religious understanding between various faiths. He said both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were important countries and together could play a leading role in solving issues facing the Ummah.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/16/2008 00:00 ||
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Fox holding an encounter group in the chickenhouse, ya say?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/16/2008 0:36 Comments ||
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I assume the Saudis will host a similar interfaith, ecumenical gathering in Mecca.
It's only a cartoon! But Obama adds that New Yorker cover insults Muslims
Barack Obama says he's "seen and heard worse" than The New Yorker cartoon (below) satirizing attacks on him and his wife by the political right.
In his first substantive talk about the magazine's inflammatory cartoon depicting him and his wife as fist-bumping terrorists, Obama told CNN's Larry King the image fueled misconceptions and insulted Muslim Americans.
Posted by: From Dallas ||
07/16/2008 14:59 ||
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Could be worse. Could take this David Byrn interview and overpaste bo's face, change the dialogue - not that anyone would do such a thing, right Senator Lieberman?
It is sad and telling, the overresponse. President Bush and his administration takes theirs as light as a feather - some of the jabs just downright mean. I knew what it was right off the bat - if you don't like bo then you must think like this. In a sideways view it would be a way to shame clinton supporters who would rather vote McCain into thinking that if they do then they share the smear.
The obsurdity I note is that if bo was in office guns would be illegal so he would have to arrest his wife.
The US has been advised not to execute five Mexican nationals on death row by the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The ICJ - the UN's highest court - had previously ruled that the men had been denied the right to help from their consulate after their arrests.
Mexico says the US has not reviewed the cases - as advised by the ICJ. The court told the US it should not execute the men before it made its final judgement.
The five are among 51 Mexicans on death row in the United States who were not told after arrest that they were entitled to assistance from Mexican consulates. All five are currently on death row in Texas. One of them, Jose Medellin, is scheduled for execution in less than three weeks for his part in the gang rape and murder of two teenage girls.
After the executions were cleared to proceed in the US, Mexico went back to the world court last month to stop the sentences from being carried out. The international court called for a review of all their cases, and President George W Bush directed state courts to do so, but the US Supreme Court overruled him, saying he had no authority to intervene.
The ICJ is the highest United Nations court. Set up in 1946, it offers advisory opinions to international disputes brought to it by member states.
#1
One of them, Jose Medellin, is scheduled for execution in less than three weeks for his part in the gang rape and murder of two teenage girls.
Yes, I can see why the consulate would wanna help him out. Just doing the gang rape and murder of two teenage girls that Americans can't be bothered to do I'm sure...
#2
The ICJ is the highest United Nations court. Set up in 1946, it offers advisory opinions to international disputes brought to it by member states.
The key word is advisory. They are not binding. We are not ruled by the UN.
Besides, if the guys are guilty, what would the Mexican consulate been able to say? "Dude, you are screwed" (in Spanish, of course, like all educated people)
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
07/16/2008 13:27 Comments ||
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"MedellÃn v. Texas, 552 U.S. ___ (2008) is a United States Supreme Court decision which held that while an international treaty may constitute an international commitment, it is not binding domestic law unless Congress has enacted statutes implementing it or unless the treaty itself is "self-executing"; that decisions of the International Court of Justice are not binding domestic law; and that, absent an act of Congress or Constitutional authority, the President of the United States lacks the power to enforce international treaties or decisions of the International Court of Justice.[1]" - wiki
Further -
"The Court also rejected MedellÃn's claim that Article 94 of the U.N. Charter requires the United States to "undertake to comply" with the ICJ ruling. Chief Justice Roberts observed that Article 94(2) of the Charter provides for explicit enforcement for noncompliance by referral to the United Nations Security Council, and for appeals to be made only by the aggrieved state (not an individual such as MedellÃn).[25] Even so, the United States clearly reserved the right to veto any Security Council resolutions.[26] The majority also held that the ICJ statute contained in the U.N. Charter also forbade individuals from being parties to suits before the International Court. The ICJ statute is a pact between nations, Justice Roberts said, and only nations (not individuals) may seek its judgment."
#7
P2k - here's a different cite for Medellin: Medellin v. Texas, 128 S. Ct. 1346 (2008) [if anyone wants to look it up]
As for the ICJ - just how do you intend to enforce your "ruling"? Send the Mexican army to Texas? Better tell them to watch out for the Texas cheerleaders and female soccer players, who would gladly - and handily - kick their collective asses before breakfast.
"Don't mess with Texas."
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/16/2008 15:58 Comments ||
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Send the Mexican army to Texas? Better tell them to watch out for the Texas cheerleaders and female soccer players, who would gladly - and handily - kick their collective asses before breakfast.
Getting them here is not a problem considering they've infiltrated about 8+ million. And as for their effectiveness, Mr. Medellin has shown that he [and others] are fully capable of killing teenage girls. Together he and his 'raza' have probably inflicted more casualties on the American population than the terrorist did since 9/10. It's time for some pay back. The Mexican government is looking more and more like the Pakistan government every day.
#9
Illegal aliens murder 12 Americans daily Twelve Americans are murdered every day by illegal aliens, according to statistics released by Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa. If those numbers are correct, it translates to 4,380 Americans murdered annually by illegal aliens.
While King reports 12 Americans are murdered daily by illegal aliens, he says 13 are killed by drunk illegal alien drivers for another annual death toll of 4,745.
Posted by: ed ||
07/16/2008 18:49 Comments ||
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"Mr. Medellin has shown that he [and others] are fully capable of killing teenage girls."
Only one at a time, P2k.
They really don't want to piss off Texans, of any age or gender.
I really do wish the Mexican army would be stupid enough to roll across the border. Unlike in Mexico, the "peasants" have guns, too, and would be happy to use them. And that includes the legal hispanic immigrants, too.
I'd make a killing on the popcorn concession.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/16/2008 18:52 Comments ||
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FOX NEWS AM > GERALDO - opined that iff anyone deserved to be exceuted, Medellin does for his role in the rape and deaths of these two girls as part of a gang ritual-initiation. Geraldo also brought up the point that the USA is a per se signatory nation to a decades-old UN Treatise allowing foreign citizens-nationals held for serious crimes in resident nations + facing detrimental imprisonment or execution for same to appeal their case directly to the UN ICC = ICJ.
#12
IMO it would be a CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUE requiring formal AMENDMENT TO SAME, not merely by Congressional legislation. Its pretty much a given the majority of the 50 States would resist Federal + UNO interference and control over US State-specific domestic affairs.
OTOH, 2008-2012 [2016] > SOCIALISM IN AMERIKA > ISN'T THE WOT/9-11 + OWG-NWO + GLOBAL CONTROL-AUTHORITY OVER AMER AFFAIRS WHAT ITS ABOUT???
#4
Compare wid TOPIX > GUARDIAN.UK - THE COMING ILLIBERAL ORDER [Rise of Pan-Global Authoritarian States, NOT Liberal Democracy]; + INTELLIBRIEFS > ASIA'S CHALLENGING STRATEGIC CALCULUS. Each differentiated Asia-specific regions possesses different geopolitical realities and challenges, espec for the USA as Global Hegemon. The USA + RUSSIA NEED TO LEARN TO WORK TOGETHER AS OPPOSED TO PERENNIALLY COMPETING AGZ EACH OTHER FOR ASYMMTERIC SUPERIORITY.
THE FUTURE OF THE POST-WOT WORLD + "GLOBALISM" RESTS IN HOW THE WORLD'S GREAT/MAJOR POWERS WORK TOGETHER EFFEC IN ASIA.
Drat the luck! Jesse wont be running. Only heard a few remarks from his Larry King show, but it brought back all the old memories the same honking voice that sounds like he is trying to push a trombone out his nose, the same rhetorical bafflers, the same swipes at religion. That last one reminds you that Jesse regards himself as a freethinker who values his intellectual integrity hence the 9/11 truther statements but they also reminded one what a crude, graceless man he, er, seems to be sometimes. I remember when he was in the WWF. He had so much more class then.
His reasons are varied the usual broadsides against the jackal media and so on but one wishes he could have cited the strains of fundraising, if only so we could have a headline that said he aint got time to plead. Providing people still get a 20-year-old reference to Predator, that is. Personally, I'd like to see Jessie "The Body" and Garrison "Old Scout" Keillor in a steel cage deathmatch to decide who's more bitter and angry. I don't care who wins; I'd just be rooting for mayhem.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/16/2008 08:25 ||
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A Guam restaurant patron would still like to see JESSE run as an INDEPENDENT POTUS CANDIDATE despite odds agz him winning, as is NOT impressed wid either MCCAIN or BARACK???
A funny thing happened over on the Barack Obama campaign website in the last few days.The parts that stressed his opposition to the 2007 troop surge and his statement that more troops would make no difference in a civil war have somehow disappeared.
A reminder of how carefully voters must listen during these last four campaign months. And remember what was said before then!
Not a typo in the title, that's a 'Big zero'.
Democrat Barack Obama wants to prove he's ready to be a wartime commander in chief. Republican John McCain hopes to sell the idea that his rival is not. Negative campaigner! Bad McCain!
The return of Iraq and Afghanistan to the forefront of the presidential campaign illustrates how both sides increasingly seem to view the race as largely a referendum on Obama, a first-term Illinois senator trying to become the first black president. Or largely a referendum on Bush, depending on the mood.
"I will end this war as president," Obama said of Iraq and promised anew that he would redirect U.S. efforts to Afghanistan. The likely Democratic nominee struck a stately pose Tuesday as he delivered a lengthy foreign policy address ahead of an upcoming overseas trip. He spoke from a podium that said "Judgment to Lead" set up before an array of American flags.
Answering Obama, McCain gave his own speech in which the ex-Navy pilot, Vietnam prisoner of war and four-term Arizona senator cited his decades of military experience to paint his rival as unprepared. "I know how to win wars," the GOP nominee-in-waiting asserted, leaving unspoken the blatently obvious suggestion that Obama does not. "In wartime, judgment and experience matter. ... The commander in chief doesn't get a learning curve." Except for Jimmy Carter, and he didn't learn anything.
Clearly, the race is on to define the still relatively unknown Obama, and whichever candidate does a better job making his case could well win the White House. Their dueling foreign policy remarks Tuesday underscored as much. How could he be the nominee of half the country, and still be 'relatively unknown'? Oh, unless it's because you can never nail him down on a position?
To be sure, Obama criticized the waging of the Iraq war, and national security as a whole, under President Bush, while McCain argued that last year's troop increase strategy that Bush championed was appropriate. Not to mention, successful.
But with polls showing national security is an area in which Obama lags McCain, Obama largely sought to portray himself as competent to lead the country in the face of national security threats - and answer voters' worries - while McCain tried to raise questions about the fitness of Obama to oversee a nation at war - and stoke voters concerns. Whereas the Big 0 talks about specifics - hope and change.
In surveys, McCain leads Obama on the question of who would a good commander in chief. And an AP-Yahoo poll taken last month showed 39 percent said McCain would do a better job of handling Iraq, compared with 33 percent for Obama. I wonder who they thought would do a better job than McCain? Does this smell like a bad poll?
"This campaign is not going to be about McCain," said Chris Lehane, a Democrat who worked on Al Gore's presidential campaign in 2000. "It's ultimately going to be an up or down vote on whether the country is ready for the change Obama represents. Whatever we decide that is"
Todd Harris, a Republican aide on McCain's 2000 White House bid, said that given the mood of the country, "there might be a lot of voters who would never choose McCain over Obama. But they might look at Obama and decide he is not acceptable and, therefore, by default vote for McCain."
Republicans and Democrats alike say this campaign could be shaping up as the mirror image of the 1980 presidential race. Back then, the public wasn't happy with Democrat Jimmy Carter in the White House. The economy was tanking. There was turmoil overseas with hostages in Iran and soaring oil prices. Republican Ronald Reagan represented a different type of politician, yet voters were questioning whether he was up to the job. That kept the contest relatively close through the summer. Eventually, Reagan endeared himself to voters, eased their concerns and won handily that fall.
Voters crave a new direction after eight years of Bush bashing. Wall Street is in turmoil, gasoline and food prices soar. Wars rage in Iraq according to the MSM view and Afghanistan. And, while the political environment solidly tilts in Democrats' favor and the party has a fresh face as its expected nominee, the race remains close four months before the election - certainly, at least in part, because of doubts about Obama. Isn't that the way it always is, AP? Some folks vote for a candidate, and some vote against his rival? Thus, Obama is working to fill in the blanks for voters who are uneasy about him. His speeches and ads flesh out details of his biography and proposals. And he casts himself as a transformational figure who transcends partisanship and brings fresh ideas to fix Washington. Yea, TEAM!
Make no mistake: Obama, himself, recognizes the odds of a black man with only a few years of national political experience and a different-sounding name winning the presidency. "John McCain calls himself the underdog. I will simply point out, for reasons you might consider apparent, that I am the underdog. I will be the underdog until I'm sworn in," Obama said wryly last week at an Atlanta fundraiser.
McCain's latest campaign ad signaled a fresh underhanded, unfair, scurrilous, Cheney-Rove-like effort to raise questions about Obama. Without mentioning Obama, it referenced his eloquent rhetoric and frequent use of the word "hope" to suggest the Democrat could not guarantee results.
"Beautiful words cannot make our lives better. But a man who has always put his country and her people before self, before politics, can," the ad says. "Don't 'hope' for a better life. Vote for one." I liked the ad.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/16/2008 06:26 ||
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Obama, a first-term Illinois senator trying to become the first black president.
#2
FREEREPUBLIC Article on why the GOP often fails to attract the Black Vote in America despite being the ANTI-SLAVERY + CIVIL RIGHTS PARTY VV DEMS > Author argues that most contempor Blacks or African-Amers ARE MORE INTERESTED IN PERENNIAL GOVT-LED HANDOUTS THAN THE PAST HISTORY OF THEIR PARTICULAR ETHNIC GROUP IN AMERICA, TO INCLUD WHICH POL PARTY HELPED/BENEFITED THEM THE MOST???
* FREEP Poster - "Gimmie-crats"???
* Other FREEP Poster - OPINED IT IS LIKELY BEST FOR THE GOP = MCCAIN THIS 2008 ELEX TO CONSIDER NOMINATING A WOMAN VPOTUS IN ORDER TO ATTRACT THE BLACK VOTE VV DEM OBAMA, as oppos to a pro-GOP Black or other Minority Male VPOTUS???
Widin the scope of the above, CAN MCCAIN WIN 2008 WID A WOMAN = MINORITY FEMALE VEEP!?
Hyderabad: The Gachibowli stadium turned into a virtual battle field during the Junior Hockey Asia Cup semifinal between India and Pakistan on Wednesday when players from both the teams clashed, following an alleged un-sportsmanlike behaviour by Muhammad Irfan of the visiting side.
Irfan, who suffered nose injury during the fracas and was sent outside the ground after showing a yellow card, roughly tackled Mandeep Antil when the Indian was looking dangerous in the opponent's 'D' area towards the end of the first session with the hosts leading 1-0 in the crucial match.
Irfan allegedly raised his stick against Antil but teammate Gurwinder Singh Chandi took a strong exception to it and heated argument followed.
Chaos started when players of both the teams rushed to the spot and began pushing each other and exchanged blows.
The match was stopped for a few minutes and it was only after the umpires and other officials' intervention that the situation was prevented from turning out of hands.
The umpires called both the captains - Shafqat Rasool of Pakistan and India's Gurbaj Singh - to discuss the violent incident and warned them.
India won 3-1 in the match, which resumed with a reduced Pakistani team of 10 members.
Indian coach A K Bansal described the incident as unfortunate. "It was unfortunate. Whether it was Pakistan or us, it should not have happened," he said adding that the behaviour of the players reflected as if a school match was going on.
Posted by: john frum ||
07/16/2008 16:56 ||
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#1
it's all fun and games til someone loses an eye
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/16/2008 17:50 Comments ||
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Tens of thousands of children in the district have been deprived of anti-polio drops due to the prevailing law and order situation in the district.
Three cases of polio were reported in the Aligram area of Kabal tehsil in Swat district on Tuesday. Sources told Daily Times that three of the suspected samples of blood sent by the Swat Health Department to Islamabad for tests were declared infected with polio virus, while 11 others were found negative. Tens of thousands of children in the district have been deprived of anti-polio drops due to the prevailing law and order situation in the district. Health Department sources said that many more cases of the disease might be detected in the militancy-hit areas of Kabal, Matta, Khwazakhela, and Charbagh, if the children were not administered polio drops on time.
This article starring:
Aligram area of Kabal tehsil
Charbagh
Kabal
Khwazakhela
Matta
Posted by: Fred ||
07/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
That's prolly cause you ran off the aid workers that were trying to vaccinate you at the end of a AK-47.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/16/2008 11:58 Comments ||
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#4
I think that it's a 3-shot sequence, Fred. They tend not to use the oral Sabin vaccine any more; that one's dangerous to people with hidden immune deficiencies.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
07/16/2008 21:26 Comments ||
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#5
I just had one dose as a child. But now I'm infertile, so maybe the imams and mullahs are right. Oh, I also had a vasectomy after three kids. So, it still could've been the vaccine
but mostly the snip job
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/16/2008 21:33 Comments ||
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#6
#3 You only need it once.
Posted by: Fred 2008-07-16 11:58
The new vaccine, yes, you supposedly only need it once. I was part of the group in the South that got the shots in 1953-54. There were a series of three shots, then an annual booster until about 1960. Then they said they had a better vacccine, and you only needed it once. Got that one, too. When I joined the military, I got another series of shots for polio. When they came out with the oral vaccine, the military decided again that I needed it (several times, in fact). I haven't had polio, so I guess SOMETHING worked. It took the Air Force 10 years of poking me to decide to quit giving me smallpox vaccinations that did nothing, though. At least they got rid of the needle for polio vaccinations.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/16/2008 21:40 Comments ||
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#7
It is a FACT. Polio Vaccines are Infidel Medicine...
YEP.. they prevent you from getting polio but after 10 to 20 weeks you become a Good Christian for life! /suckers
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
07/16/2008 22:17 Comments ||
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Nisshinbo Industries Inc. has worked with the Tokyo Institute of Technology to develop the technology to use carbon instead of expensive platinum as the electrode catalyst for fuel cells.
The company hopes to have a practical version of the new catalyst ready in fiscal 2009, and will start by commercializing a product for the electrodes of residential fuel cells. Later, it will develop and commercialize a version for automotive fuel cells.
In a fuel cell, the catalyst promotes the oxidation-reducing reactions at the electrodes that lead to the generation of electricity from the hydrogen fuel and oxygen in the air.
Platinum is now used as the catalyst, but high demand and unstable supplies from main producer South Africa have driven prices sky-high. A 1kw-class residential fuel cell uses several grams of platinum and a 150kw-class automotive fuel cell uses around 60 grams, which at current prices adds 400,000 yen (US$3,762) to the cost of a car.
The carbon catalyst promises to remove this cost barrier, which along with the needed infrastructure for hydrogen filling stations is a major roadblock to the adoption of fuel cells for homes and cars.
The new catalyst is made from nanospheres of carbon. For practical purposes as a fuel cell catalyst, 10 times more carbon is required than platinum; but even in this larger volume, the cost is just a 10th that of using platinum.
House and car fuel cell. No need for losses in the grid, no need for petroleum. Just big nukes to produce the hydrogen and grid power for base load by business.
Imagine a community where the only "wires" are buried fiber optics.
#2
You're correct OS, this is HUGE. The 5KW 'home version' (1KW is a tad 'wimpy') of these units was currently projected to run $18K-$24K ($4+/watt approx.) or better plus installation. This discovery possibly could cut that in third or better by my guess, thereby making it affordable for most homeowners (still not free, though, along with the flying cars they promised us when we were kids).
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
07/16/2008 15:10 Comments ||
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#3
I want want for home use.
Add 20K (cost plus service contract) to my house price to be completely free of the grid?
#4
Carbon nanotubes can also super strengthen very thin layers of metals, making possible ultr-lightweight vehicles that use less gas besides space applications. Necessity is the "mother of invention".
#5
"unstable supplies from main producer South Africa"
This could also take money out of Zimbabwe-ass-kissing South Africa's hands.
Lagniappe.... :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/16/2008 15:37 Comments ||
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#6
You or your grandkids won't be driving hydrogen powered cars. Starting w/ electricity, making hydrogen and converting it back to electricity gives you 25-30% efficiency. That does not even take into account the very expensive means to transport hydrogen. Direct thermal decomposition of water will up the efficiency, but fuel cells will never approach battery efficiency. Compare that to 80% efficiency for battery storage, including the losses from the power plant to the home.
Fuel cells make marginally more sense in cold climate homes when fueled by nat gas where the waste heat is used for heating and hot water. The rub is that there is not enough nat gas to make this a standard in home construction.
Posted by: ed ||
07/16/2008 15:47 Comments ||
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#7
Compare battery life and weight to fuel cells.
Consider the effect of large numbers of nuclear plants.
#8
Hydrogen needs electricity for it's creation but it could be used as a storage system to for wind and solar when they are going (same as batteries) and a supplement to the grid when they are not.
As far as in-home use goes there are safety considerations w/r hydrogen and it's distribution systems. I would hate to be the one to dig up a hydrogen line to my house or have a hydrogen leak to the fuel cells. BANG!!
#9
Problem with hydrogen is this: hydrogen is an energy carrier, not an energy source.
We have no hydrogen wells and no hydrogen mines, and so have to make hydrogen. We can electrolyze sea water or we can breakdown methane. The first requires huge amounts of electricity, the second requires lots and lots of natural gas. Nuclear power would generate the electricity for electrolysis but that's expensive (for now).
Fuel cells are interesting but until we have a cheap source for hydrogen are likely not practical.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/16/2008 17:15 Comments ||
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#10
ed: Batteries are old tech. Future apps are for capacitors, which have all the goodness of batteries and more. They have much better charge-discharge curves, much less weight, and are naturals with nanotech. Do a google on advanced capacitors.
The military has one the size of a suitcase that can hold something like 6MJoules.
#11
A suitcase is huge. 6MJ is the energy in 21 oz of gasoline. The problem with capacitors is their low breakdown voltage (a few hundred volts) limits the energy density (e=1/2*C*V^2). Good for explosive power, not good for primary energy storage. EEstor is claiming their process will work at a 3500 volts (10 times the voltage and 100 times the energy density of today's ultracaps) and even exceed Li-ion battery energy density, yet no product has been publicly demonstrated. I will remain highly skeptical that it ever will be.
Here (pdf) you can see a 5.6MJ (1.562kwH) Li-ion battery that looks like a car large car battery (12.2x6.8x9.2 in) and weighs 41 pounds. Not to mention much safer than any ultra-capacitor.
Posted by: ed ||
07/16/2008 18:36 Comments ||
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Indonesia and East Timor expressed deep regret yesterday for violence surrounding Dili's 1999 independence vote after a joint probe blamed state institutions for "gross human rights violations".
The report by the Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) blamed Indonesian security forces for the mayhem, although Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono stopped short of an apology.
The two governments set up the CTF in 2005 to look into the violence, during which the UN estimates more than 1,000 East Timorese died, but it has no power to prosecute, prompting criticism that it serves to whitewash atrocities. It has been boycotted by the UN.
The statement expressing regret came after the truth commission submitted its report on the violence to Yudhoyono, East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta and East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao in Bali.
Indonesian security and civilian forces had a major role in systematic, widespread "gross human rights violations", while a small number of East Timor's pro-independence groups also played minor parts in the violence, the report said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/16/2008 00:00 ||
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A two-decade ban on people with HIV visiting or immigrating to the United States may end soon through a Senate bill aimed at fighting AIDS and other diseases in Africa and other poor areas of the world.
The U.S. is one of a dozen countries including Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Libya and Russia that ban travel and immigration for HIV-positive people.
Even China, said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., recently changed that policy, deciding it was "time to move beyond an antiquated, knee-jerk reaction" to people with HIV.
"There's no excuse for a law that stigmatizes a particular disease," Kerry said Tuesday at a speech to the Center for Strategic & International Studies HIV/AIDS Task Force. Even people with avian flu or the Ebola virus have an easier time than those with HIV when it come to applying for visas, he said.
Kerry and Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., are trying to repeal the ban, first implemented in 1987 and confirmed by Congress in 1993. The two have attached their measure to legislation which the Senate may pass this week that would provide $50 billion over the next five years to fight AIDS and other diseases in Africa and other poor areas...
#3
That's $25,000/year per patient of taxpayer money for the 25 years an AIDS patient is expected to live. How many of the 5 or 6 million annual new HIV cases will try to claim asylum in the US because the suffer discrimination in their country. 25 years of free care in the US beats the hell out of dying in 2 back home.
$50 billion foreign aid HIV treatment over 5 years is near the entire budget that the US spends on HIV. The US could spend $500 billion and it would make less than zero difference without getting people to change their selfish behaviors that transmit the infection. Even worse, it would increase the infection rate as many more infected would be healthy enough to spread the infection even faster.
Posted by: ed ||
07/16/2008 13:00 Comments ||
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#4
Wonder if the Americans that these AIDS immigrants will infect can sue Kerry and Smith for the death sentence imposed upon them? Or sue Tereza since she has the big bucks and will bet this is her idea since Jahn hasn't had one since slandering his comrades for personal political gain.
Posted by: ed ||
07/16/2008 13:19 Comments ||
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#5
Is this the type of AIDS activity Reverend Jeremiah Wright was referring to?
#6
Is there no end to the creative ways our Congress can figure out to spend hard earned American taxpayer money? I suggest getting the economy straightened out before they consider a new and creative way to spend American dollars. How about declaring a moratorium on new bills that require money? How about Kerry coughing up some of his wife's bucks through her charity?
(Xinhua) -- High cost of lawyers' fees has resulted to a rise of Americans handling their own court cases, with assistance from legal self-help sites and groups, a research group said Tuesday. The kind of self-handled cases has gone beyond civil cases involving small amounts of money to domestic problems, divorces and child custody matters, according to the National Center for State Courts.
To help Americans without lawyers, all 50 states and the District of Columbia have set up self-help centers.
An indicator of the growing acceptance of self-handled litigation is the 43,000 emails, phone and walk-in inquiries received in 2007 by the Hennepin County Self-Help Center in Minnesota. It is the largest number since the program started 11 years ago.
In San Diego, California, the number of unrepresented party in cases pending before the family court went up 70 percent in 2004 from 54 percent in the early 1990s.
A 2004 study by the New Hampshire Supreme Court task force said85 percent of civil cases in district court and 48 percent in superior court were tried without lawyers.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Good!
The fewer lawyers we have the better. Parasites all.
#3
If the story of Sodom and Gamorha(?) was about lawyers, would we have any left? Might be a close call.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/16/2008 9:44 Comments ||
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#4
This has been building up for many years. Phoenix, long ago, installed a kiosk divorce-vending machine for no-contest amiable divorces, over the bitter protestations of lawyers.
#5
The university I went to produced about 40 civil engineers in a good year, and churned out about 200 lawyers in the same period. That's 5 lawyers to hover over every CE like vultures waiting for you to make an error of any kind. You'd think those c*cksuckers would go broke with as many of them as there are.
#6
Something is terribly wrong when a society has more lawyers than doctors and police combined.
Posted by: ed ||
07/16/2008 15:02 Comments ||
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#7
Yes ed, but if both those professions cleaned their own house far more effectively and efficiently we wouldn't have an inviting environment that nurtures so many of the blighters either.
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.
It's only a cartoon! But Obama adds that New Yorker cover insults Muslims 
Thus, Obama is working to fill in the blanks for voters who are uneasy about him. His speeches and ads flesh out details of his biography and proposals. And he casts himself as a transformational figure who transcends partisanship and brings fresh ideas to fix Washington.
