#1
Only 3 weeks into the Obama administration and already we have seem some record incompetence and bungling. This is gonna be a long 4 years.... if we make it that long.
#2
Lock and Load! Seeing an increase in Afghani and Pakistani looking men coming through the Amtrak station in downtown Dallas, Texas towind considerable luggage during the past week from the Amtrak train and from the train servicing the Dallas Ft Worth International Airport.
These types are wasting no time coming into America, now that the left is running the big show.
#5
Seeing an increase in Afghani and Pakistani looking men coming through the Amtrak station in downtown Dallas...
There is a substantial Muslim population in the DFw area, mostly concentrated in the Mid Cities. Irving, Euless, Bedford, Arlington...etc. I have also taken note of the increased influx of these vermin. And so have a lot of others.
Through acquaintances in a few of the local police departments, I've heard that they are watching them closely, along with the Texas State police. Not sure what the Feds are doing, doesn't matter anyway. If these folks cross the line the feds will be the least of their worries.
Lots of gun tottin' and bible clutchin' RedNecks here in the Lone Star State...still. I was at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo the other day, speaking with some of the livestock producers, and these country folk are ready to answer the call. Talk about being fed up, I tell you.
#10
Seeing an increase in Afghani and Pakistani looking men coming through the Amtrak station in downtown Dallas, Texas towind considerable luggage during the past week from the Amtrak train and from the train servicing the Dallas Ft Worth International Airport.
Weirdly enough, I wonder if the huge spike in airfares combined with luggage restrictions is causing more people to travel via Amtrak. One forum commenter mentioned that Amtrak is the cheapest way to move across the country if you're moving a few hundred pounds worth of luggage.
#15
If I were on that team, I'd refuse to leave the United States. I WILL NOT wear a chador, and WILL NOT be harassed by asshole islamonuts. And, unless something's drastically changed in the past two looooong weeks, Bambi doesn't own the team - it's not his to send.
What the hell are they thinking?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/04/2009 16:14 Comments ||
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#16
Through acquaintances in a few of the local police departments, I've heard
Thank you for a useful and comforting report, Trader_DFW.
#17
CNN + FOX NEWS this AM > seems IRAN has decided to FORMALLY DENY ENTRY to the team, CLAIMING TOO LONG LEAD TIME(S) IN THE NORMAL PROCESSING OF ENTRY DOCS IRAN REQUIRES FOR FOREIGN [sports]VISITORS???
Read - POTUS OBAMA HASN'T APOLOGIZED YET TO IRAN FOR ALLEGED "US CRIMES" AGZ IT???
'We're looking at a scenario where there's no more agriculture in California,' Steven Chu says. He sees education as a means to combat threat.
Reporting from Washington -- California's farms and vineyards could vanish by the end of the century, and its major cities could be in jeopardy, if Americans do not act to slow the advance of global warming, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said Tuesday.
In his first interview since taking office last month, the Nobel-prize-winning physicist offered some of the starkest comments yet on how seriously President Obama's cabinet views the threat of climate change, along with a detailed assessment of the administration's plans to combat it.
Chu warned of water shortages plaguing the West and Upper Midwest and particularly dire consequences for California, his home state, the nation's leading agricultural producer.
In a worst case, Chu said, up to 90% of the Sierra snowpack could disappear, all but eliminating a natural storage system for water vital to agriculture.
"I don't think the American public has gripped in its gut what could happen," he said. "We're looking at a scenario where there's no more agriculture in California." And, he added, "I don't actually see how they can keep their cities going" either.
A pair of recent studies raise similar warnings. One, published in January in the journal Science, raised the specter of worldwide crop shortages as temperatures rise. Another, penned by UC Berkeley researchers last year, estimated California has about $2.5 trillion in real estate assets -- including agriculture -- endangered by warming.
Chu is not a climate scientist. He won his Nobel for work trapping atoms with laser light. He taught at Stanford University and directed the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he reoriented researchers to pursue "clean energy" technologies to help reduce the use of greenhouse-gas-emitting fossil fuels in the U.S., before Obama tapped him to head the Energy Department.
He stressed the threat of climate change in his Senate confirmation hearings and in a video clip posted on Obama's transition website, but not as bluntly, nor in as dire terms, as he did Tuesday.
In the course of a half-hour interview, Chu made clear that he sees public education as a key part of the administration's strategy to fight global warming -- along with billions of dollars for alternative energy research and infrastructure, a national standard for electricity from renewable sources and cap-and-trade legislation to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
He said the threat of warming is keeping policymakers focused on alternatives to fossil fuel, even though gasoline prices have fallen over the last six months from historic highs. But he said public awareness needs to catch up. He compared the situation to a family buying an old house and being told by an inspector that it must pay a hefty sum to rewire it or risk an electrical fire that could burn everything down.
"I'm hoping that the American people will wake up," Chu said, and pay the cost of rewiring.
Environmentalists welcomed the comments as a sharp break from the Bush administration, which often minimized research about global warming.
"To say the least, it's a breath of fresh air," said Bernadette Del Chiaro, who directs the clean air and global warming program for Environment California. "We've been worried about the impacts of global warming for years, even decades. He's absolutely right -- California stands to lose so much in our way of life."
Global warming skeptics were not swayed. "I am hopeful Secretary Chu will take note of the real-world data, new studies and the growing chorus of international scientists that question his climate claims," Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, said in a statement. "Computer model predictions of the year 2100 are simply not evidence of a looming climate catastrophe."
#2
Cause everyone knows warm weather is a disaster for plant growth. I wonder how the rest of the country stores water? Perhaps in those little plastic Evian bottles the Greenies are always toting around.
Posted by: ed ||
02/04/2009 12:13 Comments ||
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#3
The only thing threatening Kaliphornia's farms is suburban sprawl.
#4
"I'm hoping that the American people will wake up," Chu said, and pay the cost of rewiring.
Another idiot physicist who uses ridiculous analogies to explain things.
As Dirac said, if you can't explain what you are doing in a way that's understandable to the average person, then you don't understand what you are doing.
This kind of 'explanation' is extremely condescending.
As an example of how to do it right, here's Einstein's extremely subtle description of radio:
When asked to explain radio, Einstein said that telegraph is like a long cat with its tail in New York and its head in San Franscisco. When you pull the tail, the head yowls.
"Radio is like that, except there's no cat."
There is nothing that the USA can do to stop AGW, assuming you accept the flawed premise. Maybe nuke China and India. But let's get out the sackcloth and ashes.
#5
The only thing threatening Kaliphornia's farms is suburban sprawl.
There is in fact a serious water problem in CA. It's made worse by various environmental controls, but it exists.
CA's central valley provides a good portion of our fresh fruits, vegetables and livestock. Petaluma is the center of a major poultry producing area. If in fact agriculture crashes there we will indeed feel the impact in our budgets and in grocery store offerings.
#6
We can always resurrect plans to redirect the Peace river from Alaska, resulting is a net generation of green renewable hydro-power and an immense supply of fresh water.
#8
I'll also take this guy seriously when he starts warning about the certain risk to the US when the New Madrid fault lets loose again and destroys all the nuke plants in the mid west and south. And don't forget the Yellowstone caldera that's bound to bust open and cover the eastern US in feet of volcanic ash. What's he doing about hose certainties?
#9
California agriculture wastes a tremendous amount of water whose cost is subsidized by taxpayers across the nation. What reason is there to grow rice in a arid/semiarid climate except that water is almost free?
Posted by: ed ||
02/04/2009 13:23 Comments ||
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#10
Science to the rescue. There is a new type of low maintenance nanotube water filter that uses only 1/4th of the energy of reverse osmosis. It is also scalable. Then all they have to do is pump seawater converted to freshwater, ashore.
#14
Suburban sprawl exacerbates water problems. For example, a few years back San Diego County damn near went to war against neighboring Imperial County, a major agricultural center, over access to Colorado River water. The reason for the dispute was rampant, virtually uncontrolled suburban sprawl in San Diego County creating an ever growing demand for more and more water. San Diego County is an arid climate that averages 10 inches of rain a year. The past several years we have received far less than the average. But don't bother asking the pols about the drought when they're approving massive new housing tracts because they plug their ears with the dollars they get from developers. An agreement was finally worked out between San Diego and Imperial Counties. But now the mayor of San Diego is telling us that mandatory water rationing is a real possibility this summer. Meanwhile, San Diego County's avocado growers, long a staple of local agriculture, have begun cutting their trees because they can't afford to water them. The trees might grow back if we ever get some rain or the growers might just sell out to developers. We've had droughts before but competition between farmers and suburbs for access to water has never been so intense. We don't need global warming...we're losing our farms without it. But I think the vineyards will be OK. We can do without fruit and vegetables but we gotta have wine.
#17
We can't grow Oranges in Orange Park Florida anymore either. I'ma thinking of a law suit, a big Mother of one. Also no Mandarins grown in Mandarin, same reason, too damn cold, has been since about 1914... bastids, I blame big oil, big tobacco, low gravity and a massive, general insensitivity to what I want.
H/T Blackfive
The Kenyan government has agreed to try pirates captured by the U.S. military, a senior Defense Department official said here today. The agreement came about earlier this month through a memorandum of understanding signed by U.S. State Department and Kenyan government officials, spokesman Bryan Whitman told Pentagon reporters. Britain also has a similar agreement with Kenya.
Seagoing pirates operating off the coasts of Somalia and Yemen have lately preyed on commercial shipping, often holding captured vessels, cargo and crews for millions of dollars in ransom money. The problem seemed to worsen until the recent stand up of a multinational, anti-pirate consortium known as Task Force 151.
The U.S.-Kenyan memorandum "adds to the range of possibilities in terms of being able to attack this problem," Whitman said. And, "having a place to prosecute these people," he added, should help to discourage pirate activity in the region.
The legal system is based on the 1963 constitution, the Judicature Act of 1967, and common law court precedent. Kenya accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations.
Customary law, to the extent it does not conflict with statutory law, is used as a guide in civil matters concerning persons of the same ethnic group.
The judicial system consists of the Court of Appeal, which has final appellate jurisdiction, and subordinate courts. The High Court, sitting continuously at Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, and Kisumu, and periodically at Eldoret, Kakamega, Nyeri, Kitale, Kisii, and Meru, consists of a chief justice and 24 associate judges, who are appointed by the president of the republic.
The High Court has both civil and criminal jurisdiction, serving as an appellate tribunal in some cases and as a court of first instance in others.
Lower courts are presided over by resident magistrates and district magistrates. Questions of Islamic law are determined by qadis' courts. Military courts handle court-martials of military personnel.
Although the constitution provides for an independent judiciary, the president has considerable influence over the judiciary. The president appoints the High Court Judges with the advice of the Judicial Service Commission.
The president also has authority to dismiss judges, the attorney general, and other officials upon recommendation of a tribunal appointed by the president.
An Egyptian court suspended an earlier ruling aimed at halting a much-criticized deal to export Egyptian natural gas to Israel pending further review, court officials said Monday.
In November, after opposition groups filed a suit alleging that the 15-year fixed price deal sold the gas too cheaply, an Egyptian court ordered a halt to exports. The ruling was immediately appealed and at no time did the flow of Egyptian gas to Israel, which began in March, ever halt, said a spokesman for Israel's Infrastructure Ministry, Asaf Asulin.
Egypt's Supreme Administrative court on Monday suspended the November ruling, pending a review of the situation by a panel of independent experts, a court official reading from the court papers said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. A further hearing was scheduled for March 16.
The original court ruling said that the government needed parliament's approval before authorizing contracts related to the country's natural resources, but cabinet spokesman Magdy Rady, said the government had full sovereignty over any deal with a foreign country. "Contracts with foreign countries are part of the government's job. The government did it in a way that it deemed right," Rady said. "At this stage, this will help us to continue exporting."
The deal is between a private Egyptian company, partly owned by the government, and the state-run Israel Electric Company. The 2005 deal licensed Cairo-based East Mediterranean Gas to sell 1.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas to the Israeli company at a price critics say is set at $1.50 per million British thermal units - a measure of energy.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I think that the gas company is run by one of Mubarak's sons.
Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe must demonstrate “true power-sharing” with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change before the U.S. will send new development aid and lift sanctions, the State Department said. “The success or failure of such a government will depend on credible and inclusive power sharing by Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party,” the department said in a statement from Washington late yesterday. “We urge the SADC to fulfill its obligation to guarantee that Mr. Mugabe proceeds on a new path toward reconciliation and genuine partnership with the MDC.”
The U.S. imposed sanctions in the past, including freezing government assets, to show disapproval of Mugabe’s rule. “The U.S. will only consider new development assistance and easing of targeted sanctions when we have seen evidence of true power-sharing as well as inclusive and effective governance,” the State Department said. “We will continue to provide humanitarian assistance.”
The international community must scrutinize MugabeÂ’s actions to ensure he adheres to the agreement with the MDC and respects human rights and the rule of law, it said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"The U.S. will only consider new development assistance and easing of targeted sanctions when we have seen evidence of true power-sharing as well as inclusive and effective governance,"
Nothing mentioned about the seizure and "redistribution" of white owned farms and propery. I guess that's still ok.
A pro-government militia group in the Democratic Republic of Congo has released some 85 child soldiers, UNICEF has announced. The children, aged between 7 and 17, were freed after months of talks with the Mai Mai militiamen, UNICEF spokeswoman Veronique Taveau said on Tuesday. Some children were released in the province of North Kivu Thursday and the rest on Sunday. They included five girls. Taveau stated that the children were starving and traumatized when they were handed over to UNICEF.
There are an estimated 2,000 child soldiers in North Kivu, Taveau said. She declined to say if the militiamen were paid for the release of the children.
The Geneva Convention, which governs the protection of human rights in warfare, prohibits the use of soldiers under the age of 15, while the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child draws the line at 18.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
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Actors, actresses and businessmen were victims of a Dubai-based Egyptian accused of fraud and of stealing millions of dollars from his clients, it emerged Wednesday.
A list of some of Nabil al-Boushi's alleged victims was published Wednesday, one day after the Egyptian billionaire was arrested in the United Arab Emirates.
More than 35 complaints were filed against al-Boushi, who owns a brokerage company, by Egyptian and Emirati claimants.
They accused him of taking about $37 million with the alleged aim of investing them in the London and New York stock markets, after promising them a 40 percent monthly profit.
The list includes famous actress Laila Olwi, said to have lost more than $500,000 dollars, Mervat Amin, another cinema star, losing almost the same amount, and her ex-husband, actor Hussein Fahmi, who lost $2 million.
Mahmoud al-Khatib, former footballer and the current vice chairman of Egypt's Al-Ahly Club (lost $6 million) and Hassan al-Gabali, the brother of Egypt's Minister of Health Hatem al-Gabali (lost $12 million) are also among those named as victims, according to the list published by Rose al-Youssef Egyptian daily.
A police source was quoted as saying that al-Boushi, who was arrested in the glitzy emirate of Dubai, will not be extradited to Egypt until after his trial in the UAE.
#1
They accused him of taking about $37 million with the alleged aim of investing them in the London and New York stock markets, after promising them a 40 percent monthly profit.
(RIA Novosti) - Marking 10 years as Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez said the country has entered a third phase of his "Bolivarian Revolution," local media reported on Tuesday.
A former army paratrooper who styles himself the builder of "21st-century socialism," Chavez summed up the results of the previous phases of the revolution - the first in 1999-2006 and the second in 2007-2009 - and announced the beginning of a new one.
"These 10 years could be characterized by three words: revolution, independence and socialism," Chavez said. "The second phase is coming to its end and the third cycle of the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela is beginning."
Chavez, 54, who declared February 2 a national holiday to celebrate his milestone as leader, said the new phase could last for another decade until February 2019.
The oil-rich country nation is due to hold a referendum on February 15 as Chavez pushes to remove presidential term limits from the Venezuelan constitution. Chavez's second term ends in 2012 but he says he needs more time to complete the third phase of the revolution.
Chavez wants to change the wording of the country's constitution from "the president may be reelected only once" to simply "the president may be reelected" before his current term ends. More than 50% of voters rejected a similar proposal as part of a package of constitutional amendments in a referendum in December 2007.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
The EU solution: keep presenting it over and over until the voters make the "correct" choice.
#8
I'm going w/ skipjack. Hugo uses it to mask his body odor.
Posted by: ed ||
02/04/2009 12:15 Comments ||
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#9
Oh, God, I can see the commercials up here now...
"...so call 1-800-JOE-4-FISH. Thanks to our friends in Venezuela, no one, NO ONE, should go without fish."
Hasn't this been tried before? And not too well as I remember...
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel confirmed Wednesday that a German battalion will shortly be stationed on French soil for the first time since World War II. So...who or what will they be defending against? Godzilla?
"France will host a German unit permanently on its soil," the two leaders wrote in a joint statement published by French daily Le Monde, stressing "the historic significance of this new step in Franco-German friendship."
The hundreds of German troops will be serving in the Franco-German brigade set up in 1989, which currently has 2,300 French soldiers and 2,800 German forces stationed side-by-side in southwest Germany.
Sarkozy and Merkel were to meet this weekend at a security conference in the Bavarian capital Munich and might then reveal details of the agreement, such as where the German troops would be stationed.
Der Spiegel magazine reported last month that 500 German soldiers would be stationed in the border town of Colmar but reports in the French press cited Strasbourg, Metz or Bitche as possible bases. German troops occupied much of France during World War II and the eastern Alsace-Lorraine region has a patchwork history of annexation and occupation under both countries.
The two leaders also called for "real cooperation" between NATO and the European Union, saying the "strategic partnership" between them was not strong enough. "To our great regret, the 'strategic partnership' between NATO and the EU has fallen short of our expectations due to disagreements that persist between certain nations," they wrote.
After meeting Saturday at the Munich security conference, an annual meeting called the "Davos of defence," the two were to celebrate the 60th anniversary of NATO on April 3 and 4 on both sides of the Rhine, at Strasbourg and Kehl.
The Franco-German Brigade was set up by then French president Francois Mitterrand and German chancellor Helmut Kohl to increase military cooperation between the two former enemies. There are German officers based in Strasbourg in eastern France who are engaged with the NATO mission Eurocorps, but no German military unit has been stationed in the country since the end of World War II over 60 years ago.
There are also regular exchanges between the two countries including German officers who study at French defence academies and helicopter pilots who train in France.
#8
I thought we tried that once before and it didn't work?
Will the trains run on time where the Germans are stationed and will the public toilets not stink to high heaven as they normally do in France?
I thought DeGaulle threw out NATO because they were corrupting the frogs....heaven forbid efficiencies and timeliness.
Posted by: James Carville ||
02/04/2009 20:19 Comments ||
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#9
HMMMMMM, HMMMMMM, IMO this should be intrepreted as GERMANY'S BUNDESWEHR being independent but tied to FRANCE [read, EU = EUROZONE wid UK MoD in EU STRATEGIC RESERVE], as the latter did and remains to US-NATO [pro-NATO Independent Milfors-Missle command].
THIS ALSO TELLS ME THE EUROS HAD SSSSSHHHHHHH INDIR + PDENIABLY RECOGNIZED THE ISLAMIST-LED/WROUGHT GEOPOL INSTABILITIES OCCURRING IN EAST-SOUTH ASIA RIGHT NOW.
#10
ION TOPIX/WAFF/OTHER > FORMER VPOTUS DICK CHENEY WARNS OF CATASTROPHIC NUCLEAR, BIOLOGICAL TERROR ATTACKS TO OCCUR AGZ USA IN COMING YEARS [BAM-MAN's NEW ADMIN POLICIES more likely to contribute to the final SUCCESS OF SAIDSAME TERROR ATTACKS, NOT FAILURE]!?
IOW, 2009-2012/2016 CHENEY expects the new OBAMA ADMIN TO TURN AMER ISOLATIONIST + ON THE GLOBAL MIL DEFENSIVE AZG RADICAL TERROR INCLUD PRO-ISLAMIST STATE + MIL-TERR ORG NUCLEARIZATION.
India today rubbished reports that China's warships on anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden caught an Indian Navy submarine snooping on it in the international waters.
Vehemently denying that two Chinese Destroyers had "forced" an Indian submarine to surface, Navy officials here said the vessel "was not Indian" at all. "None of our submarines surfaced in the Gulf of Aden region as reported in a section of the Chinese media," a Navy official said here.
I'd deny it too whether it happened or not ...
Chinese newspapers and websites had reported a couple of days ago that their warships sent to fight piracy in waters off Somalia were stalked by an Indian attack submarine and the two sides became locked in a tense stand-off for at least half-an-hour. They also claimed that after rounds of manoeuvring during which both sides tried to test for weaknesses in other's sonar system, the two Chinese warships managed to force the Indian submarine to surface.
Indian Navy, however, said there was no such face-off with the Chinese Navy vessels. "This seems to be a psychological warfare indulged in by the Chinese Navy," an official said.
Asked if the Navy had any submarine currently deployed in the region, officials said they were operating submarines in a range of theatres and that deployment patterns could not be discussed.
Correct. Submarine deployments, especially, are never discussed.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/04/2009 17:23 ||
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#1
Just me, or is this a new verb spotting - "rubbished"? In any case I like it - a definite sub-continent flavor!
#5
Compare wid WAFF > WPR - CHINESE PERSEPECTIVES ON A RISING INDIA; + CHINESE MIL FORUM > PENTAGON's GROWING CONCERN OF CHINESE ANTI-SHIP BALLISTIC MISSLES, as per precluding US CVBGS from operating too close to TAIWAN = TAIWAN STRAITS as to be effective.
Also on CMF, NAVAL INTEL Report on CHINA'S GROWING SUBMARINE THREAT [more dangerous to USN than Russia = Russian Subs-Fleet]???
#6
Conventional submarines like Kilo need to recharge batteries, for that they need to put diesel engines to work which need to breath. "surfacing" means snorkel depth. Snorkel is a tube that makes possible a submarine diesel engine to breath while submarine is beneath surface but very close to it.
Posted by: Large Snerong7311 ||
02/04/2009 22:41 Comments ||
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New Delhi: An Indian Kilo class submarine spooked Chinese warships that were sent to patrol pirate infested waters in the Gulf of Aden and the two navies engaged in an hour long game of 'hide and seek' in international waters last month, Chinese media reports have said.
In the first such incident involving Indian and Chinese warships that has come to light, media reports from China said that its warships 'forced' the Indian submarine to surface after over an hour of maneuvers during which anti submarine choppers were scrambled from the Chinese destroyers.
While officers in the Indian Navy have acknowledged that track was being kept of the Chinese warships that transited from the Malacca Straits to Somalia waters, they denied that the India sub was forced to surface during the 'encounter'. "It is a routine procedure. We do keep track of warships transiting near Indian waters through all means possible. However, the reports of the Indian submarine having surfaced are incorrect," a senior Navy Officer said.
Chinese media reports said that the incident took place on Janaury 15 in the waters near the Bab Al-Mandab Strait that separates Yemen and Djibouti. They said that the Chinese warships picked up the Indian submarine on sonar and after 'rounds of manoeuvring during which both sides tried to test for weaknesses in the other's sonar system' the Indian submarine was forced to surface.
However, the Indian Navy has denied that any of its submarines surfaced in the Gulf of Aden. A senior officer said that the Chinese ships were being tracked through various means throughout their transit near Indian waters but submarines were in the area at the time that the reports suggest. The Chinese reports said that the submarine tried to escape by diving into deeper waters but anti submarine choppers were sent to trail the Indian vessel that forced it to surface.
China had for the first time sent two destroyers to Somalia last month to patrol the waters, its first deployment to far away waters. India already has a warship in the area and has been patrolling the region for more than three months.
#1
The more I think about this, the more I think this should be filed under the rubric of "the economy may be bad this year, but at least the Party is showing the unwashed barbarians outside of China's borders who the boss is."
#2
Sounds like the navies are making their extended Aden cruise a regular matsuri. Since the rules of engagement keep them from actually doing anything much about pirates - and Thai lawfare bottomfeeders are enforcing their own unwritten rules of engagement on those that don't want to care, like the Indians - they're starting to entertain themselves by wargaming each other.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/04/2009 11:22 Comments ||
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#3
How does a helicopter for a submarine to surface in peacetime without committing an act of war?
#4
That's the problem with those plug-in hybrid submarines. One never gets the mileage advertised on the window sticker.
Posted by: ed ||
02/04/2009 13:45 Comments ||
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#5
Kilos are conventional submarines so from time to time they need to get to surface to recharge batteries via dieasel engines that need to breath air... "surfacing" for journalistas might just means snorkel depth.
Posted by: Large Snerong7311 ||
02/04/2009 17:58 Comments ||
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IBM has just announced that it has signed an agreement that will enable it to build its next-generation BlueGene supercomputers, for the Department of EnergyÂ’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). IBM is expected to deliver two systems, one of which will be dubbed Sequoia, will provide a performance of 20 petaflops and will be based on future BlueGene technology.
“The longstanding partnership of NNSA, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and IBM is ushering in an era of multi-petaflops computing,” said NNSA administrator, Thomas D’Agostino. “These powerful machines will provide NNSA with the capabilities needed to resolve time-urgent and complex scientific problems, ensuring the viability of the nation’s nuclear deterrent into the future. This endeavor will also help maintain U.S. leadership in high performance computing and promote scientific discovery.”
The Sequoia is set to be delivered starting in 2011 and will be deployed in 2012. With a speed of 20 petaflops, the system is expected to be the most powerful supercomputer in the world, consequently being 10 times faster than todayÂ’s similar machine. The Sequoia will be built on another system, called Dawn, which will be capable of delivering a speed of 500 teraflops, and which is scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 2009.
According to the available specifications, Sequoia will have 1.6 petabytes of memory, 96 racks, 98.304 compute nodes and 1.6 million cores. An IBM spokesman said that Sequoia would not be designed as a hybrid system, like the Roadrunner. It will be based on a future generation of IBM Power processors.
To better put into perspective what 20 Petaflops actually means, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory said that “if each of the 6.7 billion people on earth had a hand calculator and worked together on a calculation 24 hours per day, 365 days a year, it would take 320 years to do what Sequoia will do in one hour.”
#1
So who checks the Sequoia for accuracy and how?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
02/04/2009 13:57 Comments ||
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#2
Considering the "value" of climate computer models, I'm thrilled to know that components of our nuclear deterrent will also depend on computer "models" for reliability...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/04/2009 14:55 Comments ||
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#3
So will this bastid run Flight Sim X okay or what?
FORMER prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, now a fugitive abroad, has pledged that he would return to take up the premiership again if the people wanted him to. It was the first time in months that he has specifically mentioned the possibility of being prime minister again.
In a 20-minute telephone call to members of the opposition Puea Thai party on Monday, Thaksin said: 'I will fight on no matter what happens. I'm ready to be prime minister again if people support me. If people voice their call that they want me, I will come back to carry out my duty (as prime minister).'
'But if the people give up, it will be tantamount to my defeat as well,' he said.
Striking an emotional note, he added that he would rather 'sneak back' into Thailand and die in the north-east Isan region than in exile overseas.
The phone call, which elicited prolonged applause, was clearly a morale-booster for the party, which has suffered from factional splits and made no headway in a round of by-elections last month.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
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Today's installment of "Kennedy's in the News"...
WASHINGTON -- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday said he thinks hog farmers are a greater threat to Americans than Osama bin Laden. I thought it was windmill manufacturers?
Mr. Kennedy, son of the the slain New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, is an environmental kook law attorney who was testifying before a House Judiciary subcomittee when Rep. Steve King, Iowa Republican, asked him if a quotation attributed to him in 2002 about hog farmers representing a greater threat than the leader of al Qaeda was accurate. I'll tell ya, Rep. King. With all this bad news, we could use a little comic relief at the subcommitee.
I got a real, live Kennedy ready to testify. Would that do it?
"I don't know if that [quotation] is accurate, but I believe it and I support it," said Mr. Kennedy, who has been involved in a vigorous legal effort against the meat industry for some years, arguing that manure and other products associated with large livestock producers emit toxic wastes that threaten the environment. Mr. Kennedy also has said that a single hog consignment can put out more pollution than a city of a million people. He has also said that every public official in North Carolina has been corrupted by the pork industry. He cited as evidence an editorial in a Raleigh newspaper, although he also said there may be some exceptions. Maybe a Democrat here or there but that's it ...
Mr. Kennedy was convicted for for possession of heroin in 1984 and sentenced to 800 hours of community service. He fulfilled that sentence by doing volunteer work for an envoronmental foundation and later became a vociferous critic of the meat industry and large meat producers. Sounds like he still should be pissing in a cup.
Mr. Kennedy has said that he plans to go after all large farms in the country, not just pork producers. He has also said that the "right" lawsuit against livestock producers could bring damage awards of up to $13 billion. The Kennedy's continue on their recent roll... He's just plain nuts. Used to be the kooky relations of famous families puttered around the estate and grew orchids or something ...
Finally, Democrats have found a tax-cut they can support - one that puts even more money in the pockets of Barbara Streisand, Michael Moore and the rest of their pals in Tinseltown.
Big Hollywood opened its hearts - and fat wallets - to get President Obama into the White House and give Democrats both chambers of Congress and now it's time to return the love.
A provision in the current "stimulus" bill would allow Hollywood moguls to write off half the production and filming costs of big-budget films and TV shows.
Backed by Walt Disney and the Motion Picture Association of America, the provision amounts to an estimated $246 million Hollywood tax break over 11 years.
It's the least Democrats can do for some of their richest and most generous supporters, who gave nearly $20 million in campaign contributions to Democrats during the 2008 election cycle, according to OpenSecrets.org.
Currently, only the first $15 million of production costs can be written off - a rule aimed at keeping low-budget film-makers in the U.S.
Republicans on Capitol Hill noted that Hollywood seems like an odd choice of bailout since it appears to be the one sector of the economy unaffected by the current meltdown.
Last month alone, the industry raked in a record $1 billion in box office receipts, according to industry watchers.
#3
1. If you made movies people wanted to see rather than 'art' or self constructed homages to egos, you wouldn't need help.
2. For killing public domain by corrupting the original intent of American copyright to the pre-Revolutionary inheritable functional grant of royal patents, die if you can't live on that.
The motion picture industry's record-setting month at the box office may have cost it $246 million in tax breaks, as the Senate on Tuesday stripped a provision from the economic stimulus bill that critics derided as an unnecessary Hollywood bailout.
In denying the tax breaks on new film projects, senators cited the $1.03-billion haul from movie ticket sales in January, a 19% year-over-year increase, according to industry tracking firm Media by Numbers.
"They had their best January ever," said Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who led the charge against the tax breaks.
But the arguments of Coburn and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), punctuated by January's surprising box-office figures, proved persuasive. The Senate voted 52 to 45 to remove the provision -- 13 Democrats and one independent, Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, joined with 38 Republicans to pass Coburn's amendment removing the studios' tax breaks from the legislation.
#5
That's right. What we need is more movies. That's get this country moving again.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
02/04/2009 11:16 Comments ||
Top||
#6
So, what you're saying Sherry is that while the Academy snubbed old Clint on Gran Torino, Clint's movie gets to torpedo Hollyweird's chance at "mor' money, mor' money!". Revenge is a dish best served cold.
#10
So, what you're saying Sherry is that while the Academy snubbed old Clint on Gran Torino, Clint's movie gets to torpedo Hollyweird's chance at "mor' money, mor' money!". Revenge is a dish best served cold.
Couple that with
But the arguments of Coburn and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), punctuated by January's surprising box-office figures, proved persuasive
No-longer presidential candidate Senator McCain gets payback on the many Hollywood bigshots who campaigned against him, too. Defeating this bill isn't just a dish of revenge, but an multi-course feast.
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.
'We're looking at a scenario where there's no more agriculture in California,' Steven Chu says. He sees education as a means to combat threat.
A pro-government militia group in the Democratic Republic of Congo has released some 85 child soldiers, UNICEF has announced. The children, aged between 7 and 17, were freed after months of talks with the Mai Mai militiamen, UNICEF spokeswoman Veronique Taveau said on Tuesday. Some children were released in the province of North Kivu Thursday and the rest on Sunday. They included five girls. Taveau stated that the children were starving and traumatized when they were handed over to UNICEF. 
(RIA Novosti) - Marking 10 years as Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez said the country has entered a third phase of his "Bolivarian Revolution," local media reported on Tuesday. 
Iranian researchers have developed an artificial liver to help improve the quality of life in patients suffering from liver failure.
