A New Zealand peace activist is facing serious assault charges after he allegedly punched a rock singer in London, leaving the man in a coma. Christiaan Briggs, 30, who spent three weeks in Iraq with the Truth Justice Peace Human Shield Action Group in 2003, appeared at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court on Tuesday to face a charge of grievous bodily harm.
Ironic, ain't it?
Police say the incident occurred on June 22 when Briggs allegedly punched 19-year-old Billy Leeson, causing the rising rock star to hit his head on the ground. Leeson, the lead singer with rock band Les Incompetents - who have supported Pete Doherty's group Babyshambles - was "still very ill", said Scotland Yard spokesman James Nadin. His condition was described as "critical but stable".
Uh oh, there's that word 'stable'.
Mr Nadin said an argument broke out between the pair after Briggs allegedly "made advances" towards Leeson's girlfriend.
Hitting on his young hippy chick girlfriend. I guess we all know why he's a "Peace Activist"
Police allege Briggs hit Leeson after getting off a bus at Camden Rd in Islington and left the scene.
Briggs handed himself in to police on Sunday and was arrested.
The Herald understands his mother, Karyn, has flown from the family's Napier home to London to support her son. Briggs' father, John, did not want to comment but said: "It just worries me what they're publishing over there is just one side of the story, not both, so you people should be wary of that."
Insert standard "He's a good boy" statement here.
Asked if his son disputed the facts as presented by the police, he said: "I don't want to say anything until the court case comes."
Christiaan Briggs, a technician with a firm of chartered surveyors in North London, was released on conditional bail of £10,000 ($30,275) and ordered to surrender his passport. He has also been ordered to observe a nightly 10pm to 7am curfew at his sister's house in Kingston, Southwest London.
Peace activist - check.
Unmarried - check.
Living with his sister - check.
Loser - check
Mr Nadin said Briggs was to reappear at Snaresbrook Crown Court for a preliminary hearing on July 17.
Briggs was a London-based list candidate for the Green Party in the 2002 election.
It's all too perfect.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/05/2006 16:20 ||
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It's all too perfect.
Yup. If someone tried to use him as a character in a book or movie it would be dismissed as too stereotypical.
BERLIN (Reuters) - Police in Berlin said on Wednesday they had arrested two men on suspicion of placing cement-filled soccer balls around the city and inviting people to kick them. At least two people injured themselves by kicking the balls, which were chained to lampposts and trees alongside the spray-painted message: "Can you kick it?"
"Hey, watch me kick this..Ouch!"
Police said they had identified Lucy Van Pelt a 26-year-old and a 29-year-old and had found a workshop in their apartment where they made the balls. The two are accused of causing serious physical injury, dangerous obstruction of traffic and causing injury through negligence, police said.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/05/2006 15:01 ||
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"Born into a polluted world, nurtured by Global Warming, they soon mutate to many times their normal size. And, they thirst for human blood"
ATHENS (AFP) - Cramped housing conditions and air pollution in Athens have given rise to a "super breed" of mosquito that is larger, faster and more adept at locating human prey, a Greek daily has reported.
"Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Super Skeeter!"
Athens-based mosquitoes can detect humans at a distance of 25-30 metres (yards) and also distinguish colours, unlike their colour-blind counterparts elsewhere in the country that only smell blood at 15-20 metres, Ta Nea daily reported. The "super mosquitoes" of the Greek capital also beat their wings up to 500 times a second -- compared to 350 beats for other variations -- and are larger by 0.3 microgrammes on average, the paper said, citing a study conducted by Aristotelio University in the northern city of Salonika.
You call that big? Bah, I've seen skeeters in Alaska big enough to haul off small children
According to the study, the mosquitoes of Athens have adapted to deal with air pollution and insect repellents, and overpopulation in the Greek capital of over four million has provided them with a healthy food supply. "Mosquitoes can lay their eggs even inside the trays placed beneath thousands of balcony flowerpots," Athens University professor of zoology Anastassios Legakis told the daily.
No shit, you just figured this out? We've only known this was a problem since we started building the Panama Canal in 1904.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/05/2006 12:03 ||
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Hello DDT!
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/05/2006 13:00 Comments ||
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Ivory Coast security forces barred rebel chiefs from a meeting with President Laurent Gbagbo on Tuesday, a day before U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan was due for a summit to bolster peace efforts in the divided state. The dispute appeared to hinge on whether the rebels or their U.N. bodyguards could take guns to the meeting, and was inflamed by the high-ranking military insignia worn by officers from the rebel New Forces, who hold northern Ivory Coast.
The latest standoff came a day before Kofi Annan was due for a special summit with Gbagbo, regional leaders and officials from the belligerent sides to boost a peace process aimed at reuniting the country in time for elections due in October. Gbagbo had asked to meet senior rebel officials on Tuesday to discuss how to remove obstacles to a 3-year-old peace process which has so far failed to reunite the rebel-held north and the government-held south after a brief 2002-03 civil war. "It had been agreed with the defence minister that the New Forces would arrive here without their stripes and guns. Unfortunately, they came with their stripes and their guns," said Anderson Appia, Gbagbo's communications adviser.
During talks between the two sides last week the army refused to recognise ranks awarded by the rebel forces. But the rebels said it was not they but their bodyguards -- members of the U.N. peacekeeping mission -- who were armed and refused to give up their guns. "We arrived by car with a delegation of 12 people including two generals. The army insisted that the blue helmets who ensure our security gave up their guns," said rebel military spokesman Seydou Ouattara. "The blue helmets refused and we retraced their steps with us because if something happened to us, they wouldn't be able to do anything to defend us," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2006 00:00 ||
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Hundreds of Liberians marched on Tuesday to urge visiting U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to establish a war crimes tribunal to restore justice to the West African country ravaged by a 14-year civil war. Carrying 16 coffins draped in black cloth on their heads, the demonstrators marched through the centre of the war-scarred capital Monrovia to the headquarters of the United Nations mission, where Annan was staying during a tour of West Africa. The coffins represented the dead from each of Liberia's 15 counties and one for the soldiers from the West African peacekeeping force ECOMOG, Boakai Jaliba, Secretary General for the group, told Reuters. Demonstrators carried white cloth banners reading: "U.N., we need war crimes court in Liberia" and "The dead need justice".
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2006 00:00 ||
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I guess if you're in the mood to kidnap children, use little girls as sexual playthings, and slaughter people with wild abandon, then Uganda's the place to be.
UGANDAN President Yoweri Museveni pledged to grant Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel leader Joseph Kony total amnesty if peace talks due to open in southern Sudan next week succeed. "The Ugandan government will grant total amnesty" to Mr Kony "despite the International Criminal Court (ICC) indictments if he responds positively to the talks with the government in Juba, southern Sudan and abandons terrorism," Museveni's office said in a statement.
Delegates from both sides are currently in Juba preparing for peace talks to be mediated by the semi-autonomous government of southern Sudan aimed at ending more than two decades of fighting in northern Uganda and southern Sudan. Several attempts to broker an end to the notorious insurgency have failed in the past and war crimes indictments issued last year by the ICC against the elusive LRA supremo and four top lieutenants had initially cast doubt over the latest effort.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2006 00:00 ||
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Mexico's leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had an early, narrow lead over his conservative rival on Wednesday in a recount of a contested election. Results on display at the Federal Electoral Institute showed Lopez Obrador had 37.05 percent of the vote with results in from 36.6 percent of polling stations. Ruling party candidate Felipe Calderon was second with 34.38 percent. It was too soon to say whether the trend would hold.
No, it's not. Rooters knows full well that Calderon has won, they're just trying to "Keep Hope Alive" and give Obrador's thugs the excuse to riot.
Preliminary results earlier this week from Sunday's election gave Calderon a lead of about 0.6 percentage points over Lopez Obrador.
WASHINGTON - A wide-ranging report on U.S. policies during Cuba's possible transition to democracy was officially presented to President Bush at a meeting Wednesday of the White House's National Security Council. The report by the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, co-chaired by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the Cuban-American Secretary of Commerce, Carlos Gutierrez, makes recommendations to hasten the end of the island's communist government and assist the transition. Announcing the report's presentation to Bush, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said ``a lot of the thinking is, what do you do in a post-Castro era?''
Open bids for major league baseball expansion team in Havana?
Officials say the text of the report will not be made public today.
So the NYT will have it tomorrow?
The report, put together by 17 federal departments and agencies, revises and often proposes new directions in U.S. policy toward Cuba. An early draft obtained last week by The Miami Herald included recommendations to create an $80 million fund to support democracy on the island, launch a diplomatic initiative to undermine Venezuela's backing of Castro and tighten the enforcement of the economic embargo against Cuba. However, officials cautioned that the final version of the report, which includes a classified annex, could change before it landed on Bush's hands.
Bush accepted most of the recommendations made by the Commission in an earlier report, which tightened travel and other sanctions against the island.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/05/2006 13:56 ||
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With a population over 11 million, an $80 million fund to support democracy comes to about $7 per Cuban.
#2
Bush accepted most of the recommendations made by the Commission in an earlier report, which tightened travel and other sanctions against the island.
Only problem is it is only the US that is restricted from travel to Cuba. South Africans vacation there and say the scuba diving is great.
#7
Open bids for major league baseball expansion team in Havana?
Umm, that would be the Florida Marlins, currently the team with the smallest payroll but biggest heart in all of Major League baseball. Too bad the South Florida fans take them for granted.
Felipe Calderón of the National Action Party hasn't any doubt that he won Sunday's presidential election, and he says that his adversary, Albert Arnold Gore Jr. Andres Manuel López Obrador of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), knows it, too. Mr. Calderón's numbers jibe with those of Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) and it seems almost certain that he won. But as we go to press, an official announcement has not yet been made. A preliminary ruling is scheduled for today, with the official decision to come on Friday. And even then the country may be in for weeks of the Mexican equivalent of challenges to hanging chads.
The big victory in this race goes to the IFE in carrying out a spectacularly clean, transparent and well-organized election. If institutions matter to development, as Nobel laureate Douglass North contends, then Mexico is well on the way to progress. Mr. Calderón echoed the sentiments of millions of Mexicans when he told me yesterday that watching the electoral process made him "proud to be a Mexican." Mexico's next test will be how it stands up to Mr. López Obrador's threat to call street protests if the IFE decision goes against him.
The race was every bit as tight as pollsters had predicted. And by Monday morning when it began to appear that Mr. López Obrador had secured only second place, Mexicans were treated, on national television, to a flash of anger that revealed the trademark intolerance that has made him such a polarizing figure: The red- faced candidate gripped the podium in frustration, pledging to exhaust every available legal channel. His head shook uncontrollably as he demanded that the country "respect" his "triumph." Yesterday, his senior aides told Reuters that his supporters would take to the streets if the election authorities don't go his way.
The problem for Mr. López Obrador is that in order to prevail, he has to do more than convince Mexicans that Mr. Calderón is a thieving opponent who managed a massive conspiracy against the will of the people. He also has to portray the IFE and the thousands of citizen volunteers--who on Sunday put on a clinic for the rest of the world on how to run a transparent and orderly election--as enemies of the Mexican people. That won't be easy, and public opinion is fast turning against him.
Mr. López Obrador now claims that there are three million "lost" votes, and that he senses all kinds of "irregularities," none of which are backed up with evidence. While all the votes are not yet in the official tallies because of a technicality in reporting, the Calderón team remains confident that they are accounted for in the totals that all parties now have, and that the outcome will not change.
Mr. Calderón, for his part, is reaching out to his political competition and looking presidential and civil. In a clear reference to the López Obrador campaign, he told me on Tuesday that Mexicans sent a message at the polls that they want a tolerant, pluralistic society, not one of "hatred." This "is the hour of reconciliation and unity." He is already talking about a coalition government that will reach across the aisle to get things done, and has noted that the way in which Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has worked across parties lines has been instructive to him.
In the past 48 hours, Mexico has watched two distinct management styles unfold. Indeed, it is not unreasonable to conclude that the very reason that Mr. Calderón seems set to take the office of president is precisely because Mexicans feared the López Obrador they are now witnessing.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/05/2006 06:58 ||
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oh, I see. It wasn't because Calderon was conservative. No, no, certainly not! It's because Obrador was crazy. That's the ticket!
#2
2b: this is edited down considerably from the original. As I read the full text, I don't think O'Grady is minimizing the fact that Calderon is a conservative; her newspaper, the WSJ, has not been shy about backing him just because he's conservative.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/05/2006 8:37 Comments ||
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MEXICO'S ruling party on Tuesday rejected claims that three million ballots from the presidential election were missing, and insisted that its candidate, Felipe Calderon, had won the vote. "The three million votes are not missing," said German Martinez Cesares, the electoral representative of the National Action Party (PAN), adding that the ballots were set aside for further consideration because of alleged "inconsistencies."
He insisted that double-checking questionable files was a normal process which Mr Calderon's leftist rival had blown out of proportion. He said that, in any case, the verification process that starts on Wednesday would demonstrate that "Calderon's advantage is irreversible" and that the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) "must declare Calderon president-elect."
IFE has until Sunday to complete the process, but leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who claimed three million votes were unaccounted for, said he might take the issue to the Federal Electoral Tribunal (Trife), the final arbiter of electoral disputes. Trife has until September 6 to render its final verdict, which was a mere formality in the past two elections held since the tribunal was created.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2006 00:00 ||
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They're in Chicago, along with about a million of your undocumented citizens.
#2
And Cincinnati. I was just told today that the majority of children in the Enlish as a Second Language program in my outer suburban school district are Spanish speakers (legality apparently not known, but our county sheriff is openly fighting the illegal problem here).
US President George W. Bush today said the failure of a North Korean missile test did not lessen his worries - while the UN was divided on how to respond.
As international outrage continued over Pyongyang's actions, the UN Security Council held emergency talks overnight.
Members were united in deploring North Korea's missile launches, but while Japan's UN ambassador Kenzo Oshima pushed for a swift and strongly worded resolution, Russia and China urged a more cautious approach.
Separately, the US said China should be very firm with North Korea over the missile tests, but said the shockwaves from the launches fell well short of a World War III scenario.
Mr Bush said yesterday's failure of a issile thought capable of hitting US territory did not lessen his concerns about Pyongyang's weapons programmes.
The Taepodong 2 "didn't stay up very long, it tumbled into the sea, which doesn't, frankly, diminish my desire to solve this problem", he said today in his first public remarks after North Korea fired seven missiles.
South Korea put its military on high alert and condemned the move, which it said threatened regional stability.
Japan denounced the launches as a "grave problem", put its troops and police on a higher state of alert and unleashed a package of sanctions.
White House and State Department officials stressed the seriousness of the situation, but downplayed suggestions of a full-scale global diplomatic crisis and again ruled out direct talks with Pyongyang.
"There are attempts to try to describe this almost in breathless World War III terms. This is not such a situation," said White House spokesman Tony Snow.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, meanwhile, warned Pyongyang had "miscalculated" if it thought the tests would divide Washington and its Asian allies.
"There has been a very strong response to their actions. So whatever the motivations, whatever they thought they were doing, they have gotten a strong reaction from the international community."
Ms Rice did not specify what steps Washington might be considering to punish Pyongyang's actions.
But she added: "Of course the international community does have at its disposal a number of tools to make it more difficult for North Korea to engage in this kind of brinksmanship."
Washington's envoy to talks on the North Korea nuclear crisis, Christopher Hill, signalled the flavour of US diplomacy by warning in an interview with CNN International television that Beijing, host of stalled six-nation talks on North Korea, must now play a crucial role.
"We need China to be very, very firm with their neighbours and frankly with their long-term allies the North Koreans, on what is acceptable behaviour and what is not acceptable behaviour," said Mr Hill, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs.
At the UN, Japan's ambassador Kenzo Oshima said: "We hope that the response of the (security) council will be swift, strong and resolute."
US ambassador to the UN John Bolton said: "By the tenor of the statements of all of the council members, I think there is support for sending a clear signal to Pyongyang."
The international response was not limited to politicians and diplomats, with investors on both sides of the Atlantic spooked by the tests, according to analysts.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Nasdaq index, Europe's main national stock markets and the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares all fell.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said the tests would bring no positive results for North Korea but also said it was necessary to maintain dialogue.
"We always need to leave room for dialogue. Nothing can be solved without dialogue."
Suh Choo-Suk, South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun's security policy advisor, said: "North Korea must stop provocative activity, immediately return to six-party talks and join international efforts for nuclear non-proliferation."
South Korea also threatened to stop shipments of rice and other humanitarian aid to its neighbour, and put its military on high alert.
China, considered to exert the greatest influence on North Korea, issued a subdued reaction calling on "relevant sides" to "remain calm and exercise restraint".
"We are seriously concerned about the incident that has already happened," Beijing's foreign ministry said in a statement on its website.
The latest missile launches come during an international standoff over the Communist state's nuclear program. The North has boycotted six-party disarmament talks since November after Washington imposed financial sanctions.
Russia also condemned the tests, saying they undermined international efforts to ease nuclear tension on the Korean peninsula.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ms Rice discussed the matter by telephone, the government in Moscow said.
"The Russian side expressed its concern about such actions running counter to all the efforts of the international community," it said.
Mr Lavrov also spoke on the topic by telephone to Taro Aso and Ban Ki-Moon, foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea respectively.
Australia, one of the few nations to have diplomatic ties with North Korea, summoned its ambassador to protest the action and urged China to exert its influence on the rogue state.
In a first comment from North Korea, foreign ministry official Ri Pyong Dok reportedly said the launches were an issue of national sovereignty.
"We will not be restricted by any agreement regarding this issue," he told visiting Japanese journalists, Japan's Kyodo News said.
Spain and Greece have arrested 350 Pakistanis on charges of illegal entry and the FIA has sent two special teams to these countries to investigate. Sources said on Tuesday that Spain and Greece had told the Pakistani government about the arrests, of which 200 took place in Spain and 150 in Greece. The FIA has sent Deputy Director Dr Mujeeb to Greece and Assistant Director Sajid Ikram to Spain to investigate the matter, sources said, adding that FIA Additional Director General Tariq Khosa, who is currently in France, would monitor the efforts of the two officials.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2006 00:28 ||
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Expel them. Give them a ride home. Tell them they'll have to use their magic carpets to flost down, since the plane will be making the turn around at flight level 32.
CAIRO - The European Union (EU) has named its first ambassador to the Arab League to facilitate its surrender boost cooperation between the organizations, the two sides said on Tuesday.
Klaus Ebermann, currently head of the European Commission delegation in Egypt, has been appointed ambassador and made the official responsible for relations with the Arab League, the European Comission said. With todays development, the European Commission and Arab League will reinvigorate and broaden the scope of their collaboration by establishing a larger platform to identify and implement new areas of cooperation, it said.
The new cooperative venture will be named, 'Eurabia'.
Relations between the Cairo-based Arab League and the European Commission were formalized in 1984. The League is an observer in the Barcelona process, a Euro-Mediterranean partnership, while the European Commission has participated in two Arab summits in 2005 and 2006.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/05/2006 00:00 ||
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It should make the payment of tribute to the Arab League much smoother.
#5
Wait a minute! Few Arab speakers identify themselves a "Arabs." The Euros are condoning cultural genocide by recognizing what is a Saudi organ of aggression.
By the way, am I the only one here who is aware that until American University (Beirut) promoted an Arabic uniformist program throughout proto-Arabia, the average Arabic speaker could only communicate with about one in five of nominal "Arabs"? Social engineering is a double edged sword.
#6
Wait a minute! Few Arab speakers identify themselves a "Arabs." The Euros are condoning cultural genocide by recognizing what is a Saudi organ of aggression.
Totally exact, this latest ongoing "3rd jihad" is accompanied by an arabization of non-arab muslim cultures as well, with the help of the West, which indeed amounts to a cultural genocide. The only globalization going on is not the western one...
This is not new, during french colonization of the area that would later became Algeria, arab names and language were enforced on the berbers IIUC (JFM will be much more knowledgeable about this), a trend which has only been strenghtened by the national-islamists ruling the country since independence.
I remember a very moving RB article by a somalui writer about how somali culture was slowly erased by arab customs and arab islam imported from the Gulf, and I also read here a related article on the arabisation of Malaysia.
This is madness, as we're de facto enabling our ennemies. But, then again, acknowledging the supremacy of arab culture is at the heart of the eurabian process and its equivalent in the anglosaxon world.
Remember, arabs have one HUGE quality : they've got plenty of petrodollars...
#9
I did not realize that, Anginens Threreng8133 -- thanks! Although Mr. Wife did mention once that his Moroccan colleagues had to speak to his Arabic-speaking colleagues in French or English, because although they could read Arabic, they could not speak it in a way understandable to the Egyptians. I wonder if it's similar to the various Western languages all using the Latin alphabet?
#3
The main proposal was for airlines to be forced to buy emissions permits within a separate trading scheme dedicated to aviation, with a specific cap on the amount of CO2. BA had wanted to be allowed virtually unlimited growth by being able to buy cheap surplus permits from other industries.
The existing Carbon Credits scheme failed cos governments gave out too many. Solution - set up a new Carbon Credits scheme.
#4
Naw, the Greens want them to ride nice clean electric trains that are powered by, umm, windmills or something.
Reminds me of a book ad I saw the other day. The book was decrying the demise of electric cars. Why there were just oodles of them in 1998, and now they're all gone. Must be a plot or something. No sunshine, after all those lead acid batteries started to die and the owners saw the replacement bill, they quietly drove their electric cars to the junk yard one night and got in line to buy a hybrid. Of course, the hybrids will have exactly the same problem in three or four years, though not to the same extent as the electrics. Plus municipal waster managers can't be overjoyed to get all of that lead and sulfuric acid in the waste stream.
We need to start a list of Green "successes":
• We had over a hundred years of clean natural gas to heat our houses thirty years ago. Now we have less than ten years of reserves in this country and are importing massive amounts. Why? Because the damn enviro-nazis blocked the contsruction of nuke and coal plants and forced natural gas turbines and CNG busses and taxis down our throats. We're not even talking about serious economics here, just consumption rates. Boneheads.
• After their big "success" in eliminating lead from all of those harmful circuit boards, their brain-dead policy is forcing all of that lead back into the wastestream in lead acid batteries for hybrids. Dumbasses.
• They got rid of all of those pesky fluoro-carbons and saved the ozone layer. (It's highly debatable whether the ozone layer needed saving. I've never seen a study showing increases in UV exposure over time during the whole ozone "crisis.") The results: seven dead astronauts, many American businesses destroyed (the latest -- the number one maker of surfboard blanks in the world), and less effiecient heat pumps, that use, holy crap, more electricity. Idiots.
#8
Well, if the European Parliament were truly concerned abut greenhouse gasses, they would shut down the airline industry completely. That would end all CO2 emissions from airlines. Next they could outlaw cars, trucks, etc. After that they could outlaw heating and cooling.
While it is true that implementation of these measures would result in the death through starvation, freezing and so on of millions, it would be a small price to pay for helping out with global warming climate change.
#10
If they can't afford to fly they'll vacation in Europe and thus help the European economy. It'll kill the European airlines but help the economies.
#11
If they can't afford to fly they'll vacation in Europe and thus help the European economy.
Not that much. The Euros already vacation mostly in Europe. Air travel allows Norweigans and Swedes to fly to Majorca or the Canary Islands, or the Costa Brava in Spain. The Germans fly to Greece, Albania, or Turkey. The Italians go north or stay at home. The Brits go EVERYWHERE.
The big increase in tourist dollars come from North America - primarily Canada and the US. Without those dollars, many tourist places will be heavily pinched. The EU is cutting its own throat, like it does most of the time. The US needs to greatly reduce its "footprint" in Western Europe and tell the EU it needs to start building its own defenses, because we're pulling out. Let them crumble from within.
I think all of Europe is beginning to understand that islamic immigrants won't solve their problems. Europe needs people trained in high-tech fields, and lots of them. The muzzies only want to learn the koran. In 20 years, the level of technology in Europe will begin to decline, then accelerate rapidly as the aging, trained, educated workforce is replaced by people who can hardly read and write.
Europe is dying, and it's a suicide.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/05/2006 17:14 Comments ||
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There is a book The Strategy of Technology, by Steven Possony & Jerry Pournelle, which claims that the underlying reason for environmental regulation is resentment by the upper classes of the fact that technology gives "the herd" options that were previously the sole reserve of said upper classes. I used to think of this explanation as way too fanciful.
#13
What happens to the taxes collected? Are they put to some use intended to solve the 'problem' or are they just 'punishment' intended to drive the market towards cleaner technology and less consumption?
To win the House or pick up a significant number of seats in both chambers of Congress, Democrats will have to battle traditional allies in the labor and environmental community to win targeted races. At least seven of the most vulnerable House GOP incumbents have been endorsed by unions, environmental activists or other Democratic-leaning advocacy groups. So have at least three of the most vulnerable Senate Republicans. Organized labor has also poured tens of thousands of dollars into the campaign accounts of highly vulnerable Republicans, in several instances surpassing the amount given to Democratic challengers.
Rep. George Miller (Calif.), ranking Democrat on the Education and the Workforce Committee, has disclosed that at least one of his House colleagues has said that, if Democrats fail to capture the House, labor will be partly to blame. Miller, a lawmaker close to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), shared that anecdote with labor officials, according to a union lobbyist, perhaps sending a subtle message of displeasure that Democrats know labor is hedging its bets.
Rep. John Sweeney (R), the Democrats No. 1 target in New York, has won the endorsement of the local affiliate of the Laborers International Union of North America and of the Albany affiliate of the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, Sweeneys campaign says. Union political action committees had given Sweeneys campaign $105,000 by the end of March, more than he had received from any other special interest. He received $10,000 contributions from the Laborers Union, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the International Association of Fire Fighters, according to politicalmoneyline.com, a website that tracks fundraising.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2006 00:00 ||
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As Dr. Dean would say: "Is it sometime I said?"
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/05/2006 0:54 Comments ||
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if Democrats fail to capture the House, labor will be partly to blame.
...Yeah, couldn't possibly be anything else.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
07/05/2006 7:23 Comments ||
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And if I recall correctly, union is also back Lieberman in CT instead of the Kos Kiddie Millionaire Kommie who though guilt ridden by his money has no problem running a non-union shop.
Space shuttle Discovery lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at the scheduled time 2:38 p.m. (1838 GMT) on Independence Day to become the second space flight after the Columbia disaster in 2003. The shuttle, carrying seven crew members, soared into partly cloudy Florida skies in a thunderous blast of smoke and fire. Two minutes after launch, Discovery's solid rocket boosters cleanly separated from the shuttle. This is the 18th U.S. flight to the International Space Station and the 32nd flight for Space Shuttle Discovery, and also the first manned launch by the United States on the nation's birthday, just like "a nice fireworks display" for America.
NKor has a double helping of facial egg today: their fearsome ICBM launch flopped in front of the entire world and after the usual hair-raising threats and chest-thumpings. We launched the shuttle for the umpteenth time. We could go back to the moon if we wanted to. We're a superpower and they're not even also-rans.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
If the Nkors had a first stage malfunction ( we didn't mess with it did we ? 50 sec into 1st stage boost is ideal time) too damn bad it didn't detonate on the pad and blow the entire complex to smithereens.
#1
Lay managed to kill electric deregulation, almost single-handly, with unbridled greed. Under his leadership, Enron set the standard for win/lose negotiating and overly-aggressive business practices. Oh, and he was a crook too.
#3
"The Lays have a very large family with whom they need to communicate, and out of respect for the family we will release further details at a later time."
#6
As arrogant, wealthy, crooked, and unable to accept blame as that SOB is, some part of me can't stop thinking that he is faking this and that he is strapped to the gurney in a plastic surgeon's office in the Cayman's as we speak.
#7
betcha there's a thread on DU accusing KKKarl Rove of having Lay offed to distract attention from Chimpy McHaliburton's falling approval ratings/the pending Rove indictment/North Korea/the quagmire in Iraq/Afghanistan/New Orleans/Cindy Sheehan's hunger strike/Mexico/something, I don't know what, I'll think of it, just give me a sec.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/05/2006 15:05 Comments ||
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#8
You haven't seen slashdot yet, have you?
Posted by: Phil ||
07/05/2006 16:38 Comments ||
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#9
He should still have to do his time in prison in the same cell as Skilling. And a bunch of others who slid under the radar.
Posted by: grb ||
07/05/2006 16:44 Comments ||
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Of course, they all seem to have forgotten about Lay's golfing jaunts with Clinton, or how Robert Rubin tried to delay further investigation into Enron...
Some of the comments re: the California power crisis on that thread also sound rather dense, if you ask me.
Posted by: Phil ||
07/05/2006 16:49 Comments ||
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#11
some part of me can't stop thinking that he is faking this and that he is strapped to the gurney in a plastic surgeon's office in the Cayman's as we speak.
ahhhhhh. You've spoiled the moment. That would not have crossed my mind, but now that you mention it...
#14
I'll tell ya, if I was juggling as many conspiracies as Bush, my friggin head would explode. Even with The Evil Karl Rove around, how does he keep track of them all?
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
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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
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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.
Ivory Coast security forces barred rebel chiefs from a meeting with President 
UGANDAN President 
CAIRO - The European Union (EU) has named its first ambassador to the Arab League to 
To win the House or pick up a significant number of seats in both chambers of Congress, Democrats will have to battle traditional allies in the labor and environmental community to win targeted races. At least seven of the most vulnerable House GOP incumbents have been endorsed by unions, environmental activists or other Democratic-leaning advocacy groups. So have at least three of the most vulnerable Senate Republicans. Organized labor has also poured tens of thousands of dollars into the campaign accounts of highly vulnerable Republicans, in several instances surpassing the amount given to Democratic challengers.
Space shuttle Discovery lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at the scheduled time 2:38 p.m. (1838 GMT) on Independence Day to become the second space flight after the Columbia disaster in 2003. The shuttle, carrying seven crew members, soared into partly cloudy Florida skies in a thunderous blast of smoke and fire. Two minutes after launch, Discovery's solid rocket boosters cleanly separated from the shuttle. This is the 18th U.S. flight to the International Space Station and the 32nd flight for Space Shuttle Discovery, and also the first manned launch by the United States on the nation's birthday, just like "a nice fireworks display" for America. 
Bush had him killed to preserve their secret arrangements.
