BRUSSELS: As France presses ahead with building more next-generation nuclear reactors, new evidence emerged Friday to suggest that industry and governments may be unprepared to handle the increasingly toxic waste that will result.Okay...it doesn't take a rocket scientist to solve this problem...
WASHINGTON - Democratic strategists are appealing for help from President Barack Obama's massive grassroots network, created during the presidential campaign, as they try to build support for the president's economic stimulus package.Parties and "stimulus packages" don't mix...
The strategists on Friday called on supporters to host ``economic recovery house meetings" next weekend, marking the first call to action for the network in support of the White House policy agenda.
The two sides of Capitol Hill appear to be engaging in a bidding war to see who can put more money toward the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases in its version of the economic stimulus bill.Aha...the whole STD thing is starting to make sense. Recovery parties...stimulus packages...
The House included $335 million in its package. But the Senate, not to be outdone, provided $400 million in STD spending in its bill.
1. Owned shotgun used to murder Judge Harold HaleyWhat a wonderful example and wealth of information she is for those young thirsting minds. And...hundreds of those minds showed up for a healthy dose of..."The Man is keeping me down."
2. Made the FBI's Ten most wanted list (one of the first three women to do so).
3. Current member of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism.
4. Lobbies for prison abolition.
5. Relocated to Cuba with just like nitwit racists Huey Newton and Stokely Carmichael.
6. Acted as close ally to Jim Jones' People's Temple (Bonus: Flavoraid was grape & cyanide-laced).
7. Davis is currently a graduate studies Professor of History of Consciousness at the University of California and Presidential Chair at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
The vestiges of slavery, colonization and exploitation remain rife throughout America, as is evidenced by the over-representation of minorities in prison, Davis said. The prison population, now estimated to be one in 100 adult Americans, only contributes to the oppression of minorities, she said.Yes...of course. I suppose that committing a crime is not important to the issue. We all know that the police drive around looking for a minority to throw in prison for absolutely no reason. The hearings, trials, and evidence is avoided, because it creates paperwork...and the environment is damaged by all the paper we harvest from defenseless trees.
"That means a black man in this state is 10 times more likely to be discovered behind bars," she said.Define "over-represented."
Minorities are often over-represented in prison because police surveillance in their communities is higher, Davis said.
Around the world, the same thing is happening as people who were once unashamedly beat down continue to live below others both socially and economically. While blacks and other minorities are over-represented in American prisons, in Australia, it is aborigines, she said.
But now, with a black President in office, America may finally have the momentum to disassemble what she called the "prison industrial complex," one where incarceration is privatized and profited from.Yeah...good thing we have a black President...(eye roll)...so that every cockroach socialist moron now feels it is safe to come out into the light and spew their nonsensical garbage. And, yes...justice is community building...not community destroying. Why not lay into those minorities that are suddenly appearing out of nowhere behind bars about destroying your and my community?
"This is the moment to think about the different modes of justice," she sai(sic). "Justice that is compassionate, justice that is community building, not community destroying."
Davis was once a radical and member of the Black Panthers, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Communist party. She gained notoriety for a headline-making 1972 trial in California, where she was acquitted of murder and kidnapping charges.Here's another new word for your collection...say it three times and it's yours...
Since then, she has become a respected university professor and does extensive research on prisons and minorities.
We crash-landed in the Hudson River - but all we got were these lousy upgrades!In the wonderful State of NY, you really don't even need standing to file a Summons & Complaint. Of course, it could be dismissed out of hand on Summary Judgment just as easily.
US Airways sent a raft of "frigid" letters to the 150 passengers of miracle Flight 1549 (above) saying their death-defying ordeal has earned them top customer status - but for just one year, The Post has learned.
Some who were on the plane - brought down by a flock of geese after takeoff from La Guardia Airport on Jan. 15 - said the temporary tease of first-class perks is for the birds.
"I think if you survive a plane crash, being upgraded permanently is a good gesture too," said Fred Berretta, 41, of Charlotte, NC, where the Airbus A320 was headed.
CHILIBRE, Panama: The land where Marta Ortega de Wing raised hundreds of pigs until 10 years ago is being overtaken by galloping jungle - palms, lizards and ants.Gosh...who would have guessed that the zealot rainforest-type environmentalist was full of mangos? Now...let's see...how do I purchase a couple hundred hectares of this forest and charge Exxon retro-actively for carbon credits?
Instead of farming, she now shops at the supermarket, and her grown children and grandchildren live in places like Panama City and New York.
Here, and in other tropical countries around the world, small holdings like Ortega de Wing's - and much larger swaths of farmland - are reverting back to nature, as people abandon their land and move to the cities in search of better livings.
These new "secondary" forests are emerging in Latin America, Asia and other tropical regions at such a fast pace that the trend has set off a serious debate about whether saving primeval rain forest - an iconic environmental cause - may be less urgent than once thought. By one estimate, for every half a hectare of rain forest cut down each year, more than 20 hectares, or 50 acres, of new forest are growing in the tropics on land that was once farmed, logged or ravaged by natural disaster.
"There is far more forest here than there was 30 years ago," said Ortega de Wing, 64, who remembers fields of mango trees and banana plants.
DAVOS, Switzerland: The leaders of the former bastions of the Communist bloc took the stage here on Wednesday to rebuke their capitalist brothers for dragging the world into crisis but also to assure them that, working together, they can rapidly restore the global economy to health.Meanwhile…those who study the cause realize that capitalism was circumvented by the meddling of government into private industry forcing sub-prime loans to high risk borrowers. They did so by applying and enforcing legislation, which empowered partisan organizations to litigate a further plunge into the abyss. In short…capitalism was submarined by “communist” idiosyncratic tendencies.
When it comes to winter weather, President Obama just joked, “folks in Washington don’t seem to be able to handle things.”Okay...all together now...
They need, he added, some “flinty Chicago toughness.”
The President, joking with reporters before a meeting he’s having right now with business leaders at the White House, said he was amazed this morning to hear that his daughters’ school (the private Sidwell Friends) is closed today because of icy streets and sidewalks in the nation’s capital.
I'm Mister White Christmas, I'm Mister Snow. I'm Mister Icicle, I'm Mister Ten Below. Friends call me Snow Miser, whatever I touch... turns to snow in my clutch...I'm too much!Big finish....let'r rip...
I never want to know a day that's over forty degrees! I'd rather have it thirty, twenty, ten, five, and let it freeze!That's right...Al Gore is in Washington today...and the Gore Effect is full throttle.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Vice President Al Gore urged lawmakers Wednesday not to let the economic crisis get in the way of addressing global warming.Stop messing with our kids' education, Al.
Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Nobel Peace Prize winner said Congress should pass President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package as a first step to bringing greenhouse gases under control.
But Gore also pressed for "decisive action" on a bill to cap heat-trapping gases, saying that it is needed for the U.S. to take a leading role in negotiations on a new international climate treaty later this year.
TEHRAN: A day after President Barack Obama struck a conciliatory tone toward Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged Washington on Wednesday to apologize for its actions toward his country for the past 60 years and said it was unclear whether the new U.S. administration was merely shifting tactics or wanted real change.I'm sorry:
Ahmadinejad also questioned the United States deployment of forces in many places around the world, apparently demanding that the forces be withdrawn. "Who has asked them to come and interfere in the affairs of nations?" he asked, according to Reuters.Anyone recall that scene from "When Mars Attacks?" Rod Steiger's character (General Decker) is deep in the bunker with the president, and in walks the emmisary of the Martians. He promptly shoots Decker with a ray that shrinks him to the size of an animated peanut. General Decker is jumping up and down screaming the entire time as his voice gets progressively more puny and high pitched. He remained defiant right up until the moment that a shoe tread squished him like a bug.
President Barack Obama’s aunt, who has been in this country illegally for at least five years, will have another chance to fight the years-long effort to deport her during an immigration hearing in Boston in April.My pointy little head inquires why the Immigration Judge required the issuance of a motion for Stay of removal, and then a motion to reopen the case. The plaintiff is already in violation of a Court issued order. The fact that the plaintiff was knowingly down in Washington DC with her lawyer celebrating the inauguration is nearly perverted flauting of criminal activity.
Zeituni Onyango, 56, the half-sister of Obama’s late father, was ordered to leave the country back in 2004, but she never left. Instead, she remained here illegally and made a quiet life for herself in two different South Boston housing projects while her nephew rose to national prominence.
Onyango, a native Kenyan, is reportedly living in the Cleveland area, having left Boston amid intense media attention.
Up until late last year, she had been living in a state-funded unit on Flaherty Way. Before that, from 2003 to 2007, she lived in the federally-funded Old Colony Development in South Boston.
Janet Napolitano, President-elect Barack Obama's nominee to head the Department of Homeland Security, vowed yesterday at her Senate confirmation hearing to shift the focus of U.S. immigration enforcement from illegal workers to the prosecution of employers who hire those workers, signaling a clear break with the outgoing Bush administration.Wait...WHAT!? At this rate...Zeituni Onyango will end up with a choice of running the Housing and Urban Development Office (HUD)...or US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Among other things, the appointees will have to deal with bruised feelings among many Democrats over the coup Waxman mounted last November to wrest the gavel of the Energy and Commerce Committee from its longtime leader, Representative John Dingell, Democrat of Michigan and a longtime champion of the auto industry and other Midwest manufacturers.Yeah...your role will be to sit down and shut up. Ok, Sherman...to the Wayback Machine.
"For us, it's still a big disappointment," said Senator Debbie Stabenow, Democrat of Michigan, referring to the unseating of Dingell, who was pursuing a more moderate climate proposal than those advocated by Boxer and Waxman.
Stabenow is a leader of the so-called Gang of 10, representing the coal-dependent states in the middle of the country; the group was formed after the failure of a Senate global warming bill pushed by Boxer last June. The members' goal is to assure that their concerns are met in any future legislation.
"We will play an important role in the final bill," Stabenow said.
This still consists of Obama sending “price signals” that discourage the use of coal. He does say that getting rid of coal altogether is an illusion, but he’s obviously opposed to expanding its use or even keeping it at current levels. He wants to heavily fine coal operators in order to get “billions” for R&D on alternatives, which will send the coal industry reeling and energy prices skyrocketing, as Obama himself pledges later in the same interview.How do ya like me now??? Cha-cha-cha...
High-flying Citigroup executives, trying desperately to hang on to their new, $50 million luxury jet, took heavy flak yesterday from the White House and Congress after The Post revealed how the beleaguerred bank is blowing taxpayers' rescue funds.Citigroup should have responded thusly:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's pledge to seek a worldwide ban on weapons in space marks a dramatic shift in U.S. policy while posing the tricky issue of defining whether a satellite can be a weapon.Crap!!!!
Moments after Obama's inauguration last week, the White House website was updated to include policy statements on a range of issues, including a pledge to restore U.S. leadership on space issues and seek a worldwide ban on weapons that interfere with military and commercial satellites.
THIS JUST IN: In a surprise move today, the outspoken and controversial Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, stated that he’d be happy to take the inmates of Gitmo and provide for them “appropriate and hospitable accommodations.” When questioned in a press conference what those ‘appropriate’ accommodations would entail, the spirited Sheriff was quoted as saying, “Oh, you’ll find out. Our recidivism rate here is nearly zero. For some reason inmates, when released, are not too keen on coming back.”If only it were true. Sherrif Joe Arpaio would be a good influence on the Jihadist mentality. Gary Graham has a little fun at Andy Breitbart's Big Hollywood.
With the increasing consolidation of their power, the Taliban have taken a sizable bite out of the nation. And they are enforcing a strict interpretation of Islam with cruelty, bringing public beheadings, assassinations, social and cultural repression and persecution of women to what was once an independent, relatively secular region, dotted with ski resorts and fruit orchards and known for its dancing girls.This is in the Swat Valley of Pakistan. Afghanistan has become more inhospitable to the Taliban (more so than the lands overseen by the divided and inept government of current Pakistan).
Last year, 70 police officers were beheaded, shot or otherwise slain in Swat, and 150 were wounded, said Malik Naveed Khan, the police inspector general for North-West Frontier Province.
The police have become so afraid that many officers have put advertisements in newspapers renouncing their jobs so the Taliban will not kill them.
"The crux of the problem is the government appears divided about what to do," said Mahmood Shah, a retired Pakistani Army brigadier who until 2006 was in charge of security in the western tribal areas.The problem seems to be that the military doesn't believe in the cause, and is not willing to stick their heads up out their bases. I tend to believe it goes deeper, and there is an absolute refusal to see the Taliban as the enemy to some exent. The result is an occasional US spy drone firing missiles along the Pakistani border as Pakistani officials and military leaders rush to the scene to count "civilians." In the blink of an eye, stringers for the anti-American press are only too willing to carry the water.
"This disconnect among the political leadership has emboldened the militants."
From 2,000 to 4,000 Taliban fighters now roam the Swat Valley, according to interviews with a half-dozen senior Pakistani government, military and political officials involved in the fight. By contrast, the Pakistani military has four brigades with 12,000 to 15,000 men in Swat, officials say.
But the soldiers largely stay inside their camps, unwilling to patrol or exert any large presence that might provoke - or discourage - the militants, Swat residents and political leaders say. The military also has not raided a small village that locals say is widely known as the Taliban's headquarters in Swat.
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama planned to direct federal regulators Monday to move swiftly on an application by California and 13 other states to set strict automobile emission and fuel efficiency standards, two administration officials said.Someone is not paying attention to the constituency. The Pew Research Center places "Global Warming" at #20 on the list of priorities for the "Great Unwashed" (see graph above). The Obama Administration has placed it much higher in reflection of his deeds above outlined.
The directive makes good on an Obama campaign pledge and signifies a sharp reversal of Bush administration policy. Granting California and the other states the right to regulate tailpipe emissions would be one of the most emphatic actions Obama could take to quickly put his stamp on environmental policy. Obama stops short of ordering the agencies to reverse the Bush administration policy, but they are widely expected to do so.
Once they act, automobile manufacturers will quickly have to retool to begin producing and selling cars and trucks that get higher mileage than the national standard, and on a faster phase-in schedule. The auto companies have lobbied hard against the regulations and challenged them in court.
The percentage of Americans who think global warming is just another planetary trend has increased, though Democrats and more likely than Republicans to blame human activity for environmental change a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds.Someone forgot to stick their finger up in the air to see which way the climate was blowing...
Forty-four percent of voters polled said global warming is the result of long-term planetary trends, according to the survey. In 2006, 35 percent agreed.
The percentage of voters who blame global warming on human activity fell to 41 percent from 46 percent. Seven percent blame other reasons and 9 percent were unsure, the survey found.
Former state Senator Dianne Wilkerson said she routinely accepted money over the last decade from friends and political supporters - upwards of $70,000, some of it cash in unmarked envelopes - without ever reporting it on her campaign reports or tax returns.Now the Boston Globe seems to have misplaced the word "DEMOCRAT." No worries...I'm here to help.
Wilkerson disclosed her acceptance of the cash and checks in a recent interview with the Globe, saying she took individual financial contributions of up to $10,000 to help pay off mortgage and federal tax debts. The contributions, she said, were approved by the state Ethics Commission, vetted by lawyers, and within state and federal laws.
The interview was the first Wilkerson has given since her arrest in October on federal bribery charges, an arrest that was accompanied by stunning FBI surveillance pictures of Wilkerson allegedly accepting wads of cash from a cooperating witness who sought a liquor license for a Roxbury nightclub.
While she declined to discuss anything about the criminal charges, her description of the highly unusual personal fundraising effort provides a possible window into her planned defense.
Despite Wilkerson's assertion, one of the people who gave Wilkerson the full $10,000 gift was Arthur Winn, one of the developers of the controversial Columbus Center project in Boston that would span the Massachusetts Turnpike, according to two people who were told about the transactions. Wilkerson voted in favor of state funding for Columbus Center in 2005, according to legislative records, and also lobbied state officials to provide additional state assistance to the developers.Start working on the presidential pardon...DEMOCRAT Diane Wilkerson...you have a head start on the rest of the race hustlers.
WASHINGTON: The administration of President Barack Obama plans to move quickly to tighten the country's financial regulatory system.For example...let's keep politically ambitious community organizers from applying pressure on the banking industry to hand out sub-prime loans to those who have no business receiving them. While we're at it, let's avoid rewarding those individuals primarily responsible for such idiocy with powerful insider Washington positions in the current presidential administration. You know...just for starters...
Officials say they will make wide-ranging changes, including stricter rules for hedge funds, credit rating agencies and mortgage brokers, and greater oversight of the complex financial instruments that contributed to the economic crisis.
RAFAH, Gaza Strip: It was Friday, the Muslim day of rest, but the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt was a hive of activity. Men scraped sandy soil out of holes that had served as tunnels for smuggling, and were one of the main targets of Israel's assault.Stop the carnage!!! The Israelis are barbarians!!! The proportional firepower used by the Israelis was overkill!!!
Now, less than a week after it ended, Gazans were back, plunging deep underground with lamps to carry rocky loads of soil out on pulleys.
"Everybody's busy rebuilding now," said a manager of one digging team. "In a month, it will be back to normal."
The defiant pose seemed surprisingly brazen in light of recent events: Israel said smuggling tunnels were a prime concern, after Hamas rockets, in attacking the Gaza Strip, and it hit dozens of them in airstrikes during the war. But the tunnels are the principle livelihood for many people here, and as soon as the bombing stopped, they were right back in them with their shovels.
The tunnels do not address the more important question of reconstruction. Though the focus internationally has been on who will receive the money - the West does not want Hamas to get any - here in Rafah, a far more urgent question is whether the Israelis will let materials through official crossings. Tunnels, managers said, will not work.To summarize...Hamas (with the support of most of the Palestinian constituency in Gaza) lobs rockets continuously on Israeli border towns. Israel responds by taking out the origination of the mortars (continuously hid in residential as well as UN operated buildings), attempts to destroy the tunnels by which the armaments are being smuggled into Gaza, and make a concerted effort to neutralize those responsible for the decision making.
"Reconstruction now depends on the Israeli's good will," said Jabbar Qeshta, deputy mayor of Rafah, and a member of Hamas.
The municipality has three bulldozers and about 30 cement mixers, Qeshta said, but the most basic ingredient was missing.
"Tell them I want cement," he said.
Tree deaths, spurred by global warming, have more than doubled in older forests across Western states, federal scientists reported Thursday.OK...let's assume that "global warming" is actually occurring. Exercises in creativity are always a nice little break from reality...so come along, won't you?
Droughts and pests brought on by warmer temperatures have killed firs, hemlocks, pines and other large trees in particular over the past 30 years without allowing replacements to sprout, the study published in the journal Science finds.
"Very likely the mortality rate will continue to rise," says lead author Phillip van Mantgem of the U.S. Geologic Survey.
In 2007, the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found it "very likely" that average temperatures have increased more than 1 degree Fahrenheit over the past century and probably will rise 3 to 7 degrees in this one. In the American West, temperature increases have led to longer summers, drought and the survival of tree-killing beetles at higher elevations. These beetles are widespread in outbreaks reaching to Alaska.
Though some people blame inadequate thinning of older trees by state forest managers, the study makes a "convincing case" that drought and pests are responsible, says entomologist Kenneth Raffa of the University of Wisconsin in Madison.USA Today mentions the USDA Forest Service's position as "some people"...and then discounts it with a bug guy in Wisconsin. What they fail to mention is that the USDA Forest Service files hundreds of proposals each year with the GAO to thin growth and scrub. Over half are appealed. Over half of the appeals originate from Environmental groups. These are the same groups that push the "global warming" theory at every turn. In addition to the stalling (which allows the bark beetle a more fertile breeding ground such that outbreaks can occur) the taxpayers end up with a quarter Billion dollars in litigation invoices.
"Climate change is not just affecting the ice cover of the Arctic Ocean — it's closer to home," says climate scientist Raymond Bradley of the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, who was not part of the study. "Climate changes in mountain regions of the world are occurring at a much faster pace than has generally been recognized."Raymond S. Bradley...Raymond S. Bradley....who's dat?
Raymond S. Bradley, director of the Center for Climate Change, is one of many researchers affiliated with UMass Amherst who contributed to reports issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in the past year. The reports earned the panel the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, shared with environmentalist Al Gore.Bradley and Michael E. Mann presented a study back in 1999 on "global warming" that was thoroughly repudiated HERE. One of Al Gore's cheerleaders gets a shout-out from USA Today to push the agenda even though he has no connection to the basis of the article. That's how it works...enjoy the soda.
An angry sushi chef was accused of treating another motorist like a California roll, slicing him up on a Staten Island highway Wednesday morning, in a road rage incident caught on an NYPD highway patrol camera.
Both drivers pleaded not guilty to first-degree assault charges in Richmond County Criminal Court Thursday, where bail was set at $20,000 for the chef, Yao Zhou, 35, and a judge released Jack Zaiback, 23, with no bail. Both drivers are from Brooklyn.
Seven waiters at a Japanese restaurant in Paris were under arrest today after an armed robber was stabbed to death with a sushi knife after trying to steal their tips.They're out of control...call the "Sushi Police!!!"
The 22-year-old was brandishing a pistol when he raided Planet Sushi, in the upmarket 5th arrondissement, last night.
An accomplice, also 22, was with him, holding an electric stun gun.
So beware, America, home of the California roll. The Sushi Police are on their way.
A trial run of sorts was launched this summer in France, where secret inspectors selected by a panel of food specialists were dispatched to 80 restaurants in Paris that claimed to serve Japanese cuisine. Some establishments invited the scrutiny, while others were targeted with surprise checks. About one-third fell short of standards -- making them ineligible to display an official seal emblazoned with cherry blossoms in their windows or to be listed on a government-sponsored Web site of Japanese restaurants in Paris.
GENEVA – Former detainees, human rights advocates and government officials around the world welcomed President Barack Obama's decision to close the Guantanamo Bay detention centre, saying Thursday it helped restore their faith in the United States.Former detainees, human rights advocates and government officials around the world hardly represent, in my opinion, a substantive collection of intellectual prowess. I suppose, rather than harboring any ill will on the President I’ll start a pool here at the office.
The United Nations' torture investigator, Manfred Nowak, said news that Obama will order the prison closed, review military trials of terror suspects and end harsh interrogations was a sign of goodwill by the new American administration.
But he warned that shutting the prison will require difficult decisions and said freed inmates should be allowed to sue the United States if they were mistreated.Nice...our new President is actually encouraging civil suits that would, no doubt, be honored by the Federal Judges appointed by the bygone Clinton and Carter administrations. Once a plaintiff attorney...always a plaintiff attorney. I suppose this is his idea of a tax refund. As we've learned from the Presidents economic stimulus proposal...you don't really have to pay taxes to receive something back.
Warner Brothers Entertainment is the latest to cut staff, announcing 800 jobs would be lost, or 10 percent of its worldwide staff. NBC Universal and Viacom have already cut jobs, and industry watchers expect more job cuts to be announced by Walt Disney and Sony Pictures.They're just getting warmed up. Hollywood continues to force feed the public their political tripe. That concept is amusing in its own right, but they expect us to pay for it as well. Those of us who honor and support the military watched with glee as “Lions & Lambs” tanked. "Rendition” was a financial embarrassment. “In the Valley of Elah” didn’t even break $7 Million. “Redacted” pulled in a whopping $600 K. There were more embarrassments along this line, such as “The Kingdom” and “Home of the Brave.”
On the eve of the inauguration, more than 50 celebrities teamed up with MySpace to record video pledges of service to the next president of the United States.Here's the rub. These well known individuals rely on the public's approval in order to succeed in the Court of Popular Opinion. Well over 59 Million voters did not support President Obama in the election. It's a pretty good guess that there is a larger Hollywood client base in that 59 Million than there is in the 69 Million that voted for the new President. Comparative income would support that speculation.
Among the celebrities who have finished their videos are Sean "Diddy" Combs, Cameron Diaz and Eva Longoria Parker. (You can see them at myspace.com/presidentialpledge.)
Others making pledges include will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, actresses Marisa Tomei, Courteney Cox Arquette, Lucy Liu and Laura Linney, and actors Jason Bateman and Tobey Maguire. Actress Demi Moore is directing, producing and editing the videos. (Viewers are invited to record and upload their own pledges.)
Were “Barack: The Movie” made today, cool dude Denzel, after dropping 50 pounds, would play him - one lean, mean, cool dude machine.Someone donate batteries to the news media...before there is a carpal tunnel epidemic...
SHIJIAZHUANG, China—A Chinese court has handed down a death penalty to a man convicted of endangering public safety in the first sentencing connected with a contaminated milk scandal that shocked the country.I can't say I disagree with the verdict and the punishment. According to the Chinese government, six infants died, and hundreds of thousands were sickened by the tained mixture. If we apply the Chinese "truth modifier" formula, the numbers of dead were probably a lot higher, and the number sickened would likely be higher as well.
The Intermediate People's Court in Shijiazhuang gave the death sentence to Zhang Yujun. He was convicted of running a workshop that was allegedly China's largest source of melamine, the substance responsible for the health crisis.
A court spokesman said a second man, Zhang Yanzhang, was given a life sentence, also for endangering public safety.
The court is expected to hand down a sentence later Thursday for Tian Wenhua, the general manager of the dairy company at the heart of the scandal.
The scandal involving tainted milk broke in September, although Sanlu authorities knew of problems with their company's products months earlier.When a company in China plays a significant role in revenue creation (and therefore contributes significantly to the Chinese GNP) their profits are tracked religiously. The fact that hundreds of thousands were sickened by the milk suggests that this is one of the major dairy entities in that country. So, you know that someone's hand was in the till from the "official bureau of record keeping." How come those folks didn't have to face the music?
Middlemen who sold milk to dairy companies had watered down the raw milk and then mixed it with melamine, which gives an artificially high reading for protein.
Melamine is normally used to make plastics and fertilizer. If ingested in large amounts, it can cause kidney stones and kidney failure.
ROBBINSVILLE, N.C. — Teachers in this small rural town's school district are awaiting a state appeals court ruling to see if they'll be required to submit to random tests for drugs and alcohol.Private industry can require testing if they, in fact, make it a condition of employment for all employees. I had to fill up a cup a while back. This covers the burden set forth in the Equal Protection Act...as I understand the issue. I believe it to be a sound requirement especially in those industries that involve heavy equipment operation, travel, as well as those companies that are actually interested in how their employees represent them.
Graham County, N.C., which has fewer than 1,200 students, is one of a small group of school districts in the nation attempting to establish random drug tests of teachers and other employees.
The district would be among the "very, very few" to randomly test teachers, American Civil Liberties Union staff attorney Adam Wolf says.
"It would be in our view a waste of money, because there is no problem that a drug-testing program can address," said Michael Simpson, assistant general counsel with the National Education Association.I'm thinking that Master Simpson is a product of the Public Education system... Drugs, Michael...the program would address drugs!!!
Robbinsville teacher Cheryl Morgan says testing would pull her from the classroom when she's under pressure to boost test scores.Ms. Morgan needs to get to a Urologist stat!!!! If peeing in a cup takes her so long that it would effect her classroom performance she requires immediate medical attention...and perhaps a Big Gulp cup.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — An Arabic middle name and a compelling biography will go only so far. If President-elect Barack Hussein Obama really wants to improve America's standing in the Muslim world, he'll need to do more to win over skeptics such as Muhammad Zia Ullah.Whoa...first the US media discovers that the new president has an "Arabic middle name." Then someone calls him "articulate" and it isn't jumped on as racist. As the Coup de grâce...this Pakistani has the audacity to suggest that the purveyor of all that his change...will NOT change policy towards the "Muslim world."
Sorting polo shirts at his brother's clothing stall in a working-class bazaar here, Ullah says he was impressed with Obama during the long U.S. presidential campaign. "He's articulate, and he wants to bring changes," says Ullah, 19. "But I'm not expecting any change in policy."
Sarah Palin's $150,000 clothing spree turns heads left and rightNot finished yet...here's another hit piece from USA Today noting, once again, the cost of the wardrobe without providing details...
USA Today 10/23/2008
The total bill might make Joe Six-Pack spew his brew, but to image experts, the $150,000 that the Republican National Committee has spent on wardrobing Sarah Palin and her family since she was tapped as the GOP's vice presidential candidate isn't shocking — in fact, it's arguably necessary.
USA Today 11/11/2008Compare and Contrast...
McCain never directly addressed the embarrassing controversy over Palin's expensive campaign wardrobe purchased by the Republican National Committee, or statements by unidentified McCain aides who reportedly have said she was not prepared on foreign policy or other issues. The Alaska governor has said in interviews she did not ask for, or want, the $150,000-plus wardrobe for her and her family.
US Today 1/21/08Oh…I’m sorry…I missed the negative reference to price tags and elitism. What? No one spewed their brew? What office was she running for again? I missed it.
Michelle Obama favors a variety of designers, some of them established, some of them as new and up-and-coming as Mrs. O herself. Here's a look at some designers who have dressed her:
Michelle wore: A sleeveless red-and-black dress on election night in Chicago's Grant Park, which was mostly panned. Also, a camel-and-black color-block coat and skirt for the concert at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday. Narciso Rodriguez
Michelle wore: Red floral print silk kimono dress accessorized with Erickson Beamon broaches at the neckline, worn at Democratic National Convention. Thakoon (Panichgul)
What Michelle wore: A cigar-tube-shaped jersey tunic and matching pants in black, with an elaborate necklace by Tom Binns, worn at a New York fashion world fundraiser in June 2008. Isabel Toledo
Michelle wore: Four dresses purchased from his spring 2009 collection, including a raw-silk dress made with hand-embroidered rosettes with French knots worn for an interview on a Barbara Walters special in November. Jason Wu
Michelle wore: Multiple outfits, often in striking colors, over several years. Most recently, a purple silk crepe sheath with a black Azzedine Alaïa belt worn at Democratic National Convention; and a red silk crepe sheath with a pleated neckline worn when the Obamas toured the White House with the Bushes after the election. Maria Pinto
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip: The U.N. chief inspected the devastation wrought by Israel's onslaught in Gaza on Tuesday, leading a moment of silence at the smoldering U.N. headquarters, as the territory's militant Hamas rulers, triumphant at having survived, held victory rallies amid the ruins.Hamas held victory rallies...eh...triumphant at having survived? More than likely they were celebrating the demonization of Israel by the global media and the anti-semitic favortism displayed by the United Nations. Look at the first sentence of this article..."wrought", "onslaught", "devastation"...to describe Israel's contribution. "Triumphant" to describe Hamas.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, appearing stern and saddened at a ceremony at the burned out U.N. headquarters in Gaza, demanded an Israeli investigation into strikes on United Nations facilities. Ban asked the crowd to observe a moment of silence for victims of the offensive, who included nearly 40 Palestinians who had sought refuge at a U.N. school shelled by Israel.
Ban called the attacks on the U.N. headquarters and two of its schools "outrageous" and demanded a full investigation through proper judiciary systems. He also demanded guarantees it would never happen again.Yet, Hamas was using UN buildings (including the school) to fire mortars and store weapons... I refer you to LGF:
The UN and the mainstream media are wailing and accusing Israel of war crimes (yes, again) after the IDF returned fire at a UN school from which Palestinians were firing mortars.My personal opinion is that Israel stopped too soon...was not brutal enough...and suffers from the same politically correct nonsense that has partially neutered the United States' military. At the same time, I wouldn't be too confortable if I resided near an Iranian testing laboratory.
The explosives and booby traps installed in the school by Hamas then blew up, killing dozens of people.
And the world blames Israel.
SOUTHOLD, N.Y.—Police on Long Island arrested a man after he allegedly kicked a police car and asked to be deported back to his home country of Guatemala. Police said the 27-year-old man called the Southold Police Department early Sunday and asked to be arrested so he could be deported.(Scratches head)....(squints)...(scratches head a second time)...He asked to be deported...asked to be arrested.
Police said that when officers arrived at the scene, they told him he could not be arrested because he had not committed a crime.
That's when, according to police, the man kicked the driver's side door of their patrol car. The man was arrested and charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief.
Details of his arraignment were not immediately available.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Last year was the eighth warmest year on record, according to the National Climatic Data Center.If you want to believe that their data is correct (to which I hold major reservations)…one would have to question why 2008 is the 10th warmest since 1997. IN OTHER WORDS…83% OF THE OTHER YEARS IN THAT 12 YEAR SPAN WERE WARMER. YET, CARBON OUTPUT (WE ARE TOLD) HAS INCREASED SIGNIFICANTLY IN THOSE 12 YEARS.
The world's temperature in 2008 tied that of 2001 according to the center, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Preliminary calculations show the world's average temperature for 2008 was 0.88 degree Fahrenheit above the 20th Century average of 57.0 degrees F.
The ranking means that all of the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 1997.
Climate scientists around the world have raised concerns about global warming caused by the so-called greenhouse effect in which chemicals, largely generated by human activity, trap solar radiation.
In the midst of cold arctic air that set or nearly set all-time local and state records (Maine at -50F and Rochelle at -38F), a NOAA press release pronounced 2008 was the 8th warmest since 1895 and that now all top ten warmest years have occurred since 1997. To which I and most other climatologists and meteorologists respond “BS”.Let's not allow facts to get in the way of planting trees in Nigeria...
Recall that UAH MSU found 2008 was the 14th coldest in the latest 30 years. If greenhouse warming was real, the lower tropospheric warming would be equal to or greater than the surface warming as that is where the heat is said to accumulate that warms the ground.
PARIS: The French authorities will increase their checks on television, radio and the Internet to prevent any hate messages prompted by the conflict in Gaza from spreading, Prime Minister François Fillon said Friday.Meanwhile...in the real world.
France is experiencing an increase in anti-Semitic acts apparently related to Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 1,100 Palestinians in three weeks. Thirteen Israelis have been killed.
But almost every day brings news of another attack on a synagogue, a rash of xenophobic graffiti or, in some cases, violence against people. The police are investigating allegations that radical pro-Israel youths beat up three Arab teenagers Monday outside their school in a wealthy area of Paris.So...in order to "crack down" on synagogue attacks, xenophobic graffiti and actual physical violence (not to mention Muslim Yutes burning cars)...the French authorites are going to rigorously monitor the internet for someone saying something they think is offensive.
New York's most vulnerable children are living in houses of horror - run by the city.And here's your solution...Make access to entitlement services contingent on those receiving these free benefits responsible for the wellbeing, cleanliness, repairs (within reason) and upkeep of the shelters. Instead, the city never considers the benefactors an asset in this regard...and the mentality is that these folks receive but are not obligated (as they are discouraged) to give.
Four rat- and roach-infested city-run shelters - housing more than 500 kids and their parents - have been cited for violating more than 80 state regulations, according to records.
Yet the city's Department of Homeless Services has apparently done little to fix the potentially disastrous situation. Records show the city has repeatedly neglected violations, including failure to provide counseling, child care or help in finding families permanent homes.
As we were driving back from the airport last night a funny feeling came over me. Bear with me as I offer up a poor analogy.I get the same feeling walking around the shopping mall. Then again...I'm a shameless captitalist...But, the contributer to this Seattle Times blog is...impressed with suicidal musicians, their talentless hangers-on wives, and the opinion that the elitists power-grabbers of Washington are...more important than the "great unwashed" who built this country and are straining at the moment to hold it together while the elitists of Washington do everything they can to make it more difficult.
I'm an embarrassingly huge fan of 90s grunge, but I wasn't living in Seattle when it hit. Sometimes I get a little humbled when I pause to remember I walk the same streets as, say, Kurt and Courtney. I can't help but think, "This is it. This is where it all happened."
The same feeling hit me last night: this, D.C., is where it all happens. I can feel it now. I'm walking amongst history. And I'm about to see history.
The most exciting part of the day was when John Mellencamp and U2 did their sound checks at the Lincoln Memorial. The second most exciting part of the day was when our Little Hotties Hand Warmers kicked in, our fingers would have fallen off without them. I'm tempted to duct tape several to my face for Tuesday, it's really really cold.Hmmmm...Smithsonian, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, White House, Capitol Building, The Brickseller (Dupont Circle)...? Nope....just two musicians doing sound checks (which in my opinion...they have been doing since the early 90's).
--Victor Gerena (New York) one of the FBI's Top Ten, is wanted for the 1983 robbery of a Wells Fargo armored truck depot in West Hartford, Connecticut. The FBI says on September 12, 1983, Gerena took hostage two of his fellow Wells Fargo employees escaped with $7 million dollars.Lots of fugitive trash down there in Castroland. And some are already whining for a pardon.
--Joanne Chesimard is wanted for escaping from prison in Clinton, New Jersey, while serving a life sentence for murder. On May 2, 1973, Chesimard, who was part of a revolutionary activist organization known as the Black Liberation Army, and two accomplices were stopped for a motor vehicle violation on the New Jersey Turnpike by two troopers with the New Jersey State Police. At the time, Chesimard was wanted for her involvement in several felonies, including bank robbery. Chesimard and her accomplices opened fire on the troopers, seemingly without provocation. One trooper was wounded and the other was shot and killed execution-style at point-blank range. Chesimard fled the scene, but was subsequently apprehended. One of her accomplices was killed in the shoot-out and the other was also apprehended and remains in jail.
--Robert Vesco (Michigan) He is charged in the United States for bilking mutual funds investors of $224 million. Vesco fled to Costa Rica and later to Cuba, where he started several joint ventures with the Castro regime, but was later sent to jail by Castro when he tried to become more independent and cut the Cuban regime out of the deals.
Michael Finney(California) [Republic of New Africa] Hijacker
Ralph Goodwin (Illinois) Hijacker/ Cop Killer
Charlie Hill (Maryland) Hijacker [Republic of New Africa, killed a cop in New Mexico]
James Patterson (Michigan) Air Piracy
William Palm (Missouri) ESCAPE; AIDING & ABETTING
Clinton Smith (Cuba) Air Piracy
Richard Linares (Cuba) Escape
John Marques (Louisiana)
Theresa Grosso (California)
William Lee Brent shot two police officers and hijacked a plane in June 1969
Oreste Bello (Cuba)
Cosme Iglesia (Cuba)
Barbara Alvarez (Cuba)
Ofelia Bernardo (Cuba)
Jose Bernardo Tunon (Cuba)
Ernest Ferrero (Cuba)
Fidel Rego Otano (Cuba)
Vincente Rego Otano (Cuba)
Nacasio Delgado (Cuba)
Miguel Sanchez (Cuba)
Ricardo Coro (Cuba)
Rosalino Rodriguez Cabria (Cuba)
George Wright Virginia
Jose Montero (Cuba)
Hector Ochoa (Cuba)
William Potts (unknown)
Mario Fonseca (Cuba)
Divaldo Rojas Reyes (Cuba)
Wilfredo Oquendo (Cuba)
Eduardo Salgado (Cuba)
Roberto Salgado (Cuba)
Carlos Arias Valdez (Cuba)
Marino Samon (Cuba)
Rolando Cadenas (Cuba)
Silvio Cabrera (Cuba)
Crecencio Zamora (Cuba)
Sergio Rojas (Cuba)
Juan Garcia (Cuba)
Robert Gracial (Cuba)
Ciro Granda (Cuba)
Santiago Guerra Valdez (Cuba)
Patrick Latortue (unknown)
Ramon Delgado (Cuba)
Hector Gonzalez (Cuba)
Daniel Abad (Cuba)
Brian Wilson (Cuba)
Joaquin Babin Estrada (Cuba)
Miguel Aguiar (Cuba)
Rogelio Leyva (Cuba)
Roberto Aguiar (Cuba)
Jose Caballero (Cuba)
Eduardo Jiminez (Colombia)
Gilberto Calero (Cuba)
Ambrosa Montfort (Georgia)
Luis Soltren (Puerto Rico)
Catherine Kerkow (Oregon)
Antajares Payano (Dominican Republic)
Ishmael Ali (Virgin Islands) [convicted of multiple murders in the Virgin Islands]
Cheri Dalton (New York)
Miguel Toledo (Cuba)
Nelson Molina (Cuba)
Rafaele Minichiello (Italy)
Felix Coolin (Dominican Republic)
Manuel Vargas Agueros (Cuba)
Armando Diaz La Rossa (Cuba)
Esmeraldo Ramirez Castaneda (Cuba)
Jose Garcia Sanchez (Cuba)
Pedro De Quesada (Cuba)
Rigoberto Gonzalez Sanchez (Cuba)
Ramon Martin (Cuba)
Jesus Armenteros (Cuba)
Gilberto Carrazana Y Gonzalez (unknown)
Donald Rider (North Dakota)
Francis Teroll (New York)
HAVANA - William Potts calls himself the "Homesick Hijacker." U.S. authorities have another name for him: fugitive harbored by an enemy government — one of dozens of Americans hiding in communist Cuba.Others are more...pragmatic.
Almost 25 years ago, he smuggled a pistol onto a commercial flight, diverted the plane to Havana, and spent 13 1/2 years in a Cuban prison for air piracy.
Now the Mount Vernon, N.Y., native has written to President-elect Barack Obama seeking a pardon and hoping U.S.-Cuba relations will improve and he'll be able to come home.
"It's not a good time to raise my name up there," said Charlie Hill, who was accused in the slaying of a New Mexico state trooper and hijacked a plane to Cuba in 1971. "Things are going good. I don't want to be in the limelight."So Mr. President (as of next Tuesday)...open up a dialogue with Cuba, smoke a couple of cigars, try the rum..and then...serve up some justice by collecting the scum that has been hiding under Castro's skirt for decades...then promptly tell Castro and Castro jr...that you changed your mind.
Environmental protection and stewardship are important to the health of our families, the strength of our economy, and the future of our planet. America has made great progress in many areas, but on issues such as climate change, clean air, and clean water, we can do much more.The above is from the "Issues" section of Senator Kennedy's gov. website. In the words of the late Tom Snyder...
I am appalled at the administrations attempt to exempt industrial plants from the Clean Air Act. This decision will endanger millions of children and elderly peoples lives by polluting the air we breathe in. Massachusetts and the rest of the Northeast will suffer because of this change in law. This is another example of the administration catering the wealthy industrialist at the expense of the ordinary citizen.Once again... "Okay...fair enough...what the heck." Partisanship was always the calling card of Big Head Ted...unless he wanted something.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, a longtime opponent of the project, issued a statement saying he did not believe the favorable review of Cape Wind would stand.Sacrifice for thee...but not for me. The thing is...Deval Patrick (Gov. of Mass.) is a big, BIG fan of the wind farm nonsense out on Cape Cod. It turns out that President-elect Obama and Gov. Patrick are good pals. Then there is Kennedy's surprising endorsement of then Senator Obama during the primaries...which the Globe reminds us cannot be overlooked.
"By taking this action, the Interior Department has virtually assured years of continued public conflict and contentious litigation," the statement said.
Over the past several years, former governor Mitt Romney and US Representative William D. Delahunt have worked against the project, and Kennedy was criticized for driving behind-the-scenes efforts to kill it.
Billed as a bacchanalian strip-show-cum-sideshow by way of a speakeasy, recurring East Village party The Sunday Show is planning its January Inauguration Edition tomorrow.I don't mind saying that (almost) without exception...there are a number of groups that will vote for that other guy and not the candidate for whom I would vote. It's a nice barometer to determine if I am a misguided, self-indulging, overly liberal freak...or just a regular guy.
Host Babraham Lincoln will hold court at "the only NC-17-rated inauguration celebration in America." Organizer Kristine "Kiki" Rakowsky says, "Just as in the great depressions in the past, I'm providing entertainment-aided escapism from the current economic fallout."
Such attractions are said to include go-go dancing by the "sexretary of state," a "constitutional cabaret show" and "exit poll" dancing with fire eating, fire hula-hooping and fire juggling thrown in for good measure.
The organizers of the 2009 Green Inaugural Ball are committed to making this the greenest inaugural ball possible.The Gormless Worm will not be having an Inaugural Ball of any kind, shape or color...so when they say, "The organizers of the 2009 Green Inaugural Ball are committed to making this the greenest inaugural ball possible"...I say...BULLHOCKEY!!!
--100% of the carbon footprint of the event is being offset with high quality carbon offsets from Native Energy. The offsets will support a portfolio of renewable energy technologies.
--The event's menu developed by Grand Cuisine and Chef Bradley Nairne, in consultation with renowned organic Chef Nora Pouillon, will include locally-sourced, organic and seasonal food.
--Waste from the event will be recycled, reused and composted by the Waste Neutral Group. No plastic bottles will be available
--Waste items will be source separated into biodegradable trash bags supplied by Perf Go Green.
--Lighting will incorporate the latest LED technology
--Limited paper and signage was used to produce and publicize the event.
--All printed materials will be printed on recycled paper using soy based ink.
--All bathrooms will use biodegradable soap and energy efficient air dryers.
--All linens are cleaned without the use of chemicals, and in a manner that uses less water and drying time.
--Floral decorations are organic, being kept to a minimum, and arrangements will be donated and reused.
--Attendees were encouraged to use metro, walk, or drive a hybrid to the event to minimize emissions from transportation.
--Trucks will not be permitted to idle while in the loading bays.
--The Green Carpet greeting guests, provided by Bentley Prince Street, is made with 100 percent renewable electrical energy and is made of 10% consumer waste. The carpet will be completely recycled after the event.
--Even the coat check will feature reusable numbers instead of paper tags.
--Guests will be encouraged to reduce their carbon footprint by purchasing carbon offsets through a partnership with Native Energy
--Many additional greening aspects were explored but were not feasible due to security, infrastructure, and availability of vendors to service.
This event has been planned and will be executed in accordance with House and Senate ethics rules.Too easy...I believe this means there will be topless dancers, male escort services, a lobbying social, and ongoing games of pin the tale on your favorite jackass (which is like checking the time in a clock factory).
