"Men in general are quick to believe that which they wish to be true."
-Gaius Julius Caesar
Hat tip Sam
Divers find Caesar bust that may date to 46 B.C.
PARIS (AP) — Divers trained in archaeology discovered a marble bust of an aging Caesar in the Rhone River that France's Culture Ministry said Tuesday could be the oldest known.
The life-sized bust showing the Roman ruler with wrinkles and hollows in his face is tentatively dated to 46 B.C. Divers uncovered the Caesar bust and a collection of other finds in the Rhone near the town of Arles — founded by Caesar.
Among other items in the treasure trove of ancient objects is a 5.9 foot marble statue of Neptune, dated to the first decade of the third century after Christ.
Two smaller statues, both in bronze and measuring 27.5 inches each also were found, one of them, a satyr with his hands tied behind his back, "doubtless" originated in Hellenic Greece, the ministry said.
"Some (of the discoveries) are unique in Europe," Culture Minister Christine Albanel said. The bust of Caesar is in a class by itself.
"This marble bust of the founder of the Roman city of Arles constitutes the most ancient representation known today of Caesar," the ministry statement said, adding that it "undoubtedly" dates to the creation of Arles in 46 B.C.
Among other things, researchers are trying to uncover "in what context these statues were thrown into the river," said Michel L'Hour, who heads the Department of Subaquatic Archaeological Research, whose divers made the discovery between September and October 2007.
The site "has barely been skimmed," L'Hour told The Associated Press, adding that a new search operation will begin this summer.
He said the Arles region, in the Provence region of southern France, with its Roman beginnings, and the Rhone are "propitious" for discoveries.
Albanel called the find "exceptional" and said that the Caesar bust is "the oldest representation known today" of the emperor.
Divers also found a huge marble statue of Neptune, dated from the third century.
Divers also found a huge marble statue of Neptune, dated from the third century.
ReplyDeleteAt least Neptune ended up in his own element.
Whaddayamean?
ReplyDeleteSpace Travel weren't even invented yet.
Clips Top Ten Angry On-Camera Meltdowns
ReplyDeleteNobody comes close to a genuine Rage Attack, except for a (younger) Bill O'Reilly.
Musta been my mum's Irish genes.
Much Funnier this way:
ReplyDeleteShouting Heads Bill O'Reilly Meltdown Resurfaces
"Funny stuff! I think we just found the perfect VP for McCain too!"
ReplyDeleteonebadclam at 05:50 PM
I don't know what Cleopatra saw in him. Caesar looks like that guy in The Princess Bride who said, "You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is this: never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!"
ReplyDeleteT. Boone Pickens orders 667 GE turbines for wind farm in Panhandle
ReplyDelete12:00 AM CDT on Thursday, May 15, 2008
By ELIZABETH SOUDER / The Dallas Morning News
esouder@dallasnews.com
T. Boone Pickens has placed a massive order for wind turbines with General Electric, a big step toward building the world's largest wind farm in the Panhandle.
Mr. Pickens' company, Mesa Power LLP, plans to announce today that it ordered 667 turbines from GE for about $2 billion.
That will produce 1,000 megawatts of power, more than the average nuclear power plant, and enough juice to light 300,000 homes.
And it's just a quarter of the turbines that the legendary oilman plans to erect near his ranch in Pampa.
By 2014, Mr. Pickens wants to have 4,000 megawatts of windmills turning in a $10 billion to $12 billion project.
.
.
Btw,
ReplyDeleteYou can now revise the figure of that $500 billion USD for oil imports per year, to $600 billion USD for oil per year.
T. Boone Pickens
ReplyDeleteBorn May 22, 1928 (1928-05-22)
Hope he makes it to 2014
So, Mr Pickens deal, when and if complete at $12 billion USD, less than a days worth of oil import expeditures.
ReplyDeleteA drop in the barrel.
That Republican,
ReplyDeletesure is sexy in her thong.
Gee E,
ReplyDeleteSelling off their washing machine works for higher profit piece 'o de green.
Gee E Turbines Power Maui too.
Selling to the Sauds
ReplyDeleteI figure six days, w/Mat's figures, 'Rat:
ReplyDeleteStill a hell of a deal for a Nuke Equivalent.
Oh, I get it:
ReplyDeleteOnly 2 Billion for a Nuke equivalent.
d'Rat
ReplyDeleteWe already did the math. Replacing ALL imported US oil with renewables would cost about 1.2 to 1.5 trillion US dollars. Given the $600 billion USD currently spent on importing oil, you recoup that cost within 2 to 3 years. In the 4th year you have a surplus of $600 billion USD in your foreign exchange ledger.
Mr. Pickens also makes the point that with renewables powering the electric grid, you could put natural gas supplies towards powering automobiles.
ReplyDeleteThe CLUB OF ROME
ReplyDeleteand the cost of Nuclear Power
Who Killed U.S. Nuclear Power
---
Doesn't really look competitive w/wind.
A 3 year payoff is far too long, Mat,
ReplyDeleteWE JUST CAN'T AFFORD IT!
:)
ReplyDelete"Hope he makes it to 2014"
ReplyDeleteAnd with them natural gas vehicles, I bet we'd all be driving the speed limit. :)
Charles said...
ReplyDeleteTHE TYGER (from Songs Of Experience)
By William Blake
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare sieze the fire?
And what shoulder, & what art.
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
1794
5/14/2008 10:03:00 PM
Doug said...
Caller to the Dennis Miller Show on watching a Movie showing a lion eating offspring:
"I guess that's what they call swallowing your pride."
5/15/2008 04:49:00 AM
Charles said...
the answer to both blake and doug is yes. only in the case of the male lion the cubs are not its own. it kills the young that were sired by another male in order to bring the female into estrus so as to sire its own cubs.
so did mary conceive because she was overcome by the holy spirit or because --say -- some roman made her? after all jesus was born near a roman garrison town.
Joseph is portrayed as a dreamer.
St Paul talked of killing the old man. What are cornerstones of an old man's mind.They are that a person comes from the union of a man and and a woman and that when you die you're dead.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWar of the Rockets
ReplyDeleteIt's not hard to grasp the common strategy at work here or to intuit what interest it serves. The rockets fired from Gaza and from Sadr City are two prongs of an offensive aimed at forcing the United States out of Iraq, putting Israel on the defensive -- and leaving Iran as the region's preeminent power. The third front, in Lebanon, is also the model. There the Hezbollah militia has armed itself with thousands of rockets and long-range missiles in preparation for a repeat of its 2006 war with Israel, while making Tehran a power in domestic Lebanese politics. The fourth front is in Afghanistan, where Taliban militiamen near the Iranian border now come armed with Iranian-made weapons.
Countering the strategic Iranian challenge -- which also includes its unimpeded nuclear program -- is likely to preoccupy U.S. policy in the Middle East for years. But the more immediate problem for both the United States and Israel is how to end the wars of the rockets. As Israel has demonstrated over the past 18 months, selective strikes against rocket crews by aircraft or special forces can inflict a lot of casualties -- but don't stop the launchings. As U.S. forces have shown in Baghdad, sending substantial ground forces into Sadr City (or Gaza), building walls and fighting for control of the streets doesn't bring quick relief, either. Israel has so far avoided a similar offensive in Gaza in part because of another problem, the lack of an exit strategy. Even if the streets can be cleared of militants, who will ensure that no rockets are fired after the invading forces depart? Neither Iraqi nor Palestinian government forces seem up to the job.
---
Some think all this can be settled by a direct approach to Tehran by the United States and a grand bargain that would stop the flow of weapons and trainers to Baghdad, Gaza, Lebanon and Afghanistan, along with the nuclear weapons program. In exchange for what? Never mind: The next president, especially if a Democrat, will probably try it. But let's hope Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain also are thinking about a grimmer possibility: that Iran believes that its offensive is succeeding and that its goals are within reach, and that it has no intention of stopping. As long as neither Israeli nor U.S. commanders can find a way to win the war of the rockets, that's likely to be the case.
Good link on the nuclear Doug. A leader would have seized the moment after 911, streamlined the approval process, sited them on federal property and they could be coming on line now. That job will fall on the next president.
ReplyDeleteMat (I think) and I would argue that the
ReplyDeleteoperating costs/cost of fuel/disposal
render Nukes non-competitive w/wind.
A leader would also have sealed the freaking border.
ReplyDeleteFrigging Bush just invited in everybody, worker, pervert, murderer, terrorist, gang commandos, and etc.
Fucking Traitor.
25 People a day die at the hands of illegals.
ReplyDelete(about half and half, criminal and drunk drivers)
...as Kevin James says:
Does anyone think that if a full 767 crashed every week in the USA, something would not be done about it?
...same number killed per week.
California Feds bust LA drop house holding 61 undocumented immigrants
ReplyDeleteSixty-one undocumented immigrants were found Wednesday in a squalid drop house filled with piles of trash and rotting food, immigration officials said.
Three of those taken into custody were toddlers.
ICE spokeswoman Lori Haley said an agent involved in the raid described the conditions inside the home as "utter squalor with trash and food piled up two to three feet high inside."
Drop houses are common in human-smuggling cases and are used to hold people until they can be transported to their ultimate destination, she said.
It's getting pretty expensive to build a nuke plant nowadays. Estimates from Southern Co. and I think Progress Energy for proposed projects is around US $4B - $8B per unit. Figure every nuclear station has two to four units, and you are looking at $8B - $32B for a plant.
ReplyDeleteIn a regulated marketplace, you will be lucky to recoup the price of the plant over its lifetime and make a return.
Materials costs for construction are going through the roof, and the capital plus the costs of capital to fund the construction can bankrupt a company.
Needs to be a wholesale change in the utility model so utilities can recoup the costs of development and construction DURING those phases and not after the plant is built. Kind of a ratepayer pay-as-you-go model.
What might ultimately kill nukes will be the costs to get them built. We are approaching a tipping point that could make them economically unfeasible.
Ironically, a global recession may make materials cost less, but then you get the "overbuilding capacity" argument from the Luddites.
The Yucca spent fuel plan is the stupidest thing we can do. Spent fuel reprocessing - like the Europeans do - extracts the pure uranium and plutonium from the spent fuel to create new fuel. The leftovers from the reprocessing lose 99.9% of their radioactivity in 40 years (the remaining .1% still takes 1,000 years to radiate as much as naturally occuring uranium) as opposed to 100,000 years of once-used fuel that we want to store in Yucca.
US is finally building a reprocessing facility at the Savannah River Site. After years of wrangling with the usual suspects, we may finally be reprocessing by 2014. Good luck getting the hot fuel from the 103 plants around the country to the reprocessing plant. The enviros will make it will cost $1M a mile in legal fees.
At this point, the site will be reprocessing mostly weapons-grade plutonium from Russian weapons into fission reactor fuel.
If the country can pull its head out of its ass, we can build 20 of these plants around the country and reuse the hell out of the spent fuel sitting around plants everywhere.
Makes the most sense, but US Energy Policy seems to be built on what lines the right pockets irregardless of the national benefit.
Great video of Turd World Los Angeles:
ReplyDelete"Nothing unusal"
...all systems normal, dead car and broken toilets in DIRT yard.
Just another day in LA.
Next door neighbor saw "Nothing unusal"
'Drop House' Busted, Agents Say - Videos - KNBC
---
Rocket Man Flies Over Alps With Jetpack - Videos - KNBC
"unusual"
ReplyDeleteDoors that lock only from the outside, that's always a tipoff.
ReplyDeleteDang, that rocket man, he's something else.
ReplyDeleteRocket Man for President.
The trouble with wind is they don't work without wind.
ReplyDeleteBobal: The trouble with wind is they don't work without wind.
ReplyDeleteAnd if the wind is coming from the mouth of Ted Kennedy, they can't even get built.
"But don't you realize -- that's where I sail!"
Another good Kennedy quote is:
ReplyDelete"I've never worked a day in my life."
An accomplishment to be proud of. Massachusetts has the dumbest voters in the United States.
Interesting post Brother. When oil starts to decline why not start taxing it to take away the ability of OPEC to jamb us again? Take the extra tax and put into a fund that could be used to pay the coupon for tax exempt atomic revenue bonds.
ReplyDeletetax exempt atomic revenue bonds.
ReplyDeleteThat has a nice ring to it.
National Tax Exempt Atomic Energy Revenue Bonds. aka Freedom Bonds, for short.
Backing McCain Energy Plan, GOP Voters to Stay Home
ReplyDeleteby Scott Ott for ScrappleFace
— A day after Republican presidential candidate John McCain unveiled his cap-and-trade plan to defeat the imminent threat of global warming, a coalition of conservative voters announced it would enthusiastically support his proposal by refusing to burn fossil fuels on November 4, 2008.
“We’re eager to live out Sen. McCain’s conservative vision for the earth,” said the group’s unnamed spokesman, “by keeping millions of Republican-owned SUVs and pickup trucks in their garages on election day.”
The coalition said the symbolic move would not only “cut carbon emissions by thousands of tons,” but it would also “put a president in the White House with John McCain’s views on the global warming issue.”
Let's give wind a whirl. See how it shakes out. Also, some nukes and why can't we convert retrofit some existing coal fired plants with clean coal technology. While we're at it, why can't we get some more gasoline out the Gulf and ANWR and some more food friendly ethanol.
ReplyDeleteOh, lest I leave anyone out, sure let's see if solar can carry its weight.
We need a comprehensive plan which recognizes that one size doesn't fit all.
bob:
ReplyDeletethat's too funny!
What we need is a Caesar who can get it done!
ReplyDeleteFrom Liberal Larry's mouth to your ear:
ReplyDeleteW-E-S-T-V-I-R-G-I-N-I-A spells "Landslide Victory" for Hillary and, as she aptly pointed out, no Democrat has ever lost West Virginia and won the White House. Obama may just as well end his frivolous campaign now, rather than divide the Big Tent even further than he already has. Sure, Obama is to be commended for somehow winning the most delegates, but Hillary has the White Vote, and that's all that matters.
In fact, I don't even know why we bother to hold primaries in the other states, especially states where brainwashed Blacks might vote against Hillary. Think of all the money the Democrat Party would save if we'd just let West Virginians pick our nominee every year. Specifically, uneducated White male West Virginians - the same people who were idiots when they voted for Bush but are now blue-collar, hard-working Americans who are ready for a change, and proud to call Robert Byrd their Senator and former Grand Dragon. It's those kind of decent, down to earth, Joe Sixpack voters that Democrats should be courting if we're to defeat Racist McSame this November.
.
.
BlameBush!
We've had an Energy Czar, for decades, now.
ReplyDeleteThe solution is to decentralize the grid, with each consumer also becoming a producer, this option will carry the day, in the end.
Should have done as much in Baghdad, instead the US invests in a large socialized grid network, one that never did deliver, one that never will.
In America much of the land is without grid infrastructure available, the self sufficent, economicly competetive system on each home, that is almost upon us.
dRat,
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you're finally coming to my way of thinking.
Rat:
ReplyDeleteIt's times like this when I'm ready to go off-grid in more ways than one.
Here, Whit, pushing you over the edge:)--
ReplyDeleteMen and Women In Black Trash Traditional Marriage
Sign of the times.
How then does the state have a compelling interest in nixing polygamy?
----
McCain: GOP Mississippi Loss Bodes Well for Him
by Scott Ott for Scrappleface
— An ebullient Sen. John McCain told a crowd of supporters today that the Republican loss of a Mississippi Congressional seat Tuesday bodes well for his presidential hopes in November.
“Travis Childers, who beat the Republican in Mississippi, ran as a conservative Democrat and will now join the liberal Democrat coalition in the House,” said the presumptive Republican nominee. “What does that signal if not the triumph of the McCain strategy?”
Sen. McCain said Mr. Childer’s wide margin of victory in a district that George Bush won decisively in 2000 and 2004 shows that “Happy days are here again for the party of Nelson Rockefeller, Lincoln Chafee, Arlen Specter and Jim Jeffords.”
----
White Hillary Voters in WV Can Use X for Signature
by Scott Ott for ScrappleFace
— Under pressure from Sen. Hillary Clinton, the state of West Virginia today launched a public service TV commercial reminding white Democrats that they can “make their mark” rather than signing their names in the precinct register for Tuesday’s primary.
The move follows Sen. Clinton’s recent remarks that much of her support comes from whites who work hard and don’t have as much education as backers of rival Sen. Barack Obama. The little-known “Festus Provision” of the state’s election law allows voters to make an “X” in the precinct register to record their presence at the polling place.
Meanwhile, the Clinton campaign has unleashed a barrage of TV and radio ads highlighting the difference between the candidates with the slogan: “Pick the Longer Name.”
The Obama for America campaign, struggling to connect with an electorate comprised largely of bitter West Virginians who cling to their guns and religion, today plans a “white wine and brie” skeet-shooting reception at St. Vegan’s Unitarian Universalist Church, near downtown Nitro.
--
With things as bad as they are we need a Scott Ott around to take the edge off.
I've lived in some of te current technology, mat.
ReplyDeleteOn and off over the past twenty years. Have used solar with back up generators and propane fired generators.
Some folks have used small wind generators to charge the batteries.
Trouble is that it is a capitalistic and individual solution, one that will not be supported by the Federals.
Coal and Nuclear for them, there is a ready built lobbiest faction and constituency.
We need electricity...
ReplyDeleted'Rat,
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that you're such an optimist. :)
Don't Fry bob
ReplyDelete"Die Better Electrically"
His name is Mumia. That sounds like a scary man who might kill you. If he changed his name to Bob, he might get more support. Then his supporters would say, "They're going to execute Bob!" And people would be like, "I know someone named Bob! I wouldn't want him executed! How can I help?"
ReplyDeleteYou needs help, Bob?
ReplyDeleteBob needs help! :D
Hep me, hep me!
ReplyDeleteDoug said..."Funny stuff! I think we just found the perfect VP for McCain too!"
ReplyDeleteYeah, who's gonna tell Pat Leahy "Fuck You!" in the Senate when Shooter is gone?
By 2014, Mr. Pickens wants to have 4,000 megawatts of windmills turning in a $10 billion to $12 billion project.
After paying that initial nut, there's minimal costs to keep it going. It's like nuclear, but without the lawsuits...unless someone says disrupted wind patterns contribute to global warming.
You can now revise the figure of that $500 billion USD for oil imports per year, to $600 billion USD for oil per year.
Mainly because it takes 6$ to buy $5 of stuff now.
Sixty-one undocumented immigrants were found Wednesday in a squalid drop house filled with piles of trash and rotting food, immigration officials said.
Undocumented immigrants. And murderers are to be called undocumented executioners.
We're lucky in the United States. We got T. Boone Pickens, and Slim Pickens, too.
ReplyDeleteElecting Obama will lead to Disaster
ReplyDelete"Hep me, hep me!"
ReplyDeleteQuit that yellow liver belly aching!
McCain has set a timeline for troop withdrawal in Iraq, January 2013, shaving 95 years off his first estimate. President Bush called timelines "surrender dates".
ReplyDeleteThat's certainly a life-like statue of Gaius Julius Caesar, not much abstract about it, looking a little worse for wear, probably about how he really looked at the time.
ReplyDeleteThis punditi agrees with Rufus, the republicans ran a terrible race in Mississippi.
ReplyDeleteMcCain promises to end the Iraq War by 2013 - preventing a civil war in the process, which the Iraq War apparently is not.
ReplyDeleteScenes we'd like to see: McCain in a very small room with McNamara.
"Casus belli ... Iran's Butcher's Bill is long overdue."
This is self evident. Unfortunately the NIE stopped Bush dead in his tracks. No way Bush can launch an attack against the Iranians if he's got high ranking State Dept. and CIA people knifing him in the back along with a Democrat controlled Congress that would terminate funding. Iran is a problem for the next President and only after he has cleaned house in the State Dept. and CIA. Our national security problems start at home.
5/15/2008 09:32:00 AM
Doug, Doug, Doug, Doug, Doug.
Gonna have to clean out the pointy end - the Pentagon - if you wanna get your war on. Again. What DO you think the Joint Chiefs have been telling the President? Those back stabbers.
The next President, whoever that may be, is going to be looking at pleasure-of-the-president-
selective-Congressional-
notification. From here to the horizon. The overt days be over, chihuahua.
Got Doug on the brain disease?
ReplyDeleteWhy do you quote others and type my name repeatedly?
James Garner hospitalized after stroke
ReplyDeleteDid you see the Rocketman story and the one comment, al-Bob?
ReplyDeleteSort of Doing the Iron Man Thing -
That Rocketfeller, puts Evil Kneivel to shame. I had seen him before. I wonder what his flight time is, how long can he stay up there? Beats floating up in your lawn chair, like that guy in L.A.:)
ReplyDeleteYou saw fit to post it. I saw fit to comment. Flattery is my middle name.
ReplyDeleteNew Species of Ants in Houston Attack Computers, Electronics
ReplyDeleteThere are many things that can harm electric devices like computers. From water to power surges to toddlers, computers are apt to be damaged by many different things. Some Houston, Texas residents are finding that a new danger is looking to harm their computers and electronics: ants.
A new species of ant has arrived in Houston and is believed to have come to Texas via a cargo ship that arrived at the Port of Houston. The ants are called crazy rasberry ants. The ants get the odd name from the fact that they tend to move erratically around in search of food rather than moving in orderly lines like typical ants.
The rasberry portion of the name comes from the exterminator who first battled the new species in Houston. The ants appear to be immune to the common over the counter ant sprays that Texas residents rely on to keep ants at bay during the hot and humid summer months.
There is one upside to the new species of ant— they eat fire ants. Fire ants are a huge problem and one of the most common pests in Texas with a vicious sting that leaves welts and burns like fire -- hence the name.
The crazy rasberry ant will also bite humans, but it doesn’t do so with a stinger. The new ants are about the size of fleas. So far reports have come in that the ants have invaded computers causing them to stop working and caused fire alarms to malfunction.
.
.
http://www.dailytech.com/New+Species+of+Ants+in+Houston+Attack+Computers+Electronics/article11793.htm
Booked passage on a tramp steamer, huh? Damn ants, sneak in like illegals.`Global warming. Have to move north. Away from the ants and killer bees.
ReplyDelete"Got Doug on the brain disease?"
ReplyDeleteGot DDS** symptoms?
Look for the root problem.
**Doug Derangement Syndrome
You also mixed in other people's comments.
ReplyDeleteThat ain't the DDS we're dealing w/Mat.
Doctor Dumb Shit it is.
Katchoo said:
ReplyDeleteIt's like nuclear, but without the lawsuits...unless someone says disrupted wind patterns contribute to global warming.
That is an excellent observation! We should start a pool on when the first law suit surfaces. You know darn well that some group (enviro or climate hysteric) is going to sue a wind farm. It could be bird deaths or disrupted wind and weather patterns.
Just like water, someday we'll be fighting over wind.
Hewitt's been doin that for 20 years, that's why he knows the Polar Bear is such a big deal.
ReplyDeleteCaller had an idea he liked:
ReplyDeleteSue the importation of Chinese junk for causing more warming, less ice for Polars.
Keep losing cases on the side that brings the enviros to their knees.
Oh, Doug, you old sweetheart.
ReplyDeleteAre you not filled - filled! - with the radiant joy of one presidency coming to its end - and the keen anticipation of a new? I know I am.
249 days. And those days just keep getting brighter.
Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right
It's all right
mat, funny enough I lost a printer in Costa Rica to the ants...it was unreparable... reminds me of this story "Leiningen versus the Ants" by Carl Stephenson
ReplyDeleteMahmoud Amin el-Gamal, an economics professor at Rice University specializing in Islamic finance, noted that even in Muslim countries, sharia-based financing was developed in only the past several decades. And he argued that because conventional mortgages are secured by a physical good, namely the home, that is usually the only asset the lender can repossess if the borrower fails to repay, such loans should not be considered the equivalent of making money by renting money.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, el-Gamal maintained, Islamic home-finance products are so closely modeled on conventional mortgages as to constitute a distinction without a difference.
"This is an industry that preys on people's religious insecurities by selling them a product that they claim is different when it's not. It's false advertising, and it's a case of supply creating demand," El-Gamal said.
Law for Lending
Mandy the Model wants a room, mate--
ReplyDeleteMy name is Mandy Williams.. am a model (international student) and i am coming to
your country on an assignment which might last me 6 months. I came across your
apartment posted for rent and am very much interested in renting. I will be using the
apartment for 6 months and gladly appreciate if you get back with the below details
Asking price+deposit?
Availability date?
Please kindly get back to me with the total cost price for (6 months.)..The room should
be available from any date from May 2008
I am from Australia and am willing to make my payment through International Europe
Cheque ,Besides that..I would want to you know the room specification
and pictures for proper view..while i contact my sponsor for payment
arrangement...i would appreciate you remove the ad from the site,ill compensate you for
that
Thanks and do hope to hear from you soonest.
Mandy Williams
That time of year for me, never had an international model before. By the looks of the letter, Australia's school system is lagging behind ours:)
I am considering my best snarly, gnarly reply...
What's an Australian model want to go to Moscow for?
ReplyDeleteTell her yer Austrian.
ReplyDelete(a basement w/a view.
ReplyDelete...through a tv screen.)
...closed circuit.
But enough of carping. Whether anyone likes it or not, Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif are the key players on the national scene and the task of steadying the nation's ship and warding off the ghosts of uncertainty and instability devolve upon their shoulders. Whatever their differences on the judges' issue there are other issues on which they are in broad agreement.
ReplyDeleteThe popular mood is ugly and is getting desperate. Except for the very well-off, everyone else is feeling the impact of inflation.
We are in for a long, hot summer in any case. The last thing Pakistan needs is another round of open or surreptitious political warfare.
Small Men
People over 60 urged to get one - time shingles shot
ReplyDeleteMissing from the event was Elizabeth Edwards, Edwards's wife, who is said to favor Clinton because of her preference for parts of the Clinton health care plan.
ReplyDeleteBut aides to both men said Edwards is sure to be included on a shortlist of vice presidential prospects. And privately, Edwards has told aides that, with his legal background, he would also consider the position of attorney general.
Clinton was campaigning Thursday in South Dakota. Obama had no public schedule.
Elizabeth for Hillary
I think I'll go for that shingles shot. An ounce of prevention, etc.
ReplyDeleteSam, she's a model like I'm a weightlifter. Besides, I don't take EuroCheques. I get these scams all the time.
California's top court legalizes gay marriage
ReplyDeleteCalifornia's Supreme Court declared gay couples in the nation's biggest state can marry _ a monumental but perhaps short-lived victory for the gay rights movement Thursday that was greeted with tears, hugs, kisses and at least one instant proposal of matrimony. ...
Full story
westhawk asks
ReplyDeleteWhy is Chavez supporting FARC?
What's the difference between gay marriage, and polygamy, constitutionally? This is a slippery slope we're on. They already have all sorts of domestic partnership legislation in California. Let it end there. This is legislating from the bench, big time. The people voted agin it. It stinks.
ReplyDeleteWhy is Chavez supporting FARC?
ReplyDeleteBecause he has a criminal mind.
"It's a state policy. What we were told was that Chávez liked to see us expand in Venezuela and in Colombia," said the guerrilla, who spoke on the condition his name not be used.
ReplyDeleteIn FARC correspondence, the guerrillas talk about obtaining weapons either directly from the Venezuelans or with their help. On March 1, 2007, a commander named Rodrigo Londoño Echeverry says Venezuelan intelligence operatives offer "parts to build" antiaircraft missiles.
Another letter, from a commander named Luciano Marin Arango on Jan. 20, 2007, talks of how two Venezuelan officials, identified in an earlier e-mail as Gens. Carvajal and Alcalá, provided "85mm antitank rockets." Colombian officials believe the "rockets" are grenade launchers, often used to attack police outposts.
Colombian Rebels
Rat beat me.
ReplyDeleteHomeowners face fight over wind turbinesYou guys wanted the story of legal actions against wind turbines.
ReplyDeleteAsk and ye shall get
The quest for clean, efficient energy is one of the hot investment themes of the past few years. Woodward Governor (WGOV) is right in the middle of it.
ReplyDelete...
It avoided the fate of many other industrial companies by changing course whenever necessary to meet market demand, analysts say. The cheap dollar has helped by stimulating overseas sales, which now make up about half of overall revenue, vs. 42% in 2004.
"The company is extremely well-positioned," said Peter Lisnic, an analyst at R. W. Baird & Co. "It's a very nice defensive story, if you will, from the standpoint that they are really tied to global infrastructure and aerospace."
Energy Efficiency
They chop up the birds, they ruin the view, they are noisy, we can't have that here, out west. Better to drain our life blood out to the Saudis.
ReplyDeleteBetter to live in an unincorporated area. 75% of the city councilfolks in America are horses' asses, in my experience.
Clinton also bequeathed McCain one very large gift in the form of her “3 a.m.” TV ad, leaving behind a healthy dose of doubt about Obama’s ability to assume the role of commander in chief. She did a fair job of rattling voters by suggesting that Obama just might not be tough enough or prepared to be a wartime president. (And McCain will not be hobbled by fake memories of sniper fire, nor will he be limited to an electorate purely of Democratic primary-goers.)
ReplyDeleteNow, it is an open question whether the McCain camp has learned all or even most of these lessons. It may be easy for them to discount Clinton’s experience as the legacy of a flawed and failed candidate.
But she turned out to be a pretty formidable campaigner who fought Obama to a near-tie. McCain’s team could do worse than to learn from her example.
John McCain
Four Black Robes Overturn Will of the People
ReplyDeleteJustice says it's "judicial fiat", which is exactly what it is.
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"If you don't quit on Hillary, Hillary won't quit on you."
Bubba campaigning
So if and when she drops out, it's all your fault.
Recent exit polls show some promising signs for Obama when it comes to religious voters. Though he lost the Indiana primary May 6 to Clinton by a hair, he was leading his Democratic rival 55-to-45 percent among voters who attend religious services more than once a week.
ReplyDeleteHe led that group by 20 percentage points in the North Carolina primary, which he won.
He lost that group in the West Virginia primary but also lost practically every other group.
Election Strategy
What's the difference between gay marriage, and polygamy, constitutionally?
ReplyDeleteThe Constitution doesn't cover marital topics, and any attempt to read marital topics into the Constitution must overcome Amendment 10, which reads:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
The Defense of Marriage Act already isolates other states from the interstate legal consequences of this ruling of California's high court.
The Constitution is a tricky document. All sorts of stuff seems lurking there that the normal eye doesn't see.
ReplyDeleteOntario will resume coverage of sexual reassignment surgery: Smitherman
ReplyDeleteTORONTO - Ontario will soon join other provinces in providing coverage for sex-change surgery under the province's health insurance plan, Health Minister George Smitherman confirmed Thursday.
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http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080515/national/sex_change_surgery
The Ontario Liberals will have Ontario tax payers pay for sex change, but for eye exams, physiotherapy or chiropractic care, dental care, you're on your own.
'sexual reassignment surgery"
ReplyDelete:)
Republicans need a minimum of 45 senators to pursue a filibuster strategy and block or alter Democratic legislation. They currently hold 49 Senate seats, but at least 7 of those are in jeopardy this year.
ReplyDeleteOnly 41 votes are required for a successful filibuster, but a few Republicans always defect--thus the need for 45.
If the Conservative triumph in Britain last month has any relevance for America, Republicans shouldn't get their hopes up in 2008. It took Conservatives 11 years to recover from their landslide loss to Labour in 1997.
Gloomy Republicans
I see marriage as a function of society and the state. It certainly has been that way through history. The obvious breakdown of marriage is divorce and the relative short history of divorce on a mass scale has had unintended and severe consequences to society.
ReplyDeleteIt is not up to either individuals or judges to decide what is or is not marriage. It is of interest to society as a whole and that includes the complicated interests of all groups. The basic balance of society is based on a traditional marriage. It is something that probably needs no change other than to strengthen it. Marriage is not a civil rights issue. It is how society maintains the transition of generations and basis for civil stability and governance. it is of more interest to society as a whole than as an interest of individual expression.
Smitherman..
ReplyDeleteIt was a cold, bright day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen.
Smith: Does Big Brother exist?
O'Brien: Of course he exists.
Smith: Does he exist like you or me?
O'Brien: You do not exist.
As of this afternoon, nine of the House members backing Edwards had switched allegiance to Obama: Reps. Miller, Herseth Sandlin, Gonzalez, Johnson, Oberstar, Obey, Price, Watt and Braley. Four of the pro-Edwards lawmakers -- Reps. Ethridge, McIntyre, Stupak and Michaud -- remain uncommitted.
ReplyDeleteShuler has not officially endorsed Clinton, but said he would vote for her as a superdelegate at the convention, because she had won his western North Carolina district.
Seven of Edwards' DNC superdelegates have shifted to Obama; two have switched to Clinton. Five remain uncommitted.
Swinging to Obama
Why is Chavez supporting FARC?
ReplyDeleteThu May 15, 09:11:00 PM EDT
Because it doesn't benefit him NOT to.
Because he doesn't seek "international legitimacy" through westhawk's eyes, but through the eyes of fellow travelers - of which there are many.
Because Colombia is the only missing piece in his Bolivaran empire.
Because FARC ranges through that empire.
Because the more US support Colombia needs, the better the narrative for the Chavistas.
Because Colombia cannot truly move forward until its long war is over.
More than a dozen rebel messages detail close cooperation with Venezuela, including rebel training facilities on Venezuelan soil and a meeting inside Venezuela‘s equivalent of the Pentagon. They suggest Venezuela wanted to loan the rebels US$250 million (euro190 million) and help them get Russian weapons and possibly even surface-to-air missiles.
ReplyDelete"They are serious allegations about Venezuela supplying arms and support to a terrorist organization," U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington. "Certainly, that has deep implications for the people of the region."
Some U.S. Republicans renewed calls Thursday for the State Department to add Venezuela to its list of state terror sponsors, which would prompt economic sanctions against a key U.S. oil supplier.
Rebel Data
Bobal, someday they will change people into tigers and call it "species reassignment surgery". That is a puzzle, however. It's like first you're there, and then you get assigned a gender or a species or what-have-you. Never a thought that maybe what you are is what you are all along as you form.
ReplyDeleteAfter three days, experts said, little time remains to save the thousands of people still trapped under debris.
ReplyDeleteOfficials deployed more helicopters into earthquake-stricken parts of southwest Sichuan province, where the quake killed around 15,000 people.
Local media reported that not only residents but now rescue workers were having to be evacuated from parts of Mianyang city and other parts of Sichuan. The earthquake did major damage to some dams near the epicenter of the quake and also caused landslides that have blocked rivers.
Foreign Help
Deuce: Marriage is not a civil rights issue. It is how society maintains the transition of generations and basis for civil stability and governance. it is of more interest to society as a whole than as an interest of individual expression.
ReplyDeleteSexuality was created by God to bind people together, spiritually as well as physically. And this bond is a sacrament of the fidelity between God and us. So it belongs only to the couple in question and their deity, not to society at large, although lately people have ceded control of marriage to the state and reduced it to a legal contract. Civil stability and governance derive from the universal human desire for security and a sense that one's efforts are making the world better.
More on the Raspberry
ReplyDeleteAnts
from the ever watchful ever alert C2C site.
Sexuality was created by God to bind people together, spiritually as well as physically.
ReplyDeletehmmm, well....you know I think the person I have been closed to in my life was my aunt, and we sure didn't have sex! So I don't think sex is exactly the tie that binds. This statement needs some further head scratching.
Bobal: Justice says it's "judicial fiat", which is exactly what it is.
ReplyDeleteSure Bobal. But when SCOTUS ruled the Florida Supreme Court's method for recounting ballots was unconstitutional, that was an originalist strict constructionist view. =:-O
I fail to see what logic is left to prevent some court from pronouncing all the other tabooed forms of get together as being perfectly okeydokey. Why shouldn't I marry my sister? She's a good looker too. And, if I had more than one sister, why couldn't I marry 'em all? After all, all we're doin' is practicing the ties that God gave us to bind, spiritually and physically.
ReplyDeleteYahoo!
Bobal: hmmm, well....you know I think the person I have been closed to in my life was my aunt, and we sure didn't have sex! So I don't think sex is exactly the tie that binds. This statement needs some further head scratching.
ReplyDeleteBobal, how are you bound to your aunt, by a piece of paper that says your grandmother and grandfather were married, or by the physical fact that your grandmother and grandfather came together and gave birth to both your aunt and your father (or mother as the case might be) ?
All this legal wrangling is over the piece of paper, but where the rubber meets the road, people hook up, or fall apart, and there's little regard for the paperwork. Britney Spears gets married for 11 hours, that's fine, she's straight, but let an old lesbian couple who have been together for 30 years and raised kids from diapers to diplomas show up at the Justice of the Peace and all hell breaks loose.
Them's apples and oranges and you know it =:-[O
ReplyDeleteI tried to put a little moustachey dealy in there.
If the people vote for it, so be it. It's the idea of the court over ruling the people that I think is wrong.
ReplyDeleteI want to marry my sister. Why can't I? It is not fair. I demand a court hearing.
Bobal: Why shouldn't I marry my sister? She's a good looker too. And, if I had more than one sister, why couldn't I marry 'em all? After all, all we're doin' is practicing the ties that God gave us to bind, spiritually and physically.
ReplyDeleteThe taboo against incest is grounded in a very real chance of having offspring with birth defects. If your sister gets a hysterectomy or is post-menopausal then I'd say you would be good to go, but since our society bases the concept of marriage on procreation, it can never condone it. But sometimes you get stories of elderly couples consisting of a brother and sister being harassed by prosecutors.
Good night Bobal, what I really wanted to do was show off my car.
ReplyDeleteAnd congrats on getting kicked upstairs to barkeep.
Well, it's only natural. After all, Freud taught us, every little boy wants to kill papa, and run off with mama, to practive the ties that bind.
ReplyDeleteto practice the ties..
ReplyDeleteGood night, Miss T. Sleep tight.
And that's a hell of a car, too. I had a 1965 Mustang Fastback. The other day, I was looking at trucks, and in one dealership was a Corvette for around 52K, and in another, a Ford Mustang for seventy-two thousand dollars. I asked the guy, why so much? Gets you there before you've left, he said.
ReplyDeleteSex and marriage are two different issues. Sex is a human thing. It is universal. It is life. You do not need marriage for sex. Marriage on the other hand is a business deal. It is the framework for societal architecture.
ReplyDeleteWords have meaning. They are specific. They identify. Calling a Ford a Chevrolet does not make it so. it misidentifies a similar thing. Marriage is between a man and woman because that it a time honed reality and the wishes of most people. Marriage is between a man and a woman because people say it is.