MeLoDy said...
Veteran: someone, who at one point in their life, wrote a blank check payable to the United States of America for an amount up to, and including, their life. That is beyond honor and there are way too many people in this country who no longer remember that fact.
My prayers to all the veterans, current enlisted and their families. Thank you for your selfless love.
My prayers to all the veterans, current enlisted and their families. Thank you for your selfless love.
THEN
NOW
Let me add my sincerest thanks to all who served.
ReplyDeleteIt's too bad that with all the immunizations and vaccinations recruits are given, we haven't developed one to prevent vets from becoming "anal orifices."
Just kidding. :)
Happy Veterans Day!
Applebees is offering a free meal today to all veterans and active duty personnel.
ReplyDeleteTake some proof of service.
Better asset management, by the Federals. Sell some off, "privatize" others.
ReplyDeleteFunny, I've read that before.
Happy Veterans Day.
Fire the private contractor soldiers, bring the ground troops home from Europe, Korea and Japan.
It's not the 20th Century, any more.
Thanks for the tweak.
ReplyDeleteMLD, Mr. Whit noticed my oversight in not including your comment with this post. I did give you a hat tip but my every vigilant partner attached your post.
Thanks, to you both.
Our flag is up. Thank you Vets.
ReplyDeleteOne way or another you always walk into an ambush. Some to probe, some hard luck.
ReplyDeleteYour probe needs some hard luck.
ReplyDelete...or viagra
Cheap Trick - "Don't Be Cruel" (Subtitulada)
ReplyDelete...on Imus album.
Imus Ranch Records
ReplyDelete...for the children.
With Cancer.
Wife has some weird liver cancer that does not kill, immediately, at least, still learning about it.
ReplyDeleteWhen Doc told us I said that they planned on sending her to the big island for a week, and asked if we should call that off.
Doc replied:
"No, go ahead and go, you can make an appointment with the Oncologist when you get back."
...so he either wants her dead, or is not worried about a condition that responds to drugs.
That's his answer, and he's sticking to it.
On Veterans Day, honoring Marine who lost limbs in Afghanistan, but not spirit
ReplyDeleteWish it were for a war we fought to win, but his spirit no doubt transcends such errata.
I'm really sorry to hear that Doug, truly.
ReplyDeleteAlternate Energy Holdings CEO Invited to Speak at Key Nuclear Energy Conference
ReplyDeleteBOISE, Idaho, November 11, 2010 - Don Gillispie, CEO of Eagle, Idaho-based Alternate Energy Holdings, Inc (OTCQB:AEHI) (http://www.aehipower.com) has been invited to speak as an industry expert at the Platts 7th annual Nuclear Energy conference in Bethesda, MD, February 16-18, 2011.
As Platts describes it, the "Nuclear Energy conference is the leading forum for a strategic view of nuclear energy in North America, featuring the major players and experienced voices in the nuclear industry." (http://www.platts.com/ConferenceDetail/2011/pc109/index) This year's conference will cover the rapid growth of nuclear energy around the world, and explore how the United States can catch up. Sessions will delve into such details as reactor designs and financing schemes that can speed progress in the industry.
In his February 17 panel, Gillispie will talk about the cost advantages of nuclear power compared to other forms of energy and explain how his company, AEHI, is working toward building a large dual-reactor nuclear power plant in Payette County, Idaho. "My message will be that nuclear power is a clear winner compared to solar, wind, and other thermal sources, making it an attractive to both large power users and investors. It is also important to let the industry know how AEHI is getting this plant locally approved and funded, so that other companies can begin following the unique model to help expand nuclear plants in the U.S. again," says Gillispie, a 45-year veteran of the industry.
Gillispie will also describe how nuclear power can solve a growing world crisis-scarcity of clean water-with nuclear-powered desalination plants. AEHI's Green World Water(TM) (www.greenworld-h2o.com) subsidiary is already marketing such systems, produced by China National Nuclear Corporation, through a new office in West Africa and other interested countries.
"I hope that this conference will show that the U.S. is once again on the path to a cleaner, safer, nuclear-powered future," Gillispie says.
Sam, the Cleaning Lady says I'll be dead before I cash in on AEHI, but you're young, maybe you should take a look at it.
ReplyDeleteBut don't take my word for it.
Quirk Sponsored this Rally
ReplyDelete'sposed not to be a big deal, Bob, but thanks.
ReplyDeleteWe will see: "Normal" liver cancer kills you in six months.
...they waited/wasted a year to get a biopsy.
Again, because they don't care, or, more likely:
Know what they are doing.
NEW YORK — Chevron (CVX) is buying natural gas producer Atlas Energy (ATLS) in a cash-and-stock deal worth $3.2 billion.
ReplyDeleteIncluding debt of about $1.1 billion, the deal is worth $4.3 billion in all.
Chevron, based in San Ramon, Calif., is the latest major energy company to make a big acquisition in the natural gas sector, following ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell. Atlas is a big player in the Marcellus shale of Western Pennsylvania and elsewhere.
heh, well that's cute, they got the names in a swastika
ReplyDeleteThe deal would give Chevron access to more than 450,000 acres of land in the Marcellus region. An estimated 9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas lies beneath those acres.
ReplyDeleteThose are the three gas cards I have, Chevron, Exxon and Shell.
ReplyDeleteI shouldn't have any trouble getting natural gas.
When I was farming at Nez Perce a Canadian company came down and drilled a well about 4 miles away. All this caused a big stir, but no oil and just a whiff of natural gas.
ReplyDeleteDamn!
doug:
ReplyDeletejust make sure they know what they're doing or find someone who does.
How
ReplyDeleteThe EPA Is Killing The American Economy
On the list is Deuce's mention of remodeling work by small contractors.
A Broken President
ReplyDeleteBy Geoffrey P. Hunt
As the nation swept the Democrats to the curb on November 2, the sheer relief of having been rescued from consignment to a collectivist dustbin was a blast of pure oxygen. Obama was not only crushed; he was disowned. While the absolute gains in Congress and State Houses all across the country were stunning enough, it was the speed of the about-face that was astonishing and epic.
Just two years ago, Obama was hailed as a 21st-century Lincoln, the figurative progeny of FDR and JFK combined. The finest dramatic speech-maker since Sir John Gielgud dominated the Shakespearean stage. The most gifted political orator since Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King. The long-awaited enlightened emperor who would soothingly heal rifts abroad, seamlessly ushering in a new era of social justice while effortlessly repairing a broken economy at home.
Instead, we now have a broken president. His domestic agenda is dead -- è morto. His legislative gains will soon be disarmed, if not unraveled. His agenda abroad fares no better. The embarrassing extravaganza in India was another lavish display of his ignorance of history -- this time about India and Pakistan. And his cowardly evasion in defining jihad was injury enough. How insulting to Indian lawmakers to witness in their own chamber that Obama was no orator -- just a mere speech-reader, carrying his teleprompter like an IV drip, the first-ever orator in that body to require the mechanical cue cards.
Our hapless president was outdone only by the excesses displayed by his wife. More diamond-studded belts and broaches and wear-only-once satin dresses and shopping bags bursting at the seams while two out of ten of her broke fellow Americans endure another day out of work waiting for the sheriff to serve foreclosure papers.
Contrast this empty and obscene pomp with FDR's modest yet practical choice of venues for meeting foreign dignitaries -- the state rooms of U.S. Navy cruisers such as the USS Augusta. Or Eleanor's selfless outreach to poor coal miners in Appalachia and her numerous visits to CCC camps all across the country in the 1930s.
Can this man, our president, and his lady be any more imaginative in finding ways to remove themselves from the realities of everyday Americans? Was this a vain attempt at recapturing the Star of India glitter or simply Obama's last hurrah, the favorite meal and final cigar of a man condemned to the gallows?
What remains of his presidency? Where can he go from here?
With liberals desperately searching for any Lazarus scenario, Obama has neither the issues nor the votes to mount any revival. Is there any foreign policy issue that he can win? How will appeasing radical Muslims, continuing to prosecute a war he doesn't believe in, piling on further debt that leaves even European socialists gasping, devaluing the dollar by monetizing our debt, and happily denying America's greatness in the world be winning issues?
Is there a single domestic initiative remaining -- energy, labor, environment, taxes, or social justice -- where his brand of collectivist big government solutions will have the ear of the American people and the votes in Congress? And he doesn't have the votes in the Senate to name any more Supreme Court justices.
We are a nation without a president.
That's just music to my ears. Let the House of Representatives run the country.
ReplyDeleteI'm going back to bed, happy.
U.S. Marine 2nd Lt. Robert M. Kelly had a quick wit, a fondness for history and ice hockey and a deep love of country, his friends and family members said.
ReplyDeleteKelly, 29, a 2003 Florida State University graduate, was killed Tuesday by the blast of an improvised explosive device while taking part in dismounted combat operations against enemy forces in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
He was an infantry officer assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Pendleton, Calif. The decorated officer was a son of Lt. Gen. John F. Kelly, commander of the Marine Forces Reserve and Marine Forces North. His brother, John Kelly, also is a Marine. “Growing up in a military family, he had a sense of duty,” said Matthew Rowland, who met Kelly in 2000 when they were freshmen at FSU. “I think he always knew he was going into the military. When we were in school, he studied a lot of military history — he was a big reader and a history buff.”
I was prompted by the owner of the house we rented in Lanikai last spring to visit the Punchbowl.
ReplyDeleteI had avoided visits in the past. Ghosts? Who knows?
This is an edit of my letter back to her:
You may remember that my daughter and her husband named their baby boy Graham. Partially in homage to my biological father John Graham Evans.
He was lost at sea over North Africa flying with the USAAF when I was little older than Graham...
His younger brother David was also a pilot, with the USMC, and was also lost at sea. In the South West Pacific...
My mother lost her father in the same year.
John's mother lost her husband, my grandfather, also with in a year of her boys' deaths. She moved back, alone, to the family homestead in the foothills of Lake Osoyoos. Living her life out in a primitive home with well drawn water...
But back to the Punchbowl. I was babysitting Graham as my daughter was taking a summer class to help with her grad school application. And together Graham and I visited the Punchbowl during the week prior to Memorial Day while she was in class. I remember hearing requests on the car radio for donations of leis, or if that was not possible, simply plumeria blossoms for the Punchbowl staff to use for Memorial Day. I asked her husband about that later and he said that it was his understanding that many, if not most, of the commercially used leis in Hawaii came from Thailand. And that with the unrest there supply had been cut...
The day Graham and I visited the cemetery was full of workers mowing, pruning and generally neating up. Not that many visitors. We looked, to no avail, for my uncle David's name in the courts of the missing. I was confused and disappointed.
But I found myself gravitating up to the statue and the murals behind her. And, if I read the inscriptions correctly, the missing of WWII in the South West Pacific have their own memorial, similar to the Punchbowl, in Manila... So that was somewhat reassuring. Then I went in to the small chapel in the back. Very quiet and peaceful. And allowed me to collect my thoughts and feelings. Graham being a perfect companion. It was striking to me that the center of three floral displays there at the altar rail was from the DAR.
The last day I was in Hawaii was Memorial Day. And I thought I would just drive through...
Well, maybe three hours later, I did drive through! Emotionally spent and awed.
I was totally unprepared, even knowing they were there, for the effect of the flags along side of the drive up to the gates and then the flags (and leis!) on each and every grave...
There were so many families and individuals at the grave sites. So many supplemental floral displays... I think I started to lose it when I made my first turn around the West side of the bowl. There was an older guy, maybe my age, who'd brought a large display for a grave... But the striking thing to me, now in the early afternoon, was that it appeared that he had been at the grave all day. There were picnic materials and an empty champagne bottle. And he was obviously grieving... Other sites had happy family picnics with children running about. All totally unexpected.
On the way up the drive I had passed a young woman on a bicycle carrying a small bouquet. Later, as I sat on the edge of the plaza above the courts of the missing below the statue I saw her again. Standing there quietly contemplating the statue. Still later, as I again sought refuge in the chapel, this time nearly full of floral displays, I saw her again. She came in, paused, placed her bouquet among others at the rail and then returned to a pew and knelt in prayer for at least a half hour...
An altogether once in a lifetime memorable experience. And I think I would've skipped it as I had in the past if it were not for your prompting.
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This is what can happen when the socialist pacifier is taken away.
ReplyDeleteHijacking of a very middle class protest: Anarchists cause chaos as 50,000 students take to streets over fees
That is some account, gnossos.
ReplyDeleteAnd I mean that in only the best sense.
ReplyDeleteAn 85 year old woman died recently. She had six sons, eight daughters, 69 grandchildren, 100 great grandchildren, and 15 greatgreat grandchildren.
ReplyDeleteWas she arab?
ReplyDelete15 greatgreat grandchildren.
ReplyDeleteHer mini mini mini mini mes
She's a veteran of the propagation wars, for sure.
ReplyDeleteShe was a black woman.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if she had tag on the front of car which read, "Let Tell You About My Grandchildren."
69 of them!
"MLD, Mr. Whit noticed my oversight in not including your comment with this post"
ReplyDeleteI understand. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. You were probably out getting your free meal at Applebees and it's hard to post from a cell phone.
I could have used a free meal today.
Thanks chief.
hmmm, she did a wonderful job on those pork ribs. Vegetarians don't know what they are missing.
ReplyDeleteI've never been able to understand vegetarians. I took an ancient history class one summer down at Walla Walla for the hell of it at the Seventh Day Adventist college there (that was a hoot--their history went back only about 5,000 years) and everybody was vegetarian. You'd go over to the Student Center and order a hamburger, and what you'd get was a damn vegie burger. I thought it was funny as hell. I just don't get vegetarians. They don't want a T-bone steak once in a while. for goodness sakes.....
ReplyDeleteWhat a waste of possible pleasure.
Not ever an Idaho red trout at Hagadone's Resort. It's sad, is what it is. :)
No pheasant under glass, no ruffed grouse the way I used to cook them, just perfectly, no elk, no deer, no clam chowder, no bacon and eggs, no T-bone steak, no Big Mac, no turkey at Thanksgiving, no wonderful trout, no steelhead, no crab.....what the hell kind of life is that?
ReplyDeleteRudabegas and onions and potatoes, and tossed greens and beets and turnips.....
And the doc said I was in great shape, least on the outside, so there.
ReplyDeleteNo smorgasbord, alas.
ReplyDeleteI'd think they'd have to take megamultiple vitamins everyday, but I quit the subject.
ReplyDeleteI thot the Trout were pink.
ReplyDeleteWe had Steelhead in our stream.
ReplyDeleteCongressional Leadership Pushing D.R.E.A.M Act Amnesty
ReplyDeleteCurrent House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is joining forces with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to push the D.R.E.A.M. Act amnesty through Congress during the lame duck session. With the loss of many pro-amnesty Representatives in the mid-term election, the current leadership recognizes that this may be their best chance to advance a policy that has failed numerous times in Congress.
The decision by Pelosi and Reid to continue to shove an unpopular policy on the American public, shows how uncommitted they are to the millions of unemployed Americans struggling to find work.
Please send this critical message to your 3 Representatives in Congress today, asking them to stand against Pelosi and Reid's pro-amnesty agenda.
Read Full Story
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ReplyDeleteDoug, sorry to hear about your wife.
With your sister and now your wife, your family is getting more than it's share of bad news.
Hopefully, you will get encouraging news when you see the oncologist.
,
No shrimp salad, no shrimp cocktail, not even a cheese sandwich....I mean HONESTLY
ReplyDeleteah, maybe they were pink...don't know why they call them by a color they aren't, sounds good I guess.
We had Steelhead in our stream.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if they are still there. They used to come right by unca Jerry's house in the middle of Walla Walla, stream about eight feet across at most.
Evolution and Diet - Hunter Gatherers to Farmers
ReplyDeleteRemains of fossil humans indicate decrease in health status after the Neolithic. In most respects, the changes in diet from hunter-gatherer times to agricultural times have been almost all detrimental, although there is some evidence we'll discuss later indicating that at least some genetic adaptation to the Neolithic has begun taking place in the approximately 10,000 years since it began. With the much heavier reliance on starchy foods that became the staples of the diet, tooth decay, malnutrition, and rates of infectious disease increased dramatically over Paleolithic times, further exacerbated by crowding leading to even higher rates of communicable infections.
ReplyDeleteSkeletal remains show that height decreased by four inches* from the Late Paleolithic to the early Neolithic, brought about by poorer nutrition, and perhaps also by increased infectious disease causing growth stress, and possibly by some inbreeding in communities that were isolated. Signs of osteoporosis and anemia, which was almost non-existent in pre-Neolithic times, have been frequently noted in skeletal pathologies observed in the Neolithic peoples of the Middle East. It is known that certain kinds of osteoporosis which have been found in these skeletal remains are caused by anemia, and although the causes have not yet been determined exactly, the primary suspect is reduced levels of iron thought to have been caused by the stress of infectious disease rather than dietary deficiency, although the latter remains a possibility.
The smaller forms were noted in Joseph Campbell. Lately however some peoples are getting bigger, i.e. the Japanese. But they eat sushi.
Las Vegas Casinos Ignore Bans on Smoking
ReplyDeleteBy ADAM NAGOURNEY
Published: November 11, 2010
LAS VEGAS — The notice on the door to the hotel-casino was emphatic. “The Westin Casuarina is a Smoke Free Environment. Thank you for not smoking.” Just beyond, four people were hunched over slot machines the other afternoon, wisps of cigarette smoke swirling around them as they happily puffed away.
And it was perfectly legal. “This is good,” said Ray Wan, a flight attendant from Hawaii, lighting up a cigarette as the slot machine beeped and whirled before him.
At a time when much of the rest of the nation — indeed much of the rest of the world — is on a crusade to banish smoking in public, the casinos of Las Vegas have emerged as a smokers’ oasis, perhaps the last place free from the restrictions that have spread from restaurants to bars to malls to cars carrying children. Nevada law trumps Westin policy.
I'm not advocating smoking only a proprietors freedom to determine whether or not smoking is allowed in his or her establishment.
Sliced raw fish by itself is called sashimi, as distinct from sushi.
ReplyDeleteThey eat both.
I got sick on raw fish in Hawaii once, last time for that.
I have never been to an Applebees, Are they good?
ReplyDeleteYou wouldn't get far in Moscow with that Whit. The argument was made before the City Council, and the proprietors lost.
ReplyDeleteNo smoking in any Moscow bars.
Which has hurt business.
We have them here, they're ok.
ReplyDeleteHaven't been in years. Are they good? What do want for free?
ReplyDeleteGo, avail yourself. Report back.
If you are ever in CdA go to the Coeur d'Alene Resort.
ReplyDeleteFor a nice view, go to the upstairs restaurant.
ReplyDeleteI will do just that! Can't wait.
ReplyDeleteLet me tell you. When you have been raised on the finest, freshest gulf seafood; grouper, snapper, dolphin, shrimp, oysters, scallops - all fried to a delicious golden brown and served with deviled crab, hush puppies, french fries, cole slaw cheese grits, tartar sauce, cocktail sauce and sweet tea. You're spoiled.
ReplyDeleteSushi don't cut it with Bubba.
ReplyDeleteOne of my dear, departed friends loved fried seafood (actually any fried food) so much that she had just eaten at a seafood buffet on the evening of her heart attack. :(
ReplyDeleteShe had to wait weeks before heart surgery because her cholesterol was over 600 and her blood looked like milk.
None of that had anything to do with her eventual demise.
No animal cruelty, no animal cruelty, no animal cruelty, no animal cruelty, no animal cruelty, no animal cruelty, no animal cruelty, no animal cruelty
ReplyDeleteno pandemics, no heart disease, better digestion, no chemicals, no carcinogens, no cholesterol
I also quit smoking six years ago.
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteI also quit smoking six years ago...
Oh, that explains it.
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ReplyDeleteOne Man's Views on Redistricting
Obviously, legislatures are strange beasts and can do any number of things with redistricting. Some have estimated that Republicans will gain as many as 30 seats from redistricting. I see the most likely scenario being Republicans picking up a dozen or so seats from Democrats as a result of redistricting, although the upside on that prediction is probably with the Republicans. Remember, candidate recruitment and the national environment can cause a gerrymander to boomerang on a party that spreads itself too thin: Pennsylvania legislators thought they had enshrined a 13-6 Republican delegation; by 2008 it was 12-7 for the Democrats...
Michigan: Michigan loses a seat. Republicans could play it safe and eliminate one of their own districts. The problem is that, even if they wanted to do this, the population losses are occurring in Democratic districts. My guess is that Gary Peters' district is dismembered, with the Democratic parts going into the 12th District (which in turn will be losing constituents to the 13th and 14th) and the Republican parts used to shore up the 11th and 8th...
I'm in Peters district.
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That explains what?
ReplyDeletethat i can hear you hacking through the computer screen
ReplyDeleteI didn't know you were so big into animal cruelty.
ReplyDeleteYou must be against Deuce's mistake attitude towards the wolves and the elk then. :)
At that, we are at one.
My beloved aunt was big on animal kindness. She said. "Bob, just don't shoot the deer" - out on her place that I bought from her.
And, I never have.
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ReplyDeleteThe nonpartisan Congressional Budget office recently evaluated different options for improving employment based on their economic efficiency. It rated aid to the unemployed, which Republicans oppose, as the best option; infrastructure as a middling one; and reducing income taxes as the worst. But two other options it rated highly—reducing employers’ payroll taxes and allowing companies to lower their taxes up front by deducting the whole cost of a business investment when it is spent instead of over time—may get bipartisan support in Washington.
To some extent, though, the partisan allegiances of the Upper Midwest will be out of Democrats’ control for now. Republicans have won control of more statehouses in those Midwestern states than they have enjoyed in decades, and the economic advantages, or lack thereof, of shutting down projects like high-speed rail, will soon be apparent. Says Dayton: “A bunch of Republican ideas will be put to the test.”
Democrats 2012 Midwest Problems
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Well, Whit, really, we shouldn't be cruel to a crab!
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of people are we anyway, being cruel to an oyster.
ReplyDeleteno chemicals, no carcinogens
ReplyDeleteYou only eat organic veggies?
I bet.
I'll do your Thanksgiving Day prayer
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mel on the issue of animal cruelty.
ReplyDeleteNot big on organic veggies unless they are locally grown.
ReplyDeleteSo do I.
ReplyDeleteShoot the real culprits, the wolves.
If the thieves and crooks put 1/10th the brainpower into balancing the budget as they do into gerrymandering themselves into a little more power, we'd be Golden.
ReplyDeleteWe have a farmer's market on Saturdays during the summer at Moscow.
ReplyDeleteSome of the organics really aren't so organic.
Mary Butters gets her 'organic' lentils from my friend Wayne.
She lies.
But, she's now rich, Wayne's struggling.
jeez, you must really be a member of PETA. I had no idea.
ReplyDeletee-mail from Mat
ReplyDeleteMat is always looking out for me.
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ReplyDeleteIf the thieves and crooks put 1/10th the brainpower into balancing the budget as they do into gerrymandering themselves into a little more power, we'd be Golden...
Boehner says his main objective is to assure Obama is a one term president. I thought his main objective is to get us out of the mess we are in.
It looks like we can count on the next two years being productive.
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Obama as a one term President is the definition of being productive and getting us out of the mess we are in.
ReplyDeleteOur Lovable Local Fraud - Mary Jane Butters
ReplyDeleteO Emil!
ReplyDeleteheheheh, she's funny as hell really, and totally full of shit.
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ReplyDeleteObama wasted a year dicking around with health care when he should have been working on fixing the economy and putting people back to work.
He paid the price Nov. 2.
The GOP will waste the next two years, if Boehner and McConnell have anything to say with it, with their petty politics and will accomplish nothing.
They will likely pay the price also.
In the meantime, the voting public is screwed.
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ReplyDeleteRepublican Calls For War
The release this week of former President George W. Bush's memoirs is a welcome reminder of how American foreign policy has changed for the better since the good old days of launching wars for no reason. Unfortunately, Sen. Lindsey Graham of North Carolina doesn't seem to have caught up on his reading. Instead, at a Nov. 6 conclave in Halifax, Nova Scotia, he came out swinging in favor of a new war. The target: Iran. The goal: to "neuter the regime."
War proponents seem to have realized that the massive downsides involved in launching a war are scaring people off. So Graham's rhetorical tack was to acknowledge the risks and then sweep them away with a confusing metaphor. "If you take military action," he said, "you do open up Pandora's box. But if you let them get a weapon, you empty Pandora's box."
Growing awareness of the problems with military options is presumably what's driving Graham's talk of "neutering." Up until now, the primary issue under discussion was bombing Iranian nuclear facilities. This, however, won't stop Iran from getting a bomb and may make it go nuclear sooner. Hence Graham's proposal "not to just neutralize their nuclear program, but to sink their navy, destroy their air force, and deliver a decisive blow to the Revolutionary Guard -- in other words, neuter that regime."
Graham Politics for War
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SEOUL, South Korea – The world's economies stand on the brink of a trade war as leaders of rich and emerging nations gather in Seoul.
ReplyDeleteA dispute over whether China and the United States are manipulating their currencies is threatening to resurrect destructive protectionist policies like those that worsened the Great Depression. The biggest fear is that trade barriers will send the global economy back into recession.
A $Trillion Budget Deficit, A Half a Trillion Trade Deficit, and
ReplyDeletea 9.6% Unemployment Rate,
and Reid and Pelosi want to spend the rest of the year dicking around with the "DREAM" Act (jobs for illegals.)
You've gotta be shitting me.
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ReplyDeleteIraqi Christians welcome in north, Kurdish leader says
Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi Christians under siege by Islamic militants are welcome in the country's north, a Kurdish leader said Thursday, after a string of attacks that have killed dozens of the faith.
"I want to let them know that the Kurdistan Region is open to them. If they want to come, we will protect them and provide them with all services," said Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan regional government. "We are extremely sorry for the crimes they have been subjected to and we condemn these criminal acts, they are innocent people and a precious part of this nation."
In the past, the regional government has opened its doors to other persecuted minorities.
Many Christian families that CNN spoke to Wednesday said they feared for their own safety and wanted to leave Iraq, but didn't have the means to do so. Some Iraqi church leaders and politicians such as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki have been discouraging Iraqi Christians, one of the oldest Christian civilizations in the world, from leaving...
Iraqi Christians Welcomed by Kurds
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ReplyDeleteReport: Egypt aided Israel's assassination of top Gaza militant
Time Magazine claims Egyptian intelligence tipped Israel off ahead of the arrival of a senior Army of Islam militant as part of its attempts to thwart terror activity in Sinai.
Egypt assisted in the recent assassination of a high-ranking Gaza militant, Time Magazine reported on Thursday, saying Cairo was prompted to aid Israel as a result of its desire to damage Hezbollah's efforts in the Sinai Peninsula.
Egypt Aids Israeli Intelligence Operation
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ReplyDeleteUS Troops out of Afghanistan by 2014?
Message to the Taliban: Forget July 2011, the date that President Barack Obama set to begin withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan. The more important date is 2014 when the international coalition hopes Afghan soldiers and policemen will be ready to take the lead in securing the nation.
That date will be the focus of discussions later this month at a NATO summit in Lisbon, Portugal, the third and largest international meeting on Afghanistan this year.
Heads of state and other officials there will talk about how to assess security and other conditions so that government security forces can begin to take control of some of Afghanistan's 34 provinces next spring, allowing international forces to go home or move to other parts of the country.
"NATO emissaries are still bargaining over exactly how many troops will remain after departure day and for what purposes," says Leslie H. Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations. "Details aside, the devastating truth is that U.S. forces will be fighting in Afghanistan for at least four more years."
The 2014 Date Isn't New
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Since my daughter is coming this weekend I got moved back downstairs to the bed that kills my back. Last time I was down here I had a running battle for a week with a spider I have named Oscar the Spider, a big fellow. I had given him some whacks before, but he has the recuperative power of a cat. This time, he just met his match. I am sorry for this, PETA, usually I am as kind to insects as a Jain with a broom, unless they fuck with me, which Oscar made the mistake of doing.
ReplyDeleteOh, I forgot; Best of luck to your wife, Doug. If the Doctors don't seem worried, it'll probably be alright. Here's hoping.
ReplyDeleteI want specifics from any of these ideas about the budget.
ReplyDeleteI am a firm believer in developing a whole new entrepreneurial class in the US.
It should be done at the state level. It should be geared to manufacturing.
It should be focused on import replacement.
Contemporaneously we should be moving to the only truly sustainable energy technology which is nuclear.
We need to develop transportation, heating and manufacturing that is electrically/nuclear based.
That would be a winner.
I have a feeling we are going to get more of the same.
ReplyDeleteGood ideas.
ReplyDeleteWe'll build the nuke plant at Payette and then go into the business of....... I don't know.
I was thinking ag equipment but that's not import replacement, most is made here now.
It's tough thinking of something here that would be import replacement, except the stuff at Wal-Mart. We already make ammo here. Tools maybe, high quality reasonably priced tools of all kinds.
My cousin runs a welding fabrication shop. Makes all kinds of stuff. The trouble is, there isn't much volume to any of it. For awhile they were making wood burning stoves, very nice ones, but even that didn't have a lot of volume. They were making header carts for combine headers, that too wasn't a big volume deal. It's hard to come up with good ideas on what to manufacture around here with any volume to it.
ReplyDeleteImport export business to retail portable nukes at the commercial and residential level (google Hyperion).
ReplyDeleteWe have a type of clay here that is rare that can be used as the inner lining of a super high heat kiln of some kind, but not sure exactly what they are used for. I know that is coming down the pike. Persumeably we could build them here.
ReplyDeleteWe already build really good jet boats.
Import replacement would dictate the type of manufacturing. IMO Rufus and WIO rightly claim the best import to replace should be petroleum.
ReplyDeleteThe best way to become independent of imported oil is to stop burning it. Home heating and generation of electricity would be the easiest first step in weaning the economy off of oil burning.
Manufacturing could be electric based.
Public transportation and long haul trucking could be based on ethanol or LNG.
Any of these changes should be based on domestic manufacturing,
Air transport could be nuclear based:
Nuclear-powered aircraft may sound like a concept from Thunderbirds, but they will be transporting millions of passengers around the world later this century, the leader of a Government-funded project to reduce environmental damage from aviation believes.
The consolation of sitting a few yards from a nuclear reactor will be non-stop flights from London to Australia or New Zealand, because the aircraft will no longer need to land to refuel. The flights will also produce no carbon emissions and therefore make no contribution to global warming.
Ian Poll, Professor of Aerospace Engineering at Cranfield university, and head of technology for the Government-funded Omega project, is calling for a big research programme to help the aviation industry convert from fossil fuels to nuclear energy.
In a lecture at the Royal Aeronautical Society tonight, Professor Poll will say that experiments conducted during the Cold War have already demonstrated that there are no insurmountable obstacles to developing a nuclear-powered aircraft.
The United States and the Soviet Union both began developing nuclear-powered bombers in the 1950s. The idea was that these bombers would remain airborne, within striking distance of their targets, for very long periods.
The United States tested a nuclear-powered jet engine on the ground and also carried out flight tests with a nuclear reactor on board a B-36 jet with a lead-lined cockpit over West Texas and Southern New Mexico. The reactor “ran hot” during the flights but the engines were powered by kerosene. The purpose of the flights was to prove that the crew could be safely shielded from the reactor.
Each flight was accompanied by an aircraft packed with marines ready to respond to a crash by parachuting down and securing the area.
The test programmes were abandoned in the early 1960s when the superpowers decided that intercontinental ballistic missiles made nuclear-powered planes redundant.
n an interview with The Times, Professor Poll said: “We need to be looking for a solution to aviation emissions which will allow flying to continue in perpetuity with zero impact on the environment.
ReplyDelete“We need a design which is not kerosene-powered, and I think nuclear-powered aeroplanes are the answer beyond 2050. The idea was proved 50 years ago, but I accept it would take about 30 years to persuade the public of the need to fly on them.”
Professor Poll said the big challenge would be to demonstrate that passengers and crew could be safely shielded from the reactors.
“It's done on nuclear submarines and could be achieved on aircraft by locating the reactors with the engines out on the wings,” he said.
“The risk of reactors cracking open in a crash could be reduced by jettisoning them before impact and bringing them down with parachutes.”
He said that, in the worst-case scenario, if the armour plating around the reactor was pierced there would be a risk of radioactive contamination over a few square miles.
“If we want to continue to enjoy the benefits of air travel without hindrance from environmental concerns, we need to explore nuclear power. If aviation remains wedded to fossil fuels, it will run into serious trouble,” he said.
“Unfortunately, nuclear power has been demonised but it has the potential to be very beneficial to mankind.”
Professor Poll said an alternative to carrying nuclear reactors on aircraft would be to develop aircraft fuelled by hydrogen extracted from sea water by nuclear power stations.
However, he said that while hydrogen could be suitable for ground-based transport, its energy density was much lower than kerosene and it would be very difficult to design a long-range passenger aircraft capable of carrying enough of the fuel.
Rob Coppinger, technical editor of Flight International magazine, said it was more likely that nuclear reactors would be installed on unmanned air vehicles, used for reconnaissance or in combat, because there would be less need for heavy shielding than on a passenger plane.
Professor Poll will also present research tonight into measures to improve the efficiency over the next decade of short-haul aircraft such as the Boeing 737 and the Airbus A320. He will say that the replacements for these aircraft are likely to fly more slowly, adding about 10 minutes to a typical flight within Europe.
They are also likely to have open-rotor engines, which would use 20 per cent less fuel but could be much noisier than existing jet engines.
You are thinking a little bigger than I was...
ReplyDeleteThis proposed nuke plant is supposed to turn out some ethanol, too.
Out here, most of the homes are heated by electricity already, from the dams. It's cheaper than natural gas.
We should convert our trucking away from diesel.
Happy Veterans Day!
ReplyDeleteMost of the world's moly is produced at nuclear reactors in only five countries: Belgium, Canada, France, the Netherlands and South Africa.
ReplyDelete...
Pretoria in September mothballed a projected cutting-edge nuclear reactor, after pouring more than one billion dollars into the development of a new type of small plant touted as a safer source of nuclear power.
South Africa is now looking overseas for expertise in building new nuclear plants to expand its electricity supply, which created worries about the future of the local industry.
Nukes Into Medicine
George Soros, Nazi
ReplyDeleteg'nite
As all of you have noticed, I'm a peak oiler, but not a doomer.
ReplyDeleteI may, over the course of the night, make a few comments on why I am the former, but not one of the latter.
Then again, I may not (I'm getting tired.) :)
But, the encapsulated version would be:
1) CAFE Standards for 35 mpg (an almost doubling of present mileage) are already in place (it's not negotiable; it's the law.)
2) RFS2 (Renewable Fuels Standard) Requires 36 Billion Gallons/Yr of Ethanol by IIRC 2022. Again, it's the Law.
So, if you cut gasoline usage by 50% (from 130 Billion Gallons/Yr to 65 Billion gpy,) and you replace 36 Billion gpy with ethanol you are down to a need (at the most) for 29 Billion gpy of gasoine.
We can supply 29 bgpy of gasoline from about 1/2 of our present oil production.
The "Bad" news is, all of this is going to take, at least, a decade, and probably more. That's why I always say we're in for a rough ten years, not a tough 20 years.
Pretoria in September mothballed a projected cutting-edge nuclear reactor, after pouring more than one billion dollars into the development of a new type of small plant touted as a safer source of nuclear power.
ReplyDeleteDon't know what the deal is there but Los Alamos has half a century of research invested in the Hyperion design (40+ years). It WILL fly and then some but as I told Bob, timing is a crucial variable (investment success is 98% timing and 2% inside information:) and the world is spinning very fast right now. One of my suspicions is that the oil companies are scrambling for time to diversify their investment portfolios before making any significant switch to alternatives, just as the tobacco companies stalled until they could get their capital diversified.
Also, in June, ground was broken for a $700 million plant to produce the non-nuclear components of nuclear warheads. In addition, $225 million is requested for a new facility at the Los Alamos National Laboratory for the production of fissionable cores, called "pits," for nuclear weapons.
ReplyDelete...
Clearly, any opportunity to reduce the number of nuclear weapons must not be wasted. Even though the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1970 requires the five nuclear armed signatories of England, France, Russia, China and the United States "Š to halt the development of all nuclear weapons ..." national and international politics have, so far, not allowed that to happen.
It’s a START but what the world needs now is an END to nuclear weapons.
Nuclear Era
Cleaning Lady----
ReplyDeleteHere is a passage from an appraisal I had done on some land recently---
The precise origin of the name Moscow has been disputed, but there is no proof that it was named by a Russian or for the Russian city. It is reported by early settlers that five men in the area met to choose a proper name for the town, but could not come to consensus on a name. The postmaster Samuel Neff then completed the official papers for the town and selected the name Moscow. Interestingly, Neff was born in Moscow, Pennsylvania and later moved to Moscow, Iowa.
That is the best answer I have as to how my fair town got it's name.
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ReplyDeleteThe 10 biggest US cities that are expected to have severe water shortages in the next few years.
1. LA
2. Houston
3. Phoenix
4. San Antonio
5. San Francisco Bay Area
6. Ft. Worth
7. Las Vegas
8. Tuscon
9. Atlanta
10. Orlando
Ten Great American Cities That are Dying of Thirst
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ReplyDeleteStudy: 100,000 Hispanics left Arizona after SB1070
A new study suggests there may be 100,000 fewer Hispanics in Arizona than there were before the debate over the state's tough new immigration law earlier this year.
BBVA Bancomer Research, which did the study, worked with figures from the U.S. Current Population Survey. The study says the decline could be due to the law known as SB1070, which partly entered into effect in July, or to Arizona's difficult economic situation.
The study released Wednesday also cites Mexican government figures as saying that 23,380 Mexicans returned from Arizona to Mexico between June and September...
The SB1070 Effect?
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