tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post12138467244436740..comments2024-03-29T06:35:11.321-04:00Comments on The Elephant Bar: So Russia is sending weapons to Damascus.... So what?Deuce ☂http://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comBlogger68125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-51277105206980823902012-06-19T08:22:42.521-04:002012-06-19T08:22:42.521-04:00With reports that the ship was interdicted by the ...With reports that the ship was interdicted by the Royal Navy, we may be seeing a new strategy by NATO member-states that falls neatly between sanctions and military intervention, by harassing those who are aiding and abetting the Syrian government in the course of its crimes against their citizens. It will be interesting to see if NATO continues with this plan of action. http://bit.ly/KJu7aOGBucellohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13124458023109799976noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-79435826495260606452012-06-18T02:29:29.615-04:002012-06-18T02:29:29.615-04:00.
It may be hard for the billions of Web users or....<br /><br /><i>It may be hard for the billions of Web users or the optimists of Silicon Valley to believe that an obscure agency of the U.N. can threaten their Internet, but authoritarian regimes are busy lobbying a majority of the U.N. members to vote their way. The leaked documents disclose a U.S. side that has hardly begun to fight back. That's no way to win this war.</i><br /><br /><br />The UN taking over the internet? Ash will no doubt appplaud the effort.<br /><br /><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303822204577470532859210296.html" rel="nofollow">Internet Link</a><br /><br />.Quirkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00272168240606512672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-63427964229992589372012-06-18T01:57:58.045-04:002012-06-18T01:57:58.045-04:00.
Protesters held true to their vow to march in s....<br /><br /><i>Protesters held true to their vow to march in silence. At times the only sounds that could be heard were feet slapping pavement, birds chirping and the occasional crackle of a police radio.<br /><br />Bloomberg has consistently argued that stop and frisk is in the best interest of the communities that most often denounce it. He noted that violent crime dropped by 34% during his time in office and said if crime stayed at the same level that it was 10 years ago, it would have resulted in roughly 5,600 more murders.<br /><br />"Many of them, sadly, would have been young people, especially young men," he said.<br /><br />"And when you consider that 90% of all murder victims are black and Hispanic, there is no doubt most of those victims would have come from communities like this one," the mayor added.<br /><br />But many of those taking part in the march took issue with Bloomberg's argument.<br /><br />"The notion that this makes us safer is a big lie," said Ben Jealous, president of the NAACP, who spent much of Sunday's march with his 6 year-old daughter Morgan perched on his shoulders. "What it does is it drives a wall between the most victimised communities in this city and the very people who have sworn to protect them."<br /><br />"It is not surprising to find out that while this city has lowered violent crime by 29% in the last ten years, Baltimore has done it by 37% without this programme. Dallas by 49% without this programme, and the city of Los Angeles by 59% without this programme.</i><br /><br /><br />.Quirkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00272168240606512672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-28517729083924456582012-06-18T00:44:25.610-04:002012-06-18T00:44:25.610-04:00While keeping in mind we tried this once before wi...While keeping in mind we tried this once before with lamentable final results, we could provide some Stingers to the opposition to neutralize the Russian helicopters. Just enough so the opposition can't be defeated, but not enough help so they could actually win. No American lives at stake. Then sit back and watch. Our politicians generally don't think in such terms though.<br /><br />bAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-36465017412598521262012-06-17T23:34:59.058-04:002012-06-17T23:34:59.058-04:00Until now. Obama has insisted that the “tide of wa...<i>Until now. Obama has insisted that the “tide of war” across the Middle East is “receding.”<br /><br />It’s not just that American troops have been withdrawn from Iraq, are being more rapidly withdrawn from Afghanistan, or were not employed on the ground in Libya. It is the president’s belief that they need not—should not—be used again.<br /><br />This is an unrealistic belief, one that ignores balance-of-power politics. The survival of the Assad regime, saved by its Russian, Chinese, and Iranian sponsors, would upset the international order far beyond the troubles created by the regime’s demise.</i>samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11856051164644278989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-34441146649932130802012-06-17T23:23:15.663-04:002012-06-17T23:23:15.663-04:00In snaring the most coveted investment-banking ass...<i>In snaring the most coveted investment-banking assignment of the year, Morgan Stanley's Michael Grimes insisted to a senior Facebook Inc. executive that he be the "single driver" of the company's initial public offering, adding that if the deal soured, it would be his "throat to choke."</i>samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11856051164644278989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-31485177236487853902012-06-17T23:19:14.417-04:002012-06-17T23:19:14.417-04:00As the months of housing pain have turned into ver...<i>As the months of housing pain have turned into very long years, the increasingly persistent “Are we there yet?” refrain from the media and homeowners is understandable, but the answer is still no. We have not reached the bottom of the housing market.<br /><br />...<br /><br />To back up this claim, let’s consider the strongest arguments that we are witnessing a housing recovery to see if they stand up to the long-term analysis.<br /><br />Argument #1: With record low interest rates everyone will be looking to get back into homeownership.<br /><br />The Federal government’s goal of lowering long-term rates has been successful. Led by the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing program and the Treasury’s continued bailouts for Fannie and Freddie, mortgage rates are lower than ever before.<br /><br />...<br /><br />Argument #2: Housing starts and sales of new and existing homes all went up in April and May.<br /><br />Optimists might respond to the points above by pointing out that housing starts jumped 2.6 percent in April and sales of new homes increased 3.3 percent the same month. Not only that, but existing homes came off the market in April at a rate of 3.4 percent, up 10 percent from last year.</i><br /><br /><a href="http://reason.com/archives/2012/06/17/still-not-a-recovery" rel="nofollow">Hasn't Recovered</a>samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11856051164644278989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-22629030396152596252012-06-17T22:47:34.466-04:002012-06-17T22:47:34.466-04:00Let them be as ruthless to one another as the Card...Let them be as ruthless to one another as the Cardinals in Rome are to each other behind the scenes.<br /><br />heh<br /><br />bAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-23637429936296759192012-06-17T22:45:14.064-04:002012-06-17T22:45:14.064-04:00This outlook makes a lot of sense to me.
bThis outlook makes a lot of sense to me.<br /><br />bAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-83179861515631723632012-06-17T22:44:13.780-04:002012-06-17T22:44:13.780-04:00Opinion polls show 80 per cent of Greeks want to s...<i>Opinion polls show 80 per cent of Greeks want to stay in the euro but will not accept more austerity measures that have already seen taxes rise and wages, jobs, pensions and government expenditure cut.<br /><br />...<br /><br />Yesterday, some voters expressed worry that Greeks were not showing greater national solidarity. Yevgenia Perendiou, an unemployed nursery teacher now earning €400 a month as a babysitter, said: "I voted for the Democratic Left [which split from Syriza] because its leader, Fotis Kouvelis, said all parties should co-operate – something I didn't hear from other leaders."<br /><br />...<br /><br />Many of the beneficiaries of the old regime were prominent in electoral campaigns, suggesting that they had not lost their political strength.</i>samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11856051164644278989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-38919302946642287212012-06-17T22:41:27.651-04:002012-06-17T22:41:27.651-04:00the only thing the USA should concern it'sself...the only thing the USA should concern it'sself with with syria is it's stockpile of wmd. biological, chemical and nuke materials.<br /><br />other than that?<br /><br />let the whack each other to death.<br /><br />for decades the syrians, with iranian and russian help, have murdered Americans, Israelis, lebanese and dozens of other nationalities of people.<br /><br />so why should we stop them from murdering one another?wionoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-86521462501851231012012-06-17T22:38:46.528-04:002012-06-17T22:38:46.528-04:00Two years ago, we wrote in these pages that we wer...<i>Two years ago, we wrote in these pages that we were entering with respect to Iran what Winston Churchill called in 1936 a “period of consequences,” in which “the era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays is coming to its close.”<br /><br />...<br /><br />At the end of his “period of consequences” remarks in the House of Commons in November 1936, Churchill said:<br /><br />Two things, I confess, have staggered me, after a long Parliamentary experience, in these Debates. The first has been the dangers that have so swiftly come upon us in a few years, and have been transforming our position and the whole outlook of the world.<br /><br />Secondly, I have been staggered by the failure of the House of Commons to react effectively against those dangers.</i><br /><br /><a href="http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/no-iranian-nukes_647326.html?page=1" rel="nofollow">Iranian Nukes</a>samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11856051164644278989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-89113507102091570942012-06-17T22:34:19.848-04:002012-06-17T22:34:19.848-04:00Tonia Pavlidi, from the northern Athens suburb of ...<i>Tonia Pavlidi, from the northern Athens suburb of Maroussi, cast her ballot for New Democracy.<br /><br />Ms. Pavlidi has a seven-year-old son. "I want him to be Greek, and a European citizen.<br /><br />I want him to have the same opportunities as every other kid in Europe," she said. "I will fight for this."</i>samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11856051164644278989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-56381092024147615342012-06-17T21:49:58.125-04:002012-06-17T21:49:58.125-04:00Following in the footsteps of Jesus (who, we recal...Following in the footsteps of Jesus (who, we recall, gave the money bag to Judas to carry) --<br /><br />Since the end of May, the pope's former butler, Paolo Gabriele, has been detained in a 35-square-meter (377-square-foot) cell at the Vatican, with a window but no TV. Using the code name "Maria," he allegedly smuggled faxes and letters out of the pope's private quarters. But it remains unclear who was directing him to do so.<br /><br />Even with Gabriele's arrest, the leak still hasn't been plugged. <br />..<br /><br />Fear is running rampant in the Curia, where the mood has rarely been this miserable. It's as if someone had poked a stick into a beehive. Men wearing purple robes are rushing around, hectically monitoring correspondence. No one trusts anyone anymore, and some even hesitate to communicate by phone.<br /><br />..<br /><br />A "reform of the Curia" is probably a contradiction in terms. Its hierarchical, essentially medieval organizational model is incompatible with modern management. The Vatican is an anachronistic, albeit surprisingly tenacious system, in which pecking orders and an absurd penchant for secrecy and intrigue prevail. "The only important thing is proximity to the monarch," says a member of a cardinal's staff. <br /><br />..<br /><br />Observers believe that the banker's case is the real core of the scandal, a power struggle over control of the Vatican's finances.<br /><br />..<br /><br />He has annoyed the Protestants by declaring that denominations other than his own are not true churches. He has alienated Muslims with an inept speech in the Bavarian city of Regensburg. And he has insulted Jews by reinserting a prayer for the conversion of the Jews into the Good Friday liturgy.<br /><br />..<br /><br />The pope only wanted to be a "simple, humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord," a "servant of the truth."<br /><br />heh<br /><br />..<br /><br />http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/pope-benedict-focuses-on-legacy-while-ignoring-vatican-power-struggle-a-838830<br /><br />bAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-57989379575790817372012-06-17T19:08:52.158-04:002012-06-17T19:08:52.158-04:00Link<a href="http://www.ethanolproducer.com/articles/8855/stepping-up-to-a-new-facility" rel="nofollow">Link</a>Rufus IIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05297231055991566183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-66843962428077702562012-06-17T19:05:38.737-04:002012-06-17T19:05:38.737-04:00This is what I'm talking about:
Partnering i...This is what I'm talking about:<br /><br /><br /><b>Partnering in Training</b><br /><br />A community college in Omaha stepped up to fill the need for a highly trained local workforce to land the new plant. The Metropolitan Community College provides career and technical degrees, one of which is based on ethanol—only at MCC it’s a little different. “We went a little bit broader,” Bill Owen, associate vice president of academic affairs, says of the program his team created. “We call our program a process operations technology program,” he explains. Give credit to Owen for identifying a need for a broader view of what the ethanol industry in his region requires. But don’t give it all to Owen, Novozymes deserves some credit as well. <b>Before MCC began the process operations technology program—a curriculum that includes courses on the basics like stationary engineering (boilers and pressure vessels) and applied physics, in addition to the more specific topics like instrumentation and control—they hashed out the curriculum with the Danish enzyme company. “We started from before we had any bricks and mortar, before we had any equipment,” Owen says of the partnership. “We had the college and the industry sitting down together and making the decisions, not only as to what this program should ultimately be about, but how it was going to come to be.”</b><br /> <br />That discussion led to a newly remodeled and user-friendly campus building paid for by Novozymes, and staffed by MCC. More importantly, after only one year of operation, the program has two groups in the program, one of which is already employed at the Blair Biorefinery Campus. “We are trying to fill the pipeline with generally skilled individuals who can be the future workforce in these industries,” Owen says of the program’s early success. The school has already spent over $200,000 on software and other equipment that allows the students to move beyond pencil and paper and actually witness how a tweak to pressure here, or a change to power there, affects the outcome of a process technology, that not coincidentally, could be used in an enzyme manufacturing plant.<br /> <br />Owens says the newly trained students will be ready to unite technology and agriculture. <b>Novozymes wants the students to understand and touch and feel the sorts of things they want them to be working with as part of their education.</b> But, what they say again and again,” Owens says, “is that we have to have someone who doesn’t just react to A plus B equals C, but instead can think about A and B and all of the possibilities it might equal.”Rufus IIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05297231055991566183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-17026379005304235692012-06-17T18:07:40.740-04:002012-06-17T18:07:40.740-04:00nice synopsis and analysis.nice synopsis and analysis.Deuce ☂https://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-29059977136457740982012-06-17T17:21:54.502-04:002012-06-17T17:21:54.502-04:00Let’s recap. The Marshall Plan had an outer shell,...<i>Let’s recap. The Marshall Plan had an outer shell, the European Recovery Programme, and an inner core, the economic reconstruction of Europe on the basis of debt forgiveness to and trade integration with Germany. The effects of its implementation were huge. While Western Europe in the 1950s struggled with debt/GDP ratios close to 200%, the new West German state enjoyed debt/ GDP ratios of less than 20%. This and its forced re-entry into Europe’s markets was Germany’s true benefit from the Marshall Plan, not just the 2-4% pump priming effect of Marshall Aid. As a long term effect, Germany effortlessly embarked on a policy of macroeconomic orthodoxy that it has seen no reason to deviate from ever since.</i><br /><br /><i>But why did the Americans do all this, and why did anyone in Europe consent to it? America’s trauma was German reparations after World War I and the financial mess they created, with the U.S. picking up the bill. Under the Dawes Plan of 1924, Germany’s currency had been put back on gold but Germany went on a borrowing binge. In a nutshell, Germany was like Greece on steroids. To stop this, the Young Plan of 1929 made it riskier to lend to Germany, but the ensuing deflation and recession soon became self-defeating, ending in political chaos and German debt default. A repetition of this the Marshall Planners were determined to avoid. And the U.S. led reconstructions of Germany and Japan have become the classical showcases of successful liberal intervention.</i><br /><br /><a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2012/06/economic-history" rel="nofollow">LINK</a> [h/t Marie-Claude @ BC]Max (short for Maxine)http://url.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-86511516618349825102012-06-17T17:17:08.689-04:002012-06-17T17:17:08.689-04:00Putin and Obama meet in Mexico on Monday.
No word...Putin and Obama meet in Mexico on Monday.<br /><br />No word on whether they're bringing shovels.Max (short for Maxine)http://url.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-470108211132880712012-06-17T17:12:30.520-04:002012-06-17T17:12:30.520-04:00It's all Greek to me.It's all Greek to me.Max (short for Maxine)http://url.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-5269847365109489962012-06-17T15:18:43.111-04:002012-06-17T15:18:43.111-04:00.
Even a stopped clock...
..<br /><br />Even a stopped clock...<br /><br />.Quirkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00272168240606512672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-11858665276495598392012-06-17T15:17:59.984-04:002012-06-17T15:17:59.984-04:00Time for the stables!
I'll bring some you kno...Time for the stables!<br /><br />I'll bring some you know what back to add to the pile here.<br /><br />Rufus, Happy Grandfather's Day. Hope you are lap-filled with young joy today.<br /><br />bAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-82253259777849394292012-06-17T15:15:41.043-04:002012-06-17T15:15:41.043-04:00Dementia you stupid shit.
Speak to yourself!
:)
...Dementia you stupid shit.<br /><br />Speak to yourself!<br /><br />:)<br /><br />Here, enjoy some good music and relax --<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZACwVOJXpn0<br /><br />bAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-30355375537818776632012-06-17T15:09:33.450-04:002012-06-17T15:09:33.450-04:00Focus on architecture, yourself.
bFocus on architecture, yourself.<br /><br />bAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-78862799464488928492012-06-17T13:54:13.050-04:002012-06-17T13:54:13.050-04:00McCain, my guy, feet firmly planted in his post-di...McCain, my guy, feet firmly planted in his post-dimentia era also is being helpful to Romney:<br /><br /><i>Sen. John McCain appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday and continued to slam Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino mogul that recently announced his intention to spend a possibly "unlimited" amount of money to aid Mitt Romney against President Barack Obama in the 2012 election. <br />It continued McCain's diatribe this week against Adelson and the Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United case, which prevented government regulation of individual and corporate contributions to political campaigns and aided the rise of so-called super PACs.<br />Sunday, McCain measured his criticism more broadly, saying he was worried about "many others," and not just Adelson.<br />"I think there will be scandals as associated with the worst decision of the Supreme Court in the 21st century. [It was] uninformed, arrogant, naive," McCain said.</i><br /><br />I thought Dodo bird appeared with Romney in some incoherent get together in New Hampshire.Deuce ☂https://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.com