COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Kite-powered Cargo Ships


Incrementally, each small invention on energy conservation will probably accomplish more than hoping and waiting for one super break-through on replacing petroleum. The plug in electric car like the proposed Chevy Volt, where one drives the first forty miles before the gasoline engine kicks in, seems sensible and practical for most people in urbanized areas. Why not sail assisted cargo ships? 

Kite-Pulled Ship Saves Big By Going Retro
DW
The sail flies at a height of about 300 meters (980 feet)

The world's first kite-powered cargo ship set sail on Tuesday, Jan. 22, from Germany to Venezuela. Its makers hope to prove that using earth-friendly energy can also mean saving a fortune.

Sailboats are anything but modern -- unless we're talking about the MS Beluga Skysails, which is now chugging across the Atlantic Ocean with the help of a 160-square-meter (1,722-square-foot) computer-controlled kite.

The contraption's inventor, 35-year-old Stephen Wrage, said supplementing the ship's diesel engine with wind power should cut its daily fuel bill by 20 percent -- at a time when oil has exceeded $90 (62 euros) a barrel.

Turning to alternative energy sources like wind power, an ancient tool in ocean travel, also reduces the ship's CO2 output.

"During the next few months, we will finally be able to prove that our technology works in practice and significantly reduces fuel consumption and emissions," said Wrage, founder and president of the Hamburg-based company SkySails.

The kite, shaped like a paraglider, flies up to 300 meters (980 feet) high to be able to pull the 10,000-ton vessel. It cost about 500,000 euros to make, not counting the five years of research Wrage and his colleagues put into it.

Yield for cash

The world's 55,000 cargo ships transport 90 percent of its goods
Though freight ships are the world's most important commercial transport method, carrying 90 percent of all traded goods, they were excluded from the UN's climate agreement, the Kyoto Protocol. Experts have advocated that the industry -- which produced 5 percent of the world's total carbon emissions -- be included in the successor treaty, to take effect after Kyoto expires in 2012.

But as long as oil prices remain high, ship companies already have a hefty incentive to reduce their fuel consumption. Many have already made effective efforts to save fuel by mandating slower speeds in their fleets.

Hamburg-based logistics company Hapag-Lloyd, for example, reduced the standard speed of its ships from 23.5 to 20 knots in the second half of last year and reported "significant savings."

"Before, ships would speed up to 25 knots from the standard 23.5 to make up if time was lost in crowded ports," said company spokesman Klaus Heims. "We calculated that five knots slower saves up to 50 percent in fuel and it had the added effect of cutting carbon dioxide emissions immediately."

More sail, more savings

The sails will have to get a lot bigger before they can be used commercially
There are lots more ways for ships to push down their fuel consumption and drive up their savings, Hermann Klein from Germanischer Lloyd classification society told Reuters news agency.

Using weather forecasts to select optimal routes, cleaning the ships regularly to remove sediments that would cause resistance and using fuel additives for better performance would benefit the company's budget and the earth, Klein said, adding that opting for slower-speed engines with greater fuel efficiency makes more sense than running high-power engines at a slower pace.

Wrage and his SkySails company, however, expect many shipping firms to choose kite power, should the maiden voyage turn out to be a success.

Larger kites could cut fuel usage by 30 to 50 percent, Wrage said. The company hopes to double the size of the kites to 320 square meters and then expand them again to 600 square meters by 2009. They intend to fit 1,500 ships with the sails by 2015.



126 comments:

  1. Violinist Sirena Huang, then only 11.

    http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/45

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  2. Found this little piece, it adds that the actual savings should be $1,500 per day.

    A recent collaboration between SkySails and the Bremen-based Beluga Group has culminated in the trial transoceanic run of a wind-powered cargo ship. The MS Beluga SkySails left Germany on 22 January 2008 for a 4400 mile trip Venezuela. The ship will use a kite-like sail on the open ocean, following routes traditionally used by sailing ships and reducing fuel costs by roughly $1500 per diem.

    The sail floats between 350-1000 feet in the air, allowing it to tap into stronger, more stable winds than found at sea-level. SkySails estimates that the system will reduce overall fuel use by 10-35 percent. The kite can be retrofitted to most cargo vessels.

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  3. This is an even more interesting contraption.
    that combines solar, wind and wave power, and also uses hydrogen. It's actually a sail boat, and the "sails" are covered by solar panels. Here's the unexpected part: The ship is designed to carry 160,000 cars a year.

    Interesting photo that caught my interest

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  4. A snippet of Article VI, well, the whole trailer actually. From a banner ad at RCP.

    The catch line
    Don't vote until you see it

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  5. I like it.

    Like the new airship designs coming out lately.

    Schooners and blimps of a new era. Nifty stuff.

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  6. I neglected to ask dear host to name/define his particular tribe.

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  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  8. The Billary lead in California is exclusive to the Mexicans, they provide the tribal edge. Pity the fool that depends upon them turning out to vote.

    Experienced California Democratic politicians doubt the validity of Clinton's double-digit polling lead in the state. At the heart of Obama's support are upper-income Democrats (in exceptional supply here) and young voters whose intentions are difficult to predict. Will the state's huge, currently passive college campuses erupt in an outpouring of Obama voters?

    Another problem for pollsters is a California peculiarity. A registered independent who shows up at a polling place Feb. 5 and asks for a Republican ballot will be told, sorry, but the Republican primary is for registered Republicans only. But the voter then may take a ballot of the more permissive Democratic Party. How many will do this and then vote for Obama? The polls cannot predict.

    Clinton's 39 percent against Obama's 27 percent in California's Field Poll released last week provides much less certainty than a 12-percentage margin normally would. With Clinton falling and Obama rising, it compares with her 40-point lead six months ago.

    The demographics are most important. Clinton has dramatically lost support among blacks, trailing Obama 58 percent to 24 percent. It is a virtual dead heat among white non-Hispanics, 32 percent to 30 percent. Therefore, the 12-point overall lead derives from a 59 percent to 19 percent Clinton edge among Latinos.

    In California, the Latino vote is notoriously undependable in actually voting, especially when compared with African-Americans. How the Clinton campaign deals with Hispanic voters is a sensitive matter, but sensitivity never has been a hallmark of the Clinton style.


    Then again, it depends upon how the Districts are drawn. It'd be good to see Billary get bit on the ass, Bill taken down a peg.

    Wonder if the title "First Black President" is going to be stripped from the former champ, or is it chimp?

    Seems it may be "Bedtime for Bonzo", he who went a little gonzo.

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  9. Ted Kennedy, I guess, is going out west to campaign for Obama at Latino and union venues. And he apparently is the regular guest of a nationally syndicated Spanish language radio show out of LA.

    I had an interesting conversation with an attache wife, native of Juarez and recent of Lima and La Paz, who remarked somewhat unhappily that Americans are under the impression that every Spanish speaker in the US is Mexican. But she also noted that whereas Mexicans do not hesitate to declare themselves Mexicans (it's the nationalism) Hondurans and Nicaraguans are comparatively reticent about their origins. It did make me wonder: How many of those Mexican demonstrators weren't?

    Apropos of nothing: I came across a propaganda shop yesterday. If anyone wants a Juan Valdez t-shirt that says Chavez Go Home, let me know. Finger-in-the-eye stocking stuffer for that extremely liberal nephew at Syracuse, for instance.

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  10. Just put 5,000 sweaty swedes in the hold of that cargo ship, use the heat to fuel the boiler, you're on your way. What works for buildings works for ships. Good Sailing!

    Time these swedes got back to sailing anyway.

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  11. My experience, trish, is that most folk in the US think that every place south of the border is part of Mexico.

    Not a lot of geographical sophistication or education when it comes to the products of a US education.

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  12. You can tell the nation they are from by the language. If it's Spanish, they're Mexican.

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  13. See See Pwaadays!
    Yes we can!
    Is already OLD!

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  14. (will we be able to stand it for more than 3 months?)

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  15. If it's Spainish, they're from Spain!

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  16. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  17. And if folk speak English, they're from Austrailia or Trinidad

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  18. Churchill had something not entirely inaccurate to say about Americans and world geography.

    But are we the only ones?

    We used to occasionally watch a children's quiz show out of the UK that strongly indicated we Yankees are not alone.

    When we first moved back from Europe, a neighbor, she of lengthy and expensive education, had no idea where Belgium was located.

    Tell people you are going to Colombia and many a draw a blank (or think Columbia, MD).

    I like to think we compensate in other ways for this particular, yawning ignorance.

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  19. I tell you what, the number of folks I chatted with on my trip back east that couldn't place IDAHO was approaching ten. A large number, in a small sample, and you can't miss IDAHO on the map, like you can say, Rhode Island, or, Honolulu.

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  20. Try asking people where the Columbia River is, see how far you get.

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  21. I did not say we were alone in ignorance, or even led the way.

    Just that it is a fact of life.

    My daughter laughed about it the other day, saying most everyone she knew thought Mexico went all the way to South America.

    Geography not considered an important subject, nor foreign languages for that matter.

    While every student in Sweden learns to speak English, in grade school. Or so I'm told.

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  22. Nor did I imply that you singled us out.

    It's only ironic, and rather disturbing, given our world-trading and superpower status.

    Geography is taught primarily in elementary school, but because the incorporating and synthesizing subject of history is commonly such a mess in all grades, little or nothing sticks.

    My own children have an excellent mental map of the world (ancient and present and in between) but I can't say that I did at the same age.

    Some of it is homeschooling, Montessori schooling, and native curiosity. Some of it is simply their unchosen background.

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  23. Many Europeans, it is true, begin English early. Maybe two hours/week until they enter A-level prep. What we found, however, is that tv/movie English is what truly sinks in. I probably don't have to elaborate.

    Our kids did total French immersion (on the advice of our landlord, a Belgian Count who had done the same with his own children in Africa and the Orient). On the plus side our daughter is a French linguist. On the downside, we are hard-pressed to say anything positive about the circumstances or the culture in which she came about it.

    Our young son literally bolted after a handful of weeks.

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  24. My kids are in French immersion. My Daughter, 11, has been studying Mandarin for 3 years now. She really wanted to sign up for the extra classes. Her present school has her doing a Spanish class. We are in the midst of changing schools and she is quite upset, it seems they are doing some Latin next year. My son, 8, wants to go to English school next year - its easier he says.



    ---

    Mətušélaḥ said...

    What's the narrative? That Israel became Palestine?

    Good luck with that.



    Here is a narrative I stumbled across this morning for ya:

    "The official narrative is that the peace-loving U.S. and its dovish Israeli ally don't want to strangle Palestinians trapped in a rotting cage, but Hamas forces their hand. What's happening is more of a rescue mission -- to rid the Palestinian people of their Islamic captors and return them to the responsible arms of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who knows his place in the regional plan. The only way to do this is to squeeze the blood out of Gaza, for sometimes love must take violent forms in order to achieve lasting results. In this case, rough love includes closing all border crossings, cutting off food, medicine and fuel to the entire area, while shutting down Gaza's only power plant. That this accelerated the death and disease rate is unfortunate, but necessary. Remember when you tried to housebreak your first dog? All those hours spent beating it, starving it, denying it water and clean shelter? What Israel is doing to Gaza is a bit like that, only to 1.5 million strays.

    Knocking down the Philadelphi wall, which allowed the mass pouring into Egypt for food, medicine, and other supplies, showed that the Gazans aren't quite ready for imperial conditioning. Our Egyptian client initially tried to help, firing water cannons and beating those crossing the border. But the tide proved too much, and Hosni Mubarak, trapped between serving Israeli interests and keeping his largely pro-Palestinian populace from erupting, eventually allowed the Gazans entry (although efforts to close the border have begun again). So, for a few days, anyway, some families will be able to eat, though the raw sewage filling the streets does not, I'm guessing, help with digestion. Then again, eating stale bread in an outdoor toilet streamlines the consumption-to-waste process, saving precious water in the bargain. In a sense, what we're doing to Gaza is environmentally friendly, if you squint your eyes and shake your head back and forth enough times."

    http://dennisperrin.blogspot.com/


    yeppers, Blue eyed devil is me.

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  25. Jerusalem
    28 January 2008

    Close aides to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas say they have received backing from Arab governments to take over crossing points and borders in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Egypt. VOA's Jim Teeple reports from Jerusalem.

    Aides to Mahmoud Abbas say following ministerial-level talks in Cairo, they have received support from Arab governments to take control of crossing points between the Gaza Strip and Israel, and the border crossing at Rafah between Gaza and Egypt.
    ...
    Riad Malki a close aide to Mr. Abbas told the Voice of Palestine radio on Monday that Rafah should remain open but under close supervision.

    Malki says the U.S. brokered 2005 border agreement at Rafah should be revived, which put the border under the supervision of Mr. Abbas' Palestinian Authority, Egyptian officials and European Union monitors.

    Malki also says Hamas should be excluded from any involvement at the Rafah border. Mr. Abbas has ruled out any talks with Hamas until the group agrees to give up power in Gaza and restore his authority there.

    Hamas leaders have rejected any suggestion they not be involved in helping to run the Rafah crossing. Speaking to VOA recently senior Hamas official Ahmed Yousef said Hamas needs to be included in any agreement.

    "We told the Egyptians we are willing to sit with the people in Ramallah [Abbas representatives] with them mediating the situation to see how we can accommodate the situation in a way that we both feel like it is a win-win victory," said Yousef.

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  26. Israeli officials say for now they expect Egypt to close the Rafah border. They say they will not comment on Mr. Abbas' proposal to take over all of Gaza's crossing points and borders, until he concludes talks with Egyptian officials on Wednesday. Mr. Abbas and Hamas leaders will hold separate talks with Egyptian leaders in a bid to solve the border issue.

    The Egyptians have the ball, per the Plan. They become the Peacemakers, whether they desire the position, or not.

    $4 billion a year does buy US some influence, plus the Saudi contributions. Bush only spent a few hours in Egypt, doubt it was a much of a discussion, more of an instructional briefing I'd venture to guess.

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  27. Ash, my daughter did French, Dutch, and Latin simultaneously. With a fourish.

    In the end, it was the hazing on the part of the Belgians that drove her and us to DODDS and SHAPE.

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  28. I'm moving beyond the old politics of divisiveness, narrow interest and despair into the new politics of hope and inclusiveness. This blue eyed devil is writing a check 'to the Palestinian People' and down at the bottom I'm putting 'for food only'. It's not a big check, but it's the least I can do.

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  29. Billions for band aids, not bullets

    Now you're gettin' the drift, bob.

    The Palistinians are being coached by US, Ms Rice set the stage for a Civil Rights movement amongst the Palis. Mr Olmert sees the writing on the wall, if that "Movement" can gain credence. It will, the MSM will see to it.

    Zebs' daughter being a morning co-host at MSNBC exemplifies it.

    For whatever the reason, the course of Team43 is easily seen. Stem the violence, migrate to "peaceful protests" and push the Civil Rights aspect of the dispute rather than the military.

    It worked for the ANC of South Africa, that's the pattern for the new Palistinian narrative.

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  30. it was years ago rat that I thought the palis should adopt a ghandiesque style of protest instead of the suicide jihadi one. It would have been much more effect - all them kids and ladies lying downin front of armored bulldozers and tanks and such. Alas they haven't and I don't think Team43 has much say in the matter.

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  31. I wonder how much aid has gone to the Palestinians over the last thirty years, from all sources?

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  32. Not Team43, ash, but the Saudis, they have a lot to say about how Mr Abbas and Egypt both behave.

    That is why Mr Bush had to make the enitre tour. A billion a day buys more than just oil, it provides influence just as the fleet in the Persian Gulf and 200,000 US troops on the Saudi border does.

    Mr Bush is not a idiot, but a fellow that achieves his goals. He just does not always make those goals transparent to the public. He does worry for his legacy, I think. Peace in Palistine would gain him a historicly viable one.

    He'll play every card in his hand to achieve it. Collateral damage be damned.

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  33. Less than has gone to the Israeli, from all sources, I'd bet.

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  34. More than three-quarters of Gaza's total population are registered refugees who fled the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, which is known to the Palestinians as 'El-Naqba', or 'the Catastrophe'. Some 200,000 refugees inflated Gaza's population, which at the time as estimated to be only 80,000. Sixty years later that figure stands at 1.4 million people, making the narrow strip one of the most densely populated areas in the world.
    --------
    Don't know if that is accurate, but they seem to not be pikers when it comes to making babies.
    ---------
    That would be something to see, Ash, muslims adopting the non-violent way. There doesn't seem to be much precedent for it though, and it's not a prominent article in the koran.

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  35. Loads of presidents have dreamed of bringing peace to the middle east and none have succeeded so far. I doubt Mr. Bush will have much more success, especially given his moves to date. You may think the Sauds and Mr. Abbas himself have loads of influence but I disagree. The proof is in the pudding and they have delivered little so far. The 'leaders' may try to lead but not many choose to follow. As much as we hate Hamas they too have power even if we throw our hands over our ears and avert our eyes in attempt to ignore the buggers.

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  36. Winning is, bob, consistent with the Koran.

    Using negotiation as a tool to victory is consistant with the Koran.

    Plenty of examples of that. I'm sure. Mr Stephen Coughlin, the Joint Chiefs Islam specialist who's contract was not renewed could list them. Examples are in that powerpoint presentation doug linked to a week or so ago.

    Mr Bush will do whatever he can to get a settlement on his watch, the future will work itself out.

    As he has proven on Immigration and in Iraq, he'll work to achieve his goals, not at all concerned about collateral damage.
    Not to his Party or the Country.

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  37. Hamas is performing its' part in the play, ash.

    They cannot lose their base, no more than General Zia ul haq could not let it be known that Pakistan and Israel were cooperating in Afghanistan.

    It'll play out within a few weeks that the Fatah regains control of the Gaza border crossings. Hamas will use the bakish it recieves for those humanitarian missions, or the Swiss accounts, as it desires.

    The rocket attacks from Gaza will fade, if only because the IDF has killed the cell leaders.

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  38. All rational actors playing their part in the grand ole play are they? Pardon me if I'm a bit skeptical.

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  39. Here's a fellow that doesn't think much of the idea of the muslims rolling over, for very long.

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  40. I'm not convinced viewing the Palestinian problem as primarily an Islamic thing is very helpful. Though Islam certainly plays a part the long history of being a repressed and stateless people plays a larger role. Note that they have been oppressed by Arabs as well as the Israelis.

    From wiki:

    "Estimates of the number of Arab Christians vary. Christians today make up 9.2% of the population of the Near East. In Lebanon they now number around 39% of the population, in Syria about 10 to 15%. In Palestine before the creation of Israel estimates range up to as much as 40%, but mass emigration has slashed the number still present to 3.8%. Israel Arab Christians constitute 2.1% (or roughly 10% of the Israeli Arab population). In Egypt, they constitute about 6% of the population. Around two-thirds of North and South American and Australian Arabs are Christian, particularly from Lebanon, but also from the Palestinian territories, and Syria."

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_Christian

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  41. Ten months to success, then about ten months to a year for the Palistinians to reset & resupply.

    Well into the next Administration, in the US & Israel. Then it become a "If only ..." story. But the legacy will be secure, in both Palistine and Iraq.

    Or Sharia Law would not be the rule, in Basra. Where success has been declared, as the Coalition withdraws.

    Matter of money in both locales. There is no shortage of that for the Palis, with the Saudi on board.

    We are funding the Shia of Iraq, ourselves. The Saudi the Awakened militias of Anbar. The strategy certainly worked there, for the short term.

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  42. Christian Palestinians, now there's a thought.

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  43. In either case, Religious or Secular the Palistinians will take the short term propaganda win, with the bakish.

    Hamas will allow Fatah back to the border, then tone down the rhetoric. They went years without an Intafada, they can use 18 months to two years to regroup. Just as Hezzbollah used a cease fire south of the Litani River in Lebanon to strengthen its' position.

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  44. The Truth Will Out
    Funny that it's the two leading Republican candidates who are outing themselves.

    With less than 24 hours until primary polls open in Florida, top GOP rivals John McCain and Mitt Romney continued a barrage of attacks on each other, freely using the “L”-word to bash one another.

    Romney hammered hard on a climate-change bill that McCain has supported with his friend Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn. — a bill that Romney said would amount to a tax increase, as well as McCain’s role in campaign finance bill and the failed immigration reform bills.

    “If you ask people, ‘Look at the three things Senator McCain has done as a senator,’ if you want that kind of a liberal Democratic course as president, then you can vote for him,” Romney told campaign workers. “But those three pieces of legislation, those aren’t conservative, those aren’t Republican, those are not the kind of leadership that we need as we go forward.”

    In response, McCain pointed to flip-flopping and tax-raising on Romney’s behalf, accusing the former Massachusetts governor of “wholesale deception of voters. On every one of the issues he has attacked us on, Mitt Romney was for it before he was against it.”


    Maybe this will have the unintended consequence of helping that other, perhap less objectionable liberal Rudy Giuliani.

    Rat, there will be no rapproachment between Hamas and Abbas. The Hamas Charter prevents them from even pretending to consider the two state solution.

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  45. Those are all recent figures, let us not forget the entire area used to be Christian along the African Mediterranean coast.

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  46. The New York Chapter of the National Organization for Women is pissed at Teddy for backing Barack Hussein. This year's politics is proving interesting, and providing the sociologists with lots of raw data as to whether gender or color is the more primary mover.

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  47. there is a good chance loads of voters are using neither gender nor color to make their choice.

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  48. So Hamas is more adherent to its' founding documentation than the US is to its?

    More adherent to it than it is to the Koran?

    It would not have to agree to the Two State Solution only to a cease fire. A cessation of violence.

    That is what Mr Olmert said was all that was required, when he and Mr Bush stood, shoulder to shoulder.
    At least in English that was what he said.

    Hamas could do that, as a tactic to achieve long term victory.
    According to Mr Stephen Coughlin.
    If he is wrong, then it's a good thing his contract was not renewed.

    If he is wrong, then the scenario will not work and Mr Bush will have a failed Presidency, totally.

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  49. It seems obvious to me that 80+% of South Carolina blacks studied the issues carefully, and concluded that Barry was right on those issues.

    Judicial Watch Most Corrupt Politician List There's an agenda lurking behind this list. Senator Craig is more sordid than corrupt, but maybe not by much.

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  50. Anyone falling for Obama learned nothing from the later 20th century..
    Gas Attack

    … "there are people all across this great nation who … can't afford another four years without health care, that can't afford another four years without good schools, that can't afford another four years without decent wages because our leaders couldn't come together and get it done."

    A doctor visit costs no more than a name-brand pair of sneakers — less, probably, in relation to average earnings, than ever in our history. Hospital emergency rooms treat anyone. The theory that spending a ton of money gets you "good schools" was tested to destruction in Kansas City, 1985-97. All that KC got out of it was the most bloated and corrupt educational bureaucracy since Imperial China's (and increased dropout rates to boot!) And why should employers pay "decent wages" to Americans, when they can pay in-decent wages to illegal immigrants? — those illegal immigrants whose unlawful presence in our country you are just fine with, Senator?

    "And where we are met with cynicism and doubt and fear and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of the American people in three simple words:"
    Yes, we can.


    Cynicism towards the kind of vaporous flapdoodle Obama trades in is fully justified, and ought to be encouraged.
    The man's a hard-left socialist, for Heaven's sake. Anyone falling for this stuff learned nothing from the later 20th century.
    - Derbyshire
    ---
    Yes we can!

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  51. bobal, if you were voting on the dem side who would you choose? Would you rather listen to Billary for the next four to eight years of Obama? Neither Race nor Gender plays a role in whom I would choose. Policies? Is there a big difference between the two?

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  52. So Hamas is more adherent to its' founding documentation than the US is to its?

    They don't need the wimps in Fatah, nor do they need to play taquiyah. When Abbas continued balked on forming a government with them after the 2006 election which they (Hamas) won, Hamas siezed Gaza by force. Now they are working with the Egyptians to control the border which they themselves blew up! With no help from Abbas. All they need now is to import the weapons of their choice through the border that they control. I'm sure that the EU or whoever else monitors the border with them will be about as effective as UNIFIL was at preventing Hizbollah from re-arming in souther Lebanon.

    Hamas is feeling its oats. They don't need a stinking pacifist solution. They don't need any fake truces.

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  53. I'd much much rather listen to Obama, but I'd vote for Billary as I think she isn't so naive in foreign affairs.

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  54. Trish further documents:
    Males and Females are virtually the same.
    In the real World, it's Mars and Venus.

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  55. Health insurance costs have doubled under Team43, going from $5,000 per year to $12,000.

    No matter the cost of a single office visit.

    Know more than a couple of guys who cut all their employee health insurance, then went out and bought a family policy with after tax dollars.

    Small employers with 6 to 15 employees. They each made more money, themselves. Each felt bad, but could not afford to carry the load of the employees, with a policy standard they wanted for their own families. Can't offer a two tiered choice, so the employees got no choice, at all.

    Which is where the Law forces a small employeer

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  56. You forget the offer that Arabfat turned down.
    Kosovo
    Rwanda
    Sudan and Darfur
    Osama and Sudan
    Osama and Afghanistan
    Iraq and the sanctions regime failing
    Iran


    That is what the 35 years of experience offer

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  57. Truepeers said...
    This is what a Gnostic paraclete imagines himself looking like.
    The only question is whether the Obama crowd is on the slow road of liberalism (where one is not quite willing to kill millions in the name of Unity Peace Justice - but will inadvertantly create the conditions for violent disorder when one's fantasies keep eroding the system's vitality) or the fast road of facism.

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  58. Yeah, I should have left out the healthcare part, but the education part is true to an extent Ash may never accept.

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  59. Barack Obama supports giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.
    A Twofer:
    A Black for Wetbacks.
    - Sen. Barack Obama easily won the African American vote in South Carolina, but to woo California Latinos, where he is running 3-to-1 behind rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, he is taking a giant risk: spotlighting his support for the red-hot issue of granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

    It's a huge issue for Latinos, who want them. It's also a huge issue for the general electorate, which most vehemently does not. Obama's stand could come back to haunt him not only in a general election, but with other voters in California, where driver's licenses for illegal immigrants helped undo former Gov. Gray Davis.

    Clinton stumbled into that minefield in a debate last fall and quickly backed off. First she suggested a New York proposal for driver's licenses for illegal immigrants might be reasonable. Then she denied endorsing the idea, and later came out against them.

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  60. If that's how it plays out, stout, then Bush will have failed in all of his foreign policy adventures. Despite the Team43s' best efforts to redifine success, it won't help him to achieve even a short term legacy.

    Really a shame, but the mussulmen will have handled their cards much better then our poker playing empressario.

    I'd have never believed it in October of 2001, but here we are.

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  61. Trish requested:

    I neglected to ask dear host to name/define his particular tribe.

    I am an Elephant man of course.

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  62. We'll see how it plays out pretty quickly. But Abbas looks like an empty suit, while Hamas is shaking things up,winning hearts and minds and arming.

    The Palestinian Authority has warned the Egyptians against striking a deal with Hamas over controlling the Rafah border crossing separating the Gaza Strip from Egypt, a senior PA official in Ramallah said Monday.

    The official told The Jerusalem Post that the warning, which came on the eve of the visit of a high-level Hamas delegation to Cairo for talks on the issue of the border, was delivered to the Egyptians by the PA leadership in the past 48 hours.

    "Our position is very clear with regards to the border," the official added. "Hamas must not have any representation at the border. There is only one Palestinian Authority that is headed by President Mahmoud Abbas. Hamas can't be a legitimate party to any deal because it seized power [in the Gaza Strip] through a violent coup."

    Syria-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal is reported to have won the backing of Saudi Arabia for including Hamas in any deal on the border, sources close to Hamas said. Mashaal arrived in Riyadh Sunday, where he met with a number of senior government officials on the latest crisis.

    ReplyDelete
  63. Then there's the deal, Abbas compromises.
    The PA "allows" the return of Hamas into the fold.

    As the democraic process would demand. All over the blockade instituted by Israel, Hamas can claim a win, stand down militarily while they rearm.
    Mr Olmert gets his cessation of violence.
    Bush gets his legacy

    Then the US and Israel get new Governments. The old promises then are reneged on, all the way around.

    ReplyDelete
  64. According to This Map you could drift a tanker south down the east coast of Africa, power it around the tip, then drift it up the west side of Africa, and across the Atlantic Ocean to the Panama Canal. Trip might take awhile. I remember going to the Oregon Coast as a kid with my mom, and finding a glass float all the way Japan, which impressed me at the time.

    ReplyDelete
  65. It could take a while.

    That's an understatement if I ever heard one. Zowie

    ReplyDelete
  66. You could take the Equatorial Counter Current from Asia to South America, then drift back on the North or South Equatorial Currents.

    ReplyDelete
  67. rat, Abbas, Bush, Israel, and Hamas could all work together and find a compormise solution as you suggest or Abbas, Bush, and Israel, will continue to do what they have done to date which is 'have no truck nor trade' with terrorists. Whaddya think more likely given the historical actions of these folks?

    ReplyDelete
  68. Obama's Syrian born pal Rezko in slammer as flight risk.

    ReplyDelete
  69. AMMAN (Reuters) - Chanting slogans urging Islamist Hamas militants to resume suicide bombings against Israel, thousands of Jordanians marched in the capital on Friday to protest against Israel's blockade of Gaza.
    About 8,000 activists from Jordan's mainstream Muslim Brotherhood took to the streets to support their ideological allies, the Palestinian Hamas group, and hail militants' success in breaching the Gaza border in defiance of an Israeli blockade.

    "The people of Jordan are with Hamas," chanted the crowds who called on the Islamist group to resume a campaign of suicide bombings and intensify rocket attacks against Israel.

    ""Oh Hamas hit them with al-Qassam rockets ... bring the suicide bombers to Tel Aviv ," they chanted, waving the green flags of Jordan's opposition Muslim Brotherhood....

    ReplyDelete
  70. Gov. Rod Blagojevich is finding it tough to give away tainted campaign cash.

    According to a review of state election reports, officials at Carterville High School rejected Blagojevich last year when he tried to give away some of the money he's received from indicted former campaign fundraiser Antoin ''Tony'' Rezko.

    ''I just didn't want to get mixed up in that,'' said Carterville schools Superintendent Tim Bleyer.


    Rezko's Money

    ReplyDelete
  71. from Israel Matzav==

    Expelling all those Jews from Gaza couldn't keep all the Sharons out of jail

    There's poetic justice in this.

    I have often said that the expulsion of all the Jews from Gaza was undertaken as a desperate attempt by Ariel Sharon to keep himself and his sons out of jail. While Arik has managed to keep himself out of jail by having a stroke two years ago, his son Omri (pictured, top left) will be going to jail next month. The Supreme Court said so. It couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
    Sharon, a former MK, had been convicted of concealing illegal contributions from secret donors to his father's 1999 campaign for leadership of the Likud.

    In his appeal, Sharon argued that because he voluntarily confessed about his actions and took full responsibility, he prevented a lengthy legal ordeal and should therefore be spared jail time. Further, Sharon said that an amendment in the campaign law which was approved in 1993, which detailed for the first time a model for campaign financing of primaries, was known to be impossible to implement.

    "This situation, whereas a law is not obeyed and is not de facto enforced […] constitutes an understanding [that jail time is unnecessary for this offense]," Sharon's lawyers wrote in their appeal. "Sharon is the first man and the only to stand trial for breaking the Primaries Law since the amendment was legislated 14 years ago."

    Sharon was initially sentenced in February 2007 to nine months in jail, nine months suspended and a fine of NIS 300,000. He was found guilty of making false entries in the documents of a corporate body, making a false oath and violations of the Political Parties Law.

    In late June 2007, The Tel Aviv District Court on Monday partially accepted his appeal, and reduced his jail sentence by two months. However, the Supreme Court refused to offer any additional leniency.
    Do you all understand the logic? Everyone else was speeding breaking the law anyway, and they can't possibly catch everyone who speeds breaks the law anyway, so how come I have to go to jail just because I'm the only one who was caught? And besides, I 'cooperated' so that should save me from going to jail.

    He needs a separate law to tell him not to make fraudulent entities in corporate books and not to lie under oath? I don't know why the District Court reduced his jail time in the first place!

    /Only in Israel
    ----------

    I'll take the Rezko cash. Let the healing begin.

    ReplyDelete
  72. Well, ash, here's the run down

    Abbas and Hamas are playin' Bush & Israel for the money. As both mat and I have thought from the beginning of the "break" between them.
    The Saudi can match any bakish or humanitarian monies that are needed or fronted by the Iranians.

    Bush has compromised with the once and future terrorists and/or insurgents in Iraq, both Shia and Sunni.
    The Awakening militias, the newly named "Concerned Local Citizens" are the 1920s Brigades et al. Baathists to the core of their souls. The Coalition working with Senor al-Sadr's militias in Baghdad & Basra, along with Mr al Hakim's forces.

    So that leaves the Israeli, mats' puppets on a string. With Mr Bush in the role of the puppetmaster.
    I think that Mr Olmert truly believes that if the Two State solution is not implemented the One State solution will be. Complete with a Civil Rights equality battle. Eventually destroying Israel as a sectarian State.

    He'll take the chance, if no other viable option presents itself, just as Mr Sharon planned.

    ReplyDelete
  73. Hamas and Fatah sure do seem to make a good cop, bad cop couple. Or whatever the term would be. Mrs. Arafat lives in Paris I heard. Had the good sense to get her hands on some of it. Any Palestinian that's sane and up to snuff would get a pile, and get out.

    ReplyDelete
  74. The Saudi corrupting the Iran/Syrian connection while doing so, as stout's clip would indicate.

    The Saudi using the Syrian based Hamas leader as the front door to the store.

    ReplyDelete
  75. US by the numbers:

    Incomes:

    * Median household income in 2006: $48,201
    * Salary of a full-time minimum wage employee without vacation:
    $12,168
    * Number of Americans living in poverty in 2008: 36.5 million

    Housing:

    * Percentage increase in home foreclosures in the last year: 68

    Jobs:

    * Total number of American manufacturing jobs in 2000: 17,263,000
    * Total number of American manufacturing jobs in 2006: 14,197,000
    * Number of American manufacturing jobs lost between 2000 and 2006:
    3,066,000

    By the Numbers

    ReplyDelete
  76. Reconciliation

    That is the keystone to Bush policies

    It won't work long term, but no one has a long term view.
    But the Saudis and the Iranians.

    The Israeli are in what wi"o" described as a ghetto.

    6.5 million folk on a sliver of land, a three nuke State. They have to find a reconciliation solution, or eventually be swamped.

    There already is net emmigration fron Israel by Jewish refugees. More choosing expatriation than immigration.
    They are truly squeezed between a river and the sea.

    ReplyDelete
  77. Premiers also discussed the importance of expanding Canada's trade in key
    international markets. They called on the federal government to move forward
    to complete bilateral agreements.

    Premiers believe that there is a window of
    opportunity for an agreement in the short term for a new economic partnership
    with the European Union. Premiers also called on the federal government to
    move aggressively on agreements with India and other emerging markets in the
    Asia-Pacific region.


    Strengthening Trade

    ReplyDelete
  78. Mo money--encourage your Senators now--bidding war still possible--

    Senate May Add to Stimulus Packag

    WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Democrats will move to add to a $150 billion economic stimulus package rebates for senior citizens living off Social Security and an extension of unemployment benefits, setting up a clash with the White House and House leaders who are pushing a narrower package.
    As the House planned a vote Tuesday on a plan that would speed rebates of up to $600 to most income earners—more for couples and families with children—the Senate was planning to draft its own measure with the add-ons, said senior Senate aides in both parties, speaking on condition of anonymity because the package is not yet final.

    The move was in defiance of admonitions from the Bush administration not to risk derailing the deal with changes, and it threatened to slow what was shaping up as an extraordinarily rapid trip through Congress for the stimulus measure.

    ReplyDelete
  79. Looks like hizhonor is going to get clobbered tomorrow. Be gone by Wednesday night. What's your call there, Sam?

    ReplyDelete
  80. MR. GILLESPIE: Hi, everybody. Sorry we're a little late. Obviously, we were trying to accommodate folks who came across the security situation and had a little difficulty getting into the perimeter -- especially without hard passes, I guess.

    ...

    That's not to say while it has a philosophical core it doesn't identify areas where we can find common ground with a Democratic-led Congress, and there are areas where we believe we can do that, and the President identifies what he thinks are some common ground areas where this Congress and this White House can come together to get some accomplishments done. We have a window of opportunity to do that and look forward to working with leaders on both sides of the aisle, in both chambers of Congress, to pass new policies -- he will lay out some new policies tonight -- and also to move forward with unfinished business that is important that we get done to meet the needs of the American people.

    ...

    So thank you for letting me give you a rundown. I hope it was helpful to you.

    Q You talk about a window of opportunity. Realistically speaking, in this political season, how long is that window -- how long before that window of opportunity closes?

    MR. GILLESPIE: Well, we would hope, obviously, No Child Left Behind would be an area of common ground. It was passed with bipartisan support in the past.

    ...

    Q The window of opportunity -- how long?

    MR. GILLESPIE: You know, that's obviously a fluid thing, but I would think clearly before the conventions, which means before they go out for the August recess. I suspect that they'll want to move appropriations bills in July, which is the traditional time when Congress tries to move appropriations bills.

    ...

    Q Related to that, on timing, (inaudible), what's striking about this year is not only that it's a captivating campaign, but that because it's so compressed, we're going to be in a general election campaign for a long time. What impact do you think that has on the President?

    MR. GILLESPIE: Well, in terms of the President, he is obviously watching, just like the rest of us, with interest. But the fact is, he is focused on moving his ideas and policies and agenda and trying to find some areas where we can reach common ground; a vigorous foreign policy as well.


    Counselor to the President

    ReplyDelete
  81. Mormons Opt For Youth, Hope In New President Avoid the popular error of democracy, turn away from Church Royalty. Lack of proper blood line no impediment. Romney ineligible.

    ReplyDelete
  82. desert rat said...
    Less than has gone to the Israeli, from all sources, I'd bet.



    you'd lose

    ReplyDelete
  83. Do not think so, the US contributions in arms and cash, plus the US jewish groups that contribute to Israel, mighty high amounts.

    The PA gets the crumbs, from the EU and US. Millions not Billions.

    I wouldn't count the tax revenue that Israel administrates for them as "contributions". Any more than rufus counts statutory debt as real bonded debt, he doesn't.

    ReplyDelete
  84. But you can run the numbers for the PA, after you do, I'll do Israel

    ReplyDelete
  85. Max Boot and Bing West
    tell US about

    Iraq's No. 1 problem

    Just as was predicted,
    back before the "surge" began.

    ReplyDelete
  86. The Rat states:

    The Israeli are in what wi"o" described as a ghetto.


    Not quite, but as you called gaza a ghetto, I then liken the fact that the greedy arabs control 649.9/650th of the middle east


    the rat: 6.5 million folk on a sliver of land, a three nuke State. They have to find a reconciliation solution, or eventually be swamped.


    smking fairy dust again rat?

    that silver of land is all israel needs and the fact that they ALLOW 20% of their population to be arab speaks volumes of the quality of their tiny nation. The arab world already made their choice BY EXPELLING 900,000 jews and stealing the 102 billion dollars in Jewish properties & business in 1948. The way you speak america is a ghetto sandwiched by canada and mexico.. you really need to learn what your talking about before typing...

    drat: There already is net emmigration fron Israel by Jewish refugees. More choosing expatriation than immigration.
    They are truly squeezed between a river and the sea.


    where do you get this crap?

    do you read in the mickey mouse comic books or is it wishful thinking?

    really rat, why not take a trip to israel 1st before shooting of your ill informed mouth?

    you really just dont know shit...

    ReplyDelete
  87. Agenda of United Nations Holocaust Remembrance Activities 2008

    Thursday, 17 January 2008

    6–8 p.m.: Opening -- Gennady Dobrov Art Exhibition “Memorial Drawings: Remembering the Holocaust Victims and Their Liberators”, (sponsored by Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, organized in cooperation with UNIC Moscow) will be mounted on the conference room level (1B) 17 to 31 January 2008. By invitation only (contact: ruslanba@yahoo.com).

    Monday, 28 January 2008

    11-11:30 a.m.: Press Launch -- Holocaust Remembrance Postal Stamp. Moderated by Kiyo Akasaka, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information.

    ...

    Tuesday, 29 January 2008

    12:30–2 p.m.: Briefing -- “Rescue during the Holocaust: Denmark, Slovakia and Hungary”, Dr. Rob Rozett, Yad Vashem, The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority. Open to United Nations grounds pass holders and pre-registered guests only.


    Holocaust Remembrance Day

    ReplyDelete
  88. Anybody know how much of this is true? (not about Maliki, but the oil contracts and such)
    ---
    1. The big problem was the Prime Minister was supposed to push through the PSA Oil Bill. That was BP and Exxon winning HALF of Iraq's oil for over 50 years and having control over it. Funny, but the Kurd's have contracts and their contracts are for 15% foreign ownership. DOE Sam Bodman brought over Malaiki to help him understand the contract, that USAID created. Look how much USAID, Bechtel and Halliburton are getting paid from the Iraq funds. It is safe to say, GREED created our problem, and sheer will against US forces are the RESULT of the perceived THEFT of their oil in this contract.
    Submitted by: peggy arvanitas

    ReplyDelete
  89. "The arab world already made their choice BY EXPELLING 900,000 jews and stealing the 102 billion dollars in Jewish properties & business in 1948."
    ---
    Where's a good Idiots Guide to that bit of History, WIO?

    ReplyDelete
  90. DUBAI (via PLDT) (29 January) -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo paid tribute to the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) not only for their valuable contribution in shoring up the Philippine economy but also for showcasing the best qualities of the world-class Filipino workforce as Philippine ambassadors in their host countries.

    Speaking before the Filipino community here on Sunday, the President said she has been visiting OFW destination countries as part of government policy to protect and advance the interest of OFWs.

    Everywhere, the President said host governments and employers, including those in this part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), have nothing but high praises to Filipino workers overseas.


    Favorite of Foreign Employers

    ReplyDelete
  91. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  92. Bush hasn't said the n word yet. Green, but not nuclear. We gonna remain the most dynamic nation on earth.

    ReplyDelete
  93. desert rat said...
    Well, ash, here's the run down

    Abbas and Hamas are playin' Bush & Israel for the money.


    --


    Nah, I wish it were true, but no, they are idealogues - they serve a higher purpose, they are righteous. Much like the Bush admin. was. I agree that Bush and Co. found in them to stand down and reach a compromise with some Sunni in Iraq. They are, however, maintaining the fiction that the war is against Al Qaeda and that it is being won but, after 7 long years, they have managed to negotiate. Good for them.

    They haven't reached that point with Hamas or the Iranians for that matter. They are close to bellying up to the table with the Iranians but far from it with Hamas (at least as far as I can tell here in my little bubble).

    Arguing about what they should do versus what they will do are two different kettle of fish. I agree they should talk and try to reach a compromise. Bush, Abbas, and Olmert appear far from that vis a vas Hamas. Mind you the unexpected falling of the wall (remember the Berlin wall?) may force the issue becaue the expression of power and peoples will may prompt others to negotiate with Hamas....maybe.

    The whole wall thing and the determined effort to knock it down presents interesting thoughts toward the building of a similar wall between the US and Mexico. To what end this wall I say? Is it purely politcal cosmetics or will it really keep the tide out? Seems to me that determined folk will find a way over/under/around the espensive barrier. Tourist love to marvel at The Great Wall of China - quaint as it is in these modern times.

    ReplyDelete
  94. Why Jews Fled Arab Countries After '48
    Middle East Quarterly
    --------
    The great city of New Orleans is to host the North American Summit this year, says Bush.

    ReplyDelete
  95. Bobal, an interesting bit of history revolves around the Arabs fleeing Israel in and around '48 - the birth of the Palestinian refugee crisis that befuddles us to this day.

    ReplyDelete
  96. Men and women who love freedom reject tyranny Bush says. HoHo!

    ReplyDelete
  97. The troops are coming home! Rat was right! 20,000 now, more as per General Petraeus recommends.

    ReplyDelete
  98. They don't like one another, Ash.

    ReplyDelete
  99. Beyond breaking into dramas or comedies, it's even tough for minorities to make it onto the evening news - in a positive light, that is, said Anat Saragusti, a panelist at Tzavta and a veteran reporter for Channel 2 news.

    "If they appear in the media, it's in a negative context, especially the Arabs."

    And, Saragusti added, it's equally difficult for minorities to get hired on news or other shows. Often, she said, minority candidates lack journalistic training and rarely do they get a break at such veteran launching pads as Army Radio.


    Breaking TV Barriers

    ReplyDelete
  100. Count among the similarities between Rezko and Hsu that both used prolific fundraising to get close to politicians. Both have been accused in federal indictments of facilitating straw donations -- the illegal practice of reimbursing others for the political contributions they make. And both now await trials on other federal corruption charges at a most politically inopportune time for their best-known beneficiaries.

    In Hsu's case, he has been accused of swindling investors out of more than $40 million in a Ponzi scheme. Attention on Hsu peaked with his arrest on the old fraud charges, and then his short-lived dash for freedom aboard a cross-country Amtrak train.

    Hsu had raised more than $800,000 for Clinton's bid, making him one of her top bundlers.

    Rezko is scheduled to stand trial on corruption charges in less than a month related to allegations that he used the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board and the state's Teachers Retirement System Board to extort kickbacks. Rezko had been out on bail after pleading not guilty.
    --------------
    So, how does this work exactly? Rezzie gets them some help on legislation in return for contributions and takes a cut?

    ReplyDelete
  101. wi"o" the JPost on emigration numbers, as well as Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics

    They lay it out pretty well.
    Google away, you'll find the facts.

    But it is interesting that Israelis are leaving by a ratio of three to one over those returning there.

    Or as the JPost puts it:
    The largest number of emigrants are between the ages of 20-30 and college-educated, the CBS said.

    "There is a very clear brain drain created by our best and brightest leaving Israel because they cannot find the employment and quality of life they seek," said MK Michael Nudelman (Kadima), chairman of the committee.

    The report showed that immigrants of Eastern European origin leave Israel at a rate five times higher than native Israelis. The top reason for leaving was given as unemployment, with rate of living and high taxes also listed.

    Many immigrants from the former Soviet Bloc had a difficult time being absorbed into the Israeli school system and returned to Russia or the Ukraine to complete their education, said Eli Zarkhin, the CEO of the Israeli Association for Immigrant Children. Meanwhile, others find that the quality of living and employment for the college-educated is higher in Eastern Europe, and therefore return to that region after receiving their degrees in Israel.

    "While it is excellent that we have such successful aliya programs, we must also focus resources on making sure that people stay here," said Nudelman. "We must find ways to prevent people from returning to Eastern Europe."


    But I notice you just make stuff up, never have a reference and when references are researched and found, they dispute your "facts".

    Emotional fellow you are, but often wrong in your basic thinking, your "facts".

    I quote Israeli Prime Ministers, Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, US Sec of States, US Presidents, Mr Abbas and the like.

    You pull shit out your ass,
    or thin air.

    ReplyDelete
  102. In 2007 The Jerusalem Post reported that: "For the first time in over two decades, it was reported last week, Israel will likely experience a net negative migration rate in 2007". The same article the The Jerusalem Post also wrote:

    "...it is estimated that more Jews will actually leave Israel than move here this year - something that hasn't happened since 1984."
    "...a total of just 14,400 new immigrants are expected here [in Israel] this year, or 5,000 less than the number anticipated to relocate abroad."
    "[This] marks the continuation of an alarming trend that began seven years ago, when the number of people making aliya began spiraling downward, falling from 61,542 in 2000 to just 19,267 last year."
    "...various Israeli public figures have been sounding the alarm in recent years, stressing the need to bolster Israel's Jewish population through immigration and absorption by calling on Diaspora Jewry to come home to Israel ... But with the pool of potential immigrants from Russia and the former Soviet states shrinking rapidly, and large-scale aliya from the West not yet at hand, the prospects of this occurring appear marginal at best."

    ReplyDelete
  103. Maybe it is you who should move to Israel, the land you love, wi"o".

    They need you and your entrepenureal spirit in that mecca of socialist ideology.

    They need you for more than a two week vacation, more than just a sabbatical, but for your steadfast devotion to the cause.

    It is where your loyalties lay.

    ReplyDelete
  104. It is worthwhile to note that there is a need to eliminate poverty in Africa, and not merely to reduce it by sending money to relatives. Indeed, in any country of Africa, human capital is much more valuable than financial capital because it is only a nation's human capital that can be converted into real wealth.

    Under the status quo, Africa would still remain poor even if we were to send all the money in the world there. When we give our money to a doctor, that physician helps us to convert our money into health—or rather wealth.

    Money cannot teach our children, but teachers can. Money cannot bring electricity to our homes, but engineers can.


    Brain Gain in Africa

    ReplyDelete
  105. Bob:
    He called for more nuclear tonight. Got a big round of applause, too.

    ReplyDelete
  106. State of Israel, Central Bureau of Statistics (2004). “The Population, By Religion and Population Group.” Statistical Abstract of Israel 2004, No. 55, Table 2.1.
    This is a bar graph for the years
    1998 - 2001 Israelis that depart Israel and remain continuously abroad for one or more years

    Number of departures by Israelis vs number that return
    1998 19,700 depart, 6,500 return
    1999 20,000 depart, 6,800 return
    2000 21,200 depart, 8,400 return
    2001 27,000 depart, 7,800 return

    Most current info I could find from the Israeli Government, a 2004 report with a three year lag in data, but the trendline is clear, is it not?

    Especially when seen in conjunction with the JPost article that had more current data.

    ReplyDelete
  107. "I am an Elephant man of course."

    OF COURSE.

    ReplyDelete
  108. To build a future of energy security, we must trust in the creative genius of American researchers and entrepreneurs and empower them to pioneer a new generation of clean energy technology.

    (APPLAUSE)

    Our security, our prosperity and our environment all require reducing our dependence on oil.

    Last year I asked you to pass legislation to reduce oil consumption over the next decade, and you responded. Together, we should take the next steps. Let us fund new technologies that can generate coal power while capturing carbon emissions.

    (APPLAUSE)

    BUSH: Let us increase the use of renewable power and emissions- free nuclear power.

    (APPLAUSE)

    Let us continue investing in advanced battery technology and renewable fuels to power the cars and trucks of the future.

    (APPLAUSE)

    Let us create a new international clean technology fund which will help developing nations like India and China make greater use of clean energy sources.

    And let us complete an international agreement that has the potential to slow, stop, and eventually reverse the growth of greenhouse gases.

    (APPLAUSE)

    This agreement will be effective only if it includes commitments by every major economy and gives none a free ride.

    ReplyDelete
  109. As immigration to Israel dries up, as it is doing, the overall population will begin to drop.

    Israeli people not producing at even a replacement rate. As is typical of Socialist countries.

    ReplyDelete
  110. Glad to hear that Whit. I must have missed it.

    ReplyDelete
  111. CIA says:
    Birth rate:
    17.71 births/1,000 population
    Death rate:
    6.17 deaths/1,000 population
    Net migration rate:
    0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (

    Total fertility rate:
    2.38 children born/woman


    Need 2.9 children born/woman to maintain population. Then the CIA nor Israel breaks down births by Israeli Arabs and/or Jewish citizens. Bet the Arabs are breeding faster than the Jews

    Jewish 76.4%, Muslim 16%,

    O migrant, negative actually as the CIA is time lagged to the Jpost

    ReplyDelete
  112. rat reports a trend

    In 2007 The Jerusalem Post reported that: "For the first time in over two decades, it was reported last week, Israel will likely experience a net negative migration rate in 2007". The same article the The Jerusalem Post also wrote:


    so a net - migration for ONE fucking year of 14 k somehow is a trend that israel is drying up?

    you are like a dow jones watcher ignoring the last 5 yrs and 300% growth bitching that the dow has a 14% drop THIS year...

    no rat, you misquote stats you twist and bend things to paint a picture to fit your fiction...

    Israel is NOT shrinking

    Thousands of Jews, (I know this displeases you) are going to israel every year...

    and yes, there are several THOUSAND Jews that do leave.

    But in the END the TREND over 20 YEARS is firm...

    Israel is not being washed away by arabs, although you'd most likely support that

    ReplyDelete
  113. facts are facts
    There are no more Jews from Russia moving in, they already have. Making up 49.2% of the immigrants in Israel.

    Unless the US Jewish population makes its' move to Israel, there will not be an Israel in fifty more years. Demographics being what they are.

    I wouldn't give a turd one way or another, as to the future of that sectarian State. It is not my country, nor will it ever be.

    The US, my country, is not at war with Palistine, nor Islam.
    Israel is not at war with Eygpt or Jordan, though they occupy portions of Jordan. The Jordanians, ruled by descendents of Mohammed seem okay with it, so what difference does it make to me?
    None

    Immigration to Israel, if we are talking trends, is dropping faster than the value of the dollar, in gold, since 1999.

    ReplyDelete
  114. desert rat said...
    facts are facts
    There are no more Jews from Russia moving in, they already have. Making up 49.2% of the immigrants in Israel.

    Unless the US Jewish population makes its' move to Israel, there will not be an Israel in fifty more years. Demographics being what they are.


    you are on crack.... really...

    thank you for your wise statements but you really just are sounding dumber by the day..

    Dr: I wouldn't give a turd one way or another, as to the future of that sectarian State. It is not my country, nor will it ever be.


    that's is a fact.. but the fact that you are so easy in the destruction of Israel leaves me with the point that you are one heartless prick

    DR: The US, my country, is not at war with Palistine, nor Islam.

    The USA is at war with islamist Jihad, to which you ignore at your own peril, but being the myopic snod that you are you cant see past your own backyard.

    DR: Israel is not at war with Eygpt or Jordan, though they occupy portions of Jordan. The Jordanians, ruled by descendents of Mohammed seem okay with it, so what difference does it make to me?
    None

    Wow, Now israel occupied Jordan's lands?

    where do you pull this out of?


    DR: Immigration to Israel, if we are talking trends, is dropping faster than the value of the dollar, in gold, since 1999.

    But Rat, Treads are not made in 8 years

    in the 60 years of the state of israel MILLIONS have already been absorbed, and whether you KNOW it or not, more move to israel all the time

    from france, germany, america

    from south america to africa jews are still moving to israel, if a few move away? big fuckin deal..

    we lost more jews in 3 days under hitler than have EVER left israel in 8 yrs....

    so really, your opinions on the life span of israel is really crap....

    so dr, you just make yourself look even more stupid than you already have on this subject.

    thanks for telling us israel will be dead in 50 years, but again, you dont have a clue...

    ReplyDelete
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  116. Hello Everybody,
    My name is Mrs Sharon Sim. I live in Singapore and i am a happy woman today? and i told my self that any lender that rescue my family from our poor situation, i will refer any person that is looking for loan to him, he gave me happiness to me and my family, i was in need of a loan of S$250,000.00 to start my life all over as i am a single mother with 3 kids I met this honest and GOD fearing man loan lender that help me with a loan of S$250,000.00 SG. Dollar, he is a GOD fearing man, if you are in need of loan and you will pay back the loan please contact him tell him that is Mrs Sharon, that refer you to him. contact Dr Purva Pius,via email:(urgentloan22@gmail.com) Thank you.

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    Email Kindly Contact: urgentloan22@gmail.com

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