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, November 16, 2008

Teacher Unions Against Black Inner City Students

Will Barack Obama deprive D.C. children of the opportunity his children have?

School Choice
Will Barack Obama deprive D.C. children of the opportunity his children have?


Saturday, November 15, 2008; Washington Post

MICHELLE OBAMA'S visits to two private schools and her inquiries about Washington's public schools have sparked the inevitable public vs. private debate. We won't be weighing in because we would never presume to tell any parents where to send their children to school. Yet, as President-elect Barack Obama and his wife decide what's right for Malia and Sasha, Mr. Obama might want to think about the families that he would deny this precious freedom of choice.

During the just-concluded campaign, Mr. Obama spoke dismissively of the federally funded voucher program that gives poor D.C. families access to the kind of educational opportunities his family is fortunate to have. The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program gives low-income families up to $7,500 per child for their children to escape failed public schools and attend private schools. Some 1,900 children receive vouchers, and many more are clamoring to join the program. Democrats, and their allies in public school teachers unions, oppose the vouchers and, with the party soon to control Congress and the White House, supporters of the program are right to worry.

Let's hope the experience of moving his girls and finding the place where they will flourish resonates with Mr. Obama so that he reexamines his stance on the District's voucher program. How is it right to take away what little choice there is for needy D.C. children? The scholarship program wasn't intended to replace Washington's public schools, and it doesn't lessen the urgency of improving them. But it does give some poor parents an opportunity taken for granted by better-off families, who can pick their residency based on school district even if they can't afford the most elite private schools.

To their credit, the schools Michelle Obama visited this week -- Georgetown Day and Sidwell Friends -- participate in the voucher program, as do many other area private schools. That means classmates of Malia and Sasha might lose the ability to attend their chosen school if the vouchers were eliminated. That wouldn't seem fair.

61 comments:

  1. I wouldn't have expected it from the Washington Post.

    Is there hope after all, or just moving on from bashing Bush? The article is to their credit either way.

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  2. Russia impressed with Isreali drones used by Georgia

    Haaretz:

    Russia is seeking to purchase Israeli-manufactured unmanned planes, a surprising announcement in Moscow revealed on Saturday.

    ...

    The announcement comes after Moscow had an opportunity to evaluate the aircraft's capabilities during the recent conflict between the Russian army and Georgia in the breakaway Georgian region of South Osettia. In the clash, the Israeli-made drones, the Hermes model manufactured by Elbit, were used by the Georgian army.


    PrairiePundit

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  3. Study Points to Major Source of Natural Gas in Alaska

    By Juliet Eilperin
    Washington Post Staff Writer
    Wednesday, November 12, 2008

    Today the U.S. Geological Survey will release a study estimating that 85.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas can be extracted from Alaska's gas hydrates, an amount that could heat more than 100 million average homes for more than a decade.

    ...

    Even if industry manages to extract natural gas from these reserves -- long-term tests on hydrates will take place between 2009 and 2011 -- it will be years before companies will be able to send this gas to the lower 48 states. Such shipments probably would take place via the natural gas pipeline that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) has championed, which will not be complete for at least a decade.

    link

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  4. The one city in the country where education is a Federal responsibility, and they fail, miserably.

    Par for the course.

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  5. The one city in the country where education is a Federal responsibility, and they fail, miserably

    Exactly, which is why I am dismayed when the majority vote for more Federal responsibility.

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  6. Linear Thinker: Russia is seeking to purchase Israeli-manufactured unmanned planes, a surprising announcement in Moscow revealed on Saturday.

    Yeah, Russia needs to reverse-engineer it so they can sell it to Syria and Iran for hard cash, and the Hezbos will use them to drop Katushya rockets on schools as deep as Beersheeba.

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  7. Whit: Exactly, which is why I am dismayed when the majority vote for more Federal responsibility.

    Why the hell not, when propping up failed banks and auto makers is a Federal responsibility, according to the RINOs we have in charge now.

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  8. Yes,T. but the people did not vote for more Nanny State based on the examples set by Republicans. Their hope was for a more personal, intimate relationship. Free health care, free child care, free college education, elder care. What else?

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  9. Russia needs to reverse-engineer it so they can sell it to Syria and Iran for hard cash
    ==

    None of the weapons the Russians/Soviets gave the jihadis were paid for. In the end they all finally became forgiven loans.

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  10. In the previous thread I asked what exactly was accomplished domestically by the Republicans in the past 28 years? The only answer I got was from LT. "Limiting Democrats to two terms has to count for something." That's not a track record to run on.

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  11. I demand free Federal Burial. Surely they can't make a total botch of that.

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  12. Linear, Dr. Bill was saying one night how much natural gas is wasted in the oil fields in Alaska now. It was a lot.
    Somehow or other they pump some of it back down into the ground. When if we had a good pipeline we could ship it down here.

    For the life of me, I can't figure out why people in the lower 48 would be against drilling in Alaska. I've never talked to anyone that has even been up there. It's a little like being against drilling on the dark side of the moon, or Mars.

    It doesn't make any sense to me. It's not like it's in your own back yard.

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  13. From the Time Online
    Barack Obama is to pursue an ambitious peace plan in the Middle East involving the recognition of Israel by the Arab world in exchange for its withdrawal to pre-1967 borders, according to sources close to America’s president-elect.

    Obama intends to throw his support behind a 2002 Saudi peace initiative endorsed by the Arab League and backed by Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister and leader of the ruling Kadima party.

    The proposal gives Israel an effective veto on the return of Arab refugees expelled in 1948 while requiring it to restore the Golan Heights to Syria and allow the Palestinians to establish a state capital in east Jerusalem.

    On a visit to the Middle East last July, the president-elect said privately it would be “crazy” for Israel to refuse a deal that could “give them peace with the Muslim world”, according to a senior Obama adviser.


    Call me cynical. Doesn't history and experience tell us it's crazy to believe that Israel can get a peace with the Muslim world.

    Does a deal with the Muslim world, constitute peace? What about the crazies in Gaza. Do they care what platitudes Muslim countries utter?

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  14. I think you are right, Whit. It's just another temporary time out, another Hudna

    They shouldn't do it.

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  15. History and experience should underline for us and point out to us that nine out of ten conflicts in the world right now involve moslems bumping up against somebody else, but we don't read history anymore.

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  16. We've elected a moslem friendly President, maybe an undercover moslem hiself.

    Nuts.

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  17. That guy was talking about lession plans. When my wife taught, and in the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, they always, always had lession plans. Even when she was working with the really hard cases, where there was really no teaching to be done. It was about half the work, making up those lession plans. You had to have that lession plan, that was checked over by somebody a little higher, then you'd walk in there and follow it.

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  18. O/T Obama signs on with Iraq until 2011.

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  19. That actually sounds like a little good news, Habu. Now that we are there, it seems to me we ought to stick it out.

    Do you have a link?

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  20. Bobal

    http://tinyurl.com/3rljxf


    This agreement extends until the end of 2011 or about twice the time Obama said he would keep troops there.

    There are a number of other sites reporting Obama's peoples comments who are 66 days from getting mugged by reality.

    He's gonna find this a good deal harder that selling cocaine and pot.

    Oh, and Bobal. I would be cautious about signing up to or joining any anti Obama organizations. That has always been a favorite method of organizations from the Tsar's Okrana to Mao's "Let a Hundred Flowers Blossom" in getting the names of dissidents for later "special" treatment.

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  21. Hey, Habu, how come you don't post at BC anymore?

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  22. Just to follow up on the health care discussion of last night. Emergency rooms work on a triage basis - they evaluate all who walk in and then treat according to need.

    If you need a hip replacement or a knee replacement, heart surgery, cancer treatment the flow of care is much different. Your HMO generally arbitrates your care. If you've got the money you don't need an HMO or you only use their services where you can but you try to get the best right away and pay. If you are poor and uninsured it is a whole different story.

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  23. Habu: Oh, and Bobal. I would be cautious about signing up to or joining any anti Obama organizations. That has always been a favorite method of organizations from the Tsar's Okrana to Mao's "Let a Hundred Flowers Blossom" in getting the names of dissidents for later "special" treatment.

    Oh, you mean like when anti- Iraq War protesters here in the US were put on no-fly lists? Warrantless wiretaps? What goes around comes around. If you're gonna hand over power to an Imperial Presidency, make sure it's your president who wins every time.

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  24. Mat,

    My posting is down about 95% across the board.

    I found that with the market as volatile as it is I could do some trading and make some money. It's definitiely a traders market. I mean on these days of big run ups shorting the market the next day is a no brainer. My experience tells me I'll be in my mid 70's before this gets squared away but NO ONE knows. The world changes.

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  25. Ms. T,

    I don't think I could tell you anything of value about the use and misuse of power. You know.

    That's why I so often refer to Aristotle's Sixfold classification of Governments and then fast forward to the Enlightenment where his , and others, ideas were amplified.

    By and large the men of the Enlightenment Locke, Montesquie, Burke,et. al. had spent a lifetime studying the foibles of mankinds and the accumulation of power. Few of them suggested allowing it to accumulate no matter what form of government was constructed. It was always cave canum.

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  26. My experience tells me I'll be in my mid 70's before this gets squared away but NO ONE knows.
    ==

    It's interesting that BRICplus countries are now at the table.

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  27. Well now, if this story from the Alaskan National Guard gives us a picture of all the combat brigades in Iraq.

    Her eldest son, Spc. Track Palin, is being deployed with 4,000 soldiers of the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division. The 19-year-old will provide security for his brigade’s top officers, an assignment that is expected to take the unit to Diyala.

    And Obamasan keeps to his proposed schedule of a Bde per month, withdrawn from Iraq, atarting in Feb or Mar '09

    By Dec 2011, that be 33 or 34 months. Let's figure 35, to make the math easier.

    35 x 4,000 = 140,000

    Which happens to be about the number of US military, in Iraq, now.

    A brigade a month, that is about what the current logistic train can handle, or so I've read.

    If we are going to create a "stay behind" garrison of 40 to 50,000 troops, as some have suggested, even Obama. Than the expiration date of a combat status of forces agreement, in 2011, makes perfect sense.

    The agreement, as of this morning, still had not been ratified by the Iraqi. Time will tell.

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  28. Hugh Hunter, manager of WestLB Mellon Compass and Global Emerging Markets funds, said emerging economies were in better shape than five years ago, driven by domestic activity, and should be insulated from the problems in developed markets.

    Mr Hunter said his team was finding a considerable number of companies with solid business models and strong fundamentals now trading at "very attractive" multiples.

    However, he conceded emerging market equities were unlikely to perform well until there were some stability and clarity over the prospects for the global economy and the financial sector.


    Decoupling Strategies

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  29. I'm glad I don't have any money to risk in the market. It would take steelier nerves than I've got to hang in there. Besides, my information would always be two days old anyway.

    There's gonna be a University of Idaho Head Football Coach position opening up out here. Anybody interesed?

    If you are poor and uninsured it is a whole different story.

    To follow up on Ash's Sun Nov 16, 01:10:00 PM EST

    Maybe it should be so. Maybe there should be some penalty to be paid for not paying your $8,000 a year health insurance fees for the last 25 years.

    Somebody actually has to pay for this stuff, sometime.

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  30. Argyle Security (OTCBB: ARGL) Announced Friday after market close financial results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2008.
    Revenues and gross profit for the third quarter of 2008 were $31.7 million and $3.5 million, respectively, compared to $17.1 million of revenues and $3.7 million of gross profit in the third quarter of 2007, which reflected two months of operations.

    The operating loss was ($20.3) million for the three months ended September 30, 2008 (including the $16.9 million non-cash goodwill impairment charge), compared to an operating income of $46,000 for the three months ended September 30, 2007. Argyle's net loss for the three months ended September 30, 2008 was ($18.4) million, or ($3.19) per share (basic and diluted) (including the $16.9 million non-cash goodwill impairment charge), compared to a net loss of ($116,000), or ($0.02) per share (basic and diluted), in the third quarter of 2007.

    What They Do: Formed in 2005 and headquartered in San Antonio, TX, Argyle's goal is to become a leading global provider of services and solutions in the physical electronic security industry through an integrated buildup strategy. In July 2007, Argyle acquired ISI Security Group, Inc.


    Penny Stocks

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  31. Here are the two stories from the AZ Republic, this morning.

    Both touch on a security threat, one in the Middle East, one here at home.
    One threat produces a steady stream of bodies, the other a steady stream of concern, but no bodies.

    Nov. 16, 2008 12:00 AM
    The Arizona Republic
    Mesa police say an impaired driver triggered a crash early Saturday that killed a 16-year-old girl and injured her 17-year-old brother as they drove to a school-band event.

    Manuel Contreras-Galdean, 32, was arrested and booked into a Maricopa County jail on suspicion of manslaughter and aggravated assault.

    Authorities also placed an immigration hold on him after it was determined that he was in the country illegally.
    Police said Contreras-Galdean was at the wheel of a red Dodge Ram about 6:30 a.m. when he turned left in front of a Nissan Sentra carrying the teens.

    Their collision occurred at Guadalupe and Sossaman roads, according to Sgt. Ed Wessing, a Mesa police spokesman.

    The teenage girl suffered massive head trauma. Her brother, the driver, had non-life-threatening injuries.


    Another threat to US citizens, another of our children, in fact

    Nov. 16, 2008 12:00 AM
    The Arizona Republic
    Maricopa County sheriff's officials say they tracked a sexual-assault suspect to a Tucson holding facility where he was awaiting voluntary return to Mexico.

    Juan Thomas Diaz-Avila, 28, is being held at Fourth Avenue Jail on suspicion of sexual assault on a minor.

    He is accused of attacking the 14-year-old daughter of a former girlfriend in southwestern Maricopa County.
    Deputies were notified of the assault Thursday, after the victim's mother brought her to a hospital.

    Deputy Doug Matteson, a Sheriff's Office spokesman, said investigators went to a federal detention facility in Tucson where Diaz-Avila was being held on immigration charges. It's not yet known why the U.S. Border Patrol agents had arrested him.

    Sheriff's officials retrieved Diaz-Avila on Friday and booked him into jail.


    These fellows, they're always caught after the fact, the authorities being behind the security threat curve.

    Then there is this item, which the Federals are all over, or at least interested in, which is not the case regarding the border issues.

    Nov. 16, 2008 12:00 AM
    The Arizona Republic
    The FBI has sharpened its scrutiny of some Phoenix-area Muslim leaders because of their links to two controversial incidents and a federal probe into the financing of terrorist groups.

    No Arizonan has been accused of supporting terrorist groups or actions. However, a Mesa man was charged with lying to the FBI during the financing investigation.

    The events that triggered the stepped-up scrutiny were the federal probe into a Muslim charity accused of funneling money to the Palestinian group Hamas; a target-shooting episode in Phoenix this year involving a large group of Muslim men and boys firing hundreds of rounds from AK-47s and other guns; and the high-profile removal in 2006 of six Arizona-bound imams from a jetliner after passengers and crew complained of their behavior.
    Although some Islamic leaders say they understand the scrutiny, they also view it as another sign that innocent Muslims unjustly fall under suspicion because of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

    "Whoever did Sept. 11, go after them and see who they are. I'm not going to pay for them. I'm not going to be guilty," said Marwan Sadeddin, one of the Valley imams who sued US Airways after being removed from a jetliner in Minneapolis. Like the others, he was questioned by FBI agents after the incident, in addition to being questioned about the arrested Mesa man.

    The FBI is monitoring the family and community ties among Valley residents involved in the jetliner, shooting and charity probes, said John Lewis, who runs the FBI's Arizona office.

    "All of these things come on our scope," said Lewis, the agency's former head of counterterrorism operations.

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  32. Guess that makes for three stories, not just two.

    Ahhh, well ....

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  33. "No agency has enough law enforcement officers to do the job the way they'd like," Kenneth Landgrebe, ICE's field office director for detention and removal in Houston, told the Chronicle.

    The Houston ICE office set a record by removing 8,226 illegal immigrants with criminal records from southeast Texas last year, an increase of about 7.5 percent from fiscal year 2007.

    ICE officials said between 300,000 and 450,000 inmates incarcerated in the U.S. are eligible for deportation each year. The agency estimates it screens inmates in only about 10 percent of the nation's jails.


    Texas Jail

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  34. Oh, and Bobal. I would be cautious about signing up to or joining any anti Obama organizations.

    :)

    Well, they might be wasting the bullet on me, Habu. I'm not what you would call 'a young street fighting man'.

    I'll do what I've always done, live quietly with my wife and make things work.

    That situation in the D.C. schools is one hell of a mess.

    And, I've already signed up with an anti-Obama organization, called the Republican Party, my church, and a few good books. And, they already know it.

    I don't think it's going to come to that. If they kill taxpayers, where's the money going to come from?

    I think America is more sensible than this.

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  35. I can't find out if San Francisco passed that 'no enforcement of prostitution laws' ordinance, which effectively legalises sex with kids.

    Even Mayor Newsom(Neusom?) was against it.

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  36. But for nonviolent secessionist groups like the League of the South, the hope is for a more vigorous debate about the direction of the US and the South's role in it, says Michael Tuggle, a League blogger in North Carolina.

    Mr. Tuggle says his group isn't looking for an 1860-style secession but, rather, a model that Spain, for one, is moving toward, in which "there's a great deal of autonomy for constituent regions" – a foil to what is seen as unchecked, dangerous federal power in Washington.

    "To a lot of people, the idea of secession doesn't seem so crazy anymore," says Tuggle. "People are talking about how left out they feel, ... and they feel that something strange and radical has taken over our country."


    Backlash Festers

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  37. From the BBC:

    President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan has offered to provide security for the Taleban's reclusive leader, Mullah Omar, if he agrees to peace talks.

    Mr Karzai made the offer despite the multi-million dollar bounty offered for the militant leader's capture by the United States.

    He said that if the US and other Western countries disagreed, they could either leave the country or remove him.

    There was no immediate response to Mr Karzai's offer from the militants.

    Mullah Omar escaped capture when the Taleban were ousted from power in 2001.

    Correspondents say there is a growing international debate about whether to negotiate with the Taleban as the insurgents make gains in Afghanistan.

    Speaking at a news conference in the Afghan capital Kabul, Mr Karzai said:

    "If I hear from him [Mullah Omar] that he is willing to come to Afghanistan or to negotiate for peace... I, as the president of Afghanistan, will go to any length to provide him [with] protection.

    "If I say I want protection for Mullah Omar, then the international community has two choices: remove me, or leave if they disagree. And both are good.

    "If I am removed in the cause of peace for Afghanistan by force by them, then I'll be very happy. But if they disagree they can leave. But we are not in that stage yet."


    Karzai may be trying to demonstrate independence on the way to a negotiated settlement with the Taliban.

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  38. This is also some political positioning for Afghan consumption prior to Presidential elections.

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  39. What is clear is that such raids serve to weaken support both for the international forces operating inside Afghanistan and the Karzai government in Kabul that they are defending.

    “Conducting such operations has undermined the legitimacy of the presence of foreign forces in Afghanistan,” said Mohamed Naser Amini, a professor in the department of law and political science at Maulana Jalaluddin Balkhi University in Mazar-e-Sharif. “It makes people furious.”

    “It is shameful that neither our president nor any other government officials know anything about military operations conducted in our country,” said Noorullah, a Mazar-e-Sharif resident. “They should not remain in their posts any longer.


    Confusion Among Afghans

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  40. "To a lot of people, the idea of secession doesn't seem so crazy anymore," says Tuggle. "People are talking about how left out they feel, ... and they feel that something strange and radical has taken over our country."

    I don't know about secession, I don't know how it would work out. But now that the slavery issue is far in the past, I think we ought to be talking about state's rights again. Quebec nearly got out of Canada with a civilized vote, for instance. I'd much rather live in Salt Lake City than the current San Francisco, even with the Bay, for example. I think we should give more due regard to state laws and customs now. We do have the issue of national defense, and defense of the western world, to think about.

    I'm not sure about any of this, but I think a ruling of the Federal Court of Appeals from San Francisco shouldn't apply to Utah, or Idaho, or Alaska, unless they want it to. (I think Utah is in that District, though I might be wrong)

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  41. While China is full of confidence in its hard power, when it comes to soft power, its boasting cannot conceal its weaknesses. Taiwan could put its own strong points to the best advantage by opening a psychological counteroffensive and engaging in peaceful rivalry with China on such issues as food safety, welfare, charity, democracy and plurality.

    Such a strategy would gain the support of disparate forces within Taiwan and help it maintain a dynamic equilibrium with the US, China and Japan.

    This is the only way to prevent Taiwan’s identity and the sovereignty of the ROC from being destroyed by internal strife, and it is the only way to win back the dignity that has been lost.


    Loss for Taiwan

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  42. It looks like Proposition K failed in San Francisco, though some people aren't happy.

    "yes we need a domestic Amsterdam in America"

    An Amsterdam for child abuse.

    nah

    Glad it failed.

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  43. IBD reports on the inducements used to entice young people into this national service corps and its true aim:

    they'll get a monthly stipend of up to $1,800, plus paid health and child care. They also get a post-service education award of $4,725 that can be used to pay off past student loans or fund future education.

    But its real mission is to radicalize American youth and use them to bring about ‘social change’ through threats, pressure, tension and confrontation — the tactics used by the father of community organizing, Saul "The Red" Alinsky.

    As bad as this sounds, I believe the reality will be far worse. I’ll explain where I think this will lead, but first we must understand a collective psychological phenomenon that is now apparent.


    Security Force

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  44. Nuke Plant in Idaho Update--

    bogged down

    Nov. 6, 2008

    For more information, contact
    Don Gillispie, 208-939-9311

    Don Gillispie, president and CEO of Alternate Energy Holdings Inc., made the following statement in regard to the Nov. 5 Elmore County Planning and Zoning Commission recommendation:

    "We look foward to presenting our case to the Board of County Commissioners. The discussion among the P and Z commissioners showed that the Snake River Alliance’s efforts largely failed, as P and Z commissioners spent very little time discussing the hours of inaccurate and misleading claims our opposition made. Instead, P and Z discussion focused on a nuts-and-bolts issue: Could the county approve a power plant of this kind in an area other than a designated heavy industrial zone? Far from being a statement against nuclear power, at least one of the commissioners who voted against us specified that he supports nuclear power but did not feel the county's comprehensive plan offered the flexibility to approve our plant in this location.”

    “We find this puzzling as other forms of heavy industrial electrical generation, such as wind farms, solar plants and natural gas facilities, are given preferential treatment for siting under the county's comprehensive plan. These sources ironically consume much more ag land and/or are only niche energy, not to mention high-cost sources doing nothing for Idaho’s base load power shortage needed to attract new businesses and much needed jobs.”

    “We expect our opposition to try to spin this recommendation as a referendum against nuclear power, but nothing could be further from the truth. Indeed, the Legislature’s approval incentives for Areva’s uranium processing facility, the strong support for a reprocessing facility at INL and even Tuesday night’s election of predominantly pro-nuclear candidates, including the President, show that nuclear energy has a promising future in Idaho - even if the Elmore Board of County Commissioners upholds the P and Z recommendation."



    “On that note, we have been examining opportunities in Colorado and Mexico (see cleanidahoenergy.wordpress.com for more details). If the Elmore County Commission upholds the P and Z recommendation, we will regrettably need to end our initiative in Idaho and move forward on these other prospects. We do hope, however, the county commission will find that their plans and ordinances allow our plant in this location. Any industrial plant at the Simco Road location will get most of its employees from Ada County, not Elmore, and there are no water sources nearby vital to most all industry.”



    Idaho Energy Complex (www.idahoenergycomplex.com) will be a 1,600-megawatt; $4.5-billion advanced nuclear reactor with low cooling water requirements located about 65 miles southeast of Boise, in Elmore County. The plant will also include a biofuels component, using excess reactor heat to produce fuels from local ag waste and crops. The company has filed a rezone application with Elmore County. Company officials plan to submit a Combined Operating License Application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in late 2009. The approval process is expected to take three years and cost $80 million. Construction could begin as soon as 2012 and finish with power generation beginning in late 2016.


    Alternate Energy Holdings (www.alternateenergyholdings.com) actively acquires private green energy companies, as well as develops and markets innovative clean energy sources. Current projects include the Idaho Energy Complex, bio-fuel generation, energy-neutral home and business technology (www.energyneutralinc.com) and International Reactors, Inc., which assists developing countries with nuclear reactors for power generation and production of potable water.

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  45. Jean McSorley, senior adviser on the nuclear campaign at Greenpeace, said the uncertainty surrounding how waste should be dealt with meant plans for new stations should be put on hold.

    "You can't proceed with any form of nuclear power without this issue being settled and that is years away," she said. "It is quite clear this consultation on fixed costs will expose the different views there are on this issue at a time when everyone is supposed to be coming together."

    Professor Gordon MacKerron, an energy expert at Sussex University and a former chairman of the CoRWM, said building two repositories could have major political advantages because the government could face opposition from local communities to hosting an unlimited amount of waste from new power stations rather than a finite amount of legacy waste from existing sites.


    Nuclear Waste

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  46. "You can't proceed with any form of nuclear power without this issue being settled and that is years away," she said.

    I'm the furthest thing from an expert but I think I've listened to one. Dr. Bill says the waste issue really doesn't exist anymore. The Japanese, the French, they reprocess. Works for them. The waste issue is a political football, nothing behind it. The amount of stuff put into the environment by coal burning power plants is much much more that anything you'd get from a nuclear power plant.

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  47. Emergency rooms work on a triage basis - they evaluate all who walk in and then treat according to need.

    I think that's only partly right, Ash.

    When there is a real emergency, like on a battlefield or something, they evaluate, but those that are in the most need, but look to be hopeless, they give up on, and treat those that might be more saveable. I think that is triage in the classic sense. Doesn't hardly ever happen in your local hospital, though.

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  48. he financial deficits of the state-owned Taiwan Power Co. and petroleum company CPC Corp. Taiwan (CPC) are expected to continue increasing to the level of NT$100 billion each, by the end of the year.

    ...

    The previous administration of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had refused to let the two firms raise their charging prices to reflect the soaring operating costs.

    ...

    Construction of the new nuclear power plant was abruptly suspended by the DPP after it came to power in 2000, causing an estimated financial loss of NT$400 billion for taxpayers when including the loss from the delayed operations of the plant while the thermal power plants have to rely on the much more expensive fuel oil.


    Deficits Balooning

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  49. I've said before, it's my belief, heaven is made partly out of music.

    And Pure Black Cherry Juice.

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  50. Thanks, Bob. I'll have more of a listen when I get home.

    Nite.

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  51. A sound so beautiful, a song that is more then words it is like a soul stirring; an almost angelic whispering on the passing clouds.


    "It is like a soul stirring"--

    That's what my friend Dale said, about Maria McCool.

    Which has it about as close as you can get.

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  52. bobal: I've said before, it's my belief, heaven is made partly out of music. And Pure Black Cherry Juice.

    Cherries are better when they're in season. Used to spend hours up in one in the summertime in Portland watching the planes come in, sitting in a little "chair" formed by the branches near the tippy top and munching on cherries. Ate the whole cherry, came home and shat seeds. No gout when I was a girl.

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  53. maybe Sasha and Malia will start a protest, wouldnt that be great :) Classic Liberal double standard.

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