March 5, 2006
Ever wonder why the UN is so ineffectual...?
Bolton's UN punctuality drive comes to early end
03/03/2006 -UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - An unpopular punctuality drive launched in the U.N. Security Council last month by U.S. Ambassador John Bolton came to an abrupt end on Thursday when Argentina took over the council’s rotating presidency.
Bolton had cracked the whip while presiding over the 15-nation U.N. body in February, starting meetings precisely on time, even with empty chairs in the room, as part of a plan to modernise council operations.
He had also called in ambassadors almost every morning of the month for closed-door briefings by U.N. staff on overnight global political and peacekeeping developments.
But Argentine Ambassador Cesar Mayoral made clear it would be a different story in March... he said. "We aren’t having a daily briefing each day."
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/news/newswire.php/news/reuters/2006/03/03/odd/bolton39s-un-punctuality-drive-comes-to-early-end.html&template%3D/news/feeds/odd_story_template.html
Pro-Family Critics Say Academy Ignores Box Office, Putting Reviews Over Revenues
March 3, 2006 (AgapePress) - According to a pro-family activist, Hollywood's agenda will be on display like never before at this year's Academy Awards ceremony. Campaign for Working Families director Gary Bauer says this year's Oscar nominees for Best Picture are controversial message movies that reveal the entertainment industry's true objectives...
...Some analysts are saying the movies vying for top honors at the Oscars this year could be the least-viewed movies in Academy history. Bauer agrees; however, he believes money is not what matters most to many Hollywood executives. In fact, he adds, "I think the Academy Award nominations were determined long before some of these movies ever made it to the big screen."
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council (FRC), is also calling attention to the fact that the movies selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as the year's best five were more popular with cinema critics than with cinema crowds. Comparing box office receipts, he notes that recent estimates of U.S. ticket sales put Brokeback Mountain at about $76 million, Crash at $53 million, Munich at $46 million, Good Night and Good Luck at $31 million, and Capote at $23 million.
"All these films stand high in the critics' estimation," Perkins points out. Meanwhile, he notes that The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which has earned some $288 million at the box office so far, received an Oscar nomination only for the less prestigious award for makeup.
...Baehr says these movies, besides having the lowest combined box office of any set of top film nominees in 20 years, are "a very obscure group" of films that promote extreme or anti-family ideologies. "Most of them are pushing the envelope – they’re anti-Israel, anti-Christian, pro-homosexual," he adds...
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/3/32006a.asp
From the "No kidding!" department
Reading skill hallmark of college ability
One major factor separates high school graduates who are ready for college from those who aren't, a new study shows: how well students handle complex reading...
...The trouble is that most states don't even have grade-level reading standards for high schools, and not a single state defines the kind of complexity that high school reading should have... I guess they're too busy making sure little Suzy does pray in the cafeteria before she eats her lunch...
http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_3556335
US says CO2 injection could quadruple oil reserves
Sat Mar 4, 2006 -NEW YORK - The United States has the potential to boost its oil reserves four-fold through advanced injection of carbon dioxide into depleted oilfields, the Department of Energy said on Friday.
The United States has been successfully pumping small amounts or carbon dioxide into depleted oil and natural gas fields for 30 years to push out hard-to-reach fossil fuels.
The DOE said 89 billion barrels could potentially be added to current proved U.S. oil reserves of 21.9 billion barrels through injection of carbon dioxide.
…Adding billions of barrels in reserves is dependent upon the availability of commercial CO2, the DOE's fossil energy office said.
"Next generation enhanced recovery with carbon dioxide was judged to be a 'game changer' in oil production, one capable of doubling recovery efficiency," DOE said in a release.
Up to 430 billion barrels could be added by pumping the gas into fields that have yet to be discovered, the DOE said.
…Advancements in carbon capturing could be made at power plant called FugureGen. An international consortium of utilities and coal companies will join with the U.S. government to build FutureGen, billed as a "zero-emissions" coal-fired power plant.
It is expected to be operating by 2012. The FutureGen Alliance includes some of the biggest power and mining companies in the world including Huaneng Power International Inc., Peabody Energy, Kennecott Energy, a division of Rio Tinto, American Electric Power, BHP Billiton, Consol Energy Inc., Foundation Coal and Southern Co.
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2006-03-04T012538Z_01_N03284156_RTRIDST_0_SCIENCE-ENERGY-CRUDE-INJECTION-DC.XML&archived=False
Venezuelan middle class flees Chávez rule of hate
05/03/2006- Venezuela's once-thriving middle class is packing its bags and fleeing the country, afraid for the future as the socialist president, Hugo Chávez, calls on the slum-dwelling masses to rise up and seize wealth from those better off than themselves.
Growing numbers of professionals, business owners and shopkeepers are fed up with the climate of hostility that the Left-wing president has encouraged in his effort to boost his populist credentials.
…Many Venezuelans complain of the government's increasing control of the media and intimidation of opposition supporters. People report that their middle-class appearance leads to their being robbed, kidnapped or spat at.
The streets of Caracas have always been rife with crime but in recent years the city centre has become seedier, with homeless people sleeping alongside piles of rotting rubbish by blackened walls.
…Since Mr Chávez, a former paratrooper and close ally of Fidel Castro, the Cuban president, was elected promising a 21st-century socialist revolution and making fiery anti-American speeches, the lines outside the foreign consulates have been growing.
Demand for Venezuelan passports is reported to be so high that the Chávez government has rationed the number of requests it can handle per day, pleading a shortage of passport-making materials.
Professionals, businessmen and women and educated office workers are seeking visas for countries such as Australia, Canada, Spain and Britain. Those with emigrant ancestry are asserting their rights to European passports.
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/03/05/wvenez05.xml
Better watch out Scarecrow!!
Lying on résumé could land you in jail
Bill would make it illegal to pass off fake degree as real
March 4, 2006-(Washington state) Not only would it become illegal for people to lie on their résumés about their academic credentials, but according to a bill lawmakers passed Friday, the move could land those liars in jail.
…The term "diploma mill" or "degree mill" is used to describe businesses that purport to be educational institutions, but really only sell consumers a paper degree and a verification service, should potential employers inquire.
…Diploma-mill degrees supposedly from the United States have aided foreign nationals seeking immigration status, which is also a concern for state lawmakers, said state Sen. Mark Schoesler, a Republican from Eastern Washington.
"When they're using them, they're actually perpetrating a fraud," said Schoesler, who previously introduced legislation in the Senate that would criminalize both issuing and using bogus degrees and diplomas…
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/261747_diplomamill04.html
Have you seen anything besides photos/news of all the protestors in India during W's trip?
U.S a land of opportunity for Indians
March 01, 2006 -HUSTON: While the United States’ favorability ratings have plunged in many countries, Indians are significantly more positive about the U.S. now than they were in the summer of 2002, a new opinion poll has said.
The 2005 Pew Global Attitudes survey found that 71 percent of Indians have a favorable view of the U.S. and 54 percent admire President Bush in handling world affairs. What mostly attracts Indians is that America remains a land of opportunity despite its [India's] booming economy today...
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownewsdata.asp?newsno=31137
We're winning in Iraq. Let's not lose at home.
BY VICTOR DAVIS HANSON:
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110008030
Former high-ranking general in the Iraqi Air Force says the "Bush lied, people died" mantra of the left is just nonsense.
Elder: Fifteen months before we invaded Iraq, the president began talking about what our intentions would be if Saddam would not comply with the U.N. resolutions. During those 15 months . . . did Saddam have WMD, have stockpiles of WMD, and, if so, what type?
Sada: Iraq possessed WMD and they were there, and they were chemical and biological, and nuclear weapons...
Elder: What happened to the chemical and biological weapons?
Sada: The chemical and biological weapons were available in Iraq before liberating the country, but Saddam Hussein took the advantage of a natural disaster that happened in Syria when a dam was collapsed and many villages were flooded. So Saddam Hussein took that cover and declared to the world that he is going to use the civilian aircraft for an air bridge to help Syria with blankets, food and fuel oil, and other humanitarian things, but that was not true. The truth is he converted two regular passenger civilian aircraft, 747 Jumbo and 727 . . . all the weapons of mass destruction were put there by the special Republican Guards in a very secret way, and they were transported to Syria, to Damascus, by flying 56 flights to Damascus. . . . In addition . . . also a truck convoy on the ground to take whatever has to do with WMD to Syria.
...Your intelligence said that Saddam Hussein had WMD. . . . I agree with them. They were there in Iraq. But they didn't find them after liberation of Iraq, because they were searching not in the right place. These things were transported by air and by ground.
Elder: General, why would Saddam, knowing we were about ready to invade, transfer WMD out of the country instead of using it on American and coalition troops?
Sada: Because he knew that the power of America to liberate the country is more than what he can do. And maybe not all WMD were ready to use then. And that's why he transported to Syria and he thought that he's going to maintain in the power as he was maintained in 1991 and then he was going to get it back again and then proceed to complete the whole project of WMD... http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/larryelder/2006/03/02/188299.html
Blanco assured Washington that the levees had not failed
According to a video obtained by the media, Blanco assured Washington that the levees had not failed...when in fact they had. Now...the media, in this case the Associated Press, reports that the governor was "mistaken." See a pattern? Yup...when it's a Democratic governor running against the facts, it's a mistake. When it's a Republican president getting something wrong, he's a liar.
see http://newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/3/2/214220.shtml?s=lh
Media Exaggerate Warning of Levee Breaches
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200603\NAT20060303a.html
http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/3/3/120101.shtml?s=ic
Bush Didn’t Lie About Levee Breaching
News sources have reported that President Bush lied when he said he wasn’t warned that the levees in New Orleans could be breached during Hurricane Katrina.
But a videotape of a key meeting between Bush and hurricane officials supports the president’s contention that the breaching of the levees was unanticipated.
On September 1, four days after Katrina struck, Bush said: "I don’t think anybody anticipated a breach of the levees.”
The Associated Press on Wednesday claimed that "federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees.”
...However, the tape shows that what Mayfield actually told Bush was: "I don’t think any model can tell you with any confidence right now whether the levees will be topped or not, but that’s obviously a very, very grave concern.”
Mayfield told NBC News on Thursday that he warned only that the levees might be topped – that is, the storm surge could push water over the top of the levees – not breached, and that on the many conference calls he monitored, "Nobody talked about the possibility of a levee breach or failure until after it happened.”
Mayfield even told Bush: "The forecast now suggests that there will be minimal flooding in the City of New Orleans itself.”
The Washington Times, commenting on what it called a "hit job” on the president, opined: "If it were true that Mr. Bush heard predictions of levee breaches before the storm hit, then that makes a despicable and costly lie of his statement four days after the hurricane.
"The truth, instead, is that no adviser warned the president of the possibility that the levees could fail. Of course, it makes a juicier story to suggest that the president was warned.”
http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/3/3/120101.shtml?s=lh
David Bennett <>< http://www.freewill-predestination.com
http://www.knology.net/~lonesomedove
Bolton's UN punctuality drive comes to early end
03/03/2006 -UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - An unpopular punctuality drive launched in the U.N. Security Council last month by U.S. Ambassador John Bolton came to an abrupt end on Thursday when Argentina took over the council’s rotating presidency.
Bolton had cracked the whip while presiding over the 15-nation U.N. body in February, starting meetings precisely on time, even with empty chairs in the room, as part of a plan to modernise council operations.
He had also called in ambassadors almost every morning of the month for closed-door briefings by U.N. staff on overnight global political and peacekeeping developments.
But Argentine Ambassador Cesar Mayoral made clear it would be a different story in March... he said. "We aren’t having a daily briefing each day."
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/news/newswire.php/news/reuters/2006/03/03/odd/bolton39s-un-punctuality-drive-comes-to-early-end.html&template%3D/news/feeds/odd_story_template.html
Pro-Family Critics Say Academy Ignores Box Office, Putting Reviews Over Revenues
March 3, 2006 (AgapePress) - According to a pro-family activist, Hollywood's agenda will be on display like never before at this year's Academy Awards ceremony. Campaign for Working Families director Gary Bauer says this year's Oscar nominees for Best Picture are controversial message movies that reveal the entertainment industry's true objectives...
...Some analysts are saying the movies vying for top honors at the Oscars this year could be the least-viewed movies in Academy history. Bauer agrees; however, he believes money is not what matters most to many Hollywood executives. In fact, he adds, "I think the Academy Award nominations were determined long before some of these movies ever made it to the big screen."
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council (FRC), is also calling attention to the fact that the movies selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as the year's best five were more popular with cinema critics than with cinema crowds. Comparing box office receipts, he notes that recent estimates of U.S. ticket sales put Brokeback Mountain at about $76 million, Crash at $53 million, Munich at $46 million, Good Night and Good Luck at $31 million, and Capote at $23 million.
"All these films stand high in the critics' estimation," Perkins points out. Meanwhile, he notes that The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which has earned some $288 million at the box office so far, received an Oscar nomination only for the less prestigious award for makeup.
...Baehr says these movies, besides having the lowest combined box office of any set of top film nominees in 20 years, are "a very obscure group" of films that promote extreme or anti-family ideologies. "Most of them are pushing the envelope – they’re anti-Israel, anti-Christian, pro-homosexual," he adds...
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/3/32006a.asp
From the "No kidding!" department
Reading skill hallmark of college ability
One major factor separates high school graduates who are ready for college from those who aren't, a new study shows: how well students handle complex reading...
...The trouble is that most states don't even have grade-level reading standards for high schools, and not a single state defines the kind of complexity that high school reading should have... I guess they're too busy making sure little Suzy does pray in the cafeteria before she eats her lunch...
http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_3556335
US says CO2 injection could quadruple oil reserves
Sat Mar 4, 2006 -NEW YORK - The United States has the potential to boost its oil reserves four-fold through advanced injection of carbon dioxide into depleted oilfields, the Department of Energy said on Friday.
The United States has been successfully pumping small amounts or carbon dioxide into depleted oil and natural gas fields for 30 years to push out hard-to-reach fossil fuels.
The DOE said 89 billion barrels could potentially be added to current proved U.S. oil reserves of 21.9 billion barrels through injection of carbon dioxide.
…Adding billions of barrels in reserves is dependent upon the availability of commercial CO2, the DOE's fossil energy office said.
"Next generation enhanced recovery with carbon dioxide was judged to be a 'game changer' in oil production, one capable of doubling recovery efficiency," DOE said in a release.
Up to 430 billion barrels could be added by pumping the gas into fields that have yet to be discovered, the DOE said.
…Advancements in carbon capturing could be made at power plant called FugureGen. An international consortium of utilities and coal companies will join with the U.S. government to build FutureGen, billed as a "zero-emissions" coal-fired power plant.
It is expected to be operating by 2012. The FutureGen Alliance includes some of the biggest power and mining companies in the world including Huaneng Power International Inc., Peabody Energy, Kennecott Energy, a division of Rio Tinto, American Electric Power, BHP Billiton, Consol Energy Inc., Foundation Coal and Southern Co.
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2006-03-04T012538Z_01_N03284156_RTRIDST_0_SCIENCE-ENERGY-CRUDE-INJECTION-DC.XML&archived=False
Venezuelan middle class flees Chávez rule of hate
05/03/2006- Venezuela's once-thriving middle class is packing its bags and fleeing the country, afraid for the future as the socialist president, Hugo Chávez, calls on the slum-dwelling masses to rise up and seize wealth from those better off than themselves.
Growing numbers of professionals, business owners and shopkeepers are fed up with the climate of hostility that the Left-wing president has encouraged in his effort to boost his populist credentials.
…Many Venezuelans complain of the government's increasing control of the media and intimidation of opposition supporters. People report that their middle-class appearance leads to their being robbed, kidnapped or spat at.
The streets of Caracas have always been rife with crime but in recent years the city centre has become seedier, with homeless people sleeping alongside piles of rotting rubbish by blackened walls.
…Since Mr Chávez, a former paratrooper and close ally of Fidel Castro, the Cuban president, was elected promising a 21st-century socialist revolution and making fiery anti-American speeches, the lines outside the foreign consulates have been growing.
Demand for Venezuelan passports is reported to be so high that the Chávez government has rationed the number of requests it can handle per day, pleading a shortage of passport-making materials.
Professionals, businessmen and women and educated office workers are seeking visas for countries such as Australia, Canada, Spain and Britain. Those with emigrant ancestry are asserting their rights to European passports.
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/03/05/wvenez05.xml
Better watch out Scarecrow!!
Lying on résumé could land you in jail
Bill would make it illegal to pass off fake degree as real
March 4, 2006-(Washington state) Not only would it become illegal for people to lie on their résumés about their academic credentials, but according to a bill lawmakers passed Friday, the move could land those liars in jail.
…The term "diploma mill" or "degree mill" is used to describe businesses that purport to be educational institutions, but really only sell consumers a paper degree and a verification service, should potential employers inquire.
…Diploma-mill degrees supposedly from the United States have aided foreign nationals seeking immigration status, which is also a concern for state lawmakers, said state Sen. Mark Schoesler, a Republican from Eastern Washington.
"When they're using them, they're actually perpetrating a fraud," said Schoesler, who previously introduced legislation in the Senate that would criminalize both issuing and using bogus degrees and diplomas…
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/261747_diplomamill04.html
Have you seen anything besides photos/news of all the protestors in India during W's trip?
U.S a land of opportunity for Indians
March 01, 2006 -HUSTON: While the United States’ favorability ratings have plunged in many countries, Indians are significantly more positive about the U.S. now than they were in the summer of 2002, a new opinion poll has said.
The 2005 Pew Global Attitudes survey found that 71 percent of Indians have a favorable view of the U.S. and 54 percent admire President Bush in handling world affairs. What mostly attracts Indians is that America remains a land of opportunity despite its [India's] booming economy today...
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownewsdata.asp?newsno=31137
We're winning in Iraq. Let's not lose at home.
BY VICTOR DAVIS HANSON:
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110008030
Former high-ranking general in the Iraqi Air Force says the "Bush lied, people died" mantra of the left is just nonsense.
Elder: Fifteen months before we invaded Iraq, the president began talking about what our intentions would be if Saddam would not comply with the U.N. resolutions. During those 15 months . . . did Saddam have WMD, have stockpiles of WMD, and, if so, what type?
Sada: Iraq possessed WMD and they were there, and they were chemical and biological, and nuclear weapons...
Elder: What happened to the chemical and biological weapons?
Sada: The chemical and biological weapons were available in Iraq before liberating the country, but Saddam Hussein took the advantage of a natural disaster that happened in Syria when a dam was collapsed and many villages were flooded. So Saddam Hussein took that cover and declared to the world that he is going to use the civilian aircraft for an air bridge to help Syria with blankets, food and fuel oil, and other humanitarian things, but that was not true. The truth is he converted two regular passenger civilian aircraft, 747 Jumbo and 727 . . . all the weapons of mass destruction were put there by the special Republican Guards in a very secret way, and they were transported to Syria, to Damascus, by flying 56 flights to Damascus. . . . In addition . . . also a truck convoy on the ground to take whatever has to do with WMD to Syria.
...Your intelligence said that Saddam Hussein had WMD. . . . I agree with them. They were there in Iraq. But they didn't find them after liberation of Iraq, because they were searching not in the right place. These things were transported by air and by ground.
Elder: General, why would Saddam, knowing we were about ready to invade, transfer WMD out of the country instead of using it on American and coalition troops?
Sada: Because he knew that the power of America to liberate the country is more than what he can do. And maybe not all WMD were ready to use then. And that's why he transported to Syria and he thought that he's going to maintain in the power as he was maintained in 1991 and then he was going to get it back again and then proceed to complete the whole project of WMD... http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/larryelder/2006/03/02/188299.html
Blanco assured Washington that the levees had not failed
According to a video obtained by the media, Blanco assured Washington that the levees had not failed...when in fact they had. Now...the media, in this case the Associated Press, reports that the governor was "mistaken." See a pattern? Yup...when it's a Democratic governor running against the facts, it's a mistake. When it's a Republican president getting something wrong, he's a liar.
see http://newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/3/2/214220.shtml?s=lh
Media Exaggerate Warning of Levee Breaches
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200603\NAT20060303a.html
http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/3/3/120101.shtml?s=ic
Bush Didn’t Lie About Levee Breaching
News sources have reported that President Bush lied when he said he wasn’t warned that the levees in New Orleans could be breached during Hurricane Katrina.
But a videotape of a key meeting between Bush and hurricane officials supports the president’s contention that the breaching of the levees was unanticipated.
On September 1, four days after Katrina struck, Bush said: "I don’t think anybody anticipated a breach of the levees.”
The Associated Press on Wednesday claimed that "federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees.”
...However, the tape shows that what Mayfield actually told Bush was: "I don’t think any model can tell you with any confidence right now whether the levees will be topped or not, but that’s obviously a very, very grave concern.”
Mayfield told NBC News on Thursday that he warned only that the levees might be topped – that is, the storm surge could push water over the top of the levees – not breached, and that on the many conference calls he monitored, "Nobody talked about the possibility of a levee breach or failure until after it happened.”
Mayfield even told Bush: "The forecast now suggests that there will be minimal flooding in the City of New Orleans itself.”
The Washington Times, commenting on what it called a "hit job” on the president, opined: "If it were true that Mr. Bush heard predictions of levee breaches before the storm hit, then that makes a despicable and costly lie of his statement four days after the hurricane.
"The truth, instead, is that no adviser warned the president of the possibility that the levees could fail. Of course, it makes a juicier story to suggest that the president was warned.”
http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/3/3/120101.shtml?s=lh
David Bennett <>< http://www.freewill-predestination.com
http://www.knology.net/~lonesomedove
posted by David Bennett | 7:03 AM
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