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His push for "Buffett Rule" legislation, which would require the wealthy to pay the same tax rate as the middle class, has cast the differences between Democrats and Republicans in sharp relief.
And his DISCLOSE Act, which would require the sort of independent expenditure groups that have played an outsize role in the presidential election to reveal who is bankrolling their operations, is an important — if small — piece of the solution to our broken campaign finance system.
Whitehouse has also focused attention on the health of our oceans and tended to the nuts and bolts of disaster relief in Rhode Island.
GOP Senate candidate Barry Hinckley acquitted himself well in a recent WPRI-TV debate with Whitehouse. He may have a future in Ocean State politics. But the choice for Senate is clear. The Phoenix endorses Whitehouse for re-election.
Congressman James Langevin does not yet have a major legislative victory under his belt. But he has been an important voice for improving the nation's cybersecurity. And Congress came closer to passing a bi-partisan cybersecurity bill this year than ever before.
We part ways with Langevin, who is pro-life, on abortion rights. But Langevin is a reliable Democratic vote. And that matters in a closely divided Washington, with an increasingly off-the-rails GOP on the other side.
Independent Abel Collins, program manager for the Rhode Island chapter of the Sierra Club, has mounted an intriguing challenge to Langevin. He is a strong voice for public transit and other green issues. He says he would fight for tough financial regulation and a single-payer health care system in Washington.
He deserves a solid showing on November 6. But Langevin deserves re-election.
In an age of austerity, strong, progressive voices on Smith Hill are as important as ever. But preserving the safety net is not the only concern. Gay marriage will come before the General Assembly next year. And shifting the state senate to the left will be vital in winning Rhode Island's last, great civil rights fight.
There are plenty of good men and women running for office, but the Phoenix endorses the following candidates in contested elections.
In the House: Edith Ajello, Scott Slater, Grace Diaz, Arthur Handy, Teresa Tanzi, Donna Walsh, Larry Valencia, Jeremiah O'Grady, and Deborah Ruggiero.
In the Senate: Juan Pichardo, Adam Satchell, Donna Nesselbush, Ryan Pearson, Joshua Miller, Catherine Cool Rumsey, and V. Susan Sosnowski.
Rhode Island's slot parlors, Twin River and Newport Grand, want to expand into full-scale casinos with table games.
Voters need to be clear-eyed about the ills that could accompany expansion: more crime, more addiction. And casinos are not the job creators that supporters would have you believe.
But here's the reality: Twin River and Newport Grand are, collectively, the third largest source of revenue for our cash-strapped state government, behind only the income and sales taxes. And with Massachusetts gearing up for three full-scale casinos of its own — one just over the border — Rhode Island needs to protect its purse.
The Phoenix urges "yes" votes on Questions 1 and 2, which would allow Twin River and Newport Grand to convert to casinos.
We also urge "yes" votes on Questions 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. Question 3 would provide $50 million in bonds for building renovations at Rhode Island College — a boost for our chronically underfunded higher education system.
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Meizu EP-40 dynamic driver IEMs
" The story behind this review is kind of interesting. I was in contact with Meizu about an upcoming portable audio player being released later this year. I asked for a loaner so I could do a review over at InnerFidelity. That device is still a few months out so they don't have review models yet. During the course of our conversation the Meizu rep asked if I might..." --project86
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subset: commoncrawl


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The All Blacks' opening international against Scotland will be a test of themselves.
They have the skill and firepower to bag the victory on Monday at Murrayfield, an outcome acknowledged, it seems, by nearly everyone interested in rugby.
Staunch Scots differ, but their caveat list is extensive; from the All Blacks having a shocker, losing six men to the bin through the whims of rookie referee Jerome Garces, the weather being atrocious and the game being dominated by lineouts and penalties.
There will be areas where the All Blacks' response will be challenged hard and that is exactly what the selectors want.
They have split the squad for this test and the next against Italy in Rome because they are keen to see how a number of players respond without the comfort of their usual teammates.
Some mini partnerships like the Tamati Ellison/Ben Smith liaison in midfield and the Luke Romano/Sam Whitelock second row combination are given more time together.
The only new squad members, Dane Coles and Tawera Kerr-Barlow, are on the bench and barring some freakish circumstance will get debut time.
It is that sort of mix-and-match selection, with captain Richie McCaw and his deputy Daniel Carter both picked, that adds weight to the theory that Kieran Read will skipper the side next week in Rome.
Coach Steve Hansen thought it unlikely anyone in the 32-strong squad would play all four tour tests against Scotland, Italy, Wales and England.
"The first thing we decided we wanted to do was not to pick a perceived A and a B team," he said, "with all the experience in one game and not in the other.
"Then it was a matter about thinking about the future and saying let's think about some combinations.
"They were important because of the time guys had played together before and then the teams fell into place pretty quickly.
"We believe we can field a really strong side against both (Scotland and Italy)."
While some might find that disrespectful, Hansen said it was more a reflection that they believed they had a strong squad with competition for places.
One example was Victor Vito. He was the backup No8 to Read in the squad and a fine player who rarely got a chance to start.
He had played strongly in that position for the Hurricanes but had been used more on the blindside with the All Blacks.
This test was a huge platform for Vito and Adam Thomson to remind the panel of their test class.
Piri Weepu is a similar case. He had taken on some strong messages about his condition and had trimmed down.
"We are seeing a sharper, fitter-looking Piri so long may it last," said Hansen.
He had looked over footage of Scotland who carried some size in the pack and would have lifted their spirits after beating the Wallabies midyear.
Rookie tier one referee Garces had a history of sinbinning players in the Heineken Cup and the All Blacks would need to maintain their discipline, especially at the breakdown.
"All we can do is have productive paranoia and make sure we plan well for the expected and the unexpected and make sure we have got our game sorted so the referee does not have a big influence on the game."


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and the other sycophantic Obamaites, that try to make their viewers believe they are nuetral. What say you on these items?
(I know, I know...that opening was ludicrous and self-serving. But I'm sure some of his toady viewers and Olberdork followers will answer for them)
By Neal Boortz @ February 18, 2009 8:53 AM
- The Dow at a 10-year low.
- A tax cheat running the IRS
- Another tax cheat as the Chief of Staff
- A trillion-dollar plus federal deficit
- Over one-half of voters relieved of any federal tax liability
- Government mandated limits on executive compensation
- Three failed attempts and still no Commerce Secretary
- Tom Daschle rides his free limo into the sunset - after paying taxes he evaded.
- The White House performance czar turns out to be a tax cheat also
- Lobbyists hired to work for the Obama Administration
- The census gets politicized
- Double government spending in one year
- The word "freedom" fades into obscurity
- Increasing home loan mortgage rates across the board
- Millions of Americans made dependent on government
- Moving unionization-by-intimidation forward
- Welfare checks become "tax cuts."
- Illegal aliens free to work on taxpayer-funded "stimulus" projects
- Welfare reform reversed, states ordered to increase welfare roles
- Move to silence critical talk radio shows
- Selling Senate seats
- Obama books in religious sections of book stores
- More government workers, not private sector jobs
- A government bureaucracy to intrude on doctor/patient relationships
- Stage set for medical services rationing
- Annual welfare checks for middle income families
Still think we'll survive another 3+ years of this? I'm starting to think the Mayans and Nostrodamus might be correct in their prognostications.


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In fiscal year 2015, 87% of all expenditures went to program services. Find out more.


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Campus History
Established in 1988 in Blue Springs, Columbia College-Kansas City moved to Independence in 1993. The campus relocated to the Blue Ridge Tower site in order to provide enhanced educational facilities and opportunities to the Kansas City area communities.
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Read more about Columbia College history.


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Swansea City 4 Aston Villa 1 - match report and pictures
Jonjo Shelvey's wonder goal kept limp Villa in the relegation dogfight after defeat at Swansea.
The midfielder's audacious 50-yard half volley embarrassed Brad Guzan to secure the Swans' Premier League place and worsen Villa's worries.
They are just four points above the drop zone with three games left after their fifth defeat in six games.
Shelvey's brilliance came four minutes after Gabby Agbonlahor had scored his first goal since New Year's Day – cancelling out Wilfried Bony's equaliser.
Pablo Hernandez added a third and Bony grabbed a late penalty as the travelling fans again turned on their team and manager Paul Lambert.
They chanted "we want Lambert out" as the pressured increased on the Scot.
Hull's fight back to draw 2-2 with Fulham was the only saving grace as relegation remains a reality.
Villa were unchanged following their 0-0 draw with Southampton.
Leandro Bacuna's eighth-minute free kick slammed into the wall and Ville were behind a minute later.
Shelvey's pass dissected the visitors' defence and Bony raced through – although there was a hint of offside – to slide past Brad Guzan.
Villa responded well though and Marc Albrighton's shot was deflected inches wide on 18 minutes.
And Albrighton – at the heart of Villa's best play – conjured an equaliser on 22 minutes for Agbonlahor.
The winger, in talks with the club over a new contract, swapped passes with Karim El Ahmadi before whipping in a brilliant cross for Agbonlahor to turn in from three yards.
But it was only brief respite as Shelvey stole the Swansea spotlight with a fantastic second for minutes later.
Guzan knocked it short to Ron Vlaar and when he launched a long ball it fell to Shelvey in the centre-circle to arch a brilliant half volley into the top corner.
It lifted the Liberty and Swansea assumed a degree of composure, although were comfortable to let Villa have the ball.
Albrighton flashed a shot wide and Andi Weimann stung the palms of Michel Vorm yet Villa struggled to penetrate, despite Swansea's fragility at the back as they rigidly stuck to their passing philosophy.
There was little killer instinct and while it remained 2-1 Villa still had a route back but they failed to test Vorm immediately after the break.
Instead Swansea came close to extending their lead when Guzan saved low from Shelvey on the hour and Jonathan De Guzman shot wide a minute later.
Swansea were going for the kill and bagged a third with 18 minutes left when Shelvey whipped a cross in for Hernandez at the far post and he cut inside to find the far corner.
It was the cue for Villa's fans to turn – like they had at Crystal Palace – as the fight went out of the team.
Guzan denied Shelvey and Hernandez before Bony netted a fourth in stoppage time from the spot after Nathan Baker barged into Marvin Emnes.Subscribe to our Newsletter
Comments for: "Swansea City 4 Aston Villa 1 - match report and pictures"
John 64
I keep saying it sack lambert now this is garbage.
Looking on the bright side , Villa should be favourites to come straight back up from the Championship. A bit like Wolves were a few seasons ago.
Hit him on the tail
Going down my lord..going down..


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|GTA V Latest News | #GTAV | #GTAOnline
2004 San Andreas Air Force Version 2
GTAGaming.com - General News | @ 06:24 PM MDT | By Switch Designs
This mod is just like the San Andreas Air Force Mod except it is the San Andreas Air Force Mod Version 2 and will change your Skimmer Seaplane into a F16c jet from the San Andreas Air Force. This jet is also alot of fun to fly, it has awesome reflections, body textures (San Andreas theme textures Created by Switch Designs), edited collision file, included jet sounds/handling pack (created by makis) which makes the skimmer sound like a real jet, take off from the ground, fly as high as you want, perform flips, and you can now do barrel rolls which makes it great for aerobatics.
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Log In now to add this Gigapan to a group gallery.
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- T. E. Smith-Lamothe
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This vertical panorama is taken from the top of the famous "Torre Guinigi" within the walled medieval town of Lucca, Tuscany, Italy. The tower is unique because several oak trees grace its observation platform on the roof. Within Lucca's walls vehicular traffic is strictly controlled, and, with streets so narrow in places, walking around is also the most practical way to get from point A to point B. The massive brick city walls are very broad on top and have enough room for a pedestrian and bicycle path all around the top. Ancient trees shade this walkway and make for a cool and pleasant stroll completely around Lucca, giving fabulous views of the old city within the walls and the new urban areas. In this panorama, as the eye moves up the street towards the mountains, there is a band of large trees between the mountains and the town. Those trees are on top of the wide walls.


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Under a private contract fee service arrangement, a public sector transportation owner transfers their program management responsibilities to a private sector firm. This is particularly true with larger and more complex projects and even entire capital programs which benefit from strategic planning. In addition to coordinating environmental studies and approvals, engineering tasks, and construction activities, private program management contracts can involve financial planning as well.
While the types of activities and analyses public agencies require from their private program managers vary, they often involve a combination of financial management, engineering, and construction expertise. They also involve identifying information needs and developing the strategies to bridge information gaps. Assignments may focus on ways to consolidate multiyear capital programs into shorter implementation periods. Specific activities could be likely to include strategic planning, financial management, and the coordination of design and construction activities. Program management consultants have also developed project and cash management software and procedures to manage capital funds and bond proceeds.
In other cases, infrastructure owners are turning to private program managers to develop their capital investment programs. This may involve calibrating and phasing the implementation of physical improvements to maximize their revenue potential. This enables owners to develop capital investment strategies that the financial markets will find attractive when these agencies place the bonds needed to underwrite them. Owners must demonstrate that they have a rational and financially balanced capital program, as well as the capability of managing the complex environmental, engineering, and construction programs they will support.


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Last year, he threw Brian Shotenheimer to the wolves, firing him and blaming the offense on him. This despite the fact that the offense and Sanchez in particular really started struggling more than ever after Ryan stripped the OC of some duties.
He follows that up by bringing in Sparano, a guy Rex told everyone was his "mirror image" on offense. This man was hired at Rex's insistance, not Tannenbaums. Sparano leaves without speaking to the media and is fired. No one from the Jests comes to the podium this week to explain Tony's firing. Perhaps Rex dosent want to answer the questions about why he wanted to bring Sparano in and how Tannenbaum is getting all of the blame.
This year the bean counter is the scapegoat. The team is throwing him under the bus while Rex and Woody avoid the media. I bet Tannenbaum really appreciates the fact that he gets fired and no one comes to the podium to explain or so much as offer a public pat on the back. This despite the fact that it was Rex who had a huge say in the personel brought in during his time there.
What a terrible franchise. Im sure people are taking note of the way people are treated on their way out the door by Rex and Woody. Cowards.


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Cut the richness of cheese and cream with the tang of beer in this dense and flavorful vegetable soup.
Use nonalcoholic beer instead of regular beer.
Use milk in place of the whipping cream.
Coarsely mashing the cooked vegetables makes this soup thick and creamy.
Ladle this chowder into huge mugs and garnish each serving with rye bread croutons. To make croutons, arrange a single layer of cubed rye bread on a cookie sheet. Toast them in the oven at 350°F for 15 to 25 minutes, or until the croutons are golden and dry.
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PAUL STARES: This is Paul Stares. I'm a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and director of its Center for Preventive Action.
Welcome, everybody. We appreciate you joining us here for this conference call on the unfolding crisis in Zimbabwe. We're pleased to have two leading experts on the council to discuss this today.
Laurie Garrett, who is a senior fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations; as many of you know, she's a Pulitzer Prize-winning author of many books and other prizes, for her work on epidemics and global infectious diseases.
We also have Tony Holmes, J. Anthony Holmes, a long-standing American diplomat with much experience in African embassies and who's been following the situation very closely in Zimbabwe.
I thought it would be useful that we would begin with Laurie Garrett, to give us a quick sort of overview, 5-10 minutes overview, of the situation with the cholera epidemic, in Zimbabwe and the region, and trying to get a sense of its scale and whether this is on the verge of really taking off. And then we will turn to Tony Holmes to sort of tell us more about the political situation in Zimbabwe and how the crisis is unfolding.
So Laurie, why don't we start with you? Give us a sense of what we know, about the scale of the epidemic, and how this could potentially unfold. There's a lot of quite disturbing assessment, coming out of Southern Africa, about the scale of this.
LAURIE GARRETT: Thank you.
And good morning, everybody. First of all, I have to say that I'm very biased, on this issue, because I've personally suffered from cholera and survived it, I'm happy to say.
It is not a trivial ailment. And even when you hear that under ideal circumstances, with sufficient medical care and skilled personnel and antibiotics or even hydration therapy available and so on, the recovery rate is about 99 percent, even so, it is a severely debilitating illness and absolutely amazingly painful and difficult. And getting through it, getting back into tip-top shape, can take a very long time.
The most crucial element of surviving cholera and getting past it is the availability of clear water, to rehydrate, because the cholera bacteria, Vibrio, cause massive dehydration, through a series of toxins that are released by the micro-organism, into the intestinal tract, and that very specifically attach to receptors, on the very cells that are responsible for maintaining your electrolyte balance and your water balance in the body.
They actually force those cells to expel all the water and potassium and sodium, inside the cells, totally disrupting everything downstream, including the kidneys. (Audio break) -- a matter of minutes to hours, at best, to rehydrate the individual.
Without rapid rehydration, the mortality rate can be very high. And I think we need to keep in mind that this is not the first great cholera outbreak on the continent.
Nineteen ninety four was the worst one in recent history. It followed the mass exodus of refugees from the massacres in Rwanda. And in that outbreak, we had a very high mortality rate in some cases, in some of the settlements exceeding 35 percent, of those with infection, which is almost unprecedented. You have to go back to the second or third great pandemics, of the seven known great pandemics in the world, of cholera over history, to see mortality rates that high.
One of the reasons the mortality rates were so high, in 1994, was that the cholera strain that was circulating was highly drug-resistant, so that all the first-line antibiotics failed. And in fact, it became more drug-resistant, over the course of the humanitarian response, in part because of inappropriate application of antibiotics. And by the end, the only antibiotics that would work, at all, were very expensive fluoroquinolones.
So I have been trying very hard to get information regarding the nature of the strain that is now circulating in Zimbabwe. And I have a long train of e-mails back and forth to scientists and to WHO.
Nobody seems to know. And this outbreak has been going on, as acknowledged by the Zim government, since August but most assuredly been going on since well before that time. And yet we don't seem to have any published accounts on the specific strain and its profile of drug susceptibility.
The mantra from WHO is that everything in Zimbabwe is about the breakdown of the public health system and that that should be the focus of all attention. That certainly is true, but it's a little more complicated than that.
Getting health personnel in that end up using the wrong drugs, because of the specificity of the strain, is no help to anybody. But also the breakdown is more than the breakdown of the health system itself. It's also that Zimbabwe ran out of fuel for most government services.
Back in September, it was officially announced, the government was no longer getting imported fuel. And so electrical systems have gone on total triage. Among the electrical systems that have broken down are those that run the fuel pumps for the water filtration systems.
So it's, this is why we have such a high rate in Budiriro, which is right there in Harare, in the capital city. Literally the water from the tap is coming out in hideous condition.
Now, the key thing about, two key things I want to emphasize about cholera, in Zimbabwe, that have not received a lot of attention; the first is the underlying HIV rate in Zimbabwe which, depending on whose database you're looking at, is somewhere between 20 and 25 percent of reproductive-age adults.
When you have an HIV base-rate that high, and individuals are going without their antiretroviral treatments and are malnourished due to starvation, you have a situation in which it's totally predictable that you'll have a far worse mortality rate, when those individuals are exposed to cholera, compared to a healthy individual, like myself when I got cholera.
You'll see that the biggest pockets are in two areas that also have the highest HIV rates that are known, in the country, a pocket that's over on the Mozambique border and then the former -- what used to be called the Township of Budiriro, which was the -- in apartheid days -- they didn't call it apartheid, but it boiled down to the same thing.
In the old Rhodesia, this was where all the blacks were allowed to live. And it was the slum of Harare, of Salisbury. And those are the two highest HIV areas. They're also the two highest cholera areas. And we may very well see an epidemic that ends up being fueled by the underlying immune deficiency of a huge percentage of the population.
STARES: Laurie, if I just may interject, what are our best estimates so far of the scale of this, of the cholera outbreak and how many people have been effected and killed? And you know, is there any sense that this is being contained in any systematic fashion, or are we still in the ascent phase of a classic epidemiological process here?
GARRETT: Well, first of all, we don't really know the numbers. We don't even know what the current population of Zimbabwe is. There's been such a mass exodus of people leaving the country over the last two to three years and going to border nations that whatever denominator numbers you hear, the range of phenomenal. You can read official U.N. statements coming out, and they range in their estimate of the current population from about 5.8 million all the way up to 12 million, and nobody really knows what the size is of the Zimbabwe population. That's one big step.
The second is when we say the health system has collapsed, that includes the public health system. So who's counting? Who's keeping track of the dead bodies? Who's keeping track of infections? Who's been deployed out into the field to make those determination? The fact is, a lot of the numbers that I'm seeing appear to be based entirely on morgue data. But in this catastrophe, we know that many people are dying without ever seeing a morgue or a hospital and are being buried in the villages and buried in the outskirts of the cities by family members.
And that goes to another consideration, which is, are we on the ascent? Is this about to explode in much worse form?
If you follow the traffic of unconfirmed anecdotal reports coming from scientists and physicians who have been on the border areas of Mozambique, Botswana, Zambia and South Africa, the news is very grim. None of it's confirmed by any officials, but it appears that it definitely has crossed the borders. You definitely have outbreaks now in the border areas. And in the poorer countries like Mozambique, where their water systems and filtration may be inadequate, we could very well see this become a regional issue.
And I would remind everybody that we have two other big cholera epidemics unfolding on the same continent. Right now, in exactly the same area where cholera burst out in 1994, we have an actually what appears to be larger outbreak unfolding in the Democratic Republic of Congo around the whole eastern Congo-Goma area. It has already spilled over into Uganda, and the strain there appears to be partially drug-resistant. It's a classic -- what's called classic cholera, but the strain serotype is resistant to the key drug that first gets applied in most cases, popularly known as Bactrim, or trimethoprim sulfate. We also have an outbreak unfolding of what appears to be a particularly virulent strain in Guinea-Bissau.
So we're looking at a real series of catastrophes that will stress the international donor community, stress the humanitarian response capacity, stress WHO, and spread the troops around very thinly. And if you add to that a government that clearly is obstreperous at best, has no clear plan for conquering its problem, and a president that has even gone in a press conference and said the problem is over -- whether he was being sarcastic or not -- this is going to tax the capacity of everybody in the region and all of the international responders.
STARES: And he's not just obstreperous, he's also obstructionist in terms of allowing access to the affected areas.
GARRETT: Absolutely.
STARES: Right.
Okay, why don't we move to Tony Holmes. I think I neglected to say at the outset that Tony is the Cyrus Vance Fellow in Diplomatic Studies at the council, as well as being a long-standing diplomat.
So, Tony, you know, the situation is just unbelievable, with inflation -- I think the latest estimates say 231 million percent inflation. The situation just seems unsustainable. And there have been recent reports of cracks appearing in the regime, dissent amongst the security forces, and some still continuing repression. Are we on the last legs of this regime, or could this go on for a long time? Could you just give us a sense of your appreciation of the situation?
J. ANTHONY HOLMES: Well, thank you, Paul.
And thanks to the council. It's nice to be here.
The Zimbabwe government has been on its last legs for almost a decade, and the capacity of the Zimbabwe population to suffer is incredible. They are very tolerant people who tend to turn inward and basically revert back to a subsistence/barter economy when stressed. They've been stressed many times in the past hundred or hundred and twenty-five years, and they're used to doing this.
I actually lived in Zimbabwe in the first half of the 1990s, during what was then a -- the largest-known sub-regional drought in southern African history and a real crisis in Zimbabwe not dissimilar to the humanitarian and food-shortage crisis that exists today. And the people -- I mean, they would eat leaves, they would eat grass, they would squeeze whatever they could out of what little they have in order to survive. And it was amazing how far they were able to squeeze and, you know, how ultimately they did survive.
But let me take a couple steps back. There are a couple or three crises in Zimbabwe. Laurie has really gone into detail on the immediate crisis from the cholera epidemic, but that is overlain on a broader humanitarian crisis that's been going on for a number of years. According to the World Food Programme and the U.N. system, there are about five-and-a-half million Zimbabweans who are dependent on donated food -- emergency food relief -- and there's not enough food to go around. They've issued calls; they've been issuing calls for the past several years. But what this is is a reflection of the devastation to the agricultural sector, and this is very much an agriculturally based economy and one that is tremendously wealthy and quite a proficient exporter of food when it's operating well, but has slowly ground to a halt during the course of this decade in the wake of the seizure of the white-owned farms and the just deterioration, the crumbling, of the larger economic infrastructure.
So there's a real weakness -- physical weakness on the -- you know, in the Zimbabwean population that affects their immune systems, and means that they're much more susceptible to the cholera epidemic. And then, more broadly, you've got this political and economic systemic crises that, you know, underlie all of the problems that have been accelerating since 1998 or 1999 and for which the -- you know, to which the international community is reacting, but for which there are no good solutions.
I mean, the unfortunate reality is that there is no consensus in the international community for action. You have lots of calls from extremely high-level officials in the West -- Condoleezza Rice, George W. Bush, the British prime minister, the European Union -- and increasingly from a selected few African leaders: Raila Odinga, the prime minister of Kenya, Desmond Tutu in South Africa, Ian Khama, the president of Botswana. But this does not constitute an international consensus. It still basically is the West against Africa, as seen from the Zimbabwean, and even much of the rest of Africa's, perspective.
And until the Africans themselves decide that they must take action, I don't think that there's any immediate prospect for the situation to be resolved. Just in the past two or three days, the African Union and the Southern African Development Community have said that they're -- they don't believe that any sort of active intervention or military solution is called for. And they reiterated their support of continuing to pursue negotiations to implement the September 15th agreement in which Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC would share power with Mugabe and the ZANU PF government. Of course, Mugabe's participation and position in those negotiations makes a mockery out of the agreements, and out of South Africa's mediation over the course of the past, actually, seven or eight years.
But that's where we are. I mean, the political reality in the international community is that whatever outside solution that might be imposed must be led by Africans. There's just too much historical baggage with racial and colonial overtones for the West to take the lead. It has to be Africans.
I thought I'd take a look at -- just for a moment at South Africa's role. Everybody's aware it -- I mean, and many people have expressed disappointment at Thabo -- former South African president Thabo Mbeki's mediation efforts. Most people see him as having protected Zimbabwe and protected Robert Mugabe, and actually having facilitated a deterioration of the situation to the point we're at today.
But in September, Mbeki got overthrown -- got, you know, legally, constitutionally dumped, and replaced as president by Kgalema Motlanthe, who's viewed as an interim president until Jacob Zuma, who defeated Mbeki for the presidency of the African National Congress a year ago, can be elected in his own right in elections that are expected at the end of March or early April next year. During the past year, with this shift in power in South Africa, there has been a very marked shift in attention from international events, which was what Mbeki really enjoyed and where he liked to focus, to domestic South African political and economic issues.
There have been a whole raft of problems that have sprung up in South Africa during the past year, and just by background and interest, Motlanthe and Zuma and the new leaders of the ANC are much more domestically focused. And they seem only too happy to leave Mbeki in charge of the mediation of the Zimbabwe conflict, which, frankly, doesn't augur very well for any sort of either expeditious solution or heightened South African engagement, to try to take bold initiatives and put real pressure on the Zimbabwe government and Robert Mugabe.
So where does that leave us? Basically, you know, we've got a choice. And probably the way I see things shaping up is that there is going to be a much stronger inclination on the part of the international community to move aggressively to deal with the cholera epidemic and perhaps, more broadly, the food emergency in Zimbabwe. This permits Western governments and the U.N. system to meet the political demands coming out of their constituencies for action, to do something now to -- you know, to prevent the loss of life, to deal with the humanitarian crisis.
And I suspect that they're going to have to make some compromises. They're going to have to hold their nose and make some compromises that are going to permit the -- Mugabe and his people to have far greater control over the distribution of those relief supplies: medicine, food, whatever.
And there will be a much greater likelihood that -- of significant diversions to Mugabe's supporters, including the army, which, as you mentioned a few moments ago, Paul, was rioting in the streets last week because it itself wasn't being paid. Its families of soldiers were being subjected to the same humanitarian stresses that the rest of the Zimbabwe population is being subjected to.
In the longer term, to deal with the political and economic situations -- I mean, the donors have been holding back. There has not been money flowing. And the reason is because the donor countries -- both bilaterally, in terms of countries and to the World Bank and the multilateral institutions -- have very explicitly been waiting for the implementation of that September 15th agreement, and to have tangible evidence that Morgan Tsvangirai will play a meaningful role and be able to initiate a process of reform -- particularly, in the short term, economic reform, but in the medium to longer term, political reform -- that would convince them the country's now on a more positive track and that they can go ahead and begin disbursing significant amounts of aid that'll make a difference.
I don't see any solution, not in the foreseeable future. I think we suffer a little bit from the political hiatus in Washington, where we've got a lame-duck Bush administration that's -- and a -- Obama administration, I think, that's likely to be much more forcefully engaged in the Zimbabwe issue, but isn't going to come into power for another six weeks.
So in the meantime we will continue to jawbone. I mean -- and there will be a lot of public pronouncements of outrage. But in terms of practical -- practicalities, the best we can hope for is a combination of the negotiations led by the South Africans, and internal Zimbabwean political pressure that would somehow peel away the members of the so-called National Security Council, the service chiefs and intelligence chiefs, eight or 10 people who are really calling the shots and, frankly, wouldn't let Mugabe compromise if he were so inclined, because they've accumulated so much over such a long period of time that they fear his departure will lead them to be brought for crimes against humanity to the International Criminal Court. So it's not quite a stalemate, but there's no reason for any optimism.
STARES: All right. Well, thank you, Tony, and thank you, Laurie. We have a good chunk of time left for Q and A, and so why don't we just open it up?
OPERATOR: Okay. If you would like to ask a question, please press the star key followed by the 1 key on your touchtone phone now. Questions will be taken in the order in which they are received. And if at any time you'd like to remove yourself from the questioning queue, press star-2. Again, that's star-1 to ask a question.
And our first question comes from Jim Dingman with INN World Report.
QUESTIONER: Yeah, hi. I'd like to get your assessment as to what you think the internal stability of the security forces will be, since as you said -- just to finish your comment -- we all know that they basically said to Mugabe, you know, "You can't leave, because if you leave, we're going to go down the tubes." And so what is the likelihood of the security forces essentially from the bottom up overthrowing the government in this situation? Because it seems as you described and as we all know the situation internally has been intolerable for quite a long time.
And secondly, what do you think -- you say the Obama administration may change its policy or be more forceful, but yet Obama himself comes from a political machine in Chicago, particularly the Mayor Washington and the new Mayor Daley machine, that during its reign actually had a foreign policy towards southern Africa that was very much engaged in the whole anti-apartheid movement, which lingers in the minds of some in the administration coming from that milieu of Chicago? And I just wonder how you think that's going to play out?
STARES: Tony, do you want to --
HOLMES: Yeah, sure. I'm happy to.
First, the Zimbabwean security forces -- I mean, as became apparent -- I mean, it has been apparent for quite some time, but has manifested itself publicly last week -- the security forces in Zimbabwe are not monolithic.
What you've got is a very small circle of people around Mugabe who are -- who benefited immensely from corruption domestically in Zimbabwe -- well, in -- I mean, the entire independent reign since 1980, but particularly the past decade -- and whose wealth was augmented by five years' exploiting diamonds and other resources in the Congo, from 1998 to 2003. So these guys have an awful lot to lose. They've been involved in pretty blatant human rights abuses, and they see themselves as vulnerable.
Underneath them, however, are the rank and file of the Zimbabwe security forces. And, you know, in addition to, you know, a fairly sizeable army and a smaller air force and -- there are couple of -- at least a couple of intelligence services and the police, and all of these forces have not been treated equally. It was shocking to many people to see the police end the riots by the disaffected soldiers and to arrest a lot of them and to beat up a lot more and to, you know, end this demonstration -- this -- these riots.
And the government very quickly printed a lot of money and began paying, you know, back wages and giving financial supplements to the disaffected soldiers. But, you know, with a 231 million percent rate of inflation, the $500 million note that went into circulation in Zimbabwe yesterday, which was worth 10 U.S. dollars is going to be worth -- is 10 U.S. cents this morning and, you know, virtually nothing tomorrow. So that's not going to put out the fires for very long.
So because of this split between the inner circle, these few leaders, and everybody else, I think there's some reason to expect increasing tension within the services, within the military, that could lead the national security council to decide that it's got to do something. And from its perspective I think it's going to want to do two things.
First is Mugabe is a very visible symbol that they can sacrifice that will build, to a certain extent -- part of the way, anyway, to satisfy international demands.
The other thing, of course, is they're going to try to negotiate an out for themselves. I don't know who would have them. I don't know what guarantees can be elicited. You know, it's not a simple negotiation to try to, you know, get guarantees of immunity from ICC prosecution. Who's going to provide that? There's no person, no nation that can do that. But that's what they'll be inclined to do. And I can easily imagine that the situation would reach the point where they're going to -- it's going to be every man for himself, and they're going to try to negotiate what they can. And ultimately, you know, they could easily try to flee.
STARES: And the second question, Tony, what can the Obama administration do differently?
HOLMES: Well, I mean, the Chicago analogy -- I'm not convinced that there's any relevance there at all. Many U.S. sub-federal jurisdictions -- states and cities -- had their own foreign policies and many took positions on apartheid and the boycott of the 1980s.
But I do think that there will be a new dynamism, a redoubling of interest and commitment and energy from the Obama administration towards solving the half-a-dozen or so major African crises, among which Zimbabwe, you know, is placed. But they -- the new administration, like the old administration, is going to face that reality of African ambivalence, at best, but the decided reticence to intervene more than rhetorically and more than just in supporting negotiations.
So I think a very aggressive U.S. diplomacy is called for as well as some sub rosa efforts to try to accentuate those divisions within Zimbabwe.
STARES: Okay, next question.
OPERATOR: Okay, the next question comes from Liz Harper with "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer."
QUESTIONER: Hi. Thanks so much for doing this today.
First question. There was a report in the Zimbabwe Mail about a new operation called "lets finish them up" has been launched recently, and -- rounding up human rights workers, enlarge a previous campaign. But this report says that there are Rwandans involved who are actually wanted for the 1994 genocide, and they are now working for Mugabe. Have you seen any evidence of that?
HOLMES: I have not. I mean, this is news to me. I hadn't heard of either the organization or seen any reference to Rwandans at all. I mean, there's no question that MDC people continue to be abducted, a couple of well-known people in the last 10 days or so. And since September 15th, the ZANU-PF sort of cadres have reduced their abuses on the MDC, but nonetheless there's been an ongoing campaign to intimidate, and people have been abducted, and some, you know, apparently murdered because they've just disappeared for good.
QUESTIONER: And my second question is, what do you think about some sort of targeted sanctions on the mining sector? Apparently Mugabe's hard-liners get so much money through the mining sector and other things.
HOLMES: Well, I mean, sanctions are a very ineffective tool unless they're quite tight multilaterally. I mean, further sanctions by the U.S. and the U.K. and the European Union aren't going to have a tremendous impact. I mean, you're correct in that business continues to be done in Zimbabwe despite how far things are fallen. Money continues to be made, and the reserve bank and the leadership continue to exploit the global economy and to export what they can to survive, as well as to continue to enrich themselves personally through diversions into their offshore accounts.
But with minerals, I mean, it's a landlocked country, and to export anything they have to have the cooperation of their immediate neighbors -- basically South Africa, to a lesser extent Mozambique. And you know, if those countries -- I mean, they haven't shown any interest in sanctions as well as, you know, not being interested in direct action. It's certainly -- I mean, a lot of squeezing can be done. And South Africa, if it closed the border, if it stopped exporting electricity to Zimbabwe, could put a lot more pressure on the government, there's no question about that. But you know, I mean, what -- how -- what will be the price in lives and humanitarian terms if Zimbabwe is squeezed so hard that the place really does implode, there is anarchy, and you know, everybody's scrambling to survive or to kill or to do the best they can? I mean, that's a pretty dire situation.
Have we reached the point where that's called for? I'm not really sure. And it's awfully difficult to assess what would occur in such a situation and what the unintended consequences would be.
STARES: Okay. Thank you, Tony.
OPERATOR: Okay, and our next question comes from Lawrence Freeman with Executive Intelligence Report.
QUESTIONER: Hello, this is Mr. Freeman.
The question I have is in terms of the Western response to this cholera outbreak. Even though as the speaker mentioned it's a debilitating disease, it is one that we do know how to deal with in terms of fresh water, clean water and sanitation. So it would seem to me that if we wanted to deal with the crisis, it would be a huge mobilization from the West, from the donor countries, and supporting the SADC countries who are supporting this effort for clean water with chemicals for the cleaning. But instead, on Monday/Tuesday you saw these calls coming out, fuel blockade I think by Cameron, other people calling for tightening the screws. One report said that the real disease is Mugabe, not cholera. And this is all British press and some of the other press.
So the question is, is there another agenda? Is there an agenda to allow this humanitarian crisis to continue because the agenda is really regime change for Mugabe? I mean if the West is really serious and moral, wouldn't we be doing everything possible to assist?
GARRETT: Well, I -- I don't -- I haven't seen those British press accounts you're referring to, but I find --
QUESTIONER: Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Tony (sic/David) Cameron, Miliband, they're all out on Monday and Tuesday.
GARRETT: The point -- if I may, I am well aware of many health care workers, volunteers, that are stuck at borders and can't get visas to to into Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe government has made certain specific agreements with a cholera response team and has been very picky about who gets in to help them and who doesn't.
I find it hard to believe that there's any conspiracy in Geneva at WHO to sit back and let everybody die, and I would take great offense at any such claim.
HOLMES: Lawrence, I would just add that the fact that the Zimbabwe government has refused to allow into the country, by denying visas to so many health workers -- and I'm not talking about just the political people, the Jimmy Carters and Kofi Annans and Garasham Michels (ph), but I'm talking about the French teams of cholera experts who are waiting, you know, poised to go into Zimbabwe, but can't get in because the government won't allow them basically refutes that line of argument.
QUESTIONER: Well, except the fact that the Zimbabweans are very defensive, maybe, and paranoid, as was the case with Bashir when there was an open policy for regime change, that these countries would be coming in and carrying out operations against the sovereignty of the country, which I think is a fair attitude to have. But I mean, it seems to me the donor countries in the West said, okay, we're having trouble with Mugabe, we'll work through South Africa, especially Mozambique -- I mean, there could be a huge humanitarian effort. And I think that as you look at all the comments that were made by leaders, especially coming out of the Brits, they're saying squeeze, squeeze, squeeze -- more blockades, more sanctions -- which is exactly the opposite if you're concerned about the human life and humanitarian disaster.
STARES: Okay. All right. Well, let's move along.
Laurie, I just had a quick question. You know, there was suggestion in some of your remarks that the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe may be a similar sort of drug-resistant strain to what we've seen elsewhere in the continent at the moment. How long typically does it take for WHO and others to develop a response to that? Is this something that takes weeks, months, days? You know, how -- I'm completely ignorant on this, so I'm just curious: How long can we really expect before we can respond to this effectively?
GARRETT: Well, in terms of knowing what the strain is and its drug susceptibility, that should be a matter of two or three days.
STARES: Really? Okay.
GARRETT: So it's shocking that, if that is known, it's not been made public.
STARES: I see.
GARRETT: It may have something to do with the very difficult stature -- and this kind of goes to your prior questioner's remarks -- the difficult stature of WHO. It's always a problem, which is that by charter it answers to the ministries of health of countries. And by charter, based on its 1949 charter, it has to request permission from ministries of health for release of documentation and information.
So this slows everything down tremendously if you have a ministry that is run by a government that's seeking to cover things up or distort information, or in fact it's just simply so beleaguered that it's incapable of functioning in a responsible manner. And I mean, that goes to what I was saying before about we have no reliable numbers, we have no reliable estimates of what's going on.
And you know, one of the issues that I wonder about, in light of Tony's comments about the need for an African response -- which I agree with completely -- is the neighboring states and the spillover of cholera. As it worsens, will you see those states demanding some kind of at least regional response?
I have been in -- in Zimbabwe many times over the years, going back to the days when it was absolutely a glorious, beautiful place in the early 1980s and one of the most desirable addresses to live in on the entire African continent, and I loved it. And watching it deteriorate, visit after visit, over the years has been utterly heartbreaking. And it's not coincidental that the highest HIV rates, and now the highest reported cholera rates, are in areas that have been the most repressed.
The Mozambican border area and the town of Mussina -- I think, unless you've been there, it would be very hard to imagine this place. But I mean, I've had my life threatened in Mussina. I have experienced what -- what the ZANU terror campaign is like. They have tried to keep the masses from fleeing into Mozambique by creating a border situation that is utterly beyond-belief terrifying, with thugs beating the hell out of people and raping the women.
I went there in one case to document the relationship between the rape campaigns and the spread of HIV, and it was in that situation that the thugs threatened my life and ran me down, and I managed to escape.
And it is not a surprise that these are the areas where you see the greatest deterioration of the public service/public goods infrastructure and, in its place, thugs who take a toll off of every truck trying to cross the border, like mobsters, and run brothels to service the truck drivers, where the women are all likely to be HIV-positive that are servicing the truck drivers.
This is the kind of "state," quote-unquote, that we're talking about, and it can't mount, as a previous caller asked, a massive humanitarian response if the humanitarian workers, A, can't get in because they're not allowed in with visas, and then once in have to work side by side with the very thugs that the people on the ground recognize. They know who that guys is: He's the one that killed their daughter; he's the one that beat the crap out of their son; he's the one that burnt down their store. And now here comes the international health worker, side by side with these thugs, and it's the only way they can operate. They don't have any choice.
STARES: Okay.
Next caller.
OPERATOR: Okay, next question comes from James Kirchick with the New Republic.
QUESTIONER: Hi. Can you hear me?
GARRETT: Mm-hmm.
STARES: Yes, sir.
QUESTIONER: Two things. One is just a request, in regards to the last caller. I don't know why CFR allows people from Lyndon LaRouche's newspaper on this press conference call. It's really a waste a time for everyone, and that a better job should be done in screening the press calls so that only legitimate publications are allowed.
That said, in terms of a military intervention, we have two African governments now in support of that. What is -- is there any ability for that to happen? And if it were to take place with, you know, Botswana and Kenya, what would happen to the Zimbabwean military? Is it strong enough to respond to that? Would it dissolve? Would soldiers mutiny? It seems that they're not being paid and that there are fissures within the military establishment.
HOLMES: Well, that's quite a hypothetical, given the African Union and the SADC disavowals of any inclination whatsoever in the military or other heavy-handed direction. But theoretically, I am not certain, but based on all of the sort of circumstantial evidence that I've been able to absorb, that the military would be very weak and would have a difficult time in resisting any credible military intervention.
But it would take so long to put together the political consensus and then on the grounds the practical intervention force that, you know, I would lay long odds that you would be able to, once the Zimbabweans themselves realized that, you know, this was not a mirage and was going to happen, that there would be a negotiation -- you know, a new negotiated solution. But yeah, I mean, you don't have soldiers rioting in the streets because their families don't have enough food and they can't get more a couple of dollars' worth of Zim dollars out of their bank accounts and that would be a credible force. It's just absurd.
I mean, the infrastructure -- both the physical infrastructure and the institutional infrastructure of the country has fallen apart. You know, the reason for the cholera epidemic is because the water system has broken down. The financial system has frozen up because of the incredible level of inflation. The agricultural sector -- you know, the only real production that's occurring is subsistence production. So, I mean, there's no defense capability there.
GARRETT: Actually, I would -- I would go a step further and say I think from what I've observed over the years with the way -- what I would call "adaptive behavior" by the populace, meaning -- day in and day out, people make calculus decisions about these terrorizing thugs that are the ZANU gangsters, which is not the same as the ZANU -- as the national army. And I would say that the moment they thought that it was safe to do so, that there was real security arriving, whether it came from an outside army or from the U.N. or whoever it came from, you would see these people rise up and take revenge against those that have terrorized them for so long.
And then the problem would be the possibility of some pretty rampant violence, especially down at the village level where specific thugs have sort of operated like warlords, extracting wealth from the impoverished population and demanding sexual favors from the women in ways that are just absolutely hideous.
HOLMES: Well, those are the some of the unintended consequences I alluded to a few minutes ago.
STARES: Okay. Why don't we move on?
OPERATOR: Okay. Our next question is a follow-up from Jim Dingman with INN World Report.
QUESTIONER: Yes. Laurie, I'd like you to go further into the issue of cholera in Guinea Bissau. What do we know about what's going on there? You mentioned in your comments that it was a particularly virulent strain. And I just wanted to get a better sense of what is known about it, because the other two situations obviously are interrelated to wider social, political, military crises -- the Congo and Zimbabwe.
And another question to Tony. Tony --
STARES: Jim, can we just make sure that there are no others waiting.
QUESTIONER: Fine. No problem.
STARES: Because that's a tangential question. But if there are no other people waiting to ask on Zimbabwe, we can come back to your question. But if there are others waiting to ask questions on Zimbabwe, could we move ahead?
QUESTIONER: Well, I did want to also throw Zimbabwe into the mix, because obviously --
STARES: Yeah, I know, Jim. There may be -- you've already had one question or two, and so I just want to make sure --
Q Okay, sure. No problem.
STARES: We only have five, 10 minutes left.
Q No problem.
HOLMES: How many people are in the question queue?
OPERATOR: The only others are follow-ups. So it would be a second question from anyone else.
STARES: Please proceed.
OPERATOR: Sure.
QUESTIONER: The other question is to Tony in terms of the -- we know that the veterans movement in particular was used to mobilize support for Mugabe. And I gather from what Laurie's talking about, what she experienced on the ground is in part the manifestations of that political nexus that Mugabe was able to mobilize for his support. Where are they at? Where are we at with -- what do we know about that particular groupment in terms of how he's using it in the present situation?
HOLMES: Well, the veterans movement was always a canard. I mean, basically these were ZANU PF thugs. The youth brigade. They became active in the early '90s when I was there, and it was amazing how few of them were old enough to have participated in the liberation war, which ended in 1979. You know, it's been 15 years -- pushing 15 years since I left Zimbabwe, and anybody who's around now is almost certainly not going to have been a liberation war veteran.
This is just the mechanism off of control that ZANU PF has developed to terrorize, to intimidate the population, to minimize opposition political activity and to, you know -- their participation in democratic processes, like elections, and to maximize control. And to cede it to them at the local level, which is what Laurie was referring to, is basically total police authority, and they are interchangeable with the police. The police stand by while they do their, you know, dirty work, while they commit their crimes. And then, you know, they move on to the next one.
They were very active during the seizure of the white farms to soften up the farmers to get them prepared to go very quickly, you know, once the boom was lowered legally. I mean, I don't think that they are any sort of credible independent force. It's just a manifest of the regime.
STARES: Okay. Next follow-up.
OPERATOR: Okay. We have a follow-up from Lawrence Freeman with Executive Intelligence Report.
QUESTIONER: I just wanted to say -- respond to the comments from this fellow from the New Republic that I don't think the CFR should practice what you accuse other people of doing and use groupthink or political correctness to keep out other points of view. I mean, I think there's's a legitimate issue about the response to a serious nightmare and crisis. And numerous (people in the ?) public press have raised questions --
HOLMES (?): Well, and we've answered your questions.
QUESTIONER: Okay. It's a legitimate question that should --
STARE: All right. Thanks very much.
HOLMES (?): Thanks a lot.
STARES: Is there another -- another question, please?
OPERATOR: Again, if you would like to follow up, press star-one to ask a question. (Pause.)
MR. STARE: Okay.
HOLMES: Maybe while we're -- you know, in the last couple minutes, I would say something about this new theme in international discourse when it comes to Zimbabwe and a few other countries around the world, mainly in Africa. And that's the responsibility to protect. In 2005, the United Nations passed a resolution that permits the international community to, in cases of genocide and crimes against humanity, intervene. And there's really a very legitimate question, I think, as to whether the situation in Zimbabwe recently hasn't crossed the line to the point where that would be permitted under international law.
And not to -- there's a basis for a lot of the calls by Desmond Tutu and other African leaders, as well as British, American and other European ones as to, you know, whether we shouldn't be considering this.
And I would only say, besides that being, you know, a very legitimate question, is that it's very clear that even though it was passed by the United Nations, many African nations individually and the collective regional and subregional organizations are very ambivalent about the right of -- the international right of the responsibility to protect. There's just not a consensus, I think, in any situation short of genocide, to invoke that on the part of the African governments.
I think that if this was 1994 in Rwanda, it would probably be possible, after great effort, to get African consensus to invoke the right to protect. But I'm not aware of any other situations, including Darfur from 2003 to 2005, that would -- in which the African community would agree to move.
STARES: There are reports, Tony, that Kofi Annan is sort of waiting in the wings. I don't know whether it's as his sort of role as one of the elders, so-called elders. And so the question is whether, in the absence of a sort of official response, whether you could see pressure being brought, by these private organizations, for action. And that might actually provide the tipping point for African action.
HOLMES: Well, I think, it's great, I mean, for non-governmental organizations, human rights groups. I mean, it's a legitimate issue, for them to raise, as it is for governments of course. But you know, to invoke that through the U.N. Security Council would entail a level of consensus that clearly doesn't exist today in the case of Zimbabwe. And you know, I mean, this is just my speculation. But I think that anything much short of the '94 Rwanda genocide would encounter similar difficulties.
STARES: Okay. Unless there are any other questions, I think, we can conclude this media conference call.
Again I want to thank the speakers today, Laurie Garrett and Tony Holmes, as well as the rest of you, for joining us. Thank you so much.


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The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.
LOL, I about had a coronary when T opened the door to two people dressed like Stormtroopers...
Good. Bad. I'm the guy with the gun.


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Are we being back-stabbed by the oligarchy, or am I missing something?
Treasury Auctions To Take United States Over The Debt Limit On Monday
Rob Port May 11, 2011
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has been a little fuzzy on the drop dead date for the national debt limit. It seems as though every month or so he writes to Congress about a specific date past which they dare not go without raising the debt cap, only to follow up with another letter setting another, later date.
But according to reports, the Treasury Department auctioned off enough US debt this week to take the country over the debt limit by Monday:WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones) The Treasury Department auctioned $56 billion in new debt Tuesday and Wednesday, enough to take the U.S. over its federal debt ceiling when the three- and 10-year notes settle on Monday.Treasury officials last month flagged May 16 as the day the government would hit the $14.294 trillion debt limit.The U.S. is selling $72 billion in new debt over three days this week. The Treasury auctioned $32 billion in three-year notes Tuesday and $24 billion in 10-year notes Wednesday, and will sell $16 billion in 30-year bonds Thursday. All of the auctions will settle Monday.Call me a conspiracy theorist, but could this be a bit of political gamesmanship on the part of the Obama administration? Republicans are gearing up to make the debt cap debate their leverage point for big recessions on spending, budgeting and entitlement reforms. But if the debt cap drop dead date is forwarded to next week, Republicans wont have any time to make their case.
And since even the most drastic budget cuts on the table still create trillions of dollars of deficits well into the future, the debt cap would have to be raised. Likely with little or no conditions.
Just like Obama wanted.


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Eric Karl Cumblad
Sun Prairie- Eric Karl Cumblad, age 39, passed away on Tuesday, July 30, 2013 following a brief illness.
He was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on July 19, 1974, the son of Kent and Beth Cumblad. Eric graduated from Stoughton High School in 1993 and attended UW-Madison. He enjoyed sports and lettered in golf, soccer and basketball. On December 5, 2008, Eric married Michele. He worked as a network administrator and IT Coordinator for several local companies.
Eric is survived by his loving wife, Michele; beloved daughter, Makenna; parents, Kent and Beth; sister, Cari (Shawn) Coyle; niece, Sarah; nephew, Samuel; paternal grandmother, Martha Cumblad; and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins. He was preceded in death by his maternal grandparents, Ovid and Phyllis Bouley; paternal grandfather, Frederick Cumblad; and uncle, Paul Cumblad.
Funeral services will be held at 3:00 PM on Monday, August 5, 2013 at Cress Funeral Home in Stoughton. Friends and relatives are invited to a light reception following at the Stoughton Country Club. Visitation will be held from 1:00 PM until the time of services Monday. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Makenna Cumblad Scholarship Fund, c/o Farmers & Merchants Union Bank, P.O. Box 226, Columbus, WI, 53925.
The family would like to express a special thank you to the Cardiac ICU staff of St. Mary's Hospital for their extraordinary dedication, skill, and compassion.
Cress Funeral Service
206 W. Prospect Street
Stoughton, WI 53589
(608) 873-9244


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The title may seem a bit off but it is a good day. I am alive, I have a job, and I have a healthy 4 month old soon to be 5 month old son. It is so easy to be negative all the time but we should be happy with what we do have, money comes and goes, but friends, and family are the truely important things. 2 Years ago today I got the worst phone call of my life, that call changed everything for me, I was told my dad had died. 10 years ago I was on the Iraq/Kuwait border heading into a war zone. On march 22nd in 2003 my grandmother passed away, my granpa her husband followed a little over a year later while I was in Iraq again. Even though all of these things happened around the same time of the month I am thankful for what I have. All of these events led me to where I am today.
I remember the stories, and the pictures help to remind me of the stories I do not always remember. From the High school stories about the VW beetle on the roof of the school, the Motorcycle in the girls restroom and riding in down the hallways to get back outside, to the running from the cops in a classic Mopar(there are too many to name), to rebuilding a motor with my dad. To all the late nights building demolition derby cars, to early mornings he drove me to wrestling tournaments hours away after working 70 hours a week, to the drunk driver(9th DUI if I remember correctly) that almost took him from us years before. In the end all we have is memories, those memories will last a lifetime, I now try to make every memory count.
Today is a good day, set aside politics, hug your loved ones, and be thankful for everything you do have instead of focusing on the things you do not.
If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away by Justin Moore


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Called her local office and wanted answers about obamma care. MY private policy rates are doubling. No answers, we only deal with vet affairs and oh get this people sliming the system for SSDI claims , NO no no we can;t talk to you!
I asked why I should pay double and lose the healthy discount. Asked why she voted to screw me??? non no NO we cant say try to call DC???
Asked why the federal income tax payers are paying for others?
NO answer!
So the DUM senator refuses to tell me why my rates double!


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New book addresses coal region's decline
Binghamton University History Professor Thomas Dublin and colleague Walter Licht, a history professor at the University of Pennsylvania, offer a sweeping history of Pennsylvania's anthracite coal region during the 20th century in their new book, The Face of Decline.
The authors examine how businesses, residents and governments responded to dwindling demand for anthracite coal, especially after World War II. By 2000, fewer than 1,000 miners were employed in the region's coalfields, which had provided work for 181,000 people at the industry's height before World War I.
The book's varied sources – including oral histories, census data, corporate records and photographs – allowed the authors to incorporate many perspectives. The 277-page volume from Cornell University Press ties in social, political, business, economic and labor history.
"They all come together because we are telling the history of a region over a 100-year period, and you don't want to flatten that history unnecessarily," Dublin said.
Since some of the material touches on recent history, Dublin interviewed former miners about their experiences. He said these conversations complemented the data and gave it a human context.
"I found it wonderful to be able to interview people who had lived through the history," he said. Focusing on fairly recent events does present some challenges. "People are invested in defending the programs they were involved in and the efforts they have made," said Dublin, who expects some of his sources will not be happy with the book.
Even so, residents of the region are a main audience for the book, he said. Another is students and scholars eager to understand deindustrialization as a part of American history.
The Face of Decline also has much to offer politicians and business leaders in areas facing similar economic shifts.
It's probably too late for the anthracite region to realize a true revitalization, Dublin said, but what happened there may help others create a different model for business and the public sector.
"The efforts have to begin at the time the deindustrialization begins," Dublin said.
"Someone, probably the government, must take responsibility for planning what happens next in a systematic way."
That means retraining workers and reclaiming land, he said. One need look no further than the United Kingdom for a model of what government could do in such a situation. "The mining regions and former miners have fared so much better in England," Dublin said.
He sees parallels in U.S. steel and auto manufacturing. "We have the same issues in these other industries," he said, "And the question is, 'What can communities do? What can the state do?'"
Too often, he said, state governments compete with each other as they try to lure businesses within their borders. That leads to an enormous cost per job, which can be wasteful. A better approach might focus on general investment in infrastructure and human capital.
Just as thinking about deindustrialization doesn't come naturally to governments, it's hardly a favorite topic of historians. The anthracite region's heyday in the 19th and early 20th centuries is well documented, but before this book there was little available about coal's decline. "It made sense to address the second half of the history," Dublin said.


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Niacin is a type of B vitamin. It is water-soluble, which means it is not stored in the body. Water-soluble vitamins dissolve in water. Leftover amounts of the vitamin leave the body through the urine. That means you need a continuous supply of such vitamins in your diet.
Nicotinic acid; Vitamin B3
Niacin helps the digestive system, skin, and nerves to function. It is also important for converting food to energy.
Niacin (also known as vitamin B3) is found in:
Niacin and Cardiovascular Disease
For many years, doses of 1 - 3 grams of nicotinic acid per day has been a treatment option for low HDL cholesterol and high LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
A deficiency of niacin causes pellagra. The symptoms include:
Large doses of niacin can cause:
Even normal doses can be associated with feeling warmth, redness, itching or tingling of the face, neck, arms or upper chest. This is called "flushing" and it usually improves after taking niacin on a regular basis for awhile. To prevent flushing, do not drink hot beverages or alcohol at the same time you take niacin. New forms of nicotinic acid reduce this side effect. Nicotinamide does not cause these side effects.
Reference Intakes
Recommendations for niacin and other nutrients are provided in the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs), which are developed by the Food and Nutrition Board at the Institute of Medicine. DRI is the term for a set of reference values that are used to plan and assess the nutrient intakes of healthy people. These values, which vary by age and gender, include:
Dietary Reference Intakes for Niacin:
*Adequate Intake (AI)
Adolescents and Adults
Specific recommendations depend on age, gender, and other factors (such as pregnancy). Women who are pregnant or breast-feeding need higher amounts. Ask your health care provider which amount is best for you.
The best way to get the daily requirement of essential vitamins is to eat a balanced diet that contains a variety of foods.
Escott-Stump S, ed. Nutrition and Diagnosis-Related Care. 6th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2008.
Sarubin Fragaakis A, Thomson C. The Health Professional's Guide to Popular Dietary Supplements. 3rd ed. Chicago, Il: American Dietetic Association; 2007.
Institute of Medicine. Food and Nutrition Board. Dietary Reference Intakes for Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Vitamin B12, PantothenicAcid, Biotin, and Choline. National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 1998.
Cervantes-Laurean D, McElvaney NG, Moss J. Niacin. In: Shils ME, Olson JA, Shike M, eds. Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease. 9th ed. Baltimore, Md. Williams & Wilkins; 1999:401-411.
AIM-HIGH Investigators. The role of niacin in raising high-density lipoprotein cholesterol to reduce cardiovascular events in patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and optimally treated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol Rationale and study design. The Atherothrombosis Intervention in Metabolic syndrome with low HDL/high triglycerides: Impact on Global Health outcomes (AIM-HIGH). Am Heart J. 2011 Mar;161(3):471-477.e2.
A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org). URAC's accreditation program is an independent audit to verify that A.D.A.M. follows rigorous standards of quality and accountability. A.D.A.M. is among the first to achieve this important distinction for online health information and services. Learn more about A.D.A.M.'s editorial policy, editorial process and privacy policy. A.D.A.M. is also a founding member of Hi-Ethics and subscribes to the principles of the Health on the Net Foundation (www.hon.ch)
The information provided herein should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed medical professional should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Call 911 for all medical emergencies. Links to other sites are provided for information only -- they do not constitute endorsements of those other sites. © 1997- 2013 A.D.A.M., Inc. Any duplication or distribution of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited.


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OSPC vs CPT (Iacrb) ? should I?
There CPT test took me over a month to complete due to the fact this was my first pen test and also had to get a little more familiar with linux.
Here is the link to the test.
http://www.iacertification.org/cpt_cert ... ester.html
My question here is, if anyone has taking the CPT by Iacrb how does it compare to this OSCP challenge, should I give it a shot or just pay for 700$.
I mean I paid wellover 4k for infosec's botocamp class and it was well worth it.
Got my CEH and CPT.
The OSCP challenge seems to shock from what I been reading people who have been in the security field already, not sure of anyone heres technical skill.
As we all know there are plenty of "fly by night" security companies.
From what I been reading here its seems more of breaking into a network then scanning it and going through host by host and Id assume some MTM attacks/sniffing.
Exploits are the easy part.
So my question is should I go ahead and take the OSCP challenge or polish up my skills more before attempting?
I don't want to take the test and fail, like to know what im up against.
Thanks to all who can give me some insight.


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Mayor wants city to fund music video promoting Madison
Soglin's budget proposes $50,000 to produce video
MADISON, Wis. - Madison Mayor Paul Soglin is proposing spending $50,000 to produce a music video promoting arts and culture in Madison.
Soglin said if the video goes viral, it could mean big business for the city. But not everyone is behind the idea.
The idea was inspired by a YouTube video that went viral in Grand Rapids, Mich., when city leaders and residents lip-dubbed a 9-minute video singing "American Pie."
"I took a look at (the video) and said, 'There's a couple things wrong with it, and we could do better,'" Soglin said.
The mayor's budget proposes $50,000 to produce a music video promoting Madison.
"When there's a potential for getting 5 million hits on YouTube, what it says about our city when it comes to marketing, I can't think of a better way of spending our money," Soglin said.
But some city leaders said they think the money would be better spent in other ways.
"It's priorities. It's what comes first, and for us, the funding for the Overture Center comes first," said Susan Schmitz, of Downtown Madison Inc.
The mayor's office is no stranger to viral videos. Some may recall former Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's cameo in the Madison-based Web series "Chad Vader." But Cieslewicz said he thinks the money from Soglin's proposal should go elsewhere.
"In a budget as tight as this one, spending $50,000 on a lip-syncing video probably isn't the best investment in our funds. I'd rather see that money invested in neighborhoods," Cieslewicz said.
Soglin pointed to millions of dollars invested in new neighborhood centers as proof his budget numbers are going to appropriate projects.
"I'm getting a little sick and tired of people saying because you're spending money in one place over here, it means you're ignoring things over there," Soglin said.
Soglin said he believes producing a video could reap economic rewards in the future.
"I can't say this is going to be a guaranteed hit, but I do think Madison is well-known for its music," Soglin said.
For now, it appears there aren't enough members of the Madison Common Council who support the mayor's proposal.
Local And Regional News
- State DOJ, feds, police set up Drug Take Back Day
- Sun Prairie looks to revamp main corridor
- Zoo euthanizes polar bear that used to be in Madison
- Driver involved in crash suspected of heroin use
- Two people shot at while in car on Madison's east side
- Dick's Sporting Goods windows smashed, teen arrested


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Smart decision making is the focus of women business owners roundtable
"Smart Decision Making" will be the topic of the Small Business Development Center's Women Business Owners Roundtable discussion from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. Friday, August 27, at the Binghamton Regency on Water Street in downtown Binghamton.
Cynthia L. Palka, president of Future Map, Inc., will explore how to use coaching tools to master organizational change. The discussion will explore how effective decision-making techniques can be used to reduce workplace stress.
Palka is a certified coach with areas of expertise that include performance coaching, career planning and organizational change. Her company, Future Map, Inc., has clients ranging from startup companies to large corporations.
The roundtable costs $7 a person payable at the door and includes a continental breakfast. Attendees are encouraged to bring business cards and brochures to share.
Advance registration is required. Call the SBDC at 607-777-4024 to register.


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Skull Candy Smokin' Buds Earphones Black Rubberized
"These are definitely great sounding and well priced ear buds. I've never really had a pair that sounded this nice before and I only paid $40 for them. If you're into Dubstep, Trap, Hip-Hop, Rap, or other music like this, then you will definitely enjoy these buds. They have very nice low end performance that actually makes your ears vibrate a little and also have clear and pristene highs. For..." --backspace119
AIAIAI: Swirl Earphones w/ Mic - Black
The Swirl Earphone w/ mic is designed with an emphasis on sturdiness and lasting durability. A robust, industrial in-ear housing made to withstand heavy everyday use. The Y-shaped cable divider and extra-thick 3 mm cord makes it a tangle-free experience. The high maximum sound pressure level reveals the full sound of today's digital music. Choose between 5 sets of silicone ear buds in...
Skull Candy Smokin' Buds Headphones in Purple / Purple- Ships in ''24'' Hours!
Skull Candy Smokin' Buds Headphones in Purple / Purple


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Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler and then cool. Beat 4 whole eggs and 2 yolks in mixer until they fall off beaters in a ribbon. Beat 2 egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold into chocolate mixture and pour into a buttered loaf pan.
Bake in 325 degree oven in a hot-water bath for 45 minutes. Or until knife comes out clean.
White Chocolate Sauce Topping:
Melt 5 oz white chocolate
Stir in 2 1/2 oz heavy cream
Both ingredients should be room temperature when you mix them.
Notes and suggestions:
Refrigerate pate overnight. Slice as you would a loaf of bread. Serve warmed slightly with warm white chocolate sauce and an edible flower (eg. nasturtium or pansy) for garnish.


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Years of Breeding Corgis, produces beautiful results.
Our Passion is Pembroke Welsh Corgis!
Want to go Back to the breeders page?
Bernese Mountain Dog, German Shepherd or Pembroke Welsh Corgi
This site is served, operated and maintained by
P.O. Box 948 - Tucson, AZ 85702
Phone: 520-623-4365 / Fax: 520-623-0808
All rights reserved. Copyright ©2006-2011


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Toklat Contoured Synthetic Girth allows more comfortable movement. Synthetic fleece lining prevents chafing. Double elastic at both ends and center D-ring. Nickel plated roller buckles.
|Toklat consults with leading horse experts and product designers whose expertise goes into each product made. Many products have been tested and endorsed by top horsemen and women in both the English and Western communities. On staff, Toklat has a number of talented individuals who are not only experts in their respective equine disciplines, but also have a passion for everything horse-related. Before a product hits the store, it has been tried and tested to ensure that it performs to the rigorous Toklat standard and provides you with the quality you deserve, time after time.
Dover Saddlery is proud to offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee on all of our products. We stand behind the quality of our products, and should you not be satisfied with your purchase, simply return it and we will refund, replace or exchange it for you.
100% Satisfaction Guaranteed - Your Money Back Any Time, for Any Reason.
Dover Saddlery understands your concerns regarding online security. We share in your concerns and therefore work hard with experts in the field to maintain a highly secure ordering environment. Along with our comment to security, we offer you a Secure Order Guarantee - this gives you 100% protection for your credit card transactions on Doversaddlery.com.
Our Secure Order Guarantee means that you will never have to pay any money related to unauthorized charges to your credit card account, as long as those charges are a direct result from a transaction on Doversaddlery.com.
How it works: If you experience credit card fraud, the Fair Credit Act specifies that your credit card company can hold you liable for no more than $50.00 in fraudulent charges to your account. Our Secure Order Guarantee will reimburse you for any amount up to $50.00 billed to you by your credit card company for unauthorized charges to your account, if those charges result from an order you placed with Doversaddlery.com. For this protection you must promptly notify your credit card company of fraudulent charges and follow their procedures as outlined in your credit card agreement.
Show us your equestrian style. #itsfromdover


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Sony's new UBP-X800 4K Blu-ray player appears to be elegantly designed and has support for a wide number of formats and services.
LG'S UP970 is the company's first 4K Blu-ray player which will come a full 12 months after the competition. But what does it offer the others can't?
The $400 Samsung M9500 4K Blu-ray player offers the ability to stream audio and video to your mobile device.
The inexpensive LG BP350 is capable of fine image quality, but its sluggish load times keep it from earning our recommendation.
The Sony BDP-S3700 Blu-ray player offers a lot of features for little money but a lack of input responsiveness can spoil some of the fun.
Oppo has revealed its first 4K Blu-ray player, the UDP-203, which will reportedly be available this year for $499.
Late to the game, Sony's first 4K Blu-ray player, the UBP-X1000ES, will be a premium model with very limited distribution.
The new DMP-UB700 debuts in the UK for less than its predecessor, but it's still relatively expensive compared to the competition.
The Samsung UBD-K8500 4K Blu-ray player delivers the best in-home video quality ever, but only owners of the latest, most expensive TVs need apply.
Panasonic has announced that the DMP-UB900 4K Blu-ray player, which features both disc playback and streaming, is coming in September 2016.
In the absence of a 4K player, Sony has announced a high-end 1080p Blu-ray player it says is its first "hi-res" model.
If you're looking for a streaming box that not only does Blu-ray movies but also plays games, then the Sony BDP-S5500 is an absolute bargain.
The Samsung BD-H6500 is simply the quickest Blu-ray player we've seen, delivering lightning-fast access to your movies on disc and streaming services like Netflix.
LG is debuting three new Blu-ray players at CES 2013, with two models that let you listen to your Blu-ray movies through a smartphone app.
The Slingbox 350 is an excellent way to watch your TV or DVR video content anywhere.
If you want to take your Blu-rays on the road, Sony's BDP-SX1 portable player is a reasonable, if expensive, option. Its good USB media support is a bonus, but Blu-rays don't look significantly better than DVDs on a 10-inch screen.
The Cambridge Audio Azur 751BD is a 3D-ready Blu-ray player aimed at audiophiles. It sounds heavenly with pretty much any disc you feed it, but also delivers fabulous hi-def video and can stream almost every type of media via a LAN or USB. It's undeniably fine, but expensive.
Bafflingly small, the BD-D7500 pushes high-street Blu-ray design into the highfalutin realm once monopolised by a certain overpriced Danish brand. One to audition if you want a net-connected BD player that's as pretty as a picture.


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GigaPan Stitch version 1.0.0804 (Macintosh)
Panorama size: 1567 megapixels (138760 x 11296 pixels)
Input images: 189 (63 columns by 3 rows)
Field of view: 216.1 degrees wide by 17.6 degrees high (top=5.1, bottom=-12.5)
Use larger blending region
Original image properties:
Camera make: Canon
Camera model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Image size: 5616x3744 (21.0 megapixels)
Capture time: 2010-09-03 20:28:37 - 2010-09-03 20:34:21
Aperture: f/16
Exposure time: 0.005
Focal length (35mm equiv.): 292.8 mm
White balance: Fixed
Exposure mode: Manual
Horizontal overlap: 59.0 to 63.1 percent
Vertical overlap: 30.7 to 42.3 percent
Computer stats: 4096 MB RAM, 2 CPUs
Total time 22:12 (7.0 seconds per picture)
Alignment: 3:00, Projection: 2:16, Blending: 16:56
(Preview finished in 8:29)


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Well, I just signed up for an account on Advogato. It looks like it should be an interesting community to be a part of.
I look forward to being a part of this community.
It should also give some press to my new open source project. :-D The Bonham Server Suite
Should be fun to say the least.


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Web Stories
Science and theater workshop, Oct. 13
Posted October 11, 2001; 05:38 p.m.
Actors, writers and science historians will gather in McCosh 10 for a full day of discussions and performances exploring the interactions between science and theater. The event, which is free and open to the public, runs from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13.
The workshop's centerpiece is "Staged Science," featuring performances of excerpts from nine plays that depict scientists. Conceived and directed by Gitta Honneger, "Staged Science" includes scenes from current and classic plays such as "Inherit the Wind," "Proof" and "Copenhagen." Philip Bosco, who most recently appeared as Niels Bohr in "Copenhagen," joins other New York thespians who perform in this production.
Playwright Michael Frayn, Tony-award-winning author of "Copenhagen," will add to the day's discussions. Also speaking will be biographer Ray Monk, best known for his studies on Ludwig Wittgenstein and Bertrand Russell.
The workshop ends with a panel discussion by professors Gitta Honegger, Mario Biagioli, Anthony Grafton and Manfred Laubichler. Saturday's workshop is being organized by Grafton and Laubichler and is sponsored by the Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies and the Program in History of Science. The complete program is posted on the Program in History of Science Web site.
Contact: Marilyn Marks (609) 258-3601