Vendredi 29 avril 2011

Wisconsin nuclear plant on the auction block

hermes birkin 35cmOne of America's oldest nuclear power plants is up for sale. Dominion Resources said on Thursday it wants to sell its Kewaunee Power Station north of Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The Virginia-based power producer did not say what it expected the plant to fetch in the current marketplace, where the ongoing crisis in Japan has fanned fears of the risks associated with nuclear technology. Dominion bought the 38-year-old plant in 2005 for $220 million as the first step in what it hoped would be an expansion into the Midwest. But the company was outbid by rivals when other plants in the region came on the auction block. Its CEO Tom Farrell said Thursday that "without the other units, the strategic rationale to continue to own Kewaunee is diminished, and we believe it is time to pursue a sale."cheap hermes kelly bags Kewaunee, located on the shores of Lake Michigan near Door County, a region often referred to as the Cape Cod of the Midwest, was originally licensed in 1973. Earlier this year, it received a 20-year license renewal from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in February. Last August, months before the earthquake and tsunami in Japan crippled the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant in Japan, the NRC published a report on the risk posed by earthquakes to the country's 104 nuclear power plants. The commission said Kewaunee had a 1-in-83,333 chance each year of suffering the kind of seismic-triggered damage to its reactor core that caused the explosion at the Fukushima Dai-ichi and released radioactive contaminants into the atmosphere. Fifty-six of the 104 nuclear reactors in the United States were ranked at greater risk than Kewaunee for earthquake-related damage to their nuclear cores, according to the NRC, and 47 were deemed at less risk. hermes birkin hermes birkin handbags hermes outlet cheap hermes birkin
Par aigo199 - 0 commentaire(s)le 29 avril 2011
Jeudi 28 avril 2011

Boston hospital performs 2nd full-face transplant

cheap hermes birkin 35cmDoctors at a Boston hospital have performed the nation's second full-face transplant, less than a month after the first. A team of more than 30 doctors, nurses and other staff at Brigham and Women's Hospital worked for more than 14 hours last week to replace the full facial area of 30-year-old Mitch Hunter, of Speedway, Ind. The procedure replaced Hunter's nose, eyelids, lips, facial animation muscles and the nerves that power them and provide sensation. Hunter suffered his injuries from a high-voltage electrical wire following a 2001 car accident. The donor family requested anonymity.hermes birkin The lead surgeon, Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, said the procedure went smoothly and they expect Hunter to have a successful recovery and new life. A Texas construction worker received a new face at the hospital last month. About a dozen face transplants have been done worldwide, in the U.S., France, Spain and China. The world's first face transplant, a partial face transplant, was done in France in 2005 on a woman mauled by her dog. The nation's first, also a partial, was at the Cleveland Clinic in 2008. The Boston hospital has placed on a waiting list for a face and hands transplant Charla Nash, the Connecticut woman mauled by a friend's chimpanzee two years ago. hermes birkin handbags hermes outlet cheap hermes birkin hermes birkin bag
Par aigo199 - 0 commentaire(s)le 28 avril 2011
Mercredi 27 avril 2011

The anti-Palin crusaders

hermes birkin 35cmShe is a promiscuous, petty and unintelligent, yet deviously conniving warmonger intent on capturing the Oval Office and, from there, the world. Those are just some of the opinions about Sarah Palin held by members of a small but extremely active network of gadflies, bloggers and authors who have devoted much of the last 2? years to proving their case to American voters. This self-styled anti-Palin movement — whose members span the globe and are mostly but not exclusively liberals — has been behind some embarrassing revelations about the former Alaska governor, her family and allies. But some of their leading theories have been thoroughly discredited and earned them widespread criticism. Yet that only seems to have hardened a commitment to accomplishing what they profess to be their ultimate goal: the absolute and complete exposure of Palin as a fraud unworthy of a role in American civic life. And now, with Palin edging back into the political spotlight in the face of flagging poll numbers, they believe that they are closer than ever to achieving it. hermes birkin A number of forthcoming books promise to delve deeply into — and, they believe, give mainstream credibility to — some of the more salacious Palin rumors and conspiracy theories that have sprouted in the anti-Palin blogosphere and on supermarket tabloid stands but have mostly been rejected by the mainstream media. “We’re at a tipping point, where her character and her lack of ethics will be revealed on the national stage,” asserted Sherry Whitstine, a 49-year-old grandmother who lives in Palin’s hometown of Wasilla, Alaska, and has infuriated her famous neighbors with blog posts and online comments accusing Palin of being unfaithful in her marriage and corrupt in her political career. “Some things are just going to come to light that they just won’t be able to shake, and I have faith in that. It has already started, but these books will add to it,” she said. hermes birkin handbagsThe Palin camp has dismissed these critics as inconsequential ankle-biters but also has occasionally lashed out against the stories and rumors they have circulated. While the latter approach has engendered sympathy among her supporters, it’s also helped enable some of the rumors to break through into the “lamestream” media Palin so despises. Nonetheless, a source close to Palin downplayed the impact of the relentless scrutiny, telling POLITICO, “There are many things that are said on the Web about Gov. Palin that make it into the public domain. Many are so laughable, they don’t require a response.” Their forbearance likely will be tested next month, when two major publishers will release books that have the anti-Palin movement buzzing. St. Martin’s Press has scheduled a May 10 release of “The Lies of Sarah Palin: The Untold Story Behind Her Relentless Quest for Power,” by Santa Cruz, Calif.-based author and documentarian Geoffrey Dunn, who has joked that he might need three or four volumes to adequately cover the subject matter suggested in the title. He told POLITICO he decided to write the book after hearing stories from Alaskans about Palin’s “childhood through her governorship that were troubling to me.” He said his goal is to frame Palin’s career in the contexts of both an Alaska political scene “plagued by a culture of corruption” and also in “the larger tradition of American political populism and demagoguery.” A couple of weeks later, a Simon & Schuster imprint is set to offer a tell-all memoir by Frank Bailey, a disgruntled former top aide to Palin, using her personal emails to paint an ugly portrait of her as a vindictive and vain dilettante obsessed with her public image, who allegedly broke election laws and targeted a state trooper by leaking damaging information. Then, in September, Crown will release “The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin,” by journalist and author Joe McGinniss, whose decision to rent the house next door in Wasilla last summer prompted Palin to warn him to “leave my kids alone.”hermes outlet In a series of blog posts, McGinniss, who said his publisher wouldn’t let him do interviews, has compared the Palin family’s life to a soap opera and signaled that his book will focus on the mother of all Palin conspiracy theories: the long-simmering, though widely rejected, allegation that Palin’s daughter Bristol or someone else entirely is actually the mother of Palin’s youngest son, Trig. Dunn last week wrote a 2,700-word piece for Business Insider in which he questioned Palin’s account of Trig’s birth, asserted “Palin has never provided sufficient concrete evidence to put the conspiracy theories to bed” and acknowledged he “spent a considerable amount of time and resources trying to sort out the facts of Trig’s birth” while writing his book. The piece initially was rejected by the Huffington Post, which has published a series of Dunn’s previous attacks on the former Alaska governor but said the Trig post violated its “policy against conspiracy theories.” Dunn insisted in an email to POLITICO that he has never actually advocated the “Trig Truth” theory and is merely asking questions — a stance similar to that taken by influential Daily Beast blogger Andrew Sullivan, a hero among Trig Truthers and the broader anti-Palin movement. Though Dunn said his book barely addresses Trig’s birth, other books are reportedly in the works that deal with the rumor. It also is the subject of an academic paper by a professor at Northern Kentucky University that was released this month that sparked debate about whether the maternity of Palin’s children is an appropriate topic for political discourse. hermes birkin bags The persistence of Trig Trutherism despite multiple investigations endeavoring to definitively debunk it is similar in some ways to the more widespread, but similarly discredited, “birther” theory holding that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States and is, therefore, ineligible to be president. Obama also has faced a host of other persistent but debunked rumors, including that he is a secret Muslim and that his youthful drug use continued into adulthood. But the sheer number of negative stories, rumors and conspiracy theories that continue to swirl around Palin, her family and allies is perhaps unprecedented for a politician who never held national office and has given few indications that she has either the ambition or the wherewithal to make another run after her failed 2008 Republican vice presidential campaign. The Palin fixation more closely parallels the tabloid rumors and scandals that dog controversial Hollywood personalities like Lindsay Lohan or Charlie Sheen than the ideologically motivated attacks on politicians, said Michael Kazin, a Georgetown history professor who has written about politically polarizing populist figures. As if to underscore that point, it was revealed Monday that a Simon & Schuster imprint in the fall would publish yet another book on Palin - a tell-all by Levi Johnston, the mother of Bristol’s child and a harsh Palin critic who promised to dish on his “close relationship with the Palins” and “sense of Sarah.” “This is only tangentially about politics. It’s really about celebrity,” he said, comparing the anti-Palinites to the liberals who pushed stories about unethical financial activity by Father Charles Coughlin, the influential but inflammatory 1930s conservative radio show host. Those stories “helped to undermine” Coughlin, said Kazin, adding that, while Palin was able to use rumors and negative stories about her to “gain sympathy from conservatives,” that tactic now appears to be less effective. The anti-Palin mythology exploded nationally after John McCain in August 2008 tapped the little-known first-term governor to join him on the Republican presidential ticket. cheap hermes birkin hermes birkin bag birkin bag Nike outlet
Par aigo199 - 1 commentaire(s)le 27 avril 2011
Mardi 26 avril 2011

Barbour out, GOP ponders as 2012 field takes shape

hermes birkinRepublican Gov. Haley Barbour bowed out of presidential contention Monday with a surprise announcement just as the 2012 campaign was getting under way in earnest, 18 months before Election Day. The Mississippi governor said he lacked the necessary "absolute fire in the belly" to run. Barbour's declaration, unexpected because he had been laying the groundwork for a campaign for months, thins a Republican cluster of no less than a dozen potential candidates to take on Democratic President Barack Obama. With the GOP campaign's first debate scheduled for next week, the muddy Republican field will become clearer very soon as more potential contenders announce whether they'll run or sit out. Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who lost in 2008 and is a favorite of libertarians as well as tea partyers, is planning to take a step toward a second bid on Tuesday. The next facing a self-imposed deadline of this weekend, is Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Barbour friend and a fiscal conservative who has shined a spotlight on rising budget deficits and national debt. "All eyes will be on Daniels. ... It's a clear path for him if he wants to run," said Doug Gross, an Iowa Republican who dined with Barbour last month and left questioning whether the governor had the hunger to get in the race.hermes birkin handbags It turns out he didn't. "I will not be a candidate for president next year," the two-term governor said a statement, adding that he wasn't ready for a "10-year commitment to an all-consuming effort." As the GOP race comes into sharper focus, Obama is working to both prevent an erosion of his support while under Republican attack and to raise enough money to overwhelm his eventual foe. He's been packing his schedule with fundraisers and visits to battleground states as he gears up for what he says will be a tough campaign. hermes outletThis week alone, he will raise money in New York and return to his hometown of Chicago — also the site of his campaign headquarters — to tape an episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show." He then will head to Florida, a pivotal swing state, to deliver a commencement address at Miami Dade College and attend the launch of Endeavour, NASA's next-to-last space shuttle flight. Potentially vulnerable, Obama has middling poll ratings and is seeking a second term in a country reeling over high unemployment, rising gas prices and the remnants of recession. Yet, the GOP faces plenty of its own troubles. Its field lacks a front-runner. Most of the candidates are largely unknown to Republicans. The most recent Associated Press-GfK poll indicated that only half of all Republicans were satisfied by their choices and a third were dissatisfied. Unlike four years ago, GOP presidential hopefuls have been hesitant to rush into the race. Many have been mindful of the long slog and huge costs of a campaign. Several also have been waiting to see what the first half of the year would bring, when the focus would be on the new House GOP majority and its tangles with the Democratic administration.hermes birkin 42cm But now, the clock is ticking, and candidates are under pressure to commit to participating in multi-candidate events. Neither a forum in New Hampshire on Friday nor a debate in Greenville, S.C., next week — the first of the campaign — is expected to draw a full slate of candidates. No such slate exists yet. So far, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who lost the nomination in 2008, and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who was on John McCain's vice presidential short list, have set up presidential exploratory committees allowing them raise money for full-fledged campaigns. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is expected to make his campaign official as early as next week. A cluster of lesser-knowns also have inched toward the race, including former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. Many Republicans had expected Barbour would be the next one in, given his recent activity. He had visited several states with early presidential contests, including Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. He also had lined up a large network of political advisers. And he had tested an economy-focused campaign speech in Chicago last month. The governor had even lost some weight as advisers had suggested, and they had been plotting an "announcement tour" in which he would declare himself a candidate. But several allies said Barbour, known as one of the smartest political operatives in the GOP, ultimately decided he didn't have what it takes to win. cheap hermes kelly bagsHe could have been a formidable contender had he entered the race. He has a knack for raising money, a resume dating to Ronald Reagan's White House and brand of folksy Southern charisma. His hurdles would have been high, too. He's a former lobbyist and former Republican National Committee chairman who would have tried to woo a primary electorate underwhelmed by Washington insiders. Among his other vulnerabilities: what critics have called tone deafness about Mississippi's divisive racial history. Barbour delivered the news Monday in a phone call with some 50 people who were advising him, and then his office sent out a statement. "A candidate for president today is embracing a 10-year commitment to an all-consuming effort, to the virtual exclusion of all else," Barbour said in the statement. "His (or her) supporters expect and deserve no less than absolute fire in the belly from their candidate. I cannot offer that with certainty, and total certainty is required." Former Iowa Republican Party Chairman Richard Schwarm, who was with Barbour and Gross last month, said that Barbour mentioned during dinner that he had encouraged Daniels to run. It's unclear whether Daniels will heed that advice. A onetime senior executive at Eli Lilly & Co. and a former budget director under George W. Bush, Daniels has said he would wait until his state legislature adjourns at the end of the week before considering his next plans. He says he's done little to prepare for a campaign beyond think about it and discuss it with his family, including his wife who was cool to a White House run but has agreed to headline a major fundraiser for the state GOP next month. At the same time, another likely candidate, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, is to return to the United States early next week. His work for the Obama administration as the U.S. ambassador to China ends Sunday, and he will make his first appearance in an early primary state on May 7 in South Carolina, where he will deliver a commencement address. He's been barred from engaging in politics as an ambassador, but advisers have spent the past few months building a shadow campaign operation so that he will be ready to run if he chooses. Two others weighing bids and drawing considerable attention, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and New York real estate mogul Donald Trump, have said they would decide whether to run before the summer. cheap hermes birkin hermes birkin bag birkin bag
Par aigo199 - 0 commentaire(s)le 26 avril 2011
Lundi 25 avril 2011

Egypt revolution hero to leave Google, set up NGO

hermes birkin bagsWael Ghonim, the Google executive who became the hero of the Egyptian revolution, on Sunday said he planned to take an extended break from the Internet giant to set up his own NGO in Egypt. "Decided to take a long term sabbatical from @Google & start a technology focused NGO to help fight poverty & foster education in #Egypt," Ghonim wrote in a message on the micro-blogging site Twitter. Ghonim, Google's head of marketing for the Middle East and North Africa, administered the Facebook page that helped spark the uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak's regime.Nike outlet The 30-year-old gave an emotional television interview shortly after he was released from 12 days in police custody that is credited with re-energizing the movement just as it appeared to be losing steam. In an interview with CBS's "60 Minutes" after the regime started to crumble, Ghonim said the protests that led to the Mubarak's ouster would never have happened without online social networks. "If there was no social networks it would have never been sparked. Because the whole thing before the revolution was the most critical thing. Without Facebook, without Twitter, without Google, without YouTube, this would have never happened." hermes birkin 42cm TIME recently placed the Egyptian-born Ghonim on its list of the 100 most influential people of 2011 -- on the magazine's website he appeared as the first name, although TIME insists there is no actual ranking. "Wael Ghonim embodies the youth who constitute the majority of Egyptian society," read a profile in the magazine penned by former UN atomic energy chief and potential Egyptian presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei. "But, as with many of his generation, (he) remained apolitical due to loss of hope that things could change in a society permeated for decades with a culture of fear. "By emphasizing that the regime would listen only when citizens exercised their right of peaceful demonstration and civil disobedience, Wael helped initiate a call for a peaceful revolution." cheap hermes birkin hermes birkin bag birkin bag
Par aigo199 - 1 commentaire(s)le 25 avril 2011
Vendredi 22 avril 2011

U.S. sends drones to Libya, battle rages for Misrata

hermes birkinThe United States has started using armed drones against Muammar Gaddafi's troops, who battled rebels at close quarters on the streets of Misrata, despite Western threats to step up a month-old air war. Rebels welcomed the deployment of U.S. unmanned aircraft and said they hoped the move would protect civilians. Doctors at the hospital in Misrata, the rebels' last major bastion in the West of the country, said nine insurgents were killed in fighting on Thursday. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a Washington news conference President Barack Obama had authorized the use of Predator drones and they were already in operation. General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the first two Predators were sent to Libya on Thursday but had to turn back because of bad weather.hermes birkin handbags The United States planned to maintain two patrols of armed Predators above Libya at any given time, Cartwright said. The drones have proven a potent weapon in Pakistan and other areas where U.S. forces have no troops on the ground. They can stay aloft nearly perpetually without being noticed from the ground and hit targets with missiles, with no risk to crew. "There's no doubt that will help protect civilians and we welcome that step from the American administration," Rebel spokesman Abdel Hafiz Ghoga said on Al Jazeera television. hermes outletSecretary of State Hillary Clinton said Gaddafi's forces were carrying out "vicious attacks" on Misrata and might have used cluster bombs against civilians. PRO-GADDAFI SNIPERS Hundreds of people are believed to have died in Misrata during its siege. At the hospital, ambulances raced in carrying wounded fighters. Doctors said that four of the nine rebels killed died in a fierce battle around the Tripoli Street thoroughfare. Rebel Salman al-Mabrouk said a group came under fire when they tried to enter a building occupied by pro-Gaddafi snipers. "We suddenly discovered they had surrounded us on all sides and they opened fire. It seems many government soldiers were inside buildings around the one where we tried to get into." Rebel fighters voiced frustration with an international military operation they see as too cautious.coach outlet "NATO has been inefficient in Misrata. NATO has completely failed to change things on the ground," rebel spokesman Abdelsalam said. Food and medical supplies were running out and there were long queues for petrol. Electricity was cut so residents depended on generators. Thousands of stranded foreign migrant workers awaited rescue in the port area. "MISSION CREEP" France said it would send up to 10 military advisers to Libya and Britain plans to dispatch up to a dozen officers to help rebels improve organization and communications. Italy is considering sending a small military training team. Tripoli denounced such moves and some commentators warned of "mission creep," after assurances by Western leaders that they would not put "boots on the ground" in Libya. Russia said the sending of advisers exceeded the U.N. Security Council mandate to protect civilians. "We are not happy about the latest events in Libya, which are pulling the international community into a conflict on the ground. This may have unpredictable consequences," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. hermes birkin 42cmU.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Libyan authorities to stop fighting, saying during a visit to Moscow that the priority of the United Nations was to secure a ceasefire. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has spearheaded U.N.-backed NATO intervention, pledged stronger military action at his first meeting with the leader of the opposition Libyan National Council, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, on Wednesday. The French Defense Ministry said on Thursday it had increased the number of its air sorties in the past week to 41 from an average of 30 since the start of the operation. Libya urged rebels on Thursday to sit down to peace talks but said it was arming and training civilians to confront any possible ground attack by NATO forces. "Many cities have organized themselves into squads to fight any possible NATO invasion," government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said, adding that authorities were handing out rifles and guns. In Tripoli, Ibrahim told reporters the government welcomed ships coming to Misrata to pick up foreign workers. However, it would not accept international humanitarian aid arriving "with military cover." hermes victoria bags hermes belts hermes wallets
Par aigo199 - 0 commentaire(s)le 22 avril 2011
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