Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered an end to military operations against Georgia, the Kremlin says.
He told officials he had taken the decision to end the campaign after restoring security for civilians and peacekeepers in South Ossetia.
However, Russia has been highly critical of Georgia’s leadership, and there were no signs of imminent talks.
Before the announcement, there were fresh reports of Russian warplanes bombing the Georgian town of Gori.
One of the most important issues in the primaries was that of healthcare, but during the beginning of this general cycle it has sort of slid down the important list behind war and gas prices. It will most like still be a very important issue when the general begins in earnest. Each candidate has their approach and the voter will use which they feel is the best as a benchmark for their support.
Obama’s most likely will be a mandate sort of approach, similar to that of Clinton’s; McCain’s answer will be some sort of tax break with incentives to buy insurance. Both approaches are crap! Neither plan will do anything to ease the financial burden of a major illness. Just delay it.
The prevention method is for the immediate benefit of the insurance companies, not the people it is suppose to help. This approach is supposed to save the people money by making them healthy and in turn less likely to need medical attention. All the programs on smoking and eating and the emphasis on screening and testing are to help the people manage their health. But the people will still be paying the high insurance premiums whether they are healthy or not. So who really benefits there?
The problem with this thinking is that the healthier a person is the longer they live and in doing so will become frail and sickly in their declining years. In those later years the chances of more expensive procedures like hip or knee replacement, extended hospital stays are extremely expensive. The chances of the person getting cancer or Alaheimer’s are pretty high and that is a very expensive medical treatment also.
A prevention program is a lofty and well intended goal, but in the long run there will be NO savings on high priced medical care. Healthier long lives may not be the answer to keeping medical costs down in the long run, just a postponement
Still the only true way to insure that a person, regardless of age, gets the proper medical attention, is a single payer system. It is simple and equal..
Besides the terrible killings inflicted by the fanatics on those who refuse to pledge allegiance to them, Al-Qa’eda has lost credibility for enforcing a series of rules imposing their way of thought on the most mundane aspects of everyday life.
They include a ban on women buying suggestively-shaped vegetables, according to one tribal leader in the western province of Anbar.
Sheikh Hameed al-Hayyes, a Sunni elder, told Reuters: “They even killed female goats because their private parts were not covered and their tails were pointed upward, which they said was haram.
“They regarded the cucumber as male and tomato as female. Women were not allowed to buy cucumbers, only men.”
Other farcical stipulations include an edict not to buy or sell ice-cream, because it did not exist in the time of the Prophet, while hair salons and shops selling cosmetics have also been bombed.
Simple answer is NO!
Sen. Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic presidential nominee if John Edwards had been caught in his lie about an extramarital affair and forced out of the race last year, insists a top Clinton campaign aide, making a charge that could exacerbate previously existing tensions between the camps of Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama.
Clinton finished third in the Iowa caucuses barely behind Edwards in second place and Obama in first. The momentum of the insurgent Obama campaign beating two better-known candidates — not to mention an African-American winning in such an overwhelmingly white state — changed the dynamics of the race forever.
Clinton finished third in the Iowa caucuses barely behind Edwards in second place and Obama in first. The momentum of the insurgent Obama campaign beating two better-known candidates — not to mention an African-American winning in such an overwhelmingly white state — changed the dynamics of the race forever.
Obama won 37.6 per cent of the vote. Edwards won 29.7 per cent and Clinton won 29.5 per cent, according to results posted by the Iowa Democratic Party. I do not think it would have made much difference if Edwards was not in the race.
Wolfson’s comments are not helping difuse the tension raising between the Clinton and Obama camps with the approach of the convention.
Wolfson’s suggestion comes at a delicate time in negotiations between the Clinton and Obama camps, as the Obama campaign decides whether the convention later this month should feature a roll call vote allowing Clinton’s delegates to voice their enthusiasm for their candidate. Many Clinton supporters are already resentful of Obama, whom they see as having only won the nomination with the support of a sexist media and Democratic establishment. Wolfson’s argument that these same players helped keep Edwards in the race, thus hurting Clinton — a highly debatable contention — will likely only fan the flames of Democratic division.
12 August
The national Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners is founded in Chicago in a gathering of 36 carpenters from 11 cities – 1881
Coal company guards kill 7, wound 40 miners trying to stop scabs, Virden, Ill. – 1898
North American Free Agreement—NAFTA— was concluded between the United States, Canada and Mexico, despite protests from labor, environmental and human rights groups. It went into effect in January, 1994 – 1992
What was to become a 232-day strike by major league baseball players over owners’ demands for team salary caps began on this day; 938 games were cancelled – 1994
I read this piece on the US News and World Report wedsite:
They like Sen. Barack Obama‘s progressive style of politics, but some 1960s-era radicals are questioning the candidate’s recent swing to the middle on some big issues. “I like Barack Obama,” says Bobby Seale, cofounder of the Black Panther Party. “I’m a progressive,” he says. “The progression has to be manifested in a new direction in policies and legislation,” says Seale. “I’m hoping that he is able to make a dent in that direction with the office of the presidency.” Seale adds an “oh, yeah” when asked if his activism—highlighted in the new DVD release Chicago 10 —paved the way for Obama’s candidacy. The movie, being released during the Democratic National Convention this month, combines animation and real video of 1968 protests at the Democratic convention and the subsequent trial of Seale and others for their participation. Seale’s conviction was eventually reversed. Pal and former Yippie frontman Paul Krassner says that unlike then, today it’s best to protest from inside, and Obama is best suited to do that. “This time, the protest might be more effective within the system, with voting for somebody who will at least appoint Supreme Court judges who have compassion instead of nutsiness,” he says. But on Obama, Krassner frets, “I have disappointments in a lot of the compromises he’s made, but that’s the game he’s playing. I just have to remember that his middle name is ‘I’m Not Bush.’ “
Switzerland’s political system, like that of California and several other states and nations, allows for individuals to propose legislation upon the gathering of enough signatures to support the bill. One such proposition by the youth section of the Swiss Green Party would ban all vehicles weighing over 2.2 metric tons (4,820lbs) or emitting more than 250g/km of CO2, among other restrictions. The law would effectively eliminate the vast majority of the SUV and sports car market overnight.
Other elements of the bill that would make it among the toughest in the world if enacted include a speed limit of 100km/h (62mph) on cars ‘grandfathered’ in by being registered before the law goes into effect, a complete ban on diesel-powered cars without particulate filters and cars with front fascias deemed dangerous to pedestrians, reports the Swiss site Asphalte.
Examples of the cars that would be affected by the proposed law include the complete ban from sale of all but the Boxster and Cayman 2.7 (pictured) from Porsche’s lineup, all of the high-performance arms of the German carmakers, as well as most Italian cars such as Ferrari and Lamborghini and the majority of American muscle cars and SUVs. Essentially the only cars that would be allowed for sale would be highly efficient six-cylinders and four-cylinder cars, with very few high-performance or opulent and large vehicles remaining
The voting closed with 82.17 percent of eligible Delta pilots casting a ballot. Of those, 61.74 percent voted “in favor” of the new agreement. The Northwest pilots ratified the same agreement with 80.87 percent of eligible Northwest pilots casting a ballot with 86.76 percent voting “in favor” of the agreement. With ratification by both pilot groups, the JCBA will become effective when the merger between Delta and Northwest closes which could occur before year’s end. Delta MEC Chairman, Captain Lee Moak, stated, “The ratification of the Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement represents the culmination of many months of effort by everyone involved. This historic milestone marks the first time that a labor agreement has been reached in advance of the close of an airline merger. It is far superior to the traditional well-worn labor role in that all pilots will receive financial returns from day one for the value we provide to the merger. We look forward to participating in Delta’s future growth and success as our nation’s first truly global airline.”
Russian tanks roared deep into Georgia on Monday, launching a new western front in the conflict, and Russian planes staged air raids that sent people screaming and fleeing for cover in some towns.
The escalating warfare brought sharp words from President Bush, who pressed Moscow to accept an immediate cease-fire and pull its troops out to avert a “dramatic and brutal escalation” of violence in the former Soviet republic. And the President called the invasion “unacceptable”.
Now here is a great idea!
President Mikheil Saakashvili urged his Western allies to provide more than just moral support and aid to confront Russia in Georgia’s conflict over the separatist region of South Ossetia
“So far we have got from them moral support and humanitarian aid, but we need more than that to stop this barbaric aggression,” he said in a televised address.
Are you kidding me? A president that invaded 2 countries accusing another country of acting in an unacceptable manner. Am I the only one that sees that as a bit of a hypocritical stance?