Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Cadillac SRX First generation (2004–2009)
Engine options include the 255 hp (190 kW) High-Feature V6 and the 4.6 L 320 hp (239 kW) Northstar V8. It is based on the GM Sigma platform and comes with a five or six-speed automatic transmission; rear-wheel drive and four-wheel drive are available.
An all-leather interior and curtain side airbags are standard in both models. Heated front seats and wood interior trim are standard in the V8 and available as options in the V6. DVD, sunroof, navigation system, and a power foldable third-row seat are all available options.
2010 cadillac srx
cadillac srx interior
cadillac srx 2007
cadillac srx wallpapers
cadillac srx pics
2009 cadillac srx
2011 Cadillac Escalade
cadillac escalade hybird
cadillac escalade image
cadillac escalade cat
cadillac escalade dubai
2011 cadillac escalade
2012 Honda Fit Electric Vehicle Concept
Honda has apparent the all-new Fit EV Concept electric agent at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show. Alongside the constituent amalgam vehicle, the Fit EV Concept is basic to the Honda Electric Mobility Network as an avant-garde ecology access to abbreviation CO2 emissions.
Powered by a high-density motor acquired from the FCX Clarity ammunition corpuscle electric vehicle, The Fit EV delivers able ability with a top acceleration of 90 mph.
The Fit EV will accomplish an estimated 100-mile active ambit per allegation application the US EPA LA4* burghal aeon (70 afar back applying EPA’s acclimation factor). Active ambit can be maximized by use of an avant-garde 3-mode electric drive arrangement acclimatized from the 2011 Honda CR-Z action hybrid.
Battery recharging can be able in beneath than 12 hours back application a accepted 120-volt outlet, and beneath than six hours back application a 240-volt outlet. Back the Fit EV assembly archetypal is introduced, it will be powered by a lithium-ion array and coaxial electric motor.
The Fit EV Concept displayed at the LA Auto Show appearance an absolute Deep Clear Dejected Pearl exoteric blush and five-spoke aluminum-alloy auto with dejected inserts. Inside, an eco-friendly gray bio-fabric on the basement surfaces is outfitted.
HONDA UNVEILS BRIO PROTOTYPE THE CITY CAR
It Just Isn’t Christmas without a Muslim Bombing
This year it’s another African Muslim who tried to get an early start on Christmas terror by trying to car bomb a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony.
Last year’s Christmas terrorist hailed from Nigeria. This year’s mad Muslim bomber comes from Somalia. And they bring with them tidings of a new season. A season in which holiday shopping now comes with massacre plots mixed in with the radio jingles and cheer.
If gift wrapping and church going are Christmas traditions, carrying out massacres during other people’s holiday celebrations is a Muslim tradition. In Israel, holidays are a time for extra special caution. The Passover massacre in which dozens of senior citizens attending a holiday meal were murdered, the Yom Kippur War in which Muslim armies invaded Israel on the holiest day of its year or the Purim bombing outside a Tel Aviv mall using a nail bomb, are just some of the obvious examples of Muslim religious tolerance at work.
It’s not limited to Jews or Christians either. In 2008, a number of bombs went off in Delhi just before Diwali. And back in 1991, Muslims planned to massacre thousands of Hindus during Diwali. Had they succeeded, the death toll might have been bigger than 9/11. Nearly two decades ago, North America was put on alert that importing Muslim immigrants, also meant bringing along their genocidal tendencies. Like renting rooms to tenants whose dogs have a little rabies problem, importing Islam, also means bringing in the same people who have been murdering Christians, Jews, Hindus and countless others around the world, ever since Mohamed’s namesake first preached that he had a unique revelation and an exclusive license to kill, rob, rape and subjugate in the name of Allah.
While the news stories will insist that Mohamed Osman Mohamud (twice the Mohammed for twice the mayhem) was “lured” into a life of terror, he was just doing what Muslims since the time of Mohammed have naturally done. “O you who believe! fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you”, the Koran proclaims to the devout Muslim. For Mohamedx2, the “unbelievers” were grouping together at a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony in downtown Portland. And his goal was simple enough, “I want whoever is attending that event to leave, to leave dead or injured.”
For Muslims this is a religious war
While we may go on denying it, for Muslims this is a religious war. And what better target for terror, than an infidel’s religious event?
The clergy at interfaith conferences may yammer on about how we’re all the children of god, but Muslims know better. They are the slaves of Allah and we are heretics and idol worshipers. It’s their duty to fight us, until we submit and accept Muslim rule. The more we resist, the more they’re obligated to kill us until we give in and there’s a mosque on every corner and the Koran replaces the Constitution. It’s a religious duty for a Muslim to make the Way of Allah triumphant all across the globe. To Muslims, this is a sacred duty and a way of life, that is not a detail, but the heart of the Koran.
Unlike Christians and Jews, the Islamic holy texts are not a complicated structure that takes place across a swath of history—but an enormously simple one dominated by a relatively brief period and a single categorical imperative, to expand, dominate and rule. For the Muslim, life is complicated, but Islam is simple. And even the most secular and westernized Muslim will sooner or later feel an imperative to escape from the complications of modern life, into the pure simplicity of Islam. The media charges that such escapees misunderstand Islam, but in actuality they understand it quite well. It is a reversion to the barbaric, an Islamic narrative that sweeps aside the complexities of civilization and personal choice for something more elemental.
Goggling when university grads, doctors and other high end professionals suddenly embrace their “Inner Mohammed” and go on killing sprees is foolish. Modernity for the Muslim is a sham inflicted by colonialism and globalism on his own country and multiculturalism when he’s abroad in the West. It is not the natural product of his own advancements, and no matter how often he’s told that his people invented everything from telescopes to planes, it’s always a poor fit.
Civilization is not something the Muslim invented, but something that was forced on him in defiance of his law, his culture and his traditions. And if he does everything in his power to bring it down in ashes, to burn, loot and rape his way across the continent, and every continent that was foolish enough to allow him entry in the hopes that he would be a good citizen and a worthwhile member of society, then its governments have more of the blame than he does.
The United States has taken in large numbers of Somalis. A poor idea even if they had not been coming over from a disaster area of a country, whose own version of the Taliban, the Islamic Courts Union made even the Afghan version look mild by comparison. A country where the motto is “There is no God but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God”, where the law is Sharia law and the beheadings and floggings come fast and furious. Our newfound Somali citizens have since then done their parts to make America a more dangerous and more Muslim place.
In Minneapolis, Somali Muslim cabdrivers tried to deny service to infidels carrying duty free liquor. They’ve intimidated and shaken down companies who are afraid of being condemned as Anti-Muslim or Islamophobic. This August a baker’s dozen of Somali immigrants were arrested for funneling money, weapons and fighters back home. Last year it was another eight. And the hits keep on coming out of Minnesota’s “Little Mogadishu”.
But Oregon has its own “Little Mogadishu”. Before the influx of Somali Muslims, the American experience with Mogadishu was limited to the Battle of Mogadishu in which American military personnel were brutally murdered in the streets of that godforsaken urban slum masquerading as a city. Today there are Little Mogadishus everywhere. Sweden’s Little Mogadishu suffers from riots and arson. And the usual terrorist recruitment. And their American Swedish cousins over in Minnesota are burdened with their own Little Mogadishu. Oregon’s “Little Mogadishu” in Cedar Riverside has come of age, producing not just social problems, but a plot of Muslim mass murder.
Not that this is a bad thing of course. For a while it was a running joke, that the best way to upgrade your country was to attack America, lose and then wait to get rebuilt. That’s the way it is in the Little Mogadishus too. The liberal solution to Muslim terrorist is to treat it as a social problem, throw some community centers, job opportunities and social services at it. And if some of that money filters back to the terrorists. If the social services centers become stealth mosques and the graduates of OSU choose bomb throwing over pigskin tossing, that just means not enough money has been sunk into making them feel at home. Meanwhile the Little Mogadishus keep growing, until they’re not so little anymore.
Over in Oregon, Mohamed Osman Mohamud has made his own contribution to American culture. And the media assures us that this was one of those once in a million events. Nothing to see here, folks. We’ll find out soon enough that he had personal problems. Maybe his rap career didn’t work out. The girl he liked wouldn’t go out with him and agree to be his third wife. And the camel’s milk wasn’t flowing like honey anymore. Not that it really matters. Everyone has stressors. And if we are to keep Muslims stress free, for fear that they’ll start flipping through a Koran and shooting up the joint, then even the most ardent devotee of the Lady overlooking Liberty Island must ask himself if the price of Muslim immigration is really worth it.
West may subscribe to multiculturalism, its Muslim imports subscribe to only one law. The law of Islam
Multiculturalism is one thing. But that’s not what we have here. It’s not living side by side with chicken noodle soup and tandoori restaurants. Or stacking churches, synagogues, ashrams and Shinto shrines on every block. Because while the political and cultural elite of the West may subscribe to multiculturalism, its Muslim imports subscribe to only one law. The law of Islam. They may lapse at times. They may get through a university education, attend nightclubs and strip clubs, listen to the same music all the other kids their age do—but there’s still a ticking time bomb inside their heads. And that bomb is the same one that appears as the lit fuse on the turban of the cartoon Mohammad. The cartoon that Muslims were willing to kill over. The bomb is Islam. And when it’s lit, the result is mass murder.
It is an uncomfortable thing to think about. We who pride ourselves on our tolerance and slap ourselves on the back for our open-mindedness do not like to think that our civilization is an illusion, a parquet floor built over the roaring fire of barbarism underneath. But it was not so long ago, in the space of years, that our ancestors would have thought no more of killing people because they were different, than we would think of swatting a fly. The difference between us and the inhabitants of the Little Mogadishus is that we have changed. They have not. We have changed because we had time to change. Because we are the products of a culture that has changed. They are the products of a culture that has consciously resisted change. And much as we may befriend them, the thought of killing us can never be entirely wrong to them. After enough time spent together, we might rank above flies to them, but well below full-fledged and fellow humans. And when they need answers, they turn to a book whose verses promise salvation to our killers.
It is important to think of these things, because our lives and the survival of our civilization are at stake. We have begun to learn what it is like to live with terror. But we have not learned all of it by far. Terror haunted Christmas tree lighting celebrations are the beginning, but not the end of it. This is not a bridge we can cross with some multicultural cuisine and a PBS special. It requires that we understand what we have done. We have imported people from a culture and religion that has never accepted the most basic premise of our way of life. Coexistence. And so we cannot coexist with them. And they cannot coexist with us. After a few years or decades of baffled attempts to adjust to a foreign way of life, they will either wall themselves off or make war on us. Or both at the same time. They cannot be our neighbors, only our enemies.
The sooner we realize that, the fewer bombing stories at Christmas we’ll have to read about.
Source
South African mines plagued by mismanagement, neglect
ORKNEY, South Africa (AP) - Mawethu Mguli and hundreds of other workers at the gold mine in Orkney have gone months without pay at a time when gold is going for around $1,400 an ounce.
After the mine's previous owners went bankrupt, the workers expected that a new partnership - headed by relatives of Nelson Mandela and President Jacob Zuma - would get operations back on track when it took over last year.
"Unfortunately, it didn't turn out that way," Mguli said softly as he sat in his dimly lit room in the mine dormitory. The mine northwest of Johannesburg remains idle and the workers are getting by on food handouts and odd jobs.
South Africa sees getting its vast mineral wealth out of the ground as vital to creating desperately needed jobs, fueling growth and redressing the economic ravages of apartheid. But a toxic combination of a crumbling infrastructure, mismanagement and the specter of nationalization is frustrating the drive to improve and expand the country's mines. Some are asking whether political connections mean more than competence in an industry that is a pillar of South Africa's economy.
South Africa is the world's richest mining country in terms of its reserves, according to a Citibank estimate that valued its mineral resources at $2.5 trillion. It is a major producer of diamonds and gold, and has major reserves of less sexy but still lucrative minerals like platinum.
Mining has accounted for an average of 7.7 percent of South Africa's gross domestic product over the last decade, according to the Chamber of Mines, an industry trade group.
Half the country's merchandise exports were mining products in 2009, when the industry employed half a million people. Another half million worked in fields dependent on the mines in this country with a population of 50 million where at least a quarter of the work force is unemployed.
Yet, during a global boom in commodities prices from 2001 to 2008, other countries with major mining operations outperformed South Africa, according to the chamber, whose members include such industry giants as Anglo American and DeBeers. The world's top 20 mining countries saw mining GDP grow at an average of 5 percent a year during the period, while South Africa's mining sector GDP dropped by 1 percent a year.
"How come, sitting on the largest mineral resource base in the world, we are not doing better?" said Sipho Nkosi, a former chamber president who now also heads the Exxaro coal mining company.
The answers are not hard to find.
The country's mining infrastructure - from the power plants needed to get the ore to the surface, to the roads and rail lines to get it to market - is tattered. Talk of nationalizing mines in some political circles has spooked foreign investors. And questions about corruption among the civil servants became so heated that in August the country's mining minister imposed a six-month ban on the issuing of prospecting licenses.
"All of that is quite worrying if you're an investor who's invested or is going to continue to invest billions in this sector," said Alison Turner, an analyst with the British firm Panmure Gordon.
Mining Minister Susan Shabangu told reporters recently she is working with other government departments to address infrastructure problems, including an energy shortfall that just a few years ago forced gold and platinum mines to suspend production because of lack of power. Eskom, the state-owned electricity company, blamed years of under-investment and rising demand.
Now, ambitious plans include a six-unit, coal-fired power station in northern South Africa that will be the first of its kind to be built in the country in more than 20 years.
South Africa has special challenges, including the extraordinary depth of many of its gold mines. According to the Metals Economics Group, which compiles information on the mining industry, the cost per ounce of mining gold in South Africa is $539, about 12 percent higher than a comparable group of North American mines, and 4 percent higher than a comparable group in Australia.
Shabangu said a comprehensive, multi-department plan that looks at power, transportation and other issues will be ready next year.
"We think we are on track," she said.
Shabangu says that while nationalization is not government policy, her African National Congress party is studying its feasibility. The issue is being pushed by Julius Malema, the vocal and populist leader of the ANC's youth league.
Key industry leaders have ridiculed Malema's suggestion. Frans Baleni, general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers, is also on the central committee of the South African Communist Party, yet he suspects the calls to nationalize are backed by businessmen who want to shift money-losing mines to the state and reap profits in any transfer. Baleni says that could endanger miners' pension plans established by private companies _ and that workers would fight anything they saw as endangering their future.
Nkosi, the former Chamber of Mines head, calls nationalization an "antiquated and discredited practice" that has impoverished African and other countries.
Yet, the issue won't die. Turner, the British analyst, said investors will be anxiously awaiting a final decision expected to be made at an ANC policy conference in 2012.
In the short term, investors are watching Shabangu's efforts to clean up a bureaucracy seen as inefficient at best, corrupt at worst.
In an attempt to find out why companies like the two involved in the Orkney mine managed to get into the industry, Shabangu launched an audit of her department's operations. Pending the audit, she put in place the six-month moratorium on prospecting licenses.
Early results from the audit, expected to be completed in February, are not encouraging.
Shabangu said inspectors found some companies had fraudulently claimed significant black ownership to qualify for licenses under so-called black economic empowerment rules established to give opportunities to South Africans discriminated against under apartheid. Other companies got licenses even though they were bankrupt. Inspectors conducting the audit were threatened or offered bribes - when they could find company officials to speak with at all.
Shabangu said black economic empowerment companies are a special concern, and that some are "clueless" about mining. She said the most widespread problem is companies never embarking on the search for minerals for which they have been granted licenses.
Mining is closely associated with apartheid - it was the industry, after all, of the migrant labor system that tore men from their families across southern Africa, creating a legacy of broken homes that persists today. For many, mining still epitomizes the apartheid equation of white power and black poverty.
Sandile Nogxina, the top civil servant in Shabangu's department, told The Associated Press that the government is pursuing two goals: ensuring the industry grows, and ensuring blacks benefit from that growth.
In Orkney, Solly Phetoe, a union organizer in the region, said that after the bankruptcy of one black economic empowerment company, and the disappointing debut of the Mandela-Zuma partnership, all workers want is competent management, whether black- or white-led.
At Aurora Empowerment Systems - whose chairman is Khulubuse Zuma, the president's nephew, and whose managing director is Zondwa Mandela, the former president's grandson - officials referred questions about the Orkney mine to a prominent lawyer, Michael Hulley. Hulley, listed as a non-executive director of Aurora, did not return repeated calls seeking comment.
Mguli, a 51-year-old with four children far away on South Africa's southern coast, had been a cook in the mine cafeteria. He said younger workers had left in search of other jobs, but he believed chances were slim at his age.
Mguli said he could not afford to make his usual trip home for Christmas.
"I'm surviving by borrowing, just to get something to eat."
Source
Israel to crack down on illegal migrant workers
In remarks to the cabinet, Netanyahu said thousands of migrants who have entered Israel mainly through Egypt in past years would be housed at a special holding facility, due to built in Israel's southern Negev desert.
"We must stop the mass entry of illegal migrant workers because of the very serious threat to the character and future to the state of Israel," he said, adding Israelis who gave them work would face severe fines to make their employment unviable.
Established as a Jewish state in 1948, Israel welcomes Jewish newcomers, most of whom receive automatic citizenship, but policies toward non-Jewish migrants are more restrictive.
The cabinet approved the plan under which the state would control the migrants' movement until they are deported.
Netanyahu said however that migrants fleeing persecution would be allowed to stay.
"We do not intend to stop refugees fleeing for their lives, we allow them in and will continue to do so," he said.
Israeli officials have insisted on setting up the camp despite sensitivities over comparisons with Nazi concentration camps where Jews were held and killed.
"We must find a humane solution to look after the workers who will be lose their jobs and we must therefore provide shelter, food and health services until they are deported," Netanyahu added.
Last week Israel began work to construct a barrier to seal off part of the border with Egypt's Sinai desert from where many of the migrants enter the Jewish state.
ISOLATED CAMP
Israeli officials have yet to say how many migrants would be sent to the facility, expected to be built at or near the site of a former prison camp for Palestinians deep in the desert.
The plan is to have an "open" holding center, officials said, but as it would be in a largely uninhabited desert area far from the nearest town it was not clear how they could travel to and from the camp, or how often.
Eyal Gabai, director-general of Netanyahu's office, said last week that over 35,000 migrants had entered Israel in the past few years and that in 2011 Israel could expect to see up to 20,000 migrants enter illegally.
Israel has brought in tens of thousands of Ethiopian Jews including many rescued from famine in the early 1980s.
Israel has also permitted the limited employment of tens of thousands of foreigners in recent years in such fields as farming, construction and care for the elderly and infirm.
Legislation restricting their numbers provoked strike action by farmers last week. They complain that without Asian helpers, mainly from Thailand, their costs will become prohibitive.
Source
Monday, November 29, 2010
Cancun climate change summit: scientists call for rationing in developed world
In a series of papers published by the Royal Society, physicists and chemists from some of world’s most respected scientific institutions, including Oxford University and the Met Office, agreed that current plans to tackle global warming are not enough.
Unless emissions are reduced dramatically in the next ten years the world is set to see temperatures rise by more than 4C (7.2F) by as early as the 2060s, causing floods, droughts and mass migration.
As the world meets in Cancun, Mexico for the latest round of United Nations talks on climate change, the influential academics called for much tougher measures to cut carbon emissions.
In one paper Professor Kevin Anderson, Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, said the only way to reduce global emissions enough, while allowing the poor nations to continue to grow, is to halt economic growth in the rich world over the next twenty years.
This would mean a drastic change in lifestyles for many people in countries like Britain as everyone will have to buy less ‘carbon intensive’ goods and services such as long haul flights and fuel hungry cars.
Prof Anderson admitted it “would not be easy” to persuade people to reduce their consumption of goods.
He said politicians should consider a rationing system similar to the one introduced during the last “time of crisis” in the 1930s and 40s.
This could mean a limit on electricity so people are forced to turn the heating down, turn off the lights and replace old electrical goods like huge fridges with more efficient models. Food that has travelled from abroad may be limited and goods that require a lot of energy to manufacture.
“The Second World War and the concept of rationing is something we need to seriously consider if we are to address the scale of the problem we face,” he said.
Prof Anderson insisted that halting growth in the rich world does not necessarily mean a recession or a worse lifestyle, it just means making adjustments in everyday life such as using public transport and wearing a sweater rather than turning on the heating.
“I am not saying we have to go back to living in caves,” he said. “Our emissions were a lot less ten years ago and we got by ok then.”
The last round of talks in Copenhagen last year ended in a weak political accord to keep temperature rise below the dangerous tipping point of 2C(3.6F).
This time 194 countries are meeting again to try and make the deal legally binding and agree targets on cutting emissions.
At the moment efforts are focused on trying to get countries to cut emissions by 50 per cent by 2050 relative to 1990 levels.
But Dr Myles Allen, of Oxford University’s Department of Physics, said this might not be enough. He said that if emissions do not come down quick enough even a slight change in temperature will be too rapid for ecosystems to keep up. Also by measuring emissions relative to a particular baseline, rather than putting a limit on the total amount that can ever be pumped into the atmosphere, there is a danger that the limit is exceeded.
“Peak warming is determined by the total amount of carbon dioxide we release into the atmosphere, not the rate we release it in any given year,’ he said. “Dangerous climate change, however, also depends on how fast the planet is warming up, not just how hot it gets, and the maximum rate of warming does depend on the maximum emission rate. It’s not just how much we emit, but how fast we do so.”
Other papers published on ‘4C and beyond’ in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A warned of rising sea levels, droughts in river basins and mass migrations.
Source
The Real Scandal Behind the WikiWhimper
So, let me get this straight. The big data-dump of 250,000 leaked diplomatic cables reveal that American diplomats occasionally spy on other diplomats, the Arabs don’t like the Persians, British royalty can be rude, and Obama and his disciples have poor opinions of other world leaders. Oh, and the Chinese government might be trying to censor parts of the internet, the Russian government might have ties to organized crime and members of the Afghan government might be corrupt.
Really? The UK’s Guardian says the leak of the diplomatic cable “sparks a global diplomatic crisis.” Michael Kinsley famously said once that a “gaffe” in DC was committed when someone mistakingly spoke the truth. I guess the stripped-pants crowd is a bit more high-strung. Speaking the truth isn’t a gaffe among the embassy set, its a full-blown ‘crisis.’
Congressman Peter King (R-NY) says the Wikileaks organization should be classified as a “terrorist organization” and its founder, Julian Assange should be criminally prosecuted. Personally, I think Mr. Assange should be sued for false advertising. The revelations from the diplomatic cables aren’t anywhere near what was promised. I want my money back.
Of course, it is possible that more startling revelations come to light. Color me skeptical, though, as it seems Assange would lead with his best stuff. Regardless, I don’t think the real scandal is the content of the cables. I think it is this:
How the hell does a 22-year old private have access to this stuff?
The UK Guardian explains it was actually pretty easy:
It was childishly easy, according to the published chatlog of a conversation Manning had with a fellow-hacker. “I would come in with music on a CD-RW labelled with something like ‘Lady Gaga’ … erase the music … then write a compressed split file. No one suspected a thing … [I] listened and lip-synched to Lady Gaga’s Telephone while exfiltrating possibly the largest data spillage in American history.” He said that he “had unprecedented access to classified networks 14 hours a day 7 days a week for 8+ months”.Lady Gaga? Is this a joke?
In case you are thinking that Private Manning was some kind of brilliant cyber-sleauth who figured out how to get special access to the cables:
More than 3 million US government personnel and soldiers, many extremely junior, are cleared to have potential access to this material, even though the cables contain the identities of foreign informants, often sensitive contacts in dictatorial regimes. Some are marked “protect” or “strictly protect”.Three million people have access to classified information that can ’spark a global diplomatic crisis?” Really? Again, is this some kind of joke? Do they give out access for simply eating your vegetables?
This is indicative of why I’ve never bought any of those wild conspiracies of super-secret actions by the government. Most of those theories would necessitate super-duper and elaborate planning and coordination and ninja-like execution. Our government just isn’t anywhere near that competent. Less like ninjas, it is really more like the Apple Dumpling Gang.
So, let’s put aside the gossipy stuff and ask the really important question: Who put these idiots in charge of anything?
Source
History of Chevrolet
Louis Chevrolet |
In 1931 Chevrolet finally surpassed Ford for a matter of 3 years. During the 1930's Chevy became aware of the need to improvise. They came up with many new styles adding to their collection of automobiles. Thy created V-grilles, hydraulic brakes, large engines, column shifts, along with convertibles. They also manufactured a station wagon in 1939. While in 1940 they offered a power top convertible with low prices. Also during the coming months Juan Manuel Fangio won a race in Argentina using one of the new coupes.
As years passed the company increased sales, production, and opportunities. In 1949 they underwent surgery on their cars by extensively restyling to produce a sedan costing $1460. A major impact came in 1950 with the offering of a 2 speed fully automatic transmission. In 1953 the Corvette sports car was produced with a V-6 and fiberglass body.
The Corvette was a spectacular automobile. It needed more so it was reassembled to acquire an 8-cylinder engine with options such as air suspension. Another breakthrough car was the 1960 Corvair, which was reproduced to include a turbo-supercharged engine.
The Chevrolet Company has produced many new models over the years. They have become a leader in the industry under General Motors. With newer models of sports cars, full size pickup trucks, sedans, and coupes the company has grown with immense popularity. The company proved the need of American manufacturers to diversify their products. They improved using new styles such as disc brakes, headlamps, engine size, faster, as well as more reliable cars. Some of their greatest accomplishments were the Camaro, Corvette, the luxurious Caprice, Chevelle, and the Impala. Chevrolet has always been a competitor; they produce in order to satisfy the needs of the consumer by offering great automobiles at low prices.
Swedish parents jailed for 'spanking' kids
A Swedish court has jailed the parents of three children who were regularly beaten since the age of three in what they claimed was a method of discipline prescribed in the Bible.
The couple, from Karlstad in central Sweden, were imprisoned for nine months apiece, according to a Sveriges Television (SVT) report.
Corporal punishment, formally outlawed in Sweden in 1979, was a regular feature of three of the couple's four children's lives, the Värmland district court heard.
According to the court transcripts, the parents "explained that they had used, what they themselves described as spanking, physical punishment as part of their methods for raising the children."
The court heard that the couple had used a hairbrush, a wooden plank or a hand to punish their three eldest children, SVT reported.
The father explained that when the children did something wrong they were given a first warning and then a second and if they, for example, carried on cycling in the street without permission, they would then receive a physical punishment.
The court found that "despite the details of the case at hand" the parents "had a loving and caring relationship to their children", but that the systematic treatment metered out was in breach of the law and deserving of a custodial sentence.
The parents were furthermore order to pay damages of 25,000 kronor to each of the affected children.
The three children at the centre of the case, as well as a younger sibling, have been in care since the preliminary investigation was opened against their parents in the beginning of the summer.
Parents' rights to meter out physical punishment was revoked already in 1966 in Sweden, with a formal legal ban coming into into force in July 1979. Children in Sweden now enjoy the same legal protection from physical assault afforded to adults.
Source
Canada: Gov't urged to pronounce husband, wife, wife, wife
Canada has recognized same-sex "marriages" since 2005, and now apparently is preparing to take the next step in the "progressive" movement, with arguments scheduled in coming days before the equivalent of a state Supreme Court on a plan to repeal laws against polygamy and bigamy.
The CBC has told the story of Zoe Duff, a director of the Canadian Polyamory Advocacy Association, who has two male common-law partners and believes Canada's polygamy laws need to be stricken because they don't permit her to live her chosen lifestyle.
The situation involving the Vancouver Island woman is expected to be the subject of hearings planned before the British Columbia Supreme Court over the coming weeks.
If the advocates for multiple partners are successful in the provincial court, their next hurdle would be the Canadian Charter, where Section 293 of the Criminal Code at this point still bans polygamy and threatens offenders with a five-year prison term. Section 290 makes a similarly serious crime of bigamy.
Observers note that American values appear to be following Canada's down the slippery slope of lifestyle choices.
The arguments for same-sex marriage have been white-hot in several campaigns recently in the U.S., including the 2008 vote in California where voters approved Proposition 8, a constitutional definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman only.
The results overturned a state Supreme Court decision there that had created same-sex "marriage" only months before, and were, in turn, overturned by a federal judge, a homosexual who concluded that such "rights" were embedded in the U.S. Constitution.
The vote followed a campaign that saw supporters spend $39.9 million on their position and opponents $43.3 million, for a spending total of $83 million for a new record nationally for a social policy initiative.
It was in September when U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker, an open homosexual, overruled more than seven million voters to banish Proposition 8, setting up an appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
His 136-page ruling said, "Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license. Indeed, the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California Constitution the notion that opposite-sex couples are superior to same-sex couples."
Walker also wrote:
- "Religious beliefs that gay and lesbian relationships are sinful or inferior to heterosexual relationships harm gays and lesbians."
- "Rather, the exclusion exists as an artifact of a time when the genders were seen as having distinct roles in society and in marriage. That time has passed."
- "The gender of a child's parent is not a factor in a child's adjustment."
- "The evidence shows beyond any doubt that parents' genders are irrelevant to children’s developmental outcomes."
- "Gender no longer forms an essential part of marriage; marriage under law is a union of equals."
- "Many of the purported interests identified by proponents are nothing more than a fear or unarticulated dislike of same-sex couples."
Walker's decision also had disregarded the terse warning contained in California Supreme Court Justice Marvin Baxter's dissenting opinion in a 2008 case on same-sex "marriage." That case saw same-sex "marriage" imposed by judicial fiat on the state, a result that was reversed by the Prop 8 vote.
Baxter had warned of the "legal jujitsu" required to establish same-sex "marriage" by court order.
"The bans on incestuous and polygamous marriages are ancient and deeprooted, and, as the majority suggests, they are supported by strong considerations of social policy," Baxter warned in his dissent. "Our society abhors such relationships, and the notion that our laws could not forever prohibit them seems preposterous. Yet here, the majority overturns, in abrupt fashion, an initiative statute confirming the equally deeprooted assumption that marriage is a union of partners of the opposite sex. The majority does so by relying on its own assessment of contemporary community values, and by inserting in our Constitution an expanded definition of the right to marry that contravenes express statutory law.
"Who can say that, in 10, 15 or 20 years, an activist court might not rely on the majority's analysis to conclude, on the basis of a perceived evolution in community values, that the laws prohibiting polygamous and incestuous marriages were no longer constitutionally justified?" Baxter wrote.
Jim Campbell, a lawyer supporting Proposition 8's ban on same-sex "marriage, said, "In America, we should uphold and respect the right of people to make policy changes through the democratic process, especially changes that do nothing more than uphold the definition of marriage that has existed since the founding of this country and beyond."
Canada's legalization of same-sex "marriage" has sparked a collision course between law and religion and observers say adding polygamy to the argument will only exacerbate the problem..
They say the arguments the Canadian provincial Supreme Court will consider in whether or not to ban laws against polygamy are identical to those in favor of same-sex "marriage."
Those include medical and psychiatric arguments that denying same-sex couples legal access to "marriage" and all of its attendant benefits represents discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Another argument in support of same-sex marriage is the assertion that financial, psychological and physical well-being are enhanced by marriage (of any kind), and that children of same-sex couples benefit from being raised by two parents within a legally recognized union supported by society’s institutions.
James Cohen, vice president of The International Free Press Society Canada, regarding the possibility of Canada repealing its polygamy laws said, "Even though I am a libertarian (more or less) the elimination of monogamy and legalization of polygamy is fast tracking the end of Western civilization."
Cohen said the elimination of a ban on polygamy actually would speed the Islamization of Western culture.
"For those who feel there is a cultural and other divides between the rich and the poor, just wait until the wealthy and the powerful have a disproportionate number of wives and the poor have none. It is a recipe for if not Muslim, a Muslim-like hierarchy," he said.
"It will be in truth, a giant leap forward for the Islamification of Canada, which is what it is meant to be, and will create a system within which non-Muslims will be at a distinct disadvantage in many ways. Already many Muslims in Toronto have multiple wives, all of whom get large welfare benefits based on number of children they have and in violation not only of our polygamy laws, but also the laws determining how many people may collect welfare within one household," Cohen said.
Duff says she would like the court to strike down the laws so that she doesn't have to live in the shadows.
David Harris, a Canadian barrister and solicitor and a panelist at a Washington International Legal Conference last year, said he expects polygamy ultimately to be established in Canada.
"Canada, a country of 34 million, has the greatest per capita immigration intake in the world. And that's based on the official figure of 260,000 a year; the actual figure – taking into account foreign students and 'temporary' workers – is estimated by experts to be at least double that. The refugee numbers are also the biggest per capita in the world. This is socially and economically disastrous, and is explained almost exclusively by politicians' wishing to ingratiate themselves to religio-ethno-cultural voting blocs," he said.
Both Canadians Harris and Cohen, independently of one another, emphasized the strong probability of Canada quickly becoming overrun with Muslims if Canada's polygamy and bigamy laws are overturned.
"I'd invite you to imagine the magnet Canada would become for radical-Muslim immigrants and refugees, if, on top of all this, Canada's Supreme Court were to confer legitimacy upon polygamy and other Shariah-friendly arrangements," he said.
The hearings are expected to run into January. Some three dozen witnesses are expected to testify.
In America, some half a dozen states "recognize" same-sex "marriage," including several where it has been imposed on residents by judicial fiat.
In one such state, Iowa, voters responded earlier this month by voting to fire three of the seven state Supreme Court justices who imposed homosexual marriage. The remaining justices were not up for a vote at this time.
Now those who campaigned for voters to reject Marsha Ternus, David Baker and Michael Streit say they are hoping that the message will reverberate across the country and other judges will begin reining in their activism.
"The people have spoken. Time for the elitist judges to understand there is a constitution and that government is owned by the people," wrote Dennis S. in a forum at the Topix.com website.
Pastor Cary Gordon of Cornerstorne World Outreach in Sioux City was one of the pastors who coordinated a letter to churches asking them to speak out against homosexual "marriage."
Source
2011 Buick GL8 wallpapers
2011 Buick GL8
he all-new 2011 Buick GL8 from Shanghai GM is now available. The luxury MPV builds on the heritage of the original Buick GL8, China's first family of executive wagons. Since the model's debut in 1999, more than 330,000 have been sold across China.
The new model, which will reach the market in January 2011, features seven innovations and 27 technological breakthroughs along with improvements in design, space and safety, technology, power, features and quality. The result is an unprecedented luxury MPV experience that is unmistakably Buick.
"The new GL8 was developed by Shanghai GM in cooperation with the Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC) in Shanghai with the specific needs of our customers in mind," said Terry Johnsson, Shanghai GM Vice President of Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing. "It offers everything that consumers have come to expect from Buick, including a dynamic, smooth, quiet and comfortable ride. Like its predecessor, the new Buick GL8 is the right product at the right time."
The new Buick GL8 has a graceful exterior design highlighted by Buick's distinctive double sweep spear running from front to back. Decorative metal bands add a sense of smooth, modern elegance. Its classic waterfall grille and chrome portholes further underscore the new GL8's Buick heritage.
With a length of 5,256 mm, a width of 1,878 mm, a height of 1,800 mm and a wheelbase of 3,088 mm, the new Buick GL8 provides a spacious ride for all occupants. The dignified interior merges Eastern and Western aesthetics. It features ice-blue atmosphere lighting and a 360-degree wraparound design inspired by luxury yachts.
Among the other amenities available are two-tone ergonomic genuine leather seats; a two-piece panorama sunroof; an electric anti-pinch sliding door and one-touch electric lift rear door; a 10-speaker, 5.1-channel Bose sound system; a 7-inch touch screen up front and 10.2-inch WVGA HD display in back; and the OnStar in-vehicle safety, security and communication service.
An enhanced suspension with independent front-and-back sub-frames ensures a smooth, steady ride. Buick's signature QuietTuning reduces, blocks and absorbs interior noise, for a distraction-free environment that is comparable to that of a luxury sedan.
The new Buick GL8 comes with a choice of a 3.0-liter V-6 SIDI intelligent direct injection engine or a 2.4-liter Ecotec engine with segment-leading fuel efficiency. GM's advanced 6-speed automatic transmission comes standard, providing unrivaled power in the luxury MPV segment.
In the area of safety, the new Buick GL8 has a super-solid body frame. The Bosch 8.1 ESP system delivers premium handling. It is complemented by large-size tires and disc brakes, with six air bags available on selected models. For maximum visibility, the new Buick GL8 incorporates multi-dimensional blue ray Bi-Xenon HID headlights and crystal-like chrome LED taillights.
The new Buick GL8 luxury MPV has a retail price of between RMB 288,000 and RMB 388,000. Shanghai GM is also introducing an upgraded 2011 model of the current Buick GL8 in December 2010, targeting the upper-medium MPV segment. It includes a new 2.4-liter Ecotec engine and a 6-speed automatic transmission. This "dual-vehicle strategy" will enable Shanghai GM to more fully address the MPV market, from the upper-medium to luxury segments.
2011 Buick GL8
2011 Buick GL8
2011 Buick GL8
Swiss approve foreign criminal initiative
The Swiss have voted to adopt tough new regulations on the deportation of foreigners convicted of serious crimes and welfare fraud.
Final results showed 53 per cent voting in favour of a rightwing initiative. The initiative also won the backing of 20 out of 26 cantons.
In a complex nationwide vote on Sunday, the electorate were faced with a choice between a hardline option and a compromise version; or approving or rejecting both proposals.
Turnout was higher than usual - at 52 per cent - a sign of how contentious were the issues being voted on.
The rightwing People's Party initiative called for the automatic expulsion of non-Swiss offenders convicted of crimes ranging from murder to breaking and entry and social security fraud. The proposal denies judges judicial discretion over deportation.
An alternative option by parliament would have allowed for a case-by-case examination and additional integration measures.
Parliament's counter-proposal was rejected by 54 per cent of voters, results showed.
An unofficial voting platform for migrants, Baloti, reported very different voting results: 85 per cent against the initiative, and 15 per cent for.
Reactions
"In future, foreign nationals who have committed one of the criminal offences named in the text of the initiative should automatically lose their right of residence and be deported to their country of origin," said a government statement. It said Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga would "set to work on implementing the initiative without delay".
"The majority of voters have sent a clear signal that they consider foreign criminality to be a serious problem. The Federal Council [government] respects the will of the people and will set to work on putting the task confided in it into practice," it went on.
The government statement also pointed to problems in implementing the initiative, saying parliament would have to draft a list defining precisely which offences would result in deportation.
A statement by the People's Party said voters had sent a clear signal that "criminal foreigners should be systematically deported". It said the acceptance of the initiative marked "the first step on the road to greater security". The legal framework for the initiative's introduction had to be created as soon as possible, it said.
The Federal Migration Commission said the initiative would be very difficult to enforce. It said the state must not act arbitrarily in deporting foreigners, but judge each case individually.
"Even People's Party parliamentarians agree that no one should be sent back to a country to face torture or death. Automatic deportation, as demanded by the initiative, is therefore not possible," the commission said in a statement.
The main Christian churches, which had opposed both initiative and counter-proposal, called for deportations to continue to be judged on a case-by-case basis.
In a joint statement, the Swiss Federation of Protestant Churches and the Catholic Bishops Conference said the cantonal and federal authorities must ensure that implementation of the initiative conformed to the constitution. They also said it was important "not to cast a negative light on migrants".
Source
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Despite Billions in AID, Haitians refuse to clean up their nation
Just have a look at the amount of garbage that lines the streets of the capital city of Haiti. Coming from Africa I'm quite used to this - in fact, it reminds me of the black townships in South Africa. The inhabitants expect someone else to clean up after them. It's never entered their minds to do something about the situation themselves. Like the man at the end of the clip says - we grew up like this so we're used to it. But, they blame UN peace keepers for bringing cholera to their country!
Australia: Police Union angry at 'political correctness gone mad'on naming offenders' race
POLICE say a ban on using ethnic or religious words to describe offenders is obstructing investigations.
The police union has labelled the policy, a direct order from Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan, as "political correctness gone mad".
Officers can no longer use details such as a suspect's nationality, race or religion when seeking public help.
Instead, they have been told to say if the person is light or dark skinned.
WA Police Union president Russell Armstrong wants the rule overturned.
The Equal Opportunities Commission says the ban was introduced six months ago after complaints that using ethnic descriptions was racist.
The commission said witnesses who made reports to police would often get the ethnicity of a suspect wrong.
Mr Armstrong said using "scant descriptions" made it harder to catch criminals.
"If you just turn around and say we are looking for a 20-year-old male, 180cm, with black hair, how many people in the community does that description fit?" he said.
"If somebody is Australian or if somebody is English or if somebody is Nigerian, wherever they are from, police should be allowed to say that in their description of offenders.
One police insider said the policy had prevented the capture of suspects.
"These rules don't give a true indication of who police are looking for," the source said.
"There is a big difference between a dark-skinned person being Aboriginal or African. And if we are looking for an Asian person-of-interest it's a bit narrow to describe them as simply having fair skin and dark hair."
"It can feed into prejudiced ideas in the community about which ethnicities are mainly responsible for criminal behaviour," she said.
Ms Henderson also said the police use of ethnic descriptions was often misleading. "Often they were inaccurate because they were based on one person's assumption of someone's racial background, which could be wrong," she said.
The commission will investigate any incidents where police use ethnic descriptions.
Ethnic Communities Council of WA president Maria Saraceni said the ban stopped police condemning everyone of a particular race in an area they were investigating.
"If police say they are looking for an Indian, how would the public know to distinguish between an Indian and a Pakistani?," Ms Saraceni said.
"It is much more accurate to use details like height, weight or hair colour."
Police spokesman Insp Bill Munnee defended the rule.
"The continued use of ethnic descriptors enforces stereotypes, does not promote understanding between cultures, damages police-community relationships and is not considered a sound investigatory practice," Insp Munnee said.
Source
Saturday, November 27, 2010
2010 SUZUKI CONCEPT GSX-R4 VERSION
J'S RACING S2000 THE EXTREME HONDA
HONDA CR-Z ROADSTER DIE-CAST MODEL
Lamborghini Murcielago
Lamborghini Reventon
lamborghini reventon original
lamborghini reventon hot
top lamborghini reventon 2010
lamborghini reventon big image
2010 lamborghini reventon