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Ask
Phil. WHO IS GOING TO
WIN?
17.5.2007
My 2008 U.S. Presidential picks
Phil
Rudy Giuliani is going to win the nomination because the conservatives in the
media have already picked him as their golden boy, they know he’s the only
neocon who has a shot to win the White House. I’m guessing John McCain gets
second, Ron Paul third, Mitt Romney fourth (Mormon in the white house? not a
chance). It really doesn’t matter because Giuliani will win the nomination in a
landslide.
John Edwards will win the Democratic election, Hillary a close second, Obama a
distant third. Hillary and Obama will split the minority vote and Edwards will
clean up in the south. If Al Gore ever threw his hat in, he’d be a strong
contender to win - but I doubt the Dems will ever allow it since they already
have three strong contenders and the Republicans are very weak this term.
Dr. Ron Paul will lose the Republican nomination but the Libertarian Party will
nominate him as their candidate and he’ll continue to run on their ticket. The
media blackout on Paul will continue because they know he can really shake
things up. He’ll get the highest number of votes in Libertarian Party history,
maybe 2-3% of the popular vote.
The Greens represent the only anti-war left-wing candidate, yet they receive
very little support since all the leftists vote Democratic like in 2004. The
Constitution Party have a strong showing since Giuliani will appear “too
liberal” for the nationalists, but still showing <1% of the vote.
The Democrats will win the White House, the Libertarians will be blamed for
losing the election for the Republicans, just like Ralph Nader did in 2000, and
Ross Perot in 1992. I fear however that if Hillary gets the nomination, Rudy
could beat her.
in Libya A foreign
partner gets control of the largest domestic bank
The Libyan government has
indicated that it is prepared to grant a foreign bank the right to own a 51%
stake in the country's largest, majority state-owned, commercial bank, in a sign
that the hitherto sluggish process of economic reform may be gaining fresh
momentum.
The invitation issued to prospective strategic
partners to submit expressions of interest in the privatisation of Sahara Bank
comes as Libya prepares to host its first major banking and finance
conference—indeed the deadline of March 20th for the bids to be submitted
coincides with the opening day of this gathering. The Sahara Bank
privatisation will initially entail the divestment of a 19% stake held by the
Social Economic Development Fund, but the Central Bank of Libya has indicated
that the strategic partner will have the right to increase this stake to 51%
"in the medium term". The investment bank advising the central bank on this
deal is Paris-based Rothschild, which is performing a similar role in
neighbouring Algeria, which is also seeking to address the chronic failings of
its financial services sector through banking privatisation.
LINUX COMING
After collecting some 1,800 new product and
service ideas from IT users and customers using an online "suggestion box,"
Dell Inc. has announced that it's taking the user suggestions seriously and
will soon debut and sell a new line of certified, user-ready Linux-loaded
desktop and laptop computers.
The Dell IdeaStorm Web site, where customers and other IT enthusiasts can
offer recommendations about future Dell products and configurations that
they'd want to buy, was started on Feb. 16 by CEO Michael Dell, who is looking
for ways to re-energize the company's sales and financial performance after
several disappointing quarters.
One post that got a lot of interest was the idea that Dell bring back a
reasonably priced laptop computer that runs Linux.
Just a week after debuting the IdeaStorm site,
the company said Friday night that the Linux-loaded desktops and laptops will
be the first user-generated suggestions that it will follow.
Agencies&Al-jazeerah
Spain reveals perils of
migration
Immigrants from Africa arriving in the Canary islands, on
their way to Spain
Spain reveals
perils of migration
Almost one in six of the illegal migrants who try to
travel from North Africa to the Canary Islands dies in the attempt, a Spanish
officials have said.
This year, about 6,000 died en route to the Spanish archipelago while 31,404
reached the islands successfully, Froilan Rodriguez, Canary Islands
vice-director of immigration, said on Wednesday.
About 600 bodies have been picked up on the shores of the African mainland and
the Canaries this year but the total of migrants killed is about 10 times that,
Rodriguez said.
"We're talking about a dramatic number of dead," Rodriguez told Cadena Ser, a
Spanish radio station.
The migrants risk sea voyages of up to 2,000 km (1,250 miles) from Mauritania,
Morocco and Senegal in the hope of finding jobs or collecting welfare payments
in Spain and elsewhere in Europe.
Rising numbers
Migrant numbers have risen despite European Union sea and air patrols off the
coast of West Africa.
In 2006 six times more illegal immigrants arrived in the Canary Islands than in
2005, Rodriguez said.
Tighter security on Morocco's borders has encouraged migrants to risk a sea
journey that is quicker, cheaper and less arduous than overland routes to north
Africa used previously.
People smugglers are also using bigger boats carrying up to 100 people and
almost as many Africans landed on the Canaries this year as in the previous four
years combined, Jose Segura, a government representative on the islands, told
Cadena Ser.
In 2005, 4,751 migrants reached the Canaries. About 20,000 migrants have been
transferred to mainland Spain this year from the islands, Segura said.
Spain's opposition Popular Party say that illegal immigrants are to blame for
the recent rise in violent crime.
Polls show that Spaniards regard immigration as one of their biggest worries.
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