The last of the Chilean miners, the foreman who held them together when they were feared lost, was raised from the depths of the Earth last night -- a joyous ending to a 69-day ordeal that riveted the world. No one has ever been trapped so long and survived.
Luis Urzua ascended smoothly through 2,000 feet of rock, completing a flawless 22 1/2 -hour operation that unfolded with remarkable speed. Before a jubilant crowd of about 2,000, he became the 33rd miner to be rescued.
"We have done what the entire world was waiting for," he told Chilean President Sebastian Pinera immediately after his rescue. "The 70 days that we fought so hard were not in vain. We had strength, we had spirit, we wanted to fight, we wanted to fight for our families, and that was the greatest thing."
The president told him: "You are not the same, and the country is not the same after this. You were an inspiration. Go hug your wife and your daughter."
The rescue exceeded expectations every step of the way. Officials first said it might be four months before they could get the men out; it turned out to be 69 days and about eight hours.
The crowd in "Camp Hope," downhill from the escape shaft, set off confetti, released balloons and sprayed champagne as Urzua's capsule surfaced, joining in a miners' cheer. In Chile's capital of Santiago, hundreds gathered in Plaza Italia, waving flags and chanting victory slogans.
One by one throughout the day, the men emerged to the cheers of exuberant Chileans and before the eyes of a transfixed globe. While the operation picked up speed as the day went on, each miner was greeted with the same boisterous applause.
"Welcome to life," Pinera told Victor Segovia, the 15th miner out. It seemed no overstatement.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Post Office facing major changes
What to do with the U.S. Postal Service? It’s drowning in red ink, with a deficit that ballooned to nearly $8 billion for the fiscal year just ended last month. Operating costs are up and mail volume is in free fall in the face of electronic and other delivery options. Soon it may not be able to make payroll.
[via Zacks.com]
[via Zacks.com]
Friday, October 15, 2010
China's Nobel prize winner
BEIJING — China has long wanted a Nobel prize. Now that it has one, its leaders are furious. The Nobel committee awarded its peace prize to imprisoned democracy campaigner Liu Xiaobo on Friday, lending encouragement to China's dissident community and sending a rebuke to the authoritarian government, which sharply condemned the award.
In naming Liu, the Norwegian-based committee honored his more than two decades of advocacy for human rights and peaceful democratic change – from the Tiananmen Square demonstrations in 1989 to a manifesto for political reform that he co-authored in 2008 and which led to his latest jail term.
President Barack Obama, last year's peace prize winner, called for Liu's immediate release.
***
The wife of this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner, Liu Xiaobo, was allowed to meet with her husband Sunday at the prison in northeastern China where he is serving an 11-year sentence for his pro-democracy writings, according to a message she posted on Twitter.
Liu Xia wrote that prison officials told her husband Saturday evening that he had been selected for the award, an honor that Chinese officials have vehemently criticized.
After Liu Xiaobo learned the news of his prize, "He was moved to tears," Wu'er wrote. "He said that this prize belonged to the souls of those who died at Tiananmen."
Hundreds died when the Chinese government sent troops and tanks to the center of Beijing on June 4, 1989, to crush the pro-democracy movement.
Liu, who was active in the 1989 demonstrations, spent the next two decades pressing for political reform in China.
In naming Liu, the Norwegian-based committee honored his more than two decades of advocacy for human rights and peaceful democratic change – from the Tiananmen Square demonstrations in 1989 to a manifesto for political reform that he co-authored in 2008 and which led to his latest jail term.
President Barack Obama, last year's peace prize winner, called for Liu's immediate release.
***
The wife of this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner, Liu Xiaobo, was allowed to meet with her husband Sunday at the prison in northeastern China where he is serving an 11-year sentence for his pro-democracy writings, according to a message she posted on Twitter.
Liu Xia wrote that prison officials told her husband Saturday evening that he had been selected for the award, an honor that Chinese officials have vehemently criticized.
After Liu Xiaobo learned the news of his prize, "He was moved to tears," Wu'er wrote. "He said that this prize belonged to the souls of those who died at Tiananmen."
Hundreds died when the Chinese government sent troops and tanks to the center of Beijing on June 4, 1989, to crush the pro-democracy movement.
Liu, who was active in the 1989 demonstrations, spent the next two decades pressing for political reform in China.
Tuesday, October 05, 2010
therefore we should cut their taxes
The income gap between the richest and poorest Americans grew last year to its largest margin ever, a stark divide as Democrats and Republicans spar over whether to extend Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy.
The top-earning 20 percent of Americans – those making more than $100,000 each year – received 49.4 percent of all income generated in the U.S., compared with the 3.4 percent made by the bottom 20 percent of earners, those who fell below the poverty line, according to the new figures. That ratio of 14.5-to-1 was an increase from 13.6 in 2008 and nearly double a low of 7.69 in 1968.
"Income inequality is rising, and if we took into account tax data, it would be even more," said Timothy Smeeding, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who specializes in poverty. "More than other countries, we have a very unequal income distribution where compensation goes to the top in a winner-takes-all economy."
The top-earning 20 percent of Americans – those making more than $100,000 each year – received 49.4 percent of all income generated in the U.S., compared with the 3.4 percent made by the bottom 20 percent of earners, those who fell below the poverty line, according to the new figures. That ratio of 14.5-to-1 was an increase from 13.6 in 2008 and nearly double a low of 7.69 in 1968.
"Income inequality is rising, and if we took into account tax data, it would be even more," said Timothy Smeeding, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who specializes in poverty. "More than other countries, we have a very unequal income distribution where compensation goes to the top in a winner-takes-all economy."
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