kgambit

No. The reversion of the constitution was legal - both times actually. It required a 2/3 majority and received 90% in 2004 and 85% (380 votes) in 2014. Yanukovich approved the reversion to the 2004 constitution (although his approval was not required) when he brokered the deal with the opposition in early February and the second parliamentary vote occurred on Feb 21. Regardless of which version you believe is legal (1996, 2004 or 2010), the articles pertinent to the removal of the president are the same in all versions. See chapter 5, articles 108 thru 112. Ukrainian Impeachment follows the UK nomenclature and procedure. Impeachment refers to the entire process culminating in removal from office. But the full process requires a bill of indictment, a trial and then a vote on removal. 328 votes would have been sufficient for the indictment phase. A two-thirds constitutional majority in the Verkhovna Rada (300 ayes) must support a procedure of impeachment for it to begin. To remove the President from office, a minimum three-quarters of parliament must support the resolution. Yanukovich fled before a trial could be convened so there is a question of whether his departure is a de facto admission of guilt or an act of resignation. In either case, his departure makes him incapable of fulfilling his office and he can then be replaced. Ukrainian Constitution Impeachment Articles 108 thru 112 http://www.president.gov.ua/en/content/chapter05.html Ukrainian constitution http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Ukraine#Chapter_V:_President_of_Ukraine Note that the Wiki link is a stub with links to all three versions of the constitution (1996, 2004 and 2010)

The white stream website now says 2020 for completion of stage 1 with the trans-Caspian showing completion in 2019. The following PDF shows a 2016 completion date with a four year ramp up to full stage 1 flow in 2020. http://www.osce.org/ashgabat/67922 There is also some synergy between White Stream and Nabuco.

Indeed, the EU has long since recognized its vulnerability to energy markets crisis's and it wasn't hiding its work on solving this issue. Speaking of which, what came out of that plan to bypass Russia monopoly? iirc it was suppose to directly connect Turkmenistan to EU, through Caspian sea, South Caucuses and Black sea(I think at one point it was considered to go through Ukraine\Crimea), to avoid Russia playing a third party getting a cut and control. You mean the Trans-Caspian pipeline I think. Actually there are two pertinent projects. One is the Trans-Caspian and the second is the TANAP pipeline. The Trans-Caspian has been tied up with environmental complaints from Iran and Russia (which is totally ****ing laughable). Both Iran and Russia have taken a legal stance that any sub-sea pipeline would require approval from all five littoral states (Russia, Iran, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Kazahkstan). I'm not sure what the status is but I suspect it's still being blocked by Russia and Iran. In Baku, Trans-Caspian would link to the South Caucasus Pipeline (Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline), and through this with the planned $8-billion Trans-Anatolian natural gas pipeline (TANAP). The TANAP project, controlled by Azerbaijan's state energy firm SOCAR, takes Azeri gas from the Shah Deniz gas field to Turkey and to markets in Europe. Total and Statoil pulled out of the TANAP project so Turkey upped its share. The construction is planned to start in 2014 and to be completed by 2018. The initial planned capacity of the pipeline would be 16 billion cubic metres per year with the ability to up the capacity to 60 billion cubic metres. The exact route isn't established but one branch would connect Turkey to Greece and the other to Bulgaria where the two branches will connect to existing pipelines.

Yes he was acquitted but he WAS impeached. Impeachment is simply the process of bringing charges against a Federal Official. That's it. It is just a bill of indictment. It is NOT the act of removing that official from office. That is done automatically if the subsequent trial (after a successful bill of impeachment is brought against the official) ends in a conviction. The trial is NOT part of the impeachment process. Investigator Kenneth Starr brought 11 charges against Bill Clinton. The House Judiciary Committee forwarded four charges to the House of Representatives. The House approved two of the four impeachment articles sent up by the Judiciary Committee, rejecting Article II (Perjury in the Paula Jones civil case) and Article IV (Abuse of Power by making perjurious statements to Congress in his answers to the 81 questions posed by the Judiciary Committee) .but passing Articles 1 (Perjury before Independent Counsel Ken Starr's grand jury) and Article III (Obstruction of Justice related to the Jones case).. When the House successfully approved articles I and III, Bill Clinton had been impeached (indicted). Clinton was subsequently tried in Senate trial resided by Chief Justice William Rehnquist; was acquitted and remained in office. Here's a link with the full text of the articles of impeachment passed by the house: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/articles122098.htm#full1 Here's a link with the reduced text of all four original articles considered by the house http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/impeachvote121198.htm Here's a NYTimes link that lays out the process: http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/specials/impeachment/

And then they will have to come up with alternatives. Nuclear or whichever, after which both the German checks and the German demand will permanently decrease. Germany needs energy, but Russia has nothing else to sell. Without energy export she will be crippled in short order. The average EU country gets 15 to 30% of its energy from Russia. A decade ago, Gazprom made up half of Europe's gas imports. Today, it's down to 22% (according to Business Insider) as EU members diversified their sources of supply in the aftermath of past interruptions in Russian gas deliveries. Historical seasonal demand for natural gas is about to fall by 10 to 15% to its lowest monthly level and stay at those levels throughout the summer. The gap won't be quite as large as it might be. Again, thanks to previous interruptions in supply, storage capacity across the EU was increased and current stockpiles of LNG/oil could keep the EU supplied for months. New supplies of North American natural gas mean that LNG once shipped to the US is now available elsewhere. Competition from Asian countries will likely cause a spike in prices however. Despite a surplus, the U.S. is not expected to have its first LNG export terminal up and running until mid-2015. Once the export capability exists, US export restrictions would have to be lifted as well. EU storage capacity has been increased recently and current stockpiles of natural gas and oil across Europe are near historical highs. In 2012, 84 percent of Russia’s oil exports and nearly 80 percent of their natural gas exports went to the European Union. Oil and gas revenue comprises more than half of Russia’s budget, and more than 70 percent of the nation’s exports, according to the Energy Information Administration. Cutting off gas and oil to the EU would decrease Russia's revenue by 40+%. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/03/europes-gas-supply-ukraine-crisis-russsia-pipelines http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Energy-Voices/2014/0303/Ukraine-crisis-Would-Putin-shut-off-gas-again http://freebeacon.com/experts-see-u-s-energy-exports-as-foil-to-russian-aggression/ http://peakoil.com/publicpolicy/energy-risks-of-the-ukraine-crisis http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2014/02/25/ukraine-a-few-charts-to-bear-in-mind/#axzz2uvyLnM3W Short answer is no for the US. While the US has a gas surplus, it doesn't have significant LNG export capacity (aside possibly from Alaska). It might be possible to do some fancy footwork and redirect global supplies from countries with LNG export to the EU. (Chart below is billion cubic meters - multiply by 35.3 to convert to bcf) EU demand was ~17,650 bcf or 48.3 bcf/day. Assuming that 30% of that is lost, the US would have to make up ~14.5 BCF/day. Starting in 2015 the Sabine Pass terminal is permitted to export up to 2.2 Bcf per day; the Freeport terminal is permitted to export up to 1.4 Bcf per day; the Lake Charles terminal is permitted to export up to 2 Bcf per day and the Cove Pt terminal is permitted to export 0.7 bcf/day or a total of 6.37 Bcf per day. Those facilities are expected to begin export operations between 2015 and 2018. Only the Sabine Pass project has obtained approval from DOE and FERC. The other three DOE-approved projects are awaiting decisions from FERC. http://www.api.org/~/media/Files/Policy/LNG-Exports/API-LNG-Export-Report-by-ICF.pdf

The US troops are in Mexico with the approval of the Mexican government and working in concert with Mexican authorities. Is that something the Russian troops in Ukraine can say? Didn't think so. The world is offended for the some of the same reasons people ranted about the US invading Afghanistan. Or do you only get offended when it's the US that is involved but are now willing to give the Russians a free pass? Double standard much? Edit: The US troops (150 spec ops) in Mexican are actually there in an advisory and training capacity. Mexican law prevents foreign agents from operating on national soil with weapons.

Fair enough although the 1 bn$ figure came from Forbes, not Jerry Brewer. That doesn't mean it is correct.

Not sure if this is the same base or not but BBC is reporting a seizure what is believed to be Russian troops at the Ukrainian A2355 base near Sevastopol: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26492053 Pretty aggressive action for alleged self-defence forces.

So much so that he amassed a net worth of over 1 bn$ by the time of his death. The Venezuelan presidency must REALLY pay well. The following doesn't paint a very rosy picture of Venezuela. http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2014/02/20/cheap-gasoline-why-venezuela-is-doomed-to-collapse/

Rule #1: Never post before you have your morning coffee (or tea).

Total Russian Canadian trade is around 2.5 bn$ with Canada running a trade surplus. Compared to total Canadian trade, it's insignificant. Russia does run a $15bn trade surplus with the US so that is a bigger issue. More concerning is the stagnation of the Russian economy. Foreign investment accounts for roughly 22% of Russian GDP. Putin's goal was to reach 25% by 2015 and that is unlikely to happen. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/eee13444-6350-11e3-a87d-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2vJ4BE0pB The agreement restricts the Russian troop movement outside of their bases to "operations considered normal to maintaining the facilities or for training operations". No matter how you want to parse the agreements, surrounding Ukrainian military bases is an overt offensive activity, regardless of whether shots are fired. Therefore those units appear to be in violation of the terms of their basing agreements.

I recommend the following sources for more detail: 1) The Long War Journal: A Project of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies http://www.longwarjournal.org/ 2) The New American Foundation The Year of the Drone An Analysis of U.S. Drone Strikes in Pakistan, 2004-2010 Peter Bergen and Katherine Tiedemann February 24, 2010 http://counterterrorism.newamerica.net/sites/newamerica.net/files/policydocs/bergentiedemann2.pdf 3) Living Under Drones http://www.livingunderdrones.org/numbers/

No. Andrew Johnson (violation of the Tenure of Office Act) and Bill Clinton (Perjury and Obstruction of Justice) were impeached. They were acquitted in their trials but they were impeached. http://www.ask.com/wiki/Impeachment_in_the_United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment

~32 months until 2016 elections not counting the lag from the elections to the swearing in ceremony

Deep sea fish have adapted so that they have minimized skeletal structures and are generally comprised of gelatinous matter that, like the surrounding water, is (nearly) incompressible. (Increasing the pressure of water by 1000 psi will compress it only 0.3% of its original volume) The colder temperatures in the Bathyal and Abyssal zones generally cause fish metabolism rates to drop significantly which means fish in those zones DO move more slowly. Movement in a fluid (even at pressure) is controlled by the drag forces exerted on the body. In this case the shape, size and cross-sectional area of the body as well as the density and viscosity determine whether pressure drag or friction drag is the controlling factor. In general, viscosity increases with decreasing temperature so drag increases. Seawater density also increases with depth (salinity) so that increases drag as well. Finally, fish at those depths aren't crushed because there unique body composition doesn't create a massive pressure difference as in a submarine where the water pressure outside is vastly greater than the air pressure inside.

Hate per se? No. Expression (vocal or written) of that hate against specific groups or individuals is prohibited by numerous countries. Brazil, Sweden, South Africa, and Serbia have specific provisions in their constiutions against hate speech. There are also several countries whose penal codes prohibit it (Netherlands, France, Croatia, Canada, Belgium etc.).

Update 45 Revamped Inventory and combat systems http://www.twitch.tv/inxile/b/506082826

Ah, finally we get to talk about Sochi The Waste and Corruption of Vladimir Putin's 2014 Winter Olympics http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-02/the-2014-winter-olympics-in-sochi-cost-51-billion

Bumping for more updates .... lol

Anyone having problems logging in to steam tonight? nvm - steam was having brain farts ..... lol

I'm more familiar with the piston ring wear and tear that caused premature oil leaks in Camaros. You had to do a complete ring replacement to fix the problem. With respect to the Mercedes issue I'm skeptical. That sounds totally anecdotal and needs to be put into the proper context. What vintage models are we talking about? What type of repairs are we discussing? I'm a bit doubtful that any repair shop is going to swap out doors unless the door itself is damaged. No biggie. I'm just curious about this actually. As for rust and corrosion in modern cars, I disagree. Without getting too detailed, I've seen pictures of '60s era vehicles that had floor panels which were totally rusted out and door panels which had serious corrosion issues after only 6 years of use. You mean 50K km right? Even at 10,000 miles a year, 50K km is only 3 years of use. With the exception of perhaps some of the newer entrants into the industry, I would think that any manufacturer that can't produce a vehicle that gets more than 3 years of use is not going to be in business for very long. Any particular cars you had in mind? I would have voted for the Corvair or better still, the Yugo. LOL I avoid anything Chinese (except take out) whenever possible.

Not entirely. The Hemi 426 introduced in 1964 was a cast-iron block and the Chevy 427 ZL1 had an aluminum block. Modern day versions of Mopar 426 Hemi now sport Aluminum blocks which are 100 pounds lighter than their cast iron predecessors. http://www.musclecarclub.com/musclecars/general/musclecars-engines.shtml Cars from the ’60s and ’70s were especially susceptible to rust and corrosion — many literally fell apart before their engines and transmission wore out. But advances in corrosion protection, some propelled by government requirements for anticorrosion warranties, have greatly reduced that problem. Estimates of the lifetimes of the mid 60's to mid 70's muscle cars typically vary from 50K to 100K miles - half of today's standards of 100K - 200K miles. Most of the mechanical problems on the 60's era cars were simply due to erosion on the piston rings causing early oil leaks and that ever so unsightly blue cloud of smoke from the exhaust. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/automobiles/as-cars-are-kept-longer-200000-is-new-100000.html?_r=3&ref=business&pagewanted=all&

Can the Cipher use a Ranger's animal companion instead of the Ranger as the link for the rebounding bolt? Would it be possible to add some additional detail on the frequency of use for the Cipher class abilities?

Great Update. The Mob Rulers (wizards and druids) next please. .