Qld weir approval shows contempt Greens

May 17th, 2012 - 
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Efforts to protect wildlife at a new weir on a central Queensland river will be found wanting Windows 7 Serial, the Australian Greens say.

Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney on Monday announced the state government had given the green light to raise Eden Bann Weir and construct a new weir at Rookwood on the Fitzroy River.

Co-ordinator-General Barry Broe cleared the way for SunWater Limited and the Gladstone Area Water Board to prepare the environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Lower Fitzroy River Infrastructure Project.

Mr Seeney said the project would diversify the water supply of Gladstone, a booming gas port, which relies on water from Awoonga Dam.

Fish and turtle passages would be developed in consultation with government environment authorities, Mr Seeney said.

But Greens senator Larissa Waters said Mr Seeney's “approval” was premature.

“Deputy Premier Seeney has shown his contempt for our environmental laws by announcing approval for the project before the EIS has even begun Server 2008 Key, or he has profoundly misunderstood how the approval system works,” Senator Waters said.

She says the EIS will reveal the project's shortcomings.

“We know from Paradise Dam that fishways and turtle passages don't work Where to buy windows 7 key,” she said.

“And we know that further industrialisation of the already damaged Gladstone Harbour would further damage the World Heritage values of this area.”

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The Lesson of a Leaf

May 17th, 2012 - 
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As we work with the various meditation practices, a genuine transformation begins to occur. Our attachment to a self as a solid entity begins to soften and melt, and we begin to reconnect with the openness and warmth of our essential nature.

Unfortunately, many of us get caught up in the resulting sense of well-being and forget the most important of the Buddha’s teachings: that until all of us are free, none of us are free. We rest in our own comfort zones, our contentment dimming our awareness of the pain and hardship that others around us may be feeling. We get caught up in a stage of practice that I’ve learned to describe as “cozy realization,” where we think, “Yeah, I’ve done a really good job. I’ve made a lot of progress. My life is so good. I’m so happy.”

Yet lurking just beneath that self-congratulatory satisfaction is a nagging discontent, a feeling that the path we’ve undertaken offers something much grander and more fulfilling than coziness. Sometimes — if we’re lucky — that discontent become very uncomfortable.

That, at least, was my experience a few years a few years ago, when I was teaching in Bodhgaya, the place where the Buddha attained enlightenment. It’s a very powerful place, which exerts an influence that can induce you to reexamine your life. As I looked back over my own life, my work, my practice and my relationships, I began to feel that something was missing. I saw in myself, while teaching, for example, a tendency to get tired replica watches, to want to finish quickly, to do something else. Even my meditation sessions had become a bit tiresome. I just wanted to sit back, relax, and eat or watch television with my wife and daughters. I was tired, distracted, and sometimes bored.

But in Bodhgaya, I began to think about the many great teachers who had helped and encouraged me. They never seemed to be tired; their enthusiasm for whatever project in which they were engaged never flagged. They were entirely motivated by bodhicitta — the sincere desire to help all sentient beings become completely free of suffering, which is the heart of the Buddhist path.

When I looked at my own life, I realized that I was uncomfortable because I wasn’t committed to bodhicitta. I was locked in my coziness — making boundaries between my work life, my practice life, and my family life.

So one evening I went to the area of Bodhgaya where there’s a tree grown from a cutting of the original tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment. I didn’t tell anyone where I was going. I just went by myself, with the determination to take a vow of a bodhisattva — one who works selflessly for the benefit of all beings.

I sat under the Bodhi tree and prayed a little bit, and then circumambulated it three times while reciting the bodhisattva vow. The moment I finished, I felt something lightly glancing off my head. I looked down, and there at my feet lay a leaf from the Bodhi tree.

What happened next was quite surprising. I’d been aware of people on either side of me, near the Bodhi tree. I thought they were chanting or praying — but they’d actually been waiting for a leaf to fall. It’s illegal to cut a leaf from the tree; no one can collect a leaf unless it falls naturally.

Suddenly, people began crowding in, grabbing for the leaf. I have to confess replica watches, I felt a similar urge, and since it had fallen right in front of me, I grabbed it. All of this happened in the space of a few seconds. I was holding the leaf, thinking, “The Bodhi tree had sent a leaf to me. I must be such a good person, such a good practitioner!”

As I walked away, though, I began to feel guilty. “You’re such a terrible bodhisattva,” I told myself. “You took a vow to dedicate your life to all sentient beings, but you can’t give up this leaf to someone else.” I felt so disgusted with myself that I almost ripped up the leaf and threw it to the ground.

Then another voice came, from nowhere: “Keep this leaf as a reminder of how easy it is to break the commitment to work for the benefit of others. You might say the words as sincerely as you can, but it’s your actions that really count.”

A few days later, I asked one of my students to put the leaf in a frame, along with a line or two I’d written about the experience. I brought it back to my home in Nepal, where it hangs over my bed. When I see it replica watches, I’m reminded that sometimes the most profound lessons are often learned through events and experiences that appear quite brief and simple.

What happens if we allow ourselves to become attuned to the simple transactions of our daily lives? What can we learn from those moments that nearly slip past our awareness? How can we benefit others by paying more attention to our own “leaf lessons?”

For more by Tsoknyi Rinpoche, click here.

For more on mindfulness, click here.

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China’s global censorship ambition

May 17th, 2012 - 
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By Madeline Earp/CPJ Senior Asia Research Associate

China didn’t make the cut for our 10 most censored countries. While the Chinese Communist Party’s censorship apparatus is notorious, journalists and Internet users work hard to overcome the restrictions. Nations like Eritrea and North Korea lack that dynamism.

But China is not off the hook. In fact, CPJ’s report reads like a list of China’s favorite allies. China loves these nations, judging by its state media reports on Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, Burma, Belarus and more. And they love China back: Iranian Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs Ali Agha Mohammadi, announcing plans for Internet censorship in 2011, openly cited China’s information controls as a model, according to Fast Company magazine.

What’s more, international news reports indicate that China is nurturing these regimes with technological and economic support, although the extent of its involvement is difficult to track. China, while not the world’s most censored, may be on the way to becoming the world’s censor.

Two Chinese telecom giants have been accused of facilitating censorship in Iran, the fourth most-censored nation on CPJ’s list. Huawei sold equipment allowing Iranian police to track cellphone users in 2009 during a crackdown on anti-government demonstrators, according to The Wall Street Journal. “Huawei representatives emphasized that, being from China, they had expertise censoring the news Tattoo Gun Buy,” the Journal reported. Huawei denied wrongdoing and said it would limit operations in Iran. Reuters revealed a 2010 deal between Iran and China-based ZTE for surveillance apparatus, though ZTE said the equipment it provided was “standard.” ZTE also declined to comment on a 2011 Journalarticle saying it, along with some Western companies, provided technology for Muammar Qaddafi’s agents to spy on emails and chat messages.

These reports are the more concerning because the companies involved are huge global players. Both Huawei and ZTE are active in Africa. They have operated in Central Asia for more than a decade, according to the Open Society Institute’s New York-based EurasiaNetwebsite. And Sri Lankan media expert Sanjana Hattotuwa, on his citizen journalism website Groundviews, notes that “major telecoms providers in Sri Lanka have multimillion dollar contracts with ZTE and Huawei,” citing local media reports and a Wikileaks U.S. diplomatic cable from Colombo in 2009.  

The U.S., the U.K., and Australia have all expressed concerns over the companies’ possible ties to the Chinese government, and the cyber-security implications of their global presence. A British security official told The Australiannewspaper he had "no doubt" Huawei partnered with China’s espionage services. Yet “allegations against Huawei and ZTE are almost impossible to prove,” EurasiaNet said.

Here are some other examples of how China’s repressive attitude is creeping beyond its borders: 

Setting the regional information agenda. Police in Nepal arrested journalists and Tibetan activists and threatened to deport them to China in 2008, according to Human Rights Watch. A Chinese embassy official and local police ordered Bangladeshi photographer Shahidul Alam to close a gallery exhibit showing photographs of Tibet in 2009. Burmese authorities received computer training from China and Russia in 2008, according to CPJ research. 
Diplomatic influence. China is North Korea’s largest trade partner, undermining economic sanctions imposed by the U.N. and Western governments and helping to uphold one of the world’s worst censors (with occasional caveats). The military-backed government in Burma has enjoyed the same support. Reuters reported that ZTE’s trading in Iran also violated U.S. sanctions by acting as a third party to supply the nation with American software. At a 2011 London technology conference on cyber-security, China allied with Russia against the U.S. and U.K. to lobby for stronger Internet controls, according to Reuters.
Cyber-attacks. A number of hacking attacks directed at intellectual property of global companies and groups perceived as anti-China — including Tibetan human rights organizations and journalists — have been traced to computers in China, according to international news reports. The New York Timessaid there is no proof the campaigns are government sponsored, but traced some to Chinese Internet company employee Gu Kaiyuan.
Obstructing cultural events. Liu Xiaobo Tattoos Kits For Sale, Liao Yiwu, Yu Jie, Ai Weiwei, and Tibetan blogger Woeser are among dozens of high-profile Chinese intellectuals banned from travelling to international events. Chinese government organizations can dictate who is invited to an event as a condition of their participation, according to the U.K. Guardian.  
Market share. Official figures put the number of Chinese Internet users at more than 500 million. Foreign technology companies comply with Beijing’s orders to filter content or get the boot, denying them a lucrative share of the market.
Expanding media empire. State news agency Xinhua reported 23 bureaus in Africa in 2011. China Central Television says it broadcasts in 140 countries around the world.  China Radio International operates out of Jerusalem, Sydney, London, Lagos, Harare, and Washington D.C. While some government-backed global media outlets, such as the BBC, stress editorial independence, propaganda officials encourage Chinese media overseas to remain loyal to the party’s agenda.  

In China, this media push is known as “soft power.” While many media analysts believe editorial restrictions will prevent Chinese media from competing on a world stage, it already reaches a wide audience. Over 2.5 million copies of state newspaper China Daily’s China Watch advertising supplement have been distributed in The Washington Post, The New York Times, and the U.K. Daily Telegraph, according to the Guardian.

Why worry about something as low-impact as an advertising supplement? First, it’s packaged as news. Second, because the news outlets which carry it might compromise their standards. Earlier this year, the Post admitted in a correction that “the Chinese government modified, deleted, and added questions” to an interview it published with Vice President Xi Jinping.

Modifying, deleting Tattoos Machines Kits, and adding? That’s exactly how propaganda officials manage news reports domestically. If Chinese leaders have their way, it’s what they will soon be doing all over the world.

Madeline Earp is senior researcher for CPJ’s Asia Program. She has studied Mandarin in China and Taiwan, and graduated with a master’s in East Asian studies from Harvard.

Follow CPJ on Twitter: @pressfreedom

Follow CPJ on Facebook: @committeetoprotectjournalists

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JPMorgan loss could spark more bank downgrades an

May 17th, 2012 - 
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NEW YORK (Reuters) – The $2 billion-and-counting trading loss at JPMorgan Chase & Co rattled investors on Monday, raising fears of more trouble to come from a possible wave of ratings downgrades of major global banks.

Market participants said the mismanaged derivatives trade at JPMorgan, regarded as the best-run large U.S. bank, raised concern about other banks’ derivatives strategies.

“You have seen risk coming off here,” said MacNeil Curry Cheap Tattoo Guns, chief rates and currency technical strategist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “It raises the question that if JPMorgan is the best of the breed What Is In Tattoo Ink, what are the other guys doing?”

That’s a question Moody’s Investors Service is likely to ask as it reviews the business models and risk management systems of 15 global banks and securities firms.

On Friday Fitch Ratings cut JPMorgan’s credit rating one notch to A-plus from AA-minus.

Some fear JPMorgan’s loss highlights how opaque over-the-counter derivatives trades are and how big losses at one bank could spark losses at its counterparties and feed systemic risk.

Moody’s has said it will conclude its review of financial institutions by the end of June. In February, it said it may cut JPMorgan’s Aa3 long-term rating by two notches.

Downgrades would likely raise banks’ cost of funding and for the lowest rated banks may make some investors reticent to trade with the firms.

“Moody’s argument was that there were structural issues in the sector, including greater volatility, higher funding costs, and that in a revenue-challenged environment, banks were having to stretch for yield in order to generate earnings, which is what you saw here,” said John Guarnera, U.S. bank credit analyst at Societe Generale.

“Moody’s may now think that their process has been validated, and that may mean that they are unlikely to be lenient and will downgrade to the full extent that they have indicated,” he said.

For now, JPMorgan’s strong reputation, huge deposit base and limited reliance on short-term cash have kept a lid on three-month interbank borrowing costs, which fell Monday.

But there were signs of rising stress elsewhere.

The risk premium on U.S. interest rate swaps over Treasuries, to hedge their interest rate risk, flirted with its highest level since early January at 39 basis points.

Front-month Eurodollar futures fell 1.5 basis points to 5.00 basis points on the day with the December 2013 contract falling to its lowest level in about five weeks. Analysts said this reflects concern that investors may cut back on short-term loans to banks in the future.

The cost to insure JPMorgan’s debt in the credit default swap market rose 13 basis points on Monday to 139 basis points, the highest level since January 2. That’s up from 110 basis points on Wednesday before JPMorgan announced the loss, according to data by Markit.

That means it would cost $139,000 per year for five years to insure $10 million in debt.

The bank still trades at much lower cost than competitors, with Citigroup trading at 247 basis points, Bank of America at 292 basis points, Goldman Sachs at 313 basis points and Morgan Stanley at 410 basis points, according to Markit data.

Analysts at the TABB Group said the sheer size of JPMorgan’s trade all but guaranteed it would end in disaster. That’s because the group estimates the average credit default swap trade is around $70 million; JPMorgan had entered into credit derivatives positions estimated to be as large as $100 billion.

“How JPMorgan planned on finding liquidity to unwind its alleged position is a mystery,” TABB analyst Will Rhode said in a note.

Investors turned negative on financial services in the second quarter, according to Thomson Reuters Lipper service, which tracks the weekly flow of cash moving in and out of U.S.-domiciled mutual funds and exchange traded funds.

In the first quarter, net inflows reached $2.556 billion, the best quarterly performance since the fourth quarter of 2010. However, there have been net outflows of $1.373 billion since April, with redemptions in five of the last six weeks.

(Reporting by Richard Leong, Karen Brettell Tattoo Machine Power Supply, Daniel Bases and Steven C. Johnson; writing by Steven C. Johnson; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

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Small businesses short-changed on fed contracts fo

May 16th, 2012 - 
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WASHINGTON — The U.S. government has missed its small-business contracting goal every year in the past decade, a sign of the continuing barriers facing companies competing with larger rivals for federal work.

The government has a target of awarding 23 percent of eligible prime, or direct, contracts to small businesses. It awarded 21.8 percent of $423 billion in such awards in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. The Pentagon, which represents more than two-thirds of all prime contract revenue, has also missed its goal for 10 years, according to federal procurement data.

The shortfalls have spanned both Republican and Democratic administrations, which have prodded officials to boost small- business awards. President Obama’s Office of Management and Budget told agencies in a February 2011 memo that their underachievement deprives taxpayers and “takes away opportunities for small businesses to create jobs and drive the economy forward.”

The government’s track record is “a real eye-opener Discount Herve Leger v neck,” said Robert Burton, former acting administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy and now a partner at the law firm Venable LLP in Washington. “As goes the Department of Defense, goes the rest of the agencies. If DoD doesn’t make it, probably the rest of the government isn’t going to make it.”

Agencies may be reluctant to take chances on small businesses, defined by the government as having fewer than 500 employees or less than $7 million in average annual sales. They generally don’t have the performance records of large corporations that are “known quantities,” Burton said.

“I’m convinced that if the government wanted to meet the goal, they could do it, but I don’t know that the government really wants to do it,” he said.

The Small Business Administration is working with agencies to help them meet their goals, John Shoraka, a SBA acting associate administrator, said in an e-mail.

“The goal is to make the goal,” Shoraka said. “Twenty-three percent is within reach, and the SBA thinks it should be the government’s objective to meet that goal.”

The federal government has “lofty goals,” said Steve Westerlund, president of Aquasis Services, a small business in Pensacola, Fla., that collapsed after doing work for the Department of Defense for 27 years. “But nothing ever happens.”

Westerlund said his company did “the non-sexy stuff,” which included delivering mail, maintaining laundry equipment in military dormitories, and providing administrative support for Naval flight training at Whiting Field near Pensacola.

His military contracting officer told him in September 2009 that 30 of his 100 employees were being converted from contractors to federal workers, as part of a government effort to outsource less of the work, he said. Westerlund’s company had about $4.5 million in annual revenue at the time.

“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I knew that was the beginning of the end.”

Westerlund lost his remaining employees the following year and had to close his business. He said he’s now living off savings and still looking for federal contracting work.

It’s getting harder to win federal awards, said Annette Wright, president of Toledo, Ohio-based Unity Cable Technologies Inc., which has done work for the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security.

Wright started her company in 1994 as a wireless cable and electrical product supplier. She said she once had three employees, and that she now can’t afford to support anyone besides herself.

“I can’t pay anybody if I’m not winning contracts,” Wright said. “I will bid on supplying blankets these days if I can find them and be competitive on it.”

Small business contract winners such as Jeanne Peck, president of Nash Locke, a McLean, Va.-based technology company, said they’re not surprised by the government’s poor showing.

“I don’t want to sound like sour grapes, but I think people are comfortable doing business with people and companies they know,” Peck said. “Most little companies don’t have three or four years to mess around building brand new relationships. It is very hard to stay alive.”

Peck’s company won its first direct contract in September, when the Army Corps of Engineers awarded Nash Locke a $52,800 order to manage a technology project, according to the government’s federal procurement database.

The company had been a subcontractor for the Pentagon and Department of Education for four years, which she said helped keep her business afloat as she tried to persuade the government to give her that first direct contract.

Some members of Congress want to boost the government’s goal and penalize agencies.

Rep. Sam Graves Replica Chanel Dresses, R-Mo., in January introduced a bill, HR 3850, that would lift the target to 25 percent and withhold the bonuses of senior agency executives if their agencies miss goals.

“The fact that the federal government hasn’t met the 23 percent small business contracting goal is very disappointing, not only for me but for thousands of small businesses who are losing out on opportunities,” Graves said in an e-mail. “It is particularly frustrating that the Department of Defense, which accounts for approximately 70 percent of all federal contracting, has steadily decreased its small business share over the past several years.”

The Pentagon’s direct awards to small businesses have been decreasing since 2009. The Defense Department had a goal of awarding 22.3 percent of eligible prime awards to small businesses in fiscal 2011. It awarded 19.9 percent of $290 billion in such contracts that year.

Total military contracts, including subcontracts, to small businesses have increased from fiscal years 2010 to 2011, Andre Gudger, director of the Pentagon’s office of small business programs, said in an e-mailed statement. The total figures for subcontracts aren’t publicly available.

“DoD has several ongoing initiatives that will continue to increase opportunities for small business participation in DoD acquisitions,” Gudger said.

The Department of Energy, the second-largest buyer across the government, missed its goal of 6 percent last year, awarding $1.3 billion, or 5.3 percent, to small businesses. The Department of Health and Human Services, the third-largest buyer, exceeded its goal of 19.5 percent, awarding $4.5 billion, or 24 percent, to small firms.

— With assistance from Kathleen Miller in Washington.

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The Gabrielle Giffords Shooting

May 15th, 2012 - 
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“Angry Nerds: How Nietzsche gets misunderstood by Jared Loughner types,” by Matt Feeney. Posted Friday, Jan. 14, 2011.

“Jared Loughner’s World of Illusion … and Ours: The accused Tucson killer isn’t the only one who has a love affair with alternative realities,” by Jack Shafer. Posted Thursday Tattoo Supplies, Jan. 13, 2011.

“Beautiful Noise: How Obama used his speech in Tucson to elevate the political debate,” by John Dickerson. Posted Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011.

“The Solution: Do Nothing: The shooting of Gabrielle Giffords leaves members of Congress at a loss in more ways than one,” by David Weigel. Posted Wednesday, Jan. 12 Tattoo Supplies, 2011.

“‘Who I Wanted to Kill Was Every Democrat in the Senate + House’: Where the Notion of Right-Wing Political Murder Comes From,” by Tom Scocca. Posted Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2011.

Palin Fails the Test: Sarah Palin’s response to the Tucson shooting is defensive, illogical, distracting—and late,” by John Dickerson. Posted Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2011.

“Sarah Palin, Blood-Libel Hypocrite: Sarah Palin opposes collective blame for monstrous crimes, unless they’re committed by Muslims,” by William Saletan. Posted Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2011.

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“Sarah Palin Re-Inserts Herself in the News Cycle,” by Noreen Malone. Posted Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2011.

“Are Assassins More Likely To Target Liberals?: It’s complicated,” by Brian Palmer. Posted Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2011.

“From Texas to Arizona: How Obama can talk about tolerance without trivializing a tragedy,” by John Dickerson. Posted Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011.

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The Taliban Are Back. What Now

May 14th, 2012 - 
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U.S. soldiers stand guard at the site of a suicide attack in Kabul

What is going on in Afghanistan?

In the past week, Taliban fighters staged a prison raid and freed at least 1,000 of their brethren. Soon after, they mounted offensives on seven villages and are moving in on the southern stronghold of Kandahar. One of the fiercest Taliban leaders, Maulavi Jalaluddin Haqqani, a major U.S. ally during the days of resistance to Soviet occupiers, is bringing in foreign jihadists from all over the region to help his cause.

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Meanwhile, Taliban attacks are up considerably from last year despite increases in NATO and Afghan troop levels. Gen. Dan McNeill, who recently finished a 16-month tour as NATO commander in Afghanistan, said last week that we need 400,000 troops to control the country. There are now just 110,000 (including 58,000 from the still-green Afghan National Army) and few prospects for recruiting many more—none for remotely approaching McNeill’s desired head count.

Finally, troop numbers mean little as long as Pakistan continues to give the Taliban fighters sanctuary in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, just across Afghanistan’s eastern border. And the Bush administration has failed to convince the Pakistani authorities to crack down.

How did this disaster happen, and what is to be done about it now?

The disaster happened for a simple reason: The U.S. government—and this goes well beyond the Bush administration—has never given a whit about Afghanistan per se.

President Ronald Reagan and his CIA chief DKNY Clothing sale, William Casey, gave massive military assistance to the mujahedeen who were fighting off the Soviet occupiers. But once Mikhail Gorbachev withdrew his troops in 1989 Cheap Emilio Pucci Dresses, Americans lost interest. The rest is dreadful history: The Taliban moved in, and so did Osama Bin Laden; the attacks of Sept. 11 followed.

In a sense Cheap White Herve leger, Reagan’s indifference was understandable. The battle of the 1980s, as he (and Cheap Herve Leger gown, let’s face it, nearly all of us) saw it Cheap Chloe Dresses, was a Cold War campaign. Afghanistan by itself was regarded as a backwater. The ultimate aims of our Islamist collaborators, and what they might do to the country afterward, were shrugged off.

One would think that subsequent presidents might have learned a lesson from the experience, but George W. Bush did not. CIA Director George Tenet and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld mounted a brilliant campaign Herve leger strapless sale, along with Northern Alliance rebels, to oust the Taliban from Kabul and other Afghan cities. The regime fell in mid-November 2001, and Hamid Karzai’s new government, backed by an international coalition, took office a month later. Remarkably, we once again moved on. Some U.S. troops stayed behind, but most of them—and nearly all intelligence assets—were transferred north to prepare for the invasion of Iraq.

The move was the product of an apolitical view of warfare—just as, 17 months later, President Bush would declare “mission accomplished” in Iraq on the grounds that Saddam Hussein had been ousted *, ignoring the strategic goal of stabilizing a new, more democratic regime.

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Mini bringing Countryman JCW to Geneva

May 14th, 2012 - 
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With models like the X5 M and X6 M Chloe Dresses sale, BMW has shown it is no stranger to performance-oriented crossovers. That extended to its Mini brand when it opted to enter the Countryman in the World Rally Championship DKNY Dresses sale, but now we’ve received confirmation that a road- (or off-road-) going Countryman JCW is on its way.

Currently undergoing winter testing in Austria Cheap Bandage dresses, the Countryman JCW is to be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March. Mini has yet to confirm the details BCBG Dresses sale, but we’re expecting the 1.6-liter turbo to churn out a good 215 horsepower or so – a significant increase over the Cooper S Countryman (pictured above) and its 177 hp – for a 0-60 time of less than seven seconds.

The John Cooper Works version of the Mini crossover will also ride lower than existing versions, and sport all the suspension and aero upgrades you’d expect from a JCW model Herve Leger gown sale, with sales expected to start in about a year. The question is whether this is the version which Prodrive – the motorsport consultancy that fields the Countryman WRC – is currently preparing, or whether that is still to come as a performance model of its own.

We’ll have a drive report on the Countryman JCW prototype coming in just a matter of days Cheap Herve Leger gown, so watch this space for more information.

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Saab 9-4X production underway, only Saab currently

May 14th, 2012 - 
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Production of the all-new 2011 Saab 9-4X crossover has started on schedule Buy Christian Audigier Clothes, despite the company’s crippling financial woes. While production of the rest of the Saab lineup at its Trollhattan Replica Herve Leger gown, Sweden plant has ground to a cash-strapped halt Cheap DKNY Clothes, 9-4Xs are rolling off the assembly lines in Ramos Arizpe Cheap Herve Leger gown, Mexico.

The plant producing the latest Saab is under contract to the Swedes from GM, and with any luck will help jumpstart a recovery. Under its very Swedish skin, the Saab 9-4X packs the same underpinnings as the 2011 Cadillac SRX.

The base model, which comes with a 265-hp 2.8-liter V6, starts at $33,380, with the top-whack Herve leger strapless sale, turbocharged model ringing the register at $48 Karen Millen Dresses sale,010. Ominously for Saab, the 300-hp mill is the same engine Cadillac just pulled from the SRX lineup to deal with reliability issues.

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VideoRhys Millen previews the PM580 Hyundai Pikes

May 13th, 2012 - 
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Rhys Millen Racing PM580 frame – Click above to view the video after the jump Replica Porsche Design Watches

The folks at HRE Performance Wheels dropped by the Rhys Millen Racing shop to check out the progress on the new PM580 Pikes Peak hill-climb car. Millen and his crew are in the process of building an Unlimited Class racer to crack the all-time record on the Colorado mountain. Millen will attempt to both recapture the record that his father held for 13 years and record the first ever sub-10-minute time.

The PM580 is powered by a Hyundai Genesis V8 engine mounted in the middle of a steel tube-frame chassis. Aside from the engine, the rest of the chassis looks rather conventional Best place to buy Replica Omega Watches, until you see the carbon-fiber bodywork that looks more like something destined to hurtle down the Mulsanne straight at Le Mans rather than up the side of a mountain.

Unlike your mobile data plan Replica Jacob & Co Watches, at Pikes Peak Unlimited means exactly that: anything goes Replica Perrelet Watches, including active aerodynamics. The angle of the upper plane on the rear wing is automatically managed based on a yaw rate sensor and lateral accelerometer. When the car is on the straights it flattens out to a 10-degree angle Replica Jacob & Co Watches, but as the car turns in Buy Cheap Replica MB&F Watches, it tips up to 50 degrees to press the rear end down. It’s fascinating stuff and you can check it out in the video after the jump.

Related GalleryRhys Millen Racing Hyundai Genesis PM580
[Source: Youtube]

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