Thursday, November 15, 2012

Always waiting for peace to take hold.

11/15/2012 23:28

...And oddly enough, (click here) like good lab rats, we did just that. We learned to drive with our car windows open so that we could hear sirens while on the open road. We taught our children how to fall asleep again once they were moved into the safe room in the middle of the night. We developed a whole slew of coping mechanisms that range from “dressing for missiles” – no heels or straight skirts allowed – to black humor, acknowledging the absurdity of living in this kind of situation. A child wakes up from a crash of thunder last winter screaming, “missiles,” and we get to make jokes about how children of the Negev are more familiar with the sound of falling Grad missiles than actual rain. We became old war heroes, exchanging stories of close calls from the missiles of 2009 versus those of 2010 and 11....

They haven't suffered enough yet?

The Israeli government decided that a unilateral disengagement of Gaza would bring about a long term peace.

Don't try and tell me this is simply more Israeli aggression. It isn't. This is the result of a failed attempt at peace for the same reason it was doomed from the beginning; there is no reliable Palestinian partner. There isn't today and there hasn't been for decades.

There is no Palestinian Authority that can stop the violence of their extremists.

The Unilateral Disengagement Plan - General Outline (click here)
18 Apr 2004
(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Office)
1. General
Israel is committed to the peace process and aspires to reach an agreed resolution of the conflict on the basis of the principle of two states for two peoples, the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people and a Palestinian state for the Palestinian people, as part of the implementation of President Bush's vision....

Palestine sovereign authority cannot control their extremists.

Smoke billowing from a building targeted by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza on Thursday. (AFP)

23:58 15/11/2012


BEIRUT, November 15 (RIA Novosti) – The armed wing (click here) of Gaza-based radical Islamic Jihad group took responsibility on Thursday for firing a long-range rocket that landed in the southern suburb of Israeli capital, Tel Aviv.
"The Quds Brigades hit the occupied city of Tel Rabea [Tel Aviv] with a Fajr-5 rocket causing a large explosion to shake the city," the group said in a statement.
Islamic Jihad also threatened that Israel would experience "further surprises so long as the aggression against the Palestinian people continues.”
The Israeli military earlier said two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip reached Tel Aviv. One of them exploded in the suburb of Rishon Lezion and the other one – off the coast in the Mediterranean Sea....

No one is happy with Russia.

Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal and other foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council discuss ways to end Syrian conflict with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Riyadh on Wednesday. (SPA)


ARAB NEWS
Friday 16 November 2012





...Lavrov (click here) met with Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal and other foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Riyadh but failed to reach common ground on how to end the bloodshed that has claimed more than 38,000 lives in Syria.

Lavrov said that the atrocities committed in Syria were from all sides and must stop....


...The Syrian issue was not listed in the agenda of the meeting when the meeting was planned two months ago.

Meanwhile, Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled Al-Khalifa requested a UN decision to stop atrocities in Syria and has stated that the division in the Security Council has exacerbated the Syrian conflict. Sheikh Khaled reiterated the stance of the GCC that Assad did not have any legitimacy to rule Syria.


Both the Russian and the Bahrain foreign ministers have condemned the escalation in Gaza where an Israeli airstrike killed Hamas military chief Ahmed Jaabari.


Lavrov arrived in Riyadh for talks with his Arab counterparts in the Gulf on Wednesday to try to narrow down differences on the conflict in Syria....


The international community is so upset with Russia over Syria there are reforms being considered, but, Russia states it will not give up the veto power of the five permanent members.

03:39 16/11/2012


NEW YORK, November 16 (RIA Novosti) - Russia (click here) is ready to consider any rational UN Security Council reform proposal, except those cancelling veto right for permanent members, Russia’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said on Friday.
The UN Security Council currently has 15 member states. Five of them - Russia, US, China, UK and France - are permanent members with powers to veto any council decision.
"Ideas that infringe on exclusive rights of permanent council members, such as the historically formed veto right, are inadmissible for us. It should be kept in mind that this mechanism is an important instrument that encourages Security Council members to search for balanced solutions,” the Russian envoy said during General Assembly debates on a Security Council reform.
“The issue of Security Council reform cannot be solved arithmetically, by taking this or that reform model to a vote to receive the required two thirds of from the General Assembly members,” he went on....

A change in direction for the unemployed generation.



By JUSTIN POPE AP Education Writer 
Published: 11/15/2012  6:13 AM 
Last Modified: 11/15/2012  6:13 AM

Modest good news (click here) for college students: An annual survey predicts employers will increase hiring of new 4-year college graduates about 5 percent in the coming year. Demand for graduates with associate's degrees is expected to increase more sharply — by about 30 percent compared to last year's survey— while MBA hiring appears headed for an unexpected decline.
The 42nd annual survey out Thursday from Michigan State University's College Employment Research Institute collects responses on hiring plans from more than 2,000 U.S. employers. It paints a mixed picture reflecting an improving economy but also uncertainty over whether Congress and the White House will carry the country off the fiscal cliff in January, potentially sending the economy back into recession.

The hiring numbers are certainly better than for students who graduated at the depths of the recession, but overall indicate less aggressive hiring than the last couple of years, which survey director Phil Gardner attributed to the political situation as well as weakness in sectors like defense. The survey was conducted before President Barack Obama won a second term....

I wonder if Romney filed any amended returns since he lost the election?

...Well, maybe not quite nothing. (click here) In 2010 -- the only year we have seen a full return from him -- Romney would have paid an effective tax rate of around 0.82 percent under the Ryan plan, rather than the 13.9 percent he actually did. How would someone with more than $21 million in taxable income pay so little? Well, the vast majority of Romney's income came from capital gains, interest, and dividends. And Ryan wants to eliminate all taxes on capital gains, interest and dividends....

This magazine is for real? It sounds as though he wants to form another Bain Capital. 


...Here are just a few of the stories (click here) slated to appear in the MITT’S MONTHLY inaugural issue:
-Staff writer Fred Barnes presents lengthy investigative look at the London Olympics: Compared to the successful Winter Olympiad of 2002, were this year’s games an unmitigated disaster, or merely a deep disappointment?
-Senior editor Eric Fehrnstrom—a veteran of influential journals like the Boston Herald—writes an essay on the new science of memory. Can a human simply forget something he’s heard repeated multiple times? You’ll be surprised by the answer!
-Contributing writer William Kristol takes a whimsical look at the history of vice-presidential nominations. It turns out that, until recently, running mates were selected based on the antiquated calculus of “helping the ticket” rather than via the modern approach of consulting the editors of small-circulation political journals. Who knew?...

There is concern about a fall in nearly 700 points on the DOW since the election. I don't understand why there is more risk today than before the election.

The bear to the left is from the artist below. perhaps an investment in her talent is in order for venture capitalists seeking to expand the economy. Okay?

L. NICHOLS WOODCARVING (click here)

...In the first meeting (click here) since delivering a third round of quantitative easing, this time open-ended, Bernanke & Co. upped the ante.  With the Fed currently buying currently buying securities for about $85 billion a month, as part of QE3 and Operation Twist, and the latter expiring at the end of the year, it was clear that to keep the current levels of policy accommodation something needed to change at the end of the year.

“Looking ahead, a number of participants indicated that additional asset purchases would likely be appropriate next year after the conclusion of the maturity extension program in order to achieve a substantial improvement in the labor market,” read the minutes released Wednesday, adding to fuel to the fire of those that had dubbed this latest round of asset purchases QE-infinity....

I think investors need to move past their own insecurities and stop blaming 'uncertainty.' Investing can be uncertain by its very definition.

Maybe Wall Street is scared of not being able to reach for easy cash flow when Operation Twist ends. I don't know.

Is anyone surprised the Euro Zone is entering a double dip recession? I mean really. They practice austerity. When the USA starts its austerity program on midnight of December 31 - January 1, 2013 it may cause an additional contraction of liquidity. It is what it is and there is no real uncertainty to know Wall Street needs to be more 'bearish.' Do I have to say this?

The gravy train for Wall Street can't go on forever. QE3 is about purchasing toxic assets and returning function to banks or whomever holds these assets. QE3 should have been QE1 and we probably would be out of danger by now. 

Oh, well. 

I mean what magic is suppose to happen here? When toxic asset purchase is tapped out and the Fed now owns all the nasty investments from the Bush Years, there won't be anymore infusion of liquidity. Right? So, what is the problem? Hooked on easy cash, adrenalin, sex, drugs or any combination there of? What's the problem already?

Where are the venture capitialists? That was not vulture capitalists because vulture capitalists will cause further problems with contraction. Right? 

IF WALL STREET would pay attention to the movement within the Obama Administration they would find a lot of places for venture capital and expanding the economy. One of the most promising areas is "Green Chemistry." I'll get into it this weekend, but, there are many, many opportunities within this administration's good work. Investors need to look for it. It is there. 

Wall Street has to go back to being Wall Street. The leadership in the world today is not going to pander to anyone. There are difficult choices to make and their focus is their people. Basically, Wall Street is seeking welfare over investment. No more. It is time for Wall Street to go back to being investors with vision rather than 'day traders.' 

Get over it. Wall Street has never been more dysfunctional and outside their own ability to manage their own assets. It is ridiculous.

A boat lift out of Gaza needs to be organized for citizens there.


GAZA | Thu Nov 15, 2012 5:59am EST
(Reuters) - A Hamas rocket killed three Israelis (click here) north of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, drawing first blood from Israel as the Palestinian death toll rose to 13 and the military showdown lurched closer to all-out war.

Israeli warplanes bombed targets in and around Gaza city, where tall buildings trembled and thick plumes of smoke and dust furled into the sky.

The Palestinian Islamist group claimed it had fired a one-tonne, Iranian-made Fajr 5 rocket at Tel Aviv in what would be a major escalation. But there was no reported impact in the Israeli metropolis 50 km (30 miles) north of the enclave.

Israel's sworn enemy Iran, which supports and arms Hamas, condemned the offensive begun by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as "organized terrorism"....

It is good to know the death of employees is followed up by criminal charges.

The day the oil stopped gushing from the Deepwater Horizon.

The courts are currently reviewing the agreement between BP and the USA government regarding damages and criminal charges.

 AP/ November 15, 2012, 4:07 AM

LONDONBritish oil company BP (click here) said Thursday it is in advanced discussion with U.S. agencies about settling criminal and other claims from the Gulf of Mexico well blowout two years ago.
In a statement, BP said "no final agreement has yet been reached" and that any such agreement would still be subject to court approvals.
BP said the proposed settlement would not include civil claims under the Clean Water Act and other legislation, pending private civil claims and state claims for economic loss.
The explosion and fire aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20, 2010, killed 11 workers and set off a spill that continued for 87 days, fouling large areas of the southern coast of the United States.
Any settlement is expected to dwarf the largest previous corporate criminal penalty assessed by the Department of Justice -- the $1.2 billion fine imposed on drug maker Prizer in 2009....