April 03, 2010, 12:15 AM EDT
Good night.
Saturday, April 03, 2010
Euro zone unemployment hits 10 per cent
Wed, Mar 31 2010 14:23 CET
Seasonally-adjusted unemployment in the 16-member euro zone was 10 per cent in February 2010, up from 9.9 per cent the previous month, European Union statistical office Eurostat said on March 31 2010.
Unemployment in the euro zone was 8.8 per cent in February 2009, according to Eurostat.
Across the 27-member EU, unemployment was 9.6 per cent in February 2010, from 9.5 per cent in January, and against 8.3 per cent in February 2009.
"For the euro area this is the highest rate since August 1998 and for the EU27 since the start of the series in January 2000," Eurostat said.
Eurostat estimates that 23.019 million men and women in the EU27, of whom 15.749 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in February 2010.
Compared with January 2010, the number of unemployed increased by 131 000 in the EU27 and by 61 000 in the euro area.
Compared with February 2009, unemployment went up by 3.139 million in the EU27 and by 1.844 million in the euro area.
Among the member states, unemployment was lowest in the Netherlands (four per cent) and Austria (five per cent), and the highest rates in Latvia (21.7 per cent) and Spain (19 per cent).
Compared with a year ago, all EU member states had higher unemployment....
3/12/2010 8:15 AM ET
Canada's unemployment (click here) rate edged lower in February as the nation's economy created nearly 21,000 jobs, fueling expectations that policy makers in Ottawa will raise interest rates sooner than previously expected....
As the USA exits Iraq, the 'original' leadership at the beginning of the democracy finds a majority.
It is the 'same game,' with the 'same players.' Some things never change. We are leaving Iraq in the same state is has been for the entire occupation by the Coalition forces. We have over stayed our welcome.
Division among Iraq's Shiites good news for Allawi (click title to entry - thank you)
12:00 AM CDT on Saturday, April 3, 2010
Division among Iraq's Shiites good news for Allawi (click title to entry - thank you)
12:00 AM CDT on Saturday, April 3, 2010
BAGHDAD – When the coalition led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki narrowly lost at the polls, he raised the prospect that he could pull ahead by gaining the support of other Shiite-dominated alliances. Since then, the largest of those groups have been reaching out – but not to him.
Al-Maliki's secular challenger, Ayad Allawi, gained a significant advantage when he won the unexpected support of a major Iranian-linked Shiite party.
Allawi received support Thursday night from the Iranian-linked Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council – a stunning development because Allawi has been outspoken against the influence of Iran and religious parties.
Ammar al-Hakim, the leader of the Supreme Council, did not endorse anyone as prime minister but said he was open to an alliance with Allawi's Iraqiya list.
"We will not participate in the next government if Allawi's list is not in it," al-Hakim said in remarks broadcast late Thursday.
Allawi, a Shiite who was prime minister in 2004-05, appeared to be benefiting from stark divisions among Shiites despite purported efforts by Iran to push al-Maliki and his rivals into a coalition that could cement Shiite domination of the government....
The Power of the Lie, especially, when it equates to political manipulation of wealth. Good, real good. Media, huh?
Rupert Murdoch named as Australia's richest boss (click here)
24/03/2010 3:00:00 PMBy Stuart Fagg ninemsn Money
News Corporation chief Rupert Murdoch has been named Australia's richest boss but could soon lose his crown to mining tycoon Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest.Mr Murdoch’s shareholder wealth grew by more than $2 billion in the past year to $5.96 billion placing him at the head of BRW’s executive rich list just ahead of Mr Forrest, who heads resources giant Fortescue Metals Group.
The list ranks executive wealth by the value of the shares they own in the companies they run.
BRW executive rich list editor John Stensholt told ninemsn that Mr Forrest, whose wealth grew to $4.79 billion in the last year, is the executive most likely to topple Mr Murdoch.
"Andrew Forrest is really at the vanguard of what looks like a strong resources recovery," he said.
"The resources boom is back....
South African white supremacist leader Eugene Terreblanche has been killed
Mr. T and his black horse.
Mr Terreblanche, 69, was beaten to death after a dispute over unpaid wages, local media reports said. Two people are said to have been arrested.
President Jacob Zuma has appealed for calm, saying the killing should not incite racial hatred.
Mr Terreblanche, who campaigned for a separate white homeland, came to prominence in the early
1980s...Eugene Terre'Blanche 'murdered by his own workers' (click here)
1980s...Eugene Terre'Blanche 'murdered by his own workers' (click here)
Eugene Terre'Blanche, the notorious far-right South African politician, has been murdered at his farm by two of his own employees, according to reports.
By Patrick Sawer and Ben LeachPublished: 11:27PM BST 03 Apr 2010
...He recently declared of post-apharteid South Africa: "Our country is being run by criminals who murder and rob. This land was the best, and they ruined it all. We are being oppressed again. We will rise again."
AWB spokesman André Visagie said Terre'Blanche, who was apparently alone on the farm at the time of the attack, was beaten so badly "he didn't look like Eugene anymore".
Visagie said that Terre'Blanche's only security were his dogs which were "neutralised".
A 15-year-old and 21-year-old who worked for Terre'Blanche were arrested, according to police spokesperson Captain Adele Myburg.
Captain Myburgh said: "Mr Terre'Blanche's body was found on the bed with facial and head injuries. There was a panga on him and knobkerrie next to the bed.
"A 21-year-old man and 15-year-old boy were arrested and charged for his murder. The two told the police that the argument ensued because they were not paid for the work they did on the farm," she said, adding that the two would soon appear in court on charges of murder...
US scraps screening, introduces profiling
Passengers and crew wait to be screened in front of the security checkpoint at Terminal C in Newark International Airport in New Jersey. –Reuters Photo/Joshua Brown
The new criteria selects passengers for additional security based on possible matches to intelligence information, including physical descriptions, age or a particular travel pattern.
An official announcement in Washington said that the US Transportation Security Administration will begin implementing new security policy from this month and it will apply to all air carriers with international flights to the United States.
US Secretary for Homeland Security Janet Napolitano told journalists that “these new measures utilise real-time, threat-based intelligence along with multiple, random layers of security, both seen and unseen, to more effectively mitigate evolving terrorist threats”.
Separately, a US official told Dawn in Washington that “the principled engagement of Pakistan’s leadership on this matter with the US resulted in this policy change”.
The official said that US special envoy Richard Holbrooke first learned about the negative impact of the now abandoned policy from Pakistani officials during his January visit to Islamabad.
“And he successfully agitated within the US administration to get the rules changed, as he saw the policy as ‘discriminatory’ and inconsistent with the administration’s desire to build a new kind of relationship with Pakistan,” the official said.
Starting in April, security personnel at US airports will match passengers with the information provided by the Department of Homeland Security for potential terrorist threats. Only those who match the new description for people of interest will be marked out for additional screening....
China Binging on Energy (click title to entry - thank you)
...That same December, CNPC (click here) signed an agreement with the government of Myanmar (Burma) to build and operate an oil pipeline that will run from Maday Island in the western part of that country to Ruili, in the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan. The 460-mile pipeline will permit China-bound tankers from Africa and the Middle East to unload their cargo in Myanmar on the Indian Ocean, thereby avoiding the long voyage to China’s eastern coast via the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea, areas significantly dominated by the U.S. Navy....
Aung San Suu Kyi
..The Obama administration, (click here) which has made a signature policy of engaging US adversaries, last year initiated a dialogue with the junta, judging that a previous approach of isolating the regime had not borne fruit.
Iran used China connection for nuke gear: report (click here)
Reuters
Saturday, April 3, 2010; 5:13 PM
Obama urges China to back Iran nuclear sanctions (click here)
guardian.co.uk, Friday 2 April 2010 1
Chris McGreal in Washington and Julian Borger
Aung San Suu Kyi
..The Obama administration, (click here) which has made a signature policy of engaging US adversaries, last year initiated a dialogue with the junta, judging that a previous approach of isolating the regime had not borne fruit.
The junta plans to hold elections later this year which most foreign observers believe are aimed at legitimizing the rule of the regime, which never allows the opposition to take over after it won the last vote in 1990.
The main opposition National League for Democracy has decided to boycott the election rather than give in to pressure to oust its leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate who is under house arrest.
Besides McConnell, the letter was also signed by 2008 presidential candidate John McCain along with fellow Republicans Sam Brownback, Susan Collins and Judd Gregg.
It was also signed by Democrats Barbara Boxer, Russ Feingold and Dianne Feinstein and independent Joe Lieberman.
Iran used China connection for nuke gear: report (click here)
ReutersSaturday, April 3, 2010; 5:13 PM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Western authorities are investigating whether an Iranian firm acquired valves and vacuum gauges used to enrich uranium through the representative of a Chinese firm, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.
The report appeared as the United States sought China's support for a new round of sanctions to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear activities are peaceful and legitimate.
Purchase of the equipment could violate export sanctions. The newspaper cited a diplomat in Vienna as saying the International Atomic Energy Administration and western intelligence agencies were investigating.
The probe was sparked by a Jan. 14 email to IAEA. It alleged an Iranian firm, Javedan Mehr Toos (JMT), acquired the French-made valves through an intermediary who represented Zheijiang Ouhai Trade Corp, a subsidiary of Jinzhou Group, based in China, said the report...
Obama urges China to back Iran nuclear sanctions (click here)
White House keen to exploit signals from Beijing that it might support fresh punitive measures
Chris McGreal in Washington and Julian Borger
Barack Obama has urged Beijing to "ratchet up the pressure" on Iran over its nuclear programme after a breakthrough for the US administration in persuading China to agree to talks on fresh sanctions against Tehran.
Obama told CBS news that Iran was increasingly diplomatically isolated and that international unity was essential to ensuring it did not develop nuclear weapons.
"The idea is to keep turning up the pressure," Obama said. "We're going to ratchet up the pressure and examine how they respond but we're going to do so with a unified international community."
The interview was broadcast within hours of the president's hour-long phone call from Air Force One with Hu Jintao ahead of the Chinese president's visit to the US for a nuclear non-proliferation summit later this month....
Kevin Rudd appoints Tony Burke as nation's first population minister
PM Kevin Rudd has appointed Tony Burke as the nation's first minister for population at the Lodge in Canberra today. Picture: Kym Smith Source: The Australian
- AAP
- April 03, 2010
Mr Burke will be responsible for drawing up a national population strategy and will retain his other portfolio of agriculture, fisheries and forestry.
Mr Rudd has been under pressure to better examine the nation's population, which is on a trajectory to reach 35.9 million by 2050.
He told reporters in Canberra the announcement came after a month of consideration.
"Many Australians have legitimate concerns about the sustainability of the population levels in different parts of the country,'' Mr Rudd said.
"Particularly its impact on urban congestion, its impact on the adequacy of infrastructure, its impact on the adequacy of housing supply, its impact on government services, its impact also on water and agriculture and on our regions.''...
Govt to build reservoirs in flood-prone areas
FLOOD FURY: A woman wades through a flooded area in Karawang, West Java, Indonesia. Floods inundated villages after an overflowing river bursted its banks, forcing residents to evacuate. Photo: AP
Indonesia needs consultation with the Agricultural Secretary of the USA. Deforesting to convert to agricultural lands is destroying the land and the ability of that land to retain water. The flooding is directly due to mismanagement of sensitive tropical forests when they are cut down in high moisture climates.
Mustaqim Adamrah , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Mon, 03/29/2010 10:37 AM | Business
The government will build on-farm reservoirs in the near future in flood-prone villages, (click title to entry - thank you) including in flood-hit Karawang in West Java, where flash floods have hit farms and may endanger food supplies, to try to help prevent future disasters.
“In the short term, [we] will build on-farm reservoirs in flood-prone villages,” Agriculture Minister Suswono told The Jakarta Post over the weekend in a short text message.
“[We] will give seeds and fertilizers as replacements [for damaged ones] to farmers in areas affected by the floods.”
Suswono, however, did not elaborate how much money would be spent on these plans.
He also did not say how government plans might help mitigate an ongoing lack of food supplies in the affected area — as a result of the floods — which originated outside the Karawang regency and have caused major problems for thousands of victims, including many children, who have begin to suffer from diseases.
The minister added that future challenges to the agricultural sector included climate change, massive land conversion and poor infrastructure, including damaged irrigation systems.
“The government will soon issue a government regulation on the implementing regulation of the 2009 Law on the Protection of Sustainable Agricultural Production for Food to protect productive lands,” he said, adding the regulation was expected to be finalized later this year.
The floods in Karawang, which have lasted more than a week, are believed to be the worst in 15 years.
Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan has blamed the situation partially on the conversion of large tracts of the banks of the Citarum River into agricultural land, leading to “22 percent of the land becoming problematic”....
Killing of 'Innocent'
RACKET BUSTED: BSF officials showing the fake Indian currency notes worth Rs 65 lakhs, recovered from two Pakistani smugglers at Naushehra Dallahan village near Indo-Pak international border, about 55 kms from Amritsar. Photo: PTI
48 officials arrested in Orissa mining scam (click here)
Posted on Apr 03, 2010 at 20:52Bhubaneshwar: Orissa Police have arrested 48 officials from different companies in Keonjhar district for allegedly running a racket transporting illegal iron ores from Orissa across Jharkhand with the alleged connivance of railway officials.
"The investigation is progressing. Based on evidence 48 officials have been arrested and investigation will continue. Whoever will be guilty will be brought to book. The transportation of ores was being carried out by a mafia," said Orissa Steel and Mines Secretary Ashok Dalwai.
Understanding of the Local Situation (click here)
Other local and regional circumstances need to be taken into account. Among these is the mistrust of local leaders in the central authority in Kabul, Peshawar and Islamabad. Pakistani authorities in Islamabad have not forgotten that at the time of independence in 1947 , the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) wanted to opt for India rather than for Pakistan!
Religious divisions between Sunni and Shia have traditionally been more pronounced in Afghanistan. The Shias of the Hazara area in central Afghanistan, in Helmand Province and other parts of south-western Afghanistan are inherently in conflict with the Sunni majority in Kabul. Since Iran has expanded its involvement in the AfPak area, Sunni-Shia confrontations are on the increase in Pakistan.
Feudalism, poverty and corruption* all have been an inherent part of life in the AfPak area. They are three elements which have considerable influence on today’s crises in the two countries.
* ‘Corruption’ is a term which unfortunately is used abroad in a simplistic and undifferentiated manner. It does not take into account the many forms so-called ‘corruption’ can take from simple favouratism based on local traditions to modern criminal acts of dishonesty. There is no single approach in dealing with Afghan behaviour that foreign politicians conveniently describe as ‘corruption.’
The UN identifies Afghanistan as one of the poorest countries in the world with an average life expectancy of only 42 years, an adult literacy rate of around 28% and a mortality rate of children under five of 297/1000. The picture in the tribal belt of Pakistan along the border with Afghanistan is not any different.
India has never fully accepted that three of its western provinces (Sind, Baluchistan and NWFP) and parts of the Punjab were taken away in 1947 to form today’s Pakistan. This explains to some extent the interest India has shown since then in maintaining a strong political foothold in Afghanistan....
Al Qaeda in the AfPak strategy (click here)
By Marc Lynch 
Wednesday, December 9, 2009 - 1:27 PM
...I am more concerned with an issue more in the areas where I focus: the relationship between al Qaeda Central and the broader network of affiliated movements (AQAM, in the lingo) and like-minded individuals (which me might call AQN, the al Qaeda Network). A key part of the Obama administration's strategy has been a very successful reorientation of America's relationship with the Muslim world, downplaying al Qaeda and refusing to allow that extremist fringe to hijack or monopolize those vital relationships. But the new focus on al Qaeda in the AfPak strategy threatens to reverse that vital achievement ... and even to revive al Qaeda's flagging fortunes in the wider Muslim world.
In part, this refects a debate which has been raging for years over the importance of AQC to the wider network of salafi-jihadist groups and individuals. The Obama administration's Afghanistan strategy seems to have taken one side in that debate –- but whether that is because it is correct, or because it is useful to justify an Afghan military strategy chosen for other reasons, is hugely important.
For Bruce Hoffmann and other "Centralists," al Qaeda Central continues to play an extremely important role in guiding, shaping, arming, and directing the seemingly inchoate network of jihadists. They point to evidence of contacts between the perpetrators of well-known cases and AQC affiliated people in Pakistan or elsewhere. They point to the deluge of AQ propaganda still pouring out of al-Sahab and other jihadist media outlets. On the other side, Marc Sageman and other "bunch of guys" analysts see the threat as primarily one of a very loosely affiliated network of like-minded individuals and organizations who neither need nor want direction from AQC. If AQC was needed as a spark to light the fire, it is no longer needed to keep the fires burning or new fires from breaking out when local conditions come together...
Orissa requires more time to start anti-Maoist operation (click here)
PTI
Thursday, April 1, 2010 21:56 IST
"Though the BSF battalions have arrived they need to undergo familiarisation training before starting the joint operation ... They need to know the topography of the area where they will have to fight against unknown enemies," Prakash Mishra, chief of anti-Maoist operation in Orissa, told PTI today.
Five battalions of BSF have reached the state for joint operations in Koraput-Malkangiri-Dantewada axis along the border....
Two female suicide bombers blew themselves up killing at least 35 people.
Moscow blasts equivalent to 2 kg TNT each - prosecutor (click here for video)
Dzhennet Abdurakhmanova, left, posing with her late husband Umalat Magomedov, who was killed in 2009. ( AFP Photo/Newsteam)
Teenager Named ‘Paradise’ Identified as Perpetrator of Moscow Metro Attack (click here)
Moscow. She was a 17-year-old girl from a village deep in the North Caucasus with a baby face and a name meaning paradise.
Dzhennet Abdurakhmanova is suspected of strapping several kilograms of explosives to her body on March 29 and heading into the bustling Moscow metro with a female companion.
She then detonated her explosives at a metro station, killing more than 20 people. Forty minutes later, the other woman blew herself up at another Moscow station. Later, investigators would find her severed head, smeared in blood, on the metro platform.
Like other Muslim Russian women who carried out suicide bombings earlier in the decade, Abdurakhmanova was a “Black Widow”, the wife of a leading Caucasus militant killed by the Russian security forces.
“Her identity has been confirmed and checked out in several directions. It’s been established with almost 100 percent certainty that it was she who carried out the act,” Interfax quoted a Dagestan security source as saying.
Recent photographs published on Friday showed Abdurakhmanova posing in an Islamic headscarf with her late husband, Umalat Magomedov.
Abdurakhmanova proudly points a pistol to the sky. Her husband is holding a larger weapon....
Holy Fire arrives in Moscow, taken to main cathedral (click here)
"We know that in the given situation they (terrorists) are hiding on the bottom, but it is a prestige issue for the law enforcement agencies to pick them out in to the sunlight from the bottom of the stinking sewer. And I am confident that this will be done," Putin said.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow is well informed about the so-called "no-man's land" on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the terrorist underground has entrenched itself...
Dzhennet Abdurakhmanova, left, posing with her late husband Umalat Magomedov, who was killed in 2009. ( AFP Photo/Newsteam)
Teenager Named ‘Paradise’ Identified as Perpetrator of Moscow Metro Attack (click here)
Moscow. She was a 17-year-old girl from a village deep in the North Caucasus with a baby face and a name meaning paradise. Dzhennet Abdurakhmanova is suspected of strapping several kilograms of explosives to her body on March 29 and heading into the bustling Moscow metro with a female companion.
She then detonated her explosives at a metro station, killing more than 20 people. Forty minutes later, the other woman blew herself up at another Moscow station. Later, investigators would find her severed head, smeared in blood, on the metro platform.
Like other Muslim Russian women who carried out suicide bombings earlier in the decade, Abdurakhmanova was a “Black Widow”, the wife of a leading Caucasus militant killed by the Russian security forces.
“Her identity has been confirmed and checked out in several directions. It’s been established with almost 100 percent certainty that it was she who carried out the act,” Interfax quoted a Dagestan security source as saying.
Recent photographs published on Friday showed Abdurakhmanova posing in an Islamic headscarf with her late husband, Umalat Magomedov.
Abdurakhmanova proudly points a pistol to the sky. Her husband is holding a larger weapon....
Holy Fire arrives in Moscow, taken to main cathedral (click here)
23:4403/04/2010
The Holy Fire from Jerusalem arrived at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport on Saturday evening and was taken to Christ the Savior Cathedral, the Foundation of St. Andrew the First-Called said on Saturday.
A special flight with a delegation of Russian religious, government and public figures landed at 22:30 Moscow time, where it was greeted by hundreds of believers.
The Holy Fire that is lit every year at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem on the day preceding Orthodox Easter is believed by Orthodox Christians to be a miracle.
From Moscow the Holy Fire, which pilgrims say does not burn in the first minutes after it has been lit, is "distributed" among churches in containers similar to those used to transport the Olympic flame.
This year it will be taken to the Voskresensky Monastery for the first time. The Moscow Region monastery, better known as the New Jerusalem, was founded by Patriarch Nikon in 1656 in accordance with a popular sentiment that Moscow was the Third Rome, the last stronghold of Orthodox Christianity.
Every Orthodox church in Russia holds Paschal liturgies on the night of Holy Saturday that last well into Easter morning.
MOSCOW, April 3 (RIA Novosti)
"We know that in the given situation they (terrorists) are hiding on the bottom, but it is a prestige issue for the law enforcement agencies to pick them out in to the sunlight from the bottom of the stinking sewer. And I am confident that this will be done," Putin said.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow is well informed about the so-called "no-man's land" on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the terrorist underground has entrenched itself...
Mine conditions dire, say divers
Thursday's gas explosion in Henan killed 19.
3:00 AM Sunday Apr 4, 2010BEIJING: The first group of rescuers and divers entered a flooded Chinese mine last night where 153 workers have been trapped for almost a week, with two returning within hours and calling the situation underground "very difficult".
There were no further signs of life from underground after tapping was heard on Friday.
The two divers said the water was murky and complicated efforts to reach the place where rescuers hope to find survivors. Two other divers and seven rescuers were still in the mine late last night.
The first team had been expected to explore conditions underground before more rescuers are sent.
The soonest that any large-scale rescue effort can be launched is later today, a spokesman at rescue headquarters said....
China to launch nationwide campaign to inspect work safety (click here)
English.news.cn 2010-04-04 02:42:09BEIJING, April 3 (Xinhua) -- China will launch a two-month campaign to inspect work safety nationwide on April 5, according to the work safety commission of the State Council, or the Cabinet.
Serious accidents took place in succession in some areas and industries recently, which shows negligence and loopholes in work safety management and serious violations to laws and regulations, said a circular issued by the commission.
The inspection would focus on work safety in mines, the chemical industry, transportation and fire-works mills, among others.
The campaign would include self-examination by enterprises, government inspection and public supervision.
Enterprises are required to complete self-examination in April and local governments to conduct inspection in May, while the commission would dispatch supervision teams to check their work.
The nationwide campaign comes days after 153 coal miners were trapped in a flooded coal mine in north China's Shanxi Province, which will be China's worst mining disaster in more than two years if the miners cannot be saved.
"Trying to Make a Living" by Firehouse
Well I woke up this morning, pulled myself out of bed
I wish that I could sleep the day away
Just a day like any other, same old thing, over and over
I'm overworked and underpaid (and it's killing me)
Not even breakin' even, work my fingers to the bone
Barely gettin' by, keeps gettin' harder
I'm slaving on the grindstone and I get no breaks at all
Just trying to keep my head above the water
Can't make ends meet, can't even save a dime
Feels like I spend my life working overtime
Tryin' to make a livin', gotta pay the rent
(just) tryin' to make a livin', wonder where my money went
Never seem to get ahead, it's getting' easier to see
(just) tryin' to make a livin' and it's killing me
Times are getting tough seems I never make enough
Just doing what I can to stay alive
And I'd like to take a day off but I can't afford a layoff
Gotta keep this damn job to survive
Can't make ends meet I can't even save a dime
Feels like I spend my life working overtime
Tryin' to make a livin', gotta pay the rent
(just) tryin' to make a livin', wonder where my money went
Never seem to get ahead, it's getting' easier to see
(just) tryin' to make a livin' and it's killing me
Life in the USA under the consumer protections of George Walker Bush. Wash your hands everyone.
I am sure Georgie would agree, if anyone cared to ask him, that what we need most is Tort Reform, isn't that right Georgie?
I mean after all the cases that are filed are ALWAYS about gaming the system, right? Who actually is gaming the system, honey?
You know I am such a skeptic of the entire Bush administration for eight long and hideous years, how is the fund raising going for Haiti as opposed to the "W" Library? The "Clean Hands Club." Oh, my, did I take that too far? Oh.
So let me see if I get this right.
As long as Wall Street was raking in the profits from faulty medical devices Medicare could repeatedly replace artificial joints.
"Keep moving."
But, NOW, that the wealthy have to pay taxes toward health care for the nation, there has to be RESPONSIBILITY by Wall Street.
Well.
I'll be darn.
William R. Morris had his three-year-old artificial hip replaced in January because it was failing. It was his third hip replacement since 2006.
And of course, the 'disability' time and lack of income and repeated deductibles and frequent office visits and potential to infection and nosocomial infections and DEATHS from infection that occurred due to repeated exposure to FAILURE and REPLACEMENT.
It is such a joy to be "Born in the USA."
The words 'guinea pig' comes to mind.
I mean after all the cases that are filed are ALWAYS about gaming the system, right? Who actually is gaming the system, honey?
You know I am such a skeptic of the entire Bush administration for eight long and hideous years, how is the fund raising going for Haiti as opposed to the "W" Library? The "Clean Hands Club." Oh, my, did I take that too far? Oh.
So let me see if I get this right.
As long as Wall Street was raking in the profits from faulty medical devices Medicare could repeatedly replace artificial joints.
"Keep moving."
But, NOW, that the wealthy have to pay taxes toward health care for the nation, there has to be RESPONSIBILITY by Wall Street.
Well.
I'll be darn.
William R. Morris had his three-year-old artificial hip replaced in January because it was failing. It was his third hip replacement since 2006.
And of course, the 'disability' time and lack of income and repeated deductibles and frequent office visits and potential to infection and nosocomial infections and DEATHS from infection that occurred due to repeated exposure to FAILURE and REPLACEMENT.
It is such a joy to be "Born in the USA."
...The million or so artificial hips and knees implanted each year in the United States, they say, are normally not guaranteed. Instead, the costs of replacing implants that fail early because of design or mechanical problems — devices that sell for as much as $15,000 each — are largely paid by Medicare, insurance companies and patients.
Implants can fail for many reasons, but if only a small percentage of them fail prematurely because they are substandard, the costs to taxpayers, policyholders and patients can run into the tens of millions of dollars each year, health care experts estimate.
Orthopedic producers may sometimes even profit from the failures because they sell the replacements at full price...
IT IS LARGER THAN JUST THE FAILURE OF THE DEVICES !!!!!!!!!!!!!The words 'guinea pig' comes to mind.
Friday, April 02, 2010
I've been following the coverage CNN is giving the 'bullying' issues in American schools.
CNN likes their exposes'. They have a 'composition' style of journalism and it lends itself well to their form reporting. I am not going to beleaguer this point. The descriptions I have heard sound a great deal as if they are influenced by outside forces resulting in 'social pressure,' and not just 'peer pressure.'
If I may?
There was a straight A student that recently ended his own life. Some of the 'hazing' that occurred sounded as though it has come right out of movies and television scenes of 'tough guys.'
"His head was put in a toilet bowl."
Sure parental supervision of children could be blamed, but, it is more than that. It has been years since Columbine and now rather than 'mass murder' with guns in schools, there are misguided young people that are playing out images against their school mates and sending them into self destruction.
District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel, said nine teens had been charged in the 'unrelenting' bullying of Phoebe Prince. Photograph: Michael S. Gordon/AP
There needs to be better 'models' for school administrations to bring in authority, such as, police when hazing is an issue, no matter the grade. The students doing the 'hazing' might have to be removed from the environment where learning takes place in compassion of others. Maybe Bullies need their own schools. Like a 'Bully Magnet Academy,' where they focus on overachievement rather than their OWN insecurities and self-esteem issues when they find out they have some of the worst character flaws in society.
Some of the Principals and Superintendents might be intimidated by potential lawsuits by parents or by retaliation of violence by the students against them or increased intimidation or worse of the student being hazed.
At any rate, I believe they are at a loss to know what to do. Additionally, I believe it is grossly negligent of State governments NOT to outlaw 'social networking sites' from minors. They should NOT be allowed to recruit students under the age of 18.
At all.
Social networking sites provide a venue for the exploitation of young people and children. It provides too much access to 'personal' information without proper supervision. It is 'the wilds' of our society. A child and young person should not be exposed to 'the wild' until they are prepared to handle it.
There should not be violence allowed in commercials in venues where young minds meet. And the information provided to 'youth' cell phones should be strictly regulated with severe penalties for any victimization of American children and young people.
The youthful minds of the American society should not be saturated with violence in any venue, but, with learning and achievement in academics, social competency and athletic ability to some degree along with GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP.
I am appalled that young people and children are being prosecuted for pedophilia when they are exchanging nude pictures of themselves over their cell phones or any other means that is possible over the internet.
Placing 'adult' crimes in the lives of youth is NOT the answer to protecting them. That is further victimization of American youth by commercial technical venues.
The responsibility and the prosecution lies with the venue provider and their allowance of such a crime to occur. Our youth are not protected and that is plainly obvious. Our American children and young people are NOT 'for profit' entities within our society.
The American Violence Culture needs to be off limits to American youth and I don't care what form that takes, it is simply "W"rong.
If technology cannot protect young minds, then we don't need the technology. Where parents don't follow protection laws of the youth of the country, they need to be fined and ultimately jailed instead of their children.
If I may?
There was a straight A student that recently ended his own life. Some of the 'hazing' that occurred sounded as though it has come right out of movies and television scenes of 'tough guys.'
"His head was put in a toilet bowl."
Sure parental supervision of children could be blamed, but, it is more than that. It has been years since Columbine and now rather than 'mass murder' with guns in schools, there are misguided young people that are playing out images against their school mates and sending them into self destruction.
District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel, said nine teens had been charged in the 'unrelenting' bullying of Phoebe Prince. Photograph: Michael S. Gordon/AP
There needs to be better 'models' for school administrations to bring in authority, such as, police when hazing is an issue, no matter the grade. The students doing the 'hazing' might have to be removed from the environment where learning takes place in compassion of others. Maybe Bullies need their own schools. Like a 'Bully Magnet Academy,' where they focus on overachievement rather than their OWN insecurities and self-esteem issues when they find out they have some of the worst character flaws in society.
Some of the Principals and Superintendents might be intimidated by potential lawsuits by parents or by retaliation of violence by the students against them or increased intimidation or worse of the student being hazed.
At any rate, I believe they are at a loss to know what to do. Additionally, I believe it is grossly negligent of State governments NOT to outlaw 'social networking sites' from minors. They should NOT be allowed to recruit students under the age of 18.
At all.
Social networking sites provide a venue for the exploitation of young people and children. It provides too much access to 'personal' information without proper supervision. It is 'the wilds' of our society. A child and young person should not be exposed to 'the wild' until they are prepared to handle it.
There should not be violence allowed in commercials in venues where young minds meet. And the information provided to 'youth' cell phones should be strictly regulated with severe penalties for any victimization of American children and young people.
The youthful minds of the American society should not be saturated with violence in any venue, but, with learning and achievement in academics, social competency and athletic ability to some degree along with GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP.
I am appalled that young people and children are being prosecuted for pedophilia when they are exchanging nude pictures of themselves over their cell phones or any other means that is possible over the internet.
Placing 'adult' crimes in the lives of youth is NOT the answer to protecting them. That is further victimization of American youth by commercial technical venues.
The responsibility and the prosecution lies with the venue provider and their allowance of such a crime to occur. Our youth are not protected and that is plainly obvious. Our American children and young people are NOT 'for profit' entities within our society.
The American Violence Culture needs to be off limits to American youth and I don't care what form that takes, it is simply "W"rong.
If technology cannot protect young minds, then we don't need the technology. Where parents don't follow protection laws of the youth of the country, they need to be fined and ultimately jailed instead of their children.
It isn't easy being an elected official in the USA. The Governors are being threatened as the States are partnered with the Federal Government...
...on Health Care. Call out the National Guard to take care of the Governor if the State Police protection isn't enough or stretched to thin because of budget cut backs OR if the State Police just aren't armed the right way. I wouldn't hesitate for a minute.
Guardians of the free Republics sends extremist letters to governors, including Perdue, NC
Office of Governor Beverly Perdue
Nut Case militias. They kill abortion doctors and now they threaten Governors. Nice, real nice. And the FCC can't do anything about the propaganda that facilitates this mess. What doesn't the FCC understand about this? Maybe we need a few lynching or something. I just don't know.
It is called 'treason.' Maybe that might be helpful. When people call for the over throw of the government by hook or by crook, it is treason.
Guardians of the free Republics sends extremist letters to 30 governors, including Bev Perdue (click title to entry - thank you)
Nut Case militias. They kill abortion doctors and now they threaten Governors. Nice, real nice. And the FCC can't do anything about the propaganda that facilitates this mess. What doesn't the FCC understand about this? Maybe we need a few lynching or something. I just don't know.
It is called 'treason.' Maybe that might be helpful. When people call for the over throw of the government by hook or by crook, it is treason.
Guardians of the free Republics sends extremist letters to 30 governors, including Bev Perdue (click title to entry - thank you)
An extremist group called Guardians of the free Republics has sent menacing letters to over 30 state governors, demanding their resignations, over the last few days. The group intends to restore America by limiting the influence of the government.
Bev Perdue, governor of North Carolina was one of the recipients of the letters, which demanded that the governors step down within three days, or they will be removed from office. The FBI and DHS (Department of Homeland Security) do not suspect violent intentions, but, according to a report from CNN on the extremist letters, "law enforcement should be aware that this could be interpreted as a justification for violence or other criminal actions."
The letters are still under investigation, but Guardians of the free Republics openly opposes violent action. The group wants to make it clear that it also opposes many aspects of government, and that viewpoint was the subject of the letters sent to governors calling for their resignations.
Professor Phil Jones exonerated. When is the criminal 'e-mail' break-in going to be prosecuted?
The British Government's Science and Technology Committee (click title to entry - thank you) have today released their report into the disclosure of climate data from the University of East Anglia, largely exonerating Professor Phil Jones and the rest of the university's Climatic Research Unit (CRU). Professor Jones (pictured above), the director of the CRU, became the centre of a global media whirlwind late last year after the university's servers were hacked and several years worth of his team's personal email correspondence were released onto the internet. Climate sceptics used phrases from these emails to attack the CRU and Climate Science as a whole; however the committee today concluded that there is no evidence to challenge the "scientific consensus" that global warming is induced by human activities.
Much of the furore focused on two particular phrases in the emails - "trick" and "hiding the decline." However, today's report accepted that they were colloquial terms used in private e-mails and the "balance of evidence is that they were not part of a systematic attempt to mislead." The report also noted that Phil Jones and his workmates were scapegoats on whom the focus had been "largely misplaced." It went on to blame the university itself for its poor handling of freedom of information requests and a culture of non-disclosure....
The President is mislead in lifting the moritorim on offshore drilling.
Wry Heat (click here)
by Jonathan DuHamel, Economic Geologist
by wryheat on Apr.02, 2010, under energy“Obama greatly expands drilling for oil, gas off American shores” read the front page headline in the April 1 edition of the Arizona Daily Star. This Associated Press story claimed that “President Obama threw open a huge swath of East Coast waters and other protected areas in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico to drilling Wednesday, widening the politically explosive hunt for more homegrown oil and gas.” “The president’s move allows drilling from Delaware to central Florida, plus the northern waters of Alaska, and exploration could begin 50 miles off the Virginia coast by 2012.”...
Besides all the other reasons I already stated, primarily safety of coastal communities and Haiti. It is morally "W"rong to break the moratorium.
If the USA has ONLY 2% of the oil in the world, that belongs to the military, no one else. It might be that future generations will need that oil to protect USA borders. It is wrong, completely wrong to allow not only offshore drilling, but, ANY drilling at all.
...The fundamental problem is this: there is a finite amount of fossil fuel....(click title to entry - thank you)
...The more of it we find and burn, the more carbon we put into the atmosphere, and the more severe the greenhouse effect becomes. Once the carbon is in the atmosphere, it stays there. If we want to limit climate change, what we have to do, one way or another, is to leave fuels in the ground wherever possible, not find and burn them....
March came in like a lion and left like a lion, but, with record double digit temperatures and floods, one would never know it according to ...
I am completely disillusioned with the FCC and their inability to take these liars and racists off the air. There is a gross difference between what Murdoch and Limbaugh do vs the KKK. With the KKK, one knows where they stand and they don't lie about where they stand. Calling themselves 'infotainment' is a gross distortion of Freedom of Speech.
One other thing. As Spring wears on into Summer, there will be sustained triple digit temperatures. Those without any way of coping with the heat and cities unaccustomed to helping citizens with heat related issues might want to prepare.
This is ONLY the beginning.
It may be the year that will realize nearly an iceless Arctic Ocean. That isn't a good thing. As there are occurrences of less and less ice in the Arctic Ocean for longer and longer periods of time, it will facilitate the heating of the oceans and terra firma.
April 2, 2010
10:45 GMT
USA Temperature Map
...the Right Wing media. Not cold enough for them?
Today, as Neil Boortz gets closer and closer to the goal of his April Rally in DC, the distortions and 'dream weaving' is more and more hideous.
His movement wants to instill "The Fair Tax" while dismantling the 16th and 17th Amendment in the Bill of Rights.
According to him when the ? Fair Tax ? is passed it will take effect after the 16th Amendment has been repealed.
Now the entire 'idea' that a Bill passed into Law could repeal a Ratified Amendment to the USA Constitution is unconstitutional. A bill can be passed to repeal an Amendment. At least there can be. But, at any rate, the circus these broadcast's cause is grossly misleading to the audience they have. I believe IF there was to be a repeal of any amendment to the USA Constitution it has to go through the same process as when it was ratified. To actually have people in the USA believe a Bill passed into Law can achieve all that is hideous. Quite frankly, the Boortz Fair Tax Bill could sit idle FOREVER, if the 16th Amendment was never repealed. Additionally, to think the USA would never face ANY set of circumstances where taxation of income wasn't necessary is only attempting to dismantle the military when we might need it most. None of it makes sense. The ? Fair ? Tax is a victimization of the people, both, in concept and in actual practice.
- Senators Elected by Popular Vote. Ratified 4/8/1913.
I guess one could tell I just finished a long drive on the paved roads of the USA.
One other thing. As Spring wears on into Summer, there will be sustained triple digit temperatures. Those without any way of coping with the heat and cities unaccustomed to helping citizens with heat related issues might want to prepare.
This is ONLY the beginning.
It may be the year that will realize nearly an iceless Arctic Ocean. That isn't a good thing. As there are occurrences of less and less ice in the Arctic Ocean for longer and longer periods of time, it will facilitate the heating of the oceans and terra firma.
April 2, 2010
10:45 GMT
USA Temperature Map
...the Right Wing media. Not cold enough for them?
Today, as Neil Boortz gets closer and closer to the goal of his April Rally in DC, the distortions and 'dream weaving' is more and more hideous.
His movement wants to instill "The Fair Tax" while dismantling the 16th and 17th Amendment in the Bill of Rights.
According to him when the ? Fair Tax ? is passed it will take effect after the 16th Amendment has been repealed.
Now the entire 'idea' that a Bill passed into Law could repeal a Ratified Amendment to the USA Constitution is unconstitutional. A bill can be passed to repeal an Amendment. At least there can be. But, at any rate, the circus these broadcast's cause is grossly misleading to the audience they have. I believe IF there was to be a repeal of any amendment to the USA Constitution it has to go through the same process as when it was ratified. To actually have people in the USA believe a Bill passed into Law can achieve all that is hideous. Quite frankly, the Boortz Fair Tax Bill could sit idle FOREVER, if the 16th Amendment was never repealed. Additionally, to think the USA would never face ANY set of circumstances where taxation of income wasn't necessary is only attempting to dismantle the military when we might need it most. None of it makes sense. The ? Fair ? Tax is a victimization of the people, both, in concept and in actual practice.
Amendment 16 - Status of Income Tax Clarified. Ratified 2/3/1913.
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.
In 1895, in the Supreme Court case of Pollock v Farmer's Loan and Trust (157 U.S. 429), the Court disallowed a federal tax on income from real property. The tax was designed to be an indirect tax, which would mean that states need not contribute portions of a whole relative to its census figures. The Court, however, ruled that the tax was a direct tax and subject to apportionment. This was the last in a series of conflicting court decisions dating back to the Civil War. Between 1895 and 1909, when the amendment was passed by Congress, the Court began to back down on its position, as it became clear not only to accountants but to everyone that the solvency of the nation was in jeopardy. In a series of cases, the definition of "direct tax" was modified, bent, twisted, and coaxed to allow more taxation efforts that approached an income tax.Finally, with the ratification of the 16th Amendment, any doubt was removed. The text of the Amendment makes it clear that though the categories of direct and indirect taxation still exist, any determination that income tax is a direct tax will be irrelevant, because taxes on incomes, from salary or from real estate, are explicitly to be treated as indirect. The Congress passed the Amendment on July 12, 1909, and it was ratified on February 3, 1913 (1,302 days).
Boortz and his listening audience wants to dismantle the USA Senate by claiming the States don't have representation in Washington, DC. Evidently, (P) Andora and Russia do, but, the States don't. Well, regardless the dream scape of this idiot the process would have to be the same. A bill would propose a repeal and in this case, I really don't see that bill passing ANY Senate vote, regardless, of its political composition.- Senators Elected by Popular Vote. Ratified 4/8/1913.
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.
When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.
This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.
The this afternoon's session of Rush Lamebaugh was nothing but pure unadulterated racism. According to Lamebaugh, the President hats White People because he hasn't gotten his feet wet in Rhode Island yet. Not only that but evidently President Obama has been speaking about USA Labor in Russia. According to Lamebaugh, President Obama has been using the words, 'worker,' 'factory,' and 'storefront' and they are all Marxist words. Funny, I always thought storefront was a small business word. But, alas that is only when "W" speaks it and not a freely elected Democratic President. Then again, maybe it is that 'hate for white people' that keeps bleeding through the Russian dialect that Lamebaugh is detecting.I guess one could tell I just finished a long drive on the paved roads of the USA.
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