Date: 04/30/12

Time :  07:56 AK

Weather: Cloudy

Broken Clouds at 500 feet

Overcast at 27 feet

Visibilty:  8mi

Temperature:  39 degrees Fahrenheit

Dew point: 36 degrees Fahrenheit

Relative Humidity: 89%


Wind: NorthWest at 9mph

Presssure: 29.60 inches of mercury

Pressure: 1002.4 → millibars

Forecast for the next week:

Today...Periods of rain. Highs around 46. North wind 10 mph.

Tonight...Rain likely. Lows around 37. Light winds. 

Tuesday...Rain likely. Highs around 50. Light winds. 

Tuesday Night...Rain. Lows around 37. Southeast wind 10 mph. 

Wednesday...Rain. Highs around 49. Southeast wind 10 mph. 

Wednesday Night And Thursday...Cloudy. Chance of rain. Lows around 37. Highs around 51. 

Thursday Night And Friday...Mostly cloudy. Chance of rain. Lows around 37. Highs around 51. 

Friday Night...Rain likely. Lows around 37. 

Saturday Through Sunday...Rain likely. Highs around 52. Lows around 37.

Arctic exploration to study undersea greenhouse gases (click here)

By Margaret Munro

Postmedia News 

April 29, 2012

The oil and gas industry may be eyeing the energy riches under the Arctic Ocean, but scientists are even keener to start drilling in Canada's polar waters.
They say the Beaufort Sea, in the western Canadian Arctic, holds clues to several environmental mysteries of global significance - chief among them why so much methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is now seeping out of the sea floor.
An international team is proposing an ambitious drilling program to extract some answers. Researchers from Canada, the United States, Europe and Korea want to drill a series of wells from the Mackenzie Delta across the Beaufort Sea.
If approved, drilling could begin as early as 2015, the first holes bored into the Canadian Arctic in years....
...She and her colleagues say the Beaufort is the best place in the Arctic to assess the stability of undersea permafrost and gas deposits and to fill in big gaps in climate science.
They want to drill down through sediments that have rained onto the sea floor over eons, revealing how the Arctic ice has waxed and waned, and into the thick slabs of permafrost and frozen gas beneath the sea floor that have the potential to accelerate global warming....
...The shallow waters that fringe the Arctic are among the most dynamic and understudied part of the world's oceans, says geologist Scott Dallimore, at Natural Resources Canada, co-leader of the planned project. The waters cover continental shelves that run more than three million square kilometres along the north coasts of North America and Siberia, or 30 per cent of the Arctic Ocean.
Permafrost hundreds of metres thick occurs on the shelves, and has been slowly warming since the end of the last ice age.
As the slabs of permafrost warm, they can destabilize the sea bed, generating underwater landslides that send sediments barrelling down from the continental shelf into the deep ocean.
One landslide, discovered by Natural Resources Canada scientists in the Beaufort, left more than 200 square kilometres of sediments strewn across the deep-sea floor.
More worrisome to many observers is the massive store of methane sitting beneath the permafrost in the form of gas hydrates....


If one recalls 'gas hydrates' of methane was the sole reason BP's containment operations in the Gulf of Mexico with of the exploded well head of Deepwater Horizon failed. The giant cement cap, which was to funnel gas and oil to a waiting ship above to contain the rupture, was lifted off the sea floor due to frozen methane hydrates. With the sheer knowledge of these structures existing naturally in the Arctic waters, there is profound concern over the drilling by the petroleum industry in this region of Earth. The conditions at these sites are far more harsh than the Gulf of Mexico. This simple reality has significant impacts on the petroleum industry's covetous ideas of oil and gas deposits there.

The Rooster

"Morning Papers" - It's Origins (click here)

"Okeydoke"

"Good Night, Moon"

The Waxing Gibbous


57.5% lit


Half Moon, okay so it is a slice more than half.

There is a cultural difference between the GOP economies and the Democratic economies.

In the GOP economies, their Social Conservatives win out and there are more babies born then job creation. Fact, not fiction.


...The figures show that on Jan. 1, 2001, (click here) the U.S. population was 283.7 million. By Jan.1, 2009, that number had risen to 305.8 million.

Those estimates show the population increasing by about 7.8 percent, below Kaine’s claim that the population jumped by 10 percent under Bush.

What about the second half of Kaine’s claim that the number of jobs only grew by 1 percent under Bush’s tenure?

We turned to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which show that in the month that the former president took office, there were about 132.5 million non-farm employees in the U.S.

In January 2008, the month after the official start of the Great Recession, the total number of non-farm workers peaked at 138 million.

But as the economic downturn took hold, that number declined, and by the time Bush left office in January 2009 there were 133.6 million non-farm employees.

So over the course of Bush Administration, the number of non-farm workers rose by about 1.1 million, or .83 percent. That’s just shy of Kaine’s claim that the number of jobs rose by 1 percent under Bush.

While Kaine’s numbers are a little off on employment and census, he’s right in suggesting that that U.S. population grew 10 times faster that jobs during George W. Bush’s presidency....

The Social Conservative wants no contraception and no abortion. That dictates increased family size. Increased family size means the income of one of the parents is meaningless as child care is no longer reasonable and one parent has to remain in the home rather than work.

...both National Right to Life and the Susan B. Anthony List (click here) highlighted what they called Romney's strong "pro-life" positions and criticized President Barack Obama for what they call a "pro-abortion agenda."...

If the paradigm of the USA shifts to women returning to the home, that increases the number of family in poverty, limits the ability of parents to send their children to college, which will limit the growth of the USA economy, except for the number of people of course. That is another thing, the number of people do cause increased economic growth, but, it just may be stunted growth.

But, to realize how important have become to the USA economy all one has to do is think about how women increase the quality of life of their families by working.

The importance of sex (click here)

Apr 12th 2006 

EVEN today in the modern, developed world, surveys show that parents still prefer to have a boy rather than a girl. One longstanding reason why boys have been seen as a greater blessing has been that they are expected to become better economic providers for their parents' old age. Yet it is time for parents to think again. Girls may now be a better investment.

Girls get better grades at school than boys, and in most developed countries more women than men go to university. Women will thus be better equipped for the new jobs of the 21st century, in which brains count a lot more than brawn. In Britain far more women than men are now training to become doctors. And women are more likely to provide sound advice on investing their parents' nest egg: surveys show that women consistently achieve higher financial returns than men do....

Women are important to the modern economy. They are more important than deciding what laundry detergent to purchase, where the best prices for goods are or driving the children to their next practice session. Not to diminish those activities, but, they are not income based activities. And in a world where computers are available in homes these days all those activities are better organized with a touch of a key stroke.

Women have to decide what promotes the best quality of life for them and their families. Is planning a family, having an education, using it when the children start school or while they grow up and contributing to a life well lived as important as biological realities and joys? Or should women decide that political oppression of choices through control of reproductive options actually dictate the life outcomes of us and our daughters? Do women realistically believe they are better off under the oppression of Social Conservatives? Do women discern the difference that their political choices are also cultural?

In the year 2012, women have to decide if planned economic growth that is now proving itself to be consistent and sustainable is a better decision then the reality of the cultural impacts that come along with voting Republican? The year 2010 was more than a reality check, it was a realization the culture under Republican leadership is oppressive of women. We can see it across the country. 

American women have to know they are one of the most important elements to the USA economy and with that comes the demand for every aspect of freedom to decide their futures and that of their families.

Do American women want to be economic partners to their husbands and partners or do they want to have their dreams and the dreams of their children taken from them? 

An analysis of the economic performance of Clinton and "W" Bush in 2004.

In 1993, President Clinton and Vice President Gore (click here) launched their economic strategy: (1) establishing fiscal discipline, eliminating the budget deficit, keeping interest rates low, and spurring private-sector investment; (2) investing in people through education, training, science, and research; and (3) opening foreign markets so American workers can compete abroad. After eight years, the results of President Clinton’s economic leadership are clear. Record budget deficits have become record surpluses, 22 million new jobs have been created, unemployment and core inflation are at their lowest levels in more than 30 years, and America is in the midst of the longest economic expansion in our history....

Clinton had no wars.  Had it been necessary I am sure he would have engaged in a war, but, it was never necessary and the result was noted after September 11, 2001 when the entire world was at our side.


He valued women, as noted in the career oriented First Lady, to decide about their lives, their choices that allowed them to have an income or not, the Family - Medical Leave Act and one of his last acts as President was to call for an increase in the Minimum Wage.

Monday, January 8, 2001

Today, in his speech to the AFL-CIO, (click here) President Clinton will call on Congress to raise the minimum wage for millions of hard-pressed working Americans. To make up for lost time, lost wages, and the continued decline of in the purchasing power of the minimum wage, the President will call for an increase well over the $1.00 increase (to $6.15 an hour) he proposed last year....

The more money in the hands of the consumers, the stronger the economy.

He used diplomacy to open markets to trading 'online.' (new technology)

He increased the interest in the USA with tourism.

The peace quotient increased under Clinton as the USA was more or less an economic partner with other countries. (less military spending, increase in quality of life including education, etc. domestic)

William Jefferson Clinton had a plan and carried it out at every turn, including, expanding the markets overseas. 

George Walker Bush had no plans and counted on USA natural resource consumption through deregulation as Reagan did before him, the economics of war and increasing the national debt.

PPI | Front & Center | October 18, 2004
Bush vs. Clinton: An Economic Performance Index (click here)
By Robert D. Atkinson and Julie Hutto

According to public opinion polls, most Americans feel the U.S. economy has been moving in the wrong direction. Indeed, an analysis of several important economic indicators shows they're right. In apples-to-apples comparisons of annualized data, these indicators of the country's economic well-being show mostly negative change during President George W. Bush's administration, compared to mostly positive change during President Bill Clinton's administration....

I am sure the population pyramid of the USA is a curiosity, so there it is.

The GOP economy is about opportunity...

...not opportunity to benefit the citizens of the USA, but, opportunity to be elected. Under Reagan it was about deregulation. Previous to Reagan the USA had valued conservation, not conservativeism, but, conservation. There were a lot of necessary regulation to protect the natural resources of the USA for the future. For future generations.


...In early 1981 the Reagan administration deregulated oil prices. (click here) The result was an immediate and sharp increase in prices followed by a dramatic decrease. Fuel oil became extremely competitive with gas. As pipeline companies scrambled to meet the competition of fuel oil they curtailed purchases of gas from producers and other suppliers and renegotiated contracts. This created a surplus of natural gas. The pipeline companies and distributors initiated a number of programs to make natural gas more competitive with fuel oil....


Reagan didn't perform any magic. He simply looked at where the 'asset wealth' of the USA occurred and decided it was time to make his economic stand and secure his political future as President for two terms. Reagan was in office from January 20, 1981 to January 20, 1989. One of the first things he did was to deregulate the USA's natural resources. It was easy, it was guaranteed and it would work. It did. It also secured his time in the Oval Office for eight years. Republicans have been a fan of oil and natural resource exploitation ever since. In other words, "Global warming, what global warming?"


But, that doesn't really speak to the issue of women and where their particular gender fits into 'the scheme of things.'

The Taylor Rule

Why did the economy under Bush have such a random outcome from quarter to quarter and why did downturns seem to coincide with the Fed interest rates?


Because the Fed instituted the "Taylor Rule" in calculating the interest rate.


The Taylor Rule stipulates that for each one-percent increase in inflation, the central bank should raise the nominal interest rate by more than one percentage point.

The Republican methodology of stimulating the USA economy with large quantities of money for political purposes was causing inflation and the Fed was attempting to remedy the inflation, but, the problem was the SOURCE of inflation was political and not financial.

To the right is a graph of the Consumer Price Index. The Bush years were all over the place and while the GOP was bragging about increase in job numbers, the actual economy was buoyed by government spending and war spending.

May 14, 2011, 11:35 AM

During the Bush years, (click here)  I used to get triumphant letters from conservatives saying things like, “You say Bush’s policies are bad, but the economy added 110,000 jobs last month” — as if that was a big number; they had no idea what good job creation looks like....

...Do you remember a lot of hysteria about runaway inflation in, say, September 2005, when prices were 4.7 percent higher than they had been a year earlier? I don’t; I remember things like this:...

What happened between 2000 and 2009?

The Bubble Trouble graph are the years of Bush/Cheney. The country's GDP. The drop in the third quarter of 2001 was September 11, 2001.


The first assault on the USA economy by ideologues was to drain the monies from the USA Treasury with rebate checks.


I have a question as to what exactly that was all about because the so called "Dot-com Bubble" was actually brought on by six increases in interest rates by the Federal Reserve.


All three were occurring at the same time; the Dot.com growth ended, the Fed was increasing interest rates and Bush dumped the surplus into the USA economy.  The monies Bush dumped on the USA economy didn't do anything because the interest rates were significantly higher than they had been during the growth under Clinton.


The Fed interest rate bounced between 5 and 6 percent during the Clinton Administration, but, between 2000 and 2002 the interest rate surpassed 6 percent and the Dot.com economy died.

By 2004 the interest rate was below 2 percent until 2007 and it began to increase again to a rate of 3.75%. 2007 was the beginning of the Housing Bubble which began with an influx of monies from the Bush administration in 2002 with a bill that was suppose to move renters into homeowners.


At any rate, the wars started in late 2001 and the national debt of the USA started to have an increase. 


The GDP growth under Bush/Cheney was very sporatic and mostly unpredictable. Every bill coming from Congress was a spending bill and the country was distracted by the wars and personal safety due to the heightened awareness of attacks on the innocent within a country. The GDP under "W" was crazy. There was no rhyme or reason to it, everytime the economy threatened to decline before the elections of 2004, the Republicans would throw another bundle of money into the economy. But, after the fourth quarter of 2004, the GDP went haywire all over again. There was no economic plan, no vision for the future, there was simply 'having at it" to maintain political fervor. So, the end of the "W" administration wasn't about the future it was about leaving and dumping a completely disrupted economy in the laps of the next Democratic President.


But, this about what economic growth and women are all about.

The Clinton Economy developed the internet to a capacity for commerce.

New technologies increase the capacity of national growth.  


In the 1990s the growth of computer commerce contributed to the surplus in the USA Treasury. Former President Clinton put an effort to increasing internet commerce and hence the taxes paid to USA treasuries brought about not only a balanced budget to the USA, but, an income to garner for future spending.


Stop and imagine a USA Treasury with a surplus as it existed then and extrapolate it into now. Imagine an USA Treasury with a surplus to draw on when Wall Street crashed and we desperately needed a stimulus to return stability to the USA economy.


Would it not have been far better to nurture an economy with a USA Treasury as a savings for the future. The bubble of the internet was played by the Clinton Administration for the very purpose of creating a surplus in the USA Treasury. If former President Clinton believed for one minute it was best to reduce the tax burden of Americans to increase economic growth he certainly would have and could have done that, but, instead he looked into the future and saw a greater demand on the USA entitlements that the economy might now supply. So, if the surplus could garner interest and grow the future of the entitlements were safe. 


That didn't occur because the Republicans that entered the Executive Branch in 2001 had different views of what grows an economy, including vast wealth and a USA in debt. It is a foregone conclusion Republicans believe it is necessary to have debt in order to have a growing economy. In other words, the government has to spend money in order for the economy to make money and increase its growth.

Economic Growth

An increase in the capacity of an economy to produce goods and services, compared from one period of time to another. Economic growth can be measured in nominal terms, which include inflation, or in real terms, which are adjusted for inflation. For comparing one country's economic growth to another, GDP or GNP per capita should be used as these take into account population differences between countries.

Or

Economic growth is usually associated with technological changes. An example is the large growth in the U.S. economy during the introduction of the Internet and the technology that it brought to U.S. industry as a whole. The growth of an economy is thought of not only as an increase in productive capacity but also as an improvement in the quality of life to the people of that economy.

People are an economy.

Population Pyramids

This is the population pyramid for Russia in 2010. The Russian economy is considered a mature economy. It has severe reductions in it's population when it gets to the twenty somethings.


Russia has become more open to its' diaspora to encourage immigration into the country for the sake of labor.


With immigration also comes commerce. People have needs and they are consumers. The more immigrants into a country the more consumers can become a part of the economy provided they have an income to spend. So, Russia's immigrating diaspora are at the very least unskilled for manual labor. There is manual labor for them in Russia, so they do improve their economy. 


In the graph above the ratio of men to women is mostly equal until Russians meet with the age of 65. It is at that age a severe decline in longevity occurs.  The decline at 65 years old and later is disproportional with more men dying than women. But, interestingly enough those that are aged to the years of 95 and older are men.

A Mature Economy

A mature economy is the situation where the country's population has stabilized or is in decline, and where the pace of economic growth has also slowed. A population has stabilized or is in decline when the birth rate is equal to or less than the mortality rate. A mature economy is characterized by a decrease in spending on infrastructure, and a relative increase in consumer spending.


Or


One result of a mature economy is a reduced pressure to create new jobs since the workforce is not increasing. Many of Western Europe's economies are considerably more mature than that of the United States, and are in marked contrast to the faster growing economies of the Far East.

It is Sunday Night

"Love on top" sung by Beyonce (pregnant picture)

Beyonce' (Official Website - click here)

Bring the beat in!

Honey, honey
I can see the stars all the way from here
Can't you see the glow on the window pane?
I can feel the sun whenever you're near
Every time you touch me I just melt away

Now everybody asks me why I'm smiling out from ear to ear
(They say love hurts)
But I know
(It's gonna take a little work)
Nothing's perfect, but it's worth it after fighting through my fears
And finally you put me first

Baby it's you.
You're the one I love.
You're the one I need.
You're the only one I see.
Come on baby it's you.

You're the one that gives your all.
You're the one I can always call.
When I need you make everything stop.
Finally you put my love on top.

Ooo! Come on Baby.
You put my love on top, top, top, top, top.
You put my love on top.

Ooo Ooo! Come on baby.
You put my love on top, top, top, top, top.
My love on top.
My love on top.

Baby Baby
I can hear the wind whipping past my face
As we dance the night away
Boy your lips taste like a night of champagne
As I kiss you again and again and again and again

Now everybody asks me why I'm smiling out from ear to ear.
(They say love hurts)
But I know
(It's gonna take a little work)
Nothing's perfect, but it's worth it after fighting through my fears
And finally you put me first

Baby it's you.
You're the one I love.
You're the one I need.
You're the only one I see.
Come on baby it's you.

You're the one that gives your all.

You're the one I can always call.
When I need you make everything stop.
Finally you put my love on top.

Ooo! Baby.
You put my love on top, top, top, top, top.
You put my love on top.
Ooo Ooo! Come on baby.
You put my love on top, top, top, top, top.
Put My love on top.

Baby it's you.
You're the one I love.
You're the one I need.
You're the only thing I see.
Come on baby it's you.

You're the one that gives your all.
You're the one that always calls.
When I need you baby everything stops.
Finally you put my love on top.

Baby.
You're the one I love.
Baby you're all I need.
You're the only one I see.
Come on baby it's you.

You're the one that gives your all.
You're the one I always call.
When I need you everything stops.
Finally you put my love on top

Baby.
Cuz You're the one that I love.
Baby, you're the one that I need.
You're the only thing I see.
Baby baby it's you.

You're the one that gives your all.
You're the one that always calls.
When I need you everything stops.
Finally you put my love on top

Baby.

Cuz You're the one that I love.
Baby, you're the one that I need.
You're the only one I see.
Baby baby it's you.

You're the one that gives your all.
You're the one that always calls.
When I need you everything stops.
Finally you put my love on top

Representative Dana Rohrabacher needs to resign his position.

His inflammatory position in Pakistan has made him completely ineffective in foreign affairs.  This is the second time his position and presence is untenable. He did this to himself. He has been so offensive he is no longer trusted.

Fury in Pakistan After US Congressman Suggests that a Province leave (click here)

by Declan Walsh 

Published: February 21, 2012

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — An inflammatory call by an American congressman for the secession of Pakistan’s largest province has sparked uproar in the country, injecting fresh complications into stalled efforts to restart diplomatic relations between Washington and Islamabad.
The furor stems from a nonbinding resolution introduced Friday by Representative Dana Rohrabacher, Republican of California, which stated that the people of Baluchistan, a sprawling western province racked by a seven-year-old separatist insurgency, should "Have the right to self-determination and to their own sovereign country."...


A separatist state within Pakistan will not resolve the problem.  The ISI needs to be resigned in and a stronger government within the country of Pakistan has to be established. The recent ruling by the Supreme Court in Pakistan is hope there is a stronger central government developing under  the current President.  Rep. Rohrabacher is looking for a reason to extend the war in Afghanistan into a war in Pakistan as well. He has not taken proper measures to secure meaningful intervention.


Why I support Baluchistan (click here)

By Dana Rohrabacher, Published: April 6

Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican, represents California's 46th District in the U.S. House

There has been quite a stir since I introduced a resolution this year calling for recognition of the right to self-determination by the people of Baluchistan. I drafted the measure after a Feb. 8 hearing by the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on oversight and investigations that exposed horrific violations of human rights by Pakistan security forces in Baluchistan. The U.S. State Department, Amnesty International and other human rights groups have verified and denounced the extrajudicial killings, kidnappings, disappearances, illegal detention and torture being used by Pakistani authorities to suppress Baluch aspirations to control their own affairs....

He not only is he inflaming the circumstances where we have military deployed, he is inflaming the circumstances with Iran. The diplomacy with Iran does not need any more instability as Israel is currently optimistic in Iran moving away from further escalation of their nuclear program.

Washington, Mar 21 -

Today, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) (click here) sent a letter to the President of Radio Free Asia (RFA) requesting they begin “reporting on, and broadcasting to, the Baluchi population in the Baluchi language, especially those who live in Pakistan and Iran.”  The Government of Pakistan has brutally repressed Baluchi nationalism and denied the Baluchi people their right to self-determination.

“The central Government of Pakistan, despite the billions of dollars in aid that the US government has provided, has not acted in good faith with America, targets Americans for murder and has purposefully moved closer to their main ally, Communist China,” stated Rohrabacher in the letter.


“While the government and intelligence services in Pakistan act against the interests of the United States, I believe America can find common ground with the people of South Asia. The Baluchi people would be very receptive to RFA broadcasts in their own language and the increased exposure to accurate and objective news would no doubt be to our and their great benefit.”

Rep. Rohrabacher, with Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX)  and Rep. Steve King (R-IA), introduced H. Con. Res. 104 on February 17^th, which expresses the sense of Congress that the people of Baluchistan have the right to self-determination and to their own sovereign country.

On February 16^th, Rep. Rohrabacher submitted H.R. 4069 to award the Congressional Gold Medal to Shakeel Afridi, the doctor currently jailed by Pakistan for aiding the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden. In May 2011,  Rep. Rohrabacher introduced H.R. 1790 to defund all US assistance to Pakistan.

Rep. Rohrabacher is Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

I think the reason why Rep. Rohrabacher is out of line is more than obvious.  He is war mongering. There is no other words for it, I don't blame Karzai for declining him access to Afghanistan. Karzai has to live in the neighborhood after Rohrabacher leaves.

H.CON.RES.104 -- Expressing the sense (click here) of Congress that the people of Baluchistan, currently divided between Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan, have the right to self-determination and to their own sovereign... (Introduced in House - IH)

No one is happy about the jailing of Shakell Afridi, but, he has absolutely nothing to do with Baluchistan and to include him in a Congressional 'wish list' is only putting his life in more peril and not less. This act of aggression by Rohrabacher is outrageous and careless. Shakell Afridi is alive and in prison where the State Department can continue to advocate for his release. It isn't as though Secretary Clinton has not been successful in finding a method of release of others jailed. She is most qualified to advocate for Shakell Afridi. Placing Shakell Afridi in the same legislative maneuver with Baluchistan is to confuse the issue and make it more difficult to argue with the purpose of the bill. Rohrabacher needs to resign his position as Chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of theHouse International Relations Committee.

Voted NO on supporting democratic institutions in Pakistan. (click here)

Rep. Rohrabacher was way out of line calling President Karzai a primadonna.  Way out of line!

It is one thing to take interest in human rights violations and instability in Pakistan, but, to act aggressively threatening with a House Bill where NATO troops are deployed is completely irresponsible. Leadership both in Pakistan and Afghanistan hang in the balance. Pakistan is a nuclear country and any compromise of the leadership of the current President or any threat of escalating tensions between the USA and Pakistan or attempting to focus an aggressive tone toward movement within Pakistan is completely outrageous and overreaching of authority.

Published: April 23, 2012 Updated: 4:54 p.m.

Afghans deny entry to O.C. congressman (click here)

MARTIN WISCKOL / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

...Rohrabacher is a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, chairs the committee's oversight panel, and has launched a House investigation into corruption in the Afghan government and into Karzai himself.

Additionally, Rohrabacher – along with Rep.Loretta Sanchez, D-Santa Ana – met in January with Afghan opposition leaders – including those from the Northern Alliance. The group issued a joint policy statement calling for an overhaul of the Afghan government.  Rohrabacher was stopped in Dubai on Friday as part of a congressional delegation on its way to Kabul....

Representative Rohrabacher is seeking to cause more instability in an area under water two years ago. Pakistan was overwhelmed by those floods, communities were cut off, infrastructure was devastated, there is no surprise there are human rights abuses. We know anarchy dominates when catastrophe strikes and this is no different. Rebuilding infrastructure should return the men to work and bring an economy to the region if it is possible at all. Increasing tensions in the area will accomplish nothing!


WTO Approves Waiver for Pakistan Flood Recovery (click here)

Posted Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 at 12:50 pm

The World Trade Organization has approved a European Union waiver on duties for 75 Pakistani products in a plan aimed at helping Pakistan recover from devastating floods in 2010.

The waiver, announced Wednesday, affects many of Pakistan's most important export products, including textiles. It covers 27 percent of Pakistan's exports to the EU.

Competing textile exporters such as Bangladesh originally opposed the plan. But they dropped their objections after the European Union agreed to use tariff rate quotas on 20 products.

The WTO's General Council must ratify the waiver before it takes effect.

In 2010, massive floods in Pakistan killed 1,700 people, affected 20 million others and submerged one-fifth of the country....