Romney falls on his face over Solyndra, again. That is what happens when a Presidential Candidate stands on Half-Truths.

Republican presidential candidate, (click here) former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney holds a news conference outside the Solyndra manufacturing facility, Thursday, May 31, 2012, in Fremont, Calif. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

But, Romney only represents a 'Wise Man After the Fact' no different than the other investment companies. The Solyndra 'deal' was brokered by the company where the former Secretary of the Treasury, Paulson was once CEO. That's right. The entire mess that is Solyndra was brokered by Goldman Sachs. I am sure the former Governor of Massachusetts remembers the monies he obtained at Bain to broker deals. Well, this one was no different. As a matter of fact, it was Goldman Sachs that was underwriting the Solyndra IPO which when it was deemed unworthy by Price-Waterhouse. Interesting, isn't it?

Let's look at the facts and why it is easy to find half-truths in Romney's rantings.

...The company (click here) has said it intends to auction off its assets as quickly as possible, in part with the help of former Massachusetts governor William Weld, a partner in the law firm McDermott, Will & Emery, where he charges $895 an hour.

On Sept. 8, the Solyndra plot thickened again, when the FBI raided the company’s offices in connection with an investigation by the Department of Energy’s inspector general. And last week Solyndra executives pleaded the Fifth Amendment during their congressional hearing.

You would think that this kind of dicey situation would be one that a savvy Wall Street player like Goldman Sachs would know to avoid. Surely, you would think, Goldman would have some sort of internal credit committee that would put its foot down and insist that Goldman’s reputation was too important to be mixed up with a company with both an arrogant management team and a questionable business plan. (Solyndra’s advisers on the Treasury loan, including Goldman, split some $10 million in fees, according to a filing Solyndra made about the loan.)

You would also think the firm’s reputation police would put the kibosh on Solyndra, too. But Goldman, which Solyndra credited as the “exclusive financial adviser” on its Treasury loan application, kept the firm as a client through thick and thin....

The story goes on and I am sure most people can discern the fact that money was at play and having an endorsement for a government loan from a well established Wall Street investment firm where a former Secretary of the Treasury still resides over its dealings was a safe venture for the USA Energy Department. After all, this was Hank Paulson the savior of the banking world and his investment company, and on top of that they were going to be underwriting the IPO, so what was more safe than that? I mean when Solyndra was looking for funds it was just a matter of time by those involved before an IPO would bring it the monies it needed to get serious about a much larger footprint in the solar industry.

No one is going to convince me that cheap solar imports from China wasn't a factor, it was. And to President Obama's credit, he has placed surcharges on those imports. That action alone by President Obama would never have occurred under the previous administration. Not with the such affections for China as Mr. Bush's brother had and the deep abiding relationship Paulson sought while US Treasury Secretary with China. China was safe to carry out any insult to the American workforce it wanted and the profitability of American companies.

I mean let's get real here.

What was equally as interesting is how the Founder of Solyndra was this really talented guy called, Chris Gronet and all of a sudden he just moves on in his career.

Odd, isn't it?

Solyndra founder Chris Gronet to move on (click here)

Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal

Date: Saturday, August 20, 2011, 8:02am PDT  Last Modified: Monday, August 22, 2011, 5:47am PDT

Solyndra LLC disclosed in a blog post on Friday that its founder and former CEO Chris Gronet would transition to an adviser and consultant role, "pursuing new opportunities and challenges in clean-tech."

The brief announcement didn't specify details of Gronet's new role nor any financial arrangements it may entail.

The Fremont solar power company has been under fire from opponents of Pres. Barack Obama's energy policies, held up as an example of a failed effort to fund clean-tech energy alternatives....

Chris Gronet was an exceptionally talented guy. There was no technical flaw in the solar industry he could not over come. So, by every measure Solyndra was suppose to surpass expectations. The investment by the USA Energy Department was not misguided it was exploited.

...In December 2009, Solyndra filed an initial public offering to raise an unspecified amount of other people’s money to continue to finance its nonsensical business plan, including the build-out of its second production facility and to pay off the Argonaut loan. Goldman was the IPO’s lead underwriter; Morgan Stanley was the only other underwriter listed on the SEC filing, called an S-1....

...What was atypical was that the amended filing also contained a “going concern” qualification from the company’s auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers. “There can be no assurance that, in the event the Company requires additional financing, such financing will be available on terms which are favorable or at all,” according to the amended S-1....

I didn't get the name exactly correct, now did I? Memory didn't serve me well and today perhaps memory didn't serve Romney well. I really do dislike politicians that hide the truth about hopeful lending by the American people to an industry abandoned as frivolous compared to the petroleum industry which is literally destroying the benevolent troposphere of Earth. But, alas, Earth is not a Romney crony.

So, goes the lies and cult-ure of Wall Street and Willard Mitt Romney.
Oh, one other thing, how is Howard Hamm working out as the energy advisor for good, ole' Mitt? Oil guy, ya know? Not into solar, wind and stuff like that.

Former First Lady Laura Bush made the best speech today.

But, no one described her. She was truly wonderful in the only way Laura Bush can be. She completely removed herself as the focus of the ceremony and honored the citizens of the USA. It was nice to hear. Her gracious humility speaks eons to how she served our country so well. I remember her best post Katrina. She harnessed the people of Texas to come to the rescue and then attended to the details. She is very nice lady and shared the spotlight today with some of the nicest people on this Earth, the American citizen. I thank her.

...Bush is pictured (click here) standing in the Oval Office, in front of a painting titled “A Charge to Keep” that hung in the office throughout his presidency.  He said the inclusion of that background detail was appropriate. “I asked John to include it because it reminds me of the wonderful people with whom I was privileged to serve.  Whether they served in the Cabinet or on the presidential staff, these men and women, many of whom are here, worked hard and served with honor.  We had a charge to keep and we kept the charge," he said....

Buddy Roemer suspends his campaign.

By Adam Wollner 
May 31, 2012 4:46 PM 

In an election year (click here) in which record amounts of money will likely be spent, Buddy Roemer really didn't stand a chance. The former governor of Louisiana, who from the start of his campaign pledged to refuse contributions larger than $100 and any money from political action committees,officially ended his longshot presidential bid Tuesday.

 

Roemer ran an unorthodox campaign, to say the least -- especially from a fundraising standpoint. He stuck to his promise and didn't accept any large donations or PAC funds, continually denouncing the influence of corporations and lobbyists in politics. 

This is not governing, it is unconstitutional besides a ridiculous measure.

A fetus is not a citizen. It cannot sustain discrimination. It is also a law that is not enforceable. If a woman does not want a pregnancy because of the gender on an ultrasound, there are other reasons they can use to obtain the same goal. The House Republicans don't care about governing, they care about moralism and its oppression on the country. This has nothing to do with China or any other country, this is the complete moronity of self-righteous politicians that practice religion from the front of the US House of Representatives.


Abortion is not about babies. Abortion is about pregnancy. If a woman does not want a pregnancy she will end it, one way or another. The USA House of Representatives does not belong legislating 'body parts' and their purpose. A woman's uterus and whether or not she contributes to the economic growth of Wall Street is not an issue of government.

This is a country where a citizen has rights.

All citizens are equal under the law, including to marry the people they love. The Political Right Wing of the USA is "W"rong to victimize any citizen of the USA. What can happen to one can happen to all. The GOP ought to hang its head in shame for their priorities in victimizing women, minorities including the Hispanics STILL waiting for the Dream Act and the Gay Community.

Defense of Marriage Act

By Globe Staff    

  MAY 31, 2012

Elected officials and activists (click here) from around Massachusetts and around the country are reacting to the First US Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in Boston that the federal Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional:

“Society should protect and strengthen marriage, not undermine it. The federal Defense of Marriage Act provides that type of protection, and we trust the U.S. Supreme Court will reverse the 1st Circuit’s erroneous decision.”

“In allowing one state to hold the federal government, and potentially other states, hostage to redefine marriage, the 1st Circuit attempts a bridge too far. Under this rationale, if just one state decided to accept polygamy, the federal government and perhaps other states would be forced to accept it, too. The federal government had the right to step in against polygamy at one time in our nation’s history, and it has the right to step in against this attempt at marriage redefinition as well.”

— Dale Schowengerdt, legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, an alliance of Christian attorneys

The trial of John Edwards was nothing but vicious North Carolina politics

The man is among the few Democrats able and willing to lead the nation with the understanding there is a two class system in the USA. THAT, is why he is on trial and has nothing to do with his relationship with ANYONE, including Bunny Melon!


These relationships between people of potential to change the face of injustice in the country is the Southern Culture and either you survive and thrive in it or you are destine to live a life of futility forever.


I have never witnessed such a vicious political culture in my life. I sincerely hope former Senator Edwards goes on to find happiness with all his children and continues to be the voice of reason.

What exactly is our military defending exactly, itself?

Something the USA military needs to assess is the extent our "Defense" inhibits and hurts the citizens. What do I mean by that?


Number in Poverty and Poverty Rates from 1959 to 2010 (click here)


We know for a fact. FACT! When a country is dedicated to war there is impact at home. The current poverty rate in the USA is over 15 %. It is directly related to the global economic collapse ushered in during the Bush years. There are twice before levels matching that, under Ronald Reagan in 1983 and under Clinton in 1993. It is interesting to realize when the USA is perceived by citizens as doing well there is actually an increase in poverty. That is due to monies in the economy sequestered in the upper income brackets. Wall Steet did exceptionally well under both Reagan and Clinton. In 1993, Wall Street claimed a lot of success in the face of oppositional odds, while culling the herd of employees. The increase in poverty in 1993 was also due to deficit reduction if I remember correctly.


January 01, 1994|TOM PETRUNO | TIMES STAFF WRITER
Wall Street clawed its way to a third straight winning year in 1993, (click here) overcoming early doubts about the economy, later fears of higher interest rates and a growing diversion of U.S. investors' cash to red-hot foreign markets. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 13.7% for the year and closed just under its all-time high. The Dow began the year at 3,301.11 and ended at 3,754.09, for a 452.98-point gain....

1993 Deficit Reduction: A lesson on taxes, economic growth, and jobs—as reported by America’s premier CONSERVATIVEfinancial daily news publication: The Wall Street Journal Conservative politicians always threaten the public (click here) that, if Congress or the President raises taxes on the wealthy, the economy will slow down, unemployment will go up, and workers' wages will go down.      Conservatives’ hidden agenda: we want to allow our wealthy supporters—the ones who benefited most from the economic policies that forced huge sacrifices onto American workers during the 1980s and 90s—to be able to keep more of their money.      Reality: Raising taxes on the wealthy is much more likely to reduce the deficit and make more money available to proactively solve America’s problems—and save money in the long run. In addition, it may have absolutely no negative effect on economic growth, jobs or wages.      Here’s what conservative politicians said about the 1993 deficit reduction legislation that raised taxes on the top 1.2% of our wealthiest citizens:  "Clearly, this is a job-killer in the short-run. The impact on job creation is going to be devastating." —Rep. Dick Armey, (Republican, Texas)  "The tax increase will…lead to a recession…and will actually increase the deficit." —Rep. Newt Gingrich (Republican, Georgia) "I will make you this bet. I am willing to risk the mortgage on it…the deficit will be up; unemployment will be up; in my judgment, inflation will be up." —Sen. Robert Packwood (Republican, Oregon) "The deficit four years from today will be higher than it is today, not lower." —Sen. Phil Gramm (Republican, Texas) "The President promised a middle-class tax cut, yet he and his party imposed the largest tax increase in American history. We hope his higher taxes will not cut short the economic recovery and declining interest rates he inherited… Instead of stifling growth through higher taxes and increased government regulations, Republicans would take America in a different direction." —Sen. Robert Dole (Republican, Kansas) That article was long before Rupert Murdoch took over the Wall Street Journal, one of his propaganda rags, now. No different than "News of the World," a paper that stood for 100 years was destroyed when Murdoch bought the paper. But, that isn't what this is about. This is about how military spending escalates along with the USA poverty rate. It would seem as though the USA military is only concerned for itself and to extent our national debt when it believes it will be reduced in spending. It never seems to worry about the quality of life Americans have or how the GDP is growing to support such a huge military by paying taxes and participating in the economy.

What the Joint Chiefs never do is concern themselves with the health of the American Middle Class, the backbone of the country and their quality of life and their ability to pay taxes and increase GDP. I am confident the Joint Chiefs are concerned with the quality of life of spouses to our soldiers and the families and rightfully so. But, if they sincerely are worried about the percent of GDP of the USA National Debt they need to realize when economics are toyed with for political volleys that means their 'cut of the taxes' has to change.


Basically, the USA military can't bite the hand that feeds them. They can't oppress the citizens while expecting to maintain a healthy portion of the USA taxes. If the USA Middle Class cannot sustain itself and contribute to the USA economy through good wages and paid taxes, does the USA military believe they can actually justify such a huge amount of spending in the face of poverty of its citizens?


It is a moral quandary the military has to answer. It is the Middle Class and the Poor of the USA that provides the soldiers it proclaims as the best in the world. I would think the military leadership of this country would be more than concerned about the plight of the families, friends and neighbors faced when their sons and daughters are being asked to go to war. 


There is a stark reality the country in general has to contend with. It is the fact their tax dollars support a military whom's cost oppresses their 'common good' and the economy of their country.


First Posted: 08/11/11 05:12 PM ET Updated: 10/11/11 06:12 AM ET

In America today, (click here) even men and women returning from war can't expect their families to be exempt from the foreclosure crisis.

On the same day that soldier Aaron Collette returned from a tour of duty in Iraq to his father Tim's home in Bend, Oregon, that very house was bought back at auction due to foreclosure, local news KTVZ reports. According to ThinkProgess, a campaign by Senator Jeff Merkely (D-OR ) had delayed the foreclosure proceedings. But still, despite promising to work with the Collettes, JPMorgan Chase eventually went through with reportedly repurchasing the home.

Aaron and his dad are no different from the millions of people who have been foreclosed upon due to a crisis that has seen also affected numbers of military personnel....


It isn't enough for the leadership of the USA military to say the National Debt is a security risk. The USA military has to define what is occurring with the National Debt in relation to GDP to state it is a national security risk. In other words, when the GDP falls because of a draconian wealth class, there is significant reasons to be concerned for the overall well being of the country and its ability to support a military that works to protect it. Cutting spending isn't answering the problem to a shrinking tax base and falling GDP.

Where does Romney stand on CDS? Like deregulate it all, right?

...JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) (click here) Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon railed against higher capital requirements last year at the same time his bank was using derivatives to hedge more than $1 trillion of loans and bonds.

Those bets, which led to $2 billion of losses, wouldn’t have been necessary if JPMorgan did what banks once did: rely on bigger capital buffers rather than credit-default swaps to hedge against souring loans. One hundred years ago the equity of U.S. lenders was about 20 percent of total assets, compared with 9 percent now, according to data compiled by the Federal Reserve. For JPMorgan, it was 7 percent last quarter....

...Shifting Risk

Bankers at New York-based JPMorgan invented credit-default swaps, or CDS, in the 1990s as a way of reducing the capital financial institutions need to hold. The contracts require the seller to pay face value in exchange for the underlying securities or the cash equivalent should a borrower default, allowing firms that buy the swaps to shift some of their credit risk to third-party investors, at least in theory.

In the same decade, U.S. and European banks pushed to revise global regulations to let them reduce the capital they needed to hold against assets that their own models showed as less risky, such as top-rated mortgage-backed securities....

The GOP candidate for President shadows financial market blunders to cover their failures by minimizing the event. Why does that sound familiar, like "W".


This is a very stark example of how exactly Romney intends to play games with the American electorate while he allows all his Wall Street cronies to 'game the system.' There is no outrage, there is no ridicule, it is all MINIMIZATION of the event. Bush did the exact same thing and look where we are today!


I will go so far as to say Romney is simply a mouthpiece for Wall Street and can't begin to understand what a Credit Default Swap is. His experience is in salvage operations and that is a simple task and small potatoes compared to what Dimon is involved with.

THURSDAY, MAY 17, 2012

...It was one of the dumber things the Romney (click here) campaign said this week and it's getting almost no coverage. On NBC's Today show, campaign adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said that the JPMorgan trading debacle was no reason to go and start regulating Wall Street banks. "The leadership of that company will be held accountable for this trading loss, but we don't want to punish companies," he said. "There was no taxpayer money at risk. All of the losses went to investors, which is how it works in a public market."

Fehrnstrom apparently has no earthly idea "how it works in a public market." Plenty of people who weren't investors in JPMorgan are harmed by this -- most notably you....


Anyone notice the envy Romney and friends have of President Obama? Fundraisers that have a price of $50,000 per plate and now a high end hangout for the next one. I do believe Mitt is the jealous type.

Do tell, darling. Mitt Romney's high-end fundraiser riles critics (click here) With Democrats portraying Mitt Romney as an out-of-touch millionaire and "vulture capitalist" from his years at Bain Capital, the GOP presidential candidate may be handing opponents some ammunition when he holds a fundraiser Wednesday at a 65,000-square-foot estate that's opulent, even for upscale Hillsborough. The exclusive location of the 95-room Carolands Chateau, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, and tickets running as high as $50,000 apiece aren't the only reasons Romney's political foes are stirred up. The former Massachusetts governor's fundraiser is co-chaired by billionaire Meg Whitman, his former employee at Bain Capital and the 2010 Republican candidate for California governor who promised to produce 2 million new jobs if elected. Now Whitman is CEO of Hewlett-Packard, which said last week it plans to lay off 25,000 workers....

"Beryl" is a soaker.

May 30, 2012
2230:00z
UNISYS Infrared GOES East Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop)

Fairly strong strong winds were in Wilmington during the torrential rains. Rains so heavy they acted as though it were fog and limited visibility.


When standing outside in the rain, the winds were definitely strong enough to lean against to maintain balance. The ceiling was very low and there were meso-tornadic clouds lining the entire structure of the storm.


The rain fell so hard, it created mud that splashed up on the sides of walls and onto sidewalks. There was no staying dry. In order to maintain dry clothing a person would have to be covered in rain gear from head to toe. It was no time before I was soaked, even my rain jacket leaked around the cuffs into my arms as the wind was driving the rain sideways. It was sincerely a storm to respect.


May 30, 2012 5:41 PM

...The remnants of Tropical Storm Beryl (click here) spun off a tornado that destroyed three homes and damaged dozens of others near the North Carolina coast Wednesday as the system sped toward the Atlantic, authorities said.

Between 40 and 50 homes were damaged near Peletier in the western part of Carteret County, said county Emergency Services Director Jo Ann Smith. She said there were no reports of injuries.

Many homes suffered only minor damage, but three were destroyed when the winds came through shortly before noon, she said.

Casey Dail, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Morehead City, said investigators confirmed it was a tornado that caused the damage but said the strength of the twister had not yet been determined.

The remnants of the storm were skimming the North Carolina coast and prompting flood watches in eastern North Carolina. Beryl was expected to gain strength even as it loses its tropical characteristics.

Heavy rains from the storm caused some scattered street and lowland flooding near Wilmington, N.C., as the system approached. Loris., S.C., near the border of the two Carolinas, received more than 3 inches of rain, and radar showed heavy showers along the Interstate 95 corridor in the two states...

Solyndra? Romney really wants to go there? Fine. Let's do this thing!

...Solyndra and Bain Capital (click here) have become the battleground on which President Obama and Mitt Romney are warring over who would best lead the U.S. economy. 

Obama's top aides on Wednesday, for a second day in a row, sought to prevent Romney's attacks on the bankrupt, taxpayer-backed solar company Solyndra from overshadowing the Obama campaign's criticism of Romney's private-equity background....

We already know oil will double in price in ten years. There has been absolutely NO PLAN by the GOP for five decades since scientists have warned the USA Government and other world leaders about the dangers of CO2 and the ever burgeoning scarcity of oil.

NOTHING. Nothing was done to provide alternative fuels a place in the USA economic plan for energy. It is a JOKE, Romney brings up Solyndra as a reason for voting on economic issues. This is outrageous. What Romney is doing is hiding the money he will make when his cronies continue to receive their billions US for oil subsidies.

…As both oil industry profits and gas prices continue to rise, (click here) Congressman Bruce Braley (D – IA) believes that it is time to end the billions of dollars worth of subsidies that the United States hands out to oil companies on an annual basis. In his proposed Clean Energy Jobs bill, Braley would end the tax breaks and other subsidies that flow to the oil industry, and use that money instead to create clean energy jobs, invest in biofuel production, and pay down the national debt….

...The President proposed $302 million for solar energy research and development (up 22 percent); $123 million for wind energy (a 53 percent increase); and $55 million for geothermal energy (up 25 percent). But fossil fuels subsidies are holding back growth in burgeoning clean energy industries, which face a momumental challenge to compete with entrenched industries that receive far greater government subsidies....

But, wait. Let's be fair. Romney knows the rhetoric, the subsidies are for more exploration and more research, after all without research Halliburton wouldn't have discovered hydraulic fracturing. So, let's say there are subsidies needed for oil exploration and research. Why is it the petroleum industry is exempted from recording their failures and their antiquated methods of obtaining oil. Why is it the petroleum industry is coveting the Arctic Ocean in hopes the shipping channel is viable and there won't be ice there for some time to come. Why is it the petroleum industry won't admit drilling through frozen methane in the Arctic, the same frozen methane hydrates that prevented the capping of the ruptured well head for the Deepwater Horizon, is the most insane idea for energy to date?


Better yet, let's not victimize the petroleum industry's CEOs, let's ask Willard Mitt Romney why he intends to continue the same antiquated ideas that caused the oil disaster in the Gulf and continue to deregulate an industry that will only do it again?


If Romney is elected President, there will be no additional oil to lower prices. We all know we cannot drill out way out of this and any promises he makes are lies. Again, the GOP will DO NOTHING to return prosperity to the American people, they will continue to be draconian elites without any ideas for changing the way the USA secures its energy future.

Romney is doing his level best to identify with Birthers to hide his illegal status.

...Real estate magnate and reality TV star Donald Trump, who toyed with a presidential run himself, is yet again stirring up the waters surrounding President Obama’s birth certificate, continuing to question whether the president was born in the United States. Despite the release of Obama’s long-form birth certificate last year, the “birther” conspiracy abounds, with Trump still raising doubts that the president was born in Hawaii....


Romney was born in a plane over Utah while his parents flew from Kenya to find safe harbor in Canada. Once arriving in Canada they managed to pioneer their way into Michigan where over time they infiltrated the GOP grassroots unknown to anyone.


It is his loyalty to Canada that inspired RomneyCare in Massachusetts. Not only that but by tanking a steel industry in the USA it left Canadian automakers in better condition to market their goods in the USA and remove more monies from the Middle Class along with their jobs.

To prove how much of an insane man Romney is, Ioannis Metaxas, the cruel dictator of Greece was born on the same day as Willard Mitt Romney. 

IT IS AN OMEN to what would come of the USA should he become President. He is probably a reincarnation of Metaxas!

No one is gambling with lives. Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is leading this effort.

Obama gambling that Syria won't be election liability (click here)

Where does the media get the nerve to enter politics into life and death in the Middle East? Where does that self-righteous power come from? Certainly not decency.

Kofi Annan has urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to act now to end 15 months of bloodshed, warning the country has reached a "tipping point". (click here)

7:43AM BST 30 May 2012

Another day of deadly violence on Tuesday was the bloody backdrop to Annan's last-gasp efforts to salvage his peace plan, with 98 people killed, most of them civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The daily toll, from the British-based monitoring group, included 61 civilians, 28 government troops and nine rebel fighters, as the country slipped further towards civil war.

On the diplomatic front, the apparently coordinated expulsion orders issued by the European Union, the United States and other governments including Australia, Canada and Switzerland – were in response to the earlier killing of at least 108 people, nearly half of them children, during an assault by pro-government forces last week....

Regardless of how Reuter tries, there isn't going to be another Iraq. There just isn't. The day of the dictatorship of Bush/Cheney and Mr. Cabal himself Rumsfeld is over.


I am quite confident President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton along with our military leadership beginning with Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta are involved in seeking solutions. Just because the media has been leaked the details, intimidation won't work. There are people at risk from a ruthlessness that knows no boundaries. This isn't up to the media and their holier than thou demands. It is up to those who can seek stability and peace for Syria without throwing the entire Region into uproar.

Red Crescent donates cash for food supplies in Gaza (click here)

Vital programme targets most vulnerable refugee families

Published: 00:00 May 31, 2012

Gaza The United Arab Emirates Red Crescent Authority (UAERCA) has generously contributed around Dh3 million ($817,000) for food for the poorest refugees in Gaza.

Over the last five years, the UAERCA offered Dh18.4 million in food assistance to Gaza Strip.

The donation will support some of the most vulnerable Palestine refugee families requiring assistance under the Agency’s social safety net programme (SSNP). This programme targets refugee families most in need in UNRWA’s five fields of operation through providing food assistance, including baskets of essential commodities such as flour, rice, oil, sugar and milk.

After what will soon be five years of tight access restrictions and blockade, much of the population of the Gaza Strip remains unemployed and dependent on aid.

I have speculated before that al-Assad was engaging in ethnic cleansing...

...and I am more convinced than ever. The diplomats aren't saying that, but, where Shi'ites are the minority in Syria and al-Assad a member of a minority ethnicity, it seems fairly obvious to me.

Most Syrians killed in massacre were shot at close range (clicki here)

Children, women, among those summarily executed at Houla, UN report says

The Associated Press 

Posted: May 29, 2012 5:48 AM ET 

Last Updated: May 29, 2012 12:09 PM ET

Most of the 108 victims of a chilling massacre in Syria last week were shot at close range, some of them women and children who were killed in their homes, the UN's human rights office said Tuesday.
The report offered grim new details of an event that could prove to be a turning point in Syria's 15 months of violence, but did not decisively say who carried out most of the killings. It did, however, cite survivors and witnesses who blamed the house-to-house killings on pro-government militias known as shabiha, who often operate as hired muscle for the regime....

These were assassinations. The soldier knew exactly who they were shooting. There is only one reason why children are assassinated and that is to stop the growth of their ethnic base. Al-Assad is destroying the very genetic future of the Syrian people.


Ten thousand dead is not one hundred thousand or the numbers of dead history has witnessed in genocidal killing, but, with this evidence the global community has to take this seriously and bring a resolve to Syria's struggle. This only speaks to the dead, but, there is also a growing humanitarian crisis in neighboring countries.


Democratic governments should never speculate regarding any military movement to another country (ie: Iraq), but, I sincerely believe the evidence has become overwhelmingly obvious to the outcomes of the al-Assad government. It is a minority government seeking to end any opposition to its methods of control in the country. If eliminating children is a resolve by the al-Assad government, the purpose of minority control is more than obvious.

Syrian diplomats around the world expelled (click here)

AP | May 29,2012 | 16:48

PARIS — Governments around the world expelled ambassadors and top Syrian diplomats Tuesday in an unusually coordinated blow to Syria's leaders, after a particularly gruesome massacre in which the UN says families, including children, were shot at close range in their homes.

Cranking up the pressure on increasingly isolated Syrian President Bashar Assad, France, Germany, Italy and Spain said they were kicking out Syria's ambassadors in their countries. Canada said it is expelling all Syrian diplomats, and Britain and Australia expelled senior Syrian diplomats.

The move came after killings Friday in Houla, a collection of farming villages in Syria's Homs province, one of the deadliest single events in the 15-month-old uprising against Assad's rule. The UN said 49 children and 34 women were among the 108 people killed....

Rex Nutting is correct when the Bush Fiscal Year is examined.

Nutting could not be more correct. President Obama inherited a disaster and when examined for whom it sincerely belongs, the spending is directly a result of the decisions and policies of the previous administration. The figure is from November 5, 2010.

Obama spending binge never happened (click here)

Rex Nutting

Commentary: Government outlays rising at slowest pace since 1950s

May 22, 2012|Rex Nutting, MarketWatch

...But it didn’t happen. Although there was a big stimulus bill under Obama, federal spending is rising at the slowest pace since Dwight Eisenhower brought the Korean War to an end in the 1950s.

Even hapless Herbert Hoover managed to increase spending more than Obama has....

The spending under President Obama has been carefully crafted to elevate the income for the Middle Class and grow the economy and it has worked. His spending has also filled in a larger than expected job loss during the 2009 collapse. No one knew the extent of the economic collapse until all the figures were in much later. So, while, at the time of the American Reinvestment and RECOVERY Act it was believed to reduce the then double digit unemployment rate to less than 8 percent; the knowledge of a much bigger impact was unknown. When realizing the unemployment rate is slightly more than 8% today, it can easily be said the Recovery Act attributed to Bush's fiscal year, achieved it goal.


The total spending under Bush's Fiscal year which would cover the collapse of 2008, was $200 billion of a bill the Right Wing Media likes to say would have been a pocket veto. It wasn't. The bill was on the President's desk when President Obama took the election from Mr. McCain. The bill was not vetoed and to say the bill was to be a pocket veto is a lie. If Bush wanted the bill vetoed, he knew he was leaving office and he should have vetoed it. The fact of the matter was, Bush didn't' know what to do with that bill. The economy was headed into oblivion and he didn't know if signing the bill would hurt or help. President Obama saw a benefit to the bill LEFT UNATTENDED by Bush and he signed it.


The other half of the $700 billion bailout (TARP) was accepted by Bush for the next President in case his bank cronies weren't finished with their bailout. Just that simple. Those monies were accessed while Bush was in office so to assign that to President Obama is an out right lie.


Then there was the Recovery Act. I defy anyone in the GOP to state it was never needed. Go ahead. Where is the recovery without the Recovery Act? It would have never happened and its impetus is directly that of the Bush Years. 


So, Mr. Nutting is correct and I congratulate him for coming to terms with the deception of the GOP. I appreciate it. I think the Democrats have called it "Pay-Go" for longer than President Obama was in office. As a matter of fact, "Pay-Go" was in effect during the Obama Senate years. "Pay-Go" was never theory, it was applied to the legislature of the Democrat's legislation. The spending occurs under Republicans and their feckless economies.

The hatred of President Obama never took a holiday. All politics,all the time.

And of all people John McCain called President Obama feckless.


Really?

I tell you who was feckless and it was Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld when they decided to propagandize WMD in the face of evidence otherwise and entered an unnecessary war in Iraq. That was feckless.


Then President Obama was criticized by some pathetic member of the US Congress for his exit strategy from Afghanistan.


What?


At least President has a strategy he attends to over and over again, while, Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld had NO exit anything! It wasn't until the White House received heat from the people of the USA through their Congress, primarily from the Iraq Study Group, did Bush FINALLY come up with a strategy which was coined "The Surge."


It wasn't up to that point there was a strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan was already abandoned while paying large amounts of funds to Pakistan for air space; that Bush had to come up with an exit strategy. When he was pressed for an exit strategy he finally came up with one. Don't tell me whom is feckless and I was absolutely astounded John McCain consented to be the mouthpiece for the GOP. 


Amazing what political hacks will do for millions in their war chest. The only strategy going into Iraq laid with Cheney's Halliburton. Other than that there was no strategy for anything!

BY LESLEY CLARK AND JONATHAN S. LANDAY

McClatchy Newspapers

KABUL, Afghanistan -- President Barack Obama told Americans (click here) on Tuesday that after a decade of post-9-11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, "we can see the light of a new day" -- hours after signing an agreement that extended the U.S. commitment to Afghanistan.

Speaking early today local time from Bagram Air Base -- a year after U.S. Navy SEALs killed al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden -- Obama said the U.S. is prepared to shift into a limited support role in the region after combat troops leave in 2014 and begin to "emerge from a decade of conflict abroad and economic crisis at home."

"This time of war began in Afghanistan, and this is where it will end," Obama said....

I don't need to be told by any GOP mouthpiece whom is feckless, that has been established for nearly a decade now.


Documented Civilian Deaths in Iraq (click here)

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/05/01/3927927/obama-outlines-us-exit-strategy.html#storylink=cp

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106,760 - 116,633


Deaths that encompass women, child, the disabled and the elderly. No tell me who is feckless, I already know who is feckless.