Fundamental question: Is economy really OK?

[HT:TP]

"Strains in financial markets have increased significantly and labor markets have weakened further,"

the Fed said in a sober assessment Tuesday. But in deciding against lowering interest rates, the central bank signaled that it didn't see the economy's present situation as dire. Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at Global Insight, a Lexington, Mass., forecasting firm, says

"If the issue is whether the U.S. had a dynamic, resilient economy, and that the long-term trends are positive, I completely agree. ... It's important not to get carried away with gloom and doom."

After turning negative in the final three months of 2007 and growing at an anemic 0.9 percent in the first three months of 2008, the nation's gross domestic product grew at 3.3 percent in the April-June quarter. A survey of CEOs by accounting firm PriceWaterHouseCoopers found that they are not planning cutbacks of people, products or services.

Instead, the CEOs are focusing on opportunities to improve efficiency and ways to emerge from the slowdown in a better position to compete...

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Barack Obama's Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac Connection

Lehman Brothers collapse is traced back to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two big mortgage banks that got a federal bailout a few weeks ago. Freddie and Fannie used huge lobbying budgets and political contributions to keep regulators off their backs.

(Snip) The top three U.S. senators getting big Fannie and Freddie political bucks were Democrats and No. 2 is Sen. Barack Obama. Now remember, he's only been in the Senate four years, but he still managed to grab the No. 2 spot ahead of John Kerry...

[and behind #1 Dodd]

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ACORN, Fannie Mae and Motor Voter

M. Simon traces the funds Fannie Mae pumped into vote fraud specialists ACORN, and explains how that organization pressed for the grant of mortgages to unqualified buyers, leading to the subprime mortgage mess and Fannie Mae collapse.

He also links the organization to Chicago politician and "post-partisan" nominee for President, Barack Obama; ACORN is a former legal client of Senator Obama's, as the Sun-Times reported in 2006...

[there's that ACORN outfit again... mentioned in connection with voter fraud, again...
{FLASHBACKs: NNBrief 6/19, 9/10, 9/15 }]

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Mad Media

The liberal media are angry. Very, very angry. Not because "the press is being manipulated." Rather, because the American people are resisting manipulation by the media. [snip]

In other words, the media are going after McCain.

In his piece Kurtz cites two allegedly 'false' claims from McCain ads that are in fact basically true. Back when Barack Obama was coasting toward victory, normal campaign exaggerations ("You know, John McCain wants to continue a war in Iraq for 100 years") didn't fill the media with loathing for Obama. But now the McCain camp's exaggerations do?

Why? Because McCain is doing well. And because Sarah Palin is surviving--even flourishing--in the midst of the liberal media onslaught.

When the media get mad, they don't just pout. They pounce. How? By any means necessary...

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Media pummel Palin while Obama gets kid gloves

Former top Hillary Clinton adviser Mark Penn says the media obsession with finding skeletons in the closet of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin since virtually the moment she was named the Republican vice presidential candidate could well backfire.

(snip)The scrutiny accorded Governor Palin is far more intense and malicious in its intent than any directed toward either of the men on the Democratic ticket.

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What kind of expertise should voters look for?

Let's be blunt: If John McCain wins the election and drops dead during his first year in office, someone not very experienced will become president. But the same is true if Barack Obama wins the election and doesn't drop dead during his first year in office. [snip]

The best a voter can do is attempt to discern - amid the kabuki theater that is the modern presidential campaign -- a candidate's values, temperament and, yes, ideology - which is to say his political philosophy.

Should we go along with our West European friends who are surrendering their sovereignty to the United Nations, to "world courts" and to various non-governmental organizations? Or should we zealously guard America's independence?

Should the United States continue to make the sacrifices required to remain a superpower? Or would we be better off relinquishing such burdens and embracing what left-leaning foreign policy experts call a "post-American" world?

Is it imperative to reverse America's increasing dependence on foreign oil as quickly as possible? If so, we'll have to drill just about everywhere while also developing alternative energy sources. And if that means not cutting carbon dioxide emissions for the next few years, is it worth it?

Are we fighting a real war against Islamist terrorist regimes and movements - one that requires some tough and even unconventional weapons? Or is terrorism just a criminal justice problem that police, lawyers and courts are competent to handle?

Should America invest in a comprehensive missile defense system? Or is it safe to assume that our contemporary enemies can be deterred, as were the Soviets, by the prospect of "mutually assured destruction"?

If you know where the candidates stand on these issues - and where you stand - deciding for whom to vote should not be too difficult.

[Highly Recommended > ]

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Telling blows in the war on terror

IN 2002, the Australian intelligence agencies, then working to the Howard government, were informing their US counterparts of a disturbing occurrence within Australia. A man of Iraqi origin, who enjoyed both Iraqi and Australian citizenship, was assembling the components of an unmanned aerial vehicle here. He had also sent away for aerial navigational information regarding Washington, DC, and other parts of the US.

The intelligence agencies hatched the idea of approaching the Iraqi to see if he was indeed working for the Baghdad government and whether he could be turned as a source. Whatever his ultimate intentions had been, the Iraqi did not end up providing information about Saddam Hussein's government.

This information has never been revealed before. It illustrates the vast global work involved in effective counter-terrorism, the relentlessness of it and its labour intensity. [snip]

In many ways the US-led war on terror has been extraordinarily successful. Al-Qa'ida and its affiliates have not been able to mount an attack in the US, or in Australia, since 9/11. This is no accident. It is the result of relentless police, intelligence, military and diplomatic work... [snip]

There is also no doubt that al-Qa'ida wants to acquire weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons.

Given the breadth of its support internationally, its notoriously long view of strategy, its operational persistence, and the propensity of democracies to lose focus on threats that are quiet for a while, the odds still have to favour al-Qa'ida eventually succeeding in this aim.

And that will change absolutely everything

[Recommended > ]

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Terrorists find ally in Left’s willing dupes

SEVEN years after Osama bin Laden’s jihadis razed New York’s World Trade Centre towers and crashed hijacked aircraft into the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania paddock, a Melbourne jury has convicted seven men on terrorist charges, ending a phase in the nation’s largest and longest-running terrorism trial.

The conviction of Melbourne’s self-anointed ``cleric’’ and ``sheik’’ Abdul Nacer Benbrika, his three ringleaders and other members of his group, have given the lie to those who protested that Islamists were being wrongly targeted by the authorities and some in the media.

Those who condemned all who warned against the possibility that the awful message of jihad and terrorism would find willing recruits here, those who sought to thwart the authorities from pursuing the purveyors of hate, stand exposed as willing dupes to this awful plot.

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IAEA: Iran To Upgrade Missile For Nuke Use

[HT:MN]
Vienna, Austria - he U.N. nuclear agency has presented intelligence allegedly showing plans to redesign an Iranian missile to accommodate a nuclear payload. The International Atomic Energy Agency shared the intelligence with 35 nations on Tuesday, but the Iranian representative to the organization says the information was fabricated.

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Experts: Only military action can stop Iran

The Iranian nuclear crisis may have crossed the point of no return while the threat of nuclear terrorism is on the rise, according to a panel of experts on proliferation. These somber assessments where voiced Monday during a seminar on nuclear capabilities hosted by the European Jewish Congress in Brussels.

"Only military action can stop Iran, or else Iran will acquire nuclear weapons to the great detriment of regional and even global stability"

Discussions were chaired by EJC president Moshe Kantor, who deplored the fact that some 10,000 companies in Europe are still collaborating with Iran on the development of its gas and oil industry. Kantor estimated this industry to have a turnover of approximately $100 billion dollars.

"The collaboration continues and even big European Union countries cannot stop their business community from investing in Iran's proliferation process."

The finding of the roundtable was that in all relevant respects of nuclear terrorism, the situation has worsened, and that nuclear weapons are in real danger of falling into the hands of terrorists.

['real danger'? Absolute certainty: the day after Iran has a bomb they hand it to Hezbollah - who've cells here. All enabled by the brain-dead fecklessness of our European 'allies'.]

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Astronomical Influences Affect Climate More Than CO2, Say Experts

Warming and cooling cycles are more directly tied in with astronomical influences than they are with human-caused carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, some scientists now say.

Recent observations point to a strong link between “solar variability” – or fluctuations in the sun’s radiation – and climate change on Earth, while other research sees the sun as just one of many heavenly bodies affecting global warming in the later half of the 20th century.

Contrary to what has been stated in a “Summary for Policymakers” attached to the United Nation’s International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report -- and in subsequent press coverage of the report -- there is scant evidence in favor of human-caused global warming, according to geologists, astrophysicists, and climatologists who have released updated studies.

An examination of warming and cooling trends over the last 400 years shows an “almost exact correlation” between all of the known climate changes that have occurred and solar energy transmitted to the Earth, while showing “no correlation at all with CO2,” Don J. Easterbrook, a geologist with Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash.

There is data going all the way back to 1976 that show Mars has also experienced global warming. The Martian ice cap has been melting during the same time period as global warming on Earth. [snip]

“It’s practically slam dunk that we are in for about 30 years of global cooling,” he said. Not something you will read about in the media."

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What is Endangered: Climate or Freedom?

For most people, being the president of a country would be enough to keep one busy, but not so for Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic [snip]

"Blue Planet in Green Shackles." The book’s subtitle -- What is Endangered: Climate or Freedom? -

- reveals Klaus’s concern about the totalitarian agenda of environmentalists. He sees no difference between the ideology of communism and that of climate change. He says he is no longer simply concerned about the consequences of politicians using global warming to gain and wield power over ordinary citizens. Klaus describes himself now as “angry.” He agrees with author Michael Crichton.

“The greatest challenge facing mankind is distinguishing between reality and fantasy, truth from propaganda”

as regards global warming.

After he delivered his talk before the MPS, President Klaus sat down for a private interview with HUMAN EVENTS. The man whom Al Gore refused to debate in public when the Czech President challenged him had much to say...

[Highly Recommended > ]

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Disposable goods targeted by new French tax plan

[HT:RE]
Paris - Plastic forks, disposable diapers, drafty houses - if it hurts the environment, make it cost more.

That's the message France's government wants to send with a raft of proposed new taxes. France's ecology minister said Sunday the government is considering a ''picnic tax'' on disposable dishes

(Snip) And she said it could even be extended to homes, based on how energy-efficient they are...

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"If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion."

-- Scientology founder L. Ron. Hubbard

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Consumer prices fall for first time since 2006

Consumer prices in August posted the first monthly decline in nearly two years as Americans finally get a break from surging energy prices.The Labor Department reported today that consumer prices edged down 0.1 percent last month, a significant improvement from a 1.1 percent price spike in June and a 0.8 percent rise in July.

The cost of gasoline and other fuels have plunged, reflecting big drops in crude oil prices.

[reminder: energy costs {especially mobile energy} effects the cost of everything. Imagine the effect on inflation if we halved the cost of diesel and gas through production...]

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Democrats Still Aren't Serious About Drilling

After a five-week paid vacation, Democrats are back in Washington and claiming that they want to do something about oil prices. But the problem is that their plan, which passed the House yesterday and will likely come up for a vote in the Senate later this week, will not produce a single drop of oil. [see why: FLASHBACK: NNBrief No-Energy Nancy’s Phony Energy Plan]

Why?

Because it does nothing about environmental groups that are suing to stop drilling...

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[BTW, today's Policy-Positions EXTRA (bottom) = McCain/Obama comparison = Energy & Environment...]
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CALIFORNIA COULD LEARN FROM TEXAS

California

According to the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Texas is economically healthier than California. These states' dramatically different economic approaches have caused businesses to flock to Texas and flee California.

Here is where the difference is most pronounced:

• California's per capita government spending is 30 percent higher than Texas', and that gap continues to widen.
• In the last year, Texas has added almost 250,000 new jobs - more than half of the national total.
• California has shed 200,000 jobs just in the last four months and boasts one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.
• As employers move, so do workers; four of America's 10 fastest-growing metropolitan areas are in Texas.
• Additionally, California has a worse state legal climate, higher workers' compensation costs, a higher state minimum wage and it allows industries to force workers to join unions and pay union dues.
• In January, the Texas Legislature will return to a cash balance in the $10 billion to $15 billion range.
• California faces a $15 billion to $17 billion budget deficit for the next year, as well as structural deficits well into the foreseeable future.

All of these increase the operating costs to employers, which decreases their ability to compete against rivals in other state and countries.

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Coming Together at UN? Er, No.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has canceled an appearance at an anti-Iran demonstration in New York next week after organizers 'blindsided' her by inviting Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, aides to the senator said Tuesday.

Clinton aides were furious. They first learned of the plan to have both Clinton and Palin appear when informed by reporters.

"Her attendance was news to us, and this was never billed to us as a partisan political event," said Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines. "Sen. Clinton will therefore not be attending."

Several American Jewish groups have planned a major rally outside the United Nations on Sept. 22 to protest against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's threats against Israel and his planned speech on the floor of the UN later in the week.

[er, what exactly made it a 'partisan event' - I mean before Hillary pulled out because someone of the other party was showing up - ? {frankly I'd think it makes a good gesture of solidarity on what's supposedly a common goal - pity it didn't work out that way}]

READ MORE

[HT:GC - Warning - Rated R...]

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[NOTE: all Policy Position comparisons can be found by going HERE - or by typing "policy positions" {in quotes!} in the Search Blog box in the upper left corner of page.]

Policy Positions Re: ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

How do Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) differ on energy and the environment? The National Journal compared and contrasted the two presidential candidates. Below is a summary:


McCAIN ON ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Climate change:

• McCain favors controlling greenhouse-gas emissions by capping U.S. global-warming pollutants and allowing companies to buy and sell emission "credits."
• Polluters would have until 2050 to cut their emissions by 60 percent below 1990 levels.
• Under his plan, credits would be distributed free of charge to polluting companies.
• He envisions eventually auctioning some credits and dedicating the money to new energy technologies.

Nuclear power:

• McCain seeks to build 45 additional nuclear power plants by 2030.
• He would create an international repository for commercial radioactive waste that would eliminate the need to begin storing depleted nuclear fuel rods at Nevada's Yucca Mountain.

Oil:

• McCain supports new oil and gas development off U.S. shores, but not in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and stricter regulation of the oil futures market and favors research into new technologies to lessen dependence on oil.
• He opposes mandating tougher fuel-efficiency standards for cars and trucks, and has called for suspending federal gasoline and diesel taxes, which he insists would ease summer fuel prices.

Ethanol:

• McCain supports the development of new ethanol technologies that use switchgrass or other nonfood crops; he opposes federal subsidies for the fuel additive.
• He asked the Bush administration to waive federal mandates requiring petroleum refiners to blend increasing amounts of ethanol into gasoline.

Public lands:

• McCain backs legislation to restore the Florida Everglades.
• He opposes Clinton-era proposals to block development in 60 million acres of roadless federal lands.

Source: "McCain on Energy and the Environment," in "Where They Stand," National Journal, August 30, 2008.

For text:

http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/nj_20080830_3632.php



OBAMA ON ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Climate change:

• Obama backs ambitious legislation to cut U.S. global-warming pollution 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
• Under his cap-and-trade proposal, the federal government would auction greenhouse-gas emission "credits" to companies that want to continue to pollute.
• Money from the auction would be used to develop clean-energy technologies, increase efficiency and underwrite the labor costs of transitioning to new technologies.

Nuclear power:

• Obama wants to keep the nuclear power option open but says that the United States should not build more reactors until the industry finds a safe way to dispose of commercial nuclear waste.
• He opposes dumping radioactive wastes at Nevada's Yucca Mountain.

Oil:

• Obama reversed his anti-drilling position to support oil exploration along the southeastern coast and Florida shores.
• He favors proposals to require oil companies to use existing drilling leases, and calls for selling 70 million barrels of oil stockpiled in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
• He would impose tougher controls on oil speculation, end tax breaks for the oil and gas industry, impose a "windfall profits" tax on multinational oil companies and enact tougher fuel-economy standards on new cars and trucks.

Electricity:

• Obama would require power companies to generate one-quarter of their electricity from solar, wind or other sustainable sources by 2025.
• He also favors ambitious efficiency goals for new and existing buildings.

Alternative transportation fuels:

Obama backs federal ethanol mandates and seeks greater federal support for making ethanol from nonfood crops.
He supports development of coal-to-oil technologies, although he now says that all new fuels should have to meet a national low-carbon standard.

Source: "Obama on Energy and the Environment," in "Where They Stand," National Journal, August 30, 2008.

For text:

http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/nj_20080830_3632.php