Patients could be required to lose weight before they can be treated on the National Health Service, Gordon Brown has suggested. In a New Year message to NHS staff, the Prime Minister indicates people may have to fulfil new "responsibilities" in order to establish their entitlement to care. The new conditions could be set out in a formal NHS "constitution", Mr Brown says. (Snip) Despite the NHS commitment to provide free universal care, it is already common for doctors to set conditions on patients seeking treatment.
[the inevitable evolution of government run health'care']
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=EL3VVI3Y3LYOFQFIQMFSFFOAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2008/01/01/nhealth201.xml
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
'Patients to lose weight before NHS treatment'
Obama supports driver's licenses for illegals
Washington -- Sen. Barack Obama easily won the African American vote in South Carolina, but to woo California Latinos, where he is running 3-to-1 behind rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, he is taking a giant risk: spotlighting his support for the red-hot issue of granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. It's a huge issue for Latinos, who want them. It's also a huge issue for the general electorate, which most vehemently does not.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/28/MNH1UL57Q.DTL
Recession Skeptics – The Side Unheard in the Media
Recession stories have a lot in common with global warming stories - there are a lot of them and you hear only one side. And like global warming, recession is the subject of a Newsweek cover story, appearing on the front of the magazine's February 4 issue. The story, "The U.S. Economy Faces the Guillotine," written by Daniel Gross, takes a one-sided gloomy approach to reporting on the U.S. economy. It worked on the assumption a recession is inevitable and may have even already started.
"The Great Global Market Freak-Out of 2008 has everyone asking whether the United States - already on the road to recession - is entering into a protracted period of economic trouble where jobs will be slashed, prices will continue to rise and the dollar will keep falling; and if so, whether the declining U.S. economy will pull the rest of the world down with it,"What Gross completely ignored it the possibility the economy will be fine and stave off a recession. There are prominent economists* who don't believe that the United States is "on the road to recession," - but good luck reading their opinions in Newsweek.
[*Brian Wesbury, an economist for First Trust Advisors, L.P., in the January 28 Wall Street Journal. , for one]
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeff-poor/2008/01/29/recession-skeptics-side-unheard-media
Grading Teachers: Kids' Test Scores Must Count
If you want good teachers in the schools, the first step is obvious: Figure out who they are. And not by relying solely on water-cooler chat and subjective judgments but by also looking at rock-hard data on teacher performance. Such common-sense thinking has led Chancellor Joel Klein & Co. to undertake a pilot project to measure and track teachers' results - based on their students' test scores. (Snip) Imagine teachers treated like other professionals - having their performance monitored and quantified, as is routinely done in other fields...
[a 'pilot' program. better late then never I guess]
http://www.nypost.com/seven/01282008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/grading_teachers_560403.htm
Bush to push for trade deals
The White House is planning a major campaign to persuade a reluctant Congress to approve free trade deals with Colombia, South Korea and Panama this year, a senior Commerce Department official said on Wednesday. But the Bush administration is unlikely to accept legislation hiking duties on Chinese imports as a tradeoff for those pacts, Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Chris Padilla said in an interview.
[Q: when they 'hike duties' on imported goods, who pays for that?]
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/International__Business/Bush_plans_relentless_push_for_trade_deals/articleshow/2688393.cms
AFP: Same Story, Two Different Towns
Two Ohio towns. Identical story. That's what the AFP presented to us on Sunday and then again yesterday. On Sunday,
we read this:
The streets are empty. Trash rustles down the road past rusted barbecues, abandoned furniture, sagging homes and gardens turned to weed.Monday,
This is Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland and a town ravaged by the subprime mortgage crisis roiling the United States.
Faded "for sale" signs sit in front of deserted houses. The residents are gone, either in search of new jobs after the factories shut down, or in shame after being evicted for missing their mortgage payments.
A red, white and blue American flag flies over windows and doors which have been boarded up to keep the drug dealers away.
we read this:
The streets are empty. Trash rustles down the road past rusted barbecues, abandoned furniture, sagging homes and gardens turned to weed.Keep comparing the two. The wording is verbatim in both yarns.
This is Mount Pleasant, a neighborhood in southeastern Cleveland ravaged by the subprime mortgage crisis roiling the United States.
Faded "for sale" signs sit in front of deserted houses. The residents are gone, most after being evicted for missing their mortgage payments.
A red, white and blue American flag flies over windows and doors which have been boarded up to keep the drug dealers away.
http://colossus.mu.nu/
Ad Watch: Term limits change tied to effective disaster response
--
A new campaign advertisement cites emergency response to last year's devastating Southern California wildfires as a reason to alter lawmakers' terms by approving Proposition 93.
--
ANALYSIS: The ad implies that legislators played a key role in responding to the fatal infernos, but the Assembly and Senate were not in regular session at the time. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued numerous emergency orders to assist victims while firefighters struggled to extinguish the flames, but the governor's actions did not require, or receive, a vote by the Legislature.
http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/657810.html
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Face of Defense: IED Fails to Deter Chief Warrant Officer
KUNAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan, Jan. 28, 2008 – Army Chief Warrant Officer Sammy Rodriguez has a job that isn’t exciting until things go wrong. On a routine mission Jan. 23 to deliver supplies to the Korengal Outpost here, one of the vehicles in the convoy was struck by an improvised explosive device.
Damaged vehicles left behind can be used in enemy propaganda to proclaim a victory over U.S. forces. Every effort is made to make sure the enemy does not have this opportunity.
“Chief Rodriguez knows his stuff,” said Army Capt. John Thyng, Company F commander for the 2-503rd. “When I talked before about the need to make sure we recover absolutely everything to 
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48781
Petraeus: Upcoming Troop Reduction Plans ‘On Track’
Army Gen. David H. Petraeus said the scheduled withdrawal will reduce the number of troops at the height of the surge by one quarter, or roughly 42,500. Further reductions after July will be based on the state of Iraq’s security, he added.
“The guidance that (Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates) in fact has given me -- and the president and my chain of command, what all of them have said -- is that reductions after July should be conditions-based,”Their focus, he said, will be on removing forces expeditiously, but without undercutting progress made during the troop surge that launched this time last year. Petraeus today noted that half of Iraq’s 18 provinces currently are under provincial control.
[i.e., we are already withdrawing from Iraq - as success allows]
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48777
Twofer...
Terrorist Attacks in Europe Thwarted at last moment
It is a sad fact in our media driven culture that a story about a group of Islamic extremists who were rounded up last week and discovered to be on the verge of carrying out several terrorist attacks receives little or no coverage but that if they had been successful, their names and deeds would be on everyone's lips.
Successes like these should be big stories:
[but that might remind folks of the looming threat many would convince us is overblown to begin with, or maybe serve as an example that appeasement doesn't work...]
Spanish appeasement backfires
A new al Qaeda plot set in Spain was recently disrupted, as reported by Reuters. The attack was set to occur shortly before a general election, much like the previous horrendous attack carried out in 2004. That attack led to a new government in Spain that immediately cut support for coalition efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This plot is yet further evidence that to accede to the demands of terrorists is not the way to prevent future attacks. There is only one way, by discrediting the ideology that drives young Muslim men to carry out these attacks. And in the Arab culture, a true culture of "might makes right", to discredit terrorist ideology means to defeat them on the battlefield.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/01/spanish_appeasement_backfires.html
Egypt turns back 3 000 Gazans
Cairo - Egyptian authorities have turned back around 3 000 Palestinians trying to reach Cairo and other cities after crossing into Sinai from Gaza following a border breach, a security source said on Monday. (Snip) Egyptian media reported on Monday that authorities had raided hotels and rented apartments in Cairo and other large cities in search of Palestinians who may have slipped past security.
[and the world outcry condemning Egypt for its mistreatment of Palestinians?]
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2260166,00.html
There'll be consequences - Iran
Tehran - Iran warned on Monday of ''serious consequences'' if the UN Security Council adopts fresh sanctions against Tehran over its refusal to halt sensitive nuclear work. ''If a resolution is passed... it will have serious and logical consequences and we will announce them later,'' Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki Mottaki (Snip) Despite a four-year probe into Tehran's atomic drive, the IAEA has so far been unable to determine whether the programme is peaceful.
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2259761,00.html
North Korea tells U.S. to remember the Pueblo
Seoul - North Korea marked the anniversary on Wednesday of one of its rare Cold War victories over the United States by saying a U.S. spy ship it seized 40 years ago served as a lesson to show it can repel an invasion. (Snip) ''(The Pueblo) is historical evidence proving before the whole world the victory of the DPRK (North Korea) in the confrontation with the U.S.
[brilliant tactical move - why don't they something about our mothers]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/23/AR2008012300498.html
Michigan announces "Safe Routes to School" recipients
January 28, 2008 - - The Granholm administration today announced that nine Michigan elementary and middle schools will receive more than $1.6 million in federal "Safe Routes to School" funding for safety improvements and education programs that will encourage students to travel safely between home and school.
"We want to protect the health and safety of our Michigan children," said Governor Jennifer M. Granholm. "This program offers our children encouragement and opportunities [?] to walk or bike to school. These schools are to be commended for pursuing these grants to improve safety and encourage healthy lifestyles."State Transportation Director Kirk T. Steudle said that MDOT's role as the administering agency for the federally legislated program creates opportunities for collaboration with agencies and partners not traditionally involved with transportation funding.
Today's announcement was the first wave of Safe Routes to School funding; three additional rounds of grants will be announced this spring, next winter, and in the spring of 2009.
[it's got nothing to do with student safety - despite the ad-nauseam references - it's another money grab by a public agency hiding behind our children to do so...> http://www.michigan.gov/som/0,1607,7-192--184423--,00.html ]
Monday, January 28, 2008
Face of Defense: Paratrooper Learns the Ropes in Baghdad
Seemingly overnight, he found himself at a combat outpost in Baghdad, eating field rations with the battle-hardened veterans of Company B. As a SAW gunner, he goes out three or four times a day on patrols, where the learning curve has been steep.
“It’s a lot of pressure, because you really want to do well and make a good impression,” said Canamore, a Pekin, Ill., native. “Every time I make a mistake, I make a mental check and try to improve that,” he said.That’s the way it has always been, said Staff Sgt. William Weinburgh, of Wrentham, Mass., a squad leader with 2nd Platoon. While drill sergeants teach raw recruits the basics, it’s up to the team leaders and squad leaders at their assigned units to push new soldiers like Canamore to the next level, Weinburgh said.
“New guys are going to be a reflection of you,” he said. “Either you set them up for success or you set them up for failure.”In a combat environment, it becomes even more important to make sure new troops know their jobs, Weinburgh said. “There’s no safety net out here,” he said. Still, he’s learning new things every day, and someday, he said, he’ll be in a position to pass that knowledge on.
[there's more, all impressive in its humble and humbling way...]
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48729
Egypt Jittery Over Israeli Gaza Proposal
It was not clear if the proposal for Israel to relinquish all control over Gaza, expressed privately by several Israeli officials and publicly by one, was serious or just an effort to test international reaction to the idea. But Egyptian officials were fuming.
"This is a wrong assumption, the current situation is only an exception and for temporary reasons,"Hossam Zaki, the official spokesman for Egypt's Foreign Ministry, said of Israeli hints that it was thinking of giving up administration of Gaza now that the Palestinian territory's southern border with Egypt is open.
"The border will eventually go back to normal."[And there it is. Why should any Arab nation do anything to help their Arab brethren? Better to leave things as they are so Palestinian self-destruction can forever be spun as Israeli maleficence - even when Israel is explicitly trying to remove itself. Only the media could spin this situation so far from reality.]
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/01/24/international/i105612S15.DTL
Bolton: Israel May Have to Strike Iran Soon
[* = thanks to the willful misinterpretation of the NIE 'report'
"Certainly in Teheran you can bet that they took careful notice of what the Israeli Defense Force did. Penetrating Russian supplied radars very similar to the air defenses that Teheran has; using techniques that could be very useful for a long range strike against Iran; this is the kind of operation that the Iranians need to continue to worry about. Because I think with the collapse of American policy, the Israeli strike against the Syrian / North Korea facility is the harbinger of what may be – absent regime change in Teheran – the last resort… Unless you are prepared to see Iran proceed unmolested toward a nuclear weapons capability, which this NIE has given them free rein to do in my judgment*, you are coming very close to a decision point in this country of whether you will use military force to stop Iran."**
** = as always, perceived weakness invites aggression]
http://www.freerepublic.com/%5Ehttp://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125007
Mullen Says Colombia Making Progress Against Narcoterrorists
WASHINGTON, Jan. 24, 2008 – The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia is a terrorist organization and should remain so, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said during a Pentagon news conference today.
Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen, who recently returned from a trip to Colombia, said he is concerned with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s comments that the FARC, as the group is known, is a legitimate guerilla movement and that the nations of the world should stop treating the group as a terrorist organization.
The FARC is a narcoterrorist group that has killed thousands in Colombia and uses kidnapping and the drug trade as a way to fund itself. The group is still holding three American contractors captured in 2003.
(Video) http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48762
Here & There...
[there:]
NHS patients told to treat themselves
Millions of people with arthritis, asthma and even heart failure will be urged to treat themselves as part of a Government plan to save billions of pounds from the NHS budget. Instead of going to hospital or consulting a doctor, patients will be encouraged to carry out "self care" as the Department of Health (DoH) tries to meet Treasury targets to curb spending...
[the inevitable state of government run health'care']
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=X1PRMN4XJXPRHQFIQMGSFGGAVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2008/01/02/nhs102.xml
[here:]
ABC Does Three Consecutive Nights of Socialized Medicine
"Critical condition" in medical terminology means a patient has a high risk of death that could occur within the next 24 hours. So when you see "Critical Condition: Rx For America," sounds like something is in really bad shape, right?
No, it was just a promotional three-night series on ABC "World News with Charles Gibson" that ran from December 10-12 about health care. By the third night, Charles Gibson was even calling one example of socialized medicine a "system that works."
[what bias?]
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeff-poor/2007/12/13/abc-does-three-consecutive-nights-socialized-medicine
Russian scientist says Earth could soon face new Ice Age
According to the scientist, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere has risen more than 4% in the past decade, but global warming has practically stopped. It confirms the theory of "solar" impact on changes in the Earth's climate, because the amount of solar energy reaching the planet has drastically decreased during the same period, the scientist said.
"However, the thermal inertia of the world's oceans and seas will delay a 'deep cooling' of the planet, and the new Ice Age will begin sometime during 2055-2060, probably lasting for several decades," Abdusamatov said. Therefore, the Earth must brace itself for a growing ice cap, rather than rising waters in global oceans caused by ice melting.
[5 year window - isn't he good. Point: who the hell knows - let's not spend TRILLIONS and throw all our liberties out the window to boot]
http://en.rian.ru/science/20080122/97519953.html
DHS rejects demands for further meetings about border fence
U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials have rejected demands from leaders along the border with Mexico for a face-to-face meeting, signaling the government’s continuing resolve to build a border security fence.
“We appreciate your support for securing our borders and welcome any additional input from local communities in Texas that will not require delays to the timeline for installation of the border fence,”Homeland Security is in the process of building approximately 670 miles of fencing and vehicle barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border to combat illegal immigration.
http://www.valleymorningstar.com/news/border_18077___article.html/security_homeland.html
Hypochondriasis Economicus
Hypochondriasis Economicus
... Likewise, an economic hypochondriac is someone who obsesses about the "health of the economy" and who is prone to viewing the natural and inevitable fluctuations of the marketplace as a sign of impending recession, or worse. Today millions of Americans -- including the President, the Federal Reserve Board, and most members of the mainstream media -- appear to be in the grip of a full-blown hypochondriac attack over the economy. Why? Because for the past few weeks Wall Street traders have been selling stocks in anticipation of what they believe is a looming recession.
Are we in a recession now? No. A "recession" means two or more consecutive quarters of declining real gross domestic product. Far from being in a recession, through the third quarter of 2007, the United States has enjoyed 24 consecutive quarters of GDP growth. Furthermore, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in January 2008 that unemployment was at 5.0 percent, which is low by any measure, and that real average weekly earnings were higher in December 2007 than in December 2006.
The economy, overall, is doing quite well. Despite what the media tells us about gasoline prices or the housing market or job layoffs among Fortune 500 companies, the economy is not in ‘crisis." There certainly is no rational, objective reason for Americans to be as concerned about the economy as they have become over the past few weeks.
[We've problems; an expensive war on terror, a housing sector problem, and above all else an energy policy crisis whereby an absolute refusal to develop additional energy sources has increased the cost of everything else in our economy. I.e., Economy? It's energy, stupid. {You think it a coincident that the ~150B$ 'stimulus' package just happens to match the calculated 'energy shock' impact of oil price increases?} So let's stop burning our food {corn} and start developing our own, vast, oil reserves.]
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/01/hypochondriasis_economicus.html
Denial of Legacy Campaign Planned
A liberal advocacy group plans to spend $8.5 million in a drive to make sure President Bush's public approval doesn't improve as his days in the White House come to an end. Americans United for Change plans to undertake a yearlong campaign, spending the bulk of the money on advertising. In selling the plan to fundraisers, the group has argued that support for President Reagan was at a low of 42 percent in 1987 but climbed to 63 percent before he left office.
The group has conducted polls and focus groups and gave a Power Point presentation to representatives of about 30 liberal and labor organizations last week. It plans to announce the campaign at a press conference Thursday afternoon during a forum featuring liberal critics of the administration. It also aims to air its first ad in advance of Bush's State of the Union speech on Monday.
[What if we left Bush's public approval ratings up to the public? What does it say of these yahoos that they don't trust that would have the 'correct' result? Why isn't the media liberally applying (yeah, intended) the term 'mean spirited' to this painfully obvious hate group?]
//www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/24/ap/politics/main3747207.shtml
Ad Watch: Term limits change tied to effective disaster response
California
A new campaign advertisement cites emergency response to last year's devastating Southern California wildfires as a reason to alter lawmakers' terms by approving Proposition 93. The following is a text of the ad, and an analysis by Jim Sanders of The Bee Capitol Bureau: [snip]
ANALYSIS: The ad implies that legislators played a key role in responding to the fatal infernos, but the Assembly and Senate were not in session at the time. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued numerous emergency orders to assist victims while firefighters struggled to extinguish the flames, but the governor's actions did not require, or receive, a vote by the Legislature.
http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/657810.html
$5 Million Reward Given to Tipster Who Fingered Moussaoui
Today a Minnesota flight instructor is being rewarded by the U.S. government for his vigilance in the form of $5 million. In August 2001, the instructor knew something was suspicious about Zacarias Moussaoui the day he met him, so he urged his bosses to alert the FBI. Moussaoui was taking private flight classes and was soon arrested on immigration charges. He later pleaded guilty to having a role in the 9/11 attacks and is the only person to face trial in the U.S. for the attack.
[a good idea]
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4184403&page=1
Programmed for love
If you're younger than 35, you'll probably live long enough to put David Levy's prediction to the test. Levy says that by 2050 we'll be creating robots so lifelike, so imbued with human-seeming intelligence and emotions, as to be nearly indistinguishable from real people. And we'll have sex with these robots. Some of us will even marry them. And it will all be good.
[yeah, because they'll of off switches! {was that out loud?}]
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/main/5414105.html
Friday, January 25, 2008
Engineers Overcome Challenges to Build Electricity Substation
TALLIL, Iraq, Jan. 22, 2008 – Of the nearly 3,800 projects the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region Division has completed across Iraq in four years, one stands out because of the special challenges it posed.
[snip]
About 80 percent of the labor for the Amarah project came from the area, with more than 500 workers a day on site during the peak construction period, which lasted more than a year.
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48722
Is the war in Iraq becoming winnable?
Last February I was in Fallujah at the start of the surge, and when I asked soldiers if they thought we were winning the war they almost universally rolled their eyes, and gave me some version of "Yea, right" for being dumb enough to even be asking the question. [snip]
Ten months later I toured the Air Force Theater Hospital in Balad with Col. Patrick Storm, the hospital commander, and he shared some amazing statistics with me. [>] [snip]
Now when I talk to soldiers there is definitely a new sense of optimism that was non-existent just 10 months ago. Nobody thinks the war will be over soon, but most people are coming to believe that it's winnable.
One of the most striking signs of progress to me is the number of Iraqis that wave at our helicopters as we fly over.
http://www.minnpost.com/iraq/
'We want to offer sharia law to Britain'
Islamic courts meet every week in the UK to rule on divorces and financial disputes. Clare Dwyer Hogg and Jonathan Wynne-Jones report on demands by senior Muslims that sharia be given legal authority.
<>
It is one of dozens of sharia courts - also known as councils - that have been set up in mosques, Islamic centers and even schools across Britain. The number of British Muslims using the courts is increasing.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/global/main.jhtml?xml=/global/2008/01/21/noindex/nsharia_120.xml
The War of Ideas Should Be Engaged
At Rumsfeld's first post-Pentagon public comments at a conference today on network centric warfare sponsored by the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement, he said that the United States is losing the war of ideas in the Muslim world, and the answer to that, in part, is through the creation of this new government agency.
"Private media does not get up in the morning and say what can we do to promote the values and ideas that the free Western nations believe in. It gets up in the morning and says they're going to try to make money by selling whatever they sell... The way they decided to do that is to be dramatic and if it bleeds it leads is the common statement in the media today.In Rumsfeld's view, the free press can co-exist with government sponsored/produced/paid news. "It doesn't mean we have to infringe on the role of the free press, they can go do what they do, and that's fine," says Rumsfeld. "Well, it's not fine, but it's what it is, let's put it that way."
We need someone in the United States, some entity, that would take advantage of the wonderful opportunities that exist today. There are multiple channels for information . . . The Internet is there, pods are there, talk radio is there, e-mails are there. There are all kinds of opportunities. We do not with any systematic organized way attempt to engage the battle of ideas and talk about the idea of beheading, and what it's about and what it means. And talk about the fact that people are killing more Muslims than they are non-Muslims, these extremists. They're doing it with suicide bombs and the like. We need to engage and not simply be passive and allow that battle of competition of ideas."
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/01/rummy-want-pro.html
Human rights court slams France
Strasbourg - A French lesbian was discriminated against when authorities refused to allow her to adopt a child, Europe's [?] human right court ruled on Tuesday. The European Court of Human Rights said the refusal by regional authorities, upheld by two French courts, to authorize the adoption request breached the woman's rights because it appeared motivated by her sexual orientation. It granted her €24 500 in damages and court expenses.
["regional authorities"; French judges in France. And so the consumption of sovereignties continues in Europa ]
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2256422,00.html
Market turmoil sign of influence shifting to China
The current turmoil on world markets indicates a "significant shift of power and influence" from the US to emerging economic giants such as China and India, international financier George Soros said Wednesday....
"I'm not looking for a worldwide recession. I'm looking for a significant shift of power and influence away from the US in particular and a shift in favour of the developing world, particularly China,"Soros said. Soros, who made 1 billion US dollars betting on the devaluation of the British pound in 1992.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/previousdetail.php?id=125401
Move over US -- China to be new driver of world's economy and innovation
Technology indicators A new study of worldwide technological competitiveness suggests China may soon rival the United States as the principal driver of the world’s economy – a position the U.S. has held since the end of World War II. If that happens, it will mark the first time in nearly a century that two nations have competed for leadership as equals [*].
The study’s indicators predict that China will soon pass the United States in the critical ability to develop basic science and technology, turn those developments into products and services – and then market them to the world.
[*We will not be 'equals'. We can no longer afford to tax and regulate our industry in isolation - it will lead to oblivion in the global economy. First step: changing to a consumption tax vs. taxing our industry TWICE for all exports, when all other developed countries pay ZERO (are refunded by their governments)]
www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-01/giot-mou012408.php
Cost of health initiative up $400m
Spending on the state's landmark health insurance initiative would rise by more than $400 million next year, representing one of the largest increases in the $28.2 billion state budget the governor proposed yesterday. State and federal taxpayers are expected to bear nearly all of the additional cost.
[now who could have seen that coming - and the years after?]
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/01/24/cost_of_health_initiative_up_400m/
New Mexico Considering Video Game Tax
A tax called 'No Child Left Inside' has been backed by New Mexico's Sierra Club, an environmental and outdoor preservation group. The proposed one-percent sales tax on video games and televisions is aimed at funding outdoor classroom initiatives and encouraging New Mexico's increasingly obese and diabetic youth to get off the couch and explore the great outdoors.
[we're turning the government into our parents - worse still: your children's parents]
http://www.switched.com/2008/01/23/new-mexico-considering-video-game-tax/?ncid=NWS00010000000001
NOAA: Climate Change Actually Decreases Hurricanes
The study by researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Miami Lab and the University of Miami postulated that global warming may actually decrease the number of hurricanes that strike the United States. Warming waters may increase vertical wind speed, or wind shear, cutting into a hurricane's strength. The study focused on observations rather than computer models, which often form the backbone of global warming studies, and on the records of hurricanes over the past century, researchers.
http://www.startribune.com/nation/14131656.html
Environmental Terrorism and the Price of Oil
Here we have the humiliating spectacle of a president of the United States begging an Arab potentate to increase our supply of oil while Democrats, who bear the major responsibility for the problem, scoff at him as a mendicant groveling at the feet of a foreign monarch. (Snip)
Make no mistake about it, you are paying exorbitant prices at the gas pump solely because the environmental terrorists and their Democrat allies in Congress have all but shut down our domestic oil production...
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=24527
Symposium: The Immigration Solution
In this special edition of Frontpage Symposium, we have invited a distinguished panel to discuss the myth and reality of immigration. Today our three guests are the co-authors of the new book, The Immigration Solution: A Better Plan Than Today's: Heather MacDonald, a John M. Olin fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor to City Journal.
[longish, but recommended for its statistics > http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=294A76DD-607D-4FCC-9DAD-375297E8A522 ]
And now, an era of irrational pessimism [aka: goo-goo economics]
THE most important number concerning the U.S. economy is also the least discussed one in this week's panic over the U.S. economy - 4.9 percent. That is the current rate of growth in the economy as measured by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. That is the growth for the third quarter 2007.
Far from being in a recession, as defined by two consecutive quarters in which gross domestic product contracts, the American economy is growing.
Preliminary results for the fourth quarter will not be released for another week. I seriously doubt the growth continued at that rate. But my bet is that the economy grew in the months of October, November and December 2007. Retail sales in December were up.
The politicians in Washington are saying that we have to avoid a slowdown in the economy. That is absurd. A $14 trillion economy does not need 4.9 percent annual growth to succeed. As long as growth outpaces inflation, no one in Washington should care. And even if it does not, Washington should mind its own business. It has done enough damage already.
But the view from Washington is that the American people are all a bunch of children who need to be protected and baby-fed rebates and the like in order to survive.
It is goo-goo economics.
The media does not help. With the war going well in Iraq, news people are looking for bad news. And bad economic news is easy to find. There is always someone who "cannot" pay his bills. Someone is always losing his job. Someone's business always fails. But the science of economics deals with macro numbers, and those are being ignored. Why?
http://dailymail.com/Opinion/DonSurber/200801240035
Pope attacks media for 'distorted morals' (praises Internet)
Pope Benedict XVI today said the media were too often used irresponsibly to spread "violence and vulgarity" and impose "distorted models" of social and family life. He urged the world's communicators instead to adopt what he called "info-ethics". In a message for the Roman Catholic Church's World Communications Day, Pope Benedict said the media often sought to create reality rather than report it, with agendas dictated by "the dominant interests" of the day. "This is what happens when communication is used for ideological purposes...
[ouch. ethics lecture from the head of the Catholic church - what's that say...]
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article3245753.ece
'I decided to die like a man', says tycoon who took on 'armed gang who threatened to kill his daughter'
A millionaire yesterday told how he fought off three armed burglars who were holding a knife to his daughter's throat, saying he "would rather die like a man than a dog". Bernard Dwyer, 51, was convinced he and his family were about to be killed so he chose to take on the men - hours after they had allegedly killed a restaurant owner, a court heard.
[Recommended - one of those 'wow' stories > http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=509962&in_page_id=1770 ]
Times defends hiring conservative Kristol
The New York Times’ hiring of Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol to write for its op-ed page caused a frenzy in the liberal blogosphere Friday night, with threats of canceling subscriptions and claims that the Gray Lady had been hijacked by neo-cons. But Times editorial page editor Andy Rosenthal sees things differently. Rosenthal told Politico shortly after the official announcement Saturday that he fails to understand “this weird fear of opposing views.”
[funny: he's to write one piece a week - thus is the liberal definition of conservative 'hijacking']
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1207/7613.html
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Economic Program Builds on Concerned Citizens’ Success
WASHINGTON, Jan. 18, 2008 – The concerned local citizens groups in Iraq have made a huge impact in areas that were once al Qaeda fiefdoms, and the program is expanding to include the economic aspects of the counterinsurgency fight, Army Col. Wayne W. Grigsby Jr. said today during a phone interview from Iraq.
[snip]
The Iraqi Civilian Conservation Force is based on the U.S. version formed in the early 1930’s to put unemployed young men to work during the Great Depression. The Iraqi version will pave roads, conduct neighborhood sanitation and work on other infrastructure improvements.
In addition, the program aims to provide scholarships to concerned local citizens to attend vocational schools. The program provides training and loans for people to start businesses. The program is also beginning in other parts of Iraq.
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48717
War? What War?
A pertinent question for 2008 might be: How many 9/11's does it take to wake a sleeping giant and keep him alert at the helm?
More than one, it would seem.
How quickly America has been lulled back to sleep. With a heap of help from our watchful media.
For more than four years, every news outlet in the Country was stirring its anti-American pot and blasting news of the carnage from Iraq 24/7. They were counting the bodies and inflating the count. They were giving more coverage to the paltry numbers of paid anti-war protesters than they were to our military heroes and their families. We heard about the horrors of the Iraq War day in and day out.
[snip]
But suddenly, we are winning the war that was lost, and you could hear a pin drop in the abandoned echo chamber of war coverage. And just as predictably, the 2008 Presidential election, according to our media elites, isn't about the war at all. Now it's about the economy.
[snip]
Take a look at the little Iranian with the messiah complex, who is exploring nuclear "energy." Give a peek at the situation in Pakistan, with its nuclear arsenal. Then look over the border to Afghanistan, where the Taliban is gaining again in strength.
And before you vote, ask yourself just one question: If we aren't safe in our homes and workplaces from another catastrophe like 9/11, will the price of your bread really matter?
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/01/war_what_war.html
Seeking Psychological Victory in the War on Terror
In Iraq, as military and security conditions continue to improve, American war politics enters one of its stranger moments in our history. Certainly it is historically odd for war reporting to diminish almost to the point of public invisibility -- just as our troops are starting to gain the upper hand. But we are fighting this war with the journalists we have, not the ones we want.
[snip]
Bin Laden said it best. His people will follow the strong horse. If, after years of stumbling and bumbling, the enduring strength and eventual wisdom of the American people can enter into the belly of the Islamist world, overturn tyrants, empower the Muslim people with peaceable and prosperous ways and intimidate two Islamist nuclear aspirants to renounce their pretensions, we will show ourselves to be the strong horse. Thereby we will hasten the day when the terrorist pretensions will fall on deaf Muslim ears and the threat of Islamist terrorism will begin to recede.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/01/we_sacrificed_4000_to_vindicat.html
Canada expected to back out of UN racism conference
UNITED NATIONS -- Canada is poised to become the first country to significantly distance itself from a major anti-racism conference the United Nations is planning for next year. Insiders say the government feels the new conference is shaping up to be like the anti-West and anti-Israel free-for-all that critics said the initial gathering quickly turned into.
"At the moment, much of the planning for the conference suggests it will focus little on denouncing racism wherever it occurs, and a lot on advancing some countries' agendas against Israel and the West," said one insider familiar with the new policy. "The government feels that taking a stand against the gathering will do more in the long run for combating racism than joining in."Arab- and Muslim-led verbal attacks on Israel at the 2001 conference were so dominant the United States and Israel walked out in protest. Canada, then under a Liberal administration, stayed, but its senior delegate told the assembly it did so "only ... to ... decry the attempts ... to de-legitimize the State of Israel and to dishonor the history and suffering of the Jewish people."
The UN gave planning oversight to its Human Rights Council, which since its launch less than two years ago has targeted Israel in 14 of its 15 resolutions charging human rights violations. States sitting on the Council then placed Iran, which has called for Israel's destruction, on an executive planning committee. Libya is the chair.
"Make no mistake, Durban II is on track to be even worse than Durban I," said Anne Bayefsky, a Canadian academic who edits the New York-based monitoring Web site EyeontheUN.org. "Canada, if it drops out, would be exhibiting moral clarity and courage after making the mistake at Durban I of staying despite serious reservations."Canada was among 41 countries that last month opposed allocating US$6.8-million in UN funding to help pay for preparatory meetings for Durban II. The measure carried in the 192-member General Assembly.
"No one can stop Durban II because countries that are classified as less than democratic hold a majority in the General Assembly, and they are for it,"said Ms. Bayefsky.
["because countries that are classified as less than democratic hold a majority in the general assembly" - where they exercise what they don't grant others, to our perpetual detriment. The organization has morphed into a gaming mechanism for despots - which we finance - it needs go (or we from it)]
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=256095
RAF scrambled as Russia tests nuclear-capable missiles
January 22, 2008 RAF scrambled as Russia tests nuclear-capable missiles (RAF/MoD Crown Copyright/PA Wire) A Russian Bear-H bomber Tony Halpin in Moscow RAF fighters scrambled to track Russian long-range bombers joining a naval task force today as Moscow practised strike tactics off the coast of France and Spain and test-launched nuclear-capable missiles. The fleet of Russian warships, supported by fighter jets and the bombers, engaged in Russia’s biggest naval exercises since the end of the Cold War.
[end? Test launching nuclear-capable missles (and how can observers know they're duds?) off the coast of europe?]
http://timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3234607.ece
Real ID and Reality
The REAL ID laws were a top a recommendation of the 9/11 Commission after investigators found that the hijackers had obtained 17 driver’s licenses and 13 state-issued identification cards in the process of carrying out terrorist actions. “Terrorists take advantage of the system being blind,” said Janice Kephart, President of 9/11 Security Solutions.
“This is going to make three groups of people unhappy: terrorists, illegal workers, con men and criminals,”said Stewart A. Baker, the Assistant Secretary for Policy at the DHS. The new laws are making others unhappy as well. Because the REAL ID Act does not institute a national identification card, it is left to the states to enforce the new standards. This leaves a large financial burden on state governments.
[i.e., the government blew it again. I used to warn of and rail against a national I.D. Then the world changed, and now we need one. Regrettable, unavoidable, let's grow up and get it done - at the federal level where it belongs (otherwise our security control is only as strong as that of the weakest state)]
http://www.campusreportonline.net/main/articles.php?id=2070
Blowin' in the Wind
If you thought the 2008 presidential race was shattering all records for windy rhetoric, it's nothing compared to the political eco-rhetoric being spun to US taxpayers -- to get them to cough up billions of dollars to fuel a renewable wind power industry boom sensible investors won't touch with a turbine's rotor...
[snip]
In a recent US report about Silicon Valley clean energy investments, Vinod Khosia, founder of Khosia Ventures (representing dozens of US clean energy companies) says, "I worry about over-investing from firms that don't understand the energy markets." He's not alone. In an astute article in Energy Pulse (June 2007) Consulting Engineer Brian Leyland warned that the entire alternative energy renewables investments boom may turn into just another "dotcom bubble".
http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=012308A
CNN: Media Deserve 'Shame' for 'Complicity' w/ Dems Ignoring Immigration
On Tuesday's Lou Dobbs Tonight, which was repeated on Sunday, CNN host Dobbs chided the media for not including illegal immigration in exit polls of Democratic voters simply because Democratic candidates have avoided discussing the issue. Dobbs:
"Would it surprise you if I were to tell you right here in front of God and everybody I had to convince CNN a couple of years ago to include illegal immigration in a poll because we didn't even in this organization believe it was an important issue, some of us didn't?"He even got Schneider to agree with his contention that the media's "complicity with that motive" of the Democratic candidates in ignoring the issue should "bring a sense of shame to these [media] organizations."
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brad-wilmouth/2008/01/21/cnn-media-deserves-shame-complicity-dems-ignoring-immigration
Guns in the cockpit
"Do airline pilots still need to be armed?" The answer is, "Absolutely — now more than ever."
Consider this: Arming pilots is not a new idea. In fact, airline pilots flew armed in large numbers from the dawn of commercial aviation to 1987 with no record of incident. When the federal government disarmed pilots in 1987, many pilots predicted cockpit takeover attempts — including the late Captain Victor Saracini, who, in horrible irony, was the captain of United flight 175 on September 11, 2001 when his Boeing 767 was hijacked and crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. It was the disarming of pilots in 1987 that inevitably led to the September 11 cockpit takeovers.
http://washingtontimes.com/article/20080103/EDITORIAL/583177106/1013
Media Stimulate Recession by Twisting Fed Chairman's Words
On the day after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sat before Congress and said the Fed is “not forecasting a recession,” CBS’s Bianca Solorzano reported on the “Early Show” that “Bernanke confirmed recession fears.”
Anthony Mason reported on the “CBS Evening News” that night that Bernanke “was telling Congress the economy needs a rescue package, and the sooner the better.”
On NBC’s “Nightly News,” reporter Erin Burnett summarized Bernanke’s testimony: “Guess what? It’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
But Bernanke didn't say that.
What the Fed chairman did say was that “recent indications suggest … that the economy has softened somewhat and that the growth prospects for 2008 are certainly below that of last year,” adding later that “again, we’re not forecasting recession but rather at this point slow growth.” [as low as 1.7% according to CBO testimony yesterday]
Instead of explaining the nuances of Bernanke’s talk, reporters went for a simplistic – and unfortunately, misleading – characterization, selectively quoting from Bernanke’s testimony before Congress to suggest he predicted a recession and called for an immediate “stimulus package.”
[more, recommended > http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2008/20080123110534.aspx ]
NYT Won't ID Tax Cuts as Chief Irish Economic Success Factor
In an article (HT Jim Taranto at Best of the Web) describing Ireland's emergence as an European Union powerhouse ("Entrepreneurship Takes Off in Ireland"), reporter James Flanigan of the New York Times simply could not bring himself to specifically identify the main reasons for the country's success (bolds are mine):
“The change came in the 1990s,” said James Murphy, founder and managing director of Lifes2Good, a marketer of drugstore products for muscle aches, hair loss and other maladies. “Taxes and interest rates came down, and all of a sudden we believed in ourselves.”So tax rates "changed," eh? And we're told that "taxes and interest rates came down," as if by some external supernatural force.
The reason taxes "came down," of course, is that they were proactively C-U-T, cut (the word "cut" does not appear even once in the article).
The Times's C-word allergy is all the more maddening because, like so many other Old Media outlets, it doesn't hesitate to describe reductions in projected spending increases in government programs as "cuts," even though, virtually without exception, year-over-year dollars spent continue to increase. You would think that employing the three-letter C-word when a cut actually does occur -- even a dreaded tax cut -- wouldn't be that difficult. But it clearly is.
[subtle, but pervasive - and how an ideology goes about controlling the language of a debate.]
http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110011111
How Núñez rose to power so fast
California
Núñez, 41, is the mastermind behind Prop. 93, and he enlisted his top political consultant, Gale Kauffmann, to lead the campaign for the measure. He would be able to serve six more years in the Assembly if the measure passes, rather than being termed out at the end of this year.
Núñez got his big break among the labor circles when Contreras hired him as political director of the labor federation. He kept that post until 2000, when he took a job as lobbyist for the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Núñez arrived at the Capitol in 2003 and became speaker the following year. The first two years of his leadership were marked by political battles against Schwarzenegger. The speaker struck deals with the governor on bills that increased the minimum wage and, more importantly [?], made California the U.S. leader in efforts to curb greenhouse gases. "I put the power of the speakership behind it," Núñez said of the emissions bill. "Otherwise it wouldn't have moved."
"The bottom line: It was all about Prop. 93 and (Núñez's) ambition to continue to be speaker and his terror that Big Four gambling tribes would put money against (the measure) if he didn't do their bidding," said Jack Gribbon, California political director of UNITE Here, a labor union that opposes the gambling deals. "It was one of the coldest political calculations that I have seen in my life."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/22/MN9UU0M5L.DTL
3 Dogs Live The Sweet Life On $800,000 Inheritance
Hagerstown, Md. -- They're not as loaded as Leona Helmsley's pooch, but three dogs in western Maryland still have more money than they know what to do with. The dogs -- a beagle named Buckshot and Labrador mixes named Katie and Obu-Jet -- inherited $400,000 and a house in Hagerstown when their owner, Ken Kemper, died last year. The trio is worth about $800,000 altogether. (Snip) On Friday nights, Grady treats them to a spaghetti dinner, complete with meatballs and garlic bread.
http://www.myfoxdc.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=5344789&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.7.1
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Soldiers Re-enlist to Commemorate 100th Army Reserve Anniversary
In the grand rotunda of Al Faw Palace here, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, issued the oath of enlistment and remarked on the continued commitment Army Reserve soldiers make in reenlisting.
“In places like Iraq, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, the Philippines and Latin America, Army reservists are bringing their warrior skills and their civilian trades to the fight,” Petraeus said.Soldiers selected to participate in the commemorative ceremony are a sampling of the more than 1,876 Army Reserve soldiers who have reenlisted over the past 12 months while deployed in Iraq and Kuwait, approximately 20 percent of all re-enlistments for the Army Reserve worldwide, officials said.
“As everyone here knows,” Petraeus told the citizen-soldiers, “that combination is particularly effective in the exceedingly complex environments we face today -- environments that require our troopers to be not just warriors but also diplomats, builders, trainers, advisors, intelligence gatherers, service providers, economic developers and mediators.”
“Citizen-soldiers perform these diverse roles expertly, and in so doing, they demonstrate the critical role members of the Army Reserve play in safeguarding freedom at home and defending it abroad,” the general added.
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48718
Al Qaeda Can Run, But Can’t Hide in Northern Iraq, General Says
WASHINGTON, Jan. 22, 2008 – The tables have turned for al Qaeda in northern Iraq, as a surge of operations there in the new year has put terrorists on the run looking for new places to hide, a commander in the region said today.
“A year ago, we were often reacting to al Qaeda and what they were going to do,” Hertling said. “Now, I think the tables have turned, and they are attempting to react to where we’re going to go next. And that’s a critical difference.”
About 15,000 local people have signed up as concerned local citizens under a program that allows them to assist with the security effort.
“As things begin to develop and we get more and more into the ‘hold’ and the eventual ‘build’ stage, coalition forces will begin to leave,” the general said. “As the Iraqi police stand up more and more capability, the Iraqi army will begin to leave and the police will be left, along with local citizens, in securing the inside of town.”http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48730
U.N. Envoy Offers Upbeat Report on Iraq
UNITED NATIONS — In the most upbeat assessment by a U.N. official since America invaded Iraq, Secretary-General Ban's top envoy in Baghdad, Steffan de Mistura, told the Security Council yesterday that it "cannot ignore the recent improvements" in Iraq since last year's troop surge. (Snip) U.N. assessments of the conditions in Iraq since the war began in 2003 have often been bleak and critical of the activities of the American-led international troop contingency, known as the Multi-National Force–Iraq.
http://www.nysun.com/article/69897
Empowering Lies
What if a major news story is made up? What if it's just Hamas propaganda without being true? And what if this story is repeated around the world? Of course, nowadays it's not hard to imagine such things happening. When one gets to specific statistics, however, it should not be too easy to lie and get away with it.
But it is.
The story in question here is by Ibrahim Barzak, “Israel cuts fuel, electricity to Gaza,” January 7, 2008. Like all individual articles it might be of limited importance by itself but it is an example of a phenomenon which has grown to be almost daily.
In the version run by the Philadelphia Inquirer it carries the following subheadline: “People have only a third of winter needs, said an official. The intent is to halt rocket attacks.”
It is important to emphasize—do a computer search if you like—that this article has been published and broadcast around the world by huge media outlets, not to mention websites.
And the main point—and impact—of the story is a fabrication...
[read how it's done > http://www.globalpolitician.com/articledes.asp?ID=4009&cid=2&sid=71 ]
Canada expected to back out of UN racism conference
UNITED NATIONS -- Canada is poised to become the first country to significantly distance itself from a major anti-racism conference the United Nations is planning for next year. Insiders say the government feels the new conference is shaping up to be like the anti-West and anti-Israel free-for-all that critics said the initial gathering quickly turned into.
"At the moment, much of the planning for the conference suggests it will focus little on denouncing racism wherever it occurs, and a lot on advancing some countries' agendas against Israel and the West," said one insider familiar with the new policy. "The government feels that taking a stand against the gathering will do more in the long run for combating racism than joining in."Arab- and Muslim-led verbal attacks on Israel at the 2001 conference were so dominant the United States and Israel walked out in protest. Canada, then under a Liberal administration, stayed, but its senior delegate told the assembly it did so "only ... to ... decry the attempts ... to de-legitimize the State of Israel and to dishonor the history and suffering of the Jewish people."
The UN gave planning oversight to its Human Rights Council, which since its launch less than two years ago has targeted Israel in 14 of its 15 resolutions charging human rights violations. States sitting on the Council then placed Iran, which has called for Israel's destruction, on an executive planning committee. Libya is the chair.
"Make no mistake, Durban II is on track to be even worse than Durban I," said Anne Bayefsky, a Canadian academic who edits the New York-based monitoring Web site EyeontheUN.org. "Canada, if it drops out, would be exhibiting moral clarity and courage after making the mistake at Durban I of staying despite serious reservations."Canada was among 41 countries that last month opposed allocating US$6.8-million in UN funding to help pay for preparatory meetings for Durban II. The measure carried in the 192-member General Assembly.
"No one can stop Durban II because countries that are classified as less than democratic hold a majority in the General Assembly, and they are for it,"said Ms. Bayefsky.
["because countries that are classified as less than democratic hold a majority in the general assembly" - where they exercise what they don't grant others, to our perpetual detriment. The organization has morphed into a gaming mechanism for despots - which we finance - it needs go (or we from it)]
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=256095
RAF scrambled as Russia tests nuclear-capable missiles
January 22, 2008 RAF scrambled as Russia tests nuclear-capable missiles (RAF/MoD Crown Copyright/PA Wire) A Russian Bear-H bomber Tony Halpin in Moscow RAF fighters scrambled to track Russian long-range bombers joining a naval task force today as Moscow practised strike tactics off the coast of France and Spain and test-launched nuclear-capable missiles. The fleet of Russian warships, supported by fighter jets and the bombers, engaged in Russia’s biggest naval exercises since the end of the Cold War.
[end? Test launching nuclear-capable missiles (and how can observers know they're duds?) off the coast of Europe? They've learned from watching tin-pot dictators that bad behavior works against the West, eventually resulting in a 'negotiated' capitulation...]
http://timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3234607.ece
'Patients to lose weight before NHS treatment'
Patients could be required to lose weight before they can be treated on the National Health Service, Gordon Brown has suggested. In a New Year message to NHS staff, the Prime Minister indicates people may have to fulfil new "responsibilities" in order to establish their entitlement to care. The new conditions could be set out in a formal NHS "constitution", Mr Brown says. (Snip) Despite the NHS commitment to provide free universal care, it is already common for doctors to set conditions on patients seeking treatment.
[the inevitable evolution of government run health'care']
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=EL3VVI3Y3LYOFQFIQMFSFFOAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2008/01/01/nhealth201.xml
Bill Delays Oil Exploration for Polar Bear Listing
Environmentalists welcomed a bill introduced by a House Democrat last week that would delay the sale of land in Alaska for oil exploration. Environmentalists believe the Interior Department wants to avoid classifying the polar bear as an endangered species until the land -- which is polar bear habitat -- is sold.
[snip][despite...>]
"Sale 193 was originally scheduled for June 2007, but we delayed the sale until February 2008 to provide sufficient time to complete the environmental analyses," he said in his testimony for the select committee on Thursday.
[snip]
According to Randall Luthi, director of the Minerals Management Service, "the Chukchi Sea Planning Area could hold 15 billion barrels of oil and 76 trillion cubic feet of natural gas ... thus providing potentially significant future production of oil and gas from Northern Alaska."
[snip]"Rep. Markey and too many other members of Congress are willing to use any tools available to stop oil production in this country," he said. "Then they complain about high gasoline prices and importing oil from countries they don't like."
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200801/NAT20080121a.html
Oil drilling will not harm polar bears
US officials defended plans for oil drilling in the Chukchi Sea off northwestern Alaska, telling lawmakers that it would not harm polar bears, already threatened by global warming [?]. Randall Luthi, director of the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service, which sells oil drilling rights, told Congress Thursday that the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act provides adequate safeguards to polar bears from oil exploration accidents such as oil spills.
[?] = fact? : "Fact: Polar Bears are not going extinct because of the supposedly melting ice, according to a biologist Dr. Mitchell Taylor from the arctic government of Nunavut. “Of the 13 populations of polar bears in Canada, 11 are stable or increasing in number. They are not going extinct, or even appear to be affected at present,” Taylor wrote on May 1, 2006. See here: http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1146433819696&call_pageid=970599119419
[nonetheless]: Representative Edward Markey demanded polar bears be declared a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act due to global warming prior to the sale of oil drilling rights in the Chukchi Sea, scheduled for February 6.
[and so our ever-increasing oil dollars continue to flow to our middle-eastern 'friends', while driving up the costs of virtually everything in our economy...]
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080118092115.otnxbhdn&show_article=1&catnum=7
Hidden Cartel Target Range Is Reportedly Found In Raid(Tijuana)
TIJUANA – Days after a wild, deadly shootout between drug cartel gunmen and Mexican police and soldiers, authorities have uncovered what they say is a clandestine training ground for cartel assassins, complete with an underground target range that investigators believe went undetected for months.
Heavily armed federal police raided the house Saturday night. They found two armored pickups at the home, along with two other vehicles that had hidden compartments, authorities said. At ground level, the two-story green-and-white hillside house in the Independencia section of Tijuana included a machine shop for assembling and repairing weapons. Parts of disassembled pistols and...
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20080122-9999-1m22narco.html
US Supreme Court declines experimental drugs case
The Supreme Court refused earlier this week to review an earlier federal appeals court ruling that prevents terminally ill patients from being treated with experimental drugs.
Last year, a federal appeals court, siding with US FDA, said the government may deny terminally ill patients access to drugs that have not been through extensive testing and have not received FDA approval—a process that can often take years.
[criminal]
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080114/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_experimental_drugs&printer=1;_ylt=Am7DEeqbpa2U2LZx5_u0vmlAw_IE
Unraveling the Unemployment Rate...
California
One of the excuses we hear for California’s budget problems is that they are caused by the national economic slowdown. It’s true that the national economy has a big impact on the state, but we’re seeing data that suggests that something went seriously wrong with California’s economy last year quite apart from our national difficulties.
Last year, California imposed a series of devastating new economic burdens, including the governor’s mandate to radically reduce carbon dioxide emissions (with profound impacts on sectors such as construction, manufacturing, agriculture and cargo transportation) and major increases in the minimum wage. Ironically, proponents claimed that these changes would greatly improve California’s job opportunities.
What we have seen over the past year is that California’s unemployment rate – that had been tracking very consistently with the national rate – broke radically upward from the national figures shortly after these laws took effect.
The Employment Development Department has just released California's December unemployment rate. While the national numbers ticked up by 3/10 of a point, California’s jumped another half point and is now running 1.1 points ahead of the national rate. A picture is worth a thousand words:
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