Um…. I hope Barry is not too tired to deal with this one:
Iran has test-fired a new air-to-surface missile, Iranian media reported on Sunday, in the Islamic Republic’s latest display of its military capability.
The missile test was carried out despite the offer by the administration of new U.S. President Barack Obama to engage Iran in direct talks if it “unclenches its fist”.
Iran’s Fars News Agency said the domestically produced missile had a range of 110 km and was designed for use by military aircraft against naval targets.
“Now these jet fighters have acquired a new capability in confronting threats,” the semi-official news agency said. Iran’s Press TV initially said a long-range missile had been tested, but later also used Fars’ way of describing it.
Iran often stages war games or tests weapons to show its determination to counter any attack by foes such as Israel and the United States.
Israel and Washington accuse Tehran of trying to develop nuclear bombs. Iran says its nuclear programme is a peaceful drive to generate electricity so that the world’s fourth-largest oil producer can export more of its gas and crude.
Israel, believed to be the only nuclear-armed Middle East state, has said Iran’s nuclear plans threaten its existence and has not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to end the dispute.
….and Yet, President Bambi wants to try and hold talks with these crazy people? I fear for our country. š
I think Bush was right, as were many Republicans who said, that Obama would rather appease terrorists, than stiff arm those who promote Terrorism.
What gets me is, how Bush was lambasted for making that Statement; and at the time, I thought he was kind of off for saying that myself. Now, I believe that Bush was absolutely correct. The truth is, Iran is a country that is a supporter of terrorism. I mean, terrorism of Israel and all of its allies, including the United States.
The question is, how will President Obama respond to this? Will he ignore it or will He stand up and condemn this sort of an action?
The answer will most likely come….. When Obama is done with his nap. š
Once again, I am going to link to something that is going to cause some people to think that I am a fake Conservative. If that’s what some want to do; fine, let them.
But I will say it, that I totally agree with the assessment made in this Blog entry here.
I have always believed that Abortion in itself, was murder. However, I believe it is a MORAL issue and is not, nor should it ever be a legislative issue. A very great Libertarian Senator, Barry Goldwater Sr. once said, “You cannot legislate Morality.” Our laws are a reflection of society, to push a Religious dogma or belief system off on a society; goes against everything our Constitution stands for.
Many times, I have criticized the so-called “Right to Life” groups as being border line Nazi Fascist in their ways, as is the Roman Catholic Church as well, at times.
Sometimes, I think, in the quest to be morally right, the Church, as it is referred to, comes off being very wrong.
Sources close to the White House say Mr Obama and his staff have been “overwhelmed” by the economic meltdown and have voiced concerns that the new president is not getting enough rest.
British officials, meanwhile, admit that the White House and US State Department staff were utterly bemused by complaints that the Prime Minister should have been granted full-blown press conference and a formal dinner, as has been customary. They concede that Obama aides seemed unfamiliar with the expectations that surround a major visit by a British prime minister.
But Washington figures with access to Mr Obama’s inner circle explained the slight by saying that those high up in the administration have had little time to deal with international matters, let alone the diplomatic niceties of the special relationship.
Allies of Mr Obama say his weary appearance in the Oval Office with Mr Brown illustrates the strain he is now under, and the president’s surprise at the sheer volume of business that crosses his desk.
A well-connected Washington figure, who is close to members of Mr Obama’s inner circle, expressed concern that Mr Obama had failed so far to “even fake an interest in foreign policy”.
A British official conceded that the furore surrounding the apparent snub to Mr Brown had come as a shock to the White House. “I think it’s right to say that their focus is elsewhere, on domestic affairs. A number of our US interlocutors said they couldn’t quite understand the British concerns and didn’t get what that was all about.”
The American source said: “Obama is overwhelmed. There is a zero sum tension between his ability to attend to the economic issues and his ability to be a proactive sculptor of the national security agenda.
“That was the gamble these guys made at the front end of this presidency and I think they’re finding it a hard thing to do everything.”
Oh, it gets better, trust me… Too Tired?!?! Seriously? Think that’s bad?
President Obama declared in an interview that the United States was not winning the war in Afghanistan and opened the door to a reconciliation process in which the American military would reach out to moderate elements of the Taliban, much as it did with Sunni militias in Iraq.
Mr. Obama pointed to the success in peeling Iraqi insurgents away from more hard-core elements of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, a strategy that many credit as much as the increase of American forces with turning the war around in the last two years. āThere may be some comparable opportunities in Afghanistan and in the Pakistani region,ā he said, while cautioning that solutions in Afghanistan will be complicated.
[…]
āI donāt think that people should be fearful about our future,ā he said. āI donāt think that people should suddenly mistrust all of our financial institutions.ā
As he pressed forward with ambitious plans at home to rewrite the tax code, expand health care coverage and curb climate change, Mr. Obama dismissed criticism from conservatives that he was driving the country toward socialism. After the interview, which took place as the president was flying home from Ohio, he called reporters from the Oval Office to assert that his actions have been āentirely consistent with free-market principlesā and to point out that large-scale government intervention in the markets and expansion of social welfare programs began under President George W. Bush.
Sitting at the head of a conference table with his suit coat off, Mr. Obama exhibited confidence six weeks into his presidency despite the economic turmoil around the globe and the deteriorating situations in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He struck a reassuring tone about the economy, saying he had no trouble sleeping at night.
[…..]
Asked if the United States was winning in Afghanistan, a war he effectively adopted as his own last month by ordering an additional 17,000 troops sent there, Mr. Obama replied flatly, āNo.ā
Again, can someone please tell me why we elected this feckless idiot douche nozzle? I am really beginning to believe that America blew it. In a really, really, really, big way.
Those who were actually stupid enough to vote for this socialist idiot, get what is coming to them. (yes, that applies to my family too.)
I mean, this asshole is acting like this is some sort of a community organizer job. Being the President is a serious job and this idiot is not even acting remotely like a President. š”
As much as I disagreed with President George W. Bush on Iraq, I will say this; you never, EVER heard George W. Bush complain or his staff ever say to reporters, even anonymously say that the job was making him tired! Not once.
Update: It seems that some Fascist Socialist Liberal twit keeps going around getting my video yanked. No biggie, if they yank it. I will find it elsewhere and put it up. This is America and not fascist Germany and I have the RIGHT to express my opinions about the President and his fascist polices. You liberals don’t like it? TOUGH SHIT! š”
I ain’t gonna work on Barry’s farm no more.
I ain’t gonna work on Barry’s farm no more.
Well, I wake up in the morning,
Fold my hands and pray that I might keep my gain.
I got a bill full of Taxes
That are drivin’ me insane.
It’s a shame the way he makes me tip the whore.
Naw, I ain’t gonna work on Barry’s farm no more.
I ain’t gonna work under Barry’s Law’s no more.
I ain’t gonna work under Barry’s Law’s no more.
Well, he hands you a Dollar,
Taxes you a dime,
Looks at you with a grin
While robbin’ you fuckin’ Blind,
Then he taxes you every time you open the door.
I ain’t gonna work under Barry’s Laws no more.
I ain’t gonna be a slave for Barry’s Government no more.
No, I ain’t be a Slave for Barry’s Government no more.
Well, he puts a Tax Bill
in your face just for kicks.
His White House
It is made out of Bricks.
The Secret Service stands around his door.
Ah, I ain’t gonna be a slave for Barry’s Government no more.
I ain’t gonna work for Barry’s Bitch no more.
No, I ain’t gonna work for Barry’s Bitch no more.
Well, she talks to all the people
About Equality and Race and Law.
All the while the workin’ people
Are payin’ for other peoples bad calls
She’s a lying thief, but she says her honesty stands tall.
Naw, I ain’t gonna work for Barry’s Bitch no more.
I ain’t gonna work on Barry’s farm no more.
I ain’t gonna work on Barry’s farm no more.
Well, I try my best
To do the best I can,
But everybody wants you
To pay thier bills for them.
They eat steak while you slave and I just get bored.
I ain’t gonna work on Barry’s farm no more.
Why couldn’t President Obama have put on more of a show for his British guests? He looked like he simply couldn’t be bothered.
Number 10 may be content that they just about got away with the visit to the Oval Office yesterday, as Andrew Porter reports from Washington.
But on this side of the Atlantic the whole business looked pretty demeaning. The morning papers and TV last night featured plenty of comment focused on the White House’s very odd and, frankly, exceptionally rude treatment of a British PM. Squeezing in a meeting, denying him a full press conference with flags etc. The British press corps, left outside for an hour in the cold, can take it and their privations are of limited concern to the public.
But Obama’s merely warmish words (one of our closest allies, said with little sincerity or passion) left a bitter taste with this Atlanticist. Especially after his team had made Number 10 beg for a mini press conference and then not even offered the PM lunch.
We get the point, sunshine: we’re just one of many allies and you want fancy new friends. Well, the next time you need something doing, something which impinges on your national security, then try calling the French, or the Japanese, or best of all the Germans. The French will be able to offer you first rate support from their catering corps but beyond that you’ll be on your own.
I realize it might have seemed a bit disrespectful. But perhaps this bloke should read the history of slavery and the colonization of Africa and the slave trade a bit more closely. I mean, wouldnāt you, being a African-American be a bit jittery about kissing the royal behind of those who oppressed your people? I would be.
While I think it is a bit rude and could have been handled better. I think that Obama is well within his rights to do what he pleases in his White House.
A grandfather today spoke for the first time of how doctors helped him see again with a pioneering ‘bionic’ eye implant.
Ron, 73, is one of only three people in the UK who have undergone the revolutionary surgery at London’s Moorfield Eye Hospital.
The pensioner, whose full name was not revealed, spoke of his joy at being able to carry out everyday tasks like sorting the washing since losing his sight in his 40s.
Stuff like this makes me happy to be a blogger. š
The ripple effect of Government Socialism spreads:
Asian stock markets slumped Monday amid resurgent concerns that a recovery in the global economy is unlikely to materialize until next year and worries about the global financial sector following fresh government bailouts for the insurance giant American International Group and Citigroup.
The Nikkei 225, Japanās benchmark index, was down 4 percent and the Kospi in South Korea fell 3.6 percent, while the key index in Hong Kong sagged 3.8 percent. Singaporeās stock market fell 3.3 percent, and the markets in Australia and Taiwan dropped 2.8 percent. Stocks in mainland China declined least, falling 0.2 percent by Monday afternoon.
Stock in banks like Mitsubishi UFJ and Mizuho Financial Group were more than 4 percent lower in Tokyo because of fears about the health of the global banking system, after the United States government moved to take a larger stake in the ailing banking giant Citigroup and was set to give an additional $30 billion in taxpayer money to AIG.
And in Hong Kong, trading in HSBC was suspended in the wake of reports that the British bank will announce on Monday that it is tapping investors for about Ā£12 billion, or about $17 billion.
“Itās pretty despondent everywhere,” said Dwyfor Evans, a strategist at State Street Global Markets in Hong Kong. “Okay, there are signs that some of the leading indicators have stabilized to some extent, but itās at a very, very low level, and weāre not seeing corporate investment picking up, or consumers starting to spend again ā in other words, the traditional mechanisms by which economies come out of a recession are absent at this time.”
While Barack Obama might be the President that saved the working class family in America, he might very well go down as the President who destroyed the free market capitalist system in America and around the World. Although, I will admit, that he did have help. Bill Clinton’s polices, along with the inaction of the Republican Congress of 2003, did nothing to stop this mess.
The bad part about is, I and everyone else will be most likely dead before it is all straightened out.
ABC Radio Network spokesman Louis Adams said Harvey died Saturday at his winter home in Phoenix, Ariz., surrounded by family. No cause of death was immediately available.
Harvey, who was born and raised in Tulsa, Okla., was married to the late Lynne Cooper of St. Louis who died less than a year ago. They had one son, Paul Jr.
He was a news commentator and talk-show pioneer whose staccato style made him one of
Paul Harvey - Broadcasting Icon
the country’s most familiar voices. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush in 2005.
Known for his resonant voice and trademark delivery of “The Rest of the Story,” Harvey had been heard nationally since 1951, when he began his “News and Comment” for ABC Radio Networks.
In a statement, ABC Radio Networks President Jim Robinson calls Harvey “one of the most gifted and beloved broadcasters in our nation’s history.”
He began his radio career in 1933 in Tulsa, while he was still in high school, his Web site said.
Paul Harvey News consisted of more than 1,200 radio stations and 400 Armed Forces Network stations that broadcast around the world and 300 newspapers, his biography reported.
A virus that weakened his vocal cord forced him off the air in 2001. But he returned to work in Chicago and was still active as he passed his 90th birthday.
My Grandfather, on my Mom’s side used to listen to Paul Harvey, when she was a little girl. What a loss, a legend in broadcasting is now gone. Harvey was a Conservative, it showed in his broadcasts. Here are two clips of Harvey in his prime from 1963, right before Kennedy was assassinated:
A Turkish Airlines plane with 134 passengers and crew aboard crashed in light fog while trying to land at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport on Wednesday, killing nine people and injuring dozens.
Officials said some 84 people were taken to hospitals, including 25 who were severely hurt, when flight TK 1951 from Istanbul crashed into a field short of a runway at Schiphol, Europe’s fifth-largest airport by passenger volume.
Six were in critical condition.
“We cannot say anything about the cause at the moment,” acting local mayor Michel Bezuijen told reporters. “The priority…is providing help and care.”
The bodies of three crew members, left in the cockpit amid the plane’s wreckage for investigation, were later taken out. Dutch media said the pilot and co-pilot were among the dead.
Officials said they had found the plane’s flight data recorder and that it would be analyzed.
Earlier, Dutch officials said 135 people were on board the plane, but that was revised to 134.
I think that it would not be out of place to offer up a prayer for the familes of the dead and for the survivors of this horrific accident.
The Russian Coast Guard sank a Chinese coastal freighter, the New Star, on February 15th, after the ship left the Russian Pacific port of Nakhodka without permission. The New Star arrived in Nakhodka nearly three weeks ago, with a cargo of rice. But the firm that purchased the rice complained that the cargo was of low quality, and demanded a lower price. The Russian buyer went to local officials, and got the government to forbid the New Star from leaving until the matter was settled. Caught in the middle of this dispute between the Chinese rice broker and the Russian buyer, the Hong Kong owner of the New Star ordered the captain to leave port anyway. When the Russian Coast Guard was notified, they sent a patrol ship out to bring the New Star back. The Russian patrol boat caught up with the New Star, about 80 kilometers from Nakhodka, and ordered the Chinese ship to return to port. The Chinese ship refused, and eventually the Russians opened fire with a 30mm auto-cannon. After several hours, 515 30mm shells were fired into the hull of the New Star, causing it to take on water and begin to sink. While getting off the New Star, eight of the crew died when one of the two life rafts flipped over in rough seas. The other eight members of the crew were picked up by a Russian Coast Guard ship.
Freedom Fighter Radio adds the following… (Please note, the legitimacy of these claims cannot be verified):
Most disturbing about these reports are them stating that the New Star is owned by the J Rui Lucky Shipping Co Ltd. which is a private limited company registered in Hong Kong and has long been known by Russian FSB Analysts to be an International shipping carrier of US Military and CIA cargo to support their Global War on Terror under contract with the American giant services company KBR whose former leader was US Vice President Cheney.
These reports further state that President Obama and the Globalist elite he represents are now ādesperateā in their attempts to stage a 9/11 type false flag operation in order to complete the subjugation of their citizens prior to the expected outbreak of massive social unrest they state will be occurring during the coming summer months as their economy continues to implode.
To the fears being felt by the American and European Globalists we can read as reported by German experts:
āThe global financial crisis could lead to an economic meltdown – and to instable democratic structures in the western world. Because governments spend more billions than they possess, the outcome will probably be a massive inflation connected with millions of lost jobs – or even the total collapse. Thatās why President Hussein Obama needed an astronomic 3B-stimulus. But the Big Bailout will probably end as Big Bang: With no changes on the more-growth-more-capital-more financial market power mentality there will be no escape from the crisis. A global monetary reform seems to be the last exit from chaos and before social unrests will inevitably start.ā
These German fears were further confirmed yesterday by the former head of the US Federal Reserve, and as we can also read:
āFormer U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Tuesday the current global recession will āsurely be the longest and deepestā since the 1930s and more government rescue funds are needed to stabilize the U.S. financial system.ā
The report goes on to talk about FEMA Prisoner camps and other such nonsense, none of which has been verified by legitimate news sources. Only by conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones and his ilk. I have often wanted to ask Alex, how does it feel to make a living off people’s paranoia?
Like I said, slow news day, really sllllooooowwww news day.
The right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) called on Saturday for retaliation against the United States over a U.S. tax probe into the country’s biggest bank UBS that threatens prized banking secrecy.
The populist SVP, the country’s biggest party, said Switzerland should not take in any detainees from the U.S. prison for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, which the Swiss government said last month it could consider to help shut the camp down.
Switzerland should also reconsider its policy of representing the United States in countries where it has no diplomatic presence, the parliamentary SVP said in a statement.
The SVP said gold stored by the Swiss National Bank in the United States should be repatriated and Switzerland should ban the sale of U.S. funds in the country to protect Swiss investors after the failure of U.S. regulators.
The SVP has one minister in the seven-member Swiss government which is made up of the biggest four parties, but its populist policies have shaken up usually consensual Swiss politics.
You see, this is what happens, when the United States entangles itself in the affairs of other Governments. Switzerland has been a neutral country for years and a somewhat friend of ours, now they’ve become a enemy. Real smart there Barry, Real fucking smart.
Iran has now built up a stockpile of enough enriched uranium for one nuclear bomb, United Nations officials acknowledged on Thursday.
In a development that comes as the Obama administration is drawing up its policy on negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear programme, UN officials said Iran had produced more nuclear material than previously thought.
They said Iran had now accumulated more than one tonne of low enriched uranium hexafluoride at a facility in Natanz. If such a quantity were further enriched it could produce more than 20kg of fissile material ā enough for a bomb.
āIt appears that Iran has walked right up to the threshold of having enough low enriched uranium to provide enough raw material for a single bomb,ā said Peter Zimmerman, a former chief scientist of the US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
The new figures come in a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UNās nuclear watchdog, released on Thursday.
This revealed that Iranās production of low enriched uranium had previously been underestimated.
President Obama has not ruled out a second stimulus package, his press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said on Tuesday, just before Mr. Obama signed his $787 billion recovery package into law with a statement that it would āset our economy on a firmer foundation.ā
The president said he would not pretend āthat today marks the end of our economic problems.ā
āNor does it constitute all of what we have to do to turn our economy around,ā Mr. Obama said at the signing ceremony in the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. āBut today does mark the beginning of the end, the beginning of what we need to do to create jobs for Americans scrambling in the way of playoffs.ā
Mr. Gibbs, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on the way to Denver, said, āI think the president is going to do whatās necessary to grow this economy.ā While āthere are no particular plans at this point for a second stimulus package,ā he added, āI wouldnāt foreclose it.ā
Mr. Obama began the first leg of a two-day trip, using the museum ceremony to spotlight the billās clean-energy provisions. The president will also visit Phoenix, where he will unveil his new housing plan on Wednesday.
After a bruising legislative battle on the stimulus bill, which drew only three supporting votes from Republicans in the Senate and none in the House, the White House is trying to recapture the debate over the economy. Mr. Obamaās message is that the bill will create or save 3.5 million jobs over the next two years.
While the bill has been criticized by conservatives as bloated with pork-barrel spending, it has also been criticized by the left as too tepid and not bold enough to jumpstart the economy. Mr. Gibbsās remarks on the plane seemed to echo that concern.
In describing the package, the press secretary called it āa strong start towards economic viabilityā and āthe beginning of getting our economy back on track.ā
I figured Obama would do this, sign one porkus bill into law and say, “This is not the end, but just the beginning of the pork!”
Meanwhile, the markets basically tanked, even more so than last week: (Via the New York Times)
From Hong Kong to eastern Europe to Wall Street, financial gloom was everywhere on Tuesday.
Stock markets around the world staggered lower. In New York, the Dow fell more than 3 percent, coming within sight of its worst levels since the credit crisiserupted. Financial shares were battered. And rattled investors clamored to buy rainy-day investments like gold and Treasury debt.
It was a global wave of selling spurred by rising worries about how banks, automakers ā entire countries ā would fare in a deepening global downturn.
āNobody believes itās going get better yet,ā said Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at Standard & Poorās. āDo you see that light at the end of the tunnel? Any kind of light? Right now, itās not there yet.ā
At the close, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 297.81 points or 3.7 percent to 7,552.29 points as losses in General Motors, Bank of America and American Express dragged the blue chips lower. The only Dow stock in positive territory was Wal-Mart, which rose after reporting better-than-expected profits.
āIf we get substantially below 800 then look out below,ā said Marc Groz, chief investment officer at Topos, a risk-advisory firm in Greenwich, Conn.
The broader Standard & Poorās 500-stock index slid 3.7 percent to drop below 800, which analysts said was an important trading threshold.
Investors know what this is, it is basically nationalization of our Economy, our banks, everything. They are just not going to invest money in a Government owned banking system. I believe this drop is just the beginning. Wait till it totally collapses and the world is thrust into chaos. It will be an interesting time, indeed.
The Video and listen to Mr. Wilders stand up to the Liberal BBC’s baiting questions:
The Story:
A Dutch MP who called the Koran a “fascist book” has been sent back to the Netherlands after attempting to defy a ban on entering the UK.
Freedom Party MP Geert Wilders had been invited to show his controversial film – which links the Islamic holy book to terrorism – in the UK’s House of Lords.
But Mr Wilders, who faces trial in his own country for inciting hatred, has been denied entry by the Home Office.
He told the BBC it was a “very sad day” for UK democracy.
The Dutch ambassador was also at Heathrow to make clear his government’s opposition to the ban on Mr Wilders entering the UK.
As far as I am concerned, Britain is nothing more than a Nation of terrorist sympathizers.Ā This is a disgrace and should be held as an example of what America will become if we allow the Liberals in America to have their way. This man put out a video exposing Islam for what it really is and now he is being persecuted for it.Ā Yes, the video was extreme, and yes, the framing of his argument was a bit extreme, but there is a thing called freedom of speech, and his man’s right are being violated.
In the Spirit of freedom of speech, I present, once again, Fitna:
Just over two months ago Galina lost her son and she’s still struggling to get over the shock.
Zhenya was brutally murdered by a robber, as the boy was trying to save his 12-year-old sister from being raped.
It all happened in late November, in the small military town of Noginsk-9 – a place where even small crimes are rare.
Around midday, a man rang the bell of the flat where Zhenya and his family lived.
āI asked who it was. The man said he was the postman, and he needed to give us a telegram and get a signature. So I opened the door,ā recalls Zhenyaās sister Yana.
The little girl says the man held a knife to her throat, and demanded that her brother bring him all the money he could find. Zhenya did as he was told. But when the man started undressing his sister it was more than the boy could bear.
Zhenya seized a knife from the kitchen and plunged it into the man’s back. This didn’t kill the attacker, but it was enough to set Zhenya’s sister free. She ran for help. But it was too late for her brother – he was stabbed eight times.
Thirty-five-year old Sergey Kiyashko is in custody accused of the murder.Ā Police say they have all the evidence they need to convict him.
There is indeed a special place in Heaven for young boys like this. May he rest in the Holy Peace of Christ. May the foul beast that committed this horrible crime to this young boy never see the outside of a jail cell again.Ā š”
Managers at the World Bank provided false information to the agency’s board of directors about a $39 million, politically-connected European “coastal cleanup” project that led to the destruction and destitution of a powerless village in Albania in 2007 ā and then spent nearly two years trying to cover it up, FOX News has learned.
Bank insiders also misled and stonewalled a panel of independent investigators commissioned by the board to investigate the scandal, according to the investigators themselves.
World Bank sources tell FOX News that the panel’s report, submitted to the 24-member board in late November, is one of the most damning independent assessments of the anti-poverty agency’s behavior in the bank’s 60-year history. The bank, the world’s largest and most influential anti-poverty institution and part of the U.N. system, is doling out $100 billion over the next three years for development projects.
For its part, once the report leaked in Albania last week, the bank announced that further disbursements of the loan for the Albanian project had been temporarily suspended on Jan. 9 “due to certain outstanding policy and operational issues.” A World Bank spokesman did not comment to FOX News by press time.
I hope like hell, whomever was responsible for doing this, is brought to justice. The very notion that the organization like the World Bank can just come in and destroy someone’s home is disgusting. May whomever carried this out rot in the Devil’s hell.
Don’t expect our Government to say anything about this, as it is well-known that the World Bank controls much of what goes on in this country as well.
A fierce fire engulfed one of the Chinese capitalās most architecturally celebrated modern buildings on Monday, the last day of festivities for the lunar new year when the city was ablaze with fireworks. By late evening the blaze was still raging and the cause remained unknown, but it seemed clear that the 34-story structure, not yet completed, had been rendered unusable. The building, a luxury hotel and cultural complex designed by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, is part of China Central Televisionās new headquarters, an angular two-legged behemoth built to coincide with the Beijing Olympics last year.
Firefighters, their ladders only reaching up a dozen or so floors, could do little to contain the blaze, a spectacular wall of flames eerily reflected in the glass skin of the adjacent CCTV tower.
The CCTV complex was a hugely expensive trophy of the pre-Olympics building boom, the result of many billions of dollars that the ruling Communist Party had devoted to making Beijing a city of the future. The main CCTV tower appeared untouched by the fire.
The 241-room Mandarin Oriental hotel, which had been due to open this summer, was unoccupied at the time, hotel executives said.
According to Chinese television, the fire began at 8:27 p.m., although witnesses said they spotted flames as early as 7:45 p.m. Within 20 minutes, they said, the fire had spread from the lower floors to the buildingās crown. Black smoke drifted across the night sky, obliterating a full moon.
The authorities blocked off a thoroughfare known as the Third Ring Road, which runs adjacent to the complex. Subway cars running underneath the site were briefly halted, stranding thousands of passengers. Frantic police officers tried to shoo away huge crowds as sirens wailed and fireworks lit up the skyline. People watching noted that the timing of the fire ā coming at the end of the spring festival ā was inauspicious.
While errant fireworks were suspected as a possible cause, fires of such magnitude are nonetheless highly unusual in Beijing.
Videos:
Of course, the Alex Jones crowd is trying to compare it to WTC-7. Proving that you cannot fix stupid. What happened at WTC-7 was that airlines destroyed the Twin Towers and the falling debris from the towers damaged key structural members and the resulting uncontrolled fires led to the collapse hours after the rest of the complex. Anyone who says otherwise is insulting the dead. Which is something Alex Jones is good at. š
Why can’t people just accept the damned truth and be glad they even got it. Damned morons. š”
I have not blogged about this, because it really didn’t not hit close to home. However, I was over reading in the comments section at Rachel Lucas’s Blog.
It seems that Australian Conservative Blogger Tim Blair has really been covering this story big time:
Barack Obama could learn a lesson from Japan. There’s a very good article in the New York Times today, on the mistakes made by the country of Japan in the 1990’s to fix their failing economy:
The Hamada Marine Bridge soars majestically over this small fishing harbor, so much larger than the squid boats anchored below that it seems out of place.
And it is not just the bridge. Two decades of generous public works spending have showered this city of 61,000 mostly graying residents with a highway, a two-lane bypass, a university, a prison, a childrenās art museum, the Sun Village Hamada sports center, a bright red welcome center, a ski resort and an aquarium featuring three ring-blowing Beluga whales.
Nor is this remote port in western Japan unusual. Japanās rural areas have been paved over and filled in with roads, dams and other big infrastructure projects, the legacy of trillions of dollars spent to lift the economy from a severe downturn caused by the bursting of a real estate bubble in the late 1980s. During those nearly two decades, Japan accumulated the largest public debt in the developed world ā totaling 180 percent of its $5.5 trillion economy ā while failing to generate a convincing recovery.
Now, as the Obama administration embarks on a similar path, proposing to spend more than $820 billion to stimulate the sagging American economy, many economists are taking a fresh look at Japanās troubled experience. While Japan is not exactly comparable to the United States ā especially as a late developer with a history of heavy state investment in infrastructure ā economists say it can still offer important lessons about the pitfalls, and chances for success, of a stimulus package in an advanced economy.
The Lesson to be learned here is:
āIt is not enough just to hire workers to dig holes and then fill them in again,ā said Toshihiro Ihori, an economics professor at the University of Tokyo. āOne lesson from Japan is that public works get the best results when they create something useful for the future.
But the real lesson to be learned here is the follow and pay special close attention to what is said here:
In the end, say economists, it was not public works but an expensive cleanup of the debt-ridden banking system, combined with growing exports to China and the United States, that brought a close to Japanās Lost Decade. This has led many to conclude that spending did little more than sink Japan deeply into debt, leaving an enormous tax burden for future generations.
Gee, is that not what Ron Paul said ALL ALONG, while he was running for President of the United States? For Ron Paul’s troubles and hard work he was slandered, malignedĀ and marginalized by the Neo-Conservatives who hated him and the Liberal Democrats who were sacred to death of him.
I highly suggest that you read the rest of this article. The United States could learn much from this lesson that Japan had to learn. We could very well end up causing more harm than good to our economy.
Another victim of the worldwide economic collapse:
Panasonic on Wednesday said that it was shedding 15,000 jobs, the second significant layoff in Japanās electronics industry in less than a week, and the latest example of how Japanese companies, exporters in particular, are scrambling to cut costs as demand evaporates.
Panasonic, along with Mitsubishi Motors and Mazda, also joined the rapidly lengthening list of companies to sharply revise their full-year outlooks Wednesday, with Panasonic now projecting a net loss of 380 billion yen or $4.2 billion for the year ending March 31, rather than the 30 billion yen profit it forecast on Nov. 27. Mitsubishi expects a net loss of 60 billion yen and Mazda 13 billion.
The speed of the demand downturn in recent months has taken manufacturers and economists by surprise, and forced many companies to sharply lower profit warnings made only months or even weeks ago.
I hate to sound like I am repeating myself. But this is more damage done by the Clinton Administration and the inaction of the Republican Majority of 2003. The easing of the housing loan regulations is what created all this, thus creating a economic bubble. Which has now burst. Of course, throwing money at it, will not fix it. Now, we have the tech sector taking the hit, because of the downturn in the economy. Expect more of this to come as time goes on.
This might present a challenge to the new President:
India has warned US President Barack Obama that he risks ābarking up the wrong treeā if he seeks to broker a settlement between Pakistan and India over the disputed territory of Kashmir.
MK Narayanan, Indiaās national security advisor, said that the new US administration was in danger of dredging up out of date Clinton administration-era strategies in a bid to bring about improved ties between the two nuclear armed neighbours.
āI do think that we could make President Obama understand, if he does nurse any such view, that he is barking up the wrong tree. I think Kashmir today has become one of the quieter and safer places in this part of the world,ā Mr Narayanan said in an interview with CNBC TV18.
āItās possible that at this time there are elements, perhaps in the administration who are harking back to the pre-2000 era.ā
The warning comes as Richard Holbrooke, Mr Obamaās special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, prepares to come to the region for the first time in his new capacity. Mr Narayanan is close to Manmohan Singh, Indiaās prime minister, and Sonia Gandhi, the president of the ruling Congress Party.
It seems that Obama is not going to the force that rights all the wrongs that are in the world after all.Ā This will another in a series of challenges for the new President. I wonder what he will do in response?
The U.S.-led campaign against the Taliban suffered two logistical blows Tuesday as the president of Kyrgyzstan announced that he’d shut a U.S. airbase in his country and insurgents in Pakistan blew up a bridge, disrupting the main U.S. supply route into Afghanistan.
The developments were the latest reminders of the vulnerability of the long and complex transportation system on which the 60,000 U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan depend for fuel, ammunition, construction materials and a great deal more.
The announcement by Kyrgyzstan President Kurmanbek Bakiyev that he will close the Manas Air Base also gave President Barack Obama a first taste of the challenge he faces from Russia, which is trying to restore its clout in countries that were part of the former Soviet Union.
Bakiyev made his announcement in Moscow, not in his own capital, shortly after the Russian government reportedly agreed to lend Kyrgyzstan $2 billion, write off $180 million in debt and add another $150 million in aid. The timing and place of the announcement indicated the Kremlin’s involvement.
“It’s a direct challenge to the new American administration. Russia is going out of its way to close an American base,” said Pavel Felgenhauer, a Moscow-based military analyst.
The problem was never in Krygyzstan.Ā Biden predicted that world leaders would challenge Obama and his inexperience within the first few months of the adminstration, but theyāve already started to line up in the first few days.Ā Iran launched a satellite on an ICBM to show they could go ballistic once they have nuclear weapons.Ā North Korea reportedly has set up another ICBM for a test to threaten Seoul.Ā Now Russia has flipped an ally in the war on terror ā and all of this in the first 14 days of Obamaās presidency.
Indeed, I believe this is simply Russia trying to test Obama, to see how he will react. Also, Russia is having problems with it’s people. They are bit angry about the problems with the economy. As I so blogged about yesterday. It could very well be that Putin is attempting to save face with the citizens of Russia by trying to show a little aggression towards Obama and by proxy; America.
General Motors Corp. will offer buyouts to all of its hourly employees, a spokesman confirmed Tuesday, as the troubled automaker continues to slash costs.
GM spokesman Tony Sapienza said the buyouts will mainly target GM’s 22,000 retirement-eligible hourly employees, though any union employee can take the offer.
News of the buyouts first broke on Monday. A union official told The Associated Press then that GM would offer $20,000 in cash and a $25,000 car voucher for workers who retire early and those who simply leave the company. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because workers were not yet notified of the packages.
Just another sign of the times. For the record, G.M. has done this in the past, when times were bad. Hopefully some of the guys that have been with the company and are about ready to retire will take this buy out. Hopefully, this will help the problem and G.M. will become viable.
