Fwd: Trump: Mideast Explosion Could Destroy OPEC, Lower Oil Prices

Trump: Mideast Explosion Could Destroy OPEC, Lower Oil Prices

Donald Trump is mad as hell — and he's letting everybody know it. In a wide-ranging exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV on Friday, the billionaire real estate mogul and reality TV star lashes out at China, OPEC, Obama's Middle East dealings, the president's State of the Union address and more. Trump takes aim at America's "horrible" trade agreements, declares that the Middle East is going to explode, warns about "catastrophic" oil prices, and charges that Obama's Afghanistan policy is "dangerous and stupid." He also complains that the United States is a "laughing stock" throughout the world — and confirms that he is seriously considering running for president in 2012.

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Fwd: House Speaker Boehner warns against debt default | Reuters

House Speaker Boehner warns against debt default | Reuters

With the Treasury Department rapidly coming closer to bumping up against its statutory borrowing limit of $14.3 trillion, some of Boehner's fellow Republicans in Congress have suggested that no further borrowing should be authorized until deep cuts are made in federal spending.

Tawdry details of Obamacare - Washington Times

WOLF: Tawdry details of Obamacare - Washington Times

If you would like to know what the White House really thinks of Obamacare, there's an easy way. Look past its press releases. Ignore its promises. Forget its talking points. Instead, simply witness for yourself the outrageous way the White House protects its best friends from Obamacare. Last year, we learned that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had granted 111 waivers to protect a lucky few from the onerous regulations of the new national health care overhaul. That number quickly and quietly climbed to 222, and last week we learned that the number of Obamacare privileged escapes has skyrocketed to 733. Among the fortunate is a who's who list of unions, businesses and even several cities and four states (Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio and Tennessee) but none of the friends of Barack feature as prominently as the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

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Social networking under fresh attack as tide of cyber-scepticism sweeps US | Media | The Observer

Social networking under fresh attack as tide of cyber-scepticism sweeps US | Media | The Observer: "The way in which people frantically communicate online via Twitter, Facebook and instant messaging can be seen as a form of modern madness, according to a leading American sociologist.

'A behaviour that has become typical may still express the problems that once caused us to see it as pathological,' MIT professor Sherry Turkle writes in her new book, Alone Together, which is leading an attack on the information age.

Turkle's book, published in the UK next month, has caused a sensation in America, which is usually more obsessed with the merits of social networking. She appeared last week on Stephen Colbert's late-night comedy show, The Colbert Report. When Turkle said she had been at funerals where people checked their iPhones, Colbert quipped: 'We all say goodbye in our own way.'

Turkle's thesis is simple: technology is threatening to dominate our lives and make us less human. Under the illusion of allowing us to communicate better, it is actually isolating us from real human interactions in a cyber-reality that is a poor imitation of the real world.

But Turkle's book is far from the only work of its kind. An intellectual backlash in America is calling for a rejection of some of the values and methods of modern communications. 'It is a huge backlash. The different kinds of communication that people are using have become something that scares people,' said Professor William Kist, an education expert at Kent State University, Ohio.

The list of attacks on social media is a long one and comes from all corners of academia and popular culture. A recent bestseller in the US, The Shallows by Nicholas Carr, suggested that use of the internet was altering the way we think to make us less capable of digesting large and complex amounts of information, such as books and magazine articles. The book was based on an essay that Carr wrote in the Atlantic magazine. It was just as emphatic and was headlined: Is Google Making Us Stupid?

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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

Egypt Shows How Easily Internet Can Be Silenced - CNBC

Egypt Shows How Easily Internet Can Be Silenced - CNBC: "The move by Egyptian authorities to seal off the country almost entirely from the Internet shows how easily a state can isolate its people when telecoms providers are few and compliant.



In an attempt to stop the frenzied online spread of dissent against President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule, not only Facebook and Twitter but the entire Internet was shut down overnight, leaving some 20 million users stranded.


Daniel Karrenberg, chief scientist at RIPE NCC, a European not-for-profit Internet infrastructure forum, says immature markets with few providers can achieve such shutdowns relatively easily.

'The more simple the topology is and the fewer Internet services providers there are, the easier it is for any government or the telco themselves to control access into any geographical area,' he said.

'If you have a relatively diverse telecoms market and a very much meshed Internet topology then it's much more difficult to do than if you have the traditional telecoms structure of two decades ago and they control all the international connections. Obviously that creates a choke point,' he said.

Despite the rapid transformation of the Web during its short history, and the unprecedented freedom of expression it has enabled, the Internet still has vulnerable points that can be exploited by governments or for commercial interests.

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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

Iran Sees Rise of Islamic Hard-Liners in Arab Lands - NYTimes.com

Iran Sees Rise of Islamic Hard-Liners in Arab Lands - NYTimes.com: "EHRAN — Hopeful that the protests sweeping Arab lands may create an opening for hard-line Islamic forces, conservatives in Iran are taking deep satisfaction in the events in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen, where secular leaders have faced large-scale uprisings.

While the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad confronted its own popular uprising two years ago — and successfully suppressed it — conservatives in Iran said they saw little similarity between those events and the Arab revolts, and instead likened the recent upheavals to Iran’s own 1979 Islamic revolution.

“In my opinion, the Islamic Republic of Iran should see these events without exception in a positive light,” said Mohammad-Javad Larijani, secretary general of the Iranian High Council for Human Rights and one of the most outspoken figures among Iran’s traditional conservatives.

He made it clear that he hoped that the “anti-Islamic” government of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, who was ousted in Tunisia, would be replaced by a “people’s government,” meaning one in which conservative Islamic forces would gain the upper hand, as they did when Iranian people overthrew Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, establishing a quasi-theocracy.

On the other side are the United States and France, he said, who are “doing everything they can to ride the wave and prevent the people from establishing the regime that they desire.”

“I am more optimistic about Egypt,” Mr. Larijani said in comments published Friday on the Web site Khabar Online, which is closely linked to his brother, Ali Larijani, the Parliament speaker.

“There, Muslims are more active in political agitation and, God willing, they will establish the regime that they want,” Mohammad-Javad Larijani said.

Some here have even echoed the pan-Islamic rhetoric of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

“Today, as a result of the gifts of the Islamic revolution in Iran, freedom-loving Islamic peoples such as the peoples of Tunisia, Egypt and nearby Arab countries are standing up to their oppressive governments,” said a leading hard-line cleric, Ayatollah Mohammad-Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi, who is believed to have influence with President Ahmadinejad.

In comments published Friday on the Web site of the semiofficial news agency ISNA, Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi, who favors a political system in which elections merely endorse “divinely chosen” clerical leaders, congratulated the people of Tunisia and Egypt, stating that they had acted “based on the principles” of Iran’s Islamic revolution.

Meanwhile, the leaders of Iran’s “green” opposition movement, which led large street protests here two years ago after a disputed election, have so far issued no statement on the events in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen.

While foreign commentators have tried to draw comparisons and assess differences between the overthrow of Mr. Ben Ali’s government in Tunisia, many here have found such comparisons strained and unconvincing.

“No one can compare Arab and Iranian society with each other,” said a former reformist journalist who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid drawing the attention of the security services.

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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

Consumers hit with higher food prices

Consumers will have to dust off creative cost-containing measures this year as food prices escalate after two years of very low inflation. The cost of food is expected to go up 2 percent to 3 percent, according to government economists. Some items, such as meats and dairy products, could see much steeper percentage increases — probably in double digits compared with late 2009.

To consumers, many of whom are still struggling financially, the increase could seem unbearable. Some foods have suddenly become more expensive, even as others have stayed the same or gotten a little cheaper.
A food basket survey by The Tennessean earlier this month found a 12.5 percent spike in prices for a typical grocery basket filled with staples compared with November 2009, when prices were at low ebb after world stock market turmoil.

Several factors are at work boosting today's food prices.
First, as the world's economy has started to recover, the demand for grains such as corn, wheat and soybeans has risen. Farmers are now exporting more grain internationally, while at the same time, demand in the United States has climbed, too.

Second, because there's more demand for grain, farmers who raise livestock — both for meat and dairy — are being forced to pay more to feed their herds.

And third, fuel prices are up, making it more expensive to deliver products.

Renewed Push to Give Obama an Internet "Kill Switch" - Tech Talk - CBS News

Renewed Push to Give Obama an Internet "Kill Switch" - Tech Talk - CBS News: "A controversial bill handing President Obama power over privately owned computer systems during a 'national cyberemergency,' and prohibiting any review by the court system, will return this year.

Internet companies should not be alarmed by the legislation, first introduced last summer by Sens. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), a Senate aide said last week. Lieberman, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, is chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

'We're not trying to mandate any requirements for the entire Internet, the entire Internet backbone,' said Brandon Milhorn, Republican staff director and counsel for the committee.

Instead, Milhorn said at a conference in Washington, D.C., the point of the proposal is to assert governmental control only over those 'crucial components that form our nation's critical infrastructure.'

Portions of the Lieberman-Collins bill, which was not uniformly well-received when it became public in June 2010, became even more restrictive when a Senate committee approved a modified version on December 15. The full Senate did not act on the measure.

The revised version includes new language saying that the federal government's designation of vital Internet or other computer systems 'shall not be subject to judicial review.' Another addition expanded the definition of critical infrastructure to include 'provider of information technology,' and a third authorized the submission of 'classified' reports on security vulnerabilities.

The idea of creating what some critics have called an Internet 'kill switch' that the president could flip in an emergency is not exactly new.

A draft Senate proposal that CNET obtained in August 2009 authorized the White House to 'declare a cybersecurity emergency,' and another from Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) would have explicitly given the government the power to 'order the disconnection' of certain networks or Web sites. House Democrats have taken a similar approach in their own proposals.

Lieberman, who recently announced he would not seek re-election in 2012, said last year that enactment of his bill needed to be a top congressional priority. 'For all of its 'user-friendly' allure, the Internet can also be a dangerous place with electronic pipelines that run directly into everything from our personal bank accounts to key infrastructure to government and industrial secrets,' he said.

Civil libertarians and some industry representatives have repeatedly raised concerns about the various proposals to give the executive branch such broad emergency power. On the other hand, as Lieberman and Collins have highlighted before, some companies, including Microsoft, Verizon, and EMC Corporation, have said positive things about the initial version of the bill.

But last month's rewrite that bans courts from reviewing executive branch decrees has given companies new reason to worry. 'Judicial review is our main concern,' said Steve DelBianco, director of the NetChoice coalition, which includes eBay, Oracle, Verisign, and Yahoo as members. 'A designation of critical information infrastructure brings with it huge obligations for upgrades and compliance.'

In some cases, DelBianco said, a company may have a 'good-faith disagreement' with the government's ruling and would want to seek court review. 'The country we're seeking to protect is a country that respects the right of any individual to have their day in court,' he said. 'Yet this bill would deny that day in court to the owner of infrastructure.'

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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

NationalJournal.com - The Phantom 15 Million - Friday, January 21, 2011

NationalJournal.com - The Phantom 15 Million - Friday, January 21, 2011: "The Great Recession wiped out what amounts to every U.S. job created in the 21st century. But even if the recession had never happened, if the economy had simply treaded water, the United States would have entered 2010 with 15 million fewer jobs than economists say it should have.

Somehow, rapid advancements in technology and the opening of new international markets paid dividends for American companies but not for American workers. An economy that long thrived on its dynamism, shedding jobs in outdated and less competitive industries and adding them in innovative new fields, fell stagnant in the swirls of the most globalized decade of commerce in human history.

Even now, no one really knows why.

This we do know: The U.S. economy created fewer and fewer jobs as the 2000s wore on. Turnover in the job market slowed as workers clung to the positions they held. Job destruction spiked in each of the decade’s two recessions. In contrast to the pattern of past recessions, when many employers recalled laid-off workers after growth picked up again, this time very few of those jobs came back.

These are the first clues—incomplete, disconcerting, and largely overlooked—to a critical mystery bedeviling a nation struggling to crawl out of near-double-digit unemployment. We know what should have transpired over the past 10 years: the completion of a circle of losses and gains from globalization. Emerging technology helped firms send jobs abroad or replace workers with machines; it should have also spawned domestic investment in innovative industries, companies, and jobs. That investment never happened—not nearly enough of it, in any case.

If we can’t figure out why, we may be doomed to a future that feels like a long jobless recovery, no matter how fast our economy grows. “It’s the trillion-dollar question,” says David E. Altig, senior vice president and research director for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, where economists are beginning to explore the shifts that have clubbed American workers like a blackjack. “Something big has happened. I really don’t think we have a complete story yet.”


THE LOST DECADE

We certainly didn’t see it coming. At the turn of the millennium, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicted that the U.S. economy would create nearly 22 million net jobs in the 2000s, only slightly fewer than the boom 1990s yielded. The economists predicted “good opportunities for jobs” and “an optimistic vision for the U.S. economy” through 2010.

Businesses would reap the gains of new trading markets, the projection said, and continue to invest in technologies to boost the productivity of their operations. High-tech jobs would abound, both for systems analysts with four years of college and for computer-support analysts with associate’s degrees. The manufacturing sector would stop a decades-long jobs slide, and technology would lead the turnaround. Hundreds of thousands of newly hired factory workers would make cutting-edge electrical and communications products, including semiconductors, satellites, cable-television equipment, and “cellular phones, modems, and facsimile and answering machines.”

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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

Obama to Push New Spending in State of the Union - WSJ.com

Obama to Push New Spending in State of the Union - WSJ.com: "President Barack Obama will call for new government spending on infrastructure, education and research in his State of the Union address Tuesday, sharpening his response to Republicans in Congress who are demanding deep budget cuts, people familiar with the speech said.

Mr. Obama will argue that the U.S., even while trying to reduce its budget deficit, must make targeted investments to foster job growth and boost U.S. competitiveness in the world economy. The new spending could include initiatives aimed at building the renewable-energy sector—which received billions of dollars in stimulus funding—and rebuilding roads to improve transportation, people familiar with the matter said. Money to restructure the No Child Left Behind law's testing mandates and institute more competitive grants also could be included.

While proposing new spending, Mr. Obama also will lay out significant budget cuts elsewhere, people familiar with the plans say, though they will likely fall short of what Republican lawmakers have requested.

In arguing that U.S. competitiveness is at stake, Mr. Obama plans to use his nationally televised speech to try to frame the spending debate with Republicans that is expected to dominate Congress in the coming months. 'We seek to do everything we can to spur hiring and ensure our nation can compete with anybody on the planet,' Mr. Obama said Friday after touring a General Electric Co. plant in Schenectady, N.Y. He cited clean-energy manufacturing, infrastructure and education as keys to competitiveness.

Previewing the expected theme of his speech, Mr. Obama on Friday appointed GE Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt to lead a new President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.

Commenting on the new advisory panel, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said that unless its 'first recommendations are to reverse the damage the policies of the last two years have done to the business climate, job creation and the exploding national debt, I fear it will do more to create good public relations for the White House than good jobs for struggling Americans.'

Republicans are casting the White House's pivot toward competitiveness as an excuse for bigger government and more spending. They say a surge in federal spending and a $1.3 trillion budget deficit are impeding job creation, and dramatic spending cuts are needed immediately.

In the House, Republicans are pushing to cut $100 billion from the annual budget as soon as this year. A coalition of House Republicans proposed Thursday cutting $2.5 trillion in spending over a decade, pushing nondefense discretionary spending down to 2006 levels for 10 years.

'Today's the day we finally stop kicking the can down the road,' Rep. Jeff Flake (R., Ariz.) said as the proposal was introduced Thursday.

White House officials have said that spending cuts of the magnitude proposed by Republicans could stall the economic recovery. Still, Mr. Obama is expected to pair his calls for investment with an admonition that the country must embark on targeted spending cuts. Late last year, he called for a two-year wage freeze for all federal civilian employees to save $5 billion. He's expected to push for spending cuts on Tuesday, particularly in duplicative or dysfunctional federal programs.

Details of those cuts couldn't be learned Friday evening. Programs he has gone after in the past include agricultural subsidies, defense programs such as C-17 military transport planes, and an alternate engine for the Pentagon's Joint Strike Fighter.

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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

Advocate of Violence - WSJ.com

Advocate of Violence - WSJ.com: "In a unanimous unsigned opinion, the justices overturned Brandenburg's conviction: 'The constitutional guarantees of free speech and free press do not permit a State to forbid or proscribe advocacy of the use of force or of law violation except where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action.'

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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

A friend thought you might be interested in this article

If food costs more, will you buy any less? Surprisingly enough, that simple question may be the key to whether 2011 sees a strong rebound in economic growth, or is, instead, a bust.
The issue is that raw food prices are indeed way up. Corn is at a two and a half year high. And some think it could rise by another 30% this year. Sugar was up 77% in the last six months of 2010. Beef prices are up as well. On the face of it, climbing food prices seem like a bad thing. It can cause inflation and cause people to buy less of everything else. Rising food prices have already lead to violent riots in Tunisia and Algeria. But a number of economists, including Goldman Sachs' Andrew Tilton and IHS Global Insight's Nariman Behravesh, say this time around, food prices won't necessarily be a recovery killer. Here's why:First of all, food prices might not be as much of a driver of economic growth as many people think. In a recent research paper World Food Prices and Monetary Policy published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, Luis Catao, of the International Monetary Fund, and Rutgers University economist Roberto Chang argue that rising food prices do not always lead to slower growth. In a number of scenarios, economic growth will actually increase after a rise in food prices.
How could that be? The real determinate of whether an economy will grow or shrink has more to do with policy makers response to rising food prices. A gradual increase interest rates by a central bankers will eliminate any adverse effects of climbing food prices, and may actually boost growth.
The problem, for that scenario, is that around the world most policy makers have generally followed a policy of keeping rates as low as possible. Low rates tend to cause your local currency to fall, and that can boost exports. But that might soon be changing. Rising inflation in India and elsewhere may soon force a number of countries to raise interest rates. Indeed, China has already begun raising its lending rates. Of course, in the US, Bernanke & Co. seem to have no plans to raise rates anytime soon.


Read more: http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2011/01/20/will-rising-food-prices-kill-the-recovery/#ixzz1BhgnUBcy

Donald Trump: We are being ouwitted

Record Food Prices Causing Africa Riots Stoking U.S. - Businessweek

Record Food Prices Causing Africa Riots Stoking U.S. - Businessweek: "Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) -- The same record food prices causing riots in Algeria and export bans in India are allowing President Barack Obama to combine the biggest-ever U.S. farm exports with the tamest inflation since the 1960s.

Global food costs jumped 25 percent last year to an all- time high in December, according to the United Nations. Countries probably spent at least $1 trillion on imports, with the poorest paying as much as 20 percent more than in 2009, the UN says. In the U.S., the largest exporter, retail food rose 1.5 percent last year and will gain as little as 2 percent in 2011, the Department of Agriculture estimates.

Governments from Beijing to Belgrade are boosting imports, limiting sales or releasing stockpiles to curb food inflation. Higher prices will push U.S. agricultural exports up 16 percent to a record $126.5 billion this year, according to a USDA forecast. While U.S. consumers haven’t been squeezed so far, grocers from Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. to SuperValu Inc. have said they plan increases. Commodities will keep rising, according to a Bloomberg survey of more than 100 analysts and traders.

“We are absolutely spoiled,” said Jason Britt, president of Central States Commodities Inc., a research and analysis company in Kansas City, Missouri. “We have the luxury that we spend a small percentage on food. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see larger bites of our incomes used.”

Raw-Material Costs

About 19 cents of every dollar spent on food covers raw- material costs in the U.S., so retailers can limit increases by cutting spending on labor or marketing, said Ephraim Leibtag, a food economist at the USDA in Washington. The consumer price index rose 4.2 percent since the end of 2007, the smallest three-year increase since 1965, Labor Department data show.

Producer spending for processed foods rose 4.9 percent in the U.S. last year, while consumer prices increased 1.5 percent, Labor Department data show. A record 43.2 million Americans received food stamps in October. The jobless rate is running at 9.4 percent, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said Jan. 7 the labor market may take five years to recover.

Corn advanced 52 percent last year in Chicago, wheat jumped 47 percent and soybeans gained 34 percent. Cattle futures touched a record on Jan. 13 in Chicago, a day after coffee reached a 13-year high in New York. Rice futures jumped as much as 3.6 percent in Chicago today.

Wheat may rise as much as another 16 percent this year, with sugar, corn, soybeans, coffee and cocoa also gaining, according to the Bloomberg survey of analysts, traders and investors in December.

Farm Income

The farm boom is aiding Obama’s goal of doubling U.S. exports in five years, with this year’s shipments accounting for 4 percent of the $3.14 trillion needed to meet the target.

U.S. farm income last year probably exceeded the 2004 record of $87.3 billion, and cropland values gained as much as 10 percent, according to Neil Harl, an agricultural economist at Iowa State University and former adviser to the governments of Ukraine and the Czech Republic.

Moline, Illinois-based Deere & Co., the world’s largest farm-equipment maker, will report record profit of $5.47 a share this year, according to the mean of 11 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Earnings for Plymouth, Minnesota-based Mosaic Co., North America’s second-largest fertilizer producer, will more than double to $4.57 a share in the year ending in May, the mean of seven estimates shows.

Cover Costs

Northfield, Illinois-based Kraft Foods Inc., the world’s second-biggest food company, raised prices of Maxwell House and Yuban coffee in the U.S. three times last year. General Mills Inc., the Minneapolis-based maker of Cheerios and Lucky Charms, said in November it would increase some cereal prices.

Products for supermarkets rose 1.8 percent in the three months ended Sept. 22, while consumer prices gained 1.6 percent, Winn-Dixie Chief Executive Officer Peter Lynch said on a Nov. 2 conference call. Some will probably keep increasing to cover costs, and the Jacksonville, Florida-based company has a “relatively good” chance of passing that to consumers, he said.

Starbucks Corp., the world’s largest coffee-shop operator, said in September it would raise some prices after the jump in coffee and milk costs. Domino’s Pizza Inc., the biggest U.S. pizza-delivery chain, said in October it would charge customers more after a 29 percent jump in cheese.

Steaks, ‘Baconator’

Morton’s Restaurant Group Inc., a Chicago-based steakhouse chain, is considering its third increase in the past year, Chief Financial Officer Ronald DiNella said at a conference in Dana Point, California, on Jan. 12. Wendy’s/Arby’s Group Inc., the maker of the 1,360-calorie Baconator Triple burger, said in November it was raising prices in some stores.

SuperValu, the owner of Save-A-Lot and Cub Foods stores, expects most of its rises to be in the “lower single-digit range,” with “double-digit increases” for some commodity items, Chief Executive Officer Craig Herkert said on a conference call Jan. 11.

Some increases may not stick as companies compete for market share. “Low price is the focus in food,” said Bill Simon, president and chief executive of U.S. stores at Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer.

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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

How the Happy Meal ban explains San Francisco - Page 1 - News - San Francisco - SF Weekly

How the Happy Meal ban explains San Francisco - Page 1 - News - San Francisco - SF Weekly: "In August 2010, San Francisco Supervisor Eric Mar decided that city intervention was needed to help him raise his daughter.

As Mar later told reporters, he was shocked to discover a trove of toys from McDonald's Happy Meals stashed in her room. Mar was the one taking his daughter to McDonald's and buying the food — but he said that the 'pester power' of a preteen was simply too much for him to withstand on his own. So he proposed that the city ban restaurants from including toys with meals of more than 600 calories that lack agreed-upon amounts of fruits and vegetables.

Mar's 'Healthy Meal Incentive Ordinance' subsequently passed in November by an 8-3 vote in the Board of Supervisors — a veto-proof majority. Barring legal action, the Happy Meal as we know it will be verboten in San Francisco come Dec. 1. Eric Mar's daughter has been saved.

Both conservative blowhard Bill O'Reilly and left-leaning comedian Lewis Black — and many, many people in-between — were left to wonder 'What the hell?' in the wake of San Francisco's ban. It's not the first time. In recent years, San Francisco government has passed numerous laws to make us healthier, greener, and — in the city's eyes — all-around better people. Whether we like it or not. This includes banning the sale of cigarettes in drugstores, and, later, supermarkets; banning plastic bags in large chain stores; banning bottled water in City Hall, and the sale of soft drinks on government property; banning the declawing of cats; making composting mandatory; and forbidding city departments from doing business with companies that were involved in the (pre–Civil War) slave trade, yet haven't publicly atoned.

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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

Republicans to hold spending vote before State of the Union - TheHill.com

Republicans to hold spending vote before State of the Union - TheHill.com: "House Republicans will force Democrats to go “on the record” about government spending in a symbolic vote next week timed to coincide with President Obama’s State of the Union address.

The House Rules Committee on Wednesday approved by a party-line vote of 8-4 a resolution calling on House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to limit non-security discretionary spending in the second half of 2011 to 2008 levels “or less.”

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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

Thou Shalt Not Offend Islam by Thierry Baudet - City Journal

Thou Shalt Not Offend Islam by Thierry Baudet - City Journal: "A firsthand account of the Dutch trial of Geert Wilders
19 January 2011

Last year, I attended the Dutch trial of the century: that of Geert Wilders, leader of the third-largest party in the Dutch parliament. Sparking the charges against Wilders were about 50 statements that he had made about Islam. Three of the most widely circulated, from newspaper columns that Wilders wrote, will give an idea of the rest: “The heart of the problem is the fascist nature of Islam, the sick ideology of Allah and Mohammed as laid down in the Islamic Mein Kampf: the Koran”; “We have a huge problem with Muslims which crosses boundaries in every field, and we come up with solutions that wouldn’t make a mouse go back into its cage”; and “Islam is a violent religion. If Mohammed were living here today, Parliament would instantly agree to chase him out of the country in disgrace.”

Wilders was charged under articles 137c and 137d of the Dutch penal code, which forbid group insult, hate speech, and incitement to discrimination. The trial was hugely controversial, partly because the articles—which were passed in the 1930s as an attempt to halt rising anti-Semitism—have rarely been invoked. Further, the fact that the leader of a powerful anti-establishment party was standing trial for his opinions inevitably cast a political shadow over the affair.

The trial dominated public debate in the Netherlands for months and captivated Europe as well. It will probably continue to do so for at least another year, because Wilders’s lawyers successfully appealed for a declaration that the judges in the Amsterdam District Court had appeared biased. The trial will now have to start all over again. What follows is an account based on my firsthand observations of this tawdry episode.

Wilders’s prosecution came about in a most unusual way. The public prosecutor, Paul Velleman, initially refused to prosecute him because, in his view, Wilders’s statements did not break the law. In refusing to press charges, Velleman acknowledged that Wilders’s statements “may have been insulting for Muslims,” but concluded that Wilders was not guilty of lawbreaking, since the statements were made “in the context of public debate.” Velleman added that Wilders didn’t incite hatred or call for discrimination, as his comments “concerned Islam the religion and not Muslims as human beings.” The relevant laws did not forbid merely criticizing a religion, he maintained.

But Gerard Spong, a prominent defense lawyer and critic of Wilders’s, appealed Velleman’s decision to the Court of Appeal, which, according to Dutch law, can order the prosecutor to prosecute anyway. On January 21, 2009, that’s just what it did. After stating that they “disagreed with the public prosecutor,” the court’s three judges concluded that Wilders’s statements were “punishable under Dutch law” and added that “in the past, others, including politicians, have been convicted for less.” (In an accompanying footnote, the court referred to only one case.) By ruling that Wilders “abuses the liberty of expression” and “incites discrimination and hatred against a group of people or a community of believers,” the Court of Appeal scandalously exceeded its authority. The presumption of innocence is, after all, one of the central principles of a fair trial. It is not up to the Court of Appeal to decide whether the accused is guilty, only to decide whether a prosecution is warranted. If Wilders is ever found guilty and chooses to appeal the verdict, he would have to appeal to a court that had pronounced his guilt before trial.

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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

Fed Policy has consequences

Fed Policy goes Global


The Fed’s planned expansion of liquidity, while perhaps aimed at U.S. fi nancial markets, probably has placed upward pressure on foreign asset prices as well. Money flows transcend national boundaries easily in search of returns, and investors have continued to flock to the stock, bond and real estate markets of emerging economies. For example, investor flows into emerging-market equity funds reached an all-time high of $4.2
billion in September, while many country stock indexes from Turkey to Mexico also have reached
record levels.

 While this can be a positive development for national economies, it potentially can lead to asset bubbles or other distortions if prices rise too quickly or in too great a magnitude.


Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

Moscow reaffirms Soviet recognition of Palestine - Yahoo! News

Moscow reaffirms Soviet recognition of Palestine - Yahoo! News: "JERICHO, West Bank (Reuters) – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday Moscow had recognized an independent Palestinian state in 1988 and was not changing that position adopted by the former Soviet Union.

But on his first visit to the Israeli-occupied West Bank as Russian head of state, Medvedev stopped short of making a ringing declaration of recognition of Palestinian statehood by the Russian Federation that he represents.

Israel has been alarmed in the past two months by a string of recognitions by Latin American states including Brazil and Argentina which some analysts say could be a precursor to a move by the Palestinians to seek full United Nations membership.

At a news conference with Medvedev in Jericho, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said: 'We remember that Russia was one of the first states in the world to recognize the state of Palestine in 1988.'

Medvedev responded, saying: 'Russia made its choice a long time ago ...we supported and will support the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to an independent state with its capital in East Jerusalem.'

The Soviet Union recognized a Palestinian state in 1988, after it was declared by the late Yasser Arafat in a move that won broad support in the Communist bloc and Third World but had little real impact on diplomatic

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Pump prices eyed as reason Americans driving less - Sunday, Jan. 16, 2011 | 3:24 a.m. - Las Vegas Sun

Pump prices eyed as reason Americans driving less - Sunday, Jan. 16, 2011 | 3:24 a.m. - Las Vegas Sun: "Americans are driving less, with the holidays behind them and gasoline at two-year highs.

Gas costs around $3.10 a gallon, the highest price since mid-October 2008. Americans usually drive less in the winter, and recent bad weather across the country was further incentive to stay home. And money needs to go towards paying off holiday credit card bills.

Analysts are closely watching economic news and consumer sentiment to determine how much high gas prices are influencing consumer habits. That could affect the pace of the economy in the months ahead.

Drivers are 'pulling back on gas right now but you can't tell whether it's weather-related,' said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service. 'Unless you're in Boca Raton, Fla., or San Diego, you're seeing pretty sleepy midwinter demand.'

According to research firm MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse, gasoline demand for the week ended Jan. 7 was 8.39 million barrels a day, a level not seen since Sept. 30, 2005. Demand fell 2.9 percent from a year ago.

Consumer prices rose last month by the largest amount since June 2009. Gasoline prices accounted for about 80 percent of the increase, the Labor Department said Friday. The gasoline index jumped 8.5 percent in December. Gas prices rose from about $2.86 a gallon on Dec. 1 to $.3.07 at year's end.

The price continues to rise, although at a slower pace. The national average for unleaded regular gasoline was $3.095 a gallon Friday, according to Wright Express, AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. That's up nearly 34 cents from a year ago.

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Oil price over $100 'not unrealistic': Iran

Oil price over $100 'not unrealistic': Iran: "Oil prices crossing the 100 dollars a barrel mark is possible but would not merit an emergency meeting of OPEC, Iran's Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi who currently heads the cartel said on Sunday.

'The price of 100 dollars is not unrealistic in this situation,' Mirkazemi told reporters.

'Even if the oil price crosses 100 dollars a barrel there is no need for an emergency OPEC meeting. Some OPEC members believe there is no need for an emergency meeting even if oil reaches 110 or 120 dollars a barrel.'

At the New York Mercantile Exchange, a barrel of light sweet crude for delivery in February closed at 91.54 dollars on Friday.

The rise in global oil prices has been attributed to a harsh winter hitting Europe and parts of North America, as well as growth in China and other developing nations.

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries has said speculation was also fuelling the price rise.

At its last meeting at Quito, the 12-nation cartel decided to leave production quotas unchanged, stressing the looming risks to the fragile global economic recovery.

Some OPEC members -- Iran, Venezuela and Libya -- were urging higher prices at Quito to above 100 dollars a barrel to offset what they said were rising production costs.

But OPEC heavyweight Saudi Arabia differed, saying between 70 and 80 dollars a barrel was a 'fair price.'

Iran took over the cartel's rotating presidency from January 1, the first time in 36 years that Tehran holds the leadership of the cartel which accounts for 40 percent of world output.

Mirkazemi also announced that Iran has discovered a new onshore gas field with reserves valued at 50 billion dollars east of Assaluyeh on the Gulf.

'It has 260 billion cubic metres (9.18 trillion cubic feet) of gas, of which 210 (billion) can be exploited, which is about 24 million cubic metres per day,' the minister said.

Iran is OPEC's second largest crude exporter and holds the world's second largest gas reserves.

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Without aid, DPS may close half of its schools | detnews.com | The Detroit News

Without aid, DPS may close half of its schools | detnews.com | The Detroit News: "Detroit — Detroit Public Schools would close nearly half of its schools in the next two years, and increase high school class sizes to 62 by the following year, under a deficit-reduction plan filed with the state.

The plan, part of a monthly update Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb gives the Department of Education, was filed late Monday to provide insight into Bobb's progress in his attempt to slash a $327 million deficit in the district to zero over the next several years. Under it, the district would slim down from 142 schools now to 72 during 2012-13.


Bobb has said school closures, bigger classes and other measures would be needed if he cannot get help from lawmakers to restructure finances in the state's largest school district.

DPS considered but declined to file for bankruptcy in 2009. In the past year, debt in the district has increased by more than $100 million, brought on by a mix of revenue declines in property taxes, reduced state aid, declining enrollment and an unplanned staffing surge this past fall.

Starting this fall, the district plans to boost class sizes in grades 4-12 and at all grade levels by fiscal 2012, which begins July 1, to save $16.8 million. The plan would hike class sizes for: Grades K-3 from 17-25 students to 29 in 2012-13 and 31 in 2013-14.

Grades 4-5 from 30 students to 37 in 2012-13 and 39 in 2013-14.

Grades 6-8 from 35 students to 45 in 2012-13 and 47 in 2013-14.

Grades 9-12 from 35 students to 60 in 2012-13 and 62 in 2013-14.

Because the district's contract with the Detroit Federation of Teachers requires payments to teachers for class sizes that exceed specified maximums, the district estimates it would spend $10 million in oversize class pay over four years.

Keith Johnson, president of the teachers union, said the proposed class size increases won't work and will never happen.

'I will never agree to any class-size increases,' Johnson said. 'These increases are antithetical to learning. Secondly, our classrooms aren't even built to accommodate those numbers.

'Johnson said the teachers' contract does not let the district exceed contracted class sizes through 2012. DFT filed an unfair labor practice charge in July to restore class sizes for the upcoming school year.

Parent Petrina Johnson said swelling high school classrooms to 60 students or more will only leave them uneducated.

'There is one teacher and she can barely get to each of the 36 kids now. That makes no sense,' said Johnson, who has three children at Mumford High School.

School officials said the plan would create a 'lecture hall' model similar to a university.

Johnson said teenagers aren't ready for that.

'This gives more opportunity for them to slip through the cracks,' she said.

The proposal calls for closing 40 schools in fiscal 2012 and 30 schools in fiscal 2013. That would leave DPS with 72 schools for a projected 58,570 students, down from about 74,000 now. The district closed 30 schools this fiscal year, which is expected to save $23 million. The planned closings in fiscal 2012-14 would save more than $33 million.

Bobb said the district could save another $12.4 million from the school closures if it 'simply abandons' the closed buildings. Past policy has been to keep the closed schools clean and secure, officials said, but the district could cut costs by eliminating storage, board-up and security.

DPS spokesman Steve Wasko said the district has laid out the path it must take to eliminate the deficit, and Bobb remains focused on working with lawmakers to pass one of three plans to restructure DPS' finances.

Those plans include splitting the district in two to put its debt obligation with an 'old district,' covering about 9,000 students. State revenue would pay off the debt, allowing the 'new district' to move forward debt-free with undetermined start-up funds.

Such a plan would need approval by state lawmakers and Gov. Rick Snyder.

District officials said they are

pursuing 'renaissance' legislation to free up $400 million in future tobacco settlement funds that could help mend DPS' deficit and those of 40 other districts statewide. In return, the districts would make dramatic reforms based on the federal Race to the Top initiative, such as eliminating teacher seniority.

That proposal died last month in the state Legislature's lame duck session. A third plan would look at new systems and agencies used in New Orleans, which has converted more than half of its public schools into charter schools in the past several years.

Besides closing schools and increasing class sizes, Bobb's plan calls for the district to abolish its divisions of finance, legal services, human services and public safety and contract with either Wayne County or the city of Detroit for those services.

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News videos from Los Angeles Times

Video of Jared Lee Lougher

Here is the Link: http://www.latimes.com/videobeta/c3fab516-d2bb-4abd-b383-7b55f516becc/News/YouTube-video-created-by-Jared-Lee-Loughner-calling-Pima-Community-College-a-genocide-school-

The Effect Of Rising Food Prices On Political Stability : NPR

The Effect Of Rising Food Prices On Political Stability : NPR: "While the Tunisian riots may be against political repression, they were sparked by an individual protest against the lack of economic opportunity. In neighboring Algeria, rioting broke out recently when food prices went up. For a look at rising food prices and how they affect political stability in poor countries, host Robert Siegel speaks to Gary Blumenthal, president and chief executive officer of agricultural consulting firm World Perspectives.



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G20 to tackle food prices « Follow The Money

G20 to tackle food prices « Follow The Money: "The world’s biggest economies are working to find ways to bring down soaring food prices, a G20 official said on Friday, as top exporter Thailand vowed to keep rice supply steady and avert a repeat of the 2008 food crisis.

Global food prices hit a record high last month, outstripping the levels that sparked riots in several countries in 2008, and key grains could rise further, the United Nations’ food agency said this week.

Policymakers are concerned that, if unchecked, rising food prices could stoke inflation, protectionism and unrest.

High food prices and unemployment were blamed for a second day of rioting in Algeria Friday with police deployed around mosques and authorities suspending football matches.

Rhee Chang-yong, who represents South Korea at the G20, said working-group talks were under way aimed at improving global cooperation to resolve food security problems.

“France is emphasizing food security. As a former host country of G20, we would like to deal with the price volatility problem thoroughly,” Rhee said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has asked the World Bank to conduct urgent research on the impact of food prices, a source familiar with the matter said.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said this week that one of France’s priorities at the G20, where it holds the rotating presidency, was to find a collective response to “excessive volatility” in prices of food and energy.

One concern is that high food prices could hit consumer spending in fast-growing emerging countries that are leading the revival of the global economy.

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Global food chain stretched to the limit - Business - Consumer news - Food Inc. - msnbc.com

Global food chain stretched to the limit - Business - Consumer news - Food Inc. - msnbc.com: "Strained by rising demand and battered by bad weather, the global food supply chain is stretched to the limit, sending prices soaring and sparking concerns about a repeat of food riots last seen three years ago.

Signs of the strain can be found from Australia to Argentina, Canada to Russia.

'We are entering a danger territory,' Abdolreza Abbassian, chief economist at the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said last week.

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"Unacceptably high" food prices pushes inflation to 8.43 pc - Oneindia News

"Unacceptably high" food prices pushes inflation to 8.43 pc - Oneindia News: "New Delhi, Jan 14 (PTI) Expensive food items pushedoverall inflation to 8.43 per cent in December, but expertssay the rate of price rise will come down now since thecountry has seen the peak of food prices.

Buzz up!
The 0.95 percentage points rise in inflation from 7.48per cent from the previous month is likely to prompt RBI tohike key short-term rates later this month.


However, many doubt the effectiveness of monetary policyto tame high food prices, which Finance Minister PranabMukherjee termed as 'unacceptably high.'

After the Government asked states to remove bottlenecksin supply of food items yesterday, Mukherjee said he wouldagain raise the issue of high inflation with his statecounterparts during the pre-budget interactions, slated forJanuary 19.

The contribution of food inflation to overall inflationcould be gauged from the fact that ''manufactured'' inflation,in fact, came down to 4.46 per cent in December from 4.56 percent in the previous month.

It could also be assessed from the fact that theseare mainly vegetable prices which have already risen duringthe month.

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2011 Problems

China, Russia quit dollar:

What PROBLEM(s) will Barack Obama SOLVE in 2011?

• Airport security (TSA)
• Afghanistan 
• Unemployment
• Iran 
• North Korea 
• Inflation / Deflation (which?)
• Economic growth
• Terrorism
• "Too big to fail"
• Union Pensions
• Stability of American Dollar ($)
• Federal deficit
• Federal debt
• Federal spending
• Federal taxes
• Health Care
• Consumer confidence
• Energy  independence
• Over-Regulation of American Business
• Balance of trade with China
• Prosecution of Terrorists

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Loughner was ‘complete opposite of what he’s become’

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

How to get control of a government budget: Is this the answer?

YouTube - Former LA Mayor Richard Riordan on Schwarzenegger, Unions, and Bankrupt Cities: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"






Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

Seating rules in Congress?

Is this a good idea?

John Kerry Invokes Giffords’ Shooting to Push For “Clean Energy” Legislation…

Weasel Zippers » Blog Archive » John Kerry (D-Lurch) Invokes Giffords’ Shooting to Push For “Clean Energy” Legislation…: "Congresswoman ‘s Gabrielle Giffords’ (D-Ariz.) shooting in Tucson, Ariz., last weekend has brought up several questions about the partisan nature of our current political climate. But today Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) said in a speech at the left-leaning policy think tank Center for American Progress that working in a bipartisan manner on infrastructure and clean energy could help overcome the “divisive political rhetoric” in the wake of the Tucson tragedy.

“In the weeks and months ahead, the real issue we need to confront isn’t just what role divisive political rhetoric may have played on Saturday — but it’s the violence divisive, overly simplistic dialogue does to our democracy every day,” Kerry said

“The frustrating reality is that our American political system is increasingly paralyzed and Balkanized into a patchwork of narrow interests that have driven the larger ‘national good’ far from the national dialogue altogether,” he said.

He added that while building and investing in America has always been a bi-partisan issue, currently “partisan paralysis” has kept us from rebuilding the infrastructure investment made through the years from politicians on both sides of the line.

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Woman fights bank fees, missed final house payment - Yahoo! News

Woman fights bank fees, missed final house payment - Yahoo! News: "PHILADELPHIA – An elderly New Jersey woman billed $5,800 after missing the final payment on her 30-year mortgage can pursue her lawsuit against the debt collectors.

Lawyers for 85-year-old Dorothy Rhue Allen say the fees charged by two banks and a law firm violate consumer-protection laws.

The suit says LaSalle Bank and Cenlar Federal Savings Bank started foreclosure proceedings in 2007 after the hospitalized Allen missed the last $432 payment on her Deptford, N.J., home.

The banks advised her lawyers she could pay $5,800 to avoid foreclosure. But her lawyers instead sued over the fees, and the foreclosure action was dropped.

A U.S. appeals court this week says Allen can pursue her case, reversing a federal judge who threw it out.

A lawyer for the Trenton, N.J.-based banks declined to comment.

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Bad Economic News!

Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

In the spotlight - the spectre of rising food prices returns: Food news & analysis

In the spotlight - the spectre of rising food prices returns: Food news & analysis: "Global food prices are at a record high again, only two years or so after the last dramatic price spike sparked food riots and heightened the debate worldwide over food security. While there is alarm, analysts appear less worried about the current situation than they were in 2008. Food manufacturers, however, may beg to differ. Ben Cooper reports.

The spectre of sky-high food prices is back with a vengeance with serious implications for consumers, for governments attempting to shepherd economies through a fragile recovery period and not least for food manufacturers.

With the shock of the financial crisis, the worrying spike in food prices in 2008 may have faded from the memory somewhat but recent months have brought it back to mind all too clearly. The recent adverse weather in Australia and Brazil and the downgrading of crop forecasts in the US has heightened anxiety further.

In fact, according to the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) the current spike has taken global food prices higher than the 2008 surge. The UN's Food Price Index, which tracks monthly price fluctuations across the dairy, meat, sugar, cereals and oilseed markets, averaged 214.7 points in December, against 206 points in November and 213.5 points at its previous record high in June 2008.

The chief catalyst behind the rise has been sugar, cereal and oil price increases, with high sugar prices particularly influential. The 2008 spike resulted in considerably greater focus being paid to the issue of food security and arguably having a further price surge in such a short timeframe will only heighten those concerns further.

However, the FAO suggested that the current situation does not represent a crisis, citing the fact that the price of rice, the staple of 3bn people in Asia and Africa, remains well below its record high, and the situation has not sparked the widespread food riots in developing countries seen in 2008.

In an interview with the Financial Times, FAO senior economist Abdolreza Abbassian stressed that from a global food security perspective rice and wheat are the critical commodities and not sugar, oilseeds or meat, though he added that it would be 'foolish' to assume prices had reached their peak.

Other analysts have also played down the current situation. Analysts at Credit Suisse pointed out that the situation in 2007/2008 had been exacerbated by governments in countries such as India and Vietnam imposing export restrictions on rice. 'The estimated global and exporting countries' stock-to-use ratios of both wheat and rice are considerably higher today than in 2007-08, making shortages and drastic export bans unlikely, in our view,' Credit Suisse said.

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OPEC ministers say world can handle $100 oil - Business - Oil & energy - msnbc.com

OPEC ministers say world can handle $100 oil - Business - Oil & energy - msnbc.com: "The global economy can withstand an oil price of $100 a barrel, Kuwait's oil minister said on Saturday, as other exporters indicated OPEC may decide against increasing output through 2011 as the market was well supplied.

Analysts have said oil producing countries are likely to raise output after crude rallied more than 30 percent from a low in May because they fear prices could damage economic growth in fuel importing countries.

European benchmark ICE Brent crude for February closed at $93.46 on Friday after hitting $94.74 a barrel, its highest level since October 2008.

Arab oil exporters meeting in Cairo this weekend said they saw no need to supply more crude as stocks were high and prices had been inflated temporarily by cold weather in Europe.

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Good Works Ministries

About Us: "Good Works Ministries is a Faith based, non-profit organization that was formed for two purposes.
Our primary ministry is to help kids that are aging out of the foster care program and to establish a more effective means of serving these young adults by providing a one stop process for the various services that are available or are needed by them. We are working to develop a comprehensive approach to reaching out to these young adults and other at-risk-youth. By partnering with various organizations and local community groups we can create a single entry point that will function as a link in the chain for these young adults. This will provide a way for them to access educational and social services, a computer lab, local workforce partnerships, and financial assistance for additional support or housing. Housing is a key need for these young adults. We are focused on acquiring housing for them and offering the various transition services in house for those individuals that are interested in participating in our program.

In addition to our primary ministry we feel it is important to provide a community service ministry that teaches Christian principles while giving and serving others. This portion of Good Works Ministries will incorporate young adults who want to serve and learn new skills into a program working with community volunteers to do restoration and repair projects for low income families, the elderly, single parents, or others ministries that are in need of help. Our leaders in this ministry have many years of experience in custom renovation and a desire to help others while teaching young adults new skills. If you are an organization in need of experienced volunteers please contact Pat Howe.

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Talk radio under siege - On Media - POLITICO.com

Talk radio under siege - On Media - POLITICO.com:



As ... reported on the main site today, conservative media figures’ fears that the left will use Tucson to clamp down on them are not entirely unfounded.

Rep. Jim Clyburn wants to bring back the Fairness Doctrine – a move aimed directly at talk radio – while Media Matters CEO David Brock asked Rupert Murdoch to rein in or possibly even fire Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin.

It’s hard not to read today’s news that Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee plans to ban state employees from appearing on talk radio during work hours within the same frame, though Ben Smith points out that likely has more to do with local beef than the current national debate about 'tone.'

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The Bill of Rights - Amendment II

A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.

» Republican Sellout Watch - Big Government

» Republican Sellout Watch - Big Government: "First, it appears that Republicans didn’t really mean it when they promised to cut $100 billion of so-called discretionary spending as part of their pledge. According to the New York Times,

As they prepare to take power on Wednesday, Republican leaders are scaling back that number by as much as half, aides say, because the current fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, will be nearly half over before spending cuts could become law.

This is hardly good news, particularly since the discretionary portion of the budget contains entire departments, such as Housing and Urban Development, that should be immediately abolished.

That being said, I don’t think this necessarily means the GOP has thrown in the towel. The real key is to reverse the Bush-Obama spending binge and put the government on some sort of diet so that the federal budget grows slower than the private economy. I explain in this video, for instance, that it is simple to balance the budget and maintain tax cuts so long as government spending grows by only 2 percent each year.

It is a good idea to get as many savings as possible for the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year, to be sure, but the real key is the long-run trajectory of federal spending.

The other item for discussion is the GOP’s apparent interest in retaining Douglas Elmendorf, the current Director of the Congressional Budget Office.

Many of you will remember that the CBO cooked the books last year to help ram through Obamacare. Under Elmendorf’s watch, CBO also was a relentless advocate and defender Obama’s failed stimulus. And CBO under Elmendorf published reports saying higher taxes would improve economic performance.

But Elmendorf’s statist positions apparently are not a problem for some senior Republicans, as reported by The Hill.

The new House Budget Committee chairman, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), gave a very public endorsement of the embattled head of the Congressional Budget Office during his first major speech as committee head Wednesday night. …“You’re doing a great job at CBO, Doug,” Ryan said after receiving the first annual Fiscy Award for his efforts at tackling the national debt. He added that he looked forward to crunching budget numbers with him in the future.

In the long run, the failure to deal with the problems at CBO (as well as the Joint Committee on Taxation) may cause even more problems than the timidity about cutting $100 billion of waste from the 2011 budget. Given the rules on Capitol Hill, it makes a huge difference whether CBO and JCT are putting out flawed numbers.

I’ve already written that fixing the mess at CBO and JCT is a critical test of GOP resolve, and I actually thought this would be a relatively easy test for them to pass. It is an ominous sign that Republicans aren’t even trying to clean house.

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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

New, big challenges confront Obama the candidate

New, big challenges confront Obama the candidate: "Obama owns the slow-to-recover economy and is the face of a Washington he once campaigned against. Polls show his diverse voting coalition from 2008 cracked and his support among independents weakened. His path to Electoral College victory in 2012 is tougher. And he doesn't have George W. Bush's unpopularity paving the way for a Democratic victory.

But the upsides are huge, too.

His personal popularity is still high and he has the White House bully pulpit. He's a proven record fundraiser and he has no primary challenger. The brain trust of Obama's first campaign will run the second. Also, there's no obvious Republican rival in a crowded GOP field.

This president has accomplished more in two years than many of his predecessors did in two terms.

After preaching bipartisanship as a candidate, Obama the president leveraged huge Democratic majorities in Congress to produce a series of legislative achievements: the health care overhaul, new financial rules and an economic stimulus measure. He declared an end to the combat mission in Iraq and, while bolstering U.S. forces in Afghanistan, he has pledged to start pulling troops home.

It's a record that could help or hurt his prospects depending on the whims of an electorate that has shown itself impatient with spotty progress amid economic turmoil.

The issue is certain to dominate the campaign.

'This will be about the economy,' said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. 'It was when we were last playing presidential politics, and it will be when we start again.'

Economists predict the unemployment rate won't fall considerably before the election. White House officials privately acknowledge that they don't expect a complete economic turnaround. They're banking on good economic news—like the Friday report that unemployment slipped to 9.4 percent in December—will continue over the next year, allowing Obama to argue that he's overseeing a rebirth and, thus, shouldn't be fired.

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Oprah's OWN ratings fall during first week | Inside TV | EW.com

Oprah's OWN ratings fall during first week | Inside TV | EW.com: "Oprah Winfrey’s new cable network is having some early growing pains.

After exploding out of the gate in the ratings (and on a Saturday, no less), viewership for OWN has declined significantly.

While OWN’s premiere averaged 1 million primetime viewers last weekend, Sunday dropped to 822,000. Monday fell to 394,000, followed by Tuesday hitting 315,000. In the network’s target of women 25-54, OWN went from an opening night rating of 0.6 to a 0.2 at the start of the week.

Compared to other women’s networks, OWN was still remarkably competitive, though entrenched rivals like Oxygen and WE have mostly closed the gap (with Lifetime remaining out in front).

After heavy curiosity-driven tune-in, such a steep decline isn’t really all that surprising. Cable network have historically launched soft and quiet, gathering viewers and content gradually over a period of years. It’s OWN’s strong debut that remains truly unusual here, and proves there’s plenty of viewer interest in the channel.

OWN CEO Christina Norman points out that the network is just getting started, and on its way to its goal of 600 hours of original programming.

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House Republicans Push Bill to Shut Down White House 'Czars' - FoxNews.com

House Republicans Push Bill to Shut Down White House 'Czars' - FoxNews.com: "House Republicans have President Obama's 'czars' in their crosshairs once again, introducing a bill this week that would effectively shut down their offices
.

The bill, authored by Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., is a revamped version of a proposal that went nowhere in the last Congress. But with Republicans in charge of the House this year and a particularly combative Republican in charge of the committee that will be considering the measure, the proposal might have a fighting chance this time around.

'We're hopeful for this one,' Scalise spokesman Stephen Bell told FoxNews.com.

Though the definition of a 'czar' is muddy at best, it generally refers to top-level administration officials who don't have to go through the Senate confirmation process. The Scalise bill aims to be a bit more specific than that, defining a 'czar' as the 'head of any task force, council, policy office within the Executive Office of the President' or similar office, appointed 'without the advice and consent of the Senate.'

Scalise's office estimates that 39 officials in the Obama administration fall under this description. The bill would order Congress to cut off all funding for them and the offices they control. Presumably, the president could afterward try to reinstate them by seeking Senate confirmation.

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Obama's Oil War - Investors.com

Obama's Oil War - Investors.com: "Oil prices are surging to levels that will soon crimp economic growth. And what's our government doing about it? Just making it worse.

Since President Obama took office in January 2009, the price of oil has rocketed 117% to $90.41 a barrel and gasoline has jumped 67% to $3.07 a gallon. In the 34 industrialized nations, oil imports have surged 34% in the last year to $790 billion. The U.S. alone has seen a $72 billion jump.

All this imperils a fragile recovery from the financial crisis. 'Oil prices are entering a dangerous zone for the global economy,' says Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy Agency.

Given the clear threat, it's economically irrational to sit on our hands and fail to develop our own energy resources. At least 130 billion barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas lie offshore, and hundreds of billions of barrels more are locked in shale deposits in the Northeast and West. Yet our policy remains leaving this wealth alone.

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Hoyer: Tea Party People Come From Unhappy Families

Hoyer: Tea Party People Come From Unhappy Families: "On the eve of his demotion by voters from House Majority Leader to House Minority Whip, Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., Hoyer offered this insight into the psychology of the Tea Party movement:

There are a whole lot of people in the Tea Party that I see in these polls who don’t want any compromise. My presumption is they have unhappy families. All of you have been in families: single-parent, two-parents, whatever. Multiple parent and a stepfather. The fact is life is about trying to reach accommodation with one another so we can move forward. That is certainly what democracy is about. So if we are going to move forward compromise is necessary.

So, there you have it. The Tea Party movement is not motivated by, as its members claim, record-high levels of spending and debt by the federal government and the possible economic consequences of that. It is not upset by the various federal bailouts of recent years. It is not riled up by a stagnant economy with 9.8% unemployment. No, they go to rallies because it is easier than going home apparently.

Now, Hoyer may have been making a joke. It wasn’t entirely clear from the way he said it, though, and no reporter in the room laughed.

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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

» Why The Economy Won’t Come Back For Obama - Big Government

» Why The Economy Won’t Come Back For Obama - Big Government: "The Media is aflutter these days about the imminent return of the economy. Of course, it marks a stark contrast to the manner in which they covered the Bush economy. In the months leading up to the 2008 election, the Media was talking the economy down. Now they are attempting to talk it up. No amount of Media optimism, however, will change some basic dynamics which will keep the economy in its weakened state or worse for years to come. As you go through these reasons, keep in mind that consumer spending makes up, and has for years, approximately 70% of the US economy.

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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

U.S. Adds 103,000 Jobs in December, Unemployment at 9.4% - Bloomberg

U.S. Adds 103,000 Jobs in December, Unemployment at 9.4% - Bloomberg: "Employers in the U.S. added fewer jobs than forecast in December and the unemployment rate dropped, partly reflecting a shrinking workforce, a sign the labor-market recovery will take time to develop.

Payrolls increased 103,000, compared with the median forecast of 150,000 in a Bloomberg News survey, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. Employment the previous two months increased more than previously estimated. The jobless rate fell to 9.4 percent, the lowest level since May 2009.

Faster job growth is needed to keep consumer spending accelerating and ensure the economic recovery becomes self- sustaining. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the drop in the jobless rate is likely to be slow, indicating policy makers will stick to their plan for more monetary stimulus.

“The economy is adding workers but there are no reliable signs the pace of hiring is improving,” said Julia Coronado, chief economist for North America at BNP Paribas in New York. “We are staying on track but I’m not sure growth is set to accelerate.”

Stocks fell after the report, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropping 0.1 percent to 1,272.52 at 9:53 a.m. in New York. Treasuries were little changed from late yesterday, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note at 3.40 percent.

Construction payrolls declined by the most since May and professional and business services added the fewest number of jobs in five months.

Range of Estimates

Overall payroll estimates of 78 economists ranged from 98,000 to 240,000. The median climbed from 140,000 at the start of the week after projections from ADP Employer Services showed companies boosted employment by 297,000 workers last month.

November employment rose 71,000, more than an initially reported gain of 39,000. Payrolls in November and October combined were 70,000 more than previously estimated.

For all of 2010, about 1.1 million jobs were created, the most since 2006.

At the pace of improvement projected by Fed officials, “it could take four to five more years for the job market to normalize fully,” Bernanke said today in prepared testimony to the Senate Budget Committee.

The unemployment rate was forecast to fall to 9.7 percent, according to the median prediction of 73 economists surveyed. Estimates ranged from 9.5 percent to 9.9 percent.

Highest Since 1983

For all of 2010, the jobless rate averaged 9.6 percent, the highest since 1983 and up from 9.3 percent a year earlier. With today’s report, the Labor Department revised figures from its household survey used in calculating the unemployment rate going back five years. Benchmark revisions to the payroll data will be announced in February.

Private payrolls, which exclude government agencies, rose by 113,000 last month after a 79,000 November gain.

Manufacturing payrolls rose by 10,000 in December. Economists had projected an increase of 5,000.

Employment at service-providers increased 105,000. The number of temporary workers rose 16,000. Construction companies reduced payrolls by 16,000 and retailers added 12,000 workers.

Government payrolls decreased by 10,000. State and local governments reduced employment by 20,000, while the federal government added 10,000 jobs.

Budget Gaps

States and municipalities with growing budget gaps are cutting spending and reducing headcount. Florida may cut 5 percent of its state workforce to save costs, Governor-elect Rick Scott said in an interview Dec. 3 on Bloomberg Television’s “InBusiness With Margaret Brennan.”

Retailers and automakers are among industries hiring.

Dollar General, the biggest of the U.S. dollar discount stores, plans to add 6,000 jobs as it opens 625 more stores in fiscal 2011. By the end of 2011, the Goodlettsville, Tennessee- based discounter said last month it will have created 15,000 jobs since 2009.

Ford Motor Co., the world’s most profitable automaker, is hiring 1,800 workers and spending $600 million to overhaul a factory in Louisville, Kentucky, to build small sport-utility vehicles, Marcey Evans, a Ford spokeswoman, said in an interview last month.

“While it appears that the economic environment has stabilized and is perhaps improving, persistent high unemployment and uncertainty in the economy could continue to pressure consumers and affect their spending,” Steven Temares, chief executive officer at Union, New Jersey-based Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., said on a teleconference with analysts Dec. 22. Still, “we remain cautiously optimistic,” he said.

Consumer Spending

Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy, has picked up. Holiday purchases rose 5.5 percent, the best performance since 2005, said MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse, which measures retail sales by all payment forms. That compared with a 4.1 percent gain a year earlier. The numbers include Internet sales and exclude automobile purchases.

The average work week for all workers held at 34.3 hours.

The so-called underemployment rate -- which includes part- time workers who’d prefer a full-time position and people who want work but have given up looking -- dropped to 16.7 percent.

The report also showed an increase in the number of long- term unemployed Americans. The number of people unemployed for 27 weeks or more increased as a percentage of all jobless, to 44.3 percent.

One reason why hiring has been slow to pick up is the economy’s inability to match the recovery’s earlier pace of growth. Gross domestic product expanded at a 2.6 percent annual rate in the third quarter, compared to 5 percent in the last three months of 2009.

Fed’s Plan

High unemployment explains why Fed policy makers said they need to follow through on their plan to purchase an additional $600 billion in Treasury securities by June.

“The economic recovery is continuing, though at a rate that has been insufficient to bring down unemployment,” officials said in a statement after their Dec. 14 meeting.

The struggling labor market is also a reason why President Barack Obama last month signed an $858 billion bill extending all Bush-era tax cuts for two years. The bill also continues expanded unemployment insurance benefits through 2011 and cuts payrolls taxes by 2 percentage points.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Willis in Washington at bwillis@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Wellisz at cwellisz@bloomberg.net

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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

Torture to gain a confession

Sharia Law

Woman sentenced to stoning death ‘tortured’ before TV ‘confession’: lawyer: "LONDON — A lawyer for an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning has told a British newspaper she was tortured for two days before confessing on state TV to being an accomplice to her husband’s death.

Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani’s lawyer told the Guardian on Thursday that his client, a 43-year-old mother of two, was forced to give the interview, which was recorded in Tabriz prison where she has been held for the past four years.

“She was severely beaten up and tortured until she accepted to appear in front of camera. Her 22-year-old son Sajad and her 17-year-old daughter Saeedeh are completely traumatised by watching this programme,” lawyer Houtan Kian said on the newspaper’s website.

The lawyer said he feared the Iranian authorities would act quickly to carry out the death sentence, which was reportedly commuted to hanging after an international outcry against her sentence last month.

The Guardian gave no details of where the lawyer was speaking.

Another of her lawyers, Mohammad Mostafaie, fled Iran this month and is now in Norway after Iranian officials issued an arrest warrant for him and detained his wife.

The sentence against Mohammadi-Ashtiani was initially for “having an illicit relationship outside marriage”, which drew condemnation from many countries.

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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

The $Dollar is playing second fiddle.......

My Way News - World Bank issues its 1st yuan bonds in Hong Kong: "HONG KONG (AP) - The World Bank is issuing its first bonds denominated in China's yuan in Hong Kong, joining a growing number of borrowers tapping the new debt market as Beijing gradually promotes of its tightly controlled currency abroad.

The World Bank said buyers of its 500 million yuan ($76 million), two-year bond were mainly Hong Kong-based financial institutions, companies and wealthy individuals. It said the money will go into its general fund, rather than being raised for a specific purpose.

The yuan is not traded on global currency markets but Beijing has loosened controls and allows Hong Kong banks to use it. Hong Kong is Chinese territory but has its own currency and a Western-style legal system and often is used as a site for mainland companies to interact with foreign investors.

Beijing began allowing foreign companies to issue yuan debt last year. The Asian Development Bank, Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) and McDonald's Corp. have sold yuan-denominated debt to finance activities in China.

Buyers of such bonds hope to gain from both interest payments and the growing strength of the yuan, which is rising against the U.S. dollar.

China is set to gain a bigger say in the World Bank after a restructuring last year to boost the voting power of developing countries. If approved, China will be the third-biggest voting power after the United States and Japan.The World Bank provides low-interest loans and technical assistance to developing countries.

Beijing is promoting Hong Kong as a platform for yuan-based international banking. Hong Kong banks started handling yuan in 2004 and now offer services ranging from deposits to credit cards to trade financing that allows foreign companies to pay Chinese business partners in yuan.

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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

Constitutional Activity?

Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

In House, new Republican majority plans to act fast to undo Obama's agenda

In House, new Republican majority plans to act fast to undo Obama's agenda: "Almost as soon as they take control of the House at noon Wednesday, Republicans will embark on a 20-day plan aimed at undoing major aspects of President Obama's agenda as they seek to take advantage of the weeks before the Senate's return and the president's State of the Union address.

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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

Could Your Pension be seized?

European nations begin seizing private pensions - CSMonitor.com:


Could this ever happen in the USA?


"People’s retirement savings are a convenient source of revenue for governments that don’t want to reduce spending or make privatizations. As most pension schemes in Europe are organised by the state, European ministers of finance have a facilitated access to the savings accumulated there, and it is only logical that they try to get a hold of this money for their own ends. In recent weeks I have noted five such attempts: Three situations concern private personal savings; two others refer to national funds.

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Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness