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starting to print the 60's...only 2 left on the ask.
-faz
26k at .58!!!
-faz
Looks like a significant wall at 60.
-faz
56's got crushed...onto the 57's!!!...whoaa...now 58's printing!
-faz
You mean...like these dems?
“…it is Hussein’s vigorous pursuity of biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons, and his present and potential future support for terrorist acts and organizations, that make him a terrible danger to the people of the United States.” -Chuck Schumer
“…in the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program.” -Hillary Clinton
"There is unmistakable evicence that Saddam Hussein is working to develop nuclear weapons and will likely have nuclear weapons within the next 5 years” -Jay Rockefeller
"Saddam Hussein has stockpiled, weaponized and used chemical and biological weapons, and has made no secret of his desire to acquire nuclear weapons.” -Tom Daschle
“While the distance betwen the United States and Iraq is great, Saddam Hussein’s ability to use his chemical and biological weapons against us is not constrained by geography” - Diane Feinstein
“With respect to Saddam Hussein and the threat he presents, we must ask ourselves a simple question: Why? Why is Saddam Hussein pursuing weapons that most nations have agreed to limit or give up? Why is Saddam Hussein guilty of breaking his own cease-fire agreement with the international community? Why is Saddam Hussein attempting to develop nuclear weapons when most nations don’t even try…Why did Saddam Hussein lie and deceive the inspection teams previously? Why did Saddam Hussein not account for all of the weapons of mass destruction which UNSCOM identified? Why is he seeking to develop unmanned airborne vehicles for delivery of biological agents?…Does he do all of these things because he wants to live by international standards of behavior? Because he respects international law? Because he is a nice guy underneath it all and the world should trust him?” - John Kerry
“…I commend President Bush for taking his case against Iraq to the American people…and I agree with the President that Saddam is a despicable tyrant who must be disarmed.” -Ted Kennedy
All arguments used by just a few of the dems for justification on the resolution for war in Iraq.
http://saveelmer.com/?p=5
And all from a left of center, democrat blogger.
-faz
And for the super delegate story.
http://www.capitaleye.org/inside.asp?ID=336
-faz
Second time today that I did that.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20080214/1a_lede14_dom.art.htm
Here you go!
-faz
Add this to the mix as well...
Senior benefit costs up 24%
'Health care crisis' leads to 8-year rise
By Dennis Cauchon
USA TODAY
The cost of government benefits for seniors soared to a record $27,289 per senior in 2007, according to a USA TODAY analysis.
That's a 24% increase above the inflation rate since 2000. Medical costs are the biggest reason. Last year, for the first time, health care and nursing homes cost the government more than Social Security payments for seniors age 65 and older. The average Social Security benefit per senior in 2007 was $13,184.
"We have a health care crisis. We don't have an entitlement crisis," says David Certner, legislative policy director of the AARP, which represents seniors.
He says seniors shouldn't be blamed for the growing cost of government retirement programs.
The federal government spent $952 billion in 2007 on elderly benefits, up from $601 billion in 2000. It's the biggest function of the federal government. States chipped in $27 billion more in 2007, mostly for nursing homes.
All three major senior programs � Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid � experienced dramatically escalating costs that outstripped inflation and the growth in the senior population.
Benefits per senior are soaring at a time when the senior population is not. The portion of the U.S. population ages 65 and older has been constant at 12% since 2000.
The senior boom, however, starts big time in 2011, when the first baby boomers � 79 million people born between 1946 and 1964 � turn 65 and qualify for Medicare health insurance. The oldest baby boomers turn 62 this year and qualify for Social Security at reduced benefits.
USA TODAY used a variety of government data to calculate the cost of providing Social Security, medical benefits and long-term care to an aging population. Billions of dollars paid to non-seniors � the disabled, children and others in the programs � were removed to create an estimate that focuses exclusively on seniors.
Findings include:
•Medicare experienced the most explosive growth from 2000 to 2007. The Medicare prescription-drug benefit, started in 2006, accounts for about one-fourth of the increase in Medicare, which provides health benefits for people 65 and older.
•Long-term care costs per senior have declined slightly in the past three years because of a move away from nursing homes to less expensive home care.
•The cost of senior benefits is equal to $10,673 for every non-senior household.
•About 35% of the federal budget is spent on senior benefits, up from 32% in 2004.
Eugene Steuerle, a senior fellow at the non-partisan Urban Institute, notes that the full cost of senior benefits goes beyond Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. A complete estimate would include other programs for retirees, such as military and civil servant pensions and medical benefits, he says.
The Urban Institute estimates that kids receive an average of about $4,000 per child in benefits, including the child tax credit and other indirect assistance.
Economist Dean Baker calls it "granny bashing" to focus on the cost of senior benefits. The elderly paid a designated tax for Social Security and Medicare taxes during their decades of working to support these programs when they retired, says Baker, co-director of the liberal Center for Economic Policy and Research.
STOP GROWING GOVERNMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!
ERRRRRRR!
-faz
The Democratic Party is a freaking train wreck!
Seeking Superdelegates
As the Democratic Party's superdelegates decide whether to support Clinton or Obama, will they take into account the $890,000 they've received from the candidates?
By Lindsay Renick Mayer
February 14, 2008 |
At this summer's Democratic National Convention, nearly 800 members of Congress, state governors and Democratic Party leaders could be the tiebreakers in the intense contest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. If neither candidate can earn the support of at least 2,025 delegates in the primary voting process, the decision of who will represent the Democrats in November's presidential election will fall not to the will of the people but to these "superdelegates"—the candidates' friends, colleagues and even financial beneficiaries. Both contenders will be calling in favors.
And while it would be unseemly for the candidates to hand out thousands of dollars to primary voters, or to the delegates pledged to represent the will of those voters, elected officials who are superdelegates have received at least $890,000 from Obama and Clinton in the form of campaign contributions over the last three years, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
Obama, who narrowly leads in the count of pledged, "non-super" delegates, has doled out more than $694,000 to superdelegates from his political action committee, Hope Fund, or campaign committee since 2005. Of the 81 elected officials who had announced as of Feb. 12 that their superdelegate votes would go to the Illinois senator, 34, or 40 percent of this group, have received campaign contributions from him in the 2006 or 2008 election cycles, totaling $228,000. In addition, Obama has been endorsed by 52 superdelegates who haven't held elected office recently and, therefore, didn't receive campaign contributions from him.
Clinton does not appear to have been as openhanded. Her PAC, HILLPAC, and campaign committee appear to have distributed $195,500 to superdelegates. Only 12 percent of her elected superdelegates, or 13 of 109 who have said they will back her, have received campaign contributions, totaling about $95,000 since 2005. An additional 128 unelected superdelegates support Clinton, according to a blog tracking superdelegates and their endorsements, 2008 Democratic Convention Watch.
Because superdelegates will make up around 20 percent of 4,000 delegates to the Democratic convention in August--Republicans don't have superdelegates—Clinton and Obama are aggressively wooing the more than 400 superdelegates who haven't yet made up their minds. Since 2005 Obama has given 52 of the undecided superdelegates a total of at least $363,900, while Clinton has given a total of $88,000 to 15 of them. Anticipating that their intense competition for votes in state primaries and caucuses will result in a near-tie going into the nominating convention, the two candidates are making personal calls to superdelegates now, or are recruiting other big names to do so on their behalf. With no specific rules about what can and can't be done to court these delegates, just about anything goes.
"Only the limits of human creativity could restrict the ways in which Obama and Clinton will try to be helpful to superdelegates," said Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia. "My guess is that if the nomination actually depends on superdelegates, the unwritten rule may be, 'ask and ye shall receive.' "
Superdelegates will make their decisions based on a number of factors, said Richard Herrera, a political scientist at Arizona State University. Some have long-time political and personal ties to Clinton or Obama, some will support the candidate they think is more likely to beat the Republican nominee and others will commit to the candidate who won their state's support. Deciding whom to support based entirely on contributions from the candidates would be a political liability, Herrera said.
"I think Democrats, both regular delegates and superdelegates, see this year as an opportunity to really take back the White House," he said, "and I don't think there's that short-term political concern that money will play that kind of role. It's a much bigger picture at this point."
The superdelegates themselves say the same thing—that any money flowing from the presidential candidates to the delegates' own campaigns hasn't had any sort of influence on their decisions. Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell received $5,000 from Clinton in the 2006 election cycle and has endorsed her, while he hasn't received anything from Obama, campaign finance records indicate. Policy and a personal relationship with the Clintons, not money, swung his vote into her camp, according to spokesman Chuck Ardo. "The governor has known Mrs. Clinton for 15 years and has certainly had a close relationship with President Clinton as well," Ardo said. "I think those are the factors that are really more relevant, especially given the small fraction of his fundraising that Clinton's contributions made. It'd be ludicrous to tie that contribution to his support."
Yet the Center for Responsive Politics has found that campaign contributions have been a generally reliable predictor of whose side a superdelegate will take. In cases where superdelegates had received contributions from both Clinton and Obama, all seven elected officials who received more money from Clinton have committed to her. Thirty-four of the 43 superdelegates who received more money from Obama, or 79 percent, are backing him. In every case the Center found in which superdelegates received money from one candidate but not the other, the superdelegate is backing the candidate who gave them money. Four superdelegates who have already pledged received the same amount of contributions from both Clinton and Obama—and all committed to Clinton.
In addition to Gov. Rendell of Pennsylvania, at least two other governors who have endorsed Clinton have also received contributions from her in the past. Ohio's Gov. Ted Strickland received $10,000 and Oregon's Gov. Ted Kulongoski received $5,000. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who dropped out of the presidential race in January, has not endorsed a candidate but received $5,000 from Clinton in the 2006 election cycle.
The money that Clinton and Obama have contributed to the superdelegates who may now determine their fate has come from three sources: the candidates' campaign accounts for president and, before that, Senate, and from their leadership PACs. These PACs exist precisely to support other politicians in their elections—and, thus, to make friends and collect chits. Leadership PACs are supposed to go dormant after a presidential candidate officially enters the race.
Contributions to candidates for federal office are relatively easy to track, but money given to state and local officials is harder to spot. Campaign finance reports from Senate candidate committees are still filed on paper, making it difficult to know who is receiving money from them. For that reason it's possible that Obama and Clinton have given superdelegates even more than the $890,000 the Center for Responsive Politics has identified. While Obama has received the support of numerous state governors, state legislators and local officials, it does not appear that his leadership PAC or presidential candidate committee has contributed to any of them. His PAC did make one interesting contribution in 2006: for her Senate re-election, Hillary Clinton received a $4,200 contribution from Obama.
Another senator running for office in 2006, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, collected $10,000 from both Clinton and Obama. As a superdelegate, Whitehouse is backing Clinton for the White House. "His decision was based on his relationship with the Clintons. President Clinton nominated him to be United States attorney in 1994, in Rhode Island, and he believes Sen. Clinton is the strongest candidate," said spokeswoman Alex Swartsel, adding that money wasn't a factor in Whitehouse's decision. "We were a top targeted Senate race in 2006 and we received a number of contributions, including those from Clinton and Obama."
Though it might seem undemocratic to allow elected officials who have received money from the candidates to have such power in picking their party's nominee, the process was not meant to be democratic, Arizona State's Herrera said. "If anything, it was meant to take it out of the democratic process. In 1982 [the party] said they needed to have some professionals making decisions here to blunt the potential effects of what they perceived as amateur delegates making decisions—those who vote with their heart and not their head."
These people are unbelievable. They sya they are democratic, yet they give these super delegates more power than the non-elite lower classes.
What a joke.
-faz
Thanks for that...I usually don't leave out the link. Good catch!!
-faz
Nice, you beat me to it.
-faz
I found on the web that this is a hoax, but illustrates a good point. Also, this story is similar:
http://www.snopes.com/military/reinwald.asp
A couple went on vacation to a fishing resort up north. The husband liked to fish at the crack of dawn. The wife liked to read.
One morning the husband returned after several hours of fishing and decided to take a short nap. Although she wasn't familiar with the lake, the wife decided to take the boat out.
She rowed out a short distance, anchored, and returned to reading her book. Along came the sheriff in his boat. He pulled up alongside her and said, "Good morning, Ma'am. What are you doing?"
"Reading my book" she replies as she thinks to herself, "Isn't it obvious?"
"You're in a restricted fishing area," he informed her.
"But officer, I'm not fishing. Can't you see that?"
"Yes, but you have all the equipment. I'll have to take you in and write you up."
"If you do that, I'll have to charge you with rape," snapped the irate woman.
"But, I haven't even touched you," groused the sheriff.
"Yes, that's true," she replied, "but you do have all the equipment."
MORAL: Never argue with a woman who knows how to read.
FANTASTIC!!!! LMAO!!!!
Thanks longhorn...my sides hurt from that one.
-faz
"a microscopic array of characters that identify the make, model and serial number of the pistol"
Doesn't the barrel already provide all the ballistics proof of the firearm? Who cares about the cartridge, it is not doing the killing.
Also, I would contend that "Gun Safe Zones" are more dangerous that the guns themselves. I wish all the lawmakers who believe in gun control would be required to post large signs outside of their houses that state..."This house is a GUN FREE ZONE"
I am sure they would see all this gun control nonsense in a different light then.
-faz
Found this on a blog...
http://wattsupwiththat.wordpress.com/2008/02/13/global-warming-killed-nessie/
Global Warming Kills “Nessie”
13 02 2008
Global warming gets blamed for a lot of things, like in the 90’s, when that California Cheese commercial came out blaming everything on “Its the El Ninnnnoooooo…..”. Every day we see more an more piling on of claims that the root cause of some problem is “global warming”.
But when this one came along, it gave me such pause, that I just had to mention it due to the absurdity vortex that surrounds it. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you this:
Veteran Loch Ness Monster Hunter Gives Up
Despite having hundreds of sonar contacts over the years, the trail has since gone cold and Rines believes that Nessie may be dead, a victim of global warming.
Read the whole story here at the UK’s Daily Record.
Of course we all know that Nessie is “real” and therefore it’s *ahem* reasonable to assume that the massive species extinction claimed as one of the direct effects of AGW would reach right down to the depths of Loch Ness and strike beloved Nessie dead. It’s a huge blow to Scotland’s tourist industry.
But that’s not the cause, the epic battle of Nessie’s last stand was captured in late 2007 on the Loch Ness web cam. The real culprit is not global warming, but very close.
See the picture below:
Gotta love it.
If McCain doesn't stop calling us "Frineds" and then going on into his speech. Look at any speech he gives. He always starts out by saying friends. It is very irritating.
-faz
My favorite one so far...
No second chance?
Can Earth explode as a result of Global Warming?
Dr Tom J. Chalko 1 , MSc, PhD
Submitted on 8 April 2001, revised 30 October 2004.
http://nujournal.net/core.pdf
Everything is Caused by Global Warming (600+ links)
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2007/11/everything_is_caused_by_global.html
Wow, this is amazing. Over 600 links to articles and stories about how Global Warming has been the root cause.
Unbelievable.
-faz
I know. The liberalism disease must have infiltrated the ranks of Berkley's finest.
He would probably arrest someone for trying to break through the line rather than those who would stop someone from entering.
That video really fired me up!
ERRRR!
-faz
What a joke. The Anti-War activists should be made to go and spend a day in Iraq without the US there. I mean it would be just like Vermont right?
Shouldn't be a problem. They are already in Syria!
Obama Adviser Leads Delegation to Damascus
By ELI LAKE
Staff Reporter of the Sun
February 12, 2008
WASHINGTON — A foreign policy adviser to Senator Obama is scheduled to arrive in Syria today as the leader of a RAND Corp. delegation.
Zbigniew Brzezinski will travel to Damascus for meetings as part of a trip Syria's official Cham News agency described as an "important sign that the end of official dialogue between Washington and Damascus has not prevented dialogue with important American intellectuals and politicians."
An assistant to Mr. Brzezinski, Trudy Werner, told The New York Sun yesterday: "He is leading a delegation for RAND and they will be in Damascus. It is a high-level delegation and they are meeting with some high-level people in the region. There is no shortage of issues in the Middle East to discuss as I'm sure you know."
Mr. Brzezinski's visit to Syria, a country President Bush has accused of arming terrorists and ordering political assassinations in Lebanon, is in many ways in keeping with a theme of the Obama campaign. The Illinois senator in August said during a Democratic debate that he would be willing to meet with foreign adversaries, earning a rebuke from Senator Clinton, a Democrat of New York, who said such an approach would be "naïve."
On August 24, Mr. Brzezinski, a one-time national security adviser to President Carter, announced in an interview on Bloomberg's satellite news channel that he was endorsing Mr. Obama, and he has been an adviser to the campaign since.
A spokesman for the senator's presidential campaign, Tommy Vietor, said the campaign did not know Mr. Brzezinski was leading the delegation. "The first we heard of this trip was from you," he said. He added: "Brzezinski is not a day-to-day adviser for the campaign, he is someone whose guidance Senator Obama seeks on Iraq."
A supporter of Mrs. Clinton, Rep. Eliot Engel, a Democrat from New York, said he found it hard to believe that one of the Illinois senator's main advisers would not know that his visit to Syria would appear to have the tacit consent of the Obama campaign.
Maybe they will just hop a plane and try to smooth things out with all of the leaders in that part of the world I imagine all of those leaders are laughing at us behind our back and think that we are the weakest people in the world. What a joke.
-faz
Global warming 'may cut deaths'
BBC News
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7240463.stm
The risk of a fatal heatwave in the UK within ten years is high, but overall global warming may mean fewer deaths due to temperature, a report says.
A seriously hot summer between now and 2017 could claim more than 6,000 lives, the Department of Health report warns.
But it also stresses that milder winters mean deaths during this time of year - which far outstrip heat-related mortality - will continue to decline.
The report is to help health services prepare for climate change effects.
A panel of scientific experts commissioned by the Department of Health and Health Protection Agency (HPA) has looked at the way the UK has responded to rising temperatures since the 1970s, and how the risks are likely to change.
While summers in the UK became warmer in the period 1971 - 2003, there was no change in heat-related deaths, but annual cold-related mortality fell by 3% as winters became milder - so overall fewer people died as a result of extreme temperatures.
Rather than physiological changes explaining our ability to adapt to rising temperatures, the report puts this down primarily to lifestyle alterations - our readiness to wear more informal clothes, for instance, and the shift away from manual labour.
I guess Global Warming may not be so bad after all. Gotta love it!
-faz
Crazier and crazier!!! Global Warming to new levels!
Veteran Loch Ness Monster Hunter Gives Up
Feb 13 2008 By Bob Dow
LEGENDARY Nessie hunter Robert Rines is giving up his search for the monster after 37 years.
The 85-year-old American will make one last trip in a bid to find the elusive beast.
After almost four decades of fruitless expeditions, he admitted: "Unfortunately, I'm running out of age."
World War II veteran Robert has devoted almost half his life to scouring Loch Ness.
He started in 1971. The following year, he watched a 25ft-long hump with the texture of elephant skin gliding through the water.
His original trip was to help another monster hunter with sonar equipment and quickly identified large moving targets.
He was smitten and returned the next year, which is when, he says: "I had the misfortune of seeing one of these things with my own eyes."
Since then, he has been obsessed with tracking down the creature with a staggering array of hi-tech equipment. It was this gear that took the famous "flipper" picture that year which created a stir around the world.
Despite having hundreds of sonar contacts over the years, the trail has since gone cold and Rines believes that Nessie may be dead, a victim of global warming.
He still wants to check almost 100 contacts on the floor of the loch, believing one may be the monster's remains.
Robert bought a cottage on the banks of the loch to live in during his annual summer trips.
He has also set up a "Nessie" room in his Boston home crammed with information gathered over the years. As he prepared for his last hunt, Robert said: "What am I to do - forget what I saw? There are a lot of eyewitness accounts. Are they all liars? All drunks? I don't believe human nature is like that.
"What disturbs me as a lawyer is that we prove cases by eyewitness testimony. The human brain is not 100 per cent accurate but it's not zero either."
In 1975, the trained physicist and inventor managed to get a photograph in the murky waters of the loch which apparently showed the body, flipper, neck and head of an animal.
Since Nessie hunting began in the 1930s, a host of people have tried to find the monster.
Robert, who has also composed Broadway musicals, is regarded as the cream of the crop.
QUEST OF SEARCHERS OF THE DEEP
ROBERT is one of a long list of devoted Nessie hunters. They include American Dan Taylor, who hoped to get a sample of Nessie's skin.
Engineer Tim Dinsdale filmed a large object on the loch in 1960 and led 56 expeditions. Ex-sniper Frank Searle falsely claimed to have photos of the monster between 1969 and 1983. Steve Feltham, from Dorset, has scanned the loch from a caravan for 17 years. Adrian Shine has spent 30 years studying the loch - but doesn't believe in the monster. BBC reporter Nicholas Witchell has also been a Nessie fan for more than 30 years.
-faz
It is a shame she has been co-opted and poisoned by the liberal, troop hating commies of this country. She should be proud of her son for he chose a path of courage that only a small percentage of Americans are even capable of taking.
-faz
Bummer that the surge isn't working...Oh, wait...YES IT IS!
Iraqi Lawmakers Pass 3 Crucial Laws
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/14/world/middleeast/14iraq.html?ex=1360645200&en=7726aa6a904c0a5f&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Article Tools Sponsored By
By ALISSA J. RUBIN
Published: February 14, 2008
BAGHDAD — Using old-fashioned behind-the-scenes politicking, Iraq’s Parliamentary leaders pushed through three divisive laws that had been delayed for months by bitter maneuvering between factions and, recently, threats to dissolve the legislative body.
More than any legislation approved so far, the three measures have the potential to spur reconciliation between Sunnis and Shiites and set the country on the road to a more representative government.
The three laws are the 2008 budget, a law outlining the scope of provincial powers — a crucial aspect of Iraq’s self-definition as a federal state — and an amnesty that will cover thousands of the detainees held in Iraqi jails, including thousands of Sunnis, many of whom have been held without charges for months and, in a few cases, more than a year. It will be the largest release at one time since 2003.
The freeing of detainees who have not been charged has been a headline issue for Sunni legislators in Parliament and for the Sunni vice-president, Tariq al-Hashimi, who have charged that the Shiite-dominated security forces have charged many innocent Sunnis with being members of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, an extremist Sunni group that American intelligence says is foreign-led.
The three measures were put to a vote as a single package and passed Wednesday afternoon. There were 206 legislators of the 275-member body at the session, according to the Parliament’s press office. “Today we have a wedding party for the Iraqi parliament,” said Mahmoud Mashadani, the speaker, who is a Sunni. “We have proved that Iraqis are one bloc and parliament is able to find solutions that represent all Iraqis.”
Khalid al-Attiya, the deputy speaker and a Shiite beamed as he told reporters right after the vote that the laws had passed “unanimously.”
“It is a big achievement,” he said and promised that approval of the budget and spending associated with it would translate into as many as 700,000 new jobs for Iraqis.
Even factions that did not agree with some of the measures, said they did not want to vote against the measures but allowed those members who disagreed with the measure to leave the chamber for the vote. “The Iraqiya List did not want to create a political crisis in a time when the country has suffered a lot, “ said Aliya Nesayef, a member of the Iraqiya List, which agreed with the amnesty law but was uncomfortable with both the budget and the provincial powers law.
Passage of the measures represent a significant achievement for the Iraqi Parliament, which on many days could not muster a quorum. The approach of voting on the three laws together broke the logjam because it allowed every group to boast that they had a win. Leaders of the blocs — Shiite, Sunni and Kurd — realized that while no one of the laws could pass on its own, together they offered something for each political constituency. So factions would swallow the measures they liked less in order to get the one they wanted.
The Kurds wanted the budget in its current form, which guarantees the regional government 17 percent of the country’s revenues after subtracting the costs of federal ministries that serve the entire country, like Foreign Affairs and Defense.
The Sunnis wanted the amnesty because about 80 percent of the more than 26,000 detainees in Iraqi jails are Sunnis. About half of all detainees have not been sentenced.
Most Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds wanted the provincial powers measure because they are eager to ensure that substantial power rests in the provinces rather than the central government. For all three groups, former President Saddam Hussein’s strong centralized bureaucracy, which strictly controlled all decisions, was anathema. They see a more decentralized power structure as a better guarantee of freedoms and rights.
The only controversy was over the inclusion of a date for holding provincial elections. Two political parties, one Shiite and one Sunni, stand to lose control of one or more provincial councils. Those groups would prefer to defer the vote indefinitely. But the majority, supported setting a date certain and Mr. Mashadani, the speaker, forced the inclusion of a date at the last minute. The provincial elections must be held by Oct. 1.
The Bush administration has pushed hard for passage of the provincial powers law, and President Bush has said he would like to see new provincial elections held before the end of his term.
Supporters of the American troop increase in 2007 touted it as a way to stabilize the country, bringing Iraqi politicians the political space they needed to pass legislation that could pave the way for reconciliation between the sects. For months it appeared that little was moving on the political front, but now it seems that the decline in violence did contribute to a change in the atmosphere.
After the laws are approved by the Presidency Council — in this case a pro forma step since all of the political blocs agreed to their passage — they will be published. The particulars of the laws remained unclear in part because changes were made in the last minutes of the legislative process
However, embedded in each of the measures are the same problems that created the controversy in the first place. For instance, on the budget, the size of the Kurdish share has merely been deferred for a year. The 17 percent agreement is only for this year; next year it will be re-negotiated and there is a strong push to reduce their share.
On the provincial powers law, which includes a requirement that elections be held next fall, there are serious problems with the election commission both at the national and provincial level, raising questions about whether a vote will be viewed as fair or merely deepen divisions among and within sects. Worries about that could end up delaying the elections.
And, still left out of the political bargain are the newly formed Awakening Councils, which are predominantly Sunni and in many cases represent powerful tribes. They have taken the lead in fighting extremist Sunni groups, and now their leaders are clambering for a place at the table. They are outraged that the Iraqi Islamic Party, which is Sunni but has limited grass-roots support, dominates the provincial council in Anbar.
“In Anbar Province we want the provincial council disbanded and another one formed, we want elections to be held in March or April and we want the Iraqi Islamic Party to leave the province in 30 days,” said Sheikh Ali Hatem, one of the leaders of the Anbar Awakening, who survived a suicide bomb attack earlier this week.
There appeared to be little chance of elections before the fall.
I wonder how the lefties are going to spin this one!!! They are going to get crushed on this come November only if the media stops burying the war from the headlines.
COME ON BOYS! Let's kick some A$$ over there! My hat is off and my heart out to all who serve their country with honor!
-faz
Found this source. I am not sure if this is already well known.
http://www.oceanleadership.org/
From Scientific Ocean Drilling Vessel (SODV), December 2007
http://www.oceanleadership.org/files/sodv/SODV_Monthly_Rpt_Dec_07.pdf
Excerpts with DDI and SLB progress:
1.1.3 LDEO Project Management
Oversight of the project involving the Schlumberger (SLB)/Deep Down Inc (DDI) wireline heave compensating system (WHC) is continuing. Successful testing of most of the WHC components for the JOIDES Resolution unit has been completed with only the final testing results of the MRU being outstanding. LDEO is making adjustments to shipment schedules for all LDEO and Schlumberger equipment based on the lab space availability dates. The integration of the LDEO IT equipment into the ship’s network has been completed and the LDEO servers will be shipped to Singapore once the lab availability schedule can be finalized.
----> Looks like the work that DDI and SLB are doing is on track
Overview of the Scientific Ocean Drilling Vessel (SODV):
The Scientific Ocean Drilling Vessel (SODV), which is funded by the NSF through funds in MREFC, will serve as the state-of-the-art, riserless drilling research platform for the science community as well as the United States' contribution to support the scientific mission of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), an international program of basic research in the marine geosciences, supported by NSF and numerous international partners. IODP will build upon the successes of Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) by enhancing the capabilities of scientific ocean drilling through international partnerships using multiple drilling platforms.
-faz
I wonder how that NI 43-101 is going. I wonder if they are going to renew the claims when the time comes.
Might have a look at all the claims we have and see when they are set to be renewed.
-faz
It is almost like all of last year never took place. Pretty amazing how the news outfits let them get away with removing files like that.
-faz
Liberalism truly is a mental disorder!!
Unusual perks: Goldman Sachs covers sex changes
The investment bank, No. 9 on the Best Companies to Work For list, added the benefit last year as part of a push to recruit and retain a more diverse workforce.
By Althea Chang
http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/08/news/companies/gender.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008020809
NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Wall Street is typically considered a pretty conservative place to work. But the classic white-shoe investment bank is loosening things up by adding health benefits that cover sex-change operations.
Not only is Goldman Sachs ranked No. 9 on Fortune's list of 100 Best Companies to Work For, it also appears on what could be a list of transgendered job-seekers' ideal employers as well.
Goldman added health-insurance coverage of sex reassignment surgery as part of a push last year to attract top talent and recruit and retain a more diverse workforce, the company said.
The surgery alone could cost an individual anywhere from $5,000 to $150,000 if they paid out of pocket, depending on their particular situation, said Pauline Park, chair of the New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy, a group that campaigns for transgender rights. That figure doesn't include hormone and other drug treatments.
Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500)' plan covers the actual surgery, as well as transgender-related prescription drugs, such as testosterone injections, said spokeswoman Gia Morón. It does not cover electrolysis and other cosmetic treatments, she said.
The surgery is free under the company's HMO and PPO plans as long as patients are screened and diagnosed with transsexualism and see an in-network doctor. Drugs are subject to regular prescription copays that are typically $5 to $30 a month.
Goldman is not the only financial firm that offers such benefits. Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), Deutsche Bank (DB) and Wachovia (WB, Fortune 500) also offer some level of coverage for transgender treatments, according to a poll by the Human Rights Campaign - a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender advocacy group.
The HRC asked Fortune 1000 corporations, large law firms and other companies to volunteer information on their policies and benefits; 519 employers responded. But companies on its list may cover just hormone therapy and related prescription drugs, and not the sex reassignment surgery, as Goldman does.
Best Companies to Work For: 25 Top-paying companies
For example, Wachovia's health plan deems sex reassignment surgery "elective," and not medically necessary, so it doesn't pay for actual operations. But the bank does allow transgendered employees to take short-term disability leave for surgery and covers some related prescriptions, such as painkillers and antidepressants, said a company spokeswoman, Megan Roberts.
Wachovia also offers post-operative counseling and provides diversity and sensitivity training for the "transitioning" employee's officemates, allowing the person to "feel like they can come back to some sort of normal work environment," Roberts adds.
Meanwhile, Bank of America covers the surgery, and related treatments such as hormone shots and prescriptions, as long as they're deemed by a doctor to be medically necessary.
Besides banks, other large companies including Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) and General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) cover transgender treatments, according to the HRC survey.
Even in the aerospace and defense industry, as well as among law firms and consulting firms, more employers are adding non-discrimination policies that include sexual orientation as well as providing additional insurance coverage for transgendered staff, said Samir Luther, manager of the Workplace Project at the Human Rights Campaign foundation.
Since employers don't want to discourage diverse candidates from applying to their firms, said Luther, "it's a trend that's going to continue even in conservative industries."
"Because we have a system of employer-based insurance, any employer that does not clearly include gender identity in their employment policies may send a signal that they're not supportive," added Park, of the New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy.
And even though sex reassignment surgery can be expensive, a company covering the procedure won't break the bank, according to Park.
"With companies that do provide coverage, it actually doesn't affect their bottom line significantly," Park said. She added that of the few transgendered employees there may be at any given company, most don't actually want a surgical sex change.
"It's simply a myth to think that providing coverage for sex reassignment surgery is going to bankrupt a company," Park added.
LOL!!! So true.
-faz
And...we need to start with this one right here:
Cindy Sheehan in Egypt for Islamists
By MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press Writer
Wed Feb 13, 5:10 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080213/ap_on_re_mi_ea/egypt_sheehan_protest
CAIRO, Egypt - Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan joined a protest Wednesday seeking the support of Egypt's first lady in ending a military trial of members of the country's largest Islamic organization.
Under the watchful eyes of dozens of black-clad and helmeted anti-riot police, some 50 heavily veiled wives and children of 40 senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood detained for the past year, gathered in front of the headquarters of first lady Suzanne Mubarak's National Council Women carrying banners calling for their release.
"I am here to protest the trial of civilians in front of a military tribunal as this is a violation to international law," said Sheehan, who gained fame in the U.S. for her sit-in outside President Bush's Texas ranch following the death of her son in Iraq.
"As a mother of a son who was killed in the war, I presented a letter to Ms. Suzanne Mubarak to realize how those women and children are suffering."
The street protest was rare in Egypt where authorities ban most signs of public dissent.
One woman carried a sleeping infant in her arms along with a poster reading "Father, I miss you."
In December 2006, the government engaged in a wide-ranging crackdown against the Brotherhood, the country's largest opposition force — which holds one-fifth of the seats in the parliament — targeting in particular businessmen known to financially support the group.
In February 2007, President Hosni Mubarak ordered 40 of the organization's members to be tried by a military tribunal on charges of money laundering and terrorism. The court's verdict is expected Feb. 26.
According to the Brotherhood, 3,245 members of their organization were arrested in 2007.
This is what big government gets you...corruption that goes undetected because it is too massive.. Damn, we really need to just do a complete clean sweep of the corrupt garbage that infests this government.
Thanks for the post.
-faz
Because...it isn't fair that we are so wealthy. It isn't fair that we are so successful. It isn't fair that America has the greatest economy that the world has ever seen.
Welcome to the globalist progressive view. I can't wit for the UN to impose a global tax. You will see me refuse to pay that tax or the government can forget any future revenue from fazoolius!
-faz
France Wants Global Oil Tax
Wednesday February 13, 4:51 pm ET
France's Sarkozy Wants IMF Head to Consider Global Tax on Oil Companies' Profits
PARIS (AP) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy has asked the head of the International Monetary Fund to consider a tax on oil companies' profits to help countries without energy reserves, the finance minister said Wednesday.
...
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080213/france_oil_tax.html?.v=1
-faz
Very true. I imagine that Bush will veto it right after he vetoes the water boarding is torture bill that just passed the Senate.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gdJhj2JFAIwZmty7JFrg4j97CtwQD8UPNK100
-faz
Bummer that the surge isn't working...Oh, wait...YES IT IS!
Iraqi Lawmakers Pass 3 Crucial Laws
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/14/world/middleeast/14iraq.html?ex=1360645200&en=7726aa6a904c0a5f&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Article Tools Sponsored By
By ALISSA J. RUBIN
Published: February 14, 2008
BAGHDAD — Using old-fashioned behind-the-scenes politicking, Iraq’s Parliamentary leaders pushed through three divisive laws that had been delayed for months by bitter maneuvering between factions and, recently, threats to dissolve the legislative body.
More than any legislation approved so far, the three measures have the potential to spur reconciliation between Sunnis and Shiites and set the country on the road to a more representative government.
The three laws are the 2008 budget, a law outlining the scope of provincial powers — a crucial aspect of Iraq’s self-definition as a federal state — and an amnesty that will cover thousands of the detainees held in Iraqi jails, including thousands of Sunnis, many of whom have been held without charges for months and, in a few cases, more than a year. It will be the largest release at one time since 2003.
The freeing of detainees who have not been charged has been a headline issue for Sunni legislators in Parliament and for the Sunni vice-president, Tariq al-Hashimi, who have charged that the Shiite-dominated security forces have charged many innocent Sunnis with being members of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, an extremist Sunni group that American intelligence says is foreign-led.
The three measures were put to a vote as a single package and passed Wednesday afternoon. There were 206 legislators of the 275-member body at the session, according to the Parliament’s press office. “Today we have a wedding party for the Iraqi parliament,” said Mahmoud Mashadani, the speaker, who is a Sunni. “We have proved that Iraqis are one bloc and parliament is able to find solutions that represent all Iraqis.”
Khalid al-Attiya, the deputy speaker and a Shiite beamed as he told reporters right after the vote that the laws had passed “unanimously.”
“It is a big achievement,” he said and promised that approval of the budget and spending associated with it would translate into as many as 700,000 new jobs for Iraqis.
Even factions that did not agree with some of the measures, said they did not want to vote against the measures but allowed those members who disagreed with the measure to leave the chamber for the vote. “The Iraqiya List did not want to create a political crisis in a time when the country has suffered a lot, “ said Aliya Nesayef, a member of the Iraqiya List, which agreed with the amnesty law but was uncomfortable with both the budget and the provincial powers law.
Passage of the measures represent a significant achievement for the Iraqi Parliament, which on many days could not muster a quorum. The approach of voting on the three laws together broke the logjam because it allowed every group to boast that they had a win. Leaders of the blocs — Shiite, Sunni and Kurd — realized that while no one of the laws could pass on its own, together they offered something for each political constituency. So factions would swallow the measures they liked less in order to get the one they wanted.
The Kurds wanted the budget in its current form, which guarantees the regional government 17 percent of the country’s revenues after subtracting the costs of federal ministries that serve the entire country, like Foreign Affairs and Defense.
The Sunnis wanted the amnesty because about 80 percent of the more than 26,000 detainees in Iraqi jails are Sunnis. About half of all detainees have not been sentenced.
Most Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds wanted the provincial powers measure because they are eager to ensure that substantial power rests in the provinces rather than the central government. For all three groups, former President Saddam Hussein’s strong centralized bureaucracy, which strictly controlled all decisions, was anathema. They see a more decentralized power structure as a better guarantee of freedoms and rights.
The only controversy was over the inclusion of a date for holding provincial elections. Two political parties, one Shiite and one Sunni, stand to lose control of one or more provincial councils. Those groups would prefer to defer the vote indefinitely. But the majority, supported setting a date certain and Mr. Mashadani, the speaker, forced the inclusion of a date at the last minute. The provincial elections must be held by Oct. 1.
The Bush administration has pushed hard for passage of the provincial powers law, and President Bush has said he would like to see new provincial elections held before the end of his term.
Supporters of the American troop increase in 2007 touted it as a way to stabilize the country, bringing Iraqi politicians the political space they needed to pass legislation that could pave the way for reconciliation between the sects. For months it appeared that little was moving on the political front, but now it seems that the decline in violence did contribute to a change in the atmosphere.
After the laws are approved by the Presidency Council — in this case a pro forma step since all of the political blocs agreed to their passage — they will be published. The particulars of the laws remained unclear in part because changes were made in the last minutes of the legislative process
However, embedded in each of the measures are the same problems that created the controversy in the first place. For instance, on the budget, the size of the Kurdish share has merely been deferred for a year. The 17 percent agreement is only for this year; next year it will be re-negotiated and there is a strong push to reduce their share.
On the provincial powers law, which includes a requirement that elections be held next fall, there are serious problems with the election commission both at the national and provincial level, raising questions about whether a vote will be viewed as fair or merely deepen divisions among and within sects. Worries about that could end up delaying the elections.
And, still left out of the political bargain are the newly formed Awakening Councils, which are predominantly Sunni and in many cases represent powerful tribes. They have taken the lead in fighting extremist Sunni groups, and now their leaders are clambering for a place at the table. They are outraged that the Iraqi Islamic Party, which is Sunni but has limited grass-roots support, dominates the provincial council in Anbar.
“In Anbar Province we want the provincial council disbanded and another one formed, we want elections to be held in March or April and we want the Iraqi Islamic Party to leave the province in 30 days,” said Sheikh Ali Hatem, one of the leaders of the Anbar Awakening, who survived a suicide bomb attack earlier this week.
There appeared to be little chance of elections before the fall.
I wonder how the lefties are going to spin this one!!! They are going to get crushed on this come November only if the media stops burying the war from the headlines.
-faz
Great story.
You can run and hide, but you can't run and hide forever.
-faz
A lot of MMS are backing off to .60. Looks pretty thin to there.
Just need some volume!
-faz
Yep,
My senators just got emails. This is ridiculous.
-faz
Government about to reach into your pockets once again. Just a taste of what you can expect from an Obama or Hillary Presidency.
Barack Obama's Global Tax Proposal Up for Senate Vote
http://povertynewsblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/barack-obamas-global-tax-proposal-up.html
from the National Ledger
By Cliff Kincaid
Feb 12, 2008
A nice-sounding bill called the "Global Poverty Act," sponsored by Democratic presidential candidate and Senator Barack Obama, is up for a Senate vote on Thursday and could result in the imposition of a global tax on the United States. The bill, which has the support of many liberal religious groups, makes levels of U.S. foreign aid spending subservient to the dictates of the United Nations.
Senator Joe Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has not endorsed either Senator Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton in the presidential race. But on Thursday, February 14, he is trying to rush Obama’s “Global Poverty Act” (S.2433) through his committee. The legislation would commit the U.S. to spending 0.7 percent of gross national product on foreign aid, which amounts to a phenomenal 13-year total of $845 billion over and above what the U.S. already spends.
The bill, which is item number four on the committee’s business meeting agenda, passed the House by a voice vote last year because most members didn’t realize what was in it. Congressional sponsors have been careful not to calculate the amount of foreign aid spending that it would require. According to the website of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, no hearings have been held on the Obama bill in that body.
A release from the Obama Senate office about the bill declares, “In 2000, the U.S. joined more than 180 countries at the United Nations Millennium Summit and vowed to reduce global poverty by 2015. We are halfway towards this deadline, and it is time the United States makes it a priority of our foreign policy to meet this goal and help those who are struggling day to day.”
The legislation itself requires the President “to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to further the United States foreign policy objective of promoting the reduction of global poverty, the elimination of extreme global poverty, and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal of reducing by one-half the proportion of people worldwide, between 1990 and 2015, who live on less than $1 per day.”
The bill defines the term “Millennium Development Goals” as the goals set out in the United Nations Millennium Declaration, General Assembly Resolution 55/2 (2000).
The U.N. says that “The commitment to provide 0.7% of gross national product (GNP) as official development assistance was first made 35 years ago in a General Assembly resolution, but it has been reaffirmed repeatedly over the years, including at the 2002 global Financing for Development conference in Monterrey, Mexico. However, in 2004, total aid from the industrialized countries totaled just $78.6 billion—or about 0.25% of their collective GNP.”
In addition to seeking to eradicate poverty, that declaration commits nations to banning “small arms and light weapons” and ratifying a series of treaties, including the International Criminal Court Treaty, the Kyoto Protocol (global warming treaty), the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The Millennium Declaration also affirms the U.N. as “the indispensable common house of the entire human family, through which we will seek to realize our universal aspirations for peace, cooperation and development.”
Jeffrey Sachs, who runs the U.N.’s “Millennium Project,” says that the U.N. plan to force the U.S. to pay 0.7 percent of GNP in increased foreign aid spending would add $65 billion a year to what the U.S. already spends. Over a 13-year period, from 2002, when the U.N.’s Financing for Development conference was held, to the target year of 2015, when the U.S. is expected to meet the “Millennium Development Goals,” this amounts to $845 billion. And the only way to raise that kind of money, Sachs has written, is through a global tax, preferably on carbon-emitting fossil fuels.
Obama’s bill has only six co-sponsors. They are Senators Maria Cantwell, Dianne Feinstein, Richard Lugar, Richard Durbin, Chuck Hagel and Robert Menendez. But it appears that Biden and Obama see passage of this bill as a way to highlight Democratic Party priorities in the Senate.
The House version (H.R. 1302), sponsored by Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), had only 84 co-sponsors before it was suddenly brought up on the House floor last September 25 and was passed by voice vote. House Republicans were caught off-guard, unaware that the pro-U.N. measure committed the U.S. to spending hundreds of billions of dollars.
It appears the Senate version is being pushed not only by Biden and Obama, a member of the committee, but Lugar, the ranking Republican member. Lugar has worked with Obama in the past to promote more foreign aid for Russia, supposedly to stem nuclear proliferation, and has become Obama’s mentor. Like Biden, Lugar is a globalist. They have both promoted passage of the U.N.’s Law of the Sea Treaty, for example.
The so-called “Lugar-Obama initiative” was modeled after the Nunn-Lugar program, also known as the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program, which was designed to eliminate weapons of mass destruction in the former Soviet Union. But one defense analyst, Rich Kelly, noted evidence that “CTR funds have eased the Russian military’s budgetary woes, freeing resources for such initiatives as the war in Chechnya and defense modernization.” He recommended that Congress “eliminate CTR funding so that it does not finance additional, perhaps more threatening, programs in the former Soviet Union.” However, over $6 billion has already been spent on the program.
Another program modeled on Nunn-Lugar, the Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention (IPP), was recently exposed as having funded nuclear projects in Iran through Russia.
More foreign aid through passage of the Global Poverty Act was identified as one of the strategic goals of InterAction, the alliance of U.S-based international non-governmental organizations that lobbies for more foreign aid. The group is heavily financed by the U.S. Government, having received $1.4 million from taxpayers in fiscal year 2005 and $1.7 million in 2006. However, InterAction recently issued a report accusing the United States of “falling short on its commitment to rid the world of dire poverty by 2015 under the U.N. Millennium Development Goals…”
It’s not clear what President Bush would do if the bill passes the Senate. The bill itself quotes Bush as declaring that “We fight against poverty because opportunity is a fundamental right to human dignity.” Bush’s former top aide, Michael J. Gerson, writes in his new book, Heroic Conservatism, that Bush should be remembered as the President who “sponsored the largest percentage increases in foreign assistance since the Marshall Plan…”
Even these increases, however, will not be enough to satisfy the requirements of the Obama bill. A global tax will clearly be necessary to force American taxpayers to provide the money.
-faz