TGIF
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Zimbabwe leader jeered at parliament opening
By ANGUS SHAW, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
(08-26) 08:21 PDT HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) --
Zimbabwe's opposition heckled and jeered at Robert Mugabe in a rare show of defiance when the president opened parliament Tuesday with traditional pomp and his familiar denunciations of the West.
Opposition legislators who now control parliament shouted Mugabe's party "is rotten!" and refused to stand when the president entered. The jeers occasionally drowned out his 30-minute speech broadcast live on national television. Mugabe had to raise his voice and, looking annoyed, raced through the final lines.
The show of defiance in parliament was unheard of in a country where the president's political opponents are regularly arrested, intimidated and roughed up.
Earlier, Mugabe arrived in an open-topped vintage Rolls Royce escorted by mounted police wearing pith helmets and carrying lances.
Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change won 100 seats in the 210-seat legislature in March elections, wresting control from Mugabe's ZANU-PF party which had held a majority since independence in 1980. Mugabe's party won 99 seats and a splinter opposition faction won 10. An independent who broke away from Mugabe's party has the remaining seat.
Mugabe opened parliament despite an agreement he signed last month with Tsvangirai that the assembly would not sit unless both men agreed or until a deal to form a power-sharing government was struck. Negotiations, though, have deadlocked over how Tsvangirai and Mugabe would share power in a unity government.
As the political wrangling goes on, the country is mired in a deep crisis with its economy in collapse. Tuesday's tension may be a glimpse into a future of bitter debates and close votes once parliament gets down to work in October.
Tsvangirai beat Mugabe and two other candidates in presidential elections held alongside the legislative balloting, but did not gain the simple majority needed to avoid a runoff. Mugabe held a one-man runoff after allegedly unleashing his soldiers, police and party militants on the opposition, and declared himself victor despite international condemnation.
The opposition blames Zimbabwe's crisis on Mugabe's increasingly autocratic rule and economic mismanagement. Mugabe ordered the seizure, at times violent of white-owned commercial farmland, saying it would be turned over to blacks, but in many cases handing farms to cronies, in the process destroying the country's economic base.
Mugabe has repeatedly blamed his country's woes on the United States and former colonial power Britain. He returned to that theme Tuesday, calling Western sanctions illegal.
"Sanctions must go," he said, to cheers from his supporters. "They cannot last a day longer if we as Zimbabweans speak against them in deafening unison."
Sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union target individuals and companies linked to Mugabe, and include travel bans and asset freezes. While such targeted sanctions are meant to spare ordinary Zimbabweans already suffering amid their economy's collapse, officials say they contribute to a climate that discourages foreign investment, loans and aid.
Mugabe on Tuesday also accused Britain and the United States of unleashing "a vicious onslaught" against his country. He said Zimbabwe, once the region's breadbasket, was importing food from its neighbors, but that prices were increasing.
"Regrettably, we have noticed the hand of our enemies to thwart us," he said. "Food is the latest weapon in their regime change agenda."
Only 99 of the opposition's members were able to take the oath of office Monday, after one was arrested as he tried to enter parliament. Another opposition legislator was arrested Tuesday. Some of the opposition members are on a police list of suspects wanted for election-related violence. But opposition spokesman Nelson Chamisa says the arrests are an attempt to subvert the party's slight majority in parliament.
In parliament Monday, Lovemore Moyo of the opposition won the race for speaker by 110 votes to 98. The ballot was secret, but Moyo apparently got votes from both Mugabe's party and the splinter faction to win a post that puts him in charge of parliament's debate and schedule and gives him the power to appoint committee chairmen.
If the opposition continues to win support from the splinter faction, it would have the simple majority needed to block funds for government ministries and projects. But if there was deadlock, Mugabe could dissolve the assembly and rule by decree. And it was unlikely the opposition could summon the two-thirds vote needed to impeach Mugabe.
Source:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/08/25/international/i011247D19.DTL
NT and MFI on radar for bounce, Nortel sooner than Maple Leaf
"No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting."
--Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762), English writer
"No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting."
--Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762), English writer
Police investigate possible plot to kill Obama
By By Brian Maass, CBS4 News
Originally published 05:15 p.m., August 25, 2008
Updated 05:15 p.m., August 25, 2008
Law enforcement authorities have arrested two men and several law enforcement sources say the investigation is looking into whether the men intended to harm presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama.
According to multiple sources, Aurora police made a routine traffic stop Sunday morning at 2:38 a.m. The Secret Service says two rifles were found in the car along with methamphetamine. Another law enforcement source says he was told at least one of the rifles was a "sniper rifle."
A second source told CBS4 Investigator Brian Maass authorities told officers they are concerned they may have come upon a possible "assassination plot."
That arrest then led authorities to a second man staying at the Cherry Creek Hotel at 600 South Colorado Blvd. in Glendale. When authorities knocked on the man's door, they say he jumped out of his sixth-floor window, landing on an awning and running from the scene. They say they soon found him with a broken ankle. He, too, was arrested.
Its unclear precisely why authorities suspect the men were targeting Barack Obama, but one of the officers who was briefed says he was told at least one of the suspects made statements to that effect.
The Secret Service, ATF and the FBI are all involved in the investigation. A Secret Service spokesman says the agency is concerned by the proximity to the Democratic National Convention and the items found in the man's car.
© Rocky Mountain News
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/aug/25/police-investigate-possible-plot-kill-obama/
Police investigate possible plot to kill Obama
By By Brian Maass, CBS4 News
Originally published 05:15 p.m., August 25, 2008
Updated 05:15 p.m., August 25, 2008
Law enforcement authorities have arrested two men and several law enforcement sources say the investigation is looking into whether the men intended to harm presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama.
According to multiple sources, Aurora police made a routine traffic stop Sunday morning at 2:38 a.m. The Secret Service says two rifles were found in the car along with methamphetamine. Another law enforcement source says he was told at least one of the rifles was a "sniper rifle."
A second source told CBS4 Investigator Brian Maass authorities told officers they are concerned they may have come upon a possible "assassination plot."
That arrest then led authorities to a second man staying at the Cherry Creek Hotel at 600 South Colorado Blvd. in Glendale. When authorities knocked on the man's door, they say he jumped out of his sixth-floor window, landing on an awning and running from the scene. They say they soon found him with a broken ankle. He, too, was arrested.
Its unclear precisely why authorities suspect the men were targeting Barack Obama, but one of the officers who was briefed says he was told at least one of the suspects made statements to that effect.
The Secret Service, ATF and the FBI are all involved in the investigation. A Secret Service spokesman says the agency is concerned by the proximity to the Democratic National Convention and the items found in the man's car.
© Rocky Mountain News
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/aug/25/police-investigate-possible-plot-kill-obama/
Eat more, pay less
Try these cost-cutting tricks and shave hundreds — or even thousands — of your annual grocery bill
By Jennifer McPhee
You gotta eat, and sometimes you might even have to feed others. Wouldn't you love to hear that it's possible to get delicious meals on the table and save a few bucks on your grocery bills? Well, you can trim your food budget without surviving on bologna, processed cheese and Wonder Bread. When I started this assignment, I was shocked to learn that my husband and I spent more than $150 a week on groceries for just the two of us (especially when I discovered that the average Canadian couple spends $83!). After three weeks of using the tips I'd gathered from regular women and bargain experts, I had cut our food costs by about 30 per cent. Read on for advice on how you can start saving, too.
Decide what convenience is worth
* Would you pay someone $80 an hour to shred your cheese?
* According to nutrition researchers at Arizona State University in Tempe, that's what you could be forking out if you're not doing it yourself. They compared the cost of ready-to-eat foods with the time it takes to make the same items from raw ingredients to come up with that whopping figure. So, if your priority is saving money over saving time, do the work in your own kitchen. The researchers also found it only takes 1 1/2 minutes to grate a pound of cheese by hand.
* Stick to jars, say Anna Wallner and Kristina Matisic, bargain experts and hosts of the W Network's The Shopping Bags. Products in squeeze bottles are much pricier and make it difficult to get all the food out of the container.
* We spend more money on prepared entrees than we do on any other item in the grocery store, according to ACNielson. Beccy Kennedy, a mother of 11 kids in Sexsmith, Alta., with eight still living at home, triples her recipes so that she can freeze portions for later. "It doesn't take any more work to make three batches of chili at one time than it does to make one batch," she says. For example, you can make eight to 10 servings of lasagna for what you'd normally pay for just two prepared entrees.
Get meaty deals
* On average, meat purchases eat up about 20 per cent of your grocery bill. Buy what's on sale and freeze it to enjoy later and you could save up to 50 per cent.
* Nicole Burtch, the cook at YWCA Halifax, knows how to feed people on a budget. She's responsible for food preparation for a women's residence and a day care. Her advice: if you're not afraid of a little work, buy meat that's still on the bone, such as a whole chicken, instead of opting for packages of pricier boneless chicken breasts.
* Love to chow down on roast beef sandwiches? Chris DeVries of Kamloops, B.C., buys meat ends at the grocery store and slices them at home, cutting her deli bill in half.
Go with a plan
* If you usually give in to impulse buys, bring just enough cash to cover what's on your list. Up to 50 per cent of what you end up carting home from the grocery store wasn't on your original shopping list, says Pat Foran, author of Canadian Consumer Alert: 101 Ways to Protect Yourself and Your Money (McGraw-Hill).
* Watch out for the word "special," advise Wallner and Matisic. Marketers know it attracts shoppers, but the experts point out that "special" doesn't necessarily mean an item is on sale. Pay attention to the price, not the label.
* Look up and down instead of at eye level when scanning shelves. It's no coincidence that the more expensive national brands are placed where you can see them best, or that finding a few staples requires passing the junk food aisle more than once.
Eat your greens
* Food co-ops save members heaps of cash by buying large quantities from wholesalers. Sally Speers is one of the organizers of The Fruit and Veggie Deal, a Vancouver-based co-op that provides members with boxes of produce, helping them save about 50 per cent. Co-ops, also called buying clubs, aren't just for fresh food; Jennifer Gleason of Bradford, Ont., and her casual buying club order large quantities of dry goods from a wholesaler every few months, saving them about 20 per cent.
* Buying directly from a grower at a farmer's market is always cheaper (for example, you could pay about 75 cents for a head of organic lettuce compared with $1.50 at the grocery store). You can save even more if you find a farmer who will sell you second-grade produce. Jonathan Woods, farm manager of PICS Colony Organic Farm in Coquitlam, B.C., says many organic farmers toss one-third of their crop because markets often prohibit them from selling non-cosmetically perfect produce. Woods sells top-grade organic tomatoes for about $3 a pound but will part with a pound of second-grade tomatoes for just $1.
* Skip the produce aisles at the grocery store, advise Wallner and Matisic, and head across the street to the corner fruit market. Prices are often up to 50 per cent lower, and high turnover guarantees freshness.
Be a coupon queen
* Kimberley Clancy, founder of www.frugalshopper.ca, knows how to use coupons. Last year, she went on a shopping trip with a TV journalist to showcase her skills. They each bought the same stuff, but Clancy used coupons. She spent $24; the journalist spent about five times as much. To maximize savings, combine sales with high-value coupons, says Clancy, which can often be found in newspaper flyers and in stores near the products being promoted.
* If you always buy the same brand of, say, popcorn, check the package and call the company's customer service line: many manufacturers have coupon mailing lists you can join. Also check www.save.ca, which sends out coupons on behalf of manufacturers.
* Can't cope with coupons? Scan your supermarket's weekly flyer – without even opening it. The best sales are found on the front and back covers of the flyer, say Wallner and Matisic. Plus, adds Sandra Phillips, author of Smart Shopping Montreal, the bigger the picture, the better the sale.
Where to buy it
Stock up on the right items at the right places and you'll save all around:
Bag-your-own grocery stores
You might not be able to buy your favourite imported coffee at discount bag-your-own grocery stores, but you'll save at least 30 per cent on your weekly grocery bill.
What to buy here Canned goods, frozen meals, packaged foods (such as crackers) and household supplies (such as paper towels)
Warehouse clubs If you don't buy enough to make up the $50 annual fees these stores typically charge, skip them and shop at places such as The Real Canadian Superstore. Sandra Phillips, author of Smart Shopping Montreal, is wary of warehouse-store fees and points out that people can shop for free at superstores, which now sell items in bulk.
What to buy here If you do buy enough to warrant the fees, look for deals on meat, frozen shrimp and big blocks of cheese
Dollar stores Score deals at dollar stores on stuff you might be currently getting at a grocery store.
What to buy here Toiletries, cake decorations and food containers
Bulk food stores Why buy an entire jar of cloves if you only need a teaspoon? Stock up on loose pantry staples at a bulk food store in amounts that you'll actually consume.
What to buy here Dried herbs and spices, nuts and coffee.
First published in Chatelaine.com's April 2005 issue
© Rogers Publishing Ltd.
ADVERTISEMENT
Copyright © 2008 Yahoo! All rights reserved.
Precisely one of the pts made in the video that explained how to cut costs saving up to $4 a pound.
Cut your own and grind your own and save $$$$$$
Cut your food bill in half by leaving kids at home, using coupons, price match and only going to grocery store once a week or less by planning meals ahead of time. You can also ground up your own meat and ask to have your meat sliced very thin at deli counter instead of buying off the shelf.
np Boss!
I saw a map of their locations in the USA and they are all over the place. They have several subsidiaries but I am not sure who the umbrella company is ....
I also forgot to mention that their cleanliness standards are strict and it shows in the rooms -- at least the Toronto one is impeccable.
I would stay in one again for sure especially after staying in a POS B&B in Brockville that cost $9 less.
Just got back from a Laotian wedding in TO. Stayed at ExtendedStays on Steele and it was a very good value for an apartment hotel type of accommodation with two LCD TVs, jacuzzi, full kitchen, separate bedroom with king size bed (very comfy) and lots of dressers. Even provide a full size ironing board and iron. The price is right at $129 which includes breakfast for each guest.
http://www.extendedstaydeluxe.com/?Portal=1
Only a few in Canada (Toronto and Ottawa) but all over USA.
Music: David Crosby not shy about which side he's on
By Ricardo Baca
Denver Post Pop Music Critic
Article Last Updated: 08/22/2008 04:32:14 PM MDT
It's hard to believe, but David Crosby, an artist celebrated for his liberal activism as much as for inspired songwriting, will attend his first-ever Democratic National Convention, in Denver next week.
"Usually the people who try to get celebrities to come around to conventions and stuff want bigger ones than me," Crosby said via telephone from his Santa Barbara, Calif., home earlier this week. "They want Jennifer Lopez or something."
And mind you, Crosby won't attend the convention itself. He's going to the Buell Theatre to play an etown show Tuesday with buddies Graham Nash, James Taylor and Ani DiFranco.
"I don't like most politicians, so I don't see what the attraction is to go and be in the middle of a bunch of them," Crosby said. "I'm definitely not going to the convention. I'm going to etown. I have a very high opinion of etown. They're good people, and they do really good work. And I don't think you can say that about most politicians."
What about the dude getting ready to accept the Democratic nomination?
"I think he's a very encouraging guy, a very intelligent man — which is, of course, a complete 180 degree shift from where we've been the last eight years," Crosby said. "The idea of having a guy who can speak in complete sentences is extremely attractive Barack has dignity and moral values, and I believe he loves his country."
Crosby is just one of many musicians making their way to the Mile High City in the next 10 days. Conventions have grown into media circuses where entertainers and politicos share the same ground for a few days. It's going to be an incredibly busy music week in Denver with performers as varied as Willie Nelson and the Black Eyed Peas, Fall Out Boy and Rage Against the Machine, Daughtry and Melissa Etheridge, the Blue Scholars and Silversun Pickups, Moby and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists — and maybe Dave Matthews, Kanye West and Bruce Springsteen.
While some bold names will be in Denver all week — playing this party, getting spotted at that party, hobnobbing at another party — Crosby is fine with getting in and out.
"I have a friend who does a show on Air America, David Bender, and I'll probably do his show while I'm there," said Crosby. "If we get roped into something else, we get roped into something else."
Crosby understands the weight of the current presidential race, not to mention the great divide in America today. There's a scene in the recent Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young documentary, "Déj… Vu," that films angry fans leaving in the middle of a CSNY concert in Atlanta as the group spoke against President Bush and sang songs such as "Let's Impeach the President." The group knew their political views would make an impact in the South, and that's why they were filming it for the documentary, but they didn't know the reaction would be so severe.
"When you look at the people, the ones who were disgruntled, they're not the people who I really give a (expletive) about," Crosby said. "Truth is, it's good to stir things up. It's good to make people have a dialogue with each other, even if it starts out with people yelling and pointing fingers."
When asked about the dichotomy of an artist-fan relationship — they love your music but not your personality or politics — Crosby changed his tune a bit.
"I do give a (expletive) about them, but I think they're kind of funny when they come to a CSNY concert and get mad about there being politics," he said. "I don't have a lot of sympathy for them. We've been probably the most political band in the world — or at least one of them. Anybody who comes to a concert of ours and expects us to not be anti-war and pro-human and anti-George Bush is crazy. They should have gone to a different concert."
Ricardo Baca: 303-954-1394or rbaca@denverpost.com
Source: Denver Post
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_10268772
Hey, you are allowed ...
David Suzuki is one who gets under my skin ... a big hero up here in Canada and I can't stand him and his attitude. I can't even bear to watch his TV ads. I have nothing against his green message, I just can't stand the person delivering it and how he delivers it as I believe he does it strictly for his own self-agrandization.
jmo
don't blame you as his message is always so obviously biased and often overly simplified ...
"Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand
what they do not manage, and those who manage what they do not understand."
--Putt's Law
"Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a
friend, an acquaintance, or a stranger."
--Franklin P. Jones
iPod overheating investigated
Module body
Tue Aug 19, 8:26 AM
0
* What's this
TOKYO Japan is investigating a possible battery defect in the popular iPod Nano music player after reports that two overheated in Tokyo, scorching nearby paper and a woven straw mat, a government official said Tuesday.
ADVERTISEMENT
No one was injured, and there was no further damage, said Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry official Hiroyuki Yoshitsune.
The latest problem follows a similar ministry report in March about sparks shooting out of an iPod Nano, he said.
The government has been working with Apple Inc. to investigate the cause, and a defect in the lithiuim-ion battery is suspected in all three cases, he said. The iPods began to overheat while they were being recharged, he said.
He declined to disclose the manufacturers of the batteries, and said it was unclear whether the same battery was being packaged in the product, which is sold all over the world.
Apple Japan did not have immediate comment.
Yoshitsune said the two latest cases involved an iPod Nano, model number MA099, which singed nearby paper in August, and model MA005, which burned a Japanese traditional "tatami" mat, in January. Both players were twisted out of shape from the heat and became unusable, he said.
Other details weren't available.
The government has instructed Apple Japan to find out the cause of the problems and report back to the government.
Lithium-ion batteries have been blamed for a series of blazes in laptops that have resulted in massive global recalls.
Apple's iPod players are extremely popular in Japan and coveted as fashion items although Japanese manufacturers produce a host of iPod rivals.
The Japan introduction of the iPhone, also from Cupertino, California-based Apple, drew long lines last month.
HOD and HGD are short plays on oil and gold respectively
ITF one to watch (Freegold)
lol, thanks --- just doing my job!
Tuesday, August 19th, 2008
"Caroline: Pull a Cheney!" An Open Letter to Caroline Kennedy (head of the Obama VP search team) from Michael Moore
Dear Caroline,
We've never met, so I hope you don't find this letter too presumptuous or inappropriate. As its contents involve the public's business, I am sending this to you via the public on the Internet. I knew your brother John. He was a great guy, and I know he would've had a ball during this thrilling and historic election year. We all miss him dearly.
Barack Obama selected you to head up his search for a vice presidential candidate. It appears we may be just days (hours?) away from learning who that choice will be.
The media is reporting that Senator Obama has narrowed his alternatives to three men: Joe Biden, Evan Bayh and Tim Kaine. They're all decent fellows, but they are far from the core of what the Obama campaign has been about: Change. Real change. Out with the old. And don't invade countries that pose no threat to us.
Senators Biden and Bayh voted for that invasion and that war, the war Barack ran against, the war Barack reminded us was the big difference between him and Senator Clinton because she voted for the war and he spoke out against it while running for Senate (a brave and bold thing to do back in 2002).
For Obama to place either of these senators on the ticket would be a huge blow to the millions that chose him in the primaries over Hillary. He will undercut one of the strongest advantages he has over the Hundred-Year War senator, Mr. McCain. By anointing a VP who did what McCain did in throwing us into this war, Mr. Obama will lose the moral high ground in the debates.
As for Governor Kaine of Virginia, his big problem is, well, Obama's big problem -- who is he? The toughest thing Barack has had to overcome -- and it will continue to be his biggest obstacle -- is that too many of the voters simply don't know him well enough to vote for him. The fact that Obama is new to the scene is both one of his most attractive qualities AND his biggest drawback. Too many Americans, who on the surface seem to like Barack Obama, just don't feel comfortable voting for someone who hasn't been on the national scene very long. It's a comfort level thing, and it may be just what keeps Obama from winning in November ("I'd rather vote for the devil I know than the devil I don't know").
What Obama needs is a vice presidential candidate who is NOT a professional politician, but someone who is well-known and beloved by people across the political spectrum; someone who, like Obama, spoke out against the war; someone who has a good and generous heart, who will be cheered by the rest of the world; someone whom we've known and loved and admired all our lives and who has dedicated her life to public service and to the greater good for all.
That person, Caroline, is you.
I cannot think of a more winning ticket than one that reads: "OBAMA-KENNEDY."
Caroline, I know that nominating yourself is the furthest idea from your mind and not consistent with who you are, but there would be some poetic justice to such an action. Just think, eight years after the last head of a vice presidential search team looked far and wide for a VP -- and then picked himself (a move topped only by his hubris to then lead the country to near ruin while in office) -- along comes Caroline Kennedy to return the favor with far different results, a vice president who helps restore America to its goodness and greatness.
Caroline, you are one of the most beloved and respected women in this country, and you have been so admired throughout your life. You chose a life outside of politics, to work for charities and schools, to write and lecture, to raise a wonderful family. But you did not choose to lead a private life. You have traveled the world and met with its leaders, giving you much experience on the world stage, a stage you have been on since you were a little girl.
The nation has, remarkably (considering our fascination with celebrity), left you alone and let you live your life in peace. (It's like, long ago, we all collectively agreed that, with her father tragically gone, a man who died because he wanted to serve his country, we would look out for her, we would wish for her to be happy and well, and we would have her back. But we would let her be.)
Now, I am breaking this unwritten code and asking you to come forward and help us in our hour of need. So many families are hurting, losing their homes, going bankrupt with health care bills, seeing their public schools in shambles and living with this war without end. This is a historic year for women, from Hillary's candidacy to the numerous women running for the House and Senate. This is the year that a woman should be on the Democratic ticket. This is the year that both names on that ticket should be people OUTSIDE the party machine. This is the year millions of independents and, yes, millions of Republicans are looking for something new and fresh and bold (and you are the Kennedy Republicans would vote for!).
This is the moment, Caroline. Seize it! And Barack, if you're reading this, you probably know that she is far too humble and decent to nominate herself. So step up and surprise us again. Step up and be different than every politician we have witnessed in our lifetime. Keep the passion burning amongst the young people and others who have been energized by your unexpected, unpredicted, against-all-odds candidacy that has ignited and inspired a nation. Do it for all those reasons. Make Caroline Kennedy your VP. "Obama-Kennedy." Wow, does that sound so cool.
Caroline, thanks for letting me intrude on your life. How wonderful it will be to have a vice president who will respect the Constitution, who will support (instead of control) her president, who will never let her staff out a CIA agent, and who will never tell her country that she is "currently residing in an undisclosed location."
Say it one more time: "OBAMA-KENNEDY." A move like that might send a message to the country that the Democrats would actually like to win an election for once.
Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com
[Get Michael Moore's brand new book, 'Mike's Election Guide.']
Source:
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=226
--
Tuesday, August 19th, 2008
"Caroline: Pull a Cheney!" An Open Letter to Caroline Kennedy (head of the Obama VP search team) from Michael Moore
Dear Caroline,
We've never met, so I hope you don't find this letter too presumptuous or inappropriate. As its contents involve the public's business, I am sending this to you via the public on the Internet. I knew your brother John. He was a great guy, and I know he would've had a ball during this thrilling and historic election year. We all miss him dearly.
Barack Obama selected you to head up his search for a vice presidential candidate. It appears we may be just days (hours?) away from learning who that choice will be.
The media is reporting that Senator Obama has narrowed his alternatives to three men: Joe Biden, Evan Bayh and Tim Kaine. They're all decent fellows, but they are far from the core of what the Obama campaign has been about: Change. Real change. Out with the old. And don't invade countries that pose no threat to us.
Senators Biden and Bayh voted for that invasion and that war, the war Barack ran against, the war Barack reminded us was the big difference between him and Senator Clinton because she voted for the war and he spoke out against it while running for Senate (a brave and bold thing to do back in 2002).
For Obama to place either of these senators on the ticket would be a huge blow to the millions that chose him in the primaries over Hillary. He will undercut one of the strongest advantages he has over the Hundred-Year War senator, Mr. McCain. By anointing a VP who did what McCain did in throwing us into this war, Mr. Obama will lose the moral high ground in the debates.
As for Governor Kaine of Virginia, his big problem is, well, Obama's big problem -- who is he? The toughest thing Barack has had to overcome -- and it will continue to be his biggest obstacle -- is that too many of the voters simply don't know him well enough to vote for him. The fact that Obama is new to the scene is both one of his most attractive qualities AND his biggest drawback. Too many Americans, who on the surface seem to like Barack Obama, just don't feel comfortable voting for someone who hasn't been on the national scene very long. It's a comfort level thing, and it may be just what keeps Obama from winning in November ("I'd rather vote for the devil I know than the devil I don't know").
What Obama needs is a vice presidential candidate who is NOT a professional politician, but someone who is well-known and beloved by people across the political spectrum; someone who, like Obama, spoke out against the war; someone who has a good and generous heart, who will be cheered by the rest of the world; someone whom we've known and loved and admired all our lives and who has dedicated her life to public service and to the greater good for all.
That person, Caroline, is you.
I cannot think of a more winning ticket than one that reads: "OBAMA-KENNEDY."
Caroline, I know that nominating yourself is the furthest idea from your mind and not consistent with who you are, but there would be some poetic justice to such an action. Just think, eight years after the last head of a vice presidential search team looked far and wide for a VP -- and then picked himself (a move topped only by his hubris to then lead the country to near ruin while in office) -- along comes Caroline Kennedy to return the favor with far different results, a vice president who helps restore America to its goodness and greatness.
Caroline, you are one of the most beloved and respected women in this country, and you have been so admired throughout your life. You chose a life outside of politics, to work for charities and schools, to write and lecture, to raise a wonderful family. But you did not choose to lead a private life. You have traveled the world and met with its leaders, giving you much experience on the world stage, a stage you have been on since you were a little girl.
The nation has, remarkably (considering our fascination with celebrity), left you alone and let you live your life in peace. (It's like, long ago, we all collectively agreed that, with her father tragically gone, a man who died because he wanted to serve his country, we would look out for her, we would wish for her to be happy and well, and we would have her back. But we would let her be.)
Now, I am breaking this unwritten code and asking you to come forward and help us in our hour of need. So many families are hurting, losing their homes, going bankrupt with health care bills, seeing their public schools in shambles and living with this war without end. This is a historic year for women, from Hillary's candidacy to the numerous women running for the House and Senate. This is the year that a woman should be on the Democratic ticket. This is the year that both names on that ticket should be people OUTSIDE the party machine. This is the year millions of independents and, yes, millions of Republicans are looking for something new and fresh and bold (and you are the Kennedy Republicans would vote for!).
This is the moment, Caroline. Seize it! And Barack, if you're reading this, you probably know that she is far too humble and decent to nominate herself. So step up and surprise us again. Step up and be different than every politician we have witnessed in our lifetime. Keep the passion burning amongst the young people and others who have been energized by your unexpected, unpredicted, against-all-odds candidacy that has ignited and inspired a nation. Do it for all those reasons. Make Caroline Kennedy your VP. "Obama-Kennedy." Wow, does that sound so cool.
Caroline, thanks for letting me intrude on your life. How wonderful it will be to have a vice president who will respect the Constitution, who will support (instead of control) her president, who will never let her staff out a CIA agent, and who will never tell her country that she is "currently residing in an undisclosed location."
Say it one more time: "OBAMA-KENNEDY." A move like that might send a message to the country that the Democrats would actually like to win an election for once.
Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com
[Get Michael Moore's brand new book, 'Mike's Election Guide.']
Source:
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=226
--
Trace arsenic in water may be linked with diabetes
By CARLA K. JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
(08-19) 22:23 PDT Chicago (AP) --
A new analysis of government data is the first to link low-level arsenic exposure, possibly from drinking water, with Type 2 diabetes, researchers say. The study's limitations make more research necessary. And public water systems were on their way to meeting tougher U.S. arsenic standards as the data were collected.
Still, the analysis of 788 adults' medical tests found a nearly fourfold increase in the risk of diabetes in people with low arsenic concentrations in their urine compared to people with even lower levels.
Previous research outside the United States has linked high levels of arsenic in drinking water with diabetes. It's the link at low levels that's new. The findings appear in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.
"The good news is, this is preventable," said lead author Dr. Ana Navas-Acien of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.
New safe drinking water standards may be needed if the findings are duplicated in future studies, Navas-Acien said. She said they've begun a new study of 4,000 people.
Arsenic can get into drinking water naturally when minerals dissolve. It is also an industrial pollutant from coal burning and copper smelting. Utilities use filtration systems to get it out of drinking water.
Seafood also contains nontoxic organic arsenic. The researchers adjusted their analysis for signs of seafood intake and found that people with Type 2 diabetes had 26 percent higher inorganic arsenic levels than people without Type 2 diabetes.
How arsenic could contribute to diabetes is unknown, but prior studies have found impaired insulin secretion in pancreas cells treated with an arsenic compound.
The policy implications of the new findings are unclear, said Molly Kile, an environmental health research scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health. Kile wrote an accompanying editorial in the journal.
"Urinary arsenic reflects exposures from all routes — air, water and food — which makes it difficult to track the actual source of arsenic exposure let alone use the results from this study to establish drinking water standards," Kile said.
Also, the findings raise a chicken-and-egg problem, she said, since it's unknown whether diabetes changes the way people metabolize arsenic. It's possible that people with diabetes excrete more arsenic.
The United States lowered arsenic standards for public water systems to 10 parts per billion in 2001 because of known cancer risks. Compliance was required by 2006, years after the study data were collected in 2003 and 2004.
___
On the Net:
JAMA: jama.ama-assn.org
Arsenic Map: water.usgs.gov/nawqa/trace/arsenic/
EPA: www.epa.gov/safewater/arsenic/index.html
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/08/19/national/a1305
You have to wonder if these people are even eligible for medical assistance.
"There are some questions which can be answered , and others which
should wait for an answer until those who ask them are able to understand."
--Pir Inayat Khan
Great stuff! Thanks!!
$65 oil is coming (maybe)
A top analyst expects crude prices to start plummeting. If you don't believe it, you're not the only one, and a few stocks look good if you're in the skeptics' camp.
By Jon Markman
August 15, 2008
If you're frustrated over the high cost of gasoline at the pump, don't trade in your Hummer for a Vespa just yet: A leading energy analyst is telling clients these days to prepare for crude oil to retreat back below $65 per barrel over the next three years.
How could it happen? He says conservation, new drilling, efficient new vehicles, alternative energy sources, a rising U.S. dollar and a global recession will combine to blast prices back to the Stone Age -- or at least to last year's levels.
"The match has struck, the fuse has been lit, and four or five years from now OPEC producers are going to be drinking their own oil and choking on it," says Tony Kolton, the founder and president of Logical Information Machines, a provider of research to most of the world's major energy-trading companies for two decades.
Plenty of smart analysts disagree with this point of view, figuring that emerging-market demand will pump up fossil-fuel prices and that North Americans will blithely forget all about conservation if gasoline prices trend lower. But since Kolton's view is deeply out of consensus and at least minimally plausible, it does deserve our attention.
Speculators unmasked
Kolton, a specialist in the history, composition and psychology of the energy market, believes that speculators were without question behind the run-up of prices to $147 per barrel in July and that government threats to expose and punish their behaviour spooked them out of their positions in a hurry.
He says his data on open interest of non-commercial positions in crude trading, as well as conversations with professional traders at big oil companies, clearly show that speculators, and not rising demand from Asia, pushed the market to extremes.
In contrast to people who say the oil market is too big to be pushed around by hedge funds, Kolton counters that in fact it is much smaller than the bond, currency or equity markets. The oil market "can be easily manipulated," he says.
The reason for the misconception is that while the market is large in dollar terms, most of the oil companies' hedging positions are pointed the same direction and set for months at a time. So marginal new positions that point the opposite way can have an outsize impact, much like a 5-foot rudder can change the direction of a 500-foot ship.
"I would ask all the fundamental guys why oil was $147 a month ago and $114 today," Kolton says. "Their opinion that crude moves purely on real demand is BS. When the fast money comes out, there's a giant sucking sound."
The swift exit of the fast-money crowd has pushed oil back down to its March level, around $110. Kolton's research on seasonality and demand suggests oil prices will rebound back to the $125 area and then resume their crash. The $100 level will be hard to crack, but he expects energy bears to prevail over bulls within six months and launch crude on a journey below $65.
"You had a perfect storm of pre-Olympics demand in China, a plunging (U.S.) dollar, speculation, cold weather and fear of supply disruptions in Nigeria and Iran pushing it up, and now they've all swung around on a dime," Kolton says, observing that U.S. recession and conservation are gutting demand, Iran is at the negotiating table, the U.S. dollar is soaring against the euro in reaction to the worsening European economy, and the summer has proved milder than normal, sapping the use of air conditioning thoughout North America.
"People who don't trade the futures markets don't realize that this is typical for commodities, which always trade on emotion. Look at silver in the late 1970s, which went from $4 to $50 and back to $4 in two years," Kolton says.
Diminished demand
What about all that talk of how supply is running out? Well, it's funny: The spike to $147 seems to have really got people thinking about scarcity, and they've started making plans that could be very long-lasting.
It's sort of like the day a person realizes it's time to stop smoking -- a light-bulb moment of alertness to a long-simmering crisis. Oil bears now think the $147 level was a slap in the face that made major corporate users consider changing their behaviour in persistent and fundamental ways.
Auto companies became focused on creating smaller hybrid cars; individuals are discovering the joys of public transportation, car pools and bicycles; churches are lecturing on the need to turn out the lights in vacant rooms; and American presidential candidates are debating the merits of inflating tires. And perhaps most importantly, going green appears to have emerged from fad to lifestyle as the cool dads now drive Mini Coopers instead of gas-guzzling Suburbans to their kids' soccer practices.
Big private-equity and venture-capital funds, and industrial titans such as General Electric (GE.N), are throwing billions of dollars into creating better batteries, advanced materials and vehicles that run on plug-in electric power and plentiful U.S. natural gas. Meanwhile, oil giants from Brazil to Beijing are exploring for new oil and finding it offshore a lot more easily than expected, with payoffs to come a lot sooner than most skeptics now believe possible.
All of this is coming at a time when a credit drought has seriously impaired economic growth and blunted employment levels in developed nations in Europe and the Americas, and threatens to spread to Australia and much of Asia. When people are commuting and consuming less, and when companies are making less, they collectively use less energy. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported Tuesday that oil demand during the first half of 2008 fell by an average 800,000 barrels per day compared with the same period a year ago -- the biggest volume decline in 26 years.
Bad news and other views
Of course, we should probably be careful about what we wish for. While stock prices have risen smartly as energy prices have cracked in the past month, stocks are likely to fall steeply along with oil prices if a global recession is the major driver behind demand destruction. Just in case you're wondering, Kolton's historical and economic research and his gut instincts as a veteran trader lead him to think that the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($US:INDU) will sink to the 9,500 level next year -- retracing the 2003-07 bull market -- before the bear has had its fill.
Opposing point of view? Yeah, I've got that. David Anderson, an energy portfolio manager at Palo Alto Investors, who has been my go-to guy for years on the subject, thinks the idea of crude oil falling below $65 per barrel is ludicrous. And, frankly, he says he doesn't even care when it comes to his energy-industry positions.
"We never base our view on energy-industry stocks on the direction of oil prices," he says. "We are buying growth companies in a growth industry and always have at least a five-year horizon. The fundamentals of the business -- increasing demand and decreasing supply over the long term -- favour higher stock values over time."
Anderson says energy bears are just not facing reality. He points to U.S. Department of Energy research that forecasts global growth in demand rising to at least 110 million barrels of oil per day in a decade from the current level of 85 million. "To get to that level while supply from the best and biggest fields in the Middle East, North Sea and Gulf of Mexico is shrinking will be very tough," he says. "Oil prices are going up to ration supply, short of a total global economic meltdown."
If you want to invest along with Anderson instead of Kolton, here are the large and medium-sized companies he likes best on the recent pullback, with expectations that they will roar back starting in September: Petrohawk Energy (HK.N), Plains Exploration & Production (PXP.N), Chesapeake Energy (CHK.N), Apache (APA.N), Southwestern Energy (SWN.N), EOG Resources (EOG.N) and Range Resources (RRC.N).
Anderson is always good with the small caps, and among his favourites now are Canadian Superior Energy (SNG.TO), Arena Resources (ARD.N) and Gastar Exploration (GST.N).
With any luck, Kolton and Anderson can both be right. These energy companies were going to be very profitable with $75 crude oil a year ago, so they must be minting money now. Short of an expectation for the lights to go out worldwide over the next year, consider buying at these levels, while the pessimism lasts.
At the time of publication, Jon Markman did not own or control shares of any company mentioned in this column.
"We live in the time where we have fictitious election results that
elects a fictitious president. We live in a time where we have a man
sending us to war for fictitious reasons."
--Michael Moore
WTF happened to ITF (Freegold)?
Drop of gold is reflecting on our still commodity rich related economy.
As the US dollar gets stronger, as it has been doing recently, gold will continue to go lower. If US markets pick up speed nervous investors will bail on gold and other commodities and go back to more traditional plays like banks and blue chips.
Oil seems set to go sub $100 a barrel soon and yet the analysts were saying $200 was a possibility short term.
HOD is still one play to watch as is HGD.
Have a look at HND!!!!! Where was I when that was going from $6 to $17?
In general, I must say that predictions by analysts are not very reliable. They said the CDN dollar would be $1.10 and very stable and strong till mid 2009 and now they suddenly see the dollar weakening to low 90s.
U.S. town turned into an open-air prison
Charles Lewis, National Post
Published: Friday, August 15, 2008
The town of Postville, Iowa, population 2,000, has been turned into an
open-air prison. Jerry Johnson, who works at nearby Luther College,
called it something out of a bad science-fiction movie or the kind of
thing a 1930s totalitarian regime might have cooked up.
"This was not only a grievous injustice but a shame on the state of Iowa
and the federal government," said Mr. Johnson. "These were good, decent
people who were also the most defenseless."
On May 12, immigration officials swooped in to arrest 400 undocumented
workers from Mexico and Guatemala at the local meat-packing plant, a
raid described as the biggest such action at a single site in U.S.
history. The raid left 43 women, wives of the men who were taken away,
and their 150 children without status or a means of support. The women
cannot leave the town, and to make sure they do not they have been
outfitted with leg monitoring bracelets.
"The women are effectively prisoners," said Father Paul Ouderkirk at St.
Bridget's Roman Catholic Church. "The difference between them and
anybody who is in jail is that in jail the government pays for them, but
if they're on the streets we pay for them.
"What kind of a government makes prisoners of 43 mothers who all have
children and then says, ‘You can't work, you can't leave and can't
stay?' That boggles the imagination."
A spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the law does
not provide for work authorization for illegals.
Since the raid, St. Bridget's, with a staff of four, has raised $500,000
to pay for rent, clothing, food and other necessities of life. Donations
have come from other faith groups and individuals who have read about
the raid.
Fr. Ouderkirk, who has spent 50 years as a priest and had been in
retirement for five years, was called back to active duty by the parish
when the crisis hit. "It is the most difficult, most challenging
situation I have ever faced. And yet, strangely, the incident that has
been most strengthening of my faith. It shows there are a lot of
compassionate people because if there weren't, we wouldn't be able to do
what we're doing."
He said the women and children were so terrified that they refused to go
back to their apartments. They lived at the church during the first week
after the raid.
Meanwhile, the men were taken to the National Cattle Congress building
in Waterloo, Iowa, where immigration judges were on hand. They were
charged and then sent to nine different prisons around the state. Fr.
Ouderkirk said some of the men were deported and others are serving
five-month prison terms for violating immigration laws - but he said no
one ever explained why some were held and others sent home.
The men were all working at Agriprocessors, believed to be the largest
kosher meat-packing plant in the world. Fr. Ouderkirk and others have
said the plant was a disgrace that abused workers who had little
understanding of their rights. He said conditions were dangerous,
accidents were common and that workers were often forced to work
extremely long hours. As well, he and others said the plant knew full
well that many of their workers were undocumented.
The Iowa Labor Department's documents show there have been a number of
safety and health issues. And last week, Iowa officials said they
uncovered dozens of child-labour violations. No charges have been laid
and the company called the allegations untrue.
The company said that since the raid, it has voluntarily gone to a more
sophisticated electronic system to verify the documents of workers. It
also said it was waiving rent for women living in company-owned
apartments and making regular food contributions.
The plant was founded more than 20 years ago and it brought to this
small Iowa town - a place settled by Norwegian Lutheran farmers - a
community of Hasidic Jews. Eventually more than 1,000 workers were
hired, bringing the population of Postville up to 2,400 residents.
The story of two such dissimilar cultures living side by side attracted
the attention of University of Iowa journalism professor Stephen Bloom,
who wrote a book about the town called Postville: A Clash of Cultures in
Heartland America.
Prof. Bloom spent five years in the town doing research. He said it was
inevitable that the plant would turn to undocumented workers because
they were the only ones who would stay, and the locals were not
interested in such gruesome work.
He also came to the conclusion that the Hasidic Jews did not make the
best neighbours and were unwilling to co-operate with the rest of the town.
But Aaron Goldsmith disagrees with that assessment and thinks that many
have made Agriprocessors the bogeyman in all this. Mr. Goldsmith, also a
Hasidic Jew, does not work for Agriprocessors but runs his own business
in the town. He came with his family 11 years ago from California and
said they all fell in love with Postville.
He said at the beginning of the plant there was a clash of cultures, but
much of that has settled down. He points to his own experience of being
elected a city councilman, winning more than 60% of the vote. "And only
3% of the voters are Jews."
He calls the company a good corporate citizen that did its best to
document its workers and make sure conditions were acceptable. He said
the plant was rated above average for the industry in terms of safety.
The plant brought enormous prosperity to the region, Mr. Goldsmith said,
which improved the lives of everyone. He said the plant is also helping
the women and children with food baskets and other assistance.
Even Fr. Ouderkirk, a huge critic of the company, said that with people
coming because of the plant, all sorts of new businesses opened up.
"Business was booming and life was good."
Mr. Goldsmith calls what the government did the height of hypocrisy.
"They arbitrarily enforce a law when it's a well-known truth that there
are millions of illegal workers. They could step into Los Angeles
tomorrow and pick up a million people."
He said the raid looked like something out of the war in Afghanistan,
with helicopters circling above. He does not understand why the
government could not have sat down with the plant and tried to work
something out.
Instead, he said, everyone got hurt: the families of the illegal
workers, the townspeople who now have to deal with transient workers
instead of family people, and the school board, which lost many students
who were starting to integrate into the town.
After 40 years of being a priest, and two heart attacks and two open
heart surgeries, Father Richard Gaul had hoped for a chance to reduce
his stress levels. But after May 12 that idea went out the door. He said
he understands that the people arrested were illegal, but he said they
were also desperate.
"This was their last option. They would not have chosen this as their
first option. They wanted to feed their families. Scripture tells us to
feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, give shelter to the
shelterless. If you and your family were starving, what would you do?"
Source: National Journal (Canada)
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=726632
Over 33,000 buyers signed up for GM electric car
Tue Aug 12, 6:03 PM
By Kevin Krolicki
ADVERTISEMENT
DETROIT (Reuters) - In a bid to show the demand for the upcoming all-electric Chevrolet Volt, a proponent of the car has released details of an unofficial waiting list for the vehicle with over 33,000 prospective buyers.
Lyle Dennis, a New York neurologist who has emerged as a prominent enthusiast for the battery-powered car from General Motors Corp, has been assembling a list of prospective Volt buyers for over a year through his Web site GM-Volt.com.
On Tuesday, Dennis released details gleaned from the list showing that 33,411 people had signed up to show their intent to buy a Volt when the rechargeable car is released in 2010.
The list shows the highest number of potential Volt buyers in California, Texas, Florida and Michigan. It also includes potential buyers from 46 countries outside the United States.
The average price buyers were willing to pay for the car was $31,261 -- substantially less than the $40,000 GM has said it will cost to build the first-generation of the car equipped with a massive lithium-ion battery pack.
GM has been racing to finish development of the Volt in time for the planned launch as the centerpiece of its effort to break a costly association with gas-guzzling vehicles at a time when truck sales are tumbling and gas prices remain high.
Like most automakers, GM typically keeps its vehicle development programs under tight wraps and shuns publicity.
But with the Volt, GM has taken the opposite approach, actively consulting enthusiasts like Dennis and featuring the concept version of the Volt in high-profile advertising, including a television spot broadcast during the Olympics.
Dennis, who organized a meeting between enthusiasts called the "Volt Nation" and GM executives at the New York Auto Show earlier this year, said he was motivated by a desire to show the Detroit-based automaker that the Volt would have a wide base of buyers from the start.
"If everyone who wanted a Volt could get one, that would be the dream," said Dennis.
GM, which does not expect to make money on the first-generation of the Volt, has said it will ramp up output slowly when production of the plug-in hybrid starts at a Hamtramck, Michigan plant.
A GM spokesman said that the automaker expected an initial shortage for the Volt, similar to the shortages for other hot-selling recent models.
"I don't know if there is any other vehicle or any other technology that has generated this kind of interest because of the state of the market and gas prices," said GM spokesman Dave Darovitz. "We know the demand is going to be there."
Darovitz declined to discuss pricing for the Volt
GM showed off a concept version of the Volt in January 2007 but has retooled the look of the vehicle significantly since then, in part in order to improve its aerodynamics, representatives of the automaker have said.
GM is designing the Volt to run for 40 miles on a lithium-ion battery pack that can be recharged at a standard outlet. The Volt will also capture energy from braking, like a traditional hybrid, and feature an on-board engine that will be used to send power to the battery on longer trips.
GM is racing Toyota Motor Corp to bring the first mass-market, plug-in car to the marketplace.
(Editing by Phil Berlowitz)
Trump to buy McMahon's home, let him live there
Thursday, August 14, 2008
(08-14) 23:07 PDT , (AP) --
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Donald Trump will soon be Ed McMahon's landlord.
Trump announced Thursday he would save the television personality's Beverly Hills mansion from foreclosure by buying it for an undisclosed amount and leasing it to McMahon.
The developer told the Los Angeles Times he doesn't know McMahon personally, but acted out of compassion because helping out "would be an honor."
McMahon, 85, who was Johnny Carson's sidekick on the "Tonight" show for three decades, has not worked for about 18 months because of a neck injury. He defaulted on $4.8 million in mortgage loans with Countrywide Financial Corp.
McMahon's spokesman, Howard Bragman, told The Associated Press that paperwork on the sale had not been completed but that McMahon was "very optimistic" the deal would go through.
"When I was at the Wharton School of Business I'd watch him every night," Trump told the Times. "How could this happen?"
McMahon bought the six-bedroom, five-bathroom, 7,000-square-foot house in January 1990. The home was listed at $4.6 million last weekend — down from a peak price of $7 million.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/08/11/entertainment/e180339D01.DTL
"One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled
long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no
longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured
us. It is simply too painful to acknowledge -- even to ourselves -- that
we've been so credulous. (So the old bamboozles tend to persist as the
new bamboozles rise.)" --Carl Sagan (1934-1996), Astro-physicist
Source: "The Fine Art of Baloney Detection," Parade, February 1, 1987
August 14, 2008
US Military Crushes Bush Planned Nuclear Attack On Iran
By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers (Traducción al Español abajo)
Sister Nikolaevna's latest report from Vladikavkaz [see her previous report] has put into greater context the strategies being employed by Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn's battle plan for countering the Western invasion of the Russian protected enclave of South Ossetia.
According to these reports, the August 8th unprovoked attack by US and Israeli led Georgian Special Forces Troops upon South Ossetia, and which cost the lives of over 2,000 innocent civilians, was deliberately timed to coincide with Prime Minister Putin's absence from Moscow as he was attending the opening ceremony for the 2008 Beijing Olympic games and it was believed he would not be able to rapidly respond to the full measure of the American President's plan for continued Global conquest.
The American President and his fellow War Leaders, however, grossly underestimated Putin, who upon learning of the US backed invasion of South Ossetia directly confronted Bush, and as we can read as witnessed by Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd:
"Mr Rudd revealed in an interview with Beijing Now in Beijing on Saturday that he was sitting just two rows behind Mr Bush when an "animated" discussion between he and Mr Putin broke out over Russia's advance into South Ossetia, a breakaway region in neighbouring Georgia.
"The President and Mr Putin were in animated conversation two seats in front of us and I imagine they had a few things on their agenda," Mr Rudd said. Mr Rudd said that Mr Bush appeared to be making a strong point to the Russian Prime Minister, even as the world's elite athletes filed into Beijing's Bird's Nest stadium."
Putin's greatest anger towards Bush, these reports continue, was his foreknowledge that the invasion of South Ossetia by Western led forces was a subterfuge maneuver designed in an attempt to cover the Americans true objective, a limited nuclear strike upon Iran's nuclear facilities, and of which the US War Leader had already given the order to strike.
Putin's rapid response to these machinations, however, led to his swiftly contacting the top leadership of the United States Military Command whereupon they swiftly 'crushed' their own President's war plans and removed from the American Nuclear Weapons Chain of Command the US Naval Officer who conspired with Bush to plunge our World into Total War.
To this prompt dismissal of this US Naval Officer we can read as reported by the Associated Press News Service:
"The commander of a Navy air reconnaissance squadron that provides the president and the defense secretary the airborne ability to command the nation's nuclear weapons has been relieved of duty, the Navy said Tuesday. Cmdr. Shawn Bentley was relieved of duty Monday by the Navy for loss of confidence in his ability to command, only three months after taking the job."
American Military Commanders went even further to placate Putin by 'immediately' informing Israel that the US would not assist them in their plans to attack Iran, and as we can read as reported by China's Xinhua News Service:
"Israeli government spokespersons Wednesday declined to comment that the American administration has rejected an Israeli request for military equipment and support to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, local daily Ha'aretz reported.
The report said that the Americans viewed the request, which was transmitted (and rejected) at the highest level, as a sign that Israel is in the advanced stages of preparation to attack Iran. They therefore warned Israel against attacking, saying such a strike would undermine American interest."
It is also important to note that Russian FSB forces captured one of Georgia's top intelligence officials, and who described in depth to American plan to begin a terror campaign against the Russian Homeland.
As is always the case in these more frequently erupting crises, the American people themselves are continually denied the true knowledge of the events that are marching them towards Total War and the full horrors it will bring upon them.
To which faction of the United States War Leadership will ultimately prevail it is not to our knowing, except to note that American people themselves have lost the ability to see the true motives of the monsters who are leading them towards destruction.
© August 14, 2008 EU and US all rights reserved.
Source:
http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1126.htm