So far, not very off-base, what with yesterday's 1 Trillion dollar dump by the fed...

I guess Canada and Europe have been moving in that direction - I tend to think of them as a bellwether for a lot of the nutty ideas out there - if it's happening there, it can happen here. First in places like Berkeley, CA, then...mushrooms!

here's a fairly recent article on it:
http://www.chartingstocks.net/2009/03/bailout-for-the-mainstream-media-may-be-next/

The carts they posted there say a lot, not to mention the overall bias in the media in general. The media is the best friend the current regime has right now, IMO

Personally, I hope the Times goes down in flames

Unemployment by the Numbers: How Bad Is It Hurting?

Friday , March 06, 2009

More people are unemployed in America than live in Ohio or go to church in Texas.

Unemployment statistics don't usually leap off the page, but the latest report from the Department of Labor offers some astounding figures. More than 651,000 jobs were cut in February, continuing a steep drop that has raised the unemployment rate to 8.1 percent, its highest level since 1983.

Matched up against some of the latest stats made available by the Census Bureau, those numbers really do begin to add up.

• 651,000 jobs were axed in February, a number larger than the populations of:
- Baltimore
- Seattle
- Denver
- El Paso
- Washington, D.C.

• 12.5 million people are unemployed in the U.S., which is more than the number of:
- people watching ABC's "Lost" this season
- women attending college
- male scientists and engineers
- Americans who grow herbs
- people who played tackle football in the past year.

• 12.5 million people is also a number larger than the populations of 45 states, including
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- Michigan
- Virginia

• 4.4 million jobs have been lost since the recession began in December 2007, which is larger than the population of the entire San Francisco Bay Area.

• 2.6 million jobs have been lost in the past four months, which is like every Presbyterian in America getting the ax in one winter, or about the number of senior citizens in Florida.

• 8.6 million people have been forced to work part-time for economic reasons, which is more than the population of New York City, or more than the number of people who try to quit smoking every year.

The roll continues, and it is a stark one: construction companies eliminated 104,000 jobs in February, factories cut 168,000 jobs, retailers sliced nearly 40,000, professional and business services got rid of 180,000, financial companies reduced payrolls by 44,000, and leisure and hospitality firms chopped 33,000 positions.

Despite all the doom and gloom in the Labor Department's numbers, at least one sector had a pretty rosy February: the government boosted its number of employees last month.

Click here to see the Labor Department report.

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,506405,00.html

Here's a good story on it [note the part I underlined]:

U.S. Officials Vow to End Cycle of Job Losses

Since the recession began in December 2007, the economy has lost an astounding 4.4 million jobs, more than half of which occurred in the past four months.

FOXNews.com

Friday, March 06, 2009
0
x

WASHINGTON -- The top Republican in the House called for a freeze on government spending after new data showed the U.S. unemployment rate had hit a 25 year high last month.

U.S. officials vowed Friday to break the "destructive cycle of job loss" after the Labor Department reported he nation's unemployment rate bolted to 8.1 percent in February, the highest since late 1983, as cost-cutting employers slashed 651,000 jobs amid a deepening recession.

Both figures were worse than analysts expected and the Labor Department's report shows America's workers being clobbered by a wave of layoffs unlikely to ease in the coming months.

"There is no light at the end of the tunnel with these numbers," said Nigel Gault, economist at IHS Global Insight. "Job losses were everywhere and there's no hope for a turnaround any time soon."

Since the recession began in December 2007, just two months after the Dow Jones industrial average hit a record high of 14,000 and the unemployment rate stood at 4.7 percent, the economy has lost 4.4 million jobs, more than half of which occurred in the past four months.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said she was boosting by $3.5 billion the money available to states for education, training and re-employment.

But Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the unemployment figures is a sign of a worsening recession that demands better solutions from both parties. He urged President Obama to veto a $410 spending bill that he described as chocked full of wasteful, pork-barrel projects. The Senate postponed a vote on the bill until Monday amid the criticism.

The net loss of 651,000 jobs in February came after even deeper payroll reductions in the prior two months, according to revised figures released Friday. The economy lost 681,000 jobs in December and another 655,000 in January.

Employers are shrinking their work forces and turning to other ways to slash costs -- including trimming workers' hours, freezing wages or cutting pay -- because the recession has eaten into their sales and profits. Customers at home and abroad are cutting back as other countries cope with their own economic problems.

With employers showing no appetite to hire, the unemployment jumped to 8.1 percent from 7.6 percent in January. That was the highest since December 1983, when the jobless rate was 8.3 percent.

All told, the number of unemployed people climbed to 12.5 million. In addition, the number of people forced to work part time for "economic reasons" rose by a sharp 787,000 to 8.6 million. That's people who would like to work full time but whose hours were cut back or were unable to find full-time work.

If part-time, discouraged workers and others are factored in, the unemployment rate would have been 14.8 percent in February, the highest on record.

Meanwhile, the average work week in February stayed at 33.3 hours, matching the record low set in December.

Job losses were widespread last month.

Construction companies eliminated 104,000 jobs. Factories axed 168,000. Retailers cut nearly 40,000. Professional and business services got rid of 180,000, with 78,000 jobs lost at temporary-help agencies. Financial companies reduced payrolls by 44,000. Leisure and hospitality firms chopped 33,000 positions.

The few areas spared: education and health services, as well as government, which boosted employment last month.

Disappearing jobs and evaporating wealth from tanking home values, 401(k)s and other investments have forced consumers to retrench, driving companies to lay off workers. It's a vicious cycle in which all the economy's negative problems feed on each other, worsening the downward spiral.

A new wave of layoffs hit this week.

General Dynamics Corp. said Thursday it will lay off 1,200 workers due partly to plummeting sales of business and personal jets that forced it to cut production. Defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp., and Tyco Electronics Ltd., which makes electronic components, undersea telecommunications systems and wireless equipment, also are trimming payrolls.

The country is getting bloodied by fallout from the housing, credit and financial crises-- the worst since the 1930s. And there's no easy fix for a quick turnaround, economists said.

President Obama is counting on a multipronged assault to lift the country out of recession: a $787 billion stimulus package of increased federal spending and tax cuts; a revamped, multibillion-dollar bailout program for the nation's troubled banks; and a $75 billion effort to stem home foreclosures.

Even in the best-case scenario that the relief efforts work and the recession ends later in 2009, the unemployment rate is expected to keep climbing, hitting 9 percent or higher this year. In fact, the Federal Reserve thinks the unemployment rate will stay elevated into 2011. Economists say the job market may not get back to normal -- meaning a 5 percent unemployment rate -- until 2013.

Businesses won't be inclined to ramp up hiring until they are sure any economic recovery has staying power.

The economy contracted at a staggering 6.2 percent in the final three months of 2008, the worst showing in a quarter-century, and it will probably continue to shrink during the first six months of this year.

Given Friday's grim figures, Gault predicted the economy would probably shrink in the first quarter at a pace of at least 6 percent.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress earlier this week that recent economic barometers "show little sign of improvement" and suggest that "labor market conditions may have worsened further in recent weeks."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/03/06/report-expected-job-losses/

Iraqi parliament approves sharply cut budget for 2009

www.chinaview.cn 2009-03-05 22:50:02

BAGHDAD, March 5 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi parliament approved the 2009 budget on Thursday after a further cut of about 4.2 billion U.S. dollars, an official in the parliament said.

"The lawmaker have approved a 58.6-billion-dollar budget of the year 2009 after they agreed to make a cut of 5 trillion Iraqi dinars, or roughly 4.2 billion dollars," the source from the media office told Xinhua.

Earlier, the parliament finance committee had submitted a report of amendment to the draft of the 2009 budget which suggested a further cut of 4.2 billion dollars from the previously proposed budget of 62 billion dollars.

Iraqi economy widely depends on oil revenues as the country sits on the world's third largest oil reserves. It is producing roughly 2 million barrels a day, mostly for export.

Iraq's original spending budget stood at 80 billion dollars, but it already faced a round of reduction as crude oil prices plummeted from the record high of 150 dollars a barrel in mid-July2008 to the current under 45 dollars. 　

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/05/content_10952431.htm

Looks like the Dow is headed right for your projections, and pronto. Could easily enter the 5,000's as early as next week, though it may catch a bounce here & there.

Unemployment announced today @8.1%

yikes!

So-called "economists" (PhD-types) have been consistently wrong, time after time. They have not been able to adjust their numbers fast enough because they are "married" to their model which only works under certain conditions, just like how all the eggheads thought the Titanic was "unsinkable"...

Anyhow, just my $0.02

Obama: US combat in Iraq to end by Aug. 31, 2010

By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer Ben Feller, Associated Press Writer 12 mins ago

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. – President Barack Obama drew a firm finish line in the Iraq war Friday, six years after the invasion he opposed and six weeks into his presidency. Obama said he will withdraw combat forces within 18 months. "Let me say this as plainly as I can," he said. "By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end."

Yet in the same speech before Marines and military leadership, he said the vast majority of those involved in the pullout will not leave this year. Obama also said tens of thousands of U.S. personnel will remain behind to train and advise Iraqis.

"We have forged hard-earned progress, we are leaving Iraq to its people, and we have begun the work of ending this war," he said.

Obama was moving to fulfill in large measure the defining promise of his presidential campaign — to end combat operations within 16 months of taking office. He's doing it in 19 months instead.

The president said the U.S. cannot "let the pursuit of the perfect stand in the way of achievable goals." That was a declaration not of mission accomplished, but of mission accomplished as best as America could — this in the face of Obama's growing commitment to the conflict in Afghanistan, the other war he inherited.

"The most important decisions that have to be made about Iraq's future must now be made by Iraqis," the president said at the sprawling Camp Lejeune, N.C., base, which is about to deploy thousands of troops to Afghanistan.

Senior Obama administration officials had said earlier that of the roughly 100,000 U.S. combat troops to be pulled out of Iraq over the next 18 months, most will remain in the war zone through at least the end of this year to ensure national elections there go smoothly.

The pace of withdrawal means that although the pullout will start soon, it will be backloaded, with most troops returning in the last few months of the time frame.

And even after the drawdown, a sizable U.S. force of 35,000 to 50,000 U.S. troops will stay in Iraq longer under a new mission of training, civilian protection and counterterrorism.

In any case, all U.S. troops must be out of Iraq by Dec. 31, 2011. That's the deadline set under an agreement the two countries sealed near the end of Bush's presidency. Obama has no plans to extend that date or pursue any permanent troop presence in Iraq.

More than 4,250 Americans have been killed in Iraq, a costly, unpopular enterprise at home that Obama criticized when support for the invasion was strong and few other politicians dared stand against it.

Despite the extra months he's taking to achieve a withdrawal at the advice of military commanders, it is a hastier exit than envisaged under his predecessor, George W. Bush, whom Obama called Friday before giving his speech.

"America can no longer afford to see Iraq in isolation from other priorities," Obama told the crowd. "We face the challenge of refocusing on Afghanistan and Pakistan; of relieving the burden on our military; and of rebuilding our struggling economy and these are challenges that we will meet."

He applauded the armed forces for successes in Iraq, where U.S. deaths and violence in many parts of the country are significantly down.

Yet he acknowledged violence will remain "a part of life" and daunting problems include political instability, displaced citizens, lack of support for Iraq's government in the neighborhoods and the stress of declining oil revenues.

But, the president said the U.S. cannot continue to try to solve all Iraq's problems.

"We cannot rid Iraq of all who oppose America or sympathize with our adversaries," he said. "We cannot police Iraq's streets until they are completely safe, nor stay until Iraq's union is perfected. We cannot sustain indefinitely a commitment that has put a strain on our military, and will cost the American people nearly a trillion dollars."

Sen. John McCain, Obama's Republican presidential rival, endorsed Obama's plan in a striking closing of ranks between opponents who argued forcefully over Iraq's course in the campaign.

Some of Obama's fellow Democrats seemed cooler in response. Not all were pleased with leaving the bulk of troops in place this year.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., on Friday called Obama's plan "sound and measured" but suggested it wasn't a done deal.

"I look forward to further discussing this plan with the president," he said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called the announcement good news because it means an end to the war. At the same time, she said the troops left behind must have "clearly defined" missions "so that the number of troops needed to perform them is as small as possible."

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told lawmakers that ground commanders in Iraq believe the plan poses only a moderate risk to security, said McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio also approved. "I believe he has outlined a responsible approach that retains maximum flexibility to reconsider troop levels and to respond to changes in the security environment should circumstances on the ground warrant," he said.

Officials said Thursday that the timetable Obama ultimately selected was the recommendation of all the principal advisers. It was chosen as the one that would best manage security risks without jeopardizing the gains of recent months.

With 142,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, Obama plans to withdraw most of them — 92,000 to 107,000, based on administration projections.

Administration officials said Obama would not set a more specific schedule, such as how many troops will exit per month, because he wants to give his commanders in Iraq flexibility.

He said during the campaign he would withdraw two brigades a month. At the height of his Democratic primary contest with Hillary Rodham Clinton, he said he would remove troops by the end of this year, before reverting to a 16-month pledge.

Obama wants to keep a strong security presence in Iraq through a series of elections in 2009, capped by national elections tentatively set for December. That important, final election date could slip into 2010, which is perhaps why Obama's timetable for withdrawing combat troops has slipped by a few months, too.

___

Associated Press writer Anne Flaherty in Washington contributed to this report.

Is this for 2009? eom

I'd guess not much lower than 1100, all things being equal, ~1090 at best case scenario. If the dollar takes a plunge, all bets are off. Anyone guessing triple digits or below would tingle my "spider sense," but to each his own and all that. We'll see what happens (after all, that's over 300 days of New York Times wallpaper quotes from now...)

[I'm using the yahoo conversion rates, CBI would be higher]

You repeatedly quote this article. What does it prove? A reval is immanent? That there will not be a lop? Investing in dinar is a good move? That one may infer something it does not specifically say in black and white? None of the above?

What makes you think I haven't asked? What's wrong with my asking a question in the meantime while I wait for responses from them on this distortion?

Again, you assume too much.

what exactly are you saying this is proves?

Just to make myself clear, I am not questioning the "validity" (as someone put it) of the 2 sentences in the article from last June.

But this has been cited, as we all know, day in and day out, ad nauseum (I wish I had a count for how many times) as "evidence." If I was going to quote someone that much, I'd want to know if they agreed with me or not. Call me crazy...

On second thought, maybe I'm better off assuming I'm right, and the heck with the guys who wrote the words. Of course they mean whatever I read into them!

Have you bothered to email Farrel and Oppel to ask for clarification, or to see if they, the authors, agree with your interpretation of their couple of sentences from half a year ago that are constantly being pasted here?

There aren't any more currencies backed by gold or silver - the dollar was the last one, and we got off the gold standard in the Nixon years. There really is no real "backing" to any national currency any more, except that the government declares it legal. It's just paper. Scary, IMO.

Ron Paul was actually advocating going back to a gold & silver backing when he was running for pres. I didn't vote for him, but looking back, I'd say he was right on money policy

U.S. Dignitaries Dedicate New American Embassy in Baghdad

JANUARY 5, 2009

U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker officially dedicated the new American Embassy in Baghdad today in the presence of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte. Iraqi dignitaries and close to 1,000 invited guests witnessed the U.S. Marine Security Guard detachment ceremonially raise the American flag in front of the Embassy’s main Chancery Building. This was accompanied by a rendition of the U.S. National Anthem and music from the U.S. Army 4th Infantry Division Band.

The largest American Embassy structure to date, its scale reflects the importance of the U.S.-Iraq bilateral relationship. Construction began in 2005 and was completed in 2008 at a total cost of $592 million. More than 1,200 U.S. diplomats, service members and government officials and staff from 14 federal agencies work and live on the Embassy compound. Their tasks and missions are broad and varied to include: supporting local elections, helping to fight corruption, helping develop Iraq’s energy and transportation sectors, strengthening the rule of law, providing security training, and promoting educational and cultural exchange. This new U.S. Embassy will serve to broaden and enhance U.S. diplomatic engagement with a sovereign and independent Iraq.

http://iraq.usembassy.gov/pr-01052009.html

If, on the other hand, they revalue their currency to one Iraqi dinar = 1 US dollar, that 1,000,000 dinar you have in your hand will go from 863 dollars to 1,000,000 US dollars - that very instant. You somehow managed to make 999,137 US dollars, instantly.

Which is more likely to happen?

Say you had today 1,000,000 Iraqi dinar

That would be worth about 863 US dollars right now (according to yahoo currency converter)

Now say they do a 3-zero lop. Once you exchange for the lopped currency, you will have 1,000 dinar.

How much will the 1,000 dinar be worth in US dollars?

The same - 863 dollars.

No value gained or lost.

U.S. Military Preparing for Domestic Disturbances

Tuesday, December 23, 2008 1:14 PM

By: Jim Meyers

A new report from the U.S. Army War College discusses the use of American troops to quell civil unrest brought about by a worsening economic crisis.

The report from the War College’s Strategic Studies Institute warns that the U.S. military must prepare for a “violent, strategic dislocation inside the United States” that could be provoked by “unforeseen economic collapse” or “loss of functioning political and legal order.”

Entitled “Known Unknowns: Unconventional ‘Strategic Shocks’ in Defense Strategy Development,” the report was produced by Nathan Freier, a recently retired Army lieutenant colonel who is a professor at the college — the Army’s main training institute for prospective senior officers.

He writes: “To the extent events like this involve organized violence against local, state, and national authorities and exceed the capacity of the former two to restore public order and protect vulnerable populations, DoD [Department of Defense] would be required to fill the gap.”

Freier continues: “Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order … An American government and defense establishment lulled into complacency by a long-secure domestic order would be forced to rapidly divest some or most external security commitments in order to address rapidly expanding human insecurity at home.”

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn warned last week of riots and unrest in global markets if the ongoing financial crisis is not addressed and lower-income households are beset with credit constraints and rising unemployment, the Phoenix Business Journal reported.

Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma and Rep. Brad Sherman of California disclosed that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson discussed a worst-case scenario as he pushed the Wall Street bailout in September, and said that scenario might even require a declaration of martial law.

The Army College report states: “DoD might be forced by circumstances to put its broad resources at the disposal of civil authorities to contain and reverse violent threats to domestic tranquility. Under the most extreme circumstances, this might include use of military force against hostile groups inside the United States.

“Further, DoD would be, by necessity, an essential enabling hub for the continuity of political authority in a multi-state or nationwide civil conflict or disturbance.”

He concludes this section of the report by observing: “DoD is already challenged by stabilization abroad. Imagine the challenges associated with doing so on a massive scale at home."

As Newsmax reported earlier, the Defense Department has made plans to deploy 20,000 troops nationwide by 2011 to help state and local officials respond to emergencies.

The 130-year-old Posse Comitatus Act restricts the military’s role in domestic law enforcement. But a 1994 Defense Department Directive allows military commanders to take emergency actions in domestic situations to save lives, prevent suffering or mitigate great property damage, according to the Business Journal.

And Gen. Tommy Franks, who led the U.S. military operations to liberate Iraq, said in a 2003 interview that if the U.S. is attacked with a weapon of mass destruction, the Constitution will likely be discarded in favor of a military form of government.

© 2008 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/military_domestic_use/2008/12/23/164765.html?s=al&promo_code=%20763B-1

I'd say you're right, that is massive. Right now the U.S. debt is $10 trillion+, which is roughly 70% of our GDP. I don't know what Iraq's GDP for 2008 is, but last year from what I can see it was roughly $100 billion with a "b." So their debt is still 10 times their total market value. It's getting better, but still, that's pretty big.

I know I'll probably get pelted w/ rotten tomatoes for saying this, but I just can't see how a "reval" is possible under these conditions. That's OK by me if other people see it otherwise, to each his own.

However, I do think it's worthwhile as a hedge against the almighty dollar - the dinar gained in value while the dollar was sinking. Right now, "$" has rallied (and IQD has continued to improve), but I just can't see that lasting long, the fed's printin presses have had hemi engines put in...

say that again?! -

"The New Deal, for instance, cost an estimated $32 billion in its day, which would be about $500 billion in today’s dollars. The Marshall Plan cost about $12.7 billion, which is the equivalent of a paltry $115.3 billion. The Louisiana Purchase? The French got $15 million, which would be worth about $217 billion today.

If you take those three items, add in the adjusted costs of the Race to the Moon, the savings and loan crisis, the Korean War, the Iraq war, the Vietnam War and assistance for NASA, you still get to just $3.92 trillion — not even half of the taxpayers’ exposure today, according to Bianco.

We should be swimming in money like Scrooge McDuck! Where is it all? The "bailout" money alone would have given $30,000 to every man, woman and child in the USA. Nope, instead, everything is worrying about going under.

WE'RE NOT EVEN TALKING ABOUT INTEREST HERE!

oh, and check this thing out:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

the national debt increases at a rate of three and a half billion dollars PER DAY.

...or how about the rest of the $8.7 TRILLION?!

Bailout payout tops $8 trillion

Jeanne Cummings Jeanne Cummings Tue Dec 16, 4:41 am ET

As the holiday season commences, it’s worth taking stock of the last gift that President George W. Bush and the 110th Congress have left for U.S. taxpayers.

It’s a package of about $8.7 trillion dollars’ worth of potential taxpayer commitments for loans, guarantees and other bailout goodies for businesses and distressed homeowners.

Amid the tissue paper:

• More than $1.5 trillion in Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. loan guarantees, including a $139 billion assist to the lending arm of General Electric Corp.

• $1.8 trillion in cash, tax breaks and loan guarantees doled out from the Treasury Department to taxpayers, financial institutions and credit companies.

• $300 billion for homeowners from the Federal Housing Authority.

• $25 billion in assistance for auto companies from a program overseen by the Energy Department, which is separate from the bailout proposal that tanked last week in the Senate.

• And $5 trillion worth of new money, loan guarantees and loosened lending requirements from the Federal Reserve Bank.

According to Bianco Research President James Bianco, who crunched these numbers, that amounts to more government aid and assistance than nine other historic bailouts and big government outlays combined.

The New Deal, for instance, cost an estimated $32 billion in its day, which would be about $500 billion in today’s dollars. The Marshall Plan cost about $12.7 billion, which is the equivalent of a paltry $115.3 billion. The Louisiana Purchase? The French got $15 million, which would be worth about $217 billion today.

If you take those three items, add in the adjusted costs of the Race to the Moon, the savings and loan crisis, the Korean War, the Iraq war, the Vietnam War and assistance for NASA, you still get to just $3.92 trillion — not even half of the taxpayers’ exposure today, according to Bianco.


If that weren’t enough to make you want to upgrade your holiday gift list, it’s useful to remember that Congress isn’t done and President-elect Barack Obama’s team hasn’t even started.



They are promising a newer and bigger stimulus package early next year — one that could make last spring’s $168 billion government giveaway to taxpayers (remember that fixer?) look like pocket change.

Asked just how much the taxpayers are on the hook for, Bianco said: “I just say you should use the number infinity, because nobody understands these numbers, and I would include the Treasury secretary and chairman of the Fed in that group.”

There is a bright side, sort of. Only about $2.9 trillion of the government money, loans and guarantees have actually been spent or committed.

And some of the deals are structured with the idea that taxpayers could one day make money off them by selling pieces of companies or the government’s new stake in them.

But that can’t be done until the economy rebounds, something that most economists aren’t yet willing to predict — probably because it would be even more depressing.

Now, all this is not to say that these measures weren’t necessary to save consumers from an even worse fate. That’s a big unanswered question that now will be left to speculators.

But the vast majority of the smart economic crowd, from both sides of the aisle, say the job losses and economic calamity that would have ensued without government intervention today would make the Great Depression look like an economic hiccup.

“If we don’t fix this, it doesn’t matter if we can’t pay for it,” said Heather Boushey, a senior economist at the Center for American Progress. “The problem will only get worse and become harder and even more expensive to fix.”

Meanwhile, she said, unemployment rates could soar abruptly, as they did during the Depression. “Every person who loses a job could also lose a house and health insurance and the ability to pay for college,” she added. “We could lose a generation.”

Given that, it was something of a wonder when Senate Republicans quashed a $14 billion rescue plan last week for domestic automakers.

Republicans had taken a beating on Election Day, in part because of resentment within their own base at the bailout bonanza in Washington.

But the automakers’ request seems a pittance given all the taxpayer cash already flooding the private market.

Part of the answer might have come from an Obama-style Internet campaign launched by FreedomWorks, a grass-roots organization led by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas).

FreedomWorks purchased Google search ads that popped up any time someone clicked for information about the auto bailout. The ad urged people to oppose the measure.

Thomas Keeley, the organization’s online advertising specialist, said the ad helped them generate nearly 100,000 messages to Congress. “We did very well, especially given the limited time we had on this,” he said.

The auto industry wasn’t idle. General Motors and Ford also took out Google search ads urging support for the package — a message that would have been tough to deliver in a big television ad campaign.

The cyberspace campaigns are likely a harbinger of how future bailout battles will be waged once Obama takes office with an e-mail list of more than 10 million supporters.

Already, Peter Greenberger, who’s heading up Google’s new issues advocacy sales team, says he’s warning interest groups that may take a stand on either side of the Democrats’ expected trillion-dollar stimulus package not “to organize a 20th-century advocacy campaign against a 21st-century administration.”

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/16620/print

Where'd the bailout money go? Shhhh, it's a secret

Dec 22, 9:52 AM (ET)

By MATT APUZZO

WASHINGTON (AP) - It's something any bank would demand to know before handing out a loan: Where's the money going?

But after receiving billions in aid from U.S. taxpayers, the nation's largest banks say they can't track exactly how they're spending the money or they simply refuse to discuss it.

"We've lent some of it. We've not lent some of it. We've not given any accounting of, 'Here's how we're doing it,'" said Thomas Kelly, a spokesman for JPMorgan Chase, which received $25 billion in emergency bailout money. "We have not disclosed that to the public. We're declining to."

The Associated Press contacted 21 banks that received at least $1 billion in government money and asked four questions: How much has been spent? What was it spent on? How much is being held in savings, and what's the plan for the rest?

None of the banks provided specific answers.

"We're not providing dollar-in, dollar-out tracking," said Barry Koling, a spokesman for Atlanta, Ga.-based SunTrust Banks Inc., which got $3.5 billion in taxpayer dollars.

Some banks said they simply didn't know where the money was going.

"We manage our capital in its aggregate," said Regions Financial Corp. (RF) spokesman Tim Deighton, who said the Birmingham, Ala.-based company is not tracking how it is spending the $3.5 billion it received as part of the financial bailout.

The answers highlight the secrecy surrounding the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which earmarked $700 billion - about the size of the Netherlands' economy - to help rescue the financial industry. The Treasury Department has been using the money to buy stock in U.S. banks, hoping that the sudden inflow of cash will get banks to start lending money.

There has been no accounting of how banks spend that money. Lawmakers summoned bank executives to Capitol Hill last month and implored them to lend the money - not to hoard it or spend it on corporate bonuses, junkets or to buy other banks. But there is no process in place to make sure that's happening and there are no consequences for banks who don't comply.

"It is entirely appropriate for the American people to know how their taxpayer dollars are being spent in private industry," said Elizabeth Warren, the top congressional watchdog overseeing the financial bailout.

But, at least for now, there's no way for taxpayers to find that out.

Pressured by the Bush administration to approve the money quickly, Congress attached nearly no strings on the $700 billion bailout in October. And the Treasury Department, which doles out the money, never asked banks how it would be spent.

"Those are legitimate questions that should have been asked on Day One," said Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., a House Financial Services Committee member who opposed the bailout as it was rushed through Congress. "Where is the money going to go to? How is it going to be spent? When are we going to get a record on it?"

Nearly every bank AP questioned - including Citibank and Bank of America, two of the largest recipients of bailout money - responded with generic public relations statements explaining that the money was being used to strengthen balance sheets and continue making loans to ease the credit crisis.

A few banks described company-specific programs, such as JPMorgan Chase's plan to lend $5 billion to nonprofit and health care companies next year. Richard Becker, senior vice president of Wisconsin-based Marshall & Ilsley Corp. (MI) (MI), said the $1.75 billion in bailout money allowed the bank to temporarily stop foreclosing on homes.

But no bank provided even the most basic accounting for the federal money.

"We're choosing not to disclose that," said Kevin Heine, spokesman for Bank of New York Mellon, which received about $3 billion.

Others said the money couldn't be tracked. Bob Denham, a spokesman for North Carolina-based BB&T Corp., said the bailout money "doesn't have its own bucket." But he said taxpayer money wasn't used in the bank's recent purchase of a Florida insurance company. Asked how he could be sure, since the money wasn't being tracked, Denham said the bank would have made that deal regardless.

Others, such as Morgan Stanley (MS) spokeswoman Carissa Ramirez, offered to discuss the matter with reporters on condition of anonymity. When AP refused, Ramirez sent an e-mail saying: "We are going to decline to comment on your story."

Most banks wouldn't say why they were keeping the details secret.

"We're not sharing any other details. We're just not at this time," said Wendy Walker, a spokeswoman for Dallas-based Comerica Inc., which received $2.25 billion from the government.

Heine, the New York Mellon Corp. spokesman who said he wouldn't share spending specifics, added: "I just would prefer if you wouldn't say that we're not going to discuss those details."

The banks which came closest to answering the questions were those, such as U.S. Bancorp and Huntington Bancshares Inc., that only recently received the money and have yet to spend it. But neither provided anything more than a generic summary of how the money would be spent.

Lawmakers say they want to tighten restrictions on the remaining, yet-to-be-released $350 billion block of bailout money before more cash is handed out. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the department is trying to step up its monitoring of bank spending.

"What we've been doing here is moving, I think, with lightning speed to put necessary programs in place, to develop them, implement them, and then we need to monitor them while we're doing this," Paulson said at a recent forum in New York. "So we're building this organization as we're going."

Warren, the congressional watchdog appointed by Democrats, said her oversight panel will try to force the banks to say where they've spent the money.

"It would take a lot of nerve not to give answers," she said.

But Warren said she's surprised she even has to ask.

"If the appropriate restrictions were put on the money to begin with, if the appropriate transparency was in place, then we wouldn't be in a position where you're trying to call every recipient and get the basic information that should already be in public documents," she said.

Garrett, the New Jersey congressman, said the nation might never get a clear answer on where hundreds of billions of dollars went.

"A year or two ago, when we talked about spending $100 million for a bridge to nowhere, that was considered a scandal," he said.

---

Associated Press writers Stevenson Jacobs in New York and Christopher S. Rugaber and Daniel Wagner in Washington contributed to this report.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081222/D957QL7O0.html

If people's savings are in an Iraqi bank account, if there were a lop/new currency, the exchange would happen electronically, no problems, still earning interest at whatever rate the bank may have. Sounds like pretty sound advice to me...

Last time I checked, dinar trade was buying back for $875/mil, I think it dipped below that at some point, so you you timed it pretty good IMO...

roger that - I just don't want to clog up this board w/ off topic chat. have a good one, keep an eye on the bad guys

Thanks, Marshal. I had actually come across the same link a few weeks ago, and I think we're on the same page. [Any chance your new board will become non-premium, for us cheapskates?] Right now, it's survival mode

I saw on the news the Iraqi govt. is now trying to renegotiate the terms of US military presence and contractors. Blackwater now has its right arm tied behind its back and if the parliament gets its way, the Army and Marines will have to have permission from the local courts for every building they intend to enter and search. All they have to do is stall for a couple more months (an art form they have clearly mastered) and Pres. Obama will throw in the kitchen sink...

It wouldn't surprise me if they issue a new currency after the US has begun pulling out

So this is going to last for another 15 yrs or so?! Good grief! That doesn't sound all that off, either - Greenspan is calling it a "once-in-a-century credit tsunami!"


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081023/ap_on_bi_ge/greenspan

[you may lose credibility points if you're still serious about a McCain victory, though. Bolshevics are going to win big this round]

Trained Dog Calls 911, Saves Owner

By AMANDA LEE MYERS, AP
PHOENIX (Sept. 4) - "Man's best friend" doesn't go far enough for Buddy — a German shepherd who remembered his training and saved his owner's life by calling 911 when the man had a seizure.
Animals in the NewsScottsdale Police Department / AP24 photos Buddy the German shepherd proved Sept. 10 that he truly was "man's best friend." The pooch called 911 in order to help owner Joe Stalnaker, an Arizona man who was having a seizure. Police arrived at Stalnaker's home and he was taken to the hospital.
And it's not the first time Buddy has been there for owner Joe Stalnaker, a police officer said Sunday.
On a recording of the 911 call Wednesday, Buddy is heard whimpering and barking after the dispatcher answers and repeatedly asks if the caller needs help.
"Hello, this is 911. Hello ... Can you hear me? Is there somebody there you can give the phone to," says the dispatcher, Chris Scott.
Police were sent to Stalnaker's home, and after about three minutes Buddy is heard barking loudly when the officers arrived.
Scottsdale police Sgt. Mark Clark said Stalnaker spent two days in a hospital and recovered from the seizure.
"It's pretty incredible," Clark said. "Even the veteran dispatchers — they haven't heard of anything like this."
Clark said police are dispatched whenever 911 is called, but that Stalnaker's address was flagged in Scottsdale's system with a notification that a trained assistance dog could call 911 when the owner was incapacitated.
Clark said Stalnaker adopted Buddy at the age of 8 weeks from Michigan-based Paws with a Cause, which trains assistance dogs, and trained him to get the phone if he began to have seizure symptoms. Buddy, now 18 months old, is able press programmed buttons until a 911 operator is on the line, Clark said.
Clark said Buddy has made two other 911 calls when Stalnaker was having seizures.
He said Stalnaker's seizures are the result of a head injury he suffered about 10 years ago during a military training exercise.
Stalnaker was not listed in the phone book, and he did not immediately respond to a request through police for an interview.
http://news.aol.com/article/trained-dog-calls-911-saves-owner/173238

A fine Sunday indeed for Tony Romo

Tony Romo had been somewhat of an NFL opening-week quarterbacking exception, enjoying a great Sunday in Cleveland, except, of course, for that bloody chin thing.

The weekend had also gone very well for Bill and Sharon White of Irving, who were returning late in the evening after an out-of-town trip.

The national news was about a day of QB disasters around the league, even at the elite level. Tom Brady, down and out for the season. Peyton Manning, looking feeble and lost. Carson Palmer, his once stellar reputation taking another plunge.

And for pure weirdness, there's Vince Young, a young man in obvious need of either a good shrink or a good butt-kicking.

Meanwhile, even as devout football fans, the Whites had been on the road and out of touch with the NFL events. They particularly didn't want to know the Dallas Cowboys' outcome. The TiVo at home was waiting. Bill planned to watch the Cleveland game immediately, with suspense attached.

But a couple of miles from the house, while driving on MacArthur Boulevard, the Whites had their own mini-disaster. A tire blew on the Mercury. Bill, luckily, managed to nurse his wounded ride off the street and into the lighted parking lot of a strip mall.

For troubling news on a Sunday, it didn't rank up there with taking a direct hit to the chin from the helmet of linebacker Willie McGinest, but Bill became a bit woozy himself when he discovered his jack was malfunctioning. Never a good thing at midnight.

Plan B kicked in, however. One of those cigarette-lighter-plug-in air compressors was available. Except it was leaking more air than it was pumping.

"I don't know, a hundred cars, probably more, had to go by. Nobody was stopping," said Bill. "That's just kind of the way it is in today's world."

And then ...

"Bill was fooling with that tire, and I was standing beside the car watching him," Sharon said. "The next thing I know, a nice-looking young man, very well-dressed, but with something strange on his chin, he walked up, smiled, and said, 'Hey, you need some help?' "

Sharon hadn't even noticed a car pull up.

So now it's Bill and the well-dressed young man both bent over a flat tire at midnight on a Sunday, trying to figure out why a faulty air compressor plugged into the cigarette lighter was leaking more than pumping.

"I didn't get a good look at him at that point," Bill said. "We were both trying to get the tire pumped up."

Sharon, however, took a second look. "You are Tony Romo," she said. No reply, just a smile, and then it was back to work on the compressor.

Finally, they got the tire aired up. Enough, anyway, to make a slow drive home.

"I didn't want to bother him," Sharon said, "but I asked again, 'You're Tony Romo, right?' " I knew it was him by then. But he smiled and said, 'Yes, ma'am.' "

Sharon: "I did something no 50-year-old woman should be doing, but I screamed real loud, and then jumped up and hugged him."

Bill's immediate response was "Don't tell me how you guys did. I'm going home to watch it."

By the next day, after seeing what the "something strange on his chin" was about, that made the Whites appreciate Romo's gesture even more.

"He gets almost knocked cold in that game, and I read it took 13 stitches to close the cut, and then there's a long flight home [the Cowboys charter arrived at around 11 p.m.] and Tony's got to be dog tired, but he still was a good enough person to stop and help us," Bill said.

"Look, we're driving a 10-year old car that is sitting in a parking lot with a flat tire in the dead of night. He could tell by that we're nothing special. But here's a young man making millions of dollars, and he's got all this fame and glory, and he does this?"

The Whites couldn't thank Romo enough. "But if I ever had the opportunity, I'd also like to thank two other people. His mom and dad," Bill said. "They obviously raised him right. We've got kids about his age. We know how difficult it can sometimes be in this day and age."

(An e-mail from Sharon alerted me to Tony's good deed. No Cowboys official knew about it even by Wednesday.)

Not that the Whites weren't already Romo fans, but ...

"After all this, what I realized is the athletic thing is Tony's gift, yet it goes beyond that," Bill said. "This was a good person we met. A good person with small-town values despite all the big-city fame and fortune."

Shrug off a blow to the chin. Win a game. Help strangers fix a flat. It was a fine Sunday for the kid.

http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/story/899904.html

Meet Evans the Atom, who will end the world on Wednesday


By Jonathan Petre
Last updated at 2:03 AM on 07th September 2008


The man behind the world’s biggest scientific experiment, which critics claim could cause the end of the world, is a Welsh miner’s son who has admitted blowing things up as a child.


Dr Lyn Evans, who has been dubbed Evans the Atom, will this week switch on a giant particle accelerator designed to unlock the secrets of the Big Bang.


But the 63-year-old physicist revealed yesterday that his passion for science was fuelled by the relatively small bangs he had created with his chemistry set at his council house in Aberdare in the Welsh valleys.


‘I was more interested in chemistry than physics when I was young,’ he said.

‘I had a number of chemistry sets. Like everybody, I used to make explosives. I even blew the fuses of the whole house a few times.’

His interest in physics grew at his boys-only grammar school, where lessons had an added attraction because they were attended by girls bussed in from a nearby school that lacked a physics teacher.

On Wednesday, Dr Evans will fire up the Large Hadron Collider, a 17-mile-long doughnut-shaped tunnel that will smash sub-atomic particles together at nearly the speed of light.

Built by the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), the collider lies beneath the French-Swiss border, near the institution’s headquarters in Geneva, at depths ranging from 170ft to 600ft.

The aim of the £4.4billion experiment is to recreate the conditions that existed a fraction of a second after the Big Bang – the birth of the universe – and provide vital clues to the building blocks of life.

It will track the spray of particles thrown out by collisions in a search for the elusive Higgs Boson, a theoretical entity that supposedly lends weight, or mass, to the elementary particles. So important is this mysterious substance that it has been called the ‘God Particle’.

Scientists also hope to shed some light on the invisible material that exists between particles – dubbed ‘dark matter’ as no one knows what it really is – which makes up most of the universe.


But a handful of scientists believe that the experiment could create a shower of unstable black holes that could ‘eat’ the planet from within, and they are launching last-ditch efforts to halt it in the courts.

One of them, Professor Otto Rossler, a retired German chemist, said he feared the experiment may create a devastating quasar – a mass of energy fuelled by black holes – inside the Earth.

‘Nothing will happen for at least four years,’ he said. ‘Then someone will spot a light ray coming out of the Indian Ocean during the night and no one will be able to explain it.

‘A few weeks later, we will see a similar beam of particles coming out of the soil on the other side of the planet. Then we will know there is a little quasar inside the planet.’

Prof Rossler said that as the spinning-top-like quasar devoured the world from within, the two jets emanating from it would grow and catastrophes such as earthquakes and tsunamis would occur at the points they emerged from the Earth.

‘The weather will change completely, wiping out life, and very soon the whole planet will be eaten in a magnificent scenario – if you could watch it from the moon. A Biblical Armageddon. Even cloud and fire will form, as it says in the Bible.’

He said that attempts were still being made in the European Court of Human Rights to halt the experiment on the grounds that it violated the right to life. The court has, however, already rejected calls for a temporary delay in the project, and it is unlikely to come to a speedy decision about whether the CERN experiment should be halted for good.

Meanwhile Dr Walter Wagner, an American scientist who has been warning about the dangers of particle accelerators for 20 years, is awaiting a ruling on a lawsuit he filed a fortnight ago in his home state of Hawaii.

He fears the experiments might unwittingly create something he calls a ‘strangelet’ that could result in a fusion reaction that might ultimately turn the Earth into a supernova, or an exploding star.

But Dr Evans, the leader of the project, who has devoted 14 years of his life to building the vast particle accelerator, is dismissive of the doom-mongers.

In fact, he is so relaxed about the project, he even wears shorts to work.

He said that Prof Rossler was a ‘crazy’ retired professor who had invented his own theory of relativity.

‘We have shown him where his elementary errors are, but of course people like that just will not listen,’ said Dr Evans.

Meanwhile, Dr Wagner’s fears were ‘totally and completely’ unfounded. ‘There are thousands of scientists around the world who have been preparing this machine and they know what they are talking about, unlike these guys,’ he added.

Dr Evans says his real nightmare is not that he will destroy the world but that, with the cameras rolling, the machine will break down. ‘This is not the first accelerator I have commissioned, but the first under the glare of the whole world,’ he said.

‘My main worry is that we’ve got a huge amount of equipment and it is new. If something trips off, we are down for hours and we have all these Press people sitting around.

‘We are not used to that. We are used to setting things up quietly and announcing it afterwards.’

Experiment produces lab rap hit

The Large Hadron Collider may be causing fears for the future of the world, but it has become the bizarre setting for an unlikely music hit.


Written and performed by 23-year-old Kate McAlpine, who works in the Press office at the CERN laboratory in Switzerland, the video features Kate and two background dancers bopping about in lab coats.

A long way from rap’s usual subjects of violence and crime, the rap focuses on the science of high-energy particle physics. One section goes: ‘Two beams of protons/ swing ’round./ Through the ring they ride/’til in the hearts of the detectors/ they’re made to collide!/ And all that energy packed/ in that tiny room/ becomes mass,/ particles created from the vacuum.’

Kate, who wrote her first physics rap while studying at Michigan State University, says: ‘Rap and physics are culturally miles apart and I find it amusing to throw them together.’

A CERN spokesman said: ‘We love the rap and the science is spot on.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1053091/Meet-Evans-Atom-end-world-Wednesday.html

Not too bad. I remember when places were selling around that. At that price, I'd make around a thousand bucks just for having these sit in the basement. Thanks

What rate did you get from dinar trade?eom

Man Swears to God He Didn't Owe Money, Struck by Lightning a Moment Later

China: A man named Xu is recovering in hospital after he was struck by lightning only a minute after swearing to God that he did not owe money to his neighbour. It is thought that he will recover completely.

Xu's neighbour, Huang, claims that he lent him 500 yuan, or about £40, to buy a wedding present three years ago. Huang went to Xu's house and demanded that the debt be repaid but Xu denied that the debt existed.

"I told him that if he dared to swear to God that he didn't owe me the money, then I would waive his debt," Huang said. Xu took him up on the offer and was promptly struck by lighting.

http://www.shortnews.com/start.cfm?id=73073


Jason’s Words To Live By: “Persistence always beats Resistance”

Crime-ridden Arkansas town expands 24-hour curfew

By JON GAMBRELL, Associated Press Writer
Wed Aug 13, 6:41 AM ET

HELENA-WEST HELENA, Ark. - Officers armed with military rifles have been stopping and questioning passers-by in a neighborhood plagued by violence that's been under a 24-hour curfew for a week.

On Tuesday, the Helena-West Helena City Council voted 9-0 to allow police to expand that program into any area of the city, despite a warning from a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas that the police stops were unconstitutional.

Police Chief Fred Fielder said the patrols have netted 32 arrests since they began last week in a 10-block neighborhood in this small town on the banks of the Mississippi River long troubled by poverty. The council said those living in the city want the random shootings and drug-fueled violence to stop, no matter what the cost.

"Now if somebody wants to sue us, they have an option to sue, but I'm fairly certain that a judge will see it the way the way the citizens see it here," Mayor James Valley said. "The citizens deserve peace, that some infringement on constitutional rights is OK and we have not violated anything as far as the Constitution."

The area under curfew, in what used to be a West Helena neighborhood, sits among abandoned homes and occupied residences in disrepair.

White signs on large blue barrels warn those passing by that the area remains under curfew by order of Mayor James Valley. The order was scheduled to end at 3 p.m. Tuesday, but Valley said the city council's vote would allow police to have the same powers across Helena-West Helena.

Among the curfew operation's arrests, 10 came from felony charges, including the arrest of two people carrying both drugs and weapons, Fielder said. The police chief said the officers in the field carry military-style M-16 or M-4 rifles, some equipped with laser sights. Other officers carry short-barrel shotguns. Many dealing crack cocaine and marijuana in the city carry pistols and AK-47 assault rifles, he said.

"We've had people call us, expressing concern for their children," Fielder said. "They had to sleep on the floor, because of stray bullets."

Fielder said officers had not arrested anyone for violating the curfew, only questioned people about why they were outside. Those without good answers or acting nervously get additional attention, Fielder said.

However, such stops likely violate residents' constitutional rights to freely assemble and protections against unreasonable police searches, said Holly Dickson, a lawyer for the ACLU of Arkansas who addressed the council at its packed Tuesday meeting. Because of that, Dickson said any convictions coming from the arrests likely would be overturned.

"The residents of these high-crime areas are already victims," she said. "They're victims of what are happening in the neighborhoods, they're victims of fear. But for them to be subject to unlawful stops and questioning ... that is not going to ultimately going to help this situation."

The council rejected Dickson's claims, at one point questioning the Little Rock-based attorney if she'd live in a neighborhood they described as under siege by wild gunfire and gangs.

"As far as I'm concerned, at 3 o'clock in the morning, nobody has any business being on the street, except the law," Councilman Eugene "Red" Johnson said. "Anyone out at 3 o'clock shouldn't be out on the street, unless you're going to the hospital."

The curfew is the second under the mayor's watch since the rival cities of Helena and West Helena merged in 2006. That year, Valley set a nightly citywide curfew after a rash of burglaries and other thefts.

Police in Hartford, Conn., began enforcing a nightly curfew for youths after recent violence, including a weekend shooting that killed a man and wounded six young people.

Helena-West Helena, with 15,000 residents at the edge of Arkansas' eastern rice fields and farmland, is in one of the nation's poorest regions, trailing even parts of Appalachia in its standard of living.

In the curfew area, those inside the homes in the watch area peered out of door cracks Tuesday as police cruisers passed. They closed the doors afterward.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080813/ap_on_re_us/arkansas_town_curfew


Jason’s Words To Live By: “Persistence always beats Resistance”

English is the official language of Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cameroon (along with French), Canada, of course (along with French), the Cook Islands, Dominica, Fiji (along with Fijian), Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Hong Kong (along with Chinese), India (along with several native tongues, Ireland (along with Gaelic), Kenya (along with a native tongue), Kiribati (along with I-Kiribati), Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar (along with French and a local tongue, Malta (along with Maltese), Mauritius, Micronesia, Namibia, New Zealand (along with two native languages), Nigeria, Pakistan (along with Urdu), Philippines (along with Filipino), Puerto Rico (along with Spanish), Rwanda (along with French and a local language), Saint Lucia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore (along with Tamil, Malay and Mandarin), Solomon Islands, Swaziland (along with a local language), Tanzania (along with Swahili and another local language), Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zambia and even Zimbabwe.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=71995

Urine bottles: Another result of high fuel prices?

ONTARIO, Ore. -Police say there's been an alarming rise in urine-filled plastic containers found along a three-mile stretch of Interstate 84 in eastern Oregon.
A litter crew for the Oregon Department of Transportation picked up an estimated 200-300 urine filled plastic bottles, along the highway, about half of which were found in a short stretch dubbed "Three Mile Hill."
Police say that drivers _ particularly commercial trucks _ are typically driving very slowly through the area.
Police think the price of fuel may be causing drivers to travel slower than normal to save fuel while at the same time passing rest areas or truck stops.
Under Oregon law, improperly disposing of human waste is a misdemeanor which can carry a fine of up to $250.

http://news.aol.com/article/urine-bottles-another-result-of-high/124612

Two arrested after using barbecue pit as a weapon

ALEXANDRIA, La. -A man and a woman found a new use for a barbecue pit _ one that landed them in jail. An argument over whether a third guest should stay in the house got so heated that the woman picked up the barbecue pit and hit the man over the head with it, police said.
The man picked up the barbecue pit and returned the favor and hit the woman in the head with it, police reported. The woman then told police that she picked up the barbecue pit and hit the back window of the man's car with it.
Police admit that the whole situation was confusing, but after medics treated the man and the woman, they were handcuffed, read their rights and taken to jail.
The man was booked on a charge of aggravated battery and the woman was booked with aggravated battery and simple criminal damage to property valued less than $500.

http://news.aol.com/article/two-arrested-after-using-barbecue-pit-as/124009

Cops follow Cheetos trail to nail burglar suspects

ST. PAUL -St. Paul police followed a trail of Cheetos in order to nab three teenagers suspected of burglarizing a vending machine. Officers were called to the Arlington Recreation Center on July 29, where they found a vending machine's glass had been broken with a chair.
Most of the candy and chips were missing, according to a criminal complaint in Ramsey County District Court.
The officers followed the orange, dusty trail from the rec center, around the side of the building and to a nearby home. Inside, they found numerous vending-sized bags of Cheetos and other snacks.
Police arrested three males aged 17, 18 and 19 who soon arrived at the home by car. The two adults are charged with third-degree burglary, while the 17-year-old is charged with criminal damage to property.
All three denied being involved, the complaint says.

http://news.aol.com/article/cops-follow-cheetos-trail-to-nail/124565

All U.S. adults could be overweight in 40 years
Wed Aug 6, 2008 6:57pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - If the trends of the past three decades continue, it's possible that every American adult could be overweight 40 years from now, a government-funded study projects.

The figure might sound alarming, or impossible, but researchers say that even if the actual rate never reaches the 100-percent mark, any upward movement is worrying; two-thirds of the population is already overweight.

"Genetically and physiologically, it should be impossible" for all U.S. adults to become overweight, said Dr. Lan Liang of the federal government's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, one of the researchers on the study.

However, she told Reuters Health, the data suggest that if the trends of the past 30 years persist, "that is the direction we're going."

Already, she and her colleagues point out, some groups of U.S. adults have extremely high rates of overweight and obesity; among African- American women, for instance, 78 percent are currently overweight or obese.

The new projections, published in the journal Obesity, are based on government survey data collected between the 1970s and 2004.

If the trends of those years continue, the researchers estimate that 86 percent of American adults will be overweight by 2030, with an obesity rate of 51 percent. By 2048, all U.S. adults could be at least mildly overweight.

Weight problems will be most acute among African-Americans and Mexican- Americans, the study projects. All black women could be overweight by 2034, according to the researchers, as could more than 90 percent of Mexican-American men.

All of this rests on the "big assumption" that the trends of recent decades will march on unabated, Liang acknowledged.

"This is really intended as a wake-up call to show what could happen if nothing changes," she said.

Waistlines aren't the only thing poised to balloon in the future, according to Liang and her colleagues. They estimate that the healthcare costs directly related to excess pounds will double each decade, reaching $957 billion in 2030 -- accounting for one of every six healthcare dollars spent in the

U.S.

Those financial projections are based on Census data and published estimates of the current healthcare costs attributed to excess weight -- and they are probably a "huge underestimate" of what the actual costs will be, Liang said.

The findings highlight a need for widespread efforts to improve Americans' lifestyles and keep their weight in check, according to the researchers. Simply telling people to eat less and exercise more is not enough, Liang noted.

Broader social changes are needed as well, she said -- such as making communities more pedestrian-friendly so that people can walk regularly, or getting the food industry to offer healthier, calorie-conscious choices.

"It really needs to be more than an individual effort," Liang said. "It needs to be a societal effort."

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSCOL66909620080806?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&rpc=22&sp=true&pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0