WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama has directed the U.S. military to coordinate with South Korea to "ensure readiness" and deter future aggression from North Korea, the White House said on Monday.
The United States gave strong backing to plans by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to punish North Korea for sinking one of its naval ships, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement.
The White House urged North Korea to apologize and change its behavior, he said.
"We endorse President Lee's demand that North Korea immediately apologize and punish those responsible for the attack, and, most importantly, stop its belligerent and threatening behavior," Gibbs said.
"U.S. support for South Korea's defense is unequivocal, and the president has directed his military commanders to coordinate closely with their Republic of Korea counterparts to ensure readiness and to deter future aggression," he said.
Obama and Lee have agreed to meet at the G20 summit in Canada next month, he said.
Late last week, a team of international investigators accused North Korea of torpedoing the Cheonan corvette in March, killing 46 sailors in one of the deadliest clashes between the two since the 1950-53 Korean War.
Lee said on Monday South Korea would bring the issue before the U.N., whose past sanctions have damaged the already ruined North Korean economy.
The United States still has about 28,000 troops in South Korea to provide military support.
The two Koreas, still technically at war, have more than 1 million troops near their border.
"We will build on an already strong foundation of excellent cooperation between our militaries and explore further enhancements to our joint posture on the Peninsula as part of our ongoing dialogue," Gibbs said.
Gibbs said the United States supported Lee's plans to bring the issue to the United Nations Security Council and would work with allies to "reduce the threat that North Korea poses to regional stability."
Obama had also directed U.S. agencies to evaluate existing policies toward North Korea.
"This review is aimed at ensuring that we have adequate measures in place and to identify areas where adjustments would be appropriate," he said.
Showing posts with label washington D.C.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label washington D.C.. Show all posts
Monday, May 24, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Obama uses Connecticut Soc. Sec. #
Investigators: Obama uses Connecticut Soc. Sec. #
3 experts insist White House answer new questions about documentation
NEW YORK – Two private investigators working independently are asking why President Obama is using a Social Security number set aside for applicants in Connecticut while there is no record he ever had a mailing address in the state.
In addition, the records indicate the number was issued between 1977 and 1979, yet Obama's earliest employment reportedly was in 1975 at a Baskin-Robbins ice-cream shop in Oahu, Hawaii.
WND has copies of affidavits filed separately in a presidential eligibility lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia by Ohio licensed private investigator Susan Daniels and Colorado private investigator John N. Sampson.
The investigators believe Obama needs to explain why he is using a Social Security number reserved for Connecticut applicants that was issued at a date later than he is known to have held employment.
The Social Security website confirms the first three numbers in his ID are reserved for applicants with Connecticut addresses, 040-049.
"Since 1973, Social Security numbers have been issued by our central office," the Social Security website explains. "The first three (3) digits of a person's social security number are determined by the ZIP code of the mailing address shown on the application for a social security number."
The question is being raised amid speculation about the president's history fueled by an extraordinary lack of public documentation. Along with his original birth certificate, Obama also has not released educational records, scholarly articles, passport documents, medical records, papers from his service in the Illinois state Senate, Illinois State Bar Association records, any baptism records and adoption papers.
Robert Siciliano, president and CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com and a nationally recognized expert on identity theft, agrees the Social Security number should be questioned.
"I know Social Security numbers have been issued to people in states where they don't live, but there's usually a good reason the person applied for a Social Security number in a different state," Siciliano told WND.
WND asked Siciliano whether he thought the question was one the White House should answer.
"Yes," he replied. "In the case of President Obama, I really don't know what the good reason would be that he has a Social Security number issued in Connecticut when we know he was a resident of Hawaii."
Siciliano is a frequent expert guest on identify theft on cable television networks, including CNN, CNBC and the Fox News Channel.
Daniels and Sampson each used a different database showing Obama is using a Social Security number beginning with 042.
WND has further confirmed that the Social Security number in question links to Obama in the online records maintained by the Selective Service System. Inserting the Social Security number, his birth date and his last name produces a valid Selective Service number.
To verify the number was issued by the Social Security Administration for applicants in Connecticut, Daniels used a Social Security number verification database. She found that the numbers immediately before and immediately after Obama's were issued to Connecticut applicants between the years 1977 and 1979.
"There is obviously a case of fraud going on here," Daniels maintained. "In 15 years of having a private investigator's license in Ohio, I've never seen the Social Security Administration make a mistake of issuing a Connecticut Social Security number to a person who lived in Hawaii. There is no family connection that would appear to explain the anomaly."
Does the Social Security Administration ever re-issue Social Security numbers?
"Never," Daniels said. "It's against the law for a person to have a re-issued or second Social Security number issued."
Daniels said she is "staking my reputation on a conclusion that Obama's use of this Social Security number is fraudulent."
There is no indication in the limited background documentation released by the Obama 2008 presidential campaign or by the White House to establish that Obama ever lived in Connecticut.
Nor is there any suggestion in Obama's autobiography, "Dreams from My Father," that he ever had a Connecticut address.
Also, nothing can be found in the public record that indicates Obama visited Connecticut during his high-school years.
Sampson's affidavit specifies that as a result of his formal training as an immigration officer and his 27-year career in professional law enforcement, "it is my knowledge and belief that Social Security numbers can only be applied for in the state in which the applicant habitually resides and has their official residence."
Daniels told WND she believes Obama had a different Social Security number when he worked as a teenager in Hawaii prior to 1977.
"I doubt this is President Obama's originally issued Social Security number," she told WND. "Obama has a work history in Hawaii before he left the islands to attend college at Occidental College in California, so he must have originally been issued a Social Security number in Hawaii."
The published record available about Obama indicates his first job as a teenager in Hawaii was at a Baskin-Robbins in the Makiki neighborhood on Oahu. USA Today reported the ice-cream shop still was in operation one year after Obama's inauguration.
Politifact.com, a website typically supportive of Obama, claims he worked at the Baskin-Robbins in 1975 or 1976, prior to the issuance of the number in question.
"It is a crime to use more than one Social Security number, and Barack Obama had to have a previous Social Security number to have worked at Baskin-Robbins," she insisted. "Under current law, a person is not permitted to use more than one Social Security number in a lifetime."
Another anomaly in the law enforcement databases searched by Daniels and Sampson is that the date 1890 shows up in the field indicating the birth of the number holder, along with Obama's birth date of 08/04/1961. A third date listed is 04/08/1961, which appears to be a transposition of Obama's birth date in an international format, with the day before the month.
Daniels disclosed to WND the name of the database she searched and produced a computer screen copy of the page that listed 1890 as a date associated with the 042 Social Security number.
Daniels said she can't be sure if the 1890 figure has any significance. But she said it appears the number Obama is using was previously issued by the Social Security Administration.
After an extensive check of the proprietary databases she uses as a licensed private investigator, Daniels determined that the first occurrence of Obama's association with the number was in 1986 in Chicago.
Daniels assumes, but cannot prove, that Obama took on a previously issued Social Security number that had gone dormant due to the death of the original holder.
Daniels has been a licensed private investigator in Ohio since 1995. Sampson formed his private investigations firm, CSI Consulting and Investigations, in 2008. He previously worked as a deportations law enforcement officer with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The Daniels and Sampson affidavits were originally recorded by attorney Orly Taitz in an eligibility case against Obama last year.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
BP Gulf Oil is actually leaking up to 480 million gallons daily !!
I did some research into oil pipe flow calculations and the answer is staggering !! BP wants us to beleive only 250,000 gallons a day are leaking, when in fact it is much much more then that. I followed the formula they use to calculate pipe flow and based on the figures, it is not good !!
www.pipeflowcalculations.com
UPDATE: Two individuals applied their own formulas to the data variables. Conclusion was the same. This is enough evidence to hold weight in court.
We are facing these figures as authentic oil flow.
Skeptical? Completely understood! Do the math yourself and you will see.
I will include all data and tools used to get to this conclusion.
Flow Calculator
[link to www.pipeflowcalculations.com]
Data
L = Length of pipe from seafloor to oil = 9,754 meters
D = Diameter of pipe = 914 mm to 215 mm
note - standard diameters for oil drilling, lowest value is used due to depth.
P1 = Pressure in oil reserve = 15,000 psi to 70,000 psi
P2 = Pressure at release point = 2,000 psi
P1-P2 = Pressure difference in transit = 13,000 to 68,000 psi
T = Temperature of oil in reserve = 633*K
note - 35,000 feet is averaged at 360*C
Q = Volumetric Flow Rate
G = Mass Flow Rate
rho = Density of oil = 924 kg/m3
The Calculators Results
70k PSI in Oil Reserve
Q = 352,259 m3/hr
G = 3.25487872E+008 kg/h = 325,487,872 kg/h = 116,301,122 gal/hr
15k PSI in Oil Reserve
Q = 64,210 m3/hr
G = 5.9330372E+007 kg/h = 59,330,372 kg/h = 21,199,527 gal/hr
Conclusion
21 to 116 million gallons per hour
This is mathematical fact and all variables are sound and factual. Please try to debunk this!
I hope I am wrong but I would like others to calculate themselves.
CALCULATION REPORT
1. volumetric flow rate (Q):
Q = 64210.363 m3/h
2. mass flow rate (G):
G = 5.9330372E+007 kg/h
3. lenght (L):
L = 9754 m
4. diameter (D):
D = 215 mm
5. density (rho):
rho = 924 kg/m3
6. tempearture (T):
T = 633 K
7. volumetric flow rate at the start (Q1):
Q1 = 145.78026 m3/h
8. volumetric flow rate at the end (Q2):
Q2 = 1093.3519 m3/h
9. pressure on the pipe start (p1):
p1 = 15000 psi
10. pressure on the pipe end (p2):
p2 = 2000.0 psi
11. pressure drop (p1-p2):
p1-p2 = 13000 psi
12. velocity at the start (V1):
V1 = 1.1153976 m/s
13. velocity at the end (V2):
V2 = 8.365481 m/s
It is now and has been pumping 1 mil gallons per day. The 200k gallon estimate is a very low ball number. If the well head fails it will pump 2.5 mil gallons per day.
There have been several links posted to articles by industry experts that say based on the satellite photos the 200k gallon estimate is way, way too low.
To put this in perspective, he Exxon Valdez spill in Prince William Sound of Alaska was 11mil. gallons of crude.
www.pipeflowcalculations.com
UPDATE: Two individuals applied their own formulas to the data variables. Conclusion was the same. This is enough evidence to hold weight in court.
We are facing these figures as authentic oil flow.
Skeptical? Completely understood! Do the math yourself and you will see.
I will include all data and tools used to get to this conclusion.
Flow Calculator
[link to www.pipeflowcalculations.com]
Data
L = Length of pipe from seafloor to oil = 9,754 meters
D = Diameter of pipe = 914 mm to 215 mm
note - standard diameters for oil drilling, lowest value is used due to depth.
P1 = Pressure in oil reserve = 15,000 psi to 70,000 psi
P2 = Pressure at release point = 2,000 psi
P1-P2 = Pressure difference in transit = 13,000 to 68,000 psi
T = Temperature of oil in reserve = 633*K
note - 35,000 feet is averaged at 360*C
Q = Volumetric Flow Rate
G = Mass Flow Rate
rho = Density of oil = 924 kg/m3
The Calculators Results
70k PSI in Oil Reserve
Q = 352,259 m3/hr
G = 3.25487872E+008 kg/h = 325,487,872 kg/h = 116,301,122 gal/hr
15k PSI in Oil Reserve
Q = 64,210 m3/hr
G = 5.9330372E+007 kg/h = 59,330,372 kg/h = 21,199,527 gal/hr
Conclusion
21 to 116 million gallons per hour
This is mathematical fact and all variables are sound and factual. Please try to debunk this!
I hope I am wrong but I would like others to calculate themselves.
CALCULATION REPORT
1. volumetric flow rate (Q):
Q = 64210.363 m3/h
2. mass flow rate (G):
G = 5.9330372E+007 kg/h
3. lenght (L):
L = 9754 m
4. diameter (D):
D = 215 mm
5. density (rho):
rho = 924 kg/m3
6. tempearture (T):
T = 633 K
7. volumetric flow rate at the start (Q1):
Q1 = 145.78026 m3/h
8. volumetric flow rate at the end (Q2):
Q2 = 1093.3519 m3/h
9. pressure on the pipe start (p1):
p1 = 15000 psi
10. pressure on the pipe end (p2):
p2 = 2000.0 psi
11. pressure drop (p1-p2):
p1-p2 = 13000 psi
12. velocity at the start (V1):
V1 = 1.1153976 m/s
13. velocity at the end (V2):
V2 = 8.365481 m/s
It is now and has been pumping 1 mil gallons per day. The 200k gallon estimate is a very low ball number. If the well head fails it will pump 2.5 mil gallons per day.
There have been several links posted to articles by industry experts that say based on the satellite photos the 200k gallon estimate is way, way too low.
To put this in perspective, he Exxon Valdez spill in Prince William Sound of Alaska was 11mil. gallons of crude.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Pilot's - Joe Stack - Suicide Letter Taken offline by FBI
If you’re reading this, you’re no doubt asking yourself, “Why did this have to happen?” The simple truth is that it is complicated and has been coming for a long time. The writing process, started many months ago, was intended to be therapy in the face of the looming realization that there isn’t enough therapy in the world that can fix what is really broken. Needless to say, this rant could fill volumes with example after example if I would let it. I find the process of writing it frustrating, tedious, and probably pointless… especially given my gross inability to gracefully articulate my thoughts in light of the storm raging in my head. Exactly what is therapeutic about that I’m not sure, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
We are all taught as children that without laws there would be no society, only anarchy. Sadly, starting at early ages we in this country have been brainwashed to believe that, in return for our dedication and service, our government stands for justice for all. We are further brainwashed to believe that there is freedom in this place, and that we should be ready to lay our lives down for the noble principals represented by its founding fathers. Remember? One of these was “no taxation without representation”. I have spent the total years of my adulthood unlearning that crap from only a few years of my childhood. These days anyone who really stands up for that principal is promptly labeled a “crackpot”, traitor and worse.
While very few working people would say they haven’t had their fair share of taxes (as can I), in my lifetime I can say with a great degree of certainty that there has never been a politician cast a vote on any matter with the likes of me or my interests in mind. Nor, for that matter, are they the least bit interested in me or anything I have to say.
Why is it that a handful of thugs and plunderers can commit unthinkable atrocities (and in the case of the GM executives, for scores of years) and when it’s time for their gravy train to crash under the weight of their gluttony and overwhelming stupidity, the force of the full federal government has no difficulty coming to their aid within days if not hours? Yet at the same time, the joke we call the American medical system, including the drug and insurance companies, are murdering tens of thousands of people a year and stealing from the corpses and victims they cripple, and this country’s leaders don’t see this as important as bailing out a few of their vile, rich cronies. Yet, the political “representatives” (thieves, liars, and self-serving scumbags is far more accurate) have endless time to sit around for year after year and debate the state of the “terrible health care problem”. It’s clear they see no crisis as long as the dead people don’t get in the way of their corporate profits rolling in.
And justice? You’ve got to be kidding!
How can any rational individual explain that white elephant conundrum in the middle of our tax system and, indeed, our entire legal system? Here we have a system that is, by far, too complicated for the brightest of the master scholars to understand. Yet, it mercilessly “holds accountable” its victims, claiming that they’re responsible for fully complying with laws not even the experts understand. The law “requires” a signature on the bottom of a tax filing; yet no one can say truthfully that they understand what they are signing; if that’s not “duress” than what is. If this is not the measure of a totalitarian regime, nothing is.
How did I get here?
My introduction to the real American nightmare starts back in the early ‘80s. Unfortunately after more than 16 years of school, somewhere along the line I picked up the absurd, pompous notion that I could read and understand plain English. Some friends introduced me to a group of people who were having ‘tax code’ readings and discussions. In particular, zeroed in on a section relating to the wonderful “exemptions” that make institutions like the vulgar, corrupt Catholic Church so incredibly wealthy. We carefully studied the law (with the help of some of the “best”, high-paid, experienced tax lawyers in the business), and then began to do exactly what the “big boys” were doing (except that we weren’t steeling from our congregation or lying to the government about our massive profits in the name of God). We took a great deal of care to make it all visible, following all of the rules, exactly the way the law said it was to be done.
The intent of this exercise and our efforts was to bring about a much-needed re-evaluation of the laws that allow the monsters of organized religion to make such a mockery of people who earn an honest living. However, this is where I learned that there are two “interpretations” for every law; one for the very rich, and one for the rest of us… Oh, and the monsters are the very ones making and enforcing the laws; the inquisition is still alive and well today in this country.
That little lesson in patriotism cost me $40,000+, 10 years of my life, and set my retirement plans back to 0. It made me realize for the first time that I live in a country with an ideology that is based on a total and complete lie. It also made me realize, not only how naive I had been, but also the incredible stupidity of the American public; that they buy, hook, line, and sinker, the crap about their “freedom”… and that they continue to do so with eyes closed in the face of overwhelming evidence and all that keeps happening in front of them.
Before even having to make a shaky recovery from the sting of the first lesson on what justice really means in this country (around 1984 after making my way through engineering school and still another five years of “paying my dues”), I felt I finally had to take a chance of launching my dream of becoming an independent engineer.
On the subjects of engineers and dreams of independence, I should digress somewhat to say that I’m sure that I inherited the fascination for creative problem solving from my father. I realized this at a very young age.
The significance of independence, however, came much later during my early years of college; at the age of 18 or 19 when I was living on my own as student in an apartment in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. My neighbor was an elderly retired woman (80+ seemed ancient to me at that age) who was the widowed wife of a retired steel worker. Her husband had worked all his life in the steel mills of central Pennsylvania with promises from big business and the union that, for his 30 years of service, he would have a pension and medical care to look forward to in his retirement. Instead he was one of the thousands who got nothing because the incompetent mill management and corrupt union (not to mention the government) raided their pension funds and stole their retirement. All she had was social security to live on.
In retrospect, the situation was laughable because here I was living on peanut butter and bread (or Ritz crackers when I could afford to splurge) for months at a time. When I got to know this poor figure and heard her story I felt worse for her plight than for my own (I, after all, I thought I had everything to in front of me). I was genuinely appalled at one point, as we exchanged stories and commiserated with each other over our situations, when she in her grandmotherly fashion tried to convince me that I would be “healthier” eating cat food (like her) rather than trying to get all my substance from peanut butter and bread. I couldn’t quite go there, but the impression was made. I decided that I didn’t trust big business to take care of me, and that I would take responsibility for my own future and myself.
Return to the early ‘80s, and here I was off to a terrifying start as a ‘wet-behind-the-ears’ contract software engineer... and two years later, thanks to the fine backroom, midnight effort by the sleazy executives of Arthur Andersen (the very same folks who later brought us Enron and other such calamities) and an equally sleazy New York Senator (Patrick Moynihan), we saw the passage of 1986 tax reform act with its section 1706.
For you who are unfamiliar, here is the core text of the IRS Section 1706, defining the treatment of workers (such as contract engineers) for tax purposes. Visit this link for a conference committee report ( [link to www.synergistech.com] regarding the intended interpretation of Section 1706 and the relevant parts of Section 530, as amended. For information on how these laws affect technical services workers and their clients, read our discussion here ( [link to www.synergistech.com]
SEC. 1706. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN TECHNICAL PERSONNEL.
(a) IN GENERAL - Section 530 of the Revenue Act of 1978 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection:
(d) EXCEPTION. - This section shall not apply in the case of an individual who pursuant to an arrangement between the taxpayer and another person, provides services for such other person as an engineer, designer, drafter, computer programmer, systems analyst, or other similarly skilled worker engaged in a similar line of work.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE. - The amendment made by this section shall apply to remuneration paid and services rendered after December 31, 1986.
Note:
· "another person" is the client in the traditional job-shop relationship.
· "taxpayer" is the recruiter, broker, agency, or job shop.
· "individual", "employee", or "worker" is you.
Admittedly, you need to read the treatment to understand what it is saying but it’s not very complicated. The bottom line is that they may as well have put my name right in the text of section (d). Moreover, they could only have been more blunt if they would have came out and directly declared me a criminal and non-citizen slave. Twenty years later, I still can’t believe my eyes.
During 1987, I spent close to $5000 of my ‘pocket change’, and at least 1000 hours of my time writing, printing, and mailing to any senator, congressman, governor, or slug that might listen; none did, and they universally treated me as if I was wasting their time. I spent countless hours on the L.A. freeways driving to meetings and any and all of the disorganized professional groups who were attempting to mount a campaign against this atrocity. This, only to discover that our efforts were being easily derailed by a few moles from the brokers who were just beginning to enjoy the windfall from the new declaration of their “freedom”. Oh, and don’t forget, for all of the time I was spending on this, I was loosing income that I couldn’t bill clients.
After months of struggling it had clearly gotten to be a futile exercise. The best we could get for all of our trouble is a pronouncement from an IRS mouthpiece that they weren’t going to enforce that provision (read harass engineers and scientists). This immediately proved to be a lie, and the mere existence of the regulation began to have its impact on my bottom line; this, of course, was the intended effect.
Again, rewind my retirement plans back to 0 and shift them into idle. If I had any sense, I clearly should have left abandoned engineering and never looked back.
Instead I got busy working 100-hour workweeks. Then came the L.A. depression of the early 1990s. Our leaders decided that they didn’t need the all of those extra Air Force bases they had in Southern California, so they were closed; just like that. The result was economic devastation in the region that rivaled the widely publicized Texas S&L fiasco. However, because the government caused it, no one gave a shit about all of the young families who lost their homes or street after street of boarded up houses abandoned to the wealthy loan companies who received government funds to “shore up” their windfall. Again, I lost my retirement.
Years later, after weathering a divorce and the constant struggle trying to build some momentum with my business, I find myself once again beginning to finally pick up some speed. Then came the .COM bust and the 911 nightmare. Our leaders decided that all aircraft were grounded for what seemed like an eternity; and long after that, ‘special’ facilities like San Francisco were on security alert for months. This made access to my customers prohibitively expensive. Ironically, after what they had done the Government came to the aid of the airlines with billions of our tax dollars … as usual they left me to rot and die while they bailed out their rich, incompetent cronies WITH MY MONEY! After these events, there went my business but not quite yet all of my retirement and savings.
By this time, I’m thinking that it might be good for a change. Bye to California, I’ll try Austin for a while. So I moved, only to find out that this is a place with a highly inflated sense of self-importance and where damn little real engineering work is done. I’ve never experienced such a hard time finding work. The rates are 1/3 of what I was earning before the crash, because pay rates here are fixed by the three or four large companies in the area who are in collusion to drive down prices and wages… and this happens because the justice department is all on the take and doesn’t give a fuck about serving anyone or anything but themselves and their rich buddies.
To survive, I was forced to cannibalize my savings and retirement, the last of which was a small IRA. This came in a year with mammoth expenses and not a single dollar of income. I filed no return that year thinking that because I didn’t have any income there was no need. The sleazy government decided that they disagreed. But they didn’t notify me in time for me to launch a legal objection so when I attempted to get a protest filed with the court I was told I was no longer entitled to due process because the time to file ran out. Bend over for another $10,000 helping of justice.
So now we come to the present. After my experience with the CPA world, following the business crash I swore that I’d never enter another accountant’s office again. But here I am with a new marriage and a boatload of undocumented income, not to mention an expensive new business asset, a piano, which I had no idea how to handle. After considerable thought I decided that it would be irresponsible NOT to get professional help; a very big mistake.
When we received the forms back I was very optimistic that they were in order. I had taken all of the years information to Bill Ross, and he came back with results very similar to what I was expecting. Except that he had neglected to include the contents of Sheryl’s unreported income; $12,700 worth of it. To make matters worse, Ross knew all along this was missing and I didn’t have a clue until he pointed it out in the middle of the audit. By that time it had become brutally evident that he was representing himself and not me.
This left me stuck in the middle of this disaster trying to defend transactions that have no relationship to anything tax-related (at least the tax-related transactions were poorly documented). Things I never knew anything about and things my wife had no clue would ever matter to anyone. The end result is… well, just look around.
I remember reading about the stock market crash before the “great” depression and how there were wealthy bankers and businessmen jumping out of windows when they realized they screwed up and lost everything. Isn’t it ironic how far we’ve come in 60 years in this country that they now know how to fix that little economic problem; they just steal from the middle class (who doesn’t have any say in it, elections are a joke) to cover their asses and it’s “business-as-usual”. Now when the wealthy fuck up, the poor get to die for the mistakes… isn’t that a clever, tidy solution.
As government agencies go, the FAA is often justifiably referred to as a tombstone agency, though they are hardly alone. The recent presidential puppet GW Bush and his cronies in their eight years certainly reinforced for all of us that this criticism rings equally true for all of the government. Nothing changes unless there is a body count (unless it is in the interest of the wealthy sows at the government trough). In a government full of hypocrites from top to bottom, life is as cheap as their lies and their self-serving laws.
I know I’m hardly the first one to decide I have had all I can stand. It has always been a myth that people have stopped dying for their freedom in this country, and it isn’t limited to the blacks, and poor immigrants. I know there have been countless before me and there are sure to be as many after. But I also know that by not adding my body to the count, I insure nothing will change. I choose to not keep looking over my shoulder at “big brother” while he strips my carcass, I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend that business as usual won’t continue; I have just had enough.
I can only hope that the numbers quickly get too big to be white washed and ignored that the American zombies wake up and revolt; it will take nothing less. I would only hope that by striking a nerve that stimulates the inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government reaction that results in more stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and begin to see the pompous political thugs and their mindless minions for what they are. Sadly, though I spent my entire life trying to believe it wasn’t so, but violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer. The cruel joke is that the really big chunks of shit at the top have known this all along and have been laughing, at and using this awareness against, fools like me all along.
I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different. I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let’s try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.
The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.
The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.
Joe Stack (1956-2010)
02/18/2010
We are all taught as children that without laws there would be no society, only anarchy. Sadly, starting at early ages we in this country have been brainwashed to believe that, in return for our dedication and service, our government stands for justice for all. We are further brainwashed to believe that there is freedom in this place, and that we should be ready to lay our lives down for the noble principals represented by its founding fathers. Remember? One of these was “no taxation without representation”. I have spent the total years of my adulthood unlearning that crap from only a few years of my childhood. These days anyone who really stands up for that principal is promptly labeled a “crackpot”, traitor and worse.
While very few working people would say they haven’t had their fair share of taxes (as can I), in my lifetime I can say with a great degree of certainty that there has never been a politician cast a vote on any matter with the likes of me or my interests in mind. Nor, for that matter, are they the least bit interested in me or anything I have to say.
Why is it that a handful of thugs and plunderers can commit unthinkable atrocities (and in the case of the GM executives, for scores of years) and when it’s time for their gravy train to crash under the weight of their gluttony and overwhelming stupidity, the force of the full federal government has no difficulty coming to their aid within days if not hours? Yet at the same time, the joke we call the American medical system, including the drug and insurance companies, are murdering tens of thousands of people a year and stealing from the corpses and victims they cripple, and this country’s leaders don’t see this as important as bailing out a few of their vile, rich cronies. Yet, the political “representatives” (thieves, liars, and self-serving scumbags is far more accurate) have endless time to sit around for year after year and debate the state of the “terrible health care problem”. It’s clear they see no crisis as long as the dead people don’t get in the way of their corporate profits rolling in.
And justice? You’ve got to be kidding!
How can any rational individual explain that white elephant conundrum in the middle of our tax system and, indeed, our entire legal system? Here we have a system that is, by far, too complicated for the brightest of the master scholars to understand. Yet, it mercilessly “holds accountable” its victims, claiming that they’re responsible for fully complying with laws not even the experts understand. The law “requires” a signature on the bottom of a tax filing; yet no one can say truthfully that they understand what they are signing; if that’s not “duress” than what is. If this is not the measure of a totalitarian regime, nothing is.
How did I get here?
My introduction to the real American nightmare starts back in the early ‘80s. Unfortunately after more than 16 years of school, somewhere along the line I picked up the absurd, pompous notion that I could read and understand plain English. Some friends introduced me to a group of people who were having ‘tax code’ readings and discussions. In particular, zeroed in on a section relating to the wonderful “exemptions” that make institutions like the vulgar, corrupt Catholic Church so incredibly wealthy. We carefully studied the law (with the help of some of the “best”, high-paid, experienced tax lawyers in the business), and then began to do exactly what the “big boys” were doing (except that we weren’t steeling from our congregation or lying to the government about our massive profits in the name of God). We took a great deal of care to make it all visible, following all of the rules, exactly the way the law said it was to be done.
The intent of this exercise and our efforts was to bring about a much-needed re-evaluation of the laws that allow the monsters of organized religion to make such a mockery of people who earn an honest living. However, this is where I learned that there are two “interpretations” for every law; one for the very rich, and one for the rest of us… Oh, and the monsters are the very ones making and enforcing the laws; the inquisition is still alive and well today in this country.
That little lesson in patriotism cost me $40,000+, 10 years of my life, and set my retirement plans back to 0. It made me realize for the first time that I live in a country with an ideology that is based on a total and complete lie. It also made me realize, not only how naive I had been, but also the incredible stupidity of the American public; that they buy, hook, line, and sinker, the crap about their “freedom”… and that they continue to do so with eyes closed in the face of overwhelming evidence and all that keeps happening in front of them.
Before even having to make a shaky recovery from the sting of the first lesson on what justice really means in this country (around 1984 after making my way through engineering school and still another five years of “paying my dues”), I felt I finally had to take a chance of launching my dream of becoming an independent engineer.
On the subjects of engineers and dreams of independence, I should digress somewhat to say that I’m sure that I inherited the fascination for creative problem solving from my father. I realized this at a very young age.
The significance of independence, however, came much later during my early years of college; at the age of 18 or 19 when I was living on my own as student in an apartment in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. My neighbor was an elderly retired woman (80+ seemed ancient to me at that age) who was the widowed wife of a retired steel worker. Her husband had worked all his life in the steel mills of central Pennsylvania with promises from big business and the union that, for his 30 years of service, he would have a pension and medical care to look forward to in his retirement. Instead he was one of the thousands who got nothing because the incompetent mill management and corrupt union (not to mention the government) raided their pension funds and stole their retirement. All she had was social security to live on.
In retrospect, the situation was laughable because here I was living on peanut butter and bread (or Ritz crackers when I could afford to splurge) for months at a time. When I got to know this poor figure and heard her story I felt worse for her plight than for my own (I, after all, I thought I had everything to in front of me). I was genuinely appalled at one point, as we exchanged stories and commiserated with each other over our situations, when she in her grandmotherly fashion tried to convince me that I would be “healthier” eating cat food (like her) rather than trying to get all my substance from peanut butter and bread. I couldn’t quite go there, but the impression was made. I decided that I didn’t trust big business to take care of me, and that I would take responsibility for my own future and myself.
Return to the early ‘80s, and here I was off to a terrifying start as a ‘wet-behind-the-ears’ contract software engineer... and two years later, thanks to the fine backroom, midnight effort by the sleazy executives of Arthur Andersen (the very same folks who later brought us Enron and other such calamities) and an equally sleazy New York Senator (Patrick Moynihan), we saw the passage of 1986 tax reform act with its section 1706.
For you who are unfamiliar, here is the core text of the IRS Section 1706, defining the treatment of workers (such as contract engineers) for tax purposes. Visit this link for a conference committee report ( [link to www.synergistech.com] regarding the intended interpretation of Section 1706 and the relevant parts of Section 530, as amended. For information on how these laws affect technical services workers and their clients, read our discussion here ( [link to www.synergistech.com]
SEC. 1706. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN TECHNICAL PERSONNEL.
(a) IN GENERAL - Section 530 of the Revenue Act of 1978 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection:
(d) EXCEPTION. - This section shall not apply in the case of an individual who pursuant to an arrangement between the taxpayer and another person, provides services for such other person as an engineer, designer, drafter, computer programmer, systems analyst, or other similarly skilled worker engaged in a similar line of work.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE. - The amendment made by this section shall apply to remuneration paid and services rendered after December 31, 1986.
Note:
· "another person" is the client in the traditional job-shop relationship.
· "taxpayer" is the recruiter, broker, agency, or job shop.
· "individual", "employee", or "worker" is you.
Admittedly, you need to read the treatment to understand what it is saying but it’s not very complicated. The bottom line is that they may as well have put my name right in the text of section (d). Moreover, they could only have been more blunt if they would have came out and directly declared me a criminal and non-citizen slave. Twenty years later, I still can’t believe my eyes.
During 1987, I spent close to $5000 of my ‘pocket change’, and at least 1000 hours of my time writing, printing, and mailing to any senator, congressman, governor, or slug that might listen; none did, and they universally treated me as if I was wasting their time. I spent countless hours on the L.A. freeways driving to meetings and any and all of the disorganized professional groups who were attempting to mount a campaign against this atrocity. This, only to discover that our efforts were being easily derailed by a few moles from the brokers who were just beginning to enjoy the windfall from the new declaration of their “freedom”. Oh, and don’t forget, for all of the time I was spending on this, I was loosing income that I couldn’t bill clients.
After months of struggling it had clearly gotten to be a futile exercise. The best we could get for all of our trouble is a pronouncement from an IRS mouthpiece that they weren’t going to enforce that provision (read harass engineers and scientists). This immediately proved to be a lie, and the mere existence of the regulation began to have its impact on my bottom line; this, of course, was the intended effect.
Again, rewind my retirement plans back to 0 and shift them into idle. If I had any sense, I clearly should have left abandoned engineering and never looked back.
Instead I got busy working 100-hour workweeks. Then came the L.A. depression of the early 1990s. Our leaders decided that they didn’t need the all of those extra Air Force bases they had in Southern California, so they were closed; just like that. The result was economic devastation in the region that rivaled the widely publicized Texas S&L fiasco. However, because the government caused it, no one gave a shit about all of the young families who lost their homes or street after street of boarded up houses abandoned to the wealthy loan companies who received government funds to “shore up” their windfall. Again, I lost my retirement.
Years later, after weathering a divorce and the constant struggle trying to build some momentum with my business, I find myself once again beginning to finally pick up some speed. Then came the .COM bust and the 911 nightmare. Our leaders decided that all aircraft were grounded for what seemed like an eternity; and long after that, ‘special’ facilities like San Francisco were on security alert for months. This made access to my customers prohibitively expensive. Ironically, after what they had done the Government came to the aid of the airlines with billions of our tax dollars … as usual they left me to rot and die while they bailed out their rich, incompetent cronies WITH MY MONEY! After these events, there went my business but not quite yet all of my retirement and savings.
By this time, I’m thinking that it might be good for a change. Bye to California, I’ll try Austin for a while. So I moved, only to find out that this is a place with a highly inflated sense of self-importance and where damn little real engineering work is done. I’ve never experienced such a hard time finding work. The rates are 1/3 of what I was earning before the crash, because pay rates here are fixed by the three or four large companies in the area who are in collusion to drive down prices and wages… and this happens because the justice department is all on the take and doesn’t give a fuck about serving anyone or anything but themselves and their rich buddies.
To survive, I was forced to cannibalize my savings and retirement, the last of which was a small IRA. This came in a year with mammoth expenses and not a single dollar of income. I filed no return that year thinking that because I didn’t have any income there was no need. The sleazy government decided that they disagreed. But they didn’t notify me in time for me to launch a legal objection so when I attempted to get a protest filed with the court I was told I was no longer entitled to due process because the time to file ran out. Bend over for another $10,000 helping of justice.
So now we come to the present. After my experience with the CPA world, following the business crash I swore that I’d never enter another accountant’s office again. But here I am with a new marriage and a boatload of undocumented income, not to mention an expensive new business asset, a piano, which I had no idea how to handle. After considerable thought I decided that it would be irresponsible NOT to get professional help; a very big mistake.
When we received the forms back I was very optimistic that they were in order. I had taken all of the years information to Bill Ross, and he came back with results very similar to what I was expecting. Except that he had neglected to include the contents of Sheryl’s unreported income; $12,700 worth of it. To make matters worse, Ross knew all along this was missing and I didn’t have a clue until he pointed it out in the middle of the audit. By that time it had become brutally evident that he was representing himself and not me.
This left me stuck in the middle of this disaster trying to defend transactions that have no relationship to anything tax-related (at least the tax-related transactions were poorly documented). Things I never knew anything about and things my wife had no clue would ever matter to anyone. The end result is… well, just look around.
I remember reading about the stock market crash before the “great” depression and how there were wealthy bankers and businessmen jumping out of windows when they realized they screwed up and lost everything. Isn’t it ironic how far we’ve come in 60 years in this country that they now know how to fix that little economic problem; they just steal from the middle class (who doesn’t have any say in it, elections are a joke) to cover their asses and it’s “business-as-usual”. Now when the wealthy fuck up, the poor get to die for the mistakes… isn’t that a clever, tidy solution.
As government agencies go, the FAA is often justifiably referred to as a tombstone agency, though they are hardly alone. The recent presidential puppet GW Bush and his cronies in their eight years certainly reinforced for all of us that this criticism rings equally true for all of the government. Nothing changes unless there is a body count (unless it is in the interest of the wealthy sows at the government trough). In a government full of hypocrites from top to bottom, life is as cheap as their lies and their self-serving laws.
I know I’m hardly the first one to decide I have had all I can stand. It has always been a myth that people have stopped dying for their freedom in this country, and it isn’t limited to the blacks, and poor immigrants. I know there have been countless before me and there are sure to be as many after. But I also know that by not adding my body to the count, I insure nothing will change. I choose to not keep looking over my shoulder at “big brother” while he strips my carcass, I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend that business as usual won’t continue; I have just had enough.
I can only hope that the numbers quickly get too big to be white washed and ignored that the American zombies wake up and revolt; it will take nothing less. I would only hope that by striking a nerve that stimulates the inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government reaction that results in more stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and begin to see the pompous political thugs and their mindless minions for what they are. Sadly, though I spent my entire life trying to believe it wasn’t so, but violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer. The cruel joke is that the really big chunks of shit at the top have known this all along and have been laughing, at and using this awareness against, fools like me all along.
I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different. I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let’s try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.
The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.
The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.
Joe Stack (1956-2010)
02/18/2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Iran anniversary 'punch' will stun West: Khamenei
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that Iran is set to deliver a "punch" that will stun world powers during this week's 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution.
"The Iranian nation, with its unity and God's grace, will punch the arrogance (Western powers) on the 22nd of Bahman (February 11) in a way that will leave them stunned," Khamenei, who is also Iran's commander-in-chief, told a gathering of air force personnel.
The country's top cleric was marking the occasion when Iran's air force gave its support to revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a key event which led to the toppling of the US-backed shah on February 11, 1979.
His comments came as Iran said it would begin to produce higher enriched uranium from Tuesday, in defiance of Western powers trying to ensure the country's nuclear drive is peaceful.
This year's anniversary is expected to become a flashpoint between security forces and supporters of opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who charge that the June re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was rigged.
Opposition supporters are expected to stage anti-government protests on Thursday when the traditional regime-sponsored marches to mark the revolution take place across the country.
Mousavi renewed his call for demonstrations on the February 11 anniversary.
Just over a week ago, he and Karroubi had implicitly called for a gathering of their supporters.
"The 22nd of Bahman is upon us, truly it should be called the day of gathering," Mousavi said on his Kaleme.org website Monday.
"I feel we have to participate while maintaining the collective spirit as well as our identity and leave an impression," Mousavi said.
"Anger and bitterness should not take our control away.
"The clerics should know that since imprisonment, beatings, and other confrontational methods are done in the name of Islam and the Islamic regime, it is hurting Islam and we all should try to stop," he added.
Anti-government protests were first triggered after the June 12 presidential election won by Ahmadinejad.
Over the past eight months, several thousand people were arrested. Some were released and others were given hefty prison terms, among them politicians, journalists and human rights activists.
Two protesters were tried, convicted and hanged in the aftermath of the election.
Khamenei told the air force personnel the "most important aim of the sedition after the election was to create a rift within the Iranian nation, but it was unable to do so and our nation's unity remained a thorn in its eyes."
Iran anniversary 'punch' will stun West: Khamenei
"The Iranian nation, with its unity and God's grace, will punch the arrogance (Western powers) on the 22nd of Bahman (February 11) in a way that will leave them stunned," Khamenei, who is also Iran's commander-in-chief, told a gathering of air force personnel.
The country's top cleric was marking the occasion when Iran's air force gave its support to revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a key event which led to the toppling of the US-backed shah on February 11, 1979.
His comments came as Iran said it would begin to produce higher enriched uranium from Tuesday, in defiance of Western powers trying to ensure the country's nuclear drive is peaceful.
This year's anniversary is expected to become a flashpoint between security forces and supporters of opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who charge that the June re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was rigged.
Opposition supporters are expected to stage anti-government protests on Thursday when the traditional regime-sponsored marches to mark the revolution take place across the country.
Mousavi renewed his call for demonstrations on the February 11 anniversary.
Just over a week ago, he and Karroubi had implicitly called for a gathering of their supporters.
"The 22nd of Bahman is upon us, truly it should be called the day of gathering," Mousavi said on his Kaleme.org website Monday.
"I feel we have to participate while maintaining the collective spirit as well as our identity and leave an impression," Mousavi said.
"Anger and bitterness should not take our control away.
"The clerics should know that since imprisonment, beatings, and other confrontational methods are done in the name of Islam and the Islamic regime, it is hurting Islam and we all should try to stop," he added.
Anti-government protests were first triggered after the June 12 presidential election won by Ahmadinejad.
Over the past eight months, several thousand people were arrested. Some were released and others were given hefty prison terms, among them politicians, journalists and human rights activists.
Two protesters were tried, convicted and hanged in the aftermath of the election.
Khamenei told the air force personnel the "most important aim of the sedition after the election was to create a rift within the Iranian nation, but it was unable to do so and our nation's unity remained a thorn in its eyes."
Iran anniversary 'punch' will stun West: Khamenei
Monday, February 1, 2010
Central banks end US dollar emergency swap lines - BusinessWeek
The Bank of England said Wednesday that it and other major central banks are ending emergency lending arrangements put in place with the U.S. Federal Reserve in the wake of the global credit crisis, citing improvements in financial markets.
The decision marks the first unified retraction by central banks around the world of extraordinary support measures to boost lending after credit markets seized up in late 2007, causing the global economic downturn.
The Bank of England was joined by the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank in announcing that the temporary reciprocal currency arrangements with the Fed would expire on Feb. 1.
"These lines, which were established to counter pressures in global funding markets, are no longer needed given the improvements in financial market functioning seen over the past year," the bank said in a statement. "Central banks will continue to cooperate as needed."
The Fed announced in December 2007 that it had authorized so-called liquidity swap lines with the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank. The agreement was extended to include several other central banks in April 2009.
Under the arrangements, central banks around the world provided each other with foreign currency -- the Fed made U.S. dollar liquidity available elsewhere, with the ECB providing euros and the Bank of England providing sterling. The agreements added up to hundreds of billions of dollars.
The aim was to improve liquidity conditions in U.S. and foreign financial markets after banks became nervous of lending to each other amid concerns about the state of balance sheets across the industry.
The stagnation in the interbank lending pushed up the premium for short-term U.S. dollar funding in particular, a currency that features widely in both asset and liability tables of banks and companies around the world. That led to a sharp rise in interbank lending rates, which flowed through to the rest of the financial system.
The Bank of England said it conducted its last U.S. dollar repo operation under the arrangements on Wednesday.
Central banks end US dollar emergency swap lines - BusinessWeek
The decision marks the first unified retraction by central banks around the world of extraordinary support measures to boost lending after credit markets seized up in late 2007, causing the global economic downturn.
The Bank of England was joined by the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank in announcing that the temporary reciprocal currency arrangements with the Fed would expire on Feb. 1.
"These lines, which were established to counter pressures in global funding markets, are no longer needed given the improvements in financial market functioning seen over the past year," the bank said in a statement. "Central banks will continue to cooperate as needed."
The Fed announced in December 2007 that it had authorized so-called liquidity swap lines with the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank. The agreement was extended to include several other central banks in April 2009.
Under the arrangements, central banks around the world provided each other with foreign currency -- the Fed made U.S. dollar liquidity available elsewhere, with the ECB providing euros and the Bank of England providing sterling. The agreements added up to hundreds of billions of dollars.
The aim was to improve liquidity conditions in U.S. and foreign financial markets after banks became nervous of lending to each other amid concerns about the state of balance sheets across the industry.
The stagnation in the interbank lending pushed up the premium for short-term U.S. dollar funding in particular, a currency that features widely in both asset and liability tables of banks and companies around the world. That led to a sharp rise in interbank lending rates, which flowed through to the rest of the financial system.
The Bank of England said it conducted its last U.S. dollar repo operation under the arrangements on Wednesday.
Central banks end US dollar emergency swap lines - BusinessWeek
Monday, January 25, 2010
Your Life with Google
Google is nice. It is free software that is unobtrusive, makes life easier, and catalogues all your moves. Here is funny movie, but rings very true...
Thursday, January 21, 2010
The World Bids Farewell to Obama
US President Barack Obama suffered a painful defeat in Massachusetts on Tuesday. With mid-term elections looming, it means that Obama will have to fundamentally re-think his political course. German commentators say it is the end of hope.
US President Barack Obama has had a number of difficult weeks during his first year in the White House. Right after he took office, he had to wade through a week full of partisan bickering over his economic stimulus package combined with a tax scandal surrounding Tom Daschle, the man Obama had hoped would lead his health care reform team.
Then there was the last week of 2009, when a failed terror attack on a flight inbound for Detroit exposed major flaws in US efforts to identify and stop potential terrorists.
This week, though -- a week when Obama should have been celebrating the first anniversary of his inauguration -- may have been the president's worst yet. Scott Brown, an almost unknown Republican member of the Massachusetts Senate, defeated the Democratic candidate Martha Coakley for the US Senate seat vacated by the death of Senator Edward M. Kennedy. The defeat in a heavily Democratic state not only highlights Obama's massive loss of popular support during his first year in office, but it also could spell doom for his signature effort to reform the US health care system.
There were immediate calls for a suspension of health care votes in the Senate until Brown is sworn in. The loss of the Massachusetts seat means that the Democrats no longer control the 60 Senate seats necessary to avoid a filibuster. Obama's reform package, which aims to provide health insurance to most of the over 40 million Americans currently lacking coverage, may ultimately fail as a result.
More than that, though, the vote shows just how quickly the political pendulum has swung back to the right following Obama's election. The seat Brown won had been in Democratic hands for all but six years since 1926. Now, its new occupant is a man who not only opposes the health care bill, but also favors waterboarding as a method of interrogation for terrorism suspects and rejects carbon cap-and-trade as a means of limiting carbon emissions.
The omen could be a dark one for the Obama administration heading into a mid-term election year. German commentators take a closer look.
Center-left daily Süddeutsche Zeitung writes on Thursday:
"Obama made a serious misjudgement. Right at the beginning of his first year in office, he saved the banks, rescued the automobile industry from collapse and passed a huge economic stimulus package. He had hoped that these enormous deeds would give him the space to address those issues which are dearest to him: health care reform, climate change and investment in education."
"Those issues, however, are clearly not priorities for people in the US at the moment. Scott Brown campaigned on two promises, both of which apparently struck a nerve with the electorate. He wants to block health care reform and he wants to find ways to reduce the enormous budget deficit. It is here where the roots of dissatisfaction with Obama are to be found. His reform agenda, in its current form, is highly suspect to Americans. And they have the impression that, if he continues piling up debt, he will be gambling away the country's future."
The Financial Times Deutschland writes:
"For Obama, the election in Massachusetts means that he will have to re-evaluate his political style. He could now focus his concentration on his political base and push through his policy agenda. After all, he still has a majority in Congress -- he could back away from his strategy of bipartisanship ... which would mean giving up much of what he spent his first year in office creating."
"More likely, however, is that Obama will interpret the Massachusetts loss as a signal that he should move further toward the middle and make more concessions to the conservatives -- even if this alienates his base even further, a base which had high expectations from the 'yes we can' candidate."
"For everyone else in the world, this means that they will have to bid farewell to a candidate for whom the hopes were so high. They will have to say goodbye to the charisma they fell in love with. Obama will be staying home after all."
The left-leaning daily Die Tageszeitung writes:
"In addition to health care reform, Obama's reputation has primarily been harmed by the high unemployment rate and the increasingly unpopular war in Afghanistan. It will become even more difficult in the future for the president to push projects through successfully. Not just because Republicans now have a means of preventing it, but also because the Democratic camp is deeply divided. Some would like to see the party shift toward the center -- wherever that may be -- whereas others want the party to position itself to the left. Such a battle is hardly a good sign for the mid-term elections in November. Massachusetts could prove to be an omen."
The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:
"Of course the president rejects the interpretation that the Massachusetts election was a referendum on his first year in the White House. But he cannot ignore the fact that his health care reform package is not popular, the situation of the country's finances is seen as threatening and many voters blame the high unemployment rate on the party in power -- on the Democrats, led by Obama. The result is a second year in office full of very different challenges than the first. To save what there is to be saved, Obama will have to be prepared to fashion a bipartisan compromise on health care -- a compromise with a Republican Party which has tasted blood and can now dream once again about a return to power."
Monday, January 18, 2010
One in 7 U.S. mortgages foreclosing or delinquent
NEW YORK, Nov 19 (Reuters) - A record one in seven U.S. mortgages were in foreclosure or at least one payment past due in the third quarter, according to fresh data signaling the recovery in the housing market will be tepid at best.
U.S. mortgage delinquency rates and the percentage of loans that entered the foreclosure process also jumped to records from July to September, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Thursday.
Rising job losses were behind the increasingly bleak portrait of the housing market in a trend that will continue into next year, the group said in data that adds to recent evidence of a still-struggling housing market.
Housing and related business account for about 20 percent of the economy and recovery is essential to bring unemployment down from a 26-1/2-year high and kick-start economic growth.
Yet record foreclosures will add to the growing supply of unsold homes, sapping the housing market as it attempts to recover from the worst slump since the Great Depression.
The MBA said the percentage of loans in foreclosure rose to 1.42 percent, from 1.36 percent in the second quarter and 1.07 percent in the third quarter of 2008.
"Foreclosures remain the biggest hurdle to the housing recovery," said Michelle Meyer, economist at Barclays Capital in New York.
"Foreclosures will be worse in the first part of 2010 and we do not see a peak in foreclosures until the middle of next year."
More conservative, prime fixed-rate loans often sold to homebuyers with the highest credit ratings continued to represent the largest share of foreclosures started and were the biggest driver of the increase in foreclosures, said MBA chief economist Jay Brinkmann.
The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties rose to a seasonally adjusted rate of 9.64 percent of loans outstanding, up from 9.24 percent in the second quarter and 6.99 percent a year earlier, the MBA said.
The delinquency rate broke the record set last quarter, based on MBA data going back to 1972. The rate includes loans that are at least one payment past due but does not include loans somewhere in the process of foreclosure.
The latest splash of cold water follows a stunning 10.6 percent plunge in housing starts for October, reported on Wednesday. For details see [ID:nN1899353].
The combination of loans in foreclosure and at least one payment past due was 14.41 percent on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the highest ever seen in the survey.
In fact, 33 percent of foreclosures started in the third quarter were on prime fixed-rate loans and those loans were 44 percent of the quarterly increase in foreclosures, Brinkmann said.
"The foreclosure numbers for prime fixed-rate loans will get worse because those loans represented 54 percent of the quarterly increase in loans 90 days or more past due but not yet in foreclosure," he said.
The percentage of loans in the foreclosure process at the end of the third quarter was 4.47 percent, up from 4.30 percent in the second quarter and 2.97 percent a year earlier.
Florida, California, Arizona and Nevada have a disproportionate share of these problems, Brinkmann said.
They had 43 percent of all foreclosures started in the third quarter, down from 44 percent both last quarter and the third quarter last year. They had 37 percent of the nation's prime fixed-rate loan foreclosure starts and 67 percent of the prime adjustable-rate mortgage, or ARM, foreclosure starts.
At the end of September, 25 percent of mortgages in Florida were at least one payment past due or in foreclosure, he said.
OUTLOOK BLEAK
The outlook is for delinquency and foreclosure rates to continue to worsen before they improve, Brinkmann said.
"First, it is unlikely the employment picture will get better until sometime next year and even then jobs will increase at a very slow pace," he said.
"Second, the number of loans 90 days or more past due or in foreclosure is now a little over 4 million as compared with 3.9 million new and previously occupied homes currently for sale, although there is likely some overlap between the two numbers," he said.
Therefore, the ultimate resolution of these seriously delinquent loans will put added pressure on the hardest hit sections of the country, Brinkmann said.
Reuters
U.S. mortgage delinquency rates and the percentage of loans that entered the foreclosure process also jumped to records from July to September, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Thursday.
Rising job losses were behind the increasingly bleak portrait of the housing market in a trend that will continue into next year, the group said in data that adds to recent evidence of a still-struggling housing market.
Housing and related business account for about 20 percent of the economy and recovery is essential to bring unemployment down from a 26-1/2-year high and kick-start economic growth.
Yet record foreclosures will add to the growing supply of unsold homes, sapping the housing market as it attempts to recover from the worst slump since the Great Depression.
The MBA said the percentage of loans in foreclosure rose to 1.42 percent, from 1.36 percent in the second quarter and 1.07 percent in the third quarter of 2008.
"Foreclosures remain the biggest hurdle to the housing recovery," said Michelle Meyer, economist at Barclays Capital in New York.
"Foreclosures will be worse in the first part of 2010 and we do not see a peak in foreclosures until the middle of next year."
More conservative, prime fixed-rate loans often sold to homebuyers with the highest credit ratings continued to represent the largest share of foreclosures started and were the biggest driver of the increase in foreclosures, said MBA chief economist Jay Brinkmann.
The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties rose to a seasonally adjusted rate of 9.64 percent of loans outstanding, up from 9.24 percent in the second quarter and 6.99 percent a year earlier, the MBA said.
The delinquency rate broke the record set last quarter, based on MBA data going back to 1972. The rate includes loans that are at least one payment past due but does not include loans somewhere in the process of foreclosure.
The latest splash of cold water follows a stunning 10.6 percent plunge in housing starts for October, reported on Wednesday. For details see [ID:nN1899353].
The combination of loans in foreclosure and at least one payment past due was 14.41 percent on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the highest ever seen in the survey.
In fact, 33 percent of foreclosures started in the third quarter were on prime fixed-rate loans and those loans were 44 percent of the quarterly increase in foreclosures, Brinkmann said.
"The foreclosure numbers for prime fixed-rate loans will get worse because those loans represented 54 percent of the quarterly increase in loans 90 days or more past due but not yet in foreclosure," he said.
The percentage of loans in the foreclosure process at the end of the third quarter was 4.47 percent, up from 4.30 percent in the second quarter and 2.97 percent a year earlier.
Florida, California, Arizona and Nevada have a disproportionate share of these problems, Brinkmann said.
They had 43 percent of all foreclosures started in the third quarter, down from 44 percent both last quarter and the third quarter last year. They had 37 percent of the nation's prime fixed-rate loan foreclosure starts and 67 percent of the prime adjustable-rate mortgage, or ARM, foreclosure starts.
At the end of September, 25 percent of mortgages in Florida were at least one payment past due or in foreclosure, he said.
OUTLOOK BLEAK
The outlook is for delinquency and foreclosure rates to continue to worsen before they improve, Brinkmann said.
"First, it is unlikely the employment picture will get better until sometime next year and even then jobs will increase at a very slow pace," he said.
"Second, the number of loans 90 days or more past due or in foreclosure is now a little over 4 million as compared with 3.9 million new and previously occupied homes currently for sale, although there is likely some overlap between the two numbers," he said.
Therefore, the ultimate resolution of these seriously delinquent loans will put added pressure on the hardest hit sections of the country, Brinkmann said.
Reuters
Friday, January 15, 2010
The NBA or NFL
Even if you aren't a sports fan this is very interesting!
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
36 have been accused of spousal abuse
7 have been arrested for fraud
19 have been accused of writing bad checks
117 have directly or indirectlybankrupted at least 2 businesses
3 have done time for assault
71repeat71
cannot get a credit card due to bad credit
14 have been arrested on drug-related charges
8 have been arrested for shoplifting
21currently are defendants in lawsuits,
and
84have been arrested for drunk driving
in the last year
Can
you guess which organization this is?
NBA Or NFL
?
Give up yet?
Neither,
it's the 535 members of the
United States Congress
The same group of Idiots that crank out
hundreds of new laws each year
designed to keep the rest of us in line.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
36 have been accused of spousal abuse
7 have been arrested for fraud
19 have been accused of writing bad checks
117 have directly or indirectlybankrupted at least 2 businesses
3 have done time for assault
71repeat71
cannot get a credit card due to bad credit
14 have been arrested on drug-related charges
8 have been arrested for shoplifting
21currently are defendants in lawsuits,
and
84have been arrested for drunk driving
in the last year
Can
you guess which organization this is?
NBA Or NFL
?
Give up yet?
Neither,
it's the 535 members of the
United States Congress
The same group of Idiots that crank out
hundreds of new laws each year
designed to keep the rest of us in line.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Space head: Russia may send spacecraft to asteroid
MOSCOW – Russia's space chief said Wednesday his agency will consider sending a spacecraft to a large asteroid to knock it off its path and prevent a possible collision with Earth.
Anatoly Perminov said the space agency will hold a meeting soon to assess a mission to Apophis, telling Golos Rossii radio that it would invite NASA, the European Space Agency, the Chinese space agency and others to join the project once it is finalized.
When the 270-meter (885-foot) asteroid was first discovered in 2004, astronomers estimated the chances of it smashing into Earth in its first flyby in 2029 were as high as 1-in-37.
Further studies ruled out the possibility of an impact in 2029, when the asteroid is expected to come no closer than 18,300 miles (29,450 kilometers) above Earth's surface, but they indicated a small possibility of a hit on subsequent encounters.
In October, NASA lowered the odds that Apophis could hit Earth in 2036 from a 1-in-45,000 as earlier thought to a 1-in-250,000 chance after researchers recalculated the asteroid's path. It said another close encounter in 2068 will involve a 1-in-330,000 chance of impact.
Scientists have long theorized about asteroid deflection strategies. Some have proposed sending a probe to circle around a dangerous asteroid to gradually change its trajectory. Others suggested sending a spacecraft to collide with the asteroid and alter its momentum, or using nuclear weapons to hit it.
Without mentioning NASA findings, Perminov said that he heard from a scientist that Apophis is getting closer and may hit the planet. "I don't remember exactly, but it seems to me it could hit the Earth by 2032," Perminov said.
He wouldn't disclose any details of the project, saying they still need to be worked out. But he said the mission wouldn't require any nuclear explosions.
Hollywood action films "Deep Impact" and "Armageddon," have featured space missions scrambling to avoid catastrophic collisions. In both movies space crews use nuclear bombs in an attempt to prevent collisions.
"Calculations show that it's possible to create a special purpose spacecraft within the time we have, which would help avoid the collision without destroying it (the asteroid) and without detonating any nuclear charges," Perminov said. "The threat of collision can be averted."
"People's lives are at stake. We should pay several hundred million dollars and build a system that would allow to prevent a collision, rather than sit and wait for it to happen and kill hundreds of thousands of people," he added.
Boris Shustov, the director of the Institute of Astronomy under the Russian Academy of Sciences, hailed Perminov's statement as a signal that officials had come to recognize the danger posed by asteroids.
"Apophis is just a symbolic example, there are many other dangerous objects we know little about," he said, according to RIA Novosti news agency.
Anatoly Perminov said the space agency will hold a meeting soon to assess a mission to Apophis, telling Golos Rossii radio that it would invite NASA, the European Space Agency, the Chinese space agency and others to join the project once it is finalized.
When the 270-meter (885-foot) asteroid was first discovered in 2004, astronomers estimated the chances of it smashing into Earth in its first flyby in 2029 were as high as 1-in-37.
Further studies ruled out the possibility of an impact in 2029, when the asteroid is expected to come no closer than 18,300 miles (29,450 kilometers) above Earth's surface, but they indicated a small possibility of a hit on subsequent encounters.
In October, NASA lowered the odds that Apophis could hit Earth in 2036 from a 1-in-45,000 as earlier thought to a 1-in-250,000 chance after researchers recalculated the asteroid's path. It said another close encounter in 2068 will involve a 1-in-330,000 chance of impact.
Scientists have long theorized about asteroid deflection strategies. Some have proposed sending a probe to circle around a dangerous asteroid to gradually change its trajectory. Others suggested sending a spacecraft to collide with the asteroid and alter its momentum, or using nuclear weapons to hit it.
Without mentioning NASA findings, Perminov said that he heard from a scientist that Apophis is getting closer and may hit the planet. "I don't remember exactly, but it seems to me it could hit the Earth by 2032," Perminov said.
He wouldn't disclose any details of the project, saying they still need to be worked out. But he said the mission wouldn't require any nuclear explosions.
Hollywood action films "Deep Impact" and "Armageddon," have featured space missions scrambling to avoid catastrophic collisions. In both movies space crews use nuclear bombs in an attempt to prevent collisions.
"Calculations show that it's possible to create a special purpose spacecraft within the time we have, which would help avoid the collision without destroying it (the asteroid) and without detonating any nuclear charges," Perminov said. "The threat of collision can be averted."
"People's lives are at stake. We should pay several hundred million dollars and build a system that would allow to prevent a collision, rather than sit and wait for it to happen and kill hundreds of thousands of people," he added.
Boris Shustov, the director of the Institute of Astronomy under the Russian Academy of Sciences, hailed Perminov's statement as a signal that officials had come to recognize the danger posed by asteroids.
"Apophis is just a symbolic example, there are many other dangerous objects we know little about," he said, according to RIA Novosti news agency.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Flaherty Says Russia, China May Buy Canada Dollars
Dec. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Canada’s Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said China, with the world’s largest currency reserves of $2.3 trillion, may be poised to buy Canadian dollars as it seeks to shield its reserves against the U.S. dollar’s decline.
“It does not surprise me that China and Russia would take greater positions in the Canadian dollar than they have previously,” Flaherty, 59, said during an interview in his office in Ottawa. “I would expect countries looking around the world to invest in market currencies that are reliable.”
The U.S. dollar has declined against all but one of the 16 most-active currencies this year, prompting major reserve- holding countries such as Russia and China to express concern about their U.S.-denominated investments. Russia last month said it will add Canadian dollars to its reserves to lower its dependence on the U.S. currency.
The Bank of Canada has warned “persistent strength” in the currency is a main risk for the economy, potentially acting as a “significant” drag on growth. Canada’s currency has gained 15 percent this year against the U.S. dollar. Chinese purchases of Canadian dollars would also cement growing economic links between the U.S.’s two largest trading partners.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said in March that the nation was “worried” about the safety of its investment in U.S. debt, as a weakening dollar eroded the value of its reserves. China’s currency regulator said earlier this month it will “improve” its utilization of foreign-exchange reserves.
PetroChina
PetroChina Co., China’s largest oil company, this year bought its first stake in the Canadian oil sands, paying C$1.9 billion ($1.8 billion) for 60 percent of a project run by Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. Vancouver-based Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s biggest base-metals producer, sold a 17 percent stake to China’s sovereign wealth fund for C$1.74 billion in July.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, seeking to cut dependence on the U.S., traveled to China earlier this month to secure Asia’s second-biggest economy as a customer for oil, natural gas, uranium and other commodities.
“We know that China has been interested in things in Canada, whether it’s the bond market or the oil sands or oil companies,” said David Watt, senior currency strategist in Toronto at RBC Capital Markets, a unit of Canada’s biggest bank. “They’ve been sniffing around in the past. We know they’ve been interested.”
Watt said an amount equal to 2 percent of Asian reserves would mean about C$100 billion of currency flows into Canada.
“It would certainly be a positive backdrop for the currency,” Watt said.
Move to Parity
The Canadian currency gained 0.9 percent to C$1.0484 per U.S. dollar at 3:07 p.m. in Toronto, from C$1.0575 yesterday. One Canadian dollar purchases 95.38 U.S. cents.
Canada’s currency will appreciate to parity with the U.S. dollar by the middle of next year, Bank of Nova Scotia predicts. The median estimate of 38 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News is for the currency to strengthen to C$1.04 in that period. The currency last traded on a one-for-one basis in July 2008.
Asked whether the Canadian dollar’s gain was a concern, Flaherty said the government is worried about “sudden” moves that don’t give companies “sufficient time to adjust.”
Canada’s currency has gained in part as investors bet an accelerating economic recovery will prompt the central bank to raise interest rates sooner than in the U.S. Canada also sits on the largest pool of oil reserves outside the Middle East and is a major exporter of other commodities such as gold. A Canadian commodity price index compiled by the Bank of Canada has advanced more than 20 percent this year.
Canada also has the lowest debt levels among the Group of Seven nations, making its currency a relatively safer investment, Flaherty said in the interview on Monday.
‘Upward Pressure’
“It’s been clear for some time now that the downward pressure on the U.S. dollar is significant and that results in the other reliable market currencies having some upward pressure,” Flaherty said from his 21st-floor office that looks out to the hills of Gatineau Park. “I see it as a reflection of the relative strength of the Canadian dollar and the relative strength of our fiscal situation.”
Flaherty said China might relieve pressure on Canada’s dollar if the Asian country did more to loosen restrictions on movements of its currency.
Global “imbalances” will be a “primary subject” of discussion at a meeting of Group of Seven officials in February, he said. Canada will host a meeting of finance ministers and central bankers from the group on Feb. 5-6 in Iqaluit, a northern town near the Arctic Circle.
Lawmakers around the world are redesigning their financial architecture in the wake of the worst financial crisis in a generation that forced governments to spend more than $500 billion in the past year bailing out banks.
Officials will discuss “mutual assessment systems” to ensure the G-7 countries can be “checking on each other,” and developing so-called macro-prudential regulations that focus on risks to the financial system instead of a single financial institution, Flaherty said.
Bloomberg
“It does not surprise me that China and Russia would take greater positions in the Canadian dollar than they have previously,” Flaherty, 59, said during an interview in his office in Ottawa. “I would expect countries looking around the world to invest in market currencies that are reliable.”
The U.S. dollar has declined against all but one of the 16 most-active currencies this year, prompting major reserve- holding countries such as Russia and China to express concern about their U.S.-denominated investments. Russia last month said it will add Canadian dollars to its reserves to lower its dependence on the U.S. currency.
The Bank of Canada has warned “persistent strength” in the currency is a main risk for the economy, potentially acting as a “significant” drag on growth. Canada’s currency has gained 15 percent this year against the U.S. dollar. Chinese purchases of Canadian dollars would also cement growing economic links between the U.S.’s two largest trading partners.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said in March that the nation was “worried” about the safety of its investment in U.S. debt, as a weakening dollar eroded the value of its reserves. China’s currency regulator said earlier this month it will “improve” its utilization of foreign-exchange reserves.
PetroChina
PetroChina Co., China’s largest oil company, this year bought its first stake in the Canadian oil sands, paying C$1.9 billion ($1.8 billion) for 60 percent of a project run by Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. Vancouver-based Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s biggest base-metals producer, sold a 17 percent stake to China’s sovereign wealth fund for C$1.74 billion in July.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, seeking to cut dependence on the U.S., traveled to China earlier this month to secure Asia’s second-biggest economy as a customer for oil, natural gas, uranium and other commodities.
“We know that China has been interested in things in Canada, whether it’s the bond market or the oil sands or oil companies,” said David Watt, senior currency strategist in Toronto at RBC Capital Markets, a unit of Canada’s biggest bank. “They’ve been sniffing around in the past. We know they’ve been interested.”
Watt said an amount equal to 2 percent of Asian reserves would mean about C$100 billion of currency flows into Canada.
“It would certainly be a positive backdrop for the currency,” Watt said.
Move to Parity
The Canadian currency gained 0.9 percent to C$1.0484 per U.S. dollar at 3:07 p.m. in Toronto, from C$1.0575 yesterday. One Canadian dollar purchases 95.38 U.S. cents.
Canada’s currency will appreciate to parity with the U.S. dollar by the middle of next year, Bank of Nova Scotia predicts. The median estimate of 38 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News is for the currency to strengthen to C$1.04 in that period. The currency last traded on a one-for-one basis in July 2008.
Asked whether the Canadian dollar’s gain was a concern, Flaherty said the government is worried about “sudden” moves that don’t give companies “sufficient time to adjust.”
Canada’s currency has gained in part as investors bet an accelerating economic recovery will prompt the central bank to raise interest rates sooner than in the U.S. Canada also sits on the largest pool of oil reserves outside the Middle East and is a major exporter of other commodities such as gold. A Canadian commodity price index compiled by the Bank of Canada has advanced more than 20 percent this year.
Canada also has the lowest debt levels among the Group of Seven nations, making its currency a relatively safer investment, Flaherty said in the interview on Monday.
‘Upward Pressure’
“It’s been clear for some time now that the downward pressure on the U.S. dollar is significant and that results in the other reliable market currencies having some upward pressure,” Flaherty said from his 21st-floor office that looks out to the hills of Gatineau Park. “I see it as a reflection of the relative strength of the Canadian dollar and the relative strength of our fiscal situation.”
Flaherty said China might relieve pressure on Canada’s dollar if the Asian country did more to loosen restrictions on movements of its currency.
Global “imbalances” will be a “primary subject” of discussion at a meeting of Group of Seven officials in February, he said. Canada will host a meeting of finance ministers and central bankers from the group on Feb. 5-6 in Iqaluit, a northern town near the Arctic Circle.
Lawmakers around the world are redesigning their financial architecture in the wake of the worst financial crisis in a generation that forced governments to spend more than $500 billion in the past year bailing out banks.
Officials will discuss “mutual assessment systems” to ensure the G-7 countries can be “checking on each other,” and developing so-called macro-prudential regulations that focus on risks to the financial system instead of a single financial institution, Flaherty said.
Bloomberg
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Police: 5 People Held Hostage Inside Virginia Post Office
WYTHEVILLE, Va. — Authorities in Wytheville are dealing with a hostage situation at the town's post office, and Virginia State Police have responded with a SWAT team and bomb technician.
Mayor Trent Crewe says five hostages are inside the building, including three employees and two customers. Shots have been fired, but Crewe says no injuries have been reported.
The situation began at about 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The suspect has not been identified.
A state police spokeswoman confirmed the shooting, but could not confirm whether the situation involves the threat of explosives.
Wytheville is the county seat of Wythe County, a southwest Virginia locality with fewer than 30,000 people.
Mayor Trent Crewe says five hostages are inside the building, including three employees and two customers. Shots have been fired, but Crewe says no injuries have been reported.
The situation began at about 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The suspect has not been identified.
A state police spokeswoman confirmed the shooting, but could not confirm whether the situation involves the threat of explosives.
Wytheville is the county seat of Wythe County, a southwest Virginia locality with fewer than 30,000 people.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Obama told China: I can't stop Israel strike on Iran indefinitely
U.S. President Barack Obama has warned his Chinese counterpart that the United States would not be able to keep Israel from attacking Iranian nuclear installations for much longer, senior officials in Jerusalem told Haaretz.
They said Obama warned President Hu Jintao during the American's visit to Beijing a month ago as part of the U.S. attempt to convince the Chinese to support strict sanctions on Tehran if it does not accept Western proposals for its nuclear program.
The Israeli officials, who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the matter, said the United States had informed Israel on Obama's meetings in Beijing on Iran. They said Obama made it clear to Hu that at some point the United States would no longer be able to prevent Israel from acting as it saw fit in response to the perceived Iranian threat.
After the Beijing summit, the U.S. administration thought the Chinese had understood the message; Beijing agreed to join the condemnation of Iran by the International Atomic Energy Agency only a week after Obama's visit. But in the past two weeks the Chinese have maintained their hard stance regarding the West's wishes to impose sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
The Israeli officials say the Americans now understand that the Chinese agreed to join the condemnation announcement only because Obama made a personal request to Hu, not as part of a policy change.
The Chinese have even refused a Saudi-American initiative designed to end Chinese dependence on Iranian oil, which would allow China to agree to the sanctions, said the Israeli officials.
Saudi Arabia, which is also very worried about the Iranian nuclear program and keen to advance international steps against Iran, offered to supply the Chinese the same quantity of oil the Iranians now provide, and at much cheaper prices. But China rejected the deal.
Since Obama's visit, the Chinese have refused to join any measures to impose sanctions. The Israeli officials say the Chinese have been giving unclear answers and have not been responding to the claims by Western nations. Beijing has been making do with statements such as "the time has not yet arrived for sanctions."
China's actions are particularly problematic because China will take over the presidency of the UN Security Council in January. Western diplomats say China would have no choice but to join in sanctions if Russia agrees to support them, but China could delay discussions and postpone any decision until February, when France becomes council president.
The Israeli officials say Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is showing a greater willingness for sanctions on Iran, despite hesitations by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
They said Obama warned President Hu Jintao during the American's visit to Beijing a month ago as part of the U.S. attempt to convince the Chinese to support strict sanctions on Tehran if it does not accept Western proposals for its nuclear program.
The Israeli officials, who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the matter, said the United States had informed Israel on Obama's meetings in Beijing on Iran. They said Obama made it clear to Hu that at some point the United States would no longer be able to prevent Israel from acting as it saw fit in response to the perceived Iranian threat.
After the Beijing summit, the U.S. administration thought the Chinese had understood the message; Beijing agreed to join the condemnation of Iran by the International Atomic Energy Agency only a week after Obama's visit. But in the past two weeks the Chinese have maintained their hard stance regarding the West's wishes to impose sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
The Israeli officials say the Americans now understand that the Chinese agreed to join the condemnation announcement only because Obama made a personal request to Hu, not as part of a policy change.
The Chinese have even refused a Saudi-American initiative designed to end Chinese dependence on Iranian oil, which would allow China to agree to the sanctions, said the Israeli officials.
Saudi Arabia, which is also very worried about the Iranian nuclear program and keen to advance international steps against Iran, offered to supply the Chinese the same quantity of oil the Iranians now provide, and at much cheaper prices. But China rejected the deal.
Since Obama's visit, the Chinese have refused to join any measures to impose sanctions. The Israeli officials say the Chinese have been giving unclear answers and have not been responding to the claims by Western nations. Beijing has been making do with statements such as "the time has not yet arrived for sanctions."
China's actions are particularly problematic because China will take over the presidency of the UN Security Council in January. Western diplomats say China would have no choice but to join in sanctions if Russia agrees to support them, but China could delay discussions and postpone any decision until February, when France becomes council president.
The Israeli officials say Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is showing a greater willingness for sanctions on Iran, despite hesitations by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Iran Medium-Range Missile Test Condemned
Iran has successfully test-fired a faster version of a medium-range missile, drawing criticism from the international community.
The improved Sejil 2 missile can reportedly hit targets 1,250 miles away - putting it in reach of Israel as well as US bases in the Gulf, and south-east Europe.
The US said the move, which follows earlier testing in May, only worked to "undermine Iran's claims of peaceful intentions".
National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer said: "Such actions will increase the seriousness and resolve of the international community to hold Iran accountable for its continued defiance of its international obligations on its nuclear programme."
Gordon Brown immediately condemned the missile test and warned Iran it faced tougher sanctions.
The Prime Minister discussed the development when he met UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at climate change talks in Copenhagen.
He said: "This is a matter of serious concern to the international community and it does make the case for us moving further on sanctions.
"We will treat this with the seriousness it deserves."
Neither Israel nor the US have ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to resolve the row over Iran's nuclear programme.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has vowed to retaliate in the event of any attack.
Concern increased this week after a document emerged suggesting Iran was working on testing a key nuclear bomb part.
The Times newspaper said it had obtained notes describing a four-year plan to test a neutron initiator, the component of a nuclear bomb that triggers an explosion.
Experts believe the documents are the strongest indicator yet of a continuing nuclear weapons programme in Iran.
The technical document describes the use of a neutron source, uranium deuteride, the Times said, which is feared to have no possible civilian or military use other than in a nuclear weapon.
Uranium deuteride is reportedly the material used in Pakistan's bomb, from where Iran obtained its blueprint.
Last month, Iran unveiled plans to build 10 new uranium enrichment plants in breach of UN resolutions.
The announcement came just two days after Tehran was censured by the international community over its existing nuclear activities.
The improved Sejil 2 missile can reportedly hit targets 1,250 miles away - putting it in reach of Israel as well as US bases in the Gulf, and south-east Europe.
The US said the move, which follows earlier testing in May, only worked to "undermine Iran's claims of peaceful intentions".
National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer said: "Such actions will increase the seriousness and resolve of the international community to hold Iran accountable for its continued defiance of its international obligations on its nuclear programme."
Gordon Brown immediately condemned the missile test and warned Iran it faced tougher sanctions.
The Prime Minister discussed the development when he met UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at climate change talks in Copenhagen.
He said: "This is a matter of serious concern to the international community and it does make the case for us moving further on sanctions.
"We will treat this with the seriousness it deserves."
Neither Israel nor the US have ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to resolve the row over Iran's nuclear programme.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has vowed to retaliate in the event of any attack.
Concern increased this week after a document emerged suggesting Iran was working on testing a key nuclear bomb part.
The Times newspaper said it had obtained notes describing a four-year plan to test a neutron initiator, the component of a nuclear bomb that triggers an explosion.
Experts believe the documents are the strongest indicator yet of a continuing nuclear weapons programme in Iran.
The technical document describes the use of a neutron source, uranium deuteride, the Times said, which is feared to have no possible civilian or military use other than in a nuclear weapon.
Uranium deuteride is reportedly the material used in Pakistan's bomb, from where Iran obtained its blueprint.
Last month, Iran unveiled plans to build 10 new uranium enrichment plants in breach of UN resolutions.
The announcement came just two days after Tehran was censured by the international community over its existing nuclear activities.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Super-Earths found around sunlike stars
Discoveries raise hopes of finding habitable planets like our own
Four newfound planets orbiting two nearby stars add weight to the promise of detecting habitable worlds within the next few years, researchers said today.
Two of the extrasolar planets are considered super-Earths, more massive than Earth but less massive than Uranus and Neptune. Spotting true Earth-sized planets is challenging with current technology, but the presence of super-Earths suggests finding a world like ours is just a matter of time, researchers say.
"These detections indicate that low-mass planets are quite common around nearby stars," said study team member Steven Vogt, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. "The discovery of potentially habitable nearby worlds may be just a few years away."
The astronomers are not sure if the super-Earths are rocky like our own world or if they have some other composition.
The team found the new planet systems by combining data gathered at the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii and the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) in New South Wales, Australia. They inferred the existence of the planets by noting the worlds' gravitational effects on the parent star's orbit. This method is called the radial velocity, or wobble, technique.
The objects have not been photographed.
Three of the exoplanets orbit the star 61 Virginis, which is virtually a twin of the sun and lies 28 light-years away in the constellation of Virgo. (At this time of year, Virgo can be seen rising a few hours before the sun.)
The researchers estimated the minimum mass of each planet as: 5.1 Earth masses for 61 Vir b, 18 Earth masses for 61 Vir c, and 23 Earth masses for 61 Vir d, according study team member Chris Tinney of the University of New South Wales.
"So the smallest one is in the super-Earth mass range, and is the first planet like this to be found around a sunlike star," Tinney told SPACE.com.
Other super-Earths have been found around stars that are cooler and redder than the sun, he said.
Tinney added, "This is exciting, because it demonstrates the ability of our team to find planets at these interesting, small masses around solar-mass stars. If we want to one day find habitable planets that are really like the Earth in systems that are really like ours, then those are the sorts of stars we need to be able to find low-mass planets around."
The second new system found by the team features a 7.5-Earth-mass planet orbiting HD 1461, another near-perfect twin of the sun located 76 light-years away in the constellation Cetus. The scientists say at least one and possibly two additional planets also orbit the star.
HD 1461 can be seen with the naked eye in the early evening under good dark-sky conditions.
The researchers say they aren't sure whether the planet, now called HD 1461b, is a scaled-up version of Earth, composed largely of rock and iron, or whether, like Uranus and Neptune, it is composed mostly of ices.
Four newfound planets orbiting two nearby stars add weight to the promise of detecting habitable worlds within the next few years, researchers said today.
Two of the extrasolar planets are considered super-Earths, more massive than Earth but less massive than Uranus and Neptune. Spotting true Earth-sized planets is challenging with current technology, but the presence of super-Earths suggests finding a world like ours is just a matter of time, researchers say.
"These detections indicate that low-mass planets are quite common around nearby stars," said study team member Steven Vogt, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. "The discovery of potentially habitable nearby worlds may be just a few years away."
The astronomers are not sure if the super-Earths are rocky like our own world or if they have some other composition.
The team found the new planet systems by combining data gathered at the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii and the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) in New South Wales, Australia. They inferred the existence of the planets by noting the worlds' gravitational effects on the parent star's orbit. This method is called the radial velocity, or wobble, technique.
The objects have not been photographed.
Three of the exoplanets orbit the star 61 Virginis, which is virtually a twin of the sun and lies 28 light-years away in the constellation of Virgo. (At this time of year, Virgo can be seen rising a few hours before the sun.)
The researchers estimated the minimum mass of each planet as: 5.1 Earth masses for 61 Vir b, 18 Earth masses for 61 Vir c, and 23 Earth masses for 61 Vir d, according study team member Chris Tinney of the University of New South Wales.
"So the smallest one is in the super-Earth mass range, and is the first planet like this to be found around a sunlike star," Tinney told SPACE.com.
Other super-Earths have been found around stars that are cooler and redder than the sun, he said.
Tinney added, "This is exciting, because it demonstrates the ability of our team to find planets at these interesting, small masses around solar-mass stars. If we want to one day find habitable planets that are really like the Earth in systems that are really like ours, then those are the sorts of stars we need to be able to find low-mass planets around."
The second new system found by the team features a 7.5-Earth-mass planet orbiting HD 1461, another near-perfect twin of the sun located 76 light-years away in the constellation Cetus. The scientists say at least one and possibly two additional planets also orbit the star.
HD 1461 can be seen with the naked eye in the early evening under good dark-sky conditions.
The researchers say they aren't sure whether the planet, now called HD 1461b, is a scaled-up version of Earth, composed largely of rock and iron, or whether, like Uranus and Neptune, it is composed mostly of ices.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Norway spiral: A rocket scientist explains the mystery
After watching the Norway spiral video, a US rocket scientist is convinced it was a missile. That blue plume? "Tiny sapphires," he says.Some may have thought it was a prelude to a close encounter of the third kind. But evidence quickly emerged that it was probably a result of a Russian ballistic missile test.
While almost everyone who saw the video of a luminous spiral of gas in Norway at dawn on Wednesday agreed it was beautiful, UFO believers have staunchly held to their views that the phenomenon was not man made, even after Russia’s Defense Ministry disclosed it had test launched a Bulava ballistic missile – which has a range of 5,000 miles – from a submarine in the White Sea Wednesday morning. The Russians said problems emerged when the missile deployed its third stage engine and it went off course and out of control.
The Russian explanation makes the most sense to William Dimpfl, a senior research scientist at the Aeorospace Corporation.
Dr. Dimpfl, whose non-profit conducts missile research for the US Air Force and NASA, and who has carried out research on the way exhaust is emitted from rockets and the space shuttle, says he’s fully convinced that the spiral plume was caused by a man-made missile.
“I looked at the video and my first thought was it’s surprising how pretty it is,” says Dimpfl. “But I had an understanding very quickly of what was going on. There’s nothing surprising in (the video).”
Dimpfl says he doesn’t have inside knowledge of Russian missile testing protocols, but estimates that the Russian plan was for the missile to splash down in the Pacific Ocean. He says that when the US conducts missile tests it also tries to ensure that the missile will splash down in the ocean if something goes wrong and it falls short.
He said after watching the video that he observed no “atmospheric drag” on the event, which implied the missile was higher than 100 kilometers from the earth’s surface – beyond the line between our atmosphere and space. The large, white spiral in the video and images is, in his opinion, “an illuminated solid propellent motor.” The spiral, he says, “comes when you have a motor firing off the axis of the vehicle at right angles to the line that connects to the center of mass” yielding a “pinwheel.”
As to the tighter, bluish covered spiral that UFO believers have pointed to, he says: “The blue plume was from a motor that was still attached to the vehicle.” He says the bluish color was from aluminum oxide that is typically added to the solid propellant used for such motors. “What I believe is that the blue is from solar fluorescence from chemicals in the plume. That’s just aluminium oxide that the sunlight is scattering from. Aluminum oxide is the chemical formula for sapphires, so what you’re looking at is sunlight scattering off lots of tiny sapphires.”
A computer simulation on YouYube (below) demonstrates how the spiral cloud seen over Norway may have been formed.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Ahmadinejad Reportedly Claims U.S. is Blocking Return of Mankind's Savior
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claims the United States is attempting to thwart the return of mankind's savior, according to reports from Al Arabiya, a television news station based in Dubai
Ahmadinejad reportedly claims he has documented evidence that the U.S. is blocking the return of Mahdi, the Imam believed by Muslims to be the savior.
“We have documented proof that they believe that a descendant of the prophet of Islam will raise in these parts and he will dry the roots of all injustice in the world,” Ahmadinejad said during a speech on Monday, according to Al Arabiya.
"They have devised all these plans to prevent the coming of the Hidden Imam because they know that the Iranian nation is the one that will prepare the grounds for his coming and will be the supporters of his rule," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.
Ahmadinejad continued the rant by claiming there have been plots by both the West as well as countries in the East to wipe out his country, according to Iranian news Web site Tabak.
"They have planned to annihilate Iran. This is why all policymakers and analysts believe Iran is the true winner in the Middle East," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the site. He also alleged that foreign nations seek to control Iran's oil and natural resources.
"In Afghanistan, they are caught like an animal in a quagmire. But instead of pulling their troops out to save themselves, they are deploying more soldiers. Even if they stay in Afghanistan for another 50 years they will be forced to leave with disgrace — because this is a historical experience," Ahmadinejad reportedly said.
"They know themselves that they need Iran in the Middle East, but because of their arrogance they do not want to accept this reality. They are nothing without the Iranian nation and all their rhetoric is because they don't want to appear weak."
Ahmadinejad reportedly claims he has documented evidence that the U.S. is blocking the return of Mahdi, the Imam believed by Muslims to be the savior.
“We have documented proof that they believe that a descendant of the prophet of Islam will raise in these parts and he will dry the roots of all injustice in the world,” Ahmadinejad said during a speech on Monday, according to Al Arabiya.
"They have devised all these plans to prevent the coming of the Hidden Imam because they know that the Iranian nation is the one that will prepare the grounds for his coming and will be the supporters of his rule," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.
Ahmadinejad continued the rant by claiming there have been plots by both the West as well as countries in the East to wipe out his country, according to Iranian news Web site Tabak.
"They have planned to annihilate Iran. This is why all policymakers and analysts believe Iran is the true winner in the Middle East," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the site. He also alleged that foreign nations seek to control Iran's oil and natural resources.
"In Afghanistan, they are caught like an animal in a quagmire. But instead of pulling their troops out to save themselves, they are deploying more soldiers. Even if they stay in Afghanistan for another 50 years they will be forced to leave with disgrace — because this is a historical experience," Ahmadinejad reportedly said.
"They know themselves that they need Iran in the Middle East, but because of their arrogance they do not want to accept this reality. They are nothing without the Iranian nation and all their rhetoric is because they don't want to appear weak."
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Warning on US muni market threat
States need to consider permanent budgetary changes to close ballooning deficits or risk “significant cracks” in the municipal bond market, the lieutenant governor of New York said on Monday.
Richard Ravitch said New York and other states had historically relied on temporary measures to balance budgets in downturns as a bridge to recovery, a strategy that was unsustainable.
“If nothing changes, you will see significant cracks in the $3,000bn [municipal bond] market,” said Mr Ravitch, a long-time fixture in New York public office who served as an adviser to the governor during New York City’s financial crisis in the 1970s. He is now devising a four-year financial plan for New York state.
The US recession has sapped state tax receipts, with revenue falling for four consecutive quarters, says the Nelson A Rockefeller Institute of Government, a research group. That has left states grappling with budget shortfalls projected to reach $350bn in the fiscal years 2010 and 2011, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Yields in the municipal bond market, where state and local governments raise money, have begun to rise amid concerns about the health of local economies. But thanks to federal subsidies and demand from retail investors, they remain near the historical lows reached this autumn.
In October, the Bond Buyer 11-bond GO index, which tracks 20-year bonds with an average rating of Aa1, dropped to 3.69 per cent, which is the lowest since 1967. It has risen to 4.06 per cent but remains below the 10-year average of 4.73 per cent.
Mr Ravitch, speaking at a conference on state finances held by the Rockefeller Institute, warned that in spite of the size of the fiscal problems, “the message has not gotten through”.
New York governor David Paterson late on Monday said that talks to close a deficit of more than $3bn for the fiscal year ended March 31 have ended and he would use his powers to make cuts. Mr Paterson is withholding payments on unspecified local assistance programmes to prevent the state from running out of cash before the end of the fiscal year.
The state may face significant lay-offs as well as cuts to healthcare and education spending, said Mr Ravitch.
During the past 10 years, New York had used $20bn to $24bn of “one shots”, such as borrowings, asset sales, or non-recurring revenue items, to close deficits while spending had risen consistently, said Mr Ravitch. In addition to banking on economic cyclicality rather than long-term measures to close gaps, states have looked to the federal government for help, which they received through the Obama administration’s stimulus package.
Mr Ravitch said additional stimulus was a “dubious proposition”, given what he saw as a shifting political paradigm in the US based on the sharp criticism of the administration’s healthcare reform efforts.
Unlike municipalities, US states cannot use bankruptcy to restructure budgets because they are not eligible under the US bankruptcy code.
“We need to rethink what is most important about what states do,” said Mr Ravitch, including the role that state, federal and local governments play in funding and delivering public services.
“It is going to be impossible to continue to borrow as we and other states have to fund budget gaps.”
Richard Ravitch said New York and other states had historically relied on temporary measures to balance budgets in downturns as a bridge to recovery, a strategy that was unsustainable.
“If nothing changes, you will see significant cracks in the $3,000bn [municipal bond] market,” said Mr Ravitch, a long-time fixture in New York public office who served as an adviser to the governor during New York City’s financial crisis in the 1970s. He is now devising a four-year financial plan for New York state.
The US recession has sapped state tax receipts, with revenue falling for four consecutive quarters, says the Nelson A Rockefeller Institute of Government, a research group. That has left states grappling with budget shortfalls projected to reach $350bn in the fiscal years 2010 and 2011, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Yields in the municipal bond market, where state and local governments raise money, have begun to rise amid concerns about the health of local economies. But thanks to federal subsidies and demand from retail investors, they remain near the historical lows reached this autumn.
In October, the Bond Buyer 11-bond GO index, which tracks 20-year bonds with an average rating of Aa1, dropped to 3.69 per cent, which is the lowest since 1967. It has risen to 4.06 per cent but remains below the 10-year average of 4.73 per cent.
Mr Ravitch, speaking at a conference on state finances held by the Rockefeller Institute, warned that in spite of the size of the fiscal problems, “the message has not gotten through”.
New York governor David Paterson late on Monday said that talks to close a deficit of more than $3bn for the fiscal year ended March 31 have ended and he would use his powers to make cuts. Mr Paterson is withholding payments on unspecified local assistance programmes to prevent the state from running out of cash before the end of the fiscal year.
The state may face significant lay-offs as well as cuts to healthcare and education spending, said Mr Ravitch.
During the past 10 years, New York had used $20bn to $24bn of “one shots”, such as borrowings, asset sales, or non-recurring revenue items, to close deficits while spending had risen consistently, said Mr Ravitch. In addition to banking on economic cyclicality rather than long-term measures to close gaps, states have looked to the federal government for help, which they received through the Obama administration’s stimulus package.
Mr Ravitch said additional stimulus was a “dubious proposition”, given what he saw as a shifting political paradigm in the US based on the sharp criticism of the administration’s healthcare reform efforts.
Unlike municipalities, US states cannot use bankruptcy to restructure budgets because they are not eligible under the US bankruptcy code.
“We need to rethink what is most important about what states do,” said Mr Ravitch, including the role that state, federal and local governments play in funding and delivering public services.
“It is going to be impossible to continue to borrow as we and other states have to fund budget gaps.”
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