#1
"Forty-one states will have either permissive right-to-carry laws or no longer even require a permit.
The regulations that still exist in Chicago and Washington primarily disarm the most likely victims of crime."
For the clowns in charge of D.C. & Chicago, that's not a bug, that's a feature. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
10/04/2011 21:11 Comments ||
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#2
I notice that in Florida, public officials face fines and possible removal from office now if they obstruct the state laws concerning firearms and ammunition ownership.
[Emirates 24/7] A Saudi man divorced his wife barely 12 hours after marrying her. "Talaq, baby! Talaq! Talaq an' be off wit' yez!"
According to 'Okaz' newspaper, the groom apparently received a marriage proposal from the brother of the bride, whom he had seen. "Wowzers! Now dat's a babe!"
He claimed to be the guardian of the 26-year-old girl as she had no father. "[Sniff!] She's all alone in the world. Got nobody in the world but me and that cleavage."
After the wedding ceremony the new couple headed to a hotel in Riyadh. [DING! DING! DING!]
"C'mon! Let's have a room! We're in a hurry! Heh heh heh!"
When the bride took off her veil the man was shocked to learn it was not the woman he had seen and agreed to marry. "AAAGH! What... I mean who are you?"
The mediator allegedly confessed to have conned the groom by giving away his daughter in marriage after having shown his sister because the former was not beautiful and was not receiving proposals. "Whoa! Can't imagine why!"
"The lenses in those glasses look like cheese graters!"
"They are cheese graters!"
He returned the dowry taken. "Take yer filthy lucre and be off... Wait a minute, Buster! Take that... ummm... her with you!"
Meanwhile, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia and chairman of the senior scholars, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh, said men can terminate a fraudulent marriage.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Were their names the Arabic cognates of Rachael and Leah?
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
10/04/2011 0:37 Comments ||
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#2
"But mediator, she looks like Helen Thomas! Here is her picture!"
"Oh, good Allah! Can you still see with those eyes? Divorce granted!"
Political opposition to technologies that could artificially cool the planet is in full swing. A field test of geoengineering, planned for October in Sculthorpe, UK, has been postponed for six months. Meanwhile, the European Parliament has passed a resolution that "expresses its opposition to proposals for large scale geoengineering".
The delayed field test, led by Matthew Watson of the University of Bristol, UK, involves a kilometre-long hose that will pump water into the atmosphere. Larger versions of the device could pump sulphate aerosols into the stratosphere, creating a sunshade that would cool the Earth.
According to the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), which is funding the project, the delay was recommended by an independent panel to allow external parties to air their concerns.
The decision follows a concerted campaign by a Canadian NGO, the ETC Group. Last month they issued an open letter to the UK government calling for the project to be suspended. "We believe there should be a ban on all field experimentation until there's an international agreement," says programme manager Diana Bronson. ETC Group is not seeking a ban on theoretical and modelling work or lab-based trials.
The European Parliament's resolution was pushed through by Kriton Arsenis, a Greek Socialist MEP. If the other bodies in the European Union approve it, the anti-geoengineering statement could become part of the EU's negotiating position for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012. In theory, it could then be included in any international agreement that comes out of Rio.
It's not the first attempt to control geoengineering. In late 2010, a meeting of the UN Convention on Biodiversity imposed a moratorium on any form of geoengineering that might affect biodiversity. However this shouldn't apply to Watson's field test, says Tim Kruger of the Oxford Geoengineering Programme at the University of Oxford. "I don't think anyone could argue that spraying water into the atmosphere would have an effect on biodiversity," he says.
Nevertheless Kruger is supporting the delay, arguing that public opinion must be seriously considered before experiments begin. "It's very important that work on geoengineering is not just legally but also socially acceptable," he says. "We want to avoid the kind of backlash that affected GM crops and nuclear power."
[Dawn] Nine more people, including five women, died of dengue fever in different city hospitals on Monday, mounting the corpse count to 162.
Farhat Begum of Chamra Mandi was under treatment at Mayo Hospital where she passed away while 27-year-old Zuberia of Township lost her battle against dengue fever.
Shakeela of Gujranwala and Rafaqat Bibi of Bund road succumbed to dengue fever. Arslan of Bund road, Ali Raza of Nishtar and 60-year-old Safdar Khan of Shahdbagh were also among dead.
The identity of two victims is yet to be ascertained and patients with high fever continue to rush to different hospitals in the city.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2011 00:00 ||
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The United Nations warned on Monday that the international community had failed to respond to the latest flooding crisis in Pakistan, leaving three million people in urgent need of food handouts. Correct me if I'm wrong, but how's it the rest of the world's responsibility rather than the Pak government's? Seems like it should be part of that sovereignty thing they're always harping on.
The nuclear-armed Muslim state has suffered two consecutive years of floods but has been at increasing risk of international isolation since US troops found and killed Osama bin Laden near the capital in May. "Somehow the present flooding and the humanitarian impact of the present flooding has not yet picked the interest, the focus of the world," said Ramiro Lopes da Silva, deputy executive director of the World Food Programme (WFP). Perhaps because last year the world kicked in and the Pak functionaries were at their usual level of mediocrity, with the victims from last year's floods still waiting for relief when this year's rolled around. Some of them, in fact, were earthquake survivors, another incident that the world kicked in for and received in return a hearty slap in the face. Remember the party hacks demanding that aid had to be handed out through Pak organizations? And the religious party hacks demanding that women couldn't be hired? That non-Muslim rescuers depart? The foolishness never ends, does it? But the interest of civilized states with their own damned problems sometimes does.
"If we have no resources, we have no response," he told a news conference in Islamabad after visiting the flood-hit southern province of Sindh.
On September 18, the United Nations led an appeal for dollar 357 million in emergency funding to shore up rescue and relief efforts for millions of people suffering after floods swept away homes and farm land in southern Pakistan.
"The funding is not coming as swiftly and as fast at the levels it came to the response of the floods of last year," said Lopes da Silva. If the world community doesn't get a move on and provide the needed funds then the Paks will have to back down from what's really important, and they'll have fewer plutonium bombs, fewer infiltrators into Kashmir and fewer Haqqanis sporting the good life in Pashtunistan. And we can't have that, can we?
"Donors are being challenged by the level of resources required to address similar needs of humanitarian situations across the world," he added.
Last month, the United Nations said only the Japanese government had pledged dollar 10 million in response to the appeal.
The Pakistani government says more than 350 people have been killed and over eight million people affected this year by floods, following the 21 million hit last year in the nation's worst ever disaster.
The WFP official said three million Pakistanis were in urgent need of food security and said the UN agency would help "2.4 million of those severely affected by food insecurity".
Pakistan has been forced to fend off charges of mishandling the crisis by failing to invest in adequate measures to mitigate against seasonal rains, after last year's floods caused losses of dollar 10 billion.
The country has faced increasingly trenchant criticism in the West for its alleged double dealings with Islamist militants opposed to Indian rule in Kashmir and fighting American troops in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Perhaps they can pull some of the funding from their nuke bomb program. They have more than they need and are making more....
#4
I think the table is being set up for a run. Here is a possible scenario:
Staged anti-Pak rhetoric increases and smolders on for a few more months, accusations, counter-accusations, etc. Obama steps in around the 'Eid-ul-Fitr timeframe, selects a special Envoy and a team travels to Pakistan with charity (food) for the poor. Deals are cut, a presidential summit is arranged for next Spring. The Light Bringer travels to India (more deals $$$$), then Afghanistan (more deals $$$$), then Pakistan for the grand finale of deal making. Pervez Musharraf hosts summit, declares the Light Bringer a global peacemaker and geopolitical genius. Just in time for the election.
#10
The problem, Besoeker, is that Pakistan would go apeshit if India got the same attention they did, and particularly (in your scenario) if India was the first stop on the visit.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
10/04/2011 12:02 Comments ||
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An angry China warned Washington on Tuesday that passage of a bill aimed at forcing Beijing to let its currency rise could lead to a trade war between the world's top two economies.
China's central bank and the ministries of commerce and foreign affairs accused Washington of "politicising" currency issues and putting the global economy at risk after U.S. senators voted on Monday to start a week of debate on the bill.
The response suggested China sees a greater risk from the proposed bill than it has in the past when U.S. lawmakers attempted to put forward similar legislation to speed up the pace of appreciation in the yuan, or renminbi.
#2
OMG, Walmart and the Dollar Store would have to shut down! Abandoned American factories would have to start up again! We'd have to make our own textiles, shoes and furniture (I'm talkin' to you, Costco) again.
#4
There indeed is more than meets the eye. There are better ways to go about getting China to stop manipulating it's currency, but the system will flush it out eventually on it's own.
#5
Abandoned American factories would have to start up again!
Won't happen overnight, particularly with a labor population that instead of dad's or granddad's era when a 9th grade drop out had reading and writing skills that today's population hasn't attained with a high school graduation certificate.
New orders for U.S. factory goods fell in August for the second time in three months, suggesting a possible softening in the manufacturing sector which has carried the economic recovery.
The Commerce Department said on Tuesday orders for manufactured goods decreased 0.2 percent after a downwardly revised 2.1 percent increase in July.
Economists had forecast orders to be unchanged after a previously reported 2.4 percent increase in July.
While the report showed some weakness in the factory sector, a report on Monday by the Institute for Supply Management showed national manufacturing activity rose in September, which had eased concerns the U.S. was slipping into a new recession [cnbc explains] .
The Commerce Department report showed orders excluding transportation decreased for the first time in six months, falling 0.2 percent.
Orders for transportation equipment dropped 0.1 percent in August as demand for motor vehicles fell 5.3 percent.
Markets are entering the Bear Zone (20% fall from the high, next blood on the streets?)
Eurozone finance ministers have delayed making a decision on giving Greece its next instalment of bailout cash, sending European shares down sharply.
It came after Greece said it would not meet this year's deficit cutting plan.
A meeting set for 13 October, when finance ministers had been expected to sign off the next Greek loan, has now been cancelled, said BBC Europe correspondent Chris Morris.
French shares fell 2.8%, German stocks by 3.5%, and the UK's FTSE by 2.8%.
As a result of the decision by finance ministers, Greece may not get its next loan tranche until November.
Its Finance Minister, Evangelos Venizelos, said that should not cause any difficulties as the Greek government had no funding problem until November.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said he wants to bring ex-Soviet states into a "Eurasian Union" in an article which outlined his first foreign policy initiative as he prepares to return to the Kremlin as the country's next president.
Putin said the new union would build on an existing Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan which from next year will remove all barriers to trade, capital and labor movement between the three countries.
"We are not going to stop there and are setting an ambitious goal -- to achieve an even higher integration level in the Eurasian Union," Putin wrote in an article which will be published in Izvestia newspaper on October 4.
Putin said last month he would run in the March 2012 presidential election and his current public approval ratings show that he is set to win.
Putin's initiative comes as Russia nears the end of its 18-year-old negotiations to join the World Trade Organization. In the article Putin made no secret of his skepticism about the global trade watchdog.
"The process of finding new post-crisis global development models is moving forward with difficulty. For example, the Doha round (of international trade talks) has practically stopped. There are objective difficulties inside the WTO," he wrote.
In 2009, Putin threw Russia's bid to join the WTO into disarray, saying Russia would instead form the Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan. The new initiative will have to be explained to WTO members.
WRONG CROSSROADS
Putin, who once called the collapse of the USSR in 1991 "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century," said his new project would not resemble the Soviet Union.
"It would be naive to attempt to restore or copy something from the past. However, a stronger integration on a new political and economic basis and a new system of values is an imperative of our era," Putin wrote. With Russia at the head of it all, of course.
#2
For most of recorded human history, that runs about 4,000 years, the lack of food and outright starvation has been the problem. It's only been in the last fifty years that 'overweight' has been a 'problem'. Which demonstrates that we really have no history. We only remember a span equal to about our lifetimes. Otherwise, we'd actually be celebrating our liberation from that which haunted mankind for most of its existence.
#3
Gee, I wonder what the US GDP growth would look like w/o the combined federal and state deficit spending of 12% GDP? 11% of GDP by the federal government alone.
#5
#1 - oversimplified, and not the common definition of GDP.
GDP is a sum of Consumption (C), Investment (I), Government Spending (G) and Net Exports (X M).
Y = C + I + G + (X − M)
I think that's what most economists use. They do conveniently leave out debt.
If you create a new term, GDP corrected for debt, and use US figures going back about 30 years, the US economy has grown little if at all. The apparent improvement seen in that time frame has mostly been an illusion, similar to people spending extravagantly by taking out a 2nd mortgage. That used to work pretty until, until it didn't.
#7
Follow 3 figures, not just 1, but be clear about it: GDP, GDP/governmental debt, and GDP/total national debt (add up governmental, business & private)
The other figure I can't get my head around is the idea that it is possible for economies to grow indefinitely. Seems mathematically impossible.
Small, but front-page WaPo stuff, building on yesterday's editorial about the lefty tea party dream.
New York's budding anti-capitalism protest movement began last month with a vague sense of grievance over the widening gap between the rich and poor in America. So it should be anti-crony-capitalism.
But in three weeks, it has provided fuel for a broader national anti-corporate message, drawing inspiration from the Arab Spring but struggling to define its goals beyond a general feeling that power needs to be restored to ordinary people. Power to the people! Why didn't we think of that slogan before? Oh, wait...somebody did. On Monday morning, the scene at the heart of the self-styled Occupy Wall Street movement -- Zuccotti Park, two blocks north of Wall Street -- had the feeling of a street fair, with women in brightly colored wigs playing with hula hoops. The site www. occupytogether.org serves as a clearinghouse for information on the movement and includes a list of events around the country. Check it out, Dudes! Front-page face time!
A collection of protesters wearing white face paint with streaks resembling blood at their lips conducted a "zombie parade" down Broadway to underscore what they see as the ghoulish nature of capitalism. We want to model our movement after the Greeks - they aren't capitalists!
Despite having no single leader and no organized agenda, the protesters insist they are on the verge of translating their broad expression of grievance into a durable national cause. Yeah! Just like the Tea Party! All they needed was a little media attention. And Sarah Palin. But we don't need Sarah - we got Arthur!
"The criticism has focused on the lack of cohesion in our message and demands," said Arthur Kohl-Riggs, 23, a political activist from the loony farm of the midwest Madison, Wis. But what the critics don't understand, he said, is "the value of forming a direct democratic movement" that is not controlled by political elites. Sort of like those Tea party dudes, but more fair. "Never mind those strings on my own back!"
The protests have drawn an assortment of anarchists, anti-globalization activists and disaffected 20-somethings from North Carolina, Minnesota and Wisconsin -- the type of polyglot crowd that has been known to disrupt International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings. What, there aren't any international meetings coming up? How will we fill our days?
But the efforts have also drawn support from union members, including New York transportation workers who allowed some of the protesters to take shelter inside the subway system. Yeah! Our union brothers!
The primary theme is that corporate capitalists, backed by corrupt politicians, have tipped the balance of the economic system too far in favor of the powerful, thus condemning the regular guy to a sea of debt and little opportunity. Where do the union big-shots fit in there - capitalists or politicians? What he's really protesting is the current crony socialism...
The movement has struck a chord in some liberal New York circles, attracting the usual fools, rubes and washed up celebrities such as actress Susan Sarandon and disgraced Democratic celebrity former New York governor David Paterson. It also got a seal of approval from one of the world's most successful capitalists, billionaire George Soros, who said the demonstrators had every reason to be angry at the U.S. financial system for jeopardizing their future. My irony meter melted and bubbled when I read that!
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/04/2011 06:13 ||
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#1
I wondered why someone carried a coherent sign with an unusual message "End corporate personhood".
Well I can understand that, but thinking about it I wondered why he wasn't against all non-person personhoods...., corporations aren't the only ALE (Artificial Legal Entity). I think it's a power play for the Union-ALE that paid for his bus in...
#2
The MSM is fawning over these clowns, but just can't grasp anything about the vastly larger Tea Party other than to demonize and slander. Their insolence is only compounded by ignoring one of the key messages of the Tea Party that is equally outraged at government crony capitalism and bailouts. Somehow the MSM disconnects the inbred relationship of its beloved massive government and the cronies.
#4
If you consider NPR part of the MSM, NPR has given minimal coverage to the OWS (Occupy Wall Street) people, and are receiving angry comments from their constituency about their failure to publicize it.
#5
Susan Sarandon, David Paterson, George Soros support this gathering? Wall Street, contrary to the notions of these street protesters, is largely liberal. I seems that this ends up being a blue-on-blue protest.
#6
I believe that much like the anti-war protests eventually these protests will start to backfire as people see the wacky-side of the socialist/anarchist/communists. Yeah the media will try to hide it but people have eyes and the freaks are drawn to these things like flies to dung.
#3
I knew one city judge who had a sense of humor about such things. Had some Musselman refused to stand in his court, he would have done something like declare them in contempt and sentence them to be Jewish in their jail cell for 48 hours. The jailors would play along. And since none of it would be written down...
#1
Bloomberg Calls H-1B Visa Caps 'National Suicide'
FIFY. The explosion of H1Bs from a couple thousand a year to hundreds of thousands a year destroyed generations of home grown computer and electronic graduates. They removed the incentive to spend the time and effort to acquire the skills and knowledge as companies manipulated and gamed the H1B rules rather than invest in American employees. Better to have the immigration sword over the head of an imported employee than have to pay the market for true free labor and establish personnel policies that treated such employees as an asset rather than a liability.
#4
I'm not happy about agreeing with Bloomberg on anything, but why do we have caps on visas for skilled workers with degrees when any idiot can walk over the border and start mowing lawns?
#5
Well Mayor Droopy Butt, if it weren't for people like you in Manhattan skyscrapers inventing perverse incentives, maybe the 1+ million lawyers in this country would have become scientists and engineers instead of suing everything thing in sight and putting up regulatory roadblocks to every productive activity in sight. If it weren't for people like you shipping every damn job overseas or importing 20 million illegal aliens so you can become fabulously wealthy arbitraging the difference in wage levels, Americans would become the factory workers, construction workers and techs to build a better future instead of welfare spongers and drug dealers.
BTW, Mikey, I can call you Mikey. Ever been to an American university graduate science or engineering class? Notice one thing you won't see? Americans. That's where the next generation of inventions and industrial leaders will emerge. Notice where the classes are jam packed with Americans? Law and MBA programs. For now. Until the fall.
#6
...but why do we have caps on visas for skilled workers with degrees when any idiot can walk over the border and start mowing lawns?
Because a lot of the most enthusiastic supporters of 'old' America are skilled immigrants who take those skills and opportunities in the traditional sense and make something of themselves, while the low skill elements are here for all the bennies with which pols justify redistribution. There are few potential future voters be gathered in the latter and far more in the former. Thus slack enforcement of immigration for the 'millions' in the 'walk across the border'.
#7
The H1-b program should be suspended indefinitely.
First, its not true that this is for engineers and I doubt that even the majority are issued for engineers or scientists. I work in financial services and companies I've worked for seek H1-b's for any candidate they want to hire, be it finance, accounting, marketing, whatever. I've never seen an application denied.
Not true about engineering schools not haveing Americans. My kid is in engineering. It's hard, but more American kids would participate if compensation matched other professions. Tough for comp to rise if we continue to import cheap talent, and foreign kids are willing to work cheap to get a shot an an American passport.
Allowing cheap illegal immigrants into the country screws low skilled workers and H1-B's screw educated workers. Both are stupid policies.
#11
Americans have never been as keen on engineering PhDs. Partly because a BS in engineering pays considerably better than most bachelor degrees, and partly because most of those who study engineering prefer to learn on the job rather than forgo three years of salary to come in at a starting salary around what they would get with 3-5 years of experience, given about equal promotion prospects. That certainly was the calculation Mr. Wife made, back in 1982, when he decided to go into industry instead of go on for further degrees, his original plan. Had he wanted to stay in academia, the PhD would have been mandatory, however.
The sciences are different. With a BS you can be a lab technician, just the same as if you had a high school diploma; it takes a PhD to get into management, as it's been for generations.
#12
The STEM (science, engineering, technology and math) grad programs at our major state university are heavily populated by Chinese and other nationals. University Prez actively seeks this since their govts pay lots. How else can he pay the layers of highly paid administrators?
#14
When I went to college thirty plus years ago, my university let all the foreign students in on in-state tuition. I as a student from a neighboring state, had to pay out of state tuition.
Every American in this country should be required to watch this video prior to voting in the next election. Watch it and weep.:
#15
The oligarchs & people at the top, like Bloomberg, don't want to pay an employee any more than they have to, because it decreases their share of the pie. Importing cheap labor at all levels fills their pockets, and to hell with the rest of the country.
#16
WaPo had an article today about one mechanism the insiders are using:
Corporate boards aim to pay their executives at levels equal to or above the median for executives at similar companies.
The idea behind setting executive pay this way, known as peer benchmarking, is to keep talented bosses from leaving.
But the practice has long been controversial because, as critics have pointed out, if every company tries to keep up with or exceed the median pay for executives, executive compensation will spiral upward, regardless of performance. Few if any corporate boards consider their executive teams to be below average, so the result has become known as the Lake Wobegon effect.
#18
I suspect peer benchmarking has a far more destructive effect on for-profit corps, but maybe that's just me. At least I get to vote, one way or another, now & then, on public employee unions. I get no effective vote on for-profit corps, unless I should own most of their stock, and sometimes, even that is not enough.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A Saudi man divorced his wife barely 12 hours after marrying her. 
Political opposition to technologies that could artificially cool the planet is in full swing. A field test of geoengineering, planned for October in Sculthorpe, UK, has been postponed for six months. Meanwhile, the European Parliament has passed a resolution that "expresses its opposition to proposals for large scale geoengineering".
[Dawn] Nine more people, including five women, died of dengue fever in different city hospitals on Monday, mounting the 
The United Nations warned on Monday that the international community had failed to respond to the latest flooding crisis in Pakistan, leaving three million people in urgent need of food handouts.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said he wants to bring ex-Soviet states into a "Eurasian Union" in an article which outlined his first foreign policy initiative as he prepares to return to the Kremlin as the country's next president.
On Monday morning, the scene at the heart of the self-styled Occupy Wall Street movement -- Zuccotti Park, two blocks north of Wall Street -- had the feeling of a street fair, with women in brightly colored wigs playing with hula hoops. The site www. occupytogether.org serves as a clearinghouse for information on the movement and includes a list of events around the country. 
