A U.S. Marine veteran is today in a critical condition in hospital after being injured by a police gas canister during last night's Occupy Oakland protests, which saw running battles break out between authorities and protesters as a crowd tried to reclaim an encampment.
Scott Olsen, 24, of Daly City, California, an Iraq veteran and member of Veterans for Peace, suffered a skull fracture and brain swelling after being hit in the head during the riots. Officers had cleared the site of demonstrators around 12 hours earlier in a dawn raid where at least 85 people were arrested.
Police gave repeated warnings to demonstrators to disperse from the entrance to Frank Ogawa Plaza in the Californian city before firing tear gas canisters into the crowd at 7:45pm on Tuesday evening. There were reports from officers that some protesters had been throwing rocks.
'It's terrible to go over to Iraq twice and come back injured, and then get injured by the police that are supposed to be protecting us,' Mr Olsen's roommate Keith Shannon told The Guardian, adding that he served in Iraq in 2006 and 2007 before leaving the military last year.
#1
Thank you for your service, Marine. Enjoy the rights you fought to protect, while remembering that the right to free speech does not encompass breaking the laws which bind all citizens.
Slideshow with 147 photos of people scared witless in a haunted house. If nothing else, it shows all people react the same to shock and horror, at least if it is pretend. A goodly percentage hide their face from the horror. Imagine that!
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/26/2011 06:20 ||
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#1
Who has a picture of capitol hill they can post here?
BRUSSELS - Peace should not be taken for granted if the euro fails, German chancellor Merkel told MPs Wednesday (26 October) ahead of the eurozone summit where an increase of the bail-out fund firepower may lead to Germany's own state assets being taken as collateral.
In a dark blue jacket reflecting the mood in and about the eurozone, Merkel abandoned her usual cautious rhetoric warned outright of a war.
"Nobody should take for granted another 50 years of peace and prosperity in Europe. They are not for granted. That's why I say: If the euro fails, Europe fails," Merkel said, followed by a long applause from all political groups.
"We have a historical obligation: To protect by all means Europe's unification process begun by our forefathers after centuries of hatred and blood spill. None of us can foresee what the consequences would be if we were to fail."
"It cannot be that sometime in the future they say the political generation responsible for Europe in the second decade of the 21 century has failed in the face of history," the chancellor continued.
She was asking for the parliament's "political" green light on a negotiation mandate for the EU summit, beginning later today in Brussels. The summit is seeking to increase the firepower of the €440 billion-strong European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) to stop the sovereign debt crisis spreading to countries like Italy and ultimately, France. The Bundestag approved the measure by a large majority, with 503 members in favour, 89 opposing and four abstaining.
While stressing that Germany's contribution to the EFSF loan guarantees would continue to be capped at €211 billion, she said she could not exclude there may be "risks" for Germany linked to the EFSF increase of firepower. Her own party colleagues had demanded that she clearly excludes German state assets, such as the central bank's gold reserves, to be put as collateral for the EFSF lending power.
"Nobody can clearly estimate if there will be such risks. What I can say is that we cannot exclude it," she said, insisting that the current situation is pushing European leaders into "uncharted territories".
"Not to take these risks would be irresponsible. There is no better and more sensible alternative. Europe and the world are looking at Germany," the chancellor said.
Looking ahead to the summit, the chancellor repeated her long-standing stance that "there is no silver bullet, no simple solutions. We will still deal with these topics for years from now."
She repeated her insistence that the EU treaty had to be changed, in the medium term, to be more strict on countries breaching the euro deficit rules.
"Where does it say that any treaty change has to take 10 years or that there should be no more changes after the Lisbon Treaty," she asked.
EU leaders last Sunday agreed to have an evaluation presented to them in December by council chief Herman Van Rompuy about the possibility for a "limited" treaty change.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/26/2011 12:21 ||
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#1
Yeah, the euro is pretty much what holds Europe together. Europeans figured out that they couldn't stop making war on one another, and wars were driven by need for resources. So, they set up a system by which it's more expensive to go to war than not. A good idea, but jeez it's been managed poorly.
#2
her insistence that the EU treaty had to be changed, in the medium term, to be more strict on countries breaching the euro deficit rules Had the EU followed its treaty and its previously-agreed-upon rules, they wouldn't be in this mess to begin with.
#3
This sounds so familiar. Sounds like a crisis. We have to act now. Don't bother to read anything. Trust me. Like the old sci-fi energy blob that just sucks up everything. The fix just makes the market blob bigger. Germany's collateral and I'll bet you our Fed is a big player in this. Too big to fail I guess. Like arguing with a three hundred pound gorilla, you don't. Sometimes you just have to lie. I would advise each country start printing money as I believe Germany is doing now.
#5
This rhetoric isn't new. In fact Kohl called the Euro a 'question of war and peace' in the 90s. This year one of the likely social democratic repeated this in a public q&a.
The Euro was imposed on Germany by an authoritarian political class.
It might have gained legitimacy and acceptance over the years if it had not turned out to be a catastrophic failure.
As things are the Euro is destroying the very legitimacy of representative Western style democracy in Germany.
#10
German forefathers' quest for European Unification, heh.
Chancellor, if the EU was a serious about unification as you, they would have their finances in order instead of pissing cash into Greece etc. I do agree that a sudden collapse of the Eurozone would be the trigger but the expansion of EU to increase assets to offset debt is over...except for Russia, though I sure to be comforted that it would be sold as Russia joining the EU and not vice-versa.
#11
Here's a news article from 1996 concerning the the German's distrust and fear of the Euro which turned out to be fully justified.
A good reminder, Thump Ginesh6358. I'll have to pull out my old pocket dictionary to help with the vocabulary I've forgotten since we moved away, which will be good for my character. ;-). But it is much more than the Euro which is destroying democracy in Euope; rather, it is the insistence of the bureaucratic class on ruling by regulations, without consulting the intent of either the elected representatives of the voters themselves.
#13
She isn't the first Euro leader to suggest that "unless socialism, war". I think somebody should call her bluff in an entertaining way, simply by suggesting if the Euro fails, a named European country, say Germany, would go to war with another European country, say France.
Which would both cause consternation and point out how ludicrous such a threat really is.
"Italy would have no choice but to invade Austria. England would again invade and conquer Scotland and Ireland. Spain would annex Portugal. Sweden would take over Norway and Denmark."
#14
Obama's Hail Mary "the insistence of the bureaucratic class on ruling by regulations, without consulting the intent of either the elected representatives of the voters themselves".
#15
If the Euro ends up bringing ruin to Germany be it by hyperinflation or some other mechanism, prepare for a new authoritarian Germany, a close ally of Putinist Russia, that will bear a deep grudge against Western Europe.
War is highly unlikely, but this scenario would be very ugly nonetheless. An alliance of the two big losers of the Cold War Russia&Germany would mean a new Cold War in Europe.
Of course the Euro would be the cause of such a development, not a precaution against it.
#16
Peace indeed should not be taken for granted. Tthe ultimate teaching tales of what happens when European elites and theorists seize power is 1) fascism 2) national socialism 3) bolshevik communism 4) Marxism. Though I recognize that IÂ’m repeating myself, well, repeatedly.
The problem with Europe (this thought is not original to me) is that the leaders want to return to the days of the Congress of Vienna, in which a circle of people modestly wider than just royalty and bishops but much, much smaller than all the people were to decide how Europe and the civilized world would be run. The EU is just the latest experiment in this regard; a ‘kinder and gentler’ dictat that would guide the masses, while not nearly as ‘ultimate’ as the experiments conducted in the 1930s and 1940s.
The fundamental problems with each of these systems are that the elites, of course, arenÂ’t all that bright in the end, and constantly squabble (with knives, firearms, bombs and perhaps, in the future, nukes) amongst themselves about who will be the head cheese. ItÂ’s not the most stable way of running a continent.
The Obama administration is just the American implementation (i.e., ‘progressivism’) of my list of 1 to 4, above. It has the same problems, beginning with the fact that the American elites are no smarter than the European ones.
No, unfortunately Europe could get a lot worse. It has in the past. Merkel is correct; not about Europe but rather about the transient nature of peace and prosperity. We should be mindful of that warning here in America.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/26/2011 18:29 Comments ||
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#17
The only way to "fix" the debt problem and keep the Euro is hyper-inflation...
I'm sure a Europe wide Weimar-style republic would be everything it wasn't when the same happened in Germany...
#19
Nobody should take for granted another 50 years of peace and prosperity in Europe
That's right, Frau Merkel. The US is reaching the point that it can no longer support the expense of keeping the Germans down and the Russians out, like we have done since the end of WWII.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
10/26/2011 20:07 Comments ||
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#20
They worked out a bailout mechanism today. All this talk about the disintegration of the Euro can drop to Defcon 4.
That's the problem, they've worked out 'bailout mechanisms' that won't really work every day for the last four months.
[Financial Times] Italia's prime minister was fighting on Tuesday night to stave off a collapse of his centre-right coalition government over European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... demands for more concrete economic reform measures in time for Wednesday's highly anticipated summit of eurozone leaders.
The demand came as European officials attempted to reach a final agreement on giving the eurozone's €440bn rescue fund more firepower so that it can assist Italia by purchasing Italian bonds, lowering Rome's borrowing rates, which are near 6 per cent.
While such EU assistance falls well short of a full-scale Italian bail-out, senior European officials said it would come with tough new conditions, and that the demands on Silvio Berlusconi ...current Italian prime minister, known for his plain (for a European politician) speaking and his liking for hookers a third his age or less... were the beginning of a more intrusive effort by Italia's eurozone partners to ensure Rome convinces the financial markets it is sincere about fiscal reforms.
Talks early on Tuesday between Mr Berlusconi and his Northern League coalition partners failed to resolve the deadlock -- centred on proposed pension reforms -- after inconclusive negotiations the night before.
"The government is at risk," Umberto Bossi, leader of the fiercely eurosceptic and federalist Northern League, told news hounds in Rome. "The situation is difficult, very dangerous. This is a dramatic moment," he said, warning of possible snap elections.
But Angelino Alfano, secretary of Mr Berlusconi's People of Liberty party, said on Tuesday night that an agreement on reform measures had been reached with the Northern League that would hold the coalition together and assure economic growth. Details were not immedietaly available.
Any Italian compromise that promises future action could be hard to swallow for eurozone leaders seeking a comprehensive solution to the sovereign debt crisis at the Brussels summit, their second in four days. The European Central Bank, which has been propping up Italian debt on the markets since early August, received similar commitments in the past.
Mr Berlusconi's difficulties mirrored tough pre-summit negotiations in other European capitals, where leaders were struggling to finalise the overhaul of the rescue fund and strike a deal with Greek bondholders that would allow them to lower the amount of government bail-out aid to Athens.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Let me know whan an Archduke gets bumped off...
#2
Italy comes under the category of "too big to bail" which, combined with the requirement of unanimous agreement among 17 countries, almost guarantees failure.
With 17 coalition governments in place in the Eurozone, the temptation to extort new concessions in return for going along will be strong.
Alot of things have to go right to avoid catastrophe.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
10/26/2011 8:18 Comments ||
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#3
"Italian gov't on brink of collapse"
is as NEWsworthy as
"Pope wears a pointy hat."
#4
On Drudge we have the "Merkel Miracle". Don't believe it. Lies and more lies. Just a bunch of Zombies(empty vessels) going through the motions. Nothing is fixed. Spain is still in trouble as the rest are.Look at Argentina now that princes has won a landslide. I think Ross Perot saw this coming a long time ago. Looks like Argentina is going Chavez route. Honey I would love to buy that but my outgo is greater than my income. Reminds me of the Palmer tune "She's so fine I don't care where the money went".
#8
All this talk about bail-outs and austerity. Sounds like what they need is an Obama style jobs and economic recovery plan - not just for pizza workers, but for teachers and bureaucrats. That would stimulate the economy and free up resources for infrastructure improvements with new roads, parks and aqueducts. Then they could pay down debt without reducing entitlements and do it all without reducing the level of civility between them and the Germans. Nice Germans, nice Germans.
#10
So how far is Merkel willing to go to save this zombie called the EU? Blow the wad on saving PIIGS and killing Germany, or letting the PIGGS die and saving Germany? That is what it really comes down to for her.
They never got on Greece's or any others when those countries did not hold to their financial standards. No accountability. The free ride is over and now the free ride down the drain begins.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/26/2011 17:02 Comments ||
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#13
They never got on Greece's or any others when those countries did not hold to their financial standards.
The Germans killed over 5% of the Greek civilian population in WW2, via a combination of deliberate starvation, death camps and the massacre of hundreds (i.e. 100 to 1 ratio) in reprisal for the deaths of individual German soldiers. Now, we say there's no such thing as inter-generational guilt. But has the slate really been wiped clean? Ultimately, I think this shared history is why the Germans will continue footing the bill - they'll play hard to get, but the stench of Germany's campaign of extermination in Greece will permeate Greco-German relations for a long time to come.
The former New York office for ACORN, the disbanded community activist group, is playing a key role in the self-proclaimed "leaderless" Occupy Wall Street movement, organizing "guerrilla" protest events and hiring door-to-door canvassers to collect money under the banner of various causes while spending it on protest-related activities, sources tell FoxNews.com.
The former director of New York ACORN, Jon Kest, and his top aides are now busy working at protest events for New York Communities for Change (NYCC). That organization was created in late 2009 when some ACORN offices disbanded and reorganized under new names after undercover video exposes prompted Congress to cut off federal funds.
NYCC's connection to ACORN isn't a tenuous one: It works from the former ACORN offices in Brooklyn, uses old ACORN office stationery, employs much of the old ACORN staff and, according to several sources, engages in some of the old organization's controversial techniques to raise money, interest and awareness for the protests.
Sources said NYCC has hired about 100 former ACORN-affiliated staff members from other cities -- paying some of them $100 a day - to attend and support Occupy Wall Street. Dozens of New York homeless people recruited from shelters are also being paid to support the protests, at the rate of $10 an hour, the sources said.
At least some of those hired are being used as door-to-door canvassers to collect money that's used to support the protests.
Sources said cash donations collected by NYCC on behalf of some unions and various causes are being pooled and spent on Occupy Wall Street. The money is used to buy supplies, pay staff and cover travel expenses for the ex-ACORN members brought to New York for the protests...
#1
I can't imagine a better cover for moving 'ordinance' to sensitive/vulnerable areas of a city, all across the country.
A blue port-a-potty is supposed to smell like fertilizer to bomb-sniffing dogs. Multiple propane tanks vented into a weather-tight tent become a aerosol bomb. A viral agent distributed to the protesters in donated food is then passed to local businesses and city-center travelers. The list goes on and on.
#2
I like the idea of liberal groups dumping money into the occupy movement only to see Americans gradually turn against the movements as they get more violent and/or unwashed, smelly and chaotic.
Defense Ministry to send plane carrying 7 mobile homes to quake-devastated province, more aid to follow; foreign ministry source warns move won't necessarily ease diplomatic tensions between countries.
Forty-three percent of Americans agree with the views of the "Occupy Wall Street" movement, according to a new CBS News/New York Times poll that found a widespread belief that money and wealth should be distributed more evenly in America. I believe the rest of the folks should work as hard and as long as I did to earn their wealth the way I did.
Twenty-seven percent of Americans said they disagree with the movement. Thirty percent said they were unsure. Young and left-leaning Americans were more likely to agree with the movement than were their older and more conservative counterparts. Half of Americans ages 18-29 say they agree with the movement; just one in three Americans age 65 or older say the same. Most left-leaning people think of themselves as "normal", including the media.
And two thirds of liberals say they agree with "Occupy Wall Street" compared with just one in four conservatives. Similarly, professed 'liberals' are probably what we'd call "socialists". Or worse.
Seven in ten Americans say they have heard or read at least something about "Occupy Wall Street." Sure. It's what passes for "news" these days. I tried to "Read the complete poll" and all I can get is one question.
This poll was conducted among a random sample of 1,650 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone October 19-24, 2011. Phone numbers were dialed from random digit dial samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher. An oversample was conducted for this survey which will be analyzed in a future poll release.
This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/26/2011 06:00 ||
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Fifty-year-old Scott Ritter, who exchanged explicit messages with a detective posing as a 15-year-old girl, then performed a sex act on himself in front of a webcam, has been sentenced to up to 5 1/2 years in prison.
Good.
Double-plus good.
A Pennsylvania jury convicted Ritter in April. On Wednesday, a Monroe County judge sentenced him to 18 months to 66 months in state prison.
Prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003, Ritter stated that Iraq possessed no significant weapons of mass destruction (WMD) capabilities. He became a popular anti-war figure and talk show commentator as a result of his stance.
Prior to the US invasion of Iraq, Ritter said on Portuguese radio station TSF: "The United States is going to leave Iraq with its tail between its legs, defeated. It is a war we can not win ... We do not have the military means to take over Baghdad and for this reason I believe the defeat of the United States in this war is inevitable ... Every time we confront Iraqi troops we may win some tactical battles, as we did for ten years in Vietnam, but we will not be able to win this war, which in my opinion is already lost."
#2
And I thought Shitter was already in the Brig/Silver City for child sexual molestation. Who knew? Sure hope Shitter is enjoying his "stretch" in the Fed "Pokey"!
[Breitbart] IBM ...contributed $532,372 to the 2008 Obama campaign... named Virginia Rometty, the head of sales, marketing and strategy, to take over as chief executive on January 1, making her the first woman to head the legendary US computer company.
Rometty, 54, who is also a senior vice president at IBM, will take over from current president and chief executive Samuel Palmisano, 60, on January 1, IBM said in a statement Tuesday.
Palmisano, who was named IBM's chief executive in 2002, will stay on as chairman of the board of directors.
IBM said Rometty had also been elected to IBM's board of directors, effective immediately.
Rometty will be the ninth chief executive in the 100-year-old history of the company known as "Big Blue" and the first woman to hold the top post.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Leb's Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani was admitted Tuesday to hospital after suffering a sudden illness, state-run National News Agency reported.
"Qabbani was admitted to the Clemenceau Medical Center in Beirut, where he is receiving the necessary treatment after suffering a medical emergency," NNA said.
The agency did not elaborate on the nature of the medical emergency or its severity level. Acute cirrhosis?
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2011 00:00 ||
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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.
The former New York office for ACORN, the disbanded community activist group, is playing a key role in the self-proclaimed "leaderless" Occupy Wall Street movement, organizing "guerrilla" protest events and hiring door-to-door canvassers to collect money under the banner of various causes while spending it on protest-related activities, sources tell FoxNews.com.
