#1
Here's some numbers to crunch -
2008
Obama 69,456,897
McCain 59,934,814
2012
Obama 60,432,728
Romney 57,631,410
Those 9 million disenchanted voters didn't turn for Romney, they just didn't show up to vote for the office of president. Tacking to center didn't entice them to switch their behavior.
Meanwhile Romney/Ryan lost over 2 million votes from McCain/Palin. I'd say that Palin really wasn't the problem so many made her out to be. So where did those 2 million go?
The stock market loves President Barack Obama. The love story of Wall Street and Obama is a bromance like no other, a man-crush for the ages.
Despite his threats to soak the wealthy for more taxes, despite Fed Chairman's attack on savers, despite even his threat to kill special treatment for dividends, institutional investors have thrown themselves at Obama's feet as they have not done in the first term of any president in the past century.
You could look it up. The S&P 500 has gained 76% since his inauguration in January 2009, while the Nasdaq 100 is up 128%.
The administration and the Federal Reserve have systematically stuffed big banks' pockets with cash in an unending rescue effort, slashed interest rates to the lowest levels of the past 300 years, diverted senior citizens' savings to revive the moribund residential construction industry and showered drug makers and insurers with fresh sources of revenue from his health care overhaul. Where he says to put your money (if you have any):
Health care.
Home Construction/Real Estate
Mobile Communications
Financial Services
Energy
Not sure I agree - doubt there's anywhere that will work other than owning your own politician.
#4
And if you looking for a business to start, within 2 years we will see 3D printing store fronts producing small parts for all manner of things.
Will customer service phone lines be replaced with at home 3-D printers that can print replacement parts and upgrades? In the future will companies like Elevation Labs issue physical patches until a proper replacement can be produced? Haughey thinks so and writes Any industry that involves physical objects and small parts is ripe for 3D printing becoming a huge thing (and a problematic thing for stakeholders involved). I know friends that can rapidly produce any part of a R/C (remote-controlled) car or plane that breaks, which is cool for them, and problematic for the manufacturers of R/C parts.
#5
If only I had money to put into those stocks. Which I don't. Better go look up government programs to get money from so I can put it into those stocks!
/sarc (only somewhat, I don't have money really)
Posted by: Charles ||
11/07/2012 23:11
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by a Florida A&M University professor who compares Jesus with Obama and says God told her in a dream to write it.
Professor Barbara Thompson, its author, told the schools student newspaper during a book signing Tuesday that the 220-page undertaking, largely a compilation of his speeches, was a result of divine inspiration:
Her son was the impetus behind the book. After a bad accident, Barbara Thompson prayed for her son to be healed. After her sons healing, she had a dream when the spirit of God spoke to her and told her to go on a journey with apostle Barack.
Apostle, a leader with a new cause, is how Thompson defines Obama.
He walks the earth for a more equalized, more middle class and working poor society, she said. She compared apostle Barack to apostles like Jesus and Martin Luther King Jr.
(During her book signing event) she provided a complete breakdown of the good that has happened during the Presidents 4-year term. Healthcare, the economy, education and federal initiatives interests are the Good news from the apostle.
Wait for it it gets a little nuttier than that.
According to its description on Amazon.com, the book is:
it is the intent of the author to utilize the materials contained in the speeches as a means of teaching Apostle Baracks followers about him and guiding them towards understanding politics as religion and religion as politics. The manuscript would also serve as a guide for his followers to unlock the answers to creating and living in the reality of a middle class lifestyle that was so economically and ethically sound that it appeared to be heaven here on earth.
#6
From an anthropological point of view she has it nailed. All through history the Shaman or the healer has been an important part of the group. The fact that they call them psychiatrists or climate scientists nowadays doesn't change the dynamic, especially to someone teaching African studies.
And Obama with his tortured background fits the bill nicely to receive a divine calling.
Just listen to his acceptance speech, this is a master class in modern day witch doctoring.
A congressman who routinely accused American Muslims of being enemies of the United States looks likely to go down in defeat. Another, a former presidential candidate who warned of a wide-ranging Islamic conspiracy to undermine the government, barely won reelection. A third, who espoused the same conspiracy, opted not to run. Its not been the greatest night for Congress anti-Islam caucus.
That caucus was a legislative bastion of support for a group of self-anointed counterterrorism analysts that tried to convince the FBI and the military that the Islamic religion was to blame for terrorism. That group is already beleaguered: President Obama has ordered its teachings removed from counterterrorism training across the government, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff declares it totally objectionable. Now its got fewer allies in Congress to fall back upon.
Allen West isnt conceding defeat in Floridas 18th district, but challenger Patrick Murphy appears to have beaten the Tea Party favorite. According to Politico, Murphys narrow vote total is larger than the margin that would trigger a recount. If West has lost his race perhaps the most lavishly funded among House candidates the House will have lost one of its most prominent exponents of a global Islamic threat.
West, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, professes that Islamist terrorism is merely authentic Islam. This is not a perversion, [the terrorists] are doing exactly what this book [the Quran] says, West told a 2010 audience, following a disquisition on Charles Martels fight against a Muslim army at the Battle of Tours in 732. When New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended the 2010 construction of an Islamic cultural center a few blocks from Ground Zero, West dismissed Bloomberg as ignorant of the history of Islamic conquest against western civilization. West has been unapologetic about the act that ended his Army career: firing a gun near the head of a Iraqi detainee in 2003; Glenn Beck dubbed West a modern-day ronin.
#1
Iff West is a true "Ronin", as in Japan's "47 Ronin", he will not give up until the evil is destroyed and the name + honor of his abused-n- deceived dead Lord + Asano Clan is restored.
* FREEREPUBLIC > [Newly released audio tape]ZAWAHIRI: BENGHAZI ATTACK SHOWED US WEAKNESS.
History + Sun Tzu would argue that WEAKNESS INVITES WAR - THE JIHAD [Nuke-WMD?] WILL COME TO AMERIKA, + ALL THE WHILE THAT AUTHORITARIAN SOCIALIST [Fascist] IS VIOLENTLY? ARGUING OR DIVORCING FROM TOTALITARIAN SOCIALIST [Communist].
Its only a question of "when", not "iff".
* FYI DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Silobreaker.com = KavKaz center] MOSCOW RAPIDLY BECOMES ISLAMIZED, RUSSIAN POPULATION RAPIDLY DIES [dying] OUT.
IMO dare Russia devol into a Muslim State [super-Pakistan?]wid SS-18's + SS-25's ICBMS + DELTA SUBS.
* BHARAT RAKSHAK > US SENATE PANEL TAKES ON SAUDI RADICAL ISLAM. Growth of Saudi-style Wahabism in America may one day devol into a de facto National Security threat.
Ala "RED DAWN II", IFF THE WILY NORTH KOREANS EVER DO INVADE AMERICA = AMERIKA, THEY MAY HAVE TO FIGHT LOCAL HARD BOYZ = ISLAMIST JIHADIS/
MILTERRS ALREADY FIGHTING THE US FED-LOCAL GOVTS.
#1
I can't afford to move to Texas, let alone ... Canada? Where would I want to go? I mean, other than Texas, mu adopted home and residence of my three children and three grandchildren. Alas, I live in Bright Blue Northern Virginia, where 75% of eligible voters did so.
75%. Isn't that a new record? But I heard on the news on the way home, the overall participation was low. Could 10% of Virginia voters be dead?
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/07/2012 18:33
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#2
Bobby, I don't get Northern VA - isn't there a lot of military? Why would they vote for Obama? The mil down here in NC w/me voted R2.
#4
I can explain it in two words, Broadhead: Federal Government.
Some of the people who work for the Fed live in D.C., and probably some live in Maryland, but I think the majority of them live in Northern Virginia. And they certainly weren't going to vote for the guy who wants to trim the gummint (and thereby its employees).
NoVa is a separate state from the rest of us; I wish we could just force D.C. to take it. :-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
11/07/2012 21:53
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#5
TW - thanks, & true. I generally think in a myopic lens of the former mil guys I know that become contracters up that way and have nothing but disdain for Barry.
#7
I do too, Sherry. I suspect a lot of them lied.
Posted by: Barbara ||
11/07/2012 21:55
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#8
Barbara, right. I think we have 3 classes of folks running around these days - "the producing class", "the entitlement crowd", and "the recipients". There can be some overlap between them. Generally, producers are the business types, entrepreneurs, etc. Producing folks can also have entitlement leanings to - i.e. - private sector union employees that work but expect entitlements beyon a rational scope, or, those who confuse charity by gov't w/other people's money as compassionate and a role of govt. Then the recipient class is the percent that won't do jack and wants a handout.
#9
Yeah, I heard that to about the Mil going 50-50 for Obama in VA. I find that really hard to believe as well. I highly doubt a majority of enlisted (and especially not officers) voted for him. All the officers & senior enlisted I know were pretty well disgusted this a.m. at work.
#10
All the officers & senior enlisted I know were pretty well disgusted this a.m. at work.
Were you all Marines, Broadhead6, or a mixture from the various services? I believe that back in the Bush days, the military voted 25% Democrat, 75% Republican, but I don't recall seeing any such statistics for 2008 or yesterday.
Jesse Jackson Jr. won re-election to Illinois' 2nd Congressional district by a landslide Tuesday night, beating his two opponents, Marcus Lewis and Brian Woodwoorth.
As of 2 a.m. Wednesday, and with 99 percent of precincts reporting, Jackson had captured 63 percent of the vote.
"My deep and sincere thanks to the people of the 2nd Congressional District, I am humbled and moved by the support shown today," Jackson said in a written statement. "Everyday, I think about your needs and concerns. Once the Doctors approve my return to work, I will continue to be the progressive fighter you have known for years. My family and I are grateful for your many heartfelt prayers and kind thoughts. I continue to feel better everyday and look forward to serving you."
Posted by: Au Auric ||
11/07/2012
12:51 ||
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[Fox Baltimore] Former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon is facing new charges in connection with the corruption case that forced her out of office.
Dixon is now being charged with violating her probation stemming from a plea deal to perjury charges. As part of the plea agreement, Dixon was ordered to pay restitution but has fallen behind in payments.
Dixon resigned in January of 2010 after she was accused of stealing about $500 in gift cards intended for needy families.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/07/2012
12:34 ||
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U.S. stocks dived on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average sinking more than 300 points, as anxiety about the so-called fiscal cliff hit investors in the wake of the re-election of President Barack Obama who will face once again a divided Congress.
"Our base-case scenario is the fiscal cliff is now the base-case scenario," said Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG LLC.
"Today with Obama being re-elected, people are saying 'wait a second, this is a real possibility,'" said Greenhaus of the more than $600 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts scheduled to take effect in January should Congress fail to reach a budget agreement
Posted by: Au Auric ||
11/07/2012
12:30 ||
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Both sides called it a generation-defining race for the White House: a choice between Democrat Barack Obama's brand of government activism and Republican Mitt Romney's commitment to reducing Washington's role in Americans' daily lives.
Obama's victory, however, did not settle that question.
Instead, the hard-fought battle for the White House exposed an electorate deeply divided by race, age and party.
Tuesday's elections - in which Republicans kept control of the U.S. House and Obama's Democrats held on to the Senate - suggested that bitter partisanship would likely remain very much alive in Washington in the new year. They also revealed that there was no broad mandate for much beyond the broadly shared goals of improving the economy and reducing government debt.
That means that undertaking bold new initiatives comparable to healthcare reform, financial regulation and economic stimulus programs will be a great deal more complicated for Obama 2012 than they were for Obama 2008.
Even so, Obama - now unfettered by not having to face voters again - is in position to pursue an ambitious agenda that could leave his mark on government for a generation or longer, including a move to revamp the nation's immigration laws.
Some analysts believe Obama is likely to spend much of his second term "locking down the achievements of his first term," including ensuring that "we will have a functioning national healthcare system," said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
For some, that would be enough to secure his place in history.
"Just by re-electing Obama, that means the Affordable Care Act will continue to be implemented, and that's very important because that's one of the most important pieces of legislation in half a century," Theda Skocpol, a political scientist at Harvard University, said of the law that helps extend health coverage to millions of uninsured Americans.
"Most of the action will occur between the president's administration and states, and my guess is a lot of the Republican governors will find ways to accept parts of the Medicare expansion," Skocpol said.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
11/07/2012
12:17 ||
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#1
As Chinese Perts-Bloggers said, this OBAMA-ROMNEY ELECTION RACE may decide the future of the US as a democratic capitalist = free-market state + Republic; ot else as some kind/form of overt Socialist-Govtist state.
It would appear mainstream America has its answer - iff one believes that the Bammer Admin was finally putting US Socialism out in the open, + no longer covert or hidden, 2013-2016 [2020-2025]> INCREASINGLY SO.
As said or inferred before, EVERYONE LIKES TO TALK OR DISCUSS FASCIST-VS-COMMUNIST IN THE US, GOVT, MSM-NET, ETC - THE TERM NO ONE WANTS TO TALK OR DISCUSS IS "SOCIALISM".
Sniff, sniff, And to think it only took circa 20 Yarns for US Politicos + MSM Pundits to realize that ISLAM = THEO/FAITH/GOD-BASED SOCIALISM OR GOVTISM.
But I digress ...
Goodbye America, hello Amerika; goodbye Freedom(s) + Personal Liberties, hello Regulation + excessive Big Govt/Hyper/Mega-Government ......
The only real question is how long Authoritarian SOcialism = Fascist/Nationalists can keep the peace vee Totalitarian Socialism = Communists/
Anti-Nationalist Globalists, + initiate violent divorce proceedings, i.e. PURGES, GULAGS,REVOLUTION + ANARCHIES???
Lest we fergit, 1990'S CLINTONISM > FASCISM = merely LIMITED COMMUNISM, FREE-MARKET OR "LAISSEZ-FAIRE" CAPITALISM = merely LIMITED SOCIALISM-GOVTISM, and so on.
OWG + "GLOBALISM" = the World demands its Natural or God-given Right etc., D *** YOU, to be attacked and invaded by America = Amerika.
The US is the "Tip of the Spear" [forefront] of setting up OWG-NWO in order to give up it up???
Hence two broad questions
> HOW MUCH "SOCIALIST" CAN SOCIALIST AMERIKA BE???
> AS PER PRO-US-VS-ANTI-US OWG-NWO, HOW STRONG OR WEAK CAN GLOBALIST SOCIALIST AMERIKA BE VEE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY + EXTRA/POST-NATIONALIST OWG "GLOBAL FEDERAL UNIONS", e.g. NAU + EU + AFRICAN UNION + ASIAN UNION, ETC.
Will US Commies + Globies + Marxists, etal honor their beloved "will of the people" and put the issues up in honest nationwide or popular referendum(s), OR ARE THEY MORE LIKELY TO GULAG + AK-47 YOUR ASSES.
POLITELY OR QUIETLY "REMOVED/RETIRED VIA MORTAR", as North Korea may put it - IT WAS ALSO VERY KIND OF YOUSE TO DONATE YOUR ORGANS TO THE PEOPLE = STATE WIDOUT YOUR CONSENT [+ while you were still alive?]???
#2
Joe, I think w/the number of people that voted for R2 yesterday, the socialist side doesn't have the numbers or guns to do what you suggest. The people would eventually revolt and would (I think) swing fairly hard back to the right. Even the union schmucks could only take this for so long until the gov't over reaches and goes after the 2nd Amend. MY opinion anyways.
Barack Obama may consider introducing a tax on carbon emissions to help cut the U.S. budget deficit after winning a second term as president, according to HSBC Holdings Plc.
A tax starting at $20 a metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent and rising at about 6 percent a year could raise $154 billion by 2021, Nick Robins, an analyst at the bank in London, said today in an e-mailed research note, citing Congressional Research Service estimates. Applied to the Congressional Budget Offices 2012 baseline, this would halve the fiscal deficit by 2022, Robins said.
Hurricane Sandy sparked discussion on climate protection in the election after presidential candidates focused on other debates, HSBC said. A continued Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives means Obamas scope for action will be limited, Robins said. Cap-and-trade legislation stalled in the U.S. Senate after narrowly passing the house in 2009.
North American discharges fell 1.3 percent last year amid slowing economic growth. In China, the worlds biggest emitter, greenhouse gases from fuel use rose more than 9 percent in 2011, according to BP Plc (BP/) statistics published on June 13.
Cap-and-trade has been demonized and Obama probably wont seek to install such a program in his second term, Richard Sandor, founder of the worlds biggest carbon trading exchange in Europe, said today at the presentation in London of his book titled Good Derivatives.
New carbon trading programs in California, China and Brazil may encourage U.S. lawmakers to introduce greenhouse gas trading by about 2020, Sandor said.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
11/07/2012
12:15 ||
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#1
could raise $154 billion by 2021
As of the end of FY12, the US government was hemorrhaging spending about $10.5 billion per DAY. So this tax would take 8 YEARS to raise enough to cover about 15 DAYS worth of spending.
I'd just love to know how that would "halve the fiscal deficit" by any year when any of us (or our children, for that matter) would still be alive.
#3
Hmmmm....last I checked, under our Constitution's Separation of Powers Doctrine, the US House of Representatives initiates tax-writing. Sure, they can do it at the suggestion of the President, but they are under no requirement to write up his taxes on demand.
#4
I'd just love to know how that would "halve the fiscal deficit"
It's a post-normal science thing RandomJD. Math doesn't matter, feeling good is everything.
#6
carbon tax would be less destructive than a big jump in the Cap Gains tx
Posted by: lord garth ||
11/07/2012 18:58
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#7
What they are not talking about is how that would effect the price of gasoline because it seems to me that's how they would implement the tax, on either the oil or the pumps. It might generate a lot of cash but it would be extremely unhelpful to our economy.
#8
Technocrats believe they can create the Perfect Society. Turn this dial here, tweak this parameter there, change one thing and Voila!
But anyone working with complex systems knows there is no such thing as 'one thing'. Everything is deeply inter-twingled. Sure, a carbon tax will generate a trifling bit of deficit reduction. But it will drive up the cost of fuel, of energy production and it will make any manufacturer with an energy-intensive process look elsewhere before building a plant in the US. One teensy change in a parameter, but a BIG hit on the economy.
The United States is headed for a recession during President Barack Obama's second term, renowned financial guru Steve Forbes predicted Wednesday.
"We won't get a depression, thankfully. This is still a very resilient economy, but we will have a recession," Forbes, chairman and editor-in-chief of Forbes Media, told Newsmax.TV in an exclusive interview.
"Raising taxes on capital, raising taxes on small businesses, which we will likely get now, particularly since the Republicans did so badly in the Senate races, that is going to pose a real burden.
"We have Europe doing the same thing: piling on new taxes, Japan piling on new taxes. The Federal Reserve is going to continue to undermine the dollar, which is going to hurt small and medium-size business. It's going to be very tough sledding next year."
Posted by: Au Auric ||
11/07/2012
11:52 ||
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#1
Europe is going down. Recession big time. They say thats why our stock market dropped so much today. This will choke our economy as well as China and others. In my opinion Obama will print more money, raise taxes and attack the wealthy just as François Hollande of France has done. He has already raised taxes yes, look for even greater increases.
#2
The more deeper + prolonged be the economic chaos, the better for justifying the set-up of extra-national/sovereign, you-betcha-we're-interdependent NAU + other OWG "Global Federal Unions" polities around the World.
Washington, DC aka Capital of the World's "Sole" Superpower/Hyperpower will become lower than at NAU-or-Higher level of OWG/Global Governance.
'Tis why Amerikkans must lose their current Constitutional right to bear arms + other Constitutional/Civil rights, as OWG-lowly Washingtoncritters don't want to be shot or hanged from the nearest tree, etc. by the US mainstream for anything detrimental that comes out from the future NAU, Trans-, + OWG.
The "Birther" Controversy > NATIONALISM-VS-ANTI-NATIONALISM/GLOBALISM = are Americans = Amerikans willing to follow the US-specific Policies + Decisions of OWG NAU Leaders-Personages whom have little or no ties to America + all things American or Americana, who were NOT born in America andor never fought for America or any American Political-Econ-Military-Social issues, + whom live or reside in foreign countries e.g. CANADA + MEXICO, OTHER???
#1
I've made mistakes comment wise here, but the "you are not military, F-U" attitude some offer up in the comments leaves a bad taste. Just sayin' I don't know the things military members know, but I'm sure not their enemy, politically speaking. Go after redhead Ohio parking lot guy who voted for Obama and said our ambassador deserved rape-murder and leave me alone. My opinion on military matters may be naive, but I'm on the US military man's / woman's side all the way...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/07/2012 9:04
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#2
I couldn't open up the link. I believe you M. Murcek. As you know - Anyone who voted for Obama voted for sequestration & anyone who bought into Obama's b.s. about Benghazi/Fast&Furious/DADT repeal is no true friend to the military.
#3
ObamaCare is permanent and a threat to our health care system, the war on coal will be pushed toward its conclusion, and this presidents drive to disarm the United States while vastly expanding the entitlement state will proceed apace. Obamas re-election is a catastrophe for those who want a strong and liberty-based America rooted in traditional values and our Constitutional order.
The three-way split inside the Beltway is a opportunity for Obama to behave as a regulatory tyrant, and that is what he will probably do. The divided nation suits a divisive president.
I think these last three lines say it all, more of the same policies and programs, because of which will see a crippling rise in the costs of electricity, transportation fuels, related fuel taxes.
In health care, death panels are assured to become part of the landscape.
And I agree, that without a strong military/intelligence defense, the United States will result in a catastrophic attack, when our enemies find our weakest point.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
11/07/2012 11:21
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#4
On the latter point, they don't need to. Hollowing out from within and then a little push may be all it takes, and the former is well advanced already.
Republicans retained control of the House, confronting President Barack Obama with a continuing partisan obstacle to his second-term agenda.
The results left the chamber's balance of power intact despite a restive electorate. The House's dwindling band of conservative Democrats shrunk further, as Republicans defeated two Democratic incumbents in the South and picked up several open seats held by "Blue Dog'' Democrats who had decided to retire.
Still, Democrats offset some of their losses by defeating several GOP incumbents, including tea-party-backed freshmen who had been a big part of the GOP 2010 landslide.
By 1:45 a.m., Republicans were set to win 239 seats and Democrats 193, according to the Associated Press.
Strategists in both parties expect the House's bottom line will change little, in a departure from the last three so-called wave elections that brought major swings in the party makeup of the Housetoward Democrats in 2006 and 2008 and toward Republicans in 2010.
"We're humbled to have again been entrusted by the American people with the responsibility of leading the People's House,'' said House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio), in a statement prepared before the outcome of the presidential election was known. "We stand ready to work with any willing partnerRepublican, Democrat or otherwise."
#6
The pubs in the house will have to grow a spine and get into the faces of the dems. However, O will crank out executive orders like fatwas, and congress will do nothing. Nothing will happen until congress gets shaken up. and that ain't happening for two years, theoretically.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/07/2012 11:17
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#7
Obama Addressing Congress on the State of the Union .... ?
Posted by: Au Auric ||
11/07/2012 11:47
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#8
Congress should spend like drunken sailors -- I mean even more than they have been doing. Print money and send it home to their districts. If the US wants bankruptcy, let's give it to them.
#9
The biggest damage will be to the supreme court. Obama is in position to appoint 1 or 2 new justices.
Once he does that and replaces a conservative with an extreme liberal (which the senate will rubber-stamp) - say bye bye to that quaint bill of rights - starting with the second.
#12
Right, so give the Prez everything he wants, as long as he agrees to take all the glory AND all the blame. After two years, he'll have no one to blame but the Dims.
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/07/2012 18:18
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#13
Give him all the rope he needs to hang himself? That sounds like a dangerous game. The noose is likely to end up around our necks and they will keep on blaming the Republicans anyway. With the MSM in their pocket they can do that.
While the US presidential elections are stealing the limelight, on this side of the pond, votes taking place in the Greek parliament could prove equally crucial.
With the country stuck in its fifth successive year of recession, Greek politicians must on Wednesday night vote on a fresh round of spending cuts and tax hikes totalling 13.5bn euros ($17.3bn; £10.8bn) - the fourth such package since the debt crisis started three years ago.
On Sunday there is a second vote to approve Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras' proposed budget for 2013.
The austerity measures include a two-year increase in the retirement age from the current average of 65, salary and pension cuts and another round of tax increases.
Both these reforms and the proposed budget must be passed for Greece to receive its next tranche of 31.5bn euros of aid, which is already on hold from the end of September. Any chance of getting approval for a subsequent softening of its 130bn euro bailout terms also hinges on these votes.
Without the 31.5bn euros, needed to recapitalise Greece's banks, Mr Samaras has warned the country will run out of money by the middle of this month, and descend "into chaos".
With the left-wing and socialist members of the fragile coalition government wavering, Mr Samaras has insisted that these cuts will be the "very last", with the only other option a eurozone exit leading to what he has estimated would be an 80% drop in the standard of living.
"We promised to avert the country's exit from the euro and this is what we are doing. We have given absolute priority to this because if we do not achieve this everything else will be meaningless," Mr Samaras added.
Its really hard to ignore whats happening today; the election phenomenon is global.
Over the last several weeks, Ive traveled to so many countries, and EVERYWHERE it seems, the US presidential election is big news. Even when I was in Myanmar ten days ago, local pundits were engaged in the Obamney debate. Chile. Spain. Germany. Finland. Hong Kong. Thailand. Singapore. It was inescapable.
The entire world seems fixated on this belief that it actually matters who becomes the President of the United States anymore or that one of these two guys is going to fix things.
Fact is, it doesnt matter. Not one bit. And Ill show you mathematically:
1) When the US federal government spends money, expenses are officially categorized in three different ways.
Discretionary spending includes nearly everything we think of related to government the US military, Air Force One, the Department of Homeland Security, TSA agents who sexually assault passengers, etc.
Mandatory spending includes entitlements like Medicare, Social Security, VA benefits, etc. which are REQUIRED by law to be paid.
The final category is interest on the debt. It is non-negotiable.
Mandatory spending and debt interest go out the door automatically. Its like having your mortgage payment autodrafted from your bank account Congress doesnt even see the money, its automatically deducted.
2) With the rise of baby boomer entitlements and steady increase in overall debt levels, mandatory spending and interest payments have exploded in recent years. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office predicted in 2010 that the US governments TOTAL revenue would be exceeded by mandatory spending and interest expense within 15-years.
Thats a scary thought. Except it happened the very next year.
3) In Fiscal Year 2011, the federal government collected $2.303 trillion in tax revenue. Interest on the debt that year totaled $454.4 billion, and mandatory spending totaled $2,025 billion. In sum, mandatory spending plus debt interest totaled $2.479 trillion exceeding total revenue by $176.4 billion.
For Fiscal Year 2012 which just ended 37 days ago, that shortfall increased 43% to $251.8 billion.
In other words, they could cut the entirety of the Federal Governments discretionary budget no more military, SEC, FBI, EPA, TSA, DHS, IRS, etc. and they would still be in the hole by a quarter of a trillion dollars.
4) Raising taxes wont help. Since the end of World War II, tax receipts in the US have averaged 17.7% of GDP in a very tight range. The low has been 14.4% of GDP, and the high has been 20.6% of GDP.
During that period, however, tax rates have been all over the board. Individual rates have ranged from 10% to 91%. Corporate rates from 15% to 53%. Gift taxes, estate taxes, etc. have all varied. And yet, total tax revenue has stayed nearly constant at 17.7% of GDP.
It doesnt matter how much they increase tax rates they wont collect any more money.
5) GDP growth prospects are tepid at best. Facing so many headwinds like quickening inflation, an enormous debt load, and debilitating regulatory burdens, the US economy is barely keeping pace with population growth.
6) The only thing registering any meaningful growth in the US is the national debt. It took over 200 years for the US government to accumulate its first trillion dollars in debt. It took just 286 days to accumulate the most recent trillion (from $15 trillion to $16 trillion).
Last month alone, the first full month of Fiscal Year 2013, the US government accumulated nearly $200 billion in new debt 20% of the way to a fresh trillion in just 31 days.
7) Not to mention, the numbers will only continue to get worse. 10,000 people each day begin receiving mandatory entitlements. Fewer people remain behind to pay into the system. The debt keeps rising, and interest payments will continue rising.
8) Curiously, a series of polls taken by ABC News/Washington Post and NBC News/Wall Street Journal show that while 80% of Americans are concerned about the debt, roughly the same amount (78%) oppose cutbacks to mandatory entitlements like Medicare.
9) Bottom line, the US government is legally bound to spend more money on mandatory entitlements and interest than it can raise in tax revenue. It wont make a difference how high they raise taxes, or even if they cut everything else that remains in government as we know it.
This is not a political problem, its a mathematical one. Facts are facts, no matter how uncomfortable they may be. Todays election is merely a choice of who is going to captain the sinking Titanic.
#1
That is a thing lefties can count on:if Conservatives lose they will start beating their chests instead of lookingat what is fishy.
Frankly I cannot believe Romney not getting a single swing state. It is too perfect. Also it doeesn't match with what was seen at ground level. Everywhere we have been told of record high particpation levels in Republican districts and low ones in Democratic counties, of obama giving his finalspeech in half empty arena in Ohio, of many tell-tale signs pointing to ack of enthousiasmbetween Democrats and a strong determination between Republicans; The logical assumption was that Romney would win easily in states where lectorate was divided. But no. Not a single time this translated into a Republican victory. Not a single time.
Then we remind of DOJ preventing Florida of purging voting lists of non-citizens, of voting machines giving a vote for Obama when the Romney button was pressed, of in Pennsylvania, thousands of Republican votes shredded by a "helpthe vote" organization, of Democrats being caught red handed organizing a concerted effort of fraudulent vote through impersonating people they knew wouldn't vote. And of course thereis the persistent fact of a party who opposes bites and nails to voter ID.(If you fear poor people wouldbe unable to vote then makeit 0 cost, also in France for voting yu need an ID _and_ a special nationallyissued lection card thus ensuring you cannot vote in more than one district).
Also when I learned thatRasmussen had been threatened by the DOJ of being sued I immediately knew here was something at work more sinister than simply trying todemoralize the Republican electorate: if poll pointed to an Obama victory fraud would not be suspected.
However the bitter thing i Republican will do nothing about it. They will do nothing bcaue ith Catholic-like eagerne they will tart beting their chets, they will do nothing out of the fear of looking like they were trying toteal the election through litigtion (and alobecaue they knowthe MSM will dowhat ineeded for that.They will donothing becaue over 150 year after it w crated the Republican party ha tillnot learned how to fight wit omeoene who fight diirtyj What could be eoected of aparty whoe dirtiet fighter, that i Richard Nixon, did nothing when Kennedy tolean electionfrom him. Obama expected it and the Republicans gave the anwer he expected.
#2
Nobody who has studied voting fraud, thinks real fraud is more than a few thousand votes in any one State.
The major problems include what was seen in the Medicare poll. People don't want to believe the facts, e.g., that Medicare taxes and copayments don't exceed 35% of expenses. People don't want to believe that Social security income doesn't exceed 70% of future payouts, etc. People want to believe that more money on education improves education. People want to believe that Islam is basically peaceful and a tiny few are making stuff up about what the Koran says.
Posted by: lord garth ||
11/07/2012 6:10
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#3
Unfortunately, I believe the numbers. Americans want all the free stuff, and don't want to pay for it.
Well, they just elected themselves to be Greece. Romney might (big might) have stopped the bleeding for 20 years, but it is inevitable that the collapse will happen. I know I have mentioned in debates that we were choosing between a quick collapse and a slow one. Looks like the public wants a quick one.
This next decade will not be easy and it will be very bloody for the entire world.
#4
Stop worrying about medicare and start worrying about defence spending. More than 50% of global defence spending is done by the US. Its unsustainable, but makes a few very very rich.
The US has bankrupted itself fighting for Saudi Arabia's king.
1) they took our Saddam Hussein, the Saudi's main regional rival
2) they've helped Saudi backed islamists triumph in Libya, and now helping them in Syria.. secular regimes replaced with Islamist ones, just like we did in the 1980s in Afghanistan. How did that turn out?
3) Saudi equipped to put down its own democracy protests, and help stamp them out in Bahrain (where the US has a large base to help protect... err... "freedom" - ie the Saudi regime)
4) Now we'll knock out Iran for them - better we spend the money and see our servicemen die, than the Saudis have to waste any of their fat lazy citizens
People have to decide do they want to spend money to help prop up Saudi Arabia's King, or would they rather it be spent treating sick Americans. We can't afford to do both.
I'm in Europe at the moment (been here 2 years) and the folks here can't believe we run around fighting wars for Saudi after what they did on 911.
#5
>People have to decide do they want to spend money to help prop up Saudi Arabia's King, or would they rather it be spent treating sick Americans.
It would be better if the state didn't extort it in the first place. If you think you own your own body then you're responsible for it. If you don't think that then you believe the state owns you, and you're a slave.
In a swing state youdon't need that manny votes. Also the few thousnad votes was in Bush vs Gore times.Now we are in Alinski times. Anyway a single_ case of vote fraud (the shredding of TRepuiblican votes already made your few thousand votes.
Ah and add the disenfranchisement of military votes tomy laundry list. By itself it makes thousnads of votes in several crucial states;
But is beter to smilelike Nixon while the other cheats.
#10
I'm leaning toward the thinking that this was about a black man running for president. People saw only that, when they would have seen all the terrible numbers and incompetence had it been anyone else.
Also, the GOP went to war with itself, but that is another story.
#11
I hate it when they say "baby boomer entitlements" as if anyone born during a certain period of time is personally responsible for it. I was born then. But I never asked for any of this shit.
Social Security was the law before I was even a glimmer in my Daddy's eye.
Medicare was passed under Lyndon Johnson before I was old enough to vote.
#12
I partly agree with PlaneSPeeker. I mean, what does it matter if we buy our oil from the Soddies or the Iranians or Saddam or Col. Daffy? They all hate us.
But I don't believe we should cut the military. I think these days our real enemy is China and they are certainly not cutting their military.
As for the debt, I feel like I'm riding in the back of a car headed for a cliff and nobody in the front seat is making any move at all for the brake. Yeah, we're going over that cliff. I don't think I can open that back door and jump out. Where would I go?
#13
I hate it when they say "baby boomer entitlements" as if anyone born during a certain period of time is personally responsible for it.
It was the wartime generation whose politicians put the generous social benefits in place. And that was fine, so long as the baby boomers were diligently labouring to support their elders. But now they are the elders, and the worker to benefiter ratio is unworkable... for which the baby boomers will garner given both the blame and the reduced bennies. Sorry, but life isn't fair.
"Romney in 703 words graciously admitted his loss. He said the word "America" five times, the word "pray" three times and the words "Thank you" 21 times.
The Real Good Talker, who's never seen anything he couldn't throw a speech at, took 2,163 words to claim victory in what is traditionally a moment to call for unity and healing after a divisive campaign.
The victorious Chicagoan, who promised before the last election to end Washington's partisan bitterness, strangely uttered the word "fight" five times and "thank you" but seven times. He spoke the word "unify" zero times, "unity" zero times, "heal" zero times and "pray" zero times.
He did, however, manage to mention himself 27 times.
#17
The posted article is an excellent alarm about the US fiscal situation which is the fault of both parties.
The comments are largely partisan and ignore important facts. The US budget ran in surplus under Clinton and then ran in deep deficit under Bush. Before you blame the Democratic Congress for the Bush deficits, note that large factors were the tax cuts (Republican initiative) and the wars (Republican initiatives). It was/is important to fight jihadists (I am a supporter of this website, after all), but cutting taxes at the same time was not responsible. We did not cut taxes during WWII or Korea, and Johnson was rightly criticized for not raising taxes during Viet Nam, let alone cutting them.
We need a bi-partisan solution to the entitlements morass. Neither party can take on such a disaster-in-the making by itself, as voters would punish whichever party showed political courage. Bashing the other party is natural, especially around election time, but the fiscal mess won't be fixed without dialing down the political rhetoric and working together.
#18
As long as it's the Administration and the idiots who elected him, #17 Admiral AA.
In fact, you might have to get in line behind the rest of us. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
11/07/2012 14:49
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#19
Odysseus -- Obama has had four years to work with the Repubs on this -- he hasn't met with any Repub about anything about the economy since July 2011 -- something Romney brought up often in his speeches about reaching across the aisle -- I say that falls back into Obama's court -- he's the one that needs to stop bashing..
He also has submitted three budgets and got not vote from either party.
#20
I'm leaning toward the thinking that this was about a black man running for president. People saw only that, when they would have seen all the terrible numbers and incompetence had it been anyone else.
George Will wrote a recent column about when Major League Baseball really became color blind ---- it was when the awesome Frank Robinson, the first black manager was fired for not winning enough baseball games.
So no we're not color blind yet, this election had just a touch of AA about it, just enough to matter.
#21
Sherry - And what do you say about my point comparing Clinton surpluses with Bush deficits? The Republican Party used to have Senators who cared about fiscal responsibility like Gramm and Rudman. Now it has a bunch of Grover Norquist disciples and people scared of them.
#22
Odysseus -- better question is, is there a single Democrat in either chamber of Congress who will vote to restrain non-military spending?
The one and very same Nancy Pelosi who criticized the $400 billion Bush deficits in 2006 today has not a word in complaint about the $1100 billion Obama deficit of 2012, except that she'd like to spend more.
Yes, the Pubs in the early aughts were co-opted by K street. That's one reason why they lost in 2006 and 2008.
Republicans get punished when they lose their way. Democrats get rewarded when they lose our way.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/07/2012 17:07
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#23
I get tired of people always coming back at me with Bush. I don't defend Bush. I think he made some horrible mistakes. That doesn't leave Obama off the hook.
He took the credit for a balanced budget when it was really Newt Gingrich who held his feet to the fire.
It was Clinton who beefed up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That's when the funky mortgages resulted in the housing boom that resulted in the housing bust. That's why the economy tanked in 2008. Bush took the blame but it was Clinton's fault.
It was Clinton who granted most favored nation status to China. They took all our jobs, now they do our manufacturing for us, they pollute more than we ever dreamed of doing and they use the profits to build up their military and threaten us with it. Thanks, Bill.
It was Clinton who threw our border with Mexico wide open thereby turning California into a blue state.
It was Clinton who was having himself serviced by Monica Lewinsky when he should have been killing Osama bin Laden.
#25
I believe America made two decisions yesterday.
One was that they would vote for style over substance. A black man with promises and gifts over the unpleasant math.
The second is I think America decided to no longer be the lone super power. I won't be surprised if the military is gutted and the Republicans in Congress blamed. Doesn't matter if it is true or not as the media will relay that and it will be perceived as true and the cuts as necessary. We will get by with air power and drones and nice words and bows and pretend its the same thing until its obvious that it is not.
Feels like the 30s only I don't really see the Axis powers out there. Iran is nasty and China potentially so but they don't seem to be world conquest nasties and if the US just sacrifices a few long standing allies the nasties might be satiated. Not my desire, just my thought on how the thinking will turn even if not spoken aloud.
#26
Odysseus -- you are learning fast -- moving through the alphabet -- made it to the letter B with "Blaming Bush" -- Big Bird would be proud.
Check out the years 2006 - 2008 -- but then, that would take some energy --- Congress, at least according to our Constitution, controls the pocketbook. Those were the years of the biggest spending, and it was the Dems, not Bush in charge of that spending.... with bullet proof over-ride veto power.
Clinton, too, like Obama, inherited his economy. The economy that Reagan, and by the way, working with Dems, put in place.
The years 2006 - 2008 saw the downfall --- it's widely known, that Fannie Mae and Fannie Mac brought our economy down.
You might want to kinda look at who it was that attempted to put Fannie Mae and Fannie Mac in control -- as their "leaders" made an incredible amount of money that would put the salaries/bonus of private business owners to shame.... Check out Jamie S. Gorelick, the amount of money she made as a director of Fannie Mae -- yes, the same Jamie S. Gorelick that establish that famous stove-pipe that killed the communications/intelligence between our government agency. With that communication opened? Who knows, 911 might not have happened. I don't know how she sleeps each night, but then, probably extremely comfortable 'cause she graduated from that job to one that had yearly compensation in the millions. Nice retirement, if you can get it.
2006 - 2008 Those are the years our economy went out of control -- yea, maybe Bush could have done more... but it would have been hard. Google Bush and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
More than once, he brought up getting control of Fannie Mae and Fanny Mac.... and as all teachers do... repeat, repeat, repeat.... the Dems had bullet proof veto power in the Congress -- the owners of our moneys. They refused to look at Fannie Mae and Fannie Mac.
Progressing into the alphabet, Romney (a really late letter in our alphabet, that letter R) was fighting that letter B -- Blame Bush, Big Bird, bankruptcy, birth control, binders and bullets --
Google is your friend -- research the deficit in each year from 2000 to 2008 --- and with each year, as the deficit grew and at what pace, ask yourself..... who controlled Congress?
Opinions can be changed, facts can't --- except when facts are viewed as we want to see them....
#28
Broadhead -- Rantburg's owe Marine (mine currently is on duty up above, guarding that corner of Saturday Night Steak and Bourbon) -- thank you for that.... means lot....
#1
Given his administration's behavior, what exactly would he have to do to not be reelected? At least we have the House. Until another idiot Congressman starts blathering on about how God says we should run the USA.
#2
This is not my country anymore; the Long March through the institutions has succeeded, and it's just plain over. Instapundit reader Zach White says it better than I can:
If Obama is reelected, good hardworking people should give up and go Galt. The tipping point is the 2012 election. Will the makers finally succumb to the takers? Its pointless to think that if America reelects the most unqualified disastrous president in recent memory, we should stand our ground and continue fighting. its a signal that marxist free-lunchism and free birth control for everyone trump economic well-being and prosperity in the minds of the masses. Give up. Go Galt. Protect what few assets you have left, and start to hunker down for the coming storm.
America is beyond screwed, well past the fiscal insanity of a number of EU countries. Think of it this way we sit and watch California destroy itself and wonder who could be so foolish as to remain there and dedicate himself to indentured servitude in a state headed for disaster. Why dont those fools just leave!! Same for Venezuela. as they descend into chaos and totalitarianism, do they reject Chavez more? The answer is plainly no. The spiral down the drain is irreversible and obvious. The more the government creates misery, the more they create programs to help people cope with the misery theyve created, and we achieve a perpetual negative feedback loop.
My advice is simple if Obama is reelected, get a lawyer and a financial advisor, cash out as much of your assets as you can, and prepare yourself for a nosedive off a cliff. anything else would be imprudent and irresponsible to yourself and your dependents. Who wants to be a Dagny Taggart dedicating themselves to a life of indentured servitude trying to correct the wrongs of a heavy handed government? i will not be volunteering. I didnt give up on America, America gave up on me.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
11/07/2012 0:16
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#3
Afraid we're going to be hearing stories about how America used to be. We're essentially a EU now, pining for the glory days while the younger generation(Mine) eat what's left of the rotting corpse.
I fully expect not only a market collapse in small business and unemployment to skyrocket in the following months, but within the next few years a WMD terrorist attack.
Also big shout out to Governor Christie for giving Obama the appearance of competence. Sure your states in ruin and FEMA is nowhere in sight, but you FEEL better don't you? Freagin hack.
Posted by: Charles ||
11/07/2012 0:41
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#4
Apparently Americans want to go the Greece route. This isn't the country and ideas I fought and bled for.
The first state that declares secession I am moving to.
#5
IMHO, the Trunks shouldn't do a fucking thing to stand in the way of Ogabe's 2nd term aganda. The attitude should be "you told us what you wanted, so we're going to make sure you get it...good and hard." Maybe after a few years of 40% unemployment followed by hyperinflation and a city or two under radioactive mushroom clouds, some minds just might get a little concentrated.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
11/07/2012 1:06
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#6
Which will be spun to blame the Republicans. It might work if we weren't in charge of the House. Though it is Boehner.
More than anything I blame Sandy and Christie. Gave Obama the last-minute look of Competence he needed. My Generation are idiots. I'm so ashamed. But this isn't over, as long as we breathe it isn't over. 2004 Democrats must have felt like this. And we're still here.
Keep on trucking.
Posted by: Charles ||
11/07/2012 1:18
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#7
I have been mulling this over in recent weeks and it seems apparent to me that the America I grew up in has changed. I considered this election a simple crossroads. I had hoped for a large victory for Romney, repudiating Obama's ideology within the Democratic Party, but this did not happen. Even a Romney victory of a miniscule margin would have been a signal within that party that the ideology he espouses may not be the direction for the Dem.'s. How this translates to me is that the voter population and their ideology is swinging to one that approves of Obama's performance and, therefore, his ideology. 8% unemployment is now "ok", $4000 in average lost wages of the middle class is now "ok", over a trillion a year in debt is "ok", these are fundamental economic failures of a presidency, but at least 50% of the voters do not think so. There is a serious disconnect there. I do not feel that Obama won, I feel like Romney lost. This game was for all the marbles, we just lost them. I do not know if we can get them back.
#8
But this isn't over, as long as we breathe it isn't over. 2004 Democrats must have felt like this. And we're still here.
Keep on trucking.
Charles, I wish I could be even as teeny-tiny optimistic as you are - God knows, you gotta love anyone who can keep searching for the pony in this unmitigated pile of horseshit. But the fact is that the 1960's Left has been working toward exactly this moment for the past forty years and more. It began when the SDSers went to grad school and J-school, or became public-school teachers; it advanced even further when Slick Willy used triangulation and a rightward political tack to hide his throwing open of the Mexican border and his corruption of the voting rolls via the "motor voter law." Obama is the poisonous fruit of a tree with roots that are now very, very deep. The ultimate objectives of the "Long March through the institutions" have been visible to anyone who cared enough to do a little research - economic collapse at home and weakness abroad. That's what the majority has chosen.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
11/07/2012 1:41
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#9
Goodbye, America - Hello, Amerika, of the OWG Mighty USSA versus OWG Weak USRoA Global SSR, at least until our Socialist comrades in either Chinese or Radical Islam take over from us ideo andor spiritually "impure" Westies.
#12
Whoops, forgot to mention the commies and the fact that we'll all be praying to Mecca. also aliens might invade under Obama as they'll see how he let OBL of the hook.
#13
I demand immediate censorship of the above posts. Freedom of speech is for pinkos! Delete now!
Few things are worse than anonymous commenters who troll and gloat the morning after an election. Are you genetically engineered to be an asshole, Flinert?
AoS
He's not anonymous, he's our old idiot Israel4Jews.
#14
Economic meltdown is unfortunately not far off. You cannot keep borrowing (in reality printing) money for ever, without consequences. All of them bad.
I thought there was some chance of avoiding the meltdown if Romney was elected, but now there is none.
Economic interdependence is a powerful dis-incentive to wars, because you cannot hurt your enemy without hurting yourself.
One consequence of the economic meltdown will be a collapse in world trade and a rise in the number of wars.
I have seen the future*, and its a world full of Argentinas and Greeces.
*Allusion to that Communist apologist whose name I forget.
#15
>I thought there was some chance of avoiding the meltdown if Romney was elected, but now there is none.
There wasn't really. Romney would only have delayed the time it arrived. You'll just have to move forward plans to cope with the economic suicide you will see around you.
#16
You'll just have to move forward plans to cope with the economic suicide you will see around you. Yep.
-- I can only hope the future is not a variation on this tune:
http://tu.tv/videos/stairway-to-lenin
#17
"Economic meltdown is unfortunately not far off. You cannot keep borrowing (in reality printing) money for ever, without consequences"
The US spends more on "defence" than the rest of the world put together. Its economy is nowhere near 50% of global GDP. It isn't rocket science. Billions spent in Iraq, looking for WMDs that didn't exist.
But you're right - it can't go on, and it won't go on. The US can't afford these adventures - but the guys who sell the weapons are driving much nicer cars than you now.
#20
Gold is as safe an economic factor as there probably is right now. So you're set. The rest of us are going to start digging in our backyards for diamonds.
Posted by: Charles ||
11/07/2012 7:17
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#21
Why gold? If you truly believe economic disaster is coming wjy not run up the credit cards before the crash?
#23
A reminder - THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX) but "to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER" and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God.
- Thomas Paine, The Crisis, December 1776
#25
Don't forget that Obama will now be able to appoint 1 and possible 2 Supreme Court Justices.
That is going to tip the balance. Goodbye 1st and 2nd amendments - to be followed quickly by the other 7 (the 10th is already dead). Oh they will still be there - but ignored much like the 10th is now.
Domestic energy will be even more limited - driving up fuel prices and everything else. The EPA will have a free reign to destroy businesses. Goodbye coal industry.
#30
I'm going to pick a different book BP: Atlas Shrugged. (Though I liked Fallen Angels.) Rand pretty much predicted this. Next step: hyperinflation, followed by large scale governent seizure of private property. Then the social "die off."
#32
Economic meltdown is unfortunately not far off. You cannot keep borrowing (in reality printing) money for ever, without consequences. All of them bad.
I thought there was some chance of avoiding the meltdown if Romney was elected, but now there is none.
Romney lost because the economy, while anemic, is recovering from the recession of 2008 due to a Federal debt binge and money-printing by the central bank, and Obama is getting the credit, just as Bush got the credit for the boom that followed 9/11, as Greenspan opened the credit spigots and Congress practically forced banks to lend to NINJA (no income, no jobs or assets) borrowers. If the inevitable economic crash occurs before 2016, the GOP will be in a position to participate in another wave election like Obamas in 2008, but this time in the GOPs favor.
#33
'Master - I think following (or more likely during) the large scale seizure of private property some patriot goes Fort Sumpter on a statist and CW2 kicks off. The military will divide up, or, will stand aside. Or, many of them will decide to support and defend the Const against all enemies, foreign & domestic. Business owners will start going Galt during the hyperinflation phase. BTW - I think stock market took dive today - right on cue.
#36
Broadhead - Rand also didn't factor in racial or identity issues into the equation. (She was born Jewish in Russia, and instinctively shied away from that kind of thing.) She tended to see people as acting from rational, individual self-interest. But a lot of us simply aren't individualistic, rationally or otherwise. A shockingly large number of Americans are members of their tribe first (whatever that might be) - and punnishing that tribe's enemies comes before everything else. Even their own interests. Even the interests of their tribe, sometimes.
And now *everyone* is going to get some basic lessons in reality the hard way.
Who cares? Its not like Financial markets or the DOW actually produces anything. You didn't build that! ( /SARC )
The people have spoken - no more need to get a job or produce anything. Obama will provide everything you could ever need - healthcare, abortion on demand, -- everything out of his magic stash!
#40
Alexis de Tocqueville is credited with saying that a democracy can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury.
From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy . The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years..
#41
You can only tax the productive society so much before they get unproductive and realize it is a fool's game. You can only print so much money before it becomes valueless and buys nothing. You can only take a person's earnings, property and wealth and give it to someone else before burning resentment results. You can only divide and conquer so much before you reap what you sow. You can only sew vengence and hatred so much before it spills out of its vessel. You cannot have both freedom and statism at the same time. At some point you go beyond the point of no return and the system collapses and anarchy ensues. Governments can only tax and spend. They create no wealth, they create no value. When government over-regulates an economy, it is to the detriment of its people and a free society. If the morality, free speech, education and truth in a society are destroyed then there is no compass for that society; examples of this are abundant.
#43
From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy..
Sherry, or as Bill O'Reilly say "People want stuff"
You can bet your ass I'll make just enough for my needs - to hell with the moochers. I can't control what I earn from my actual job (they say jump, I jump), but I can sure as hell control what (or if) I earn from my part-time business.
If I don't earn it, they can't tax it away to give to the freeloaders. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
11/07/2012 14:54
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#45
You will become like the UK where the people at the top and bottom dont pay tax.
Hence the squeezed middle who are totally pissed off and moving to Canada, Australia etc
#46
Gnashing teeth is fine for a day. Tomorrow is another day.
Let's face it: Americans were ready to fire Obama, but not ready to hire Romney.
Get a young energetic candidate, a person with a clear vision, not with flip flop views, and get back to work.
Senate in 2 years, White House in 4.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
11/07/2012 16:55
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#47
> Governments can only tax and spend. They create no wealth, they create no value.
That's not completely true. They create property security e.g. land rights, and IP rights such as copyrights and patents. They also perform contract arbitration.
Posted by: Barbara ||
11/07/2012 18:54
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#51
"Governments can only tax and spend. They create no wealth, they create no value."
Actually, this one at least creates wealth - for Bambi's cronies - by stealing it from us and forking it over for "projects" that are pre-destined to fail once the big-wigs put millions into their own pockets. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
11/07/2012 18:59
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#52
Barb - not to differ but that is wealth redistribution not wealth creation.
It's wealth "creation" as in "I'll steal from these suckers (calling it "taxes" nudge, nudge, wink, wink) and give it to you and you'll give me some of it back in the form of campaign donations, and then we'll both be wealthy." >:-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
11/07/2012 20:45
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#55
I would like to see some conservatives set up a movie studio in Texas that can create movies full of action and heroes. Start to take the culture back in a format I think would make money.
#56
RJ, that is a good idea. Westerns, war flicks, detective shows, no lib horse shit. Damn, wish I'd thought of that - Texas, Carolinas, Flyover states...Wilmington, NC already does a lot of films...And as tongue-in-cheek joke at hollywood we could call it Peckerwood or Redwood...
#57
It's been 22 hours...WHERE'S MY FREE STUFF!!!
You know what I did last night while I was listening to this debacle? I looked into buying a gun. Never owned one in my life. But I got a feeling I may just need one....
#59
Gun and ammunition sales have been high since 2007, as I recall, and on by both sides of the aisle. You may have to shop a list of decreasing desirability if you don't want to deal with backorders, tu3031.
#60
I got an uncle who's got a federal firearms license. Lifetime NRA, the whole deal. He'd be the guy I'd talk to if I decide to do it. Seeing how this is Massachsetts, I sure they make you jump through a million hoops.
Showed me his collection one night. Keeps it in a huge gun safe. Woah...I know where I'm heading if the revolution starts.
#62
tu3031 -- I have one ---- but, you might consider saving money, 'cause the UN with Obama's spearheading it, will only take it away from you.... they know where you live.....
[Dawn] While the 35 paroled undertrial prisoners whose whereabouts are not known to the police and home department authorities were involved in 70 different cases, including over two dozen murder cases, the prosecution department has so far received files of only 37 cases, it emerged on Monday.
Sources told Dawn that a meeting of prosecutors, with Sindh Prosecutor General Shahadat Awan in the chair, was held at the SPG office on Monday to follow the cases of the absconding paroled UTPs as directed by the Supreme Court in its order on the proceedings of the implementation of the suo motu ...a legal term, from the Latin. Roughly translated it means I saw what you did, you bastard... case on assassinations in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... The sources said that two UTPs were acquitted by the courts concerned, while the case against one of the UTPs was later withdrawn by the government.
They said that remaining case files would be handed over to the prosecutor general office for further proceedings before the respective trial courts.
They added that the SPG also sought record of the paroled UTPs from the provincial prisons chief as the record of jail warrants and personal bonds was kept at the prison.
They said that the list of the UTPs submitted by the prison authorities in the Supreme Court only contained the numbers of FIRs registered against them and it did not have the case numbers given by the relevant trial courts.
The sources said that the record of absconding paroled UTPs was being sought from the prison's authorities to ascertain the courts where they were being tried.
The meeting was attended by the district public prosecutors of the five judicial districts of Bloody Karachi, Zainub Humerani, Shahab Uddin Memon, Abdul Wahid Ansari, Anver Shah and Samina Ghauri and the special public prosecutors of the anti-terrorism courts, Abdul Maroof, Muzaffar Solangi and Mohammed Shahid.
The sources said that the district public prosecutors concerned had also moved the trial courts for certified copies of the judicial files of the cases against the absconding paroled UTPs.
They said that the prosecutors' meeting would continue on Tuesday to chalk out the future legal course for the cases of paroled UTPs.
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[An Nahar] British Prime Minister David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... said he would support granting Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Scourge of Qusayr... a safe passage out, if requested, to end the nation's bloodshed, in a television interview Tuesday.
Asked what he would say if Assad asked for a safe exit, Cameron told Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV: "Done. Anything, anything to get that man out of the country and to have a safe transition in Syria."
"Of course, I would favor him facing the full force of international law and justice for what he's done," he said, according to a transcript of the interview made available to the press.
"I am certainly not offering him an exit plan to Britannia but if wants to leave, he could leave, that could be arranged," he added.
Cameron who is on a tour of the Middle East, arrived on Tuesday in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... after concluding a two-day visit to the United Arab Emirates.
"I am very frustrated that we can't do more," Cameron said.
"This is an appalling slaughter that is taking place in our world today -- 40,000 lives lost already and you can see, on your television screens, night after night, helicopters, airplanes belonging to the Assad regime pounding his own country and murdering his own people," he said.
Cameron highlighted the need to help the opposition, without elaborating how.
"We must ask ourselves what more can we do: how can we help the opposition? How can we put the pressure on Assad? How can we work with partners in the region to turn this around?" Cameron said.
But when asked about arming the rebels, he said: "We are not currently planning to do that. We are a government under international law and we obey the law."
"My fear is, firstly, that the slaughter will continue, that the loss of life will continue. That should be our number one concern.
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[Bangla Daily Star] Abdul Alim along with a Mighty Pak Army officer used to hold "trials" of people placed in long-term storage Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! at a Mighty Pak Army camp in Joypurhat during the Liberation War and kill captives through issuing "verdicts", an eyewitness said yesterday.
Abdus Samad Mondal, a detainee at the army camp at Joypurhat Sugar Mill who had faced the so-called trial, yesterday testified against Abdul Alim in the crimes against humanity case at the International Crimes Tribunal-2.
Samad, of Panchbibi, talked about his confinement, the role of Alim in the "trial" and how he got away in 1971.
Samad, the fifth prosecution witness in the case, also said the former Convention Moslem League leader had formed the Shanti Committee and the Razakar force in the then Joypurhat sub-division.
The Shanti Committee and the Razakars, two anti-liberation forces, collaborated with the Mighty Pak Army and committed genocide, mass killings and other crimes against humanity during the war, according to prosecution documents.
Alim, 81-one-year-old politician and former minister of Ziaur Rahman's cabinet, was present in the courtroom yesterday when Samad gave vivid descriptions of his "trial".
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[Shabelle] At least two people have been maimed in the Kenyan capital when a bomb was set off in the Eastleigh neighbourhood of Nairobi, the latest in a string of attacks, police say.
"Two people have sustained injuries and rushed to hospital ... it was a very powerful kaboom," said Wilfred Mbithi, head of police operations in the city, on Tuesday.
Bomb experts scoured the scene after the blast, which was set off on a bridge as people travelled on busy streets to work on Tuesday morning, and is suspected to have been an improvised bomb, Mbithi said.
"I just heard a loud blast and as I ran, people shouted at me saying I was bleeding," said one victim who only identified himself as John, before he was taken to hospital.
Kenya Red Thingy said three people were maimed in the blast, some with minor injuries.
No group immediately grabbed credit for the attack, which took place in a neighbourhood that is home to many Somalis, as well as ethnic Somali Kenyans.
Suspected Kenyan supporters of Somalia's al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab cut-throats have carried out a string of attacks in opposition to Nairobi sending troops into Somalia last year to fight the cut-thoats.
Mbithi said investigations were being carried out to see if the blast was linked to the Shabaab.
The blast comes a day after attackers hurled a grenade into a church in the northeastern town of Garissa, close to the Somali border, killing one policeman and wounding 14 people.
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[Times of Israel] TV report details liquidations and sabotage in Israel's decade-long battle to thwart Tehran, traces ups and downs of coordination with Washington; Olmert slams PM for 'spitting' in Obama's face
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Monday night to put a stop to Iran's nuclear program by whatever means necessary -- even in outright defiance of American objections -- if neither sanctions, nor other international action, achieves that goal.
"There is no doubt about Iran's intention -- to destroy us," Netanyahu said. "I won't be reconciled to that."
Asked in an interview whether, if reelected in January, he would "pledge that Iran won't have a nuclear program by the end of your next term," Netanyahu said simply, "Yes."
When it was put to him that the US has opposed a unilateral Israeli resort to force, Netanyahu said President Barack Obama We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us... had stated that Israel has the right to defend itself as it sees fit, and that Israel dare not entrust its future to others, even to the United States. Israel's prime ministers had ignored US disapproval in establishing the country in 1948 and preempting the Arab attack in the 1967 war, he noted.
Netanyahu was interviewed as part of an investigative TV report that traced Israel's efforts over the past decade to thwart Iran's march toward the bomb. The documentary, which included interviews with several serving and former top politicians and security chiefs, detailed sabotage, liquidations of scientists and other measures used by Israel -- as reported in foreign publications -- to slow the Iranian program. It described the 2007 air strike that destroyed Syria's nuclear reactor as "a general rehearsal for an attack" on Iran.
Asked whether he believed Netanyahu had the guts to order a strike on Iran, the prime minister's former national security adviser, Uzi Arad, said he had "no doubt."
When it was put to Netanyahu himself that others believed he lacked the guts to order a strike, he replied, "I hope I won't have to."
A central theme of the program was the assertion that Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Ehud Barak had ordered the defense establishment in 2010 to elevate its state of readiness so that it would be capable of attacking Iran within hours if so required -- "the closest Israel has come to attacking Iran," according to the program -- but that two top security chiefs flatly refused to do as they were told.
The order to raise the IDF state of readiness to what was codenamed "P Plus" was given by Netanyahu and Barak to then-chief of the General Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and Mossad chief Meir Dagan at a meeting in Jerusalem two years ago, the program said.
But Dagan, the program claimed, rejected it as "illegal," noting that a full cabinet decision was required for such an order. And Ashkenazi, the program said, vehemently opposed the step because he considered it "a strategic mistake" and feared that implementing the order might lead to an unintended war.
Asked about these dramatic exchanges, Netanyahu did not respond directly, but he indicated that they were inaccurate. And he stressed that "ultimately, the responsibility (for such decisions) is the prime minister's." The chief of staff "has the right to make recommendations," he said. But as prime minister, he would overrule such recommendations if necessary, he indicated.
Barak did not deny seeking to order the raised state of readiness, but he said it had proved impossible because Ashkenazi had not prepared a viable military option. Sources close to Ashkenazi told the program this was untrue.
Vowing that Israel "is ready to act" against Iran, Netanyahu said he was watching the Islamist regime "advancing step by step... toward producing nuclear bombs." When the Jews were being murdered by the Nazis, they were unable to save themselves, he said. But he, as Israel's prime minister, did have the capacity to protect the Jewish nation. "When we didn't have a state, we begged others" to defend the Jews, he said. "Today, we're not begging, we are preparing."
A second major theme of the hour-long program featured withering criticism by former prime minister Ehud Olmert, who is considering making a political comeback ahead of January's general elections, of the handling of the Iranian threat by Netanyahu and Barak. Olmert also blasted Netanyahu for damaging Israeli ties with the B.O. regime.
Lambasting Netanyahu's evident readiness to strike at Iran if all else fails, even in defiance of the United States, Olmert asked mockingly which planes, bombs and special technologies Israel would use -- underlining the centrality of American military hardware to Israel's military capacity. Without naming names, he wondered who Netanyahu would turn to "if something is missing" from the range of equipment needed for an attack or the re-supply needed to sustain one. "Would it be to the people in whose faces we're spitting," he wondered, "those who we're trying to prevent being president of the United States?"
Olmert was reviving allegations that Netanyahu has sought to undermine the Obama presidency and encourage the challenge of Republican candidate Willard Mitt Romney ...former governor of Massachussetts, currently the Publican nominee for president. He is the son of the former governor of Michigan, George Romney, who himself ran for president after saving American Motors from failure, though not permanently. Romney has a record as a successful businessman, heading Bain Capital, and he rescued the 2002 Winter Olympics from the midst of bribery and mismanagement scandals. More to the point, he isn't President B.O... in Tuesday's presidential elections.
Responding directly to Olmert's comments, Netanyahu said such an approach could require Israel, unacceptably, to subcontract its destiny to others. "We're supposed to say there's nothing we can do?" he asked rhetorically, rejecting the notion. "If our backs are to the wall, we'll do what's necessary," he said.
Earlier in the program, without relating to any specific incidents, Olmert had related to the dilemmas he had faced as prime minister when ordering operations designed to slow Iran's march to the bomb. Implying but not stating that he had ordered liquidations of people involved in the Iranian nuclear program, he said "I asked myself questions" about such operations, but reminded himself of the imperative "to prevent Iran from developing the fuse that could end my children's lives."
The program, part of a documentary series called "Uvda" (Fact) on Israel's Channel 2, traced Israel's efforts to stop the Iranian bomb throughout the past decade.
In 2002, it said, then-prime minister Ariel Sharon had ordered Mossad chief Dagan to focus on the Iranian threat. A special Mossad unit was established and, via "dozens of intelligence operations," information was gathered first on Iran's reactor at Natanz and then on the clandestine facility at Qom.
Shown the proof, president George W. Bush assured Israel, "Don't worry, they won't have a nuclear weapon," an aide to Sharon told the program.
But Israel, by 2007, had decided it needed to have its own "program for action," Barak told the program. An Israeli document briefly shown on screen related to plans "to set the Iranians back by at least a few years" and noted, "Israel may have to strike..."
When the American National Intelligence Estimate in late 2007 asserted that Iran had frozen its nuclear weapons program, Israel was stunned, the program said. Its intelligence information conclusively proved that the NIE was wrong, former IDF military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin told the program. "There then followed" a series of liquidations, kabooms and other setbacks in the Iranian program.
"A lot of things went wrong," Olmert noted.
"Things blew up," added Barak.
In 2008, when Bush visited Israel, Olmert said he showed the US president incontrovertible proof that Iran was seeking the bomb. From then on, Olmert said, the US and Israel agreed on open sharing of all relevant intelligence information, and to work together to thwart Iran.
There was one caveat, however, the program noted: Bush made it clear that he was "with you all the way," so long as Israel did not resort to unilateral military action.
The program featured much sniping by Olmert at Barak, and vice versa, with each accusing the other of requiring more responsible supervision. Olmert said he would not want "the overall responsibility" for thwarting Iran to be in Barak's hands. Barak said that "when it comes to using force," Olmert "requires supervision." Barak served as defense minister in the Olmert government until four years ago, continuing to hold the post in the current Netanyahu government.
The rebuffed call by Netanyahu and Barak for Ashkenazi and Dagan to get the military establishment ready for a possible strike within hours, the program said, brought Israel "closer than ever" to a strike. This section of the "Uvda" report was partially broadcast on Sunday night, prompting headlines in the Hebrew dailies on Monday.
Relating indirectly to the reported differences of opinion with his former security chiefs, Netanyahu said in his interview that he was "not eager for war" and hoped sanctions or other international action would thwart Iran.
[Dawn] Four persons were killed and two others injured when assailants attacked two vehicles in different areas of North Wazoo Agency.
The political administration imposed curfew in major towns of the tribal region and launched search operation after the incidents.
Sources said that three members of Wazir tribe were killed when their vehicle was attacked by person or persons unknown near Epi area of Mir Ali tehsil. They said that members of Wazir tribe were going to their homes from Mir Ali Bazaar. All the three rustics were killed on the spot, they added.
Sources said that the assailants managed to escape. The authorities imposed curfew in Mir Ali and launched a search operation.
In the second incident, a driver of Frontier Works Organisation was killed and two of his colleagues were maimed when their vehicle was attacked by assailants on Miranshah ... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas... -Mir Ali Road. The dear departed was identified as Akram Khan.
The political administration ordered imposition of curfew on Bannu-Miranshah Road. All educational institutions, government offices and shops at Miranshah Bazaar were closed after the incident. In Mohmand Agency ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... , two security personnel sustained injuries when a jacket wallahwent kaboom!" in front of the office of assistant political agent in Yakaghund on Monday.
Officials said that the bomber wanted to target APA office but he failed to reach his target owing to strict security arrangements.
The bomber went kaboom!" when he sensed that Khasadar personnel could arrest him, they added.
They said that subedar Javed and sepoy Rehman were maimed in the blast. The injured were shifted to Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. at death's door.
APA Fahad Wazir told journalists that the bomber was about 25-year-old and seemed a non-local. He said that about five kilograms of explosives were used in the blast.
Officials said that they received information that a suicide bomber had entered the area and APA office was his apparent target.
Strict security measures were taken and the attempt to target APA office was foiled, they added.
Security forces cordoned off bazaars in Yakaghund, Main Mandi and Ghalanai and launched a search operation. However, a clean conscience makes a soft pillow... no arrest was made. The main Peshawar-Bajaur Road remained closed to traffic for more than four hours. It is pertinent to mention here that 110 persons were killed and over 120 injured in a suicide kaboom on the same office on July 9, 2010.
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[Yemen Post] A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 struck off Yemen's southern coast early on Tuesday, the authorities reported.
Deputy Head of the seismic observatory in Dhamar province, Saleh Al-Maflahi, said the quake was registered about 400 km southeast the archipelago of Socotra on the Indian Ocean at 6:17 am.
The quake, which comes within the above moderate seismic activities, hit at a depth of 10 km, he said.
Yemeni areas along the Red Sea in the west and off the Gulf of Aden in the south usually experience such quakes.
In most cases, maybe all reported in recent years, no injuries or damages have been reported after quakes in the country.
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[Dawn] Pakistain is already cracking down on the Haqqani network and does not need to impose extra measures following the group's addition to the UN's blacklist, a government front man said on Tuesday.
The UN Security Council's Taliban sanctions committee on Monday added the Pakistain-based group, accused of high-profile attacks in Afghanistan, to its sanctions list.
The action obliges all UN members to implement an asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo for the Haqqani network.
"The three elements of the ban -- arms embargo, asset freeze and travel ban -- are all already in place in Pakistain," Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira told Rooters.
The United States designated the Haqqani network as a terrorist organization in September, a move the group's commanders said proved Washington was not sincere about peace efforts in Afghanistan.
The Haqqanis, a group allied with the Afghan Taliban, are the most experienced fighters in Afghanistan and are blamed for some of the boldest attacks, including one on embassies and parliament in Kabul in April that lasted 18 hours.
US officials have long accused Pakistain of supporting the network, an allegation Islamabad denies.
"Which banned krazed killer can openly travel in Pakistain? We have also checked on financing and other transfers. There is no problem," Kaira said.
A few months ago, the leader of a banned ...the word banned seems to have a different meaning in Pakistain than it does in most other places. Or maybe it simply lacks any meaning at all...
organization openly led a march into the capital, Islamabad.
Gretchen Peters, who wrote a report on Haqqani finances for the Combating Terrorism Center, said Pakistain could shut down the Haqqanis if it wanted.
"That's patently not true" that they have already cracked down, she said.
Seized receipts and other documents showed Haqqani leaders owned property, construction, trading and transport firms and bought weapons and ammunition inside Pakistain, she said.
A small team of financial Sherlocks with strong political backing could severely damage the network, she said, citing US successes in tackling South American narco mobs and seizing assets of the Lebanese krazed killer group Hezbollah.
So far, it is unclear how well the sanctions will be enforced. Peters' report found that most of the Haqqani assets were in Pakistain and the United Arab Emirates.
"A sanction is like an arrest warrant. It only means something if countries act on it," she said.
In Pakistain, decisions about counter-terrorism and military strategy are taken by the military, which has ruled Pakistain for more than half of its 65-year history.
So far, the army has been conspicuously silent on the UN sanctions and US designation of the Haqqanis as terrorists.
The military's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI) is widely believed to be its most competent and well-resourced of more than a dozen Pak security agencies.
It is also the agency that the United States has previously accused of supporting the Haqqani network.
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Non-African troops could play a role in ousting Islamic Islamic fascistifrom northern Mali, if African leaders agree to such a plan, experts finalising details for the military intervention said on Monday.
"If African heads of state agree, there will be non-African troops on the ground to help Mali win back its territory," an African official taking part in the meeting of international experts told AFP on the last day of the conference.
The official who spoke on condition of anonymity did not elaborate on where the troops would come from.
He said that the number of troops sent into Mali by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) "could reach 4,000 instead of the planned 3,000" and would be spread throughout the country.
He said delegates from Algeria had agreed not to give up the struggle against armed Islamists who are backed by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
Algeria, with its superior military, counter-terrorism and intelligence capabilities, is seen as key to any military operation but has been hesitant to get involved.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as For a good time at 3 a.m. call Hillary and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Edward Everett ... visited the west African heavyweight last week to lobby for support in ousting the hard boyz who western powers fear may turn the vast desert zone into a haven for terrorists.
They have already implemented a strict version of Islamic law, stoning and whipping transgressors, and have destroyed "idolatrous" ancient cultural treasures.
The Bamako conference was attended by experts from ECOWAS, the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... , African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... , United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... and Algeria, who are helping Mali draw up a plan to be presented to the UN on November 26.
Another delegate told AFP that the UN is expected to finance the bulk of the military operation.
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#1
So how does this work? If I say Mohammed (p*ss on him) was a homicidal terrorist pedophilic degenerate, what sort of death penalty would they proscribe for me?
#3
The guy who was reelected is not the only one in partial but substantial agreement with these Muslims.
The Bush administration criticized and condemned the Danish cartoonist whose lives were and are threatened. They managed extract the apostate Rahman from Afghanistan but they did not criticize or condemn liberated Afghanistan's blasphemy laws.
In early 2008 NATO's military in Afghanistan officially condemned Geert Wilders for making a film critical of Islam. They were siding with murderously intolerant Afghanistan by criticizing basic civil rights in the West.
'Nutty Pastor' Terry Jones was officially criticized by NATO&US military leaders in Afghanistan. In response to Jones Koran burning arch-conservative Pat Buchanan called for his arrest while moderate Republican Lindsey Graham proposed making Koran burning illegal. Maverick 'isolationist' and 'libertarian' Ron Paul condemned Jones as well.
Mitt Romney did condemn the Cairo Embassy's apology for free speech, but the establishment (not only the far left) told him to shut up, and shut up he did.
Egypt's new islamofascistic president would not dare strut around in the US like a Soviet overlord in a satellite state if this self-finlandization wasn't consensus of the US & Western political class.
I don't know the reason for this strange submission in the face of a pathetically weak enemy. But this submission is in plain evidence. Obama is one of the symptoms, not the cause.
[To paraph "STAR WARS" PREQUEL BABE QUEEN PADME AMYGDALA = "SO THIS IS HOW DEMOCRACY/FREEDOM/
REPUBLIC ENDS - WID FERVENT/WILD APPLAUSE AND CELEBRATION" here].
Lest we fergit, 1990's Net = Pre, Post 9-11 = In reality, any new 9-11 style terror attacks will only the catalysts of an America already voluntarily or forcibly adopting Islam = Islamic law.
* TELEGRAPH.CO.UK > MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD ARE TURNING INTO LENINISTS IN ISLAMIC DRESS. EGYPT IS IN REAL TROUBLE.
Islamo-Commies/Marxists.
Lest we fergit II, ISLAM = form of THEO/GOD-BASED SOCIALISM-GOVTISM.
MusBros to influential or dominant in Middle East politics for next 10 years [=,>? Year 2022].
YO, AYMAN + OMAR, YOU'RE UP!
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > VIDEO: ZAID HAMIN SAYS PAKISTAN [ + United Muslim States = Islamic Bloc]WANTS TO CONQUER INDIA, IRAN, ISRAEL, SAUDI ARABIA, EUROPE, AFRICA, by Year 2030 [2028-2030].
Whats left of the non-Islamic World to follow soon enuff.
#5
So how does this work? If I say Mohammed (p*ss on him) was a homicidal terrorist pedophilic degenerate, what sort of death penalty would they proscribe for me?
They won't have to do anything. Your own government will do it---look up the uses of psychiatry in old Soviet Union (What, you think anybody capable of prescribing ritalin to "unruly" children will hesitate to classify you as dangerous to self & society?)
#6
It would be hypocritical + unethical/immoral for Stratificaion-happy Secularists - you know, "Universalists/Commonalists" - NOT support or vote for Sharia in America = Amerika. ANy so-called "Liberal" Sharists will, not MIGHT, be challenged by ultra-hardline/conservative Sharists = Islamists.
ITS A DEMOLEFTY "CATCH-22" OF THEIR OWN MAKING, as the Hardliners or Conservatives comprise the bulk of Islamic Sharists - THEY ARE NOT ATHEISTS, PLURALISTS, OR ARE WILLING TO SHARE POWER, ETC. IN ANY FORM WID THOSE IN OPPOSITION.
THE DIVORCE WILL NOT BE PRETTY, AMIABLE, OR BLOOD-FREE.
---------------
* E.G. CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > [Daily Mail.UK]FORGET THE STORM: THE REAL DANGER FACING AMERICA ARE HATRED, DIVISION, AND A COLLAPSING POLITICAL SYSTEM.
* TOPIX, DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS [Pre-11/06th]> SIX REASONS WHY [US] MUSLIMS SHOULD VOTE DEMOCRAT [OBAMA] - MUSLIM DEMOCRATS 2012, instead of the GOP.
* SAME [old]> THE RISE AND FALL OF CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS, as due to "Excessive Liberalism" + the consequent pervasive rise of subjective
"general/generalist", indigenous Christianity. DECLINE IN ALLEGIANCE + ADHERENCE TO THE VATICAN AND MAIN PROTESTANT DENOMINATIONS, OR TO "CORE" TENETS = CATECHISMS.
IIUC, IOW Subjective "Tribalism" + Excessive Individualism, NOT National Identity = strong common bonds.
D *** NG IT, AMERIKA, WE LOST THE PIGEON + NED
"REMEMBER, BOYS/KIDS, UNITARIANISM IS THE ENEMY" FLANDERS!
* CHINA DAILY FORUM > HOW MUCH WOULD IT TAKE TO HAVE AMERIKKAN REVOLUTION AND REGIME CHANGE? | GUNS DRAWN, PUNCHES THROWN: FIGHT FOR GAS [+ other post-Storm/SANDY Vital Supplies] IN NEW YORK GETS UGLY.
[An Nahar] At least 131 people were killed as bombings, festivities and air strikes shook Syria on Tuesday, a rights watchdog said.
In the capital Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... , gunnies shot and killed the brother of Syria's parliament speaker as he drove to work, the state-run news agency ...and if you can't believe the state-run news agency who can you believe?... reported.
It was the latest in a wave of liquidations targeting Syrian officials, army officers and other prominent supporters of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... 's regime.
Four of the president's top security aides were killed in a rebel bombing of state security headquarters in Damascus on July 18, including the defense minister and Assad's brother-in-law.
The SANA news agency said Mohammed Osama Laham, brother of Parliament Speaker Jihad Laham, was killed in the Damascus neighborhood of Midan.
In the latest in a wave of kabooms, at least 10 non-combatants were killed and 40 maimed as three blasts hit the west Damascus suburb of Qudsaya on Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
"At least 10 non-combatants were killed and more than 40 maimed, some at death's door, when three improvised bombs detonated in the working-class district of Waroud in the suburb of Qudsaya," the Britannia-based watchdog said.
State news agency SANA also reported casualties from a bombing in the area, without giving an exact toll.
Meanwhile, ...back at the palazzo, Count Guido had escaped from his bonds and overwhelmed this guard using the bludgeon the faithful Filomena had smuggled to him in the loaf of bread... rebels ambushed a military convoy in Idlib province, their stronghold in the northwest, killing at least 12 troops and wounding 20, the Observatory said.
"At least 12 regime troops were killed and at least 20 maimed by improvised bombs, gunfire and mortar rounds that targeted their trucks, bus and armored personnel carriers near the town of Mohambal," the watchdog said.
The ambush triggered heavy fighting ... as opposed to the more usual light or desultory fighting... around the town, which was hit by three air strikes, the Observatory added.
The festivities came after a rebel car boom killed 50 pro-regime fighters at a military post in the central province of Hama on Monday.
A bomb went kaboom! before dawn in the city of Mudamiya near the capital, causing injuries and significant damage, the Observatory said.
A second rigged vehicle exploded Tuesday morning in the southern Damascus suburb of Sayyida Zeinab, causing damage but no casualties according to the Observatory, which relies on a countrywide network of activists and medics.
Also on Tuesday, the regime renewed air strikes across the country, dropping two bombs in the heart of Douma northeast of the capital, and hitting targets in the northern province of Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... and the eastern city of Deir Ezzor.
Seven civilians died in air strikes on the central town of Houla, the site of a massacre in which 108 people, the majority women and kiddies, were killed in May.
Warplanes also bombarded the northwestern Idlib town of Maaret al-Numan, seized by rebels nearly a month ago, while fighting broke out around the nearby military base at Wadi Daif and near the town of Jisr al-Shughour.
The embattled regime of Assad has increasingly relied on its air power to try and fight back rebel gains on the ground.
Fighting was also raging in northern commercial hub Aleppo, where two rebels were killed, while another two died in Homs city, the Britannia-based Observatory said.
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[Bangla Daily Star] The mayhem in Ramu on September 29 night was a well-planned attack on the Buddhist community designed at least ten days ahead, claimed a government probe report.
The plan was executed in four phases, it said.
The probe body, however, could not find out how the plan was made and by whom, where, and when as it was pressed for time and had procedural limitations.
It suggested that a comprehensive and intensive investigation be undertaken to unearth the mystery.
The home ministry formed the four-member committee led by the Additional Divisional Commissioner of Chittagong, Mohammad Nurul Islam, on September 30.
The probe body submitted its report to the High Court through the attorney general's office yesterday as per the court's earlier order.
The Daily Star obtained a copy of the 96-page report, which was finalised on October 17.
Supreme Court lawyer Jyotirmoy Barua filed a writ petition on October 2, challenging the "inaction" of the police in protecting the Buddhist temples and houses of locals in Ramu, Cox's Bazar.
The HC on October 15 directed the government to submit a report to it by November 6 on the security measures it had taken before and after the attack on the Buddhist community there.
The bench of Justice Mirza Hussain Haider and Justice Kazi Md Ejarul Haque Akondo yesterday fixed November 13 for passing an order on the issue.
The report came up with 22 recommendations and an observation that it was regrettable that there had been no intelligence information about such a well-planned attack.
A mob destroyed 12 pagodas and more than 50 houses in Ramu on the night of September 29. The violence was apparently triggered by the image of a Buddhist youth's facebook page that had been photo-shopped, revealed The Daily Star investigation. The page had an image derogatory to Islam pasted on it.
In its report, the probe committee said the first out of the four phases of the plan execution was to create a religious sentiment while the second was for assembling people quickly.
In the third phase, the assembled crowd was made rowdy with provocation and in the fourth the attack, looting and arson were carried out, said the report.
However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... the probe committee said the derogatory photo of the holy Koran was tagged in Uttam Kumar Barua's facebook account on September 18 and 26 more facebook friends of Uttam "liked" the photo.
"It means the violence in Ramu took place ten days after the tagging of the photo and the criminal masterminds chalked out their design by this time," the report said.
The probe body mentioned several motives behind the attack. The motives include achieving political gains by putting the government in an embarrassing situation, attempting to prove the government failed through deteriorating law and order, creating a sense of insecurity among the religious minority by damaging communal harmony and weakening the government's stance to prevent Rohingya intrusion.
The other motives include destroying the good relationship between Bangladesh and its neighbouring countries and development partners.
It, however, stressed the need for a combined intelligence agency effort and in-depth and comprehensive investigation to find out the main motive behind the incident.
The probe report gave a detailed description of the incident and mentioned that 205 people, including Uttam Kumar Barua, and Abdul Moktadir alias Alif, a student of a private polytechnic institute in Chittagong, were involved.
Local made arms--axes, iron rods, large knives--and diesel, petrol, gun powder, kerosene, bitumen, old tyres of cars, tree branches and bamboo sticks were used during the attack, said the report.
It also said a number of rioters were madrasa students and their teachers, wearing round-neck T-shirts and white caps on their heads.
The report recommended identifying the people involved --- the planners, conspirators and instigators.
It said the officer-in-charge (on duty) at Ramu Police Station could not realise the gravity of the incident and that the situation could have been tackled had proper security measures been taken at the beginning of the incident.The probe body recommended security measures at Buddhist-dominated areas. It also argued for controlling measures so that humiliating and immoral contents, photos, and information that hurt religious sentiments could not be easily accessed on social communication sites like Facebook,Twitter and Youtube.
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[Times of Israel] Tehran's foreign minister says countries were told in advance of last month's attack on Khartoum munitions factory
Three Arab countries allowed Israeli jets to fly through their airspace prior to attacking a military factory last month near Khartoum, Sudan, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi charged on Monday.
Arab countries "knew about the Israeli operation before it was carried out," Salehi told Kuwaiti newspaper Al Watan. "The planes flew over three countries I won't name," he said.
A direct route from Israel to Sudan would not necessarily require overflying three countries, but rather could solely involve Egypt. An attack from the east, which Sudan said is what happened, might involve a route including Jordan, Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... , and Eritrea ...is run by the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), with about the amounts of democracy and justice you'd expect from a party with that name. National elections have been periodically scheduled and cancelled; none have ever been held in the country. The president, Isaias Afewerki, has been in office since independence in 1993 and will probably die there of old age. ... The alleged October 24 attack in Sudan resulted in the destruction of the Yarmouk Complex, and the Sudanese Minister of Information Ahmed Belal Osman blamed Israel for the strike. Israel made no public comment.
Belal said "four planes coming from the east" that "used sophisticated technology" carried out an Arclight airstrike on the munitions plant. "We think Israel did the bombing."
Sudan has threatened to retaliate against Israeli interests.
[Dawn] KARACHI: At least five people, including religious leader Agha Aftab Haider Jaffery, were rubbed out in the city on Tuesday, DawnNews reported.
Unidentified gunnies killed two men at the New M A Jinnah road near the parking plaza in Saddar. The dear departed were identified as Agha Aftab Haider Jaffery and Shahid Ali.
People protested against the killings at the M A Jinnah road disrupting traffic.
The Shia Ulema Council Pakistain and Jafaria Alliance Pakistain condemned today's acts of violence targetting the Shia community while the Majlis-e-Wahdatul-Moslemeen announced three days of mourning.
Earlier today, faceless myrmidons threw three dead bodies in the city's Karimabad area. The suspects managed to escape. Police sources claimed the bodies bore torture marks.
Moreover, there was a report of a suspicious package near near Jinnah's mausoleum at Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... 's M A Jinnah road. A bomb disposal squad (BDS) reached the site and defused the explosive which weighed five kilograms.
Earlier yesterday, Rangers, after conducting an operation in the city's Gulistan-e-Johar area cooled for a few years Please don't kill me! two men who were suspected of being associated with a banned party.
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[Times of Israel] Building tenders for 1,285 housing units located beyond the Green Line were issued by the Israel Land Authority on Monday. The majority of the tenders were in Jerusalem neighborhoods formally annexed by Israel.
Of the units, 606 are slated for Ramot and 607 for Pisgat Ze'ev, both Jewish neighborhoods inside Jerusalem city limits built on land captured during the 1967 Six Day War. An additional 72 units are slated for the West Bank settlement of Ariel.
Peace Now called the tenders Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "true answer" to PA President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... and linked the issue to the US elections.
On Thursday, Abbas told Channel 2 News that he was not seeking territory within pre-1967 Israel and did not personally seek the right to live in Israel, even though he was born in Safed, in remarks that implied a moderated stance on the longstanding Paleostinian demand for a "right of return" to Israel for millions of refugees and descendants of refugees.
[An Nahar] A car boomwent kaboom! Tuesday at the entrance to an Iraqi army base as potential new recruits were massed at the gate, killing at least 25 people, security and medical officials said.
The blast, which also left at least 30 people maimed, is likely to raise fresh concerns over the capabilities of Iraq's security forces 11 months after the departure of American troops.
Tuesday's bombing struck at around midday (09:00 GMT) in the town of Taji, 25 kilometers north of Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... An interior ministry official put the toll at 26 dead and 30 maimed, while a medic said 25 people had died and 40 were hurt. It was not immediately clear how many of the victims were soldiers or new recruits.
Differing tolls and breakdowns of casualty figures are common in the chaotic aftermath of violence in Iraq.
The blast struck as the base was holding a recruitment day to welcome potential new soldiers, events which have previously been targets of faceless myrmidons intent on carrying out mass-casualty attacks in Iraq.
On January 18, 2011, a suicide kaboom in the middle of a crowd of police recruits in Tikrit, north of Storied Baghdad, killed 50 people and maimed 150, and on August 17, 2010, another suicide kaboomer killed 59 army recruits and maimed 125 others.
Iraq's security forces are seen as capable of largely maintaining internal stability, despite regular deadly attacks nationwide, but are widely acknowledged to be unable to protect the country's borders, airspace or maritime territory.
No group immediately owned up to Tuesday's attack although al-Qaeda's front group in Iraq has claimed credit for previous attacks on recruitment centers.
The Sunni bad turban group views security forces and civil servants as supporters of Storied Baghdad's Shiite-led government.
Tuesday's bombing was the deadliest single attack to hit Iraq since July 23, when a series of coordinated blasts also in Taji killed 42 people on what was Iraq's deadliest day in two and a half years.
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[Dawn] Afghanistan welcomes the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... ' decision to impose sanctions on the Haqqani network and would not negotiate for peace with the group blamed for several high-profile attacks in the country, the presidential front man said on Tuesday.
On Monday the UN Security Council's Taliban sanctions committee added the Haqqani network to a UN blacklist, the United States said.
Aimal Faizi, President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... 's chief front man, said Kabul backed the UN decision, but added it should have been made a long time ago to weaken the Haqqanis, a Pashtun tribe allied to the Afghan Taliban, who he said had carried out most of the terrorist attacks in the nation over the past 10 years.
Although the Afghan government is engaged in reconciliation talks with members of the Taliban, it rules out dialogue with the Haqqani group, believed to be based in the unruly border area between Pakistain and Afghanistan.
"We don't want any kind of deal with the Haqqanis, who were behind many of the attacks on Afghan cops and civilians including women and kiddies," Faizi told Rooters.
"We have certain negotiating conditions with armed opposition groups but the Haqqanis do not meet the criteria and they are in the service of a foreign spy agency."
Afghan and US officials have accused Pakistain's intelligence agency of using Haqqani hard boyz as proxies in Afghanistan to counter the influence of rival India. Islamabad denies the allegations.
The United States designated the Haqqani network a terrorist organization in September, a move the group's commanders said proved Washington was not sincere about peace efforts in Afghanistan.
Isolating the Haqqanis, who were blamed for the 18-hour attack on embassies and parliament in Kabul in April, could complicate efforts to secure peace in Afghanistan as most NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... combat troops prepare to leave by the end of 2014.
The Haqqanis say they are intricately tied to the Afghan Taliban and both groups insist they must act in unison in any grinding of the peace processor.
Most of the Haqqani leaders have already been blacklisted individually but still, the Haqqanis run a sophisticated financial network, raising money through kidnapping, extortion and drug trafficking, but through a legitimate business portfolio that included import/export, transport, real estate and construction interests in Afghanistan, Pakistain and the Gulf.
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Uganda maintained a threat to withdraw troops from international peacekeeping operations after UN talks on Monday over accusations that it has backed rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo or Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... .
Uganda's Communications and Information Minister Ruhakana Rugunda told AFP his country felt "stabbed in the back" by a UN report which said Uganda and Rwanda have helped M23 rebels who are battling DR Congo government forces.
Uganda, a major contributor to peacekeeping forces in Somalia, Ivory Coast, Sudan's troubled Darfur region and East Timor, has threatened to withdraw its soldiers unless the allegations are withdrawn.
Rugunda met with UN deputy secretary general Jan Eliasson and ambassadors from the 15-member UN Security Council to express outrage at the report.
"I said Uganda will withdraw from its peaceful engagements in the region unless there is definitive assurance from our neighbours in the region and also from the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... system," Rugunda said in the interview.
"We are waiting now to see how the Security Council will deal with the subject," he added.
UN front man Martin Nesirky said the world body has had "no official communication" from Uganda about the report and UN diplomats said no official threat to withdraw has yet been made.
The report on DR Congo by UN sanctions committee experts has infuriated Uganda and Rwanda, which both border the eastern region where M23 has been battling the government since March.
The experts said Uganda had "actively supported" M23, a movement led by wanted war criminal Bosco Ntaganda, who the report said had bought a house in the Ugandan capital Kampala.
The report quoted DR Congo army commanders and former M23 officers who said Uganda had deployed about 600 troops alongside Rwandan forces to help the rebels prepare attacks.
Rugunda said people who reported the troops to the United Nations had probably mistaken them for about 600 DR Congo troops who fled across the border to Uganda and were eventually sent back in July.
The minister noted that Uganda is the current chair of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, and that Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni is leading a mediation effort for DR Congo.
Rugunda said allegations in the report were an attempt to present Uganda as "a traitorous nation, after the president of the country has accepted the responsibility to mediate."
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[Ynet] Persian Gulf state says cooled for a few years Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! four suspects in Manama bombing that killed two; says Shiite militia's fingerprints evident
Public Security Chief Major-General Tariq Al Hassan said in a statement published by the official Bahrain News Agency (BNA) the suspects were jugged Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! after prosecutors issued arrest warrants and police were hunting for other killers.
The five home-made bombs on Monday bore the hallmarks of Hezbollah, the Shiite group allied with Iran, authorities said.
"Their terrorist practices prove that they have been trained outside the kingdom," BNA said. "The hallmarks of Hezbollah are crystal clear."
The Sunni Mohammedan-dominated, US-aligned Bahrain government has been struggling since early last year to suppress pro-democracy unrest led mainly by the Gulf Arab kingdom's majority Shiite Mohammedans.
BNA quoted Information Minister Samira Ibrahim bin Rajab as saying the bombings were staged by terrorist groups trained outside Bahrain and based in countries including Leb.
She said the groups were operating under principles set by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and that 19 pro-Iran satellite media channels were inciting their supporters in Bahrain to subvert the government.
The blasts in the capital Manama on Monday killed two street cleaners and maimed another, according to state media.
Some opposition activists have suggested the attacks, which came a few days after the government banned opposition gatherings with the stated goal of ensuring public safety, could have been the work of forces trying to justify the clampdown.
The government has repeatedly accused Shiite Iran of fomenting the turmoil, a charge the Islamic Theocratic Republic denies. Hezbollah denies involvement in the Bahrain protests, but has criticized the government's handling of them.
Bahraini police said they have been the target of numerous attacks with homemade bombs since April, including one that killed a policeman last month.
#1
So as we help heavily armed al Qaeda aligned car bombers bring "democracy" to Syria, we're helping the Bahrain tyrants put down a true democracy movement.
Uk prime minister currently in gulf trying to sell Saudi the typhoon fighter jet. And we wonder why the people there hate us?
They hate us because we have not surrendered to the surrender of Islam, Mr. Hypocrite. All the rest is mere situational justification. Because if it were all about those we help, then logically the helpees would love us loudly, instead of also hating us.
#7
Bush got elected with a minority of the vote. Its a shitty system for sure, but it does give us the right to go round preaching to the rest of the world about what a great system it is.
#10
I agree Frank. I know you will appreciate this: this a.m. at a morning P.T. run I asked my peers - "are we the crazy ones or is it the 51% of adult electorate that are fucking idiots?". All of them, highly educated, sharp, family men, patriots to the fucking core, men who have been in combat, Iraq, Afghan, etc - they know what a leader is, they know what it is to lead companies or battalions in CONUS or overseas -- to a man -- we are dismayed at last night's results. We don't get it. I don't get it. Actually, that's wrong, I do get it. We have a society of non-stoic, poorly educated, history-challenged, what's-in-it-for-me types that can now vote. 40yrs of piss-poor indoctrinated public schools are bearing fruit. And as you so aptly said - the American electorate will get what they wanted. The road to serfdom will just continue unabated. I fear for our constitution and the country my children will fall in on.
#12
Many years ago, my late father-in-law - who was in Illinois politics for a while - told me the American people get a much better level of government than they deserve. I thought it pretty cynical, at the time, but have come to understand what he meant. Broadhead 6 explained it.
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/07/2012 9:35
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#13
Yes America has changed. It's far more urban, not just in the civic boundaries, but in attitude. When Detroits go belly up, the people just displace to another urban area, they don't go back to the old homesteads. It's an environment of delicate balance held in place by myriads of systems, just like the body. How fragile that system was amply demonstrated by Katrina and now by Sandy. Humans seek to bring control over their environment and in doing so will trade freedoms with its vagaries for promises that in the long run won't be able to be kept. Carpe diem.
When the light switch doesn't magically come on, when the toilets won't flush, when the refuge won't disappear, when the fuel doesn't appear at the pump, when the food vanishes, they really can't comprehend why. It's one big Cargo Cult. There is no cause->effect connection. Their solution is to scream louder, throw tantrums, and find someone who'll bring back the magic. Urban dependency.
#16
I've been searching for the right words as well, but I think Procopius2k nailed it: "There is no cause->effect connection." That's a huge part of the underlying cause (and we see the effects).
Posted by: Barbara ||
11/07/2012 20:40
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#23
The more I think about it the more I wonder if America voted for socialism or simply for Obama (and his coat tails). Remember that he wasn't on the ticket in 2010 and the Republicans cleaned up. He can do a lot of damage of course, but those projecting the end of the Republicans are jumping the gun a bit.
#1
See also TOPIX > BEIJING'S SENKAKUS GOAL: [FBM = SLBMS]SUB "SAFE HAVEN" IN SOUTH CHINA SEA. QUEST FOR ISLES A [Chinese] STRATEGIC AIM, SAYS FORMER MSDF REAR ADMIRAL.
Retired JMSDF RADM. Sumiko Kawamura.
ARTIC > KAWAMURA = IIUC, with the so-called "First-Island Chain" presently dominated by US Allies or Pro-US/Anti-China Nations, China desires the Senkakus to help guard the northern strategic access into the SCS + its PLA Milbases located there. In addition, ...
- Due to its Subs being relatively easy prey for the USN + JMSDF as per their being produced wid older technologies, e.g. Sea of Okhotsk China is forced to adopt the Cold War Soviet tactic of aggregating most all of its Nuke-armed strategic naval vessels - UW + Surface Warfare? - in one or few select, heavily protected "strategic/
geographic bastion(s)".
- Japan's MSDF for time being is superior to the PLAN.
- BEIJING DESIRES SUBMARINE-BASED "SECOND-STRIKE" CAPABILITY VEE THE USA, ETC.
* SAME > CHINA'S COMMUNISTS FIND REFUGE IN NATIONALISM.
But NOT "Globalism" = anti-Nationalism???
Dats a'mighty Fascist of these Communists.
* WORLD NEWS [old] > CHINA TRIES TO WEAR DOWN JAPAN WID FLURRY OF LOW-LEVEL [maritime/naval] MANEUVERS NEAR DISPUTED ISLAND CHAIN.
FYI, as of this AM this US Election Day, China's vessels have entered the waters = contiguous zone of the disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands 18 times by Japan's count.
* WORLD NEWS > [Japan]37 PERFECTURES: BE FIRM ON SENKAKUS, TAKESHIMA [ROK = Dokkdo].
As JEDI MASTER YODA would say, "To be Tokyo/Japan must".
* CHINA DAILY FORUM > OPED: NUCLEAR-ARMED JAPAN MORE DANGEROUS TO US [ + East Asia] THAN A NUCLEAR-ARMED IRAN. WITH A NUCLEAR JAPAN, US CANNOT RELY ANY LONGER ON COLD WAR OR POST-COLD WAR BELIEFS OR APPARATUSES FOR PEACE.
* SAME > OPED: RIGHT IS MIGHT: CHINA EXERCISES TRUE JURISDICTION OVER DIAOYU ISLANDS.
Maritime incursions challenges concept of Japan's "actual control" over disputed islands.
[Shabelle] Nur Hassan Hussein (Nur Adde) former TFG prime minister has welcomed the nomination of the new cabinet ministers proposed by Abdi Farah Shirdon, Somali PM last Sunday, after weeks of in-depth consultations with the president and speaker of the parliament.
In an interview with Shabelle Media while he was in Roma, Italia called upon Somali people to hail the cabinet, including two women--Fauzia Yusuf Haji Adan and Maryam Qasim are among 10 politicians joined a cabinet that has been significantly reduced in size compared to past transitional administrations.
Fozia Yusuf Haji Aden was named Foreign minister and deputy PM, for the first time in Somali history and this is another important milestone in the political process.
"I congratulate the Prime Minister on achieving this milestone in line with the 30 day time limit set out in the Provisional Constitution," he added.
However, it was a brave man who first ate an oyster... the designated cabinet ministers are expected to go to the parliament in the coming days for approval.
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[Yemen Post] Fighters of the Popular Resistance Committees have been enclosing Tariq al-Fadhali inside his house in Zinjbar of Abyan governorates since Monday, local sources affirmed.
The sources said Al-Fadhali, a son of a former sultan of Abyan, escorted by hundreds of armed men returned on Monday to Zinjibar, pointing out that his escorts carried different kinds of weapons.
Security officials told Almasdar Online that the security authorities in Abyan called al-Fadhali to surrender himself to the authorities after one day of a strict blockade imposed against his residency.
Local sources said that the security committee of Abyan presided over by the governor Jamal Al-Aqel met on Tuesday and called al-Fadhali to surrender himself to avoid any bloodshed. The sources said that al-Fadhali is wanted by justice authorities after the Attorney General ordered in September to arrest him after due to his incitement against the Yemeni Social Party and its leaders. The committee denounced the" collusion" of some military commanders who allowed al-Fadhali to return to Zinjbar and held them responsible to any consequences, the sources added. PRC alleges that al-Fadhali supported Ansar Al-Sharia, an al-Qaeda-linked group, that captured some districts of Abyan last year before the military backed by PRC cleansed its militants.
Al-Fadhali had left Zinjibar of Abya after clashes escalated between the army and al-Qaeda militants in last June.
The General Secretariat of the Yemeni Socialist Party has accused Tariq Al-Fadhali of plotting to kill its leaders and cadres, dubbing him as al-Qaeda terrorist and asking the authorities to swiftly arrest and prosecute him.
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[Dawn] LANDI KOTAL: No parallel administration would be tolerated in Bara anymore, Khyber Agency Political Agent Mutahir Zeb told a jirga of Bar Qambarkhel elders on Monday.
Sources said that tribal elders requested the political agent to extend the deadline, set for launching a military operation in the area. The political agent told the tribal elders that he would forward their request to the authorities but didn't make any promise about extension in the deadline, they added.
The authorities had asked the tribal elders to hand over wanted hard boys, expel Afghan holy mans, close private jails in the area and regulate activities of a banned gang before Nov 5 otherwise a military operation would be launched in Bar Qambarkhel.
However, death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate... the tribal elders failed to respond within specified time to the government demands, sources said.
A jirga of Bar Qabmarkhel elders, headed by MNA Hamidullah Jan Afridi, held a meeting with political administration to seek extension in the deadline.
The MNA told Dawn after the meeting that the political agent promised to forward their request for an extension in the deadline but declined to make any concrete promise.
Sources said that the political agent reminded the jirga that it had failed to furnish any guarantee regarding handing over of wanted hard boys, whose names were provided to Bar Qambarkhel elders few months ago.
"Also, the political agent was visibly not happy with Bar Qambarkhel rustics for providing shelter to hard boys, wanted by security forces in subversive acts," sources said.
They said that the political agent expressed his inability in extending the deadline as members of Amr Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Anil Munkir, the banned gang, who were supposed to attend the jirga, did not turn up.
"This jirga has lost its utility and also the confidence of the government as it has failed to remove the apprehensions of the government," the jirga was told by the political agent. He said that no parallel administration would be tolerated in Bara anymore.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth had turned a paler shade of blue. Star-A-Star had struck again... security forces on Monday plugged all entry and exit points of Bara tehsil, restricting the movements of hundreds of stranded families in Shalobar, Malakdinkhel, Sipah and Bar Qambarkhel areas.
It was also learnt that hundreds of army soldiers were deployed at Al-Haj Market near Bara Bazaar, Fort Salop, Jansi Fort and Shahkas area in Jamrud.
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[An Nahar] The opposition Syrian National Council, meeting in Qatar to broaden its membership, said Tuesday that the "cornerstone" umbrella group should preserve its leading role in any revamp.
SNC chief Abdel Basset Sayda also denounced the failure of the international community to act to end "massacres" being committed by forces loyal to the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... His remarks were made during a meeting of the SNC general assembly in the Qatari capital Doha, as the United States heaped pressure on the opposition to form a wider structure.
Sayda said the SNC would take part in a broad opposition meeting on Thursday called by host Qatar and the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... , but insisted on a leading role for the council.
"We will attend the meeting with an open heart and mind. But we would like to stress from the start the need to keep the SNC as the cornerstone of the Syrian opposition," said the SNC chairman.
"We think that any attempt to target the SNC, whether intentionally or not, will prolong the crisis," he added.
Opposition figures meeting in Doha are expected to discuss an initiative by leading dissident Riad Seif to unite all Syrian groups opposed to Assad.
The proposal, which seems to enjoy U.S. support but has encountered reservations from some SNC members, will top the agenda of the broader meeting on Thursday.
But the former head of the SNC, Burhan Ghalioun, feared that Thursday's meeting was aimed to abolish the council which seems to have fallen from grace in Washington.
"The council rejects taking part in a framework that aims to kill it off," Ghalioun told AFP.
"We are working to turn the (forthcoming) meeting from a conference aimed at killing the SNC to a conference that would continue the work started by the council," he said.
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#1
Syrian opposition, meeting in Qatar, that bastion of democracy.
[An Nahar] Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have asked to buy more than $7.6 billion in U.S. missile defense technology, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
The orders for the Lockheed Martin-made equipment were detailed in documents posted online late Monday by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which said it had notified Congress of the request.
Qatar has requested two Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) fire units, 12 launchers and 150 interceptors, as well as radar units, other equipment, spare parts and training, all worth an estimated $6.5 billion.
The UAE has asked for 48 THAAD missiles and nine launchers, as well as spare parts and training, for a total of $1.135 billion, according to a second filing.
The THAAD system is designed to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles, including those carrying weapons of mass destruction.
The Pentagon recommended both proposed sales, saying the technology would strengthen regional security and reduce both states' dependence on U.S. forces.
Qatar, the UAE and other petroleum-rich Gulf states have eyed nearby Iran with increasing concern in recent years amid mounting tensions over Tehran's controversial nuclear program.
The United States maintains a large military presence in the Gulf and has sold billions of dollars worth of arms in recent years to Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... and allied Gulf states.
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Three people were killed and two sustained injuries on Tuesday when unidentified gunnies attacked a yellow cab at Quetta's Spiny Road, DawnNews reported.
According to police sources, the unidentified cycle of violence riders shot up the cab, which was carrying five people to a town in Hazara district, injuring all passengers.
Three of five injured shuffled off the mortal coil while being taken to the Bolan Medical Complex.
The attackers escaped the site immediately after the incident, said a police official.
A heavy contingent of police and Frontier Constabulary (FC) cordoned off the area and initiated an investigation.
The incident forced many shop owners to shut their shops and small business in the area. Many enraged residents also came out on roads to protest against the attack and shouted slogans against the government. They set blaze tyres in front of the hospital as well.
The police have declared that the attack was an incident of assassination.
The victims are yet to be identified but Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... is rife with sectarian violence, where several people, particularly Shia Hazaras have been targeted in the recent past.
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[Dawn] SINCE religious, racial and ethnic identities are central to human conceptions of self-worth, non-constructive speech whose sole purpose is to deliberately insult such identities should certainly be discouraged.
Paks burnt vehicles, theatres and Obama effigies incessantly for days following the uploading on YouTube of The Innocence of Moslems. However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... such self-directed violence obviously has little chance of success, and wisdom lies in considering non-violent strategies for combating blasphemy.
Moreover, one must pursue not only formal but also informal non-violent mechanisms to increase the chances of success. A dispassionate review of the feasibility of both mechanisms can help allocate effort appropriately across both options.
Focusing mainly on formal mechanisms, people often propose asking the UN to impose a global blasphemy ban. However, those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things... the UN can only develop international conventions. Each member country is free to decide whether to ratify individual conventions fully, partially or not at all.
Thus, Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights already mandates that "any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law".
However, the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... when ratifying this convention, the US submitted reservations (as did Pakistain against numerous other articles of this convention) against Article 20 stating that it would not adopt it since it contradicted its free speech provisions. Consequently, the UN cannot penalise America for not enforcing this article domestically.
Furthermore, the UN also lacks enforcement powers against even those countries which violate international conventions they have previously ratified unless all five veto-wielding countries agree. Such agreement is possible only in cases of grave global security threats given the vast differences in the priorities of veto-wielding countries. As such, achieving UN-imposed blasphemy bans and subsequent action against non-complying countries, especially veto-wielding ones, will require enormous effort.
Moslem countries will ultimately have to influence domestic opinion and legislation in every country individually, which also is an enormous task. They could focus more immediately on Western countries since most blasphemous speech originates there given their lenient free speech provisions.
Since free speech exceptions exist even in Western countries, Moslems could first review whether current exceptions could outlaw blasphemous speech. Thus, privacy/confidentiality laws in Western countries usually trump free speech rights, but are largely irrelevant against blasphemy issues.
Slander is a crime in a number of Western countries, but such provisions mainly protect living individuals and companies rather than identity groups or deceased individuals. Hate speech instigating violence or intimidation against identity groups, beyond just ridiculing them, is banned. However, some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... this provision would not cover blasphemous speech which does not explicitly instigate violence.
Speech which would invariably create public commotion and injury is banned, e.g., shouting 'fire' falsely in a dark theatre since it will understandably instigate almost everyone to run reflexively to save their lives.
While blasphemy causes commotion in Moslem countries, it clearly represents an avoidable choice rather than reflex action since most Moslems remain peaceful.
Moreover, such commotion occurs beyond the boundaries of responsibility of Western governments, making them largely immune to it.
Thus, existing Western free-speech exceptions, reflecting Western individualistic and materialistic values, largely cover concrete losses to live entities and do not protect sacrosanct matters, including even Western religions.
The ban on Holocaust denial in some European countries is an exception to this trend, which Moslems could use to convince Westerners to have free speech exceptions cover other sacrosanct matters. However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... even that ban has emerged from their own histories where six million Europeans were massacred.
Just as Moslem countries are loath to change their laws to please Western sensibilities, Western countries may not easily change their laws to please Moslem sensibilities.
Thus, while it is still certainly worthwhile to pursue global blasphemy bans diplomatically, one must be mindful of the enormous challenges involved in achieving such bans.
Given these long odds, it is important to simultaneously consider informal mechanisms for combating blasphemy in the West. While Western societies do not prohibit identity-based insults legally, it is possible to discourage such attacks informally there.
Xenophobic right-wing groups in the US have a long history of disparaging minorities, e.g., blacks and Jews. However, there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... Jews and blacks have become better organised and have also developed linkages with sympathetic societal groups to challenge right-wing vitriol.
Thus, even though such insults are not prohibited legally, anyone making anti-black and anti-Semitic insults faces severe public censure today and the frequency of such attacks has reduced significantly.
Such informal censures are much weaker in support of some recent immigrant groups, including Moslems, partly because they are not as strong economically, organizationally and/or numerically as blacks and Jews.
Since their economic and numerical strength is relatively fixed in the short term, the easiest option for such new groups is to enhance their organizational strength and develop linkages with sympathetic societal groups.
Thus, strengthening the advocacy and networking activities of Moslem political groups in Western countries may yield more immediate dividends in combating blasphemy than long, contentious battles in international bureaucracies and may even eventually help win these battles.
However, a woman is only as old as she admits... sympathy for some immigrant groups, including Moslems, is also weak in Western countries because minorities in these groups' original countries face far worse excesses. For example, minorities cannot even pray openly in some Moslem countries.
The contentious movie itself was a deplorable reaction to excesses against Egyptian Christians. Thus, Moslems must also treat their own minorities better to garner greater sympathy and respect globally. As the saying goes, ask not for justice just for yourself but for everybody, for in doing so you make justice more assured for yourself.
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[Yemen Post] The arms which were seized in south Yemen days ago were shipped illegally and the Turkish authorities did not know about them, said Turkey's ambassador to Sanaa Fadli Showrman in a news conference on Tuesday.
"The arms were smuggled and the shipment will not affect the Yemeni-Turkish ties because Turkey is really concerned about Yemen's stability and security," he said.
"Turkey is ready to help Yemen investigate the trafficking of the arms. Turkey stands at one place from all factions in Yemen because it does not accept by any means that something affects the country's stability which serves its stability," he added.
Thousands of Turkish-made pistols were seized at the Aden port days ago that were hidden inside biscuit boxes. The authorities have identified the dealer to whom the arms were shipped from the Port of Mersin in Turkey.
Showrman said the trade between his country and Yemen will not be affected after the seizure. The two countries will sign a bilateral agreement to boost their customs cooperation as part of the plans to forge the bilateral links in all areas, he said.Turkish deputy prime minister for economic affairs, Ali Babacan, will arrive in Sanaa in the near future to hold talks about the bilateral cooperation and discuss how Turkey can expand its investments in Yemen.
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[Al Ahram] The Egyptian Coptic Coalition has demanded an investigation into an incident which took place on Monday night, when a group of Salafist Mohammedans occupied a parcel of land owned by Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo's Shubra Al-Kheima district.
After illegally entering the land, the Salafists ...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them... put up a sign bearing the words 'Al-Rahma Mosque' and performed Islamic prayers inside the premises.
The crowd only left when the church authorities informed the interior ministry.
Security forces were able to take down the sign on Tuesday morning.
The Egyptian Coptic Coalition group, in a statement issued Tuesday, held President Mohamed Morsi responsible for dealing with the incident and urged him to impose harsher punishments for such attacks. It also called for an investigation into Monday's incident immediately.
The group demanded authorities put in place strict laws that prohibit the appearance of "extremist" religious preachers whom the group accuses of spreading sectarianism.
The group also demanded the appointment of an "impartial' security official in each governorate to intervene immediately in cases of attacks on citizens or property on the basis of their religion.
In an earlier statement, Egypt's Maspero Copts Youth United also denounced the incident, attributing it to the state's failure to respond to earlier incidents of sectarian violence, including the burning of Christian churches which happened in the wake of last year's Tahrir Square uprising.
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[An Nahar] Egypt's new Coptic Christian Pope Tawadros II has said he would reject a constitution still in the making if it imposed a religious state in the Mohammedan-majority country, newspapers reported on Tuesday.
Tawadros, whose minority community has become increasingly fearful of the rise of Islamists to power in Egypt, also urged Christians not to leave the country stressing that they have co-existed with Mohammedans for centuries.
"A constitution that hints at imposing a religious state in Egypt is absolutely rejected," he told journalists on Monday, a day after he was chosen pope, the independent Al-Watan newspaper reported.
A 100-member Constituent Assembly, dominated by Islamists and including politicians and public figures, tasked with drafting the new constitution is due to vote on the new charter on Sunday.
The new constitution is to replace the 1971 charter suspended by the military which took power when president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... was ousted in February last year.
Under Mubarak, and according to initial drafts of the new charter, the constitution says vaguely defined "principles" of Islamic law are the main source of legislation.
Egypt Christians and Jews may conduct their personal status affairs according to their own religious laws, according to an initial draft published by the official MENA news agency.
Addressing Copts who might be considering leaving Egypt, which has seen a spike in sectarian attacks on Christians over the past two years, Tawadros said Egypt was a "sacred land that has no equal in the world."
"As for our brothers in the country, whether Islamists or any others, we lived together for 14 centuries," he told the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper.
Copts, the Middle East's largest Christian community, have suffered an increase in attacks that killed dozens of Christians after the overthrow of Mubarak and many had opposed the election in June of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.
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#1
If the Israelis are allowed a Jewish state that discriminates against Christians who were born there and have lived there for generations, then its a bit rich to argue that Egypt can't do the same.
Our Saudi "friends" are currently helping purge the Christians from Syria too, just like we helped purge most of them from Iraq. Won't be any Christians left in the Middle East soon.
[Al Ahram] The Building and Development Party -- the political wing of Egypt's Gamaa Islamyia movement -- announced on Tuesday that it would take part in a planned Friday protest to demand the application of Islamic Law in the country's new constitution.
"Gamaa Islamyia calls on whoever believes in God, Islam and Prophet Mohamed to support their law, as Egypt's secularist forces are working to eradicate the presence of Islamic Law in the constitution," read the statement, which went on to urge Egyptians to participate in the planned demonstration.
The protest -- organised by several political Islamist groups, including Gamaa Islamiya and the Salafist Calling -- had initially been planned for 2 November, but was delayed by one week in order to mobilise more participants.
Hundreds of Islamist supporters nevertheless gathered in Tahrir Square last Friday to stage a preliminary rally.
According to the group's statement, protesters will demand a major role for Islamic Law within Egypt's new national charter by including a constitutional article stating that Islamic law constitute "the main source of legislation."
The issue has provoked a heated dispute among Islamist and non-Islamist members of the Constituent Assembly (tasked with drafting a new constitution), with 'civil' -- i.e., non-religious -- forces calling for the article in question to remain unchanged from the 1971 constitution.
The previous charter had stated that only the "principles" of Islamic Law should represent the main source of legislation in Egypt.
Implementation of Islamic Law in Egypt's constitution has been a primary objective of several Islamist parties and groups in the wake of last year's Tahrir Square uprising.
At a panel discussion held in Alexandria on Monday, Salafist preacher and Salafist Calling member Abdel-Moneim El-Shahat vowed that the Salafist Calling "would not compromise" on the issue of the implementation of Islamic Law.
"We're going to mobilise the streets," said El-Shahat. "Every Egyptian who cares about their religion will demand that Islamic Law be fully -- not gradually -- applied under the terms of the constitution."
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(Sh.M.Network)--Somali security forces carried out on Tuesday a house to house search in Mogadishu, arresting dozens of suspected Al-Shabaab ... the personification of Somali state failure... Islamic fascistitogether with their weapons, police said.
The operations occurred in Yaqshid district early on Tuesday morning as pacification operations continue in the Horn of Africa nation after the capture of the city last year in 2011 from Al shabab bad turbans.
Mogadishu, Somali capital has seen series of massive arrests since last September when Somali MPs elected Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as a president for a federal republic government, for the first time in Somali history for more than 42 years.
The bad turban group has also come under pressure from Uganda, Burundi and Sierra Leone soldiers who recently pushed out them out of the outskirts of Somali capital Mogadishu and other key regions they used to control two years ago.
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#1
Sounds so good. Unfortunately, it's like getting up off the crapper and turning one's ass towards the empty toilet paper roll hanger before pulling up one's pants. There's a feeling the job is done, but the stench remains...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/07/2012 9:36
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#2
Sorry, I should have said notion. The feeling, of course, is all wrong...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/07/2012 9:37
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[Bangla Daily Star] Activists of the Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... and Islami Chhatra Shibir ... the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh... fiercely clashed with police in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country for a second consecutive day yesterday.
In several districts outside the capital, the Jamaat-Shibir men attacked the law enforcers with sticks, brickbats and handmade cocktails. At least 86 coppers and two journalists were maimed in their attacks across the country.
The unruly Islamist party men also looted a shotgun from a policeman in Noakhali and a rifle from another policeman in Rajshahi, police said.
The festivities began as the law enforcers tried to intercept the processions the Jamaat-Shibir men brought out demanding the immediate release of their leaders, including the nine tossed in the calaboose Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! on war crimes charges.
Besides Dhaka, Rajshahi and Noakhali, festivities also took place in Chittagong, Sylhet, Bogra, Pabna, Sirajganj, however, avoided direct replies to those.
In reply to a question, he said, "The aim of the visit [of Khaleda] was to raise before the Indian leaders different bilateral issues unresolved for years." And it had nothing to do with BNP's going to power, he added.
At one stage, Tariqul asked in a loud voice, "Don't you [media] want that BNP builds good relations with India? Will Awami League alone maintain good relations with them?" It is not the exclusive right of any party to have friendly ties with a country, he said.
"Our relationship with India will be on the basis of equality, dignity and illusory sovereignty," the BNP leader told a questioner.
He also said no discussion on Bangladesh's politics and election was held during Khaleda Zia Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... 's visit since those are "our internal affairs".
Tariqul mentioned that during her (BNP chief's) talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi, she assured that her party would not allow any separatist outfit of India to use Bangladesh land.
"No discussion was held on giving transit to India. We rather discussed greater connectivity. "
He also said Khaleda Zia welcomed the idea of a consortium including India and China for establishing a deep-sea port in the Bay of Bengal.
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... has urged all Mohammedans to support Somalia's Islamist Al-Shabaab ... the personification of Somali state failure... myrmidons, the SIE monitoring website reported Tuesday.
The Shabaab, a group which has been battling the Western-backed government in Somalia and proclaims allegiance to Al-Qaeda, has in recent months suffered several major setbacks.
An offensive led by African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... troops has stripped the Shabaab of most of their former bastions, including the southern port of Kismayu, a key asset Kenyan forces wrested back just over a month ago.
"This is a flagrant Crusader invasion of the Mohammedan countries and it makes jihad obligatory on every Mohammedan who is capable in Somalia and its surroundings and in the rest of the world until the invaders are expelled," the SITE Intelligence Group quoted Zawahiri as saying.
"Don't worry about the numbers of the Crusaders and their equipment, for these are spoils of war that are brought to you by the help of Allah," Zawahiri said.
"Therefore, make them taste the fire of jihad and its heat. Pursue them with guerrilla warfare, ambushes and martyrdom-seekers."
The website said the Shabaab had also posted several messages on the Internet vowing to intensify attacks in Mogadishu.
Since the Shabaab abandoned fixed positions in Mogadishu last year, under pressure from African Union troops, the war-ravaged seaside capital has been slowly coming back to life.
The Shabaab once controlled up to 80 percent of southern and central Somalia and the recent African offensive dashed their hopes of taking power.
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Washington on Monday urged the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo or Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... to investigate an attack on a pioneering doctor and founder of a rape victims clinic.
Denis Mukwege was forced to flee the country after the attempt on his life late last month, and has sought refuge in Sweden.
Mukwege narrowly escaped with two of his daughters on October 25 after gunnies broke into his home in Bukavu. The assailants killed an employee who intervened, giving the doctor and his family time to flee.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the United States was calling on the DR Congo "to investigate thoroughly the events" and expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... over the attack.
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[An Nahar] An Egyptian policeman was shot and critically maimed in Sinai on Tuesday when gunnies opened fire on a police patrol, days after three coppers were killed in an ambush in the restive peninsula.
The officer was shot in the neck in the northern city of El-Arish, the site of the deadly attack on Saturday.
The interior minister sacked Sinai's security chief on Sunday after policeman protested following the killings of their colleagues.
Security in the desert and mountainous region collapsed after an uprising ousted president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... in February 2011.
Since then, several krazed killer attacks in the Sinai, which borders Israel and the Gazoo Strip, have targeted police and soldiers, including a brazen August 5 ambush on an army outpost that killed 16 soldiers.
The military launched a wide-ranging campaign after that attack to flush out krazed killers, but drive-by shootings have continued.
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[Dawn] Prime Minster Raja Pervez Ashraf on Tuesday, by taking serious notice of deteriorating law and order situation in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... and Hyderabad, ordered immediate action against the culprits, DawnNews reported.
In the meantime, observing unrest and violence in the second largest city of Sindh for the fourth day in a row, Administrator Barkat Rizvi has imposed a ban on pillion-riding in Hyderabad.
The ban has been imposed under section 144, which immune journalists, women and kiddies of ages 12 or below.
The prime minister has ordered IG Sindh police and DG rangers to take immediate steps for restoring peace in both the cities. He also ordered strict actions against the culprits on urgent basis.
Meanwhile, ...back at the bake sale, Umberto's Mom's cannoli were a big hit... at least ten people, including religious leader Agha Aftab Haider Jaffery, were rubbed out in the metropolis on Tuesday.
Moreover, there was a report of a suspicious package near near Jinnah's mausoleum at Bloody Karachi's M A Jinnah road. A bomb disposal squad (BDS) reached the site and defused the explosive which weighed five kilograms.
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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.
U.S. stocks dived on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average sinking more than 300 points, as anxiety about the so-called fiscal cliff hit investors in the wake of the re-election of President Barack Obama who will face once again a divided Congress. 
While the 35 paroled undertrial prisoners whose whereabouts are not known to the police and home department authorities were involved in 70 different cases, including over two dozen murder cases, the prosecution department has so far received files of only 37 cases, it emerged on Monday.
David Cameron
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Bangla Daily Star] Abdul Alim along with a 
At least two people have been 
Wazoo
Mohmand Agency
Pakistain is already cracking down on the Haqqani network and does not need to impose extra measures following the group's addition to the UN's blacklist, a government 
Non-African troops could play a role in ousting Islamic 
Hillary Clinton
At least 131 people were killed as bombings, 
KARACHI: At least five people, including religious leader Agha Aftab Haider Jaffery, were 
[Dawn] Afghanistan welcomes the 
Uganda maintained a threat to withdraw troops from international peacekeeping operations after UN talks on Monday over accusations that it has backed rebels in the 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Three people were killed and two sustained injuries on Tuesday when unidentified 
[Dawn] SINCE religious, racial and ethnic identities are central to human conceptions of self-worth, non-constructive speech whose sole purpose is to deliberately insult such identities should certainly be discouraged.
The Egyptian Coptic Coalition has demanded an investigation into an incident which took place on Monday night, when a group of Salafist 
(Sh.M.Network)--Somali security forces carried out on Tuesday a house to house search in Mogadishu, arresting dozens of suspected A
Activists of the 
Khaleda Zia
Zawahiri
[Dawn] Prime Minster Raja Pervez Ashraf on Tuesday, by taking serious notice of deteriorating law and order situation in 
