About economy

Study: Last Supper paintings supersize the food

2010-03-23T09:58:00.000+02:00

Has even the Last Supper been supersized?

The food in famous paintings of the meal has grown by biblical proportions over the last millennium, researchers report in a medical journal Tuesday.

Using a computer, they compared the size of the food to the size of the heads in 52 paintings of Jesus Christ and his disciples at their final meal before his death radiology associate degree.

If art imitates life, we’re in trouble, the researchers conclude. The size of the main dish grew 69 percent; the size of the plate, 66 percent, and the bread, 23 percent, between the years 1000 and 2000.

Supersizing is considered a modern phenomenon, but “what we see recently may be just a more noticeable part of a very long trend,” said Brian Wansink, a food behavior scientist at Cornell University.

The study was his idea. For biblical context, he sought help from his brother, Craig Wansink, professor of religious studies at Virginia Wesleyan College in Norfolk, Va., and an ordained Presbyterian minister.

The Bible says the Last Supper took place on a Passover evening but gives little detail on specific foods besides bread and wine.

“There’s nothing else mentioned. They don’t say there’s a fruit cup or carrot cake,” though other foods such as fish, eel, lamb and even pork have appeared in paintings through the years, Brian Wansink said.

For the study, he used paintings featured in the book “Last Supper,” published in 2000 by Phaidon Press. They include perhaps the most famous portrayal of the meal, by Leonardo da Vinci. Computer technology allowed them to scan, rotate and calculate images regardless of their orientation in the paintings.

Details are in the April issue of the International Journal of Obesity.

The study is “not very meaningful science,” said Martin Binks, a behavioral health psychologist and a consultant at Duke University Medical Center. “We have real life examples of the increase in portion size — all you have to do is look at what’s being sold at fast-food restaurants.”

A more contemporary test would be to analyze portion sizes in Super Bowl commercials, he suggested

[Via http://dorrato.wordpress.com]

Universities in the recession

2010-03-23T01:48:00.000+02:00

The always interesting website University World News has put together a series of reports on how different countries are treating their higher education sectors during the recession and the resulting scarcity of public money. Taking as their starting point the view expressed by a senior researcher in Berkeley – that in a recession governments should want to protect their university systems as these represent their best bet to achieve recovery – they look at a number of countries to see whether this is borne out in each case. There is no absolute pattern, but from the reports most developed western countries are cutting their higher education budgets, while emerging countries in the east are either protecting the sector or even allowing it to grow. In Europe, the exceptions appear to be Scandinavia and France.

What also emerges from the reports is that in a number of countries the current period is being used to introduce reforms to the system.

What should we conclude from this? One possible conclusion is that the approach by some governments to higher education may serve to exacerbate their economic problems as they will make economic recovery still more difficult. Another is that this is becoming an era of reform, but that the substance of reform is not the same across different countries. Many of those going for quick growth are liberalising their university systems and promoting greater autonomy, while others (perhaps including Ireland) are restricting and bureaucratising theirs.

It is not unlikely that as the dust settles from the recession that the pattern of performance in higher education across the globe will have changed, and will possibly reflect new economic realities. And unless there is a quick change of approach, this will almost certainly not have worked in Europe’s favour. Time will tell.

[Via http://universitydiary.wordpress.com]

Homes, children and money

2010-03-21T09:37:00.000+02:00

A couple of short news items illustrate how the state of the nation’s economic health affects some of us.

More than one in four mortgage holders (26%) say that a drop of up to £300 in their monthly income would mean they couldn’t meet their mortgage repayments. A Callcredit Information Group survey revealed almost one in ten adults (9%) overestimated their income when applying for credit, rising to 13% of those aged 35 – 44 years.

29% of parents say they talk to their children about money more because of the recession. Research commissioned by HSBC and the Personal Finance Education Group (pfeg) shows that children have been strongly impacted by the recession, with a quarter having reduced their own spending as a result. Over a third (34%) see their mobile phone as a necessity, whilst iPods, trips out and new clothes are seen as luxuries.

[Via http://nwsheffield.org]

A Cliff-Notes Version of the Healthcare Bill

2010-03-21T01:37:00.000+02:00

I just received my weekly newsletter from my Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen. I am proud to say he is voting against the healthcare bill that is going to the floor tomorrow.

In his newsletter, he listed what I consider a “cliff notes” version of the new taxes and what the IRS will be up to if this little gem passes. I have posted it here. I think you will find it interesting.

Here is a partial list of the tax increases in the Pelosi health care bill:

If you don’t buy health insurance (as dictated acceptable by a new federal czar), you will be fined up to 2.5% of your income even if you pay all of your medical expenses yourself. If your company does not provide “acceptable” health insurance to all workers, the company will be fined up to $2,000 per employee. (This proposal alone may require the hiring of 1,600 new IRS employees. See attached data sheet from the House Committee on Ways and Means);
An additional Medicare tax on self-employment income and wages. This removes the current cap on wages subject to this tax and it will effectively move the top income tax rate from 35% to 43.4% within a couple of years;
For certain taxpayers, the bill increases the Medicare FICA tax from 2.9 percent to 3.8 percent and for the first time, this tax will be extended beyond wages to include interest, dividends, capital gains, annuities, royalties, home sales and rents. This new tax will be particularly damaging to New Jersey’s seniors, many of whom depend on their interest, dividends and annuities to cover their monthly expenses and potential nursing home costs;
There is a 2.9% tax on all medical “devices”, which basically means everything used in a doctor’s office or hospital. Including gowns, syringes, wheelchairs and the like. This will increase health care costs for everyone who does not get free government insurance;
The deduction for medical expenses is currently limited to those expenses that exceed 7.5% or your income. This will be raised to a threshold of 10% of your income. This means that fewer people will get any tax relief from medical expenses they pay for themselves;
There are various taxes on anything a person might do to pay for their own medical expenses. Things like Health Savings Accounts, Cafeteria Plans, and Flexible Savings Accounts are ways for people to save their OWN money for their OWN medical care on a pre-tax basis. Under the bill, they will be limited and taxed;
A 10% tax on tanning services;
A tax on self-insured health plans. This is another penalty on those who try to pay for their own health care;
A new tax on pharmaceutical manufacturers, an important employer in New Jersey. This will raise the price of medicines for everyone who does not get them from the government for free;
A new tax on “Cadillac” health plans. This is a tax of up to 55% on any health insurance that costs over about $800 per month including employee and employer contributions. This tax does not apply if you are a union member or your plan is from AARP or Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan;
There is a new tax on all “for-profit” health insurance companies (except for a few favored ones). This will also raise the costs of premiums for everyone not getting free care from the government.

Combined, these new taxes will cause medical costs to go up and private sector job creation to go down, increase budget deficits and national debt, and force physicians to stop seeing Medicare and Medicaid patients. It will cause fewer people to pay for their own care, and more to seek government care.

In the end, the Pelosi health care proposal adds up to more taxes, more spending, and more deficits. This is a bill American cannot afford.

Highlights of New IRS Authority

Under H.R. 3590 – the Senate-passed health bill

(Source: House Ways and Means Committee Minority)

IRS agents verify if you have “acceptable” health care coverage;
IRS has the authority to fine you up to $2,250 or 2 percent of your income (whichever is greater) for failure to prove that you have purchased “minimum essential coverage”;
IRS can confiscate your tax refund;
IRS audits are likely to increase;
IRS will need up to $10 billion to administer the new health care program this decade;
IRS may need to hire as many as 16,500 additional auditors, agents and other employees to investigate and collect billions in new taxes from Americans;
Nearly half of all these new individual mandate taxes will be paid by Americans earning less than 300 percent of poverty ($66,150 for a family of four).

SPECIAL EXEMPTION: The Senate-passed bill prohibits the IRS from imposing these taxes and penalties on illegal immigrants.

[Via http://ihaveagripe.wordpress.com]

Industry Analysis: Asian Trade Shows Report Good Traffic, Price Resistance

2010-03-20T09:11:00.000+02:00

This article is published courtesy of Gemological Institute of America Author: Russell Shor, Senior Industry Analyst Intellectual property: GIA Reports from trade shows in Bangkok (Feb. 26-March 2) and Hong Kong (March 5-9) were generally positive, citing strong traffic. Price resistance for diamonds and colored gems was also quite strong. By the close of the latter show, however, buyers accepted diamond prices that were some 20% above last year’s show. This gives some relief to manufacturers squeezed between rising rough prices and static prices for polished goods. In Hong Kong, Alrosa, the agency that markets Russia’s diamond production, held a tender auction of 145 polished stones — several of more than 10 carats — that was expected to total $8 million. At the Jewelers of America Show in New York (Feb. 28-March 2), exhibitors reported light traffic. Serious buyers did show up, but they were cautious and bought primarily to replenish post-holiday season inventories. DIAMONDS: The speculative spikes in rough diamond prices appear to have eased following sales of some $2 billion worth of goods into the market during the first two months of this year. The 7% to 9% price increases that the De Beers Diamond Trading Company imposed in February were also quickly absorbed. Secondary sellers, however, did not tack on their own increases as they had for the previous nine months. This, plus steadily recovering demand and firming prices for polished diamonds, has given the diamond industry hope that rough and polished markets are stabilizing. Rough prices are higher now than they were before the economic crisis; the increases stem from renewed credit lines, particularly in India, and perceived shortages of rough. Last year, rough sales totaled $5.5 billion to $6 billion, half of 2008 levels. COLORED GEMS: Gem Fields, the London-based colored stone mining company, intends to take its time in evaluating the 6,225 ct emerald its Zambian operation unearthed last month. The company’s chief executive did say, however, that preliminary indications are that “it should yield a number of cut gems of significant size.” MACRO: Favorable weather and improving consumer sentiment helped push chain store sales to their largest gain since July 2007. Sales rose 3.4% the first week in March over the corresponding week last year, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and Goldman Sachs. Major store sales for the first week of March were also up 2.9% from the previous week. Michael Niemira, ICSC’s director of research and chief economist, predicted that with this strong start, March sales would increase by 2.5% to 3.5%. – Russell Shor Senior Industry Analyst

[Via http://gemmanews.wordpress.com]

Healthcare: Forced Upon us All

2010-03-20T01:56:00.000+02:00

Fees, taxes, prices have increased steadily for as long as I’ve been alive. Government takes more and more of my paycheck to fund many things I don’t even agree with. With this Healthcare bill being rammed through Congress, the government is about to take even more. You and I will be forced to purchase health insurance if this bill passes, just the same way that Californians are forced to purchase auto insurance. Think about that.

I cannot afford yet another bill. Are not my finances my own? Can I not in America decide as an independent man what expenses to take on and what expenses to avoid? Do I not have the right to NOT get insurance, taking the risk upon myself to live without it? Automobile registration fees are exorbitant (mine due this month is over $300). I either pay the government, or my truck will be impounded. So what of those who cannot afford another bill forced upon them, like health insurance?

Obama’s answer: those who cannot afford to pay the forced purchase price of the forced insurance will have to petition the government for ‘tax credits/subsidies’… go to big government… kneel before the throne of our magistrates… beg for aid. Is this America? Is this your government?

* * *

Not only is the take-over-healthcare-we-force-you-to-pay-and-buy bill unconstitutional, contrary to the fundamental principles of liberty and personal freedom (not to mention state’s rights) upon which this country was built, but this is the way in which it’s being rammed through Congress:

Congressmen and women being bought and sold…

Haven’t the Obama-care advocates said time and again that this is about helping American citizens, about doing the right thing? Didn’t Obama promise his supporters that he would bring Change to Washington? With his Presidency were not the old ways of doing business on Capital Hill over? Is this the Change you hoped for?

Is this your government?

[Via http://oddnotunusual.wordpress.com]

Environment: does capitalism play a role in global warming ?

2010-03-18T09:27:00.000+02:00

Years ago I had a girlfriend that played a game known as “6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon”, a game where kids would try to link something with Kevin Bacon through a series of direct and indirect associations.

This, to me, is a lot like the association between a capitalist’s drive for profit and eco-destruction.

The set of decisions that gives way to eco-destruction can be accounted for within one understanding: there is built into capitalism the necessity to please the consumer in order to survive ( this is not the same thing as the necessity to create good products in order to compete ).

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Take as an example grocery bags, whether paper or plastic. Both of these products are rendered to the marketplace for the purpose of convenienc-ing me which is a course towards profit for the store.

A store would lose my business to a competitor if it did not provide to me bags to carry my groceries ( unless no stores offered bags … hmmm ). The damage of billions of bags is documented: the production of, the delivery of, and the disposal of.

Compare that to the common practice in Europe where folks bring their personal grocery bags with them. This practice is a sensible consequence of their pre-1990 communism. However, from my understanding stores have begun offering plastic bags earlier this decade.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Take as another example, automobiles. I lived in Atlanta for nearly 15 years. For 5 of those years I drove a 50-mile round-trip commute … even though MARTA was available.

Chevy did not have to try hard to convince me that having a car of my own is a good thing. They, in the name of profit, built a product that appealed to me, regardless of the repercussions of pollution, etc.

And again compare this to Europe, where until just recently nearly everyone used buses and trains without humiliation.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

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[Via http://goodflagbetsy.wordpress.com]

Health Care Reform

2010-03-18T01:57:00.000+02:00

Clear as Mud

Health care reform

Single Payer

Nancy Pelosi hates Democracy?

By poetryman69

Now that Nancy Pelosi knows her side would lose, she was to violated the constitution with a pick axe and let a money bill originate in the senate.

Passing Commie Care without voting on it

Commies want to avoid direct vote on Marxist Medicine.

Oh Really Obama?

By poetryman69

Even when they’re not lying: They’re lying

The Limbaugh deception

Bankrupting Medicare

By poetryman69

What happens when a financially strapped Government program is stripped of half a trillion dollars? It goes bankrupt.

The logical result of Obama taking $500 Billion out of Medicare when it is underfunded as it is, will be bankruptcy.

Has anyone told those who are sick, poor and old that the rug is about to pulled out from under you?

How do you know Obama can do it?

By poetryman69

How do you know Obama can save half a trillion dollars on Medicare?

You don’t.

In fact you know he probably can’t. After all, Obama just presented the 2011 budget and it was in deficit by $1.2 trillion. In the entire federal budget there are dozens if not hundreds or thousands of programs. Obama says he can save half a trillion in just one government program. He should have been able to save at least one or two trillion with that many programs to cut. But he didn’t.

So Obama fails the test by not balancing the budget.

One can almost see little Barry with big crying eyes blubbering that little Georgie never balanced a budget neither!!!

Barry, Barry, Barry.

Is this the standard of excellence they teach at Harvard? What the other guy did on the test?

Is the standard of excellence in community organizing. Wait a minute, there is no standard of excellence for community organizing. You could phone that in! In fact, that explains everything.

Obama Breaking the Law?

By poetryman69

Is President Barack Hussein Obama breaking the law? If he knows exactly where to find $500 billion of waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicare budget and he fails to take immediate action to stop it isn’t he aiding and abetting violations of law? Isn’t he engaged in a conspiracy in furtherance of a criminal enterprise? Doesn’t this meet the test of “high crimes and misdemeanors?”

If, on the other hand, Obama relents and says he only kinda, sorta knows where half a trillion dollars is…Well…hmmm. With the exception of Bernie Madoff, have you ever known of anyone who said he kinda, sorta knows where $500 billion is?

Saving $.5 trillion?

President Barack Hussein Obama claimed that he could save half a trillion dollars on Medicare. But Medicare is only one government program. In his 2011 budget Obama dealt with dozens if not hundreds of government programs. If he really is so good at ferreting out waste, fraud and abuse then surely there would be a multiplier effect when dealing with the whole budget. In fact, if Obama can really save $500 Billion on one program he should have been able to save over a $1 trillion on the federal budget as a whole so why didn’t he? Why was Obama’s 2011 budget $1.2 trillion in the red? Where did that deficit come from?

Perhaps there was no waste, fraud or abuse in the rest of the government. In fact, maybe Obama inherited from George Bush a federal bureaucracy that was so sound that it runs like a Swiss watch with 100% efficiency. In fact since, after a year of looking, Obama could find no waste, fraud or abuse in the non-Medicare part of the budget one wonders why we needed Obama or that much ballyhooed change at all. Surely a third installment of that movie Revenge of the Shrubbery: When Bushes Attack starring John McCain would have done just as well as Obama. That is, if there was no waste, fraud or abuse that Obama could find and cut out of the entire government apparatus. After all, George Bush ran the government for 8 years, surely he left some shoddy workmanship somewhere in federal government.

Makes you wonder if that $500 Billion that Obama claims he could save is vaporware, smoke and mirrors, illusory.

Obama’s Budget in the red before Health Care

If you like the Post Office you’ll love ObamaCare

No Wealth

How to Bankrupt a Nation

President Karl Marx…A Love Story

Creating Wealth

Wishing Well

Constellation of Idiots

Whose fault is it?

Post Consumerism

How to Plunder a Nation

Selling Zero

The Most Corrupt Politicians in Washington

Dictionary of Dreams

It is better to be Drunk than Wasted

MARXIST MEDICINE

COMMIE CARE

ENEMY OF THE STATE

Online Job Search

Government Work

Job Search

Job Search for the Older Worker

[Via http://waitingonthenewmoon.wordpress.com]

House may try to pass Senate health-care bill without voting on it

2010-03-16T09:47:00.000+02:00

After laying the groundwork for a decisive vote this week on the Senate’s health-care bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested Monday that she might attempt to pass the measure without having members vote on it.

Instead, Pelosi (D-Calif.) would rely on a procedural sleight of hand: The House would vote on a more popular package of fixes to the Senate bill; under the House rule for that vote, passage would signify that lawmakers “deem” the health-care bill to be passed.

Conservation-Of-Madness Strikes Again

2010-03-16T01:49:00.000+02:00

All the rain in the world (and it seems like we got, in fact, all the rain in the world) was unable to long dampen spirits of equity traders. Although the market started off with a small slither lower, the upward momentum remains in place although to be fair the last couple of days’ worth of flirtation with the January highs of the S&P hasn’t exactly blown away the skeptics. Stocks today closed roughly unchanged after a soft open. June 10y Note futures gained about 2 ticks in a quiet session.

It appears as if the March-Lack-of-Madness has already hit the bond market (under the conservation-of-madness principle, NCAA March Madness seems to be mirrored by lethargic trading every year – at least in the fixed-income world), but there is a lot on tap this week that could change that. Not standing a chance, though, were today’s slightly stronger-than-expected Empire State Manufacturing Report (showing that last month’s jump in the index wasn’t entirely fluke) and slightly weaker-than-expected Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization numbers (overall strength in the numbers masked the fact that most of that strength was from utilities output – the cold weather giveth, and the cold weather taketh away).

I like looking at seasonally-adjusted electricity use. Although over a long-term chart it muddies the question of productivity improvements, over the short-term it’s pretty interesting. It’s hard to make a lot more output without some more input. And here the picture is decidedly less rosy than the Industrial Production data. I wonder whether this indicates a movement of the production away from products that require high energy input (autos? raw steel?) to less-energy-intensive stuff. I don’t know the answer, but I find the divergence of this series from the Industrial Production index series to be curious.

Going Green The Hard Way!

Tomorrow’s release of Housing Starts (Consensus: 565k versus 591k last month) has a somewhat better chance of rocking the boat, but only if those Starts convincingly break above 600k – where they haven’t been for more than a year. The chart below (Source: Census Bureau) illustrates that even an annual pace of 600,000 units started…about three months’ worth at the peak…wouldn’t exactly, um, ‘break new ground’ so to speak.

Wouldn't 600k be really great? No?

Although such a figure wouldn’t exactly trigger paroxysms of joy, I think it would have an impact as the “second derivative” crowd would be excited at the improvement. Face it, the level isn’t going to be exciting. And the rate of change (first derivative) over the last couple of years is pretty ugly; over the last year or so it has gotten flat. A 600k would excite people who put a lot of importance on the mere transition from declining, to flat, to rising (even though, within the usual variance of the data, it would be hard to make such a pronouncement).

More important – and at least the source of more nervousness – will be the Fed’s post-meeting announcement late in the day. Here, again, we have a Fed in a transition from very easy policy to something close to neutral to something tighter; at least, that is what we are supposed to believe. While some of the more vocal hawks on the Fed are supposedly agitating for tighter policy, I think last month’s snugging of the discount rate was a bone thrown to them to keep them at bay for a bit. I doubt very seriously that the Committee feels like experimenting with a dramatic new statement, especially since there is already a pending experiment at the end of this month when the Desk stops buying mortgages. I don’t expect anything of significance out of this meeting (for example, a change in the statement to suggest that the time of low rates is drawing to a close), but even minor changes in the statement will likely lead to some post-release volatility.

The Fed’s first move toward tightness, when it does come, will be a good test to see if the conditions in the equity market are bubbly or just reflecting improved conditions over the last year. A bubbly market, such as the one we saw in the late 1990s, tends to take news that the Fed is hiking rates as “evidence that the economy is strong,” which is absurdly inconsistent with the notion that equities are near fair value considering the level of interest rates – that sort of absurd inconsistency would itself be an indication of bubbly conditions. A more rational response to the eventual hiking of rates would be a decline in the equity markets of a few days to a few weeks, as some marginal owners of equities shift to interest rate vehicles that are suddenly more attractive.

As I say, that musing is likely to be out-of-place on Tuesday, as I don’t expect the Fed to do anything significant. (It may take a little while to figure out that it isn’t significant, however!).

[Via http://mikeashton.wordpress.com]

The Sham "Recovery"

2010-03-14T09:51:00.000+02:00

Robert Reich is Professor at UC Berkeley, a former Secretary of Labor, and one of the very few who have reached such heights and are still concerned with the lives of the non-super-rich. His recent article in The Huffington Post is a must read:

The US economy grew at a 5.9 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2009. That sounds good until you realize GDP figures are badly distorted by structural changes in the economy. For example, part of the increase is due to rising health care costs. When WellPoint ratchets up premiums, that enlarges the GDP. But you’d have to be out of your mind to consider this evidence of a recovery.

Part of the perceived growth in GDP is due to rising government expenditures. But this is smoke and mirrors. The stimulus is reaching its peak and will be smaller in months to come. And a bigger federal debt eventually has to be repaid.

So when you hear some economists say the current recovery is following the traditional path, don’t believe a word. The path itself is being used to construct the GDP data.

Look more closely and the only ones doing better are the people and private-sector institutions at the top. Many of America’s biggest companies are sitting on huge amounts of cash right now, but that says nothing about the health of the U.S. economy. Companies in the Standard&Poor 500 stock index had sales of $2.18 trillion in the fourth quarter, up from $2.02 trillion last year, and their earnings tripled. Why? Mainly because they’re global, and selling into fast-growing markets in places like India, China, and Brazil.

America’s biggest companies are also showing fat profits and productivity gains because they continue to slash payrolls and cut expenditures. Alcoa, for example, had $1.5 billion in cash at the end of last year, double what it had on hand at the end of 2008. Sounds terrific until you realize how it did it. By cutting 28,000 jobs — 32 percent of workforce — and slashed capital expenditures 43 percent.

This is yet more evidence for something I’ve been trying to convince people of for some time. GDP means nothing.

[Via http://pavanvan.wordpress.com]

a (short) Quicken Update

2010-03-14T01:38:00.000+02:00

not too long ago, I decided to try and use QUICKEN

again. Since I really wanted to track my [poor] spending

habits. And in general to try and improve my [very poor]

finances.

Well, so far, I am learning it is a big “pain in the butt”

This is probably why I am an engineer instead of an

ACCOUNANT. ugghh

Now, after only 3 months of recording, my family bank

account balance is off by about $238.17″. hoy

And my personal account, which I only opened 6 months

ago, is off by a similar (although seemingly non-disclosed)

amount HA

So, for ease of getting your transactions from your bank

and other financial institutions, I give Quicken an A++

BRAVO vastly improved over the 1998 or so version

But it still is an accounting program, so you still have

the meticuosly drudgery or going through all those

[although be it easily-downloaded] transactions

And furthermore, you may have to increase your

skill in finding the mistakes, etc. That part I seem

to be short on skills or patience therein……

But i will stick to it for as long as I can, I am finding that

There are mistakes in the banks, and credit cards transactions

And on occasion, if one fall out of my favor, I will be able

to challenge it, or at least be aware of it.

Also, we have some pretty frequent charges for medical expenses

As we grow older and require more health care. Also, my

wife has type II diabetes, so there are some significant recurring

costs to cope with that

The point being, that quicken can easily flag these type of expenses

And record them. The final yearly costs may be enough to

get itemized on our taxes. So that is a good incentive to track

them

Overall, the software is much better, but you still have to

put a lot of time and effort into tracking it all. Hopefully

I get my balances straightened out before TOO LONG

Since the longer it goes, the bigger mess it is to go through

hoy

[Via http://millerc360.wordpress.com]

Diantara Ali dan Baba, siapa?

2010-03-13T09:52:00.000+02:00

13hb. Mac, 201o

Diantara Ali dan Baba: Mungkin Ibrahim Ali dari PERKASA

oleh Zaid Ibrahim

Saya bersetuju dengan Ibrahim Ali yang mengatakan tak ada salahnya bagi beliau selaku Pengurusi Perkasa untuk berkerja dengan tauke Cina yang terkaya Vincent Tan, atau dengan mana-mana tauke lain yang membuat projek perumahan atau jambatan atau projek lain di Kelantan. Orang Melayu sepatutnya berkerja dengan siapa saja yang boleh memberi manfaat dan keuntungan kepada orang Melayu sendiri. Yang penting dia betul-betul berkerja atau berniaga secara aktif. Yang penting Melayu ini bukan “sleeping partner” atau bukan Ali kepada Baba. Yang penting Melayu yang tahu harga diri.

Malangnya ramai pemimpin Melayu/Bumiputera yang ada kabel dengan Perdana Menteri atau orang atasan lain dapat peluang hanya untuk jadi Ali kepada Baba. Maka dilantiklah Ali ini sebagai pengarah syarikat yang tak buat apa-apa kerja. Ali ini juga diberi saham. Maklumlah, Ali ini kan orang Bumiputra yang ada kedudukan istimewa dan peruntukan khas, walaupun bapa atau datuk dia lahir di Kerala atau Madras, atau di Aceh dan sebagainya. Orang yang benar-benar putera bumi di negara kita seperti Senoi, Negrito dan Proto Melayu di samping kumpulan-kumpulan etnik Semelai, Jakun, Temuan, Temiar dan sebagainya, tak pernah pula kita lihat dapat jawatan pengerusi syarikat-syarikat besarMereka tak ada perlindungan dibawah Perkara 153 yang ajaib itu.

Jadi bila wira Perkasa dan pengikut-pengikut UMNO Baru ini mahu pertahankan “keistemewaan” mereka, apakah sebenarnya yang mereka mahu pertahankan. Tak ada siapa pun yang bercadang nak ambil balik hak Bumiputera di bawah Perlembagaan. Tak orang bukan Melayu dan tidak juga Pakatan Rakyat yang mahu buat begitu. Lagi pun mustahil ianya dapat dilakukan dengan jumlah kerusi yang dipegang di Parlimen oleh kaum Bumiputera. Kadang-kadang ada di antara kita yang lupa bahawa di Sabah dan Sarawak, kaum Bumiputera merupakan kaum majoriti. Jadi apakah yang dibisingkan oleh “pembela hak Bumiputera” ini.

Sebenarnya, yang mereka mahu pertahankan ialah “sistem rentier” di mana nama Bumiputera UMNO itu ada harga untuk mendapat saham percuma atau elaun percuma atau jawatan pengarah dalam sesuatu syarikat. Mereka mahu Baba sentiasa perlukan servis dan nama mereka. Jadi Ali jenis ini sanggup terus mempertahankan elit Baba ini walaupun syarikat-syarikat Baba inilah yang menjadi persaingan dan mengurangkan peluang kepada peniaga Melayu yang tulin ikhlas yang mahu berniaga dengan erti kata yang sebenar. Inilah hakikatnya

Sepatutnya Ali ini perlu sedar diri dan benar-benar berjuang secara ikhlas. Apa yang perlu diperjuangkan oleh Ibrahim Ali dan Utusan Malaysia ialah supaya Model Ekonomi Baru yang dilaung-laungkan oleh Perdana Menteri Najib Razak itu dapat membanteras fenomena ekonomi pajakan nama Bumiputera Ali kepada Baba. Selagi Ali mendapat elaun murahan yang mudah dan percuma dari Baba, selagi itulah ekonomi orang Melayu akan dikawal oleh Ali yang ada kabel untuk kekayanan Baba. Baba ini pula bukan sebarangan Baba. Orang Cina pun tak suka mereka kerana bolot segala-galanya.

Tapi saya rasa adalah mustahil Najib akan membersihkan ekonomi “rentier” ini kerana para pemimpin UMNO akan marah, ketua Bahagian UMNO akan marah dan Ahli Parlimen UMNO akan marah. Mereka akan marah kalau Model Ekonomi Baru ini bersifat adil dan memberi peluang saksama kepada rakyat Malaysia.

Mereka mahu kepentingan mereka dipertahankan. Mereka akan marah kerana akan hilang peluang mendapat elaun murahan’ peluang jual nama Jadi mungkin Model Ekonomi Baru ini sebenar tak ada apa yang baru kecuali tabiat lama yang akan terus mementingkan UMNOputra. Tetapi kita sedia teliti dan meneliti dasar baru ini dengan adil..

[Via http://dinmerican.wordpress.com]

Experts say US doctors overtesting, overtreating

2010-03-13T01:58:00.000+02:00

CHICAGO – Too much cancer screening, too many heart tests, too many cesarean sections. A spate of recent reports suggest that too many Americans — maybe even President Barack Obama — are being overtreated masters degree in psychology.

Is it doctors practicing defensive medicine? Or are patients so accustomed to a culture of medical technology that they insist on extensive tests and treatments?

A combination of both is at work, but now new evidence and guidelines are recommending a step back and more thorough doctor-patient conversations about risks and benefits.

As a medical journal editorial said this week about Obama’s recent checkup, Americans including the commander in chief need to realize that “more care is not necessarily better care.”

Obama’s exam included prostate cancer screening and a virtual colonoscopy. The PSA test for prostate cancer is not routinely recommended for any age and colon screening is not routinely recommended for patients younger than 50. Obama is 48.

Earlier colon cancer screening is sometimes recommended for high-risk groups — which a White House spokesman noted includes blacks. Doctors disagree on whether a virtual colonoscopy is the best method. But it’s less invasive than traditional colonoscopies and doesn’t require sedation — or the possible temporary transfer of presidential power, the White House said.

The colon exam exposed him to radiation “while likely providing no benefit to his care,” Dr. Rita Redberg, editor of Archives of Internal Medicine, wrote in an online editorial. Obama’s experience “is multiplied many times over” at a huge financial cost to society, and to patients exposed to potential harms but no benefits.

She also took issue with another test Obama had which uses radiation — a heart scan to look for calcium deposits in his arteries. She said the test isn’t recommended for low-risk men like Obama.

“People have come to equate tests with good care and preventio

[Via http://tvidter.wordpress.com]

Forbes 2010 list of wealthiest people is released

2010-03-11T09:41:00.000+02:00

Warren Buffett, Bernard Arnault and Jeffrey Bezos move up from previous year positions By: Diamond World

The Forbes magazine list of the world’s richest people in 2010 has been released, identifying Carlos Slim Helu of Mexico as the wealthiest man in the world, having an estimated fortune of $53.5 billion, higher by $18.5 billion than the previous year. The 2010 list consists of names of 1,011 billionaires and a combined net worth of $3.6 trillion, while in 2009, the total net worth identified was $2.4 trillion. This year names of 218 new billionaires have been added.

Featuring in the list are some names of executives associated in some manner with the gem and jewellery industry. Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway has been placed on number 3 with fortunes worth $47 billion; he was named the second wealthiest man last year. Ranked at No.7 was Bernard Arnault of LVMH with a net worth of $27.5 billion, while the previous year, Arnault ranked at No.15. Jeffrey Bezos of Amazon.com was at No. 43 with a net worth of $12.3 billion, rising higher by 25 spots than last year. Francois Pinault and family (retailer PPR) stood at No. 77 with a net worth of $8.7 billion.

Nicky Oppenheimer and family stood at No. 154 with net worth of $5 billion, lowered by 56 spots from 2009. Laurence Graff was at No. 374 with a net worth of $2.5 billion, dropping by 69 spots. Beny Steinmetz of the Steinmetz Diamond Group stood at No.488 with a net worth of $2 billion; Lev Leviev was down 187 spots to No.655 with a net worth of $1.5 billion and Jack Ma of Internet retailer Alibaba Group was placed at No. 828 with a net worth of $1.2 billion.

[Via http://gemmanews.wordpress.com]

Brazil-Russia bilateral relations

2010-03-11T01:45:00.000+02:00

In a multilateral world unfolded after 9/11 terrorist attacks, the United States have lost their preeminence over the international agenda. The turmoiled incursion in Iraq and the virulent domestic crisis were reasons for questioning North American dominance. In that scenario, emerging countries for instance Brazil and Russia gained leverage, which have exposed a changing global arrangement. These two states, notoriously known for their continental territories and enormous populations, were depicted as developing markets with geopolitical substance. Nevertheless, they do not have enough power to change by themselves the agenda; in reason of that, they need to cooperate to assure that their common demands will be part of the current order.

When President Lula came into office, he asserted that Russia was one of the pillars of Brazil’s foreign policy. He portrayed the bilateral contact as strategic and affirmed that the partnership should be intensified and the complementary features deepened. Russia matches Brazil’s interest to become more respected because it has important credentials. Besides being a permanent member of the United Nation’s Security Council and having the capability to craft the nuclear bomb, Russia has advanced technology, a well-known science expertise and impressive hydrocarbon reserves that could be compared to Brazil’s pre-salt layer.

The recent oil discoveries along the Brazilian coastline represent a great opportunity for the two countries to cooperate on energy and to widen collaboration between their state-owned companies, Brazil’s Petrobras and Russia’s Gazprom. Moreover, Brazil’s macroeconomic stability and proficiency in biofuels and in ethanol production attract the attention of Russia. The Brazilian influence in Latin America and its positive contacts with the peripheral world, for example with the African Union, are also other triumphs perceived by Russia. Mr. Medvedev, who came to Brazil in 2009, has also noticed that the partnership should be broadened.

South-south cooperation is the relations’ core and the two states usually combine opinions in multilateral affairs. They are classified by some scholars as system affecting countries, needing to merge in order to achieve their objectives. That happened when Brazil and Russia joined China and India in the BRIC group, aiming to gain greater political bargain, and when the subprime crisis affected the economy. The two countries, coping with other emerging actors, pressed the more powerful economies for market regulation and to an even distribution of International Monetary Fund’s quotas.

It is imperative that Brazil and Russia improve their bilateral relations to grant a more important role in a complex world. Both countries have valuable appeals that can be shared and deepened in order to permit them a paramount position in the actual scenario. Common interests and an effective alteration in the international agenda can be assured by an organized approach in multilateral talks.

[Via http://nonrefoulement.wordpress.com]

JOBS ADS JUMP, BUSINESS CONFIDENCE LIFT AUSTRALIAN SHAREMARKET

2010-03-09T09:46:00.000+02:00

A SURGE in job advertisements and improving business confidence data boosted the Australian sharemarket today.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rose for the eighth consecutive day, closing higher by 12.2 points, or 0.3 per cent, at 4820.1 on light share-trading volumes, after an extremely quiet night on Wall Street.

The index bounced from 4791.1 to 4828.1 as confidence in the domestic economy was bolstered by economic data. ANZ Bank said job advertisements surged 19.1 per cent in February from January and National Australia Bank said its business confidence index rose 4 points to plus 19 points in February from January.

But the index failed to break through the seven-week high of 4828.5 struck yesterday.

“The domestic situation looks good in isolation,” said Wesley Legrand at Grand Private Equities. “But we have to see what global influences come to bear.” Mr Legrand remains concerned about the level of sovereign debt in Europe.

For the full article: The Australian

[Via http://jollygoodnews.wordpress.com]

Secret documents, obtained from the the CIA, paint "a very clear picture of what members of Congress knew about so-called enhanced interrogation techniques and when they knew it"

2010-03-09T01:51:00.000+02:00

- So, when to we start the treason courts?

These people have DELIBERATELY put this country in harms way.

We should apply some penalties that make sense with these horrible crimes of Treason!

Washington, DC

(Washington, DC) — Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has received a Memorandum from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) marked “Top Secret” that includes a detailed report of a House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) closed hearing regarding the subject of enhanced interrogation techniques. The CIA produced the document pursuant to a previous court order in Judicial Watch’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the CIA (Judicial Watch v. Central Intelligence Agency, Case: 1:09-cv-01352). The court order stipulates that documents pertaining to congressional briefings for Speaker Pelosi and other members of Congress on “enhanced interrogation techniques” must be provided to Judicial Watch by April 15th.

The following are excerpts from the Memorandum, dated July 14, 2004:

Summary of testimony by DOD Official, Lt. Gen. William Boykin: “At this point, General Boykin read a prepared statement to the Committee in which he asserted that interrogation is a critically valuable tool, and, citing observations made by service personnel at Ft. Bragg, said that the most [imp]ortant factor in the capture of Saddam Hussein was interrogation.”
Summary of testimony by member of the CTC (Counterterrorism Center), name redacted: “…Even today long term detainees like Khalid Shayk Muhammed and Zubaydah are providing good information because their histories go back a long way and often a tidbit they provide, while not initially operationally significant, ends up being the piece that completes the puzzle; DC/CTC closed by noting that he was personally persuaded that detainee reporting has saved lives.”
Rep. Jane Harman: “What do you think of the value of enhanced techniques?” John Pistole, Witness for the FBI: “In my view the benefits are huge and the costs are insignificant. Very few detainees don’t provide us with good information….”
Rep. Ruppersberger: “Are there procedures that we have stopped that should be resumed?” Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander, the Army G-2, [now Director of the National Security Agency (NSA)]: “Yes. Diet and sleep management. Those, plus segregation which is still employed, are key…”
General Alexander also testified that field commanders wanted more “97E’s” (interrogators), “even to the point of trading off some of their combat troops.”
Saddam Hussein was not subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques, but “friendly discussions with an eye to future public prosecution.”

The document also recounts an allegation by Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) that the CIA had not been giving the committee “full and candid testimony on the detainee issue.” Testimony also suggests that interrogators at Fort Bragg believed that “unobtrusive forms of interrogation are the best.”

“We are now beginning to get a very clear picture of what members of Congress knew about so-called enhanced interrogation techniques and when they knew it,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Intelligence officials repeatedly informed members of Congress that enhanced interrogation techniques are effective and save lives. It is little wonder why the Obama administration would try to keep these documents hidden, given the administration’s ideological hostility to these effective interrogation techniques”

In February, Judicial Watch released documents, previously marked “Top Secret,” indicating that between 2001 and 2007, the CIA briefed at least 68 members of Congress on the CIA interrogation program, including so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques.” The documents include the dates of all congressional briefings and, in some cases, the members of Congress in attendance and the specific subjects discussed. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who previously denied she was briefed by the CIA on the use of these techniques, is specifically referenced in a briefing that took place on April 24, 2002, regarding the “ongoing interrogations of Abu Zubaydah.”

http://www.judicialwatch.org/news/2010/mar/judicial-watch-obtains-top-secret-memorandum-detailing-closed-congressional-hearing-en

[Via http://txlady706.wordpress.com]

Like pulling teeth

2010-03-07T17:53:00.000+02:00

George Washington's teeth, between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915. (Library of Congress)

It’s been a long year but the final votes to pass this godforsaken health care reform bill are coming together. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi needs to wrangle 216 votes out of 431, and there are now 50 senators “open to using reconciliation to finish health reform.”

Back a couple weeks ago I was encouraging my readers to call their senators and request they support passing a public option via reconciliation. There are apparently now 37 senators willing to do that. Unfortunately, I think it’s pretty clear that is not going to happen this go, but the current bill is still a vast improvement over the status quo.

Even if you have already, call your senators and representative to ask for their “yes” vote on health care reform.

[Via http://knowyourgovernment.wordpress.com]

--Three Equivalent Standards: Gold, Euro and Dollar

2010-03-07T01:52:00.000+02:00

An alternative to popular faith

A gold Standard, indeed any Standard, consists of two parts: An asset (gold) and a system. Of the two, the system plays the leading role.

In any Standard, the system requires that for every unit of currency a country issues, that country must own a fixed amount of the chosen asset. The fundamental purpose and effect of a gold Standard, or of any Standard, is to restrict the ability of a nation to issue money.

Gold has been a popular asset with attractive attributes. It’s consistent, malleable, permanent, pretty and scarce. But, other assets can be part of a Standard, for instance: silver, platinum, copper, wheat, the euro. The euro?

Yes, nothing says the asset in a Standard must be a physical substance. The only necessary attribute is some degree of scarcity. Today, much of Europe is on a “euro Standard.” This means that to spend money, each nation first must obtain euros. The fact that the money and the euros are identical is irrelevant. Rather, the necessity of owning euros restricts each nation’s issuance of money. This restriction is the key to any Standard.

The United States abandoned the gold Standard in 1971 because it restricted the issuance of dollars. The U.S. found itself unable to obtain enough gold to fund its growing economy. It easily could have been unable to service its debts, i.e. gone bankrupt. With the elimination of the gold Standard, the U.S. government demonstrated it is able to service any size debt, while creating unlimited money to fund economic growth.

Today Greece finds itself in the same restricted position. Being on the euro Standard, Greece is now unable to create sufficient currency to fund its growth, and having been forced to borrow, now faces the (unlikely) prospect of bankruptcy. The EU has ordered Greece to reduce its debt supply (aka money supply) by raising taxes and reducing expenditures – a prescription for recession and depression.

Any political entity that cannot create money eventually will be unable to service its debts, and faces economic stagnation. American states, counties and cities are on the “dollar Standard.” Unlike the federal government, they cannot spend money without obtaining dollars. Over time, all must obtain money by raising taxes and/or cutting expenditures, both of which have a depressing effect on their economies.

To save the state, county and city economies, the U.S. federal government increasingly must support local spending. Roads, bridges and dams are local initiatives, that might have been the financial responsibility of local governments, will need to be funded by the federal government. Education, local transportation, health care and anti-poverty programs also will require federal support.

The federal government, because it can create unlimited money without taxation, ultimately will fund the vast majority of local programs, the key political question being: Who will have the power to direct these programs, local agencies or the federal government?

Just as the American states, counties and cities can, must and will be supported by the U.S. government, the members of the EU can, must and will be supported by the only entity with the unlimited power to create money: the EU itself.

Eventually, it will become apparent that forcing EU nations to raise taxes and reduce spending only will serve to make economic growth impossible. At that point, the EU will assume the money-creation role for the euro. Thus, the euro will force a de facto “United States of Europe,” well before formal treaties are ratified.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

http://www.rodgermitchell.com

[Via http://rodgermmitchell.wordpress.com]

Foreclosure Tsunami Off Coast

2010-03-06T09:40:00.000+02:00

For the last two years, real estate experts such as Jeff Adams (www.realestatemillionairecode.com) have been predicting the existence of a second wave of mortgage defaults and foreclosures closing in on the US economy like a tsunami due to strike this year. So far we have only seen the meltdown from the failures in prime loans and option-arm loans. The tsunami that is coming will include more prime and option-arms, but also present a new crop of subprime and ALT–A loans that were put into motion by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and their love child Ginnie Mae, oh and lets not forget the FHA. In addition, the FHA is changing the rules on purchase money loans, making it more difficult to qualify, and therefore limiting the number homes that will actually be purchased by owner occupants.

All of this spells difficult times for those who are struggling to pay their mortgage, are out of work, or trying to purchase a new home. However, for those ready to move on this investment opportunity there will be opportunities abounding – especially for those willing to hold the property as a landlord or provide seller financing through Contract for Deed, Sale and Leaseback, or even a traditional rent to own. If you are ready to capitalize on this “fire sale,” then simply place your name, email, and areas of interest in the form on the right hand side. We can help you enter the real estate investing market or grow your portfolio of properties. We do not sell products, systems, or courses. We work with you in contractual joint ventures to provide for a successful relationship.

[Via http://freedupinvestments.wordpress.com]

China's Workforce is 2.3 Billion People: Are you Working?

2010-03-06T01:45:00.000+02:00

“China and India have a combined workforce of 2.3 Billion people. If you include the rest of Asia, then you are looking at a workforce of 3 Billion. China, India along with other Asian countries are in the beginning of an economic revolution that will go on for many years.

Do not over-look the fact that 1000’s of American companies have opened manufacturing plants in Asia. China will be known as the manufacturing country of the world and truthfully, they already are. We are in the beginning phase of a massive Global Economic Expansion.

…. And no one is talking about the new purchasing power of the Asian workers

Oh, you may hear a story here and there, but no one is really talking about the fact that we will witness, in our lifetime, an Economic Explosion that could ultimately be so strong and so monumental, that fortunes will be made and lost many times over.

Soon the newfound wealth for the Asian workforce, two-thirds of the world’s population in China and India alone, will increase their purchasing power, and in turn, they will develop a taste for what money can buy. A middle class is evolving in China. This middle class is developing a desire for electronics, autos, clothes and better housing and this will turn into epidemic proportions.

According to an article in the Deccan Herald, dated 8/24/2004, from D RAVI KANTH, “China and India are set to overtake the United States by five times in their combined purchasing power by 2030 subject to implementing investor-friendly policies, says UBS, the Swiss-based banking behemoth.”

China may become the manufacturing capitol of the world but the USA has always been the Innovators of the world. Do you want the chance to be a part of this economic expansion?

Or will you be mumbling to yourself, something about the “road not taken”?

So, what about the opportunities for the average American worker?

This Global Economic Expansion will last for years. It presents an opportunity of a lifetime, for those who wish to participate, but participation comes with a price. That price is our time, the time it takes to educate us about the world markets and understand what makes the foreign economies grow. Well, they work the sameway overseas as they do here in America, thru “Supply and Demand”.

We need to take the time to educate ourselves. There is much to consider if we want to eventually be employed by a company that will actually need our expertise, and not just hiring us with Stimulus money, for a week, 5 weeks or 3-4 months, on an hourly wage. An hourly job is not the way we want to live the rest of our working lives, this will not help make a future for us and our family. We will need a job that has a future so we can grow financially. What will we need to do? We need to Educate ourselves.

If we are unemployed, we need to get off the couch and get to work deciding what we want to be when we grow up (again) and hopefully that will be TODAY. We have already been out in the real world long before we lost our jobs, so we have an idea of what type of work we are interested in doing. Or maybe we want to change careers.

Where there’s a Will there’s a Way.

We can’t let, not having money stop us from educating ourselves. Many unemployed can get government assistance right now, for school. Go apply, the money won’t last forever. There are private grants we can apply for. If we have savings there is no better way to spend it than by educating ourselves for a financially secure future (except on food). We may need to borrow money from a family member, if we can, or sell something that we have that is worth some extra cash. If we know what we want to do, then maybe we can find someone in the same field who will let us be an apprentice, with or without pay. If there is no other way, then we need to go to the library and read, study, and give ourselves tests. The more we know the more ahead we are. We need to keep doing this, and if we really work hard at it we may be able to take some entrance exam and still get a job in the field we want. No matter what happens knowledge always comes in handy. We need to use our imaginations.

Now, that we have an opportunity to start over, though it may sound like it will take a lot of work on our part to re-educate ourselves, lets face it, what else do we have to do, sit on the couch and watch all the misinformation on cable news, with the exception of Fox News, of course?

All that learning, going to school, reading and studying will prepare us for what lies ahead. And in the long run we will be ahead of everyone else, maybe 20 Million some unemployed potential workers, in the USA alone. Yep, starting over will take quite a bit, of initiative on our part, but in the end we will be equipped to compete on a global basis, which is what we will need to do in order to survive. Let’s face it what is the alternative, do nothing? That’s the attitude that got us into this mess in the first place. Wake up, America.

[Via http://snappysandy.wordpress.com]

Wynn Resorts (WYNN) and Wynn Macau (1128:HK) (I): the worst and best of times

2010-03-04T09:38:00.000+02:00

The WYNN story

WYNN is a story of two casino complexes:

–one is in Las Vegas, and consists of the Wynn Las Vegas and Encore hotel/casinos,

–the other is in the Chinese Special Administrative Region of Macau, and consists of the Wynn Macau and soon-to-be-opened Encore (414 rooms), plus a third hotel planned for Cotai (at a cost of roughly US$2 billion).

This is really a tale of two cities–or rather, one city and one SAR. The former is mired in recession, the latter is booming.

I recently listened to the WYNN fourth quarter earnings conference call and have taken at least a glance through the 10-K. In this post I plan to make some general remarks about WYNN and then write about the US operations. In tomorrow’s post, I’ll write about Wynn Macau. For what it’s worth, I own both stocks.

A Chinese company

If we judge by Earnings Before Interest Taxes Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA), which is a common measure of the cash generated by operations, WYNN has been a Chinese company for the past couple of years.

—————————-Macau—————-Las Vegas (EBITDA in US$ millions)

2009 $502 $244

2008 $486 $253

2007 $364 $417

If the first two months of 2010 are any indication, the percentage of the total generated by Macau this year will be even larger.

The contrast is even more stark if we compare pre-tax income:

————————–Macau—————-Las Vegas (in US$ millions)

2009 $272 -$230

2008 $254 -$105.

This difference hasn’t been lost on Wall Street or in Hong Kong (where investors nevertheless continue to be dubious that US-style casino-hotels will be successful in China). The market capitalization of WYNN is $8.2 billion, that of 1128 is $6.8 billion (all the figures in this post are US$). WYNN’s 72.3% interest in the latter is therefore worth US$ $4.9 billion. This implies the stock market is currently valuing WYNN’s Las Vegas holdings at $3.3 billion.

WYNN’s assets

How do WYNN’s physical assets stack up in each place?

————————Macau Las Vegas

hotel rooms 600 2,450

casino space 222,000 sq ‘ 186,000 sq ‘

table games 390 220

slot machines 1,200 2,710.

Which is the cheaper stock?

That depends (another way of saying I don’t know). The two stocks, WYNN and 1128, exist in different markets, offering different alternative stock choices and catering to investors with potentially sharply differing risk preferences. To state the obvious, neither will do well if Macau falters, and diversification of Las Vegas probably won’t help WYNN all that much.

Las Vegas is bouncing along the bottom at present and offers the possibility of surprisingly positive earnings results as and when demand returns. The implied valuation of WYNN’s Las Vegas assets is about the same as the market cap of MGM, a company that I think is significantly weaker than WYNN. WYNN is the value investor’s choice, I think.

Macau is booming. 1128 is gaining market share (I’ll elaborate tomorrow). On the other hand, the heavy hand of government regulatory tightening can appear at any time. Wynn Macau is the growth stock investor’s choice.

WYNN’s Las Vegas strategy

Aggregate statistics for Las Vegas in 2009 make grim reading. Visitors were down by 3% year over year, but overall gaming revenues were down almost 10% and room rates were off by 22%. Conventions held in Las Vegas were down by 14%, and the number of convention attendees was off by 24%.

Steve Wynn doesn’t expect recovery in Las Vegas any time soon (more about this below). In hindsight, the decision to build Encore (cost:$2.3 billion) was a mistake. Wynn expected it would generate $250 million in annual ebitda, but the way I read the figures it ended up only making WYNN’s loss bigger.

bouncing along the bottom

My guess is that Las Vegas is starting to bounce along the bottom. Two reasons:

–the last of the new hotels, MGM’s City Center, has come on-stream, adding the last 6,000 rooms of (over-)capacity to the market. So all the bad news is out there for everyone to see.

–the economy is gradually recovering, and Las Vegas has become really cheap. Visitor statistics are starting to reflect this.

So Steve Wynn’s view may turn out to be too pessimistic.

WYNN’s strategy for Las Vegas?

Even though the profit figures are very ugly, on a cash flow basis WYNN is in better financial shape than competitors LVS and MGM. Wynn’s idea is to plow money back into upgrading the Las Vegas properties so they offer increasingly better value for money, that is, new amenities and better customer service. than rivals’. For example, the company is converting the porte-cochere in front of Encore–which looked at the skeletons of abandoned casino projects across the street–into an inward-facing beach club/night club complex. It’s also beginning to refurbish the rooms at the Wynn Las Vegas hotel.

This is probably the best (read: only sensible) WYNN can do.

A small move back east

Last month WYNN also announced an agreement to develop and run a restaurant/casino complex on the Philadelphia waterfront. It’s hard to know what this means for the company other than establishing a potentially powerful marketing outpost for the Las Vegas properties in a part of the country that the Golden Nugget used to dominate.

The sources of Steve Wynn’s pessimism

1. recession and overcapacity in Las Vegas

2. disfunctional Washington, implying slower recovery than otherwise possible

3. President Obama’s frequent lambasting of Las Vegas, which, putting the best possible face on it, gives corporations an excuse to locate conventions at cheaper venues. To Wynn, this hostile attitude toward a world-leading, employment-generating industry contrasts sharply with the rescue from bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler, firms that are not technologically competitive and that have inferior performance records over long periods of time.

4. Casino customers are not, by and large, employees or executives of large corporations. Instead, they’re entrepreneurs, professionals or small business owners. Washington policy is hurting this group’s confidence in two ways. Health care reform will likely mean higher expense for providing medical benefits for employees. The idea of increasing personal income taxes for “rich” Americans hits this group as well. Many structure their businesses so their results appear on the owner’s individual tax returns.

If I ran a Las Vegas casino complex, I’d be upset, too. But Wynn may be too close to the problem. My guess is that Washington may delay recovery a bit, but it won’t stop it from happening.

Of course, the latest figures from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Bureau are for December, which showed a continuing mild uptick in visitors. Steve Wynn has figures, for his properties at least, for January and February 2010, which we don’t.

The conference call

It was one of the odder I’ve experienced. The analysts on the call ranged from very savvy to some who didn’t appear to know basic accounting concepts (welcome to post-recession research departments). There was even a retail broker, apparently a big fan of Steve Wynn, who had a lengthy chat–something I’ve never heard before.

A large dose of political views (another first for me) aside, the company appeared to be very bullish both about Macau and about WYNN’s ability to create the same market niche there that it has established in Las Vegas, and once had in Atlantic City.

Trying to focus on what WYNN is doing in Las Vegas, rather than railing about, the company message seems to be that it isn’t depending on movements in the general economy to bring it back to profitability. Unlike rivals, whose casinos looked distinctly shopworn last time I was there (admittedly, months ago), WYNN seems to be concentrating on improving its properties and waiting for the day when it can raise room prices.

What WYNN needs most is time, I think.

[Via http://practicalstockinvesting.com]

Quick, Alert the Media!

2010-03-04T01:55:00.000+02:00

It’s a good thing the mainstream media and the federal government are all over the Toyota recall efforts. Yes, I said “efforts”, in plural. We all know that Toyota stunk up the joint with their recent issues. Their President publicly took the blame for the problem. The company has halted production to fix the slew of problems. And they are having to give account of themselves to Congress. Anything to keep the company honest, right? After all, they assemble cars and trucks, right here in America. They need to do things the right way, and the MSM is making sure the story gets out.

In showing a shockingly high level of consistency, the MSM, the Obama administration, and Congress are also showing disdain for another auto company who has just quietly recalled a number of their models. Consumer complaints deal with power steering lock-ups. If the driver cannot control their car, the problem is significant. Harry Reid is all over this story, as are David Axelrod, Nancy Pelosi, and the union leadership country-wide.

Oh, I’m sorry. That last paragraph is just not true. Not when Government Motors is the company issuing the recall. We wouldn’t want the truth to be known, would we?

Oh, I need to do an about face on the MSM involvement. Depending on the search terms used, MSM coverage of this event does not occur until the second or third page of search results. Everything else is either related to auto industry publications or blogs. HuffPo ranked higher than other MSM outlets in covering this story.

Who says we don’t have a government, controlled media? Idiots!

[Via http://somanyidiotssolittletime.wordpress.com]

Business Cards And Marketing Have Come A Long Way

2010-03-02T09:47:00.000+02:00

Public Domain

This is a business card for one of the many attorneys specializing in pension claims, circa 1895. SSA History Archives. This attorney specialized in Civil War pensions in Wapello, Iowa.

It’s amazing that business cards have stood the test of time as a reminder of those we have met and the services they offer. Although paper, printing and design have changed over the years, many parts of the business card remain the same. Notice how Mr. Wright has his photo and information about his company on his card (phone numbers were obviously not around at the time).

Now, check out a more modern business card. Hollywood Icon Magazine needed to refresh their business cards and it was done with a flashy, yet understated logo that emphasized the focus of the publication. Jen Brookman Graphic Design did the logo and the business cards.

If your company needs a change to perk up business in this tough economy, Refresh My Business Cards is the place to go. The combination of a re-design of your cards and full-color printing and state of the art marketing expertise are sure to make your cards the talk of your town. Leave your contacts something they can remember you and your employees by.

Refresh My Business Cards

Email: refreshmybizcards@gmail.com

Phone: 310.502.9877

[Via http://refreshmybusinesscards.wordpress.com]

Kyl “Supports” Our Troops Just Like The Unemployed

2010-03-02T01:44:00.000+02:00

Smart move, Arizonans, to keep sending this clown back to the U.S. Senate; a shame he’ll pay no price for this until maybe 2012 at the earliest (and wouldn’t it be nice to give Kyl the opportunity to test his theory on himself?).

Actually, I’m kind of getting second thoughts about showing this video. You never know; Kyl may say next that it’s better to shoot the unemployed as opposed to trying to revive our seemingly-forever moribund economy and spend the money to create jobs for them.

[Via http://liberaldoomsayer.wordpress.com]

Cape Verde news update, February 28th

2010-02-28T09:54:00.000+02:00

POLITICS

The representative of the European Union (EU) in Cape Verde, Josep Coll, expressed today, the wish to announce during the Spanish Presidency, the partnership agreement to mobility between Cape Verde and Europe, whose negotiations are in progress (Inforpress).

ECONOMY

The Parliament approved, with abstention of the União Cabo-Verdiana Independente e Democrática (UCID), the alteration of the legal regime of the exploration of fortune games that will legalise the installation of gambling house in the country (Inforpress).

ENERGY

The Department of Energy is working to expand the building at the Palmarejo power plant and reinforce its capacity with two additional Wartsila 10 MW generators as a part of the government’s effort to centralize electricity production on the island of Santiago (A Semana).

TOURISM

The Department of Tourism held a forum in Praia to present its new website, the new tourism magazine and the Cape Verde Brand. The event, denominated “Cape Verde Wave” (“Onda Cabo Verde”), is hoped to involve all those connected to the sector in the implementation of the Strategic Tourism Plan (A Semana).

FOGO

São Filipe mayor Eugénio Veiga called for the creation of an institution of investigation and research in the areas of volcanology and geophysics on the island of Fogo. The mayor’s request comes following a study by Germany’s Leibniz Institute, which warned about the possibility of an underwater volcanic eruption near the island of Fogo (A Semana).

AIRPORTS

The decision to locate the future Santo Antão airport in the municipality of Porto Novo enjoys the consensus of political institutions, business owners and society at large, all of whom say that what is most important is to have an airport that serves the island’s development (A Semana).

[Via http://atlantico-weekly.com]

Oil is a righteous investment

2010-02-28T01:19:00.000+02:00

A lot of religious people, especially environmentalists (but even some Christians), consider petroleum a sin. By contrast, here are some reasons that oil is a righteous investment:

(1) Oil is a plentiful energy source which was created by a good God who made all things for our benefit (Genesis 1-2).

(2) Oil is the energy of choice which fuels production in world’s strongest economies in the world and helps to provide for the general well-being of billions of people.

(3) Oil is an extremely energy efficient source which was provided by our Creator as an energy source, unlike ethanol and other biofuels which derive from grains and other foods, which God provides to us for food because he loves us. The use of biofuels has led to an increase in global food prices which have greatly hurt the poor. The consumption of oil and other petroleum products such as natural gas and coal have no such negative consequences for the world food market.

(4) Oil is proving to be a renewable resource and not a fossil fuel. Therefore, it is not something that we will run out of; we will not see Armeggedon because we run out of oil, but perhaps if we are not allowed to exploit sources of oil that we know exist.

(5) Anthropogenic global warming is a hoax. Therefore, there is no substance to the main argument against oil–the fear that the planet will turn into a ball of fire.

[Via http://righteousinvestor.wordpress.com]

Freedom to where?

2010-02-27T09:33:00.000+02:00

Freedom to where? (Feb. 27, 2010)

Many souls are fleeing; from where and to where? What for?

Many souls are immigrating to die

In open seas, in closed containers, and on barbed wires;

Fleeing to freedom from hunger, oppression, ignorance, or limiting opportunities?

Time to ponder what kind of freedom is it you are expecting:

Is it freedom to get chained to chain operations?

Is it freedom to sweat prison shops?

Is it freedom to live third class human?

Denied human rights and human dignity?

Before seeking freedom you have got to ask: “To where?”

There is no freedom in Africa to return to.

There is no freedom in Israel to go to.

There is no freedom in Europe or the USA to hope for:

Video cameras are watching you in the privacy of toilets.

Blacks in the US have been chanting “freedom” for ever;

Freedom from slavery to emancipation;

Are they still chanting for freedom;

Freedom to go back to Africa?

Freedom to bunk in squatters?

Freedom to live in hurricane ravaged States?

Whites have been fleeing to freedom.

Freedom to learn surviving in the wild;

Freedom to sleep under green canopies of old trees: decapitated;

Freedom to drinking from clean and clear springs: contaminated;

Freedom to breathing fresh air: suffocated, even on Mount Everest.

The rich are after a different sort of freedom: prepping;

Prepping storing food, fresh water,

Spare parts for older cars, and tools

In anticipation of the next calamity;

Learning to barter unused modern consumer products

To substitutes that can be repaired and maintained at home

Waiting for

The next dirty terrorist bomb,

The coming of Armageddon.

Developed Nations have been prepping too;

Hoarding oil, rare minerals, and copper;

Gardening fresh produces in backyard continents.

People are fleeing a merciless God

Petrified in desert laws

Many centuries ago.

People are fleeing a merciless God: Green money;

Wiping out original Indians for free lands;

Shipping in slaves,

First of the white kind

And then of black color: more accommodating;

For free labor to cultivate the freed lands;

Then contracting out products and services

For cheaper slaves: Global slavery.

Freedom to live where?

To live in megalopolis City-States democracies

Denied political rights and political identity?

To live at night and sleep at days

Fearing two feet predators?

There is no Egypt to flee from to any kind of freedom.

There is no freedom in Afghanistan to grow opium;

There is no freedom in the wild to grow marijuana.

There is no freedom within you for shelter:

You have got to act normal: schizophrenic of what comes handy.

There is no homeland to visit:

God hates freedom of opinion.

God loves equality in miseries, ignorance, and servitude.

[Via http://adonis49.wordpress.com]

Analyzing the budget

2010-02-27T01:30:00.000+02:00

Every year, during this time, when the union budget is announced, there is a lot halla over it. Is the budget good? Will it help the common man? Will it be good for the industries, and the IT sector? Many economists believe that the best way to evaluate the budget is understanding behavior of the stock market.

If the stock market goes up, the budget is described as successful. If it moves sideways, it is said that the market has absorbed it well. If it moves down, it becomes bad news for the market, hence a bad budget. Stock market follows a very complex pattern. If stimulus is withdrawn, it is not considered good by many, since it means more taxes and hence less profit. But it also means more revenue and less government borrowing, which will in turn creates more scope for private borrowing and private investment. The point is this- Stock market is not the ultimate way to judge the union budget, as many believe.

The country gets on its feet, when the budget is announced, but the same people eventually forget about it for the rest of the year. Please understand- the annual budget is a briefcase full of guidelines, promises and expectations, and nothing else! It is merely a plan, and the success and failure completely lies in its implementation. One day, week or month is too early to analyze it!

[Via http://souravroy.com]

Consumer confidence: stock market implications

2010-02-25T09:43:00.000+02:00

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index

The Conference Board, a private economic analysis company, released the latest figures for its Consumer Confidence Index on February 23. They showed a sharp, and unexpected, drop in consumer sentiment. What does this mean?

How it’s calculated

The Conference Board hires an outside surveying firm to poll 5,000 families each month. They answer five questions concerning their assessment of: job prospects today, job prospects in six months, overall economic activity today, activity in six months, and the family’s income in six months. The answers can only be: positive, neural or negative.

The Conference Board throws out the “neutrals” and calculates the percentage of positives in the group of positives + negatives (for what it’s worth, this is called a diffusion index). It then compares its results with those of a base year, 1985, to come up with the final result.

The Board also produces two sub-indices, the Present Situation and Expectations Index.

What the interviewees said

They’re the most pessimistic they’ve been since 1983 about the current situation. It only took a few respondents swinging from positive to negative to achieve this result (where have they been the past three years?). And I think that historically the Present Situation index has had less predictive value than the Expectations Index.

Expectations about what the economy will look like in mid-summer have also deteriorated, however, after months of steady improvement. And the numbers of respondents shifting from optimism to pessimism is considerably larger.

How Wall Street uses this information

Economists argue that there’s a direct relationship between consumers’ confidence and their spending behavior. A dip in consumer expectations about the path of economic recovery, therefore, may be signaling that retail spending is about to fall off.

There’s some question, though, as to whether sentiment indicators give much insight into future economic activity or are simply reflective of conditions as they are today. Certainly, other survey information like business confidence, employment trends or overall leading economic indicators are all continuing to tell a more positive story. In addition, publicly-listed consumer companies have by and large been saying that the economy is past the worst and business is picking up.

Can Wall Street be good if consumer confidence is bad?

No, if confidence remains depressed for, say, another year. But there are several factors that argue the stock market can do well, despite poor consumer confidence numbers.

–this is the worst economy for the US in the past seventy years, and one of the longest recessions, so it would be surprising if consumers weren’t feeling bad. Remember, too, that the previous low point was in 1983, an economic recovery year. So confidence can act at times as a lagging indicator.

–in the textbooks, economic recoveries start by low interest rates stimulating industrial production. That spending results in companies hiring new workers, sparking consumer spending as the second leg of the upturn. In past recessions in the US, however, this order has been reversed. Consumer spending has come first, triggering hiring and then industrial expansion. But this time around, the banking crisis has destroyed the housing industry, a key engine in consumer spending revival. So, I think, we’re going to have a “textbook” recovery. This means new hiring will come later than normal in the cycle. Peoples’ expectations are being disappointed–but maybe only for six months.

–I think that for years to come there will be a higher level of structural unemployment in the US than we are used to. Though not really hard evidence, a recent story in the New York Times about “The New Poor” illustrates what I mean. The problem of older, less skilled, computer-illiterate workers has been with us for a decade or more, but has been disguised by the artificial economic vigor induced by the housing boom. This is a national tragedy. And the negative responses to consumer sentiment surveys from the long-term unemployed and their relatives and neighbors will likely depress consumer confidence indices for a long time to come.

Taking off my hat as a human being and putting on my hat as an investor, however, it seems to me that this 5% or so of the population will have very little effect on the profits of publicly-traded companies that cater to US customers. (For example, look at my post on an FDIC study showing that 25% of US households, most of them less affluent, are outside the mainstream banking system.) Revenue growth may be a little slower, but profit growth may not be affected at all.

–Looking at the composition of the S&P 500, half the revenue comes from outside the US. The consumer discretionary sector, where the brunt of the falloff in spending will likely be felt, comprises about 11% of the index. Let’s say that this group gets all its revenue from US customers (the high end has lots of foreign revenue, though). If we assume it loses 5% of its customers (which is too high) that comprise 2% of its revenue (again too high), profits may be 2%-4% less than they would be otherwise. The effect on the S&P as a whole? –a loss of .20%-.45% to the index growth rate.

Again, I don’t mean to minimize the social and political cost of having a permanent underclass of older unemployed citizens. But the numbers alone seem to argue that the S&P will be relatively unaffected.

[Via http://practicalstockinvesting.com]

This pic says it all, our mission is to inform

2010-02-25T01:56:00.000+02:00

More here: Prices for tasty Buffalo wings have skyrocketed

The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed.

[Via http://chickenwingindex.wordpress.com]

What Do the Unemployed Do?

2010-02-23T09:29:00.000+02:00

You’ve heard the song What Do the Lonely Do at Christmas. Well, what do the unemployed do each day? They wake up at 1:00, 2:00, 3:00, 4:00, 5:00 or maybe 6:00 in the morning. Perhaps to job search; to read a book; to blog; to worry; to play a quick game of solitaire to relax or unwind; to watch a movie; to pray; or to think about the future – and the future is not three or five years from now, but tomorrow, the next day, the next week, the next month.

Yesterday I thought I would get the call scheduling my interview for the job out of state. It didn’t come. The company initially informed me that they wanted to possibly have me there today (Tuesday, February 23). It’s difficult to get a schedule together when you have to meet with multiple individuals, and, likely, even more difficult when the individuals you’re meeting are attorneys. I spoke with HR on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of last week. On Friday, I e-mailed the requested bio attaching my resume that would be distributed to the interviewers. I followed up with a phone call to the recruiter letting him know I had e-mailed the bio. He thanked me and informed me that he would be in touch next week (this week).

I talked with a friend that lives in the state where the company is located to find out about places to live. My mom reminded me that I have cousins – first cousins – that live there also. That’s reassuring. If I have to make a move, at least I know people there. The unemployed anticipate a job, or in this case a move, before the interview even takes place. A mere glimpse of a job keeps me hopeful.

[Via http://economiceffect.wordpress.com]

Inflating our way out of debt

2010-02-23T01:43:00.000+02:00

The Congress has recently raised the official debt ceiling to $14.3 trillion. This amounts to about 100% of GDP and is a sign of trouble ahead. What is rarely mentioned is that this total does not include future unfunded obligations which run the total into the neighborhood of $100 trillion. This level of debt is unsustainable and the day of reckoning may well occur this decade. How can such massive debts ever hope to be paid? There are four basic methods available to address the debt.

Rapid GDP growth
Rising inflation
Increased taxes
Outright default

As illustrated by the Laffer Curve, the current level of taxation is near the point where higher levels will depress GDP growth. Additionally, the sheer size of government at all levels will make it very difficult for the economy to grow sufficiently to reduce the ratio of debt/GDP. This leaves default or inflation as the realistic options. Outright default is politically unfeasible, requiring the government to renege on future Social Security and Medicare benefits, and current interest payments on the debt. Inflation, which is a quiet, long-term form of default, is in all likelihood what the US will be experiencing in the future. This paper demonstrates how this can be accomplished with a surprisingly modest level of inflation. When you hear the term “quantitative easing” in the news, you’re seeing inflation being imposed on the economy. In an inflationary environment debtors will be relatively better off, while savers will be crushed.

[Via http://norcolibertas.wordpress.com]

Recovery evidence--Whole Foods' customers are coming back

2010-02-21T09:47:00.000+02:00

The first fiscal quarter was strong

I’m not sure what I think of Whole Foods (WFMI) as a stock. But the company’s recently-reported first quarter (ending January 17th) results are a solid indicator that the US economy is on the recovery path, in my opinion. The evidence? –customers are coming back to the company’s stores for the first time since recession hit.

Earnings per share for the quarter were $.36 (excluding a $.04 charge for anticipated losses on store closings) vs. $.20 in the year-ago period. More important as an economic indicator, though–

Comp store sales are now positive

Comp store sales for WFMI continued to rebound from an early 2009 low and have emerged into positive territory. The progression is as follows:

2Q 2009 -4.8%

3Q 2009 -2.5%

4Q 2009 -0.9%

1Q 2010 first five weeks +1.5%

rest of quarter +4.3%

2Q 2010 to date +7.0%

Admittedly, comps are getting easier as WFMI compares against its results during the worst of the economic slump of a year ago, but consumer behavior is very encouraging. What’s happening? Why is this an important sign for the economy?

Recessionary behavior…

During the recession, consumers traded down. This affected WFMI in two ways, in much the same way as one would see from a luxury goods retailer. That’s not so surprising, since in effect that’s what WFMI is.

–Some “aspirational” customers could no longer afford to buy at WFMI and began to use traditional supermarkets for a larger portion, or all, of their food shopping.

–Other clients continued to buy the same proportion of their food at WFMI as before, but gravitated toward the “center of the store,” which contains staples and non-perishables, and away from the higher-margin fresh produce and prepared foods.

(Not all WFMI’s problems came from recession. It was also suffering from having raised its prices too aggressively during the good times. The acquisition of Wild Oats was more difficult than expected. And it turned out that the 50,000+ square foot stores WFMI had been opening over the past several years were too expensive to build and too big to run economically.)

…is changing for the better

The progressive increase in same store sales is coming from:

–more customers. Stores are reporting that the higher customer numbers are a combination of former regulars returning for the first time in over a year, and first-timers.

–more items in the basket. Pricing is flat year-on-year. Purchase amounts are rising because customers are buying more of their food at WFMI, although the company is also beginning to detect some movement toward higher-priced items.

–a move away from the store center and toward the periphery. Strength in fresh produce, for example, is “extraordinary.”

WFMI has helped its own cause

It has shifted to opening smaller, more efficient stores. It’s also been controlling inventories, especially of perishables, better. Former Wild Oats stores are beginning to comp strongly positive. WFMI has been able to buy organic produce more cheaply, because traditional supermarkets have cut back on their ordering. It also sounds like WFMI itself has shifted from “organic” meat offerings to less expensive “natural.” (The latter designation means no/low use of antibiotics and hormones; the former means that plus 100% organic feed and limited confinement.) The company has also begun a “Health Starts Here” education campaign promoting the stores’ products.

WFMI is clearly convinced the worst is over,

because it has sharply increased its guidance for full-year earnings. Wall Street took the results announcement as surprisingly good news. The stock was up about 13% in Thursday trading. If you wanted to make a positive case for the stock, I think it would have two parts:

–the management of WFMI has a flair for high-end food retailing, and

–the financial rescue of the company in late 2008 by Leonard Green and Partners, and that firm’s emergence as a significant shareholder, has brought to WFMI a higher degree of financial discipline and management control.

Maybe so. I don’t know enough to have a strong opinion. I do think, though, that the strength in WFMI’s business is a good indicator that the economy is recovering its health.

Strength here is better than in luxury goods

As I hear them, luxury goods makers and retailers are saying that the very high end–”statement pieces” of jewelry, for example–have bounced back strongly. Otherwise, however, customers are probing the low end of offerings to find a comfortable place to shop. Retailers are asking for still more modestly-priced goods to tempt customers back into the stores. Yes, WFMI has cut prices, but it seems to me the upturn in food is much more across the board (so far, anyway) and likely much more sustainable than for luxury goods.

[Via http://practicalstockinvesting.com]

Job Search in the Paradise

2010-02-21T01:30:00.000+02:00

Its been a dream of many people to live and work in the Caribbean but lack of information about the job market has always kept many away from achieving their dream. US Virgin Islands is located in the Caribbean and being a US territory provides peace of mind to its residents with the same quality of Caribbean life one could imagine. For many years finding a job in the Virgin Islands was a daunting task with only limited level of ground resources available to the job applicants. In 2008, a leading technology company in the Virgin Islands, BIZVI launched a completely free job website, www.career.vi , providing free interaction between the job seekers and employers. In a short period of time, Career.VI became Virgin Islands leading job website with thousands of registered seekers and hundreds of employers posting hundreds of jobs. This has not only helped the local population in their job hunt, but also is providing as the premier resource to the people from all over the world to pursue their life’s dream of working and living in the Virgin Islands.

[Via http://syedgilani.com]

Tax Credit Ignites Early Spring Selling Season

2010-02-20T17:49:00.000+02:00

From the desk of Ken Bryant at Lake Chatuge on the state line between Hiawassee, GA and Hayesville, NC

Daily Real Estate News | January 21, 2010 |

Tax Credit Ignites Early Spring Selling Season

The homebuying season is starting early this year, thanks to the expanded first-time and move-up homebuyer tax credit.

Typically, the busiest time for home shopping starts in March and continues through May, but this year buyers who want to take advantage of the tax credits have to hold a signed contract by April 30 and close the deal by June 30.

That is getting people off the couch.

“The tax credit will absolutely have an effect,” says Pete Flint, CEO of residential real estate search engine Trulia.com. “It is going to shift demand from the later part of the year to the first part. January and February will be very strong. The next three months, there will be a surge in demand.”

Source: USA Today, Stephanie Armour (01/20/2010)

[Via http://lakechatugerealestate.wordpress.com]

Bob's Red Mill is Now Employee Owned

2010-02-20T01:45:00.000+02:00

Wow. I love Bob’s Red Mill. My wife and I shop at the company store every chance we get. They sell great quality grains, legumes, among other types of food, and in bulk, if you want it. I just had some of their 13 bean soup mix on Ash Wednesday, actually. The employees there have always been top notch and very helpful to us. All this is a backdrop for the bombshell that was dropped today: Bob Moore — the founder and owner of the company — is giving the entire works to his employees. Considering they only have 209 employees, this is a big, big deal:

“This is Bob taking care of us,” said Lori Sobelson, who helps run the business’ retail operation. “He expects a lot out of us, but really gives us the world in return.” Moore declined to say how much he thinks the company is worth. In 2004, however, one business publication estimated that year’s revenues at more than $24 million. A company news release issued this week stated that Bob’s Red Mill has chalked up an annual growth rate of between 20 percent to 30 percent every year since.

Wow. As an employee of a privately-held company, you really can’t expect this. You make an agreement to do your job at the best of your ability for an agreed upon package, mostly being salary. No complaints there, but this is pretty much a dream for these workers. Instead of only the executives getting the package, they’re all getting it. Neat.

We’ll find out now, I guess, how much of their success had to do with Bob Moore himself, and his company can keep succeeding so wildly at what they do. I know I’ll keep spending my cash there (from another privately held company, by the way).

Here’s a video about it on ABC News that, unfortunately, I’m unable to embed.

[Via http://jasonholliston.com]

“The damned of the earth”

2010-02-18T09:53:00.000+02:00

“The damned of the earth”; (Feb. 19, 2010)

“Decolonization process affects the individual and fundamentally modifies him; it transforms crushed and unessential spectators to privilege actors. Decolonization introduces a proper rhythm to the newly created man, to the new languages, and a newer humanity. Man is liberated through the process and demands revisiting a set of questions in the integrality of the new situation: The damned spectators in the last rows want to edge to the first rows and then become full actors on the scene.

The damned of the earth want to smash the tribal and clannish conditions that colonial powers maintained to divide and subjugate. This kind of violence is a desintoxicating phase to getting rid of the inferiority complex. This initial violence tends to unify the damned of the earth toward national unity regardless of tribal and sectarian roots. Thus, this violence has no pity to reactionary forces that struggle to maintain colonial statue-quo.

The damned needs the post colonial violence to re-gaining self-esteem; he wants to believe that success was the work of all the damned, even if not a single shot was fired in many decolonization conditions. The damned is elevated to the rank of leader and refuses to confirm any single person as the “liberator” simply because he wants to understand everything and then to decide on every issue.

Illuminated by violence the conscience of the damned rebels against any sort of pacification program. The decolonized damned of the earth intend to demand from the colonial powers to rehabilitate man, his dignity, and his human rights. (1961)”

Frantz Fanon (1925-61) was born in French Martinique Island and died of cancer at the Bethesda hospital in Washington DC. He was buried, according to his will, in Algeria where he practiced as psychiatrist for four years (1954-57). Algeria acquired its independence the following year to Fanon’s death.

Fanon was engaged in the French Liberation Army in 1943 and received the war medal in 1945. He then studied psychiatry in Lyon; he adopted the vision of his mentor Francois Tosquelles (1912-94) that says that hospital should be the center of unifying the sick, nurses, and physicians for the sole objective of rehabilitating and re-inserting the sick to normal society.

Frantz was incensed to witnessing Creole people (mixed blood) in French colonies trying to behave as class apart of blacks and be accepted as white to the heavy price of deep amputation in their heritage and culture. Thus, Fanon published in 1952 his “Black skin, white mask” which is a study of the alienation of black people whose identity is defined by the others (white prejudiced culture).

“Race is a prison for black man; he is radically alienated into becoming an object. Black man should refuse to shoulder the burden of past slavery and thrives to catch up as man among men. Nigger is not; White too is not!

Mother, look at this nigger; I am scared: he wants to eat me live. Every white child is scared when he sees me. When a black man shivers of cold then the kid thinks that the black man is shivering of rage. I tended to get amused first but quickly this game turned impossible to suffer. It dawned on me that every apartheid attitude is fundamentally not based solely on color but on every culture that is different of the mainstream culture. (1952)”

Note: Fifty years after acquiring independence, most African States have reverted to tribalism and religious antagonism. The colonial and imperial powers have been at it indirectly: the enemy is not that obvious because black foremen and black intellectual are doing the maligning and the work hired by multinationals that are mostly directly backed by their respective powerful governments.

[Via http://adonis49.wordpress.com]

Olympics, Inc: Inside The Secretive, $6 Billion World Of The International Olympic Committee

2010-02-18T01:56:00.000+02:00

Gus Lubin and Lawrence Delevingne | Feb. 17, 2010, 11:51 AM

Hundreds of thousands of people have descended on Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Three billion are projected to follow on TV and 75 million more on vancouver2010.com.

And people around the world are learning to love obscure sports like curling and biathlon for a couple of weeks.

But before you get too caught up in the sports, remember that the Olympics have little to do with sports. They’re mostly about money.

In the United States, NBC demonstrates this every day — ruining the Olympics for millions of sports fans by tape-delaying events so it can show a highlight reel during prime time. (To their credit, other countries don’t do this: Our readers remind us every day how great the coverage is in Canada).

But NBC is just a small part of the global industry known as Olympics, Inc.

In the last four years (2005-2008), the International Olympic Committee (the owners and controllers of “Olympics, Inc.”) generated nearly $6 billion of revenue. For the next cycle, revenues are on track to be significantly higher, with Vancouver already doubling Turin for domestic sponsorship.

It’s enough to make you look twice at the IOC, which is based conveniently in tax-haven Switzerland.

Although the IOC is a non-profit organization, employment (“membership”) in the organization is a cushy job with many benefits.

Where does all that money come from and go? Is anyone making a profit? And who put the IOC in charge anyway?

We bring you the answers here.

See the secret $6 billion world of the IOC >

Reference

[Via http://truthpills.wordpress.com]

Did a dog on two feet taken a bite off your kid?

2010-02-16T09:14:00.000+02:00

Did a dog on two feet taken a bite off your kid? (Feb. 17, 2010)

“Every black man who teaches another black person to extend the other cheek when attacked is robbing the newly freed Negro of his natural rights to defend his moral and intelligence rights. Why everyone in nature has the rights to defend his life save the American blacks?

Everytime a dog on two feet bites your wives and children, if anyone among you stands up for leader to compromise with this rabid dog for a job in the city then, I say this leader is faked. A Negro has to rely on his inner strength, will, and education to get ahead and be someone of value.

Integration is but an astute gimmick of white people to shock blacks into lethargy; making him believes that white folks can change. White people in America have sawn crimes against humanity for centuries; it is time for them to reap our thunder.

Why is it that Jews are presidents of black organization such as NAACP? Did they ever consider any black to head B’nai B’rith or any of their associations? When we prove that Jews in the USA are exploiting black people in the ghettoes in the northern cities (90% of Jewish trades are targeting blacks) then they shout “anti-Semite”. Deep in their soul Jews know they are hiding their culpability; they have this sensibility to believe they are targeted when exploitation is mentioned. They are right to feel that way because they preferred to exploit blacks’ hard earning rather than taking them for slaves.” (Extract of an interview by Malcolm X, 1963)

Malcolm Little, known as Malcolm X (1925-65), did prison term (1946-52) and then got engaged with Nation of Islam. His highly valued oratory skills made Elijah Muhammad apprehensive that Malcolm X was quickly usurping his authority within the Black Moslems brotherhood. Thus, by 1963, Malcolm took his distances and started his own black organization. Elijah Muhammad backed by the FBI assassinated Malcolm X in 1965.

Malcolm X was an influential leader among the young generations in the northern US cities; he went on pilgrimage to Mecca and visited many African States that recently acquired their independence from colonial powers. Malcolm X program was to establishing an independent black state in the southern part of the USA before re-immigrating to Africa, the homeland of the black slaves.

The Black Panthers, headed by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton, as well as Black Power, headed by Stokeley Carmichael, echo Malcolm X positions for organizing black people into auto-defense institutions.

Note: I opened a new category “Black culture/ Creole”.

[Via http://adonis49.wordpress.com]

Interview with David Icke on the EU

2010-02-16T01:54:00.000+02:00

Other parts of the video in the section below !

http://www.redicecreations.com/article.php?id=8796

Apart from his fondness for haikus, and his giggle-inducing name, it’s hard to think of anything interesting to say about Herman Van Rompuy, the first president of the European Council. In fact, the whole point of the Belgian’s election was the avoidance of color and interest: they were looking for a low-profile eurocrat with a record of patiently building relationships, one whose focus was internal rather than external. As the Economist points out: “For all his merits, Mr Van Rompuy’s main experience of an international dispute as prime minister is the Belgo-Dutch row over the dredging of the River Scheldt.”

But one interesting thing about Mr Van Rompuy is his Catholicism, about which he makes no bones. He was educated (drumroll, s’il vous plaît) by Jesuits in Brussels, went onto the Catholic University of Leuven, and in the 1980s wrote a book about Christendom as a modern idea. He is, in short, a bearer of the torch first lit by the Catholic architects of European unity– De Gasperi, Schuman, Adenauer — who, like Van Rompuy, were all Christian Democrats for whom faith and Europe went together.

In 2004, when he was an opposition deputy, Van Rompuy objected to Turkey joining the EU in terms very similar to those used by the then Cardinal Ratzinger (h/t to Tom Heneghan at Reuters, who puts the two quotes side by side): namely that Turkey’s Islamic character would dilute the Christian character of the EU.

That kind of talk makes me queasy. But I am impressed by a speech (in French) Van Rompuy gave on Caritas in Veritate which he carries on his website. It shows a sophisticated grasp of Catholic social doctrine.

Dull he may be, but I for one am delighted that at the heart of the European Union is a politician who can write (my trans):

According to [Catholic] social doctrine, the political community is at the service of the civil society from which it is born. Civil society represents the sum total of the goods, cultural or relational, which are relatively independent of politics and the economy. The state should make sure that the legal framework allows the social actors (societies, associations, organisations, and so on) to carry out their activities in total freedom; it should be ready to intervene, only if needed and in conformity with the principle of subsidiarity, in order that the interaction between freedom of association and the democratic way leads in the direction of the common good.”

Herman Van Rompuy, we salute you.

Source: americamagazine.org

[Via http://atomicnewsreview.org]

The Myth of a 'base-dependent economy' in Okinawa

2010-02-14T09:09:00.000+02:00

Hiromori Maedomari, editorialist for the Okinawa-based Ryukyu News Company, argues that the idea that the US military presence in Okinawa props up the local economy is a myth. Précis of article in February edition of current affairs journal ‘Sekai’.

Maedomari begins by arguing that the answer to the question of whether the Okinawan economy is viable without the US military presence would be a resounding ‘yes’ and comments that the bases are more of a parasite on the local economy than a support and that local opinion is that the time has come to give it a taste of its own medicine. While the bases did contribute to the relative wealth of the region for a period during their construction and, particularly, during the Vietnam War when US soldiers had money in their pockets to burn before heading overseas to fight – during this ‘bubble’ period, the local people had no choice but to depend on the economic opportunities afforded by their ‘generosity’. Formerly an agricultural island, Okinawa lost most of its farmable land to the predatory expansion of the US military zones. With nowhere to work or live the local people became dependent on handouts from the US occupiers and a large pool of labour was created to work for the construction companies that built the bases and associated properties – by 1950, it is estimated that over 50% of the local economy was dependent on this demand for roads (eg., Route 58), ports (Naha Military Port), airports (Kadena, Futenma, Iejima, etc.), the associated sewerage infrastructure, in addition to the libraries and other public buildings necessary for the maintenance of a stable civil society. The burden of all this work was borne by the local people and was the main foundation of the post-war recovery process.

After the initial construction boom and after the end of the Vietnam War, it became apparent that the economy had become severely skewed in the direction of providing entertainment and solace for members of the US military. Useful tax revenue was extremely low and the disassociation of economic activity from actual local needs hindered the development of healthy, independent economic activity. The consumerist economy focused on the needs of the foreign military presence that developed after the war has seen no need for the actual production base that exists in Okinawa. Propped up also by handouts from the Japanese government, the market mechanism is not properly earthed in the local region – far more than local business conditions or events, the economy is affected by international power politics. Through all this, the Okinawan people have never had their voice heeded nor their right to express opposition to the effectively-occupying force recognized – instead they have been brutally sucked into a cruel era in which history has forced on them an economic structure which leaves them dependent for their livelihoods on an un-opposable foreign military presence.

Some statistics are quoted in the article from data collected by the Okinawa Prefecture US Base Policy Response Agency. In March 2008, there were 34 American military installations in Okinawa prefecture, occupying 23,293 hectares of land or 10.2% of the entire prefecture, and 18.4% of Okinawa island itself. 25% of US military installations in Japan are located in Okinawa, accounting for 23% of the total land area occupied by the US military in the whole country. 38.8% of the military installations operated exclusively by the US military (as opposed to being operated in cooperation with the Japanese SDF) are located in Okinawa prefecture. Okinawa prefecture itself makes up no more than 0.6% of the total land mass of Japan, yet despite this carries the burden of 48% of the total number of military installations in the country. Of the 33,286 US soldiers in Japan, 64% are based in Okinawa prefecture; of those 86% are the US Marines typically involved in many of the crimes, incidents and accidents that plague the local society. This is before any mention is made of the traumatizing noise pollution created in the course of their daily activities.

There have been approximately 5,584 criminal incidents involving members of the US military in the 36-year period (1972-2008) since Okinawa was officially returned to Japan. Of those, murder, armed robbery, arson and rape accounted for 559 cases. There are over 100 serious traffic accidents involving US military-associated vehicles each year, and the numbers have been increasing in the last 5 years to around 160-180 accidents a year. Related deaths number between 2 and 5 people each year, with over 200 people being injured. In many cases, proper investigation of the accidents is prevented and those responsible are rarely insured properly to allow for compensation payments to their victims.

Under US military rule, Okinawa was kept separate from the mainland through their support of a Ryuukyuu Government Organization, the primarily agricultural workforce were redirected into construction and industry (16.7% of the workforce), employed on US bases or nearby in commercial entreprises (77.5%) and the exchange rate between the dollar and yen was artificially distorted (the ‘B yen’ was worth about a third of the mainland currency) which had the effect of removing any incentives to produce goods for ‘export’ and made the economy heavily dependent on imports, an effective containment and control fiscal policy which aimed to harmonize the Okinawan economy with the American. Thus, the agricultural prefecture of Okinawa was forcefully transformed into a service-based economy dependent on the custom of the American military. The revenue stream was generally directed out of the region and the local economy did not prosper as much as might be expected from the visual transformation that it underwent.

[Via http://japanaffairs.wordpress.com]

Climate Change or Apocalyptic Weather Pattern?

2010-02-14T01:15:00.000+02:00

With much of the U.S. receiving blasts of record snow this winter (and more predicted for this weekend), it seems only natural that the subjects of snow and its impact would be on people’s minds.

Jeff Koterba: Omaha World-Herald/cagle.com

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As usual, Jon Stewart takes on the burning questions of the day:

If winter precipitation is called snow, what should unusual winter precipitation be called? And…If Global Warming causes increased precipitation, does a series of record winter precipitation mean climate change or just your average apocalyptic weather pattern?

(The video can be seen here).

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More great cartoons from the Washington Post:

Ken Catalino: Syndicated / cagle.com

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Chris Britt: State Journal-Register (Springfield, Ill.) / cagle.com

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Kirk Walters: Toledo Blade / cagle.com

Thoughts?

[Via http://belowthesaltblog.wordpress.com]

Pakistan concerned over dam on Kabul River

2010-02-13T09:50:00.000+02:00

ISLAMABAD: A trilateral US-Pakistan-Afghanistan forum on agriculture has made a robust start in its first meeting held in Qatar with the United States making initial commitment of $100 million as first tranche out of a hefty fund it promised to bolster agriculture in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“More money will flow as concrete projects get under way,” US deputy under-secretary agriculture Burnham Philbrook observed in the plenary session. According to a message received here on Friday, the meeting was organised in Doha by the US Embassy in Pakistan for security reasons and to avoid visa and other complications envisaged in holding it in the United States.

Working groups comprising experts from the three countries in their deliberations focused on areas of food security, trade corridors and water management. Malik announced that the next meeting of the forum will be held in Pakistan in April. Pakistan voiced its concerns on the dam being built on River Kabul with India’s assistance and suggested a profound engagement between Pakistan and Afghanistan to address these concerns.

[Via http://siyasipakistan.wordpress.com]

No proper woman participation here

2010-02-13T01:37:00.000+02:00

JEF opens today; women dismayed 13 Feb 2010 By Hamdan Al-Harbi and Zain Anbar JEDDAH – The 10th Jeddah Economic Forum, headlined “The Global Economy 2020”, kicks off at the Hilton Hotel in Jeddah Saturday evening with over 1,000 “experts, businessmen and academics discussing the outlook for the world economy in the next 10 years.”

Opened by Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Emir of Makkah region, the Chamber of Commerce and Gulf Research Center-organized event will focus on the key sectors of banking and finance, energy, environment, trade, agriculture, industry, education, health, and science and technology over its four days of activities.

Forum supervisor and head of the Gulf Research Center Abdul Aziz Bin Saqr, said that groups of academics from Saudi and foreign universities worked together to draw up the list of speakers and the issues to be addressed.

“There will be 42 speakers over nine sessions, and the Gulf Research Center will resume each one in a set of final recommendations to be presented to the Chamber of Commerce once the forum has concluded,” he said. “All the events will be transmitted live on the forum’s website.”

Bin Saqr noted that of the 1,200 participants, 370 were women.

“There have also been special invitations to members of the Shoura Council and officials, and 15 percent of those in attendance will be academics,” Bin Saqr said.

Women miffed

Not everyone is happy with the way events have been planned, however, as a number of specialists have noted that of the over three dozen speakers scheduled to address the gathering, not a single one is female.

Nadia Bakharji, an engineer who spoke at the forum in 2005, said she was surprised not to receive an invitation.

“If I’d been asked I would have been happy to provide my experience as a twice-elected member of the Engineers Commission and as a member of its board for four years,” Bakharji said.

“I have also recently completed ten years on the board of the International Arab Forum for Women, and have experience in many areas of private economic activity. I think I have a lot to say and could have contributed.”

Bakharji added: “I hope this doesn’t suggest they’ll be ignoring women at future forums, and that they realize the error as soon as possible and select a Saudi woman who will do us justice.”

Businesswoman Izdihar Batoubara was equally perplexed.

“Where is Nahid Tahir the first bank director general, and where is Lama Al-Solaiman, the first vice president of a chamber of commerce, and where are all the other Saudi women who’ve distinguished themselves in economic affairs?” Batoubara wondered.

Batoubara further questioned whether the absence of women speakers was an “oversight” or not. “If there aren’t any women speakers in the future I shalln’t be attending,” she said.

Amani Abdul Wasi’ was more magnanimous.

“It’s a troubling surprise, but we can only suppose that there was no ill intention and that everything was organized ahead of time and that women were invited to speak but were unable to attend,” she said.

In response to the dismay, Bin Saqr said that the Gulf Research Center did not discriminate between men and women, and said that speakers were chosen in accordance with their fields of specialty and subjects to be addressed.

“It must be remembered that the forum has a global dimension,” he said.

“The organizers have tried to find a balance between guests from the Kingdom and abroad to bring in diversity.

Women have a significant part to play at the forum, and there will be female academics present who will have the chance to table questions and speak from the floor during discussions.”

The Jeddah Economic Forum will begin proceedings at 8.30 P.M. Saturday evening when Prince Khaled Al-Faisal will give the opening sponsor’s speech, followed by the Minister of Trade and Industry Abdullah Zainal, President of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce Saleh Kamil, and President of the Gulf Research Center Abdul Aziz Bin Saqr.

The first business will involve the honoring of numerous individuals for their work in economic fields, and subsequent sessions over the four days will look at “Global Economic Management after the Crisis”, “Future Reserve Currencies”, Rebuilding Confidence in Financial Bodies, Energy and Environment, Trade and Investment Protection Policies, Agriculture and Food Security, and Health.

ccording to Bin Saqr the forum expects to show a surplus of 1.5 million riyals, “thanks to the great support given by Prince Khaled, Emir of Makkah, who put back his holidays to take part in the forum”. – Okaz/SG

[Via http://rodziahismailticker.wordpress.com]

23

2010-02-11T09:52:00.000+02:00

this page is not ready it is for February 12 or the day after!

See Next Page

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Sign Petition by one click at http://act.ly/t4

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[Via http://iranvote.wordpress.com]

Mark Of The Beast: Virginia Passes A Law That Bans Chip Implants

2010-02-11T01:53:00.000+02:00

February 10, 2010: Daniel Tencer / Raw Story - February 10, 2010

Concerns over privacy have aligned with apocalyptic Biblical prophecy in a proposed Virginia law that limits the use of microchip implants on humans because of a lawmaker’s concern that the chips will prove to be the Antichrist’s “mark of the beast.”

On Wednesday, Virginia’s House of Delegates passed a bill that forbids companies from forcing their employees to be implanted with tracking devices, a move likely to be applauded by civil libertarians. But Virginia state Delegate Mark Cole’s reasons for proposing the law have as much to do with the Book of Revelation as they do with concerns over privacy in the digital age. Cole says he is concerned that the implants will turn out to be the “mark of the beast” worn by Satan’s minions.

“My understanding — I’m not a theologian — but there’s a prophecy in the Bible that says you’ll have to receive a mark, or you can neither buy nor sell things in end times,” Cole said, as quoted at the Washington Post. “Some people think these computer chips might be that mark.”

Cole is not alone in making that assertion. Evangelical Outreach, a Web site run by pastor Dan Corner, states that “[w]ith modern technology, it is very possible that this mark may be directly linked with a computer chip.”

“Radio frequency identification (RFID) implants are currently the prime candidate for this beastly technology,” says the Riding the Beast blog.

David Neff, editor of Christianity Today, says that “this is part of a larger attempt to constantly read current history in the light of the symbolic language of the Book of Revelation,” according to the Post.

Opponents of Cole’s measure argue that it’s “a solution in search of a problem,” the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star reports.

Virginia Democratic delegate Bob Brink said: “As I went door to door, there were a number of issues that never came up. I didn’t hear anything about the danger of an asteroid striking the earth or about the menace of forced implantation of microchips in humans.”

But Cole says it was his constituents who brought the issue to his attention. He says people are concerned that chip implants will replace employee ID badges in offices.

If passed by the full legislature, Virginia will become the fourth state in the US to have such a law. California, Missouri and Georgia have all passed a similar measure, or are working to pass one.

Momentum behind microchip implants has been building for years. Perhaps most significantly, Florida-based VeriChip introduced an implant in 2001 that can store medical data. The FDA approved the technology for use in humans in 2004.

The Tonka Report Editor’s Note: “And he that causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:” – Revelation 13:16 KJV

Link to original article below…

http://rawstory.com/2010/02/virginia-passes-law-banning-chip-implants-mark-beast/

[Via http://stevenjohnhibbs.wordpress.com]

Stimulus drawback likely on higher GDP growth

2010-02-09T09:40:00.000+02:00

Advance estimates of national income growth released today by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) project it at 7.2 per cent in 2009-10, pegging it a notch below earlier forecasts of the Reserve Bank of India (7.5 per cent) and finance ministry (7.75 per cent). With economic growth back on track the government may initiate a phased withdrawal of the fiscal stimulus package.

These growth projections for gross domestic product (GDP), however, come on a revised base of 2004-05. One consequence of this statistical change is that the fiscal deficit, calculated on a higher national income base, would be lower.

Further, with nominal GDP expected to grow 10.6 per cent at market prices against the Budget estimate of 10.05 per cent the fiscal deficit could come down by another 30 basis points compared to the 6.8 per cent estimated in the 2009-10 Budget. The fiscal deficit is the difference between the government’s total expenditure and receipts minus its borrowings.

“If market prices are considered the GDP of around 10.6 per cent will provide a cushion of 30 basis points to the fiscal deficit,” said Jyotinder Kaur, economist, HDFC.

The fiscal deficit as a percentage of GDP would then fall to about 6.1 per cent almost touching the 2008-09 level of 6 per cent.

Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla said the economy will outgrow the projection given by the advance estimates and we would be looking at a higher growth in the revised estimates.

“This is an advance estimate. What we normally see when the final numbers come out for the third and the fourth quarter is that there is an upward bias and we are sure that this time also the same thing will happen,” he told reporters.

Analysts see a growth rate of 7.2 per cent as “fair” “We had expected the growth to be 6.9 to 7 per cent for the full year. The good thing is that we expected a deep negative on the agriculture side and a 0.2 per cent decline is less than what we were expecting. On the valuation side, agriculture has not lost much due to high MSP and other factors,” said Indranil Pan, chief economist, Kotak Mahindra Bank.

The advance estimates show that growth in 2009-10 is expected to be led by an 8.9 per cent expansion in the manufacturing sector, which had grown a meagre 3.2 per cent in 2008-09. Agriculture and allied industries are likely to contract 0.2 per cent against a growth of 1.6 per cent in the previous fiscal (2008-09).

“As much of the damage of the drought is expected to be felt in the third quarter , we forecast a decline in agricultural growth of -3 to -4 per cent , however, (in these figures) the CSO has factored in a remarkably strong Rabi harvest,” said a report by HDFC Bank’s economic research team.

Economists state that even as manufacturing growth has help the overall growth rate, most argue that it is still not the right time to withdraw fiscal incentives provided by the government to boost the economy .

“I don’t think the government should withdraw fiscal measures based on these numbers as the demand-side scenario is not yet clear,” added Pan.

However, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia pitched for a phased withdrawal of stimulus in the budget. “We should say that the stimulus has succeeded and we should begin to phase it down. The fiscal deficit next year will be lower than this year,” Ahluwalia said.

Growth in services, which accounts for more than half India’s GDP, is likely to slow to 8.7 per cent in the current fiscal against 9.8 per cent in the previous fiscal. The fall is due to reduced expansion in financial services and community, social and personal services — the element that typically reflects government spending.

Trade hotels, transport and communications are likely to grow at 8.3 per cent during the fiscal as compared to 7.6 per cent in the previous fiscal. Financing, insurance, real estate and business services are expected to grow at 9.9 per cent while community, social and personal services are expected to grow at 8.2 per cent in 2009-10.

In terms of GDP at market prices, Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCS) reflected the slowdown in the current fiscal with growth estimated at 32.3 per cent (at current prices) for the current fiscal against a growth of 33 per cent in the previous fiscal.

The country’s per capita income will see a surge of 9 per cent during the current financial year to Rs 43,749 from Rs 40,141 during the previous fiscal.

Source : Press Trust of India. 09/02/10

[Via http://indolinkenglish.wordpress.com]

What next for Ireland? - Education and research

2010-02-09T01:28:00.000+02:00

Last September, at the ‘Global Economic Forum’ held in Farmleigh, former Intel chief executive and chairman Craig Barrett created something of a stir when he suggested that Ireland was under-performing in both education and research and development, and that these failings needed to be corrected if the country was to pull itself out of recession. I wasn’t at the Forum (hey, I wasn’t invited), but I gather from some who were there that Barrett electrified the proceedings and set the tone for a significant debate.

Yesterday evening I was able, along with a few hundred others, to hear him develop his theme a little more at a public lecture organised by the Royal Irish Academy. It was a fascinating talk given by someone with an external perspective but with significant inside knowledge of Ireland.

In his lecture, he set out what he described as some ‘observations’ on current global conditions, followed by a list of things that Ireland needs to get right, and finally by a list of proposals or recommendations for the country.

His observations were as follows:

• Levels of income in any country are closely connected with the educational attainments of the population.

• Levels of productivity – which are vital for future growth – are closely linked to the successful harnessing of new technology .

• It is possible to identify the significant technologies of the future: nanotechnology, nano- and micro-electronics, photonics, biotechnology, new materials and alternative energy.

• Future economic growth will depend critically on entrepreneurship and successful start-ups.

From this he developed his list of national needs:

• A national education system that compares well with the best in the world and is based on excellence. He pointed out that Ireland’s education system has inadequate public investment and performs poorly in vital subjects such as mathematics and science.

• A system of higher education and research that promotes and values basic research, that encourages spin-outs from that research, and that allows universities to be ‘wealth creation centres’. Currently, he believes, Ireland’s universities lack proper expertise in relation to these goals, and their global standing is not as good as it could be.

• The right environment, particularly as regards taxation, IT infrastructure, and a culture that values risk-taking.

Then he presented 10 recommendations for Ireland:

(1) Our goal should be that Ireland’s education system becomes number 1 globally in all subjects, taking account in particular of our current failings in mathematics and science.

(2) We need to have excellent teachers who are truly experts in the subjects they teach. The teaching profession should be rewarded on the basis of performance, not seniority.

(3) Our education system should emphasise 21st century skills such as problem solving and interdisciplinarity, and should rely less on rote learning.

(4) More students need to study mathematics and science at third level, and we should reform the CAO points system in order to ‘bias the system towards the results we need’.

(5) Ireland’s universities need to focus more on delivering start-ups, following the example of Stanford or MIT.

(6) Ireland needs to implement the Lisbon target of investing 3 per cent of GDP in research and development; right now we are only managing about half of that.

(7) We need to ‘grow the economy from within’, as foreign direct investment is unlikely to go back to previous levels. Future growth must come from indigenous start-ups and from entrepreneurship, and we need to have a framework that encourages and facilitates this.

(8) Ireland needs to focus – we cannot do everything, so we need to prioritise those areas in which we can add value and lead.

(9) We need to achieve a dramatic improvement in our IT infrastructure.

(10) Ireland needs to want to compete with the world and to base its economic and business systems on that ambition.

This, it seems to me, represents a good basis for a new national strategy.

[Via http://universitydiary.wordpress.com]

Attaching jet reactor engine to horse carriage

2010-02-07T09:48:00.000+02:00

Attaching jet reactor engine to horse carriage (draft); (Feb. 6, 2010)

The famous biologist GG Simpson said: “The secret of life is the DNA and not vice versa.” We still are unable to comprehend how out of an inert universe living organisms emerged. The French biologist Francois Jacob in his book “Game of possibilities: Essay on the diversity of the living (1981)” wrote that the massacres in history of living species are far more the actions of priests and politicians rather than scientific processes.

“Strange solutions in our evolution cannot be the outcome of a rational God: he would have never applied them. There are no choices to select from such as magnetic tapes or phonograph disk: all that is possible to function is practically used by life history: basically, nature tends to re-use the old working solutions on new entities” wrote Jacob. There is this haunting perspective of hybrid specimens that are counter to nature, a chaos of an anti-world” said Jacob.

There is this illusion of better adaptation of species to nature but biology is refuting this illusion: mankind was not within the realm of the acceptable possibilities to exist; we are one among the 500 million historical structures that could have existed but only one million made it.

Although the constituents of mankind such as codons and nucleotides are finite the number of combinations and permutations exceeded what history allowed to exist. There is this neo-Confucian saying “Respect of nature implies that things follow their natural course; that mankind desists of tampering with pre-conceived systems of ideas”

Nature does not act based on the rational principle of sufficiency that is arbitrated from the outside. The process of energy production in living organisms started from fermentation, then evolved to photosynthesis, and mankind ended up with lung breathing process. We are using jet reaction engine attached to horse carriage to produce energy; this is not at all an efficient engineering design. Thus, nature uses “bric and broc” of minor engineering ingenuity that are not optimal or acceptable.

[Via http://adonis49.wordpress.com]

February 2010 Economic Release Calendar

2010-02-07T01:51:00.000+02:00

DATE EVENT 2/1

13- & 26-Week Treasury Bill Auction

Personal Income and Outlays, December-8:30

Construction Expenditures, December-10:00

ISM’s Purchasing Manager’s Index, January-10:00

2/4

Initial Unemployment Claims-8:30

Factory Orders, December-10:00

Weekly Fed Data-4:30

Productivity & Costs (Preliminary)

2/5

Employment Situation, January-8:30

Consumer Installment Credit, December-3:00

2/8

13- & 26-Week Treasury Bill Auction

2/9

Wholesale Trade, December

2/10

Merchandise Trade Balance, December-8:30

Treasury Budget Report, January-2:00

2/11

Advance Retail Sales, January-8:30

Initial Unemployment Claims-8:30

Mfg. & Trade: Inventories & Sales, December-10:00

Weekly Fed Data-4:30

2/15

Presidents Day-U.S. Financial Markets Closed

2/16

13- & 26-Week Treasury Bill Auction

2/17

Housing Starts & Building Permits, January-8:30

Capacity Utilization, January-9:15

Industrial Production, January-9:15

2/18

Initial Unemployment Claims-8:30

Producer Price Index, January-8:30

Leading Indicators, January-10:00

Weekly Fed Data-4:30

2/19

Consumer Price Index, January-8:30

Real Earnings, January

2/22

13- & 26-Week Treasury Bill Auction

2/24

New Home Sales, January-10:00

2/25

Durable Goods Orders, January-8:30

Initial Unemployment Claims-8:30

Weekly Fed Data-4:30

2/26

Gross Domestic Product, 4Q09 (Preliminary)

Agricultural Prices

[Via http://stockstrategist.wordpress.com]

Bank of Latvia accepts award for gold coin design

2010-02-06T09:13:00.000+02:00

Representatives of the Bank of Latvia recently travelled to Berlin to accept an international award for the design of a gold coin, it has been reported. Maruta Brukle, head of the bank’s coin division, received the award alongside colleague Janis Blums at last week’s Coin of the Year Awards at the World Money Fair, reports Numismatic News. The gold 20 lati piece – dating back to 1922 – won the top accolade for Coin of the Year at the awards ceremony. Featured on the gold coin is a depiction of a woman in a scarf, which is said to represent motherhood.On the obverse of the piece are symbols of plenitude such as an apple, milk and bread wholesale diamonds.The item that took the prize for Most Artistic Coin was a Polish 200 zlotych gold piece, which depicts scenes of the Warsaw ghetto uprising. Lisa Bellavin, Coin of the Year coordinator for Krause Publications, said that the gold coins that won the awards were "nothing short of breathtaking".

Bank of Latvia accepts award for gold coin design

[Via http://alldiamondsa.wordpress.com]

CNet: FBI Seeks to Have our Computer Use "Stored"

2010-02-06T01:25:00.000+02:00

WASHINGTON–The FBI is pressing Internet service providers to record which Web sites customers visit and retain those logs for two years, a requirement that law enforcement believes could help it in investigations of child pornography and other serious crimes.

FBI Director Robert Mueller supports storing Internet users’ “origin and destination information,” a bureau attorney said at a federal task force meeting on Thursday.

FBI director Robert Mueller

(Credit: Anne Broache/CNET)

As far back as a 2006 speech, Mueller had called for data retention on the part of Internet providers, and emphasized the point two years later when explicitly asking Congress to enact a law making it mandatory. But it had not been clear before that the FBI was asking companies to begin to keep logs of what Web sites are visited, which few if any currently do.

For full article: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10448060-38.html

[Via http://james4america.wordpress.com]

Investment Opportunities for Non Resident Indians (NRIs)

2010-02-04T09:28:00.000+02:00

Hello Friends here we bring you guys the write up on “Online Non Resident Indian (NRI) Trading” and info on “SMC’s state-of-the-art Online Trading facility”.

Investment Opportunities for Non Resident Indians

With Indian economy, witnessing a phenomenal growth since the last decade and after being touted as a success story even after downturn last year, more and more of NRI corporates and Investors beside multinationals are lining up to enter the Indian share market.

But it becomes very important for NRIs to select investment avenues with due diligence as situation is turning better but still somewhere delicacy remains.

The challenge for NRIs here is to recognize best-in-class investment products and facilitators to help their investment needs in India.

Most of the reputable and registered brokers in India offer Online Trading facility in Equities for NRIs.

One of the India’s largest and experienced provider of online trading services, SMC Group is also now providing an online trading platform for NRI’s (based all across the globe) in various products for eg; Equities, derivatives, apply online for IPOs and invest online in Mutual Funds.

SMC Online, no doubt, is having a range of online investment products.

With a SMC’s state-of-the-art Online Trading facility, buying and selling of shares is now just a click away.

With this SMC’s state-of-the-art Online Trading facility platform, NRI’s all over the world can receive benefits in as below: 1. Online trading account in NSE & BSE

2. Online trading account in Equity Futures & Options through NRO account

3. Online IPO & Mutual Fund Investments facility through NRO account

4. Online trading account in DGCX

5. Online Back-office support

6. Research reports on email

7. Investment in Insurance

Through this SMC’s NRI Online trading platform, non resident Indians living around the world, can enjoy a hassle free investing process in India. Moreover, SMC’s state-of-the-art Online Trading facility is fast, safe and secure.

Whether, one is an experienced securities trader or new to securities trading, he/she will be happy to have a long term investment association with SMC.

Next Blog we would try to read about the SMC categorized Online trading services on the basis of its customer’s investment needs. . Stay Tuned for more on this . To know more about the state-of-the-art Online Trading facility, click here.

[Via http://smcinvestment.wordpress.com]

Concurs profit rises 13 pct, outlook falls short

2010-02-04T01:42:00.000+02:00

REDMOND, Wash. – Concur Technologies Inc.’s quarterly profit jumped 13 percent as the company reported higher sales of its employee travel and expense services.

The company said after the market closed Wednesday that its net income jumped to $6.5 million, or 12 cents per share, versus $5.8 million, or 11 cents per share, a year ago.

Excluding expenses for employee stock compensation and one-time items, the company earned 19 cents per share, topping the average projection of 17 cents per share of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on that same basis.

Revenue in the last three months of 2009 — Concur’s fiscal first quarter — rose 16 percent to $67 Payday advance.7 million, ahead of analysts’ expectation for $66 million.

Concur’s forecast for 17 cents per share of net income in the second fiscal quarter, excluding items, fell short of analysts’ forecast for 20 cents per share in profit in the same period.

Concur shares fell $1.03, or 2.5 percent, to $40 in extended trading. They had fallen 22 cents, or 0.5 percent, to close at $41.14 before the results were reported.

Concur’s profit rises 13 pct, outlook falls short

[Via http://emmanews.wordpress.com]

Treasury To Lose Out In New Tax

2010-02-02T09:52:00.000+02:00

The Treasury has admitted that it is having to “significantly reduce” its forecast of tax receipts from the expected income from the new 50p tax rate. This is because of the rather obvious ability to avoid paying with creative accountancy.

The problem is that the treasury were warned that this tax would be completely ineffective, and that it was only designed as part of Gordon Brown’s class war. It was a political decision to introduce it, not an economic one. Again, despite this warning, they wouldn’t listen. Perhaps if the Treasury would start making truly economic decision and not political ones, the economy wouldn’t be in half the mess that Labour have created,

[Via http://simonemmett.net]

WHAT HAPPENS AT THE BRINK?

2010-02-02T01:54:00.000+02:00

In my previous post, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli quoted a WSJ, In Coke We Trust. This article explains that a soda pop bottler now has better credit than our government. That should be enough to make us all heartsick.

Fortunately, the People have started to take notice of the fact scoundrels lead us. One blog reviewed the reviews our president’s State of the Union address (see THE STATE OF THE UNION: REVIEWING THE REVIEWS) and made an interesting discovery. Very few bloggers in our state had anything good to say about our president’s message. It seems that it has become more difficult for president to tells his lies and to divide us by pitting one interest group against another.

Is President Barack Obama on the ropes? Can Washington’s Big Spenders still buy us with our own money? Will we the People get our act together and choose decent men and women to lead us? That depends upon us.

When we look at the character of the people who lead us, what we see is a reflection of our own character. The moral character of our leaders is no better — and no worse – than our own. Our leaders honor what we honor.

When Christians think of a tottering, undisciplined society many will point to Isaiah 3. When Isaiah spoke of God’s judgement, he spoke to a People that had lost its moral underpinnings. The people of Jerusalem and Judah relied no longer upon God’s Word and Wisdom. Each had become self-indulgent, and each thought only of their own wants. Thus, they behaved in the way of grown children who have never studied and accepted the truth of the Bible.

Isaiah 3 (Today’s New International Version)

Judgment on Jerusalem and Judah

1 See now, the Lord,

the LORD Almighty,

is about to take from Jerusalem and Judah

both supply and support:

all supplies of food and all supplies of water,

2 the hero and the warrior,

the judge and the prophet,

the diviner and the elder,

3 the captain of fifty and the person of rank,

the counselor, skilled worker and clever enchanter.

4 I will make mere youths their officials;

children will govern them.

5 People will oppress each other—

one against another, neighbor against neighbor.

The young will rise up against the old,

the nobody against the honored.

6 A man will seize one of his brothers

in his father’s house, and say,

“You have a cloak, you be our leader;

take charge of this heap of ruins!”

7 But in that day he will cry out,

“I have no remedy.

I have no food or clothing in my house;

do not make me the leader of the people.”

8 Jerusalem staggers,

Judah is falling;

their words and deeds are against the LORD,

defying his glorious presence.

9 The look on their faces testifies against them;

they parade their sin like Sodom;

they do not hide it.

Woe to them!

They have brought disaster upon themselves.

10 Tell the righteous it will be well with them,

for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds.

11 Woe to the wicked!

Disaster is upon them!

They will be paid back

for what their hands have done.

12 Youths oppress my people,

women rule over them.

My people, your guides lead you astray;

they turn you from the path.

13 The LORD takes his place in court;

he rises to judge the people.

14 The LORD enters into judgment

against the elders and leaders of his people:

“It is you who have ruined my vineyard;

the plunder from the poor is in your houses.

15 What do you mean by crushing my people

and grinding the faces of the poor?”

declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.

16 The LORD says,

“The women of Zion are haughty,

walking along with outstretched necks,

flirting with their eyes,

tripping along with mincing steps,

with ornaments jingling on their ankles.

17 Therefore the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the women of Zion;

the LORD will make their scalps bald.”

18 In that day the Lord will snatch away their finery: the bangles and headbands and crescent necklaces, 19 the earrings and bracelets and veils, 20 the headdresses and ankle chains and sashes, the perfume bottles and charms, 21 the signet rings and nose rings, 22 the fine robes and the capes and cloaks, the purses 23 and mirrors, and the linen garments and tiaras and shawls.

24 Instead of fragrance there will be a stench;

instead of a sash, a rope;

instead of well-dressed hair, baldness;

instead of fine clothing, sackcloth;

instead of beauty, branding.

25 Your men will fall by the sword,

your warriors in battle.

26 The gates of Zion will lament and mourn;

destitute, she will sit on the ground.

Even if you believe in the Bible, you can say Isaiah’s words do not apply to us. They were for another place, another time. If you do not believe, you can just laugh and ridicule.

Nonetheless, our government spends without discipline. Our leaders disregard long-standing principles of national economy. We elect people who swear oaths they have no intention of upholding. We elect people who buy our vote with our neighbor’s money. So we are on the decline, and we are paying the price for rampant greed and extravagant waste. In time others will see our weakness, and we will be at war.

[Via http://citizentom.com]

POVERTY WAGES - THE CHALLENGE OF HISTORY

2010-01-31T09:53:00.000+02:00

Don Franks

The 25 cent government increase in the minimum wage from 1 April was denounced by union leaders as “a cheap shot’ and “mean.”

The increase to $12.75 from 1 April is an annual increase of only 2 per cent. The NZ Institute of Economic Research inflation forecast is 2.3 per cent for the year to March 2010 and the average wage rose 2.8 per cent in the six months to September 2009 alone.  That suggests the lowest paid workers are going to be relatively worse off than they are already.

Unsurprisingly, there’s increasing public concern about poverty wages. The January 18th New Zealand Herald reported :

“Sixty-one per cent of people want the minimum wage lifted to $15 an hour, a Herald Summer Survey has found, weeks before the Government is to set the wage for this year.”

Grabbing his chance to score points, Labour’s Trevor Mallard blogged on January 20th:

“I think it is time for the government to commit to $15 an hour from either 1 April this year, or 1 April next year at the latest.

>From the safety of opposition Trevor talks tough. The real value of his words can be assessed by recalling Labour’s last election policy on wages:

“We acknowledge that there have been calls from a number of quarters to lift the minimum wage to $15.00 an hour. Labour would like to meet this target if possible, but in the current economic circumstances we are not able to commit to doing so”.

Following his hypocritical opposition call for a minimum rise, Trevor Mallard set out a recipe for fixing the problem altogether, claiming:

“Most employers know that lifting wage rates encourages investment in capital equipment and training to make their labour force more productive. It is all part of themovement to a high skill, high wage economy”.

Is Trevor right? Are “most employers” down with a combined programme of wage rises and training, so that eventually we all finish up happily ever after in a “high skill, high wage economy”?

If you suspect the answer to universal prosperity is not as simple as that, you’re probably not alone. In fact, Trevor Mallard’s politicking on wages is just self serving bollocks. His high skill/high wage formula is necessarily a fairytale, because exploitation is built right into the wages system of capitalism. Out of what fund does capital pay workers’ wages? Out of capital, of course. But capital by itself produces no value. Workers’ labour power is, besides the earth, the only source of wealth; capital itself is nothing but the stored-up produce of labour. So that the wages of Labour are paid out of labour, and workers are paid out of their own produce. According to what might seem common sense fairness, the wages of the labourer ought to be the value of his or her efforts. But labour power has the special quality of producing more value than it takes to maintain itself. A worker selling 40 hours of labour time to a capitalist for a

As the famous German socialist Fredrick Engels put it:

“the end of this uncommonly “fair” race of competition is that the produce of the labour of those who do work, gets unavoidably accumulated in the hands of those that do not work, and becomes in their hands the most powerful means to enslave the very men who produced it.”

Engels proposed as a solution:

“Possession of the Means of Work —  Raw Material, Factories, Machinery —  By the Working People Themselves.”

A sensible and logical solution, although obviously we can’t go out and take that possession tomorrow. Such an action would require the conscious militant unity of the majority of the working class. The achievement of a socialist solution to poverty wages is a monumentally huge struggle. The unavoidable truth is that a socialist solution, though difficult, is actually possible, unlike Trevor Mallard’s implied high wage for all under capitalism, which is completely impossible.

In the weeks and months ahead workers will continue to struggle for higher wages by means of the Unite union $15 minimum wage campaign ,contract negotiation and strikes. These struggles deserve the support of all workers and will benefit some sections of the class, but cannot solve our overall problem. Growing poverty continues to haunt New Zealand and, as indicated in the beginning of this article, the trend for the lowest paid is ominously downwards.

Workers owe it to coming generations to face the challenge that history has left us – the need for a socialist solution to poverty. The alternative is the certainty of our children’s children’s children’s ragged children impotently bewailing the government of their day as “cheap shot” and “mean”.

[Via http://workersparty.org.nz]

Where Is Your Church Membership?

2010-01-31T01:51:00.000+02:00

Some people ask me about church membership. These people aren’t trying to cause a problem but they don’t know much of anything. My family took me to a Missionary Baptist Church until I was 17. Then I realized that church wasn’t the answer to our problems and was only causing us more problems. So I left the Missionary Baptist Church and want nothing to do with Church Denominations.

I have come to the same conclusion about organizations and political parties. They have the same problems as the church. They are social clubs to keep people happy and give them a sense of belonging. It is nice to have a place to belong in the church and politics but it isn’t required to make a difference. I don’t know of a single church or organization that has done anything productive in society. All you need to do is look at society and come to that conclusion. Churches are everywhere and a hand full of political groups are around but society is in a downward spiral. A few nut jobs think it is the end of the world and they are beyond stupid. I don’t know how they even get up in the morning and live their lives. What a bunch of insane people!

My opinion on churches and political organizations could change but it wont be very easy to make me change my mind. I don’t need a church or organization to voice my opinion about what is right and wrong. Churches do nothing to promote Christianity and then neutralize their own people with the rapture lie. It is like becoming a millionaire and then giving it all to your wost enemy. Church is the opposite of what it is supposed to be. It is neutralized instead of on the march in society.

I have spent a lot of time researching Christianity and Politics. One of the things I found out is that the modern church has no impact on society. I like to call it the neutralized church. Now lots of preachers are immoral savages who have girlfriends on the side or maybe even a boyfriend on the side! These degenerates have to be excused because of their mental retardation and of course they will burn in hell with all the other sinners in the World. My point is to focus on those “good” Christians who attend Church every Sunday and Wednesday.

Most people attend a church because it is close to home. My family is living proof of that statement. They attend church down the street from their home and wouldn’t drive much more to go to a worship service. This is common with old people and lazy people of all ages. They attend these churches for convenience. These might have been Positive Christianity churches in the past. However their particular church is very neutralized and neo conservative. They will talk all day about hobbies and the State of Israel but nothing about Border Security and Economic Nationalism. They don’t see that as important or even a moral issue. These churches are drunk on their own stupid man made beliefs that have no impact on society. You will notice that these churches avoid issues in their communities because they don’t wont to get involved. They stick with their new found religion to cover up their laziness.

What is the role of a church? Each church should answer that question. What is your role in society? You have a building and members but no purpose? I think churches need to write their own purpose driven life! Most of these churches are ignorant of everything historic and religious. So they don’t know anything about Christian Nationalism and Christian Reconstruction Theology! Christian Nationalism means that Christians should have loyalty to the nation and society. They should be involved in all aspects of the system and work to make things better. This work should be based on family values and morals. Christian Reconstruction means that society is the opposite of Christian and needs to be reconstructed. This is done through business, government, and society. We are to work to reform our entire society and reconstruct it according to Christian family values and morals.

You wont find a church that believes in Christian Nationalism and Christian Reconstruction. These churches and members are brainwashed into the most liberal and lazy lifestyle in the history of the World. Older people are the most brainwashed of them all. They have been told for years to put all faith and trust in Jesus Christ and he will solve our problems. They have spent their entire lives going to church and praying that God will fix the World or for Jesus Christ to return. They spend their day trying to make sure “they’ are right with the Lord because he might “return at any time” as they have been told. This is nonsense. They have literally spent their entire lives watching the World decline because they left the battlefield.

Our society has declined and has become majority immoral because churches aren’t doing their job. Church has become a building for lazy people to gather together and pray that somebody else will fix their problems! It wont happen and it never will happen in 10,000 years. We The People can solve our problem with God’s direction and favor. God only helps those who help themselves!

I have spent the past 9 years sharing Christianity with the public and never once got into an argument with a atheist or secular humanist. Only with church members who have spent their entire lives making the church a neutralized building of weak minded people. They can’t stand me because I am a Christian Nationalist and Christian Reconstructionist. I find a bit of amusement in the fact that these “Baptist Preachers” think they are the heart and soul of Conservatism and the Republican Party. They are more like the heart and soul of the movement to neutralize Christian Conservative Voters!

We The People must become Christian Conservative Nationalists and reconstruct our society. We must fight for nationalism and social order in our nation. We can’t let liberals in and out of the church destroy Western Civilization. I encourage my fellow Christians to expose these fake Christians and remove them from the church and our communities. They don’t have any right preaching their liberal neutralized religion in our nation. Take these churches over or say to hell with them and become an Independent Christian like myself and hundreds of thousands of others!

[Via http://southpopulist.wordpress.com]

Of Economies & Loop-the-Loops

2010-01-30T09:30:00.000+02:00

I once saw a plane crash at an airshow. The pilot made a vertical loop – in layman’s terms, a loop-the-loop – and though he completed the loop and had the nose of his plane pointed in the right direction at the bottom of the thing, he had not gotten enough height at the top of the maneuver, so the aircraft continued sinking rapidly downward, slammed into the ground belly-first, and exploded. You can not change the laws of physics, and gravity will have its say.

So it is with the current economy. Precipitated by NAFTA, outsourcing, shoddy and deceitful lending practices, deregulation, unrealistically low interest rates, rising health care costs, an ever-increasing dependence on ever-more-expensive sources of energy, unrealistic cuts in taxes and a deficit hemorrhaging cash into Iraq and Afghanistan, our economy spent the last 15 years pulling a giant, slow-moving vertical loop, and when we got to the bottom of it, no stimulus package in the world was enough to pull us out. Economics, like physics, has strict rules, and no amount of stimulus can stave off the inevitable – reality, like gravity, will have its say.

The problem with the recent “stimulus” packages are that they did too little, too late, and failed to address the continued downward motion of our economy. Jobs continue to fall away at an alarming rate while prices continue to climb and banks continue to operate unchecked under the same deregulation that finally shoved us over the edge a year and a half ago. We are headed for a huge and very long depression, but no one wants to acknowledge the fact, as if by ignoring the gorilla in the room, we can make it go away. I don’t know about you, but in my experience, gorillas tend to bash the Samsonite around and stomp on it a while much more so than they do to pack their belongings nicely and neatly inside and sedately catch a train for home. We are headed for a depression. I doubt anything can be done to stop it, at this point. But politicians continue to yank our chains and screw around with petty disagreements and power trips, threatening filibusters over non-existent issues like “death panels,” and doing everything but the job they are paid to do. And their constituents continue to enable them, in part because it’s easier to ignore it, and in part because to do something about it would require actually having to take a good, hard look at the conditions things are in. And frankly, conditions are terrifying.

If most of us took the necessary steps to inform ourselves as to exactly how FUBAR the situation is, I think we’d probably panic. Certainly there’s a marked portion of the populace incapable of acknowledging the reality, because to do so would threaten their sense of safety and that of their families. No one wants to think about losing his job or his bank going under and taking his savings or his house with it. No one wants to imagine dying for lack of affordable medical care or sending a child to war for an unwinnable action or with defective body armor. Unfortunately, we humans have a long history of sticking our heads in the sand in order to ignore reality. How else do you explain the thousands of people each year who kill themselves or someone else by drinking and driving? We are an idiotic lot, and the looming specter of depression does nothing at all to change that. It’s easier to blame Washington for our problems than it is to take responsibility for them and an active role in their resolution. It’s much less scary to tell ourselves things will get better, unemployment will fall, the market will improve, or the rise in the cost of living is only temporary, than it is to face the fact that things are not improving, that the jobless rate either continues to grow or fails to show real improvement, the market continues to waver as banks continue their deceitful practices, and the last time I checked, the cost of goods and services has steadily continued to climb while my paycheck stayed more or less the same – or shrank.

So no, my friends, we are not on our way out of this recession, no matter how many times you hear Ben Bernanke claim that the recession is over and 2010 is “a year of recovery.” We are NOT recovering. Not yet, anyway. Gravity is a bitch, my friends. And the economy is pulling a loop-the-loop.

[Via http://mmeritocracy.wordpress.com]

Obama Holds Firm on Climate Bill, but Most Senators Shrug -DARREN SAMUELSOHN, NYT

2010-01-30T01:23:00.000+02:00

Whether Obama’s remarks will bear any fruit remains a wide-open question. Both Democrats and Republicans shouted and gave the president a standing ovation when he called for “building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country.” And a few Democrats, including Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, stood up alongside most Republicans when he said, “It means making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development.”

But there is little hope Obama will win over longtime Republican opponents. Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), a prominent global warming skeptic and the ranking member of House Energy and Commerce Committee, stood and waved to Obama when he mentioned the lawmakers who doubt the evidence on climate change. And several Republicans around Barton did not hold back in their laughter either.

Click here to read more…

[Via http://rightlinks.wordpress.com]

Congress Went To Copenhagen... You Picked Up The Million Dollar Tab

2010-01-28T09:35:00.000+02:00

Congress Went to Denmark, You Got the Bill By Sharyl Attkisson CBSNews.com CBS News Investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports official filings and our own investigation show at least 106 people from the House and Senate attended – spouses, a doctor, a protocol expert and even a photographer. For 15 Democratic and 6 Republican Congressmen, food and rooms for two nights cost $4,406 tax dollars each. That’s $2,200 a day – more than most Americans spend on their monthly mortgage payment.

CBS News asked members of Congress and staff about whether they’re mindful that it’s public tax dollars they’re spending. Many said they had never even seen the bills or the expense reports.

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., is a key climate change player. He went to Copenhagen last year. Last week, we asked him about the $2,200-a-day bill for room and food.

“I can’t believe that,” Rep. Waxman said. “I can’t believe it, but I don’t know.”

But his name is in black and white in the expense reports. The group expense report was filed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. She wouldn’t talk about it when our producer tried to ask.

Pelosi’s office did offer an explanation for the high room charges. Those who stayed just two nights were charged a six-night minimum at the five-star Marriott. One staffer said, they strongly objected to no avail. You may ask how they’ll negotiate a climate treaty, if they can’t get a better deal on hotel rooms.

Total hotel, meeting rooms and “a couple” of $1,000-a-night hospitality suites topped $400,000.

Flights weren’t cheap, either. Fifty-nine House and Senate staff flew commercial during the Copenhagen rush. They paid government rates — $5-10,000 each – totaling $408,064. Add three military jets — $168,351 just for flight time — and the bill tops $1.1 million dollars — not including all the Obama administration officials who attended: well over 60.

In fairness, many attendees told us they did a lot of hard work, and the laid groundwork for a future global treaty.

“It was cold… I was there because I thought it was important for me to be there,” Rep. Waxman said. “I didn’t look at it as a pleasure trip.”

But considering the size of the deficit, and the fact that that no global deal would be reached — critics question the super-sized U.S. delegation — more than 165 — leaving the impression there’s dollars to burn. In this case, more than a million.

CLICK FOR FULL LIST They spent over $1.1 Million for a 2 night stay!!! Did they really need to take their spouses along? Doctor? And this $1.1 Mil doesn’t include the Presidents crew of over 60! These guys are not only throwing us overboard… they’re tying weights to our feet!

[Via http://iquestionauthority.wordpress.com]

Random Opinions

2010-01-28T01:50:00.000+02:00

Scapegoating Bernanke

So for whatever reason, after a year of the Obama administration democrats want Ben Bernanke out. Only a few democrats have come out in support while others are either opposed or not taking a place. The economy would have been ten times worse without him. Democrats and republicans need to put forth better policies to help the economy. Of course, since 2010 elections are approaching, no one wants to admit their shortcomings.

What The Hell Is Wrong With A Spending Freeze…

…on certain unnecessary (at least for now) things. The far left seems to be up and arms about a spending freeze that Pres. Obama plans to implement. The Maddows and Olbermanns of the world seem to not like balancing the budget. Granted, a spending freeze won’t solve our problems, but it will help save money that can be best used in other places. I truly don’t get it. Maybe you (reader) can explain the problem here. Especially seeing as how we have little details yet on what spending our be frozen.

Conservatives v. Conservatives

Glenn Beck called out conservative activist James O’Keefe for wiretapping Landrieu’s office. He called insanely stupid and illegal. Hopefully more conservatives will speak out against such actions but I doubt it. I’d like to make a prediction that conspiracy theories will start to fly. I mean, conservatives love to place blame on anyone else that isn’t conservative. Case in point, Rep. King,

Ahhh…the hypocrisy… Meanwhile, Fox News, the biased conservative “news” network, is sticking up for O’Keefe.

Crist

Will he ever get with the times and switch to the democratic party? The speculation is up since Crist plans on joining Pres. Obama during his Tampa visit, even though he’s in a tough race for the Senate primary and it looks like he won’t be the republican to win it. Crist is like Schwarzenegger…..politician with an identity crisis.

Well, that’s it and don’t forget to watch the State of the Union address. Oh and I’ll get back to regularly blogging when I’m not being so busy

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[Via http://sensico.wordpress.com]

UK economy emerges from recession

2010-01-26T09:50:00.000+02:00

The UK economy has come out of recession, after figures showed the economy had grown by 0.1% in the last three months of 2009.

The economy had previously contracted for six consecutive quarters – the longest period since quarterly figures were first recorded in 1955.

There have been recent recovery signs – last week UK unemployment fell for the first time in 18 months.

The UK’s had been one of the last major economies still in recession.

Europe’s two biggest economies – Germany and France – came out of recession last summer. Japan and the US also exited recession last year.

The UK recession began in the April-to-June quarter of 2008.

During 18 months of recession, public borrowing increased to an estimated £178bn, while output slumped by 6%.

First estimates of how the economy has performed are made with about 40% of the data available, and Investec economist David Page has warned there is “plenty of room for surprises” in the figures.

sourced from the BBC

[Via http://recession2010.wordpress.com]

Grind, grind, grind at that grindstone: Shane MacGowan vs. Lester Bangs

2010-01-26T01:43:00.000+02:00

LESTER BANGS: Who says it’s a big old complicated world? I’ll tell ya what it comes down to, buddy: one word: JOB. You got one, you’re okay, scot free, a prince in fact in your own hard-won domain! You don’t got one, you’re a miserable slug and a drag on this great nation’s economically rusting drainpipes. You might as well go drown yourself in mud. We need the water to conserve for honest upright workin’ foks! Folks with the godsod sense to treat that job like GOLD. ‘Cause that’s just what it stands for and WHY ELSE DO YOU THINK I KEEP TELLING YOU IT’S THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE UNIVERSE? Your ticket to human citizenship. One man, one job. One dog, one stool.

SHANE MACGOWAN: I don’t believe in the fuckin’ work ethic. This “work is what life’s all about” shit is just a bunch of bollocks, it’s just a fuckin’ English bourgeois guilt trip invented by the fuckin’ English bourgeoisie to keep people in line, y’know like a bunch of happy fuckin’ slaves. Bourgeois guilt means fuckin’ nothin’ to me.

As for me, I have to agree with MacGowan. When it comes to the economy, I think Leonard Cohen said it best: Everybody knows the fight was fixed. The poor stay poor, the rich get rich.

[Via http://pulsemarkowski.wordpress.com]

Watch George Galloway’s Comment Show on 21 Jan 2010

2010-01-24T09:38:00.000+02:00

Watch George Galloway’s Comment Show on 21 Jan 2010:

—

George Galloway page on SpideredNews : http://www.spiderednews.com/GeorgeGalloway.htm

George Galloway official web site : http://www.GeorgeGalloway.com

George Galloway videos can be seen on SpideredNews’ channel on Vodpod : http://vodpod.com/spiderednews

SpideredNews.com TV : http://www.spiderednews.com/index.htm?vid=155746

You can share your opinion on our blogs:

“The Real Deal show” : http://worldpressnetwork.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=473

“The Comment show” : http://worldpressnetwork.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=418

“TalkSPORT radio show” : http://worldpressnetwork.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=356

[Via http://spiderednews.wordpress.com]

Hitting the fan

2010-01-24T01:54:00.000+02:00

All of my stocks plummeted on the last day of trading before the weekend, and XRTX stopped out at 15. Rats! I lost $174 on that deal. Everything else is down, and I am worrying that Friday’s slide will continue on Monday, a phenomenon that is not uncommon.

Adding to my frustration is the fact that my car of 7.5 years just died, and I will have to replace it, meaning that I will need to make an emergency withdrawal directly from my stock funds. That sets me back in my quest for $2,000,000, and it sets me back in my plan to pay a sizeable portion of my credit card debt.

Just when I’m getting ahead, things like this happen! Shame on life! Well, I can’t let this get me down too much. There is simply too much at stake here.

Meanwhile, doomsday predictions about the stock market; articles with titles like “Has the Stock Market Party Come to an End?”

http://www.smartmoney.com/investing/stocks/has-the-stock-market-party-come-to-an-end/

Is this a cruel joke being played on me by an unforgiving universe? Am I doomed to be poor for the rest of my life?

Can Nicolas Darvas’s stock-picking method work even in a stagnant market?

For me, it all seems to be hitting the fan.

[Via http://streetstothemansion.wordpress.com]

Optimism dissipates

2010-01-23T09:32:00.000+02:00

Markets have been highly fickle so far this year. Optimism about strong recovery led by China – recall the fact that disappointment from the surprisingly weak US non-farm payrolls report in December was outweighed by strong Chinese trade data – has dissipated. Instead of rejoicing at China’s robust GDP report last week, which revealed a 10.7% rise in the fourth quarter of 2009, investors began to fret about whether China would have to move more aggressively to tighten monetary policy. Fuelling these fears was the release of Consumer price data which showed inflation rising above expectations to 1.9% YoY in China.

If such fears were not sufficient to hit risk appetite, US President Obama’s plan to limit the size and trading activities of financial institutions dealt another blow to financial stocks. The plan followed quickly after the Democrats lost the state of Massachusetts to the Republicans and managed to shake confidence in bank stocks whilst fuelling increased risk aversion. Meanwhile, rumblings about Greece continue to weigh on markets and Greek debt spreads continued to widen even as global bond markets rallied.

Following the US administration’s plans to restrict banks’ activities the fact that the rise in risk aversion was US led rather than broad based led to an eventual pull back in the dollar which helped EUR/USD to avoid a break below 1.40. Risk trades including the AUD came under pressure as risk appetite pulled back. A drop in commodity prices did not help. The AUD was also hit by news that Australia’s Henry Tax Review would look to tax miners in the country. As a result AUD/USD dropped below 0.90 though this level is likely to provide good buying levels for those wanted to take medium term AUD long positions. The one currency that did benefit was the JPY which managed to drop below sub 90 levels.

The aftermath of the “Volker Plan” will reverberate around markets this week keeping a lid on equity sentiment. Meanwhile Greece will be in the spotlight especially its bond syndication. A bad outcome could be the trigger for EUR/USD to sustain a move below 1.40 though it looks as though it may find a bottom around current levels, with strong support seen around 1.4029. The German IFO business survey for January will be important to provide some direction for EUR and could be a factor that weighs on the currency if as expected it reveals some loss of momentum in the economy.

Aside from the Fed the other G3 central bank to meet this week is the Bank of Japan but unless the Bank is seen to be serious about fighting deflation, USD/JPY may remain under downward pressure against the background of elevated risk aversion. Below 90.0 there does appear to be plenty of USD/JPY buyers however, suggesting that further upside for the JPY will be limited. USD/JPY will find strong support around 88.84.

Much will depend on the key events in the US this week including the Fed FOMC meeting and the President’s State of the Union speech. USD bulls will look for some indication that the US government is serious about cutting the burgeoning budget deficit. Also watch out for the confirmation vote on the renomination of Bernanke as Fed Chairman which could end up being close. There is a heavy slate of data to contend with including new and existing home sales, consumer confidence, durable goods orders, the first glance at Q4 GDP and Chicago PMI.

[Via http://econometer.org]

N.C. Unemployment Hits 11.2%

2010-01-23T01:40:00.000+02:00

The News and Record reported more bad news on the economic front today as the unemployment rate in North Carolina rose to an “historic high” in December of 11.2%. The previous high was last May’s 11.1%.

In his blog yesterday, economist Paul Krugman echoed his familiar refrain, warning that the “recovery [for the national economy] isn’t looking very good” and that “this recovery is going to be jobless for quite a while.”

And this AP article from late last month was downright scary. It suggests that Americans may be in for a full decade of high unemployment.

Meanwhile, Wall Street’s 4.1% drop this week was its worst showing since last March. Investors are getting jittery about the Obama Administration’s plans to adopt former FED Chief Paul Volcker’s recommendations for the reform of big banks, as well as deteriorating Senate support for current FED Chief Ben Bernanke.

As always, if you’re unemployed and looking for work, please take a look at Greensboro Public Library’s Job and Career Information page.

[Via http://greensborolibrary.wordpress.com]

Cold Facts, Freezing Pay

2010-01-21T09:29:00.000+02:00

The weather may have thawed (a little) but a pay freeze is on the cards for council workers in Wales. This is hard medicine for anyone, but at a time when many are losing their jobs, perhaps it is the lesser of evils. ”No medicine is pleasant at the time” is the old proverb.

So I don’t understand when Peter Allenson, National Officer for the Unite Union, is quoted in the same piece (Wales Online) as saying:

“There is no justification for what I would call a pay freeze, and our members would be angry and outraged to say the least.”

Has he missed the fact that we are in a recession? Surely he knows that jobs are being lost across the public sector as costs are cut and – too late – the public sector realises it is not immune from the squeeze on public finances?

Not everyone agrees. When draft local government settlements for Welsh councils were announced in October, Steve Thomas, Chief Executive of the WLGA had this to say:

“In the end there is a feeling we are all in this together. We will either swim together or we sink together.”

Sadly, this did not seem to influence the decision of Cyngor Gwynedd to give senior officers a pay rise.

Have we forgotten so quickly the mess we are in?

I have written before that at least one independent report says the UK needs to reduce public spending by about 15% by the year 2020 in order to balance the books.

As a nation, we currently have a total debt equal to 65% (not a mistype – sixty five percent) of our “income” (known as Gross Domestic Product or GDP). The paper from Feburary 2009 went on to say, that if we continued public spending at the same rate, by 2020, we would owe 156% of our income (GDP) and most of our debt would have been incurred since 2009.

These are big numbers so to put it in perspective, just stop and ask yourself: if I am earning £20,000 can I afford to borrow £13,000 (not including a mortgage)? How sensible would it be to borrow more than £30,000?

The ten year bubble of cheap debt and rising house prices is over. But the habit of high public spending and paying for massive debts will take much longer to overcome. We are in new territory. We are the last country out of recession and as the report points out:

“No country with a fully mature welfare state has ever been tested by a full-blown economic depression. The welfare state materialised after the last depression in the 1930’s followed by the Second World War.”

And now inflation is on the rise. It may be a false alarm, but a one per cent rise last month is cause for concern none-the-less. The report again says, that inflation “is bad for growth, discourages savings and investment and once unleashed, it is very hard to tame”.

In Wales we have an economy and jobs that depend heavily on the public sector. Our politicians do not seem to understand business, profit and the engines of growth (perhaps that is why they have asked their advice). Nowhere is that worse than in Arfon.

Bangor University, Cyngor Gwynedd and Ysbyty Gwynedd are great institutions, important employers and capable of excellence. If I am elected I will fight hard for them and their interests in Westminster (and knock hard on the door in Cardiff too).

I will be a strong and effective Conservative voice in a Conservative government. But we must build a stronger private sector. Until then Arfon will remain weak – dependent, remote and reliant on the gifts bestowed by Cardiff and London.

[Via http://arfonaction.wordpress.com]

Rewind: A Look Back at January 20, 2010

2010-01-21T01:53:00.000+02:00

We share a lot of information each day! We are going to capture some of our favorites here each day and highlight our favorite interactions each day with the hope that you’ll find great new people on twitter to connect with.

Here are some of our favorite tweets from today.

Headlines

The Times to Charge for Frequent Access to Its Web Site http://ow.ly/Yzfg

Battle for A Senate Seat Determined by a GOP Tweet http://ow.ly/Ys80

Ad Campaigns

How To Look Good Naked From The W Network http://ow.ly/YLNz (new Zig ad campaign) via @SaraSocialMedia

Scott’s Miracle-Gro Seeds Major League Baseball http://ow.ly/YLFz

Unlike IRS, H&R Block’s Tax Statement in Plain Englishhttp://ow.ly/YLwS

White Castle Taking Reservations for Valentine’s Dayhttp://ow.ly/YK2d

Get a Mac: 5 of Our Favorite Ads [VIDEO] - http://ow.ly/YtmO

Marketing, Branding & Advertising

Why Brands Should Embrace Technological Changehttp://ow.ly/YMsh

Marketing and Procurement Don’t Have to Be Oil and Waterhttp://ow.ly/YLxO

Target Offers ‘Wii Fit Plus Experience’ http://ow.ly/YEaE

Ad Spending to Drop This Quarter, Then Finally Reboundhttp://ow.ly/YK6B

How Focus on the Family Bought a Super Bowl Spothttp://ow.ly/YJSB

Tech

RT @tweetmeme UK Launches Open Data Site: Puts Data.gov to Shame http://retwt.me/1LDTl (via @Dustin_Schmidt)

Analyst: Verizon To Get iPhone In Q3 2010 http://ow.ly/16nOuR

5 Social Sharing Extensions For Firefox: http://ow.ly/YBEv

Create Your Own iPhone or Android App in Minutes With iSites - http://ow.ly/YBbS

Online Marketing, SEO, SEM, PPC

RT @EyeTraffic: Chinese search engine Baidu sues US company over hacking attack | http://j.mp/5DYJlN | #seo | Turning the tables.

Bill Gates Uses Twitter Account to Unveil New Website - http://ow.ly/YKY6

More About Search In The Web Design Process http://ow.ly/YHZu

Apple In Talks to Make Bing the Deafult iPhone Search Engine? - http://ow.ly/YBjO

Social Media News

Online Media Online Media Daily: Twitter Fail Whale Greets Morning Visitors http://ow.ly/16nEAK

Twitter’s Growth Slows Dramatically http://ow.ly/YtrP

RT @foundationmedia: YouTube Debuts Movie Rentals -http://ow.ly/YKVZ #youtube

Twitter Exec: No IPO in 2010 – http://ow.ly/YMTM

Facebook App Notifications Moving to Your Email Inbox -http://ow.ly/YL0R

RT @katharnavas: MySpace Cuts Three Senior Tech VPshttp://ow.ly/YKT9

RT @richquigley @jwharris Cision study on use of SM by journalists in reporting, impact on #PR pros, http://ow.ly/YClT/via @EvansMediaGroup

Twitter Land Grab Coming Soon? http://ow.ly/Ytkf

If You Printed Twitter It Would Cover 350 Million Sheets of Paper [Infographic] - http://ow.ly/YtjT

Hey Chatterbox: Report Sets Sites On Social Media Mavenshttp://ow.ly/YLE1

5 Social Media Lessons From the Haiti Earthquake Relief Effort -http://ow.ly/YL1r

Mobile Marketing & Apps

State of the Union Address to Be Streamed Live on White House iPhone App (via @mashable) http://ow.ly/YKUp

Viral Videos

Anderson Cooper Dives in to Rescue Injured Haitian Boy [VIDEO] - http://ow.ly/YtiY

“Happiness Machine” video from Coca-Cola goes viral (MediaPost):http://ow.ly/YC2w

No Pants Subway Rides Again in 2010 [Video] - http://ow.ly/YtlK

eCommerce, Comparison Shopping

Pants on the Ground Shirts Hit eBay (via @mashable) http://ow.ly/YKRt

Kindle Offers 70% Royalty to Book Publishers and Authorshttp://ow.ly/YJWn

TV, Broadcast & Movies

What the Conan O’Brien Imbroglio Should Teach Him About His Next Gig http://ow.ly/YKnQ via @adage #socialmediainsider #conan

Social Good

RT @secretdaniela How the Hope for Haiti Now Telethon Came Together: MTV’s CEO tells PEOPLE.. http://ow.ly/YKr3

Bowling for Breast Cancer http://ow.ly/YJXO

Support The Locals

RT @TheaterLeague Stay updated on all Theater League news on our main Facebook page: http://bit.ly/66WuAQ

Just Plain Funny

deannsmithkc @EvansMediaGroup Presidents should learn: NEVER MOCK A GUY’S PICKUP TRUCK.

Stats & Case Studies

Kids Spend Every Waking Minute in Front of a Screen [STUDY] -http://ow.ly/YKZm

RT Recognition for our Favorite Twitter Rockstars

Thank you to the follow for following @EvansMediaGroup and RT’ing our content.

chipperd KrisKetz nitinkohlivk merryterry clarinette02 EyeTraffic

markvanbaale AdvertisingLaw christine_tulsa MsBlueswoman

pam_brandpointe billsvision HowellMarketing kdwinnell pamdyer

GlobalVA theSwimBack bailann clarinette02 BroadcastKC rlconrad7

[Via http://evansmediagroup.wordpress.com]

It's Just Movies - Trailer Talk: ‘Africa Light / Gray Zone’

2010-01-19T09:41:00.000+02:00

Trailer Talk: ‘Africa Light / Gray Zone’

source: itsjustmovies.com

– by ALLISON HIGGINBOTHAM –

The trailer below for “Africa Light / Gray Zone” looks beautiful. That’s probably because I’m just used to seeing a lot of dust and beige when looking at footage taken from Africa. The trailer below, however, is sharp with rich colors. But all the beauty in Africa cannot distract from the problem of industrialization.

For Africa, industrialization means getting new technology: trains, paved roads, and barbed wire fences. The technological advances have a downside, however. With more technology, the African culture is becoming diminished. Old customs stop being practiced and traditions start vanishing. On the other hand, new technology can greatly improve the lives of Africans with water filters and medical equipment. It’s not a new problem, but for those of us in America it’s a hard one to understand.

“Africa Light / Gray Zone” is a short film that explores social, economic and political development in the Third World. It discusses “lost identities of African communities, overwhelming progression and related changes in the environment.” With an important social message and what looks like some great cinematography, “Africa Lights / Gray Zone” could be a very good short documentary.

“Africa Light / Gray Zone” is directed by Tino Schwanemann and will be released January 30.

[Via http://africalight.wordpress.com]

The real unemployment rate - it isn't pretty

2010-01-19T00:58:00.000+02:00

The Douglas County unemployment rate is high, 14.9% according to the November report. I have contended it is higher than that due to the way unemployment and underemployment is counted, or not. Here is an interesting column by George Will in Newsweek where he makes the case that the national rate at 10% is under-reported and would more accurately be counted at more than 17%.

You decided. Whatever your answer the rate is too high.

[Via http://nrmarketwatch.com]

Up in the Air

2010-01-17T09:17:00.000+02:00

Up in the Air (2009)

★★★★ / ★★★★

Jason Reitman directed this tale about Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) whose job is to fly to various cities across America and fire people who work for different corporations. Ryan enjoys being constantly on the move, collecting frequent flyer miles, and values the isolation and sense of pride that comes with his work. His way of life and mindset are challenged on two fronts: when he met a woman version of himself named Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga) and a plucky twentysomething named Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) who wants to revolutionize the way the company works. That is, instead of firing people face-to-face, she argues the corporation can save a lot of money by firing people via a computer. Ryan then has to balance his budding romance with Alex as well as helping Natalie realize that there is a real value in having the courage and putting in the time to actually face the people to tell them that they have lost their jobs. In a grim American economy, I thought this film could not have arrived at a more perfect time because not only did it have a real sense of drama, it had a sense of humor, intelligence, and heart when it comes to the lead characters as well as to those who are recently unemployed.

I thought the director’s decision to actually put real-life people in front of the camera to express how they felt when they got fired was a wonderful idea. It felt that much more real and heartbreaking. Instead of a movie featuring a corporate person (the bully) and the person being fired (the bullied), which is one-dimensional, there was a certain sense of understanding between the two camps even though the people who were being fired were angry and sad when they heard the terrible news. I enjoyed the conversations between Clooney and Kendrick because they were so different. There was real humor when it came to the generational gap, their outlook on marriage and how to deal with people. I’m very happy with the fact that the movie did not result to Clooney being the teacher and Kendrick being the student. They actually learned from each other even though neither of them was a picture of perfection. Even though they were very different, I felt a certain level of respect between them. I also loved the one conversion that Farmiga and Kendrick had concerning what they wanted in a man. That conversation has got to be one of my favorite scenes in the entire film because, in essence, it’s the same kind of question that my friends and I try to answer. It got me thinking about what I really want in a partner ten years from now instead of just focusing on my wants for the present. It also got me thinking about whether I really want to be married. Before watching the film, I thought I knew my answer but now I’m more unsure. I don’t consider that a bad thing at all because the picture really challenged the way I saw certain aspects in being a committed relationship. I saw myself in each of the characters so I was invested throughout.

“Up in the Air” is an ambitious film with great writing and heartfelt performances. Even though the film is essentially a comedy (some unfairly label it as a romantic comedy), it really is about the big questions we have about our life, where it was, where it is now and where it is going. It’s not the kind of movie that tries to be quirky just to feel different. In fact, it follows some of the same structured formula of Hollywood filmmaking. But the material is so rich to the point where it didn’t matter. It felt natural so I thought the characters didn’t feel like they were just characters in a movie. When I look back on the movies that came out in 2009, “Up in the Air” is really one of those pictures that really got it right in terms of reflecting real life.

[Via http://franzpatrick.com]

INDIA BUSINESS NEWS RSS IS HERE!

2010-01-17T01:47:00.000+02:00

It’s here!

Business, economic, market, and financial news from Inida, updated 24/7!

And with far more information than is included in any section of this webpage!

Try it, it’s free. Just click on the icon above or below, or even the one on the sidebar of this webpage. Opportunity awaits!

[Via http://xindai.wordpress.com]

Let's Hope These 4 Things Don't Happen

2010-01-16T17:51:00.000+02:00

Good news that a scathing article like this appears in the mainstream. Although, that really shows how bad things are. I think the question is not about hoping these 4 things don’t happen, but where we should be when they do happen. I think that self-sufficiency is the only way. Support your local community and help each other out.

By Rick Newman , On Wednesday January 13, 2010, 5:43 pm EST

In the cast of corporate characters, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are A-list villains, thanks to the central role they played in the 2008 financial meltdown. The two mortgage-finance firms failed as spectacularly as AIG, the poster child for finance-gone-wrong, with the combined Fannie-Freddie rescue totaling about $111 billion so far–the biggest bailout of all. Both firms are effectively nationalized, and the government would probably wind them down except for one thing: They underwrite about three quarters of all the mortgages issued in the United States.

[See how the government is swallowing the economy.]

You’ve probably heard that the economy is recovering, that consumers are more optimistic, and that companies might soon begin hiring more workers than they’re firing. Hooray. We’ll all be thrilled when the economy stops quivering. The only problem with an upbeat prognosis is that large chunks of the U.S. economy remain addicted to financial painkillers or dependent upon dysfunctional institutions like Fannie and Freddie, and we’ve never gone through the kind of withdrawal that’s set to take place this year. If all goes well, we’ll avoid messy complications, such as these:

Housing tanks all over again. It’s hard to believe the housing market could get any worse, with prices already down by more than 30 percent from their 2007 peak. On the other hand, it’s astounding that housing is as bad as it is, considering the massive amounts of government aid that have been transfused into this comatose market. In addition to subsidizing the entire mortgage market via Fannie and Freddie, the government has also stepped in to buy billions in mortgage-backed securities–replacing private investors who are sitting on the sidelines–to keep money flowing to consumers. Then there are the tax breaks meant to spur demand for homes and other programs to reduce foreclosures and arrest the plunge in prices.

[See how to live happily on 75 percent less.]

The tax breaks expire this year, and the government probably can’t afford to extend them (again). The Federal Reserve and other agencies have also said they’ll begin an orderly withdrawal from housing finance in 2010. Most forecasts call for a spike in foreclosures and further price declines in the first half of the year, with a possible bottom and tepid recovery in the second half. But it’s far from clear what will happen when the government aid dissipates. Will that remove one leg from the chair? Two? Three? If the private markets don’t fill the void left when the government backs out, it could trigger a fresh crisis that inflicts more collateral damage on the rest of the economy.

Stocks crash. An epic bull rally since the lows of March 2009 has probably been the single biggest contributor to the so-called recovery. Though stocks are still down from their October 2007 peak, the rebound has eased a sense of panic and helped restore some of the household wealth lost in the housing bust (for those lucky enough to have stock-market investments and to have stuck with them through the bottom). And that’s probably been a big factor helping consumer spending to recover. But while stocks have been surging, jobs have continued to disappear, and this divergence between Wall Street and Main Street must end. The conventional view is that stocks foretell a pickup in the “real economy,” which will follow the market’s recovery after a lag of some length. But what if it’s the moribund job market that exerts the stronger gravitational pull, dragging down stocks? If so, buckle in for a double-dip.

[See how to tell if you're saving enough.]

There’s a U.S. debt crisis. Assuming the economy stabilizes, this is also the year that President Obama will start to talk tough about reducing America’s $8 trillion public debt, which amounts to more than half of our total economic output. There will be careful efforts to make sure that no deserving American feels any pain (the rich don’t count as deserving) and that Congress passes no unpopular measures that would get anybody unelected. The financial markets might buy this, allowing our government to keep borrowing and keep spending beyond its means. Or the markets might decide that America is heading toward bankruptcy and dump the dollar, forcing the world’s biggest debtor nation to pay higher rates on its securities, slash spending, and hike taxes. We should probably just relax, confident that Washington politicians always rally to head off devastating problems before they explode.

Consumers become rational. Given the painful transformation of the U.S. economy, Americans ought to be saving like crazy and buying nothing they don’t need. Some are, but it’s not clear yet if Americans as a whole will save more over the long term or go back to spending nearly everything they have. The savings rate has crept up to about 5 percent, but that’s still lower than the long-term average and far lower than you might expect after a collapse like the one we’ve endured. If savings continue to go up–a prudent move for most households–consumer spending will come down, leaving a hole in the growth of our gross domestic product, with little else to fill it. So hopes for a vigorous rebound rest on spendthrift consumers being as materialistic as ever. Now there’s a strong foundation for success.

SOURCE

[Via http://rulersofusall.wordpress.com]

Business America & Politics

2010-01-16T01:52:00.000+02:00

It is no doubt in my mind, given the current state of American politics and economy, the most powerful set of institutions in this country are corporations. Refer to them as “Big Business” or “Corporate America” or whatever you want to call these juggernauts, they wield an enormous amount of influence upon our lives. One illustration of such, is through political contributions. GoodGuide.com did a wonderful job with their Company Political Contributions application, that lets you visualize the political leanings of some of the most recognizable American brands.

Do your favorites match your personal political alignment?

Click the picture for the full highly interactive application. And remember, it’s an election year!

Vote With Your Dollars

[Via http://kymbays.wordpress.com]

A84783-210 Intel Motherboard Desktop Board Socket 478

2010-01-14T09:41:00.000+02:00

A84783-210 Intel Motherboard Desktop Board Socket 478 Review

Check Price Now! A84783-210 Intel Motherboard Desktop Board Socket 478 Feature A84783-210 Intel Motherboard Desktop Board Socket 478 Overview

Intel – D845glad Micro Atx Motherboard Socket 478 400fsb Sdram Audio Video (a84783-210). Refurbished. In Stock.

A84783-210 Intel Motherboard Desktop Board Socket 478 Specifications

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Jan 14, 2010 03:41:30

[Via http://servermotherboard.wordpress.com]

The Six Stages of Awareness

2010-01-14T01:43:00.000+02:00

I’ve had a hard time lately getting motivated to write. Then I ran across this article today by Chris Martenson. I just discovered Chris’s site today and I have to say it’s well worth visiting. Chris Martenson is a self-described “obsessive financial observer… (who) has made profound changes in his lifestyle because of what he sees coming”. The article discusses what Chris calls the six stages of awareness, much like the five stages of grief. The six stages are as follows:

STAGE 1: You might begin with a series of statements to yourself, such as, “No way can this be true. There must be alternative explanations. This simply can’t be; I would have heard about it.” To help speed you through this stage of denial, I offer you access to the source data so that you can check it for yourself. Further, I only draw upon sources that I believe most reasonable people would consider to be highly credible. If you can view all of the data that I will present and find some alternative set of explanations as to why and how all of these things will not matter, I need you to share this with me, pronto.

STAGE 2: Next, you might find yourself full of anger, saying to yourself (and possibly your loved ones and anybody else who will listen), “Aaaaarghh!!! Those bastards at the Fed, in the government, in media, have been hiding things from me, lying, and serving their own interests at my expense. How dare they!!!“ While anger is a perfectly normal and even healthy stage to pass though, it is also counterproductive, in the sense that anger often serves to inhibit action…and as you’ll see later, we don’t really have a lot of time to spend in the non-solution stage. So for everybody’s sake, you need to move through this phase as rapidly as possible. This is also why you will not find me assigning blame and pointing fingers. Blame leads to anger and often a sense of victimization – both of which serve to inhibit taking action. Further, the “blame game” only serves to polarize people into opposing teams – and we’re all on the same team in the end.

STAGE 3: The next stage is bargaining. Here you might find yourself thinking such thoughts as, “If I simply change a few things in my life, perhaps that will be sufficient and I won’t have to really change. I’ll use efficient light bulbs, buy a Prius, and save more each year.” You will find yourself bargaining with the data for more time, a different outcome, perhaps for a miracle to emerge. Perhaps some new technology will arise that will give us abundant and limitless energy, or we’ll elect a new president capable of speaking the truth and marshaling the considerable talents and energy of this country. This, too, is a stage, and I’ve assembled a framework for understanding in such a way as to help you understand the critical difference between wishful thinking and realistic solutions. Please understand that I am not going to purposely step on your hopes – I am as hopeful as anybody you will ever meet – it’s just that I want our collective hopes to be placed in the right places, where they can do us some good. My hopes center on the tremendous reservoirs of talent, energy, and problem-solving that reside in this country, this community, and this room. I am confident that we will pull through all of the problems that we are about to discuss and that we can do it with joy, verve, and excitement. Misplaced hopes and defective strategies, on the other hand, will only let us down in the future, as they fail to deliver.

STAGE 4: The next stage is fear, and it can take many shapes. “I’m going to die broke. People will come out of the cities and eat all my food and harm my family. The future is going to be unbearably bleak. I might die. I might starve. I’m not built for a world that mirrors the dystopian nightmare of Mad Max.” It is important to name these fears and confront them directly. Trying to ignore or stuff them away is simply a recipe to assure that they linger deep down, infecting your dreams and fostering paralysis. Fears are debilitating. They will prevent you from acting and they will ultimately erode your physical well-being. Most of these fears are grounded in the knowledge that our social, energy, and food networks are, for the most part, unnecessarily complicated and often wafer-thin. How will they operate in a more challenging environment? We don’t really know, and it’s that uncertainty which creates a deep sense of unease. Our food supply is both robust and fragile. If the continuous parade of trucks ever stopped rolling, for any reason, nearly all communities would find their store shelves stripped bare within 2-3 days. In fact, when we peel back the covers and examine each aspect of our various support systems, we find that they are nearly all built upon the implicit assumption that the future will be pretty much exactly like today. But what if it’s not? For myself, the only answer was to actively take steps to address each of my most basic fears. Imagine that you live in a maze made out of some flammable material and you have a fear of being caught in a fire in the maze. How could you reduce your fear? One way would be to familiarize yourself with the way out. Another might be to leave the maze and live somewhere else. Attempting to ignore the fear is not a strategy, because you would still know, on some level, that even though you are ignoring the fear, the risk remains…and so will the fear. The easiest way to reduce fear is to take concrete actions to reduce risk.

STAGE 5: The most critical stage to navigate is depression. With a realistic assessment of our predicament, it is extremely common for people to begin to harbor such thoughts as, “Crap, we’re screwed. What’s the point? I am powerless to do anything about this. There’s nothing that any of us can do, anyway.” At this stage, dark fantasies of the future begin to creep into our thoughts, and fear paralyzes our ability to think, let alone act. It is my goal to help you limit this stage to the absolute shortest possible time – perhaps we can find a way to bypass it altogether.

STAGE 6: The final stage is acceptance. You will know you are here when you begin to think, “However we got here is unimportant – it is what it is. Let’s figure out how to navigate the future with the tools and advantages we’ve got, not what we wish we had.” With acceptance comes peace, a sense of calm, and the ability to think clearly and take actions. However, acceptance and urgency can co-exist, and I do not mean to imply otherwise.

I recognize these stages from my own experience, but would not have been able to express them. Personally, I’m still in stage 5. I know that I need to move on to acceptance, but I have found myself lethargic, unable to get myself to do what I need to do. The fact that it hasn’t been above freezing since the beginning of the year doesn’t help any either. But just knowing that what I’m going through is “normal” and that others have gone through it before helps a great deal. Why is it we always feel like we’re the only ones? Even when we know there are millions more like us out there? I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure the progressives are counting on using it against us. That’s why it’s so important to stay connected, to stay in touch with each other. We are NOT a minority! And we (you) are not alone.

Even if things go really well, rough times are coming. And if things don’t go well, it will probably get really ugly. Educate yourself. Learn how to get along with less or without. Learn how to grow some of your own food, if possible. Check out some the following websites for more information: Survivalblog.com, Captain Dave’s Survival Guide, and the Sufficient Self Forum.

Carry on fellow patriots, and God bless.

[Via http://patriotspen.wordpress.com]

2010-the year of living uncertainly

2010-01-12T09:35:00.000+02:00

Welcome to 2010, a year which is pregnant with doubt and uncertainty. The western world has moved from the certainty of recession to a fear and acceptance of stagnation, the ‘flat is the new up’ mentality derided by Martin Sorrell. In the UK we have a general election contested by three parties which is shaping up like a contest between weak boxers. Every time they land a punch on each other they weaken their opponent without strengthening themselves.

There is a general mood of cynicism and disgust towards the political process which means that whichever party or parties win the election then nothing can really change. Mick Hume has accurately summed up the state of modern politics as dominated by;

..the politics of fear, with many apocalyptic warnings, but little analysis of the underlying causes; the politics of behaviour, with attempts to blame the crisis of the system on the greed of individuals; and the politics of low expectations, with efforts to persuade us that the most we can hope for in the future is no/low growth in a stable/stagnant capitalism on a life-support machine of state intervention.

We have reached the end of a political cycle which began with the collapse of communism in 1989. Just to remind ourselves, the collapse of the Soviet Union created an initial surge of optimism that history had ended with the triumph of western liberal democracy. In the East new democracies arose. In the west the third way concensus politics of Bill Clinton, adopted by Blair and others, replaced class based politics. It is very hard now to remember the enthusiasm which accompanied the election of Blair’ s New Labour in 1997. Many people welcomed what they saw as a decisive break with the past and the opening of a new chapter in history. We can now see that the idea of a new era of peaceful and stable capitalism which dominated the twenty years since the end of communism has come to a political dead end.

The upcoming defeat of Gordon Brown in the general election here will mark the final eclipse of New Labourism in the UK. What we are left with is a severely confused and disoriented western elite which is struggling to tackle the major changes taking place in the world. During the credit fuelled boom years of the noughties the absence of any clear economic and political blueprint for the future did not matter so much as it does now. The best that any politician can do now is to try to navigate the future without a map. On the economic front there is just as much confusion. While there are some commentators who wish to paint a rosy picture the general view is one of foreboding. The underlying problems facing western capitalism, which have been extensively debated in this blog over the past year, have not even begun to be addressed. The lack of a plan means they will fall back on restraint and cutbacks in public spending rather than bold policies for economic growth.

Elsewhere the triumph of liberal democracy is looking very hollow. The most dynamic economies in the world now pay lip service to democracy in general if at all. The recession has played its part in deepening the crisis of western politics by accelerating both a shift in global power eastwards and by undermining the western model of (supposedly) free markets plus democracy.

All of this means that the stakes are even higher for anybody who can come up with a better idea of how to run things. The depths of cynicism amongst the elite and the general populace will prove a huge barrier to any ideas of change, but there are always some people who will not want to give in to these widespread negative sentiments. Uncertainty can be a good thing if it leads to broader questioning and wider debate. there are those, such as Martin Wolf, who accept that we have reached a ‘hinge in history’. Whether this leads to a turn for the better or the worse is up to us.

[Via http://postrecession.wordpress.com]

You can't take it with you...

2010-01-12T01:31:00.000+02:00

Inheritance is a sticky issue. Even the happiest of families will fall out over a will. Avarice will often drive people to the most heinous crimes, theft, fraud or even murder. Inheritance has long been a staple in murder mysteries. (And I’m fairly sure that a large number of real murders have something to do with money.)

Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventure of The Speckled Band incorporates the themes of money and greed into a Gothic Murder-Mystery. The crumbling mansion and the rich, eccentric family create a great Gothic atmosphere for the story. I won’t spoil it, but the method of the murder is very inventive. I also came across another, much earlier Murder-Mystery The Poisoner of Montremos by Richard Cumberland, published in 1791, this is a short but complex story of a family. Their tangled relationships, financial ruin and greed drive them to murder. The conclusion is tragic and unexpected. The protagonist’s home is an eerie, melancholy castle, where he lives alone for many years before being brought to trial. This Murder-Mystery also uses the theme of inheritance, but in a more complex fashion.

Wealth is an important theme in many Gothic stories. The decayed aristocratic families clinging onto their titles and land, or the ambitious, greedy villain seeking his immoral fortune. Gothic tales became popular at a time when society was changing, more people were self-made, so attitudes towards the aristocracy and the notion of inherited wealth may have been less sympathetic.

Robert Louis Stevenson’s Olalla, depicts the aristocracy as inbred and degenerate, but maintaining their secluded castles and airs of superiority. Bram Stoker in Dracula and Dracula’s Guest, portrays them as inhumane and sadistic. The vampire is perhaps a very loose metaphor for the nobleman who displays a general lack of regard for human life.

Perhaps it is the money itself that has cursed these families. The fixation with wealth and holding onto wealth is enough to turn any happy family into a nest of monsters.

~~~

I enjoyed the new Sherlock Holmes film, it was a fairly liberal adaptation from the books. But it was a really strong action film, the characters were very entertaining. Holmes is portrayed as twitchy and eccentric, which I liked. (I love Basil Rathbone, but the older versions of Holmes are a lot more respectable and a little too staid for my liking.) The police are depicted as stupid, Rachel McAdams is lovely, and the psychotic nature of London comes across well. Lots of gratuitous BritPorn for anyone who likes that stuff, old buildings, period costumes, old-fashioned gadgets, posh actors etc.

All in all well worth seeing.

[Via http://catherinedigman.wordpress.com]

21/365 . Early Christmas

2010-01-10T09:45:00.000+02:00

21/365 . 1/2/2010

Characters:

Employees

Customer

Setting:

Large chain store.

Employees are all about the department, putting up wreathes and christmas lights, singing Christmas songs in Santa hats.

A customer enters their department.

Emp1: Happy New Years!

All Emp: Happy New Years!

Customer: Happy New Year.

Customer looks around as employees continue putting up decorations and singing.

Customer: Uhhh, excuse me.

Emp1: Yes? Can I help you find something?

Customer: Not really. I’m just curious; wasn’t Christmas a week ago.

Emp1: Yes.

Customer: Okay. Well, then shouldn’t you be taking down the decorations, not putting more up?

Emp1: Wellll, since the economy’s going to get so much worse this year than it has been, we’re giving it a little pinch in the arm to wake it up by starting the Christmas season early.

Customer: I can understand earlier, but this seems a little ridiculous.

Emp1: Haven’t you noticed the season starting earlier and earlier every year anyway? December 1st… Thanksgiving… Halloween… Columbus Day… it was only inevitable.

Customer: Huh.

Emp1: So you better be nice this year and spend your money… or else.

Customer: Or else?

All Emp: Or else.

[Via http://amerikana365.wordpress.com]

Lower Incomes and Loss of Employment

2010-01-10T01:52:00.000+02:00

Many of the writers of the blogs I’ve been reading as well as many of my readers are facing uncertain times. Many are facing lower incomes or loss of employment. It is frightening. We ladies like our security. We like our comforts, whatever they may be. We like knowing that the bills will be paid, that we can buy groceries, shoes for the kids, whatever we need, and a few extras.

Over the last five years my husband went from $60 K job to now working part-time for less than $300 a week. He’s looking for full-time work and has been for months. Our reality has changed dramatically. Life doesn’t look like I thought it would or even like I’d like it to; but, I’m getting so much closer to God through this. God has provided in amazing ways. We were able to move to a caretaker’s cottage and take care of a country estate four the absentee owner in return for rent. Money has come from unexpected sources with perfect timing. Just yesterday I was thinking of some things that our children need. I have no way of providing those things. Today, an envelope arrived with no return address. It was filled with cash. Yes, cash. There was an envelope with the children’s names and an envelope with Lowell and Laura on it. Praise God! We can buy wood so we can keep warm! The children need shoes. We can buy them! Praise God! God is so faithful to take care of us. God bless the sender, who obviously sent it in faith.

My point in sharing this is that you can survive. You’ll have to learn some new skills, learn to be content, learn to make do; but, you can do this. You have to lean into God and get that Word hidden in your heart. Talk to Him. He is great at showing you every bargain if you talk to Him all the way through the store and ask Him to show them to you. God bless you through this!

I’ve written a lot about what God’s done over the last couple of years. Although I write on WordPress now, I have a list of my best writings on the top of my old blog, http://harvestlanecottage.blogspot.com . You might take a look.

Blessings upon blessings to you!

Laura

[Via http://lauraofharvestlane.wordpress.com]

So How DO We Create Jobs Mr. President?

2010-01-09T17:49:00.000+02:00

Is anyone else as sick as I am about all this talk from this administration with no substance, no sign of ambition and total disregard for this country? You can talk all you want about creating jobs but it doesn’t do a damned thing. We have been waiting for results ever since you took the helm. You attacked Bush and McCain on the campaign trail about it during a time when the unemployment rate was much lower! Yet, somehow more and more people are still getting laid off every month nearly a year into your administration.

They can keep coming out in public saying that job creation is a top priority. Unfortunately thats not going to cut it any more because you’ve told us that since the campaign for the first stimulus package last February. That was supposedly going to create jobs and give the economy the emergency jump-start it needed. You were going to be transparent about it and even went through the trouble of creating a website, recovery.gov, to prove it. What we got was nothing but 700 billion dollars in wasted money. If your going to make jobs a priority, Don’t you think is might be a little important to understand how the job market works?

The healthiest market is one that is self-sustaining. For those of you who don’t know what that means, It’s one without government interference. Businesses don’t hire because they’ve been given extra money to spend because that not a self-sustaining job. When the funds run out whoever was temporarily hired will get laid off again. It’s just the way the market works. That is all the stimulus has done, though. Any growth that we saw was artificial and therefore temporary.

Employers look for work when they need it. That is when it is profitable for them to do so. In order for most retail businesses to be profitable, people have to be buying their product. When you raise taxes on the people they have less money that can go towards spending. As a result, business goes down and layoffs are the next step and it becomes a vicious circle.

The other way government hurts business is when you have a product that is in high demand. In other words people need to live to standards here in America. Arguably, oil and automotives can be considered a good example of this. These are businesses that are regulated and pounded by standards in every step of production. Whether is be the extracting and refining of oil which is becoming more and more prohibitively expensive not because the labor is that intensive, but rather the government weighs everything down like a parasite. In addition, the reason the auto industry has been so hard hit is because they are pounded with EPA requirements every step of the way. If it’s not the government interfering, it’s the unions. These are issues that could all be easily resolved in the free market, which has worked everywhere it’s tried yet we still trash it.

So having said this what does this mean for our economy?

This economic situation our government has catapulted us into cannot be sugar coated. This administration in many ways has put this country on a collision course for disaster. Just look at the historical examples. This country will continued to be weighed down and I’d be very surprised if we saw any improvement in the jobs market over the next year. This is why the importance of the 2010 election cannot be stressed enough. The dynamics of the government right now unfortunately is incapable of fixing this economy because it won’t consider anything that will repair this economy. They have created a reality that does not exist and it could have substantial consequences on the future of this nation.

[Via http://conservativetalker.wordpress.com]

McCain: Obama is Leading Extreme-Left Crusade to Bankrupt America

2010-01-09T01:46:00.000+02:00

I’ve had my differences with Senator John McCain. I always considered him to be a RINO. I even held my nose and voted for him in November of 2008. I felt he was too willing to kiss the ring of the Democrats in the name of bipartisanship, so I was blown away when McCain came out and blatantly stated that Obama was on a crusade to bankrupt America.

I could go and say, “ya think?” pointing out what to conservatives are just obvious. A tripled national deficit and double digit unemployment would be like the guy grabbing a bottle of V-8, slapping his forehead and saying, “I could have had a V-8!” But when RINOs get a revelation, it means the rest could possibly fall in line as well.

Hopefully that will translate into conversions among the Blue Dogs for the final healthcare vote.

[Via http://anationincrisis.wordpress.com]

Pooping In Our Own Backyard....

2010-01-07T09:52:00.000+02:00

You wanna know why our country’s in such a shit hole?

Why despite the billions…no, trillions supposedly spent on improving our lives, we’re still stuck in the rut?

Why the rich gets richer and the middle class and poor gets poorer?

Why so many Malaysians have opted to move overseas as a desperate resort for the good of their children’s future?

I’ll tell u why….

IT’s US!!! WE BROUGHT THIS UPON OURSELVES!!!!

We practically defecated in our own backyard and couldn’t be bothered at all to clean up until it was too late…..now that it’s full of shit, we start jumping around like jelly beans, asking “WHY“!!!!???

Our current shitty government continues to play on racial and religious sentiments to gain popularity, despite all the crap about creating a 1Malaysia……..and despite being in charge of a nation that is supposed quite weathy because of our oil reserves, has failed to improve our lifelihood in anyway.

Yes, we have the “super rich” but there are definitely a lot more who slog through their fulltime jobs to survive.

While we continure to pay taxes thru our noses, we see billions leak through the civil service, never to be recovered…….and who pays for these leakages ultiately? WE ALL-lor!!! That’s why the GST, the withdrawal of subsidies of essential items and what nots, have been implemented this year…..country no money mah.

And who voted them into power!!?? MALAYSIANS!! (of course got some “Malaysianised” illegal immigrants too lah)

Then there are those complaining about the state of “cleanliness” of our country……yes, it’s also the local council’s fault for not providing suffiocient dustbins……but then again, there are those of us who wouldn’t think twice about vandalising or even worst, making off with those bins!? For what lah!

And as for the rest of us, how many of us would hold onto that piece of used tissue paper until we’ve found a bin to discard it? I can say, majority would just throw it onto the streets.

Same thing with our public toilets!!! No one seems to know how to aim when they’re using one…..WHY LAH!!!

And why the need to wash the bottom and drown the entire toilet!!?? Can’t that wait till you get home? Nothing’s going to grow in there just yet, you know? Don’t say it’s one’s culture…..because if one is to go overseas where there’s no bidet, I can bet that “culturally-inclined” person will just make do.

And the road accidents…….if only those motorists and motorcyclists would stop treating the roads as their grandfather’s road, and respect every other road users……there would be so much less deaths……..same thing with the buses that ply the highways……..why are the drivers always sleepy and therefore always getting involved in accidents? Why are dingy and old buses still being used? Because we the consumers think nothing of it, close one eye and support these bus companies anyway.

And now, there’s this stupid stupid issue about who has the rights to the term “Allah”………COME ON LAH!!! Just because the heat is on the ruling party’s president for all his incompetences (in just about every other area), do they really have to create such a fiasco to divert our attention? Christians depending on the Bahasa bibles have since goodness know when been referring to God as “Allah” and that was never an issue……..

Where do we stupid gullible Malaysians come in, in all this stupidity? Everyone (well, almost everyone) falls for it, hook, line and sinker and heated arguments ensues!! It’s everywhere……online, MSMs….even a mass protest has been organised (But I bet my last two cents that the certain racist party is the responsible organising team). Are these people aware that while they are arguing over such matters, a greater national threat is sitting on his/her plushy throne, smilling in glee while being surrounded by all the weath that has been plundered!!??

We need to clean up folks……..clean up real good…….clean up all these mess before we can ever hope to sow new seeds in hope for a bountiful harvest for our future generation…….because there’s no way anything will thrive in all the shit that is taking place right now!!!

Be Careful...For Shit May Find It's Way Back To You.....

[Via http://msdaff.wordpress.com]

Ceramic Arts Daily Announces the Release of a New Free Resource for Ceramic Artists and Educators

2010-01-07T01:29:00.000+02:00

Ceramic Arts Daily, a blog and website serving active potters, ceramists, ceramic arts educators around the world, announces the release of an exciting free resource: Ceramic Carving Tool Techniques: Bringing the ceramic surface to life nursing education online.

Ceramics sculptural techniques

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Log-PR (Press Release) – Jan 06, 2010 – Ceramic Arts Daily, a blog and website serving active potters, ceramists, ceramic arts educators around the world, announces the release of an exciting free resource: Ceramic Carving Tool Techniques: Bringing the Ceramic Surface to Life. This free download is an excellent resource for educators ceramic art and artists interested in learning new techniques to boost the ceramic surface.One best ways to make a piece of clay work of your own is to literally your fingerprint.Ceramic Carving Tool Techniques: Bringing the ceramic surface to life, you learn to go further, bringing the shape and surface of your work together in a signature style using a variety of carving tools in combination with techniques such as sgraffito carving, engraving, wire cutting, relief and more.Ceramic Carving Tool Techniques: Bringing the ceramic surface to life may be downloaded here: … http://ceramicartsdaily.org/free-gifts/ceramic-carving-t Ceramic Carving Tool Techniques: Bringing the ceramic surface to life includes the following: advice on the best tools for carving, cutting, scraping, and Slashing Clayby Robin HopperNo matter how you want to approach the surface of your clay work, knowing that work best tool for each task – or even what tools are available – is a great way to get started.Scratching surface: Carving Intricate Designs for Color and Sgraffito Depthby Wayne BatesEven the simplest techniques of clay sculpture can give complex results with a little planning and ingenuity. Adding and changing layers of information will help to build a surface that will broaden your visual vocabulary. The sculpture in bas-reli

[Via http://tvidter.wordpress.com]

Queens gold medal awarded to Scottish poet

2010-01-05T09:13:00.000+02:00

A Scottish poet has been awarded the Queen’s gold medal for Poetry, which has been described as "poetry of bravery and conviction", according to reports.Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, who was the chair of the judging panel for the award, went on to commend winner Don Paterson for his acclaimed anthology Rain. She said that Paterson had achieved in just two decades what few poets manage in a lifetime. The gold medal does not come alongside any monetary prize, instead the Queen pays for the item which is struck in gold by the Royal Mint wood burning fireplace. Duffy explained that poets can not personally put themselves forward for the award but instead it is given to a writer who excels in a poetry collection or a single body of work over the course of the year. According to the official website of the British Monarchy, the gold medal bears the image of the Queen and is designed to portray truth.

Queen’s gold medal awarded to Scottish poet

[Via http://alldiamondsa.wordpress.com]

Why Don't We Know What is Really Happening?

2010-01-05T01:42:00.000+02:00

Why don’t we know any of this is happening? Every single fucking company that surrounds us lives only to take our money, not to take care of us. The dumber we are, the more money we give them. That’s part of the whole plan – to take advantage of our ignorance. And we have been stupidized for forty years – so now our own parents and grandparents cant warn us. These companies are sharks, they only live to eat. Not to take care of you, the earth, or hell, even themselves. When we are broke, they will die. But, there are small few people who will be rich off of you between now and then.

[Via http://steveaustinlex.wordpress.com]

Tengku Razaleigh: I will stick with UMNO

2010-01-03T09:08:00.000+02:00

January 3, 2009

Tengku Razaleigh: “…maybe I disagree with most things. It does not mean that I should not be a Member of UMNO”

by Aidila Razak

As a vocal critic of UMNO, veteran politician Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, as some believe, should again turn his back on the grand old party and join the opposition. But according to the Gua Musang MP, his disagreements with UMNO are not enough to take him across the political divide.

“Certain things I agree with, but maybe I disagree with most things. It does not mean that I should not be a member of UMNO,” said Razaleigh, who described himself as a “free thinker” in the party.

In an interview with Malaysiakini last week, Razaleigh also explained why the recent constitutional amendments would do little to free UMNO of its corrupt image, which caused the ruling BN coalition to suffer an unprecedented setback in the March 2008 elections.

He said that any meaningful change that is to take place in the country’s most powerful political party can only happen if its members can wean themselves off patronage politics.

“(The) attitude and the mindset of those UMNO chaps must change. They cannot be dependent on patronage all the time … and they must get rid of old bad habits,” he said.

The amendment also meant that the abolishment of the quota system in party elections, allowing Razaleigh the opportunity to contest for the top position. But this did not mean much to the man who in 1987 came close to ousting then UMNO president Dr Mahathir Mohamad for the party leadership.

“It doesn’t meet half of what I have proposed. I had proposed that every member should be given the right to select their leaders through a fair election,” he said.

Excerpts of the interview follow, with contents edited for the purpose of brevity.

Malaysiakini: After (opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim) invited you to join the (oil royalty) caucus, people are wondering what’s next. Have you been invited to join Pakatan?

Razaleigh: Why should I join Pakatan? I’m very happy where I am. (Laughs) I think Pakatan does not have enough places even for their own people.

Have they talked to you about it?

No, never.

But you have heard people talking about it?

Actually (Pakatan Rakyat coalition advisor Zaid Ibrahim) did make an overture once in his blog, but that’s about all. Zaid said all sorts of things, anyway.

What is your opinion about the Common Policy Framework (CPF) which they launched recently?

I’ve not even seen it.

So you’re not interested in it.

Not that I’m not interested. I’ve just not seen it.

Last week Pakatan had a convention and they presented a joint policy which looked very like a manifesto.

So because of that I should join Pakatan?

No, we just wanted to know your views on it. So the presumption is that you will remain with UMNO.

You can never tell the future. I may be dead tomorrow. (Laughs)

How do you see your place in UMNO today?

Let’s put it this way, I am a free thinker. I like to take the middle road in UMNO. Certain things I agree with, but maybe I disagree with most things. It does not mean that I should not be a member of UMNO.

About the next party elections, all this while the quota system has stopped you from contesting, but it has now been abolished.

I’m not influenced by that. I had offered myself even with the quota system in place. It does not bother me the least. The problem is money politics. If people don’t use money and corrupt the delegates, probably I may have a chance.

Do you plan to run (for president in the party elections) again?

It’s too far ahead to know, isn’t it?

Some people plan far ahead.

Ah, they are lucky people. (Laughs)

Will all these amendments to the UMNO constitution revive the party and help regain the people’s support?

It doesn’t meet half of what I have proposed. I had proposed that every member should be given the right to select their leaders through a fair election. But on top of all that, I think the attitude and the mindset of those UMNO chaps must change. They cannot be dependent on patronage all the time. They cannot be dependent on handouts and get rid of the old bad habits. The leaders must also buck up and change in a positive way.

They should read the signals sent by the people in the 2008 general elections if they want to stay in power. I’m not saying they will lose power but if they continue on the trend in which they have been conducting themselves, if they are not careful, they may be thrown out of office.

It’s not just about tinkering with the party constitution here, there and everywhere. It does not meet the expectations of a lot of people. Even the attitude and the lifestyles of the leadership ought to change. It ought to change and be responsive to the feelings of the people on the ground.

The opposition is in disarray anyway at the moment, and you want me to join Pakatan?

Maybe they will unite under you.

Oh, my God.

Some people have said that with the way the country is going, we are heading the way of Zimbabwe. Do you think that’s true?

The difference (between the two countries is) that in Zimbabwe they have (Robert) Mugabe. (Laughs).

Is that the only difference?

Oh definitely. He is dark compared to the leaders here.

People say we are like Zimbabwe because of the way the Court of Appeal has judged. The Kota Seputeh, Perak and a number of other issues lately has seen the appellate court overruling the High Court.

Yes, it’s unfortunate. I don’t agree with those decisions anyway. I think they have not interpreted the constitution, or the law, in the spirit in which it was written.

Everyone is waiting for the Federal Court to make its decision on the Perak issue (on who is the rightful menteri besar). What’s your prognosis on that?

I think they have no right to get rid of the (Pakatan) menteri besar without the formal vote of no confidence.

They should reinstate (ousted Perak Menteri Besar Nizar Jamaluddin)?

I’m not saying anything about reinstating. Why should he be thrown out in the first place? He shouldn’t be thrown out because it is common knowledge that constitutionally an assembly like Perak should not get rid of their menteri besar without due regard to the feeling of the elected councillors. These people should have a say.

Have you talked to the Perak Sultan about this?

The conversations between the Perak Sultan and I are private.

THE RAZALEIGH INTERVIEW

Part 1: Razaleigh dismisses KPIs as a waste of time

Part 2: For Ku Li, striking oil has turned into a curse

Part 3: To GST or not to GST?

Part 4: Despite his views, Ku Li still loyal to Umno

should once again turn his back on the grand old party and join the opposition.

But according to the Gua Musang MP, his disagreements with Umno are not enough to take him across the political divide.

“Certain things I agree with, but maybe I disagree with most things. It does not mean that I should not be a member of Umno,” said Razaleigh, who described himself as a “free thinker” in the party.

In an interview with Malaysiakini last week, Razaleigh also explained why the recent constitutional amendments would do little to free Umno of its corrupt image, which caused the ruling BN coalition to suffer an unprecedented setback in the March 2008 elections.

He said that any meaningful change that is to take place in the country’s most powerful political party can only happen if its members can wean themselves off patronage politics.

“(The) attitude and the mindset of those Umno chaps must change. They cannot be dependent on patronage all the time … and they must get rid of old bad habits,” he said.

The amendment also meant that the abolishment of the quota system in party elections, allowing Razaleigh the opportunity to contest for the top position.

But this did not mean much to the man who in 1987 came close to ousting then Umno president Dr Mahathir Mohamad for the party leadership.

“It doesn’t meet half of what I have proposed. I had proposed that every member should be given the right to select their leaders through a fair election,” he said.

Razaleigh: Why should I join Pakatan? I’m very happy where I am. (Laughs) I think Pakatan does not have enough places even for their own people.

Have they talked to you about it?

No, never.

But you have heard people talking about it?

I’ve not even seen it.

So you’re not interested in it.

Not that I’m not interested. I’ve just not seen it.

Last week Pakatan had a convention and they presented a joint policy which looked very like a manifesto.

So because of that I should join Pakatan?

No, we just wanted to know your views on it. So the presumption is that you will remain with Umno.

You can never tell the future. I may be dead tomorrow. (Laughs)

How do you see your place in Umno today?

Let’s put it this way, I am a free thinker. I like to take the middle road in Umno. Certain things I agree with, but maybe I disagree with most things. It does not mean that I should not be a member of Umno.

About the next party elections, all this while the quota system has stopped you from contesting, but it has now been abolished.

Do you plan to run (for president in the party elections) again?

It’s too far ahead to know, isn’t it?

Some people plan far ahead.

Ah, they are lucky people. (Laughs)

Will all these amendments to the Umno constitution revive the party and help regain the people’s support?

There’s an easy way to plan for retirement. Find out how.

It doesn’t meet half of what I have proposed. I had proposed that every member should be given the right to select their leaders through a fair election.

But on top of all that, I think the attitude and the mindset of those Umno chaps must change. They cannot be dependent on patronage all the time. They cannot be dependent on handouts and get rid of the old bad habits. The leaders must also buck up and change in a positive way.

The opposition is in disarray anyway at the moment, and you want me to join Pakatan?

Maybe they will unite under you.

Oh, my God.

Is that the only difference?

Oh definitely. He is dark compared to the leaders here.

People say we are like Zimbabwe because of the way the Court of Appeal has judged. The Kota Seputeh, Perak and a number of other issues lately has seen the appellate court overruling the High Court.

Yes, it’s unfortunate. I don’t agree with those decisions anyway. I think they have not interpreted the constitution, or the law, in the spirit in which it was written.

Everyone is waiting for the Federal Court to make its decision on the Perak issue (on who is the rightful menteri besar). What’s your prognosis on that?

I think they have no right to get rid of the (Pakatan) menteri besar without the formal vote of no confidence.

They should reinstate (ousted Perak Menteri Besar Nizar Jamaluddin)?

The conversations between the Perak sultan and I are private.

THE RAZALEIGH INTERVIEW

Part 1: Razaleigh dismisses KPIs as a waste of time

Part 2: For Ku Li, striking oil has turned into a curse

Part 3: To GST or not to GST?

Part 4: Despite his views, Ku Li still loyal to Umno

[Via http://dinmerican.wordpress.com]

The Big Conservative Lie

2010-01-03T01:49:00.000+02:00

After George W. Bush won in 2004, I was dumbfounded. Literally, I was unable to express my anger, disbelief and frustration with the voting public. I wasn’t sure if I was more concerned about living through another four years of this disastrous administration, or having to live among a population that was short-sighted enough to elect this man again. I believe I would have voted for just about anyone other than Bush and Cheney. Actually, I might have voted for a chimp. By the law of averages, the chimp would have made the right decision at least 40% of the time. Furthermore, everyone I knew felt just about the same way.

I had just gotten back from a little over a year in Iraq, and I knew perhaps better than others about the great lies that led us there. I was the Public Affairs Officer for a major command in charge of a large portion of Iraq, which included the better part of the “Sunni Triangle”. I sat in on meetings with most of the major players of both the American forces and the Iraqi peoples. I knew, for instance, that nobody, and I mean nobody, took seriously the “search” for weapons of mass destruction. In fact, to the best of my knowledge, our command didn’t search at all for WMD. Tips we got from Iraqis about the possible location of such weapons went largely ignored. Command meetings discussing the day to day activities and progress of the command, never included discussions about WMD. Ah, good times.

By the time I returned home, bitter and dejected, it seemed the rest of the country was also beginning to demand answers for why we had yet to uncover any WMD, any evidence, in fact, that the Hussein regime even had a WMD program. And so the election results of 2004 came as a great, disheartening and unpleasant surprise.

After an appropriate mourning period, I began to ask how this atrocity had occurred. How the American people had been duped a second time by this snake oil salesman from Texas? How could so many people still believe that Iraq had something to do with the terror attacks of September 11, 2001? How could so many people not understand that giving every American $800 during the worst budget deficit in American history was simply buying votes, with your own money no less? How could so many middle and lower economic class Americans vote against their own interests? How could anyone believe a multi-billionaire oil man was deregulating and “detaxing” huge corporations in the best interests of the working class?

And despite historical evidence screaming against it, we voted Reagan into office twice and the same with G.W. To me it defied logic and common sense. What the hell is wrong with the American population?

I asked. I asked a lot. I asked everyone I knew and many people I didn’t know. The answer that I got most often that made any amount of sense was moral and social issues such as abortion and gun control.

Sure, a lot of dupes gave economic reasons, but that could only be because they were in fact dupes and had no notion of the history of the Republican and conservative historic romance with big business, which has NEVER helped middle class America. I don’t just say these things; they are facts – all there to be discovered by anyone smart enough to read.

So, I’m left with pro-life, pro-gun, anti-evolution, pro-school prayer issues. Oh yeah, and one HUGE LIE.

I began to look into this. Despite having won 5 of the last 7 presidential elections (excluding the current Obama administration), the conservatives that working class America have put into office haven’t really done a damn thing about the issues they claim to care so much about. G.W. had the House, the Senate, and the Supreme Court in his back pocket, and still made no changes to Roe v. Wade, gun control laws, or reintroduced prayer in public schools. And this does not take into account the fact that, while the Clinton White House was liberal on these social issues, it was more fiscally conservative than Reagan or either of the Bushes.

What they have done, however, is deregulate big business, cut the taxes of the richest Americans, pull the carpet out from under organized labor, castrated government agencies that protect workers and the poor and run the economies of the nation and many hard working families into the ground. And while they have been pissing on our collective leg, we are being told over and over and over again that it’s the rain of free market capitalism we feel. That these warm nourishing drops of golden nectar are fertilizing the soil of our economy by allowing big business to be free of regulation, free to earn more money which will allow them to be free to create more jobs. Really? I mean REALLY? Well, where are they? Wages have been dropping in real dollars for years. Job creation, (which by the way, GW was the first president in history to have a NEGATIVE job growth statistic) when there has been any, has been mostly in the service area (There are only so many McDonalds our country can support).

I saw a glimmer of hope when President Obama rolled over the Republican Party. But only a year later, most voters have lost the faith. Partly because he hasn’t yet miraculously put to right the financial mess that George W. took eight years to create (to be fair, conservatives had been bringing it to a boil for years before “The Decider” took the oath). But beyond not being able to perform miracles, and I believe more to the point, conservatives continue to lie! And many many Americans continue to believe it.

Every week I’m going to address those lies. Not the nitpicky little lies that politicians tell every day (though I’ll do that too, because it’s fun), but the ones that really have so many people voting their own families into foreclosures and community pantries at the local churches. I’m also going to suggest some books, movies and other media, along with my honest review of each. And some other fun stuff.

Like it? Good, give me some feedback and suggestions. Hate it? Bugger off! No, really. But maybe before you go, do some honest research about the topics I broach. You might be surprised. By the way, honest research does not include asking Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Fred Thompson or Glenn Beck how they feel about it.

In the mean time, check out this book:

“What’s the Matter with Kansas?” by Thomas Frank. Mr. Frank does a thorough job of examining just the lies I’ve been talking about today, which makes it an excellent recommendation for this week. The book can be a little dry, but that lends it a more credible voice. The research for the book was extensive and the author attributes all the facts and claims to unquestionable sources.

[Via http://theconservativelie.wordpress.com]

Twenty Main Line Middle School Students Inducted Into National Junior Honor Society (NJHS)

2010-01-02T09:29:00.000+02:00

Devon Prep students in seventh and eighth Recognized for Excellence.

Devon Prep New inductees of the National Junior Honor Society.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Log-PR (Press Release) – Jan 02, 2010 – Devon Preparatory School recently inducted 20 Middle School students in the Junior National Honor Society (NJHS) top baby names. The new inductees are: Eighth Grader Graham Kerrigan of Wallingford, and seventh graders James Cashel Newtown Square, Malvern James Colleran, Daniel Crowe of West Chester, Andrew Hayden of Exton, John Hegarty of West Chester, Maxwell Lee of Chester Springs Andrew Loper of Newtown Square, Downingtown James Lucas, Angelo Luchetti of Downingtown, Phoenixville Nicholas Mara, Nathaniel Wayne McLachlan, Albert Emanuel Milani Drexel Hill, Jack Murphy, of Phoenixville, Malvern Pauciulo Michael J.Bailey Pollack Radnor, David Randall, of Audubon, Andrew Shannon of Royersford, Joseph Teti Berwyn, James Zakreski of Downingtown.More than just honor roll, National Junior Honor Society serves to honor students who have demonstrated excellence in the areas of Scholarship, leadership, service, character and citizenship. These characteristics were associated with membership in the organization since its inception in 1929. Today, it is estimated that more than one million students participate in the activities of the NJHS. NJHS chapters are found in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, many U.S. Territories and Canada. Chapter membership not only recognizes students for their accomplishments, but challenges them to develop further through active involvement in school activities and community services….

Source: Twenty Main Line Middle School Students Inducted Into National Junior Honor Society (NJHS)

[Via http://dorrato.wordpress.com]

Hormonal Male Traders producing a Momentum Effect contrary to the Efficient Market Hypothesis and Rational Choice

2010-01-02T01:18:00.000+02:00

By HopeForTheDismalScience (William P Bell)

Coates and Herbert (2008) study the role of the endocrine system in financial risk taking in a group of male traders in London. They find a positive relationship between a trader’s testosterone level and his daily Profit and Loss (P&L) and between his cortisol level and financial uncertainty, being measured by variance of economics returns and expected variance of the market. They note that rational choice is affected by the levels of the hormones. The more profits the trader made relative to his daily average the higher his testosterone became. Heightened testosterone increases a trader’s preference for risk. The process has a positive feedback, producing a financial variant of the “winner effect”. Additionally, short periods of high volatility increase a trader’s cortisol levels, which increase his motivation and his ability to focus, producing a euphoric feeling. However, prolonged period of elevated cortisol levels produce selective attention on mostly negative events and anxiety, reducing a trader’s preference for risk. Even if the number of traders is small, these hormonal effects could reinforce the momentum effect and cause markets to deviate from rational choice.

Reference

Coates, JM & Herbert, J 2008, ‘Endogenous steroids and financial risk taking on a London trading floor’, Proceeding of the National Academy of Science of the USA, vol. 105, no. 16, pp. 6167-72.

[Via http://wileyeconomicsfocus.wordpress.com]

Alert: Indian Army Ready For War Against China And Pakistan Simultaneously

2009-12-31T09:08:00.000+02:00

PakAlertPress

India is preparing for a possible `two-front war’ with China and Pakistan, Indian newspaper saying Wednesday.

The newspaper said the Indian Army is now revising its five-year-old doctrine to effectively meet the challenges of war with China and Pakistan, deal with asymmetric and fourth-generation warfare, enhance strategic reach and joint operations with IAF and Navy.

Work on the new war doctrine — to reflect the reconfiguration of threat perceptions and security challenges — is already underway under the aegis of Shimla-based Army Training Command, headed by Lt-General A S Lamba, sources told the Indian newspaper.

It comes in the backdrop of the 1.13-million strong Army having practiced — through several wargames over the last five years — its `pro-active’ war strategy to mobilise fast and strike hard to pulverize the enemy.

This `cold start strategy’, under a NBC (nuclear-chemical-biological) overhang, emerged from the `harsh lessons’

learnt during Operation Parakram, where it took Army’s strike formations almost a month to mobilise at the `border launch pads’ after the December 2001 terrorist attack on Parliament.

This gave ample opportunity to Pakistan to shore up its defences as well as adequate time to the international community, primarily the US, to intervene. The lack of clear directives from the then NDA government only made matters worse.

“A major leap in our approach to conduct of operations (since then) has been the successful firming-up of the cold start strategy (to be able to go to war promptly),” said Army chief General Deepak Kapoor, at a closed-door seminar on Tuesday.

The plan now is to launch self-contained and highly-mobile `battle groups’, with Russian-origin T-90S tanks and upgraded T-72 M1 tanks at their core, adequately backed by air cover and artillery fire assaults, for rapid thrusts into enemy territory within 96 hours.

Gen Kapoor identified five thrust areas that will drive the new doctrine. One, even as the armed forces prepare for their primary task of conventional wars, they must also factor in the eventuality of `a two-front war’ breaking out.

In tune with this, after acquiring a greater offensive punch along the entire western front with Pakistan by the creation of a new South-Western Army Command in 2005, India is now taking steps — albeit belatedly — to strategically counter the stark military asymmetry with China in the eastern sector. There is now “a proportionate focus towards the western and north-eastern fronts”, said Gen Kapoor.

Two, the Army needs to `optimise’ its capability to effectively counter `both military and non-military facets’ of asymmetric and sub-conventional threats like WMD terrorism, cyber warfare, electronic warfare and information warfare.

Three, the armed forces have to substantially enhance their strategic reach and out-of-area capabilities to protect India’s geo-political interests stretching from Persian Gulf to Malacca Strait.

“This would enable us to protect our island territories; as also give assistance to the littoral states in the Indian Ocean Region,” said Gen Kapoor.

Four, interdependence and operational synergy among Army, Navy and IAF must become the essence of strategic planning and execution in future wars. “For this, joint operations, strategic and space-based capability, ballistic missile defence and amphibious, air-borne and air-land operations must be addressed comprehensively,” he said.

And five, India must strive to achieve a technological edge over its adversaries. “Harnessing and exploitation of technology also includes integration of network centricity, decision-support systems, information warfare and electronic warfare into our operational plans,” he added.

Apart from analysing the evolving military strategy and doctrines of China and Pakistan, the Army is also studying the lessons learnt from the US-launched Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan in 2001 and Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 and their relevance to India. PD Agencies

[Via http://siyasipakistan.wordpress.com]

Is Obama Trying to Marshal Our Own Military Against Us?

2009-12-31T01:51:00.000+02:00

Let’s just be clear right up front. While ANYTHING is possible, I don’t believe what these writers are saying is close to happening.

There are several statements in the stories that can be backed up with facts from other sources. Some of those I have linked to with the stories. Others, especially things attributed to the unnamed military and police officers, are just too fantastic to believe without further evidence to back the stories up.

Are there any of you out there who know anything more about these stories?

(Note: PURPLE highlights indicate things that smell a bit fishy to me. ORANGE highlights indicate things that I think are possible, perhaps even probably based on other tidbits of information.)

http://www.eutimes.net/2009/12/us-forces-plan-direct-action-against-american-citizens/ U.S. Forces Plan Direct Action Against American Citizens

Posted by Europe on Dec 11, 2009

“There is an event coming in the very near-term future that is going to effect the USA to its very soul,” former Kansas State Trooper Greg Everson of The Heartland USA and former host of Republic Broadcasting “Voices from the Heartland” told host Steve Quayle in a special two hour “Survive 2 Thrive” broadcast Thursday.

“What is being planned and what is coming together is a perfect storm brewing right over our heads.” Everson cited verifiable information confirmed by an active duty US Air Force Colonel, three chiefs of Police, a local Sheriff, State Troopers in 3 neighboring Midwest states and a Federal agent he has known for twenty years.

“There is being made an effort to bring together the Armed Forces of this Nation in preparation for responding to and acting against the interests of our Citizens,” Everson said. Such efforts include actions that will be so deep and penetrating that the United States will never be the same. Everson explained that the deteriorating economy combined with Federal Reserve theft of trillions unaccounted for has had a devastating effect on Americans who have had enough and the US Military expects will respond by defending what little they have left. (That much the author is correct about. We are willing to defend what’s left.)

“The American people have reached the point of total saturation due to the failure of Government to protect its borders, corruption and theft.” Everson expects that such a response has been projected by US Government computer models and believes NORTHCOM, DHS and state and local authorities will begin implementation of Operation Garden Plot and Martial Law within 45-60 days. “Civil war is precisely what this administration wants to happen,” said Everson. “And before Americans can organize themselves they will be destroyed by their own military.” (I seriously question whether our military will fire on its own civilians. Most that I know would not. Operation Garden Plot seems to be a real OPLAN. Here’s a link to one site that has documents that appear to be legit without looking too hard.)

The first signs of pacification by our own forces will not only be convoys rolling through city streets and small towns throughout the Country, but direct military action against pre-targeted areas. Data acquired in the past year by “Census workers” has been used to program military targeting computers which our own armed forces will use in the unthinkable task of fighting its own citizenry.

“It is a formula for unmitigated disaster regardless of Copenhagen, Health Care reform or anything coming from Capitol Hill,” Everson said. Steve Quayle noted his own sources who say as many as 50 million Americans are likely to be killed with gun owners, veterans and the more visible dissenters the most likely targets of deadly force. More “liberal” areas that pose minimal resistance would likely be pacified using lesser means.

One of Everson’s’ sources was quoted as having said “We have plans that if it gets bad enough we will simply commence yard farming,” (a military reference for targeted air strikes) on neighborhoods and communities in cities and states where heavy resistance is expected. A tactic designed to destroy both the enemy and the area(s) under and around the enemy. Everson suggests such horrifying events could possibly coincide with an invasion by the Chinese from the west and Mexico from the south. In any case, military, law enforcement and civilian casualties could be enormous. (Me thinks the author has watched “Red Dawn” a few too many times. However, if America were to descend into civil war (which would fit well with the Cloward and Piven strategy being followed by Obama), the Chinese, Russians, and a host of other vultures would not hesitate to pick over our carcass.)

During the two hour broadcast Quayle received an e-mail message from an undisclosed US Military source that a last minute, unscheduled meeting of Saturday December 5 has been called for all unit commanders in the region to present readiness status reports. States in the Region include Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois and Tennessee.

http://www.eutimes.net/2009/11/obama-orders-1-million-us-troops-to-prepare-for-civil-war/print/ Obama Orders 1 Million US Troops to Prepare for Civil War

Posted By Europe On 28/11/2009 @ 11:59 pm In North America, War

Russian Military Analysts are reporting to Prime Minister Putin that US President Barack Obama has issued orders to his Northern Command’s (USNORTHCOM) top leader, US Air Force General Gene Renuart, to “begin immediately” increasing his military forces to 1 million troops by January 30, 2010, in what these reports warn is an expected outbreak of civil war within the United States before the end of winter. (Much of that depends on the passage of health care reform, cap-and-trade, and another “stimulus.” If the voters can keep the predatory government at bay a little longer, there is hope.)

According to these reports, Obama has had over these past weeks “numerous” meetings with his war council about how best to manage the expected implosion of his Nations banking system while at the same time attempting to keep the United States military hegemony over the World in what Russian Military Analysts state is a “last ditch gambit” whose success is “far from certain”.

And to Obama’s “last ditch gambit”, these reports continue, he is to announce in a nationwide address to his people this coming week that he is going to expand the level of US Military Forces in Afghanistan by tens of thousands of troops, while at the same time using the deployment of these soldiers as a “cover” for returning to the United States over 200,000 additional American soldiers from the over 800 bases in over 39 countries they have stationed around the Globe bringing the level of these forces in America to over 1 million, a number the US Military believes will be able to contain the “explosion of violence” expected to roil these peoples when they learn their economy has been bankrupted. (Is there anyone out there who can back any of this stuff up? I’m usually someone who thinks anything is possible, but this seems far fetched even to me.)

These reports further state that at the same time Obama will be attempting to keep his Nation from violent disintegration, the tens of thousands of additional troops he will send to Afghanistan are to be ordered to Kandahar where the Americans and their NATO allies will begin their final attempt to secure their TAPI (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India) pipeline, which without the Western Nations, due to their grave lack of alternative energy resources, and being cut off from these vast Central Asian supplies (which both Russia and China are seeking to insure), are warned will totally collapse.

Making the American’s (and by extension the West’s) situation even worse are new reports coming from the International Energy Agency stating that “under pressure” from the US government they have been “deliberately underplaying” a looming Global oil shortage for fear of triggering panic buying and raising the Americans fear over the end of oil supremacy because it would threaten their power over access to our World’s last remaining oil resources.

To the scariest “end game” maneuvers being made by Obama, in his attempt to protect Americas Global hegemony, is his record shattering move in plunging the United States $3.5 Trillion further into debt, and which raises the total amount owed by the United States, to its citizens and the World, to the unprecedented height of over $106 Trillion. (That figure is correct. When you add up all the money owed on all the government books, that is a much more accurate number than the $13 Trillion commonly reported.)

So alarming has Obama’s actions become (especially since they are being imitated by all of the Western powers) that the managing-director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, warned this past week that the “stimulus actions” of the West (which in essence is nothing more than the printing of money with nothing to back it up) has now become a “threat to democracy” as millions of people are expected to erupt in violence against their governments over the theft of their money and their futures. (OK. This part is verified. Here’s the link to one of several articles where Strauss-Kahn is quoted as saying things similar to what this EUOnline author has attributed to him: http://in.reuters.com/article/economicNews/idINIndia-38656120090323)

Most unfortunately for the American people though is that this IMF warning fell on “deaf ears” in the United States with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President, James Bullard, saying this week that the US would continue its “stimulus actions” because they “would give more flexibility to US policymakers”, a most absurd statement especially when viewed in the light of the unprecedented debt payments currently looming over the American economy they have no ability whatsoever to pay. (Without even looking it up, I do know that the democrats/liberals are talking about another stimulus, which the American people overwhelmingly DO NOT WANT, and which would be disastrous.)

To the ability of the West’s banking giants to save their Nation’s economies, even worse news came this week with the US ratings giant Standards & Poors issuing a warning that “every single bank in Japan, the US, Germany, Spain, and Italy included in S&P’s list of 45 Global lenders remain unsafe”, a warning which then lead to one of Europe’s largest banks, Société Générale, warning its clients to prepare for a “total Global Economic Collapse”. (Believable. There probably will be a depression before this is through, but I don’t think that makes the original assertion of this article any more valid.)

To the fears of Obama over the United States erupting into civil war once the full extent of the rape and pillaging of these peoples by their banks and government becomes known to them, grim evidence now shows the likelihood of this occurring much sooner than later, especially in new poll figures showing that Obama’s approval rating among white Americans has now fallen to 39%. A number made more significant when one realizes that the white population of the United States comprises 74% of their estimated 398 million citizens, or put more ominously in these reports as “over 220 million American people armed to the teeth and ready to explode”.

And so fearful has the white population of the United States become that upon the election of Obama to the Presidency he was named as the “Gun Salesman of the Year” by the Outdoor Wire, the US’s largest daily electronic news service for the outdoor industry, who report “panic buying” of weapons and ammunition by those fearful of the destruction of their country at the hands of man they believe is not even an American citizen and had been foisted upon them by their elite classes seeking to enslave them.

Though the coming civil war in the United States is being virtually ignored by their propaganda media, the same cannot be said of Russia, where leading Russian political analyst, Professor Igor Panarin has long warned that the economic turmoil in the United States has confirmed his long-held view that the US is heading for collapse, and will divide into separate parts.

Professor Igor Panarin further stated in his warning that “the US Dollar is not secured by anything. The country’s foreign debt has grown like an avalanche, even though in the early 1980s there was no debt. By 1998, when I first made my prediction, it had exceeded $2 trillion. Now it is more than 11 trillion. This is a pyramid that can only collapse.”

What remains to be seen, and these reports do not speculate upon, is if the citizen-soldiers of the United States will fire upon and kill their fellow countrymen during the coming conflict, but if history is to be our guide clearly shows this will be the case as the once great American Nation continues its headlong plunge into the abyss of history. May God have mercy upon all of them. (AMEN.)

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[Via http://texan2driver.wordpress.com]

New Labour - desperate for a class war ?

2009-12-29T09:49:00.000+02:00

Naturally Labour are desperate to show a class war with the Conservatives helping their rich friends and New Labour helping their poor, lower paid supporters.

The poor, lower paid have of course been the focus of the the last 12 years of New Labour in government?

Actually NO! Labour have failed to look after the lower paid. They have failed to support their union friends.

Living standards for the poor are worse now than 12 years ago.

Child poverty, despite the money spent on it, is as bad as it ever was.

Education standards are lower in state schools!

New Labour like their millionaire friends, to have (several) expensive houses, to be photographed with important people, to jump when the USA tells them to!

New Labour have no right to claim that they care for the poor. The traditional left-wing Labour MPs appear to have been sidelined!

Blair and Brown and many of their ministers would appear to be only interested in living the high life! Now the chickens are steadily coming home to roost and New Labour are beginning to understand that they have isolated themselves from almost all areas of society.

An example of Brown and Labour putting themselves before the country is the refusal of this government to stand down now and have an election.

The UK is in desperate straits. The finances are shot. The debts are huge and will take years to pay back. Public Services are being cut. Decisions are being taken a government whose focus is on surviving the next six months.

How can that be good for the UK? We need decisive action and long term decision making. Whilst New Labour hang on to power looking for ways to survive, they are putting the interests of the UK after the interests of the country!

[Via http://itsmyview.me.uk]

The Economy, How Bad Is It?

2009-12-29T01:42:00.000+02:00

The economy is so bad… That I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.

The economy is so bad…. I ordered a burger at McDonalds and the kid behind the counter asked, “Can you afford fries with that?”

The economy is so bad… If the bank returns your check marked “Insufficient Funds,” you call them and ask if they meant you or them.

The economy is so bad… Hot Wheels and Matchbox stocks are trading higher than GM.

The economy is so bad… Parents in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and learned their children’s names.

The economy is so bad… A truckload of Americans was caught sneaking into Mexico ..

The economy is so bad… Dick Cheney took his stockbroker hunting.

The economy is so bad… The Mafia is laying off judges.

The economy is so bad… Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen.

The economy is so bad.. My GPS is linked to my bank account to make sure I can afford to go to the destination I asked for.

[Via http://adityakelshikar.wordpress.com]

Golden State Tarnished:California Continues to Lose Population

2009-12-27T09:46:00.000+02:00

California, nicknamed the golden state for the gold mines found statewide now tarnished. For years California has lost population and 2009 was no different. For the census year ending July 1st California lost 98,798 people equal to the small city like Compton,CA got up and move away. The good news it far less than the peak in 2006 when California lost over 300,000 residents.

The six other states that have lost population: New York came a close second with 98,178; followed by embattled Michigan with 87,339.

Next: Illinois seen 48,249 flee The Land of Lincoln; followed up Ohio with 36,278; New Jersey the Garden State lost 31,690 to other states. Round up the list Florida, the sunshine state looking rather stormy with 31,179.

CNN Money

[Via http://hgguy.wordpress.com]

Energy : Uranium Kalimantan Barat Cukup Untuk 150 Tahun

2009-12-27T00:55:00.000+02:00

Uranium KalBar

By Republika Newsroom

Minggu, 27 Desember 2009 pukul 05:26:00 Cadangan Uranium KalBar Cukup untuk 150 Tahun

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PONTIANAK–Kepala Badan Perencanaan Pembangunan Daerah (Bapedda) Kalimantan Barat, Fathan A Rasyid, menyatakan bahwa cadangan uranium di provinsi itu bisa digunakan untuk Pembangkit Listrik Tenaga Nuklir selama 150 tahun.

“Dari data yang ada Kalbar setidaknya memiliki 25 ribu ton uranium yang tersebar di sekitar Kabupaten Melawi,” kata Fathan A. Rasyid di Pontianak, Sabtu.

Ia mengatakan, PLTN merupakan solusi dalam mengatasi kekurangan energi listrik di Kalbar dan Pulau Kaliamantan pada umumnya. “Baru-baru ini Bapedda Sekalimantan telah menyepakati akan mengembangkan PLTN di pulau itu dalam mengatasi kekurangan energi listrik,” kata Fathan.

Kalbar setidaknya memiliki PLTN berkapasitas 1.000 mega watt untuk mengatasi krisis listrik di provinsi itu. “Akibat krisis listrik tidak sedikit niat investor yang ingin menanamkan modalnya harus ditolak karena terbatasnya pasokan listrik,” katanya.

Ia mengatakan ke depan energi listrik dari nuklir memang harus diperhitungkan, kalau tidak diambil langkah tersebut maka krisis listrik di provinsi ini akan terus berkepanjangan.

“Kami menargetkan PLTN bisa terwujud 10 hingga 16 tahun ke depan. Saat ini pengembangan PLTN di Kalbar sudah masuk tahap studi kelayakan atau pase dua,” ujarnya.

Sebelumnya, Gubernur Kalbar Cornelis mengatakan dua kabupaten, yaitu Kabupaten Melawi dan Landak di provinsi itu dapat menjadi lokasi pembangunan PLTN.

Menurut dia, Kalbar memenuhi syarat untuk dibangun PLTN, karena salah satu wilayah yang mempunyai uranium, yakni di Kabupaten Melawi.

Selain itu, lanjut dia, Kalbar relatif aman dari bencana seperti gempa. “Sekarang bagaimana mengemas teknologi supaya tidak bocor, dan limbahnya aman,” katanya.

Gubernur Cornelis telah menyampaikan usulan pembangunan PLTN itu kepada Dewan Energi Nasional. Namun, lanjut dia, rencana dan pengembangan sumber energi di Kalbar sangat tergantung komitmen dari Pemerintah Pusat. “Investor sebenarnya banyak yang mau untuk mengembangkan listrik di Kalbar,” katanya.

Konsumsi terbesar energi listrik di Kalbar untuk Kota Pontianak dan sekitarnya. Beban puncak sekitar 123 MW, daya mampu 148 MW. ant/ahi

[Via http://jakarta45.wordpress.com]