NEW YORK – Bernard Madoff has been sentenced to 150 years in prison for his multibillion-dollar fraud scheme. U.S. District Judge Denny Chin handed down the sentenced in New York on Monday.
The 71-year-old former Nasdaq chairman was arrested late last year after confessing to his sons that his secretive investment advisory business was a "big lie." He pleaded guilty to securities fraud and other charges in March and has been jailed since.
#1
I blame it on the weather, which was very hot and humid all week until Sunday morning. This was the first hot spell in Chicago this summer and that usually triggers (pun intended) a rise in violent crime.
[Straits Times] AN Iranian man was arrested after trying to smuggle 5.7 million ringgit (S$2.35 million) worth of drugs disguised as pickled cucumbers into Malaysia, it was reported on Sunday.
Customs deputy director general Mohammad Hassim Pardi told state media the Iranian was detained with liquid methamphetamine at Kuala Lumpur's international airport on Friday after arriving on a flight from the Middle East. He said inspectors became suspicious after inspecting one of two bags the man was carrying, which contained five cans labelled as pickled cucumbers. However, no cucumbers could be seen when the luggage was screened.
Mohammad Hasim told the news agency Bernama it was the first time that customs officials had detected and foiled an attempt to smuggle liquid methamphetamine into Malaysia. 'When the liquid methamphetamine is processed or dried, it turns to crystals forming what is known as Ice,' he said.
'The Iranian man, who has been to Malaysia three times before, is now remanded for seven days to facilitate investigations,' he added. Mohammad Hassim said that, if found guilty of drug smuggling, the man faced the death penalty under Malaysia's harsh anti-narcotics laws.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/29/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Very effective pickle-screening equipment those Malays have.
Billy Mays, the bearded, boisterous pitchman who, as the undisputed king of TV yell and sell, became an unlikely pop culture icon, died June 28 at his Tampa home at age 50. Tampa police told the Associated Press that his wife discovered him unresponsive early in the morning. A fire rescue crew pronounced him dead at 7:45 a.m.
The man many TV viewers knew as "the OxiClean guy" was among the passengers on a US Airways flight that made a rough landing the previous afternoon at Tampa International Airport. Mr. Mays told Tampa's Fox TV affiliate that something fell from the ceiling and hit him on the head, "but I got a hard head." A police spokeswoman said linking his death to the rough landing would "purely be speculation."
As often as 400 times a week, his "Hi! Billy Mays here!" signaled yet another paean to Mighty Putty, Simoniz Fix It scratch remover, the Big City Slider Station, the Handy Switch, the Awesome Auger and numerous other "As Seen on TV" products. In a 2008 profile of Mr. Mays, The Washington Post noted that top pitchmen get about $20,000 upfront for each commercial they tape, although Mr. Mays made even more money from a commission on gross revenue. He refused to be specific about his annual income, although Forbes magazine said his efforts accounted for more than $1 billion in combined sales for the products he pitched.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/29/2009 11:20 ||
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#1
I wonder if Billy Mays had a precondition in his brain that was aggravated by the hit on the head. Maybe the autopsy will tell us.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/29/2009 13:29 Comments ||
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#2
prelim autopsy results
- hypertension
- clogged arteries
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/29/2009 19:18 Comments ||
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#3
6 o'clock news said heart problems (I think undetected - I wasn't paying much attention).
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/29/2009 20:02 Comments ||
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Duty Honor Country
May your memory be as much of a blessing as was your life to those you loved and those you kept free.
Retired Marine Corps Col. Kenneth L. Reusser, called the most decorated Marine aviator in history and was shot down in three wars, has died at age 89.
Reusser flew 253 combat missions in World War II, Korea and Vietnam and was shot down in all three, five times in all. His 59 medals included two Navy Crosses, four Purple Hearts and two Legions of Merit.
In 1945, while based in Okinawa, he stripped down his F4U-4 Corsair fighter and intercepted a Japanese observation plane at a high altidude. When his guns froze, he flew his fighter into the observation plane, hacking off its tail with his propeller.
In 1950 in Korea led an attack on a North Korean tank-repair facility at Inchon, then destroyed an oil tanker almost blowing himself out of the sky.
In Vietnam he flew helicopters and was leading a rescue mission when his Huey was shot down. He needed skin grafts over 35 percent of his badly burned body.
Reusser, who lived in the Portland suburb of Milwaukie, was born Jan. 27, 1920, the son of a minister. He raced motorcycles to help pay for college and earning a pilots license before WWII.
After retiring from the Marine Corps he worked for Lockheed Aircraft and the Piasecki Helicopter Corp. He remained active in veterans groups.
Reusser died June 20 of natural causes. He is survived by his wife, Trudy; and sons, Richard C. and Kenneth L. Jr. Interment was Friday in Willamette National Cemetery. Stainless steel cojones.
But - to give heroic credit where it is due, the record needs to be corrected - Ken Reusser did earn a Navy Cross for pursuit of a Japanese observation plane, but it was a pilot named Robert Klingman who used his propellers to down the enemy plane.
Details at http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7795385237882019506/posts/default
Checkerboarder Jim Cox's Corsair kept dropping back until he was a thousand feet below and behind. He wasn't able to coax one more knot out of his battle-weary plane. Reusser told Cox and the other pilot to return, while he and Klingman continued their pursuit.
At 38,000 feet, they were at their struggling Corsairs' service ceiling. But the Nick was still one mile ahead. In the thin air, they were on the edge of stall, and had to make only small and gentle movements of their controls to avoid the drag of a pre-stall burble that would allow the enemy to extend further out of range.
Reusser recalls, "The gunner pounded with his fist on the action of his machine gun to free it up.
Klingman continued,
As we got closer, Ken was firing and the bogey's rear gunner started firing back at us. I was taking a few small bullet holes. My plane had no gun heaters and my guns were frozen and inoperative. But I was still pretty eager to get me a Jap plane.
My Corsair was a bit faster than the other one. So I crept ahead. I closed until I was 20 or 30 feet behind him. I couldn't get any closer due to his prop wash. Held me back. I slowly climbed above, then nosed over slightly and sliced into his tail with my prop. I only had enough extra speed to chew off some of his rudder and elevator before being blown away by the Nick's prop wash.
He was still flying, so I climbed above him for a second run. I nosed down toward him again, but pulled out too soon. I only got some of his rudder - and part of the top of the rear canopy as the gunner frantically tried to use his machine gun.
I climbed slightly above for a third run, then chopped off his right elevator. That hit did most of the damage to my plane. And we both spun down out of control. After losing only about 1,000 feet I recovered. But the enemy plane continued its spin until, at about 15,000 feet, both its wings came off.
Klingman didn't have a 'shoot down.' But . . he definitely had a ' knock-down.'
They were hundreds of miles from home with Klingman's control stick shaking so hard it was "leaping around " in his cockpit. Then, as they worked their way home, descending through 10,000 feet, Klingman radioed that his engine had quit.
Others radioed Bob to "Go over the side."
In his own judgment, Klingman thought he had a fair chance to glide as far as the airstrip's closest end, then land it ' dead stick' out of a straight-in approach.
There would be no forgiveness for his slightest misjudgment.
Alerted by radio, all the pilots and crew members near the airstrip were transfixed as Klingman, with propeller silently windmilling, approached the airstrip for a ' no-go-around ' landing.
At the last second, Klingman flared. His plane touched down on the dirt overrun, bounced a handful of yards to the airstrip's hard surface, and rolled to a stop.
As the pilots and crew members ran over to examine the aircraft and applaud the pilot, they were astonished by the plane's damage. All three blades of Klingman's propeller had six inches missing from the tip. The bird's wings were riddled with bullets, and chunks of the Japanese airplane were found inside the cowling.
#2
I am sure that the NY Times, CBS, NBC and ABC as well as NPR will interrupt their regularly scheduled Obamathon and report this news about a real American hero.
/snarked out
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/29/2009 14:03 Comments ||
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THE horrifying state of pop superstar Michael Jackson in his final days can be revealed by The Sun today.
Harrowing leaked autopsy details show the singer was a virtual skeleton -- barely eating and with only pills in his stomach at the time he died. His hips, thighs and shoulders were riddled with needle wounds -- believed to be the result of injections of narcotic painkillers, given three times a day for years. And a mass of surgery scars were thought to be the legacy of at least 13 cosmetic operations.
Experts found the distressing evidence of Jacko's physical decline while investigating his startling death in Los Angeles last week.
The examination showed the 5ft 10in star -- once famed for his on-stage athleticism -- had:
PLUNGED to a "severely emaciated" 8st 1oz. It is understood anorexic Jackson had been eating just one meagre meal a day. 112 pounds, 1 ounce.
Pathologists found his stomach empty aside from partially-dissolved pills he took before the painkiller injection which stopped his heart. Samples were sent for toxicology tests.
LOST virtually all his hair. The pop pin-up was wearing a wig when he died and pathologists said little more than "peach fuzz" covered his scalp. A scarred section of skin above his left ear was entirely bald -- apparently the result of a 1984 accident when his hair caught fire as he filmed an ad for Pepsi.
SUFFERED several broken ribs as frantic rescuers pumped his chest after he collapsed in cardiac arrest. Four injection sites were found above or near to Jacko's heart. All appeared to result from attempts to pump adrenaline directly into the organ in a failed bit to restart it. Three of the injections had penetrated the heart wall -- causing damage -- but a fourth missed and hit one of the 50-year-old star's ribs.
The autopsy also found unexplained BRUISING on Jackson's knees and on the fronts of both shins. And there were CUTS on his back, indicating a recent fall.
The King of Pop's once handsome face bore a network of plastic surgery scars, while the bridge to his nose had vanished and its right side had partially collapsed.
As inquiries into the tragedy last night focused on the star's personal physician Dr Conrad Murray, a source close to the Jackson entourage said: "Michael's family and fans will be horrified when they realise the appalling state he was in.
"He was skin and bone, his hair had fallen out and had been eating nothing but pills when he died. Injection marks all over his body and the disfigurement caused by years of plastic surgery show he'd been in terminal decline for years.
"His doctors and the hangers-on stood by as he self-destructed. Somebody is going to have to pay."
Cardiologist Dr Murray was thought to have given Jackson the final injection of painkiller Demerol. He is facing serious questions about his resuscitation attempts, which began when he started CPR as Jacko lay unconscious on a bed. Basic first aid guidance says patients must be face-up on a hard surface before compressions.
Experts yesterday expressed amazement that a trained cardiologist could have made such an error, potentially wasting vital minutes.
Additional damage was believed to have been caused by oxygen masks and tubing inserted during resuscitation attempts. But in an ironic twist, the probe found Jacko was recovering well from skin cancer -- with an op to shave cells from his chest a total success.
A second autopsy demanded by the Jackson family was carried out at a secret location on Saturday after the first ruled out foul play.
Family friend Rev Jesse Jackson said the family were deeply suspicious about what caused his death.
Dr Murray was hired just 11 days ago by AEG Live -- the firm masterminding Jacko's 50-date residency at London's O2 Arena, which was due to start next month. Sources claimed the family were preparing a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against the cardiologist.
Detectives were unable to find the doctor at Jackson's home and his car was taken away for analysis as police sought him for questioning. He surfaced late on Friday and was quizzed over the weekend.
The Sun told on Saturday how Jacko had developed stage fright for the first time and was terrified of performing the comeback gigs. Aides claimed the ailing star even believed he would be KILLED if he pulled out on health grounds. We also revealed he was taking a potentially toxic cocktail of drugs.
Sources last night said prescriptions for drugs for patients other than Jacko were found at his home. Those patients were due to be quizzed.
#5
And, not to be outdone in Battle of the Opportunistic Race Baiters...
The Rev. Al Sharpton is expected to at the Jackson's family home in Encino, CA on Monday. He will be there to discuss a worldwide tribute and how to preserve Michael Jackson's legacy.
Sharpton flew in from Atlanta on Sunday is going to meet with the family to plan a possible worldwide celebration to honor the "King of Pop"s" life.
Sharpton said this: "I'm here to make sure Michael gets in death what he never got in life - he never got credit, He was not a freak, he's a genius. He was not somebody who was eccentric, he was innovative and that innovation smashed barriers and he should be given a lot more credit than he's been given."
#8
Weighing out at 8 Stones, 1 ounce. I thought the stretcher-bearers were skipping along rather briskly.
Definite candidate for snark-of-the-week award ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/29/2009 13:33 Comments ||
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#9
And where were all of his so-called friends who "loved" him so well when he was living a life of total self-abuse? It is still all about persona.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/29/2009 13:58 Comments ||
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#10
I find the anorexia claim suspicious. Recent articles quoted Mr. Jackson as admitting to being underweight and needing to eat enough to regain the weight necessary to have the strength to perform the contracted concerts. One of trailing daughter #2's friends went through an anorexic/bulimic phase; the key marker was her insistence that she was fat, despite being healthily muscular rather than her target of catwalk-model thin. (When her family's home life stabilized, so did her ability to see her body properly, so that's ok). On the other hand, I've been so sick that I couldn't muster the energy to eat more than a bowl of soup or cereal over the course of a day, which sounds more like Mr. Jackson's situation. Compound that with the incredibly high level of stress he was under the last few months, trying to pull together a concert he knew he didn't have the stamina to perform, and it's no wonder he was living on pills and injections.
Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez' announcement that the state will borrow more money to help pay off national oil company debts follows the disclosure by President Hugo Chavez of a letter urging Moscow to cooperate in selling oil at $100 a barrel.
The squeeze begins to hurt ...
State petroleum company Petroleos de Venezuela has run up billions of dollars in debts to contractors since global oil prices began tumbling nearly a year ago.
Although denying that PDVSA had cash-flow problems, Ramirez said that outstanding debts to contractors, both domestic and foreign, stood at $5.6 billion. That figure is far short of PDVSA's previous reckoning of $12 billion in financial debt last year. The minister said he would try to raise money by selling domestic bonds to finance public spending. He gave no details when the sale would take place or how much debt would be taken on.
But his announcement is in line with a government plan outlined in March to sell almost $16 billion worth of new bonds this year.
And a law was passed in May permitting PDVSA, which he heads, to pay debts with bonds rather than cash, and to compensate assets at book value. The state-owned oil company now insists that the drop in prices means oil companies are charging too much and it wants to renegotiate what it now refers to as "overvalued contracts." Oil firms should take a 40 percent cut in their bills, Ramirez insists.
In May the Venezuelan military seized some 30 oil terminals and 300 boats belonging to 60 oil service companies. Chavez said that the oil industry rightly belongs to the nation and its people. Oil producers have protested, with some taking Venezuela to international arbitration or suspending operations until the bills are paid.
The national oil company says it needs to reduce expenses by 60 percent, due to the low price of oil, which stood at around $70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Friday. That figure is more than 50 percent below last year's peak of $147 a barrel in July.
Like OPEC, Venezuela continues to almost totally depend on oil revenue, which provides 93 percent of its export revenue. Chavez said he sent Russian President Dmitry Medvedev a letter last week urging that "big oil-producing countries unite" to raise oil prices to $100 a barrel. The letter was taken by Venezuelan Vice President Ramon Carrizalez, who visited Moscow last Monday.
#2
Long time passing my brother had a small concrete business. He once told me it is better to let the equipment sit in the yard rather than have it working on a job where he lost money and had wear and tear on the equipment to boot.
It sounds like these oil companies should pull out and write the loss off the books. I suspect they are losing money and wearing out their equipment as well.
#6
"urging Moscow to cooperate in selling oil at $100 a barrel"
Flunked market economy 101?
Posted by: European Conservative ||
06/29/2009 15:27 Comments ||
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#7
Definitely too many clerics. Everyone knows you need a balanced party with wizards, fighters, at at least one elf.
You mean that rotary transformer thingy, it puts out higher voltage, that's what transformers do, but I've noticed they deliberately do NOT measure amperes.
Not so much a hoax, as bad research, coupled with poor understanding of electricity in the first place.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/29/2009 15:30 Comments ||
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#8
Sorry, previous cut and paste did not clear, it was supposed to say
The famous battery powered battery charger. Coming to the US economy real soon now...
and THEN
You mean that rotary transformer thingy, it puts out higher voltage, that's what transformers do, but I've noticed they deliberately do NOT measure amperes.
Not so much a hoax, but bad research, coupled with poor understanding of electricity in the first place.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/29/2009 21:01 Comments ||
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The International Whaling Commission's annual conference ended in disarray Thursday, keeping in place a ban on commercial whaling amid deep rifts between hunters and conservationists.
The commission's new chairman said the IWC should now question its role as the conference on the Portuguese island of Madeira wrapped up a day early with delegates agreeing only to extend negotiations on whaling for another year. "We have to re-establish a consensus on what the IWC is and should do, and there are at least two contradictory perceptions to answer that question," said Cristian Maquieira, who was elected chairman during the talks this week.
Continued on Page 49
The Saudi job market does not need more graduates in Islamic studies, the head of one of Saudi Arabia's newest universities said in remarks published on Sunday.
The comments by Mohammed Ali al-Hazaa, who directs Jazan University in the south, could irritate many in the influential religious establishment. Founded in 2006 by King Abdullah, Jazan University does not have a faculty for religious studies, unlike other universities in the kingdom, the world's biggest oil exporter. "There is no need in the job market for graduates in Sharia (Islamic law) and the foundations of religion. We don't want to increase unemployment and the market is saturated," Hazaa told Okaz newspaper.
But surely the study of Islamic religious literature, religious law and religious history prepares one as well as rabbinic or ministerial studies for a life outside the mosque or the madrassah... oh wait.
Never mind.
The education ministry has been considering ways of improving education after King Abdullah removed two clerics from top positions in February in what analysts said was an effort to curb the influence of the powerful clerical establishment. Graduates in religious studies work in government, education, the mosques, the courts and in the religious police force.
Director Hazaa does have a point; professionals tend to be ever so much more effective when they've received a professional education. We wish him and his university luck in achieving this goal.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/29/2009 00:00 ||
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#4
In Saudi Arabia, I don't see how this guy could be doing any better than p*****g in the wind and he may end up a whole lot worse. I hope his life insurance premiums are all paid up.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/29/2009 8:27 Comments ||
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#5
#2 Definitely too many clerics. Everyone knows you need a balanced party with wizards, fighters, at at least one elf.
Oh, dude, I know it's just plain wrong, but I simply cannot resist, I'm so weak, a weak geek, that's what I am, sorry... : DM of the Rings
Already had seen many of those individually, but only discovered the sequential blog posts a while ago, spent an afternoon readint the whole serie. It's just so... true. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
#8
I see your DM of the Rings, and raise you The Order of the Stick. (The link goes to the latest comic.)
Too many funny comics to mention, really, including this one from the end of the first story arc, which reminds me of some of the comments threads around here sometimes.
This has the system the Clerics in Saudi Arabia use: link.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday the United States believes the unrest in Honduras "has evolved into a coup," but the U.S. is not demanding that deposed President Manuel Zelaya be restored to office. She also said the military coup has not triggered an automatic cutoff of U.S. aid to Honduras.
Clinton told reporters at the State Department that a delegation from the Organization of American States will be heading to Honduras as early as Tuesday "to begin working with the parties" on the restoration of constitutional order.
She stopped short of saying the Obama administration would demand the return to power of the deposed president, who was forcibly removed from the country on Sunday morning by the Honduran military.
Obama didn't stop short ...
A reporter asked whether the administration would insist that Zelaya be restored to power.
"We haven't laid out any demands that we're insisting on, because we're working with others on behalf of our ultimate objectives, which are shared broadly," Clinton replied. "So we think that the arrest and expulsion of a president is certainly cause for concern that has to be addressed. And it's not just with respect to whether our aid continues, but whether democracy in Honduras continues."
"You expect the United States to intervene in a Latin American coup?"
Clinton cited a "fast-moving set of circumstances" in Honduras that require close monitoring. "Our immediate priority is to restore full democratic and constitutional order in that country," Clinton said at her first news conference since breaking her right elbow in a fall at the State Department June 17.
"As we move forward, all parties have a responsibility to address the underlying problems that led to yesterday's events in a way that enhances democracy and the rule of law in Honduras," she added.
Seems like the Honduran president was proposing a referendum that would have dumped on the rule of law there. Their Supreme Court told him not to do it but he was doing it anyway. How does that fit the 'rule of law'?
While stating that circumstances in Honduras had "evolved into a coup," Clinton added that it was a fast-moving situation with an uncertain outcome. "So we are withholding any formal legal determination. But I think the reality is that having expelled the president, we have a lot of work to do to try to help the Hondurans get back on the democratic path that they've been on for a number of years now," Clinton said.
She said the United States is looking at its aid program for the country and considering the implications of the forced removal of Zelaya for continued American assistance.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/29/2009 16:17 ||
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#1
Uh, with a President like Reagan Honduras had the confidence to enter a democratic path.
Now, with the current one, the best they apparently feel they can hope for is a dictatorship they control instead of Hugo.
#2
What happens if it devolves into an impeachment? Anybody have experience with those? What if a competent judicial authority finds that a competent military authority properly refused to obey an unlawful order? What if nobody is killed during the entire affair? What if neighboring, and near neighboring states exert overt and covert pressure on domestic authorities? Who is to judge that? What if the OAS demands a return to "democratic" norms? What if Honduras asks for a definition of that, along the lines of Cuban and Venezuelan examples?
#3
She said the United States is looking at its aid program for the country and considering the implications of the forced removal of Zelaya for continued American assistance.
In finest traditions of Chicagoland "pay to play." Of course the upside.... Aid dividends harvested from an illegal coup could be redirected to Hamas for education and school lunch programs.
#3
Obama - that statement could put some US students, on a working trip, there in a position where everybody will be after the American students.....
Some really nice kids you jerk!
#6
Well, we have a new entry in the political dialectic. According to the ever evolving leftist meme of statecraft, a president who is "democratically elected" can disregard the legislative and judicial branches, get help from a foreign military, and stage what amounts to his own sham election if he wants an additional term (unless of course he is a Republican and this is the US we are talking about).
That, friends, is an inescapable and logical inference from the reaction to the Honduran constitutional crisis in liberal, media, and other leftist circles.
We probably cannot save Honduras from an authoritarian caudillo in the Castro/Allende/Chavez mold at this point. Our population is too heavily indoctrinated with misapplied and loaded terminology (like "coup"), weasel words, and common bigotry.
Will Obama and ACORN have help from the Venezuelan air force if they try to stage their own sham election and give the Zero a third term in 2016? Ridiculous? Sure, but it is no different from what they are trying to force on the people of Honduras. After all, the One was "democratically elected."
[Iran Press TV Latest] Honduran congressional leader, Roberto Micheletti, has been designated to replace the ousted president Jose Manuel Zelaya.
Former president Zelaya was detained and flown to Costa Rica by coup soldiers on Sunday, leaving the position vacant.
A resolution read on the floor of Congress accuses Zelaya of "manifest irregular conduct" and "putting in present danger the state of law," for his refusal to obey a Supreme Court ruling against a constitutional referendum he wanted to hold.
Zelaya, a close ally of the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, was seeking to remove the limits on presidential terms through a referendum, paving the way for his re-election.
Later in the day Congress approved the removal of Zelaya, and cited constitutional articles that said the head of congress assumes the presidency in such cases.
The body had earlier read and approved a supposed letter of resignation from Zelaya, who claims the document is false.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/29/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Only coverage I saw was on the various spanish channels. Lots of stuff about Mexico I didn't hear about either. Lots of excitement about the confederation cup as well.
Hat tip, Instapundit
THE CONGRESSIONAL Budget Office has a tough job: to provide America's lawmakers with a reality check on their tax and spending plans. Not surprisingly, the CBO's projections are not always received cheerfully. Both President Obama and leading congressional Democrats were less than thrilled when the CBO estimated that the costs of universal health coverage would be much higher than advertised. To be sure, projecting the cost of legislation involves making assumptions and constructing models that may or may not prove accurate 10 years down the road. Nonetheless, the CBO, with its tradition of scholarly independence, is the best available arbiter, and Congress must heed its numbers -- like them or not. That's not how "Hope & Change" Messiah operates
Now comes the CBO with yet more news of the sort that neither Capitol Hill nor the White House is likely to welcome: its freshly released report on the federal government's long-term financial situation. To put it bluntly, the fiscal policy of the United States is unsustainable.
German Prime Minister Angela Merkel and the Chinese have been telling President Obama the same thing, the one as a friend, the other as the largest holder of our debt.
Ah, ours is a President to whom you don't 'tell' things ...
Debt is growing faster than gross domestic product. Under the CBO's most realistic scenario, the publicly held debt of the U.S. government will reach 82 percent of GDP by 2019 -- roughly double what it was in 2008. By 2026, spiraling interest payments would push the debt above its all-time peak (set just after World War II) of 113 percent of GDP. It would reach 200 percent of GDP in 2038. Or USA will cease to exist
Or we'd repudiate the debt, or we'd inflate our way out of it.
An important warning from a fairly unbiased source. But long before 2038 the fools who attempted to take on the debt load for us will be out of office and in the political equivalent of a locked ward. Remember, most of the payouts in the current budget have not actually been disbursed yet (and therefore need not be) -- that was one of the complaints about its efficacy as an economic pump primer.
#1
This is really scary stuff. Despite everything the CBO is telling us, the 0ne insists that any criticism of his plans for energy and health care reform are "misinformation".
If even one of the aforementioned plans are implemented, let alone both, how long will it take to undo the immense damage it will inflict upon our country? Or are we totally screwed not matter what we do?
#2
But long before 2038 the fools who attempted to take on the debt load for us will be out of office and in the political equivalent of a locked ward.
There will be no blaming President Obama by then. He will have left office 5 years previous to this and retired to his koffee plantation in Kenya.
#3
There are only 3 ways out of the existing national debt:
(1) pay it off
(2) repudiate it
(3) devalue the currency
The first option is plainly impossible even now. 0's profligacy will only make things worse.
#4
There is another way: Vote out BO next time around. Vote out the buffoons who are in Congress and replace them with people who are fiscally responsible. Vote them in with the clear understanding that they will so long as they do the job that they were sent there to do--rein in costs and spending. Also they need to quit ruining our economy.
#7
These projections are wildly optimistic, because they assume a recovery from the current collapse in government revenues (everywhere). Even where government revenues and spending were roughly in balance, large cuts in spending are required to avoid balloning debt.
Due to the wonders of compounding the crunch will come a lot sooner.
There is no avoiding large cuts in government spending everywhere. Which some of us see as a good thing.
The French state will sell a chunk of nuclear giant Areva to Asian and Middle Eastern investors to help finance the future of a group considered a jewel in the country's industrial crown, a report said Friday.
What could possibly go wrong?
The Financial Times said the government was preparing a capital increase for the state-controlled group and could sell a 15 percent stake to raise two billion euros (2.8 billion dollars). The move would leave the French state with 75 percent of Areva, a world leader in nuclear power with manufacturing facilities in 43 countries, down from its current 90 percent.
France produces most of its electricity from nuclear power and President Nicolas Sarkozy has been active in trumpeting his country's know-how to win French companies new business abroad.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), Areva's Japanese partner, is set to take a stake in the French company, said the FT, citing unnamed people with knowledge of the situation. MHI said it had not received an offer to buy a stake but told AFP it was prepared to study such a proposition.
French energy groups like EDF, Total and GDF Suez have previously been touted as possible investors in Areva. The French government is also in talks with sovereign wealth funds such as Mubadala of Abu Dhabi over their participation in a capital increase, which will be launched later this year, the FT said.
Areva needs between eight and 10 billion euros by 2012 to fund its investment programme, notably to develop its third-generation EPR nuclear reactor. It also needs an estimated two billion euros to buy out Siemens' stake in Areva NP, its reactor subsidiary.
Areva's supervisory board is due to meet next Tuesday after which the FT says it is likely to announce plans for a capital increase.
RELATIVES of a Pakistani teenager who eloped and married without parental consent shot her dead in a raid on her new home which also killed her husband and in-laws, police said.
Dressed in police uniforms, dozens of relatives attacked the bridegroom's house in the district of Charsadda, in North West Frontier Province. "The assailants took the bridegroom out while some of the attackers climbed the wall and entered the house. They killed the bride, the mother and sister of the bridegroom,'' said Charsadda district police official Saleem Jan. "They beat them first and then shot them dead,'' he told AFP. The groom's father was also killed, another police official told AFP from Sardheri village in Charsadda.
The bride was aged 18 to 19 and the groom 29 to 30.
Police said the teenager, from the deeply conservative Mardan district next to Charsadda, had run away and recently married without telling her parents. "Both the girl and man married some weeks ago,'' the bridegroom's uncle Misal Khan told reporters at the scene. "The attackers were headed by the (paternal) uncle, cousin and maternal uncle of the girl. One of the attackers left his police uniform at the site. They also left one mobile phone in a pocket of the uniform,'' he added.
Such clever men, as well as loving.
Police said the main suspects were two uncles and a cousin. "We have registered a case against three relatives of the girl and their unknown accomplices,'' police official Saleem Jan said.
[Geo News] girl, aged 24, shackled in chains has been recovered from a remote village Kajlay Wali. According, DPO Sialkot Waqar Chohan the girl's step-mother had kept her detained in chains for seven year. He said the girl is now suffering from a psychological disorder due to the prolonged inhuman treatment she was meted out during the detention time.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/29/2009 00:00 ||
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[Straits Times] THAILAND'S 'Red Shirt' protesters loyal to fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra ended a peaceful rally in Bangkok on Sunday with the promise of more anti-government gatherings in the future.
Thaksin, who is living in exile to avoid a jail term for corruption, urged a crowd of around 25,000 followers not to leave him 'dying in the desert' of Dubai in an impassioned telephone address late on Saturday.
The crowds stayed overnight in a historic quarter of central Bangkok and dispersed at around 6am on Sunday (7am Singapore time) after a 14-hour rally marked by several spells of heavy rain, police said.
Police said the demonstration was peaceful as the protesters had promised, but more than 3,000 officers and 1,000 soldiers were on hand during the event to guard government offices and search the crowd.
Billionaire telecoms tycoon Thaksin was ousted in a military coup in 2006 and saw his allies driven from government late last year after protests by the rival 'Yellow Shirt' movement.
He made a 50-minute speech on Saturday night, telling the cheering, red-clad crowd: 'We come here because we want to see real democracy. We hate injustice and double standards'.
'I am fine and doing some business and travelling around but I am really lonely, I want to go back,' Thaksin said. 'Why do you have to leave me dying in the desert when I can work for our country?' Appealing to his grassroots support base in the poorer north of Thailand, he said current Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's government was 'good for three things: borrowing, hiking taxes and hounding Thaksin'.
In the largest anti-government rally since bloody Red Shirt riots erupted two months ago, protesters repeated their demands for British-born Abhisit to dissolve parliament and call fresh elections. They also berated royal adviser Prem Tinsulanonda, whom they accuse of instigating the 2006 coup that ousted Thaksin.
Protest leader Jatuporn Prompan said they would organise three more gatherings, without saying when they would be.
During his weekly television programme on Sunday, Mr Abhisit made no mention of the rally.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/29/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
A rather poor choice of colors. Well someone has to do this.
#3
"The administrator and the administration has decided to move forward on endangerment, and your comments do not help the legal or policy case for this decision," he wrote, according to the e-mails released by CEI. "I can only see one impact of your comments given where we are in the process, and that would be a very negative impact on our office."
proof of bias printed directly within the article itself.
Short form.
Don't bother me with the facts, my mind's made up.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/29/2009 21:22 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
THE horrifying state of pop superstar Michael Jackson in his final days can be revealed by The Sun today.
Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez' announcement that the state will borrow more money to help pay off national oil company debts follows the disclosure by President Hugo Chavez of a letter urging Moscow to cooperate in selling oil at $100 a barrel.
