There was a surprising amount of that kind of thing at the time. My grandfather was warned that the SS were on their way to arrest him. He hid in the woods nearby until they left empty handed, then packed an overnight bag and made his way across the German-Dutch border that night. My grandmother followed on the train that weekend, and my mother was sent to join them a month later, when they'd found a place to live.
A flatulent pig triggered a minor emergency in Australia when smells wafting from her farts sparked gas leak fears
Two fire engines and 15 firefighters turned out in darkness to search for the source of the 'leak' at Axedale, near Bendigo, Victoria.
Eventually, the culprit - a 120kg pet sow - was identified, reports the Melbourne Herald Sun.
Fire chief Peter Harkins said: "We got to the property and we could smell a very strong odour in the vicinity. It didn't take us too long to work it out because we could both smell and hear her.
"She got very excited when two trucks and 15 firies (firefighters) turned up and she squealed and farted and squealed and farted. I haven't heard too many pigs fart but I would describe it as very full-on."
Mr Harkins said the family had done the right thing by calling emergency services to report the suspected gas leak.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/28/2009 14:38 Comments ||
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#2
Most fun thing I ever did with paper airplanes was staple firecrackers into their center of gravity, light the fuse & let them fly from a 3rd floor window.
One thing that stands out from the 2008-09 numbers is that Americans are no longer flocking to the resorts of the Sun Belt. Florida's growth was well below the national average, as it was in the previous year, in contrast to its torrid growth over most of the last century.
California grew at only a little more than the national average, entirely because of immigrant inflow and high immigrant birth rates. More Americans are leaving California and Florida than moving in.
The same is true of Nevada and Arizona. For most of the last two decades, they have been our two fastest-growing states; Las Vegas and Phoenix have become major metropolises in the desert.
But now they're metropolises in trouble, with the nation's highest foreclosure rates and collapsed construction and real estate industries. Nevada was only the 16th fastest growing state in 2008-09, and that's only because of (decreased) immigrant inflow. Arizona, the fastest-growing state in the previous year, now ranks No. 7.
Immigration into Nevada, Arizona and California continues, though at lower rates than earlier in the decade. Interestingly, several Northeastern states -- New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut and Rhode Island -- continue to attract large percentages of immigrants, but even they (except for Massachusetts) suffer from domestic outflow. Public policies -- high taxes and welfare benefits -- may account for these seemingly contradictory trends.
In contrast, this recession has seen several states move from below-average to above-average population growth. They include Oklahoma, with its energy-based economy; Tennessee, one of the few states without an income tax; and South Dakota, with its thriving credit card economy.
The state with the fastest population growth in 2008-09 was demographically tiny Wyoming, the nation's largest coal producer, which has had a higher rate of domestic in-migration than any other state. Just behind at No. 2 was Utah. With the nation's largest birth rates and largest families, Utah demographically resembles the America of the 1950s.
No. 3 in percentage population growth in 2008-09 was giant Texas, the nation's second most populous state. Its population grew by almost half a million and accounted for 18 percent of the nation's total population growth. Texas had above-average immigrant growth, but domestic in-migration was nearly twice as high.
There may be lessons for public policy here. Texas over the decades has had low taxes (and no state income tax), low public spending and regulations that encourage job growth. It didn't have much of a housing bubble or a housing price bust.
Under Govs. George W. Bush and Rick Perry, it has placed tight limits on tort lawsuits, and has seen an influx of both corporate headquarters and medical doctors.
Bush's late job ratings may have been low, and Perry may be a wine that doesn't travel. But their approach to governing may not be lost even in Washington.
Polidata Inc. projects from the 2009 estimates that the reapportionment following the 2010 Census will produce four new House seats for Texas, one for Florida, Arizona, Utah and Nevada, and none for California for the first time since 1850. Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Illinois are projected to lose one each, and Ohio two. Americans have been moving, even in recession, away from Democratic strongholds and toward Republican turf.
#2
Americans have been moving from Democratic strongholds toward Republican turf.
Where they will continue to vote for the same cr*p that caused the conditions they fled from (Nevada and Arizona became filled with fleeing former Californistas and look at what happened.)
#4
A lot of union types who fled the rust belt are now picketing (like crazy) places in Texas that trditionally hires non-unions. In downtown Dallas in 2009 lines and lines of picketers were around numerous high rises under going renovations, so yes, the new comer influence is greatly asserting itself across Texas...
#5
GUAM PDN FORUMS POSTER > opined that Amers or local residents will leave INSOLVENT/BANKRUPT US STATES, COUNTIES, + CITIES, etc becuz they recognize that the same Insolvent cannot exist. In addition, unfortunately for Amers SAID SAME "INSOLVENCY/BANKRUPTCY" CAN SERVE TO INCREASE FEDERAL GOVT. TAKEOVER + CENTRAL CONTROL OF CONSTITUTIONALLY OR LEGALLY SOVEREIGN US ENTITIES. ANTI-DEMOCRATIC FED POWER WILL INCREASE OR EXPAND, NOT REDUX.
IOW, MORE "JUSTIFIED" = POLITICALLY-LEGALLY DENIABLE REGULATORY SOCIALISM, TOTALITARIANISM, HYPER-GOVT, + OTHER GOVT-CENTRIC NANO-MANAGEMENT ETC. IN "NORMAL" AMER LIFE, as due to "justified" FED-GOVT INTERVENTION DUE TO STEADILY WEAKENING US ECONOMY???
* FOX NEWS AM > GUEST Panel > the end result of POTUS Bammer's Stimulus, Bailout, or ObamaCare packages is the US GOVT. = FED ALLOWING THE PRIVATE SECTOR TO LEGALLY EXIST, BUT NOT TO MARKET COMPETE AGZ GOVT.-CONTROLLED
"PRIVATE/CONSUMER INDUSTRIES".
SUB-IOW, NAZI AMERIKA [you know, the COMMIE USSA = USR] + OWG GLOBAL "JUNKERS" GRUPPES???
#7
Where they will continue to vote for the same cr*p that caused the conditions they fled from...
No kidding! These people either have no grasp of cause and effect, or they're the spores of a larger plague. They foul their nest beyond what even they can stand, then move someplace else and start all over. There should be a bounty on them.
I see my beloved State (Texas) being consumed by these bottom dwelling Liberals before my eyes. Scum, absolute scum, all of them.
A lot of union types who fled the rust belt are now picketing (like crazy) places in Texas that trditionally hires non-unions.
Yep! And I see that ending badly, for them. There are a LOT of folks here that want nothing to do with the Unions, and when push comes to shove there is going to be violence unlike anything they have ever experienced in the places where they came from.
[Mail and Globe] Zimbabwe has reassured food giant Nestlé on the safety of its staff after a dispute on buying milk from President Robert Mugabe's farm prompted the firm to suspend operations, a minister said on Friday.
Then I believe them. Of course, I'm gullible...
Industry minister Welshman Ncube said he had met with Nestlé Zimbabwe and national dairy officials who agreed that the milk from Gushungo Dairies, owned by Mugabe's family, should be bought by local processors. "Welshman, dey need to buy deir milk from Genco Pura Dairies! Make them an offer they can't refuse!"
Nestlé in October stopped buying milk from the Mugabe farm, which was seized from white farmers under his controversial land reforms. "For its part, government has given its assurance on the safety of staff and management at both Nestlé Zimbabwe and Gushungo Dairies," Ncube said. "It'd be a terrible t'ing if something happened to your staff and management, wouldn't it? I'm sure Mr. Nestlé would be very unhappy!"
"You wouldn't...?"
"No, no! Cert'nly not! But if some person or persons unknown should...?"
"As a result of those consultations, the parties have collectively reached an understanding to work together in ensuring that milk produced at Gushungo Dairies is absorbed by the local dairy processors." "Okay. Okay. I guess milk's milk. It all tastes the same, after all!"
"Genco Pura Milk only costs a little more!"
Nestlé Zimbabwe chairperson Kumbirai Katsande confirmed having met with Ncube and other government officials. "We met with the government and did receive a letter from government and relayed its contents to the company principals," said Katsande. "Mr. Nestlé! We have a letter for you from Zimbabwe! It was wrapped around a fish!"
"We have responded to the minister's letter," Katsande said, declining to give further details. The Swiss-based food giant, the world's largest, said Zimbabwean government officials and police made an "unannounced visit" to the plant on Saturday, forcing staff to take delivery of a tanker of milk from non-contracted suppliers, apparently from Mugabe's farm.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2009 00:00 ||
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The lord chancellor, Jack Straw, is to order a comprehensive review of Britain's much-criticised libel laws, the Ministry of Justice revealed today.
Straw has previously promised to act against libel tourism, fearing Britain's restrictive libel laws are being exploited by plaintiffs with few real links to the UK.
But the justice ministry said the review, to be conducted by academics, lawyers and newspaper editors, will go much further. The formal terms of reference will be to "consider whether the law of libel, including the law relating to libel tourism, in England and Wales needs reform, and if so to make recommendations as to solutions".
The review will look at whether a specialist libel tribunal should be established to resolve defamation cases out of court. The issue of whether academics and scientists can defend their remarks on the basis of fair comment or in the public interest will also be examined. The wide terms of reference will also allow the working party to look into whether the burden of proof should be shifted from defendant to plaintiff, as is the case in countries such as the US.
#2
There will be deflation. It's just a matter of when, and then the next generation will be able to get into all those McDonald Mansions for a song. Remember in 1982 when interest rates went up to 21%, and the next generation was locked out of home ownership?
#3
The Lotps weren't locked out permanently, but the 6 years until we could buy our first home were costly in terms of lost tax deductions and the need still to be paying mortgage payments as we edge closer to the usual retirement age.
#4
Lemme get this straight, they want "affordable housing" but they want to continue policies that contribute to artificial housing inflation? Only a politician, probably a Democrat politician, could come up with such nonsense. You say the Los Angeles economy would tank? It's long overdue.
Let's do a few numbers:
20% down on the $729,750 house they mention in the article is $145,950. I don't know anybody who can come up with that kind of cash unless they're selling another house that they already own so it kinda lets first time home buyers out in the cold. Your monthly payments would be upwards of $3,000.
Wow. I remember a time when $145,950 would be more than enough to buy some prime real estate in Southern California all buy itself. Of course, those were the days before the Community Reinvestment Act. Thank you, jimmuh.
Now, if you put 10% down and get a mortgage in the 5.x% range you will be making payments over $3,800 per month. That's according to an Internet mortgage calculator. Your results may vary, but probably not much. Gosh, Bawney, that doesn't seem all that affordable to me. You have to have an income of $160,000 to qualify.
They didn't offer a 0% down type of mortgage but if they did you can just imagine the monthly payments.
You talk about housing inflation and then you have to wonder what impact it has had on the overall rate of inflation in this country. Then you wonder how much it has to do with American workers being priced out of the global labor market. Kinda like a ripple effect.
Well, when we're all living in tents making bird houses and whirligigs to sell to the Chinese for a few pennies to buy a can of beans some of us might remember the good old days.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/28/2009 19:00 Comments ||
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#5
Hey, anybody remember in the first few years after WWII when the Japanese made toys out of beer cans? I do. So, after you're finished with those beans, don't throw the can away.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/28/2009 19:05 Comments ||
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#6
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ricardo
Read Rent.
And ignore the lefties additions who infected Ricardo with Malthus.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Twenty-five US states are running out of federal funds to pay unemployment benefits to jobless Americans.
According to The Washington Post, currently 25 states have been forced to borrow USD 25 billion from the federal government to keep their unemployed a float. The Department of Labor estimates that by 2011 some 40 states will have run out of employment money and will be in need of borrowing USD 90 billion from the federal government.
State authorities currently have two options: Raising taxes or shrinking aid payments.
However, government consultant Leonard Simon says the federal government must create jobs at the state level. "It is surprising to see how wide spread it is" he said.
Meei Child is an unemployed citizen, since nine months ago, has been living off of unemployment benefits from the government which ends in March. "There is a lot of frustration and anxiety with that," Child told Press TV.
She is one of more than 15 million jobless Americans, who depend on their unemployment checks that average about USD 300 per week.
The White House recently taken measures that it hopes would create employment opportunities and Infrastructure revitalization, while providing USD 41 billion for unemployment benefits.
Addressing the measure US President Barack Obama said that "behind these statistics are people's lives, their capacity to do right by their families. It speaks to an urgent need to accelerate job growth in a short term while laying a new foundation for lasting economic growth."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
ION PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > GOLD BARS IN FORT KNOX ARE FAKE [dense gold-plated tungsten cores, NOT Gold per se]???
#3
There are two ways around this. Either act quickly, and have States take over abandoned housing, low cost leasing it, with equity, to unemployed families, then at the State level, set up minimum wage employment projects for the home dwellers. Basically a giant temp agency, so they will have a little income when the unemployment runs out.
Or, if everybody continues to screw around, to build pre-fab Obamavilles, at considerably better quality than if the unemployed have to build them themselves.
#4
I don't think the economy will grow again until businesses are confident the Iranian situation is over and we won't have an oil spike that will leave them all overextended. Nobody trusts Obama in a crisis so they play the waiting game.
#5
Minimum wage doing what, Moose? The reason the houses were abandoned is because the jobs were shipped overseas in the first place.
Posted by: ed ||
12/28/2009 12:10 Comments ||
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#6
Repairing roads and bridges, staffing libraries and community centers, maintaining public parks, teaching literacy ... there's a lot that has been neglected in this country for a decade or more that could use some attention.
#7
The problem with that, lotp, is that everyone of those activities will be controlled by SEIU. Now, what was that minimum wage again? $20, $30 / hr???
#8
The problem with that is the massive expenditures will force local governments into bankruptcy even sooner. Then no budget even for maintaining what the money was blown on.
The problem will only be solved when taxpaying jobs are reintroduced into the community. For the majority of the people that means manufacturing and all the jobs are grow to support it. And that will require restructuring governmental trade policy.
Posted by: ed ||
12/28/2009 13:09 Comments ||
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#9
We need to provide important jobs and make them pay a living wage - stuff like reading poetry in coffee shops or interviewing prostitutes for psychological research, or...
Or we could let them pick and sort garbage at the dumps for whatever useful articles they may glean.
Different places have diffrent ways of dealing with unemployment.
#10
During the great depression many of those on the dole were asked to contribute things of value via the public works program. Not ideal and certainly not taxpaying jobs ... but that welfare expenditure translated into national parks and infrastructure that persist today - not to mention the dignity and value of working for what one receives. Given that handouts WILL be given I'd rather they be exchanged for work of value to the community.
SEIU's indeed a problem and will be until Obama figures out their support is too costly for him, at which point he'll ditch them in deniable ways.
#11
lotp, do you really think that Zero could figure out that his support of SEIU is too costly? I can't imagine this ever occurring if he is PotUS for 10 more terms (which is his wish). He won't ditch them anymore than he would ditch ACORN (yes, I know they're basically the same) or socialism.
Five chilled and hungry Afghan teenagers stumbled into a southern Swedish town on Christmas Eve after being left by smugglers in a deserted stretch of forest days earlier, a priest who had taken them in said Sunday.
Nyström said the police had asked the local Högland parish to look after the teenagers until the social services opened on Monday following a Christmas break.
"They were cold, they were tired and they were starving," Nyström said.
The group had been "abandoned in the forest by a smuggler who did not want to be seen with them, and they were able to get to Sävsjö by following a railway line," he said.
A Swedish radio report said they had travelled across Europe hidden in a container.
Nyström said the Afghans did not speak English and he had communicated with them using translation software and through other Afghans in Sweden.
"Some of their parents had been killed by the Taliban," he said.
Many Afghans use illegal people smugglers to flee their dangerous and destitute country, with Europe the main destination.
#1
IIRC DER SPIEGEL? > old 2008 Artic indic that poor Muslims from ME, Central Asia, + North Africa? were sneaking into Europe via SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES + GEORGIA-UKRAINE???
They set fire to prefabricated units which were due to house showers at the controversial structure close to the town's ferry port.
"A great deal of damage was done,' said a Calais police spokesman. "One of two structures earmarked for use as a shower block was badly damaged by fire. It was due to be part of a unit containing lavatories and bathrooms.
"We have launched an inquiry into this act of vandalism and arson. Our fear is that local people opposed to the setting up of the new centre may be responsible."
Earlier this month French administrative judges approved the opening of the new centre next to an industrial estate.
It was immediately described as "Sangatte II" after the former Red Cross centre which attracted thousands of illegal migrants before it was razed to the ground in 2002.
The new centre is just a few hunded yards from the site of the notorious "Jungle", a shanty town in woodland which was populated mainly by Afghan migrants before it was dismantled by the authorities in September.
#3
Honorable mention to Xerox management who didn't see any value in their PARC development of GUI but which their suits were more than happy to show Steve Jobs.
Policy & Rules of Engagement Disinfectants could effectively train Mulsim terrorists bacteria to become resistant to Military and TSA protective measures antibiotics, research suggests.
After years of scientific studies, US researchers in California say they have finally discovered how the human brain forms memories.
Scientists at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) told BBC that they have uncovered a central process in encoding memories that occurs at the level of the synapse, where neurons connect with each other.
"When we learn new things, when we store memories, there are a number of things that have to happen," said senior author Kenneth S Kosik, co-director and Harriman Chair in Neuroscience Research, at UCSB's Neuroscience Research Institute.
"One of the most important processes is that the synapses, which cement those memories into place, have to be strengthened," he added.
According to Kosik, part of strengthening a synapse involves making new proteins, which can build the synapse and make it stronger.
"In strengthening a synapse you build a connection, and certain synapses are encoding a memory. Those synapses have to be strengthened so that memory is in place and stays there. Strengthening synapses is a very important part of learning. What we have found appears to be one part of how that happens," Kosik added.
The researchers say their findings could eventually lead to a breakthrough remedy for brain diseases such as Alzheimer's.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2009 00:00 ||
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Thailand sent army troops with shields and batons to evict more than 4,000 ethnic Hmong asylum-seekers Monday and send them back to Laos despite strong objections from the U.S. and rights groups who fear they will face persecution.
Under tight security, all 4,371 of the Hmong were loaded onto covered military trucks and driven out of the camp by late afternoon toward buses waiting near the Lao border, Thai authorities said. Journalists kept at a distance from the camp could see many children inside the trucks.
Col. Thana Charuwat said Thai troops "didn't even touch" the Hmong who offered no resistance as they were taken from the camp.
With the eviction under way, the United States called for it to stop.
"The United States strongly urges Thai authorities to suspend this operation," U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in a statement, noting that the United Nations and Thailand in the past had deemed that many of the Hmong in this group were "in need of protection because of the threats they might face in Laos."
The Hmong, an ethnic minority group from Laos' rugged mountains, helped U.S. forces during the Vietnam War. Many Hmong fought under CIA advisers during the so-called "secret war" in Laos before it fell to the communists in 1975.
Since the communist victory, more than 300,000 Laotians, mostly Hmong, are known to have fled to Thailand. Most were either repatriated to Laos or resettled in third countries, particularly the United States. Smaller numbers found refuge in France, Australia and Canada.
The Hmong claim they have been persecuted by the Lao government, but Washington has said it has no plans to resettle more of them in the U.S.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, commending the smooth operation Monday, said that Thailand had received "confirmation from the Lao government that these Hmong will have a better life."
The Thai government claims most of the Hmong are economic migrants who entered the country illegally and have no claims to refugee status. The group was being held at an overcrowded camp in northern Thailand that the government wants to close.
Thana, the Thai army's coordinator for the operation, denied an allegation of brutality by one human rights group, which said callers from inside the camp had used their mobile phones to report violence and bloodshed.
"There has been no violence and nobody has been injured," Thana said, noting it was impossible for anyone in the camp to call outside because the military had jammed mobile phone signals.
Thana said 5,000 soldiers, officials and civilian volunteers were involved in the eviction. He said the troops carried no firearms and that their shields and batons met international standards for dealing with situations in which people are being moved against their will.
"There was no resistance from the repatriated Hmong because we used psychological tactics to talk with them, to assure them that they will have a better life in Laos as the Lao government has confirmed," he told reporters.
Journalists and independent observers were barred from the camp and were allowed no closer than a press center about 7 miles (12 kilometers) away.
The Hmong were driven out of the camp in military trucks and were then to be put on 110 buses going to the Thai border town of Nong Khai, and then across to Laos, heading to the Paksane district in the central province of Bolikhamsai, Thana said.
Laos Foreign Ministry spokesman Khenthong Nuanthasing rejected international concerns, saying the government has a "humanitarian policy" for resettling the Hmong.
He told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the group would initially be placed in a temporary shelter and then housed in two "development villages" -- in Bolikhamsai province and in Vientiane province -- where each family will receive a house and a plot of land that international observers will be welcome to inspect.
New York-based Human Rights Watch on Monday called the deportation "appalling" and a low point for Abhisit's government.
"As a result of what Thailand has done to the Lao Hmong today, Prime Minister Abhisit sinks Thailand's record on contempt for human rights and international law to a new low," said Sunai Phasuk, a Thai representative for Human Rights Watch.
[Straits Times] THE Thai military was ready Sunday to begin forcibly repatriating 4,000 ethnic Hmong to communist Laos, despite global protests over a deportation that could 'turn ugly", activists said.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that armed forces had been mobilised for the expulsion on Monday from a camp in northern Phetchabun province, where the asylum-seeking Hmong are being held. 'I have heard from local officials that they expect the Hmong will resist deportation attempts. And that can turn ugly,' HRW Thailand analyst Sunai Phasuk told AFP.
Thailand's Third Army chief Major General Thanongsak Apirakyothin has arrived in Phetchabun to supervise the operation and 'said the army was ready and could start 'cleaning up' the camp anytime,' he added.
The first 'wave of action' to clear the asylum seekers would happen on Sunday night and the deportation would begin on Monday morning, Gen. Sunai said in an earlier email to AFP. 'During that (period), mobile phone (signals) will be jammed to prevent the Hmong from contacting outsiders. More than 100 buses and trucks are put on standby,' he said.
The only aid group assisting the Hmong, the Catholic Office for Emergency Relief and Refugees (COERR), was on Sunday refused entry by the army in Khek Noi village, about 12 kilometres from the camps. 'As of this morning their access to the camps was denied but their staff are still waiting,' said Tomoo Hozumi, Thailand representative for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), which supports COERR.
The 4,000 Hmong are seeking asylum based on claims that they face persecution from the Laotian regime for fighting alongside US forces during the Vietnam War. Thailand has promised Laos, which insists the group will be safe after their return, that they would be sent back by the end of the year. But the government refused to confirm on Saturday that any date had been set.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2009 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
One thing that stands out from the 2008-09 numbers is that Americans are no longer flocking to the resorts of the Sun Belt. Florida's growth was well below the national average, as it was in the previous year, in contrast to its torrid growth over most of the last century.
[Mail and Globe] Zimbabwe has reassured food giant Nestlé on the safety of its staff after a dispute on buying milk from President Robert Mugabe's farm prompted the firm to suspend operations, a minister said on Friday. 
