William Porter, 72, suffered double vision and needed painkillers after Margaret Porter threw three sticks of rhubarb at him, hitting him in the eye.
Miss Porter, 50, of Newbiggin near Northallerton, admitted one count of common assault.
The court heard she had a history of family disputes and also had "issues" with many of the local community.
Father's will
At Northallerton Magistrates Court, Nicola Lynskey, prosecuting, said: "According to her brother's statement many of the villagers felt unsafe when she was around."
In mitigation, Miss Porter's solicitor David Scourfield said the family disputes dated back to her father's will, which Miss Porter felt was distributed unfairly.
The court heard she suffered from a paranoid personality disorder and had once smashed windows on her brother's farm, causing hundreds of pounds of damage.
She also had issues with her sons' families and admitted in court to assaulting a woman.
The police have requested an anti-social behaviour order should be served to protect her family.
Russia threatened on Tuesday to halt all economic aid to the rebel Georgian region of Abkhazia if a political crisis in the region is not resolved. The strategically important region, which depends almost entirely on cash from Moscow, was plunged into crisis last month when opposition leader Sergei Bagapsh won a presidential election. Officials loyal to Moscow-backed candidate Raul Khadzhimba refused to allow him take power, prompting Bagapsh supporters to seize government buildings. The police have refused to obey government orders and a Russian mediation attempt has failed. "We cannot send humanitarian and financial support in a situation when we do not have the possibility of controlling the use of these means," Interfax news agency quoted a Russian government spokesman as saying. "The political situation in Abkhazia is not stable, and individuals are seeking to exploit this to come to power by illegitimate means," he said.
Abkhazia, which is officially part of Georgia but broke away in a war after the Soviet Union collapsed, is not recognised as an independent country by Russia. But 75 percent of residents have been given Russian passports and pensions from Moscow help keep the region's ruined economy afloat. A full blockade, as suggested by some officials, would see Abkhazia cut off from the world and threaten what remains of an economy once rich in tea and tobacco. "Russia will have to halt the dispatch of humanitarian aid to Abkhazia until the legal crisis is resolved," the spokesman was quoted by Interfax as saying.
Analysts say Russia is keen to keep its foothold in Abkhazia to maintain sway over Georgia and the strategically crucial South Caucasus, where Washington has been extending its influence in recent years. U.S. troops have been training the Georgian army, which aspires to join NATO and Georgia hosts a key Western-backed pipeline between the Caspian and Mediterranean seas. But Georgia can take little comfort from victory for either of the two rivals for power, since both fully support the region's independence.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/24/2004 12:28:14 AM ||
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But Georgia can take little comfort from victory for either of the two rivals for power, since both fully support the regionâs independence.
Not exactly. One seems to support the region's independence, the other claims to support the region's independence but he wants to make it a part of Russia instead.
This should be a lesson to all Russia-backed "separatists". Your "separation" means allegiance to Russia -- or else.
China and Cuba sign trade deals Castro is still largely immobile after a fall last month (basic swan dive)
China has agreed to invest $500m (£268m) in Cuba's nickel industry as leaders of the two communist nations met to forge closer relations. The deal was one of several made during a visit to the island by Chinese President Hu Jintao. "Cuba is one of China's largest military commercial partners in Latin America," Mr Hu told gathered business leaders.
The agreement confirms the close ties between the two countries, strengthened since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Mr Hu met Cuban leader Fidel Castro, still in a wheelchair after breaking his knee and arm in a fall in October, behind closed doors in Havana's Palace of the Revolution.
Posted by: Capt America ||
11/24/2004 11:00:05 PM ||
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Mr Hu met Cuban leader Fidel Castro, still in a wheelchair after breaking his knee and arm in a fall in October
Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday the United States cannot accept the results of elections in Ukraine, which the opposition says was marred by fraud. Powell warned "there will be consequences" for the United States' relationship with Ukraine as a result of the developments in the former Soviet bloc nation. Powell spoke shortly after election officials in Ukraine declared that Kremlin-backed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych won the election over opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko. The announcement raised fears of violence in Kiev, where tens of thousands of demonstrators have been demanding that the results be overturned. "We cannot accept this result as legitimate because it does not meet international standards" and allegations of fraud hadn't been investigated, Powell said at a news conference.
Powell said he spoke with outgoing Ukraine President Leonid Kuchma and urged that his government not crack down on demonstrators. He also spoke with other regional leaders, including Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Powell did not elaborate about his conversation with Lavrov, but said he advocated a solution to the crisis in Ukraine that is "based on the law, using legal procedures." The State Department confirmed Tuesday that it had summoned the Russian ambassador and discussed Ukraine. The Kremlin described the meeting as "unprecedented interference" in another country's affairs.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/24/2004 2:00:14 PM ||
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UKRAINE'S defence minister has appealed to the army to remain calm amid a third day of mass opposition protests over a weekend election claimed by the country's pro-Russia prime minister. "At this difficult moment for our country, I appeal to you, the defenders of Ukraine's independence, with an order and a request to remain calm, act in a measured way, and fulfil your constitutional duty in the respect of the law," Defence Minister Alexander Kuzmuk said in a statement addressed to the military and received by AFP in Kiev.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
11/24/2004 6:21:19 AM ||
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The pressure on France is showing. Germany may yet regret siding with Paris over Washington. Paris can't stop interfering with the economy -- and that's bad news for Europe
In so many ways, French politician and presidential aspirant Nicolas Sarkozy is a breath of fresh air in French and European politics. At 49, he's a generation younger than most of France's top politicos. In contrast to the default anti-American attitudes of much of the French elite, Sarkozy underscores his admiration of the U.S. He wants to promote entrepreneurship, boost labor flexibility, and cut taxes. But when it comes to interfering in the French economy, Sarkozy is as old-style as they come.
In fact, by the time he leaves the Finance Ministry on Nov. 28 to head France's ruling center-right party, Union for a Popular Movement, Sarkozy will have presided over some of the most intensely interventionist actions since French Socialists nationalized the country's large banks and industrial groups in 1982. From forcefully chaperoning the merger of two French pharmaceutical giants to shoring up ailing engineering group Alstom, Sarkozy has been giving new meaning to the old concept of dirigisme. A great country like France, Sarkozy recently told workers at state-subsidized shipyards, "couldn't just have banks, insurers, and tourism."
Unfortunately, the traditional French sport of picking national champions is not likely to recede once Sarkozy departs the Finance Ministry. True, the headline-craving politician loves to play to the French electoral galleries. But there are other powerful forces behind the latest outbreak of French dirigisme. For one, it's a way to react to the in-your-face political assertiveness coming out of Washington. As President Jacques Chirac tirelessly reminds listeners, Europe has to stand up as a "counterweight" to the U.S. And if Europe wants to compete successfully with the U.S. on the world stage, it requires corporate giants of its own. It's a belief shared by many beyond France. "Europe needs industrial champions," says Europe's incoming Industry Commissioner, Guenter Verheugen of Germany.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: anon ||
11/24/2004 8:04:33 AM ||
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C'est la desesperation.
Most of these mergers will achieve the same negative results that two-thirds of mega-mergers usually achieve.
European Central Bank (ECB) President Jean-Claude Trichet, whose warning against "brutal" currency shifts helped push the euro down from a record in January, may fail to halt its rally this time without support from the United States. The euro rose to a record of US$1.3074 on November 18, threatening to stifle a recovery in the 12 nations sharing the currency, even after Trichet repeated his "brutal" comment 10 days earlier. US Treasury Secretary John Snow said in London last week that exchange rates are best set by markets. "There's very little they can do," said Thomas Mayer, chief European economist at Deutsche Bank AG in London. "They can try intervention but I would seriously doubt if it could work. Cutting interest rates is tricky because they seem to be thinking more about the upside risks to inflation."
Snow and other finance ministers from the Group of 20 industrial and emerging economies meeting in Berlin at the weekend omitted the dollar's drop from their joint closing statement. The US rejected German efforts to insert a sentence criticizing "volatile" currency moves, said two German governing officials, who declined to be identified. "The US not only doesn't have a case to intervene but is rather happy with the dollar's downtrend," said Ian Stewart, chief European economist at Merrill Lynch & Co in London.
Trichet is presiding over an economy that grew at its slowest pace in more than a year in the third quarter, expanding just 0.3 per cent from the previous three months. In the United States, growth accelerated. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on November 20 described the stronger euro as "worrying." The euro's 7 per cent rally against the dollar in the past two months risks curbing demand at exporters such as Siemens AG, Germany's biggest engineering company, by making their products more expensive abroad. Exports account for one-fifth of the euro region's economy, twice as much as the United States.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: tipper ||
11/24/2004 5:53:52 AM ||
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#1
I understand the central banks historic fear of inflation, but it seems that this is an ideal time for an interest rate cut.
#2
Europe was content to see the US carry the burden in Iraq. Since that is one major contributor to budget deficits, we have less leeway to manage current account deficits except by letting the dollar drop.
Writing off a good part of Iraq's debt was a good move, but I suspect many countries had already discounted the idea of getting much of that back directly. What they were counting on was access to Iraq's oil at favorable prices (cf. France).
They rolled the dice and are hurting as a result.
Still, I don't want the whole world to go into recession as we do export a fair amount. Nevertheless, my sympathy meter seems not to be working after overt power moves against the US economically on the part of the EU.
#3
We've been carrying the world on the back of our overvalued currency for decades. What is truly amazing is the growth rate we were able to maintain for all this time in the face of it all.
It's time to let the free markets decide on currency valuation.
#4
I wonder what kind of monkey business Sorros is up to? The is the kind of stuff he loves to profit by. That said the dollar should be allowed to seek it's own natural level. Maybe people will get a clue. The EU has it's own problems. Let them fix them.
#5
The EU's not a major factor here. It's the Asian central banks that really matter, and they're managing the dollar's readjustment quite well, as they've done before.
Via Bros Judd: A peaceful handover of power has reportedly been agreed in the Ukraine after protesters clashed with anti-riot police outside the president's headquarters. Tensions in the capital Kiev reached breaking point as tens of thousands of demonstrators surrounded the HQ. They had been called on to march by opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko. He and his supporters believed the presidential election, which took place at the weekend, was rigged. According to the poll results, Kremlin-backed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych won the presidency. But after calls from outgoing president Leonid Kuchma for talks between the two sides, Mr Yanukovych stepped aside. Mr Yushchenko will now become president, it has been reported.
The turmoil in the Ukraine followed a day of claims and counter-claims about the disputed presidential election, which has been condemned internationally as not being "free or fair". But Russian President Vladimir Putin said any doubts expressed by the international community were "inadmissible". He said supporters of both candidates in the disputed election should act within the law. "Everything must remain legal," he said. "Ukraine is a big democratic state with a developed democratic system. There is no need to teach it democracy." Sky's Moscow correspondent Laurence Lee described the situation in Kiev as "very tense". The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe had expressed concern at the poll. Senator Richard Lugar, chairman of the US Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, said there had been a "concerted and forceful programme of election day fraud and abuse".
Posted by: anonymous2u ||
11/24/2004 12:52:28 AM ||
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I stand corrected. Time to stand up to Putin, put the pressure on, and hard. He's got nowhere to turn on this one. Chirac won't help him, and the Chinese don't care. This will not stand.
Polls taken before and after the vote showed a large margin of support for Viktor Yushchenko, a pro-Western liberal. Nevertheless, victory has been declared for Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Moscow candidate. He has already received warm congratulations from the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who backed him with praise, money and, possibly, some advice on how to steal elections. It can't be a coincidence that if the Ukrainian election is settled in Moscow's favor, it will mark the third such dubious vote in Russia's "sphere of influence" in the past two months, following the polls in Belarus and the separatist province of Abkhazia, not counting the irregularities that were belatedly uncovered in the election of Putin himself.
And Pooty wants to sell his $? Let's sell our rubles.
Given this and the Chinese moves of late, it is apparent that some real tectonic shifts are underway. It is good to know we will still have the Aussies next to us when it's done. Let's hope the Brits are too. If that's all, it's enough.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/24/2004 12:11 Comments ||
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Don't forget the Poles. They have a very strong interest in ensuring Ukraine-- western Ukraine, at a minimum-- not fall back into the Sov er Russian orbit.
#4
Yes, the Poles, too (although they like Russia have a massive job ahead of them cleaning up corruption in order to run with the pack of UK, Aussies, etc).
"During a press conference in Presidential Palace, President [Kwasniewski] announced that he'll be immediately contacting [the outgoing Ukrainian] President Leonid Kuczma. Kwasniewski wants the negotiations [between the two presidential candidates] to take place in the presence of representatives of the Council of Europe and the European Union...
"Kwasniewski is the first of the EU leaders to speak out about the Ukrainian election... Dialogue, yes - violence, no, Kwasniewski repeated twice. And what will you do, Mr President, if Kuczma rejects your initiative? Will Poland still recognize the election result? asked journalists. Kwasniewski refused to answer.
"President Kwasniewski also said that 'right from the start, Poland was of the opinion that these elections are the exam of Ukrainian democracy'... According to the President, Ukraine failed that exam...
"Kwasniewski, recalling Polish's long-standing policy towards Ukraine, said that Polish aim was always to bring Ukraine closer to the EU and NATO. He admitted that this policy had not found any takers [in the West]. He underlined the fact that many Western countries prefer to 'sacrifice relations with one country for the sake of relations with another'."
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/24/2004 12:33 Comments ||
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Who's the biggest oil producer in the world? Hint: it isn't Saudi Arabia.
Yup, it's Russia. With oil prices at an all time high, money is just poring into the country. It won't be long, I'm afraid, before Russia is once again a military rival of the U.S. , if not an economic one.
#11
BlueMeanie is sort of correct. The second largest oil reserve in the world lies in Siberia. Only problem, it ain't developed and the attempts to develop it are slow at best. Money is not really pouring in, but companies are trying to develop there. Most of the money is in the form of hardware and not really adding to the economy.
#12
Outside the middle east, Russia is number 2 behind Venezuela in reserves. The largest unconventional oil reserves (tar sands) are in Canada. In terms of production, Russia is indeed first (outside the ME). Source: National Geographic.
Posted by: Rafael ||
11/24/2004 18:31 Comments ||
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From the Rantburg Diplomacy Desk:
CRAWFORD, TEXAS- The king and queen of Spain flew to Texas for a dinner with US President George W Bush which is hoped will heal rifts between the two countries. King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia travelled to Crawford, Texas, where they are to dine on Wednesday with Bush and his wife.
"Bienvenidos, your Majesties. Would you like some more cole slaw?"
The Royal couple were invited by Bush after a series of diplomatic rows with Spain's Socialist government. The Spanish government has said through clenched teeth it welcomed the invitation of the Spanish King and Queen to meet US President George W Bush to thaw the frosty relations between the two countries.
#1
Well, the King and Queen hopefully will outlast Zappy. Hey, have a good time at Crawford, TX. Just keep your little Dhimmi Dawg Zappy the hell away from the USA.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/24/2004 0:44 Comments ||
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#2
Hmmmm! Cole slaw!
Goes with the brisket and white bread.
#6
JC will get the royal treatment, no doubt. But he won't be able to share any of the warm and fuzzies with Zappy. That dork went one step too far. I wouldn't be surprised if it's personal too, now. I'd not be surprised if W gives JC a message to take back that lets the Euros know there are limits.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/24/2004 12:18 Comments ||
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#8
If it were Zappy, I'd say take him through Mickey D's drive-through and give him a f'ing Happy Meal, but the Royal Couple is a different matter.
Posted by: Dar ||
11/24/2004 15:07 Comments ||
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Yep - rub it in. Treat the King and Queen as they should be treated - well - JC is a good guy - and keep the snub on Zappy. Sorry your majesty, but your people elected a weak-spined, back-stabbing dickhead. When things change we would be happy to renew old ties.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/24/2004 15:27 Comments ||
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#10
Maybe W will ask why Garzon doesn't run.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/24/2004 15:44 Comments ||
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Heard on FOX that W is serving Bass, caught on the Ranch.
It looks like the Ukes are trying to do the Rose Revolution thing, alà Georgia. I don't see it happening yet, though I hope I'm wrong.
Ukraine has plunged deeper into turmoil with the losing candidate in the presidential election reading the oath of office in parliament while some 200,000 supporters outside demanded the government admit it had cheated. Opposition and West-leaning candidate Viktor Yushchenko, who called hundreds of thousands of protesters into the streets, told parliament on Tuesday that Ukraine "is on the brink of civil conflict". He accused the outgoing president and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich of responsibility for electoral fraud which produced the results that have Yanukovich poised to be named president. Supporters prompted Yushchenko to read the oath of office after the conclusion of a tumultuous session of parliament that was boycotted by Yanukovich allies. He read the oath with his hand on a Bible, opened a window in the parliament building and addressed a sea of supporters outside who have turned out for a second day of raucous protest, which has the centre of the capital seething with anger. Speaker after speaker stepped up to the microphone in Kiev's Independence Square to defiantly pledge loyalty to Yushchenko. "We are fighting for democracy and we will win," declared Ihor Ostash, an opposition parliamentary deputy, draped like others in the orange campaign colours of Yushchenko's camp. The parliamentary session ended without taking any decision on the aftermath of the poll. "We are sliding towards the abyss. It is amoral and criminal to pretend nothing is happening in the country," parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn told deputies at the debate's start.
How do you say MoveOn in Russian?
Posted by: Fred ||
11/24/2004 10:58:14 PM ||
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I think (and hope) they will succeed. Putin backed away from his earlier congratulations of Yanukovich, which implies to me that he's trying to save what can be saved of Russia's relationship with Ukraine. Which means he's afraid Yushchenko can end up president.
Theft of this election was blatant enough, that I think the Ukrainians will manage to win this.
Three weeks ago I had posted this -- though, mind you, it's more of a rant than an essay, and more of a discussion of CIS/EU rather than of Ukraine specifically.
#6
While I believe that Yushchenko won the election, I'm also certain that Yanukovich received a sizable chunk of votes. This may very well have been a close election, though not of the order of the US.
Posted by: Rafael ||
11/24/2004 14:21 Comments ||
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#7
Thanks, Aris.
Rafael, unlike the US, Ukraine truly is deeply divided geographically, and by ethnicity and political orientation as well. It would not be all bad if western Ukraine broke away and formed its own democratic, western-leaning government. Bring it into NATO and eventually the EU.
An official report presented to the French government Tuesday paints a damning picture of racial discrimination in the workplace and recommends a series of measures including the mandatory introduction of anonymous CVs. According to the report, young people of Arab and African origin are up to five times more likely to be unemployed than the rest of the French population, while their chances of even achieving an interview are severely reduced as a result of their name and skin colour. In education the number of Arabs and Africans gaining access to top flight university courses and the elite "grandes ecoles" is decreasing, while problems at primary and secondary level mean that schools are "incapable of ensuring basic literacy among non French-speaking immigrants."
Could that have something to do with why they can't find jobs?
"For reasons linked to our history and which are the result of policies conducted over half a century, the principle of equal opportunity rings hollow in the ears of millions," the report says. "It may well be inscribed on the pedestal of the republic and the marble of our constitution, but for many it is just that - a principle - and in no way a reality. Socially relegated and geographically concentrated, these people are the ones that equal opportunities forgot."
Violent, xenophobic, arrogant... Just the sort of people you want working in the next cubicle.
Drawn up by a comittee headed by the former president of the insurance giant Axa Claude Bebear, the study argues that it is not just bad morals but also bad economics to deprive France of a huge number of often well-qualified workers. "The situation we are in is doubly absurd. Companies are ignoring a considerable human resource, and young people - many with degrees - are excluded from our collective project," it says. Quoting recent academic studies it says that young people from so-called "sensitive areas" - the high-immigration council estates that surround most French towns and cities - are "between three and five times more likely to be hit by unemployment than others." An investigation conducted in Paris revealed that a young man of European appearance and name was granted 75 interviews when he sent out his resume, while a person with exactly the same qualifications but of North African origin was given just 14. Unemployment among graduates of immigrant origin is abnormally high, the report says. The rate is five percent for people of French origin, 7.2 percent for foreigners from inside the European Union and 18 percent for foreigners from outside the EU.
Continued on Page 49
(2004-11-23) -- Veteran CBS News anchor Dan Rather this afternoon said he was "scrambling like a gila monster on hot sand" to verify allegations that he will step down from his role on the CBS Evening News in March 2005.
"If this is true, I want to break this story," said Mr. Rather as he rushed from his office to track down a hot tip on the story. "I received a fax from a Kinko's in Texas indicating that I'm relinquishing the anchor desk, but we need to run this past several handwriting experts and get it fully vetted before we break into programming with the announcement."
Posted by: Korora (abu Oh look! A red-bellied woodpecker!) ||
11/24/2004 12:09:49 AM ||
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EFL. Hat tip: Cracker Barrel Philosopher. Though it reads like a parody, I think this is straight reporting. (Though I hope I'm wrong.)
I think it's parody. The original title's "Stranger Than Fact: The PESTy Election." If it's stranger than fact, it's not fact. Even though it could very well be true...
One might be forgiven for thinking that the first suit against the Republican Party for Post Election Selection Trauma (PEST) would have been filed in Palm Beach County, but a 38-year-old from Manhattan's West Side has beaten her Floridian fellow victims to the punch. Barbi Weiner, a third grade teacher currently on disability, is suing the Republican party for having taken an active role in returning George Bush to the White House, a circumstance that resulted in Ms. Weiner suffering a nervous collapse last Nov.8th as she crossed West 72nd Street. Where are the guys in the white coats when you need them?
"I looked up and saw the WestSideWaffle! sign with its big red 'W's,'" she says. "And I realized it was true — he won. Then I started thinking about my life and I realized that I couldn't go on living in a country where a war-mongering baby-killer holds the highest office in the land. I guess I lost it." I guess you never had it.
Asked why she doesn't simply make up her mind to leave the country, Ms. Weiner said, "That's a typical Republican oversimplification - if you don't like it, leave. Nothing will ever change if we just run away. I chose the principled response. But I didn't think I'd wind up spending a week in a mental hospital. Only a week? They let her out way too soon.
There's nothing crazy about wanting the President of the United States to be a Democrat. True. But there is something crazy about wanting a far-left America-hating socialist Democrat moonbat leech like Kerry to be President. Or dogcatcher.
Anyway, I shouldn't have had to lose it completely just to bring this crisis to the attention of the American people." Hey, lady, here's a clue: It's not all about you.
The day after the election Ms. Weiner was unable to go to work, believing that any minute the election would be called for Mr. Kerry. But once he conceded she went into a deep depression. "He just gave up. Just like that. No fight, no lawsuits, no dimpled chads, no recounts, nothing. It was the lowest moment of my life." Don't get out much, do you?
Asked why she hasn't sued Mr. Kerry for capitulating, Ms. Weiner said, "That's just like a Republican — blame the victim. How would it be fair for me to sue Mr. Kerry for losing to the vast right-wing conspiracy?" HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! And they let her wander the streets alone? The mind boggles.
No stranger to lawsuits, Now there's a surprise. NOT.
several years ago Ms. Weiner won an undisclosed amount, rumored to be in the tens of millions, when she sued Moonraker's Coffee for having addicted her to caffeine. "Everyone knows their coffee is strong," she said when the verdict was announced, "but the company keeps the exact strength of its product a secret, so anyone who watches her caffeine intake as carefully as I do is completely in the dark as to what she's ingesting. I wanted to force them to be more open, and I succeeded." Here's a hint, moonbat. Switch brands.
Ms. Weiner says her lawyer has told her she faces an uphill battle over her claim against the Republicans. But he'll take her money anyway - at least until the blood money from the coffee company runs out.
"For one thing, they're going to say it's the nature of our system - the Republicans were supposed to be committed to helping that draft-dodging mama's boy win. Yep. 100% Kool-Aid-drinking moonbat. And that "boy's" mama could kick your ass even today, idiot.
They're going to claim that the Constitution guarantees a Republican the right to be president if he gets enough votes. But I think we can probably convince any San Francisco moonbat reasonable jury that when it's a choice between a man with the obvious support of the whole rest of the world as opposed to a man with the support of a few marginal groups in just one country, there's no question which one the Constitution would approve. It's simply a matter of getting the jury to understand why the feelings of the other people on the planet matter. Better file the suit in San Francisco, then. I doubt you'll get enough New Yorkers to buy that steaming load of horse hockey.
Anyway, the Constitution doesn't even mention Republicans. To me it's a no-brainer." I think she's got the no-brain part down pat.
I'm speechless. Please God let this be a parody.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/24/2004 10:14:58 AM ||
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#4
This has GOT to be a parody. It simply cannot be true; it would make Barbra Streisand look sane in comparison, and the woman's name-- "Barbi Weiner"-- is just TOO perfect.
Please, someone tell me this really is a put-on... please?
Posted by: Dave D. ||
11/24/2004 10:52 Comments ||
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#5
hmmm - how much damage has this dipshit caused in her "third-grade teacher" position? Can you imagine sitting in her classes as an impressionable child? She needs to be removed
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/24/2004 10:55 Comments ||
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#6
This has got to be scrappleface. If not then its more ammo in the case for extereme Liberalism being a form of psychosis:
"I couldnât go on living in a country where a war-mongering baby-killer holds the highest office in the land."
"How would it be fair for me to sue Mr. Kerry for losing to the vast right-wing conspiracy?"
"committed to helping that draft-dodging mamaâs boy win. "
Followed by..
"I chose the principled response."
Yeah... right, principled. To quote the great Inigo Montoya: I do not think that word means what you think it means.
#7
The Moonbat should sue the Democrat Party for allowing someone like Kerry to run for President, guaranteeing such a devastating and humiliating loss to Bush. THAT is where the blame should be, heh heh. Parody or not, this is definitely a source of innocent merriment...
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/24/2004 11:31 Comments ||
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#8
It is a marvelous time when life immitates art^H^H^H parody frequently. Its even more entertaining when one can't tell the difference between actual news and comedy pieces.
And no, I'm not sure if its real or if its Scrappleface(tm) either. But I'm enjoying it regardless.
Posted by: N guard ||
11/24/2004 11:31 Comments ||
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#9
Not real.
No stranger to lawsuits, several years ago Ms. Weiner won an undisclosed amount, rumored to be in the tens of millions, when she sued Moonrakerâs Coffee for having addicted her to caffeine.
Google Barbi Weiner, Moonraker's Coffee or Fred Luna, the owner and you get bumpkis, except for the legislator in New Mexico. I wonder if this Mr. Luna has a tic.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/24/2004 11:42 Comments ||
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"Before my breakdown I used to enjoy walking around my neighborhood. This is a very diverse area and it used to be such a pleasure to know that everyone you passed on the street thought about life exactly the same way you did.
That's just stunning. A real diverse area, eh?
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/24/2004 12:08 Comments ||
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#14
What Mrs. D. said (except it's Pete Luna). Come on, folks, exercise a little skepticism.
#15
I am SOOOOOO glad this idiot is in NY and not California. They truely deserve this moonbat. I bet her lawyer (sic) is salavating over this new one.
#16
Front Page Mag used to have a dead tree version called "Heterodoxy," to which I subscribed. On the back was a regular feature called "Stranger than Fact." They scenarios were always almost believable. They mentioned how many times their stuff was picked up by wire services as real news. Judith Weizner wrote most (all?) of them.
There was a collection put out some years ago, but I cannot find it for sale any more.
Here's a collection of Weizner's articles. There are several other Stranger Than Fact's mixed in.
The US is adopting a carrot-and-stick policy regarding its guest-worker programmes. While allowing 20,000 more H-1B visas, the US Congress has now doubled the visa fee to $2,000. It has also tightened provisions of the L-1 visa programme to prevent misuse.
You could triple the fees and they'd still come.
Several Indian tech companies have taken advantage of the L-1 visa route to move employees to US offices, particularly after the slash in the annual quota of H-1B visas from 195,000 to 65,000 beginning October 2003. The new measures, to be signed into law by President George Bush shortly, are designed to partially meet the concerns of American labour. The hike in H-1B visa fee includes a $500 "anti-fraud" provision. American companies will be required to attest that an H-1B worker will not displace a US worker.
The initiative to raise the number of H-1B visas and fix loopholes was taken by senator Saxby Chambliss and representative Lamar Smith, both Republicans, through separate Bills in the two Houses. The Bills were finally tucked into the Omnibus Appropriations Bill that was passed by Congress over the weekend. Both made out the case for reserving the additional 20,000 H-1B visas for foreign students passing out of US universities with master's or doctorate degrees — a move vigorously supported by the leading lights of US tech industry like Microsoft, Intel, Hewlett Packard and Texas Instruments. "It's counterproductive to educate these students and then force them abroad to compete against us," says Sandra Boyd, who chairs the "Compete America" coalition that lobbied for the exemptions.
This will have a big impact on American biomedicine as well. Lots of researchers and physician trainees on H-1Bs.
About the changes in the L-1 visa programme, Chambliss maintained that these would help fix the problem of firms using these visas to act as "job shops" to bring in foreign workers and outsource them to third-party companies.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/24/2004 11:53:27 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
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#1
Yeah...fuck this. I was just informed in Hong Kong last week that the Chinese government has increased visa fees for Americans, and reduced the max length of stay for businessmen (Class F visa) from one year to 30 days. I wondered what had caused them to kick back. This causes me no end of trouble, as probably I'm going to have to run to Hong Kong once a month (inconvenience and $$$) from now on. There's an immigration lawyer in Shanghai who says he can still get me a 1-year visa...hopefully it works.
All other Western nationalities get the red carpet...easy visas, multiple entry, long duration. Something to think about when we congratulate ourselves on bowing to organized labor.
#2
gromky: Yeah...fuck this. I was just informed in Hong Kong last week that the Chinese government has increased visa fees for Americans, and reduced the max length of stay for businessmen (Class F visa) from one year to 30 days. I wondered what had caused them to kick back. This causes me no end of trouble, as probably I'm going to have to run to Hong Kong once a month (inconvenience and $$$) from now on. There's an immigration lawyer in Shanghai who says he can still get me a 1-year visa...hopefully it works.
All other Western nationalities get the red carpet...easy visas, multiple entry, long duration. Something to think about when we congratulate ourselves on bowing to organized labor.
Sorry to hear about your personal situation. Sounds like the Chinese are really feeling their oats. Having said that, I hope they impose even more restrictions in the future. Every single move in this direction raises the cost of investment in China and decreases China's competitiveness. I hope they start discriminating against American investors in China, providing for even more horror stories about the Chinese money pit.
#3
Amen, ZF. Sorry to hear about your problems, G. Wish I had something constructive to say about your problems.
Posted by: N guard ||
11/24/2004 9:27 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Those in the automation tech side of the house have seen the damage of H1-Bs in the past decade. The game the businesses play is to advertize for a job openning with a laundry list of requirements that maybe 3 people in the entire country can put on their resume. Pick up several weeks of ComputerWorld magazine to see this practice. When they don't get a response, the business claims it can't hire an American and then imports a foreign tech though there is no follow up to insure that the new employee actually meets all the criteria of the original job posting. The whine that "we can't find qualified" is a joke. Then get the best qualified and pay for their training to bring them up to the specifications, binding them by contract for x number of years/months for the training. That's how the government covers its employment needs in the military. No. It's easier to get their congressmen to flood the market, so that business doesn't have to operate in real market system when it comes to supply and demand. Keeps labor prices down and profits up. This is just another form of the game low end employers play with illegals supplying labor, except its done in the boardroom and congressmen's offices.
Posted by: Don ||
11/24/2004 10:58 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Keeps labor prices down and profits up.
Sorry, Don, but I know from direct experience that our companies simply cannot compete if they continue to pay $80+ per hour for US programming talent. The harsh fact of the matter is that the market has shifted to Indian rates. No one-- not a systems integrator, not a software vendor, not a corporate IT shop-- can afford to pay 1999-level salaries when the Indians can do the job 90% as well for 80% less money. Those days are gone.
Harsh, but that's the reality here, and it has zip to do with "corporate greed". Think Detroit vs Japan, ca 1978.
#6
Sorry Gromky, but companies in the US Tech industry have been screwing American workers over via the H1B process - it drops wages and reduces jobs available to US tech workers and favors companies that mislabel or reclassify jobs and bring in someon from India to do it for half of what they US worker was making prior to the "workforce realignmnet" that cost him his job.
This is not an "Organized Labor" issue - these are solid white-collar jobs that are vital to the nation: we need software and systems engineers to remain competitive in the world market, and experience is the big thing that makes innovation possilbe in this field. And as of now, we are giving all the experience away to H1B engineers while US ones are leaving the field - there is a massive loss of software expertise goign on, and in 10 years, the lack of "senior" enigneers willb e felt, in that US companies will not have any experienced US engineers to draw on - and will lose our edge. And lots of peopel I know in a lot of different industries have pressed out congressional reps to curb H1B, none of them belonging to labor unions.
We can'ta ll work for Walmart and expect to maintain our standard of liginv. H1B is one of those things that is killing the middle income and upper income technical job market. Its about time some one did something about it.
I have no pity for the H1B people, and if we take some return fire, oh f'ing well.
Its the Chinese you should be PO'd at. I've seen the job and pay casualties here from the H1B fiasco, and they far exceed any fees you face in Hong Kong.
In short, too f'ing bad - live with it, because a lot of US engineers have spoken to their congressmen and they congress acted to limit a runaway bogus program, H1B. If it inconveniences you that much, change your business.
#7
OS, your argument is identical to the ones made in the late 1970s by the auto industry when it clamored for protection from low-cost Japanese producers: "the US can't afford to lose its manufacturing base," "manufacturing's the backbone of the middle class", etc. During the last three decades, however, we have shed hundreds of thousands of auto and auto-related manufacturing jobs while dramatically increasing our national competitiveness, military prowess and standard of living.
The right solution is to teach our people to migrate their skills upward, into the areas where 22 year-old Indian kids can't compete. But let's not pretend that your average US Java programmer is worth 4x the Indians. The market doesn't agree, and is unwilling to pay 4x for work that is only marginally better.
Fine - but where do those people coming "up" gain the one thing they need to move up - namely experience? Its not liek you can make any kid out of college a decent VP of a company or head of a division - they need experience. Same goes for the software business: to move up the value chain, in this business, requires knowledge and experience of the previous level. Software production is not like automobile assembly - the skills at the bottom are strongly linked to the top in software. You don't have to be an assembly line worker in order to become an automotive engineer. But it does take experience as a decent coder to become a decent systems designer.
Thats why this is NOT like the steel and auto industry. These are knowledge creation jobs, not "plug in joe sixpack" which anyone off the street can do after a bit of training.
And unlike the auto industry, software is at the core of the advances in the economy.
Your analogies fall flat. You are simply wrong on this.
We are selling our white collar jobs in the future for walmart jobs. I know that there are fewer and fewer people entering the workforce in comp sci these days because H1B and "outsourcing" have been allowed to decimate the wages and jobs available. We may not see it now, but in 10 years, when the current batch of engineers starts retiring out (and all the other ones have "moved up"), we will lose immense amounts of experience that will not be replaced by those "moving up" - because there are not enough in the supply feed at the bottom.
And when that comes, who will we have to drive the IT business that exists inside each business today? And more importantly, what happens when all those finely trained H1B's return to their homeland? They take advantage of their EXPERIENCE here and compete directly with US companies with third-world pricing.
Its of strategic importance. And quite unlike steel and autos. We are eliminating an entire class of knowledge from our society - and one that is at the core of every economic advancement of the last quarter century.
How well will our defense industry staff itself when we run out of US engineers? How secure will we be dependant upon Inda, China or Pakistan for software engineers to make software our defense requires?
These arent the same as hard devices, these are pieces of knowledge and require high levels of expertise, experience and university training.
We are killing our future with the H1B program and basic short-sighted greed.
#9
Having worked in high tech, I'm firmly convinced you're both correct. That's what's galling.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/24/2004 12:41 Comments ||
Top||
#10
OS: How well will our defense industry staff itself when we run out of US engineers? How secure will we be dependant upon Inda, China or Pakistan for software engineers to make software our defense requires?
No offense, OS, but I think we won't run out of US engineers. The defense industries have always had a problem competing with private enterprise for the best software engineers. Now that many of the private sector jobs are migrating abroad, the best and the brightest will have no choice but to work for defense contractors. Like haircuts and dental work, defense contracting is something that will never migrate overseas. Not only will defense contractors be able to hire the best and the brightest, they'll be able to hire them for less, since there won't be any real competition in the US private sector for their skills. This means new weapons systems will be more reliable and cheaper.
I sympathize with American workers in these fields who are stranded, but they are generally in better shape than the high school grads who were laid off from jobs on automobile and electronics assembly lines. This is a warning to white collar workers (including myself) who are fat and happy - the world does not owe you a living.
#11
..but I know from direct experience that our companies simply cannot compete if they continue to pay $80+ per hour for US programming talent.
With the price of housing here in SV, anything short of that rate of pay kills any possibility of the purchase of one of the many overpriced homes on the market.... :)
#12
The real acid test is this - why not H1-B the CEO and board's jobs? Heck if the demonstated none relationship between senior exec's pay and company performance is valid, then why not a cheaper company president, CEO and other senior management? Something tells me, that will not happen.
Posted by: Don ||
11/24/2004 18:41 Comments ||
Top||
#13
Don: The real acid test is this - why not H1-B the CEO and board's jobs? Heck if the demonstated none relationship between senior exec's pay and company performance is valid, then why not a cheaper company president, CEO and other senior management? Something tells me, that will not happen.
CEO and board positions are already filled by foreigners. The competition for talent in these areas is such that there is no salary differential.
#14
ZF: Having said that, I hope they impose even more restrictions in the future. Every single move in this direction raises the cost of investment in China and decreases China's competitiveness.
But there will never be a lack of Chinese-Americans with dual citizenships who can get inside without a problem. And who really does most of the business with China if not Chinese-Americans? So in the end, any change in the cost of investment will be mitigated.
Posted by: Rafael ||
11/24/2004 19:18 Comments ||
Top||
#15
And who really does most of the business with China if not Chinese-Americans?
hellloooooo? Loral?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/24/2004 19:20 Comments ||
Top||
#16
Rafael: But there will never be a lack of Chinese-Americans with dual citizenships who can get inside without a problem. And who really does most of the business with China if not Chinese-Americans? So in the end, any change in the cost of investment will be mitigated.
Actually, no - Chinese-Americans tend to travel on their American papers. China doesn't allow dual citizenship - if they get into any local trouble, they don't get the protection of the US embassy.
#17
Rafael: And who really does most of the business with China if not Chinese-Americans?
Frank G: hellloooooo? Loral?
The people who do most of the business with China are the traditional import-export firms. The folks who used to outsource to Southeast Asia are now outsourcing to China. How do they hook up with Chinese suppliers? Industry trade shows in Chinese cities and all over Asia. They get samples, talk about payment methods and quality control issues.
#18
if they get into any local trouble, they don't get the protection of the US embassy
I presume the people you are talking about here are U. S. citizens of Chinese descent. Are they treated differently by the embassy than any other Americans are?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/24/2004 19:35 Comments ||
Top||
#19
The thing that galls me is, there are too many "executives" who are convinced that the only places they can run software companies are in Silicon Valley, Seattle, or Boston, with their high real estate prices, with the only alternative being outsourced programming in SW China or Bangalore.
They cite all sorts of reasons they need to be there, but it doesn't stop them from outsourcing. It also doesn't occur to them precisely how many of the people they employ here moved out to CA or Seattle after getting college degrees in comp. sci. _elsewhere_.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
11/24/2004 19:44 Comments ||
Top||
#20
MD: I presume the people you are talking about here are U. S. citizens of Chinese descent. Are they treated differently by the embassy than any other Americans are?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/24/2004 20:43 Comments ||
Top||
#24
Sorry Gromky, but companies in the US Tech industry have been screwing American workers over via the H1B process - it drops wages and reduces jobs available to US tech workers and favors companies that mislabel or reclassify jobs and bring in someon from India to do it for half of what they US worker was making prior to the "workforce realignmnet" that cost him his job.
This is not an "Organized Labor" issue - these are solid white-collar jobs that are vital to the nation: we need software and systems engineers to remain competitive in the world market, and experience is the big thing that makes innovation possilbe in this field. And as of now, we are giving all the experience away to H1B engineers while US ones are leaving the field - there is a massive loss of software expertise goign on, and in 10 years, the lack of "senior" enigneers willb e felt, in that US companies will not have any experienced US engineers to draw on - and will lose our edge. And lots of peopel I know in a lot of different industries have pressed out congressional reps to curb H1B, none of them belonging to labor unions.
We can'ta ll work for Walmart and expect to maintain our standard of liginv. H1B is one of those things that is killing the middle income and upper income technical job market. Its about time some one did something about it.
I have no pity for the H1B people, and if we take some return fire, oh f'ing well.
Its the Chinese you should be PO'd at. I've seen the job and pay casualties here from the H1B fiasco, and they far exceed any fees you face in Hong Kong.
In short, too f'ing bad - live with it, because a lot of US engineers have spoken to their congressmen and they congress acted to limit a runaway bogus program, H1B. If it inconveniences you that much, change your business.
Fine - but where do those people coming "up" gain the one thing they need to move up - namely experience? Its not liek you can make any kid out of college a decent VP of a company or head of a division - they need experience. Same goes for the software business: to move up the value chain, in this business, requires knowledge and experience of the previous level. Software production is not like automobile assembly - the skills at the bottom are strongly linked to the top in software. You don't have to be an assembly line worker in order to become an automotive engineer. But it does take experience as a decent coder to become a decent systems designer.
Thats why this is NOT like the steel and auto industry. These are knowledge creation jobs, not "plug in joe sixpack" which anyone off the street can do after a bit of training.
And unlike the auto industry, software is at the core of the advances in the economy.
Your analogies fall flat. You are simply wrong on this.
We are selling our white collar jobs in the future for walmart jobs. I know that there are fewer and fewer people entering the workforce in comp sci these days because H1B and "outsourcing" have been allowed to decimate the wages and jobs available. We may not see it now, but in 10 years, when the current batch of engineers starts retiring out (and all the other ones have "moved up"), we will lose immense amounts of experience that will not be replaced by those "moving up" - because there are not enough in the supply feed at the bottom.
And when that comes, who will we have to drive the IT business that exists inside each business today? And more importantly, what happens when all those finely trained H1B's return to their homeland? They take advantage of their EXPERIENCE here and compete directly with US companies with third-world pricing.
Its of strategic importance. And quite unlike steel and autos. We are eliminating an entire class of knowledge from our society - and one that is at the core of every economic advancement of the last quarter century.
How well will our defense industry staff itself when we run out of US engineers? How secure will we be dependant upon Inda, China or Pakistan for software engineers to make software our defense requires?
These arent the same as hard devices, these are pieces of knowledge and require high levels of expertise, experience and university training.
We are killing our future with the H1B program and basic short-sighted greed.
#26
Sorry Gromky, but companies in the US Tech industry have been screwing American workers over via the H1B process - it drops wages and reduces jobs available to US tech workers and favors companies that mislabel or reclassify jobs and bring in someon from India to do it for half of what they US worker was making prior to the "workforce realignmnet" that cost him his job.
This is not an "Organized Labor" issue - these are solid white-collar jobs that are vital to the nation: we need software and systems engineers to remain competitive in the world market, and experience is the big thing that makes innovation possilbe in this field. And as of now, we are giving all the experience away to H1B engineers while US ones are leaving the field - there is a massive loss of software expertise goign on, and in 10 years, the lack of "senior" enigneers willb e felt, in that US companies will not have any experienced US engineers to draw on - and will lose our edge. And lots of peopel I know in a lot of different industries have pressed out congressional reps to curb H1B, none of them belonging to labor unions.
We can'ta ll work for Walmart and expect to maintain our standard of liginv. H1B is one of those things that is killing the middle income and upper income technical job market. Its about time some one did something about it.
I have no pity for the H1B people, and if we take some return fire, oh f'ing well.
Its the Chinese you should be PO'd at. I've seen the job and pay casualties here from the H1B fiasco, and they far exceed any fees you face in Hong Kong.
In short, too f'ing bad - live with it, because a lot of US engineers have spoken to their congressmen and they congress acted to limit a runaway bogus program, H1B. If it inconveniences you that much, change your business.
Fine - but where do those people coming "up" gain the one thing they need to move up - namely experience? Its not liek you can make any kid out of college a decent VP of a company or head of a division - they need experience. Same goes for the software business: to move up the value chain, in this business, requires knowledge and experience of the previous level. Software production is not like automobile assembly - the skills at the bottom are strongly linked to the top in software. You don't have to be an assembly line worker in order to become an automotive engineer. But it does take experience as a decent coder to become a decent systems designer.
Thats why this is NOT like the steel and auto industry. These are knowledge creation jobs, not "plug in joe sixpack" which anyone off the street can do after a bit of training.
And unlike the auto industry, software is at the core of the advances in the economy.
Your analogies fall flat. You are simply wrong on this.
We are selling our white collar jobs in the future for walmart jobs. I know that there are fewer and fewer people entering the workforce in comp sci these days because H1B and "outsourcing" have been allowed to decimate the wages and jobs available. We may not see it now, but in 10 years, when the current batch of engineers starts retiring out (and all the other ones have "moved up"), we will lose immense amounts of experience that will not be replaced by those "moving up" - because there are not enough in the supply feed at the bottom.
And when that comes, who will we have to drive the IT business that exists inside each business today? And more importantly, what happens when all those finely trained H1B's return to their homeland? They take advantage of their EXPERIENCE here and compete directly with US companies with third-world pricing.
Its of strategic importance. And quite unlike steel and autos. We are eliminating an entire class of knowledge from our society - and one that is at the core of every economic advancement of the last quarter century.
How well will our defense industry staff itself when we run out of US engineers? How secure will we be dependant upon Inda, China or Pakistan for software engineers to make software our defense requires?
These arent the same as hard devices, these are pieces of knowledge and require high levels of expertise, experience and university training.
We are killing our future with the H1B program and basic short-sighted greed.
By Janan Ganesh
THE MOTTO of the US Marine Corps is Semper Fidelis, or "always faithful". And faith is exactly what the Western media eschew in their relentlessly cynical coverage of the American Armed Forces, which plunged to a new nadir last week with the outrage at a Marine who shot dead an injured and unarmed Fallujah terrorist. Their determination to portray the Americans as trigger-happy louts and the Iraqi terrorists as mere "rebels" slanders the former, sanctifies the latter and betrays everybody who trusts journalists to be objective. Each American transgression is covered exhaustively and reproachfully, while triumphs, such as the trouble-free elections in Afghanistan and the reconstruction of Iraqi infrastructure, are treated as background noise. The torture of a few dozen prisoners in Abu Ghraib, for example, received far more attention than the restoration of the Marsh Arabs' homeland.
And this bias predates the Iraq war. If you get your news from Channel 4, you probably believe that the detainees at Guantanamo Bay are wide-eyed young gadflies who were enjoying an innocuous 18-30 holiday in glamorous Tora Bora before being kidnapped by rampaging Navy Seals. The truth is that many are al-Qaeda members who fought coalition forces during the invasion, but whose crimes are too legally vague to guarantee a conviction in court. America is therefore faced with the choice of releasing known enemies or detaining them indefinitely. That they choose the latter is not only sensible but generous — any of history's previous superpowers, such as Soviet Russia — would have shot them on sight.
Jack Nicholson's "you can't handle the truth" routine in A Few Good Men has become an iconic monologue of modern cinema, but the point he was making is rarely grasped. The injustice Nicholson laments is not that we expect a noble minority to pay the blood price for our security — it was ever thus — but that we demand the right to tell them how to do it. Shackled by laws, norms and protocol concocted by legalists, the US Armed Forces — who have done more for freedom of the press than all the world's journalists combined — are put in an impossible position. It is nauseating enough that they are now casually disparaged as "hicks" and "rednecks" by do-nothing civilians, without the supposedly objective media joining in. He gets it.
Posted by: JerseyMike ||
11/24/2004 7:51:06 AM ||
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Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
H.T. Drudge
A California teacher has been barred by his school from giving students documents from American history that refer to God -- including the Declaration of Independence. Someone has "issues". Get out of sorts at the mention of God in print.
Steven Williams, a fifth-grade teacher at Stevens Creek School in the San Francisco Bay area suburb of Cupertino, sued for discrimination on Monday, claiming he had been singled out for censorship by principal Patricia Vidmar because he is a Christian. Not neccessarily, the Principal has a "God" hang-up, and had to relieve her tension by lashing out at the nearest handy target...
"It's a fact of American history that our founders were religious men, and to hide this fact from young fifth-graders in the name of political correctness is outrageous and shameful," said Williams' attorney, Terry Thompson. A fact lost on the drooling school principal
"Williams wants to teach his students the true history of our country," he said. "There is nothing in the Establishment Clause (of the U.S. Constitution) that prohibits a teacher from showing students the Declaration of Independence." Vidmar could not be reached for comment on the lawsuit, which was filed on Monday in U.S. District Court in San Jose and claims violations of Williams rights to free speech under the First Amendment. In witness protection by the ACLU, and all loony toon associations in the Bay Area...
Phyllis Vogel, assistant superintendent for Cupertino Unified School District, said the lawsuit had been forwarded to a staff attorney. She declined to comment further. Doesn't want to touch this with a ten foot pole.
Here's the eleven foot pole :
Cupertino School Board Phone number is 408-252-3000.
The Superintendant's name is William Bragg. He is Vogel's boss.
Williams asserts in the lawsuit that since May he has been required to submit all of his lesson plans and supplemental handouts to Vidmar for approval, and that the principal will not permit him to use any that contain references to God or Christianity. ...and "The Internationale" shall save the human race, at least everybody within spitting distance of "Frisco" (They hate to be called that)
Among the materials she has rejected, according to Williams, are excerpts from the Declaration of Independence, George Washington's journal, John Adams' diary, Samuel Adams' "The Rights of the Colonists" and William Penn's "The Frame of Government of Pennsylvania." Only history, as it was taught in the former USSR is now allowed by the Totalitarians in Cupertino.
"He hands out a lot of material and perhaps 5 to 10 percent refers to God and Christianity because that's what the founders wrote," said Thompson, a lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund, which advocates for religious freedom. "The principal seems to be systematically censoring material that refers to Christianity and it is pure discrimination." Principal starts to breathe heavily at seeing the word God in print.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case of a California atheist who wanted the words "under God" struck from the Pledge of Allegiance as recited by school children. The appeals court in California had found that the phrase amounted to a violation of church and state separation. Newdow will no daubt raise his ugly head again... He's getting all goose-bumpy at this one!
#2
Patricia Vidmar - Principal -- (408) 245-3312...
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/24/2004 17:34 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Ol' Drudge just added the phone # on his site at the top of the page. This Totalitarian Ninconpoop will be dragged hysterical from her office wearing a straight-jacket by the guys in white coats within the hour....
#4
Moonbats need wacking down every 28 days when a full moon appears. It is like pest or cockroach control, every once in a while, on a regular basis they need a smackdown.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/24/2004 18:00 Comments ||
Top||
#5
lol - that's where I snatched that
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/24/2004 18:01 Comments ||
Top||
#6
But remember, all Pajamadeen within a 100 mile radius will be sought out to serve 30 days detention for making such a fuss....
Drudge took down the number just now, and left it as a link...
Defication must have hit the rotary-blade motor device (S**t hit the fan) and someone at the district made a plea to Drudge persoaally.
Note the link has mention of two YMCA groups, apparently she doen't know what the "C" stands for or they'd be gone too.
#7
This kinda crap really burns my cork. I'd have to classify myself as an athiest, I guess, as I'm just not a religious person. But I sure as hell don't feel threatened in any way by people who've got religion, unless they're raving fanatics.
But that's exactly what people like this Vidmar kook are: raving fanatics. Her atheism is just as much a fundamentalist, fanatical religion as Wahabbi Islam. These people are a damned menace.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
11/24/2004 18:21 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Beware the MSM agenda here. I suspect the Principal's left wing views are more significant than their atheism. There are plenty of atheists on the right, including a number of prominent people here at RB and Christians often figure on the irresponsible Left. But right wing christians are one of the the meme du jours.
#9
You have to remember that these LLL are all cut from the same cloth. They get a sick look on their face if you say 'God bless you' when they sneeze. Clearly they either never read or ignored the wording of the Declaration and the Constitution. God (or Creator) is cited many times throughout both documents. Reason number #2 I didnât go into teaching (#1 was the pay).
#11
Howbout a simple rule: school districts that can't handle the factual treatment of any subject that includes anything that offends anyone must acquire all their funding via bake sales and calendars with nude pictures of the faculty and administration of saidsame school.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/24/2004 18:28 Comments ||
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#12
nice work! Made Fox news
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/24/2004 18:30 Comments ||
Top||
#13
Patricia Vidmar....
Resign Now...
No decent parent will trust you after this...
PS To all fellow Rantbergians...My apologies for getting so off the wall on this...My 4-yr old son is coming up on a Kindergarten experience Sept 2005, this stuff works me up...
#14
I'm sure the principal wouldn't mind not being paid then.. after all all that money has 'In God We Trust' stamped on it.
I'd have to classify myself as an athiest, I guess, as I'm just not a religious person. But I sure as hell....
Dave, I agree with you but the above statement just strikes me as somewhat funny.....
#15
Hmmm....think we should relieve the gentleman of any federal treasury notes with the citation of "in God we trust" on them?
Posted by: Don ||
11/24/2004 18:46 Comments ||
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#16
Yeah, OK, I can imagine how it might... But the point I was trying to make is that whether or not a person is a Christian, or even believes in God at all, he/she at least ought to be able to acknowledge the rich heritage our country has from Christianity, Judaism, et al, because that heritage is important and a lot of it is very, VERY positive.
People like Vidmar aren't just atheists: they're Christian-phobic.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
11/24/2004 18:47 Comments ||
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#17
Interesting that around Thanksgiving this focuses on the founding dads.
Knowing that there are two sides to most stories, it would be interesting to know how Mr. Williams covered the Missions and the Pilgrims earlier in the year.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/24/2004 18:51 Comments ||
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#18
They're gonna have trouble when they get to the Gettysburg Address, too: that's got a "God" or two in it, somewhere.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
11/24/2004 18:55 Comments ||
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#19
Dave D - exactly! Removing any reference to religion in history is wrong historically and shouldn't qualify as teaching.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/24/2004 18:57 Comments ||
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Grade Five
History-Social Science Content Standards.
United States History and Geography: Making a New Nation
Students in grade five study the development of the nation up to 1850, with an emphasis on the people who were already here, when and from where others arrived, and why they came. Students learn about the colonial government founded on Judeo-Christian principles, the ideals of the Enlightenment, and the English traditions of self-government. They recognize that ours is a nation that has a constitution that derives its power from the people, that has gone through a revolution, that once sanctioned slavery, that experienced conflict over land with the original inhabitants, and that experienced a westward movement that took its people across the continent.
5.4 Students understand the political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era.
Identify the major individuals and groups responsible forthe founding of the various colonies and the reasons for their founding (e.g., John Smith, Virginia; Roger Williams, Rhode Island; William Penn, Pennsylvania; Lord Baltimore, Maryland; William Bradford, Plymouth; John Winthrop, Massachusetts). Pretty hard to avoid religion when discussing that group. I guess that's why they threw John Smith in.
Describe the religious aspects of the earliest colonies (e.g., Puritanism in Massachusetts, Anglicanism in Virginia, Catholicism in Maryland, Quakerism in Pennsylvania). Quakerism?
Identify the significance and leaders of the First Great Awakening, which marked a shift in religious ideas, practices, and allegiances in the colonial period, the growth of religious toleration, and free exercise of religion.
Understand how the British colonial period created the basis for the development of political self-government and a free-market economic system and the differences between the British, Spanish, and French colonial systems.
Understand the people and events associated with the drafting and signing of the Declaration of Independence and the document's significance, including the key political concepts it embodies, the origins of those concepts, and its role in severing ties with Great Britain.
Describe the views, lives, and impact of key individuals during this period (e.g., King George III, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams).
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/24/2004 19:22 Comments ||
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#21
Hmmm... sure looks to me like this Vidmar person doesn't have much of a leg to stand on. She just doesn't want to do the job she was hired to do.
Out with her.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
11/24/2004 19:28 Comments ||
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#22
Dave, I suspect it will turn out that Williams has tenure and was proselytizing in class or some such thing and that Vidmar, being the typical authoritarian principal over-reacted and made a stupid and unenforcable edict that Williams was able to peddle to publicity seeking lawyers for a special interest group. Let's wait for the other side of the story.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/24/2004 19:32 Comments ||
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#23
That could well be, in which case we got one o' them "two wrongs don't make a right" deals. Like you said, let's see how this shakes out.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
11/24/2004 19:36 Comments ||
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#24
Somehow I believe as well that there's more to the story. Teaching history without mentioning God could be a little difficult.
If I remember well there was a story about a Bush photo being banned at a school that turned out a bit different as well.
#25
Dave, Some facts to keep in mind. The suit was filed Monday. There is no mention of it in the San Jose Mercury News. Joanne Jacobs silicon valley education blogger and maven has nothing on it. World Net Daily breaks the story at noon EST. Drudge picks it up from a Reuters story time stamped 4:12 EST or 1:12 pm PST on the Wednesday before Thankksgiving. My nose is twitching.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/24/2004 19:45 Comments ||
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#26
It's a feel-good story for both sides. Happy Thanksgiving, LOL! We'll see when school and serious reporting start again on monday....
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/24/2004 19:49 Comments ||
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#27
#23, Two wrongs don't make a right but two Wrights can make an airplane. I really feel sorry for atheists at their funerals. All dressed up and nowhere to go.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
11/24/2004 20:31 Comments ||
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Edited for brevity.
The Rapid City [SD] Police Department credits two Ellsworth Air Force Base airmen with stopping a man from beating a woman, possibly saving her life. Both airmen received the police department's Civilian Service Medal for breaking up a domestic dispute Oct. 9. Jason Brandos and Scot Richardson, both airman 1st class, and their wives, Lynne Brandos and Jericho Richardson, decided about 9 p.m. that evening to treat themselves to some ice cream. While driving down St. Patrick Street in separate vehicles, the two couples spotted a man beating a woman. After stopping his vehicle, Richardson grabbed a baseball bat and headed to the scene. "My 5-foot 10-inch, 150-pound frame isn't what you'd call intimidating," Richardson, a member of the base's security force, said. But he said he thought his 3-pound aluminum bat might even things out. Richardson said when he looked back, he saw Brandos coming to the woman's aid, too. "It was just a reaction. I noticed something was wrong and went to help," Brandos, 25, of Milwaukee, Wis., said. While the men headed to help the woman, their wives called 911. Richardson said the assailant had his hands around the woman's neck and was slamming her head against the side of the house and hitting her in the face. "I heard him tell her that 'those two ... boys aren't going to help you. You'll be dead before you can get in the house,'" Richardson said. More at link.
Posted by: Dar ||
11/24/2004 2:47:59 PM ||
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#1
Way to go! Smart move bringing the bat to the fight. Domestics disputes are the WORST calls for cops to go on so these two are indeed brave for stepping in.
#2
I'd prefer a gun, since this homicidal wacko could have very well had one and was in the mindset to use one. Fortunately, although "armed to the teeth", so to speak, he didn't have one!
Posted by: Dar ||
11/24/2004 16:14 Comments ||
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Police have arrested two men for allegedly molesting a woman, the Khanewal district police officer (DPO) told reporters on Tuesday. Some 20 armed men picked up a housewife, Haseena, 35, from her house in Bahaduraywala, Jamesabad, threw her seven-month-old baby to the ground, took her to their home in Bheni Imam Bakhsh village, dragged her through the streets from a motorbike, molested her and shaved her head. The men were acting in revenge because Haseena's brother-in-law was allegedly having an affair with a female relative of the rival party. A punchayat was called and it ordered the attackers to leave the village, but it also told the woman not to lodge a complaint with police.
However, the attackers did not leave the village, and the victim family has now shifted to Kabirwala. "We are investigating the case in the light of a complaint lodged by Haseena Bibi's father-in-law and police have registered a case against five accused and arrested two of them. They will not go unpunished if they are found guilty of humiliating the woman," DPO Dr Jamil Ahmed told reporters. The DPO has appointed DSP Khadim Hussain as investigating officer to look into the case. He has recorded the statements of Haseena, her husband Muhammad Iqbal and father-in-law Zafar Siyal.
Posted by: tipper ||
11/24/2004 7:25:21 AM ||
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This kind of thing wouldn't happen if there were a just resolution of the Palestinian problem!!
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
11/24/2004 8:58 Comments ||
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#2
Please explain better mike , I'm a little thick and need help . How would this not happen if something 100's of miles away was sorted . Or was that sarcasm on your part and not mine ?
An open-source encyclopedia offers the history behind the daily news. A Berkeley Web site serves up stunning images of our planet and a new Google service helps you discover the academic within. The problem with daily news is that it all too often lacks the background and context you need to make any sense of it. Enter the folks over at Wikipedia, the ever-growing not-for-profit, open-source global Internet encyclopedia project that pits armchair academics against Britannica with pretty impressive results. Wikipedia now offers daily news headlines with nifty links to online encyclopedia entries that fill-in more blanks than one would expect from a freebie.
Halfway across the planet from Berlin, at the University of California at Berkeley, researchers have assembled high-resolution images from NASA's Blue Marble project that provide crystal-clear images of our planet from just 1 kilometer above. We found them sehr schoen. Don't like your research data parsed for you in the form of newspapers, magazines or other mainstream media? Google, the world wide web's biggest search engine now offers Google Scholar, a service that indexes journal articles and academic research papers for your midnight scholarly perusings. Caveat emptor: These search results don't come with user instructions.
Posted by: tipper ||
11/24/2004 2:39:15 AM ||
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The daily news link doesn't seem to work.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/24/2004 8:13 Comments ||
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#2
Oooops, don't know what happened there.
Go to the headline and access the link from the source article.
#3
Enter the folks over at Wikipedia, the ever-growing not-for-profit, open-source global Internet encyclopedia project that pits armchair academics against Britannica with pretty impressive results.
If you're into conspiracy theories and Marxism, that is.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
11/24/2004 9:24 Comments ||
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#4
Tanks Tipper. Does anyone know if our European who is not to be named is involved with this?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/24/2004 9:28 Comments ||
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The US dollar fell to a fresh low against the euro on Tuesday, breaching the $1.31 barrier for the first time. The cataylst was a hint from the Russian central bank that it plans to step up its policy of switching its foreign exchange reserves into euros, at the expense of the dollar... Russia, which had a record $113.1bn of foreign reserves as of November 12, is already believed to hold some 25-30 per cent of these reserves in euros, with the bulk of the rest in dollars... More importantly, the Russian comments highlighted the prospect of Asian central banks with larger reserves following suit. China has an estimated 80 per cent of its $515bn of reserves in dollars, while Middle Eastern central banks were rumoured to be selling dollars and buying sterling on Tuesday...
The upshot was that the dollar fell as low as $1.3105 against the euro, before moderating to $1.3097 by mid-session New York trading, a fall of 0.5 per cent on the day. The greenback also fell 0.6 per cent to a fresh eight-year low of SFr1.1564 against the Swiss franc, 0.7 per cent to a nine-month low of A$0.7877 against the Australian dollar, 0.7 per cent to a four-month low of $1.8726 against sterling and 0.9 per cent to a seven-month low of Rbs28.49 against the rouble itself. However the dollar held its own against Asian currencies, which were undermined by rising oil prices, fresh intervention from South Korea, renewed speculation that the Bank of Japan may return to the market today and comments from Li Ruogu, the deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, in yesterday's FT that suggested a renminbi devaluation was not imminent... Soros' and the arabs revenge???
Posted by: anonymous2u ||
11/24/2004 12:30:03 AM ||
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#1
I don't think what the Russians are doing really changes anything. The Asian countries have a choice - they can not intervene, and let their exports fall, meaning that there is a smaller US trade deficit to finance, or they can buy dollars to keep the dollar strong, their exports cheap and thus their export levels up. The trade deficit is a symptom of foreign countries propping up its value, not a sign of a lack of American virtue or profligacy. Reporters want to rap America for consuming vast amounts of imports, but this is due entirely to the intervention of foreign central banks. On the one hand, China keeping its exchange rate fixed and unconvertible vs the dollar, and on the other, regular interventions, via buying dollars, by the East Asian central banks. Eventually, their currencies have to strengthen as their level of economic development approaches that of the US. It happened with the European currencies and the yen, and it must continue, if the US trade deficit is to fall.
#3
I think what Mr Li Ruogu, the deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, had to say about the US deficit is rather telling, maybe more than he wanted?
"The appreciation of the RMB will not solve the problems of unemployment in the US because the cost of labour in China is only three per cent that of US labour. They should give up textiles, shoe-making and even agriculture probably."
I think that gives away most of the Chinese long term strategy. Make the U.S. depend on basic goods imported from China, widen the trade deficit so much that the U.S. has to export high tech (including military high tech I suppose), which comes along with know how, of course.
And then raise prices and squeeze... and dominate U.S. markets.
A further fall of the dollar is not in Chinese interest because it eats up the $515 bn reserves the Chinese are holding. It basically means that China pays off the U.S. trade deficit. So for now they will try to stabilize the dollar.
But the U.S. can't let the dollar fall much more because in the end a selling panic will set in. I don't think that the Russians will trade too many Dollars for Euros at this point.
But the U.S. should not speculate on letting others pay off their deficit because that will mean a much weaker dollar, rising interest rates and rampant inflation. The danger right now is that nobody sees any reason why the dollar should hold firm and this will make speculation run wild. Leading European (including the big Swiss) banks are quietly telling their clients to dump their U.S. investments and go Euro. A plunging dollar will also renew the idea OPEC has about switching from dollar to euro. This would lead to cataclysm. I guess OPEC is too afraid of the consequences and I don't see Europeans encouraging the idea but the danger is there. For an export orientated economy like Germany the rising euro is just at the border of becoming real painful. Before it reaches $1.40, a joint and massiuve Treasury-ECB intervention is in order. For the benefit of both.
#4
TGA: I think that gives away most of the Chinese long term strategy. Make the U.S. depend on basic goods imported from China, widen the trade deficit so much that the U.S. has to export high tech (including military high tech I suppose), which comes along with know how, of course.
And then raise prices and squeeze... and dominate U.S. markets.
The Chinese government doesn't have the power to raise prices. The price environment is a free-for-all involving large numbers of firms. The moment costs in China go up, production starts shifting to third countries. I know this because I know people who manufacture in China and are contemplating moving elsewhere because of what they consider unacceptable price hikes brought about by real estate and wage increases - which are still a tiny fraction of what they are in the West. China isn't the only game in town.
#5
Zhang Fei, they don't have the power yet, and of course they will do it in a very very gradual move. At least that's the Chinese strategy. It's not a given that it will work. China will face a lot of challenges as well in the next year.
Still I wouldn't feel very comfortable with a weak dollar as an American. Like Germany, America can't really compete with low prices, only with quality. Once the euro hits $1.40, we're looking at the weakest dollar ever (in the mid 90s it hit it's all time low to the DM), but with a deficit and total debt so much higher than ten years ago. It's a dangerous path to go.
#6
TGA: But the U.S. should not speculate on letting others pay off their deficit because that will mean a much weaker dollar, rising interest rates and rampant inflation. The danger right now is that nobody sees any reason why the dollar should hold firm and this will make speculation run wild. Leading European (including the big Swiss) banks are quietly telling their clients to dump their U.S. investments and go Euro.
The reality is that as the US dollar goes lower, US assets become more attractive, thus counteracting the fall of the dollar. Imports to the US become more expensive and exports from the US become cheaper, thus cutting the size of the trade deficit. American companies generate real value and are highly competitive vis-a-vis their European competitors. This makes them highly attractive investments, from both a current income and capital gains perspective. (The only reason there is a trade deficit is because of significant trade barriers on the European side, meaning that many US firms must produce in Europe to sell to Europe).
TGA: A plunging dollar will also renew the idea OPEC has about switching from dollar to euro. This would lead to cataclysm. I guess OPEC is too afraid of the consequences and I don't see Europeans encouraging the idea but the danger is there.
I don't really see this as a problem. The reality is that they have tried doing this before and found that it makes no difference. The idea that pricing oil in euros will help oil producers is a false one. A higher dollar price will just depress demand in America. Oil producers understand this dynamic, just as the East Asians understand their predicament concerning exchange rates.
TGA: For an export orientated economy like Germany the rising euro is just at the border of becoming real painful. Before it reaches $1.40, a joint and massiuve Treasury-ECB intervention is in order. For the benefit of both.
It's funny how the Europeans weren't complaining when the Euro fell from its issue price of $1.10 dollars to the Euro to $0.80 to the Euro. Now that it's swung the other way, it's somehow the end of the world. Business reporters really need to get a grip.
#7
TGA: Zhang Fei, they don't have the power yet, and of course they will do it in a very very gradual move. At least that's the Chinese strategy. It's not a given that it will work. China will face a lot of challenges as well in the next year.
At the risk of repeating myself, let me reiterate that Chinese government does not have any leverage over prices. Most of the production that is sited in China was moved over from other East Asian countries. The moment costs went up in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore, manufacturers moved production to China. Now that Chinese costs are increasing, they're looking at Vietnam, Bangladesh, Pakistan, et al. There is no central Chinese committee setting prices. They're all contractors and sub-contractors trying to stay afloat, and the ones who don't make cut on price don't get new business, meaning they shut down. The manufacturers I'm talking about are businesses that employ 1,000 people and up.
TGA: Still I wouldn't feel very comfortable with a weak dollar as an American. Like Germany, America can't really compete with low prices, only with quality. Once the euro hits $1.40, we're looking at the weakest dollar ever (in the mid 90s it hit it's all time low to the DM), but with a deficit and total debt so much higher than ten years ago. It's a dangerous path to go.
Every manufacturer competes on quality and price. If you can produce the same quality product for 10% less than your competitor, he is dead. This is what the exchange rate issue is all about. For years, US companies had to deal with the fall of the Euro from $1.10 to $0.80. Now that the shoe's on the other foot, European companies are complaining and various central banks are hemming and hawing about dumping dollars. I welcome it - this means I can buy US assets at lower prices. I'm sure the Asians also welcome this, knowing that they can buy dollars at undervalued rates while undercutting European competitiveness in the bargain.
#8
TGA, I have to disagree with you on 2 points. The US economy is relatively trade independant. That is it doesn't need to trade to function. Oil is a problem, but I doubt oil will go to USD100 and if it does, it will be the trigger necessary to get off its dependence on oil imports. As many of us point out on a regular basis, thats not such a hard problem. What is lacking is the political will. The second issue is a dollar free fall will hurt the USA. Because of reason one, the USA will be the least affected of the developed economies. Germany unfortunately will be the worst affected. ZF is probably right that the Europeans will ensure a dollar collapse does not occur becuase they are the ones who will feel the pain.
The phrase 'A perfect storm' keeps coming to mind.
#9
One other thing, I interpret the Chinese comments as a sign of weakness. A rough calculation says they are losing in the region of half a billion dollars a DAY!. They understand that is a lot of money and they have no idea what to do stop it. The reality is they can't.
#10
phil_b: ZF is probably right that the Europeans will ensure a dollar collapse does not occur becuase they are the ones who will feel the pain.
There's more to it than that. The theory is that US dollar could collapse because Americans have sinned in an economic sense, and must therefore be punished. This is a load of garbage. The US has hundreds of thousands of real companies that produce real goods and real profits. The moment the dollar starts to fall, US assets become more attractive in foreign currency terms, triggering foreign purchase of US assets and thus reversing the fall of the dollar.
A similar thing happens with the trade deficit - US goods become cheaper overseas, increasing US exports, and foreign goods become more expensive in the US, reducing US imports. This means that the trade deficit becomes smaller, thus causing the value of the dollar to rise.
#11
Zhang Fei, Europeans complained quite a bit when the Euro took it's dive. For a while this really created a mistrust in the new currency.
US assets may become more attractive (I guess you mean companies etc) but the U.S. needs 2bn dollars a day of direct foreign investments to keep up with the borrowing needs. Investments in U.S. bonds will only rise when people believe that the dollar has hit the bottom, but right now nobody knows where the bottom is. Of course what you will get is more foreign owned companies in the U.S., but they might create less jobs than you might hope for.
I'm afraid, the bankers I know (and I'm not talking about the guy running the local bank next doors) don't share your optimism.
We can assume that there will be a U.S. bounce back but it may take a few years to materialize.
Major German investors are quietly reconsidering their U.S. assets because there is more money to be made elsewhere.
As for the pricing of oil in Euro: Don't forget that Russia's trade with the Eurozone is much higher than with the U.S., so you'll see a gradual shift. Middle Eastern investors are also reconsidering... they import more from Europe than from the U.S. and they might also worry about what happens to their investments should terror strike again in the U.S.
Anyway, even if the U.S. does nothing, I see a massive joint European/Asian intervention before the Euro hits $1.40. Whether this will really help much I don't know.
Unfortunately oil demand in the U.S. is not likely to drop much (this would be great news if it did). So prices are likely to rise if Iraqi production doesn't rise substantially (and Iran's production is not cut off by a crisis). The Chinese are set to increase their oil reserves as much as they can, too.
A sinking U.S. demand of oil is likely to be gobbled up elsewhere right now.
#12
ZF, I consider fixing a trade deficit by weakening the currency as a risky business. Germany actually increased its Trade surplus in the last years quite substantially, despite of the strong Euro. It's true that a lot of this trade is inside the Eurozone and exports to the U.S. have slowed down somewhat, but have been mostly counterbalanced by exports in other regions outside the Eurozone.
I simply doubt that half a trillion trade deficit can be mended just by letting the dollar drop. How much will it drop?
#13
TGA: US assets may become more attractive (I guess you mean companies etc) but the U.S. needs 2bn dollars a day of direct foreign investments to keep up with the borrowing needs. Investments in U.S. bonds will only rise when people believe that the dollar has hit the bottom, but right now nobody knows where the bottom is.
There is plenty of money in the US for financing the budget deficit - $34T worth, at last count. The reason more people don't do it is because of low interest rates (and hence, yields). If foreigners stop buying Treasury bonds, American investors will step in as interest rates rise.
I don't deny that there might be a financial panic like the crash of 1987, but the reality is that US is still the engine of technological and financial innovation, meaning that it has large numbers of companies with real revenues and real profits. We will survive this. The question is whether Europe can survive it.
TGA: I'm afraid, the bankers I know (and I'm not talking about the guy running the local bank next doors) don't share your optimism. We can assume that there will be a U.S. bounce back but it may take a few years to materialize. Major German investors are quietly reconsidering their U.S. assets because there is more money to be made elsewhere.
Actually, it would make sense for them to redeploy their assets until the US dollar bottoms out. And bottom out it will, upon which European investors will try to rush back in before the bargains are all gone. But they will be competing for assets with American investors. I understand European journalists and investors think that America has been bad, both in terms of its foreign and economic policies.
But whatever you think about America's foreign policy, its laissez faire economic policies produce a self-adjusting economy. You bet against America at your own financial peril. If you think the US economy will go down the tubes as the result of a dollar collapse, I think you should put your money where your mouth is and short the S&P 500.
#14
TGA: I consider fixing a trade deficit by weakening the currency as a risky business. Its the only way to fix a trade deficit (short of long term structural changes in the economy). And BTW you seem to have bought into the myth that the US federal deficit is the 'root cause'. It's not.
#15
Well the thing is, I put (some) of my money where my heart is... maybe not always wise but didn't fare too badly in the last decades.
You may be right: the strongest asset America always had was optimism and innovation. But these are not ordinary times.
The major problem for Europe lies in the fact that the Euro is actually overvalued right now. The German mark was often very strong, but rightfully so.
I'm not happy with the current situation. Europe needs to boost consumer spending, slash taxes. The crazy thing is we boxed ourselves in with the Euro that doesn't allow for these measures.
We need to do some wise things on both sides of the Atlantic or we're facing a rough ride.
#17
TGA: ZF, I consider fixing a trade deficit by weakening the currency as a risky business. Germany actually increased its Trade surplus in the last years quite substantially, despite of the strong Euro. It's true that a lot of this trade is inside the Eurozone and exports to the U.S. have slowed down somewhat, but have been mostly counterbalanced by exports in other regions outside the Eurozone.
I simply doubt that half a trillion trade deficit can be mended just by letting the dollar drop. How much will it drop?
Note that the US doesn't just compete with Europe in Europe. It also competes with Europe in Asia and in the rest of the world, including in America. Airbus is now going to face considerable difficulty pricing its products at competitive levels. To make the same number of Euros as it did when the Euro bought $0.80, Airbus will now have to increase the dollar price of its planes by 60%. In fact, Airbus may have to lose money on every plane it sells to remain competitive against Boeing. This will kill Airbus profits in America, and perhaps Airbus sales as well. Stack this up across various industries and products, and it becomes apparent how the US trade deficit could shrink several hundred billion dollars quite easily. And that's all it needs to shrink - about $300B is a reasonable number. In fact, the $500B number is inflated by oil imports, which are now shrinking or not growing as fast as it would have - as it has always done - in response to higher prices.
#19
TGA: Well the thing is, I put (some) of my money where my heart is... maybe not always wise but didn't fare too badly in the last decades.
You may be right: the strongest asset America always had was optimism and innovation. But these are not ordinary times.
The financial press is obsessed with Iraq and thinks that the US should be punished for what it views as America's political sins. But there is nothing wrong with the American economy right now. The budget deficit is not at historically high levels (relative to GDP), and the trade deficit is inflated by China's extraordinarily low costs (in the form of $40 DVD players and $60 leather jackets) and unusually high oil prices. In time, the budget deficit will fall, as the economic growth pays for the tax cuts, and the trade deficit will fall, as the US dollar becomes more competitive relative to foreign currencies.
As to oil demand being higher elsewhere, this is wishful thinking on the oil producers' part. Americans and other developed countries can afford high oil prices. Developing countries cannot. Again, TGA seems to have overlooked the one thing that markets tend to do - swing towards equilibrium. Oil producers sell us oil not because they like us, but because at equilibrium, this is the best price they can get. Without America in the market, oil prices would take a huge dive.
#20
Germany's trade surplus for 2004 is estimated at ⬠158 bn ($207 bn at current rates), exports rose by 9,5% (⬠725 bn total).
Exports to China are up 27%, all despite the yearlong strong euro.
Just making your currency weaker doesn't cut it, imho.
#21
TGA is right about a weak currency being an incomplete stragegy. There's a huge amount of economic and political jockeying going on in the world, which raises risks but also may present possibilities for every player. A few factors to watch out for:
drilling in ANWR
a possible move to expand refinery capacity in the US
an attempted attack on existing oil and nuclear plants here
the situation in the Ukraine, Georgia and Beloruss
Population flows. IMO Bush is absolutely right that a guest worker program would be valuable to the US for the next decade or more.
The exports issues that are wrapped up in the relative currency rates are real. But so too is the issue of international power.
Posted by: MBA ||
11/24/2004 4:43 Comments ||
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#22
TGA: Germany's trade surplus for 2004 is estimated at ⬠158 bn ($207 bn at current rates), exports rose by 9,5% (⬠725 bn total).
Exports to China are up 27%, all despite the yearlong strong euro.
Just making your currency weaker doesn't cut it, imho.
At the beginning of the year, the Euro wasn't quite as strong. How many of these German exports are for contracts negotiated in prior years? Note also that the Chinese government is trying to buy more European goods in order to provide incentives for the breaking of the arms embargo on China.
It is also my understanding that many sectors of the European economies are not quite as open as the US economy, which may be why Germany actually has a trade surplus with China. This is also why China is so dependent on exports to the US.
#23
MBA: TGA is right about a weak currency being an incomplete stragegy.
The US doesn't have have a weak currency strategy - it has an equilibrium exchange rate strategy. Foreign central banks have been buying dollars to prop their own economies up for years now. It is time for the dollar to fall to its equilibrium level. As other countries develop, their currencies will progressively strengthen vis-a-vis the dollar. Buying dollars does nothing to stop the long-term trend and runs the risk of severe dislocations. It is time for the dollar to adjust.
#25
phil_b: ZF's right! It's other countries strong dollar policy that is the problem.
If the US breaks foreign countries of their strong dollar habit (akin almost to a crack/cocaine habit), this will be GWB's other signature achievement. The trade deficits will stop piling up, and employment numbers might actually significantly improve.
#26
Stephen Ceccehtti has this to say in the Financial Times (payment required, so just c/p relevant section. See also latest post above)
"We can start to see why governments with large dollar reserves would be concerned about both keeping the dollar from depreciating and ensuring that US treasury bond interest rates do not go up. Both of these would result in capital losses for the entities holding the foreign exchange reserves. Given that these reserves are huge - more than $800bn in Japan and more than $500bn in China - the potential losses are big, as is the potential embarrassment. A 10 per cent appreciation of the renminbi means a capital loss of $50bn for Chinese authorities. Assuming the duration of their bond portfolio is three to five years, a 2 percentage point increase in US interest rates means another loss of $30bn-$50bn.
It is hard to see a way for the Asians to get out of this bind without American help. Statements by the treasury secretary will not do the trick. Foreign exchange intervention will be equally ineffective unless it signals that something fundamental has changed."
#27
tipper's FT article: We can start to see why governments with large dollar reserves would be concerned about both keeping the dollar from depreciating and ensuring that US treasury bond interest rates do not go up. Both of these would result in capital losses for the entities holding the foreign exchange reserves.
But the currency interventions are essentially jobs programs. The Japanese have had extensive experience with cost of this particular kind of jobs program, given that they held treasuries all throughout the dollar's slide from the 200+ yen/$ range to the 100+yen/$ range. The Chinese are a different story. All of the other East Asian countries have had to deal with it as well. You play the strong dollar game, you pay the price.
#28
This is horrific news for Germany and to a lesser extent France. With their exports getting more and more expensive by the day, there is absolutely no way that Germany can grow even 1% next year. As to the Russian decision, it means little. Russia's reserves, while at an all-time high, are still puny relative to the Asians' reserves.
Everything depends on the Asians' willingness to continue to hold Treasuries. If they panic and start to sell them off-- extremely unlikely, as they've been through this game before-- then the US will have to slash government spending and get serious about inducing its citizens to save more.
Isn't that Bush's endgame, after all? A poker player, indeed. With icewater in his veins.
#29
TGA: Of course what you will get is more foreign owned companies in the U.S., but they might create less jobs than you might hope for.
Foreign, especially Japanese and French, companies' strategic investment history in the US during the last twenty years has been comically bad. Japanese investments typically favor "trophy" assets, and the Japanese are famous for buying at the peak. See the purchase of Rockefeller Center ca 1990 and Goldman Sachs' repurchase of it several years later from the Japanese for about 35% of what the Japanese banks paid. Ditto for the French, though their binge occurred at the peak of the market in the late 1990s.
#30
Outstanding commentary. Econ 301 at Rantburg U is again in session!
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/24/2004 12:00 Comments ||
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#31
Speaking of buying at the peak: if Euro companies wish to make acquisitions now, they'll likely pay a premium above current valuations which are still very high. Given growth projections, the Dow's real value is almost certainly lower than 10,000.
That said, I think Bush's strategy here is to offset any sales of US assets by Europeans by increased purchases from Americans taking advantage of Bush's new "ownership society" incentives for saving and investment.
#32
I hate to sound like a dufus after all the interesting discussion, but exactly who is gonna buy all these nasty bad worthless dollars the Russians want to sell? Wouldn't it have been a little more intelligent to sell when the dolllar was high?
#33
Frogistan's selling 20% of its' gold reserves over the next 5 years.
Bros. Judd had that last week.
Hope they capture Z - watch the market fly! I think the $ would solidify, too.
Just food for thought. My husband is in mfg and he knows of a couple of cases where the Chicoms won the bid but the parts were made in America. They cannot afford to keep lowering their currency. I wonder if that's part of W/Greenspan's plan?
As to the Chicoms ruling ag-wise, they can't even feed their people and don't want NorK to fall cos they couldn't handle an extra 15 million.
#34
lex: Speaking of buying at the peak: if Euro companies wish to make acquisitions now, they'll likely pay a premium above current valuations which are still very high. Given growth projections, the Dow's real value is almost certainly lower than 10,000.
The thing about US company profits is that they are bankable. I have no idea what is in the books of European companies. Many of the financial maneuvers for which American executives have been given jail time are not even illegal in Europe.
#35
True, ZF. Ditto for EU governments' fiscal accounting games. There's zero credibility for EU budgets, esp France and Germany, which are almost certainly way beyond the Maastricht guidelines. Another good reason for foreign investors to avoid Europe.
#36
A national sales tax, combined with major new incentives for investment, could have the effect of decreasing US consumer purchases of Asian junk like 50-foot-wide flat TVs and increasing funds flowing into the stock market and US treasuries. A very good development, IMO.
#37
lex: A national sales tax, combined with major new incentives for investment, could have the effect of decreasing US consumer purchases of Asian junk like 50-foot-wide flat TVs and increasing funds flowing into the stock market and US treasuries. A very good development, IMO.
Call me a contrarian, but I think there's quite enough money in American investments. We don't have an issue with a shortage of capital - otherwise, returns would be huge. What we have is an overabundance of capital, fueled by overseas money inflows. In the long run, technological change determines real returns on capital. Having too much cash to invest simply creates bubble conditions (re: the internet and telecom bubble). The other problem with a national sales tax was pointed out by Milton Friedman - it's way too easy to raise, from a political standpoint. This is why the income tax is still the best way to collect taxes.
#38
Point taken re the sales tax pinata. As to funds flows, I'm speaking mainly about marginal inflows; I'm addressing the problem of replacing outflows should foreign investors ditch treasuries in large numbers at some point.
#40
A2U: David's Medienkritik has an article about Europeans boycotting American goods. And while them raising the NST is a bad thing, it does bring in the underground economy.
From the article: As a consequence of their frustration with the United Statesâ policies overseas, one in five European consumers indicate that they will avoid purchasing certain American-brands products and services in the future.
This may explain why Germany's trade surplus with the US is slated to increase - a drop in US exports to Germany. The problem with a greater European trade surplus is that it means a weaker dollar - unless the European central banks recycle their dollars by buying US assets. Any drop in the value of their assets is like the cost of a public works program.
#42
anonymous2u: âAs to the Chicoms ruling ag-wise, they can't even feed their peopleâ
In the short term you are likely correct. However the Chinese are believers in biotech. Aggressively applying modern biotech in the next two decades should significantly increase crop yields while using less water and energy. So China could be self-sufficient or even a food exporter. (Whether it makes economic or political sense is a different question. I believe there are other countries more favored for exporting food. Low labor costs are only one factor.)
I expect productivity in the agriculture sector in China to drastically improve. That will mean hundreds of millions of rural poor Chinese out of work. That means the Chinese economy has to keep growing rapidly to generate new jobs.
In two decades China is going through productivity and social changes that took a hundred years in the US. Should be a wild ride.
#44
"GMI World Poll finds that one in five European consumers will avoid purchasing products and services offered by many American-based companies - notably Marlboro cigarettes, American Airlines and AOL"
Ohhhh pleaaaase, who would use AOL anyway, it sucks, has a proprietary protocol, is too expensive and did I mention it sucks? Marlboro? Again, come on, about any major cigarette brand is American, are people going to switch to Camel? People are just reducing smoking due to prices and gorish anti-advertising. And American Airlines, sorry folks, simply sucks: Attitude, service, prices.
Last time I checked McDonalds was full and the chicks still wore Tomy Hilfiger shirts. This boycott talk is rubbish. No Californian wine is flowing into the gutters, sorry.
America does not have that "everything American is automatically cool" status anymore, but that's a trend that has been going on for decades.
As for the VAT tax: Everyone in Europe pays VAT for goods, whatever the provenience. Or does your local camera dealer not charge a sales tax because your new Nikon is from Japan?
#47
ZF, please don't slap anti-Bush propaganda on me...not on me, ok?
You know very well that scientists prefer to work where they are most encouraged to work, and the stem cell discussion hasn't helped. European scientists are less willing to take up jobs in the U.S. even if they are better paid than at home. And I know quite a few cases of U.S. scientists relocating to Europe because they are not sure what will happen to their research work in the U.S.
#48
OT - happy Thanksgiving, TGA - to you and all your family! Figure that you and Gromky (happy T-day to you as well) will be the first to get Nov 25th LOL
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/24/2004 19:07 Comments ||
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#49
Frank G, thanks... it has arrived already. Well, Halloween has gained quite a bit of popularity here although the U.S. style Thanksgiving is still widely unknown.
We'll have a few U.S. servicemen coming over for dinner, three are straight from Iraq. Enjoy your turkey as well!
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.
European Central Bank (ECB) President Jean-Claude Trichet, whose warning against "brutal" currency shifts helped push the euro down from a record in January, may fail to halt its rally this time without support from the United States. The euro rose to a record of US$1.3074 on November 18, threatening to stifle a recovery in the 12 nations sharing the currency, even after Trichet repeated his "brutal" comment 10 days earlier. US Treasury Secretary John Snow said in London last week that exchange rates are best set by markets. "There's very little they can do," said Thomas Mayer, chief European economist at Deutsche Bank AG in London. "They can try intervention but I would seriously doubt if it could work. Cutting interest rates is tricky because they seem to be thinking more about the upside risks to inflation."
A peaceful handover of power has reportedly been agreed in the Ukraine after protesters clashed with anti-riot police outside the president's headquarters. Tensions in the capital Kiev reached breaking point as tens of thousands of demonstrators surrounded the HQ. They had been called on to march by opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko. He and his supporters believed the presidential election, which took place at the weekend, was rigged. According to the poll results, Kremlin-backed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych won the presidency. But after calls from outgoing president Leonid Kuchma for talks between the two sides, Mr Yanukovych stepped aside. Mr Yushchenko will now become president, it has been reported. 
He accused the outgoing president and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich of responsibility for electoral fraud which produced the results that have Yanukovich poised to be named president. Supporters prompted Yushchenko to read the oath of office after the conclusion of a tumultuous session of parliament that was boycotted by Yanukovich allies. He read the oath with his hand on a Bible, opened a window in the parliament building and addressed a sea of supporters outside who have turned out for a second day of raucous protest, which has the centre of the capital seething with anger. Speaker after speaker stepped up to the microphone in Kiev's Independence Square to defiantly pledge loyalty to Yushchenko. "We are fighting for democracy and we will win," declared Ihor Ostash, an opposition parliamentary deputy, draped like others in the orange campaign colours of Yushchenko's camp. The parliamentary session ended without taking any decision on the aftermath of the poll. "We are sliding towards the abyss. It is amoral and criminal to pretend nothing is happening in the country," parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn told deputies at the debate's start. 
An official report presented to the French government Tuesday paints a damning picture of racial discrimination in the workplace and recommends a series of measures including the mandatory introduction of anonymous CVs. According to the report, young people of Arab and African origin are up to five times more likely to be unemployed than the rest of the French population, while their chances of even achieving an interview are severely reduced as a result of their name and skin colour. In education the number of Arabs and Africans gaining access to top flight university courses and the elite "grandes ecoles" is decreasing, while problems at primary and secondary level mean that schools are "incapable of ensuring basic literacy among non French-speaking immigrants." 
