[Iran Press TV] Ousted Tunisian President-for-Life Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, ...who departed by popular demand in January, 2011, precipitating the Arab Spring... who is in Soddy Arabia, is to go on trial as Riyadh is opposing Tunisians' requests to hand him over.
"No. And you can't make us, so have your little show trial with an empty chair."
A criminal court in the capital Tunis is to begin hearing the first of 93 cases brought against the former Tunisian ruler on Monday, AFP reported Sunday.
Tunisia's new authorities are planning to try Ben Ali and his wife on drugs, guns and graft charges in absentia after the discovery of millions of dollars cash and jewellery, weapons and drugs in presidential palaces.
The ousted Tunisian president is to face 93 charges ranging from murder and torture to money laundering, but his French lawyer Jean-Yves Le Borgne has rejected the accusation, slamming the trial as a "masquerade."
Ben Ali is also accused of being involved in the killing of 300 anti-government protesters during the uprising in the North African country.
Ben Ali decamped the country on January 14 after a month-long popular uprising against his 23-year rule that later inspired other revolutions across the Arab world.
He is currently living in a villa in the Red Sea city of Jeddah along with his wife Leila Trabelsi and the Saudi government has not responded to Tunisian requests to hand over the former president.
The Tunisian revolution was the first of a string of uprisings against autocratic rulers in the Middle East and North Africa.
An interim government headed by caretaker Prime Minister Beji Caid Essebsi now rules Tunisia.
A large number of Tunisians are opposed to the new government as it still includes figures from the ousted regime.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2011 00:00 ||
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He's a pathetic leader but he is a hell of a good politician. Vz basket going off at $104, even with the drop in exports he'll be able to wing it until the election, when sweet, sweet Chineese Kitchen appliances will rule. (then destroy what's left of the grid)
Posted by: Goldies Every Damn Where ||
06/20/2011 17:30 Comments ||
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#4
I wonder if he is walking bowlegged after having those rectal foreign bodies removed.
A new analysis just released by National Economic Research Associates (NERA) shows that two costly Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed regulations on the utility industry will cost jobs and also drive up electricity prices.
Specifically, the study looked at the economic impacts of the EPA's proposed Transport Rule and the Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) requirements for power plants. This demonstrates what we have been saying here at the National Association of Manufacturers, that the continued overreach by the EPA will hurt jobs throughout the country.
According to a press release from the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), the proposed regulations, "would lead to nationwide employment losses totaling 1.44 million job-years by 2020 and increase Americans average electricity bills by 11.5 percent." A job-year is one job for one year.
Manufacturers use approximately one-third of the energy consumed in the United States, so they are particularly sensitive to overreaching EPA proposals that will drive up energy prices. Now saddled with onerous greenhouse gas regulations and the specter of a more stringent ozone air quality standard, manufacturers are extremely reluctant to expand their facilities and create the jobs needed to put our struggling economy back on track. It's time for the EPA to scale-back on these damaging regulatory proposals. Will the EPA listen? Of course not. It is an enforcement arm of the Executive Office for Prosperity and Harmony.
[Iran Press TV] US regulators have shut down two more banks in the states of Georgia and Florida, bringing the number of American bank failures this year to 47.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) took over McIntosh State Bank, based in Jackson, Ga., with USD 339.9 million in assets and USD 324.4 million in deposits on Friday.
FDIC also shuttered First Commercial Bank of Tampa Bay, in Florida with USD 98.6 million in assets and USD 92.6 million in deposits, according to Rooters.
The pace of closure has decreased however, as banks are struggling their way through the debt crisis. In 2010, the number of banks shut down by mid-June stood at 83.
The FDIC expects the total number of failures this year to be less than last year.
That would be nice.
In 2010, 157 banks with total assets of USD 92 billion caved in compared to 140 bank failures in 2009 with total assets of USD 169.7 billion.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2011 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Spain's public debt in the first three months of 2011 has risen to 970 billion dollars, the highest level in 13 years, Bank of Spain figures show.
Spain's accumulated public debt amounted to 679.78 billion euros ($970 billion) or 63.6 percent of annual gross domestic product, at the end of March, the central bank data released on Friday showed.
Spanish savings banks' public offerings must go ahead as planned for the financial sector and the country as a whole to recover markets' confidence, Rooters reported the Bank of Spain's deputy governor as saying.
Bank of Spain said on Friday that the banking sector's bad loan rate rose in April to 6.36 percent, the highest since June 1995. The rate had fallen in March for the first time in five months.
According to Bank of Spain, the rate among loans made to real estate promoters stood at a record 15.24 percent.
Meanwhile, ...back at the laboratory the fumes had dispersed, to reveal an ominous sight... unemployment has gone up over 21 percent in the first quarter, the highest rate of joblessness in the industrialized world.
Spain is struggling to recover from nearly two years of recession triggered in large part by the collapse of an overheated real estate sector.
The latest figures come against the backdrop of recent protests against the Spanish political establishment. The protesters recently held days of rallies against their country's political system, calling for fundamental political and economic reforms.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2011 00:00 ||
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63.6% of debt vs GDP (most likely much higher since governments fudge)
21% Unemployment
40% Unemployment for youth and college graduates
Population still wanting socialist bennies.
You know, I think it is time for us all to agree we are all fucking broke and bankrupt and zero everything out and stop the welfare train.
However, with most of the population of the world being selfish twats and will riot if they actually have to fucking work for their retirement this won't happen. Let's hear it for global anarchy and war! Starvation and dark ages baby! w00t!!!
[Al Jazeera] Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Spain to march against the mishandling of the country's economic crisis.
Protesters came out in force throughout the day on Sunday in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Seville.
If they had gone to work in force they could begin to get their country out of this mess.
The demonstrators have largely concentrated on the "Euro Pact", agreed by euro zone politicians to stimulate competitiveness across the bloc, which has prompted reforms to give Spanish companies greater power to hire and fire.
In Madrid, Spain's capital city, marches began at six locations around the city. One at 6am (0400 GMT) from Leganes, 13km from the city's centre later convened at the Neptune plaza in front of the Prado art museum, a stone's throw from the parliament building, where demonstrators were met by various forms of police resistance, including 12 vans blocking several major roads.
At 1200 GMT, police put estimates in Madrid at between 35,000 and 45,000 protesters, with no reports of violence, according to national radio.
Later on, an estimated 50,000 people in Barcelona shouted, "The street is ours. We are not going to pay for their crisis," as they marched through Spain's second largest city.
Earlier in the day, Barcelona demonstrators posted warnings on the organising group's Facebook page, saying that government infiltrators may try to incite violence in the protests.
'Not our fault'
Demonstrations first began before the May 22 regional elections in response to the perceived failure of politicians to represent the electorate, and activists have taken to the streets regularly since then.
Protester Antonio Cortes, 58, said Spain's workers were being asked to bear the brunt of the financial crisis. ''This crisis was created by the capitalist financial system and we are paying for it. All the cuts shouldn't be aimed at the working class,'' he said.
"I'm here because this is a con," said Juanjo Montiel, 26, one of four blind protesters in Madrid who works in Information Technology for around 1,000 euros a month.
"I'm lucky enough to have a job, but many don't and have no chance. And on top of that, the politicians want to make more cuts. This is not our fault - it's the system."
Protesters call themselves the "indignados", meaning the "indignant" or "outraged".
The politicians of the euro zone's fourth largest economy have worked hard to convince investors the country will not follow Greece, Portugal and Ireland in needing a bailout.
Greece has seen major festivities with police over unpopular austerity measures, and protesters have kept up demonstrations for months, while the president has announced a government restructuring amid calls for stepping down.
Spaniards say that while politicians distance their approach from Greece's, their own worries are being ignored.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2011 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] The prime minister of Greece has urged his people to support deeply unpopular austerity reforms in order to avoid a "catastrophic" bankruptcy.
George Papandreou made the appeal in an address to parliament on Sunday, at the beginning of three days of debate leading up to a crucial parliamentary confidence vote on his new cabinet.
Papandreou said the country's problems would not be solved by asking the International Monetary Fund to leave.
He said the country needed to be united on this issue, and called on the opposition to "stop fighting in these critical times, stop sending the image that the country is being torn apart".
"Showing that we are split is not helping us at all," he said.
Opposition calls
Antonis Samaras, the main opposition leader, has called on Papandreou to step down to pave the way for elections and renegotiation of the bailout.
"Why is the government insisting on us supporting the mistake? It does not want consensus but complicity," Samaras said.
The cabinet hopes to push the reforms through by the end of June, but weeks of anti-austerity rallies on the steps of parliament have created political uncertainty and spooked investors who fear public rage may weaken the government's resolve.
Papandreou said the new Greek government would "correct injustices" that he said emerged with the implementation of the bailout deal, adding that he was ready to talk to the opposition regarding the issue of taxes.
He confirmed that the country was in talks for a new bailout package that would be "roughly equal" to the first package of $155bn, which was agreed to in May.
He also called for a referendum to be held in the autumn on constitutional changes.
"We won't pay"
Outside parliament, protests continued for the 29th day against the proposed austerity measures. More than 10,000 people gathered on Sunday, chanting "We won't pay! We won't pay!"
Al Jizz's Tim Friend, reporting from the capital, Athens, said: "The anger is deep and (protesters) resent having to pay the price for the mistakes of others as they see it, the mistakes of banks and financiers."
"The problem for the politicians here is they're being dictated to by the International Monetary Fund and events now taking place elsewhere in Europe with the euro zone finance ministers," our correspondent said.
"They are the ones now calling the shots. The Greeks really are having to simply comply and do what they say."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2011 00:00 ||
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See also WAFF > [YouTube] CIA FEARS COUP IN ATHENS | US INTEL CHIEFS DO NOT RULE OUT MARTIAL LAW IN GREECE.
and
* VARIOUS > IMF CHIEF: GREECE DEFAULT THREATENS STABILITY OF EU [EuroZone], GLOBAL ECONOMY.
HMMMM, HMMMMM, iff China decides to use its $$$ surplus to prop up the ailing US + EU, what will it demand in return, espec as per Asia-Pacific Milbases???
#3
Jerry Pournelle emphasizes the key issue with Greece, and with US: Of course no one questions the sanity or morality of those who loaned Greece that much money, or the people who got rich on commissions pushing those loans; but then that could be said of California's debts, too. All kinds of people got rich on California bond sales commissions as we raised $3 billion for Stem Cell Research (at a cost of $6 billion!) for which we have, so far, got nothing, and for which, I suspect, we will never get anything. All kinds of people get rich rolling California's debts around. They got rich losing a good half of the money put into the California pensions funds...
#5
TPTB have too much energy invested in the European Union to allow it to fail. Greece will be kept in, no matter what it takes. Austerity measures will be imposed upon it, so that the Greeks have no future except poverty and emigration.
As the song Hotel California says; "you check out any time you like but you can never leave"
AP.
Unanimous decision states that the courts do not have the power to regulate pollutants and that power lies with the EPA (God help us).
It is good that the SC shut down the other court's power to regulate this from the bench.
Bad part is we still have the fucking EPA under O'Bumble's control.
#1
EPA may be an executive agency but its purse strings, and the Clean Air Act itself, are under the control of Congress. There is a rumor that the US Congress is still in existence as a law making body. This is similar to the rumor that the USA has an Attorney General.
#3
Jerry Pournelle: I note that when it comes time to look at budgets there are more in Congress willing to cut the Navy back than to eliminate the armed SWAT teams of the Inspector General of the Department of Education. I wonder if we are better protected by another destroyer, or by an Education Department SWAT team? I could list a lot more things the government does that don't seem to be doing us much good...
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from ACORN, the activist group driven to ruin by scandal and financial woes, over being banned from getting federal funds.
The high court on Monday refused to review a federal court's decision to uphold Congress's ban on federal funds for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. The Supreme Court also sided with Wal-Mart and Energy companies on unrelated descisions.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/20/2011 11:05 ||
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"Acorn Zeroes Batting Zero"
FTFY
Posted by: Barbara ||
06/20/2011 17:43 Comments ||
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[Al Jazeera] Barack B.O. Obama, the US president, and Republican John It is not pronounced 'Boner!' Boehner, ... the occasionally weepy leader of House Republicans... the speaker of the House of Representatives, have teamed up in a golf match to try to build a friendlier climate for troubled talks on the US debt and deficits.
In a game won on the 18th hole, Obama, a Democrat, and Boehner beat Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden, The former Senator-for-Life from Delaware, an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body... the vice-president, and Ohio Republican Governor John Kasich on a course at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, just outside Washington.
The four hit the links on Saturday as Democrats and Republicans were at odds over ways to cut the US budget by trillions and to raise the $14.3tn ceiling on the nation's debt.
Since May, Biden has been leading talks with a group of politicians. Without a deal to allow the nation to issue more debt, the treasury department has warned that the government will begin defaulting on obligations on August 2.
Kasich, a former congressman, is an expert on federal financial matters and a friend of Boehner.
Many experts believe any debt deal will require Obama and Boehner to step in. Their personal relationship could make a difference in the dynamics of the negotiations.
Breakthrough unlikely Before the golf game, aides to both Obama and Boehner played down the prospects of a breakthrough in the debt talks and said tough decisions on the budget would be left to politicians.
But they left open the possibility that policy issues such as the debt would come up in the conversation.
US presidents have played golf with friends and foes for years. Lyndon Johnson rounded up votes for the 1965 Civil Rights Act on the golf course, while President Bill Clinton often used the game to negotiate with allies and opponents.
Julian Zelizer, a professor at Princeton University, said both Boehner and Obama needed to appear to be trying to reach a solution on the debt ceiling but that Saturday's game would probably yield only limited progress in improving Washington's politically fractious climate.
"Both parties are really stuck in," he said. "It's hard to overcome all the forces that make partisanship so strong on Capitol Hill. It's hard for a golf outing to overcome that."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2011 00:00 ||
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Don't worry, Boehner. Obama had lots of practice in the past few years.... on your dime.
[Dawn] The fragility of the security arrangements on district courts complex was self-evident yet again on Saturday when two groups of under-trial prisoners attacked each other with razors and knives outside the courtroom of judicial magistrate Kaleem Aslam Awan and then assaulted the judge who along with his staffers took refuge in a toilet to save them from attackers. The Lahore Bar Association (LBA) expressed serious concerns over the incident and announced observing strike from Monday until foolproof security was provided at all city courts.
The Saturday drama started when members of one group of under-trial prisoners reportedly made fun of women belonging to the second group. The families, including women, had come to see their kin ahead of their hearing.
Muhammad Azam, Waqas Haider, Amir Riaz and others, who were involved in murder cases, and Muhammad Naeem, Javed Mehmood and Rehman Akram, who were involved in dacoity cases, attacked each other with razors and knives they had brought along with them from the jail.
Sporting a fear of attack by their rivals or a backlash from complainants, it is believed that under-trial prisoners usually smuggle such weapons into the jail and then bring them along with them whenever they come to attend court proceedings.
Demonstrably a wise precaution.
The police guards who had escorted the under-trial prisoners from their respective jails also failed to overpower them and both the groups entered the courtroom of magistrate Kaleem Awan while fighting with each other. Though the under-trial prisoners were handcuffed, they were seen fighting like free men.
The shocked magistrate and his staffers rushed to the toilet of the courtroom and locked themselves inside to save their lives at the hands of under-trial prisoners brandishing sharp-edged weapons.
However, some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... except for minor cuts and bruises, none of the prisoners received critical injuries during the episode. A wave of panic spread through the litigants and visitors. Witnesses said the under-trial prisoners also assaulted the magistrate and his staffers and tried to break open the toilet door, but failed.
City Division operations SP Dr Shahzad Asif Khan, however, said the presiding officer and court staffers were not assaulted by the myrmidons. All the officials remained unhurt, he maintained.
As the fight was in progress, police personnel rushed to the scene and hounded all of the under-trial prisoners out of the courtroom to the Bakhshi Khana wherefrom they were immediately transported back to their jails.
The Lower Mall police started the paperwork but haven't done much else on the complaint of magistrate's reader against five suspects from both the groups.
The area SP said that though the incident occurred due to a security lapse, the prisoners had brought the weapons along with them from jails. He said that under-trial prisoners were brought to courts in prison department's vehicles and it was the duty of the jail authorities to thoroughly frisk the inmates before sending them to courts.
However, you can observe a lot just by watching... he said, two officials, sub-inspector Muhammad Saleem, who is in charge of Bakhshi Khana, and the police guard in charge, had been suspended from service for their negligence.
The operations DIG also suspended from service constables Zaheeruddin, Zahoor Ahmad, Muhammad Akram and Zahid, who had escorted the accused parties from jails. Subsequently, a team was formed under the supervision of headquarters SP to investigate the incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2011 00:00 ||
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[Arab News] A newly appointed governor in northern Iran has been dismissed after officials asked for guidance from God through divination, according to a media report Saturday.
The semiofficial Mehr news agency said the interior minister had appointed Ali Babaei Karnami governor of Sari late last month but that he was dismissed Tuesday as a formal ceremony was being organized for him to take up the position.
"Since divination showed a bad result, we preferred to look for another choice," the news agency quoted Provincial Governor Ali Akbar Tahaei as saying.
He did not specify who carried out the divination process or how it was conducted and there is no legal recourse for such terminations. There was no immediate comment from Karnami.
Devoted religious people in Iran use the process of divination to gain spiritual insight into their questions.
One way is to open Islam's holy book, the Qur'an and if the Qur'anic verses are promising, the pending decision is fine.
If the wording is negative, then it is not. Another way is to count prayer beads.
"Karnami should not be irritated for not taking up the post because I'll need him to serve at a provincial municipality posting," he was quoted as saying.
Tahaei said Mohammad Ali Pishnamazi, a provincial security official, has been named as the new governor.
President Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad has come under biting criticism in recent months from fellow conservatives.
Ahmadinejad's spiritual mentor, Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, said last month that the president was under a "spell" from his chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei.
Iran's opposition leader Mir Hossein has in the past accused Ahmadinejad's government of suffering from "emotionalism, superstition, and extremism."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Ahmadinejad's spiritual mentor, Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, said last month that the president was under a "spell" from his chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/20/2011 2:49 Comments ||
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One way is to open Islam's holy book, the Qur'an and if the Qur'anic verses are promising, the pending decision is fine.
I dunno, the Shia equivalent of bible-cracking isn't exactly what I'd classify as "divination". From the headline I was picturing some sort of Witch of Endor spectacular, heavy on the entrails and screaming horrors. And I say this as someone who refuses to open fortune cookies - my one, cherished superstition is the avoidance of even jokey divination.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/20/2011 6:04 Comments ||
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Divination is a major no-no in Islam, and equated with asking djinn or ghosts their advice. It is regarded as about on a par with keeping graven idols in your house.
#4
I am beginning to think the quality of hashish and other mind altering chemicals is quite high in Iran.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
06/20/2011 9:54 Comments ||
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Or is it just something in the water?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
06/20/2011 9:55 Comments ||
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"The author of Ketab al-wafi writes that whereas seeking guidance (Estekharah) from God by means of the Koran is permissible, divination is not permissible because through it the diviner seeks to gain knowledge of future events, which is an ability reserved for God.
Shi'ite scholars generally look down upon divination, considering it an irrational if not impious act. Mohammad b. Monnawar (pp. 26-27, 175) describes the manner of divination by the Koran. It seems that divination was carried over into Islam from a pre-Islamic tradition."
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
06/20/2011 10:03 Comments ||
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...divination is not permissible because through it the diviner seeks to gain knowledge of future events, which is an ability reserved for God.
In the West we use credentialed academic economic forecasters with about the same reliability. At least there seems to be some accountability attached to such practices elsewhere.
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.
[Iran Press TV] Ousted Tunisian 
A new analysis just released by National Economic Research Associates (NERA) shows that two costly Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed regulations on the utility industry will cost jobs and also drive up electricity prices.
Joe 
[Dawn] The fragility of the security arrangements on district courts complex was self-evident yet again on Saturday when two groups of under-trial prisoners attacked each other with razors and knives outside the courtroom of judicial magistrate Kaleem Aslam Awan and then assaulted the judge who along with his staffers took refuge in a toilet to save them from attackers. The Lahore Bar Association (LBA) expressed serious concerns over the incident and announced observing strike from Monday until foolproof security was provided at all city courts.
