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Today: 77 articles and 196 comments as of 11:14.
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Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Non-WoT        Politix   
Fresh US drone attacks kill 5 in Pakistain
Today's Headlines
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Page 6: Politix
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Economy
A Balanced view
Long article but worth the read....
Posted by: Warthog || 01/04/2010 17:47 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I can only scan the original article quickly tonight, but my first reading did not find anything about the failure of US job growth over the last ten years and the stagnation (or falling) personal/family income with respect to the real cost of living. Unless that improves, no other measure of economic recovery matters.
I did like the idea of a skills-based immigration policy. First condition of these immigrants would be for them to buy a house in the US for cash & live in it for a period of time, kind of like homesteading.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 01/04/2010 21:59 Comments || Top||


Global bear rally will deflate as Japan leads world in sovereign bond crisis
Posted by: tipper || 01/04/2010 17:12 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


wasteful spending: interesting blog post re: financial numbers
Posted by: mom || 01/04/2010 13:01 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Politix
Congress, Summarized
President Obama thinks he deserves a "good, solid B-plus" for his first year effort as leader of the free world. No doubt, Democratic congressional leaders would offer themselves the same wild grade inflation for their stewardship of the people's business.

Mostly, however, last year's Congress will be remembered for two efforts that will damage the economy for years to come: government health care "reform" and the $787 billion stimulus plan.

The twin disasters of government health care "reform" and the "stimulus" tend to blot out some of the other sins of last year's congressional session, but here are 11 more reasons to remember this Congress less than fondly:

Failing to protect the public from terrorism by punting the reauthorization of the Patriot Act until next year.
Gee...did that send a message, I wonder?
Boosting funds for international "family planning" (i.e. lots of abortions) by $100 million after President Obama rescinded the Mexico City Policy.

Hurting D.C. children by suffocating the District's Voucher program, which is slowly dying as no more students are allowed to join.
and so on
This Congress will go down in history for the damage it has done to America with wild deficit spending and the takeover of one seventh of the U.S. economy. Unless and until the Democratic majority is overthrown, these disastrous policies will prove to be only the beginning of the perfidy on Capitol Hill.
The Washington Times has another devoted to The One.
Posted by: Bobby || 01/04/2010 06:06 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I just realized why Barry gave himself a B+. That was, probably, the lowest possible grade he could have gotten at Ha'va'd.

Grade inflation indeed.
Posted by: AlanC || 01/04/2010 8:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Too wordy. It's been done better:
"America has no native criminal class - except for Congress."
-- Mark Twain
Posted by: mojo || 01/04/2010 12:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Too wordy, I could summarize Congress in four letters.
Posted by: DMFD || 01/04/2010 19:19 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Bad news for Michael Mann, hockey stick creator
As I said yesterday, one of our jobs this year is to wipe the complacent smiles off the smug faces of the lobbyists, "experts", "scientists", politicians and activists pushing AGW.

This is why I am so glad to report that Michael Mann -- creator of the incredible Hockey Stick curve and one of the scientists most heavily implicated in the Climategate scandal -- is about to get a very nasty shock. When he turns up to work on Monday, he'll find that all 27 of his colleagues at the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University have received a rather tempting email inviting them to blow the whistle on anyone they know who may have been fraudulently misusing federal grant funds for climate research.

Under US law, regardless of whether or not a prosecution results, the whistleblower stands to make very large sums of money: it is based on a percentage of the total government funds which have been misused, in this case perhaps as much as $50 million. (Hat tip: John O'Sullivan of the wonderful new campaigning site www.climategate.com)

Here's that email in full:
Hi,

Greetings and best wishes for a prosperous New Year.

National Search

After the recent whistleblower revelations of emails between climate researchers and data from the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit, there are on-going investigations into potential fraudulent use of grant funds in Climate Research in the US. I am assisting interested parties who may have details of fraud in climate research to make contact with the proper authorities, and to share in the rewards paid when the funds are recovered.

Whistleblower Rewards Program

The federal government has established vigorous programs to identify and prosecute fraudulent grant applications and administration. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) administers the False Claims Act. It allows rewards for those who come forward with details of grant fraud to share in the recovery of federal funds. This reward can be as much as 30% of the total amount reclaimed. The program is almost completely reliant on insiders to report their knowledge of the fraud in their institutions.

Attorney Literally "Wrote the Book" on Fraud Recovery Lawsuits

Joel Hesch, Esq., of Hesch and Associates, literally wrote the book on how to report federal fraud. He has an extensive background in representing whistleblowers in all types of federal funding fraud cases, including Educational/ Research Grant Fraud. According to Mr Hesch: "Many institutions receive grants, whether for research or educational purposes. When they lie to get the grant or keep the grant or if they use the funds for purposes outside the grant, they are liable under the DOJ program. There have been many grant cases brought by whistleblowers. "

If you know of anyone who might have details about fraudulent statements or actions by recipients of federal grant funds for climate research, please have them contact me immediately at the below email or cell phone. Alternatively, they may also contact Mr Hersch directly, and let him know that they were referred by me. All communications are completely confidential. They may want to consider using a third party email service (Yahoo, Hotmail, or other) instead of work email to communicate.
30% of $50 million is more than $12 million. Ask your friends to do the right thing, and be rewarded for doing it.

Our country, and in fact, the entire world is counting on someone to stand up and tell the truth about climate research. The effects of moving forward with taxes and policies based on fraudulent science could potentially cripple the US economy and cost lives and jobs for generations.

Look forward to hearing from you.
All the best

Kent Clizbe

Happy New Year, Climategaters.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/04/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How much of the 30% does the lawyer get? Come on, he's not sending this email out of altruism, he's doing it to get money, just like any attorney.
Posted by: gromky || 01/04/2010 0:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, gromky, IMHO if this helps expose and discredit the AGW charlatans, then the lawyer is doing all of us a service.
Posted by: PBMcL || 01/04/2010 0:54 Comments || Top||

#3  It's not going to help. It's just some ambulance chaser trying to make a buck. Calling this "bad news" for the bad guys is just wishful thinking. Anyone who blew the whistle on warmist fraud wouldn't do it for the money...what's a lawyer's motivation?
Posted by: gromky || 01/04/2010 1:49 Comments || Top||

#4  ......what's a lawyer's motivation?

The same as the lawyers who advertise constantly on television trolling for participants that have used some drug or product that has been recalled or those that do Social Security disability claims for those denied. They get to add their 'costs' to the final bill. Sic a dog on a dog. Works for me. Time to feed a new breed of lawyer that follows grant monies.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/04/2010 7:51 Comments || Top||

#5  Gromky: 1/3 to 1/2, depending ...
Posted by: Steve White || 01/04/2010 8:07 Comments || Top||

#6  If it is like the IRS whistleblower program, the reward is based on the amount the govt recovers, not on the total fraud.

Given that federally funded research is mostly a reimbursement program (that is, you do work, submit a voucher and, it the voucher is approved you get a payment) I don't see how the reward will be much at all.

The lawyer may doing this for the publicity.
Posted by: lord garth || 01/04/2010 9:05 Comments || Top||

#7  Whatever the lawyer's reasons, it is funny as hell.
Posted by: DarthVader || 01/04/2010 11:19 Comments || Top||

#8  We're looking for shovel-ready projects.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/04/2010 15:31 Comments || Top||

#9  Personally, I think the man peaked with Miami Vice and Last of the Mohicans; it's been all downhill since then.

Oh, wait, not that Michael Mann.

Never mind....
Posted by: Mike || 01/04/2010 16:30 Comments || Top||

#10  This will certainly bring home to Professor Mann's colleagues that theirs is no longer a privileged and protected position. Even if nobody responds to the lawyer directly, they are certainly going to be checking their files and lab notebooks to see how badly they exposed to similar letters about their own work.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/04/2010 22:49 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
If any of your idiot friends still believe in AGW, make them read this letter
Posted by: tipper || 01/04/2010 17:21 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wehell, IMO the top Two most realistic or pragmatic events which can occur under OWG-NWO
"CATASTROPHISM/APOLCALYPTISM" are,

To wit,

* [1990's RUSSIAN-discovered] VARIOUS SPACE ROCKS

versus

* SOLAR EXPANSION, as due to MSM-NET + XPert- verified LACK OF SUNSPOTS, i.e. REDUCED OR FAILED LT ABILITY OF THE SUN AS A "NATURAL ENGINEEERING/PHYSIC SYSTEM" TO SAFELY RELEASE VARIOUS INTERNAL ENERGIES.

BTW, NICE SHOPPING CART!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/04/2010 17:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Global Warming (or Global Cooling) or any other trendy "man caused" disaster is simply a way to expedite moving vast sums of money from rich nations to poorer nations. This is one big re-distribution scheme bent on creating a one world socialistic state. (e.g. all the adulation at Hugo " ration electricity" Chavez's comments on socialism during Hopenhagen.

No one really believes this hype but are religious zealots when it comes to socialism.
Posted by: Warthog || 01/04/2010 17:58 Comments || Top||

#3  A Third would be US-World Nations = desired future OWG-NWO making serious scientific
"miscalculation" in efforts to deflect COMET APOPHIS, induc same to slam into the MOON which in turn causes same or large fragments therefrom to strike the Earth.

EARLY TEST FOR DESIRED OWG-NWO = "GLOBALISM" WHICH NO AMERICAN = AMERIKAN, USSA = USR, HAS YET TO VOTE ON, and AS REAL + DANGEROUS AS ANY SPACE-BASED, NATURAL OR HUMAN EVENT CAN BE!

PAN-HUMAN GLOBAT EVENT-TESTS FOR [alleged]DESIRED GLOBAL GOVT.!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/04/2010 18:09 Comments || Top||

#4  Or read what Burt Rutan (designer of the first commercial spacecraft - Spaceship One) has to say here about AGW.
Posted by: DMFD || 01/04/2010 18:49 Comments || Top||



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2Govt of Pakistan
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2Taliban
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1PFLP
1Global Jihad
1al-Qaeda in Pakistan

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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2010-01-04
  Fresh US drone attacks kill 5 in Pakistain
Sun 2010-01-03
  Yemen sends more troops to al-Qaida strongholds
Sat 2010-01-02
  At least six killed in two drone attacks in North Wazoo
Fri 2010-01-01
  US drone strike leaves two dead in Pakistan
Thu 2009-12-31
  7 CIA workers killed in suicide kaboom
Wed 2009-12-30
  Iran MPs call for 'maximum punishment' of protesters
Tue 2009-12-29
  Iran MPs rally against populace
Mon 2009-12-28
  13 turbans titzup in N.Wazoo dronezap
Sun 2009-12-27
  Mousavi's nephew banged in Tehran
Sat 2009-12-26
  Delta boomer wasn't on no-fly list
Fri 2009-12-25
  Nigerian attempts to detonate on Delta flight from Amsterdam
Thu 2009-12-24
  Yemeni strike kills 30, targets cleric linked to Ft. Hood attack
Wed 2009-12-23
  Iran militia attack pro-reform cleric's home in Qom
Tue 2009-12-22
  Clashes at Montazeri funeral
Mon 2009-12-21
  Terrorists kidnap Italian couple in Mauritania


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