So they'll scale it back to $70B and a third of the original service maybe?
Whatever the case, this is how the feds are redistributing taxpayer money from across the country into the zombie that is CA.
And nobody will ride it. And if they do, it will be because the ticket prices will heavily subsidized by the federal government until both the CA government and federal officials feel they can't hide it anymore. Then it will be dismantled amidst a $hitstorm of controversy and claims that ridership "just wasn't what it should be." And people will still barely be able to afford tickets on conventional rail. And the voters will continue to vote the same way. And business will continue to flee the state. Until home prices come down. And property and sales taxes get choked off. And CA collapses. And benefits for illegals finally disappear entirely. And the illegals all leave. Then we can start the whole cycle again as soon as CA's economy improves a bit.
#1
The voters agreed to $10B in bonding (backed by CA general rev). At the time the estimated cost was about $30B and the voters were told that the rail system would not require operating subsidies. The initial operating segment (about 120 mi from the vicinity of Bakersfield to the vicinity of Merced) is currently estimated to cost about $6B (about half US and half CA) and for construction to begin in Sept 2012 and be complete by about Sept 2017.
To some transportation folks, this is all nice because it will demonstrate, in obvious terms (low ridership, cost overruns, complaints about noise, etc.) the folly of the high speed rail vision in the US. In this reasoning, its better to let this proceed now than risk some 'big vision' leftist coming up with a $900B system commitment in the future.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
05/31/2012 9:17 Comments ||
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#2
You are, of course, assuming that Government learns from it's mistakes.
#3
KFI's John and Ken call it a Browndoggle. Moonbeam stubbornly refuses to kill it even though it's already violating all the business plan promises (no subsidy, all high-speed, San Diego/LA to SF, cost as noted above, etc.). Kill it now.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/31/2012 9:49 Comments ||
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#4
Turning? I thought it was already a full blown BoonDoggle!
#6
They want to build it to zip up and down in The San Joaquin Valley. Why? Because it's flat and easier to build a railroad there. The fact that there's no USE for it there is not to be discussed.
This is like the old joke where the drunk is looking for his lost car keys under the street lamp. He didn't lose them there -- it's just that the light is better, ya see.
Kill it now. One third of the nation's welfare recipients are depending on you.
#1
Axel-Slapped. Couldn't happen to a nicer person. Flop sweat much, David? I sense the undercarriage of teh O-Bus rolling over some lower level staffers. Smells like...sunshine
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/31/2012 20:57 Comments ||
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Bill Jacobson at Legal Insurrection is all over the Warren story and has been from the beginning. Full disclosure: I've been commenting there a little on the story.
Legal Insurrection, by the way, is a superb blog and should be on your daily reading list.
First missile defense, now this. Don't worry, Poland, he fooled a lot of folks here, too.
The White House on Wednesday shrugged off Polish demands to express more than mere 'regret' after President Barack Obama mistakenly referred to a Nazi Holocaust site as a "Polish death camp."
"We regret the misstatement, but that is what it was," said Obama spokesman Jay Carney, reiterating that the president "misspoke" during a ceremony awarding the highest US civilian honor to late Holocaust hero Jan Karski.
"He was referring to Nazi death camps in German-occupied Poland."
Poland had earlier insisted that Washington must do more than simply express the "regret" offered by another White House spokesman late on Tuesday, hours after Obama's use of words deemed offensive by Warsaw.
Obama's verbal slip overshadowed his posthumous award of the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Karski, a Polish underground officer who provided the Allies with early eyewitness accounts of Nazi genocide against European Jews.
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Obama's words had hurt all Poles and he expected more from Washington than just regret.
"I am convinced that our American friends can today allow themselves a stronger reaction than a simple expression of regret from the White House spokesman -- a reaction more inclined to eliminate once and for all these kinds of errors," Tusk told reporters in Warsaw.
"Today, this is a problem for the reputation of the United States," the prime minister said. No, it's Obama's megalomania getting in the way. Blame him. And anyone who votes for him again or contributes to his campaign.
Members of Poland's Jewish community -- including the country's Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich -- said in a statement that: "We expect President Barack Obama to personally correct his words." He won't. Unless, of course, he thinks it will help him win the upcoming election. For that, he might go so far as to admit that he was ... misunderstood?
Poland's President Bronislaw Komorowski said meanwhile he had sent a letter to Obama "counting on (...) cooperation in correcting this unfortunate error" which "I am certain in no way reflects the thoughts or views of our American friend."
US officials reiterated Wednesday that Obama had visited the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial during his visit to Poland last year and had repeatedly paid tribute to the bravery of Poles during World War II.
Between 1939 and 1945, nearly six million Polish citizens perished under Nazi Germany's brutal World War II occupation of their country.
More than half of Poland's victims were of Jewish origin and they, in turn, accounted for half of the six million European Jews who perished during the Holocaust.
Many were killed in death camps set up by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland -- including the most notorious, Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Poland's government keenly watches the global media for descriptions of former Nazi German death camps as "Polish" because it says the term -- even if used simply as a geographical indicator -- can give the impression that Poland bore responsibility for Nazi Germany's World War II genocide.
Karski, who was a clandestine officer of the Polish government-in-exile in London, witnessed scenes of starvation and death after infiltrating Warsaw's Jewish Ghetto and visiting a Nazi transit camp sending Jews to death chambers.
Karski took his eye witness testimony to wartime US president Franklin Roosevelt. He later became a professor of history at Georgetown University and died in Washington aged 86 in 2000.
#1
Talk about having a tin ear politically! Even if that was the speech as written, the polite thing to do is blush, feign total mortification and say "I can't believe I said that". For anyone with the slightest grasp of history anyway.
#7
The man is incapable of admitting he flubbed it.
Just issue the press statement that he made a regrettable error and he meant Nazi occupied Poland. Sounds simple, but for a narcissist....
MoveOn, a giant in the progressive political world and an early endorser of Barack Obama in 2008, warns that it might have to pull the plug on key campaigns to help Obama and Senate Democrats if its 7 million members dont pony up with at least $5. MoveOn wouldn't just blindly help any candidate with a (D) after their name, would they?
Without a rush of new cash, MoveOn says it will have to give up efforts to elect Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts, help the recall fight against Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, and energize younger voters whove soured on Washington. You mean they would have to stop fighting the tide?
It's like picking which of your kids you love the most. I just can't do it, said MoveOn in an email plea. If we cant increase our budget, we might have to dramatically scale back or pull the plug on some of MoveOns most important election efforts this year. And our officers might have to (gasp) get a job!
The homepage of MoveOn, which helped organize the 2004 anti-war movement, includes a chip in button preset at $8.
Dont discount the importance of MoveOn to keeping the Democrats in charge of the Senate and Obama in office, said the email, which provided a little history of the successes of the group:
MoveOn has an incredible track record in past electionswhen we take on a campaign, we get results.
In 2008, MoveOn was one of the first groups to endorse President Obama, and we then recruited 1 million volunteers who went door to door, made phone calls, and helped provide the surge of grassroots support necessary to elect Obama.
In 2006, before anyone else was even talking about it, we announced plans to take back Congress from the Republicans. We made over 7 million phone calls to occasional voters to help fuel the Democratic takeover of Congress.
And in 2004 we organized a neighborhood get-out-the-vote program that knocked on over 4.6 million doors in 10,000 swing-state precincts.
If we can finish this quarter with a bang, that will give us enough confidence to go forward with campaigns that we'd otherwise have to cut right now. Fearmongering? Isn't that a Trunk tactic?
I couldn't find a picture of King Louis XVII, so here's one of King Louis XVI, instead.
Every single menu in New York City could soon be getting a major overhaul if Mayor Michael Bloomberg has his way. Because as every good liberal knows, it's the same logic as it's not people that kill people, it's guns that kill people.
The man behind calorie counts is set to announce a new public health initiative to battle obesity, taking aim at super-sized sugary drinks. Was this voted on? How did they enact this decree? Is there anything that they cannot enact in the name of the common "good"?
In other words, it may soon be time to say goodbye to those Big Gulps, those Slurpees or even Venti at Starbucks, CBS 2s Derricke Dennis reported.
Thats okay, one good socialist person said.
No its not, according to Mayor Bloomberg, who is set to propose a ban on sugary drinks over 16 ounces everywhere, all across the city.
I disagree with it, because its the right to choose. If you want to drink a Slurpee, you should be allowed to drink a Slurpee, said Jamie Sawyer, a tourist from Oklahoma. Allowed?
Stupid, he did a lot of good things, but this he shouldnt do, added Art Lensvelt, a tourist from Amsterdam, Holland. The guys a megalomaniac. When he took over from Mayor Giuliani before the cleanup efforts had stabilized, that said plenty to me.
Dennis found Lensvelt enjoying his sugary iced coffee. He then found police officers actually fighting over Slurpees. Other items that figure to be banned are Gatorade, those fountain drinks at the movies, and, yes, the popular Big Gulp.
Thats a good idea. A lot of obese people are in New York, Canarsie resident Jillian Russell said. Better hope you don't develop any habits others may decide not to approve of, Jillian.
And the mayor apparently agrees, taking aim at the sugar in sodas and some juices in an effort to reduce New Yorkers waistlines.
However, the NYC Beverage Association is opposed, saying in a statement: The city is not going to address the obesity issue by attacking soda, because soda is not driving the obesity rates. The overall American diet is. Diet and lifestyle. They forgot they weren't farmers and laborers anymore. And as long as the price of vegetables is through the roof, it's going to stay that way. It's all about the prosperity, man.
Either way, lovers of sugary drinks said Bloomberg should take a dip.
Mayor Bloomberg, let us have our Slurpees, please, one resident said. Groveling sub. Grow some balls for godsakes and buy two Slurpees. On the same credit card! Harumph!
#7
I see a future thriving market for my side-by-side taped-together dual (but still separate containers) 15.8 ounce cups. I call it the "double barrel".
That would be quite the rebel's product in a gun-controlled (and now, soda-controlled) big city, eh?!
#8
There's ALWAYS a way around ANY Oppressive law.
You'd think the Officials would recognize it and repeal these laws?
But NOOOO.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/31/2012 16:33 Comments ||
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#9
I can't imagine the people of New York like Bloomberg. A tyrant who thinks he knows what is best for everyone--no one is that smart. NYC needs the light of democracy to shine there.
#10
So...you get a smaller cup and just keep refilling it. 32=16x2=8x4
But don't let conflicting studies [just like MMGW, the science is settled] stop you from imposing the New Age Big Brother Socialism Puritanism.
After weeks of hitting Mitt Romney for his tenure at Bain Capital, President Barack Obama's re-election team shifted focus to the Republican's record as governor of Massachusetts Wednesday, painting his time in the state house as overloaded with unfulfilled promises. Hmm. Sounds familiar. Now all we need is a bunch of outright lies, misdirection, and obfuscation and we've got ourselves a real campaign!
In a campaign memo, Obama campaign senior strategist David Axelrod wrote that Romney gave voters a misleading portrayal of his business background. Axelrod will hold a campaign press conference at the Boston State House Thursday, an Obama campaign source said. Yeah. Almost as bad as hiding ones college background.
"Ten years ago, Mitt Romney told the people of Massachusetts that his experience in business uniquely qualified him to strengthen the state's economy," Axelrod wrote. "Foreshadowing the message of his current campaign, Romney presented himself as a 'job creator,' whose experience as a corporate buyout specialist had given him special insight into how to grow the economy."
Axelrod continued, "It was a false representation. For, as even his colleagues have acknowledged, Romney's goal in business was never job creation. It was to maximize quick profits for himself and his investors." Gee. How do you create profits? By not having people working?
That mindset, Axelrod wrote, led to disappointing economic conditions for residents of Massachusetts. Nah. What screwed MA was when the economy for the whole country went south.
"Republicans and Democrats across the state were hopeful that he would deliver on his promises," Axelrod wrote. "When he left office, however, state debt had increased, the size of government had grown, and over his four years, Massachusetts' record of job creation was among the worst in the nation." I'm sure we'll see clear claims backed up by unbiased facts.
Axelrod cites a statistic in his memo that Massachusetts was ranked 47th out of 50 states in terms of job creation during Romney's tenure as governor -- a figure members of Obama's re-election team frequently use in criticizing their GOP rival.
The non-partisan PolitiFact characterized the Obama campaign's use of that statistic "half true," saying in June 2011 the numbers themselves are correct, but that it's a stretch to blame Romney (or any governor) for a state's jobs numbers. It may be a stretch, but it's not above the Obama campaign.
A Romney campaign spokeswoman portrayed the latest attacks from Obama's team as "desperate," saying they reflected a less-than-stellar jobs creation record on the president's part. I thought we were starting to turn the corner on job creation with Obama? Or is it because the oil states, Wisconsin, and Texas are working against his policies? Don't worry, Obean will get them back under control after this election cycle if he's voted back into office.
"This is another desperate attack from President Obama because he has no positive record to run on," Romney press secretary Andrea Saul wrote. "Mitt Romney created more jobs in the state of Massachusetts than President Obama has for the entire nation. President Obama has failed to meet his own goal of 6% unemployment and has a net negative record on job creation."
She continued, "If President Obama had even half the job creation record of Mitt Romney, then he would be running on it." He'll be stealing credit for the jobs created in Wisconsin for sure.
The figure Saul cites -- that Romney created more jobs in Massachusetts than Obama had created as president -- is another frequent line used on the campaign trail.
PolitiFact rated that fact as accurate, but pointed out "there were two national recessions that bookended Romney's four years in office." By Champ's logic, shouldn't the previous administrations be at fault?
Axelrod also took aim at Romney's record on taxes as governor, saying the Republican broke a promise to fight high taxes on working families. You mean he may have pushed everyone in the direction of a flat tax? Oh, the horror.
"In Massachusetts in 2002, Romney promised to fight against higher taxes on working families," Axelrod wrote. "But he raised taxes and fees on middle class families and small businesses that hit average taxpayers in the pocketbook, raised a gas tax, and the tax burden on Bay Staters was up more than $1,200 at the end of his term."
Romney's record on taxes was similarly hit by fellow Republicans during the GOP primaries. A CNNMoney analysis of his record determined he cut select taxes while in office, and proposed some new tax cuts that didn't pass the legislature - like a 0.3 percentage point reduction in the 5.3% state income tax rate.
But he also had an obligation to balance the state's budget every year, and when he came into office he was facing a big deficit that he plugged using a mix of spending cuts and revenue increases.
In his memo Wednesday, Axelrod also took Romney to task for his handling of Massachusetts' debt and deficit while governor, writing "Romney left a billion dollar deficit to his successor, having giving the public rosier projections than they were discussing internally."
Axelrod continued, "Now, Romney's promising eliminating the budget deficit and ensuring that children have a future free from the nation's debt. But his record shows that it didn't work in Massachusetts and it won't work now."
A Washington Post fact check of Romney's record on cutting the deficit in Massachusetts pointed out that "it doesn't make sense to mention Massachusetts's debt when it's not comparable to national debt in terms of its nature, or even in terms of its annual rate of growth."
The Washington Post also interviewed the non-partisan Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, which said that Romney's record on debt in the state wasn't necessarily out of the ordinary.
"I didn't get the sense that he attacked the problem or that he exacerbated it," Michael Widmer, the group's president, is quoted as saying. "The increases weren't dramatic compared to state finances, but, nonetheless, debt did increase." This too will fail. But why should the Boneheaded One's election campaign be any more competant than the rest of his administration?
#1
Trial for Axelrod, you'd be amazed what a difference that'd male toward Honesty.
Posted by: Recneck Jim ||
05/31/2012 6:31 Comments ||
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#2
I live in MA and have for >40 years.
I didn't care for some of Romney's proposals but in this bright blue state he did not have a lot of room to maneuver. The entire crooked establishment is to blame.
And what the hell is DA complaining about that the size of government grew? That's the reason the Dems exist.
#5
I don't think any conservative could be pleased with Romney's record in MA. Weld did a better job, and Pawlenty governed as a genuine conservative (mostly) in deep blue Minnesota.
The irony of this is that it's Bammo making the attack. Bammo, who has openly admitted copying some of Romney's worst ideas and hired some of his worst staff.
[Iran Press TV] The United States' Tea Party Movement has reportedly said that its supporters will not cast their ballots in the November presidential vote in a bid to protest the election process in their country. Best way to lose an election is not to vote. Axelrod is getting desperate, he has Iran Press TV pushing his stuff now...
Revelations of the planned boycott come as US media reported Tuesday that the Republican choice for the White House, Willard Mitt Romney, ...former governor of Massachussetts, currently the presumptive Publican nominee for president. He is the son of the former governor of Michigan, George Romney, who himself ran for president after saving American Motors from failure, though not permanently. Romney's charisma is best defined as soporific, which is probably why he is leading the Publican field. On the plus side, he isn't President B.O... held a private meeting on the same day with Ron Paul's son to gain the movement's popular politician's favors.
However, there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... Tea Party supporters, who comprise a considerable percentage of voters, emphasized they would boycott the coming presidential election to show their opposition to the election process.
Paul, known as a peace-seeking candidate, is popular with the American youths and educated individuals, is also called the online president of the US.
During the Republican election campaign, Paul several times denounced the US military presence in the Middle East and urged the government to withdraw all American troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
He believed the current US-led wars and military involvement in the Middle East run counter to the American constitution.
The Texan politician has also criticized Washington's pressure on Iran over its nuclear energy program, and considered the US sanctions against Tehran as "acts of war." He has pushed for a peaceful settlement of the Western dispute with the Islamic Theocratic Republic.
Paul, who has become the last Republican presidential candidate to drop out of the country's presidential race, is one of the most influential Republican figures in the Tea Party movement.
The Tea Party movement is a populist political movement and recognized as conservative and libertarian. It backs reduced government spending, slashing taxes and reduction of the national debt and federal budget deficit.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Iranian news. Thought it would be WAPO or NYT.
Anyway, I'm not voting for Romney. Held my nose in too many elections. No more.
Plenty of interesting down ticket races to get involved with. Good times.
#2
No way Jose!. Tea party is alive and well. Vote to get Obama out is the best chance to turn things around. Cutting spending will be a bitter pill. Obama might come back with hope and change in four years.
"Axelrod is getting desperate, he has Iran Press TV pushing his stuff now..." ditto that.
#3
The United States' Tea Party Movement has reportedly said that its supporters will not cast their ballots in the November presidential vote in a bid to protest the election process in their country.
Seems to me that the Iranian government might be using their press to suggest to the masses that if the US electorate behaves this way, then they should too if they don't like the theocracy-approved candidate. Makes things all that much easier, you see. The ignoramuses will fall right into the mullah's hands at this rate.
Dale: Hitler won by one vote. Better hold your nose again because worst case is that Romney is the lesser of two evils. No complaining if Obama wins if you didn't vote. We don't need Obama appointing any more Supreme Court justices, either, which is the best way for him to continue his jihad that is resulting in long-term damage to the US.
#4
I'm not voting for Romney. Held my nose in too many elections. No more.
I don't remember the last time I voted for someone. It was always *against* the other guy.
We had an O-Club discussion about voting a few years back where someone said they were not going to eat a sh*t sandwich. Well, here's news for you: the entire country is going to be eating at one of two cafeterias for four years. Do you want four more years of what Obama has been serving up? Remember it is not just the guy at the top, but also the people he appoints.
And yeah, the down-ticket races are important too.
#8
Playing into the hand of Obama and the communists. The Dems only want die hard democrats voting, they'd be delighted to see everyone else stay home.
"If Mitt wins the nomination, I will enthusiastically support his candidacy for president. For my friends who have hesitation on that score, I'd just ask you to keep four things in mind: Justice Scalia just turned 78, Justice Kennedy will turn 78 later this year, Justice Breyer will be 76 in August, and Justice Ginsburg turned 81 about a week ago. We wish them all well, of course, but the brute fact is that whoever we elect as president in November is almost certainly going to choose at least two and maybe more new members of the Supreme Court -- in addition to hundreds of other life-tenured federal judges, all of whom will be making momentous decisions about our lives for decades to come. If you don't think it matters whether the guy making those calls is Mitt Romney or Barack Hussien Obama, I think you're smokin' something funky." --columnist Andrew McCarthy
#10
Boycott. hell. I'd crawl over broken glass to vote against SCOAMF Zero. As I suspect would most of the Tea Party. It's also essential to fill the House & Senate with enough true conservatives & (small-l) libertarians to finally begin the rollback of 100+ years of "progressive" (aka Constitutionally destructive) laws & policies.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/31/2012 10:07 Comments ||
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#14
So what are the odds that if elected and Mitt doesn't get what he wants from Congress/Courts, he'll RULE by fiat and dictate via the bureaucracy?
What are the odds that if re-elected and Obama doesn't get what he wants from Congress/Courts, he'll RULE by fiat and dictate via the bureaucracy?
You really want a political show down that leads to actual impeachment [assuming the Beltway has the guts and will to do it, which is doubtful given their record] when you can avoid the process now? And if you fail in the impeachment process will it not only encourage future overreach of power?
Governor Tarkin: The Imperial Senate will no longer be of any concern to us. I have just received word from Coruscant that the Emperor has dissolved the council permanently. The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away forever.
[Iran Press TV] Willard Mitt Romney ...former governor of Massachussetts, currently the presumptive Publican nominee for president. He is the son of the former governor of Michigan, George Romney, who himself ran for president after saving American Motors from failure, though not permanently. Romney's charisma is best defined as soporific, which is probably why he is leading the Publican field. On the plus side, he isn't President B.O... has clinched the US Republican presidential nomination after amassing enough votes in the Texas primary to challenge Democratic President Barack Obama I inhaled. That was the point... in November's election.
Voters in the US second most populous state casted their ballots on Tuesday, with Romney winning 71 percent of the votes. He is now facing five-month sprint to persuade the people to throw their support behind him in the November 6 election.
Texas' primary offered 152 delegates while Romney was only 58 delegates shy of the 1,144 he needed to become the Republican's presidential candidate.
"Our party has come together with the goal of putting the failures of the last three and a half years behind us," Romney said in a statement after his victory in Texas.
"I have no illusions about the difficulties of the task before us. But whatever challenges lie ahead, we will settle for nothing less than getting America back on the path to full employment and prosperity," he added.
Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, will formally be appointed as the GOP nominee in August at the Republican National Convention in Florida.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
See also RUSSIA TODAY > ROMNEY-PAUL TICKET A REALITY?
Thats Rand Paul, Ron Paul's sonny-boy, whom unlike Marc Rubio has been getting kudos from Perts + GOP-Right Pundits for NOT openly calling for war agz Iran.
All signs, directly or indirectly, are still pointing to a real threat of a brokered = split GOP convention for "Mittens" this summer -"Mittens" has the entire month of June to make sure that such doesn't happen.
#2
Who else can the GOP put up that both stands a chance of being elected and didn't make an idiot of himself during the primaries? I like Perry, I think he'd do a great job, but the closest he'll get will be VP.
#2
IIUC, Syriza wants to stay in the euro, but opposes shifting liabilities to Greek taxpayers. I'd like a pony without the responsibility of shoveling the poop too, but you can't have it both ways.
Yet, I'm rooting for Syriza. If the Greek Parliament is taken over by children banging their spoons, the more likely it is Greece will revert to the drachma (by choice or by force remains to be seen). Anyone holding Greek bonds will take a haircut, of course, but they were never going to be repaid in full anyway.
Medium- and long-term, kicking off the euro chains in favor of a weaker drachma will be a boon to Greece. Exports and tourism will bounce back, thus employment and income will too. In a year or two, human nature and simple math will turn that bucket around.
Greece is about to prove that Rousseau, Marx, and Hegel were all f***ing wrong. Eurocrats will be reeling, baffled at why their enlightened post-nationalist genius can't hammer square pegs into round holes. Can't wait!
#4
Golly! All that drivel? Good thing I didn't mention that I took the day off to get foxed and screw around on the internets!
I don't usually have time to be such a windbag, but is it ok if I continue chiming in? I know the focus of Rantburg is more military/intel. But as so many economic trendlines are starting to approach the asymptote, I think understanding how incredibly different things are in Europe, is worth a little bandwidth.
There's a reason we call it Rantburg U, dear RandomJD, and if I recall correctly, you are one of our real life, analog world professors in addition to knowing what you are talking about. When Fred and the moderators think the subject is no longer important, we'll stop posting articles about it, and you will be forced, perforce, to stop discussing it here. ;-). But in the meantime, the subject is critical -- if Europe melts down financially, they'll have to stop funding the Palestinians and keeping so many immigrants and refugees on the dole, at which point things will likely get considerably more interesting in that part of the world than they are now.
It occurs to me also, as no doubt it has long since to others here, that the new shale oil/natural gas sources in North America and England/Europe will also change the situation for the jihadis -- what will Saudi Arabia and Iran do in a few years when their deposits don't lead to the kind of money inflows they are accustomed to?
#7
Honestly, I'm flattered. I don't know if I know what I'm talking about, exactly, but I definitely know less about breaking things and killing people. (It's a given that I approve, with gratitude, of course.)
if Europe melts down financially, they'll have to stop funding the Palestinians and keeping so many immigrants and refugees on the dole
You'd think. But that will probably be one of the last things to go. Maybe around the same time the US stops paying protection money to Pakistan.
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.
MoveOn, a giant in the progressive political world and an early endorser of Barack Obama in 2008, warns that it might have to pull the plug on key campaigns to help Obama and Senate Democrats if its 7 million members dont pony up with at least $5.
After weeks of hitting Mitt Romney for his tenure at Bain Capital, President Barack Obama's re-election team shifted focus to the Republican's record as governor of Massachusetts Wednesday, painting his time in the state house as overloaded with unfulfilled promises.
[Iran Press TV] 
