Morales was a legendary figure in CIA covert operations. According to close associate Tom Clines, if you saw Morales walking down the street in a Latin American capital, you knew a coup was about to happen. When the subject of the Kennedys came up in a late-night session with friends in 1973, Morales launched into a tirade that finished: "I was in Dallas when we got the son of a bitch and I was in Los Angeles when we got the little bastard." From this line grew my odyssey into the spook world of the 60s and the secrets behind the death of Bobby Kennedy.
Working from a Cuban photograph of Morales from 1959, I viewed news coverage of the assassination to see if I could spot the man the Cubans called El Gordo - The Fat One. Fifteen minutes in, there he was, standing at the back of the ballroom, in the moments between the end of Kennedy's speech and the shooting. Thirty minutes later, there he was again, casually floating around the darkened ballroom while an associate with a pencil moustache took notes.
NEW YORK - After a firestorm of criticism, News. Corp. said Monday that it has canceled the O.J. Simpson book and television special "If I Did It."
"I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project," said Rupert Murdoch, News Corp. chairman. "We are sorry for any pain that his has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson."
A dozen Fox affiliates had already said they would not air the two-part sweeps month special, planned for next week before publication of the book. It was being published by ReganBooks, a HarperCollins imprint owned, like the Fox network, by News Corp.
In the projects, Simpson speaks in hypothetical terms about how he would have committed the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Goldman.
The industry trade publication Broadcasting & Cable editorialized against the show Monday, saying "Fox should cancel this evil sweeps stunt."
One of the nation's largest superstore chains, Borders Group Inc., said last week it would donate any profits on the book to charity.
#6
No, just the "lose a few dollars now and avoid losing a whole shitpot full of dollars later when all the advertisers, bail on me for trying a brain dead stunt," option in play. That is, If I Had Done It...
They may be among the most powerful men in the world, but George Bush and Vladimir Putin looked more like a couple of Harry Potter's masters at Hogwarts school.
The American and Russian presidents were wearing traditional silk Vietnamese robes to mark the end of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Hanoi, along with the leaders of 19 other countries. It has become the custom to try on the host country's traditional costume.
Before wars and communist revolution in Vietnam, the ao dai was a popular unisex item, most elegant on slender women who were said to 'reveal everything yet show nothing' beneath the figure-hugging tunic. Now it is making a comeback but is used mainly for wedding dresses and girls' school uniforms.
Bill Clinton began the dressing up tradition at the first Apec summit in Seattle in 1993. His choice of traditional American dress was the leather bomber jacket.
Gosh, Imagine that - Clinton wanting to play dress-up and choosing a military theme. This isn't the only new "tradition" begun during the carefree daze of the Camelot II Follies...
#2
Bill Clinton began the dressing up tradition at the first Apec summit in Seattle in 1993. His choice of traditional American dress was the leather bomber jacket.
Friday the 13th of April 2029 could be a very unlucky day for planet Earth. At 4:36 am Greenwich Mean Time, a 25-million-ton, 820-ft.-wide asteroid called 99942 Apophis will slice across the orbit of the moon and barrel toward Earth at more than 28,000 mph. The huge pockmarked rock, two-thirds the size of Devils Tower in Wyoming, will pack the energy of 65,000 Hiroshima bombsĀenough to wipe out a small country or kick up an 800-ft. tsunami. . . .
Excellent story, including much discussion on just how to deflect Apophis if the need arises.
Posted by: Mike ||
11/20/2006 06:29 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
The most likely target, though, is several thousand miles off the West Coast, where Apophis would create a 5-mile-wide, 9000-ft.-deep "crater" in the water. The collapse of that transient water crater would trigger tsunamis that would hammer California with an hour-long fusillade of 50-ft. waves.
Not to worry; Queen-of-the-Universe Pelosi will not permit it.
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/20/2006 7:27 Comments ||
Top||
#2
asteroid called 99942 Apophis
Goddamned System Lords. Bad enough they masquerade as gods. Guess we're gonna have to sic McGyver on them again.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
11/20/2006 7:27 Comments ||
Top||
#3
If Costa Rica wasn't in the landing footprint I'd be pretty conflicted.
#6
In the year 2029
if man is doin fine
he may not drink his wine
for some time
Grab your ankles, assume the position
prepare for apocalyptic conditions
The world we know, soon will go bust
cause God's dropped a dime on us. whoa-a-whoooow
#18
At 6200 feet and 1500 miles from any ocean, I don't think I'll worry about any tsunamis. Of course, if this little bugger DOES hit, every fault within 10,000 miles is going to let loose. I wonder if my earthquake insurance is up-to-date...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/20/2006 16:56 Comments ||
Top||
Egypt's long-serving president asked parliament Sunday to amend a constitution article that had been criticized as tailored to allow his son to succeed him. But reform advocates show little enthusiasm for that or other measures he outlined, glum that any will result in much change. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told parliament that article 76 should be changed to make it easier for candidates from political parties to run for president, but did not provide details. Mubarak, 78, also dismissed speculation that he would step down before his term ends in 2011.
When he will be... ummm... 82?
"I will ask for a new amendment for article 76 to complete and achieve the goals of last year's amendment," Mubarak told the parliament in a speech marking the beginning of the new session. The opposition has demanded that the article be changed, claiming it opens the way for Gamal Mubarak, the president's youngest son, to become Egypt's next leader.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
Lol, TT. This is a helluva step down from Ramses the Great, methinks
So another year of grooming and Hosni thinks Junior is ready for prime time? The Muzzy Brotherhood will eat Egypt alive - and Junior will be the hors d'oeuvre.
Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned on the direct orders of the Kremlin because of his biting mockery of President Putin, according to a former Soviet spy now living in Britain.
Oleg Gordievsky, the most senior KGB agent to defect to Britain, said that the attempt to kill Mr Litvinenko had been state-sponsored. It was carried out by a Russian friend and former colleague who had been recruited secretly in prison by the FSB, the successor to the KGB. The Italian who allegedly put poison in Mr LitvinenkoĀs sushi Āhad nothing to do with itĀ.
ĀOf course it is state-sponsored. He was such an obvious enemy. Only the KGB is able to do this. The poison was very sophisticated. They have done this before Ā they poisoned Anna Politkovskaya (the campaigning journalist murdered on October 7) on a plane last year. Who else would know where she was sitting and could poison her food? Probably also it was the KGB that shot her.Ā
Mr Litvinenko, who fled to Britain in 2001, was a target because of the Kremlin fury at his sarcastic attacks on President Putin, Mr Gordievsky said. ĀThere are three people they hate: Boris Berezovsky, Akhmad Zakayev and Sasha (Alexander) Litvinenko, who was writing article after article for the Chechen press, laughing at Putin.Ā
NAHA, Japan - JapanĀs southern island chain of Okinawa Sunday elected an ally of conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as governor, rejecting calls to scale back one of the US militaryĀs key overseas deployments. The election had turned into a referendum on the troops in the subtropical islands, which host three-quarters of the US military facilities in Japan, one of WashingtonĀs closest allies.
Voters backed Hirokazu Nakaima, who is supported by AbeĀs Liberal Democratic Party. He has said he will negotiate with the central government over the troop presence and avoid confrontation. With all the votes counted, Nakaima had 347,303 votes with challenger Keiko Itokazu, who had campaigned actively against the US troops, receiving 309,985 votes. A pro-independence candidate trailed in third place.
Nakaima focused his campaign on improving the economy of Okinawa, where unemployment runs twice the national average. He will replace retiring fellow conservative Keiichi Inamine.
Japan and the US agreed in May to pull out 8,000 troops from Okinawa to the US territory of Guam, in the most sweeping movement of soldiers in decades. But the United States began installing JapanĀs first Patriot surface-to-air missiles in Okinawa after North Korea test-fired seven missiles in July in JapanĀs direction.
Itokazu, who had hoped to become OkinawaĀs first female governor, said she stood by her call for a greater pullout of US troops. ĀConsidering the votes cast for me, I still believe the US bases are a significant issue that needs to be addressed,Ā she said after her loss was reported.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/20/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"...after North Korea test-fired seven missiles in July in Japan's direction..."
And I bet she lives on the east side of the island!
#3
STARS-AND-STRIPES > Top US Cmdr recently mentioned many details about US relocation from Okinawa EXCEPT 000's COMING TO GUAM. More indicia to me that the relocation plan is NOT set in stone, i.e. subject to change(s).
And in Rantburg Sports...
OBERHOFEN, Switzerland - Former U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix will serve on the international ski federation's ethics commission, dealing with doping and other issues. "Are you on zee dope?"
"Ummmmmm...no?"
"Very good. Good luck on zee slopes."
Blix led the U.N. inspectors who searched for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. He heads the Stockholm-based Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission, which is sponsored by the Swedish government. ...where he's known as the Swedish Stevie Wonder.
"This is a new organ within the FIS, and the goal is to have some established personalities with a trusted reputation in the world to serve on this committee, and Mr. Blix obviously meets those criteria," FIS spokeswoman Riika Rakic said Monday. Really. When I think "trust", Hans Blix is the first guy I'm thinking of. I see international skiing rocked by an international scandal within 2 years.
Blix's appointment was announced at FIS' council meeting in Oberhofen."There have been some scandals in other sports, and we want to make sure that is not repeated in our sport," Rakic said. Yeah, ya can't get nuthin by Blixie...
(AKI) - Morocco's Islamic leaders are concerned with the increase in the number of Moroccans who are converting to Christianity: these now number 1,000 compared to some 400 a decade ago. Many of the converts have joined Protestant and Evangelical churches whose missionaries are active in the overwhelmingly Muslim North African country, according to a report by pan-Arab satellite TV station al-Arabiya. "We're more than 1,000 and we have some 50 churches present in towns and cities throughout the country," Abdel Halim, a 57-year-old physician who converted to the Evangelical faith 16 years ago, told al-Arabiya. "For security reasons, we cannot admit that we have converted and we are often forced to move as if we were a clandestine organisation, Halim says, referring to an article (220) in Morocco's penal code that makes "any questioning of the Islamic faith or the attempt to instigate a Moroccan to change religion," a crime punishable with up to three years in prison.
The president of Casablanca's Ulema Council which groups together the main Muslim leaders in the city, Raduwan Bin Shakrun, says he opposes the conversions. "The rejection of one's religion is one of the worst mistakes that a Muslim can make," Shakrun told al-Arabiya.
His views are shared by Hussein Dawudi, a parliamentarian for the "Justice and Development" grouping which is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. "The people won't accept that one can change religion. While if an individual changes religion, this could still be accepted but it becomes a problem when the whole of society is concerned. If Christian children or converts were to come to school, this would not be allowed," he said.
It is this sort of stigmatism that Moroccans who convert to Christianity face, even without the authorities cracking down - Morocco is more liberal on such issues than many other Muslim nations in the region. "We have to move carefully because in this society you can't be an Arab unless you are also a Muslim," Halim explained.
#1
Since when does religious beliefs fully define your race, pipsqueek? I applaud these moves and will pray for these believers.
Maybe this is the future, a'la Ann Coulter. Invade, make freedom possible, and convert. There are cracks gathering in the ponzi scheme that is Islam, but I fear for these converts. Anyone who uses civil law to FORCE belief systems is nothing more than a two-bit dictator hiding behind God. PTUI!
Posted by: BA ||
11/20/2006 10:48 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Since when does religious beliefs fully define your race, pipsqueek? I applaud these moves and will pray for these believers.
AFAIU, Islam is basically a vehicle for arab imperialism; even if one accepts old mo' existed, islam as we know it now was redefined after its creation to be the cement of the newly acquired arab empire (pray toward mecca, speak arabic, use arab names, arab dresses, arab customs, lunar calendar,...).
The current re-islamization of the muslim world is also an arabization. Here in RB there was articles written by somalis, malyas, indonesians, about the loss of their own cultural habits under arab ones coming along salafism and Gulf money. Cultural imperialism, with the arab way being the better way.
Islam = religion of the Masters, arabs (especially the profit's descendents) = Master Race.
Add the fact that islam is not a religion, but a coherent legal system/identity/civilizational belonging/behavioral prescription system/... and you've got it, renouncing islam is often renouncing arab identity.
That's what the kabyls, berbers, are doing; for them converting to christianity or becoming atheists is a step toward shedding the conquerors-imposed arab identity (enforced even now), and returning to their roots.
#3
The berbers have had a long history of clashing with the arabs anyway. I say we fully support them. We are looking at a long war anyway and this could be a nice weak spot in Islam's armor.
#4
a5089: Maybe I should've put a sarc tag on that. I understand the Arab imperialism gig, seeing it in full effect (against other Muslims) in Darfur, Sudan. I guess I was sarcastically projecting a "western" POV on a completely backwards civilization piece of land known as the MME.
Posted by: BA ||
11/20/2006 11:34 Comments ||
Top||
#5
No big deal, it's just I'm in forced unemployment until 11 december or so (the big machinery is all broken down, and the guys with a real job have a lot on their hands), so I'm bored, and in a full-lecturing/poser mode.
Just ignore me, I'll eventually go away, and check if I can find a new stolen password to Blacksonblondes or something.
#6
Other than language - which was imposed on them - most Moroccans have little in common with Arabs. Semitic culture originated between the "two rivers" of Mesopotamia. Islam prevents most Muslims from embracing their true national identity.
Internet Traffic Report shows a general meltdown everywhere pretty much but North America. I can't connect to a lot of U.S. sites from Europe, and what I get is slow.
Any word what's up?
#6
We got blocked to our Yahoo mail accounts at work. Supposedly got something like 40,000 hits in a few hours last Friday or so.
Posted by: BA ||
11/20/2006 20:55 Comments ||
Top||
#7
DAMN COMMIES!!!!!
Via LGF:
If youĀve been experiencing a sudden surge of soul-numbing email spam in your Inbox, hereĀs the reason. A scary little article at eWeek looks at the huge number of compromised (i.e. virus/worm infected) servers, and what the spammers are making them do: ĀPump-and-DumpĀ Spam Surge Linked to Russian Bot Herders. (Hat tip: Tom.)
According to data from Barracuda Networks, an enterprise security appliance vendor in Mountain View, Calif., there has been a 67 percent increase in overall spam volume and a 500 percent increase in image spam since Aug. 2006.
Edited for brevity.
Evraz Group, a steelmaker partly owned by billionaire Roman Abramovich, agreed to buy Oregon Steel Mills Inc. for $2.3 billion, the biggest-ever purchase in the U.S. by a Russian company. Evraz bid $63.25 a share in cash for all of Portland-based Oregon to gain a foothold in the U.S. and create the world's largest producer of rail tracks and wheels, the companies said today in a joint statement.
The transaction will raise Evraz, Russia's biggest steelmaker, to 10th in the world, ahead of Germany's ThyssenKrupp AG. Russian steel producers and peers in India and Brazil, encouraged by rising stock values, want to boost crude- steel processing in North America and Europe to make higher- value products such as oil and gas pipes.
The takeover would increase the muscle of steelmakers from outside developed countries. Emerging economies now account for six out of the 10 biggest steelmaking nations. China alone makes almost a third of the world's steel. Mittal Steel Co., the world's largest producer, started with an Indonesian steel plant. Arcelor SA proposed merging with OAO Severstal, Evraz's Russian rival, before agreeing to be bought by Mittal this year in the industry's biggest-ever combination.
Posted by: Dar ||
11/20/2006 14:51 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I hope this purchase gets a review by the gov't. There are statues in place that mandate only US produced metals be purchased when working on DoD contracts. The exact DFARS number escapes me for the moment, but Russia is not on the list contained in that document that we are allowed to buy from. This camel's nose under the tent worries me a bit.
This was last week. I hadn't seen it mentioned. There's a reason it's called Baghdad by the Bay...
After 90 years in San Francisco high schools, the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps must go, the San Francisco school board decided Tuesday night. The Board of Education voted 4-2 to eliminate the popular program, phasing it out over two years.
Dozens of JROTC cadets at the board meeting burst into tears or covered their faces after the votes were cast. "We're really shocked,'' said fourth-year Cadet Eric Chu, a senior at Lowell High School, his eyes filling with tears. "It provided me with a place to go." Oh, knock it off kid. We know what's best for you. We'll teach you be AIDS counselors or...something.
The proposal approved by the board also creates a task force to develop alternatives to the program that will be tried out next year at various high schools. I can only imagine...
The board's decision was loudly applauded by opponents of the program. Their position was summed up by a former teacher, Nancy Mancias, who said, "We need to teach a curriculum of peace." Think Nancy will be participating in next months Strokeathon?
The board's move to dismantle the popular program was led by board members Dan Kelly and Mark Sanchez with support from Sarah Lipson and Eric Mar. Casting votes against it were Jill Wynns and Norman Yee. Board member Eddie Chin was absent. "I think people should not despair too much," Sanchez said. "I think now the work begins -- to work within the community to develop new programs that will fulfill the needs of our students." Maybe we'll teach them Big Giant Puppet Design or how to silkscreen Free Mumia T-shirts...
About 1,600 San Francisco students participate in JROTC at seven high schools across the district.
Opponents said the armed forces should have no place in public schools, and the military's discriminatory stance on gays makes the presence of JROTC unacceptable. Great. Maybe the military won't show up after the Big Earthquake, seeing how their prescence is "unacceptable" and all...
"We don't want the military ruining our civilian institutions," said Sandra Schwartz of the American Friends Service Committee, an organization actively opposing JROTC nationwide. "In a healthy democracy ... you contain the military. You must contain the military." You can almost feel the screeching paranoia...
Students, parents and school staff from each of the seven high schools converged outside the school board meeting carrying signs and waving at cars, some of which honked in support. At least 100 cadets edged into Franklin Street waving their signs before being pushed back to the sidewalk by their ROTC instructors.
Yet, in the end, the effort -- one of several rallies in the last several weeks -- fell on deaf ears. "This is where the kids feel safe, the one place they feel safe," Robert Powell, a JROTC instructor at Lincoln High School and a retired Army lieutenant colonel, said earlier in the evening. "You're going to take that away from them?"
Opponents acknowledged the program is popular and even helps some students stay in school and out of trouble. ...and we can't have that.
Yet they also said the program exists to lure students to sign up for the armed forces. "It's basically a branding program, or a recruiting program for the military," Kelly said before the meeting. Evil, bad military!
Earlier, Mayor Gavin Newsom weighed in on the debate, chastising the board for the effort to eliminate JROTC. "The move sends the wrong message," he said. "It's important for the city not to be identified with disrespecting the sacrifice of men and women in uniform."
Students in the program receive physical education or elective credits required for graduation.
A budget analysis found that the district could hire nine teachers with the money the district now spends on JROTC -- enough to cover the gym and elective courses for the 1,600 students should the program be eliminated.
But there wouldn't be money to create an alternative program serving that many students, Wynns said.
"I think the people who want to get rid of it have a responsibility to look at how we're going to pay for that and what we're going to do to replace it," she added.
Newsom also said he believed the vote would push more city residents away from the public schools. "You think this is going to help keep families in San Francisco?" the mayor added. "No. It's going to hurt." Why don't they just secede and get it over with?
#1
Heard Melanie Morgan talking about that sob Dan Kelly last week on KSFO (SF's flagship rightwing conservative talk radio station).
Seems Kelly is more than disengenuous - he's a former draft doger and spent 2 years in prison for issues relating to his draft dodging. So, naturally, he has "issues" with military training of any kind.
Melanie's stirring the pot again - and good for her. This guy's an ass and the whole board over there is a bunch of idiots.
A Midwest hotel chain with several properties in Illinois has pulled CNN and CNN Headline News from its guest rooms and lobbies in response to the cable network's broadcast of an insurgent video showing Iraqi snipers shooting at U.S. troops. Good ... but I never watch those crappy channels anyways
The Oct. 18 CNN broadcast, which featured edited portions of a tape the network said it obtained from the Islamic Army of Iraq rebel group, crossed the line from journalism to propaganda, said James Thompson, president of the Iowa-based Stoney Creek Hospitality Corp. "It was shocking and repulsive," he said. "Their actions supported terrorism."
Guests at the Stoney Creek Inn's 10 properties in Illinois, Missouri, Iowa and Wisconsin can still view Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC and other cable news channels, Thompson noted. Supportive comments from guests have outnumbered complaints by a 3-1 margin, he said.
In Illinois, the Stoney Creek Inns are located in Galena, East Peoria, Moline and Quincy. It also has locations in Columbia and St. Joseph, Mo.; Des Moines and Waukon, Iowa; and La Crosse and Wausau, Wis. So if you're travelling that way...
A network spokeswoman did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment Thursday. A CNN producer previously defended the report as an attempt to show the "unvarnished truth" about the Iraq war. ... In a CNN Web log entry defending the segment, producer David Doss wrote that the network excluded the "actual impact of the rounds" because "a number of us felt airing that precise moment was simply too horrific." How thoughful! A$$holes!
Another great idea from the Rice a Roni city... SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Two peace activists have planned a massive anti-war demonstration for the first day of winter. But they don't want marching in the streets. They'd much rather protesters just stay home. The Global Orgasm for Peace was conceived by Donna Sheehan, 76, and Paul Reffell, 55, whose goal is for everyone in the world to have an orgasm Dec. 22 while focusing on world peace. Eww...
Yes, ladies and gentlemen: The Pack Pork for Peace MovementĀ®...
"The orgasm gives out an incredible feeling of peace during it and after it," Reffell said Sunday. "Your mind is like a blank. It's like a meditative state." He must have lots and lots of orgasms...
Or at least spends lots of time thinking about them...
"And mass meditations have been shown to make a change." Really? Could you name, like, one?
The couple are no strangers to sex and social activism. Sheehan brought together nearly 50 women in 2002 who stripped naked and spelled out the word "Peace." Oh, so she's to blame...
The stunt spawned a mini-movement called Baring Witness that led to similar unclothed demonstrations worldwide. Yes. We've seen their handiwork. It ain't pretty...
The couple have studied evolutionary psychology and believe war is mainly an outgrowth of men trying to impress potential mates, a case of "my missile is bigger than your missile," as Reffell put it. I take it these folks don't have real jobs...
By promoting what they hope to be a synchronized global orgasm, they hope to have people channel their sexual energy into something more positive. But what if it spins mother earth off it's axis and, like, sends us careening towards, like, Jupiter or something, man? Like you don't know what this awesome power could, like, do.
The couple said interest appears strong, with 26,000 hits a day to their website, www.globalorgasm.org. Most of them probably come from Google porn searches.
"The dream is to have everyone in the world (take part)," Reffell said. "And if that means laying down your gun for a few minutes, then hey, all the better." But if you lay down your gun, how are you gonna participate?
#1
But if you lay down your gun, how are you gonna participate?
Fire it beforehand?
Posted by: The Doctor ||
11/20/2006 10:26 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Hasn't this already been done? ISTR a bunch of goofy Brits organized some kind of masturba-thon a couple of months back, "Pulling Our Puds For Peace" or whatever. It was featured on Rantburg.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
11/20/2006 11:30 Comments ||
Top||
#3
I am intrigued by your ideas and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
Posted by: Mark E. ||
11/20/2006 12:01 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Won't all that rubbing and heavy breathing increase Global Warming?
In April 2005, a Pentagon report acknowledged that discrimination occurred but said it was justified: "Lt. Hudson does not seem to understand or recognize the difference between 'lawful' and 'unlawful' discrimination." It said discrimination was lawful if it was "institutional discrimination," in other words, if the policy were applied to all minority recruits.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
11/20/2006 09:09 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
..I amanged to forget the link - it's Monday...:
O.K. so my title has a bit of spin on it.... big deal! The timing is just coincidental!
WASHINGTON - The U.S. economy has been battered by a bigger-than-expected slump in housing but will keep growing next year as consumers get relief from soaring energy costs. That is the view of a panel of 50 top forecasters in a survey released Monday by the National Association for Business Economics.
The NABE panel predicted that the overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, would expand by 2.5 percent in 2007. That is down slightly from the previous survey in September which forecast that the economy would grow by 2.7 percent next year. The expectations for 2006 were also marked down with GDP growth now put at 3.3 percent instead of 3.4 percent forecast in the previous survey. The economy expanded by 3.2 percent in 2005 and 3.9 percent in 2004.
A bigger-than-anticipated slump in housing was the primary reason for the reductions. The NABE panel said that housing construction would fall by 3.5 percent this year and an even larger 5.5 percent in 2007.
Both of those figures are larger declines than the NABE forecasters had previously predicted. Both would represent quite a reversal from the 8.6 percent increase in residential investment for all of 2005 compared to 2004.
Housing is currently in a steep slump following an extended five-year boom powered by the lowest mortgage rates in a generation. Sales of both new and existing homes, which set records for five straight years, have been falling. Construction of new homes and apartments has declined, with construction activity in October down 27.4 percent from a year ago.
The Federal Reserve engineered the current economic slowdown with a two-year campaign to push interest rates up. The Fed's goal was to achieve a soft landing in which economic growth slowed enough to reduce inflation without bringing on a recession.
The NABE forecasters predicted the Fed would achieve that soft landing. They saw consumer prices, which rose by 3.7 percent last year, rising by just 2.7 percent this year and an even lower 2.5 percent in 2007.
The NABE panel forecast a 2.8 percent increase this year in core inflation, which excludes food and energy, and a 2.4 percent rise in 2007. All the inflation rates were measured from the fourth quarter of one year to the fourth quarter of the next.
"Despite the hindrance of the housing correction, the economy is expected to continue gaining ground in 2007," said Carl Tannenbaum, NABE president and chief economist at LaSalle Bank/ABN AMRO in Chicago. The slower growth will have an impact on the job market. The NABE panel forecast that the unemployment rate would rise from an expected average for all this year of 4.7 percent to 4.9 percent in 2007.
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/20/2006 08:53 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Some would say that Housing slumped in affordability.
It was a major slump in the purchasing ability of Americans.
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.
They may be among the most powerful men in the world, but George Bush and Vladimir Putin looked more like a couple of Harry Potter's masters at Hogwarts school.
Egypt's long-serving president asked parliament Sunday to amend a constitution article that had been criticized as tailored to allow his son to succeed him. But reform advocates show little enthusiasm for that or other measures he outlined, glum that any will result in much change. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told parliament that article 76 should be changed to make it easier for candidates from political parties to run for president, but did not provide details. Mubarak, 78, also dismissed speculation that he would step down before his term ends in 2011. 
Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned on the direct orders of the Kremlin because of his biting mockery of President Putin, according to a former Soviet spy now living in Britain. 
(AKI) - Morocco's Islamic leaders are concerned with the increase in the number of Moroccans who are converting to Christianity: these now number 1,000 compared to some 400 a decade ago. Many of the converts have joined Protestant and Evangelical churches whose missionaries are active in the overwhelmingly Muslim North African country, according to a report by pan-Arab satellite TV station al-Arabiya. "We're more than 1,000 and we have some 50 churches present in towns and cities throughout the country," Abdel Halim, a 57-year-old physician who converted to the Evangelical faith 16 years ago, told al-Arabiya. "For security reasons, we cannot admit that we have converted and we are often forced to move as if we were a clandestine organisation, Halim says, referring to an article (220) in Morocco's penal code that makes "any questioning of the Islamic faith or the attempt to instigate a Moroccan to change religion," a crime punishable with up to three years in prison.
A Midwest hotel chain with several properties in Illinois has pulled CNN and CNN Headline News from its guest rooms and lobbies in response to the cable network's broadcast of an insurgent video showing Iraqi snipers shooting at U.S. troops.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Two peace activists have planned a massive anti-war demonstration for the first day of winter. But they don't want marching in the streets. They'd much rather protesters just stay home. The Global Orgasm for Peace was conceived by Donna Sheehan, 76, and Paul Reffell, 55, whose goal is for everyone in the world to have an orgasm Dec. 22 while focusing on world peace. 
