In WWII, Black Women's Army Unit Helped Mail on Its Way to GIs
It was 1944, and they came from small towns and big cities, high school graduates and working professionals who answered their country's call for service at a time when much of the nation barely recognized their citizenship.
Uncle Sam was looking for a few good African American women to join the military in Europe. Black women weren't any more welcome in most branches than black men were until first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, at the urging of African American civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune, began agitating for a role for black women in the war overseas.
The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, a unit of 885 black Women's Army Corps (WAC) members, was charged with clearing up a huge backlog of mail sent to military personnel overseas. All that undelivered mail was hurting morale, Army officials said.
The job was expected to take six months, but the unit, known as the Six Triple Eight, working round-the-clock in eight-hour shifts, finished the job -- handling 7 million pieces of mail -- in three months. Later, they were sent to France for a similar assignment.
"We served our country proudly, and we did a good job," said Mary Crawford Ragland, 81, of Bladensburg. "When we came back, though, there were no parades, there were no speeches, there was no recognition. They gave us our papers discharging us and sent us on our way."
Ms. Ragland, we at the Burg thank you for your service and wish all of you well.
PHOENIX Calling Mexican drug trafficking organizations a national security threat, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced Wednesday that federal authorities had mounted their biggest assault against one of Mexicos most powerful drug cartels. More than 750 people nationwide have been arrested, tons of cocaine and marijuana have been seized and the distribution of drugs has been disrupted through a series of raids and arrests as part of an investigation begun under the Bush administration 21 months ago, Mr. Holder said.
The operation comes at a time of rising concern over Mexicos drug violence and the reach of trafficking organizations into the United States. It has focused on the Sinaloa cartel and culminated with a wave of arrests, unsealed indictments and seizures on Tuesday and early Wednesday in California, Maryland and Minnesota.
The Sinaloa organization, based in Sinaloa State in northwest Mexico, is one of the oldest cartels and has been blamed for a large share of the spiraling violence in the country that has left more than 6,000 people dead in the past year amid turf wars and a government crackdown on their operations.
From Washington to Maine, we have disrupted this cartels domestic operations, Michele M. Leonhart, the acting administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said in a statement before a news conference in Washington with Mr. Holder.
The investigation, known as Operation Xcellerator, included the arrest of 755 people, among them leaders of the cartels cells based in the United States that helped transport and distribute drugs, Ms. Leonhart said. She said the arrests had also seriously impacted the cartels Canadian operations. Agents confiscated 149 vehicles, 3 aircraft, 3 vessels and 169 weapons, the officials said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/26/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
RUMORMILLNEWS > ITS A WAR NOW [Arizona + Texas likely in the crosshairs for Pan-Mexi Drug Violence border spillover].
YOOHOO, LTC. ROBERTO USMCR [New Mexico], I'M A'LOOKING AT YOU KIDDO - YOU'RE UP!
#4
When we have Apache's and Abrams on our border, then I will know it's time to kick butt!
Posted by: Omolugum Prince of the Platypi2692 ||
02/26/2009 3:24 Comments ||
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#5
note that all of the legwork and investigation took place before Holder was in place
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/26/2009 5:31 Comments ||
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#6
Yes Frank, watching Holder step up to the mike and brief the nation on an investigation and program that has been on-going for nearly two years was particularly galling. The cynic in me must ask, did he just make public and conclude a program that was designed to be ongong?
#9
I just got through watching a prescient musical docudrama on this administration last night, dating from 1933. The Mexican kerfuffle is explained in the last verse:
"If any form of pleasure is exibited
Report to me and it will be prohibited
I'll put my foot down, so shall it be
This is the land of the free
The last man nearly ruined this place
He didn't know what to do with it
If you think this country's bad off now,
Just wait 'til I get through with it
The country's taxes must be fixed
And I know what to do with it
If you think you're paying too much now
Just wait till I get throught with it
*whistle*
I will not stand for anything that's crooked or unfair.
I'm strictly on the upper knot, so everyone beware!
If any man's caught taking graft, and I don't get my share,
We stand'im up against the wall and pop!Goes the weasel."
#10
Yawn. Over many long years I've heard the government make announcements like this time and time again. It never seems to make any difference. Meanwhile Mexico has devolved into a lawless narco state. When the border is lined with heavily armed troops who have orders to shoot to kill, I'll believe the government is getting serious. Until then the stench of corruption is sickening on both sides of the border.
Venezuela is to suggest a new output cut at the next meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in March. Wonder how that fits in with their plans to increase production since Hugo's going broke? Easy; the rest of them cut their production and Hugo keeps pumping ...
Posted by: Fred ||
02/26/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
kinda hard too pump sludge ain't it. how bout if they cut it we just now buy from hugo
BEIJING: A prominent Indian journalist on Wednesday rejected Tibetan independence propaganda, saying the regions economic growth was good and the atmosphere was relaxed.
The problems are largely in the minds of some sections abroad, in make-believe Tibet, and in the propaganda of the pro-independence movement of the Dalai Lama, N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu, a leading English language Indian daily, told Xinhua on Wednesday.
Mr. Rams comments came after he concluded a three-day visit to southwest Chinas Tibet Autonomous Region earlier this week. It was his third visit to Tibet since 2000.
People always asked why I went to Tibet again and again, said Mr. Ram, attributing the visits to his intention to do a reality check.
Mr. Ram described how the Dalai Lama and the so-called Tibetan government-in-exile were active in India and some other countries claiming Tibetans were being reduced to a minority by the Han people and proclaiming a Greater Tibet with a population of six million.
Mr. Ram has travelled to various parts of the region, from the capital city of Lhasa to underdeveloped villages. He has seen schools, monasteries, orphanages and factories.
The reality is that Tibet is on the road of rapid economic development and the atmosphere there is relaxed, not tense at all, he said.
Tibet is remote for ordinary Chinese. You must be a fool to believe that Tibetans are being made a minority, Mr. Ram commented.
The total population of the region hit 2.84 million in 2007, with Tibetans accounting for 92 per cent according to official figures.
Mr. Ram observed that the problem facing Tibet was the economic slowdown as the global financial crisis took its toll on the region. But the growth rate of Tibet is still good, more than 10 per cent per year, much higher than other parts of the world.
Mr. Rams latest visit coincided with the run-up to the Tibetan New Year. We witnessed fewer people in work places as they went back home to celebrate the New Year, he noted. He added that there was no sign of strain or suppression there as people were filled with excitement and the atmosphere was festive. There were plenty of signs of prosperity on my long drive from Lhasa to Nyingchi, said Mr. Ram.
On the regions move to commemorate the end of feudal serfdom every year on March 28 the day the Chinese government dissolved the aristocratic local government of Tibet and freed more than one million serfs in 1959 he said: It is a good decision adding that there were serf systems in many countries, but it was worse in Tibet.
The contrast between the old and the new is very powerful, demonstrating what the Chinese government and the system have done for Tibet. Xinhua
Posted by: john frum ||
02/26/2009 16:32 ||
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North Korea has built an underground fueling facility near a key launch pad, a news report said Thursday, making it harder for spy satellites to detect signs that a missile is being prepared for launch.
The facility was built at the Musudan-ni missile site on North Korea's northeastern coast either late last year or early this year, the Dong-a Ilbo newspaper reported, citing an unidentified senior South Korean official.
The National Intelligence Service, Seoul's top spy agency, and the Defense Ministry declined to confirm the report, citing the sensitivity of intelligence matters.
North Korea announced earlier this week that plans to send a communications satellite into orbit as part of its space program were fully under way. It did not say when the launch would take place, but recent satellite imagery showed brisk activity near the launch pad.
Neighboring powers and the U.S. believe the satellite launch may be a cover for a test-fire of a long-range ballistic missile.
"Our scientists and engineers are actively pushing forward on a peaceful space project," the North's Korean Central Broadcasting Station said in a report late Wednesday.
In 1998, North Korea test-fired a long-range Taepodong-1 ballistic missile over Japan and then claimed to have put a satellite into orbit. In 2006, the country also test-launched a longer-range Taepodong-2 missile believed capable of reaching Alaska, but it plunged into the ocean shortly after liftoff. The North is believed to be working on an upgraded Taepodong-2 capable of reaching the U.S. west coast.
The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution in 2006 prohibiting Pyongyang from ballistic activity. South Korea says it would consider either a satellite or missile launch a threat and violation of the U.N. ban since both use similar rocket delivery systems.
"We expect the North to claim a satellite launch after firing a missile," South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young told reporters Thursday, noting that the North has little need for a satellite in space.
Senior NIS officials told South Korean lawmakers Wednesday that the government suspects the projectile being prepared for launch is a long-range missile, not a satellite.
The object's shape "is similar to" the Taepodong missile, senior NIS officials said, according to ruling party lawmaker Lee Cheol-woo, who attended the closed-door session.
Analysts said satellite imagery taken last week revealed a flurry of activity at the Musudan-ni test site but no indication a rocket had been mounted on the launch pad. Once mounted, the rocket could take days to fuel.
Changes in commercial satellite images captured Wednesday by DigitalGlobe indicate progress toward a launch, said Tim Brown, director of Talent-Keyhole.com, an independent imagery analysis firm in the U.S. He predicted a launch within weeks.
Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il visited towns in the same province as the launch site, about 110 miles (180 kilometers) away, state-run media said Wednesday.
#1
You know fueling missiles with Hydrazine and fuming red nitric acid under ground might not be too bright. two chemicals that really want to react with each other. Nice ventilation system you got there, shame if anything happened to it. Another project for Operation Lemony Snicket.
Official figures confirmed a dramatic ongoing climb in the numbers of French adults out of work and seeking employment, with January's total up 4.3 percent on the month and 15.4 percent over the year.
The recent surge has pushed France's unemployment rate to more than eight percent, and European Commission experts predict the official rate will hit 9.8 percent by the end of this year and 10.6 percent in 2010.
#1
The recent surge has pushed France's employment rate to more than eight percent, and European Commission experts predict the official rate will hit 9.8 percent by the end of this year and 10.6 percent in 2010
(AKI) - The conservative Italian government is planning to more than triple the 1,200 illegal immigrants that can currently be held in the country's 11 detention centres, unnamed officials have told Adnkronos.
Ministers were due to meet on Thursday to identify sites where the new centres could be located to hold 4,000-4,500 immigrants within the next few months.
Feasibility studies are being carried out this week and the new centres are likely to be housed in former military barracks and military facilities, as well as disused prisons.
Closeness to airports and non-proximity to residential areas will be factors in locating the new detention centres. The government wants to have one such centre in every Italian region.
Sites under consideration include the southern city of Caserta, the northern towns of Boscomantico and Tessera in the Veneto region, Grosseto and Campi Bisenzio in Italy's central Tuscany region and Falconara, close to the Adriatic port city of Ancona in the Marche region.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/26/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Save money, throw them back, and I DO mean "Throw".
Posted by: Rednek Jim ||
02/26/2009 1:32 Comments ||
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Posted by: ed ||
02/26/2009 14:12 Comments ||
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#5
That article's based on something called "ObamaForum", which clearly is a sociopathic spoof by hyper little trolls trying to out-moby each other. In short, tone-deaf Canadian journalist confuses online joke for real-world threat. Gee, that's never happened before.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/26/2009 14:25 Comments ||
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#6
The Constatution is not perfect, but it's better than what we are using now! Love that quote!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
02/26/2009 14:32 Comments ||
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#7
Beyond scary. I get one of these idiots coming after me and they will end up a corpse.
#8
Mitch, a few months ago home addresses etc. of those who contributed money to the Prop 8 (gay marriage ban) effort were put online, as were those of religious and other leaders who spoke out in favor of the ban. Threats, intimidation, vandalism and other attacks ensued, albeit at a relatively low level.
That followed on two elections during which there was overt, if scattered, violence not only against Republican campaign offices but also against homeowners with Republican signs in their yards and drivers with Republican stickers on their cars.
Those were relatively low level efforts, but they set a precedent. This is a fledgling national effort and it is occuring in the context of the President's calls for grassroots activism and action. I agree that it's a wannabe effort for now - except, perhaps, to someone who gets intimidated in her home or fired 'due to the economy' as a result.
Small sparks can set big fires, though, if the tinder is dry. And if economics get worse, as is quite likely given recent legislation and the administration's actions and speech, the tinder may get quite dry indeed.
Just as it did in Germany in the early 30s, to pick one example of relatively recent history ....
In the budget he will submit to Congress today, President Obama will outline an agenda that confronts the era's most intractable problems, from a tattered financial system that has helped fuel a deepening recession to health-care, education and energy policies that have long defied meaningful reform.
It amounts to a long work order for a legislature that has seen its productivity sag in recent years. Mired in partisan divisions, Congress has produced few bills of sweeping impact since the end of President George W. Bush's first term. Now Obama is asking lawmakers to deliver legislation on the scale of the No Child Left Behind education bill or the Medicare prescription drug benefit -- two of Bush's signature achievements -- roughly once a month. Bush had achievements? Who knew?
"It's a large agenda, but the American people wanted large change, and it was really a large election," Sen. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.), a member of the Senate Democratic leadership, said yesterday.
A guiding principle of the Obama administration, articulated in the president's address to Congress on Tuesday night and implicit in the expansive policy goals set forth in his first budget, is that the economic crisis has heightened the desire for change that voters expressed in November, creating a once-in-a-generation opportunity for bold policy shifts.
Many Democrats have expressed trepidation about the lofty expectations that Obama has set and are keenly aware that the party could pay a steep price in the 2010 midterm elections if the promises are not fulfilled. Already looking toward 2010, eh?
At a White House meeting yesterday with House and Senate leaders, Obama noted that polls showed the Democratic Congress's popularity rising with the passage of the stimulus bill, despite Republicans' near-unanimous opposition because of the package's heavy spending programs.
On Tuesday, Obama closed his speech with a plea for Congress to get behind his ambitious goals. "If we come together and do everything I want to lift this nation from the depths of this crisis," he said, "if we put our people back to work and restart the socialist engine of our prosperity, if we confront without fear the challenges of our time and summon that enduring spirit of an America that does not quit except maybe, Iraq, then someday years from now, our children can tell their children that this was the time when we performed, in the words that are carved into this very chamber, 'Something worthy to be remembered.' " Obviously, there's much more to this WaPo story, at the link.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/26/2009 08:54 ||
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President Obama is proposing to begin a vast expansion of the U.S. health-care system by creating a $634 billion reserve fund over the next decade, launching an overhaul that most experts project will ultimately cost at least $1 trillion.
The "reserve fund" in the budget proposal being released today is Obama's attempt to demonstrate how the country could extend health insurance to millions more Americans and at the same time begin to control escalating medical bills that threaten the solvency of families, businesses and the government.
Obama aims to make a "very substantial down payment" toward universal coverage by trimming tax breaks for the wealthy and squeezing payments to insurers, hospitals, doctors and drug manufacturers, a senior administration official said yesterday.
Embedded in the budget figures are key policy changes that the administration argues would improve the quality of care and bring much-needed efficiency to a health system that costs $2.3 trillion a year.
By first identifying a large pot of money to underwrite health-care reform -- before laying out a proposal on who would be covered or how -- Obama hopes to draw Congress to the bargaining table to tackle the details of a comprehensive plan. The strategy is largely intended to avoid the mistakes of the Clinton administration, which crafted an extensive proposal in secret for many months before delivering the finished product to lawmakers, who quickly rejected it.
"We aim to get to universal coverage," administration budget aide Keith Fontenot told health-care activists last night. Obama is "open to any ideas people want to put forward. He wants to work openly with the Congress in a very inclusive process."
#4
It's not just medicine, it's everything! Personal wealth and savings, 401k, IRA, intestment, private interprise, "the man," etc. are the ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE! They must be extinguished to establish a level playing field for all, a new O'beginning where all are equal in the sight of The One! All work and investment must be directed by and to the Government as it knows best!
"begins with a broad assessment of life in America in 2008, and life is not good: were a divided country, were a country that is just downright mean, we are guided by fear, were a nation of cynics, sloths, and complacents. We have become a nation of struggling folks who are barely making it every day, she said, as heads bobbed in the pews. Folks are just jammed up, and its gotten worse over my lifetime. And, doggone it, Im young. Forty-four!
#5
Cost controls lead to shortages, less doctors, less medicines, less insurers, less hospitals.
Punishing the wealthy means less wealth will be created.
Efficiency comes from competition, not government regulation.
Also the major question of moral hazard, is it wise (or moral) for the government to makes healthy taxpayers pay for the treatment of those who haven't watched their health? Won't it encourage more people to make bad health decisions as someone else will pay?
#6
Socialized medicine = age and procedure rationing = declining boomer longevity = compressed actuarial tables, immediate and long term Social Security and Medicare savings.
What's not to like?.....unless you're senior or plan on living beyond retirement?
I read a few blogs written by British docs in the NHS system. The level of pessimism, cynicism and anger has to be read to be believed. No way in the world do I want to practice medicine in such a system. I'm not yet old enough to retire (and my 401K is shrinking rapidly) so I'm going to have a problem.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/26/2009 11:34 Comments ||
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#8
Wait a minute. He's gonna spend $1 trillion to reduce costs? Wouldn't a far more effect way to reduce costs be to just not spend that $1 trillion? Am I missing something here? I mean, whose costs are gonna be reduced? Certainly not the people who have to come up with that $1 trillion. Huh?
#9
My wife, KiloBravo is from England and has a large extended family there. The horror stories from the in-laws would curl your toes. Here a re just a few.
Uncle with blood in his urine - 6 months to get treated.
Uncle with failing health - gave him B-12 shots. Messed around for months, finally gave him Barium Enema to check for cancer. negative.(Ancient test no longer used in states) He went private and they found colon cancer, treated and survived in spite of NH.
Sister-in-law came back from Amazon cruise feeling poorly, they treated her for tropical diseases for months, she died of undiagnosed cancer.
Mother-in-law broke toes, not treated properly, deformed toes, hard to walk.
Mother-in-law broke wrist because of deformed foot problem, not treated properly, now deformed wrist.
My Brother-in-law the widower had a suspicious spot on his leg. We told him to get it checked as soon as he returned to England.
6 weeks to get appointment with dermatologist. Scheduled him for biopsy.
6 weeks to get Biopsy.
6 weeks to get the results. Positive for melanoma
They were going to schedule him for the surgery in 6 more weeks. We went ballistic and had him demand it be removed immediately. So far he has survived.
These people are like sheep and trust National Health because that's all they've known for 60 years. Besides it's FREE.
Note: More than a quarter of a million Brits fly to India for surgery each year. This includes hip replacements, heart surgery, etc.
President Barack Obama said his upcoming budget would increase the number of US soldiers and state the true cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, while outlining a number of other plans geared to get the faltering economy back on track. Setting out his priorities for military spending, Obama said late Tuesday in his first address to a joint session of Congress that he wanted to provide relief to men and women in uniform with higher pay and a larger ground force.
"To relieve the strain on our forces, my budget increases the number of our soldiers and Marines," he said in the speech. "And to keep our sacred trust with those who serve, we will raise their pay, and give our veterans the expanded health care and benefits that they have earned," he added. They gonna get an extra thirteen bucks a week too, like the rest of us? It'll help pay the increased Tricare premium ...
More than seven years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq have put unprecedented pressure on the all-volunteer military and their families, with top officers blaming a recent spike in suicides in the army on the relentless pace of deployments.
Obama's promise to raise the number of soldiers and Marines appears in line with the military's plans to expand its ground forces by nearly 100,000 troops.
Vowing to restore "honesty and accountability" to government spending, Obama said his budget "for the first time includes the full cost of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"For seven years, we have been a nation at war. No longer will we hide its price," he said to applause.
Obama's jab at former president George W. Bush referred to his predecessor's controversial method of accounting for the cost of the two wars through "supplemental" funding requests outside of the main defense budget.
Obama said his administration would scrap wasteful contract work in Iraq and impose tough scrutiny on mammoth weapons systems that grew out of the Cold War, though he offered no specifics.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/26/2009 00:00 ||
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The Obama administration will seek to reinstate the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 during the Bush administration, Attorney General Eric Holder said today. "As President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on the sale of assault weapons," Holder told reporters.
Holder said that putting the ban back in place would not only be a positive move by the United States, it would help cut down on the flow of guns going across the border into Mexico, which is struggling with heavy violence among drug cartels along the border. "I think that will have a positive impact in Mexico, at a minimum." Holder said at a news conference on the arrest of more than 700 people in a drug enforcement crackdown on Mexican drug cartels operating in the U.S.
Umm, Mr. Holder, you're the American AG, not the Mexican one ...
Mexican government officials have complained that the availability of sophisticated guns from the United States have emboldened drug traffickers to fight over access routes into the U.S.
Yeah, ya can't buy a gun in Messico unless it comes from the states, ev'rybody knows that ...
A State Department travel warning issued Feb. 20, 2009, reflected government concerns about the violence. "Some recent Mexican army and police confrontations with drug cartels have resembled small-unit combat, with cartels employing automatic weapons and grenades," the warning said. "Large firefights have taken place in many towns and cities across Mexico, but most recently in northern Mexico, including Tijuana, Chihuahua City and Ciudad Juarez."
Grenades made in the U.S.A., of course ...
At the news conference today, Holder described his discussions with his Mexican counterpart about the recent spike in violence. "I met yesterday with Attorney General Medina Mora of Mexico, ...
... who is the Mexican AG, take note ...
... and we discussed the unprecedented levels of violence his country is facing because of their enforcement efforts," he said.
Holder declined to offer any time frame for the reimplementation of the assault weapons ban, however.
After the NRA has been euthanized, I think ...
"It's something, as I said, that the president talked about during the campaign," he said. "There are obviously a number of things that are -- that have been taking up a substantial amount of his time, and so, I'm not sure exactly what the sequencing will be."
In a brief interview with ABC News, Wayne LaPierre, president of the National Rifle Association, said, "I think there are a lot of Democrats on Capitol Hill cringing at Eric Holder's comments right now."
During his confirmation hearing, Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee about other gun control measures the Obama administration may consider. "I think closing the gun show loophole, the banning of cop-killer bullets and I also think that making the assault weapons ban permanent, would be something that would be permitted under Heller," Holder said, referring to the Supreme Court ruling in Washington, D.C. v. Heller, which asserted the Second Amendment as an individual's right to own a weapon.
The Assault Weapons Ban signed into law by President Clinton in 1994 banned 19 types of semi-automatic military-style guns and ammunition clips with more than 10 rounds. "A semi-automatic is a quintessential self-defense firearm owned by American citizens in this country," LaPierre said. "I think it is clearly covered under Heller and it's clearly, I think, protected by the Constitution."
Posted by: Omoter Speaking for Boskone7794 ||
02/26/2009 09:26 ||
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#2
I keep hearing that those arms are coming from the US but I haven't heard of any individuals, dealers or distributors being prosecuted. I cry BS. I might expect a few individuals (especially with gang connections) but I haven't heard of that either.
#3
Almost all the reasons given for increased gun control are not reasons but excuses. The real underlying reason cannot be spoken - the disarmament of the people so they can never resist the government.
#4
It will be interesting to listen to all the pundits who claimed it would be logistically "impossible" to round up 13-20 million illegal immigrants trying to sell the notion that rounding up several hundred million weapons will be no problem at all...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/26/2009 13:13 Comments ||
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#5
...or justifying a Waco a week.
A gun is a tool, Marion, like a shovel, an ax, anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it.
#6
This puppy is HR45 and it needs to be defeated. If you live in a district with a representative or senator that is on the fence please write him and tell him to vote no. If you don't know what your representative position is check the NRA website where they rank them. We need to hand this Obama a defeat on his attack on our civil rights.
The United States Wednesday singled out regional ally Egypt as well as Iran, Libya and Syria in the Middle East for jailing rights activists because of their beliefs. In particular, the State Department's human rights report for 2008 said the situation in arch-foe Iran had worsened and that respect for human rights in Egypt remained poor.
It said there were "continued serious challenges for the promotion of democracy and human rights" in the region during the year, "though there were some notable steps forward."
" Along with greater access to information through the Internet and satellite television came greater restrictions on media, including Internet bloggers "
However, technological progress also resulted in steps backwards. "Along with greater access to information through the Internet and satellite television came greater restrictions on media, including Internet bloggers," the report said, naming Egypt and Iran.
The report, the first released under the administration of President Barack Obama, said there was a decline in the Cairo government's respect for freedoms in 2008. Respect for human rights in Egypt "remained poor, and serious abuses continued in many areas," it said.
The report said Iran also intensified its crackdown on dissent "through arbitrary arrests, detentions, torture, and secret trials that occasionally end in executions."
On Israel and the Occupied Territories the reports said the government generally respected its citizens' human rights, although discrimination against Arabs, non-Orthodox Jews and other religious groups persisted. Also it said the Israel maintained unequal education systems for Arab and Jewish students.
Many Middle East nations continued to restrict religious freedoms, the report said, citing members of the Bahai faith detained in Iran.
"Legal and societal discrimination as well as violence against women continued throughout the region," the report said. "Iranian women's rights activists were harassed, abused, arrested, and accused of 'endangering national security' for participating in peaceful protests and demanding equal treatment under Iranian law."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/26/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
they screw goats and camels i don't think you can shame thenm anymore
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Wednesday barred main opposition leader and former premier Nawaz Sharif from holding office and contesting elections, sparking political turmoil in the nuclear-armed nation.
The court order also applied to his brother Shahbaz Sharif, leading to the immediate collapse of his government in the central Punjab province, Pakistan's most populous state and the country's political heartland.
Neither brother was in court, but Nawaz Sharif called for street agitation to protest a court decision he said was delivered on orders from Zardari.
" I want to tell the nation that it should stand up to this lawlessness, to this judgment, to this unconstitutional judgment, to this villainous act by the president of this country, Zardari "
Nawaz Sharif
"I want to tell the nation that it should stand up to this lawlessness, to this judgment, to this unconstitutional judgment, to this villainous act by the president of this country, Zardari," Sharif told a news conference in Lahore.
The government enforced governor's rule in Punjab, the regional parliament was suspended and provincial governor Salman Taseer, a member of the main ruling Pakistan People's Party, took over the powers of chief minister.
"All petitions have been dismissed by the Supreme Court," senior lawyer Akram Sheikh told reporters in the capital Islamabad.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/26/2009 00:00 ||
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Aswat al-Iraq: The Iraqi minister of planning and development cooperation on Wednesday called to liberate the country's economy from its dependence on oil, according to an official statement. "Minister Ali Baban stressed the necessity of reforms to the Iraqi economy to put an end to its bad deterioration," read a statement released by the National Media Center and received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency. The minister linked the poor performance of some significant sectors in the country to the lack of a clear reform policy.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/26/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
ION AAAAAWLLL [oil], RENSE > PEAK OIL LIE: THE USA HAS UTTERLY GIANT OIL RESERVES.
Does Iran have enough uranium to make a nuclear weapon? One thing is clear if it doesn't today, it can speed up the process substantially through work that takes little more skill than knowing how to use a plumber's wrench.
The issue has come under renewed scrutiny with the latest International Atomic Energy Agency report a few days ago on the state of Tehran's uranium enrichment program, which can create both nuclear fuel and the fissile core of warheads.
It is also bound to figure in next week's deliberations of the IAEA's 35-nation board, which will focus on Iran's defiance of U.N. Security Council demands that it freeze enrichment and ease fears it seeks to make the bomb.
With the IAEA report issuing the latest figures of nuclear material Iran has processed, attention has turned to whether it could process the 1,010 kilograms 2,222 pounds of low-enriched uranium it is known to have amassed into enough highly enriched uranium to arm one weapon.
Some experts say 1,010 kilograms is close enough to the commonly cited minimum requirement of 1,100 kilograms, or just over 2,400 pounds, for Tehran to make a realistic attempt at making a bomb. Others say that for various technical reasons the 1,100 figure is too low, even if Iran took the unlikely step of reconfiguring its enrichment program to make weapons grade uranium under the nose of IAEA inspectors at the site. Still others are in-between, saying there are too many unknowns to make a clear prediction.
Lost in the argument is an important fact: should it be looking to make a bomb, Iran has the capacity to easily rev up production of enriched uranium to reach whatever amount it needs much more quickly than it is doing now.
It currently has close to 4,000 machines pumping out the low enriched uranium and has produced enough material to bring it at least close to 1,100 kilograms. But in a little noted observation, the IAEA report also said Tehran has 1,600 more centrifuges for enriching uranium gas feedstock on standby.
In numbers roughly tallying with the official IAEA count, Iran on Wednesday announced that 6,000 centrifuges were now "operating" at Iran's enrichment facility in the town of Natanz, including those enriching and those on standby. Iranian nuclear chief Gholam Reza Aghazadeh said Iran hopes to install over 50,000 centrifuges there over the next five years.
Iranian technicians at the vast underground Natanz enrichment plant need to do little more than hook the extra 1,500 machines to the tap feeding the already operating centrifuges. Suddenly, 5,600 centrifuges would be on line instead of 4,000. Daily output of low-enriched, or fuel-grade uranium would rise to just over 3 kilograms 6.6 pounds from about 2.2 kilograms now.
With 5,600 centrifuges enriching, Iran could add about 100 kilograms more than 200 pounds to its established stockpile within a month; or even more, considering it is setting up additional ready-to-go centrifuges every day.
Even those 100 kilograms would give it an estimated low-enriched uranium stockpile of just over 1,100 kilograms the minimum experts believe is required to yield the 25 kilograms, or 55 pounds, of highly enriched weapons grade uranium needed to build one bomb.
However, those figures themselves are contentious.
The Federation of American Scientists argues that experts using the 25 kilogram figure fail to take into account that even if there is that much bomb-quality uranium mixed into their stockpile not all of it is recoverable through enrichment methods.
"The 12 to 13 kilograms they could produce would not be enough for a bomb," says FAS vice president Ivan Oelrich vice president of the FAS Strategic Security Program.
Moreover, the process of making the first uranium metal warhead from enriched uranium can lead to material loss, further reducing the amount left for a nuclear weapon.
Iran, for its part denies such aims, saying it only wants to enrich to low-level nuclear fuel grades for energy purposes. Still, with so many machines available, and more being manufactured daily, why hasn't it pressed all its centrifuges into service? Why has it only put about 200 of them to work between the IAEA's November report and the most recent one?
Even IAEA officials differ on these questions. IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei recently suggested Tehran's reticence was "political" implying it was willing to wait on expanding enrichment in exchange for better relations with the new U.S. administration, which has pledged to break with decades of snubbing Iran and talk directly with it.
But some of his technical staff say the reason may have more to do with technical problems at Natanz. They note frequent breakdowns of centrifuges and say the Islamic Republic needs to have at least some ready to substitute for these.
Whatever the reasons, the agency is united in dismissing recent suggestions that Tehran had tried to hide the true amount of low-enriched uranium it was producing by purposely underestimating output between once-yearly IAEA inspections of amounts.
It turns out that the estimates were about a third less than the actual amount of 1,010 kilograms. Still agency officials say the mistake appeared unintentional and within limits of error inherent in such guesswork. And, as usual, in Iran's favor. Again.
"The agency has no reason at all to believe that the estimates of the low enriched uranium produced ... were an intentional error by Iran," according to IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming. "Iran has provided good cooperation on this matter and will be working to improve its future estimates."
Even diplomats from Western nations accusing Iran of harboring nuclear weapons ambitions agree that at least this time Tehran is not guilty of deception.
#1
IRAN's NUKE CHIEF has already answered the question, i.e. that THE USA + WEST MUST ACCEPT IRAN AS A DE FACTO "NUCLEAR POWER", + Iran also repor STILL plans to enable or empower by Year 2012 as many as 50,000 centrifuges at its NATANTZ NUCPLANT.
IRANIAN = ISLAMIST NUCWEAPS are all but inevitable - the surprise or shock will occur IFF IRAN DOESN'T DEV NUCLEAR WEAPONS.
President Barack Obama has proposed a dramatic tax increase on the foreign profits of U.S. multinationals, in a 10-year budget blueprint released Thursday.
The tax increase on foreign income, taken together with proposals to crack down on offshore tax cheating, would swell federal coffers by an extra $25 billion a year in revenue by 2014, according to projections by White House budget officials.
The budget plan would also impose a $31.5 billion tax increase, over a 10-year period, on oil companies, by repealing various tax breaks now enjoyed by the sector. In addition to that, Mr. Obama would reinstate Superfund taxes, raising $17.2 billion over 10 years, much of which is accounted for by excise taxes on oil.
Those changes are part of a package that would raise taxes on business by $353.5 billion over the next 10 years, which could help fund other tax cuts or spending, or reduce the deficit.
"The budget also begins to restore a basic sense of fairness to the tax code, eliminating incentives for companies that ship jobs overseas and giving a generous package of tax cuts to 95% of working families," Mr. Obama said in his budget message.
Mr. Obama's plan would also raise close to $637 billion over 10 years by reversing the major tax cuts passed during the administration of George W. Bush for upper-income Americans.
In keeping with campaign proposals, those tax increases would hit single taxpayers with income above $200,000 and married couples with combined income above $250,000. They would come in three areas -- raising the top two marginal tax rates from 33% and 35%, to 36% and 39.6%, respectively; reinstating limits on itemized deductions; and raising the tax rate on capital gains and dividends from 15% to 20%.
The plan envisions letting those Bush tax cuts expire as scheduled at the end of 2010 for wealthy Americans, instead of implementing the tax increases this year or next.
The plan is short on detail regarding how Mr. Obama would roll back tax benefits for U.S. multinational firms. It also lumps in international tax reforms with unspecified proposals to shut down offshore tax evasion, raising a total of $210 billion over the next 10 years.
Marc Gerson, an attorney at Miller & Chevalier, said that taking away tax advantages now offered to U.S. multinational firms might harm those firms' ability to compete globally. "The current system allows them to effectively re-deploy foreign earnings, or competitively price contracts," he said.
But Mr. Gerson added that the overall impact on U.S. businesses from the tax-increase proposal would depend on whether the revenue is used to lower the corporate tax rate, or to fund unrelated spending. "If you took that and significantly lowered the rate, that to me is a debate worth having," Mr. Gerson said.
As expected, Mr. Obama proposed raising taxes on private-equity fund managers and venture capitalists, by taxing their profits as ordinary income instead of capital gains. That change would raise $23.9 billion over 10 years, according to White House budget office estimates.
Good gawd. Say goodbye to innovation.
But the hardest hit from the business-tax-increase proposals would likely be oil and gas companies. Mr. Obama would repeal a range of tax breaks, including a tax deduction for domestic production.
In addition, the White House proposed to repeal accounting last-in, first-out accounting rules, at the expense of oil and gas but also some other industries, including auto dealers. That change is estimated to raise $61 billion over 10 years.
The plan also proposes tax cuts for businesses, including a two-year expansion of a tax break for net operating losses that was dropped from economic-stimulus legislation at the last minute.
That tax break, important to manufacturers, retailers and home builders, is estimated by the White House to deliver $63.5 billion in tax refunds to struggling companies in 2009-2010. It is a candidate for inclusion in tax legislation to move later this year.
It also would make permanent the research-and-development tax credit and eliminate taxes on capital gains related to small business, both proposed by Mr. Obama during his campaign.
For individuals, the plan would continue tax benefits for middle-class and lower-income individuals that were enacted for 2009 and 2010 by the stimulus legislation. Those tax cuts, including a worker-tax credit, expanded child-tax credit benefits for lower-income families and education-tax credits, would cost the government a total of $770 billion over 10 years.
#1
As expected, Mr. Obama proposed raising taxes on private-equity fund managers and venture capitalists, by taxing their profits as ordinary income instead of capital gains.
Why not go after the trust fund and inheritance babies. They're not directly involved in wealth creation. Oh wait, that would include the Kennedy's and Kerry's. Never mind.
#3
Those greedy venture capitalists never produced anything of value (aside from Apple, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, etc.). Let's put them out of business.
#4
raising the tax rate on capital gains and dividends from 15% to 20%.
Well, that's not going to cost most of us anything for a while. Nor raise much revenue for the government. An extra 5% tax on nothing is still nothing.
Gannett is slashing its dividend for the first time in its history. It comes as the largest U.S. newspaper publisher succumbs to the recession's financial squeeze. The cut announced Wednesday will lower the payment to 4 cents per share, a 90 percent drop from 40 cents per share. The dividend had been steadily increasing since Gannett made its first quarterly payment in 1967.
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The Washington Post Co.'s reeling newspaper and magazine divisions stumbled again in the fourth quarter, extending an earnings slump that would have been even more disconcerting if not for the stability of the company's education and cable TV businesses. The publisher of The Washington Post and Newsweek magazine said Wednesday that it made $18.8 million, or $2.01 per share, during the final three months of last year.
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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.
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.
North Korea has built an underground fueling facility near a key launch pad, a news report said Thursday, making it harder for spy satellites to detect signs that a missile is being prepared for launch.
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Wednesday barred main opposition leader and former premier Nawaz Sharif from holding office and contesting elections, sparking political turmoil in the nuclear-armed nation.
Does Iran have enough uranium to make a nuclear weapon? One thing is clear if it doesn't today, it can speed up the process substantially through work that takes little more skill than knowing how to use a plumber's wrench.
The Washington Post Co.'s reeling newspaper and magazine divisions stumbled again in the fourth quarter, extending an earnings slump that would have been even more disconcerting if not for the stability of the company's education and cable TV businesses. The publisher of The Washington Post and Newsweek magazine said Wednesday that it made $18.8 million, or $2.01 per share, during the final three months of last year.
