According to court documents, Wicks had filed a lawsuit against the Social Security Administration in April of 2008 alleging racial discrimination. In a handwritten complaint, Wicks said the discrimination had followed him from California to Nevada. Wicks wrote this about one California agent, âDoesnât try to hide the way he feels about black people so he reduced my benefits.â
Wicks explained he suffered a stroke some years back. He claimed his benefits dropped from $886 to $445 a month and then to $128 a month.
U.S. Magistrate Judge George Foley reviewed the case and determined Wicksâ payments were reduced because Nevada, unlike California, does not provide a state supplement. When Wicks moved to Nevada he was no longer eligible for the supplement.
That state supplement is probably why CA has a large budget deficit of $16b, whereas NV has a relatively small deficit of $72m. 13x the population, but 222 times the deficit.
Freya von Moltke, a prominent member of the German resistance during World War II alongside her husband, has died at the age of 98 in the United States, The Valley News reported.
A one-sentence announcement in the newspaper said she died late on Friday but did not give details. German-born Moltke was a resident of the Vermont town of Norwich.
Her husband, Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, was a German jurist and a founding member of a resistance group against Adolf Hitler.
In January 1944 he was arrested by the Gestapo, tried for treason, sentenced to death and executed in Berlin in late January 1945.
After the war, Moltke became a symbol of moral opposition to the Nazi regime and was referred by German chancellor Angela Merkel as a symbol of "European courage". For further information, see Generalfeldmarschall Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, and Chief of the German General Staff Helmuth von Moltke the Younger.
#1
Once upon a time we lived in a lovely little house on Moltkestrasse in the prettiest corner of Bad Soden, above Frankfurt. Named after the Elder, I believe, and all of three houses long, across from one park and around the corner from the woods that lay between our village and the next one up the hill. Not at all the kind of street one would expect to be named after such a martial personage.
#2
They left out the Democratic party, why you ask? Pelosi, Reid, Murtha, and zero are killing this country in a slow painfull death. Over 200 years in the making and they will bring America to it's knees in less than two.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/04/2010 15:01 Comments ||
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Seoul residents slogged through the heaviest snowfall in modern Korean history after a winter storm dumped more than 11 inches (28 centimeters) Monday, forcing airports to cancel flights and paralyzing traffic in South Korea's bustling capital. "And the Lord said: Bow ye not before the idol of Global Warming.
The snow and icy roads snarled traffic in and out of Seoul, and at least three people died in traffic accidents. Many commuters squeezed into packed subways to get to work, and a Cabinet meeting was delayed because ministers were stuck in traffic. "Or I will smite ye with chillblains
The snowfall, which continued through Monday afternoon, was the heaviest in a single day since Korea began conducting meteorological surveys in 1937, the state weather agency said. "And I will numb thy feet
Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul canceled 224 flights before resuming service Monday afternoon when the snowfall stopped, airport official Choi Choon-ja said. "And thy nose will I cause to turn red
More than 20 flights between Incheon International Airport, just west of Seoul, to cities in China also coping with snowfall were canceled. More than 100 flights to other regions were delayed, Incheon airport official Kang Soo-kyung said. "And thy children to pelt thee with snowballs
In southern South Korea, three people were killed in a traffic accident blamed on icy roads, according to the Yonhap news agency. However, officials said no deaths or serious property damage was directly related to the heavy snowfall. "And I will bury the works of man under ice and snow!"
About 3,600 workers and 5,000 soldiers were mobilized to clear the snow in Seoul and surrounding Gyeonggi Province, officials said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2010 12:29 ||
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#1
I didn't know AlBoer was in Korea.
Did they invite him (in which case it serves them right) or did he show up on his own (in which case may I recommend tar and feathers)?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/04/2010 13:36 Comments ||
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#2
I think that AlHore has become a global phenomena at this point. Maybe we should consider firing him into deep space.
#3
Members of the Church of the Immaculate Global Warming are nothing if not devout. You could bury them in snow for 1000 years and they would still preach CO2 fire and brimstone.
#5
If you take lot of ice cube and melt it, of course the water will be cold. That's what's happening to the pacific and gulf streams which is messing up the weather. As for the reason, I can't say if it's man or nature causing it but it is real and it is happening.
#6
Tallinn, Estonia, reporting.
We're at 64 centimeters, and climbing (about 2.5 feet). We've set a new record for accumulation.
It snowed every day since Al Gore visited Copenhagen. Thanks, Al!
#8
Phith Dingle6292, the glaciers melt a bit every summer and refreeze every winter. I understand that this year the ice caps are thicker and more extensive than a year ago, when the Anthropogenic Global Warming types were fussing about it, so I'm not sure how to understand your point. The world has incontrovertibly been warming up since the last ice age 10,000 years ago, and also since the Little Ice Age, which only ended in the early nineteenth century. This page has some graphs that put the whole thing into perspective for me. No doubt you'll find them a bit simplistic, but you must understand that I'm just a little suburban housewife with limited training in the hard sciences. (I can hear you, Frank G.)
#2
ION WMF > SOMLAIA: HARDLINE "ISLAMIC YOUTH MOVEMENT" ANTI-GOVT REBELS CONTINUE TO RECRUIT, TRAIN LARGE NUMBERS OF CHILD, TEEN FIGHTERS FOR ARMED INSURGENCY AND SUICIDE ATTACKS..
#3
Pertinent question, CH, so no problem in the asking. All I can suggest is folk born there, maybe 5th generation, trapped on worthless Zim documents/money have had to rely on Hope 'n Change, just as all those years ago, although the ZANU-PF cards were CLEARLY on the table by '82 . Any idea of how many countries you could even transit through on a Rhodie passport? A lot of people were/are stuck there on Zim docs and Zim-bucks.
#4
Not to mention the few who thought they could hang on until things get better, the fewer stubborn folk who believe it's 'their land', or the even fewer deluded ones who bought into the 'new nation' pipe-dream.
[Iran Press TV Latest] British Premier Gordon Brown vowed Sunday not to back down from the "fight" to win the country's upcoming election, despite polls showing his Labour Party tailing behind opposition.
In his first interview of the year, Brown told a BBC program that he believed the 2010 elections, which must take place by June, would be the decision of the decade for Britain.
"When you're behind in the polls you've got to regard yourselves as the fighter. Everything I've ever won in my life, I've had to fight for ... The Labour Party will fight every inch of the way," Brown said.
He went on to add that a government led by the opposition Conservative Party, also known as the Tories, would threaten economic growth.
"We can't go on in these difficult times with a weak prime minister and a divided government ... The next general election is no more than 153 days away and I don't think it can come soon enough. Let's make this the year when the positive defeats the negative."
A poll conducted by YouGov at the end of 2009 showed the Labour Party, which has been in power since 1997, falling 10 percent behind the Tories in support rates.
The survey, released on January 1, predicted that 40 percent of the votes would go to the Conservatives, while Labour could hope to secure 30 percent. Accordingly, the Liberal Democrats, the third main party in the UK, would win 17 percent of the votes, making them the ideal partner for the rival parties in case of a hung parliament.
Brown is expected to announce the date for the general elections before the current five-year parliament term expires at midnight on May 10.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2010 00:00 ||
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No fear. That was the mantra of Mexican drug smugglers bringing marijuana into the United States. No fear of arrest. No fear of prosecution. The worst-kept secret on the border for years was that, until more recently, U.S. authorities would not even try to prosecute cases involving less than 500 pounds of marijuana.
Furthermore, U.S. laws and rules of evidence that aim to ensure justice make some cases hard to stick. The most trouble that many small-time smugglers faced was a few days' inconvenience before being deported.
But a new program being tested at the Nogales ports of entry could radically change the way these cases are handled along the entire U.S.-Mexican border. Instead of being deported and set free, some marijuana smugglers arrested in the United States are being turned over to Mexican authorities for prosecution. The change in approach has led to claims that U.S. officials are circumventing the U.S. Constitution by taking advantage of less-stringent Mexican legal standards.
Continued on Page 49
#2
I don't see where the Constitutional question comes from. US Customs is simply refusing entry to people carrying contraband. The fact the federales are waiting for them when they are tossed back seems purely coincidental.
In addition, it creates a nice opportunity for Mexican law enforcement to wet their beaks. It's a win-win for everyone!
#3
Smuggling drugs is a crime in both countries. If ICE deports the perp because for whatever reason we can't or won't prosecute, the Mexican authorities have the right to charge the joker on their side of the border.
We're just making it easy for the Federales to do their job. No law against that (yet).
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/04/2010 12:45 Comments ||
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#4
And so they mebbe jail the perps/mules (after raping selected chiquitas) followed by recycling of the contraband to the financial benefit of the Federales. I live in Tucson - 50 miles north of the border - and am suspect of law enforcement on both sides of the line. Once had a girlfriend in Nogales, Sonora - she went to her local copshop (I watched from the car with my own eyes) - she said they always had the best merchandise...although this was many moons ago I refuse to beleive anything has changed - corruption is too much of the culture...
Oil-rich Venezuela ushered in 2010 with new measures rationing electricity use in malls, businesses and billboards, as Hugo Chavez's government aimed to save power amid a crippling drought.
The new regulations came into effect January 1, with businesses required to comply with reduced consumption limits and authorities warning of forced power cuts and rate hikes if the measures are not followed.
A decree published on Christmas Eve states that commercial centers may operate from 11:00 am to 9:00 pm on the electricity grid, but beyond that establishments would have to operate off-grid, using their own generators.
Venezuela is flush with oil -- the country's primary export -- and natural gas, but relies mainly on hydroelectric generation to meet domestic energy demand.
With the country in a widespread drought, late last year Chavez announced a sweeping campaign to reduce widespread energy "waste," stressing that rationing was necessary to avoid a systemic "collapse."
Shopping centers in Caracas Saturday opened at the appointed new hour, although industry representatives called for extending the time frame, arguing that night-time energy consumption is less than 10 percent of the total.
The power crunch is expected to have an impact on a wide variety of businesses, including cinemas, casinos and bingo halls.
Establishments failing to comply with the measures could face outages for a period of 24 hours, and up to 72-hour suspensions "in case of recidivism," according to the decree.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Chavez could have introduced some of the more reasonable communist ideals into Venezuela society several years ago, like those that the young Israeli state began with in 1948, which achieved both a sort of parity between the haves and the have-nots, and turned Israel into the robust intellectual and economic nation that we see today.
Instead, Chavez follows the Stalinist and Castroist paradigm, one of excessive central control, an imperialist control supplanted upon a communist ideal (one important highlight of Marxist ideology was the continuous overthrow of political power). Unfortunately for Venezuela, leaders like Chavez develop enemies like horses attract flies, and they canât give up their power without being killed.
2010-2011 forecast for Venezuela: a continued US-caused drought, much more rationing (ala Cuba), and summary executions.
[Dawn] An earthquake in the Pamir mountains of Tajikistan has destroyed hundreds of homes, leaving some 10,000 people without shelter in the dead of winter, officials said Sunday.
Those poor people.
"According to preliminary information, 300 houses have been destroyed," a regional spokesman for the country's Civil Defence Committee responsible for the affected area told AFP. Officials said scores of other homes were damaged.
According to the spokesman, two schools, a clinic and a power line had also been destroyed. The spokesman reported no deaths but said dozens of sheep and goats were killed in the earthquake that struck around ten high-altitude villages in the Pamir mountains in eastern Tajikistan on Saturday.
The US Geological Survey reported that a 5.3-magnitude earthquake struck 235 km east of the Tajik capital Dushanbe at 07:15 a.m. on Saturday. It had a depth of 44.5 km, the survey said.
Authorities said they were assessing damages, but their work was complicated by the location of the destroyed villages. More than 25,000 people live in the affected area, the Vanj district. The deputy head of the district, Azimjon Shamsiddinov, told AFP preliminary damage estimates were between one million and 1.5 million dollars.
Earthquakes are relatively frequent in Tajikistan, an impoverished Central Asian state bordering war-torn Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
CNN/TOPIX/REDDIT > number of homeless may be as high as 20,000???
#2
The earthquake was just a short distance from the Afghan/Tajikistan border. Wonder how many were injured on the Afghan side of the border.
OT, there has been another earthquake in the Solomon Islands within the past hour, a 5.1 after-shock. The area over near Samoa has been experiencing additional shocks almost daily since the big one hit more than a month ago.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/04/2010 19:29 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A South Korean court said on Sunday it had ruled in favor of a gay Pakistani man who sought refugee status on the basis that he faced persecution back home, Yonhap news agency reported.
The Seoul Administrative Court said it had overturned a decision by the justice ministry to deny refugee status to the man, whose name and age were withheld.
The court cited a "high likelihood that the plaintiff will be subject to persecution" if repatriated to Pakistan, where homosexuality can be punished.
The man applied for refugee status citing his sexual orientation early last year, having arrived in South Korea in 1996.
"My life, as a homosexual, was in danger in my country," Yonhap quoted him as saying.
"My family and relatives were my enemy. They said I was insulting my family, Islam and my country and threatened that they would report me to police."
The administrative court ruling now has to be reviewed by the Supreme Court before becoming final.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2010 00:00 ||
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Background:On Sept 18, 2008, at 11am the Federal Reserve noticed a tremendous draw-down of money market accounts in the U.S., to the tune of $550 billion was being drawn out in the matter of an hour or two.
The Treasury opened up its window to help and pumped a $105 billion in the system and quickly realized that they could not stem the tide. We were having an electronic run on the banks.
They decided to close the operation, close down the money accounts and announce a guarantee of $250,000 per account so there wouldn't be further panic out there.
If they had not done that, their estimation is that by 2pm that afternoon, $5.5 trillion would have been drawn out of the money market system of the U.S., would have collapsed the entire economy of the U.S., and within 24 hours the world economy would have collapsed.
It would have been the end of our economic system and our political system as we know it.
New regulations proposed by the administration, specifically by the Securities and Exchange Commission, seek to change the primary assumptions of the key Money Market Rule 2a-7.
A key proposal in the overhaul of money market regulation suggests that money market fund managers will have the option to "suspend redemptions to allow for the orderly liquidation of fund assets."
The next time there is a market crash, and you try to withdraw what you thought was "absolutely" safe money, a back office person will get back to you saying, "Sorry - your money is now frozen. Bank runs have become illegal."
This is precisely the regulation now proposed by the administration.
Today, money market funds account for approximately 39% of all investment company assets; about 80% of all U.S. companies use money market funds in managing their cash balances; and about 20% of the cash balances of all U.S. households are held in money market funds.
At this point it is without doubt that even the government understands that when things turn sour, and they will, the run on the bank will be unavoidable: their solution - prevent money from being dispensed, when that moment comes.
#1
This was news at the time and quickly buried. As I recall, concern was that it the sell orders were originating from IP addresses in (former) East Germany and the thought was the prime movers were Russian Mafia affiliated (or Russian government, who can tell anymore). Frank discussion of this with our Merrill Lynch rep during 401k briefings. Curious if anyone else had that impression or other scuttlebutt regarding what entity was the major player in the withdrawals . . .
#2
I thought money market account managers have always had the ability to suspend withdrawals to prevent a run. In any case money market funds are not and have never been 'absolutely' safe. To believe otherwise was just wishful thinking. I suspect what really stopped the money market run was the emergency federal $250,000 guarantee.
#3
I forgot to emphasize that money market funds ARE NOT BANKS.
Regular deposits in 'real' banks are insured by the FDIC & have been (for the most part) since about 1934. 3 banks I had accounts with have been shut down by the FDIC since August 2007 when the current crisis started. I haven't lost anything there. I do believe that a little known part of the FDIC legislation is that FDIC-insured deposits lost in a failed bank will be made good by the FDIC, but just WHEN is not guaranteed.
#5
The more important issue is here:many of the country's largest banks are still largely dependent on funding from the U.S. Federal Reserve and the implicit backing of the Treasury Department.
Kenneth Rogoff, also of Harvard, argued that if the U.S. government ever "credibly" pulled away from its backing of the financial system, then a renewed collapse would likely ensue.
He cited government programs giving large financial institutions access to zero-cost borrowing as artificially padding their bottom lines.
"There's something of an illusion of profitability," he said.
#6
Guys, money markets aren't banks, not in any kind of legal sense, and they never have been considered banks. That's why (until recently) there was always the disclaimer that your money wasn't insured when you invested in them, and the returns were always a little bit more than an actual, FDIC-insured bank account would have paid. You think you were getting that little bit extra because you are special, or something? Naaaah. It was to compensate you for the (at the time) tiny bit of additional risk you were accepting in lieu of US government-backed insurance (FDIC, NCUA, etc.)
If anything, the investors in these funds (yours truly included) lucked out that the guvmint stepped up to the plate to guarantee them. They were under no obligation to do so. Dig up an old, pre-Sep 2008 prospectus (yeah, that pamphlet that no one ever reads....) and look it up. I'm sure if you look closely enough, you will also find wording alluding to the fact that while a share would normally be valued at a $1 per, there was no guarantee that it always would be.
The money fund managers always had the ability to suspend liquidations, they just never thought that they would ever have to do so, and neither did a lot of investors.
I'm guessing this writer never took a Series 7/Series 63 exam. Hell, I did back in the 90's....and yes, it was part of the info I had to study way back then. This isn't anything new to anyone with a background in investments.
There are reasons why investment professionals don't look at gold/precious metals enthusiasts with much admiration. It's not just because they are jealous of them and their dashing good looks....it's because a good chunk of them, like this writer, don't know what the hell they are talking about half the time.
#7
At a personal level, several strange economic conditions are coming into play. In the Great Depression, first there would be loss of confidence in a bank, often in a domino effect with other banks, then there would be a bank run, and when the bank was effectively bankrupt, a bank holiday so money could not be withdrawn.
This tries to change that order, to protect the bank(s) at the expense of their deposit holders. That is, when it looks like the bank is starting to have a run, it goes to a bank holiday first. This prevents further withdrawl by preventing people from accessing their own money.
However, the people dependent on their savings are instantly impoverished, until the bank holiday is over. *Unless* they have mattress money. In the GD, some of these holidays went from 3-300 days, and many people never trusted banks again.
But there is an additional twist. The assumption is that a bank run would be on the electronic funds of the bank. But if there is a panic, it could be in the form of a "paper run", not an electronic panic.
Only 5% of US daily retail is in paper money and coins, because that is all the paper money we have. Because that is all the two US high security printing offices can produce at 100% capacity. The vast majority of it is $1 bills, only $60 billion of it is in $100 bills. And a LOT of those bills of all kinds go overseas.
So the US government cannot produce more paper money, and cannot produce higher denomination bills, because nobody could make change for them in kind. So in effect, US paper money is 95% deflated.
Everything else is electronic money.
This means that if there is a loss of confidence, banks could be quickly stripped of their paper money long before their electronic money would be threatened. So this new rule might not even come into play.
But then, instantly, paper money and coins are worth 20 times their face value. Everybody will want them, and retailers many very well reject electronic money in any form, be it credit cards, personal checks, or even bank checks. Legally, nobody has to take electronic money for debts; but they must take paper.
And a big chunk of the economy *only* takes paper, not electronic payment.
In effect, causing a paper and electronic money currency split. The banks may be wide open, but the electronic money within is worthless, because of the iron rule of currency. Everybody will want to spend the "bad" electronic money, so the banks go on holiday, which means the only currency left is cash.
Without any other factor being involved, electronic money will inflate terribly, compared to paper money. Electronic money will be useless if retailers refuse it, and it cannot be exchanged for paper which does not exist.
#9
Unfortunately, most if not all pension payments both gov't and private are done electronically. Which can be withdrawn in cash the day those payments are made, theoretically. I imagine if everyone did this for just one month, it would use up much of the cash in circulation.
The distinction about cash in hand vs. cash in an electronic account is an important one.
#10
The distinction about cash in hand vs cash in an electronic account is an important one..
Not really Anguper Hupomosing9418. The distinction should be between retail deposits and loans.The former are insured by FDIC and cannot default unless the Government defaults(Which cannot happen, at least in a fiat system)
So you may not be able to access your credit card limit, but you can always access your deposits.
The recent meltdown wasn't a retail failure, as happened during the depression when lines of people couldn't access their money, it was a wholesale crises when banks stopped lending to each other because the weren't sure of their bad debt holdings. On Monday, September 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. On Tuesday, September 16, 2008, Reserve Primary Fund, the oldest money fund, broke the buck when its shares fell to 97 cents, after writing off debt issued by Lehman Brothers
#11
banks stopped lending to each other because the weren't sure of their bad debt holdings. We're still not sure of the bad debt holdings of US banks, although I imagine the Federal Reserve knows.
#12
I suspect the Federal Reserve also doesn't know, Anguper Hupomosing9418. I don't see how anyone can have more than a ballpark guess until the whatchamacallums are unwound that were based on bad mortgages -- and that can't happen until the bad mortgages go through to bankruptcy... right?
CHICAGO Cash-strapped communities have a message for corporations that promised jobs in return for tax breaks: A deal's a deal. Target Corp. got abatements from area taxing bodies after promising at least 500 jobs at a local distribution center. So when the company came up 66 workers short in 2009, Target got word its next tax bill would be jumping almost $600,000. In St. Louis County, officials have told Pfizer that if it cuts 600 jobs, as planned, they'll rethink the $7 million in tax breaks they promised to give the company for the next 10 years.
#3
Darth the problem is that business was only attracted through bribes in the first place. If a location wants to be business friendly then the entire tax/regulatory regime should conform to that.
Companies should NOT be dealt with via bribes and extortion on an individual basis. If these were contracts then the gov't has a right to go after them (Damn, never thought I'D say that). This is all a part of the corporatist / crony capitalist virus infecting our economy and polity.
[Iran Press TV Latest] At least 10 people have been arrested after clashes broke out between pro-Kurdish demonstrators and security forces in Istanbul's Dolapdere neighborhood.
The skirmishes between masked youths and anti-riot police erupted on Saturday evening during a demonstration against a recent spate of detentions of Kurdish officials over alleged connections with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Police units used teargas and water cannon against the crowds gathered near Serdar Omer Pasa Avenue.
Some of the protesters threw fireworks and Molotov cocktails at the police.
At least 10 people were detained in the aftermath of the clashes.
Turkey has witnessed frequent Kurdish protests since October. Kurdish demonstrators complain about the prison conditions of PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan, who is serving a life sentence at the maximum-security prison island of Imrali.
They are also angry about the closure of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) in December on the grounds that it was linked to the PKK. The Turkish Supreme Court's verdict banning the DTP sparked violent protests across Turkey's southeast that have claimed two lives.
Since August, Ankara has been working on a plan to expand Kurdish freedoms in the hope of ending the PKK's separatist campaign.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2010 00:00 ||
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The Gotland class attack submarines of the Swedish Navy are modern diesel-electric submarines. They are the first submarines in the world to feature a Stirling engine air-independent propulsion (AIP) system, which extends their underwater endurance from a few days to weeks. This capability had previously only been available with nuclear powered submarines.
As of 2008 the Gotland-class attack submarine is one of the most modern submarines of the Swedish Navy in service, mainly designed for submarine missions such as anti-shipping operations, ASW-missions, forward surveillance, special operations and mine-laying tasks.
It is a non-nuclear vessel running on an Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) system with low signatures, extreme shock resistance and a powerful combat system. Together with other features this results in a submarine able to carry out the missions listed above.
Automation and computerized steering allow a single operator to steer the submarine in depth and course. Only a small crew is required, leading to good accommodation standards and low operating costs.
More than 43,000 Malaysians protested online over a court ruling allowing a Catholic paper to use the word "Allah" to describe the Christian God, signaling growing Islamic anger in this mostly Muslim Southeast Asian country.
A group page on social networking site Facebook was drawing 1,500 new supporters an hour on Monday as last week's court ruling split political parties and even families. Among those who signed up for the protest were Deputy Trade Minister Mukhriz Mahathir, the son of Malaysia's longest serving prime minister, Mahathir Mohamed, while Mahathir's daughter Marina called critics of the court decision "idiots" in her weblog.
The government said on Monday it had filed an appeal against the court ruling amid concerns the issue could cause religious and racial conflict in this country of 28 million which has large Christian, Buddhist and Hindu minorities. "The problem is that there will be lots of doctrines and principles promoted that would totally contradict Islamic theology... there is a danger to public order here," said Shad Saleem Faruqi, a constitutional law lecturer with Universiti Tekonologi Malaysia.
The Facebook page, named in Malay as "Protesting the use of the name Allah by non-Muslims," said that the group was for Muslims "who realize that this is propaganda to confuse Muslims now and in future."
The Catholic Church, which publishes a Malay version of its newspaper, The Herald, says that it uses the word "Allah" for the Christian God to meet the needs of its Malay speaking worshippers on the island of Borneo. "There should not be a cause for concern because some people have got the idea that we are out to convert (Muslims), but not at all, there is no question of this," Father Lawrence Andrew, the newspaper's editor, told Reuters.
#2
Actually, I think this is a bad move on the part of Christians: Allah as described in the Koran is nowhere near the God of the Old and New Testaments as understood by Jews and Christians.
#3
Agreed, Ptah. Except, that the Muslims, who until now have said they worship the same -- the only -- god as the Jewish and Christian monotheists, are now insisting they worship someone else, someone who has the name of Allah. This is a very, very key point.
Pentagon officials have pushed back against the president's goals to shrink the U.S. stockpile and reduce the role of such weapons in foreign policy, sources say.
President Obama's ambitious plan to begin phasing out nuclear weapons has run up against powerful resistance from officials in the Pentagon and other U.S. agencies, posing a threat to one of his most important foreign policy initiatives.
Obama laid out his vision of a nuclear-free world in a speech in Prague, Czech Republic, last April, pledging that the U.S. would take dramatic steps to lead the way. Nine months later, the administration is locked in internal debate over a top-secret policy blueprint for shrinking the U.S. nuclear arsenal and reducing the role of such weapons in America's military strategy and foreign policy.
#1
Lets see here. Health care, immigration, Patriot act, the Economy, the Olympics, global warming, the intel community, now hes after the one defense hammer that forces the world to listen-Nuclear weapons. Hes batting a thousand at screwing it up, he really must want to cripple America. My only thought is Stalin could not have done it better.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/04/2010 16:20 Comments ||
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#2
"He's batting a thousand at screwing it up, he really must want to cripple America."
I suspect that's his actual goal, as it is the goal of Leftists everywhere who believe American power is at the root of most or all of the world's ills. Cripple America, and the world will return to its natural state-- a socialist, egalitarian Peaceable Kingdom.
Or so they think.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
01/04/2010 17:47 Comments ||
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#3
Unlike the darling technologies of the left (wind, solar, pixie dust) nuclear energy actually works. For this reason alone Bammo will seek to kill it.
#4
TOPIX > OBAMA"S FAILED FRESHMAN YEAR [POTUS]; + WORLD CONFLICT TOTAL 2009 DROPS TO A MERE SEVEN WARS, 24 SEVERE CRISES [incl. 365 political trouble spots]. 00's of attempts at negotiated peace as per various world conflicts result only in a few score de facto Agreements.
* SAME > [SOUTH KOREA'S INSTITUTE FOR DEFENSE ANALYSIS Report] NORTH KOREA COULD CONDUCT THIRD NUCLEAR TEST, LAUNCH WARFARE IN 2010. Ballistic Missles, NucBombs, Limited Mil Confrontation? agz SOKOR in usual trouble spots = NK-SK disputed areas.
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.
Oil-rich Venezuela ushered in 2010 with new measures rationing electricity use in malls, businesses and billboards, as Hugo Chavez's government aimed to save power amid a crippling drought. 
[Dawn] An earthquake in the Pamir mountains of Tajikistan has destroyed hundreds of homes, leaving some 10,000 people without shelter in the dead of winter, officials said Sunday.
[Al Arabiya Latest] A South Korean court said on Sunday it had ruled in favor of a gay Pakistani man who sought refugee status on the basis that he faced persecution back home, Yonhap news agency reported.
More than 43,000 Malaysians protested online over a court ruling allowing a Catholic paper to use the word "Allah" to describe the Christian God, signaling growing Islamic anger in this mostly Muslim Southeast Asian country.
