MANSFIELD, La. (AP) - Authorities arrested a 32-year-old Texas man on drug charges on Thursday after construction workers saw him on his hands and knees, eating mud and growling like a dog. A woman who accompanied the man from Texas told investigators he had been wandering around the complex and eating dog food.
Sheriff's Lt. Horace Womack said a small bottle of PCP, a half-pound of marijuana and one-fourth ounce of crack cocaine were seized during the man's arrest.
The man was booked with possessing all three drugs with intent to distribute them. He was placed in a cell where jailers at the DeSoto Detention Center could keep an eye on him.
#1
Sheriff's Lt. Horace Womack said a small bottle of PCP, a half-pound of marijuana and one-fourth ounce of crack cocaine were seized during the man's arrest.
Lemme be the first one to say that a man could have a purdy good time in Dallas with that.
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service has asked a judge to let it to continue to seek unpaid back taxes from Allen Stanford, the billionaire Texan accused of an $8 billion fraud by U.S. regulators, court documents show.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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Federal prosecutors have notified a New York court that they also want the assets of Bernard Madoff's wife. In a court filing, the government said it will seek the $7-million Manhattan penthouse as well as another $62-million that Ruth Madoff had sought to keep.
The 70-year-old Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty on Thursday to charges he orchestrated the biggest financial swindle in Wall Street history, cheating investors out of billions of dollars in a fraud whose magnitude shocked the public and drew demands for stricter regulations.
Madoff's lawyers had indicated earlier that they planned to claim Ruth Madoff was entitled to keep as much as $69 million in assets. They said the assets were not part of Madoff's fraud and that they were in her name.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
It's my understanding that when they married, Bernard and Ruth Madoff had practically nothing. Thus, everything she has is a result of his efforts, or their joint efforts, and should be fair game for recovery. Let their sons support her in her old age, as so many others must do whose aged parents have lived beyond their assets.
#2
Let their sons support her in her old age, as so many others must do whose aged parents have lived beyond their assets. Posted by: trailing wife || 2009-03-17 10:34
How about all of those that lost their retirement due to Barry Madoaf's ponzi scheme? They have to be supported by THEIR children, why shouldn't Ruth do the same?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/17/2009 14:43 Comments ||
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An Austrian who fathered seven children with a daughter he held captive in a squalid cellar for 24 years refused to even speak to her for years, coming only to rape her, often in front of the youngsters, a prosecutor said Monday.
Wearing a mismatched gray suit and hiding his face behind a folder as the trial began, Josef Fritzl pleaded guilty to incest and false imprisonment, but he denied enslaving his daughter Elisabeth or murdering her newborn son. He pleaded only partially guilty to additional counts of rape and coercion.
The 73-year-old Fritzl faces up to life in prison if convicted of the negligent homicide charge, which stems from the death of the 2-day-old baby boy, who investigators contend might have survived if he had gotten medical care. Incest, by contrast, carries only a one-year sentence.
A verdict could come as early as Thursday, officials said.
In her opening statement, prosecutor Christiane Burkheiser portrayed Fritzl as a callous and contemptuous captor who held his daughter in a filthy cramped space that didn't even have a shower or warm water and repeatedly raped her in front of the children.
At other times, she said, Fritzl punished her by shutting off the electricity--plunging the dungeon cell into darkness for days at a time. "Josef Fritzl used his daughter like his property," Burkheiser said.
"The worst was ... there was no daylight," she said, adding it was also "incredibly humid" and the air was moldy and stale.
Burkheiser said Elisabeth was "broken" by Fritzl's alleged actions and the uncertainty of her fate and that of her children.
Three of the youngsters grew up in the underground cellar in the town of Amstetten, west of Vienna, never seeing daylight. The other three were brought upstairs to be raised by Fritzl and his wife, Rosemarie, who was led to believe they had been abandoned by Elisabeth when she ran off to join a cult.
Police say DNA tests prove Fritzl is the biological father of all six surviving children.
Fritzl's lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, said his client regretted his actions and insisted he was "not a monster," even bringing his captives a Christmas tree.
"If you just want to have sex, you don't have children," Mayer said. "As a monster, I'd kill all of them downstairs."
No, as a monster you would keep them imprisioned and totally under your sick, sadistic control.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
This guy should just be ground up into hamburger and fed to pigs.
#4
Treat him equally, Damp Dark Stinky Cellar, no lights, no water, visit once a week or so and feed moldy food, and not enough, I give him 6 months and he'll tear open a vein with his teeth.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/17/2009 19:12 Comments ||
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Defiant leader says he will fight to the death after troops storm his office.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
As said before, STAR TREK's MR. SPOCK [paraph] > "ONLY OBAMA [Nixon] CAN GO TO AFRICA [China]".
Pragmatically, its inherently easier for Radical Islam to destabilize parts of already unstable, semi-democratic or authoritarian, etc. AFRICAN REGIONS than to deal militarily wid VLADVEDEV + RUSSIA, + CHINA + its PLA, despite the lack of advanced NUCTECHS in Africa.
Zimbabwe's central bank governor said the country must repay debts to multilateral institutions, restore donor relations and push through economic reforms to end a deep crisis, state media reported on Sunday.
Gideon Gono was quoted as saying Zimbabweans needed to work together to rescue the economy, the strongest signal yet that he is ready to cooperate with Finance Minister and senior MDC official Tendai Biti on the reforms needed to lure donors.
"A robust future has to emerge through deeper cooperation among us as Zimbabweans as we work in harmony with each other to steadfastly implement coherent and internally consistent sets of macroeconomic policies," Gono told the Sunday Mail.
Some critics blame Gono, an ally of President Robert Mugabe, for many of the policies that have wrecked an economy that was once one of Africa's strongest, and have doubted his commitment to reversing steps such as nationalising companies.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Gono began his career as Mugabe's personal banker. Gono and his wife live in Borrowdale Brook, a northern suburb of Harare. They have just completed on construction of a new "castle-like" house, equipped with: 47 en-suite bedrooms; a glass swimming pool with underlights; a gym; mini-theatre; and landscaped gardens. Estimated to have cost USD $5 million, it is equipped with iris-scanning security measures as well as extensive camera coverage aiding perimeter control. It is also, perhaps conveniently, just a short drive away from (and indeed larger than) President Rogert Mugabe's own private residence.
Gono also, like many of Mugagbe's inner circle, own numerous farms which were confiscated from localised white farmers. One is near Norton, which when the seasonal weather is dry, draws clean water through a 25 mile long pipeline linked to a reservoir, which is supposed to supply water for the people of Harare. Gono also owns property in Malaysia, where Mugabe and Grace vacation and hope to retire. If you'd like to catch a glimpse of them, they stay at the Nikko in (KL).
Sound like any bankers or wallstreet traders we know?
#2
Sound like any bankers or wallstreet traders we know?
No, it's not the same. It would be like saying "Gee, another black got dragged behind a pickup or sodomised with a plunger- sound like any pseudo-Afrikaaner ex-NCO we know?"
Knock off the populism. It's stupid and it's trite. Funny thing is, none of you knee-jerks complained when things were going well, did you?
#3
So most of us don't have the right to complain about all these assholes like Bernie Madoff and that they were making billions off of regulatory capture (and are making trillions off of it now) because we didn't know them from Adam before the collapse?
Pappy, if those of us on the right can't get a decent strategy to deal with these guys, eventually we'll wind up with a public electorate engaging in a vicious cycle of electing a bigger communist to undo the damage of the crony capitalism engaged in by the last communist.
#4
So most of us don't have the right to complain about all these assholes like Bernie Madoff and that they were making billions off of regulatory capture (and are making trillions off of it now) because we didn't know them from Adam before the collapse?
It's the tarring-all-with-one-brush that annoys me. It's mindless. And it's hypocritical. Nobody complained when times were good and they were getting their 'fair share'. I guess it's the outrage from being the screw-er to becoming the the screw-ee.
#5
times really haven't been 'good' for me for several years, and i do not think i have been profiting from any of these various spending programs previously. my real-value income has been declining for the past twelve years or so, year after year.
#6
<<< if those of us on the right can't get a decent strategy to deal with these guys >>>
Respectfully, there is no need. The bond market will do the job and the seeds of dissent are already being sowed. It is just a matter of waiting in out until the MSM and the thundering herd start to notice that the shine is rubbing off. Make the military pay for their own healthcare, tax the healthcare benefits of employees, take money from those paying their mortgages and give and illusory benefit to those that aren't paying their mortgages. One doesn't need to do much except wait, conserve capital and let nature take over. You can't defy gravity forever. The housing market proved that. Now there is a new gravity defying program. A budget built on fictitious numbers which is just a scam. In addition there needs to be a credible alternative. It is too soon for Republican mea culpas to have any weight. Just keep beating the drum of big spending failed big government measures and point to the daily failures like AIG, GM, Chrysler and an opposition will coalesce. But it has to be different. It can't be the same in different clothes. It has to be libertarian. But before that happens, things have got to get a lot worse - which they will. People have to pay attention.
#7
People have started to notice the strings attached to the free gifts from the federal government, and are starting to refuse. Financial businesses refusing or planning to repay TARP funds, state governors noticing the long-term costs attached to fed funding of certain programs short-term... the next township over from mine refused even to apply for stimulus funding for that reason. And the local news media reported on the several thousands who showed up for the Tea Party at Cincinnati's Fountain Square last Sunday. Instapundit has pictures.
President Obama's stimulus package and 2009 budget may not end up costing us nearly as much as he'd hoped, poor man. And his supporters are starting to wonder aloud at the repercussions in 2010.
As for Zimabwe, nothing substantial will happen there until President Mugabe and his party are overthrown. After that, it remains to see whether the country has been so brutalized that the new boss ends up being exactly like the old boss. Given the crowd currently running their neighbor to the south, I'm not sanguine.
#8
It's going to take Zimbabwe two or three decades to recover from Mugabe. That recovery hasn't started yet, and probably won't until after his death and the civil war his death will unleash among his followers. The best thing that the rest of the population could do right now is to begin to form local cooperatives to make sure everyone has enough to eat. That's going to require blacks and whites working together.
As for the US, it's going to take a revolution - hopefully nonviolent, but I'm not taking chances. There are too many entrenched bureaucrats that think they have the RIGHT to rule. There are far too many laws, and three times that many "regulations" - all of which need a scathing review and the elimination of the ones that make things worse instead of better (Community Reenvestment Act, anyone? - there are dozens of others equally as destructive). The government needs to be downsized and horse-collared. That's not going to happen from within.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/17/2009 14:58 Comments ||
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The African Union said on Monday that a push by the opposition in Madagascar to remove the president was an attempted coup d'etat and called on the people of the Indian Ocean island to respect their constitution.
"The situation in Madagascar is an internal conflict. It is an attempted coup d'etat. We condemn the attempted coup d'etat," Edouard Alo-Glele, Benin's envoy to Ethiopia, told reporters after a meeting of the AU's Peace and Security Council.
"We ask the people of Madagascar to do everything consistent with their constitution," he said after the emergency meeting.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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More than 91,000 cases of cholera have been reported in Zimbabwe since the disease broke out last August, killing 4,035, according to latest World Health Organization data published Monday. The WHO said earlier this month that the outbreak was showing signs of slowing.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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Kuwait's ruler accepted the cabinet's resignation on Monday after deputies moved to question the prime minister, state media said, deepening a political crisis which threatens an economic stimulus plan.
Frequent cabinet changes usually do not affect the oil policies of OPEC-member Kuwait, the world's seventh-largest oil exporter, which are set by a high state energy council.
But the stalemate could further delay approval of a 1.5 billion dinar ($5.11 billion) rescue plan, including bank guarantees to soften the impact of the global financial crisis and plans to lower the Gulf Arab state's dependence on oil.
State media did not say whether the ruler, who has the last say, would reappoint Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah, name a successor or dissolve parliament as he did in March 2008 to end a similar standoff.
State television said the cabinet would continue work until a new lineup -- Kuwait's fifth in two years -- takes over. The cabinet had resigned in November after a similar request by MPs but the ruler reappointed his nephew as prime minister.
Earlier this month, several deputies submitted a request to question Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser, a member of the ruling family, pushing to crisis point a long-running dispute between parliament and the government.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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BOGOTÁ, Colombia -- The drug wars in Mexico "will intensify," says the head of Colombia's anti-narcotics police, Gen. Álvaro Caro. "It's going to get worse," Caro said during an exclusive interview about the wave of drug violence in Mexico. "The Mexican cartels are very structured, well armed and organized, and have the power to corrupt."
Last year alone, 5,400 people were murdered in the surge in drug violence in Mexico. Caro calls it "narco-terrorism," and says it is "the price you pay for taking on the cartels."
It also results from changes made by Colombian drug kingpins to their transporting routes. Shipping cocaine to the United States by air has become more difficult and risky in recent years, argues Caro, leading Colombian drug barons to look for new ways of transporting their merchandise. They decided on Central America as a trans-shipment point. "That's when the Mexican cartels started to come in with more force. They would pick up the cocaine dumped by the Colombian cartels in Central America and then distribute it to major cities in the U.S."
Roughly a decade ago, the Mexican drug cartels earned 10 percent of the street value for every kilo of cocaine they transported. But in recent years, the Colombian and Mexican cartels have embarked on "joint ventures," giving Mexican cartels a greater share of the profits. According to Caro, at times the Mexican cartels now claim up to half the value of the cocaine they traffic. With the greater stake in the drug trade, Mexican cartels began scrambling for power and a greater share of the profits, resulting in today's turf wars. "The fight between the cartels in Mexico is a lot to do with territorial control. They're all competing for the cocaine distribution routes to the U.S."
The spiraling drug violence in Mexico is also the result of "decisive action" carried out by the Mexican government since Felipe Calderon came to power in 2006. "[Calderon] came in with a new attitude. Drug traffickers started to get caught. The government started to attack the criminal structures and exposed corruption in the police force," said Caro. "In response, the Mexican cartels are striking back in a show of power and strength."
Caro, like many, believes the epicenter of the problem is the porous 2,000-mile U.S-Mexican border. Around 90 percent of all cocaine entering the United States comes through Mexico. "You have to pinpoint key areas along the border where drugs enter and focus on those points. You have to get greater control of that border."
He also recommends going after the big fish. "You have to attack the cartel structures through intelligence gathering, identify the big leaders and go after them."
Colombia is, of course, fighting its own drug war. Despite record cocaine seizures in recent years and dozens of drug kingpins captured, Colombia remains the world's leading producer of cocaine. Worse still, according to the U.N., coca production in Colombia -- as in Bolivia and Peru -- is on the rise.
The Mexican government would do well to heed what Colombia learned from its experience fighting the "war on drugs," namely that the tentacles of the drug cartels can penetrate deep into the police force, government institutions and the justice system. During the height of Colombia's drug wars in the 1980's and 1990's, drug cartels (notably the infamous Cali and Medellin cartels) permeated well into the country's political life and the justice system. In the past, presidential campaigns were bankrolled by drug barons, judges and witnesses bribed and police murdered. The drug cartels operated using the mafia's golden rule: Everyone has a price for which they can be bought.
Now it's Mexico's turn to live through the all-too-familiar story.
Meanwhile, the governments of Mexico and Colombia, "are cooperating very closely and sharing intelligence information," says Caro. Colombia has even helped train Mexican drug officials.
As for how long the high levels of violence will last in Mexico, Caro said that would depend on a number of factors, including "the government's strength of conviction," and "the resources and money it has to continue fighting." Significantly, he added that the duration would also be determined by "the conviction of the cartels to keep fighting back," a worrying thought given the lucrative profits at stake.
#3
You forget both nations have plenty of seacoast, build a fence YES, but they'll just shift to watercraft, above or below.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/17/2009 18:57 Comments ||
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#4
DRUDGEREPORT/FREEREPUBLIC > seems the USA is prepping a so-called "INTEGRATED PLAN" to help Mahico handle its drug violence.
US PROBLEM > MEXICO = AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN > most likely any anti-US/Govt MilTerrs will move over the borders into neighboring countries.
* AFPAKISTAN > read, CHINA [Uighurs], RUSSIA + CENTRAL ASIA [already], INDIA + SOUTHEAST ASIA, + AFRICA.
* MAHICO > "GO SOUTH YOUNG DRUG LORD/TERRORIST", i.e. to CENTRAL-SOUTH AMERIKA + CARIBBEAN REGIONS.
Lest we fergit, RADICAL MULLLAHS > among other scenarios, INDUCING GEOPOL "GREAT POWERS" CONFRONTATIONISM including REGIONAL-GLOBAL NUKE WAR, ...ETC. MUTUALLY DESTRUCTION]IS TO THE ADVANTAGE + BENEFIT OF RADICAL ISLAM.
Also, OSAMA BIN LADEN's SUPPORT FOR "ECONOMIC JIHAD" AGZ US NATIONAL-WORLD ECONOMY > can be broadly summed up as INDUCING THE USA TO MILPOL OR MILECON EXPAND SUCH THAT IT INEVITABLY COLLAPSES UNDER ITS OWN IMPERIALIST WEIGHT + GLOBAL GEOPOL "OBESITY".
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that Russian bombers would be welcome in Venezuela, but the socialist leader denied that his country would offer Moscow its territory for a military base.
Chavez a fierce critic of Washington with close ties to Russia and Cuba said his government did not raise the possibility, as Russian media had reported. "It's not like that," the president said, responding to a report by Interfax news agency quoting the chief of staff of Russia's long range aviation, Maj. Gen. Anatoly Zhikharev, as saying some strategic bombers could be based on an island offered by Venezuela.
Zhikharev reportedly said Saturday that Chavez had offered "a whole island with an airdrome, which we can use as a temporary base for strategic bombers."
Speaking during his weekly television and radio program, Chavez said he told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that his nation's bombers would be allowed to land in Venezuela if necessary, but no such plans have been made.
Venezuela hosted two Russian Tu-160 bombers in September for training flights and joined Russian warships two months later for naval exercises in the Caribbean. "I told President Medvedev that any time Russia's strategic aviation needs to make a stop in Venezuela as part of its strategic plans, Venezuela is available," he said.
Interfax also reported that Zhikharev said Russian bombers could be based in communist-led Cuba, but a Kremlin official said Zhikharev had been speaking hypothetically. Kremlin official Alexei Pavlov responded to the report on Saturday, saying that "the military is speaking about technical possibilities, that's all. If there will be a development of the situation, then we can comment," he said.
Venezuela and Cuba have close political and energy relations with Russia, which has been working to reassert itself as a military force.
Russia resumed long-range bomber patrols in 2007 after a 15-year hiatus.
During Sunday's program, Chavez said his government may expand a military base on the Caribbean island of La Orchila, approximately 110 miles (180 kilometers) off the South American country's central coast. "It's a strategic point, but not just for a naval base. It's also an economic zone," he said, noting that installations for fishermen could be constructed.
La Orchila is already home to a small military base, including helicopter landing pads and docks, as well as a presidential residence.
President Evo Morales asked large landowners to voluntarily relinquish some of their holdings to poor Indians during a ceremony held Saturday on property confiscated from a U.S. rancher for redistribution.
Morales made the plea as he handed out 34 rural titles to poor Guarani Indians and small farmers in Alto Parapeti, a region about 385 miles (620 kilometers) southeast of the Bolivian capital of La Paz, where ranchers and landowners have vehemently opposed his agrarian reform program.
The president held the event on the former ranch of U.S. citizen Ronald Larsen, one of several landowners in the wealthy eastern lowlands from whom the government seized a total of 139 square miles (88,960 acres; 36,000 hectares) last month. Morales accused them of letting the land lie fallow or of contracting workers in servitude-like conditions.
Larsen denied the allegations of employee abuse and became a symbol of resistance against Morales' agrarian reform, leading a series of confrontations with government inspectors last year.
Land Minister Alejandro Almaraz has said the 139 square miles of land cannot be redistributed until the National Agrarian Tribunal rules on the landowners' appeal.
Voters in the small South American country last month approved a new constitution empowering the indigenous majority, in part by increasing their control over their traditional lands. That includes the Guarani Indians who worked for decades on Larsen's 58-square-mile (15,000-hectare) spread as cowpoks, cooks, tractor drivers and seasonal hands.
The new constitution limits future private landownership to about 12,350 acres (5,000 hectares).
"There are people ... who don't want to end large landownership," Morales told a gathering of hundreds of Guarani Indians on Saturday. "Those people should voluntarily give up their (excess) land to people who have none."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Hard to say: Morales is obviously a communist, but those landowners can be pretty brutal assholes, too, more like feudal barons than honest ranchers. I say let 'em fight.
#2
The right balance (rent-seeking low + maximum land utility) can be found via a land value tax that is then paid out equally (like the Alaska oil dividend).
#3
A much more obvious dilemma is that large farms, almost by their nature, have to use more efficient farming techniques, which produce high yields. Small, indigenous farms use ancient techniques that produce barely enough to sustain the farmer and a few others.
You can get as romantic as you want about indigenous farms, but when thousands of city folk see store shelves empty, and prices jumping, they don't give a crap about romanticism. They want food.
#5
tw: the prices don't get to go up when the government regulates the prices food conglomerates are willing to charge, but also regulates the prices they have to pay farmers.
by raising one and lowering the other, Chavez was able to get Venezuela stuck in a milk shortage, which they successfully blamed on increaced milk demand in China.
Mauricio Funes, a former TV newsman who was recruited to run for president, declared himself the winner of El Salvador''s presidential contest Sunday night, bringing into power a leftist party built by former guerrillas and ending two decades of conservative rule.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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A retired Mexican army general took over as head of public safety in the violence-plagued border city of Ciudad Juarez on Monday and a retired colonel was sworn in as police chief, as part of a militarization that includes 7,000 soldiers dispatched to keep the peace in the city of 1.3 million.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Tomorrow's news: police chief betrayed by his subordinates, headless body found by roadside.
The Kremlin published its priorities Monday for an upcoming meeting of the G20, calling for the creation of a supranational reserve currency to be issued by international institutions as part of a reform of the global financial system.
The International Monetary Fund should investigate the possible creation of a new reserve currency, widening the list of reserve currencies or using its already existing Special Drawing Rights, or SDRs, as a "superreserve currency accepted by the whole of the international community," the Kremlin said in a statement issued on its web site.
The SDR is an international reserve asset, created by the IMF in 1969 to supplement the existing official reserves of member countries.
The Kremlin has persistently criticized the dollar's status as the dominant global reserve currency and has lowered its own dollar holdings in the last few years. Both President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have repeatedly called for the ruble to be used as a regional reserve currency, although the idea has received little support outside of Russia.
Since no one really wants to own rubles ...
Analysts said the new Kremlin proposal would elicit little excitement among the G20 members.
"This is all in the realm of fantasy," said Sergei Perminov, chief strategist at Rye, Man and Gore. "There was a situation that resembled what they are talking about. It was called the gold standard, and it ended very badly.
"Alternatives to the dollar are still hard to find," he said.
The Kremlin's call for a common currency is not the first in recent days. Speaking at an economic conference in Astana, Kazakhstan, last week, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed a global currency called the "acmetal" -- a conflation of the words "acme" and "capital." He also suggested that the Eurasian Economic Community, a loose group of five former Soviet republics including Kazakhstan and Russia, adopt a single noncash currency -- the yevraz -- to insulate itself from the global economic crisis.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed a global currency called the "acmetal" -- a conflation of the words "acme" and "capital."
I'm thinking Comrade Nazabayev has never watched Road Runner cartoons. Acme Capital, indeed. BeepBeep.
Posted by: ed ||
03/17/2009 8:50 Comments ||
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#6
besoeker i was thinking the same thing. Hey you live in the ATL don't you ? did you see where Clarke county is getting their first taste of the stimulus money and what it's going for? PUBLIC HOUSING never would have guessed would you
#7
No Rabid, didn't see it. Clarke is northeast, Athens area. I'm down south. Not surprised however. Public housing has worked so well in the past. Shame on Sonny Perdue for taking a dime of it!
#8
I just knew you where in the ATL area and it's so spread out now well you know how us rural GA ppl are we just atlannnnnnnta, you're not so far south that you are a Auburn fan are you?
#9
I am, WAH IGGLE never went to College there, but did go to grammar and Jr High (after that We moved to Montgomery Dad got promoted, finished school there)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/17/2009 19:04 Comments ||
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Russian industrial output posted the second-fastest contraction in the series'' seven-year history in February, but the pace of the slowdown eased a little from January, State Statistics Service data showed on Monday.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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At this rate, how many months until it disappears completely?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
03/17/2009 12:06 Comments ||
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The leader of the nation's largest veterans organization says he is "deeply disappointed and concerned" after a meeting with President Obama today to discuss a proposal to force private insurance companies to pay for the treatment of military veterans who have suffered service-connected disabilities and injuries. The Obama administration recently revealed a plan to require private insurance carriers to reimburse the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in such cases.
"It became apparent during our discussion today that the President intends to move forward with this unreasonable plan," said Commander David K. Rehbein of The American Legion. "He says he is looking to generate $540-million by this method, but refused to hear arguments about the moral and government-avowed obligations that would be compromised by it."
The Commander, clearly angered as he emerged from the session said, "This reimbursement plan would be inconsistent with the mandate ' to care for him who shall have borne the battle' given that the United States government sent members of the armed forces into harm's way, and not private insurance companies. I say again that The American Legion does not and will not support any plan that seeks to bill a veteran for treatment of a service connected disability at the very agency that was created to treat the unique need of America's veterans!"
Commander Rehbein was among a group of senior officials from veterans service organizations joining the President, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki and Steven Kosiak, the overseer of defense spending at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
The group's early afternoon conversation at The White House was precipitated by a letter of protest presented to the President earlier this month. The letter, co-signed by Commander Rehbein and the heads of ten colleague organizations, read, in part, " There is simply no logical explanation for billing a veteran's personal insurance for care that the VA has a responsibility to provide. While we understand the fiscal difficulties this country faces right now, placing the burden of those fiscal problems on the men and women who have already sacrificed a great deal for this country is unconscionable."
Commander Rehbein reiterated points made last week in testimony to both House and Senate Veterans' Affairs Committees. It was stated then that The American Legion believes that the reimbursement plan would be inconsistent with the mandate that VA treat service-connected injuries and disabilities given that the United States government sends members of the armed forces into harm's way, and not private insurance companies.
The proposed requirement for these companies to reimburse the VA would not only be unfair, says the Legion, but would have an adverse impact on service-connected disabled veterans and their families. The Legion argues that, depending on the severity of the medical conditions involved, maximum insurance coverage limits could be reached through treatment of the veteran's condition alone. That would leave the rest of the family without health care benefits.
The Legion also points out that many health insurance companies require deductibles to be paid before any benefits are covered. Additionally, the Legion is concerned that private insurance premiums would be elevated to cover service-connected disabled veterans and their families, especially if the veterans are self-employed or employed in small businesses unable to negotiate more favorable across-the-board insurance policy pricing.
The American Legion also believes that some employers, especially small businesses, would be reluctant to hire veterans with service-connected disabilities due to the negative impact their employment might have on obtaining and financing company health care benefits.
"I got the distinct impression that the only hope of this plan not being enacted," said Commander Rehbein, "is for an alternative plan to be developed that would generate the desired $540-million in revenue. The American Legion has long advocated for Medicare reimbursement to VA for the treatment of veterans. This, we believe, would more easily meet the President's financial goal. We will present that idea in an anticipated conference call with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel in the near future.
"I only hope the administration will really listen to us then. This matter has far more serious ramifications than the President is imagining," concluded the Commander.
#1
"He says he is looking to generate $540-million by this method, but refused to hear arguments about the moral and government-avowed obligations that would be compromised by it."
I've been following this on some milblogs. Can Obama really be this stupid??? The arrogance of this fellow is incredible.
1. It's a horrid and reprehensible idea. If your goal is saving money, maybe we shouldn't help rebuild Gaza.
2. It's almost guaranteed political suicide. Aside from social security, this is most surely, THAT WHICH MUST NEVER BE TOUCHED. The administration can't be seriously thinking that this plan will succeed.
#2
Someone else had a different take on it. Aside from all the unintended consequences, the easily forseeable effects would be.
-Demoralizing the Military/ making it less appealing
-Breaking private healthcare insurance
-Crippling healthcare in general... or at least put the industry in a situation where it needs to be "bailed out"
#3
Either way, Obama is pissing on the service vets have rendered to this country. I still see a possibility of a revolution happening under his watch. We'll see what the 2010 elections bring.
#5
The Leftists always have hated our military, so this should be no surprise. They only appaer supportive when it is for political purposes. There is still that lingering question about Obama - is he a radical leftist or is he a regular liberal dem. He sounded moderate, and many folks latched onto it. But it is beginning to look like those disavowed radical leftist roots reveal the real O.
Loyalty: The faithful adherence to a person, unit or Army. It is the thread that binds our actions together and causes us to support each other, our superiors, our family and our country.
Duty: The legal or moral obligation to accomplish all assigned or implied tasks to the fullest of your ability.
Respect: Treating others with consideration and honor. It is the ability to accept and value other individuals.
Selfless Service: Placing your duty before your personal desires. It is the ability to endure hardships and insurmountable odds because of love of fellow Soldiers and our country.
Honor: Living up to the Army Values. It starts with being honest with oneself and being truthful and sincere in all our actions.
Integrity: To firmly adhere to a code of moral and ethical principles. Every Soldier must possess high personal moral standards and be honest in word and deed.
Personal Courage: Physical courage is overcoming fears of bodily harm while performing your duty. Moral courage is overcoming fears of other than bodily hard while doing what is right, even if unpopular.
Any further questions concerning Barry and his obvious distate for the military?
ISLAMABAD: The United States Monday welcomed Pakistan's decision to reinstate its top judge as a move to "defuse a serious confrontation" and a "substantial step towards national reconciliation."
"This is a statesmanlike decision taken to defuse a serious confrontation, and the apparent removal of this long-standing national issue is a substantial step towards national reconciliation," said the US embassy in Islamabad.
"Now is the time for all Pakistanis and their political representatives to work together, with the support of their friends and allies, to peacefully strengthen their democracy and ensure a positive dialogue," it added.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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Pakistani opposition calls off a major protest rally in the capital following the government''s decision to reinstate all sacked judges. Why shouldn't he? He's got his way.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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Insiders have now given the sequence of the dramatic events, which led to the resignation of a defiant Sherry Rehman followed by elevation of Qamaruz Zaman Kaira as the information minister.
Sherry had developed a serious problem with Rehman Malik after she felt that he was encroaching upon her powers and trying to run her ministry. As if this was not enough, Sherry and Rehman Malik exchanged hot words in the presence of their colleagues, when one of the ministers, in a lighter tone, passed an indecent remark about their simultaneous arrival at a particular gathering.
Rehman Malik was said to have told the minister, who passed that remark, that Sherry Rehman was his "Aapa" (elder sister). This comment of Rehman Malik, which meant that Sherry was older than him, greatly provoked Sherry, who could not hold herself and passed serious comments against Rehman Malik about his old age. Both the ministers then exchanged hot words.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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In the 1970s the Unions in West Bengal, backed by the Communist Party, prevented the introduction of computers in banks
Around 500 young men trooped into Howrahs Salkia Hindu High School on Sunday afternoon, wielding an anachronistic device that could help them land a job. Some slung it over a shoulder, others carried it above their heads like a modern-day Atlas, while some others hired cabs just to ferry it.
In an age of laptop-toting business executives, the state department of West Bengal, oblivious to Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjees claims of industrialisation, demanded that candidates for the typists job come armed with their own machines.
It is hard enough to find typewriters anywhere these days, but somehow, the aspirants managed. Still, in Kolkatas humid weather, lugging around a typewriter that could weigh between five and 10 kilogram made for an inhuman exercise.
Those from far off districts like Midnapore and Burdwan were the worst hit. A few candidates came on foot from Howrah station while many others reached the examination centre in rented vehicles.
Laxmikanta Samanta, from Keshoari in West Midnapore, said he started from home around 4 am. "I hired a taxi for Rs. 2,500 and paid another Rs. 700 to rent a typewriter from a neighbourhood typing school," he said.
Bakul Garai from Dharmagram in West Midnapore came by train and reached the examination centre carrying the machine on his head. "I had to hire a machine for Rs 600 from my locality," said Garai.
Anticipating the huge demand for typewriters among outstation candidates, the locals made a killing. "Many of my friends had to pay Rs 1,200-2,500 to arrange the machine from local persons," said Barun Kumar Dey of Midnapore.
"For a 15-minute typewriting test, I had to pay Rs. 1800," complained a candidate on condition of anonymity.
What will they think of next? Getting your own bus to apply for a drivers job?
Posted by: john frum ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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Whoa, "back to the future" + OWG-NWO with REMINGTONS???
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's administration has cleared a $2.1 billion sale to India of eight Boeing Co P-8I maritime patrol aircraft, the largest U.S. arms transfer to India to date. The State Department said in a March 12 notice to the U.S. Congress that it would license the direct commercial sale having factored in "political, military, economic, human rights and arms control considerations."
The Indian navy was the first international customer for the P-8, a long-range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft. Boeing says it can operate effectively over land or water while performing anti-submarine warfare; search and rescue; maritime interdiction; and long-range intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance.
India chose it over several rivals, including EADS Airbus A319, according to Flightglobal.com, an online aviation-trade publication.
Boeing has said it would deliver the first P-8I within 48 months of a contract signing, and the remaining seven by 2015. Derived from Boeing's commercial 737 airframe, its is similar to the P-8A Poseidon that Boeing is developing for the U.S. Navy.
In January 2008, Washington and New Delhi sealed India's previous largest U.S. arms purchase -- six Lockheed Martin Corp C-130J Super Hercules military transport planes valued at about $1 billion, including related gear, training and spares.
Boeing's P-8I contract is with the Indian Ministry of Defense. The sale includes associated support equipment, spares, training and logistical support through June 2019, the State Department said in its notice. It said direct arms-trade "offsets" were expected to include engineering service, manufacturing and integrated logistics-support projects totaling $641.3 million.
Lockheed and Boeing, respectively the Pentagon's No. 1 and No. 2 suppliers by sales, are among warplane makers vying to sell India 126 new multi-role fighters in a deal that could be worth more than $10 billion. Boeing is offering its F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet. Lockheed is pitching its F-16. They are competing with warplanes built in Russia, France, Sweden and by a European consortium.
One stumbling block for Boeing and Lockheed has been Indian qualms about standard "end-user" pacts designed to prevent leakage of sensitive U.S. technology to third countries. Such agreements are a routine part of U.S. government-to-government arms sale.
A similar form, known as DSP-83, had to be signed by Indian authorities for Boeing to have submitted its license request for the P-8I deal.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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The gas-electric vehicles are piling up on dealers' lots as anxiety over gasoline prices evaporates. But more hybrid models are on the way.
The Ford and Honda hybrids due out this month are among dozens planned for the coming years as automakers try to meet new fuel-efficiency standards and please politicians overseeing the industry's multibillion-dollar bailout.
Unfortunately for the automakers, hybrids are a tough sell these days.
Americans have cut back on buying vehicles of all types as the economy continues its slide. But the slowdown has been particularly brutal for hybrids, which use electricity and gasoline as power sources. They were the industry's darling just last summer, but sales have collapsed as consumers refuse to pay a premium for a fuel-efficient vehicle now that the average price of a gallon of gasoline nationally has slipped below $2.
"When gas prices came down, the priority of buying a hybrid fell off quite quickly," said Wes Brown, a partner at Los Angeles-based market research firm Iceology. "Yet even as consumer interest declined, the manufacturers have continued to pump them out."
Last month, only 15,144 hybrids sold nationwide, down almost two-thirds from April, when the segment's sales peaked and gas averaged $3.57 a gallon. That's far larger than the drop in industry sales for the period and scarcely a better showing than January, when hybrid sales were at their lowest since early 2005.
Iran's reformist ex-president Mohammad Khatami has withdrawn from the June presidential election, a close aide of the charismatic cleric told AFP on Monday.
"He has taken a decision to withdraw. We will officially announce it tonight or tomorrow in a statement," the aide said, asking not to be identified.
The decision is seen as aimed at securing support from the electorate for Mir Hossein Mousavi, another reformist candidate who is running for the presidency. Mehr news agency on Sunday reported that Khatami had during a recent meeting with his campaign officials indicated his plan to withdraw from the vote, citing attempts to dilute support for reformists.
"Opponents want to divide my supporters and supporters of Mousavi," Khatami was quoted as saying. "It is not in our interest. Also some conservatives are supporting Mousavi. He [Mousavi] thinks that we have to change the situation. Mousavi is popular and will be able to execute his plans and I prefer he stays in the race."
Former Iranian Parliament Speaker Mehdi Karroubi is also planning to run in the June 12 election while incumbent hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is yet to officially announce his candidacy.
Khatami, 65, was president of Iran between 1997 and 2005. Early in his previous presidential term, Khatami inspired the Iranian youth with promises of social and political reforms while Iran's relations with the West were less confrontational than they are now under Ahmadinejad.
During his presidential term, Khatami earned the tag "reformist" for several liberal initiatives that continue even now under the government of his hardline successor Ahmadinejad. He had appointed the first woman to a cabinet post since the 1979 revolution.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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In the first ruling of its kind, a bankruptcy judge held the city of Vallejo, Calif. has the authority to void its existing union contracts in its effort to reorganize, holding public workers do not enjoy the same protections Congress gave union workers at private companies.
Municipal bankruptcy is so rare that no judge had yet ruled on whether Congressional reforms in the 1990s that required companies to provide worker protections before attempting to dissolve union contracts also applied to public workers' union contracts
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael McManus held March 13 that when Congress enacted 11 U.S.C. sec. 1113 to limit companies from outright rejection of union contracts it limited it to Chapter 11 bankruptcies. By failing to extend the limits to Chapter 9, which covers municipal bankruptcy, McManus said cities have broader latitude to break existing union pacts.
"This will have a huge effect nationwide if it is upheld," said Kelly Woodruff, of Farella, Braun & Martel in San Francisco, representing the firefighters and electrical workers unions. Woodruff said the unions would certainly appeal if the city ultimately voids the existing contracts with the two unions.
The decision will be particularly important to cities with large unfunded pension liabilities, according to James Spiotto, of Chapman & Cutler in Chicago and a specialist in municipal bankruptcy who helped advise the Senate Judiciary Committee on Chapter 9 reforms.
He said the unfunded pension liabilities for states and cities was $800 billion a few years ago and may be at $1 trillion today. "The question is whether it is an inability to pay or an unwillingness to pay. If municipalities can't provide basic services and still pay labor costs or pensions then that is a real issue," Spiotto said.
Posted by: Matt ||
03/17/2009 19:48 ||
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won't stand. Every contract has two parties. Cities can pay via many means. NB: I work for one.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/17/2009 20:37 Comments ||
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#2
another note: over several years my employer asked to increase bennies, as well as defer payments to our pension fund and avoid any pay raises for "cash flow" to Special Projects. These were agreed to by contract.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/17/2009 21:19 Comments ||
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#3
I understand that the elected officials of the government of Vallejo agreed to generous contracts because they knew the unionized employees would be more likely to vote for them. There is an issue of self-dealing here: bribe your employees for votes, and even if you eventually are voted out of office, your successors won't be able to reverse the damage without declaring bankruptcy.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
03/17/2009 21:41 Comments ||
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According to its filing, AIG has directly posted over $22 billion in collateral on these deals, and Maiden Lane III, an entity set up by the Treasury, has posted an additional $27 billion. Of that, $11 billion has gone to France's Société Générale, $5.4 billion to Deutsche Bank, and $8.1 billion to Goldman Sachs. These deals are vestiges of the financial ingenuity of AIG's Financial Products Group. Some $165 million in bonus payments to executives from this division has drawn outrage from the White House to Congress and New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo since they were revealed on Mar. 14.
The second big block of AIG payouts stems from a business its insurance units did in lending out securities in which they had invested to customers for fees. When the borrowers returned those securities and demanded back the collateral that they'd put up, it cost AIG another $43.7 billion. Of that, England's Barclays got $7 billion, Deutsche Bank $6.4 billion, BNP Paribas $4.9 billion, and Goldman $4.8 billion. It's worth noting, however, that these names would arise in any large financial institutions' dealings, because they are the major players in these markets.
Posted by: ed ||
03/17/2009 08:51 ||
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#1
At least it's all starting to unwind. If I understand correctly (and I probably don't)it's highly likely the counterparties owe a good deal more on their dealings in fancy derivatives instruments than they received from AIG, so the money they received is likely flowing out as fast as it came in. Surely this is a good thing, however painful?
#3
Of course, this doesn't make the papers in quite the same splashy fashion as the $160 some million bonuses, does it?
Good thing some of the money went to the impoverished nations of Western Europe. That would be pure hell if the Germans had to pay for Deutsche Bank, or France had to pony up for Societe Generale without our cash, wouldn't it?
#4
No regulators at all would be better than regulators that are bought and paid for. There wouldn't be the illusion of security where there isn't any.
#5
> So who wants to get rid of all regulators now?
ME! The government should regulate their own currency monopoly for price stability as nowadays credit (m1+) is fungible with money (m0). They should do this via regulating reserves based not on a fixed %age, but on a %age that changes with affordability (e.g fn(av-house-price/ av-wage)). Then leave banks to do their allocating role.
U.S. industrial output fell to its lowest level in almost seven years in February and manufacturing in New York state slumped further this month, according to data on Monday that pointed to a worsening economy.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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Note the net overseas selling of US treasuries. If foreigners won't buy US debt, the Obama spending spree is going to need the money printing presses running overtime.
#5
Most interest rates have already risen to their highest level in recent years.
Consumer borrowing costs are also elevated. The rate on 60- month loans for new cars climbed to 7.32 percent, close to a seven-year high, as of March 13.
#7
Yeah, but think of all the greenhouse gases we aren't emitting! If we keep this up, all manufacturers will be able to meet their "cap and trade" targets, right?
#8
By far the most extraordinary economic event will be when the T-bill bubble pops. The best description: "It will be a once in a lifetime, spectacular event. Like standing on the side of Mount St. Helens when it erupted."
But when? I expect a few more bubbles to go first, to soften everybody up for the "big one". In most cities, you can see the commercial real estate bubble popping right now. But it is a "silent and deadly foozler", which won't make big headlines until suddenly we smell it and collectively gag.
Pension funds are in a quiet dive as well. Many of them were terribly overextended in stock equities, and have had their clocks cleaned. Hedge funds, mutual funds, and a lot of municipal bonds are also going to wash.
#9
Obama is just not doing his job! He is destroying our industrial output at a paltry 1.4% rate, compared to over 13% for Russia. You can't get to the Workers Paradise at such a feeble rate. Can't happen. Wont happen. The masses will rise up and prevent it.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
03/17/2009 12:15 Comments ||
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Industrial output slid 11.2 percent compared with February 2008. The 1.4% drop was month-month. Manufacturing has been shipped overseas for many years, even during the good years. Most worrying is that the deficit w/ China still grew year over year even as China's worldwide exports declined 40% and now comprises over 1/2 of the total trade trade deficit, including oil imports.
With the $100 billion AIG taxpayer bailout of European banks and $250 billion Chinese trade deficit, the American taxpayer is doing all he can to keep the rest of the world out of depression.
Posted by: ed ||
03/17/2009 17:29 Comments ||
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#11
Just wait until cap-and-trade kicks in and Zero's taxes to support his Healthcare and entitlement programs pig-pile on top of it.
American jobs will be going overseas in a flood. And so will American based companies.
#12
...the Obama spending spree is going to need the money printing presses running overtime.
Yup, which will have the effect of making our money worthless.
Somewhere along the line, the US decided that manufacturing was unclean and ungreen--no matter that a lot of good jobs and the middle class disappeared. Somehow it became more acceptable to shuffle worthless paper and go broke.
Tuesday's edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer will be the last copy to be printed, as a slimmed-down edition moves solely online. Maybe I should change the name of Rantburg to "National Defender-Scimitar and Times Picayune-Intelligencer Today." I could probably make enough to support myself as an on-line newspaper and provide a better product than some. Make that "lots." On-line PI won't last six months ...
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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I'm sure Google will make sure theirs [and their soon to be joined brethren] somehow are biased in the order of listing for any searches to 'help the community'.
#2
At least the P-I can openly get funding from the usual suspects now (the 'online-newsies' in NY and San Diego are at least partially funded by leftist foundations).
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.
An Austrian who fathered seven children with a daughter he held captive in a squalid cellar for 24 years refused to even speak to her for years, coming only to rape her, often in front of the youngsters, a prosecutor said Monday. 
More than 91,000 cases of cholera have been reported in Zimbabwe since the disease broke out last August, killing 4,035, according to latest World Health Organization data published Monday. The WHO said earlier this month that the outbreak was showing signs of slowing.
President Evo Morales asked large landowners to voluntarily relinquish some of their holdings to poor Indians during a ceremony held Saturday on property confiscated from a U.S. rancher for redistribution. 
Mauricio Funes, a former TV newsman who was recruited to run for president, declared himself the winner of El Salvador''s presidential contest Sunday night, bringing into power a leftist party built by former guerrillas and ending two decades of conservative rule.
A retired Mexican army general took over as head of public safety in the violence-plagued border city of Ciudad Juarez on Monday and a retired colonel was sworn in as police chief, as part of a militarization that includes 7,000 soldiers dispatched to keep the peace in the city of 1.3 million.
Insiders have now given the sequence of the dramatic events, which led to the resignation of a defiant Sherry Rehman followed by elevation of Qamaruz Zaman Kaira as the information minister.
The gas-electric vehicles are piling up on dealers' lots as anxiety over gasoline prices evaporates. But more hybrid models are on the way.
Iran's reformist ex-president Mohammad Khatami has withdrawn from the June presidential election, a close aide of the charismatic cleric told AFP on Monday.
Tuesday's edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer will be the last copy to be printed, as a slimmed-down edition moves solely online.
