Archive for world
Iran’s Nukes – Obama Doesn’t Seem Too Concerned
Posted by: | CommentsRussia is supplying Iran with nuclear material. They’re set to deliver it on Saturday.
Fox News: A Russian company is expected to help Iran start loading nuclear fuel into its plant starting on Saturday, after which an attack on the Bushehr reactor could trigger harmful radiation, which Israel wants to avoid, Bolton said. So unless the Israelis act immediately to shut down the facility, it will be too late.
“Once it’s close to the reactor … the risk is when the reactor is attacked, there will be a release of radiation into the air,” Bolton told FoxNews.com. “It’s most unlikely that they would act militarily after fuel rods are loaded.”
Earlier Tuesday, Bolton told Fox Business Network the Israelis will have to move in the “next eight days” if they want to attack the Bushehr facility — a reference to the window between when the start-up was announced last week and the loading date. Bolton said Tuesday that the date has fluctuated, but he described the start-up as the ultimate deadline.
Though Iranian officials insist the reactor is for peaceful purposes, Bolton warned about the danger of the up-and-running reactor.
Judging by his schedule of fundraising and vacationing, President Obama doesn’t seem too concerned. I guess he thought that once he finished with his world apology tour these things would just work themselves out.
Treasury Department Also Bailed Out Foreign Banks
Posted by: | CommentsWho can forget when the US Treasury Department decided to bail out some banks, even banks that didn’t want to be bailed out. They let others fail, but they were American banks. The biggest recipient of funds was the insurance giant AIG. Did you know that AIG turned around and bailed out foreign banks?
My Way News: But the report says that if the U.S. had gotten more data on which foreign banks would benefit the most, the government might have been able to ask those countries to share some of the cost.
“There were no data about where this money was going,” panel chair Elizabeth Warren said in a conference call with reporters on Wednesday. “The American people have a right to know where the money went.”
An example: Major French and German banks were among the biggest beneficiaries of the U.S. rescue of American International Group Inc., yet the American government shouldered the entire $70 billion risk of pumping capital into the crippled insurance titan. The report compares that with the $35 billion that France spent on its overall financial rescue program and the $133 billion that Germany spent.
Much of the $182 billion in federal aid to AIG – the biggest of the government rescues – went to meet the company’s obligations to its Wall Street trading partners on credit default swaps, a form of insurance against default of securities. The partners included French banks Societe Generale, which received $11.9 billion in AIG money, and BNP Paribas, which got $4.9 billion, and Germany’s Deutsche Bank, $11.8 billion.
Of the 87 banks and financial entities that indirectly benefited from the U.S. aid to AIG, 43 are foreign, according to the report. In addition to France and Germany, they include banks based in Canada, Britain and Switzerland.
In addition to AIG, many of the U.S. banks and automakers that received billions in bailout aid derive a large proportion of their revenue from operations outside the U.S., the report noted.
It’s estimated that we the taxpayers lost about $36 billion on the AIG bailout. Further, while the US government aided about 700 banks, all foreign governments combined only helped a total of 50! I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to feel like a chump.
Obama to Meet With Deranged Iranian President?
Posted by: | CommentsWell, it looks like the world apology tour may continue. (That didn’t take long.) Out of fear of getting fired, American reporters won’t touch this story. Thank goodness we still have the European press to bring us the news.
The Telegraph reported:
The retired general also indicated that the return of three American hikers held in Iran for the past year would be an “important gesture”.
Earlier this month, Mr Ahmadinejad requested face-to-face talks with Mr Obama during the UN General Assembly meeting in New York. The White House had appeared to rule out any meeting.
However, in an interview with CNN, Gen Jones said “the door’s open” if the Iranians agree to resume talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
When asked whether Mr Obama may meet the Iranian leader, Gen Jones said: “Ultimately if we find a convergence of paths all things are possible.
I wonder, will he bow to Ahmadinejad?
I was pretty young while Ronald Reagan was President, but I don’t recall him agreeing to meetings with deranged Iranian madmen.
Via memeorandum
Change: Russia and China Resume Supplying Iran With Gasoline
Posted by: | CommentsSo much for electing The One to increase our standing in the world.
Reuters reported:
Russian oil giant LUKOIL has resumed gasoline sales into Iran in partnership with China’s state-run firm Zhuhai Zhenrong, even as the United States urges the international community to be tough with Tehran.Iran is the world’s fifth-largest oil exporter but lacks adequate refining capacity to meet domestic demand for motor fuel, forcing it to import up to 40 percent of its requirements.
Russia and China, both permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, signed up to the latest round of U.N. sanctions on Iran, but refused to support measures that targeted the Islamic Republic’s oil and gas sector. …
I hope this doesn’t mean there’s another world apology tour in Obama’s future. Maybe if Hillary gives a few more speeches about spreading the wealth around China and Russia will start to see things our way.
Reaganite Republican linked – thanks!
Funny Video: Taiwanese TV Michelle Obama as Marie Antoinette Anime
Posted by: | CommentsYou don’t need a translator to get the gist of this short video. Cute!
Via Breitbart
Update: It’s a shame Michelle Obama couldn’t have vacationed with her grieving gynecologist in the US, and pumped that $25 million into our listless economy.
When did you stop defending your government?
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s a simple question. I suppose I should have expected people to answer, “What do you mean?”, or “I never did.” but frankly it never occurred to be that I’d get one of those responses. In fact until I sat down to write this I hadn’t even thought about the possibility. Now that I do, I’m surprised to say no one did.
The question occurred to me as I was trying to take my mind off my aching back under the watchful eyes of nurse Zheng who had warned me, “Don’ta move.” When was it that I had stopped defending my government’s actions? It was something I had always been ready to do with all my heart when friends in foreign lands asked why the USA did the things they disagreed with. There were always plausible explanations and logical lines of reason. But, I realized, I no longer had the will nor the logic to defend what was happening today.
I decided the point at which I could no longer find the substance to mount a defense was somewhere around the passage of the stimulus bill. It simply made no sense, did not have public support, and showed no signs of a positive impact. When the health insurance takeover passed, not only was the will gone, but the faith that this feeling would pass had left me. After day 80 of the oil spill and my trip to Navarre I could see that people were suspect of their government, that even truth from Washington was questioned as would be loyalty from a traitor.
It seemed to me to be an interesting question to pose to people and so I did. To make conversation I would ask, “When did you stop defending your government?” expecting to segway into the political topic du jour. What I found was that to a man everyone had a direct answer. “When I was asked what the definition of ‘is’ is.”, “When Obama won the primary.”, “When Bush said ‘mission accomplished’”. Though by and large most cited some event in the pat 2-4 years, there was one white haired fellow who surprised me. “When Kennedy pulled out the air support during the Bay of Pigs.”
This was an enlightening endeavour and one that had more than a few surprises. What was very startling was that no one, not one single person, hesitated or suggested that they would still defend their government. The natural sequel is, “What would have to happen for you to begin trusting your government again?” Maybe I’ll wait till after the elections to ask that question.
Like Anything Else, With Health Care You Get What You Pay For
Posted by: | CommentsDid you hear about the man in Sweden who got sick of waiting for his gaping wound to be sewn up, so he did it himself?
The Local: A 32-year-old took the needle into his hands when he tired of the wait at Sundsvall hospital in northern Sweden and sewed up the cut in his leg himself. The man was later reported to the police for his impromptu handiwork.
An hour might not seem like too long a wait, unless you’re bleeding and in need of stitches! But hey, you get what you pay for, as one commenter on the above linked article pointed out.
In defense of the health system in Sweden I have the following to say. Delays happen because there is shortage of staff. Medical procedures take a long time to complete. Doctor’s appointments for surgery that are not life threatening can take one year because specialists are few in number.
Should you however like to see a faster hospital service, you have to accept to pay more tax so that the present number of hospitals could increase from 66 to say 100 and staff size would increase likewise. The problem with this proposition is that it is so expensive that Swedish people will have to cut their consumption of other things, e.g., less clothing, travel and dinner in resturants. (sic)
I’d like to say this is what we can expect once all of Obamacare’s provisions kick in. But I’m afraid it’s going to be worse, much worse.
Via Memeorandum
Why the Tax Breaks for BP in Obama’s 2011 Budget
Posted by: | CommentsReader Bill emailed:
I haven’t heard anything about this on the news or online but it is an obvious huge jobs killer and will force more US companies out. Please help link to this!
The Administration plans to change existing ‘dual capacity’ rules, which are tax laws that grant American companies who generate income in foreign countries tax credits to offset the US income tax on that same foreign income. By eliminating this tax payment treatment, the government will be double-taxing our domestic oil and natural gas producers, further impairing their ability to compete in the global energy marketplace.
US companies will be taxed twice on international income while foreign companies, like BP, will reap the subsidies. This is a de facto bailout — courtesy of you and me!
I read a point by point response to the NYT article a few weeks ago on oil company “welfare”
Here’s the link to the response to the NYT article mentioned above.
This is so typical of our ruling class. Foreign companies like BP are big contributors to their campaigns. Sure, they’ll vilify those contributors in public, all the while doing their bidding with their rules and regulations. It’s disgusting.
Update: Reader Bill would like me to point out that it’s not just BP and they are getting subsidies. I haven’t changed the title because it would be too long.
Venezuelans Jailed Over Tweets
Posted by: | CommentsIf socialism is so great, why are citizens of a socialist country getting arrested for their tweets?
The Washington Times: In Venezuela, Luis Enrique Acosta Oxford’s ordeal began June 30, when he posted a 120-character piece of financial advice on the popular micro-blogging site Twitter: “Ladies and Gentlemen, don’t say you weren’t warned… Pull out today… I’m telling you, there are just a few days left.”
Eight days later, Venezuelan authorities incarcerated Mr. Oxford, 41, and a fellow Twitter user – Carmen Cecilia Nares Castro, 35.
A court this week charged them with “disseminating false rumors” on Twitter to “destabilize the banking system.” They were released pending trial and face up to 11 years in prison.
What’s more, Venezuelan authorities have indicated they may pursue similar charges against 15 others.
For some who observe the regime of President Hugo Chavez, this new drama brings little surprise.
‘Utopia’ In Venezuela
Posted by: | CommentsOther than the fact that Reuters described the area as a slum, one might conclude from this story that these Chavistas are running some sort of utopia.
While President Hugo Chavez struggles to revive the battered bolivar, in a hillside slum overlooking his palace, die-hard supporters are talking about getting rid of the Venezuelan currency altogether.
Welcome to the 23 de Enero barrio, home to about 100,000 people and something of a laboratory for Chavez’s nationwide socialist experiment. Here you find dogs named “Comrade Mao”, and even a “revolutionary car wash.”
“We are creating a popular bank and are going to issue a communal currency: little pieces of cardboard,” says Salvador Rooselt, a soft-spoken 24-year-old law student and community leader who often quotes Lenin and Marx.
Some 20 militant groups sometimes described as Chavez’s “storm troopers” run this urban jungle in western Caracas, where hulking concrete buildings daubed with colorful murals — one depicting Jesus Christ brandishing an AK-47 rifle — show off the neighborhood’s radical tradition.
“We are giving capitalism a punch in its social metabolism,” said Rooselt, of the Alexis Vive group, wearing its trademark bandana with the image of guerrilla icon Ernesto Che Guevara around his neck.
A deeply-rooted socialist ideology, absolute territorial control and financing from the government have allowed Alexis Vive to put into practice some of the ideas Chavez is struggling to implement in the rest of Venezuela.
Socialist stores sell milk and meat from recently nationalized producers at about a 50 percent discount. Residents do voluntary work, kids are encouraged to steer clear of drugs, and some youths have even joined a pioneer organization modeled on similar groups in Communist Cuba.
Sounds lovely. I wonder what happens to the folks who decide not to do that “voluntary work.”
Say What?!? Obama Says His Support of Israel Has Been Unwaivering
Posted by: | CommentsI’ve never seen someone who lies with such ease.
I guess he thinks Americans have really short memories.
Via Town Hall
Hillary Clinton: We Aren’t Spreading the Wealth Around Enough
Posted by: | CommentsThere she goes again! Secretary of State Hillary Clinton once again gave a speech about how we aren’t spreading the wealth around.
It’s important, too, that we look at how to promote broadly-based prosperity. One of the problems in societies around the world today is that too much of the productivity of the economies are going to too few. Too few people, the political and economic elite, are realizing the vast majority of benefits from economic activity.
It’s true in my own country where, unfortunately, economic inequality is increasing. And it’s true in Ukraine. It’s true in Europe and Asia and Africa and South America.
So part of the challenge of economic growth and prosperity is to make sure it gets down and equally spread among people. And we have to work towards spurring investment and long-term growth in Ukraine. And we have to work together to end corruption in both the public and the private sectors.
The free market spreads the wealth around just fine. When politicians come along and monkey with the markets there’s less wealth for everybody.
You can watch the video at The Right Scoop.
Russian Spies Arrested Days After Obama’s Burger Dipomacy With Medvedev
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s a shame the feds didn’t bust the Russian spies prior to the trip to a burger joint by President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Now that would have made for some interesting conversation.
AFP: Obama and Medvedev sought to cement their “reset” in national security ties with new progress in trade and exports, and munched burgers and strolled outside the White House together in images carefully choreographed for the cameras.
The US leader praised Medvedev as a “solid and reliable partner” — adding “we listen to one another and we speak candidly. “By any measure, we have made significant progress and achieved concrete results.”
That was Thursday of last week. This is Monday. I wonder if Obama still considers Russia a solid and reliable partner.
The New York Times: Criminal complaints filed in federal court on Monday read like a thriller novel: Secret Russian agents were assigned to live as married couples in the United States, even having children who were apparently unaware of their parents’ true identities. A spy swapped identical bags with a Russian official as they brushed past each other in a train station stairwell. Messages were written with invisible ink, hidden in the data of digital pictures, and encoded in messages sent over shortwave radio.
The complaints followed a multiyear investigation that culminated with Sunday’s arrest of 10 people in Yonkers; Montclair, New Jersey; Boston; and northern Virginia. The documents detailed what authorities called the “Illegals Program,” an S.V.R. effort to plant Russian spies in the United States to gather information and recruit people able to infiltrate government policy-making circles.
Whether they were successful or not is anyone’s guess, but it looks like some of the spies managed to meet so people in high places.
Fox News: One intercepted message said Cynthia Murphy, “had several work-related personal meetings with” a man the court papers describe as a prominent New York-based financier who was active in politics.
In response, intelligence headquarters in Moscow described the man as a very interesting target and urged the defendants to “try to build up little by little relations. … Maybe he can provide” Murphy “with remarks re US foreign policy, ‘roumors’ about White house internal ‘kitchen,’ invite her to venues (to major political party HQ in NYC, for instance. … In short, consider carefully all options in regard” to the financier.”
In an email a reader asked if this means Eric Holder will become the next Joe McCarthy. Heh! Something tells me that’s not about to happen. They’ll probably be granted amnesty.
Video: Obama Touts Pay-Go With A Straight Face – Says ‘Tough Choices Ahead’
Posted by: | CommentsWho does this guy think he’s fooling? Obama stood there with a straight face and talked about “paygo” and how congress is controlling spending. To his detractors he said he’s “calling their bluff.” Oh, and he said there will be some tough choices ahead – we all know what that means.
He’s been on a year and a half long spending binge! Liz Cheney explained how that’s a national security issue on Fox News Sunday today.
Obama also said that no country should have any “undue advantage” if there’s going to be a strong recovery. No wonder the rest of the world felt like they were being lectured to. As if he’s one to give advice.
Under these circumstances one could forgive the US for lecturing others on fiscal policy, were it not for the fact that (a) poor US financial regulation and inattentive monetary policy caused the crisis in the first place, and (b) its own fiscal policy is a shambles. President Barack Obama is telling other countries to maintain fiscal stimulus even as his own fades and the US Congress is denying his modest requests for extra spending. For this, Mr Obama himself is mostly to blame.
He and his allies in Congress bungled last year’s stimulus. A big package was needed, and was duly delivered. But its design was poor: too much spending on shovel-ready projects that weren’t; too little in tax cuts. It was seriously oversold, leaving voters sceptical that more stimulus would do any good. Worst of all, with public debt through the roof, the administration has failed to give the smallest sign of its exit strategy. Last week its budget director, Peter Orszag, disclosed his own. He said he was quitting; colleagues said (though he denied) that he was frustrated by White House indecision over medium-term fiscal control.
He’s a national embarrassment. Worse yet, he’s a national embarrassment that’s costing us and our kids dearly.
Update: Pravda ABC News reported that Obama losing the argument for big spending at the G20 could “plunge the world into a second recession.” I’m not kidding. Read about it at NewsBusters.
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