Infidel Bloggers Alliance

CNN's Word Games

2012-01-28T10:36:00.001Z

Shilling for dhimmitude:

As pointed out by the Walid Shoebat Foundation Blog:

CNN is apparently willing to include the words “honor killing” and “conservative Afghan” in its news reports but is unwilling to say that the honor killing was mandated by Islamic teachings or even mention that the murderers were Muslims. Instead, the word “conservative” has the effect of comparing such nasty people with the Christian right in America.

The most tragically ironic aspect of this story is that the man who murdered his daughters and tried to cover it up, said that he killed them because they “betrayed kindness.”

This CNN news report is a must-see for the network’s bias. It fits right in line with the network’s history of running interference for Islamists.

What are the republicans talking about? Why are the debate moderators warped?

2012-01-28T10:35:00.001Z

Does anyone here think that Newt’s accusations against Romney or the new Romney campaign to de-legitimize Gingrich’s Reagan connections ….

makes the slightest difference to increasing manufacturing jobs and investment in the USA?

Is there anyone who thinks Wolf Blitzer’s rather obvious attempt to get attention for CNN by trying to provoke a fight over accusations each side STUPIDLY, ARROGANTLY AND IN A SELF CENTERED MANNER continue to make, …

makes the slightest difference to increasing manufacturing jobs and investment in the USA?

I want to hear about how the candidates plan to help the business people of the USA to increase our economic power through GROWTH of the industrial, research and engineering base of the USA.

I want to hear Wolf Blitzer provoke a fight over the best way to do that.

My disgust with the Republican candidate field, the media and most especially the delusional president and his thinkalikes is manifest and brimming over.

I will never vote for the Obama under ANY set of circumstances, and my disgust for the republicans at this points is 0.001% less.

Forget responsible questioning by the media. They might as well be asking the candidate why they do not perform enough cunnilingus on their wives now and girlfriends in the past.

I DON’T CARE ABOUT THAT EITHER, and the reasons that might be true will do as much for the GDP as the current line of questioning, and the current food fight.

GROW UP ROMNEY AND GINGRICH AND CENTER YOURSELVES ON THE SOLUTIONS, BECAUSE ONLY A SON OF A BITCH WILLING TO IGNORE PAINFUL ACCUSATIONS AND KEEP GOING IS ABLE TO BE RUTHLESS ENOUGH TO HELP THE NATION RIGHT ITSELF

2012-01-27T22:00:00.000Z

Hubert Sumlin
Chunky

Come Back Little Girl

Look Don't Touch

2012-01-27T04:10:00.003Z

A 65 Year Old Man Involved in a Righteous Shooting, a District Attorney With Some Common Sense, and the Law That Backs Them Up

You'll hear no boo hooing from me. All three were truant from school. The deceased was on juvenile probation and wearing a monitoring anklet put on that morning.

If the teens are old enough to assault, they are old enough to face the potential consequences.

Reading Eagle:

Man, 65, won't be charged in shooting of 2 teens

A 65-year-old Reading man who was riding his bicycle was justified in shooting two teens - one fatally - who tried to rob him on a Schuylkill River trail as part of a crime spree, the Berks County district attorney said Thursday.

The teens, age 16 and 15, and another 15-year-old boy skipped school Wednesday and robbed two pedestrians in West Reading before they attacked the man as he rode on the Thun Trail in Cumru Township at 11 a.m., police said.

The man, whose name authorities withheld, will not be charged for shooting the teens because he acted in self-defense, which is legal under Pennsylvania's Castle Doctrine, District Attorney John T. Adams said.

"While I don't condone violence, the bike rider had no choice," Adams said. "It was justifiable homicide."

Julius Johnson, 16, of Reading was pronounced dead at the scene Wednesday morning after he was shot in his chest with a handgun, officials said.

Autopsy results on Johnson are pending.

The 15-year-old shot in the neck remained in Reading Hospital on Thursday, officials said. Information about his medical condition could not be obtained. Police did not release his name because he has not been charged.

The third teen, Michael Gonzalez, 15, address unavailable, was charged with robbery, aggravated assault and related offenses and committed to the county youth center in Bern Township.

Officials said an investigation continues.

Johnson was a Reading High School student, and the 15-year-olds are Gov. Mifflin High School students, Adams said.

Adams gave this account:

Johnson was on probation for previous offenses. Juvenile probation officers had gone to his Oakbrook residence earlier Wednesday and found the three teens playing video games.

They told the two 15-year-olds to leave. The officers put an electronic monitoring device on Johnson's ankle, ordered him to stay home and report to their office with his parents at 4 p.m.

Instead, the three met up and decided to jump and rob random victims.

They first robbed an elderly man in West Reading shortly after 10 a.m., taking money from his pockets, then tried to rob another man in West Reading, kneeing him in the stomach and pushing him to the ground. Neither man was hurt.

The bike rider was on the trail between Reading and West Reading.

As he rode past the teens, the 15-year-old whose name was not released punched the man in the face, knocking him from his bike. Johnson ran and kicked the man, who was sitting against a chain-link fence along the trail.

As one of the teens ran toward the man, he shot Johnson and the 15-year-old.

People who found the man called 9-1-1 and waited for police to arrive. It was unclear if the people heard the shots or were on the trail.

The teens weren't armed, but the shootings were legal because the man was unable to escape, thought his life was in danger and had a permit to carry his gun, Adams said.

The man told investigators: "I was scared for my life. I was in big trouble. ... If I could have kept my bike on the trail, I would have gotten out of there."

The man was unhurt but shaken by the shootings, Adams said.

Adams did not know if Johnson's monitoring device had GPS tracking capabilities or if it simply triggered an alarm when he left his home. Adams said juvenile probation officers acted appropriately.

Cumru Police Chief Jed Habecker credited his department for their quick investigation.

He said the crime was only the second robbery to occur along the Cumru section of the Thun Trail in about a decade.

Adams said he has heard from many people in the community that the bicyclist was a hero for successfully defending himself.

"When your life is in danger, you have no choice but to use deadly force," he said.

2012-01-27T01:00:00.000Z

James Cotton
Sweet Home Chicago

Tramp

Stormy Monday

I'm Really Getting Sick Of This Shit

2012-01-26T23:28:00.001Z

And I'm not talking about the lame joke, either.

From I Hate the Media:

And just who decided that milk was a pollutant, anyway?

You guessed it! The EPA under Obama. See this essay by Thomas Sowell. The essay is dated February 1, 2011.

No Depression

2012-01-26T19:58:00.008Z

So tell me, if 13,000,000 remain unemployed. And economists expect to add 160,00o jobs a month next year. How long until all those unemployed are back to work?

(hint -- 81 months. 6.77 years. a damn sight longer than the 99 weeks everyone bitches about)

And that unemployment number does not include those who have fallen off the unemployment benefits roster, who have quit looking.

So double it all. At least.

Fox:

Weekly jobless benefit claims rise amid overall downward trend

WASHINGTON – The number of people seeking unemployment benefits rose last week to a seasonally adjusted 377,000, up from a nearly four-year low the previous week. But the longer-term trend is pointing to a healthier job market.

Applications have trended down over the past few months. The four week average has declined to 377,500. When applications fall consistently below 375,000, it tends to signal that hiring is strong enough to lower the unemployment rate.

Some economists say the figures suggest further job gains ahead.

The nation has added at least 100,000 jobs for six straight months. And the unemployment rate has declined to 8.5 percent, its lowest in almost three years.

Separately, orders for long-lasting manufactured goods rose as companies spent more on computers, machinery and other equipment. The Commerce Department said Thursday that durable goods orders rose 3 percent last month.

Stock market futures rose after the durable goods report.

"There is more horsepower to this economy than most believe," said Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at California State University, Channel Islands. "The stars are aligned right for a meaningful economic recovery."

The number of first-time unemployment applications rose 21,000 last week (midnight rider interrupts -- they actually rose 24,000 over last week because, what Fox/AP shilling for the administration fails to mention here is that last week's number was once again quietly adjusted up from 352,000 to 355,00. not that it matters since it's all crap anyway), the Labor Department said. Applications had plummeted two weeks ago to their lowest level since April 2008.

The average has fallen about 9 percent since Oct. 1.

Unemployment applications have been particularly volatile this month because employers have cut temporary workers hired for the holidays. The department adjusts for seasonal trends. But doing so accurately can be difficult.

But underneath all the volatility, applications have leveled off in recent weeks.

Steven Wood, an economist at Insight Economics, said the longer-term trend suggests that the January jobs report, to be released next week, will show a "solid gain" in hiring.

"The labor market is improving, albeit slowly," Wood said in a note to clients.

Economists forecast that the nation will gain about 160,000 jobs a month in 2012, according to a survey of economists by the Associated Press. That's up from an average of about 135,000 last year.

A better outlook for job growth has coincided with other signs of improvement in the economy. Factory output jumped in December, and consumer confidence and spending have risen. Even the battered housing market has shown some signs of slight improvement.

Still, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday that it expects growth to remain modest this year. And it forecasts only gradual declines the unemployment rate.

The Fed predicts the unemployment rate could fall as low as 8.2 percent by the end of 2012. The economy will likely expand about 2.5 percent this year.

The job market has a long way to go before it fully recovers from the damage of the Great Recession, which wiped out 8.7 million jobs. More than 13 million people remain unemployed. Millions more have given up looking for work and so are no longer counted as unemployed.

Growth could slow this year. Europe is almost certain to fall into recession because of its financial troubles. And wages aren't keeping up with inflation. That makes it harder for consumers to spend more, potentially limiting growth.

FUCK YER HOPE AND CHANGE

2012-01-26T19:54:00.001Z

About time someone gave the sonofabitch a good dressing down. . .

America Agrees!

2012-01-26T19:51:00.002Z

Once again IBA is ahead of the curve. We've been saying this for a very long time. . .

MSNBC:

NBC/WSJ poll: Majority would vote out every member of Congress

In a country sharply divided on almost every issue, most Americans agree on one thing: they don’t like Congress, and they would vote to replace every single member -- even their own -- if they had the option.

Fifty-six percent of registered voters say they would vote out every member of Congress if there were a place on the ballot to do so. That’s the highest response in favor of the question since it was first asked in March 2010.

And they say so across the ideological spectrum – with 55 percent of liberals, 55 percent of moderates, and 58% of conservatives all feeling the same way.

“We found the one area in which all people in the country agree,” said Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who conducted the survey with Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart.

Combine that with Congress continuing to be at near-record lows in approval at 13 percent and all members of Congress are at risk, McInturff said.

But there are also warning signs specifically for Republicans.

More people say the GOP has brought the wrong kind of change (31 percent) in Congress than the right kind (12 percent). That represents a drop for the GOP from a year ago, right after when they took control of the House as a result of the sweeping 2010 elections. In January 2011, 25 percent thought Republicans would bring the right kind of change versus 20 percent who thought they would bring the wrong kind.

Those attitudes are also far worse than right after when Democrats took control of the House in 2006 (42%/15%) and Republicans regained a majority in 1994 (37%/11%).

“People want Congress to get things done, act responsibly and fix the economy,” McInturff said, “and if they don’t,” they could be in trouble. McIntruff added, “These guys are going to be running in a head wind.”

This Week On The Gathering Storm

2012-01-26T18:41:00.001Z

Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, hosted by WC and Always On Watch. The show broadcasts live every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time, for 30 minutes.

The call-in number is 646-915-9870.

Our scheduled guest this week is IQ al Rassooli.

Listen to the January 27, 2012 edition of The Gathering Storm Radio Show, live or later, by CLICKING HERE.

UPCOMING SHOWS:
February 3: Guest to be announced
February 10: IQ al Rassooli
February 17: Midnight Rider
February 24: IQ al Rassooli

The Go-To On SOTU

2012-01-26T13:07:00.001Z

From Hugh Hewitt:
SOTU: Did I hear that right?
By Clark S. Judge: managing director, White House Writers Group, Inc.; chairman, Pacific Research Institute.

Let me get this straight:

1) banks will be punished (do I understand this right, by a committee headed by Eric Holder?) if their lending is too risky,

2) and they will be required (by the same committee) to give more home loans (meaning, it must be, to people who would otherwise not qualify for the loans, or else the government would not have to be involved) at lower rates (which means rates that do not compensate them as much as the market says they need to be compensated for the risks they are taking, all of which sounds like a new edition of the policies that brought on the financial collapse),

3) which must mean that they will have to pull back on risky lending someplace other than homes,

4) the only place that most banks would be able to pull back on riskier customers would be loans to small and new businesses,

5) but these are the businesses that have created just about all the jobs over the last 20 years and he said early in the speech he wants to encourage them,

6) so maybe their growth capital will come from selling stock to the kinds of people who invest in new and small businesses,

7) but through the Buffet Rule he’s going to double the tax rate on investment income for those people, meaning that, like the banks, they can’t be fully compensated for the risk of backing small and new businesses,

8) so they will not invest more in small and new companies but in big established firms,

9) so more of those small and new firms will have to turn to the government for capital,

10) which luckily he said would up its investing in early stage businesses with “the best” ideas,

11) “the best” ideas meaning, I guess, as with Solyndra, ideas that advance his agenda through companies whose owners support his candidacy),

11) or maybe it would be companies that agree to invite unionization (since the unions have failed to organize the new and dynamic sectors of the economy, which is why they have been shrinking),

12) but then with the big businesses, he wants to punish American companies if they invest overseas,

13) and he wants to increase exports,

14) but being competitive in the global markets often means having part of your production near your markets, which is why many companies have opened production facilities abroad and many foreign companies (BMW and Honda, for example) have opened their facilities here,

15) so he’ll make these companies less competitive, meaning less able to export anything that might be paired with some other product the company makes abroad in order to attract buyers,

16) and it also means he’ll have the U.S. ignoring many of the international trading rules of which we have been the principal sponsor since the end of WWII, rules that have led to an incredible growth in widely shared wealth all over the planet,

17) which means that, if he follows through, he’ll blow up the post-WWII global economic system,

18) which in the very short run may help the uncompetitive American labor unions but in the not-so-long run would devastate every economy on earth,

19) but it would also mean he would be in a position to decide where big companies could invest, and when, just as he’ll be in control of all new and small businesses, too,

20) meanwhile he is going to tell states and localities what their budget priorities should be,

21) and make them adopt his policies for running their schools, leaving me to wonder, when he’s through, what won’t he control?

I believe that’s what I heard the president advocate last night. But one term I didn’t hear, maybe I missed it: “The Constitution.” Then again, wasn’t he suggesting that, in brave times like these, we need to put aside those old rules.

Do I have this straight?

Humpday Blues

2012-01-26T01:00:00.001Z

Muddy Waters
Blow Wind Blow

Rollin' Stone

Can't Lose What You Never Had

It's not just that taxes won't work, or that it's about fairness ... it's about the icon of American Success, APPLE

2012-01-25T15:37:00.001Z

I read with great interest that the widow of Steve Jobs sat with Michelle last night…

NYT (no less):

Not long ago, Apple boasted that its products were made in America. Today, few are. Almost all of the 70 million iPhones, 30 million iPads and 59 million other products Apple sold last year were manufactured overseas.

Why can’t that work come home? Mr. Obama asked.

Mr. Jobs’s reply was unambiguous.

“Those jobs aren’t coming back,” he said, according to another dinner guest.

The president’s question touched upon a central conviction at Apple. It isn’t just that workers are cheaper abroad. Rather, Apple’s executives believe the vast scale of overseas factories as well as the flexibility, diligence and industrial skills of foreign workers have so outpaced their American counterparts that “Made in the U.S.A.” is no longer a viable option for most Apple products.

Apple has become one of the best-known, most admired and most imitated companies on earth, in part through an unrelenting mastery of global operations. Last year, it earned over $400,000 in profit per employee, more than Goldman Sachs, Exxon Mobil or Google.

However, what has vexed Mr. Obama as well as economists and policy makers is that Apple — and many of its high-technology peers — are not nearly as avid in creating American jobs as other famous companies were in their heydays.

Apple employs 43,000 people in the United States and 20,000 overseas, a small fraction of the over 400,000 American workers at General Motors in the 1950s, or the hundreds of thousands at General Electric in the 1980s.

Many more people work for Apple’s contractors: an additional 700,000 people engineer, build and assemble iPads, iPhones and Apple’s other products. But almost none of them work in the United States. Instead, they work for foreign companies in Asia, Europe and elsewhere, at factories that almost all electronics designers rely upon to build their wares.

“Apple’s an example of why it’s so hard to create middle-class jobs in the U.S. now,” said Jared Bernstein, who until last year was an economic adviser to the White House.

“If it’s the pinnacle of capitalism, we should be worried.”

THIS IS THE MUST READ REASON WHY AMERICA IS FUCKED BECAUSE STATE CONTROLLED EMPLOYEES ARE NOT FREE TRADE…

Apple executives say that going overseas, at this point, is their only option.

One former executive described how the company relied upon a Chinese factory to revamp iPhonemanufacturing just weeks before the device was due on shelves. Apple had redesigned the iPhone’s screen at the last minute, forcing an assembly line overhaul. New screens began arriving at the plant near midnight.

A foreman immediately roused 8,000 workers inside the company’s dormitories, according to the executive. Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into beveled frames. Within 96 hours, the plant was producing over 10,000 iPhones a day.

“The speed and flexibility is breathtaking,” the executive said. “There’s no American plant that can match that.”

Similar stories could be told about almost any electronics company — and outsourcing has also become common in hundreds of industries, including accounting, legal services, banking, auto manufacturing and pharmaceuticals.

What american worker, family and union would ever consent to such working conditions?

“A foreman immediately roused 8,000 workers inside the company’s dormitories”

AYFKM?

The CIA’s moral and pro American mission should be to ensure that chinese and other workers enjoy the same QUALITY of life that American ingenuity, engineering, manufacturing and labor built here.

State run dormitories, inside the campus of state run, state bank financed, and state built entities in a foreign nation are not capitalism just because Apple’s World HQ is in the USA.

SHAME ON APPLE.

SHAME ON THE USA.

SHAME ON THE CIA.

There is no more moral mission for our CIA than raising the chinese workers quality of life, and thus the COSTS of their labor.

Communism’s raison d’etre was not to create a state controlled labor population for the convenience of others

That would be free trade. What’s going on now is piracy of labor by using a communist giant’s horrible previous conditions.

WAKE UP

READ IT ALL

2012-01-25T01:00:00.000Z

Sonny Boy Williamson II
It's Raining Outdoors Baby

Bye Bye Bird

I'm a Lonely Man

2012-01-24T16:28:00.001Z

World Threats:

Hezbollah Saves Iranian Base in Syria; Is Assad Preparing for Chemical Warfare?
Posted by Ryan Mauro

It’s not exactly a sign of strength when a dictator is found trying to import chemical weapons ingredients and has to rely upon a foreign terrorist group to fight a small group of protesters.

A senior official in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards says that Hezbollah sprung into action to save an Iranian base in Syria from being overrun by protesters and presumably, the rebel forces called the Free Syria Army. The base is located in Madaya in Zabadani, which fell to the rebels last week. The official claimed that Iran and Syria is working with Russia and China to “deter” foreign powers from intervening and that Russia has sent ships including aircraft carriers to protect the country.

A Lebanese opposition figure claims that Assad even relies upon Hezbollah for personal security and the staging of pro-regime rallies. He said that over 200 cars and one bus arrived in Syria from Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon to take part in a rally in Damascus. When Assad appeared in Umayyad Square, Hariri says, he was guarded by Hezbollah terrorists. He also noted that Assad only appeared for three minutes, indicating it was a staged event.

In a worrisome sign that Assad may be preparing to use chemical weapons, it has come out in the Turkish press that four Iranian trucks intercepted on their way to Syria two weeks ago contained WMD-related materials. One truck had components for ballistic missiles and the other three had 66 tons of sodium sulfate, used in the production of chemical weapons.

The Free Syria Army’s winning streak is continuing. It is still holding onto Douma, a suburb of Damascus. There are contradictory reports as to whether they captured parts of the city or the entire city. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the regime’s forces retreated to two sites, abandoning Douma. That would make it the second city to fall to the FSA in one week. Douma is only 20 kilometers southeast of the capital. Over 150,000 people attended funerals for civilians killed there today.

Syrian dissident Ammar Abdulhamid also reported fighting in Aleppo Province, specifically in Managh. There is also video of FSA members openly marching today in Kufrbutna, a neighborhood of Damascus.

2012-01-24T16:19:00.001Z

al Arabiya:

Algeria foils Qaeda attempt to attack foreign ships sailing in the Mediterranean

Algerian security foiled a terrorist al-Qaeda plot to carry out suicidal attacks on U.S. and European ships in the Mediterranean from the eastern costs of Algeria.

The aborted plan, which was to be implemented by al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb, aimed at destabilizing Algerian national economy as well as attracting expansive media coverage, sources told the Algerian newspaper Echorouk.

According to the sources, a cell working under the leadership of the spokesman of al-Qaeda’s wing in the Maghreb Qassemi Salah al-Din, also known as Mohamed Abu Salah, is behind he plot.

The cell, sources add, purchased a boat with a powerful engine and was planning to load it with explosives. A suicidal operative was to sail with the boat towards the targeted foreign ships. The terrorist who was to carry out the operation was granted the right to choose the target.

Available information denote that one of the suspects, called H. Rabeh and currently detained by Algerian authorities, got in touch with a man nicknamed Abbie, wanted by authorities, and who is known for his activities in illegal immigration.

Abbie provided Rabeh with detailed information about prices of boats and locations from which they can carry out the operation and which are basically centered around the Algerian east coast.

The abortion of the terrorist plot dealt a severe blow to al-Qaeda in the Maghreb especially that the suspects’ confessions confirmed that they dealt directly with Abu Mohamed Salah, judicial sources told Echorouk.

The cell involved in the plot was made up of three members — H. Rabeh, T. Belal, and M. Tarek — who all hail from the city of Annaba in northeastern Algeria.

Investigations revealed that the three cell members used to frequent internet cafes and browse Jihadist websites and used fake names. After arousing suspicion with their strange behavior, electronic crime authorities started tracking them down.

According to the investigations, members of the now disbanded cell were originally recruited by now detained terrorist A. Soufian, also known as Abu Muslim al-Jazaeiri and who also hails from Annaba.

Soufian was in touch with terrorist Daghdagh Ahmed, also known as Abdel Illah, the head of the political and foreign relations committee in al-Qaeda.

Based on the detainees’ confessions, Soufian is trusted in all Jihadist forums for the inciting articles he posts on websites popular among Jihadists especial Menbar al-Tawhid and al-Jihad, run by Abu Mohamed al-Maqdissi, one of the most prominent jihadists known for inciting terrorist activists.

Gun Up

2012-01-24T16:15:00.002Z

When your enemies tell yyou how they are going to hit you, i would be foolish not to be ready for them.

The Blaze:

Soros Warns of ‘Riots,‘ ’Brutal’ Clampdowns & Possible Total Economic Collapse

George Soros is no stranger to Blaze readers. The billionaire currency speculator and philanthropist has long been in the news, especially since the fateful day in 1992 when he helped crash England’s economy. In fact, since that day, he has been commonly referred to as “the man who broke the bank of England.”

Soros is shrewd, he has a keen eye for investments, and he knows how to play the markets. Therefore, when he makes a prediction, it might be safe to say it’s worth a listen. After all, his predictions (among other things) have made him the multi-billionaire he is today.

So you might want to pay attention to a recent story from The Daily Beast that claims George Soros is nervous about the future of the global economy and that he warns of dark things to come.

“At times like these, survival is the most important thing,” Soros said.

As he sees it, the world faces one of the most dangerous periods of modern history—a period of “evil,” writes the Beasts’ John Arlidge. “Europe is confronting a descent into chaos and conflict. In America [Soros] predicts riots in the streets that will lead to a brutal clampdown that will dramatically curtail civil liberties [emphases added]. The global economic system could even collapse altogether.”

And to add a little color, Aldridge notes Soros says it all while “peering through his owlish glasses and brushing wisps of gray hair off his forehead.”

“I am not here to cheer you up. The situation is about as serious and difficult as I’ve experienced in my career,” Soros told Newsweek. “We are facing an extremely difficult time, comparable in many ways to the 1930s, the Great Depression. We are facing now a general retrenchment in the developed world, which threatens to put us in a decade of more stagnation, or worse. The best-case scenario is a deflationary environment. The worst-case scenario is a collapse of the financial system.”

As mentioned in the above, and as The Daily Beast points out, Soros’ warning is probably based on his natural market instincts as well as personal experience.

“I did survive a personally much more threatening situation, so it is emotional, as well as rational,” Soros said in reference to his personal experiences with both Nazi and Communist occupations.

“The collapse of the Soviet system was a pretty extraordinary event, and we are currently experiencing something similar in the developed world, without fully realizing what’s happening,” Soros said.

“Unrestrained competition can drive people into actions that they would otherwise regret,” Soros said. “The tragedy of our current situation is the unintended consequence of imperfect understanding. A lot of the evil in the world is actually not intentional. A lot of people in the financial system did a lot of damage without intending to.”

Wait a minute. Soros believes that the economic meltdown was the result of not just poor investments but honest-to-God “evil”?

“That’s correct,” Soros affirmed.

Soros continued in this vein, each prediction getting darker and grimmer than the last.

He believes that the EU must be held together because “if you have a disorderly collapse of the euro, you have the danger of a revival of the political conflicts that have torn Europe apart over the centuries—an extreme form of nationalism, which manifests itself in xenophobia, the exclusion of foreigners and ethnic groups.”

“In Hitler’s time, that was focused on the Jews,” Soros said. “Today, you have that with the Gypsies, the Roma, which is a small minority, and also, of course, Muslim immigrants.”

It is “now more likely than not” that Greece will formally default in 2012, Soros said. For this, he blames the EUs’ leadership and believes that eurozone leaders only know how to “do enough to calm the situation, not to solve the problem.”

Soros then went on to talk about how the Occupy Wall Street movement has added to the ever-changing dynamics in the world economy. Debt, Wall Street and capitalism have been put under intense scrutiny and people are becoming increasingly angry.

As this anger intensifies, will the inevitable result be a spontaneous eruption of violence and riots?

“Yes, yes, yes,” Soros says, almost “gleefully.”

However, according to Soros, worse than the riots and violence will be the government reaction.

“It will be an excuse for cracking down and using strong-arm tactics to maintain law and order, which, carried to an extreme, could bring about a repressive political system, a society where individual liberty is much more constrained, which would be a break with the tradition of the United States,” Soros said.

Perhaps because he sees such a dark future for the West, Soros has staked his “hopes” for the global economy in Middle East and the “democracies” that are springing up over there.

“While the developed world is in a deep crisis, the future for the developing world is very positive,” Soros said. “The aspiration of people for an open society is very inspiring. You have people in Africa lining up for many hours when they are given an opportunity to vote. Dictators have been overthrown. It is very encouraging for freedom and growth.”

Soros insists the key to avoiding cataclysm in 2012 is not to let the crises of 2011 go to waste, writes John Arlidge.

“In the crisis period, the impossible becomes possible,” Soros said. “The European Union could regain its luster. I’m hopeful that the United States, as a political entity, will pass a very severe test and actually strengthen the institution.”

2012-01-24T01:00:00.002Z

Howlin' Wolf
Shake For Me

Dust My Broom

Going Down Slow

2012-01-23T21:06:00.000Z

The Guardian:

HRW calls on West to accept Islamist rise to power

MAGGIE MICHAEL

Associated Press= CAIRO (AP) — The United States and other Western governments must accept the new reality that Islamists have emerged to fill the power vacuum in the Arab world after a wave of popular uprisings, Human Rights Watch said in its annual report Sunday.

The New York-based group also urged Islamist parties, which have emerged as the biggest winners in recent elections in Tunisia and Egypt and are expected to fare well in Libya, to respect the rights of women and religious minorities, saying they cannot "pick and choose" when it comes to human rights.

Islamist parties are "genuinely popular" in the Arab world, said HRW's executive director, Kenneth Roth, warning that "ignoring that popularity would violate democratic principles."

"Being a political Islamic government should not be a reason to turn a government into a pariah," Roth told reporters in Cairo, where the group released its annual report.

The Arab Spring revolts began in Tunisia in late 2010 and quickly spread to Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria and Bahrain, deposing or challenging authoritarian rulers as citizens who long seemed incapable or unwilling to rise against decades of repression took to the streets in a stunning awakening.

Since the collapse of the regimes in Egypt and Tunisia a year ago, Islamist groups once largely confined to the political sidelines, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, have formed parties and contested parliamentary polls, winning the greatest share of seats.

Even the ultraconservative Salafis, who abstained from politics under Egypt's ousted President Hosni Mubarak, have fared well, winning more than 20 percent of the vote in the country's first post-uprising ballot.

Roth was cautious when asked about concerns about potential human rights violations under Islamist rule. He said that so far, Islamists have said "a lot of right things," but said the true test will be how they deal with the full sweep of human rights once in power.

"These are the big questions," he said.

The Muslim Brotherhood, for example, has been most interested in political freedoms, but Roth noted that "it is very difficult to secure political freedom if you are not respecting religious and women rights."

In some ways, the unexpected Arab uprisings have amounted to a slap to the United States and other Western governments, which had supported autocratic regimes that served as bulwarks against Islamists hostile to the West and appeared to offer stability in a volatile region.

"The West backed an array of autocrats as long as they, in turn, supported Western interests," Roth said. "The West is still adjusting to this historic transformation."

He added that the wave of uprisings "show that the forced silence of people living under autocrats should never have been mistaken for popular complacency."

Roth acknowledged Western governments were re-evaluating their policies as new governments emerge in the region.

Western nations have been accused of being selective in supporting the protesters, with NATO airstrikes proving key to the ouster of slain Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi. Meanwhile, the West has stood largely on the sidelines amid continued crackdowns in Bahrain, Yemen and Syria.

"The people driving the Arab Spring deserve strong international support to realize their rights and to build genuine democracies," Roth said in the group's annual report, which covers some 90 countries. He added that the Arab world is in a "transformative moment," and it will not be an easy one.

Human Rights Watch pointed to five main issues that dominated the relationship between Western governments and their Arab autocratic friends: the threat of political Islam, the fight against terrorism, support for Israel, protection of the oil flow and cooperation in stemming immigration.

Even after the leaders of Egypt, Libya and Tunisia were toppled, Western governments remained hesitant to lean too hard on other shaky authoritarian leaders, the group said. China and Russia acted "obstructionist," using their veto power at the U.N. security council to halt pressure on Syria to stop killings of protesters.

The popular uprisings also have alarmed other repressive regimes such as China, Zimbabwe, North Korea, Ethiopia, Vietnam, and Uzbekistan, where rulers were worried about facing similar fates.

"The worst response to the Arab Spring is the dictatorial world who are living in fear of the precedents set in this region," Roth said. "China greatly deepened its repression in an effort to avoid jasmine rallies."

Saudi Arabia also continues to discriminate against its citizens and workers, according to HRW, which said 9 million women, 8 million foreign workers and 2 million Shiite citizens are either suppressed or lacking rights in the country.

The report called on Morocco to change repressive laws, end police violence and reform its judiciary. The chapter on Morocco focused on police harassment of pro-democracy demonstrators, lack of judicial independence and repression of separatist tendencies in the Western Sahara — a disputed territory held by the North African kingdom.

Outside the Arab world, the last year did not witness significant progress in countries with poor human rights records, including China and North Korea, according to the report.

Corruption, poverty and repression still prevail in Equatorial Guinea, the tiny, oil-rich nation off the western coast of Africa, which has been ruled by Africa's longest-serving ruler, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, the group said.

Eritrea continues to be governed by "one of the world's most repressive governments," and its citizens are subjected to torture, detentions and restrictions on freedom of speech, HRW said.

It also cited Colombia, saying armed conflict in the South American country has displaced millions while paramilitary groups with ties to the security apparatus are on the rise.

Cuba, HRW said, remains "the only country in Latin America that represses virtually all forms of political dissent."

The group also claimed that even member states of the European Union have violated human rights through restrictive asylum and migration policies.

2012-01-23T20:31:00.002Z

The Guardian:

EU agrees Iranian oil embargo
Foreign ministers' deal in Brussels could lead to soaring fuel prices and Iran closing the strait of Hormuz

European Union foreign minsters meeting in Brussels have given preliminary approval to ban Iranian crude oil imports

The long-running standoff between Iran and the west over Tehran's nuclear programme has shifted into a more unpredictable phase after Europe decided to impose an oil embargo on the Islamic republic.

The decision by EU foreign ministers at a meeting in Brussels raised the stakes dramatically in the war of wits between Iran and the west.

The EU decided no further oil contracts could be struck between the member states and Iran while existing oil delivery deals would be allowed to run until July.

Several countries shared reservations about the move, EU diplomats said. Greece was the trickiest problem since it imports a lot of Iranian oil on very favourable conditions. Given the financial collapse in Greece, it was in a difficult position and sought compensating measures from the rest of the EU. The impact of the embargo on countries such as Greece is to be reviewed in May.

Iran is Opec's second biggest oil producer after Saudi Arabia, and about 20% of its oil exports go to Europe. It has threatened to close the strait of Hormuz waterway if the oil embargo goes ahead, a move that would choke off global oil supplies and send international tensions soaring.

The oil embargo represents a leap in the sanctions regime against Iran, following four earlier rounds of escalating penalties.

Senior EU officials also concede that the move could be risky and send oil prices rocketing at a time of extreme economic difficulty in the west.

"We need to ensure this does not destabilise the entire global oil market," said a senior EU official.

Another EU diplomat said: "We need to see that EU countries have reliable energy supplies. But we don't want to allow Iran time to find alternative customers."

The Americans and the Europeans are leaning on countries such as South Korea and Japan to curb their imports of Iranian oil. The impact of the embargo may hinge on how China, a large importer, responds.

Brussels stressed that the new punitive measures were aimed at forcing Iran back to the negotiating table over its suspected nuclear projects. Talks between Tehran and the EU collapsed last year in Turkey.

EU officials say the Iranians have been sending signals about resuming talks in recent weeks, but that no one takes them seriously.

"Iran has the opportunity to come forward not just to talk, but to have some concrete issues to talk about. It is very important that it is not just about words. A meeting is not an excuse, a meeting is an opportunity and I hope that they will seize it," said Catherine Ashton, the EU's foreign policy chief.

While all 27 EU states signed up for the sanctions, the new regime was agreed by EU ambassadors only on Monday morning, before the foreign ministers' meeting, indicating the difficulties in striking a deal. Two meetings of the ambassadors last week failed to break a deadlock.

In addition to the oil embargo, the EU also decided to freeze the assets of the Iranian central bank, arguing that the aim was to choke off funding for the nuclear programme.

"The Iranian programmes are proceeding apace and represent a strategic threat," said the diplomat. "The aim is to have a big impact on the Iranian financial system, targeting the economic lifeline of the regime."

RT:

Iran 'definitely' closing Strait of Hormuz over EU oil embargo

Tensions in the Gulf could reach a breaking point as a senior Iranian official said Iran would “definitely” close the Strait of Hormuz if an EU oil embargo disrupted the export of crude oil.

Mohammad Kossari, deputy head of parliament's foreign affairs and national security committee, issued the warning in respone to a decision by the European Union on Monday to impose an oil embargo on Iran over the country’s alleged nuclear weapons program.

“The pressure of sanctions is designed to try and make sure that Iran takes seriously our request to come to the table,” EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said.

However, with Washington’s decision to deploy a second carrier strike group in the Gulf, the EU’s attempt to pressure Iran economically could greatly increase the likelihood of all-out war in the region.

The Strait of Hormuz is the vital link between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

It is also one of the most strategic chokepoints in the world when it comes to oil transit.

With world oil output estimated at some 88 million barrels per day in 2011, the US Energy Information Administration estimated that some 17 million of those barrels passed through the Strait.

If economic sanctions sufficiently pressure Iran to retaliate by closing down the Strait, nearly 20 per cent of worldwide oil trade would be impacted, resulting in a massive spike in global energy costs.

With over half a million regular forces and an additional 120,000 personnel in the country’s elite Revolutionary Guard, analysts believe the consequences of a US-led war against Iran would dwarf recent Western-backed military incursions the Middle East.

Thus far, the US decision to maintain two carrier strike groups in the region has been described as “a routine activity” by Iran.

But the vast US military buildup in the region, which was bolstered when the Pentagon dispatched an additional 15,000 troops to the neighboring nation of Kuwait, was only the latest step in an obvious attempt by Washington to strengthen its military capabilities in the region.

However since 1988, when the United States managed to destroy some 25 per cent of Iran’s larger naval capability during Operation Praying Mantis, Iran has spent the last two decades preparing its Revolutionary Guard naval forces to exploit the vulnerabilities of the United States’ larger conventional forces.

According to Revolutionary Guard commander Brigadier General Jafaari, "The enemy is far more advanced technologically than we are, we have been using what is called asymmetric warfare methods… our forces are now well prepared for it," he said, as cited by Global Bearings.

Ultimately, the latest round of brinkmanship between Iran and the West may force Iran to the negotiating table over its uranium enrichment program.

However, the EU strategy of averting "chaos in the Middle East" by tightening the economic noose around Iran could spark the very conflagration it was ostensibly trying to avert.

Get A Load Of THIS!

2012-01-23T19:40:00.003Z

Coming to your television screen soon, no doubt:

He's actually campaigning against the Constitution!

2012-01-23T01:00:00.000Z

Memphis Slim
Beer Drinking Women

Grinder Man Blues

In The Evening

2012-01-22T21:03:00.000Z

My Way:

Egypt's Islamists win 75 percent of parliament

CAIRO (AP) - Final results on Saturday showed that Islamist parties won nearly three-quarters of the seats in parliament in Egypt's first elections since the ouster of authoritarian president Hosni Mubarak, according to election officials and political groups.

The Islamist domination of Egypt's parliament has worried liberals and even some conservatives about the religious tone of the new legislature, which will be tasked with forming a committee to write a new constitution. It remains unclear whether the constitution will be written while the generals who took power after Mubarak's fall are still in charge, or rather after presidential elections this summer.

In the vote for the lower house of parliament, a coalition led by the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood won 47 percent, or 235 seats in the 498-seat parliament. The ultraconservative Al-Nour Party was second with 25 percent, or 125 seats.

The Salafi Al-Nour, which was initially the biggest surprise of the vote, wants to impose strict Islamic law in Egypt, while the more moderate Brotherhood, the country's best-known and organized party, has said publicly that it does not seek to force its views about an appropriate Islamic lifestyle on Egyptians.

The two parties are unlikely to join forces because of ideological differences, but both have a long history of charity work in Egypt's vast poverty-stricken neighborhoods and villages, giving them a degree of legitimacy and popularity across the country in areas where newer liberal parties have yet to get a foothold.

Muslim Brotherhood lawmaker Mohammed el-Beltagi said the new parliament represents "the wish of the Egyptian people."

Egypt's elections commission acknowledged that there were voting irregularities, but the vote has been hailed as the country's freest and fairest in living memory.

The liberals who spearheaded the revolt that toppled Mubarak struggled to organize and connect with a broader public in the vote, and did not fair as well as the Islamists.

The Egyptian bloc, which is headed by a party founded by Christian telecom tycoon Naguib Sawiris, said it won 9 percent of the seats in parliament. Egypt's oldest secular party, the Wafd, also won around 9 percent.

Newer parties, such as the liberal Revolution Continues Party won 2 percent, as did the Islamist Center Party, which had been banned from politics under Mubarak.

The results leave the liberal groups with little ability to maneuver in parliament, unless they choose to mobilize the street in protests or work on key issues with the dominant Islamist groups, said Mohamed Abu-Hamed, the deputy leader of the liberal Free Egyptians Party.

The Brotherhood has refused to join recent street protests, saying that elections and the new parliament are the best ways to respond to demands that the military transfer power immediately to a civilian authority.

"The street and the parliament are not at opposite ends. The issues are not going to be resolved by protests, but through parliamentary laws," the Brotherhood's el-Beltagi said.

The final tally, which includes at least 15 seats for former regime figures, comes as little surprise since election results had been partially announced throughout the three stages of the vote, which took place over several weeks across the country.

The United States long shunned Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and turned a blind-eye to the arrest and torture of Salafis, who now comprise the bulk of Al-Nour Party's constituents, under Mubarak, who was a longtime U.S. ally.

However, top U.S. officials from the State Department have recently met with the Muslim Brotherhood's leaders, who have in turn assured Western officials that they respect minority rights and support democracy.

A White House statement said that President Barack Obama called Egypt's ruling military leader, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, on Friday and welcomed the historic seating of the lower house of Egypt's Parliament, which is set to convene for the first time on Monday. Activists have accused the country's military leaders of repressive tactics. Critics say the nearly 12,000 civilians who have faced military trials since Mubarak's ouster have not been afforded proper due process.

Chief military prosecutor Adel el-Morsi said that 1,959 people convicted in military courts since Mubarak's ouster would be released on the one-year anniversary of the start of the uprising on Wednesday.

Among them would be Maikel Nabil Sanad, a blogger who was arrested in March and sentenced to two years in prison on charges of criticizing the armed forces and publishing false information for comments on his blog comparing the military to Mubarak's regime.

2012-01-22T20:59:00.001Z

Jerusalem Post:

Arab Spring sees rise in anti-Semitism
By GIL SHEFLER
01/22/2012 06:02
Ministry study finds that "anti-Semitic discourse and incitement have become more extreme and violent" since Arab Spring

There has been an increase in anti-Semitism in the Middle East in the wake of the Arab Spring, according to a report set for release on Sunday.

That is the finding of the study Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein is to submit to the government.

“[While] the popular uprisings in the Arab world do not represent a general change in attitude towards Israel, Zionism and the Jews it seems the anti-Semitic discourse and incitement have become more extreme and violent,” the report, which was written by scholars at the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University, says.

“Charges of an international Jewish conspiracy have been a central motif in the anti-Semitic propaganda that has accompanied the Arab Spring uprisings. This motif has been emphasized in each of the countries especially by way of pointing a blaming finger towards Israel, Zionism and Jews conspiring against Arabs and Muslims.”

The paper provides a lengthy list of anecdotal evidence. In Libya, it points at rebel claims that the mother of longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi was Jewish as a way of defaming the slain dictator. In Syria, it cites insults made by the embattled government of Bashar Assad calling opposition forces “an army of donkeys in the service of the Mossad.” And in Egypt it says Muslim scholars have issued edicts forbidding believers to sign agreements with “monkeys,” referring to Jews.

The study, however, does not contain numerical data. Eran Sidis, a spokesman for Edelstein, said figures supporting the thesis of the report will be released by the Kantor Center in April.

Edelstein said the report was a sad reminder that anti-Semitism is still alive and well in 2012.

The Likud minister noted that the study was being released ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Friday.

He added that new media has provided a new platform where hatred of Jews can flourish.

“This year anti-Semitism has been expressed in unbridled attacks and violence towards Jews in the Diaspora and Israel,” Edelstein said. “The accessibility of cyberspace and the freedom it grants to those who would use it to propagate the unprecedented dissemination of anti-Semitism [is worrying].”

The report covered anti-Semitic events across the globe from Latin America to Australia. It cited several high-profile instances of offensive comments made by celebrities in the past year, including by British fashion designer John Galliano and Danish director Lars von Trier. Also, it said old-fashioned cases of anti-Semitism persisted in places such as Ukraine, where the annual Rosh Hashana pilgrimage to the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov in Uman drew biased coverage from local press.

If Obama Debated Romney

2012-01-22T13:18:00.001Z

(Hat tip to to 1389 Blog)

Yes, the above video is satiric. Still, Romney does provide Obama with plenty of ammunition for a Presidential debate. Romney is notorious for flip flops and contradictory statements.