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[Source: RETROGRESSING
D.C. cops caught stealing from Toys for Tots on Christmas eve
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[Source: vote tags: Tracking the Vote
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Back to business in Iraq?
Some progress in Iraq, as a deal is struck on the export of oil to Turkey
The Iraqi government is turning its attention increasingly towards issues relating to economic development, now that an agreement of sorts has been hammered out on future security steps, notably the deal struck over a timetable for US withdrawal. Oil remains on top of the economic agenda, with efforts now being directed towards bridging the gap between the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) and the Baghdad authorities in their turf war about new field development. The government is also making moves in the telecoms sector, with new licences on the way, and addressing Iraq's chronic electricity shortages.
The latest progress in the oil sector occurred in late November, when the KRG's prime minister, Nechiravan Barzani, and the federal oil minister, Hussein al-Shahristani, agreed on the export of some 250,000 barrels/day of oil to Turkey from the northern Tawke and Taq Taq fields. These are operated under KRG-administered contracts respectively by Norway’s DNO and a joint venture of Turkey’s Genel Enerji and Switzerland-based Addax Petroleum. They are both to be connected to the main Kirkuk-Ceyhan northern export pipeline by mid-2009. ...
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The coming days: The week ahead
America's troubled carmakers look set for a bail-out, and other news
• CONGRESS is set to vote on giving America's embattled carmakers a huge handout to save them from the scrapheap. The bosses of Detroit's Big Three recently visited Washington, DC, to ask for some $34 billion to keep their firms in business. General Motors and Chrysler have given warning that they will not make it to the end of the year without extra cash. If, as seems likely, the troubled car firms get a vast dollop of taxpayers' money, it is unlikely to be enough to return them to good health. So America's politicians should prepare themselves for another visit.
For background, see article ...
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American carmakers: A deal for Detroit?
Congress appears poised to agree upon a temporary bail-out for troubled American carmakers
THERE are two ways of fixing a broken-down car. A nut-and-bolt restoration of the whole vehicle would return it to top condition, whereas a patch-up of the worst problems might keep it on the road. Late on Monday December 8th congressional Democrats agreed in principle to opt for the latter fix, putting off big repairs, but making available $15 billion in emergency loans, perhaps in exchange for some shares in the companies. It is unclear, however, whether the Bush administration will support the deal.
Car bosses have spent as much time in Washington, DC, as they have in Detroit of late, trying to convince lawmakers of the urgent need for cash to keep their industry alive. And they learned a little about politics along the way. A first visit to hold out the begging bowl was ill-received, not least because the beggars whizzed in on corporate jets. For the second round of congressional investigation they opted to drive in green vehicles. That piece of belated PR and the prospect that General Motors and Chrysler could go bust before the year ends prompted lawmakers to dip into a previously approved fund which is intended to help carmakers build more fuel-efficient vehicles. ...
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Fragile state
India and America want Pakistan to fight terrorism harder
It is difficult to overestimate the extent to which the terrorist attack on Mumbai has complicated the outlook for Pakistan's relations with both India and the US. Whether or not conclusive evidence emerges of Pakistani complicity in the attack, the damage to relations with India has already been done, and the challenge will now be to ensure that hostilities do not escalate further. Meanwhile, the Mumbai attack will ensure that the US increases its already-destabilising pressure on Pakistan to deal with locally-based terrorist groups.
The biggest immediate risk is that India could decide to launch a retaliatory attack on militant training camps either in Pakistan-administered Kashmir or in Pakistan proper. On the plus side, government-level relations between India and Pakistan are much stronger than they have been in the past. Thus far the Pakistani administration has shown commendable restraint; the president, Asif Ali Zardari, has expressed in unusually forthright terms a desire not to let the current situation derail the ongoing process of normalising bilateral relations. ...
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People's Success?? 'BoA set to lose billions in business as Governor, President-elect show solidarity with workers'
In a stinging note of support for the laid off workers that have taken up residency in Chicago's Republic Windows & Doors factory, the Governor of Illinois has suspended business with Bank of America until it reissues credit to the shuttered company. Bank of America cut off credit to Republic Windows & Doors company last week, and workers, demanding severance pay, began staging sit-ins, effectively taking control of the building.The governor's bold move comes immediately after President-elect Obama, himself a Chicago native, expressed sympathy for and agreement with the worker's plight and resulting actions.When it comes to the situation here in Chicago with the workers who are asking for their benefits and payments they have earned, I think they are absolutely right, said Obama during a Sunday news conference. Whats happening to them is reflective of whats happening across this economy."
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Hubble telescope's top ten and....
The best of the final frontier, snapped by the Hubble telescope from 16 years. But first.... Have you ever thought about this; What does the hubble see when it is pointed at the earth ? I still know people that say I'm crazy for saying that.Never thought about that did you? If you have, you...
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Take Back Your Media! Tell Obama What The New FCC Chair Should Do
Wanted: A leader who understands that the "open" Internet doesn't mean a burst pipe, thinks a diverse media is more than just a few minority network anchors, and isn't afraid to battle chest-thumping corporate lobbyists to protect the public's interest.Alright, so we may not be doing the hiring, but President-elect Barack Obama is, and we the public need to hold the president-elect to his campaign promises as he picks the next head of the Federal Communications Commission.Obama will soon announce his choice to lead the FCC, a decision that will influence every facet of our media system - from media consolidation to broadband access and cell phone innovation. Obama has pledged to make media in America more open, diverse and democratic, but will he stand by this promise in the face of intense insider pressure to choose a more industry friendly FCC chairman?Vote now on the top three qualifications you most want for the FCC chair. We'll compile the votes and send them on to Obama's FCC transition team. Now is our best chance to change course and make real the possibility of universal broadband access, an open Internet, and more locally controlled radio and TV.
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The Deluder In Chief
ihtWe long ago gave up hope that President Bush would acknowledge his many mistakes, or show he had learned anything from them. Even then we were unprepared for the epic denial that Bush displayed in his interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson the other day, which he presumably considered an...
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Hottest Search: Laura Bush Killed A Guy
Last night's episode of FOX's 'Family Guy' featured the phrase "Laura Bush killed a guy" repeated throughout the half hour. The line refers to the fact that, at age 17, Laura Bush (then Laura Welch) ran a stop sign while driving, killing a young man in another vehicle. Although it has been speculated that Laura may have been intoxicated, the accident was not investigated as a crime. Out of nowhere, the 'Family Guy' episode has propelled searches concerning the story to the top of Google trends.""
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Christopher Hitchens On The Media's Disingenuous Failure To State The Obvious
The obvious is sometimes the most difficult thing to discern, and few things are more amusing than the efforts of our journals of record to keep "open" minds about the self-evident, and thus to create mysteries when the real task of reportage is to dispel them. An all-time achiever in this category is Fernanda Santos of the New York Times, who managed to write from Bombay on Nov. 27 that the Chabad Jewish center in that city was "an unlikely target of the terrorist gunmen who unleashed a series of bloody coordinated attacks at locations in and around Mumbai's commercial center." Continuing to keep her brow heavily furrowed with the wrinkles of doubt and uncertainty, Santos went on to say that "[i]t is not known if the Jewish center was strategically chosen, or if it was an accidental hostage scene."This same puzzled expression is currently being widely worn on the faces of all those who wonder if Pakistan is implicated in the "bloody coordinated" assault on the heart of Bombay. To get an additional if oblique perspective on this riddle that is an enigma wrapped inside a mystery, take a look at Joshua Hammer's excellent essay in the current Atlantic. The question in its title—"[Is Syria] Getting Away With Murder?" — is at least asked
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Friday, December 5, 2008
UFO Enthusiasts Call on Obama to Release X-Files
UFO enthusiasts are pressing Barack Obama to release classified documents about sightings of alien spacecraft, encouraged by support from within the President-Elect's own White House team.Desperate to see the US emulate the British Government and disclose reported "contact" with UFOs, the enthusiasts have written to Mr Obama to ask that his administration comes clean about the contents of America's "X-Files".They believe they have good prospects of success after public statements of support from both John Podesta, who is running Mr Obama's White House transition team, and Bill Richardson, the Governor of New Mexico - a UFO sighting hotspot - who is expected to secure a cabinet post.In the letter to Mr Obama, the Extraterrestrial Phenomenon Political Action Committee calls on the President-Elect to "end the six-decade truth embargo regarding an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race".
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Alabama Mayor Arrested For Bribery
In what federal prosecutors are calling a classic pay-to-play scheme, the mayor of Alabama"s largest city has been arrested and charged with bribery and money laundering for masterminding a multibillion-dollar sewer bond deal that practically bankrupted the surrounding county.
Long the target of a huge federal investigation, Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford has finally been hauled away in handcuffs and charged for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange for his influence on bond deals and swaps. The veteran politician committed the crimes while he was president of the Jefferson County Commission, according to authorities who have been watching him for months.
A 101-count indictment charges the Democrat mayor and two of his investment banker buddies with a series of crimes connected to the Jefferson County bond transactions and swap agreements. Among the charges are conspiracy, bribery, fraud, money laundering and filing false tax returns.
According to the indictment, Langford solicited $235,000 from an Alabama-based bond underwriter and a lobbyist in exchange for his help in getting lucrative government deals. The bribe was delivered in the form of cash, expensive jewelry and fancy clothes. Prosecutors say Langford sold out his public office to his friends through a web of financing agreements.
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Currency collapse in Ukraine
The battle in Ukraine to stop the currency plummeting
Ukraine’s currency is plummeting in response to the country’s declining economic prospects and financing difficulties. With the IMF now having a major say in policy decisions, non-market solutions are improbable; instead, the aim is to achieve an orderly depreciation rather than a rout. Ultimately, a weaker exchange rate will be beneficial to the economy. Yet the adjustment will be painful, and this may fuel political impulses that run counter to IMF strictures.
The hryvnya hit an all-time low of HRN7.38:US$1 on November 27th, a fall of around 38% from the HRN4.60:US$1 rate seen in the first week of July. The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU, the central bank) had been attempting to defend the currency through interventions in the foreign exchange market, but having seen reserves fall by 15% in October alone, to US$31.9bn, it can ill afford to further defend the currency. ...
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Saturday, November 29, 2008
U.S. Government Supplying Deadly Unapproved Drugs To Population
Dozens of deaths have been linked to medications that have never been reviewed by the government for safety and effectiveness but are still covered under Medicaid, an Associated Press analysis of federal data has found.Taxpayers have shelled out at least $200 million since 2004 for such drugs, and millions of private patients are taking them as well.The AP analysis found that Medicaid paid nearly $198 million from 2004 to 2007 for more than 100 unapproved drugs, mostly for common conditions such as colds and pain. Data for 2008 were not available but unapproved drugs still are being sold. The AP checked the medications against FDA databases, using agency guidelines to determine if they were unapproved. The FDA says there may be thousands of such drugs on the market.The medications date back decades, before the Food and Drug Administration tightened its review of drugs in the early 1960s. The FDA says it is trying to squeeze them from the market, but conflicting federal laws allow the Medicaid health program for low-income people to pay for them.
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Online advertising: Not ye olde banners
Internet advertising will be relatively unscathed in the downturn
AT THE beginning of the year Jeff Zucker, the boss of NBC Universal, a big television and film company, told an audience of TV executives that their biggest challenge was to ensure “that we do not end up trading analogue dollars for digital pennies”. He meant that audiences were moving online faster than advertisers, thus leaving media companies short-changed. Now, near the end of the year, the situation looks even worse, as the recession threatens to turn even the analogue dollars into pennies. Will this hasten the shift towards internet advertising, or will it decline too?
Advertising rises and falls with the economy, though how much is a matter of debate. Randall Rothenberg, the boss of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, a trade association for digital advertisers, points to the remarkable stability of advertising at about 2% of GDP since 1919, when the data began to be collected. This would suggest that ad budgets will move roughly in line with economic output. ...
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No comment from Germany on Kosovo spy report
22 Nov 2008 15:40:47 GMTSource: ReutersPRISTINA, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Germany declined to comment on Saturday on reports that three Germans arrested on suspicion of throwing explosives at an EU office in Kosovo were intelligence officers.The explosive charge was thrown on Nov. 14 at the International Civilian Office (ICO), the office of EU Special Representative Pieter Feith, who oversees Kosovo's governance, but caused only minor damage. The men were detained on Thursday.A spokesman for the German foreign ministry in Berlin confirmed that three Germans had been arrested, but declined to make any further comment as an investigation was under way.
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International Space Station Turns 10
These are some amazing pictures...This month marks the 10th anniversary of the first launched module of the International Space Station (ISS). The module Zarya was lifted into orbit on November 20th, 1998 by a Russian Proton rocket lifting off from Baikonur, Kazhakstan. In the decade since, 44 manned flights and 34 unmanned flights have carried further modules, solar arrays, support equipment, supplies and a total of 167 human beings from 15 countries to the ISS, and it still has a ways to go until it is done.Originally planned to be complete in 2003, the target date for completion is now 2011. Aside from time spent on construction, ISS crew members work on a good deal of research involving biology and physics in conditions of microgravity. If humans are ever to leave the Earth for extended periods, the ISS is designed to be the place where we will discover the best materials, procedures and safety measures to make it a reality.Astronaut James Newman is seen here making final connections the U.S.-built Unity node to the Russian-built Zarya module. (Credit: NASA)
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Is The Video Game Industry Recession-Proof?
Daniel Terdiman, cNet:It would be tempting for those in the video game business to take some recent news - for instance, that October sales were through the roof, or that the latest World of Warcraft expansion broke the all-time record for single-day PC game sales - as proof that their industry may be immune from the deep despair confronting the global economy.And indeed, that seems to be exactly what many people in the industry are choosing to believe: that in rough times, people always spend money on entertainment, and that as entertainment goes, video game software and hardware offer much higher value than other options. In other words, the theory goes, the video game industry is recession-proof.But people holding to that notion may yet want to consider getting their resumes ready or holding off on buying that Porsche, since all optimism aside, the future may not be so bright. It's true that sales may be up in the short term, and look good for the holidays, but Wall Street doesn't appear to be impressed.
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