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Bear Market

MTnews — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:31:41 GMT

Daily Market Commentary for November 20, 2009

Bear Market

Stocks opened lower today extending the two-day bear market; investors focused their attention towards the technology sector, they showed concern when Dell, the third largest PC maker reported disappointing earnings. (Read more at Millennium-Traders.Com)

Economic data released today: N/A

At the NYSE closing bell on the New York Stock Exchange, here is how the major world indices and major U.S. stock indices ended the trading session on the world markets as well as the emerging markets including the stock market closing bell price:
DOW (Dow Jones Industrial Average) shed 10.65 points, EOD 10,321.79
NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) shed 33.17, EOD 7,084.47
National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) shed 10.22 points, EOD 2,146.60
S&P 500 (SPX) shed 3.3 points, EOD 1,091.60
BEL 20 (BEL20) shed 2.15 points, EOD 2,483.46
CAC 40 (CAC40) shed 30.86 points, EOD 3,729.36
FTSE100 (UKX100) shed 16.29 points, EOD 5,251.41
NIKKEI 225 (NIK/O) gain 15.0213points, EOD 9,497.68

New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) stock market indicators for the trading session today:
Advanced stock prices 1,275 declined stock prices 1,797, unchanged stock prices 97, stock prices hitting new highs 54 and stock prices hitting new lows 8. NYSE quotes for volatile stocks and market trends, as well as stock quotes, stock prices and stock symbols of Day Trading Stock Picks on the New York Stock Exchange stock market for Day Trading online and active Day Trading for those who are or would like to be Day Trading for a living: FAS shed 1.20, HOD 76.00, LOD 74.14, EOD 74.96; SJM gain 2.93, HOD 56.86, LOD 55.13, EOD 56.41; NE shed 1.70, HOD 41.43, LOD 38.62, EOD 40.00; EDC shed 0.54, HOD 128.45, LOD 123.65, EOD 126.51; CME gain 1.02, HOD 325.45, LOD 316.85, EOD 322.99; POT gain 1.54, HOD 115.43, LOD 110.43, EOD 114.71; AFL gain 0.26, HOD 44.94, LOD 43.97, EOD 44.10.

National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) stock market indicators for the trading session today:
Advanced stock prices 1,248, declined stock prices 1,458, unchanged stock prices 140, stock prices hitting new highs 47 and stock prices hitting new lows 31. NASDAQ quotes, volatile stocks and market trends, as well as stock quotes, stock prices and stock symbols of Day Trading Stock Picks on the NASDAQ stock market for Day Trading online and active Day Trading for those who are or would like to be Day Trading for a living: FSLR gain 0.05, HOD 121.79, LOD 118.90, EOD 121.18; ISRG shed 2.24, HOD 281.68, LOD 273.15, EOD 276.44; BIDU shed 0.42, HOD 427.79, LOD 421.77, EOD 427.59; AMZN gain 0.67, HOD 129.99, LOD 127.41, EOD 129.66; INTU shed 0.61, HOD 30.00, LOD 29.27, EOD 29.66; ARUN shed 0.64, HOD 9.39, LOD 8.62, EOD 8.94.

Market trends on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) and stock market indicators for the trading session today:
Advanced stock prices 238, declined stock prices 295, unchanged stock prices 40, stock prices hitting new highs 11 and stock prices hitting new lows 6.

Chicago Board of Trade Futures Market for the day, at time of this posting:
E-mini S&P 500 (ES) Dec 09: EOD 1090.50; Change -3.75
E-mini NASDAQ-100 (NQ) Dec 09: EOD 1,765.25; Change -5.00
E-mini DOW $5 (YM) Dec 09: EOD 10,308; Change -19
E-mini S&P MidCap 400 (MF) Dec 09: EOD 686.50; Change -5.60
Nikkei 225 (Yen) Dec 09: EOD 9,480; Change 30

World Currencies for the Forex Market, for Forex Trading by active Forex Traders, at time of this posting:
Euro 0.6729 U.S. Dollars 1.4860
Japanese Yen 89.0000 to U.S. Dollars 0.0112
British Pound 0.6058 to U.S. Dollars 1.6506
Canadian Dollar 1.0699 to U.S. Dollars 0.9347
Swiss Franc 1.0173 to U.S. Dollars 0.9830

COMMODITY MARKETS:
Energy Sector - Nymex:
Light Crude (December 09) shed $0.74, EOD $76.72 per barrel ($US per barrel)
Heating Oil (December 09) shed $0.02, EOD $2.01 a gallon ($US per gallon)
Natural Gas (December 09) gain $0.04, EOD $4.76 per million BTU ($US per mmbtu.)
Unleaded Gas (December 09) gain $0.01, EOD $1.98 a gallon ($US per gallon)

Metals Markets - Comex:
Gold (December 09) gain $6.60, EOD $1,148.50 ($US per Troy ounce)
Silver (December 09) shed $0.01, EOD $18.45 ($US per Troy ounce)
Platinum (January 09) shed $2.00, EOD $1,441.90 ($US per Troy ounce)
Copper (December 09) gain $0.03, EOD $3.13 ($US per pound)

Livestock and Meat Markets - Chicago Mercantile Exchange (cents per lb.):
Lean Hogs (December 09) gain $1.10, EOD $64.38
Pork Bellies (February 10) gain $0.05, EOD $87.13
Live Cattle (December 09) gain $0.05, EOD $85.43
Feeder Cattle (January 10) gain $0.85, EOD $92.68

Other Commodities - Chicago Board of Trade (cents per bushel):
Corn (December 09) shed $3.75, EOD $407.00
Soybeans (January 10) gain $7.00, EOD $1,046.00

BOND MARKET:
2 year EOD 100 17/32, change -1/32, Yield 0.72, Yield change 0.02
5 year EOD 100 30/32, change -3/32, Yield 2.16, Yield change 0.02
10 year EOD 100 4/32, change -5/32, Yield 3.36, Yield change 0.02
30 year EOD 101 15/32, change -4/32, Yield 4.28, change 0.01

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Thanks for reading
Millennium-Traders.Com

Northern Ireland's Lessons for Kirkuk to Be Discussed

Big.V — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:19:13 GMT

Northern Ireland's Lessons for Kirkuk to Be Discussed

11/20/09

BBC) -- A conference is being held in Iraq examining how NI peace principles might be applied to the city of Kirkuk.
Kirkuk is the centre of the northern Iraqi oil fields and is an ethnically mixed city populated by Kurds, Assyrians, Turkmen and Arabs.
A delegation including Sinn Fein's Alex Maskey, the Independent Monitoring Commission's Lord Alderdice and consultant Quintin Oliver is attending.
They will be joined in Baghdad by South African and Iraqi counterparts.
The trip is a follow up to Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness's visit in July last year which finalised the Helsinki principles, a code of conduct for future negotiations which drew on George Mitchell's principles on non-violence.
In an interview with the BBC, Quintin Oliver said the Iraqis in Kirkuk were very interested in the power sharing arrangements at Stormont, the reforms in policing and the north-south structures developed under the Good Friday Agreement.
Both the northern Kurdish authorities and the southern Iraqi authorities have laid claim to the oil resources around Kirkuk.
Much of the political tension between the Kurds and Arabs in Kirkuk stems from an Iraqi-government programme of the 1970s - under Saddam Hussein - that moved thousands of Arab families to the province and expelled Kurdish and other ethnic groupings from their homes.
Known as the "Arabisation of Kirkuk", the aim was to ensure Arab control of the oil fields that were first discovered in the 1920s and are connected by pipelines to Mediterranean ports.
It is this issue, together with historical grievances, that is still being played out today.
Iraqi Kurds believe they should control the city because of the demographic distortion caused by Saddam's Arabisation, and therefore retain much say over the oil.
But the ethnic Arabs, together with the Turkmen community, maintain the oil should be a national and not a regional resource. Therefore, they say, Kirkuk should remain outside the Kurdish semi-autonomous area and under control of the central government.

http://www.aina.org/news/20091120143354.htm

U.S. Fears Iraq Development Projects May Go to Waste

Big.V — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:16:44 GMT

U.S. Fears Iraq Development Projects May Go to Waste

11/20/09

BAGHDAD -- In its largest reconstruction effort since the Marshall Plan, the United States government has spent $53 billion for relief and reconstruction in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, building tens of thousands of hospitals, water treatment plants, electricity substations, schools and bridges.
But there are growing concerns among American officials that Iraq will not be able to adequately maintain the facilities once the Americans have left, potentially wasting hundreds of millions of dollars and jeopardizing Iraq's ability to provide basic services to its people.
The projects run the gamut -- from a cutting-edge, $270 million water treatment plant in Nasiriya that works at a fraction of its intended capacity because it is too sophisticated for Iraqi workers to operate, to a farmers' market that farmers have not been able to decide how to divvy up space for, to a large American hospital closed immediately after it was handed over to Iraq because the government was unable to supply it with equipment, a medical staff or electricity.
The concern about the sustainability of the projects comes as Iraq is preparing for pivotal national elections in January and as rebuilding has emerged as a political imperative in Iraq, eclipsing security in some parts of the country as the main anxiety of an electorate frustrated with the lack of social, economic and political progress. American forces are scheduled to begin withdrawing in large numbers next year.
In hundreds of cases during the past two years, the Iraqi government has refused or delayed the transfer of American-built projects because they can not staff or maintain them, Iraqi and American government officials say.
Other facilities, including hospitals, schools and prisons built with American funds, have remained empty long after they were completed because there were not enough Iraqis trained to operate them.
"As large-scale construction projects -- power plants, water-treatment systems and oil facilities -- have been completed, there has been concern regarding the ability of Iraqis to maintain and fund their operations once they are handed over to the Iraqi authorities," said a recent analysis prepared for Congress by the Congressional Research Service.
The Government Accountability Office and the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction have also issued reports during the past several months about the potential failure of American-financed projects once they are transferred to Iraq.
Stuart W. Bowen Jr., inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, said his watchdog agency had "regularly raised concerns about the potential waste of U.S. taxpayer money resulting from reconstruction projects that were poorly planned, badly transferred, or insufficiently sustained by the Iraqi government."
The blame is shared, officials said. While Iraq has often been guilty of poor management, American authorities have repeatedly failed to ask Iraqis what sort of projects they needed and have not followed up with adequate training. And whether or not the American-built health centers and power plants are ever used as intended, the American companies that won the lion's share of rebuilding contracts from the federal government have been paid.
The Iraqi government, prodded by American officials here, has pledged to begin spending more of its own money on reconstruction, but the country is facing a substantial budget deficit because of declines in international oil prices.
Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has insisted that reconstruction is the next task. What is not clear is where the $400 billion the government says it needs will come from.
"We will use the revenue we have from oil, but the government feels it has to do more than that to rebuild," said Ali al-Alak, an adviser to Mr. Maliki.
In the meantime, the Americans -- military and civilian reconstruction specialists alike -- continue to depart in large numbers, taking with them their money, equipment and expertise.
Despite the $53 billion spent by the United States, many Iraqis have criticized the rebuilding effort as wasteful. Ali Ghalib Baban, Iraq's minister of planning, said it had had no discernable impact. "Maybe they spent it," he said, "but Iraq doesn't feel it."
Iraqis, for whom bombed-out buildings are an unremarkable part of urban existence, also say they have seen little evidence of rebuilding.
"Where is the reconstruction?" asked Sahar Kadhum, a resident of Kut, about 100 miles southeast of Baghdad. "The city is sleeping on hills of garbage."
Indeed, despite the billions in American funds, more than 40 percent of Iraqis still lack access to clean water, according to the Iraqi government. Ninety percent of Iraq's 180 hospitals do not have basic medical and surgical supplies, according to the aid organization Oxfam. Iraqis also have from disproportionately high rates of infant mortality, cerebral palsy and cancer.
Exacerbating the problem, Iraqi and American officials say that hundreds of thousands of Iraq's professional class have fled or been killed during the war, leaving behind a population with too few doctors, nurses, engineers, scientists and others.
In Hilla, 60 miles south of Baghdad, a recently completed $4 million maternity hospital built by the Americans is open, but the staff members are unable to operate much of its equipment.
"The building is fairly good and the Americans have provided the hospital with a variety of high-tech medical devices, but they did not pay attention to the training of doctors in how to use them," said Jawad al-Jubouri, a district officer.
In Falluja, west of Baghdad, a $98 million waste water treatment plant built by the United States serves only one-third of the homes it was intended to because the Iraqi government has not supplied it with sufficient fuel "raising the possibility that the U.S. effort has been wasted," according to a special inspector general's report.
At Ibn Sina Hospital in Baghdad, which had been the American military's largest medical center in the country, Iraqi security forces took up guard positions even before the conclusion of a ceremonial transfer to the Iraqi government last month. The hospital, however, has been closed because the Health Ministry lacks the staff and equipment to reopen it, even though the American military said it left $7.9 million in equipment behind.
Iraq's most notorious reconstruction project might be the $165 million Basra Children's Hospital in southern Iraq. Championed by Laura Bush when she was the first lady, its completion has been delayed by more than four years, and the project is $115 million over budget.
Once the hospital opens -- perhaps next year -- there will be too few doctors and other medical staff members to take advantage of much of its modern equipment.
"It was supposed to open in March, but I don't think it will be ready," said Ahmed Qassim, the hospital's director. He added: "Maybe July, but we don't know. Maybe not July."
Duraid Adnan contributed reporting from Basra, John Leland from Baghdad and Iraqi employees of The New York Times from Basra, Hilla and Kut.
By Timothy Williams
New York Times

http://www.aina.org/news/20091120145453.htm

Particular viewpoint in recent declines in Iraqi shares

iraqi investor — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:41:58 GMT

Particular viewpoint in recent declines in Iraqi shares

Isx4 � viewpoint
20-11-09

It may be a continuing decline of Iraq market of securities to investors, be they Iraqis or non-Iraqis, but everyone should understand the game first before being allowed a negative impacts of elimination of optimism.
All declines were obtained at the 2nd meeting of the second week of this month of Novem intentional and deliberate carefully, and to be frank with you are in the planning of a number of large investors and cooperates with a number of the brokering companies that claim to fame, trust and integrity, where he realized gains obtained after the first week, especially in the service sector and industry that ownership may escape them, so they more shares by virtue of these holdings of large stocks.
This command is intended to gather as many shares in these companies with very low prices, and this is the result of positive public expectations for these companies, they also contributed to this process by reducing banks, hotels contributed indirectly objective II.
Accurate information obtained yesterday indicates that a number of these larger investors theyve assignment intermediaries buy too large a number of tertiary and industrial companies without that there should be informed of smallholders in order not to raise the price of these companies.
Very important question, my friend isx4 by السائس, on goal or purpose of an ancient companies attention and have a semi consuming equipment? When it should be a trend towards new companies with new equipment.
An important question is lovely too and at the same time, but you will answer it and will wait for your destination in it. ... Due attention to these companies industrial dating service four causes are:
Firstly, the small size of their capital and thus easily gobbled them or for larger ones.
Secondly: strategic locations and possess very important economic cannot any new companies obtain analogical whatsoever, making his candidate for partnering with new companies Iraqi or foreign Arab or and this is now behind the scenes.
Thirdly: a national product protection act, which will give it priority on Arab and foreign companies which constitutes the Iraqi market to promote its goods port will eventually partnerships between them and those companies whether Arab or foreign.
Fourthly, the general orientation of the Government in support of these companies materially them as a means of supporting the Iraqi economy recently and undo reliance on oil imports.
Moreover, in respect of servicing few companies within Iraq, Iraqi scene ordinances more support.
We return again stress that decreases the studied very very sad with the knowledge and expertise of securities and market management of private interests of Iraq with these larger investors, you very careful applications still eating away any quantity are before, but under the control of buyers to market the thermometer currents in prices that larger investors to influence decisions businesspersons through propaganda and rumors of political and security impact differences on stock prices or decrease profits not groundless and former stock movement can very spoiled disbelieve those allegations, an unlawful means.
All graphical indicators indicate registered after the arrival of Iraqi shares in their prices to very low levels, hand and are become attractive to invest on the other hand, to serial decline will end next week in probability first by 60%, in the first week of the month next after the feast in the prospect's second by 40%, which will include most companies in all sectors, without exception.
Currently purchase time became rather than at the time of sale and these advice to all investors, because the next best 19,555 indicators and data and known to everyone and everyone must know the extent to which a chart in darkness for you has contributed less volume and prices of intelligent game understood well with my compliments to all.

Disclaimer ... technical malfunctioning in google translation was translated topic through second-source, I hope you have a concept you have with apologies for this.

Iraqi investor
Www.isx4.com

The Light Industries

trusty — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:38:09 GMT

The Light Industries stopped trading 22/10/2009 with meeting date of 05/11/2009 for a First /55.

Anyone know what % the First /55 was?
and
Any information as to when it might start trading again?

Thanks

Trusty

Iraq Current Account Balance

Torquewrench — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:51:32 GMT

http://www.indexmundi.com/iraq/curre...t_balance.html

Year Current Account Balance Rank Percent Change Date of Information
2004 $1,136,000,000 38 2003
2005 ($560,000,000) 108 -149.30 % 2003 est.
2006 ($9,447,000,000) 151 1,586.96 % 2004 est.
2007 $8,134,000,000 25 -186.10 % 2006 est.
2008 $6,025,000,000 32 -25.93 % 2007 est.
2009 $14,050,000,000 23 133.20 % 2008 est.

Definition: This entry records a country's net trade in goods and services, plus net earnings from rents, interest, profits, and dividends, and net transfer payments (such as pension funds and worker remittances) to and from the rest of the world during the period specified. These figures are calculated on an exchange rate basis, i.e., not in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms.

Turkish gov''t planning to settle Kurds who wants to return to Turkey

Torquewrench — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:57:03 GMT

http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesP...23&Language=en

Turkish gov''t planning to settle Kurds who wants to return to Turkey Politics 11/20/2009 9:39:00 PM ANKARA, Nov 20 (KUNA) -- Turkey is considering to settling Kurds who wish to return to Turkey from their strongholds in northern Iraq, but to do so in coordination with the Iraqi and the US sides, a Turkish official said on Friday.
A security committee meeting will take place in Iraq next month to discuss security coordination between the three parties involved (Turkey, US, Iraq), including the possibility of accepting members from the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) who are stationed in Makhmour camp in northern Iraq, Turkish foreign ministry media official Ahmet Doran told KUNA.
Last year, the committee was formed to tackle the increase of criticism by Turkey regarding PKK rebels' attacks which start from northern Iraq. However the committee was also formed to gather intelligence to be used against the rebels in the area. The Turkish official added there are many Kurdish rebels who want to go back to Turkey and benefit from such peaceful initiative made by the government.
Doran said the government is also working to host Kurdish rebels in camps which include ready-made housing units near the international borders with Iraq, noting that there are around 15,000 Kurdish refugees who are living in Iraqi Makhmour camp.
Last week, the Turkish parliament has held its first session on the peace plan that seeks to end a decades old conflict with Kurdish militants.
Turkish Interior Minister Besir Atalay said the government initiative would strengthen the country under the slogan of "more democracy for everyone." (end) mm.mb KUNA 202139 Nov 09NNNN

Fed Beaten: Bill To Audit Federal Reserve Passes Key Hurdle

cowpoke — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:32:29 GMT

In an unprecedented defeat for the Federal Reserve, an amendment to audit the multi-trillion dollar institution was approved by the House Finance Committee with an overwhelming and bipartisan 43-26 vote on Thursday afternoon despite harried last-minute lobbying from top Fed officials and the surprise opposition of Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who had previously been a supporter.

The measure, cosponsored by Reps. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), authorizes the Government Accountability Office to conduct a wide-ranging audit of the Fed's opaque deals with foreign central banks and major U.S. financial institutions. The Fed has never had a real audit in its history and little is known of what it does with the trillions of dollars at its disposal.

The amendment expressly blocks Congress from interfering with the independence of monetary policy decision-making, but opponents of the measure said that the political pressure would inevitably follow.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/1..._n_364546.html

selling 2 million in Chicago $1000 per

mike brown — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:27:12 GMT

I have a friend who has 2 million for sale

you can pick from 10,000 notes circulated that were bought from a dinar dealer
or
25,000 notes basically brand new bought from chase

sold in 1 million incriments only

$1000 per million - cash and carry only

local to chicago only - he is in the nw suburbs and will only meet
FACE TO FACE

email me please - do NOT pm me - thanks - mikebrown963@yahoo.com
please email name, phone number, and how many million you were thinking of buying and where you live

and please don't message me here - as i only check in on the dinar every week or so - thanks

Iraqis protest veto of election law

Torquewrench — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:10:47 GMT

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/...0151258735642/

Iraqis protest veto of election law

[COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]BASRA[/color][/color]

, Iraq, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Iraqis in the southern province of Basra demonstrated in front of governmental buildings Friday in protest of a decision to veto the election law.
Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi vetoed an article of an amended election law Wednesday, citing his disappointment with the number of seats allocated to represent the mostly Sunni population of Iraqis living abroad.
The Sunni vice president later expressed astonishment over the media hype over the decision.
Protesters told the Voices of Iraq news agency that the demonstrations were organized by several of the [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]political[/color][/color] alliances and civil organizations in Basra.
Meanwhile, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, told reporters Friday that Christopher Hill, the U.S. envoy to Iraq, pressured Iraqi lawmakers to pass the amendments to the election law.
Lawmakers had resolved lingering issues over the vote in the ethnically divided city of Kirkuk and the nature of the election before passing the measure onto the three-member presidential council.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden phoned Kurdish leaders on at least three occasions following a threat of a boycott of the vote from the Kurdistan Regional [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]Government[/color][/color], the Iraqi satellite news channel al-Sumaria reported.
Iraqi law mandates a parliamentary vote by January. The Iraqi Parliament is expected to reconsider the vetoed election measure during their weekend session.

Stimulus Waste? Check your State

dinars ready!! — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:43:08 GMT

(to all my Colorado Brother and Sisters)

In light of the recent news concerning the stimulus package and the lack of accountability, I have spent the last few evenings reviewing awards received by the State of Colorado.

My findings are based on www.stimuluswatch.org and www.watchdog.org. I find it extremely alarming not only the number of contracts awarded (1068), but to whom these contracts are awarded to, and the lack of jobs created on a project by project basis. I suggest everyone look at this and request the Denver Post to published, analyze, and monitor the data weekly.

In �advertising� the stimulus package, we were assured by our local and federal leadership of the need for �shovel ready� projects, and the need to put people back to work creating jobs and rebuilding the state�s infrastructure. My research of the listed contracts and grants to be awarded shows the majority of awards are to universities and government funded institutions (labs) with �0� or very few jobs created. The number of the federal and state organizations receiving money is not only astonishing, but, raises the question as to �would they have likely received this money in other normal government funding programs?�, and if so, where has that funding been used? If not, is this a wise use of tax dollars in a recession?

University Research grants, National lab projects, Denver City projects with �none� in the title, Art projects, large awards for employment services to oversee the stimulus awards, academic studies, etc. are not what people expected in this program. This is tantamount to FRAUD! I call on the local media to investigate the award process and to whom these awards are granted. Many of the awards listed as �complete� or �in process� are �out of state� companies and �out of state� projects!!! The whole stimulus program mirrors a drunken spending spree without regard for consequences.

Case in point:
LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION

Contract: $165,900,000 - National Aeronautics and Space Administration - Aug. 19, 2009 - Post a comment
(Total jobs reported: 28)

That�s $5,925,000.00 per job. SIGN ME UP!!!

EVERGREEN, CO
ALLIANCE FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY, LLC

Contract: $159,559,420 - Department of Energy - Jun. 17, 2009 - Post a comment
Project Description: Systems Integration - Biomass, Solar Decathlon, EECBG support, Biomass Inter-blends
Jobs Summary: Event management, research & development, computer hardware (Total jobs reported: 42)

That�s $3,799,033 per job!!!!! Please read this link � very interesting coincident http://biggovernment.com/2009/10/06/...rk/#more-13354

DENVER, CO
NATURAL RESOURCES, COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF

Grant: $49,222,000 - Department of Energy - Apr. 21, 2009 - Post a comment
Jobs Summary: For the 1st quarter ending 09/30/2009, 13.05998 FTE jobs were created or retained by the primary recipient and .14 FTE jobs were created or retained in the form of legal services. (Total jobs reported: 13)

That�s $3,786,307 per job. Ridiculous!!!

I urge all to critically examine the data presented by the State of Colorado and how these grants/contracts are awarded and to whom they are awarded too. I call on Governor Ritter to explain the methodology used in this process in a panel discussion on Mike Rosen and KOA Radio.

The people of Colorado have a right to know where, ALL, the $2.6 Billion dollars is being spent, and, it�s spent wisely on projects that affect the entire populous in a constructive manner. We all have had to tighten the purse strings � it�s time the GOV do the same and show responsibility and constraint when approving stimulus moneys.

Thank you,

Ready to Pay Your $6 Trillion 'Climate Justice' Bill?

PAn8tv — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:14:39 GMT

Ready to Pay Your $6 Trillion 'Climate Justice' Bill?
Dan Gainor
Thursday, November 19, 2009

The $1,000 bill has President Grover Cleveland�s face on it. The $100,000 bill has the dour image of President Woodrow Wilson. We�ve already seen President Barack Obama attach his name and face to the $787 billion stimulus bill. And if the left has its way, the face on the $6 trillion �climate justice� bill will also be Obama�s. Or maybe it will belong to Al Gore.

December�s global warming conference in Copenhagen looms like a dark cloud on the horizon � just a few weeks away. The greedy left (and that�s pretty much all of them) is calling for �climate reparations.� A recent Rolling Stone article made it clear where lefties stand on American money going overseas. Writer Naomi Klein, who gained notoriety bashing �disaster capitalism,� said, �shifting to renewable energy, according to a team of United Nations researchers, will raise the cost far more: to as much as $600 billion a year over the next decade.�
For those who can�t count that high (all of us) or don�t care (members of Congress), that�s $6 trillion in just 10 years � double the entire 2009 U.S. budget. And we�re supposed to pay most or all of it. Of course, the article was titled �Climate Rage,� so we feel extra guilty and are that much more willing to pay off third worlders. You want to see real rage, try giving that bill to the American public. (Just the tip on that bill would be $900 billion. Can we order self serve?)
But that�s the liberal plan going into Copenhagen. Obama and a globe full of global warming believers wanted a big agreement to come out of the conference. It appears that won�t happen because American sanity stands in the way.
�President Obama and other world leaders have decided to put off the difficult task of reaching a climate change agreement,� according to the Nov. 14 New York Times.
That strategic retreat showed the left didn�t have the muscle to ram through another climate treaty when the last one � Kyoto � failed so miserably. Congress took one informal vote and the treaty idea was squashed 95-0.
And if this trillion-dollar-scheme seems like news to you, that�s only because the major media don�t report it. In fact, America�s bid for the Olympics and Obama�s related trip to Copenhagen received eight times more coverage on the evening broadcast newscasts this year than plans for the climate conference in the exact same location.
Journalists on ABC, CBS and NBC told us everything about the Olympic bid, Obama�s trip, his wife�s involvement and more. The media hardly report anything about Copenhagen when it comes to the climate. They�re almost more willing to talk about Copenhagen smokeless tobacco than they are to talk about the climate talks.
You can�t blame that on the likely failure of the event. That�s only become obvious in recent weeks. No, there�s only one reason why the major networks aren�t touching this story � money.
That�s been the story all along for climate treaties. The United States has money and the rest of the world wants it. That was the idea behind the Kyoto Treaty. Take American money out of wallet a) insert into lefty charity b) and repeat.
But until now, eco-thieves were more discreet. They didn�t admit they just wanted our cash. They claimed they wanted a climate agreement to help Mother Earth. This next climate agreement is one big global Lotto.
Rolling Stone painted the picture green saying, �the U.S. negotiating position appears to be to pretend that 200 years of over-emissions never happened.� Then it criticized U.S. climate negotiator Todd Stern because he �scoffed at a Chinese and African proposal that developed countries pay as much as $400 billion a year in climate financing as �wildly unrealistic� and �untethered to reality.�� Nice. A compromise proposal so outlandish even the Obama team had to reject it.
Some lefties claim the cost is much lower, just so they can get their hands in our pockets � figuring we won�t be able to ever get them out. Environmentalist Bill McKibben, a cofounder of 350.org, wrote a piece for the liberal magazine Mother Jones calling Congress a �climate cheapskate.� He claimed in the Nov. 9 article that even a bad climate solution would �still leave about a good $10 or $20 billion-with-a-B for the U.S. to put up each year.�
Compared to $6 trillion, $20 billion seems reasonable.
OK, I had you going there. Of course it�s not reasonable. No one is rolling back the clock and repaying the United States for its help in World I or II or any of the countless humanitarian efforts we�ve handled from floods to earthquakes. No responsible American president expected to get paid for doing those good deeds. But no responsible American president should entertain paying climate extortion. Harry Truman once said of the oval office, �the buck stops here.� Under a �climate justice� pact that would no longer be true. Six trillion dollars would stop everywhere but here.

http://townhall.com/columnists/DanGa...e_justice_bill

U.S. economist: Iraq's economic future is still bleak, with increased rates of unemployment which

arh777 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:01:34 GMT

U.S. economist: Iraq's economic future is still bleak, with increased rates of unemployment which
2009-11-20 10:14:47 2009-11-20 10:14:47

بغداد ( إيبا .. thought Professor of Economics Co-Frank Guenther, 51% of the Iraqi workforce is either unemployed to work in whole or in part.

ويظ. Believes that the decline in oil prices, and the depletion of cash reserves, and account to pay for bloated government sector will lead to prevent the creation of jobs in the public sector. ف ج. While the private sector will not succeed in providing part of the required functions. كما سيت. It also will increase the rapid growth of the numbers of unemployed young people, who are being targeted to work with terrorist groups. مsized that without making a radical change, will increase unemployment and its attendant instability and worsen corruption.

وقا. Said Guenther, who is one of the most prominent economic adviser to the civilian U.S. forces in Iraq between 2008 and 2009, in his opinion column in The New York Times, the U.S., the Iraqi economy needs to measures had to edit it. قاتماً. As he argues, despite the progress made in the country at the political level, but the country's economic future is still bleak.

. It stresses that, without causing a radical change, will increase rates of unemployment and the accompanying atmosphere of instability, corruption will worsen while on a large scale. كم. Also finds that Iraq is not only suffering a severe shortage of jobs, but also suffers a glut in the number of job seekers.

ويع. Gunter believes that political and security gains that have succeeded in achieving them (the Americans) and Iraqi blood and money, will be at risk, pointing out that 51% of the Iraqi workforce is either unemployed to work in whole or in part, as the figure is increasing employment for young . و. Attention Gunter as well as in the context of his speech that the Iraqi government remained the main source of employment over the past three decades.

ك. Also bore the salaries of nearly half the labor force in the country, through earnings from oil exports. و. With the exception of the agriculture sector, it is believed Gunter - according to his calculations - that the private sector employment is a legitimate labor small, as estimated at 6% of the workforce. أم". The rest are either unemployed to work, or work in the so-called "underground economy".

. While acknowledging that Gunter sharp rise in oil revenues and an improved level of security may have contributed to an economic recovery, together, with the government to provide a sufficient amount of new jobs in the public sector to accommodate some 250 thousand young men break into the labor market every year, but it He stressed that the economic boom did not last long.

. He pointed out that, after a drop in oil prices by nearly $ 100 a barrel earlier this year, the Government has imposed a freeze on jobs, and its impact on unemployment rates began to rise.

بعد. Then, Gunter goes on to note a lack of understanding the local labor market for the growing numbers of unemployed, who have narrowed their ways to find jobs, the inability of the private sector to employ many of them, because possession of the country and one of the most hostile regulatory environments in the world.

(و). (And draws the paper in this context to solve the Iraq ranked No. 153 in the list of States, of the 183 countries classified by the World Bank's ease of doing business). وه. Making it more difficult the possibility of starting a business legally, or access to credit, or trade at the international level in Iraq. ح. Where the owners have most of the business as a result, either to hide in the underground economy, or accept bribes to provide a plethora of government officials.

. Gunter and expected to see the Iraqi government in a difficult situation in 2010, where he sees that the decline in oil prices, and the depletion of cash reserves, and account to pay for bloated government sector will prevent the creation of jobs in the public sector. فبة. While the private sector will not succeed in providing part of the required functions. كما. It also will increase the rapid growth of the numbers of unemployed young people, who are being targeted to work with the rebels, politicians and fundamentalist terrorist groups and criminal gangs, which means the growing climate of instability are almost certain.

و. Gunter points out that the main problem in the Iraqi commercial law lies in the incredible complexity, and long delays in dealing with applications for licenses and the high cost. و.. Gunter proposed in this regard that the government ousted the law, and adopt another, less restrictive, and the degree of acceptance regionally, such as the Law on Saudi Arabia .. أو أن. Or make it more easier to use by allowing, for example, for employers to deal with one ministry, rather than twelve and ministry.

ويرى. Gunter believes that the government could take other steps as well, with the exception of tax collection and international trade regulations, you can transfer the responsibility for regulating the private business of the Ministries of Baghdad to the governorates of the country's eighteen provinces. ز/.. Encouraging provinces to compete for jobs in the private sector will lead to the creation of regulatory environments in the warmer throughout the country, just as is the case in the United States. (End) / g / ..

http://translate.google.com/translat...www.google.com

Staggeing numbers...Obama's fuzzy math

PAn8tv — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:58:41 GMT

Fraud Nation
by Roger Hedgecock (more by this author)
Posted 11/20/2009 ET

Though private fraud gets the bigger headline (think Bernie Madoff), fraud in federal government programs is now so pervasive that even the Obama press is taking notice. The scope of fraud in all federal programs dwarfs the corruption in the private sector the media loves to sensationalize.

Consider the fraud in the Wall Street bailout. Here's just one example.

This past week, the Inspector General for the TARP $700 billion bailout reported that taxpayers will "almost certainly" lose money on their investments in the "too big to fail" financial institutions. One reason, it�s safe to say, is contained in Neil Barofsky�s revelation that he is conducting 65 separate investigations of possible fraud involving TARP funds.

Barofsky criticized then-President of the New York Federal Reserve (and now Treasury Secretary) Tim Geithner specifically for the bailout of one of those institutions, AIG (American International Group), the largest insurance conglomerate in the world. Barofsky says that the initial $85 billion credit line given AIG came with a bailout plan designed by Geithner the terms of which �were unworkable".

That's being polite. The Barofsky report documents that credit default swaps worth 40 cents on the dollar were bought at 100 cents on the dollar under the Federal bailout terms, funneling "tens of billions of dollars of government money...inexorably and directly to AIG's counterparties"--including Goldman Sachs.

According to Bloomberg news this week, Geithner arranged for Goldman Sachs to receive full payment on credit default swaps they had purchased rather than 40 cents on the dollar AIG proposed. A Fed-run entity called Maiden Lane III was used to sell these CDSs, which cost American tax payers at least $13 billion dollars at the time. It is currently estimated that due to a continuing decline in value, this bank favoritism case could cost the American tax payer $35.6 billion.

To quote Bloomberg: "The deal contributed to the more than $14 billion that over 18 months was handed to Goldman Sachs, whose former chairman, Stephen Friedman, was chairman of the board of directors of the New York Fed when the decision was made."

Consider the fraud in the "American Recovery and Re-Investment Act of 2009"--the infamous "Stimulus Bill"

With about half of the $787 billion authorized in this bill now spent, the president is desperate to show jobs "created or saved" since over 3 million jobs have disappeared in the ten months of the Obama Presidency.

Last week, the president proudly proclaimed that 650,000 jobs had been "created or saved" and that the Great Recession would have been much worse had it not been for his leadership.

Sadly, fraud again. The Recovery Act set up the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board ($84 million annual budget) which spent another $18 million to launch the recovery.gov website to "foster greater accountability and transparency" by tracking the "created or saved" jobs.

This is the site proudly documenting the "650,000" jobs figure and backing it up with state by state breakdowns of the projects and the jobs.

Heritage Foundation and ABC News (among others) were quick to report that thousands of jobs and millions of dollars were reported in Congressional Districts that did not exist.

New Mexico Watchdog was the first to report that the listing at recovery.gov of $26 million spent on New Mexico's 13 Congressional Districts must be a mistake--New Mexico has just 3 Congressional Districts.

Similar reports soon followed from Virginia, West Virginia, Kansas, Ohio, New Hampshire, and Minnesota.

Then an avalanche of ridicule. South Carolina's 7th District is listed as receiving $27 million in stimulus funds--that District was eliminated in 1930. Virginia's 12th District got $2 million--there hasn't been a 12th Virginia since the start of the Civil War.

So, was this near doubling of the House Districts a clerical error, or a fraudulent puffing of the figures, or what? Ed Pound, "Communications Director" for the Board said the site merely reported "what the recipients submit to us" and unless "an egregious error is noted" the site posts the information exactly as submitted.

Ed didn't define "egregious error" but reporting that the "99th District" of North Dakota received $2 million should have qualified since that state has only one Representative. For North Dakota to have 99 Representatives, it would need a population over 60 million or 24 million more than California.

Calling even more attention to this fiasco, recovery.gov abruptly reduced without explanation the "created or saved" number by 60,000 while stating that no further corrections would be made until January.

As the Senate considers the Health "Reform" bill, consider the fraud in the health programs already administered by the Feds.

According to a report this week from Obama's own Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (a program of the Federal HHS), Medicare fraud costs American taxpayers $47-60 billion per year!

Example: In Houston, Medicare paid $5000 each (total $1 million) for wheelchairs for a clinic where every order was a fraud.

Recent press reports from around the country tell of organized crime rings bilking Medicare and Medicaid. The total numbers are staggering.

Example: 12.4% or $47 Billion was paid by Medicare in FY 2009 in fraudulent fee for service claims.

Example: The same report states that 9.6% or $18.1 Billion in fraudulent Medicaid claims was paid in FY 2009

No wonder many Americans wonder why the President doesn't clean up existing federal health programs before claiming it would save money to have the feds run the rest of the health care system.

This week's report on hunger in America set off yet another call in the Obama Administration and the Congress to expand the food stamp program. Congress should first look at the fraud in that program.

A 57-count indictment handed down in Federal Court in Louisiana this week accuses fourteen people, mostly state health workers, of diverting emergency food stamp money meant for hurricane victims to themselves and their families.

A bloated nanny state federal government is injury enough to the Constitution that once limited government and bestowed the blessings of liberty. Pervasive fraud in our federal government adds an insult that should cause every American to oppose the Obama expansion of every one of these fraud ridden programs.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=34490

New pipeline from Iraq to Aqab

Torquewrench — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:50:03 GMT

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=346766

New pipeline from Iraq to Aqab

Published: 11/20/2009

A spokesperson from the Iraqi Ministry of Petrol said that within the context of their ongoing work toward increasing Iraq's oil exports, an agreement has been reached between the Baghdad and Amman administrations to carry Iraqi oil through a pipeline to Jordan's Aqaba port.

[COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]Iraq[/color][/color] currently exports 4 million barrels of oil through Kirkuk-Yumurtalık Pipeline and through Basra Harbor.

More gaffes with socialised medicine in the European Union...a MUST read!!!

ptolemy — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:39:31 GMT

What you are about to read is NOT uncommon in the European Union which has SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. Be careful what you wish for here in the US. What you are about to read is what happens with socialised medicine when a Federal Government is running out of money to provide medicine for the people!!!!

THE CYPRUS Medical Association yesterday said it was looking into reports that a Nicosia-based pediatrician providing new flu vaccines to patients was actually injecting the children with water.

“A formal report of the matter has not been submitted to our association, but as the matter has come up and as we have had some anonymous complaints, we will be investigating,” Dr Andreas Demetriou, President of the Cyprus Medical Association said yesterday.

The Health Ministry had previously announced that the new flu vaccines would be provided to children over 15 by state doctors only. It appears that the prospect of using state health services alarmed a number of parents who rushed to private doctors for the vaccination.

In the case of the paediatrician in question, however, suspicion was raised as children who had received the vaccine then contracted the new flu virus. Private doctors are charging up to €400 for the vaccine.

Meanwhile, the state’s vaccination programme has been met with skepticism by the public, as medical practitioners offer conflicting views on the safety of the vaccine.

“There is indeed a reluctance among our members and among the medical field, which is certainly justified because this vaccine was circulated within a very short period of time, and one could think that the clinical studies were not as long or numerous to ensure safety,” Demetriou said.

“However, for the relevant international bodies to give their approval, there must be sufficient safety. Vaccination is for the time being the correct way of facing the virus and we call vulnerable groups and doctors to get vaccinated. We have no instructions to give, other than those provided by the Ministry of Health,” he added.

It emerged on Wednesday that half of the British population was saying ‘no’ to the vaccine.

Health Minister Christos Patsalides yesterday assured the public that all indications showed the vaccine was safe.

“Since last April when the story of the new flu started, we have been in daily contact with European and international bodies, while the state has spent significant amounts to face the pandemic,” he said.

“At present, we have decided to leave children under 15 outside the vaccination programme, and will start with people aged between 15 and 45, until we have more indications and more information,” he added.

Meanwhile, in the north of the island schools have closed because of the new flu, until December 1. Turkish Cypriot authorities announced that all students aged between five and 18 would be vaccinated, while 2,500 people have already got the shot without any recorded side-effects.

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2009

Bright prospects for Vietnam�s retail market in 2010

shevaub — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:58:02 GMT

Bright prospects for Vietnam�s retail market in 2010...

Full story: http://www.vnbusinessnews.com/2009/1...ms-retail.html

Check for Alzheimer's - Pretty Amazing

English Bob — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:57:40 GMT

Check for Alzheimer's - Pretty Amazing

The following was developed as a mental age assessment by the School of
Psychiatry at Harvard University . Take your time and see if you can read
each line aloud without a mistake.

The average person over 60 years of age cannot do it!

1. This is this cat.
2. This is is cat.
3. This is how cat.
4. This is to cat.
5. This is keep cat.
6. This is an cat.
7. This is old cat.
8. This is fart cat.
9. This is busy cat.
10. This is for cat.
11. This is forty cat.
12. This is seconds cat.

Now go back and read the third word in each line from the top down and I
bet you can't resist passing it on.:lipssealed:

Two Ladies Talking in Heaven

English Bob — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:55:02 GMT

Two Ladies Talking in Heaven

1st woman: Hi! Barbara.

2nd woman: Hi! Sylvia. How'd you die?

1st woman: I froze to death.

2nd woman: How horrible!

1st woman: It wasn't so bad. After I quit shaking from the cold, I began to get warm & sleepy, and finally died a peaceful death. What about you?

2nd woman: I died of a massive heart attack. I suspected that my husband was cheating, so I came home early to catch him in the act. But instead, I found him all by himself in the den watching TV.

1st woman: So, what happened?

2nd woman: I was so sure there was another woman there somewhere that I started running all over the house looking. I ran up into the attic and searched, and down into the basement. Then I went through every closet and checked under all the beds. I kept this up until I had looked everywhere, and finally I became so exhausted that I just keeled over with a heart attack and died.

1st woman: Too bad you didn't look in the freezer---we'd both still be alive. :eek:

:yelrotflmao: :yelrotflmao: :yelrotflmao:

We set aside the election law with the presence of injustice in some paragraphs

Seaview — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:16:57 GMT

MP Ahmad Anwar: We set aside the election law with the presence of injustice in some paragraphs

MP Mohammad Anwar from the Kurdistan Alliance that violating election law by Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi is unconstitutional and we agree with him to veto the election law to a real disadvantage in some paragraphs, and in particular paragraph of compensatory seats.

He said Anwar in a statement singled out by the reporter The Kurdish Alliance rejects the proposal by some lawmakers to set aside a veto against another vice-president and consider it incorrect (to say) and that the parliamentary blocs, make the necessary amendments to those paragraphs, indicating That the Saturday session are determined by the options for resolving the election law Kurdistan alliance and we will vote to amend the law and not to be traced without amendments, pointing out that the MPs move to amend the law to lift the injustice of all the components that have wronged by the paragraphs which Atalpi ambitions.

http://al-iraqnews.net/new/siaysiah/43238.html

Odierno: US has time to reconsider Iraq exit

Seaview — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:54:25 GMT

The U.S. military does not have to decide until April or May whether to push back the end of its combat operations in Iraq due to a possible delay in the country's next election, US top commander General Raymond Odierno said on Wednesday.

Investigations into Baghdad recent bombings indicated that explosives or fighters were coming across from Syria, U.S. General Ray Odierno also said.

Al Qaeda in Iraq has transformed significantly in the last two years. It is becoming more Iraqi and less dominated by foreigners as the insurgent group increasingly joins forces with outlawed Baath party, the commander of U.S. forces added.

"There's still a small foreign element to al Qaeda, there are some who used to be Sunni rejectionists or ex-Baathists who are involved in this because of course they don't want the government to succeed."

http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/Iraq-News...Iraq-exit.html

Central Bank of Iraq

rozwell — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:51:56 GMT

Does any one know if the The Central Bank Of Iraq is open today?:drink:

Talabani: US pressured Parliament on poll law

Seaview — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:42:49 GMT

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani revealed that US officials pressured Iraq�s Parliament and political powers to approve the election law.

In a press conference he held at Sulaymaniya airport, which Alsumaria News attended, President Talabani affirmed that US Ambassador Christopher Hill put great pressure on Parliament and senior officials to approve the election law in what serves all parties interests.

Kurdistan Leader Massoud Barazani received three phone calls from US Vice President Joseph Biden ahead of election law ratification urging him to find quick solutions thereto, Talabani said.

Iraqi President said he approved the election law after Kurds representatives approved it in Parliament.

Iraqi Vice President Tarek Al Hashemi�s decision to veto the law is a constitutional right, he added.

http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/Iraq-News...-poll-law.html

ISX trading hits ID 7.7 billion this week

Seaview — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:40:08 GMT

The Iraqi Stock Exchange (ISX) this week traded over 4.7 billion shares worth 7.7 billion Iraqi dinars through 1868 transactions.

This week�s five sessions saw more than 4.713 billion shares exchanging hands at a value of ID7.722 billion in 1868 transactions, including 172 for non-Iraqi investors with a number of shares that exceeded 264.7 million worth more tan ID418.3 million, about 5% of the total volume of traded shares.

Last week�s trading took place over 17.496 billion shares worth more than ID33.71 billion, 9% of which went to non-Iraqi investors.

http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=122280

The elections will be postponed if the discussion was delayed election law

Seaview — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:30:38 GMT

A member of the House of Representatives useful Algerian any appeal of any law by the President of the Republic, I mean him back to the House of Representatives to discuss issues contested, to be agreement on some other formula.

He said during the Algerian special statement NOAA Radio said it was the right of the Presidency Council to restore law again, in the case of failure to address topics objectionable as it should.

And made very Algerian It depends on the speed with which will be completed by the House of Representatives to discuss the election law, pointing to the elections be postponed 4 weeks or more if it were delayed discussions.

http://translate.googleusercontent.c...RnVextdmq3uyGw

Iraq ambassador & Shabibi in Beirut to attend opening of Annual Arab Banking Conference

Seaview — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:58:08 GMT

Attended by the Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq in Beirut, Mr. Omar Ahmad on the morning of 19/11/2009 Barzanji opening of the Annual Arab Banking Conference in 2009 which was held under the title "inter-Arab investment in light of an emerging global economic system" for the period 19-20 November 2009, in the Lebanese capital Beirut, organized by the Union of Arab Banks in collaboration with the International Union of Arab Bankers and the Bank of Lebanon and the Association of Banks in Lebanon and a number of regional and international organizations, and under the auspices of the Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri in a hotel in Venice - Intercontinental.

And Iraq participated in the conference be a large delegation of 35 people from the private sector representing seven of the largest Iraqi private banks in addition to d. Shabibi Iraqi Central Bank Governor and representatives from the Trade Bank of Iraq. :yes: :star:

Participated in the conference, which takes place the first of this size and at this level after the global financial crisis, representatives of each of the Prime Minister of Bahrain HH Alomiraheik Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Secretary General of the League of Arab States Amr Moussa, the presence of Provosts of diplomatic missions accredited in Lebanon and many governors of central banks.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Prime Minister Sheikh Saad al-Hariri and Gentlemen, representatives of the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Secretary General of the League of Arab States, and Chairman of the International Union of Arab Bankers Dr. Joseph Tarabay.

At the end of the Conference awards were given to some participants. :clapping: :giggle:

http://translate.googleusercontent.c...r0s7YiHa2AyHJQ

Top Eurobank prepares for 'global economic collapse'...

tmorr37 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:03:52 GMT

Soci�t� G�n�rale tells clients how to prepare for potential 'global collapse'

Soci�t� G�n�rale has advised clients to be ready for a possible "global economic collapse" over the next two years, mapping a strategy of defensive investments to avoid wealth destruction.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Iraqi Foes Give Mediation a Chance

Big.V — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:00:02 GMT

Iraqi Foes Give Mediation a Chance

Posted GMT 11-19-2009 18:34:10

With a push from a University of Massachusetts at Boston professor, local and national Iraqi legislators are meeting today in Baghdad to defuse explosive disputes in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, where ethnic and political conflicts threaten to derail Iraq's halting progress toward a working democracy.
At a critical moment in Iraq, with the scheduled January election in doubt, UMass professor Padraig O'Malley is convening the conference with the goal of setting up mechanisms for the Arabs, Kurds, and Turkmens of oil-rich Kirkuk to resolve their many disputes on their own.
The gathering at the Al Rashid Hotel follows three rounds of mediation set in motion by O'Malley with national Iraqi leaders from all the major parties. The first session, in Helsinki in 2007, was devoted to developing problem-solving mechanisms. Further sessions - in Helsinki in April 2008 and in Baghdad in July 2008 - led to an agreement on 16 principles for resolving disputes and managing conflicts throughout Iraq.
The three-day conference beginning today includes delegations from three key bodies: the national Iraqi Parliament, the Kirkuk Provincial Council, and the Kurdish Parliament. The speaker of the Iraqi Legislature, Ayad al Samarrai, who was part of the Helsinki process, is scheduled to open today's session.
O'Malley, who has spent 35 years mediating in divided societies, including Northern Ireland and South Africa, brought with him prominent leaders from those successful peace negotiations to help facilitate the Kirkuk talks. O'Malley's premise is that those who have themselves traded guns for ballots are best suited to help others do the same.
Roelf Meyer, the chief negotiator for South Africa's white-minority government in the 1990s in the transition to majority rule, joins prominent Northern Ireland political leaders Jeffrey Donaldson, Alex Maskey, and John Alderdice as facilitators.
"The hope is that after interacting together and identifying all the challenges facing Kirkuk, the meeting recognizes that we have two alternatives,'' O'Malley said by telephone from Baghdad last night. "We can let things drift into oblivion and violence, or we can work together.''
The status of Kirkuk has been a point of angry contention since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, who had tried to "Arabize'' the city, expelling hundreds of thousands of Kurds. The Turkmen minority also has complained of being squeezed out, as Kurds have poured back in and reasserted their influence. The issue of sharing income from oil in the Kirkuk region remains another divisive point.
The Kirkuk conference takes place at a critical moment for Iraq. The Sunni Arab vice president yesterday vetoed part of the election law regarding the votes of Iraqis outside the country, throwing into doubt the national election in January. In addition, a dispute over the relative weight of votes in the Kurdish-dominated north resurfaced yesterday as a threat to the January ballot.
O'Malley, who has been in Iraq for most of the past six weeks preparing for the meeting, said he hoped the meeting would result in an agreement to meet regularly under the leadership of Samarrai and deputy chairmen from the Kirkuk and Kurdish legislative bodies. The monthly meetings would tackle the most important disputes head-on.
"The only restraining force in Kirkuk right now is the presence of the Americans,'' O'Malley said. "But they are pulling out, and they are saying, 'You'd better get your act together.' ''
The Helsinki process grew out of work by UMass-Boston's McCormack Institute of Graduate Studies, O'Malley's academic home, and the Institute of Global Leadership at Tufts University.
As he did for the Helsinki meetings, Boston businessman Robert Bendetson, a Tufts trustee, provided much of the $30,000 in travel and related costs for the Kirkuk conference.
O'Malley said that establishing a Kirkuk negotiating mechanism would be even more important if the national political process become stalemated and elections are delayed.
"What we want to do in the next three days is to come to the conclusion that the only way forward is to work together in a body,'' O'Malley said. "If that happens, this will have been a remarkable conference.''
By James F. Smith
Boston Globe

http://www.aina.org/news/20091119123410.htm

Hurricane Katrina:was not an act of God

Alasad PGen4 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:29:36 GMT

Hurricane Katrina: It was not an act of God

Judge's ruling that negligence led to flooding may lead to a huge government payout

Friday, 20 November 2009

Reuters
Resident David Diaz surveys the devastation that Hurricane Katrina wreaked at Biloxi, on the Mississippi Gulf Coast
The US government could be facing a bill running to hundreds of billions of dollars after a federal judge ruled that failures by the US Army Corps of Engineers were responsible for the worst flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina.
The Corps � which is responsible for the design and upkeep of the levees surrounding New Orleans � had argued that Katrina was a once in a 100-year storm, an act of God, that had overwhelmed its hi-tech flood protection system. However, Judge Stanwood Duval Jr brought the debate back down to earth, blaming authorities for "negligence" in a strongly worded ruling that accused the Corps of "insouciance, myopia and short-sightedness".
The circuit court judge's groundbreaking decision ruled that flood defences had been compromised by a navigation channel built, but not properly maintained, by the Corps that funnelled floodwaters from Katrina into New Orleans with devastating consequences.
The 76-mile long Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, known locally as Mr Go, appears to have fatally damaged the Corps' own legal defence that had rested on legislation from 1928, which protected the government from law suits arising from failures in flood controls.
Judge Stanwood rejected defence efforts to use the Flood Control Act, accepting expert testimony that the Corps' failure to maintain Mr Go � built to connect the Gulf of Mexico to the port of New Orleans � had enabled it to act as a "hurricane highway" bringing the storm surge into the city and causing the levees to fail.
"The failure of the Corps to recognise the destruction that the MRGO had caused and the potential hazard that it created is clearly negligent on the part of the Corps," the judge stated his 156-page verdict. "Furthermore, the Corps not only knew, but admitted by 1988, that the MRGO threatened human life ... and yet it did not act in time to prevent the catastrophic disaster that ensued with the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina."
While the initial ruling could cost the Federal government as little as $700,000, it opens the way for thousands of other claims to join together into class action suits whose costs could exceed $100bn (�60bn).
"The implications are billions of dollars of liability for the government," said Pierce O'Donnell, who together with the large team of lawyers in this case is expected to travel to Washington next week to push for a broader settlement for Katrina victims.
Close to half a million claims have been filed against the Corps in the wake of the 2005 hurricane, but Wednesday night's ruling only deals with two areas � St Bernard Parish and the lower 9th Ward � which were directly effected by the Mr Go channel. There are as many as 100,000 potential plaintiffs in these two areas alone and a US army fiscal report estimated potential liability at $500bn.
The court ruling was also vindication for expert witness Dr Ivor van Heerden who strongly countered the "Act of God" defence and whose testimony was key to revealing the role played by Mr Go. "Katrina wasn't a once in 100-year storm, or even a once in 40-year storm and it wasn't even a direct hit," he told The Independent during a recent tour of the Lower Ninth Ward. "This was not about an act of God it was about incompetent engineering," the hurricane expert said.
Dr Van Heerden is a leading proponent of building a system that will protect Louisiana from a Category 5 hurricane. He told last month's environment symposium organised in New Orleans by the NGO Religion Science and the Environment that this could be done by restoring wetlands, building better levees, and installing huge flood gates on Lake Pontchartrain, similar to the ones used by Holland to protect itself from the North Sea.
In the meantime, many Katrina survivors will now be following the example of 75-year-old Lucille Franz who was one of three successful plaintiffs. She and her husband Anthony were awarded $100,000 plus costs for the loss of their home in the Lower Ninth Ward where they had lived for half a century without experiencing flooding prior to Katrina. Speaking before the ruling she said: "We had 18 to 22ft of water, and it went about 3 or 4ft upstairs, and something hit the side of the building. It looked like a tornado come through."
Like so many New Orleans residents she had believed in the expensive and much-vaunted flood protections, so had no flood insurance.

To critics in the United States Army Corps of Engineers he is a crackpot, alarmist and troublemaker who used the devastation of Hurricane Katrina to make a name for himself. But to most of the people in New Orleans, Ivor van Heerden is simply "the man who knew".
Formerly the deputy director of the Louisiana State University (LSU) Hurricane Centre, the South African-born scientist has been the loudest voice for the last decade warning that serious flaws in the flood protection system around the Big Easy needed fixing. In the immediate aftermath of the 2005 storm, he provided support for the search and rescue efforts and plugging of the levee breaches.
"Mr Hurricane", as he became known, wouldn't stand for the Corps investigating its own mistakes. He put together a group of engineers and scientists from the university and the private sector and got Louisiana state to give them official status. They set about figuring out what had caused the levees to fail and found compelling evidence of the Corps' incompetence, mistakes by contractors and cover-ups which he detailed in his book The Storm.
At first the LSU, concerned about federal funding, asked him to stop speaking to the media. Then this year they fired him, giving no reason.

"Best" currency to invest in right NOW?

34dean — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:58:56 GMT

Looking for opinions and good discussion. I do not know a lot about the Yuan but I am considering. :thinking:

Thanks in advance for chiming in.

U.N. representative cautiously optimistic about Iraq's future

Big.V — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:36:30 GMT

U.N. representative cautiously optimistic about Iraq's future

Thu, 11/19/2009 - 6:15pm
This afternoon, the New America Foundation hosted "The New Forgotten War," a talk about the future of Iraq. It featured Ad Melkert, the special representative for the U.N. secretary-general in Iraq.
Melkert, a former Dutch member of parliament, remains cautiously optimistic about Iraq's future, with an emphasis on the cautious part. The good news is that security in Iraq is better than it was two years ago. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has been able to confront violence in the southern part of the country, Melkert said. As a result of the safer state, investment is starting to rise, but it still has a long way to go. Corruption, the terrible infrastructure, and legal concerns hamper Iraq's ability to draw serious investment.
One serious problem for the nascent state is budgetary, Melkert said. When oil prices are high, the government spends all of its revenue, but when they fall, they have to slash the budget.
Further, Iraq is still under dozens of UN chapter seven sanctions, stemming from Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. The current leadership says these sanctions need to be lifted because they were implemented against Hussein and not the current government.
These problems could potentially be amplified in the coming months and years as foreign security forces draw down in the country. Melkert said that one of two things will happen. Either the Iraqi forces will somehow maintain order, or the insurgents will attack as soon as the United States leaves*. Right now, police officers, public servants, and UN workers and buildings remain prime targets.
New America Foundation/Flickr

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/...t_iraqs_future

* Like a pack of wolves, drooling and waiting ....

Vietnam: US dollar mobilisation slows down

shevaub — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:33:18 GMT

US dollar mobilisation slows down...

Full story: http://www.vnbusinessnews.com/2009/1...lows-down.html

Railroads

Crow — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:30:40 GMT

www.iraqrailways.com Love trains.:yes:

Attorney-Mutlaq, compromise is expected to vote on election law next Saturday

Big.V — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:15:44 GMT

Attorney-Mutlaq, compromise is expected to vote on election law next Saturday

20/11/2009

BAGHDAD President signed the National Dialogue Front, Saleh al-Mutlaq of parliamentary blocs to reach a consensus formula will lead to a vote to repeal the Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi of the electoral law to parliament on Saturday.

And likely Mutlaq in an interview with "Radio Sawa" will be agreed to allocate 10 per cent of the Iraqis of abroad as a compromise.

Mutlak warned of some parties may seek to block the law, saying: "It seems that the coalition is proceeding towards the complexity of the issue to go to veto the veto"

He stressed that Al-Mutlaq al-Hashemi is authorized under the Constitution to veto laws passed by parliament, adding that the law is a violation of the Constitution of the distinction between Iraqis of displaced Iraqis inside and

And the position of the Constitutional Court to overturn Hashimi, Mutlaq said he saw no legal decisions, adding that the Chairman of the Legal Bahaa al "Try explaining to others," that the opinion of the Federal Court was in response to the veto made by the Hashemite on electoral law

http://translate.googleusercontent.c...GXCA5Zmee2HlzA

"...greedy al-Maliki's tough to continue to power at any price, including disregard of the constitutional rights of others.. "

Big.V — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:11:37 GMT

Iraq's parliament has reduced the proportion of gene abroad responded to the appeal of al-Maliki not to reach Alsmaj Baathists to parliament, believing that all those abroad are Baathists!!

20/11/2009

BAGHDAD, at a time when the Iraqi prime minister launched a blistering attack on the position of Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, believing it (a serious threat to the political process and democracy) others consider it really second nature and constitutional and worthy of this extremist attack and greedy al-Maliki's tough to continue to power at any price, including disregard of the constitutional rights of others..

For his part, Dr.. Fuad Masum, chairman of the Kurdistan Alliance bloc in the House that Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi has the constitutional right to express opposition to any law or any material legal opinion amended, for the veto, which was carried out to modify the electoral law with respect to 5% for compensatory seats up to 15% said infallible: that the Kurdistan Alliance voted in favor of 15% at the time, but the result of the vote in the House came to support the 5%.

The infallible "There is another problem too, although not addressed objection Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, a considerable variation in the rate of population growth in the provinces, where there are provinces where the population growth amounted to 60% and others the growth rate is zero%, and this in itself prejudice and must be addressed in order to hold elections throughout Iraq at one time. These problems will discuss today (Thursday) at the meeting of heads and representatives of parliamentary blocs in the House of Representatives, and we Kurdistan alliance we hope to reach a compromise on that. "

The story of the first article

Observers said that the Iraqi parliament, while Iraqis abroad campus of parliamentary representation but responded to the appeal of al-Maliki to prevent the arrival of former Baathists to the Parliament, thinking that the survival rate of 15% for Lokulaiat and migrants abroad would allow the arrival of Vice-Baathists without know that not all immigrants from Iraq due to sectarian violence are the Baathists. Observers said that Maliki has become more extreme, against his opponents in the sense of inflated political personality to some extent ignored the rights of others of his opponents or critics, who fear more power to the delinquency of a dictatorship. and one-party rule of the Dawa party led by al-Maliki.

http://translate.googleusercontent.c...5JfPd3Dhl1ij3g

Iraq's parliament voted to repeal the Electoral Act

Big.V — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:10:12 GMT

Iraq's parliament voted to repeal the Electoral Act

Thursday, November 19th, 2009 21:11

Iyad al-Samarrai said the President of Iraqi Council of Representatives that the Council will go to vote to repeal the election law after tomorrow / Sat / political blocs because the proposal did not find a match it.

Samarrai said during a press conference held today in the parliament building / / the Federal Court is no veto by Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi of the electoral law, but stressed that the Iraqis are equal in the inside and outside Iraq and that does not mean that the opinion of the Federal Court is a response to reverse / /.

He added that the political blocs did not find a proposal for consistent and therefore Torteuralzhab to vote on the law on Saturday .. Indicating that postponing the vote until this date is to take account of the need to be added paragraphs on the vote on the agenda ahead of 48 / / hour as well as give a chance for everyone to be present during the voting.

The Federal Court of Iraq, which is the highest judicial body in the country has announced today that set aside the election law who, by the Deputy President Tariq al-Hashemi was unconstitutional.

A senior source in the Chamber of Deputies to the First Deputy Speaker Sheikh Khalid al-Attiyah sent Monday / Wed / a letter to Chief Judge Medhat al-Mahmoud to the question about veto individual today / Thursday / he said the veto was unconstitutional.

He said / / that the court found that the Constitution did not distinguish between the Iraqis at home and abroad .. They also find that determine the electoral mechanisms assumed by the Electoral Commission for elections and not the Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi in the House of Representatives / /.

Hashemi, who was announced Monday / Wed / set aside the election law required to raise the proportion of seats allocated to the Iraqis abroad from five to fifteen percent.

In the same context, said Alaa Makki, a member of the House of Representatives of the Accordance Front, said that the receipt of the Federal Court decision in ten hours by the question inquires .. Demanding in this sense's decision to introduce it to parliament for consideration by the Public Accountants.

"This was Omar Jubouri, a member of the Legal Committee in the House of Representatives that the Federal Court decision on the election law is not binding.

His / / Unfortunately, many of the powers and implicated the judiciary in political issues, as happened in the case of Kirkuk / / .. He pointed out that there is an error in the interpretation of Iraqis outside the country belong to a specific destination and forget they were from different nationalities and religions.

Jubouri called Members of Parliament to consider the electoral law according to the law and dealing on Saturday, according to the rules of procedure and the provisions of the Constitution.

http://translate.googleusercontent.c...ZyFOGmRGPf1QWA

Iraq talks with Kuwait oil fields, the border

dejavu — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:45:28 GMT

Iraq talks with Kuwait oil fields, the border
رة. Oil Ministry said on Thursday that Iraq and Kuwait to Baghdad in search of oil fields, where the border between the two sides agreed to hold a meeting before the end of this month on the same subject, according to a ministry statement.
� . The statement added that "the oil ministry undersecretary for extraction Abdul Karim Laibi met with high-priced Kuwaiti ambassador in Iraq on the believer, to discuss ways of strengthening bilateral relations between the two neighboring countries in areas of oil and other fields."
�. And reviewed the proxy "The reality of Iraq's oil industry and its developments, particularly in the development of oil fields in the two rounds of licensing the first and second to increase production and consistent with the location of Iraq for countries producing and exporting oil."
� . The statement said that Iraq and Kuwait "have agreed to hold the fifth meeting between the Iraqi-Kuwaiti Joint Committee in Kuwait on 24 of November to discuss joint border oil fields," as the two sides agreed on "the use of third party technical assessment is accurate for these fields and then submitted to the Committee to take the appropriate decision thereon. " � . He stressed the Kuwaiti Ambassador to "consolidate the bonds of fraternal relationship between the two countries and peoples of Iraq and Kuwait, Kuwaiti companies and expressed the readiness to work in the oil sector and contribute to the development of Iraq's infrastructure and the reconstruction of Iraq."
� . In turn, welcomed the Deputy Minister of Oil, according to the statement of Mr. willingness to contribute to the Kuwaiti side in the development of the oil sector, pointing out that Iraq "welcomes all Arab and international companies specialized in the oil industry to take advantage of their expertise in the development of its oil industry."
http://translate.googleusercontent.c...radionawa.com/

Federal Court confirms that the Iraqi veto election law unconstitutional

Big.V — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:42:34 GMT

Federal Court confirms that the Iraqi veto election law unconstitutional

Thursday, November 19th, 2009 21:08

Announced the Federal Court of Iraq, the highest judicial body in the country, Thursday set aside the election law who, by the Deputy President Tariq al-Hashemi, is unconstitutional, while the heated rhetoric of those who stand on opposite sides.

A senior source in the Chamber of Deputies to the First Deputy Speaker Sheikh Khalid al-Attiya said "yesterday sent a letter to Chief Judge Medhat al-Mahmoud of the question for the Court of Cassation responded Thursday, confirming that the veto is unconstitutional."

"The court finds that the Constitution did not distinguish between the Iraqis at home and abroad."

He quoted the message as "the court finds that determine electoral mechanisms of the UNHCR and not the Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi in the parliament."

Hashemi, who was announced Wednesday set aside the election law, calling for taking the proportion of seats allocated to the Iraqis abroad from five to fifteen percent.

For his part, said Bahaa al-Araji, head of the Legal Committee in the House, told AFP in a telephone call in response to a question about the next steps, "The legal committee will hold a meeting to discuss the Federal Court's response."

"It would then be the veto vote in the House of Representatives."

But Saleh Mutlaq, leader of the National Dialogue Front (11 deputies) said, "According to my information, the Federal Court did not say that the veto was unconstitutional and that what he wants to interpret some (...) They were going to a genuine political crisis."

The MP went Dhafer al-Ani in the same direction, saying "Beware of here (parliament), that without a compromise formula acceptable to all, will be the beginning of danger and the election date is uncertain in the spot."

In turn, an MP from the Islamic Party, Salim al-that "the Federal Court's opinion was based on data provided by the Deputy Speaker and Chairman of the Legal Committee and this view will be guided by the Legal Committee."

"I think that the invitations would lead to inflame the situation and affect not to hold elections on schedule."

Hashemi was said Wednesday that "my objection is not on the whole law but on the first article to be just Iraqis living abroad (...) and I expect not to prolong the sessions and the amendment can be summed up in one session."

Hashemi and demands increase the number of compensatory seats allocated to minorities and residents abroad, and electoral lists of small 5% to 15% in the next parliament, which will include 323 members.

Having devoted the election law, passed by Parliament 11 days before the eight seats for minorities, five of which for Christians, one for each of the Sabean and the Shabak and the Yazidis, and eight Iraqis abroad, lists, small seats out of 323.

The Constitution affirms the need to take the Presidency Council, consisting of President Jalal Talabani and his two deputies Adel Abdul-Mahdi and Hashimi its decisions by "consensus" and not a majority.

And in front of the Presidential Council within 15 days of the approval of the law or veto it.

If no decision within the period mentioned, it is considered law.

The compensatory seats allocated for better representation of the Iraqis living abroad, and the lists that got Tbart high proportion of locally and not on the national level.

The Independent Higher Commission for elections set January 16, 2010 as the date for legislative elections, but the delays that have occurred in the House of Representatives to pass a law made to take place on time is not possible.

The election commission announced Wednesday to stop all activities of the preparations for the elections.

A member of the Office Qasim slave will "cease all activities of the Office for receiving the lists of candidates and the design of the ballot, until the issuance of the law."

"The situation is very difficult, and certainly will lead to the payment date of the elections."

The head of Iraq's Kurdistan region Massoud Barzani threatened Tuesday to boycott the elections in the event of the failure to consider the allocation of seats on the Kurdish provinces.

"If you are not re-consider the number of seats in the provinces, the people of Kurdistan will be forced not to participate in the elections."

UNHCR has established the Independent Electoral 38 seats for the three Kurdish provinces based on the records of the Ministry of Commerce.

And operate the Kurdistan Alliance bloc 53 seats out of 275 in the current parliament. Referred to the existence of the Kurds in Kirkuk, Nineveh and Diyala.

The move comes in addition to the veto threat Barzani days after the UN Security Council call political leaders to show a sense of the State and the spirit of unity during the parliamentary election campaign.

http://translate.googleusercontent.c...d4LMtBXsStV8vQ

Iraq MPs to Reconsider Election Law

Big.V — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:32:03 GMT

Iraq MPs to Reconsider Election Law

Posted GMT 11-19-2009 18:39:27

BAGHDAD (AFP) -- The Iraqi parliament will on Saturday attempt to finally pass an electoral law jeopardised by Vice President Tarek al-Hashemi's demand that it be changed before a general election can go ahead.
Iraq's presidential council, composed of President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and two vice presidents, including Sunni Arab Hashemi and one Shiite, has demanded a greater say in the election for minorities and Iraqi expatriates.
However, the war-torn country's Federal Supreme Court on Thursday threw out an attempted veto from Hashemi, ruling that election organisers, and not the law, governed how many seats be allocated to Iraqi nationals living abroad.
The vote, the second national poll since the US-led invasion of 2003 which ousted Saddam Hussein, is scheduled for mid-January but cannot go ahead until the law governing it receives presidential assent.
"The date of the vote on the presidential veto of the electoral law is Saturday," parliament speaker Iyad al-Samarrai told reporters in Baghdad, demanding MPs turn up to ensure the vote "reflects the will of the people".
Hashemi's insistence on securing the relevant change in the law led him to veto the legislation on Wednesday, leaving the planned election in doubt.
Talabani, meanwhile, on a state visit to France appeared to distance himself from Hashemi's demand and said the Sunni Arab vice president had been "under pressure" from his allies to use the veto.
"I am afraid that there will be a new delay to the election," Talabani told France 24 television. "That is why I decided not to oppose the electoral law.
"If the election is postponed after the date stipulated in the constitution, there will be a power vacuum."
He said that although he believed there were "deficiencies" in the law, he had backed it as Kurdish MPs "voted unanimously" for it to be approved.
"Mr Hashemi, under the pressure of his group, asked parliament to change the law," Talabani added.

http://www.aina.org/news/20091119123927.htm

At this point, you know the rest of the world isn�t buying the democratic dog and pony show. It's being forced down their throats for a moment of profits, and soon as the leash is taken off and troops leave, look out.

Pelosi wants to tax stock trading

Fishindinar — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:49:15 GMT

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsO...5AI3ZV20091119

It never ends.

Obama to the Troops: 'You guys make a pretty good photo op'...

TerryTate — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:16:42 GMT

Quote:

White House aides: No Afghan decision before Thanksgiving

By Anne E. Kornblut
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 19, 2009 2:50 PM

SEOUL -- President Obama will not announce his decision on sending more troops to Afghanistan before the Thanksgiving holiday, senior aides said Thursday.

The news came as the president greeted 1,500 troops at Osan Air Base in South Korea, just before boarding Air Force One and heading back to Washington after an eight-day trip to Asia.

Obama and his top military and diplomatic aides have been deliberating for months over how to proceed in Afghanistan, where the United States and its partners have sought for eight years to defeat the Taliban and deny al-Qaeda a safe haven from which it can plan and launch attacks.

Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, has stated that without the deployment of up to 40,000 additional troops within the next year, the mission "will likely result in failure." But some aides are arguing for a much smaller troop increase, and the U.S. ambassador in Kabul, Karl W. Eikenberry, has questioned whether the Afghan government can be a reliable partner.

Obama said in interviews Wednesday that he would reveal his decision within the next several weeks. On Thursday, aides clarified that there would be no announcement before Thanksgiving, one week away. Senior administration officials said Obama intends to meet with his national security team again before going public with his plans.

Obama did not mention the looming decision in his remarks to U.S. troops, referring to the Afghan conflict only by thanking South Korea for its efforts and expressing gratitude to the American military personnel who have served there.

But he did discuss the region in his meeting with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, whose government is sending 150 civilian aid workers to Afghanistan.

Obama arrived on the base 3:19 p.m. local time (1 a.m. Eastern Standard Time) and received a rousing welcome from 1,500 troops in camouflage uniforms, many holding cameras or pointing cellphones to snap pictures.

"You guys make a pretty good photo op," the president said.

Standing on a riser wearing a blue suit and red tie, with a cluster of troops and a large American flag behind him, Obama expressed "the gratitude of the American public" and said his meetings in four countries over eight days in Asia will help deliver a "safer, more prosperous world for all of us."
He got a huge cheer when he told them he was increasing military pay. "That's what you call an applause line," he said, before boarding his jet and taking off at 4:11 p.m.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJP2PH8WKaI

So Obama said, "You guys make a pretty good photo op".

I guess he left off the part where he was also thinking "so will your caskets when I salute them in Maryland".

Quote:

Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings.

YouTube- Led Zeppelin-Stairway to Heaven

Shock: 2007 Memo Warns Of Dangerous Hasan

TerryTate — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:58:22 GMT

VIDEO HERE------> http://us.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2...hasan.memo.cnn

Uh-huh, not only do we need psychiatrists we can trust 150%, we could use a few citizens with the same loyalties to this country, but apparently that is to much to ask for some in this nation...

And that isn't putting his Islamic beliefs aside.

No Shame: MSNBC Goes After 13-Year-Old Girl for Supporting Palin

PAn8tv — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:38:02 GMT

Thursday, November 19, 2009
No Shame: MSNBC Goes After 13-Year-Old Girl for Supporting Palin
Posted by: Meredith Jessup at 11:35 AM
Unbelievable. This girl, apparently standing in line with her dad, is waiting in line, hoping for a chance to get her book signed and meet Sarah Palin. Meanwhile, MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell grills her for supporting Palin:

http://townhall.com/blog/g/a9b6ba4f-...ion=Descending

Is there any wonder why there ratings are in the toilet? :shake: :thinking:

Faa

MTnews — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:33:56 GMT

Daily Market Commentary for November 19, 2009

FAA

Airline stocks were falling today due to current delays caused by malfunctions from the FAA system that collects flight plans. (Read more at Millennium-Traders.Com)

Economic data released today:

Initial Jobless Claims:
U.S. Continuing Claims for week of November 7 fell 39K to 5,611,000; U.S. Jobless Claims Revised for week of November 7 to 505K from 502K; U.S. Jobless Claims Unchanged for week of November 14 505K compared to Survey of an increase by 4K.

Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index:
Philadelphia Fed November Business Index 16.7 versus October 11.5; Philadelphia Fed November Business Index Expected 12.0; Philadelphia Fed November Price Paid 14.9 versus October 21.3; Philadelphia Fed November Price Received fell 1.5 versus October decrease by 4.3; Philadelphia Fed November Employment fell 0.5 versus October decrease by 6.8; Philadelphia Fed November New Orders 14.8 versus October 6.2; Philadelphia Fed November Shipments 15.7 versus October 3.3; Philadelphia Fed November Delivery Times fell 12.7 versus October decrease by 9.3; Philadelphia Fed November Inventories fell 17.3 versus October decrease by 31.8.

U.S. Conference Board Leading Index:
October Lagging Index fell 0.2%; October Coincident Index 0.0%; October Leading Index rose 0.3%.

At the NYSE closing bell on the New York Stock Exchange, here is how the major world indices and major U.S. stock indices ended the trading session on the world markets as well as the emerging markets including the stock market closing bell price:
DOW (Dow Jones Industrial Average) shed 93.19 points, EOD 10,333.12
NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) shed 109.11, EOD 7,117.60
National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) shed 36.25 points, EOD 2,156.89
S&P 500 (SPX) shed 14.76 points, EOD 1,095.04
BEL 20 (BEL20) shed 39.83 points, EOD 2,485.61
CAC 40 (CAC40) shed 67.94 points, EOD 3,760.22
FTSE100 (UKX100) shed 74.43 points, EOD 5,267.70
NIKKEI 225 (NIK/O) shed 70.02 points, EOD 9,549.47

New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) stock market indicators for the trading session today:
Advanced stock prices 588 declined stock prices 2,522, unchanged stock prices 71, stock prices hitting new highs 45 and stock prices hitting new lows 9. NYSE quotes for volatile stocks and market trends, as well as stock quotes, stock prices and stock symbols of Day Trading Stock Picks on the New York Stock Exchange stock market for Day Trading online and active Day Trading for those who are or would like to be Day Trading for a living: FAS shed 4.37, HOD 79.16, LOD 75.40, EOD 76.17; RTP shed 6.15, HOD 216.20, LOD 211.00, EOD 213.85; CME shed 2.14, HOD 322.36, LOD 318.37, EOD 321.97; EDC shed 9.19, HOD 153.54, LOD 145.29, EOD 149.01; MA gain 2.81, HOD 235.96, LOD 223.57, EOD 230.09; TSL gain 2.70, HOD 46.80, LOD 41.78, EOD 45.45; PPD shed 7.79, HOD 40.72, LOD 30.68, EOD 33.34; DCI gain 3.27, HOD 45.19, LOD 43.42, EOD 44.73.

National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) stock market indicators for the trading session today:
Advanced stock prices 567, declined stock prices 2,146, unchanged stock prices 109, stock prices hitting new highs 33 and stock prices hitting new lows 30. NASDAQ quotes, volatile stocks and market trends, as well as stock quotes, stock prices and stock symbols of Day Trading Stock Picks on the NASDAQ stock market for Day Trading online and active Day Trading for those who are or would like to be Day Trading for a living: NTES shed 3.49, HOD 37.95, LOD 36.06, EOD 37.20; SHLD shed 2.82, HOD 77.70, LOD 72.01, EOD 72.95; SMTC shed 0.77, HOD 16.36, LOD 14.66, EOD 16.21; BIDU shed 7.11, HOD 431.94, LOD 423.18, EOD 428.01; FSLR shed 3.54, HOD 124.00, LOD 120.05, EOD 121.13; AMZN shed 2.30, HOD 130.54, LOD 128.48, EOD 128.99; ISRG shed 0.95, HOD 279.91, LOD 275.69, EOD 278.68; NTES shed 3.49, HOD 37.94, LOD 36.06, EOD 37.20; JACK shed 1.35, HOD 18.82, LOD 17.84, EOD 18.50; HOTT shed 0.87, HOD 5.89, LOD 5.57, EOD 5.80.

Market trends on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) and stock market indicators for the trading session today:
Advanced stock prices 172, declined stock prices 348, unchanged stock prices 47, stock prices hitting new highs 7 and stock prices hitting new lows 4.

Chicago Board of Trade Futures Market for the day, at time of this posting:
E-mini S&P 500 (ES) Dec 09: EOD 1094.75; Change -13.75
E-mini NASDAQ-100 (NQ) Dec 09: EOD 1,775.00; Change -25.50
E-mini DOW $5 (YM) Dec 09: EOD 10,326; Change -78
E-mini S&P MidCap 400 (MF) Dec 09: EOD 691.40; Change -12.60
Nikkei 225 (Yen) Dec 09: EOD 9,455; Change -260

World Currencies for the Forex Market, for Forex Trading by active Forex Traders, at time of this posting:
Euro 0.6704 U.S. Dollars 1.4917
Japanese Yen 89.0600 to U.S. Dollars 0.0112
British Pound 0.6003 to U.S. Dollars 1.6658
Canadian Dollar 1.0631 to U.S. Dollars 0.9406
Swiss Franc 1.0133 to U.S. Dollars 0.9869

COMMODITY MARKETS:
Energy Sector - Nymex:
Light Crude (December 09) shed $2.12, EOD $77.46 per barrel ($US per barrel)
Heating Oil (December 09) shed $0.05, EOD $2.03 a gallon ($US per gallon)
Natural Gas (December 09) gain $0.06, EOD $4.72 per million BTU ($US per mmbtu.)
Unleaded Gas (December 09) shed $0.04, EOD $1.97 a gallon ($US per gallon)

Metals Markets - Comex:
Gold (December 09) gain $1.00, EOD $1,142.20 ($US per Troy ounce)
Silver (December 09) gain $0.05, EOD $18.46 ($US per Troy ounce)
Platinum (January 09) shed $8.10, EOD $1,443.90 ($US per Troy ounce)
Copper (December 09) shed $0.03, EOD $3.11 ($US per pound)

Livestock and Meat Markets - Chicago Mercantile Exchange (cents per lb.):
Lean Hogs (December 09) shed $0.95, EOD $63.28
Pork Bellies (February 10) shed $1.58, EOD $87.08
Live Cattle (December 09) gain $0.40, EOD $85.38
Feeder Cattle (January 10) gain $0.10, EOD $91.83

Other Commodities - Chicago Board of Trade (cents per bushel):
Corn (December 09) shed $3.00, EOD $410.75
Soybeans (January 10) gain $12.00, EOD $1,039.00

BOND MARKET:
2 year EOD 100 17/32, change 2/32, Yield 0.71, Yield change -0.03
5 year EOD 100 31/32, change 5/32, Yield 2.16, Yield change -0.03
10 year EOD 100 7/32, change 6/32, Yield 3.34, Yield change -0.02
30 year EOD 101 15/32, change 9/32, Yield 4.28, change -0.02
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Jesse Jackson: �You can�t vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man�

PAn8tv — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:24:56 GMT

Jesse Jackson: �You can�t vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man�

By Mike Soraghan � 11/18/09
The Rev. Jesse Jackson on Wednesday night criticized Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.) for voting against the Democrats� signature healthcare bill.
�We even have blacks voting against the healthcare bill,� Jackson said at a reception Wednesday night. �You can�t vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man.�
The remark stirred a murmur at the reception, held by the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Foundation as part of a series of events revolving around the 25th anniversary of Jackson�s run for president. Several CBC members were in attendance, including Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), who�d introduced Jackson.
Davis, who is running for governor, is the only black member of Congress from Alabama. He is also the only member of the CBC to have voted against the healthcare bill earlier this month�
Davis�s Democratic primary opponent, Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks, highlighted Davis�s status as the lone African-American vote against the bill.
�He was the only Black Caucus member to vote against it. I don�t get it,� Sparks said last week, according to The Associated Press. Sparks is white.
Davis said he voted against the healthcare bill because "House leadership�s approach is not the best we can do." He said he preferred a version passed by the Senate Finance Committee because it reduces subsidization of the healthcare industry, taxes high-value health plans instead of wealthy people, and is more effective in getting employers to help with health coverage�
Everything is black and white in Mr. Jackson�s constricted world.
By the way, this reception celebrating the 25th anniversary of Mr. Jackson�s run for president is not to be confused with Mr. Jackson�s birthday celebration on Friday, November 13, 2009, which was held in Beverly Hills at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
For some people life is just one big party.

http://sweetness-light.com/archive/j...e-and-be-black

1994 NYT Blasted Clinton For Bowing

PAn8tv — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:20:37 GMT

1994 NYT Blasted Clinton For Bowing

By DOUGLAS JEHL
Published: Sunday, June 19, 1994
"IF I see another king, I think I shall bite him," Teddy Roosevelt once growled. Offered that opportunity with the Japanese equivalent last week, Bill Clinton turned out to have had quite something else in mind.
It wasn�t a bow, exactly. But Mr. Clinton came close. He inclined his head and shoulders forward, he pressed his hands together. It lasted no longer than a snapshot, but the image on the South Lawn was indelible: an obsequent [sic] President, and the Emperor of Japan.
Canadians still bow to England�s Queen; so do Australians. Americans shake hands. If not to stand eye-to-eye with royalty, what else were 1776 and all that about? But Mr. Clinton, alas, is not the only one since George Washington who has seemed not quite to know what to make of monarchs.
There was that curtsy, during the Reagan years, when Lenore Annenberg, herself the chief of protocol, forgot herself entirely and did a little dip to greet a visiting Prince Charles. That prompted a stern warning from Miss Manners against those who might mock the effort that "was once put into freeing Americans from the necessity of bending their knees." Soon afterward, when Nancy Reagan greeted Queen Elizabeth II behind closed doors, her press secretary acknowledged that Mrs. Reagan had bowed her head but insisted, "It was definitely not a curtsy."
With the imperial visit last week, official Washington was clearly determined to show that it knew well what courtesies should be showered on the 175th inheritor of the most formal throne on earth.
Guests invited to a white-tie state dinner at the White House (a Clinton Administration first) were instructed to address the Emperor as "Your Majesty," not "Your Highness" or, worse, "King." And in what one Administration aide called "some emperor thing," an Army general was cautioned that he should not address the Emperor Akihito at all as he escorted him to the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.
But the "thou need not bow" commandment from the State Department�s protocol office maintained a constancy of more than 200 years. Administration officials scurried to insist that the eager-to-please President had not really done the unthinkable.
"It was not a bow-bow, if you know what I mean," said Ambassador Molly Raiser, the chief of protocol.
White House officials described Mr. Clinton�s tilt as something of an improvisation. Because Emperor Akihito broke with tradition in turn to raise his glass at the state dinner, some even said Mr. Clinton had managed something of a breakthrough.
"Presidents don�t bow, and Emperors don�t toast," one official said. "So this was a little bit like the cultures meeting each other halfway."
Funny, but we haven�t noticed any similar castigations of Mr. Obama in the pages of the New York Times.
But that was then and this is now.

http://sweetness-light.com/archive/1...ton-for-bowing

Fox News Poll: Approval of President Obama Hits New Low

PAn8tv — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:10:32 GMT

Fox News Poll: Approval of President Obama Hits New Low
by Dana Blanton
FOXNews.com

President Obama's approval rating has hit a new low of 46 percent, even as a majority of Americans says he is providing the kind of leadership they expected.

President Obama's approval rating has hit a new low of 46 percent, according to a FOX News poll released Thursday. An equal number -- 46 percent -- disapprove of the job he's doing.

Breaking down the numbers by political party shows how sharply split American voters are over the president's job performance. While 85 percent of Democrats approve of their party leader, 80 percent of Republicans and 51 percent of independents disapprove.

The president's average approval rating for his term so far is 56 percent.

Click here to see the poll.
http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/..._ObamaPoll.pdf

Overall, a 57 percent majority says President Obama is providing the kind of leadership they expected, while 17 percent say he is a stronger leader than expected and 23 percent say he's a weaker leader. When this question was asked about President George W. Bush early in his first term, 68 percent said his leadership was what they expected, 14 percent said he was a stronger leader than expected and 13 percent a weaker leader (July 2001).

Despite the drop in Obama's approval rating, the president continues to outperform the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. More than twice as many Americans disapprove (63 percent) as approve (26 percent) of the job Congress is doing.

Moreover, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's favorable rating is still in the doldrums, with a 28 percent minority of Americans saying they have a positive view of her and 50 percent holding a negative view. While half of Democrats (50 percent) have a favorable opinion of Pelosi, majorities of Republicans (77 percent) and independents (58 percent) view her unfavorably.

For President Obama, 54 percent of voters have a favorable opinion and 42 percent unfavorable. When he took office in January, 76 percent had a favorable view and 15 percent unfavorable.

First Lady Michelle Obama bests her husband with a 63 percent favorable rating, down from a high of 73 percent favorable in April.

Opinion Dynamics Corp. conducted the national telephone poll of 900 registered voters for Fox News from November 17 to November 18. For the total sample, the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

When asked about next year's Congressional elections, there's a split similar to the president's job rating. If the election were held today, 39 percent say they would vote for the Democratic candidate to help Obama pass his policies and 42 percent say they would back the Republican to provide a check on Obama's power. For 15 percent it is too soon to say.

Does a U.S. President Bow?
President Obama has been criticized for inappropriately bowing to foreign leaders while traveling overseas. The first was for bowing when it wasn't protocol, and on his most recent trip, for bowing too deeply. Most Americans -- 67 percent -- believe the president should bow if it is that country's custom. For some 26 percent it is "never appropriate" for the president to bow to another leader.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009...+Politics%2529

Top 10 Internet Moments of the Decade

PAn8tv — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:47:38 GMT

Top 10 Internet Moments of the Decade
Thursday , November 19, 2009

ADVERTISEMENTThe birth of Wikipedia, the death of Napster, the iPhone, Facebook and Twitter have been named by the Webby Awards as among the top 10 Internet moments of the decade.

Other events singled out by New York's International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, which bestows the annual Webby Awards, were Iran's election protests, Craigslist's expansion and the launch of Google AdWords.

"The Internet is the story of the decade because it was the catalyst for change in not just every aspect of our everyday lives, but in everything from commerce and communication to politics and pop culture," said David-Michel Davies, executive director of the Webby Awards.

"The recurring theme among all of the milestones on our list is the Internet's capacity to circumvent old systems and put more power into the hands of ordinary people."

The Webby Awards list of the 10 most influential Internet moments of the decade:

* Craigslist online classified site expands outside San Francisco (2000)

* The launch of Google AdWords (2000)

* The launch of online encyclopedia Wikipedia (2001)

* The shutdown of file-sharing site Napster (2001)

* Google's initial public offering (2004)

* The online video revolution led by YouTube (2006)

* Facebook opens to non-college students and Twitter launches (2006)

* Apple's iPhone debuts (2007)

* The use of the Internet in the US presidential campaign (2008)

* The use of Twitter during the Iranian election protests (2009)

The 14th annual Webby Awards are to be announced in April 2010. They reward excellence on the Internet in a number of categories including news and other websites, interactive advertising and online film and video

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,...est=latestnews

The Million-Dollar Penny

PAn8tv — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:18:51 GMT

The Million-Dollar Penny

By Jeff D. Opdyke
On 3:26 am EST, Thursday November 19, 2009

When is a penny worth a million dollars?
When it's a 1795 reeded-edge U.S. penny, one of only seven known to exist. It recently sold for nearly $1.3 million at auction�the first time a one-cent coin has cracked the million-dollar price barrier.
It follows the sale earlier this year of a high-end collection of rare half-dollars that fetched $1.1 million at auction. At the same time, popular $20 U.S. Saint-Gaudens gold pieces from the early 20th century are commanding $1,700 apiece, sight unseen, in decent, though not perfect condition, topping a record high last seen more than two decades ago.
Today's coin market is largely defined by high-end investors grabbing the rarest of coins that infrequently come up for sale; gold bugs snapping up gold coins; and speculators bidding up prices for coins whose grades they suspect are too low, in the hopes of securing a higher grade and selling them for more money. Yet ordinary collectible coins�the nickels, dimes and quarters that are nice but not great�have fallen in value by as much as 30% over the past year, say coin dealers and auction-house executives.
"It's easier to sell a $100,000 coin today than a $1,000 coin," says , founder of Certified Acceptance Corp., based in Bedminster, N.J., which verifies graded coins.
That mirrors the trend in other collectible markets, such as those for fine art, wine and jewelry. The high end of these markets is garnering big interest as investors increasingly worry about the weakening dollar and the potential for future inflation. Yet lower-end collectibles are struggling in the aftermath of the financial crisis. The Liv-Ex 100 index of investment-grade wine in October was down about 11% since peaking just before the economic downturn. An index of contemporary art is off almost 50% in the 12 moths ended in September, according to Artnet.com, an art information and services Web site.
"Anything that is commercial or easily replaceable isn't selling so well right now," says , head of the jewelry department at New York auction house Christie's. "But if you have something great, there is still a very big market for it, and there are buyers who want to spend to get those great things."
At an October Christie's auction, the 32-carat white Annenberg Diamond sold for $7.7 million, or more than $240,000 per carat, shattering world-record prices for white diamonds. Last week, Andy Warhol's 1962 silkscreen painting "200 One Dollar Bills" sold for $43.7 million to an anonymous buyer at a Sotheby's auction in New York�more than three times its high estimate of $12 million. Auctions this fall have established new price records for a host of fine-art photographers. And blue-chip wines such as Bordeaux from Chateau Lafitte, Petrus, Le Pin and Ausone "are on fire," says Charles Curtis, head of Christie's North American wine sales.
Sales of gold coins are up as much as 75% at Dallas-based online auction house Heritage Auctions Inc. "because there is just so much demand," says , the auction house's co-chairman. "Even is talking about inflation these days, and people I talk to who are buying coins are worried about a massive onslaught. They're buying coins because they want to hold something tangible that will do well."
Coins are generally graded on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 70 (highest), with mint-grade coins�those showing no signs of being circulated�starting at grade 60. Numismatic Guaranty Corp., based in Sarasota, Fla., one of the two main coin-grading services, has recently opened offices in Asia and Europe, as foreigners exploit the weak dollar to grab rare, antique coins that have long resided in the U.S. Demand for grading services has surged to such a degree that the company's 20 graders are handing as many as 12,000 coins a day, double the level just after the financial crisis hit last year.
Behind the trend are collectors like Robert Beckwitt, a 51-year-old New York money manager. He renewed his childhood fascination with collectible coins a decade ago because coins were cheap. Today, his interest in high-grade coins reflects an investor's mindset.
"This is my way of diversifying away from stocks and bonds and the U.S. dollar," he says. In recent years Mr. Beckwitt has snapped up some of the finest examples of coins available, such as the highest-graded 1796 quarter, the first ever minted. Over the summer he grabbed for an undisclosed sum the finest-known 1797 half-dollar. "It wasn't cheap," he says. "But I love the history of these early coins."
Before the economic crisis, the coin market was defined by rapidly rising prices for all manner of coins and widespread demand from seasoned collectors, casual hobbyists and investors. Now, casual hobbyists and low-end collectors are largely sitting on the sidelines, victims of the economy.
The coins at the focus of today's activity have generally held their value or are rising, either because of their gold value or because of their rarity. A September auction of rare, large U.S. pennies from the late 18th century established world-record prices for one-cent coins, among them the penny that sold for nearly $1.3 million, including commissions�well in excess of presale estimates of about $250,000, says , co-owner of Beverly Hills,Calif -based Goldberg Coins & Collectibles, which ran the auction.
One reason high-end coins are holding up is because wealthier collectors are competing to build "set registries"�the best-possible collection of a particular coin�that they display online. When a high-graded coin comes to market, "the high-end guys are fighting over it to improve their collection or get bragging rights," says , publisher of the Certified Coin Dealer Newsletter, a widely followed source of coin pricing.
Many collectors also see high-end coins as a viable asset class at a time when they're dismayed by stocks, bonds and other investments amid worries about the economy and the long-term direction of the dollar. Historically, high-end coins have fared well as an asset. The PCGS3000 Index of rare coins has returned an annualized 11.3% since January 1970. During that same period, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained about 6.5% annually.
Earlier this year, Dale Friend, a retired lawyer in Lake Tahoe, Nev., auctioned a complete collection of so-called U.S. Barber half-dollars, minted between 1892 and 1915. The high-grade collection took seven years to build, and Mr. Friend held the set for eight years thereafter. His coins earned $1.1 million at auction, nearly 100% more than their original cost.
"Though I think of myself as a collector, I'm really an investor," says the 68-year-old Mr. Friend. "I've realized I have very little control over investments in stocks and real estate. But with coins I can know all there is to know about the investment I'm going to make." He has recently started building a collection of U.S. Capped Bust half-dollars from the early 19th century.
Many coin buyers these days are hoping for a quicker score through the "crack out" strategy. They're buying high-quality graded coins and cracking them out of their hard plastic casings in order to resubmit to them to a grading service for a higher grade. They choose coins, in part, based on how they look compared to similar coins of the same grade. Many times they're right, and the coins are ultimately awarded a higher grade.
Though there are huge risks with this strategy�including the potential that a coin is downgraded or loses its grade altogether�a successful regrading "can add thousands of dollars to a coin's value," says , a New York coin dealer and author of numerous coin guides. One example: A $20 U.S. Saint-Gaudens gold coin currently fetches a few hundred dollars over bullion prices in "mint-state 63." A one-grade increase would push the value to more than $3,000, according to the Certified Coin Dealer Newsletter. A two-grade improvement would increase the value to about $17,000.
"I'm getting calls several times an hour from people who want to play the crack-out game," Mr. Travers says. "If you're really careful about what you're buying, there's tremendous upside and little downside."

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/The-Mi...html/print?x=0

Geithner: 'The credit crunch is not over'

PAn8tv — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:47:14 GMT

Geithner: 'The credit crunch is not over'

Small businesses took center stage as Washington power players convened to tackle the growing crisis in lending.
By Catherine Clifford, CNNMoney.com staff reporter
Last Updated: November 19, 2009: 9:37 AM ET

WASHINGTON (CNNMoney.com) -- One day after Goldman Sachs' CEO apologized for his bank's role in the financial meltdown, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner called on the nation's financiers to step up and do more to fix the damage they helped cause.

"This credit crunch is not over," Geithner at a small business financing forum in Washington hosted by the Treasury. "It may feel dramatically better for large companies, but it is not over for small businesses across the country."

The nation's banking system was stabilized with taxpayer dollars, and Geithner said he holds the biggest banks accountable for passing the torch from Wall Street to Main Street.

"Banks bear some responsibility for the extent of the damage caused by the crisis," he said. "And they carry a substantial obligation to help our communities get back on their feet."

Geithner and an assortment of top Washington officials, including Small Business Administrator Karen Mills, met Wednesday with a gathering of bankers and small business owners to address the credit crunch that has plagued small business owners for more than a year. Frozen out by banks unwilling to make risky lending bets on startups and small companies, the nation's 6 million small employers are struggling.

"In my home state of Virginia, we have long-term, successful retailers who are not going to be able to hire up for the holiday season," said Senator Mark Warner, D-Va. "Small businesses have hung on as long as they can and are basically at the end of their rope."

Many voices, little consensus: The Obama administration has made several attempts to unlock small business lending, with middling success.

Stimulus provisions aimed at motivating banks to increase their participation in the Small Business Administration's loan programs helped staunch the bleeding, but 2009's SBA loan volume still fell sharply from the year before. Last month, President Obama unveiled a new set of proposals, including increasing the cap on SBA loans and offering community banks ultra-low interest government loans. Business owners and bankers gave the plan a lukewarm reception.

The day-long forum Treasury hosted on Wednesday was aimed at generating fresh ideas.

Participants enthusiastically plunged into brainstorming, offering up a blizzard of suggestions. Many targeted specific, technical obstacles that have slowed the flow of small business loans, like onerous paperwork requirements for SBA-backed lending and the regulatory problems banks face if too many of their small business loans default.

Senator Warner touted a proposal he sent to President Obama last month, with the endorsement of 32 other members of the Senate. Warner is backing the creation of a $50 billion small business lending pool, drawing on $40 billion from TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) funds and $10 billion from participating banks. Bankers would manage the loan pool funds, but because the money would stay off their books, banks wouldn't be able to simply absorb it into their own working capital.

"I think we need to be exponentially more aggressive," Warner said of the government's response to the deepening crisis.

Geithner seemed to agree. He and other officials acknowledged that the small business situation remains critical.

"As we wind down programs that help big banks, we are committed to doing more to help small businesses access the credit they need to grow and hire new workers," Geithner said.

That was a refreshing to hear, said Steve Steinour, CEO of Huntington Bank (HBAN). There was "clear recognition that the successes so far are not adequate."

Huntington, based in Columbus, Ohio, has kept its small business lending steady through the recession. It made almost 1,000 loans last year through the SBA's primary loan program, totaling $141.4 million. Steinour found Wednesday's brainstorming session fruitful.

"The SBA got an awful lot to work from -- a very rich palate," he said.

The SBA plans to compile the conference comments into a report that will be sent to President Obama and publicly released online.

Why it matters: One theme recurred throughout the day: Scarce credit is preventing small business owners from creating jobs.

With the unemployment rate topping 10%, that's a critical obstacle to the nation's economic recovery. Entrepreneurs like William Ortiz-Cartagena of San Francisco were on hand to illustrate how financing can translate directly into jobs.

Ortiz-Cartagena is the owner of Gentle Parking, a company that coordinates parking logistics. He banged on bank doors repeatedly to find loans to get his company launched, with no success. Finally, in February, he landed a $10,000 loan from Opportunity Fund, a community development financing fund that specializes in working with underserved populations. Gentle Parking now has a staff of 12.

Lack of financing is keeping the company from expanding further, Ortiz-Cartagena said.

"Once we have the tools, we got it. We'll take care of the rest," he said. "I am excited to see the government actually rolling up their sleeves and talking to me."

They're talking. The next step is action. Which won't be easy.

Banks remain under tremendous pressure to shore up their balance sheets and avoid risky loans -- which small business loans typically are. Defaults have spiked this year as companies struggle to keep up with their bills, even as their sales deteriorate.

"There are no quick fixes," Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation chief Sheila Bair said at the conference. She expects the current quarter to be a rough one for banks, which are still suffering losses from past bets gone bad.

But until someone -- the banks or the government itself -- starts lending, small companies will continue to feel shut out from recovery efforts.

Lani Hay, the founder of technology services firm Lanmark Technologies in Fairfax, Va., has seen her credit lines slashed and her financing options dry up. She compared the current situation with business owners and bankers to a middle-school dance: Boys on one side, girls on the other, and a wary refusal to mingle.

SBA Administrator Mills liked the analogy. "We have our marching orders," she said. "We have to get on some music and get people dancing."

First Published: November 18, 2009: 9:51 PM ET

Find this article at:
http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/18/smal...orum/index.htm

IRS Unveils Criteria Used to Identify U.S. Investors in UBS Bank

PAn8tv — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:39:15 GMT

IRS Unveils Criteria Used to Identify U.S. Investors in UBS Bank

By Alison Bennett
Publication date: 11/18/2009

The Internal Revenue Service Nov. 17 unveiled the criteria used to identify 4,450 U.S. investors with accounts in Swiss banking giant UBS whose names will be turned over to the Internal Revenue Service under an agreement with Switzerland.
In a move that Commissioner of Internal Revenue Douglas Shulman and U.S. Deputy Attorney General David W. Ogden said marked another milestone in the government's quest to stop offshore tax abuse, the criteria were released in the form of an �annex� to the treaty request for the names. That request was first made available when the U.S.-Swiss agreement was announced Aug. 19.
Under the annex, IRS is seeking accounts that represented the most egregious behavior, the ones that would be most difficult to find, and the accounts that hold the highest amounts of assets, Shulman told reporters during a teleconference.

http://www.accountantsworld.com/

UN Official to to give status of Iraq in a webcast

Torquewrench — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:29:58 GMT

The Special Representative in Iraq for U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, Ad Melkert, will discuss his insights about the present situation and future of Iraq from 4:00 pm- 5:30 pm today at the New America Foundation.
The event will stream live here at The Washington Note.
-- Andrew Lebovich

Motorola Droid

PAn8tv — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:27:02 GMT

I have recently gotten the new Droid...so far it has been pretty fantastic.
I would be curious to hear others experiences and any really cool apps you are using.

Hse of Reps postpone vote - withdraw confidence of Min of Electricity after Eid al-Adha

Seaview — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:59:07 GMT

House of Representatives postponed a vote to withdraw confidence from the minister of electricity until after the Eid al-Adha

Chairman of the Board decided to Iyad Samarrai, Iyad al-Samarrai, to postpone the vote to withdraw confidence from the Minister of Electricity to the vote until after the Eid al-Adha, at the request of a number of deputies to submit to the Commission on the work and services in the Council a report on the subject.

Samarrai said at the regular open-fifth session, held on Thursday that the responses of the Minister of Electricity on the questions addressed to him in the interrogation sessions of the Council and distributed to MPs for consultation.

With regard to the budget bill, the federal public in 2010 between the President of the Council that there will be another round of discussion by the House of Representatives that the vote will be after Eid al-Adha.

The council ended the second reading of the draft Law of Trademarks and trade data and the Iraqi draft law ratifying the Convention in the Iraqi-Syrian cooperation Alkmarki and the first reading of the draft housing bill Iraq.

Then the chairman of the Council meeting to remain open on Saturday.

http://translate.googleusercontent.c...qpa-QGoDQ2Vjhw

Mexican Border City Calls for UN Peacekeepers

PAn8tv — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:57:44 GMT

Mexican Border City Calls for UN Peacekeepers
November 18, 2009 | From theTrumpet.com

Just yards away from El Paso, Texas, violence engulfs a city of 1.5 million.
Mexico�s business leaders are pleading for the United Nations to send peacekeepers to prevent the border city of Ciudad Juarez from falling into complete chaos. Locked in a deadly war with organized crime, the Mexican Army is unable to protect the safety of its citizens. Will El Paso�s sister city be the first domino to fall in a long line of Mexican cities that are teetering on the edge of lawlessness?

Could blue-helmeted soldiers soon be patrolling the U.S. border? For Americans, it may seem ridiculous to think that peacekeepers could be in action so close to home.

Yet if two leading business groups in the city of Ciudad Juarez have their way, soldiers from India, China or Germany could be billeted just footsteps from one of America�s largest border cities.

�This is a proposal � for international forces to come here to help out the domestic forces,� said Daniel Murguia, president of the Cuidad Juarez chapter of the National Chamber of Commerce, on November 12.

Murguia says the UN has previously intervened in countries that had �a lot fewer problems than we have.� More than 8,500 Mexican troops are currently working with local law enforcement to regain control of the streets. But despite some initial success, crime is now back to pre-deployment numbers.

Almost 2,000 people have been killed so far this year�making the Mexican city the murder capital of the world. This number is amplified by the fact that tortured and mutilated bodies are dumped in the streets alongside victims shot execution style. Kidnappings and extortion are also rife, as is other violent crime. Local businessmen end up supporting the drug cartels by paying protection money. It is pay or get burned out, reports wfaa-tv reporter Angela Kocherga. Police officers wear face masks to hide their identity and protect their families from retribution.

�We are living basically in a state of war in Ciudad Juarez,� said Oscar Maynez, a criminologist in the border city. If the army can�t handle things, he asks, what are we left with?

Soledad Maynez, the president of the city�s Association of Maquiladoras (factories), says the United States might be forced to intervene because the violence will �sooner or later� spill over into El Paso. It is just a matter of time.

Mexico�s problems are intensifying. The global economic crisis, Mexico�s plummeting oil production and the war against the drug cartels threaten its very viability. America could soon be living next to a failed state.

For analysis on what the collapse of Mexico could mean for America, read �Disorder South of the Border� and �Is Mexico About to Collapse?�

http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?q=6731.5251.0.0

A Tale of Two Community Organizers

PAn8tv — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:37:52 GMT

November 19, 2009
A Tale of Two Community Organizers
By Elinor Lynn Warner

In 1970 America, two infamous organizations were gearing up for big things. Wade Rathke founded ACORN in Arkansas and soon after moved its headquarters to New Orleans. Jim Jones was building the Peoples Temple and set up operations in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Rathke and Jones were gifted community organizers utilizing Democrat politicians, a compliant media, and vulnerable citizens to further their quest for power and money. Their identical pretense was helping the poor and downtrodden.

Jim Jones could round up crowds of protesters and door to door campaign workers on demand. Admired and enabled by San Francisco Democrats and media moguls, Jones gathered emotionally and economically needy people around him, pretending to be a minister to their needs. He forced them to drain their bank accounts, sign over their homes and their welfare and social security checks.

Jones gave their money generously to the Democrat liberal elite and stashed millions in illegal overseas accounts. When Democrats needed a crowd of thousands, Jones provided his willing flock. He ran faith healing and miracle scams. He loved and admired communism, Mao, Lenin, Marx, and Angela Davis. He railed against capitalism, but was ready to pocket all that his followers signed over to him. He was a sought after Democrat community organizer masquerading as a man of faith:

We are not really a church, but a socialist organization. We must pretend to be a church so we're not taxed by the government... Those who remained drugged with the opiate of religion had to be brought into enlightenment - socialism. [Seductive Poison by Deborah Layton.]

While Jones peddled the drug of religion and talked socialism, he imposed communism. Once his followers were hooked, he trapped them in his demoralizing dictatorship, all under the guise of fighting poverty and prejudice. The hierarchy of the Peoples Temple was largely white and the congregation mostly black, yet Jones engineered fake letter writing campaigns to call attention to himself as an embattled racism warrior:

We produced hundreds of letters that were driven out of state and mailed from different locations to members of congress and local government figures... The letters looked as if they came from racists, angry at Jim's attempts to help the poor and people of color. The correspondence exhibited unharnessed racism, using the term "nigger-lover" to describe him and his good deeds. [Seductive Poison by Deborah Layton]

Jones cried racism in the face of an unflattering story set to run in New West Magazine. In an effort to kill the story, he asked the editor:

Tell me, Rosalie, do you believe that this article will solve the problems Marshall Kilduff [New West writer] seems to have with people of color? [Ibid.]

Like recent Acorn whistle blowers, Peoples Temple whistleblowers feared for their lives and reputations. Jones had volumes of blackmail-ready tape recordings of his Planning Committee members "proving their loyalty to socialism by revealing their worst secrets." [Ibid.]

A true believer who had joined the Peoples Temple as a lost 18 year old, Deborah Layton became a whistleblower and proved to be Jones' downfall. But not soon enough to save over 900 lives, including 276 children. Those with political power just looked away.

Jones understood the necessity of friends in high places.

Tim Stoen [church attorney] was being hired as chief prosecutor in an investigation into allegations that large numbers of non-residents had voted illegally in the 1975 election. Stoen would end up using volunteer clerical workers from the Temple in this sensitive investigation. Later, similar voter fraud allegations would be leveled against the Temple itself, though not proved.

...Jones often-denied ambitions for political recognition and power. It was not even enough that Gov. Brown appointed church attorney Tim Stoen in April 1976 to serve on the California Advisory Council to the Legal Services Corporation... he [Jones] wanted more than to host the Jan. 15, 1977 city wide celebration in honor of MLK, Jr.... more than to share the podium that day with Gov. Jerry Brown and the head of President Carter's transition team. [Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones by Tim Reiterman]

The big Democrat names and newspaper editors in 1970 San Francisco sat in Jones' pews and either bought his act or just liked his payoffs and power. But in 1977, things began to spin out of Jones' tight control and a few frank stories of his oppressive Peoples Temple saw the light of day.

Jones fled to socialist Guyana where the constraints of polite society would not hinder him. He paid off government officials and isolated his flock as he set up his dream dictatorship. When the move spiraled out of control, a congressman investigating the group, an NBC news crew, and some disenchanted Jones followers were all gunned down as they tried to board planes to depart and tell their story.

Later on that day in November of 1978, nearly one thousand forsaken men, women and children, virtual prisoners of Jim Jones, were forced to drink cyanide laced Kool-Aid. They died hideous deaths in the communist paradise of Jonestown, Guyana, a perfect snapshot of a communist dictator's respect for humanity. The media preferred the story line that Jones was a crazed religious zealot and cult leader. The story of Jones' help from friendly big name Democrats was also swept away.

More businesslike, stable and enduring than Jim Jones, Wade Rathke built a nationwide taxpayer funded partisan criminal enterprise. He was also enabled by like-minded Democrats and the media. Partisan protection of ACORN continues today, even from career politicians like Jerry Brown. Remember that Brown assisted Jones by placing the Temple attorney in a position of political power. Brown is either a na�ve man or he lusts for the political power both Jones and ACORN wielded. He is not alone.

Now ACORN's tentacles reach many organizations, including the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), which wrote glowingly about highly partisan campaign work in 2004:

The chair of ACORN and Working Families Party called upon us as family to make our contribution known. Did we respond? YES, we responded!

In 2008, the CPUSA website gushed:

The grand coalition of the AFL-CIO and Change to Win along with National Council of La Raza, Women's Vote, ACORN, MoveOn and Rock the Vote has launched the biggest ever-independent voter mobilization, which is at the heart of winning a massive turnout on Election Day and after.

Numerous voter fraud and corruption investigations, ACORN's links to the CPUSA, labor unions and other questionable and partisan groups did not interest the traditional media. Most often it praised and protected this massive community organization. In the face of a couple of young adults' recent undercover ACORN sting, the traditional media was first shamed into coverage, but now has no interest in getting to the bottom of any of it.

Wade Rathke's replacement, ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis, responded to the video evidence of nationwide corruption in her organization with the false cry of racism. This is a familiar tactic used by determined community organizers emboldened by political friends and a sympathetic media. ACORN's ties to big name Democrats resemble Jim Jones' San Francisco political alliances on four decades of steroids. A glance into Bertha Lewis's Rolodex reveals the private contact information on Patrick Gaspard, former SEIU VP, and the current �Karl Rove' of the Obama administration. Friends in high places prove lucrative.

Like a good communist leader, Jones squirreled away millions in off shore accounts. The recent raid on ACORN offices in New Orleans seeks to find evidence of Dale Rathke's embezzlement and a cover-up by Wade Rathke. ACORN national board members with sincere motives and questions about this financial wrongdoing were fired. Like many in the Peoples Temple, these members believed that their mission was altruistic, that community organizing was to benefit the needy.

The reality is that both Jones and the leaders of ACORN used the weak and good hearted to line their own pockets and further their own power. Similar themes of exploitation, communism, race baiting, intimidation, and dishonesty run through their stories. Their stroke of genius was to support Democrats and in so doing, buy off the media. Despite lessons learned from the largest mass murder-suicide in history, this formula for unfettered corruption continues unabated.

Page Printed from: http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/...ty_organi.html

Iraq election impasse continues, veto contested

Big.V — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:33:46 GMT

Iraq election impasse continues, veto contested

Thu Nov 19, 2009 9:28am EST

By Waleed Ibrahim and Suadad al-Salhy
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi lawmakers, failing to resolve differences over an election law, said they would meet on Saturday and send the law for approval as it stands, keeping on track plans for a January vote and a partial U.S. troop withdrawal later next year.
Iraq's Sunni Arab vice president vetoed the election law on Wednesday and sent it back to parliament, sparking fears of an election delay that could affect U.S. plans to end combat operations in Iraq in August.
Lawmakers must pass a modified law in the next few days to meet a constitutional deadline to hold the ballot in January.
Instead of addressing Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi's demand that the law give more seats to Iraqi refugees and minorities, lawmakers squabbled over whether the veto was legal.
They scheduled a session on Saturday in which they would vote to reject Hashemi's veto and send the law back for approval by the three-person presidency council without changes, said the speaker of parliament, Ayad al-Samarai.
"We have not had any sign of a political consensus over this issue today so we decided to go to a vote over the veto," Samarai told a news conference.
He said he was confident elections could be held in January as planned if parliament sorted out the matter on Saturday, but analysts warn that debate on one issue in Iraq usually triggers debate on several others, bogging down the entire process.
"Any discussion on any single point of the law will now open other issues and many other political entities will present requests to change other points of the law," said Hassan Salman, a political analyst.

'POLITICAL CRISIS'
The general election had been expected between January 18 and 23 and is being closely watched as a test of Iraq's ability to function independently after nearly seven years of violence and sectarian bloodshed triggered by the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
U.S. officials are worried a material delay in the election will scupper plans to end combat operations next August, ahead of a full pullout by the end of 2011. Sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan hinges partly on the pullout from Iraq.
The commander of U.S. forces in Iraq said no decisions to change the drawdown plan needed to be made till April or May.
The political wrangling kicked off on Thursday with the head of parliament's legal committee, Baha al-Araji, saying an Iraqi court had ruled Hashemi's veto was unconstitutional.
Samarai said the court opinion had not addressed the legality of Hashemi's veto in its ruling and that in any case, such an opinion would not be binding.
"To my knowledge, the federal court did not say the veto is not constitutional," said Saleh al-Mutlaq, an independent Sunni lawmaker, amid a flurry of meetings and news conferences in parliament. "They are trying to create a real political crisis."
Hashemi, one of Iraq's two vice presidents and part of a presidential council that has veto power over legislation, had sent the law back to parliament after objecting to the first article because it did not give a voice to Iraqis abroad.
Many Iraqis abroad are, like Hashemi, members of Iraq's once-dominant Sunni Muslim community. Many of them fled when the country descended into sectarian warfare after Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein was ousted in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, propelling Iraq's Shi'ite majority to political dominance.

But Hashemi's move, which appeared designed to raise his profile before the election, has come in for sharp criticism from other lawmakers and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite, who denounced it as "a serious threat" to democracy.
(Additional reporting by Aseel Kami, Writing by Deepa Babington

http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNew...BrandChannel=0

Sunni November Surprise

Thousands of Jobs Scammed or Created

PAn8tv — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:14:44 GMT

Thousands of Jobs Scammed or Created
by Ben Shapiro (more by this author)
Posted 11/18/2009 ET
Updated 11/18/2009 ET

President Obama has repeatedly stated that his stimulus package has "saved or created" hundreds of thousands of jobs. And hundreds of thousands of jobs have been created. In Unicornland.

According to the Recovery.gov website -- a website that the Obama administration has spent $18 million "stimulating" -- millions have been spent and hundreds of jobs have been created in heretofore unknown areas of America: 30 jobs using $761,420 of federal cash in the fictional 15th congressional district in Arizona (there are only eight congressional districts in Arizona); $19 million in spending and 15 jobs created in mythical districts in Oklahoma; $10.6 million on 39 jobs in invisible Iowan areas; $68.3 million spent in the magical 1st congressional district of the U.S. Virgin Islands; $35 million spent and 142 jobs created in the glittering fairy-tale kingdom of the 99th district of the Northern Mariana Islands; and the list goes on.

Apparently, somebody messed with Joe.

The biggest problem, amazingly enough, isn't the Obama administration's incredible creation of districts from scratch. It's the Obama administration's use of stimulus funds to pay off its political allies.

On Sept. 11, 2009, Democrat congressman Eric Massa of the 29th Congressional District of New York -- yes, this district actually exists -- wrote President Obama a letter regarding the Obama administration's $74.6 million grant to Canadaigua Power Partners, LLC, and Canandaigua Power Partners II, LLC, in Cohocton, N.Y. These companies, according to Massa, "act as shell companies that deceptively operate on behalf of First Wind, which is currently under investigation by New York State Attorney General Cuomo for corruption charges in Cohocton and across the Northeast."

In fact, wrote Massa, "Constituents in our region see these projects as criminal actions � the award of $74.6 million to corrupt companies that have changed names time and again forming new LLCs and new Inc.s but maintaining their business model of lie, cheat and corrupt at the expense of taxpayers has stirred great unrest." Remember, this is a Democratic congressman.

First Wind is a green power company that produces windmills, the giant pieces of idiocy littering our landscapes. Its project in Cohocton, N.Y. -- the project Massa rips -- was so poorly done originally that residents reported that the turbines sounded like jet engines.

From March 31, 2007 to March 31, 2008, First Wind had revenue of $12 million and net losses of $73 million. Those losses forced First Wind to take out loans in the amount of $191 million. And up until October, the New York attorney general's office was investigating First Wind for its possible participation in bribery of public officials for land use purposes.

Broke and under investigation. Not exactly a great candidate for stimulus. But that didn't stop the Obama administration. Why? Because First Wind is supported principally by Madison Dearborn Partners and the D.E. Shaw Group.

Madison Dearborn Partners, not coincidentally, is Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's "best source of funds," according to the Washington Examiner. During his congressional career, employees of Madison Dearborn gave Emanuel $93,600. And Emanuel is instrumental in oversight of the stimulus.

As for D.E. Shaw, White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers was paid $5.2 million in 2008 and 2007 by the company -- to work for one day a week, according to the New York Times. Also according to the Times, "Summers said in an interview that his experience at Shaw, however brief, gave him valuable insight into the practical realities of Wall Street, insight he is now putting to use in shaping economic policy in the White House."

The Obama administration is so dominated by obfuscatory aureate and magniloquent verbosity that it believes it can get away with literally anything. This administration creates dollars out of thin air to pay fictitious employees in figmental places. It's no wonder that so far, the Obama administration has stimulated precisely nothing in the real world.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=34476

Sarah and Barack

PAn8tv — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:11:41 GMT

Sarah and Barack

by R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. (more by this author)
Posted 11/19/2009 ET
Updated 11/19/2009 ET

WASHINGTON -- What would the mainstream media's response be if former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin described China's economic growth to an audience of students in Shanghai as "an accomplishment unparalleled in human history"? That is what the most inexperienced president in modern American history said in Shanghai this week. I wonder whether any of the assembled journalists choked. President Barack Obama makes such unhinged pronouncements with the kind of frequency that if he were anyone else, he would be set down by the media as a booby. I take that back. Vice President Joe Biden is equally gaffable, yet no one in the mainstream press makes him out to be a booby. When he was tapped to be then-Sen. Obama's running mate, he was acknowledged widely -- from ABC to NBC and with all the like-minded newspapers in between -- as a foreign policy colossus.

Both of these men, when untethered from their teleprompters, are prone to gibberish. Actually, I suspect that the president's Shanghai preposterosity appeared in the text rolling down his teleprompter. His speechwriters are as prone to the absurd as their boss. Nonetheless, President Obama is reputed in the media to be an orator of great gifts, and anyway, he is very charismatic. So apparently, the journalists are insensate as the gaffes, the howlers, the jaw-dropping exaggerations roll forth.

Sarah Palin is accorded no such dispensation. During the 2008 presidential campaign, in answering a foreign policy query by Katie Couric about Russia's proximity to the state of which Palin then served as governor, she was mocked for saying Russia is so close it can be seen from Alaska. Her explanation to Couric, whose face was contorted in disbelief, contained the perfectly sensible observation that Alaska and Russia share "a very narrow maritime border." That, and nothing further that the governor said was laughable. Still, the media laughed. The media did not laugh when Couric, at about the same time in the campaign, listened attentively to Biden claim President Franklin Roosevelt talked to a nonexistent television audience during the 1929 stock market crash, four years before Roosevelt was president and even more years before there was a television audience. Couric's respective countenance betrayed no evidence that she recognized that Herbert Hoover was actually then president or that a television audience was years from reality. Couric, too, is a booby.

There is something odd about the media's present absorption with the pulchritudinous Ms. Palin and her book tour. The media are exalting her even as they are disdaining her. The weird phenomenon puts me in mind of the way the media treated scandalous tales of President Bill Clinton's sex life. They covered the scandals in excruciating detail even as they sniffed that a politician's sex life (sex extravaganza) is beneath professional journalism's proper interest. Oh, and one other thing: The journalists who unearthed these stories, stories that would appear over and again in Clinton's White House, were unworthy of being dignified with the designation "journalist."

Actually, as Palin began her book tour through rural America, it was the journalists who made the rural tour a stroke of public relations genius. It was up to the journalists to cover it or not, and though Palin is a candidate for absolutely nothing and is, in fact, a retired politician, the journalists followed her with their usual mixture of intense interest and contempt. They may not turn her into a presidential candidate, but they certainly have turned her into a celebrity. What we have here is still more evidence that the American journalists' proclaimed standards are not standards at all. American journalism is a chaos of subjectivity.

Put the politician who sees China's economic development as "an accomplishment unparalleled in human history" next to the politician who notes that her state borders Russia (and Canada, too), thus giving its governor occasion for at least some foreign policy knowledge. The first is boomed as very charismatic, but so is the second. The first orates successfully to large crowds, but so does the second. The first is telegenic, charming and a pioneer -- the first mixed-race politician to be president. The second is telegenic, charming and a pioneer -- the first Republican woman to be nominated for vice president. Is there a difference in their qualifications? Well, yes, the pulchritudinous Ms. Palin in 2008 had more executive experience than Mr. Obama, having been both a small-town mayor and a governor. In fact, as President Obama comes up on his first year in office, former Gov. Palin still has more executive experience. Why is no one laughing?

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=34486

Vietnam to prioritise economic recovery, prevent high inflation

shevaub — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:03:21 GMT

Vietnam to prioritise economic recovery, prevent high inflation...

Full story: http://www.vnbusinessnews.com/2009/1...-recovery.html

Anyone seen thease before?

English Bob — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:57:33 GMT

http://www.sigir.mil/reports/quarter...9/Default.aspx

EB :cheeky-smiley-025:

Interview - President Talabani fears power vacuum if vote delayed

Seaview — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:56:02 GMT

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani told FRANCE 24 in an interview on Wednesday that he feared a power vacuum if January elections are delayed following a veto from an Iraqi vice-president on a key electoral law. Iraq's general election was thrown into doubt on Wednesday after a law governing the planned January vote was vetoed, creating what the prime minister termed a "dangerous threat" to stability.

Iraq's presidential council, composed of President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and two vice-presidents, one Sunni and one Shiite, has demanded a greater say in the election for minorities and for nationals living abroad. The insistence on securing the relevant change in the law governing the vote led Tareq al-Hashemi, the Sunni vice-president, to veto the legislation.

“When parliament adopted this law, Mr. Hashemi and I saw some drawbacks in the law. But we thought we must adopt it and then write a letter according to our rights as presidency,” Iraqi President Jalal Talabani told FRANCE 24 on Wednesday.

“Mr Hashemi was under pressure from his society, so he asked parliament to change some articles and to amend some of it. When the committee refused, he was obliged to reject and refuse the law,” he said.

Read the full transcript:

FRANCE 24 - Why are you here? Has your trip gone well?
Jalal Talabani - It's true, this is my first state visit, although I have visited France in the past. We reached a kind of mutual understanding and agreement to turn Iraqi-French relations into a strategic relationship. We got on well with President Sarkozy and Prime Minister Fillon and all those who we met - the heads of the national assembly, and the senate. We also had good meetings with French businessmen and companies."

F24 - So what contracts did you sign?
JT - There were many agreements signed by ministers of foreign affairs, of finance, of (...) ministers of defence from both countries - and some other agreements underway.

F24 - What guarantees can you give to foreign investors though given the current security situation there
JT - I think the security in Iraq is not as bad as exaggerated propaganda makes it sound. We have places that are fully secure like Iraqi Kurdistan, and south of Basra and others. Najaf and Karbala are fully secure. The activity of the terrorists is now limited, not like it was a year ago. So we are going to take measures against terrorist activities and I think we can guarantee the safety of all business and companies who want to come to Iraq to work.

F24 - So welcoming French companies...
JT - We are welcoming French business people and also French companies to come to Iraq. We are encouraging them, we will facilitate things for them to try to encourage them to come to Iraq.

F24 - On a diplomatic note - you say Nicolas Sarkozy is a great friend to Iraq...
JT - Yes...

F24 - Previously through, Dominique de Villepin stood up in front of the UN and said he was opposed to the war in Iraq...
JT - You know, Mr Sarkozy was a good friend of the Iraqi people. When we were in opposition he was so kind to receive us in his office as interior minister, and he was always supporting our democracy and ending dictatorship in Iraq. Although France didn't vote for war against dictatorship, because they think that it was not according to the international law. But in reality, after the collapse of the dictatorship, they helped us: they recognized our constitution, our election, our government, our presidency, and they tried to have good relations with us. So France was not against the desire of the Iraqi people for having democracy and having a government elected by the people.

F24 - Issue of democracy - can I get your response to Tareq al Hashemi's vetoing of the parliamentary vote?
JT - You know, when parliament adopted this law, we in the presidency - both me and Mr. Hashemi - we saw some mistakes of some shortages in this law. But we thought we must adopt it and then write a letter according to our rights as presidency. Mr Hashemi was under pressure from his society, so he asked parliament to change some articles and to amend some of it. When the committee refused, he was obliged to reject and refuse the law. The law will go back to parliament and it will be reviewed and discussed again at ending the shortages of the law...

F24 - Will that be in time for elections in January?
JT - You know, I am afraid... The reason why I didn't reject it is because I didn't want to see any delay in the election - because if the election is delayed after the time that was decided by the constitution, then there will be a vacuum of power in Iraq. This was the main reason. The second reason was because the Kurdish deputees in parliament unanimously voted for this law. So I cannot reject the desires of the unanimous Kurdish deputies in parliament.

F24 - Which begs the question - and we're running out of time. Are you first and foremost a Kurd, or an Iraqi
JT - I am an Iraqi Kurd!

http://pukmedia.com/english/index.ph...14629&Itemid=1

Stimulus policies continue for economic recovery: PM says

shevaub — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:52:56 GMT

Stimulus policies continue for economic recovery, PM says...

Full story: http://www.vnbusinessnews.com/2009/1...-economic.html

Vietnam's banks fear foreign currency capital shortage

shevaub — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:51:41 GMT

Vietnam's banks fear foreign currency capital shortage...

Full story: http://www.vnbusinessnews.com/2009/1...y-capital.html

Vietnam Economy Has �Substantial� Challenges in 2010

shevaub — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:50:23 GMT

Vietnam Economy Has �Substantial� Challenges in 2010...

Full story: http://www.vnbusinessnews.com/2009/1...bstantial.html

265 national companies, 8 foreign firms registered in October

Seaview — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:42:55 GMT

The Iraqi Ministry of Trade on Thursday said that 265 national companies and eight representative offices of foreign companies were registered in October 2009.

�Those registered included limited companies, individual project companies and private stock companies,� a ministry statement received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency quoted an informed source from the registration department as saying.

�The department has audited the accounts of 1,157 national companies from 2004-2008, as well as the accounts of a foreign company and of 11 branches of different companies, the statement noted.

http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=122237

House of Representatives put aside the Election Law for discussion & vote on Saturday

Seaview — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:27:23 GMT

Mr. Iyad Samarrai, President of the Chamber of Deputies at the regular open meeting chaired by the fifteenth held on Thursday the nineteenth of November 2009, the Council will discuss the veto submitted by the Vice-President of the Republic to the election law to re-vote on the bill on Saturday and indicated that the veto transmit to the Legal Committee and the parliamentary blocs and held a morning meeting with the parliamentary blocs to discuss it, calling the Legal Committee to report about it.

President of the Council also decided in the beginning of the meeting initiated by reading verses from the Holy Quran to postpone putting the withdrawal of confidence from the Minister of Electricity to the vote until after the Eid al-Adha, at the request of a number of MPs to submit to the Commission on the work and services in the Council a report on the subject, The prime Council that the responses of the Minister of Electricity on the questions addressed to him in the interrogation sessions of the Council and distributed to the MPs to get acquainted with it.

With regard to the budget bill, the federal public in 2010 between the President of the Council that there will be another round of discussion by the MPs that vote will be after Eid al-Adha. The council ended the second reading of the draft Law of Trademarks and trade data and the Iraqi draft law ratifying the Convention in the Iraqi-Syrian cooperation Alkmarki and the first reading of the draft housing bill Iraq.

Then the chairman of the Council meeting to remain open on Saturday 21/11/2009.

Of media
Iraqi Council of Representatives
19/11/2009

http://translate.googleusercontent.c...33JsDNvq9wlw4A

Received Basrah paid up shares

nveagle — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:27:23 GMT

Received my paid up shares of Basrah Bank today. Has to be the quickest turn around on a paid up share offer yet through Warka.

Supreme Court: a decision to veto unconstitutional

Big.V — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:16:58 GMT

Supreme Court: a decision to veto unconstitutional

Thursday, November 19th, 2009 10:49

In a news conference announcing the decision of the Supreme Federal Court, where the Federal Supreme Court confirmed the decision to set aside Dr. Tariq al-Hashimi to the election law is unconstitutional, while police said Bahaa al-Araji told a news conference to vote on the veto will be on Saturday

http://translate.googleusercontent.c...4PGhFaGX4d2ozg

Withdrawing from Iraq

English Bob — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:15:22 GMT

http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2009/RAND_MG882.pdf

Any one seen this before?

EB :cheeky-smiley-025:

Ministry of Oil: the government agreed to proceed with the licensing of oil

Seaview — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:06:10 GMT

An official at the oil ministry said the country's prime minister told his ministry "to move forward in the second round of licenses," which will hopefully take place on 11 and 12 December next.

The Director of Legal Affairs and Trade in the Contracts and Licenses Sabah al-Saadi told (AKI) that "the second round of tenders will include ten projects at the giant oil fields discovered but not developed, and Hlvaip crazy as fields, West Qurna, as well as other fields notably in the fields Gharraf Nasiriyah, Zulkifli in the Middle Euphrates and the fields in the eastern Diyala. " And added "There are 45 companies from 30 Western and Eastern nationalities will take part in this round, which will be held probably in the ministry's headquarters in Baghdad."

He Saadi "in last August, we held a promotional conference in Istanbul, Turkey, to the second round of bidding and provided us with the oil companies interested in doing business last month, the advocates of information, including answers to a series of legal and technical inquiries made by these companies on new oil contracts," and added, "These contracts will be like its predecessors is a service contracts and not participate in any production in the sense that the work will be limited to companies to develop oil fields and raise the production ceiling for pay specific."

On the objections made by Iraqi lawmakers on these licenses, Saadi said that "the Iraqi prime minister has asked the ministry and was informed by the need to move forward in the licensing round to be held on schedule."

Offset by the efforts of the Ministry of Oil for licensing oil negative reaction in the Iraqi parliament, and was often warned deputies that these contracts will "break the Southern Oil Company and local companies support it, and would cause economic loss and weaken the capacity and competencies of Iraq."

http://translate.googleusercontent.c...3CltBPVmMr_tWQ

Kurdistan Islamic Union, supported the veto to the election law Hashemi

Seaview — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:02:48 GMT

The Secretary-General of the Federation Kurdistan Islamic Salah al-Din Bahaa El Din said he was looking deep appreciation to the position of Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi to overturn the election law passed by the House of Representatives Recent.

Bahaa al-Din in a letter written to Hashemi, "Step response is beautiful and bold on the acquisition partisan And class followed by some of the major entities. "We hope to deliver a Nqdkm this article in the law Understanding and response from the House of Representatives to address the gaps in the law to ensure a Fair and democratic elections in the country".

http://translate.googleusercontent.c...Vj7m-FrEVhbKmQ

Electronic Trading Session Thursday 19/11/ 2009

trusty — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:32:54 GMT

Electronic Trading Session Thursday 19/11/ 2009
Market Summary
ISX Price Index 105.39
Change % -1.68
Volume 1,122,971,575
Traded Shares 674,104,382
Trades 414
Listed Companies 73
Traded Companies 36
High Companies 12
Low Companies 18

http://www.isx-iq.net/page/english/b...-11-2009-e.htm

Trusty

Early Bonanza

Iraqmania — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:29:54 GMT

Early Bonanza
November 19th, 2009By Ruba Husari
There is a bonanza for international oil companies who managed to make an early entry into Iraq. Operators like BP, Eni, Exxon Mobil � and to a certain extent CNPC which managed to convert its 1997 production sharing agreement for the development of Al-Ahdab field into a service contract last year � will have first call on the limited infrastructure capacity to absorb the new crude they will start pumping over the next few years. Those who will succeed in clinching a few deals in December might struggle with bottlenecks in pipelines and export facilities once the fields they are meant to develop come on stream. But it�s mostly a challenge for Iraq to cater for these capacity additions

http://www.iraqoilforum.com

Iraq must change to a free market economy and try for an adoption of exchange rate liberalization and the implementation of economic reform policies

arh777 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:17:51 GMT

a limited contribution to the private sector in economic development

ب

Because of the absence of legislation and clear rules
ب
BAGHDAD - morning

The excellent performance of the private sector over the years that preceded the political and economic transformation in Iraq after 2003, limited in all sectors, whether agricultural, industrial or engage in the areas of investment in infrastructure and business and banking

بر
. Despite his tireless efforts to keep pace with economic developments in the world and the introduction of technological capabilities, productivity and compete with other sectors.
لك
. But it is clear that there are many obstacles still stand in the way such as legislation and laws that curtailed the role of some large, which led to the small contribution to the GDP and the capacity to absorb labor force, thus contributing indirectly increase of the phenomenon of unemployment in Iraqi society.
ي

. Says economic researcher at the Faculty of Economic Sciences, Mohammed al-Qaisi that among the challenges facing the private sector that have an obvious effect on the development level of developmental deficiencies in the overall vision of the general laws and administrative issues and poor performance in the field of infrastructure and institutional weaknesses in the regulatory reality for the sector, the widening gap of scientific and technological capabilities between what is in place at home and abroad, especially in production methods and marketing to the external ports and others.
و

. Qaisi adds: that of the total effective solutions to upgrade this sector is more important to give space and create the conditions available to engage in investment and encourage private sector investment in vital sectors that are available in the country such as agriculture, industry and tourism, especially religious ones, as well as procedures for immediate reforms in the system financial and banking in order to improve performance and expand its services to encourage private sector investment, and reform the tax system and customs procedures to facilitate the exporters and importers alike, and the implementation of the privatization program is the most important episode in this area while seeking to attract foreign investment and transfer modern technology and scientific expertise in this area, and to encourage integration and mergers between small companies and individual projects and the involvement of representatives from the private sector in the High Commissions and boards of directors of government agencies in formal negotiations with other countries and other companies, and raising the level of performance and the ability to compete and improve the efficiency of the private sector in the areas of export. في

. With Dr. Peace Malullah teaching at the University of Mesopotamia: that the national economy available when vital areas of economic potential for the exploitation of comparative advantages and development of the competitiveness of the private sector in order to achieve integrated employment of economic resources for the long term trend, which makes it imperative to encourage the private sector by easing the burden on the state budget and the development and diversification of income sources and reduce the costs of production and services and reduce the period required for production and optimal use of local capital and attract foreign investment and transfer of scientific methods in modern technology to the Iraqi market.
ا
He adds also requires the promotion and development of commodity exports to the private sector to take the measures required to complete the infrastructure and improve the conditions of competition in the markets of domestic production and the introduction of the spirit of competition and the organization of promotional campaigns in regional and global markets and encouraging the establishment of a financial institution specialized in financing export and trade development of the relationship between local firms and clusters various economic and benefit from the introduction of competition in global markets. and say: that the role of the private sector is very important in the use of modern technologies and means of modern technology to meet the technical requirements of rehabilitation and vocational training, skills development and capacity-building in the areas of the Prophet and other infrastructure, which contribute to economic development National and changes to the free market economy and the adoption of exchange rate liberalization and the implementation of economic reform policies, especially in the financial markets and others.

http://www.google.com/translate?u=ht...&hl=en&ie=UTF8

Conscious / Minister of Electricity: The Ministry directed to increase pricing, and the citizens to pay debts

dejavu — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:46:35 GMT

Conscious / Minister of Electricity: The Ministry directed to increase pricing, and the citizens to pay debts
Site Manager
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م.أ Conscious / Baghdad / m. A

19/11/2009 19/11/2009 1:36pm 1:36 pm

دعا وزير الكهرباء The Minister of Electricity . Karim Wahid to educate citizens in the payment of debts accumulated his trust for the benefit of the ministry, he directed the ministry to increase pricing.

ونقل And the transfer of كيده Media source in the ministry for the (Agency Iraqi media / conscious) on a single while chairing a meeting with officials of the Directorate General of Electricity Distribution Karkh district on Wednesday evening confirmed أن". Collection was that the indicators are still weak and must find ways to activate a proposed holding a meeting of the sales department in the departments of the distribution of Karkh, Rusafa and Sadr City, out proposals to improve the status of taxes. "

" . The source noted that "The minister criticized the maintenance programs in the Directorate mentioned, describing it without the right as well as non-arrival of the distribution sector to the required level," explaining that to the "lack of communication and follow-up between the sectors to a slouch and lazy", was intended to "benefit from the staffs of the Directorate of surplus in the collection of dues by the Ministry with support for these and additional hours of Bhmolhm, breakfast food with a monthly salary of no incentive for them to work. "

و نبه And cautioned . Minister to the need to involve the Baghdad Provincial Council in the work carried out by the Directorate with a view to conveying the reality of work in order to get support and support in this area.
http://translate.googleusercontent.c...ixxI-7zP5RCHmQ

Why my wife won"t take me shopping!!

English Bob — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:17:33 GMT

Dear Mrs. Samuel, Over the past six months, your husband has caused quite a commotion in our store. We cannot tolerate this behavior and have been forced to ban both of you from the store. Our complaints against your husband, Mr. Samuel, are listed below and are documented by our video surveillance cameras.

1. June 15: Took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in other people's carts when they weren't looking.

2. July 2: Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at
5-minute intervals.

3. July 7: He made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the women's restroom.

4. July 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official voice, 'Code 3 in Housewares. Get on it right away'. This caused the employee to leave her assigned station and receive a reprimand from her Supervisor that in turn resulted with a union grievance, causing management to lose time and costing the company money.

5. August 4: Went to the Service Desk and tried to put a bag of M&Ms on layaway.

6. August 14: Moved a 'CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area.

7. August 15: Set up a tent in the camping department and told the children shoppers he'd invite them in if they would bring pillows and blankets from the bedding department to which twenty children obliged..

8. August 23: When a clerk asked if they could help him he began crying and screamed, 'Why can't you people just leave me alone?' EMTs were called.

9. September 4: Looked right into the security camera and used it as a mirror while he picked his nose.

10. September 10: While handling guns in the hunting department, he asked the clerk where the antidepressants were.

11. October 3: Darted around the store suspiciously while loudly humming the 'Mission Impossible' theme.

12. October 6: In the auto department, he practiced his 'Madonna look' by using different sizes of funnels.

13. October 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browsed through, yelled 'PICK ME! PICK ME!'

14. October 21: When an announcement came over the loud speaker, he assumed a fetal position and screamed 'OH NO! IT'S THOSE VOICES AGAIN!'

And last, but not least:

15. October 23: Went into a fitting room, shut the door, waited awhile, then yelled very loudly, 'Hey! There's no toilet paper in here.' One of the clerks passed out.

Sounds like a plan! :clapping:

EB :cheeky-smiley-025:

Nov-19: 1170 - No cash

bultn — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:52:18 GMT

Announcement No. (1537)

The 1537 daily currency auction was held in the Central Bank of Iraq Thursday 19-11-2009 so the results were as follows:

Number of banks 16
Auction price selling dinar / US $ 1170
Amount sold at auction price (US $) 128.513.000
Cash: $ 0
Transfers: $ 128.513.000

Might give you all a laugh

baz — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:49:56 GMT

These are suppposedly true answers to questions on exam papers taken by Richard Benson after speaking to Teachers.

Q....What was Sir Walter Raleigh famous for?

A....He is a noted figure in history because he invented cigarettes and started a craze for bicycles.

Q....What did Mahatma Gandhi and Gengis Khan have in common.

A....Unsual names.

Q....Name one of the early Roman's greatest achievements.

A....Learning to speal Latin.

Q....Name one measure which can be put into place to avoid river flooding in times of extensive rainfall (eg in Mississippi).

A....Flooding in areas such as the Mississippi may be avoided by placing a number of big dames into the river.

Q....Name six animals which live specifically in the Arctic.

A....Two Polar bears ...four Seals.

Q....Assess Fashion House plc's choice to locate its factory near Birmingham, Is Birmingham the right location for this type of Business? (in the Uk Birningham is a clothing manufacturing area)

A....No. People from Birmingham aren't very fashionable.

Q....Name the wife of Orpheus, whom he attempted to save from the underworld.

A....Mrs Orpheus.

Q....Where was the American Declaration of Independence signed?

A....At the bottom.

Q....What happens during puberty to a boy.

A....He says goodbye to his childhood and enters adultery.

Q....State three drawbacks of hedgerow removal.

A....1 All the cows will escape.
2 The cars will drive into the fields.
3 There is nowhere to hide.

Q....What is the meaning of the word ' Varicose'?

A....Close by.

Q....What is the highest frequency noise that a human can register?

A....Mriah Carey.

Q....What is a Fibula?

A....A little lie.

Q....Explain the phrase 'free press'.

A....When your Mum irons trousers for you.

Q Where was Hadrian's wall built?

A....Around Hadrian's garden.

Q....What is a vibration?

A....There are good vibrations and bad vibrations. Good vibrations were discovered in the 1960's.

Q....Expand 2(x+y)

A 2 ( x+y )
2 (x + y )
2 ( x + y )
2 ( x + Y )

Q....The race of people known as Malays come from which country?

A....Malaria.

Q....Give a reason why people would want to live near power lines.

A....You get your electricity faster.

Q....Steve is driving his car. He is travelling at 60feet/second and the speed limit is 40mph.Is Steve speeding?

A....He could find out by checking his speedometer.

Q....Why would living close to a mobile phone mast cause ill health?

A....You might walk into it.

Q....Joanna works in a office. Her computer is a stand alone system. What is a stand-alone computer?

A....It dosen't come with a chair.

Q....What is a nitrate?

A....Much cheaper then a day rate.

Cant make my mind up if its funny or scary.

Chinese diners eat live fish in YouTube video

TerryTate — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:23:25 GMT

VIDEO HERE--->http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...ube-video.html

Quote:

Chinese diners eat live fish in YouTube video

Animal rights campaigners have criticised the Chinese over their extreme eating habits after a video of diners eating a live fish became a hit on the internet.

The film, in which a part-fried fish is shown breathing and wriggling on a plate as it is being slowly eaten alive in a restaurant, has been posted on the video-sharing website YouTube.

In order to keep the carp alive chefs cook its body but wrap its head in a wet cloth to keep it breathing, before covering it in sauce and serving in on a plate.

The YouTube video shows diners, who are laughing and joking, prodding the fish while it is still moving, before picking it apart with chopsticks.

Peta, the animal rights group, called the video, which had more than 120,000 views on YouTube in a week, "disgusting".

A spokesperson said: "Every decent person should be shocked when anyone mocks or abuses a helpless dying animal."

It is not the first time that the Chinese have been criticised for their extreme eating habits.

Reports have claimed some restaurants offer monkey's brains. Other dishes include rats, dogs, snakes, lizards and baby mice.

Last month Stephen Fry was criticised by the Chinese embassy after he singled out the Chinese culture as being the biggest threat to some endangered species.

“It is not very pleasant for us to single out a culture, but, if you care about lions and tigers and whales and sharks, it is the Far East and the way they eat, or the way they attempt to cure themselves, that seems to be the biggest threat," he said.

A spokesman at the Chinese embassy responded: “I don’t think it is fair to accuse other cultures of having certain negative habits and traditions.

“We have our traditions, as the Spanish have bullfighting, and you, until recently, had foxhunting. We did not criticise you or the Spanish for this. Tiger bones for traditional medicine are now banned, to the suffering of the Chinese industry.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...ube-video.html

I'm speechless.

Now that is truly bizarre.

You know if it's true I am left to wonder about the mentality that it takes to enjoy playing with ones food to this degree. Seems a bit sadistic.

I'm not sure I believe it, but I guess I'm left wondering if it is even possible to cook one part of the fish and keep the head alive just to enjoy torturing this thing by eating it alive?

I guess if it's possible, the Chinese would know....

And the U.S. gets villified for waterboarding some crazy murdering jihadi @#$holes.

:rolleyes:

Say What? - Obama warns on US public debt pile

TerryTate — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:09:44 GMT

Quote:

US President Barack Obama warned that the US economy could head into a “double-dip recession” unless urgent steps were taken to rein in mounting public debt.

The US president’s remarks – in an interview with Fox News in Beijing on Wednesday, towards the end of his eight-day tour of Asia – marked his strongest language yet on the necessity of putting public finances back on a sound footing.

“It is important though to recognise if we keep on adding to the debt, even in the midst of this recovery, that at some point, people could lose confidence in the US economy in a double-dip recession,” said Mr Obama.

A 10.6 per cent plunge in housing starts in October – led by collapse in the apartment business – highlighted the dilemma facing him as he seeks to tackle the deficit without undermining a fragile economy.

“It’s about as hard of a play as there is,” Mr Obama said, adding that his team was trying to set up a “pathway long term for deficit reduction” without pulling a lot of money out of the economy in the short term via tax rises or spending cuts.

The mood in the US has already swung in favour of deficit reduction, with Republicans attacking Democrats’ plans for more spending to support jobs.

Washington-based analysts said the president was probably trying to prepare public opinion for a tough budget in February – while leaving open some space for measures to reduce unemployment, now at 10.2 per cent.

“I have no doubt that the White House is going to produce a tough budget,” said Maya MacGuineas, director of the Peterson-Pew commission on budget reform. “The question is whether they are going to spend political capital and push their budget in Congress.”

The timing of Mr Obama’s remarks, which came at the end of his three-day trip to China, is likely to fuel speculation that his Chinese hosts delivered stern private warnings about the consequences of continuing high US budget deficits. China, the biggest foreign holder of US Treasury bonds, has become increasingly vocal in its fears on the value of its dollar assets.

White House officials say the US fiscal situation had no impact on Obama’s interactions in Beijing, even though some observers presented his trip as that of a debtor visiting his banker. “He pulled no punches,” said Mike Froman, a senior national security adviser.

A day earlier, White House budget chief Peter Orszag said the US had to bring down its deficit to about 3 per cent of gross domestic product within six years – a reduction of about one percentage point of GDP based on the administration’s current estimates.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ee761ae2-d...44feabdc0.html

What you talkin bout Willis?

This guy is incredible.

Quote:

US President Barack Obama warned that the US economy could head into a “double-dip recession” unless urgent steps were taken to rein in mounting public debt.

Oh gee Barack, I guess you better talk to someone who has the authority to deal with that. Maybe the President, or ......

Quote:

“It is important though to recognise if we keep on adding to the debt, even in the midst of this recovery, that at some point, people could lose confidence in the US economy in a double-dip recession,” said Mr Obama.

No, really? You must be joking?

Is that what all of those Tea Party protests have been about? Too bad the voters weren't being heeded before Obama pointed the finger back at himself.

Now this guy, Obama, who has not only masterminded his own Trillion dollar stimulus package, and has had the audacity to ask for a second stimulus package after watching the first one fail is pointing his finger and lecturing the country he purportedly is supposed to be leading.

Talk about trying to have it both ways.

What a joke.

And compound that with the fact that it is sad rather than funny that this guy is now pretty much parroting the things the Chinese government wants him to say, i.e. "the U.S. is being irresponsible for spending so much money". A true Manchurian candidate with a schizoid personality.

Oh, but how am I sure that he'll blame the whole thing on congress. Yeah, the congress controlled by his party, the one that is in his pocket.

We are frickin screwed.

Good job lefties.

Your getting what you always wanted.

The demise of the U.S.A.

Iraq election plan vetoed by Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi

tmorr37 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:52:40 GMT

Iraq election plan vetoed by
Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi

Dubai - Plans for an Iraqi general election in January have been thrown into chaos after the country's Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi blocked a key part of a new election law. Mr Hashemi, a Sunni Arab who along with the president and second vice-president has a veto over the Baghdad parliament, said he wanted more seats allocated to the millions of Iraqis - many of them Sunnis - living abroad. Iraqis were already waiting for a

http://www.telegraph.co.uk

The Security Council calls for Iraqi politicians to show the spirit of national unity

Big.V — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:37:22 GMT

The Security Council calls for Iraqi politicians to show the spirit of national unity

19/11/2009

Neighbors - New York - the Security Council called on Iraqi political leaders to show a spirit of national unity and sense of the State during the election campaign, due in January 2010. The Ambassador of Austria Thomas Mayer Harting, whose country holds the Security Council this month that the Council reiterated the call made by Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations to the Iraqi political parties and to their leaders to show a sense of the state during the election campaign and to participate in the spirit of national unity. "The Council strongly supports the assistance provided by the United Nations Mission in Iraq to prepare for these elections. Ban Ki-moon has it that these elections will constitute an important opportunity to advance national reconciliation and contribute to the political progress of Iraq. He called on all political forces to demonstrate through campaign, candidates were men of State and to join in the spirit of national unity. The legislative elections in early 2010 are crucial for the consolidation of democracy in Iraq before withdrawal of U.S. troops in August to withdraw definitively by the end of 2011. has expressed the UN envoy in Iraq, Ad Melkert expressed serious concerns about the short time remaining for the general elections in the country and planned in January. Melkert said that it would require tremendous efforts to make sure that the primary criteria have been applied already, but it was considered that the conduct of credible elections in Iraq is possible.

http://translate.googleusercontent.c...tq9WDGrJr4rJcA

Parliamentary Finance Committee: Iraq's debts amount to U.S. $ 120 billion

Big.V — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:44:26 GMT

Parliamentary Finance Committee: Iraq's debts amount to U.S. $ 120 billion

/ Iraq - financial - loans /

18/11/2009 14:05

Sulaimaniya, November 18 (AKnews) - A member of the Finance Committee, House of Representatives said Wednesday, the International Monetary Fund revealed that Iraq still owes $ 120 billion U.S. dollars to a number of Arab, European and private sector companies.

The Sami Atrushi told Kurdistan News (AKnews) announced today that "Iraq was in debt in the past $ 200 billion U.S. dollars to the world, but the amount is now $ 120 billion after it wrote down some of its debts on Iraq."

Atrushi said that "the outstanding loan is for the Gulf States and the West and will be an annual allocation of part of Iraq's oil revenues and a debt answer does not affect the general budget of Iraq."

, State that the International Monetary Fund revealed that the loans of Iraq with a U.S. $ 120 billion, of which 4.11 billion dollars in loans Japan and $ 3.45 billion loan Rossi and 2.99 billion U.S. dollars loan from France and $ 2.4 billion loan Olmani and $ 2.2 billion loan and U.S. 1. $ 73 billion loan Italy.

It was announced that Iraq owes the Gulf sixty billion dollars, and between 20 and 30 billion for a number of companies and an international bank.

(Aka News) u k 18 / 11 / 2009

http://translate.googleusercontent.c...jcmpo3yE1CDrZQ

Vietnam's PM says to gradually lower rates for growth

shevaub — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:10:26 GMT

Vietnam's PM says to gradually lower rates for growth ...

Full story: http://www.vnbusinessnews.com/2009/1...rates-for.html

Presidency Council approved the electoral law for fear of a constitutional vacuum

Joel57 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:34:41 GMT

Said President Jalal Talabani on Wednesday that the Presidency Council approved the electoral law for fear of a constitutional vacuum, despite the "veto" Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi of the law.

http://translate.google.com/translat...c/&sl=ar&tl=en

Al Qaeda in Iraq Becoming Less Foreign: U.S. General

Big.V — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:23:29 GMT

Al Qaeda in Iraq Becoming Less Foreign: U.S. General

Posted GMT 11-18-2009 20:0:56

BAGHDAD (Reuters) -- Al Qaeda in Iraq is becoming more Iraqi and less dominated by foreigners as the insurgent group increasingly joins forces with Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party, the commander of U.S. forces said on Wednesday.
Investigations into massive suicide bombings in Baghdad on Oct. 25, in which more than 150 people died, indicated that explosives or fighters were coming across from Syria, U.S. General Ray Odierno also said.
The U.S. commander's comments reinforced accusations by the government of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki that al Qaeda and former Baathists were working together to undermine improved security and elections expected to be held in January.
Maliki's government has also accused neighbouring Syria of giving a safe haven to Baathists plotting attacks in Iraq.
"Al Qaeda in Iraq has transformed significantly in the last two years. What once was dominated by foreign individuals has now become more and more dominated by Iraqi citizens," Odierno told reporters at the U.S. military's main base in Baghdad.
"There's still a small foreign element to al Qaeda, there are some who used to be Sunni rejectionists or ex-Baathists who are involved in this because of course they don't want the government to succeed."
Overall violence in Iraq has fallen sharply in the past 18 months and November so far has experienced one of the lowest civilian casualty levels since the 2003 U.S. invasion.
But attacks by suspected Sunni Islamist insurgents like al Qaeda remain common.
The twin suicide bombings in Baghdad on Oct. 25 devastated the Justice Ministry and the Baghdad governorate headquarters, while two similar suicide bombings on Aug. 19 killed almost 100 people at the foreign and finance ministries.
"We believe that there will be attempts to conduct more attacks between now and the elections because they want to destabilise those," Odierno said.
The election is expected to occur between Jan. 18-23 but the date has been cast into doubt after Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi vetoed a law needed for the ballot to take place.
Odierno said multiple investigations had been launched into the Oct. 25 bombings, involving U.S. and Iraqi investigators.
"My experience is there probably was some movement of fighters or explosives coming from Syria," he said when asked if the investigations had indicated any links to Syria.
Reporting by Michael Christie; Editing by Jon Hemming.

http://www.aina.org/news/20091118140056.htm

Big Gulf firms to invest in Basra

Seaview — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:55:46 GMT

Major Gulf companies will soon arrive in Basra to carry out investment projects in the province, Basra�s governor said on Wednesday.

�An agreement has recently been reached with a number of Gulf countries to invest in different sectors in Basra,� Shaltagh Abboud al-Mayyah told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

The companies are expected to arrive early next month, the governor noted.

�Early this week, several meetings took place in the United Arab Emirates between Iraqi businessmen, Emirian investors and foreign companies.

On Thursday (Nov. 10), the governor of Basra led an Iraqi delegation to a Dubai-based conference on investment opportunities.

http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=122228

Netanyahu Party Member Obama Has Racist Demand's

Alasad PGen4 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:55:15 GMT

Netanyahu party member slams 'racist' Obama
Lawmaker decries U.S. demand to halt Jewish construction
Posted: November 18, 2009
1:27 pm Eastern

By Aaron Klein
� 2009 WorldNetDaily

Knesset Member Danny Danon
JERUSALEM � A member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party today slammed as "racist" President Obama's longstanding demand for a halt to Jewish construction in the strategic West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem.
"President Obama should not interfere with the rights of the Jewish people to live in Jerusalem," said Likud Knesset Member Danny Danon. "This ... is a racist demand, saying that Jews cannot live in Jerusalem, only Arabs."
Danon continued: "Our duty is to the nation that chose to deepen the settlement
across Judea and Samaria, and of course Jerusalem. We will fulfill that duty, even at the cost of ignoring Obama and his advisers."
The Knesset member was speaking at a groundbreaking ceremony initiating 124 new apartments in a Jewish housing complex in the eastern section of Jerusalem.
In a separate statement, he told WND "the answer to Obama's racist request not to permit Jewish building in Jerusalem was given today when we initiated the construction of another Jewish neighborhood in Nof Zion (eastern Jerusalem)."
"The people in Israel are united behind Netanyahu's position regarding eternal rights of Jews to build and live in Jerusalem," he added.
(Story continues>>http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=116417

Absolutely stunning: Legal Expert Obama announces that 9/11 mastermind will be convicted

williambedloe — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:52:32 GMT

The smartest man in the world, and one time editor of the Harvard Law Review, made this utterly mystifying and astounding quote concerning the fate of Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the "alleged" 9/11 mastermind:

Quote:

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama predicted that professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be convicted, as Attorney General Eric Holder defended putting him through the U.S. civilian legal system.
In one of a series of TV interviews during his trip to Asia, Obama said those offended by the legal privileges given to Muhammed by virtue of getting a civilian trial rather than a military tribunal won't find it "offensive at all when he's convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him.":eek: :eek:

Whoa!!! Wait a second! Did the constitutional expert Obama just guarantee a conviction AND sentencing?????!!!!!! If so, how is this an example of American justice?

Once he realized the idiotic faux pas, he tried to correct himself clumsily:

Quote:

Obama quickly added that he did not mean to suggest he was prejudging the outcome of Mohammed's trial. "I'm not going to be in that courtroom," he said. "That's the job of the prosecutors, the judge and the jury."

Whew!! That was close to being one of the dumbest moves ever by a supposed legal expert...but, they continue to add these gems:

Quote:

In interviews broadcast on NBC and CNN Wednesday, the president also said that experienced prosecutors in the case who specialize in terrorism have offered assurances that "we'll convict this person with the evidence they've got, going through our system."

So - wait...they are back to guaranteeing convictions???????

Yup:

Quote:

"I think this notion that we have to be fearful that these terrorists possess some special powers that prevent us from presenting evidence against them, locking them up and exacting swift justice, I think that has been a fundamental mistake," Obama said in an interview with CNN.

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

Wait! Isn't the fundamental principle of the American justice system "innocent until proven guilty"? Wouldn't the appropriate response from an attorney be "we have every confidence that our legal system will bring about a fair and just conclusion"...not "don't worry about our justice system, because I guarantee you he will fry"

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php...show_article=1

Three options for dealing with the veto election law

Seaview — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:39:35 GMT

Entered the House of Representatives again in a race with time after the veto Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi election law, at a time when the electoral commission suspended its activities pending a final position over the law

According to the source in the Presidency of the Council of Representatives for the "morning", the parliament had three options to deal with the veto: the waiting for a response the Federal Court on the request of the demonstration of Sheikh Khalid al-Attiyah, First Deputy Speaker of Parliament yesterday on the constitutionality of a decision or amendment of paragraphs Hashemi Almnicodp or resorting to the option to set aside a veto Maittalb some time and vote by absolute majority. Hashemi, who was officially announced yesterday set aside the election law amendment objection to the rate of 5 percent given to the compensatory seats, distributed between the share of minorities, and Iraqis of abroad.

The source in the presidency of the Parliament stressed that the Vice President also objected to the fourth paragraph in Article III for the grant of vacant seats to the lists that have received the winning number of seats in proportion to what I got from the vote, pointed out that President Jalal Talabani said in a statement carried by Al-Arabiya TV that the Presidency Council approved the electoral law for fear of a constitutional vacuum, adding that the approval has been made with the Council retaining the right to make observations on the provisions in the law and left to the Parliament, despite the difference of the official and political positions on the veto and its constitutionality.

But the legal department at the Office of the Presidency Republic issued a statement saying that the powers of the Presidency Council veto laws, resolutions and in accordance with the Constitution and Rules of Procedure of the House of Representatives, for his part, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki:

"The veto election law poses a serious threat to the political process and democracy, was not based on strong constitutional did not take into account the national interest higher," while the Sheikh al-Attiyah the "morning" should not delay the elections, pointing to the possibility to vote residing abroad through their return home, especially with the allocation of more than $ 30 million to elections abroad.

In turn, said Bahaa al-Chairman of the Committee of Legal House of Representatives that "the Committee will meet Thursday to discuss the veto-Hashimi and submit recommendations to the Presidency of the parliament in this regard," adding that "the three meetings will be crucial on the road to re-vote on the law in accordance with the absolute majority of those attending the parliament session."

While the vice president said the Kurdistan Alliance bloc Saadi Barzanji that "the Kurdistan Alliance will invest overturn the law by the Vice-President of the Republic through the provision of alternative proposals to resolve the problematic seats in the provinces of the region and to correct the imbalance that has occurred. Middle of this picture, said the Electoral Commission to stop its activities for the elections after the veto amending the election law. Qasim al-Aboudi, a member of the Board of Commissioners in a press statement: "We decided to stop the activities of the Office for the candidates and print menus and other post-veto law.

http://www.alsabaah.com/paper.php?so...page&sid=93784

Qatar to Build $9.8 Billion Chemical Plants in Vietnam

shevaub — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:34:28 GMT

Qatar to Build $9.8 Billion Chemical Plants in Vietnam...

Full story: http://www.vnbusinessnews.com/2009/1...-chemical.html

NASDAQ OMX and Country ETF 1Q, 2010

diamondback — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:25:07 GMT

Just like the ISX NASDAQ OMX.

Colombia bourse readies to list 1st foreign firm

Wed Nov 4, 2009 5:39pm EST

By Manuela Badawy
NEW YORK, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Colombia's stock exchange is gearing to list its first foreign firm in the coming weeks as it prepares to further open its market to international investors.
Canadian oil and gas producer Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp (PRE.TO) will be listed "in the coming weeks," said Juan Pablo Cordoba, president of Colombia's Stock Exchange BVC.CN.
Toronto-based Pacific Rubiales produces 100,000 barrels per day in Colombia at a field operated with state oil company Ecopetrol and is enjoying a mini-boom in oil investment.
Cordoba said he is working with regulators to simplify investment rules for local investors in foreign securities and to give more possibilities for foreign portfolio investors.
"We want to adopt international standards, make ourselves visible and make products that are interesting to all types of investors," Cordoba said at an event organized by the Colombian American Association. "We want to make it easier to come to Colombia."
As part of that strategy, the exchange has adopted the Nasdaq-OMX technology with international standards for both equity and derivative markets.
Cordoba said he is working on an integration of the stock exchanges with Peru and Chile, which would lift investment in each of the markets and encourage more cross-border trading.
"We are all growing but we are still very small. If you have an endogenous growth it will take forever to become much larger," Cordoba said.
"The idea of joining forces with other exchanges of similar size is to immediately raise the profile of the markets, companies listed and exchanges. That should take 12 to 18 months."
The Colombian market is heavy in energy and banking, the Peruvian bourse is dominated by mining sector stocks, while the Chilean market rides on energy, trade and service sectors.
Cordoba also announced it was launching an exchange traded fund (ETF) with global distribution in the first quarter of 2010.
ETFs are similar to index-tracking mutual funds but trade in real-time on exchanges with constantly changing prices, instead of being priced once a day when the markets close.
Cordoba said the exchange was joining forces with an affiliate of Colombian electricity firm ISA ISA.CN to create a commodities derivative market by early 2010.
He also said it would introduce in January securities lending to enhance the integrity of the market.
He reiterated that there are no capital gains tax on Colombia's equity market for foreign investors and that there are no restrictions entering or exiting the market. (Editing by Leslie Adler)

� Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved

http://www.reuters.com/article/compa...50524720091104

Hold Everything Stop The Presses [Fact Check Please]

Alasad PGen4 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:30:00 GMT

November 18, 2009 AP Turns Heads for Devoting 11 Reporters to Palin Book 'Fact Check'

by Robert Shaffer
, FOXNews.com

Reviewing books and holding public figures accountable is at the core of good journalism, but the Associated Press' treatment of Palin's book seems an unprecedented move at the wire service
Sarah Palin is no normal politician, and at the Associated Press, apparently "Going Rogue" is no normal book.
When the former Republican vice presidential candidate and former Alaska governor wrote her autobiography, the AP found a copy before its release date and assigned 11 people to fact check all 432 pages.
The AP claims Palin misstated her record with regard to travel expenses and taxpayer-funded bailouts, using statements widely reported elsewhere. But it also speculated into Palin's motives for writing "Going Rogue: An American Life," stating as fact that the book "has all the characteristics of a pre-campaign manifesto."
Palin quickly hit back on a Facebook post titled "Really? Still Making Things Up?"
"Imagine that," the post read. "11 AP reporters dedicating time and resources to tearing up the book, instead of using the time and resources to 'fact check' what's going on with Sheik Mohammed's trial, Pelosi's health care takeover costs, Hasan's associations, etc. Amazing."
AP spokesman Paul Colford said the organization, with more than 4,000 employees, and 49 Pulitzer Prizes earned for asking the hard questions, has the luxury of putting multiple reporters on major stories. He confirmed 11 people worked on the story, but not all full-time. He refused to say, however, if similar number of journalists were assigned to review other political books, or if Palin has been treated differently.
"One byline appeared on AP's Fact Check. Others at AP with knowledge of specific areas covered in the book contributed in varying degrees to preparing the Fact Check quickly on Friday," his statement read.
Reviewing books and holding public figures accountable is at the core of good journalism, but the treatment Palin's book received appears to be something new for the AP. The organization did not review for accuracy recent books by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, then-Sen. Joe Biden, either book by Barack Obama released before he was president or autobiographies by Bill or Hillary Clinton. The AP did more traditional news stories on those books.
The attraction to Palin doesn't appear to be partisan, since AP didn't fact-check recent political tomes by Republicans Rudy Giuliani or Newt Gingrich.
The AP, however, regularly writes "fact checks" for major political speeches, such as a September health care speech by President Obama.
Doug Underwood, a University of Washington journalism professor who covered Washington politics in the late 1970s for Gannett, said Palin brings some negative attention on herself with a history of bad interviews and misstatements. In addition, the press cannot ever be perfectly consistent or fair, he said.
Still, the media treated Biden and Palin differently, he said.
Biden's book "Promises to Keep" became an instant best-seller when he was chosen to be Obama's running mate, but was not fact-checked by the AP and only received passing interest. In a story last year on Biden's Vietnam War draft deferments due to asthma, the reporter notes Biden didn't mention the malady in his book.
Palin is not the standard presidential possibility for 2012, Underwood said.
"She's a figure who's a politician, but also a part of popular culture," he said.
Palin supporters believe 11 reporters poring over every word of her book is excessive- and further proof of the media's obsession and maltreatment of the hockey mom from Wasilla.
"They're obsessed with trying to discredit her," said Adrienne Ross, New York state organizer for the 2012 Draft Sarah Committee. "Because she's a conservative woman, they make fun of her accent, comment about her looks. She doesn't come in the package they want her to come in."
Meanwhile, Palin is complaining about the cover of Newsweek that shows her posing in sports gear, including short runner's shorts, accompanied by the headline: "How do you solve a problem like Sarah?"
The photo was originally published in the August 2009 issue of Runners World. Palin accused the magazine of being "sexist" for using the photo out of context.
"When it comes to Sarah Palin, this 'news' magazine has relished focusing on the irrelevant rather than the relevant," she wrote on her Facebook page. "The out-of-context Newsweek approach is sexist and oh-so-expected by now."

Glenn Beck Top 10 States Going Bankrupt [First]Nov 18, 2009

Alasad PGen4 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:47:34 GMT

YouTube- Glenn Beck Show - Nov 18, 2009 - Pt 3 of...

Glenn Beck;How Bad Could It Get? 11/18/09

Alasad PGen4 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:09:14 GMT

YouTube- Glenn Beck - Constitution Schmonstitution

Fundamental and technical analysis of the electronic trading session on Thursday, 19/11/2009

iraqi investor — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:44:09 GMT

Fundamental and technical analysis of the electronic trading session on Thursday, 19/11/2009

isx4 - Analysis
18.11.2009

Before entering into what can be expected for the electronic trading session for tomorrow, Thursday 19/11/2009, we must pause when the results of the session on Wednesday 18/11/2009, which has seen some negative indicators of the decline in key indicators is the number of shares traded and the total volume and number of transactions.
It may be a natural in light of the many reductions in the rate of share turnover during the last week and this week, which has helped to restrict the capital of certain investors, the purchase at high levels in some companies and lower prices for these shares of a sudden, but it is negative from the point of my own because the decline in these indicators, if it continues, it underlines the weakness in new liquidity to the market within Iraq as well as weakness in the forces of demand, the result will contribute to the decline in stock prices, and this is what is happening now.
In general, we wish to not continue the rate of these indicators is low, because the first week of trading this month and in November after having achieved a reasonable level of trading contributed directly to higher rates of many of the shares of companies.
Trading non-Iraqis have seen a slight rise, but what she witnessed maligned in sales focused on the banking sector, a result of declines in shares of many companies in this sector.

Pressured by declines may continue at tomorrow's meeting?

Is still continuing declines on the index, whether Iraq or the shares of many companies cast a shadow on the decisions of investors and stock movement in general, which contributed to declines in the impact on the hopes and aspirations of investors, signs of recovery and optimism that prevailed at the circulations in the first week of this month, which contributed to the movement active in all sectors with sector varies from one another.
Is still movement in share prices since the middle of the second week almost placed under the control of buyers are almost invariably with the presence of exceptional cases, the superiority of vendors in the shares of some companies, but a small percentage.
From this standpoint, the trading market Iraq needs serious to a meeting or two positive signs return to investors (vendors) part of the gains that have been lost dramatically very strange.

Political developments may be due to the interface again?

The phase after the Iraqi market for securities of the impact of political differences and security during the period of years, the buyers would control the movement of stock prices for a long time and synchronized with some political differences, both to the election law after the veto for electoral reasons by one of the Vice President of the Republic, and the threat of non-Kurds participate in future elections unless their demands are irrational, that generate a kind of confidence to investors (sellers) and the fear is unjustified and not in place, the likelihood of reductions for new and thus overcome the forces of supply and demand, which may help to see the new reductions.
So should investors be they sellers or buyers to contribute in giving a boost to the Iraqi market through an accurate reflection of all the positive factors coming both at the level of the Iraqi economy or stock companies or even the Iraqi market in 2010.
Law on the Protection of the national product on the way to ratify it in parliament during the remaining days of this month, which ratified it will be the biggest supporting factor for industrial companies in the coming period.

As foreign investments began to loom through the initial visits that we see in most provinces almost for a share of the pie for the next Iraqi Arab Economic Forum and global levels.

What about the movement of stock tomorrow?

The picture is still unclear or inaccurate in light of the continued movement of the very strong conflict between buyers and sellers and all sides try to control the movement and the stock price, so you do not continue to charts and graphs recorded movements are not woven to some extent with the principles of those fees!!! But this does not prevent a clearer picture of you, to help determine your steps and decisions at tomorrow's meeting Thursday 19.11.2009 According to the following:

Bank of Assyria

By reading the index graph, we see that he was able in today's meeting to achieve a foothold in the courtyard of white buyers in favor of vendors, I think that he tested the strength of the stock at a price of 1,160 at the meeting, the lowest price reached, so it confirms the slight distancing through the abandonment of the path low and therefore will try tomorrow to confirm the new path and bring up a new addition to the high on Wednesday.

Babylon Bank

Is still walking in a line of low and clear, note that the registration day for articulated movement of the reflectivity of new does not mean anything with recurrence of this movement and its more than once in low-track little effect ...Uncertainty is still the most striking feature for the dominant, and therefore we need another meeting may show some light to its next steps in the next week, a plan graph, and by not recording positive results, or evidence, or new data indicates a continued decline or walk through a horizontal line to achieve the stability of another tomorrow.

Bank of Baghdad

Is still moving in line descending downward path, and came as a result of today's meeting are compatible with the expectation of yesterday, from the perspective of the index graph, we note that took place today and for the second straight session in the testing phase is very strong at the rate of 2,000 dinars, making it in the danger zone on Thursday ,tomorrow's meeting double-edged sword, either make a new step downward, something expected from the chart at a price of 1,990 dinars, or may be accompanied by a hearing Tuesday and Wednesday's court session in his ability to survive at a price of 2,000 dinars in a slight gain, and change the path.

Gulf Bank

By the outcome of today's meeting Wednesday, and having achieved a pivotal movement of the reflectivity at a price of 1,200 dinars, after a series of consecutive declines for four consecutive sessions, I can assert the power of God Almighty, that today's meeting indicated that the previous track (path low) terminated or the last throes, so will achieve higher on tomorrow, God willing, the possibility of the first, or postpone the increase to the meeting Sunday at the latest.

Warka Bank

With positive results achieved at the meeting on Wednesday, the latest movement of white fast-entry support for tomorrow's meeting Thursday, we need confirmation hearing for this correction with the continued rapid overcome the forces of demand on the forces of supply is quite large, but we must not lose our thinking and there are attempts to reduce the price of this assembled for the purpose of the stock at lower prices.

World continental

Despite an arrow to a very slight increase, but less than those of the previous meeting and this illustrates the scale of the conflict between buyers and sellers to control the movement and the price of this stock.
By reading the index graph, has been accomplished today is not important until now where it is still in the path of low and thus the meeting tomorrow will prove that the new low, albeit marginal, or check the stable.

Fallujah construction

Clarified where the movement of conflict between buyers and sellers to a large degree, but more shame on the vendor not being able to reduce the size of presentations, most record buyers in terms of quantities eaten each before gradually ... Registration of this stock to decline slightly this day Wednesday and continued to decline in the attempts aimed to reduce the price under the price of 6,000 dinars, tomorrow's hearing important in determining the course of the next week with the possibility of movement-based registration of articulated reflective tomorrow (quantity traded at today's meeting very few, so the indicator was not be very careful with such quantities).

Mansour pharmaceutical

Circulation today at the opening and closing price of one, they recorded a pivotal movement in the path of high reflectivity somewhat, so Fmwcrha chart underlines the additional price reduction under 3,000 dinars at the meeting tomorrow or Sunday, it did not take this movement tomorrow. (Quantity traded at today's meeting very few, so the index may not be very careful with such quantities).

Al-Mansour Hotel

New record low today it negotiable at a price of 36,000 dinars, but the record's a reflex, but may not be honest with the lack of volume traded, I think that the movement if ratified, the fall is over and will see a rise tomorrow, and If you were not honest, we need to another meeting to clarify the course more accuracy.

The Palestine Hotel

Officially announced on Wednesday registered for the pivotal movement of the reflectivity is very important, thereby also declares the path Expiration previous fall or that its last throes ... So will achieve higher on Wednesday, God willing or postponed to the meeting next Sunday.

I apologize for the shortcut to a very limited time, we hope that affect these expectations and be true

Iraqi Investor
www.isx4.com

SEIU Union Leader Threatening Legal Action Against Boy Scout's

Alasad PGen4 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:42:00 GMT

Pennsylvania Union Leader Criticized for Threatening Legal Action Over Boy Scout's Volunteerism

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Aspiring Eagle Scout Kevin Anderson, 17, says he cleared a walking path in an east Allentown, Pa. park so people could enjoy walking along the river.
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A Pennsylvania union leader has come under fire after threatening legal action against the city of Allentown for allowing a Boy Scout to voluntarily clear a walking path in a local park.

Nick Balzano, president of the Service Employees International Union's Allentown chapter, said last week that the union might file a grievance against the city for allowing 17-year-old Kevin Anderson to clear the hiking trail, instead of paying some of the 39 recently laid-off SEIU members to do the work.
Balzano's office did not return messages left by FoxNews.com, but the Morning Call quoted him as telling the city council that the union would be "looking into the Cub Scout or Boy Scout who did the trails � There's to be no volunteers."
SEIU spokesman Matt Nerzig called Balzano's comments "completely unauthorized and insensitive" and said the union was "not at all" considering a grievance in this case.
"Not sure if it was out of context or just a bad moment, but we've got no intention of doing anything like that," Nerzig told FoxNews.com. "Not sure where he got the idea but he certainly doesn't have the authority to do so."

Anderson, a member of Boy Scouts Troop 301 of Center Valley, spent more than 200 hours creating the 1000-foot path in Kimmets Lock Park along with fellow scouts, friends and parents.
The junior at Southern Lehigh High School said he took on the project in an effort to earn an Eagle Scout badge and allow others to walk along the river while avoiding the busy road nearby.
In the process, he said, he and his team also transformed what was once a run-down section of the park into something residents and visitors can enjoy.
"The volunteers and I removed trash, many old tires and recyclables from this former illegal dump-site," Anderson told FoxNews.com.
"My trail will become a part of the 165-mile Delaware and Lehigh (D&L) Heritage corridor," he added.
Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski said Anderson's work was a "great service to the community."
"We would hope that the well-intentioned efforts of an Eagle Scout candidate would not be challenged by the union," he told the Morning Call.
In a letter written Tuesday to Balzano, U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania said the union official owes the teen an apology.

"I am astounded, that you would threaten to file a grievance against the City of Allentown because the administration wisely chooses to make volunteer opportunities available," Dent said. "Especially when this type of frivolous grievance could add to the tax burden of the citizens."
"An apology both to the scout involved and to the public would be appropriate," he added.
The SEIU has been the only Allentown union to suffer layoffs amid the ongoing economic crisis.
Anderson's troop leader Tony Martocci declined to comment for this story.

Health Bill Totals $849 Billion

Alasad PGen4 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:35:18 GMT

November 18, 2009 Senate Health Bill Totals $849 Billion, CBO Estimates

by
FOXNews.com

The Senate bill, which includes a government-run insurance plan that would allow states to opt out, would extend health care coverage to more than 94 percent of the population or 31 million additional Americans

The Senate's version of President Obama's sweeping health care plan would cost $849 billion over 10 years, according to a preliminary estimate by the Congressional Budget Office, a figure that meets Obama's limit of $900 billion over a decade.
The bill, which includes a government-run insurance plan that would allow states to opt out, would extend health care coverage to more than 94 percent of the population or 31 million additional Americans. It would also cut the federal deficit by $127 billion over the first 10 years and as much as $650 billion over the next 10 years, the analysis said.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid released the bill and its price tag to his colleagues Wednesday afternoon. He has spent weeks merging two versions of the bill that passed out of two separate Senate committees.
Republicans have complained in recent weeks that Reid's bill was being drafted behind closed doors with the White House and kept secret from them and even most Democrats.
Reid plans to hold a procedural vote as early as Thursday to begin debate on Saturday with a goal of passage by the end of the year.
Reid has been trying to muster the 60 votes needed to start debate, but senior Democratic leadership aides told Fox News that Reid is all but certain to reach that threshold. Though Democrats have a 60-vote majority, moderate Democratic Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas were thought to be on the fence.
Nelson, though, released a written statement Wednesday afternoon saying he needs time to first review the bill that Reid unveils.
"I won't decide how I'll vote on the motion to proceed until I know what I'm voting on," he said.

An intense struggle is expected on the Senate floor, where Republicans have vowed to block the legislation atop Obama's domestic agenda.
Officials have said the measure would require most Americans to carry health insurance and would mandate large companies to provide coverage to their workers, as well as ban insurance company practices such as denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions.
The bill would set up new insurance marketplaces -- called exchanges -- primarily for those who now have a hard time getting or keeping coverage. Subsidies would be available to help defray the cost of coverage for people with lower incomes.
The House narrowly passed its $1.2 trillion version of health care reform earlier this month with a 220-215 vote. If the Senate approves its version, it still has to be reconciled with the House bill before Obama can sign it into law.

Only 43% would vote for Obama now

Alasad PGen4 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:10:45 GMT

Poll: Only 43% would vote for Obama now
1 year after election, trust in president plunging
Posted: November 17, 2009
8:59 pm Eastern

� 2009 WorldNetDaily

Just 12 months after voting by a 53-47 margin to put Barack Obama in the White House, only 43 percent of voters today would re-elect him, according to a new Zogby Internaional�O'Leary Report Poll.
"Most voters don't trust the president on the number one issue of the day: job creation. On top of that, a surprising plurality of voters, and Independent voters in particular, don't side with President Obama on the number one issue to him: whether or not he should be president," said Brad O'Leary, a former NBC Westwood One talk show host and publisher of the O'Leary Report.
He's also written "Shut Up America: The End of Free Speech."
The pollsters on Nov. 10-12 surveyed 2,879 Americans who had voted in the 2008 presidential election. The results have a margin of error of plus-or-minus 1.9 percent.
The poll asked: If the presidential election were held next month, would you vote to re-elect President Obama or would it be time for someone new in the White House?

The poll showed only 43 percent of Americans who voted in the 2008 presidential election say they would vote to re-elect Obama � a reduction by 10 percent in the votes Obama received on election day last year.
Forty-five percent say they want someone new to be president. Eleven percent say that their vote for or against Obama would depend on who is running against him, and 1 percent are not sure.
Significantly, the poll revealed that only 37 percent of independent voters would vote to re-elect Obama. Forty-six percent say they would like to see someone new. Seventeen percent said they would want to know the opposition first.
Additionally, the poll asked: Please tell me how much you trust the Obama administration to pass federal legislation to create jobs in 2010?
"Not at all" was the response from 42 percent of the voters. Another 11 percent said they do not trust Obama "much." Only about 1 voter in four said they trusted the president "very much," and 18 percent admitted they trusted him "somewhat."
"President Obama's popularity with the voting public has been eroding for some time, but these numbers really drive home the point," O'Leary said.
WND reported only weeks ago a majority of Americans also are alarmed over attempts by the White House to stifle dissent or suppress free speech.