Monthly Archives: August 2008

Aug 19

OUR MILITARY GLOBAL EMPIRE (when we run out of money will the world help us?)

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There is a new empire in town, and its global presence is increasing every day.

The kingdom of Alexander the Great reached all the way to the borders of India. The Roman Empire controlled the Celtic regions of Northern Europe and all of the Hellenized states that bordered the Mediterranean. The Mongol Empire, which was the largest contiguous empire in history, stretched from Southeast Asia to Europe. The Byzantine Empire spanned the years 395 to 1453. In the sixteenth century, the Ottoman Empire stretched from the Persian Gulf in the east to Hungary in the northwest; and from Egypt in the south to the Caucasus in the north. At the height of its dominion, the British Empire included almost a quarter of the world’s population.

Nothing, however, compares to the U.S. global empire. What makes U.S. hegemony unique is that it consists, not of control over great land masses or population centers, but of a global presence unlike that of any other country in history.

The extent of the U.S. global empire is almost incalculable. The latest “Base Structure Report” of the Department of Defense states that the Department’s physical assets consist of “more than 600,000 individual buildings and structures, at more than 6,000 locations, on more than 30 million acres.” The exact number of locations is then given as 6,702 – divided into large installations (115), medium installations (115), and small installations/locations (6,472). This classification can be deceiving, however, because installations are only classified as small if they have a Plant Replacement Value (PRV) of less than $800 million.

Although most of these locations are in the continental United States, 96 of them are in U.S. territories around the globe, and 702 of them are in foreign countries. But as Chalmers Johnson has documented, the figure of 702 foreign military installations is too low, for it does not include installations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, and Uzbekistan. Johnson estimates that an honest count would be closer to 1,000.

The number of countries that the United States has a presence in is staggering. According the U.S. Department of State’s list of “Independent States in the World,” there are 192 countries in the world, all of which, except Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, and North Korea, have diplomatic relations with the United States. All of these countries except one (Vatican City) are members of the United Nations. According to the Department of Defense publication, “Active Duty Military Personnel Strengths by Regional Area and by Country,” the United States has troops in 135 countries. Here is the list:

 

For the rest of the article click on:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/vance/vance8.html

 

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Aug 19

McCAIN’S WORDS CAUSES GEORGIA TO BE MORE AGGRESSIVE?

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Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili on Wednesday called for John McCain and other American leaders to do more for Georgia in their response to the conflict in his country.

“Yesterday, I heard Sen. McCain say, ‘We are all Georgians now,’” Saakashvili said on CNN’s American Morning. “Well, very nice, you know, very cheering for us to hear that, but OK, it’s time to pass from this. From words to deeds.”

 

For sources click on the following:

 Georgian President Challenges Mccain: Move From “Words To Deeds”

  1. Aug 13, 2008 … Lobbyist who promised Georgia President Mikheil Saakashvili the world …. McCain thinks only white people are allowed to act presidential. …
    www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/13/georgian-president-challe_n_118690.html – 137k – Cached – Similar pages – Note this

  2. McCain Calls for Halt of Violence in Georgia – The Caucus …

    Mccain words, without Obama to disparage, are naked for the world to see. ….. nuclear war over a conflict initiated by an act of aggression by Georgia …
    thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/mccain-calls-for-halt-of-violence-in-georgia/ – 241k – Cached – Similar pages – Note this

  3. McCain too bellicose on Georgia? – 2008 Presidential Campaign Blog …

    McCain has turned that on its head — speak really tough words and have ….. South Osetia called Georgia’s act “genocide” and pleaded Russia for help. …
    www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/08/mccain_too_bell.html – 93k – Cached – Similar pages – Note this

  4. CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive …

    Aug 13, 2008 … Even his good friend from Georgia can see that McCain is a ….. McCain is all words and no deeds. 25 years in Washington and what has he …
    politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/08/13/georgian-president-to-mccain-move-from-words-to-deeds/ – 140k – Cached – Similar pages – Note this

  5. Technorati: Discussion about “Obama And McCain On Georgia”

    Aug 9, 2008 … Not that McCain’s words are much comfort to the Georgians. … The Kremlin decided it was time to act, since Georgia was only growing …
    technorati.com/posts/%2BtT5Cjxc5yjYTcR3kicFnIFbsvqcCS4h7GUwmRJGe1o%3D – 47k – Cached – Similar pages – Note this

  6. ABC News: Obama, McCain Fire Away on Georgia War

    Aug 10, 2008 … And when hostilities erupted along the Georgia-Russia border, McCain was characteristically bold and quick to act. …
    abcnews.go.com/Politics/Story?id=5552954&page=1 – Similar pages – Note this

  7. Georgia crisis tests presidential candidates – CNN.com

    McCain is known for his pointed words toward Putin. He’s told audiences that when he looks … 2 West to act against Russia? West to act against Russia? …
    www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/11/candidates.georgia/index.html – Similar pages – Note this

  8. » McCain foreign policy adviser got money from Georgia Dvorak …

    Aug 13, 2008 … Georgia’s president Mikhail Saakashvili twice mentioned McCain by name as ….. I would have expected McCain to act exactly the way he did. …
    www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=20726 – 118k – Cached – Similar pages – Note this
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Aug 19

LARGE US BANK TO FAIL IN MONTHS (want more of the same?)

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The global financial crisis is set to get worse, with a large US bank likely to collapse in the next few months, a former IMF chief economist has warned.

Kenneth Rogoff’s comments came as shares in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sank on a report that the home lenders would, in effect, be nationalised.

Despite hopes that the US economy had turned the corner, Mr Rogoff claimed it was “not out of the woods”.

“I would even go further to say ‘the worst is to come’,” he said.

“We’re not just going to see mid-sized banks go under in the next few months,” said Mr Rogoff, who held the IMF role between 2001 and 2004.

“We’re going to see a whopper, we’re going to see a big one, one of the big investment banks or big banks.”

 

  We have to see more consolidation in the financial sector before this is over
Kenneth Rogoff

Speaking at a conference in Singapore, Mr Rogoff, now an economics professor at Harvard, forecast that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would “probably” not exist in their present form in a few years.

“We have to see more consolidation in the financial sector before this is over.”

On Monday, shares of Fannie Mae fell more than 22%, or $1.76, to close at $6.15. Shares of Freddie Mac fell almost 25%, or $1.46, to $4.39.

 

For the rest of the story click on: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7569903.stm

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Aug 18

REPUBLICAN BUSH “JESUS IS MY PHILOSOPHER” DESTROYS McCAIN IN 2000…

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DO YOU REMEMBER?  REPUBLICAN BUSH “JESUS IS MY PHILOSOPHER”  DESTROYED McCAIN’S CHANCES OF BECOMING PRESIDENT IN 2000 (I believe McCain would have made a much better president then, but has he now taken on the same behavior of Bush?).

          

 

FACT SHEET:

Bush Waged Nasty Smear Campaign Against McCain in 2000
Bush Supporters Called McCain “The Fag Candidate.” In South Carolina, Bush supporters circulated church fliers that labeled McCain “the fag candidate.” Columnist Frank Rich noted that the fliers were distributed “even as Bush subtly reinforced that message by indicating he wouldn’t hire openly gay people for his administration.”

McCain Slurs Included Illegitimate Children, Homosexuality And A Drug-Addict Wife.
Among the rumors circulated against McCain in 2000 in South Carolina was that his adopted Bangladeshi daughter was actually black, that McCain was both gay and cheated on his wife, and that his wife Cindy was a drug addict.”

 

For more click on:

 

http://www.bartcopnation.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=8&topic_id=522

WHERE IS JESUS IN ALL OF THIS?

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Aug 10

NASA SCIENTIST RIPS BUSH ON GLOBAL WARMING…

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(Summary)

CITY, Iowa – The Bush administration is trying to stifle scientific evidence of the dangers of global warming in an effort to keep the public uninformed, a NASA scientist said Tuesday night.

“In my more than three decades in government, I have never seen anything approaching the degree to which information flow from scientists to the public has been screened and controlled as it is now,” James Hansen told a University of Iowa audience.

Hansen is director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York and has twice briefed a task force headed by Vice President Dick Cheney on global warming. He was also one of the first government scientists tasked with briefing congressional committees on the dangers of global warming, testifying as far back as the 1980s.

‘Recipe … for disaster’
Hansen said the administration wants to hear only scientific results that “fit predetermined, inflexible positions.” Evidence that would raise concerns about the dangers of climate change is often dismissed as not being of sufficient interest to the public.

“This, I believe, is a recipe for environmental disaster.”

Bush wants more research
White House science adviser John H. Marburger III has denied charges that the administration refuses to accept the reality of climate change, noting that President Bush pointed out in a 2001 speech that greenhouse gases have increased substantially in the past 200 years.

The president has also said that while he believes warming is a serious problem, he doesn’t feel the threat his imminent and has instead ordered more research. He has also sought voluntary steps by industry and pumped federal dollars into technology projects like capturing and sequestering carbon dioxide emissions.

Hansen said he was speaking as a private citizen, not as a government employee, and paid his own way for the Iowa appearance. He described himself as moderately conservative, but said he will vote for John Kerry in the presidential election.

“He certainly is not in denial of the existence of climate change problems,” Hansen said.

For source click on: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6341451/

 

Also: Climatologist states that Earth at Tipping point:  http://www.thestar.com/article/447808

 

 

 

 

 

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Aug 09

MIDDLE CLASS HOMELESS LIVING IN CARS?

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(summary by editor)

Homeless people living in cars and mobile homes across the US are being joined by a new breed: the middle-class.

As mortgage foreclosures continue rising month on month, growing numbers of middle-class professionals are losing their homes and downsizing from four bedrooms to four wheels.

With numbers rising, New Beginnings, a homeless agency in Santa Barbara , California , has launched a Safe Parking Programme, aiming to provide a refuge of sorts for those who have nowhere to go other than their vehicle.

Guy Trevor lost his job as an interior designer when the market contracted, thanks to the mortgage foreclosure crisis.

With his furniture sold and his belongings in storage, he now lives in his car, spending the nights in one of the 12 gated parking lots in Santa Barbara run by New Beginnings.

“I see myself as a casualty of a perfect storm,” he said. “The people sleeping at the parking lot are very friendly. They’re just like me – they come from normal, everyday homes. I think a lot of people in this country don’t realise that they, too, are a couple of pay-cheques away from destitution.”

Mortgage foreclosures in the normally comfortable seaside area of Santa Barbara county are increasing month by month.

In May there were 150, with the total for the year to the end of last month reaching 800, according to figures from the county assessor’s office.

Each month, an auction of foreclosed properties is held on the steps of the Santa Barbara courthouse.

“The way the economy is going, it’s just amazing the people that are becoming homeless,” Nancy Kapp, the programme’s coordinator, told CNN. “It’s hit the middle class.”

Another of Kapp’s clients, Barbara Harvey, also lost her job and subsequently her home in the foreclosure crisis. Like Trevor, her job as a loans processor was connected to the housing market.

The 67-year-old lost her three-bedroom home and now lives with her three dogs in her car, parking at night in a women-only car park run by agency.

“It went to hell in a handbasket,” she said. “I didn’t think this would happen to me. It’s just something that I don’t think that people think is going to happen to them.”

The rise in the numbers of homeless sleeping in cars has led Los Angeles city authorities to attempt to clamp down on the problem. As with many other cities, it is illegal in LA to live in vehicles on public streets.

Earlier this year the city forbade nearly all overnight parking on residential streets. A first violation receives a $50 fine, while subsequent offences can carry fines up to $100.

“For more working-class and lower-middle-class people, the car is the first stop of being homeless, and sometimes it turns out to be a long stop,” Gary Blasi, a University of California , Los Angeles , law professor and homeless activist told the Associated Press.

Los Angeles has the highest number of homeless in the US , with an estimated 73,000 people living rough. Of more than 3,000 homeless people surveyed last year, around 250 were sleeping in their cars.

For source click on: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/25/usa.subprimecrisis

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Aug 08

McCAIN GETS EAR FULL IN OHIO….

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 (summary by editor) 

August 8, 2008
WILMINGTON, OHIO — Finally given a chance to address Sen. John McCain, Mary Houghtaling choked up Thursday and began to cry. Houghtaling first warned McCain of the pending catastrophe July 9 when he campaigned nearby. As head of the commerce committee, McCain fought back proposed amendments in a defense spending bill that would have barred a foreign-owned company from flying U.S. military equipment or troops. McCain’s campaign said Thursday that Davis has not lobbied for DHL since 2005 and had no role in the current controversy. He took a leave of absence from his lobbying practice to run McCain’s campaign.

 In news releases, conference calls and local street protests, Democrats and union groups have blamed McCain and Davis for backing the original deal, and accused McCain of ignoring the workers’ plight. During a campaign visit last month, Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, met with Wilmington’s mayor, David Raizk, and pledged his help if elected.

 McCain moved quickly to demonstrate his own concern Thursday, his second straight day of campaigning in a state he has called vital to his White House bid. After learning that the chairman of DHL, Frank Appel, had not agreed to meet local residents, McCain promised to write to the head of parent company Deutsche Post and invite him. Earlier Thursday, McCain used a town hall in Lima, Ohio, to step up his attacks on Obama.

 For more click on:

 http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-campaign8-2008aug08,0,4031248.story

 

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Aug 07

OBAMA’S WITHDRAWAL PLAN COMING TRUE?

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(summary by editor)

Iraq and the U.S. are near an agreement on all American combat troops leaving Iraq by October 2010, with the last soldiers out three years after that, two Iraqi officials told The Associated Press on Thursday. U.S. officials, however, insisted no dates had been agreed.

The proposed agreement calls for Americans to hand over parts of Baghdad’s Green Zone — where the U.S. Embassy is located — to the Iraqis by the end of 2008. It would also remove U.S. forces from Iraqi cities by June 30, 2009, according to the two senior officials, both close to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and familiar with the negotiations.

The officials, who spoke separately on condition of anonymity because the talks are ongoing, said all U.S. combat troops would leave Iraq by October 2010, with the remaining support personnel gone “around 2013.” The schedule could be amended if both sides agree — a face-saving escape clause that would extend the presence of U.S. forces if security conditions warrant it.

U.S. acceptance — even tentatively — of a specific timeline would represent a dramatic reversal of American policy in place since the war began in March 2003.

Both Iraqi and American officials agreed that the deal is not final and that a major unresolved issue is the U.S. demand for immunity for U.S. soldiers from prosecution under Iraqi law.

Throughout the conflict, President Bush steadfastly refused to accept any timetable for bringing U.S. troops home. Last month, however, Bush and al-Maliki agreed to set a “general time horizon” for ending the U.S. mission.

Bush’s shift to a timeline was seen as a move to speed agreement on a security pact governing the U.S. military presence in Iraq after the U.N. mandate expires at the end of the year.

Iraq‘s Shiite-led government has been holding firm for some sort of withdrawal schedule — a move the Iraqis said was essential to win parliamentary approval.

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad declined to comment on details of the talks. Embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nangtongo said the negotiations were taking place “in a constructive spirit” based on respect for Iraqi sovereignty.

In Washington, U.S. officials acknowledged that some progress has been made on the timelines for troop withdrawals but that the immunity issue remained a huge problem. One senior U.S. official close to the discussion said no dates have been agreed upon.

For the source click on: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080807/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_us_bases

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Aug 07

SIX REPUBLICAN SENATORS TO SKIP GOP CONVENTION?

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Sens. Ted Stevens of Alaska, Gordon Smith of Oregon, Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina and Susan Collins of Maine all face tough re-election campaigns. Two others, Wayne Allard of Colorado and Larry Craig of Idaho, are retiring.

Granted, Ted Stevens will most likely be in court fighting to keep his butt out of jail, but it’s pretty obvious why Smith, Dole and Collins want to stay as far away as possible from George Bush and the rest of their party. Hell, Gordon Smith is even running ads in which he touts his relationship with Barack Obama. What does it say about the GOP when it’s most vulnerable members can’t get far enough away from its leaders?

Indeed, after President Bush decided not to call Congress back into session after the GOP charade over gas prices on the House floor, John Boehner is now ripping him as “Beijing George” and accusing him of throwing House Republicans “under the bone-dry bus” on his way to the Olympics in China. How stupid do these people think we are? They spend eight years enabling Bush’s worst transgressions, and then they coordinate a fake, stupid and cynical stunt and expect everyone to forget they are in lock-step with Bush? Seriously? Wow.

For the rest of the article click on:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/08/06/republicans-facing-tough-re-election-plan-to-skip-convention/

 

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