Saturday, May 31, 2008

Georgian Retreat on Russian Front

Why were they being flown in the first place, readers?

U.S. wishes?

"Spy flights ended, Georgia contends

Georgia said yesterday that it had ended spy plane flights over the breakaway republic of Abkhazia as Western nations tried to calm tensions between Tbilisi and Moscow that have raised fears of war. But Georgia's UN ambassador, Irakli Alasania, warned after addressing a Security Council meeting on the crisis that his country reserved its right to resume flights by pilotless drones if it saw a threat from Russian-backed Abkhazia. A Georgian drone was shot down over Abkhazia on April 20 by what a UN report said Monday was a Russian fighter. Moscow has denied involvement (Reuters)."

Also see
: The Abkhazia Option

Romney's Wal Mart Health Plan

Maybe McCain ought not consider him for VP.

By the way, I was a big believer in National Health Care -- until I
read Ron Paul's book.

You see that SiCKO is one of my favorite movies, right?

I still don't understand why other countries can have good health care while AmeriKa's is crap; however, I do not want national health care in America anymore.

Ron Paul's examples are one reason, and here is another (validating what the good Dr. diagnosed):


"Mass. tab for private sector healthcare rises; Employees still rely on public programs to tune of $636m

The state's bill for providing healthcare to employees of large companies increased 14 percent in the last fiscal year, to $636 million, according to a report released yesterday.

The state report shows that while healthcare reform has extended coverage to thousands of people in Massachusetts, many employers still rely on state programs to provide healthcare benefits for their workers. The findings also underscore what is likely to become the next battle in the ongoing implementation of healthcare reform: getting employers to contribute more toward health insurance, even for part timers and seasonal help.

Brian Rosman, research director for Health Care for All, an advocacy group that helped establish the healthcare reform law:

"There are a lot of companies that have set up their employment-benefit systems so the state pays for their workers' healthcare. They ought to pay some of the freight."

Yeah, it is GOVERNMENT LOOTING -- just as Ron Paul said!!!

Everybody looting from everybody!!!

The healthcare reform law is intended to provide insurance coverage to all state residents. It has expanded government programs, such as MassHealth, the state Medicaid program, allowing more low-income residents to qualify for free coverage. The law has also created new coverage, such as state-subsidized and low-cost insurance plans provided by commercial health plans.

But the law also established a minimum standard under which a company would be deemed to provide a "reasonable" contribution to healthcare coverage - if 25 percent of a company's employees enrolled in a company plan or if the firm paid 35 percent of the premiums. Those that didn't meet that threshold must pay $295 per employee into a pool for the uninsured.

Yesterday, some advocates said the Patrick administration should raise those levels, so companies have to contribute more or pay the annual fee.

In years past, I'd have been for this; however, now I simply want NO MORE TAXES!!!! Not when they WASTE SO MUCH!!!

Rev. Hurmon Hamilton, president of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization and pastor of Roxbury Presbyterian Church:

"The administration has to raise the threshold. It is socially offensive for Wal Mart to be making millions of dollars in Massachusetts and have employees who facilitate that profit be kept healthy by the state. That's what I call freeloading."

Now THAT I agree with!!!

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, is the top company on the list. The state found 5,021 Wal-Mart employees used state health coverage at a cost of nearly $14 million in the 12 months ended June 30, 2007. That includes care provided to dependents of employees, but does not count employees without Social Security numbers.

I'm all for having health care for everyone, but WTF?!

Other large employers on the state's list include Stop & Shop Supermarket Cos., the May Department Stores Co., now part of Macy's Inc., and Shaw's Supermarket Inc. Governments are also on the list: the state is third, with 3,320 employees, and the City of Boston is 10th with 1,803.

Oh, so it is CORPORATE and GOVERNMENT LOOTING!!! Great, just great!!!!!

Rosman said his group is considering other ways to get businesses to pay more for healthcare coverage, such as an assessment based on the annual study:

"When you use the state's water, they send you a bill. Maybe if you use the state's healthcare, they should also send you a bill, and you should pay for some of it."

I already get 'em!!! This is why I'm bailing on the state-run system!!!!

Because the GOVERNMENT is always SENDING YOU a "BILL!!"

Richard C. Lord, chief executive of Associated Industries of Massachusetts, the state's largest business lobby, said he would oppose efforts to raise the standards set by the Romney administration that determine when a company makes a "reasonable" contribution to employees' healthcare:

"Healthcare reform was the result of a delicate balance of interests, and up to now it has the support of the business community. We want to continue to support it and I don't think we should be changing the rules at this point."

How about getting rid of it instead?

Musharaff is Staying!

Check out the caption to the photograph to see why the women are protesting.

People who believe their relatives are detainees rallied against Musharraf and the United States in Islamabad, Pakistan.
People who believe their relatives are detainees rallied against Musharraf and the United States in Islamabad, Pakistan. (AAMIR QURESHI/AFP/Getty Images)

No wonder Bush likes Mushy so much!


"Musharraf says he's staying; Pakistan president denies rumors he plans to step down" by Matthew Pennington, Associated Press | May 31, 2008

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - President Pervez Musharraf dismissed mounting speculation he is preparing to resign, while political opponents and media yesterday clamored for his departure after eight years in power.

Pakistan's public sounds exactly like AmeriKa's!!!

A late-night meeting this week between Musharraf and his successor as army chief fueled rumors that the longtime US ally in its war on terror would resign. The new civilian government wants to strip the president of key powers, and some in the coalition are seeking his impeachment....

I think I just ejaculated, readers!!!

Several major newspapers yesterday urged the president to resign.

Now I'm all sticky, readers!!!

The Urdu-language daily Nawa-i-Waqt, in an editorial headlined "King Musharraf," said he was running out of options and should learn a lesson from King Gyanendra, who was forced out as monarch of Nepal this week after that nation's Parliament voted to make the country a republic....

President Bush gave his backing to Musharraf in a telephone call yesterday. White House press secretary Dana Perino said Bush "reiterated the United States' strong support for Pakistan, and he indicated he looks forward to President Musharraf's continuing role in further strengthening US-Pakistani relations."

There goes Bush again, displaying the brilliant political acumen he's known for!!!

Also see: Taliban capture Afghan district

CNN Covers Elite's Depopulation Program

"CNN Covers Elite's Depopulation Program

Youtube
Friday, May 30, 2008

Do the Elite, through government and private sector scientists, create and distribute deadly viruses to world populations? Duh.


Copyright © Infowars.net All rights reserved.

Printed from: http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/may2008/300508CNN.htm

A Nothing Treaty

I view it all as a bunch of self-congratulatory crap.

QUIT MAKING THEM, and QUIT USING THEM -- period!!!!!


"Nations agree to ban use of cluster bombs; US, China, Russia reject pact NATO members backed" by Andras Gergely, Reuters | May 31, 2008

DUBLIN - More than 100 nations formally agreed yesterday to ban the use of cluster bombs, but debate continued on loopholes that could benefit powers such as the United States, which has refused to take part in talks on a ban....

The United States, China, and Russia have rejected the pact.... The accord's impact has been softened by a clause, known as Article 21, that allows troops of a signatory state to cooperate with an ally using the weapons, such as the United States.

Then this thing means NOTHING!!!! But the mass-murderers of NATO will pat themselves on the back and talk about how peaceful they are!!!!

Earl Turcotte, spokesman for the Canadian delegation, told the conference:

"Others have referred to Article 21 as a loophole. We have referred to it as an essential element of legal protection to accommodate situations in combined operations which may be beyond our control."

Translation: This treaty isn't worth the toilet paper it is written on!!!!!

In Washington, Tom Casey, State Department spokesman, said the agreement would not change US policy. He said cluster bombs were "absolutely critical and essential" to American military operations.

We aren't about peace and freedom, readers. We are about maiming people!!!

Most US artillery shells use some form of cluster bomb technology, and some defense analysts say a full withdrawal of such munitions by major military powers is impractical.

Casey said officials in the State and Defense departments were studying whether the treaty would eventually oblige American bases in Europe to withdraw cluster munitions stored there. Under the agreement, allies have the option of ordering US bases in their countries to remove the bombs.

Cluster munitions contain "bomblets" that are scattered from planes or by artillery shells and that detonate like mines. Opponents say the bombs cause indiscriminate injury after often lying unexploded for months or years until accidentally trodden upon.

The UN Development Program says cluster munitions have caused more than 13,000 confirmed injuries and deaths around the world, the vast majority of them in Laos, Vietnam, and Afghanistan.

Children are frequently the victims
."

You mean, like
this child?


Ouch! Sign a Petition

Occupation Iraq: Permanent Resistance

To permanent bases.

Here are some of them
:

Demonstrators shouted slogans in Baghdad's Sadr City district as they held placards of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Baghdad and other cities.
Demonstrators shouted slogans in Baghdad's Sadr City district as they held placards of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Baghdad and other cities. (Karim Kadim/Associated Press)

"US-Iraq security proposal meets mounting opposition; Americans insist they're not seeking permanent bases" by Robert H. Reid, Associated Press | May 31, 2008

BAGHDAD - Tens of thousands rallied in several cities yesterday against a proposed US-Iraqi security agreement, raising doubts that negotiators can meet a July target to complete a pact to keep US troops in Iraq after the current UN mandate expires.

Gotta cover those protests, huh, MSM-- as long as they are on foreign shores?

Covered because they threaten AmeriKa's imperial plan -- as long as they are not here!!!

Although US officials insist they are not seeking permanent bases, suspicion runs deep among many Iraqis that the Americans want to keep at least some troops in the country for many years....

The U.S. doesn't admit it, but that's what it is!!

C'mon, AmeriKan MSM!! The Iraqis ain't stoo-pid like Amurkns!!!!

Rallies in Baghdad and several other Iraqi cities followed prayer services yesterday.... opposition to the agreement appears to be growing beyond the Sadrist movement.

Yeah, sure. It was ALREADY THERE, pukes!!!

NO ONE likes to be under an OCCUPATION, especially one as bloody and deadly as this one!!!

A militant Sunni clerical group, the Association of Muslim Scholars, denounced the "ring of secrecy" surrounding the talks and said the proposed deal would pave the way for "military, economic, and cultural domination" by the Americans.

That's the PLAN!!!

Oh, and that kinda puts a big, gaping hole in the "sectarianism" issue, huh?

Also see: Memory Hole: The Dream Vacation

Memory Hole: Sistani's Reach

Memory Hole: The Uniters of Islam

On Thursday, the head of the country's biggest mainstream Shi'ite party, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, said some unspecified points under negotiation "violate Iraq's national sovereignty," adding that a "national consensus" was emerging against the proposed agreement.

Now THIS is a SOVEREIGN GOVERNMENT!!!!

Hakim is Sadr's main rival in the majority Shi'ite community, and he maintains close ties to the country's main Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Aides to the powerful ayatollah say he also has reservations about the deal.

Nothing like an AmeriKan occupation to unite people!!!

Before the protests yesterday, Sadr's office in Baghdad issued a statement branding the negotiations "a project of humiliation" aimed at turning Iraq "into a small stooge of the United States."

Stooge, puppet, same thing.

.... Rallies against the security deal occurred as the US military was seeking to contain the public relations damage caused by reports that an American Marine handed out coins promoting Christianity to Sunni Muslims in the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.

Uh-oh!!!

Sunni officials and residents said a Marine distributed about 10 coins at a checkpoint controlling access to the city, the scene of one of the fiercest battles of the war.

One side asked: "Where will you spend eternity?" The other contained a verse from the New Testament: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16."

The US military responded quickly to the incident, first reported by McClatchy Newspapers, removing a Marine from duty pending an investigation. Military regulations forbid proselytizing any religion.

"Indications are this was an isolated incident, an individual Marine acting on his own accord passing out coins," Lieutenant Colonel Chris Hughes, a spokesman for US forces in western Iraq, said in an e-mailed statement.

Distribution of the coins was the second perceived insult to Islam by American service members this month. A US Army sniper was sent out of the country after using a Koran, Islam's holy book, for target practice in a predominantly Sunni area west of Baghdad."

(Blog author just shaking his head)

By the way, how many bases is the U.S. thinking of setting up?


Hitting the Presidential Nominees

First Obama. And notice the headline.

"Obama tagged with comments of another cleric; Priest mocked Clinton display of emotions" by Scott Helman, Globe Staff | May 31, 2008

Oh, so now it is a CLERIC!!

Which, in the Amurkn mind (because of the Zionist brainwashing) means MUSLIM!!!

Why didn't they just say priest, readers? I think you know why!!


Just as he tries to begin uniting a fractured Democratic Party, Senator Barack Obama is suffering from another damaging outburst from the pulpit of his longtime church, where outspoken Chicago priest Michael L. Pfleger said in a guest sermon last Sunday that Senator Hillary Clinton was a "white" and "entitled" politician staggered to see "a black man stealing my show."

In his stinging critique of Clinton's candidacy, Pfleger, a white pastor of the largely black parish St. Sabina and a fixture in the city's religious and political life, also mocked her emotional display before the Jan. 8 New Hampshire primary.

How come the late-night talk show hosts don't come in for the same criticism?

When Saturday Night Live does it, it's funny!!!

Pfleger, at Trinity United Church of Christ, where Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., delivered the sharp criticisms of the US government that caused Obama major headaches this spring:

"When Hillary was crying, and people said that was put on, I really don't believe it was put on. I really believe that she just always thought, 'This is mine. I'm Bill's wife, I'm white and this is mine. I just gotta get up and step into the plate.' And then out of nowhere came, 'Hey, I'm Barack Obama.' And she said, 'Oh, damn, where did you come from? I'm white. I'm entitled. There's a black man stealing my show.' "

Pfleger, pretending to wipe away tears as some congregants stood and applauded:

"She wasn't the only one crying. There was a whole lot of white people crying."

How come their ministers are always more entertaining than ours?

Obama, who was not in the pews for the sermon, immediately repudiated the comments Thursday after a YouTube video surfaced.

The uproar comes at a particularly bad time for the Illinois senator, who is assiduously trying to mollify Clinton's supporters - and close racial and gender rifts in the party - as he anticipates securing the Democratic nomination, as early as next week. Many Clinton backers are already angry at Obama and the party, in part because of the disrespect they believe the media and her rival's surrogates have shown the New York senator and former first lady.

Wah, wah, wah!!!

Pfleger's outspokenness and protests, particularly on guns and race, has often drawn attention - and at times arrests - in Chicago and beyond. He has been a political supporter, contributor, and, at times, a spiritual adviser to Obama. Obama, as a state senator, reportedly steered at least $225,000 in grant money to Pfleger's parish. Pfleger has been a staunch defender of Wright and controversial Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan....

Ha-ha-ha!!!

Look at the Zionist MSM trying to make Pfleger into a tar baby!!!!

Ha-ha-ha!!!

What about Clinton's Pastor?

Or Bill's meeting with Rev. Wright, MSM?

Notice how quickly the Hagee flap went away, too, readers?

Yeah, but the MSM isn't for Clinton and McCain or anything.

Also see: Up Obama's Colon

Yesterday, Clinton's campaign and her supporters, while offering a more muted response than they have for past dust-ups, still faulted Obama for not going far enough.

US Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio said it was puzzling that in this environment an Obama supporter would choose his words so poorly:

"What I think that Clinton supporters would have wanted was for Barack Obama to say not only that he distanced himself from the comments, but that's not how he views Senator Clinton. I would have hoped to have him more . . . affirmative in terms of the kind of woman that she is and the kind of what that she's done. It seems to me that the people who have some connection to him would be smarter than that and they wouldn't reopen old wounds."

Jones disappoints me in that she is a BLACK woman.

Of course, feminists scream that this is evidence of sexism -- when nothing could be further from the truth.

This is about CLINTON'S CHARACTER!!!!

Howard Wolfson, Clinton's communications director, told reporters on a conference call yesterday:

"[Pfleger's remarks were] despicable. We are all attempting to bring the party together and when you have that kind of divisive and hateful language [it is detrimental to that goal]. It's important, I think, to the spirit of unity we are all trying to create, for Senator Obama to condemn them specifically."

He couldn't have said that with a straight face, right?

Of course, the Clinton's aren't trying to take advantage of the remarks -- or so the MSM told me!!

Pfffffttt!!!!

But in a sign that the rancorous Democratic primary was nearing its end, Clinton backers stressed that Obama should not be held responsible for something a supporter says.

Kathy Sullivan, former chairwoman of the Democratic Party of New Hampshire:

"You can't blame Senator Obama for the statements of the minister at the church."

At least there are some good DemocraPs out here.

Oh, by the way, readers, I'm WHITE!!!!

Now the old man:

"McCain takes hit from Obama on Iraq progress; GOP candidate's 'surge' numbers appear off mark" by Scott Helman, Globe Staff | May 31, 2008

With Iraq now back at the center of the presidential race, John McCain and his campaign struggled yesterday to explain a questionable claim the presumptive Republican nominee made about proof of military progress in the country.

When did Iraq become the center of debate in the MSM? I must have missed it.

Campaigning in Wisconsin on Thursday, McCain said that the so-called troop surge President Bush initiated last year was working, asserting as evidence that the United States had fewer troops in Iraq than it did before the surge began.

Yeah, except those AREN'T the "FACTS" -- according to none other than our OWN MILITARY!

".... 2007, the most violent year in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, Pentagon records show.... the growing violence in both wars."

McCain
: "We have drawn down to presurge levels."

But according to Pentagon figures, McCain, who regularly argues that his superior knowledge and judgment about the Iraq war makes him more fit than Democratic front-runner Barack Obama to be president, is wrong.

Or he's LYING!!!!


The US currently has more than 150,000 troops in the country; prior to the surge, there were about 130,000. Even after planned withdrawals over the next two months, the Pentagon has said it expects to have 140,000 American troops there at the end of July.

Senator John F. Kerry
, Democrat of Massachusetts, a leading surrogate for Obama, casting McCain's remark as the latest in a series of misstatements about Iraq that the Arizona senator has made, told reporters yesterday:

"John McCain is out of step with history and facts."

Kerry also raised McCain's trip to a Baghdad market last year, during which McCain cited security gains in the city despite being protected by a heavy US troop presence and wearing body armor, and McCain's mistake two months ago in saying that Iran, a largely Shi'ite country, was training Al Qaeda, the Sunni terrorist network.

Kerry: "[It is impossible to argue that you are an expert on Iraq], if you don't know the number of troops, if you don't know who's training whom, if you don't know what's safe."

McCain and his campaign offered a series of responses and explanations yesterday.

McCain's aides initially issued a blistering statement responding to the criticism from Kerry and the Obama campaign:

"What informed people understand, John McCain included, is that American troops are not even close to surge levels."

Randy Scheunemann, McCain's senior policy adviser, and McCain's fellow GOP senator from Arizona, Jon Kyl, told reporters on a conference call that the dispute was purely about "semantics" and "verb tenses," and that even if McCain's assertion about troop levels was not accurate to the letter, it made little difference, because the number of American troops in Iraq would, thanks to the success of the surge, soon be below the presurge level.

Scheunemann, likening McCain's comment to Obama's recent misstatement about having visited "57 states" during the primary campaign:

"The difference is so minuscule that I'm not sure it rises to the level of nitpicking."

Nitpicking?

Getting the number of states wrong hardly compares to a situation where PEOPLE ARE GETTING KILLED!!!

All because of shit lies!!!

Nitpicking?

Kyl: "Take the worst possibility here, which is that Senator McCain misspoke, and that because of the specific words used, what he said was not entirely accurate. So what? What does that amount to? The real question is what does everyone know about John McCain's knowledge about the facts on the ground, and who has been more correct about what it takes to win?"

So what? SO WHAT?

Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrgghhhhhhh!!!!!

Yeah, so what if the government lies -- like Kyl lies to his constituents (I'll never forget the immigration bill, buddy)!!

McCain, at a news conference later in the afternoon, stood by his initial comments when asked if he misspoke, asserting that some troops involved in the surge had already come home and the rest would be home by July:

"Of course not."

McCain sought to shift the subject to what he said was the more important issue of whether the surge had been successful in reducing violence:

"I know enough about the military and I know enough about history. This is about judgment and leadership and clearly Senator Obama was wrong."

Except, he's not!

".... 2007, the most violent year in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, Pentagon records show.... the growing violence in both wars."

Obama, in prepared remarks, told a rally in Montana yesterday:

"[He is wrong about the troop levels, and] anyone running for commander in chief should know better. I don't think tens of thousands of American troops amounts to nitpicking. Tell that to the young men and women who are serving bravely and brilliantly under our flag. Tell that to the families who have seen their loved ones fight tour after tour after tour of duty in a war that should've never been authorized and never been waged. It's time for a debate that's based on the truth, and I can't think of anything more important than how many Americans are in harm's way."

Yeah, except that is just more political phooleys!!!

I'm split on what to do in November, but I don't expect any changes in policy, despite the election talk. Pentagon already issuing rotation orders for 2010.

Obama, like many leading Democrats, opposed the troop surge and has promised to bring combat troops home from Iraq starting from his first days in office.

McCain came under additional criticism yesterday for saying Thursday that Basra, Mosul, and Sadr City, a Shi'ite enclave of Baghdad, were "quiet" - the same day three suicide bombings struck Mosul, a northern Iraqi city. McCain did acknowledge, however, that "it's long, and it's hard, and it's tough, and there will be setbacks."

Did he add he's getting senile?

Please see: Occupation Iraq: Crazy McCain and the Failure of the Surge

And after criticism from Obama supporters, he also conceded it was inappropriate to use in a fund-raising solicitation a photo of him and General David Petraeus, who commands American forces in Iraq and was an architect of the surge.

McCain told reporters in Milwaukee: "It won't happen again."

Oh, well, that doesn't get the press and headlines that Obama's pastors get, does it? Incredible!!!

Yeah, but the MSM is biased against McCain!!

The level of ludicrousness is becoming overwhelming when it comes to the MSM coverage and "politics!!!"

As for the past, the MSM covers-up McCain's role in the Keating Five, his love for lobbyists, and ignores his anger, his racism, etc, etc, while still promoting the "Straight Talk Express" -- even as McCain backtracks on his "maverick" image!

So Obama gets the sledgehammer over the head, and McCain gets a love tap.

AmeriKa's MSM, all right!!!!

The Delegate Dispute

I think she's going to the convention with it, don't you, readers?

She's like a bulldog with a bone, and ain't nothing going to make her let go of what is rightfully (in her mind) hers!


Update: Clinton backers decry party rules committee decision

Told ya!

"Clinton's advisers are confident all disputed delegates will be seated

WASHINGTON - Top advisers to Hillary Clinton said yesterday they are "quite confident" that a key Democratic committee meeting today will end in their favor - with a ruling that the disputed delegations from Florida and Michigan will be seated at the party's convention in August.

Harold Ickes, a top Clinton strategist, said Clinton's campaign lawyers have reviewed the party rules and concluded that the Rules and Bylaws Committee has the power to fully reinstate the delegations from Florida and Michigan, which were voided after both states held their primaries in January, earlier than the party allowed.

That is at odds, however, with a memorandum from the party's lawyers issued late Tuesday that says their review indicates that the committee has to penalize both states for jumping the gun and that sanctions begin at docking each state half of their convention delegates.

In a letter yesterday to the rules committee, Clinton's general counsel, Lyn Utrecht, said the campaign does not agree with the Florida Democratic Party's challenge, which offers as a compromise the seating of only half the 211 delegates, or with the Michigan Democratic Party's challenge, which calls for crediting Barack Obama with the votes cast for "uncommitted" in dividing up that state's 157 delegates. Obama pulled his name off the ballot in Michigan.

Obama's campaign has suggested a 50-50 split of the disputed delegates.

Ickes said it is premature to say whether Clinton would appeal to the party's credentials committee if, as expected, today's ruling falls well short of seating all the delegates with full voting rights.

An appeal would all but guarantee a potentially damaging fight during the Democratic National Convention in Denver in late August.

Clinton said yesterday that she expects undeclared superdelegates, who will probably determine the nominee, to decide who would be the stronger candidate soon after Tuesday's final nominating contests in Montana and South Dakota.

She told Montana reporters:

"I think that after the final primaries, people are going to start making up their minds. (Boston Globe May 31, 2008)."

We already have -- and we DON'T WANT YOU!!!!!!

Sucking Hot Fart Mist From School Buses

No, it is not the fumes that will poison your kid; it's is the cost of the fuel that YOU are paying for, taxpayers.

"States grapple with fuel costs for school buses; Class days, trips are among cuts" by Whitney Woodward, Associated Press | May 31, 2008

RALEIGH, N.C. - The reality of rising fuel prices cost students in a Tennessee school district their bus ride to school this week on the last day of the year.

That was a minor inconvenience compared with what may happen this fall in Minnesota, where a district west of Minneapolis plans to eliminate classes every Monday to come up with the extra $65,000 it needs to fill its buses' tanks.

Did I just hear some students cheer?

One less day in the school/prison?

Yaaaaaayyyy!

Greg Schmidt, superintendent in the 700-student MACCRAY district:

"I know $65,000 may not sound like a lot, but it's more than one teaching position."

And in North Carolina, Nash-Rocky Mount Public Schools teachers scaled back the number of field trips this spring to save fuel, transportation director Binford Sloan said.

Oh, now THAT SUCKS!!!! Public school sucks, readers!

Give a cruise!

The skyrocketing costs at the pump are forcing educators nationwide to trim programs, curb spending, and cut down on fuel consumption. Schools are employing unusual cost-savings measures to salvage busted budgets, while lawmakers grapple with how to pay for classroom initiatives threatened by the need to pour more money into the fuel tank.

Notice how the MILITARY'S CONSUMPTION of fuel NEVER an ISSUE, readers?

Sig Heil!

Nash-Rocky Mount schools burned through about $729,000 in fuel in the last fiscal year - nearly twice as much as in the previous year, Sloan said. The fleet gets about 7 miles to the gallon, which means the district burns through 7,500 gallons every 3 1/2 school days, he said. Recent buys have cost about $29,000.

Sloan: "We've tried pretty much all that we can to save and improve efficiency."

North Carolina's governor, Mike Easley, wants to give teachers a 7 percent raise, but the lawmakers who write the state's budget are also on the hunt for tens of millions of dollars to cover school fuel bills.

What's that, a couple of hours in Iraq, right?

Rising diesel prices prompted Oklahoma's Education Department to ask legislators there to increase the schools' operations budget, while Texas lawmakers have said they will reevaluate their state's school funding system, which has been criticized as ill-equipped to handle sudden spikes in costs such as fuel.

Where is all this money going to come from, taxpayers?

In Tennessee, students who attend Putnam County Schools east of Nashville went without bus service Wednesday, saving the district the $2,300 it costs to operate its fleet each day, said district director Kathleen Airhart. Only a few students usually take the bus on the final day, and Airhart said she received no complaints."

Better lock up those buses at night, too!!!

"As fuel prices rise, so do fuel thefts in Maine

BANGOR, Maine --As gasoline and heating oil prices rise to record levels, police say theft reports are also on the rise of gas being siphoned from cars, construction equipment and even school buses, and oil being drained out of heating fuel tanks.

It seems that no type of fuel -- and no amount -- is safe these days.

Washington County Sheriff Donnie Smith said this week:

"It's no different than recent thefts of copper pipes or catalytic converters from cars, which have increased in value. This (fuel thefts) isn't something we saw even a couple years ago, but if the value is there, people will take it."

Law enforcement officials say they fear the recent thefts are only the beginning....

Gas station drive-offs and siphoning from cars are the most common types of fuel thefts, and many gas stations now require motorists to pay before they pump. But thieves have also set their sights on other targets.

Nearly 600 gallons of heating fuel was taken a couple of months ago from Cherryfield Foods, a Down East blueberry processor. Thieves are also preying on construction equipment that is parked overnight at job sites.

Earlier this month, the Portland International Jetport said it was investigating reports of someone siphoning jet fuel out an aircraft.

Meanwhile, School Administrative District 37 recently equipped its school buses with locking gas caps after someone siphoned fuel from the tanks. One bus even ran out of gas while en route to school.

Oh, the KIDS must have LOVED THAT!!!!! That poor driver!

In Vermont, state police urged truckers to lock their fuel caps after 190 gallons of diesel fuel was stolen from two parked tractor-trailer trucks in St. Johnsbury last weekend.

Smith said fuel thefts are particularly difficult to investigate because little evidence is left behind:

"People are either using the fuel themselves and it's gone, or they are selling it cheap. Obviously, we need help from the community on this, so if people are seeing suspicious activity, they should notify local police (AP May 30, 2008)."

That doesn't sound right. No evidence left behind?

With surveillance cameras all over the place, etc, etc?

They can pike up a bike bomber at 3 in the morning, but can't identify gas stealers?

No tire tracks left behind or anything?

It gets to the point where you wonder if it isn't the GOVERNMENT who might be stealing the gas.

This, we can't catch them shit isn't selling with me.

Smells like one more reason for a snooper-society like the Stasi!!!

Short Stay in Africa

If I didn't know any better, I'd think AmeriKa's Zionist-controlled MSM were the racist bunch off assholes you'd ever meet.

The New York Times' Racism

Of course, I know better.


"Foreigners remain displaced by attacks

CAPE TOWN - About 42,000 foreigners remain without proper shelter in South Africa nearly three weeks after they were displaced by xenophobic attacks. The government has done too little too late to help the victims, opposition leaders and aid groups, including Doctors without Borders, said yesterday. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees donated 2,000 tents and said it would help authorities find sites for temporary camps (AP May 31 2008)."

So what was the only story coming out of Africa
last week is now a brief (with all the other crap in the paper, too!).

Next!!!


"25 people reported dead in flash floods

HARAR - At least 25 people have died in flash floods in eastern Ethiopia. Local government officials reported the deaths in the eastern city of Jijiga when the Wabe Shebelle River burst its banks. Emergency workers said several houses were swept away in the floods. Most of Ethiopia, however, is in the grip of a drought that has caused crops to fail and left thousands hungry (Reuters)."

So how is Ethiopia's occupation of Somalia going?

And nothing on Somalia or Sudan today, huh, MSM?

Nope, just more bullshit politics!!


"Zimbabwe opposition proclaims rule; Convenes session of parliament" by Angus Shaw, Associated Press | May 31, 2008

HARARE, Zimbabwe - Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, the minister of information and publicity, predicted that Mugabe would win 75 percent in the runoff vote, and his wife, Grace, said the 84-year-old veteran would never cede power to Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai, according to the state Herald newspaper yesterday....

Looks like more vote fraud on the way.

The lawmakers' agenda was to be based on a "Restore Hope" campaign that encompassed human and democratic rights, reconciliation, and the nation's return from international isolation. The party proposed the establishment of a Truth and Justice Commission that would investigate crimes against ordinary people and work out compensation for victims....

Honestly, this is what ALL PEOPLE deserve -- not just the citizens of Zimbabwe.

Many observers fear that Mugabe will use intimidation and violence to steal the election.... More than 50 people who have died in violence since the March elections. Tens of thousands of opposition supporters have been driven from their homes."

Yeah, that violence sure is being hidden by the MSM.

I wonder why....

Please see:
The MSM's Zimbabwe Magic Trick

The Fish and Fuel Strike

Excuse me, but did you see these protests reported in the AmeriKan MSM?

Ooooooooooh, I get it now!!!


There are protests, and then there are PROTESTS, right, MSM?

"Spain, Portugal fishermen strike over fuel prices" by Ciaran Giles, Associated Press Writer | May 30, 2008

MADRID, Spain --Spanish and Portuguese fishermen, enduring what they call the industry's worst crisis in a century, began nationwide strikes over soaring fuel prices Friday, the latest in a wave of oil-related protests sweeping Europe.

First I've seen of it in the MSM -- and its on a Saturday!!!!

Trawlers and larger commercial boats remained docked at ports across both countries, while around 10,000 demonstrators converged on Madrid to hand out 20 tons of fish for free in a bid to win public support.

"Cheap Fish, Expensive Diesel: No More Speculation," read one banner in Portuguese at a raucous protest outside the Agriculture Ministry in downtown Madrid. The Spanish fishermen, who blew whistles and chanted slogans criticizing the government, were joined by comrades from France and Portugal.

The strike is set to go on indefinitely. Estimates of the potential cost of the stoppage were not immediately available.

Spain has the European Union's largest fishing fleet and is the bloc's most important producer. Cepesca, the Spanish fishing confederation behind the strike, said it could see markets empty of fresh and frozen fish by June 16.

In the northwest Spanish port of Vigo, Europe's largest fishing port, the strike was taking its toll with only 9 tons of fish -- all from non-Spanish boats -- being sold at its wholesale market, compared with 70-80 tons on a normal day, a port official said.

The stoppage has been called by fishing companies but smaller, independent operators continued to fish. However, no large vessel docking in Vigo unloaded fish, and most dropped anchor rather than head back out to sea, the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity, insisting these were port rules.

The fishing workers are demanding government action to bring down fuel prices, tax breaks and restrictions on the import of cheaper fish from Africa and Latin America.

Would that American workers could feel so inspired, but they like eating shit.

Spanish Finance Minister Pedro Solbes said the government is looking for ways to help fishermen but does not think lowering taxes is the best way to solve the crisis....

Isn't that ALWAYS the way with government!!

Becoming more and more a Ron Paul convert by the day!

The Spanish fishing confederation -- which comprises 1,400 fishing companies employing 20,000 workers -- says the crisis is the worst in a century. It estimates fuel prices have gone up 320 percent in the past five years and claims many fishermen can no longer afford to take their boats out....

In Brussels, fishery sector representatives from across the continent met for strategy talks while a group of 50 Belgians protested outside EU headquarters with flares and banners demanding the 27-nation bloc take action to alleviate the crisis.

French fishermen have been protesting for more than two weeks, at times blocking oil terminals and ports and disrupting shipping traffic through the English Channel. They demand government aid to cope with prices of diesel, which they say have doubled since November, when the state pledged an aid package.

Huh. First I've heard of it. This can't be helping out Nico much, can it?

Many say their livelihoods are threatened by high costs, and are also demanding a relaxation of EU quotas on how much they can fish so they can make up for some of the fuel-related losses. Italy's Federcoopesca association said some 12,000 fishermen, or roughly a third of the national total, were taking part in the strike across Italy.

Franco Ricci, a regional official with the association, said the protest is likely to lead to scarcities in supermarket shelves and restaurants in the coming days and insisted the protest is not against consumers:

"This protest is not aimed at penalizing consumers, but to make people understand that companies cannot make it anymore."

Other sectors also began fuel protests. French farmers blocked two oil depots with their tractors. Truckers staged a so-called "snail" protest, driving hundreds of trucks extremely slowly on a major artery heading to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport."

At least America did have a one-day trucker strike -- although, ONE DAY is NOT ENOUGH!!

This thing needs to be SHUT DOWN until they START LISTENING!

I don't mean take the day off; I mean STOP WORKING, STOP CONSUMING and REFUSE to DO ANYTHING until the American people's gripes have been rectified!!!!

Iran Cools Nuclear Turbines

That's what you have to do when you are generating power.

"Iran cool to suspending nuclear agenda; Diplomat says issue is one of national pride" by Farah Stockman, Globe Staff | May 31, 2008

WASHINGTON - A series of increasingly strong UN sanctions against Iran has only hardened the regime's resolve to press ahead with its nuclear program.

As IS THEIR RIGHT per signature of the NPT!!!!

Mohammad Khazaee, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, said this week during an hourlong interview at Iran's permanent mission in New York:

"This has become an issue of national pride. [Regardless of what Iran is offered in talks], the Iranian people will not accept suspension [of its enrichment program as the UN Security Council has demanded. Still we are seeking to resume negotiations over a wide range of topics, including some aspects of its nuclear program]."

As it WOULD BE for ANY NATION!!!!

A May 13 proposal by Iran to the UN secretary general suggested six months of negotiations on regional security, the Israel-Palestinian conflict, energy cooperation, and narcotics trafficking, as well as ways to improve international nuclear safeguards and monitoring and prevent the diversion of nuclear material....

Gee, I wonder why the Zionist-controlled AmeriKan MSM didn't publicize that... never mind.

Anyway, SOUNDS GOOD to ME!!!!

The timing led State Department officials and some European diplomats to dismiss Iran's own package as an attempt to divert attention... or change the subject from Iran's defiance of Security Council resolutions....

Yeah, right, it is only the OTHER GUY that does that.

That's why we are being fed Osama bullshit -- since McClellan has created a kerfluffle!!!

Of course, one can rest assured, ISRAEL NEVER DOES THAT, right, Zionist MSM?

They are the MASTERS at it -- with a SERVILE PRESS to HELP 'EM OUT!!!!

Khazaee said Iran would carefully consider Solana's offer, which reportedly includes new economic incentives and may allow limited enrichment research. The ambassador said his country would not suspend its own enrichment program, but would consider establishing an internationally owned consortium inside Iran that could produce nuclear fuel with Iranian participation. Iran's May 13 proposal referred to the idea, but gave no details.

Khazaee said Tehran expects negotiations to go forward on the basis of its own proposal and include the broader subjects that Iran wants to discuss:

"How it is going to work, what is the legal framework for that, what are the economics aspects of it, as far as investments are concerned; these are things that I think a group of experts should get together and discuss. The issues that are on the table for our cooperation with the other side are not only confined to the peaceful nuclear peaceful program of Iran. There are other issues that should be addressed."

I'm ALL for THAT!!!!

Like ISRAEL'S NUKES!!!!

.... Khazaee, throughout the interview, returned often to the theme of national pride and said historic talks on Iraqi security between the US ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, and Iranian diplomats broke down after the United States insulted Iran publicly after the meetings:

"After the negotiations, the US side came out . . . and made political statements, as if he was a judge in a courtroom, saying, 'OK, we ruled this, we ruled that, we told the Iranians this, we told the Iranians that.' What do you expect from your partner in negotiations when they see that you come out from the room and you talk like that?"

You see, it is o.k. to have national pride if your are an Israeli Jew or a shit-chomping 'murkn!

Anything else, no...

He also said the recent US attacks on Sadr City and other areas in Iraq made it impossible to continue talks, although he maintained that Iranian officials remain ready to resume if conditions improve.

Khazaee said tensions between Iran and the United States will ease if the next American president respects Iran and realizes Iran's power and role in the region and the world:

"Anybody who becomes president of the United States should realize that Iranians are a great nation, a great civilization, with great regional and global potential and capacities. [Recognizing that] would pave the ground for a better understanding and a reduction of tension."

Well, some Americans recognize that, sir!!

As for the understanding, not as long as U.S. presidents are servile vassals for Israel.

Looks like you won't get the chance with a new President, sir.

May God forgive the United States.

"IRAN: Former German official says war imminent

Borzou Daragahi
LA Times
Saturday, May 31, 2008

An opinion piece by the former German foreign minister published today in a leading Middle East paper says that Israel is planning to attack Iran over its nuclear program.

Joschka Fischer, German's top diplomat from 1998 to 2005, is a visiting scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

He wrote a piece that appeared in today's Daily Star, an English-language Lebanese newspaper, arguing that President Bush's recent visit to the Middle East was a precursor to a war on Iran's nuclear program:

The Middle East is drifting toward a new great confrontation in 2008. Iran must understand that without a diplomatic solution in the coming months, a dangerous military conflict is very likely to erupt. It is high time for serious negotiations to begin.

Fischer said Bush's speech during his address to the Israeli Knesset, or parliament, this month indicated a coming Israeli-U.S. attack on Iran's nuclear program:

He seemed to be planning, together with Israel, to end the Iranian nuclear program -- and to do so by military, rather than by diplomatic, means.... Although it is acknowledged in Israel that an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities would involve grave and hard-to-assess risks, the choice between acceptance of an Iranian bomb and an attempt at its military destruction, with all the attendant consequences, is clear. Israel won't stand by and wait for matters to take their course.

Fischer, former leader of Germany's Green Party, was one of the key diplomats involved in assessing Iran's nuclear facilities and pressuring Tehran for a temporary halt of its uranium enrichment program from 2003 to 2005, when he left office.

His piece was the talk of the town in Beirut. It stunned some abroad, as well. Conservative blogger Don Surber writes:

I had hoped that reasonable minds would by now have resolved this situation amicably and without violence. When a lefty like Fischer doubts that can happen, I worry.


Copyright © Infowars.net All rights reserved.

Printed from: http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/may2008/310508IRAN.htm

Tears in Texas

One day after I was finally happy, having received good news, it wouldn't last.

Now I'm angrier than ever!!!


"Polygamous sect reaches deal for children's return; Mormon group wins order from Texas high court" by Michelle Roberts, Associated Press | May 31, 2008

SAN ANGELO, Texas - More than 400 children removed from a polygamist sect's ranch will be returned to their parents beginning Monday, state officials said yesterday.

The children will not be able to leave Texas, but they will be allowed to move back to the Yearning For Zion Ranch....

A draft agreement released by Gary Banks, a lawyer for Child Protective Services, says the parents can get their children back after showing identification and pledging to take parenting classes and to remain in Texas.

Why the strings? They DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG!!!!

The agreement was reached with 38 mothers of 124 children who filed the complaint that prompted the Texas Supreme Court's ruling Thursday.

The agreement does not specify that the fathers must stay away, and it allows the children to return to the ranch run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Eldorado, about 40 miles south of San Angelo....

Willie Jessop - an elder of the church, a breakaway Mormon sect - said Thursday that parents were excited about the court's decision, but would be apprehensive until they get their children back.

"We're just looking forward to when little children can be in the arms of their parents," he said.

The Third Court of Appeals in Austin ruled last week that the state failed to show that any more than five of the teenage girls were being sexually abused and had offered no evidence of sexual or physical abuse against the other children....

Texas officials contended at one point that there were 31 teenage girls at the ranch who were pregnant or had been pregnant, but later conceded that about half of those mothers, if not more, were adults. One was 27.

Look at the way the have written this: I mean, the STATE LIED about all of this, but the MSM is MINIMIZING IT!

Nothing like DISTORTED "reporting" and DEMONIZATION of SELECT GROUPS, 'eh, AmeriKan MSM?!?

Roughly 430 children from the ranch are in foster care after two births, numerous reclassifications of adult women initially held as minors, and a handful of agreements allowing parents to keep custody while the Supreme Court considered the case.

Under state law, children can be taken from their parents if there is a danger to their physical safety, an urgent need for protection, and if officials made a reasonable effort to keep the children in their homes. The high court agreed with the appellate court that the seizures fell short of that standard.

The justices said child welfare officials could take numerous actions to protect children short of separating them from their parents and placing them in foster care. The high court said Walther could put restrictions on the children and parents to address concerns that they may flee, once reunited."

Flee from what?

They DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!!!!

Flee FOR FREEDOM?

But hold it, hold everything:


"Deal to Return Children to Sect Breaks Down"

SAN ANGELO, Tex. — Negotiations for the state’s release of more than 460 children who were removed from a ploygamist sect in April broke down Friday in a scene of chaos and bitterness in a courtroom in this West Texas city.

Oh, no.

Lawyers for the families said the judge overseeing the release lacked authority to impose restrictions on it, and the judge, in disagreement, ended the proceedings and walked out of the courtroom. The lawyers jumped to their feet, uncertain whether the proceedings had actually been adjourned, and some later vowed to bypass the judge, Barbara Walther of State District Court, and carry this new turn in the case directly to an appeals court.

Gary Peak, a lawyer who represents two boys from the sect, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who said the next step would be for families’ lawyers to each file individual motions over the weekend to vacate the orders, issued by Judge Walther last month, that authorized state custody of the children:

This is crazy. No one knows what’s going to happen.”

Reuniting of the children with their parents early next week had been expected....

SOB!

An agreement to release the children Monday had seemed within reach earlier Friday. But the hearing before Judge Walther, which was convened precisely to arrange for the release, snagged over the ground rules.

The hearing was partly overshadowed, meanwhile, by a new development in the continuing criminal investigation of the sect.

Investigators said family marriage records seized in the April raid of the group’s compound, the Yearning For Zion ranch in Eldorado, Tex., suggested that the sect’s leader, Warren S. Jeffs, had “spiritually” wed at least four under-age girls, two of them 14 at the time, the other two 12.

Mr. Jeffs, 52, is serving 10 years to life as an accomplice to rape for forcing a 14-year-old girl in Utah to marry and have sex with an older man against her will....

Oh, please, can you say FORGERIES, readers?!!

Yup, first a FAKE PHONE CALL and now "FOUND" documents!!!!

Well, I'M NOT BUYING GOVERNMENT and MSM BULLSHIT ANYMORE!!!!!!!!

State child protection officials, in justifying the seizure of the children from the group, said a pervasive culture of abusive sex with under-age youths had endangered girls and boys alike — girls groomed as victims, boys as predators....

Yeah, I'm going to believe a lying government, right.

Why should I, when the "values" and "culture" of AmeriKa is what the state of Texas is projecting on these poor people because they are off control grid?

As for abuse, nothing is worse than state foster care -- especially in Texas.

How long until the staties come for the Amish?

Judge Walther, at the hearing on Friday to work out the release agreement, said she wanted the children, who are spread out all across Texas, mostly in group foster care, to be returned in an orderly fashion and specifically rejected an appeal by the parents to allow the release this weekend:

I don’t want to issue an order that would create more chaos than has already happened for these children. It’s going to take a little bit of logistics to organize.”

Un-frikkin'-real!!

Yeah, don't return the kids to the parents after you've kidnapped them and scattered them to the four winds because it will create chaos!!!!

WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR FASCIST PLUCKING of the KIDS, did, lady?

It UPSET THEIR WORLD and KEEPING THEM IN FOSTER CARE is just MAKING THINGS WORSE!!

The kids should be COMING HOME NOW!!!

.... Under one provision, the parents would have had to stay in close touch with state child protection officials and could have been subjected to visits by inspectors and state caseworkers at any time.... They would also have had to take parenting classes....

OUTRAGEOUS!!!!

Willie Jessop, a member of the church and a contractor and rancher in Utah who came to Texas after his sister’s children were taken into custody, said hope and anxiety were both running high among the families in about equal measure:

The parents have been on this roller coaster ride now for so long. They’ve been told so many times that they could get their children back: if they go to the shelters they could get their children back, if they submit DNA they could get their children back. There have been so many conditions already, and still they do not have their children back.”

That's why the tears are streaming.

You know, rather than BOTHERING PEACEFUL PEOPLE who AREN'T HARMING ANYONE maybe the Texas authorities could INVESTIGATE REAL SICKOS, huh?

"3 teens sentenced in prostitution ring

FORT WORTH - Three teenagers accused of forcing girls as young as 12 into prostitution have reached plea agreements and been sentenced to a juvenile detention center. The youths - two are 17 and one is 16 - will be released no later than their 19th birthdays, according to the plea agreement. Police said they discovered the ring in August after a woman was caught offering men sex with a 14-year-old girl for $50 (AP May 31, 2008)."

Yeah, meanwhile they gotta Tac Squad the peaceful ranchers!!

Sig Heil, shit bags!

Puerto Rico's Primary

Obama gets closer to the nomination.

"Presidential primary brings attention, frustration to Puerto Rico" by Susan Milligan, Globe Staff | May 31, 2008

SAN JUAN - .... Senator Hillary Clinton of New York is favored to win tomorrow, owing in large part to the New York-Puerto Rico connection and affection for the Bill Clinton administration. A recent poll by El Vocero, a San Juan newspaper, had Clinton ahead by 51 percent to 38 percent over Obama. But because of the way the 55 delegates are apportioned, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois could add a sizable number of delegates to his count even if he loses.

Obama needs the support of just 42 more delegates to reach the 2,026 needed to win the Democratic nomination -unless the arithmetic changes today when the Democratic Party's rules committee meets in Washington to consider what to do about the disputed delegates from Florida and Michigan....

Many are upset about the $2.5 million the government is spending to hold the primaries, and are planning to protest the outlay tomorrow morning. And while Puerto Ricans fight in US wars, they still don't have the right to vote in the general election....

Politics here have little to do with the traditional left-right construct on the mainland; the dialogue is almost entirely about the future of the island and its relationship with the United States, local and US officials say. Nearly half of Puerto Rico's residents want the island to be a state; approximately an equal number want it to remain a commonwealth, with reduced political rights but also less taxation; and a very small percentage wants Puerto Rico to be an independent country.

Since both Clinton and Obama have supported Puerto Rico's right to determine its own future, voters say they see little difference between the two contenders on the issue most important to Puerto Ricans....

Puerto Ricans enjoy US citizenship but limited benefits from it. They serve in wars, are subject to payroll taxes - without getting the same benefits as state residents - and are not guaranteed all of the rights in the US Constitution, Charles Venator, an analyst with the Institute of Latino Studies at the University of Connecticut said. Puerto Ricans do not pay federal taxes on income earned here, but must pay US income taxes on federal government salaries, or on income earned outside Puerto Rico, he said...."

The Expanding Economy

Despite what you are going through, America.

Now...

"Consumer spending inches up; 0.2% gain in April belies consumers' darkening sentiment about economy" by Associated Press | May 31, 2008

WASHINGTON - The first round of economic stimulus checks gave a boost to personal incomes in April but a huge question remains: Will people spend the checks quickly enough to keep the economy afloat?

The Commerce Department reported yesterday that consumer spending barely budged in April, rising a tiny 0.2 percent, and income growth was just as weak, also increasing 0.2 percent.

Where's that salt shaker?

The growth in incomes, restrained by four straight months of job losses, would have been just 0.1 percent had it not been for the first wave of economic stimulus payments the government started sending out April 28. The impact on incomes should be even larger in the May and June reports, reflecting the bulk of the payments....

Yeah, giving you back YOUR MONEY -- so go out and spend it, America!!!

Maybe you can get MasterCard more profit, huh?

The checks are the centerpiece of a $168 billion stimulus package that Congress passed at President Bush's urging in February with the aim of jump-starting the stalled economy. Analysts said whether the checks will keep the economy out of a recession will depend on how fast people spend the money.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, government to the rescue. I'm sick of that lie, too!!!

Looters!!!! They are kicking YOUR OWN $$$ back to him!!!

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average fell slightly yesterday, losing 7.90 points to close at 12,638.32. That left the Dow up 1.27 percent for the week, a rebound from sharp losses incurred in the previous week.

Despite worries that consumers may end up using their stimulus checks to pay off credit card debt rather than spending the money to boost the economy, analysts said they believe about two-thirds of the money will get spent this year, enough to keep the overall economy in positive territory, as measured by the gross domestic product.

The government on Thursday revised its estimate of first quarter GDP growth up to a rate of 0.9 percent, slightly better than the 0.6 percent originally forecast. While many economists had believed the economy will slip into negative territory during the current April-June quarter, the modest growth in consumer spending in April and hopes of better figures going forward are causing analysts to revise their estimates upward.

Now, whom to believe?

David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's in New York, said GDP growth could come in around 0.5 percent in the current quarter and then rebound to around 2 percent in the July-September quarter, as consumers spend their stimulus checks:

"So far, the economy is proving more resilient than we gave it credit for."

Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo!!!!

Brian Bethune, chief US financial economist at Global Insight:

"There is considerable risk that the tax rebates will only put a Band-Aid over a large and growing wound to consumer sentiment with a rising possibility of a sharp pullback in spending later in 2008 or in early 2009."

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com:

"Nothing is going right. Jobs are down, the stock market is wobbly, home prices are plunging, and gasoline prices are at record highs."

Well, somebody is lying....

"Economy may lag, but no recession; N.E. forecast sees wider class divide" by Robert Gavin, Globe Staff | May 31, 2008

The Massachusetts economy will avoid a recession, but high energy costs, the struggling housing market, and anemic job growth will make many people, particularly the poor and less educated, feel like they're in one, according to a new economic forecast....

Well, if it looks like it, smells like it, and tastes like it, it usually is shit.

Naw, discard all your senses and admit to yourself you are crazy, readers.

Uh-huh!

Overall, the outlook for the state and New England appears glum in coming years....

The housing slump, meanwhile, continues to threaten the broader economy, Eric S. Rosengren, president of the Boston Federal Reserve Bank. Delinquencies are rising sharply for home-equity lines of credit, a sign of increasing stress among consumers, whose spending accounts for about 70 percent of national economic activity. These loans, tied to the equity built up in their property, typically are used to finance home improvements and major purchases such as cars.

Rosengren noted these loans are not considered subprime, risky loans made to people with spotty credit and few, if any, assets. Delinquencies in equity lines of credit, which represent about one-third of residential mortgages held by banks, are exceeding the rates of the early '90s, Rosengren said.

Other consumer loans, particularly in parts of the country hardest hit by the housing bust, also are experiencing rising delinquencies, Rosengren said.

Ultimately, if delinquencies spread across consumer loans, more banks will be put at risk. That could worsen the credit crunch contributing to the national downturn as banks try to protect capital by making fewer loans...."

Where did the $200 BILLION dollar bailout go?

I thought it was injected so banks could continue to make loans?

Gee, that isn't looking to good, is it?