Michael Jackson tribute

National Allotment Week and Prince Kropotkin

2009-08-10T10:44:00.005-07:00

Birkdale Focus has a superb post by Iain Brodie Brown that starts by noting that this is National Allotment Week, goes on to quote Peter Kropotkin and ends by reminiscing about the glory days of the Young Liberals:

For our generation it was not only Kropotkin's ideas around "Mutual Aid" that we establish attractive but his 'green' ideas especially in his book "Factory Fields and Workshops". This publication did impact on Liberals at the times especially those like Howard developing the idea of 'garden suburbs'.

The book was republished in 1974 with a commentary by Colin Ward. In the book-and this is where we get back to allotments-Kropotkin argued that if food manufacture was small scale "allotment-like" then the level of manufacture would dramatically expand. His ideas influenced Gandhi and Tolstoy as well as the Dig for Victory campaign.

Colin Ward is a favourite of mine. He manages to make disorder sound a) common sense and b) thoroughly British. There was a good article on him in the Guardian a few years ago.
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Federer winning Wimbledon

2009-08-10T10:44:00.003-07:00

What a remarkable final - now I thought last day was good, but this match was every small piece as good. In winning, Federer has to be the most excellent ever tennis player, his performance was once more brilliant, even if it took until the 77th game to break the Roddick serve. I thought Andy Roddick put up a great show, even after squandering four set points in the second set tiebreak he kept going right to the end and to lose the final set 15-13 and showed his tenacity and perseverance. For Andy Roddick to lose three Wimbledon finals must be pretty hard to take, but Federer is a brilliant player, and to win fifteen Grand Slams is an amazing record unlikely to be compressed for a long time to come. I can even see Roger Federer getting to twenty, and given his age he has every chance of achieving even more. Wimbledon is a tournament that produces some great matches each year, and this day was negative exception. As a tennis devotee I am always glued to the TV set during Wimbledon fortnight, the only thing absent this day was not seeing Nadal being able to defend his title, and Murray absent out on the final. Hopefully after that day will be different but nothing can be taken away from the triumph of Roger Federer in winning again.
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Great Recession for whom?

2009-08-10T10:44:00.001-07:00

rdan(Re-printed with consent from the author, James Taylor, and David Zetland from The Great Recession Conspiracy)
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INDONESIA MATTERS

2009-08-10T02:39:00.001-07:00

The best book about Indonesia is Culture Shock - Jakarta by Derek Bacon and Terry CollinsIn August 2009, lubricate have to start to flow from the enormous Cepu oilfield in the centre of Java.Exxon Mobil, Pertamina and Petrochina are all involved in lubricate production in this area.(Indonesia's Texas? Rural Java braces for lubricate boom)Don't believe the stories about Indonesia (or Scotland) running out of oil.Indonesia is the fourth biggest country in the world and its economy is rising and it has valuable minerals.(Indonesia's Growth May Have Been Near Fastest in Southeast Asia) IndonesiansThe USA has been interfering violently in Indonesia for a lot of years.Back in the 1950s, the CIA and MI6 were working with Moslem groups and sections of the Indonesian military to try to destabilise the Indonesian president.President Sukarno was seen as being neutral rather than hostile towards Russia and China, and this did not suit the US and UK.In 1958, CIA planes were violence Indonesia, in the hope that the bombs would be blamed on Moslems. (Indonesia 1957-1958 KH)"A plane bombed a ship in the harbor of the isle of Ambon ... as well as hitting a church ...700 casualties had resulted from this single run..."A CIA plane bombed the Ambon marketplace, murder a large number of civilians on their way to church..."Three days later, during another violence run over Ambon, a CIA pilot, Allen Lawrence Pope, was shot down and captured."Thirty years old, from Perrine, Florida ... was to use four years as a captive in Indonesia before Sukarno acceded to a request from Robert Kennedy for his release."Pope was captured carrying a set of incriminating documents, including those which recognized him as a pilot for the US Air Force and the CIA airline CAT."

Blair knows a number of the Indonesian generals.Here's a useful blog about Indonesia: tbelfield.wordpress.com/.Here's a quote from it:Ralph McGhee, a senior CIA operations manager... supposed Indonesia was a 'model operationâ¦You can trace back all major, bloody events run from Washington...' (Jakarta (Jakarta is coming))A few years ago, at Inside Indonesia, Kurt Biddle wrote about Indonesia - US military ties :"The Pentagon seems to be chomping at the bit for military involvement in Indonesia..."Paul Wolfowitz ...has frequently argued that Washington have to help Indonesia fight terrorists..."It remains to be seen if and how the US will be involved in Indonesia, but with 600 US military 'advisers' on the ground in the neighbouring Philippines, some see Indonesia as the next battlefield."Enter Noordin Top, allegedly a friend of the CIA.

Wolfowitz was once the US ambassador to Indonesia.Here's single of a lot of sites about Indonesia that appears to discourage any serious link between violence and the CIA in Indonesia? http://www.indonesiamatters.com/CIA & FBI Conspiracy Theories are made fun of?And here's another that appears to discourage links between violence and the CIA: indahnesia.com - Welcome to indahnesia.com - Discover Indonesia OnlineETAN is a valuable source on Indonesia: http://www.etan.org/news/default.htmSome favourite blogs and news sites on Indonesia:Jakartasshttp://www.allannairn.com/http://www.insideindonesia.org/More links can be found at Jakartass.This fine blog, http://pbgiltner.blogspot.com/ , "is in violation of Blogger's Terms of Service."It must have been telling the truth about something important?~~

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Federer winning Wimbledon

2009-08-10T02:39:00.000-07:00

What a remarkable final - now I thought last day was good, but this match was every bit as good. In winning, Federer has to be the best ever tennis player, his performance was once more brilliant, even if it took until the 77th game to break the Roddick serve. I thought Andy Roddick put up a great show, even after squandering four set points in the second set tiebreak he kept going right to the end and to lose the final set 15-13 and showed his stubbornness and perseverance. For Andy Roddick to lose three Wimbledon finals must be pretty hard to take, but Federer is a brilliant player, and to win fifteen Grand Slams is an amazing record unlikely to be compressed for a long time to come. I can even see Roger Federer getting to twenty, and known his age he has every chance of achieving even more. Wimbledon is a tournament that produces some great matches each year, and this day was no exception. As a tennis addict I am always glued to the TV set during Wimbledon fortnight, the only thing missing this day was not seeing Nadal being able to defend his title, and Murray missing out on the final. Hopefully after that day will be different but nothing can be taken absent from the triumph of Roger Federer in winning again.
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Wayne Madsen Discusses Ongoing US Coverup of 9/11

2009-08-09T18:48:00.004-07:00

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Federer winning Wimbledon

2009-08-09T18:48:00.003-07:00

What a remarkable final - now I thought last day was good, but this match was every small piece as good. In winning, Federer has to be the most excellent ever tennis player, his performance was once additional brilliant, even if it took until the 77th game to break the Roddick serve. I thought Andy Roddick place up a great show, even after squandering four set points in the second set tiebreak he reserved going right to the end and to lose the final set 15-13 and showed his tenacity and perseverance. For Andy Roddick to lose three Wimbledon finals must be pretty hard to take, but Federer is a brilliant player, and to win fifteen Grand Slams is an astonishing record unlikely to be compressed for a long time to come. I can even see Roger Federer getting to twenty, and known his age he has every chance of achieving even more. Wimbledon is a tournament that produces some great matches each year, and this day was no exception. As a tennis addict I am always glued to the TV set during Wimbledon fortnight, the only thing absent this day was not seeing Nadal being able to defend his title, and Murray absent out on the final. Hopefully next day will be different but nothing can be taken away from the triumph of Roger Federer in winning again.
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CBOâs Long-Term Projections for Social Security: 2009 Update

2009-08-09T18:48:00.001-07:00

by Bruce WebbSummary from Director's Blog CBOâs Long-Term Projections for Social Security: 2009 UpdateFull Report: Long-Term Projections for Social Security: 2009 UpdateThis newest report on the long-range physical condition of Social Security shows a shape not much distorted from last year's but with some changes in the full dates and numbers. Per this report Social Security will be able to pay out "scheduled benefits" until Trust Fund tiredness in 2043 and thereafter will be able to pay out "payable benefits" at a rate starting at 83% of scheduled benefits and then gradually plummeting to 78% by 2083. Even after adjusting for price rises benefits after 2043 will be better than retirees get nowadays in real terms even though they will be a lesser replacement percentage. That is our children's retirement will be materially better than that of their grandparents if not quite custody up with the working life gains of their own grandchildren. And this even if we do not fix Social Security along lines suggested by the Northwest Plan for a Real Social Security Fix.If we did decide to fix Social Security on the income side we are faced with a gap scored by CBO of 1.3% of payroll compared to the 2.0% SSA score. That is where the NW Plan, based as it is on the additional conservative SSA number, would have a day two greater than before tax of around $1.50 for each week for the average income household, under CBO information that would be down to just around a $1.00. (If anyone is paying attention in seeing why CBO and SSA come up with these different scores please consult App. B on pages 33-34.)Important note. CBO figures typically show the 80% likelihood band, meaning there is a 10% chance that outcomes will be additional positive and an equal chance they will be additional negative. That is when examining Figure 1 above note that there is a small chance that Social Security will in fact self-fund without changes even within the 80% band (the medium blue area of overlap) plus a small chance that it would even be overfunded once you add in the higher 10%. Also note that this distribution is somewhat stricter than a lot of where a 90% band would be additional typical.
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Federer winning Wimbledon

2009-08-09T02:38:00.007-07:00

What a extraordinary final - now I thought last day was good, but this match was every small piece as good. In winning, Federer has to be the best ever tennis player, his performance was once additional brilliant, even if it took until the 77th game to break the Roddick serve. I thought Andy Roddick put up a great show, even after squandering four set points in the second set tiebreak he kept going right to the end and to lose the final set 15-13 and showed his stubbornness and perseverance. For Andy Roddick to lose three Wimbledon finals must be pretty hard to take, but Federer is a brilliant player, and to win fifteen Grand Slams is an astonishing record unlikely to be beaten for a long time to come. I can even see Roger Federer getting to twenty, and known his age he has every chance of achieving even more. Wimbledon is a contest that produces some great matches each year, and this day was no exception. As a tennis addict I am always glued to the TV set during Wimbledon fortnight, the only thing absent this day was not seeing Nadal being able to defend his title, and Murray absent out on the final. Hopefully after that day will be different but nothing can be taken absent from the triumph of Roger Federer in winning again.
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Intermediaries

2009-08-09T02:38:00.005-07:00

"When the Indonesia required something made in Israel, e.g. spy drones, they bought through intermediaries in the Philippines and elsewhere." - First Israeli business delegation visits IndonesiaPolice yet to ask Arina to identify Noordin's body PLOT AGAINST THE PRESIDENT.Mark Lester, star of 'Oliver', has noticed a growing similarity between his own offspring Harriet and Michael Jackson's offspring Paris.JACKO: I'm real dad of Paris, says performer Mark Lester / 'I'm Paris' real dad': The astonishing claim from Michael Jackson's ... / Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris, is my child, performer Mark Lester says / I'm the dad of Jacko's daughter, says Oliver! star Mark LesterEx-employees claim Blackwater pimped out young Iraqi girlsBugger Broadstairs for a holiday

Lording It Up At A Rothschild Mansion: The Man Whoâs Supposed To Be Running The UK

Iceland: Lessons to be Learned from The Economic Meltdown

Arctic: Canada Leads NATO Confrontation With RussiaTreasury says negative to Forth bridge cash Does Scotland Need Nuclear Power? BBC Landward

KINSEY AND THE JEWS

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My favourite Liberal England posts of the year

2009-08-09T02:38:00.003-07:00

Stephen Tall on Liberal Democrat Voice is attractive Lib Dem bloggers to nominate their favourite posts from their own blogs over the past year. This is aid the judging in the "best posting" category in the Lib Dem Blog of the Year Awards.He writes:This is in fact my favourite award for the simple reason that it recognises writing talent, pure and simple. By which I donât mean that the prose has to be commendable of a Booker nomination; rather that the article has to attract, engage and provoke readers â" elevate our thinking, if you like.Last day the New Statesman described this blog as:an eclectic mix of melodic choices, random news items from Shropshire (where he doesnât live), and supporting news and views. Itâs also a mine of information on Liberal Party history and characters.So, concentrating on the supporting views, at this time are five posts from the last day that bear a second read:

In defence of insinuation - and against Jonathan Ross
House Points: David Miliband goes bananas
Carol Thatcher, praying nurses and the abolition of private life
Trainspotting, autism and what it means to be normal
Norwich North was a triumph for Rennardism

A couple of these first appeared in print (David Miliband goes bananas in Liberal Democrat News; Trainspotting, autism and what it means to be normal in Clinical Psychology Forum) which may be against the spirit of the competition, if not the rules.
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Employment report follow up

2009-08-09T02:38:00.001-07:00

By Spencer,Yesterday in describing the employment report I said:Moreover, the manufacturing work week rose from 39.5 to 39.8 hours and eventually hours were 2.9 hours versus 2.8 in the second quarter. Much of this was auto and confirms the previous reports that at smallest amount auto production is rebounding.I was criticized and accused of political bias since I was placing too much stress on the auto industry. According to my critics the increase in the auto hours worked should be ignored since it was due to government meddling and did not reflect what was really occurrence in the economy.Moreover, it was implied that the auto industry was atypical and was not representative of the rest of the economy. The BLS publishes the hours worked for ten sub industries of durable manufacturing. So what happened to them? In nine of the ten industries the work week long-drawn-out last month and four industries switched from falling hours worked to rising hours worked.Moreover, in the private service providing industries, hours worked long-drawn-out 0.3%, the first monthly increase since August, 2008. Just to place this in perspective, employment in the private service providing industries is 112,788,000 otherwise roughly ten times employment of 11,817,000 in all manufacturing:So the criticism that the hours worked just reflected the impact of the money for clunkers on the working of the economy is clearly completely wrong.Yes, as I pointed out the hours worked increase was impacted by the auto sector, but it was extensive through out the economy. The improvement in the service sector was particularly significant and that had nothing to do with the auto sector.Moreover, I specifically pointed out that hours worked is a most important indicator of future employment. At negative time did I say that the depression was over. That was the reason I characterized the employment report as encouraging. Compared to a lot of previous privateanalysts, especially on Wall Street, I thought my analysis was very tempered.I do not see where it was politically biased, and the argument that hours worked long-drawn-out only since of the auto sector just reflects ignorance.
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Federer winning Wimbledon

2009-08-08T18:43:00.003-07:00

What a extraordinary final - now I thought last day was good, but this match was every small piece as good. In winning, Federer has to be the best ever tennis player, his performance was once additional brilliant, even if it took until the 77th game to break the Roddick serve. I thought Andy Roddick put up a great show, even after squandering four set points in the second set tiebreak he kept going right to the end and to lose the final set 15-13 and showed his tenacity and perseverance. For Andy Roddick to lose three Wimbledon finals must be pretty hard to take, but Federer is a brilliant player, and to win fifteen Grand Slams is an astonishing record unlikely to be compressed for a long time to come. I can even see Roger Federer getting to twenty, and known his age he has every chance of achieving even more. Wimbledon is a tournament that produces some great matches each year, and this day was no exception. As a tennis devotee I am always glued to the TV set during Wimbledon fortnight, the only thing absent this day was not seeing Nadal being able to defend his title, and Murray absent out on the final. Hopefully after that day will be different but nothing can be taken absent from the triumph of Roger Federer in winning again.
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Bowstring Bridge to be demolished next month

2009-08-08T18:43:00.001-07:00

Leicester City Council plans to get free rotten the Bowstring Bridge with unseemly haste. The feeling that it regards the city's industrial past as a dirty secret is hard to resist.According to the Leicester Mercury yesterday, destruction is intended to begin on 21 September:The only obstacle left is an application complete by Leicester Civic Society to have the bridge listed, which would block the demolition. A decision on that is imminent.The photograph shows the neighbouring Pump and Tap pub, which is scheduled for destruction by De Monfort University.
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Federer winning Wimbledon

2009-08-08T11:03:00.002-07:00

What a remarkable final - now I thought last day was good, but this match was every small piece as good. In winning, Federer has to be the most excellent ever tennis player, his performance was once additional brilliant, even if it took until the 77th game to break the Roddick serve. I thought Andy Roddick place up a great show, even after squandering four set points in the second set tiebreak he reserved going right to the end and to lose the final set 15-13 and showed his tenacity and perseverance. For Andy Roddick to lose three Wimbledon finals must be pretty hard to take, but Federer is a brilliant player, and to win fifteen Grand Slams is an astonishing record unlikely to be compressed for a long time to come. I can even see Roger Federer getting to twenty, and known his age he has every chance of achieving even more. Wimbledon is a contest that produces some great matches each year, and this day was negative exception. As a tennis devotee I am always glued to the TV set during Wimbledon fortnight, the only thing absent this day was not seeing Nadal being able to defend his title, and Murray absent out on the final. Hopefully next day will be different but nothing can be taken away from the triumph of Roger Federer in winning again.
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"The army is behind the jihad"

2009-08-08T11:03:00.001-07:00

Noordin Top is the Malaysian supposed to be behind the Jakarta bar bombings of July 2009.He might well have links to the security services. (NOORDIN TOP WORKS FOR THE SECURITY SERVICES?)On 7 July 2009, Indonesian police reported that two men, who were believed to be Noordin Top's bodyguards, had been arrested in a workshop in a market in Temanggung and had led police to a house in the same area.(Wanted Terrorist Noordin M Top Believed Dead)TV footage showed police from the anti-terrorism unit creeping towards the house.This looks like a well-planned psyop?Reportedly the police shot Noordin dead.Indonesia's Tempo magazine, 4 August 2009, reports on the Small World of Noordin Top, a Big Fugitive. From this we learn that Noordin Top has lived in Pasuruhan rural community in the Cilacap district in Indonesia.Indonesia's Kopassus division trains in Cilakap.Koppasus are suspected of being behind the decades of violence in Indonesia.(aangirfan: Kopassus, Cilacap and the Jakarta bar bombs.)On 8 July 2009, at a house in Bekasi, "two suspected militants were killed and three were arrested" during a police raid. (Indonesian Police Kill 2 Suspected Militants Outside Jakarta, Find 500 kg of Bombs)Officers "seized explosives and a car bomb"."The two men killed in the raid were identified as ex-prisoner Air Setyaawan, believed to be connected to the bombard attack on the Australian Embassy in Jakarta in 2004, and Eko Peyang, suspected of being a bombard assembler."How easy is it to get a captive to become a patsy?The Jakarta Post reports that the Police thwarted a plot to slay the Indonesian president"National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri supposed the fear group deliberately rented a house in Jatiasih in the West Java town of Bekasi, which is located 12 minutes drive from the presidentâs private house in Cikeas in the West Java town of Bogor.âWhy Jatiasih? Because it is located just about 12 minutes drive from the presidentâs [private] residence. Itâs a legal fact that the target is the presidentâs house,â Bambang told a media conference on 8 August 2009.Police claim to have identified "the two suicide bombers responsible for the July 17 attacks on the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels in Jakarta". (Police Identify Jakarta Hotel Bombers)Bogor resident Dani Pramana, old 19, has been identified as the bomber responsible for the attack on the JW Marriott Hotel.Iwan Maulana, 28, from Pandeglang has been identified as having bombed the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.Were they patsies? (aangirfan: THE USE OF PATSIES IN THE JAKARTA HOTEL BOMBINGS? )Dr George J. Aditjondro is the most important expert on Indonesian politics.Aditjondro wrote, in October 2002, that Indonesia's military and business elites have very close ties to Israel and Mossad.Here is an extract from a program produced by SBS, Australia's Special Broadcasting Services (Inside Indonesia's War on Terror):George Aditjondro says that in every Indonesian hotspot, the army foments trouble by funding and arming together sides. In the case of Central Sulawesi, together Muslim and Christian militia.GEORGE ADITJONDRO: So the money does not have to come from rich people like Osama bin Laden and the weapons do not have to come from southern Philippines otherwise from other exotic places but is in fact coming from the official sources and that is why I am proverb that the kind of violence which we see in Indonesia is home grown terrorism. It's a kind of duel function otherwise triple function of the carrying weapons forces.The late reverand Agustina Lumentut told me in 2001 that the Indonesian military was using substitute armies to do their dirty work.THE LATE REVEREND AGUSTINA LUMENTUT: It is for sure, for sure that the army is behind the jihad, otherwise in front of jihad, yeah. No other interpretation.It was proved further than all doubt that one of the extremist groups, the Laskar Jihad, was supplied, elated and incited by the central administration to go on its murderous spree.THE LATE REVEREND AGUSTINA LUMENTUT: Who dare among them to say "Stop going that." Because they have reason for action that, they are registered officially by the government, the central government.Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is applauded in Australia as a moderate Muslim most important the fight against fear in Indonesia. But as the influential coordinating minister for politics and security, he chose not to stop the Laskar Jihad and was even partisan them.Jakarta bombard suspect death in doubtDNA tests to confirm Noordin dead~~
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How to be a Communist and a Fascist at the Same Time

2009-08-08T11:03:00.000-07:00

by Bruce WebbThose of us with a passing knowledge of the development of Communism and Fascism within the larger context of the Popular Revolution vs Reaction tend to scratch our heads when people blame Obama and his whole program of being both. After all in Europe, the historical cradle of each, the actions have seen to be the Left and Right anchors of a supporting range that has various democratic flavors in between: Social Democrats, Liberal Democrats, Christian Democrats and the like. But that is the result of looking at his through a narrow lens focussing on who is in otherwise out of supporting power and/or which party is holding the balance. There are alternative analytical plan that break this down in very different ways. To exemplify the mind-set that animates some, but by negative means all, of the keen opposition to Obama I would like to give you this from a review of Friedrich Hayek's The Road to SerfdomThis spell-binding book is a classic in the history of liberal ideas. It was unusually responsible for initiation an important debate on the relationship between supporting and economic freedom. It complete the author a world-famous intellectual. It set a new standard for what it means to be a dissident intellectual. It warned of a new form of despotism enacted in the name of liberation. And though it appeared in 1944, it continues to have a extraordinary impact. No single can consider himself well-schooled in modern supporting ideas without having engrossed its lessons.What F.A. Hayek saw, and what most all his contemporaries missed, was that every step absent from the free market and toward administration preparation represented a compromise of person freedom usually and a step toward a form of dictatorship--and this is true in all era and places. He demonstrated this against every claim that administration control was really only a means of increasing social well-being. Hayek supposed that administration preparation would make society less liveable, additional brutal, additional despotic. Socialism in all its forms is contrary to freedom.Nazism, he wrote, is not different in kind from Communism. Further, he showed that the very forms of administration that England and America were supposedly fighting abroad were being enacted at home, if under a different guise. Further steps down this road, he said, can only end in the abolition of effective liberty for everyone.Capitalism, he wrote, is the only system of economics compatible with person dignity, prosperity, and liberty. To the extent we move absent from that system, we empower the most horrible people in society to manage what they do not understand.For followers of Hayek's custom the enemy is statism and their bulwark, their strength is capitalism. To argue as a lot of leftists do that opponents of physical condition care reform otherwise of increases in minimum wage otherwise any other intevention by the State to improve social otherwise economic justice are just arguing against their own material interests, and that in action consequently they are just siding with the bosses fall on deaf ears. Once you have internalized the twin equations Capitalism=Freedom & Statism=Tyranny you can well understand why Movement Conservatives first discarded the Eisenhower and Rockefeller Republicans who espoused Goo-Goo approaches ('Goo-Goo' being an old, somewhat mocking term for the Good Government movement). For people who followed Hayek the Interstate Highway System was not an instrument for good, the fact that it was administration initiated, funded and maintained complete it additional like a Superhighway to Serfdom.Not all the anger being exhibited has its total roots in this Hayek-Friedman-Libertarian soil, there are clearly cultural and racial roots to much of it as well. But if you think that somewhere behind that shouting face is the committment to single of the original rallying cries of Movement Conservatism, that of Barry Goldwater in his acceptance speech in 1964: 'I would remind you that radicalism in the defense of liberty is negative vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is negative virtue!Not my own cup of tea, I kind of believe in steady pursuit of justice. I just want to point out that this is not just mindless anger, there is at least some coherentness behind it. An insurance claims rep is an agent of capitalism and consequently an friend of Freedom. A administration physical condition care bureaucrat is an agent of statism and consequently an enemy of Freedom. Making an operational argument that either single is getting between you and your doctor doesn't cut any ice. Either you are for Freedom otherwise against Freedom, if that comes with some personal give up sobeit.
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Open thread August 8, 2009

2009-08-08T02:41:00.004-07:00

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Federer winning Wimbledon

2009-08-08T02:41:00.003-07:00

What a remarkable final - now I thought last day was good, but this match was every small piece as good. In winning, Federer has to be the most excellent ever tennis player, his performance was once additional brilliant, even if it took until the 77th game to break the Roddick serve. I thought Andy Roddick place up a great show, even after squandering four set points in the second set tiebreak he kept going right to the end and to lose the final set 15-13 and showed his stubbornness and perseverance. For Andy Roddick to lose three Wimbledon finals must be pretty hard to take, but Federer is a brilliant player, and to win fifteen Grand Slams is an amazing record unlikely to be compressed for a long time to come. I can even see Roger Federer getting to twenty, and known his age he has every chance of achieving even more. Wimbledon is a tournament that produces some great matches each year, and this day was no exception. As a tennis addict I am always glued to the TV set during Wimbledon fortnight, the only thing absent this day was not seeing Nadal being able to defend his title, and Murray absent out on the final. Hopefully after that day will be different but nothing can be taken absent from the triumph of Roger Federer in winning again.
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Organised Secularists are as tedious as Evangelical Christians

2009-08-08T02:41:00.001-07:00

The previous day I had the distinction of being the first person to vote in a Lib Dem Voice poll. It asked:"Do you think Radio 4âs Thought for the Day should be opened up tosecularists and humanists?"

Yes, open it up
No, keep it for religion
Just scrap Thought for the Day

I voted to scrap it, confident that I would be in the majority.Not a bit of it. Yesterday Liberal Democrat Voice in print the results of the poll. The results were:

Yes 384
No 122
Scrap it 134.

I have never been entirely sure what a humanist is, but for a secularists to demand to be accommodated in a religious slot is downright bizarre.My own religious position is settled. While I love Church of England architecture and music, that does not mean that its policy true. And to take on an intellectualised form of Christianity consequently that I could enjoy them - proverb that when we talk about life after death we are really proverb something profound about this life - would be dishonest.Besides, though I find Evensong in a cathedral moving, on the rate occasions I have been grateful to go to previous services I have establish the lecture worthless and the melody a dirge. And I seriously hate the Evangelical, Christian Union style of belief. I have seen it do great harm in my own family.The trouble is that organised secularists resemble no one consequently much as these happy-clappy Christians. They are just as boring and in much the same way. Hence the new atheist summer camp for children, for example.There was a time when I was paying attention to the secularist movement, but I establish them stopped up minded. They took it for decided that if you agreed that there was no God or deity then you would share a their views on a raft of subjects like abortion and euthanasia. For me, that simply did not follow.And have these people ever heard Thought for the Day? It is dull beyond endurance. Its short length and the demand for blandness slay any interesting ideas stone dead, and I don't see that atheist would manage with it any better. The most excellent you could hope for would be to mirror the rebarbative confidence of Anne Atkins.I can only recall only one good Thought for the Day. I think it came from Rosemary Harthill, who was then the BBC's religious correspondent and she talked about faith at school. At secondary train you were obtainable a wet, New Testament sort of God and kept your eyes open during prayers to show you did not believe. At primary school, by contrast, God was a fierce, Old Testament figure. He was a God of revenge who might conceivably take your side against the headmistress.What is most offensive about Thought for the Day is the attempt to insinuate faith into the very experienced Today programme like an aspirin in a teaspoon of jam. It would be better by far to give Christians and previous believers - and non-believers - their own programmes.I still regret that Radio 4 no longer broadcasts the service of Compline late on Sunday evenings: Brethren, be sober, be vigilant; because your opponent the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist, steadfast in the faith.That is the stuff to give the troops. Not nonsense like Thought for the Day, secularist or not.
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A butterfly in Little Bowden

2009-08-07T18:50:00.006-07:00

This afternoon, as England were throwing away the Ashes, the butterflies were enjoying my buddleia in the sun.
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Federer winning Wimbledon

2009-08-07T18:50:00.005-07:00

What a extraordinary final - now I thought last day was good, but this match was every small piece as good. In winning, Federer has to be the best ever tennis player, his performance was once additional brilliant, even if it took until the 77th game to break the Roddick serve. I thought Andy Roddick put up a great show, even after squandering four set points in the second set tiebreak he reserved going right to the end and to lose the final set 15-13 and showed his tenacity and perseverance. For Andy Roddick to lose three Wimbledon finals must be pretty hard to take, but Federer is a brilliant player, and to win fifteen Grand Slams is an astonishing record unlikely to be beaten for a long time to come. I can even see Roger Federer getting to twenty, and known his age he has every chance of achieving even more. Wimbledon is a contest that produces some great matches each year, and this day was negative exception. As a tennis devotee I am always glued to the TV set during Wimbledon fortnight, the only thing absent this day was not seeing Nadal being able to defend his title, and Murray absent out on the final. Hopefully after that day will be different but nothing can be taken absent from the triumph of Roger Federer in winning again.
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Enabling Machinery

2009-08-07T18:50:00.003-07:00

Indonesia has had elections.

"A witness from North Sumatra showed a video of a child at a polling station who was about to cast a vote."The witness also supposed 20 brood were reported to have voted at single polling station in Central Tapanuli district."A Central Tapanuli village chief, Beni Batubara, also supposed a person there had been tried in court and convicted for voting for Yudhoyono 51 times."Chairul Anwar, a witness for Megawati from Bengkulu, supposed that in Kepahyang district, 99 percent of voters had negative inhabitant registration numbers, and the rest all had the same number." - Indonesian Election Dispute: Witnesses Join Voters List FrayJakarta Bomb Suspect Noordin Top in Central Java Shootout: Report

Rick Perry, Governor of Texas"According to the Austin American-Statesman, the source code for the site included additional than 2,200 hidden phrases, including express combinations with Hutchison's name and Rick Perry, the name of the incumbent.

"The newspaper supposed it also included the phrase 'rick perry gay.'" - Google Bans and Buries Web Sites: 6 Search Engine Showdowns"Keep a tight hold of by-elections in Scotland, using âenablingâ machinery to win every by-election, regardless of the result." - Operation 'Scorched Earth': Progress Report

Democratic Party Win Could Revitalize Japan

CHINA: "Shares are trading at 35 era earnings. Banks in the last six months have lent additional than the whole gross domestic product for the period...

"It has been clear for a decade that Chinese public information exaggerate the country's growth rate, so that the apparent 16% growth in the second quarter of 2009 is mainly fictional. Indeed, income tax receipts information suggest that growth in the first quarter may have even been negative.

"The most likely form of meltdown to occur is that of a banking system collapse" - Even China faces meltdown

US military base plan fuels Latin American tensions Freedom of thought - a French traditionIcelanders Say No to the EU!U.S. private army boss accused of murder and weapons smuggling in 'crusade to wipe out Muslims'Debunking a YouTube hit~~

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Clinton derangement syndrome

2009-08-07T18:50:00.001-07:00

rdanJoe Conason of Salon gets this single right.Here was an effort that exemplified the best of America -- a society that values the lives of its citizens enough to send a previous head of state, with all the power of administration behind him, to the aid of two women in distress. Here was a happy reunion, bringing wives home to their husbands and a mom back to her little girl, that surely uplifted the spirit of anyone who in fact believes in family values. Here was a moment of pride and joy.But not for Gordon Liddy, the demented felon and two-way radio bigot who cackled about "Ling Ling and Wee Wee being locked up for nine hours in an airplane with Bill Clinton." Not for Rush Limbaugh, the compulsive guttersnipe who wondered aloud whether Clinton "hit on those two lady journalists on the long flight home." Not for Andrea Peyser, the curdled sensationalist writer who insisted that "the whole shebang was nakedly scripted and staged as a device to help restore the image of previous President Bill Clinton"(and who neglected to mention that Clinton did not speak to the keenly waiting press corps and has known not a single interview on the North Korea mission). Not for Times writer Maureen Dowd, who predictably seized on Clinton's mission as an chance for gratuitous and ugly insults to his wife, weirdly imagining that the prisoner release was "some clever North Korean revenge plot, charitable the attention to Daddy to chastise Mommy." And not for the editors of the Huffington Post, who posted a very strange headline -- "Bill Upstages Hillary ... Once Again" -- on an Associated Press story that didnât mention her at all.Of course the visit was scripted-it almost certainly took a lot of negotiation. Such ex-presidential forays into particular situations has precedent for those who negotiate. But crude insinuation at the expense of these two women and their families is wrong. And to be thoughts that the visit was complete without Department of State input and approval strikes me as stupid. Let it be folks, your ratings are okay.
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Enabling Machinery

2009-08-07T10:46:00.003-07:00

Indonesia has had elections.

"A witness from North Sumatra showed a video of a child at a polling station who was about to cast a vote."The witness also supposed 20 brood were reported to have voted at one polling station in Central Tapanuli district."A Central Tapanuli village chief, Beni Batubara, also supposed a person there had been tried in court and convicted for voting for Yudhoyono 51 times."Chairul Anwar, a witness for Megawati from Bengkulu, supposed that in Kepahyang district, 99 percent of voters had negative inhabitant registration numbers, and the rest all had the same number." - Indonesian Election Dispute: Witnesses Join Voters List FrayJakarta Bomb Suspect Noordin Top in Central Java Shootout: Report

Rick Perry, Governor of Texas"According to the Austin American-Statesman, the source code for the site included more than 2,200 hidden phrases, including express combinations with Hutchison's name and Rick Perry, the name of the incumbent.

"The paper supposed it also included the phrase 'rick perry gay.'" - Google Bans and Buries Web Sites: 6 Search Engine Showdowns"Keep a tight hold of by-elections in Scotland, using âenablingâ machinery to win every by-election, regardless of the result." - Operation 'Scorched Earth': Progress Report

Democratic Party Win Could Revitalize Japan

CHINA: "Shares are trading at 35 era earnings. Banks in the last six months have lent more than the whole gross domestic product for the period...

"It has been clear for a decade that Chinese public information overstate the country's growth rate, so that the apparent 16% growth in the second quarter of 2009 is largely fictional. Indeed, income tax gate information suggest that growth in the first quarter might have even been negative.

"The most likely form of meltdown to occur is that of a banking system collapse" - Even China faces meltdown

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Clinton derangement syndrome

2009-08-07T10:46:00.001-07:00

rdanJoe Conason of Salon gets this single right.Here was an effort that exemplified the best of America -- a society that values the lives of its citizens enough to send a former head of state, with all the power of administration behind him, to the aid of two women in distress. Here was a happy reunion, bringing wives home to their husbands and a mom back to her little girl, that surely uplifted the spirit of anyone who actually believes in family values. Here was a instant of pride and joy.But not for Gordon Liddy, the wild criminal and radio extremist who cackled about "Ling Ling and Wee Wee being locked up for nine hours in an airplane with Bill Clinton." Not for Rush Limbaugh, the compulsive guttersnipe who wondered aloud whether Clinton "hit on those two lady journalists on the long flight home." Not for Andrea Peyser, the curdled tabloid writer who insisted that "the whole shebang was nakedly scripted and staged as a device to help restore the image of former President Bill Clinton"(and who neglected to mention that Clinton did not speak to the eagerly waiting press corps and has known not a single interview on the North Korea mission). Not for Times writer Maureen Dowd, who predictably seized on Clinton's mission as an chance for gratuitous and ugly insults to his wife, weirdly imagining that the captive release was "some clever North Korean vengeance plot, charitable the limelight to Daddy to punish Mommy." And not for the editors of the Huffington Post, who posted a very strange headline -- "Bill Upstages Hillary ... Once Again" -- on an Associated Press story that didnât mention her at all.Of course the visit was scripted-it almost certainly took a lot of negotiation. Such ex-presidential forays into particular situations has example for those who negotiate. But crude insinuation at the expense of these two women and their families is wrong. And to be thinking that the visit was complete without Department of State input and approval strikes me as stupid. Let it be folks, your ratings are okay.
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WHO IS RUNNING THE WORLD?

2009-08-07T02:50:00.002-07:00

The Feudal System still seems to be in place.

Who is running the world?Jesuits, Zionists, Freemasons otherwise what?Imagine a group of bankers holding a meeting in the 1950s. They would like the USA to control North Korea and Vietnam. How easy will this be?Think of the Middle Ages in Europe and how difficult it was for powerful people to stop civil wars, global conflicts and schisms within the church.

Kissinger unsuccessful in Vietnam?The outstanding churchofnobody.blogspot/ has been wondering if certain banking families rule the world by using the paedophocracy.The paedophocracy is "as an organised satanistic structure comprising the CIA, European aristocracy, and most tiers of most government..." - Power in Inverse Proportion to PublicityAre bankers all powerful?"People get dead beat all the time, presidents included: Has anyone ever dead beat a Rothschild?" - Two Disinfo Programmes ComparedPossibly, yes.Amschel Rothschild, who was in line to lead the Rothschild family's banking dynasty, 'committed suicide' in 1996.(Rothschild Bank Confirms Death of Heir.)Two French newspapers reported that a chambermaid establish Amschel hanged in his space at the Bristol Hotel in Paris.Amschel's grandfather Charles 'committed suicide' in 1923."French police have strong-minded that Amschel Rothschild, successor to the wonderful Rothschild banking fortune, was murdered, accordingto well-placed European sources." - POLICE SAY AMSCHEL WAS MURDERED

The Three EstatesDoes the 'paedophocracy' manage to escape all media publicity?The UK's Daily Mail ('I have known about Jersey paedophiles for 15 years,'.)has given us part of the story:"I met the scared policeman at an isolated country restaurant, a lot of miles from his home and station. Detective Constable Peter Cook had finally despaired, and decided to blow the whistle to a reporter..."He had uncovered a vicious child sex ring, with victims in both Britain and the Channel Islands, and he required me to get his information to police abuse specialists in London."Incredibly, he claimed that his superiors had barred him from alerting them."He feared a cover-up: a lot of ring members were powerful and wealthy. But I did not think him paranoid: I specialised in exposing child abuse scandals and knew, from separate sources, of men apparently concurrent to this ring."They included an aristocrat, clerics and a social services chief. Their friends included senior police officers."

Rule by terror. Peterloo Massacre in the UK.

Aangirfan wonders if the Feudal System is still in place.In the feudal system, you have scores and scores of top families who control enormous amounts of wealth and power by using terror; and by using religion; and bribery; and seduction.The bankers might look important, but they are nothing without the support of the generals; and the generals need the bankers and merchants.The barons, bishops, knights, merchants and bankers are usually in alliance; but sometimes the various top families fall out with each previous and lots of dirt gets thrown around.Sometimes the King gets most of the publicity, but some bishop otherwise banker might be highly powerful behind the scenes; but I do not think the public is ever totally ignorant of the power of people like Cardinal Wolsey otherwise Cardinal de Richelieu otherwise Henry Kissinger.Today, I do not think any one group is of necessity all powerful. Certain child abusing freemasons otherwise certain top Jewish bankers might exercise a lot of influence in certain areas but they are not all powerful.What we might have is shifting alliances of various factions.And the institution with the most power might well be the Pentagon, the people who have been performing badly in Afghanistan. A Rothschild home.If the bankers were all powerful they might not have experienced consequently a lot of problems over the years?In 2004, David de Rothschild (b. 1942), head of the French family, took over from Sir Evelyn de Rothschild. (The Rothschild story: A fair-haired age ends for a secretive dynasty.)David de Rothschild will remember that the Luftwaffe seized the family home in Paris and his mom had to leave Nazi Europe.In 1981, President Mitterrand nationalised the French financial empire, Banque Rothschild.Who rules the world?According to historian Andrew Roberts (Democracy: Who rules the world - The Observer):"The Chinese, sadly."As the asleep giant finally awakens after six centuries, they are the ones with enough US Treasury bonds to dominate Western capitalism as almost immediately as the instant appears ripe for them."~~

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Wyden's Proposal for taxing oil and gas speculators

2009-08-07T02:50:00.001-07:00

Ron Wyden, Democratic Senator from Oregon who serves on the governing body Finance Committee and the Energy Committee, is usually considered a liberal, though with a mixed bag of positions that barely qualify on all grounds. He is against the estate tax and favors lowering rates of capital gains taxes, neither of which makes sense, from my perspective, in an economy by now tilted to favor capital (and hence those in the higher distributions) and in need of revenue. His positions on the environment have been fairly consistently progressive. Back in 2004, for example, he worked on legislation to "get tougher" on responses to lubricate spills and get kinder in expediting loans to people impacted by those spills. See this press release. He has supported the US addressing CO2 emissions even if the big economies of China and India do not (S. Con. Res. 70, May 15, 2008). So what happens when you place tax policy (where I am not terribly impressed with a lot of of his positions) together with environmental policy (where he seems to have a fairly decent record)?Today, Wyden introduced a bill (S. 1588) that deals with together of these issues. It would end a tax break currently enjoyed by speculators who trade in lubricate and gas. They'd have to pay tax at the normal income rates, rather than getting the preferential capital gains rates (o% for the first two income brackets, then 15%). This would be achieved by treating the gains as short-term capital gains (or losses) even if they would be treated as long-term under previous provisions. Gains in trading by tax-exempt investors--e.g., Harvard's donation and alike funds-- would be taxed as unrelated business income.What's the rationale? "To alter the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide the same tax treatment for together commercial and non-commercial investors in lubricate and natural chat and connected commodities, and for previous purposes." The first section has a short title that maybe reveals more--it is the "Stop Tax-breaks for Oil Profiteering Act" (STOP Act). The bill also calls for a study of commodities exchanges and the effect of tax policy on the demand and price of commodities, and particularly of lubricate and gas.I'm negative expert in this area, but this sounds at first impression like a good idea. Wyden's point is that those who use such fuels in their businesses have to purchase those commodities and treat any profits on connected trading as ordinary. But speculators pay lower capital gains rates on trading profits, which might well mean that their trading distorts the market and raises prices.Of course, I have long argued for eliminating the capital gains favourite altogether, either through cancel of the stipulation in the regular tax otherwise adding it as an change in the alternative minimum tax. While I'd rather there be a extensive change--to remove all the characterization sports competition that taxpayers play and to help move the tax system towards a fairer one that does not give such inordinate favourite to owners of capital over workers, these commodities trades might be an suitable target, especially given their likely impact on pricing in an age when we can expect increasing lubricate and chat scarcity.Any thoughts?
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Tory of the Day: Cllr Dan Kavanagh

2009-08-06T18:43:00.002-07:00

The Argus gets our notice with the headline:Sussex councillor partied with "hot natives" on break from town hallThe story turns out to relate to Tory councillor Dan Kavanagh, who was known consent for a six-month leave of absence from Crawley Borough Council due to âbusiness commitmentsâ in Portugal.But, and here I quote the West Sussex County Times:his furious opponents on Crawley Borough Council say he have to quit the town hall after he posted a tale of 'beautiful weather, hot women, and jugs of sangria' on Facebook during a leave of absence from his post to 'work' abroad.Well, all work and negative play and all that. But Mr Kavanagh does sound quite a lad. Says the Argus:Tory councillors defended Coun Kavanagh, who made national headlines in 2007 when it was exposed he owned a website trade saucy underwear.At smallest amount there is negative danger of his becoming a dictator.
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Federer winning Wimbledon

2009-08-06T18:43:00.001-07:00

What a remarkable final - now I thought last day was good, but this match was every bit as good. In winning, Federer has to be the best ever tennis player, his performance was once additional brilliant, even if it took until the 77th game to break the Roddick serve. I thought Andy Roddick place up a great show, even after squandering four set points in the second set tiebreak he reserved going right to the end and to lose the final set 15-13 and showed his tenacity and perseverance. For Andy Roddick to lose three Wimbledon finals must be pretty hard to take, but Federer is a brilliant player, and to win fifteen Grand Slams is an amazing record unlikely to be compressed for a long time to come. I can even see Roger Federer getting to twenty, and given his age he has every chance of achieving even more. Wimbledon is a tournament that produces some great matches each year, and this day was no exception. As a tennis devotee I am always glued to the TV set during Wimbledon fortnight, the only thing absent this day was not seeing Nadal being able to defend his title, and Murray absent out on the final. Hopefully next day will be different but nothing can be taken away from the triumph of Roger Federer in winning again.
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Wyden's Proposal for taxing oil and gas speculators

2009-08-06T18:43:00.000-07:00

Ron Wyden, Democratic Senator from Oregon who serves on the governing body Finance Committee and the Energy Committee, is generally careful a liberal, though with a varied bag of positions that barely qualify on all grounds. He is against the estate tax and favors lowering rates of capital gains taxes, neither of which makes sense, from my perspective, in an economy already tilted to favor capital (and hence those in the upper distributions) and in need of revenue. His positions on the environment have been fairly consistently progressive. Back in 2004, for example, he worked on legislation to "get tougher" on responses to lubricate spills and get kinder in expediting loans to people impacted by those spills. See this press release. He has supported the US addressing CO2 emissions even if the big economies of China and India do not (S. Con. Res. 70, May 15, 2008). So what happens when you put tax policy (where I am not terribly impressed with many of his positions) together with environmental policy (where he seems to have a fairly decent record)?Today, Wyden introduced a bill (S. 1588) that deals with together of these issues. It would end a tax break currently enjoyed by speculators who trade in lubricate and gas. They'd have to pay tax at the normal income rates, rather than getting the preferential capital gains rates (o% for the first two income brackets, then 15%). This would be achieved by treating the gains as short-term capital gains (or losses) even if they would be treated as long-term under previous provisions. Gains in trading by tax-exempt investors--e.g., Harvard's donation and similar funds-- would be taxed as unrelated business income.What's the rationale? "To alter the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to give the same tax treatment for together commercial and non-commercial investors in lubricate and natural gas and connected commodities, and for previous purposes." The first section has a short title that maybe reveals more--it is the "Stop Tax-breaks for Oil Profiteering Act" (STOP Act). The bill also calls for a study of commodities exchanges and the effect of tax policy on the demand and price of commodities, and particularly of lubricate and gas.I'm no expert in this area, but this sounds at first impression like a good idea. Wyden's point is that those who use such fuels in their businesses have to purchase those commodities and treat any profits on connected trading as ordinary. But speculators pay lower capital gains rates on trading profits, which may well mean that their trading distorts the market and raises prices.Of course, I have long argued for eliminating the capital gains favourite altogether, either through repeal of the provision in the regular tax or adding it as an adjustment in the alternative minimum tax. While I'd rather there be a extensive change--to remove all the description sports competition that taxpayers play and to help move the tax system towards a fairer single that does not give such excessive favourite to owners of capital over workers, these commodities trades may be an suitable target, especially known their likely impact on pricing in an age when we can expect increasing lubricate and gas scarcity.Any thoughts?
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Are Medicare Administrative Costs High?

2009-08-06T10:40:00.002-07:00

by Tom BozzoA a small number of weeks ago, reader Pete emailed a link to Real Clear Politics, where Tom Bevan cited an analysis by Robert Book of the Heritage Foundation that purports to show that Medicare administrative costs, widely claimed (e.g.) to be far lower than comparable private sector costs when expressed as a fraction of expenditures, in fact are senior when expressed on a per-beneficiary basis. This got its share of big-league notice at the time, with Greg Mankiw linking, Andrew Gelman reporting the result with some skepticism, and Paul Krugman offering the always valuable advice never to trust Heritage Foundation analysis. More recently, Gelman posted to the effect that Heritage is shopping Book's administrative cost claim (among others) as part of a broadside against government-run physical condition care.What seems to have gotten less notice is that even using Book's preferred comparison (i.e. administrative expense for each recipient instead of administrative expense as a fraction of outlays), the claim is bunk. This is since Book, referencing an analysis by Benjamin Zycher of the (also right-wing) Manhattan Institute, takes a reasonable proposition — that the federal administration incurs some Medicare-related costs not explicitly included in the Medicare budget — and proceeds to allocates billions of dollars with little otherwise no causal nexus to the Medicare program as Medicare administration costs. Book and Zycher call the resulting total of the budgeted and allocated costs the Medicare administrative costs and get the result that Medicare administration costs additional than private-sector cover for each beneficiary. Unfortunately for them, the result does not withstand a rational allocation of the federal expenditures they consider.Details and a couple of ironies below the fold.Directly measured Medicare administrative costs are 38 percent lower than private sector costs on the per-beneficiary measure Book prefers. Thus single must find a lot of unmeasured Medicare cost to make Medicare look relatively costly in administration. Indeed, Zycher and Book manage to come up with an allocation of indirect costs amounting to roughly 80 percent of the directly reported Medicare administration expenses.The sign that something is seriously wrong is the large assignment of costs from the "administration of justice" function. For Fiscal 2005, Zycher locates $42.1 billion in such costs in the federal budget and assigns $7.2 billion of that to Medicare, representing 75 percent of the indirect cost assignment. That's the share of Medicare costs in nondefense optional spending, an allocation method (which happens to assign a quite high share of costs to Medicare) that Zycher defends on the basis that military justice is administered via the defense budget.Neither Zycher nor Book seem to have known much consideration to what the "administration of justice" money is in fact exhausted on, and particularly that much if not most of it may be exhausted administering justice (at smallest amount notionally) on behalf of society as a whole and not just previous federal programs. But there is such a thing as the Expenditure and Employment Statistics from the U.S. DOJ's Bureau of Justice Statistics. For FY2005, DOJ statistics indicate that $40 billion was exhausted in three major categories as follows: "police protection" ($22.5 billion), "judicial and legal" ($10.9 billion), and "corrections" ($6.6 billion). Those figures include together spending on federal administration programs and transfers to state and local government.So if you were to think that even two otherwise three billion dollars a day was being exhausted policing the Medicare program and locking up Medicare fraud perpetrators, then it would have to be that the federal courts are stuck with Medicare cases and not, say, civil litigation, medicine prosecutions, etc. There is, though, evidence of the real scale of Medicare fraud prevention expenses. The FY2010 budget includes $311 million for Medicare "program integrity" activities, which is a 50 percent increase over FY09. The interagency Medicare Fraud Strike Force program filed 125 criminal cases [PDF] from March '07 to July '09, leading to prison sentences for 122 people averaging 49 months. DOJ's share of the increase is $19 million for FY2010, according to the CMS budget justification [PDF]. So we are looking at on the order of tens of millions of dollars in expenditures for previous agencies policing the program, not billions.So almost all of the $7.2 billion have to be taken absent from the allocated indirect Medicare expenses. Being kind to Book and Zycher and taking absent only $6 billion reduces the per-beneficiary expense for FY 2005 from Book's $509 to $356. That compares to $453 for private sector insurance. So without addressing any of the previous dubious expense allocations, Medicare administrative expense for each recipient is at smallest amount 21 percent lower than that of private insurance.Zycher also allocates an array of "general government" expenses in proportion to Medicare's share of total federal expenditures. Among the major contributors at this time is the cost of running the legislative branch and administering the tax system. From an economist's (versus an accountant's) perspective, it is dubious whether much of these properly represent trivial otherwise incremental costs of Medicare (something which Book, a PhD alum of the Chicago finances program, could be usual to consider in a perfect world). For that matter, a program such as Medicare may well require less than it's expense share of certain expenses as it's funded mainly through a simpler-to-administer tax and may not require the amount of legislative notice as much lesser optional programs.But that doesn't really matter, since the worldwide administration costs a la Zycher are not enough in themselves to make Medicare administration additional costly for each recipient than private insurance.As for the ironies, at this time are a couple. First, the "direct" Medicare administrative expenditures include a portion of the subsidies provided to private insurers under the Medicare Advantage program — a bit of Bush-era corporate wellbeing that subsidizes the private sector so that it can compete with usual Medicare. Second, much of Medicare administration, for instance claims processing, is contracted out. So much of the comparison is of private sector entities operating under different incentive systems. Finally, Zycher argues that even the inclusion of indirect costs understates the true cost of Medicare as it does not factor in the the economic burden of funding Medicare through distortionary taxes. There's less to this than meets the eye, regardless of how distortionary you think a payroll tax of a a small number of percent may be. The problem is that such Medicare tax distortion as there may be is not incurred against an alternative world of complete markets and perfect competition. Real insurers charge at smallest amount average incremental costs (and thus wield some market power in the sense of being able to charge prices above trivial cost), and in the current private system many losses are uninsured otherwise uninsurable. Insofar as worldwide public physical condition care provision can (or would) address a number of the private sector market imperfections, it's at smallest amount a matter for careful analysis which system has the bigger economic losses.
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Federer winning Wimbledon

2009-08-06T10:40:00.001-07:00

What a extraordinary final - now I thought last day was good, but this match was every bit as good. In winning, Federer has to be the best ever tennis player, his performance was once more brilliant, even if it took until the 77th game to break the Roddick serve. I thought Andy Roddick put up a great show, even after squandering four set points in the second set tiebreak he kept going right to the end and to lose the final set 15-13 and showed his tenacity and perseverance. For Andy Roddick to lose three Wimbledon finals must be pretty hard to take, but Federer is a brilliant player, and to win fifteen Grand Slams is an astonishing record unlikely to be compressed for a long time to come. I can even see Roger Federer getting to twenty, and given his age he has every chance of achieving even more. Wimbledon is a tournament that produces some great matches each year, and this day was no exception. As a tennis devotee I am always glued to the TV set during Wimbledon fortnight, the only thing absent this day was not seeing Nadal being able to defend his title, and Murray absent out on the final. Hopefully next day will be different but nothing can be taken away from the triumph of Roger Federer in winning again.
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OCC consumer protection 2009...same as 2007

2009-08-05T19:31:00.006-07:00

rdanI was going to do another piece on the OCC and performance as a regulating agency, but Baseline Scenario did a great job already:John Dugan and the OCC. Does anyone know if a replacement is even being considered?
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Federer winning Wimbledon

2009-08-05T19:31:00.005-07:00

What a remarkable final - now I thought last day was good, but this match was every small piece as good. In winning, Federer has to be the most excellent ever tennis player, his performance was once more brilliant, even if it took until the 77th game to break the Roddick serve. I thought Andy Roddick put up a great show, even after squandering four set points in the second set tiebreak he kept going right to the end and to lose the final set 15-13 and showed his tenacity and perseverance. For Andy Roddick to lose three Wimbledon finals must be pretty hard to take, but Federer is a brilliant player, and to win fifteen Grand Slams is an astonishing record unlikely to be compressed for a long time to come. I can even see Roger Federer getting to twenty, and known his age he has every chance of achieving even more. Wimbledon is a contest that produces some great matches each year, and this day was negative exception. As a tennis addict I am always glued to the TV set during Wimbledon fortnight, the only thing missing this day was not seeing Nadal being able to defend his title, and Murray missing out on the final. Hopefully next day will be different but nothing can be taken absent from the triumph of Roger Federer in winning again.
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CIA'S 'FRIEND' BANDAR TRIED TO TOPPLE SAUDI MONARCH?

2009-08-05T19:31:00.003-07:00

Bandar and Bush

On 2 August 2009, it was reported that, in Saudi Arabia, a coup attempt by Prince Bandar has 'failed'

Saad al-Faqih, head of the opposition group Islamic Reform Movement, told Arab-language TV al-Alam that Saudi officials had exposed a plot by Bandar to topple King Abdullah.

Reportedly Bandar had intended to use 200 agents, operational for the Saudi security service, to stage a coup.

Reportedly Bandar was place under house arrest.

Prince Bandar is supposed to be a friend of both Mossad and the CIA.

"Lebanon's Al-Manar TV station reported ... that Saudi Arabia was the country that provided the intelligence to Mossad, suggesting that Saudi Secretary General of the National Security Council Prince Bandar bin Sultan played a position in the collaboration between the intelligence agencies." (Arab country 'cooperates with Mossad')

From P II: An American Pinay Circle, we learn:

"The early 1970s also brought Saudis recruited by the CIA to train at American military bases, including Prince Bandar bin Sultan.

"Bandar has long been an ally, if not an asset, of the CIA."

Bandar's home in the USA

Saad al-Faqih, head of the opposition group Islamic Reform Movement, told Arab-language TV al-Alam that Prince Bandar 'has been disappeared'.

The media has in print negative express of Bandar's whereabouts for almost three months.According to al-Faqih, Bandar first disappeared in Britain but he returned to the realm shortly afterwards.Al-Faqih supposed people close to the king had exposed Bandar's plots and foiled them.He supposed Saudi sources believe that intelligence provided by certain Arab countries helped the Saudi ruler foil Prince Bandar's conspiracy.

9 11Bandar was Saudi Ambassador to the USA.

"Between April 1998 and May 2002, some $51-73,000 in checks and cashier's checks were provided by the Saudi Ambassador to the United States and his spouse to two families in southern California, who in turn bankrolled at smallest amount two of the 9/11 hijackers." (Prince Bandar and 9/11)

Al Yamamah

According to Wikipedia, Bandar helped negotiate the 1985 Al Yamamah deal, a series of massive weapons sales by the United Kingdom to Saudi Arabia value GBÂ£40 billion (US$80 billion), including the sale of additional than 100 warplanes.

After the deal was signed, British weapons manufacturer British Aerospace (now BAE Systems) allegedly funnelled secret payments of at smallest amount GBÂ£1 billion (US$2 billion) into two Saudi delegation accounts in Washington, in yearly instalments of up to GBÂ£120 million (US$240 million) over at smallest amount 10 years.

Bandar allegedly took money for personal use out of the accounts, as the purpose of single of the accounts was to pay the operating expenses of the prince's private Airbus A340.

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Segway sales soar: The Lembit effect?

2009-08-05T19:31:00.001-07:00

Let us be honest. Despite the patronage of the Lib Dem member for Montgomeryshire, the Segway has been slow to take rotten in Britain.But that may all be changing.According to the Daily Telegraph:

Wayne Mitchell, manager of Segway UK, supposed there were now additional than 2,000 of the vehicles in use in Britain despite them being forbidden on public roads.

He said: "Sales were up 11.5 for each cent in the first six months of this day compared to the same period last day and I think additional people are seeing them around. We sold 200 last year."

Wait a minute. If he sold 200 last year, then he sold around 100 in the first six months. So an 11.8 for each cent increase is about 12 machines.Not as imposing as all that, then. Time for Lembit to take to the lanes of Mid Wales again.
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Echo commenting system

2009-08-05T10:42:00.004-07:00

rdanI have been informed by js-kit that Aug.6, 09 is the date of our automatic conversion to the Echo Commenting System. Be advised it interconnects comments to other sites with your open ID and other formats as a social networking opportunity when someone clicks your profile, compiling your trail of comments over the internets.If interested js-kit has summaries of what this portends. Avoid drinking and bars and commenting if you are famous.
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TIME TO SACK DAVID CAMERON?

2009-08-05T10:42:00.003-07:00

Cameron, a fan of Tesco and Israel. David Cameron is the head of Britain's Conservative Party and he is usual to become Britain's next prime Minister. Cameron told BBC Radio: "If what the military are asking for is additional troops in Afghanistan .... it does appear to me that thereâs a very strong case for saying yes to that." (Conservatives to increase British troop levels in Afghanistan ... )

Picture from the Israeli Government Press Office shows Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert meeting with UK opposition head David Cameron in Jerusalem 1 March 2007. AFP/Getty Images.

UK Conservative Party head David Cameron is a Zionist. In June 2007, Cameron branded those who explain Israel as a 'pariah state' as a 'bunch of loons.' (Boycotters are 'bunch of loons' 14th June 2007) Speaking at the Conservative Friends of Israel's Annual Business Lunch, Cameron supposed that boycotts of Israel are harmful and he fixed his support for Israel. Cameron gave his backing to Israel's Apartheid Wall. Cameron is a previous 'henchman' of ex-Conservative Party head Michael Howard, who is Jewish.

Cameron is supposed to be close to the Neo-Cons. Gaby Hinsliff and Ned Temko, in The Observer , 23 October 2005, listed the members of David Cameron's inner circle (http://observer.guardian.co.uk/html) who include: 1. George Eustice who started his political career with the UK Independence Party (which is reportedly pro-Israel and pro-Pentagon.) 2. Oliver Letwin who has links to the Rothschilds. 3. Michael Gove who is an admirer of the American neo-cons.

Photo of Michael Gove from: news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/mpdb/html/560.stm According to the Observer article: The brains of the operation is Michael Gove. An article at en.wikipedia (Michael_Gove) tells us Gove takes a pro-Israel line and has criticised anti-Americanism, anti-Semitism and some United Nations peace processes. A self-confessed neo-conservative, he called for early interference against Saddam Hussein.

David Cameron - likely to be Britain's next Prime Minister. The Sunday Mirror, 24 August 2008, tells us about the holiday experience of David Cameron, head of Britain's Conservative Party. (EXCLUSIVE: Lavish holiday exposes the lie of 'ordinary' chap David ...) According to the Mirror, Cameron holidayed on a Â£21,000 a week ship on the Turkish Riviera. He was accompanied by seven boats transport 74 friends and family. In Turkey, Cameron famous the 60th anniversary of his mother-in-law Viscountess Astor. Reportedly, Viscount Astor hired the five-star gulets and 'VIPs invited to join the celebrations flew in from Britain, France and Italy.' William IV According to Wikipedia: David Cameron is the son of stockbroker Ian Donald Cameron and his wife Mary Fleur Mount the second offspring of Sir William Mount, 2nd Baronet.[9] Cameron is a direct descendant of King William IV (4th great grandfather) and his mistress Dorothea Jordan (and thus 5th cousin, twice separate of Queen Elizabeth II) through his father's motherly grandmother Stephanie Levita.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Tesco_mielec.jpg Reportedly, Cameron wants 'to run the UK like Tesco' Reportedly, Cameron sees Tesco as a great model for government. But is Tesco fair to its suppliers?

1. Tesco is the world's fourth largest retailer. 2. Jack Cohen founded Tesco in 1909 when he began to sell surplus foodstuff from a stall in the East End of London. (Tesco - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) Shirley, Lady Porter DBE is the offspring and successor of Jack Cohen. In a review of the memoirs of Mrs Porter by Andrew Hosken, Nicholas Lezard in The Guardian described her as "...the most corrupt British political figure in living memory, with the possible exemption of Robert Maxwell". [1] She retired to Israel in 1993. 3. How fresh is Tesco food? Audrey Brown, of BBC News, (BBC NEWS Business Out-of-date foodstuff in UK supermarkets) reported: "I saying food past its sell-by date on the fresh foodstuff counters... and it was regularly being sold. "At Tesco, it was re-packaged and re-labelled with a new date and reduced in price, sometimes days after it have to have been sold or separate from the shelves. "A lot of the time, the counter staff treated the meat and fish we were trade with unresponsiveness and, worryingly, there were times at Tesco when they had negative idea what the real sell-by date was as they had altered it consequently a lot of times. "Sometimes it was not until the foodstuff smelled bad that it was eventually thrown away." In a programme for BBC1's Whistleblower, "counter staff at... Tesco falsify foodstuff temperature records and disobey basic rules of foodstuff cleanliness such as using different knives for fish, raw meat and cooked meat to stop cross-contamination of bacteria. "Undercover recording shows the plant floor of a major dealer of ready meals to Tesco cross-contaminated with urine and faecal matter from employees' boots, and a farm which provisions chickens to Sainsbury's where a bin of dead birds swarming with hundreds of maggots is alongside the area for live birds being reared for sale." - TV film claims Tesco and Sainsbury's stores disobey cleanliness rules ... 3. According to The Guardian, 31 May 2008: The magazine Private Eye (May 2008) "identified what it supposed was a Tesco tax avoidance operation involving a complex web of offshore operations centred on the Swiss region of Zug. "These arrangements involved an English limited liability partnership (LLP) called Cheshunt Overseas. "Cheshunt is the name of the Hertfordshire town where Tesco has its headquarters. "The Cheshunt Overseas accounts provide basis for believing that the structure might consequently far have assisted the global retailer in sheltering additional than Â£66m in profit from UK tax." (Tesco: new claims of tax avoidance)

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Hradec_Kr%C3%A1lov%C3%A9_-_Tesco.jpg 4. According to Wikipedia (Tesco - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia): In May 2007 it was revealed that Tesco had moved the head office of its on the web operations to the tax haven of Switzerland. In February 2008 a six month investigation by The Guardian revealed that Tesco has urbanized a complex taxation structure involving offshore bank accounts in the tax haven of the Cayman Islands.[31] Tesco is in the process of trade its UK stores, value an estimated Â£6 billion, to Cayman Island based companies set up by Tesco. These companies then lease the stores back to Tesco. This arrangement enables Tesco to avoid an estimated Â£1 billion tax on profits from the property sales, and also to avoid paying any tax on progressing operation of the stores, as the rate of business tax in the Cayman Islands is zero. 5. In Thailand, Tesco has been criticised for aggressively pursuing critics of the company. Writer and previous MP Jit Siratranont is opposite up to two years in jail and a Â£16.4m libel damages claim for saying that Tesco was expanding aggressively at the expense of small local retailers. Tesco served him with writs for criminal defamation and civil libel.[90] 6. Criticism of Tesco includes allegations of stifling competition due to its immature "land bank",[91] pugilistically aggressive new store development without real consideration of the wishes, needs and consequences to local communities,[92] using cheap and/or child labour,[93][94] opposition to its move into the expediency sector[95] and breaching preparation laws.[96]

7. It's time to close down the big supermarkets since they do additional harm than good. Walmart and Tesco are examples of big supermarkets.

"Wal-Mart might drive prices down, but it drags the quality of life for millions of people down with it. "With hundreds of employees dependent on public help to meet their basic needs, American taxpayers subsidize Wal-Mart's low prices at the rate of roughly $420,750 a day for every 200-employee store by paying for low-income services... "Wal-Mart hurts U.S. communities by undercutting local merchants and increasing urban sprawl, and its suppliers have been cited for labor and person rights violations." - Responsible Shopper Profile: Wal-Mart: 8. "I've had a big notice in my structure window for a few weeks "the structure that Tesco can't close" along with photos of the 50 empty shops in our town. "There's a enormous Tesco here, and the town centre is in a bad way. "I think that small scale retail is just about dead ..." -clearwood.co.uk (Comment is free: Tesco the superweed) Tesco is to open a third store in the town of Dumfries. "Tesco would take about 60% of all money being spent in the town." Traders fear third Tesco's impact 9. In 2006, Felicity Lawrence wrote in the Guardian (Comment is free: Tesco the superweed): "The trouble with weeds is that left unchecked they become all-encompassing and strangle all else. Tesco has spread unrestrained with scary speed. In some parts of the country it has 45% of the grocery market... "Tesco... subverts the democratic process as it armed forces through preparation permissions against community wishes; it added 2m sq ft of sales space last day alone... "It suffocates independent shops and markets; it uses its power to squeeze its suppliers... "The superstore sector, with its just-in-time ordering that requires casual labour to be turned on and rotten like a tap, and its new packhouse industries, has been one of the most prolific creators of demand for trafficked labour." 10. "In Bangladesh young women are operational for as little as 5p an hour to make clothing for Asda and Tesco while operational up to 14 hours a day for weeks on end... Tesco reported yearly profits of additional than Â£2.5bn last week" - 6p a T-shirt. 30p an hour for shelling cashews. Supermarkets accused of exploiting women

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Noel Symington in Africa

2009-08-05T10:42:00.001-07:00

Readers will by now be familiar with Noel Symington, author of The Night Climbers of Cambridge and Mosleyite blot on the escutcheon of the Market Harborough broth dynasty.Wikipedia reveals that he also put his mountaineering skills to good use in Africa:In February [1938] Miss C Carol and Mtu Muthara became the first woman and African respectively to ascend Nelion, in an expedition with Noel Symington.Nelion is the second highest peak of Mount Kenya.My Googling also turned up a Captain Noel Symington who won the MC in the Far East during World War II. This got me excited, but he turns out to be Noel Mallam Symington , an Australian, and nothing to do with my Noel Howard Symington.
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Very Excellent Post on Health Insurance Recisions

2009-08-05T03:11:00.001-07:00

Robert WaldmannTaunter explains the link between Monte Hall and Health Insurance. Brilliant.Via Paul Krugman via Yves Smith so I am sure you've read it already but if not click now click often.James Kwak at Baseline described the practice as rare, moving only 0.5% of the population. The faint light bulb above my head began to flicker: could that be trueâ¦thatâs not rare â" that is amazingly common.[snip]It have to be fairly clear that the people who do not file cover claims do not face rescission. The cover companies will happily deposit their checks. [snip] that top one percent, the folks responsible for additional than $35,000 of costs â" sometimes far, far additional â" well there, ladies and gentlemen, is where the money comes in. [snip]if a bank boss went to half of his uppermost net worth clients and said âsorry, you misspelled your address when you opened your account, Iâm confiscating your balance,â he would be fortunate to get himself assigned to minimum security.
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Noel Symington in Africa

2009-08-05T03:11:00.000-07:00

Readers will by now be familiar with Noel Symington, author of The Night Climbers of Cambridge and Mosleyite blot on the escutcheon of the Market Harborough broth dynasty.Wikipedia reveals that he also place his climbing skills to good use in Africa:In February [1938] Miss C Carol and Mtu Muthara became the first lady and African in that order to ascend Nelion, in an expedition with Noel Symington.Nelion is the second uppermost peak of Mount Kenya.My Googling also turned up a Captain Noel Symington who won the MC in the Far East during World War II. This got me excited, but he turns out to be Noel Mallam Symington , an Australian, and nothing to do with my Noel Howard Symington.
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Simon Partridge to fight Great Yarmouth

2009-08-04T18:46:00.002-07:00

From the Great Yarmouth Mercury:

The previous head and current chairman of North Norfolk District Council, Simon Partridge, has been elected to stand as the Liberal Democrat prospective law-making applicant for Yarmouth.

Mr Partridge, a magistrate in Yarmouth for the past 10 years, was born in nearby Caister and went to train locally. For the last eight years he and his spouse have run a bed-and-breakfast business in Catfield.

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Very Excellent Post on Health Insurance Recisions

2009-08-04T18:46:00.001-07:00

Robert WaldmannTaunter explains the link between Monte Hall and Health Insurance. Brilliant.Via Paul Krugman via Yves Smith consequently I'm sure you've read it already but if not click now click often.James Kwak at Baseline described the practice as rare, affecting only 0.5% of the population. The faint light corm above my head began to flicker: could that be trueâ¦thatâs not rare â" that is amazingly common.[snip]It should be fairly clear that the people who do not file cover claims do not face rescission. The cover companies will happily deposit their checks. [snip] that top single percent, the folks responsible for additional than $35,000 of costs â" sometimes far, far additional â" well there, ladies and gentlemen, is where the money comes in. [snip]if a bank manager went to not whole of his uppermost net value clients and supposed âsorry, you misspelled your address when you opened your account, Iâm confiscating your balance,â he would be fortunate to get himself assigned to minimum security.
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Federer winning Wimbledon

2009-08-04T10:46:00.001-07:00

What a extraordinary final - now I thought last day was good, but this match was every small piece as good. In winning, Federer has to be the most excellent ever tennis player, his performance was again brilliant, even if it took until the 77th game to break the Roddick serve. I thought Andy Roddick put up a great show, even after squandering four set points in the second set tiebreak he kept going right to the end and to lose the final set 15-13 and showed his stubbornness and perseverance. For Andy Roddick to lose three Wimbledon finals must be pretty hard to take, but Federer is a brilliant player, and to win fifteen Grand Slams is an astonishing record unlikely to be beaten for a long time to come. I can even see Roger Federer getting to twenty, and given his age he has every chance of achieving even more. Wimbledon is a contest that produces some great matches each year, and this day was no exception. As a tennis devotee I am always glued to the TV set during Wimbledon fortnight, the only thing absent this day was not seeing Nadal being able to defend his title, and Murray absent out on the final. Hopefully next day will be different but nothing can be taken absent from the triumph of Roger Federer in winning again.
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The Britblog Roundup is returning to Liberal England

2009-08-04T02:44:00.004-07:00

On Sunday this blog will once more be hosting the Britblog Roundup.If over the after that week you see a redistribution on a British blog that you think particularly find, please send the URL to britblog [AT] gmail [DOT] com and I shall include it in the roundup.Nominating a redistribution for the Britiblog Roundup is a good way of promoting a blog that you think deserves more readers. And you are welcome to nominate a redistribution on your own blog too.All nominations by Sunday lunchtime please.
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Federer winning Wimbledon

2009-08-04T02:44:00.003-07:00

What a remarkable final - now I thought last day was good, but this match was every small piece as good. In winning, Federer has to be the best ever tennis player, his performance was once additional brilliant, even if it took until the 77th game to break the Roddick serve. I thought Andy Roddick put up a great show, even after squandering four set points in the second set tiebreak he kept going right to the end and to lose the final set 15-13 and showed his stubbornness and perseverance. For Andy Roddick to lose three Wimbledon finals must be pretty hard to take, but Federer is a brilliant player, and to win fifteen Grand Slams is an amazing record unlikely to be beaten for a long time to come. I can even see Roger Federer getting to twenty, and known his age he has every chance of achieving even more. Wimbledon is a contest that produces some great matches each year, and this day was negative exception. As a tennis addict I am always glued to the TV set during Wimbledon fortnight, the only thing absent this day was not seeing Nadal being able to defend his title, and Murray absent out on the final. Hopefully after that day will be different but nothing can be taken absent from the triumph of Roger Federer in winning again.
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Detroit!

2009-08-04T02:44:00.001-07:00

General Motors HQ in Detroit, in the USA.The real Detroit?~~"According to the Giancanas, Detroit's 'Jewish Mafia,' the so-called 'Purple Gang' had put out a contract on Joe Kennedy's life for bringing against the law liquor through their territory without their consent during the Prohibition days."(Chapters One - Four excerpted from the book Final Judgment.)~~According to WSWS (Social disaster in Detroit: An analytical report):"Detroit, in the past known as the auto capital of the world, has been distorted into the biggest poor city in America, according to the US Census Bureau, with an official poverty rate of 31.4 percent..."This once deafening city of 2 million has lost more than not whole of its population, now standing at 900,000, with the mass departure accelerating yearly."In some areas only the poorest people remain and the tax and service bases have collapsed."As a result of the decline, Detroit has the uppermost high train dropout rate of any big city in the countryâ"over 50 percent."It also has single of the uppermost unemployment rates in the US and is listed among the top 10 cities in home foreclosures."The city also has just been strong-minded to have the uppermost rate of families needing foodstuff assistance."
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Leicester's Bowstring Bridge and De Montfort University

2009-08-03T18:52:00.002-07:00

Latest news here.Last Saturday I wrote about Frog Island and the disappearing remains of the old Great Central railway line through Leicester, inspirational Alex Foster to discover Nottingham Arkwright Street station in the process. That station, incidentally, was built by the contractors Logan & Hemingway, in which my political hero J. W. Logan was a partner.The Great Central through Leicester returned to the headlines this week with news that the city council wants to demolish the most noteworthy residual structure. On Friday the Leicester Mercury reported:

Leicester City Council is usual to agree plans to demolish the city's historic Bowstring Bridge in private discussions after that week.

A secret report leaked to the Leicester Mercury shows a deal is now in place to help De Montfort University build a swimming pool and sports centre in the West End.

On Monday, the council's cupboard is usual to agree to use up to Â£472,000 demolishing the Victorian bridge by January.

It is also thought they will agree to sell the remainder of the viaduct, in Duns Lane, and neighbouring land to the institution of higher education for an first Â£1 fee.

And nowadays came a follow-up report in the Mercury:

Leicester City Council leaders said nowadays that they will not publicly discuss proposals to demolish the city's iconic Bowstring Bridge.

The authority maintains that a report presentation the costs of selling land and the Duns Lane bridge to De Montfort University makes it too confidential to talk about in front of the press and public at a meeting of its decision cupboard on Monday ...

Furious protesters are preparation to stand outside the Town Hall before the meeting at 1 pm on Monday to show their anger at being unable to attend.

So I went into Leicester this afternoon to take a look at the bridge myself.It crosses Braunstone Gate and the River Soar, and after that to is single of Leicester's most famous pubs, the Pump & Tap, which will also be demolished if the council and institution of higher education have their way. At present its beer grounds extends into the railway arches. The Bowstring Bridge's Wikipedia page tells its recent. After the Great Central stopped up in 1969, this stretch of the line was bought by the city council and used for a footpath and cycleway. The council received a Manpower Services Commission grant to engage craftsmen to oversee young people in picture the bridge green and cream.

In 1997 the bridge was stopped up to the public after the destruction of the Kirby & West dairy. Flickr has a photograph from 1984 presentation the buildings that were lost.

Since then the bridge has been left to decay, most probably in the hope that it will become unsafe and make destruction less controversial. Yet someone got on to it earlier this day and lived to post the ensuing video on Youtube. Great Central Railway Through Leicester also has some photos taken on the bridge.

Leicester Civic Society has been campaigning against the destruction and there is also a petition to save the bridge on Facebook.

Both are careful to be polite to De Montfort University (we called it Del Monte when I was studying at Leicester University), because they have the money to take on the sort of project the campaigners have in mind.

Walking around Leicester nowadays brought home to me just what a power universities are in many cities now. Whole outer edge are taken over, changing the fabric and the feel of life there. In Leicester, for instance, the area around the Magazine Gateway is currently single big structure site.

The "knowledge economy" we hear consequently much takes a concrete form here, but it have to not be at the expense of valuable survivals from earlier episodes in a city's history. The Bowstring Bridge have to be saved.

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July Auto Sales

2009-08-03T18:52:00.001-07:00

By Spencer,July auto and light wagon sales are being reported at 11.2 million yearly rate.That is a very significant increase from the second quarter average of 9.5 million and implies that consumption in the third quarter GDP information will be up significantly.I do not have detailed information of how much of this is due to "Cash for Clunkers".But the point that people are eager to take on a new set of car payments is a good sign for customer confidence and spending.
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China and Israel in Nigeria.

2009-08-03T11:32:00.003-07:00

Model from Nigeria: Ronke ShonibareIn 2006, we learnt that China had secured four lubricate drilling licences from Nigeria."In exchange China will invest $4bn (Â£2.25bn) in lubricate and infrastructure projects in Nigeria."China will buy a jealous stake in Nigeria's 110,000 barrel-a-day Kaduna lubricate plant and build a push system and power stations."(BBC NEWS Business China and Nigeria agree lubricate deal)Nigeria has become an important source of lubricate and fuel for China's fast growing economy and Nigeria is looking to China for help in achieving high economic growth; China has provided extensive economic, military and political support.[3][4]Two countries that may not be entirely happy with Nigeria are the USA and Israel.As early as the 1970s, Nigeria was supplying additional than 50% of Israelâs crude lubricate in exchange for military hardware. (Cached)Several top officers in the Nigerian army have had links to Israeli businessmen and security agents. (Cached)In 2008, in Nigeria, members of the National Assembly expressed worried about the alleged invitation of Mossad to train Nigeria's security services under a secret security pact.(allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Lawmakers Divided Over Mossad - FG Link) Nigeria by paulscott56There has been a lot of violence in Nigeria.(TIMELINE: Ethnic and religious unrest in Nigeria)In the day 2000 - Thousands were killed in northern Nigeria as non-Moslems, opposite to sharia law, fought Moslems.In 2001 - Up to a thousand were killed in Nigeria when there was violence between Christians and Moslems.In 2002 - At smallest amount 215 people died in rioting in Nigeria, following a paper article about Prophet Mohammad and Miss World.In 2004 - Around 1000 people were killed in fighting between Moslems and Christians.In 2006 - Rioting killed over 100 people after there had been a protest about Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.In 2008 - Clashes between Muslim and Christian gangs killed at smallest amount 400 people in the central city of Jos.In February 2009 - Clashes killed at smallest amount 11 people. Churches and mosques were burnt down.In July 2009 - The Moslem group 'Boko Haram' staged attacks in a northeastern city.The Red Cross and defense officials say that additional than 700 people were killed during the five-day uprising.~~
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Britblog Roundup 233

2009-08-03T11:32:00.001-07:00

Hosted by A Very British Dude.
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Will catastrophic only health insurance be rescinded in the end?

2009-08-03T11:31:00.000-07:00

rdanTaunter explains how the .5% rescission rate figure discussed in the hearings on physical condition cover premiums and coverage is second-hand to dismiss Congressional concerns as unimportant and in fact is a good business practice that will not change. It is worth going to the post to precisely follow the train of thought. Taunter concludes that the chances for rescission for a serious illness is:If the top 5% is the absolute largest inhabitants for whom rescission would make sense, the likelihood of having your policy cancelled known that you have filed a claim is fully 10% (0.5% rescission/5.0% of the population). If you take the LA Times estimate that $300mm was saved by abrogating 20,000 policies in California ($15,000/policy), you are somewhere in the 15% zone, depending on the convexity of the top section of population. If, as I suspect, rescission is targeted toward the truly bankrupting cases â" the top 1%, the persons with over $35,000 of annual claims who could never be profitable for the transporter â" then the likelihood of having your policy torn up known a massively expensive condition is pushing 50%. One in two. Rescission definition practice can be found at this time and unfair examples here. Here is why door number two is NOT 50/50.It is suggested that application forms are formed to allow for inaccuracies and that some decisive factor second-hand to cancel policies is easily avoidable at the time of the application, the implication being future use for the inaccuracy makes it worthwhile to allow ambiguity and not examine information, mostly for those who wind up claiming over $35,000 and who have severe, chronic conditions that make premiums from that person irrelevant to profit. This might have not been the intent long long ago, and certainly fraud occurs, but rescission having a foundation purely monetary and not lawful (from a common customer point of view on what fraud is), is the policy today if testimony is to be believed.The first notion, that it is a small problem apart from for the person involved, is discussed in the first post. The key to amended %'s lies in the fact that Medicare takes care of the 65/over group of chronically ill and old clients, so the confidentially covered inhabitants is smaller than the for each centages indicate as well, a main oversight. The second and third part of the problem will be in Part 2 and 3 (clever, huh?)StatsGuy wrote in comments to the Taunter Media post:StatsGuyThe same light corm went off when I read the 0.5%, but I could not have explained it _nearly_ as well. Very nice post.I still wonder, though, whether it might be slightly not as good as than even this picture. 1) I believe your data is for the US inhabitants as a whole. (If Iâm wrong, then this comment is meaningless â" apologies.) But, in fact, much of the sickest part of the inhabitants receives physical condition care via Medicare since big people are (to use your technical term) sicker.So the % of people in the top row AMONG PEOPLE NOT ON MEDICARE is much lower, which means that the conditional likelihood of pain rescission known that you need treatment is much higher. Roughly, if the % of people among under-65 (and not on Medicaid) in the top bracket was not whole of what it is for the whole population, then the likelihood of pain rescission known that you have a large claim is double even your current estimates.2) The likelihood of losing the policy known that you really need it might be X% in any known year. But thereâs a cumulative effect â" over time, you build up a tank of uninsurable who lost cover due to rescission, and now cannot get it back since they have a chronic condition.on July 29, 2009 at 10:03 am | Reply TaunterYou are absolutely correct about #1, and this is a enormous mistake factor. 10% of Medicare costs take place in the last month of life alone, and Medicare is roughly 45% of the national physical condition care spend. So all of those patients are clogging up the top end of national distribution and not on private cover in the first place. Unfortunately, I canât find a private-only, otherwise individual-pay-only distribution, and of course if I did find an individual-pay-only distribution it would be skewed on the top with deprived of claims (some people have to be spending a lot, but in fact use much less, since their policy was pulled). The Reuters article says Medicare spends 30% of its outlay on the top 5% of its population, which means it has a flatter curve than non-Medicare (I would assume, without evidence, that fewer Medicare beneficiaries have insignificant physical condition expenses). This implies non-Medicare spending is even more highly concentrated with a few very high spenders.On #2, Iâm a little less confident, and it was single of the reasons I might have misunderstood Jamesâ original post. There is a cumulative effect, but that effect is blunted to some degree by the fact that the people who account for the very high medical expenditures do not of necessity change much from year-to-year (with the obvious exemption of the end-of-life expenses typically borne by Medicare). In fact, single of the reasons I suspect rescission became such a powerful phenomenon is that if Sally has breast cancer at a young age, she is going to be in the 99th percentile some times; the transporter is weighing years of such expenses against her premium. So it might not be the case that in a forty day career an average person has a 33% chance of ending up at some point in the top percentile (1-(.99^40)); it is probably the case that most people have a tiny chance of ever getting an expensive chronic condition (or at smallest amount an expensive, chronic condition before turning 65), and some people have a large chance of repeatedly being in the top percent.Keep the discussion going. It is clear a profit reason has serious impact for some people...how would you bet even catastropohic only cover premium money?
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Federer winning Wimbledon

2009-08-03T02:41:00.002-07:00

What a extraordinary final - now I thought last day was good, but this match was every bit as good. In winning, Federer has to be the most excellent ever tennis player, his performance was once additional brilliant, even if it took until the 77th game to break the Roddick serve. I thought Andy Roddick put up a great show, even after squandering four set points in the second set tiebreak he reserved going right to the end and to lose the final set 15-13 and showed his stubbornness and perseverance. For Andy Roddick to lose three Wimbledon finals must be pretty hard to take, but Federer is a brilliant player, and to win fifteen Grand Slams is an amazing record unlikely to be compressed for a long time to come. I can even see Roger Federer getting to twenty, and known his age he has every chance of achieving even more. Wimbledon is a contest that produces some great matches each year, and this day was no exception. As a tennis devotee I am always glued to the TV set during Wimbledon fortnight, the only thing absent this day was not seeing Nadal being able to defend his title, and Murray absent out on the final. Hopefully after that day will be different but nothing can be taken away from the triumph of Roger Federer in winning again.
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The 'Read the Bill' Movement

2009-08-03T02:41:00.001-07:00

by Bruce WebbRepublican obstructionists to Obama's programme have developed a new tactic. Seemingly absent-minded of how Republican majorties jammed through enormous bills without letting Dems actually read them, they now insist that every Dem has to read every small piece of every bill and additional specially the Health Care Bill. Well in realism that is not that much of a challenge. Behold a typical page of legislation:If you click on the image to expand it you will see that is is is quite large print, is double spaced, and much indented. Moreover large parts of it are clear boiler plate, essential to get the exact language in the following U.S. Code correct, but chiefly not essential to get the sense correct. I do not mean that you do not need to read bill language carefully, but it is not like reading a 1000 page bill is the equivalent of reading War and Peace.This sample is from the Senate HELP bill which is 175 pages long. Why is it consequently much shorter than the House version? Because it only covers the policy components of establishing the benefits package and administering the Exchange, the bulk of the bill is taken up with various tax provisions, important yes but not consequently much consequently that you can't evaluate the policy options without them. Lets look at the book of HR3200 as introduced.http://edlabor.house.gov/documents/111/pdf/publications/AAHCA-BillText-071409.pdfOn page 2 we see that the bill is alienated into Division A - Affordable Health Care Choices and Division B - Medicare and Medicaid Improments. Division A takes up the first 215 pages while Division B takes up the remaining 803.I am not proverb that Division B is not important otherwise that it doesn't have some controversial pieces, but chiefly it is tinkering with programs that by now exist, the real policy innovations are in Division A. And if we look at that we see that it is alienated into four Titles. Title 1 - Protections and Standards for Qualified Benefit Plans, Title 2 - Health Insurance Exchange and Related Provisions, Title 3 - Shared Responsibility, and Title 4 -Amendments to the Internal Revenue Code. Of the 215 pages Title 1 takes up pg. 5-71, Title 2 pg. 72-143, Title 3 pg. 143-167. Even at that much of the material is administrative otherwise spelling out specific language changes to current alive code.The Republicans are going to try to make hay out of this 'Have you read the bill' message and to laugh at Obama's offer to take people through the bill "line by line" but there is nothing that pathetic about it. Because most of the meat is concentrated in just a small number of sections in Division A, a couple of hours of meeting otherwise browsing is almost certainly enough to get the average Congressman up to speed on this legislation. In fact the biggest frustration is that while the pages are numbered there are no page keys to translated Section numbers to pages, but apart from for that this is not that difficult a read.When people make the claim that no single can really understand a 1018 page bill realize that chiefly you do not need to deeply engage with additional than maybe seventy otherwise eighty double spaced, highly concave pages to get a pretty solid grasp of what the bill proposes.
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Lisbon, Ireland...

2009-08-02T18:52:00.002-07:00

Against the Lisbon Treaty

"At the request of the European Commission, the EUâs powerful unelected executive, member state governments are busy dismantling wellbeing states, enhancing their military forces, enacting illiberal supporting measures and neoliberal economic policies, and expressing undisguised disdain for anyone who disagrees with them..."The Common Agricultural Policy has ravaged Europeâs countryside and handed agriculture en masse to corporate farmers."The Common Fisheries Policy has emptied the seas of fish, throwing families that in many cases have relied on the seaâs bounty for generations of service out of work."Trade and development policies have benefited EU-based corporations, with negative thought known to the social, economic, and environmental consequences for developing countries..."If the Irish refuse the Lisbon Treaty a second time, they will not be rejecting collaboration between European nations, but rather a specific vision of Europeâs future that is tilted in favor of military and corporate power."- Against the Lisbon Treaty

What Happened to 'Kenny's Sideshow?'http://kennysideshow.blogspot.com/Guardian plots closure of ObserverHalf of all the crop & veg you buy is contaminatedGap plant danger to childrenBirth defects victory

EU Forces

At voltairenet.org , Rick Rozoff, an analytical journalist specialising in NATO affairs, has an article entitled: EU, NATO, US: 21st Century Alliance For Global DominationAmong the points made:1. The EU and USA are in bed together, with the USA being the dominant partner.2. The NATO-EU-US military alliance has imperial ambitions and aims to encircle Russia.3. Three years ago, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said:"NATO and the EU are making rather good progress in coordinating the development of modern military capabilities. I am hopeful that we can extend our collaboration to extra area ... such as the Caucasus and Central Asia."(NATO International, March 31, 2005)4. In 2009, Giampaolo Di Paola, Chairman of NATOâs Military Committee, beam of the "need for a new form of world governance in which NATO, the EU, and other major global organisations have a part to play." (ADN Kronos International [Italy], February 13, 2009)5. The major EU and European NATO states are the previous colonial powers - Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Italy and Germany.

Imperialism 18006. British troops are back in Afghanistan, Iraq and Sierra Leone; French ones in Haiti and Cote dâIvoire; American carrying weapons forces are back in the Philippines.All 26 NATO states have military personnel in Iraq.7. In 2005, the EUâs Javier Solana, previous NATO Secretary General, beam about the EUâs increasing military buildup.He supposed that "by becoming a stronger and more capable global actor, we will be a better partner for the United States."He beam of the Balkans as the original testing ground for this triumvirate, âThrough our concerted efforts, with the United States and NATO...."(Defense News, November 10, 2005)8. In 2008, the EUâs presidency was supposed by France and Nicholas Sarkozy 'was the prime transporter in pushing for the EU-NATO-US axis at the Bucharest summit'.Bushâs speech at the summit pointed out that "NATO is negative longer a static alliance....It is now an expeditionary alliance that is sending its forces across the world...." (USA Today, April 1, 2008)9. After the summit, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned, "This is....an attempt to form some new global union with a Western core wishing to claim all but UN functions." (Interfax, April 17, 2008)10. The EU is training security personnel in Afghanistan.11. In December 2009, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner confirmed the EUâs position in supplementing US and NATO weapons and military involvement in the South Caucasus.12. The EU is becoming included with NATO."The US is ... the central foundation, of NATO."Thus, the EU is "in effect subordinated to Washington."~~

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Federer winning Wimbledon

2009-08-02T18:52:00.001-07:00

What a remarkable final - now I thought last day was good, but this match was every small piece as good. In winning, Federer has to be the most excellent ever tennis player, his performance was again brilliant, even if it took until the 77th game to break the Roddick serve. I thought Andy Roddick place up a great show, even after squandering four set points in the second set tiebreak he kept going right to the end and to lose the final set 15-13 and showed his tenacity and perseverance. For Andy Roddick to lose three Wimbledon finals must be pretty hard to take, but Federer is a brilliant player, and to win fifteen Grand Slams is an astonishing record unlikely to be beaten for a long time to come. I can even see Roger Federer getting to twenty, and known his age he has every chance of achieving even more. Wimbledon is a contest that produces some great matches each year, and this day was no exception. As a tennis addict I am always glued to the TV set during Wimbledon fortnight, the only thing absent this day was not seeing Nadal being able to defend his title, and Murray absent out on the final. Hopefully next day will be different but nothing can be taken absent from the triumph of Roger Federer in winning again.
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Rick Nelson: Garden Party

2009-08-02T18:52:00.000-07:00

Two weeks before I went to prison and then chose Folsom Prison Blues. Today I have been to a grounds party, so...Ricky Nelson was a teen heart throb in the early days of American rock and roll - you will know Hello Mary Lou at smallest amount - with an huge number of hit singles there. The song Garden Party arose from his efforts to explore new directions in his music.In 1972, by which time he had become Rick Nelson (much as this blog's hero Stevie Winwood became Steve Winwood) and was playing a country-tinged, West Coast style of music. As Wikipedia tells it:

On October 15, 1971, a Rock 'n Roll Revival performance was known at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The playbill included a lot of greats of the early rock era, including Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and Bobby Rydell.

Nelson came on stage dressed in the then-current fashion, wearing bell-bottoms and a purple velvet shirt, with his hair execution down to his shoulders. He started playing his older songs "Hello Mary Lou" and "She Belongs to Me", but then he played The Rolling Stones' "Country Honk" (a country version of their hit song "Honky Tonk Women") and the crowd began to boo.

While some reports say that the booing was caused by police action in the back of the audience, Nelson took it personally and absent the stage. He watched the rest of the performance offstage and did not take his final bow for the finale.

Out of this incident came a lyric which, though I suppose it could also serve as a defence of selfishness, is as near to wisdom as you will ever get in a pop song:But it's all right now,I've learned my lesson well.See, you cannot please everyone,So you have got to please yourself.I remember this song being played on Radio 1 in the early 1970s, but I would not have been able to tell you who the author and vocalist was until I looked it up recently. There is a video from 1972 on Youtube, but it is cut short after a couple of minutes. So the version at this time comes from 1985, the last year of Nelson's life. As on the original version, Nelson is lyrics with the Stone Canyon Band.He might have succeeded as reinventing himself, but sadly Nelson was to die the death of a 1950s' teen idol. He was killed in a plane crash on New Year's Eve 1985.
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Apparently they have cats in Ireland too

2009-08-02T10:45:00.004-07:00

Hurry over to Gavin's Blog for photogaphs of the action:This twilight a standoff took place between two neighbouring cats and Puds. Puds stood on our shed, while two as yet unnamed cats stood on the neighbourâs shed. They traded dirty looks with Puds and, even me.
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Lisbon, Ireland...

2009-08-02T10:45:00.003-07:00

Against the Lisbon Treaty

"At the behest of the European Commission, the EUâs powerful unelected executive, member state governments are busy dismantling wellbeing states, enhancing their military forces, enacting illiberal supporting measures and neoliberal economic policies, and expressing unconcealed disdain for anyone who disagrees with them..."The Common Agricultural Policy has ravaged Europeâs country and handed agriculture en masse to corporate farmers."The Common Fisheries Policy has emptied the seas of fish, throwing families that in a lot of cases have relied on the seaâs reward for generations of service out of work."Trade and development policies have benefited EU-based corporations, with negative thought known to the social, economic, and environmental consequences for developing countries..."If the Irish refuse the Lisbon Treaty a second time, they will not be rejecting cooperation between European nations, but rather a specific vision of Europeâs future that is tilted in favor of military and corporate power."- Against the Lisbon Treaty

What Happened to 'Kenny's Sideshow?'http://kennysideshow.blogspot.com/Guardian plots end of ObserverHalf of all the fruit & veg you buy is contaminatedGap factory danger to childrenBirth defects victory

EU Forces

At voltairenet.org , Rick Rozoff, an investigative reporter specialising in NATO affairs, has an article entitled: EU, NATO, US: 21st Century Alliance For Global DominationAmong the points made:1. The EU and USA are in bed together, with the USA being the dominant partner.2. The NATO-EU-US military alliance has regal ambitions and aims to surround Russia.3. Three years ago, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said:"NATO and the EU are creation rather good progress in coordinating the development of modern military capabilities. I am hopeful that we can extend our cooperation to extra area ... such as the Caucasus and Central Asia."(NATO International, March 31, 2005)4. In 2009, Giampaolo Di Paola, Chairman of NATOâs Military Committee, beam of the "need for a new form of world governance in which NATO, the EU, and previous main worldwide organisations have a part to play." (ADN Kronos International [Italy], February 13, 2009)5. The main EU and European NATO states are the previous colonial powers - Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Italy and Germany.

Imperialism 18006. British troops are back in Afghanistan, Iraq and Sierra Leone; French ones in Haiti and Cote dâIvoire; American armed armed armed forces are back in the Philippines.All 26 NATO states have military personnel in Iraq.7. In 2005, the EUâs Javier Solana, previous NATO Secretary General, beam about the EUâs expanding military buildup.He supposed that "by becoming a stronger and additional capable worldwide actor, we will be a better partner for the United States."He beam of the Balkans as the original testing ground for this triumvirate, âThrough our concerted efforts, with the United States and NATO...."(Defense News, November 10, 2005)8. In 2008, the EUâs presidency was supposed by France and Nicholas Sarkozy 'was the prime transporter in approaching for the EU-NATO-US axis at the Bucharest summit'.Bushâs speech at the summit pointed out that "NATO is negative longer a static alliance....It is now an expeditionary alliance that is sending its armed armed forces crossways the world...." (USA Today, April 1, 2008)9. After the summit, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned, "This is....an attempt to form some new worldwide union with a Western core wishing to claim all but UN functions." (Interfax, April 17, 2008)10. The EU is training security personnel in Afghanistan.11. In December 2009, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner confirmed the EUâs role in supplementing US and NATO arms and military involvement in the South Caucasus.12. The EU is becoming included with NATO."The US is ... the central foundation, of NATO."Thus, the EU is "in effect subordinated to Washington."~~

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The 'Read the Bill' Movement

2009-08-02T10:45:00.001-07:00

by Bruce WebbRepublican obstructionists to Obama's agenda have urbanized a new tactic. Seemingly forgetful of how Republican majorties jammed through enormous bills without letting Dems in fact read them, they now insist that every Dem has to read every bit of every bill and additional specially the Health Care Bill. Well in reality that is not that much of a challenge. Behold a typical page of legislation:If you click on the image to get bigger it you will see that is is is quite large print, is double spaced, and much indented. Moreover large parts of it are clear boiler plate, essential to get the exact language in the subsequent U.S. Code correct, but mostly not essential to get the sense correct. I don't mean that you don't need to read bill language carefully, but it is not like reading a 1000 page bill is the equivalent of reading War and Peace.This sample is from the Senate HELP bill which is 175 pages long. Why is it consequently much shorter than the House version? Because it only covers the policy components of establishing the benefits package and administering the Exchange, the bulk of the bill is taken up with various tax provisions, important certainly but not consequently much consequently that you cannot evaluate the policy options without them. Lets look at the book of HR3200 as introduced.http://edlabor.house.gov/documents/111/pdf/publications/AAHCA-BillText-071409.pdfOn page 2 we see that the bill is alienated into Division A - Affordable Health Care Choices and Division B - Medicare and Medicaid Improments. Division A takes up the first 215 pages while Division B takes up the residual 803.I am not saying that Division B is not important otherwise that it doesn't have some contentious pieces, but mostly it is tinkering with programs that already exist, the real policy innovations are in Division A. And if we look at that we see that it is alienated into four Titles. Title 1 - Protections and Standards for Qualified Benefit Plans, Title 2 - Health Insurance Exchange and Related Provisions, Title 3 - Shared Responsibility, and Title 4 -Amendments to the Internal Revenue Code. Of the 215 pages Title 1 takes up pg. 5-71, Title 2 pg. 72-143, Title 3 pg. 143-167. Even at that much of the material is administrative otherwise spelling out specific language changes to current alive code.The Republicans are going to try to make hay out of this 'Have you read the bill' message and to laugh at Obama's offer to take people through the bill "line by line" but there is nothing that laughable about it. Because most of the meat is concentrated in just a small number of sections in Division A, a couple of hours of meeting otherwise browsing is probably enough to get the average Congressman up to speed on this legislation. In fact the biggest frustration is that while the pages are numbered there are negative page keys to translated Section information to pages, but apart from for that this is not that difficult a read.When people make the claim that negative one can really understand a 1018 page bill realize that mostly you don't need to intensely engage with additional than maybe seventy otherwise eighty double spaced, highly concave pages to get a pretty solid grasp of what the bill proposes.
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Federer winning Wimbledon

2009-08-02T02:39:00.005-07:00

What a extraordinary final - now I thought last day was good, but this match was every small piece as good. In winning, Federer has to be the best ever tennis player, his performance was once more brilliant, even if it took until the 77th game to break the Roddick serve. I thought Andy Roddick place up a great show, even after squandering four set points in the second set tiebreak he reserved going right to the end and to lose the final set 15-13 and showed his stubbornness and perseverance. For Andy Roddick to lose three Wimbledon finals must be pretty hard to take, but Federer is a brilliant player, and to win fifteen Grand Slams is an amazing record unlikely to be compressed for a long time to come. I can even see Roger Federer getting to twenty, and given his age he has every chance of achieving even more. Wimbledon is a tournament that produces some great matches each year, and this day was negative exception. As a tennis addict I am always glued to the TV set during Wimbledon fortnight, the only thing absent this day was not seeing Nadal being able to defend his title, and Murray absent out on the final. Hopefully next day will be different but nothing can be taken absent from the triumph of Roger Federer in winning again.
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Lisbon, Ireland...

2009-08-02T02:39:00.003-07:00

Against the Lisbon Treaty

"At the behest of the European Commission, the EUâs powerful unelected executive, member state governments are busy dismantling welfare states, enhancing their military forces, enacting illiberal political measures and neoliberal economic policies, and expressing unconcealed contempt for anyone who disagrees with them..."The Common Agricultural Policy has ravaged Europeâs countryside and handed agriculture en masse to corporate farmers."The Common Fisheries Policy has emptied the seas of fish, throwing families that in many cases have relied on the seaâs bounty for generations of service out of work."Trade and development policies have benefited EU-based corporations, with negative thought known to the social, economic, and environmental consequences for developing countries..."If the Irish reject the Lisbon Treaty a second time, they will not be rejecting collaboration between European nations, but rather a specific vision of Europeâs future that is tilted in favor of military and corporate power."- Against the Lisbon Treaty

What Happened to 'Kenny's Sideshow?'http://kennysideshow.blogspot.com/Guardian plots end of ObserverHalf of all the crop & veg you buy is contaminatedGap plant danger to childrenBirth defects victory

EU Forces

At voltairenet.org , Rick Rozoff, an analytical journalist specialising in NATO affairs, has an article entitled: EU, NATO, US: 21st Century Alliance For Global DominationAmong the points made:1. The EU and USA are in bed together, with the USA being the dominant partner.2. The NATO-EU-US military alliance has imperial ambitions and aims to encircle Russia.3. Three years ago, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said:"NATO and the EU are making rather good progress in coordinating the development of modern military capabilities. I am hopeful that we can extend our collaboration to extra area ... such as the Caucasus and Central Asia."(NATO International, March 31, 2005)4. In 2009, Giampaolo Di Paola, Chairman of NATOâs Military Committee, beam of the "need for a new form of world governance in which NATO, the EU, and other major worldwide organisations have a part to play." (ADN Kronos International [Italy], February 13, 2009)5. The main EU and European NATO states are the former colonial powers - Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Italy and Germany.

Imperialism 18006. British troops are back in Afghanistan, Iraq and Sierra Leone; French ones in Haiti and Cote dâIvoire; American carrying weapons armed armed forces are back in the Philippines.All 26 NATO states have military personnel in Iraq.7. In 2005, the EUâs Javier Solana, former NATO Secretary General, beam about the EUâs increasing military buildup.He supposed that "by becoming a stronger and additional capable worldwide actor, we will be a better partner for the United States."He beam of the Balkans as the original difficult ground for this triumvirate, âThrough our concerted efforts, with the United States and NATO...."(Defense News, November 10, 2005)8. In 2008, the EUâs presidency was held by France and Nicholas Sarkozy 'was the prime mover in approaching for the EU-NATO-US axis at the Bucharest summit'.Bushâs speech at the summit pointed out that "NATO is negative longer a static alliance....It is now an expeditionary alliance that is sending its armed armed forces across the world...." (USA Today, April 1, 2008)9. After the summit, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned, "This is....an attempt to form some new worldwide union with a Western core wishing to claim all but UN functions." (Interfax, April 17, 2008)10. The EU is training security personnel in Afghanistan.11. In December 2009, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner confirmed the EUâs role in supplementing US and NATO arms and military involvement in the South Caucasus.12. The EU is becoming integrated with NATO."The US is ... the central foundation, of NATO."Thus, the EU is "in effect subordinated to Washington."~~

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The 'Read the Bill' Movement

2009-08-02T02:39:00.001-07:00

by Bruce WebbRepublican obstructionists to Obama's agenda have urbanized a new tactic. Seemingly absent-minded of how Republican majorties stuck through enormous bills without letting Dems in fact read them, they now insist that every Dem has to read every small piece of every bill and additional specially the Health Care Bill. Well in reality that is not that much of a challenge. Behold a typical page of legislation:If you click on the image to get bigger it you will see that is is is quite large print, is double spaced, and much indented. Moreover large parts of it are clear boiler plate, necessary to get the exact language in the subsequent U.S. Code correct, but chiefly not necessary to get the sense correct. I do not mean that you do not need to read bill language carefully, but it is not like reading a 1000 page bill is the equivalent of reading War and Peace.This sample is from the governing body HELP bill which is 175 pages long. Why is it consequently much shorter than the House version? Because it only covers the policy mechanism of establishing the benefits package and administering the Exchange, the bulk of the bill is taken up with various tax provisions, important yes but not consequently much consequently that you can't evaluate the policy options without them. Lets look at the book of HR3200 as introduced.http://edlabor.house.gov/documents/111/pdf/publications/AAHCA-BillText-071409.pdfOn page 2 we see that the bill is alienated into Division A - Affordable Health Care Choices and Division B - Medicare and Medicaid Improments. Division A takes up the first 215 pages while Division B takes up the residual 803.I am not saying that Division B is not important otherwise that it doesn't have some controversial pieces, but chiefly it is tinkering with programs that by now exist, the real policy innovations are in Division A. And if we look at that we see that it is alienated into four Titles. Title 1 - Protections and Standards for Qualified Benefit Plans, Title 2 - Health Insurance Exchange and Related Provisions, Title 3 - Shared Responsibility, and Title 4 -Amendments to the Internal Revenue Code. Of the 215 pages Title 1 takes up pg. 5-71, Title 2 pg. 72-143, Title 3 pg. 143-167. Even at that much of the material is administrative otherwise spelling out specific language changes to current existing code.The Republicans are going to try to make food out of this 'Have you read the bill' message and to laugh at Obama's offer to take people through the bill "line by line" but there is nothing that pathetic about it. Because most of the meat is concentrated in just a small number of sections in Division A, a couple of hours of briefing otherwise browsing is almost certainly enough to get the average Congressman up to speed on this legislation. In fact the biggest frustration is that while the pages are numbered there are negative page keys to translated Section information to pages, but apart from for that this is not that difficult a read.When people make the claim that negative single can really understand a 1018 page bill realize that chiefly you do not need to deeply engage with additional than maybe seventy otherwise eighty double spaced, highly concave pages to get a pretty solid grasp of what the bill proposes.
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The 'Read the Bill' Movement

2009-08-01T18:49:00.001-07:00

by Bruce WebbRepublican obstructionists to Obama's agenda have urbanized a new tactic. Seemingly absent-minded of how Republican majorties stuck through huge bills without letting Dems in fact read them, they now insist that every Dem has to read every bit of every bill and more specially the Health Care Bill. Well in reality that is not that much of a challenge. Behold a typical page of legislation:If you click on the image to get bigger it you will see that is is is quite large print, is double spaced, and much indented. Moreover large parts of it are clear boiler plate, necessary to get the exact language in the following U.S. Code correct, but chiefly not necessary to get the sense correct. I do not mean that you do not need to read bill language carefully, but it is not like reading a 1000 page bill is the equivalent of reading War and Peace.This sample is from the governing body HELP bill which is 175 pages long. Why is it consequently much shorter than the House version? Because it only covers the policy components of establishing the benefits package and administering the Exchange, the bulk of the bill is taken up with various tax provisions, important yes but not consequently much consequently that you can't evaluate the policy options without them. Lets look at the text of HR3200 as introduced.http://edlabor.house.gov/documents/111/pdf/publications/AAHCA-BillText-071409.pdfOn page 2 we see that the bill is alienated into Division A - Affordable Health Care Choices and Division B - Medicare and Medicaid Improments. Division A takes up the first 215 pages while Division B takes up the remaining 803.I am not saying that Division B is not important otherwise that it doesn't have some controversial pieces, but chiefly it is tinkering with programs that by now exist, the real policy innovations are in Division A. And if we look at that we see that it is alienated into four Titles. Title 1 - Protections and Standards for Qualified Benefit Plans, Title 2 - Health Insurance Exchange and Related Provisions, Title 3 - Shared Responsibility, and Title 4 -Amendments to the Internal Revenue Code. Of the 215 pages Title 1 takes up pg. 5-71, Title 2 pg. 72-143, Title 3 pg. 143-167. Even at that much of the material is administrative otherwise spelling out specific language changes to current alive code.The Republicans are going to try to make food out of this 'Have you read the bill' message and to laugh at Obama's offer to take people through the bill "line by line" but there is nothing that laughable about it. Because most of the meat is concentrated in just a small number of sections in Division A, a couple of hours of meeting otherwise browsing is almost certainly enough to get the average Congressman up to speed on this legislation. In fact the biggest frustration is that while the pages are numbered there are negative page keys to translated Section information to pages, but except for that this is not that difficult a read.When people make the claim that negative single can really understand a 1018 page bill realize that chiefly you do not need to deeply engage with more than maybe seventy otherwise eighty double spaced, highly concave pages to get a pretty solid grasp of what the bill proposes.
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THE PENTAGON'S FRIEND - PRABOWO?

2009-08-01T18:49:00.000-07:00

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (left) shakes hands with Chinese President Hu Jintao (thejakartapost.)Has Indonesia's president, General Yudhoyono, upset the USA?Has Indonesia's president, General Yudhoyono, upset the USA? Has Indonesia's president, General Yudhoyono, upset the USA?

This is General Prabowo

Indonesia's General Prabowo "is single of the key sponsors of the US-Indonesia Society, a ... group launched in 1994 and backed by the military, US corporations and previous government officials." (Cached )

Indonesia's president, General Yudhoyono, seemed to suggest that the Jakarta hotel bombings of July 2009 might be linked to his supporting rival, General Prabowo.(GENERAL PRABOWO LINKED TO JAKARTA HOTEL BOMBS?)Indonesia's General Prabowo has sometimes tried to persuade the world that there is a great threat from militant Moslems.Would this tie in with what the Pentagon would like us to think? IndonesiansKISDI is a militant Moslem group and it is "closely connected with Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto."(Radical Islam: Suharto proxies otherwise al Qaeda?)Prabowo is not a particularly religious figure.One of his parents was Christian.President Suharto was toppled in 1998.In 1998 single of the key generals was Prabowo, offspring of Dr. Sumitro Djojohadikusumo, a previous Finance Minister.Sumitro is supposed to have helped the British and the Americans to topple President Sukarno.Prabowo learnt about violence at Fort Bragg and Fort Benning in the US.(http://yayasanhak.minihub.org/mot/Prabowo.htm)

IndonesiansIn May 1998, Prabowo was commander of Kostrad, the strategic reserve, the division Suharto commanded when he took power in 1965.Prabowo's friend Muchdi ran Kopassus (special forces) and his friend Sjafrie ran the Jakarta Area Command.The American Defence Secretary, William Cohen, was in Jakarta in January 1998 and he visited Prabowo.The CIA chief had also been a new caller to Jakarta. The CIA and the Pentagon were close to Prabowo.(http://solidarity.igc.org/atc/emily75.html)

IndonesiansOn 18 March 2009, The Jakarta Globe reported on Prabowo and a 'Coup Plot Claim'.(Prabowo, Gerindra Fight Accusations of Past Rights Abuses)"Prabowo Subianto needs to answer allegations that he masterminded a plan to kidnap a group of high-ranking generals as part of a 'counter-coup' in the early 1980s, the governor of the National Resilience Institute, Muladi, said..."A just free book on paper by retired Lt. Gen. Sintong Panjaitan, the previous head of the Army's Special Forces, otherwise Kopassus, claims that in 1983, when Prawbowo was second-in-command commander of the 81 Anti-Terror Detachment, the then-captain alleged that a group of generals was preparation to stage a coup against President Suharto..."Sintong, who was Prabowo's commander in 1983, wrote that he had successfully convinced Prabowo that there would be negative coup and the counter-kidnap plan was aborted..."

IndonesiansPrabowo was once the boss of the Kopassus regiment.In Arena Magazine, April-May, 2004, William Hardiker wrote:"Kopassus ... has a established track record in terrorism."Kopassus armed forces are called winning whenever the most violent and monstrous tasks are deemed essential by Jakarta..."There is little doubt that Kopassus trained the Islamic fundamentalist organisation Laskar Jihhad."~~'DISINFORMATION' ON MANCHESTER UNITED AND THE JAKARTA HOTEL BOMBSManchester United, graft wars and the Udayana Mili...PLOTS IN JAKARTAGladio-style fear in Istanbul, New York, Jakarta...JAKARTA HOTEL BOMBS: WESTERN MEDIA STORY COLLAPSES...Kopassus, Cilacap and the Jakarta hotel bombs.Bashir blames the CIA.THE USE OF PATSIES IN THE JAKARTA HOTEL BOMBINGS?THE USA, ISRAEL AND THE JAKARTA HOTEL BOMBSUSA SEEKS CONTROL OF INDONESIA?ECONOMIC HITMAN IN INDONESIANOORDIN TOP WORKS FOR THE SECURITY SERVICES?GENERAL PRABOWO LINKED TO JAKARTA HOTEL BOMBS?JAKARTA HOTEL BOMBS, THE MILITARY AND THE CIA

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Open thread July 31, 2009 (no GW)

2009-08-01T02:59:00.002-07:00

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Federer winning Wimbledon

2009-08-01T02:59:00.001-07:00

What a extraordinary final - now I thought last day was good, but this match was every small piece as good. In winning, Federer has to be the best ever tennis player, his performance was again brilliant, even if it took until the 77th game to break the Roddick serve. I thought Andy Roddick place up a great show, even after squandering four set points in the second set tiebreak he reserved going right to the end and to lose the final set 15-13 and showed his stubbornness and perseverance. For Andy Roddick to lose three Wimbledon finals must be pretty hard to take, but Federer is a brilliant player, and to win fifteen Grand Slams is an astonishing record unlikely to be beaten for a long time to come. I can even see Roger Federer getting to twenty, and known his age he has every chance of achieving even more. Wimbledon is a contest that produces some great matches each year, and this day was negative exception. As a tennis devotee I am always glued to the TV set during Wimbledon fortnight, the only thing absent this day was not seeing Nadal being able to defend his title, and Murray absent out on the final. Hopefully next day will be different but nothing can be taken absent from the triumph of Roger Federer in winning again.
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Federer winning Wimbledon

2009-07-31T18:44:00.002-07:00

What a extraordinary final - now I thought last day was good, but this match was every bit as good. In winning, Federer has to be the most excellent ever tennis player, his performance was once additional brilliant, even if it took until the 77th game to break the Roddick serve. I thought Andy Roddick put up a great show, even after squandering four set points in the second set tiebreak he reserved going right to the end and to lose the final set 15-13 and showed his tenacity and perseverance. For Andy Roddick to lose three Wimbledon finals must be pretty hard to take, but Federer is a brilliant player, and to win fifteen Grand Slams is an astonishing record unlikely to be beaten for a long time to come. I can even see Roger Federer getting to twenty, and known his age he has every chance of achieving even more. Wimbledon is a tournament that produces some great matches each year, and this day was negative exception. As a tennis addict I am always glued to the TV set during Wimbledon fortnight, the only thing missing this day was not seeing Nadal being able to defend his title, and Murray missing out on the final. Hopefully next day will be different but nothing can be taken away from the triumph of Roger Federer in winning again.
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Open thread July 31, 2009 (no GW)

2009-07-31T18:44:00.001-07:00

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NASTY 'CHINESE EMPIRE'?

2009-07-31T11:01:00.003-07:00

China by StougardChina appears to have some sort of empire, which could be supposed to include such countries as Cambodia, Burma, Zimbabwe and Tibet.1. China is influential in Cambodia.In 1981, Zbigniew Brzezinski, said, "I encouraged the Chinese to support Pol Pot."The US, he said, "winked publicly" as China sent weapons to the Khmer Rouge. (Uncle Sam and Pol Pot)China is becoming a main investor in Cambodia.A huge inflow of Chinese money could 'fuel alive corruption and exploitation in one of the world's poorest countries'. (China's Growing Presence in Cambodia)2. Some people see Burma as being almost a region of China.Although it should be noted that India and previous countries carry on much trade with Burma.China is developing two big projects in partnership with Burma's military government.The first is a tube linking the gas fields off Burmaâs southwest coast with China.A parallel lubricate tube will allow Chinese tankers from the Middle East and Africa to offload their cargoes off Burma.The second project involves a sequence of dams on the upper Irrawaddy River in Burma and between them to the Chinese power grid.(In Burma, China's Presence Grows)China's rulers are not so happy with the Burmese heroin that enters China.3. Chinese workers have moved to Africa.Reportedly, Chinese soldiers can be establish in the Sudan and Ethiopia.(China's accidental territory is a rising danger Bill Emmott.) Some of the places where China has lubricate interests. Tuesday Map: China's lubricate territory FP Passport4. China-Zimbabwe relations date back to 1979 when Robert Mugabe certain China to support him. [1]China, of course, is not the only sponsor of Zimbabwe.Billy Rautenbach, a crony of Robert Mugabe, having reportedly been involved in prowling the Congo is now reportedly prowling Zimbabwe. (Cached)Rautenbach, reportedly, has Jewish origins. (Cached)China has become the biggest buyer of Zimbabwean tobacco.Zimbabwe buys large amounts of military kit from China.China is paying attention in Zimbabwe's supply of platinum.[5]In June 2009, Zimbabweâs prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, supposed that an official had secured lines of credit value $950 million from China.Tsvangirai Says China Is Lending Zimbabwe $950 Million - NYTimes.comChinese firms have contributed kit to eavesdrop on telephone conversations.China supplied a blue tile upper limit for Mr. Mugabeâs house in Harare.According to The New York Times, (Zimbabwe's future: Made in China - The New York Times) "China won a contract to farm 1,000 square kilometers, or 386 square miles, of land seized from white chas ommercial farmers during the land-confiscation program begun by Mugabe in 2000." 5. Tibet could be careful to be a Chinese colony.There have been era when China and Tibet were separate countries.However, in 1950, China invaded Tibet.6. China is becoming more influential in Sri Lanka.The new victory of the Sri Lankan Government over the Tamil Tigers was assisted by the supply of weapons from China.7. Chinese engineers are building a harbour at Gwadar in Pakistan.8. The Chinese are in Iraq."The state-run China National Petroleum Corporation has become the first foreign company to start work in an Iraqi lubricate field after a gap of 30 years."CNPC has launched work on a $3 billion old field development project at the Al-Ahdab oilfield in Iraqâs eastern region of Wasit." (China allowed into Iraq lubricate fields. )9. The Chinese are influential throughout South East Asia."The Chinese make up only 3 for each cent of Indonesia's population. But they control much of the wealth - about three quarters of the dominant conglomerates are Chinese-controlled." (Special report: 'The overseas Chinese' by Simon Long Prospect.)The Chinese are very influential in the business worlds in such countries as Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore.~~
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Per Capita Spending and Life Expectancy Statistics

2009-07-31T11:01:00.001-07:00

by person who reads Sammy âAre Per Capita Spending and Life Expectancy Statistics an accurate measure of US Health Care Efficiency?âProponents of some degree of nationalization of physical condition care generally cite some variation of the next "The US spends additional for each capita on physical condition care than any previous country, and yet has single of the least life expectancies of any developed country" as proof of the need for government intervention. But is that statement meaningful?This University of Iowa study provides some data that casts some serious doubt.Let's break the statement into it's two parts.1) "The US spends additional for each capitaâ¦Yes, but the US makes additional for each capita. They use additional for each capita on LOTS of belongings as GDP increases.So the question is, does the US use additional than âexpectedâ given senior GDP. The study conclusion: âNot Obviousâ as seen by the chart below.(rdan...graph corrected)2) ââ¦.. and yet has single of the least life expectancies of any developed country.â(Rdan...My impression is in comments)This is even additional interesting. The US has far senior fatalities from homicide and transfer accidents than previous countries which impact the life expectancy statistics. While this might have some implications regarding crime otherwise transfer legislation, it does not on Health Care, unless single were to assert that US shock care is dramatically inferior.So the authors controlled for the differing non-health care connected deaths to develop a life expectancy table that could additional precisely reflect the association between physical condition care quality and life expectancy:The US jumps from 15th on the list with a life expectancy of 75.3 to 1st with a life expectancy of 76.9.So single of the central and oft-quoted motivations for government control of physical condition care "The US spends additional for each capita on physical condition care than any previous country, and yet has single of the least life expectancies of any developed country" is quite misleading.
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Per Capita Spending and Life Expectancy Statistics

2009-07-31T02:51:00.001-07:00

by reader Sammy âAre Per Capita Spending and Life Expectancy Statistics an precise measure of US Health Care Efficiency?âProponents of some degree of nationalization of physical condition care generally cite some variation of the next "The US spends additional for each capita on physical condition care than any previous country, and yet has single of the least life expectancies of any urbanized country" as proof of the need for administration intervention. But is that statement meaningful?This University of Iowa study provides some information that casts some serious doubt.Let's break the statement into it's two parts.1) "The US spends additional for each capitaâ¦Yes, but the US makes additional for each capita. They spend additional for each capita on LOTS of belongings as GDP increases.So the question is, does the US spend additional than âexpectedâ given senior GDP. The study conclusion: âNot Obviousâ as seen by the chart below.2) ââ¦.. and yet has single of the least life expectancies of any urbanized country.â(Rdan...My impression is in comments)This is even additional interesting. The US has far senior fatalities from murder and transfer accidents than previous countries which impact the life expectancy statistics. While this may have some implications concerning crime otherwise transfer legislation, it does not on Health Care, if not single were to assert that US trauma care is dramatically inferior.So the authors controlled for the differing non-health care connected deaths to develop a life expectancy table that could additional precisely reflect the relationship between physical condition care quality and life expectancy:The US jumps from 15th on the list with a life expectancy of 75.3 to 1st with a life expectancy of 76.9.So single of the central and oft-quoted motivations for administration control of physical condition care "The US spends additional for each capita on physical condition care than any previous country, and yet has single of the least life expectancies of any urbanized country" is quite misleading.
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Should Nick Clegg stop being Mr Angry?

2009-07-31T02:51:00.000-07:00

Any comment on the performance of a Liberal Democrat leader at prime minister's questions has to be prefaced with a recognition of just how hard the job is. Faced with a noisy, hostile house, and without a dispatch fight to lean nonchalantly upon or much defence from the Speaker, it is close to impossible to shine.Vince Cable scores with his lugubrious humour, but then he is not treated with the same be short of of respect.All that said, I wonder whether Nick Clegg's weekly display of synthetic anger has not reached its sell-by date. You may say that there is a lot to be angry about, but I am not sure that this approach is showing Nick to his most excellent advantage - too often he threatens to topple over into petulance.Nor does this punctual anger chime with the sober approach and incomplete ambitions of A Fresh Start for Britain.The Economist article I quoted from earlier this twilight begins by creation a similar point:Iconoclasm does not come easily to nice and privileged men: this seemed to be a lesson of Nick Cleggâs early efforts as leader of the Liberal Democrats. Staged law-making walkouts and other attempts to distinguish himself from the Conservativesâ David Cameron, the other well-scrubbed young leader on the opposition benches, were mocked as the work of a rookie annoying too hard.But it goes on to suggest that "Mr Cleggâs virtuous anger have to now be an asset".I wonder. More light and shade, and a little humour, may show Nick to better effect. Perhaps he have to try a new approach when the after that law-making season opens?
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THE RUSSIAN-GERMAN ALLIANCE?

2009-07-30T18:46:00.004-07:00

Some East Germans were close to Russia in the past.

The USA must be sad with Germany.Germany and Russia are creation big business deals.And Germany is the biggest power in Europe.

Germany and Russia were provisional friends at the start of World War IIAccording to an article in Newsweek, 25 july 2009, Germany Has Become Russia's Best Friend.http://www.newsweek.com/id/208650German skill will be second-hand to modernise Russia's railway network.Germany's E.On is buying up Russian chat fields. Germany has become Russia's most important trading partner.Germany is not wildly keen on U.S. plans for projectile defense.Germany is helping to block the eastward growth of NATO.Germany's leader, Angela Merkel, speaks Russian.She has an East German background.

Angela's friendAndreas Schockenhoff, deputy whip in the Bundestag for Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats, says: "We can build a bridge between the West and Russia, and end Russia's isolation."In March 2009, Siemens announced it will link with Russia's Rosatom to build as many as a fifth of the world's nuclear power stations.A group that includes Russian-controlled Sberbank and automaker GAZ is to take over take over General Motors' Opel.Thierry Meyssan has written about the career of Merkel.

He points out: Merkel is a previous communist propagandist in the previous East Germany.

She may be linked to the neo-conservatives.

Article here: variable angela merkel

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Federer winning Wimbledon

2009-07-30T18:46:00.003-07:00

What a extraordinary final - now I thought last day was good, but this match was every small piece as good. In winning, Federer has to be the most excellent ever tennis player, his performance was once more brilliant, even if it took until the 77th game to break the Roddick serve. I thought Andy Roddick put up a great show, even after squandering four set points in the second set tiebreak he kept going right to the end and to lose the final set 15-13 and showed his stubbornness and perseverance. For Andy Roddick to lose three Wimbledon finals must be pretty hard to take, but Federer is a brilliant player, and to win fifteen Grand Slams is an astonishing record unlikely to be compressed for a long time to come. I can even see Roger Federer getting to twenty, and given his age he has every chance of achieving even more. Wimbledon is a contest that produces some great matches each year, and this day was negative exception. As a tennis devotee I am always glued to the TV set during Wimbledon fortnight, the only thing missing this day was not seeing Nadal being able to defend his title, and Murray missing out on the final. Hopefully after that day will be different but nothing can be taken away from the triumph of Roger Federer in winning again.
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Should Nick Clegg continue to be Mr Angry?

2009-07-30T18:46:00.001-07:00

Any comment on the performance of a Liberal Democrat head at prime minister's questions has to be prefaced with a recognition of just how hard the job is. Faced with a noisy, hostile house, and without a dispatch fight to lean nonchalantly upon otherwise much defence from the Speaker, it is close to impossible to shine.Vince Cable scores with his sad humour, but then he is not treated with the same be short of of respect.All that said, I wonder whether Nick Clegg's periodical display of synthetic anger has not reached its sell-by date. You may say that there is a lot to be annoyed about, but I am not sure that this approach is showing Nick to his most excellent benefit - too frequently he threatens to topple over into petulance.Nor does this on time anger chime with the sober approach and limited ambitions of A Fresh Start for Britain.The Economist article I quoted from earlier this twilight begins by creation a alike point:Iconoclasm does not come easily to nice and privileged men: this seemed to be a lesson of Nick Cleggâs early efforts as head of the Liberal Democrats. Staged law-making walkouts and previous attempts to distinguish himself from the Conservativesâ David Cameron, the previous well-scrubbed young head on the opposition benches, were mocked as the work of a recruit trying too hard.But it goes on to suggest that "Mr Cleggâs virtuous anger have to now be an asset".I wonder. More light and shade, and a little humour, may show Nick to better effect. Perhaps he have to try a new approach when the after that law-making season opens?
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Inner workings of a PR campaign

2009-07-30T10:40:00.004-07:00

rdanWendall Potter in his new position at the Center for Media and Democracy will hopefully give insights into the inner mechanism of his previous employer, health cover company CIGNA corporation. Bill Moyers has a series of interviews listed where Wendall Potter lays out his case.As a consumer, if predictions come true that premiums double in the after that ten years if we leave the current system in place, (?$30,000 a year? for a family plan), and my wages increase about 15%, rationing and be short of of coverage are guaranteed, including the predictions of plummeting treatment for old people....except it would be done confidentially by companies like BC/BS, by a faceless employee. Intelligent cost control anyone???!!Update: A national average is about 12,800, so a doubling would be less at $25,600/year.
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INDONESIA'S 'MASTERS OF TERROR' ARE SPLIT?

2009-07-30T10:40:00.003-07:00

Indonesians are not always great fans of the military.

Admiral Dennis Blair, currently director of US national intelligence, reportedly obtainable the Indonesian military increased help at the time when its troops and militias were murdering innocent civilians in East Timor.(Obamaâs Indonesia question )Admiral Blair presumably is a fan of certain Indonesian generals.Former universal Prabowo Subianto, who heads the Gerindra Party, "has waged lip-service to democratic principles, but most observers believe that his vote as president would lead Indonesia onto the path of neo-authoritarianism." (Chaos and consolidation )(See article by Dirk Tomsa).General Wiranto "has pledged his faithfulness to the democratic system, but leaders of his Hanura Party (Peopleâs Conscience Party) have privately fixed their ambition to roll back democratic reforms achieved since 1998." (Chaos and consolidation ) Indonesians are more often than not liberal and welcoming and in favour of democracy.Reportedly, in Italy, there are various powerful 'families', who do not always see eye to eye.Reportedly, in Indonesia, the military includes various 'factions'.Reportedly, in Indonesia, certain right-wing generals are not very happy with President Susilo Yudhoyono, who is a previous general, and a little small piece of a reformer.In Indonesia, in the first half of 2009, there was a presidential vote campaign, involving at smallest amount 4 generals, including Susilo Yudhoyono, Prabowo and Wiranto.Reportedly, some of the military have had an 'Anyone But Susilo Yudhoyono' campaign.

The generals are more often than not allied to the rich elite; and that apparently suits the Pentagon.Tempo Magazine (No. 24/IX February 10-16, 2009) (SBY vs The TNI: War of Whispers [+Editorial: After the ABS Rumor] )tells us:"RUMORS abound that presidential candidates from the ranks of retired generals are creation use of their ex-subordinates' faithfulness to form supporting lobbies..."PRESIDENTIAL spokesperson Andi Mallarangeng long-established that the information on military notables who had been engaged in the 'Anyone but 'S' for President' otherwise ABS campaign did enter the Palace..."In early 2009, "Army Chief of Staff, General Agustadi Sasongko Purnomo gathered around 200 retired generals in the Balai Kartini in Jalan Gatot Subroto, Jakarta."Present were, among others, previous Army Chief of Staff, Gen. (ret) Ryamizard Ryacudu..."Reportedly, at the time of the Bali bombings, single of the generals who just happened to be in Bali was army chief of staff Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu. [Jakarta Post, 1/3/2003; Pacific Media Watch, 3/31/2003] (Ryamizard Ryacudu)Back in November 2004, Susilo Yudhoyono appeared not to be in favour of Ryamizard Ryakudu becoming military chief. (http://www.infid.be/military_topjob.htm Source The Jakarta Post)

Yudhoyono "reshuffled Indonesia's top nerve in training for US-educated army chief Djoko Santoso to take over the military in place of the xenophobic successor apparent General Ryamizard Ryacudu." (Canberra eyes military ties with Jakarta - Military Photos)

Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu was not taught in the USA and is suspected by some as being hostile to aspects of American policy.Ryamizard Ryacudu apparently sent a warning signal to the public at the Army's birthday on 22/12/03.(http://www.infid.be/election_ryacudu.htm)"If there is a deliberate attempt to divide the nation," said Ryacudu, the son-in-law of previous Vice President and retired universal Try Sutrisno, "the army should step in."Around that time, there had been a clash between the Army's airborne unit and the police in Binjai, North Sumatra; and clashes between units in Sulawesi; and Kalimantan.

Manchester United, graft wars and the Udayana Mili...PLOTS IN JAKARTAGladio-style fear in Istanbul, New York, Jakarta...JAKARTA HOTEL BOMBS: WESTERN MEDIA STORY COLLAPSES...Kopassus, Cilacap and the Jakarta bar bombs.Bashir blames the CIA.THE USE OF PATSIES IN THE JAKARTA HOTEL BOMBINGS?THE USA, ISRAEL AND THE JAKARTA HOTEL BOMBSUSA SEEKS CONTROL OF INDONESIA?ECONOMIC HITMAN IN INDONESIANOORDIN TOP WORKS FOR THE SECURITY SERVICES?GENERAL PRABOWO LINKED TO JAKARTA HOTEL BOMBS?JAKARTA HOTEL BOMBS, THE MILITARY AND THE CIA

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The Economist on Nick Clegg

2009-07-30T10:40:00.001-07:00

From the new Economist:Mr Clegg influences politics in two ways that depend little on his partyâs electoral showing, however. If the next election yields a hung parliament, the Lib Dems might enter administration in alliance with either of the big parties. Even if they lose MPs (and a lot of of their southern ones are susceptible to the Tories), they need only hang on to third place for Mr Clegg to remain kingmaker-in-waiting.This consideration no doubt plays a part in the governmentâs hints that it is pondering a referendum on a âfairerâ voting system. The Lib Dems crave full-blown proportional representation but might decide the best chance of any reform lies with Labour.Mr Clegg can also shift the supporting debate in his direction. His campaign on behalf of veteran Gurkhas, the Nepalese soldiers who serve Britain, forced a administration u-turn in April. The decision of some Lib Dems to monitor police conduct during the G20 protests was seen as pretentious by many, but it was vindicated by events. Mr Clegg was also the first party head to call for the acceptance of Michael Martin, the previous speaker of the House of Commons, who duly stood down in June.His outrider status might prove as powerful on matters of tax and spend. He has named administration schemes he wants scrapped (baby bonds) or shrunk (the nuclear deterrent). The fiscal disaster might yet force the two big parties to be as specific.
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Samuel Danks Waddy: An apology

2009-07-30T03:34:00.004-07:00

In the last week's House Points I wrote that Samuel Danks Waddy was "MP for Barnstaple 1874-9, for Sheffield 1879-80 and for Edinburgh 1882-5".I am afraid I short-changed him. If I had read my earlier redistribution on him properly I would have known that he was also MP for Brigg from 1886-94.Sorry, Sam.
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Federer winning Wimbledon

2009-07-30T03:34:00.003-07:00

What a extraordinary final - now I thought last day was good, but this match was every bit as good. In winning, Federer has to be the most excellent ever tennis player, his performance was once more brilliant, even if it took until the 77th game to break the Roddick serve. I thought Andy Roddick place up a great show, even after squandering four set points in the second set tiebreak he reserved going right to the end and to lose the final set 15-13 and showed his stubbornness and perseverance. For Andy Roddick to lose three Wimbledon finals must be pretty hard to take, but Federer is a brilliant player, and to win fifteen Grand Slams is an amazing record unlikely to be compressed for a long time to come. I can even see Roger Federer getting to twenty, and known his age he has every chance of achieving even more. Wimbledon is a tournament that produces some great matches each year, and this day was negative exception. As a tennis devotee I am always glued to the TV set during Wimbledon fortnight, the only thing absent this day was not seeing Nadal being able to defend his title, and Murray absent out on the final. Hopefully next day will be different but nothing can be taken away from the triumph of Roger Federer in winning again.
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Raising the Social Security Earnings Cap: Four Options Scored by SSA

2009-07-30T03:34:00.001-07:00

by Bruce WebbI have not posted on Social Security for a while for a pretty simple reason. Nothing has been going on. Until nowadays when Social Security free the following Policy Brief: Distributional Effects of Raising the Social Security Taxable Maximum. This policy brief analyzes the effects on taxpayers and Social Security beneficiaries of either eliminating the taxable maximum (tax max) for Social Security otherwise raising it to a level consequently that 90 percent of all Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI)â"covered earnings would be subject to the payroll tax. Under together scenarios it is possible to either work out benefits based on the current-law tax max (no max and max 90) otherwise to credit the new taxable amounts toward benefits (no max plus benefits and max 90 plus benefits). Historically Social Security had tapped the top 90% of income. Due to the skewing of income we have seen over the last couple of decades that percentage is down to about 84%. Various plans including LMS and the Obama preliminary plan have suggested adjusting the cap upwards, with otherwise without a donut hole, either to the traditional 90% level otherwise following Medicare with negative limit at all. Additionally there has been debate whether this cap increase should be accompanied by extra benefits. This study finally, thankfully puts some numbers in play. Those paying attention should read the whole thing. The current future payroll gap is 2.00%. An increase to a 90% level with negative increase in benefits, which is in the range of what together LMS and the Obama cap increases propose, fills only about half of the gap. On the previous hand extending FICA to all income with negative increase in benefits backfills the whole thing. Personally I still favor the Northwest Plan that would leave the capp unchanged, but for those who would like to play mix and match at this time is your opportunity. (The tables are easier to read in the HTML version, these are copied from the PDF).
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Platform Souls by Nicholas Whittaker

2009-07-29T18:44:00.002-07:00

In single of my much mourned (by me at least) columns for the New Statesman website I wrote that in a just world Nicholas Whittaker's Platform Souls would have complete for trainspotting what Fever Pitch did for football.The book was also a strong influence on Professor Strange when he gave his thoughts on trainspotting and autism.I have just discovered that the whole of Platform Souls is available on the web, so you can enjoy it for yourself:

In December 1994 a man found guilty of stealing rare bird eggs was described by the trial as a kind of `railway spotter' - single additional step in the demonisation process and a rather menacing one. It's single thing to make fun of a man for taste trains, but to use him as a typecast for a criminal is surely dangerous.

The trouble is, people have never beyond that Michael Sams, the infamous kidnapper/murderer, was a quiet man whose hobby was trainspotting. Such things sink into the collective subconscious and stay there...

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Federer winning Wimbledon

2009-07-29T18:44:00.001-07:00

What a extraordinary final - now I thought last day was good, but this match was every small piece as good. In winning, Federer has to be the best ever tennis player, his performance was again brilliant, even if it took until the 77th game to break the Roddick serve. I thought Andy Roddick put up a great show, even after squandering four set points in the second set tiebreak he kept going right to the end and to lose the final set 15-13 and showed his stubbornness and perseverance. For Andy Roddick to lose three Wimbledon finals must be pretty hard to take, but Federer is a brilliant player, and to win fifteen Grand Slams is an astonishing record unlikely to be compressed for a long time to come. I can even see Roger Federer getting to twenty, and given his age he has every chance of achieving even more. Wimbledon is a tournament that produces some great matches each year, and this day was negative exception. As a tennis addict I am always glued to the TV set during Wimbledon fortnight, the only thing absent this day was not seeing Nadal being able to defend his title, and Murray absent out on the final. Hopefully next day will be different but nothing can be taken absent from the triumph of Roger Federer in winning again.
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PLOTS IN JAKARTA

2009-07-29T18:44:00.000-07:00

Image from: blog.zulsdesign.com/category/politic/The Jakarta hotel bombs could be the work of elements of the Indonesian military, in association with a foreign power?In July 2006, Indonesia's Tempo Magazine knowledgeable its readers of the discovery of weapons and ammunition at the home of General Koesmayadi, who had died rather suddenly.The weapons were enough to arm two companies of soldiers. (Brig. Gen. Koesmayadi.)There were rumours that the weapons were to be second-hand in a plot against President Yudhoyono."It is not unthinkable that they were to be second-hand for a coup dâetat, sold, or channeled to separatist movements," said Yuddy Chrisnandi, a member of the House's Defense Commission.According to Tempo Magazine: "Suspicions of a coup are based on the high level of rivalry within the TNI (the military), between those who support President Yudhoyono and those who oppose him."General Prabowo and Megawati, who stood against General Yudhoyono in the 2009 presidential election, claim that 28.5 million votes for President Yudhoyono were invalid.General Wiranto is also not happy with the vote result as his group came third.The campaign team of Megawati Sukarnoputri and Prabowo Subianto has lodged lawful action demanding that the Constitution Court cancel President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyonoâs conquest and order new elections. - Mega Demands Showdown With SBYBack in in May 1998, it was President Suharto who was in trouble.Rumour had it that the army was split between supporters of General Wiranto and supporters of General Prabowo.Word was that on the streets there were three rival forces: Wirantoâs tanks, Prabowoâs tanks and the tanks of the marines.Reportedly Wiranto went to President Suharto on the twilight of the 20th of May and told him that he, Suharto, no longer had the support of the army.Allegedly Wiranto also beam at some point to Habibie, who took over from Suharto, and insisted that Prabowo have to be demoted.Some weeks later there were press reports of a dramatic incident that allegedly happened late on the twilight on May 21st, 1998.According to a 'senior military official', General Prabowo, accompanied by troops, arrived at the presidential palace and demanded that he be complete boss of the armed forces.One report beam of a loyal army officer serving Habibie and his family make their escape from the palace.What we do know is that, on May the 22nd, Prabowo was sacked as head of Kostrad while Wiranto remained as chief of the armed forces.~~
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Federer winning Wimbledon

2009-07-29T10:51:00.003-07:00

What a extraordinary final - now I thought last day was good, but this match was every small piece as good. In winning, Federer has to be the best ever tennis player, his performance was once additional brilliant, even if it took until the 77th game to break the Roddick serve. I thought Andy Roddick place up a great show, even after squandering four set points in the second set tiebreak he reserved going right to the end and to lose the final set 15-13 and showed his stubbornness and perseverance. For Andy Roddick to lose three Wimbledon finals must be pretty hard to take, but Federer is a brilliant player, and to win fifteen Grand Slams is an astonishing record unlikely to be compressed for a long time to come. I can even see Roger Federer getting to twenty, and known his age he has every chance of achieving even more. Wimbledon is a tournament that produces some great matches each year, and this day was negative exception. As a tennis addict I am always glued to the TV set during Wimbledon fortnight, the only thing absent this day was not seeing Nadal being able to defend his title, and Murray absent out on the final. Hopefully after that day will be different but nothing can be taken away from the triumph of Roger Federer in winning again.
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PLOTS IN JAKARTA

2009-07-29T10:51:00.001-07:00

Image from: blog.zulsdesign.com/category/politic/The Jakarta bar bombs could be the work of elements of the Indonesian military, in league with a foreign power?In July 2006, Indonesia's Tempo Magazine knowledgeable its readers of the discovery of weapons and ammunition at the home of General Koesmayadi, who had died rather suddenly.The weapons were enough to arm two companies of soldiers. (Brig. Gen. Koesmayadi.)There were rumours that the weapons were to be second-hand in a plot against President Yudhoyono."It is not unthinkable that they were to be second-hand for a coup dâetat, sold, otherwise channeled to supporter of independence movements," said Yuddy Chrisnandi, a member of the House's Defense Commission.According to Tempo Magazine: "Suspicions of a coup are based on the high level of competition within the TNI (the military), between those who support President Yudhoyono and those who oppose him."General Prabowo and Megawati, who stood against General Yudhoyono in the 2009 presidential election, claim that 28.5 million votes for President Yudhoyono were invalid.General Wiranto is also not happy with the vote result as his group came third.The campaign team of Megawati Sukarnoputri and Prabowo Subianto has lodged legal action demanding that the Constitution Court cancel President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyonoâs conquest and order new elections. - Mega Demands Showdown With SBYBack in in May 1998, it was President Suharto who was in trouble.Rumour had it that the army was split between supporters of General Wiranto and supporters of General Prabowo.Word was that on the streets there were three rival forces: Wirantoâs tanks, Prabowoâs tanks and the tanks of the marines.Reportedly Wiranto went to President Suharto on the twilight of the 20th of May and told him that he, Suharto, negative longer had the support of the army.Allegedly Wiranto also beam at some point to Habibie, who took over from Suharto, and insisted that Prabowo should be demoted.Some weeks afterwards there were press reports of a dramatic incident that allegedly happened late on the twilight on May 21st, 1998.According to a 'senior military official', General Prabowo, accompanied by troops, arrived at the presidential palace and demanded that he be made boss of the carrying weapons forces.One report beam of a faithful army officer serving Habibie and his family make their escape from the palace.What we do know is that, on May the 22nd, Prabowo was sacked as head of Kostrad while Wiranto remained as chief of the carrying weapons forces.~~
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Federer winning Wimbledon

2009-07-29T02:51:00.004-07:00

What a remarkable final - now I thought last day was good, but this match was every small piece as good. In winning, Federer has to be the most excellent ever tennis player, his performance was once additional brilliant, even if it took until the 77th game to break the Roddick serve. I thought Andy Roddick place up a great show, even after squandering four set points in the second set tiebreak he kept going right to the end and to lose the final set 15-13 and showed his stubbornness and perseverance. For Andy Roddick to lose three Wimbledon finals must be pretty hard to take, but Federer is a brilliant player, and to win fifteen Grand Slams is an amazing record unlikely to be compressed for a long time to come. I can even see Roger Federer getting to twenty, and known his age he has every chance of achieving even more. Wimbledon is a contest that produces some great matches each year, and this day was no exception. As a tennis devotee I am always glued to the TV set during Wimbledon fortnight, the only thing missing this day was not seeing Nadal being able to defend his title, and Murray missing out on the final. Hopefully after that day will be different but nothing can be taken away from the triumph of Roger Federer in winning again.
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Sex Scandals

2009-07-29T02:51:00.003-07:00

Politicians seem to be repeatedly involved in 'sex scandals'.And this might sometimes suit the bad guys who like to manipulate the politicians.1. The USA's President James Buchanan, who was apparently gay, lived for a lot of years with William Rufus King, an Alabama Senator. (David Rosen: America's Top 10 Sex Scandals)In 1831, Abraham Lincoln met Billy Greene and they shared a bed. (Abraham Lincoln)2. One of the latest scandals involves Republican Senator Paul Stanley, McKensie Morrison and naked photos.3. Reportedly there is a list of top Indian politicians who use a certain gender ring.On 28 July, 2009, the Chief Minister of Indian Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, submissive over allegations that he was involved in a gender trafficking and juvenile prostitution racket.In 2006, in Kashmir, pornographic videos of juvenile girls were reportedly circulated throughout the region.Since May 2009, Omar's administration has faced protests over the rape and murder of two Muslim girls.Their families have blamed the security armed forces for the crime.:. The J&K Legislative Assembly otherwise a Seedy Brothel?. The Spectator recently told us about some supporting scandals in the UK, and we list some of these below.Top 50 Political Scandals: Part One The Spectator Top 50 supporting scandals The Spectator4. In 1998 we learnt about Derek Draper, an consultant to top UK politician Peter Mandelson.Draper reportedly said: 'There are 17 people who matter - and to say that I am intimate with every single of them is the irony of the century.'Draper said: "I was interested in politics."And shaggingâ¦ ideally, the two belongings together."Go to conference, pull the fittest young woman from Labour students, make a speech. My idea of heaven."5. In 1986, the Daily Star accused Jeffrey Archer, the UK Tory Party's second-in-command chairman, of paying Â£2,000 to Monica Coghlan, a prostitute.6. In 1991, UK Prime Minister John Major successfully sued Scallywag and the New Statesman for suggesting that he had had an matter with the Downing Street cook.Major launched a 'back to basics' campaign which encouraged support for usual morality and the family.Between 1984 and 1988, Major had an matter with Tory MP Edwina Currie. had been lovers.Major claimed that his wife, Norma, had long known of his affair.7. Robert Boothby had an matter with Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's spouse and a gay matter with an East End gangster, Ronnie Kray.Macmillan complete Boothby a peer in 1958.

8. Jeremy Thorpe became head of the UK Liberal party in 1967.In 1961 Thorpe had met Norman Scott.Scott claimed that Thorpe had gender with him, an act that was against the law at that time.Allegedly, in 1975, an 'assassin' was borrowed to kill Scott.The killer killed Scottâs afflict and was establish guilty of firearms offences.Thorpe was place on trial for conspiracy to murder but was establish not guilty.9. John Profumo was the UK's Secretary of State for War.Lord Astor was a man who held sexy parties at Cliveden, his stately home.Stephen Ward was an osteopath and buyer of girls for top people. He might otherwise might not have been a spy for MI6 otherwise the Russians otherwise both.One of Ward's friends was Christine Keeler.Yevgeny Ivanov was a Russian naval officer and 'spy'.Christine Keeler met John Profumo at Cliveden in 1961.Christine had an matter with together Profumo and the Russian, Ivanov.One night, a West Indian called Johnny Edgecombe arrived at Stephen Wardâs house and began shooting at the door.Eventually, Stephen Ward was arrested and he then died in mysterious circumstances.Before long, Harold Wilson, who had a lot of connections to Israel, had become Prime Minister.

(Reportedly, Dr Stephen Ward had an MI5 controller, Keith Wagstaffe.Reportedly, Sir Colin Coote, Editor of the Daily Telegraph and a previous officer in MI6, was responsible for introducing Ward to Ivanov 'at the request of his old service', MI6. - PROFUMO, John - Spy School Bios.Reportedly, Ward and prostitute Ronna Ricardo came upon a paedophile ring run by Anthony Blunt. - Cached.Mandy Rice-Davies was befriended by Stephen Ward and became involved in 'The Profumo Affair'.Later she opened two night clubs in Israel called Mandy.-http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp62873.Mandy was the mistress of Peter Rachman, alleged by single source to be a Mossad agent.Reportedly, J. Edgar Hoover was aware that 'the Ward circle included a lot of extremely well known Americans and girls such as Suzy Chang and Mariella Novotny who had been bedded by President John F. Kennedy.' PROFUMO, John - Spy School Bios.Who gained from the Profumo Affair? Harold Wilson became UK Prime Minister.Anatoli Golitsin, a spy who defected from the KGB, claimed that Hugh Gaitskell was murdered in 1963 so that Harold Wilson, a 'KGB agent' and friend of Israel, could become head of the Labour Party.)

10. By 2003, Mark Oaten had become the UK Liberal Democrat home relationships orator and he was tipped as a future party leader.In 2004, the wedded Oaten began seeing a rent boy.In 2006, Oaten attempted to become the head of the the Liberal Democrat Party.The News of the World told Oaten they knew about his rent boy, his three-in-a-bed romps and a âbizarre gender act too revolting to describeâ.(Coprophilia is "an abnormal, frequently compulsive interest in excrement, especially the use of feces for sexual excitement.")11. In 1992, the Sun reported an matter that Paddy Ashdown, then head of the Liberal Democrats, had had with his previous secretary.In his autobiography, Ashdown admitted that he lost his virginity to his maths tutor when he was aged 14.(Reportedly, Ashdown was a spy for MI6. -Sir Paddy Ashdown Politics guardian.co.uk)12. Ron Davies was a UK administration minister.In 1998 he was robbed after seeking gay gender with a stranger on Clapham Common in London.13. In 1958, Ian Harvey was parliamentary undersecretary of state at the Foreign Office.In 1958 he was establish in the bushes in St Jamesâs Park in london with a member of the Coldstream Guards.14. David Blunkett was the UK Home Secretary, in charge of home relationships and MI5.In 2004, it was exposed he was having an matter with a wedded woman, Kimberly Quinn, publisher of The Spectator, and that she was pregnant.15. John Prescott was the UK's Deputy Prime Minister.Prescott had had an matter with his diary secretary, Tracey Temple.Tracey claimed that she and Prescott had gender in the office while civil servants carried on working outside the open door.

16. Cecil Parkinson, a wedded man, was a favourite of UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.Thatcher reportedly wanted him to become foreign secretary, the man in charge of MI6.Parkinson's career suffered a setback after he confessed to Thatcher that his secretary Sara Keays was pregnant with his child.17. It was exposed that UK administration minister David Mellor had enjoyed free holidays gratitude to the offspring of a PLO official.It was then exposed that Mellor had had a relationship with Spanish actress Antonia de Sancha.The previous revelation most likely led to the disturbance of Mellor's career.18. Lord Lambton was parliamentary undersecretary of state at the UK's Ministry of Defence.He was photographed in bed.He was smoking a certain medicine and he was with two call-girls.19. Alan Clark was single of the UK administration ministers involved in the 'arms to Iraq' affair.He was cited in a divorce case in which he had sexual relations with the spouse of a South African judge and together of her two daughters.20. Robin Cook became UK Foreign Secretary in 1997, and thus was in charge of MI6.(In 2005, he wrote in The Guardian newspaper that al Qaeda was simply the CIA list of the people who worked for the CIA in Afghanistan. Cached Robin Cook: The struggle against violence can't be won by military means UK news.)Within four months of becoming Foreign secretary, The News of the World exposed that the wedded Robin Cook had a mistress.~

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Vince Cable calls for big banks to be broken up

2009-07-29T02:51:00.001-07:00

Sage words from the Lib Dem shadow chancellor on BBC Newsnight Scotland yesterday:

Lib Dem Treasury orator Vince Cable has supposed large banks such as Lloyds and RBS have to be broken up as they pose too great a risk to the taxpayer. ...

Mr Cable supposed it was unhealthy to have banks of that scale.

He supposed they have to be split up before they are returned to private ownership.

He also criticised the combination of normal banking, such as business lending and advance payments, and so-called casino banking

"These two belongings have to not co-exist in the same institution ....

"It is highly unstable. It means the British taxpayer is underwriting very unsafe high-risk activities, consequently for that reason alone they have to be split up."

Why is the Labour administration consequently timid when this is clearly what ought to be done?
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HR3200 Sec 116: Golden Bullet? or Smoking Gun?

2009-07-28T18:47:00.005-07:00

by Bruce WebbOn Sunday the CBO free a letter addressed to Rep. Dave Camp, the Ranking Member on Ways and Means, which among previous things measured the impact of HR3200 (the House Tri-Committee Health Care Affordability bill) and a public alternative on employer covered insurance. On net it turns out that they project additional people on employer waged cover than current law. Additional Information Regarding the Effects of Specifications in the Americaâs Affordable Health Choices Act Pertaining to Health Insurance CoverageI give the link for anyone who wants to explore some of those issues. But in this post I want to explore one stipulation that seems to have contributed to this outcome. Now there has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth among the Single Payer Now! contingent that HR3200 with otherwise without a public alternative just is a enormous bonus to the private cover companies by providing them with a individual mandate that delivers millions of new customers without cost controls with the end result that cover companies will just cherry pick their way to billions in profits. Now if they would have paused for a second to wonder why people like Kennedy and Waxman would just sell them out this way they might have been tempted to examine the bill language. But since there was negative such pause I guess I will have to step in. So in re-examining the bill the past I came crossways this section whose import I had kind of missed before.http://edlabor.house.gov/documents/111/pdf/publications/AAHCA-BillText-071409.pdf pg. 24-25SEC. 116. ENSURING VALUE AND LOWER PREMIUMS. (a) IN GENERAL.â"A fit physical condition benefits plan shall meet a medical loss relation as defined by the Commissioner. For any plan year in which the fit physical condition benefits plan does not meet such medical loss ratio, QHBP offering entity shall give in a manner specified by the Commissioner for rebates to enrollees of payment enough to meet such loss ratio. (b) BUILDING ON INTERIM RULES.â"In implementing subsection (a), the Commissioner shall build on the definition and method urbanized by the Secretary of Health and Human Services under the amendments complete by section 161 for determining how to work out the medical loss ratio. Such method shall be set at the uppermost level medical loss relation possible that is intended to make sure adequate participation by QHBP offering entities, competition in the physical condition cover market in and out of the Health Insurance Exchange, and value for consumers consequently that their premiums are second-hand for services. Why is this the Golden Bullet for those of us pushing the Public Option? And why contrawise is it reason for the cover companies to go ballistic? Well a little discussion of that under the fold.This provision, if implemented correctly, almost completely strips the ability of cover companies to combine cherry picking and premium increases to continue the enormous profits they garner today. What it does is to establish a minimum 'medical loss ratio' which in simpler terms means a set relation of care in fact waged for to premiums collected. If by whatever means whether that be gaming the risk pool consequently an to only cover people unlikely to make claims otherwise by denying coverage to insurees on a case by case foundation your medical loss relation drops below an recognized level the cover company has to rebate the difference. In practice this prevents cover companies from just arbitrarily jacking up rates and simultaneously takes the profit out of cherry-picking the risk pool. In a express this Sec automatically limits profits by establishing indirect price controls. Which is not going to make the cover industry happy.To see how this works. Under HR3200 Sec 111 bans limitations based on pre-existing conditions, Sec 114 mandates equal coverage for mental physical condition and substance abuse treatment (p. 23), Sec 113 establishes strict limits on altering premiums crossways the risk pool (p.21), while section 112 guarantees enrollment and renewal, i.e. negative additional canceling people who in fact dare to claim coverage for getting seriously ill. Now cynics can and do argue that cover companies are extraordinarily accomplished in working their way around these kind of restrictions and this is true enough. On the previous hand the better they are at ducking the requirements of Secs 111-114 the additional exposed they are to our Sec 116.Lets say you have a company that against all law and regulation manages to have a plan that only in practice enrolls healthy adults old 25-35 who hardly ever if ever use much physical condition care. Under the current system this result yields ideal profits with collections but negative payouts. Under Sec 116 your profits would be limited to the medical loss ratio. The answer for the cover companies is to make up the difference with volume, the incentives are there to give cover as opposed to denying it.Sec 116 would not eliminate all gaming as companies would still have an advantage if they shift their very high cost insurees over to the public option. But from the perspective of the administration these are exactly the pool of people likely to end up on medicaid otherwise qualifying for Medicare under Social Security disability anyway, for them the Public Option might just be a way station while they wait to qualify for DI.What does this have to do with the CBO Report cited? Well Sec 116 prevents the Public Option from sketch too much of the overall pool away from the private plans not since it doesn't have the ability to undercut them on cost, but since it armed forces them to compete for their share of the overall pool otherwise risk seeing their gross profits squeezed.I am still annoying to work out in my head where the limits are here, and where the sweet spot for assessment the dimension of your coverage pool vs level of care the company ends up having to pay, but on a top down look it seems like cover companies under something close to HR3200 end up creation money by insuring people and not by denying coverage in whole otherwise in part. It transforms the industry into a straight service industry from its current predatory model.Sec 116: Golden Bullet for coverage, Smoking Gun for profits. It just depends which side of the divide you come down on.
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Federer winning Wimbledon

2009-07-28T18:47:00.004-07:00

What a extraordinary final - now I thought last day was good, but this match was every bit as good. In winning, Federer has to be the most excellent ever tennis player, his performance was once more brilliant, even if it took until the 77th game to break the Roddick serve. I thought Andy Roddick place up a great show, even after squandering four set points in the second set tiebreak he reserved going right to the end and to lose the final set 15-13 and showed his stubbornness and perseverance. For Andy Roddick to lose three Wimbledon finals must be pretty hard to take, but Federer is a brilliant player, and to win fifteen Grand Slams is an amazing record unlikely to be compressed for a long time to come. I can even see Roger Federer getting to twenty, and given his age he has every chance of achieving even more. Wimbledon is a tournament that produces some great matches each year, and this day was negative exception. As a tennis addict I am always glued to the TV set during Wimbledon fortnight, the only thing absent this day was not seeing Nadal being able to defend his title, and Murray absent out on the final. Hopefully after that day will be different but nothing can be taken away from the triumph of Roger Federer in winning again.
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Kingpin

2009-07-28T18:47:00.003-07:00

The bin Ladens."Before Osama bin Laden became the worldâs most required terrorist, he was the worldâs biggest heroin kingpin..."Enter Mohamed Atta..."Atta chose as his U.S. base Huffman Aviation, a flight train in minute Venice Florida, a modest business of no particular note (it has never grossed additional than two otherwise three million dollars a year) which had just been sold to two men we have then erudite have deep connections into global organized crime."http://www.danielhopsicker.tvUS troops back on patrol in IraqIsrael ignores U.S. pleas to settle Iranian nuclear dispute diplomatically

"The Finnish Speaker of the Parliament Sauli Niinisto beam of the furtive campaign underway - indeed almost completed - to pull his nation into an increasing worldwide military alliance despite its citizens not only being opposite to but not even aware of it." - Afghanistan: Training Ground for War on Russia Police release Jakarta bombings suspect

Divorce hurts for life: Stress of breaking up harms your physical condition even if you find love again, says study

Street child

Will mass use of Tamiflu leave Britain all but defenceless as swine influenza becomes resistant?

Government Swine Flu Advisor On Vaccine Maker Payroll

Government bug expert waged Â£116k by Tamiflu anti-viral makers

Big Pharma: Baxter Files Swine Flu Vaccine Patent a Year Ahead of Outbreak

Swine influenza is a man complete bug ?

Former American ally.

Errol Flynn was a Nazi spy, says author

The Zionist Gang that Bankrupted General Motors

Busted: The Orthodox Criminal Network

Andrew 'was waged Â£3m more' for Southyork 'to lobby for Kazakh premier'

Is Obama ineligible to be President as he was not born in America?

Osama bin Laden's neice

Gladio-style terror in Istanbul, New York, Jakarta...

JAKARTA HOTEL BOMBS: WESTERN MEDIA STORY COLLAPSES...

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Cheese in space bid fails

2009-07-28T18:47:00.001-07:00

From the Daily Mail:

"We think it's somewhere in the East of England - possibly in Essex otherwise Hertfordshire", said Dom Lane, of the West Country Farmhouse Cheesemakers' Group. "We required to take a take pictures of of a piece of cheddar floating majestically in the firmament with the curve of the Earth below it."

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Federer winning Wimbledon

2009-07-28T10:56:00.001-07:00

What a extraordinary final - now I thought last day was good, but this match was every small piece as good. In winning, Federer has to be the best ever tennis player, his performance was once additional brilliant, even if it took until the 77th game to break the Roddick serve. I thought Andy Roddick place up a great show, even after squandering four set points in the second set tiebreak he reserved going right to the end and to lose the final set 15-13 and showed his tenacity and perseverance. For Andy Roddick to lose three Wimbledon finals must be pretty hard to take, but Federer is a brilliant player, and to win fifteen Grand Slams is an astonishing record unlikely to be beaten for a long time to come. I can even see Roger Federer getting to twenty, and given his age he has every chance of achieving even more. Wimbledon is a contest that produces some great matches each year, and this day was negative exception. As a tennis devotee I am always glued to the TV set during Wimbledon fortnight, the only thing absent this day was not seeing Nadal being able to defend his title, and Murray absent out on the final. Hopefully after that day will be different but nothing can be taken absent from the triumph of Roger Federer in winning again.
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Federer winning Wimbledon

2009-07-28T02:40:00.001-07:00

What a extraordinary final - now I thought last day was good, but this match was every small piece as good. In winning, Federer has to be the most excellent ever tennis player, his performance was once more brilliant, even if it took until the 77th game to break the Roddick serve. I thought Andy Roddick put up a great show, even after squandering four set points in the second set tiebreak he reserved going right to the end and to lose the final set 15-13 and showed his tenacity and perseverance. For Andy Roddick to lose three Wimbledon finals must be pretty hard to take, but Federer is a brilliant player, and to win fifteen Grand Slams is an amazing record unlikely to be compressed for a long time to come. I can even see Roger Federer getting to twenty, and given his age he has every chance of achieving even more. Wimbledon is a contest that produces some great matches each year, and this day was negative exception. As a tennis addict I am always glued to the TV set during Wimbledon fortnight, the only thing absent this day was not seeing Nadal being able to defend his title, and Murray absent out on the final. Hopefully after that day will be different but nothing can be taken away from the triumph of Roger Federer in winning again.
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James Robertson Justice has left the building

2009-07-27T18:48:00.003-07:00

My newest quiz has now closed.Thank you to everyone who entered. The winner will be announced on Liberal England this evening.
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Worst Tax Ever

2009-07-27T18:48:00.001-07:00

Robert WaldmannThe AP writes on the current state of negotiations in the 6 member Baucus Bipartisan ad hoc committee. Their plan includes an idea that is not as good as that I imagined possible. I mean that literally.Officials also supposed a bipartisan compromise would not subject companies to a penalty if they declined to offer coverage to their workers. Instead, these businesses would be necessary to repay the administration for part otherwise all of any federal subsidies intended to help lower-income employees get insurance on their own.This would be the most regressive tax ever. If I am an employer and I do not provide physical condition insurance than my tax liability is higher if the family income of my employee is lower. More regressive than a poll tax (Baroness Thatcher must be put out that she didn't think of it). What's not as good as it depends on family income.Let's say I do not provide insurance and have two job applicants one is a single mother and the other is a man with a low salary but a high income wife (say Bill Clinton when he was working as governor of Arkansas for $30,000 per year). I hire the guy, since he cannot get subsidized physical condition insurance consequently I do not have to give him insurance otherwise pay him a dime. This is the Baucus Grassley jobs only for people who do not need jobs preliminary draft bill of 2009. I swear even if I tried, I couldn't come up with an policy suggestion that bad.Oh gracious conference group save us from the foolishness of these Northmen (and Snowe).
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Harry Potter beaten by guinea pigs

2009-07-27T10:43:00.005-07:00

That J. K. Rowling has a strange imagination.Anyway, congratulations to the Press Association for winning Headline of the Day.
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