Day: June 8, 2008

Mediterranean Union

This was propsed by the president of France, but it is not anything new. A similar organization was proposed by Turkey back in the 1980’s and was a no go. Sarkozy has gotten closer than anyone else. But is this a good idea?
Mediterranean countries due to launch a regional union next month have yet to agree an overall vision for the project and questions remain over Israel’s role, Algeria’s foreign minister said.

France proposed a Union for the Mediterranean last year to boost ties with the European Union’s southern neighbors and improve cooperation on trade, security and migration. The project is due to be unveiled in Paris on July 13.

Arab states are worried that joining with Israel in the union would imply a normalization of ties with the Jewish state.

“The membership of Israel was among questions we discussed and clarifications were urged on this,” Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci said after a meeting of Mediterranean foreign ministers in Algiers.

a news conference after a two-day meeting in Algiers of the 11-nation Mediterranean Forum, which includes France, Spain, Egypt, Malta, Greece, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, Tunisia and Turkey.

The union under discussion is a scaled-back version of the original proposal which would have grouped only states with a Mediterranean coastline and involved nine new agencies and a bank.

Bush’s Boy To Run For Afghan Presidency

Now here is a story for the movies……oil man insider….Washington insider…runs for president of Afghanistan…now would that not be just the absolute end?

In his time, he has been President George Bush’s point man in Baghdad, Kabul and the UN, as well as a lobbyist for both the Taliban and international oil companies. Now Zalmay Khalilzad is preparing to run for the presidency of his native Afghanistan.

Representatives of Mr Khalilzad, currently US ambassador to the UN, have discreetly sounded out various factions to ascertain his chances in the election scheduled for 2009. Although the incumbent, Hamid Karzai, is expected to run again, he is increasingly unpopular at home while his Western backers see him as ineffectual against the Taliban.Speculation about the 56-year-old Mr Khalilzad’s political ambitions sparked into life when he gave a TV interview, saying he was placing himself “at the service of the Afghan people”. He was also said to be considering resigning from his post at the UN. The highest-ranking Muslim in the US administration, he was made the effective viceroy of Afghanistan after the 2001 invasion by President Bush before being moved on to Iraq to sort out the mess left by Paul Bremer.

Diplomatic sources agree that Mr Khalilzad seems to be using his UN post to pave the way for a run at the Afghan presidency. He was accused of undermining the prospect of Paddy Ashdown becoming the UN representative in Afghanistan because he didn’t want a heavyweight international figure, controlling a huge budget, as a potential rival.

Now Can The Change Begin?

We now have our presumnptive Repub and Dem nominees.  One is called a maverick, but yet he voted with Bush 95% of the time and the other in a fresh new face that may not be corrupted by the system in Washington, yet.  Both promise to bring change in one form or another, but is this a new thing, a new ideal for government?  Hell no!  Candidates have been promising that since the beginning of this experiment.

Carter in 1976 was all about change–a snooze at best.  Bush, both of them were all about change…ROFLMAO!  It is a common theme if you want to be elected…promise something new and different and once elected you play the game as is.

Now the question is will either of the two candidates really bring change?  Look at the Repub–do not think there is much change in that platform.  Now the Dem–the biggest question mark is this candidate.  He does not have enough record to judge accurately….but that could be something in his favor…I have said for months now that the only way to judge him if elected is his choice for VP…that IMO, will be the most telling thing.

Just remember:  CHANGE is just a word….it is often used…but seldom delivered!

The Economy Is Bombing

The US economy lost 49,000 net jobs in May and the official unemployment rate shot up by half a percentage point in the sharpest month-to-month increase since 1986, according to figures released Friday by the Labor Department. Oil prices rocketed upwards the same day, posting an increase of more than $10 a barrel.

The steep jump in unemployment — from 5.0 to 5.5 percent — came as a surprise to analysts, who had been predicting an increase rise of only 0.1 percent. May’s net payroll reduction followed a drop of 28,000 jobs in April, and was the fifth consecutive monthly fall. Payrolls have fallen by 324,000 since the year began.

Factory payrolls were reduced by 26,000 last month, after a fall of 49,000 jobs in April,. The overall reduction in manufacturing jobs will be exacerbated by job cuts at General Motors, where most of the 19,000 workers who took a recent buyout package are scheduled to stop working by July 1.

The housing and financial downturns also took a toll on employment figures; housing contraction payrolls fell by 34,000, after a drop of 52,000 in April. The service sector lost 8,000 jobs, and retail dropped by 27,000 jobs, while a further 1,000 jobs were lost in the finance. These figures correlate with the latest consumer confidence numbers, which dropped to their lowest level in 15 years. Consumer spending growth likewise reached its lowest level since the 2001 recession.

There have been similar rises in long-term workforce reduction announcements, with the firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas recently reporting that 100,000 job cuts were announced in May, 17 percent higher than the same month in 2007. A number of major US airlines announced significant cuts this week; most recently Continental Airlines, which said Thursday that it would cut 3,000 jobs, or seven percent of its workforce.

The steady increase in unemployment and fall in payrolls underscores the possibility of a severe US recession materializing in the coming months — an outcome that certain analysts had of late been discounting — and complicates problems for the Federal Reserve, which this week suggested that it might raise rates to shore up the dollar and limit US exposure to soaring commodities prices.

Here it comes….here it comes……the Admin’s 19th nervous breakdown…..

Clinton Endorses Obama (Finally)

Sen. Hillary Clinton conceded the Democratic presidential nomination to rival Sen. Barack Obama on Saturday, suspending her groundbreaking campaign to become America’s first female president with a vow to work tirelessly to elect the first black president.

“Today, I’m standing with Sen. Obama to say, ‘Yes, we can,’ ” Clinton said, using Obama’s own signature slogan to endorse the presumptive nominee, who bested her in a grueling campaign that began 17 months ago with her as the front-runner.

The way to continue our fight now to accomplish the goals for which we stand is to take our energy, our passion, our strength and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama the next president of the United States,” she declared. “Today, as I suspend my campaign, I congratulate him on the victory he has won and the extraordinary campaign he has run. I endorse him and throw my full support behind him, and I ask you to join me in working as hard for Barack Obama as you have for me.”

Clinton said, “This has been a tough fight, but the Democratic Party is a family, and now it’s time to restore the ties that bind us together and to come together.”

She was generous in her praise of the onetime rival whose fitness to serve as the country’s chief executive and commander in chief she once questioned. “I’ve had a front-row seat to his candidacy, and I have seen his strength and determination, his grace and his grit,” she said.

Ok I was mistaken!  She has endorsed Obama and made nice-nice, but what will the outcome be?  Come on Clintonistas–someone tell me what you think.  First, everyone was pissed and now they are silent…is that good or bad?  Will the 25% that said they will vote for McCain, actually do just that?  Where are the verbaslly challenged that were so pissed last Sunday?

Weekly News UpDate

Just in case you missed the absolutely worthless info that mainstream media had to offer.

1–Yawn! More auto crashes, chases and whatever else one can do in a car.

2–2 guys rob a 7-11 wear ladies thing underwear on their heads—but were they clean?

3–Do you really care that Brad-gelina are having twins?

4–Fired in Kansas, Los Angeles, Sacrament

5–And yet more sh*tty weather–rain, wind and tornadoes

6–and other assorted worthless bullsh*t that absolutely NO one cares about….

Political Quote Of The Week

This week I found a quote by Ambrose Bierce and is an excellent definition of politics.

Politics: A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.
Ambrose Bierce

Just watch politics unfold and you will see that this quote is by far the most accurate observation on what politics is really all about.