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Sunday, September 28, 2008
10:24:03 AM PDT
Feeling Angry
Hearing None
The Financial Crisis, The Bail Out And Your Survival
I tell any college student and professional person I know that they
should take a course on "Money and Banking" as an important part of
their training regardless of what their path of education is. This
course gets into the technical mechanisms of how banks interact with
each other and the central banks of their respective countries. It is
dry and sometimes boring technical material. It also shatters all the
concepts we have of how an economy works.
To
make a long story short, no bank has the money to cover all of its
deposits. If all the depositors showed up on the same day demanding
their money, the whole system would collapse. Banks continue in
business by leading the depositors to believe that their money is
always safe. The word CONFIDENCE is the key to everything. Once
confidence fails, you have an economic collapse.
The Federal
Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke is a great student of the Great
Depression of the 1930's. He even wrote his PhD thesis on the subject.
He understands intimately the forces that can cause another Great
Depression.
People often ask me to explain how the Great
Depression happened. I answer in one sentence. "It was the perfect
storm." There were three elements that came together to create this
economic disaster. The first was the erection of trade barriers between
nations. High import duties were charged by almost every country on
goods coming from other nations. International trade came to a
standstill. The second element of the perfect storm was the collapse of
the stock market bubble in the late 1920's. The third element was the
reaction of regulators who raised interest rates and put all sorts of
restrictions on the stock market. These conservative economic policies
included allowing banks to fail and "letting the free market work
things out."
All of the actions above caused everyone from the
top to the bottom in societies to lose confidence. The result was a
decade of economic suffering and a recovery that took decades more.
This
current bailout is an effort to restore and maintain confidence. In
this respect, it will work for the short term. The $700 billion dollar
price tag is low. At the end of the day the costs will go to over $1.5
trillion dollars or more. Banks and some Wall Street firms will
survive. Those that do will be frightened on new lending. Only the very
best borrowers will get credit. The program will not stimulate lending
and get the backlog of houses on the market sold. It will not stop
foreclosures. Another expensive program will be demanded to achieve
this goal.
As the printing press turns out more and more money,
inflation will rise. Foreign holders of US debt will get more and more
anxious. They will quietly begin to liquidate more and more of their
treasury bonds. This will make it harder for the US government to raise
money to finance the huge deficits that are coming. The dollar will no
longer be the reserve currency of the world. The US will go from being
a credit society to being a cash society where savings is well
respected.
If we do nothing, we will have many more bank
failures. Unemployment could accelerate to 20% or more. Social unrest
will increase to dangerous proportions. It will be a perfect political
background for the rise of another Hitler or Stalin.
Even if
this bailout stops a collapse, we are going to see the middle class
disappear and all societies become like most of Latin America where
people are either rich or very lower-middle class and poor.
What
caused this current crisis? It is easy to point to President Bush. He
is the commander-in-chief and he is ultimately responsible. However the
roots of this crisis began in 1999 when President Clinton signed the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. This legislation swept away the Depression-era
law known as the Glass-Steagall Act. It deregulated banks. At the time,
Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota predicted that it would lead to a
disaster in 10 years. He was right.
This act created super
banks such as JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup. These
banks started to engage in risky lending but have survived this melt
down Other banks that copied them have failed.
Alan Greenspan
and the Bush administration did little to regulate this new free market
economy. The results have been disastrous. The infection of subprime
mortgages has spread all over the world. The only country I know of
that was smart enough to avoid this temptation is South Africa.
So
how do you and your family survive in this crisis? I am a great admirer
of the Mormon church. They have some wonderful survival principles that
they learned the hard way when they were exiled to the Utah desert in
the 1800's. They urge every family to store 6 months of food and
necessities such as toilet paper.They also encourage families to keep
part of their savings in gold and silver. I would not keep such
valuable at home as this always invites a robbery. South Africa has an
excellent brokerage firm named Imara SP Reid.(www.imaraspreid.co.za)
This would be a good place to buy and store your gold. You should also
look at the website www.kitco.com.
I would add to this advice
about your home. Either pay if off in full or leverage it as much as
you can. In the inflation that will follow you will be able to use your
house as an inflation hedge or pay off the loans with cheaper and
cheaper dollars.
You will also need to keep liquidity in a solid
foreign currency. This will not be the US dollar. I would recommend the
Canadian dollar or the Norweigan Kroner. Please look at banks in
Ireland and Austria.
At the end of the day you will see the US move to be more like Europe where state socialism is a part of the life.
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Wednesday, September 10, 2008
12:56:04 PM PDT
Feeling Anxious
Hearing Bloomberg.com
President Bush's Financial House Of Cards Is Collapsing!!
My readers, last week the US Treasury Department took over Fannie Mae
and Freddie Mac. They assumed liabilities of over $5 trillion US
dollars. This is over one half of the current US national debt. We now
see Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual Bank teetering close to
failure. Another government bailout is looming. We also have the
spectre of trillions of dollars in credit fault swaps that could go bad.
Despite
all of this bad news, the US dollar has shot up against other
currencies. Gold and oil prices are dropping. It seems as if everyone
around the world has buried their heads in the sand and thinking it is
all business as usual.
It reminds me of Singapore in early 1941.
As two Japanese armies moved down the Malay Peninsula to take the
city,the elites of Singapore were seen having parties at such venues as
the world-famous Raffles Hotel. No one believed that their island city
paradise would fall into Japanese hands. No body took notice of the
fact that all of the RAF personnel were being evacuated quietly to
Australia. None gave much thought to the sinking of British capital
ships by Japanese aircraft. When the Japanese armies stormed into the
city, the party was over a huge hangover lasting over four years
followed. Many of the people attending these parties did not live to
see their liberation by the Allies.
What happens here when the
party is over? We will have a Singapore-style hangover lasting 4-5
years. The first casualty will be the crash of the US dollar. The
authorities will either let it fall or raise interest rates
astronomically to try to attract investors. In either scenario, the
American people will suffer a drop in living standards that they,most
likely, will never recover from. Unemployment will rise to over 12%.
Foreigners will come in and buy American firms and properties at
bargain basement prices. The poor will suffer immensely.
How did
such circumstances come to be. A weak and stupid man assumed the
presidency in 2001. He got a majority in the senate and in congress.
This gave him carte blanche
to do what ever he wanted. With all of this power and authority, he
could have created a United States that would continue to lead the
world throughout the 21st century. Instead, he raised the national debt
from $4 trillion to over $9 trillion dollars. He embarked on a
senseless war inIraq that cost us over $1 trillion dollars and the
loss of our prestige and respect all over the world. He let his friends
in the congress and the senate give out all sorts of money to their
rich friends. He did nothing to stop the loss of $1 trillion dollars
per year due to the importation of foreign oil. He was "asleep at the
wheel" when $10 trillion dollars in questionable real estate loans on
homes and commercial property were made.
To add to the madness, the US voters are getting ready to elect John McCain so "the party" can go on for four more years.
How
can you protect yourself against all of these problems. You need to own
gold. You need to have your cash savings in a very stable currency like
the Norweigan Kroner. Store six months of food in the house. If your
house is paid off, leave it that way. If you owe a lot of money on your
house, just sit and relax. Inflation will eat up a lot of the debt and
the government will bail out your mortgage.
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Sunday, July 20, 2008
11:01:38 AM PDT
Feeling Adventurous
Hearing tv shOWS
Some Hope For Zimbabwe Economy
Billions of rands could pour into Harare
By Fiona Forde
African Union commissioner Jean Ping held a round of secret talks with
President Robert Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara in
Harare on Saturday in a bid to secure agreement on power-sharing talks
due to get under way in the coming days.
In his separate meeting with each of the party leaders, Ping appealed
to them to sign a memorandum of understanding that will guide a
two-week round of intensive talks to negotiate a political solution to
the crisis.
The signing ceremony would take place in Harare and pave the way for
the talks to move immediately to a secret location in South Africa.
Although Zanu-PF and the Mutambara faction of the MDC reiterated their
willingness to sign, Weekend Argus understands Tsvangirai outlined a
number of concerns that continue to pose problems for his
participation.
"There are still a number of things we asked for that aren't there," he said.
However, he would not say when he would be in a position to join his rivals at the table.
Ping told the party leaders he was meeting with them in his capacity as
AU commissioner and as the AU representative to the newly-appointed
reference group which Thabo Mbeki constituted on Friday.
The group is also made up of special representatives from the SADC and
the UN and is intended to interact with Mbeki's facilitation at a
strategic level on an ongoing basis as talks proceed.
Should the talks produce a negotiated settlement, Harare stands to
attract billions of rand in the near future from Zimbabwe's main
donors.
Weekend Argus understands Britain has committed R15 billion, America
has pledged R11,4-billion, the United Nations Development Plan a
further R6bn and the European Union R3-billion, with more in the
offering from a number of other sources, all under the guise of a
rescue plan.
From those four sources alone, Harare stands to attract at least
R35-billion in the near future, an enormous amount of money for a
country that has been miraculously staving off economic collapse for a
number of years.
It is a sum that will be hard to ignore in the future talks.
The bulk of the money carries stringent conditions, however, and the
ultimatum that it will not be released until Mugabe steps down.
US officials have repeatedly said they are only willing to lend a hand in a post-Mugabe Zimbabwe.
When the EU chief for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel,
announced his package some weeks back, he stipulated a similar
condition, saying that while the money would be available, it would
only be committed vis-a-vis "a post-Mugabe assistance plan in union
with our African partners".
However, it remains to be seen whether the world's superpowers would
consider a power-sharing authority of some sort, which seems
increasingly likely, rather than veto the prospect of stability.
What is also unclear are the intentions of the incoming US
administration and whether the future US president would be willing to
assist Zimbabwe, even with Mugabe in some ceremonial role. - This article was originally published on page 2 of Cape Argus on July 20, 2008
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Friday, July 18, 2008
10:23:55 AM PDT
Feeling Confident
Hearing None
A Great Leader Reaches An Incredible Milestone
Nelson Mandela marks 90th birthday with call for South Africa to help the poor
By Sebastien Berger in Johannesburg
Last Updated: 5:47PM BST 18/07/2008
Nelson Mandela has marked his 90th birthday by appealing for his fellow South
Africans to do more for the poor who have seen few material benefits from
his victory against apartheid.
"Poverty has gripped our people," said Mr Mandela at his rural home
in Qunu, surrounded by gifts from well-wishers. "If you are poor, you
are not likely to live long.
"There are many people in South Africa who are rich and who can share
those riches with those not so fortunate who have not been able to conquer
poverty."
Mr Mandela was speaking deep in the impoverished Eastern Cape province, with
the family he was separated from during the 27 years he spent in prison
after being convicted of terrorism.
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He promised "a better life for all" when he was elected president in
the country's first democratic elections in 1994, but even 14 years later
three in 10 South African households do not have running water, and one in
five do not have electricity.
By contrast a relatively small group of black South Africans, many of them
with political connections, have become extremely wealthy – the so-called "black
diamonds".
Amid the formal and informal events marking his birthday, the anniversary has
prompted some observers to contrast the hopes of 1994 with the
fractionalisation of the governing African National Congress and the mixed
record of Mr Mandela's successor Thabo Mbeki as president.
In an editorial, the Mail and Guardian newspaper said: "The sweet
celebration of a life of leadership, service and generosity is mixed with
the sour taste of a legacy being polluted in front of the old man's tired
eyes."
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Wednesday, July 16, 2008
9:13:14 AM PDT
Hearing XM Radio's Starbuck;s Cafe
Dr. Michael DeBakey--An Incredible Life!
Tulane Talk > July 14 , 2008 > > Over the weekend we lost one of the most distinguished alumni in the history of Tulane University. Dr. Michael DeBakey, who would have been 100 years old in September, passed away Friday night at Methodist Hospital in Houston. > > Shock seems an odd word to use when you receive such news concerning someone so advanced in years. But for such an extraordinary man, who was responsible for so many advances, who counted among his patients Richard Nixon, Lyndon B. Johnson, John F. Kennedy and Jordan's King Hussein, who was performing heart surgery into his 90s and who, just a few months ago, received the Congressional Gold Medal, shock is, for me, an appropriate emotion. Gratitude for a life well-lived and the honor of having known Dr. DeBakey is another. > > I had the great pleasure of first meeting Dr. DeBakey about 10 years ago. I remember that initial meeting like it was yesterday. We met in his Houston office and I was immediately impressed by his personal warmth, genius and physical presence (at 90 no less). He regaled me with life stories that were inspirational, humorous and heart warming. We became immediate friends and saw each other about once a year for each of the last 10 years. I will forever remember him as a giant among men and a person who made a profound difference in the lives of so many. > > Dr. DeBakey's was a life filled with "firsts." A native of Lake Charles, La., Dr. DeBakey earned his undergraduate and medical degrees from Tulane University and, from 1937 to 1948, was a faculty member of our School of Medicine's Department of Surgery. While still a 23 year-old medical student at Tulane, Dr. DeBakey invented a pump for blood transfusions that was used in the first successful open-heart operation. > > By World War II, Dr. DeBakey had achieved a national reputation as an authority on vascular disease and had a promising career as a surgeon and teacher. However, he put this career on hold and volunteered for military service, joining the Surgeon General's staff and rising to the rank of colonel and chief of the Surgical Consultants Division. It was here that Dr. DeBakey's recommendations led to the development of MASH units responsible for saving the lives of so many of our military. > > After the war, Dr. DeBakey's proposal to create specialized medical centers to treat wounded veterans evolved into the Veterans Affairs Medical Center System. In 1948, Dr. DeBakey joined the Baylor University College of Medicine, where he developed the first surgical residency program in the city of Houston. In 1953, DeBakey performed the first successful procedures to treat patients who suffered stroke-causing aneurysms and later developed a series of innovative surgical techniques for the treatment of aneurysms. > > In 1964, Dr. DeBakey performed the first successful coronary bypass operation and was named chairman of the President's Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer and Stroke by President Lyndon Johnson. Two years later, Dr. DeBakey was the first to successfully use a partial artificial heart for a patient who could not be weaned from a heart-lung machine following open-heart surgery. > > In 1968, Dr. DeBakey supervised the first successful multi-organ transplant, in which a heart, both kidneys and lung were transplanted from a single donor into four separate recipients. Dr. DeBakey also pioneered the field of telemedicine with the first demonstration of open-heart surgery transmitted overseas by satellite. > > In 1969, President Johnson honored Dr. DeBakey with the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction and in 1985 President Ronald Reagan conferred on him the National Medal of Science. Dr. DeBakey also worked with NASA engineers, refining existing technology to create the DeBakey Ventricular Assist Device, which may eliminate the need for heart transplantation in some patients. > > Believe it or not, this is just a partial list of Dr. DeBakey's achievements and accomplishments. The countless lives he touched and saved during both his time on earth and for generations to come, offer the most eloquent testimony to his greatness. These lives include the hundreds of Tulane medical students and residents Dr. DeBakey welcomed to Baylor College of Medicine, which gave our medical students a place to continue their education as Tulane recovered from Katrina. > > I was honored to know Dr. DeBakey personally and to count him as one of Tulane's most distinguished alumni. We were fortunate to have him as part of our community and our memories of his greatness and humanity will always serve as an inspiration for a life worth living. > > Scott
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Wednesday, June 25, 2008
9:07:28 AM PDT
Feeling Happy
Anglo American Corporation Announces A New $400 Million Investment In Zimbabwe
Anglo defends Zim investment
Jun 25 2008 2:37PM
Sherilee Bridge
Johannesburg
- Resources giant Anglo American on Wednesday said it was "deeply
concerned" about the current political situation in Zimbabwe, and
condemned the violence and human rights abuses that are taking place. This response comes after UK media reports that Anglo planned
to make what is believed to be the largest foreign investment in
Zimbabwe to date despite the British government's pressure on companies
to withdraw from the country. According to UK daily The Times, Anglo's decision to invest $400m (R3.2bn) in the Unki platinum mine in Zimbabwe has
outraged certain shareholders and politicians.
"The
foreign office was investigating tonight whether the company's
investment breached sanctions against Zimbabwe. Anglo insisted that its
involvement in the country did not break the law," the newspaper
reported. But Anglo said it was in full compliance with all relevant
national and international laws relating to its activities in Zimbabwe.
Anglo American has been an investor in Zimbabwe for 60 years and the Unki platinum project has been in development since 2003.
Regarded
as a long-term investment, the mine is yet to start production and is
not expected to generate revenues for some years. "Anglo American is monitoring the situation in Zimbabwe
very closely and is reviewing all options surrounding the development
of the project," the company said in a statement. Anglo said it had been made clear that if it ceased to
develop this project, the government of Zimbabwe would assume control
of the potential mine. "Anglo American has a clear responsibility to protect the
well-being of its more than 650 employees and contractors, as well as
their families and all those who depend indirectly on the activity
around the project, all of whose livelihoods would be jeopardised
should the company withdraw from Zimbabwe," Anglo stressed. It added that the responsible development of the Unki mine
would create a long-term viable business that would be important to the
economic future of Zimbabwe for years to come. The company hopes Unki will be producing platinum by 2010.
Zimbabwe
is rich in mineral resources and has the world's second-largest
deposits of platinum, but most large miners are avoiding the country or
have put their investments on hold. The Times reported that Rio Tinto, the world's
second-largest miner, with a diamond mine in Zimbabwe, said it would
put its investment on hold until after president Robert Mugabe steps
down. - I-Net Bridge Written by llanero90
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8:51:03 AM PDT
Feeling Happy
Hearing Bloomberg
Zimbabwe's Congo Mine Raid--An Amazing Story!!
Zimbabwean Raiders Reveal A Huge Profit Opportunity In Congo's Mines
By Manraaj Singh,
First published on Tuesday, June 24, 2008
When Robert Mugabe invaded and looted the Congo, he
killed Zimbabwe's economy - and accidentally started a chain of events
that are set to benefit investors as well as the Congolese people. Let
me explain...
Another day and the crisis in Zimbabwe deepens. Yesterday, the
United Nations passed a resolution "regretting" the election violence
in Zimbabwe, opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has taken sanctuary
in the Dutch embassy, and dear Robert Gabriel Mugabe seems determined
to steam-roll ahead to "victory". It's a sorry state of affairs in a
once-promising country...
Now if you get your news from the mainstream media, you would
probably think that the whole political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe
started began when Mugabe and his supporters began seizing white-owned
farms as part of his land-redistribution "reforms" in 2000.
To understand what's really going on in that blighted country,
though, you actually have to go back a little further, to 1996 - the
year that Mugabe sent Zimbabwean troops into the Congo. That set-off a
chain of events that has plunged this once-prosperous country into
chaos, but it also opened-up a massive profit opportunity in the Congo
for savvy investors. Let me explain...
In 1996, with a civil war raging in the supposedly Democratic
Republic of Congo, Robert Mugabe sent in thousands of Zimbabwean troops
to prop-up the tottering regime of the country's erstwhile president,
Laurent Kabila. In return, Mugabe and his cronies were given access to
the enormously rich mining region of southern Congo.
It was a fabulously profitable adventure for Mugabe and his cronies
who made a fortune looting the mines and selling arms to the Congolese
government. But the cost of the military operation destabilised the
Zimbabwean economy. Inflation skyrocketed; and with casualties mounting
and the country's health system collapsing, the majority of Zimbabweans
opposed the war. On the streets and in the villages, the one-time
independence hero began to be mockingly referred to as "King Robert".
So, Mugabe and his cronies hit on a brilliantly simple idea to win back
popular support - land reform.
With about 4000 white families controlling the majority of the
country's most fertile land, something was bound to happen at some
point. But the timing of Mugabe's move and the way in which it was
carried out was all about shoring-up support for his increasingly
unpopular regime. I'm not going to focus on Mugabe and his land
"reforms" though. Instead let's go back to the Congo - because that's
where the old tyrant has opened-up a massive profit opportunity for us.
You see, when Mugabe sent his troops into the Congo, among the
biggest beneficiaries were two of his white Zimbabwean business
cronies: Billy Rautenbach and John Bredenkamp.
You might actually recognise Bredenkamp's name. Thanks to the
wonderful non-dom policy in this country, he used to appear on the
Times Rich List. In 2002, he appeared at number 33, with a personal net
worth of £720 million. He owned an estate in Berkshire and a townhouse
in Chester Square, just a stone's throw away from Margaret Thatcher's
house.
Bredenkamp once captained the Rhodesian Rugby team and married a
former Miss South Africa. He made his fortune in the tobacco-broking
business with his firm Casalee, and gained a reputation for his skill
at avoiding the international sanctions on Rhodesian tobacco. He also
helped the Rhodesian government break sanction to purchase arms for use
against Robert Mugabe's African nationalist movement. But it didn't
take long for him to build friendly ties with the Mugabe regime once it
came into power. In fact, Bredenkamp gained a bit of a reputation as
Mugabe's "white svengali".
Bredenkamp was named by a UN report investigating the exploitation
of Congo's mines by Zimbabwean interest and was investigated by the
Serious Fraud Office here in the UK during their investigation of arms
company BAE (formerly British Aerospace). Bredenkamp was BAE's agent in
southern Africa and is said to have received huge kickbacks for his
efforts...
The other great crony-in-chief was Zimbabwean businessman, Billy
Rautenbach. Rautenbach is a former race-car driver and transport
magnate and he's now wanted for fraud in South Africa. But in the late
90's, Mugabe arranged for him to be appointed chairman of the Congo's
state-run mining company.
That put him in an excellent position to engage in a bit of
asset-stripping with some of the most lucrative mines in the Congo
ending-up in his pocket. Crucially, for us, that broke the Congolese
government's monopoly on the mining industry - and other firms have
since stepped-in.
That's where our next Profit Hunter recommendation comes in. You
see, following the end of the Congo's civil war, this company took
advantage of the changes in the country's mining regime to secure
control of mining assets that could be worth up to £128 billion! Right
now, though, this company has only got a market capitalisation of about
£1.38 billion - so the profit potential here is huge.
We're now getting ready to release our latest Profit Hunter
recommendation. And its going to give you a chance to get your hands on
a slice of the Congo's incredible mineral wealth without having to go
marching in at the head of an army or running the risk of UN sanctions.
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Monday, June 23, 2008
12:12:15 PM PDT
Feeling Anxious
Hearing Bloomberg
Former Congressman Pete McCloskey
Saturday morning, I had the great pleasure of having breakfast with
former Congressman Pete McCloskey. He is an incredible "80 years
young." Pete comes from an "old money" California family that built a
castle in Pacifica,California after the 2006 earthquake.
Pete
went to high school at South Pasadena High School in Pasadena,
California. He graduated from college in 1950. He was commissioned as a
Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps. The Korean War broke out.
He found himself on a ship going from San Diego to Japan and finally to
Pusan, South Korea. One of his fellow Second Lieutenants was Pat
Robertson, who went on to fame as a tele evangelist. Pat was the son of
a US Senator. He was taken off the boat in Japan and made a liquor
officer.
Pete went on to Korea. He rose to the rank of Captain
and became a company commander. In various battles, he had 58 men
wounded or killed. One man was captured. Pete earned a Purple Heart for
his wounds in battle. As a matter of interest, when Pete "shipped out"
for Korea, he left his wife and baby daughter in the care of none other
than John Ehrlichman who would go on to be one of Richard Nixon's
"right hand men" in the White House.
After his military service
finished, Pete enrolled at Stanford Law School. He classmates included
William Rehnquist (later Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court), Sandra
day O'Connor (Later US Supreme Court Justice) and other luminaries.
After graduation from Stanford Law School, Pete became an assistant
district attorney in Alameda County, California. He went on to form his
own law firm. It is now the largest private law firm in California.
In
1967, the Republican Party approached Pete. They asked him to do what
most would consider a suicide mission. They asked him to challenge
former child movie star Shirley Temple Black in a district that had
been Democratic for decades. Pete accepted the challenge. He organized
a grass roots political organization. When the dust had settled and the
votes were counted, Pete had won.
He quickly realized that he
had to carry out the wishes of his constituents when he went to
congress. He established himself as a liberal Republican opposed to the
Vietnam War and Richard Nixon. In 1972 Pete even ran for President in
opposition to Richard Nixon. He had a distinguished 16 year career in
Congress before he went back to private life.
One year ago, he
became so disillusioned with the Bush presidency that he abandoned the
Republican Party and became a registered Democrat. He is now fighting
to unseat Bush supporters from the US Congress. He has been married for
many years to a French citizen.
He was an incredible man and a
great speaker. I liked him so much. It was an incredible moment in my
life. He described Richard Nixon as a man of incredible intelligence
that no one could know. He warned that the current President Bush will
most likely attack Iran before his term ends.
Labels:
Pete McCl
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Friday, June 20, 2008
2:15:02 PM PDT
Feeling Sad
Hearing None
Israeli Military Exercise A Prelude To Iran Attack?
Israel Military Exercise May Be Warning to Iran, U.S. (Update1)
By Tony Capaccio and Ken Fireman
June 20 (Bloomberg) -- A wide-ranging Israeli military
exercise in the eastern Mediterranean was likely aimed at
warning both Iran and the U.S. about the possibility of a strike
against Iranian nuclear facilities, a U.S. analyst said.
``It's very hard to think of any other enemies Israel has
that would require such a massive use of forces or an attack
waged at such a distance,'' said Michael O'Hanlon, a foreign-
policy analyst at Washington's Brookings Institution.
The June 2 exercise involved about 100 aircraft and
included mid-air refueling missions, according to two U.S.
defense officials who are familiar with the broad outlines of
the Israeli operation. They spoke on condition of anonymity.
At the United Nations, Russia's envoy cautioned that even
the threat of military action might damage a diplomatic effort
aimed at persuading Iran to limit its nuclear work.
``If things happen like threats of force and unilateral
sanctions outside the framework of the Security Council, it is
distracting from the negotiating process,'' Ambassador Vitaly
Churkin told reporters. ``A military move would have devastating
consequences for the prospect of resolving the Iranian nuclear
issue, for the region and internationally.''
O'Hanlon said the exercise may have been designed to send
two simultaneous messages: one to the Iranians that a strike
could be made unless they rein in their nuclear activities, and
another to the U.S. about the possibility of an attack.
`Used to It'
``They want to get us used to it, or at least not be
totally surprised by it,'' O'Hanlon said. ``They want to be able
to say they gave us warning. And they want to dissuade Iran as
well. It's also battlefield training. It's all these things
simultaneously.''
The New York Times, which first reported on the exercise,
said it had a range of 900-miles (1,450-kilometers). The Times
quoted unidentified U.S. officials as saying the exercise could
be a rehearsal for an attack against the Iranian nuclear plant
in Natanz as well as Iran's long-range conventional missiles.
The UN Security Council has approved three rounds of
sanctions against Iran for its failure to halt uranium
enrichment, a process used for making fuel for civilian energy
or a bomb. The U.S. and European allies accuse Iran of trying to
develop a bomb; Iran insists its activities are peaceful and
legal under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Incentives Package
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said yesterday
that officials in Tehran are studying an incentives package to
stop enrichment. Still, Iran's ambassador to the UN's
International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said
the previous day that Iran wouldn't be pushed into suspending
enrichment.
Crude oil rose today following the Times report that Israel
held a rehearsal for a potential bombing attack on Iranian
nuclear targets, and as the weaker dollar enhanced the appeal of
commodities as a currency hedge. Oil traded at $134.89 a barrel
at 1 p.m. in New York, up $2.96 for the day.
A senior Iranian cleric reacted to reports of the Israeli
exercise by saying his country would respond to an Israeli
attack on nuclear facilities with a ``heavy blow.''
Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, leading Friday prayers in Tehran,
said today that Iran favored dialogue and would resist
``mischievous acts,'' the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency
said. Such an attack would prompt an ``uproar on the part of our
nation,'' Khatami said.
`A Heavy Blow'
``If enemies, especially Israelis and their U.S. supporters,
wish to speak in the language of force, they should rest assured
they will be dealt a heavy blow on the face by the Iranian
nation,'' the ayatollah said, according to IRNA.
Iran doesn't recognize Israel, and President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad has repeatedly predicted the end of the Jewish
state.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the
international community not to take further measures against
Iran without evidence that it's really trying to make a nuclear
bomb, Interfax reported.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that the
``Israeli Air Force regularly trains for various missions in
order to confront and meet the challenges posed by the threats
facing Israel.'' David Segal, spokesman for the Israeli Embassy
in Washington, declined to comment further.
No Comment
``We are not commenting on this one,'' U.S. National
Security Council spokeswoman Kate Starr said. White House
spokesman Tony Fratto also declined to comment.
A task force on Iran policy and U.S.-Israel relations
organized by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said
June 16 that Israel may be more inclined to attack Iran because
a U.S. intelligence assessment last year eroded support for
preventing Iran's government from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
The report, the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate
released in December, said Iran stopped its nuclear weapons
program in 2003.
Reactions to the NIE ``may have heightened the inclination
of some Israeli strategists to give further consideration to
unilateral military action to forestall Iran's development of a
nuclear capability,'' the task force said.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Tony Capaccio in Washington at
acapaccio@bloomberg.net;
Ken Fireman in Washington at
kfireman1@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: June 20, 2008 13:21 EDT
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Tuesday, June 17, 2008
10:28:19 AM PDT
Feeling Adventurous
Hearing Bloomberg
A Zimbabwe Girl Beats Impossible Odds In The USA!!!!
After finishing my gym workout last night, I got a wonderful surprise.
I checked my emails on my Burberry. There was an email from Mandy
Findlater. She had received notification from the US authorities that
her application for a Green Card (permanent residence) had been
accepted. Green Card applications are accepted every day in the USA. What was so different about this one? In
1999, Mandy sold her unit (condominium) in Harare, Zimbabwe. She got
$10,000 US dollars on a quick sale . She got on the plane. She ended up
at San Francisco international airport. It was at the height of the
technology boom. It was and is one of the most expensive places in the
world to live. I can tell you from personal experience that $10,000
does not go far here. Mandy went to a hotel room. She started to
look for a job. She had experience in the freight business. She found a
freight company to sponsor her. She got her work permit and went to
work. At this moment, Mandy and I met. I was then working at a
telecom company in San Jose, California. Mandy came by on a sales call.
She did not make a sale on the call. But we hit it off as friends.
After all, we both had been "Out of Africa." Over the yeas Mandy
worked hard. She became a top performer at her freight company. As the
years went by the painful wait for the Green Card continued. Conditions
deteriorated in her home country of Zimbabwe. She had to start send
food packages home to sustain her family. Over the years Mandy also saw
several other employees at her company get fired and lose their US work
permits. In March of 2008, a seeming disaster happened. Mandy's
employer fired her. This was before her Green Card was issued. It
appeared that Mandy would find herself on the plane back to Zimbabwe. My
wife and I own a small company. We were prepared to offer her a very
humble job. We were determined to do everything legally possible to
stop her deportation. Mandy refused to let this set back stop
her. She got right back up on her feet and went out and found a great
job with another freight company. What a glorious day it was when she got her good news!!!
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