Destor on Ordering a Pizza Conservatively in Texas
Ramona: Hatred in a Lovely Church
Gallup: Obama 46, Romney 46
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Destor on Ordering a Pizza Conservatively in Texas Ramona: Hatred in a Lovely Church Gallup: Obama 46, Romney 46 |
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About QE2, the venerable economist Sarah Palin has this to say:
Of course, Germany is totally just trying to give us a friendly warning based on their own experiences here, right? Completely out of the kindness of their hearts, not at all out of defense of their trade surplus (which is totally because Germans just make awesome stuff, not at all because of their protectionist economic policies).
Seriously, though.. if Sarah is saying that we should do it just because the Germans tell us to, isn't she advocating appeasement? And isn't the worst kind of appeasement... <gasp> appeasement of Germans?
Search your feelings - you know it to be true.
The issue of sexual assaults on American Indian women has become one of the major sources of discord in the current debate between the White House and the House of Representatives over the latest reauthorization of the landmark Violence Against Women Act of 1994.
.......
“We should never have a woman come into the office saying, ‘I need to learn more about Plan B for when my daughter gets raped,’ ” said Charon Asetoyer, a women’s health advocate on the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, referring to the morning-after pill. “That’s what’s so frightening — that it’s more expected than unexpected. It has become a norm for young women.”
The difficulties facing American Indian women who have been raped are myriad, and include a shortage of sexual assault kits at Indian Health Service hospitals, where there is also a lack of access to birth control and sexually transmitted disease testing. There are also too few nurses trained to perform rape examinations, which are generally necessary to bring cases to trial.
By Ismail Kahn, New York Times, May 23/24, 2012
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A Pakistani doctor who helped the Central Intelligence Agency pin down Osama bin Laden's location under cover of a vaccination drive was convicted on Wednesday of treason and sentenced to 33 years in prison, a senior official in Pakistan said.
A tribal court here in northwestern Pakistan found the doctor, Shakil Afridi, guilty of acting against the state, said Mutahir Zeb Khan, the administrator for the Khyber tribal region [....]
By Sergei L. Loiko, Los Angeles Times, May 23, 2012
MOSCOW — Stiff new penalties aimed at opposition protesters were given preliminary approval Tuesday by Russian lawmakers loyal to President Vladimir Putin, the target of mass rallies and demonstrations before his March election victory.
The bill, which opposition parliament members termed draconian and protested by threatening to file out of a legislative session, calls for fines of up to $50,000 and up to 200 hours of community service for organizers of rallies and demonstrations that grow violent or exceed the approved number of participants.
The sanctions were approved on first reading by parliament's lower house, which is controlled by Putin's United Russia party. They mark a return by the Kremlin to a tough stance against critics after concessions during the recent election campaign [...]
Also see:
Russians back Putin, strong leadership
Washington Post, May 22, 2012
A Pew survey of 1,000 Russians found that President Vladimir Putin is well-liked by more than 70 percent of citizens, especially older adults.
Associated Press, May 21, 2012
HAVANA — It was all sunshine, smiles and celebratory speeches as officials marked the arrival of an undersea fiber-optic cable they promised would end Cuba's Internet isolation and boost web capacity 3,000-fold. Even a retired Fidel Castro had hailed the dawn of a new cyber-age on the island.
More than a year after the February 2011 ceremony on Siboney Beach in eastern Cuba, and 10 months after the system was supposed to have gone online, the government never mentions the cable anymore, and Internet here remains the slowest in the hemisphere. People talk quietly about embezzlement torpedoing the project and the arrest of more than a half-dozen senior telecom officials.
Perhaps most maddening, nobody has explained what happened to the much-ballyhooed $70 million project....
By Tamasin Ford in Monrovia, Guardian.co.uk, May 22, 2012
Husbands, not strangers or men with guns, are now the biggest threat to women in post-conflict west Africa, according to a report by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) released on Tuesday.
The IRC report, Let Me Not Die Before My Time: Domestic Violence in West Africa, based on data collected over 10 years by the IRC in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ivory Coast, said domestic violence is the "most urgent, pervasive and significant protection issue for women in west Africa" [.....]
Germany is very, very white, DF. So they must be ethically pure.
And they have a lot of small towns there. Just like in Sarah's real America.
I trust that Ben Bernanke, Congress, Geithner, Obama and the GOP are doing all they can for the big banks and Wall Street. If you think Bernanke cares at all about careful management and regulation by the Fed, remember he was the one who could have tightened requirements for bank mortgage loans, stopped 'liar loans' which the Fed only did after the meltdown, and thereby reduced or prevented the huge real estate bubble and subsequent crash. When it did crash the Fed window for free money was open to every shyster firm on Wall Street, while the same are back to the big trading bonuses of 2007 and the banks are milking foreclosures guaranteed by Fannie/Freddie/Ginnie Mae for every dollar they can get from the government, while going slow or blocking mortgage modifications.
I frankly trust German government officials to tell the truth about the US economy more than our own officials. As to the positive effect of Bernanke's money printing for the 'average worker economy' in the US, Robert Reich's column has been cited:
There are two American economies. One is on the mend. The other is still coming apart.
The one that’s mending is America’s Big Money economy. It’s comprised of Wall Street traders, big investors, and top professionals and corporate executives.
The Big Money economy is doing well these days. That’s partly thanks to Ben Bernanke, whose Fed is keeping interest rates near zero by printing money as fast as it dare. It’s essentially free money to America’s Big Money economy.
Free money can almost always be put to uses that create more of it.....overall compensation in financial services will rise 5 percent this year, and employees in some businesses like asset management will get increases of 15 percent.....But there’s another American economy, and it’s not on the mend. Call it the Average Worker economy.....
I don't disagree that the regulation of the financial sector and the ensuing solutions have been all wrong. Some of that is under the purview of the Fed, but a lot of that is simply up to Congress. Even so, are you suggesting that the Fed should contract the money supply, thereby raising interest rates?
Reich isn't wrong. The money is piling up in the banks and either bolstering corporate balance sheets or going abroad. But, again, is the Fed supposed to contract the money supply right now?
In any case, none of it makes Sarah Palin any less dumb or German dignitaries less self-interested or more honest about the U.S. economy.
Yeah, well after Sarah and the First Dude straighten out our economy they will take care of those socialist BMW driving beer swilling Fed-money-printing-permission-slip-writing brewmeisters across the lake!!
I'm missing something here.
She said we should follow Germany's advice, eh?
aaaaaaaaahh......
Germany is more a socialist than it is democratic.
So it's okay to folllow the advice from a socialist nation concerning dangers to our economy concerning inflation, eh?
aaaaaaaaahh......
Germany has strong a strong unionized labor force responsible for the social programs paid with taxes that are about 46% of a person's wages.
And they pay abou $2 for a quart of gasoline because of taxes too.
aaaaaaaaahh......
Now I'm confussed....I thought the Witch from Wasilla was against socialism in all makes and forms? So if she's against it, then why follow their advise?
They also have death pan... er, I mean national healthcare.
More economics fun and games with Sarah:
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2010/11/09/palin-responds-to-real-time-ec...
Ah, that's right! We didn't mean inflation is actually happening or that it has happened, but it sure will.. sometime. They can't say when, they can't say how much inflation, but it will be BAD, probably HYPER. And it's just around the corner. Wait for it...
What are the odds that Mama Grisly (Gristly?) could even point out Germany on a map? Think she'd even get the right continent?
The few times she's attempted to talk about substantive issues, she always sounds like that kid back in High School who always tried to bullshit her way through class because she was too stupid to even comprehend the homework assignment, let alone the material being taught.
Did you know you can see Russia from Germany?
Not in the winter.
Now THAT'S funny!