The 16 Wars of 2011 - Happy New Year

Borrowed from Foreign Policy blog - Thank you

Across the globe today, you'll find almost three dozen raging conflicts, from the valleys of Afghanistan to the jungles of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the streets of Kashmir. But what are the next crises that might erupt in 2011? Here are a few worrisome spots that make our list.



Côte d'Ivoire

Côte d'Ivoire is on the brink of what may be a very bad 2011. After a five-year delay, Côte d'Ivoire held presidential elections on Oct. 31. A peaceful first round of voting was commended by the international community, but the runoff between incumbent Laurent Gbagbo and former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara was marred by clashes and allegations of fraud on both sides.

The international community, including the United Nations, the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), former colonial power France, and the United States, has recognized Outtara as the victor, but this has not prevented Gbagbo, with the backing of senior military officials and the Constitutional Council, from taking the oath of office. Both politicians have named prime ministers and governments as tension mounts and protests occur in the streets. The United Nations has reported disappearances, rape, and at least two dozen deaths so far.

Worst case scenario: Gbagbo stays in power, armed conflict between the supporters of each side plunges the country into civil war. Best case scenario: Gbagbo succumbs to international appeals and steps down. But it's not clear how things could get better from here. The international community has already ratcheted up pressure, including financial restrictions and travel bans. And the United Nations renewed the mandate of its peacekeeping operation there, despite Gbagbo calling for its immediate departure.

It's very possible that Cote d'Ivoire will take a turn for the worse in 2011. Gbagbo and Ouattara both have heavily armed supporters who seem ready to fight for the long haul.


Colombia

At first glance, Colombia's prospects for 2011 look bright. The country's new president, Juan Manuel Santos, has surprised many former critics with his bold reform proposals, many of which are aimed at addressing the root causes of the country's 46-year civil conflict against leftist rebels. He has mended relations with neighbouring Venezuela and Ecuador, committed to protect human rights advocates, and proposed legislation to help resettle the country's four million displaced.

The news is not all good, however. Despite a series of strategic losses in recent years -- from territory to key leadership -- the country's leftist guerrillas, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), still maintain about 8,000 armed troops and perhaps twice that number of supporters. The rebels killed some 30 police in the weeks after Santos's inauguration, clearly to make a point. Meanwhile, new illegal armed groups have sprung up to capture the drug trafficking market, their ranks filled with former paramilitary fighters. These gangs are largely responsible for the rising incidence of urban violence; homicide rates have gone up by over 100 percent in Colombia's second city, Medellín, last year.

If these new armed groups are not contained, Colombia stands to regress in its long fight to finally root out the drug trade -- and the militancy it fuels. In such a scenario, FARC could see a comeback, restarting its campaign of terror in the country's major cities. As has been the case so often in Colombia's recent history, it would be the civilian population who would suffer most from such a return to conflict.

Yet the opposite scenario is equally likely in the coming months. Santos has worked with his counterparts in Venezuela and Ecuador to increase border surveillance, putting pressure on illegal armed groups holed up there. Under such pressure, FARC may even welcome the chance to start talks with the government about disarmament and reintegration. Much rests in this government's hands.

The Smoking Gun - New York City Union Sanitation Workers Targeted Specific Neighborhoods and Why It's Important to You

"If you're giving the NYC Sanitation Union the benefit of the doubt, don't, after you read this article from the New York Post. This is the proof that prosecutors should use to fire and imprison union leaders. This conduct is inexcusable and must be punished.
You might wonder why I'm all over this story. Like I mentioned in my last article, this is how sick bed ridden Americans will be treated by unions when ObamaCare takes hold. Unions are Godless and they have no respect for life, as you all have seen this past week."
Nicholas Contompasis

By SALLY GOLDENBERG, JOHN DOYLE and JOSH MARGOLIN

There was a method to their madness.
The selfish Sanitation bosses who sabotaged the blizzard cleanup to fire a salvo at City Hall targeted politically connected and well-heeled neighborhoods in Queens and Brooklyn to get their twisted message across loud and clear, The Post has learned.
Their motives emerged yesterday as the city's Department of Investigation admitted it began a probe earlier this week after hearing rumblings of a coordinated job action.
Sources told The Post several neighborhoods were on the workers' hit list -- including Borough Park and Dyker Heights in Brooklyn and Middle Village in Queens -- because residents there have more money and their politicians carry big sticks.
"It was more targeted than people actually think," said a labor source. "Borough Park was specifically targeted [because of] . . . its ability to sort of gin up the p.r. machine."
The plan worked. Residents of those neighborhoods -- who, after three days, were still trying to dig out their cars -- are apoplectic.
"It's hurting people for greed," seethed Barry Coogan, 60, who lives on 64th Road in Middle Village. "Whoever made those decisions should lose their jobs.
"Don't hurt the neighborhood so you can't get medical help."
In Brooklyn, Democratic Assemblyman Dov Hikind called the clean-up "an absolute disaster."
"You have the most unbelievable anger I've ever seen," he said of his Borough Park constituents.
The revelation came as:
* A Queens baby was brain dead last night after poorly plowed roads hampered efforts to rescue him.
* Sources said Sanitation bosses issued verbal directives during the clean-up to give priority to streets near the homes of agency heads and other city bigwigs. "This happens all the time," one Sanit worker said. "They make sure the bosses and politicians get taken care of."
* Despite Mayor Bloomberg's insistence that all roads would be plowed at least once by yesterday morning, many were untouched, with snow still piled high. "We still have work to do," Bloomberg later said.
* Even as streets in the outer boroughs waited for a single plow to arrive, crews were clearing bicycle lanes on the Upper West Side. Bloomberg, however, insisted that was not happening.
Across the city, residents still confined to their homes by the storm's after-effects had plenty of blame both for Bloomberg and the rogue Sanitation workers.
Moshe Pollack, 55, of Borough Park, said, "It's disgusting. And we pay them overtime for this? People could have died."
John Delliliune, 42, of Penelope Avenue in Middle Village said he was "very disappointed" but "not surprised."
"I saw plows driving around with their shovels up," he fumed, adding, "I would like to see some disciplinary action to whoever made the call."
Hikind said his phone had been ringing off the hook.
"I just know that something went wrong, and God is not to blame," he said.
Hikind said he had been told months ago that Sanitation Department unions were planning some sort of slowdown or job action to protest budget cuts.
Chaya Schron, who lives in Midwood, Brooklyn, said she didn't hear any plows passing by her bedroom window Sunday night or Monday morning.
"I suspected a slowdown from the very beginning. It didn't make sense," she said.
On Monday, she saw a plow drive down her street with its blade up.
"When we asked why his plow was up, he said he had instructions not to plow side streets because it wastes gas," she said. "I was in disbelief."
Gov. Paterson yesterday morning called for a criminal investigation, and Bloomberg said such a job action would be an "outrage."
A DOI spokeswoman told The Post her agency has been probing the actions of plow drivers and supervisors all week, trying to determine "whether there was intentional misconduct in connection with snow removal. We are in the throes of that."
The slowdown was confirmed Wednesday by City Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Queens), who met with a group of guilt-stricken plow drivers and supervisors who dropped a dime on their colleagues.
Yesterday, Halloran provided The Post with two videos showing a plow driver in Queens driving his truck on a snow-covered road without plowing it.
The snitches said they were told to leave many roads unplowed and skip streets that were not on their routes.
The hostility stems from a series of labor and budget cuts that are culminating today with demotions -- and resulting salary declines -- for 100 supervisors.
The president of the sanitation supervisors union continued to deny any subversion.
And Harry Nespoli, president of the union that represents the Sanitation Department's rank and file, also denied a slowdown and welcomed all investigations. He admitted, though, that some plow drivers could be slowing down on their own.
"Look, individually, if you walk around, you're going to see a truck doing something [wrong]? Yeah," Nespoli said. "You're going to have people that are annoyed."
Not as annoyed as the people whose streets were left buried.
"It makes my blood boil. Those people should be reprimanded," said Marlon Singh, 33, who lives on 94th Street in Middle Village.
"They made us feel like we live in a Third World country."

US Homeland Security Chief Arrives in Afghanistan and Guess What She's Doing?

"The hypocrisy that is Janet Napolitano. She goes to Afghanistan to help secure their borders while thousands pour across ours. Are we living in the Twilight Zone? This article provided by the Associated Press illustrates the lack of concern this administration has for our country."
Nicholas Contompasis

WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano (neh-pahl-ih-TAN'-oh) has arrived in Kabul, Afghanistan, to spend New Year's Eve with U.S. troops and the Homeland Security officers who have been working with the Afghan government to try to secure that country's porous borders from militants, as well as weapons and drug smugglers.
The department said in a statement that Napolitano will meet with top American and Afghan officials before traveling to the Persian Gulf state of Qatar (GUH'-tur), then to Israel and Belgium.
Napolitano is checking on progress to track and stop the flow of terrorist financing through the Gulf, and regional efforts to increase aviation security. Yemen's al-Qaida offshoot attempted to bring down two U.S.-bound cargo planes with explosives-packed printer cartridges in September.

Throw New York City Union Leaders in Jail for Blizzard Slowdown - People Died

By Meredith Jessup from the Blaze - Thank you

"New Yorkers should bring CRIMINAL charges against New York City unions for the intentional slowdown during the blizzard. It endangered the citizens of New York City. I'm sure someone died or was harmed during this slowdown because of it. How many will die with ObamaCare when unions get a bug up their asses and let you die because of a strike or slowdown? Stop this now or become a statistic of stupidity. "
Nicholas Contompasis

Frustrated New Yorkers have vented their complaints over the city’s response to the “Blizzard of 2010,” including a slow response time from snow plows and sanitation workers. Fingers are being pointed at Mayor Michael Bloomberg, including from Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowtiz who complained that two days after the storm, a number of streets in Brooklyn and Staten Island boroughs had not been plowed yet.
So who is to blame for the seemingly slow response to the “snowpocalypse”?
After the storm clouds parted, a rumor reportedly floated around the city that a number of sanitation workers were purposefully working slowly as a protest to city budget and staff cuts. Borough President Markowitz told Good Day New York that he had not heard the rumor, but noted that the department of sanitation had handled bigger snow storms in the past “with flying colors.”
“The truth of the matter here is that there is no question that something happened. Something happened between 1 and 6 am within the department of sanitation. They did not send out enough trucks. We have one of the finest commissioners, but I believe something happened. Put hundreds of tow trucks, thousands of able bodied men and women, get these people out and get these streets open. These streets have not been touched,” Markowitz said.
In addition, New York City Councilwoman and sanitation chairwoman Letitia James also told Good Day New York on Tuesday that the “deployment of snow plows was orchestrated in City Hall as opposed to the respective sanitation garages in each of the community boards… there was a change in the response,” she said.

The Great American Deception

Author Paul Kengor - Thank you

A list of some of the biggest Soviet dupes in American history ranges from the celebrated acting duo of Bogie and Bacall to the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, author Paul Kengor tells Newsmax.TV.
Kengor details the left’s misguided love affair with all things communist in his new book, “Dupes: How America’s Adversaries Have Manipulated Progressives for a Century.”
The Grove City (Pa.) College professor uncovered the information by combing through the archives of the Comintern, or Communist International, an organization created to spread the communist doctrine worldwide.
“I found in there not just-jaw dropping statements, and contacts and correspondence between American communists and Soviet communists but the very deliberate, very cynical, very shrewd manipulation and targeting of American liberals and progressives to be used by the communists, with always very clear instructions: ‘Don’t let them know you’re communist,” Kengor said in the exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV.
“And again, and again, and again, especially, with, among others, academics, social justice, religious left, progressive pastors, they had amazing success manipulating, duping, hood winking, fooling, deceiving these people and through that these people became unwitting participants. They helped aid and abet these enemies of America.”
Kengor, the executive director of Grove City College’s Center for Vision and Values, also has written “God and Ronald Reagan” and “The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism.”
Among the greatest dupes, Kengor lists Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Kennedy, Hollywood writers, politicians, and educators. Kengor makes clear that those named were not traitors and were not guilty of treason. In fact, he writes, they didn’t realize they were being used.
Kengor’s book reprints a six-page document regarding Kennedy’s contact with Soviet leader Yuri Andropov in 1983 in which Kennedy blames worsening U.S.-Soviet relations on President Ronald Reagan’s belligerence and defense policies.
The left’s blind spot to communism is replicated today with liberals’ views on radical Islam, North Korea, and Iran, he said during the Newsmax interview.

“Here again you’ve got this fatal gullibility, this fatal naïveté where they just don’t have good judgment when it comes to who the real enemy is,” he said.
When asked who might pick up the Reagan mantle, Kengor praised two well-known Republicans: “I’ve always been very impressed with Newt Gingrich. He’s very articulate. I don’t know if he could win the presidency . . . I think Sarah Palin has the courage that the vast majority of the people in our party lack. And the fact that the left hates her so much shows how right she often is.”
Although he said he could not predict the eventual presidential nominee, he said the Republican Party needs to unite because its disunity is giving President Barack Obama an advantage.

The Crumbling of California is Beginning - What Now Governor-Elect Brown, Beg?

Borrowed from The Wall Steet Journal

By Bobby White

HALF MOON BAY—This coastal city next month will begin an aggressive campaign to warn residents of severe budget cuts that lie ahead, as the cash-strapped town tries to avert insolvency.

Laura Snideman, appointed earlier this month as Half Moon Bay's city manager, says she and the five-member city council and top managers will meet in the next few weeks with residents to alert them about impending changes, such as potentially outsourcing the town's 15-person police department to an outside agency.
New city manager Laura Snideman, above, says the town faces painful choices.
The city has planned as many as a dozen meetings and will have a town hall gathering at the end of January, says Ms. Snideman. She adds that Half Moon Bay hasn't embarked on such an aggressive public outreach before and plans to walk residents through the city budget to show where cuts need to come from.
"The choices are no longer hard, they're painful," says Ms. Snideman, formerly an economic development manager in the city of San Mateo. She adds that she hopes by making the case for cuts, some residents will offer ideas or even volunteer to save some services and programs.
The campaign is the latest development in Half Moon Bay's long and winding financial descent, which has made it a poster child of the problems plaguing Bay Area municipalities. While many towns face budget gaps, Half Moon Bay is in especially tough straits. The city already has outsourced some public-works services, including trash, building inspection and health-code enforcement to independent contractors and private companies.
The city of 13,000 is essentially "turning into a functionally unincorporated locale," says Christopher Thornberg, a principal at consultancy Beacon Economics in San Rafael. "They're pretty much a city in name only, having turned over or outsourced most of their essential services."

Video - New York City - Liberal Mayor Bloomberg is an Idiot and so Are His Union City Workers - This is Why Taxes Are High - No Respect for Private Property - No Respect for Life - Socialism At Work

A Message to American Women - Don't Date Muslims - Duh!!!!!!!!

Borrowed from CNN - Thank you

Jerusalem (CNN) -- A letter from about 30 prominent rabbis' wives was causing a stir in Israel Wednesday because it urges Israeli girls not to date Arabs.
The open letter comes three weeks after the uproar caused by another letter, which was written by 50 state-appointed rabbis and told Jews not to rent or sell property to non-Jews.
The latest missive, which was published by some websites and news outlets, says Arab men act polite around Jewish girls and "act as if they really care about you," but it says that's a ruse. The men, it says, even change their Arab names to Hebrew forms like Yossi and Ami in order to get close to the girls.
"This behavior is temporary," the letter says. "As soon as you are in their hands, in their villages under their control, everything becomes different. You can ask dozens of girls who have been there. They will tell you it is all an act.
"As soon as you arrive at the village, your life will never be the same. The attention will be replaced with curses, beatings, and humiliations. Even if you want to leave the village it will be much harder. They won't let you, they will chase you, they won't let you come back."
It urges Jewish girls not to go out with non-Jews or work in places that employ non-Jews.
"Your grandmothers never dreamt that their descendants would do something that will take the next generations of her family out of the Jewish people," it says.
The letter was initiated by the head of Lehava, an extreme right-wing group that says it aims to prevent the "assimilation of the Jewish people" and works at "saving Jewish girls from Arab villages."
"It's known that girls who go out with Arabs are beaten, these girls are in danger. ... There is a violent social trend and everyone ignores it," said the head of the group, Anat Gopstein, in a radio interview Wednesday morning.
Among the rabbis' wives who signed the letter is Nitzchia Yossef, the daughter-in-law of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of the ultra-orthodox Shas political party. Esther Lior, the wife of extreme right-wing Rabbi Dov Lior, was another signatory.
Rabbi Yosef was one of the authors of the letter written earlier this month that urged Jews not to sell or rent property to non-Jews. It prompted widespread condemnation from politicians, human rights groups, and leading rabbis in both Israel and the United States.
The letter, which was distributed to synagogues and published in some religious newspapers, had warned that those who defied the religious ruling should be ostracized. It said if one apartment is taken by a non-Jew, it devalues all the neighbors' apartments.
More than 800 rabbis from around the world signed a petition against the letter, saying "statements like these do great damage to our efforts to encourage people to love and support Israel."
The petition said "the attempt to root discriminatory policies based on religion or ethnicity in Torah is a painful distortion of our tradition. Am Yisrael (the Jewish people) knows the sting of discrimination, and we still bear the scars of hatred. When those who represent the official rabbinic leadership of the state of Israel express such positions, we are distressed by this ... desecration of God's name."
Nearly 1.5 million Arab residents live inside Israel, making up 23% of the population.
A poll published Tuesday by the Hebrew University in Jerusalem showed that 48% of Israelis oppose the call to avoid renting or selling property to Arabs.

ObamaCare: The Death Panels Begin - This Woman Wants You Dead

Borrowed from the Heritage Foundation - Thank you

The Department of Health and Human Services announced Tuesday that, starting next year, health insurance companies must receive permission from the Obama administration before they can raise rates higher than 10%. As we warned before Obamacare even became law, this is a form of price control, a government intervention that has a long and well established history of failure.
Way back in 1993, Heritage Foundation scholar Heritage’s Ed Haislmaier was detailing the shortcomings of price controls in health care:
Price controls would not work in health care because they attack the symptoms of runaway costs, not the cause. Medical costs today are soaring because consumers are largely insulated from them…and because the tax system discourages consumers from seeking good value for money in health care.
Most policy makers who favor health care price controls view them as a way to curb rapid medical inflation. But most of the blame for that same inflation can be traced directly to previous government health care policies that they support or maintain. Health care price controls also are attractive to Members of Congress because they provide a benefit (cheaper medical care) to a favored constituency (health care consumers) at the expense of less favored constituencies (doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and insurance companies). This is why some Members of Congress are so quick to blame the health care industry for escalating medical costs, when in fact it is largely government laws, regulations, and policies that are responsible.

Since 9/11/2001 - 48,000 Americans Have Been Killed By Illegal Aliens - If It Was Your Daughter or Son - What Would You Do? Then Do It!

Video - Christians of the World - You Better Listen Up - Austria Stands Up Against Islam

This is in German but has sub-titles. It starts our slow but this guy gets rolling as he lashes out at the Turkish government and the attacks on Christians and priests in Turkey. Imagine this happening in our congress. It may come to that some day.

Pilot That Exposed Security Problems on YouTube Goes Public - Is Treated Like a Criminal

By George Warren - Thank you

COLFAX, CA - WORLD EXCLUSIVE: The airline pilot who lost his federally-issued gun and badge for posting video on YouTube critical of airport security has chosen to go public with his identity.
"My name is Chris Liu and I'm an airline pilot," Liu said during an exclusive interview Monday with News10 at his home in Colfax.
Liu's cell phone video tour of security at San Francisco International Airport led to a team of six federal agents and sheriff's deputies coming to his home on Dec. 2 to take his handgun and Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO) credentials.
Liu's state-issued permit to carry a concealed weapon was also suspended by the Placer County sheriff.
Liu contacted News10 last Tuesday to share his story, but insisted that neither he nor his airline be identified for fear of retaliation.
Liu decided to reveal his identity Monday because he wants to become actively involved in changing what he believes is a major flaw in airport security.
"I just found a disparity between what happens upstairs and what happens downstairs," Liu explained.
As Liu pointed out in the video, pilots and flight crew are subjected to real-time TSA security screening while ground crew are not. "Upstairs they're going through the metal detectors and the X-ray machines, and downstairs they're swiping a card," he said.
News10 established a relationship with the Liu family last July after their rental home in Sacramento's Oak Park was destroyed by an arsonist. Four firefighters were injured when the house exploded.
Although Liu is no longer an FFDO, his flight status with his airline has not changed. Liu's wife, Sandra, said she worries about repercussions from the publicity, but supported her husband's decision to go public.
"I think my husband was very courageous. He did what he believed what right," Sandra said. "It's not all about us. It's about the safety of every American."

AOL News - 2010 the Year of the Tea Party

Borrowed from AOL News - Thank You

WASHINGTON -- This was the year of the tea party.

What began as a rant on cable TV morphed into a populist movement and political juggernaut in 2010 as conservatives turned against the status quo. Leaning Republican but willing to attack the party establishment, the burgeoning crusade pummeled the policies and persona of President Barack Obama and decisively ended the Democratic monopoly in Congress.
"The tea party from beginning to end really defined this election cycle," said Kate Zernike, a New York Times reporter who wrote "Boiling Mad: Inside Tea Party America."
"The mood that they captured was frustration and fear about the economy and a sense that government was doing too much and we didn't know what the government was doing so they must be up to no good."
The tea party became a political juggernaut as sympathizers showed up at rallies, called in to talk radio and, most importantly, turned out at campaign events. Here, tea party activists demonstrate against government spending on Sept. 12 in Washington.
The tea party is the latest incarnation of American populism, yet the so-called "lamestream media," as the movement's icon, Sarah Palin, calls it, initially dismissed the movement. After all, pundits asked, how serious could folks waving "Don't tread on me" flags with tea bags hanging from their tricorne hats be?
Very, it turned out.
Buoyed by Glenn Beck and his amen corner at Fox News, tea party sympathizers showed up at rallies, called in to talk radio and, most importantly, turned out at campaign events.

Ok Obama - Tell Us How You're Getting Re-Elected With $5 Gas and Energy Shortages

Borrowed from Fox News - Thank You

The former president of Shell oil is predicting that the United States will face 1970s-style energy shortages and rationing by the end of the decade, accusing the federal government of turning its back on the country's domestic oil supply. 

The dire prediction comes as energy analysts toss out a string of frightening predictions about the rising price of oil in the short term. Oil has topped $90 a barrel, and JP Morgan Chase & Co. earlier this month predicted oil could hit $120 a barrel by the end of 2012. At the same time, the national average gasoline price is about $3 a gallon for the holiday season

But former Shell executive John Hofmeister offered a more aggressive estimate, saying Americans could be paying $5 a gallon in two years. And he predicted that sometime between 2018 and 2020, supply and demand will become so out of balance that gas stations in several regions of the country will simply start to run out. 

"I think it's going to be a cumulative problem that won't happen suddenly," Hofmeister, who now heads Citizens for Affordable Energy, told FoxNews.com. He predicted the problem would start with "stockouts" at select gas stations during the summer and during bad weather and then spread. He said those states farthest from refineries would get hit the worst and that in order to maintain some consistency, local and state governments might resort to the kind of rationing they employed in the early '70s -- when drivers with even-numbered license plates would buy gas on even days, and vice-versa. 
READ MORE HERE http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/12/27/oil-exec-predicts-gallon-gas-energy-shortages-decades-end/

This is How it Starts - Chinese Stocks Leaving U.S. Exchanges for Greener Pastures

Borrowed from The Wall Street Journal

Hong Kong’s stock exchange could be looking forward to another revenue stream in 2011 - Chinese companies delisting from other exchanges.
As Deal Journal reports, small Chinese companies listed in the U.S. that feel that they are undervalued there are considering either going private, or listing in another market where they can get better valuations, such as Hong Kong, as exchanges on the mainland could be out of bounds altogether. According to Deal Journal:
If the Chinese companies leave the U.S. and re-list, it is likely to be Hong Kong that benefits most. Foreign companies still aren’t allowed to list on China’s domestic exchanges. That category includes overseas-listed Chinese firms that restructured into offshore entities, even though their operations and assets are predominantly in mainland China.
Continue reading here
http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2010/12/27/chinas-companies-dump-us-stock-listings/

Iraq is Now Safer Than Mexico - The Bush Dream Just Could Be Happening

Borrowed from the Washington Post - Thank you

At the beginning of this year, Iraq's fragile new political order faced a momentous challenge. The country needed to hold credible democratic elections at a time when its army was still battling al-Qaeda and other domestic insurgents. The winners had to form a government in spite of deep rifts among leaders and sects, who just three years ago were fighting a civil war. And all this had to happen even as the United States reduced its troops from 150,000 to 50,000 and ended combat operations for those who remained.
The result was a long, painful, contentious, confusing and sometimes bloody year. But when Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki presented his new government to parliament on Tuesday, Iraq could fairly be said to have passed a major test. It is not yet the peaceful Arab democracy and force for good in the Middle East that President George W. Bush imagined when he decided on invasion eight years ago. But in the past 12 months it has taken some big steps in the right direction.
First was the election, which was judged free and fair - a rare event in the Middle East and a big contrast with recent balloting in Iran, Egypt and Afghanistan. The result was a tricky deadlock, in which no party held a majority in parliament and the winner of the most votes, a Sunni coalition, had no realistic chance to form a government. Iraq's neighbors, whose rulers have little understanding or respect for democratic processes, lined up behind competing favorites even as al-Qaeda tried to trigger another civil war.
Somehow, the country's oft-maligned leaders worked their way through all this, with help from the Obama administration. The coalition Mr. Maliki presented Tuesday was led by Shiite parties but handed major positions to Sunnis and Kurds. Sunnis serve or will be named as deputy prime minister, defense minister and speaker of parliament. Measures to integrate former Sunni militiamen into the security forces or other government jobs have finally been implemented. Fears that Mr. Maliki will establish a dictatorship look, at least for now, to be exaggerated.
Violence, meanwhile, has dwindled to the lowest level Iraq probably has known in decades. In September 2006 the Web site iCasualties. org recorded more than 3,300 civilian deaths from violence; this month so far it has counted 62, making Iraq a far safer country than Mexico. The economy is nearing a tipping point: Foreign oil companies are refurbishing the fields of southern Iraq, and the city of Basra, a militia-ruled jungle four years ago, is beginning to boom.
It's still too early to draw conclusions about Iraq, though many opponents of the war did so long ago. Mr. Maliki's government could easily go wrong; the coming year, which could end with the withdrawal of all remaining U.S. troops, will likely be just as challenging as this one. But the country's political class has repeatedly chosen democracy over dictatorship and accommodation over violence. If that keeps up, a rough version of Mr. Bush's dream may yet come true.

The Great American Death Wish - START Treaty

By Nicholas Contompasis

According to available data on standing armies in the world I came across some interesting facts on Wikipedia that originated from reliable sources. What I found just could shatter some conceptions you may have on just how safe you really are in this cruel and hostile world. All numbers that I’ve included are rounded and are a total of ready military and reserves.


Did you know that England has a standing army of 375,000 (2,000,000 Muslims live in England) and Vietnam has 5,500,000? The United States has a standing army of 2,500,000.

In Asia North Korea has 9,500,000 and South Korea has 8,700,000. Japan has 280,000. Red China has 3,500,000.

To our South, Brazil has 1,700,000 and Venezuela has 123,000 with a standing army of 500,000 in Columbia. Cuba has 1,200,000 and Mexico has 350,000.

In the Middle East Iran has 2,800,000 and Iraq has 570,000 with Israel having 750,000. Syria has 750,000 and Lebanon has 312,000. Saudi Arabia and the United Emirates combined have 300,000. Pakistan has 1,400,000 and India has 4,800,000. Again Red China has 3,500,000 and Taiwan has 2,000,000.

Per Wikipedia, give or take a few hundred thousand troops, the worlds standing armies plus reserves totals 57,000,000 of which U.S. troops represent less than one half of one percent (2,500,000). With the new agreed upon START Treaty we will have to reduce our nuclear capacity to a level that would only protect our country, and not our allies. With the ramp up of our enemy's arsenals to nuclear capacity, it leaves our allies that once looked to us for protection as new targets for the tyrants of the world.

Russia our new START Treaty partner again has 21,500,000 troops. Again the United States has 2,500,000 troops and according to START only a fraction of our once superior nuclear arsenal. Nice move United States and what about those other guys? Does our country have a death wish or have we forgotten what its like to be dominated by another? Maybe that's the plan, to be dominated by another like China or a coalition of countries that could overpower us at any given moment? Whatever the plan is, I pray our leaders know what they're doing. But, as we've found out recently they don't know what the hell they're doing, do they?

Feel safer now?????????

If You Think Things Are Getting Better Take a Look At These Charts – Lowest Absolute New Home Sales Volume Ever – What Next?

By Mark Hanson 

Borrowed from Hanson Advisors - Thank you

The month of November broke a record on the new home sales front.

It was not only the lowest in terms of absolute sales volume for any November, but for any month since the data have been tracked in 1963.
Because of this I will concede to the bulls...yes, we are closer to the bottom (zero) than ever before.

Outside of the South, new home sales are consolidating to the point at which they run the risk of a catastrophic gravitational collapse.

New home sales as a percentage of existing sales are not worth analyzing.

Obviously, this was the lowest Nov on record too, down 19% from last year.

North Korea Threatens ‘Holy War’ Amid Tension

Borrowed from THE ASSOCIATED PRESS - Thank you


POCHEON, South Korea (AP) — North and South Korea beat the drums of war Thursday, with each threatening the other with immediate retaliation if attacked.
Seoul has staged days of military drills in a show of force meant to deter North Korea, including live-fire exercises earlier this week on a front-line island shelled by the North last month. Angered by the exercises, North Korea threatened Thursday it would launch a "sacred" nuclear war if Seoul hit it and warned that even the smallest intrusion on its territory would bring a devastating response.
The two sides are still technically at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce not a peace treaty, and a U.S. governor who recently made an unofficial diplomatic mission to the North has said the situation on the peninsula is a "tinderbox" and the worst he had ever seen it.
Still, the latest rhetoric seemed likely to be just that, words aimed at stirring pride at home and keeping the rival at bay.
Read more here in The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/12/22/world/asia/AP-AS-Koreas-Clash.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Iran Just Shipped Missiles to Venezuela

By Mike McDaniel


Borrowed from Pajamas Media – Thank you

Recent revelations about hostile incursions into South America have raised alarm in those who care about U.S. interests and security, particularly in America’s hemisphere. They have also raised questions about whether the Monroe Doctrine — America will tolerate no hostile incursions in her own hemisphere — is dead. These revelations have been, for the most part, ignored by those who care little for American sovereignty and security, such as the MSM and apparently the Obama administration.

Among the two most alarming revelations is the already completed sale and delivery, to Venezuela by Russia, of nearly 2,000 advanced, shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles capable of hitting aircraft as high as 19,000 feet. Equally and perhaps more alarming is an October agreement between Iran and Venezuela. The agreement establishes a joint ground-to-ground missile base on Venezuelan soil and calls for the sharing of missile technology and the training of technicians and officers. In addition, Venezuela may use the missiles as it chooses for “national needs” and in case of “emergency.” Several types of missiles will be deployed, giving Venezuela the ability to strike targets throughout South and Central America and throughout the U.S.

Read more here http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/iran-shipped-missiles-to-venezuela/