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Monday, November 24, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
The Imperialism You Can Believe In
Thanks to Infowars for this snippet....
The Imperialism You Can Believe In
Posted by: "Paul Joseph Watson" watson-paul3@sky.com onedeaddj
Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:19 am (PST)
The Imperialism You Can Believe In
While Leftists Celebrate "Change," Obama Appointees Suggest Massive Expansion Of Bush War Doctrine
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Thursday, November 20, 2008
While naive, giddy and myopic establishment leftists have been celebrating the great "change" heralded by the election of Barack Obama, the President elect has been busy appointing people to key positions who advocate the same Neo-Con imperialist foreign policy crafted during eight years of the Bush administration.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/the-imperialism-you-can-believe-in.html to read the full story....
The Imperialism You Can Believe In
Posted by: "Paul Joseph Watson" watson-paul3@sky.com onedeaddj
Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:19 am (PST)
The Imperialism You Can Believe In
While Leftists Celebrate "Change," Obama Appointees Suggest Massive Expansion Of Bush War Doctrine
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Thursday, November 20, 2008
While naive, giddy and myopic establishment leftists have been celebrating the great "change" heralded by the election of Barack Obama, the President elect has been busy appointing people to key positions who advocate the same Neo-Con imperialist foreign policy crafted during eight years of the Bush administration.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/the-imperialism-you-can-believe-in.html to read the full story....
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Palin next President of the USA??
Could Sarah Palin make it to, and as, the Next President of the United States in 2012? That's if there is a United States as we know it.... with Obama wanting to join forces with the european union and his "57" states slip of the tongue, maybe she will be struggling just to maintain herself and her family from falling into the hands of the islamists.
With the 'half-black' president that is now in power...or will be in about 70 more days....I wonder what the half-white part of him will be doing. So many racist black people tend to forget this fact about obama, they voted for the half black part of him....
Palin’s Next Steps
By Don | November 7, 2008
Now that the election is over, Sarah Palin has to chart a difficult path if she wants to seek the presidency in 2012.
From the Politico.
Though the long knives are out for her in the aftermath of the sweeping defeat suffered by the Republican presidential ticket, Sarah Palin has signaled she has no intention of fading quietly from the national scene back into Arctic anonymity.
Palin, who captivated Americans with her meteoric rise from small-town mayor to Alaska governor to surprise Republican vice presidential nominee, still generates broad enthusiasm among the conservative base and is considered an ascending star by Beltway conservatives.
But amid the wreckage from the Obama-led Democratic hurricane, there is no obvious route back to the national spotlight for Palin or easy course to chart for a possible presidential run in 2012.
Palin told CNN Wednesday morning “2012 sounds so far off that I can’t even imagine what I’d be doing then.”
Still, after casting her vote early Tuesday morning here in her hometown, where homemade “Palin 2012” signs occasionally appeared at political events in the last few weeks, Palin hinted she was considering repackaging herself for her next foray onto the national stage by hewing closer to the image of good-government pragmatist that she projected here, rather than the fire-breathing partisan that emerged on the presidential campaign trail.
The attacks on Palin are nothing but sour grapes, but that shouldn’t surprise conservatives who were distrustful of the McCain camp from the start.
With the 'half-black' president that is now in power...or will be in about 70 more days....I wonder what the half-white part of him will be doing. So many racist black people tend to forget this fact about obama, they voted for the half black part of him....
Palin’s Next Steps
By Don | November 7, 2008
Now that the election is over, Sarah Palin has to chart a difficult path if she wants to seek the presidency in 2012.
From the Politico.
Though the long knives are out for her in the aftermath of the sweeping defeat suffered by the Republican presidential ticket, Sarah Palin has signaled she has no intention of fading quietly from the national scene back into Arctic anonymity.
Palin, who captivated Americans with her meteoric rise from small-town mayor to Alaska governor to surprise Republican vice presidential nominee, still generates broad enthusiasm among the conservative base and is considered an ascending star by Beltway conservatives.
But amid the wreckage from the Obama-led Democratic hurricane, there is no obvious route back to the national spotlight for Palin or easy course to chart for a possible presidential run in 2012.
Palin told CNN Wednesday morning “2012 sounds so far off that I can’t even imagine what I’d be doing then.”
Still, after casting her vote early Tuesday morning here in her hometown, where homemade “Palin 2012” signs occasionally appeared at political events in the last few weeks, Palin hinted she was considering repackaging herself for her next foray onto the national stage by hewing closer to the image of good-government pragmatist that she projected here, rather than the fire-breathing partisan that emerged on the presidential campaign trail.
The attacks on Palin are nothing but sour grapes, but that shouldn’t surprise conservatives who were distrustful of the McCain camp from the start.
The Bankruptcy of the Nation and Conservatism.
This BailOut thing has got to be plugged.....
With thanks to AIM.... Accuracy In Media.
The Bankruptcy of the Nation and Conservatism.
AIM Column | By Cliff Kincaid | November 6, 2008
Because Wall Street has gotten its bailout, the Democrats figure that they can now spend even more, supposedly to benefit Main Street.
A lot will be said and written about the presidential election, but one central fact remains: John McCain was ahead in the polls until the financial crisis emerged and President Bush was pushed by Treasury Secretary Paulson into seeking a $700-billion Wall Street bailout on September 18. The crisis benefited Obama, even though he voted for the bailout, because he was not a Republican, like McCain or Bush. Republicans were blamed because a Republican was in the White House.
The exit polls on November 4 still found the public opposed to the bailout by a 56-39 percent margin.
The panic around mid-September infected the conservative media, especially Fox News, which became a soapbox for the bailout that now exceeds $1.8 trillion. But rather than bail out or “rescue” anything, the hastily–passed measure, ironically named the “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008,” started a process that now threatens national bankruptcy.
Because Wall Street has gotten its bailout, the Democrats figure that they can now spend even more, supposedly to benefit Main Street. Which means spending and debt will get even more out of control and more socialist measures, this time under President Obama, will be taken.
The Global Europe Anticipation Bulletin, which predicted the current financial crisis, is warning that the U.S. Government will default on its debts by the summer of 2009 and that the “unfolding implosion” of the U.S. economy will result in the dramatic decline of America as a world power.
This is not a natural disaster, like a hurricane or earthquake. It has been brought about by reckless decisions made by people on Wall Street and in the federal government, including Congress. It was man-made, and President Bush clearly deserves much of the blame. But why aren’t the media demanding accountability for how the Bush Administration and the Congress permitted the nation to come to this point?
Incredibly, we still know very little about what happened behind closed administration doors. Rep. Scott Garrett, Republican of New Jersey, is one member of Congress who wants some answers from the Bush White House. One White House official simply shrugged his shoulders when I asked him how this crisis just happened to emerge six weeks before the election. Either they don’t know or don’t care to know. Either way, it borders on criminal negligence.
We do know that the powerful pro-China investment banking firm of Goldman Sachs, which backed Obama and the Democratic Party, has its fingerprints all over this debacle. Not surprisingly, the firm now benefits (so far to the tune of $10 billion) from the “rescue” package forced through Congress by its former chairman, Henry Paulson, and even got $5 billion from Obama booster Warren Buffett.
The secretive financial hedge funds, such as those run by John A. Paulson and George Soros, who made $3.7 billion and $2.9 billion in 2007 respectively, also deserve serious scrutiny.
Meanwhile, even before the election results were in, Kimberley A. Strassel of the Wall Street Journal was urging the Republicans “to start elevating the new generation of reformers―folks like Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor or Wisconsin’s Paul Ryan” in the House. She called them intellectuals, never mentioning the fact that they backed the Wall Street bailout that her colleague, Stephen Moore of the Journal’s editorial page, now admits was a big mistake. “I want to apologize,” Moore said. “I drank the Kool-aid.”
Cantor and Ryan, a member of the House Budget Committee, were good conservatives until they drank the Kool-aid and backed the bailout. Now they have lost their credibility on fiscal issues.
Of course, there were a lot of Kool-aid drinkers in Congress, including House Minority Leader John Boehner, Minority Whip Roy Blunt, Cantor, and House Republican Conference Chairman Adam Putnam of Florida. However, in the end, most House Republicans opposed the bailout, objecting to its socialist nature and questioning whether it would even work. By any objective measure, they were right. It hasn’t “stabilized” anything.
This is critical to note: all of the House Republican leaders, including Cantor, Putnam, Blunt, and Boehner, supported the bailout. But they couldn’t get a majority of House Republicans to support them.
Putnam has now resigned as chairman of the House Republican Conference, and Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee who opposed the bailout, will run for that post.
Blunt may resign, and Cantor is said to want that post. Boehner says he will seek to remain in his position. On the Senate side, Republican Leader Senator Mitch McConnell not only voted for the bailout but ran for re-election on a platform of bringing home the federal pork to his constituents. He has also lost his credibility on spending issues.
In desperation, conservative radio talk-show host Laura Ingraham touts former House Speaker Newt Gingrich as a source of new ideas. But he is hardly a profile in courage. Gingrich was against the bailout plan until, on September 29, he issued a statement in favor of it. Then, in an article for Human Events on October 7, he called it “bad” and stated, “If Senator McCain is not prepared to separate himself from the Bush-Paulson economic program, he has no opportunity to win. The country is deeply fed up with the Bush presidency and angry about the Paulson bailout.”
Before it became fashionable to advocate more oil drilling, Gingrich was appearing with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in an Al Gore-financed global warming ad. Until gas prices started rising, Gingrich had been an advocate of “green conservatism” and was proposing a Gore-like “Contract with the Earth.”
In addition to his flip-flops, Gingrich has a well-known history of personal “indiscretions” that should disqualify him from any public role in a movement that purports to advocate traditional moral values.
Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, who called the bailout “Fleece in our time,” is beginning to receive more and more attention. He is the chairman of the House Republican Conference Policy Committee, the principal source of legislative initiatives for the party in the House. He won re-election in part because he came across as a leader in a revolt by House conservatives against Bush and Paulson over the bailout plan.
In a discussion with a local newspaper, McCotter was blunt, alluding to McCain’s double talk when he suspended his campaign to come to Washington to address the financial crisis. “McCain put himself in an interesting position,” McCotter said. “At the White House meeting, he said he liked what House Republicans were doing. Then the next day, he decided it was his job to get House Republicans to support the bailout.”
This erratic performance meant that McCain had blown any chance to exploit the financial crisis to his political advantage.
McCotter noted that it was a lot harder for McCain to complain about $70 billion in earmarks when he pushed for a $700-billion bailout. This sealed McCain’s fate, making his warnings about Obama’s socialism ring hollow.
Remaining true to his constituents and his own beliefs, McCotter rejected the notion that we need “just a little socialism to prevent a lot of socialism later” and said Republicans “abandoned principle for expediency” when they supported the bailout.
The same goes for the faux conservatives in the media.
Having recommended two phony “fiscal conservatives” for important positions in the House, Strassel also used her column to urge Republicans to quit “harping on immigrants and gay marriage.” The term “harping on immigrants” means that she believes that Big Business should be able to continue to exploit cheap labor from abroad and conservatives ought to quit advocating secure borders.
As far as gay marriage is concerned, amendments to prohibit gay marriage passed in liberal California, Arizona and Florida on November 4. This is one of the bright spots for conservatives. But Strassel wants to throw this advantage away.
One thing that I have realized, in analyzing the coverage of the campaign, is that the media are populated by many “conservatives” who are not really so conservative. It is a strange phenomenon. It is a form of false advertising.
This category includes the Fox News cheerleaders for the Wall Street bailout, such as Bill Kristol, Fred Barnes, Charles Krauthammer and Bill O’Reilly, and columnists David Brooks (New York Times), Peggy Noonan (Wall Street Journal) and Kathleen Parker (Washington Post Writers Group), who ridiculed Sarah Palin because she doesn’t enjoy the New York Times and appeals to ordinary people.
I am also getting tired of listening to former Bush adviser Karl Rove, who makes regular appearances on Fox News and writes for the Wall Street Journal and Newsweek, being constantly described as “the architect.” It’s true that he helped elect Bush two times, but considering what happened on November 4, isn’t it about time for somebody in the media to ask him some pointed questions about what he built and why it didn’t last.
With thanks to AIM.... Accuracy In Media.
The Bankruptcy of the Nation and Conservatism.
AIM Column | By Cliff Kincaid | November 6, 2008
Because Wall Street has gotten its bailout, the Democrats figure that they can now spend even more, supposedly to benefit Main Street.
A lot will be said and written about the presidential election, but one central fact remains: John McCain was ahead in the polls until the financial crisis emerged and President Bush was pushed by Treasury Secretary Paulson into seeking a $700-billion Wall Street bailout on September 18. The crisis benefited Obama, even though he voted for the bailout, because he was not a Republican, like McCain or Bush. Republicans were blamed because a Republican was in the White House.
The exit polls on November 4 still found the public opposed to the bailout by a 56-39 percent margin.
The panic around mid-September infected the conservative media, especially Fox News, which became a soapbox for the bailout that now exceeds $1.8 trillion. But rather than bail out or “rescue” anything, the hastily–passed measure, ironically named the “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008,” started a process that now threatens national bankruptcy.
Because Wall Street has gotten its bailout, the Democrats figure that they can now spend even more, supposedly to benefit Main Street. Which means spending and debt will get even more out of control and more socialist measures, this time under President Obama, will be taken.
The Global Europe Anticipation Bulletin, which predicted the current financial crisis, is warning that the U.S. Government will default on its debts by the summer of 2009 and that the “unfolding implosion” of the U.S. economy will result in the dramatic decline of America as a world power.
This is not a natural disaster, like a hurricane or earthquake. It has been brought about by reckless decisions made by people on Wall Street and in the federal government, including Congress. It was man-made, and President Bush clearly deserves much of the blame. But why aren’t the media demanding accountability for how the Bush Administration and the Congress permitted the nation to come to this point?
Incredibly, we still know very little about what happened behind closed administration doors. Rep. Scott Garrett, Republican of New Jersey, is one member of Congress who wants some answers from the Bush White House. One White House official simply shrugged his shoulders when I asked him how this crisis just happened to emerge six weeks before the election. Either they don’t know or don’t care to know. Either way, it borders on criminal negligence.
We do know that the powerful pro-China investment banking firm of Goldman Sachs, which backed Obama and the Democratic Party, has its fingerprints all over this debacle. Not surprisingly, the firm now benefits (so far to the tune of $10 billion) from the “rescue” package forced through Congress by its former chairman, Henry Paulson, and even got $5 billion from Obama booster Warren Buffett.
The secretive financial hedge funds, such as those run by John A. Paulson and George Soros, who made $3.7 billion and $2.9 billion in 2007 respectively, also deserve serious scrutiny.
Meanwhile, even before the election results were in, Kimberley A. Strassel of the Wall Street Journal was urging the Republicans “to start elevating the new generation of reformers―folks like Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor or Wisconsin’s Paul Ryan” in the House. She called them intellectuals, never mentioning the fact that they backed the Wall Street bailout that her colleague, Stephen Moore of the Journal’s editorial page, now admits was a big mistake. “I want to apologize,” Moore said. “I drank the Kool-aid.”
Cantor and Ryan, a member of the House Budget Committee, were good conservatives until they drank the Kool-aid and backed the bailout. Now they have lost their credibility on fiscal issues.
Of course, there were a lot of Kool-aid drinkers in Congress, including House Minority Leader John Boehner, Minority Whip Roy Blunt, Cantor, and House Republican Conference Chairman Adam Putnam of Florida. However, in the end, most House Republicans opposed the bailout, objecting to its socialist nature and questioning whether it would even work. By any objective measure, they were right. It hasn’t “stabilized” anything.
This is critical to note: all of the House Republican leaders, including Cantor, Putnam, Blunt, and Boehner, supported the bailout. But they couldn’t get a majority of House Republicans to support them.
Putnam has now resigned as chairman of the House Republican Conference, and Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee who opposed the bailout, will run for that post.
Blunt may resign, and Cantor is said to want that post. Boehner says he will seek to remain in his position. On the Senate side, Republican Leader Senator Mitch McConnell not only voted for the bailout but ran for re-election on a platform of bringing home the federal pork to his constituents. He has also lost his credibility on spending issues.
In desperation, conservative radio talk-show host Laura Ingraham touts former House Speaker Newt Gingrich as a source of new ideas. But he is hardly a profile in courage. Gingrich was against the bailout plan until, on September 29, he issued a statement in favor of it. Then, in an article for Human Events on October 7, he called it “bad” and stated, “If Senator McCain is not prepared to separate himself from the Bush-Paulson economic program, he has no opportunity to win. The country is deeply fed up with the Bush presidency and angry about the Paulson bailout.”
Before it became fashionable to advocate more oil drilling, Gingrich was appearing with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in an Al Gore-financed global warming ad. Until gas prices started rising, Gingrich had been an advocate of “green conservatism” and was proposing a Gore-like “Contract with the Earth.”
In addition to his flip-flops, Gingrich has a well-known history of personal “indiscretions” that should disqualify him from any public role in a movement that purports to advocate traditional moral values.
Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, who called the bailout “Fleece in our time,” is beginning to receive more and more attention. He is the chairman of the House Republican Conference Policy Committee, the principal source of legislative initiatives for the party in the House. He won re-election in part because he came across as a leader in a revolt by House conservatives against Bush and Paulson over the bailout plan.
In a discussion with a local newspaper, McCotter was blunt, alluding to McCain’s double talk when he suspended his campaign to come to Washington to address the financial crisis. “McCain put himself in an interesting position,” McCotter said. “At the White House meeting, he said he liked what House Republicans were doing. Then the next day, he decided it was his job to get House Republicans to support the bailout.”
This erratic performance meant that McCain had blown any chance to exploit the financial crisis to his political advantage.
McCotter noted that it was a lot harder for McCain to complain about $70 billion in earmarks when he pushed for a $700-billion bailout. This sealed McCain’s fate, making his warnings about Obama’s socialism ring hollow.
Remaining true to his constituents and his own beliefs, McCotter rejected the notion that we need “just a little socialism to prevent a lot of socialism later” and said Republicans “abandoned principle for expediency” when they supported the bailout.
The same goes for the faux conservatives in the media.
Having recommended two phony “fiscal conservatives” for important positions in the House, Strassel also used her column to urge Republicans to quit “harping on immigrants and gay marriage.” The term “harping on immigrants” means that she believes that Big Business should be able to continue to exploit cheap labor from abroad and conservatives ought to quit advocating secure borders.
As far as gay marriage is concerned, amendments to prohibit gay marriage passed in liberal California, Arizona and Florida on November 4. This is one of the bright spots for conservatives. But Strassel wants to throw this advantage away.
One thing that I have realized, in analyzing the coverage of the campaign, is that the media are populated by many “conservatives” who are not really so conservative. It is a strange phenomenon. It is a form of false advertising.
This category includes the Fox News cheerleaders for the Wall Street bailout, such as Bill Kristol, Fred Barnes, Charles Krauthammer and Bill O’Reilly, and columnists David Brooks (New York Times), Peggy Noonan (Wall Street Journal) and Kathleen Parker (Washington Post Writers Group), who ridiculed Sarah Palin because she doesn’t enjoy the New York Times and appeals to ordinary people.
I am also getting tired of listening to former Bush adviser Karl Rove, who makes regular appearances on Fox News and writes for the Wall Street Journal and Newsweek, being constantly described as “the architect.” It’s true that he helped elect Bush two times, but considering what happened on November 4, isn’t it about time for somebody in the media to ask him some pointed questions about what he built and why it didn’t last.
big govt bailouts
from ninemsn news....
Government announces 22 million dollar ABC bailout
7/11/2008 2:00:00 PM
Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced that the government will spend $22 million to keep ABC Learning Centres operating until the end of the year.
Gillard added that early findings from investigatons by ABC's administrators showed that some 40 percent of the company's 1200 childcare centres are not making a profit.
The news comes as Australian banks revealed they are owed $760 milliion by the collapsed childcare giant.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd (CBA) confirmed on Friday it has a debt exposure to childcare operator ABC Learning Centres Ltd of around $240 million, taking the total confirmed exposure of the major banks to an estimated $762 million.
Toy wholesaler Funtastic Ltd also said on Friday its earnings could be adversely affected by ABC going into voluntary administration and receivership.
CBA said its senior debt exposure to ABC, which was placed in receivership and administration on Thursday, was around $240 million.
But the bank also holds 4.456 million ABC hybrid notes, with a carrying value of about $220 million, following an $100 million write down of the value of the notes earlier this month.
ANZ bank said on Thursday ABC owed it $182 million, Westpac Banking Corp said it had a credit exposure of about $200 million, and NAB confirmed a $140 million exposure.
Meanwhile, Funtastic said one of its subsidiaries, Judius Pty Ltd, had a contract with ABC's subsidiary, ABC Developmental Learning Centres Pty Ltd, for the supply of child care products to ABC centres in Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
The toy company, whose brands includes The Wiggles and Power Rangers, said the ABC's receivership could have an adverse impact on its earnings.
"The appointments of receivers and voluntary administrators to ABC Learning and certain of its subsidiaries could have an adverse effect on the earnings of Funtastic for the year ending December 31 and potentially future years' earnings," Funtastic said.
"It is also possible that the potential effect could be material."
Funtastic said it was not possible yet to quantify the potential effect, or to assess how material it might be.
Funtastic said its board had decided to conduct a detailed review of its exposure to ABC.
Funtastic expects to enter discussions with ABC's receivers and administrators to continue the contractual arrangements with ABC Development Learning Centres.
The receiver of ABC, Chris Honey of McGrathNicol, has assured parents that all of ABC's 1200 childcare centres in Australia and NZ will remain open.
The federal government says it's in talks with the company's creditors to keep the centres operating.
ABC Learning has 16,000 staff who care for more than 100,000 children across Australia.
Is this leftlunacy govt trying to go the way of USA with all the bailouts of failing businesses. Surely we have other essential services that need taxpayer money to keep them viable especially in the light of terrorism etc. Services such as Police, Fire Brigade and Hospitals.....etc... ABC childacre was a private business, and the owner of this made sure he made his millions of dollars before fleeing overseas. The news services were big on promoting him as an entrapreneur and lauding his centres in the media, with no regard to the struggling child care centres who were losing business and money because of the ABC centres. Why does the govt not prop up these other centres instead of bailing the ABC out of millions if not billions of debt owed to banks...and where are the banks going to get this lost money from?.... the people who invest their money for their futures. Before we know it, our stupid moronic leaders will be bailing out finance institutions just like the fanny and freddie debacle. Where does it all end? Why not put a system in place where business can only expand when it has the proven finances to do so.
Government announces 22 million dollar ABC bailout
7/11/2008 2:00:00 PM
Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced that the government will spend $22 million to keep ABC Learning Centres operating until the end of the year.
Gillard added that early findings from investigatons by ABC's administrators showed that some 40 percent of the company's 1200 childcare centres are not making a profit.
The news comes as Australian banks revealed they are owed $760 milliion by the collapsed childcare giant.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd (CBA) confirmed on Friday it has a debt exposure to childcare operator ABC Learning Centres Ltd of around $240 million, taking the total confirmed exposure of the major banks to an estimated $762 million.
Toy wholesaler Funtastic Ltd also said on Friday its earnings could be adversely affected by ABC going into voluntary administration and receivership.
CBA said its senior debt exposure to ABC, which was placed in receivership and administration on Thursday, was around $240 million.
But the bank also holds 4.456 million ABC hybrid notes, with a carrying value of about $220 million, following an $100 million write down of the value of the notes earlier this month.
ANZ bank said on Thursday ABC owed it $182 million, Westpac Banking Corp said it had a credit exposure of about $200 million, and NAB confirmed a $140 million exposure.
Meanwhile, Funtastic said one of its subsidiaries, Judius Pty Ltd, had a contract with ABC's subsidiary, ABC Developmental Learning Centres Pty Ltd, for the supply of child care products to ABC centres in Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
The toy company, whose brands includes The Wiggles and Power Rangers, said the ABC's receivership could have an adverse impact on its earnings.
"The appointments of receivers and voluntary administrators to ABC Learning and certain of its subsidiaries could have an adverse effect on the earnings of Funtastic for the year ending December 31 and potentially future years' earnings," Funtastic said.
"It is also possible that the potential effect could be material."
Funtastic said it was not possible yet to quantify the potential effect, or to assess how material it might be.
Funtastic said its board had decided to conduct a detailed review of its exposure to ABC.
Funtastic expects to enter discussions with ABC's receivers and administrators to continue the contractual arrangements with ABC Development Learning Centres.
The receiver of ABC, Chris Honey of McGrathNicol, has assured parents that all of ABC's 1200 childcare centres in Australia and NZ will remain open.
The federal government says it's in talks with the company's creditors to keep the centres operating.
ABC Learning has 16,000 staff who care for more than 100,000 children across Australia.
Is this leftlunacy govt trying to go the way of USA with all the bailouts of failing businesses. Surely we have other essential services that need taxpayer money to keep them viable especially in the light of terrorism etc. Services such as Police, Fire Brigade and Hospitals.....etc... ABC childacre was a private business, and the owner of this made sure he made his millions of dollars before fleeing overseas. The news services were big on promoting him as an entrapreneur and lauding his centres in the media, with no regard to the struggling child care centres who were losing business and money because of the ABC centres. Why does the govt not prop up these other centres instead of bailing the ABC out of millions if not billions of debt owed to banks...and where are the banks going to get this lost money from?.... the people who invest their money for their futures. Before we know it, our stupid moronic leaders will be bailing out finance institutions just like the fanny and freddie debacle. Where does it all end? Why not put a system in place where business can only expand when it has the proven finances to do so.
islamic finance 101
Thanks to Prophecy Watch for this....
The Rise of Islam.
U.S. Treasury teaches 'Islamic Finance 101'
The Treasury Department has announced it will teach "Islamic finance" to U.S. banking regulatory agencies, Congress and other parts of the executive branch tomorrow in Washington, D.C. – but critics say it is opening a door to American funding of Islamic extremism. According to its announcement, the "Islamic Finance 101" forum is "designed to help inform the policy community about Islamic financial services, which are an increasingly important part of the global financial industry." Islamic finance is a system of banking consistent with the principles of Shariah, or Islamic law. It is becoming increasingly popular, having reached $800 billion by mid-2007 and growing at more than 15 percent each year. Wall Street now features an Islamic mutual fund and an Islamic index. However, critics claim anti-American terrorists are often financially supported through U.S. investments – creating a system by which the nation funds its own enemy. In his essay, "Financial Jihad: What Americans Need to Know," Vice President Christopher Holden of the Center for Security Policy writes, "America is losing the financial war on terror because Wall Street is embracing a subversive enemy ideology on one hand and providing corporate life support to state sponsors of terrorism on the other hand." Holden refers to Islamic finance, or "Shariah-Compliant Finance" as a "modern-day Trojan horse" infiltrating the U.S. He said it poses a threat to the U.S. because it seeks to legitimize Shariah – a man-made medieval doctrine that regulates every aspect of life for Muslims – and could ultimately change American life and laws. Shariah-compliant finance is becoming a major movement, because American banks and investors are seeking wealth from oil profits in the Middle East. Some advocates claim Islamic finance is socially responsible because it bans investors from funding companies that sell or promote products such as alcohol, tobacco, pornography, gambling and even pork. However, Islamic financial institutions also require all industry participants to adhere to tenets of Shariah law. According to Nasser Suleiman's "Corporate Governance in Islamic Banking, "First and foremost, an Islamic organization must serve God. It must develop a distinctive corporate culture, the main purpose of which is to create a collective morality and spirituality which, when combined with the production of goods and services, sustains growth and the advancement of the Islamic way of life." Three nations that rule 100 percent by Shariah law – Iran, Saudi Arabia and Sudan – hold some of the most horrific human rights records in the world, Holden said. "This strongly suggests that Americans should strenuously resist anything associated with Shariah."................ read more....http://www.prophecynewswatch.com
The Rise of Islam.
U.S. Treasury teaches 'Islamic Finance 101'
The Treasury Department has announced it will teach "Islamic finance" to U.S. banking regulatory agencies, Congress and other parts of the executive branch tomorrow in Washington, D.C. – but critics say it is opening a door to American funding of Islamic extremism. According to its announcement, the "Islamic Finance 101" forum is "designed to help inform the policy community about Islamic financial services, which are an increasingly important part of the global financial industry." Islamic finance is a system of banking consistent with the principles of Shariah, or Islamic law. It is becoming increasingly popular, having reached $800 billion by mid-2007 and growing at more than 15 percent each year. Wall Street now features an Islamic mutual fund and an Islamic index. However, critics claim anti-American terrorists are often financially supported through U.S. investments – creating a system by which the nation funds its own enemy. In his essay, "Financial Jihad: What Americans Need to Know," Vice President Christopher Holden of the Center for Security Policy writes, "America is losing the financial war on terror because Wall Street is embracing a subversive enemy ideology on one hand and providing corporate life support to state sponsors of terrorism on the other hand." Holden refers to Islamic finance, or "Shariah-Compliant Finance" as a "modern-day Trojan horse" infiltrating the U.S. He said it poses a threat to the U.S. because it seeks to legitimize Shariah – a man-made medieval doctrine that regulates every aspect of life for Muslims – and could ultimately change American life and laws. Shariah-compliant finance is becoming a major movement, because American banks and investors are seeking wealth from oil profits in the Middle East. Some advocates claim Islamic finance is socially responsible because it bans investors from funding companies that sell or promote products such as alcohol, tobacco, pornography, gambling and even pork. However, Islamic financial institutions also require all industry participants to adhere to tenets of Shariah law. According to Nasser Suleiman's "Corporate Governance in Islamic Banking, "First and foremost, an Islamic organization must serve God. It must develop a distinctive corporate culture, the main purpose of which is to create a collective morality and spirituality which, when combined with the production of goods and services, sustains growth and the advancement of the Islamic way of life." Three nations that rule 100 percent by Shariah law – Iran, Saudi Arabia and Sudan – hold some of the most horrific human rights records in the world, Holden said. "This strongly suggests that Americans should strenuously resist anything associated with Shariah."................ read more....http://www.prophecynewswatch.com
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Christians Respond to Obama as President
Here is one of the sites that has mixed reactions...from the readers, but quite often, the columnists are all for obama.....
For the full article go to...http://www.christianpost.com/article/20081105/christians-respond-to-obama-as-president.htm
Christians Respond to Obama as President.
The diverse Christian body has, as expected, responded to news of Barack Obama’s victory in the presidential election with mixed reaction – some congratulating, others wanting to put aside differences to work together, and still others insisting on challenging him when he takes office.
By Jennifer Riley
Christian Post Reporter
Wed, Nov. 05 2008 09:59 AM EST
The diverse Christian body has, as expected, responded to news of Barack Obama’s victory in the presidential election with mixed reaction – some congratulating, others wanting to put aside differences to work together, and still others insisting on challenging him when he takes office.
National Council of Churches USA, a left-leaning network of 100,000 local congregations, congratulated president-elect Obama and pledged to support him in the tough times ahead as he navigates the country out of the dangerous waters it is currently in.
“Mr. President-Elect, the 45-million Christians represented by the member communions of the National Council of Churches stand ready to work with you to respond to the realities that a loving God places before us each day,” stated Michael Kinnamon, general secretary of NCCUSA, in a statement issued early Wednesday.
In particular, he pointed to social concerns such as poverty, education, and health care.
“All of us are dependent on God's loving mercy, and we will regularly pray for you and others elected to high leadership,” the NCCUSA head wrote. “May your wisdom and discernment serve you well, and may your health never wane.”
But the religious right had a much different tone in response to Obama’s election victory.
Focus on the Family, the most prominent religious right organization, rejoiced that Obama will not have a 60-seat Democratic Senate that would have allowed him to push forth legislation without serious contention.
While the Democratic Party has a solid majority in both the House and Senate, they do not have the 60-seat majority needed that would give Majority Leader Harry Reid the power to invoke “cloture,” a procedure by which the Senate can vote to place a time limit on consideration of a bill or other matter, and end a Republican filibuster.
The Senate results combined with the approval of three state amendments banning gay marriage “give values voters reason to stay tuned to development on Capitol Hill,” FOTF Action wrote in its Election home page.
“God can use any president for his own purposes,” encouraged Focus Action’s Tom Minnery during an election special broadcast.
Meanwhile, Tony Perkins of Family Research Council, another prominent conservative group, encouraged values voters to keep praying for America and not lose heart.
Former FRC staff Dr. Charmaine Yoest, who is now president and CEO of Americans United for Life, congratulated Sen. Obama on his win, but pointed out his contradictory actions on abortion rights.
While Obama has called for “common ground” on abortion rights during his campaign, Yoest said, he promised Planned Parenthood that his first act as president will be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), which would eliminate every state and federal law regulating abortion.
"We will continue working in the days ahead to educate Americans about the threat to common sense that FOCA poses,” the AUL president vowed. “And we will make common cause with defenders of life in both the Democrat and Republican parties, fully committed to the ultimate goal of seeing both parties dedicated to the defense of life.”
Exit polls show that 74 percent of white evangelicals or born-again Christians voted for Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain and 24 percent voted for Sen. Barack Obama, according to CNN. Twenty-six percent of American voters described themselves as evangelical or born-again Christians.
Obama won 338 electoral votes, far more than the 270 needed, to win the 2008 presidential election. Sen. John McCain won 163 electoral votes.
Part of one of the comments from dannygirl, Wed Nov 05, 2008 6:27 pm, which is my sentiments pretty much....
Ah, it is not the end of the world. While I really like Sarah Palin. Personally I feel with help of all those phony voters with Acorn and the Liberal media. Barack Obama stole the vote.
I'm sick with fear of what this man can do to us!
Good News is there are 56 million + family members who are true Christians in the US who voted against Barack Obama. That could be 150 Million +. Hey, Praise God. God is soverign. Amen!
For the full article go to...http://www.christianpost.com/article/20081105/christians-respond-to-obama-as-president.htm
Christians Respond to Obama as President.
The diverse Christian body has, as expected, responded to news of Barack Obama’s victory in the presidential election with mixed reaction – some congratulating, others wanting to put aside differences to work together, and still others insisting on challenging him when he takes office.
By Jennifer Riley
Christian Post Reporter
Wed, Nov. 05 2008 09:59 AM EST
The diverse Christian body has, as expected, responded to news of Barack Obama’s victory in the presidential election with mixed reaction – some congratulating, others wanting to put aside differences to work together, and still others insisting on challenging him when he takes office.
National Council of Churches USA, a left-leaning network of 100,000 local congregations, congratulated president-elect Obama and pledged to support him in the tough times ahead as he navigates the country out of the dangerous waters it is currently in.
“Mr. President-Elect, the 45-million Christians represented by the member communions of the National Council of Churches stand ready to work with you to respond to the realities that a loving God places before us each day,” stated Michael Kinnamon, general secretary of NCCUSA, in a statement issued early Wednesday.
In particular, he pointed to social concerns such as poverty, education, and health care.
“All of us are dependent on God's loving mercy, and we will regularly pray for you and others elected to high leadership,” the NCCUSA head wrote. “May your wisdom and discernment serve you well, and may your health never wane.”
But the religious right had a much different tone in response to Obama’s election victory.
Focus on the Family, the most prominent religious right organization, rejoiced that Obama will not have a 60-seat Democratic Senate that would have allowed him to push forth legislation without serious contention.
While the Democratic Party has a solid majority in both the House and Senate, they do not have the 60-seat majority needed that would give Majority Leader Harry Reid the power to invoke “cloture,” a procedure by which the Senate can vote to place a time limit on consideration of a bill or other matter, and end a Republican filibuster.
The Senate results combined with the approval of three state amendments banning gay marriage “give values voters reason to stay tuned to development on Capitol Hill,” FOTF Action wrote in its Election home page.
“God can use any president for his own purposes,” encouraged Focus Action’s Tom Minnery during an election special broadcast.
Meanwhile, Tony Perkins of Family Research Council, another prominent conservative group, encouraged values voters to keep praying for America and not lose heart.
Former FRC staff Dr. Charmaine Yoest, who is now president and CEO of Americans United for Life, congratulated Sen. Obama on his win, but pointed out his contradictory actions on abortion rights.
While Obama has called for “common ground” on abortion rights during his campaign, Yoest said, he promised Planned Parenthood that his first act as president will be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), which would eliminate every state and federal law regulating abortion.
"We will continue working in the days ahead to educate Americans about the threat to common sense that FOCA poses,” the AUL president vowed. “And we will make common cause with defenders of life in both the Democrat and Republican parties, fully committed to the ultimate goal of seeing both parties dedicated to the defense of life.”
Exit polls show that 74 percent of white evangelicals or born-again Christians voted for Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain and 24 percent voted for Sen. Barack Obama, according to CNN. Twenty-six percent of American voters described themselves as evangelical or born-again Christians.
Obama won 338 electoral votes, far more than the 270 needed, to win the 2008 presidential election. Sen. John McCain won 163 electoral votes.
Part of one of the comments from dannygirl, Wed Nov 05, 2008 6:27 pm, which is my sentiments pretty much....
Ah, it is not the end of the world. While I really like Sarah Palin. Personally I feel with help of all those phony voters with Acorn and the Liberal media. Barack Obama stole the vote.
I'm sick with fear of what this man can do to us!
Good News is there are 56 million + family members who are true Christians in the US who voted against Barack Obama. That could be 150 Million +. Hey, Praise God. God is soverign. Amen!
The U.S. Should Not Open an Interests Section in Tehran
Thanks to MEF, who wants us all to spread the word. Used with permission.
The U.S. Should Not Open an Interests Section in Tehran
by Michael Rubin
CFR Forum
November 4, 2008
http://www.meforum.org/article/2003
In its waning days, the Bush administration is setting the stage for establishment of a U.S. Interests Section in Tehran manned by U.S. diplomats. The new administration should let this ill-thought and poorly-timed initiative drop.
Today is the 29th Anniversary of the Iranian seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran. Both reformists and hardliners continue to endorse the seizure. Few Americans remember the details of the embassy seizure. On November 1, 1979, Zbigniew Brzezinski, president Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor, met with Iranian Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan and Foreign Minister Ebrahim Yazdi in Algiers to discuss, among other issues, the restoration of the U.S.-Iran relationship. The Shah was gone, but the U.S. government wanted to cement its relationship with the new revolutionary regime. Photos of their handshake appeared in Iranian newspapers the next day. Students, with Ayatollah Ruhollah's blessing, stormed the embassy the next day, holding 52 American diplomats for 444 days. What went wrong? In many ways, the U.S. diplomats were pawns in a struggle that had less to do with the United States and far more to do with Iran's domestic politics. The Islamic Revolution was popular: Fully ten percent of the Iranian population took part, not only ayatollahs and seminary students, but also liberals, merchants, students, religious leftists, among others. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was a symbol but, for months, it was uncertain he would be able to consolidate the power which history demonstrates he desired. His followers—Students Following the Line of the Imam—used the manufactured embassy crisis to force Bazargan's resignation and consolidate the revolution. Khomeini came out of the embassy seizure much stronger than his regime went into it. The Carter administration may have sought to engage moderates, but they inadvertently bolstered the hardliners.
The same pattern repeated when, in what became the Iran-Contra Affair, U.S. officials sought to engage revolutionary authorities in Tehran. One week after former U.S. national security advisor Robert McFarlane's secret trip to Tehran, Mehdi Hashemi, the son-in-law of Khomeini's deputy Hossein Ali Montazeri, leaked word of secret talks in pamphlets distributed at the University of Tehran. Six months later, Montazeri or his immediate aidesleaked word of McFarlane's meetings in the pro-Syrian Lebanese magazine Ash Shira‘a. Twenty-two years ago today, former president and Expediency Council chairman Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani confirmed the meeting to the international press. Whatever one thinks of Reagan administration actions, the fact remains that Iranian officials betrayed U.S. confidence in secret talks and crippled the remainder of the Reagan presidency. They did so, not out of spite for the United States, but rather for narrow domestic political reasons.
The list continues. After Mohammad Khatami's so-called Dialogue of Civilizations initiative, radical Iranian vigilantes attacked a busload of American businessmen. They did so to embarrass the Iranian government. The same day Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice waved the conditions outlined in her May 31, 2006 speech and sent Undersecretary of State William Burns to Geneva to join nuclear negotiations and offer the Iranian government a generous incentives package, Mohammad Jafar Assadi, commander of the Revolutionary Guards' ground forces, declared that the concession proved that "America has no other choice but to leave the Middle East region beaten and humiliated." The problem is not diplomacy. Rather, it is inattention to timing. Poorly calibrated diplomacy can backfire, spark crisis, and benefit hardliners.
One day, it may be appropriate to send U.S. diplomats to Tehran. That day is not now nor will it come until there is broad consensus across the Iranian political spectrum about the direction in which Iranian leaders should take their country. The new U.S. President must think not only of U.S. desires, but also remain cognizant of the complex political scene in Tehran. While Iranians jockey for position ahead of their June 2009 presidential elections, and while vigilante groups continue to flex their muscles, any attempt to send U.S. diplomats prematurely may spark the crisis and test which Senator Joe Biden warned against.
Related Topics: Iran, US policy
You may freely post or forward this text, but on condition that you send it as an integral whole, along with complete information about its author, date, publication, and original URL.
The Middle East Forum
The U.S. Should Not Open an Interests Section in Tehran
by Michael Rubin
CFR Forum
November 4, 2008
http://www.meforum.org/article/2003
In its waning days, the Bush administration is setting the stage for establishment of a U.S. Interests Section in Tehran manned by U.S. diplomats. The new administration should let this ill-thought and poorly-timed initiative drop.
Today is the 29th Anniversary of the Iranian seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran. Both reformists and hardliners continue to endorse the seizure. Few Americans remember the details of the embassy seizure. On November 1, 1979, Zbigniew Brzezinski, president Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor, met with Iranian Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan and Foreign Minister Ebrahim Yazdi in Algiers to discuss, among other issues, the restoration of the U.S.-Iran relationship. The Shah was gone, but the U.S. government wanted to cement its relationship with the new revolutionary regime. Photos of their handshake appeared in Iranian newspapers the next day. Students, with Ayatollah Ruhollah's blessing, stormed the embassy the next day, holding 52 American diplomats for 444 days. What went wrong? In many ways, the U.S. diplomats were pawns in a struggle that had less to do with the United States and far more to do with Iran's domestic politics. The Islamic Revolution was popular: Fully ten percent of the Iranian population took part, not only ayatollahs and seminary students, but also liberals, merchants, students, religious leftists, among others. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was a symbol but, for months, it was uncertain he would be able to consolidate the power which history demonstrates he desired. His followers—Students Following the Line of the Imam—used the manufactured embassy crisis to force Bazargan's resignation and consolidate the revolution. Khomeini came out of the embassy seizure much stronger than his regime went into it. The Carter administration may have sought to engage moderates, but they inadvertently bolstered the hardliners.
The same pattern repeated when, in what became the Iran-Contra Affair, U.S. officials sought to engage revolutionary authorities in Tehran. One week after former U.S. national security advisor Robert McFarlane's secret trip to Tehran, Mehdi Hashemi, the son-in-law of Khomeini's deputy Hossein Ali Montazeri, leaked word of secret talks in pamphlets distributed at the University of Tehran. Six months later, Montazeri or his immediate aidesleaked word of McFarlane's meetings in the pro-Syrian Lebanese magazine Ash Shira‘a. Twenty-two years ago today, former president and Expediency Council chairman Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani confirmed the meeting to the international press. Whatever one thinks of Reagan administration actions, the fact remains that Iranian officials betrayed U.S. confidence in secret talks and crippled the remainder of the Reagan presidency. They did so, not out of spite for the United States, but rather for narrow domestic political reasons.
The list continues. After Mohammad Khatami's so-called Dialogue of Civilizations initiative, radical Iranian vigilantes attacked a busload of American businessmen. They did so to embarrass the Iranian government. The same day Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice waved the conditions outlined in her May 31, 2006 speech and sent Undersecretary of State William Burns to Geneva to join nuclear negotiations and offer the Iranian government a generous incentives package, Mohammad Jafar Assadi, commander of the Revolutionary Guards' ground forces, declared that the concession proved that "America has no other choice but to leave the Middle East region beaten and humiliated." The problem is not diplomacy. Rather, it is inattention to timing. Poorly calibrated diplomacy can backfire, spark crisis, and benefit hardliners.
One day, it may be appropriate to send U.S. diplomats to Tehran. That day is not now nor will it come until there is broad consensus across the Iranian political spectrum about the direction in which Iranian leaders should take their country. The new U.S. President must think not only of U.S. desires, but also remain cognizant of the complex political scene in Tehran. While Iranians jockey for position ahead of their June 2009 presidential elections, and while vigilante groups continue to flex their muscles, any attempt to send U.S. diplomats prematurely may spark the crisis and test which Senator Joe Biden warned against.
Related Topics: Iran, US policy
You may freely post or forward this text, but on condition that you send it as an integral whole, along with complete information about its author, date, publication, and original URL.
The Middle East Forum
Christian group saddened by obamanator
With the Christian organisations I frequent and websites that I subscribe to on the net, I have become somewhat disillusioned by the majority of them supporting obama.
However, my heart is lightened by one group that DO NOT support obama....this is an organisation called Christian Shirts. - ChristianShirts.net -
they are offering us readers a 25% discount on purchases.
At ChristianShirts.net, we are greatly saddened by the election of a pro-choice President. In order to keep the Pro-life movement upbeat, we are giving all our subscribers a coupon for 25% off, which is good for one week only. Keep Pro-life hope alive!
Yes, I am Pro-Life but up to a point..... I do not believe in abortion as contraception, nor do I believe that a baby should be born with such disabilities that would render their life in a vegetative state. Not abortion just because your child may have a disability of some kind, like the kind that would still let them live a fruitful life. There are so many parents opting for abortion just because their child will be born with Down Syndrome. Now I know these children can have good lives as I have worked with them and also have a niece and a nephew with disabilities, mind you, my brother and sister in-law adopted both of them as they were tossed on the scrap heap.....tests were not available back then, and I can tell you both these kids grew into lovely adults, one of whom has a family of his own and a very good job.
This is not the only reason this group is against obama by the way, there are a few other reasons. Anyway, have a look at their site and you might even find some good t-shirts to buy for gifts for Christmas.
However, my heart is lightened by one group that DO NOT support obama....this is an organisation called Christian Shirts. - ChristianShirts.net -
they are offering us readers a 25% discount on purchases.
At ChristianShirts.net, we are greatly saddened by the election of a pro-choice President. In order to keep the Pro-life movement upbeat, we are giving all our subscribers a coupon for 25% off, which is good for one week only. Keep Pro-life hope alive!
Yes, I am Pro-Life but up to a point..... I do not believe in abortion as contraception, nor do I believe that a baby should be born with such disabilities that would render their life in a vegetative state. Not abortion just because your child may have a disability of some kind, like the kind that would still let them live a fruitful life. There are so many parents opting for abortion just because their child will be born with Down Syndrome. Now I know these children can have good lives as I have worked with them and also have a niece and a nephew with disabilities, mind you, my brother and sister in-law adopted both of them as they were tossed on the scrap heap.....tests were not available back then, and I can tell you both these kids grew into lovely adults, one of whom has a family of his own and a very good job.
This is not the only reason this group is against obama by the way, there are a few other reasons. Anyway, have a look at their site and you might even find some good t-shirts to buy for gifts for Christmas.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Rudd's Agenda
In NOVEMBERS issue of THE MONTHLY, A Magazine of Australian Politics, Society and Culture, we have as the feature story the following article.
Go to www.themonthly.com.au for more.
THE MONTHLY ESSAYS.
"Before he became the Labor leader, I held in my mind three wildly contradictory images of Kevin Rudd. In the first - derived from the scurrilous portrait in The Latham Diaries - Rudd was a media-obsessed, vaultingly ambitious, duplicitous opportunist. In the second - based mainly on my observation of his near-successful attempt to prove that the foreign minister, Alexander Downer, was lying when he claimed he knew nothing about the bribes paid by the Australian Wheat Board to Saddam Hussein - Rudd was an outstanding parliamentary performer: focused, diligent, courteous but remorseless, quick-witted and intelligent. In the third - which was based on his Dietrich Bonhoeffer article - Rudd was a true believer in Christian social justice, a politician who identified not with power but with the powerless, who believed that the impending catastrophe of climate change was the overwhelming challenge of our age, who had given his life to politics to try to make the world a better place."
In "What is Rudd's Agenda?", Robert Manne takes a close look at the Rudd government as it approaches its first anniversary. What, he asks, is its relation to the "philosophic and policy disposition of its predecessor"? Has Australia "begun significantly to change" since Labor took office? What did Rudd promise, and what has he failed to deliver?
"Rudd is committed in the international sphere to ... what he invariably calls, in language borrowed from the standard Australian foreign-policy textbooks, 'creative middle-power diplomacy'. Here Rudd is at his most ambitious or, as some might think, grandiose. It was no accident that Rudd was very keen to address the UN General Assembly; that he is keen to make Australia a player in the diplomacy leading up to the Copenhagen conference on climate change; that he has signalled for the first time an Australian interest in the international struggle to combat extreme poverty within a generation; and that he has tried to inject Australia into the current international negotiations over the financial markets' meltdown. Rudd aspires to be the architect of a new Asia-Pacific Community - a somewhat amorphous regional entity comprising all the major Asia-Pacific powers, from the US through China to Russia, where the habits of peaceful co-operation, conversation and good-neighbourliness will somehow be learnt."
I have my copy, as I get it every month, now all I need to do is get around to reading the full article. Maybe it will shed some light on his 'Agenda'. Bearing in mind, that I did not vote for Rudd or his cronies, but I was nevertheless willing to 'give him a fair go' as is the Aussie way, but so far I have been disappointed, as have so many actual labour voters around the Country. It is nearing the end of his 1st year, so we will see how he fares for the next year, which will leave him 2 more years to see what 'The People' really want to do about their voting choices.
Go to www.themonthly.com.au for more.
THE MONTHLY ESSAYS.
"Before he became the Labor leader, I held in my mind three wildly contradictory images of Kevin Rudd. In the first - derived from the scurrilous portrait in The Latham Diaries - Rudd was a media-obsessed, vaultingly ambitious, duplicitous opportunist. In the second - based mainly on my observation of his near-successful attempt to prove that the foreign minister, Alexander Downer, was lying when he claimed he knew nothing about the bribes paid by the Australian Wheat Board to Saddam Hussein - Rudd was an outstanding parliamentary performer: focused, diligent, courteous but remorseless, quick-witted and intelligent. In the third - which was based on his Dietrich Bonhoeffer article - Rudd was a true believer in Christian social justice, a politician who identified not with power but with the powerless, who believed that the impending catastrophe of climate change was the overwhelming challenge of our age, who had given his life to politics to try to make the world a better place."
In "What is Rudd's Agenda?", Robert Manne takes a close look at the Rudd government as it approaches its first anniversary. What, he asks, is its relation to the "philosophic and policy disposition of its predecessor"? Has Australia "begun significantly to change" since Labor took office? What did Rudd promise, and what has he failed to deliver?
"Rudd is committed in the international sphere to ... what he invariably calls, in language borrowed from the standard Australian foreign-policy textbooks, 'creative middle-power diplomacy'. Here Rudd is at his most ambitious or, as some might think, grandiose. It was no accident that Rudd was very keen to address the UN General Assembly; that he is keen to make Australia a player in the diplomacy leading up to the Copenhagen conference on climate change; that he has signalled for the first time an Australian interest in the international struggle to combat extreme poverty within a generation; and that he has tried to inject Australia into the current international negotiations over the financial markets' meltdown. Rudd aspires to be the architect of a new Asia-Pacific Community - a somewhat amorphous regional entity comprising all the major Asia-Pacific powers, from the US through China to Russia, where the habits of peaceful co-operation, conversation and good-neighbourliness will somehow be learnt."
I have my copy, as I get it every month, now all I need to do is get around to reading the full article. Maybe it will shed some light on his 'Agenda'. Bearing in mind, that I did not vote for Rudd or his cronies, but I was nevertheless willing to 'give him a fair go' as is the Aussie way, but so far I have been disappointed, as have so many actual labour voters around the Country. It is nearing the end of his 1st year, so we will see how he fares for the next year, which will leave him 2 more years to see what 'The People' really want to do about their voting choices.
This in from Citizen Warrior.....
Support an Open Fuel Standard
Posted: 03 Nov 2008 12:59 PM CST
"THIS YEAR, the United States and other countries will send OPEC countries more money than the United States taxpayers send our own Department of Defense," says Anne Korin in the video below.
This can change. It costs very little for car manufacturers to tweak their engines so they can burn several different kinds of fuels — in other words, to create a single engine that can burn ethanol and methanol and gasoline, whichever is available or cheapest. Car manufacturers already make some of their cars with this tweak. If car manufacturers were required to do this by the government (just as they are required to build in seat belts), fuel companies would have enough confidence to build fueling stations for alternative fuels, and then what would happen? The different kinds of fuels could compete.
Right now oil is a fuel monopoly. It is the only fuel most cars use. This monopoly is controlled by OPEC. They don't produce all the oil on the market, but they produce such a large amount that they can change the global price of oil when they wish. This means the global price of oil is controlled by Jihadis, and they are using their oil monopoly to do two things at once: To fund a global jihad, and to weaken the free world.
You can do something right now to push the U.S. to adopt an open fuel standard: Go to Nozzle Rage and click on the red button in the upper right hand corner to put the pressure on your representatives to get this law passed. Then encourage everyone you know to do so, and encourage them to encourage everyone they know. Let's get this done, pronto!
The idea of "drill here, drill now" will help remove money from OPEC and put it into the U.S. market, which is a good thing, but it still leaves OPEC controlling oil prices, which means Jihadis are controlling the price of transportation, which means Jihadis are controlling the global economy. "Drill here, drill now" is a good thing to do, but it is not the whole solution. Whenever more oil is added to the global market, OPEC reduces its output accordingly. Their control of their output controls the price. It is oil jihad. We need to defeat it with freedom. In this case, a free market competition between transportation fuels.
In the U.S., we only use 2% of our oil creating electricity. Building more nuclear power plants or wind turbines won't help much with the transportation issue until more cars and trucks are electric. But making more fuel options possible (by mandating the open fuel standard) will strongly impact the transportation issue quickly, giving us freedom from the monopoly, and freedom from control by OPEC, while cutting off a significant flow of money to people committed to sabotaging Western democracies.
Watch Anne Korin speak about the problem and the solution in the video below. Korin is the director of policy and strategic planning at Institute for the Analysis of Global Security and the editor of Energy Security: Click here to see the video.
That is the first video of several. You can watch the rest here: Anne Korin's solution to OPEC's monopoly and oil jihad.
The simplest, cheapest, quickest way to eliminate OPEC's control on the world economy is making it a law that cars must be made with an open fuel standard. Do you want to cut off money going to Jihadis bent on the West's destruction? Write to your representatives now, and please urge everyone you know to do so too at: Nozzle Rage.
Go to the website of Citizen Warrior to follow the links.
Support an Open Fuel Standard
Posted: 03 Nov 2008 12:59 PM CST
"THIS YEAR, the United States and other countries will send OPEC countries more money than the United States taxpayers send our own Department of Defense," says Anne Korin in the video below.
This can change. It costs very little for car manufacturers to tweak their engines so they can burn several different kinds of fuels — in other words, to create a single engine that can burn ethanol and methanol and gasoline, whichever is available or cheapest. Car manufacturers already make some of their cars with this tweak. If car manufacturers were required to do this by the government (just as they are required to build in seat belts), fuel companies would have enough confidence to build fueling stations for alternative fuels, and then what would happen? The different kinds of fuels could compete.
Right now oil is a fuel monopoly. It is the only fuel most cars use. This monopoly is controlled by OPEC. They don't produce all the oil on the market, but they produce such a large amount that they can change the global price of oil when they wish. This means the global price of oil is controlled by Jihadis, and they are using their oil monopoly to do two things at once: To fund a global jihad, and to weaken the free world.
You can do something right now to push the U.S. to adopt an open fuel standard: Go to Nozzle Rage and click on the red button in the upper right hand corner to put the pressure on your representatives to get this law passed. Then encourage everyone you know to do so, and encourage them to encourage everyone they know. Let's get this done, pronto!
The idea of "drill here, drill now" will help remove money from OPEC and put it into the U.S. market, which is a good thing, but it still leaves OPEC controlling oil prices, which means Jihadis are controlling the price of transportation, which means Jihadis are controlling the global economy. "Drill here, drill now" is a good thing to do, but it is not the whole solution. Whenever more oil is added to the global market, OPEC reduces its output accordingly. Their control of their output controls the price. It is oil jihad. We need to defeat it with freedom. In this case, a free market competition between transportation fuels.
In the U.S., we only use 2% of our oil creating electricity. Building more nuclear power plants or wind turbines won't help much with the transportation issue until more cars and trucks are electric. But making more fuel options possible (by mandating the open fuel standard) will strongly impact the transportation issue quickly, giving us freedom from the monopoly, and freedom from control by OPEC, while cutting off a significant flow of money to people committed to sabotaging Western democracies.
Watch Anne Korin speak about the problem and the solution in the video below. Korin is the director of policy and strategic planning at Institute for the Analysis of Global Security and the editor of Energy Security: Click here to see the video.
That is the first video of several. You can watch the rest here: Anne Korin's solution to OPEC's monopoly and oil jihad.
The simplest, cheapest, quickest way to eliminate OPEC's control on the world economy is making it a law that cars must be made with an open fuel standard. Do you want to cut off money going to Jihadis bent on the West's destruction? Write to your representatives now, and please urge everyone you know to do so too at: Nozzle Rage.
Go to the website of Citizen Warrior to follow the links.
Messiah - Dictator Obama
The More Things "Change" The More They Stay The Same
Posted by: "Paul Joseph Watson" watson-paul3@sky.com onedeaddj
Tue Nov 4, 2008 12:01 pm (PST)
The More Things "Change" The More They Stay The Same
Obama the Messiah-Dictator is more dangerous than Bush
Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones
Prison Planet.com
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
The messianic fervor which has preceded Barack Obama's expected ascension to the White House has alarming implications for freedom and is a painful reminder that most Americans have once again been suckered into believing that the two-party monopoly offers any kind of solution to the crisis that we face.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/the-more-things-change-the-more-they-stay-the-same.html
Posted by: "Paul Joseph Watson" watson-paul3@sky.com onedeaddj
Tue Nov 4, 2008 12:01 pm (PST)
The More Things "Change" The More They Stay The Same
Obama the Messiah-Dictator is more dangerous than Bush
Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones
Prison Planet.com
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
The messianic fervor which has preceded Barack Obama's expected ascension to the White House has alarming implications for freedom and is a painful reminder that most Americans have once again been suckered into believing that the two-party monopoly offers any kind of solution to the crisis that we face.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/the-more-things-change-the-more-they-stay-the-same.html
President Barrack Hussein Obama
I AM FEELING SICK OVER THIS BUT I FEEL IT HAD TO HAPPEN.
HAPPEN BECAUSE THE PROPHECIES ARE COMING TO THE FOREFRONT MORE EACH DAY AND IT WAS FORETOLD. ALL I CAN SAY FOR NOW IS ‘GOD HELP US ALL.’ Now I can direct my prayers to the safety and swift action to guard against the oncoming troubles that we are all sure to face.
I have been following this prayer team for quite some time now, and I will be opting out of the service as it has been done, so no need to follow it any longer. CN.
The Presidential Prayer Team congratulates Barack Obama.
Pray for President-Elect Barack Obama and the new administration.
Info@PresidentialPrayerTeam.org
PrayerTeam@PresidentialPrayerTeam.net
The Presidential Prayer Team is pleased to commit itself and it’s nearly 500,000 members to pray for the newly elected President of the United States of America, Barack Obama.
(OH, I CERTAINLY WILL BE PRAYING…. NOT FOR OBAMA, BUT, FOR ALL THE PEOPLE WHO ARE ABOUT TO HAVE A RADICAL CHANGE OF LIFE AS THE ISLAMISTS GAIN EVEN MORE CONCESSIONS TO THE DETRIMENT OF THE NON-MUSLIMS. I WILL BE PRAYING FOR ALL MY AMERICAN FRIENDS.) CN.
Calling in his acceptance speech for a new spirit of patriotism, service and sacrifice from the American people, President-Elect Obama swept to victory over Republican John McCain as the first African-American to hold the nation’s highest political office.
(What kind of patriotism? Service? And oh yeah, sacrifice will be for sure, only it will be the non-muslims who will be making all the sacrifices…of this I have no doubt.)CN.
“We are and always will be the United States of America,” President-Elect Obama said from Grant Park in Chicago, IL. “A government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the face of the earth. This victory is for you.”
(I WONDER FOR HOW LONG?) CN.
While saying a new dawn of American leadership is at hand, President-Elect Obama recognized that the road ahead may be tough and the climb steep in meeting the many challenges facing the nation, but that “we as a people will get there,” a sentiment followed by chants of “Yes We Can” from the huge Chicago crowd. He also called Republican presidential candidate John McCain a “brave and selfless leader” and said he looks forward to working with him and Governor Sarah Palin in the months to come.
Our faithful prayers for President-Elect Obama and Vice President-Elect Joe Biden are desperately needed. Their new administration faces the challenges of a struggling economy, active wars against terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan, and energy and environmental concerns - all perhaps unprecedented in a generation. With I Timothy 2:1-2 as our biblical mandate, The Presidential Prayer Team is dedicated to praying for our new president’s wisdom, protection and success as he faces these issues, and many more, over the next four years.
IT IS APPROX 77 DAYS UNTIL INAUGURATION FOR OBAMA AS THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. CN.
This is an incredible time in the history of our nation. Join all of us at The Presidential Prayer Team in congratulating Barack Obama and Joe Biden and in committing to pray for their administration and all of our leaders, our nation and our Armed Forces.
PRESIDENTIAL QUOTE:
Whereas, it is the duty of nations, as well as of men, to owe their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.
—Abraham Lincoln, declaring a National Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer, April 30, 1863
Poor old Abe must be doing a spin and roll in his grave, and I bet his bones are rattlin' over this. Yes, History will prove Obama for sure. When is he gonna 'fess up to his sins (lies and deceit)?
HAPPEN BECAUSE THE PROPHECIES ARE COMING TO THE FOREFRONT MORE EACH DAY AND IT WAS FORETOLD. ALL I CAN SAY FOR NOW IS ‘GOD HELP US ALL.’ Now I can direct my prayers to the safety and swift action to guard against the oncoming troubles that we are all sure to face.
I have been following this prayer team for quite some time now, and I will be opting out of the service as it has been done, so no need to follow it any longer. CN.
The Presidential Prayer Team congratulates Barack Obama.
Pray for President-Elect Barack Obama and the new administration.
Info@PresidentialPrayerTeam.org
PrayerTeam@PresidentialPrayerTeam.net
The Presidential Prayer Team is pleased to commit itself and it’s nearly 500,000 members to pray for the newly elected President of the United States of America, Barack Obama.
(OH, I CERTAINLY WILL BE PRAYING…. NOT FOR OBAMA, BUT, FOR ALL THE PEOPLE WHO ARE ABOUT TO HAVE A RADICAL CHANGE OF LIFE AS THE ISLAMISTS GAIN EVEN MORE CONCESSIONS TO THE DETRIMENT OF THE NON-MUSLIMS. I WILL BE PRAYING FOR ALL MY AMERICAN FRIENDS.) CN.
Calling in his acceptance speech for a new spirit of patriotism, service and sacrifice from the American people, President-Elect Obama swept to victory over Republican John McCain as the first African-American to hold the nation’s highest political office.
(What kind of patriotism? Service? And oh yeah, sacrifice will be for sure, only it will be the non-muslims who will be making all the sacrifices…of this I have no doubt.)CN.
“We are and always will be the United States of America,” President-Elect Obama said from Grant Park in Chicago, IL. “A government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the face of the earth. This victory is for you.”
(I WONDER FOR HOW LONG?) CN.
While saying a new dawn of American leadership is at hand, President-Elect Obama recognized that the road ahead may be tough and the climb steep in meeting the many challenges facing the nation, but that “we as a people will get there,” a sentiment followed by chants of “Yes We Can” from the huge Chicago crowd. He also called Republican presidential candidate John McCain a “brave and selfless leader” and said he looks forward to working with him and Governor Sarah Palin in the months to come.
Our faithful prayers for President-Elect Obama and Vice President-Elect Joe Biden are desperately needed. Their new administration faces the challenges of a struggling economy, active wars against terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan, and energy and environmental concerns - all perhaps unprecedented in a generation. With I Timothy 2:1-2 as our biblical mandate, The Presidential Prayer Team is dedicated to praying for our new president’s wisdom, protection and success as he faces these issues, and many more, over the next four years.
IT IS APPROX 77 DAYS UNTIL INAUGURATION FOR OBAMA AS THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. CN.
This is an incredible time in the history of our nation. Join all of us at The Presidential Prayer Team in congratulating Barack Obama and Joe Biden and in committing to pray for their administration and all of our leaders, our nation and our Armed Forces.
PRESIDENTIAL QUOTE:
Whereas, it is the duty of nations, as well as of men, to owe their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.
—Abraham Lincoln, declaring a National Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer, April 30, 1863
Poor old Abe must be doing a spin and roll in his grave, and I bet his bones are rattlin' over this. Yes, History will prove Obama for sure. When is he gonna 'fess up to his sins (lies and deceit)?
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Obsession
Citizen Warrior feels that information on islam is not reaching the public fast enough...I agree with him. One of my IMMEDIATE FEARS is that Obama is going to win this election in the USA....why am I, am Aussie, worried about what happens over there???? Because what happens over there inevitably affects us all no matter where in the world we are. It is just one more step to the islamization of America...after all, just look what's happening in Londistan with brown nose sucking up to the saudi pigs, for more $swill. And even more worrying, is the fact that Australia is still locked into the British Royals,we are still part of the Commonwealth.
Read the lastest from Citizen Warrior........
The Situation Is Urgent
Posted: 02 Nov 2008 12:48 PM CST
THE BLOGGER, PinkNeck, wrote an article about the movie, Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West. It is a great summary of why we are working so hard to stop Islam's relentless encroachment. One of the points she made is:
I know when you watch Obsession you will wonder if this is an exaggeration. It is not: It is only the tip of the iceberg. In fact, in the year since this DVD was released in September of 2007, Islam has attacked Infidels 2,317 times! Since 9/11 they have attacked non-believers 12,091 times. Across the world they have killed thousands upon thousands of people. (Figures listed are from thereligionofpeace.com which keeps extremely accurate records of all the attacks since 9/11.)
So why haven’t you heard more about this? For one thing, the liberal media and our politically correct societies feel all religions have a right to worship any way they want. But Islam is not a religion like any other on the planet. It is more accurately a government out to destroy all other forms of government. And it is far worse than any communism or dictatorship.
While we are helping our kids with their schoolwork, while we are watching our favorite television show, and while we are putting in the extra hours at work to get that promotion — while all of this is going on, Islam is marching forward, worming its way through the cracks, gaining concessions, and out-and-out killing innocent people all over the world.
PinkNeck published this article just a little while ago, and already the total number of attacks is significantly larger. And some of these attacks kill or maim a lot of people in a single bomb-blast, causing unspeakable suffering to the families of the victims. Many times a day these bombings and shootings are occurring around the world. On The Religion of Peace site PinkNeck mentions, scroll down a little and you can see what Jihadis have done in the last couple of days. I just looked at it, and it describes six attacks in the last two days. The top item is from yesterday: "Assam, India — Harkat-ul-Jehadi-e-Islami terrorists massacre over seventy people in six deadly blasts across several towns."
They must be stopped.
The first step is for enough people to be aware it is happening and to understand why it's happening. You are the key. Be as gentle as you can, but help people understand what's going on. This information is not getting out fast enough. Getting this information out there — making people understand this and getting through their resistance to the information — this is not a prelude to the battle; this IS the battle!
If you need to learn more about Islam, read PinkNeck's entire article: Obsession the Movie. It's a great overview of the problem and the solution.
If you want some coaching on how to introduce this topic to people, go here: The Least You Need To Know.
Read the lastest from Citizen Warrior........
The Situation Is Urgent
Posted: 02 Nov 2008 12:48 PM CST
THE BLOGGER, PinkNeck, wrote an article about the movie, Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West. It is a great summary of why we are working so hard to stop Islam's relentless encroachment. One of the points she made is:
I know when you watch Obsession you will wonder if this is an exaggeration. It is not: It is only the tip of the iceberg. In fact, in the year since this DVD was released in September of 2007, Islam has attacked Infidels 2,317 times! Since 9/11 they have attacked non-believers 12,091 times. Across the world they have killed thousands upon thousands of people. (Figures listed are from thereligionofpeace.com which keeps extremely accurate records of all the attacks since 9/11.)
So why haven’t you heard more about this? For one thing, the liberal media and our politically correct societies feel all religions have a right to worship any way they want. But Islam is not a religion like any other on the planet. It is more accurately a government out to destroy all other forms of government. And it is far worse than any communism or dictatorship.
While we are helping our kids with their schoolwork, while we are watching our favorite television show, and while we are putting in the extra hours at work to get that promotion — while all of this is going on, Islam is marching forward, worming its way through the cracks, gaining concessions, and out-and-out killing innocent people all over the world.
PinkNeck published this article just a little while ago, and already the total number of attacks is significantly larger. And some of these attacks kill or maim a lot of people in a single bomb-blast, causing unspeakable suffering to the families of the victims. Many times a day these bombings and shootings are occurring around the world. On The Religion of Peace site PinkNeck mentions, scroll down a little and you can see what Jihadis have done in the last couple of days. I just looked at it, and it describes six attacks in the last two days. The top item is from yesterday: "Assam, India — Harkat-ul-Jehadi-e-Islami terrorists massacre over seventy people in six deadly blasts across several towns."
They must be stopped.
The first step is for enough people to be aware it is happening and to understand why it's happening. You are the key. Be as gentle as you can, but help people understand what's going on. This information is not getting out fast enough. Getting this information out there — making people understand this and getting through their resistance to the information — this is not a prelude to the battle; this IS the battle!
If you need to learn more about Islam, read PinkNeck's entire article: Obsession the Movie. It's a great overview of the problem and the solution.
If you want some coaching on how to introduce this topic to people, go here: The Least You Need To Know.
Soccer balls for five cents an hour
Where is the UN and all the others who are against exploitation of children?
this is truly pathetic considering how the game of soccer is growing to be a huge money maker. It is so much more popular here in OZ than it used to be, especially so in Vic.
Stolen Childhood How Your Kids Soccer Ball Is Made
By Mark Earley
Christian Post Guest Columnist
Sat, Nov. 01 2008 12:15 PM EDT
The next time you are watching your kids play soccer, I would like you to think about some other kids, halfway around the world, and their soccer balls. Because unlike your children, for whom the ball is a symbol of childhood, for children in India the ball is often a symbol of stolen childhood.
Gurmeet Kumar is a 10-year-old boy living in one of India’s poorest areas. Earlier this year his baby brother got sick and needed medicine—medicine his poor mother couldn’t afford. So she borrowed the equivalent of less than $100 from a local soccer ball maker, using Gurmeet’s freedom as a kind of collateral.
Gurmeet, whose story was told on HBO’s Real Sports, works 10 to 15 hours a day stitching together soccer balls to pay off the debt, which he probably never will. The soccer ball makers charge “exorbitant” interest rates that double the size of the debt every few months. Barring the unforeseen, Gurmeet’s children and perhaps even their children will have to work off that debt.
By the way, Gurmeet’s baby brother died.
What some people call “debt bondage”—and what decent people call “slavery”—is an important part of how many of the world’s soccer balls are made. Many of the rest are made using child labor. Indian children, instead of going to school and playing, are paid five cents an hour to sow together the balls’ panels, including the one that tells buyers that the ball is “child labor free.”
The panel is there because this isn’t the first time that soccer balls were found to be made using child labor. In the 1990s, the child laborers were Pakistanis. The controversy caused sporting goods companies to adopt a code that banned the use of child labor and certified the moral bona fides of their products.
Oops! Industry representatives told HBO’s Bernard Goldberg that they didn’t know what was happening in India. (Yeah I just bet they didn't)
Goldberg took their word for it, but pointed out that he and his crew, working without any help from Indian authorities, had no trouble finding many instances of child labor and “debt bondage.” It makes you wonder just how hard the companies really were looking. (Blindness is caused by too many $ signs)
Soccer balls are only one of many consumer goods being made by child labor. (I would like a list of these products and the companies involved)
As the business magazine Forbes put it, “That garden stone, handmade carpet or embroidered T-shirt you just bought was probably made by child labor.”
Nonetheless, the only way sporting goods companies will live up to their promise is if we hit them where it hurts: their bottom line. Every soccer mom and dad should refuse to buy balls made by companies with a “don’t ask, don’t tell” attitude toward child labor and “debt bondage.”
(I will certainly be extra careful next time I buy a soccer ball for one of my grandchildren or friends' children)
So please visit BreakPoint.org for more information on soccer balls and child labor. (I most certainly will be)
In the meantime, we Christians should be setting the example—indeed, lead the way. The abolition of slavery and laws against child labor were largely the product of Christian efforts, and we should sustain those efforts.
William Wilberforce asked his fellow Britons to think of the slave as a “man and brother”—so I’m asking you to imagine your children robbed of their childhood, making balls they can only dream of playing with.
this is truly pathetic considering how the game of soccer is growing to be a huge money maker. It is so much more popular here in OZ than it used to be, especially so in Vic.
Stolen Childhood How Your Kids Soccer Ball Is Made
By Mark Earley
Christian Post Guest Columnist
Sat, Nov. 01 2008 12:15 PM EDT
The next time you are watching your kids play soccer, I would like you to think about some other kids, halfway around the world, and their soccer balls. Because unlike your children, for whom the ball is a symbol of childhood, for children in India the ball is often a symbol of stolen childhood.
Gurmeet Kumar is a 10-year-old boy living in one of India’s poorest areas. Earlier this year his baby brother got sick and needed medicine—medicine his poor mother couldn’t afford. So she borrowed the equivalent of less than $100 from a local soccer ball maker, using Gurmeet’s freedom as a kind of collateral.
Gurmeet, whose story was told on HBO’s Real Sports, works 10 to 15 hours a day stitching together soccer balls to pay off the debt, which he probably never will. The soccer ball makers charge “exorbitant” interest rates that double the size of the debt every few months. Barring the unforeseen, Gurmeet’s children and perhaps even their children will have to work off that debt.
By the way, Gurmeet’s baby brother died.
What some people call “debt bondage”—and what decent people call “slavery”—is an important part of how many of the world’s soccer balls are made. Many of the rest are made using child labor. Indian children, instead of going to school and playing, are paid five cents an hour to sow together the balls’ panels, including the one that tells buyers that the ball is “child labor free.”
The panel is there because this isn’t the first time that soccer balls were found to be made using child labor. In the 1990s, the child laborers were Pakistanis. The controversy caused sporting goods companies to adopt a code that banned the use of child labor and certified the moral bona fides of their products.
Oops! Industry representatives told HBO’s Bernard Goldberg that they didn’t know what was happening in India. (Yeah I just bet they didn't)
Goldberg took their word for it, but pointed out that he and his crew, working without any help from Indian authorities, had no trouble finding many instances of child labor and “debt bondage.” It makes you wonder just how hard the companies really were looking. (Blindness is caused by too many $ signs)
Soccer balls are only one of many consumer goods being made by child labor. (I would like a list of these products and the companies involved)
As the business magazine Forbes put it, “That garden stone, handmade carpet or embroidered T-shirt you just bought was probably made by child labor.”
Nonetheless, the only way sporting goods companies will live up to their promise is if we hit them where it hurts: their bottom line. Every soccer mom and dad should refuse to buy balls made by companies with a “don’t ask, don’t tell” attitude toward child labor and “debt bondage.”
(I will certainly be extra careful next time I buy a soccer ball for one of my grandchildren or friends' children)
So please visit BreakPoint.org for more information on soccer balls and child labor. (I most certainly will be)
In the meantime, we Christians should be setting the example—indeed, lead the way. The abolition of slavery and laws against child labor were largely the product of Christian efforts, and we should sustain those efforts.
William Wilberforce asked his fellow Britons to think of the slave as a “man and brother”—so I’m asking you to imagine your children robbed of their childhood, making balls they can only dream of playing with.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Intentions of islam
THANKS to Gathering Storm for this excellent article. If I never knew one single thing about islamist actions, then after reading this I would certainly have a good grasp of the intentions of islamists and how they are going about it. I urge you to have a look at the 'Weekly Think Piece' and sign up for regular newsletters.
web: http://the-gathering-storm.blogspot.com/
Weekly Think Piece
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Connecting the Dots
The politicians, main stream media, liberal pundits, and academicia still don't get it. They can't seem to connect the dots. The gods of political correctness and the religion of multiculturalism have blinded them to the Islamist battle tactics being used today on the free world. They try all they can to interpret the Muslim world's displeasure with the free democracies as something we did. Rioting, demanding and whining are caused by us and not signs of a well thought-out softening-up process carefully planned and executed.
• Rioting over a few benign cartoons is the tactic of intimidation.
• Demanding the right under multiculturalism not to assimilate is the tactic of infiltration.
• Whining about being persecuted is the tactic of disinformation.
• Apologist defense of the 'religion of peace' and 'tolerance' while at the same time condemning western civilization are the acts of appeasement.
Every belligerent through out history depends on the elements of waging war - and the war of Islamo-fascism against the free world is no exception.
A belligerent must have at its disposal:
• Financial resources
• Weapons or Raw Material to Manufacturer Them
• Propaganda Machine
• Recruiting Apparatus
• Command and Control
• Safe Havens to Plan
The global Islamist strategy fills all six of these requirements.
They have the financial resources and support of the oil rich rogue states like Iran and the individual support of sheiks and rich Arab businessmen in the Middle East.
With these resources they can give their jihadist agents an endless supply of weapons and war materials for them to execute their insurgency of the West.
The Islamist propaganda machine uses the latest information technology and their mosques to get the word out and generate support and encouragement for their cause.
And their mosques strategically placed within the free nations of the world serve another purpose - recruiting of believers, and command and control of their troops.
Finally, safe haven for planning and communication are provided by countries like Syria, Iran, and Pakistan where the free world military can not reach.
Connecting all the dots and we see that the Islamist have a well co-coordinated, effective order of battle our politicians, main stream media and even our military to a large extent have little understanding of.
We better wake up and smell the Islamic battle plan or our attempts at appeasement will play right into the hands of the Islamist strategy for world domination.
web: http://the-gathering-storm.blogspot.com/
Weekly Think Piece
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Connecting the Dots
The politicians, main stream media, liberal pundits, and academicia still don't get it. They can't seem to connect the dots. The gods of political correctness and the religion of multiculturalism have blinded them to the Islamist battle tactics being used today on the free world. They try all they can to interpret the Muslim world's displeasure with the free democracies as something we did. Rioting, demanding and whining are caused by us and not signs of a well thought-out softening-up process carefully planned and executed.
• Rioting over a few benign cartoons is the tactic of intimidation.
• Demanding the right under multiculturalism not to assimilate is the tactic of infiltration.
• Whining about being persecuted is the tactic of disinformation.
• Apologist defense of the 'religion of peace' and 'tolerance' while at the same time condemning western civilization are the acts of appeasement.
Every belligerent through out history depends on the elements of waging war - and the war of Islamo-fascism against the free world is no exception.
A belligerent must have at its disposal:
• Financial resources
• Weapons or Raw Material to Manufacturer Them
• Propaganda Machine
• Recruiting Apparatus
• Command and Control
• Safe Havens to Plan
The global Islamist strategy fills all six of these requirements.
They have the financial resources and support of the oil rich rogue states like Iran and the individual support of sheiks and rich Arab businessmen in the Middle East.
With these resources they can give their jihadist agents an endless supply of weapons and war materials for them to execute their insurgency of the West.
The Islamist propaganda machine uses the latest information technology and their mosques to get the word out and generate support and encouragement for their cause.
And their mosques strategically placed within the free nations of the world serve another purpose - recruiting of believers, and command and control of their troops.
Finally, safe haven for planning and communication are provided by countries like Syria, Iran, and Pakistan where the free world military can not reach.
Connecting all the dots and we see that the Islamist have a well co-coordinated, effective order of battle our politicians, main stream media and even our military to a large extent have little understanding of.
We better wake up and smell the Islamic battle plan or our attempts at appeasement will play right into the hands of the Islamist strategy for world domination.
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