- Iraqi Policeman inside Our Lady of Salvation Chaldean Catholic church, after security forces have stormed the building
More here.
All of us, every single man, woman, and child on the face of the Earth were born with the same unalienable rights; to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And, if the governments of the world can't get that through their thick skulls, then, regime change will be necessary.
Nitty Gritty Numbers Suggest Downward Spiral
Robert Lenzner, 10.29.10, 6:20 PM ETIn housing, the Case-Shiller home price index fell almost 3% on an annualized basis in August and September, the weakest performance since May of 2009 when the recession still going on. In 19 of the top 20 cities, prices were down on a seasonally adjusted basis. During the July, August, September period sales of new homes fell at a sickening 41% annual rate to 293,000 units the lowest level ever recorded going back to 1963, when the figures were first kept.
In unemployment, emergency benefits to extend 99 weeks (almost two years) of unemployment benefits are running out or for some 4 million to 5 million people from December through April. This is proof positive that we are on the cusp of a deepening poverty at the very moment of political stalemate. Rosenberg says government handouts are responsible for 20% of disposable income in the country, so pray for the stability of the Social Security system. In personal Income, this loss of unemployment benefits means a loss of income equal to about $300 a week, or about $80 billion totted up, unavailable for consumption.
I have seen no other market strategist get down to the prospects for the people at the bottom of the income ladder. Did you know that 38% of middle income families plan to spend less than $500 on holiday gifts, double the number last year?
Look at global air cargo shipments, an indicator of health for global economy. They slid ominously by 2.1% last month. The Air Transport Association found this "worrying," according to Rosenberg's daily letter "Breakfast with Dave." Durable goods orders are down 0.8% if you exclude orders for aircraft components, which suggests air travel and tourism might be good place to invest dollars.
Good news? Some 83% of companies have beaten their profit estimates, putting their margins at a high point despite the slowness in revenues. Large public companies have risen in share price because they cut out overhead. They laid off a lot of people and were able to report significant profit gains from the bottom of the recession cycle.
A far grimmer mood now pervades the electorate, one shaped not just by the immediacy of the economic distress that has hit virtually every household, but by fears that it might take years for everyone, from the average family to the federal government, to climb out of the hole. Anger is one word that is often used to describe the electorate this year. But one word alone cannot adequately capture the sentiments expressed by voters on doorsteps and street corners, at community centers or candidate rallies. Along with the anger there is fear, worry, nervousness, disappointment, anxiety and disillusionment.Briefly, what most of the electorate is responding to is the naked face of collectivism in action. The faces are many and insouciant: President Barack Obama’s, Nancy Pelosi’s, Harry Reid’s, Rahm Emanuel’s, Anita Dunn’s, Henry Waxman’s, Barney Frank’s, David Axelrod’s, Robert Gibbs’s – an opera cast of hundreds, if not thousands, all singing in chorus the same liberal/left/collectivist libretto.
As Nancy Pelosi goes, so might a generation of her colleagues.Hey, San Fran Nan. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.
If Democrats lose control of the House of Representatives next week, as most political observers expect, there is a good chance that the House Speaker will opt to spend time with her eight grandchildren rather than toil in the relative obscurity of the minority. Even if she wanted to stay on, it's not at all clear that she would win the position of minority leader: seven Democratic incumbents and several candidates oppose her leadership — on Wednesday, North Carolina Representative Heath Shuler suggested he might challenge Pelosi for the spot — and another 20 have refused to say one way or another. Pelosi is more likely to leave gracefully, trading the red-eye slog for the pleasant commute between her San Francisco and Napa homes, and leaving the caucus in the hands of majority leader Steny Hoyer, who has been chafing in her shadow for decades.
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Other Democrats are sure to follow Pelosi out of the Capitol....
Sophisticated bombs contained in packages sent from Yemen were designed to explode in the air and bring down the cargo planes carrying them, UK security officials have confirmed.
Intelligence experts believe the use of the devices, contained in printer cartridges despatched on two Chicago-bound cargo planes, represents a shift in terrorist tactics to commercial targets.
One of the devices was linked to a mobile phone, while the other was attached to a timer. The Observer understands that the East Midlands device was so sophisticated an initial examination by forensics experts initially suggested it did not contain explosives.
"Even when it was examined, the sniffer dogs couldn't detect it," a security source said. "It was only when they [forensics experts] had a second look at it they realised what it was."[Emphasis mine..ed]From Jawa:
Yemen Post: According to a senior governmental official who spoke to Yemen Post on anonymity, Yemeni security forces arrested two Yemeni women under suspicion of sending the packages to the United States.
The Yemeni official claims that the two women sent the packages in order to damage the reputation of Yemen and not on links of Al-Qaeda. He denied that Al-Qaeda had links to the packages that were sent.
The source confirmed to Yemen Post that the two ladies are believed to have tried to send the packages to Jewish schools in the United States.At the same time, Yemen predictably began a duplicitous media campaign for internal consumption denying the bombs shipped from Yemen.
St. Paul, Minn. — The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations wants Delta Air Lines to investigate complaints that some Muslim passengers were subject to religious profiling.
The group says last month, four Muslim men were escorted off a Delta flight when it landed at the Twin Cities airport. The council says a flight attendant had reported one of the men behaved suspiciously after dropping a pen.
In another incident, the group said a Delta commuter plane flying to Grand Forks made an emergency landing
Zahra Aljabri, the organization's assistant civil rights director, said the issue is the training flight attendants are receiving regarding what constitutes suspicious behavior.
"We're just asking for that training to be examined, so that incidents don't continue to occur," Aljabri said.
Delta said it takes the accusations seriously and will "take any and all actions necessary" to ensure all passengers are treated equally.in Fargo after a flight attendant feared a Muslim student had tampered with a lavatory smoke alarm. No foul play was found.
(The Statesman) — Turkish army chiefs boycotted an official ceremony at the Presidential Palace because the President’s wife wore an Islamic headscarf, the Press reported today. The army’s top brass were conspicuous by their absence late yesterday, at a banquet thrown by President Abbdullah Gul to commemorate the creation of the modern, secular Turkey in 1923.