Happy New Years 2009! Amidst Bush's damage we really have hope in 2009 Some of Bush's New years threats!

Happy New Year 2009! Amidst all the destruction we really have hope in 2009! A bit of Bush New Year threats! At least someone responsible to clean up Bush's mess!
I still haven't heard anything from the chief scum but that is understandable as after his destruction anything to look forward to would be from President Obama undoing Bush's damage. Anyway It is New Years Eve and I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year! After Bush got reelected in 2004 he announced that the election was a mandate, oh yeah! He said he had earned Political Capital and he was going to spend it. many of us believed he was politically bankrupt even then. He had no Political Capital to spend. He has been since day one working on making us morally and financially bankrupt but I'll leave that alone today as I promised to be nice.

Every New Years Eve we have had a feeling of dread facing the upcoming year! On 12/31/05 I noted We're in trouble, Bush Promises to make 2006 as bad as 2005!! I said Today is New Years Eve and we just heard the Presidents weekly radio address. It was his last hurrah for 2005 and he was talking about how he wants to continue his abuse of the past through 2006. This has to really scare you the average American.

He vowed to continue what to you and I as average Americans witness and experience as the continued destruction of society and the country as we like to remember it. He still thinks we are the envy of the world. This is still partially true but only because a large part of the world is still behind us in their progression. Due to his insistence on continued tax cuts for the wealthy. His continued destruction of the lower classes, his continuing outsourcing of his Karl Rove’s taught 3D politics contributing to world disorder he is continuing to erode this envy as we move into 2006. The post was right on
New Years Eve 12/31/06 I noted Bush promised to make 2007 more deadlier than 2006 for American's and Iraqi's! He certainly did just that. I woke that morning to hear the 3,000th American had been killed in Iraq. Bush supposedly to make our soldiers feel good said the deaths and sacrifices of our troops will not be in vain. Myself that makes me really nervous knowing to Bush that means he will continue to stay his course of new middle east and world order and I have to wonder what this idiot is going to do next?

I reiterated that this Bush created Iraqi breakdown will spread throughout the middle east, being a total war between Shiite and Sunni as you can see it developing! Bush seems to only further this breakdown instead of trying to quell it as he professes to want to do. is his real intention to fuel a war between Sunni and Shiite and then watch as they destroy each other? I just don't get it? that is the obvious only turnout of all this! Amidst this chaos that has proven to make 2006 the deadliest for American troops and for Iraqi's he has created an atmosphere that promises to make 2007 pale it in contrast. He promises to our soldiers that he will not let them suffer in vain and you know he is only going to add more troops to the chaos in Iraq that is still just developing. The surge is just one more thing we were right about This year despite our line of conversation regarding 2008 and Bush's damage I have a message and a justified feeling of hope! 7 or 8 months back I was contacted by someone who saw a story I wrote on Google. He started sending me his stories about once or twice a week. He is amazingly articulate and positive on how we have to fix things. I finally got frustrated and confronted him because he never replied to me and still doesn't, but now I know why! I think it was Larry who said he couldn't understand why there weren't many comments on his site. I was looking yesterday and noticed he gets around 800 hits a story but does not comment. He only hands out the information.

Anyway I received a reply and am now in regular contact with his son. This is going to blow you away! He is Jerome Grossman and is known as the Relentless Liberal. He is a Political grassroots activist and is behind every achievement in the past 60 years by liberals including ending Vietnam and the Cold war. I wont get into that because I have my own thoughts on that. Oh yeah he is 90 and his son Danny is 65. They are bringing me an autographed book of Jerome's when I go to meet the 2 of them at one of Jerome's lecture's on the 8th. I am very interested in hearing what he has to say but more so in talking to them in private afterward about making something positive happen. You can Google Jerome Grossman and read about him. Very interesting! or you can go to his web site Relentless Liberal on the left hand side hit learn more about the relentless liberal. I found more information by googling him.
Happy Happy New Year!!!

James Joiner
Gardner Ma
www.anaveragepatriot.com

Eliminating Nuclear Weapons By Jerome Grossman and my sobering rebuttal!

Eliminating Nuclear Weapons By Jerome Grossman

* First a quick brush up on my good friend Jerome the Relentless Liberal! The following event sent him on a life time mission of nuclear nonproliferation and his foundations of Donated millions to every Politician of concequence including Obama in an effort to prevent nuclear non proliferation and further his many efforts to further world peace. Council for a liveable world is another.

He was behind JFK and RFK amongst others and John Kenneth Galbraith had quite a compliment to him in Jeromes book! The Vietnam Moratorium was his baby too as was the Electoral College that should be outlawed now. He is 91 now and still does lectures in Massachusetts every week. If you are lucky enough to be in the area attend one he is amazing to listen to. I will send you his schedule! He is a good man but of the old school thinking we have the best and the brightest at the helm and we do not. Right now we have a life time loser and alcoholic ready to pull the trigger any time while instigating the chance to do so! Needless to say we are of two schools of thought and disagree often having healthy debates. Following is only one!

Jerome points out that in In August 1945, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, bringing death to 300,000 human beings, creating pain and endless suffering in the lives of countless others. Now nine countries have nuclear bombs; many more have the capacity to make them. Today, there are, in combat readiness, enough bombs to kill the world population many times over….. And there is no defense. Nuclear war could happen any day - by accident, by design, by miscalculation, by terrorism, by madness. The weapons are still on hair-trigger alert, in this country and abroad.

The current review conference of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty proved that two groups of nations are in collision. The possessors of nuclear weapons want to stop the proliferators and proliferators demand that the nuclear powers reduce and eventually get rid of their own nuclear arsenals in accordance with their treaty commitments.The United States needs to re-examine its policies that envision an active role for nuclear weapons in future wars and building a new generation of nuclear weapons.

The American case against the nuclear weapons plans of Iran and North Korea would be greatly strengthened if the United States were to cut drastically its own stockpiles of nuclear weapons, abandon plans to build new nuclear weapons and approve the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

What happens in nuclear war?1. Blast - creates enormous pressure, topples buildings and trees. Kills people by shock wave over pressure and wind, by flying debris, by throwing people against fixed objects and by crushing them in collapsing buildings.2. Fireball - temperatures up to millions of degrees ignite raging fires and kill by flash-burn. People can be burned at great distances. Causes blindness3. Prompt radiation - kills people close to the explosion by large dose. Smaller doses can cause acute delayed radiation sickness and possibly death. Affects future generations genetically.4. Fallout radiation - spreads out to large distances, sometimes killing people hundreds of miles from explosion. Causes leukemia and other forms of cancer everywhere on Earth for decades. Increase incidences of stillbirth, tumors, congenital malformations and cataracts.5. Environment - pollutes water, earth and air. Destroys forests and agriculture by heat and blast. Death by radiation of animals and birds, while radiation resistant bacteria, fungi, viruses and insects flourish.6. Social disorganization – disruption of medical facilities and energy production, breakdown of government, authority and disaster relief, spreading of disease and epidemics. Fighting for scarce food supplies, despair at the enormous task of reconstruction -

with the possibility of another nuclear war in the offing.On the December 21, on the Fox Television News Sunday hosted by Chris Wallace, Vice President Richard Cheney, made the following stunning statement:"The president of United States now for 50 years is followed at all times, 24 hours a day, by a military aide carrying a football that contains the nuclear codes that he would use and be authorized to use in the event of a nuclear attack on the United States. He could launch a kind of devastating attack the world's never seen. He doesn't have to check with anybody. He doesn't have to call the Congress. He doesn't have to check with the courts. He has that authority because of the nature of the world we live in."

I did a story a couple months back about tests that were conducted years ago at White Sands putting soldiers right next to ground zero to test a new kind of nuclear bomb with no fall out and it worked. Here it is!

JUST ANOTHER WEAPON : The year was 1955, and the U.S. Army had embarked on a program of developing relatively small tactical nuclear weapons that could be used on the battlefield.A series of atmospheric tests in Nevada had convinced military scientists that properly trained soldiers could not only survive such explosions but also take part in maneuvers planned to exploit these weapons.

These hypotheses, however, had never been tested, and the atomic bomb had taken on very frightening connotations. So to demonstrate that the weapons were “safe,” the Army decided to run a test with live soldiers. The purpose of the test was to teach troops that the bomb was just another weapon of war. Test participants were selected from various units across the United States. I had just been promoted to captain and was stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas. I considered the opportunity to see a nuclear explosion a once-in-a-lifetime experience and was the first in my unit to volunteer.

Not only was I selected to take part, but I was put in charge of the entire 4th Army contingent, a group of two hundred and fifty officers and enlisted men drawn from posts throughout the Southwest. I knew one man slightly. The rest were strangers. Our group assembled at Fort Bliss and began a two-day train ride to Las Vegas, Nevada, about an hour’s drive from the test site. During the trip I established a simple organizational structure, placing each of five lieutenants in charge of about fifty people. Together we prepared a handwritten list of the participants. Our morale was high.

We all looked forward to a unique military experience as well as a chance to do a little gambling. Our train arrived in Las Vegas so late that it became apparent we would have no supper that evening. However, a call to Camp Desert Rock, the tent city at the Nevada test site where we would sleep during our planned three-day stay, brought assurances that hot coffee and doughnuts would be waiting for us when we arrived around midnight. It was not. Nor had our group been assigned particular tents.

We were instructed to find cots wherever we could until more permanent arrangements could be made the following day. That plan might well have worked if one of the most violent storms in recent Nevada history had not struck at about three o’clock in the morning. It blew away every tent in Camp Desert Rock, soaking everyone and their personal belongings. Our personnel list disappeared. I found I was responsible for two hundred and fifty wet, hungry, disgruntled soldiers whose names I didn’t know and who were scattered throughout the countryside. A noontime breakfast got everyone back together, and by evening a modicum of order had been restored—just in time for everyone to board buses for the big city.

The return buses left Las Vegas at 1:00 A.M. and arrived at camp an hour later. At 4:00 A.M. we were awakened for a dry run of the test. We boarded buses and drove for about an hour into the desert, where a series of trenches about eight feet deep awaited us. We climbed in, crouched for about an hour, and then returned to Camp Desert Rock, arriving about 8:00 A.M. We had the rest of the day to enjoy the 118-degree temperature in open tents in the middle of the desert. Little did we know this would be our normal routine for the coming week.

The test, called Apple II, was scheduled for the day following the dry run. However, after we settled in our trenches, wind conditions were pronounced unfavorable and the test was postponed. This sequence was repeated on the next five mornings. By this time only a few had money left to go to Las Vegas. However, those who did learned that each evening a light on one of the buildings downtown indicated to the local populace whether there would be a test the next day. A blue light meant no test; a red light meant there would be one. Apparently our superiors hadn’t bothered to check the light each evening. On our seventh morning we learned that the light had been red the previous night, so we felt confident that this would be the real thing.

Our trenches were just over a mile from ground zero, the point immediately below the nuclear device. (No one ever used the term bomb.) We were told that the test device was roughly the same size as the bombs dropped on Japan and was located in a tower several hundred feet above the ground. We were also told there would be a bright flash, followed by a wave of heat. Next would come the ground shock. Finally there would be a rush of air as the blast wave passed over us. At that point we would be able to leave the trenches and walk up to an area near ground zero where we could see the effect of the explosion on various types of military equipment. Since I knew that the blast wave would travel at the speed of sound (eleven hundred feet per second), I calculated that it would hit the trenches about six seconds after the explosion.

If I allowed a second for the blast to pass and an extra second’s margin, it would be safe to stand eight seconds after the initial flash. This meant that if I counted carefully, I would be able to view the fireball much sooner than my colleagues, who would be waiting for the official word to stand up. As the time for the explosion approached, we all crouched in the bottom of the trenches with our arms over our eyes. We shivered slightly in our field jackets; the desert is cold at six o’clock in the morning. Finally the countdown started —sixty seconds, thirty seconds, twenty, ten, five, four, three, two, one—and then came a flash of unbelievable intensity.

In the brilliant light I saw through my jacket—and through my arm—the pebbles at the bottom of the trench. (For many years I thought this must have been some type of optical illusion. However, I have recently learned that this is a real phenomenon, apparently caused by X rays induced by the explosion.) Contrary to my expectations, the flash lasted for a considerable time, more than a second. As I was recovering from was recovering from the flash, the temperature changed from morning cold to well above that of the hottest day I could remember.Then, as I was reconciling myself to the blast of heat, the earth suddenly jumped what felt to be about six feet in the air and then fell back and began to tremble violently.

The thought rushed through my mind: They’ve miscalculated and blown up the whole world. After what seemed a very long time, I finally had convinced myself of the world’s probable survival when suddenly a tremendous freight train roared directly over my head. This lasted about a second, and then all was quiet—until a few seconds later, when the train roared back going the other way. Now all was quiet. I lay quivering at the bottom of the trench, the counting of seconds long forgotten, when the announcement came that it was safe to stand up. By now several minutes had gone by since the initial explosion, and the fireball had spread considerably. Even so, it was a remarkable sight. A thousand colors, shining and mixing and changing and migrating—like tiny, colorful lightning flashes—appearing, disappearing, and appearing again. All of us stood in awe as the cloud expanded, gradually losing its colors and turning into a vast brown-gray balloon. The broad, dirty stem connecting the cloud to the ground slowly dissipated, and the now colorless ball of debris drifted away into the distance. The show was over.

About half an hour after the explosion, we were allowed to walk toward ground zero, stopping about two hundred yards from the actual spot. Along the way we saw an assortment of obliterated military vehicles, weapons, and dummies. The most impressive item was a heavy battle tank that had been split in two by the blast, with the turret blown one way and the main body the other. Contemplating my experiences in the trench, I realized that I was no longer concerned about nuclear weapons. I was now terrified by them.

Later in my military career I took part in many map exercises and maneuvers in which commanders simulated the use of nuclear weapons, often rather casually. I listened to a number of armchair war hawks, as well as some very prim and proper ladies, advocate that we drop a couple of nukes on Hanoi or Baghdad or Pyongyang to show those people we meant business. I feel confident their opinions would have been different if they had been in the trenches at Apple II.

My last assignment in the Army was with the Defense Atomic Test Command in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where I was the test-group director for two underground nuclear tests. After I retired in 1970,1 got a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from the University of Texas, and taught there for several years before leaving to start my own business. At present I am in great health and, to the best of my knowledge, I have suffered no ill effects from Apple II or my other work in the field. My wife and I have three healthy, intelligent children and six world-class grandchildren, with probably more to come. A few years ago there was some concern that participants in the Nevada test might have suffered long-term health effects. The Army responded that it had no way to evaluate the impact of the test; it had kept no record of the people who had taken part. —Dr. John H. Vanston is the chairman of Technology Futures, Inc.

* That was very interesting! I have been long convinced they are going to use them and they are survivable to some degree. My concern is the degree to which they get tossed about and what will happen to the environment and that the planet will not be sustainable as we need it today. I am convinced they know that! A few years back I had an Indian Politician and Professor send me a link and a story he wrote saying when all is said and done Pakistan and India would unite against the infidel if they attacked and whoever starts a nuclear war will be defeated by the rest of the opposing nuclear powers. * Jerome you know I commend you and your nuclear nonproliferation efforts but knowing this and knowing every country possessing Nuclear weapons reserves first strike rights and the situations ramping up rapidly with Israel, Pakistan, India, etc I do not see a nuclear war as being avoidable as too many are willing to use them and are willing to gamble they will live to fight another day. As I keep pointing out, mutual destruction use to be a deterrent but today it seems to be the goal.

James Joiner

Gardner, Ma

http://www.anaveragepatriot.com/

Bush must be happy as States forced to slash Medicaid and Medicare! Remember Bush promising to do it 4 years ago? "unfunded liabilities" Remember?

States slash Medicaid amid economic woes:Coverage for the poor is curtailed with deeper cuts expected in 2009

States from Rhode Island to California are being forced to curtail Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the poor, as they struggle to cope with the deteriorating economy.

With revenue falling at the same time that more people are losing their jobs and private health coverage, states already have pared their programs and many are looking at deeper cuts for the coming year. Already, 19 states — including Maryland and Virginia — and the District of Columbia have lowered payments to hospitals and nursing homes, eliminated coverage for some treatments, and forced some recipients out of the insurance program completely.

Many are halting payments for health-care services not required by the federal government, such as physical therapy, eyeglasses, hearing aids and hospice care. A few states are requiring poor patients to chip in more toward their care.

"It's not a pretty list at all," said Michael Hales, Medicaid director in Utah.

Medicaid, a central piece of the Great Society safety net created in the 1960s, is the nation's largest source of government health insurance. It covered 50 million Americans last year. The program is a shared responsibility of the federal government and the states, with federal money paying an average of 57 percent of the bills and states providing the rest.

Federal health officials set minimum rules about who can enroll and what care must be covered, but states are free to add to the basics. Those optional patients and services are what many states are rethinking now.

Dems sympathetic?
With the program the largest or second-largest expense in every state's budget, governors and state legislators have been pleading with Congress and the incoming Obama administration for help. The Democrats, who hold majorities in the House and the Senate, are sounding sympathetic for now. They are considering close to $100 billion to increase the share of Medicaid's costs that the federal government would pay during the next two years.

President-elect Barack Obama also is open to extra help for Medicaid as part of a broad strategy to spur the economy. "We are considering a number of proposals . . . including helping states meet Medicaid needs; reducing health-care costs; rebuilding our crumbling roads, bridges and schools; and ensuring that more families can stay in their homes," said Nick Shapiro, an Obama transition spokesman.

According to a Washington source who is in close contact with lawmakers, some in Congress also are beginning to entertain the idea of allowing unemployed people who have lost health benefits to sign up for Medicaid, with federal money paying the entire bill.

In the meantime, uncertainty over how much help may come, and when it might arrive, is prompting many states to make the biggest reductions to their Medicaid programs in years — and in some cases, ever.

'Cuts into the core'
Diane Rowland, executive director of the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, said the pressure on Medicaid programs is particularly acute because the economy has deteriorated so soon after a milder recession early in the decade. States already "have taken the cuts that were making the program more efficient. . . . Now they are making . . . cuts into the core," she said.

Nineteen states and the District have cut Medicaid for the current fiscal year, according to a survey this month by Families USA, a liberal consumer health lobby. All but one, plus six other states, are drafting deeper reductions for the coming fiscal year that they hope to avoid. Florida's Medicaid officials have just handed the governor and legislature a blueprint for a 10 percent reduction; it would eliminate coverage for 7,800 18- and 19-year-olds and 6,800 pregnant women.

Among the states with the gravest financial problems — and pressures on Medicaid — is California. In July, Medi-Cal, as the program there is known, slashed by 10 percent the rates it pays hospitals, nursing homes, speech pathologists and other providers of health care. It tried to lower payments to doctors and dentists, too, but they have sued to block the decreases.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has asked the state legislature to approve other cuts, including an end to dental care for adults, about 1 million of whom use it now, and a sharp reduction in care for recent immigrants.

At two hospitals run by NorthBay Healthcare, midway between San Francisco and Sacramento, about one patient in five is on Medi-Cal. The rate cuts translate into a $4 million loss this year. In September, the health system closed a rehabilitation program for children that provided physical therapy, speech therapy and other help to about 300 young patients at a time — with 100 more usually on the waiting list.

"It was heart-wrenching to have to go out and announce," said Steve Huddleston, NorthBay's vice president of public affairs.

CONTINUED : Spreading strain 1 2 Next > More painful cuts to come

Latest in Build up to war between India and Pakistan: Pakistan cancels troops' leave over India tension !

By Bappa Majumdar and Kamran Haider Bappa Majumdar And Kamran Haider – 1 hr 15 mins ago

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met military chiefs on Friday and Pakistan canceled army leave and moved some troops from its western border despite both sides playing down the threat of war over the Mumbai attacks.

With tension rising sharply over last month's attacks, in which 179 people were killed, China also emerged as a potential peace broker after Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi unexpectedly called his counterparts in New Delhi and Islamabad.

An official from Singh's office said the prime minister had discussed tension with Pakistan during a scheduled meeting about military pay with the chiefs of the army, navy and air force.

"The prime minister met the tri-services chiefs to discuss the pay commission issues but obviously the situation in the region was also discussed," said the official, who asked not to be identified. There were no other details.

Indian media said national security adviser M.K. Narayanan also attended the meeting.

Many analysts say it is very unlikely that the tension will

descend into war. The nuclear-armed rivals have fought three wars since independence in 1947 and came to the brink of a fourth in 2002 after an attack on the Indian parliament.

While there had been no significant troop movements in either country, military officials in Islamabad said army personnel had been ordered to report to barracks and some troops had been moved off the Afghan border.

"A limited number of troops from snow-bound areas and areas where operations are not being conducted have been pulled out," said a senior security official who declined to be identified.

The official declined to say where the troops had been moved to, citing the sensitivity of the issue, but Pakistani media have reported some troops had been redeployed to the Indian border.

The movement of Pakistani troops off the Afghan border is likely to be seen with dismay by the United States which does not want to see Pakistan distracted from the battle against al Qaeda and Taliban militants on Pakistan's western border.

India, the United States and Britain have blamed the Mumbai attack on Pakistan-based Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, set up to fight Indian rule in the disputed Kashmir region.

Pakistan has condemned the Mumbai attacks and has denied any state role, blaming "non-state actors."

It has offered to cooperate with India in investigations but denies Indian claims that it has been handed firm evidence of links to militants in Pakistan.

At the same time, Islamabad has warned that its desire for peaceful coexistence should not be taken as weakness and that it will defend itself if attacked.

FRENZIED SPECULATION

Increasingly frenzied media reporting on both sides of the border has fueled war speculation, although leaders from both countries have said war would serve no one's interests.

Such speculation even caused an uptick in Indian federal bond yields in late trade on Friday, traders said.

"Increased political tension caused a sudden rise in bond yields as a possible war could result in additional government borrowing," said Nandan Pradhan, a dealer at Cosmos Cooperative Bank in Mumbai.

Washington has joined Britain in urging restraint from India, but at the same time has demanded Pakistan act decisively to wipe out banned groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba.

China has long been a close ally of Pakistan, while India and Washington have been building on already close ties and signed a landmark civilian nuclear cooperation deal this year.

Yang's call to Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday was unexpected. A senior government official said on Friday Yang had suggested a meeting between Indian and Pakistani officials to discuss the tension over the Mumbai attacks.

The official said Mukherjee told Yang Pakistan must take major steps against militants before such a meeting would be possible. A crackdown on Pakistan-based militants after the 2001 parliament attack was widely regarded as a sham.

"We have explained our position to China that Pakistan should do more and destroy terror camps before we talk about the next step," the official told Reuters in New Delhi.

Yang telephoned Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Friday and called for peace and stability in South Asia. Yang said the escalation of tension was not in the interest of either India or Pakistan, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said.

(Writing by Paul Tait and Robert Birsel; Editing by Sugita Katyal) World war is coming and soon, latest news articles from Pakistan

* Remember Biden's warning that President Obama will be tested within 60 days? The tests grow in number and breadth every single day!

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
www.anaveragepatriot.com

Pat Robertson is right again being quite pleased with Obama and greatly disappointed with Bush!

Pat Robertson is right again being quite pleased with Obama and greatly disappointed with Bush!


I have been a severe critic of the goon ball Robertson for years but I have to agree with him on being pleased with Obama and criticizing Bush on everything!

Pat Robertson "Remarkably Pleased With Obama" Criticizes Bush! Gives him a c- What he does not know is it was all done on purpose! I went back 3 years and found Robertson is pretty screwed up but sometimes right!

Last year Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson predicted that 2008 will be a year of violence worldwide and a recession in the United States, followed by a major stock-market crash by 2010.

Sharing what he believes God has told him about the year ahead is an annual tradition for Robertson. On Wednesday's "700 Club" broadcast, the founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network predicted that evangelism will increase and more people will seek God as the chaos develops.

Robertson said, "We will see the presence of angels and we will see an intensification of miracles around the world." Last year, Robertson predicted that a terrorist act, possibly involving a nuclear weapon, would result in mass killing in the United States. Noting that it hadn't come to pass, Robertson said, "All I can think is that somehow the people of God prayed and God in his mercy spared us." yhep prayer saved us

I actually hate to but I have to agree with him on this prediction but this too is compliments of Bush! The growing world violence is obvious and undeniable to an idiot but we have been discussing the coming of the 2nd Greatest depression for a long time now and it will hit when the reality of what Bush has created hits. This is a year old but check out the second great depression by Mike Whitney
That is only part of the reality Bush has set in motion for our and the worlds future. I am just stunned that anyone can deny the major and leading role Bush has played in all this.

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
www.anaveragepatriot.com

Knowing Obama will be swearing in using the same Bible as Abe Lincoln you may find this interesting!

Merry Christmas people! You may find this interesting!

Bibles and Scripture Passages Used by Presidentsin Taking the Oath of OfficeThe information below is courtesy of the Architect of the Capitol.

It has been compiled by the Office of the Curator from contemporary accounts and other sources in the files of the Architect of the Capitol.

PRESIDENT DATE EDITION George Washington 1789 Genesis 49:131 (Masonic Bible); opened at random due to haste George Washington 1793 Not known

John Adams 1797 Not known

Thomas Jefferson 1801, 1805 Not known

James Madison 1809, 1813 Not known James Monroe 1817, 1821 Not known

John Q. Adams 1825 Not known Andrew Jackson 1829, 1833 Not known

Martin Van Buren 1837 Proverbs 3:172

William H. Harrison 1841 Not known John Tyler 1841 Not known

James K. Polk 1845 Not knownZachary Taylor 1849 Not knownMillard Fillmore 1850 Not known

Franklin Pierce 1853 Affirmed instead of swearing the oath; did not kiss Bible

James Buchanan 1857 Not known

Abraham Lincoln 1861 Opened at random

Abraham Lincoln 1865 Matthew 7:1; 18:7; Revelations 16:7Andrew Johnson 1865 Proverbs 21

Ulysses S. Grant 1869 Not known

Ulysses S. Grant 1873 Isaiah 11:1-34

Rutherford B. Hayes 1877 Privately, no Bible; publicly, Psalm 118:11-134

James A. Garfield 1881 Proverbs 21:14,5

Chester A. Arthur 1881 Privately, no Bible Psalm 31:1-34,5

Grover Cleveland 1885 Psalm 112:4-10; Bible opened by Chief Justice and by chance it fell to this Psalm6 Benjamin Harrison 1889 Psalm 121:1-64

Grover Cleveland 1893 Psalm 91:12-164

William McKinley 1897 II Chron. 1:10; Bible given to him by Methodist church congregation7

William McKinley 1901 Proverbs 164

Theodore Roosevelt 1901 No Bible

Theodore Roosevelt 1905 James 1:22-234

William Howard Taft 1909 I Kings 3:9-114

Woodrow Wilson 1913 Psalm 1194Woodrow Wilson 1917 Privately, not known; publicly, Psalm 468

Warren G. Harding 1921 Micah 6:8 (Washington Bible)4

Calvin Coolidge 1923 Not known

Calvin Coolidge 1925 John 1 Herbert C. Hoover 1929 Proverbs 29:184

Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933, 1937, 1941, 1945 I Corinthians 134

Harry S. Truman 1945 Closed Bible held in left hand; right hand on upper cover9

Harry S. Truman 1949 Matthew 5:3-11 and Exodus 20:3-1710

Dwight D. Eisenhower 1953 Psalm 127:1 (Washington Bible) and II Chronicles 7:14 (West Point Bible)11

Dwight D. Eisenhower 1957 Privately, not known; publicly, Psalm 33:1212 (West Point Bible)

John F. Kennedy 1961 Closed Bible13

Lyndon B. Johnson 1963 Missal14

Lyndon B. Johnson 1965 Closed family Bible15

Richard M. Nixon 1969, 1973 Two family Bibles, both open to Isaiah 2:416

Gerald R. Ford 1974 Proverbs 3:5-617

James E. Carter 1977 Family Bible open to Micah 6:818

Ronald W. Reagan 1981, 1985 Mother's Bible open to II Chronicles 7:1419 (Both privately and publicly in 1985)

George H. W. Bush 1989 Washington's Masonic Bible opened at random in the center; family Bible on top opened to Matthew 5

William J. Clinton 1993 King James Bible, given to him by grandmother, open to Galatians 6:8

William J. Clinton 1997 King James Bible, given to him by grandmother, open to Isaiah 58:1220

George W. Bush 2001 Closed family Bible21 Bibles and Scripture Passages Used by Presidents in Taking the Oath of Office

Merry Christmas! A Christmas Story for people having a bad day!

When four of Santa's elves got sick, the trainee elves didn't produce toys as fast as the regular ones, and Santa began to feel the Pre-Christmas pressure.

Then Mrs Claus told Santa her Mother was coming to visit, which stressed Santa even more.

When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two others had jumped the fence and were out, Heaven knows where.

Then when he began to load the sleigh, one of the floorboards cracked, the toy bag fell to the ground and all the toys were scattered.

Frustrated, Santa went in the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum. When he went to the cupboard, he discovered the elves had drank all the cider and hidden the rum. In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider jug, and it broke into hundreds of little glass pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found the mice had eaten all the straw off the end of the broom.

Just then the doorbell rang, and irritated Santa marched to the door, yanked it open, and there stood a little angel with a great big Christmas tree.

The angel said very cheerfully, 'Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't this a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?'

And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree.

Looking Back at 2008! A dramatic slideshow graphic of events around the world!

Looking Back at 2008 The entire world is on thin ice! Michael Phelps was the exception!

* Relax Reflect and enjoy your Christmas Eve!

A $9.5 Billion per year industry! Sex slavery: Living the American nightmare Shadowy multibillion-dollar industry far more widespread than expected!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

When FBI and immigration agents arrested a 28-year-old Guatemalan woman three months ago in Los Angeles, they announced that they had shut down one of the most elaborate sex trafficking rings in the country. It was also the family business.

The woman, Maribel Rodriguez Vasquez, was the sixth member of her family to be rounded up in the two-year multi-agency investigation. Vasquez, five of her relatives and three other Guatemalan nationals were charged with 50 counts, alleging that they lured at least a dozen young women — including five minors as young as 13 years old — to the United States with promises of good jobs, only to put them to work as prostitutes. All remain in custody as investigators attempt to unravel the complex case.

Vasquez — quickly dubbed the “L.A. Madam” — attracted attention because she had been featured on the fugitive-hunting television program “America’;s Most Wanted.” But it was one of only a few such cases to be spotlighted by national media, contributing to the false impression that cases of immigrant sex trafficking are isolated incidents, law enforcement officials and advocates for immigrants say.

The reality is that human trafficking goes on in nearly every American city and town, said Lisette Arsuaga, director of development for the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking, a human rights organization in Los Angeles.

“Human trafficking is well hidden,” Arsuaga said. “I consider it a huge problem.”

Her assessment is shared by authorities in Bexar County, Texas, where the Sheriff’s Office has formed a task force with Shared Hope International, an anti-slavery organization founded by former Rep. Linda Smith, D-Wash. Bexar County is considered a crossroads of the cross-border Mexican sex slave trade because two Interstate highways that crisscross the state intersect there, some 150 miles from the Mexican border.

“I could go to a truck stop in South Texas right now and get on a CB radio and ask for some sweet stuff, and someone’s going to come out and offer something to sell,” Sheriff’s Deputy Chris Burchell said.

A $9.5 billion-a-year industry
Federal officials agree that the trafficking of human beings as sex slaves is far more prevalent than is popularly understood. While saying it is difficult to pinpoint the scope of the industry, given its shadowy nature, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials estimated that it likely generates more than $9.5 billion a year.

Last year alone, the FBI opened more than 225 human trafficking investigations in the United States. Figures for 2008 are not yet available, but in a coordinated nationwide sweep in July, federal, state and local authorities made more than 640 arrests and rescued 47 children in just three days.

In congressional testimony this year, FBI Director Robert Mueller called sex trafficking “a significant and persistent problem in the U.S. and around the world.”

getCSS("3088867") Web extra video Sex trafficking: Anna’s story
Trafficked to Malaysia from her home in the Philippines in early 2007, “Anna” had her virginity sold for $80.

Dateline NBC

Most cases involve “international persons trafficked to the United States from other countries,” who are generally less aware of their rights, probably do not speak English and are frightened to go to the authorities, he said. “Victims are often lured with false promises of good jobs and better lives and are then forced to work in the sex industry.”

While an increasing number of young men and boys are being forced into the commercial sex industry, more than 80 percent of victims are women and girls, the State Department estimated this year. Of those, 70 percent are forced into prostitution, stripping, pornography or mail-order marriage.

That allegedly was the case with the L.A. Madam.

Prosecutors said in court documents that the Vasquez ring sold Guatemalan women and girls to one another like slaves for several years. Ring members also would try to keep them in line by taking them to witch doctors who threatened to put curses on them and their families if they ran away, the prosecution said.

In one incident, three of the defendants repeatedly kicked and hit one of the victims to punish her for trying to escape, the documents allege.

“These young women were enticed into coming to this country by promises of the American dream, only to arrive and discover that what awaited was a nightmare,” said Robert Schoch, an ICE special agent. Growing sex slave trade in US

The truth will never be known as we already know! Bush and Cheney the Deciders don't have to do or say anything they don't want to hide the truth!

The required transfer in four weeks of all of the Bush White House's electronic mail messages and documents to the National Archives has been imperiled by a combination of technical glitches, lawsuits and lagging computer forensic work, according to government officials, historians and lawyers. Federal law requires outgoing White House officials to provide the Archives copies of their records, a cache estimated at more than 300 million messages and 25,000 boxes of documents depicting some of the most sensitive policymaking of the past eight years. But archivists are uncertain whether the transfer will include all the electronic messages sent and received by the officials, because the administration began trying only in recent months to recover from White House backup tapes hundreds of thousands of e-mails that were reported missing from readily accessible files in 2005. The risks that the transfer may be incomplete are also pointed up by a continuing legal battle between a coalition of historians and nonprofit groups over access to Vice President Cheney's records. The coalition is contesting the administration's assertion in federal court this month that he "alone may determine what constitutes vice presidential records or personal records" and "how his records will be created, maintained, managed, and disposed," without outside challenge or judicial review.

Forget it! Eventual access to the documentary record of the Bush presidency has been eagerly anticipated by historians and journalists because the president and his aides generally have sought to shield from public disclosure many details of their deliberations and interactions with outside groups. "We are worried," said Arnita A. Jones, executive director of the American Historical Association, which sued the White House several years ago seeking wider access to presidential records than President Bush had said in a 2001 executive order that he wanted the government to provide. "There is a context that is not reassuring," she said. The National Archives and Records Administration is supposed to help monitor the completeness of the historical record but has no enforcement powers over White House records management practices. Speaking of the missing e-mails, Archives' general counsel Gary M. Stern said in an interview last week that "we hope and expect they all will exist on the system or be recoverable," even in coming weeks. "We can't say for sure." White House spokesman Scott M. Stanzel said last week that "we are making significant progress in accounting for the e-mail records stored on our computer network." But he declined to say how many e-mails remain missing or to predict how long the recovery will take because the issue is the subject of ongoing litigation. The National Security Archive, a historical research group, and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Government, a nonprofit watchdog organization, filed lawsuits in September 2007 to compel the White House to preserve backup e-mail tapes. In November 2007, U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. ordered White House officials to preserve such tapes and "not transfer said media out of their custody or control without leave of this court."

Cheney finds 'a loophole'
In the case of the vice president's records, the White House has promised a different federal judge that it will comply with a Nixon-era law requiring the preservation and transfer of all documents related to the vice president's official duties, but the coalition has drafted a filing for the court on Monday that accuses Cheney of subtly seeking to circumscribe the legal definition of what those official duties encompass to such a degree that he will be able to take home or destroy countless documents related to policymaking that historians want to see. Anne Weisman, the counsel for the plaintiffs, called Cheney's assertion that only those records related to tasks specially assigned by Bush need to be preserved "a loophole . . . large enough to drive truckloads of documents through." It means, she said, that Cheney would not have to surrender documents related to legislation or "advice he gives the president on his own initiative and the influence he has over the president's decisions." Stanzel said the White House is also still "working to acquire" e-mails involving official government business that were transmitted by presidential aides through accounts operated by the Republican National Committee, a problem also first publicized almost three years ago. "We continue to be in communication with RNC officials about recovering official records," he said without offering details. Such records are subject to the Presidential Records Act, which requires their transfer to the Archives at noon on Jan. 20.

Thomas S. Blanton, the National Security Archive director, said controversy surrounding the last-minute handling of e-mails by retiring presidents -- including intervention by the courts -- is hardly exceptional. Blanton wrote in a 1995 book that Ronald Reagan tried to order the erasure of all electronic backup tapes during his final week in office; the current president's father struck a secret deal with the U.S. archivist shortly before midnight on his final day in office to seal White House e-mails and take them with him to Texas; and Clinton asserted in 1994 that the National Security Council was not an agency of the government so he could keep its e-mails beyond public reach.

CONTINUED : 'Situation is exponentially worse' under Bush Like everything else! Duh what's new?
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1 2 Next > Read the whole crap

The US can stay but Britain must leave, who ever is on guard they are both there! Middle east Breakdown and world conflict is right behind!

You know I firmly believe and have said so a million times by now that since 9/11 everything was construed to allow Bush to gain the power he needed to prosecute his new order not just in the middle east but on the entire world! He diverted from Afghanistan to get back into the middle east with the goal of setting up a larger safety zone for Israel and going after Iran. Both will fail! It has long been my contention that coming to Israel's aid once they attack Iran will be our in to Iran!

Bush has created a hell on earth for Iraq that he calls liberty and success with promises to spread it throughout the entire middle east. He has long wanted a Korea style force in Iraq to secure the peace! That will never work in Iraq or the middle east! Planting our military in the middle of the mess Bush has created out of the middle east because of his failed Democratization program is going to be a Custer's Last Stand on a grand scale! looking at the war cabinet Obama has amassed I am going to say at this point that this is going to happen even under a President Obama.

I went back through the years to pull out some stories I have done on Iraq, Iran, the middle east, and the entire lie we are living today and since there was over a thousand I decided to give you just one of the queries on my web site. Custer's last stand Just look at the headings! This is a long convoluted story Bush has set in motion, Do a query of your own if you are inclined! I have said numerous times that at this point we are there and Bush will not leave until an excuse is found to get this war with Iran going as they did with Iraq.

At this point to say we can stay but everyone else must leave is purely for local Iraqi Politics. Regardless of the country left on guard. If one is there we are all there. Anyway Iraq's parliament rejected on Saturday a draft law that allows troops from Britain, Australia and a several other countries to remain beyond the end of this year, Iraqi parliamentarians said. The draft law, which covers the temporary presence of the foreign troops once a U.N. mandate expires on Dec. 31, was rejected in a voice vote, said Hussein al-Falluji, a member of the Sunni Accordance Front. He said lawmakers wanted the government to draw up an agreement akin to the U.S.-Iraqi deal that allows U.S. troops to stay in Iraq three more years.

The law would cover the future of troops from Britain, Australia, Romania, Estonia, El Salvador and NATO in Iraq, where violence has fallen sharply and foreign troops are increasingly handing over security control to local forces. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown confirmed this week that Britain plans to withdraw its remaining 4,100 troops from Iraq by the end of July. Brits and others refused tenure in Iraq

* At this point it does not matter who is left there until this war with Iran gets going but most do not get it. Russia is being instigated to war in their region but they are not going to stand for it as Bush knows! Two years ago by now Putin told Russian special forces in Iran to defend their interests if Iran is attacked. They have opened long closed nuclear submarine bases and high tech military equipment in Iran is manned by Russians. One way or the other this mess Bush stupidly set in motion by attacking Iraq against all good advice creating 4 million permanent nomads in the hell on earth he calls success will encompass the entire middle east before it engulfs the entire world.

You see the mess Obama is inheriting in the US with the purposeful Bankrupting of America. I believe by now that his instigation for war with Russia long in motion will bear fruit regardless of who is President! in this bankrupting of America and new order Forever War Obama has been set up for failure. I can only hope that the American people and the people of the world realize that Bush and the right has set the stage for our future and Obama has merely the misfortune of trying to manage it, As I pointed out many times! Nostradamus gave us two roads into the future that we already know. One to world peace and prosperity and the second to world conflict and destruction.Bush has set the stage for the latter and it is out of our hands not and at a time when the world is at a stage in its life cycle where it is unsustainable!I will discuss that in a manuscript I wrote 4 years ago!

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
www.anaveragepatriot.com

President Clinton's Donor List spans Politics and the Globe but it will not present a conflict of interest or influence President Obama in any respect

Bill Clinton Releases Donor List



This speaks volumes to me: From a Republican on Bush's cabinet to Donors of millions throughout the middle east and around the world! Clintons donor list spans the world! I still firmly believe there will be no conflict of interest with Hillary as Secretary of State! Anyway The former president's charitable foundation has received as much as $131 million from foreign governments. The names are released to clear the way for his wife to become secretary of State.
Hoping to allay conflict-of-interest concerns as his wife prepares to become secretary of State, President Clinton released a donor list Thursday that shows he has raised as much as $131 million from foreign governments -- including Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Norway -- for the William J. Clinton Foundation.

More than 200,000 patrons that have given nearly $500 million since the foundation's inception in 1997 were identified by name only. The disclosure provides a window into a charity that had closely guarded the identities of its donors -- countries, companies and individuals with keen and sometimes less-than-altruistic interests in U.S. foreign policy. Clinton's foundation has focused on providing healthcare, particularly for people with AIDS in underdeveloped countries. It also works to promote economic growth in Africa and Latin America, combat global climate change, and solve such problems as childhood obesity in the United States. Many of the top donors have been major campaign supporters of Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton. They include Los Angeles entertainment mogul Haim Saban, a strong backer of Israel; producer Stephen Bing; and Chicago billionaire Fred Eychaner.

The foundation also took in millions from foreign nationals, domestic and foreign corporations, and government entities that by law could not give to the Clintons' political campaigns. The Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office, Oman, Brunei, Qatar and Kuwait are among the high rollers that have given $1 million to $5 million. When President-elect Barack Obama selected Hillary Clinton, the junior senator from New York, to be his secretary of State, he made clear that her husband would have to disclose the foundation donors. In a statement late Thursday, Obama said Bill Clinton's disclosure "meets our goals of transparency and goes above and beyond in preventing conflicts." The list includes several businesses and individuals either from India or with strong ties to the country. Steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal gave between $1 million and $5 million; Suzlon Energy Ltd. contributed in that range; and the Confederation of Indian Industry donated $500,000 to $1 million. A spokesman for the Pakistani Embassy shrugged off any question about Hillary Clinton's ability to fairly mediate the chronically tense relationship between his country and India, both nuclear powers.

"It does not cause concern. This has to do with charity and not with politics," Nadeem Haider Kiani said. The foundation's two biggest donors, at more than $25 million each, were the Children's Investment Fund Foundation, a London philanthropy started by hedge fund operator Chris Hohn; and UNITAID, an international drug purchase organization formed by Brazil, France, Chile, Norway and Britain to combat AIDS, malaria and other diseases in developing countries. AUSAID, the Australian government agency responsible for managing Australia's overseas aid program, donated between $10 million and $25 million, as did Saudi Arabia and a Dominican Republic government agency formed to fight AIDS. Individuals giving between $10 million and $25 million included Bing, Eychaner, Lions Gate Entertainment founder Frank Giustra, Gateway Computer founder Theodore Waitt of San Diego and Paychex founder Tom Golisano. Giustra is a Canadian mining businessman who in 2005 accompanied President Clinton on a trip to Kazakhstan. Giustra's company later signed deals for uranium projects in Kazakhstan, a country with an authoritarian government and a much-criticized record on human rights.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation also gave between $10 million and $25 million. Contributing between $5 million and $10 million were Saban, Norway and the Dutch Lottery. Other million-dollar-plus donors include Los Angeles billionaire Eli Broad; foundations established by billionaire George Soros and the Walton family (founders of Wal-Mart); and Victor Pinchuk, a Ukrainian steel tycoon and son-in-law to former Ukrainian President Leonid D. Kuchma, who was denounced by the State Department for "scandals, corruption and human rights violations." Blackwater Worldwide, which has the contract to protect State Department officials in Iraq, is listed as giving $10,001 to $25,000. The disclosure also lists some donations given by corporations and individuals that since have fallen far: American International Group Inc., the insurance company that was bailed out in the Wall Street crisis, gave in the $250,001-$500,000 range. San Diego trial attorney William Lerach, now in federal prison on kickback charges, gave between $100,001 and $250,000, as did the now-bankrupt Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc.

Most if not all of the high-dollar donors had been previously disclosed. In many instances, however, the amounts they gave had never been revealed. Other former presidents have not made such detailed disclosures. The list released Thursday served to jog memories that the Clintons and Obama might prefer to forget. Clinton's donor list spans the globe


* I must admit that world wide concerns for Health care and the poor around the world will in no wayinfluence or conflict with anything Hillary and the Obama Administration is trying to accomplish regardless of what party or country is concerned. Obama is the new Decider and I may be naive but I firmly believe he will not be influenced or swayed by those who donated to President Clinton's causes!

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
www.anaveragepatriot.com

Anti gay marriage but pro Gay marriage is closing: Blessing Barack Obama's inauguration with controversy!

I just love it! It is vintage Obama reaching out to both sides, i think this is great! While gay rights groups were busy objecting to the selection of Southern Baptist pastor Rick Warren, who opposes same-sex marriage, to give the invocation at the inauguration, they may have failed to notice who is giving the benediction.

The Rev. Joseph Lowery, 87, is best known as a civil rights icon and co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He also comes from a liberal Christian mainline religious tradition, the United Methodist Church.

In 2000, Lowery, gave what was described as an electrifying speech calling for gay clergy, to the dinner during the general convention of the United Methodist Church, the nation's second largest Protestant denomination.

According to Affirmation, which describes itself as newsletter for United Methodists for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns:

Lowery, noted over the years for his ability to not only "talk the talk" but "walk the walk," addressed a series of justice issues that still challenge us in this first year of the 21st century. Among these issues are ... the risk the church takes when it restricts, limits and excludes those whose orientation is homosexual. Dr. Lowery wondered out loud, "how could the church, because of a person's sexual orientation, deny ministry to those whom God has called?" He then suggested that he would prefer to err on the side of inclusion rather than exclusion.

And in 2004, he told ABC News he supported same sex marriage:

When you talk about the law discriminating, the law granting a privilege here, and a right here and denying it there, that's a civil rights issue. And I can't take that away from anybody. So Obama's ceremony will begin and end with high profile pastors. He defended today the choice of megachurch pastor Rick Warren, author of The Purpose-Driven Life and omni-present evangelical figure on the public scene, to offer the invocation.

Still, some people say there shouldn't be prayers offered at this civic event -- separation of church and state and all that. Others say this is an overwhelmingly God-believing nation (however you see God) and that everyone shares in asking God's blessings for its leader. For many years, the familiar face at the podium was Billy Graham, who called on the Lord on the president's behalf. At George W. Bush's first inaugural, those prayers took a sharp, sectarian turn when the invocation by Franklin Graham, standing in for his frail father, and benediction by Texas pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell each concluded in Jesus' name.

Critics observed that by doing so, they cut out a swath of American citizens who don't pray to Jesus but do want to say amen to blessings for their president. Franklin Graham gave no ground on this. Caldwell later said he would have handled his prayer differently, to be more inclusive.
Will the prayers by Warren and Lowery include all the millions tuned in? Is this a civic event or a religious event? Can it be both? Will supporters and opponents of same-sex marriage be able to say, "Amen?"

This too falls into the category of the Bed Bush made for Obama! Official: Russia to 'test the mettle' of Obama!

Please check my evaluation at the end of this but first! Official: Russia to 'test the mettle' of Obama State Department expects tougher stance against U.S. missile defenses!
The Russian government is likely to "test the mettle" of Barack Obama and his administration by taking a tougher stance against U.S. missile defenses, a senior State Department official said Wednesday.

John Rood, the department's top arms control official, told reporters he believes the Russians are waiting to size up the Obama administration before Moscow advances its position on disputed arms issues. In discussing the state of Russian opposition to U.S. missile defense bases in Poland and the Czech Republic, Rood said it appears that Moscow has "paused" in anticipation of a new national security approach in Washington. My assessment is that the Russians intend to test the mettle of the new administration and the new president," he said. "The future will show how the new administration chooses to answer that challenge."

Asked to elaborate, he said, "I think missile defense and other subjects will be among those that the Russians intend to determine what the new administration's posture will be." He said he reached this conclusion on the basis of an impression gained during talks in Moscow on Monday rather than from explicit Russian statements. Less flexibility seen from MoscowHe also said the Russians have been less flexible lately in talks on missile defense. In particular he cited their stance on U.S. proposals to give the Russians more assurance that a missile interceptor site in Poland and a missile-tracking radar in the Czech Republic would pose no security threat to Russia.

The United States, with the support of the Polish and Czech governments, has proposed that Russian officials be given regular access to the interceptor and radar sites and that they be allowed to monitor activity at both sites through undisclosed technical means. Rood did not elaborate on the details in dispute. "I don't want to spell out all the details because I think this is a high-priority dialog for us in the United States, and I don't think that putting all the details out will facilitate a resolution to it," he said. Rood led a U.S. government delegation in talks with senior Russian officials on a range of subjects, including efforts by both governments to negotiate a treaty to replace the 1991 START nuclear arms deal, which expires in December 2009. Rood said the talks were useful but did not achieve any breakthroughs.

In Moscow on Tuesday, Russian news agencies quoted Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as saying Moscow hopes the Obama administration will agree that the weapons limitations under START "should be preserved and strengthened, rather than weakened." Rood said the Russians want to expand the scope of a follow-on to the START treaty to include limitations on non-nuclear strategic weapons such as long-range conventional bombers and possibly submarines. The Bush administration has resisted that, saying the restrictions should be on nuclear warheads only. Rood said he consulted with members of Obama's transition team before traveling to Moscow and will brief them on the substance of the talks. And he said he expects additional talks with the Russians on these subjects before President Bush leaves office Jan. 20.
Brooke Anderson, the Obama transition office's chief spokesperson on national security affairs, declined to comment on Rood's remark about the Russians likely seeking to test the new president.

Divisive issueThe missile defense issue has been one of the most divisive over the past few years. The Bush administration has argued that extending its U.S.-based defense system to Europe is important in defending Europe and the United States from a possible long-range missile strike from Iran, while the Russians dispute the immediacy of an Iranian threat and worry about U.S. military expansion near Russian borders. On Nov. 5, the day after Obama's election, President Dmitry Medvedev warned that Russia would move short-range missiles to NATO's borders to "neutralize" any U.S. missile defense system in Eastern Europe if necessary.
Medvedev has since backed off slightly. He stressed on Nov. 15 that Russia would not act unless the United States took the first step and expressed hope that the new U.S. administration will be open to negotiations.

Obama has not been explicit, at least in public, about whether he would proceed with the missile defense plan in Poland and the Czech Republic. More broadly he has said he supports missile defense but wants to ensure that it is proven to be a reliable system that does not detract from other security priorities.
More on Missile defense Russia

* This too falls into the catagory of the Bed Bush made for Obama!
You see that Bush has almost completed the bankrupting of America ensuring that Obama does not have the money to deal with the crises he has created in America at the hands of Greenspan! For years now he has been instigating war around the world using the Politics of my way or the highway confrontation to dominate! The world has had enough!

In this case we will again discuss Russia! We had the perfect opportunity to bring the world together and proceed into the future peacefully and successfully as one. Bush though more pointedly his handlers saw it as an opportunity to dominate and have their way! The missile defense shield was developed and is being emplaced in Chezchoslavakia and Poland specifically to instigate Russia to war in Bush's forever war!

That system has not even been tested under realistic conditions and I absolutely believe it will fail miserably under realistic conditions. God help the countries that house that system! If peace was the goal it would be housed in Britain where it is wanted but peace is not the goal! Nor is shooting down missiles from Iran and North Korea unless thanks to Bush's instigation and Russia's help they now gain the ability to reach us.

The original goal was to instigate Russia to war in order to fight and have our way but unless controlling the worlds weapons using the well tested successful system HAARP is the plan we are in serious trouble. I have said many times that whoever controls space controls the future. Without satellites the worlds militaries are dead in the water, sitting ducks waiting to be picked off!

** Without getting any deeper I will just remind you of Joe Biden's statement that Obama will be tested within 6 months of election but he is already being tested. He is already running the show in America behind the scenes while Bush continues to screw around. Russia will instantly take him to task as Bush made his bed there too! I am convinced that regardless of what Obama would like or try to do that the foundation of Forever war that Bush laid will proceed!

*** I hope I am wrong but I absolutely doubt it!

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
www.anaveragepatriot.com

Next Up: A Battle over Unionization By Jerome Grossman the Relentless Liberal and my Response!

In recent decades the number of U. S. workers in unions has declined dramatically from a peak of more than 35% to below 10%. Some of the factors in the decline have been the weakness of industry and manufacturing in America, the lengthy political dominance (now ended) of the anti-union Republican Party, the rulings of the National Labor Relations Board and the sophisticated anti-union tactics that some employers have used to sway or intimidate workers before the first union election.

The unions believe that a bargaining unit should be formed as soon as a majority of workers sign authorization cards. The employers now have the right to call for a subsequent secret ballot vote on unionization. This dual process often results in lengthy delays, angry relationships, employer pressures and legal expense more easily borne by the employer.

For years the labor movement has been trying to pass a law, The Employee Free Choice Act, to take employers out of the decision of the workers to organize themselves by recognizing card check elections as decisive.

The unions base their argument on the National Labor Relations Act, signed in 1935 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, which made unionization the national policy, "To protect the rights of employees and employers, to encourage collective bargaining, and to curtail certain private sector labor and management practices......"

Last year, the House of Representatives passed 241 to 185 a bill requiring employers to recognize unions organized by card check. In the Senate, the bill passed 51 to 48 on a party-lined vote but failed to reach the 60 votes necessary to prevent filibuster.

Prospects for passage will be better in 2009. The Democrats will have at least 57 senators, perhaps 58, some GOP senators from heavily unionized states are up for reelection, and the legislation is supported by President-elect Obama, and Vice President-elect Biden.

The unions are already calling the legislation "An economic stimulus package for America's working families." The employers will cite the cost to business in a recession and the sanctity of the secret ballot. The general public may wish to support an increase in share for US workers in the declining American pie, a share that has gone down dramatically since the 1970s.

* I know in the lie we are living under G W B we are told he cares about the average American as he shows he does not! He says he cares about the economy and he is the one who purposely destroyed it. Can you just imagine if social security was privatized as Bush wanted? They want Health care privatized, you know unions are going! I was concerned about the UAW during the bailout talks. They are going too. Unions like the auto industry is considered for average Americans. As I keep saying, average Americans do not matter despite what you hear and are purposely going south!
It will get a lot worse I am afraid even under Obama though I still believe his hands are tied and more every day as Bush's team is working to hamstring him, but he will do the right thing for average Americans if given the chance!

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
www.anaveragepatriot.com

Collapse of Pension Funds: The End of Retirement?

Collapse of Pension Funds: The End of Retirement?
By Shamus Cooke
URL of this article: www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11379
Global Research, December 13, 2008
Unless things change fast, human history will show that the phenomenon of “retirement” was limited to one generation.;After World War II, when European and Japanese economies stood in tatters, American capitalism could fulfill “the American dream,” since there was little foreign competition to speak of. For the first time ever, workers were promised that — after working thirty or so years — they would be able to securely retire. That was largely the case for one generation.

The second generation is having a devastating reality check. 2008 was supposed to be a watershed year for retirement: it was the first year that the baby-boomers turned 62, and the retirement frenzy was to begin (since people could begin to draw on their social security benefits). Early in the year, however, a study was conducted that found one-fourth of these boomers were delaying retirement (only the baby-boomers who were actually able to plan for retirement were studied). The economy has since nosedived, and many more retirements are being delayed. The unfortunate reality is that many who planned on retiring will work until the grave, joining the millions of other baby-boomers who never had such dreams.

The experts are calling this the “perfect storm” for retirement. Everything that could go wrong is in fact going wrong. This storm, however, was not created by supernatural forces, but the coordinated effort of big-business and their puppet politicians.

The deliberate destruction of the pension and its replacement by the 401(k) was, of course, a giant step towards attacking retirement; but now that the economic crisis has emerged, we’re beginning to see just how ruinous the effects are.

At the end of September, just as the crisis was beginning to gain steam, it was discovered that in the previous year the value of stocks in 401(k) accounts had fallen by nearly $2 trillion! Much more has been lost since then. This is especially devastating since almost one-third of 401(k) participants in their 60s had 80 percent of their money in stocks (pension funds have been similarly destroyed).

The 401(k) was the scheme of the century. Corporations offloaded their "burdensome" pensions and used the combined forces of the media and politicians to sell the ruse to the public, to the great benefit of Wall Street. Workers were told that the boom-slump cycle was over, and that stocks were a sure thing. There were additional factors to invest in stocks: interest rates were so low that investing in bonds and other less-risky instruments offered only tiny returns; and since employers stopped contributing to retirement funds, a bigger return was required.

More importantly, corporations have been driving down real wages since the seventies, allowing less money to be saved for retirement, creating a mood of desperation.

Every “safe bet” for investing has been proven unsafe; the recession has left nothing untouched. After the dotcom bubble burst — taking with it millions of people's 401(k) savings — the housing market became the place to invest. Now the safest possible investment, too, has turned sour. For millions of people, the home they lived in was their nest egg, which they had planned to sell and move into a smaller place. No more.

Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ), who chairs the House subcommittee on health, employment, labor and pensions, put it bluntly: “Some will have very little, some will have almost nothing, and some will have nothing when they retire”. Of course, people who “have nothing” do not retire.

This process is being accelerated by the newest trick of big business: declaring bankruptcy to destroy “pension obligations”. These obligations apply with equal weight to workers already retired, many of whom are seeing their pensions slashed in half, forcing them out of retirement.

Now even the threat of bankruptcy is constantly used in union contract negotiations to scare workers into concessions, since after achieving bankruptcy, labor agreements are torn up. The threat of closing the company’s doors is a very effective form of intimidation.

This phenomenon is at the center of the GM debate. The corporate politicians in congress cannot decide whether to appoint a “Car Tsar” to oversee the destruction of the autoworkers pensions, or use the proven method of bankruptcy. Not a day goes by that the corporate media doesn’t join hands to assail the pension and health care benefits of the “spoiled”; GM workers. The hypocrisy is sickening.

This after the UAW had already agreed to the most shameful concessions in 2007. Although concessions are often made in the name of “job security,” the result is that corporations become emboldened by such acts. Eventually, every benefit of workers that contradicts company profit will be targeted. The demand for concessions never stops, and soon the point arrives when the benefits of having a union become questioned, since dues money is not paid with concessions in mind.

The autoworkers struggle is at the forefront of the pension battle nationwide, since their struggles in the 1930’s originally paved the way for pensions. Equally important is the pension struggles emerging with public employees, the last stronghold of workers who receive them. Public employees will find their pensions under immense attack as the economic crisis intensifies, and government budgets are depleted (see “State Budget Crisis Deepens” on this site).

Fighting the corporate strategy of bankruptcy and business closures is an immediate need of working people. This tactic will increase in number as the crisis deepens and companies strive to “restore profitability” by drastically lowering wages. If a company attempts such a criminal act, the workers should demand a bailout for themselves; the government should take over the plant so that the workers can keep their jobs, such as was done for the banks. Management must be sacked and instead of a government bureaucrat, the workers themselves should run the business.

To win this program, new levels of organizing and solidarity are needed, such as the example of the United Electrical Workers, who occupied their factory and organized in a brilliant fashion. They won a stunning victory by utilizing the methods of the original autoworkers struggles from the 1930’s. If a fight is to be waged, it must be done seriously and with determination, uniting both retired and active workers. The UEW workers have shown the way forward for the labor movement, which can no longer rely on union concessions or the promises of Democratic politicians, but only their own collective strength.

Brother: Iraqi shoe-hurler injured, hospitalized! Personally I believe he should be a hero so I wonder who did that? The US clandestinely? You bet!

The Iraqi shoe thrower and the Iraqi song!



Neither of the shoes thrown at President Bush during a press conference Sunday hit their mark, but the act itself continued to hit a nerve Monday, both in Iraq and in Washington. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
An Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush in a fit of outrage had an arm broken in chaotic scenes when he was leapt on by Iraqi security officers, his brother said on Tuesday. TV reporter Muntadhar al-Zeidi, who called Bush a "dog" at a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Sunday, was in a hospital in the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, his brother Maitham al-Zeidi said. "All that we know is we were contacted yesterday by a person — we know him — and he told us that Muntadhar was taken on Sunday to Ibn-Sina hospital," Maitham al-Zeidi said. "He was wounded in the head because he was hit by a rifle butt, and one of his arms was broken."

The brother declined to identify the source of the information and his comments could not be independently verified. Hundreds took to the streets Tuesday for a second day to demand the release of al-Zeidi, who gained folk hero status when he hurled both his shoes at Bush during a news conference Sunday in Baghdad. Al-Zeidi, whose family said he blamed Bush for the thousands of Iraqis who died after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and who has been hailed as a hero by many in the Arab world, was pounced on by security and dragged away struggling and screaming. Rallies
Many Iraqis, however, believe al-Zeidi was a hero for insulting an American president widely blamed for the chaos that has engulfed their country since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003.

In Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, located north of Baghdad, an estimated 1,000 protesters carried banners and chanted slogans demanding al-Zeidi's release. A couple of hundred more also protested Tuesday in Nasiriyah, a Shiite city about 200 miles southeast of Baghdad, and Fallujah, a Sunni area west of the capital. "Muntadhar al-Zeidi has expressed the feelings and ambitions of the Iraqi people toward the symbol of tyranny," said Nassar Afrawi, a protester in Nasiriyah. Two years in jail? The most likely charge against al-Zeidi would be one that allowed for up to two years in prison for anyone who publicly insults a foreign state, an international organization or a foreign country's head of state, said leading criminal lawyer Ali Ahmed Mansour. "Based on my legal knowledge I am sure he will be charged with insulting a president of a foreign state," Mansour said on Tuesday. "He will be jailed for this action."

Al-Zeidi could also conceivably be charged under another clause in the 1969 Iraqi penal code that allows for seven years in prison for anyone who "insults the president or his representative", lawyers said. The court would have to view al-Maliki as the modern day equivalent of what the pre-Saddam Hussein penal code termed the president, and would also have to decide whether al-Zeidi's insult to Bush was also an insult to al-Maliki, experts said. "Which article is used will definitely be up to the investigating court to decide," said Tarq Harb, an Iraqi lawyer and recognized legal expert. "The government, executive or legislative authorities have nothing to do with it, they have no right to intervene." Lawyers said crimes referred to the courts by members of the Iraqi cabinet were overseen by a body called the "Joint Investigatory Committee," made up of U.S. officials, Iraqi federal police and Iraqi justices, and are investigated by a special judge at the Iraqi Central Criminal Court. in reality he is a hero even mine

* You really have to wonder what is really behind this guy being harmed in prison where in reality he would by any Iraqi's standard be a national hero? You can bet the long arm of the underworld US Government is behind this! I have to hope the message has been sent even though the Chief idiot laughs it off and anti Bush events pick up exponentially in Iraq in the US and around the world as his damage has just begun to show its ugly head and will get mauch worse around the w2orld even under President Obama!

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
www.anaveragepatriot.com