The realest dude on the internet? I think this mofo is hilarious. He's got his own youtube channel. I mean yeah he's a bit ghetto but funny. These are my fav ones.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Mos Def
Mos is one of my favorite artists. He was on Real Time this past Friday and it was real funny as always. You can watch the shows on youtube of course. I thought this video was funny too.
Friday, March 27, 2009
7 States over 10% Unemployment rate.
I get a weekly address from Obama every week directyl to my email. And he's doing a lot of press conferences and just had the first ever internet town hall meeting. He's asked us to go out door to door in support of his new budget. But all I gotta say is I did my time for you Mr. President. I cant afford to work for free anymore. I've been out of work for almost a year now! I need MONEY!!!!
WASHINGTON — Double-digit unemployment rates hit more states in February, with North Carolina and Rhode Island seeing their rates hit record highs.
The U.S. Labor Department's report, released Friday, showed the terrible toll the recession, now in its second year, is having on workers and companies alike.
Seven states have unemployment rates that topped 10 percent last month. That's up from four states in January.
"It's spreading like wildfire," said Richard Yamarone, economist at Argus Research.
The U.S. unemployment rate, released earlier this month, rose to 8.1 percent in February, the highest in more than 25 years. Economists predict the national jobless rate will have climbed to 8.5 percent in March when the government releases that report next week. It will probably hit 10 percent by year end even if the recession were to end later this year, they said.
Michigan's jobless rate climbed to 12 percent, the highest in the country. South Carolina registered the second-highest at 11 percent and Oregon came in third at 10.8 percent.
North Carolina came in fourth with an unemployment rate of 10.7 percent, the highest there on records dating back to 1976. California and Rhode Island tied for fifth place at 10.5 percent each. That was an all-time high for Rhode Island. The seventh state with a jobless rate above 10 percent was Nevada at 10.1 percent.
Georgia's unemployment rate rose sharply to 9.3 percent, also a record high. Earlier this week Shaw Industries Group Inc., the world's largest carpet maker, said it would close two plants in the state and lay off about 600 workers.
Story continues below
Layoffs in manufacturing, construction and retail _ sectors hard hit by the housing collapse _ are common threads running through the higher unemployment. Another thread: difficulties faced by states, such as South Carolina, Michigan and Rhode Island, to lure new types of companies to help cushion the loss of manufacturing jobs and retrain laid-off factory workers for other kinds of employment.
Joblessness continued to be the worst in the West _ home to California and other states badly battered by the housing bust _ and the Midwest, where the troubles of U.S. automakers has been sorely felt.
Currently 5.56 million people are drawing state unemployment insurance, the highest on records dating back to 1967 the federal government reported Thursday. The crush has exhausted unemployment funds in California, New York and elsewhere, forcing them to tap the federal government for money to keep paying benefits.
Rising unemployment means lost revenue for already squeezed states.
"It's a vicious cycle," said Michael Williams, dean of Touro College's Graduate School of Business. States are forced to cut back services at a time when people need them the most. "What about health care? What about education?" he wonders.
All told, Friday's report found that 49 states and the District of Columbia saw their unemployment rates move higher in February from the previous month. Only Nebraska recorded a slight drop. Its jobless rate dipped to 4.2 percent.
Wyoming once again had the lowest unemployment rate, 3.9 percent.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the recession could end this year, setting the stage for a recovery next year only if shaky financial markets are stabilized.
To brace the economy, the Fed has slashed a key bank lending rate to an all-time low and has embarked on a series of radical programs to inject billions of dollars into the financial system.
The Obama administration's $787 billion stimulus package includes money that will flow to states for public works projects, help them defray budget cuts, extend unemployment benefits and boost food stamp benefits. The administration also is counting on programs to prop up financial companies and reduce home foreclosures to help turn the economy around.
Companies are cutting jobs and other costs to survive the recession. Sales and profits have been hurt as consumers have hunkered down. That's caused the economy to shrink. Analysts believe the economy will keep on shrinking through the first six months of this year.
WASHINGTON — Double-digit unemployment rates hit more states in February, with North Carolina and Rhode Island seeing their rates hit record highs.
The U.S. Labor Department's report, released Friday, showed the terrible toll the recession, now in its second year, is having on workers and companies alike.
Seven states have unemployment rates that topped 10 percent last month. That's up from four states in January.
"It's spreading like wildfire," said Richard Yamarone, economist at Argus Research.
The U.S. unemployment rate, released earlier this month, rose to 8.1 percent in February, the highest in more than 25 years. Economists predict the national jobless rate will have climbed to 8.5 percent in March when the government releases that report next week. It will probably hit 10 percent by year end even if the recession were to end later this year, they said.
Michigan's jobless rate climbed to 12 percent, the highest in the country. South Carolina registered the second-highest at 11 percent and Oregon came in third at 10.8 percent.
North Carolina came in fourth with an unemployment rate of 10.7 percent, the highest there on records dating back to 1976. California and Rhode Island tied for fifth place at 10.5 percent each. That was an all-time high for Rhode Island. The seventh state with a jobless rate above 10 percent was Nevada at 10.1 percent.
Georgia's unemployment rate rose sharply to 9.3 percent, also a record high. Earlier this week Shaw Industries Group Inc., the world's largest carpet maker, said it would close two plants in the state and lay off about 600 workers.
Story continues below
Layoffs in manufacturing, construction and retail _ sectors hard hit by the housing collapse _ are common threads running through the higher unemployment. Another thread: difficulties faced by states, such as South Carolina, Michigan and Rhode Island, to lure new types of companies to help cushion the loss of manufacturing jobs and retrain laid-off factory workers for other kinds of employment.
Joblessness continued to be the worst in the West _ home to California and other states badly battered by the housing bust _ and the Midwest, where the troubles of U.S. automakers has been sorely felt.
Currently 5.56 million people are drawing state unemployment insurance, the highest on records dating back to 1967 the federal government reported Thursday. The crush has exhausted unemployment funds in California, New York and elsewhere, forcing them to tap the federal government for money to keep paying benefits.
Rising unemployment means lost revenue for already squeezed states.
"It's a vicious cycle," said Michael Williams, dean of Touro College's Graduate School of Business. States are forced to cut back services at a time when people need them the most. "What about health care? What about education?" he wonders.
All told, Friday's report found that 49 states and the District of Columbia saw their unemployment rates move higher in February from the previous month. Only Nebraska recorded a slight drop. Its jobless rate dipped to 4.2 percent.
Wyoming once again had the lowest unemployment rate, 3.9 percent.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the recession could end this year, setting the stage for a recovery next year only if shaky financial markets are stabilized.
To brace the economy, the Fed has slashed a key bank lending rate to an all-time low and has embarked on a series of radical programs to inject billions of dollars into the financial system.
The Obama administration's $787 billion stimulus package includes money that will flow to states for public works projects, help them defray budget cuts, extend unemployment benefits and boost food stamp benefits. The administration also is counting on programs to prop up financial companies and reduce home foreclosures to help turn the economy around.
Companies are cutting jobs and other costs to survive the recession. Sales and profits have been hurt as consumers have hunkered down. That's caused the economy to shrink. Analysts believe the economy will keep on shrinking through the first six months of this year.
Monday, March 23, 2009
PoltiFact
This website is AWESOME. It's truly unbiased and gives you a good, honest look at what politicians say and then what they do. It's cool. Check it out yo!
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/
Sunday, March 22, 2009
2 American Journalists Held Hostage in N. Korea
SEOUL, South Korea — Two American journalists detained by North Korean soldiers are believed to have been sent to Pyongyang for questioning, a news report said Sunday.
North Korea said Saturday it was investigating two Americans it detained Tuesday for "illegally intruding" into its territory after crossing the border from China.
A brief dispatch from the North's official Korean Central News Agency gave no other details, but it was apparent confirmation of reported arrests of two female U.S. journalists reporting on North Korean refugees in the border area.
South Korean media and a South Korean missionary identified the two detained Americans as Laura Ling and Euna Lee, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore's San Francisco-based media outlet Current TV.
A U.S. official said Saturday that the U.S. has been in touch with North Korean representatives about the journalists and is awaiting a reply. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing the sensitivity of the issue, said the U.S. doesn't know where the North is holding them.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency said Sunday, in a report from the Chinese city of Yanji, that it is highly likely that they were sent to Pyongyang to be investigated for their alleged border intrusion.
"Considering the significance of the case, there is a high possibility that the two U.S. journalists have been sent to Pyongyang and are undergoing a direct investigation" by the North's spy agency and military, Yonhap quoted a source in China it described as privy to North Korean affairs.
Yonhap quoted other sources in China as saying the North's confirmation of the arrest appeared to demonstrate that Pyongyang's intelligence and military headquarters are directly interrogating the journalists.
Story continues below
Yonhap also said the North is expected to "politically" use the U.S. journalists in its negotiations with the U.S. government.
Ties between Washington and Pyongyang already have been strained over the North's refusal to fully verify its past nuclear activities and its announced plan to launch a satellite into orbit in early April. U.S. and other regional powers argue the launch is a cover for a long-range missile test.
The two journalists, along with a male cameraman and a guide, were headed to Yanji, across the border from North Korea's far northeastern corner, where they planned to interview women forced by human traffickers to strip for online customers and meet with children of defectors, according to the Rev. Chun Ki-won of the Seoul-based Durihana Mission, a Christian group that helps defectors.
Then they planned to travel to Dandong, said Chun who helped the journalists organize the trip.
At the Yalu River near Dandong on Sunday, rifle-carrying North Korean soldiers across the river patrolled its bank. A group of men painted fishing boats on the North Korean side during low tide.
Many North Korean children who grow up on the run in China live in legal limbo, unable even to attend school, according to a 2008 Human Rights Watch report.
The North Korean-Chinese border is long, porous and not well demarcated and thus a common route for escape from the North.
A growing number of North Koreans have sneaked into China to escape political repression and chronic food shortages and to seek asylum, mostly in South Korea, according to North Korean defectors in South Korea and activists.
North Korea said Saturday it was investigating two Americans it detained Tuesday for "illegally intruding" into its territory after crossing the border from China.
A brief dispatch from the North's official Korean Central News Agency gave no other details, but it was apparent confirmation of reported arrests of two female U.S. journalists reporting on North Korean refugees in the border area.
South Korean media and a South Korean missionary identified the two detained Americans as Laura Ling and Euna Lee, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore's San Francisco-based media outlet Current TV.
A U.S. official said Saturday that the U.S. has been in touch with North Korean representatives about the journalists and is awaiting a reply. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing the sensitivity of the issue, said the U.S. doesn't know where the North is holding them.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency said Sunday, in a report from the Chinese city of Yanji, that it is highly likely that they were sent to Pyongyang to be investigated for their alleged border intrusion.
"Considering the significance of the case, there is a high possibility that the two U.S. journalists have been sent to Pyongyang and are undergoing a direct investigation" by the North's spy agency and military, Yonhap quoted a source in China it described as privy to North Korean affairs.
Yonhap quoted other sources in China as saying the North's confirmation of the arrest appeared to demonstrate that Pyongyang's intelligence and military headquarters are directly interrogating the journalists.
Story continues below
Yonhap also said the North is expected to "politically" use the U.S. journalists in its negotiations with the U.S. government.
Ties between Washington and Pyongyang already have been strained over the North's refusal to fully verify its past nuclear activities and its announced plan to launch a satellite into orbit in early April. U.S. and other regional powers argue the launch is a cover for a long-range missile test.
The two journalists, along with a male cameraman and a guide, were headed to Yanji, across the border from North Korea's far northeastern corner, where they planned to interview women forced by human traffickers to strip for online customers and meet with children of defectors, according to the Rev. Chun Ki-won of the Seoul-based Durihana Mission, a Christian group that helps defectors.
Then they planned to travel to Dandong, said Chun who helped the journalists organize the trip.
At the Yalu River near Dandong on Sunday, rifle-carrying North Korean soldiers across the river patrolled its bank. A group of men painted fishing boats on the North Korean side during low tide.
Many North Korean children who grow up on the run in China live in legal limbo, unable even to attend school, according to a 2008 Human Rights Watch report.
The North Korean-Chinese border is long, porous and not well demarcated and thus a common route for escape from the North.
A growing number of North Koreans have sneaked into China to escape political repression and chronic food shortages and to seek asylum, mostly in South Korea, according to North Korean defectors in South Korea and activists.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
The DC Whodunit!
So when the bailout was being pushed through the house and senate there was a provisional amendment to keep CEOs from getting unnecessary bonuses whilst there companies are floundering. But somehow we have this who 165,000,000 AIG shenanigans going on. Soooo how is that possible? Well apparently someone changed the amendment wording to allow AIG to get away with this. I wish I had the original and the changed words but Im tired and havent looked it up. But during today's debate in the House many were wondering who was responsible. Barney Frank wants to know the names of the peope who refuse to give back their bonus. While thats a grand idea, wouldn't it also make sense to go after the person(s) responsible for them being able to use OUR taxpayer money to give themselves bonuses.... here's the story from Huff...
UPDATE II, 3-19, 4:40pm (EST):
Tim Geithner has now confirmed Chris Dodd's contention that the Treasury Department had insisted he include a loophole in the stimulus bill that allowed AIG to pay out bonuses, despite receiving bailout money. Still no word, however, from Geithner -- or anyone else in the administration -- about the killing of Sen. Wyden's bonus amendment that is the subject of this post. But the circumstantial evidence pointing to Obama's economic team is mounting.
UPDATE, 3-18, 6:35pm (EST):
Appearing on CNN today, Sen. Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said that officials at the Treasury Department had insisted that he modify a clause he had inserted into the stimulus bill that prohibited bonuses from being issued by bailed-out companies. This mirrors the legislative slaying of the similarly intended amendment co-sponsored by Sen. Wyden I write about below. The culprit behind the killing of the Wyden provision remains unsolved -- but Dodd fingering Treasury adds weight to Wyden's sense that members of Obama's economic team were behind the elimination of his amendment. And, in both cases, major decisions involving taxpayer money were carried out in a way that flies not in the face of fairness, but in the face of the administration's promises of transparency and accountability.
Original Post:
The mystery over who killed a provision in the stimulus package that would have curtailed bonuses at bailed out companies is a disturbing D.C. whodunit. But even more disturbing is what it reveals about how our government is run.
"It is the ultimate indictment of what Washington has become," Sen. Ron Wyden, co-sponsor of the eliminated provision, told me. "It's a place where, again and again, the public interest is deep-sixed behind closed doors and without any fingerprints."
For those of you who might have missed Sam Stein's original story, here it is in a nutshell:
Building on public outrage and presidential denunciations of executives at bailed out companies getting bonuses, Wyden and his Republican colleague, Sen. Olympia Snowe, crafted a provision in the stimulus bill that would have forced bailout recipients to cap their bonuses at $100,000 (any amount above that would be taxed at 35 percent).
According to Wyden, he "spent hours on the Senate floor," working to get the bipartisan amendment passed. He succeeded -- not a single Senator voted against the provision. "But," says Wyden, "it died in conference."
So who killed it? Wyden doesn't know.
Think about that for a second. We live in a country where one of the 100 most powerful people in government, the cosponsor of the amendment in question, has no clue how it got removed in the Senate-House conference committee -- or if it was taken out of the legislation even before it made it into conference.
And, so far, no one in the administration of a president who promised that transparency would be a "touchstone" of his presidency has demanded that whoever killed the provision step forward and own up to it.
It took Andrew Cuomo, using his authority as New York Attorney General, to get us at least some of the details about the AIG bonuses.
It's time for the White House to do the same, using its authority to uncover who removed the Wyden-Snowe provision from the stimulus bill.
"I pulled out all the stops," Wyden told me, "to convince the president's economic team that this amendment was vital to the White House for two reasons: 1) the president had spoken out against bonuses; 2) fury about bonuses would kneecap confidence in the president's entire economic policy."
But no one inside the president's economic team was in favor of it. As Wyden put it: "If the White House economic team had made it clear that this was important, this provision would never have been removed. I don't believe the president has been well-served on the bonus issue by his economic team."
So who asked for the amendment to be removed? Jason Furman? Peter Orszag? Tim Geithner? Larry Summers?
Such a move would certainly be consistent with the positions put forth by Summers who, as late as yesterday -- even contradicting the president -- continued to argue that attempting to stop the AIG bonuses would have "put the whole economy at risk."
Have you noticed how, whenever there is a serious effort to put an end to business-as-usual, we are warned by insiders like Paulson and Summers that the result will be the end of civilization?
"This lack of transparency -- and the lack of accountability that results -- is one of the most significant threats to our democracy," Wyden told me. "This is not at all how the civics books tell us the system is suppose to work. What we have here is a prime example of Washington deny, defer, delay."
He's right. We deserve better. Let's make this D.C. mystery the cause célèbre it deserves to be. Let's demand that the White House live up to its vows of transparency.
Special Comment from Olbermann:
UPDATE II, 3-19, 4:40pm (EST):
Tim Geithner has now confirmed Chris Dodd's contention that the Treasury Department had insisted he include a loophole in the stimulus bill that allowed AIG to pay out bonuses, despite receiving bailout money. Still no word, however, from Geithner -- or anyone else in the administration -- about the killing of Sen. Wyden's bonus amendment that is the subject of this post. But the circumstantial evidence pointing to Obama's economic team is mounting.
UPDATE, 3-18, 6:35pm (EST):
Appearing on CNN today, Sen. Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said that officials at the Treasury Department had insisted that he modify a clause he had inserted into the stimulus bill that prohibited bonuses from being issued by bailed-out companies. This mirrors the legislative slaying of the similarly intended amendment co-sponsored by Sen. Wyden I write about below. The culprit behind the killing of the Wyden provision remains unsolved -- but Dodd fingering Treasury adds weight to Wyden's sense that members of Obama's economic team were behind the elimination of his amendment. And, in both cases, major decisions involving taxpayer money were carried out in a way that flies not in the face of fairness, but in the face of the administration's promises of transparency and accountability.
Original Post:
The mystery over who killed a provision in the stimulus package that would have curtailed bonuses at bailed out companies is a disturbing D.C. whodunit. But even more disturbing is what it reveals about how our government is run.
"It is the ultimate indictment of what Washington has become," Sen. Ron Wyden, co-sponsor of the eliminated provision, told me. "It's a place where, again and again, the public interest is deep-sixed behind closed doors and without any fingerprints."
For those of you who might have missed Sam Stein's original story, here it is in a nutshell:
Building on public outrage and presidential denunciations of executives at bailed out companies getting bonuses, Wyden and his Republican colleague, Sen. Olympia Snowe, crafted a provision in the stimulus bill that would have forced bailout recipients to cap their bonuses at $100,000 (any amount above that would be taxed at 35 percent).
According to Wyden, he "spent hours on the Senate floor," working to get the bipartisan amendment passed. He succeeded -- not a single Senator voted against the provision. "But," says Wyden, "it died in conference."
So who killed it? Wyden doesn't know.
Think about that for a second. We live in a country where one of the 100 most powerful people in government, the cosponsor of the amendment in question, has no clue how it got removed in the Senate-House conference committee -- or if it was taken out of the legislation even before it made it into conference.
And, so far, no one in the administration of a president who promised that transparency would be a "touchstone" of his presidency has demanded that whoever killed the provision step forward and own up to it.
It took Andrew Cuomo, using his authority as New York Attorney General, to get us at least some of the details about the AIG bonuses.
It's time for the White House to do the same, using its authority to uncover who removed the Wyden-Snowe provision from the stimulus bill.
"I pulled out all the stops," Wyden told me, "to convince the president's economic team that this amendment was vital to the White House for two reasons: 1) the president had spoken out against bonuses; 2) fury about bonuses would kneecap confidence in the president's entire economic policy."
But no one inside the president's economic team was in favor of it. As Wyden put it: "If the White House economic team had made it clear that this was important, this provision would never have been removed. I don't believe the president has been well-served on the bonus issue by his economic team."
So who asked for the amendment to be removed? Jason Furman? Peter Orszag? Tim Geithner? Larry Summers?
Such a move would certainly be consistent with the positions put forth by Summers who, as late as yesterday -- even contradicting the president -- continued to argue that attempting to stop the AIG bonuses would have "put the whole economy at risk."
Have you noticed how, whenever there is a serious effort to put an end to business-as-usual, we are warned by insiders like Paulson and Summers that the result will be the end of civilization?
"This lack of transparency -- and the lack of accountability that results -- is one of the most significant threats to our democracy," Wyden told me. "This is not at all how the civics books tell us the system is suppose to work. What we have here is a prime example of Washington deny, defer, delay."
He's right. We deserve better. Let's make this D.C. mystery the cause célèbre it deserves to be. Let's demand that the White House live up to its vows of transparency.
Special Comment from Olbermann:
Happy 6 Year Anniversary!
We've been in the Iraq war for 6 yrs now. I think a lot of people have forgotten that we are still at war in Iraq. The major news networks focus solely on scarring us all into believing we'll be standing in a bread line before the years end. That there's no jobs and the situation is getting more and more grim as the days go by. More outrage over AIG, and Citi group(and rightfully so) but people for some reason have forgotten about the quagmire that is Iraq. Here are the factual numbers about Iraq after the jump. Who if you recall was sold to us like this, on this very night, 6 years ago...
So 6 years later what has been accomplished? And how come nobody seems to care that thousands of people have died, billions of dollars wasted, lives DESTROYED over...
a lie. WHERE WERE THE WMDs?
To this day I still get emails to bring the people responsible for the Iraq war to justice. And I'll keep signing the petitions that send and passing them on to those who are like minded. Iraq is a crime against humanity. All I wanna know is was this war and all the pain and suffering it has caused, was it worth the dividends that are in pieces now in Wall-Street? Greedy white men will be the death of us all.
Here's the info from the AP:
MILITARY AND PRIVATE CONTRACTOR INVOLVEMENT
U.S. TROOP LEVELS IN IRAQ
_March 31, 2003: 90,000.
_Current troop level, on March 13, 2009: 138,000.
_Month with highest level of troops in Iraq: October 2007, at 166,000.
COALITION TROOP LEVELS
_Total number of countries who participated in "Coalition for the Immediate Disarmament of Iraq" at start of war: 31, including the United States.
_Current number in coalition: 4 — United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Romania.
PRIVATE CONTRACTORS
_Number of U.S. private contractors in Iraq : 190,000, August 2008.
_Number of deaths of U.S. private contractors in Iraq: 1,306, as of Dec. 31, 2008.
IRAQI SECURITY FORCES
_Total trained and equipped, July 2005: approximately 171,300.
_Total trained to date, regardless of active status, October 2008: 561,159.
U.S., COALITION AND IRAQI CASUALTIES
U.S. TROOPS
_Total number of U.S. troops who have died as of March 17, 2009: at least 4,259.
_States with the highest number of U.S. troop deaths as of March 17, 2009: California, 457; Texas, 402; Pennsylvania, 192; Florida, 188; New York, 182; Ohio, 174; Michigan, 156; Illinois, 151.
_Total number of U.S. troops wounded in action as of Feb. 28, 2009: at least 31,102.
_Total number of U.S. troops wounded, injured or sickened (non-hostile, using medical air transport) as of Feb. 28, 2009: at least 36,106.
COALITION TROOPS
_Total number of coalition troops (non-U.S.) who have died as of March 17, 2009: at least 307.
IRAQI CIVILIAN CASUALTIES:
_More than 91,121 killed since the 2003 invasion, according to the Iraq Body Count database.
COST OF THE WAR
OVERALL COST:
_Over $605 billion, according to the National Priorities Project. According to the Congressional Research Service, Congress has approved more than $657 billion so far for the Iraq war.
_In August 2008, the Congressional Budget Office projected that additional war costs for the next 10 years could range from $440 billion to $865 billion.
_Total tab for Iraq war, accounting for continued military operations, growing debt and interest payments and continuing health care and counseling costs for veterans: At least $3 trillion, according to economists Linda Bilmes and Joseph Stiglitz.
COST PER MONTH:
_In April 2003, Andrew Natsios of the U.S. Agency for International Development said the cost of rebuilding Iraq could be $1.7 billion.
_As of July 2008, the Department of Defense's monthly obligations for contracts and pay averaged about $9.9 billion for Iraq.
INDICTMENTS AND CONVICTIONS
_As of Jan. 30, 2009, the work of Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction investigators has resulted in 20 arrests, 19 indictments, 14 convictions, and more than $17 million in fines, forfeitures, recoveries and restitutions.
QUALITY OF LIFE
NATIONWIDE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
_January 2004: 30-45 percent
_January 2009: 23-38 percent
COST OF A BARREL OF OIL:
_March 28, 2003: $21.50
_March 6, 2009: $43.84
OIL PRODUCTION:
_Prewar: 2.58 million barrels per day.
_Feb. 28, 2009: 2.32 million barrels per day.
WATER:
_Prewar: 12.9 million people had potable water.
_Jan. 15, 2009: 21.2 million people have potable water.
SEWERAGE:
_Prewar: 6.2 million people served.
_Dec. 31, 2008: 11.3 million people served.
TELEPHONES:
_Prewar land lines: 833,000.
_Jan. 5, 2009: 1,300,000.
_Prewar cell phones: 80,000.
_Jan. 5, 2009: An estimated 14.7 million.
INTERNET SUBSCRIBERS:
_September 2003: 4,900.
_Jan. 5, 2009: 688,410.
ELECTRICITY:
_Prewar nationwide: 3,958 megawatts. Hours per day (estimated): 4-8.
_March 10, 2009 nationwide: 5,410 megawatts. Hours per day: 15.6.
_Prewar Baghdad: 2,500 megawatts. Hours per day (estimated): 16-24.
_March 10, 2009 Baghdad: Megawatts not available. Hours per day: 16.8.
Note: Current Baghdad megawatt figures are no longer reported by the U.S. State Department's Iraq Weekly Status Report.
REFUGEES AND EMIGRANTS
INTERNAL REFUGEES:
_2008: Some 195,000 internally displaced Iraqis were able to return home. However, as of November 2008, there were at least 2.8 million people still displaced inside Iraq.
EMIGRANTS:
_Prewar: 500,000 Iraqis living abroad.
_January 2009: Close to 2 million, mainly in Syria and Jordan.
_2008: Some 25,000 refugees were able to return home.
So 6 years later what has been accomplished? And how come nobody seems to care that thousands of people have died, billions of dollars wasted, lives DESTROYED over...
a lie. WHERE WERE THE WMDs?
To this day I still get emails to bring the people responsible for the Iraq war to justice. And I'll keep signing the petitions that send and passing them on to those who are like minded. Iraq is a crime against humanity. All I wanna know is was this war and all the pain and suffering it has caused, was it worth the dividends that are in pieces now in Wall-Street? Greedy white men will be the death of us all.
Here's the info from the AP:
MILITARY AND PRIVATE CONTRACTOR INVOLVEMENT
U.S. TROOP LEVELS IN IRAQ
_March 31, 2003: 90,000.
_Current troop level, on March 13, 2009: 138,000.
_Month with highest level of troops in Iraq: October 2007, at 166,000.
COALITION TROOP LEVELS
_Total number of countries who participated in "Coalition for the Immediate Disarmament of Iraq" at start of war: 31, including the United States.
_Current number in coalition: 4 — United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Romania.
PRIVATE CONTRACTORS
_Number of U.S. private contractors in Iraq : 190,000, August 2008.
_Number of deaths of U.S. private contractors in Iraq: 1,306, as of Dec. 31, 2008.
IRAQI SECURITY FORCES
_Total trained and equipped, July 2005: approximately 171,300.
_Total trained to date, regardless of active status, October 2008: 561,159.
U.S., COALITION AND IRAQI CASUALTIES
U.S. TROOPS
_Total number of U.S. troops who have died as of March 17, 2009: at least 4,259.
_States with the highest number of U.S. troop deaths as of March 17, 2009: California, 457; Texas, 402; Pennsylvania, 192; Florida, 188; New York, 182; Ohio, 174; Michigan, 156; Illinois, 151.
_Total number of U.S. troops wounded in action as of Feb. 28, 2009: at least 31,102.
_Total number of U.S. troops wounded, injured or sickened (non-hostile, using medical air transport) as of Feb. 28, 2009: at least 36,106.
COALITION TROOPS
_Total number of coalition troops (non-U.S.) who have died as of March 17, 2009: at least 307.
IRAQI CIVILIAN CASUALTIES:
_More than 91,121 killed since the 2003 invasion, according to the Iraq Body Count database.
COST OF THE WAR
OVERALL COST:
_Over $605 billion, according to the National Priorities Project. According to the Congressional Research Service, Congress has approved more than $657 billion so far for the Iraq war.
_In August 2008, the Congressional Budget Office projected that additional war costs for the next 10 years could range from $440 billion to $865 billion.
_Total tab for Iraq war, accounting for continued military operations, growing debt and interest payments and continuing health care and counseling costs for veterans: At least $3 trillion, according to economists Linda Bilmes and Joseph Stiglitz.
COST PER MONTH:
_In April 2003, Andrew Natsios of the U.S. Agency for International Development said the cost of rebuilding Iraq could be $1.7 billion.
_As of July 2008, the Department of Defense's monthly obligations for contracts and pay averaged about $9.9 billion for Iraq.
INDICTMENTS AND CONVICTIONS
_As of Jan. 30, 2009, the work of Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction investigators has resulted in 20 arrests, 19 indictments, 14 convictions, and more than $17 million in fines, forfeitures, recoveries and restitutions.
QUALITY OF LIFE
NATIONWIDE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:
_January 2004: 30-45 percent
_January 2009: 23-38 percent
COST OF A BARREL OF OIL:
_March 28, 2003: $21.50
_March 6, 2009: $43.84
OIL PRODUCTION:
_Prewar: 2.58 million barrels per day.
_Feb. 28, 2009: 2.32 million barrels per day.
WATER:
_Prewar: 12.9 million people had potable water.
_Jan. 15, 2009: 21.2 million people have potable water.
SEWERAGE:
_Prewar: 6.2 million people served.
_Dec. 31, 2008: 11.3 million people served.
TELEPHONES:
_Prewar land lines: 833,000.
_Jan. 5, 2009: 1,300,000.
_Prewar cell phones: 80,000.
_Jan. 5, 2009: An estimated 14.7 million.
INTERNET SUBSCRIBERS:
_September 2003: 4,900.
_Jan. 5, 2009: 688,410.
ELECTRICITY:
_Prewar nationwide: 3,958 megawatts. Hours per day (estimated): 4-8.
_March 10, 2009 nationwide: 5,410 megawatts. Hours per day: 15.6.
_Prewar Baghdad: 2,500 megawatts. Hours per day (estimated): 16-24.
_March 10, 2009 Baghdad: Megawatts not available. Hours per day: 16.8.
Note: Current Baghdad megawatt figures are no longer reported by the U.S. State Department's Iraq Weekly Status Report.
REFUGEES AND EMIGRANTS
INTERNAL REFUGEES:
_2008: Some 195,000 internally displaced Iraqis were able to return home. However, as of November 2008, there were at least 2.8 million people still displaced inside Iraq.
EMIGRANTS:
_Prewar: 500,000 Iraqis living abroad.
_January 2009: Close to 2 million, mainly in Syria and Jordan.
_2008: Some 25,000 refugees were able to return home.
Ron Paul for the Win.... again
SO I watch CSPAN from time to time. Why? Well why not? You can watch other news stations if you want, hell I do too. But if you really want to get an unfiltered look at what the government is doing you should watch CSPAN. It's quite entertaining. But anyway, while I was watching Barney Frank make the republicans look like idiots(I tried to find the video of him explaining the rules of the House to his constituents but failed... sorry. It was funny tho... trust me.) But amidst the buffoonery, or "debate" as they put it over the proposed bill(HR 1586 is proposing a 90 % tax on certain bonuses made by CEOs) there was one man who actually made a good point. Here it is in it's entirety:
And here's a link the bill.
http://www.businessinsider.com/full-text-of-the-90-bonus-tax-bill-2009-3
I haven't read it yet but trust me I will read it. You should too!
s
T
s
And here's a link the bill.
http://www.businessinsider.com/full-text-of-the-90-bonus-tax-bill-2009-3
I haven't read it yet but trust me I will read it. You should too!
s
T
s
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Arsenal Fans Attacked on way to Roma Game
http://www.goal.com/en/news/10/italy/2009/03/12/1151417/arsenal-fan-stabbed-after-roma-fans-ambush-bus-report
I like Roma.... well I like Totti so this is unfortunate for them. Just goes to show how serious futbol fans are around the world. When's the last time you read or heard a story of Boston fans attacking NY fans. I've never heard of such events. It seems people only riot when their team wins over here. Odd... don't ya think?
Here's the finish. Arsenal til I die!
I like Roma.... well I like Totti so this is unfortunate for them. Just goes to show how serious futbol fans are around the world. When's the last time you read or heard a story of Boston fans attacking NY fans. I've never heard of such events. It seems people only riot when their team wins over here. Odd... don't ya think?
Here's the finish. Arsenal til I die!
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Have a Buck? Buy a House!
Check out this story I just ran across....
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Housing/story?id=7034770&page=1
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Housing/story?id=7034770&page=1
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Bad Brains for those who missed it...
I saw this shit live but thought I'd share for those of you who were not in attendance. HR is quiet the eccentric character. He came out a handful of times before Brains even playd just for shits and giggles I guess. After the first band played he came out and handed a guy in the front row a case of water to pass out to all of us. I've NEVER seen a front man for a band hand out a case of water to the folks in the crowd. I've seen them spray us with water but never just hand it out like that.
It was easily one of the best shows I've EVER seen. The crowd was awesome. There's nothing better than a crowd of such diversity. I mean there were punk rockers, metal kids, hardcore goons, stoned rastas, and just regular dudes at this show of all colors and creeds. I go to a fair amount of shows and I gotta tell you it's rare(and i mean RARE) there's more than a handful of minorities there. Not that that's ever mattered to me, but it was a cool to be surrounded by asians, caucasians, blacks, latinos, etc all to see the same show. I had a great time and I think it's about time for me to pick up a bass or guiter soon and start writing. Somebody needs to pick up the Bad Brains torch and it might as well be me.
L8rs
s
T
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Lamb of God Track by Track
Here's a cool video of Randy and Mark going thru the new record, Wrath, track by track. If you haven't heard this record, and you like metal, what the ufck are you waiting for? You need to hear this disc.
Here's the spots LOG landed in their 1st week of release just for fun:
Canada: #1
USA: #2
Australia: #8
Japan: #14
Norway: #20
U.K.: #25
Netherlands: #52
Germany: #61
Not bad for METAL!!
Here's the spots LOG landed in their 1st week of release just for fun:
Canada: #1
USA: #2
Australia: #8
Japan: #14
Norway: #20
U.K.: #25
Netherlands: #52
Germany: #61
Not bad for METAL!!
365 Tao: Daily Meditations: Interpretation by Deng Ming-Dao
I've had this book for a few years ago. It was recommended by a good friend. It's just daily thoughts on a certain word or subject to keep mindful throughout the day. Here's for day 62:
Interpretation
"The world exists, but we cannot truly be one with it in our normal modes of consciousness. Our minds know the world by constructing conclusions from the data of our senses. All that we know is filtered and interpreted.
Therefore, there is no such thing as objectivity or direct knowledge of the world. Everything is relative because we are each condemned to our particular vantage points. As long as we all have different perspectives, as long as perception relies on our senses, then there cannot be an absolute truth. All knowledge from experience, valuable as it may be, is imperfect and merely provisional.
Inner truth is only glimpsed by disconnecting the mechanism of interpretation. If we can withdraw the activities of the senses and isolate the part of the mind responsible for filtering sensory input, then we can temporarily shut off the ongoing process of interaction with the outside world. We will then be in a neutral place that is wholly turned inward. We are left with an absolute state, entirely without distinction or relativity. This is called nothingness, and it is the truth underlying all things."
Interpretation
"The world exists, but we cannot truly be one with it in our normal modes of consciousness. Our minds know the world by constructing conclusions from the data of our senses. All that we know is filtered and interpreted.
Therefore, there is no such thing as objectivity or direct knowledge of the world. Everything is relative because we are each condemned to our particular vantage points. As long as we all have different perspectives, as long as perception relies on our senses, then there cannot be an absolute truth. All knowledge from experience, valuable as it may be, is imperfect and merely provisional.
Inner truth is only glimpsed by disconnecting the mechanism of interpretation. If we can withdraw the activities of the senses and isolate the part of the mind responsible for filtering sensory input, then we can temporarily shut off the ongoing process of interaction with the outside world. We will then be in a neutral place that is wholly turned inward. We are left with an absolute state, entirely without distinction or relativity. This is called nothingness, and it is the truth underlying all things."
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
911 Over McNuggets
So it's a slow news day and this story was funny to me... don't people know it's AGAINST THE LAW to call 911 for anything that is not AN EMERGENCY. Damn Latricia! Don't you know for every stupid thing ONE black person does it sets ALL of us back? Jesus titty-fucking Christ man...
http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=7000379
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0303091mcnugget1.html
http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=7000379
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0303091mcnugget1.html
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