Post by Michael James Stone on Aug 2, 2012 5:31:45 GMT -8
02 Aug 12
White House Differs with Romney on Jerusalem as Capital of Israel
In what marks a decisive difference in the presidential campaign, one day after Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney called Jerusalem the capital of Israel, the White House asserted that Romney’s position was different from that of the Obama administration.
Georgia lumberyard owner hammers Obama on 'You didn't build that'
"I built this business without gov't help. Obama can Kiss my ass," reads the sign outside Gaster Lumber & Hardware in Savannah, Ga. Owner Ray Gaster posted that and two similar ones at all three of his company's locations in response to Obama's comments during a speech to supporters in Virignia, which struck a nerve with small business owners around the nation.
'If I were Iranian, I'd be fearful of the next 12 weeks'
Former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy added to speculation of an impending Israeli military strike against Iran's nuclear program in a statement published by The New York Times Wednesday. "If I were an Iranian, I would be very fearful of the next 12 weeks," Halevy said.
China’s factories feeling the pain
While China’s official PMI reading came in weaker than last month – and only a whisker above the key 50 level – the alternative manufacturing gauge, put together by Markit and HSBC, showed continued contraction.
Chinese Communist Party 'Members' Increasingly Attend Church
“Although CCP members are required to be atheists and generally are discouraged from participating in religious activities, their attendance at official church services in Guangdong Province was reportedly growing, as authorities increasingly chose to turn a blind eye to their attendance,” the report stated. Representative Frank Wolf (R-Va.), who authored the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, backed up claims that more Chinese Communists as well as members of the media are becoming Christians, despite continuing religious repression in China.
Drought decimates Arkansas' famed cattle industry
One by one, long cattle trailers in bright green and barnyard red slowly pull up to the Arkansas Cattle Auction. Folks with mud on their boots and cowboy hats on their heads unload their life's work. The cows trundle out into the waiting pens. A few hours later, they will be sold at a third their usual value -- if their owners are lucky. The crippling, record U.S. drought has forced ranchers all over America to unload their stock sooner and at lower prices than they would probably like, a problem that seems likely to get worse before it gets better.
Stunning Crimes of the Big Banks: Worse than Your Wildest Imagination
Here are just some of the improprieties by big banks: •Funding the Nazis •Laundering money for terrorists •Financing illegal arms deals, and funding the manufacture of cluster bombs (and see this and this) and other arms which are banned in most of the world •Launching a coup against the President of the United States •Handling money for rogue military operations •Laundering money for drug cartels. See this, this, this and this (indeed, drug dealers kept the banking system afloat during the depths of the 2008 financial crisis)
Was India's Worst Black Out in Human History Triggered by a Solar Flare?
Is a "Solar Flare" partially responsible for India and Pakistan's massive power outage? Could it have been a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) since most of Pakistan, along with northern India, also suffered long blackouts?
The pro-Islamist West versus anti-Islamist Russia, China?
“Whereas the European Union and the US government are increasingly sympathetic to Islamism, in part as a way to tame their own Muslim populations, Moscow and Beijing have a history of open conflict with their Muslim populations and therefore adopt policies more hostile to Islamism in the Middle East.”
A Russian-Saudi-Turkish-Chinese alliance to contain the Muslim Brotherhood and Obama?
I suggested during our conference call yesterday that the only friend the Muslim Brotherhood has in high places is Barack Obama. I didn't mean that facetiously. Turkey's application to join the SIno-Russian Shanghai Cooperation Organization following Prime Minister Erdogan's July 19 pilgrimage to Russia is a diplomatic humiliation for the United States, and of the first order.
Turkish military stages tank exercises near Syrian border
The Turkish military began tank exercises in Mardin province, near the Syrian border, amid heightened concerns in Ankara over the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) gaining control over Kurdish cities in northern Syria.
NATO should finish job in Afghanistan, Putin says
NATO forces should stay in Afghanistan until they have finished their job to ensure stability, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday, criticizing the planned withdrawal of most combat troops by 2014.
Obama authorizes secret U.S. support for Syrian rebels
Obama has signed a secret order authorizing U.S. support for rebels seeking to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government, U.S. sources familiar with the matter said. Obama's order, approved earlier this year and known as an intelligence "finding," broadly permits the CIA and other U.S. agencies to provide support that could help the rebels oust Assad.
Fed says economy may need help, keeps policy on hold
The Federal Reserve stopped short of offering new monetary stimulus on Wednesday even as it signaled more strongly that further bond buying could be in store to help a economic recovery that it said had lost momentum this year.
Pepper-spray cop no longer employed by UC Davis
Lt. John Pike, the University of California Davis police officer who pepper-sprayed student protesters last November, is no longer employed by the university.
Time short to stop Iran nuclear plan: Netanyahu
Time is running out for the international community to halt Iran’s nuclear programme by peaceful means, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, told U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
Bashar Assad tells Syrian forces to step up attacks against rebels
Syrian President Bashar Assad urged his armed forces Wednesday to step up the fight against rebels as the United Nations reported a significant escalation in the civil war with the military using warplanes to fire on opposition fighters in the battle for Aleppo.
San Bernardino, California, files for bankruptcy with over $1 billion in debts
San Bernardino filed for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday citing more than $1 billion of debts and making it the third California city to seek protection from creditors. The city of about 210,000 residents 65 miles east of Los Angeles declared a fiscal crisis last month after a report said local government had tapped out its reserves and projected spending would top revenue by $45 million in the fiscal year that began on July 1.
Syria's Assad praises troops, keeps out of public eye
President Bashar al-Assad told his troops on Wednesday that their battle against rebels would decide Syria's fate, but his written message gave no clues to his whereabouts two weeks after a bomb attack on his inner circle.