tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34470354458600879402024-02-08T06:09:06.956-08:00NewsWhackerwhere the skewed news gets unscrewed
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A Dana Ross ProjectBehind the sceneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11903973362448877431noreply@blogger.comBlogger310125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447035445860087940.post-34095069495136421022010-06-14T08:42:00.000-07:002010-06-14T08:55:56.722-07:00Lithium in Afghanistan - How will that change the world?<table>
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Is Lithium the Answer to Afghanistan’s Problems?
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<b>
Time
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</b>
Remote (and volatile) regions of the war-torn country may hold as much as $1 trillion in lithium and other minerals, according to a report in today’s New York Times.
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The the deposits are so vast that a Pentagon memo says Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” the Times reports. Lithium is used frequently in battery production and in some medical applications.
Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/06/14/is-lithium-the-answer-to-afghanistans-problems/#ixzz0qqJDAPZC
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<a href="
http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/06/14/is-lithium-the-answer-to-afghanistans-problems/
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
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Why Afghanistan's Lithium Discovery Excites Silicon Valley
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CBS News
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After all that it's suffered through since the late 1970s, Afghanistan could use a break. That's why this surprisingly hopeful discovery of vast mineral deposits could be one of the most important events in that country's history. Among the potential riches - and the one likely to excite the technology industry's interest - lithium.
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The New York Times quotes a Pentagon memo suggesting Afghanistan could one day become "the Saudi Arabia of lithium."
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<a href="
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-20007592-501465.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
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Afghanistan to become “Saudi Arabia of Lithium”
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<b>
PC Advisor UK
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</b>
A massive $1 trillion deposit of untapped minerals discovered in Afghanistan includes huge amounts of lithium, which is used in batteries for laptops and mobile phones such as the iPhone and BlackBerry.
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A report in the New York Times states that American geologists working with the Pentagon have conducted ground surveys on dry salt lakes, looking for large deposits of lithium.
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<a href="
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=3226793
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
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</table>Behind the sceneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11903973362448877431noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447035445860087940.post-32135757109679507832010-06-13T09:53:00.000-07:002010-06-13T10:05:38.248-07:00Is Saudi Arabia working with Israel to attack Iran?<table>
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Ahmadinejad: Israel, U.S. trying to sabotage Iran's relations with Saudi Arabia
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Haaretz
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday charged Israel and the United States of trying to sabotage relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, a day after Riyadh denied a report in the Times claiming it had agreed to allow Israel to use its airspace to attack Iran.
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"Undoubtedly, the U.S. and the Zionist regime are the enemies of Iran and Saudi Arabia, so they are trying to create a gap between Tehran and Riyadh," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said during a meeting with Saudi Arabia's new ambassador to Tehran.
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<a href="
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/ahmadinejad-israel-u-s-trying-to-sabotage-iran-s-relations-with-saudi-arabia-1.295932
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
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Saudis test clearing skies for Israel to bomb Iran: report
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Agence France Presse
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Saudi Arabia has conducted tests to stand down its air defences to allow Israeli warplanes to use its airspace in any bombing raid on Iran's nuclear facilities, The Times newspaper reported Saturday.
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"The Saudis have given their permission for the Israelis to pass over and they will look the other way," a US defence source in the region told the paper.
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<a href="
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ghcaShXxW6fWSSaI2Mrgup0JCh6Q
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
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Saudis Upgrading Fighter Jets to Face Iranian Threat
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Mid East Media Line
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As it denies cooperating with preparations for a potential Israeli attack on Iran, Saudi Arabia prepares for strike of its own.
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Saudi Arabia’s air force has signed a deal to upgrade its fleet of 150 strike aircraft and procure advanced weaponry to respond to an Iranian military threat while simultaneously denying reports that the country is coordinating with Israel over a possible strike against Iran’s nuclear sites.
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<a href="
http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=29106
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
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</table>Behind the sceneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11903973362448877431noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447035445860087940.post-24541260098403045562010-05-29T13:24:00.000-07:002010-05-29T13:34:44.217-07:00Toxic Oil Spill. Mysteries of the Deep. Corruption. Why is the Church getting invovled?<table>
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Parish official to Obama: Stop moratorium on drilling
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<b>
CNN
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</b>
A Gulf Coast official is pleading with President Barack Obama to scrap the moratorium on new oil drilling and exploration as the investigation of the massive oil spill continues, saying the economic impact to her Louisiana parish would be too much to bear.
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Charlotte Randolph, president of LaFourche Parish, said she spoke to Obama in person during his visit to the oil-stricken region Friday.
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<a href="
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/29/oil.spill.drilling/
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
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Slimy doings weren't all at the oil well
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<b>
Washington Post
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</b>
Sounds as if it may be time for a top kill at the Interior Department.
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A mile below sea level in the Gulf of Mexico, BP was trying on Wednesday to jam mud and concrete into its leaking oil well -- the so-called "top kill" -- to choke off the flow. At the same time, lawmakers on Capitol Hill were puzzling over how to contain the flow of corruption that has been oozing in recent years from the Interior Department -- specifically its Minerals Management Service, which is supposed to regulate oil drilling but instead seems to be a wholly owned subsidiary of the oil industry.
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<a href="
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/26/AR2010052605925.html?hpid=topnews
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
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In oil spill saga, mysteries of the deep persist
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<b>
Associated Press
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</b>
The impatient nation isn't getting answers fast enough in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster.
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What exactly went wrong? Who messed up? How much oil is pouring into the Gulf? Can the oil get to Florida and even up the Atlantic coast? What will the environmental and economic consequences be? Will the chemicals used to disperse the oil leave their own destructive legacy?
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<a href="
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ioCuMbUP4TRPm7YDsLwPEncJ1hvAD9G0GHO00
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
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</table>Behind the sceneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11903973362448877431noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447035445860087940.post-28797946500935454942010-05-21T22:47:00.000-07:002010-05-21T22:54:17.820-07:00Does Britain Want The Euro To Fail?<table>
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The death of the euro? Britain's hubristic leaders have only themselves to blame, argues Britain's former ambassador in Bonn
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Daily Mail
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</b>
The European Union is enduring its worst crisis since its inception almost 60 years ago. The problem is the eurozone and whether it can continue in its present form - or at all.
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Although only 16 out of 27 member-states of the EU have replaced their old currencies with the euro, monetary union lies at the heart of the European project. Only yesterday, Germany's Chancellor, Angela Merkel, told her parliament that 'if the euro fails, then Europe too will fail'.
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<a href="
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1280374/The-death-euro-Britains-hubristic-leaders-blame-argues-Britains-ambassador-Bonn.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
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Don't expect Britain to back a new EU treaty, Cameron tells Merkel
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The Independent
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David Cameron flatly ruled out the idea of Britain agreeing to any changes to the European Union's Lisbon Treaty that might involve ceding powers from Westminster to Brussels yesterday, during his first visit to Germany as Prime Minister.
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His two hours of talks in Berlin with Chancellor Angela Merkel followed a meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday, and Mr Cameron was able afterwards to live up to his reputation in Germany as a staunch Eurosceptic by delivering a robust defence of Conservative Party policy on Europe.
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<a href="
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/dont-expect-britain-to-back-a-new-eu-treaty-cameron-tells-merkel-1979950.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
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Britain Won't hand any more powers to Europe.
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<b>
The Sun
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DAVID Cameron yesterday insisted Britain will NOT hand any more powers to Brussels.
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In a visit to Berlin, the PM said any transfer of sovereignty was "not likely to happen" in the foreseeable future.
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He assured German Chancellor Angela Merkel the UK would play a constructive role in Europe. But he also threatened to use Britain's veto to block EU plans in the future.
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<a href="
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2982921/Britain-wont-hand-any-more-powers-to-Europe.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
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</table>Behind the sceneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11903973362448877431noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447035445860087940.post-58981016685161922632010-05-11T08:34:00.000-07:002010-05-11T08:40:07.981-07:00Kagan' views<table>
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How Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court could affect baseball
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</div><br />
<b>
USA Today
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</b>
Baseball's 2003 drug-testing program was meant to be an anonymous survey to determine the prevalence of performance-enhancing drug use in the game. But we now know the results were far from anonymous -- federal agents seized the samples before the union destroyed them and in the past 15 months, superstars Alex Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez were outed as testing positive in the survey.
<br /><br />
Now, the nomination of Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court may impact the fate of those samples.
<br />
<a href="
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/dailypitch/post/2010/05/how-elena-kagans-nomination-to-the-supreme-court-could-affect-baseball/1
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
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Sessions: Kagan Won't Shift Court on Abortion
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<b>
CBS News
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The leading Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee said this morning that it was important to examine whether, if confirmed, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan would say no to the Obama administration.
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"I think the Congress and the Senate needs to examine her record carefully," Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said on CBS' "The Early Show." "This is not a coronation. She'll be subjected to scrutiny. We need to know whether or not [if] she obtains that robe and sits on that bench, will she be an objective person? Will she say 'no' even to the Obama administration and some of their agenda items if they're unconstitutional? She's got to demonstrate that or she shouldn't be given a lifetime appointment."
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<a href="
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20004644-503544.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
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Kagan's Legal Record Portrays a Cautious Liberal
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<b>
FOX News
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</b>
Elena Kagan's legal record is thinner than most other U.S. Supreme Court nominees. She hasn't served as a judge or taken sharp positions on many constitutional and other legal issues that often trip up potential justices.
<br /><br />
As senators pick through her scholarly writings, speeches and decisions as dean of Harvard Law School, some themes are likely to emerge. Ms. Kagan generally takes liberal stands when she delves into social issues, but does so cautiously and with nuances that leave some liberals less than thrilled with her nomination.
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<a href="
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/05/11/kagans-legal-record-portrays-cautious-liberal/
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
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</table>Behind the sceneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11903973362448877431noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447035445860087940.post-53717630181261753452010-05-05T21:50:00.000-07:002010-05-05T21:56:10.894-07:00Apple; Antitrust, 1984, Flash?<table>
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Apple Facing Possible Antitrust Inquiry
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</div><br />
<b>
Information Week
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</b>
Last week, Apple CEO Steve Jobs explained why his company does not allow applications created with Adobe's Flash technology on its iPhone, iPod and iPad devices. Flash, he said, is proprietary, insecure, energy inefficient, and ill-suited for touch devices.
<br /><br />
Most significantly, he argued that third-party tools such as Flash lead to sub-standard applications and prevent developers from implementing new iPhone OS SDK technologies until tool makers support those features.
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<a href="
http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/mac/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224700484
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
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Apple's Behavior a Throwback to 1984, Adobe CTO Says
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<b>
PC World - BusinessCenter
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</b>
Apple's refusal to allow Flash on the iPhone hurts innovation and is "like 1984 in a lot of ways," Adobe Systems' CTO said on Wednesday, implying that Apple has become the "Big Brother" it rebelled against in its iconic TV ad from that year.
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"The story is bigger than HTML versus Flash. It's about freedom of choice on the Web," CTO Kevin Lynch said at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco Wednesday, when he was asked to comment on "the elephant in the room" during an on-stage interview
<br />
<a href="
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/195683/apples_behavior_a_throwback_to_1984_adobe_cto_says.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
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Microsoft agrees with Apple on Adobe Flash
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<b>
KNDO/KNDU
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</b>
In what may either be a hint that Adobe's Flash is in real trouble, or sign that the apocalypse is indeed coming, Apple and Microsoft actually agree on something.
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On April 29th, Steve Jobs posted an open letter outlining in no uncertain terms why he thinks Adobe's Flash sucks. Jobs listed several reasons why the technology is not going to be included as part of Apple's mobile OSs, and he went on to sing the virtues of HTML5 as the future.
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<a href="
http://www.kndo.com/Global/story.asp?S=12391866
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
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</table>Behind the sceneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11903973362448877431noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447035445860087940.post-76807168432981699112010-04-13T07:58:00.000-07:002010-04-13T08:04:06.832-07:00Will China Strengthen The Yuan? How will that change the world?<table>
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Goldman Says China Trade Deficit Won’t Last, Yuan Gain Likely
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</div><br />
<b>
Business Week
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</b>
China’s March trade deficit is temporary and the pressure for the yuan to gain remains intact, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
<br /><br />
“The weak exports in March were likely due to the Lunar New Year effects as exporters suspend production for an extended period after the holiday,” wrote Hong Kong-based analysts Song Yu and Helen Qiao in a report on April 10. “Given the strong underlying exports growth and rising overheating pressures, we believe a modest yuan revaluation is still on the agenda.”
<br />
<a href="
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-11/goldman-says-china-trade-deficit-won-t-last-yuan-gain-likely.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
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Yuan Rise Would Boost Asian, Commodity-Backed Currencies
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<b>
Wall Street Journal
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</b>
Any appreciation of the Chinese yuan should lift other Asian currencies along with it, while helping to diffuse the recently stressed tenor of Sino-U.S. relations.
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Speculation is increasing that China will allow the yuan to strengthen, but the country's leaders aren't likely to make a huge adjustment for fear of shocking markets and derailing a nascent economic recovery. Assuming the government releases the yuan from its current tight range versus the dollar, analysts expect the Chinese currency to appreciate 1% to 3% against the dollar over the following 12 months.
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<a href="
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304198004575172183820771498.html?mod=WSJ_Markets_LEFTSecondNews
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
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Stronger yuan may deal another blow to euro
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<b>
Reuters
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</b>
A loosening in China's yuan policy that lets the currency rise while keeping it pegged to the dollar may deal another blow to the battered euro as such a move is seen slowing China's accumulation of foreign reserves.
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The euro has weakened about 7 percent versus the dollar and the yen this year on concerns Greece may face problems servicing its debts, and demand for euro assets will shrink further if a possible yuan move results in less euro buying by China.
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<a href="
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63719W20100408
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
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</table>Behind the sceneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11903973362448877431noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447035445860087940.post-50883322042874435942010-04-10T18:14:00.000-07:002010-04-10T18:17:03.462-07:00Poland's Top Government Officials Wiped Out In Russian Plane Crash<table>
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For Poland, plane crash in Russia rips open old wounds
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</div><br />
<b>
Los Angeles Times
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</b>
The plane crash that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski on Saturday gutted a nation's leadership and silenced some of the most potent human symbols of its tragic and tumultuous history.
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It was, literally, a nation colliding with its past: The aircraft ran aground on a patch of earth that has symbolized the Soviet-era repressions that shaped much of the 20th century, near the remote Russian forest glade called Katyn where thousands of Polish prisoners of war were killed and dumped in unmarked graves by Soviet secret police in 1940.
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<a href="
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/asia/la-fg-polish-president-crash11-2010apr11,0,4409138.story?track=rss
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
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Plane Crash ‘A Second Katyn’ Massacre, Says Priest
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<b>
The Epoch Times
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</b>
Among the victims of Saturday’s plane crash that killed the Polish president, were many prominent members of the Polish clergy. The entire entourage was on its way to the Katyn forest in Western Russia to observe the 70-year anniversary of the mass execution of 20,000 elite Polish officers during World War II.
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Father Jan Kaczmarczyk, a retired deacon and parson of parish in Sochaczew, about 30 miles outside of Warsaw, shares his reaction to the death of his close friends and colleagues.
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<a href="
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/33127/
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
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Air traffic control told Polish president's plane not to land - paper
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<b>
RIA Novosti
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</b>
Russian air traffic controllers advised the pilot of a plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski not to attempt to land, the Polish Gazeta Wyborcza said on Saturday.
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All 96 people on board a Soviet-made Tu-154 were killed earlier on Saturday when the plane hit trees as it approached Smolensk airport in thick fog.
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The paper said the pilot and Kaczynski were advised to turn around and head for Minsk, the capital of neighboring Belarus, as the Smolensk military aerodrome lacks the necessary navigational equipment to receive planes in heavy fog.
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<a href="
http://en.rian.ru/world/20100410/158510160.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
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</table>Behind the sceneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11903973362448877431noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447035445860087940.post-40816258097458834982010-04-07T11:19:00.000-07:002010-04-07T11:26:03.721-07:00Nuclear Treaty<table>
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Rudy Giuliani Calls Obama Nuclear Policy "Left-Wing Dream"
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</div><br />
<b>
CBS News
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</b>
Conservatives are lashing out against President Obama's new nuclear policy, claiming the revised strategy is, at best, an empty gesture, and at worst a threat to U.S. safety.
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The new strategy eliminates some of the ambiguity in the nation's previous nuclear policy by asserting -- with large caveats -- that the United States will not use nuclear weapons to respond to a chemical, biological or cyber attack. The White House's nuclear initiatives are intended to encourage other nations to reduce and stop development of their nuclear stockpiles.
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<a href="
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20001858-503544.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
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In Eastern Europe, Pact With Russians Raises Old Specters
</div><br />
<b>
New York Times
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</b>
As President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia and President Barack Obama prepare to arrive in Prague on Thursday to sign a landmark arms control treaty, Marcela Balounova, like many Czechs, remains haunted by her memories of 1968, when nearly one million Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia, ushering in a period of political repression.
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“The Russians invaded us before and they are invading us again,” Ms. Balounova, 50, said from her art gallery in this picturesque spa town, where Peter the Great first came for a treatment in 1711 and which has since become so popular with Russians that most signs offering luxury products and services — from million-euro villas to colonic irrigation — are in Russian. “I still remember crying when the Russians came here. And now here we are more than 40 years later and this place has become a Little Moscow.”
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<a href="
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/world/europe/07iht-czech.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
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New US Nuclear Policy Focuses on Terrorists, Rogue States
</div><br />
<b>
Voice of America News
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</b>
The United States on Tuesday announced a new nuclear weapons policy that gives top priority to fighting terrorism and proliferation, rather than deterring or responding to a nuclear attack by a foreign country. The policy promises not to use atomic weapons against non-nuclear states, but issues a stern warning for countries that ignore global non-proliferation rules. Initial reaction among experts and members of Congress has been mixed.
<br /><br />
The policy document called the Nuclear Posture Review specifically says the United States will reduce the role of nuclear weapons in the nation's security strategy. It lays out a plan to expand conventional capabilities, to rely on existing stockpiles of nuclear weapons for deterrence against nuclear powers like Russia and China, and to focus on preventing terrorists and rogue states from acquiring such weapons.
<br />
<a href="
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/usa/New-US-Nuclear-Policy-Focuses-Terrorists-89972357.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
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</table>Behind the sceneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11903973362448877431noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447035445860087940.post-28355576969700534012010-03-30T10:09:00.000-07:002010-03-30T10:18:20.381-07:00Pressure is Building Against Iran<table>
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Israel to focus on key Iran nuclear targets in any strike
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</div><br />
<b>
Reuters
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</b>
Should Israel attack Iranian nuclear facilities, it would probably carry out precision strikes while making every effort not to hit the oil sector or other civilian sites.
<br /><br />
Past Israeli operations, such as the 1981 bombing of Iraq's Osirak atomic reactor and a similar sortie against Syria in 2007, suggest a strategy of one-off pinpoint raids, due both to military limitations and a desire to avoid wider war.
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<a href="
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62S1DP20100329
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
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<div class="block">
Clinton: China to be 'involved' in Iran sanctions push
</div><br />
<b>
Agence France Presse
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</b>
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said China will play a role in international efforts to pen sanctions against Iran at the United Nations, and that Beijing recognizes the threat of Iran's nuclear program.
<br /><br />
"I think as the weeks go forward and we begin the hard work of trying to come up with a Security Council resolution, China will be involved," Clinton said Monday in an interview with Canadian television.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jX44QOYfga26b6cfI66mVgkvJtAQ
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
Russia still support diplomatic means to resolve Iran's issue
</div><br />
<b>
UNN India
—
</b>
President Dmitry Medvedev said on Russia still supported diplomacy to resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear program but sanctions should not be ruled .
We are convinced that the path of sanctions is not optimal,Medvedev said in a message to the Arab League conference in Sirte Libya.
<br /><br />
At the same time, such a scenario cannot be excluded," he added, Russia which, together with China, had been reluctant to endorse broader sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program, has softened its stance on punitive measures against the Islamic Republic in recent months.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.unnindia.com/english/story.php?Id=6261
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Behind the sceneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11903973362448877431noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447035445860087940.post-37844785633999936092010-03-25T11:03:00.000-07:002010-03-25T11:13:13.416-07:00U.S. and Russia agree on Nuclear Arms Treaty<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<div class="block">
Russia claims breakthrough in historic nuclear reduction agreement with US
<br />
</div><br />
<b>
Guardian UK
—
</b>
Barack Obama's ambitious goal of freeing the world of nuclear weapons won a significant boost tonight when Russia indicated that it had reached agreement with the United States on a historic nuclear arms reduction treaty.
<br /><br />
Kremlin officials said that a document to replace the 1991 Start treaty had been agreed with Washington. A signing ceremony between Obama and Russia's president, Dmitry Medvedev, is likely to take place early next month in the Czech capital Prague, they said.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/24/barack-obama-nuclear-disarmament-russia
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
U.S. Senate to discuss arms treaty with Russia in April-May
</div><br />
<b>
RIA Novosti
—
</b>
The U.S. Senate plans to hold hearings on ratifying a new signed arms reduction deal with Russia in April-May, a leading U.S. senator has said.
<br /><br />
A signed Russian-U.S. treaty has to be ratified by the two states' parliaments to go into effect.
<br /><br />
"We intend to begin hearings between Easter [April 4] and Memorial Day [May 31] on the historical record of strategic arms control," Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry said in a statement.
<br />
<a href="
http://en.rian.ru/world/20100325/158303699.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
A START towards Undermining Our Nuclear Security
</div><br />
<b>
The Heritage Foundry
—
</b>
Yesterday the Kremlin announced that the Obama administration and Russia had reached agreement on a new nuclear arms agreement intended to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). The declaration appeared to surprise the White House, as Press Secretary Robert Gibbs could only confirm that the two sides were “close” to a treaty. But U.S. officials confirm that “all major obstacles” in negotiations with Moscow have been cleared.
<br /><br />
Russian approval of a new START agreement has been the cornerstone of President Barack Obama’s “long road toward eliminating nuclear weapons” policy. President Obama’s desire to appease Russia is why he began negotiations by unilaterally surrendering to Kremlin demands that the United States betray our Czech Republic and Polish allies by going back on our promise to build ballistic missile defense facilities in Eastern Europe. Russians took President Obama’s easy and early capitulation on missile defense as a sign of naivete and weakness and concluded that the Obama administration was far more desperate for a new nuclear treaty than they were and, as The Los Angeles Times reports, “used that fact in negotiations.”
<br />
<a href="
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/03/25/morning-bell-a-start-towards-undermining-our-nuclear-security/
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Behind the sceneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11903973362448877431noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447035445860087940.post-89649734798422336902010-03-23T12:43:00.000-07:002010-03-23T12:56:51.803-07:00People with Healthcare account for 45% of personal bankruptcies<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<div class="block">
New Study: Bankruptcy Tied To Medical Bills
<br />
</div><br />
<b>
Washington Post
—
</b>
Sixty-two percent of all bankruptcies filed in 2007 were linked to medical expenses, according to a nationwide study released today by the American Journal of Medicine. That's nearly 20 percentage points higher than that pool of respondents reported were connected to medical costs in 2001.
<br /><br />
Of those who filed for bankruptcy in 2007, nearly 80 percent had health insurance. Respondents who reported having insurance indicated average expenses of just under $18,000. Respondents who filed and lacked insurance had average medical bills of nearly $27,000.
<br />
<a href="
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/health-care-reform/2009/06/new_study_shows_medical_bills.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
Health Care Without Bankruptcy, Please
</div><br />
<b>
Huffington Post
—
</b>
What kind of an America would we suddenly create if the President were to sign into law a health care bill with a mandate to buy private insurance? An America where millions would be covered, but bankrupt, broke, financially kaput. And unhealthy, too.
<br /><br />
Wait--what?
<br /><br />
You guessed it. All the fever-pitched, media-amplified ranting about "death" that has dominated the health care debate has likely done little more than obscure the ultimate sticking point for many Americans: a bill that would mandate--require by law--all Americans to buy private health insurance.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-feldman/health-care-without-bankr_b_395502.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
Health care related bankruptcy is on the rise, study says
</div><br />
<b>
Consumer Reports
—
</b>
Americans are increasingly at risk of financial ruin due to illness and medical expenses, according to a new study released yesterday by the American Journal of Medicine. The researchers found that illness or medical bills contributed to nearly two thirds, or 62 percent, of all bankruptcies in 2007—before the major impact of the housing collapse and current economic downturn. That’s a 50 percent increase over a similar survey in 2001 by the same researchers.
<br /><br />
Most of the debtors are middle aged, middle class and have a college level education, and each of them has their own story. Take Donna, from Chicago (right) who told us her bankruptcy story during our Cover America Tour. Donna’s husband had already been diagnosed with a heart condition, and when she found out she had uterine cancer, their out-of-pocket costs shot up to $9,000 a year. When they fell behind on their bills, one of her doctors sued to garnish her wages, which forced her and her husband into bankruptcy. They ended up losing their house, she gave up her job at a newspaper, and they moved into their daughter’s basement until they could afford a small apartment.
<br />
<a href="
http://blogs.consumerreports.org/health/2009/06/health-care-bankruptcy-on-rise-medical-debt-medical-bills-how-to-avoid-bankruptcy.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Behind the sceneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11903973362448877431noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447035445860087940.post-75225726410493167042010-03-19T08:51:00.000-07:002010-03-19T09:02:13.596-07:00Retired U.S. General links Gays in Military to Massacre in Bosnia.<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<div class="block">
Retired general links gays in Dutch military to massacre
<br />
</div><br />
<b>
CNN
—
</b>
A retired U.S. general said Thursday that the Dutch policy of allowing openly gay soldiers to serve in its military led, in part, to its failure to halt the massacre of Muslims in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica in 1995.
<br /><br />
Immediately afterward, the Dutch ambassador to the United States issued a sharp denial.
<br />
<a href="
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/03/18/retired-general-links-gays-in-dutch-military-to-massacre/
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
Dutch fuming at retired US general's gay comment
</div><br />
<b>
The Washington Post
—
</b>
The Dutch prime minister Friday denounced as "irresponsible" a claim by a retired U.S. general that gay Dutch soldiers were partly to blame for allowing Europe's worst massacre since World War II.
<br /><br />
Dutch officials, from the Cabinet to the military, were outraged by retired Gen. John Sheehan's remarks at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/19/AR2010031901101.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
Netherlands to Gen. John Sheehan: You're Stupid, Stop Talking
</div><br />
<b>
Queerty
—
</b>
It's not like U.S. military forces are necessarily "scared" of the Dutch military, but former NATO Commander Gen. John Sheehan's comments at yesterday's Don't Ask Don't Tell hearings, where he blamed the Netherlands' military's supposed failure in Bosnia in 1995 on their allowance of openly gay soldiers, is a thing of ridiculousness so grand, even the Pentagon should be furious over Sheehan's remarks.
<br /><br />
For now, though, it's the Dutch administration responding: Stop talking, you fool.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.queerty.com/netherlands-to-gen-john-sheehan-youre-stupid-stop-talking-20100319/
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Behind the sceneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11903973362448877431noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447035445860087940.post-73491096933994114582010-03-17T09:26:00.000-07:002010-03-17T09:31:16.178-07:00Health Insurance - Losing Coverage<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<div class="block">
Utahns paying a lot more for much less health insurance
<br />
</div><br />
<b>
Deseret News
—
</b>
Utahns are losing their workplace-based insurance at a faster rate than most Americans, and those who manage to keep it are paying a lot more and getting markedly less, a new state-by-state report released Wednesday shows.
<br /><br />
Looking at data between 2000 and 2008 and slicing it 10 different ways, the nonpartisan Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's "Barely Hanging On: Middle-Class and Uninsured" statistically verifies what most working Americans already know: Health care insurance premiums are eating away household and employer incomes, and it's only going to get worse.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700017261/Report-Utahns-paying-a-lot-more-for-much-less-health-insurance.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
Middle-class Texans slammed by loss of health insurance
</div><br />
<b>
Texas Star-Telegram
—
</b>
The number of middle-class Texans without health insurance increased 41 percent between 2000 and 2008, with nearly 500,000 middle-class workers no longer covered through their job or private insurance, according to a study released today by the nonpartisan Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
<br /><br />
Texans made up about 1 in 5 middle-class Americans who lost health insurance during that period, according to the study.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/03/16/2045462/middle-class-texans-slammed-by.html#ixzz0iS5MsC2U
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
About 1 in 4 in California lack health insurance, a UCLA study finds
</div><br />
<b>
Los Angeles Times
—
</b>
Nearly 1 in 4 Californians under age 65 had no health insurance last year, according to a new report, as soaring unemployment propelled vast numbers of once-covered workers into the ranks of the uninsured.
<br /><br />
The state's uninsured population jumped to 8.2 million in 2009, up from 6.4 million in 2007, marking the highest number over the last decade, investigators from UCLA's Center for Health Policy Research said.
<br />
<a href="
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/16/business/la-fi-uninsured16-2010mar16
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Behind the sceneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11903973362448877431noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447035445860087940.post-1138333785531322872010-03-16T09:17:00.000-07:002010-03-16T09:36:43.485-07:00Child Sex Scandals - Is Celibacy Over?<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<div class="block">
German Catholics fume at pope's 'silence'
<br />
</div><br />
<b>
Sydney Morning Herald
—
</b>
German Catholic groups have hit out at the pope's silence over a snowballing paedophilia priest scandal rocking his native country's Church.
<br /><br />
The scandal "affects people, whether they are religious or not," said Dirk Taenzler, head of the Federation of German Catholic Youth (BDKJ), in the Berliner Zeitung daily.
<br /><br />
"The Holy Father should make a statement about this."
<br />
<a href="
http://www.smh.com.au/world/german-catholics-fume-at-popes-silence-20100316-qa58.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
Churches acted 'decisively' in child sex scandals: Vatican
</div><br />
<b>
Taiwan News
—
</b>
Vatican officials moved to stem the rising tide of anger as details emerged of separate paedophilia scandals involving Catholic priests in several European countries.
<br /><br />
Spokesman Federico Lombardi defended the response of churches to paedophile priest scandals emerging in Austria, Germany, The Netherlands and elsewhere, saying Roman Catholic leaders had reacted swiftly and decisively.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1203831&lang=eng_news&cate_img=317.jpg&cate_rss=news_Features
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
German bishops call for end to celibacy mandate
</div><br />
<b>
Deutche Welle
—
</b>
Few if any Catholic priests or bishops are likely to say their church's vow of celibacy for priests is a direct cause of child sexual abuse. Yet the most recent wave of abuse allegations across Germany and Europe has reignited an ongoing debate in the Church over whether priests should be allowed to marry.
<br /><br />
Hamburg Bishop Hans-Jochen Jaschke told the daily newspaper Hamburger Abendblatt on Saturday that coexistence between celibate and married priests should be possible. He added that while he saw no direct connection between the large number of abuse cases and priest celibacy, "the celibate lifestyle can attract people who have an abnormal sexuality."
<br />
<a href="
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5356391,00.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Behind the sceneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11903973362448877431noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447035445860087940.post-57432700857952840202010-03-12T08:47:00.000-08:002010-03-12T08:59:26.955-08:00Seeds, Food Prices, Monsanto, Anti-Trust, Seed Banks<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<div class="block">
Rising food prices may start with seeds
<br />
</div><br />
<b>
Los Angeles Times
—
</b>
For 40 years, farmer Todd Leake and his family have battled bitter cold, hungry pests and a short growing season to coax soybeans out of their fields in eastern North Dakota.
<br /><br />
The one thing they never had to fight for, though, was their seeds.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-food-monopoly12-2010mar12,0,6585894.story
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
Monsanto’s Seed Patents May Trump Antitrust Claims, Lawyers Say
</div><br />
<b>
Business Week
—
</b>
Monsanto Co., facing antitrust probes into its genetically modified seeds, may benefit from previous court rulings in which intellectual property rights trumped competition concerns, antitrust lawyers say.
<br /><br />
The Department of Justice and seven state attorneys general are investigating whether the world’s largest seed company is using gene licenses to keep competing technologies off the market. At issue is how the St. Louis-based company sells and licenses its patented trait that allows farmers to kill weeds with Roundup herbicide while leaving crops unharmed. The company’s Roundup Ready gene was in 93 percent of U.S. soybeans last year.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-12/monsanto-s-seed-patents-may-trump-antitrust-claims-lawyers-say.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
Arctic Seed Vault largest in the world
</div><br />
<b>
Norway Post
—
</b>
Just days after celebrating its second anniversary, the Svalbard “Doomsday” Global Seed Vault has this week received thousands of new seeds that will push its collection to more than half a million unique samples.
<br /><br />
This makes the Svalbard Seed Vault the most diverse assemblage of crop diversity ever amassed anywhere in the world, according to the Global Crop Diversity Trust.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.norwaypost.no/content/view/23321/26/
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Behind the sceneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11903973362448877431noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447035445860087940.post-14121075767339799712010-03-10T08:18:00.000-08:002010-03-10T08:30:17.663-08:00Does Israel Want Peace?<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<div class="block">
Mishaps galore as Israel tries to welcome U.S. Vice President
<br />
</div><br />
<b>
Haaretz
—
</b>
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Jerusalem Tuesday was not free of embarrassing moments.
<br /><br />
The first occurred at the President's Residence, at the start of a meeting between Biden and President Shimon Peres. The plan called for brief remarks, which usually means a few minutes. But Peres spoke for no less than 25 minutes.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1155416.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
Israeli minister apologizes for bad timing of East Jerusalem expansion plan
</div><br />
<b>
Xinhua
—
</b>
Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai Wednesday apologized for the raging storm generated by his ministry's approval for 1,600 new Jewish homes in East Jerusalem, saying that he had no intention to embarrass visiting U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.
<br /><br />
In an interview with local Israel Radio, Yishai said he was not informed beforehand of the decision, announced Tuesday night by the ministry's district committee, and that the matter was only a routine and technical procedure of the building plan which has been in the works for over three years.
<br />
<a href="
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-03/10/c_13205585.htm
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
Biden holds Palestinian talks after condemning Israel
</div><br />
<b>
ABC News
—
</b>
The US vice-president Joe Biden is holding talks with Palestinian leaders, a day after condemning Israel's announcement of 1,600 new homes for Jewish settlers in east Jerusalem.
<br /><br />
Israel's announcement coincided with Mr Biden's arrival and came days after Palestinians agreed to re-enter indirect peace talks with Israel.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/10/2842384.htm?section=world
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Behind the sceneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11903973362448877431noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447035445860087940.post-52434043026084089832010-03-09T08:32:00.000-08:002010-03-09T08:33:20.098-08:00Biden, Israel, Palestine = Peace?<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<div class="block">
US reassures Israel over security
<br />
</div><br />
<b>
Aljazeera
—
</b>
Joe Biden, the US vice-president, and Benyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, have held talks over the percieved threat posed by Iran and on reviving the Middle East peace process.
<br /> <br />
After the meeting in Jerusalem on Tuesday, Biden reassured Israel that the US stood alongside them in terms of security.
<br />
<a href="
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/03/20103911246747207.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
Biden: US to prevent nuclear Iran
</div><br />
<b>
Jerusalem Post
—
</b>
US Vice President Joe Biden expressed America's "absolute, total, unvarnished commitment to Israel' security" at a press conference in Jerusalem following a meeting with Prime Minster Binyamin Netanyahu Monday morning.
<br /><br />
As such, Biden said, Washington was "determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and we are working with many countries around the world to convince Iran to meet its international obligations to cease and desist."
<br />
<a href="
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=170564
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
Joe Biden: Israel and Palestine peace talks at 'moment of opportunity'
</div><br />
<b>
UK Telegraph
—
</b>
Mr Biden was meeting top Israeli officials today and throwing his weight behind a renewal of Middle East peace talks more than a year after negotiations shuddered to a halt.
<br /><br />
He said: "I hope the beginning of what is referred to as indirect or proximity talks, I hope it is a vehicle, a vehicle by which we can begin to allay that layer of mistrust that has built up in the last several years," Biden said as he went into a meeting with President Shimon Peres. "I think we are at a moment of real opportunity and I think that the interests of the Israeli and Palestinian people, if everybody stops and takes a deep breath, are actually more in line than they are opposites," he said.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/7404213/Joe-Biden-Israel-and-Palestine-peace-talks-at-moment-of-opportunity.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Behind the sceneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11903973362448877431noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447035445860087940.post-78841881506928841372010-03-08T10:02:00.000-08:002010-03-08T10:09:33.609-08:00D Representative Eric Massa Ousted!<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<div class="block">
Eric Massa: Democrats ousted me over health care
<br />
</div><br />
<b>
Politico
—
</b>
Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) says the House ethics committee is investigating him for inappropriate comments he made to a male staffer on New Year's Eve — and that he's the victim of a power play by Democratic leaders who want him out of Congress because he's a "no" vote on health care reform.
<br /><br />
"Mine is now the deciding vote on the health care bill," Massa, who on Friday announced his intention to resign, said during a long monologue on radio station WKPQ. "And this administration and this House leadership have said, quote-unquote, they will stop at nothing to pass this health care bill. And now they've gotten rid of me, and it will pass. You connect the dots."
<br />
<a href="
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/34051.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
Massa Details 'Salty' Comment That Led to Resignation, Slams Dem Leaders
</div><br />
<b>
Fox News
—
</b>
A "salty" comment made in the company of drunken staff members at a wedding reception on New Year's Eve was all the Democratic "forces that be" needed to push him out of the House of Representatives and prevent him from possibly casting the vote that would kill health care reform, says outgoing New York Rep. Eric Massa.
<br /><br />
Massa, while acknowledging he made an "inappropriate" remark, defended himself Sunday against the firestorm of criticism he's endured since it was revealed last week that he was the subject of a House ethics probe. Speaking on his local radio show on WKPQ-FM, he accused House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of lying and the Democratic Party of pushing him out of Congress over sexual harassment allegations in order to pass health care reform.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/08/massa-accuses-democrats-pushing-pass-health-care/
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
Massa Details Sexual Harassment Complaint
</div><br />
<b>
The Advocate
—
</b>
Congressman Eric Massa of New York took to the airwaves Sunday to explain charges that he sexually harassed a male staffer, which prompted his resignation from the House effective Monday afternoon.
<br /><br />
The first-term Democrat announced Wednesday that he would not seek reelection because of health considerations, but afterward, news of the sexual harassment complaint broke. According to City Hall News, during his final weekly radio show Sunday morning, Massa claimed the sequence of events represented a conspiracy on behalf of Democratic leadership, which wanted to remove him before reconciliation votes on health care reform because he voted against the bill in November.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/03/08/Massa_Details_Sexual_Harassment_Complaint/
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Behind the sceneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11903973362448877431noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447035445860087940.post-73836749778644935602010-03-03T13:16:00.000-08:002010-03-03T13:21:35.382-08:00Same-Sex Marriage in D.C.<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<div class="block">
Businesses cash in on D.C.’s gay marriages
<br />
</div><br />
<b>
Washington Business Journal
—
</b>
Throngs of same-sex couples streamed into the District of Columbia’s marriage bureau on Wednesday, eager to be among the first to claim marriage licenses under D.C.’s new same-sex marriage law.
<br /><br />
They were besieged by dozens of reporters, a small clump of vocal opponents and a handful of D.C. businesses offering their support and discounts.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2010/03/01/daily43.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
High Court Denies Request to Block D.C. Gay Marriage
</div><br />
<b>
The Christian Post
—
</b>
Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday denied a last-minute request by traditional marriage supporters to stop Washington, D.C.'s same-sex marriage law from taking effect.
<br /><br />
As a "matter of judicial policy," Roberts said in an opinion that it has been the practice of the U.S. Supreme Court not to intervene in local matters.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100303/high-court-denies-request-to-block-d-c-gay-marriage/
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
In DC, blacks were crucial to gay marriage debate
</div><br />
<b>
Associated Press
—
</b>
Gay and lesbian couples will soon be able to marry in Washington, but the debate over same-sex marriage has sounded different here, with references to interracial marriage and Martin Luther King.
<br /><br />
Over the past year, both sides have courted the support of Washington's black community, a majority of the city's 600,000 residents and one traditionally perceived as opposed to same-sex marriage.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iYv8m-7bm6ij1X1YFBuQm9pQYFDwD9E6HRLG0
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Behind the sceneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11903973362448877431noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447035445860087940.post-30271983065141240642010-02-26T08:41:00.000-08:002010-02-26T08:46:50.024-08:00Health Insurance Rates and Executive Salaries Go Up.<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<div class="block">
Insurance company proposed 39% rate hike as executives got bonuses
<br />
</div><br />
<b>
Miami Herald
—
</b>
While Anthem Blue Cross proposed a 39 percent rate increase on thousands of its California customers, its parent company gave 39 of its executives more than $1 million each and spent more than $27 million on 103 lavish executive retreats, congressional investigators said Wednesday.
<br /><br />
"One question we asked is where does all of this money go? ... Corporate executives at WellPoint are thriving, while its policyholders are paying the price," Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said at a House of Representatives subcommittee hearing Wednesday.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/02/24/1498239/insurance-company-proposed-39.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
Despite outcry, Anthem Blue Cross to go ahead with big rate hike
</div><br />
<b>
Christian Science Monitor
—
</b>
Anthem Blue Cross, the health insurer that plans to boost rates by as much as 39 percent in California this year, has become a lightning rod in the national debate over healthcare reform.
<br /><br />
In President Obama’s healthcare summit Thursday, both Republicans and Democrats held up the company as an example of why the federal government needs to take steps to keep rising insurance premiums in check.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0225/Despite-outcry-Anthem-Blue-Cross-to-go-ahead-with-big-rate-hike
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
Lawmakers Lay Into Wellpoint Over Rates
</div><br />
<b>
Wall Street Journal
—
</b>
Insurers faced harsh criticism Wednesday during a congressional hearing on steep premium increases by a Wellpoint Inc. unit in California.
<br /><br />
Rep. Henry Waxman (D., Calif.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, pointed to internal company documents he said demonstrated that profit influenced the decision by WellPoint's Anthem Blue Cross unit to raise prices on individual insurance plans by as much as 39%.
<br />
<a href="
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704240004575085561340197660.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_5
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Behind the sceneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11903973362448877431noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447035445860087940.post-10557461140877958652010-02-25T08:10:00.000-08:002010-02-25T08:15:54.151-08:00Repulican Strategy on the Health Plan<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<div class="block">
Karl Rove: What the GOP Should Say at the Health Summit
<br />
</div><br />
<b>
Wall Street Journal
—
</b>
The congressional Republicans at today's televised health-care "summit" at the White House naturally want to prevent the president from turning it into a PR stunt. This is no easy task. They'll not only have to point out problems with his plan and offer their own ideas, but correct the president when he makes statements that are not true.
<br /><br />
The GOP participants appear ready for the first two tasks. In an unusual approach, House and Senate members prepped together the way a candidate preps for a presidential debates—by pulling together debate books and conducting mock sessions. But the third task is the most critical and the most difficult.
<br />
<a href="
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704240004575085452585399236.html?mod=rss_Today%27s_Most_Popular
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
Gingrich: Summit 'good practice run' for GOP at majority rule
</div><br />
<b>
USA Today
—
</b>
Former Republican House speaker Newt Gingrich said this morning that the White House health-care summit could be a trial run for Republicans on how to act if they take control of Congress in the fall. Gingrich has urged Republicans to engage in "principled, responsible bipartisanship" on issues like education reform, and he has joined with former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle to propose bipartisan health-care solutions.
<br /><br />
Gingrich said at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast that he learned from the showdown with President Bill Clinton in 1995 and 1996, which resulted in a government shutdown, that voters will reward bipartisanship. He pointed to deals that Republicans made with Clinton after the government shutdown to reform welfare and Medicare and balance the federal budget.
<br />
<a href="
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2010/02/gingrich-summit-good-practice-run-for-gop-at-majority-rule/1
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
GOP Headed to White House Hopeful But Hesitant
</div><br />
<b>
Fox News
—
</b>
Republicans are going to show up Thursday for a meeting on health care reform with President Obama and congressional Democrats, but they aren't going to accept whole cloth a bill outlining Democratic plans that is being posted on the White House Web site Monday.
<br /><br />
"If they are going to lay out the plan they want four days in advance, what are we discussing?" Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., asked on "Fox News Sunday."
<br />
<a href="
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/02/21/gop-headed-white-house-hopeful-hesitant/
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Behind the sceneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11903973362448877431noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447035445860087940.post-26459661628655177662010-02-22T08:38:00.000-08:002010-02-22T08:44:32.068-08:00Support for War in Afghanistan Withers as Dutch Government Collapses.<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<div class="block">
Dutch cabinet collapses in dispute over Afghanistan
<br />
</div><br />
<b>
BBC
—
</b>
The Dutch government has collapsed over disagreements within the governing coalition on extending troop deployments in Afghanistan.
<br /><br />
After marathon talks, Christian Democratic Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende announced that the Labour Party was quitting the government.
<br /><br />
He offered his government's resignation to Queen Beatrix in a telephone call.
<br />
<a href="
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8525742.stm
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
Nato Afghanistan mission in doubt after Dutch withdrawal
</div><br />
<b>
Guardian UK
—
</b>
The Dutch government collapsed at the weekend, making it the first European and Nato administration to fall because of the war in Afghanistan.
<br /><br />
The fourth fall of a government under the prime minister, Jan-Peter Balkenende, in eight years could end his career and is certain to usher in a period of political uncertainty that could bring big gains for the extreme anti-Muslim right.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/21/dutch-government-falls-over-afghanistan
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
Dutch government collapse: Will other European troops now leave Afghanistan?
</div><br />
<b>
Christian Science Monitor
—
</b>
The collapse of the Dutch government this weekend, largely over keeping Dutch troops in Afghanistan, threatens to undermine the NATO mission in the central Asian nation. And, it may signal tougher political climes ahead for other European leaders supporting a troop presence in Afghanistan.
<br /><br />
The Dutch pullout, scheduled for August, comes at a time when NATO is undertaking a key offensive in Marjah and implementing a “hearts and minds” plan coordinated by the US administration.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2010/0222/Dutch-government-collapse-Will-other-European-troops-now-leave-Afghanistan
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Behind the sceneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11903973362448877431noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447035445860087940.post-82129873877969480612010-02-20T09:50:00.000-08:002010-02-20T09:54:26.471-08:00A New Nuclear U.S.?<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<div class="block">
Obama unveils loan guarantees for 1st U.S. nuclear plant in 3 decades
<br />
</div><br />
<b>
Japan Today
—
</b>
U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday announced $8.33 billion loan guarantees for the construction of the first U.S. nuclear power plant in more than 30 years, a move that could create opportunities for Japanese companies involved in building such facilities.
<br /><br />
‘‘We’re going to have to build a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in America,’’ Obama said in a speech at the Lanham, Maryland-based job-training center of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, a labor union.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.japantoday.com/category/world/view/obama-unveils-loan-guarantees-for-1st-us-nuclear-plant-in-3-decades
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
Budget Wielded to Cut Greenhouse Gases
</div><br />
<b>
Wall Street Journal
—
</b>
President Barack Obama's 2011 budget calls for an array of regulations, subsidies and taxes aimed at cutting emissions of greenhouse gases, even as a sweeping climate bill sits on ice in the Senate.
<br /><br />
Mr. Obama's budget calls for $39 billion in tax increases on fossil-fuel producers over 10 years. It also includes an estimated $1.4 billion to help developing countries address the impacts of climate change, reduce deforestation and shift to low-carbon energy sources. And it proposes tripling federal support for nuclear energy, by adding $36 billion in new loan authority for an Energy Department program aimed at speeding the construction of new reactors.
<br />
<a href="
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703562404575068032057759128.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_5
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
Environmental Advocates Are Cooling on Obama
</div><br />
<b>
New York Times
—
</b>
There has been no more reliable cheerleader for President Obama’s energy and climate change policies than Daniel J. Weiss of the left-leaning Center for American Progress.
<br /><br />
But Mr. Obama’s recent enthusiasm for nuclear power, including his budget proposal to triple federal loan guarantees for new nuclear reactors to $54 billion, was too much for Mr. Weiss.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/18/science/earth/18enviros.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Behind the sceneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11903973362448877431noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3447035445860087940.post-29113158295946988682010-02-17T08:14:00.000-08:002010-02-17T08:22:10.082-08:00Is The Tea Party Too Far Right For The Right?<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<div class="block">
Tea Party Lights Fuse for Rebellion on Right
<br />
</div><br />
<b>
New York Times
—
</b>
Pam Stout has not always lived in fear of her government. She remembers her years working in federal housing programs, watching government lift struggling families with job training and education. She beams at the memory of helping a Vietnamese woman get into junior college.
<br /><br />
But all that was before the Great Recession and the bank bailouts, before Barack Obama took the White House by promising sweeping change on multiple fronts, before her son lost his job and his house. Mrs. Stout said she awoke to see Washington as a threat, a place where crisis is manipulated — even manufactured — by both parties to grab power.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/us/politics/16teaparty.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
Tea party to protest Republicans
</div><br />
<b>
The Herald Tribune
—
</b>
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele was still at a summit with tea party activists in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, when people connected to the movement hatched plans to protest his arrival in Charlotte County for meetings with top Republican fundraisers later this week.
<br /><br />
Englewood resident Randy McLendon said he and other tea party groups are planning to line the Boca Grande Causeway and other locations on the island with signs on Friday to make sure Steele and other GOP leaders know how upset they are with the party.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20100217/ARTICLE/2171056/-1/NEWSSITEMAP
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
<td>
<div class="block">
Tea Party Revolution Could Undermine Republican Jewish Outreach
</div><br />
<b>
The Jewish Week
—
</b>
An angry “Tea Party” movement that Republican leaders hope to harness to boost their party’s chances in the 2010 congressional midterm elections could also be a potential blow to GOP outreach to minorities — including Jewish voters.
<br /><br />
But Republican leaders, too, are in the movement’s cross hairs, and some Jewish leaders worry that the movement could transcend traditional politics entirely and create an extremist surge that is threatening to all minorities.
<br />
<a href="
http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c37_a17948/News/National.html
" target="_blank">click to read complete article</a>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Behind the sceneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11903973362448877431noreply@blogger.com0