Floatin' Powa News Service: Only The Wind Really Knows What Time It Is ~

The wind blows wherever it pleases.

You hear its sound,
but you have zero idea where it came from
or where it is going.
So it is with everyone born of The Spirit.
~ John 3:8

Britain Revokes Licenses for Arms Exports to Israel

Hizb ut-Tahrir: Islamic terror conferences in Britain

We have the same conference here in Chicago, they are the same people. Here you'll see the details about them

See also: Pro-terror group to hold conference in Chicago suburb

US fugitive is arrested in Israel

Alleged white supremacist Micky Louis Mayon, who was featured on the US TV programme America's Most Wanted, was seized in a police raid in Tel Aviv. He is wanted in connection with firearms-related offences in Steelton, Pennsylvania, dating back to 2007.

In "The National", UAE: Fighters from America drawn to the Somalia war

"Even among the world's jihadists, the young men from Minneapolis are something of an exception: in their instant messages and cellphone calls, they seem caught between inner-city America and the badlands of Africa, pining for Starbucks one day, extolling the virtues of camel's milk and Islamic fundamentalism the next."

Syria to EU envoy: Israel barrier to peace
Glow Ball Peace Through Dead Jews, Tovarich!

US envoy explores Israel-Syria talks

A senior adviser to U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell has begun a visit to Israel, raising speculation on Monday that Washington would try to revive Israeli-Syrian peace talks. A U.S. diplomat said Frederick Hoff arrived in Israel on Sunday and planned to meet Defense Minister Ehud Barak and senior military officers.

Israel's biggest-selling newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, reported that Hoff, who visited Damascus with Mitchell last month, would examine the possibility of resuming talks between Israel and Syria. "Fred Hoff is the special adviser for regional affairs. Included in that title is working on Syria and Lebanon," the diplomat said, without elaborating on the aim of his visit.

CIA Had Plan to Assassinate Qaeda Leaders
Yeah, so whyTF didn't they? You may plan in one hand and shit in the other and see which gets filled first.

Fatah Official: “Our Goal is Not Peace, but Rather Palestine”

The panel discussion shows that in actuality, Fatah is no less firm than Hamas in seeking the goal of Israel’s destruction. Kifah Radaydeh, the deputy head of the Jerusalem chapter of Fatah, says openly that the PA will resume violence and terror against Israel when Fatah is "capable," and "according to what seems right." "It has been said that we are negotiating for peace,” she further stated, “but our goal has never been peace. Peace is a means; the goal is Palestine."

Israeli police drag away Orthodox protesters

Israeli police dragged away ultra-Orthodox men who blocked traffic by sitting on a road outside the old walled city of Jerusalem on Saturday, in protest against a public parking lot now open on the Jewish Sabbath.

A police spokesman said one of several dozen protesters was arrested for lying under a bus. Television cameras photographed some half a dozen protesters being pulled away by their collars from the centre of the road.

Iraq's weakened unions fight foreign oil firms

Unions are lobbying against Iraq's new oil contract with BP and China's CNPC, but the weakened labor movement may have a hard time thwarting deals desperately needed to revive a struggling oil sector.

The Federation of Oil Unions of Iraq and the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq have condemned the Oil Ministry's decision to award a foreign consortium the contract to develop Rumaila, the country's largest producing oilfield.

"We have written a letter to BP and the British consul in Basra, warning them against entering Basra as it will be illegal ... If they do, we will protest and strike," said Faleh Aboud Amara, a top official with the Federation of Oil Unions.

The Euphrates River Dwindles

“Maaku mai!” they shout, holding up their rusty sickles. “There is no water!”

Turkey's Marriage With Syria and Iran
So please, consider the implications of the very recent American decision to officially cozy up to Syria and send an ambassador ...

The Basher Assad regime has been busy setting up both regional and nuclear alliances. Together with its closest partner and ally the Islamic Republic of Iran, they have recruited North Korea to serve as a third leg in a nuclear alliance (shades of G.W. Bush's Axis of Evil, except instead of Iraq, it is Syria ). Israeli investigative journalist and author Ronen Bergman reveals in his book The Secret War with Iran the extensive nuclear partnership between these three countries. In this close collaboration Iran provides the money, Syria the territory, and North Korea the expertise, nuclear hardware and software.

Another emerging alliance is being forged - mostly off the radar screen. It is the regional alliance between Iran, Syria and Turkey. One common denominator all three states have is a large Kurdish minority. All three countries have at one time or another suppressed the Kurdish quest for independence and/or autonomy. Kurds in Iran, Syria and Turkey have been denied equal rights and have been harshly treated by Ankara, Damascus, and Tehran.

Ankara Promotes Closer Regional Integration in the Middle East

On July 8, Istanbul hosted the first joint ministerial meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)-Turkey strategic dialogue, which served to highlight the growing multi-dimensional ties between the country and the Middle East. Ankara has increased the frequency of bilateral meetings with the regional states, reflecting the intensification of its diplomatic activity in the Middle East, this has also witnessed the use of multilateral forums including the Arab League, GCC and the Organization of the Islamic Countries

Egyptian Cleric Muhammad Al-Zughbi Calls to 'Annihilate' Iranians and Baha'is in Egypt

Female Circumcision And The Tahirih Justice Center
Featuring "the nebulous concept that is human rights", this piece of utter crap was written by one Herr Michael Barker, some uber liberal asshole in California, he is one of a "flock of swans" you see.... Behold his Official Purple Prole's Islamo Marxist hooplebabble defense of clitorectomies which then morphs into a hit piece on the Baha'i for some reason later on in the essay:

Swans - July 13, 2009 A potent weapon of transnational elites in the advancement and legitimization of imperialist conquests is the nebulous concept that is human rights. Women's rights are no exception, and as Zillah Eisenstein observes: "Women's rights as a discourse both legitimizes [neoliberal] democracy and critiques other-than-Western forms of democracy simultaneously." In this regard, as the introductory statement by Obioma Nnaemeka conveys, there are many problems with the way that predominantly liberal feminist groups pursue their campaign against the practice of female circumcision, which is more commonly referred to as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

In contradiction to the stated objective of protecting global human rights, and specifically women's rights, a good case can be made that mainstream feminists act unconsciously as agents of imperialism. This article will demonstrate this argument by critically evaluating the role of a leading women's rights group, the Tahirih Justice Center, which has played a central role in raising public awareness of Female Genital Mutilation in the United States.

IRAN: Nation headed for 'disintegration' if political crisis festers

Presidential candidate Mohsen Rezai, the sole conservative candidate who ran and lost against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in last month's marred elections, issued a pointed statement late Sunday night warning of "disintegration" of the country's Islamic system if the quarreling sides didn't settle their disputes.

Iran's Ahmadinejad criticizes West over human rights
LOL! Mini monkey man got himself one huge pendulous set of swingin' brass balls

Man's family learns of his death one month after Iran protests

An Iranian family learned of their 19-year-old son's death nearly a month after he was shot during a demonstration over the Islamic republic's disputed election results, an international human rights group said Sunday.

Iran: Cleric Ratchets Up Rhetoric Against Leaders

Montazeri says "those who have lost, religiously and reasonably, the credibility for serving the public, are automatically dismissed, and the continuation of their work has no legitimacy." The Grand Ayatollah also says Iranians have a religious right and duty to protest their leaders, if those leaders violate the tenets of Islam by usurping power.

"People must express their opinion about the illegitimacy and lack of their approval of their performance, and seek their dismissal through the best and least harmful way. It is clear that this is a societal duty of everyone, and all the people, regardless of their social positions and according to their knowledge and capability, must participate in this endeavor, and cannot shirk their responsibility."

Iran Daily: British embassy staff had key unrest role

An Iranian government newspaper said Monday a detained local employee of the British embassy played a key role in post-election unrest last month and his arrest shed new light on Britain's "subversive activities."

Qashqavi Outlines Iran's New Proposed Package For West
I think it is called something like.... "LET'S KILL THE JEWS!"

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi said on Monday that Iran's new package of proposals for the West would help resolve the major international economic, cultural and moral problems, Iranian news agency (IRNA) reported.

Qashqavi told IRNA that Iran's new proposed package would also address the other major issues such as dismantling of weapons of mass destruction including nuclear weapons and resolving security crises

Behind the China Riots -- Oil, Terrorism & Misunderstandings

Editor’s Note: Chinese media reported that the Urumchi riots were sparked by a clash between migrant workers in a Hong Kong-owned toy factory in southern China. But other evidence indicates the incident was merely a convenient pretext for a premeditated plan to destabilize Xinjiang province, the center of China's oil and gas industry. NAM contributor Yoichi Shimatsu is an environmental consultant for agricultural businesses in western China's arid regions and former editor of the Japan Time Weekly.

Watching The World: Peace needed in Xinjiang

If you believe Chinese oil and gas officials, ethnic clashes in the province of Xinjiang—where 150 people are reported to have been killed—have not affected any operations at oil fields or pipelines.

Sinopec said its facilities are far from the riots, and the situation in the westernmost area of Xinjiang appeared to have stabilized last week. Sinopec owns Tahe field in Xinjiang, which is one of its largest fields in China.

PetroChina said its facilities were not affected either. It operates two large oil and gas fields in Xinjiang, one in the Tarim basin in southern Xinjiang and another in Kelamayi, northwest of Urumqi. PetroChina also owns the 6 million tonne/year Dushanzi refinery.

No one denies such statements as much of the rioting seems to have taken place in and around Urumqi, the provincial capital. Moreover, the riots may well not result in wider attacks on state energy infrastructure unless they become more organized.

Can China Change the Rules of Global Capitalism?
Why not, who's to stop them?

China and the new world order
There it is again! STFU!

Oil-hungry China moves to strengthen Ecuador ties

Oil Rises From Eight-Week Low on Expectations for China Growth

Russia Will Not Agree to Sanction Iran to Expedite START

Russia will not agree to tougher sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program in exchange for a new nuclear arms cuts deal with Washington, Interfax news agency quoted a foreign ministry source as saying Tuesday.

Putin chaired a meeting of the Government Presidium
Vlad, the master of intmidating brevity.

Vladimir Putin: Good.

Putin's Party to Rescue Struggling Plants
It is Badimir Vladimir to the rescue, comrades!

The Phantom of Vlad's Opera: European Leaders Sign Pact for Gas Pipeline
HA HA HA! You will come to Vlad Most Bad when you are cold. You will see.
~ V.P.

"We have started to confound the skeptics, the unbelievers," said European Commission President José Manuel Barroso. "Now that we have an agreement, I believe that this pipeline is inevitable rather than just probable."

Europe breaks free from Kremlin gas bondage
AHAHAHAHA! Stop it, Tovarich, you are killing me!
~ Your Pal Vlad

Nabucco Gas Pipeline Forges Ahead Without Contracts
Heee hahaha! Please, please, comrade, stop. I am begging you, stop already!
~ The Happy Vladster

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov said at a July 10 cabinet meeting that his country may participate in Nabucco as a supplier, according to his Web site. Turkmen gas exports via Russia have been halted since an April explosion on the main pipeline. Territorial disputes with its Caspian Sea neighbors mean supplies to Nabucco may have to be shipped overland via Iran.

The status of the Caspian is crucial for Turkmen gas supply, Richard Morningstar, U.S. President Barack Obama’s envoy for Caspian energy matters, said in Ankara today.

Turkey wants Iran to join Nabucco, Erdogan said at the signing ceremony. Iran is able to supply Europe with 31 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year via the link, the Oil Ministry’s Shana news agency said today. “We don’t believe today that Iran should be a part” of Nabucco, Morningstar said.

Medvedev's Glorious Visit to South Ossetia

Russian President Dimity Medvedev visited the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia on Monday in a trip apparently designed to assert Russia's ties to the region and dash Georgia's hopes of regaining sovereignty over it.

Georgian officials called the visit — the first by Medvedev since last year's war between Russia and Georgia — a provocation.

Russian TV showed brief footage of Medvedev walking along a street in South Ossetia's main city, Tsinkhvali, and receiving raucous applause by cheering crowds, some chanting "Thank you!" as he exited his limousine.

He later met with the region's leader, Eduard Kokoity.

"We not only share — how to say — a glorious past but a durable and solid base, I mean several treaties, that now link Russia and South Ossetia," Medvedev told Kokoity in televised comments. "We have a whole series of projects aimed at restoring the economic and social sphere in South Ossetia. We will absolutely complete them."

5 militants, 3 police killed in Russia's Caucasus

Gunmen ambushed police in Russia's troubled North Caucasus Monday, officials said, killing two of the officers in the latest spate of violence in the southern region. A sniper shot dead a third officer in another incident.In Chechnya, meanwhile, police said five militants were killed in two separate gunbattles. Russia's North Caucasus region has been dogged by daily shootings, blasts and other violence linked to criminal gangs, ethnic feuds, separatist insurgents and Islamic radicals.

The violence comes despite the end of a large-scale insurgency and two bloody wars in Chechnya in the past 15 years.In Dagestan, a region located east of Chechnya, two Interior Ministry troops were killed and five were wounded when their trucks were ambushed by unidentified gunmen who opened fire and then fled into the forest, police said.

Later Monday, a special police unit officer was shot dead by a sniper in western Dagestan as he exited a police precinct building, Interior Ministry spokesman Mark Tolchinsky said.

Helicopter wreckage to be pulled out from Caspian Sea

New phase in Sibir Energy scandal

LONDON, July 13 (UPI) -- Battles over control of the London-listed Sibir Energy entered a new stage as an embattled shareholder complains of back-room deals in Moscow. Law enforcement officials with the Russian Interior Ministry raided the Moscow office of Sibir subsidiary Magma, searching for documents related to two companies operated by Chalva Tchigirinsky, who holds a 23.5 percent stake in Sibir.

Tchigirinsky is tied to financial scandals regarding loans backed by Sibir funds that he used to protect his lucrative property investments as the global markets collapsed in late 2008. The crackdown also comes on the heels of a move by Gazprom Neft, the oil division of Russian energy giant Gazprom, to increase its stake in Sibir. Gazprom Neft in June increased its stake in Sibir through the acquisition of its largest shareholder, Bennfield, which held a 47 percent share in Sibir.

In the latest developments, the Financial Times reports Tchigirinsky now claims Elena Baturina, the wife of the mayor of Moscow, held a secret 50 percent stake in his shares and property business in exchange for her help with "bureaucratic issues."

Russian Gas: Black Hats and White Hats in a World of Gray

This year, at the annual meeting on international security in Munich in February, Mrs. Merkel talked about energy without ever mentioning Nabucco.

Kazakhstan, Israel signed agreement to strengthen commercial ties

Kazakhstan invites head Russian Federal Assembly For a Visit

During the talks, Tokayev said that Kazakhstan highly optimistically assesses the state and prospects of establishing the Kazakh-Russian cooperation on a bilateral basis and within international organizations and forums.

Kazakh leader signs law curbing Internet

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has signed into law new controls on the Internet that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has called repressive, local activists said Monday. The OSCE -- an intergovernmental security and human rights watchdog that Kazakhstan will chair next year -- had earlier urged Nazarbayev to veto the bill.

The legislation will allow local courts to block websites, including foreign ones, and to class blogs and chatrooms as media. But Kazakhstan pressed ahead with the new law, with local rights activists confirming the legislation had been endorsed by the powerful president. "Nazarbayev signed it last Friday," Sofya Lapina, a media rights activist, told Reuters Monday. "We had hoped he would veto it and wrote letters to him but that has not been taken into account." The Central Asian state says the law was aimed at preventing unrest and protecting people's rights.

Afghan key to real boost in Russia, US ties

The ex-Soviet Central Asian state of Kyrgyzstan, in what Moscow sees as its sphere of influence, also announced agreement to keep a U.S. air base there to support its Afghan operations.

Kyrgyz reporter dies after alleged police beating

An independent journalist who had criticized Kyrgyzstan's government has died following surgery for injuries he said he suffered during a beating by police, relatives and colleagues said Monday.

Almaz Tashiyev's death reinforced concerns about the risks faced by independent journalists in the Central Asian nation. It came after a series of attacks on reporters and shortly before next week's presidential election.

The Interior Ministry said Tashiyev died of complications from head injuries shortly after surgery on Friday. Relatives who attended Tashiyev's funeral on Monday said he told them before the operation that he was beaten by eight police officers days earlier in the southern town of Nookat.

Latvian president arrives in Tajikistan
The Stans are simply all the rage for visiting heads of state these days.

Pakistan seeks transit transportation agreement with Tajikistan

Tajik ex-minister dies in police custody

A powerful ex-minister in Tajikistan was killed in a shootout, the Interior Ministry of the Central Asian country said on Sunday, one day after saying that he was under arrest.

Iran, Turkmenistan reach gas deal

Turkmenistan to Supply USA Civil Aviation with Additional Fuel
STFU English not Igor's first language, OK?

The Gurbangul Berdimukhamedovm, the president of Turkmenistan gave the Ashkhabad airport the US civil aviation to fill the fuel.

As ‘Nezavisimaya Gazeta’ informs ES-15 and ES -17 will refuel in Ashkhabad.
The refueling of the craft was undertaken during US State Secretary William Berns. The agreement of transiting NATO non-military crafts through Turkmenistan was made in February 2009.

US representative Mark Right informs 7 experts of US aviation are in Turkmenistan and refueling the crafts.

TURKMENISTAN: BERDYMUKHAMEDOV MAKES NEW ENERGY PERSONNEL SHUFFLE
Do the Turkmen Shuffle!

US tells Uzbekistan it wants better ties

A top U.S. diplomat told Uzbekistan on Monday Washington wanted to repair relations with the Central Asian state, strained since a dispute over human rights in 2005 and the closure of a key U.S. military base.

The mainly Muslim former Soviet republic had ceased contacts with Washington but has since allowed transit of non-military cargo to neighbouring Afghanistan and welcomed President Barack Obama's address to Muslims calling for a new beginning in ties. U.S. Under Secretary of State William Burns, in the Uzbek capital Tashkent on a tour of the region, spoke to journalists before a meeting with Uzbek President Islam Karimov.

"I believe our visit and our discussions are a positive step in our relations. I'm convinced that we have an opportunity before us in a new administration to strengthen ties between our two countries," Burns told reporters, according to a transcript of the briefing provided by the U.S. embassy in Tashkent. "I think we do have a very real opportunity before us to do that (strengthen ties with Uzbekistan)," he said. "We see this visit as a first step in that direction."

Karimov told Burns he welcomed the new U.S. approach.

Uzbekistan opposes new military bases in territory of neighboring states

"Tashkent strongly objects creation of the new foreign military bases near its borders," a competent source in the government of Uzbekistan informed.

The military base of the Collective Rapid Response Forces (CRRF) of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will be located in the south of Kyrgyzstan in the near future.

UZBEKISTAN: SOUTHERN ARAL SEA ON PACE TO DRY UP IN ABOUT A DECADE

BP agrees deal to develop Azeri fields

FOCUS: EU Governments Seek Power To Take Over Failing Banks

European governments, faced with a rash of bank failures, are moving to bolster their powers to take over troubled financial institutions that might cripple the economy if they are allowed to go bankrupt.

The moves are intended to defray the cost of future bank failures and reduce their threat to the wider financial system. But the proposed new powers have raised questions about whether property rights are being appropriately protected and whether the threat of nationalization could increase the cost of funding for all banks.

A few of the 27 European Union governments had laws on their books allowing them to take over failing banks before the financial crisis hit in September, but most didn't. That became a serious problem when banks began to totter, prompting the U.K., Germany and Belgium to seek new bank-nationalization laws and an effort by the European Commission, the E.U.'s executive arm, to examine whether the bloc needs harmonized rules for unwinding troubled banks.

KUWAIT: Ministry to nationalize charitable trusts soon

Company seeks return of seized poker winnings

In its filing, Account Services said that federal prosecutors seized $13.3 million from an account at a Wells Fargo ( WFC - news - people ) Bank in Escondido, Calif., and $1 million from two accounts at a Union Bank in San Diego. Although the Wells Fargo funds were seized with a warrant, Account Services said, prosecutors contacted Union Bank without obtaining a warrant.

Included in the filing is a June 12 e-mail from the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York to Union Bank, in which prosecutors say that "exigent circumstances" require that money be frozen immediately while they obtain a seizure warrant. About two weeks later, a seizure warrant was issued for Union Bank by U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Pitman in New York City, according to a June 24 order included in the filing.

Poker Payment Processor To Fight DoJ Cash Seizure

Documents say the Justice Department got hold of the money by asserting “exigent circumstances” that, at the time of the seizure, it did not specify.

In legal terms, “exigent circumstances” are those shown to be so urgent as to justify immediate, warrantless law-enforcement action, Martin D. Owens Jr., a California gaming attorney not involved with the case, explained to GamblingCompliance.

However, Owens, who was critical of the Justice Department’s previous moves against processors Neteller and Citadel Commerce, openly questioned whether the circumstances were dire enough to merit such action.

“What grave harm to life, limb, property or the rule of law would’ve resulted from leaving the poker winnings of a few individuals in the bank until the proper authorization could be obtained?” he said.

NSA's cyber overkill

A project to safeguard governmental computers, run by the NSA, is too big a threat to Americans' privacy.

DHS tightens security on intelligence systems

DHS Awards Raytheon phase II for SWARM

Raytheon snags Boeing's defense advocacy integration director

Raytheon demonstrates networked lethality for Army modernization
Networked lethality, hmmm?

Lethality is achieved by linking emerging capabilities of its Multi-Function Radio Frequency System, Common Mast-Mounted Sight, and combat identification technology with fielded BCT sensors and weapon systems.

Whatever the fuck that all is supposed to mean.

Insider report: Ratheon's Swanson chooses cash option

Raytheon Co. CEO William Swanson saw an opportunity to pocket millions in June — and he took it. After watching shares in the Waltham, Mass.-based defense contractor sink by around 45 percent, dropping from around $51 a share at the beginning of the year to just over $33 a share in March, Swanson cashed in options to buy roughly 400,000 shares of Raytheon stock during the final days of June.

At the time, Raytheon’ stock was idling at around $45 a share, still off for the year but up considerably from March's low point. Swanson netted $5.25 million through the transactions, by far one of the richest payouts among Massachusetts’ corporate insiders for the month, according to trading data provided by Thomson Reuters. Not including the recent option cash-out, Swanson collected $27 million in compensation in 2008, more than half of which — some $14.9 million — came in the form of value realized from past stock and option grants, according to regulatory filings.

Behold The Gold Man's Sack of Magical Tricks

Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street leviathan that is heavily invested in the cap-and-trade carbon market scam, has admitted it has developed and used software that can manipulate such financial markets.

US Stocks Gain With Goldman Sachs, GE Rising

Goldman Says It Has 'No Material Exposure' to CIT

Goldman money phrase has rival in unlikely place

Jim O'Neill will long be known for coining BRICs. Ten years from now, Nicholas Cashmore may enjoy similar notoriety for another addition to the investor lexicon. The money phrase put forth in 2001 by O'Neill, London-based chief economist at Goldman Sachs, refers to Brazil, Russia, India and China.

BRICs is now a ubiquitous term for a new wave of emerging growth stars transforming markets. Cashmore takes two of O'Neill's BRICs - China and India - and adds Indonesia to form what the Jakarta-based CLSA Asia- Pacific Markets economist calls "Chindonesia."

Asked if it will become as common as BRICs, Cashmore jokes: "Obviously, I'd like to think so. Adding an `I' to BRIC doesn't roll off the tongue as easily."

GM Allegedly Pressures Remaining Dealers To Oppose Reinstatement Legislation

Last week we mentioned that Congress is considering legislation that would turn back the clock on the Chrysler and General Motors bankruptcies -- at least as far as dealers are concerned. Now comes word that GM is putting pressure on its remaining dealers to oppose that legislation, and some elected officials and dealer groups aren't happy.

If passed, the bills under consideration in the House of Representatives would essentially reinstate dealers who were dropped by Chrysler and General Motors during their respective restructurings. Dealers that have the wherewithal to continue doing business could do so; those that don't would have legal standing to force Chrysler and GM to pay them a portion of the value of their assets. Obviously, this would impact each company's cash flow and its ability to do business.

Oil's Puzzling Spring Surge Reignites Debate About Speculators

Last week, the CFTC said it would consider new measures to curb speculation and increase transparency in energy markets, where the agency's data suggest that a substantial amount of oil trading was concentrated in the hands of just a few investment banks and trading firms. Also last week, the leaders of Britain and France urged measures to counter "damaging speculation."

More Government Control Isn't the Answer for Oil Prices
They are not looking to answer anything, silly headline, they are looking to seize power. It's all good shmuck bad shmuck con game crap. So STFU.

Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy want more government involvement to control oil prices, when it is precisely government involvement that has caused the erratic oil price fluctuations they lament. Two truths emerge in "Oil Prices Need Government Supervision" (op-ed, July 8): "The surge in prices last year gravely damaged the global economy and contributed to the downturn." And that oil prices are "seemingly defying the accepted rules of economics."

Pope on vacation in the Italian Alps
Well a bella yodelllaaaheeehoo to you. I know you must be plum tuckered out from all the ignoring and twisting of GOD's word you've been up to lately. Jewsus sees you ya know. Right through the big hat and everything. MmmmHmmm that's right.

Local "ethical society" offers Sunday religious alternative

Hayles described his Austin chapter as practicing a form of spiritual pragmatism that de-emphasizes all aspects of the supernatural while retaining a sense of awe and reverence for the natural world. “The seat of authority in ethical culture arises from your day-to-day experiences and what you know will make the world a better place,” he said. “You are not required to commit to a creed to join.”

Yoko Ono signs U.N. Oneness Day petition
So? Koom bah humbug, ya stulted pack-a one world glow ballin' B-side degenerate pretendian marxist nihilists. Maybe the Pope can sign too while he is resting in the Alps. He is all for The One World Order as well.

Yoko Ono has joined other prominent people signing a global grassroots petition appealing to the United Nations to declare a Oneness Day, her Web site says. Other famous or influential signers include South African Nobel Peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, spiritual authors Deepak Chopra and Neale Donald Walsch, sportscaster Gary Bailey, Dalai Lama envoy Sonam Tenzin and U.N. adviser Janis Roze, the petition organizer said Monday. Michael Jackson fans also signed the petition in honor of the late singer, whose 1985 song "We Are the World" says "the world must come together as one," the petition list indicated.

Frank Lombard Case: Deafening Silence From So-Called Black Leaders

Where are the defenders of "the cause" when you need them? When an actual social tragedy occurs, where are the self-titled leaders of the black movement? I'll answer my own question: They're busy fighting for an interview or a microphone during all of the Michael Jackson festivities.

While Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton were competing for the most on-camera interviews and vying for preeminence at Michael Jackson's memorial service on the West Coast, Frank Lombard -- a white, homosexual Duke University employee -- was being arrested on the East Coast for allegedly molesting his five-year-old black adopted son.

SNIP

Mainstream media will not even report that the man is a homosexual or, in some instances, even that the children are black. They won't report that Frank Lombard had a live-in partner in a community that includes other homosexual couples with black adopted children.

The Village Voice's View of the "Right Wing Blogosphere"
Rightbloggers' Palin Yak Grows Dull -- Let's Go Back to Galt's Gulch!

New flu "unstoppable", WHO says, calls for vaccine
YOU ARE HEREBY ORDERED BY GLOW BALL DECREE TO PANIC!
NOW!
C'MON!

'India sitting on a volatile volcano'
A Land of Nationalized Wombs:

India was the first to launch a national family planning programme in 1952, which promoted contraceptives to control fertility, but the country has repeatedly failed to achieve its total fertility rate (TFR) target.

At present, India’s TFR is 2.7% whereas the National Population Policy of 2000 sets a goal of achieving replacement level fertility of 2.1 children per woman nationally by 2010, which is highly unlikely.

Supreme Court Stays Execution of Degenerate Rapist & Murderer

The U.S. Supreme Court today stayed the execution of Paul Warner Powell, a Virginia man who killed a 16-year-old Manassas girl 10 years ago and was scheduled to die tomorrow night.

Powell, who had chosen to die by electrocution, was convicted in Prince William County in 2000 of killing Stacie Reed by stabbing her through the heart with a survival knife and then lurking in her home before raping and trying to kill her younger sister. Kristie Reed, who was stabbed in the abdomen and had her throat sliced, survived and identified Powell as her attacker.

The Virginia Supreme Court overturned Powell's first capital conviction, but Powell then wrote a boastful letter to prosecutors giving them additional information about the crime. Because he admitted trying to rape Stacie Reed, Powell was tried a second time and was again given a death sentence in 2003. He was to be the 104th condemned prisoner executed in Virginia since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976.

The Supreme Court's ruling to stay the execution will allow the justices to decide whether to hear Powell's argument that the second trial violated his constitutional protection against double jeopardy. Should the court decide not to hear Powell's case, Virginia would schedule a new execution date. The court is slated to meet again in late September.

Tick Tock.....
GAG THE INTERNET!

When it comes to the First Amendment, Team Obama believes in Global Chilling. Cass Sunstein, a Harvard Law professor who has been appointed to a shadowy post that will grant him powers that are merely mind-boggling, explicitly supports using the courts to impose a "chilling effect" on speech that might hurt someone's feelings.

He thinks that the bloggers have been rampaging out of control and that new laws need to be written to corral them.

SNIP

Czar is too mild a world for what Sunstein is about to become. How about "regulator in chief"? How about "lawgiver"? He is Obama's Obama.

Turn in your neighbors for fun & profit today!
~ Soviet NJ, Oymerika ~

GOD's a funny guy!

Vice President Joe Biden recently suffered a similar mishap while delivering a speech in Colorado Springs, when a gust of wind blew one of the teleprompters he was using over.

Sotomayor hearings: Grassley says the 'empathy standard is troubling'

What Grassley hit again and again at the idea that a Supreme Court justice must not be swayed by personal agendas or feelings, and uttered the phrase that is going to be a weapon in the hands of Republicans: “The empathy standard.”

This echoes President Obama’s vow that one of the qualities he seeks in a Supreme Court justice is the ability to understand the daily struggles of Americans. “This empathy standard is troubling to me,” Grassley said. “The Constitution requires that judges be free from personal politics … feelings and preferences.”

All hail selective liberal "empathy". Naturally she has zero empathy for fetal people which is even more troubling:
Sotomayor Says She "Never Thought About" Rights of Unborn

Republican Senator Jim DeMint says that he is troubled by Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor after she told him she had "never thought about" the rights of the unborn child."When I asked if an unborn child has any rights whatsoever, I was surprised that she said she had never thought about it," said DeMint in a statement. "This is not just a question about abortion, but about the respect due to human life at all stages, and I hope this is cleared up in her hearings."

Abortion protesters whisked out of Sotomayer hearing

LA TIMES: Ruth Bader Ginsburg and a question of eugenics

If Ginsburg does see eugenic culling as a compelling state interest, she'd be in fine company on the court. Oliver Wendell Holmes was a passionate believer in such things. In 1915, Holmes wrote in the Illinois Law Review that the "starting point for an ideal for the law" should be the "coordinated human effort ... to build a race."

Allies' stance cited in US gays-in-military debate
Oy with the gays in the military, already. It never ends well. They will be able to openly smoke cock but not Marlboros soon. How very lovely!

In Britain, on the other hand, gay and lesbian service members marched in crisp uniforms in the annual Pride London parade July 4. Gay Australian soldiers and sailors had their own float in Sydney's Gay Mardi Gras parade. In Israel, the army magazine earlier this year featured two male soldiers on the cover, hugging one another. America's "don't ask, don't tell" policy - which prohibits gays from serving openly in the armed forces - is the target of intensifying opposition, and President Barack Obama says he favors lifting the ban.

But he wants to win over skeptics in Congress and the Pentagon, and a fierce debate lies ahead that will inevitably touch on the experiences of allied nations that have no bans.U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, the first Iraq war veteran elected to Congress, has just launched a campaign for a bill to repeal "don't ask, don't tell." He observed British troops in Iraq operating smoothly with a serve-openly policy and bristles at the contention that America's armed forces would suffer morale and recruiting problems if they followed suit.

Nationalising mines won't feed poor or secure rights
Oh they know it too. The whole commie altruism crap is merely the beard of large crimes.

Moratorium sought in Utah on depleted uranium

Depleted uranium is unique from other low-level radioactive waste because it becomes more radioactive over time. The NRC has said developing new rules for disposing the material could take years.

Nuclear critics: Is Illinois the new Yucca Mountain?

Chicago area nuclear critics say recurring tritium leaks like the one at the Dresden Nuclear facility near Morris last month muddy the picture of nuclear plants as a clean energy source.

Sen. Alexander: U.S. Should Invest In Nuclear Energy

Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) announced Monday his plan to build 100 new nuclear power plants in the next 20 years in order to create jobs, clean the air, and solve global warming. His blueprint is part of Senate Republicans’ fourfold plan for more clean energy: 100 new nuclear power plants, electric cars and trucks, offshore exploration of natural gas and oil, and doubling energy research and development to make renewable energy affordable.

Alexander criticized the Waxman-Markey Bill by saying, “What started out as an effort to address global warming by reducing carbon emissions has ended up as a contraption of taxes and mandates that will impose a huge and unnecessary burden on the economy.”

Volcano-halted Alaska oil production to resume

Magma activity in Mayon volcano continues

Heavens turn crimson over Britain from Russian Volcano

Diver recounts close encounter with squid before earthquake

Small earthquake rattles LA airport

6.3 strikes offshore Taiwan

Earthquakes shake Taiwan

And he will send his angels
and gather his elect from the four winds,
from the ends of the earth
to the ends of the heavens.
~ Mark 13:27