However, astonishingly, there are sympathetic voices to be found, and in mainstream publications too. Try it yourself, do a search for “female sexual tourism” and prepare for some Olympic-class mental gymnastics. You’ll find articles on the subject of female sexual tourism that not only rationalise the actions of the women involved but actually reverse things by depicting the women as victims. The hypocrisy of this double standard is aggravated by the fact that the group that write the articles, feminist journalists, typically espouse a disparaging and zero tolerance view of prostitution.

Articles such as these are worth seeking out, however. If you can overcome the outlandish rationalisations, they constitute some of the only sympathetic appraisals on the subject of sex work to be found from mainstream sources. The insights are particularly valuable as the subject is the third world sex trade, so you’re seeing a positive spin on probably the worst aspects of commercial sex.

The subject is particularly topical as the treatment of developing nations by richer countries has been pushed the forefront due to the disaster currently afflicting Haiti. And in case you’re wondering: yes, Haiti (along with other impoverished nations) is one of the top destinations for female sex tourists.

In fact, middle-aged women availing themselves of the services of Haiti “beach boys” was the subject of the 2006 film Heading South. Needless to say, the film,  starring Charlotte Rampling, projects an extremely compassionate view of the subject. Furthermore, female journalists of the time were quick to praise the film for its “sensitive treatment of a complex subject”. Liz Hoggard, writing for The Indepedent, claimed that the film is “an intelligent, provocative take on sex tourism in the late-1970s”. The film maker himself says of the characters, “More than sex, they are seeking a tenderness that the world is refusing them”. Oh, the poor things. Perhaps the film is need of a sequel, a positive depiction of men who do the same thing? I’m sure it would receive rave reviews by the same women who were enamoured with Heading South.

As you might imagine, these writers typically make use of terminology that is at odds with the language employed in most articles about prostitution. For instance, the term “gigolo” is used over and and over again. When I hear the word gigolo, I think of Richard Gere in his first staring role or perhaps a swarthy, well dressed foreigner who uses sexual flattery to trick a rich western woman out her riches. A poverty stricken man giving sexual favours at bargain rates to feed his family just doesn’t sound like a gigolo to me.

Vernacular comes into it in other ways too. Apparently Jamaican male sex workers refer to their female customers as “milk-bottles”. This practice is derided as “objectionable and racist” by Tanika Gupta, the author of a play about female sexual tourism. Oh yes, I’m sure that if it were discovered that prostitutes working on the streets of Edinburgh were using disrespectful slang when referring to their clients there would be media outcry. Gupta goes on to tell the Guardian, the furthest left of all British newspapers, that this is an example that shows us that “it’s a mutual exploitation that is going on.” I don’t disagree that there are two sides sides to exploitation in the sex industry, I’m just amazed that feminist writers seem oblivious to this fact when it’s men who are the customers.

All of the media coverage of female sexual tourism takes this tack. The usual excuses – the ones that are wheeled out every time women are caught doing something that is a no-no when men do it – are in evidence. It isn’t about sex, apparently, it’s about self esteem.

This brings us to another important point. Psychologically, there is a consistent theme, in the attitude of both the writers and the female sex tourists, of wilful denial.

Some of the women feel that they are not actually engaged in sexual tourism per-sec, they prefer the term “romance tourism”. One of the case studies referred to in Liz Hoggard’s Independent article explains, “The words ’sex tourism’ make me think of City boys who go to Thailand with their mates for seedy conquests to boast about. It’s different for women. When they go abroad for sex, it’s about wanting to feel special and escaping the boundaries at home.” However, the common conception of romance seems at odds with that of the action of paying $80 for oral sex.

Gupta, the afore mentioned playwright, says that when she visited a foreign country for research, she was approached by an amorous 19 year old. “I kept telling him I wasn’t interested [...] but he wouldn’t take no for an answer.” Despite her insistence that he look for someone his own age, he implored her, “Me no want the kitten, I want the cat”.

Can anyone who feels old and unattractive be blamed for being tempted by such an offer? I’m sure that many a man on holiday finds his self esteem buoyed no end when beautiful young women tell him that, contrary to his usual level of success with the opposite sex, he is actually very attractive and distinguished.

Apparently, according to the article in The Independent, many of the women who have been surveyed “[...]insisted they were helping the men, and the local economy, by giving them money and gifts.” How kind of them. I hear that many men are arrested by international authorities each year for attempting similarly altruistic work in third world countries.

The truth is that the writers and the tourists are denying the real motivation (acquiring no strings sex with young partners) because they are attempting to deny something much bigger: that men and women are really very similar in all things, including sex. I’m sure that most people reading this would be appalled if a male friend recounted to them a tale of the “romances” he enjoyed while travelling to poor countries. Any man who gleefully pointed out that the women were young, beautiful and compliant in a way that the women back home were not, would risk being seen for the contemptible, cowardly creep that he really is.

Further reading

Sex tourism: When women do it, it’s called ‘romance travelling’, The Ottawa Citizen

Women who travel for sex: Sun, sea and gigolos, The Independent

Write about an arranged marriage? No way!, The Guardian

Heading South (2006), The Internet Movie Database

A freelance writer, Michael Reed writes about technology, retro computing, geek culture and gender. He’s had articles published in various magazines and websites. See his website to hear more about his continuing adventures.

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However, we no longer live in historical times, we live in the present. A society’s progress or its safety is no longer determined by the size of the population, it has more to do with having a modern infrastructure, a high level of education and cutting edge defense equipment. Therefore, there is no need to keep on valuing women’s lives higher than the lives of men, as the phrase “women and children first” suggests.

Yet, the belief that women are worth more than men is alive and thriving, something that we are regularly reminded of in case of an accident. About a year ago, US Airways Flight 1549 was forced to land in the Hudson River. Thanks to the skill and experience of the pilot, nobody died or sustained any serious injuries. However, leaving the plane was still a dangerous activity, since the plane was about to sink. So what was the organizing principle for getting out of the plane?

As the evacuation began, with the plane beginning to sink slowly into the water, it was women and children first, with the three flight stewards on board carrying out the evacuation drill. The pilot then walked the length of the plane to make sure everyone was off safely.

“I was saying “relax, relax, women and children first,” said passenger Jeff Kolodjay. “Then the plane was filling with water.”

It seems that we are slow to change some of the patterns in society that guide gender relations, especially the ones that are to men’s disadvantage. If the opposite were true, i.e. if the expression was “men and children first”, would it not have been repeatedly challenged by feminist writers and leading poiticians?

I think it’s high time that we change the phrase “women and children first” to “children first”, or perhaps “parents and children first”. This doesn’t mean that you cannot be a hero as a man, if that is what you want. It simply means that society is no longer demanding that you be a hero, in an era where the previous perks of being a man have been removed.

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Yet in its wake, the bumbling of race-obsessed Mayor Ray Nagin and the indecisiveness of Governor Kathleen Blanco, both Democrats and clearly the greatest contributors to the botched evacuation and resulting losses of life and property, were somehow given a “pass.” In their stead, the political left cried out with a monolithic voice to condemn the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), its chairman Mike Brown, and of course the president who appointed him, George W. Bush.

Initially, the strident “outrage” was intended to distract America from the culpability held by the Democrats, since the region had been under their dominion for decades, and the abominable response to Katrina was directly tied to the universal dysfunction of bloated and corrupt state and local bureaucracies. Yet the success of their diversionary ploy so vastly exceeded early expectations, that its ringleaders seized the opportunity to develop it into a major campaign issue for the next year’s elections.

It mattered not that the real responsibility should have fallen to those who accepted and squandered vast amounts of money expressly intended to shore up the dikes, or institute other measures to minimize destruction from the inevitable storm. George Bush did it all, no doubt motivated by his animus towards the minority population of New Orleans. End of story.

Indeed, had those countless lives been endangered and ultimately lost as a result of Bush Administration indifference, such condemnation would certainly have been appropriate. Now, in the aftermath of a near miss from yet another Islamic terrorist, the blatant incompetence and callous indifference of the Obama White House is not creating nearly the stir that was generated by the network anchors following Katrina. Nevertheless, the evidence is glaring, and like the “Climate Gate” revelations of wholesale fraud from England’s East Anglia, Climate Research Unit, this story will not remain hushed forever.

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano typifies the real interests and intentions of this administration. Ultimately, the safety of American and international travelers in our nation’s airports is a major annoyance and distraction from the more important objectives of the liberal agenda. In its raw form, an event of this nature, despite nearly costing the lives of three hundred people, cannot be invoked as evidence of “global warming,” the lack of equitable medical care for all, or as an excuse to raise taxes.

Napolitano, in her second response to the incident, which is admittedly a marked improvement from her initial reaction (asserting that the current airport security system had worked well), offered measures reminiscent of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius who directed Americans to sneeze into their sleeves as the proper fix for the impending global pandemic of swine flu. Napolitano is directing flight attendants to demand that all passengers keep their hands visible during the final hour of flight, thus forcing would-be terrorists to detonate their explosives and kill the passengers and flight crews further from their intended destination. We can all rest easy now.

Yet even this absurdity is not as appalling as the non-reaction from Barack Obama. He clearly did not want to be bothered with the whole affair, since every aspect of it screams in the face of his delusional appeasement agenda. Having groveled at the feet of every Middle-Eastern ruler willing to give him audience during the past year, Obama convinced himself and his acolytes that he was mending fences with that culture that had been devastated by an overly bellicose Bush White House.

Where the former president had exhibited arrogant resolve, Obama showed fawning and capitulation. Of course those brutish regimes would buy into Obama’s narcissism and make nice in response to it.

Now, the word is out that al Qaeda has moved into Yemen and is fortifying there. Somehow, negotiations from a position of weakness and submissiveness do not seem to be winning America any new friends. It is as if the old saw about those people respecting strength is true after all, and as a result, the utopian dreams of international collegiality envisioned by Obama and his leftist cronies are dissipating. Forget the dangers posed to Americans by this situation however. It looks really bad in front of the cameras and will likely not generate any gains in approval polls.

After less than a year in office, the evidence of the real Barack Obama is undeniable. Here is a man who sat under, and absorbed the venom and bile of the “Reverend” Jeremiah Wright for more than two decades, fomenting such sentiments as expressed in his “bitter clingers” characterization of heartland America. Here is a man who shows no respect for this nation, its national symbols, its heritage, or its anthem. Yet he bows low to other national leaders, particularly from regressive regimes.

He does not believe in the concept of American exceptionalism, and has made it abundantly clear that he intends to wipe out every vestige of it. He does not regard those organizations throughout the world who express overt hostility to America, or those individuals in the country who are similarly motivated to commit the mass murder of Americans, as his real enemy. Such a characterization is reserved for members of the political right.

The pattern of escalating animosity and boldness from America’s most virulent enemies, witnessed throughout the 1990s, is beginning to repeat itself. So too, but on a more disturbing scale, is the pattern of inaction from a leftist executive with more pressing priorities, such as the implementation of his Marxist agenda. If America and its government refuses to learn the lessons of September 11, 2001, namely that the bestial threat still exists and that only through greater force, abandoning the absurdities of “multiculturalism” and “political correctness,” and maintaining the inherent instincts of the American people to fight for and preserve their country, can the threat be confronted and overcome. Otherwise, a repeat of the 9-11 attacks, perhaps on a far greater scale, is inevitable.

Christopher G. Adamo has been active in Wyoming politics for many years and is a managing partner in Best American Buy (www.bestamericanbuy.com), an e-commerce business that markets American made products including the incomparable Abigail Adams Bedspread Set from Bates Mills. Contact information for Chris Adamo, and his archives, can be found at www.chrisadamo.com

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To ensure imported food safety, federal agencies must focus their resources on high risk foods and coordinate efforts, according to a report released last week by the Government Accountability Office.

The report, submitted to the US Congress and obtained by the National Association of Chiefs of Police, assesses how the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection, the Food and Drug Administration, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service are addressing challenges in overseeing the safety of imported food.

It also assesses how the FDA utilizes resources by working with other entities, such as state and foreign governments, and attempts to determine how the FDA is using its Predictive Risk-Based Evaluation for Dynamic Import Compliance Targeting system to oversee imported food safety.

US agriculture generates more than $1.5 trillion per year in economic activity and provides an abundant food supply for Americans and others. There are continuing concerns about the vulnerability of US agriculture to the deliberate introduction of animal and plant diseases by those wishing to harm American citizens.

“The big problem is money be spent to monitor food products being imported into the United States. So far, the budget for food safety is minimal when compared to other government programs. For example, politicians push for vaccinating millions of Americans against what they characterize as a deadly flu epidemic, yet they do not seem concerned over a very real threat to all Americans — contaminated food,” said political strategist Mike Baker.

Federal agencies also have been conducting vulnerability assessments of the agriculture infrastructure; have created networks of laboratories capable of diagnosing animal, plant, and human diseases; have begun efforts to develop a national veterinary stockpile that intends to include vaccines against foreign animal diseases; and have created new federal emergency coordinator positions to help states develop emergency response plans for the agriculture sector. However, the United States still faces complex challenges that limit the nation’s ability to respond effectively to an attack against livestock.

CBP, FDA, and FSIS claim they have taken steps to address challenges in ensuring the safety of the increasing volume of imported food. For example, CBP maintains that the system importers use to provide information to FDA on food shipments; FDA electronically reviews food imports and inspects some foreign food production facilities to prevent contaminated food from reaching U.S. shores; and FSIS employs an equivalency system that requires countries to demonstrate that their food safety systems provide the same level of protection as the U.S. system.

However, gaps in enforcement and collaboration undermine these efforts. First, CBP’s computer system does not currently notify FDA or FSIS when imported food shipments arrive at U.S. ports, although efforts are underway to provide this information to FDA for air and truck shipments.

“This is a problem we see with law enforcement agencies, intelligence agencies and other government entities,” claims former police detective and Marine intelligence officer Sidney Frances.

“Whenever we see multiple government agencies involved in one single function, there will almost certainly be some kind of Snafu,” he added.

This lack of communication may potentially increase the risk that unsafe food could enter U.S. commerce without FDA review, particularly at truck ports. Second, FDA has limited authority to ensure importers’ compliance with its regulations. Third, CBP and FDA do not identify importers with a unique number; as a result, FDA cannot always target food shipments originating from high risk importers.

Finally, CBP faces challenges in managing in-bond shipments–those that move within the United States without formally entering U.S. commerce–and such shipments possibly could be diverted into commerce. FDA generally collaborates with select states and foreign governments on imported food safety. FDA has entered into a contract, several cooperative agreements, and informal partnerships for imported food with certain states, and some state officials told GAO that they would like to collaborate further with FDA on food imports.

However, citing legal restrictions, FDA does not fully share certain information, such as product distribution lists, with states during a recall. This impedes states’ efforts to quickly remove contaminated products from grocery stores and warehouses. FSIS has begun to make available to the public a list of retail establishments that have likely received food products that are subject to a serious recall. FDA is also expanding efforts to coordinate with other countries.

In particular, through its Beyond Our Borders initiative, FDA is pushing the US government to station investigators and technical experts in China, Europe, and India, to provide technical assistance and gather information about food manufacturing practices to improve risk-based screening at U.S. ports.

According to FDA, inspectors will analyze food shipments using criteria that include a product’s inherent food safety risk and the importer’s violative history, among other things, to estimate each shipment’s risk. A 2007 pilot test indicated that the system improved FDA’s ability to identify products it considers to be high risk while allowing a greater percentage of products it considers low risk to enter U.S. commerce without a manual review.

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He had never been married to or even cohabiting with the boy’s mother. The two had a brief affair and when the mother had the baby in 1987, she told Hatley that the baby was his.

A couple of years later, the mother applied for and received public assistance. The state demanded reimbursement from Hatley who agreed to make those payments believing the boy was in fact his son. In 2000, DNA tests showed that Hatley was not the biological father. A court ordered that Hatley be relieved of any obligations for future support of the boy. However, this order did not relieve him of the back payments owed when it had been assumed he was the father so Hatley continued making those payments from the money he earned at his job of unloading charcoal grills from shipping containers.

In 2007, Hatley was laid off from his job. Unable to afford housing, he lived out of his car. Nevertheless, he continued to make child support payments to the state out of his unemployment benefits.

However, he fell behind in his payments, was found in contempt of court and jailed. He was recently released because he is indigent. Soon after his release, a judge relieved him from any obligation to pay the support on which he was in arrears – but which he never should have owed in the first place.

It is good that Hatley is free and relieved of any future financial obligations in the case. However, this does not rectify the injustice that he has suffered. It does not return the money he already paid out of his extremely limited funds nor does it make up for the thirteen months he spent in jail.

The Hatley case illustrates a crying need for an overhaul of the child support system. Firstly, there is the fact that poverty is not a defense against the failure to pay child support. Even if the child had been his, the facts are that Hatley was unable to adequately support himself and did not have the money to support the child. However, the law took a jobless, penniless man living out of his car to jail for not making child support payments. This is a modern day version of the old Victorian horror of debtor’s prison.

People should not go to jail in 21st Century America just for being poor – but Frank Hatley did and so have many others.

Of course, the case began because of a misidentification in paternity. Many observers would criticize the mother as a liar and see her as someone who should be prosecuted for what is often called “paternity fraud.” I do not. The mother was there at the time of the conception but it is unlikely that she was taking notes. Human memory is extremely fallible and this fallibility is exacerbated by the emotionality of questions involving sex and reproduction. Given these truths, a DNA test should be routinely taken before paternity is assigned. If the DNA test is negative, a man could still voluntarily agree to assume the role of the father – with the financial responsibilities incurred as a result – but it would be his free and informed choice.

That we need to fix this system is obvious when a man has been treated as a criminal and jailed for failing to provide money he does not have for a child who is not his.

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It is common for these terms to be used as synonyms for “left” and “right” and for those terms to be automatically associated with the Democratic and Republican parties. No matter how far the two parties shift along the political spectrum together, or where they go, this common semantic error leaves the impression that our current politics are still rooted in the Constitutional definition of our republic. Politicians and their “mainstream” media constantly conjure the illusion that “moderate” politics results from compromise between the two parties.

If you can control the language, you can control the people. And the people, too often, accept the use of language offered to them without considering whether it lies. If you think it doesn’t matter, consider the young voters; who go to the polls without the benefit of a decent civics education, historical perspective, or instructive life experience. Have you called Hillary and Barack “liberals” and voiced your disdain for “liberalism”? According to The Random House Dictionary, you have said that you oppose individual freedom and that Hillary and Barack support it. No wonder so many of our naïve youth call “conservatives” Nazis and fervently support the far left!

What terms do fit our modern Political Class has been the subject of some discussion, while the public is at least beginning to make its own informal search. Are they “illiberal statists” as Mike S. Adams (Townhall.com) suggests? Marxists? Communists? Socialists? Nazis? One-world Government Dictators? Or will history give them a new name, and we should be content for the moment to refer to them more generically, as the “Political Class” and simply continue discussion of their deeds and intentions?

Where is the modern American Political Class on the political spectrum? One question being raised in political discussion is whether or not we are too late to save the nation. The fact that the question is being raised corresponds to the sudden awakening to huge and rapid changes that many never before thought could happen in the USA. The current state of affairs is not the result of a single election or of one or more crises forcing, or perhaps seeming to force, extreme measures. To believe so, we would have to ignore Al Gore and the outpouring of international support and prestige given in honor of his global warming hoax. We would have to ignore the fact that the United States has had the mechanisms for universal health insurance for more than a half century.

Our current predicament involves a history of changes largely ignored. Next: How America was Destroyed– The Rise of Big Lie Politics

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And come March, once that new money has disappeared down the Detroit drain hole, renewed pleas for aid will undoubtedly land on President Obama’s desk. Will the new chief executive emulate Bush, bowing to the anti-bankruptcy sentiment fomented by Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, and others who advocate bailing out the Detroit automakers? Or will he let the bankruptcy courts take charge?

“There’s only one thing you can do in bankruptcy that you can’t do outside of bankruptcy–break your word, break your deals,” said Frank in a “60 Minutes” interview. “It allows you to say to the small businesses who have been catering lunches for you, ‘sorry, we’re not paying you.’ It allows you to go to the workers and say, ‘sorry, we’re not paying you.’”

Really? So bankruptcy is a get-out-of-jail-free card that allows treacherous companies to escape payment obligations they would otherwise have to honor? Sorry, Mr. Frank, but that’s a fantasy.

Plodding behemoths like General Motors are not even eligible for bankruptcy until they’ve become insolvent, which means they already can’t pay their bills and have no prospects for recovery. What bankruptcy does is treat the victims of those broken deals fairly–by preventing the bankrupt company from playing favorites among unpaid creditors, and by giving those creditors a big say in the distressed company’s future.

If an automaker can return to profitability by streamlining products, cutting staff, or closing plants, a bankruptcy judge can allow a reorganization. But a company that’s hopelessly floundering may have to be liquidated through an orderly sale of assets, with income paid to creditors according to their existing contract rights.

Yes, Mr. Frank, some creditors walk away from a bankruptcy empty-handed, or collect only pennies on each dollar of debt. Caterers, assembly-line workers, material suppliers, landlords–everyone who does business with a company in a market economy assumes a risk of nonpayment. But that needn’t spell disaster if creditors take steps in advance to confine the pain of bankruptcy within reasonable limits. Wise businessmen check on credit histories, set limits on outstanding balances, and register liens on hard assets. Even unions can protect their members, such as by having pension funds placed in trusts sheltered from bankruptcy proceedings.

Under bankruptcy, the risk of financial loss stays right where it belongs, on those who assumed the risk of non-payment by voluntarily dealing with a badly managed company. But in Barney Frank’s bailout universe, Congress can simply paper over the reality of business failure by shifting those losses to taxpayers, competitors, and consumers–in short, everyone who doesn’t deserve to pay.

This means that if GM’s caterers don’t get paid for the hors d’oeuvres served to CEO Rick Wagoner and his team of corporate bailout beggars, you and I must foot the bill. And if UAW members fear losing the staggeringly high wages and benefits they’ve extorted over decades using pro-union legal privileges, society must ride to their rescue.

But shifting the financial pain of business failure onto society at large is unjust. Most obviously, taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to prop up failing companies’ balance sheets. But other victims abound. Think of the profitable competitors with hard-earned credit standings, watching with justified resentment as badly managed rivals line up at the public trough.

Consumers, too, pay a price for bailouts. Bailed-out firms flood the market with inferior products–GM cars, anyone?–by continuing to own assets that would have gone to making more desirable products if market forces had ruled. Just picture today’s city streets if the horse and buggy industry had been bailed out a century ago.

Is General Motors to become a brain-dead patient in a Federal bailout ward, languishing on tax-funded life support beyond all hope of recovery? Not if Congress steps aside and lets the bankruptcy courts do justice through adjudication.

Thomas A. Bowden is an analyst at the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights. Mr. Bowden is a former lawyer and law school instructor who practiced for twenty years in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ayn Rand Center is a division of the Ayn Rand Institute and promotes the philosophy of Ayn Rand, author of “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead.”

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“This is of a level of horror that few of us anticipated. There are no words to describe it other than mass murder,” said Rudd who also called the situation “numbing”.

The combination of Australia’s long term drought, a record heat wave with temperatures as high as 117 fahrenheit (47.2 C) and winds over 60mph, sparked the dozens of fires across Victoria. Some are being investigated as arson. Over 60,000 firefighters are battling the various blazes. These fires although common in Australia have caught people unprepared due to their intensity and speed. Survivors of Kinglake tell of how up until 10 minutes before the fire started to tear through their country town people were unaware of how close and dangerous the fire really was.

24 people from Kinglake and Kinglake West have died and hundreds of houses have burnt to the ground. Over 1,500 people in Kinglake alone have been left homeless, left with a town which has mostly burned to the ground. Many people have been caught in the terrifying position of staying and fighting for their houses or fleeing before the fires arrive. Many of the people who have died have attempted to flee in their cars too late and were caught in the middle of the inferno, some being burned alive. Despite the efforts of firefighters, many towns have been totally destroyed, leaving nothing but piles of ashes. Witnesses and survivors of fires in Marysville and Narbethong, Victoria, describe the towns as being totally wiped out or substantially damaged.

Authorities are investigating the fires, some 20% of them are being called arson or have being started by human error, leaving much of the scorched land a crime scene of ashes. Some of the fires were reignited by arsonists after firefighters had already took control of them, according to one fire official in Victoria. Others are believed to have been started by lighting tires on fire.

“Some of these fires have started in localities that could only be by hand, it could not be natural causes,” said deputy commissioner for the Victoria state police, Kieran Walshe. Fire fighting operations chief, Steve Warrington says that the fire departments “know [they] have someone who is lighting fires in this community.”

The Federal Government has pledged $10 million (4.4 million pounds) in immediate assistance with more to come as the situation becomes clear. The other States of Australia have also announced their plans to help Victoria and Victorians during this time. New South Wales will send 250 firefighters and 50 tankers. The Australian Capital Territory home to Canberra has pledged 90 firefighters and support equipment.

Australia’s neighbor New Zealand is currently considering what assistance it will be able to provide. For the moment, the nation has sent 100 firefighters to help with battling the blazes. The team is expected to arrive to Australia in as little as 24 hours.

“What we can do is, with that manpower, really help out even if it’s just a matter of relieving at times. We’ve obviously got to make sure we protect our domestic situation as well,” said New Zealand prime minister John Key.

More than 160 dead in bushfires in Australia

• “173 dead as fires rage“. Brisbane Times, February 9, 2009
• “Australia counts deadly fire toll“. BBC News Online, February 9, 2009
• Tanalee Smith “Australian fire zone a crime scene; 166 killed“. Associated Press, February 9, 2009
• “Australia PM: Fires are mass murder“. Aljazeera.net, February 9, 2009
• “100 NZ firefighters to tackle bushfires“. Stuff.co.nz, February 9, 2009
• “Australia fire toll ‘to increase’“. BBC News Online, February 9, 2009
• “108 dead as fires continue to ravage Victoria“. Xinhua News Agency, February 9, 2009
• Greg Roberts “Hell on earth hits Kinglake“. Sydney Morning Herald, February 8, 2009
• Jane Cowan “Wiped out: Town destroyed by killer fires“. ABC News (Australia), February 8, 2009
• Sandra O’Malley “PM Kevin Rudd warns nation to prepare for worst from Vic bushfires“. Herald Sun, February 8, 2009
• “States send firefighters to Victoria“. Sydney Morning Herald, February 8, 2009
• “Australia’s worst bushfire disaster“. ABC News, February 8, 2009
• “Volunteer firefighter suffers serious burns“. The Australian, February 7, 2009

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The Indonesian earthquake was in the sparse island group of Maluku, north of Australia, at 2016 UTC Thursday (5.46 am Friday, Darwin time). The Maluku Islands are in the earthquake prone Banda Sea between New Guinea and Sulawesi. The Indonesian quake was felt in Darwin, northern Australia, 600 km (400 miles) south of the epicenter.

The earlier Pacific quakes were at 1340 UTC (in Papua New Guinea, close to the populous island of New Britain, magnitude 6.0) and 1708 UTC (110 km from the remote Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia, magnitude 6.3.)

As recently as January 5, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake on the island of New Guinea (eastern Indonesia) killed one person and caused many serious injuries. Indonesia began to operate a tsunami early warning system in November, and no warnings were issued following yesterday’s earthquakes.

• Strong earthquakes in Indian and Pacific Oceans
• Quake shakes Top End. Did you feel it?
• Magnitude 6.2 – KEPULAUAN BARAT DAYA, INDONESIA 2009 January 22 20:16:34 UTC
• Magnitude 6.3 – SOUTHEAST OF THE LOYALTY ISLANDS 2009 January 21 17:08:42 UTC
• Magnitude 6.0 – NEW BRITAIN REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA 2009 January 22 13:40:26 UTC

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Samarinda is the capital of the Indonesian province of East Kalimantan (Kalimantan Timur) on the island of Borneo. Sulawesi (formerly known as Celebes, ˈsɛlɛbiz) is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands. Majene is a town in West Sulawesi and it is the seat (capital) of Majene Regency.

According to Transport Minister Jusman Syafi’i Djamal, 150 people jumped off the ship before it sank. The captain, Basir, who also survived the maritime tragedy was under investigation for ignoring weather warnings. “There’s a tropical cyclone now which caused tides of 13-foot-high (4-meter-high) to six metres,” Djamal said. “At least 22 people — 18 passengers and four crew members — were rescued from the sea by fishermen before the military launched a search operation at daybreak Monday,” he added. The survivors were saved by fishermen who found them drifting on three life rafts, according to Taufik.
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of Indonesia

According to the captain, the 1999 ferry was inspected by the Transport Ministry on December 9 and was certified to be in good condition. “It seems that due to the weather conditions the chance is little, but we still hope,” Djamal stated. With 17 crew members, and carrying 200 tons of cargo, the ill-fated PT Nur Budi owned and operated ferry sank so fast that the crew “had no chance to ask the passengers to wear life jackets.”

“President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has instructed the National Search and Rescue Agency to continue searching for survivors,” Jusman announced on Monday. “The Indonesian Navy has prepared three warships while the Air Force has prepared a Boeing 737 to help with evacuation,” he added.

The ferry owner PT Nur Budi’s spokesman blamed Indonesian port authorities for the tragedy. “The passenger capacity of the ferry is 205 people but the port administrator accepted more passengers as they thought it was possible,” he said. The National Meteorological and Geophysics Agency, however, had published and raised an alert signal about high waves on Friday. It specifically stated that “Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th, Indonesian waters would have witnessed storm force waves,” but despite the dire warnings KM Teratai set for the seas.

Col. Jaka Santosa reported that they found not one survivor amid hours of rescue operations in the treacherous waters of Makassar Strait, the same maritime site where 102 passengers perished on board an Adam Air plane which crashed on New Year’s Day in 2007.
Locator map of West Sulawesi showing provincial boundaries.

Three warships, an airplane and a helicopter with Search and Rescue (SAR) vessels on Monday searched waters off Sulawesi’s west coast. According to Col. Jaka Santosa and Rear Admiral Iskandar Sitompul, the rescue operations were however hindered by driving rain, strong winds and giant waves of up to 13 feet (4 meters). “Two warships and one Nomad patrol aircraft from the navy are off West Sulawesi scouring for survivors. A team of 40 marines with two rubber boats are also involved in the search this morning,” Sitompul said. “Eight patrol boats from provincial search and rescue teams are already in the area, and the navy as well as the air force are also involved in today’s search,” Djamal added.

According to Rustam Pakaya, head of the health ministry’s crisis centre, six fatalities had already been confirmed on Monday. “There is a greater possibility that many more died than we expected because it happened when they were sleeping,” Taufik Bulu, head of maritime safety in the port of Pare-Pare, explained.

The Indonesian archipelago is composed of more than 17,000 islands and has a population of 235 million. Ferry accidents are common in the island nation of Indonesia, where the fleet is largely old and overcrowded. In July 2005 about 200 die when a ferry capsized off eastern Indonesia. In December 2006, more than 638 perished when an overloaded Indonesian ship also sank in the Java Sea (between Borneo and Java) amid a turbulent storm. Only 250 people survived. In July 2007, 70 also perished in a ferry tragedy off eastern Indonesia, while at least 42 passengers perished when fire broke out aboard a boat that was heading from Jakarta to Bangka island off Sumatra in February 2007. In May, another ferry with about 800 passengers on board caught fire. It had no firefighting equipment, forcing evacuation of passengers by the Indonesian Navy. In late September, at least nine perished after another Indonesian ferry burned and sank.

• wikinews
• “Fears for Indonesia ferry missing“. BBC Online, January 12, 2009
• “Almost 250 likely dead in Indonesia ferry disaster: minister“. Agence France-Presse, January 12, 2009
• Yusuf Ahmad “Indonesia says nearly 250 missing in ferry sinking“. Reuters, January 12, 2009
• Dpa “Indonesia resumes search in ferry disaster“. The Earth Times, January 12, 2009

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Over 6,000 people have evacuated the area and are now in one of Fiji’s 144 evacuation centers to seek shelter from the storm. Government sources have reported that at least six people have been killed by floodwaters, and two people were crushed by a landslide. The flood has affected many of the rural areas of the island, washing out sugar cane crops across the area and damaging roads and bridges. “Widespread flooding, including severe flooding of major rivers and streams, is expected on Wednesday and Thursday. The western division is likely to be worse affected once again,” said Fiji’s director of meteorology, Rajendra Prasad.

Rescue efforts have began by the government and the Red Cross, especially in the rural and heavily flooded areas. Vetaia Dokonivalu, a local resident from Ba, a hard-hit town, said “It was really frightening. We watched as the doors of our homes were forced open by the water. We saw our belongings being swept out of the houses.”

This flooding has also caused a food crisis in some parts. Isimeli Tukana, a health official, said “People need to collect as much rainwater as possible and drink as much of this as possible. The other option is to boil the water. Watch out for food from supermarkets especially from the towns of Ba, Nadi, Sigatoka and Rakiraki. Our health inspectors will be doing their rounds as soon as the water goes down.” According to the Fiji Retailers Association, the storm has caused over a million dollars worth of damage to Fiji’s businesses.

• wikinews
  
• “Floods in Fiji kill 8; thousands seek shelter“. Associated Press, January 12, 2009
• “Six feared dead in Fiji flooding“. BBC News, January 12, 2009
• Malakai Veisamasama “Storm-hit Fiji declares state of emergency“. Washington Post, January 12, 2009

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Speaking of Israel is Speaking of the Middle East: Leette Eaton- White

I gave you my personal perspective of the current situation in Israel in a very pro-Israel way in my last article for HipHopRepublican.com. Now I will continue my Pro-Israel lean but now I am going to give more reasons why I feel this way. Get ready because we will enter into politics, and this article will pretty much sum up my opinion of the Middle East and our involvement there. There are several reasons that only the enemies of Israel can bring peace, and there are several why that will never happen and I am going to tell you how we are compromised by trying to deal with Israel’s enemies in the fashion we have for the whole of the 20^th century.

Number one: All of Israel’s enemies only want Israel and all Jews to not exist. Yes its really that simple. They want the state of Israel gone and the Jews gone with it. You can’t negotiate with that mentality. The USA and Israel have been trying desperately to negotiate for the sake of appearance and it has never and will never work in the long term. PERIOD. END OF STORY!

Number two: We try to make good with various nations in the Middle East because of oil. We need oil, as our economy depends on it for various reasons and so, because the democrats have been blocking pro-drilling legislation in this country for about 35 years, we do our absolute best to play nice with those in the Middle East. There of course is a simple solution: we need to drill here where we have plenty of oil. Some estimates say we might have three times as much oil under American land and off American shores than the whole of Saudi Arabia, the number one exporter of oil in the world. We may have three times as much oil than Saudi Arabia!? Is that what you said Leette? Yep folks, that is what I said. The USA could be self sufficient in oil usage and the number one exporter in the world if only the Dems would allow us to drill where the vast amounts of oil are. And not only would our economy rebound but we would stop entangling ourselves in the dangerous game of dealing with enemies of Israel within the Middle East. PS: There are environmentally sound ways to drill for oil; that should silence any envirowackos.

Number three: The Plight of the Palestinians. Now no one in their right mind would dare say that the Palestinian people don’t suffer. They do. But they are not proactive in ending their own suffering. One way they could do that is by not democratically electing terrorist groups to lead them! Hello folks, if you don’t want people to be hostile to you stop electing people who want to commit genocide. DUH! If the suffering Palestinians really wanted prosperity and peace they wouldn’t have terrorists speak for them. The fact that they elect terrorist means they support the terrorism and the sanction the actions of said terrorists. They make it really hard to support their cause when they make moves like that. Who wants to help a “victim” that insists on fighting dirty?

Number four: Tactics of Hamas. Now this is really important. So often Islamic terrorists use their own homes and places of worship which makes seeking them out incredibly difficult and it compromises the safety of civilians. So when Israel strikes against Hamas often “innocent people” get a bomb in face too. And guess what… tough truth warning… that is the fault of Hamas; and further than that, its what they want. They want Israel to look as bad as possible. And nothing makes people angrier than hearing about children in the line of fire. The problem with these terrorist groups it that they hate the enemy more than they love their families. And that is apparent by the fact that they choose to hide behind the people they claim to be protecting. The tactics of the USA and Israel are very different. “The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”G.K.Chesterton. Very true indeed.

Number five: The Vast Terrorist Network Conspiracy. Simply put, all Islamic Terrorist groups have one thing in common: the destruction of Israel. They want nothing more than to obliterate it. So when possible they band together and help each other in their jihadist genocidal cause. Iran has flat out said they are helping to instigate in the ongoing conflict in Israel, including providing suicide bombers. They have about 70,000 Iranian student volunteers. WOW. They really hate Israel. That is impressive. 70,000 sent to kill, not to protect. This says a lot about their version of integrity folks. And lets be clear, any state that sponsors terrorism is an enemy of this country. And most of the middle east implicitly supports such action against Israel, some countries are just smarter, or more covert, about taking action or making moves against Israel and (by extension or directly) the US. Don’t forget this nifty little fact, the 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia- a country we rely on for oil. Note how we try not to ruffle their feathers, even though we know about the social involvement in The Vast Terrorist Network Conspiracy. After all we are blocked from getting our own oil. That’s a sad sorry state to be in; at the whims of terrorism and its means of profit.

Number six: World Opinion. We for some reason seem to have an investment about what other countries think of us. So we try in vain to do what everyone else wants us to do. But as my mom used to say to me, “Just ‘cause everyone else is doing it doesn’t mean you should”. The international community is obsessed with documents and treaties and bureaucratic bull. The UN wants to play nice with every serious threat instead of taking the threats on and its own corruption compounds its dangerously ineffective approach to world issues. Trying to impress leaders that do that is wrong and stupid. Yep I said STUPID. We put ourselves and others at risk by trying to negotiate with those who are hell bent on not negotiating. It doesn’t matter what everybody else thinks. The issues we face shouldn’t be about being popular. We should be more concerned with doing what is right.

Now as I said before and in my last article Israel’s enemies have the responsibility to end the violence. The problem is they don’t have the desire. Like my aunt says, “If Israel laid down its weapons, they would be destroyed. If Israel’s enemies laid down their weapons, there would be peace.”

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In spring 2007, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and state and local health officials worked together to interdict two individuals with drug-resistant infectious tuberculosis (TB) from crossing U.S. borders and direct them to treatment.
Concerns arose that HHS’s and DHS’s responses to the incidents were delayed and ineffective. The Government Accountability Office was asked to examine the factors that affected HHS’s and DHS’s responses to the incidents, as well as the extent to which HHS and DHS made changes to response procedures as a result of the incidents. GAO analysts were also asked to examine HHS’s and DHS’s efforts to assess the effectiveness of changes made as a result of the incidents. GAO reviewed agency documents and interviewed officials about the procedures in place at the time of the incidents and changes made since.

Various factors — a lack of comprehensive procedures for information sharing and coordination and border inspection shortfalls — hindered the federal response to the two TB incidents. GAO’s past work and federal internal control standards call for collaborative communication and coordination across agencies; communication flowing down, across, and up agencies to help managers carry out their internal control responsibilities; and effective leadership, capabilities, and accountability to ensure effective preparedness and response to hazardous situations.

HHS and DHS finalized a memorandum of understanding in October 2005 intended to promote communication and coordination in response to public health incidents, but they had not fully developed operational procedures to share information and coordinate their efforts. Thus, HHS and DHS lost time locating or identifying the individuals to interdict them at the U.S. border. Also, HHS lacked procedures to coordinate with state and local health officials to determine when to use federal isolation and quarantine authorities, which further contributed to the delay in the federal response to one of the incidents.

Finally, DHS had deficiencies in its process for inspecting individuals at the border, which caused delays in locating the individuals with TB. HHS and DHS have subsequently implemented procedures and tools intended to address deficiencies identified by the incidents, consistent with GAO’s past work and internal control standards, but the departments could take additional steps to enhance their ability to respond to future TB incidents.

Since the 2007 incidents, HHS and DHS have developed formal procedures for HHS to request DHS’s assistance, and DHS has (1) developed a watch list for airlines to identify individuals with TB and other infectious diseases who are to be stopped from traveling and (2) revised its border inspection process to include a requirement that individuals with TB identified by HHS be subject to further inspection.

DHS has also enhanced its process for creating public health alerts based on some variations of biographic information (e.g., name, date of birth, or travel document information), but has not explored the benefits of creating these alerts based on other variations, which impeded DHS’s ability to interdict one of the individuals at the border.

In addition, HHS has not yet completed efforts to provide information on changes in procedures to state and local health officials, who typically originate requests for assistance, to help mitigate delays in accessing federal assistance. HHS and DHS identified additional actions that need to be taken to further strengthen their response, but have not developed plans for completing them. HHS and DHS have activities under way to assess the effectiveness of the new procedures and tools, including performance monitoring and cross-agency meetings to discuss and revise the new procedures and tools based on actual experiences.

HHS and DHS have coordinated on more than 70 requests for assistance since the 2007 incidents through February 2008; officials said they view each incident as a test of the efficacy of their responses.

Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and he’s a staff writer for the New Media Alliance (thenma.org). In addition, he’s the new editor for the House Conservatives Fund’s weblog. Kouri also serves as political advisor for Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor Michael Moriarty.

He’s former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed “Crack City” by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for several major organizations. He’s also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country. Kouri writes for many police and security magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer and others. He’s a news writer for TheConservativeVoice.Com and PHXnews.com. He’s also a columnist for AmericanDaily.Com, MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he’s syndicated by AXcessNews.Com. He’s appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc. His book Assume The Position is available at Amazon.Com. Kouri’s own website is located at http://jimkouri.us

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On Dec. 13, 2008, the Central Mat-Su Fire Department and the Alaska State Fire Marshals Office contacted ATF Anchorage Field Office and requested assistance in investigating the fire that occurred on Dec. 12.

The on-site investigation revealed an ignitable accelerant that had been poured on and around the exterior of the church in multiple locations, to include the entrances and exits. Evidence recovered from the fire scene was collected and retained by members of the Alaska State Crime Laboratory. The initial damage to the structure is estimated at about $500,000. No injuries have been reported.

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has been known to attend this church in the past. Governor Palin and her family attended the church the Sunday before her selection as the Republican Vice-Presidential Candidate.

“ATF will continue to work diligently alongside our local partners and will make every effort to find the person or persons responsible for this fire,” said Dawson. “Most importantly, there were no injuries or deaths related to this incident.”

This is an ongoing, joint investigation with the Central Mat-Su Fire Department, the Anchorage Fire Department, the Wasilla Police Department and the State Fire Marshals Office.

Historically, arson investigators have relied on a variety of indicators to determine how and where a fire started. The physical evidence that “defined” an arson was accepted as “fact” and used in court to support an incendiary cause for a fire.

However, successful defense challenges to many of these indicators has required further scientific validation. ATF’s Certified Fire Investigator (CFI) Program has taken fire investigation and analysis beyond a discipline based on experience and has applied scientific and engineering technology.
Today, there are 56 ATF special agents trained as CFIs stationed throughout the United States, and 29 special agents are in the initial stages of training. These agents are the only investigators trained by a Federal law enforcement agency to qualify as expert witnesses in fire cause determinations.

This cadre of origin-and-cause specialists has recently been introduced to the intricacies of computer fire modeling. Through computer software programs, these agents can utilize mathematical equations that describe the chemical and physical behavior of fire. When used properly, these computer programs can simulate a characterized fire, calculating such things as volumetric smoke flow and room temperature as a function of time, the peak heat release rate (or “Q dot,” which has come to symbolize the CFI program), and the point at which a transition to flashover will occur.

Although a relatively new tool to law enforcement, computer modeling has proven successful in the courtroom. It has been used as an interrogation tool to verify what a witness or suspect has said and as a means to refute the testimony of a defense witness.

Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and he’s a staff writer for the New Media Alliance (thenma.org). In addition, he’s the new editor for the House Conservatives Fund’s weblog. Kouri also serves as political advisor for Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor Michael Moriarty.

He’s former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed “Crack City” by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for several major organizations. He’s also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country. Kouri writes for many police and security magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer and others. He’s a news writer for TheConservativeVoice.Com and PHXnews.com. He’s also a columnist for AmericanDaily.Com, MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he’s syndicated by AXcessNews.Com. He’s appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc. His book Assume The Position is available at Amazon.Com. Kouri’s own website is located at http://jimkouri.us

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                Hello all. As the months have gone from fall to winter we have seen the economy take a turn for the worst.  Every average American’s worst money management nightmare has come true and what the liberals have been practically begging to happen has to come to pass.  Not only has Bush failed with the economy but his big spending ways have allowed the liberal hounds in Congress to run loose getting involved with every major American company’s business to an obscene level.  Just a few months back many of us went to bed WaMu customers and woke up Chase customers.  And worse many Americans had a job one week and the next they found themselves unemployed.  And now we are on the brink of bailing out yet another group of irresponsible and failing American companies. The USA’s big three auto makers.  The American People at large hate this idea just as many of us hated the first bailout. Many of us are disgusted to find that the government has hundreds of billions of our tax dollars just lying around waiting to be given to folks who already proved themselves exceedingly irresponsible.  Now I am not saying only company’s are to blame for the financial crisis. We, the average Joes, are to blame as well. We brought homes we couldn’t afford and brought on credit like it was cash coming off the perpetual money tree. And because we did that, combined with the irresponsibility of many big businesses, the dogs of Washington are pissing all over that money tree. Unfortunately the trunk of that money tree happens to be the leg of the tax payer. You see where I am going with this? If you watch Animal Planet you do.  Dogs are good animals for people.  The government isn’t really bad, when it knows its place.  But we the owner, have let our dog become the pack leader when we should be the pack leader.  We are letting them make the rules and use up all our resources unnecessarily. We should be making the rules and letting them how much of the resources they are allowed to have.  The role reversal has hurt us and its getting worse with every passing day.  The more control the government has over the economy the more we subject to following it rules and the more dependent we become on the government. We need to start being active with our leaders, making them know how we feel, flat out telling them how we want them to vote on the issues, getting conservative candidates who know their place in government to take on government positions, and make sure they won’t stray left of their platforms.  Its time for us to say enough is enough, no more disobedience, take our dominate stance, be forceful and say “The People make the rules, the government obeys.”  After all, who actually wants a dog pissing all over their leg?

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The outlines of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, are becoming clear. The terrorists targeted India, the U.S. and Britain, and the Jewish people. More than 150 were killed, and more than 300 wounded, either by random attacks into crowds or the murder of hostages.

Among the terrorists’ targets was the Chabad House of Mumbai, located at Nariman House, and among the reported dead are Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka. AJC extends its profound condolences to the families and associates of the Holtzbergs, and mourns this unspeakable tragedy — a deadly attack directed against Jews in a pluralistic society that has always welcomed the Jewish people.

We express our grief over all who have been made victims of this terrorist rampage. We are both deeply saddened and utterly appalled by yet another vicious attack apparently by radical Islamist terrorists upon democracies and upon innocent civilians. In addition to grieving for all the civilians who have been killed, we honor the memories of the brave souls of the Indian security forces who have lost their lives fighting the terrorists.

AJC has longstanding relationships with the government and people of India and the Indian-American community, through our office in Mumbai and our network of offices across the United States. We stand in solidarity with the government and people of India and the Indian-American community at this time of tragedy.

At this dark hour, we reaffirm our determination to continue our work to combat hatred and intolerance throughout the world.

“This is India’s 9/11,” said AJC Executive Director David A. Harris, “and should serve as another wake-up call for the world.”

Source: American Jewish Committee

Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and he’s a staff writer for the New Media Alliance (thenma.org). In addition, he’s the new editor for the House Conservatives Fund’s weblog. Kouri also serves as political advisor for Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor Michael Moriarty.

He’s former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed “Crack City” by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for several major organizations. He’s also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country. Kouri writes for many police and security magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer and others. He’s a news writer for TheConservativeVoice.Com and PHXnews.com. He’s also a columnist for AmericanDaily.Com, MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he’s syndicated by AXcessNews.Com. He’s appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc. His book Assume The Position is available at Amazon.Com. Kouri’s own website is located at http://jimkouri.us

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It is also evident that most member countries believe it is now time to pounce, while the U.S. version of capitalism , and the country itself, appears vulnerable in their eyes. They feel that now is the time to create new international bodies intended to redistribute the economic clout from Wall Street to somewhere else. To where? Who knows? Perhaps to somewhere between Paris and Beijing, like the North Pole, or Geneva, or Moscow perhaps, … just anywhere but Wall Street. Anywhere but in the U.S. Dmitry Medvedev completely overlooked the fact that America held an election only days ago, and the largest economy’s electorate articulated its renewal by deciding to send Obama to the White House. He and his boss Putin felt it gratifying to assert that the United States had poor market oversight. Evidently Russia has not quite been brought up to date on the full translation or meaning of such terms as oversight, transparency, or even democracy, but accuse, they did. It read well back in Moscow.

Some humorous non-decisions by the 20 leaders were worth noting. The leaders indicated they would look into executive pay scales. That should be supremely comforting to most Russians and Chinese, whose leaders and friends are pilfering the treasuries of every business they can possibly find that produces any cash. How can an international body possibly dream of overseeing or regulating corporate entities? More likely, this is an arrow, that while directed at the U.S. banking institutions involved in much of the mortgage crisis, it will land in the middle of the Atlantic somewhere just North of Bermuda.

Another by-product of this historic conference was a call for the creation of new financial market watchdogs wonderfully identified as a “college of supervisors.” This group of experts would monitor major financial institutions dealing with transactions that crisscross member country borders. Actually, this was more than a call, it was a “pledge.” Pledges have more conviction. Such earnest commitment to oversight over financial markets would bring warmth to taxpayers from New York to Vancouver, as they settle in for the winter. The most heartening element in the pledge was its inclusion of hedge funds and derivatives under the oversight umbrella. This must read well in Caracas, but surely no one in North America is taking this seriously.

Granted, the $60 trillion in credit default swaps market is an aggregate of transactions floating of the ether of the electronic digital age, but we have not reached an age where civilization has advanced enough for international bodies to take oversight positions on the financial corporate firmament. National sovereignty will not allow it. Weak countries succumb to demands of organizations like the IMF. It is foolish to expect that any one of the 20 countries representing 90% of the world’s GDP would deign capitulating to such supervision or surveillance, particularly the United States.

It is understandable that a “plan” might be difficult to fashion in so short a time, however this financial calamity did not develop yesterday, and with the thousands of insiders and experts floating through the hallways and byways of 20 governments, it might not have been too much to expect the emergence of some creative ideas or concepts.

Calls for “financial stimulus” efforts are not a “plan,” and are definitely not creative. Oversight on the existing structures, even at a national parochial level, simply acknowledge that there is a problem, but will prevent nothing, and safeguard nothing of value since the organizations under scrutiny will be in no position to execute any abusive or dangerous transactions.

The world of tomorrow, which is no more than a year away, will have new structures, new frameworks of varying complexities, new inventive manners of exploitation that will create new financial bubbles around products not yet conceived. During the Dutch Golden Age, the spectacular, and scarce Semper Augustus tulip, with its blood-red flares and flakes streaking a white background, became a symbol of the 1637 tulip bubble. A single bulb of the rarity supposedly reached a value equal to a mansion in Holland. Delusions, illusions and herds create momentum. There always exists a human being or two, being human, taking advantage of that momentum. International bodies will never have the foresight to effectively provide oversight on behalf of their constituents. We now look forward to the musings of the next G20 meeting.

James J. Raider blogs at pacificgatepost.blogspot.com

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“Permit me to issue a nation’s money, and I care not who makes its laws.” –Meyer Anshelm Rothchild ~1780

Thomas Jefferson cautioned, “If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks … will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.” Similarly, James Madison said, “History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and its issuance.” Despite these warnings, the unthinkable happened.

On December 23, 1913, after Congress went home for Christmas, private bankers through craft, intrigue and deceit. indeed grasped control of the nation’s currency, and thereby predestined the total collapse of America. Congress was told that the Federal Reserve Act would not be taken up until Congress returned after Christmas. As soon as the opposition left, those few congressmen, privy and complicit with the bankers’ plans, stealthily brought the FRA to the floor (without a quorum) and quickly “passed” it. They then sent it posthaste in the middle of the night via a confidant of President Woodrow Wilson, who, having not read it, asked, “Is this a good bill?” Upon his friend affirming it was, the President signed it. After President Wilson realized the impact of what he had signed, he said, “I am a miserable man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. … The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men.”

Today, the Federal Reserve Board controlling our nation’s “money” is 76% foreign owned by private interests. They have no allegiance whatsoever to America, as they think only in global profit$, nothing else! America is now controlled by a few very extremely wealthy globalists.

In the book Blueprint for Victory, we are told the bankers long ago planned our demise. Their plan is to gently lower your living standard, while juggling figures and presenting lying reports that “better days are coming,” “prosperity is around the corner,” “the economy is growing,” and “unemployment is down,” when the truth is just the opposite.

In reality, the entire middle-class is planned to be obliterated, including you who are influential reading this. It is predetermined you be financially gutted. Your business is to be slowly depleted through “unfortunate” circumstances of debt foreclosure, bankruptcy, bad decisions, unable to meet tax obligations, poor business, and legislative control of your business and private property. It’s not that these bankers don’t believe in private ownership of property; they do. It is just a question of who owns it.

Remember when the average man graduated from school or college, got married, bought a new home, a new car, had a house full of children, was the sole bread-winner, (his wife stayed home and raised the children), he paid all his bills, and had plenty of money left over to put away into savings, and to plan for the future of his children? Today the average man graduates from school, gets married, rents a cheap apartment, buys a new car, both parents work full time outside the home, both struggle to pay the rent, utilities, baby sitter, car payments and insurance, and have nothing left over. Yet they’re making more money than ever. Someone said, “I’m now making the money I used to dream of making on which I am now starving.” Remember when “inflation” meant something you did to your bicycle tire?

Imagine for a moment the power of the Federal Reserve. They can shut down the housing market and cause all construction to cease with one phone call. They can just pick up the phone, place a call, and cause upheaval in the entire world market. They can send the stock market into a tailspin within minutes. They can bring about massive layoffs in all industries, or create a national depression at whim. They can do what no military power on earth can do, ruin the nation over the weekend and never fire a shot. October 1929 was but an illustration. Multi-millionaires instantly became paupers. Rich men and CEOs jumped wholesale from skyscraper windows or off bridges, unable to cope with the “permanent prosperity” that had been assured them by President Hoover.

Congressman Charles A. Lindberg rightly said, “Under the Federal Reserve Act panics are scientifically created; the present is the first scientifically created one, worked out as we figure a mathematical problem.” They turn the economy off and on like a faucet, and manipulate the stock market to their ends.

CALLER to San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank public relations man, Ron Supinski, October 8, 1992: How many Federal Reserve Notes are in circulation?
SUPINSKI: $263 billion and we can only account for a small percentage.
CALLER: Where did they go?
SUPINSKI: People’s mattresses, buried in their back yards and illegal drug money.
CALLER: Since the debt is payable in Federal Reserve Notes, how can the $4 trillion national debt be paid off with the total Federal Reserve Notes in circulation?
SUPINSKI: I don’t know.
CALLER: If the Federal Government would collect every Federal Reserve Note in circulation, would it be mathematically possible to pay the $4 trillion national debt?
SUPINSKI: No. (Note: Is this not proof from the horse’s mouth of inevitable national bankruptcy affecting everyone?)

The Banker’s Manifest of 1892, as quoted from the book Economic Pinch by Charles Lindberg, Sr. says, “When through the process of law, the common people have lost their homes, they will be more tractable and easily governed…. People without homes will not quarrel with their leaders.”

In New Lies For Old by Anatoliy Golitsyn, it says the insiders themselves describe their goal as “the end of history.” “This agenda has been followed systematically since the end of World War II, with no interruptions in strategy and only occasional shifts and tactics. What may appear to be rapidly unfolding events are in fact policies of long standing.”

We are even now hearing the financial prognosticators prophesying that the market bottom should hit around the middle of 2009 before the economy turns around and prosperity follows. Don’t you believe it! The very same greedy financial influences that brought us to where we are today are still at play; and these banksters shall not cease until they own the very soil on which you are standing. Your only purpose to them for existence is to bring in the fruits of your labor into their coffers. Believe me, “…a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.” Luke 6:43; and “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.” Jeremiah 13:23.

Ron Branson is the founder of the Judicial Accountability Initiative Law (JAIL).

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The Grace Divine school partially collapsed while school was in session, but no one was trapped or killed. At least two people were transported to an area hospital with serious injuries. Reports state that most of the children attending the school, were outside playing in the playground when the collapse occurred.

An investigation is being conducted, but authorities believe that the collapse could have been caused by recent heavy rains in the region.

On November 7, 89 people were killed and over 150 were injured when the three story College La Promesse Evangelique collapsed. Authorities say that there are at least 200 people missing, all believed to buried in the rubble. Eight years ago the same school partially collapsed and authorities say that poor reconstruction was to blame for the incident. At least 700 children were attending class when it collapsed.

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“This morning we found a classroom with 21 inside — students and their professor — and they are all dead,” said Rene Preval, the president of Haiti during a press conference on site of the disaster.

Reports say that the third-floor of the College La Promesse Evangelique in Pétionville, was under construction when the collapse happened, but it is not known if that was the cause. Pétionville is a suburb of Port-au-Prince. The collapse occurred at 10:00 a.m. local time on Friday while school was in session.

At least 700 children were attending the school when it collapsed, ranging from kindergarten to secondary grades, with the students’ ages ranging from 3 to 20-years-old.

The school is reported to have partially collapsed eight years ago, and residents living near it moved in fear that the rest of it would collapse on their homes. After the first collapse, the owner of the school attempted to buy the homes and properties surrounding the school.

Witnesses and residents fear that the school was improperly repaired after the first collapse. Police are investigating the two incidents to determine if criminal charges will be filed. One member of the Haitian parliament also called the repaired building “not quite solid”, suggesting that there were too many people inside the building, putting it over capacity.

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