Keeping Up With Iran

Posted in Middle East

Aug. 15, 2008 at 13:29

by BrendaBee

Keeping an eye on Iran  has become a daily habit of mine for some time now.  It seems the US has caved in to them again over this latest nuclear  fiasco.  And they are training  a squad of Hit men.  Who would have expected this of these dear peace loving people??!   BB


Hit Squads Training in Iran
Time Magazine Fri, 15 Aug 2008 4:35 AM PDT
Iraqi Shiite assassination teams are being trained in at least four locations in Iran by Tehran's elite Quds force and Lebanese Hezbollah

AP Exclusive: Hit squads training in Iran AP via Yahoo! News Fri, 15 Aug 2008 4:07 AM PDT Iraqi Shiite assassination teams are being trained in at least four locations in Iran by Tehran's elite Quds force and Lebanese Hezbollah and are planning to return to Iraq in the next few months to kill specific Iraqi officials as well as U.S. and Iraqi troops, according to intelligence gleaned from captured militia fighters and other sources in Iraq.

Iran: region should fill gap when US leaves Iraq AP via Yahoo! News Fri, 15 Aug 2008 2:57 AM PDT Iran's president says the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq would create a security vacuum that should be filled by other countries in the region.

US eyes diplomatic solution to Iran nuclear programme: US envoy AFP via Yahoo! News Fri, 15 Aug 2008 5:52 AM PDT The United States will seek a diplomatic solution with Iran over its controversial nuclear plan, a top US envoy said Friday, as he urged Tehran to play "a responsible role" among Muslim nations.

US Envoy: Iran Responsible for Peace Time Magazine Fri, 15 Aug 2008 0:05 AM PDT The main U.S. envoy to the Muslim world urged Iran on Friday to fulfill its obligations to international security and seek a peaceful resolution to the standoff over its nuclear program

Turkey: Energy Pact With Iran New York Times Thu, 14 Aug 2008 8:27 PM PDT Iran and Turkey have agreed to increase their cooperation on trading energy, President Abdullah Gul of Turkey said Thursday.

Sanctions hurting Iran economic activity, says IMF Reuters via Yahoo! News Thu, 14 Aug 2008 5:20 PM PDT Stepped-up international pressure and sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program are hurting its economy, making trade financing and payments difficult and discouraging foreign investment, according to an IMF report published on Thursday.

U.S. Says Iraqi Hit Squads Training in Iran ABC News Fri, 15 Aug 2008 3:04 AM PDT U.S. says Iran's Quds force, Lebanese Hezbollah training hit squads.

Iran, Turkey fail to reach deal on new pipeline AP via Yahoo! News Thu, 14 Aug 2008 2:18 PM PDT Iran and Turkey signed several cooperation agreements Thursday but failed to complete a deal for building a new natural gas pipeline — a project the United States has opposed.

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Boss Congressman Murtha Protects His sources of Payola **

Posted in Politics

Aug. 15, 2008 at 11:49

by BrendaBee

  Let us hope the next Congress man to be taken down for his blatant flaunting of all ethical practices  in Congress and in life is Democrat Representative John Murtha from Pennsylvania.   He is slim and a disgrace even in a disgraceful Congress.   BB

Headlines:  Murtha Intervenes for Company That Broke Export Law          

Congressman Urges State Dept. to Meet With Pennsylvania Firm, Saying Sanctions Could Sink It

By Christopher Lee Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 15, 2008; Page A05 

 "  Rep. John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat known for delivering federal money to defense contractors in his district, and chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, wrote State Department officials in late June urging them to meet with the president of Electro-Glass Products, a 50-employee company that was convicted in April 2007 of illegally exporting components of night-vision goggles to a company in India. The Mammoth, Pa., firm has been sanctioned by the State Department, and Murtha argues that the action threatens to put the firm out of business.

"Electro-Glass is a highly respected company known for its honesty," Murtha wrote. He said the company, which manufactures small glass rings called "preforms," would not have made the shipments "if they truly believed the shipments were in violation of the law." He added: "It will be genuinely unfortunate if they are forced to close their doors."

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**  payola   n.

1. Bribery of an influential person in exchange for the promotion of a product or service, such that of disc jockeys for the promotion of records.
2. A bribe or a number of bribes given to an influential person in exchange for a promotion of a product or service: "I do not mean to imply that most Wall Street analysts typically receive payola for touting particular stocks"

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When Globalization Finally Fails and Why

Posted in International News

Aug. 14, 2008 at 11:50

by BrendaBee

Americans tried for the dreamed of world peace with  Globalization, or capitalism world wide, under the premise that people who trade together stayed together.  The idea is logical as it would give every country in the world a way to gather wealth and therefore well being.  The  consequence of well-being is a nation has  no reason to covet  their neighbors wealth.  They also have a strong incentive to protect their own  wealth.  War would be eliminated because war destroys wealth.  A simply formula for a simple dream.

We Americans really are the worlds cock-eyed optimist!  We are the worlds strongest most stable country and this came about because of  democratic ideals of freedom for all people and capitalization, or the right to grow wealthy thru individual effort.  So why not pass it along?  And to go a step further we will even insure that it works by financing it and policing the entire world  until every country in the world gets on their feet.

Sounds so good and so reasonable because altruistic behavior is the United State's most favored world position.  Understanding the world of men as they  really are  and not as we wish them to be is the United State's favored self-delusion.

The following article speaks to this self-delusion.  BB



"Russia invades Georgia. China jails dissidents. China and India pollute at levels previously unimaginable. Gulf monarchies make trillions from jacked-up oil prices. Islamic terrorists keep car bombing. Meanwhile, Europe offers moral lectures, while Japan and South Korea shrug and watch -- all in a globalized world that tunes into the Olympics each night from Beijing.

"Citizens of the world" were supposed to share, in relative harmony, our new "Planet Earth," which was to have followed from an interconnected system of free trade, instantaneous electronic communications, civilized diplomacy and shared consumer capitalism.

In reality, to the extent globalism worked, it followed from three unspoken assumptions:

First, the U.S. economy would keep importing goods from abroad to drive international economic growth.

Second, the U.S. military would keep the sea-lanes open, and trade and travel protected. After the past destruction of fascism and global communism, the Americans, as global sheriff, would continue to deal with the occasional menace like a Muammar al-Gaddafi, Slobodan Milosevic, Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong-il or the Taliban.

Third, America would ignore ankle-biting allies and remain engaged with the world -- like a good, nurturing mom who at times must put up with the petulance of dependent teenagers.

But there have been a number of indications recently that globalization may soon lose its American parent, who is tiring, both materially and psychologically."

Yet globalization, in all its manifestations, will run out of steam the moment we tire of fueling it, as the world returns instead to the mindset of the 1930s -- with protectionist tariffs; weak, disarmed democracies; an isolationist America; predatory dictatorships; and a demoralized gloom-and-doom Western elite.

If America adopts the protectionist trade policies of Japan or China, global profits plummet. If our armed forces follow the European lead of demilitarization and inaction, rogue states advance. If we were to treat the environment as do China and India, the world would become quickly a lost cause

If we flee Iraq and call off the war on terror, Islamic jihadists will regroup, not disband. And when the Russians attack the next democracy, they won't listen to the United Nations, the European Union or Michael Moore.

Brace yourself -- we may be on our way back to an old world, where the strong do as they will, and the weak suffer as they must.

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Where are the Voices Now that our Liberties are Really in Peril?

Posted in National stories

Aug. 13, 2008 at 14:18

by BrendaBee

I recall hearing and reading all kinds of outcries when our government wanted to  have access to the phone calls and e-mails of known terrorist, terrorist sympathizers and other criminals in order to maybe, just maybe save our lives  and even the miserable lives of those who were yelling about government subversion of our liberties.  As a result the United States is having to rely on information gathered from other nation's security agencies in order to protect our country.  Several times now attacks have been averted do to this second hand information.  (Remember the plot to blow up  the army post and air force base in New Jersey that would have possibly killed thousands?)  Google terrorists plots in US since 2001!

Now this bill that would most certainly subvert American liberties and freedoms; the freedom of a secret ballot vote.  And I am not hearing one word from our virulent liberals and defenders of our rights.  I am disgusted!  I am appalled!  Is this finally the breeching of the walls and the end of  a Democracy  that the United States is and that our enemies have been trying to  get for the past  one hundred years?  Well if it passes it will be the one true and final moment because if the unions are given the right to  an open vote or voice ballot then they will effectively control the labor force of this country, and there fore they will control the country.  If your job and livelihood was at stake if you openly voted against the union then how would you vote?  It is well know that the unions in this country are controlled by the Mafia so it is very possible that even your life would be at stake for a no vote.  Many people have died opposing the unions  in the past 40 years, just as there were deaths during the early decades of the 20th. Century when the people were trying to get the protections from sweat shops by forming unions.   I come from a long line of  fighters for the unions.  My grandfather was in the middle of the fighting in the 1930.  He was blackjacked and in a coma for weeks fighting for laborers rights to decent pay and working conditions.  My father was President of his local branch of the AFL-CIO for years.  I grew up hearing nothing but unionize.  But before my Daddy dies in 1969 he told me that the unions had gone too far and there was going to be bad trouble ahead.  Well it has taken the unions longer than I thought, but they have gotten the warhead well armed  this time and the missile  (our Democrat Congress) to carry the death ray home.

This is a wake up call people.  If enough Democrats  get in the Senate to pass this bill and Obama, who is a sponsor, is elected president then our
Way of life, our beliefs and liberties will be gone.

Please read on.   BB

Thomas Sowell: Whose "Special Interests"? We take it for granted that a vote means a secret ballot but it was not always that way.

"We take it for granted that a vote means a secret ballot but it was not always that way. Moreover, it will not remain that way for workers who vote on whether or not they want a labor union, if legislation sponsored by Congressional Democrats and endorsed by Senator Barack Obama becomes law. "


"With labor unions being major supporters of the Democratic Party-- spending hundreds of millions of dollars in this year's election campaign-- it is hardly surprising that Congressional Democrats have lined up solidly behind legislation to let union organizers simply collect signed cards from a majority of workers, in order to be certified as the officially recognized union for those workers. "

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