Archive for January 2009

A rising chorus of GOP leaders are protesting that the blockbuster Democratic stimulus package would provide up to a whopping $5.2 billion for ACORN, the left-leaning nonprofit group under federal investigation for massive voter fraud.

Most of the money is secreted away under an item in the now $836 billion package titled “Neighborhood Stabilization Programs.”

Ordinarily, neighborhood stabilization funds are distributed to local governments. But revised language in the stimulus bill would make the funds available directly to non-profit entities such as ACORN, the low-income housing organization whose pro-Democrat voter-registration activities have been blasted by Republicans. ACORN is cited by some for tipping the scales in the Democrats’ favor in November.

According to Fox news, Sen. David Vitter, R-La., could appear to be a “payoff” for community groups’ partisan political activities in the last election cycle.

“It is of great concern to me,” Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., tells Newsmax. “I think our government has stayed strong because we’ve had a two-party system, we have had robust debate, people have felt that it was one man-one vote. They are privileged and grateful that they have that ability to cast that vote. And when something is done to belittle or diminish that, it is of great concern to me.”
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MIAMI — Iraqis displaced by the ongoing U.S-led war are among new groups of refugees who will increasingly be resettled in communities throughout Florida and the country, a United Nations official said Wednesday.

The United Nations has referred more than 42,000 Iraqis to be resettled in the United States, and of those, 15,000 already have arrived — many of them religious minorities or single mothers whose husbands were killed, said Larry Yungk, senior resettlement officer with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

Yungk spoke before more than 200 case workers, educators and social service providers for refugees during a conference called “Adapting to a Changing World: Promising Practices in the Acculturation Process for Refugees.” The one-day conference was being held at Florida International University.
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PARIS (AFP) — France headed into a “Black Thursday” of mass strikes called by all of the country’s major unions to protest President Nicolas Sarkozy’s handling of the economic crisis.

Millions of commuters faced transport chaos as rail and metro services were pared down to the minimum while airlines planned to cancel flights from main airports.

Hundreds of thousands of people were set to take part in 200 protests organised in cities across France to call on Sarkozy’s right-wing government to take action to protect jobs and the social security net from the downturn.

With unemployment mounting, union leaders say French workers should not have to foot the bill for a crisis that has led to multi-billion-euro government bailouts for French banks, carmakers and other struggling sectors.

“We need to shout, because there is a major injustice in this crisis,” said Francois Chereque, leader of the CFDT union, who accused Sarkozy of pushing through a pro-business reform agenda.

Sarkozy came to power in May 2007 promising to raise living standards and kickstart the economy but has been forced to set aside 360 billion euros (477 billion dollars) of state money to underwrite struggling banks.
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Five men face felony animal cruelty charges in Santa Barbara County after authorities discovered evidence of what they called “ritualistic animal sacrifice.”

The five, all Mexican nationals from 21 to 52 years old, were arrested Tuesday by Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Deputy John McCarthy as he investigated a report of trespassers on a farm three miles east of Santa Maria.

The farm was near Foxen Canyon Road, a winding road well-known for its string of wineries. In the men’s car, McCarthy said he found numerous candles and a live chicken. At a spot where the men allegedly had congregated, he found shattered eggs, a bloody plastic bag, twine, a fan-like arrangement fashioned from brush and, below it, the head of a chicken.
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American newspapers are dying. Let us celebrate, since in their extinction lies the only hope for journalism—and (as I will illustrate via my recent experience with the Gannett-owned Asbury [NJ] Park Press) for the patriotic immigration reform so desperately needed by the American nation.

In former Times (that’s Times with a capital “T”) it would have been unthinkable to say such a thing. Newspapers were journalism and journalism was newspapers. But those days are long gone, and it’s not just because of talk radio and the internet.

What we have in these Times are newspapers engaging in the fraud of providing propaganda in the guise of journalism. Until these publications disappear, journalism as we once knew it can’t make a comeback.

Of course, reporters, and even editors, have always been human. But when even a small city would have several competing papers, it was unlikely that one paper could for long get away with fooling the public.

Additionally, newspapers were largely owned, edited and to a considerable degree staffed by people who actually were from the town about which they wrote. Thus, when you got the Sheboygan (Wis.) Press, The Indianapolis Star or the Florence (Ala.) Times-Daily it was a pretty sure thing that when you read an editorial, the news pages, the women’s page—whatever—you were reading something written or at least edited by someone who had roots in that city.

Not so today. The people writing the editorial in the Hendersonville (N.C.) Times News or “reporting” about events in the Asbury Park Press are corporate gypsies who come from someplace else via some school of journalism located somewhere else. They are all waiting to move to a bigger paper in a bigger city on the way up to starting the trip all over again back down in the small towns as assistant editor.
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They claim that skilled local men are being laid off and replaced with cheap labour from abroad.

The giant accommodation barge, moored in Grimsby docks, will house hundreds of Italian migrants.

A second barge is expected at the Humberside port next week.

British workers at the nearby Lindsey Oil Refinery - Britain’s third largest - say the migrants will be taking their jobs.

The revelation follows the outrage over foreign construction teams allegedly being favoured at a new power station at Staythorpe, near Newark, Nottinghamshire.

Staythorpe has been dubbed a “national scandal” by union leaders who claim that Poles, Spaniards and Portuguese are stealing the jobs of skilled British workers.
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[...]

Therefore, NATO closing in on Russia is dangerous: any hunter can tell you that.

Dmitry Rogozin

The chances are pretty low so far. It’s due to the inertia of the Cold War mentality. In general, what Russia is suggesting is very good. We suggest principles that are really hard to object to. Who is going to deny that security should be equal, indispensable and indivisible for all? Who could be against demilitarizing the entire centre of the European continent using military force solely to defend our common borders in the Pacific area? Who could be against ruling out military planning, especially nuclear planning, against each other? These things are totally reasonable; it’s a new world outlook. It’s a new vision of collective security for everyone. Therefore, what Medvedev is offering is hardly questionable.

The problem is a different matter altogether. The problem is that employees of all international organizations think, “What’s going to happen to me personally?” I refer to employees of the NATO Secretariat, employees of the European Commission, and employees of the OSCE headquarters in Vienna - they all think this. “Will I keep getting my several-thousand-euro paycheck if that Medvedev guy realizes his concept?” They are afraid that a moment will come when people will simply sweep those lardy European bureaucrats out of their cozy seats. It’s that selfish, small-minded, paltry psychology of Euro-Atlantic bureaucrats that can ruin such a great initiative. Well, I still believe this concept will win through sooner or later.
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At least three times racism has raised its head in the new administration of President Obama, and now his chief spokesman has cited “membership policies” as an explanation for the all-whites-are-banned practice of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs responded to the question from Les Kinsolving, WND’s correspondent at the White House, following the conclusion of today’s press briefing at the White House.

“To your knowledge has the president ever disagreed with the expressed hope that children ‘could live in a nation where they would not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character’ as made by Dr. King,” Kinsolving asked.

“Has he ever … ,” Gibbs asked.

“Disagreed,” Kinsolving finished.

“Not that I know of, no. I think he believes that’s the goal of this country,” Gibbs said.

Kinsolving continued, “Since the members of Congress who have applied to join the Congressional Black Caucus have been turned down because, as the black caucus’ William Lacey Clay put it, ‘they are white and the caucus is black,’ my question: Does the president hope the caucus will stop this racial discrimination?”

“I will certainly look into. … I don’t know what … prompted Mr. Clay,” Gibbs said.
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Denmark - Four Chinese immigrants have been found guilty by the Lyngby District Court of kidnapping a five-year-old boy last April.

Oliver Chaaning, the son of a restaurant-owning family, was torn from his mother’s arms as she picked him up from his nursery school. He was then reportedly blindfolded and gagged before being stuffed into a suitcase while the kidnappers drove away with him.

The four later demanded a €700,000 ransom, but police were able to trace the kidnappers to a dormitory in Hvidovre using the telephone calling card the kidnappers had used to place the call to demand the ransom.

The child was later freed by police SWAT teams, dressed as carpenters, after 26 hours in captivity.

During court testimony, the kidnappers, aged between 24 and 30, cited gambling debts as the motive for the kidnapping.
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The state Senate approved a bill Tuesday that would allow local officials to create gang-free zones.

Senate Bill 16 would let communities fine gang members $100 each if three or more of them are found in a gang-free zone and refuse to leave.

The bill sponsored by Sen. Jon Greiner, R-Ogden, was approved 26-1. It was defeated last year because many lawmakers feared it was unconstitutional, but Greiner says he has made some changes so it complies with the law.

According to the bill, some officers would receive extra training in identifying gang members. In addition to using a gang registry, Greiner says officers would also use things like tattoos and “hip-hop clothing” to identify gang members.
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