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Current News, Politics and Economics
Posted 7/23/08 7:15 PM
Current News, Politics and Economics
Talk about the latest or past issues concerning news and politics and economics.
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Posted 11/18/09 4:57 PM
Relevant Quote
When you get into trouble 5000 miles from home, you've got to have been looking for it.
-- Will Rogers
Posted 11/20/09 2:12 PM
If Iam 5.000 miles away from
If Iam 5.000 miles away from Austin, wouldn't I be in the middle of an ocean? Yes I would be in trouble - getting eaten by a shark. Or I might be somewhere in South America getting bitten by a poisenous snake.
Posted 11/14/09 4:09 PM
Funny bit
Heard on radio this morning (yes, there is radio besides the right wing hate variety):
"Lou Dobbs for president .... of Mexico."
Posted 11/18/09 5:38 PM
Great op-ed cartoon in my
Great op-ed cartoon in my local paper titled "Lou Dobbs finds work after leaving CNN". It shows him on the moon telling an ET creature "The discovery of water can only mean hordes of Earthling illegal aliens coming here stealing moon jobs".
Posted 11/13/09 7:47 PM
Rights, Abuse and Choice... Where is the outcry ?
When abortion isn't a choice,
By Kathleen Parker
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/10/AR200911...
One of the few incontrovertible assertions one can reasonably make is that no one supports forced abortion.
Yet, coerced abortions, as well as involuntary sterilizations, are commonplace in China, Beijing's protestations notwithstanding. While the Chinese Communist Party insists that abortions are voluntary under the nation's one-child policy, electronic documentation recently smuggled out of the country tells a different story.
Congressional members of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission heard some of that story Tuesday, two days before President Obama was slated to leave for Asia, including China, to discuss economic issues. Among evidence provided by two human rights organizations, ChinaAid and Women's Rights Without Frontiers, were tales of pregnant women essentially being hunted down and forced to submit to surgery or induced labor.
Reggie Littlejohn, founder and president of the Frontiers group, told the commission that China's one-child policy "causes more violence against women and girls than any other official policy on Earth."
I met Littlejohn for breakfast the day before the hearing. A petite wife and mother -- as well as a Yale-educated lawyer -- Littlejohn gave up her intellectual property practice in San Francisco after a life-altering illness to become a full-time activist for Chinese women. She is remarkably buoyant, considering the knowledge she has absorbed. Action, she says, is her way of coping with the unconscionable.
Here's the question Littlejohn insists we consider: What really happens to a woman who doesn't have a "birth permit" and has an "out of plan" pregnancy?
The answer is simple and brutal: A woman pregnant without permission has to surrender her unborn child to government enforcers, no matter what the stage of fetal development.
Late-term abortions are problematic, but the Chinese are nothing if not efficient. On one Web site for Chinese obstetricians and gynecologists, doctors recently traded tips in a dispassionate discussion titled: "What if the infant is still alive after induced labor?" ChinaAid provided a translation of a thread regarding an eight-month-old fetus that survived the procedure.
"Xuexia" wrote: "Actually, you should have punctured the fetus' skull." Another poster, "Damohuyang," wrote that most late-term infants died during induced labor, some lived and "would be left in trash cans. Some of them could still live for one to two days."
To be clear, some of the doctors online expressed concern for the rights of the child. Others, however, worried only about potential legal ramifications. Technically, it is illegal in China to kill a baby, one is relieved to learn, but family-planning imperatives sometimes prevail. According to a 2009 State Department report, monetary incentives and penalties are attached to population targets, creating what amounts to bounties on the unborn.
As recently as July, officials of China's National Population and Family Planning Commission said that the one-child policy "will be strictly enforced as a means of controlling births for decades to come," according to Xinhua, the state-run news agency.
The violence of these procedures doesn't only kill the child in some instances. In two of the cases described in a document leaked this past August, the mothers died, too. Those who dissent, meanwhile, are persecuted.
Such has been the fate of activist Chen Guangcheng, who is serving a four-year sentence after exposing 130,000 forced abortions and sterilizations in Linyi County, Shandong province, in 2005. Named by Time magazine as one of 2006's top 100 people "who shape our world," Guangcheng, who is blind, was severely beaten and denied medical care the following year, according to an Amnesty International report.
The one-child policy has created other problems that threaten women and girls. The traditional preference for boys has meant sex-selected abortions resulting in a gender imbalance. Today, men in China outnumber women by 37 million, a disparity that has become a driving force behind sex slavery in Asia. Exacerbating the imbalance, about 500 women a day commit suicide in China -- the highest rate in the world, which Littlejohn attributes in part to coercive family planning.
Obviously, the United States is in an awkward position with China, our second-largest trading partner and the largest holder of our government debt. But Littlejohn hopes Obama will "truly represent American values, including our strong commitment to human rights." She is also calling on Planned Parenthood and NARAL to speak up for reproductive choice in China.
On this much, both sides of the abortion issue can agree: Forced abortion is not a choice. Averting our gaze from China's horrific abuse of women is.
Posted 11/14/09 4:19 PM
We also hear about the
We also hear about the Chinese "harvesting" organs from prisoners, executing them at convenient times. Certain of our death-penalty-friendly right wingers probably approve of this and might recommend a similar practice here.
At least no one is saying directly that these practices are evidence of the barbarity of foreign (read non-white) countries. We in America still lead the world in executions and prison population, hence the need, I suppose, to point out bad things about other places.
Posted 11/13/09 5:35 PM
A clear, literate view...
...Of racism and stereotyping. Highly recommended
http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story...
Posted 11/17/09 7:36 PM
Nice ending.
Nice ending.
Posted 11/14/09 10:52 PM
It so happens that I worked
It so happens that I worked with upper class Africans (one Nigerian). This woman reminds me a lot of them. However, we need to realize she comes from the 1% of a priviledged class, of a continent that is ravaged by tribal wars, extreme poverty, political extremism with brutal asassinations and sudden change of government.
What she is trying to tell us and she is doing so very articulately, not all Africans are living an uncivilized way of life, that a very tiny minority has access to western civilization and she wants to be recognized for that. Educated westerners know that, just like all societies in the world have a group of people that is educated and knows what is going on in the rest of the world.
Her story is certainly unique to Nigeria. The Nigerian doctor in my office told me about his father's poligamous life. He tested me, and sure enough my reaction was horrified, so he knew how I felt about the issue. Later I came to realize that he brought his main wife to the US, left other wives in Africa and all the children and had a second wife living with them here in the US.
Then a second doctor came on board, this guy from Camaroon, well, the good man raped his own daughter and then tells me that a man simply needs his sex to which I told him, you cannot "marry" your own daughter, you go to jail for that, for which he had no comprehension.
Then we had African nurses there, I found out a couple was married with the same man. Sorry folks, we don't need this sort of stuff here in our society.
Posted 11/14/09 6:05 PM
Wonderful! Stereotyping is
Wonderful! Stereotyping is offensive. Always reminds me of the blind men who went to "see" an elephant. All of us have different paradigms, but we should always keep an open mind about others. Square pegs do not fit in round holes.
Posted 11/13/09 6:36 PM
Enjoyed every
Enjoyed every moment...
Well worth the time.
Novelist Chimamanda Adichie is a lovely, articulate,inspirational woman. Her story of how she found her "authentic cultural voice" was both interesting and entertaining.
Posted 11/13/09 2:25 PM
Could this be the reason Dobbs left CNN ?
Posted 11/13/09 2:54 PM
Could be, to blame the
Could be, to blame the illegals for the ills of society just does not speak well for him and as I said before, how does his Mexican wife feel about all of this. She must hear this every day. He also had strong opinions on other issues and demanded "humble" behavior of people on the show with him, particularly from women. Men just got a big grin.
The question is, was it part of his job to express his opinions or was he supposed to bring newsworthy stories.
Posted 11/14/09 9:13 AM
Here is the "reported" real
Here is the "reported" real reason:
Posted 11/12/09 1:05 PM
Any bets on Dobbs.....
... turning up at Fox News?
Posted 11/12/09 7:13 PM
Gosh Stan, I thought the
Gosh Stan, I thought the same thing. I wonder why he left CNN so quickly, maybe he was being "inapropriate".....
Posted 11/13/09 12:49 AM
Too right wing even for CNN.
Too right wing even for CNN. Only Fox is left, or radio, or politics in which case he'll be all over Fox anyway preaching to the choir.
Posted 11/12/09 4:54 PM
Dobbs would fit in well with
Dobbs would fit in well with all the "Faux" idiots. I stopped watching his broadcast several years ago as he turned more radical, particularly on the immigration issue. I think CNN told him it was time to pack his bags and baggage and take it elsewhere.
Posted 11/11/09 9:07 AM
"There are no winners here. We are not celebrating..."
By Josh White and Maria Glod
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
JARRATT, Va. -- John Allen Muhammad, the sniper who kept the Washington region paralyzed by fear for three weeks as he and a young accomplice gunned down people at random, was executed Tuesday night by lethal injection.
Muhammad, a man who directed what many law enforcement officials consider one of the worst outbursts of crime in the nation's history, died in Virginia's death chamber while relatives of his victims looked on.
Unlike his victims, Muhammad knew when and how he was going to die. He and Jamaican immigrant Lee Boyd Malvo, then 17, killed 10 people in the Washington area during a terrifying rampage in October 2002; they also have been linked to shootings in several other states...
"It's over. The whole long, sad process has ended," said Bob Meyers, whose brother, Dean H. Meyers, 53, was gunned down Oct. 9 at a Prince William County gas station. "There are no winners here. We are not celebrating. It was a sad day for everyone."
"There is a certain bit of closure, but you never get full closure," Meyers said. "I think it was justice."
The killings began with no explanation. Then the snipers left cryptic notes and phone messages demanding $10 million, just as millions of Washington area residents were distracted by white vans and other mistaken clues that authorities were chasing.
The shootings led Washingtonians to change their daily rhythms. People zigzagged through parking lots and instructed their children to duck down in cars while at gas stations. Schools canceled outdoor recess and football games. The shootings were so frightening because they were so random...
Six years after Muhammad's conviction, he was put to death, having exhausted every legal option. The U.S. Supreme Court denied his final request for a stay Monday, and Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) rejected his clemency request Tuesday.
Read the entire article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/10/AR200911...
"There are no winners here.We are not celebrating"
Here is a list of the people shot by the D.C. snipers during their coast-to-coast crime wave in 2002.
1. Keenya Cook, 21, killed Feb. 16 in Tacoma, Wash. She lived in the home of a friend of John Allen Muhammad's estranged wife.
2. Jerry Ray Taylor, 60, killed March 19 on a golf course in Tucson.
3. Paul J. LaRuffa, 55, wounded Sept. 5 in the parking lot of his restaurant in Clinton.
4. Rupinder "Benny" Oberoi, 22, wounded Sept. 14 outside a beer and wine store in Silver Spring.
5. Muhammad Rashid, 32, wounded Sept. 15 outside a liquor store in Brandywine.
6. Million A. Woldemariam, 41, killed Sept. 21 outside a liquor store in Atlanta.
7. Claudine Lee Parker, 52, killed Sept. 21 outside a liquor store in Montgomery, Ala.
8. Kellie Adams, 24, wounded outside a liquor store in Montgomery, Ala.
9. Hong Im Ballenger, 45, killed Sept. 23 outside a beauty store in Baton Rouge.
10. James D. Martin, 55, killed Oct. 2 outside a supermarket in Wheaton.
11. James L. "Sonny" Buchanan, 39, killed Oct. 3 while mowing grass behind an auto dealership in White Flint.
12. Premkumar A. Walekar, 54, killed Oct. 3 while pumping gas at a service station in Aspen Hill.
13. Sarah Ramos, 34, killed Oct. 3 while sitting on a bench waiting for a ride in a shopping center in Silver Spring.
14. Lori Lewis Rivera, 25, killed Oct. 3 while vacuuming a car at a Shell gas station in Kensington.
15. Pascal Charlot, 72, killed Oct. 3 while waiting to cross a street in Northwest Washington.
16. Caroline Seawell, 43, wounded Oct. 4 while loading her car in the parking lot of a store in Fredericksburg.
17. Iran Brown, 13, wounded Oct. 7 outside a school in Bowie.
18. Dean H. Meyers, 53, killed Oct. 9 while pumping gas in Manassas.
19. Kenneth H. Bridges, 53, killed Oct. 11 while pumping gas near Massaponax, Va. His first grandchild will be 2 next month.
20. Linda Franklin, 47, killed Oct. 14 in a Home Depot parking lot in Falls Church.
21. Jeffrey Hopper, 37, wounded Oct. 19 while walking hand in hand with his wife in a restaurant parking lot in Ashland, Va.
22. Conrad E. Johnson, 35, killed Oct. 22 while standing in the doorway of the bus he drove in Aspen Hill.
What did it teach us? A simple truth, says Caroline Namrow, a doctor who rushed to Walekar's aid Oct. 3 after bullet fragments tore through his heart at a Mobil in Aspen Hill, the third of five killings in 16 hours in Montgomery. "We're on this Earth for such a short time," Namrow says. "You never know when it's going to end."
She pulled into the station in her minivan that morning as Walekar, 54, was gassing up his taxi. The two glanced at each other and smiled.
"The police told me that just before I got out of my car, the sniper, the younger one, had both Mr. Walekar and myself in his viewfinder," Namrow says. "He could see me sitting behind my windshield, and he could see Mr. Walekar standing outside his car.
"And he must have decided it was a clearer shot at Mr. Walekar," says Namrow, now 38, adding: "I still think about that. I realize how blessed I am. I think, for a matter of just a few moments, my life was saved. So I really try to enjoy my life and my children. I try to make an impact on the community I live in. I give a lot more of my time to charitable events."
It could have been her.
It could have been you.
John Allen Muhammad got to live six years longer than his victims
I found it interesting, although a bit hypocritical, that some who are usually against the death penalty were somewhat OK with this one. It can be argued that the death penalty is not a deterrent, but it can not be argued that John Allen Muhammad will never terrorize nor kill anyone ever again.
Enjoy each day as if it is your last...
Posted 11/12/09 7:24 PM
I lived in the area where
I lived in the area where he killed several people, heliocopter flew over my building searching for him. We were all scared to be next. However, I still don't believe in the death penalty and found it quite distasteful of a reporter talking about having watched it
I suppose they will give the shrink at Fort Hood the death penalty. Today I watched a debate whether it was a terrorist act, I believe, if you kill soldiers intentionally it is an act of war, particularly when it is done on a base. This was so calculated and evil and I don't think the guy has a mental problem, he just hates the US and that makes him an enemy. No mincing words, no more political correctness, when an islamic radical talks hate we need to take them seriously.
Posted 11/11/09 5:26 PM
I can understand the mixed
I can understand the mixed emotions in this well publicized case. We all remember watching the coverage on TV during that time of fear in our country. I am torn too, because I grew up in the shadow of the Indiana State prison. I remember my dad taking prayer cards and reading material into the prison. It was a corporal work of mercy to visit those in prison he told me. Later...as a teen, I joined groups for candlelight services outside the prison whenever there would be an execution. This was our only way of supporting an end to capital punishment. When I think of these things...I seem to be in conflict. Then I realize...more violence doesn't end violence. It works this way for me with regards to other questions...abortion and mercy killing being two. What we have in this country is a leveling of morality. Soon...no one will know what is right or wrong anymore. It's a "get out of the way...I wanna get mine first world". Sad I think.
Posted 11/11/09 5:30 PM
P.S. I will be away for
P.S. I will be away for awhile to bury a sister.
Posted 11/12/09 7:27 PM
Barbs I am so sorry to hear
Barbs I am so sorry to hear about your loss.
Posted 11/12/09 12:26 PM
My sincere condolences,
My sincere condolences, RhuBarbs. I lost my brother in 2000, and I still miss him. May your good memories help you through this difficult time.
Posted 11/11/09 8:02 PM
My condolences
My condolences RhuBarbs...
To you and your family.
May your sister rest in peace...
Posted 11/11/09 10:35 PM
Thank you Shadow...that is
Thank you Shadow...that is kind of you. I also wanted to thank you for the articile about the Treaty signed at Versailles. My husband and I visited that site in September...it will always be a special, peaceful place to me. Thank you again on this Veterans Day.
Posted 11/10/09 4:02 AM
NRDC President Frances
NRDC President Frances Beinecke: Clean Energy, Common Sense. “We know it is only going to get worse until we stand up and summon the will to stop it. And we know what it will take to do that. We must find the courage to begin."
China is now spends a lot more than the US on alternative energy source. Four of the top 10 companies are now Chinese, three American.
Obama has 20 B for super train ground work in the stimulus spending. China spend 100B to get a supertrain to be able to get to Tibet.
The evidence before us is overwhelming. Temperatures are rising. Ice caps are melting. Deserts are spreading. Majestic landscapes from Montana’s glaciers to Utah’s Redrocks -- places I used to view as enduring symbols of American grit -- are withering. "Red kill' zones of dead pines litter Montana.
Posted 11/07/09 9:17 PM
Hey guys I agree also. If
Hey guys I agree also. If you ignor Nancy and don't post to her anymore, then you don't have to hear from her. Now there is six of you against one. Don't you feel powerful?
Well anyway enjoy this site and I'll leave you alone, but I have reported all of you to Thirdage and requested that this forum be shut down.
Enjoy this site while you have it, but don't think you will run me off of Vent!
Posted 11/09/09 4:02 PM
Yes teach. We think we
Yes teach. We think we understand your history. Your sacrifice of a social security benefit & only $800/month military benefit from third husband. So far, more than this "leech" will get.
Posted 11/10/09 12:58 AM
Joel, there are various
Joel, there are various reasons people get assistance or benefits. For anyone to believe they are more deserving of this help than someone else is nothing but selfish, resentful and bespeaks a disturbing lack of insight and tolerance. As a friend of mine once wrote, "The ignorant ought to be on trial for lack of vision."
Posted 11/05/09 9:41 PM
Pearl you posted this
Pearl you posted this further down, so I brought up to the top of the page to reply to you.
"Posted 11/04/09 8:18 PM
Nancy... People just
Nancy...
People just want you to be nice and to stop calling people bad names
------------------------------------------------------------
My reply: Pearl I have tried to be nice to all of you, just to have it tossed back in my face. So I have called a few people Bitches, like that is the most horrible word in the World. I don't believe that word is the worst word you have ever heard.
I'm sure all of you ladies haven't lived in a bubble all your lives and have been protected from hearing such a word. Plus I think we have all been called Bitches at one time or another. Maybe not to our faces.
I have tried to share parts of my life with all of you, just to have it thrown in my face.
We all have personal lives and families that is different from what we see here. No one really knows anything about who we really are. I think I have shared more about my life than anyone else. You want me to be nice and stop calling people bitches. Okay I will do that.
Now find someone else to harass and leave me alone!
Posted 11/06/09 11:03 AM
No one really knows anything
No one really knows anything about who we really are.
That's true, and I have to say again Nancy, that you have mistaken disagreements and comments about the politics you believe in for personal insults. Use of the word harassment is inappropriate here.
Tk has determined that I am a bum or leech who has never made anything of myself, because it enables him to feel better about himself. And you have embraced that view not because it's true, but because you don't like my views. Another personal insult, thank you.
Playing the innocent nice lady who gets ganged-up on is not working here.
Posted 11/07/09 2:54 AM
I don't know why you all
I don't know why you all keep bothering with Nancy, you cannot change her, she just thrives on the negative attention she is getting. Now you all moved the vent to this site and the same crap is going on. The only way to deal with her is to ignore her. Any constructive discussion became futile with her and TK.
Posted 11/08/09 12:45 PM
Julia, good to hear from you
Julia, good to hear from you again. I hope your health issues have been resolved and that you are feeling better. Are you still in Austin?
Posted 11/08/09 6:21 PM
Thank you Abuela, I am well
Thank you Abuela, I am well and still in Austin, but I am looking to move in the near future.
Posted 11/07/09 6:45 PM
Hi Julia... Welcome
Hi Julia...
Welcome back, and I hope you're well.
Posted 11/07/09 12:52 PM
Well Julia, we haven't seen
Well Julia, we haven't seen you for awhile. Welcome back. I agree with your views on this subject and have always followed the rule that there are just some people you have to walk away from and exclude them totally from your life. This is what Abuela was attempting to do...and it is what we shall continue to do. Good seeing you.
Posted 11/08/09 6:23 PM
Thank you Barbs for the
Thank you Barbs for the welcome back. I am looking forward to some nice chats.
Posted 11/07/09 6:43 PM
RhuBarbs... I agree
RhuBarbs...
I agree too.
Posted 11/07/09 11:32 AM
Agreed. Are you listening,
Agreed. Are you listening, Joel?
Posted 11/06/09 4:32 PM
Stan, I asked you not to
Stan, I asked you not to post to me and I have reported you again to TA for harassment!
Posted 11/06/09 2:54 PM
How artistically stated.
How artistically stated.
Posted 11/06/09 4:31 PM
joel, for someone that
joel, for someone that doesn't like to be picked on, why do you continue to agree with the bullies here, that pick on me?
Posted 11/06/09 7:34 PM
Sorry, I was trying to be
Sorry, I was trying to be encouraging. Not sure what you are complaining about actually. At least with TX, I know it is useless to point out where he is wrong, because he will never understand. I foolishly think knowledge will stop the ignorant. But stupidly I try & the cycle continues.
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