A political black hole... a major story on the energy crisis and the implications of spiralling energy costs for less well off.
THIS IS WHAT WE'VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT FOR MONTHS AND MONTHS...
THE SUN
A political black hole
Very often it is The Sun which has its finger on the political pulse of the nation, leaving the politicians (and many of the more self-important political bloggers) floundering.
It is of some significance, therefore, that today this paper should run a major story on the energy crisis, pointing out the implications of spiralling energy costs for the less well off.
Thus, under the headline illustrated above, the paper notes that,
"It's odd to talk about heating bills in the hottest spell of the year, but many Sun readers must be scared about the coming winter." Last week's rises of 22 percent for gas and 17 percent for electricity are terrifying, it adds, then predicting: "There's worse to come. Prices are sure to rise AGAIN in the winter, and by Christmas families could be paying £30 a week or more for light and heat — nearly double last winter's bill."
Later in the story, we see the political slant, with the observation that,
"The Government appears clueless. Labour have been asleep on the job as the rest of the world has been busy building nuclear power stations. Our own nuclear stations are years away." The paper adds: "Thanks to Labour inaction we can store only 13 days' worth of gas compared to 122 days in France. That leaves us at the mercy of sudden global price changes."
The seismic effects of the Open Europe poll.
eu reform treaty
Seismic effects of Open Europe
The seismic effects of the Open Europe poll are being felt across the
EU. It is probably the most damaging setback that has happened to
the EU since it was founded. For this reason I append below in full
the most important of the actual articles upon which Open Europe's
report today is based.
The Dutch and French 'NOs' were skilfully outmanoeuvred by the simple
expedient of staging the "revote" in those countries through their
parliaments rather than directly by their voters. But the Irish
Constitution is robust enough to withstand that, and there is now
little that the EU can do to ensure Irish ratification of the Treaty.
That won't stop the EU politicos but they risk further troubles if
they attempt to so fiddle the EU's own rules that they act illegally.
We live in interesting times.
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PRESS FURORE OVER POLL IN IRELAND OVER 2nd REFERENDUM
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IRISH TIMES 2x.7.08
FG, Labour to oppose creation of Lisbon Treaty committee
MARK HENNESSY Political Correspondent
FINE GAEL and Labour are to oppose the formation of a key element of
the Government's plan to deal with the outcome of the Lisbon Treaty
referendum defeat.
The development fractures the cross-party unity that has existed on
European Union issues between the major parties, as both main
Opposition parties adopt a slightly more distanced attitude towards
the treaty.
HAVING A BREAK.
HAVING A BREAK FOR A FEW DAYS SO POSTINGS WILL BE VERY LIGHT; UNLESS AN EMERGENCY ARISES.
RECORDINGS WILL CONTINUE AT THE WEEKEND AS USUAL.
So, for a change, YOU send us YOUR articles and research on: EU, MID-EAST, USA, GEO-POLITICS, RELIGION, HEALTH WATCH etc...
HOPEFULLY, "ABSENCE WILL MAKE THE HEART GROW FONDER" AND YOUR SUPPORT FOR THIS STATION WILL INCREASE...
More Than 350 Knife Crimes A Day.
Sky News
More Than 350 Knife Crimes A Day#
KNIFE CRIME VIDEOS
Teen Stabbing Arrest
1:43
Latest London Stabbing
1:14
Years To Beat Knife Crime
2:44
'Shock' For Knife Carriers
2:22
Protest After Ben Murder
1:45
'Parents Can Help Stop Knife Crime'
1:00
3:09pm UK, Thursday July 17, 2008
More than 350 knife crimes are committed in England and Wales every day, the latest figures have revealed.
Knife crime is now recorded separately
The British Crime Survey (BCS) showed nearly 130,000 took place last year - and the total does not include offences involving under-16s.
It means that someone was wounded or threatened with a knife, on average, once every four minutes.
Police figures also disclosed that more than 22,000 serious offences involved a knife last year, including 231 attempted murders, nearly 14,000 robberies and more than 8,000 woundings.
The figures will deepen public concern about knife crime after a horrifying series of deaths on Britain's streets.
The figures showed a third of all violent crimes involved a gang of three or more offenders.
A quarter of such crimes featured four or more assailants and 8% involved three attackers.
Nearly one in eight violent crimes involved school-age children and 52% were committed by criminals aged 16 to 24.
Crime Figures Showed:
Firearms offences recorded by police increased 2% in the year to 9,803; a homicides rose by 3% from 759 in 2006/07 to 784 last year; recorded drug offences rose 18%.
1000 GANGS RULE UK STREETS.
the people
6 July 2008
1000 GANGS RULE UK STREETS
Girls of 11 on rampage as mobs terrorise estates. Experts back US scheme that cut crime by a quarter.
THE PEOPLE INVESTIGATES.
By Tom Carlin tom.carlin@people.co.uk
More than 1,000 teenage gangs hellbent on murder, mayhem and terror are roaming Britain's streets today, a shock People investigation can reveal.
Households in towns and cities across the country are living in fear as vicious turf wars erupt between mobs of baying kids brandishing knives and even guns.
One notorious sink estate is being overrun by savage groups of schoolgirls as young as ELEVEN.
And a horrifying string of teen stabbings has left police, politicians and child welfare chiefs desperately seeking new ways to end the plague of gang-related violence.
London alone has seen 18 kids killed by knife-wielding thugs so far this year.
The most recent were 16-year-olds Ben Kinsella - brother of ex-EastEnders TV star Brooke - and Shakilus Townsend, both murdered last week.
Pioneering schemes in America run by reformed thugs have seen street crime in some inner cities cut by almost a QUARTER.
But incredibly no official study has been done to pinpoint the extent of gang culture in Britain.
And former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith is convinced teen crime is getting out of control.
He warned: "Gangs are a major problem - a lot bigger than most people realise.
"And I believe it is something that will get only worse.
Prof. Paul Eidelberg speaks on: "Obama & the New American Revolution". Obama's minders BRZEZINSKI & JAMES BAKER 111.
Prof. Paul Eidelberg speaks on: "Obama and the New American Revolution".
OBAMA'S MINDERS: BRZEZINSKI and JAMES BAKER 111. A POSSIBLE CIVIL WAR IN THE USA??? SAYS IT ALL... WELCOME TO SOCIALIST USA.
Also confirmed by Dr Dennis Cuddy, listen on our "Interviews Page".
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Prof. Paul Eidelberg speaks on, "Obama and the New American Revolution".
Obama And The New American Revolution.
Filed under: Islam & Arab • Politicians • US & Global Policy — eidelberg @ 10:54 pm.
Edited transcript of the Eidelberg Report, Israel National Radio, July 28, 2008.
Much confusion reigns among many Jews, especially in Israel, concerning Senator Barack Obama, should he become America's next president.
Obama-watchers are worried about his Middle East advisers. Prominent among them is Professor Zbigniew Brzezinski, who was Jimmy Carter's National Security Adviser. Brzezinski helped orchestrate the fall of America's ally, the Shah of Iran and the ascendancy of the Ayatollah Khomeini, whose Islamic revolution now threatens Israel and the West.
There is something insidious about Brzezinski—a clue to what underlies Senator Obama's ascendancy in the Democratic Party. Brzezinski, like George Soros, a billionaire who backed both Obama and Hillary Clinton in the presidential primaries, is a globalist opposed to the sovereignty of the nation state. This attitude conflicts with Judaism, but not with Islam, and sheds light on Brzezinski's notorious anti-Israel record, a record bordering on Jew-hatred.
That Senator Obama includes among his advisers former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer, reputedly an Orthodox Jew, is hardly reassuring. Kurtzer not only advocates a Palestinian state with eastern Jerusalem as its capital. He is serving a politician who recently told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) that he advocates a contiguous Palestinian state, hence one connected with Gaza. This would destroy the geographic continuity of the Jewish state and fatally undermine its security.
Also mentioned among Obama's advisers is former Secretary of State James Baker, a transparent anti-Semite, who, together with ex-congressman Lee Hamilton, formed the Iraqi Study Group. These political geniuses would have us believe that negotiations can persuade Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to halt Iran's development of nuclear weapons. As proud Americans, they ignore Ahmadinejad's stated objective of a world without America—and of course without Israel—hence a world without Christianity and Judaism.
Senator Obama has adopted this see-no-evil, hear-no-evil, and speak-no-evil policy, except that he would qualify the word "negotiations" with the adjective "tough." He seems to believe that the word "tough" will make him appear as a hard-liner, rather than another muddle-headed Jimmy Carter.
Obama's Middle East advisers, like Obama himself, lack the intellectual integrity or moral courage to face up to the enormity of evil entrenched in Tehran—an evil rooted in Islam itself, as Dr. Wafa Sultan of Syria and Lebanese-born Brigitte Gabriel have emphasized. You do not negotiate with Muslims committed to your destruction. What is there to negotiate about—the date or manner of your destruction?
In any event, Obama's choice of advisers must also be understood in terms of domestic politics, and American politics has new levels of significance. Let's begin on the surface.
Obama defeated Hillary Clinton in the presidential primaries because he outflanked her on the left side of the political spectrum. Of course, he also cultivated a reputation of opposing the war in Iraq, and this multiplied the number of youth that supported his candidacy. Since he was opposed to the war, he had to choose Middle East advisers persons opposed to a preemptive U.S. attack on Iran as the way to stop its development of its nuclear weapons program. But any pundit sees this. Let us therefore examine a second level of the Obama phenomenon.
Everyone knows, by now, that Senator Obama is a glib speaker. It is also becoming increasingly obvious that his slogan of "change" is vacuous: he does not articulate a set of basic political principles, nor does he have a well-known record of legislative accomplishments from which one might deduce his basic convictions. Although his voting record in the Senate stamps him a leftist, he strikes many people as an enigmatic phenomenon, which can attract as well as repel.
His 20-year attendance at the church of Jeremiah Wright—an anti-American pastor and unabashed Jew-hater—is suggestive, but his campaign for the presidency has compelled him to equivocate about his guru and then reject him. Obama is nothing if not an ambitious politician whose first priority is to be elected. Nothing new here; but that he should have so long admired an anti-American pastor leads me to the heart of the matter, and this goes beyond Obama.
Pundits fail to explore the significance of a very simple fact: a vote for Obama is also a vote for the Democratic Party. Unless one understands the revolutionary change that has taken place in the Democratic Party, one will not understand the Obama phenomenon. That revolution involves both domestic and foreign policy.
Of course, domestic politics will be Obama's primary concern if he wants a second term in the White House. Even if he should ignore the soft approach of his Middle East advisers on Iran, a hard policy would be trumped by his need to win congressional support for his domestic program, and that means the program of the Democratic Party.
The Democratic Party has long been committed to Big Government, hence big bureaucracy, welfare state subsidies, high taxation, weakened private sector and diminished entrepreneurial energy.
But today's Democratic Party is also committed to multiculturalism. Multiculturalism requires America's retreat from national sovereignty on the one hand, and from superpower status in world affairs on the other. This agrees with Obama's trite presidential campaign slogan, "change". Now let us illustrate the political revolution that has taken place in America by means of a very new Democratic Party headed by Barack Obama.
It will be sufficient for this purpose to examine how the House of Representatives voted on a bill concerning Islamic Jihad, a bill that conveys the ideological nature of the conflict between America and Islamic terrorism.
On May 8, 2008, Republican Congressman Peter Hoekstra of Michigan attempted to add an amendment on the "terror lexicon" of a House committee bill on intelligence funding (House Resolution 5959).
Hoekstra's amendment condemned efforts by the State Department, the National Counter Terrorism Center, and the Department of Homeland Security to recommend a "terror lexicon" that prohibits use of words such as "jihad," "jihadist," "Islamist," "mujahadeen," "caliphate," etc.
On July 16, 2008, the bill was presented to the full House of Representatives for debate and adoption, including Congressman Hoekstra's amendment. The amendment stated that: "None of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act may be used to prohibit or discourage the use of the words or phrases 'jihadist', 'jihad', 'Islamo-fascism', 'caliphate', 'Islamist', or 'Islamic terrorist' by or within the intelligence community or the Federal Government."
The amendment passed by the margin of 249-180 (with 10 abstentions). All of the 180 Representatives that voted against Hoekstra's amendment are Democrats!
This suggests that these Democrats have been tainted by moral or cultural relativism. Relativism not only undermines a strong sense of national pride and identity; it also conduces to a soft and non–judgmental attitude toward acts of Islamic terrorism. Moral relativism saps moral outrage and dulls memory even of the monstrous deeds perpetrated by Muslim terrorists: the beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan; the suicide bombing of Jewish school buses in Jerusalem. Even 9/11 is going down the memory tube, judging from the votes of 180 Democrats.
Relativism corrupts the mind, eviscerates patriotism. For the first time in American history, the Democratic Party vilified America's Commander-in-Chief while the country was at war. Democrats were thus giving aid and comfort to the enemy, were thus prima facie guilty of treason.
Radical leftwing Democrats will ride on the coattails of Senator Obama in the November 2008 elections. In addition to their powerful influence on domestic policy, they will persist in a policy of appeasement of Islam, a policy that endangers Israel's existence. Moreover, since Obama has said he will pull American troops out of Iraq within 16 months—an invitation for Iran to move in—I fear that the next Congress, if controlled by the Democrats, will legislate America's defeat in Iraq and its virtual surrender to Islam.
What also needs to be emphasized, however, is that an insidious political revolution is taking place in America, a revolution pursued under Obama's seemingly innocuous slogan of "change". That change may well be nothing less than regime change—a change that will eventually terminate American civilization. I say this with two developments in mind: the economic ascendancy of a nuclear-armed China and the resurgence of Russian imperialism, undermining the U.S. by supplying Iran with S-300 long-range anti-aircraft missiles to thwart any attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
And so, an Obama presidency may undo the American Revolution of 1776. At stake is the Judeo-Christian heritage underlying that magnificent Revolution.
- hhoffman's blog
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EU BRIEF: EU Reform Treaty
EU Reform Treaty
Cross-party alliance on Lisbon Treaty breaking down in Ireland
There is continued coverage of a Red C poll commissioned by Open Europe showing that Irish voters are strongly opposed to a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, and would vote no by a larger margin than the last time around if a second vote was held.
The Irish Independent, in an article discussing Open Europe and its business supporters, reports on the opposition of the Irish Labour Party to a second vote. Labour TD Joe Costello is quoted as saying that "the latest Red C poll indicates the extent to which there has been a further hardening of attitude against a rerun of the Lisbon Treaty".
Feared It's not all over yet. VICIOUS CIRCLE TIGHTENS, WARNS IMF. US housing slump at centre of financial crisis.
Finanacial Up Date
Feared 'vicious circle' appears It's not all over yet!
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TELEGRAPH Business News 29.7.08
VICIOUS CIRCLE TIGHTENS, WARNS IMF. US housing slump at centre of
financial crisis
By Edmund Conway, Economics Editor
The world economy is now trapped in a "vicious circle" as the
financial crisis is worsened by slumping housing markets on both
sides of the Atlantic, the International Monetary Fund has warned.
It said the greatly-feared "negative feedback loop" it warned of in
previous reports had now materialised. It also cautioned that it
remains far too early to call a bottom to the housing slump in the
United States, which lies at the centre of the recent crisis.
In an update to its closely-watched Global Financial Stability Report
- the definitive assessment of global markets - the IMF struck a
highly downbeat tone and warned that there remains no end in sight
for the crisis.
It warned that banks would have to continue raising more capital to
shore up their balance sheets in the coming months - signalling that
UK institutions may soon have to stomach further rights issues.
But most striking of all is the IMF's conclusion that one of its most
feared scenarios had now occurred. Its head of financial stability,
Jaime Caruana, said: "The risks we have been talking about [in
previous reports] have materialised. There has been a negative
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