......But instead chose life for her child over having her doctor use a vacuum cleaner-like device to squish the baby's head and suck him up into the Liberal death machine aka Feminism!
She "could have been a contender" -- but instead chose morality and real "old-fashioned" bible values than outright murder a baby that could not defend himself from Dr. Liberal Death!
She could have been loved by the Hollywood "elite" - but instead chose to be the butt of the SNL Liberal Jewish sickos, who advocate murder machines for babies that don't quite fit their view of the "perfect" baby!
She could have been "Sarah the murderer of her baby", but instead she chose to love her baby forever and ever, regardless of the difficulties involved in raising a child with special needs.
She could have been "Sarah the ruthless plumber", and have chosen to turn this precious life into human waste --- but instead will have the privilege of passing the humanity test - taking care of this child that will depend on her, knowing full well that this "burden" is the ultimate test that will distinguish her from the selfish, pathetic excuse of "free women" who choose "choice" so they may live another day without the burden of bringing comfort to a child in need, so they may attend another party.
She could have claimed " it's my choice to be a politician, and it's my body", but instead she said I can still be a politician and have a career - and my body is a gift from God --- and just like I'm not permitted to commit suicide - I'm not permitted to commit infanticide!
The country can't permit two of the most radical liberal demagogues in the senate - Obama number one - Biden number three --- to influence negatively the direction of the greatest country ever - with all its imperfections!
If you're able to stomach the actual killing of a baby - click on the other video options at the end of this clip. Both Obama and Biden claim that this murder is totally the choice of the "mother" and her doctor --- and just as Obama would meet with the "leader" of Iran without preconditions, the mother of a defenseless child needs no particular reason to destroy this precious life, other than because she wants to --- to suit her personal agenda!
(I'm not referring to specific medical conditions that are life threatening to the mother - or other halachic humane exceptions)
Howard Stern sends Sal to Harlem:
94 comments:
http://www.fangoriaonline.com/gore/home/news/16-dvd-a-blu-ray/310-halloween-becomes-night-of-the-living-jews.html
Halloween becomes NIGHT OF THE LIVING JEWS
Written by James Zahn
Thursday, 23 October 2008 02:11
"On the first night of Passover the residents of a remote Jewish bungalow colony (Neuhoff's) are turned into flesh-eating zombies by matzo with a dark history..."
Fresh from screening last week at Screamfest in Los Angeles, the world's first "Hasidic zombie movie," NIGHT OF THE LIVING JEWS will creep onto DVD on October 31. Available exclusively through HeebMagazine.com, NOTLJ promises "a hellish night of terror, romance and a frighteningly non-kosher diet."
For those in the New York area, Heeb will present a special DVD launch party and NYC premiere of the film at 92YTribeca on October 24th. Featuring a live Q & A with director Oliver Noble, the event will also feature two other films categorized as "Jewish Extreme."
For more info:
http://www.nightofthelivingjews.com/
An attack on one anti-molester askan is an attack on us all.
http://www.auburnpub.com/articles/2008/10/22/latest_news/latestnews04.txt
Police: Sex offender, kin beat up wary neighbor
By The Associated Press
Tuesday, October 21, 2008 11:58 PM EDT
ROCHESTER - A convicted sex offender and his four siblings have been charged with beating up a neighbor in a small-town apartment complex for posting fliers warning about his criminal past.
William Meacham, 30, his younger siblings Brandon, Justin, Stephanie and Angela, and family friend Marvin Snyder, attacked Adrian Porter in the village of Seneca Falls last month, leaving him severely injured with brain trauma, a broken nose and facial fractures, authorities said.
Porter, 35, was left unconscious in the complex's parking lot, spent weeks in a Rochester hospital and was recently transferred to a rehabilitation center.
“He's moving around” but he's suffering memory lapses and his ability to communicate is limited, Seneca Falls police Chief Frederick Capozzi said Tuesday.
Meacham spent nearly four years at Attica prison for raping a 15-year-old girl in the Binghamton area. He was released in 2006.
Porter was confronted the night of Sept. 26 after he posted the fliers near a laundry area showing New York state sex-offender registry photographs of Meacham and at least one other convicted sex offender who lives in the Hunter's Run complex, Capozzi said in a telephone interview.
The Meachams contend that Porter came at them with a machete, but the victim's family maintains Porter threw down the machete when he was challenged in front of a crowd of onlookers.
“There were a lot of people who were milling around and saw what happened” and were interviewed by investigators, Capozzi said. He said Meacham's siblings apparently do not live at the complex.
“I want justice in my brother's case, point blank,” Porter's sister, Selena McKoy, told reporters after Monday's hearing. “No human being should ever have to go through something like that.”
The six were charged with first-degree gang assault, a felony. If convicted, they could each be sentenced to a maximum of five to 15 years in prison.
They were returned to jail after a hearing Monday, when a judge imposed bail terms ranging from $15,000 cash for Meacham to as low as $2,500 for the others, Seneca County prosecutor Richard Swinehart said.
http://www.auburnpub.com/articles/2008/10/22/latest_news/7latestnews.txt
State officials say two-thirds of colleges in the State University of New York system aren't properly reporting campus crime statistics.
An audit by Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's office says statistics reported to the federal Department of Education often conflicted with the colleges' internal records. Auditors found some colleges failed to properly report serious crimes such as sexual offenses, burglaries and drug offenses.
Case-Shiller: Another record plunge in home prices
Tuesday October 28, 9:22 am ET
By Les Christie, CNNMoney.com staff writer
Home prices fell in August for the 25th consecutive month and prices in 10 major markets plunged a record 17.7% year over year, according to a key index of real estate values released Tuesday.
The S&P Case-Shiller Home Price 10-city index dropped 1.1% for the month. The 20-city index recorded a record year-over-year decline of 16.6% with a 1% fall in August.
The indexes compare the sale prices of the same homes each year to determine price trends and are considered one of the most accurate home price gauges.
The hardest hit of all 20 cities on a year-over-year basis was Phoenix, where prices plummeted 30.7% during the past 12 months. Las Vegas prices plunged 30.6% and Miami sank 28.1%.
The cities that held up the best were Dallas, which saw a decline of just -2.7%, Charlotte NC (down -2.8%) and Boston (off -4.7%). No city showed a price gain during the last 12 months.
In August, San Francisco saw the biggest price declines, down 3.5%. Phoenix (-2.9) and Las Vegas (-2.4) also reported sizable losses for the month. Two cities showed gains in August; Cleveland prices rose 1.1% and Boston prices inched up 0.1%.
No word yet if this is the drug addicted thief who stayed in my home for Shabbosim.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3611220,00.html
Five Torah crowns and several finials were stolen from a synagogue for Cochin Jews in the town of Nevatim in the Negev, during the Simchat Torah holiday. Among these were 300-year-old crowns that had survived the journey from India to Israel.
"The night watchman called me frantically from the synagogue late last night," the town's security officer told Ynet, Tuesday. "When I arrived, I was appalled. The crowns and finials, made of gold and silver, had been stolen from the synagogue."
Former Detroit mayor headed to jail in sex scandal
The jail cell where former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick will be incarcerated at the Wayne County Andrew C. Baird Detention Facility is shown in Detroit. Kilpatrick begins a 120-day sentence on Tuesday for obstruction of justice for false testimony in a civil trial involving former police officers.
DETROIT — Inside the spartan Wayne County Jail cell where former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is expected to spend four months beginning Tuesday, there's no evidence of Jack Kevorkian or White Boy Rick.
There are clues to other apparent former residents of 14J-4 — they just aren't as notorious as Dr. Death or drug kingpin Richard Wershe.
Bam-Bam. Repo. Little Dee. Crew Dad. Ronnie's burnt out circuit board.
Those names are etched on a tiny bathroom mirror, right where Kilpatrick will see them each day when he begins serving a 120-day sentence in the text message scandal — a drama that has cost the metro area $14 million and counting.
There are other words scratched into the reflection of the shoebox-sized mirror, such as "CRIPS" and "S.L.O.B." - "UOJ BASEBALL CAPS- GOT VISA CARDS?"
And this: "Pray." - "Looking for nice young Jewish girl"
Kilpatrick is to go before Wayne Circuit Judge David Groner at 2 p.m., where the now-convicted felon will begin paying the penalty he agreed to last month when he pleaded guilty to two counts of obstructing justice by perjuring himself at last year's police whistle-blower trial.
It is expected that after the sentencing, Kilpatrick will immediately head to jail, where he'll exchange his monogrammed shirts and big-knot tie for a standard-issue green jumpsuit.
And the man who once charged lavish hotel rooms on a city credit card will begin bunking in a place that costs the county $115 a night.
Kilpatrick's cell is tucked away in a corner of the second floor, past the medical section where other inmates visit and down a long corridor with a few missing ceiling tiles overhead.
His cell is formed of concrete blocks, a heavy steel door and painted a light cream. It's all he'll see for up to 23 hours a day through the holidays and his youngest son's birthday.
With good time, he should emerge in early February.
Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans said Kilpatrick will be treated like any other prisoner, with one big exception.
He will be segregated from the general population for his safety. Even the mayor's one hour of daily recreation time will be solo; he can play basketball or jog — by himself.
Evans said high-profile inmates like Kilpatrick draw too much attention.
"Nobody's ambivalent about them," Evans said. "You either love them or hate them … because of that, we segregate."
Other inmates in the county jail — current population about 2,200 — can commingle outside their double-bunked cells for up to 15 hours a day.
Sheriff's spokesman John Roach said that is one reason why Kilpatrick's cell is larger than normal.
At 15 feet by 10 feet, the cell is roughly twice the size of a normal one. His bed has rails like a hospital gurney, and the mattress is thin, rubber-coated and appears to be too short for the 6-foot-4 Kilpatrick.
Otherwise, the room has a tiny table and a plastic blue chair for reading, and a generous number of windows by jail standards.
Kilpatrick's view through three vertical glass slits will show him the south side of the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice, where his fate was sealed in an eight-count felony warrant issued in March after the Free Press obtained and published his text messages.
The texts showed he lied under oath about his intimate relationship with then-aide Christine Beatty, and tried to mislead jurors about the firing of one cop.
Cell 14J-4 has a second, smaller room with a shower and a toilet. A push of the shower's button delivers a thin spray of lukewarm water. There is no door for privacy.
On Monday, the room had an antiseptic smell during a tour for reporters, and it appeared fairly clean and devoid of the infamous roaches said to inhabit the jail. A ventilation grate was jammed with tissue paper to damper either the air conditioning or the heat.
Kilpatrick will have the same eating schedule as everyone else: breakfast between 5 and 6 a.m., lunch around 11:30, dinner between 4 and 5. Lights out at 10 p.m.
Kilpatrick has a pay phone on the wall of his cell, and his calls will be recorded, under jail procedure. The phone has a 1-foot cord to the earpiece, presumably to keep prisoners from hanging themselves.
Evans said the cell is the same one in which Kilpatrick spent a night last summer, when a judge held him overnight for violating the terms of his bond by traveling to Windsor without permission.
It's "no country club," the sheriff said. "It's not anything anyone wants to come back to."
Evans flatly denied recent talk among other county inmates that Kilpatrick will get special privileges, including better food.
"The more we are able to treat Mr. Kilpatrick as just another inmate," Evans said, "the better off we will be."
But there are some differences. Kilpatrick will have essentially the same visitors' restrictions, with his family and friends permitted in to see him just once a week for a half-hour. Jail restrictions prevent children from visiting, but Evans said he is weighing an exception for the ex-mayor's three young sons.
He said supervisors are taking care to select certain exemplary deputies to have contact with Kilpatrick in an effort to avoid problems, like trying to take photos with the mayor.
Jeriel Heard, who oversees jail operations, said Kilpatrick will eat what everyone else eats, and can buy chips and candy from the commissary if someone deposits money for him to spend. During Kilpatrick's last stay, a rumor had him eating food delivered from a local restaurant, which sheriff's officials have denied.
When asked to characterize the jail food, Heard said, "We have the food pyramid. These are human beings."
But, he added, "in jail, if you're hungry, you're going to eat what you're given."
Recently released inmates told the Free Press that word was definitely circulating about Kilpatrick's pending arrival.
Dante Hilliard, 19, of Detroit said some inmates think Kilpatrick will get special treatment, no matter what the sheriff says.
Whatever happens, Hilliard said, jail still stinks.
"People are drawing pictures of him" on the walls, he said. "They just got him in a county uniform and he got a sad face."
Prince Charles says climate crisis trumps economy
Tuesday October 28, 9:55 am ET
By Jay Alabaster, Associate Press Writer
Britain's Prince Charles says credit crunch shouldn't distract from 'climate crunch'
TOKYO (AP) -- Britain's Prince Charles said Tuesday the current financial crisis should not distract from the larger issue of global warming.
"The credit crunch is rightly a preoccupation of vast significance and importance. But we take our eye off the climate crunch at our peril," he said in a speech at a science museum in Tokyo.
You can't change the world without conflict.
Whether you want to change Capitol Hill or Capitol Records, the corporate tower or the ivory tower, conflict must precede change, because in most of the big institutions of our society, we have too many entrenched elites who refuse to give up power without a fight.
Traditionally, these self-appointed and unaccountable gatekeepers have purported to operate in the public interest, but they are grossly out of touch with the public. Rather than empower people, they designed rules to keep the rabble out of the inner sanctums, where our ideas wouldn't infect their decisionmaking process. Whether it was record-label executives; Hollywood studio moguls; editors and producers in the media; or the clubby D.C. politicians, consultants, and lobbyists, many built walls to protect the sanctity of their turf.
The results? A sick body politic and a homogenized culture; a disengaged citizenry, cynical and despondent over its inability to effect change; and a powerful elite unhampered and unchallenged in the dogged pursuit of its own interests over those of society at large.
But all that is changing. Technology has unlocked the doors and facilitated a genuine democratization of our culture. No longer content to sit on the sidelines as spectators, a new generation of participants is taking an active role in our culture and democracy.
The changing media landscape offers this generation new challenges but also new opportunities. Chief among them is the mother lode of modern activism – the ability to dislodge "conventional wisdom" on any given topic.
Conventional wisdom refers to ideas and explanations generally accepted as the truth by the public, the gatekeepers, and the decisionmakers. Effecting societal change often requires changing the conventional wisdom on issues, especially when the "wisdom" isn't so wise.
For instance, the conventional wisdom on the stock market says that Republican administrations are good for the market, while Democratic ones are not. Yet since 1948, Democratic administrations have delivered 15.25 percent gains in the market compared with 9.53 percent for Republican ones, according to Jeremy Siegel, a finance professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.
Clearly, the information has been accruing for more than half a century that Wall Street flourishes under Democratic administrations, yet so powerful is conventional wisdom once set that it often takes cultural or political upheaval to dislodge it. Thus, there is an inherent advantage in being the first to define the "truth," because whoever does so controls the terms of the debate.
Once the exclusive province of elite gatekeepers – media pundits, political party operatives, think tank denizens, lobbyists – shaping conventional wisdom is becoming a far more democratic affair, thanks to the networking nature of the Internet.
While activism was once predicated on influencing those gatekeepers, we can now create infrastructure that bypasses those gatekeepers, meaning that to stay relevant, they either have to be more responsive to the public, or risk losing their relevance.
Consider the British band Arctic Monkeys. Like most bands, they labored in obscurity, without a record label to promote their work. Yet they quickly built a passionate local fan base, which took on those promotional tasks for themselves. Without the band's involvement or permission, they set up a MySpace page, uploaded songs, and got the word out about their work. Word spread quickly. The buzz was so intense that record labels begged to sign the band. And when it finally signed with a small independent label, their first single debuted at No. 1 in Britain.
Record label executives no longer get to decide who succeeds and who fails. People are taking that job over for themselves. And as the Arctic Monkeys example shows, they could bypass not just the record labels, but even the band itself.
It's not just music. New empowering technologies are allowing "amateur" filmmakers to use inexpensive video and editing equipment to create content, then post it on sites such as YouTube free of charge and instant worldwide distribution. Bloggers can launch online publications for the cost of a domain name (about $10), building publications that rival their traditional media counterparts in the celebrity, political, and technology worlds. The media gatekeepers no longer get to decide who can participate in the conversation.
Nowhere has this impact been more noticeable than in politics. In the 2006 election cycle, Jon Tester of Montana and Jim Webb of Virginia were propelled to the US Senate by an energized online grass-roots network that fueled the two outsiders to victory – despite primary campaigns against well-funded and establishment-backed opponents, and difficult general election battles against entrenched, well-funded incumbents. In fact, Mr. Webb defeated Republican George Allen, who in addition to being a political legend in his state was also the then-front-runner for the GOP nomination for president.
The old gatekeepers in Hollywood, D.C., and New York can no longer determine who will lead us, what we can watch, what we can listen to, and what we can read. The age of seeking permission from authority figures is passing, and those who seize the opportunity offered by new technology to speak, act, create, and connect will be the men and women who change the world.
http://www.nypost.com/pagesixmag/issues/20081019/Lets+Do+Brunch+Bit+Nosh
Dovi and Esty Scheiner, founders of the Soho Synagogue (where Dovi is the resident rabbi), try to spend every Sunday together, and like to start out the day with a leisurely brunch. The married couple love discovering new kosher restaurants, so we knew they would be the perfect reviewers for My Most Favorite Food, which is certified kosher by the OK Kosher Certification committee. Esty tells the story.
BLAH BLAH BLAH
CitizensBrigade wrote:
Hmmmmm. Nice review
But the review is suspect for anyone who met the lovely Mrs. Scheiner. Some of those word choices just ain't in her lexicon.
Apparently, the Page Six Magazine editors are in the pocket of the P.R.-savvy Rabbi Scheiner and did not verify a. That Esty Scheiner is indeed the restaurant reviewer. And b. That there is not at least one ulterior motive in publishing this clearly "planted" piece!
You see. No harm in that Rabbi Scheiner gets PR whereever her can. And also that featuring My Most Favorite Food was planted by Esty Scheiner's father, Rabbi Levy, the owner of the OK Kosher Laboratories which certifies this restaurant.
How transparent to me, an ordinary ready, who just happens to be privy to this little tidbit.
Which doesn't make the mag any less interesting - even if lacking in journalistic integrity:)
Market Update
10:30 am : Stocks are posting a gain, but have cut their opening advance in half, when the S&P 500 was up 3.9%.
The disappointing consumer confidence reading is the main reason for the pullback. Given the recent market turmoil, it was expected that consumer confidence would dip. But the severity of the decline from 61.5 to an all time low of 38.0 was larger than expected.
http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/archives/2008/10/17/shalom_auslander_foreskin_s
Is your family aware of the book? Are your parents aware that it's been written?
I haven't spoken to them in a real long time, parents or siblings, but I did an event here in Manhattan. Someone came up to me in the end and he told me he was probably the only relative of mine that didn't hate me. And it turned out that the last time I saw him he was about five years old or so, and he's the adopted son of a cousin of mine, and now he's 6'4" and gigantic and clearly not a blood relative of mine. And we ended up talking and discussing stuff and they know about it. The only book I could have written that they would have been proud of would have been the New New Testament, or Back to the Desert or something. It would have had to be something like Jews and God Are Great, Volume One.
Are you going to continue to write memoirs, and are you going to continue to deal with religion and family?
I think my life is my life and it's going to bleed through everything. I'm writing a novel now. It's called Leopold (Margulies?) Against the World
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=add4e755-ebe6-4171-94c2-a4f32f4431ec
B.C. church still paying pastor convicted of pedophilia
Katie Mercer , Canwest News Service
Published: Monday, October 27, 2008
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/mostpopular/17820164/detail.html
FBI: State Senator Wilkerson Charged With Taking Bribes
According to a federal affidavit, Wilkerson, the only African-American member of the state Senate, was routinely taking "cash payments from constituents and others having business before the Senate."
She allegedly accepted a total of $23,500 in cash payments, ranging in amounts from $500 to $10,000 from federal undercover agents posing as businessmen.
She has made the news over the years in connection with tax evasion and perjury charges.
The state Bar Counsel filed a complaint against Wilkerson within the last month, accusing her of lying under oath in an effort to overturn a nephew's manslaughter conviction.
Her attorney, Max D. Stern (Young Israel / Agudah?), said the case was weak and unsupported by evidence.
The nephew, Jermaine Berry, was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in 1995 and again in a 2001 retrial.
If anyone knows of Esrog mochrim that were charging more than the set price from beis din this year, that was completely ossur and geneiveh during shmittah.
Publish their names to expose them.
There's a Neuhoff in the 5 Towns who is organizing the dinner for Rabbi Scheinberg's yeshiva.
Is that a Bungalow Putz brother?
http://campagudah.net/
Did you see that important ad in the Yated for the Camp Agudah reunion? It's a melaveh malkah for fressers on Motzaei Shabbos Vayechee, Jan. 10th, 2009.
I'm going to remind everyone that they are to forget about whatever they imagined Kolko did to them, upon pain of death, preceded of course by a hazmana.
There's no time like now to start the Camp Agudah alumni association on our 60th anniversary of molesting & cover ups.
A varme yasher koyach to Pinchos Lipschutz & the Yated for publishing my full page ad from my phony front group called "Citizens for Justice".
In that ad I took the opportunity to attack the 12 Jewish Congressmen who dared write to my zayde to accuse him of chilul Hashem.
I used "proof" that the Congressmen are "upgeshlogt" from the phony "Agrifacts.com" website that I'm also behind.
Yeah, I'm Tuvya Chaim's brother.
What's this? Guilt by Bungalow Putz association?
Yep, we gave the Yated that picture of Benny Wielgus & Howie Feivelson.
Kolko chickened out from getting his picture in there because he's afraid he might get beaten up at another bris.
It's just funny that Shafran tells everyone that no one remembers who was in Camp Agudah in the good old days.
VW briefly world top company as shortsellers caught
Tuesday October 28, 7:38 am ET
By Sarah Marsh
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Volkswagen briefly became the world's biggest company by market value Tuesday, as short sellers continued to pile into the stock on weekend news Porsche had bought up much of VW's remaining free float.
Police: Indictment against Olmert could be filed within days
By Jonathan Lis, Tomer Zarchin and Shahar Ilan - Haaretz
Enough evidence has been amassed against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that an indictment could be filed against him within days, police sources claimed on Monday. In theory, that could lead to his ouster from office even before new elections are held on February 10.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/27/AR2008102702906.html
Campbell's attorney, Michael Belsky, told jurors that the motorcyclist, not his client, was to blame for the crash.
Belsky did not deny the prosecution's contention that Campbell turned off the cruiser's lights and camera, an assertion made when the jury was not in the room. He suggested that turning off the camera would not amount to an attempt to destroy evidence.
http://www.news8.net/news/stories/1008/564894.html
The Prince George's County police officer who caused a deadly pile-up on the Capital Beltway in May, 2007, went on trial for manslaughter Monday.
Jurors must decide if Ofc. Scott Campbell properly performed his police duties while chasing a motorcycle at speeds up to 100 miles an hour on May 30, 2007, or if he acted in reckless and negligent way.
Campbell was traveling 124 mph in his police cruiser when he lost control
The Associated Press
Wednesday, October 15, 2008; 5:35 PM
ST. CHARLES, Ill. -- The son of progressive Democratic Rep. Bobby Rush has been sentenced in Illinois to 180 days in jail for sexual contact with female inmates at a state corrections facility where he worked.
The 42-year-old Jeffrey M. Rush was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty to official misconduct in a deal with prosecutors.
Rush allegedly met two inmates for sexual contact on numerous occasions and offered a third a ride while he was security chief at the Fox Valley Adult Transition Center in Aurora.
He was fired in September 2007.
http://www.local10.com/news/17762930/detail.html
Hillary Clinton Wants Fla. To Be 'Blue From One End To The Other'
Senator Stumps For Obama In S. Fla
"I voted for her in the primary and I'm glad to see her and her husband are supporting the ticket big time," said Clinton supporter Ricky Lubinsky.
www.campagudah.org
Coming soon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yisroel_Belsky
Yisroel Belsky is a rabbi in the United States who has served with the Orthodox Union since 1987. He resides in Brooklyn, New York. He is one of several roshei yeshivas in Yeshiva Torah Vodaas. He also serves as the rabbi of Camp Agudah.
He is the son of Rabbi Berel and Chana Belsky. His maternal grandfather is Binyomin Wilhelm, the founder of Yeshiva Torah Vodaas.
Rabbi Belsky received his semicha from Yeshiva Torah Vodaas in 1962, and from Rabbi Moshe Feinstein in 1965. He also studied in Beth Medrash Elyon for a number of years.
Works
Piske halakhot (Brooklyn 2002) - responsa
Einei Yisroel on Chumash (currently Bereishis and Shemos) (Kiryat Sefer 2005) - adapted from the lectures by Moshe Armel and Reuven Mathieson
Sha'alos U'Teshuvos Shulchan Halevi, on a wide variety of topics, is in the final stages of publication
Rabbi Belsky also answers moral questions on a series called "Honesty" found on Torah.org
Bogus hazmana to Eli Greenwald to protect child molester Yehuda Kolko
Bogus bittul kiddushin for $250,000
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binyomin_Wilhelm
Binyomin Wilhelm (1886-1974) was the founder of Yeshiva Torah Vadass.
Born in Lodz, Poland, he was the oldest son of a Radoshitzer chassidic family. In his teens he left by himself to the United States. He first peddled a pushcart, until he had made enough money to rent a store. At 20, he had a houseware business.
He moved to Williamsburg, New York, where he wanted to open a yeshiva for boys. At that time, the few yeshivos that existed in the United States -- Yeshivas HaRav Yaakov Yosef, Etz Chaim Yeshiva, Yeshivas HaRav Shlomo Kluger -- were all in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
Wilhelm envisioned a yeshiva that taught secular studies in the afternoons. Wilhelm had to overcame large opposition to his type of yeshiva. Most parents did not want to send their children to yeshiva. There was also opposition from the other side. Some parents held that a yeshiva should be purely for jewish studies.
Wilhelm was active in Torah Vodaas until his 80's, when he moved to Israel in 1968. There, he founded a network of afternoon programs for Sephardic youth in developing areas, which was to strengthen their commitment to Judaism. He called the network Mifal Torah Vodaas.
He was the author of Nidchei Yisroel, a guide for new Jewish immigrants.
His grandson Rabbi Yisroel Belsky, is a rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Torah Vodaas.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/28/news/economy/health_care_and_election/?postversion=2008102807
The plans for health insurance from BOTH Osama & McCain are going to spell disaster for whoever already has a plan from their employer.
In case you can't reach me at work because I don't take phone calls from anyone looking for their money, here is my home contact info:
1104 TWIN OAKS DR
LAKEWOOD, NJ 08701
(732) 886-9022
NEW YORK/DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp has asked the U.S. government for roughly $10 billion in an unprecedented rescue package to support its acquisition of Chrysler LLC from Cerberus Capital Management, sources familiar with the talks said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE49R0GK20081028?sp=true
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - In a room full of television industry executives, no one seemed inclined to defend MSNBC on Monday for what some were calling its lopsidedly liberal coverage of the presidential election.
The cable news channel is "completely out of control," said writer-producer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, a self-proclaimed liberal Democrat.
She added that she would prefer a lunch date with right-leaning Fox News star Sean Hannity over left-leaning MSNBC star Keith Olbermann.
Olbermann was criticized by many who attended Monday's luncheon sponsored by the Caucus for Producers, Writers & Directors at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The event was dubbed "Hollywood, America and Election '08."
Bloodworth-Thomason and others seemed especially critical of the way MSNBC -- and other media -- has attacked Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin while demeaning her supporters.
"We should stop the demonizing," she said, adding that Democrats have been worse than Republicans as far as personal attacks on candidates are concerned. "It diminishes us," she said of her fellow Democrats.
Bloodworth-Thomason even suggested a defense of Palin and her supporters should be written into TV programing, just as she went out of her way to portray Southern women as smart in her hit TV show "Designing Women."
Attendee Michael Reagan, the radio talk-show host and son of President Ronald Reagan, said he no longer will appear as a guest on MSNBC because "I actually get death threats."
Pollster Frank Luntz, a regular guest on the Fox News, joked that MSNBC is "the only network with more letters in its name than viewers."
On a more serious note, Luntz said it's a problem that the electorate chooses to watch news programs not for information but to confirm already-held beliefs, and that applies to viewers of CNN and Fox News as well.
Luntz predicted a Barack Obama victory and said that one of the many reasons the Democrats have been more effective with their message is because, while Republicans dominate talk radio, Democrats have begun to dominate the Internet.
"I'd rather have the Internet," he said.
Obama also gets credit because he's a better communicator than past Democrats, Luntz said, comparing the previous Democratic presidential nominee, John Kerry, to one of those trees that threw apples at Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz."
Actress Patricia Heaton noted that Hollywood workers too often just assume everyone they work with is a like-minded liberal. When those around her belittle John McCain or Palin, the former "Everybody Loves Raymond" co-star politely reminds them that she's a Republican.
"That's what you have to do in our town," she said.
Actor Beau Bridges lamented that there is "too much entertainment" in elections nowadays. "Just put 'em in a room -- like we are now -- and let 'em talk about the issues," he said.
Some of the most spirited debate came from the panel's moderator, outspoken conservative Lionel Chetwynd. The writer, director and producer passionately defended the Iraq War and Palin, whom he called "the ideal Jeffersonian political figure."
White House tells banks to stop hoarding money
Tuesday October 28, 1:54 pm ET
White House tells banks getting federal aid to quit hoarding money and start lending it
WASHINGTON (AP) -- An impatient White House is serving notice on banks receiving billions of dollars in federal help to quit hoarding the money and start making more loans.
White House press secretary Dana Perino told reporters Tuesday that the Bush administration is trying to "get banks to do what they are supposed to do," which is lend money. Though there are limits on how much Washington can pressure financial firms, she noted that banks are regulated by the federal government.
http://www.forbes.com/business/2008/10/28/ackman-pershing-target-biz-wall-cz_dg_1028ackman.html
Like many modern Wall Street tycoons, activist investor William Ackman made billions using shorts. Now he's losing his shirt.
The 42-year-old founder of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management, which reportedly returned 22% net of fees last year, has seen the paper value of his newest fund essentially vanish in the past few months. The fund's only investment: dwindling discount retailer Target
Ackman's options are under water, worth less than the cost of exercising them. Even worse: The firm's first batch of options expires in less than six months, forcing Pershing Square IV to buy millions of new options every quarter to maintain its position, while taking losses on old options sold near their settlement date.
I was wondering who that putz was who came all shvitzed up on his bicycle to the GM-Chrysler talks. I wasn't sure if it was Ronnie or that other Michigan mishiggener Michael Moore.
http://www.forbes.com/2008/10/27/taxes-obama-progressive-oped-cx_bw_rs_1028wesburystein.html
America's Path To Euro-Taxes
Brian S. Wesbury and Robert Stein 10.28.08, 12:00 AM ET
It is hard to imagine that markets are not being affected by the potential for major changes in U.S. tax policy. Sen. Obama says he wants tax rates back where they were in 2000, while Sen. McCain says he wants to keep income tax rates down to a maximum of 35%. With both the House and Senate under Democratic control, Obama will have an easier time following through on his plans than McCain.
Obama has also said he wants to push up tax rates on investment and does not agree that corporate tax rates should be cut. Obama's proposals would not only harm the investment landscape, but they would also make the tax system substantially more "progressive." In particular, Obama wants to raise taxes on "the rich," but "cut" taxes for 95% of Americans. He does this by giving $500 to anyone who is in the workforce and earns between $8,000 and $75,000 per year. In addition, he would use tax credits to further subsidize daycare, college and unwed (working) parents.
In many cases, these are not really tax cuts at all but spending programs dressed up as "tax cuts." The Internal Revenue Service will send out the check rather than some other government agency. This is a modern day version of the negative income tax, and it would make the burden of taxes fall even more heavily on those with higher incomes. This is hard to imagine.
In 2005, the most recent year available, the top 1% of households (by income) earned 16% of income and paid 39% of all income taxes. The top 40% of households earned 74% of income and paid 99% of income taxes.
These percentages surpass levels from the late 1970s, a time when the top income tax rate was 70%. Some say that looking at only income taxes overstates the burden on the wealthy, but when Social Security, Medicare, corporate and excise taxes are included, the top 40% of income earners still pay a whopping 86% of the overall federal tax burden.
Sen. Obama apparently believes that this is not enough. His tax plan would make the system even more progressive and would push the U.S. perilously close to the "tipping point," when more than 50% of Americans would pay no income taxes at all.
One implication is that, in any given year, most potential voters will have no direct stake in the federal government spending responsibly. Another is that the federal budget will depend even more on the strength of the economy. Periods of relatively fast economic growth will lead to soaring revenue, while slower growth (or recession) will cause sharper declines.
The kind of progressivity proposed by Obama is not sustainable over the long run. Policymakers hungry for revenue to finance further expansions in government spending--like national health care or just meeting the huge unfunded liabilities already built into Social Security and Medicare--will eventually find that upscale taxpayers are tapped out and that the only way to get more revenue is to tax the middle class.
After all, the government is so big that it cannot possibly fund itself just on the rich. For example, if the U.S. government confiscated the total wealth of the Forbes 400--a total of $1.6 trillion--it could only finance the U.S. budget for about six months. And if it did that then it would take away billions in charity money, such as that pushed into the Gates Foundation by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. So the only way to generate more money is to tax the middle class.
One way to do that would be to introduce Western Europe's favorite tax: the Value Added Tax. This would actually tax the middle class even more than if marginal income taxes were raised, while making the tax code less progressive.
In the end, it is clear that financial markets have many things to fear. Income redistribution, like the kind practiced in France and other social welfare states, leads the list.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/29/nyregion/28paterson.html?hp
Gov. David A. Paterson said on Tuesday that the state’s financial health has worsened considerably in recent weeks, swelling next year’s projected budget deficit to the largest ever forecast.
In a speech from the governor’s office in Manhattan, Mr. Paterson said that New York State’s budget division now expects the budget gap for next year to be $12.5 billion — nearly double what it projected a few months ago, and that the deficit for this year’s budget has reached $1.5 billion.
But Mr. Paterson pointedly declined to say how he would address the mounting problems, saying he preferred to wait until legislators make their own proposals at a special session next month.
“I don’t want to get ahead of them and start marking out specific areas,” he said after the address.
The forecast Mr. Paterson laid out through 2012 was even more grim. According to the state’s estimates, the budget deficit would expand to $15.8 billion for the fiscal year starting in 2010 and $17.2 billion in 2011 — for a total of $47 billion of projected shortfalls including next year’s gap.
“Don’t get me wrong, there will be hard and painful cuts,” he said in the address. “There will be no segment of this budget that will not be cut.”
Mr. Paterson used words like “unprecedented” and “uncharted.” He referenced the Great Depression and said that the housing market was very likely to tip into a downturn that would be the worst the country has seen.
The Wikipedia Wilhelm article is seriously deficient.
1) The starting of YTV was a group effort, not a one man affair. The role of Rabbi Zev (Wolf) Gold, for example, is omitted (perhaps because he was a religious Zionist leader?). He was very active then, knocking on doors to get kids enrolled. See the biographical sketch of him by R. Aaron B. Shurin in one of his books. Even Artscroll, in the book R. Shraga Feivel, gives him some credit.
2) All the Yeshivas then were not in Manhattan. For example, Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin in Brownsville.
3) I thought Nidchei Yisroel was written by the Chofetz Chaim ?
Old Wilhelm had a role in YTV - a very important role --- He was the official bouncer at board meetings!
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aeDJV8yi5DuM&refer=us
In an open letter to Congressional leaders, he (Gov. Paterson) urged the federal government to give states representation on the panel overseeing spending under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act. He also plans to ask Congress to provide states with ``immediate, direct fiscal relief'' when he testifies Oct. 29 before the House Ways and Means Committee in Washington, D.C.
``We are going to need federal assistance,'' Paterson said.
New York, which typically derives 20 percent of its tax revenue from Wall Street, expects the state's financial-sector job losses to total 45,000, higher than after the 2001 terrorist attacks, when cuts totaled 30,000. Total job losses in the state during this economic slowdown will reach 160,000, Paterson's Budget Director Laura Anglin said.
The state's unemployment rate is expected to reach 6.5 percent next year, up from the current 5.8 percent, which is its highest level in more than four years.
This year's tax revenue is expected to be $1.48 billion less than projected in July, and next year's may be $5.8 billion less, according to the budget division.
Personal income tax receipts this year are expected to be $1.17 billion below projections, with business taxes falling short by $404 million and sales tax estimates dropping by $101 million.
``There is no segment of this budget that will not be cut,'' Paterson said.
Who was getting bounced by Wilhelm?
"Nidchei Yisroel" is the code word that Lazer Stefansky uses to describe admissions at BMG Lakewood. The yeshiva doesn't like to take in alter bochurim because of the higher probability that they will just sit around ungezetzt and never get married. The yeshiva starts geting leery already when a bochur is 24 and will not take anyone 25+.
Once when a 25 year old bochur was trying to get in, Stefansky told him he has no chance unless he is a "baal teshuva, a ger or an anderra sort fun nidchei Yisroel"
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/10/28/20081028dem-next1028-ON.html
Obama loss could revive Clinton for 2012 run
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7694791.stm
More than 600 adults have been arrested in raids across the US targeting people who force children into prostitution.
Operations took place in 29 cities in a co-ordinated action involving federal, state and local law officers, according to the FBI.
Officials said 12 large-scale prostitution rings were dismantled in the raids and 47 children rescued.
Since 2003, 575 child prostitutes have been saved from exploitation by American criminal gangs, they added.
Officials said many of the prostitution rings broken up were operated through call centres, truck stops, casinos and websites.
The FBI generally gets involved in child prostitution cases that cross state lines.
At a news conference announcing the results of Operation Cross Country II, FBI Deputy Director John Pistole said the arrests were made possible by intelligence gathered during similar raids in June.
"Sex trafficking of children remains one of our most violent and unconscionable crimes in this country," he said.
The 47 rescued children range in age from 13 to 17, and all but one are female.
Of these, Mr Pistole said, 10 had been reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
A total of 642 people were arrested. They included 73 pimps and 518 adult prostitutes, according to the FBI.
Growing problem
Correspondents say child prostitution has become an urgent issue in recent years, as demonstrated by the growth of online networks where pimps advertise youngsters to clients.
A recent University of Pennsylvania study estimated that nearly 300,000 children in the US are at risk of being sexually exploited for commercial purposes.
Is the Feivelson from Camp Agudah the same one who walks in on Shabbos to give a shiur to the kids in my shul?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/sfl-1028-wftv-anchor-biden,0,7492119.story
Nothing Barbara West has done in her 22 years at WFTV-Channel 9 has generated the attention of her interview last week with Sen. Joe Biden, Barack Obama's running mate. The contentious chat has become an Internet sensation -- 1.2 million hits on YouTube during the weekend and more than 500,000 on WFTV.com
In the Biden interview, West quoted Karl Marx and asked, "How is Senator Obama not being a Marxist if he intends to spread the wealth around?"
"Are you joking?" said Biden.
"No," West said.
West later asked Biden about his comments that Obama could be tested early on as president. She wondered whether the Delaware senator was saying America's days as the world's leading power were over.
"I don't know who's writing your questions," Biden shot back.
Sentinel readers described the interview as the best or the worst they have seen. "Barbara must be the last honest reporter in America," wrote one.
Morgan Stanley Neither Dead Nor Alive, and Other Miscues of Bank Bailout
Posted Oct 28, 2008 12:53pm EDT by Henry Blodget
Hey Lowinger, I hope no one from the Agudah comes to our shul. I don't know how I'm going to explain myself next time I'm on Air Force One with President Bush!
Los Angeles, CA - John McCain's campaign is demanding that the Los Angeles Times release a video of a party for a prominent Palestinian activist that Barack Obama attended in 2003.
The Times described the going-away party for former University of Chicago professor, and Obama friend, Rashid Khalidi, in a story in April. The story reported that Palestinians thought they might have a friend in Obama because of his friendships in that community, despite the fact that his positions have never been particularly pro-Palestinian.
"A major news organization is intentionally suppressing information that could provide a clearer link between Barack Obama and Rashid Khalidi," said McCain spokesman Michael Goldfarb, citing Obama's friendship with Khalidi, who is now a professor at Columbia University.
He said the video could, among other things, show how Obama responded to a poem recited at the party accusing Israel of "terrorism" and warning of consequences for U.S. support for Israel, which Goldfarb described as "hate speech."
"The election is one week away, and it's unfortunate that the press so obviously favors Barack Obama that this campaign must publicly request that the Los Angeles Times do its job — make information public," he said.
The campaign hadn't previously demanded the video, though conservative bloggers have, and neither other reporters nor McCain's researchers have been able to dig up a copy.
Khalidi is a controversial figure, reviled by pro-Israel activists, though not a marginal one. A former professor at the University of Chicago, he's now Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia, and respected by many in academia. He's been criticized most for saying that Palestinians have a right to resist Israeli occupation and has been described as a former P.L.O. spokesman, a label he has denied.
The paper hasn't explained its unwillingness to release the video, and Peter Wallsten, who found the tape and wrote about it, declined to discuss it with me last night. He forwarded an e-mail that the paper has sent readers who have complained as conservative blogs raise the issue.
"Over six months ago the Los Angeles Times published a detailed account of the events shown on the videotape. The Times is not suppressing anything. Just the opposite — the L.A. Times brought the matter to light," wrote the readers' representative, Jamie Gold.
L.A. Times spokeswoman Nancy Sullivan wouldn't discuss the decision not to release the tape in detail.
"When we reported on the tape six months ago, that was our full report," she said, and asked, "Does Politico release unpublished information?"
The answer to that question, of course, is yes — Politico and most news outlets constantly make available videos and documents, while after describing them in part, which is why the Times' decision not to release the video is puzzling. My instinct, and many reporters' at this point, is to share as much source material as possible.
Critics have suggested that the Times is witholding the video for political reasons, but there are other possibilities: competitive reasons, or out of tradition. In the internal mechanics of reporting, there's another possibility as well. The video may have been given to the paper on the condition it not be released, or releasing it could compromise its source.
But the Times hasn't explained the move, and the McCain campaign is turning up the heat on a story that, whether or not the tape is released, is a reminder that some of Obama's Hyde Park friends stand well to the left of his stated positions.
Meron, Israel - A 30-year-old man from Yokneam suffered from light injuries after being stabbed and a family sprayed with tear gas after a man described by police as religious went on the rampage over mixed seating arrangements of men and women who arrived to celebrate a 3-year-old's birthday at the grave site of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai in Meron, near Safed, this evening.
Safed police said that a suspect had been arrested after attempting to flee the area by bus. He was found in possession of a knife and with a tear gas canister attached to his belt.
"He came prepared," police said, adding that detectives did not know yet why the man was armed.
Earlier, a bus carrying a family with small children arrived at the grave of the revered rabbi, where they proceeded to hold a religious ceremony and set up a temporary shelter.
The suspect complained to the family about the mixing of men and women, and began throwing rocks after the family members did not adhere to his demands. He then produced a knife and stabbed the 30-year-old man in the stomach. The family was also sprayed with tear gas, causing severe discomfort. The stab victim was lightly wounded, requiring medical treatment on the spot.
Safed police sealed off the village and arrested the suspect as he was attempting to board a bus. The stabbing victim identified his assailant.
"We do not know why this suspect arrived at the gravesite with a knife and tear gas. In addition to stabbing a victim, he also caused young children aged three distress," a spokesman for Safed police said.
Police say the suspect had refused to identify himself, preventing officers from finding out whether he had a criminal past.
L.A. Times Suppresses Damaging Obama Videotape
Tuesday, October 28, 2008 12:51 PM
By: Jim Meyers
The Los Angeles Times is refusing to release a videotape showing Barack Obama attending an event in Chicago honoring a Palestinian activist who formerly served as a spokesman for Yasser Arafat.
The 2003 event was a farewell party for Rashid Khalidi, who was leaving the University of Chicago to take a position at Columbia University in New York.
Obama, then an Illinois state senator, lavished praise on Khalidi at the party, which was sponsored by the Arab American Action Network. So did unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers, according to Andrew C. McCarthy, contributing editor at National Review, who disclosed Khalidi’s link to “master terrorist” Arafat.
Back in April, Peter Wallsten of the Los Angeles Times wrote about the party and disclosed: “The event was videotaped, and a copy of the tape was obtained by The Times.”
But as the Boston Herald noted about the videotape, “The Los Angeles Times refuses to release it.”
McCarthy observed: “Is there just a teeny-weenie chance that this was an evening of Israel-bashing Obama would find very difficult to explain? Could it be that The Times, a pillar of the Obamedia, is covering for its guy?”
Khalidi himself spoke at the event, praising Obama and telling the crowd that he deserved their help in winning a U.S. Senate seat. “You will not have a better senator under any circumstances,” he said.
In the 1970s, Khalidi taught at a university in Beirut, Lebanon, and often spoke on behalf of Arafat’s Palestinian Liberation Organization.
In 1990s, he advised the Palestinian delegation during peace negotiations. And in 2000, Khalidi and his wife held a fundraiser for Obama’s unsuccessful congressional bid.
The following year, a social service organization whose board was headed by Khalidi’s wife received a $40,000 grant from a local charity that included Obama among its board of directors, the Times reported in April.
The Times disclosed: “At Khalidi’s 2003 farewell party, one young Palestinian American recited a poem accusing the Israeli government of terrorism in its treatment of Palestinians and sharply criticizing U.S. support of Israel. If Palestinians cannot secure their own land, she said, ‘then you will never see a day of peace.’
“One speaker likened ‘Zionist settlers on the West Bank’ to Osama bin Laden, saying both had been ‘blinded by ideology.’”
Regarding anti-Israeli rhetoric, McCarthy wrote that Obama “wouldn’t possibly let something like that pass without a spirited defense of the Israel he tells us he so stanchly supports, would he?
“I guess to answer that question, we’d have to know what was on the tape.”
Joe the Plumber: Obama Would Make U.S. Socialist
Tuesday, October 28, 2008 2:30 PM
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- "Joe the Plumber," the small business aspirant and overnight media sensation, endorsed John McCain's presidential campaign Tuesday and said Barack Obama would make America a socialist nation.
The Ohio plumber, whose real name is Samuel Wurzelbacher, also agreed with a McCain supporter who asked him if he believed "a vote for Obama is a vote for the death of Israel."
"I'll go ahead and agree with you on that," Wurzelbacher told the man, retired Florida lawyer Stan Chapman who was visiting Ohio.
Wurzelbacher was joined at the rally by Rob Portman, a former Ohio congressman and budget director under President Bush, who said he disagreed with Chapman's assessment of Obama's foreign policy.
Wurzelbacher became famous after he was referred to constantly in the final presidential debate. McCain has been portraying the plumber as emblematic of people with concerns about Obama's tax plans.
Wurzelbacher himself has undercut the Republican message about him by revealing he makes far less than $250,000 a year. He actually stands to fare better under Obama's tax plan, but says Obama's plan would hurt him if he were able to buy the plumbing business from his current employer.
Portman said an Obama administration would mean increased taxes on Social Security, dividends and small businesses.
"In the tough economic times that we're in, we shouldn't be raising taxes on anybody," said Portman, a McCain adviser.
Wurzelbacher's first trip to the podium was without notes. He often apologized to reporters gathered in a flag store for talking from his gut.
"I'm honestly scared for America," Wurzelbacher said.
He later said Obama would end the democracy that the U.S. military had defended during wars.
"I love America. I hope it remains a democracy, not a socialist society. ... If you look at spreading the wealth, that's honestly right out of Karl Marx's mouth," Wurzelbacher said.
"No one can debate that. That's not my opinion. That's fact."
Wurzelbacher also said he had spoken with a lawyer about news reports that his state records had been accessed, perhaps illegally. The Ohio inspector general is investigating who or why accounts assigned to Attorney General Nancy Rogers' office, the Cuyahoga County Child Support Enforcement Agency and the Toledo Police Department were used.
Wurzelbacher was scheduled to make stops in Dayton, Middletown, Milford and Cincinnati. The bus tour included guests billed as Mary the Flag Lady, Mike the Painter and Linda the Fitness Trainer.
Pathetic!
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Effigy of Sarah Palin hanging by a noose creates uproar in West Hollywood
--------------------
Los Angeles sheriff's officials say the Halloween display isn't a hate crime. Authorities are keeping an eye on the house to make sure the situation doesn't get out of hand.
By Victoria Kim
October 28 2008
A West Hollywood Halloween display showing a likeness of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin hanging by a noose has caused a furor among some residents who reported it as a hate crime, authorities said Monday.
The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-palineffigy28-2008oct28,0,541630.story
Recently, McCain held a conference call with Jewish leaders. During the call, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, the founder of the Lincoln Square Synagogue in New York and now the city rabbi of Efrat in Israel, said Obama is “obviously comfortable” with the views of Wright, whom Riskin described as anti-American, anti-Israel, and anti-Jewish. He noted that until Obama finally severed his relationship with him, he and his wife Michelle had been contributing over $20,000 a year to Wright’s church.
The rabbi asked McCain why he was not raising Wright as an issue and running ads featuring him. According to one participant, McCain said it would be a waste of time, since “everyone knows about Wright.”
I beg to differ. The National Republican Trust PAC has started running ads tying Obama to Wright. The clips of Wright denouncing America are devastating.
Wright holds the key to what Obama is all about, demonstrating his attraction to a left wing, anti-American agenda. At this point, given the economic downturn, Wright could also be the key to McCain winning the election.
Big Bucks Without Big Debt
Earn $100K Salaries, No Advance Degree Required
by Grace Chen,
FindTheRightSchool.com
Don't be afraid to fantasize about earning six figures. Doctors and lawyers aren't the only professionals in the $100K club. In fact, there are quite a few well-compensated professions that are open to bachelor's degree holders. Even if you don't quite reach those elusive six-digits, the following careers can offer a hefty paycheck without the decades of student loan payback that can come with a master's or doctoral program. Best of all, if you're open to relocating, each of the five professions below holds the possibility of hitting that magic number--if you're willing to choose your zip code with care.
Police Supervisor
The Job: As a supervising police officer you'd be in charge of overseeing subordinate officers, keeping records of your force's activities, and assigning duties to station personnel. The ability to exercise good judgment in intense and high-pressure situations is crucial for this job. You'll also have to be willing to work overtime as well as weekends and holidays to ensure the round-the-clock police coverage your community needs.
The Debt: The minimum requirement for police supervisors in many states is simply a high school diploma. Since you're new to the field, get a jump on competition by earning an associate's or bachelor's degree in criminal justice or law enforcement.
The Zip Code: Check out 12123, Nassau, New York, where first-line supervisors of police officers made an average salary of $113, 810 in 2007, close to $40,000 more than the national average.
Registered Nurse (RN)
The Job: All RNs, regardless of their focus, are responsible for providing medical care and education to patients and their families. If you're an adrenaline junkie, you could thrive as an emergency room nurse. Can't get enough of newborns? Consider a career in neonatology nursing.
The Debt: Take your pick from an associate's degree in nursing (ADN), a bachelor's of science degree in nursing (BSN), or a diploma program in nursing.
The Zip Code: While median earnings of RNs nationwide are nothing to sneeze at (close to $60,000 in 2007), nurses in San Jose, California (95101), banked an average of $95,580.
Computer Software Engineer
The Job: Software engineers focus on designing and developing computer software to meet the needs of the rapidly growing population of computer users worldwide. In addition to being one of the fastest-growing careers in the nation, this profession lends itself to telecommuting, an added perk if you don't want to leave home to find a higher-paying position.
The Debt: In 2006, eighty percent of all software engineers had at least a bachelor's degree. If you're an aspiring computer software engineer, check out degree programs in computer science or software engineering.
The Zip Code: Average wages for professionals in this field in Haverhill, Massachusetts (01830), were $106,270 in 2007, while nationally the average was $85,660.
Dental Hygienist
The Job: It may not seem glamorous, but keeping people's mouths clean is a practical career choice offering job security, high wages, and even some flexibility in scheduling. Strong interpersonal skills are a must for these professionals, who spend their days up close with their patients.
The Debt: At the bare minimum you'll need an associate's degree or certificate in dental hygiene to practice in a private dental office or clinic. Earning a bachelor's degree could help you compete for higher-paying jobs.
The Zip Code: Most hygienists earn a comfortable living regardless of their location -- the national average was just over $64,000 in 2007. Zip code 98221 (Anacortes, Washington) tops the list of high-paying cities, however, where hygienist salaries average $97,600.
Interior Designer
The Job: Although reality TV shows have created a generation of amateur in-home designers, professionals in this field work in spaces ranging from airports to schools. In addition to combining paint colors, fabrics, window treatments and light fixtures, interior designers must also be able to read blueprints, understand fire codes, and collaborate with architects and contractors.
The Debt: You'll need at least an associate's degree to land an entry-level position as an interior designer. In 23 states designers must be licensed.
The Zip Code: Average earnings for interior designers were just over $50,000 in 2007. Head for Grand Rapids, Michigan (49501), however, and you could make double that.
You don't have to spend the next 10 years in school to make a comfortable salary. Choose your field of study and your future home with care and you could soon find yourself working your way to a six-figure paycheck.
At no point do we condone, support, or approve of the murder of unborn children. We much rather unwanted children be born and abused. Our specialty is bashmutzing, tumelling about, and campaigning against victims we never met. The shita of the roshei yeshiva hakedoisha is Talk First Think Later. At no point would we ever chas v’shalom admit we are wrong. Rav Chaim Schmeltzer zt”l isn’t here anymore to insist on doing things correctly. Now we are led by the gedolim Harav Chaim Dov Keller and Hagaon Harav Hatzadik Hamerutza Lakahal Rav Avrohom Chaim Levin shlit”a.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/10/28/melamine.china.eggs/
Melamine scandal spreads to Chinese eggs
U.N. officials are concerned that melamine has been introduced to animal feed and may turn up in chicken, pork, farmed fish and other products.
Hat tip to Lakewood talmid
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122506830024970697.html
OCTOBER 27, 2008
The Age of Prosperity Is Over
http://www.nytimes.com/external/idg/2008/10/28/28idg-Contractor-susp.html
October 28, 2008
Contractor suspected in 'Joe the Plumber' privacy breach
By JAIKUMAR VIJAYAN, IDG
The Ohio State Highway Patrol has identified a suspect in a criminal case involving illegal access to information in a state government database about Joseph Wurzelbacher, the plumber made famous by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., during the Oct. 15 presidential debate.
Sgt. Tim Karwatske, a spokesman for the state highway patrol, Tuesday said that the investigation is focusing on a contractor working for the Ohio Department of Insurance in Columbus. A Hewlett-Packard computer belonging to the agency has been seized as evidence, Karwatske said.
He did not name the person because the investigation is still under way and no formal charges have been filed in the case, he said.
The criminal investigation came at the behest of Ohio State Attorney General Nancy Rogers' office after it was discovered that someone had surreptitiously used an old test account created by the attorney general's IT team to access Wurzelbacher's records.
This is not the first time that illegal access to records of high-profile individuals by insiders with privileged access has surfaced during this election. Earlier this year, U.S. Department of State officials disclosed that private contract employees working for the agency had repeatedly accessed passport records belonging to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., McCain and others.
Jennifer Brindisi, a spokeswoman at the Ohio attorney general's office, Tuesday said that the test account used to access Wurzelbacher's data was created four years ago during the development of Ohio's Local Law Enforcement Information Sharing Network (OLLEISN). The test account was shared with several unidentified contractors when OLLEISN was being built, Brindisi said.
When the illegal use of the account was discovered, the matter was turned over the Highway Patrol, which launched a criminal investigation into the unauthorized access, Brindisi said. "No one from the Attorney General's Office was involved in the unauthorized inquiry into Joe Wurzelbacher's records," Brindisi said via e-mail. The attorney general's office has changed the security codes and taken other "appropriate measures" to tighten access to OLLEISN data, Brindisi said.
OLLESIN was created by the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police as a tool to help local law enforcement agencies in the state share multi-jurisdictional information on suspects, wanted individuals, warrants, incident data and field interview notes, according to an official description of OLLESIN.
The data behind OLLESIN is part of the state attorney general's Ohio Law Enforcement Gateway (OHLEG) Web portal and can be accessed either via a Web interface or through the Computer Aided Dispatch and Records Management Systems used by law enforcement officers. Users need individual accounts issued directly from the Rogers' office to access the records and all access is logged.
The illegal access case is just one of four similar incidents involving Wurzelbacher's information after the plumber shot into the news following McCain's repeated use of his name to highlight a point about Obama's tax plans. The data checks were initially uncovered by the The Columbus Dispatch, which on Saturday reported that Wurzelbacher's file at the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) had been accessed at least three times by unknown individuals using state government computers in the days immediately following the debate.
According to the paper, the information in the BMV computers was accessed from accounts assigned to at least two state government agencies in addition to the one in Rogers' office.
In a follow-up report Tuesday morning, the paper noted that Ohio's inspector general is also investigating why the director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services had approved a check of Wurzelbacher's background in the agency's child-support computer system.
It is not clear yet what exactly motivated these searches. McCain's camp has accused Obama's team of being somehow involved in the matter, while the latter's campaign has flatly dismissed such suggestions.
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5haGOfQupKAuZcNdn8NcQPjWZ9ehg
Barenaked Ladies frontman Steven Page avoids jail time on drug charges
28 minutes ago
FAYETTEVILLE, N.Y. — Barenaked Ladies frontman Steven Page will avoid jail time on drug possession charges as long as he seeks substance abuse treatment and stays clean for the next six months, a judge said Tuesday.
If he can meet those conditions, the charges will be dropped, Judge Thomas Morgan said.
Outside the courtroom, the singer thanked his fans and said he's looking forward to the upcoming months as a period of "healing and growth."
Page's arrest came just months after the Barenaked Ladies released an album of children's music called "(Pirchei) Snacktime."
Iranians Pulling For Obama...Religiously...Scary
Forbes Magazine
Commentary
Obama and Ahmadinejad
Amir Taheri 10.26.08, 1:33 PM ET
Is Barack Obama the "promised warrior" coming to help the Hidden Imam of Shiite Muslims conquer the world?
The question has made the rounds in Iran since last month, when a pro-government Web site published a Hadith (or tradition) from a Shiite text of the 17th century. The tradition comes from Bahar al-Anvar (meaning Oceans of Light) by Mullah Majlisi, a magnum opus in 132 volumes and the basis of modern Shiite Islam.
According to the tradition, Imam Ali Ibn Abi-Talib (the prophet's cousin and son-in-law) prophesied that at the End of Times and just before the return of the Mahdi, the Ultimate Saviour, a "tall black man will assume the reins of government in the West." Commanding "the strongest army on earth," the new ruler in the West will carry "a clear sign" from the third imam, whose name was Hussein Ibn Ali. The tradition concludes: "Shiites should have no doubt that he is with us."
In a curious coincidence Obama's first and second names--Barack Hussein--mean "the blessing of Hussein" in Arabic and Persian. His family name, Obama, written in the Persian alphabet, reads O Ba Ma, which means "he is with us," the magic formula in Majlisi's tradition.
Mystical reasons aside, the Khomeinist establishment sees Obama's rise as another sign of the West's decline and the triumph of Islam. Obama's promise to seek unconditional talks with the Islamic Republic is cited as a sign that the U.S. is ready to admit defeat. Obama's position could mean abandoning three resolutions passed by the United Nations Security Council setting conditions that Iran should meet to avoid sanctions. Seeking unconditional talks with the Khomeinists also means an admission of moral equivalence between the U.S. and the Islamic Republic. It would imply an end to the description by the U.S. of the regime as a "systematic violator of human rights."
Obama has abandoned claims by all U.S. administrations in the past 30 years that Iran is "a state sponsor of terrorism." Instead, he uses the term "violent groups" to describe Iran-financed outfits such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
Obama has also promised to attend a summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference within the first 100 days of his presidency. Such a move would please the mullahs, who have always demanded that Islam be treated differently, and that Muslim nations act as a bloc in dealings with Infidel nations.
Obama's election would boost President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's chances of winning a second term next June. Ahmadinejad's entourage claim that his "steadfastness in resisting the American Great Satan" was a factor in helping Obama defeat "hardliners" such as Hillary Clinton and, later, it hopes, John McCain.
"President Ahmadinejad has taught Americans a lesson," says Hassan Abbasi, a "strategic adviser" to the Iranian president. "This is why they are now choosing someone who understands Iran's power." The Iranian leader's entourage also point out that Obama copied his campaign slogan "Yes, We Can" from Ahmadinejad's "We Can," used four years ago.
A number of Khomeinist officials have indicated their preference for Obama over McCain, who is regarded as an "enemy of Islam." A Foreign Ministry spokesman says Iran does not wish to dictate the choice of the Americans but finds Obama "a better choice for everyone." Ali Larijani, Speaker of the Islamic Majlis, Iran's ersatz parliament, has gone further by saying the Islamic Republic "prefers to see Barack Obama in the White House" next year.
Tehran's penchant for Obama, reflected in the official media, increased when the Illinois senator chose Joseph Biden as his vice-presidential running mate. Biden was an early supporter of the Khomeinist revolution in 1978-1979 and, for the past 30 years, has been a consistent advocate of recognizing the Islamic Republic as a regional power. He has close ties with Khomeinist lobbyists in the U.S. and has always voted against sanctions on Iran.
Ahmadinejad has described the U.S. as a "sunset" (ofuli) power as opposed to Islam, which he says is a "sunrise" (toluee) power. Last summer, he inaugurated an international conference called World Without America--attended by anti-Americans from all over the world, including the U.S.
Seen from Tehran, Obama's election would demoralize the U.S. armed forces by casting doubt on their victories in Iraq and Afghanistan, if not actually transforming them into defeat. American retreat from the Middle East under Obama would enable the Islamic Republic to pursue hegemony of the region. Tehran is especially interested in dominating Iraq, thus consolidating a new position that extends its power to the Mediterranean through Syria and Lebanon.
During the World Without America conference, several speakers speculated that Obama would show "understanding of Muslim grievances" with regard to Palestine. Ahmadinejad hopes to persuade a future President Obama to adopt the "Iranian solution for Palestine," which aims at creating a single state in which Jews would quickly become a minority.
Judging by anecdotal evidence and the buzz among Iranian bloggers, while the ruling Khomeinists favor Obama, the mass of Iranians regard (and dislike) the Democrat candidate as an appeaser of the mullahs. Iran, along with Israel, is the only country in the Middle East where the United States remains popular. An Obama presidency, perceived as friendly to the oppressive regime in Tehran, may change that.
Amir Taheri is the author of 10 books on Iran, the Middle East and Islam. His new book The Persian Night: Iran Under the Khomeinist Revolution will be published by Encounter Books in November.
Anyone Remember Jimmy Carter?
Brace Yourselves.
NRO
1976 Is Back
Obama as Carter.
By Mark Moyar
A newcomer to national politics, he claimed to transcend partisan labels. He moved to the center during the campaign, at a time when the Democrats held large congressional majorities. In a troubled economy, he told voters he would keep taxes down for most Americans, limit spending, and balance the budget, all while implementing ambitious social programs. He planned to cut military spending to free money for other purposes, but assured moderates and conservatives that when it came to America’s enemies, he would be tougher than the Republicans. The media, droves of moderates, and some conservatives believed him, having pegged him as a man of character.
His name was Jimmy Carter, the year was 1976, and he won. His presidency helps us predict the likely results of an Obama victory in 2008.
What did the majority of 1976 get in return for its votes? Carter’s campaign vow to avoid increasing payroll taxes went out the window: He and Congress raised Social Security taxes through the roof. They also slapped large new taxes on oil and gas. Meanwhile, Carter canceled his plan for a tax refund to Americans earning under $30,000. Casting aside more campaign pledges, Carter and Congress increased annual federal spending from $403 billion to $579 billion and grew the national debt from $709 billion to $914 billion. Tens of billions of dollars went to new jobs programs, urban aid, and mushrooming entitlements, and Carter’s promise to stop Democratic pork-barrel spending was abandoned.
Carter and the Democratic Congress generated 18 percent inflation and economic stagnation at the same time. Unemployment rose. Americans came to regret the votes they had cast — Carter’s approval rating sank to 21 percent in 1980, the lowest in the history of polling.
Carter also threw out his professed hawkishness on foreign policy. Declaring America liberated from its “inordinate fear of Communism,” he sought better relations with the Communists in the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, and Vietnam. He was much less nice to America’s allies, withdrawing support from those who did not accept his self-righteous demands for human-rights reforms. Friendly regimes in Nicaragua and Iran fell to hostile tyrants.
If Obama abandons his promises the way Carter did, his presidency will be even more dangerous. Carter at least had longstanding tendencies toward fiscal restraint, and he, together with a large block of conservative Democrats in Congress, prevented the most left-wing elements of Congress from taxing and spending even more. Obama, on the other hand, has himself been part of the most left-wing element in the U.S. Senate, and conservatives do not have a significant presence on the Democratic side of the Reid-Pelosi Congress. Also, Obama has no history of breaking with his party before this year.
There are reasons to believe Obama will indeed break his promises. In March, he told the American public he would force Canada and Mexico to make concessions on NAFTA. Obama’s senior economic adviser privately assured Canadian officials that Obama’s public promises were “more reflective of political maneuvering than policy.” In the ensuing months, Obama likewise sent contradictory messages to different audiences on such issues as taxes, Iraq, and crime.
In the second presidential debate, Obama made the most flagrant of his bogus promises yet, when he announced a “net spending cut.” The National Taxpayers Union has estimated that Obama will actually produce a net spending increase of at least $292 billion per year. Although the press would have pilloried McCain for such a brazen falsehood, Obama took so little heat that he repeated it again at the third debate.
Also during the third debate, Obama distanced himself from ACORN, denying any involvement with this organization since 1995. But as Sen. McCain pointed out, the Obama campaign paid $832,000 to an ACORN subsidiary earlier this year. Most ominous for the future is Obama’s statement to the Heartland Presidential Forum — which consists of ACORN and other leftist “community organizations” — that as soon as he wins the election, “we'll be calling all of you in to help us shape the agenda.”
Perhaps most incriminating of all is Joe Biden’s Seattle speech. In words that received less media attention than the “international testing” remarks, Biden asserted that an Obama administration would make unpopular decisions, because “if they're popular, they’re probably not sound.” As a consequence, “You all are going to be sitting here a year from now going, ‘Oh my God, why are they there in the polls, why is the polling so down?’” In other words, Obama’s poll numbers will fall once Americans learn that his popular promises of 2008 have been supplanted in 2009 by actions that most Americans oppose.
Before casting a vote for Obama, Americans must consider the likelihood that he will follow the path of Jimmy Carter — that he will wreck the fragile economy by reneging on promises to cut taxes and spending, that he will be tough on America’s allies and soft on its enemies. The odds of Obama staying true to his current rhetoric are so poor that not even the boldest gambler should bet on it.
The First 100 Days...
October 27, 2008, 9:30 a.m.
100 Days of Obama-Biden-Reid-Pelosi
By the Editors of NRO
Barack Obama leads in the national polls and in the Electoral College count. If elected, he can be expected to work manically to exploit the short window of opportunity that greets every new president, a period that could prove especially fruitful for a charismatic young president borne to the White House on a tide of idealism. Some of the items that a President Obama would like to accomplish probably would remain beyond his grasp during the first 100 days of his administration: A radical overhaul of the American health-care system replicating the state-dominated model of France or Canada, for instance, would probably take much longer. On the other hand, a number of items — ranging from important domestic concerns (taxes, energy, financial turmoil) to foreign affairs (foremost the Iraq war, but also trade with Asia and Latin America) — are susceptible to early action.
Here’s what we might expect from the first 100 days of an Obama administration.
Hoisting the White Flag
This is Obama’s plan for Iraq: “The best way to protect our security and to pressure Iraq’s leaders to resolve their civil war is to immediately begin to remove our combat troops. Not in six months or one year — now.” He plans to begin drawing down our forces at a rate as brisk as two brigades a month — “about twice as fast as American commanders in Iraq have deemed prudent,” according to the New York Times. Notwithstanding the success of the surge, Obama’s plan has not changed since he made the above statement in September 2007. The retreat presumably begins on Day One.
Neither Obama nor Biden (who once hoped to ethnically partition Iraq into three autonomous states, not understanding that Iraq’s ethnic groups are quite inconveniently mixed together) has made a single credible statement about how to keep our progress in Iraq from being reversed. As America retreats, remnant al-Qaeda in Iraq elements will have the opportunity to surge, as will those forces backed by the ayatollahs in Iran and others supported by Sunni Arab neighbors. The strategic advantages we have won in the heart of the Middle East — purchased at a terrible price — will be tossed away. The military that could not be defeated by al-Qaeda will be defeated by its own commander-in-chief’s folly.
Raising Taxes to Pay for New Spending
One of the first things any new president does is draft a budget and submit it to Congress. If elected, Obama will face a problem: He has promised mind-boggling spending increases — $1.6 trillion for health care alone — and proposed no serious way to pay for them.
He would increase tax rates on capital gains, dividends, and individuals making more than $250,000. But these hikes would be more than offset by new tax credits for an array of targeted groups. Credits for childcare and college tuition would be expanded, and one for mortgage payers would be created. Low-income workers who pay little or no income tax would get a credit that refunds most of their Social Security taxes as well.
The Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, estimates that Obama’s tax credits would amount to $600 billion in new spending over the next ten years. His tax hikes on high earners would cover only about half that amount, and that’s before the economic downturn is factored into the equation. There will be a gaping hole in the budget before Obama even starts talking about health care, energy, or any of the dozens of other big-ticket spending items he promised during the campaign.
Obama says he’ll pay for all his new spending by “closing corporate loopholes and tax havens.” This is the same magic wand politicians have been waving for years, but they never manage to pull the rabbit out of the hat. Obama has not revealed a plan for succeeding where others have failed, but he has promised to produce the biggest rabbit ever: nearly $1 trillion in revenue over ten years from “as yet unspecified” sources, according to the Tax Policy Center.
Of course the trick is quite simple to perform in practice: Congress reaches into its hat and pulls out our wallets. Obama’s new Great Society will require broad tax increases to sustain it. As the bills come due, those “as yet unspecified” sources are going to become painfully obvious.
Enacting Another Pointless Stimulus
Last winter, Congress passed and Bush signed a $168 billion economic-stimulus package, consisting mostly of tax rebates. The rebate checks failed to have much of an impact, because the concept underlying all such stimulus is flawed: The government cannot put money into the economy without first taking money out of the economy, through either taxing or borrowing. The economy is stimulated when tax policy encourages people to work, save, and invest; rebate checks merely redistribute wealth.
But House speaker Nancy Pelosi now says she wants another $300 billion. In addition to rebate checks, the new stimulus package would include funds for bridges and highways, extended unemployment benefits, and a fiscal bailout for states whose budgets are in the red. Bush has signaled his willingness to sign a stimulus bill, and at this point he and Pelosi are merely haggling over the size. If Obama wins, size won’t matter. Pelosi could split the package in two, send Bush whatever he’s willing to sign, and let Obama enact the rest.
This would be a colossal waste of money at a time when we have little to spare. New infrastructure spending might create some jobs, but taking money out of the economy would delay private-sector job creation and could exacerbate job losses. Moreover, our roads and bridges aren’t deteriorating for lack of funding. They are in bad shape because members of Congress would rather build monuments to themselves (see “Don Young’s Way” in Alaska) than set national transportation priorities. And bailing out states that indulged in politically popular but unaffordable spending would only encourage them to do it again.
Taking Over the Banks
Another of Obama’s early-action items might be the imposition of new terms on any bank that accepted a government rescue this year. Already he has suggested that any bank participating in the Treasury Department’s stock-purchase plan be made to observe a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures. What he expects to accomplish with this is unclear; lenders already have incentives to work out mortgage write-downs in all but the most hopeless of cases.
Such a move wouldn’t stop inevitable foreclosures, but it would set a troubling precedent of government interference in the banking system. Treasury secretary Henry Paulson tried to structure the stock-purchase plan so that the government’s ownership share in participating banks would not come with government control of them, but he is out of a job in less than three months. Obama, backed by Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress, could quickly rewrite the rules.
In the worst-case scenario, the Obama administration acquires the ability to dictate lending decisions to any participating bank. Much like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (which should be broken up and privatized, but which an Obama administration would probably restore to "government-sponsored" status), the nation’s biggest banks would have a government mission, a profit motive, and taxpayer backing in case of failure. What could possibly go wrong?
Reinstating the Offshore-Drilling Ban
“There is no better potential driver that pervades all aspects of our economy than a new-energy economy,” Obama recently told a reporter. “That’s going to be my No. 1 priority when I get into office.” Obama’s enthusiasm for renewable energy — and the fact that congressional Democrats already have energy legislation teed up and ready to go — makes this issue all but certain to be addressed in the first 100 days. Adding to its urgency, from Obama’s point of view, is the fact that Democrats lacked the votes to renew the offshore-drilling ban before it expired last month.
The Democrats are eager to get something resembling the ban back into place as soon as possible, before oil producers can clear the many regulatory hurdles that remain and start producing oil. To this end, they will try to pass legislation on the model of what the “Gang of Ten” in the Senate proposed last year. Under that proposal, a few areas off the East Coast and some parts of the Gulf would have been opened to drilling, but 80 percent of the nation’s offshore oil reserves would have remained off-limits. The proposal would also have increased subsidies for renewable energy by $84 billion and repealed several tax breaks for oil producers. It was a bad deal.
Last month, Pelosi passed a bill very similar to the gang’s proposal, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid decided to wait. Bush had pledged to veto the bill, and the Senate’s close margin made any attempt to pass energy legislation a risky proposition. If Obama wins and the Democrats pick up a few Senate seats, however, Reid should be very safe. Handouts for the ethanol industry would splinter Republican opposition, and Congress would pass Obama’s dream energy bill — one that limits offshore drilling, provides vast new subsidies for renewable-energy boondoggles, and raises taxes on domestic oil producers.
Assaulting the Culture of Life
Obama has promised to review every executive order issued by the Bush administration — and he will very likely start with one regarding federal funding of research that destroys human embryos. Bush’s executive order makes two important ethical claims:
The destruction of nascent life for research violates the principle that no life should be used as a means for achieving the medical benefit of another.
Human embryos and fetuses, as members of the human species, are not raw materials to be exploited or commodities to be bought and sold.
It is important to note that none of Bush’s orders have prohibited stem-cell research. They even permit federal funding of stem-cell research if it uses cells that come from preexisting lines, or from sources that do not require the destruction of embryonic human beings. (Such sources include, for example, umbilical-cord blood.) In his first 100 days, a President Obama would likely revoke these executive orders and any other administrative hurdles that displease the abortion lobby. Executive policies that seek to protect the conscience rights of pro-life pharmacists and physicians would also be undone. Meanwhile the groundwork will be laid for a Freedom of Choice Act that puts all the branches of the federal government on record in support of late-term abortion and makes all levels of government pay for abortion. Obama will be pro-choice, so long as you choose abortion.
Obeying the Unions
If the two major free-trade agreements now pending — deals with Colombia and South Korea — have not become law by the end of Bush’s term, they will probably die a quick and painful death under an Obama administration. Obama seems incapable of appreciating that trade is a major driver of the American economy, a boon to low-income consumers, and an essential source of both capital and goods.
Obama has resisted the Colombia deal on the grounds that there has been violence targeting labor leaders in Colombia; he argues that no trade deal should be accepted until there is better protection for unionists. Colombia is, unhappily, a dangerous place to be in any sort of public life, as a labor leader or politician, but its president, Álvaro Uribe, who heads the most pro-U.S. government in Latin America, has been a force for the rule of law, order, and openness. Colombian parliamentarians are currently under investigation for ties to violent paramilitaries, and President Uribe has not exempted his own supporters from scrutiny. His efforts to suppress FARC terrorism and the wanton violence of the cocaine cartels has made Colombia one of the hemisphere’s success stories in recent years. Given that almost all Colombian goods already enter the U.S. tariff-free under existing law, a free-trade deal would primarily grant U.S. firms equal access to Colombian markets — and bolster an important American ally.
A President Obama would also undermine the pending U.S.-Korea trade accord because of resistance to it from Ford, Chrysler, and the autoworkers’ union, none of which apparently think that Americans can build a car as good as a Hyundai at a competitive price. Anti-trade rhetoric plays with the unions, favor-seeking business interests, and the far-left antiglobalists in the Democratic party; Obama would not be likely to overrule them.
Obama would probably move to pass one of the most thuggish and anti-democratic initiatives in recent memory, the abolition of secret-ballot elections in union-representation votes. Under the “card check” program, instead of holding secret-ballot elections on whether to be represented by a union, workers would be subjected to visits from the local union bosses — who may also be those workers’ supervisors — in which the bosses asked them to fill out a form indicating that they wished to be represented by the union. Refusing the union bosses could easily bring retaliation, whether that means lost professional opportunities or, in the case of the Teamsters and other more robust negotiators, something a little more vigorous. If you don’t remember what that looks like, recall the Washington Times report on the Teamsters’ campaign against dissenting members in the wake of the famous UPS strike, which spoke of “beatings, shootings, stabbings, death threats, intimidation and illegal confiscation of union dues.” If anybody deserves a secret-ballot vote, it’s workers facing these guys.
Looking Beyond
Sen. Obama’s agenda goes beyond the priorities we have noted here, but, to summarize, these are a few things he seems likely to do right away: start withdrawing from Iraq; draft a budget that increases spending and taxes; pass a grab bag of handouts in the name of stimulating the economy; seek government control of banks; reinstate the drilling ban; throw billions down the “new energy” black hole; repeal executive orders that protect the sanctity of human life; block further trade liberalization; and sign legislation empowering unions to bully workers.
As we said above, it would probably not be possible for Obama to implement his dirigiste health-care goals in the first 100 days, but he could start taking steps toward them. For instance, last year President Bush vetoed an attempt to cover middle-class children under the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP). Congress could simply pass that bill again, and a President Obama would happily sign it.
We wouldn’t expect to see much movement on entitlements during Obama’s first 100 days. The problems facing Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid would take longer to address, and Obama’s proposed solutions — such as a surtax of 2 to 4 percent on high earners — would be controversial and require negotiations with Republicans.
Nor do we think Obama will seek cap-and-trade controls on carbon emissions right away. Even Democrats seem to realize that the economy is currently too fragile to absorb the massively higher energy costs such a plan would entail.
Of course, we could be wrong. If elected, Obama could make the mistake of Democratic presidents before him and overreach during his first 100 days, provoking a backlash and setting his party up for a fall in 2010. On the other hand, he could be even bolder than we anticipate, claiming a mandate to pursue the far Left’s dream agenda: We cannot rule out the prosecution of Bush-administration officials for “war crimes” or the reinstitution of the manifestly unfair “Fairness Doctrine” to muzzle conservative talk-radio hosts.
In any case, we’d rather not take our chances. If Obama accomplished even half of what we’ve outlined here, his first 100 days would feel a very long time indeed. Conservatives have had their differences with Sen. McCain, but their differences with Sen. Obama are fundamental and unbridgeable. Those who have been tepid toward McCain should keep in mind that the first 100 days of an Obama administration would be followed by 1,361 more.
There's a lot more room under the mattress.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,444666,00.html
FBI: Photos Show Massachusetts Lawmaker Stuffing Bribes in Bra
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Vos vet zein?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/28/business/worldbusiness/28luxury.html
Dim Days for Luxury Hotels
How are we going to impress everyone with fancy possessions & vacations if there's no more credit?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/29/business/29credit.html?_r=1&em=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
October 29, 2008
Consumers Feel the Next Crisis: It’s Credit Cards
By ERIC DASH
First came the mortgage crisis. Now comes the credit card crisis.
After years of flooding Americans with credit card offers and sky-high credit lines, lenders are sharply curtailing both, just as an eroding economy squeezes consumers.
The pullback is affecting even creditworthy consumers and threatens an already beleaguered banking industry with another wave of heavy losses after an era in which it reaped near record gains from the business of easy credit that it helped create.
Lenders wrote off an estimated $21 billion in bad credit card loans in the first half of 2008 as more borrowers defaulted on their payments. With companies laying off tens of thousands of workers, the industry stands to lose at least another $55 billion over the next year and a half, analysts say. Currently, the total losses amount to 5.5 percent of credit card debt outstanding, and could surpass the 7.9 percent level reached after the technology bubble burst in 2001.
“If unemployment continues to increase, credit card net charge-offs could exceed historical norms,” Gary L. Crittenden, Citigroup’s chief financial officer, said.
Faced with sobering conditions, companies that issue MasterCard, Visa and other cards are rushing to stanch the bleeding, even as options once easily tapped by borrowers to pay off credit card obligations, like home equity lines or the ability to transfer balances to a new card, dry up.
Big lenders — like American Express, Bank of America, Citigroup and even the retailer Target — have begun tightening standards for applicants and are culling their portfolios of the riskiest customers. Capital One, another big issuer, for example, has aggressively shut down inactive accounts and reduced customer credit lines by 4.5 percent in the second quarter from the previous period, according to regulatory filings.
Lenders are shunning consumers already in debt and cutting credit limits for existing cardholders, especially those who live in areas ravaged by the housing crisis or who work in troubled industries. In some cases, lenders are even reining in credit lines after monitoring cardholders who shop at the same stores as other risky borrowers or who have mortgages from certain companies.
While such changes protect lenders, some can come back to haunt consumers. The result can be a lower credit score, which forces a borrower to pay higher interest rates and makes it harder to obtain loans. A reduced line of credit can also make it harder for consumers to manage their budgets, because lenders have 30 days to notify their customers, and they often wait to do so after taking action.
The depth of the financial crisis has shocked a credit-hooked nation into rethinking its habits. Many families once content to buy now and pay later are eager to trim their reliance on credit cards.
We are trying to determine how UOJ knew that my client took short positions yesterday morning. The 900 point or 11% rise has completely wiped out Rabbi Margulies's nest egg.
UOJ will have to answer for this dead cat bounce in the stock market!
That slimeball Dr. Tuvya Chaim "Charles" Neuhoff obviously had another motivation for attacking UOJ, now that we know his brother Yanky is a big Rav Scheinberg talmid.
And to think the hypocrite had earlier accused UOJ of attacking Kolko out of ulterior motives.
I'm UOJ and I approve this message!
--------------------
America: Still number one!
Deteriorating conditions overseas and lots of international trade mean fears the nation will lose its financial superpower status are overblown.
October 29, 2008: 8:35 AM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The United States is suffering the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The nation's reliance on the rest the world to support its rampant spending is increasing. Now some people are asking the once-unthinkable question: Is the United States at risk of losing its status as the world's top financial superpower?
To be sure, things seem grim stateside.
Declining home values have decimated the banking sector and sparked a freeze-up in credit. Financial products - invented in the United States - that allowed the housing bubble to grow so large are now infecting foreign markets.
Nearly 1 million Americans have lost their jobs since the start of the year and a deep recession now seems unavoidable.
Plus, the government is borrowing ever more money as it attempts to stem the crisis, adding to a mushrooming national debt. Meanwhile, baby boomers are retiring, drawing huge amounts of money from Medicare and Social Security and threatening to bankrupt the federal government.
With mounting debt and fewer jobs, many American's feel their country's best days are behind it.
"America is no longer an economic superpower - it is following the path of the Romans and the British," one CNNMoney.com reader wrote on our talkback. "This country has no real future and no real leadership."
Many point to the latest credit crisis, which originated in the United States, as proof.
"The U.S. will lose its superpower status in the global financial system," Germany's finance minister was quoted saying last month as the crisis unfolded.
This crisis will certainly leave its mark on America.
"Our credibility has been destroyed," said Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist at Columbia University. "There will be a fundamental change in the role of the U.S."
For starters, it'll be a long time before a U.S. Treasury Secretary can go over to India or China and tell those countries how they should run their banking systems.
Also, more jobs will likely be shed in the U.S., economic growth will slow for several more years, and the amount it costs to borrow money will increase.
But economists including Stiglitz are nearly unanimous: The United States won't lose its position as the world's financial superpower because foreign economies are slowing just as fast as America's, their debt levels are just as high, and the developing world is too reliant on the U.S. market to achieve significant growth on its own.
"The U.S. will still be the world's largest economy," said Stiglitz.
Irene Finel-Honigman, a colleague of Stiglitz's at Columbia, put it more bluntly.
"The U.S. remains and will remain the standard bearer in financial markets," said Honigman, an expert in international finance. "Even in a recession, the U.S. will lead the way out."
It's not just American economists who think the United States will remain the world's financial center for the foreseeable future.
"It's overdone to think the credit crunch itself will mark the end for the U.S. as the world's most powerful capital market," said Lex Hoogduin, chief economist with Dutch investment firm Robeco. "It's popular in political or left-leaning circles, but I don't think they will be proven right."
Everything is relative
Part of the reason America will remain the world's largest economy is not because things aren't bad here, but because they're bad - or worse - everywhere else.
Two main things hit consumers in 2008 - high energy prices and falling home values, and both those things happened more or less worldwide.
Oil is a global market, and the record prices seen in 2008 happened almost everywhere barring countries like Saudi Arabia and Venezuela that had major gasoline subsidies.
And the U.S. wasn't the only country with deflating home prices. Many European countries saw home values plummet. Some reports indicate China's housing bubble is far worse than that in the U.S., and it's about to pop.
Moreover, because many foreign banks were big buyers of U.S. financial products tied to home loans a global recession - not just a U.S. recession - is increasingly likely, wreaking havoc on foreign stock markets.
The Dow has lost nearly 30% over the last two months, but so has London's FTSE, Germany's DAX and Hong's Kong's Hang Seng. Japan's Nikkei is off 40%.
"The U.S. will remain number one by default," said Alan Tonelson, a research fellow at the U.S. Business and Industry Council. "Everyone else has major economic problems of their own."
We all age
The budget deficit and national debt is also a concern for economists, and in the United States it has indeed been growing.
President George Bush ran a deficit of over $400 billion last year, plus some $200 billion more if the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are figured in.
The national debt - the accumulation of all those years of deficits - is a staggering $10.5 trillion.
This is all only projected to get worse. As the baby boomers retire and draw on Medicare and Social Security, some estimates say the debt could swell to over $50 trillion over the next several decades unless those programs are seriously trimmed.
The danger is that at some point the world will decide the U.S. has too much debt and is no longer credit worthy.
But that hasn't happened yet. Investors are still buying U.S. debt and making it cheaper for the government to borrow money. That's exactly the opposite of what would happen if investors thought the U.S. is on the wane.
And there's good news amid all these daunting debt figures, if only by comparison.
First, the birthrate in the U.S. is fairly high by industrialized standards, meaning there'll be more people to pay that big tab.
In Europe, plenty of people will be retiring over the next few years as well, but there are less workers to replace them when compared to America.
Second, While $10 trillion is no small sum, it's only about 70% of our total yearly economic output, said Jay Bryson, a global economist at Wachovia Corp.
Some European countries have debts that are 100% their yearly economic output, while Japan's debt stands at 150%, said Bryson.
"Is this the death blow for the U.S. as the world's financial center," he asked, referring to all the country's ills. "Probably not."
Mutually assured destruction
With China's unbridled economic growth spurt, there's talk that it could one day overtake the United States. While that could happen several decades from now, China's fate currently is directly tied to the U.S. If we don't buy, they don't grow.
China and other big exporters to the U.S. are laden with dollars - not because its a great investment - but because the U.S. buys so many foreign goods in dollars, argues J.P. Morgan Senior Economist Jim Glassman.
If they tried to switch to another currency, they'd have to sell those dollars and flood the market.
That would kill the value of the dollar and push other currencies up. Exports to the U.S. market would become much more expensive for Americans and because they lack large enough domestic markets it could kill their economy.
"'Whether they like it or not, they are compelled to hold the dollar," said Glassman. "We're enabling their growth and development."
And enabling development overseas, even if that means job losses in the U.S. and manufacturing shifting abroad, is no bad thing, argues Glassman.
"These developing countries have a clear link to us, and we're benefiting from it," said Glassman. "Markets are being created, the pie is growing."
None of this means the U.S. will remain number one forever. Countries rarely keep the top spot for more than a few centuries, and we've already had one.
But for the next five or 10 years, it seems the American Century is in little danger of ending.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Bacanovic
I believe that Margo's investment manager is Peter Bacanovic.
I highly recommend him!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_D._Waksal
Yes, I agree with Martha. And no I don't have negios just because I was at the center of the Imclone mayseh. I did date Martha's daughter who's young enough to be my daughter and even though Martha is a Poilishe shiksa despite her English-sounding name Stewart, but that has nothing to do with it either.
Agav, it was very upsetting to be transferred out of the cushy Otisville prison to Michigan, but if I can't chum up with the Frankel's shul chevrah, I at least get visits from Ronnie Schreiber.
http://gawker.com/news/real-estate/peter-bacanovic-in-need-of-sugar-daddy-158877.php
I'm glad that someone mentioned that Peter Bacanovic putz.
After the SEC barred him for life from Wall St, he became creative director at Judith Lieber Inc. The lowlife organizing the self-hating Jews against the Hamptons eruv is former Judith Lieber CEO Hal Kahn.
The NY Post also received reports that he has been prostituting himself to very wealthy older women.
I'm looking for that piece from earlier this week where Vicky Polin attacks attorney Michael Lesher & Ms. Neustein.
Vicky is obviously too unstable to see things clearly when people don't give her enough kovod.
Monsey, NY - A sex offender is making a second stab at challenging the constitutionality of a Rockland law that limits where he and other classified abusers can live in the county.
Yoel Oberlander, 28, of Monsey argues in court papers that the county law preempts state law and therefore should be voided.
The Rockland County Attorney's Office is defending the 2007 law as valid, since no New York state court has ruled on the issues being raised by Oberlander.
The county law prohibits high-risk sex offenders from living, working or loitering within 1,000 feet of schools, libraries, public pools, day care facilities or other facilities that cater to children. The law empowers police to investigate people found in those areas who are considered suspicious. People in violation of the law face a misdemeanor charge.
Oberlander's legal papers, filed yesterday, will be dissected by state Supreme Court Justice William Kelly, who sits in the Rockland Courthouse in New City.
Kelly upheld the county law in July after an initial challenge by Oberlander and Betzalel Dym, 22, of Monsey on religious grounds.
Oberlander's court papers cite a New Jersey court ruling voiding local living zones for sex offenders as conflicting with that state's law.
Oberlander also argues the Rockland law is not consistent since it allows sex offenders to live within the 1,000-foot zones, if they had been there before passage of the law.
The Rockland law, he argues, also defies the state law's desire to integrate sex offenders within the community, rather than creating enclaves within the county.
The Legislature adopted the law and County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef signed it, though there were misgivings concerning the effectiveness of the law.
Editorial
Loans? Did We Say We’d Do Loans?
Published: October 28, 2008
According to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the chief proponent of the big bank bailout, flooding the banks with taxpayers’ money was supposed to get them to start lending freely again. And that, in turn, was supposed to stabilize the markets and prevent the downturn from being worse than it otherwise would be.
It was not entirely clear from the start exactly how Mr. Paulson would ensure that things would go that way. Indeed, earlier this month, shortly after the bailout was enacted, The Times’s Mark Landler reported that Treasury officials also wanted to steer the bailout billions to banks that would use the money to buy up other banks.
Now, lo and behold, with $250 billion in bailout funds committed to dozens of large and regional banks, it turns out that many of the recipients of this investment from taxpayers are not all that interested in making loans. And it appears that Mr. Paulson is not so bothered by their reluctance.
Mr. Paulson and the bailout recipients have some explaining to do. Congress should plan hearings as soon as possible — and take action to set a clear strategy.
In his column on Saturday, The Times’s Joe Nocera told about a conference call that he had listened in on recently between employees and executives of JPMorgan Chase. Asked how an infusion of $25 billion of bailout funds would change the bank’s lending policy, an executive said the money would be used to buy other banks.
“I think there are going to be some great opportunities for us to grow in this environment, and I think we have an opportunity to use that $25 billion in that way,” the executive said. He added that the money could also be used as a backstop in case “recession turns into depression or what happens in the future.”
There was not a word about lending — not to businesses or home buyers or car buyers or students or other consumers. Just the opposite. In response to another question, the executive said that the bank expected to continue to tighten credit.
JPMorgan Chase is not alone. The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that some regional-bank recipients of the bailout money had acknowledged that only a small portion would be used for loans and the rest for acquisitions and other purposes.
It is prudent for government officials to encourage healthy banks to acquire weak banks. Doing so prevents bank failures and avoids the taxpayer costs and economic disruption that accompany such collapses.
The problem is that the Treasury has refused to put conditions on the banks’ use of the bailout funds, allowing them, in effect, to make purchases of banks that are not on the verge of failure. That could help to maximize the banks’ profits — a worthy goal when the capital they are using is from private investors.
However, when they’re using taxpayer-provided capital, as they are now, Congress and the public have every right to require that the money be used to benefit the public directly, even if doing so crimps the banks’ profits. If Treasury won’t impose conditions, Congress must, including a requirement that banks accepting bailout money increase their loans to creditworthy borrowers and limit their acquisitions to failing banks, such as those listed as troubled by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The bailout should not be an occasion for banks to make a killing.
An even bigger problem is that the bailout was sold as a way to spur loans. If that never was — or no longer is — the primary aim, Congress and the public need to know that. Lawmakers should not release the second installment — $350 billion — until they have answers and guarantees that the bailout money will be spent in ways that put the public interest first.
CONCORD, Mass. — Henry David Thoreau opposed civil disobedience, was pro-slavery, lived in a hut, and shit in the woods, an experience he described in “Walden.” Now he turns out to have another line in his résumé: climate researcher.
The discussion was about the guy who killed his son, but the "Rabbis" are asking for rachamanus based on his fine character. AT THE END OF THE DAY A CRIMINAL MUST PAY THE PRICE FOR HIS CRIME, ESPECIALLY AN ACT OF VIOLENCE.
HE has yet to be sentenced. Now some Charedi leaders are advocating for a light sentence. There is much testimony about the fine character of this man - that he was an exemplary member of their community with a bright future.
Perhaps. But manslaughter is not one of his better traits. No one is now claiming he didn’t do it… or that the confession was coerced anymore. They are just asking for mercy.
This makes me wonder why there was such certainty at the time by great rabbinic leaders as to his innocence. They were so sure and they made their views public. They made those proclamations without the benefit of trial or conclusive evidence. They based it only on his past behavior and reputation – and on the belief in an unfair and corrupt Israeli enforcement and judicial system. ‘He couldn’t have done it!’ ‘They just want a Charedi Korban!’
If great rabbinic leaders were wrong there, maybe they have been wrong in other decisions they have made with ‘certainty’. To those who refuse to question the decisions of great religious figures this is clearly a case where questioning their decisions was right. HE RABBINIC LEADERS WERE WRONG.
There were posts left on other blogs that are written in Vicky's style. I don't think she had the guts to write on her own websites or using her name against Lesher & Neustein. I know she got ripped over at Shmarya's.
Fed Set to Slash Rates: Two of Three Likely Outcomes Are Bad
Posted Oct 29, 2008 11:07am EDT by Aaron Task
The Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut rates later today; the only real question is by how much. Perhaps a better question is whether rate cuts will do any good in the short term, and what kind of long-term affect they will have on the economy.
Short term, it's important to note the effective fed funds rate -- meaning actual overnight lending rates -- has been below 1% since Oct. 10.
"The Fed is trying to lean against the decline in velocity [of money supply] -- which is essentially the same thing as a rise in the demand for money -- by expanding its balance sheet aggressively and allowing the Fed funds rate to trade well below the 1.5% target," writes Michael Darda, chief economist at MKM Partners.
In other words, today's rate cut is a formality, codifying what the Fed is already allowing (and promoting) in the open market.
Beyond such technical considerations, the Fed's goal today -- and with its recent series of rate cuts and other extraordinary actions -- is to restore confidence so that banks will lend, consumers will borrow and speculators will take risks again.
The Fed is likely to have more success with the short-term speculators, and the past 24 hours have shown the impact rate cuts (both here and abroad) can have on market psychology.
So far at least, the Fed (and Treasury) have had less success in restoring confidence. "Pushing on a string" is the term often used to describe a central bank that can't get economic activity to respond -- no matter how aggressively it acts -- because sentiment is so fragile, not to mention the banking system.
There are three likely long-term outcomes to such a scenario, and only one of them is particularly hopeful -- kinda like what coaching legend Woody Hayes said about passing the football: "Only three things can happen, and two of them are bad."
The Fed's actions help put a floor under the economy, preventing a severe recession and paving the way for a normal recovery.
The Fed cuts rates to zero and the economy remains moribund, i.e. the dreaded Japan scenario.
The Fed reignites inflationary pressures by continuing to devalue the dollar via its "easy money" policies. (If you believe that's the most likely outcome, best to have some exposure to commodities, TIPs and equities since cash will become trash - perhaps literally.)
Roubini: Stocks Could Fall Another 30 Percent
Tuesday, October 28, 2008 2:41 PM
By: Dan Weil
Economic guru Nouriel Roubini says stock markets around the world have a lot further to fall and that the S&P 500 index could plunge another 30 percent or more.
“We’re entering a severe two-year recession that hasn’t been fully priced into financial markets,” Roubini told Bloomberg News. “There is significant downside risk in U.S. and global equities.”
The S&P index already has dropped 43 percent from its record high close on Oct. 9, 2007. That makes this, so far, the fourth-worst bear market in U.S. history.
The global economy is entering a period of stag-deflation, Roubini says.
“The U.S., other advanced economies and even emerging markets will have recessions at the same time,” he says.
“Slack demand for goods and labor and sharply falling commodity prices imply inflation going toward zero and then negative,” he says.
Conditions in economies and financial markets are “scary” now, Roubini says.
“There is lousy macroeconomic news, financial news and earnings news. You’ve got deleveraging, liquidation, capitulation. Markets are becoming dysfunctional and unhinged.”
Roubini says recession could last more than two years without government intervention.
“We need more monetary easing, especially in Europe, and massive fiscal stimulus,” he says.
“Traditional Keynesian policy can make a difference.”
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke agrees, at least in terms of a stimulus. The Fed is meeting today and Wednesday and is widely expected to cut the federal funds rate to 1 percent, down from 1.5 percent now.
“With some risk of a protracted slowdown, consideration of a fiscal package by Congress at this juncture seems appropriate,” he told Congress last week.
Soros: Many Hedge Funds Doomed
Tuesday, October 28, 2008 3:52 PM
Billionaire U.S. investor George Soros expects the global financial crisis to reduce the hedge fund industry to as little as one-third of its current size, he said Tuesday.
"The hedge fund industry is going to move through a shakeout," Soros said in a speech at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "In my estimation (the industry) will be reduced in size by anywhere between half and two thirds."
Soros, chairman of Soros Fund Management, was one of the world's first hedge-fund managers and remains one of its best known.
Iowa Workforce Development
News Releases
Nearly $10 Million Civil Penalty Levied Against Agriprocessors, Inc.
Date: 10/29/2008
Contact: Kerry Koonce
For Immediate Release
Contact: Kerry Koonce: (515) 281-9646
Nearly $10 Million Civil Penalty Levied Against Agriprocessors, Inc. for Wage Violations
DES MOINES – Iowa’s Labor Commissioner assessed civil penalties against Agriprocessors, Inc. for repeated violations of Iowa’s wage laws from January 1, 2006 to June 30, 2008.
“Once again, Agriprocessors has demonstrated a complete disregard for Iowa Law,” stated Iowa Labor Commissioner Dave Neil. “This continued course of violations is a black mark on Iowa’s business community.”
Agriprocessors, Inc., was assessed a penalty of $339,700 for illegally deducting “sales tax/miscellaneous” costs 3,397 times. 1,073 employees were affected by the unauthorized deductions reducing their pay by $72,189.09. A separate civil penalty, of $100 per incidence, exists for illegally deducting a charge for frocks. This deduction occurred in 96,436 separate incidences resulting in a $9,643,600 penalty. 2,001 employees had their wages illegally reduced by $192,597.36. Additionally, Aggriprocessors, Inc. failed to pay 42 employees their last paychecks on May 16th and May 23rd following the Immigration & Customs Enforcement raid. Due to the overlapping nature of pay periods, seven individuals were shorted two paychecks. The company has been assessed a penalty of $4,900 for this violation. In total, $9,988,200 in civil penalties was assessed and Agriprocessors, Inc. owes $264,786.45 in back wages.
Agriprocessors, Inc. has 30 days to contest the proposed penalties in writing. If a hearing is not requested within 30 days, all proposed penalties become the final action of the department. An additional wage investigation is still pending with the company that could potentially lead to additional civil penalties.
I'm UOJ and I approve this message!
-----------------------------
The Welfare Queens of Wall Street
by Michael Shermer, Oct 24 2008
Like millions of Americans who invested their retirement accounts in the stock market, I was relieved that the mere suggestion of a governmental bailout of $85 billion for the insurance giant AIG reversed the market arrow up for two days. Relief turned to despair the next two trading sessions, however, until Washington bureaucrats promised another $700 billion for the financial industry in general, leading to another couple of happy trading days and sleep-filled nights. When the plan was scuttled the market crashed again, until it was finally passed, at which point I thought we were headed for greener pastures.
Alas, it’s been red-filled days on the iPhone stock ticker ever since. (And all of this market anguish and elation happened before Congress approved the allocation of even a single dollar. That’s the mind of the market for you — it is as much psychology as economics.)
But then it dawned on me: since when is the government in the business of protecting corporations from self-inflicted high-risk losses? The whole point of capitalism is risk taking to make a profit. Low risk taking typically results in slow and steady growth, whereas high risk taking historically produces both high profits and steep losses.
By entering the business of risk protection, the government is sending a clear signal to the market: don’t worry about taking big risks with your own and investors’ money; we’ll bail you out. In profits we’re capitalists, in losses we’re socialists.
Welcome to the Welfare Queens of Wall Street. This is corporate welfare, and once the $700 billion are allocated every employee of all the corporations receiving our money will be on the dole. (Don’t believe the caveats that this is a one-time fix for a once-in-a-lifetime catastrophe — precedence is everything in government handouts, and nearly every government program began as an emergency fix.)
The CEOs and COOs of AIG and all the other Wall Street financial giants in receipt of this corporate welfare will be welfare queens. And like the welfare queens during the reform movement of the 1990s, they should all be put on a very public welfare-to-work program in which their salaries (I recommend that they be paid minimum wage to start) are tethered directly to the amount of money paid back — with interest — to the people who earned the money in the first place (us taxpayers). The corporate leaders could be even be featured in a new Fortune 500 list, ranked by how much of our money they have returned.
Contrast the Bernanke/Bush plan with the actions of billionaire investor Warren Buffet, who put his money where the bureaucrat’s mouth is by committing $5 billion of his company’s assets in Goldman Sachs stocks. This investment gave the company’s stock a bump of nearly 20 percent in three days of trading, and boosted investor confidence in the market as a whole. This is different from what the feds did in two important ways.
One, the $5 billion is Buffet’s property and as such he can do whatever he wants with it. Two, we are confident that one of the greatest investors in history is basing his risk assessment on sound fiscal reasoning. Contrast this with Ben Bernanke’s comments to Congress, in which he called the $700 billion “not an expenditure, it is an acquisition of assets.”
No it isn’t.
You cannot acquire assets with other people’s money that you’ve confiscated without their permission.
That’s called theft.
When Warren Buffet invested in Goldman Sachs he was doing so in order to make a profit for his company. That’s called investment. It is fully moral because it is his money and his risk. You can voluntarily join Buffet in the risk by purchasing stocks in Goldman Sachs (or any of Buffet’s other corporate holdings), but Warren Buffet will never compel you to contribute to his holdings.
A short lesson in economic civics: the primary job of government is to protect our private property from being plundered by foreign powers and domestic criminals (through the military and the police respectively), to resolve disputes over property (through the courts), and to protect our civil liberties (another form of property) by enforcing the Constitution and Bill of Rights (through legislation).
The government does not produce property, so in order to pay for these services (military, police, courts, legislature) it taxes us. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a tax is “a compulsory contribution to the support of government”. A “compulsory contribution” is an oxymoron.
It is compulsory confiscation, and we are all about to have $700 billion confiscated from us. For what? For protection from foreign plunder or domestic crimes against our property? No. For resolving property disputes?
No.
For defending our Constitutional rights and civil liberties.
No.
For covering the losses of corporations suffering from taking undue risks?
Yes.
So, we are all about to have $700 billion confiscated from us in order to buy homes and mortgages (and the financial instruments tied to them) that are so worthless that even our most stable and endowed financial institutions could not retain their value. At least Bernanke recognizes the risk, as he told Congress: “That does expose the taxpayer to significant risk, there’s no question about it.”
Behavioral economists have demonstrated experimentally and experientially that humans are normally very risk averse. Specifically, the research shows that losses hurt twice as much as gains feel good. That is, in order to get someone to invest their hard-earned money you have to convince them that the potential gains are twice as much as the possible losses.
Why didn’t risk aversion work in the housing industry? Two reasons: short term thinking and reduced risk signals. First, potential home buyers and investors mistakenly assumed that the increasing trend line in housing prices would continue unabated indefinitely. Two, loan officers and their financial institutions intentionally and deceptively reduced the normal risk signals sent to potential customers in hopes that the artificial bubble would not burst. It did, and here we are.
Like everyone else, my emotional brain would love it if the government bailout program drives the market back up and my retirement account recovers.
But that’s just greed and short-term thinking on my part. My rational brain knows that such a bailout program sends the wrong risk signals to the market. Why? Because the government is not in the business of risk management because only the people who produce the wealth can properly assess how best to risk it in future investments.
The Buffets of the world can do that. The Bernankes of the world cannot.
Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama's stand on Iran is "utterly immature," French President Nicolas Sarkozy told Israel , according to the Hebrew-language daily Haaretz.
Sarkozy has clearly stated that Iran's nuclear sites could be bombed if Tehran develops a nuclear weapon, but he has expressed fears that Sen. Obama, if elected President, would oppose such a move.
The United States and the other four permanent members of the United Nations Security Council have spoken with one voice against Iran 's nuclear program and have backed sanctions designed to persuade the Islamic Republic to abandon the process. However, French President Sarkozy expressed worry that Sen. Obama might open direct dialogue with Iran "without preconditions."
President Sarkozy this week told an annual conference of French ambassadors that Iran 's nuclear intentions "are without doubt the most serious crisis that weighs today on the international scene," according to the London Times.
Offering incentives to Tehran to halt weapons development "is the only one that can enable us to escape an alternative that I say is catastrophic: the Iranian bomb or the bombing of Iran ," he said.
His reported comments that Sen. Obama's policies on Iran are based on "formulations empty of all content" have not spared United States President George W. Bush from criticism, whom Sarkozy censured for the invasion of Iraq
URGE THE L.A. TIMES TO RELEASE THE OBAMA/KHALIDI VIDEO! LET'S SEE HOW HE REALLY FEELS ABOUT ISRAEL!
------------------------------
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/29/contact-los-angeles-holding-obama-khalidi-videotape/
Shmeckelstein is publicizing this vomit for the Agudah, who are basically giving a platform to that bum Corzine to make excuses for Osama.
Corzine, in case you didn't know, was formerly at the helm of Goldman Sachs, so he's also responsible for the economic melt down.
October 29, 2008
Agudath Israel of New Jersey, together with the Central Jewish Political Affairs Committee, proudly presents a Presidential Forum, featuring New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine representing the campaign of Senator Obama and NJ State Assemblyman and Republican Whip Jon Bramnick representing Senator McCain. Governor Corzine and Assemblyman Bramnick will discuss key issues of the campaign and subjects of special interest to the Jewish
community.
The forum will take place tonight, Wednesday, October 29th, at 7pm at Congregation Ohr Torah, 48 Edgemount Road, Edison, New Jersey 08817. The event is free of charge and all are welcome to attend. For more information please contact Agudath Israel of New Jersey at email at jp@agudathisrael-nj.org.
Attention all Yidden in New York City:
There is a major effort being undertaken these days in NYC which will affect our children. This effort is below the radar, and most of us will wake up one day to find out that our children have been undercut by our Mosdos and by Agudas Yisroel.
There is a national company called Catapult Learning which is slowly taking over the special education in our Yeshivos and Bais Yaakovs. One by one, schools are being pressured into agreeing to accept this company as the sole provider of special services to our kinderlach. The problem is that this company is known nationally for extremely underpaying their teachers.
What this means for our teachers: A special ed teacher who until now was getting $50-$60 an hour will now get $15-$20 an hour.
What this means for our kinderlach: The best teachers will simply leave the Yeshivos and Bais Yaakovs and work in the public school system. Our kinderlach will be left with second class teachers who cannot get jobs elsewhere. Our kinderlach will be the big losers.
Guys, this is serious.
Ask any special ed teacher from Lakewood. Catapult Learning has taken over special ed in Lakewood, and all special ed teachers in Lakewood now receive $15-$20 per hour. We KNOW that Catapult has told prospective teachers in Brooklyn that they will receive $15-$20 per hour.
Many principals are aware of this, and are trying hard to resist the pressure from Agudas Yisroel.
However most principals are not aware of the consequences of this decision. Please notify the principals of what may happen if this company will be allowed to monopolize jewish education in NYC the way they did in Lakewood.
Spread the word! Call principals!
Call NYC BOARD OF ED!
Most of all, call Aguda at 212-797-9000 x328 and tell them to keep Catapult Learning out of NYC!
RALEIGH, N.C. – Barack Obama accused Republican UOJ on Wednesday of stooping to low tactics by labeling the Democrat a socialist. "I don't know what's next," Obama, the presidential candidate, said at an outdoor rally in North Carolina. "By the end of the week, he'll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten. I shared my peanut butter and jelly sandwich."
Hi. I'm Charles and I work for the Asbury Park Press, we're collecting information on this Catapult story out of Lakewood.
If anyone has any information, please forward it to me at:
charles_cunliffe_app@yahoo.com
- I promise you total confidentiality. Thanks.
Kim Jong-il 'probably in hospital' BBC Reuters
SEOUL, South Korea – New South Korean intelligence indicates that ailing North Korean leader Kim Jong Il suffered a serious setback in his recovery from a stroke and has been hospitalized, a newspaper reported Wednesday.
The report in the Dong-a Ilbo newspaper cited an unnamed government official in saying intelligence obtained Sunday suggested "a serious problem" with Kim's health. The report did not elaborate, and South Korea's National Intelligence Service and Unification Ministry said Wednesday they could not confirm it.
Kim, 66, reportedly suffered a stroke and underwent brain surgery in August.
Avroham mondrowitz did not attend the funeral of his 100 year old father who passed away the first day of succos, and was not released from prison to sit shiva either, I wonder if meir zilberstein the gerer rav of the gedoilei alzheimers was allowed a prison shiva call, and if yes was he succesful in smuggeling in little grandkiddies to visit zayde and to liven him up a bit.
Bruchim Haboim R' LVF - We missed you!
SOS!
The release of the Khalidi-Obama Video will sink Obama like a ROCK! Bim-Bams behavior/comments are scurrilous, show him unfit for this high office, and this is why the LA Times will not release it. Israel is in danger if this Haman wins the election.
This tape must be released by whatever means NOW!
Where is the Mossad?
Some little known facts about the pro-Obama rabbi Moshe Soloway mentioned here. When my cousin learned at Ner Israel in Baltimore in the nineties, this scoundrel appeared there in the guise of a Bobover chassid. Soloway became very close to rabbi Joseph (Yossef) Tendler, Ner Israel Mechina principal who proposed him to rabbi Moshe Eisemann. Bisexual Soloway gave up right away his phony chassidus, threw out his gartel, and became rabbi Eisemann's concubine.
At the same time he had abundant sexual encounters with local shiksas (something which rabbi Moshe Eisemann could never forgive him). Soloway was caught in the act and quietly thrown out of Baltimore. (Rabbi Aryeh Katzin (a good friend of rabbi Israel Belsky of Torah V'Daas), the principal of the "Sinai Academy" yeshiva in NY who initially shipped Soloway to Ner Israel, drove to Baltimore himself to coordinate a dignified removal of that fraud together with the hefty pack of porn periodicals Soloway stockpiled in his dorm room.)
In the Torah-true Judaism that would spell the end of the career for anyone. But not so in our hijacked version of Judaism with Moshe Soloway as its embodiment! Rabbi Joseph Tendler promptly stepped in to bail out his protégé with the help of his brother rabbi Moshe Tendler of the Yeshiva University. Soloway was then lovingly shipped off to Israel. In the course of merely one year he received a rabbinical ordination at "Aish HaTorah" yeshiva in Jerusalem in exchange for some specific favors he did for rabbi Mattis Weinberg. Then Soloway returned to States and (sure enough) was married off by rabbi Joseph Tendler to a girl he later cheated many times. It's striking that rabbi Joseph Tendler even went as far as to be "mesader kidushin" at his wedding ceremony. Wow...
In the last few years rabbi Moshe Soloway made a stunning and speedy career as a teacher molester at the YDA Elite High School, a "RockRebbe" (as he prefers to be called), and a marketing and strategy consultant at various companies in NY. Mr. Obama should be really embarrassed to associate himself in any way with this young "dynamic business ethics and religion public speaker" and "a role model."
Obama "embarrased"?
Have you seen his other "friends"?
Ayers
Dohern
Khalidi
Jesse (Hymietown) Jackson
Acorn
Reszko
And but of course, "Pastor" Wright; the "best" the Black Church has to offer.
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