Conservatively Speaking

Survey USA, the robopolling outfit, asked 500 California adults whether they would support recognizing Harvey Milk’s birthday as a statewide “day of significance.” The results: 19 percent said yes, 69 percent said no, and 10 percent said they weren’t sure.Milk was the sirst openly homosexual to serve in elected office in California and was the subject of the film “Milk” starring Sean Penn. Who won an academy award for is performance.

For its own reasons Associated Press has resurrected a December 28, 2008 Wall Street Journal article by a Russian who is something of a pop star there because soon after the USSR collapsed he has been predicted the demise of the USA and now says it will happen in 2010. Igor Panarin predicts Obama will order martial law and the U.S. will split into six rump-states before 2011, and Russia and China will become the backbones of a new world order.

 

Panarin is a dean at the Foreign Ministry’s school for future diplomats and a regular on Russia’s state-run TV channels. And his predictions fit into the anti-American story line of the Kremlin leadership. A leadership that has just told Obama it would use his letter as toilet tissue, and not to expect help with Iran from Russia.”There is a high probability that the collapse of the United States will occur by 2010,” Panarin told dozens of students, professors and diplomats Tuesday at the Diplomatic Academy - a lecture the ministry pointedly invited The Associated Press and other foreign media to attend. AP and some others fell for what was obviously a clever propaganda ploy scampering for their keyboards to publish Panarin’s continuing diatribe.The prediction from Panarin, a former spokesman for Russia’s Federal Space Agency and reportedly an ex-KGB analyst, meshes with the negative view of the U.S. that has been flowing from the Kremlin in recent years, in particular from Vladimir Putin.

Putin has likened the United States to Nazi Germany’s Third Reich and blames Washington for the global financial crisis that has pounded the Russian economy in an apparent effort to escape any blame himself..

Igor, has always been short on specifics but said the recent economic turmoil in the U.S. and other “social and cultural phenomena” led him to nail down a specific timeframe for “The End” - when the United States will break up into six autonomous regions and Alaska will revert to Russian control.

Panarin argues Americans are in moral decline, saying their great psychological stress is evident from school shootings, the size of the prison population and the number of homosexuals..

On Tuesday Panarin cited the slide in major stock indexes, the decline in U.S. gross domestic product and Washington’s bailout of banking giant Citigroup as evidence that American dominance of global markets has collapsed.

Panarin who insists he didn’t wish for a U.S. collapse, but he predicted Russia and China would emerge from the economic turmoil stronger and said the two nations should work together, even to create a new currency to replace the U.S. dollar.

Asked for comment on how the Foreign Ministry views Panarin’s theories, a spokesman said all questions had to be submitted in writing and no answers were likely for a few days. That means they will wait to see how much traction the propaganda ploy gets.

Russia, whose population is contracting, faces its own severe challenges. But, according to AP Panarin dismisses the idea: of a Russian collapse.

But Alexei Malashenko, a scholar-in-residence at the Carnegie Moscow Center who did not attend the lecture, sided with critics saying Russia is the country that is on the verge of disintegration.

“I can’t imagine at all how the United States could ever fall apart,” Malashenko told the AP.

This and other recent events have all the hallmarks of a propaganda campaign designed to harm Americans and influence behavior. Russia, or at least Putin, appear absolutely convinced they can take advantage of an economically and politically weakened America verging on the dysfunctional. Heretofore, Obama has been complicit by defacto ranting against America that arguably has damaged the stock market accounting for loses exceeded $2 trillion dollars since he was elected.

Hopefully that has stopped.

BELTWAY - a highway around Wshington DC separating the federal government from reality.

Obama is unilaterally remaking international alliances and changing priorities distancing the U. S. from Europe, South America, and Israel and bowing to China and Russia while ignoring North Korea and Venezuela; for instance… Secretary of State Clinton’s Asian trip that ignored the Philippines, and Taiwan and kowtowed to China and Obama’s secret offer to Russia to abandon the Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) to be based in Poland and the Czech Republic, and billion dollar offer to Gaza are the most obvious examples.

The Obama message to former allies is “you’re on your own” and to adversaries “do as you will” are at best disquieting and a worse dangerous encouraging adventurism. Israel has already acknowledged the U. S. shift despite assurance by Hillary Clinton to the contrary.

Few expected Obama to stick to his word to assess BMD on its technical merits, and the Czech Republic saw that first by postponing a vote to accept the U. S. promise while Poland had already stuck its foot too far in to get out gracefully. 

Allies and adversaries are surprised by the speed of the U. S. change of course. Obama smart aleck “We won” retort doesn’t go far domestically and goes nowhere internationally and even less as the U. S. sheen is tarnished as its economic collapse spread to other areas of the economy and splashes others.

Perhaps the biggest irony of the current economic contraction is the adverse consequence of U. S. adversaries’ ambitions. In Iran, for instance, falling crude oil price maybe the biggest inhibitor to its nuclear weapon program.

Bon ton (bon ton) noun:1. Good form or style.2. Something regarded as fashionably right. 3. High society. ETYMOLOGY:From French, literally, good tone.

During February, the number of Republicans in the nation grew by a full percentage point, but the Democrats continue to have a sizable advantage in terms of partisan identification.

 

Currently, 40.8% of Americans say they are Democrats and 33.6% say they are Republicans. A month ago, those figures were 40.9% and 32.8% respectively.

One year ago-in February 2008-the number of Democrats topped the 40% level for the first time since Rasmussen Reports began regular tracking in November 2002. Since then, the Democrats have been over the 40% level ten times in thirteen months, including the last five months in a row.

Who  said “This government is here to protect the people not the bourgeoisie or the rich”? No, it was Venezuelan Dictator Hugo Chavez as his troops marched in and siezed rice producers because they balked at producing under regulated prices. “I don’t have any problems expropriating,” Chavez said.

 

China National Petroleum Corp has agreed to buy Canada’s Verenex Energy Inc, including its Libyan oil assets, in a deal worth 499 million Canadian dollars (400 million US dollars), the Calgary-based company said.

The Chinese company’s international arm, CNPC International Ltd, in an all cash deal, offered 10 Canadian dollars (7.97 US dollars) per share, a 28 percent premium on the company’s closing price Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange, Verenex said in a statement late Thursday.

Verenex’s biggest asset is its 50 percent stake in the promising Area 47 oil field in northwest Libya, along with other assets in the vicinity.

CNPC officials were not immediately available on Friday to comment on the deal, and the company posted no statement about the transaction on its website.

The deal is the latest in a global buying spree by China, which has seen the voracious giant buy up stakes in resource companies around the world to secure supplies for its growing economy.

China Petrochemical and Chemical Corp., known as Sinopec, in December closed its two-billion-dollar deal for Tanganyika Oil, which has oil fields in Syria.

CNPC’s offer still has to be approved by the Libyan National Oil Corp and Verenex shareholders owning at least two thirds of the outstanding shares, the Canadian company said.

Canada is the largest oil supplier to the U. S. exporting 2,033 million barrels per day; followed by Saudi Arabia q,394 MBD, and Miexico’s 1,126 MBD and then Venzuela’s 1.028 MBD. It is not clear how or if Chinese ownership will impact it relationship with the U. S.

Obama trade representative Ron Kirk, former Dallas mayor, is he latest Obama cabinet member to admit to not paying taxes, and now says he will pay the five figure bill to IRS.

Grocers are at odds with major brands on costs reports a March 2  LA Times article. Giant food makes like: Nestle, Unilever and Kellogg have been raising wholesale prices despite sharp decreases in the cost of commodities. A representative of one major grocery chain told me they are forced to change prices on a daily basis, and in California the price of fruits and vegetables is jumping and are expected to go up more because of the state’s water shortage.

One example is Dreyers ice cream that surged 16% last April and have not come down despite milk prices paid to dairy farmers dropping by almost a third. Falling prices include: live cattle -11%; Corn - 33%; wheat - 50%; milk -43%, and cheddar cheese - 39% are examples.

Grocers complain that the food giants are paying lower costs for ingredients but those savings are not being passed on the grocers and reflected in higher prices to consumers. Some makers like Uniilever have reduced sizes by 10% on its popular Skippy peanut butter while rising the per jar price by a nickel.

Food makes say they are looked into long term contracts so they have not seen decreases. Stater Brothers, a 165 store California based grocer, says it received a warned from one make predicted a 4% per quarter increase in wholesale prices for the next 6 quarters.

Consumers are reacting to the higher prices and switching to lower priced brands or shopping at bulk sellers like WalMart, Sams Club or Cosco.

So far groceries remain untaxed in most states while sales taxes are increasing on other things. A one percent increase in California’s sales tax is expected to further hurt big ticket sales in the state. And  is being sharply criticized by consumer groups.

Au fait (o FAY) adjective: Being well-informed or skillful in something. From French, literally “to the fact”, from Latin facere (to make or do).

Moscow (RIA Novosti) Mar 04, 2009 a collision between U.S. and Russian satellites in early February may have been a test of new U.S. technology to intercept and destroy satellites rather than an accident, a Russian military expert has said.

This provocative claim comes at the same time sources, believed to be Russian, disclosed Obama wrote to Russia he would abandon Europeanm allies if Russia convinces Iran to stop its A-bomb program. Tuesday Russia’s President said ut would not intervene with Iran but welcomes Obama’s abandonment of Poland and the Czech Republic. There is little doubt this if Obama’s biggest intenational gaff. Critics point out that talking is not negotiating it is just noise.

According to official reports, one of 66 satellites owned by Iridium, a U.S. telecoms company, and the Russian Cosmos-2251 satellite, launched in 1993 and believed to be defunct, collided on February 10 about 800 kilometers (500 miles) above Siberia.

However, Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Leonid Shershnev, a former head of Russia’s military space intelligence, said in an interview published by the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper on Tuesday that the U.S. satellite involved in the collision was used by the U.S. military as part of the “dual-purpose” Orbital Express research project, which began in 2007.

Orbital Express was a space mission managed by the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and a team led by engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC).

According to the DARPA, the program was “to validate the technical feasibility of robotic, autonomous on-orbit refueling and reconfiguration of satellites to support a broad range of future U.S. national security and commercial space programs.”

Orbital Express was launched in March 2007 as part of the U.S. Air Force Space Test Program’s STP-1 mission. It tested a prototype servicing satellite (ASTRO) and a surrogate next generation serviceable satellite (NextSat). The demonstration program met all the mission success criteria and was officially completed in July 2007.

Shershnev claims the U.S. military decided to continue with the project to “develop technology that would allow monitoring and inspections of orbital spacecraft by fully-automated satellites equipped with robotic devices.”

The February collision could be an indication that the U.S. has successfully developed such technology and is capable of manipulating ‘hostile satellites,’ including their destruction, with a single command from a ground control center, the general said.

Spring break officially starts this week. This is the time when the term “bail out” has a whole new meaning.- Leno

Paris (AFP) March 3, 2009 An asteroid of a similar size to a rock that exploded above siberia in 1908 with the force of a thousand atomic bombs whizzed close past Earth on Monday, astronomers said on Tuesday.

2009 DD45, estimated to be between 21 and 47 meters (68 and 152 feet) across, raced by at 1344 GMT on Monday, the Planetary Society and astronomers’ blogs reported.

The gap was just 72,000 kilometers (44,750 miles), or a fifth of the distance between Earth and the Moon and only twice the height of satellites in geosynchronous orbit, the website space.com said.

The estimated size is similar to that of an asteroid or comet that exploded above Tunguska, Siberia, in 1908 flattening 80 million trees in a swathe of more than 2,000 square kilometres (800 square miles).

2009 DD45 was only spotted last Saturday by astronomers at the Siding Spring Survey in Australia, and was verified by the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Centre (MPC), which catalogues Solar System rocks.

 The closest flyby listed by the MPC is 2004 FU162, a small asteroid about six metres (20 feet) across which came within about 6,500 kms (4,000 miles) of us in March 2004.

Atheism: spiritual anorexia, devout belief in disbelief.

Forty-three percent (43%) of Americans say it is Very Likely that the Obama Administration will try to implement stricter gun control laws even though 47% see no need for such laws. Another 28% say the administration is somewhat likely to seek tougher gun control.

Among gun owners 49% see stricter gun controls as Very Likely.

Overall, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 16% of the nation’s adults think the administration is unlikely to implement stricter gun control laws.

While 47% see no need for new gun control laws, 43% of adults nationwide say America does need more legal restrictions. This marks a slight drop-off in support for more gun control from surveys in October and June.

The new findings come amid news reports that gun sales are up, primarily because of fears that stricter regulations may be coming.

ANDROGYNOUS - both male and female. A conditions feminist say should allow them to marry themselves.

 Everyone knows what Post-it® notes are: They are those great little self-stick notepapers. Most people have Post-it® Notes. Most people use them. Most people love them.

But Post-it® Notes were not a planned product. No one got the idea and then stayed up nights to invent it.

In 1968, Dr. Brian Barbour, a scientist at 3M in the United States, with the help of Jesse Kops, a fellow scientist, accidentally developed a “low-tack”, reusable pressure sensitive adhesive . Nobody was interested except a fellow 3M scientists Spencer Silver who promoted it for 5-years within 3M, both informally and through seminars, but without success.

Then one Sunday in 1974, another 3M scientist named Arthur Fry was singing in the church’s choir. He used markers to keep his place in the hymnal, but they kept falling out of the book. Fry had attended a seminar of Silver’s; tried the adhesive on bookmarks and they worked.

3M launched the product in 1977 and it failed because no one had or would try it. A year later 3 M distributed free PostIn note in Boise, Idaho and and people loved them with 80% saying they’d buy the sticky little notes.

Remembering Silver’s adhesive, Fry used some to coat his bookmarks. Success! With the weak adhesive, the markers stayed in place, yet lifted off without damaging the pages.

3M began distributing Post-it ® Notes nationwide in 1980 — ten years after Silver developed the super weak adhesive. Today they are one of the most popular office products available.

APPEASEMENT - the idea that if you keep throwing steaks to a tiger it will eventually turn into a vegetarian - Heywood Broun.

The emerging consensus is that Iran is on the cusp of building a nuclear weapon that it has threatened to use. Many believe the Mullahs will use such a weapon through a surrogate such as the Hezbollah terrorists group or another radical group.

Last week an unsubstantiated and subsequently denied story circulated on the web that Russia has intercepted and sunk a Chinese registry vessel enroute to Seattle with a stolen ICBM aboard. The source of the stolen Russian nuke tale is part of the world government conspiracy crowd the whole episode was laid to the CIA and Obama that allegedly wanted to provoke an international crisis to seize control of the globe.

As absurd as this seems it or a variant is persistent and is still circulating. Just in case you are in the mood to “enjoy” the consequence of such a nuclear attack there is a website that allows you to do that.

Be sure to pick your favorite nucleare weapon from the list in the lower left quadrant and the city in the upper left. This is about as cynical as it is possible to be.

http://www.carloslabs.com/projects/200712B/GroundZero.html

BIBLE - basic text of Judeo-Christianity banned in public schools on the grounds it might teach morality.

One in five homeowners in the U.S. owe more on their mortgage than their homes are now worth, and that number is rising. A report released by First American CoreLogic says more than eight-point-three-million properties had negative equity at the end of 2008. The study found homeowners in California, Florida and Nevada are under the greatest stress, but there are worrisome ripples appearing in parts of the nation that were, until now, relatively healthy. At the end of last year, California had one-point-nine-million borrowers with negative equity, more than any other state.

The same source says homeowners lost $2.3 trillion on their home values in 2008 and other sources estimate that figure now exceeds $3 trillion and could top $4 trillion by 2010.

Clou (kloo) noun: A major point of interest, or a central idea. From French clou (nail), from Latin (clavus).