Eeyore's important news and views

It was a bad day at Blackrock today on the street. All the index's down 3 percent, the only big name stock that was plus today was Coca-Cola. Oil was down 2 bucks. Gold is down over 8 bucks today and under 800 bucks. Silver is down a dollar in the last few days and is under 13 bucks.
They said stock went down (before) because oil went up, so oil goes down and they say they are afraid of the global economy. They are manipulating the price to make money, period.

Dow plunges 345 points; 'It's brutal out there'
By Matt Krantz, USA TODAY
Stocks Thursday suffered their biggest sell-off since the June swoon on scary data regarding employment and retail sales.
The Dow Jones industrial average tanked 344.65 points, or 3.0%, to 11,188.23. That was the Dow's biggest one-day point drop since it shed 358.41 points on June 26. The Dow has now lost 15.7% of its value this year.
All but one industry in the Standard & Poor's 500 index sank, education services, pulling the index down 38.15 points, or 3.0%, to 1236.83. Stocks in the consumer services, thrifts & mortgage finance and casinos & gambling industries especially hammered the S&P 500. The S&P 500 is down 15.8% this year. And tech stocks, which had been holding up better this year, tumbled, too. The Nasdaq composite index lost 74.69 points, or 3.2%, to 2259.04. The day's loss brings the Nasdaq's decline this year to 14.8%.
Small-company stocks cracked, too, with the Russell 2000 index falling 3.1%.
"It's brutal out there and getting worse," says Oliver Wiener, trader at institutional brokerage BTIG.
Headlines certainly didn't help matters at all. Retail August sales reported by several retailers were disappointing. The Labor Department, meanwhile, reported new claims for jobless benefits rose by 15,000 last week from the previous week.
But the concerns run deeper. Wiener says investors are hitting hedge funds and mutual funds with requests for their money back. That's forcing some large investment firms to sell stocks in order to cash out investors, he says. "Money is coming out. We're starting to see that. It seems to be a driver."
Not even another decline in the price of oil helped. The price of a barrel of oil dropped $1.46 to $107.89, 26% below the $145.29 closing high set in July.
And the fact stocks are sinking along with oil shows investors are concerned about global economic slowing, says Todd Leone of Cowen. Investors are betting "oil is down because the economy will be slow," he says. "It was a tough market. A tough day."
http://www.usatoday.com/money/markets/2008-09-04-stocks-thurs_N.htm

Do you think this increases or decreases the tensions in the area?
Cheney travels to Azerbaijan as part of ex-Soviet republics tour
BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — Vice President Dick Cheney traveled to Azerbaijan Wednesday, part of a tour of three ex-Soviet republics wary of Russia's intentions following last month's war between Russia and neighboring Georgia. ...
The trip comes amid increasingly tense relations between Washington and Moscow.
Following the war in Georgia, Russia has boldly asserted its right to exert clout over what it says is its historic sphere of influence — including many former Soviet republics.
Both Georgia and Ukraine have sought to pull themselves out from under Russia's shadow, pushing for membership in Western structures like the European Union and NATO — much to Moscow's consternation.
Washington has also courted Azerbaijan, trying to ensure its oil wealth is exported to the West bypassing Russia.
Aliev's government is often criticized by rights groups for heavy-handed treatment of independent media and opposition groups. International observers have said past elections were flawed.
Cheney's visit comes as the U.S. administration plans to roll out a $1 billion economic aid package for Georgia to help it rebuild. The White House and U.S. State Department intend to jointly announce the aid package later Wednesday.
(You can read the complete article here)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-09-03-cheney-azerbaijan_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

Lifespan of your Dog
The old rule-of-thumb that one dog year equals seven years of a human life is not accurate. The ratio is higher with youth and decreases a bit as the dog ages. Depending on breed, a dog experiences the raging hormones of adolescence anywhere from eight months to two years or more. Generally, a dog of six has aged about as much as a 45-year-old human. At 10, she's like a human of 65; at 12, a human of 75; and at 15, a human of 90. Dog Years
A dog's lifespan is only a fraction of the average human's lifespan, which means that a dog ages more quickly in the same amount of time. This chart shows how a dog's age might be adjusted to compare to a human's age.
Canine Age Human Age
2 Months 14 Months
6 Months 5 Years
8 Months 9 Years
1 Year 15 Years
2 Years 24 Years
3 Years 28 Years
4 Years 32 Years
5 Years 37 Years
6 Years 42 Years
7 Years 47 Years
8 Years 52 Years
9 Years 57 Years
10 Years 62 Years
11 Years 67 Years
12 Years 72 Years
13 Years 77 Years
14 Years 82 Years
http://www.dogyears.com/

US confirms raid inside Pakistan 3, 2008 - 9:40pm By PAUL ALEXANDER Associated Press Writer ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - American forces conducted a raid inside Pakistan Wednesday, a senior U.S. military official said, in the first known foreign ground assault against a suspected Taliban haven. Pakistan's government condemned the action, saying it killed at least 15 people. The American official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of cross border operations, said the raid occurred about a mile inside Pakistan. The Washington-based official didn't provide details on casualties. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry protested the attack, and an army spokesman warned that the apparent escalation from recent missile strikes on militant targets along the Afghan border would further anger Pakistanis and undercut cooperation in the war against terrorist groups. The boldness of the thrust fed speculation about the intended target. But it was unclear whether any extremist leader was killed or captured in the operation, which occurred in one of the militant strongholds dotting a frontier region considered a likely hiding place for Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri.
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=105&sid=1160646

I never thought that the autism was caused bythe shot, but i still believe that autism i some children is caused by the mercury that they put in the shos years ago (and still doing in the ones shiped overseas) for a preservative.
Study: No link between measles vaccine and autism September 3, 2008 - 8:01pm
By LAURAN NEERGAARD AP Medical Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - New research further debunks any link between measles vaccine and autism, work that comes as the nation is experiencing a surge in measles cases fueled by children left unvaccinated.
Years of research with the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, better known as MMR, have concluded that it doesn't cause autism. Still, some parents' fears persist, in part because of one 1998 British study that linked the vaccine with a subgroup of autistic children who also have serious gastrointestinal problems. That study reported that measles virus was lingering in the children's bowels.
Only now have researchers rigorously retested that finding, taking samples of youngsters' intestines to hunt for signs of virus with the most modern genetic technology. There is no evidence that MMR plays any role, the international team _ which included researchers who first raised the issue _ reported Wednesday.
"Although in fact there was evidence that this vaccine was safe in the bulk of the population, it had not been previously assessed with respect to kids with autism and GI complaints," said Dr. W. Ian Lipkin of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, who led the work published in PLoS One, the online journal of the Public Library of Science.
"We are confident there is no link between MMR and autism," Lipkin said.
Added co-author Dr. Larry Pickering of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: "I feel very certain that it is a safe vaccine."
Measles, a highly infectious virus best known for its red skin rash, once routinely sickened thousands of children a year and killed hundreds, until childhood vaccinations made it a rarity in this country. But so far this year, the U.S. has counted 131 measles cases, the most in a decade. Most patients were unvaccinated. Some were infants too young for their first MMR shot, but nearly half involved children whose parents rejected vaccination, the CDC reported last month.
No one knows just how many autism patients also suffer gastrointestinal disorders, pain that they may not be able to communicate. But Lipkin said that by some estimates, up to a quarter may be affected.
The MMR fear was that the vaccine's weakened measles virus somehow lodged in and inflamed intestines, allowing waste products to escape and reach the central nervous system, Lipkin said. So his team had two questions: Does measles virus really persist in children with both disorders and not other youngsters? And did vaccination precede the GI complaints which in turn preceded autism?
Researchers studied 25 children with both autism and GI disorders, and another 13 children with the same GI disorders but no neurologic problems. The youngsters _ the average age was 5 _ all were undergoing colonoscopies for their GI conditions anyway, allowing tissue samples to be tested for genetic traces of measles virus. All had been vaccinated at younger ages.
The tests uncovered traces of measles genetic material in the bowels of one boy with autism _ and one boy without autism. That doesn't prove virus never temporarily lodged in more children, but it contradicts the earlier study that raised concern.
Nor was there a relationship with vaccine timing: Just five of the 25 autistic children had MMR precede GI complaints that in turn preceded autism symptoms.
Researchers consulted some prominent vaccine critics in designing the study. California advocate Rick Rollens praised the work but said it didn't eliminate other vaccine concerns that deserve similar study. Meanwhile, he said it should draw much-needed attention to the suffering of patients like his son, who has both autism and GI disorders.
"No longer can mainstream medicine ignore the parents' claims of significant GI distress," he said.
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=106&sid=1471765

102 arrested after GOP convention's third night September 4, 2008 - 3:11pm
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Police arrested 102 protesters in downtown Minneapolis early Thursday following a concert by the rock group Rage Against the Machine, raising to more than 400 the number arrested in demonstrations related to the Republican National Convention.
Police blocked off an intersection as they processed those arrested. Young people sat on a sidewalk, their backs against a building, or stood quietly in line, their hands in plastic cuffs behind their backs.
Protesters calling for an end to the Iraq war urged others to join their march Thursday night outside the convention as John McCain accepts his party's presidential nomination on its fourth and final night. (rest of the article is at)
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=213&sid=1465706