Eeyores News and Views

Your about stupid, if you think it will end here. They will spend alot more before it is over.
US Congress budget office sees $1.8 trln deficit
By Jeremy Pelofsky
WASHINGTON, March 20 (Reuters) - U.S. congressional budget experts on Friday offered a darker economic and budget outlook, projecting a breathtaking $1.8 trillion deficit this year, which could complicate President Barack Obama's efforts to win passage of his $3.55 trillion budget for 2010.
The Congressional Budget Office's projected deficit for the 2009 fiscal year ending on Sept. 30 would amount to 13.1 percent of expected gross domestic product -- a level not seen since World War Two. In January, the budget office had forecast a $1.2 trillion deficit for fiscal 2009.
The CBO also forecast a deeper economic downturn this year, projecting a contraction of 3 percent in 2009 before the economy begins to recover in next year.
The budget experts at CBO forecast the deficit would ease to almost $1.4 trillion in fiscal 2010 -- or 9.6 percent of forecast GDP.
Since Obama took office in January, his administration has been shoveling out billions of dollars in a bid to reverse a steep downward spiral in the U.S. economy and prop up the struggling financial system.
"Although the economy is likely to continue to deteriorate for some time," the CBO said, the government's $787 billion economic stimulus package "and very aggressive actions by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury are projected to help end the recession in the fall of 2009."
The CBO projected that following its forecast steep economic contraction this year, the economy will grow 2.9 percent next year and 4 percent in 2011.
In January, CBO had forecast the economy to shrink 2.2 percent this year before growing 1.5 percent in 2010 and 4.2 percent in 2011.
The massive deficit forecasts come after Obama submitted in February his $3.55 trillion budget plan for fiscal 2010, which includes huge new programs to address health care and curb greenhouse gas emissions.
The White House predicted Obama's budget priorities would not be affected by the forecasts of bigger deficits.
"Even with those numbers, the four key principles of the Obama budget will be met," said White House budget director Peter Orszag, referring to investments in health care, education and clean energy as well as cutting the deficit in half by the end of Obama's first term.
CBO also revised its forecast for accumulating deficits over the next decade, saying they would total $9.3 trillion from 2010 to 2019. That drew immediate fire from Republicans who have criticized Obama's budget for its massive new spending plans and tax increases on the wealthy.
"It's as if you were on an airplane and the fuel light came on ... and the pilots kept flying on as if there's fuel for another hour," said Senator Judd Gregg, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee. "They're taking spending up so high ... you can't close the gap. It's a spending problem."
Obama's budget outline to Congress last month included a forecast of almost $7 trillion in deficits through 2019 -- or $2.3 trillion less than CBO's projection.
Democrats cautioned that Congress and the White House could not reverse the deficits quickly and that the forecasts were subject to wide swings because of the constantly shifting economy.
"Deficits of this enormity cannot be reversed in one or two budgets," said House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt, who noted that huge tax cuts and enormous spending under the past Bush administration would "overhang the budget for years to come."
The CBO's forecast in January of almost $1.2 trillion in red ink for fiscal 2009 and $703 billion for fiscal 2010 came before Congress passed the economic stimulus package in February.
Obama's budget projected a $1.75 trillion deficit for fiscal 2009 and $1.17 trillion for 2010. The House and Senate Budget Committees were awaiting the latest CBO estimates before they would begin to craft their budget legislation next week.
The Democratic-controlled panels will face a delicate balancing act, trying to include as many of Obama's priorities as possible but at the same time not scaring off moderate or conservative Democrats who are crucial to passing the budget.
Already a group of fiscal conservative Democrats known as the Blue Dogs have demanded capping non-defense discretionary spending at inflation and that the health-care plan be deficit neutral, among other things.
"It is critically important, now more than ever, that the Congress and the administration develop a realistic plan for putting our country back on a path to fiscal responsibility," said Representative Charlie Melancon, a Blue Dog co-chair. (Additional reporting by Richard Cowan; editing by Leslie Adler)
http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN2049806720090320

Sen. Gregg says Obama budget will bankrupt US
WASHINGTON – The top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee says the Obama administration is on the right course to save the nation's financial system.
But Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire also says President Barack Obama's massive budget proposal will bankrupt the country.
Gregg says he has no regrets in withdrawing his nomination to become commerce secretary. He pulled out after deciding he could not fully back the administration's economic policies.
The senator said Obama's spending plan in the midst of a prolonged recession would leave the next generation with a country too expensive to live in.
Gregg appeared Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090322/ap_on_go_co/gregg_budget

Venezuela's Chavez calls Obama "ignoramus"
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama was at best an "ignoramus" for saying the socialist leader exported terrorism and obstructed progress in Latin America.
"He goes and accuses me of exporting terrorism: the least I can say is that he's a poor ignoramus; he should read and study a little to understand reality," said Chavez, who heads a group of left-wing Latin American leaders opposed to the U.S. influence in the region.
Chavez said Obama's comments had made him change his mind about sending a new ambassador to Washington, after he withdrew the previous envoy in a dispute last year with the Bush administration in which he also expelled the U.S. ambassador to Venezuela.
"When I saw Obama saying what he said, I put the decision back in the drawer; let's wait and see," Chavez said on his weekly television show, adding he had wanted to send a new ambassador to improve relations with the United States after the departure of George W. Bush as president.
In a January interview with Spanish-language U.S. network Univision, Obama said Chavez had hindered progress in Latin America, accusing him of exporting terrorist activities and supporting Colombian guerrillas.
"My, what ignorance; the real obstacle to development in Latin America has been the empire that you today preside over," said Chavez, who is a fierce critic of U.S. foreign policy.
In the 20th century the United States supported several armed movements and coups in Latin America. Chavez says Washington had a hand in a short-lived putsch against him in 2002, which was initially welcomed by U.S. officials.
Chavez and Obama will both attend the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago next month. It is not known whether they will meet.
Most of OPEC nation Venezuela's export income comes from oil it sells to the United States, but Chavez has built stronger ties with countries like China in an attempt to reduce dependence on his northern neighbor.
Chavez expelled its U.S. ambassador in September in a dispute over U.S. activities in his ally Bolivia, which also expelled its U.S. ambassador. Ecuador's left-wing President Rafael Correa this year kicked out a mid-ranking U.S. diplomat.
(Reporting by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Eric Walsh)
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE52L19G20090322

Australian Internet `blacklist' prompts concern
March 20, 2009 - 11:24am
By KRISTEN GELINEAU Associated Press Writer
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - A whistle-blower organization claims a secret list of Web sites that Australian authorities are proposing to ban includes such innocuous destinations as a dentist's office.
Australia's government denied that the list _ published by renegade Web site Wikileaks.org _ was the same as a blacklist run by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, or ACMA. However, a manager at the dentist's office said the ACMA had confirmed her site's inclusion on the ban list.
Wikileaks' publication of the list this week reignited a debate over whether a government proposal to impose an Internet filter for all Australians could have unintended consequences for innocent businesses.
The list in question is provided to the creators of Internet filtering software that people can opt to install on their computers. But Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has proposed mandating that Australian Internet service providers implement the list, which would make Australia one of the strictest Internet regulators among democratic countries. Several Internet providers are conducting trials of the filter through June.
The authority says the list largely contains the addresses of Web sites promoting child pornography and sexual violence, but it has refused to release its contents publicly.
The proposal has prompted protests across the country, with critics slamming it as censorship. Internet providers argued that a filter could slow browsing speeds, and pointed out that illegal material such as child pornography can be traded on peer-to-peer networks or chats, which would not be covered by the filter.
On its site, Wikileaks accused Australia of "acting like a democratic backwater," and said "Australian democracy must not be permitted to sleep with this loaded gun." The site _ which casts itself as an outlet for "untraceable mass document leaking and analysis," with a focus on exposing oppressive regimes and unethical behavior _ did not explain how it obtained the purported blacklist.
The list published on Wikileaks contains around 2,400 Internet addresses, many of which are clearly for child pornography. But the list also includes a dental office, online poker parlors, a kennel and a school-cafeteria consultancy firm.
Kelly Wilson, a manager at Dental Distinction in the Australian state of Queensland, said she had no idea her office's site had been blacklisted until a newspaper reporter informed her Thursday. Wilson contacted the ACMA, which she said confirmed the site was on the authority's blacklist. She said she was offered no explanation why.
The site was hacked more than a year ago, and visitors were temporarily redirected to an adult Web site. The office quickly switched to a different Internet provider and hasn't had a problem since, she said.
"We're a little annoyed that we're on there," Wilson said. "It's a great Web site."
Jocelyn Ashcroft, owner of Tuckshop and Canteen Management Consultants in Queensland, whose apparently innocent site was also included on the Wikileaks list, worried that her business could be hurt.
Ashcroft said she contacted the ACMA after learning of the Wikileaks list and was told her site was not on the authority's blacklist. But since the blacklist is secret, she was unsure what to believe.
Australia's government and the ACMA slammed the publication of the Wikileaks list as irresponsible and denied it was the same as the official blacklist.
In separate statements, the ACMA and Conroy, the communications minister, acknowledged that the official blacklist and the version published by Wikileaks contained sites common to both lists. But Conroy said several addresses on the published list have never appeared on the official blacklist.
While the published list contains about 2,400 Internet addresses as of Aug. 6, 2008, the official blacklist for the same date contained around 1,000, the ACMA said. The ACMA said its blacklist has never contained 2,400 sites.
Conroy said the ACMA was investigating the publication of the list and was considering handing the case to the Australian Federal Police.
Jim Wallace, managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby, which supports the Internet filter, said the questions surrounding the published list had done nothing to change his opinion.
"It's going to take time to develop any system and the processes that surround it. We don't know at what stage of investigation these names on the blacklist were," he said. "It's a real shame that people can _ through illegal means _ challenge something which is purely and simply aimed at giving children a safer experience on the Internet."
http://wtop.com/?nid=108&sid=1629288

Iran leader says world can't stop nuclear progress
* World can't block Iran nuclear path -- Khamenei
* Global powers reach "dead end" -- Ahmadinejad
(Adds quotes, background)
By Zahra Hosseinian
TEHRAN, March 20 (Reuters) - Iran has shown world powers they cannot block its nuclear progress, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday, but he made no mention of a new message by U.S. President Barack Obama to his country.
In a separate recorded speech to mark the Iranian New Year, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said global powers had reached a "dead end". But he too made no mention of Obama's videotaped offer of a "new beginning" of diplomatic engagement.
Khamenei said Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, had managed to limit the impact of the global economic downturn and of sanctions imposed on it over its nuclear activities.
Iran and the United States are embroiled in a dispute over Tehran's nuclear programme, which Washington and its allies suspect is aimed at making bombs. Tehran says the programme is for peaceful power generation.
After taking office in January and in a major shift in U.S. policy, Obama offered to extend a hand of peace to Iran if it "unclenched its fist".
In an unprecedented video nessage released to mark Iranian New Year, he called for "engagement that is honest and grounded in mutual respect".
Iran cautiously welcomed the overture on Friday, saying it wanted to see "practical steps".
Khamenei hailed tests last month of Iran's first nuclear power plant, at Bushehr, as an important development.
"This is the results of the progress of our scientists ... which persuaded the whole world that the path of Iran's nuclear progress could not be blocked," said Khamenei, Iran's top authority with final say on all matters of state.
Iran says its needs nuclear energy so that it can export more of its huge oil and gas reserves. Its refusal to halt work which can have both civilian and military purposes has drawn three rounds of limited U.N. sanctions since late 2006.
Like other oil producers, it is facing declining export revenues due to a sharp drop in crude prices since mid-2008. Analysts also say the sanctions are deterring foreign investors.
Khamenei said Iranian officials had managed "to control to a great extent the negative consequences of this wave".
But he also told Iranians they were consuming too much. "A great deal of our country's resources ... is wasted on our excessive consumption in all areas," he said.
Ahmadinejad last week said the capitalist system was close to collapse. In his latest speech he said the economic crisis showed the failure of Western policies.
"Global powers have reached a complete dead end. A dead end in the field of theories, management and implementation," Ahmadinejad said.
"Big security and political crises in the world became deeper and deeper ... and today the big economic crisis is a sign of the complete failure of the policies, theories and expansionist goals of the world's material powers," he said. (Writing by Fredrik Dahl; editing by Andrew Roche)
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKDAH04549720090320?sp=true

You would think someone that is supposed to be so smart and such a good talker could be so terrible .
Special Olympics bowler says he'll beat Obama
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Kolan McConiughey, a mentally disabled man considered one of the nation's top Special Olympics bowlers with five perfect games to his credit, says he'd like to go to the White House and show the president a thing or two about how to roll strikes.
"He bowled a 129. I bowl a 300. I could beat that score easily," McConiughey said Friday.
His challenge to Obama followed the president's offhand remark on Jay Leno's Tonight Show Thursday comparing his famously inept bowling to "the Special Olympics or something." Recognizing his blunder, Obama apologized to the chairman of the Special Olympics before the show aired.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs on Friday said the president believes that the Special Olympics are "a triumph of the human spirit." Gibbs added that Obama understands that the athletes "deserve a lot better than the thoughtless joke that he made last night."
During an interview with the AP, the 35-year-old McConiughey quickly rolled several strikes with his left-handed hook in a short demonstration of his prowess at Colonial Lanes in Ann Arbor.
In addition to five perfect games since 2005, McConiughey has also had an 800 series and carries a 212 average. He laughed as he joked about the popular president's apparently poor game.
"I'd tell him to get a new bowling ball, new shoes and bring him down to the lane," said McConiughey, who speaks with a serious stutter. "Keep his body straight, his arm straight and keep his steps straight. He has to practice every single day."
Special Olympics Chairman Timothy Shriver was quick to respond to the president's apology.
"He expressed his disappointment, and he apologized in a way that was very moving," Shriver said Friday on ABC's Good Morning America.
Obama, Shriver said, wants to have some Special Olympic athletes visit the White House to bowl or play basketball.
Still, Shriver said: "I think it's important to see that words hurt, and words do matter. And these words that in some respect can be seen as humiliating or a put-down to people with special needs do cause pain, and they do result in stereotypes."
Shriver is the son of Eunice Kennedy-Shriver, who founded the Special Olympics and has championed the rights of the mentally disabled.
His sister, Maria Shriver, wife of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a longtime Obama supporter, said laughing at the president's comments "hurts millions of people throughout the world."
"People with special needs are great athletes and productive citizens," Shriver said.
After a White House meeting with the president, Schwarzenegger was asked about Obama's remark and said he knew the president's heart.
"He loves Special Olympics, and he would do everything he can to help Special Olympics," the governor said.
With an IQ less than half of the 100 considered average, McConiughey lives with his foster mother and has held the same job at a grocery store for 16 years. He greets customers, sweeps floors and maintains the store's break room.
"He can't read much, can't do math, can't do bill-paying," said his foster mother, Jan Pardy. "Kolan faces all these challenges, but he has an area of genius, and his genius is bowling."
McConiughey has been bowling since about age 8. And he still finds time to bowl in three leagues.
"It would be an honor for him to bowl with the president of the United States," said Lois Arnold, president of the Special Olympics in Michigan.
Pardy said she saw Obama's comment on TV Friday morning and was not offended.
"Everybody has missteps," she said. "I don't think it was a slam against the Special Olympics."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-03-20-obama-bowling_N.htm