Eeyore's News and View

Report: Al Qaeda Group Bungled Test of Unconventional Weapon
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
By Eli Lake, Washington Times
An Al Qaeda affiliate in Algeria closed a base earlier this month after an experiment with unconventional weapons went awry, a senior U.S. intelligence official said Monday.
The official, who spoke on the condition he not be named because of the sensitive nature of the issue, said he could not confirm press reports that the accident killed at least 40 Al Qaeda operatives, but he said the mishap led the militant group to shut down a base in the mountains of Tizi Ouzou province in eastern Algeria.
He said authorities in the first week of January intercepted an urgent communication between the leadership of Al Qaeda in the Land of the Maghreb (AQIM) and Al Qaeda's leadership in the tribal region of Pakistan on the border with Afghanistan. The communication suggested that an area sealed to prevent leakage of a biological or chemical substance had been breached, according to the official.
"We don't know if this is biological or chemical," the official said.
The story was first reported by the British tabloid the Sun, which said the Al Qaeda operatives died after being infected with a strain of bubonic plague, the disease that killed a third of Europe's population in the 14th century. But the intelligence official dismissed that claim.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,480864,00.html

Oil dips below $33 on recession fears
Oil slipped below $33 a barrel in New York, hitting a new low for the year, on persistently weak expectations for the global economy.
By Josephine Moulds
Last Updated: 5:41PM GMT 20 Jan 2009
Analysts said the price was distorted by regional factors, such as limited storage availability, but it was indicative of the severe recession in developed countries and a drop in global demand for oil.
David Fyfe, head of oil industry and markets at the International Energy Agency, said: "There was a little support for prices with what was happening in Gaza, the cold weather, and a bit of a bump up for the Russia-Ukraine gas crisis.
"As those elements have ebbed, the market focus remains on a very weak demand prognosis. Opec is cutting back its supplies, but they are essentially chasing the market down, because all the indicators for demand are coming in so weak."
His comments come just days after Jeff Currie, head of Goldman Sachs' commodities research team and one of the industry's most closely watched analysts, said the oil price would average $30 a barrel in the first quarter, and not recover until the second half. He predicts a price of $65 a barrel by the end of the year.
Goldman Sachs, which is the bank with the biggest share of the commodities and energy markets, has been among the most bullish forecasters of the oil price. Last year it predicted a crude oil spike to $200 a barrel.
Mr Currie said oil, which has plunged from a record of $147 last July, may have reached a bottom.
The "super-cycle" was alive and well, he said, adding: "We're still true believers."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/4299222/Oil-dips-below-33-on-recession-fears.html

State of mining is bad, but it could get worse
Jan 20 03:53 PM US/Eastern
By SANDY SHORE
AP Business Writer
DENVER (AP) - Withering cost cuts across the mining industry have left tens of thousands of people without jobs from the Arizona desert to the Andes—and there is a litany of evidence that the situation is growing worse.
International mining companies also have postponed or canceled projects and padlocked the gates to mines as consumers have cut spending on cars, jewelry and housing.
Global mining giant Rio Tinto announced last week that iron ore production, used to make steel, tumbled 18 percent in the fourth quarter and said Tuesday its aluminum subsidiary would double previously announced production cuts.
Unwanted copper, gold, bauxite (used in aluminum) and iron ore, is piling up or being left underground as the worst recession in at least a generation saps demand.
"Expect inventories to get bigger and expect this continuing process (of cutbacks)," said Andrew Martyn, a portfolio manager who specializes in mining for Toronto-based Davis-Rea Ltd. "It's going to go for quite some time here."
The effect on many communities worldwide that rely on mining has been immediate. Workers are protesting job cuts and others are expected to begin migrating in large numbers in search of work, some across international borders.
"A lot of the communities are remote so that when (mines) do shut down, the town actually collapses," Martyn said.
The bulk of the layoffs in the United States are in base metals such as copper and zinc, although major companies are scaling back production of metallurgical coal for use in steel manufacturing.
Coal companies have slowed production from Wyoming to Australia.
Coal jobs are among the highest paying in many rural U.S. communities, potentially creating a dire economic ripple effect. In the past, coal companies have been more recession proof, but the average price per ton for Appalachian coal has fallen more than 35 percent since the summer.
At least 700 job cuts are likely in Tennessee and Montana by Swiss-based Glencore International AG, a commodities company.
Still, job losses have been most severe outside the United States.
Glencore's Bolivian subsidiary recently announced it will layoff several hundred people, triggering labor protests.
Thousands of miners who dig primarily for zinc in Bolivia either have been laid off or left their jobs in the Andes, the poorest region in South America's poorest country. In the mines around the small cities of Potosi and Oruro, the work force of roughly 25,000 miners and refiners has been cut roughly in half.
A controlling stake in Bolivia's largest mine, San Cristobal, has been put up for sale by Denver-based Apex Silver Mines Ltd., which is reorganizing under bankruptcy protection.
Local officials say workers may flood back into villages emptied during a two-year zinc boom that ended in 2007, or they may emigrate to Argentina in search of jobs.
Tens of thousands of mining jobs have been lost in recent months from South Africa to Jamaica as manufacturers shut down. U.S. industrial production plunged by double the amount analysts expected in December, capping the worst year for manufacturers since 2001.
"As little as three to six months ago, steel companies were running flat out around the world because China was making factories to ship goods to the rest of the Western world," Martyn said. "That process has come to a grinding halt."
There are no reliable employment numbers available for the mining industry globally because it spans such a broad geographic, economic and political spectrum, but it is clear that the number of jobs already lost is vast.
The fall off in copper, used in everything from housing to computers, has triggered thousands of layoffs in Peru, Arizona and New Mexico.
Aluminum producers like Alcoa have also slashed production, along with thousands of jobs. Those cuts have spilled over into mining.
"What all companies are doing that have bauxite and alumina facilities is they're basically retrenching," Argus Research analyst Bill Selesky said. "They may be running them at lower production levels now just to keep up with what's going on. And they won't rehire these people until they actually see an uptick in demand."
In a December address, Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding announced a $6.7 million plan to boost tourism and small businesses to help offset the effects of the downturn in the bauxite-alumina industry.
Industry analysts speculate some signs of improvement could start appearing in the latter half of this year, though others say it could take up to two years.
"Companies still looking to cut costs are going to be cutting out high cost operations. A lot of that should be still to come," Barnard Jacobs Mellet analyst Patrick Chidley said.
BHP Billiton Ltd., the world's largest miner, is expected to reveal more about the state of production and exploration for the last quarter of 2008 on Wednesday, Australia time. The figures should be available late Tuesday in the United States.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D95R3LRG0&show_article=1

Japanese security robot nets intruders
Jan 22 12:34 PM US/Eastern
Japanese on Thursday unveiled a security robot that can be operated remotely by cellphone and launch a net to capture an intruder.
The prototype T-34, jointly developed by robot developer tmsuk Co. Ltd. and security company Alacom Co. Ltd., looks like a small wheeled vehicle and is loaded with sensors that detect anything untoward in an office building.
It can move at a maximum speed of 10 kilometres (six miles) per hour under the command of a person who sees real-time images of where the robot is on the screen of his cellphone.
"Security sensors often set off false alarms but examining the location with the robot will lead to more efficient operations," the companies said in a joint statement.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.c2041e940f4762afd9c98babc6561ae5.41&show_article=1

Obama to stop ousting illegals?
President asked for executive order to halt deportation, work raids
By Chelsea Schilling
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
Elvira Arellano
A former illegal alien who sought sanctuary in a Chicago church in 2006 before being deported back to Mexico has written a letter to President Barack Obama, asking him to issue an executive order to stop sending illegals home.
Elvira Arellano came to the United States illegally in 1997 and was deported. But she returned less than a week later and began working as a cleaning employee for the O'Hare International Airport. After being convicted of Social Security fraud, she faced another deportation in August 2006. She took refuge in Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago and called for the suspension of the nation's immigration laws and a "campaign of resistance."
She remained there for months before traveling to California where she was arrested and deported from Los Angeles in 2007.
Today, outside the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, Arellano announced that she gave American officials a letter for Obama, asking him to stop workplace raids and deportations, the Associated Press reports. She said she believes the new president will reform U.S. immigration policy and stop separating families.
The announcement came during an immigration march in Washington, D.C., today. Several groups, organized by the Fair Immigration Reform Movement, or FIRM, marched on the offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for "just and humane" immigration reform. According to its website, the group aims to "lay to rest 8 years of enforcement-only immigration policy at the hands of the Bush administration."
President Obama's immigration agenda has been posted on the WhiteHouse website, where he said, "Our broken immigration system can only be fixed by putting politics aside and offering a complete solution that secures our border, enforces our laws, and reaffirms our heritage as a nation of immigrants."
The agenda calls for the following actions:
* Create Secure Borders: Protect the integrity of our borders. Support additional personnel, infrastructure and technology on the border and at our ports of entry.
* Improve Our Immigration System: Fix the dysfunctional immigration bureaucracy and increase the number of legal immigrants to keep families together and meet the demand for jobs that employers cannot fill
* Remove Incentives to Enter Illegally: Remove incentives to enter the country illegally by cracking down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants
* Bring People Out of the Shadows: Support a system that allows undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens
* Work with Mexico: Promote economic development in Mexico to decrease illegal immigration
As WND reported earlier, Obama has also advocated issuing driver's licenses to illegal aliens.
As U.S. senator, Obama voted voted against an amendment aimed at reducing document fraud and preserving the integrity of the Social Security system. He also sponsored a bill to provide in-state tuition rates at state and community colleges to illegals.
Oscar Chacón, executive director of the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities, told New York's El Diario Americans can expect to see a change in immigration policy as early as this year.
"There is no doubt that the Obama Administration will push immigration reform," Chacón said. "In a meeting we ... had recently with the Obama transition team's immigration advisers, they assured us that he has in his plans an immigration reform for the first year of his government."
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=86733

Eeyores news and view

The common sense thinking in the circles i run in is that gold will head down to around 650, before it starts to climb again and it won't be by June, unless there are some really bad economic things about to happen.
Merrill Lynch says rich turning to gold bars for safety
Merrill Lynch has revealed that some of its richest clients are so alarmed by the state of the financial system and signs of political instability around the world that they are now insisting on the purchase of gold bars, shunning derivatives or "paper" proxies.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Last Updated: 10:32AM GMT 09 Jan 2009
Rich investors are spurning gold exchange traded funds in favour of krugerrands.
Gary Dugan, the chief investment officer for the US bank, said there has been a remarkable change in sentiment. "People are genuinely worried about what the world is going to look like in 2009. It is amazing how many clients want physical gold, not ETFs," he said, referring to exchange trade funds listed in London, New York, and other bourses.
"They are so worried they want a portable asset in their house. I never thought I would be getting calls from clients saying they want a box of krugerrands," he said.
Merrill predicted that gold would soon blast through its all time-high of $1,030 an ounce, and would hit $1,150 by June.
The metal should do well whatever happens. If deflation sets in and rocks the economic system it will serve as a safe-haven, but if massive monetary stimulus gains traction and sets off inflation once again it will also come into its own as a store of value. "It's win-win either way," said Mr Dugan.
He added that deflation may prove the greater risk in coming months. "It's very difficult to get the deflation psychology out of the human brain once prices start falling. People stop buying things because they think it will be cheaper if they wait."
Merrill expects global inflation to hover near zero, with rates of minus 1pc in the industrial economies. This means that yields on AAA sovereign bonds now at 3pc will offer a real return of 4pc a year, which is stellar in this grim climate. "Don't start selling your government bonds," Mr Dugan said, dismissing talk of a bond bubble as misguided.
He warned that the eurozone was likely to come under strain this year as slump deepens. "There is going to be friction as governments in the south start talking politically about coming out of the euro.
I don't see the tensions in Greece as a one-off. It is a sign of social strain in countries that have lost competitiveness."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/fina ... afety.html


The flying car
The fantasy of spy novels and science fiction films is at last becoming reality with a vehicle that can turn from car to aircraft in 15 seconds
It is the ultimate off-roader and it is coming to an airstrip near you. The flying car has been talked about for almost as long as cars have existed, and now a prototype built by a small American company is finally ready to make the idea a reality.
The Terrafugia Transition is a two-seater plane that at the touch of a button converts into a road-legal car. It takes its maiden flight next month and is scheduled to hit the showrooms by next year. You can’t help but wonder whether, if Bob Nardelli and Rick Wagoner, of Chrysler and General Motors respectively, had been forward-thinking enough to fly into Washington DC in swept-wing Dodge Vipers and Cadillac Escalades instead of corporate jets when they were seeking bailout cash, they would have been showered with government money, downturn or no downturn.
“It’s like a little Transformer,” says Carl Dietrich, the Terrafugia boss, proudly. “This is the first really integrated design where the wings fold up automatically and all the parts are in one vehicle. All we have is one simple folding wing, and that means the Transition takes just 15 seconds to switch between flying and driving.”
Dietrich has a well-rehearsed list of reasons why “roadable aircraft” make financial sense. They promise to be quicker than cars for intercity commuting, fit into a normal garage (saving hangar fees) and even run on plain old premium unleaded. However, he’s missing the real reason the Transition is causing such a stir in the automotive as well as the aviation world: flying cars are cool. They’re James Bond. They’re Blade Runner. They’re Back to the Future.
The prototype Transition has been made at Terrafugia’s small workshop in Woburn, Massachusetts, by a team of young engineers recruited from MIT and Nasa. The ungainly vehicle has a single engine — a 100bhp petrol motor that drives either the wheels or a rear-facing propeller. As a car, it has a normal steering wheel, accelerator and brake pedals, but no gearstick (the Transition has a continuously variable transmission).
With its wings deployed and the propeller spinning, the Transition can take off from any airfield, although not from roads — it’s illegal everywhere in the US except in sparsely populated Alaska. It can fly up to 500 miles on a single tank of petrol at a cruising speed of about 115mph. That’s the plan, at least. Though it has reached 90mph in test drives, the prototype Transition’s wheels have yet to leave the ground.
That’s not for technical reasons; it’s because the various road and aircraft licensing authorities have been wondering how to classify it. “It took six months just to get our \plate,” says Dick Gersh, a former lawyer with the car insurance industry and now a vice-president at Terrafugia. “The government, insurance companies and lawyers have never contemplated a flying car. I wanted a car that could fly and drive but you couldn’t do either because you couldn’t get insured.” Gersh is confident that he will be able to insure the Transition once it makes a successful test flight — and a safe landing. The Transition has a safety cage and crumple zones, although it will not have to pack the latest safety features or undergo a crash test before it takes to the air.
“There are already exemption policies for low-volume manufacturers like Lamborghini,” says Dietrich. “We can’t afford the huge amounts of research and development for motion-sensing airbags, and we certainly can’t afford to crash-test our only prototype. If it makes you feel safer, Boeing doesn’t crash-test its big jets either.”
Terrafugia hopes to deliver the first production flying car by the middle of next year. The company already has orders for 40 aircraft. “The majority of our customers are retired or near-retired couples who want a fun vehicle to putter around the country in. They’ve worked hard their whole lives and now they can have a flying car, a technology that they’ve been promised in films and TV since they were a kid,” says Dietrich. “We even have a couple of orders from people who are not pilots but will learn because of this vehicle. They’re willing to put money down on a vehicle that they can’t fly yet.”
Terrafugia’s Transition will set them back a cool $200,000 (£132,000). “For an airplane, that’s very reasonable, but for a car, that’s very much at the high end,” Dietrich admits. “It’s got to start there. You can’t make a $10,000 flying car yet. This is not going to change overnight and it won’t become a mass-market item any time in the near future. But in the long term we have the potential to make air travel practical for individuals at a price that would meet or beat driving, with huge time savings. And that could be a real game-changer for aviation as well as driving.”
The flying car has been technically possible for years but the legal runway was cleared for take-off only four years ago. The American Federal Aviation Authority created a new category of plane called light sports aircraft. These planes are subject to fewer rules and regulations than traditional passenger aircraft and can be flown by pilots after just 20 hours of training, half the normal American requirement.
At the same time, advances in avionics (the systems that allow you to pilot the plane) have made flying much simpler. Gone are the days when a plane’s cockpit was a kaleidoscope of flashing buttons and switchgear. Instead, new technology means that the inside of a cockpit is little different from that of a luxury car. Navigation can be taken care of by GPS, weather patterns can be displayed on a simple colour screen and automatic throttles help to keep control of the aircraft.
So the next time you remind the passengers in your car to fasten their seatbelts, it might be in preparation for take-off.
Blue-sky thinking: the rivals
PARAJET SKYCAR
What is it?
A lightweight two-seater buggy that uses a giant fan mounted on the back and a paraglide-style chute to keep it airborne.
Are they serious?
It seems so. The Skycar is due to take off on Tuesday on its maiden flight. It has been developed by British engineers, who are proving its worth by flying and driving it 3,730 miles from London to Timbuktu. On the road it has a top speed of 110mph; in fly mode it can reach 80mph with a range of 180 miles. The wing takes about three minutes to deploy manually and the Skycar can take off in only 200 yards. If the trip is successful, the team aims to put the design into production, with prices from £40,000 for a basic model up to £60,000 for a sports version.
A5 ICON AIRCRAFT
What is it?
The world’s first multi-purpose recreational flying vehicle.
Are they serious?
Yes. The A5 has made several test flights and the Los Angeles company plans to bring it to market this year. Not strictly speaking a flying car, the A5 requires a trailer to transport it to its take-off point. This is made possible by the fact that it has folding wings, meaning it can also be housed in a garage. The A5 is also amphibious and so doesn’t need a runway to get airborne — a lake or river will do. It comes complete with parachute to lower the plane to the ground (or water). The engine runs on ordinary unleaded fuel and Icon says the A5 will cost $139,000 (£92,000).
PAL-V EUROPE BV
What is it?
A three-wheeled girocopter, capable of vertical take-off and landing.
Are they serious?
Possibly. After six years of concept work, the project has entered the final phase of development: building the first commercial prototype to prove all the technologies work. The Dutch company hopes to begin marketing the vehicle this year and customers can sign up to buy one, although prices are yet to be decided. On the road it has the agility of a motorbike, and the single rotor and propeller fold away. Airborne, the PAL-V flies below 4,000ft, so pilots don’t need to log a flight plan to use it, and it has a top speed of about 125mph. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/features/article5483226.ece

Somali pirates drown with ransom
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Five of the pirates who hijacked a Saudi supertanker drowned with their share of a $3 million ransom, a relative said Saturday, the day after the bundle of cash was apparently dropped by parachute onto the deck of the
Somalia's lawless coastline borders one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, which links the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean. Attacks have continued despite the patrols by warships from France, Germany, Britain, America, India and China.
The naval coalition has been closely monitoring both the Sirius Star and the Faina, a Ukrainian ship loaded with military tanks that has been held since September. The seizure of the Sirius Star on Nov. 15 prompted fears that the pirates might release some of the cargo of crude oil into the ocean, causing an environmental disaster as a way of pressuring negotiators. At the time, the oil was valued at $100 million.
Aubkar Haji, uncle of one of the dead pirates, blamed the naval surveillance for the accident that killed his pirate nephew Saturday.
"The boat the pirates were traveling in capsized because it was running at high speed because the pirates were afraid of an attack from the warships patrolling around," he said.
"There has been human and monetary loss but what makes us feel sad is that we don't still have the dead bodies of our relatives. Four are still missing and one washed up on the shore."
Pirate Daud Nure said three of the eight passengers had managed to swim to shore after the boat overturned in rough seas. He was not part of the pirate operation but knew those involved.
"Here in Haradhere the news is grim, relatives are looking for their dead," he said.
The tanker had left Somali territorial waters and was on its way home Saturday, said Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali Naimi. A Saudi Oil Ministry official said the ship was headed for Dammam, on the country's Gulf coast, but gave no estimated time of arrival. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
The U.S. Navy, which announced this week it will head a new anti-piracy task force, released photos Friday showing a parachute, carrying what was described as "an apparent payment," floating down toward the tanker.
The Liberian-flagged ship is owned by Vela International Marine Ltd., a subsidiary of Saudi oil company Aramco. Neither commented on the reported ransom drop.
"All the crewmembers are safe and I am glad to say that they are all in good health and high spirits," said a statement by Saleh K'aki, president and CEO of Vela. "Throughout this ordeal, our sole objective was the safe and timely release of the crew. That has been achieved today."
But over a dozen ships and around 300 crewmembers are still being held. The capture of the Sirius Star has already demonstrated the pirates' ability to strike high value targets hundreds of miles offshore.
On the same day the Saudi ship was freed, pirates released a captured Iranian-chartered cargo ship, Iran's state television reported Saturday. The ship Delight was carrying 36 tons of wheat when it was attacked in the Gulf of Aden Nov. 18 and seized by pirates. All 25 crew are in good health and the vessel is sailing toward Iran, the TV report said. It did not say if a ransom was paid.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-01-09-piracy_N.htm

The outcry is muted, but the food crisis is getting worse
The financial debacle has drowned out coverage of food shortages. Where are the billion-dollar bailouts for the hungry?
Just a few months ago, we were being told that this is a period of stark, unprecedented and unfolding food crisis, with looming shortages and huge global imbalances between demand and supply. Everyone who matters - from officials in international organisations to leaders of rich and poor countries - warned us of the terrible social, political and nutritional consequences of doing nothing, of the millions who would go hungry and the riots that would occur if the imbalances persisted or increased.
But now the whole problem has disappeared from the international radar, relegated to the inside pages of newspapers and perfunctory afterthoughts in politicians' speeches. So what happened? Was it not such a problem, after all?
No, the "silent tsunami" has simply been overwhelmed in public awareness by the much noisier tsunami in the world of international finance, with the giant sucking sounds of possible bank collapses and enormous bail-outs grabbing all the attention. Yet the global food crisis is far from over, and is even likely to intensify in the near future.
One reason why many analysts decided that the food crisis may not be so intense is the global decline in crop prices that began sometime in the middle of last year. For about two years before that, commodity prices, including both food and non-food crops, had been increasing, and in the first few months of 2008 they soared. But in early June last year the prices of both oil and food crops fell, so that they are now lower than they were even a year ago.
When food prices were rising, there was much talk of the shifts in demand that were causing this trend. President Bush joined those who decided that this reflected the increased demand from China and India as their per capita incomes grew. This was a ludicrous argument because food consumption has actually declined in both countries. Both economies have shown even sharper declines in per capita food intake despite the continued presence of widespread hunger, because of increased income inequalities within these countries. In any case, that argument about more food demand from China and India quickly collapsed along with the fall in global prices. Now it is more than evident that the wild swings that have been observed in food and several commodity markets over this year have been the result of speculative forces, rather than any real changes in global demand and supply.
But despite this volatility and the recent price decline, the food crisis remains. And it does indeed reflect patterns of demand and supply - but not the ones that have been talked about. The basic problem now is not even one of absolute shortage so much as the inability to pay for food, and this problem will get worse for many developing countries and their poorer citizens.
Three problems now dominate the global food scenario. First, there is a crisis of cultivation, especially in the developing world. This is the result of two decades of policy neglect: falling public investment in agricultural research, extension and support; aggressive trade liberalisation that exposed southern farmers to heavily subsidised marketing by northern agribusinesses; financial liberalisation that reduced cultivators' access to credit and made them prey to speculative forces that also affected prices. As a result, cultivation costs have increased even in years when crop prices are falling, and cultivation is becoming unviable in many countries.
Second, this has been associated with a depression in wages in developing countries, which means that mass purchasing power did not increase even when the economies were growing. So demand for food has not gone up, simply because the poor do not have the incomes to pay for it.
Third, there has been an increasing concentration of firms operating in global agriculture, with a few large agribusinesses coming to dominate both input and output markets. These companies are also the ones who benefit from government subsidies promoting ethanol, which divert land meant for food to the paradoxically more energy-intensive production of fuel for cars. This concentration is reflected in recent food-price trends: while world prices have fallen sharply in the past four months, retail prices of food in most developing countries have not fallen.
Unfortunately, each of these negative processes is likely to intensify. The financial crisis will reduce the ability of developing country governments to increase much-needed investment in agriculture or enlarge the distribution of affordable food. It will adversely affect wage incomes, reducing purchasing power further. And it will add to pressures for concentration in industry, including agribusiness.
In the middle of last year, we had a global outcry about the perilous state of billions of people in developing countries whose governments could not afford to provide enough food for them and who could not themselves earn enough to buy food at prevailing prices. These problems are now worse, but the global outcry is all about the multinational banks that are under threat. And several multiples of the money that could not be found to provide food for the hungry are quickly being delivered to bail out irresponsible finance.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/09/food-shortages-coverage-jayati-ghosh

Chavez Threatens to Expel U.S. Embassy Personnel in Caracas
By Matthew Walter Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he’s investigating whether representatives from the U.S. Embassy in Caracas met with leaders of the political opposition, and said he may expel them from the country. Chavez said he knows a group of opposition leaders recently flew to Puerto Rico to meet with “U.S. advisers” to discuss strategies to defeat the president’s proposal to eliminate his term limits in a referendum this year. Chavez said U.S. Embassy representatives may have been present. “If I can confirm this, I’ll throw them out of the country,” Chavez said at ceremony in Caracas commemorating the launch of Venezuela’s first satellite. The socialist Venezuelan leader expelled the U.S. ambassador in Caracas in September and has repeatedly accused President George W. Bush of supporting opposition groups in Venezuela. Venezuela is the fourth-biggest supplier of foreign crude oil to the U.S. Jennifer Rahimi, the deputy press secretary at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, said the accusations that U.S. diplomats met with opposition leaders are “completely false.” The U.S. and Venezuela maintain diplomatic ties despite U.S. Ambassador Patrick Duddy’s expulsion, and the U.S. Embassy in Caracas remains open.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aTz9EuUBrCms&refer=latin_america

Back at their old ways, won't they ever learn? We have at least four years of this childhood nonsense. We are in an economic mess and they want to spend and 16 billion on stealing land from honest folks.
Senate to consider expanding wilderness protection
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is considering whether to set aside more than 2 million acres in nine states as wilderness in an early showdown that threatens to derail pledges by Senate leaders to work cooperatively as a new administration takes office.
The largest expansion of wilderness protection in 25 years has bipartisan support and would include California's Sierra Nevada mountain range, Oregon's Mount Hood, Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado and parts of the Jefferson National Forest in Virginia.
The bill was scuttled last year after objections from Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who said spending in the bill was excessive — nearly $4 billion over five years. Now Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is seeking a rare Sunday vote in an apparent effort to punish Coburn and antagonize his GOP colleagues.
The scheduled Sunday session would try to limit GOP stalling tactics and move the bill forward.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said the measure represents years of work by lawmakers from many states and both parties. The legislation combines about 160 bills covering nearly every state.
Besides new wilderness designations — the highest level of government protection for public lands — the bill would designate the childhood home of former President Bill Clinton in Hope, Ark., as a national historic site and expand protections for dozens of national parks, rivers and water resources. In a statement, Coburn said the "earmark-laden" measure "makes a mockery of voters' hopes for change."
For example, Coburn said, the bill includes $3 million for a "road to nowhere" through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska; $460 million for a water project designed to save 500 salmon in California; and $3.5 million to help celebrate the 450th birthday of St. Augustine, Fla., in 2015.
Environmental groups also oppose the Alaska road. The rest of the bill, they say, would be a huge accomplishment for Congress.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-01-11-senate-wilderness_N.htm

Eeyore's Important News and View

Some money market funds could close as rates plunge

By John Waggoner, USA TODAY

Interest rates have fallen so far that some money market mutual funds — long considered the investor's safest haven — could be forced to shut down or dole out losses.
Plunging rates mean that some funds are getting less in interest from their investments than it costs to run the fund. And investors who sought safety in money funds could face losses because of the funds' management costs.
The average money market mutual fund now yields just 0.94%, down from 4.16% a year ago, says iMoneyNet, which tracks the funds. Funds that buy only Treasury securities have seen their yields fall to an average 0.25%. Some 206 funds have yields of 0.09% or less, according to iMoneyNet.
Funds have few options. Many are already waiving expenses — essentially, running at a loss. Funds that say in their prospectuses that they will invest only in Treasuries can't suddenly move money into other investments as a way to boost their returns.
By law, funds can't charge account fees, as banks do, for fund management. Instead, they must charge a percentage of the fund's assets.
A few funds have stopped taking new money. For example, Evergreen 100% Treasury Money Market fund closed to new investors on Dec. 1, citing "current conditions in the Treasury markets."
Other funds may shut down entirely, returning money to investors and leaving the money fund business to large companies that can afford to use the funds as loss leaders.
Funds would likely slide to negative territory slowly in a period of weeks or months, says Peter Crane, editor of Crane Data. "It would not be with a bang, but a whimper," he says.
Funds that invest in other money market investments, such as commercial paper or jumbo bank CDs, have a bit more room before hitting zero. Vanguard Prime Money Market fund, one of the largest money funds, currently yields 2.51%.
If the Federal Reserve nudges the key fed funds rate to half a point next week, as is expected, more funds could struggle to keep from posting losses.
The average money fund tracked by Morningstar charges 0.70% a year to run the fund. Normally, that's not a problem. But rates have fallen far on Treasury securities, a staple of the funds.
Tuesday, the Treasury auctioned off $32 billion in one-month T-bills with a zero yield, the first time that has happened. Three-month T-bills yielded 0.01% Wednesday; six-month T-bills, 0.2%.
Those low yields haven't stopped worried investors from running to Treasury-only money funds. Assets in Treasury-only funds have doubled, to $412 billion, since Sept. 2.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/funds/2008-12-10-money-fund-rates_N.htm

World's first refrigerated BEACH to be built next to luxury hotel in Dubai
The world's first refrigerated beach is to be built at a luxury hotel in Dubai so the filthy rich holidaymakers don't burn their feet on the scalding hot sand.
The revolutionary beach will sit next to the new Palazzo Versace hotel and will include a system of heat-absorbing pipes built under the sand and giant wind blowers, designed to keep tourists cool in the searing 40-50C heat. The hotel, which is due to open late next year or early 2010, will be controlled by thermostats linked up to computers and feature a cooled swimming pool.
However, the plans have been criticised by campaigners who are infuriated by the potential impact on climate change. Rachel Noble, of Tourism Concern, said: 'Dubai is like a bubble world where the things that are worrying the rest of the world, like climate change, are simply ignored so people can continue destructive lifestyles.'The lavish project will enhance Dubai's appeal to the celebrity jet-set and increase competition to a region that already houses the world's first seven-star hotel, the Burj Al Arab.
However, the city's continued expansion will also add to its huge carbon footprint. Each person living in Dubai has a carbon footprint of more than 44 tons of CO2 a year.
Despite the environmental fears, Versace says the beach will be environmentally sustainable. Soheil Abedian, president of Palazzo Versace, said: 'We will suck the heat out of the sand to keep it cool enough to lie on. This is the kind of luxury that top people want.'
A source added: 'The super rich want pure luxury. They don't want to walk on scalding sand.' A British firm, Hyder Consulting will oversee the project, and it is hoped the 10-storey hotel will help attract some of the 800,000 Brits who visit Dubai each year. There is already one Palazzo Versace hotel, operating on Australia's Gold Coast, which has attracted the rich and famous. Fifteen more hotels are in the pipeline. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1094797/Worlds-refrigerated-BEACH-built-luxury-hotel-Dubai.html

2008: Year of Surprises Gold rises 11% in a week!Stocks and dollar weaken ahead of Fed rate cut

"The dollar hit a two-month low against the euro and a basket of currencies on Monday, as investors shunned the U.S. unit on uncertainty surrounding the fate of ailing U.S. automakers and its possible economic impact," reports Reuters.
* "The dollar WILL NOT be king in a protracted recession or lite depression as there is nothing to back it up. The Treasury's willingness to print money in order to satisfy the need created by huge government spending programs virtually assures a lower dollar," Swiss America CEO Craig Smith writes.
* Robin Griffiths, technical analyst at Cazenove Capital, told CNBC he sees gold heading toward $1,500 in the next 12 months. "Cash doesn't give you a return, at the moment not one worth having, so the negative about gold has gone away. It does traditionally preserve value both in panicky inflationary times and deflationary times."
* Gold may reach $1,000 an ounce next year and “I think you’re going to see the $2,000 level in 2010,” as the global economy heads for a bigger slump than currently forecast, said Philip Manduca, head of investments at ECU Group.
* "U.S. crude rose more than $3 a barrel in early Monday to top $50 then fell back near $45 -- still far from the "fair" price of $75 a barrel identified by Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest crude exporter. OPEC ministers could make their deepest oil supply cut ever when they meet on Wednesday," reports Reuters.
* "U.S. stocks fell on Monday, with financial shares weighing on the broader market as firms detailed their exposure to the alleged $50 billion fraud by Bernard Madoff. "What's amazing is the magnitude of bad news that we've had to digest during the last two weeks," reports MW.
* "When the Federal Reserve policymakers decide on interest rates Tuesday, investors will probably look one step beyond their decision, to gauge how much money will the Fed be willing to print once it is out of rate ammunition. Rates won't likely hit zero Tuesday, but this could be unavoidable in the near future, according to strategists and market experts," reports CNBC href="http://www.swissamerica.com/article.php?art=11-2008/200811300835mn.txt

Here are a few parts from USA Today political blog

• RushLimbaugh.com -- Cheney says Obama will appreciate things the Bush administration did on national security: Vice President Dick Cheney spoke with conservative radio's Rush Limbaugh yesterday. He said the most significant thing the Bush administration accomplished was preventing further al-Qaeda attacks "on the U.S. homeland." And, said Cheney:
"My guess is once (the Obama administration gets) here and they're faced with the same problems we deal with every day, that they will appreciate some of the things we've put in place. We did not exceed our constitutional authority as some have suggested, but we -- the president believes, I believe -- very deeply in a strong executive, and I think that's essential in this day and age, and I think the Obama administration is not likely to cede that authority back to the Congress. I think they'll find that, given the challenge they face, they'll need all the authority they can muster."
From a related story by ABC News: In another interview, Cheney called Obama's national security choices "a pretty good team."
• Politico -- Pelosi has laid down the law to incoming White House team: Sources tell Politico that in talks with soon-to-be White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and others on President-elect Barack Obama's team, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., "has 'set parameters' for what she wants from Barack Obama and his White House staff -- no surprises, and no backdoor efforts to go around her and other Democratic leaders by cutting deals with moderate New Democrats or conservative Blue Dogs. Specifically, Pelosi has told Emanuel that she wants to know when representatives of the incoming administration have any contact with her rank-and-file Democrats -- and why, sources say."

http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2008/12/whats-new-10.html

Police find dynamite at Paris department store December 16, 2008 - 9:15am
By JEAN-PIERRE VERGES Associated Press Writer
PARIS (AP) - Police acting on a warning Tuesday found a bundle of dynamite inside a Paris department store at the height of the Christmas season, and a group demanding that France withdraw from Afghanistan claimed responsibility.
Sticks of dynamite tied together but without a detonator were found in the Printemps department store, a favored shopping destination for tourists, and a Christmas season attraction because of its festive window displays.
Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said the explosives appeared "relatively old." Police said they were found in the third floor restroom of the menswear department. Five sticks were found together, officials said.
"There was no risk of explosion," the minister said.
French news agency Agence France-Presse said it received a letter Tuesday morning from a group calling itself the Afghan Revolutionary Front saying that several bombs had been planted in the store. Police said they searched the store and found the dynamite because of the warning.
Alliot-Marie said the group was "totally unknown" to police but that the claim was being studied.
In the letter, the group demanded the withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan before the end of February, and threatened attacks if France refuses.
"Otherwise we will go back into action in your big capitalist stores and this time without warning you," the letter said, according to AFP.
President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has increased France's troop levels in Afghanistan, quickly stressed that he would not bend to terrorism. France has 2,800 troops in Afghanistan.
"We need to be vigilant about terrorism. That is the only right policy. We have to be firm. We cannot compromise with terrorists," Sarkozy said.
Officers cordoned off streets around the building. Anti-crime brigades and bomb squads were called in.
Store employees and customers left the building.
"It's worrying, but there's no reason to panic," said Evelyne Bredy, a sportswear saleswoman who works on the third floor, where the explosives were found. She and a shivering colleague waited outside the store while police with sniffer dogs worked inside.
"We're used to it. It happens," she said. "There are often suspicious packages _ though maybe not this type of evacuation."
http://wtop.com/?nid=111&sid=1550588

Eeyore's News and View

Houston could be in al-Qaida's crosshairs December 10, 2008 - 5:36am
J.J. Green, WTOP Radio
WASHINGTON - Houston is at the top of al-Qaida's list of U.S. targets, and may be hit soon according to a former CIA official.
"Certainly, the prime target for the United States right now is Houston," says Mike Scheuer, the former head of the CIA's Osama bin Laden unit.
He says al-Qaida believes a successful attack on Houston would be a major blow to the U.S. economy.
"It controls so much of the refining of gasoline. It's the hub for natural gas distribution, and it only has one ship canal."
Scheuer believes the time is drawing closer.
"Al-Qaida is ready to attack us again. Their rhetoric is very calm and straight forward."
However, none of the DHS agencies reports any imminent threats.
Scheuer says if al-Qaida did attack Houston, "the price of energy goes up, and Muslims benefit from them."
Now a senior fellow with the Jamestown Foundation, Scheuer says hurting the U.S. without harming Muslims is a key consideration for al-Qaida.
That, Scheuer explains, is just another reason Houston seems seems so appealing.
"They can hurt us tremendously economically by hurting our energy, and they can attack the energy target without hurting Muslims."
http://wtop.com/?nid=778&sid=1544165

Rio Tinto to cut 14,000 jobs to cope with slump December 10, 2008 - 1:23pm
In this undated file photo released by BHP Billiton, an aerial views shows Olympic Dam mine in South Australia. Rio Tinto Group will cut 14,000 jobs worldwide and reduce capital investment as part of new measures to reduce its debt amid waning demand for iron ore and other metals, the mining company said Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2008. The job cuts - accounting for 12.5 percent of Rio Tinto's 112,000 work force - and reduction in operating expenditure are expected to save the company at least 2.5 billion Australian dollars (US$1.6 billion) a year by 2010, the London-based company said in a statement. (AP Photo/BHP Billiton, HO, File)
By TANALEE SMITH Associated Press Writer
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Rio Tinto Group, one of the world's largest miners, will cut 14,000 jobs worldwide and reduce capital investment as part of new measures to reduce its debt amid waning demand for iron ore and other metals, the company said Wednesday.
The job cuts _ accounting for 12.5 percent of the company's 112,000-person work force _ and reduction in operating expenditure are expected to save at least 2.5 billion Australian dollars ($1.6 billion) a year by 2010, the London-based company said in a statement.
The cuts will mostly be on the contractor side, where 8,500 positions will be eliminated.
Rio Tinto has offices in 40 countries, with most of its employees in Australia and North America, as well as significant operations in South America and southern Africa.
The company also said it will try to sell "significant assets" that were not previously listed for sale in order to reach its goal of trimming AU$10 billion ($6.6 billion) from its debt by the end of next year.
"Given the difficult and uncertain economic conditions, and the unprecedented rate of deterioration of our markets, our imperative is to maximize cash generation and pay down debt," Chief Executive Tom Albanese said in the statement. "We have undertaken a thorough review of all our operations and are executing a range of actions."
"By taking these tough decisions now we will be well positioned when the recovery comes," Albanese said.
Rio Tinto's AU$38.9 billion debt was a key factor in rival BHP Billiton withdrawing its hostile takeover bid last month in the midst of the global economic downturn. Much of that debt is from its $38.1 billion acquisition of Canadian company Alcan last year.
Other mining companies would likely take similar measures in response to reduced demand, said John Meyer, an analyst at Fairfax IS investment bank in London. The booming demand in recent years led to expansion and job growth for many mining companies that is no longer sustainable, he said.
"The scale of the cuts looks dramatic but we would expect to see this across the industry," he said. "Companies have expanded in recent years in response to high metals prices, but that's over now. With the recent severe falls in demand, and the recent (economic) climate, we can see mining companies pulling back markedly."
Rio Tinto spokesman Ian Head said there were no details yet on where, when or how the staff cuts would come. The Rio Tinto statement anticipated severance costs of AU$400 million.
"We're working our way through the implications of this," Head said. "We don't expect to know more until sometime in the first quarter of next year."
The world's second-largest aluminum producer stressed it remains committed to its strategy of finding, developing and operating large, long life, low cost mining assets.
The company currently expects its global iron ore production and shipments for fiscal 2009 to be around 200 million metric tons (220.46 million tons). Aluminum production is forecast at 200,000 tons (224, 000 tons) and copper production at 830,000 tons (929,600 tons).
Rio Tinto is counting on the further industrialization of countries such as China and India to support higher levels of demand for metals and minerals.
In London, Rio shares closed up 256 pence, or 20.4 percent, to 15.14 pounds ($22.50). In Sydney, where trading ended before the announcement, its stock rose 12.14 percent to AU$37.40 ($24.76).
http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2008/12/10/Mining_company_Rio_Tinto_cuts_14000_jobs/UPI-46351228928288/


Dow Chemical to slash 5,000 jobs, shut 20 plants December 8, 2008 - 6:44pm
By ERNEST SCHEYDER AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - Dow Chemical Co. said Monday it will slash 5,000 full-time jobs _ about 11 percent of its total work force _ close 20 plants and sell several businesses to rein in costs amid the economic recession. (rest of story at the link)
http://wtop.com/?nid=111&sid=1541342

Goldman to axe 200 staff in London-sources
Wed Dec 10, 2008 11:26am EST
LONDON, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc is laying off some 200 staff in London this week as part of a 10 percent cut in global headcount first reported in October, two people familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.
Goldman, which had a record 32,569 employees in August, declined to confirm the actual number of job losses and did not say how many employees it had in London.
http://www.reuters.com/article/fundsFundsNews/idUSLA72165820081210

Xstrata to cut 900 workers jobs in DomRep December 4, 2008 - 7:41pm
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) - Roughly 900 workers at the Dominican Republic's largest nickel mine will lose their jobs due to high production costs and a drop in the metal's value, international mining company Xstrata said Thursday.
http://wtop.com/?nid=111&sid=1538260

China's exports fall for first time in 7 years China's exports shrank unexpectedly in November as global demand plunged, raising the threat of heavy job losses that could fuel political unrest, and a sharper downturn in the world's fourth-largest economy.
http://wtop.com/?nid=111&sid=1544207

The boom years are over for Chinese exports as slowdown bites in workshop of the world
Jane Macartney in Beijing and Gary Duncan, Economics Editor
Made-in-China goods have filled shelves from Tesco to Burberry as consumers across the West have snapped up huge quantities of cheap products from Asia’s economic powerhouse. But exports from the “workshop to the world” have suddenly begun to fall sharply and may have shrunk last month in the latest dramatic symptom of global recession. (Continued check link)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/3692255/Asian-trade-in-Free-Fall.html

Asian trade in 'free fall' as exports to West dry up
The economic downturn in Asia has taken a sharp turn for the worse as Japan slides into deep recession and exports contract in China, Korea, and Taiwan. (The rest of the article is here)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/3692255/Asian-trade-in-Free-Fall.html

Office Depot closing 126 stores, distribution centers
NEW YORK (Reuters) — Office Depot (ODP) said Wednesday that it plans to close 126 stores and has further cut its store opening plans for 2009 as the economic downturn affects demand from small businesses and retail customers for office supplies.
Office Depot plans to close 112 underperforming retail stores in North America over the next three months. In addition, 14 stores will be closed in 2009 as their leases expire or other lease arrangements are completed, it said.
The retailer will also close six of its 33 distribution centers in North America, and says it plans to open about 20 stores in 2009, down from an earlier estimate of 40.
Office Depot expects the actions will result in charges of $270 million to $300 million.
In October, Office Depot said it would delay opening new stores posting a surprise third-quarter loss.
The decline in office supply sales has also hurt peers OfficeMax and industry leader Staples.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2008-12-10-office-depot-closings_N.htm

Eeyore's News and View

After yesterdays Thankful Devotional, i figured i would give everyday a part of the Thanksgiving Story. It is really America's only Holiday that is uniquely American. Going to have different stories about Thanksging right up to the day.

Indian Aid and a Blessed Thanksgiving by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

If it weren't for Indian deaths, the Pilgrims would have been hard-pressed to settle in Plymouth that cold winter of 1620. In a brief skirmish, the Pilgrim's muskets had slain no natives, nor had any arrows struck Englishmen. Disease had been the killer. The Pilgrims discovered corn fields cleared in the forests, now deserted. What had once been a bustling village of Patuxet Indians nearby, stood empty, ravaged by disease four years earlier, leaving but a single survivor.
Survivors
The Pilgrims, themselves, lived on the edge of survival that first winter. They had begun well enough. After 66 days crossing the stormy Atlantic, 104 Pilgrims beheld the New World, including a baby boy, Oceanus, born at sea.
"Being thus arrived in a good harbor and brought safe to land," wrote Governor William Bradford, "they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of heaven, who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element."
But within four months, scurvy, pneumonia, and a virulent strain of tuberculosis had cut down whole families of Pilgrims. As the sickness raged, only six or seven persons in the whole company were strong enough to tend the sick and comfort the dying.
Six died in December, then eight in January, seventeen in February. Of March, Bradford wrote, "This month thirteen of our number die ... scarce fifty remain, the living scarce able to bury the dead." Of eighteen married women, only three remained. Baby Oceanus died.
Indian Aid
But in April, when it was time to put in gardens, the Indians whom they feared came to their aid. One day, unannounced, the tall, powerful warrior Samoset strode into their camp, armed with a bow and arrows, nearly naked except for a leather string around his waist "with a fringe about a span long, or a little more," the embarrassed Bradford recorded. To the Pilgrims' surprise, Samoset greeted them with the word, "Welcome!" He had learned some English from fishermen in his native Maine. Later, he introduced the Pilgrims to Massasoit, chief of the neighboring Wampanoag tribe, and to Squanto, last known survivor of the Patuxets.
Though the Wampanoag braves towered over the short Englishmen, and outnumbered their tiny militia 60 to 20, they reached a treaty of peace that stood for forty years until Massasoit's death.
Squanto, who had been kidnapped and lived for a while in England, spoke their language, too. He taught the Pilgrims where to trap eels and how to plant corn. The Pilgrims, who had pilfered Indian corn the previous December, may not have been deserving. But this unexpected help made the difference for them between survival and starvation. Settler Edward Winslow described it thus:
"We set the last spring some twenty acres of Indian corn, and sowed some six acres of barley and peas, and according to the manner of the Indians, we manured our ground with herrings or rather shads, which we have in great abundance, and take with great ease at our doors. Our corn did prove well, and God be praised, we had a good increase of Indian corn, and our barley indifferent good, but our peas not worth the gathering, for we feared they were too late sown, they came up very well, and blossomed, but the sun parched them in the blossom."
Nevertheless, the harvest was good and the Pilgrims' food ration increased substantially. By fall, eleven houses lined the street of Plymouth Colony, seven private homes and four common buildings. The dying had stopped, and trade had begun with the Indians.
A Thanksgiving Celebration
To celebrate, the Pilgrims invited Massasoit to a harvest festival, and a hunting party shot enough waterfowl to feed the company for a week. But when Massasoit arrived, he was joined by ninety ravenous braves. For their contribution the Indians went out and returned five deer. It was a three-day feast of venison, roast duck, roast goose, clams and other shellfish, succulent eels, white bread, corn bread, leeks and watercress, with wild plums and dried berries -- all enjoyed with wine newly made from grapes that grew wild in the forest.
It was a feast of thanksgiving, of thankfulness to God. Edward Winslow wrote to friends in December, "Although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty."
The goodness of God was often on their minds. Though the Pilgrims had suffered great loss and hardship, they also were aware of God's great blessing: the produce of the land, peace with the natives, the joy of life, and homes snug for winter.
"Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,and into his courts with praise.Be thankful unto him, and bless his name.For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting;and his truth endures to all generations." (Psalm 100:4-5)

http://www.joyfulheart.com/thanksgiving/indian-thanksgiving.htm

Tin foil hat alert, here for fun is a listing from the UK of the top 30 conspiracy's, i had not heard of all of them, but had (and believe) a fair share, i guess i need to get fitted with my hat tomorrow?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/howaboutthat/3477148/The-greatest-conspiracy-theories-in-history.html?image=29

Have fun with it.

Russia is dong what the American people wanted done. Is to drill off the coast and now they will will be tapping some of the best oil and we again will have it washed up on the shore, killing our animals and we won't be getting anything from it. The irony is people will sue the government for the oil spills and get reimbused for damages that we did not cause or create. If it was so stupid it would be funny. You can not make up how stupid out government can be sometimes.

Official: Russians want to search for oil off Cuba

November 23, 2008 - 2:24pm

HAVANA (AP) - Russian oil companies could soon begin searching for oil in deep Gulf of Mexico waters off Cuba, a top diplomat said just days before Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visits the island.

Russian oil companies have "concrete projects" for drilling in Cuba's part of the gulf, said Mijail Kamynin, Russia's ambassador to Cuba, to the state-run business magazine Opciones.

Kamynin also said Russian companies would like to help build storage tanks for crude oil and to modernize Cuban pipelines, as well as play a role in Venezuelan efforts to refurbish a Soviet-era refinery in the port city of Cienfuegos, according the article published this weekend.

Medvedev comes to former Cold War ally Cuba on Thursday, part of a tour of Latin America to strengthen his country's economic and political ties in the region. Kamynin said trade between Russia and the island would top $400 million this year.

Washington's nearly 50-year-old trade embargo prohibits U.S. companies from investing on the island. But Cuba's state-run oil concern has signed joint operating agreements with companies from several countries to explore waters that Cuban scientists claim could contain reserves of up to 20 billion barrels of oil.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visited Cuba in October for the signing of agreements allowing state-run Petroleo Brasileiro SA to invest $8 million initially for a seven-year, deep-water exploration project north of the famed beach resort of Varadero. If reserves are confirmed, Brazil would produce oil and natural gas recovered there over the next 25 years.

Opciones did not give details on what the Russian proposals would entail.

The Soviet Union was communist Cuba's chief economic benefactor until it disbanded, throwing the island's economy into disarray. Cuba-Russia relations soured after that, but warmed when President Vladimir Putin visited in 2000.

Steel has to go down, with much less building a buildings and cars, the price had to fall.

After record profits, steel shaken by sudden drop
November 23, 2008 - 4:08pm
By DANIEL LOVERING
AP Manufacturing Writer
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Just weeks after posting record profits, steel makers are facing a harsh new reality: dwindling orders, production cuts, layoffs. And tougher times lay ahead, analysts say.
The steel industry had been riding high earlier this year, as surging demand from China and other countries, coupled with soaring prices for materials used in steel making, produced the most lucrative market for the metal in more than 60 years.

But the credit crisis and global economic slowdown have undercut customers in key markets _ construction, automobiles and industrial equipment _ sending prices tumbling and prompting steel companies to slash production, scale back shipment forecasts, delay expansion plans and furlough workers.

Lower revenues and more layoffs loom in the months ahead, and production may not return to levels seen earlier in 2008 for more than two years, according to some analysts.

"The downturn has been dramatic, both in the speed and the magnitude," said Christopher Plummer, managing director of Metal Strategies Inc., a consulting firm in West Chester, Pa. "It's quite concerning and alarming."

John Anton, a steel economist with IHS Global Insight, said he expects U.S. steel production to fall next year, and that steel companies will be lucky to make about 65 percent as much as they did in 2008. Revenues could fall 35 to 40 percent, and pre-slowdown production levels may not return until 2011.

Layoffs and production cuts are inevitable, but "as long as (steel companies) saved some of the huge profits they made in 2008 ... they should survive," he said.

The U.S. steel industry has been particularly hard hit by a decline in the number of new houses being built after multiple years of excessive construction, Anton said. While little steel is used in new residences, they bring shopping centers, hospitals and schools _ buildings made from larger amounts of the metal.

"The real big drop in steel demand hasn't happened yet _ that's the decline in nonresidential construction," said Charles Bradford, an analyst with Bradford Research/Soleil Securities. "That's just beginning to show up."

Booming demand from China, particularly construction, helped revive the steel industry after a severe downturn from 1998 through 2002 caused by the Asian economic meltdown and other financial crises, as well as a strong dollar that made U.S.-produced steel more expensive on the world market.

Steel prices also got a boost from companies passing along the rising costs of raw materials and services used in steel making: iron ore, coke, metallurgical coal, ocean shipping.

Then demand suddenly began drying up in August. China's expansion waned partly due to a drop in demand for Chinese goods, while North American and European construction tailed off. U.S. auto makers reported plummeting sales and continued shifting toward smaller cars that require less steel. The dollar strengthened, dampening exports, and steel distributors liquidated their inventories.

"Best I can tell, the buyers went on strike in August and they haven't come back yet," said Bradford.

The drop in demand has pulled down prices. Scrap steel, used by steel mills, recently slid to about $90 per gross ton after trading around $550 in July. The metal, from junked cars and other refuse, is considered a market indicator.

Meanwhile, hot-rolled sheet steel, used in autos, office furniture and appliances and considered the industry's benchmark product, dropped to about $785 per ton a few weeks ago from $1,080 in July. It had reached that lofty level after surging from $570 at the end of 2007.

Lower scrap prices have helped companies such as Nucor Corp., which turns the used metal into steel in electric arc furnaces. But even the Charlotte, N.C.-based company _ which relies on so-called minimills that can be shut down and restarted quickly to adjust for demand _ has declined to forecast its future financial performance.

AK Steel Holding Corp. earlier this month said it was temporarily closing plants in Ohio and Kentucky because of sharply lower demand, laying off as many as 1,190 workers, though a small number will stay to maintain the facilities. Earlier, the West Chester, Ohio, company lowered its projected fourth-quarter steel shipments by about 14 percent.

Also this month, Pittsburgh-based United States Steel Corp., which posted record profits for the three months ended in September, said it was laying off 675 workers in the U.S. and Canada due to weaker demand amid the economic downturn.

The company said earlier it had reduced production to match declining order rates and warned of weaker results for the rest of the year due to weakening demand in North America and Europe. It also postponed plans for a $450 million plant in Alabama.

ArcelorMittal SA, the world's largest steel producer and operator of 21 plants in the United States, plans to cut output by nearly a third and has predicted tougher times ahead. It cited a need to rebalance supply and demand and put on hold an expansion plan that would have boosted steel shipments by a fifth by 2010.

In a very short period, steel went from its worst market since World War II, from 1998 to 2002, to its strongest, said Plummer, of Metal Strategies. "And now you can see we're in a significant free-fall."

U.S. steel mills are now probably operating at less than half their capacity, down from full capacity in August, said industry analyst Michelle Applebaum. That would be their lowest point since the early 1980s.

Industry analyst John Tumazos said he estimates the weekly operating rate for U.S. steel mills will not bottom out until the December holidays. "Some of the workers being furloughed may not get back soon," he said.

The domestic industry has changed drastically since the 1970s and 1980s, when it collapsed partly due to competition from imported steel and broader economic problems. U.S. mills have become consolidated among relatively few international players.

Annual global steel production last declined in 2001, said Anton, of IHS Global Insight, citing figures from the American Iron and Steel Institute. The U.S. industry has been more erratic, with a 7 percent gain in 2006 and a 1.5 percent decline last year, he said.

China, the world's biggest steel-making country, has responded to sinking demand this year by cutting output 20 percent. Over the past 12 years, China's steel industry _ once comparable to the U.S. industry's output of about 100 million metric tons per year _ has added mills that together produce more than four times the amount of steel made in the United States.

In North America, about 40 percent of steel demand comes from the devastated construction market, while 20 percent comes from hard-hit automakers and another 20 percent comes from industrial equipment makers. The rest is split among smaller markets, such as the energy sector _ which uses steel pipe _ appliances, office furniture, and food cans and other containers.

But the industry's sudden pain will be felt universally.

"Steel production is going to be bad," Anton said. "It's going to be bad everywhere in the worl

d."

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=111&sid=1524678

I guess we need to figure out a way to make a buck off of Thanksgiving.
Historic Plymouth, Mass., hopes to become movie Mecca

By Denise Lavoie, The Associated Press

PLYMOUTH, Mass. — In this place sometimes known as America's hometown, schoolchildren and tourists flock to see Plymouth Rock, a replica of the Mayflower and the place where the Pilgrims and Mashpee Wampanoags Indians shared the first Thanksgiving meal.

But the staid and historic image of Plymouth could soon be tempered by a decidedly modern attraction: a $488 million film and television studio, complete with 14 sound stages, a 10-acre back lot, a theater, a 300-room upscale hotel, a spa and 500,000 square feet of office space.

The thought of turning Plymouth into a movie Mecca has won the enthusiastic support of many residents, but some don't like the idea of adding Hollywood to their history.

"We don't need you; we've already got Plymouth Rock," says Laurien Enos, one of just three of 116 Town Meeting members who voted last month against allowing the developers to build the studio on a golf course here, about 40 miles south of Boston.

While Enos and others worry about traffic and Hollywood glamour changing their town, most residents have embraced the studio.

More than 1,100 people showed up at a recent jobs fair hosted by the project's developers.

"I think it's a great idea," said Renee Stoddard, a waitress at The All-American Diner. "It's going to bring lots of jobs and more people into Plymouth, and more business for us. It couldn't be a better time for that. We get plumbers and carpenters in here all the time and they're saying there's no work."

Even though construction isn't expected to begin until at least April once the final approvals are set — and the studio won't be ready before late 2010 or early 2011 — developers Plymouth Rock Studios LLC have pre-leased about 60% of the office space they'll need.

Led by David Kirkpatrick, a former president of Paramount Pictures, with Earl Lestz, another former Paramount executive, Plymouth Rock Studios doesn't yet have financing. And that could prove a major obstacle given the current economy.

But Joseph DiLorenzo, chief financial officer of Plymouth Rock Studios and former CFO of the NBA's Boston Celtics, is confident lenders will come through. He notes that the film industry — though faltering now — has weathered recessions before and that the project offers sound stages where filmmakers can do everything related to production, including editing and scoring.

"Now that we know we can build on it, we'll go raise money," said DiLorenzo. "We've had letters from HBO, Warner, Paramount and Fox, saying, 'If you build it, we will come."'

Big-name producers and directors will come to Massachusetts because it offers filmmakers a sales tax exemption and a 25% tax credit for payroll and production expenses, DiLorenzo said.

For its part, in addition to a zoning change, Plymouth's Town Meeting gave the developers a 75% break on the studio's real estate taxes for the first five years. The exemption will gradually decrease over 20 years.

"We want to become the alternative to Hollywood for the film industry," said DiLorenzo.

That may be a tall order, given the competition Massachusetts faces from other states that also offer financial incentives, including neighboring Connecticut, which offers a tax credit of up to 30% for in-state production expenses, and Rhode Island, which gives a 25% tax credit on production costs for movies, videos or TV shows produced primarily in the state.

New York, which is widely seen as Hollywood's closest competitor, offers a 35% tax credit. And Michigan, also considered an attractive state for filmmakers, has begun refunding studios up to 42% of their in-state production expenses.

Nicholas Paleologos, executive director of the Massachusetts Film Office, calls the Plymouth proposal "enormously ambitious" but says Plymouth could be a big draw. The number of tourists visiting Plymouth has dropped in recent years from about 1 million a year to about 750,000.

"Plymouth is already a tourist attraction, and now, if you've got a place where people can visit the sets and take a tour of the back lots, it just enhances the tourist industry that's already there," Paleologos said.

Plymouth also is just 20 miles from picturesque Cape Cod, where ferries take visitors to the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, popular vacation spots for celebrities.

Since the first version of the incentive law went into effect in 2006, the state has seen a dramatic jump in the number of movies made here and the amount of money spent in the state by those productions.

The film industry spent about $6 million in Massachusetts in 2005 and $60 million in 2006. Direct spending more than doubled to $125 million in 2007, on eight major films, including: "The Women," starring Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan, and "Pink Panther 2," starring Steve Martin. Direct spending is expected to double again this year to $350 million to $400 million on 10 films, Paleologos said.

DiLorenzo said the developers expect the project to create about 1,000 construction jobs and another 2,000 permanent jobs at the studio, which is to be built on the Waverly Oaks Golf Course in a rural residential neighborhood in South Plymouth. The group secured the rights to the name "Hollywood East" from the Hollywood, Calif., Chamber of Commerce.

Even people who work at the historic sites in Plymouth like the thought of a movie studio in town.

Ann Young, the director of visitor services at Pilgrim Hall Museum, which houses the largest collection of Pilgrim artifacts in the world, said she isn't worried the glitz of a movie studio could taint Plymouth.

"We're all thrilled about it," Young said. "I think that (the developers) are trying to do something new. They are like pilgrims coming to Plymouth to start something new."

But some think the town has rushed, blinded by the thought of movie stars walking down the street.

Ann Marie Flanagan, a Town Meeting member who voted against the proposal, said the developers have not answered key questions, such as how they are going to finance the project and how much they hope the town will contribute in infrastructure improvements.

"People are just mesmerized," Flanagan said. "They're dropping names like Julia Roberts, and saying you're all going to have jobs."

DiLorenzo said the development group couldn't seek funding until Town Meeting approved the zoning change. The project also needs to get a state environmental permit and state approval for an access road.

The developers have pledged to provide buses to take tourists from the historic sites in Plymouth to the studio.

"We think people will come here for the tax credits and for the location," DiLorenzo said. "You have the ocean, the hills, foliage, the city — it's all here."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-11-23-plymouth-goes-hollywood_N.htm