Eeyore's News and View

Brown: World needs 'global New Deal'
BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- The world needs a "global New Deal" to haul it out of the economic crisis it faces, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the United Kingdom said Sunday.
Gordon Brown addresses a press conference following a G20 preparatory meeting in Berlin, Sunday.
Gordon Brown addresses a press conference following a G20 preparatory meeting in Berlin, Sunday.
"We need a global New Deal -- a grand bargain between the countries and continents of this world -- so that the world economy can not only recover but... so the banking system can be based on... best principles," he said, referring to the 1930s American plan to fight the Great Depression.
Brown was speaking as the leaders of Europe's biggest economies met to try to forge a common position on the global financial crisis ahead of a major summit in London in April.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the world's response to the global financial meltdown had to be profound and long-lasting, not just tinkering around the edges.
"Europe wants to see an overhaul of the system. We all agree on that. We're not talking about superficial measures now or transitional measures -- we're talking about structural measure, which need to be taken," he said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the host of the meeting, urged nations of the world to work together to fight the problem.
"Confidence can only be restored if people in our countries feel that we are pulling in the same direction and have understood that we really must learn lessons from this crisis," she said.
And she proposed that a new institution grow out of the crisis, "which will take on more responsibility for global [financial] mechanisms."
The Europeans say they have agreed international financial markets must be regulated more thoroughly. That also means stricter rules for hedge funds and credit-rating agencies.
European and world leaders have been holding frequent summits as they struggle to cope with a financial crisis that has affected banks, homeowners, businesses and employees around the world.
London will host a meeting of the Group of 20 nations in April. The G-20 includes the G-7 leading industrialized nations -- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States -- as well as the world's largest developing economies: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea and Turkey, plus the European Union.
The managing director of the International Monetary Fund and the president of the World Bank, plus the chairs of the International Monetary and Financial Committee and Development Committee of the IMF and World Bank, also participate in G-20 meetings.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/02/22/germany.financial.summit/index.html

Global warming? Faulty science
Arctic Sea Ice Underestimated for Weeks Due to Faulty Sensor
By Alex Morales
Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- A glitch in satellite sensors caused scientists to underestimate the extent of Arctic sea ice by 500,000 square kilometers (193,000 square miles), a California- size area, the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center said.
The error, due to a problem called “sensor drift,” began in early January and caused a slowly growing underestimation of sea ice extent until mid-February. That’s when “puzzled readers” alerted the NSIDC about data showing ice-covered areas as stretches of open ocean, the Boulder, Colorado-based group said on its Web site.
“Sensor drift, although infrequent, does occasionally occur and it is one of the things that we account for during quality- control measures prior to archiving the data,” the center said. “Although we believe that data prior to early January are reliable, we will conduct a full quality check.’’
The extent of Arctic sea ice is seen as a key measure of how rising temperatures are affecting the Earth. The cap retreated in 2007 to its lowest extent ever and last year posted its second- lowest annual minimum at the end of the yearly melt season. The recent error doesn’t change findings that Arctic ice is retreating, the NSIDC said.
The center said real-time data on sea ice is always less reliable than archived numbers because full checks haven’t yet been carried out. Historical data is checked across other sources, it said.
The NSIDC uses Department of Defense satellites to obtain its Arctic sea ice data rather than more accurate National Aeronautics and Space Administration equipment. That’s because the defense satellites have a longer period of historical data, enabling scientists to draw conclusions about long-term ice melt, the center said.
“There is a balance between being as accurate as possible at any given moment and being as consistent as possible through long time-periods,” NSIDC said. “Our main scientific focus is on the long-term changes in Arctic sea ice.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=aIe9swvOqwIY

Found this post at Family Readiness Center yesterday, posted by Kit.
Big Numbers
There's no question that we're talking big numbers -- with plenty of zeros -- when it comes to efforts to "rescue" the U.S. economy. But it didn't take the latest wave of profligacy to prove that Washington has a serious spending problem. That fact was obvious to anyone who was familiar with the all-in cost of the government's retirement safety net. In "Federal Obligations Exceed World GDP," WorldNetDaily's Jerome R. Corsi covers the issue in frightening detail.
Does $65.5 trillion terrify anyone yet?
As the Obama administration pushes through Congress its $800 billion deficit-spending economic stimulus plan, the American public is largely unaware that the true deficit of the federal government already is measured in trillions of dollars, and in fact its $65.5 trillion in total obligations exceeds the gross domestic product of the world.
The total U.S. obligations, including Social Security and Medicare benefits to be paid in the future, effectively have placed the U.S. government in bankruptcy, even before new continuing social welfare obligation embedded in the massive spending plan are taken into account.
The real 2008 federal budget deficit was $5.1 trillion, not the $455 billion previously reported by the Congressional Budget Office, according to the "2008 Financial Report of the United States Government" as released by the U.S. Department of Treasury.
The difference between the $455 billion "official" budget deficit numbers and the $5.1 trillion budget deficit cited by "2008 Financial Report of the United States Government" is that the official budget deficit is calculated on a cash basis, where all tax receipts, including Social Security tax receipts, are used to pay government liabilities as they occur.
But the numbers in the 2008 report are calculated on a GAAP basis ("Generally Accepted Accounting Practices") that include year-for-year changes in the net present value of unfunded liabilities in social insurance programs such as Social Security and Medicare.
Under cash accounting, the government makes no provision for future Social Security and Medicare benefits in the year in which those benefits accrue.
"As bad as 2008 was, the $455 billion budget deficit on a cash basis and the $5.1 trillion federal budget deficit on a GAAP accounting basis does not reflect any significant money [from] the financial bailout or Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, which was approved after the close of the fiscal year," economist John Williams, who publishes the Internet website Shadow Government Statistics, told WND.
"The Congressional Budget Office estimated the fiscal year 2009 budget deficit as being $1.2 trillion on a cash basis and that was before taking into consideration the full costs of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, before the cost of the Obama nearly $800 billion economic stimulus plan, or the cost of the second $350 billion in TARP funds, as well as all current bailouts being contemplated by the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve," he said.
"The federal government's deficit is hemorrhaging at a pace which threatens the viability of the financial system," Williams added. "The popularly reported 2009 [deficit] will clearly exceed $2 trillion on a cash basis and that full amount has to be funded by Treasury borrowing.
"It's not likely this will happen without the Federal Reserve acting as lender of last resort for the Treasury by buying Treasury debt and monetizing the debt," he said.
"Monetizing the debt" is a term used to signify that the Federal Reserve will be required simply to print cash to meet the Treasury debt obligations, acting in this capacity only because the Treasury cannot sell the huge of amount debt elsewhere.
The Treasury has been largely dependent upon foreign buyers, principally China and Japan and other major holders of U.S. dollar foreign exchange reserves, including OPEC buyers purchasing U.S. debt through London.
"The appetite of foreign buyers to purchase continued trillions of U.S. debt has become more questionable as the world has witnessed the rapid deterioration of the U.S. fiscal condition in the current financial crisis," Williams noted.
"Truthfully," Williams pointed out, "there is no Social Security 'lock-box.' There are no funds held in reserve today for Social Security and Medicare obligations that are earned each year. It's only a matter of time until the public realizes that the government is truly bankrupt and no taxes are being held in reserve to pay in the future the Social Security and Medicare benefits taxpayers are earning today."
Calculations from the "2008 Financial Report of the United States Government" also show that the GAAP negative net worth of the federal government has increased to $59.3 trillion while the total federal obligations under GAAP accounting now total $65.5 trillion.
The $65.5 trillion total federal obligations under GAAP accounting not only now exceed four times the U.S. gross domestic product, or GDP, the $65.5 trillion deficit exceeds total world GDP.
"In the seven years of GAAP reporting, we have seen an annual average deficit in excess of $4 trillion, which could not be possibly covered by any form of taxation," Williams argued.
"Shy of the government severely slashing social welfare programs, federal deficits of this magnitude are beyond any hope of containment, government or otherwise," he said.
"Put simply, there is no way the government can possibly pay for the level of social welfare benefits the federal government has promised unless the government simply prints cash and debases the currency, which the government will increasingly be doing this year," Williams said, explaining in more detail why he feels the government is now in the process of monetizing the federal debt.
"Social Security and Medicare must be shown as liabilities on the federal balance sheet in the year they accrue according to GAAP accounting," Williams argues. "To do otherwise is irresponsible, nothing more than an attempt to hide the painful truth from the American public. The public has a right to know just how bad off the federal government budget deficit situation really is, especially since the situation is rapidly spinning out of control.
"The federal government is bankrupt," Williams told WND. "In a post-Enron world, if the federal government were a corporation such as General Motors, the president and senior Treasury officers would be in federal penitentiary."
http://frc4u.org/phpbb/index.php?topic=180.0

Chavez makes brief surprise visit to Cuba
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has made a brief surprise visit to Cuba to meet with Raul and Fidel Castro and celebrate with them his victory in last Sunday's constitutional referendum.
It was the Venezuelan leader's first trip abroad since winning a referendum on February 15 that removed term limits on his presidency and allowed him to seek reelection.
Chavez has already signaled his intention to run for a third term in office in 2012 in his bid to consolidate his brand of socialism critics compare to Cuba's communism.
Standing arm-in-arm with Chavez on his arrival late Friday, Cuban President Raul Castro raised the Venezuelan leader's fist in victory, declaring "I do this in Fidel's name" -- a reference to his brother, a long-time friend of Chavez.
Chavez, sporting a red beret and olive suit responded to the crowd's adulation with his own cries of "Viva Fidel! Viva Cuba! Viva Raul!"
During his brief stay in Havana, the Venezuelan leaders met with Fidel Castro twice -- first one-on-one on Friday night and then again on Saturday, accompanied by Raul Castro.
According to a brief communique read in a television broadcast, the two leaders discussed "bountiful relations" between the two countries as well as "the global economic crisis and its consequences for Latin America and the Caribbean."
No video or other images of the encounter have been circulated. Chavez flew back to Caracas late Saturday.
"The warm meeting between the two heads of state is a symbol of unity between two brotherly peoples," Cuba's official newspaper Granma commented after Chavez's meeting with the Castro brothers.
The visit is the latest in a series of exchanges between the two leftist countries, which have developed closer ties since Chavez took power ten years ago, and which have frequently sparred with the west.
Last December, Raul Castro visited Caracas in his first visit abroad since taking over in July 2006 from Fidel, who stepped aside due to medical problems.
Chavez said his first congratulatory message after last Sunday's win, which gave him the power to run for a third term in 2012, came from Fidel Castro.
Cuba receives nearly 100,000 barrels a day of Venezuelan oil under easy-to-pay conditions, and Venezuelan experts are working with Cubans on a petrochemical project in the southern city of Cienfuegos. Venezuela's state-owned PDVSA is among firms searching for oil off Cuba's north coast.
According to official figures, bilateral projects since 2006 represent some 3.6 billion dollars, and the two countries plan in 2009 173 joint projects worth more than two billion dollars.
More than 30,000 Cubans, including doctors, teachers and sports trainers work in Venezuela.
Fidel Castro, 82, definitively ceded the reins of the Cuban presidency to his brother Raul in February 2008.
In a recent article, Fidel Castro congratulated Chavez on his referendum victory, calling it an event of "unmeasurable importance."
Five Latin American heads of state have visited Havana since the beginning of the year. The Cubans have released pictures from Fidel Castro's meetings with Presidents Cristina Kirchner of Argentina and Michelle Bachelet of Chile.
The releases are seen as an attempt by the Cubans to quash rumors about Fidel Castro's deteriorating health.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.ba8223fee88e66b348d46d625456b5e5.291&show_article=1

Russian general says watching Arctic militarization
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Monday it was watching the extent of militarization in the Arctic as global warming makes potentially valuable resources in the polar region more accessible and would plan its strategy accordingly.
Russia has already staked its claim to a majority of the Arctic waters, which it shares with four NATO countries and planted a Russian flag on the seabed under the North Pole 18 months ago to reinforce its position.
"Overall, we are looking at how far the region will be militarized. Depending on that, we'll then decide what to do," Interfax news agency quoted General Nikolai Makarov, the head of Russia's General Staff, as saying during a visit to Abu Dhabi.
Makarov was in the United Arab Emirates for an international arms fair.
NATO Secretary-General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer last month asked whether the Western military alliance should increase its focus on the region, saying that it was necessary to build confidence and trust among the five Arctic states -- four NATO members and rival power Russia.
Private explorers in a Russian mini-submarine dived 4,200 meters (14,000ft) to the North Pole's seabed, to symbolically plant their national flag in August 2007, to the annoyance of other Arctic claimants, such as Canada.
Russia air and naval power in the region has also become more visible. Long-range strategic bombers fly over the Arctic and are frequently shadowed by NATO aircraft. Russia's Northern fleet based in Murmansk has expanded patrols, after a period of relative inactivity after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
Moscow is counting on the United Nations to grant it access not just to the seas of the Arctic, but the right to exploit its seabed for valuable fossil fuels and mineral reserves.
NATO members with Arctic Sea coastlines -- and in some cases competing claims -- are Canada, the United States, Norway and Greenland, an autonomous island within the kingdom of Denmark.
The U.S. Geological Survey has estimated that about 13 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and 30 percent of its undiscovered gas lie under the Arctic seabed.
New sea routes could also be opened up if, as expected because of climate change, ice continues to retreat from Arctic waters, shortening voyages between Europe and the Pacific.
Makarov also said in Abu Dhabi that Russia had not yet received any official proposals from Washington on significant cuts in strategic nuclear forces.
The Times of London reported earlier this month that President Barack Obama would convene ambitious arms reduction talks with Moscow, aiming to slash the number of intercontinental nuclear missiles on both sides by 80 percent.
"When there is a proposal, there will be a discussion," Interfax quoted Makarov as saying. "It is much too early to speak about that now."
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE51M3ES20090223?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&rpc=22&sp=true

North Korea to launch satellite
SEOUL (AP) — North Korea said Tuesday it is preparing to shoot a satellite into orbit, its clearest reference yet to an impending launch that neighbors and the U.S. suspect will be a provocative test of a long-range missile.
The statement from the North's space technology agency comes amid growing international concern that the communist nation is gearing up to fire a version of its most advanced missile — one capable of reaching the U.S. — within a week, in violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution.
North Korea asserted last week that it bears the right to "space development" — words the regime has used in the past to disguise a missile test. In 1998, North Korea test-fired a Taepodong-1 ballistic missile over Japan and then claimed to have put a satellite into orbit.
"Full-fledged preparations are underway to launch the pilot communications satellite Kwangmyongsong No. 2" at a launch site in Hwadae in the northeast, the North's agency said in a statement carried by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency. The report did not say when the launch would take place.
Unnamed intelligence officials reported brisk personnel and vehicle activity at the Hwadae launch site, the Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday. However, the North has not yet placed the missile on a launch pad, the report said. After mounting the missile, it would take five to seven days to fuel the rocket, experts say.
Hwadae is believed to be the launch site for North Korea's longest-range missile, the Taepodong-2, which has the capability of reaching Alaska. Reports suggest the missile being readied for launch could be an advanced version of the Taepodong-2 with even greater range: the U.S. West coast.
South Korea's defense minister has said launch preparations could be completed within days.
Analysts have warned for weeks that the North may fire a missile to send a strong signal to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who took office a year ago Wednesday with a hard-line policy on North Korea, and to new President Barack Obama.
North Korea is banned from any ballistic missile activity under a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted after the North's first-ever nuclear test in 2006.
South Korea, Japan and the United States have warned Pyongyang not to fire a missile.
Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged the North to stop its "provocative actions," saying a missile test would "be very unhelpful in moving our relationship forward."
Pyongyang's efforts to make a case for space program could be an attempt to avoid international condemnation and sanctions.
But South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan has stressed that missiles and satellites differ only in payload, and said any launch — whether a satellite or a missile — would be a breach of the U.N. resolution.
The missile move also comes as Pyongyang steps up its hostile rhetoric against South Korea, saying it is "fully ready" for war. The two Koreas technically remain at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. They remain divided by a heavily armed demilitarized zone.
North Korea's missile program is a major security concern for the region, along with its nuclear weapons development.
The country test-launched a Taepodong-2 missile in 2006, but it plunged into the ocean shortly after liftoff.
Experts believe the North has not yet mastered the miniaturization technology required to put a nuclear warhead on a missile, but the test alarmed the world and gave new energy to stop-and-go diplomacy over North Korea's nuclear program.
A 2007 disarmament-for-aid pact North Korea signed with five other nations has been stalled since last August.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-02-23-north-korea_N.htm

Eeyore's news and a view

Heading for zero
By Roger Bootle
Central banks are making history. Last week's 1pc cut took interest rates down to 2pc, the level that they were last at in 1951, which was the all-time low since the Bank of England was formed in 1694
What now? I think that interest rates around the world should be cut to zero – and what's more, I think they just about will be. But why stop at zero? Why not send interest rates negative? The answer gets to the root of a monetary economy and hints at why deflation is so dangerous. The answer is cash – i.e notes. They do not carry interest, positive or negative. This imposes a limit on what can be done with bank deposits.
If banks, under leadership from the central bank, tried to impose negative interest rates on bank deposits, people would withdraw money and hold hoards of cash on which no negative interest rate was incurred. There might plausibly be some reluctance to hold large amounts of cash for convenience or security reasons, and accordingly banks might be able to levy a small negative interest rate on deposits without prompting a stampede to cash.
But it could only be small, not least because it would be open to other banks, or indeed completely new banks, to start a new business simply taking in cash to look after for safekeeping in return for a small fee.
I can already hear some clever-dicks rushing to send me "oh yes they can" messages. And I admit that there are some isolated examples of technical quirks. In 1978, for instance, the Swiss authorities managed to impose negative interest rates on foreigners depositing in Swiss francs.
Some people were prepared to accept negative interest rates because they hoped to offset this loss with a capital gain as the Swiss franc rose on the exchanges. Even this episode applied only to non-residents in special circumstances and did not last long.
And in the Great Depression in the US there were instances of negative rates. The prices of Treasury Bills at auction occasionally exceeded par, thereby giving a small negative yield. But these were exceptional quirks, and they do not offer a way of breaking through the zero limit.
There is, however, a theoretical way of breaking through it, namely to date notes and make their value decline with time. But this would play havoc with the monetary system which, after all, is founded on the idea that a pound is a pound, whenever the note was printed. So take it from me, interesting little quirks aside, rates cannot go negative.
So once rates have reached zero, what can central banks do? They have two tools in their armoury. First, they can keep interest rates at zero for a very long time. This is pretty much what Japan has done. The importance of this is that once the markets believe that rates are going to stay low for a long period then longer term rates of interest, principally the yield on government bonds, will fall as well. Lower bond yields will reduce the cost of finance for companies and will underpin the value of equities and commercial property. This process has already started. The yield on UK long government bonds has fallen to 3.8pc, the lowest since 1951.
Second, central banks can embark on what is known in the trade as "quantitative easing". This simply means the central bank buying securities in the open market. This is not a new-fangled idea. It is known in the textbooks as open market operations and was advocated by Keynes, amongst others.
A central bank would normally prefer to buy government securities – such as bills and bonds. But it can also buy private debt, and in extremis even equities – as the Bank of Japan did in the 1990s. Such a policy is designed to do two things. First, it will lead to rising prices – i.e. lower interest rates – on such paper, and thereby help to bring the interest rates on such assets as close to zero as possible.
Second, it will increase the amount of central bank money in the system. The banks will find themselves with more and more reserves piling up. The hope is that at some point they will lend this money rather than just sitting on it.
In theory, there is no limit to the amount of quantitative easing that a central bank can undertake, thus allowing the government to use expansionary fiscal policy to stimulate activity without limit. Suppose that the government cuts taxes, financed by issues of bonds, which the central bank buys. Central bank money rises and the government distributes this money to the citizens. This is the equivalent of Milton Friedman's famous helicopter drop and amounts to the same thing as Keynes' suggestion in the 1930s to stuff bottles with £5 notes, bury them and employ people to dig them up.
It sounds so easy. What is the rub? This policy is indeed the answer to persistent and deep-seated deflation. Stand by: if we ever get that far I'll be advocating it! But it did not solve all of Japan's difficulties in one fell swoop. The problem is that central banks do not know how much quantitative easing is required to bring an end to deflation.
This creates something of a dilemma. If they conduct a lot of quantitative easing they risk overdoing things and turning a deflation problem into an inflation problem. You only need to look at Zimbabwe to see how expanding the money supply can lead to uncontrollable inflation. However, if they adopt a piecemeal approach and do little bits of quantitative easing here and there, they run the risk of allowing the deflation to continue, as happened in Japan.
Believe me, it is better if we don't even get to this point. There is a clear incentive for policymakers to reach zero interest rates as quickly as possible. If there is even a small possibility that the economy is heading for deflation, is it better to do all you can to prevent it before it begins.
Otherwise, once deflation kicks in, the real interest rate – that is the nominal interest rate less inflation – rises. In other words, deflation automatically tightens policy exactly at a time when it should be loosened. So rates should be rushed to zero.
There is a view that once rates get to 1pc or 0.5pc the central bank should desist from further cuts on the grounds that they should not "use up the last shot in the locker." Why not? If a Red Indian is rushing towards you with a tomahawk, ready to cut off your head, what is the point of not shooting him on the grounds that if you do bring him down, there may be another Indian coming along later?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/rogerbootle/3658646/Heading-for-zero.html

In lean times, SoCal residents trade guns for food
Record Number of Gun Owners Trade Weapons for Food, Gift Cards
By THOMAS WATKINS Associated Press WriterLOS ANGELES December 8, 2008 (AP)
Los Angeles County Sheriff Deputy Jeff Gordon, right, and colleagues examine and process weapons yesterday, in Compton, Calif. The sheriff's department on Sunday completed its annual Gifts for Guns program in Compton, where residents could anonymously relinquish firearms in return for a $100 gift card for Best Buy, Target or Ralphs. (Ric Francis/AP Photo)
A program to exchange guns for gifts brought in a record number of weapons this year as residents hit hard by the economy look under the bed and in closets to find items to trade for groceries.
The annual Gifts for Guns program ended Sunday in Compton, a working class city south of Los Angeles that has long struggled with gun and gang violence. In a program similar to ones in New York and San Francisco, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department allows residents to anonymously relinquish firearms in return for $100 gift cards for Ralphs supermarkets, Target department stores or Best Buy electronics stores.
Turning in assault rifles yields double that amount.
In years past, Target and Best Buy were the cards of choice, with residents wanting presents for the holidays.
This year, most asked for the supermarket cards, said sheriff's Sgt. Byron Woods.
"People just don't have the money to buy the food these days," he said.
Authorities said Sunday that a record 965 firearms and two hand grenades were handed in during the two weekends the program was in operation. That's more than in any other year and easily eclipses last year's total of 387 guns collected over both weekends.
Compton's violent history has been chronicled in such gangsta rap albums as N.W.A.'s "Straight Outta Compton." But Woods said most of the residents who turned in weapons were "family people."

"One guy said he had just got laid off from his job," Woods said. "He turned in five guns and said it would really help him to put food on the family's table."
Gun owners dropped their weapons off at a local grocery store parking lot. Deputies checked the weapons to see whether they had been used in crimes, then destroyed them.
The annual drive started in 2005 after a spike in killings, though the murder rate has since dropped.
One man brought in a Soviet-era semiautomatic carbine.
"If that got into the wrong hands of gangbangers, they could kill several people within minutes," Woods said. "Our biggest fear is a house getting burglarized and these guns getting
The drive also has yielded antique weapons.
Gift cards for the guns exchange were paid mostly by Los Angeles County, but the three companies involved and the city of Compton, which contracts the county for police protection, also donated funds.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=6414376

Report: Iran rocket arsenal tripled in 2008
In a signthat Iran is taking military measures to ward off the threat of an attack on its nuclear facilities, the country has tripled the number of long-range rockets in its arsenal, Channel 10 reported on Monday.
According to the report, Iran possessed 30 Shihab-3 missiles at the beginning of 2008. Currently, the country claims to have over 100 over long-range missiles capable of hitting Israel. While the ability of the Islamic Republic to strike any point in Israel has long been known, this latest build-up potentially points to an Iranian intent to launch a protracted counter-strike against those who seek to destroy its nuclear program.
The Jerusalem Post could not confirm the report.
Last summer, Iran held a massive missile exercise during which it claimed to have launched an improved version of the Shihab-3, known to have a range of 1,300 kilometers. The Iranian Fars News Agency Web site reported that the Shihab-3 had recently been equipped with an advanced guidance system that significantly improves the missile's accuracy and can correct its flight plan in midair.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1228728112652&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Eat camels to protect environment, Aussies told
Dec 9 03:01 AM US/Eastern
Australians were urged Tuesday to eat camels to stop them wreaking environmental havoc, just months after being told to save the world from climate change by consuming kangaroos.
A three-year study has found that Australia's population of more than a million feral camels -- the largest wild herd on earth -- is out of control and damaging fragile desert ecosystems and water sources.
The Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre, which produced the report, plans to serve camel meat at a barbecue for senior public servants in Canberra on Wednesday to press its point.
Report co-author Professor Murray McGregor said a good way to bring down the number of camels was to eat them.
"Eat a camel today, I've done it," he told the national AAP news agency.
"It's beautiful meat. It's a bit like beef. It's as lean as lean, it's an excellent health food."
Similar claims are made for kangaroo meat, but the rationale for farming and eating the national emblem -- as outlined by the government's chief climate change adviser in October -- is different.
Millions of farm animals such as cows and sheep produce massive amounts of harmful greenhouse gases, said Professor Ross Garnaut, but kangaroos emit negligible amounts of methane.
Unlike the native kangaroo, camels were introduced into Australia as pack animals for the vast outback in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, but were released into the wild as rail and road travel became more widespread.
The country has wrestled for years with imported animals brought in as beasts of burden, food sources, for recreational hunting or, ironically, to control agricultural pests.
The Department of the Environment lists animals of "significant concern" as including feral camels, horses, donkeys, pigs, European wild rabbits, European red foxes, cats, goats and cane toads.
With few natural predators and vast sparsely populated areas in which to roam, the populations have soared, putting pressure on native species by preying on them, competing for food, destroying habitats and spreading disease.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=081209070110.gs8vvzpt&show_article=1

UK has a problem with their pension also
Pension schemes face £155bn shortfall
Almost 90pc of defined benefit pension schemes in the UK were in the red at the end of November as falls in stock markets hit the value of their assets.
By James HallLast Updated: 11:41PM GMT 08 Dec 2008
The Pension Protection Fund (PPF), the pensions lifeboat fund, said yesterday that 6,690 pension schemes had a deficit at the end of last month, compared with 6,468 in October. The schemes in deficit at the end of last month face a collective funding shortfall of £155bn. Just one year ago, this figure was £58.3bn.
Once pension funds with a surplus are included in the figures, the total funding shortfall faced by all defined benefit schemes was £136bn in November, compared with a deficit of £97.3bn at the end of October.
In November, the total number of schemes in surplus was 1,047 – just 14pc of all schemes – compared to 1,273 in October. In November 2007 there were 2,400 schemes in surplus.
Last month alone there was a 0.5pc decrease in assets due to falling UK and global equities. At the same time, lower gilt yields in general led to an increase in liabilities of approximately 5.2pc.
"Over the past year, the falling equity markets and bond yields have led to an overall worsening of the funding position. Lower bond yields resulted in a 4pc increase in aggregate liabilities, while weaker equities have reduced assets by 18.7pc," the PPF said.
The PPF was established three years ago to pay compensation for members of defined pension schemes when their employers became insolvent. Pensions experts predict an increase in claims in the current environment.
Woolworths, the stricken retailer whose retail and distribution arms are in administration, could become one of the biggest burdens on the PPF if a last-minute rescue deal cannot be struck to save the retailer.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/3685259/Pension-schemes-face-155bn-shortfall.html