Economy returns to growth after a year of declines

Economy returns to growth after a year of declines
On 9:51 am EDT, Thursday October 29, 2009
By Lucia Mutikani
Yahoo Finance

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. economy grew in the third quarter for the first time in a year, beating market expectations, as consumer spending and new home-building rebounded, signaling the end of the worst recession in 70 years.

The Commerce Department, in its first estimate of third-quarter gross domestic product on Thursday, said the economy grew at a 3.5 percent annual rate, the fastest pace since the third quarter of 2007, after contracting 0.7 percent in the April-June period.

The growth pace in GDP, which measures total goods and services output within U.S. borders, was above market expectations for a 3.3 percent rate. The economy last grew in the second quarter of 2008.

Economy returns to growth after a year of declines

Not so fast. The recession is not over yet. Unemployment is climbing still. I don’t see this recession being over yet. I don’t think it will be over until 2010 at earliest. Even in the Great Depression, th GDP went up, while unemployment was high in the neighbor of 25%.

The Allende Myth

The Allende Myth
Vladimir Dorta
07/21/2003

The failed and tragic attempt by Salvador Allende and the Popular Unity at creating socialism in Chile in 1970-1973 has become a myth for the world left, presented as the possibility of a peaceful and democratic transition to socialism that was destroyed only because the almighty CIA acted as master puppeteer of the Chilean reaction. The myth reinforces itself; while the Cold War context is never mentioned, neither is the fact that the CIA’s workings are well documented whereas the Cuban and Soviet interventions are still mostly unknown. The Allende myth may be good for keeping the socialist faith alive, but it evidently contradicts the historical facts.

While Augusto Pinochet’s brutal post-coup repression and terrorism cannot be justified, it is essential to explain what led him and the Chilean armed forces to the fateful coup d’état, outside of the fantasy that had him bursting onto the democratic Chilean political scene on September 11, 1973 with readymade CIA orders to stop a beautiful, pacific and liberating socialist dream. For I have no doubts that if the Chilean Marxist experiment had ended in civil war, as it appeared to most observers at the time, it would have been an even greater tragedy or, had it ended as the totalitarian society it pointed to, it would have lasted much longer and would have brought Chileans much more suffering than Pinochet’s ugly but temporary dictatorship.

There occurred many important episodes leading to the coup, but I have chosen those that most clearly present the myth in all its falseness. To support the post I have selected four diverse books, one by a right-wing author (Moss), another by a trio of Marxists (Roxborough) and two by recognized scholars (Sigmund and Alexander); all of them knew Chile well and had first-hand experience of the Allende period.

The Allende Myth

Had Salvador Allende had not been overthrown by Augusto Pinochet, things would of gotten worse in Chile. Allende is a darling of the left. Chile is better off since Pinochet ruled Chile.

Columbine killer’s mom: ‘No inkling’ son suicidal

Columbine killer’s mom: ‘No inkling’ son suicidal
By KRISTEN WYATT (AP) – 2 days ago

DENVER — The mother of Columbine killer Dylan Klebold says she has been studying suicide in the decade since the high school massacre but had no idea her son was suicidal until she read his journals after his death.

Susan Klebold’s essay in next month’s issue of O, The Oprah Magazine, is the most detailed response yet from any of the parents of Columbine killers Dylan Klebold or Eric Harris. The teenagers killed 12 students and a teacher in the 1999 shooting rampage at Columbine High School in suburban Denver. Twenty-one people were injured before Klebold and Harris killed themselves.

The parents have repeatedly declined to talk about the massacre. They gave depositions in a lawsuit filed by families of the victims, but a judge in 2007 sealed them for 20 years after the lawsuit was settled out of court.

Full Article

The Harrises and Klebolds have been silent since April 20, 1999. Now, Susan Klebold speaks out. Eric Harris is a psychopath, while Dylan Klebold is a conflicted avoidant. I have an extensive article about the Columbine Massacre.

High School Massacre

Harris and Klebold are evil like Fred Phelps, Lori Drew, Gertrude Baniszewski, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Adolf Hitler.

Obama says he’ll accept Nobel as ‘call to action’

Obama says he’ll accept Nobel as ‘call to action’
Oct 9 12:32 PM US/Eastern
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) – A beaming President Barack Obama said Friday he was both honored and humbled to win the Nobel Peace Prize and would accept it as a “call to action” to work with other nations to solve the world’s most pressing problems.

Obama told reporters in the White House Rose Garden that he wasn’t sure he had done enough to earn the award, or deserved to be in the company of the “transformative figures” who had won it before him.

But, he said, “I will accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations to confront the challenges of the 21st century.”

Full Article

Barack Obama has done nothing when the Nobel Peace Prize deadline was close. He was Senator for four years before he became President. The Nobel Peace Prize was for science, not politics. The last two Presidents that got it were Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Roosevelt was an activist President. Wilson formed the League of Nations, a forerunner of the modern day United Nations (UN). He did not support suffrage and only did so because of his wife. Also, he was a racist on top of it. Yasser Arafat also got the Nobel Peace Prize and his a mass killer and terrorist. The Nobel Peace Prize lost its credibility.

This English Newspaper got it right:

Comment: absurd decision on Obama makes a mockery of the Nobel peace prize
Michael Binyon
Times Online
October 9, 2009

The award of this year’s Nobel peace prize to President Obama will be met with widespread incredulity, consternation in many capitals and probably deep embarrassment by the President himself.

Rarely has an award had such an obvious political and partisan intent. It was clearly seen by the Norwegian Nobel committee as a way of expressing European gratitude for an end to the Bush Administration, approval for the election of America’s first black president and hope that Washington will honour its promise to re-engage with the world.

Instead, the prize risks looking preposterous in its claims, patronising in its intentions and demeaning in its attempt to build up a man who has barely begun his period in office, let alone achieved any tangible outcome for peace.

The pretext for the prize was Mr Obama’s decision to “strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples”. Many people will point out that, while the President has indeed promised to “reset” relations with Russia and offer a fresh start to relations with the Muslim world, there is little so far to show for his fine words.

Times Online-Full Article

Even Lech Walesa got it right. He rightfully deserved the Nobel Peace Prize for bringing down Communism in Poland.

Nobel Committee’s Decision Courts Controversy
By GUY CHAZAN and ALISTAIR MACDONALD
WSJ
OCTOBER 9, 2009, 12:16 P.M. ET

The award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Barack Obama, so early in his presidency, is bound to reignite criticism of the workings of the Nobel committee.

The deadline for nominations for the prize was Feb. 1 — two weeks after Mr. Obama was inaugurated.

“So soon? Too early. He has no contribution so far,” former Polish President Lech Walesa, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, said Friday. “He is still at an early stage.”

Full Article

Even the Taliban are condemning this. So much for reaching out to them.

Afghan Taliban condemn Obama’s winning Nobel
AP 9 October 2009, 07:41pm IST
Times of India

KABUL: A Taliban spokesman in Afghanistan has condemned President Barack Obama’s winning of the Nobel Peace Prize, saying the American
president had only escalated the war by sending more troops.

Qari Yousef Ahmadi accused Obama “of having the blood of the Afghan people on his hands.”

Ahmadi said in a telephone interview Friday from an undisclosed location: “Why are they giving this prize to Obama, who has sent more troops to Afghanistan, who is bombing and killing innocent people?”

Times of India-Full Article

Scientists close in on Ebola

Scientists close in on Ebola
October 3, 2009
The Age

SCIENTISTS are closing in on the source of the Ebola and Marburg viruses, two of the world’s most lethal infectious diseases.

After a five-year search in Africa, virus hunters have identified a fruit bat that may be the natural host for both hemorrhage-causing diseases. The viruses also are more widespread than previously thought, according to their research, which will appear in BioMed Central journal.

The study, based on blood tests on more than 2000 bats in Gabon and the Republic of Congo, will help scientists solve a 30-year mystery: which species harbour Ebola and Marburg without getting sick.

Full Article

Here is a more in-depth article
Pro Med Mail-Ebola & Marburg hemorrhagic fever, Egyptian fruit bat – W. Africa

I have been waiting for this. Looks like the source of Ebola and Marburg has been found and the carrier is fruit bats. Considering many Ebola and Marburg outbreaks have started with miners, where bats live there. It would not surprise me if they find a vaccine and treatment for these horrifying diseases.

The first Marburg outbreak happened in 1967 in Germany and Yugoslavia. 31 people were infected and 7 died. Ebola was first known in 1976 in Northern Zaire (Congo), which swept 55 villages. 358 people were infected and 325 died.

Villages ‘wiped out’ by tsunami after Samoa quake: report

Villages ‘wiped out’ by tsunami after Samoa quake: report
Tue Sep 29, 7:11 pm ET
Yahoo News

APIA (AFP) – A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 8.0 struck off the South Pacific island nation of Samoa on Tuesday, wiping out villages and killing 19 people in the region, reports said.

At least 14 people were reported to have died in American Samoa, and five in Samoa as enormous waves battered the island states, with one witness saying the wall of water had been up to 30 feet (nine metres) high.

One local journalist told AFP entire villages had been wiped out in Samoa on the worst-hit south and southwest coasts in an area where thousands of people live.

Full Article

Right up to 100 people died in the tsunami in American Samoa. I expect the death toll to rise. I am very sorry for anyone who lost loved ones in the tsunami. In 2004, Indian Ocean was hit by a tsunami that started with one of the strongest earthquake off the coast of Indonesian island of Sumatra. 300,000 people died throughout the Indian Ocean in Thailand, India, Burma, and Somalia. I will keep you up to date on this unfolding disaster.

Former Manson cult member Atkins dies in U.S. prison

Former Manson cult member Atkins dies in U.S. prison
Fri Sep 25, 2009 11:55am EDT
Reuters

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Susan Atkins, one of the leading members of Charles Manson’s notorious violent cult who carried out brutal murders at his behest in 1969, has died in a California prison, her husband said on Friday. She was 61.

Atkins, imprisoned since 1971 for her part in eight Manson-related murders, had been suffering from a brain tumor. Earlier this month, state corrections officials rejected her request to be freed so she would not have to die in prison.

“Susan passed away peacefully surrounded by friends and loved ones and the incredible staff at the Skilled Nursing Facility at the Central California Women’s Facility,” her husband, James Whitehouse, said by e-mail.

Full Article

Good riddance to bad rubbish. May Susan Atkins rot in the worst layer of Hell with Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, 9/11 Terrorist, and Joseph Stalin.

Al-Qaida predicts Obama’s fall by Muslim nation

Al-Qaida predicts Obama’s fall by Muslim nation
Yahoo News
By PAUL SCHEMM and HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, Associated Press Writers – 1 hr 22 mins ago

CAIRO – Al-Qaida on Tuesday released a new 106-minute long video predicting President Barack Obama’s downfall at the hands of the Muslim world.

The Arabic-language video, entitled “The West and the Dark Tunnel,” is part of series of messages by the organization marking the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Bin Laden released a short message of his own on Sept. 14.

Like similar long messages on previous anniversaries, it featured testimony from several leading al-Qaida figures intercut with news footage from the past year.

Full Article

Osama bin Laden and Muslim extremists hate America despite President Obama reaching out to Muslims. They will always hate America. Some people, especially, on the left, have no clue whatsoever. They are naive and pollyannish. At least Muslim terrorists are honest, while the left is always lying. Well, both of them are despicable and worthy of contempt.

Hurricane Ike: One Year Later

I cannot believe it. It has been one year to the day that Ike ravaged our area. We were all battering down the hatches and preparing for Ike’s onslaught. The rain and wind came crashing in. It would get worse through the night. The wind lashing violently and creating storm surge that would flatten Bolivar Peninsula. The rain and wind continue into the morning. Power was out for many. Many suffered property damage. To make matters worse, some lost loved ones. Ike would be the most costliest hurricane besides Katrina and Andrew.

September 11, 2001 Look Back

Eight years ago today, the unthinkable happened right in front of our eyes.
A day that felt like yesterday.
Nineteen terrorists from Al-Qaeda were bent on massive destruction and death on America.
Hijacked airplanes crash into the World Trade Center, Pentagon, and a field near Shanksville.
American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower.
All cameras were trained to the burning North Tower.
Than suddenly, the South Tower is attacked by United Airlines Flight 175.
It became apparent a terrorist attack happened.
People trapped above the crash zone in the North Tower jumped out of desperation.
To make matters worse, American Airlines Flight 77 was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon.
As the Pentagon burns, the South Tower crashes to the ground in a massive cloud of toxic dust and smoke.
Meanwhile on United Airlines Flight 93, passengers fight back.
The terrorists fail and crash it near Shanksville.
The North Tower crashes to the ground and all is caught on live camera.
The whole world saw the terrorist attack unfold in front of our own eyes.
Whether we were waking up, going to school, work, or going to sleep.
The whole world was in shock and in a state of mourning.
3,000 people died on this fateful day.
The World Trade Center wiped out into oblivion.
Never forget September 11, 2001, a day that will live in infamy.