The financial crisis is forcing investors to look at the world through new eyes. A case in point: emerging-market government bonds. When emerging-market bond spreads tightened to record lows in 2006 and early 2007, it was seen as evidence that risk appetite had run too far. Having blown out following Lehman Brothers' collapse, spreads are narrowing again -- only this time, the balance of risks is no longer so stark.
The history of emerging-market sovereign debt has been littered with… Continue
It is headed by Chile's ambassador to the UN, Heraldo Munoz, and includes a former Indonesian attorney general and a former senior Irish police officer.
The inquiry will last six months and investigate the "facts and… Continue
Added by Tara on July 1, 2009 at 10:02am —
No Comments
Oregon’s House of Representatives voted Monday night to legalize the cultivation of hemp, becoming the sixth state to do so just this year.
Oregon’s Senate voted 27 to 2 in favor of the new law last week. Monday’s 46 to 11 House vote means that the measure will become law, barring an unlikely veto by Governor Ted Kulongoski.
The move is part of a rapidly growing nationwide trend to liberalize laws relating to marijuana. Hemp is a botanical cousin of marijuana,… Continue
UNITED NATIONS -- The United States is prepared to provide more military observers, police, and civilian staff to beef up the U.N.'s far-flung peacekeeping operations, the U.S. ambassador said Monday.
The United Nations has nearly 115,000 troops, police and civilians deployed in 16 peacekeeping missions from Africa and the Mideast to Cyprus, Kosovo, Western Sahara and Haiti, but it has had trouble finding soldiers, helicopters and other key assets for several important… Continue
Assume that I live in a town of mostly timber-frame houses. There is from time to time a virulent infestation of dry rot, that can even destroy a house. A local firm of 'Timber Preservation Specialists' let's call it 'BaxtimberTreatment' offers to inject fungisides into all my timbers, so as to make my house 'immune' from 'Dry Rot' and other timber infestations. It works a treat, but this firm should have told me about the health effects of their toxic timber treatment. I was sick for weeks… Continue
Sick pigs at the 1918 Cedar Rapids Swine Show in Iowa and scientists' accidental release of an "extinct" flu virus in 1977 played key roles in creating a strain that has swept the globe and sparked fear of a more… Continue
Added by Jamie on July 1, 2009 at 1:27am —
No Comments
June 30, 2009 "Opednews" -- -After Obama apologized for the strike which the Afghan government claimed killed well over a hundred ordinary country folk, came the report that the families of those killed, and subsequent Afghani dead falling in harms way of the US military, continuing as before, can… Continue
Everytime we get a flu pandemic "warning" from the media, they remind us of all the deaths in 1918 from the flu ... forgetting that most deaths do NOT happen from the flu but from complications thereof and that they had NO ANTIBIOTICS in 1918 to deal with those complications (as well as no indoor plumbing - another great improvement to the cutting down of disease) as well as not much of a concept of sanitation nor nutrition.
Even if we ARE hit with a nasty flu, IT AINT THE SAME. It… Continue
Added by SueW on June 30, 2009 at 3:53pm —
No Comments
The Israel Navy intercepted a boat carrying international activists attempting to break a blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Tuesday and forced it to sail to the southern port city of Ashdon, the army said.
Max Blumenthal writes that it is wonderful that we all empathize with Iranians killed or wounded in the struggle for freedom but points out America's utter indifference to identical tragedies in the West Bank and Gaza.
Of course, as Max explains, it is hard for Americans to become outraged by events they rarely see. The American media decided long ago that reporting honestly on the occupation was dangerous. Advertisers and… Continue
By HELENE COOPER and MARC LACEY
Published: June 29, 2009
WASHINGTON — President Obama on Monday strongly condemned the ouster of Honduras’s president as an illegal coup that set a “terrible precedent” for the region, as the country’s new government defied international calls to return the toppled president to power and clashed with thousands of protesters.
“We do not want to go back to a dark past,” Mr. Obama said, in which military coups override elections. “We always want… Continue
Added by Tara on June 30, 2009 at 11:21am —
1 Comment
Why are there so many poor people when the world seems so much wealthier as a whole? By wealthier, I mean there is more food, more housing (and bigger, better housing too), more of everything, in fact. I'll get to the obvious misdistribution and the true remedy in a moment, but would point out here that this question is not new; in fact, it… Continue
Added by Marklar on June 30, 2009 at 3:02am —
No Comments
Henry George, in his classic, and best-selling economics book of all time, Progress and Poverty, which sold 2 million copies in its first year - 1879 - laid out the remedy to end poverty AND spur growth and prosperity. By taxing natural resources and untaxing wages and capital (real capital such as trucks, ships, cranes etc.), one would… Continue
Added by Marklar on June 30, 2009 at 12:00am —
No Comments
This is just a little comedy relief in the midst of all the craziness!
--------------------------
WASHINGTON—After nearly four months of frank, honest, and open dialogue about the failing economy, a weary U.S. populace announced this week that it is once again ready to be lied to about the current state of the financial system.
Tired of hearing the grim truth about their economic future, Americans demanded that the bald-faced lies resume immediately, particularly… Continue
Shovel operator Steve Campbell sets the last log on the bull chain Wednesday at the Boise Cascade sawmill in La Grande. The bull chain carries the log to the… Continue
Added by fireguy on June 29, 2009 at 8:30pm —
No Comments
Guilt
I am guilty,
But not in the way you think.
I should have earlier recognized my duty;
I should have more sharply called evil evil;
I reined in my judgment too long.
I did warn,
But not enough, and clear;
And today I know what I was guilty of.
…Albrecht Haushofer
With the outbreak of the Second World War, Haushofer remained a professor of geopolitics at the University of Berlin, but distanced himself from his Nazi past and began… Continue
Added by fireguy on June 29, 2009 at 5:41pm —
No Comments
Watch all new episodes of The UnXplained returning April 11 at 10/9c, and stay up to date on all of your favorite History Channel shows at https://history.co...
After having a conversation about the Craft with Chat GPT a few weeks ago (https://youtu.be/i8KBPzlvXac), this week I thought we'd explore the world of Artif...
Cloud seeding is a form of weather modification that can increase rain and snow production by up to 15% and is being used to help the Colorado River recover ...