GERMANY PREPARING FOR GREEK DEFAULT

TOMORROW'S NEWS TODAY- FROM OZ WHERE IT'S ALREADY MONDAY:

PLANS for Greece to default, potentially leaving the euro, have been drafted in Germany as the European Union faces up to the fact that Greek debt is spiralling out of control, with or without a second bailout. 

The German finance ministry is pushing for Greece to declare itself bankrupt and to agree to a ''haircut'' on the bulk of its debts held by banks, a move that would be classed as a default by financial markets. 

Euro zone finance ministers meet today to approve the next tranche of loans from the EU and the International Monetary Fund, designed to stave off national bankruptcy while the new Greek government puts the country's finances in order. But the severe austerity measures being demanded have caused such fury in Greece, and the cuts required are so deep, that German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble does not believe that any government would be able to implement them.

IMO, THIS HAS BEEN KNOWN FROM THE START OF THE CRISIS AND ALL WE'VE SEEN OVER THE LAST YEAR WAS THEATER INTENDED TO MISLEAD THE RUBES AS BANKS AND FINANCE MINISTERS READIED THEMSELVES FOR THE INEVITABLE TO MAKE THE TRANSITION AS PAINLESS AS POSSIBLE.

THE EUROPEAN WELFARE STATES ARE UNSUSTAINABLE.

THAT WHICH CANNOT GO ON FOREVER WON'T.

BRACE YOURSELVES ANS STAY TUNED...

DUDE: SWEDISH MAN SURVIVES 2 MONTHS TRAPPED BY SNOW IN CAR

HE HIBERNATED!?

ISLAMO-MISOGYNISTIC ATTACKS IN PAKISTAN SURGING

8,500 Pakistani women victims of violence in 2011

Over 8,500 Pakistani women last year suffered from violence like sexual assault, acid throwing and even honour killings, a non-governmental organisation said Tuesday. An annual report issued by the Aurat Foundation to highlight the issue of violence against women said at least 8,539 women became victims of violence in 2011, an increase of over six percent compared to 2010. 

The report said the figure was 8,000 in 2010, 8,548 in 2009 and 7,571 in 2008, the Online news agency reported. 

Sexual assaults increased by around 48 percent, acid throwing increased by 37 percent, honour killings by 26 percent and domestic violence increased by 25 percent.

AS ISLAMISM GROWS SO DO ISLAMO-MISOGYNISTIC ATTACKS, AND MOST OF THESE ATTACKS ARE ON MUSLIM WOMEN, NOT NON-MUSLIMS.

JUST IMAGINE WHAT THEY HAVE IN STORE FOR OUR WOMEN........

WHAT IF THE NEW DNC CONVENTION POSTER WAS TRUTHFUL?

 THE REAL OFFICIAL ONE:

\

THE TRUTHFUL ONE:

A charlatan (also called swindler or mountebank) 

is a person practicing quackery 

or some similar confidence trick 

in order to obtain money, 

fame or other advantages 

via some form of pretense or deception.

AKA: DEMOCRAT.

IRAN SENDS 2 WARSHIPS INTO MEDITERRANEAN: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS SCOOPS GATEWAYPUNDIT BY A DAY

HOFT TODAY.


TAB YESTERDAY.

REGULAR READERS KNOW WE SCOOP THE BIGGIES ALL THE TIME. PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD.

SANTORUM IS A NASTY SNOTTY HYPOCRITE

NYT:

The attack on Mr. Romney, Mr. Santorum’s main rival for Republican votes in Midwestern states, used language similar to a new Web video by the Democratic National Committee. Mr. Santorum had not made the same line of attack in campaign stops over the past week.
“One of Mitt Romney’s greatest accomplishments, one of the things he talks about the most, is how he heroically showed up on the scene, and bailed out and resolved the problems of the Salt Lake City Olympic Games,” Mr. Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, told an audience at a hotel ballroom here.
“He heroically bailed out the Salt Lake City Olympic Games,” he then added, “by heroically going to Congress and asking them for tens of millions of dollars to bailout the Salt Lake Olympic Games. In an earmark.”
Pointing out that the Romney campaign has been attacking him over earmarks in Congress, Mr. Santorum added: “Does the word hypocrisy come to mind?” He also noted that one of Mr. Romney’s supporters this year, Senator John McCain, had criticized the taxpayer money provided for the Games.
The Romney campaign fired back, saying “Sometimes when you shoot from the hip, you end up shooting yourself in the foot.”
“There is a pretty wide gulf between seeking money for post-9/11 security at the Olympics and seeking earmarks for polar bear exhibits at the Pittsburgh Zoo,” a Romney spokeswoman, Andrea Saul, said in an e-mailed statement. “Mitt Romney wants to ban earmarks; Senator Santorum wants more ‘Bridges to Nowhere’.”

NEW FRACKING STUDY AND $6 TRILLION IN FAKE BONDS: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS SCOOPS HOT AIR TWICE BY A DAY

THE BLOGGERS OVER AT HOT AIR ARE GREAT - BUT I'M BETTER, EVEN AS APART-TIMER. MORE PROOF:

• HOT AIR TODAY ON FRACKING.
• TAB YESTERDAY.
• HOT AIR TODAY ON 6 TRILLION COUNTERFEIT BONDS.
• TAB YESTERDAY.

REGULAR READERS KNOW WE SCOOP ALL THE BIGGIES ALL THE TIME - BECAUSE WE DON'T FOLLOW THE HERD; WE FORAGE FOR NEWS ON OUR OWN.

SPREAD THE WORD, BLOGROLL US, BOOKMARK US, FOLLOW US.

THE BOSS SHOULD STICK TO MUSIC AND LEAVE POLITICS TO PEOPLE WHO ARE FAMILIAR WITH FACTS

TIM BLAIR:

The Boss goes all svag and hopplöst: 

Bruce Springsteen wants to see the United States transformed into something closer to a Swedish-style welfare state, the rock legend said Thursday ...

During a press conference in Paris, The Boss explained that much of the inspiration for his new album, set for release on March 6th, is anger at what he sees as the crushing of the American Dream in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

“I have friends who lost everything they had,” Springsteen explained, according to the Dagens Nyhter newspaper. 

Luckily, Bruce can help them out. 

When asked if he thought the United States should be changed into something closer to a Swedish-style welfare state, Springsteen responded enthusiastically …

TRUTH:

Sweden's economy booms with cautious turn to the right
 June 14, 2011

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt is a conservative in the manner of Britain's David Cameron, according to David Frum. 

Sweden is making a political right turn, in a very Swedish way: cautiously, consensually, unflamboyantly. But decisively even so. 

One of contenders for the most highly taxed country in the Western world has cut taxes significantly since 2006. Tight fiscal policy has pushed the public sector's share of GDP back down toward 50%. The economy is growing, the budget is balanced, unemployment is declining. 

The governing center-right coalition was re-elected last year; the once dominant Social Democrats suffered their worst defeat since before World War I.

BRUCE SHOULD LEARN THAT WHAT IS BANKRUPTING EUROPEAN NATIONS IS NOT THEIR "BUSH TAX CUTS" - THEY HAD NONE. AND NOT THEIR "UNFUNDED WARS" - THEY HAD NONE. AND NOT THEIR "OUT OF CONTROL MILITARY SPENDING" - THEY HAVE NONE.

WHAT IS BANKRUPTING EUROPEAN NATIONS IS THEIR WELFARE STATES.

DOES BRUCE REALLY WANT THAT HERE?

THEY DON'T WANT US BANKRUPT BUT THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT OBAMA AND HIS COMRADES ARE DOING TO THE USA: THEY ARE TURNING US INTO A EURO-SOCIALIST STATE AND IT IS BANKRUPTING US.

IT'S THE ROAD TO RUIN - TO SERFDOM.

IT'S A ONE-WAY TICKET TO GREECE.

IF YOU DON'T WANT BANKRUPTCY - BUT WANT DO WANT PROSPERITY, THEN... VOTE ACCORDINGLY.

UNREAL: MOST CHILDREN NOW BORN IN SINGLE PARENT HOMES!?

THIS:

For Women Under 30, Most Births Occur Outside Marriage  —  LORAIN, Ohio — It used to be called illegitimacy.  Now it is the new normal.  After steadily rising for five decades, the share of children born to unmarried women has crossed a threshold: more than half of births to American women under 30 occur outside marriage.
Discussion: Power Line and Greg's Opinion

LEADS TO THIS: 

By 1996, 70 percent of inmates in state juvenile detention centers serving long-term sentences were raised by single mothers. Seventy percent of teenage births, dropouts, suicides, runaways, juvenile delinquents and child murderers involve children raised by single mothers. Girls raised without fathers are more sexually promiscuous and more likely to end up divorced. A 1990 study by the left-wing Progressive Policy Institute showed that, after controlling for single motherhood, the difference in black and white crime disappeared. 

 EVEN IN BRITAIN: 

Children from broken homes are nine times more likely to commit a crime than those brought up in stable families, a senior Cabinet minister warned last night. Iain Duncan Smith said the collapse of marriage had brought soaring crime rates, doubled the chances of living in poverty and cost the country an astonishing £100billion a year.

A STABLE FAMILY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT BUILDING BLOCK OF CIVILIZATION.

IN ORDER TO CREATE A VACUUM THAT A SOCIALIST TYRANNY COULD FILL, THE LEFT'S GRAMSCIAN AGENDA HAS SYSTEMATICALLY TARGETED THE FAMILY.

WE ARE REAPING WHAT THEY SOWED.

NOW... A MAJORITY OF CHILDREN ARE BORN IN A SINLGE PARENT HOME.

THIS MEANS MORE CRIME AND MORE TYRANNY IN YOUR FUTURE.

UNLESS WE ACT.

DEFEATING OBAMA AND HIS COMRADES IS JOB #1.

SANTORUM LOVES EARMARKS - AND SO DO HIS FRIENDS

 an examination of Mr. Santorum’s earmark record sheds light on another aspect of his political personality, one that is at odds with the reformer image he has tried to convey on the trail: his prowess as a Washington insider. A review of some of his earmarks, viewed alongside his political donations, suggests that the river of federal money Mr. Santorum helped direct to Pennsylvania paid off handsomely in the form of campaign cash.

UPDATE: NYTIMES: 

The attack on Mr. Romney, Mr. Santorum’s main rival for Republican votes in Midwestern states, used language similar to a new Web video by the Democratic National Committee. 
Mr. Santorum had not made the same line of attack in campaign stops over the past week.
 “One of Mitt Romney’s greatest accomplishments, one of the things he talks about the most, is how he heroically showed up on the scene, and bailed out and resolved the problems of the Salt Lake City Olympic Games,” Mr. Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, told an audience at a hotel ballroom here. “He heroically bailed out the Salt Lake City Olympic Games,” he then added, “by heroically going to Congress and asking them for tens of millions of dollars to bailout the Salt Lake Olympic Games. In an earmark.” Pointing out that the Romney campaign has been attacking him over earmarks in Congress, Mr. Santorum added: “Does the word hypocrisy come to mind?” He also noted that one of Mr. Romney’s supporters this year, Senator John McCain, had criticized the taxpayer money provided for the Games. 
 The Romney campaign fired back, saying “Sometimes when you shoot from the hip, you end up shooting yourself in the foot.” 
 “There is a pretty wide gulf between seeking money for post-9/11 security at the Olympics and seeking earmarks for polar bear exhibits at the Pittsburgh Zoo,” a Romney spokeswoman, Andrea Saul, said in an e-mailed statement. “Mitt Romney wants to ban earmarks; Senator Santorum wants more ‘Bridges to Nowhere’.”

HILLARY AND BJ COMPETING?

CAPTION CONTEST HERE.

MY ENTRY:

GREECE TAKE NOTE: FITCH UPGRADES ICELAND'S DEBT!

Iceland is safe to invest in again, according to Fitch, which has upgraded its credit rating three years after its economy spectacularly collapsed. 

Fitch raised Iceland's sovereign rating by one notch, to BBB- from BB+, meaning that the country's debt is now "investment grade". 

... Iceland's Finance Minister Steingrimur Sigfusson has told the BBC that his country's size has been crucial in the move towards recovery: "You are quicker turning a small boat around than a big ship."

HOW AND WHY? HERE'S WHY AND HOW (8/2011):

Steve Chiotakis: Meanwhile, European countries could learn some lessons from the actions of one country that was sunk during the financial crisis: Iceland. 

Marketplace Europe correspondent Stephen Beard reports. 

Stephen Beard: Iceland never does anything halfway. And so when it went bust back in 2008, it really went bust. 

Jon Baldvin Hannibalsson: It was a total collapse of the financial system. 

Hannibalsson: All the banks and savings institutions -- even insurance companies -- went bankrupt in a day. 

But three years on, says the President, Olafur Ragnar Grimmsen, Iceland is doing rather well. 

Olafur Ragnar Grimmsen: We are coming out of this crisis earlier and stronger than anybody, including ourselves, could have expected. 

Iceland is growing again -- and faster than many countries in the Eurozone. That's partly because it's not in the Eurozone. It has its own currency. That fell like a stone after the crisis. 

And that, says economist Magnus Arni Skulason, made Iceland's exports much cheaper and boosted its main industries.

GREECE SHOULD DO MORE THAN TAKE NOTE. 


THE GREEKS SHOULD DO THE SAME THING: DECLARE BANKRUPTCY AND WITHDRAW FROM THE EUROZONE.

MORE PROOF FRACKING IS SAFE

ANOTHER STUDY SHOWS FRACKING IS SAFE.

THOSE WHO OPPOSE FRACKING ARE NOT REALTY-BASED PEOPLE; THEY ARE IDEOLOGY-BASED PEOPLE.

ITALIAN COPS SEIZE $6TRILLION IN FAKE US TREASURY BONDS

YOU READ THAT RIGHT:

Italian police find fake bonds worth a third of US national debt 

Police have seized fake US Treasury bonds worth $6 trillion (£3.79trillion) from a Swiss company where they were held in three large trunks.

THAT'S WAY MORE THAN BERNIE MADOFF.

VIDEO AT LINK.

(ASIDE: I WONDER IF THIS IS CONNECTED TO CHINA OR THE KGB OR IRAN?)

SANTORUM SPONSORED MORE SPENDING INCREASES THAN LINC CHAFEE OR LISA MURKOWSKI

CFG VIA ACE:

In the 2003-2004 session of Congress, Santorum sponsored or cosponsored 51 bills to increase spending, and failed to sponsor or co-sponsor even one spending cut proposal. In his last Congress (2005-2006), he had one of the biggest spending agendas of any Republican -- sponsoring more spending increases than Republicans Lisa Murkowski, Lincoln Chafee and Thad Cochran or Democrats Herb Kohl, Evan Bayh and Ron Wyden.

FOLKS WHO THINK SANTORUM IS A "MORE RELIABLE" CONSERVATIVE THAN MITT NEED TO HAVE THEIR HEADS EXAMINED.

HOT AIR'S ANTI-MITT COMMENTERS ARE MORONS

HOT AIR LINKED TO ANOTHER COLUMN BY MITT BOOSTER RUBIN ABOUT HOW SANTORUM WOULD LIKELY LOSE TO OBAMA IF HE WINS THE NOMINATION.


HER VIEW JIBES WITH MINE AND ACE'S - HE POSTED THIS GEM:

Since the party is determined to make a mistake -- elevating the secondary goal of "Beat Romney" over the primary goal of "Beat Obama" -- I'll cool out on the Santorum stuff.
But when we lose in November... Well, I tried.

THE COMMENTS ARE ALMOST ALL CHILDISH PERSONAL ATTACKS ON RUBIN THAT PAY NO HEED TO ANY OF THE FACTS SHE CITED OR ARGUMENTS SHE MADE:

Romney shill says what…?
NeoKong on February 17, 2012 at 3:47 PM
Wow. Jennifer Rubin shilling for Romney. Will wonders never cease?
NotCoach on February 17, 2012 at 3:48 PM
Jennifer Rubin’s knees must ache.
portlandon on February 17, 2012 at 3:49 PM
Romney’s knob not fully polished yet, Jen?
lorien1973 on February 17, 2012 at 3:51 PM
Jennifer Rubin’s knees must ache.
portlandon on February 17, 2012 at 3:49 PM
You can’t fool me. I know you wanted to say lips.
platypus on February 17, 2012 at 3:52 PM
....
5% of you people who take somewhat of a Socially conservative position on anything better wake up. Only by kowtowing to the 5% libertine, anti-States’ rights, tyrannical movement can we have any chance of beating Obama.
After all, almost all Americans support forcing states to legalize pot, incestuous marriage, prostitution and pornography against the will of the governed.
/
mankai on February 17, 2012 at 3:54 PM
...
want to see Rubin and Coulter knife-fighting to the death, Cherokee-style, for the privilege of being Wife Number Two.
Kent18 on February 17, 2012 at 3:58 PM
Could be that nobody who is running for office wants to kick Romney in the Jimmy….
E L Frederick (Sniper One) on February 17, 2012 at 3:55 PM
I wouldn’t be too sure of that.
Night Owl on February 17, 2012 at 3:58 PM
Rubin and Coulter fighting over who can be more loyal to Mitt. It’s like Twilight for middle aged rinos.
Kataklysmic on February 17, 2012 at 3:59 PM
8:01 AM

THIS IS TYPICAL OF THOSE WHO IN POLLS ID THEMSELVES AS "VERY CONSERVATIVE" AND HAVE GONE FROM BEING ALL GUNG-HO FOR THAT IDIOT HERMAN "999" CAIN, TO LOVING THE MORON RICK PERRY, TO BEING FIGHTING MAD FOR THE BRILLIANT-BUT-NASTY ANTI-CAPITALIST GINGRICH, AND HAVE NOW SETTLED ON SANTORUM AS THEIR MESSIAH.


AS ACE HAS POSTED NUMEROUS TIMES:


THEY SEEM TO BE MORE INTO DEFEATING ROMNEY AND THE IMAGINARY "GOP ESTABLISHMENT" THAN IN DEFEATING OBAMA.


I GOT NEWS FOR THESE IDIOTS:


SANTORUM AND NEWT ARE THE REAL ESTABLISHMENT: TWO CAREER POLITICIANS WHO SOMEHOW BECAME MILLIONAIRES WITHOUT EVER HAVING A REAL JOB OR WORKING AT A REAL BUSINESS.


SANTORUM  CAN'T BEAT OBAMA - HE COULDN'T EVEN CARRY PENNSYLVANIA!


SUPPORTING SANTORUM NOW HELPS OBAMA.


THE MORE THESE IDIOTS ATTACK MITT, THE HIGHER OBAMA GOES IN THE POLLS AND AT IN-TRADE.


NEED MORE PROOF?


OKAY, HERE:


OBAMA TANKED ON TH POLLS THIS WEEK.


WHY?


SIMPLE: THE GOP TOOK A TIME-OUT FROM IT'S CIRCULAR FIRING SQUAD.


LET'S GET BEHIND MITT AND TRAIN OUR ATTACK ON OBAMA.


OBAMA IS THE ENEMY AN THIS IS WHY:

 

OBAMA AND HIS COMRADES LIE: REAL UNEMPLOYMENT 9% = AND UNDEREMPLOYMENT IS 19%!!!

Gallup: Unemployment 9%, Underemployment 19%

The government might tell us that unemployment is now around 8%, but that’s not what Americans are telling Gallup. According to the latest polling data, unemployment is really 9% and underemployment is a whopping 19%. If a Republican was president right now he’d be getting hammered by the media. Instead, we keep hearing that the economy is improving.

The U.S. unemployment rate, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, is 9.0% in mid-February, up from 8.6% for January. The mid-month reading normally reflects what the U.S. government reports for the entire month, and is up from 8.3% in mid-January. …

HOT  AIR: 

GALLUP: Underemployment, a measure that combines the percentage of workers who are unemployed with the percentage working part time but wanting full-time work, is 19.0% in mid-February. This is higher than the 18.7% recorded for January, and is up significantly compared with January’s mid-month reading of 18.1%.

 

OBAMABYSMAL

WHICH DO YOU LIKE MORE:

OR THIS ONE:

OR THIS:

UH-OH: 2 IRANIAN NAVAL SHIPS ENTER MEDITERRANEAN VIA SUEZ

Two Iranian naval ships have sailed through Egypt's Suez Canal into the Mediterranean, in a move likely to be keenly watched by Israel. "Two Iranian ships crossed through the Suez Canal (on Thursday) following permission from the Egyptian armed forces," a source in the canal authority said on Friday. Related: US, EU welcome Iran nuclear letter, say talks possible Iran president complains of interference in region The destroyer and a supply ship could be on their way to the Syrian coast, the source added.

STAY TUNED...

Gillian McKeith vs. Nigella Lawson = real eating versus real elitist BS

MAKING THE ROUNDS:

WHAT CAN'T GO ON FOREVER WON'T: PENSION COSTS KILLING EUROPE

Sweden and Italy share a statutory retirement age for men of 65, but the Scandinavians actually stop work on average at 66 – five years later than their Mediterranean counterparts. As a result, Italy spends 14 per cent of its economic output on pensions, double what Sweden does, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris. In many EU countries, public pensions have become the largest single budget item – bigger than health, education or defence spending. ... 

Brussels wants governments to banish “unwarranted” retirement ages, or at least get them to rise in line with life expectancy, curtail early retirement schemes and encourage more companies to hire older workers. Extending the average working life by just a few months can make a sizeable difference, according to Monika Queisser, head of social policy at the OECD.

“Not only is public expenditure lower, but people continue to make contributions to the pensions pot,” she says.

PLEASE: RTWT!

PUBLIC PENSIONS = SOCIALISM. ERGO: SOCIALISM IS KILLING EUROPE.

EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE A PRIVATE PENSION PLAN; THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT.

PUBLIC PLANS SHOULD BE TRANSITIONED INTO PRIVATE ONES - AS THE CURRENT RETIREMENT AGE IS TRANSITIONED UPWARD TOWARD LIFE EXPECTANCY.

Underwear bomber makes himself the gazillionth jihadist to not regret his actions

Umar Abdulmutallab, who attempted to blow himself up on a Northwest Airlines flight over Detroit, has been sentenced to life imprisonment and has made clear he's not sorry for what he tried to do:

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who tried to bring down Northwest flight 253 over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009 with an underwear bomb, said he was was "proud to kill in the name of God" before he was sentenced to multiple life sentences today in a Detroit courtroom.

"Today is a day of victory and God is great," said Abdulmutallab, 25. He also said that al Qaeda would one day be victorious, and that acts like his will continue until "the righteous servants of Allah inherit the world."

"The defendant has never expressed doubt or remorse about his mission," said Judge Nancy Edmunds in imposing four life sentences plus 50 years. "To the contrary, he sees that mission as divinely inspired and a continuing mission."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Cathleen Corken had asked Judge Edmunds to impose the maximum sentence allowable for Abdulmutallab's "cold-blooded, calculated plan to kill everyone aboard the plane."

"We ask the court to impose the maximum sentence on each count," said Corken, "to ensure that he never again will have the chance to harm an American citizen."

One of the sickest, most destructive things about Islam is how it teaches its adherents to virtually throw away their lives all for the sake of evil. Eventually, Abdulmutallab will end up facing God's Law, and then he'll learn just how much time and positive potentials he threw away all for the sake of something so repugnant.