Saturday, December 26, 2009

TURKEY'S AKP GOV'T ARRESTS 8 SOLDIERS IN ASSASSINATION PLOT AGAINST DPM

BBC:
Eight Turkish soldiers have been detained over an alleged plot to assassinate Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc, the army has said.

It said the soldiers were taken to the army headquarters in Ankara after being interrogated by a prosecutor on Friday.

The arrests follow an inquiry which was launched last week after Mr Arinc said a car with two officers had been spotted several times near his house.

The Turkish military denied being part of any plot.

It said the officers were investigating a military official living nearby.

The detentions come amid renewed speculation that there is mounting tension between the governing AK Party, which has its roots in political Islam, and the powerful armed forces.

The Turkish army sees itself as the guardian of the country's secularism.

Earlier this year, dozens of people, including two retired generals, journalists and academics, went on trial in Turkey accused of plotting to overthrow the government.
THE TURKISH DPM - LIKE TURKEY'S PM AND PRESIDENT - IS A MEMBER OF THE AKP: AN ISLAMIST PARTY, AND THEY'RE DRAGGING TURKEY AWAY FROM THE WEST, NATO, THE EU AND INTO THE AXIS OF EVIL - IRAN; SYRIA AND SO ON...

THE FREE WORLD NEEDS A MILITARY COUP IN TURKEY AND PAKISTAN.

DR. MC ESCHER DIAGRAMS OBAMACARE

IT'S SIMPLE, ACTUALLY - A SCHEMATA OF LIBERAL INTELLIGENT DESIGN:

IT'S SO OBVIOUSLY AN IMPROVEMENT, ONE WONDERS WHY DIDN'T WE DO THIS YEARS AGO!?

SERIOUSLY: MANY HAVE COMPARED OBAMACARE TO A RUBE GOLDBERG CONTRAPTION.

I THINK ESCHER IS MORE APT.

AFTER ALL: A GOLDBERG CONTRAPTION ACTUALLY WORKS!

HALF OF URBAN TEENS GET VENEREAL DISEASE WITHIN 2 YEARS OF INITIAL SEXUAL ACTIVITY

SCIENCE DAILY:
Half of urban teenage girls may acquire at least one of three common sexually transmitted infections (STI) within two years of becoming sexually active, according to an Indiana University School of Medicine and Regenstrief Institute study.

The study appears in the December 2009 issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

The researchers followed 381 girls enrolled at ages 14 to 17 years and found that repeated infection with the organisms that cause chlamydia, gonorrhea and trichomoniasis also was very common.

"Depending on the organism, within four to six months after treatment of the previous infection, a quarter of the women were re-infected with the same organism," said Wanzhu Tu, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine at the IU School of Medicine and a Regenstrief Institute investigator.

Within two years, about three-quarters of participants with an initial sexually transmitted STI were diagnosed with a second STI, although not necessarily of the same type. Within four years of an initial STI, virtually all (92 percent) of the participants had a subsequent STI.

TEENS SHOULD BE WARNED OF THIS - AND NOT TAUGHT FISTING AND OTHER DEVIANT SEXUAL PRACTICES ARE COOL BY KEVIN JENNINGS - OBAMA'S SAFE SCHOOLS CZAR.

(AND WHAT DO THEY MEAN BY "URBAN TEEN"? IS THIS A PC EUPHEMISM?)

BWHAHAHA!: OBAMACARE SCREWS LIBERAL STATE GOVERNMENTS MOST!

NYTIMES: States With Expanded Health Coverage Fight Bill
States that have already broadly expanded health care coverage are pushing back against the Senate overhaul bill, arguing that it unfairly penalizes them in favor of states that have done little or nothing to extend benefits to the uninsured.

With tax revenues down and budgets breaking, the states — including Arizona, California, New Jersey, New York and Wisconsin — say they cannot afford to essentially subsidize other states’ expansion of health care.

The bill passed by the Senate on Thursday would move toward universal health insurance coverage in large part by expanding Medicaid, a program whose costs have traditionally been shared by the states and the federal government.

... governors in the states that have done more to broaden coverage are now lobbying their Congressional delegations to eliminate the discrepancies as the two chambers reconcile the bills.

“We are, in a sense, being punished for our own charity,” Gov. David A. Paterson of New York said last week.

... Massachusetts and Vermont, the states providing the broadest coverage, have already received some relief for the anticipated Medicaid costs in the negotiations that led to the passage of the Senate bill.

... The biggest hit to states that have already expanded will be in covering the people who are eligible now but have not signed up for coverage under the state’s current program. They are expected to enroll because the new legislation will require almost all Americans to have insurance.

States that have expanded already would not get any new matching funds for those people. The Senate bill provides additional money only for those who are “newly eligible.”

For example, the federal government would pick up the entire cost for the first two years and 95 percent of the cost for the next three years for newly covered working parents in Alabama, which now covers only those making up to 24 percent of the federal poverty level.

But it would pay just 50 percent of the cost for most of those newly enrolled in California, because California already makes eligible working parents earning up to 106 percent of the poverty level and its Medicaid assistance is set at 50 percent. California would get a more generous reimbursement — about 83 percent — only for parents earning between 106 percent and 133 percent of the federal poverty level.

BWAHAHAHA! WHAT FRIGGIN' GENIUSES OBAMA & CO ARE - MICRO-MANAGING EVERY DETAIL - TO SCREW THE BIGGEST BLUE STATES! WHAT FREAKIN' GENIUSES.

OH, DID I SAY GENIUSES.

I MEAN FU*KING IDIOTS. OBAMA & CO AND ALL THE LIB AS*H*LES WHO VOTED FOR HIM!

BWAHAHAHA!

THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS CALLED IT: AVATAR SLIPPING - BEATEN BY SHERLOCK!

WE PREDICTED AVATAR WOULD NOT DO WELL - BEFORE IT OPENED.

WE WERE RIGHT:
Sherlock consistently was tracking big because of the good word-of-mouth buzz. Sherlock had the best Christmas Day debut ever (beating Marley And Me from last year and its Christmas Day single-day debut of $14.675M).
AVATAR WILL GRADUALLY SLIP EVERY WEEK NOW. IT WILL NOT BUILD. IT WILL LOSE MONEY - UNTIL DVD RELEASE.

HUMANS WILL NATURALLY LIKE MOVIES WHERE THEY CAN ROOT FOR HUMANS AND NOT THE ALIENS.

Here's a movie no one wants to see...

UPDATED: HAMAS OFFICIAL ASSASSINATED IN HIZBALLAH PRECINCT OF BEIRUT

NYT/AP:
Three bombs planted under a car exploded south of Beirut on Saturday, killing one person and wounding several others in an attack that apparently targeted an official from the Palestinian militant group Hamas, the state-run news agency said.

The official National News Agency said the explosion was caused by ''three bombs tied to each other'' that were placed under the car of an official believed to be from Hamas.

It did not identify the targeted official or the victims. One of the wounded was in serious condition, the report said.

Lebanese security officials told The Associated Press they could not independently confirm what caused the blasts or who the explosions targeted. The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which controls the area, sealed off the streets in the southern suburb of Haret Hreik and prevented journalists from getting close to the scene.

HMMMMMMMMMMM...

WHO COULD HAVE DONE IT?! THE IDF!? HIZBALLAH!? FATAH!?

UPDATE: IT WAS THE CHIEF OF HAMAS IN LEBANON - ALI BARKAH!

ANOTHER NHS NIGHTMARE: WON'T PAY FOR MOTHER'S CANCER DRUGS

THE SENTINEL (UK):
CANCER sufferer Viv Foster has lost her appeal to have Herceptin on the NHS.

The snub leaves 52-year-old Viv needing to find at least £16,000 more to pay for the drug.

The mother-of-two, pictured right, has already spent £10,000 on three-weekly doses of Herceptin since first being told by NHS Stoke-on-Trent that she could not have the drug.

Trust officials ruled her cancer was not big enough to justify a prescription, after it was caught so early. But her appeal to the trust for Herceptin was this week rejected, despite a 24-slide presentation from her oncologist, Dr Murray Brunt, below.

Now Viv, who is in remission from her aggressive cancer, will have to pay for 11 more instalments of the £1,500-a-time drug before her treatment ends.

Viv, of Tudor Rose Way, Norton, said: "I don't know what else I can do, if they won't listen to Dr Brunt.

"The primary care trust says I can't have Herceptin, because my cancer was caught early. But if I don't have Herceptin and my cancer comes back, they will have to fund my treatment then.

"I don't know how we are going to keep paying for it.

"We have a bit more savings and then we are going to have to look at other ways of getting the money. But I'm going to carry on with the treatment. Dr Brunt thinks I need it and I would rather listen to him than the trust."

THIS KIND OF THING HAPPENS ALL THE TIME IN THE NHS. THE NHS SUCKS.

IF THE BRITS CAN'T MAKE IT WORK WELL THERE - AFTER 60 YEARS - THEN WHY WOULD WE EVER TRY IT HERE; IT'S INSANE.

OBAMACARE IS INSANE - UNLESS YOU REALLY JUST WANT TO HELP TRIAL LAWYERS AND UNIONS. AND MAKE POLITICIANS AND BUREAUCRATS MORE POWERFUL.

THEN IT MAKES PERFECT SENSE.

DISSENT ACCORDINGLY.

OBAMA LIES LIES LIES, TELLS US SWEET LITTLE LIES: EARMARKS



RIEHL:
Earmarks? How About Bribes?

Feingold speaks out on earmarks and Obama, leading The Hill to re-visit an old Obama quote. As if there were a point.

Do you think he'll pick up on the many bribes that amount to all but the same thing Reid used to get the votes for health care? [...]
"Absolutely, we need earmark reform," Obama said in his first presidential debate with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). "And when I'm president, I will go line by line to make sure that we are not spending money unwisely."

Obama also called for cutting earmarks down to their levels in 1994, when they took up less than $8 billion of the federal discretionary budget.
MORE FROM THE HILL: Obama falls short on pledge to curtail earmarks, fiscal hawks say< /a>
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said the White House and Democratic leaders use earmarks to "buy off" key votes to pass major legislation. DeMint and other earmark hawks have blasted deals by Senate leaders to give $300 million for disaster aid to Louisiana and $100 million in Medicaid funding to Nebraska in order to win the support of Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) on the landmark healthcare reform bill. Though those may not fit Congress's technical definition of earmarks, critics said they accomplish the same sordid goal.

"The overt vote-buying using earmarks is now out of control," DeMint said.
WANT IT STOPPED: VOTE GOP IN 2010.

WOULD YOU TRADE-IN A GOOD CAR FOR A CLUNKER?

THAT'S WHAT OBAMA AND THE LEFT WANT US TO DO:

TRADE IN OUR GOOD HEALTHCARE SYSTEM FOR A CLUNKER: A EURO-MODELED SOCIALIST HEALTHCARE SYSTEM.



PEOPLE IN THE USA HAS LONGER LIFE-SPANS THAN PEOPLE IN THE EU, AND OUR RECOVERY RATES FROM MAJOR DISEASES ARE BETTER THAN THE EU'S, TOO.



BUT OBAMA WANTS TO TAKE A WRECKING BALL TO OUR SYSTEM AND REPLACE IT WITH A EURO-VERSION.

IT'S INSANE. FOR US.

BIT IT'S A LEFTIST'S WET DREAM:

2010 WON'T BE A FUN YEAR FOR OBAMA

Barry Rubin at the Gloria Center says that 2010 looks to be an interesting year, but likely won't be a great one for president Obama.

AMERICA IS LIKE FLIGHT 253

AP: Passengers help foil attack on Detroit-bound plane

An attempted terrorist attack on a Christmas Day flight began with a pop and a puff of smoke - sending passengers scrambling to subdue a Nigerian man who claimed to be acting on orders from al-Qaida to blow up the airliner, officials and travelers said.

KEY POINT: THE PASSENGERS FOILED THE ATTACK!

REPEAT: THE PASSENGERS FOILED THE ATTACK!

  • THE PASSENGERS WERE LET DOWN BY THE TSA, AND OUR LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITIES - WHO EACH FAILED TO ACT EFFECTIVELY AGAINST A KNOWN THREAT.

  • THAT'S WHY THE PASSENGERS WERE PUT INTO A SITUATION IN WHICH THEY HAD TO TAKE ACTION THEMSELVES - AND THEY DID, COURAGEOUSLY.

  • WELL, WE CAN NO MORE DEPEND ON THE CURRENT CONGRESS - OR THE CURRENT POTUS THAN THESE PASSENGERS - AND EVERY OTHER ONE FLYING SOMEWHERE ON OTHER FLIGHTS - CAN DEPEND ON THE TSA.

  • WE MUST ACT TO DEFEND OUR LIVES, OUR PROPERTY AND OUR SACRED WAY OF LIFE.

  • WE MUST KEEP THE HEAT ON THE CURRENT CONGRESS, AND DO EVERYTHING WE CAN TO GET RID OF AS MANY OF THEM AS WE CAN IN 2010.

  • AND WE MUST KEEP THE HEAT ON THE MSM/LEFTIST MEDIA.

THIS COUNTRY BELONGS TO US - NOT THE GOVERNMENT OR THEIR PALS IN THE MEDIA.

UPDATED W/VIDEO: INDIA: 86 YEAR OLD GOVERNOR RESIGNS AFTER SEX TAPE OF HIM WITH 3 WOMEN IS BROADCAST ON TV

India Governor, 86, Resigns After 3-Woman Sex Tape
The 86-year-old governor of a southern Indian state resigned Saturday, a day after a television news channel broadcast a tape allegedly showing him in bed with three women, an official said.

Gov. Narain Dutt Tiwari's office has denied the allegation, denouncing the tape as fabricated.

Tiwari, a veteran governing Congress party leader in Andhra Pradesh state, sent his resignation letter to the Indian president on Saturday, citing health reasons, a state official said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

The scandal hit as Andhra Pradesh is engulfed in social unrest. Outrage over a delay in creating a new state there erupted into violent demonstrations in several cities earlier this week.

WE SCOOPED HOT AIR WITH THIS BY OVER A DAY.

THE MONTAZERI REVOLT HAS SPREAD TO TEHRAN

BBC: Renewed clashes reported in Iran
Iranian security forces and opposition activists have clashed in the centre of the capital Tehran, according to reformist websites and witnesses.

Some reports say shots have been fired in the air to disperse demonstrators.

The opposition had been planning to use Shia religious festivals this weekend to show their continued defiance of President Ahmadinejad's government.

Tensions have risen since influential dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Ali Montazeri died a week ago aged 87.

Clashes were reported after his funeral in Qom, and in other cities since then.

Police chief Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam has been quoted as warning that police would crack down hard against any attempts to use Shia religious processions to stage fresh protests against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government.

Opponents insist there was massive rigging when Mr Ahmadinejad was re-elected in June - a charge he rejects.

'Aggressive'

BBC Tehran correspondent Jon Leyne says opposition sources are building a picture of increasingly widespread and violent clashes.

IT WOULD BE NICE IF OBAMA, HILLARY AND KERRY SUPPORTED THE REBELLION THIS TIME.

WUWT: NASA: For the first time, satellite measurements show our quiet Sun is cooling the upper thermosphere


WUWT: From NASA News.

New measurements from a NASA satellite show a dramatic cooling in the upper atmosphere that correlates with the declining phase of the current solar cycle.

For the first time, researchers can show a timely link between the Sun and the climate of Earth’s thermosphere, the region above 100 km, an essential step in making accurate predictions of climate change in the high atmosphere.


AGW= BS.

Friday, December 25, 2009

2010BAMA GREETINGS!

IT'S THE LAST WEEK OF 2009...

WE HAVE A LOT TO LOOK FORWARD TO...

MUCH TO FIGHT FOR...

AND MUCH TO FIGHT AGAINST...


CARPE DIEM!

WAS INTELLIGENCE ABOUT TODAY'S ATTEMPTED AIRLINE-BOMBING WHAT REALLY CLOSED THE CHUNNEL AND NYC'S PENN STATION?

ON WEDNESDAY WE ASKED:
WEATHER? ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS? OR, TERROR THREATS?
FIRST THE CHUNNEL SHUT DOWN - DUE TO "WINTRY WEATHER".

NOW PENN STATION - DUE TO "ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS".

COINCIDENCE!? OR TERROR THREAT?

ARE WE BEING TOLD THE TRUTH!?
NOBODY ELSE ASKED THESE QUESTIONS.

AND TODAY, THERE WAS AN ATTEMPTED ATTACK ON A JETLINER, OUT OF EUROPE.

[MORE HERE.]

*******CONGRESSMAN KING:
. . . it was a fairly sophisticated device. I would say we dropped the ball on this one."
*******MORE FROM KING:
Of the device used on Friday, he said, “It appears to be different from explosive devices that have been used before. That is perhaps why it escaped detection. Maybe that is why it made it through.”

MIGHT IT BE CONNECTED TO THE CHUNNEL CLOSING OR TO THE CLOSING OF NYC'S PENN STATION?

WERE THESE CLOSING BECAUSE OF SOME SKETCHY INTELLIGENCE ABOUT AN IMPENDING ATTACK ON MASS TRANSIT? AND WAS TODAY'S EVENT THE ACTUAL ATTEMPTED ATTACK?

WE NEED THE MSM TO ASK THE QUESTIONS SO WE GET SOME ANSWERS...

ALSO: HOW WERE THESE CHEMICALS SMUGGLED ON-BOARD?

COULD THESE CHEMICALS HAVE BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CATASTROPHIC "CRAHSES" OF ADAM AIR FLIGHT KI 574 AND/OR AIR FRANCE 447?

NYTIMES: OBAMA & HOLDER DIDN'T KNOW WTF THEY WERE GETTING INTO WITH KSM'S NYC TRIAL


NYTIMES: Determining Venue for Terror Trial Is a Case in Itself:

"Some lawyers believe a judge might consent to move the trial of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed from Manhattan, but such an outcome is not guaranteed."
Since the government’s announcement that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed would be tried with others in Manhattan in connection with the 9/11 attacks, some lawyers and others have expressed skepticism that such a trial will ever be held in the city.

They are confident that defense lawyers will ask that the trial be moved, and believe that a judge might even consent.

But a review of previous terrorism trials and interviews with lawyers involved in those cases and other legal experts show that such an outcome is hardly guaranteed.

Federal juries in Manhattan, for instance, have not imposed the death penalty against any of the six defendants who could have received it since the federal death penalty was reinstated some two decades ago.

Lawyers for Mr. Mohammed could well calculate that their greatest legal obligation is not to win acquittal but to save his life, and that there is no better place to try to do that than in a Manhattan federal courtroom.


As well, judges have been reluctant to order cases moved, ruling that careful pretrial questioning can weed out jurors who are not impartial. In a case in 2002, a lawyer in Federal District Court in Manhattan sought a change of venue for a suspected aide to Osama bin Laden who had been charged with stabbing a jail guard. The lawyer, Richard B. Lind, said he was convinced that his client could not get a fair trial in Manhattan so soon after 9/11.

Mr. Lind had surveys conducted in New York and five other jurisdictions in January 2002. The results showed that 58 percent of New Yorkers had been “personally affected” by the attacks — from losing family members or friends to having their work disrupted — more than double the average of those in the other areas. “There is a tidal wave of public passion” in New York, Mr. Lind wrote.

But the judge, Deborah A. Batts, rejected the request, citing other survey evidence showing that levels of bias were not much different elsewhere.

OBAMA AND HOLDER OPENED A FURHREEKIN' CAN OF FREAKIN' WORMS!

THEY'RE EITHER EFFIN' MORONS, OR THEY KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN AND THEY DID IT ANYWAY - HARDLY A PATRIOTIC THING TO DO...

BUT PERHAPS TO BE EXPECTED IF OBAMA REALLY IS A CRYPTO-MUSLIM...

AND DUE TO THE FACT THAT HOLDER AND HIS ASSISTANTS WERE DOING PRO-BONO WORK FOR GITMO DETAINEES BEFORE OBAMA SELECTED THEM FOR HIS DOJ.


PERHAPS THEY WANT KSM AND HIS COMRADES RELEASED - AND BUSH BLAMED.

YES. THAT' MUST BE IT: IT'S THE SIMPLEST EXPLANATION.

12/25/1776




The signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th was greeted by citizens far and wide as a day of triumph.

Young men joined the fight with naive confidence in their ability to defeat a the King of England and a distant army.

Thirty thousand men joined the Continental army during the pleasant months of summer. Washington’s army suffered a terrible defeat in New York and was in retreat by Christmas.

By December 24th, a tiny remnant, 2,500 patriots remained in his threadbare army.

After the American withdrawal from New York and Washington’s retreat into Pennsylvania, British commanding general William Howe took his army back to New York following the pursuit of Washington.

Wintering in New York, the British relied on 2,000 Hessian mercenaries to garrison the New Jersey front line. Although there was some local guerilla resistance, forcing the troops to confine themselves to cities and towns, the assumption was that with Washington’s army safely across the Delaware River, no immediate threat existed.

The Hessians at Trenton were commanded by Colonel Johaan Gottlieb Rall. Rall, who once referred to the patriot soldiers as “country clowns,” never bothered to fortify the town. No defensive redoubts were constructed. Rall also received conflicting reports from the British prior to Washington’s attack.

On December 21st, British General Grant wrote Rall, stating that that the American army was, “almost naked, dying of cold, without blankets, and very ill supplied with provisions.”

But Rall also received word from General Thomas Leslie in Princeton that Washington was preparing a Delaware crossing aimed at attacking Trenton.

Washington divided his army, intending a diversionary attack against Colonel Carl von Donop’s headquarters at Bordentown, south of Trenton. This group, however, never made it across the icy Delaware. The main force, ferried across the river amidst rain and sleet on cargo barges, was assembled on the Jersey side by 3:00 AM January 26th.

The success of the attack depended upon absolute surprise.

Washington’s gamble paid off.

The Hessians, still sleeping off their Christmas revelries, barely had time to form ranks. This was an army used to fighting European style battles. The streets of Trenton, however, made for a very different battle order. By the time artillery had been brought forward and officers connected with their units, the battle was all but over.

Writing to his wife on December 28th, Henry Knox related that, “Providence seemed to have smiled upon every part of this enterprise.

Effects of the Battle of Trenton

News of the Trenton fiasco forced General Howe to dispatch Lord Cornwallis to Princeton to lead a force of 7,000 against Washington’s tattered army.

But Washington escaped, recrossing the Delaware and moving north to eventually attack Princeton.

The battle of Trenton had taken one hour and resulted in a thousand prisoners. General Gates, who had voiced public disapproval of the plan, was proven wrong.

According to historian Christopher Hibbert, Washington’s victory at Trenton, “encouraged a fresh revolutionary spirit amongst a people becoming disillusioned by…war…”

Although “Washington had hardly turned the tables,” according to writer Robert Harvey, the propaganda value of the victory was immense.

Enlistments increased in early 1777, a crucial need since many of Washington’s enlistments were due to expire January 1st.

Trenton also demonstrated that George Washington was not only a competent field commander (he personally commanded the main force attacking Trenton) but a brilliant strategist.

Victory of Trenton restored confidence in both the Revolutionary cause and the leadership of Washington.

FULL NOVELIZATION HERE.

THE NEW LEFT ON OBAMACARE: "Obama Thinks Lying To The American People Is The Best Strategy"


Obama Thinks Lying To The American People Is The Best Strategy
  • I GUESS THAT THE LEFT AIN'T THRILLED WITH THE SENATE BILL.
  • NOR IS THE RIGHT.
  • SO, WHO IS HAPPY?
  • THE MACHINE POLITICIANS AND THE LAWYERS AND THE BUREAUCRATS.
  • 2010: VOTE GOP. MAKE BOEHNER THE SPEAKER.
  • AND THEN IMPEACH BIDEN AND THEN IMPEACH OBAMA.
  • AND THEN MAKE JOHN BOEHNER POTUS.

LEFTIST EUPHEMISM OF THE YEAR: "FARM MAYHEM"



NYTIMES/AP: "Hopes Wane as Zimbabwe Farm Mayhem Spreads"
Rainbow's End got its name from its bumper crops of grain, fruit and vegetables. But now the pot of gold is empty. Most of the land is derelict and cut off by a collapsed bridge.

Once one of the most productive farms in this troubled southern African nation, Rainbow's End will have very little to harvest next season, even as farmers' organizations forecast huge crop shortfalls and the U.N. says 2 million Zimbabweans -- nearly one-fourth of the population -- will need food aid in January.

President Robert Mugabe's campaign to run Zimbabwe's whites off their farms and redistribute them to the black majority continues despite the expectation that being forced into a coalition government with the opposition would at least partially restrain him, restore agriculture and protect human rights.

Since the coalition was formed in February, at least 100 more white farmers have been driven off their land. Of about 300 still farming, more than half have been served official eviction notices. Since August, Thomas Beattie, who farmed near Rainbow's End, has been under siege by militants and men he calls hired thugs, and was forced to leave his home in November at the height of the planting season.

''The attitude on the ground is still that white farmers need to go. That is the reality,'' said Deon Theron, head of the Commercial Farmers' Union, most of whose members are white. He said those in Mugabe's long-ruling ZANU-PF party who want change ''are powerless against the old guard who want to maintain what they have been doing.''

Mugabe, in power since Zimbabwe won independence from Britain in 1980, argues that the land was plundered by the country's European colonizers and needs to be redistributed. At his lavish 85th birthday party in February, Mugabe declared that the ''few remaining white farmers should quickly vacate their farms as they have no place there.''

Under the land seizure program he launched in 2000, more than 11 million hectares (25 million acres) of commercial farmland have been seized from thousands of whites.

But their new occupants often are chosen not for their farming skills but for being party loyalists, and they have failed to replicate the highly efficient, mechanized farming system that made Zimbabwe a breadbasket for Southern Africa.

According to satellite surveys, as much as 80 percent of former prime land lies uncultivated.

ZIMBABWE WAS ONCE A RICH FOOD-EXPORTING NATION; NOW - AS A RESULT OF SOCIALISM (AND NOT "FARM MAYHEM") - IT IS A STARVING ECONOMIC BASKETCASE.

THESE ARE THE FRUITS OF SOCIALISM. NOT "FARM MAYHEM".

YES: SOCIALISM, A WORD WHICH DOESN'T EVEN APPEAR IN THE NYT/AP ARTICLE. SHEESH.

  • ALWAYS ARE THE FRUITS OF SOCIALISM...
  • EVERYWHERE...
  • EVERY TIME.
  • NEVERTHELESS, CHAVEZ AND OBAMA ARE DRAGGING THEIR NATIONS DOWN THIS ROAD - THE ROAD TO SERFDOM.
WE MUSTN'T LET OBAMA SUCCEED IN THE MUGABE-IZATION OF THE USA.

HOW THE DT MSM CAN SAVE ITSELF: GO LOCAL

The DT newspapers are having a real tough time staying in business.

This is due to NEW MEDIA and due to the fact that a lot of the MSM is more leftist than the rest of the USA and have turned off half of their potential audience.

They can still fix things.

Here's how: the major national/internationally oriented newspapers of the major cities need to co-brand with smaller market papers.

Instead of publishing the NYTIMES (ditto WSJ, WASHPOST, LATIMES, USA-TODAY, etc) and a few regional editions, these major newspapers should co-publish their regional editions with local papers: publish a local/national/international front-page/wrapper and insert the local paper. Then they share the revenue. The major paper gets more readers and the local papers get more content. The reader gets more perceived value - and as a result, the readership will start to go up.

This - coupled with a fair & balanced approach to the news pages - can save the DT MSM.

I don't see any other way.

The ON-LINE versions cannibalize their current readership. This move toward co-branded localization would grow it.

Just an idea...

ONE OF MY PRAYERS FOR 2010: MORE LIBERTY FOR ALL!

HISTORY IS FAR FROM OVER:

The blue nations are free; the grey - less so; the red - not really free at all:


SADLY: Most people in the world still live under one for of tyranny or another: China, Russia, the Muslim world...

And the South American democracies seem to be slipping backwards into statism/socialism/tyranny.

I pray that 2010 sees a new birth of freedom for all humanity.

Especially the nearly 3 billion who live in states which hinder their innate God-given freedom.

Freedom is good in and of itself.

But also: Prosperity is a by-product of freedom and liberty.

A freer world will be one in which living standards and life-spans increases.

A freer world will have more industry everywhere, (unhindered by either socialism or eco-fascism - MISANTHROPIC IDEOLOGIES based on lunatic theories, whether called Marxism or Maoism or Stalinism or Hitlerism of Mussolinism or Chavezism - OR OBAMANISM, and Gaiaism).

BRRRRRRR!: COLDEST CHRISTMAS OF THE DECADE IN CALCUTTA - MAYBE EVER

TELEGRAPH INDIA: Christmas, coldest in recent Met memory
Calcutta is set to enjoy its coolest Christmas in recent Met history with the weatherman expecting the mercury to touch a minimum of “around 12 degrees Celsius”.

Friday is likely to be chilly and windy, with the possibility of the mercury dipping to the sub 12-degree level.

“Friday is likely to be the coolest Christmas Day this decade.

In fact, there are very few instances of the temperature dropping to 12 degrees Celsius on December 25 in Calcutta’s recorded Met history,” said an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) in Delhi.
AGW = BS.

GLOBAL BS.

BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA DIDN'T GO TO CHURCH ON CHRISTMAS. DID HIS WIFE? DID HIS DAUGHTERS? DID HIS MOTHER-IN-LAW?

HMMMMM: NOPE.

YOU MEAN THERE WAS NO CHURCH AT ALL FOR THE OBAMA CLAN - ON CHRISTMAS!?!?

THAT'S RIGHT.
  • BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA DIDN'T GO TO CHURCH ON CHRISTMAS.
  • NEITHER DID HIS WIFE.
  • OR DAUGHTERS.
  • OR HIS MOTHER-IN-LAW.
WTF? I MEAN, HUH?!

BUT OBAMA USED TO GO TO A LOT OF CHURCHES...


ALL THE TIME, DIDN'T HE!?



IT SEEMS OBVIOUS TO ME...


THAT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA IS...


AS CHRISTIAN AS IT'S CONVENIENT TO BE,


AND NOT A REAL CHRISTIAN.


DISSENT ACCORDINGLY.

AND PRAY. PRAY HARD.

UPDATE: ACCORDING TO LEFTIE JANE HAMSHER (FIRE DOG LAKE), OBAMA LIES ALL THE TIME.

UPDATE #2: Scooped hot air by a day on this.

US DIPLOMATS CAUGHT SMUGGLING PALESTINIAN INTO ISRAEL - TRIED TO RUN OVER CHECKPOINT GUARD!

UPDATED BELOW

JPOST: US Consulate car tried to run over checkpoint guard
A dispute is rumbling between Israel and the US Consulate in Jerusalem after a US diplomatic car allegedly tried running over a Defense Ministry security guard recently at an IDF checkpoint in the West Bank. The car had been stopped after the occupants refused to present identification papers.

Israel is also furious that one of the consulate cars was found to have transported a Palestinian without permits between Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The identification of American diplomats from the consulate at IDF checkpoints has been a major sticking point for several years.

In January 2008, the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria filed complaints with the Foreign Ministry after both US Security Coordinator Lt.-Gen. Keith Dayton and then-consul-general Jacob Walles refused to roll down their windows or open their car doors and show identification papers at a checkpoint.

However, Israel's ire reached a new level after an incident on November 13 in which a five-car convoy of consulate vehicles with diplomatic plates arrived at the Gilboa crossing.

According to a detailed official Israel Police description of the incident obtained exclusively by The Jerusalem Post, the drivers refused to identify themselves or open a window or door. The drivers, according to the report, purposely blocked the crossing, tried running over one of the Israeli security guards stationed there and made indecent gestures at female guards.

The entire incident was documented by cameras at the crossing.

Following the incident, the head of the police's Security Department, Lt.-Cmdr. Meir Ben-Yishai, convened a meeting on November 18 at police headquarters inJerusalem with the regional security officer at the consulate, Tim Laas. Also present were officials from the Defense Ministry and the Foreign Ministry, and the regional security officer at the US Embassy in Tel Aviv, Dan Power.

According to a protocol of the meeting, obtained by the Post, Ben-Yishai said he assumed the drivers of the consulate vehicles had received permission to act the way they had. He said that in the future, if a diplomatic car did not stop and identify its passengers "immediately," it would not be allowed to pass thecheckpoint.

Ben-Yishai described additional violations by consulate workers, and referred to at least one case in which a female Palestinian without appropriate documentation was found in a diplomatic car. Defense officials told the Post that there had been other similar cases in the past.

"We view this as an attempt to illegally transfer someone," Ben-Yishai said, according to the official police protocol.
DISGUSTING.

IT'S DISGUSTING. AND IT PROVES - ONCE AGAIN - THAT THE US STATE DEPARTMENT IS STILL RUN BY ANTISEMITIC ARABISTS.

AND NOW THIS CADRE HAS A LIKE-MINDED MAN IN THE WHITE HOUSE.

AS FAR AS THE USA IS CONCERNED, WITH OBAMA RUNNING THE SHOW, THERE ARE WORSE TIMES AHEAD FOR ISRAEL...

UPDATE: SCOOPED POWER LINE BY 3 HOURS ON THIS.

DESPITE GLOBAL-WARMING DOOM, MIDWEST USA - LIKE NORTHEAST USA AND MOST OF EUROPE - IS GRIPPED BY FIERCE WINTER SNOWSTORMS

BBC:
At least 18 people have died as a result of blizzards and freezing temperatures enveloping the US Midwest.

A state of emergency has been declared in South Dakota, Texas and Oklahoma, where the authorities have shut down highways after a series of accidents.

The winter weather has stranded hundreds of travellers trying to make it home for the holidays.

Flights have been delayed or cancelled. The conditions have also led several churches to cancel Christmas services.

'Raging blizzard'

"The storm is spanning two thirds of the country," said Chris Vaccaro, a spokesman for the National Weather Service.

AGW = BS.

SHEESH: NYTIMES PRAISES VIETNAM A FEW DAYS AFTER THE VIET-COMMIES CHARGE HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER WITH A CAPITAL CRIME - "SUBVERSION"

UPDATED BELOW

NYTIMES TODAY:
More than many countries, Vietnam has been buffeted by the ups and downs of globalization.

A relatively new player in the global economy, it benefited from a flood of Western capital and interest in the 1990s and early this decade, only to be devastated by the reverberations of the latest economic crisis in the United States, 7,500 miles away.

Vietnam’s strategy for competing in the global arena — and a relatively successful one until recently — had been to carve out niche markets where it could deliver, say, quality products like handicrafts or specialized clothing that China could not.

But all of Vietnam’s main export industries are heavily dependent on sales to the United States. In 2009, the United States was the biggest importer of Vietnamese goods, absorbing about a fifth of the country’s exports.
NYTIMES TWO DAYS AGO:
Vietnam Charges Lawyer With Capital Crime

Published: December 23, 2009

BANGKOK — Intensifying a crackdown on dissent in advance of a Communist Party Congress, Vietnam has charged a prominent American-educated human rights lawyer and at least two associates with the capital crime of subversion, the official press reported on Wednesday.
(WE POSTED ON IT AT THE TIME.)

DID THE NYTIMES FORGET? NO: THEY MENDING FENCES WITH THEIR COMRADES ON THE LEFT!

BTW: THE FACT THAT VIETNAM DEPENDS ON USA ECONOMIC INVOLVEMENT IN THEIR ECONOMY PROVES THAT THE VIETNAMESE COMMUNISTS WERE GENOCIDAL IDIOTS FOR FIGHTING US FROM 1965-1973 AND JERKS FOR INVADING THE SOUTH IN 1975.

THEY COULD HAVE HAD ALL THE ECONOMIC INVOLVEMENT THEY WANTED AND MORE IN 1965 AND BECOME BIGGER THAN SOUTH KOREA.

ALL THEY HAD TO DO IS LET THEIR PEOPLE BE FREE.

FREEDOM AND PROSPERITY COULD HAVE BEEN THEIRS.

THE COMMUNISTS - WHO ARE STILL IN POWER , THANKS TO THE LEFTISTS IN AMERICA, LEFTISTS WHO ARE NOW RUNNING THE DEMOCRAT PARTY! - CHOSE INSTEAD TO WAGE A WAR WHICH KILLED 3 MILLION OF THEIR OWN AND LED TO 2 MILLION BOAT PEOPLE REFUGEES AND 4 MILLION DEAD IN CAMBODIA.

GENOCIDAL IDIOTS.

INSTEAD OF BEING APPLAUDED BY THE LEFT - LIKE THE NYTIMES - THE VIETNAM COMMIES SHOULD BE SHUNNED BY THE WORLD AND TREATED AS WE TREAT POL POT'S KHMER ROUGE THUGS.

UPDATE: AS THEY BEG FOR AID AND SPECIAL TREATMENT FROM THE WEST, VIETNAM IS INVESTING IN IRAN.

RABBI MURDERED BY ABBAS TERRORISTS

Yesterday, a rabbi, Meir Chai from Shevei Shomron, was murdered by Islamofascists from the Fatah brigade (H/T: Oy My Valve). There's already blame being made against the gestures made by the government towards the enemy as the cause leading to this. The government is now going to have to address this matter if they're to maintain credibility.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Check out the Carnival of Christmas 2009.

Read various personal observations on the season from around the blogosphere, including an entry by me.

A very NYTimes Christmas Eve: an anti-Christmas feature, and a piece praising Beirut and another praising Jordan

Anti-Christmas: Saying No, No, No to the Ho-Ho-Ho

This has been a year for paring back Christmas. Largely by economic necessity, many people have been trimming their gift lists, subduing their celebrations and aiming for a simpler, lower-key holiday.

But some, like Mr. Nainan, are taking that sentiment to the extreme. For them, this is the year of the anti-Christmas, the year when everything — from the pressure to find the perfect present to the prospect of family drama over roast turkey — just got to be too much.

YEAH, CHRISTMAS SUCKS THIS YEAR: AND IT'S ALL BUSH'S FAULT!

In Praise of Beirut (where Christians have been terrorized for 100 years - so bad that most have left):
ON a balmy Middle Eastern night, our feast was rolling along fabulously on the outdoor roof terrace of Abd el Wahab, a vaulted and marbled Beirut gastropalace, when a flock of birds made a sudden appearance.

They came not from the sky but on a large plate, served by a suited, poker-faced waiter. Their blackened headless carcasses, each barely palm-sized, were soaked in a dark sauce that gave off a tangy aroma. Through wisps of sweet chicha smoke exhaled by boisterous groups at nearby tables, my Lebanese companions explained that the birds are traditionally eaten whole. I was dubious.

Hesitantly, I popped one in my mouth. Tiny bones cracked like toothpicks. In a quick burst, succulent meat mingled with the sweet-sour basting sauce. It was sublime. A miniature Hitchcockian menace had been transformed into an unexpected gastronomic gem.

“What kind of birds are they?” I asked the waiter.

“Small birds,” he said.

Such moments are blissfully common in Lebanon, where even the most bland produce or unlikely meats undergo culinary hocus-pocus and emerge, Cinderella-like, as belles of the ball.
YEAH, SURE: WHEN YOU HEAR THE WORD BEIRUT THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF IS CUISINE AND CINDERELLA - AND NOT JIHADO-CIVIL WAR.

And in praise of Jordan:
For all of the animosity, mistrust and lack of understanding between the West and the Muslim world, this small Middle Eastern country has demonstrated that most people here have the capacity to laugh at themselves — and at jokes about bodily functions, too.

When comedians from North America faced a theater packed with Arabs this month and poked fun at the local practice of marrying a cousin, tweaked Palestinians as being skilled stone throwers, feigned fright at an audience member named Osama, everyone laughed, and laughed hard.

When it comes to humor, apparently, there is no clash of civilizations.

“Back at home people ask me, do Arabs laugh?” said Dean Obeidallah, a stand-up comedian originally from New Jersey who was executive producer of the Amman Stand-Up Comedy Festival. “I will be honest, you guys laugh more than Americans.”

Indeed, for seven nights in a row, thousands of Jordanians packed into a theater in the center of this city and laughed so hard, hooted, hollered and cheered so easily, the comics themselves were a bit taken aback. Jordanians were hungry for a laugh, even at their expense. Two of the shows were in Arabic, and they sold out, too.

YEAH, SURE: FOR COMICS, AMMAN IS RIGHT UP THERE AFTER VEGAS AND ATLANTIC CITY!

That they chose these stories and these story angles on Christmas Eve tells you a lot about the NYTIMES: they are anti-Christian. They are deliberately running stories which denigrate Christmas and/or elevate Arabs and Muslims - on Christmas.

THE BAD, THE WORSE AND THE UGLY

"God is not on our side because he hates idiots also."

"I've never seen so many men wasted so badly."

"Two hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money. We're gonna have to earn it."

"One bastard goes in, another one comes out."

"If you like your current health-care plan, you can keep it."

"You will pay less."

"Quality will improve."

OKAY, THE FIRST 4 QUOTES ARE FROM THE MOVIE THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY.

THE NEXT THREE QUOTES WERE REALLY FROM OBAMA.

WHAT'S THE NEXT THING OBAMA IS PROBABLY GONNA SAY: "DON'T WORRY; I WON'T LEGISLATE IN YOUR MOUTH..."


MORE LIES:

OBAMA'S FIRST CHRISTMAS IN THE WHITE HOUSE: NO CHURCH


OBAMA'S 1ST CHRISTMAS AS POTUS, AND HE ISN'T GOING TO CHURCH.

  • IS HE REALLY A CHRISTIAN?
  • IT'S HARD TO TELL.
  • IF HE WAS REALLY A CRYPTO-MUSLIM, WOULD HE BE DOING ANYTHING DIFFERENTLY?
  • NOPE.

OUR DARKEST DAYS ARE BEHIND US!

German original[8]
English translation
O Freunde, nicht diese Töne!
Sondern laßt uns angenehmere anstimmen,
und freudenvollere.
Freude! Freude!
Oh friends, not these tones!
Rather, let us raise our voices in more pleasing
And more joyful sounds!
Joy! Joy!
Freude, schöner Götterfunken
Tochter aus Elysium,
Wir betreten feuertrunken,
Himmlische, dein Heiligtum!
Deine Zauber binden wieder
Was die Mode streng geteilt;
Alle Menschen werden Brüder,
Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.
Joy, beautiful spark of divinity
Daughter of Elysium,
We enter, drunk with fire,
Into your heavenly sanctuary!
Your magic reunites
What custom strictly divided.
All men will become brothers,
Where your gentle wing rests.
Wem der große Wurf gelungen,
Eines Freundes Freund zu sein;
Wer ein holdes Weib errungen,
Mische seinen Jubel ein!
Ja, wer auch nur eine Seele
Sein nennt auf dem Erdenrund!
Und wer's nie gekonnt, der stehle
Weinend sich aus diesem Bund!
Whoever has had the great fortune
To be a friend's friend,
Whoever has won a devoted wife,
Join in our jubilation!
Indeed, whoever can call even one soul,
His own on this earth!
And whoever was never able to, must creep
Tearfully away from this band!
Freude trinken alle Wesen
An den Brüsten der Natur;
Alle Guten, alle Bösen
Folgen ihrer Rosenspur.
Küße gab sie uns und Reben,
Einen Freund, geprüft im Tod;
Wollust ward dem Wurm gegeben,
Und der Cherub steht vor Gott.
Joy all creatures drink
At the breasts of nature;
All good, all bad
Follow her trail of roses.
Kisses she gave us, and wine,
A friend, proven in death;
Pleasure was to the worm given,
And the cherub stands before God.
Froh, wie seine Sonnen fliegen
Durch des Himmels prächt'gen Plan,
Laufet, Brüder, eure Bahn,
Freudig, wie ein Held zum Siegen.
Glad, as His suns fly
Through the Heaven's glorious design,
Run, brothers, your race,
Joyful, as a hero to victory.
Seid umschlungen, Millionen!
Diesen Kuß der ganzen Welt!
Brüder, über'm Sternenzelt
Muss ein lieber Vater wohnen.
Ihr stürzt nieder, Millionen?
Ahnest du den Schöpfer, Welt?
Such' ihn über'm Sternenzelt!
Über Sternen muss er wohnen.
Be embraced, millions!
This kiss for the whole world!
Brothers, above the starry canopy
Must a loving Father dwell.
Do you bow down, millions?
Do you sense the Creator, world?
Seek Him beyond the starry canopy!
Beyond the stars must He dwell.
Finale repeats the words:
Seid umschlungen, Millionen!
Diesen Kuß der ganzen Welt!
Brüder, über'm Sternenzelt
Muss ein lieber Vater wohnen.
Seid umschlungen,
Diesen Kuß der ganzen Welt!
Freude, schöner Götterfunken
Tochter aus Elysium,
Freude, schöner Götterfunken
Finale repeats the words:
Be embraced, you millions!
This kiss for the whole world!
Brothers, beyond the star-canopy
Must a loving Father dwell.
Be embraced,
This kiss for the whole world!
Joy, beautiful spark of divinity,
Daughter of Elysium,
Joy, beautiful spark of divinity




OBAMACARE: DR. COBURN DIAGNOSES THE PROBLEM - AND PRESCRIBES A CURE

FROM POWER LINE:
Dr. Tom Coburn spoke for a lot of us in explaining his vote against the Democrats' bill:

This vote is indeed historic. This Congress will be remembered for its arrogance, corruption and stupidity. In the year of 2009, a Congress ignored the coming economic storm and impending bankruptcy of our entitlement programs and embarked on an ideological crusade to bring our nation as close to single-payer, government-run health care as possible. If this bill becomes law, future generations will rue this day and I will do everything in my power to work toward its repeal. This bill will ration care, cut Medicare, increase premiums, fund abortion and bury our children in debt.

This process was not compromise. This process was corruption. This bill passed because votes were bought and sold using the issue of abortion as a bargaining chip. The abortion provision alone makes this bill the most arrogant piece of legislation I have seen in Congress. Only the most condescending politician can believe it is appropriate to force Americans to pay for other people's abortions and to coerce medical professional to take the lives of unborn children.


THE ABOMINATION OF OBAMACARE WILL NOT STAND.

IT WILL NOT PASS.

IF IT PASSES IT WILL NOT WORK.

THE ONLY THING OBAMACARE WILL PRODUCE IS A HUGE BACKLASH AGAINST THE DEMOCRATS!

YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

I DEMAND OBAMA FULFIL HIS PROMISE AND MAKE CONGRESS HAVE PUBLIC CONFERENCE COMMITTEE HEARINGS ON OBAMACARE

I DEMAND OBAMA FULFIL HIS PROMISE AND MAKE CONGRESS HAVE PUBLIC CONFERENCE COMMITTEE ON OBAMACARE.

OBAMA'S PROMISE:

To achieve health care reform, "I'm going to have all the negotiations around a big table. We'll have doctors and nurses and hospital administrators. Insurance companies, drug companies -- they'll get a seat at the table, they just won't be able to buy every chair. But what we will do is, we'll have the negotiations televised on C-SPAN, so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents, and who are making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies. And so, that approach, I think is what is going to allow people to stay involved in this process."

Sources: Town hall meeting on Aug. 21, 2008, in Chester, Va.


IF THE DEMOCRATS CANNOT DO THIS THEN THEY ARE ADMITTING THAT THE HEALTH CARE REFORM BILL IS BULLSHIT.

AND THAT OBAMA IS BULLSHIT, TOO.


HERE'S VIDEO COMPILATION OF OBAMA MAKING THIS PROMISE NUMEROUS TIMES:




IT'S TOO LATE FOR EITHER THE HOUSE OR SENATE TO WRITE THEIR VERSIONS OF THE BILL IN PUBLIC.

IT'S NOT TOO LATE FOR CONGRESS TO WRITE THE UNIFIED BILL IN PUBLIC.

IF THEY THEY FAIL TO FULFIL THEIR PROMISE, THEN WE ALL MUST ASK: WHAT ARE THEY TRYING TO HIDE!?

IT CANNOT BE GOOD IF THEY WANNA HIDE IT.

THE EVIL FRAUD WHICH ALLOWED THE BIGGEST INVESTMENT BANKERS TO UNLOAD THE BAD BUBBLE DEBT ON OTHERS

ONE OF THE CRIMES OF THE CENTURY:
In late October 2007, as the financial markets were starting to come unglued, a Goldman Sachs trader, Jonathan M. Egol, received very good news. At 37, he was named a managing director at the firm.

Mr. Egol, a Princeton graduate, had risen to prominence inside the bank by creating mortgage-related securities, named Abacus, that were at first intended to protect Goldman from investment losses if the housing market collapsed. As the market soured, Goldman created even more of these securities, enabling it to pocket huge profits.

Goldman’s own clients who bought them, however, were less fortunate.

Pension funds and insurance companies lost billions of dollars on securities that they believed were solid investments, according to former Goldman employees with direct knowledge of the deals who asked not to be identified because they have confidentiality agreements with the firm.

Goldman was not the only firm that peddled these complex securities — known as synthetic collateralized debt obligations, or C.D.O.’s — and then made financial bets against them, called selling short in Wall Street parlance. Others that created similar securities and then bet they would fail, according to Wall Street traders, include Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley, as well as smaller firms like Tricadia Inc., an investment company whose parent firm was overseen by Lewis A. Sachs, who this year became a special counselor to Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner.

How these disastrously performing securities were devised is now the subject of scrutiny by investigators in Congress, at the Securities and Exchange Commission and at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Wall Street’s self-regulatory organization, according to people briefed on the investigations. Those involved with the inquiries declined to comment.

RTWT.

THEY SHOULD BE SHOT FOR THESE CRIMES.