Wednesday, June 30, 2010

What made Europe great?

We take a look at this question over at EUobserver.

in one month i turn 28

cart before horse?

The front page of today's FT sported the headline, "Markets plunge on ECB loan fears", with €442bn worth of European Central Bank emergency one-year loans to the eurozone's ailing banking sector expiring today.

Only a thought, but wouldn't it have been wise to carry out and publish the results of those stress tests before pulling the plug on a banking sector that is struggling with liquidity?

Spain’s Finance Minister Elena Salgado, seems worried. "The ECB says it doesn't like governments telling it what to do. I simply say I hope on this occasion, as in others, the ECB will be aware of the needs of the Spanish financial system," she said.

Banks have borrowed less of the three-month replacement loans than expected, which is an encouraging sign. However, as Robert Peston notes, "Eurozone banks are still on welfare support."

The question is how many will go running back to the ECB or their governments after the EU's stress tests are carried out?
HSBC Takes Top Spot From CIMB in Sukuk Sales: Islamic Finance

BLOOMBERG BUSINESS WEEK: HSBC Holdings Plc is overtaking CIMB Group Holdings Bhd. as the top underwriter of Islamic bonds as sales from the Gulf pick up and corporate issuance from Malaysia, the biggest market for the debt, declines.

HSBC, Europe’s biggest lender by market value, arranged $1.6 billion of global sukuk so far in 2010, about 25 percent of the total, led by Saudi Electricity Co.’s issuance in May, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. CIMB Group, Malaysia’s second-largest banking group, led $1.4 billion of sales of debt that complies with the religion’s ban on interest. Last year, CIMB was the top underwriter, managing $4.4 billion of offerings.

“The origin of the issuer may have an impact on the decision to hire which underwriter,” Azrul Azwar Ahmad Tajudin, chief economist at Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd., the country’s oldest Shariah-compliant bank, said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. “If the issuance amount is huge, issuers may have some level of comfort with a foreign bank.”

Sales of Malaysian ringgit-denominated sukuk slumped 44 percent to 9.4 billion ringgit ($2.9 billion) so far this year as companies delayed infrastructure projects after the economy slipped into recession in 2009. The government began a 230 billion ringgit, five-year development plan on June 10, which may revive offerings of Islamic bonds, according to Malaysian rating company RAM Holdings Bhd. >>> Soraya Permatasari and Khalid Qayum | Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Amid Gunfire and a Threat of War, Brothers Cultivate Grapes of Peace

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Sami, left, and Ramzi Ghosn produce 300,000 bottles of wine a year. Photograph: The Times

THE TIMES: Across Lebanon’s beautiful Bekaa Valley the vineyards shimmer in the heat of summer. The past decade has witnessed an extraordinary renaissance in the country’s 4,000-year-old winemaking tradition, with an expansion from four Lebanese winemakers in the 1980s to about 35 today.

At weekends Beirut residents drive out to enjoy food cooked in clay ovens next to the Massaya winery, run by two brothers determined to revive the family business in the shadow of Hezbollah’s guns. Amid tinkling fountains, banks of rosemary and trestle tables of grilled chicken and hoummos washed down with cinsault, syrah and cabernet sauvignon blend rosé, war is hard to imagine.

But the tap-tap of machinegun fire and muffled explosions echo in the distance. The training camps and bunkers of Hezbollah, the Shia militia that fought Israel to a standstill in 2006, lie to the north and south of the valley and in the hills along the Syrian border. Israeli spy drones buzz in the sky, their cameras fixed on Bekaa.

When Sami Ghosn returned from a decade living in Europe and America the moment seemed auspicious. The Oslo Accords appeared to herald a new era of peace.

His country, however, lay in ruins, the family estate overgrown and occupied by Palestinian squatters. With a Christian militia friend of his father’s, Sami and his brother, Ramzi, set about reclaiming the ancestral lands in lawless Lebanon. “I was sleeping with my gun,” he recalls.

The first years of production were limited to arak, a fiery aniseed spirit much loved locally. But in 1998 the brothers produced their first wine vintage. The Massaya vineyard is backed by a number of French winemakers and, in its first years, employed a French oenologist. “The challenge was very high and we needed the French support. That gave more substance to our venture,” Ramzi says.

Success came swiftly. The brothers’ 2000 vintage won a five-star accolade in the French viticultural bible Le Revue de Vin de France. It was one star more than the arch rival, Château Musar, the most famous and longstanding vineyard in Lebanon, could boast. Continue reading and comment >>> Tom Coghlan, Bekaa Valley | Monday, June 28, 2010
Greece Suffers Fifth General Strike as Metro Blockaded in Madrid

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Violence erupted in Bilbao during a one-day general strike. Photo: The Times

THE TIMES: Violence broke out during Greece’s fifth general strike of the year, while in Madrid the Metro was blockaded in a foretaste of a summer of industrial unrest.

As Mediterranean governments push through austerity measures, masked youths took part in running battles with police in Athens, with domestic flights and many ferry sailings from the port of Piraeus cancelled.

Public and private sector unions in the country announced that there would be a sixth all-out stoppage next week, when the package of pay and pension reforms comes to a final vote.

“These measures will not help. They will only lead to deeper recession and poverty,” said Despina Spanou, a board member of the Adedy civil servants’ union, which helped to organise the marches. “We are resisting the slaughtering of our rights.”

The governments of Greece and Spain are increasingly worried about the impact of unrest on tourism — which is a mainstay of both economies. >>> Philip Pangalos in Athens, William Bond in Madrid, David Charter in Brussels | Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Majority of Germans Want Deutschmark Back

THE TELEGRAPH: A majority of Germans want to scrap the EU's single currency and bring back their beloved Deutschmark amid popular anger that Germany has bailed the euro zone out to the tune over £100 billion.

More than 51 per cent of Germans want to axe the euro after widespread fury that Germany's taxpayers have been forced to come to the rescue of Greece and other high spending southern European countries.

Only three in 10 people in Europe's largest economy now support the single currency, a flagship of EU integration and Germany's European policy. >>> Bruno Waterfield | Tuesday, June 29, 2010

War News for Wednesday, June 30, 2010

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from a small arms fire attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, June 30th.


Two PKK militants dead in Turkey clashes


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Two policemen were killed on Wednesday and another was wounded when unknown gunmen attacked a checkpoint in southern Baghdad. “The gunmen were driving a civilian car when they used guns with silencers to open fire on a police checkpoint at the al-Tayiara Street in Daura neighborhood, southern Baghdad,” a local police source told Aswat al-Iraq.

#2: One policeman and one civilian were wounded on Wednesday when a roadside bomb went off in southwestern Baghdad. “The blast occurred in the al-Amil neighborhood, southwestern Baghdad,” a local police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: Gunmen killed an 18-year-old girl in the Zaafaraniya district in southeastern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.


Kirkuk:
#1: Police forces on Wednesday found an unknown corpse of a woman southwestern Kirkuk city, said a local security source.


Mosul:
#1: Five mortar shells hit a court in western Mosul on Tuesday, without causing casualties, according to a security source. “The shells hit the local administration’s court in Bab Senjar region in western Mosul, without causing casualties,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
#2: Unknown gunmen killed a man and wounded his brother in southern Mosul, a police source said on Tuesday. “The gunmen opened fire on two brothers on a road in al-Shoura district, southern Mosul, killing one of them and injuring the other,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: A woman was killed and two more were wounded by gunmen in western Mosul, a security source said on Tuesday. “Unidentified gunmen attacked a house in al-Zenjili region in western Mosul, killing a woman and injuring two, including a nine-year-old child,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#4: A police car transporting a prisoner was struck by a roadside bomb, wounding the prisoner, in western Mosul, police said.

#5: A bomb attached to the car of an off-duty policeman killed him and wounded a passenger in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#6: Gunmen stormed a house in the western part of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, killing a woman and wounded two people, police said.

#7: Gunmen attacked workers paving a road killing one and wounding another near a town south of Mosul, police said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: One civilian was killed on Wednesday and another wounded when a sticky bomb went off in western Anbar province. “The bomb went off inside a civilian car in central Heet district, 72 km west of Ramadi city,” a local police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Militants set off a car bomb and stormed the entrance to an airport in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday in a failed attempt to enter the air field used by Afghan and international forces, authorities said. Eight insurgents died in the ensuing gunbattle. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault, part of an upswing in violence in the nearly 9-year-old war. Using light weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, the militants battled international forces for 30 minutes on the outskirts of Jalalabad city, according to information provided by the media office at the airport. An Afghan solider and one international service member were wounded in the fighting, NATO said. "They were not able to breach the perimeter. They were fought off by a combination of Afghan and coalition security forces," German Army Brig. Gen. Josef Blotz, a spokesman for NATO, told reporters at a briefing on Wednesday.

#2: Elsewhere in the east, U.S. and Afghan forces battled hundreds of militants from an al-Qaida-linked group for a third day Tuesday in Kunar province, the U.S. military said. Two American soldiers were killed Sunday in the first day of the operation.

#3: Two rockets were fired by unidentified terrorists at a paramilitary Frontier Constabulary (FC) checkpoint in Sharifabad, suburbs of Quetta. No one was hurt in the incident, official sources said.

#4: Besides, late Tuesday night, at least two paramilitary troops were shot dead in an ambush on their checkpoint in Dasht area of district Mastung of the city, official sources said. Balochistan province, bordering Iran and Afghanistan.

#5: At least 15 militants were killed and 10 others were wounded when fighter jets attacked militant positions in the Orakzai tribal region's Mamozai and Kath areas. Six militant hideouts were also destroyed in the action, government sources said.


DoD: Sgt. John M. Rogers

DoD: Pfc. Bryant J. Haynes

DoD: Spc. David A. Holmes

DoD: Staff Sgt. Eric B. Shaw

DoD: Spc. David W. Thomas
Liberté, égalité … austérité? Sarkozy Clamps Down on French Ministers' Perks

THE GUARDIAN: No more cigars, flights or luxury hotels for politicians, says French president, after spate of expenses scandals

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The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, cancelled his own summer party and has insisted his ministers tighten their belts. Photograph: The Guardian

Spare a thought – and perhaps a euro – for the poor French politician.

No more taxpayer-funded Cuban cigars, private jets, or even luxury hotels. And, if Nicolas Sarkozy has his way, no more overstaffed offices and unfettered use of the ministry photocopier.

Having cancelled the Elysée palace summer garden party, the French president has decided everyone else must "make an effort" to tighten their professional belts. Anxious to be seen wielding the austerity axe following a spate of scandals over official perks, not to mention a ballooning public deficit, he is demanding ministers' spending be "vigorously reduced".

Ministers have been told that their official visits will be "strictly curtailed" and they will be encouraged to take the train, not the plane, with a reduced retinue of advisers. Away from home they must only stay in a hotel if there are no bedrooms available in state-owned buildings, such as embassies and consulates.

The order came in a letter to the prime minister, François Fillon, in which Sarkozy warned that those defying his austerity measures would face "punishment". >>> Kim Willsher in Paris | Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Cuba’s Economic Crunch

Bronwen Maddox: Pain in Spain Steadies the Euro’s Slide to the Abyss

THE TIMES: That’s a relief. Spain’s Cabinet backed a new plan yesterday to shake up the rigid, 32-year-old labour laws. There’s still parliament to go, with a vote on Tuesday, and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the embattled Socialist Prime Minister, will have to dig deep into the ranks of regional parties to win enough support. But if he had failed to get yesterday’s deal through, we could have expected the euro to plunge. Even so, rumours of a bailout of Spain by the International Monetary Fund, although denied by the fund, drove down the currency yesterday.

Greece may be Ground Zero of the eurozone crisis, but Spain, with an economy four times the size, matters far more. The real fear that drove Germany to pull together a €750 billion bailout last month was that Spain would default on its debt. That could bring down banks across Europe — in Britain, too — and cause the euro currency to unravel. That prospect prompted President Obama to add his personal exhortations to the German-led efforts, and China’s leaders to put off an interest rate rise.

Spain is also the best test of whether, despite the bailout, Europe will be hit by a second crisis. The drama has paused, as Greece and others have vowed to reform. But as scepticism about Hungary showed this month, many fear governments have promised cuts they cannot deliver.

Zapatero has promised a lot. He has taken a tilt at laws that have given gold-plated security to those in long-term work and in the public sector. No easy task: those laws, embedded in the 1978 Constitution, codify some of the most far-reaching social rights in Europe. They represent a rejection of the dictatorship of General Franco, who banned unions and strikes, and reflect the strength of the Communist Party during the transition to democracy. They have been one of Spain’s proudest possessions, but now they are strangling its growth.

Those rules have cut the country in half, creating a parallel economy of temporary, low-paid jobs with few rights. In the past decade, as Spain revelled in a property boom, construction created millions of contract jobs. Those have vanished; the white concrete skeletons of half-finished coastal apartment blocks are testimony to the sudden collapse. A fifth of the workforce is unemployed. >>> Bronwen Maddox, Commentary | Thursday, June 17, 2010
Greek Police Clash with Protesters over Austerity Reforms

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Riot police fired tear gas and stun grenades. Photograph: The Times

THE TIMES: Masked youths fought running battles with police in Athens today as violence broke out during the country’s fifth general strike this year.

Riot police fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse dozens of protesters who threw chunks of marble and set rubbish bins on fire.

Ferry passengers at Greece’s main port of Piraeus had to run a gauntlet of protesters who succeeded in blockading some departures to Aegean islands and there were marches in other major cities.

The strike was timed to coincide with the start of a parliamentary debate on reforms designed to make it easier for companies to sack employees and raise the retirement age.

Greece has had to agree to sweeping austerity measures in return for help to meet its sovereign debts.

The country avoided bankruptcy last month only after receiving the first instalment of a 110 billion euro emergency loan package from the EU and International Monetary Fund (IMF). >>> David Charter, Europe Correspondent | Tuesday, June 29, 2010
La rigueur met les LibDems en position difficile

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Le ministre des Finances conservateur, George Osborne, a annoncé des mesures drastiques. Photo : Le Figaro

LE FIGARO: Le plan d'austérité présenté par le chef du gouvernement britannique fragilise sa coalition.

La politique de rigueur mise en place par le gouvernement de David Cameron provoque déjà des tensions au sein de la coalition organisée avec les libéraux-démocrates de Nick Clegg. Plusieurs députés LibDems protestent ouvertement contre les hausses d'impôts annoncées la semaine dernière par le ministre des Finances conservateur, George Osborne. Quatre d'entre eux sont même allés à l'encontre des consignes de leur parti, en proposant un amendement au budget qui rendrait inapplicable la hausse de la TVA de 17,5 % à 20 %, qui devrait avoir lieu en début d'année prochaine. Ces élus s'inquiètent de l'impact de la hausse de la TVA sur les foyers les plus modestes, et auraient préféré que les nouveaux impôts soient plus «progressistes », en faisant porter la facture sur les plus riches.

Le petit parti libéral-démocrate n'a décroché que 55 députés sur 650 sièges lors des dernières législatives, mais il est devenu un partenaire indispensable pour les conservateurs de David Cameron qui, avec 306 élus, étaient restés en deçà du seuil de la majorité absolue. Pendant toute la campagne, et lors des négociations de coalition avec les tories, le groupe de Nick Clegg a avancé un programme fiscal progressiste, insistant sur la nécessité de rendre les impôts «plus justes », en allégeant le fardeau des revenus modestes. La semaine dernière, le groupe d'analyse Institute for Fiscal Studies a commenté que la hausse de la TVA allait avoir un impact plus sensible pour les plus pauvres et a qualifié le budget de «plutôt réactionnaire ». >>> Par Cyrille Vanlerberghe | Mardi 29 Juin 2010

one of my favorites...

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

New York Times v. Google, Twitter in TheFlyonTheWall.com "hot news" case

Google and Twitter taking on the NYTimes
While Arthur O. Sulzberger, Chairman and Publisher of The New York Times, holds that Google is the NYTimes "friend" and they have a good working relationship - even to the point of hounding SFGate.com regarding this blogger's claims to the contrary - a recent Amici or "friend of the court" brief filed by the New York Times and other large news organizations openly attacks the work of online news aggregators like Google News.

If the New York Times likes Google so much, why would it attach itself to the friend of the court brief?

The backstory is the Barclay's Capital v. TheFlyOnTheWall.com case. In that case, New Jersey-based TheFlyOnTheWall.com was accused of taking information on bank upgrades and downgrades of stocks that was originally produced by Barclays and the other banks involved in the copyright infringement lawsuit lawsuit.

Barclays holds that TheFlyOnTheWall.com website “systematically and impermissibly accesses” its proprietary equity research and does none of its own. Barclays and the banks enjoined in the lawsuit, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc., contend their information is "hot news" and "that the regular, systematic, and timely taking and redistribution of their recommendations constitutes misappropriation, which is a violation of the New York common law of unfair competition," as the case reads.

Case was bounced around before

The Barclay's Capital v. TheFlyOnTheWall.com case originally started in June 26, 2006 and then reassigned to the court of U.S. District Judge Denise Cote on June 8, 2009, according to the case document presented in the link above. It never became a jury trial because Barclays and it's banking partners elected to waive a damages claim, and perhaps they reasoned a jury trial could go against them. Summary judgment motions that would have ended the case by tossing it out of court were denied on November 6, 2009; the case was set for a March 8th 2010 bench trial.

Copywrite claims and "Hot-News"

As part of the process of the original 2006 lawsuit against TheFlyOnTheWall.com (or "Fly") that company signed a confidentiality agreement and claimed the information on Barclay's and Merill's recommendations were coming from analyst and broker sources inside those banks's research departments which created the information. Barclay's claimed to end that pipeline of information and settlement talks started over statutory damages, which are much less that any a trial jury would be asked to evaluate. Fly agrees that it committed copyright infringement but that it is not liable for what is called a "Hot-News" misappropriation.

The basis for the "Hot-News" concept is a 1918 case called International News Service v. Associated Press. In that case, the AP reported World War 1 stories from Europe at its own expense and that the International News Service got from the AP by "copying AP’s stories from bulletin boards and early editions of newspapers printed by AP’s eastern affiliates" according to the Barclay's case text.

The International News Service then sent those stories to The West Coast where it sold the news stories paraphrased as its own story. The Associated Press got a permanent injunction blocking the International News Service from the Court of Appeals, after losing the original case decision.

The Supreme Court supported the Court of Appeals ruling under the view that the AP spent money and worked to make the story that the INS then used as the basis for its own news sales. In other words, INS made money off the AP's initial work, even though it was not a direct copy, and did no original work of its own.

You can see where this can apply to the modern Internet news debate. It's the reason The New York Times and Gannett (which owns USA Today) jumped in and filed "friend of the court" briefs. If they can successfully reintroduce the hot-news legal argument it will allow them to sue Internet companies with glee.

But standing in the way of such a modern application is Justice Brandeis minority Supreme Court view of that time: “the general rule of law is, that the noblest of human productions -- knowledge, truths ascertained, conceptions, and ideas -- become, after voluntary communication to others, free as the air to common use.”

While the INS hot-news legal view was challenge by the Second Circuit court's Judge Learned Hand as not intended to establish a general doctrine, it still became part of state common law in several states, including New York. The most famous recent "hot-news" case was National Basketball Association v. Motorola, Inc. in 1997.

In National Basketball Association v. Motorola, Inc., the hand-held pager displayed NBA game action news as the games were in progress. The information that was sold by Motorola via its SportsTrax device and for profit triggered the hot-news argument. The NBA won.

The NBA "Hot-News" view is pre-Twitter

The major problem with the Hot-News view is that it comes from a time before Twitter and smart phones. Now, a person can sent a tweet about an NBA game in progress that is then picked up by Twitter and can be used as a news feed on a blog that gains revenue from ads placed on it. The fan-generated information was not produced by the NBA itself. No sports stats sheet needs to be obtained.

But arguably the person who created the "Hot-News" is the fan, and not the NBA. The NBA can't control what its fans see its players do on the court and report to others. Adding a "no-tweet" ticket disclaimer would be impossible to legally justify if challenged. That's like asking a person not to talk about a game it saw. There's a numbers issue: the NBA game itself is so large and reaches so many people that it becomes a public event, thus the information from it is public.

Now you can see why Twitter jumped into this issue with Google. Indeed, the problem in the Barclay's case is that the "size of the impact of information" was not considered. In other words, in the view of this space, information that can be agreed to impact a large number of people should be considered public and thus more easy to distribute, even if it's for profit. The profit-takers will eventually have such a large market they will reduce the price for the information. In fact, one can claim that's what the Internet is causing to happen.

U.S. District Judge Denise Cote's March 2010 Decision

In March 2010, U.S. District Judge Denise Cote established a creative injunction in the Barclay's v. TheFlyOnTheWall.com case that blocks TheFlyOnTheWall.com and other similar firms from releasing information from a research report not before four hours after the release of that report. TheFlyOnTheWall.com asked the appeals court to delay Judge Denise Cote's order while it files an appeal. This is where Google and Twitter are battling The New York Times, The Washington Post, Gannett, McClatchy, Belo, Scripps, Time, and the Newspaper Association of America, all of which filed a "friend of the court" brief that counters Google and Twitter.

The central problem with the Amici brief filed by The New York Times, et al, it is a direct attack on Google News. Page 25 of the brief reads:




One of the greatest concerns among news originators is inexpensive technology that allows easy aggregation of news. Aggregation can take many forms, including the indexing of fresh news content from one or more websites, by engines of various kinds. News stories are traditionally written to compress the key facts of a story into the opening paragraph. The output of indexing engines can reproduce the headlines, opening paragraph or sentences from originator news stories, and thereby convey the essence of the original news item. Even where an aggregator website or news application contains a hyperlink to the news item on the originator’s website, the risk remains that readers will find that reading the aggregator’s output keeps them sufficiently informed of the latest news. As a result, they may never click through to the originator’s website. If a significant number of readers find the news reproduced by the aggregator to be an acceptable substitute for reading the original story, courts should conclude that the two products compete in the INS/Motorola sense even though the two parties are not in identical businesses.


That is a direct attack on Google News and on the same process that Arthur O. Sulzberger himself has said gives a significant amount of traffic to The New York Times. I will go a step beyond that and say that Google does The New York Times a favor by in effect presenting it in Google News, and perhaps on more occasions that it had a right to have. Even if there is no click through to the website, the NY Times still has the benefit of being seen as the news producer.

Here's the full Amici brief from the news organizations:


APAMICUSBRIEF -

According to Bloomberg, Google and Twitter's counter is that...




"In our brief, we're not taking sides or focusing on the details of this particular dispute between the parties," Chris Gaither, a spokesman for Mountain View, California-based Google, said today in an e-mailed statement. "But we believe that the case raises important issues of law that could affect the free flow of important factual information online."


It's clear we're at ground zero of what will be an important legal battle that impacts the future of news online. In this, we can now see true colors of the The New York Times : it has an issue with Google, otherwise it would not have joined the Amici brief in the Barclay's case that attacks news aggregators.  Perhaps the NYTimes thought it was making a sneak attack; not any more.

Stay tuned.

War News for Tuesday, June 29, 2010

The DoD is reporting the death of Pfc. Robert K. L. Repkie who died from a non-combat related incident at Forward Operating Base Farah, Farah province, Afghanistan on Thursday, June 24th.


Protest in Kabul against NATO forces in Afghanistan turns violent

100 soldiers die in Afghanistan in June

11,000 Afghan bound NATO containers with goods worth 220 bln

With Shift in Afghanistan, Talk Turns to Exit

Both houses of Congress to debate war


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: An Iraqi army officer was killed when a bomb attached to his car exploded in Kazimiyah, the primarily Shiite district north of Baghdad, police and hospital officials said.

A brigadier general in the Iraqi army was killed when a bomb attached to his car exploded in northwestern Baghdad in the Kadhumiya neighborhood, Interior Ministry officials said.

#2: They said a civilian was also killed in a similar attack when a bomb attached to his car detonated in Hurriyah, another mainly Shiite district in the north of the capital.

One civilian was killed on Tuesday and two others were wounded when a sticky bomb went off in northern Baghdad.

#3: In the Dora neighborhood in southern Baghdad, a car explosion killed one civilian and wounded four others.

#4: Police forces on Tuesday defused a roadside bomb in central Baghdad, without causing any casualties. “The bomb was found and defused in the al-Rasheed Street, central Baghdad,” a local security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Abu Ghraib:
#1: At least five people were seriously injured by a bomb attack on an Iraqi policeman's home in the city of Abu Ghraib, just west of the capital of Baghdad, police said. Gunmen attacked the home of a police officer with explosive devices at dawn, leaving him, his wife, and three of their children seriously injured. They have been taken to a hospital for treatment.


Baiji:
#1: Four policemen have been killed in one of a series of fatal attacks in Iraq, officials said. The officers died and seven civilians were wounded when an explosives-laden car detonated next to a police patrol in the town of Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad.

"Among those killed was Lieutenant Colonel Hussein Ahmed Hussein, the head of the intelligence department of the police of Baiji, and a tribal leader," a police source in Baiji said, asking not to be identified.

#2: In a separate incident, police said gunmen opened fire on an oil truck travelling on a highway just outside Beiji, killing its driver.

#3: Separately, fire fighters were able to put out a fire caused by an attack on an oil pipeline carrying oil from Bayji to the area of Rashidiya. "A pipeline carrying crude oil in the area of Bayji was attacked by militants with explosives. Thirty fire brigade teams participated in putting out the fire," Qassem Atta, a military spokesperson, said in a press statement.


Irbil Prv:
#1: Turkish warplanes have bombarded northern Iraq as Ankara pushes forward with its campaign against the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) terrorist group. The attacks targeted the Sidakan district of Arbil province in the mountainous northeast of Iraq. "The bombing targeted Kurdish nomads in the border area," PKK spokesman Ahmed Denis said of Monday's air raids, AFP reported. "We don't yet know the extent of the damage or casualties."


Mosul:
#1: An Iraqi soldier was wounded on Monday in a car bomb explosion in north of Mosul, according to a security source. “A car crammed with explosives went off near an Iraqi army checkpoint in Talkief district in north of Mosul, injuring a soldier,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: One policeman was wounded on Monday in a bomb explosion in western Mosul, according to a security source. “An improvised explosive device went off on Monday targeting a police vehicle patrol in al-Islah al-Zerai neighborhood in western Mosul, injuring a policeman,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: A police force found on Monday a body of a worker in eastern Mosul, according to a police source. “Policemen found a bullet-riddled corpse of a textile factory’s worker in al-Nabi Younis market, eastern Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A U.N. vehicle was shot up at a busy traffic circle in Afghanistan's capital Tuesday, and at least one person was wounded, witnesses said. The windows were shattered on the white pickup truck, with a blue U.N. logo painted on the side, and blood was spattered inside. The attack came at a time of heavy traffic around Massoud circle, an intersection near the U.S. Embassy and an American military base. Two people were in the vehicle, but only the driver was hit, said a man who saw the shooting. He only gave one name, Mirajudin. Mirajudin said he and the passenger of the U.N. vehicle helped pull the driver out. "I saw that the driver was shot in his eye," said Mirajudin, who still had blood smeared on his arms."He was bleeding from the eye and from the nose. I helped him and we put him in an ambulance."

#2: Suspected US missiles have struck a house in a Pakistani tribal region along the Afghan border, killing at least 10 suspected militants including a possible al Qaida operative, intelligence officials said. Two missiles struck the house near Wana, the main town in the South Waziristan tribal area, where the Pakistan army has been battling Taliban fighters. The house was believed to have been frequented by al Qaida members. Aside from saying one of the dead was believed to be an al Qaida operative, the officials would not speculate on the identities of those killed, but added that they included Arabs, Turkmen and Pakistanis. Four militants were wounded in the attack, the anonymous officials said.

#3: Two civilians were killed and two wounded on Tuesday when a roadside bomb struck a vehicle in the Khakrez district of the southern province of Kandahar, Zalmai Ayobi, spokesman for the provincial governor, told AFP.

#4: In the southern province of Zabul, insurgents attacked a security company vehicle in the Shahr-e-Safa district on Monday, killing six security guards and wounding five, provincial spokesman Mohammad Jan Rasoulyar said.

#5: On Monday, six policemen were killed by a roadside bomb that ripped through their pickup truck in the Bala Buluk district of the western province of Farah, said local police spokesman Abdul Rauf Ahmadi.

#6: A bomb blast also hit a motorcycle in Bala Buluk the same day, killing two civilians, he said.

#7: Elsewhere in Farah province, seven Taliban militants including a local commander, were killed, three wounded and two arrested after they ambushed a police convoy on Monday, provincial police chief Mohammad Faqir Askar said.

#8: A TVNZ reporter and cameraman came under fire from enemy forces along with New Zealand bomb disposal experts in eastern Afghanistan late yesterday. ONE News’ defence reporter Michael Parkin and cameraman Blair Martin – both of TVNZ’s Wellington unit – were travelling with the bomb disposal experts as part of an assignment covering the work their soldiers are doing in Afghanistan. The New Zealand Defence Force has described the attack as “sporadic and ineffective”.

#9: The assault represents one of the largest in eastern Afghanistan in the past several years and reflects growing concern among U.S. commanders and Afghan leaders that Taliban insurgents are seeking to intensify pressure in the east as troops prepare for a tough summer of fighting in the south. The U.S. and Afghan troops, flown in on Black Hawk helicopters, seized the mountainous high ground in Konar province's Marawara district in the pre-dawn hours Sunday and were soon attacked by a force of as many as 200 insurgents. Two U.S. troops died in the assault, and as many as 150 insurgent fighters were killed by the U.S. and Afghan troops in what U.S. officials said was one of the most intense battles of the past year. "Once the battle began, others from the area tried to maneuver into the area," said Col. Andrew P. Poppas, who commands a swath of territory the size of Massachusetts along the border with Pakistan. "This was a tough fight."

The Afghan army, police and border force made up about 60 percent of the attacking force and played a central role in planning the assault, U.S. officials said. The district subgovernor in the valley had been a mujaheddin commander decades earlier and battled occupying Soviet forces in the same mountains. "He knows the valley so well," Poppas said. "Our guys were on the key high ground before the sun even came up." U.S. officials said that the heaviest fighting in the district had ended by Monday morning and that U.S. and Afghan forces had shifted their effort to reestablishing the Afghan police and local government in the district's main village. "The tough part is still ahead," Poppas said.

#10: At least 11 militants were killed and another four injured Tuesday in a clash with Pakistani security force in the northwest tribal areas of Pakistan, local media reported, citing official sources. Militants clashed with Pakistani troops in Ghorogundi area of Central Kurram agency bordering Afghanistan. Three vehicles owned by militants were also destroyed in the military action in Central Kurram.

#11: A Danish soldier was wounded today by an accidental shot. The relatives are informed. The precise circumstances of the accident is still not clear, but it was a shot from the soldier's own weapon that wounded him.



MoD: Corporal Jamie Kirkpatrick

DoD: Staff Sgt. Edwardo Loredo

DoD: Sgt. Joseph D. Caskey

DoD: Spc. Blair D. Thompson

DoD: Spc. Jared C. Plunk

DoD: Cpl. Daane A. Deboer

DoD: Lance Cpl. William T. Richards

DoD: Pfc. Robert K. L. Repkie

Rescuers search for 107 victims buried in China landslide

Chances of finding survivors was diminishing Tuesday as rescuers used heavy machinery including bulldozers to search for at least 107 people trapped under a landslide in rain-hit southwestern China.

Villagers huddled in tents set up at the site as rescuers looked for their family members.

But there appeared to be tiny hope for survival, with no word on casualties or survivors by noon Tuesday, said Tian Maosheng, an official from Guizhou Communist Party Propaganda Department, who is helping with the rescue.

"The number 107 remains unchanged, and there is still no sign of life here," he said.

Homes were buried when the landslide struck the village of Dazhai in Guizhou province on Monday afternoon after days of torrential rains. An official interviewed by state broadcaster CCTV said nearly half a hill had collapsed.

Makeshift tents were set up as first aid stations and soldiers carrying villagers waded through water and mud as they evacuated more than 360 residents since Monday, CCTV showed.

Light rain on Tuesday morning held up rescue efforts, threatening to wash more mud down the slopes, but began to subside later in the day.

CCTV showed rescuers in orange overalls along a winding mountain road and later bent over a large mound of earth, tugging at large concrete slabs buried in it.

Large areas of southern China have been hit by flooding in the last two weeks, with at least 377 people killed and another 142 missing (not including those from Monday's landslide). More than 3 million people have fled their homes over the past two weeks, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

On Sunday, floodwaters began receding in the hard-hit south and workers finished repairing a dike breach that forced the evacuation of 100,000 people.

The large landslide is about 120 miles (200 kilometers) southwest of Guiyang, the provincial capital.
David Cameron: 'The World Doesn't Owe Us a Living

THE TELEGRAPH: Britain has no automatic right to prosperity, David Cameron has said, declaring: “The world doesn’t owe us a living.”

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Mr Cameron told business leaders in London that Britain has no automatic right to prosperity. Photograph: The Telegraph

The Prime Minister said many people are under the “delusion” that just because the UK has historically been one of the richest countries on earth, it will always remain so.

Only if we “reboot and rebuild” the UK economy can the country’s future prosperity be assured, he said.

Mr Cameron used a speech to business leaders in London to argue that the spending cuts and other changes his Government is planning are not discretionary political choices but essential economic moves to stop the country falling behind its competitors.

He said: “I think too many people in this country are living under the delusion that a prosperous past guarantees a prosperous future. But it isn’t written anywhere that this country deserves a place at the top table.

He added: “It was once said that freedom once won is not won for ever; it’s like an insurance premium – each generation must renew it. Economic prosperity is the same. Just because we’ve had it before doesn’t mean we’ll automatically get it again.” >>> James Kirkup, Political Correspondent | Monday, June 28, 2010

Giuseppi Logan Larry Roland African American Jazz by Suzannah B. Troy




http://5cculturalcenter.org/index.html
FYI, the food is delicious.  I had a fresh carrot pudding desert that was vegan and out of this world delicious and blueberry lemonade.

Don't forget to watch my YouTube series on Giuseppi Logan from finding him all alone in Tompkins to helping him reunite with his son for the first time in 40 years!

The miracle of Apple teaching me video and YouTube helped me work a miracle.




I filmed Larry Roland, a bass player who was playing with Giuseppi Logan giving Gisueppi a rest break with a solo performance.

Larry Roland read his poem dedicated to African American jazz greats, known and unknown.  Larry Roland told me when I interviewed him after the gig that "Jazz", America's Art form was kicked off by slaves.  Larry told me his concerns for jazz greats known and unknown some in homes, forgotten, with no health insurance.  He expressed a real feeling for Giuseppi Logan.  He told me jazz greats known and unknown are dying and their spirits come down...Dying quietly.

Larry Roland's poem: Poem all of the beautiful ones
Known and unknown 




Also please note Matt Lavelle is dedicated to Giuseppi Logan booking him gigs and playing with him as well as providing support and encouragement to "G" as Matt calls him.



I used the very cool new feature which I tap the screen and the camera switches to the front and I can myself as I film myself.  I am not blushing...we are having a heat-wave!

G20 Protesters Clash With Police

NYU higher greed by Suzannah B. Troy

NYU is branching out from being a community crushing real estate magnate to venture capitalism!  Crain's  reports NYU is launching their own venture capital fund

Dear Blog Readers:  NYU's president is John Sexton.  He ran down to City Hall to testify Mike Bloomberg must have a third term.  Let me translated John Sexton' who is paid 1.8 million a year plus real estate and other perks courtesy of NYU.  NYU has big financial deals and real estate investments -- huge greedy goals that good friend Mike Bloomberg and socialite mega millionaire Amanda the people's Burden will aid and abet and a mayor and a real city planner -- that actually cares about the people would have said "NO!".  No is a word that NYU can't seem to understand when the community says no more mega dorms, no more supersizing our neighborhoods, no to supersizing.


I posted this comment on Crain's website and see my YouTube on a letter I wrote President Obama asking the President of the United States of America to help protect our community from NYU and helping us to get community outreach resource centers in every mega dorm where NYU and universities copying NYU's real estate greed use the term, "community facility" to exclude the communities.

By the way I continue to ask if NYU's president, John Sexton can even vote here in NYC?  Sexton supported Mike Bloomberg flushing democracy down the toilet by denying us, the people a referendum so Mike could buy, steal, win a third term -- nice example for NYU students.

Parents of NYU students, visit 120 East 12th Street and see the facade of St. Ann's Church from 1847.   St. Ann's survived everything all these years except NYU's need and greed to build yet another mega dorm.

Here is the comment:

Good to know NYU, the evil empire, posing as higher education so NYU can buy up and displace as many people and small businesses as possible is expanding their endeavors.  Karma served NYU by hiring someone who was suckered by Bernie Madoff.  NYU could care less about the communities where they occupy and gobble up prime real estate.  NYU only has one focus "greed" and being a big business that uses "higher ed" as a tax shelter for "higher greed".








U.S. Treasury Chief Geithner Urges G-20 Leaders to Continue Government Spending

LOS ANGELES TIMES: The Treasury secretary, speaking at the summit in Toronto, says the global recovery remains fragile and that ill-timed austerity measures could derail gains. Obama meets privately with other leaders.

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner holds a news conference during the G-20 summit in Toronto. Photograph: Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Toronto — They smiled for photos and announced agreement on everything from nuclear containment to development efforts in Africa on Saturday, but world leaders gathered in Toronto have a tougher challenge as they get down to brass tacks on the best way to keep the global economic recovery from stalling.

Going into Sunday's meetings with the Group of 20 industrialized and emerging nations, the Obama administration was pressing leaders to stay the course they set more than a year ago to promote growth through government investment in the economy.

Spooked by economic meltdowns in Greece and elsewhere on their continent, European leaders came to those talks concerned about racking up a damaging level of debt. Their proposal of a punitive global tax on banks to fund future bailouts was meeting opposition from other nations but remained under consideration late Saturday.

But U.S. and Canadian leaders predicted that a common purpose would emerge before the G-20 summit ends Sunday, one representing a balance between economic stimulus and plans for deficit reduction.

"We have to find the right balance, and that balance is going to differ across countries," Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said. "But I think you're going to see a strong commitment again by these major economies to do what is necessary to make sure that we are supporting recovery and getting that balance right." >>> Christi Parsons, Los Angeles Times | Sunday, June 27, 2010

this seagull rules

Super-Notenbank warnt vor neuer Finanzkrise

DIE PRESSE: Die Bank für Internationalen Zahlungsausgleich befürchtet, dass die Staaten vor einem neuen Crash stehen. Sie fordert strengere Vorschriften für die Banken. Die Politik scheint die Rufe nicht zu hören.

Wien. Die in Basel ansässige Bank für Internationalen Zahlungsausgleich (BIZ) sieht die Gefahr einer neuen Finanz- und Wirtschaftskrise: „Was wir Ende 2008 und Anfang 2009 erlebt haben, könnte sich durch einen Schock beliebiger Größenordnung wiederholen“, schreibt das Institut in seinem am Montag veröffentlichten Jahresbericht. „Verbleibende Schwächen des Finanzsystems zusammen mit den Nebenwirkungen der anhaltenden Intensivbehandlung drohen einen Rückfall des Patienten zu verursachen und die Reformbestrebungen zu untergraben“, heißt es weiter.

Die Sanierung der Banken sei nämlich „bei Weitem nicht abgeschlossen“. Die BIZ gilt als „Notenbank der Notenbanken“. Da ihre Experten Daten der wichtigsten Finanzmärkte analysieren, die sie von den Notenbanken geliefert bekommen, verfügen sie über ein gutes Frühwarnsystem. >>> Christian Höller | Montag, 28. Juin 2010

Monday, June 28, 2010

And the European Parliament LUX prize goes to...

Yes, it's that time of year again: the European Parliament has announced its ten nominations to receive the prestigious European Parliament LUX film prize.

An EP press release informs us that:
The LUX Prize (in Latin, lux means light), was established in 2007, as a tangible symbol of the European Parliament’s commitment to the European film industry and its creative endeavours. No matter what individual, historical or social issue it illustrates, each film in the LUX Prize Official Selection gives a glimpse of Europeans — their lives, their convictions, their doubts, and their quest for identity.

To be eligible to the 2010 LUX Prize Official Selection, films must meet the following requirements: fiction or animation films or creative documentaries; a 60-minute minimum running time; illustrating or questioning the founding values of our European identity, Europe’s cultural diversity or providing insights into the debate on the EU integration process; productions or co-productions eligible for support from the MEDIA programme
Who possibly has the time and dedication to sift through at least 10 hours of films "providing insights into the debate on the EU integration process" we hear you cry.

Well no need to worry because the films will be shown in the European Parliament's Brussels premises from 26 October to 19 November. MEPs will then vote for the winning film, and the 2010 LUX Prize will be awarded on 24 November by the President of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

The lucky winners will benefit from financial support to pay for subtitling in the 23 official languages of the EU, and for producing a 35 mm print for each EU Member State or supporting the subsequent DVD release.

For some reason the press release neglects to tell us how much of the EP's €2.25m budget for the "Organisation of seminars, symposia and cultural activities" will be spent on this essential contribution to European culture.

War News for Monday, June 28, 2010

NATO is reporting the deaths of four ISAF soldiers in a roadside bombing in an undisclosed location in northern Afghanistan on Sunday, June 28th. News reports the attack was in Almar, Faryab province.

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from small arms fire in the Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand province, Afghanistan on on Sunday, June 28th. Here's NATO's release.

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers in a small-arms fire attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, June 27th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier in an IED attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, June 26th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier in an IED attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, June 26th.

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a U.S. soldier in a vehicle accident south of Ad Diwaniyah, Iraq on Friday, June 25th.


Robert Byrd, Longest Serving U.S. Senator, Dies at 92

CIA chief defends Blackwater contract

Pakistan’s Plan on Afghan Peace Leaves U.S. Wary


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: At least two police officers were killed and four others wounded in a double bombing in central Baghdad on Monday, the Interior Ministry said. The police were in Sheikh Omar area of Baghdad defusing a roadside bomb near a restaurant when a second one detonated, the official said.

#2: In another attack Monday, gunmen stormed a house in southern Baghdad and killed two women. Two men and two more women were wounded in the attack. The motive behind the killings was not clear.

#3: Another two people were wounded when a magnetic bomb exploded in Karrada, a busy commercial district in the capital.

One policeman and two civilians were wounded when a sticky bomb attached to their car went of in southern Baghdad. “The blast occurred late last night at the al-Sayyediya neighborhood, southern Baghdad,” a local security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency on Monday.


Kirkuk:
#1: A roadside bomb hit on Monday a U.S. patrol by southwest of Kirkuk city, leaving no casualties. “The blast occurred near the al-Nassir Village, 45 km southwest of Kirkuk,” a local security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: Iraqi gunmen killed two civilians in the main northern city of Mosul on Sunday. Machine gun fire felled one civilian outside his home in the overwhelmingly Sunni Arab west of the city, police said, without giving further details on the victim's identity.

#2: A second civilian was killed when gunmen stormed a home appliances store in the ethnically mixed east of the city, close to the ruins of ancient Nineveh, they added.

#3: The army engineer was killed and a second wounded as they tried to make safe an improvised bomb planted by insurgents in the Sahaba neighbourhood in the west of the city.

#4: A car bomb went off near an Iraqi army checkpoint, wounding a soldier, in northern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#5: A U.S. Apache military helicopter fired a Hellfire missile at three men suspected of planting a bomb, killing all three on Saturday evening, on a main road southeast of Mosul,



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: An Afghan police official said on Monday that eight civilians were killed in a NATO raid in the southern province of Kandahar, but the alliance claimed the victims were Taliban fighters. The military attacked two houses early Monday morning in Bagh—e—Pul area of Kandahar City, Mohammad Shah Farooqi, the deputy provincial police chief, said. Mr. Farooqi said there was no evidence to show that the men inside were involved in any “anti—government activities.” But NATO said its troops assisted by Afghan forces killed “a Taliban commander and several armed individuals” during the raid. "The Afghan—led security force went to a compound outside Kandahar City to search the area and was immediately engaged by hostile fire,” it said. “Afghan and coalition forces returned fire in self defence and killed several armed individuals including Khan.” One suspect allegedly involved in transporting bombs to Kabul was arrested, NATO added.

#2: Four civilians were killed and four injured when their minivan was struck by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan Monday, a police official said. The vehicle was en route to the capital of Ghanzi province from Andar district Monday morning when it was blown up by the mine, Khial Baz Sherzai, the provincial police chief, said. The four wounded were evacuated to a provincial hospital, he said. Their condition was critical.

#3: At least two NATO oil tankers were torched near Chaman in Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan on Monday morning, reported local media. The incident happened at around 8 a.m. (local time) Monday at the border area of Spin Boldak near Chaman, a city in the northern part of Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan, when some unknown gunmen attacked the NATO oil tankers and set them on fire. Police sources said they had arrived at the scene shortly after the attack was reported and firemen were still trying to extinguish the fire. No people were killed in the attack as the drivers ran out of the trucks carrying oil tanks, said police, adding the attackers had run away.

#4: A US drone fired two missiles into a militant compound in Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt on Sunday killing at least five militants, Geo News reported Sunday. The missiles targeted a militant compound on the outskirts of Miranshah, the main town in the North Waziristan area.

#5: Afghan and ISAF forces clashed with Taliban insurgents on Monday in an area of eastern Kunar province where both sides suffered some casualties a day earlier, officials said.

#6: At least a dozen of militants were killed and six others injured Monday in retaliatory actions when they attacked a security check post in northwest Pakistan's Orakzai tribal area, local sources said. The incident took place when a group of militants early in the morning attacked a check post in Dabori area of Upper Orakzai, leaving at least six security personnel injured.

#7: On Sunday eight militants were killed in the area. In Orakzai Agency, adjacent to Pakistani settled districts but not to Afghanistan, Pakistan army has announced victory several weeks ago but clashes between the security forces and terrorists frequently took place in the area.


MoD: Bombardier Stephen Gilbert

DND/CF: Master Corporal Kristal Giesebrecht

DND/CF: Private Andrew Miller

Con Ed DEP Gas leak hell NYC? by Suzannah B. Troy





See my YouTube from this morning that shows all the Con Ed trucks, DEP vehicles where it looked like a bomb dropped by the North West entrance of Tompkins Square Park which was closed off by the Parks Dept. for safety.

I wrote Dollar Bill Dan Doctoroff before the steam pipe explosion by Grand Central and alerted him to William Yardley's piece in The New York Times as well as my letter in AM New York the month before Yardley's piece concerned for infrastructure and safety.

I was told by DEP it was a water main break but in actuality a source told me it was a gas leak and the FDNY responded first.

Watch the YouTube to get more of a visual of how much of the street they are tearing up and for those unfamiliar with the area DOT is getting ready to pave 2nd and 1st Avenue but it will be a short term mess in my opinion because we have had too many infrastructure breaks and I don't think they root problems have been addressed so I believe the "new" streets will be looking like this one Sunday morning.


I have a YouTube documentary series plus NY1's coverage of a water main break on 2nd Avenue and 7th Street from 3 years ago and part of the intersection keeps reopening.


I am going to be repetitive because I am tired and I want your attention.


This morning the FDNY responded and I am told it was a gas leak. A DEP guy told me it was a water main break but I heard it was a gas leak. What ever it is it looks like a bomb dropped and this is Mike Bloomberg's streets of New York ever since he pushed a reckless, stupid, greed driven development to help his rich buddies and the construction industry but at the expense of the people of New York in way too many way.

We need more press coverage on this.  We need the press to make city gov tell us how many infrastructure breaks we have had since Bloomberg came to office in each section of NYC and we need to examine how we can stop what feels like another Bloomberg Titanic problem and finally put the safety of New Yorkers first.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0oiUtXoG5c

Yes this is the YouTube from this morning in case you missed it.

I don't know what else to do except hire a hot air ballon that says "Safety First!" stop the reckless tsunami of development mayor Bloomberg and for once put the people first.  Enough is enough!

Mike Bloomberg decided that the commissioner of DOB did not have to have an architectural degree or an engineering degree. Mike and the city have been sued on this issue and lost the first round. I am assuming the judge is a friend of rich developers and blind to how many deaths and injuries suffered by this Bloomberg's reckless tsunami of development.

As told to me BP over ridded their engineers advice and I get the vibe this was the same here in NYC.

More on that later.  I have heard some news and I think news reporters will be reporting more on this soon.

The East Village, Lower East Side looks like a bomb dropped and Cooper Union next zone buster has been put on hold for 2 years while the area around the building where I filmed a YouTube voicing my concerns for the safety of the community looks like bombs have dropped and Con Ed is also a main stay there.

The tsunami of reckless development was as stupid and greedy as what brought the implosion of Wall Street on and the streets are in the worse shape they have been in years.  DOT repaving them appears to be a wasteful band-aid because the infrastructure problems have not been addressed and as the old infrastructure problems keep busting open, Mike is pushing more infrastructure expansion but all of this -- old and new expansion should have been addressed city wide before the reckless development.

Go to YouTube and search under Suzannahartist and street conditions,  Suzannahartist infrastructure and you will also find my playlist on Mike Bloomberg' streets of NY including a fire truck on the upper west side, the front wheel falls in to a hole in the street that was from infrastructure problem.  I tried to supply you with links but who knows because there is so much and I am one person.  I even show you the subway station at Union Square with water on the ground from a pipe leaking with gauze around the pipe like a broken limb.

Mike and his developer friends only cared about their reckless development and not that the city was in bad shape and not able to absorb the development including Columbia University, NYU and Cooper Union as well as hotel and condo developers all busting through zoning and wanted the people displaced and cared nothing about our safety and the conditions of our streets, way lay beneath them and a rotted, dilapidated subway system where the stations are rotted and leaking and there are so many rats I call it the MTA Rat Circus for New Yorkers standing waiting for trains.

Welcome to king Mike's "new" hideous New York.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Mel Gibson accused of slapping ex-girlfriend by Suzannah B. Troy


Dear Blog Readers:  What I express to you in this blog posting are my opinions on a low life, anti-semite....
Thank you,
Suzannah B. Troy


Adulterer, liar, anti-semite Mel Gibson is back in the news again and it is not for acting like a good Christian.   Surprise!  Surprised?  Not at all!

Mel Gibson is Yiddish for anti-semite, low life.

Adulterous partners in sin, Gibson and gal pal,  have both filed restraining orders against each other  but Gibson is rumored to be the violent one here.    He got her preggers and had a baby girl while married which doesn't make him a poster boy for being a good Christian but apparently makes him an expert on Christ.   The girlfriend and mom of their illegitimate daughter accuses him of beating her up badly according to TMZ.



I don't mention her name because she is of no interest to me except that she is a victim of alleged violence at the hands of a rich, Hollywood brute and America's most famous  anti-semite who has done his best to spread his hate and propaganda message using his movie.  I don't mention the name of the high tech propaganda flick embraced by Rome which is very telling as well. 


Let's see....I believe, poster boy for the Church, Mel Gibson still is legally married to his wife,  who he has 7  children with.  The wife married him when he had no money or fame.  Do you think what's her name would have given Mel, the construction worker, the time of day?  I don't think so.

What's her name  accuses him of domestic violence.    Mel being the charming, classy guy that he is is rumored to be playing hard ball with her not only fighting the charge but filing a restraining order against her!  Mel the anti-semite, drunk, adulterer has never been one to step up to the plate and take responsibility.

Why should he?  In America if you are rich, a celebrity, a politician, "connected", you don't have to plead guilty.  The well connected have a special plea just for them..."no contest" something like that...it is a plea designed for spoiled rotten people so they don't have to plead guilty when they are as guilty as sin!


That is the American justice system blinded by money, celebrity, etc.

Classy guy, Mel the anti-semite and maybe the Pope will plug him as "Father of the Year"!   I would be happy to fly to Rome and discuss  this with the Pope why I think it is deeply anti-semitic and very disturbing for the Church to embrace Mel Gibson and his anti-semitic film.  True or false?  The Pope has an email and I emailed him this piece.  True.

How a vile, low life like Mel Gibson even could make an anti-semitic film  so over the top in every way about Christ is so "Holly-woo-woo-Babylon"  and didn't  a woman die of a heart attack  watching it?  The film was clearly too much for her.  Is that considered murder?


I don't care about these creepy people but if you do Radar on Line has an exclusive interview with Mel's ex-girlfriend, mother of his newest child and she claims to be the victim here.  I do believe her.  I just don't think she is a nice person.

I care about the oil spill crisis and the massive destructive effects including the mass murder of sea life and long range results.  I can't help but feel greed and stupidity are to blame for devastating effects people can't understand yet but when I read about Hollywood's most famous drunken anti-semite I have to speak up.

Mel Gibson's father is a Holocaust denier.   I would like to sit down with the Pope and discuss Mel Gibson, adulterer, liar, cheater and also Holocaust deniers like Gibson's creepy, vile dad.


And what does the Pope and Rome do?  They take a film by such a low life,  Mel Gibson, a man that forged his fortune selling sex, violence and used Jesus who was Jewish and to make an an  anti-semitic film! 

Mel Gibson being exposed as an adulterer and liar....do you think that was the first time?  If he did hit his girlfriend, do you think that was the first time he roughed up a woman?  Gibson turning around and blaming the victim if true...do you think that was a first time?  He has  been exposed for adultery -- I am sure that was his first time (not.) 

Mel Gibson likes to tell people he has Jewish friends.  I am so glad I am not one of Mel Gibson's Jewish friends.  I am glad I am not married to him.  I don't date married men although I have met men that pass themselves off as single when they are not but it is hard for Hollywood celebrities who are married to pass themselves off as single so Mel's newest baby's mama knew she was dating a married man and she and Mel in theory knew how to use birth control.   I would not want to be in a car with drunk driving Mel Gibson who makes anti-semitic comments to a Los Angeles Police Officer and gets away with it.

Mel Gibson is disgusting...He is worse than disgusting.  I am sure the little girl he had out of wedlock is the newest Mel Gibson victim based on his vile behavior and if someone made a film right now exposing Mel Gibson including how uses money and religion Rome would not be eager to embrace the Mel Gibson further exposed now as anything but a good Christian.  Mel Gibson is not qualified to make a film on Christ and apparently he is an awful husband and boyfriend and father.

Mel Gibson is such a creep and yet he can easily find people willing to kiss his rotten to the core ego.

Mel Gibson is a big mess and he has as much chance of cleaning up his emotional oil spill as BP but I care about the oil spill off of the Gulf, all the deaths because of it and the long range disaster as well.  I don't know how this happened and ditto for Mel Gibson making a proganda film on Christ that Rome would back but Rome also let pedophiles abuse innocent children for way too long.