Archive for January, 2010
2009 Retail Sales: Largest Drop on Record
January 15th, 2010Via: AP: Retail sales fell in December as demand for autos, clothing and appliances all slipped, a disappointing finish to a year in which sales had the largest drop on record. The weakness in consumer demand highlighted the formidable hurdles facing the economy as it struggles to recover from the deepest recession in seven decades. […]
U.S. Military Mobilizes Thousands for Haiti Relief
January 15th, 2010Via: Reuters: The U.S. military is mobilizing thousands of soldiers, sailors and Marines along with members of the Air Force and Coast Guard for relief efforts in Haiti. Here are the main military components announced so far: WHO’S THERE ALREADY? * The vast majority of the forces announced for Haiti have not yet arrived, but […]
Haiti, Failed State: Gangs Armed With Machetes Loot Port-Au-Prince
January 15th, 2010Via: CBS: The earthquake aftermath has brought out the best and worst of the people of Haiti. Much like the days after Hurricane Katrina, looting has become a problem very quickly. The looting appears to be isolated to Port-au-Prince’s old commercial center. It’s an area that under normal circumstances would be filled with many shops, […]
Chinese Operation Against Google Involved Accessing the Firm’s Internal Intercept Systems
January 14th, 2010Via: Computer World: Drummond said that the hackers never got into Gmail accounts via the Google hack, but they did manage to get some “account information (such as the date the account was created) and subject line.” That’s because they apparently were able to access a system used to help Google comply with search warrants […]
Faber on Upcoming Sovereign Debt Crisis
January 14th, 2010Via: Yahoo Finance: After every financial crisis there’s a sovereign debt crisis, Marc Faber says. Countries that borrowed too much during the boom times start struggling to pay their competitors back, and eventually some of them default. The countries most likely to blow up this time around are the “PIIGS”: Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and […]
Dollar Crisis Looms if U.S. Doesn’t Curb Debt
January 14th, 2010What’s the problem? Can’t the Federal Reserve just keep buying up the debt? Via: Reuters: The United States must soon raise taxes or cut government spending to curb its debt, and failure to act will risk a crippling dollar crisis as investor confidence ebbs, a panel of experts said on Wednesday. “It has got to […]
Obama Regime Wants Record $708 for Defense Department, Plus $33 Billion More for War Escalation
January 14th, 2010Via: AP: President Barack Obama will ask Congress for an additional $33 billion to fight unpopular wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on top of a record $708 billion for the Defense Department next year, The Associated Press has learned – a request that could be an especially hard sell to some of the administration’s Democratic […]
Obama Staffer Wants ‘Cognitive Infiltration’ of Conspiracy Groups
January 14th, 2010The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information. —Henry A. Wallace, The Danger of American Fascism Sunstein’s paper may be downloaded here. Wow. Clip a clothes peg over your nose if you try to make it through that one. Via: Raw Story: In a […]
Goldman Pump Fake Sachs
January 13th, 2010Captain Obvious swoops low, smiles and says, “Glad to be of service! Happy trading.” Via: New York Times: For years, Wall Street whispered that Goldman Sachs profited handsomely by trading ahead of — or even against — its own clients. On Tuesday, a Goldman executive made an unusual admission that, in some cases, the rumors […]
The Children of Cyberspace: Old Fogies by Their 20s
January 13th, 2010After recoiling in horror as I read the New York Times piece below, I started to wonder… Is the command line interface the solution to this… phenomenon? And things like BASIC, LOGO and Zork? If using the machines from the command line doesn’t make the kids want to go run around outside a little more, […]
