Category Archives: U.S.

International, U.S.

Bahraini Shia claim government, and Saudis, have destroyed 28 Mosques

“We will not keep silent on destruction of mosques.”-joint statement by clerics

Bahrain Center for Human Rights said that 28 Mosques, and 50 mourning halls, have been destroyed by government forces, and Saudi forces.  Muslim clerics have accused Bahraini and Saudi forces of sacrilege.

The Shia majority have been protesting since February 14, they want an end to the royal family rule.  Some of the destroyed mosques were located in Karzakan, Salmabad, Bu Quwah, and A’ali.

Protesters plan a big rally for Friday.  Husain Abdulla, human rights activist, says the United States does not want democracy in Bahrain, because the U.S. fears the people will vote the U.S. Navy out.  Bahrain is the head quarters of the USN Fifth Fleet.

International, Opinion, U.S.

Iran says U.S. & Israel behind regional drug trafficking

“The Zionists and CIA agents in the region assist drug dealers at Iran’s joint borders with Afghanistan. These [so-called] advocates of human rights have undertaken the task of investing in the production of industrial drugs from traditional ones and supplying them to Iran’s market.”-Mohammad-Najjar, Interior Minister

The drug trade from Afghanistan has resulted in more than 3,700 Iranian counter-narcotics officers their lives, since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.

The United Nations admits that before the U.S. invasion, the Taliban had actually reduced poppy production to some of the lowest levels in Afghanistan’s history.   Now, according to a 2010 UN report, Afghanistan accounts for 90% of the world’s illicit opium and heroin production.  What happened?  The U.S. used to blame the Taliban for the opium production, but the Taliban are no longer in power in Afghanistan, mmmm.

The United Nations also ranks Iran as have the best anti-drug enforcement record in the world.  Russia has also made claims about the U.S. being involved with the drug trade out of Afghanistan.

International, U.S.

Libyan government arming civilians, to fight NATO invasion

China’s Xinhuanet news is reporting that the Libyan government is arming civilians, to counter a possible invasion by NATO.

Most of the population in the western half of Libya supports the government.  It also happens to be the half of Libya with very little oil production.  The rebellion/civil war started in the oil rich eastern half.

The Libyan government accused NATO of intercepting an oil tanker that was operating for the Libyan government.  That act is not authorized under UNSCR 1973.


Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Chinese issue warning over U.S. government debt

“The U.S. economic fundamentals are not strong, plus there is expanding fiscal deficit and declining financial revenue. We are closely tracking the performance of U.S. government bonds and considering a further adjustment based on current conditions.”-Guan Jianzhong, Dagong Global Credit Rating Company

It wasn’t just S & P that reduced the credit rating of the Untied States, Dagong Global Credit Rating company also downgraded the U.S.  That’s important, because it’s a Chinese company, and the Chinese hold most of the U.S. sovereign debt.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei, along with several Chinese bank officials, urged the United States to adopt “responsible policies and measures” to protect the interests of investors (mainly Chinese).  The problem is that if those investors think they’re going to lose money then they’re going to start off loading their U.S. bonds in a big way (they’ve already been selling them off, slowly, for the past three months).


Idaho, U.S.

Firefighters from Yellowstone & Gallatin heading to Texas

Four firefighters from Yellowstone National Park and Gallatin National Forest were sent to help fight the fires in Texas.

The ‘Pipeline’ wildfire, one of many in Texas, is burning on the Big Thicket National Preserve.  The local firefighters were sent in because of a inter-agency request.  Officials believe the ‘Pipeline’ fire was started by people.

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Like your online Poker games? The creators are now wanted men, under a new law

“Our 1.2 million members are shocked and outraged. Many players cannot get access to their money. It is a confusing and concerning time for our members.”-John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players’ Alliance

Players can’t get their money because the online poker company’s bank accounts have been frozen.

Executives from online companies like PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker have been indicted by the U.S. Attorney General’s office for bank fraud, money laundering, illegal gambling and other crimes.

Three defendants were arraigned in federal courts in New York and Utah. Eight other defendants remain at large, and Interpol (international police) thinks they’re in Costa Rica, Ireland and the Isle of Man.

Costa Rica is the capitol of online gambling soliciting gamblers in the United States and around the world. Prosecutors are seeking U.S.$3 billion in assets from the three companies and have seized, or frozen, 76 bank accounts in 14 countries.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, made it illegal to accept or process payments in connection with “unlawful” Internet gambling, but did not define what “unlawful” gambling was. This is the second time arrests have been made under the new law.

Business/Economics, U.S.

Think gas is high now, wait ’till May. Or: How you can predict next month’s gas prices

Unleaded gasoline is traded on the commodity market.  That’s the price you need to watch.  Oil prices only affect gas prices indirectly.  Yes, as oil prices go up so will eventually gas prices, but for a direct cause watch refined unleaded gas prices (if you use Diesel watch Diesel futures prices).

Oil and gas are traded in the commodities markets as “futures”.  That because they are being bought in advance.  Example: Today’s unleaded gas “futures”, being sold in the commodities market, is for May “deliveries”.  So today’s “market” price of gas is actually for gas that will be sold at gas stations in the month of May.

What is today’s market price for gas? As of April 20, the closing price was $3.25 per gallon.  That price is not paid for by the gas station you get your gas from (and evil “speculators” looking to make fast profits).  It’s the price paid by the companies who supply it to the gas stations.  Of course they need to make a profit, so they’re going to charge the gas stations more.  This is why gas station owners, especially the independents, says they make only a few cents profit on every gallon.

Now, to explain how you can predict next month’s gas prices.

On April 18, the average “retail” price of gas at the pump, in the United States, was $3.84.   The April “futures” price was, on March 21, $2.98 per gallon.  That’s almost a full dollar difference.  You can see that’s not much of a profit split between the gas stations, and the gas suppliers.  But you can also predict how much we’re going to be paying in May.  It’s not good.

Current May “futures” are around $3.25 per gallon.  Add about a dollar for profit and you can see that average “retail” price at the pump, in May, is going to be around $4.25.  Ain’t no trick to it, just stop paying attention to the stock markets, and start paying attention to commodity markets.  What ever is the “future” price of gas that day, just add about a dollar to it to estimate what you’ll be paying at the pump in the next month.  This also applies to Diesel prices.  Also, if you live in the evil state of California, your prices are going to be much higher, due to federal, outrageous state, and even outrageous local gas taxes.  You might as well add at least two dollars onto the commodity market price of gas.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Former U.S. official supports my earlier posts, saying Libya is about oil & China

In an earlier posting I warned that the Libyan situation could lead to World War 3.  It’s all about not letting China have Libya’s oil.

Former U.S. Treasury official, Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, admitted to Iranian media, that the so called rebellion in Libya was about oil, and not letting China have it: “In my opinion, what this is about is to eliminate China from the Mediterranean. China has extensive energy investments and construction investments in Libya.”

Roberts says the real reason the United States wants Gaddafi out, is because he refused to join the U.S. created United States African Command, which was created to counter China’s influence in the region: “The U.S. is countering this by organizing the United States African Command (USAC), which Qaddafi refused to join. So that’s the second reason for the Americans to want Qaddafi out.”

Roberts says if NATO succeeds in Libya, Syria and then Iran will be next: “If NATO, which is now the cover for the ‘world community,’ succeeds in overthrowing Qaddafi, the next target will be Syria. Iran is a major target because it is an independent state that is not a puppet of the Western colonialists.”

Roberts warned that this could lead to World War 3.  He compared what the U.S. and U.K. did to Japan before World War 2: “In my opinion, what is going on is comparable to what the U.S. and Britain did to Japan in the 1930s. When they cut Japan off from oil, from rubber, from minerals; that was the origin of World War II in the pacific. And now the Americans and the British are doing the same thing to China.”

There is much more to the interview by Press TV

International, U.S.

Source of Iraq WMD claim, now says he lied

“Maybe I was right, maybe I was not right.  I had a problem with the Saddam regime. I wanted to get rid of him and now I had this chance.”- Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, codenamed “Curveball”

The man that was the source for Bush Jr’s claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, codenamed Curveball, has admitted that he made the whole thing up.

Curveball was interviewed by the U.K. newspaper, The Guardian.  Colin Powell was made a fool when he went before the United Nations, with a speech based on Curveball’s lies.  Curveball says he was shocked to see that the U.S. actually believed his lies.

Curveball (Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi) made up the story about mobile WMD labs. He claimed he actually worked in one. Now he says it was all lies.  As of today, April 21, 2011, no WMDs have been found in Iraq.

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

BP blames rig owner for Gulf of Mexico oil disaster

British Petroleum is suing Transocean for at least $40 billion in damages.  BP claims the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history was caused by the failure of every safety system on the Deepwater Horizon rig.

BP is also suing Cameron International, claiming they provided a faulty blowout preventer.

Transocean, and Cameron International are suing BP, saying British Petroleum caused the problems, by making decisions based on cost savings, not safety.

Transocean is also suing Cameron International, and Halliburton, as well.