Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Cash-strapped states cut everything, except the grass
Click this link .... http://nalert.blogspot.com/2010/06/cash-strapped-states-cut-everything.html
14 Scary Facts About The The US Real Estate Nightmare
Image: AP
Unemployed dumping car leases
The unemployed are walking away from their car leases in droves as more laid-off workers see their jobless benefits cut off, reports LeaseTrader.com.
"Unemployment benefits have been keeping millions of Americans afloat since the recession began," said Sergio Stiberman, chief executive of LeaseTrader.com. "When the clock runs out on benefits, people still jobless look to find ways of further cutting their bills. The ability to transfer a car lease contract can save a person more than $500 each month while keeping their credit intact."
The company said the majority of its lease listings are in California and other high-unemployment states including Florida, Arizona, Nevada and Michigan. California's unemployment was 12.4% in May, third highest in the nation.
LeaseTrader.com noted the surge in listings coincides with the failure by Congress to approve HB 4213, a bill that would allow extended unemployment benefits through November.
One version of the bill was approved by the House just before Memorial Day, but it has gotten bogged down in the Senate in a disagreement over how to pay for the $100 billion cost. Unemployment aid is just one of a host of issues included in the bill that have delayed its passage.
The California Employment Development Department estimates more than 234,000 laid-off workers in this state alone have had their benefits cut off since the last unemployment extension bill expired in early June.
China military denies exercise aimed at U.S
(Reuters) - The Chinese military denied media reports that an artillery drill in the East China Sea was a rebuke of a planned military exercise between South Korea and the United States.
Analysts and a military officer said the live ammunition exercise starting on Wednesday that will close off parts of the East China Sea off China's coast over six days were routine and the timing was coincidental.
"The PLA artillery exercise in the East China Sea and the joint U.S.-South Korea exercise in the Yellow Sea are a complete coincidence," Li Daguang, a professor at China's National Defense University told the Wen Wei Po, a Hong Kong newspaper under mainland control.
"The outside world shouldn't read anything into this."
Li, a People's Liberation Army (PLA) officer, said the firing exercise was a routine one and "not aimed at the U.S.-South Korea joint exercise."
But the China Daily, the country's official English-language newspaper, said some analysts saw the announcement of the exercise as a "response to a joint exercise between the United States and Republic of Korea navies in the Yellow Sea."
The Yellow Sea lies to the north of the East China Sea, and the areas of the two exercises would not overlap.
China's Foreign Ministry said last week it was concerned about reports a U.S. aircraft carrier may join the anti-submarine exercise with South Korea following a standoff with North Korea over the sinking of a warship from the South.
"Though the Chinese government did not say anything about the drill, anybody with common sense on military strategy will bet that they are related," one expert on China-U.S. relations, Shi Yinhong of Renmin University in Beijing, told the China Daily.
The joint exercise that had been expected this month will most likely take place in July, although a date has yet to be set, the Pentagon said on Monday.
Washington has not officially said whether an aircraft carrier could participate, as some news reports have suggested, citing Pentagon sources.
Beijing has been angered by U.S. navy ships engaging in surveillance in waters close to China's southern coast.
Earlier this year, Beijing curtailed contacts with the Pentagon over continued U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, the self-ruled island that China claims as its own territory.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said this month China's decision to break off military-to-military contacts could undercut regional stability.
Gates said the PLA was the main obstruction in the way of improved relations, and suggested its position was at odds with that of the country's political leadership.
(Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Sugita Katyal)
On the developments in Kyrgyzstan
Two sister nations have been made to confront each other and shed blood as a result of well-planned provocations and plots designed and executed in a very professional way. These two nations have lived together as brothers and sisters throughout our history and shared the same homeland and culture.
It has been an additional sorrow for us to see that some media outlets both in Turkey and abroad have been reflecting these events somewhat differently as to how they really are in a rather one-sided discourse. It is in no way true to describe these events as genocide or ethnic conflict; approaching the unrest as such does not provide any solution and is manifest proof that those who assume so have been taken in by the provocateurs. Armed conflicts took place in downtown Jalal-Abad and Osh, where the provocations were staged. In the Nookat, Uzgen and Aravan districts of Osh, Kadamjay in Batken, where there is a dense Uzbek population, and in some regions of Jalal-Abad, there has not been any record of conflict or fight, and this only shows that all the bloodshed was a result of failing to remain firm against incitement. Both nations have been deeply affected, and there are casualties on both sides.
An article published on June 17, 2010, in Today’s Zaman was far from reflecting the truth about the unrest, both in its headline and content. The Kyrgyz citizens in Turkey and the entire Kyrgyz nation have been more deeply hurt by the fact that this article appeared in a newspaper that is notable for its principle of having an objective approach.
We pray for the lives lost, wish a speedy recovery to the wounded and patience for both of our sister nations.
We pray that the solidarity between these two sister nations may last forever in peace and that they do not fall prey to incitement again. We hope that days of peace and serenity come and bring bliss to our country.
Affinity and Culture Society of Kyrgyzstan
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