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POPSObama Skips Anniversary of Fall of Berlin Wall, Sends a Video.....About Himself Did He Not Show Up Because It Wasn’t All About Him? Left-wing German paper Der Spiegel seems to have gotten that impression: Der Spiegel summed up as “People of the World, Look at Me”. http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,567932,00.html Even worse- Obama spoke about himself to the crowd: “Few would have seen on that day that… that their American ally would be led by a man of African descent.” And, of course, he did not mention Ronald Reagan or Margaret Thatcher in his speech.
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POPSEconomists Search for New Definition of Well-Being
"GDP has increasingly become used as a measure of societal well-being and changes in the structure of the economy and our society have made it an increasingly poor one," Stiglitz told the news agency Bloomberg in a recent interview. "So many things that are important to individuals are not included in GDP." In the model they unveiled last week in Paris, the academics recommend including other factors, such as sustainability and education. Significant Shortcomings Even the inventor of the gross domestic product measure, the late Russian-American economist Simon Kuznets, was aware that the classic method of computing GDP had significant shortcomings. "The welfare of a nation can scarcely be inferred from a measure of national income," he said in 1934. This is because the growth rate says nothing about the distribution of wealth in a country, the state of health of its citizens or their life expectancy. The number provides no information about the cleanliness of rivers or the amo
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POPSMitterrand refuses to resign over book The current furor was fanned by Mitterrand's vocal support for filmmaker Roman Polanski, wanted in Los Angeles by authorities who want him to serve a sentence for his 1977 conviction for having sex with a 13-year-old girl. Mitterand told TF1 he was "too emotional" when he denounced Polanski's arrest in Switzerland as "horrifying." Mitterand said that he may move to a more congenial environment, such as Ireland, in the near future.
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POPSObama’s French Lesson
newest provocation did not warrant the imposition of tougher sanctions. Do the tally. In return for selling out Poland and the Czech Republic by unilaterally abrogating a missile-defense security arrangement that Russia had demanded be abrogated, we get from Russia . . . what? An oblique hint, of possible support, for unspecified sanctions, grudgingly offered and of dubious authority " and, in any case, leading nowhere because the Chinese have remained resolute against any Security Council sanctions. Confusing ends and means, the Obama administration strives mightily for shows of allied unity, good feeling, and pious concern about Iran’s nuclear program " whereas the real objective is stopping that program. This feel-good posturing is worse than useless, because all the time spent achieving gestures is precious time granted Iran to finish its race to acquire the bomb. Don’t take it from me. Take it from Sarkozy, who could not conceal his astonishment at Obama’s naïveté.
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POPSInternational Leaders' Reaction to Iran Concealing Nuclear Facility The details of a story in the National Post in Canada (the only place I have found such details) about how irritated with Obama the French president, Sarkozy, was in the way he's dealing with the Iranian situation and their nuclear ramp-up. And it was clear that -- we read the quotes from Sarkozy and things that he had said (that, again, were not reported here in the State-Controlled Media in the United States)he clear thinks Obama is an idiot. He thinks he's naive and he was laughing at him, but he's also very concerned. Now, there is an editorial today in the Paris daily Le Monde. Now, listen to this: "President Obama wants a unified front against Iran, and to that end he stood together with Nicolas Sarkozy and Gordon Brown in Pittsburgh on Friday morning to reveal the news about Tehran's secret facility to build bomb-grade fuel. "But now we hear that the French and British leaders were quietly seething on stage,
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POPSAnger in France and Poland after Polanski arrest At least Reuters puts the blame on the "political elite". A U.S. arrest warrant has existed since 1978 for Mr. Polanski. It's no secret that he's wanted. He travels to Switzerland, which has an extradition treaty with the U.S. and gets arrested. The elites have a major panty wad. I guess that whole "rule of law" thing doesn't apply when an artist is involved. He played the system for 31 years and got a bit too arrogant for even the Europeans.
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POPSTOO MANY SECRETS Obama first learned of the plant as president-elect, before his inauguration Jan. 20, the officials said. Eight months...........and silence. And what else are they NOT telling us about?
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POPSIran's "Secret" Nukes "But the U.S. has known of the facility's existence "for several years" through intelligence developed by U.S., French and British agencies, a senior White House official said. Obama decided to gather allies to talk publicly on Friday about their view of the project so as not to let Iran have the only word, officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity to let the statements from Obama and the leaders remain the focus. The plant would be about the right size to enrich enough uranium to produce one or two bombs a year, but inspectors must get inside to know what is actually going on, the official said. The three leaders hoped the disclosure would increase pressure on the global community to impose new sanctions on Iran if it refuses to stop its nuclear program."
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POPSWestern Powers to Accuse Iran of Covert Nuclear Site The Islamic Republic has continually been criticised for its nuclear programme, with western nations declaring Tehran's motives involve the building of a nuclear arsenal, not the development of nuclear power stations. The news comes the day after the UN security council passed a resolution calling for an end to all nuclear weapons. Iran continues to be placed under UN sanctions following its failure to suspend its enrichment programme.
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POPSTaking a Stand Article was interesting. However, it switched gears a bit in the last half where the author hits on the other issues like UN Protocol and complaints from leader(s) about the UN Charter vs what is really taking place within.
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POPSSummits of Folly But the problem with this euphemistic approach to disarmament, as Lippmann noticed, is that it shifts the onus from the countries that can't be trusted with nuclear weapons to those that can. Is Nicolas Sarkozy, with his force de frappe, about to start World War III? Probably not, though he has the means to do so. Should Mr. Obama join hands with Iran and the Arab world in pushing for Israel's nuclear disarmament, on the view that if only the Jewish state would set the right example its enemies would no longer want to wipe it off the map? If that's what the president believes, he should say so publicly, especially since he's offering the same general prescription for America's nuclear deterrent. Of course what the administration wants is to set the right mood music for its upcoming talks with Iran. Mr. Obama would be better served having a chat with Moammar Gadhafi, who will be seated just a few chairs away at the Security Council: . . .
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POPSCarla Bruni Performs at Nelson Mandela Birthday Concert " named after his prisoner number on Robben Island. Mr Mandela’s brother died of Aids. Although it was perhaps unprecedented for a First Lady of a great power to sing at a pop concert, France appears to have developed etiquette for the event. Bruni did not hug " much less kiss " Stewart, either before or after their set, and barely swayed as she performed her songs. Her husband, sitting half way back in the glorious golden clam-shell that is Radio City Music Hall, clapped but did not budge from his seat when others rose. As soon as she finished her performance, the couple left to catch a plane for France " drawing several previously unidentified secret service agents out of surrounding seats. Her early departure meant that she missed the grand finale, when all the artists danced rapturously together as Stevie Wonder sang Happy Birthday to Mr Mandela. Stewart, who has been writing unpublished songs to Bruni’s French lyrics in recent years . . .
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POPSMother of teen is mad-as-hell about the Sarkozy, Obama photo Her mom added, "She is really skinny and only ever wears pants. Mayara is timid and ashamed of her body. This was the first time in her life that she wore a dress, and it was borrowed from a friend in the shantytown because she doesn't own one." The high school sophomore, who hails from one of Rio de Janeiro's slums known as favelas, had been picked by UNICEF to join the counterpart Junior 8 forum of teenagers because she stood out as a community volunteer. She shares a single room with her parents and two younger brothers and can't afford the bus fare to attend a good high school. "Why are they looking at her like that? This is a girl who is articulate and intelligent and just wants to do the right thing," the father said. "Instead, they are forcing her into a negative light."
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POPS Lofty Intentions President Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy trade places on a dais with "Junior G8" delegates. Although: not everyone agrees. Judge for yourself. http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=8049121
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POPSCaption This . . . . . . . . . . . STIMULUS 2.0 . . . . . . . .at G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy, July 9, 2009 . . . . . . . . Obama: "Mmm, mmm look at dat ass" Sarkozy: "Already forniquer it" ZIP H/T:Jason (via Flopping Aces) U.S. President Barack Obama (C) and France's President Nicolas Sarkozy (R) take their places with junior G8 delegates for a family photo at the G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy, July 9, 2009. http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/photo//090709/ids_photos_wl/r3356552547.jpg/
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POPSWeb filters to censor video games Censorship has failed to win support for actions against adults, so the govt makes an emotive effort to gain approval from those adults acting as parents. Once accepted in principle, the govt acts as if it has approval for the original plan. The games are rated to keep the sus ones out of shops because the parents buy them for the kids. Evidence says kids can develop wrong attitudes to such things as violence, so the govt can feel justified.
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POPSThe Little President From article: "Nicolas Sarkozy upheld our real values. He called the pictures of women and teenagers being beaten by Basij thugs on motorcycles "brutal" and "totally disproportionate." "The ruling power claims to have won the elections ... if that were true, we must ask why they find it necessary to imprison their opponents and repress them with such violence." "Chances are that behind the scenes the mullahs are promising Obama a glorious peace agreement that will allow him to parade his gargantuan ego around the world one more time. They are Persian rug sellers over there, who know all about hard bargaining. They've got his number: He's a pushover. Obama will trade personal glory against the freedom of Iran's people any day of the week."
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POPSDear Iranians: Don't Count on the United States Governments from Asia to Europe voiced concern about the violence that erupted Monday during rallies protesting the hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election, with US President Barack Obama saying he had "deep concerns" while also not wanting to meddle in Iran's affairs. But while some governments tried to avoid taking sides, Sarkozy said the unrest was a direct result of Ahmadinejad's failings in his first term. "The extent of the fraud is proportional to the violent reaction," said the French leader.
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