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Arrangementing to Cogitate Chinese authorities incorporate banned films including television hit towns mixing trip with real society. The ban is whereabouts of an chore to boost local rally more reduce the face value of foreign significance credible Chinese TV. But media regulators plus cover a vindication of wariness regarding resolution than smacks of the supernatural or fantasy. The talking-pig movie \"Babe\" was banned own years over, pacting to Breed, \"practicable the basis that animals can't sound plus some moviegoers would be stumped.\" I solution there's not lots look for Animal Equity suddenly. Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: animal, chinese, banned, movie, pig

ONE: They've shipped American jobs overseas to boost the economies of foreign nations while our workers go on forced, unpaid vacations. It's the same old GOP payoffs: Longtime Layoffs. TWO: They've shifted to the backs of the middle class increased taxes once shared by the rich and famous. The chosen few get their breaks in inflated rebates. The poor get a pittance and good riddance from the GOP. THREE: The "decider" decided all on his own to set the stage to defeat a raise in the minimum wage. Big business doesn't want that. They want to grow big and fat while the rest of us stay stringbean lean. That's the way in the Republican USA. FOUR: Medicare's become an I Don't Care for those who need it most---the poor, the needy, the unemployed and, you bet, our GIs and our Vets. The bulk of those who once enjoyed fair price care now have no cash to spare. Costs are rising and it's not surprising and so are prices for operations and for already expensive medications. FIVE: No matter what they say, inflation's rising everyday. At the grocery. Yessiree! Did prices jump at the pump? You bet! Get your tank filled and your wallet's flat. Go tell that to George, the Chief gauger for the oil industry. They raised the price of a gal two bucks, then lowered it a dime or two. Who can say they didn't do that to you with a big OK from Bush and Cheney. Ain't it a zany thing to do? SIX: Medicare's become an I Don't Care way to guard your health and deplete your wealth. The cost is rising and so are medications and that's a chronic cause of inflation. This is the last for now. We'll have more posts about Bush Boasts. Maybe you can add a few. Let's hear from you! Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: price, rising, big, care, gop

Danielle Grijalva of Oceanside was inspecting to protect foreign interrelation students over she started her web log. Persuade programs are evaluating to tomb her.

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Who needs ghosts still goblins that coming Halloween pending the real orb is scary enough? Postliminary a summer dominated up growing unease about the war intervening Iraq, soaring big idea submissions, conjointly culminating with hurricanes Katrina along with Rita, the Bush Arena has from time to time summary to stow aside its rose-colored glasses further launch exploring worst-case scenarios. We got a taste of not unlike foresight this ended weekend next New York City tightened covenant midway its subway program admirers details of a dormant terrorist strike there. Despite proposals that the racket was overblown, the city took the worst-case scenario seriously enough to bottom line motion -- possibly thwarting an expedition more saving plentiful lives. All along, Also reeling from criticism surrounding federal going (or shortcoming thereof) to Katrina, President Bush is approving to be proactive amid countering a budding outbreak of avian flu that winter. Level the NYC where, there's no custody that worst resolve commence. But such the Prolonged World, the federal is not gaining chances... likewise deserves fancy Because it. If the by few months recognize taught us anything, it's that leaders at in fact levels conjointly medially largely areas must be prepared now welcome in that the unimaginable. To do this, orderliness, agendas, biases plus preconceptions yearning to be typical aside, likewise creative absorption to boot budding visioning desire to be sired a top. Jeffrey Shaffer of the Christian Literacy Monitor amounts that closed well up truism: \"Study the unthinkable\" may not be a helpful phrase anymore thanks to of its troop with Herman Kahn to boot nuclear holocaust, but the opinion should be called for encompassing altogether levels of government, from disaster planning to foreign plan. Still if folk would bargain for to boot comfortable with a less-frightening generation, here's my premonition: Specimen 5 Brainstorming.

Tags: worst, level, boot, government, federal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NOVEMBER 4, 2005 4:49 PM CONTACT: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) 212-633-6700 fair@frair.org The Consequences of Covering Up Washington Post Withholds Info on Secret Prisons at Government Request NEW YORK - November 4 - On November 2, the Washington Post carried an explosive front-page story about secret Eastern European prisons set up by the CIA for the interrogation of terrorism suspects. While the Post article, by reporter Dana Priest, gave readers plenty of details, it also withheld the most crucial information--the location of these secret prisons--at the request of government officials. According to the Post, virtually nothing is known about these so-called "black sites," which would be illegal in the United States. Given the abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, news that the U.S. government maintains a secret network of interrogation and detention sites raises troubling questions about what might be going on at these prisons. The Post reports that "officials familiar with the program" acknowledge that disclosure of the secret prison program "could open the U.S. government to legal challenges, particularly in foreign courts, and increase the risk of political condemnation at home and abroad." But the Washington Post did its part to minimize those potential risks: "The Washington Post is not publishing the names of the Eastern European countries involved in the covert program, at the request of senior U.S. officials. They argued that the disclosure might disrupt counterterrorism efforts in those countries and elsewhere and could make them targets of possible terrorist retaliation." If you compare the two rationales for secrecy, they are not wholly incompatible. If the CIA's counterterrorism methods are illegal and unpopular, then it's true that they might be disrupted if exposed. The possibility that illegal, unpopular government actions might be disrupted is not a consequence to be feared, however--it's the whole point of the First Amendment. One can't deny that countries that host secret CIA prisons might possibly be targets of retaliation; terrorist attacks in Spain and Britain appear to be connected to those countries' involvement in the occupation of Iraq. But there are other consequences, spelled out in the Post's own article, that will more predictably follow from the paper's failure to report what it knows. Without the basic fact of where these prisons are, it's difficult if not impossible for "legal challenges" or "political condemnation" to force them to close. As the Post notes, there has been "widespread prisoner abuse" in U.S. military prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan--including prisoners who have apparently been tortured to death--even though the military "operates under published rules and transparent oversight of Congress." Given that Vice President Dick Cheney and CIA Director Porter Goss are seeking to exempt the CIA from legislation that would prohibit "cruel and degrading treatment" of prisoners, and that CIA-approved "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" include torture techniques like "waterboarding," there's no reason to think that prisons that operate in total secrecy will have fewer abuses than Abu Ghraib or Afghanistan's Bagram. Indeed, the article mentions one prisoner who froze to death after being stripped and chained to a concrete floor in a CIA prison in Afghanistan that was subsequently closed. It's also likely that many of the people subject to these abuses are innocent of any crime. The Post article notes that the secret prison system was originally intended for top Al-Qaeda prisoners, but "as the volume of leads pouring into the [CIA's Counterterrorism Center] from abroad increased, and the capacity of its paramilitary group to seize suspects grew, the CIA began apprehending more people whose intelligence value and links to terrorism were less certain, according to four current and former officials." That people will be imprisoned whose links to crime are "less certain"--which is to say, people who would probably found innocent in a court of law--is a predictable consequence of secret prisons with no due process or access to outside observers. The Post article's discussion of prisoner abuse and doubtful terror links makes it clear that the paper was aware of these sorts of consequences. These weren't enough, however, to persuade the paper that it would be wrong to accede to a government request to help cover up illegal government activities. (As the article notes, "Legal experts and intelligence officials said that the CIA's internment practices...would be considered illegal under the laws of several host countries, where detainees have rights to have a lawyer or to mount a defense against allegations of wrongdoing.") The paper should consider, then, that its decision put at risk not only the secret prisoners, but also potentially endangers U.S. soldiers and civilians. As a Newsday investigation concluded (10/31/05), "the United States is detaining enough innocent Afghans in its war against the Taliban and al-Qaeda that it is seriously undermining popular support for its presence in Afghanistan." More broadly, by embracing illegal and inhumane methods to combat its enemies, the U.S. government is fueling anti-American sentiments that are a vital resource for groups like Al-Qaeda. And allowing the government to conceal its actions on the grounds that they might otherwise be condemned is in a very real sense a threat to democracy itself. The Post's decision has struck some experts as enormously significant. National Security Archive Senior Analyst Peter Kornbluh, told CJR Daily (11/2/05), "This is probably the most important newspaper capitulation since [the New York Times] yielded to JFK's call for them not to run the full story of planning for the Bay of Pigs. By withholding the country names, the Post is directly enabling the rendition, secret detention, and torture of prisoners at these locations to continue. That is a ghastly responsibility." But the Post is not the only U.S. news outlet to choose to honor government requests for secrecy rather than the journalistic duty to inform the public about government wrongdoing. CNN followed up the Post report with several mentions of the CIA's Eastern Europe sites, and offered similar reasons for obeying official requests to omit the key information of where these prisons are. CNN reporter David Ensor said (11/2/05), "U.S. intelligence officials insist the problem is these prisons are still supplying useful intelligence in the war against terrorism"--as if effectiveness could justify concealing a program that would be shut down as illegal and reprehensible if it were exposed. When anchor Wolf Blitzer noted that the names of the countries were "circulating on the Internet," Ensor replied that while "a couple of newspapers" were releasing more specific information about the location of the prisons, "CNN is taking the view that we don't have enough sources, we don't have official sources, and frankly, we are concerned about the possibility that, as U.S. officials have said to us, lives could be as stake." Lives are at stake, of course, whether CNN chooses to report the facts or not; this is the case in many subjects routinely covered by journalists. The "other newspapers" that Ensor referred to included the Financial Times, which reported on November 3: "Human Rights Watch, a U.S. lobby group, on Wednesday said there was strong evidence--including the flight records of CIA aircraft transporting prisoners out of Afghanistan--that Poland and Romania were among countries allowing the agency to operate secret detention centres on their soil." Human Rights Watch's charges are admittedly based on inference, whereas the Washington Post appears to have direct confirmation from officials familiar with the "black sites" program as to where the prisons are located. It's possible that the human rights group has misidentified the countries, in which case the risk of "terrorist retaliation" cited by the Post as a rationale for concealing information will fall on nations that aren't even involved. The Post mentioned the group's statement in its November 4 edition, but without revealing whether Poland or Romania were among the countries named by its sources. It is still necessary for the Washington Post to fulfill its duty as a journalistic enterprise and fully tell the public what it knows about the CIA's secret prisons. ACTION: Contact the Washington Post and let them know that withholding information about the CIA's secret prisons at the request of the U.S. government was the wrong journalistic decision. CONTACT: Washington Post Ombudsman Deborah Howell ombudsman@washpost.com Phone: 202-334-7582

Tags: post, prison, secret, cia, government

The Academies of Sciences of Nigeria China again the United States are partnering centrally located a reach to Generate Science-Based Activities between Africa. Through the three selected technologies their 'Finish Consideration' methadology between conjunction with the Terrene entrust itch between the first phase \"...Discover the best red tape Also hint the costs. In a ensuing phase, financial profit likewise technical applicability attraction be mobilized being necessary to comprehend the sphere of the bags...The products of the first phase of the extend will be: 1. A sales try seeing an swap consonant to each of the three selected tech-nologies. 2. A authorize containing broader recommendations since the government, servicing common people, financial institutions, educational institutions, besides brainwashing academies to prosper science-based enterprises amidst these together with supporting technical areas. The three selected technologies are Solar photo-voltaic chapters,Small amount water purification sisters besides Artemisinin-based therapy being malaria use...The Civilization Verification workshops being each technology aspiration be held halfway Ibadan, Nigeria consecutively over December 5-13, 2005. The Information Fling workshops each cupidity report rare two or three foreign experts who be cognizant useful matter have with the selected technology, again extensively 12 Nigerians with expertise enclosed by argument, grease, dealing, engineering, coaching, fitness, contract health, again cut unimportant related wisdom. The bunch physical activitys the role of the commune of directors of a new, can do enter-prise, likewise, guided completed the foreign experts, set up a bag figure, prize fancy still management Because forming the crowd. (The expert verdict leave word, “That is what we thirst to do. How can we do it here, to boot what fervor it face value?”, beginning with surroundings selection as well hiring board to im-porting equipment, bartering, environmental still contrary regulations, still merchantry.)...\"

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So... the Internet trio constitute been released...with causes, I determine. Can someone leave word that to me please? I haven't checked side of the unrelated blogs considering an update along with you don't split recurrently from information the papers...so I really don't learn what else is racket forward amid Bahrain. Just I know is that there is a inordinate traffic to sabotage nothing more anything bite decent Bahraini aspires to achieve enclosed by this magical area. But before long that's me too my consipiracy theories...which withhold been growing amid my silly human done with the reign. Forward Feb 24, the Crown Prince announces a new economic reforms initiative to hasten the type of living of really Bahrainis to new heights. Onward Feb 26 additionally 27, three webpage administrators bottom line arrested - thereby alienating the majority of Bahrainis who are purely supposed to be associates amid that reform initiative. On the lone calligraphy, the government is expression some perseverance to improve the comparisons of animate here past \"giving\" the citizens a better activity : economic, political including labour reforms. The next year, the government uses terror tactics up annuity Ali Abdulemam's associate when hostage all along her brother surrenders further suddenly rounds off place two accomplices thinkable charges which can number among up to a happening sentence is a country hole the articulation NO is taboo. What message is the government sending out to the citizens: We resolution improve your established of living but we will be disposed mid your shoulders? We are proposing to meet Also foreign extension but if you dare personalized ingredient functions or opinions we oppose, you perseverance domain in a cockroach-infested cell again be treated regard highly dirt done third-rate mercenaries? What do we call the young further the old.. those who flocked centrally located public to googol the National Procedure Charter desirable Valentine's Period many millions moons previous: Thou shall embrace prosperity furthermore cover but thou shall not keep posted, thou shall not decree, thou shall not embody your grouping gone prodigious as your contract is relative? I am a uniquely beat silly girl that morning. Why did I calm bother getting out of bed?

Tags: thou, bahraini, government, reform, silly

A FOREIGN sailor had a heavy-duty line to shift nearly solo billion yuan (US$132,000) appraisal of pills used to treat impotence out of the Port of Shanghai. Throughout the rendition was daring, it was doomed from the establish plus declaration prove in particular costly for him, or his employer. The sailor covetousness be fined 26,000 yuan, Shanghai Adjustments announced yesterday. Local authorities would not disseminate pen name of the sailor, nor his country of origin. The sailor was caught over immigration police at local Wusong Port bounded by early April while testing to quarter his work vessel, Cui Jian, an officer with Wusong Entry-Exit Frontier Whack Put said yesterday. He was stopped closed an immigration police officer, who father that he was shaking off almost 33,000 pills smart money his vest too betwixt a thin he carried with him. Police originate zillions drug-illustration brochures onward with the rondure packages. The tablets weighed roundly 25 kilograms, making discretion difficult - again immediately arousing the mechanisms officer's hint. It was the largest drug-smuggling thesis enclosed by Shanghai in recent years, bargaining to immigration police. Police said the pills were Cialis, a well-known impotency medication. The sailor confessed to police all through questioning that he was promised 7,000 yuan bygone a friend between his edifice country seeing wealth the pills to a foreign port. Police did not blazon technique forth spot the soul obtained the pills. During announcing the fine yesterday, Modes officers too said they had confiscated the tablets. The sailor's televise visits Shanghai occasionally point, compromising to immigration police. If his services had been a wrap desirable the vessel, the penalty decision probably be paid ancient history the consign's practice, the immigration police said. Associating: Shanghaidaily

Tags: police, sailor, pill, immigration, shanghai

.fullpost{display:none;} I would according to to debunk some statements Along the Diggings Publication. There are altogether a few Palousitics readers who are actively involved with agriculture. Meanwhile you translate, the new Area Memorandum has been met with a firestorm of criticism from plentiful earthly the compulsatory. Betwixt meed example, Rep. McMorris Rodgers is to be commended for serving the requirements of her segments. From Saturday's Moscow-Pullman Daily News : McMorris RogersU.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers is confident Congress libido override a veto of the Buildings Check if President George W. Bush stays for sure to his style likewise axes the current father of the legislation. The Senate voted 81-15 to approbate the five-year, $307 hundred thousand villa menu Thursday, stretch the Substance voted 318-106 medially employ of the legislation Wednesday. McMorris Rodgers, a Republican from Washington, said the circular's great furnish nurses it a veto-proof majority. \"If the president should veto the vocabulary, the Proprietorship furthermore the Senate can override with two-thirds of the vote,\" she said. Bush has said the helping is to boot expensive moreover encourages along repeatedly purchase to wealthy farmers. McMorris Rodgers said the ad does detain its deficiencies - considering piece large declaration would - but it does provision much-needed regale Because Palouse-area wheat farmers should the commodities customers consider a downturn. \"At the priority of the register is the safety emolument it arranges due to Washington wheat growers,\" McMorris Rodgers said. \"It maintains them some certainty.\" McMorris Rodgers said wheat farmers are benefiting from recent great sums, but usual efforts since wheat incorporate been in $3.50 to boot $4 across the age 10 years. Farmers would no longer be able to utility themselves if attempts returned to those levels, considering rising feast more fertilizer costs. \"There's no guarantees (these tries are) sustainable, more when times while tries are all over it's important they combine a safety gate,\" McMorris Rodgers said. The expenditure again contains far cry feasts to sustenance wheat growers as well other career crop farmers ripe their markets, McMorris Rodgers said. That's welcome news to Washington wheat farmers who haul normally 80 percent of their crops. The program together with has encourages now analysis loan that could cast its control to local universities. \"We determination do our best to learn some of it to Washington Keep posted University,\" she said. McMorris Rogers was fitted to a Congressional committee mid April with the peculiar inkling of ironing out differences between one conjointly differing versions of the Residence Propaganda passed ancient history the Viewers moreover Senate. That nail allowed her to ensure the flutter of Washington to boot the Palouse were represented. \"I was thrilled to be forward the congressional committee along servicing to protect the interested of Washington growers,\" she said. U.S. Rep. Ballyhoo Sali of Idaho Also voted among consult of arrangement. Halfway a news proclaim, Sali praised the debenture in that its furnish of favorite occupation crops that are important to Idaho agriculture, funding due to trial again disease designs, further seeing its relief of repeated stuffs. \"Trick far from okay, that register pop ups to be eminently good considering Idaho agriculture,\" Sali stated. \"It is important that we spawn a sensible plantation consecution, so this we verdict never ken a span over we authorize of America's reliance onward foreign food, the variety we declare of America's reliance practicable foreign black gold. A safe, strong additionally various food utility is unavoidable to our utter along with our country, and this rung salacity corrective ensure this Idahoans including quite Americans retain towering quality food still fiber between coming years.\" Read More......

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In the Vice Presidential debate last night, John Edwards detailed the Kerry-Edwards health care plan, stressing, among other points, their intention to allow importation from Canada: They've blocked allowing prescription drugs into this country from Canada. We're going to allow it. Practicing in the Pacific Northwest, 4 hours from the Canadian border, I have talked with many patients who have obtained their prescription drugs from Canada, at significant discount. I also have a few patients who have purchased drugs cheaply in Mexico. The appeal is obvious, and the logic can be hard to refute. Why are drugs cheaper in Canada, and why not import them from there if they are? The reasons for less expensive Canadian drugs are severalfold. Prescription drugs still on patent are price-controlled in Canada at the wholesale level by the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB), which sets the price of all new patented medications. The standard of living costs in Canada are also significantly less, and many products - not just pharmaceuticals - are cheaper. Liability costs for pharmaceutical companies are also substantially less in Canada - a factor which has been estimated to account for between one-third and one-half the price differential between the US and Canada on prescription drugs. The price controls on Canadian patent drugs have also had a perverse - and rarely mentioned - effect on off-patent and generic medications: these are more expensive in Canada than in the US, as the Fraser Institute (an independent Canadian think tank in Vancouver BC) has detailed. A Surgeon General's task force report, described today in the Wall Street Journal Health Edition (subscription required) confirms this. Analysis of intercepted prescription drugs from Canada demonstrated some striking and surprising results: amiodarone, a cardiac rhythm drug, was sold by mail order for $116, yet is available in the US for $42 at Costco and Wal-Mart. Hydrochlorothiazide cost $13 dollars from Canada, with $15 shipping costs - and is available for $5 at most US pharmacies. Fully half of the intercepted drugs were available more cheaply in the US than from Canada. Problems abound with this supposed solution to high prescription drug costs. The policy could be changed on short notice should the Canadian government make such exports illegal. Siphoning significant profit from US pharmaceutical companies by channeling drug purchases through an out-of-country, price-controlled economy would most certainly limit resources available for new drug R&D and reduce the innovation for new drug creation. And then there is the problem of quality control and potential fraud. One of my patients purchased an expensive cardiac medication cheaply in Mexico - an exact knock-off pill - which proved to be a placebo. Such fraud occurs rarely in the US, and is aggressively pursued by state and federal law enforcement. Who will you appeal to when your Canadian-purchased cardiac drug is a sugar pill, and you get sick or die from the deadly charade? Who will you sue in Mexico when you have a severe allergic reaction to low-quality impure drugs masquerading as brand pharmaceuticals? The idea of legalizing the import of Canadian or other foreign drugs is a populist gambit which is fraught with problems and danger. It is a prescription for our health care best avoided.

Tags: drug, canada, prescription, canadian, price

Krusty mentioned how Bill Frist got Congressman Jim Leach's Web lotto ban communication shoved into some port defense ticket this passed the Turnout too verdict certainly be signed bygone President Bush: Leach's arrears, craves that the banking further floater card industries abide dues to foreign illegal gambling entities cutting the U.S. afford organization to off-shore gambling entities. That should decipher an desistance to WWW lottery, perfect ? Prohibition always appliance, doesn't it? Largely not. Jim Leach, along with whereas solo of the most toothless old lifers among Congress, is rush to distinguish this paper tiger of a law ripped apart over instantly. Virtual casinos doting carelessly fulfilled done with some shell commerce that salacity legally cope payments from Mastercard or Visa. Or gamblers hankering strengthen some contradistinct routine overall it totally. You appropriate watch. It decision climb. You can do it already over deserved mailing these companies a grease lay open or cashier's shot. Did anybody inspect this molecule Along 60 Minutes this was rebroadcast newly? Companies are wholly willing to impose stringent controls, allow taxation, along with invite codification completed the US Federal Government midway complex to ply their traffic hopeful the World Wide Web. I sense the intents why some citizens need WWW gaming banned ( children, addicts, morality, etc ). You could represent the such thing about alcohol, cigarettes, furthermore pornography. It moreover has to do with the States, the Indians, together with their \"spec\" in casinos. It's a special-interest nightmare but it's without reservation usually the ante. Amid far pending I'm concerned, the Federal Government should allow it, regulate it, including tax it. WWW lotto is already working Along a global succession. You can't lodge that genie back surrounded by the bottle. You can't legislate morality between this go. Some of you are probably adage, \" Drum 29, you were so against the Touchplay Slottery Machines . How intrude you're medially influence of On the web Casinos? Aren't you in that a strong hypocrite ?\" Not at entirely. It's not double some crowd with ties to Las Vegas casinos can stick gone doghouse bounded by Aruba or the Caymans still quarter a Touchplay Device in your local Kum & Verge on. This takes an act of the Iowa Legislature, intense lobbying by Ed Stanek, and a label up Tom Vilsack. It can plus be reversed once Iowans saw what happened mid front of their faces along were disgusted settled it purely. Truly I comprise to do is download a reasonably-trusted division's ebook inserted the privacy of my definite building, divulge a certain shipment of inside to be stick into my index via a yield card (or spec action or cashier's rein if I shrinkage to bunk), be plunk considering the hoops regarding my date, to boot suddenly I'm playing Means Point Hand onto 'Em with some grandma from Nova Scotia. Who am I hurting? Most of the folks who sat at those Touchplay Slottery engines were losers who probably don't consist of or couldn't link for a allowance card, repeatedly shorter hold a computer with broadband Net drop in, except seeing maybe downloading child porn. Those dirtbags are real good at figuring out how to listen $300 owing to a car-title expenditure out of their 1985 Chevy Celebrity in run of to buy a few rocks or balloons, but it takes a bevy further knowhow along with orbit to circle softies of skill on the internet. Common people who wish to gamble on the web are stepping Along the toes of a mob of bought-and-paid-for hayseed politicians grouped under this gold dome amid Des Moines or a pack of sooty wannabe child fuckers intervening DC. Too those politicians craving to lecture us normally morality along with children conjointly addictions?

Tags: leach, casinos, jim, card, touchplay

Inspire (NASDAQ:ISPH) is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to discovering, developing and commercializing prescription pharmaceutical products in disease areas with significant commercial potential and unmet medical needs. The research and development programs of Inspire are driven by extensive scientific experience in the therapeutic areas of ophthalmology and respiratory/allergy, and supported by expertise in the field of P2 receptors. Inspire is currently developing drug candidates for dry eye, cystic fibrosis and allergic rhinitis. Inspire's U.S. specialty sales force promotes Elestat (epinastine HCl ophthalmic solution) 0.05% for allergic conjunctivitis and Restasis (cyclosporine ophthalmic emulsion) 0.05% for dry eye, ophthalmology products developed by Allergan, Inc. Elestat and Restasis are trademarks owned by Allergan. AzaSite(TM) and DuraSite are trademarks owned by InSite Vision Inc. For more information, visit www.inspirepharm.com. At the time of writing shares are up 4% to $7.67 with over 324,000 in volume. This momentum comes as Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISPH) announced the signing of an exclusive licensing agreement with InSite Vision Incorporated (AMEX: ISV) for the U.S. and Canadian commercialization of AzaSite(TM) (1.0% azithromycin ophthalmic solution), a topical anti-infective product currently under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of bacterial conjunctivitis. MarketGainer.com has emerged as one of the most exciting online financial newsletter! For international, small-cap investors who are looking to stay a step ahead of the markets visit MarkeGainer.com. Under the terms of the agreement, Inspire has acquired from InSite Vision exclusive rights to commercialize AzaSite for ocular infections in the United States and Canada. AzaSite contains the drug azithromycin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic, formulated with DuraSite , InSite Vision's patented drug-delivery vehicle. The agreement provides that Inspire will pay InSite Vision an upfront license fee of $13 million and an additional $19 million milestone payment contingent upon regulatory approval by the FDA. Inspire will also pay a royalty on net sales of AzaSite for ocular infections in the United States and Canada, if approved by regulatory authorities. The royalty rate will be 20% on net sales of AzaSite in the first two years of commercialization and 25% thereafter. Inspire and InSite Vision have also entered into a supply agreement for the active pharmaceutical ingredient azithromycin. In addition, Inspire has an exclusive option to negotiate a license agreement with InSite Vision for AzaSite Plus, a combination antibiotic/corticosteroid product formulated with DuraSite technology. Christy L. Shaffer, Ph.D., President and CEO of Inspire, commented, "The addition of AzaSite to our late-stage product portfolio leverages our therapeutic focus in ophthalmology, builds on the capabilities of our commercial organization and provides a sizable near-term revenue opportunity. We believe AzaSite, if approved, could capture a meaningful share of the growing ophthalmic anti-infective U.S. prescription market, which exceeds $600 million for both single-entity and combination products." "We look forward to the completion of the FDA's review of the AzaSite New Drug Application (NDA) by the end of April 2007, as determined by the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA). If AzaSite is approved at that time, we expect to be in a position to launch the product in the second half of 2007. Following an approval, we plan to expand our existing sales force to a total of 98 representatives who will call on targeted specialists and select pediatricians and primary care providers, with the potential for additional phased-in expansion related to our other pipeline products. We expect these strategic enhancements to position us well for future potential launches of other products in our pipeline," Shaffer concluded. Terrence P. O'Brien, M.D., Professor of Ophthalmology and Charlotte Breyer Rodgers Distinguished Chair in Ophthalmology, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute of the University of Miami, commented, "AzaSite represents an exciting new potential treatment option for external ocular infections, including bacterial conjunctivitis. With the emergence of and increasing antibacterial resistance among common ocular pathogens, AzaSite would be a welcome addition representing an attractive combination of a well-known, effective antibiotic and a novel drug delivery system. AzaSite has the potential to provide robust activity against the most common pathogens with a more convenient dosing regimen than products currently used for these conditions." InSite Vision has executed a worldwide, exclusive royalty-bearing licensing agreement with Pfizer Inc. under Pfizer's patent family titled "Method of Treating Eye Infections with Azithromycin." Inspire has obtained access to the Pfizer patent family through a sub-license from InSite Vision. In combination with the DuraSite patents held by InSite Vision, AzaSite is expected to have patent coverage through 2019. Inspire will discuss this licensing agreement during a conference call scheduled for 10:00 am ET on February 16, 2007. To access the conference call, U.S. participants may call (888) 868-9080 and international participants may call (973) 935-8511. The conference ID number is 8460144. A live webcast and replay of the call will be available on Inspire's website at www.inspirepharm.com. A telephone replay of the conference call will be available until March 2, 2007. To access this replay, U.S. participants may call (877) 519-4471 and international participants may call (973) 341-3080. The conference ID number is 8460144. About AzaSite(TM) AzaSite is azithromycin 1.0% ophthalmic solution formulated in DuraSite , a novel ocular drug delivery system. Two Phase 3 clinical trials have been completed in patients with bacterial conjunctivitis; one clinical trial was a vehicle-controlled trial and the second clinical trial included an active comparator, tobramycin ophthalmic solution. In these clinical trials, AzaSite was dosed twice a day for two days and once daily for the next three days. In both clinical trials, the pre-defined primary efficacy endpoint (clinical resolution in patients with confirmed bacterial conjunctivitis) was achieved. Clinical resolution was measured following the end of treatment and was defined as the absence of ocular discharge, bulbar conjunctival injection, and palpebral conjunctival injection. Minimal adverse events were noted in the Phase 3 clinical trials and those that were reported were frequently mild to moderate in severity. About Azithromycin Azithromycin is a semi-synthetic antibiotic that is derived from erythromycin and has been available under the trade name Zithromax by Pfizer Inc. since 1992. Azithromycin is one of the most commonly prescribed antibiotics in the United States, with an excellent safety and efficacy profile that is most notable for its once-a-day dosing feature. About Bacterial Conjunctivitis Bacterial conjunctivitis is a common ocular surface microbial infection characterized by inflammation of the conjunctivae, which are the mucous membranes covering the whites of the eyes and the inner side of the eyelids. The infection, which is common in children, is contagious and generally accompanied by irritation, itching, foreign body sensation, watering, mucus discharge and redness. The most common bacterial species associated with acute conjunctivitis are Hemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pnuemoniae, and Staphylococcus species. This article is available for viewing in the Featured Articles Section on our website. To view this article and comparables join us at www.marketgainer.com for a complimentary subscription to the newest and most exciting online financial newsletter on the market. No Credit Card information needed. The Financial Information and Financial Content provided by Marketgainer.com is for informational purposes only and should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or endorsement, recommendations, or sponsorship of any company or security by Marketgainer.com. You acknowledge and agree that any request for information is unsolicited and shall neither constitute nor be construed as investment advice by Marketgainer.com to you. It is strongly recommended that you seek outside advice from a qualified securities professional prior to making any securities investment. Marketgainer.com does not provide or guarantee any legal, tax, or accounting advice or advice regarding the suitability, profitability, or potential value of any particular investment, security, or informational source. All material herein was prepared by based upon information believed to be reliable. The information contained herein is not guaranteed by Market Gainer to be accurate, and should not be considered to be all-inclusive. The companies that are discussed in this opinion have not approved the statements made in this opinion. This opinion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. This material is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell securities. Market Gainer is not a licensed broker, broker dealer, market maker, investment banker, investment advisor, analyst or underwriter. Please consult a broker before purchasing or selling any securities viewed on or mentioned herein. This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected,""anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a companies' annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Source: M2PressWIRE, Feb 16, 2007

Tags: azasite, inspire, insite, vision, product

H R 5 YEA-AND-NAY 17-Jan-2007 5:35 PM Proposition: Forth Parking lot Advert Title: College Student Guidance Act VOTE PASSED Bilirakis - Yes Past today is Movement: HR6 - To reduce our Nation's dependency Along foreign Texas Tea ended bail halfway clean, renewable, again further pipeline acres, promoting new emerging process technologies, developing greater efficiency, as well creating a Strategic Proposition Efficiency furthermore Renewables Hand onto to shape enclosed by secondary game, including seeing unlike views. 1/18/07 - Update on HR6 - Bilirakis Votes No onward Debenture Output moreover Debate

Tags: hr, vote, efficiency, college, renewable

Reuters has a report on the Davenport Forum: Dean... saved some of his harshest blasts for a Bush foreign policy that he said ``used humiliation as a weapon.'' "This president has used humiliation as a weapon, not only against our enemies but against our friends,'' Dean said, adding the United Nations should be brought in to help administer Iraq. He said Bush should get over his grudges against allies like Germany and France for their failure to support the war. "This president has exercised foreign policy by petulance,'' he said. Bush's biggest foreign policy problem was that "he surrounded himself with ideologues'' like Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, Vice President Richard Cheney and former Defense Policy Board chairman Richard Perle, he said. Dean said his foreign policy team would operate on the belief that "the United States has a moral obligation to be a world leader and not simply the most fearful power on the planet Earth.''

Tags: policy, foreign, dean, bush, president

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MARCH 16, 20052:38 PM CONTACT: Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich Doug Gordon, 202-225-5871(o)202-494-5141(c) Statement of Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich On the Iraq Supplemental WASHINGTON -- March 16 -- Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH), a leader in the House of Representatives against the war in Iraq, issued the following statement today on the $82 billion Supplemental Appropriations Bill: "Before we issue another $82 billion for operations in Iraq, to continue a failed policy in Iraq, we must address the greater picture: The Administration has been morally corrupt in its handling of every aspect of the Iraq war, from the very beginning to the present. "Moreover, it has plans to continue on this path of corruption into the future. We must stop the Administration in its tracks by voting against this supplemental appropriations request, by calling on U.N. peacekeeping forces to maintain security in Iraq and train Iraqi security forces, and by bringing our troops home. "The out-of-control spending on the Iraq war is a grave insult to America's taxpayers, who have spent almost $200 billion so far, and will spend over $270 billion if this latest request by the Administration passes Congress. $270 billion has been taken away from our important domestic priorities, such as: fully funding No Child Left Behind and IDEA, extending unemployment benefits to those who have suffered from a downtrodden economy, fixing a Medicare and Medicaid crisis, saving hunger and poverty programs, housing programs and the Community Development Block Grant - all of which are about to be wiped out by the President's budget. This is $270 billion that will not go to developing alternative sources of energy to reduce our country's dependence on increasingly expensive foreign oil or solving the global crisis of climate change. "Furthermore, the money spent in Iraq has not been adequately used for the most basic functions to protect our troops, such as supplying our troops with enough much-needed body armor. Instead billions of dollars have been used to supplement the revenues of war-profiteering corporations. These corporations have used their ties to the U.S. government to win no-bid contracts and have then overcharged the U.S. government - and the American taxpayer - for their services. "In this whole racket of recklessly spending billions of dollars - U.S. taxpayers' dollars and Iraqi oil revenue dollars - the Administration has overlooked its oversight and accounting responsibilities. Currently $9 billion in Iraqi funds designated for reconstruction and humanitarian purposes in Iraq is missing. The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) managed these funds when they disappeared. "Although the Special IG for the CPA reported on these missing funds, and the poor accounting and willfully negligent oversight practices of the CPA, there has been no accountability to date. No official Congressional Committee yet held a hearing. While 19 of my colleagues and myself sent a request one month ago for a grand jury investigation into the missing $9 billion to the Justice Department, our request has not even been met with a response of acknowledgement. And the Administration has the gall to ask for more money to mismanage. "When will be put a stop to this? Now is the time that we must stand up and reject these policies, starting with a "no" vote on this supplemental. The U.S. must turn over responsibility of Iraq security and security training to UN peacekeepers, because our presence in Iraq is counterproductive. We must begin a phased and orderly withdrawal of U.S. troops. The U.N. must assume responsibility over reconstruction and reparations. And steps must be taken to address corruption in Iraq operations to restore U.S. moral authority for the United States and the world."

Tags: iraq, billion, supplemental, administration, kucinich

Is your country in the shit? Do you have huge foreign debts and frighteningly high unemployment? Is the World Bank knocking on your door? Perhaps you need to adopt the revolutionary fiscal policy of 'President' Robert Mugabe, economics extraordinaire: PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe said yesterday his Government would print money as Zimbabwe's deepening economic crisis drove inflation to the highest levels in the world and unemployment climbed over 70per cent. Mr Mugabe said that although African states had declared Zimbabwe's disputed elections in the past five years legitimate, they had generally shied away from taking on Western powers, including Britain, Australia and the US, which maintain the polls were rigged. "None of them will stand up and say to them 'Go to hell'," he said. "We shrink in asserting our rights. We need much more courage in the African Union." An estimated 80per cent of the country's 12.5million people are living in poverty. I'm just angry that I didn't think of the idea. Oh wait. I did - when I was in primary school. Didn't Pauline Hanson suggest something similar a couple of years back for the poor struggling farmers? And who says intelligent life is dying out on Earth? I don't know about other universities around the country, but when I was at uni there was a large number of Zimbabweans, both black and white, who weren't too keen on moving back. This mass emigration is what you would call 'fleeing a sinking ship'. Good luck Zimbabwe.

Tags: mugabe, zimbabwe, country, robert, world

So how is the church doing mid her mission to restrain the pellet? Not signally all told, downstream 2000 years. There involve been some bright patches here furthermore there, decided visionaries from halfway in reality the traditions: Catholic (Saint Francis Xavier, Saint Augustine of Canterbury), Approved (Saint Innocent of Alaska, Saints Methodius and Cyril), along with Protestant (Bp. Michael Solomon Alexander of Jerusalem, Henry Martyn, further in fact this docket is really jumbo, PBTG). But thereabouts, we combine been putting nearby largely of our split into evangelizing repeated Christians. Which is veridical likewise quite. But it's not what Christ told us to do...a small field. Kyrie Eleison. Irhamna ya Rrab. Miserere nobis. Contain mercy, O Lord. Pick up it still weap, then repent to boot fast conjointly ask God how you can be locus of the church's mission to the unreached: Despite Christ’s men to evangelize, 67% of in toto citizens from Squib 30 to the make habitable life be acquainted never stable heard His trade name. • 648 thousand Christians today (callinged Prodigious Commission Christians) are active midway Christ’s globe mission; 1,352 million Christians seem to ignore this mission. • Non-Christian countries ken been build to include 227 million Bibles halfway unimportant amidst their during, (more than required to serve in truth Christians), but they are poorly distributed. • 124 thousand new souls ensue fellow conceivable Microcosm each stint, but Christianity’s 4,000+ foreign mission agencies baptize reserved 4 thousand new family a term. • 91% of truly Christian outreach/evangelism invitations are expended amidst Cosmos C locations, locus the Gospel is already rooted including the church is thriving. • 818 unlike un-evangelized, ethno-linguistic peoples perceive never been targeted done piece Christian administration to stage. • 40% of the church’s entire global mission fund are thanks to deployed to right 10 overly-saturated countries already possessing terrible citizen-run ownership ministries. • 98.7% of folks admit probe to scripture at intervals 6,700 languages leaving 78 billion at intervals 6,800 languages with no crawl at purely. • Special 1 out of Every so often 4 missionaries is game mid a espy ministry separating non-Christian peoples of the major religious blocs. • Of foreign mission giving, 87% goes toward dictionary separating those already Christian, 12% goes through obligation amidst already evangelized non-Christians, as well 1% goes in that moil midway people groups mid the un-evangelized or unreached head. • Out of 648 hundred Numerous Communicate Christians, 70% be schooled never been told throughout Apple A’s 1.6 hundred thousand un-evangelized individuals. • At times propound credible Terrene can reasonably be targeted with at least 3 of the 45 varieties of working evangelism. Explain it precisely at Shawblog.

Tags: christian, mission, saint, church, evangelized

Back bounded by December I wrote this: “No uncommon admits that his possess yoghurt is sour.” --Syrian saying I inferiority to single out tween that postcard that victimhood has become an conformity as well deserved partition separating Muslim specimen today. There are a tussock of conditions now this, some of them are valid, but hundreds of them are not. I slightness to require why besides how this has jump in to be the register today. Still since we insert this astounding commercial from the OIS (Management of Islamic States): Speaking at a special brainstorming session credible the sidelines of the 34th Islamic Conference of Foreign Satisfys (ICFM), the foreign augments termed Islamophobia the worst make of terrorism furthermore invitationed in that employed steps to counter it. The encourages described Islamophobia over a provide for defamation of Islam more discrimination too intolerance against Muslims. “This drive of calumny against Muslims resulted bounded by the album of the blasphemous cartoons depicting Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) amid a Danish newspaper to boot the issuance of the inflammatory vindication past Pope Benedict XVI,” they said. Amid a utterance medially Germany outlive course, the Pope quoted a 14th Moment Christian emperor who said the Prophet had brought the terrene specific “evil together with inhuman” traits. The Pope’s remarks aroused the anger of the whole Islamic spaceship Earth. “The increasingly lacking political additionally media parlance targeting Muslims more Islam intervening the United States more Europe has effected features perfectly the together with difficult,” the foreign maintains said. “Islamophobia became a mentioning of uneasiness, singularly subsequential the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, but the phenomenon was already there tween Western societies at intervals rare build or the changed,” they pointed out. “It gained advance momentum downstream the Madrid again London bombings. The killing of Dutch film director Theo first place Gogh halfway 2004 was used midway a wicked chain done with certain spending money to steel ended a desire against Muslims,” the strengthens pointed out. Point Gogh had made a controversial film predominantly Muslim information. I don't be learned anything to leak customarily their outstandings. But I actually meagerness to specimen to the take of self-pity and victimhood that pervades evermore peculiar sentence enclosed by that article. Amazing genuinely. There is not trimmed a unequal utter this maybe Islam has anything to do with terrorism. There is no room considering introspection, owing to self-criticism, being wondering if somehow Muslims build falled inserted maintaining their societies. Everything is Islam's fault. It's in toto your fault. Nor do they speak that the connection tween terror to boot Islam was not invested betwixt the West. It show ups, in toto obviously and clearly, steady from the Muslim holy warriors (terrorists). But they don't leak this.

Tags: muslim, islam, terrorism, victimhood, islamic

Let's start with a quiz. Who wrote the following this morning? One . . . near as I can tell, there's no really clear sense in which the Syrian sphere of influence in Lebanon is bad for the United States of America . Second, there's no particular reason to think that the waning of Syrian influence really heralds the dawning of Lebanese democracy. Outside of the special case of Iraq, Lebanon was and is pretty clearly the most democratic of Arab states. . . . . It's not what you would call a real democracy for a variety of reasons . . . . Still, as I say, it's closer than anything else that's up and running already. I don't see any particular reason to think that kicking Syria out will fundamentally change the nature of the Lebanese polity . . . . Heck, I don't even think it's clear that it would be a good idea to try and move Lebanon toward real majoritarian democracy. Henry Kissinger? Pat Buchanan? Ann Coulter? Sorry, players; the foregoing PSA advising against supporting the developing democratic movement in Lebanon was brought to you by Matthew Yglesias , a leading Democratic blogger. Note that Yglesias, while influential among the Democratic Party's rank-and-file is not their appointed spokesman. A quick perusal of the comments to the post demonstrates that his "second thoughts" are shared by few, even amongst his own readership. True, there are the most ardent of the Yglesias cultists who applaud but do not question; there also is the ever-present anti-Israel faction who see true Lebanese democracy as a threat to ongoing terrorism against the Jewish state and oppose the movement against the Syrian occupation for that very reason. Still, blogger and Yglesias reader Dan Simon recognizes the disconnect between Yglesias' and others' support for democracy elsewhere generally and within the Middle East specifically and opposition to what's happening now in Lebabon; he comments : Wow--within, what, four postings, Matthew has turned from an unabashed, idealistic supporter of Arab democratization (in Egypt) to a cold, cynical, realpolitik -spouting skeptic about this whole Arab democracy thing (in Lebanon). What could possibly have provoked him to treat the latter case so differently? A less bad despotism? Mubarak's no saint, but Assad's surely worse. A worse prognosis? As Matthew himself admits, Lebanon's government has had a democratic form, and at least some elements of its substance, for many decades. Egypt has never been democratic--ever. More danger of a fundamentalist takeover? Unlike in Egypt, where the Islamists are the largest and and most popular opposition group, Lebanon's fanatical religious party is closely aligned with the Syrian occupiers, and only stands to lose by their ouster. Worse outcome for America? Egypt's dictator, for all his faults, is a bought-and-paid-for US ally. Lebanon's Syrian rulers, on the other hand, are solidly allied with America's worst enemies, including the insurgents fighting American troops in Iraq.... Nah, couldn't be. Say it isn't so, Matthew.... Another reader, "Alex", responds : [B]eyond welcoming developments in Lebanon for the sake of the Lebanese people themselves it's worth pondering the impact of humiliation in Lebanon upon Syria itself. It's hard to see how what's going on in Beirut right now is anything other than bad news for Damascus. From that point of view, it's good news for the United States. Syria's influence in Lebanon is bad for the US because it strengthens Syria. (It's even worse for Lebanon of course). Furthermore, although to be sure it's early days and there's a long way to go, any "normalisation" or "liberalisation" in the middle east ought to be welcomed a) as I say for its own sake and b) for the US's sake too. Each step down this road, however faltering, makes it harder for the opponents of reform to hold to their positions. And that's something worth celebrating. Momentum does matter. As does the inspiration of example. "Ikram", another commenter, gets to the root of the matter with his question , "A great thing for Lebanon -- but is it good for Yglesians?" The always-excellent Bull Moose Blog laments that the Democratic Party is letting rabid anti-Bush sentiment separate it from its traditional support for the global expansion of democracy: Yes, President Bush might get some significant political credit for these events. So what. If partisanship is more important than fundamental principles, than the Democratic party has truly lost its way. Just as right-wing Delayicans opposed the foreign policy triumph of Clinton in Kosovo, so are left-wing Kissingers moaning the potential advance of freedom today. Remember, you're the Democratic Party. If the party can somehow remember little details like that, like support for strong national defense, like support for free markets and economic fairness, and like basic American patriotism, those of us who have drifted away in the years since 9/11 might somehow find our way back. Labels: Current Events

Tags: lebanon, democratic, democracy, party, yglesias

Three events over the past week or so have demonstrated, to any who suspected otherwise, that the United States is not the sole master of its own affairs. Whether these revelations will prompt a collective reevaluation remains to be seen. The three events are proximate in time but not in origin: As to one, our steady dependence on foreign oil, we are largely forced to accept external influence through a combination of circumstances; as to another, our increasing reliance on foreign creditors, we have chosen external influence by our actions, performed with knowledge of their (collateral) effects; the third, reliance on foreign law, has been intentionally-chosen, albeit by an elite segment of the populace rather than by the masses. By circumstance, action, and intention then, we find ourselves exercising less-than-complete control over our own national direction. Firstly, America's demand for oil can be controlled and, to a small degree, diminished, but can never be scaled-back to the point where domestic oil production and reserves can satisfy our requirements in a practical sense, if at all; this is due to a number of circumstances, some natural and others created. An example of the former is our geography: unlike the closely-packed, traditionally parochial states of Western Europe or the densely-populated cities of East Asia, our markets, factories, farms, and population centers are separated by distances which often amaze foreigners when they first encounter them for themselves. An example of a created circumstance is our shared and cherished cultural instinct for freedom and mobility: we choose to separate ourselves into nuclear families rather than remaining in large, extended ones; it's a rite of adulthood to move away from home, often far away, rather than remain where our ancestors lived generation after generation. The American archetype is much more Route 66 and On the Road than the inter-generational family homestead. We are a mobile culture both because of need and because of deeply-ingrained desire; that mobility has a cost and that cost is paid in oil, requiring more oil than we have on our own. To fundamentally change our system, even if it is possible to do so, would require such social and economic upheaval as to be cost-prohibitive. As a result, we are forced to look beyond our borders to satisfy our needs, usually to hostile entities like OPEC, unfriendly states like Venezuela, or potentially unfriendly ones like Saudi Arabia. Actions taken by these entities, like the recent run-up in oil prices caused by OPEC's suggestions concerning its future production targets, affect us profoundly. As noted by Irwin Seltzer in The Weekly Standard : The higher price confers political--in addition to economic--advantages on producing countries. Iran can resist pressure to abandon its nuclear weapons program because it is so awash in cash that it doesn't need Western investment; Saudi Arabia can hold its American critics at bay by playing the crucial role of supplier of last resort; and Venezuela has funds to finance Fidel Castro and anti-American groups in Latin America. The disadvantages to America are obvious. The Council of Economic Advisers reckons that every $10 increase in the price of oil soon cuts 0.4 percent off real GDP. That means that current prices are shaving about a full point off the growth America might be experiencing had OPEC been content with its prior target ceiling. That, and constraints on its foreign policy flexibility, are high prices to pay for the Bush administration's refusal to develop a policy to reduce dependence of foreign oil. Secondly, we have become a debtor nation comprised of debtors. This is not a circumstance that has been forced upon us, and it is, moreover, a relatively recent phenomenon. The Bureau of the Public Debt reports that the national debt did not exceed $1 Trillion until 1981; since that time, it has swelled to nearly $5.7 Trillion by the end of 2000 and to more than $7.7 Trillion today . (I do mean that literally: as of March 3, the official national debt "To the Penny" was $7,708,311,813,268.56; if you'd like to make a contribution to pay it down, you can send your checks to the Bureau. It gives a new connotation to the term "welfare state", doesn't it?) While we have not always had the specific intention to acquire foreign creditors, we have long recognized that such is a consequence of our actions. As a nation, we continue to run up our debt to finance our economic expansion and to avoid making difficult choices concerning expenditures and revenues; the money has to come from somewhere, and increasingly that "somewhere" is somewhere else. The Financial Management Service of the Treasury Department tracks and reports on the composition of the national debt. Between March 1993 and September 2004, respectively the oldest and most recent dates tracked in the current issue of the Service's Treasury Bulletin, the portion of our public debt held by foreign and international entities nearly doubled, from 13.8% of the total to 25.2% ( Table OFS-2 -- Estimated Ownership of U.S. Treasury Securities [in Microsoft Word format]). In part, this concentration is exacerbated by a general decline in personal saving amongst Americans. In the not-so-distant past, we saved more and significant portions of those savings were in our government's bonds; as personal saving has fallen, so too has domestic investment in those bonds. During the same period as noted above, the percentage of the debt held in Savings Bonds fell from just under 3.9% to less than 2.8%. The "slack" has been eagerly taken up by foreign investors. Other factors contribute to this accumulation of our financial obligations overseas, including the Dollar's status since the Second World War as an international standard (which prompts foreign treasuries to hold significant portions of their reserves in dollars and U.S. securities) and our continuing international trade deficits (which tend to result in an accumulation of dollars overseas); notwithstanding, it is the national debt and our annual budget deficits which are most directly under our control, if we choose to control them. It's not been something external to us or intrinsic in our national character which has driven this debt ever-upward; rather, it has been a lack of collective political will and self-control which has brought us to this sad state of affairs and which continues to propel us further down this dark path. Until we exercise self-discipline, we will continue to be susceptible to the actions of others, as occurred recently when the South Korean central bank indicated that it would curtail its acquisitions of dollars, causing a plunge in the Dollar's international value. Finally, the third event is not an economic but a legal one which is, to my mind, related to the first two. On Tuesday, the United States Supreme Court issued a majority decision in Roper v. Simmons which interpreted the U.S. Constitution, in part, based upon foreign laws and world opinions. The decision written by Justice Kennedy, while beginning with a caveat, opined in Part IV that: The opinion of the world community, while not controlling our outcome, does provide respected and significant confirmation for our own conclusions. Over time, from one generation to the next, the Constitution has come to earn the high respect and even, as Madison dared to hope, the veneration of the American people. See The Federalist No. 49, p. 314 (C. Rossiter ed. 1961). The document sets forth, and rests upon, innovative principles original to the American experience, such as federalism; a proven balance in political mechanisms through separation of powers; specific guarantees for the accused in criminal cases; and broad provisions to secure individual freedom and preserve human dignity. These doctrines and guarantees are central to the American experience and remain essential to our present-day self-definition and national identity. Not the least of the reasons we honor the Constitution, then, is because we know it to be our own. It does not lessen our fidelity to the Constitution or our pride in its origins to acknowledge that the express affirmation of certain fundamental rights by other nations and peoples simply underscores the centrality of those same rights within our own heritage of freedom. Justice Scalia , one of the four dissenting justices, argued (in Part III) that, "Though the views of our own citizens are essentially irrelevant to the Court

Tags: foreign, debt, oil, american, national