Moscow to Russians: get more funky? July 30, 2007
Posted by treveskyn in governments behaving badly, signs of the apocalypse.add a comment
Remember the mammoths, say the clean-cut organisers at the youth camp’s mass wedding. “They became extinct because they did not have enough sex. That must not happen to Russia”.Obediently, couples move to a special section of dormitory tents arranged in a heart-shape and called the Love Oasis, where they can start procreating for the motherland.
With its relentlessly upbeat tone, bizarre ideas and tight control, it sounds like a weird indoctrination session for a phoney religious cult.
But this organisation – known as “Nashi”, meaning “Ours” – is youth movement run by Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin that has become a central part of Russian political life.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=471324&in_page_id=1770
Land of the entitlements? 75% of federal budget to be social aid! July 30, 2007
Posted by treveskyn in Politics, finances, governments behaving badly, taxpayer till death.add a comment
End of story? Not exactly. There’s also a less-noticed cause for the neglect. Washington’s vaunted think tanks—citadels for public intellectuals both liberal and conservative—have tiptoed around the problem. Ideally, think tanks expand the public conversation by saying things too controversial for politicians to say on their own. Here, they’ve abdicated that role.
The aging of America is not just a population change or, as a budget problem, an accounting exercise. It involves a profound transformation of the nature of government: commitments to the older population are slowly overwhelming other public goals; the national government is becoming mainly an income-transfer mechanism from younger workers to older retirees.
Consider the outlook. From 2005 to 2030, the 65-and-over population will nearly double to 71 million; its share of the population will rise to 20 percent from 12 percent. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid—programs that serve older people—already exceed 40 percent of the $2.7 trillion federal budget. By 2030, their share could hit 75 percent of the present budget, projects the Congressional Budget Office. The result: a political impasse.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20010728/site/newsweek/?from=rss
Where is Moshe Dayan when you need him? July 29, 2007
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From the Jerusalem Post:“A Golani soldier was nearly left behind in the Gaza Strip overnight Thursday after he fell asleep near the security barrier following a day-long IDF operation, Israel Radio reported on Sunday.
During the night on Thursday, the 51st Golani battalion concluded an operation in southern Gaza that left five gunmen dead and uncovered a significant amount of arms. Only after the soldiers crossed back into Israel did they realize that one of their comrades was missing. They began searching for him at their base, but soon discovered he had been left on the other side of the barrier.
At first, the platoon feared that he had fallen asleep as they were returning to Israel and no one had noticed. Sources in the Southern Command also feared that IDF observation posts would identify the soldier and draw fire. After searching for some time on both sides of the barrier, the soldier was located some 700 meters inside Palestinian territory. The soldiers who found him said he was exhausted and scared.
An initial IDF investigation found that the soldier had fallen asleep as the platoon was conducting its headcount. The investigation also found that another soldier had answered in his friend’s name, leading the platoon to think that all the troops were accounted for. Only after they had entered Israel and conducted another headcount did they realize their mistake.
Since the kidnapping of IDF Cpl. Gilad Schalit in Gaza over a year ago, the Southern Command has made great efforts to avoid a repeat occurrence. Their concern has been compounded by continued threats from Palestinian terror groups’ intent on conducting more kidnappings.
Even Hamas, which is now in charge of the Gaza Strip, has voiced such threats. In April, Khalil Abu Lailah, a senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, said Hamas would resume its efforts to try and kidnap IDF soldiers as a bargaining chip for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
“Hamas’s decision to kidnap Israeli soldiers is not just a threat,” he said. “For us, this is a strategic issue aimed at securing the release of all our prisoners from Israeli jails. Hamas has made it very clear that it will continue to kidnap Israeli soldiers until our prisoners are freed. By keeping our people in Israeli jails, Israel will lose more soldiers.”
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1185379030653&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
And this is how the FCC spends our hard earned money! July 27, 2007
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K-WHAT? Unbuilt Maui TV station lands questionable call letters
THE call letters KUNT have landed at a yet-unbuilt low-power digital television station in Wailuku, Maui.Alarmingly similar to a word the dictionary says is obscene, the call letters were among a 15-page list of new call letters issued by the Federal Communications Commission and released this week.
The same station owner also received KWTF for a station in Arizona.
From Skokie, Ill., comes a sincere apology “to anyone that was offended,” said Kevin Bae, vice president of KM Communications Inc., who requested and received KUNT and KWTF. It is “extremely embarrassing for me and my company and we will file to change those call letters immediately.”
| On the Net: » svartifoss2.fcc.gov/reports7/callsign.cfm |
He thanked your columnist for bringing the matter to his attention and pledged to, “make sure I don’t fall asleep on the job when selecting call signs again.”
One might understand how Bae’s eyes could glaze over during selection, as KM has some 80 sets of call letters and alpha-numeric callsigns for TV and radio stations in several states.
No KM station is yet on the air in Hawaii but its mainland TV stations carry programming from America One Network, My Network TV and the CW.
The call letter snafu was a source of great mirth for Bae’s attorney.
“I can’t tell you how long he laughed at me when he learned of my gaffe,” Bae said.
Broadcasters for generations have joked among themselves about call letters resembling off-color words or acronyms knowing the FCC would never approve their assignment — but that was before computerization.
KCUF-FM near Aspen, Colo. got its F-word-in-reverse call letters in August of 2005 and has been on the air since December, “Keeping Colorado Uniquely Free,” its Web site says. Uh, yeah.
Station officials could not be reached, but the automated pop-music slinger has been written about twice in the Aspen Daily News. The paper said radio regulators “blessed the call letters.”
However, assignment of call letters actually is an automated process, according to Mary Diamond of the FCC’s Office of Media Relations. Broadcasters use the FCC Web site to request and receive call letters with no oversight from Beavis, his partner, or any FCC regulator.
Dude, seriously. Even after years of concerns over broadcast indecency and the debate about fines for fleeting profanities that hit the air.
The Code of Federal Regulations allows applicants to request call letters of their choice as long as the combination is available. Further, “objections to the assignment of requested call signs will not be entertained at the FCC,” it states.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
