Blog @ MoreWhat.com

Oh the joy of reading reviews on the Dems debate. While some reports suggest John Edwards ’shined’ at this debate his numbers are so weak it helps the GOP side of things. Sure, plenty of front runners in the past ran out of steam in the early primaries and caucus events to allow a lower tier challenger to move up. But the odds currently do not suggest that Obama and Edwards would place first and second after the first vote or two. But those odds may improve significantly if Hillary Rodham Clinton’s performance this week becomes her norm.

While her campaign favors the ‘centrist’ view and strategy, Hillary Rodham Clinton is so far out in left field she bungled her response to the immigration issue. Specifically, giving driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants and in the ‘out of the shadows’ minefield.

Driver licenses for undocumented: Clinton stumbles
Baltimore Sun
Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York for the White House: Multiple-choice answers to the same difficult question. Clinton already suffers from a certain “if I …

“If I were advising Hillary, and I’m not, I’d get her out front tomorrow to give a speech about the urgent need to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, because there is no going back now. Either she convinces people she is right, or she is going to get destroyed on that issue in the general election.”

The statement above may be a stretch but there is no doubt HRC, aka, the Queen of Cringe will now have to direct attention away from her protected campaign practices that limit the discussion. Her strategy to act as if she is the nominee took a hit this week. And the recurring theme of her husband’s history and the word ’sex’ is floating around again.

He called Mr. Clinton “the best politician I’ve ever seen…. This guy can sell three-day old ice … He’s that good.”

But he noticed during a visit by the Clintons to the Fords’ Colorado home in 1993 that Mr. Clinton seemed overinterested in women.

“I’ll tell you one thing: He didn’t miss one good-looking skirt at any of the social occasions,” Mr. Ford said. “He’s got a wandering eye…. He isn’t very subtle about his interest.”

During Mr. Clinton’s impeachment hearings in 1998 over his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, Mr. Ford said he and his wife, Betty, had talked a lot about the subject.

“I’m convinced that Clinton has a sexual addiction. He needs to get help — for his sake. He’s already damaged his presidency beyond repair.”

From ‘Write It When I’m Gone, the excerpt above needs no help. But, you may recall that President Gerald Ford was criticized for pardoning Richard Nixon and received way too much press on some clumsy moments like tripping on the golf course. Surprising lack of grace for a former Michigan football player. Point is, many regard Gerald Ford as one of the most noble politicians to ‘grace’ Washington in a very long time. Honesty and integrity are popular terms used to describe this American. We could use more of that.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

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1. Republican National Convention Blog Says:
   October 28th, 2007 at 1:42 am Bloodrocuted…Task Force 1-26 engaged in Operation Baton Rouge, the battle to free Samarra, tells of an electrician whose identity gets confused with that of a dangerous criminal, and is then found and chased through a forest by mercenaries….
2. The Florida Masochist Says:
   October 28th, 2007 at 11:34 am The Knucklehead of the Day award…Today’s winner is Mark Waller….
3. The World According To Carl Says:
   October 28th, 2007 at 8:08 pm thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe
4. The World According To Carl Says:
   October 28th, 2007 at 8:30 pm The Office…Actually this has nothing to do with the sitcom of the same name but the actual workspace in my new (just about 2 months) job. I actually share a cubicle with another person (she works the day shift; I work the night shift) and was allowed to decorate …
5. The World According To Carl Says:
   October 29th, 2007 at 12:22 am Also thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe. […]
6. Conservative Cat Says:
   October 29th, 2007 at 2:25 am I Can Understand the Cat Thing, but the Bit About the Cars Has to be a Joke…A reader asked me to look at a Christian blog called The Christian View - British Baptists. At issue was an article about the satanic nature of cats. The article is, of course, nonsense. Not only does it refer to……
7. Woman Honor Thyself Says:
   October 29th, 2007 at 4:08 am CensoR T.V…like the good ole dayS…“Just turn the TV off”, they shout. Ah yes.
   Turn off the…billboards, the entire internet, the magazines stands, the window dressing at the mall……….and on and on and on.
   ……
8. » Defending the word Islamofascist… » Leaning Straight Up » Blog Archive » Says:
   October 29th, 2007 at 9:21 am thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe. […]
9. The Florida Masochist Says:
   October 29th, 2007 at 10:52 am The Knucklehead of the Day award…Today’s winner is Republican Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart….
10. The World According To Carl Says:
    October 29th, 2007 at 4:27 pm . Also thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe. […]
11. The World According To Carl Says:
    October 29th, 2007 at 4:27 pm Also thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe. […]
12. Woman Honor Thyself Says:
    October 30th, 2007 at 3:15 am Mos–ques have Terrorists?..Who Knew!…Uh. Huh.
    And our First Lady is busy posing in an ab–aya, the symbol of Izzlam’s oppression of women. Nice shmata Laura.

    ……

13. » Your tax dollars at work: 22 WA High Schools labeled Drop Out Factories » Leaning Straight Up » Blog Archive » Says:
    October 30th, 2007 at 7:33 am , thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe. […]
14. Big Dogs Weblog Says:
    October 30th, 2007 at 10:57 am Did John Edwards Cause this?…A Houston man killed himself rather than be evicted from his home after the loan company foreclosed on him. James Hahn threw Molotov cocktails at police and survived tear gas attacks and only took his life when police were moving in on him. Hahn stat…
15. Right Voices Says:
    October 30th, 2007 at 1:00 pm Available At Cafe Press: Points 2 Ponder…Here’s the the link to FAO’s store at CafePress.com. His motto is Points 2 Ponder…Simple Questions and Answers to Offset the Propaganda! Great stuff!

    Tons more to see, so please visit his store!

    Trackposted to Outside the Bel…

16. Right Truth Says:
    October 30th, 2007 at 5:58 pm The Hawks and The Doves…International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei said Iran is still “at least a few years away’’ from being able to build a nuclear bomb, and “there is still time for sanctions to work.” Senator John McCain of Arizona “singled…
17. Planck’s Constant Says:
    October 30th, 2007 at 8:10 pm Oprah should have helped US Blacks…Ms Winfrey once claimed that the academy would become a “model school for the rest of the world”, but is now seeing her dream unravel….
18. Prozac Diaries: Liberals Love Our Military (?) — Pirate’s Cove Says:
    October 30th, 2007 at 11:10 pm […] Trackposted to Perri Nelson’s Website, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, , Right Truth, The Populist, DragonLady’s World, The Bullwinkle Blog, The Amboy Times, Big Dog’s Weblog, Adeline and Hazel, Nuke’s, third world county, The World According to Carl, Blue Star Chronicles, The Pink Flamingo, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, Dumb Ox Daily News, and Right Voices, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe. […]

By Daniel Schearf
Beijing
30 October 2007

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The U.S. envoy to talks on North Korea’s nuclear program says a team of experts will travel to Pyongyang this week to begin disabling the North’s nuclear program. Daniel Schearf reports from Beijing.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters Tuesday the experts will leave for North Korea on Thursday to begin the permanent disabling of Pyongyang’s nuclear facilities.

The shutdown is part of a six-nation agreement for North Korea to give up its nuclear programs in return for millions of dollars in energy and aid.

North Korea has agreed to declare and disable all its nuclear materials and programs by the end of the year.

Hill said the declaration process is also expected to begin in the coming weeks.

“It’s very important that we do it soon rather than wait until the end of the year, because probably it will be going back and forth,” he noted. “There’ll be a lot of discussion about it.”

The U.S. has accused North Korea of having a secret uranium enrichment program in addition to its publicly acknowledged facilities. But Hill said he did not think this will block progress.

“There was a commitment made by the DPRK that this issue would be resolved to mutual satisfaction, that is we would be able to resolve the concerns we have on this issue,” he added. “I’m confident that as we get to the end of the year we will be able to achieve this result.”

Hill made the comments after arriving in Beijing Tuesday for two days of consultations with other parties to the talks, including North Korea’s envoy Kim Kye Kwan.

Progress toward ending North Korea’s nuclear ambitions has already been made. North Korea shut down its main nuclear facilities in July in return for 50,000 tons of fuel from South Korea.

North Korea agreed Tuesday to receive about half of a promised one million tons of fuel oil aid, in the form of badly needed energy-related equipment.

The U.S. is now in the process of delivering another 50,000tons of fuel. Other parties to the six-nation talks - South Korea, Russia, China, and Japan - are also expected to provide further aid.

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Perhaps in politics former Senator John Edwards is a slow learner as a Democratic Presidential candidate for 2008. After launching a 2004 Presidential campaign you might think he would have some experience to go along with his wealth.  Perhaps not standing his ground as a Presidential candidate in 04 and playing second fiddle to the party elite’s choice of John Kerry for President all but cast Edward’s fate for becoming a contender.

At this stage in the 2008 campaign and looking back several months at least, Edwards taking a late cue from Obama to attack fellow Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton is more rookie talent surfacing.  The only one Clinton is fooling by running the nominee campaign before there is one would be Edwards.  More on this is in an AP report.

“This corruption did not begin yesterday — and it did not even begin with George Bush, although Lord knows it’s been present while George Bush has been president,” the 2004 vice presidential nominee said in a speech at St. Anselm College. “It has been building for decades until it now threatens literally the life of our democracy.”

“Senator Clinton’s road to the middle class takes a major detour right through the deep canyon of corporate lobbyists and the hidden bidding of K Street in Washington,” he said. “And history tells us that when that bus stops there, it is the middle class that loses.”

Takes a lot of nerve to criticize fellow Democrats the way Edwards does.  From his questioned modest roots to his poverty tour not to mention the difficult to prove trial lawyer fighting for little guy mission, Edwards recently demanded his alma mater scrap a video report to be aired tonite that can be found on YouTube.  His campaign claims the video piece for a local program misrepresents the story on him.  Ya, okay John, whatever you say.  After all, you’re the lalawyer.  Who could argue with that?

RALEIGH, N.C. - A University of North Carolina professor said Friday that John Edwards’ campaign demanded that he pull a student reporter’s television story that focused on the upscale location of the campaign’s headquarters.

So what are they misrepresenting Mr Edwards?  Could it be you just don’t like the idea of your former school, where you set up a ‘poverty center’ in 2004 to set up your 2008 run, offering commentary on poor little rich kid using the poor to promote your political ambitions?  So John, did you invest in any hedge funds lately to help the poor?  Could it be that in the million to one chance you would become President that you already have your excuse ready for abandoning the poor after you get what you want?  You know, something like those damn conservatives are stopping me from helping you (like you didn’t during any other time in your life).  Would you be so interested in the poor if they didn’t come complete with massive contingency fees or a shot at the Presidency?  Odds are, not likely.  That goes for your pandering competitor too.  That would be Hillary Rodham Clinton.

So Barack, what’s your deal?

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

By Deborah Tate
Capitol Hill

Tate report (mp3) - Download 846k
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A new report to the U.S. Congress has found problems with the government’s terrorist watch list, prompting concerns that terrorists could potentially enter the United States undetected.  VOA’s Deborah Tate reports from Capitol Hill.The terrorist watch list, compiled by U.S. intelligence agencies, is used by the U.S. government to bar individuals who pose a threat to national security from entering the country through land border crossings, airports and seaports.

But in a new report, the Government Accountability Office, Congress’ investigative arm, has found problems with the list.

The report was presented at a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Wednesday.

Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine told the panel that his office reviewed 105 records from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Terrorist Screening Center (TSC), which oversees the watch list, and found that 38 percent of them had errors or inconsistencies.

“We believe it is critical that the TSC further improve the quality of its data and its redress procedures,” he said.  “Inaccurate, incomplete and obsolete watch list information can increase the risk of not identifying known or suspected terrorists, and it can also increase the risk that innocent persons will be repeatedly stopped or detained.”

In fact, Eileen Larence, director of homeland security and justice issues at the Government Accountability Office, says individuals on the watch list have passed undetected through airport screening.

“Individuals on the no-fly list have boarded aircraft, and sometimes flights had to be diverted,” she noted.  “Agencies know this, because for international flights into the United States, Customs and Border Protection [CBP] screens all passengers a second time, after the airlines, to determine if the passengers can enter the country.  To do the screening, CBP needs passenger data, but currently it is not sent to CBP in time to screen before the flight departs.”

Larence says new government rules, to be put into effect in the near future, will require that the agency receive passenger information sooner, and thus could help identify terrorist suspects before they board aircraft.

U.S. officials defended the watch list program.  They say they are working to better identify suspected terrorists before they enter the United States.

Homeland Security Assistant Secretary of Policy, Paul Rosenzweig:

“We have made great strides,” he said.  “More work needs to be done, but the improvement is quite noticeable.”

The chairman of the Senate committee, Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, expressed concern about the growth of the terrorist watch list, which the GAO report says has grown from 158,000 in June 2004 to 860,000 today.

“With the list likely to go over one million names in the near future, we need to know that there are clear standards for placing names on it and of course taking them off it,” he said.

But Leonard Boyle, director of the Terrorist Screening Center, says the list is actually much smaller than described by the GAO because some people may be on the list more than once if their names are listed under multiple spellings.

“The actual number of human beings reflected in the data base is far fewer than 800,000,” he explained.  “I cannot give you an exact number because, in fact, we do not know for sure, some people successfully create an entire separate identity. Even if we look at the database we might see what appear to be two completely separate identities that reflect but one person.  So the number is far fewer.”

Boyle says federal agencies have agreed to a set of procedures to allow people who believe they were wrongly added to the watch list a timely, fair and accurate review of their cases.

By Dan Robinson
Washington
23 October 2007
A Democratic lawmaker has apologized for remarks he made last week about the war in Iraq that angered opposition Republicans and were also condemned by fellow Democrats. VOA’s Dan Robinson reports from Capitol Hill, where Congressman Pete Stark’s apology came after the House of Representatives rejected by a vote of 196 to 173 a Republican attempt to formally reprimand him.

Congressman Stark’s comments last week came as the House prepared for an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to override President Bush’s veto of legislation to re-authorize and expand a children’s health insurance program.

In arguing in favor of their measure, Democrats asserted that President Bush and Republicans were unable to find the funds for medical insurance for children while spending tens of billions of dollars on the war in Iraq.

At one point in the debate, Congressman Stark came to the floor and made these remarks. “You don’t have money to fund the war or children. But you’re going to spend it, to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq, to get their heads blown off, for the president’s amusement.”

Stark’s statement, which was widely published, provoked anger from Republicans who accused Stark of insulting the president and the U.S. military.

Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement calling the remarks inappropriate. House majority leader Steny Hoyer used stronger words, calling on Stark to apologize to the president and U.S. troops he may have insulted.

On Tuesday, the House Republican leader, John Boehner, introduced a measure to censure Stark. “On behalf of the courageous men and women of our armed forces, who are putting their lives on the line for our freedom and security, I offer a privileged resolution that is on the desk,” he said.

The House rejected the resolution by a vote of 196 to 173.

Stark, who had come under pressure from the Democratic leadership, came to the floor. “I want to apologize, first of all, my colleagues, many of whom I have offended, to the president, his family, to the troops that may have found in my remarks as were suggested in the motion that we just voted on,” he said.

In a weekly news conference later, Democratic leaders described the matter as closed, and sought to turn the media’s attention to what Democrats say will be a new attempt to pass the children’s health measure, and negotiations with Republicans and the Bush administration about another bill dealing with warrantless electronic surveillance.

In recent years, Republicans and Democrats have fallen afoul of rules allowing the opposition party to demand that remarks on the floor be taken down or removed from the record.

During a 2005 debate on Iraq, a Republican lawmaker Jean Schmidt apologized for a statement suggesting that a key anti-war critic, Congressman Jack Murtha, was a coward.

Murtha himself issued an apology earlier this year for threatening a special spending request, known as an earmark, of a Republican lawmaker who questioned Murtha’s own special interest spending provision for his home district.

• Mike Lowell Wins World Series MVP
  DENVER (AP) — Mike Lowell is much more than some throw-in on a Red Sox trade. He’s the World Series MVP….
• Collapse Complete for Colorado
  DENVER (AP) — The clutch hits, nowhere in sight….
• AL Romps to Another World Series Title
  DENVER (AP) — As the Boston Red Sox kept shooting double after double down the lines and into the gaps, the Cleveland Indians, Los Angeles Angels and New York Yankees must have wondered whether they would have flattened the Rockies, too….
• Champs Again! Red Sox Sweep World Series
  DENVER (AP) — There’s a new monster in baseball, and this one’s in Boston, too. Overwhelming in every way, the Red Sox swept to their second title in four years Sunday night. Jon Lester, Mike Lowell & Co. left little room for drama with a 4-3 win over the Colorado Rockies in Game 4. Then again, no NL team could have blocked Boston this October….

• Rockies to Start Spilborghs in Game 4
  DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Rockies started their third center fielder in four World Series games, putting Ryan Spilborghs back in the lineup Sunday night against Boston….
• Game 4 Starters Know All About Adversity
  DENVER (AP) — To talk about one is to talk about the other: Jon Lester and Aaron Cook, both scheduled to start Game 4 of the World Series, both men who know it will never be the highlight of their lives….
• Dice-K Quiets Rockies, Provides Some Pop
  DENVER (AP) — The Boston Red Sox knew they were getting a big-game pitcher when they paid $103 million to lure Daisuke Matsuzaka from Japan. They got a big-game hitter thrown in for free….
• Rockies’ Collapse Nearly Complete
  DENVER (AP) — The starting pitchers are getting shelled, the brilliant bullpen is a bust. The timely hits are nowhere to be found, manager Clint Hurdle’s moves are coming up short. Colorado’s collapse is almost complete….
• Francona Makes Right Moves in Game 3
  DENVER (AP) — New leadoff batter Jacoby Ellsbury was on second base all night. David Ortiz played flawless defense and drove in the first run. Mike Lowell hit a two-run single in Boston’s big inning. After all that fuss about his Game 3 lineup, Red Sox manager Terry Francona definitely made the right moves. Now, his team is one win from its second World Series sweep in four seasons….

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A scarred reputation from the oil for food program, the failing Millennium Development Goals, another lame example of international intervention featured prominently in Burma as well as the abuses of sex scandals and general corruption now lay the back drop for a budget increase at the United Nations.

By Patrick Worsnip
Thu Oct 25
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon proposed on Thursday a rise in the U.N. budget for the next two years, seeking extra funding to head off conflicts and promote human rights amid new demands on the world body.

By EDITH M. LEDERER, AP
Thu Oct 25
UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Secretary-General proposed a two-year budget of $4.2 billion on Thursday, saying the small increase isn’t much in light of the growing demands on the United Nations to address a range of diplomatic and security challenges.

What a preposterous notion noted in the two news reports. Ban Ki-Moon apparently cites heading off conflicts, growing demands and addressing diplomatic, security and human rights issues as reasons for a budget increase. In the private sector, bottom line and key performance measures commonly dictate funding parameters for future allocation of resources. Not unlike most governments, public sector organizations in general draw no attention to the fact that no budget decisions reflect the effectiveness of the entity seeking more money. School boards and other local government bodies as well as state and federal governments routinely raise budgets without the corresponding justification of successful past performance.

In the UN’s case, the Millennium Development Goals alone are sufficient cause to deny budget increases. The little that will prove successful over a minimum of two decades demonstrates clearly that the UN has never possessed the ability to be effective. Certainly there are numerous other examples of the organizations futility but the MDG have special significance. The initiative was to benefit all people of the world who suffer from common deficiencies related to poverty, hunger, disease and similar difficulties not related to the benefit of any particular country or group. So even programs that remove any suggestion of favoritism are beyond the UN’s ability to achieve success.

“That is not much, considering the demands upon us,” he said, naming conflicts and potential crisis areas as well as longer-term challenges of alleviating poverty, providing humanitarian aid and fighting climate change and HIV/AIDS.

Listening over and over again to the identical sounds of each United Nations pronouncement…. last year …. $3.8 Billion. Price of allowing this scam to continue….. limitless. Let’s see Mastercard do an ad on this. There are many voices echoing the call for an end to the United Nations and it is not limited to any one website. Whether campaign rhetoric or not, several US Presidential candidates have made equivalent statements. It may be necessary to engage in the typical demeaning activities characterized by radical public protests. Thoughtful communication focusing attention toward the flaws of the United Nations may already having the needed impact, one post at a time.

One last note on the words of Ban Ki Moon. An example of his budget increase justification specified an amount for an extremely vague purpose. $18 Million dollars to ’strengthen the Department of Political Affairs.’ How about using at least that much money to do some good for the people you are charged with serving, e.g., helping. And by that it is not meant that the money should be given to those within the United Nations organization. That is the biggest problem. All that money that never gets to a legitimate destination.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Welcome to Blog @ MoreWhat.com’s Open Trackback

Secure the Borders Linkfest

This is an open trackback linkfest. It happens on Tuesday and Saturday. Each linkfest is open until the next one starts. Trackbacks will be on the frontpage in a post called MoreWhat Matters. The Secure the Borders theme is intended as a reminder to all for obvious reasons. If you have any suggestions, criticisms, questions or just feel the need to communicate, trackback or post it in the comments. If you want to be added to Z’ Blogroll, register and/or inquire to make arrangements. The Honor Roll is reserved for blogs viewed as special by this blog’s owner.
JIHAD stands for Jesus I Have A Deathwish.

This linkfest is dedicated to the guest worker who never left.There are plenty of illegal immigration posts on this blog.

If you’re here legally and behavin’ yo self, welcome aboard.
.
.

We suggest using the Linkfest Haven Deluxe Trackback pinger for ease of use and time savings to catch all the festive linking activities today. Or, if you have done this less than we have, the permalink for this Open Trackback is the title link and the trackback is located near the bottom of the permalink page for this post. Just poke around, you’ll find it.

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By Tendai Maphosa
London
The European Union is proposing a blue card to attract skilled workers to Europe in the face of an aging population and a declining birth rate. From London, Tendai Maphosa reports for VOA, the 27-nation bloc is trying to compete with the U.S. “green card” system and programs in other Western countries to get the best-qualified migrant labor.

The European Union says it will need 20 million skilled migrant workers during the next 20 years to plug labor gaps in the developed world. The so-called Blue Card would lure the workers by making easier for them to work in another E.U. country, have their family join them, receive public housing and get long-term residency status.

To qualify for a blue card, a migrant would need an E.U. job contract of at least two year guaranteeing a salary of at least three times the minimum wage in the country to which they are applying and health insurance.

The plan aims to attract information technology specialists, engineers, doctors, nurses and other highly-qualified workers from Asia, Africa and Latin America, who have been flocking to North America and Australia.

In a recent speech, Franco Frattini, European Commissioner for Justice, Freedom, and Security and the architect of the plan, said it is essential for the European Union to “become a real magnet for highly skilled immigrants.”

A spokesman for Frattini, Riccardo Mosca, told VOA the intention is to fast track the process. He said the card will give skilled workers a grace period to look for another job once their contracts expire. It would also make it possible for employees to go back to their countries to work for a while without the fear of losing their blue cards.

But Marco Manacorda at the London School of Economics said to persuade workers not to go to countries like the United States, the European Union has to make some changes to the current plan.

“I am wondering to what extent Europe might truly be competitive with the United States in terms of attracting skilled migrants to the extent that the premium to being a skilled worker in the United States are much higher than they are in Europe where the wage distribution is much compressed so whether that is going to be a successful policy that is hard to know now,” said Manacorda.

According to the European Commission, about 25 million Europeans are expected to retire and one third will be over 65 years of age by 2050.

The proposals have already faced opposition from trade unions, who fear the blue card could undermine training opportunities for E.U. workers. The Commission has said, however, that E.U. citizens will continue to have priority access to the labor markets of other member states.

and fake IDs……..

By Alex Villarreal
Washington
27 October 2007
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Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have successfully attached a new room to the station. They completed the task during the first of five spacewalks planned during their two-week mission. VOA’s Alex Villarreal reports from Washington.

Crew members of the U.S. space shuttle, Discovery, embarked Friday on the mission’s first spacewalk.

During the more than six-hour excursion, the Discovery and International Space Station crews used the station’s robotic arm to move a new module, named Harmony, from the shuttle to a temporary location on the space station.

Space Station Flight Director Derek Hassman called the day a success. “It’s not very often that I can report that a day goes exactly as we planned, but this is probably about as close as we get to one of those days. And this is one of those days where you really appreciate all the months and years of planning that go into these missions,” he said.

The Harmony module, the size of a bus, will provide docking ports for Japanese and European scientific laboratories to be installed on the space station. It will be moved to its permanent location after the shuttle departs.

Space Station program manager Kirk Shireman said the module is a welcome addition. “Today, the International Space Station is 18 percent more volume than it was yesterday with the attachment of Harmony. We went to..we were 15,000, about 15,000 cubic feet. Today we’re 2,600 feet, cubic feet more. So we’re glad to have the extra volume on board ISS.”

Spacewalkers also worked Friday on a massive solar power structure that will be relocated during future spacewalks and retrieved a broken antenna to be returned to Earth.

So far, the mission has not encountered major problems. After Discovery docked on Thursday, NASA engineers analyzed photos of the shuttle for damage. NASA officials say the engineers found nothing to warrant more focused inspection.

Discovery launched on Tuesday and is expected to return to Earth on November 6.

Hillary Rodham Clinton suggesting she has broad support reaffirms the report about her campaign efforts resembling that of a nominee rather than a candidate yet to face the first primary vote or caucus. That suggestion coupled with her ‘agent of change’ flaw that features a stale reference to distance herself from ‘establishment Washington’ displays her own naive tendencies to underestimate the voting public. Strange as it seems these factoids of her estimate of broad appeal and a new kind of politics are present in an article claiming she is addressing her flaws. Maybe it is her Hollywood strategy. Tease the audience with advance details on the next episode while presenting the current one.

The article covers her campaign finance mess and her rebuttal is to not be defined by opponents. It may be a toss up as to which definition does more damage. She keeps throwing her pitches at people while her history tells the story. Her supporters certainly ignore her past but that may not be the case for other voters. As if her history was not bad enough, campaign gaffes and more financing woes may be in her future. That would be only months after the media proclaimed she was mistake free.

“Rhetoric is easy to come by but if you look at what I’ve done,” Clinton said. “I have been on the forefront of a lot of the major challenges we’ve had in trying to reign in special interests, and I believe as president I will be in a position to do that.”

Mistakes abound and Clinton just keeps making them. She throws rhetoric right at you while she downplays rhetoric. She will rein in her ‘real American’ special interest lobby? The audacity to use a couple of one liners to disarm the public over her lobbyist connections and puffy statement that it is okay escape reason. As President you might be in a position to rein in lobbyists but you won’t if you already claimed it is ok to do business with them. Hell, at least the usual suspects denounce lobbyists before they take the money. Hillary’s brass ones allow her to be in your face and lying all the way, still expecting your vote.

She claims to have been at the forefront and done so much. Her rhetoric is like anyone elses’. She says the carefully chosen words and, as in this case, tells you nothing about anything she claims to have done. It would be like giving the grammy to a groupie for a famous band. The groupie may like the music but the band made it happen. If you check Hillary’s press releases, when she touts her accomplishments, all she says is she was there. Never admitting she had nothing to do with outcome. She simply indicates she was there, like a groupie.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

The accents threw her: A glimpse at how Hillary Clinton intends to court and win the South‘I was shocked when I learned Iowa and Mississippi have never elected a woman governor, senator or member of Congress. There has got to be something at work here,’ she said, theorizing it may be the risk-averse nature of a state built around agriculture.

The author of the article referenced above states the Atlanta Journal Constitution is still trying to decide ‘which state should be offended. Anyone subject to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s opinion should be offended. It would be interesting to know if she tried her lame accent in either state like her early campaign trip to the South. If you are a candidate looking for gaffes, they come easy enough that you do not have to go out of your way to alienate the voting public. If the statistic she mentioned is accurate, maybe the only woman candidates they had were like Hillary Rodham Clinton.

HRC’s campaign has been focusing on sex, gender and trying to attract the women’s vote the polls may indicate she already has. While poll results seen here show her in the fifties overall, don’t be so sure she will carry the feminine vote in the early states. If a prediction was worth anything, the one you get here is this. As it stands right now, don’t be surprised if Obama and even Edwards do much better than expected in the early states while Hillary is a disappointment for supporters at least early in the primary/caucus season.

Clinton: Iowa, Mississippi have women problems
In an odd, surprisingly candid and perilous interview with the Des Moines Register’s David Yepsen Hillary Clinton implies that voters in Iowa and Mississippi are sexist because they haven’t elected women as governors, reps or senators. Iowa “poses a special burden to me” she said. Ouch.

It should noted that HRC really doesn’t have a clue. She calls Obama naive and irrresponsible on foreign affairs yet on what might be a simple matter for ordinary citizens when visiting another state escapes her. When you visit someone else’s house it is considered bad manners to trash the hosts. And no, it is not a case of needing to be PC. This may have been a relatively minor mistake for politics but there is a big difference between PC and the common sense of good manners. If you think etiquette has no place in politics you should rethink your opinion.

What number is this for reasons not to vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com